景德傳燈錄 21.14

21.14

福州大章山契如庵主福州永泰人也。泉州百丈村兜率院受業。素蘊孤操志探祖道。預玄沙之宮穎悟幽旨。玄沙記曰。子禪已逸格則他後要一人侍立也無。師自此不務聚徒不畜童侍。隱于小界山。刳大朽杉若小庵但容身而已。凡經遊僧至隨叩而應無定開示。僧問。生死到來如何迴避。師曰。符到奉行。曰恁麼即被生死拘將去也。師曰。阿邪邪。問西天持錫意作麼生。師拈錫杖卓地振之。僧曰。未審此是什麼義。師曰。遮箇是張家打。僧擬進語。師以錫攛（蒼巒切）之清豁沖煦二長老嚮師名未嘗會遇。一旦同訪之值師釆粟。豁問曰。道者如庵主在何所。師曰。從什麼處來。曰山下來。師曰。因什麼得到遮裏。曰遮裏是什麼處所。師揖曰。去那下喫茶去。二公方省是師。遂詣庵所頗味高論。晤坐於左右不覺及夜。覩豺虎奔至庵前自然馴擾。豁因有詩曰。行不等閑行。誰知去住情。一餐猶未飽。萬戶勿聊生。非道應難伏。空拳莫與爭。龍吟雲起處。閑嘯兩三聲。二公尋於大章山創庵請師居之。兩處孤坐垂五十二載而卒。豁雖承指喻。而後於睡龍印可乃嗣睡龍。住漳州保福。

Hermitage Master Qiru of Mount Dazhang in Fuzhou was a native of Yongtai in Fuzhou. He received his training at Tushita Cloister in Baizhang Village, Quanzhou. He had long harboured solitary integrity and set his mind on exploring the ancestral Way. Entering the halls of Xuansha, he awakened brilliantly to the profound purport. Xuansha gave him a prediction, saying, 'Your Chan has already surpassed standard patterns; in the future, will you need even one person to stand in attendance? None.' From then on, the master did not occupy himself with gathering disciples and kept no novice attendants. He lived in seclusion on Mount Xiaojie, hollowing out a large decayed cedar like a small hermitage, just large enough to contain his body. Whenever travelling monks arrived, he responded according to their inquiries, with no fixed instruction. A monk asked, 'When birth and death arrive, how can one evade them?' The master said, 'When the official talisman arrives, carry it out.' The monk said, 'If so, one will simply be seized and taken away by birth and death.' The master said, 'Oh, alas, alas!' [A monk] asked, 'What is the meaning of holding a staff in India?' The master took his staff, planted it on the ground, and shook it. The monk said, 'I do not yet understand: what is the meaning of this?' The master said, 'This is struck by Master Zhang.' The monk intended to speak further, but the master thrust the staff at him. The two elders Qinghuo and Chongxu had long heard the master's name but had never met him. One day they visited him together and happened upon the master gathering millet. Huo asked, 'O man of the Way, where is Hermitage Master Ru?' The master said, 'Where have you come from?' Huo said, 'From the foot of the mountain.' The master said, 'For what reason have you managed to reach here?' Huo said, 'What place is this?' The master bowed with hands clasped and said, 'Go over there and have some tea.' Only then did the two gentlemen realize it was the master. They then went to the hermitage and savoured his lofty discourses. Sitting with him face to face at his side, they did not notice night falling. They saw jackals and tigers racing up to the front of the hermitage, yet becoming naturally tame and gentle. Huo accordingly composed a poem, which said: / 'This journey was no casual journey; / Who knows the sentiment of leaving and staying? / With a single meal one is not yet sated; / The myriad households have nothing on which to live. / Without the Way, they would surely be hard to tame; / With empty fists, do not contend with them. / Where the dragon groans and clouds arise, / Let out two or three leisurely whistles.' / Soon the two gentlemen founded a hermitage on Mount Dazhang and invited the master to dwell there. He sat alone in these two places for nearly fifty-two years, and then passed away. Although Huo received his pointers, he later received the seal of approval from Shuilong and thus became Shuilong's dharma heir, residing at Baofu in Zhangzhou.