景德傳燈錄 4.20

4.20

第六世慧忠禪師者。潤州上元人也。姓王氏。年二十三受業於莊嚴寺。其後聞威禪師出世乃往謁之。威纔見曰。山主來也。師感悟微旨。遂給侍左右。後辭詣諸方巡禮。威於具戒院見凌霄藤。遇夏委悴人欲伐之。因謂之曰。勿剪。慧忠還時此藤更生。及師迴果如其言。即以山門付囑訖。出居延祚寺。師平生一衲不易。器用唯一鐺。嘗有供僧穀兩廩。盜者窺伺。虎為守之。縣令張遜者。至山頂謁問師。有何徒弟。師曰。有三五人。遜曰。如何得見。師敲禪床。有三虎哮吼而出。遜驚怖而退。後眾請入城居莊嚴舊寺。師欲於殿東別創法堂。先有古木。群鵲巢其上。工人將伐之。師謂鵲曰。此地建堂汝等何不速去。言訖。群鵲乃遷巢他樹。初築基有二神人定其四角。復潛資夜役。遂不日而就。繇是四方學徒雲集坐下矣。得法者有三十四人。各住一方轉化多眾。師嘗有安心偈。示眾曰。

The sixth generation, Chan Master Huizhong, was a native of Shangyuan in Runzhou with the surname Wang. At the age of twenty-three he received his studies at Zhuangyan Monastery. Afterwards, hearing that Master Wei had appeared in the world to teach, he went to call on him. As soon as Wei saw him, he said, “The master of the mountain has come!” The master had an awakening to the subtle purport and thereupon served at his side. Later he took his leave to travel to various quarters on pilgrimage. At the Jiejie Courtyard, Wei saw a trumpet-creeper vine that had withered in the summer, and people wanted to chop it down. He said to them, “Do not cut it. When Huizhong returns, this vine will revive.” When the master returned, it turned out just as he had said. He immediately entrusted the mountain monastery to him and then departed to live at Yanzuo Monastery. Throughout his life, the master never changed his single patchwork robe; for utensils, he used only a single cauldron. Once, when there were two granaries of grain for feeding the monks, thieves lurked in wait to steal it, but tigers guarded it for him. The county magistrate Zhang Xun went to the mountain summit to pay homage and asked the master, “What disciples do you have?” The master said, “I have three to five.” Xun asked, “How can I see them?” The master tapped his meditation seat, and three tigers roared and came out. Xun fled in terror. Later, the assembly invited him into the city to reside at the old Zhuangyan Monastery. The master wished to build a separate Dharma hall east of the main hall. There was an old tree where a flock of magpies nested; workers were about to fell it. The master said to the magpies, “A hall is to be built on this ground; why do you not leave quickly?” As soon as he spoke, the magpies moved their nests to another tree. When the foundations were first laid, two spirit-men set its four corners and secretly assisted in the labor by night, so that it was completed in no time. From this, students from the four directions gathered under his seat like clouds. Those who attained the Dharma numbered thirty-four, each residing in a different region to transform many people. The master once instructed the assembly with a verse on pacifying the mind, saying: