景德傳燈錄 8.28

8.28

南嶽西園蘭若曇藏禪師者。本受心印於大寂禪師。後謁石頭遷和尚瑩然明徹。唐貞元二年遁衡嶽之絕頂。人罕參訪。尋以脚疾移止西園。禪侶繁盛。師一日自開浴次。僧問。何不使沙彌。師乃拊掌三下（洞山云。一種是時節因緣。就中西園精妙。僧問曹山。古人拊掌豈不明沙彌邊事。曹山云。如何是向上事。僧無對。曹山云。遮沙彌）師養一靈犬。嘗夜經行次。其犬銜師衣。師即歸房。又於門側伏守而吠。頻奮身作猛噬之勢。詰旦東厨有一大蟒長數丈。張口呀氣毒焰熾然。侍者請避之。師曰。死可逃乎。彼以毒來我以慈受。毒無實性激發則彊。慈苟無緣冤親一揆。言訖其蟒按首徐行倏然不見。復一夕有群盜。犬亦銜師衣。師語盜曰。茅舍有可意物。一任取去終無所悋。盜感其言皆稽首而散。

Chan Master Tancang of the Xiyuan Hermitage on Nanyue originally received the mind-seal from Chan Master Daji. Later he visited Upādhyāya Shitou Qian, becoming clear and thoroughly enlightened. In the second year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang, he hid away on the highest peak of Mount Heng, where people rarely visited him. Soon, owing to an ailment in his legs, he moved to Xiyuan, where fellow practitioners flourished. One day the master was preparing his bath himself. A monk asked, "Why not have a novice do it?" The master clapped his hands three times. (Dongshan said, "Both are the conditions of the moment; among them, Xiyuan's was exquisitely subtle." A monk asked Caoshan, "When the ancient clapped his hands, did he not clarify the matter concerning the novice?" Caoshan said, "What is the transcendental matter?" The monk had no reply. Caoshan said, "This novice!") The master kept an intelligent dog. Once, when he was walking in meditation at night, the dog tugged at the master's robe. The master immediately returned to his room. The dog then lay in wait beside the door, barking and repeatedly lunging as if ready to bite fiercely. At dawn, there was a great python in the eastern kitchen, several tens of feet long, opening its mouth and blowing breath, blazing with poisonous flames. An attendant asked to flee from it. The master said, "Can death be avoided? It approaches with poison; I receive it with compassion. Poison has no substantial nature; when stimulated, it is strong. If compassion is without attachment, foe and friend are the same." When he finished speaking, the python lowered its head, moved slowly away, and suddenly vanished. On another night there was a band of thieves, and the dog again tugged at the master's robe. The master said to the thieves, "In this thatched hut there may be things to your liking; take whatever you wish, I grudge you nothing." Moved by his words, the thieves all bowed their heads and dispersed.