景德傳燈錄 12.8

12.8

Chan Master Chunan of Mount Qianqing in Hangzhou was a native of Minzhong. His secular surname was Zhang. From childhood he went to Chan Master Tan'ai at Kaiyuan Temple to renounce household life. When he reached the age of twenty, he shaved his hair, went to Mount Wutai, and took the full precepts. He studied the Xiangbu Vinaya in Zhao Commandery and went to the Western Capital to hear the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Having deeply investigated the principles of the Dharma yet without having understood the profound mechanism, he then went to pay his respects to Furong. Furong saw him and said, "I am not your master. Your master is Huangbo, beyond the Jiang." The Master bowed, took his leave, and went to study under Huangbo. Huangbo posed a question to him, saying, "Before you manifested the images of the three realms, how was it?" The Master said, "Right now, could it be said that there is existence?" Huangbo said, "Setting aside existence and non-existence, how is it right now?" The Master said, "It is neither past nor present." Huangbo said, "My correct Dharma eye is already in your person." The Master then entered his chamber, held the towel and attended to his ablutions, seeking instruction morning and evening. Soon afterward, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang suppressed the teachings, so the Master went into deep hiding in forests and valleys. When the Dazhong era began, Chancellor Lord Pei Xiu was dispatched to pacify Wanling; he invited Upādhyāya Huangbo to come out of the mountains, and the Master followed him out. From there he reached Bao'en Temple in Gusu, where he assiduously cultivated Chan meditation; for nearly twenty years his feet never crossed the threshold. Suddenly he was invited by the commandery governor to dwell at Baolin Monastery. Shortly thereafter, he was again invited to reside at Mount Zhixing. He also resided at Ciyun Monastery on Mount Qianqing, reviving the profound house style of Huangbo. One day the Master ascended the hall and said, "Disciples, even if you could explain the Buddhist teachings of the three periods of time like water poured from a pitcher, and attain hundreds of thousands of samādhis, it would not compare to cultivating the taint-free path in a single thought-instant, so as to avoid being bound by the causes and effects of gods and humans." A monk then asked, "How does one cultivate the taint-free path?" The Master said, "Directly realize it when there was not yet an ācārya." The monk said, "When there was not yet myself, who realizes it?" The Master said, "The one who realizes it is also non-existent." The monk asked, "What is easy?" The Master said, "Wearing clothes and eating food, without needing to recite sūtras or study the teachings, and without needing to practice the path, perform prostrations, burn the body, or scorch the crown of the head. Is that not easy?" The monk said, "Since this is easy, what is difficult?" The Master said, "If the slightest thought arises, the five aggregates are complete; the transmigration in the three realms and birth and death all arise from your single thought. Therefore the Buddha taught all bodhisattvas, saying, 'That which is protected and kept in mind by the Buddhas.'" Although the Master responded to capacities without wearying, he was constantly and solemnly situated in samādhi, sometimes for more than a month or for ten full days. In the third year of the Guangqi era, the Qian clan invited him down the mountain to receive offerings. Emperor Zhaozong, hearing of his spiritual transformation [of beings], bestowed upon him a purple robe. In the fifth month of the first year of the Wende era, he took leave of the assembly and passed away peacefully. He was seventy-six years of age and had been a monk for fifty-six years. His stupa was relocated to the western corner of the monastery. In the renzi year, the second month of the first year of the Jingfu era (also written as the second year of Dashun), Sun Ru of Xuanzhou raided Qiantang. Soldiers opened the stupa and saw that his whole body had not decomposed, and his nails and hair had grown. They apologized, repented, and departed. During his life the Master composed one fascicle of Verse Eulogies on Chapters of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra and one fascicle of the Treatise on Refuting the Heterodox, which are currently circulating in the world.