景德傳燈錄 14.11

14.11

Chan Master Yaoshan Weiyan of Lizhou was a man from Jiangzhou with the surname Han. At the age of seventeen, he left home under Chan Master Huizhao of Xishan in Chaoyang. In the eighth year of the Dali era of the Tang, he received the precepts under Vinaya Master Xicao of Mount Heng. He then said, "A great man should leave phenomena and be self-purified; how could he fussily attend to trivial details of conduct upon a cloth napkin?" He immediately went to call on Shitou and secretly comprehended the profound meaning. One day, while the Master was sitting, Shitou saw him and asked, "What are you doing here?" He said, "I am not doing anything at all." Shitou said, "If so, you are sitting idly." He said, "If I were sitting idly, that would be doing something." Shitou said, "You say you are not doing anything; what is it that you are not doing?" He said, "Even the thousand sages do not know." Shitou praised him with a verse: