景德傳燈錄 14.3

14.3

Great Master Shitou Xiqian was a native of Gaoyao in Duanzhou. His secular surname was Chen. When his mother first conceived him, she disliked fish and meat. Even as an infant, the Master gave his wet nurse no trouble. Once he came of age, he was self-reliant and true to his word. The indigenous tribes of his village feared ghosts and spirits and performed many improper sacrifices, habitually slaughtering cattle and pouring libations of wine. The Master would go straight there, demolish their shrines, seize the cattle, and return; each year this numbered in the dozens, and the village elders could not stop him. Later, he went directly to Caoxi, where the Sixth Ancestor received him as a disciple. Before he was fully ordained, the Ancestor passed into nirvāṇa. Following the posthumous instruction, he went to visit Chan Master Si at Mount Qingyuan in Luling, and followed him with robes gathered up (the phrases of their encounter are related in the chapter on Chan Master Si). One day, Si asked the Master: "Someone says there is news from Lingnan." The Master said: "Someone does not say so." Si said: "If so, from where did the great and small canons come?" The Master said: "They all come from right here; nothing is lacking from the start." Si deeply approved of this. In the beginning of the Tianbao era of the Tang dynasty, the Master was recommended to the South Monastery on Mount Heng. To the east of the monastery there was a boulder shaped like a terrace, so he built a hermitage upon it; at the time he was known as Upādhyāya Shitou ('Stone'). One day, the Master entered the hall and said: "My dharma-gate has been transmitted from the former Buddhas: it does not speak of meditation or vigorous practice, but of attaining the knowledge and vision of the Buddhas, that this mind is itself the Buddha. Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, bodhi and defilements, differ in name but are one in essence. You should all know that the spiritual substance of your own minds is free from annihilation and permanence, its nature neither defiled nor pure. Serene and complete, commoner and sage are equal in it; its functioning is boundless, separated from mind, intellect, and consciousness. The three realms and six destinies appear only from one's own mind. How could the moon in the water or images in a mirror have arising and ceasing? If you can know this, nothing will be lacking." At that time, his disciple Daowu asked: "Who attains the essential meaning of Caoxi?" The Master said: "One who understands the Buddha-Dharma attains it." Daowu said: "Does the Master still attain it?" The Master said: "I do not understand the Buddha-Dharma." A monk asked: "What is liberation?" The Master said: "Who is binding you?" He also asked: "What is the pure land?" The Master said: "Who is defiling you?" He asked: "What is nirvāṇa?" The Master said: "Who gave you birth-and-death?" The Master asked a newly arrived monk: "Where do you come from?" The monk said: "From Jiangxi." The Master said: "Did you see Great Master Ma?" The monk said: "I saw him." The Master then pointed to a block of firewood and said: "What does Master Ma resemble compared to this?" The monk had no answer; he returned and cited it to Great Master Ma. Ma said: "Did you see how big the block of firewood was?" The monk said: "Immeasurably big." Ma said: "You are very strong." The monk said: "Why?" Ma said: "You carried a block of firewood from Nanyue; are you not strong?" A monk asked: "What is the meaning of the [ancestor's] coming from the West?" The Master said: "Go ask the exposed pillar." The monk said: "This student does not understand." The Master said: "I understand even less." Dadian asked the Master: "The ancients said that speaking of existence and speaking of non-existence are two slanders. I request the Master to eliminate them." The Master said: "Not a single thing exists; what would you eliminate?" The Master then asked: "Leave aside throat, lips, and tongue, and say something!" Dadian said: "There is no such thing." The Master said: "If so, then you have managed to enter the gate." Daowu asked: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?" The Master said: "Not attaining, not knowing." Daowu said: "Is there still any turning point in the transcendental?" The Master said: "The vast sky does not obstruct the flight of white clouds." A monk asked: "What is Chan?" The Master said: "A brick." He also asked: "What is the Way?" The Master said: "A piece of wood." As for how his other disciples received the message, their questions and answers appear in their respective chapters. The Master composed a work titled *Cantongqi* (Harmony of Difference and Sameness); its language and meaning are subtle and profound, and it is widely circulated in the world with numerous commentaries. The spirits and deities of Mount Nanyue frequently manifested traces to listen to the Dharma, and the Master gave precepts to all of them. In the second year of Guangde, his disciples invited him down to Liangduan, where he widely propagated the profound transformation. Jiangxi was presided over by Daji (Mazu); Hunan was presided over by Shitou. Travelers bustling back and forth flocked together to the gates of these two great beings. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the sixth year of Zhenyuan, a gengwu year, he passed away. He was ninety-one years old, with sixty-three years in the monastic order. His disciples erected a stūpa for him on the Eastern Ridge. During the Changqing era, he was posthumously granted the title Great Master Wuji ('Boundless'), and his stūpa was named Jianxiang ('Seeing the Characteristics').