景德傳燈錄 17.23

17.23

Chan Master Benren of Baishui in Gao'an received prediction from Dongshan. During the Tianfu era of the Tang, he moved to reside at the Baishui Monastery in Gao'an, Hongjing. The assembly numbered more than three hundred, and his profound words spread widely. On the occasion of holding the memorial feast for Dongshan, a monk asked: 'When making offerings to the late master, does the late master still come or not?' The master said: 'Set down another portion of offerings.' A group of practitioners from the Western Mountain of Hongzhou came to pay homage. They asked: 'Today we have no other business; we beg the master for instruction.' The master said: 'Do you all seek instruction?' They replied: 'Yes.' The master said: 'Whom would you have me entrust it to?' Jingqing arrived on pilgrimage. The master said to him: 'The weather is cold, practitioner.' Qing said: 'I dare not [presume].' The master said: 'Is there still a sleeping sheet to cover yourself with?' Qing said: 'Even if there were, there would be no time to unfold it.' The master said: 'Even if dripping water turned to ice for you, practitioner, it would not concern that other.' Qing said: 'When dripping water freezes into ice, the matters do not concern each other.' The master said: 'Right.' Qing said: 'What is this person's intention?' The master said: 'This person does not fall into intention.' Qing said: 'Not falling into intention, where is this person?' The master said: 'On top of the high mountain, there is nothing to feed you, practitioner.' A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of [the Patriarch's] coming from the West?' The master said: 'Do you see the cedar and dogwood in front of the courtyard or not?' The monk said: 'If so, then today the upādhyāya has incurred right and wrong on account of the student.' The master said: 'Chatterbox lecturer!' After Jiaoran left, the master knew he was a Chan traveler from Xuefeng, and said: 'A person who steals the Dharma will ultimately never become a vessel.' (Later Jiaoran resided at Mount Changsheng. A monk asked: 'How is the ancestral school's vehicle chanted and raised?' Ran said: 'One cannot abandon Mount Changsheng for the sake of just one ācārya.' When Xuansha heard this, he said: 'Elder brother Ran's Buddha-Dharma will greatly prevail, and the conditions for his prediction are also fulfilled.' Afterward, conditions among the assembly were incomplete, exactly as Master Ren had predicted.) A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of non-movement?' The master said: 'Fallen flowers follow the flowing water; the bright moon ascends the solitary peak.' When the master was about to pass away, the fourfold assembly gathered together. They prepared a meal, sounded the bell, and burned incense. He addressed the assembly, saying: 'Where the incense smoke ceases is the time of my nirvāṇa.' Having spoken, he sat cross-legged. His breath ceased with the smoke.