景德傳燈錄 17.7

17.7

The monk then asked the Master, "What is a dragon roaring in a withered tree?" The Master said, "The lifeline is unbroken." The monk said, "What is an eyeball in a skull?" The Master said, "Not completely dry." The monk said, "I wonder if there is anyone who hears it?" The Master said, "In the entire great earth, there is not a single person who does not hear it." The monk said, "I wonder what lines and verses the dragon roar is?" The Master said, "I do not know what lines and verses it is either; all who hear it perish." In this way the Master enlightened those of superior capacity, leaving behind no track that could be traced. When he received Dongshan's appraisal of the five ranks, he became an exceptional standard for the monasteries. At that time, the Zhong clan of Hongzhou repeatedly invited him, but he did not rise; he merely copied a mountain-dwelling verse of Upādhyāya Damei in reply. On a midsummer night in the xinyou year of Tianfu, the Master asked the monk in charge of affairs, "What day of what month is today?" He answered, "The fifteenth day of the sixth month." The Master said, "Caoshan has traveled on foot throughout his life, everywhere taking ninety days as one summer." Arriving at the chen hour the next day, he announced his demise. His age was sixty-two; his monastic age was thirty-seven. His disciples enshrined his true relics and erected a stupa. By imperial decree he was posthumously titled Great Master Yuanzheng, and the stupa was called Fuyuan.