景德傳燈錄 18.7

18.7

[A monk] asked, “Beyond the four comportments, how does one serve the king?”
The Master said, “You are a criminal against the king's law; how can you understand how to ask about this matter?”
[A monk] asked, “When the ancients raised the mallet or held up the fly-whisk, did that pertain to the matter of our ancestral vehicle or not?”
The Master said, “It did not.”
[The monk] asked, “What was the ancient’s intention?”
The Master held up his fly-whisk.
The monk asked, “What is the matter of the ancestral vehicle?”
The Master said, “Only when you are awakened will it be possible.”
[A monk] asked, “What is a vajra-warrior?”
The Master thereupon blew at him.
When Bucket-head Wen went down the mountain, the Master asked, “Bucket-head, going down the mountain, when will you return?”
He said, “In three to five days.”
The Master said, “When you return, bring back a carrying-pole load of bottomless buckets.”
Wen had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: “What would the Venerable use them for?”)
The Master sometimes gave this instruction: “Old masters in all quarters all talk about receiving people and benefiting living beings. Now let me ask you: suppose there are three kinds of afflicted persons—the blind, the deaf, and the mute—how would you receive them? If you raise a mallet or hold up a fly-whisk, their eyes cannot see it. If you speak with them, their ears cannot hear, and moreover their mouths are mute. If you cannot receive them, the Buddha-Dharma has no efficacy at all.”
At the time, a monk came forward and asked, “Regarding the three kinds of afflicted persons, does the Venerable permit someone to deliberate?”
The Master said, “I permit it; how do you deliberate?”
The monk said, “Take care,” and walked out.
The Master said, “Not it, not it.”
(Fayan said, “At that time, when I saw Master Luohan bring up this monk’s words, I then understood the three kinds of afflicted persons.” Yunju Xi said, “Just taking this monk, did he understand or not? If you say he understood, Xuansha also said ‘Not it.’ If you say he did not understand, why did Fayan say, ‘Because of this monk’s words, I then understood the three kinds of afflicted persons’? Sthaviras, if you have nothing to do, come forward and deliberate; everyone needs to know.”) Luohan said, “Guichen sees that they have eyes and ears; how does the Venerable receive them?” Zhongta said, “Where are the three kinds of afflicted persons right now?” Another monk said, “Not only do you deceive others, but you also deceive yourself.”
When Changqing Leng arrived, the Master asked, “Leaving aside dietary avoidances, what would you say?”
Leng said, “Why act foolish?”
The Master said, “On Mount Xuefeng, acorns have just been eaten; here, sparrows drop dung.”
Seeing a monk come to bow, the Master said, “Keep on bowing; through me, you are able to bow to yourself.”
One day during communal work, they went to Haikeng to chop firewood and saw a tiger. The monk said, “Venerable, a tiger!”
The Master said, “It is your tiger.”
After returning to the monastery, a monk asked, “Just before, when seeing the tiger, you said it was mine. I do not understand: what was your venerable intention?”
The Master said, “In the sahā world there are fourfold heavy obstacles. If someone can penetrate them, I allow that you have escaped the realm of the skandhas.”
(Dongshan Qi said, “Sthaviras, an ancient, having seen the truth, said: ‘My body and mind are like the great earth and empty space.’ Can people nowadays still penetrate it?”)
The Master asked Master Changsheng Ran, “Vimalakīrti observed the Buddha: ‘The past does not come, the future does not go, and the present does not abide.’ How do you observe?”
[Changsheng] replied, “Permit Jiaoran to pass, and there can be deliberation.”
The Master said, “If I permit you to pass, how would it be?”
Changsheng was silent for a long while.
The Master said, “Whom are you having understand?”
He said, “Tilting an ear in vain.”
The Master said, “I clearly knew you were making a living inside a mountain ghost’s cave.”
(Chongshou Chou said in place of Changsheng, “What do you call the Tathāgata?”)
A monk asked the Master, “Why is this student unable to speak [it]?”
The Master said, “Filling and blocking your mouth, how could you be able to speak [it]?”
(Fayan said, “The ancient spoke like that; it was extraordinary indeed. Now let me ask the sthavira: what is the mouth?”)
[A monk] asked, “Whenever there are words and phrases, they all fall into a storage chest. Leaving aside falling into a storage chest, I ask the Venerable to deliberate.”
The Master said, “Snap and break the steelyard beam, and then I will deliberate with you.”
[A monk] asked, “The ancients received people with a wink of the eye. How does the Venerable receive people?”
The Master said, “I do not receive people with a wink of the eye.”
The monk asked, “What is it that is so hard to see?”
The Master said, “Just because it is too close.”
(Fayan said, “There is also nothing that can be close; right underneath it is the sthavira.”)
When the Master was at Xuefeng, Attendant Guang said to him, “If my Dharma-uncle manages to learn Chan, I will forge an iron boat and go out to sea.”
After the Master became abbot, he asked, “Attendant Guang, have you managed to forge the iron boat yet?”
Guang had no reply.
(Fayan said in his place, “The Venerable would never do such a thing.” Fadeng said in his place, “I ask the Venerable to step down into the boat.” Xuanjue said in his place, “A poor fellow broods over old debts.”)
One day the Master sent a monk to deliver a letter to Master Xuefeng. Xuefeng opened the envelope and found only three sheets of blank paper. He asked the monk, “Do you understand?”
He replied, “I do not understand.”
Xuefeng said, “Have you not heard it said: ‘Exemplary persons a thousand li apart share the same wind’?”
The monk returned and related this to the Master.
The Master said, “This old upādhyāya has missed it without even knowing it.”
(Dongshan Qi said, “In what place was it missed? If it was truly missed, could the Master not understand his disciple’s intention? If it is not understood in that way, what was Xuansha’s intention? If you understand, then study with Xuansha.”)
The Master asked Jingqing, “In the teachings it is said, ‘A bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s not seeing a single dharma is a great fault.’ Tell me, what dharma is not seen?”
Jingqing pointed to an exposed pillar and said, “Could it be not seeing this one?”
(Tong'an Xian gave an alternative reply: “I know that the Venerable does not act rashly.”)
The Master said, “You may eat clear water and white rice in Zhejiang, but as for the Buddha-Dharma, you have not yet grasped it at all.”
(Xuanjue said, “Tell me, where was Xuansha’s intention when he spoke like that? Have you not heard that a monk asked Dongshan, ‘Not seeing a single dharma is a great fault; what is the meaning of this?’ Dongshan said, ‘Not seeing a single dharma—fine words, sthavira!’ Yisu Jue said, ‘Not seeing a single dharma is precisely the Tathāgata; only then can one be called the Bodhisattva Contemplator of Sovereignty and Samantabhadra.’ He also said, ‘“Not seeing a single dharma is a great fault”—is it one or is it two? Try to judge it.’”) A monk asked, “I have heard that the Venerable said: ‘The entire universe in the ten directions is a single bright pearl.’ How can this student understand it?”
The Master said, “The entire universe in the ten directions is a single bright pearl; what is the use of understanding?”
The next day the Master asked that monk in turn, “The entire universe in the ten directions is a single bright pearl; how do you understand it?”
He replied, “The entire universe in the ten directions is a single bright pearl; what is the use of understanding?”
The Master said, “I know you are making a living inside a mountain ghost’s cave.”
(Xuanjue said, “He spoke in the same way; why did it turn into a mountain ghost’s cave?”)
[A monk] asked, “What is the seamless stūpa?”
The Master said, “How large is this seam?”
(Xuanjue said, “In the monasteries they talk like this. Where can there be seamlessness? Did he understand correctly or not?”)
Army Supervisor Wei came to visit and remarked, “Master Caoshan is very extraordinary.”
The Master then asked, “How far is it from Fuzhou to Caoshan?”
Wei pointed to a monk beside him and asked, “Has the sthavira ever been to Caoshan?”
He said, “I have been there.”
Wei asked, “How far is it from Fuzhou to Caoshan?”
He said, “One hundred and twenty li.”
Wei said, “If so, then the sthavira has not been to Caoshan.” Wei then rose and bowed to the Master.
The Master said, “The supervisor should instead bow to this monk; this monk indeed possesses a sense of shame.”
(Yunju Xi said, “Where is it that this monk possesses a sense of shame? If you can search it out, I grant that the sthavira has the eye of an itinerant monk.”)
A Sanskrit grammarian tripiṭaka master from India arrived, and the Military Commissioner of Min had him meet with the Master. The Master struck a bronze brazier with fire-tongs and asked, “What sound is this?”
The tripiṭaka master replied, “The sound of bronze and iron.”
(Fayan gave an alternative reply: “Please let the Great Master speak for the Great King.” Fadeng gave an alternative reply: “Listen to the Venerable’s question.”)
The Master said, “Great King, do not be deceived by a foreigner.”
The tripiṭaka master had no reply.
(Fayan said in his place, “The Great Master has long received the Great King’s offerings.” Fadeng said in his place, “It is rather the Venerable who is deceiving the Great King.”)
The Master traveled south to Putian County, where a hundred varieties of theatrical entertainment were arranged to welcome him. The next day, the Master asked Elder Xiaotang, “Where did all that clamour of yesterday go?”
Xiaotang lifted a corner of his patchwork robe.
The Master said, “Vain and distracted; it has no connection.”
(Fayan gave an alternative reply: “How much clamour was there yesterday?” Fadeng gave an alternative reply: “Today it is even more laughable.”)
The Master asked a monk, “How do you understand a gandharva city?”
The monk said, “Like a dream, like an illusion.”
(Fayan gave an alternative action: he struck an object to show it to him.)
The Master and Dizang Chen were talking inside the abbot's quarters late into the night. An attendant closed the door. The Master said, “The doors are completely shut; how will you get out?”
Chen said, “What do you call a door?”
(Fadeng gave an alternative reply: “Would the Venerable not like to rest?”)
One day the Master propped his staff on the ground and asked Changsheng, “Monks’ views, lay views, men’s views, women’s views—how do you view?”
Changsheng said, “Does the Venerable see Jiaoran's point of view?”
The Master said, “Acquaintances fill the world.”
[A monk] asked, “I have heard that the Venerable said, ‘The hearing-nature everywhere pervades the Dharma realm.’ When Xuefeng beats the drum, why is it not heard here?”
The Master said, “Who knows it is not heard?”
[A monk] asked, “On a treacherous and dangerous road, what serves as a ferry and bridge?”
The Master said, “Your eyes serve as the ferry and bridge.”
[The monk] asked, “What about for those who have not attained it?”
The Master said, “Quickly rescue them.”
The Master was eating fruit with Army Supervisor Wei. Wei asked, “What is ‘using it daily without knowing it’?”
The Master picked up a fruit and said, “Eat.”
After Wei had eaten the fruit, he asked again.
The Master said, “Just this is ‘using it daily without knowing it.’”
During communal work carrying firewood, the Master said, “All of you rely entirely on my power.”
A monk said, “Since we rely on the Master’s power, what is the need for communal work?”
The Master scolded him, saying, “If you do not do communal work, how will you get the firewood back?”
The Master asked Great Master Mingzhen, “Sudhana visited Maitreya, and Maitreya directed him back to Mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī directed him to where the Buddha was. Tell me, where does the Buddha direct him?”
He replied, “I do not know.”
The Master said, “I clearly knew you did not know.”
(Fayan gave an alternative reply: “What do you call a Buddha?”)
Dapu Xuantong arrived and paid respects. The Master said to him, “While dwelling there, do not deceive and bewilder the sons and daughters of families.”
He replied, “Xuantong merely opened a gate of offerings; coming in the evening and leaving in the morning, how would I dare do such a thing?”
The Master said, “The matter is difficult.”
He said, “Its sentiment is indeed difficult.”
The Master said, “What place is the difficult place?”
He said, “Because they are unwilling to undertake it.”
The Master then entered the abbot’s quarters and barred the door.
[A monk] asked, “This student has just entered the monastery; I beg the Master to point out an entry path.”
The Master said, “Do you hear the sound of the water of Yanxi Stream?”
He said, “I hear it.”
The Master said, “That is your entry point.”
Wang Gong, the Prefect of Quanzhou, invited the Master to ascend a tower. He said to the guest prefect beforehand, “Wait until I lead the Great Master before the tower, then carry away the ladder.” The guest prefect received his instructions. The Prefect said, “I invite the Great Master to ascend the tower.”
The Master looked at the tower, looked back at the man, and thereupon said, “The Buddha-Dharma is not this principle.”
(Fayan said, “Before carrying away the ladder, how many times a day did you ascend the tower?”)
The Master was talking with the Prefect of Quanzhou in the room. A novice pulled up the curtain, entered and looked, then stepped back and went out.
The Master said, “That novice deserves twenty blows with the staff.”
[The Prefect] said, “If so, then it is my fault.”
(Tong'an Xian gave an alternative reply: “The ancestral master has arrived!”)
The Master said, “The Buddha-Dharma is not like that.”
(Jingqing said, “It was not for carrying water.” A monk asked, “What is the meaning of ‘It was not for carrying water’?” Jingqing said, “Even if the green mountain is ground to dust, I dare guarantee there are no idle persons.” Dongshan Qi said, “Just taking this, what was Xuansha’s intention? Some say: ‘Even if he went like that, he would still deserve blows with the staff.’ Some say: ‘The matter lies in meeting the moment.’ Some say: ‘It broke through what he understood.’ Do these three explanations understand Xuansha’s intention or not?”)
The Master responded to faculties and received beings for nearly thirty years, causing the profound stream of Qingyuan and Shitou to flow unbroken down to the present day, guiding future times. The essentials of the Dharma he expounded were contained in the Great and Small Records circulating throughout the realm. His other sayings were brought forward in the writings of his disciples and cited across various quarters. On the twenty-seventh day of the eleventh month in the second year of Kaiping of the Liang dynasty, a wuchen year [908 CE], he manifested illness and passed away. His age was seventy-four; his monastic age was forty-four. The Military Commissioner of Min erected a stūpa for him.