景德傳燈錄 21.5

21.5

Chan Master Huiqiu Jizhao of Anguo Monastery on Mount Wolong in Fuzhou (the second generation abbot, also called Zhongta) was a native of Putian in Quanzhou. He left home at Mount Guiyang. In Xuansha's quarters, he ranked foremost among those who inquired into the Dharma. Once he asked, "What is the first moon?" Xuansha said, "What do you use your moon for?" From this the Master had an awakening. In the second year of Kaiping of the Liang dynasty, when Xuansha was about to manifest extinction, the military commissioner of Min, Lord Wang, sent his son to inquire after his illness, and further requested him to secretly indicate who should succeed him in preaching the Dharma. Xuansha said, "Qiu has it." Lord Wang silently bore in mind the bequeathed instructions, and then asked National Master Gushan, "For the Dharma seat at Wolong, who should undertake that responsibility?" Gushan brought forward twelve senior and virtuous monks from beneath the city walls who possessed the eye of the Way, all capable of appearing in the world. Lord Wang also remained silent about this. When the day came to open the hall, government officials and monks all gathered at the Dharma assembly. Lord Wang suddenly asked the assembly, "Who is Sthavira Qiu?" Thereupon the assembly pointed out the Master. Lord Wang then invited him to ascend the seat. The Master remained silent for a good while, and then addressed the assembly, saying, "Do not dislike loneliness; do not say it is unbearable. When the limit is not yet clear, how can you debate and measure it? Therefore, normally I use sounds and echoes, giving a poke or two merely to help trigger their awakening, saying: 'Search through the worlds of the ten directions for a single person to be a companion, and none can be found.'" A monk asked, "Through what skillful means may one suddenly enter the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?" The Master said, "Entering is the skillful means." [The monk] asked, "From what mountain do clouds arise? From what ravine is the wind born?" The Master said, "Exerting all effort in action does not depart from Zhongta." The Master ascended the hall and addressed the assembly, saying, "My expounding of the conditions of gruel and rice here for you brethren is ultimately not eternal. If you wish to attain what is essential, it is rather the mountains, rivers, and the great earth that will illuminate it for you. Since that Way is eternal, it can also be ultimate. If you enter through the gate of Mañjuśrī, all unconditioned earth, wood, tiles, and rubble will help trigger your awakening. If you enter through the gate of Avalokiteśvara, all sounds, echoes, toads, and earthworms will help trigger your awakening. If you enter through the gate of Samantabhadra, you arrive without moving a step. I use the skillful means of these three gates to show you, like taking a single broken chopstick to stir the water of the great ocean, making those fish and dragons know that water is their life. Do you understand? If you lack the eye of wisdom to examine it thoroughly, no matter your hundred kinds of cleverness, it will not be ultimate." A monk asked, "I have recently entered the monastery and am not clear about my own affair; I beg the Master's instruction." The Master pointed at him with his staff and said, "Do you understand?" [The monk] said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "My acting like this for you has instead ended up doing you an injustice. Do you know that? If we consider the person's own share, the fundamental matter is never lacking, regardless of whether one has just entered the monastery or is a Buddha of the past. It is like the water of the great ocean: from when they are first born until they grow old and die, the water enjoyed by all fish and dragons is completely equal." [A monk] asked, "Without deviating from the correct lineage, please, Master, speak the truth." The Master said, "You speak for me." The monk said, "If there is someone who cannot discern it, what then?" The Master said, "Wait until someone who cannot discern it comes." [A monk] asked, "Do the Buddhas still have a teacher?" The Master said, "They do." The monk said, "Who is the teacher of the Buddhas?" The Master said, "No one can recognize him." The Master ascended the hall and remained silent for a good while. A monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, "Do not let your skull be crushed." [A monk] asked, "What was the affair at the assembly on Vulture Peak?" The Master said, "Few are those who are sharp-witted." The monk said, "If one suddenly encounters a sharp-witted one, what then?" The Master said, "This muddled fellow!" The Master ascended the hall and instructed the assembly, saying, "If you people wish to deliberate, send word from behind the skull and then come deliberate together. Here, people's radiance has never been obstructed." [A monk] asked, "How is the matter of the ancestral vehicle from of old?" The Master remained silent for a good while. The monk asked again. The Master then shouted him out. [A monk] asked, "What was the affair on the peak of Mount Dayu?" The Master said, "I reckon you cannot bear it." The monk said, "How heavy is it?" The Master said, "Regarding this sort of thing, even after kalpas of discussion, nothing can be done about it." The Master asked Monastery Director Liao, "Just as the late master said, 'The worlds of the ten directions are entirely the real person's body'—do you still see the monks' hall?" Liao said, "Upādhyāya, do not let your eyes be blurred." The Master said, "The late master passed away, yet his flesh is still warm." The Master passed away without illness on the seventeenth day of the eighth month in the third year of Qianhua of the Liang dynasty, the guiyou year.