景德傳燈錄 22.53

22.53

Upādhyāya Baiyun Xiang of Shaozhou, Master Shixing. At first he resided at Ciguang Cloister. The ruler of Guangzhou, Liu, summoned him to his mansion to preach the Dharma. At that time a monk asked, "The flower of enlightenment has just blossomed, rightly meeting an era of brilliance. Without obscuring the tradition of the school, I beg the master for skillful means." The Master said, "My king has an order." [The monk] asked, "Are the meaning of the teachings and the meaning of the ancestral masters the same or different?" The Master said, "Not different." [The monk] said, "In that case, they are the same." The Master said, "No harm in taking it that way." [The monk] asked, "Before the Buddhas appeared in the world, they pervaded the great chiliocosm; how is it with Baiyun's single assembly?" The Master said, "How many people have been deceived?" [The monk] said, "If so, what do the four assemblies rely on?" The Master said, "No relation." [The monk] asked, "'Mind itself is Buddha' is an instructive phrase. Without touching upon former words, how do you give instruction?" The Master said, "Setting aside east and west, what about south and north?" [The monk] asked, "What is the upādhyāya's house style?" The Master said, "Beyond the stone bridge there is; on this side there is not. Do you understand?" The monk said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Just recite the chant of Duke Ding for a while." [The monk] asked, "When the robe reached the Sixth Ancestor, why was it not transmitted?" The Master said, "The seas are tranquil, the rivers are clear." [The monk] asked, "What is the upādhyāya's way of receiving people?" The Master said, "Tomorrow morning I will present it again for the King of Chu to see." [The monk] asked, "How is the ancestral vehicle brought forth and propagated?" The Master said, "Today I have not yet had tea." The Master ascended the hall and addressed the assembly, saying, "Do you all understand? Just understand it at the street corners and market ends, among butchers, executioners, and the cauldron waters of hell. If you understand it in this way, you are fit to be a teacher and craftsman to others. But if you look toward the gate of patched-robe monks, it is as far apart as heaven and earth. There is yet another sort: they merely make good people of themselves upon the long interconnected meditation benches. Tell me, of these two kinds of people, which one has the advantage? Nothing more; take care." The Master asked a monk, "Where do you come from?" [The monk] said, "I come from Yunmen." The Master said, "How many water buffaloes are in there?" [The monk] said, "One or two." The Master said, "Good water buffaloes." The Master asked a monk, "Without destroying conventional designations, how do you speak of the true mark?" The monk said, "This is a chair." The Master waved his hand and said, "Bring the shoe-bag." The monk had no reply. (When Upādhyāya Yunmen heard of this, he said, "Only he could manage that!") When the Master was about to manifest extinction, he addressed the assembly, saying, "Although I have held up the seal of the ancestral masters, I have not exhausted what is within it. Virtuous ones, tell me, what is the matter within it? Could it be boundless, middle, inside, and outside, or not? If you understand it thus, then the great earth is like spreading sand. Hereafter we shall meet in another realm." Having finished speaking, he entered quiescence.