景德傳燈錄 24.6

24.6

Chan Master Xiufu Wukong of Qingliang Monastery in Shengzhou was a native of Beihai. His family name was Wang. He left home in his youth and received the precepts at nineteen. He once said to himself, "If I still remain attached to the expressed teaching, that is clinging to the raft. If I am to head toward frozen quiescence, I worry about falling into emptiness. Since I can neither advance nor retreat, letting go of both, where should I go?" He then travelled to seek out master lineage teachers, and his conditions brought him to Master Dizang (this is narrated in the chapter on Fayan). Later he succeeded Fayan in residing at Chongshou in Fuzhou. In the jiachen year, the ruler of Jiangnan founded the great Qingliang bodhimandala and invited him to dwell there. Ascending the hall, he instructed the assembly, saying: "As soon as the ancient sage was born, he walked seven paces all around, surveyed the four directions with his eyes, and said: 'Above the heavens and beneath the heavens, I alone am the most honored.' He already had this extraordinary skillful means. Just as for all of you sthaviras, when you were first born, what extraordinary thing did you have? Try to present it. If you say you had none, you turn your back on it and deny it to its face; if you say you had one, how will you convey news of it? Do you understand? Sthaviras, you fortunately have this extraordinary matter; why are you unaware of it? Take care." A monk asked, "What is the Buddha?" The Master said, "You are a sentient being." The monk said, "Do you also approve?" The Master said, "This question is posed in vain." The monk asked, "What is the meaning of [the Patriarch's] coming from the West?" The Master said, "Do you say there is still any in this land?" The monk asked, "At the essential turning point, I beg the Master for a word." The Master said, "Take care." The monk asked, "What is the Way?" The Master said, "Originally there is not a single thing; where could dust gather?" The monk made prostrations. The Master said, "Do not understand it wrongly." The monk asked, "What is 'entering correct absorption in a single speck of dust'?" The Master said, "Form is emptiness." The monk said, "What is 'arising from samādhi in all dust specks'?" The Master said, "Emptiness is form." The monk asked, "I will not ask about anything else. What is the phrase of Wukong (awakening to emptiness)?" The Master said, "It is two phrases." The monk asked, "Before Niutou had seen the Fourth Patriarch, why did the hundred birds hold flowers in their beaks?" The Master said, "He had not seen the Fourth Patriarch." The monk said, "Why did they not hold flowers in their beaks after he saw him?" The Master said, "He had seen the Fourth Patriarch." The monk asked, "What is one's own matter?" The Master said, "How many places have you gone to ask people?" The monk asked, "What did the ancients attain so that they immediately ceased and rested?" The Master said, "What have you attained so that you do not cease and rest?" The monk asked, "What is the student's place of liberation?" The Master said, "A thousand kinds of comparisons cannot match it; ten thousand kinds of analogies cannot reach it." The monk said, "Please speak, Upādhyāya." The Master said, "It exists in ancient times, and it exists in the present." A monk asked, "What is the bodhi that meets the eyes before a deceased monk?" The Master said, "Ask the skull." Later someone asked, "What is the original source of all buddhas?" The Master said, "What do you call all buddhas?" A monk asked, "Raining flowers moves the earth, and the sound of thunder first arises. I do not know what the Upādhyāya is proclaiming today?" The Master said, "What did I say to the sthavira?" The monk said, "If so, then one has encountered Qingliang." The Master said, "Only if it is real will it do." A monk asked, "When the venomous dragon stirs boldly and the myriad forms are all the same, how is it?" The Master said, "Where did you get this opening question?" In his daily life, the Master dwelt in the abbot's quarters wearing only a single coarse sock. He frequently smiled at his fellow practitioner Fayan for composing so many verses. In the eighth year of the Tianfu era of the Jin dynasty, a guimao year, on the first day of the tenth month, he sent a monk to the Bao'en Monastery to ask Chan Master Fayan to come to the abbot's quarters for his final instructions. He also dispatched a letter to bid farewell to the ruler of the state, setting his entry into quiescence for the zi hour on the night of the third day. The ruler of the state repeatedly sent messengers to inquire after him and ordered that the bell of the monastery be struck when the time came. When the moment arrived, the great assembly gathered together. The Master sat upright, admonished the assembly, saying, "Do not squander the passing light of time!" and as his words ended, announced his entry into quiescence. At that time, hearing the bell, the ruler of the state climbed a high terrace to pay homage to Qingliang from afar, feeling profound grief and admiration, and offered sacrifices. After the cremation, the relics (śarīra) were collected and a stupa was erected.