景德傳燈錄 25.4

25.4

National Preceptor Deshao of Mount Tiantai was a native of Longquan in Chuzhou. His lay surname was Chen, and his mother was of the Ye family. She dreamed that a white light touched her body, whereupon she became pregnant. When he was born, there were many marvelous portents. When he was fifteen years old, an Indian monk urged him to leave home. At seventeen, he studied under a master at Longgui Monastery in his home prefecture. At eighteen, he received the full precepts at Kaiyuan Monastery in Xinzhou. During the Kaiping era of the Liang dynasty, he traveled on pilgrimage and went to Mount Touzi, where he met Chan Master Datong; this was the beginning of his aspiration [for awakening]. Next, he visited Upādhyāya Dun of Longya and asked, "Why cannot one approach the mighty and venerable one?" Longya said, "Like fire and fire." [Deshao] said, "What happens if it suddenly encounters water?" Longya said, "You do not understand." The master asked again, "Heaven does not cover it; earth does not support it. What is the principle of this?" Longya said, "It should be just so." The master did not understand the meaning and requested instruction once more. Longya said, "Practitioner, later on you will understand on your own." Next, he asked Shushan, "Whose realm is a hundred wraps and a thousand folds?" Shushan said, "Twisting a miscanthus rope to the left to bind a ghost." The master went on to say, "Please, Master, speak of that which does not fall into past or present." [Shushan] said, "I will not speak." The master said, "Why do you not speak?" [Shushan] said, "Within this, existence and nonexistence are not distinguished." The master said, "Now, Master, you have spoken well." Shushan was startled by him. The master thus traveled to and studied under fifty-four kalyāṇamitras, but with none did conditions for the Dharma match. Finally, he arrived in Linchuan and visited Chan Master Jinghui. As soon as Jinghui saw him, he regarded him as a vessel of great depth. Because the master had traveled extensively through the monasteries, he was also weary of questioning and searching, and merely followed along with the assembly. One day, when Jinghui ascended the hall, a monk asked, "What is a single drop of water from the source of Cao[xi]?" Jinghui said, "It is a single drop of water from the source of Cao[xi]." The monk withdrew bewildered. Beside the seat, the master was suddenly and completely awakened; the doubts and obstructions of his whole life melted away like ice. He then reported his awakening to Jinghui. Jinghui said, "In the future, you will be the teacher of a king of the realm, causing the ancestral path to shine gloriously; I am not your equal." From then on, whenever the diverse sayings from various quarters and the profound locks of ancient and modern times were resolved by him, not the slightest trace remained. Soon he returned to his home circuit and traveled to Mount Tiantai. Seeing the remnants of Chan Master Zhiyi, the Great Teacher, it was as if it were his former dwelling. Moreover, the master shared the same surname as the Great Teacher; people of the time called him his later incarnation. At first, he stayed at Baisha. At that time, King Zhongyi of Wuyue, who as a prince was governing Taizhou, heard of the master's renown and invited him to ask about the Way. The master said to him, "When you become the sovereign in the future, do not forget the Buddha's kindness." In the first year of the Qianyou era of the Han dynasty, the year wushen, the king succeeded to the throne; he sent an envoy to welcome him and offered him the etiquette of a disciple. There was a certain Xiji who transmitted the teachings of Zhiyi of Tiantai, who repeatedly said to the master, "The teachings of the Great Teacher have receded with the passage of years, and the texts have mostly been scattered and lost. Now in the kingdom of Silla, the texts are very complete. Were it not for the Upādhyāya's compassionate power, who could obtain them?" The master thereupon reported this to King Zhongyi. The king dispatched an envoy bearing the master's letter to that country, and after copying and completing the texts, the envoy returned. From that time until now, they have flourished widely in the world. The master ascended the hall and said: "The skillful means of the ancient sages are like the sands of the Ganges. The ancestral master said, 'It is neither the wind nor the banner that moves; it is the minds of the virtuous ones that move.' This is the dharma-gate of the supreme mind-seal. We are guests under the ancestral master's gate; how should we understand the ancestral master's meaning? Do not say that the wind and banner do not move, and that your minds move delusionally. Do not say that without setting aside the wind and banner, one directly penetrates through the wind and banner. Do not say, 'What is it at the place where the wind and banner move?' Some say, 'Illuminating the mind by attaching to things; one need not recognize things.' Some say, 'Form is emptiness.' Some say, 'Neither the wind nor the banner moves; one must have a subtle understanding.' What connection do such interpretations have with the ancestral master's intended meaning? Since such understanding is not permitted, all you sthaviras should naturally realize this. If you awaken thoroughly right here, what dharma-gate would not be clear? The skillful means of the hundreds of thousands of Buddhas would be understood at once. What further doubt could there be? Therefore the ancients said, 'When one is understood, a thousand are clear; when one is deluded, ten thousand are confused.' Could it be that you sthaviras understand one today and fail to understand it again tomorrow? Could it be that there is a transcendental matter that is difficult to understand, and a part that inferior ordinary people cannot understand? If one holds such views, even after passing through dust-like kalpas, one will merely exhaust one's spirit and wear out one's thoughts, without achieving anything right." A monk asked, "The extinguished aspect of all dharmas cannot be expressed in words. How does the Upādhyāya instruct people?" The master said, "Go to the various quarters and ask again." [The monk] said, "If so, then it is completely cut off from words and phrases." The master said, "Awake within a dream." [A monk] asked, "When both oar and scull have stopped, how does one reach the other shore?" The master said, "I congratulate you on your whole life." [A monk] asked, "What are the three kinds of sick people?" The master said, "You have asked just right." [A monk] asked, "What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?" The master said, "This question is not weak." [A monk] asked, "What are the six characteristics?" The master said, "It is just you." [A monk] asked, "What is skillful means?" The master said, "This question is very appropriate." [A monk] asked, "When a deceased monk passes away, where does he go?" The master said, "In the end I will not tell you." [The monk] said, "Why do you not tell me?" The master said, "I fear you will not understand." [A monk] asked, "'One flower opens with five petals, and the fruit naturally forms.' What is 'one flower opens with five petals'?" The master said, "The sun rises and the moon is bright." [The monk] said, "What is 'the fruit naturally forms'?" The master said, "Heaven and earth are dazzlingly bright." [A monk] asked, "What is the sorrow-free Buddha?" The master said, "It worries people to death." [A monk] asked, "From what do all the mountains, rivers, and the great earth arise?" The master said, "From where does this question come?" [A monk] asked, "What is the frequently arising mind?" The master said, "How can it be concealed?" [A monk] asked, "What is the second moon?" The master said, "The place it comes from is very clear." [The monk] said, "Why do I not understand?" The master said, "What do you call the second moon?" [A monk] asked, "What is the eye of a śramaṇa?" The master said, "Black as lacquer." [A monk] asked, "What happens when news is completely cut off?" The master said, "Thank you for pointing it out." [A monk] asked, "What is 'transforming things is then identical to the Tathāgata'?" The master said, "What do you call things?" [The monk] said, "If so, then it is identical to the Tathāgata." The master said, "Do not bark like a jackal." [A monk] asked, "Prince Nezha severed his flesh to return it to his mother and severed his bones to return them to his father, and afterward expounded the Dharma for his parents upon a lotus flower. I wonder, what is the Prince's body?" The master said, "Everyone sees the sthavira." [The monk] asked, "If so, then the great chiliocosm shares the same nature of suchness." The master said, "Vaguely resembling a tune that was just worth listening to, / But blown away by the wind into another melody." [A monk] asked, "When the six faculties are all extinguished, why are principle and phenomena not clear?" The master said, "Where are they not clear?" [The monk] said, "If so, then principle and phenomena are both as such." The master said, "Where are your previous words?" The master at times addressed the assembly, saying: "In general, with words and phrases, you must completely cut off any leakage before you can attain it." At that time, a monk asked, "What is a phrase that completely cuts off leakage?" The master said, "Your mouth resembles your nostrils." [A monk] asked, "What is not realizing a single dharma?" The master said, "Wait until there are words." [The monk] said, "What is realizing all dharmas?" The master said, "Why are you drunk?" The master at times addressed the assembly, saying: "Just as this mountain monk responds to you sthaviras in this way, how do you comprehend it? Could it be genuine assistance? Could it be that right at such a moment, there is not a single dharma that can be realized? Could it be knowing where he comes from? Could it be the entire body being manifested? Do not misunderstand! Holding such views is called clinging to grass and attaching to trees; it is as far apart from the Buddha-Dharma as heaven is from earth. Even if your answers to questions and your ready eloquence flow like a suspended river, they only amount to upside-down views. If you only value answering questions and ready eloquence, what difficulty is there? I only fear it will bring no benefit to people and instead turn into deception and error. Sthaviras, regarding what you have learned from the past, your ready eloquence, question-and-answer, memorization, and explanation of principles are extremely abundant. Why do the doubts in your minds not cease? When you hear of the skillful means of the ancient sages, you especially fail to understand. It is simply because there is much emptiness and little substance. Sthaviras, why do you not see through it all at once beneath your own heels and see what principle it is? How many dharma-gates are there that create doubts and seek understanding for you sthaviras? Only then will you know that what you learned previously was merely knowledge of the livelihood within the realm of the aggregates, the root source of birth and death. Therefore the ancients said, 'If seeing and hearing are not shed, it is like the moon in the water.' Nothing further; take care." The master had a gāthā to instruct the assembly, saying: