景德傳燈錄 25.9

25.9

Chan Master Huiming of Bao'en Temple in Hangzhou was surnamed Jiang. Having gone forth from home in his youth, he was thoroughly trained in the three trainings and aspired to explore the profound purport. He then traveled south through the Min and Yue regions, visiting various Chan assemblies without connecting with his original mind. Later, he arrived in Linchuan and had an audience with Chan Master Jinghui; master and disciple harmonized in the Way. Soon he returned to Mount Damei by the Yin River to reside in a hermitage. At that time, although students of Chan were flourishing within the territory of Wuyue, they placed Xuansha's orthodox lineage outside the Pale. The Master wished to rectify and guide them. One day, two traveling Chan monks arrived. The Master asked them, "Where have you come from, sthaviras?" They replied, "The capital." The Master said, "For you sthaviras to leave the capital and come to this mountain means that the capital is lacking you sthaviras, and this mountain has an excess of you sthaviras. If there is an excess, then there are phenomena outside the mind; if there is a lack, then the phenomena of the mind are not all-pervasive. If you can state the principle, you may stay; if you do not understand, you must leave." The two Chan monks were unable to answer. A newly arrived monk asked, "Who is the master of Damei?" The Master said, "Where have you departed from today, ācārya?" The monk had no reply. The Master soon moved to Mount Tiantai and built a hermitage at Baisha. At that time, there was Sthavira Pengyan, who was broadly learned and had a powerful memory; he came to visit the Master to debate the tradition of the school. The Master said, "Many words are far from the Way. Now I have a matter to ask you about: as for the past sages and former masters, were there any who were not enlightened?" Pengyan said, "If they were sages and former masters, how could they not have been enlightened?" The Master said, "When one person sends forth the real and returns to the source, the empty space of the ten directions all completely disintegrates. Now Mount Tiantai stands lofty and erect; how can it disintegrate?" Pengyan was at a loss. From then on, those of other schools and broad learning who came were all convinced. During the Qianyou era of the Han, King Zhongyi of Wuyue invited him into the royal palace to inquire about the Dharma and appointed him to reside at Zichong Cloister. The Master extensively expounded how the purports of Master Zongyi of Xuansha and Fayan of Dizang were the utmost pinnacle. The king therefore ordered Cuiyan Lingcan and other Chan masters, as well as eminent gentlemen of the capital, to determine the winner. Chan Master Tianlong asked, "All Buddhas and their Buddha-dharmas emerge from this sūtra. I wonder: where does this sūtra emerge from?" The Master said, "What did you say?" Just as Tianlong was about to ask again, the Master said, "It has passed!" Elder Ziyan asked, "What is the samādhi manifested before us?" The Master said, "Do you still hear?" He replied, "I do not suffer from deafness." The Master said, "Truly, you do suffer from deafness." The Master cited Xuefeng's stupa inscription and asked an elderly master, "'That which exists from conditions begins and ends, becoming and decaying; that which does not exist from conditions endures through kalpas, eternally solid.' Setting aside solid and decaying for a moment, where is Xuefeng right now?" (Fayan said as an alternative, "Right now, is it becoming or decaying?") None of the assembly could reply. Even if someone replied, they could not withstand his interrogation. At that time, all the talents submitted. The king was greatly pleased, had the Master reside there, and conferred the title Chan Master Yuantong Puzhao. The Master ascended the hall and addressed the assembly, "Do you all understand yet? Do not say that speech and silence, movement and stillness, are entirely Buddha-work—that is fine, but do not misunderstand!" A monk asked, "What is the meaning of the Ancestral Master coming from the West?" The Master said, "Do you still see the incense terrace?" The monk said, "I do not understand; I beg the Master's instruction." The Master said, "You do not even recognize the incense terrace." He asked, "Leaving aside the mechanism directly before us, what is the meaning of coming from the West?" The Master said, "Why do you not ask?" The monk said, "In that case, I understand it." The Master said, "That too is wasted effort." A monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma?" The Master said, "'The fundamental light-auspice of the Buddha Candradīpa was like this.'" A monk asked, "What is the student's self?" The Master said, "What is your intention in deliberately presenting this question?" A monk asked, "What is the meaning of coming from the West?" The Master said, "A hundred and eight thousand leagues of true trudging; straight away coming from the West, it does not reach the East." A monk asked, "What is the second moon?" The Master said, "Squeezing the eyes to look at flowers, there are several blossoms; seeing the radiant tree, there are several branches."