景德傳燈錄 26.51

26.51

A monk asked, "I have been at Yongming for a long time. Why do I not understand the house style of Yongming?"
The Master said, "Understand it at the place where you do not understand."
The monk said, "How can one understand it at the place where one does not understand?"
The Master said, "An ox's womb gives birth to an elephant calf; from the cerulean sea, red dust arises."
The monk asked, "Becoming a Buddha or becoming an ancestor, one still cannot escape; transmigration in the six destinies, one still cannot escape. I wonder: what can one not escape?"
The Master said, "You cannot escape the place from which you ask."
The monk asked, "According to the teachings, it is said that all Buddhas and all Buddha-dharmas emerge from this sūtra. What is this sūtra?"
The Master said, "It turns constantly without halting; it is neither meaning nor sound."
The monk said, "How does one accept and uphold it?"
The Master said, "If one wishes to accept and uphold it, one must listen with the eyes."
The monk asked, "What is the great round mirror?"
The Master said, "A broken earthen basin."
The Master resided at the Yongming place of practice for fifteen years, ordaining one thousand seven hundred disciples. In the seventh year of Kaibao, he went to Mount Tiantai and administered the precepts to about ten thousand people. He regularly administered the bodhisattva precepts to the seven assemblies. At night he offered food to ghosts and spirits; in the morning he released living creatures beyond count. During the six periods of the day he scattered flowers. In the spare energy from practicing the Way, he recited the Lotus Sūtra thirteen thousand times. He composed the Zongjing lu in one hundred fascicles, and his poems, verses, fu-rhapsodies, and chants amounted to some ten million words, spreading abroad. The King of Goryeo read the Master's teachings and sent an envoy with a letter to express the courtesy of a disciple, presenting a kāṣāya woven with golden thread, rosaries of purple quartz, a golden water basin, and other gifts. Thirty-six monks of that country personally received his seal of approval, and returned to their native land over time to each transform their own region. In the eighth year of Kaibao, the year yihai, in the twelfth month, he showed signs of illness. On the twenty-sixth day, at the chen hour, he burned incense, informed the assembly, sat cross-legged, and passed away. On the sixth day of the first month of the following year, a stūpa was erected on Mount Daci. He was seventy-two years of age, with forty-two Dharma years. Emperor Taizong bestowed a plaque reading "Shouning Chan Cloister."