景德傳燈錄 4.32

4.32

Chan Master Daolin of Bird's Nest (Niaoke) in Hangzhou was a native of Fuyang in the same prefecture, surnamed Pan. His mother, Lady Zhu, dreamed that sunlight entered her mouth and consequently became pregnant. When he was born, an extraordinary fragrance filled the room, so he was named Xiangguang (Fragrant Light). At the age of nine he left household life. At twenty-one he received the precepts at Guoyuan Monastery in Jingzhou. Later he went to Ximing Monastery in Chang'an to study the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the Awakening of Faith under Dharma Master Fuli. Fuli showed him verses on the true and the delusive to have him cultivate dhyāna. The Master asked, "At the beginning, how does one contemplate? How does one apply the mind?" Fuli remained silent for a long time without speaking. The Master bowed three times and withdrew. It happened that Emperor Daizong of the Tang had summoned Chan Master Guoyi of Mount Jing to the imperial palace; the Master went to see him and thereupon attained the correct Dharma. When he returned to the south, previously on Mount Gu there had been a pratyekabuddha stūpa at Yongfu Monastery, where monastics and laypeople were jointly holding a Dharma assembly. The Master shook his staff and entered. Dharma Master Taoguang of Lingyin Monastery asked, "At this Dharma assembly, why make a noise?" The Master said, "Without noise, who would know it is an assembly?" Later he saw on Mount Qinwang a tall pine tree whose branches and leaves were lush and twined like a canopy, and he perched and dwelt upon it. Therefore the people of the time called him Chan Master Niaoke (Bird's Nest). Furthermore, there was a magpie that nested beside him and was naturally tame and familiar with people; thus he was also referred to as the Magpie's Nest Upādhyāya. He had an attendant named Huitong who suddenly wished to take leave one day. The Master asked, "Where are you going now?" He replied, "I, Huitong, left household life for the sake of the Dharma. Since the Upādhyāya has not deigned to grant compassionate instruction, I am now going to various regions to study the Buddha-Dharma." The Master said, "If it is the Buddha-Dharma, I have a little bit here too." [Huitong] said, "What is the Upādhyāya's Buddha-Dharma?" The Master picked up a thread of cloth from his robe and blew on it. Huitong thereupon comprehended the profound meaning. During the Yuanhe era, Bai Juyi went out to govern this prefecture, and taking the opportunity to enter the mountains, paid homage. He asked the Master, "The place where the Chan Master dwells is extremely dangerous." The Master said, "The governor's danger is even greater." [Bai Juyi] said, "This disciple holds a position guarding the rivers and mountains; what danger could there be?" The Master said, "Firewood and fire meet, and the nature of consciousness does not rest; how could that not be dangerous?" He further asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?" The Master said, "Commit no evil, practice all good." Bai said, "Even a three-year-old child knows how to say that." The Master said, "Though a three-year-old child can say it, an eighty-year-old man cannot practice it." Bai then bowed in reverence. On the tenth day of the second month of the fourth year of the Changqing era, the Master said to his attendants, "My karmic recompense is now exhausted." Having finished speaking, he died while sitting. His age was eighty-four, and his monastic age was sixty-three. (Some say the Master's name was Yuanxiu; this is likely a posthumous title.)