景德傳燈錄 4.54

4.54

Chan Master Yuangui of Mount Song was a native of Yique. His surname was Li. He left home at an early age. In the second year of the Yongchun era of the Tang, he received full ordination and was affiliated with Xianju Temple, studying the Vinaya without flagging. Later, he visited State Master An, who sealed him with the true school, and he suddenly awakened to the dark purport. He then selected a site for a hut in Pangwu of the Mount. One day, a strange man wearing a high cap and a traveling tunic arrived, with a multitude of attendants, walking with light and measured steps, announcing that he had come to pay respects to the Great Master. The Master saw that his appearance was extraordinary and magnificent, and so said to him, "Welcome, benevolent one. Why have you come?" He replied, "Does the Master not recognize me?" The Master said, "I view the Buddhas and sentient beings as equal; I see them as one—how could I make distinctions?" He said, "I am the god of this mountain. I can bring life and death to men. How can the Master view me as one [with others]?" The Master said, "I am fundamentally unborn; how could you make me die? I view my body as equal to empty space; I view myself as equal to you. Can you destroy empty space and yourself? If you could destroy empty space and destroy yourself, then I am neither born nor destroyed. When you cannot even do this, how could you bring life and death to me?" The god bowed his head and said, "I am also wise and upright among the other gods. How could I have known that the Master possessed such vast wisdom and eloquence? I pray you confer the correct precepts upon me to deliver me from the world." The Master said, "Since you have asked for the precepts, you are already precep-ted. Why is this? Outside the precepts there are no precepts; again, what precepts would there be?" The god said, "This is the principle. I hear it indistinctly, and only seek the Master's precepts, that I myself may become your disciple." The Master thereupon set out a seat for him, held the censer, straightened the table, and said, "I confer upon you the five precepts. If you are able to uphold them, then you should answer 'I can'; if you cannot, then say 'No.'" The god said, "I respectfully accept your instruction." The Master said, "Can you refrain from sexual misconduct?" He replied, "I also marry." The Master said, "I do not mean this; I mean having no net of desires." He said, "I can." The Master said, "Can you refrain from stealing?" He replied, "What do I lack, that I should commit theft?" The Master said, "I do not mean this; I mean receiving offerings and blessing the licentious, or bringing calamity upon the good when not offered [food]." He said, "I can." The Master said, "Can you refrain from killing?" He replied, "I truly hold that power; how could I say I do not kill?" The Master said, "I do not mean this; I mean indiscriminate error and confounded confusion." He said, "I can." The Master said, "Can you refrain from lying?" He replied, "I am upright; how could I lie?" The Master said, "I do not mean this; I mean going before or behind, not conforming to Heaven's intent." He said, "I can." The Master said, "Can you avoid being ruined by alcohol?" He replied, "I can." The Master said, "The above are the Buddha's precepts." He further said, "To uphold them with a mind, yet without a mind's clinging grasp; to act for beings with a mind, yet without a mind conceiving of a body—if you can be like this, then being born before Heaven and Earth is not being a spirit, and dying after Heaven and Earth is not growing old. Transforming all day long without being moved, and completely tranquil and silent without ceasing—awakening to this, then though you marry, she is not a wife; though you receive offerings, it is not taking; though you hold power, it is not authority; though you act, it is not deliberate; though you are intoxicated, it is not stupor. If you can have no mind regarding the myriad phenomena, then the net of desires is not sexual misconduct, blessing the licentious and bringing calamity to the good is not stealing, indiscriminate error and confounded confusion is not killing, going before and behind in violation of Heaven is not lying, and bewildered chaos and delusion is not drunkenness. This is called no-mind. Where there is no-mind, there are no precepts; where there are no precepts, there is no mind. There is no Buddha and no sentient beings; there is no you and no me. When there is no you, who takes the precepts?" The god said, "My supernatural powers are second only to the Buddha's." The Master said, "Of your supernatural powers, in ten phrases, five you can do and five you cannot. The Buddha, in ten phrases, can do seven and cannot do three." The god, startled, drew back from his seat, knelt, and said, "May I hear of them?" The Master said, "Can you oppose the Supreme Sovereign, causing the eastern heavens to move, and setting the seven luminaries in the west?" He said, "I cannot." The Master said, "Can you wrest away the terrestrial spirits, melting the five sacred peaks and congealing the four seas?" He said, "I cannot." The Master said, "These are what are called the five that you cannot do. The Buddha can empty all marks and accomplish the knowledge of the myriad phenomena, but he cannot immediately extinguish fixed karma. The Buddha can know the natures of all beings and penetrate the events of countless kalpas, but he cannot convert and guide those without affinity. The Buddha can deliver immeasurable sentient beings, but he cannot exhaust the realm of sentient beings. These are called the three that he cannot do. Fixed karma is also not firm and lasting; having no affinity is also only for a single period. The realm of sentient beings originally neither increases nor decreases. Furthermore, there is not a single person who can master existing phenomena. Where existing phenomena have no master, this is called no-phenomena; where no-phenomena have no master, this is called no-mind. As I understand it, the Buddha also has no supernatural powers; he is merely able to penetrate all phenomena by means of no-mind." The god said, "I am truly shallow and benighted, having not heard the meaning of emptiness. The precepts conferred by the Master I shall uphold. Now I wish to repay your compassionate virtue by exerting what I am capable of." The Master said, "I view the body as having no substance; I view phenomena as impermanent. Sitting alone like a mound of earth, what further desires could I have?" The god said, "The Master must command me to do a worldly matter, to display my small supernatural powers, so that the five classes of people—those who have already aroused the thought [of awakening], those who have newly aroused it, those who have not yet aroused it, those who lack faith, and those who are certain of faith—may witness the traces of my supernatural powers and know that there is a Buddha, there are gods, there is what can be done and what cannot be done, there is what is natural and what is not natural." The Master said, "Do not do this, do not do this!" The god said, "The Buddha also made gods protect the Dharma. Would the Master overthrow and rebel against the Buddha? I pray you deign to instruct me according to your wish." The Master, having no alternative, said, "The screen of the temple's eastern cliff is desolate and bare of trees. The northern peak has them, but none serve as a screening embrace. Can you move the trees of the north to the eastern ridge?" The god said, "I have already received your command. However, in the dark of night there will surely be clamorous upheaval; I pray the Master will not be alarmed." He then made prostrations and took his leave. The Master saw him off at the gate and watched him: he saw an escort winding along like that of a king, with mountain mists, smoke, and clouds mingling in profusion, banners and pennants, rings and pendants rising into the air and vanishing. That night, there was indeed a violent storm, roaring thunder, rushing clouds, and flashing lightning; the beams and eaves shook and swayed, and roosting birds cried out in confusion. The Master said to the assembly, "Have no fear, have no fear. The god has made a pact with me." At dawn it cleared and became mild, and the pines and junipers of the northern cliff had all been moved to the eastern ridge, planted in dense, orderly rows. The Master said to his disciples, "After I pass away, do not let outsiders know of this. If it becomes a topic of talk, people will think of me as an illusionist." In the fourth year of the Kaiyuan era, the bingchen year, he instructed his disciples, saying, "I first lived on the eastern ridge of the temple; when I pass away, you must place my remains there." When he finished speaking, he cast off his form as if shedding a husk. His spring and autumn were seventy-three. His disciples built a stupa for him.