景德傳燈錄 5.102

5.102

National Teacher Huizhong of Guangzhai Temple in the Western Capital was a native of Zhuji in Yuezhou. His surname was Ran. After receiving the mind-seal, he resided in Dangzi Valley on Mount Baiya in Nanyang. For more than forty years he did not step outside the mountain gate. His practice of the Way became known in the imperial capital. In the second year of the Shangyuan era of Emperor Suzong of the Tang, an imperial order was issued commanding the eunuch Sun Chaojin to carry an imperial decree summoning him to the capital, where he was received with the etiquette due to a teacher. At first he resided in the Western Chan Cloister of Qianfu Temple. When Daizong ascended the throne, he again welcomed him to reside at Guangzhai Monastery. For sixteen years he expounded the Dharma according to faculties and conditions. At that time, Tripiṭaka Master Da'er (Big Ears) from Western India arrived in the capital, claiming to have attained the eye of wisdom that knows others' minds. The Emperor decreed that he be tested by the National Teacher. As soon as the Tripiṭaka Master saw the Teacher, he made prostrations and stood to his right. The Teacher asked, 'Have you attained the supernormal power of knowing others' minds?' He replied, 'I would not dare [claim so].' The Teacher said, 'Tell me, where is this old monk right now?' He replied, 'The Upādhyāya is the teacher of a nation; how could you go off to Xichuan to watch the boat races?' The Teacher asked a second time, 'Tell me, where is this old monk right now?' He replied, 'The Upādhyāya is the teacher of a nation; how could you be on Tianjin Bridge watching monkeys perform?' The Teacher asked a third time, in the same words as before. The Tripiṭaka Master remained silent for a long time, unaware of where he had gone. The Teacher scolded him, saying, 'This wild-fox spirit! Where is your supernormal power of knowing others' minds?' The Tripiṭaka Master had no reply. (A monk asked Yangshan, 'Why did the Tripiṭaka Master Da'er not see the National Teacher the third time?' Yangshan said, 'The first two times were mind involving itself in sensory realms; later he entered the samādhi of self-enjoyment, and that was why he did not see him.' Another monk brought up the previous story to ask Xuansha. Xuansha said, 'Tell me, did he really see him the first two times?' Xuanjue said, 'If he saw him the first two times, why did he not see him afterwards? Tell me, where does the crux lie?' A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'When the Tripiṭaka Master Da'er did not see the National Teacher the third time, where indeed was the National Teacher?' Zhaozhou said, 'Right on the Tripiṭaka Master's nostrils.' The monk asked Xuansha, 'Since he was on his nostrils, why did he not see him?' Xuansha said, 'Only because it was too close.') One day the Teacher called to his attendant. The attendant answered. He called three times like this, and three times the attendant answered. The Teacher said, 'I thought that I had failed you, but in fact it was you who failed me.' (A monk asked Xuansha, 'What was the National Teacher's intention in calling his attendant?' Xuansha said, 'In fact, the attendant understood.' Yunju Xi said, 'Tell me, did the attendant understand or not? If you say he understood, the National Teacher also said, "You failed me." If you say he did not understand, Xuansha also said, "In fact, the attendant understood." How should this be evaluated?' Xuanjue questioned a monk, 'What was it that the attendant understood?' The monk said, 'If he had not understood, how could he have responded like that?' Xuanjue said, 'You have understood very little.' He also said, 'If you can discuss your way through here, you will then see Xuansha.' A monk asked Fayan, 'What was the National Teacher's intention in calling his attendant?' Fayan said, 'Go away for now and come back another time.' Yunju Xi said, 'In speaking like this, was Fayan clarifying the National Teacher's intention or not clarifying the National Teacher's intention?' A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'What was the National Teacher's intention in calling his attendant?' Zhaozhou said, 'Like someone writing characters in the dark: though the characters are not formed, the pattern is already manifest.') Nanquan arrived to pay respects. The Teacher asked, 'Where have you come from?' He replied, 'I have come from Jiangxi.' The Teacher said, 'Did you also bring Master Ma's true [likeness]?' He said, 'Just this is it.' The Teacher said, 'What about that which is behind [your back]?' Nanquan was silent. (Changqing Leng said, 'He seems very much not to know.' Baofu Zhan said, 'He almost did not reach the Upādhyāya here.' Yunju Xi said, 'Both of these venerable ones fully supported what was behind. But what about Nanquan's being silent—did he support what was in front, or did he support what was behind?') Magu arrived to pay respects; he circumambulated the meditation seat three times, shook his ring-staff, and stood before the Teacher. The Teacher said, 'Since it is like this, what need is there to see this poor monk?' Magu shook his ring-staff again. The Teacher scolded him, saying, 'Get out, you wild-fox spirit!' The Teacher would often instruct the assembly, saying: 'Students of the Chan school should follow the Buddha's words of the one vehicle of definitive meaning and tally with the source of their own minds. Those of non-definitive meaning do not acknowledge one another, like worms in the body of a lion. Now, if one who acts as a teacher of others gets involved in fame and gain, or initiates other heterodoxies, what benefit is there to oneself or others? It is like a great worldly craftsman whose axe does not wound his own hand; what a fragrant elephant carries cannot be borne by a donkey.' A monk asked, 'How does one attain Buddhahood?' The Teacher said, 'When Buddha and sentient beings are let go of simultaneously, right on the spot there is liberation.' The monk asked, 'How can one attain accord?' The Teacher said, 'Do not think of good or evil, and you will naturally see the Buddha-nature.' He asked, 'How can one realize the Dharma-body?' The Teacher said, 'Transcend the realm of Vairocana.' He asked, 'How can the pure Dharma-body be attained?' The Teacher said, 'Only by not seeking it through attachment to Buddha.' He asked, 'Which one is the Buddha?' The Teacher said, 'Mind itself is the Buddha.' He asked, 'Does the mind have afflictions?' The Teacher said, 'The nature of afflictions is intrinsically detached.' He asked, 'Is it not cut off then?' The Teacher said, 'Cutting off afflictions is named the two vehicles; when afflictions do not arise, it is named the great nirvāṇa.' He asked, 'What about sitting in meditation and contemplating purity?' The Teacher said, 'It is neither defiled nor pure; why should one stir the mind to contemplate the mark of purity?' He also asked, 'Does the Chan Master see the space of the ten directions as the Dharma-body?' The Teacher said, 'To grasp it with a conceptual mind is a perverted view.' He asked, 'If mind itself is the Buddha, should one still cultivate the myriad practices?' The Teacher said, 'All the sages are fully endowed with the two adornments; how could they brush aside cause and effect?' He also said, 'Even if I were to answer you for exhausting kalpas, it would not end. Many words take one far from the Way. Therefore it is said: expounding the Dharma with something to be attained is the howling of a jackal; expounding the Dharma with nothing to be attained is named the lion's roar.' The postulant Zhang Fen of Nanyang asked, 'I have respectfully heard that the Upādhyāya speaks of the insentient preaching the Dharma. I have not yet realized this matter. I beg the Upādhyāya to deign to instruct me.' The Teacher said, 'If you ask about the insentient preaching the Dharma, only when you understand that insentient can you hear my preaching of the Dharma. You should just hear the insentient preaching the Dharma.' Fen said, 'Taking only what is within the skillful means of the sentient at present, what is the cause and condition of the insentient?' The Teacher said, 'At present, amid all functioning and activity, if in neither the stream of the ordinary nor that of the holy is there the slightest arising or ceasing, this is going beyond consciousness and not belonging to existence or non-existence. Radiantly seeing and feeling, one only hears without the grasping of emotional consciousness. Therefore the Sixth Patriarch said: "The six sense faculties confront sense objects, and distinguishing them is not consciousness."' A monk came to pay homage. The Teacher asked, 'What work do you cultivate?' He said, 'I lecture on the Diamond Sūtra.' The Teacher said, 'What are the first two characters?' He said, '"Thus" (evaṃ).' The Teacher said, 'What is it?' There was no reply. Someone asked, 'What is liberation?' The Teacher said, 'All phenomena do not reach one another; right on the spot there is liberation.' The person said, 'In that case, then one cuts them off.' The Teacher said, 'I told you that all phenomena do not reach one another—what is there to cut off?' The Teacher saw a monk coming, drew a circular figure with his hand, and wrote the character "sun" (日) inside the figure. The monk had no reply. The Teacher asked Chan Master Benjing, 'When you encounter extraordinary words in the future, what will you do?' Jing said, 'I will not have a single thought of fondness.' The Teacher said, 'This is an affair inside your own house.' Emperor Suzong asked, 'What Dharma has the Master attained?' The Teacher said, 'Does Your Majesty see a patch of cloud in space?' The Emperor said, 'I see it.' The Teacher said, 'Is it nailed down, or is it suspended?' He also asked, 'Who is the tamer of the ten bodies?' The Teacher stood up and said, 'Do you understand?' The Emperor said, 'I do not understand.' The Teacher said, 'Pass the water bottle to this old monk.' He also asked, 'What is the samādhi of non-contention?' The Teacher said, 'The dānapati walks atop the head of Vairocana.' The Emperor said, 'What does this mean?' The Teacher said, 'Do not acknowledge your own pure Dharma-body.' The Emperor asked the Teacher again, but the Teacher did not look at him at all. The Emperor said, 'We are the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang; why does the Master not look at Us at all?' The Teacher said, 'Do you see space?' The Emperor said, 'I see it.' The Teacher said, 'Does it blink its eyes to look at Your Majesty?' Commander Yu asked, 'When the Master stayed on Mount Baiya, how did you cultivate the Way throughout the twelve periods of the day?' The Teacher called a boy attendant forward, rubbed his head, and said, 'Alert and awake, just truly alert and awake! Distinct and clear, just truly distinct and clear! In the future, do not be deceived by others.' The Teacher engaged in a debate with Attendant-in-Waiting Zilin. After they took their seats, the Attendant-in-Waiting said, 'I invite the Master to establish a proposition, and I will refute it.' The Teacher said, 'The proposition is already established.' The Attendant-in-Waiting said, 'What proposition is it?' The Teacher said, 'Indeed you do not see it; it is not your realm.' He then stepped down from the seat. One day the Teacher asked Attendant-in-Waiting Zilin, 'What is the meaning of "Buddha"?' He said, 'It means awakening.' The Teacher said, 'Was the Buddha ever deluded?' He said, 'He was never deluded.' The Teacher said, 'What use is awakening?' There was no reply. He also asked, 'What is the true mark?' The Teacher said, 'Bring what is empty.' He said, 'What is empty cannot be obtained.' The Teacher said, 'If what is empty cannot even be obtained, why ask about the true mark?' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Teacher said, 'Ten thousand bodhisattvas in the hall of Mañjuśrī.' The monk said, 'I do not understand.' The Teacher said, 'A thousand hands and eyes of Great Compassion.' Danyuan asked, 'After a hundred years, if someone asks about the ultimate matter, what then?' The Teacher said, 'Fortunately, one is already charming enough; why must one need a talisman to protect the body?' Because his conditions for converting others were coming to an end and the time for nirvāṇa had arrived, the Teacher took leave of Emperor Daizong. Daizong said, 'After the Master's parinirvāṇa, what shall your disciple record?' The Teacher said, 'I inform the dānapati: build a seamless stupa.' The Emperor said, 'I request from the Master the model of the stupa.' The Teacher remained silent for a long time, and then said, 'Do you understand?' The Emperor said, 'I do not understand.' The Teacher said, 'After this poor monk is gone, there is the attendant Yingzhen who, however, knows this matter.' On the ninth day of the twelfth month in the tenth year of the Dali era, lying on his right side, he passed away for ever. His disciples carried the sacred remains and built a stupa in Dangzi Valley. He was posthumously conferred the title Chan Master Dazheng. Emperor Daizong later summoned Yingzhen into the palace and brought up the previous words to question him. Zhen remained silent for a long time and said, 'Does the Sage understand?' The Emperor said, 'I do not understand.' Zhen recited a gāthā, saying: