景德傳燈錄 6.12

6.12

Chan Master Shigong Huizang of Fuzhou: he originally took hunting as his occupation and hated seeing śramaṇas. Because of chasing a herd of deer, he passed in front of Mazu's hermitage. Mazu went out to meet him. Zang asked, "Did the upādhyāya see the deer pass by?" Mazu said, "What sort of person are you?" [Zang] said, "A hunter." Mazu said, "Do you know how to shoot?" [Zang] said, "I shoot, I shoot." Mazu said, "How many do you shoot with one arrow?" [Zang] said, "With one arrow I shoot one." Mazu said, "You do not know how to shoot." [Zang] said, "Does the upādhyāya know how to shoot?" Mazu said, "I know how to shoot." [Zang] said, "How many does the upādhyāya shoot with one arrow?" Mazu said, "With one arrow I shoot a whole herd." [Zang] said, "Both this and that are lives; why shoot a whole herd of them?" Mazu said, "Since you know it is like this, why not shoot yourself?" [Zang] said, "If you make this person shoot himself, there is nowhere to lay a hand." Mazu said, "This fellow's ignorance and afflictions of countless eons are suddenly stilled today!" Zang at that time destroyed and cast aside his bow and arrows, cut off his hair with his own knife, and took refuge with Mazu to leave household life. One day while doing chores in the kitchen, Mazu asked, "What are you doing?" [Zang] said, "Herding an ox." Mazu said, "How do you herd it?" [Zang] said, "Whenever it enters the grass, I immediately grab its nostrils and drag it back." Mazu said, "You are truly herding an ox!" The master then stopped. After the master resided [as an abbot], he often received capacities with bow and arrow (as related in the chapter on Upādhyāya Sanping). The master asked Xitang, "Do you still know how to grasp empty space?" Xitang said, "I can grasp it." The master said, "How do you grasp it?" [Xi]tang grabbed empty space with his hand. The master said, "How can you grasp empty space like that?" [Xi]tang asked back, "How does Senior Brother grasp it?" The master grabbed Xitang's nostrils and yanked. Xitang cried out in pain and said, "You yanked someone's nostrils terribly, almost pulling them right off!" The master said, "Only by grasping empty space like this can you get it." While the assembly of monks was inquiring, the master said, "Where did the one from just now go?" A monk said, "He is here." The master said, "In what place?" That monk snapped his fingers once. A monk arrived and bowed. The master said, "Did you bring that one along or not?" The monk said, "I brought it along." The master said, "In what place is it?" The monk snapped his fingers three times. [A monk] asked, "How to avoid birth and death?" The master said, "What is the use of avoiding it?" The monk said, "How can it be avoided?" The master said, "This one does not undergo birth and death."