景德傳燈錄 7.20

7.20

Chan Master Weikuan of Xingshan Monastery in Jingzhao was a native of Xin'an in Quzhou. His secular surname was Zhu. At age thirteen, seeing animals being slaughtered, he felt deep anguish, could not bear to eat meat, and sought to leave the household. At first he studied the Vinaya and practiced calming and insight. Later he visited Daji and attained the mind essential. In the sixth year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang, he began teaching and transforming in the Wu and Yue regions. In the eighth year, at Poyang Mountain, a spirit asked to receive the eight precepts. In the thirteenth year, he resided at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song.
A monk asked: "What is the Way?"
The Master said: "A fine mountain!"
The monk said: "A student asks about the Way; why does the Master speak of a fine mountain?"
The Master said: "You only know the fine mountain; when have you ever reached the Way?"
[A monk] asked: "Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?"
The Master said: "It does."
The monk said: "Does the Venerable have it or not?"
The Master said: "I do not."
The monk said: "All sentient beings have Buddha-nature; why alone does the Venerable not have it?"
The Master said: "I am not all sentient beings."
The monk said: "Since you are not sentient beings, are you a Buddha?"
The Master said: "I am not a Buddha."
The monk said: "Ultimately, what thing are you?"
The Master said: "I am also not a thing."
The monk said: "Can it be seen or thought of?"
The Master said: "Thinking does not reach it; discussion cannot grasp it. Therefore it is called inconceivable."
In the fourth year of the Yuanhe era, Emperor Xianzong summoned him to the imperial palace. Bai Juyi once visited the Master and asked: "Since you are called a Chan master, why do you explain the Dharma?"
The Master said: "Unexcelled bodhi, when applied to the body, is the Vinaya; when spoken from the mouth, is the Dharma; when practiced in the mind, is Chan. Its practical functions are three, but their ultimate import is one. It is just like the Changjiang, the Yellow River, the Huai, and the Han, which take names according to their location. Though the names are not one, the nature of the water is without duality. The Vinaya is itself the Dharma, and the Dharma is not separate from Chan. How can you vainly give rise to distinctions within them?"
[Bai Juyi] also asked: "Since there are no distinctions, how should one cultivate the mind?"
The Master said: "The mind originally has no damage or defect; why should it require repair? Regardless of defilement or purity, do not give rise to any thoughts at all."
[Bai Juyi] also asked: "Defilement should not be thought of, but is having no thought of purity acceptable?"
The Master said: "Just as with a person's eye, not a single object may dwell in it. Even though gold dust is a precious treasure, in the eye it is likewise an affliction."
[Bai Juyi] also asked: "If there is no cultivation and no thought, how is that different from ordinary people?"
The Master said: "Ordinary people have ignorance; the two vehicles have attachment. Freedom from these two afflictions is called true cultivation. One who truly cultivates must not be diligent and must not be forgetful: diligence borders on attachment, and forgetfulness falls into ignorance. This is what is called the mind essential."
A monk asked: "Where is the Way?"
The Master said: "Just before your eyes."
[The monk] said: "Why do I not see it?"
The Master said: "Because you have a self, you do not see it."
[The monk] said: "Because I have a self, I do not see it; does the Venerable see it?"
The Master said: "With you and with me, mutually one does not see it."
[The monk] said: "With neither me nor you, is it still seen?"
The Master said: "With neither you nor me, who seeks to see it?"
On the last day of the second month in the twelfth year of the Yuanhe era, he ascended the hall, finished preaching the Dharma, and passed away. His age was sixty-three; his monastic age was thirty-nine. He was buried on the western plateau of Baling. An imperial decree bestowed the posthumous title 'Chan Master Dache' and the stupa was called 'Zhengzhen of Yuanhe'."