續傳燈錄 14.49

14.49

舒州投子普聰禪師。中秋上堂曰。寂住峯頂葉落歸根。明月堂前金風玉露。且道深秋一句作麼生道。良久曰。古往不知何處去。後夜依前月到窓。下坐。師晚年道望益顯著。緇素無不敬仰。在投子時年八十餘矣。有監寺者一夕為盜所殺。副寺白師。師曰。我已知其人矣。副寺聞官而吏至。師如前語。吏詰之。師曰。殺監寺者老僧也。吏即以師繫獄師無異詞。偶楊次公為憲按部至州境。夜夢神人云。此州有肉身菩薩。枉坐縲絏之中。次公訪問吏以師事告。次公遂釋之。後十年有行者。患迦摩羅疾而自首云。昔日殺監寺者我也。黃魯直太史公尤敬師。嘗興胡少汲書云。公道學頗得力耶。治病之方當深求禪悅。照破生死之根則憂畏淫怒無處安脚。病既無根則枝葉無能為害。投子聰和尚海會演和尚皆出世宗師。道行高重不愧古人。皆可親近。且勝從文章之士學妄言綺語增長無明種子也。聰老尤喜接高明士大夫。開懷議論便穿得諸儒鼻孔。若於義理得宗趣。却觀舊讀諸書境界。廓然六通四闢。極省心力也。然有道之士須以至誠懇惻歸向。古人所謂。下人不精不得其真。此非虛語。師為名公所賞識者如此。可想見其高風焉。後於本山示寂。

Chan Master Pucong of Touzi in Shuzhou ascended the hall on the Mid-Autumn Festival and said, "On the peak of solitary dwelling, fallen leaves return to their roots; before the Hall of the Bright Moon, golden wind and jade dew. Tell me, how do you say a phrase for late autumn?" After a long pause, he said, "The ancient past is gone, who knows where; in the night to come, as before, the moon reaches the window." He then stepped down from the seat. In his later years, the master's reputation in the Way grew ever more prominent, and both clergy and laity respected and looked up to him without exception. When he was at Touzi, he was already over eighty years old. One night, the monastery supervisor was killed by bandits. The assistant supervisor reported it to the master. The master said, "I already know who it was." The assistant supervisor reported it to the government authorities, and the officials arrived. The master repeated his earlier words. The officials interrogated him. The master said, "The one who killed the supervisor was this old monk." The officials then imprisoned the master, and the master offered no conflicting statement. By chance, Yang Jigong, serving as judicial commissioner on an inspection tour, arrived at the prefecture's border. At night, he dreamed of a spirit who said, "In this prefecture there is a flesh-body bodhisattva wrongfully sitting in bonds and fetters." Jigong inquired about it, and the officials told him of the master's case. Jigong thereupon released him. Ten years later, a postulant suffering from jaundice confessed of his own accord, saying, "The one who killed the supervisor back then was me." Grand Historian Huang Luzhi especially revered the master. He once wrote in a letter to Hu Shaoji: "Have you derived much strength from learning the Way? The method for curing illness should deeply seek Chan joy. If you illuminate and break through the root of birth and death, then grief, fear, desire, and anger will have nowhere to set foot. Once the disease has no root, the branches and leaves will be unable to cause harm. Upādhyāya Cong of Touzi and Upādhyāya Yan of Haihui are both world-transcending lineage masters. Their practice of the Way is exalted and dignified, with no shame before the ancients; both can be approached. Moreover, this surpasses following men of letters to learn false words and ornate speech that augment the seeds of ignorance. Old Cong especially delights in receiving brilliant scholar-officials. Opening his heart in discussion, he promptly pierces the nostrils of all the literati. If you obtain the central aim in the essential principles, and look back at the realms of the various books you previously read, then vastly, the six directions will be thoroughly unobstructed, greatly conserving mental effort. However, men of the Way must be turned to with utmost sincerity and earnestness. As the ancients said, 'If one's humility toward others is not refined, one does not attain their truth.' These are not empty words." Such was the esteem the master received from famous gentlemen. One can imagine his lofty style. Later, he showed his nirvanic passing at his home mountain.