續傳燈錄 16.34

16.34

吉州禾山德普禪師。生於緜州蒲氏。少尚氣節有卓識。見富樂山靜禪師。合爪作禮曰。此吾師也。靜與語奇之。携歸山中陰察之。其作止類老頭陀。靜云。此子賦性豪縱不受控御。而能折節杵臼炊爨間。以事眾為務是為希有。年十八得度受具秀出講席。解唯識起信論。兩川無敢難詰者。號義虎。罪圭峯疏義多臆說摘其失處。誡學者不可信。老宿皆數之云。圭峯清涼國師所印。可汝敢雌黃。蚍蜉撼樹汝今是矣。師嘆曰。學者以名位惑久矣。清涼圭峯非有四目八臂也。奈何甘自退屈乎。乃出蜀至荊州金鑾。夜與一衲偶忘其名。衲見了山情菴主。師聞其飽參。問之曰經論何負禪宗。而長老多譏呵之耶。衲云。以其是識情義理思想邊量。非能發聖得道。脫有發聖得道者。皆藉之以為緣耳。儻不因自悟。唯經論是仗則能讀能知能見能解者。皆證聖成道去矣。寧尚與僕輩俯仰耶。唯以死語是所知障故。祖師西來也。如經言。一切眾生本來成佛。汝信之乎。對曰。世尊之語豈敢不信。衲云。既信矣則尚何區區遠來乎。對曰。聞禪宗有別傳法故來耳。衲笑云。是則未信非能信也。師曰。其病安在。衲云。積翠南禪師出世久。子見之不宜後。見則當使汝疾有瘳矣。師即日遂行。以熙寧元年至黃龍。問阿難問迦葉。世尊付金襴外復傳何法。迦葉呼阿難。阿難應喏。迦葉云。倒却門前剎竿著。意旨如何。南公云。上人出蜀會到玉泉否。曰曾到。又問曾挂塔否。曰。一夕便發。南公云。智者道場關將軍打供與結緣幾時何妨。師默然良久理前問。南公俛首。師趨出豁然有省。大驚曰。兩川義虎不消此老一唾。八年秋游螺川。待制劉公請住慧雲禪院七年。遷住禾山十有二年。元祐五年十二月十五日謂左右曰。諸方尊宿死叢林必祭。吾以為徒虛設。吾若死汝曹當先祭。乃令從今辦祭。眾以其老又好戲語。問云。和尚幾時遷化。曰汝輩祭絕即行。於是幃寢堂坐師其中。致祭讀文跪揖上食。師飫飡自如。自門弟子下及莊力日次為之。至明年元日祭絕。曰明日雪晴乃行。至時晴忽雪。雪止師坐焚香而化。閱世十六有七。坐四十九夏。全身塔于寺之左。

Chan Master Depu of Heshan in Ji Prefecture was born into the Pu family of Mian Prefecture. In his youth he valued high moral integrity and had outstanding discernment. When he met Chan Master Jing of Mount Fule, he pressed his palms together, bowed, and said, "This is my teacher." Jing spoke with him, marveled at him, and brought him back to the mountain to observe him privately. His actions and demeanor were like those of an old ascetic. Jing said, "This youth is endowed by nature with heroic abandon and resists control, yet he can lower himself among the pestles, mortars, and stoves, taking service to the community as his task; this is truly rare." At the age of eighteen, he was tonsured and received full ordination, soon outshining others on the lecture mats. He comprehended the Vijñaptimātra treatises and the Awakening of Faith; in the two rivers regions [of Sichuan], none dared challenge or question him. He was called the "Tiger of Meaning." He faulted Guifeng's commentaries as containing mostly subjective conjectures, pointed out their flaws, and warned students not to believe them. Senior masters all censured him, saying, "Guifeng was approved with the seal of National Teacher Qingliang. How dare you alter it? You are like a gnat shaking a tree." The master sighed and said, "Students have long been deluded by titles and status. Qingliang and Guifeng did not have four eyes and eight arms. Why willingly cower in resignation?" Thereupon he left Shu and arrived at Jinluan in Jing Prefecture. One night he encountered an itinerant patch-robed monk whose name he later forgot. The patch-robed monk had visited Master Liaoshan of the Qing Hermitage. Hearing that this monk had trained extensively, the master asked him, "In what way do the sūtras and treatises fall short of the Chan lineage, such that senior elders frequently mock and berate them?" The patch-robed monk said, "Because they are the conceptual measures of conscious affection, doctrine, and intellectual thought; they cannot trigger sainthood or attain the Way. If someone does trigger sainthood and attain the Way [through them], they merely relied on them as conditions. If not due to one's own awakening, and one relies solely on the sūtras and treatises, then everyone who can read, know, see, and understand them would all verify sainthood and accomplish the Way. Why would they still bow and scrape among servants like us? It is solely because dead words are obstacles of the known that the Patriarch came from the West. As the sūtra says, 'All sentient beings are originally fully awakened Buddhas.' Do you believe this?" He replied, "How would I dare not believe the Bhagavat's words?" The patch-robed monk said, "Since you believe it, why then have you painstakingly traveled from afar?" He replied, "I came only because I heard that the Chan lineage has a special transmission of the Dharma." The patch-robed monk laughed and said, "If so, you have not believed; you are not one who can believe." The master said, "Where does my ailment lie?" The patch-robed monk said, "Chan Master Nan of Jicui has appeared in the world for a long time. You should not delay in seeing him. When you see him, he will surely cure your ailment." The master set out that very day. In the first year of the Xining era [1068], he arrived at Huanglong. He asked, "Ānanda asked Kāśyapa, 'Apart from transmitting the golden-cloth robe, what other Dharma did the Bhagavat transmit?' Kāśyapa called, 'Ānanda!' Ānanda replied, 'Yes!' Kāśyapa said, 'Knock down the flagpole in front of the gate.' What is the meaning of this?" Master Nan said, "Venerable one, on leaving Shu, did you perhaps visit Yuquan?" He said, "I did." Nan asked again, "Did you spend the night at the pagoda?" He said, "I departed after just one night." Master Nan said, "At the bodhimaṇḍa of the Great Master Zhizhe, General Guan provides offerings; what harm would there have been to form an affinity for a short time?" The master was silent for a long time and resumed his previous question. Master Nan bowed his head. The master dashed out and suddenly had an awakening. Greatly astonished, he said, "The 'Tiger of Meaning' of the two rivers regions does not withstand a single spit from this old man." In the autumn of the eighth year, he traveled to Luochuan. Auxiliary Academician Liu invited him to reside at the Huiyun Chan Cloister for seven years. He then moved to reside at Heshan for twelve years. On the fifteenth day of the twelfth month in the fifth year of the Yuanyou era [1090], he said to his attendants, "When respected elders of various quarters die, the monasteries always hold memorial offerings. I consider this a mere empty formality. If I die, you should hold the memorial offerings beforehand." He then ordered them to prepare the offerings starting from that day. The assembly, thinking he was old and fond of playful speech, asked, "Upādhyāya, when will you pass away?" He said, "When your offerings cease, I will depart." Thereupon they curtained off the sleeping hall, and the master sat within it. They offered sacrifices, read memorials, knelt, bowed, and served meals. The master ate his fill at ease. From personal disciples down to estate laborers, they took turns day by day doing this. On New Year's Day of the following year, the offerings ceased. He said, "Tomorrow when the snow clears, I will depart." When the time came, it cleared, then suddenly snowed. When the snow ceased, the master sat, burned incense, and passed away. He had lived for seventy-six years and sat for forty-nine summer retreats. A whole-body pagoda was erected to the left of the monastery.