續傳燈錄 22.20

22.20

太史山谷居士黃庭堅字魯直。以般若夙習。雖膴仕澹如也。出入宗門未有所向。好作艶詞。嘗謁圓通秀禪師。秀呵曰。大丈夫翰墨之妙甘施於此乎。秀方戒。李伯時畫馬事。公誚之曰。無乃復置我於馬腹中耶。秀曰。汝以艶語動天下人婬心。不止馬腹中。正恐生泥犁耳。公悚然悔謝。由是絕筆惟孳孳於道。著發願文。痛戒酒色。但朝粥午飯而已。往依晦堂乞指徑捷處。堂曰。秖如仲尼道。二三子以我為隱乎。吾無隱乎爾者。太史居常如何理論。公擬對。堂曰。不是不是。公迷悶不已。一日侍堂山行次。時巖桂盛放。堂曰。聞木犀花香麼。公曰聞。堂曰。吾無隱乎爾。公釋然即拜之曰。和尚得恁麼老婆心切。堂笑曰。秖要公到家耳。久之謁雲巖死心新禪師。隨眾入室。心見張目問曰。新長老死學士。死燒作兩堆灰。向甚麼處相見。公無語。心約出曰。晦堂處參得底。使未著在後。左官黔南道力愈勝。於無思念中頓明死心所問。報以書曰。往年嘗蒙苦苦提撕。長如醉夢依稀在光影中。蓋疑情不盡命根不斷故。望崖而退耳。謫官在黔南道中晝臥覺來忽爾尋思。被天下老和尚謾了多少。唯有死心道人不肯。乃是第一相為也。不勝萬幸。後作晦堂塔銘曰。某夙承記莂堪任大法。道眼未圓而來瞻窣堵。實深宗仰之嘆。乃勒堅珉。敬頌遺美。公復設蘋蘩之供祭之以文。吊之以偈曰。海風吹落楞伽山。四海禪徒著眼看。一把柳絲收不得。和煙搭在玉闌干。

The Grand Historian, Upāsaka Shangu, Huang Tingjian, styled Luzhi, due to past habituation to prajñā, was unconcerned despite his high official rank. Going in and out of the Chan lineage, he had not yet found a direction; he was fond of writing romantic poetry. He once visited Chan Master Xiu of Yuantong. Xiu scolded him, saying: 'Would a great man gladly apply the wonder of his brush and ink to this?' Just then Xiu was admonishing Li Boshi regarding his painting of horses. The gentleman bantered: 'Might this again put me into a horse's belly?' Xiu said: 'You stir the lustful minds of all under heaven with romantic words; it will not stop at a horse's belly—I fear it will truly be born in the Naraka hell!' The gentleman was terrified, repented, and apologized. From then on he ceased writing [such verse] and zealously devoted himself solely to the Way. He composed an aspiration text, strictly abstaining from alcohol and sensual desire, eating only morning porridge and midday rice. He went to rely on Huitang, begging for an indication of the direct shortcut. Huitang said: 'Just as Confucius said, "My disciples, do you think I have hidden anything from you? I have hidden nothing from you." How do you, Grand Historian, normally understand this?' The gentleman prepared to reply; Huitang said: 'Wrong, wrong!' The gentleman was ceaselessly perplexed and troubled. One day, while attending Huitang walking in the mountains, the rock-osmanthus was in full bloom. Huitang said: 'Do you smell the fragrance of the sweet osmanthus flowers?' The gentleman said: 'I smell it.' Huitang said: '"I have hidden nothing from you."' The gentleman was relieved and at once bowed, saying: 'Upādhyāya, how is your grandmotherly heart so earnest?' Huitang laughed and said: 'I only want you to arrive home.' Later he visited Chan Master Xin of Yunyan Sixin. Following the assembly into the abbot's room, Sixin saw him, stared, and asked: 'Elder Xin is dead, Scholar Huang is dead; burned into two heaps of ashes, in what place will you see each other?' The gentleman had no words. Sixin motioned him out, saying: 'What you investigated at Huitang's place cannot yet be put to use!' Later demoted to Qiannan, his power of the Way became ever stronger. In the midst of non-thinking, he was suddenly enlightened to what Sixin had asked. He reported back by letter: 'In former years I was burdened with your painstaking admonitions; it was always like a drunken dream, vaguely in shadows of light. Because the feeling of doubt was not exhausted and the root of life was not severed, I looked up at the cliff and withdrew. While in exile on the road in Qiannan, waking from a daytime nap, I suddenly pondered: how many times had I been deceived by the old upādhyāyas under heaven? Only Sixin, the man of the Way, did not approve of me; that was truly the foremost act of goodwill. My fortune is beyond measure!' Later he composed Huitang's stupa inscription, which read: 'I formerly received prediction of future realization as capable of undertaking the great Dharma; before my eye of the Way was round and complete, I came to gaze upon this stūpa, truly moved to deep sighs of ancestral veneration. Thus I carve the hard stone, reverently praising his lingering beauty.' The gentleman further set out offerings of aquatic herbs and sacrificed to him with a text, mourning him with a verse: 'The sea wind blows down upon Mount Laṅkā; / Chan practitioners of the four seas, look closely! / A handful of willow silk cannot be gathered up; / along with the mist, it rests upon the jade balustrade.'