續傳燈錄 23.23

23.23

空室道人智通者。龍圖范珣女也。幼聰慧長歸丞相蘇頌之孫悌。未幾厭世相還家求祝髮。父難之。遂清修。因看法界觀頓有省。連作二偈見意。一曰。浩浩塵中體一如。縱橫交互印毘盧。全波是水波非水。全水成波水自殊。次曰。物我元無異。森羅鏡像同。明明超主伴。了了徹真空。一體含多法。交參帝網中。重重無盡處。動靜悉圓通。後父母俱亡。兄涓領分寧尉。通偕行聞死心名重往謁之。心見知其所得便問。常啼菩薩賣却心肝。教誰學般若。通曰。爾若無心我也休。又問。一雨所滋根苗有異。無陰陽地上生箇甚麼。通曰。一花五葉。復問。十二時中向甚麼處安身立命。通曰。和尚惜取眉毛好。心打曰。這婦女亂作次第。通禮拜。心然之。於是道聲籍甚。政和間居金陵。常設浴於保寧。揭牓于門曰。一物也無洗箇甚麼纖塵若有起自何來。道取一句子玄。乃可大家入浴。古靈秖解揩背。開士何曾明心。欲證離垢地時。須是通身汗出。盡道水能洗垢。焉知水亦是塵。直饒水垢頓除。到此亦須洗却。後為尼名惟久。挂錫姑蘇之西竺。緇白日夕師問。得其道者頗眾。俄示寂書偈趺坐而終。有明心錄行於世。

Person of the Way Kongshi Zhitong was the daughter of Drafter of the Longtu Pavilion Fan Xun. Intelligent from childhood, when she grew up she was married to Ti, the grandson of Grand Councilor Su Song. Before long, weary of worldly forms, she returned home and sought to shave her head. Her father objected, so she practiced pure cultivation [at home]. Due to reading the Contemplation of the Dharmadhātu, she suddenly had an awakening, and composed two successive verses to express her understanding. The first said: / "Vast and surging amidst the dust, the essence is one suchness; / Crisscrossing and mutually interpenetrating, it seals Vairocana. / All waves are water, yet waves are not water; / All water becomes waves, yet water itself is distinct." / The second said: / "Things and self are fundamentally not different; / The myriad phenomena are like images in a mirror. / Bright and distinct, surpassing host and companion; / Lucidly penetrating true emptiness. / A single essence encompasses multiple phenomena, / Interpenetrating within Indra's net. / Layer upon layer in endless places, / Movement and stillness are all completely pervasive." / Later, after both her parents died, her brother Juan took up the post of military inspector of Fenning. Zhitong went with him, and hearing of Sixin's great reputation, she went to pay respects to him. Sixin saw her, recognized what she had attained, and thereupon asked, "When Sadāprarudita Bodhisattva sold his heart and liver, whom did he have study prajñā?" Zhitong said, "If you are without mind, I also rest." He asked again, "Nourished by a single rain, roots and shoots differ; on ground without yin or yang, what is produced?" Zhitong said, "A single flower with five petals." He asked again, "During the twelve periods of the day, where do you settle body and establish life?" Zhitong said, "The Upādhyāya would do well to spare his eyebrows!" Sixin struck her and said, "This woman creates a disorderly sequence!" Zhitong bowed. Sixin approved of her. Thereupon her reputation in the Way became celebrated. During the Zhenghe era, she lived in Jinling, where she often set up baths at Baoning, posting a placard on the gate saying: / "Not a single thing exists—what is there to wash? / If a fine speck of dust exists, from where does it arise? / Speak a single turning phrase of mystery, / And only then may everyone enter the bath. / Guling only knew how to scrub backs; / How could that open-minded monk ever have clarified the mind? / When wishing to realize the Stage Free of Defilement, / One must sweat all over the body. / Everyone says water can wash away defilement; / How do they know water is also dust? / Even granting that water and defilement are suddenly eliminated, / Arriving here, this too must be washed away." / Later she became a nun named Weijiu, hanging her staff at Xizhu in Gusu. Monastics and laypeople came day and night to question her as their teacher, and those who attained her Way were quite numerous. Presently, she manifested demise, wrote a verse, sat cross-legged, and passed away. Her Record of Clarifying the Mind circulates in the world.