續傳燈錄 23.27

23.27

台州萬年雪巢法一禪師。太師襄陽郡王李公遵勉之玄孫也。世居開封祥符縣。母夢一老僧至而產。年十七試上庠從祖仕淮南。欲官之不就。將棄家。事長蘆慈覺賾禪師。祖弗許。母曰。此必宿世沙門。願勿奪其志。未幾慈覺沒。大觀改元。禮靈巖通照愿禪師祝髮登具。依愿十年迷悶不能入。謁圓悟於蔣山。悟曰。此法器也。悟奉詔徙京師天寧。師侍行。靖康末謁草堂於疎山。一語之及大法頓明。紹興七年泉守寶文劉公彥修請居延福。後四遷巨剎。上堂拈拄杖曰。拄杖子有時作出水蛟龍。萬里雲煙不斷。有時作踞地師子。百年妖怪潛蹤。有時心法兩忘照體獨立。有時照用同時主賓互用。以拄杖畫曰。延福門下總用不著。且道延福尋常用箇甚麼。卓拄杖喝一喝下座。上堂。仰面不見天。低頭不見地。古劍髑髏前。大海波濤沸。退長蘆歸天台萬年觀音院。忽示微疾。書偈曰。今年七十五。歸作菴中主。珍重觀世音。泥蛇吞石虎。入龕趺坐而逝。

Chan Master Xuechao Fayi of Wannian in Taizhou was a great-great-grandson of Grand Preceptor Li Zunmian, Prince of Xiangyang Commandery. For generations his family had resided in Xiangfu County, Kaifeng. His mother dreamed that an old monk arrived, whereupon she gave birth to him. At age seventeen he passed the exams for the Imperial Academy, and followed his grandfather on official service to Huainan. His family wished to have him enter officialdom, but he would not take office. Preparing to renounce household life, he went to serve Chan Master Cijue Ze of Changlu. His grandfather would not permit it, but his mother said, 'He must have been a śramaṇa in past lives; please do not thwart his aspiration.' Not long after, Cijue passed away. In the first year of the Daguan reign era, he paid homage to Chan Master Tongzhao Yuan of Lingyan, shaved his head, and received full ordination. He stayed with Yuan for ten years, bewildered and depressed, unable to enter [the way]. He went to visit Yuanwu at Jiangshan. Yuanwu said, 'This is a vessel of the Dharma.' Yuanwu received an imperial summons to move to Tianning in the capital, and the master accompanied him as his attendant. At the end of the Jingkang era, he visited Caotang at Shushan; upon the exchange of a single word, the Great Dharma suddenly became clear to him. In the seventh year of the Shaoxing reign era, the Prefect of Quanzhou, Baowen [Scholar] Liu Yanxiu, invited him to dwell at Yanfu. Later he moved four times to major monasteries. Ascending the hall, he held up his staff and said, 'Sometimes the staff acts as a flood dragon surging from the waters, mist and clouds stretching unbroken for ten thousand miles. Sometimes it acts as a lion crouching on the ground, monsters of a hundred years concealing their traces. Sometimes mind and phenomena are both forgotten, the illuminating substance standing alone. Sometimes illumination and function are simultaneous, host and guest functioning interchangeably.' Drawing a line with his staff, he said, 'At Yanfu's gate, none of this can be used. Tell me, what does Yanfu usually use?' Striking his staff and giving a shout, he descended the seat. Ascending the hall, he said, 'Lifting the face, one does not see heaven; lowering the head, one does not see earth. Before the skull of the ancient sword, the great ocean's billows boil.' Retiring from Changlu, he returned to the Guanyin Cloister at Wannian on Mount Tiantai. Suddenly showing signs of slight illness, he wrote a verse: 'This year seventy-five, / I return to be master of the hermitage. / Take care, Avalokiteśvara: / The mud snake swallows the stone tiger.' Entering his casket, he sat cross-legged and passed away.