續傳燈錄 26.30

26.30

楚州勝因戲魚咸靜禪師。本郡高氏子。上堂。遊遍天下當知寸步不曾移。歷盡門庭家家竈底少煙不得。所以肩笻峭履乘興而行。掣釣沈絲任性而住。不為故鄉田地好。因緣熟處便為家。今日信手拈來。從前幾曾計較。不離舊時科段。一回舉著一回新。明眼底瞥地便回。未悟者識取面目。且道如何是本來面目。良久曰。前臺花發後臺見。上界鐘聲下界聞。以拂子擊禪床下座。上堂舉。世尊在摩竭陀國為眾說法。是時將欲白夏。乃謂阿難曰。諸大弟子人天四眾我常說法不生敬仰。我今入因沙臼室中坐夏九旬。忽有人來問法之時。汝代為我說一切法不生一切法不滅。言訖掩室而坐。師召大眾曰。釋迦老子初成佛道之時。大都事不獲已。纔方成箇保社。便生退倦之心。勝因當時若見。將釘釘却室門。教他一生無出身之路。免得後代兒孫遞相倣效。不見道。若不傳法度眾生。是不名為報恩者。擊拂子下座。後晦處漣漪之天寧示微疾。書偈曰。弄罷影戲。七十一載。更問如何。回來別賽。置筆而逝。

Chan Master Xiyu Xianjing of Shengyin in Chuzhou was a son of the Gao family of that prefecture. Ascending the hall, [he said]: 'Wandering throughout the realm, you should know that you have never moved an inch. Having passed through every gate, under no house's stove can there be a lack of smoke. Therefore, shouldering the bamboo staff and putting on high clogs, one sets off on an impulse; pulling the hook and letting down the line, one stays according to one's nature. It is not because the lands of the old home are pleasant; wherever causes and conditions ripen, that is home. Today, picking it up freely with open hands, how was there ever calculation in the past? Not departing from the old script, each time it is raised it is fresh. Those with clear eyes turn around in a flash; those not yet awakened must recognize their true face. And tell me, what is the original face?' After a good while, he said: 'Flowers bloom on the front terrace, seen from the rear terrace; the bell tolls in the upper realm, heard in the lower realm.' Striking the meditation couch with the whisk, he stepped down from the seat. Ascending the hall, he cited: 'The World-Honoured One was in Magadha preaching the Dharma for the assembly. At that time, as the summer retreat was about to begin, he said to Ānanda: "To the great disciples, humans, devas, and the four assemblies, I constantly preach the Dharma, yet they do not give rise to reverence. I will now enter the Yinshajiu chamber to spend the summer retreat for ninety days. If someone suddenly comes to ask about the Dharma, you preach on my behalf: 'All phenomena do not arise; all phenomena do not cease.'" Having spoken, he closed the chamber and sat.' The master called to the great assembly and said: 'When the old fellow Śākya first attained the Buddha Way, it was mostly out of having no other choice. No sooner had he formed a fellowship than feelings of weariness and withdrawal arose in him. If Shengyin had seen him then, I would have nailed the chamber door shut to give him no way out for his entire life, so as to prevent later descendants from imitating him one after another. Have you not heard it said: "If one does not transmit the Dharma to deliver sentient beings, one is not called a requiter of kindness"?' Striking with the whisk, he stepped down from the seat. Later, he lived in seclusion at Tianning in Lianyi and manifested a slight illness. He wrote a verse, saying:
'Having finished the shadow play,
Seventy-one years have passed.
If you ask further, what of it?
I will return for another match.'
Putting down the brush, he passed away.