續傳燈錄 2.5

2.5

Chan Master Chongxian of Xuedou in Mingzhou was a son of the Li family of Suining Prefecture. He left home under the Worthy Renzhen at the Pu'an Monastery. After receiving full ordination, he traversed the lecture platforms, investigating the principles and exhausting the abstruse. His interrogations surged like spearheads; his active eloquence was unmatched. All knew him to be a vessel of the Dharma. Desiring to travel south, he first went to Zhimon. He immediately asked, "When not a single thought arises, how can there be a fault?" Zhimon summoned the Master to come closer. As soon as the Master stepped forward, Zhimon struck him right across the mouth with his whisk. The Master was about to open his mouth, and Zhimon struck him again. The Master was thoroughly awakened. He went forth to dwell at Cuifeng and later moved to Xuedou. On the day of opening the hall, before the Dharma seat, he looked around at the assembly and said, "If we speak of meeting from one's fundamental part, there is no need to ascend high onto the Dharma seat." Thereupon, drawing a line with his hand, he said, "Everyone, look following this mountain monk's hand: immeasurable Buddha lands appear simultaneously before you. Let each examine closely. If anyone does not yet know the boundaries, he will not avoid dragging through mud and carrying water." Then he ascended the seat. After the head monk finished striking the mallet, a monk was just coming forth. The Master checked him and said, "The Tathāgata's treasury of the eye of the correct Dharma is entrusted here today. Letting go, tiles and pebbles radiate light; holding back, real gold loses its luster. The authority is in my hands; killing or giving life is determined on the spot. If there are adept ones, let us bear witness together." The monk came forward and asked, "Having departed from the ancestral seat of Cuifeng, you have now arrived at the bodhimaṇḍa of Xuedou. I wonder: is this one or two?" The Master said, "A horse without thousand-league endurance vainly chases the wind." [The monk] said, "If so, then the clouds disperse and the moon shines on every house." The Master said, "A fellow with a dragon's head and a snake's tail." [A monk] asked, "Deshan's blow and Linji's shout are already renowned. How does the upādhyāya guide people?" The Master said, "I let a move pass by." The monk hesitated in thought. The Master then shouted. The monk said, "I wonder if there is anything else?" The Master said, "Shooting at a tiger carelessly, one wastes the effort of burying the arrow's feathers." [A monk] asked, "The great Dharma conch is blown; the great Dharma drum is beaten. When the court ministers attend the feast, what is right?" The Master said, "The cool breeze arrives without ceasing." [The monk] said, "If so, then I have met the master." The Master said, "Once a word has gone out, a team of four horses cannot overtake it." The monk bowed. The Master said, "I let a move pass by." Then, looking comprehensively at the great assembly, he said, "Humans and devas gather universally. What matter is to be illuminated? How can we merely divide host and guest and gallop in questions and answers, taking that to be the ancestral vehicle? The broad gate style is dignified and free, shining through past and present, taking hold of heaven and earth. The thousand sages only say that self-knowledge cannot be established by the five vehicles. Therefore, awakening to the tenet before sound, one is still deluded about the point of taking heed; understanding the lineage under words, one is still blind to what lies beyond cognition and feelings. Do you all want to know the true reality? Simply have nothing to look up to above and cut off your own body below; naturally, eternal light will manifest before you, each standing like a precipice of a thousand fathoms. Can you discern and clarify it or not? If you have not discerned it, discern it; if you have not clarified it, clarify it. Having discerned and clarified it, you can cut off the flow of birth and death and together occupy the position of buddhas and patriarchs. Wondrous, perfect, transcendent awakening is right at this moment, able to repay the unpayable kindness so as to assist in unconditioned transformation." [A monk] asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" The Master said, "Auspicious clouds in five colors." [The monk] said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Vast above your head." [A monk] asked, "How was it before Bodhidharma came?" The Master said, "Apes cry in the ancient trees." [The monk] said, "How about after he came?" The Master said, "Cranes screech in the blue sky." [The monk] said, "What about the present matter?" The Master said, "One does not make two, nor is it [the other]." [A monk] asked, "How was it before the upādhyāya met Zhimon?" The Master said, "Your nostrils are in my hands." [The monk] said, "How about after meeting him?" The Master said, "Pierced right through your skull." A monk came out, bowed, stood up, and said, "I ask the master to answer my words." The Master struck him with the stick. The monk said, "Is there no expedient means?" The Master said, "A crime is not punished twice." Another monk came out, bowed, stood up, and said, "I ask the master to answer my words." The Master said, "A double gong'an." [The monk] said, "I ask the master not to answer my words." The Master also struck him. [A monk] asked, "An ancient said, 'Hiding one's body within the Northern Dipper'—what does this mean?" The Master said, "Hearing a thousand times is not as good as seeing once." [The monk] said, "This phrase is very popular." The Master said, "An old rat biting iron." [A monk] asked, "An ancient said, 'Brightly clear, without a single thread.' What about the mountains, rivers, and the great earth?" The Master said, "A red face is not as good as straight speech." [The monk] said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Ask around everywhere." [A monk] asked, "What is the student's self?" The Master said, "Riding a raft and cutting the forehead." [The monk] said, "Could it just be this?" The Master said, "Dying in vain and living for nothing." [A monk] asked, "What is the meaning of arising from conditions?" The Master said, "A vajra casts an iron certificate." [The monk] said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "A signboard in a bustling market." [The monk] said, "If so, then: 'Walking to where the water ends, / Sitting to watch the clouds rise.'" The Master said, "Step down." [A monk] asked, "Please speak about what forty-nine years could not exhaustively explain." The Master said, "Contention is not enough." [The monk] said, "Thank you, Master, for answering my words." The Master said, "Look at the iron stick yourself." [A monk] asked, "What is the eye that takes hold of heaven and earth?" The Master said, "Tear away the nostrils." [The monk] said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "One joy, one sorrow." The monk hesitated in thought. The Master said, "Suffering!" [A monk] asked, "What is taking off the precious robe and putting on ragged, dirty clothes?" The Master said, "Extending the hand, not extending the hand." [The monk] said, "I beg the master for an expedient means." The Master said, "Pick the sinew from the left eye; gouge the flesh from the right eye." [A monk] asked, "Competing to advance at the Dragon Gate—which one passes the examination?" The Master said, "Having one's forehead spotted again." [The monk] said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Hiding the scales when the water recedes." [A monk] asked, "Quietly forgetting words—who is the one who attains it?" The Master said, "Taking off the hat and piercing through the clouds." [The monk] said, "How to understand this?" The Master said, "Wearing a straw raincoat and returning in the rain." [The monk] said, "Twenty years from now, these words will be very popular." The Master said, "A bout of tart bitterness." [A monk] asked, "Do you still receive a person who sits through and cuts off Vairocana?" The Master said, "Attentively seeing them off on the banks of the Xiao and Xiang." [The monk] said, "If so, then the student is at fault." The Master said, "Heaven is broad, earth is narrow—it brings too much sorrow." The monk bowed. The Master said, "A statement of grievance is truly hard to utter." [A monk] asked, "When birth and death arrive, how can one avoid them?" The Master said, "Upon the fixed flower board." [The monk] said, "Could that be the place where one settles one's life and purpose?" The Master said, "Execute it when the tally arrives." Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "What is the hair-blowing sword?" The Master said, "Suffering!" [The monk] said, "Do you still allow the student to use it?" The Master sighed, "Whew!" and then said, "To sing and respond together before the great assembly, you must be such a fellow. If you do not yet have the eye that passes through the blade amid rushing currents, do not bother to bring it out. Therefore it is said: like a great mass of fire—approach it, and your face will be scorched; also like holding the precious sword Tai'e—charge forward, and you will lose your body and life." Then he said: / "Tai'e held crosswise makes the ancestral hall cold; / For a thousand leagues, ten thousand troubles must cease. / Do not wait for the cold gleam to lightly flicker—" / Again he said, "Look, look!" and stepped down from the seat. Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "What is Vimalakīrti's single silence?" The Master said, "Visiting Shide at Mount Tiantai." [The monk] said, "If so, one enters the gate of nonduality." The Master sighed, "Whew!" and further said: / "Whence came the Great Being Vimalakīrti? / For endless ages, he makes people gaze without end. / Cease asking further of the nondual Dharma gate: / Last night the bright moon rose over the solitary peak." / Ascending the hall: / "Spring mountains in overlapping disordered greens; / Spring waters rippling in empty emerald. / Solitary between heaven and earth, / Standing alone, my gaze stretches without end." / He then stepped down from the seat. Turning around, he asked the attendant, "Just now was there anyone looking into the abbot's quarters?" The attendant said, "There was." The Master said, "The thief's heart is hollow." Ascending the hall: "In the ten directions there are no walls, and on the four sides there are no doors. Where did the ancients meet guests? If you can utter a phrase that receives hands, I allow you to be supreme in heaven and on earth." Ascending the hall: "Where the ground is steady and secret, buddhas and patriarchs dare not approach. Why can you not raise your feet? Where spiritual penetrations are at play, ghosts and spirits cannot fathom. Why can you not set down your feet? Even if you go crisscross in all directions, in the morning receive three thousand blows and in the evening eight hundred." Ascending the hall: "Great assembly! This piece of ground was handed over long ago. You people still do not recognize its four boundaries. If you want the tree in the center, I will not begrudge it." [A monk] asked, "What is the fundamental source of all buddhas?" The Master said, "The cold colors of a thousand peaks." [The monk] said, "Beyond what is fundamentally entrusted, is there anything more?" The Master said, "Rain dripping on the cliff flowers." Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "How is it when snow covers the reed flowers?" The Master said, "A speck." [The monk] said, "If so, it becomes auspicious and felicitous." The Master said, "A double gong'an." Then he said: / "Snow covers the reed flowers as dusk approaches; / The Xie family fisherman is not in his boat. / The white ox let loose has nowhere to be found; / In vain the mountain boy is presented with an iron whip." / One day the Master walked in the mountains, gazing around in all directions. He said to the attendant, "On what day will I come here again?" The attendant mournfully pleaded for a death verse. The Master said, "All my life, my only worry has been having too many words." The next day, he brought out his staff, sandals, robes, and bowls, distributing them among the disciples, and said, "On the seventh day of the seventh month, we shall meet again." When the time came, he bathed, gathered his robes, and passed away facing north. His whole body was stupaed in the western cove of the monastery. He was posthumously granted the title Great Master Mingjue. Chan Master Zirong of Mount Yanqing in Xiangzhou. A monk asked, "What is the jewel that conforms to colors?" The Master said, "Three children playing with a flower ball." [The monk] said, "If so, then it is all day long." The Master said, "The head turns white and the teeth fall out." Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "The spiritual light is faint; the moon shines on the cold window. In front of the Hall of Good Dharma, I ask the master to raise and chant." The Master said, "Listen." [The monk] said, "This is still the matter on this side. What about the matter on that side?" The Master said, "Hair grows under the feet." [A monk] asked, "What is the Buddha?" The Master said, "Extending the body, he manifested the ten epithets; entering the coffin, he displayed his twin soles." [The monk] said, "With what shall we make offerings?" The Master said, "Palms joined before the chest." [A monk] asked, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" The Master said, "The ear-pierced barbarian monk does not wear shoes."