續傳燈錄 26.28

26.28

Chan Master Pujiao of Tiantong in Qingyuan Prefecture was a son of the Bi family of Wanling in that prefecture. He was clever from his youth and was ordained before reaching adulthood. He went to Nanping to study the Tiantai teachings. Once, when performing repentance for a patron, someone asked: 'Is the sin you repent your own sin or another's? If it is your own sin, where does the nature of sin come from? If it is another's sin, another's sin is not yours; how could you repent it?' The master could not answer. Thereupon, he changed his robes and traveled on pilgrimage. He arrived at Letan; as soon as his feet crossed the threshold, Letan scolded him. The master was about to ask a question when Letan dragged his staff and chased him out. One day, Letan suddenly called the master to his abbot's room and said, 'I have an ancient gong'an that I want to discuss with you.' The master was about to offer words when Letan shouted. The master was thoroughly enlightened and broke into a great laugh. Letan stepped down from the rope chair, grasped the master's hand, and said, 'Do you understand the Buddha Dharma?' The master gave a shout and pushed him away. Letan laughed heartily. Thereupon, his fame spread in all directions, and students looked up to him. Later, he returned to his native place and remained at Tiantong, closing his gate and sweeping away callers for eight years. When the monastery happened to have a vacant seat, the prefectural officials ordered the master to open the Dharma hall. Fearing he might flee, they sent officers ahead to wait on the road, so he could not decline. On the day he accepted the invitation, he ascended the hall and said: 'Pah! Yellow-faced old fellow! Handing over the Buddha Dharma to kings and ministers! A cold, aloof guest beneath the forest is hounded to death by official duties! Is there anyone who knows my heart who can exempt me? If not, there is no choice but to take error for error.' He then stepped down from the seat. Whenever the master saw a monk coming, he would invariably reprimand him, saying: 'Before your staff was shouldered, it was already explained to you! And tell me, what was explained? Beckoning with the hand, washing the bowl, picking up the fan, drawing the bow; Zhaozhou's cypress tree; Lingyun seeing the peach blossoms—set them all aside for a moment! This mountain monk has no such idle lips to entangle in vines with you. Why not rest from it all?' He would pick up his staff and chase them out. On the twentieth day of the third month in the sixth year of Xuanhe, he bathed, ascended the hall, spoke a verse, and freely passed away. The verse said:
'The precious staff strikes empty space, spring everywhere;
The message within it specifically encompasses all.
Last night the wind stirred, the cold crag was chilly;
Startled awake, the mud ox plows the white clouds.'
He lived seventy-seven years, with fifty-eight years of monastic seniority.