續傳燈錄 27.6.2

27.6.2

"At that time, Upādhyāya, you could not have asked it alone; it had to be asked before the assembly. What harm is there in speaking of it now?" Qin then said, "I asked: 'How is it when phrases exist and phrases do not exist, like a vine clinging to a tree?' Wuzu said: 'Describe it as you will, it cannot be depicted; paint it as you will, it cannot be rendered.' I asked again: 'How is it when suddenly the tree falls and the vine withers?' Wuzu said: 'Following along together.'" Hearing this cited, the Master experienced a great awakening on the spot. He said, "I understand!" Qin said, "I only fear you still have not penetrated this gong'an." The Master said, "Please cite [further], Upādhyāya." Qin then continuously cited a string of tricky and perplexing sayings by former masters to test and interrogate him. The Master answered in response to his voice without the slightest impediment. Qin clapped his hands and praised him. He also praised him before the assembly, saying: "Gao has not been a kalyāṇamitra for merely one or two lifetimes." From then on, the Master was unrestrained and spirited, giving full vent to his discourses like pouring water from a steep roof or rolling a round boulder down a thousand-fathom cliff; the elder masters tucked in their robes and none dared confront his vanguard. Earlier, once the Master had thoroughly awakened, he nevertheless had doubts about several Chan pilgrims and asked Qin about them. Qin said: "This Chan of mine is like the great ocean: only if you bring a great ocean to pour it into will it do. If you merely bring an alms bowl, fetch a tiny bit and stop, that is simply how limited your capacity is—what can I do about it? How many can reach your state? Formerly there was only Senior Monk Jing who was like you, yet he has already died." Before long, [Qin] appointed the Master as head monk. At that time, literati and officials often vied to associate with him. He was especially esteemed by the Right Vice Director Lü Shuntu, who memorialized to grant him a purple robe and the title Master Fori. When the Jurchen disturbance arose, the barbarian chieftain wished to capture ten Chan monks; the Master was among those selected, but soon escaped—it was as if someone had aided him—and he crossed the river south. At that time, Qin had been granted the title Chan Master Yuanwu and was presiding over the Dharma seat at Yunju; he instructed the Master to occupy the first seat. He often entered the abbot's room with the various patch-robed monks, and Yuanwu would always come to listen to his words. One day, after leaving the abbot's room, the Master went up to the abbot's quarters and sat together with Yuanwu. Yuanwu said, "If there were a fellow monk like this old monk, how would you deal with him?" The Master said, "What greater fortune could there be? It is just as Dongpo said of being an executioner: 'In one's whole life to meet a fat fellow to slice!'" Yuanwu laughed loudly and said, "Instead, you have entered the abbot's room with me and pressed me against the wall!" Yuanwu often said: "Recently, the various quarters have all become nests and dens. Under Wuzu, I, along with Fojian and Foyan, formed a trio practicing Chan together. Now flaws and blunders have already appeared. Under Fojian there is a type who mimic barking dogs and cooing doves to make people laugh. Under Foyan there is a type who peer at lanterns and exposed pillars, pointing east and drawing west, just like seeing ghosts with their own eyes. Here with me, for now, there are not these two sicknesses." The Master said, "It is very good to have no sicknesses." Yuanwu said, "What do you mean?" The Master said, "Sparks struck from flint, a flash of lightning: this leads countless people to play with karmic consciousness—as soon as it is raised, they immediately 'understand' it. How is this not a great nest and den of the Buddhadharma?" Yuanwu involuntarily stuck out his tongue and said, "Never mind them, never mind them! I aim only at mutual verification; if there is no mutual verification, I resolutely will not let them pass." The Master said, "Speaking of mutual verification is fine. I only fear that later people will simply transmit it like this—as soon as it is raised, they immediately 'understand' it, stubbornly insisting on sparks struck from flint and flashes of lightning, with karmic consciousness vast and boundless, never having an end." Yuanwu deeply agreed with this. Before long, Yuanwu returned to Shu. The Master then took his leave and resided at ancient Yunmen. Students gathered like clouds. Again fleeing the turmoil, he went to Hunan, turned through Jiangyou, and entered Min. He built a hermitage at Yangyu in Changle. At that time those following him were only fifty-three people; in less than fifty days, thirteen people attained the Dharma. Before this, there had never been such an occurrence. Later, they all stood out conspicuously. He first accepted the invitation of Supervising Secretary Master Jiang Shaoming to reside at the Yunmen Hermitage at Xiaoxi. When Grand Councillor Zhang, Duke of Wei, was in Shu, Yuanwu told him that the Master had truly attained the marrow of the Dharma; upon arriving at court, he invited him to Jingshan in Lin'an. The flourishing of the Dharma assembly was foremost of the time; traveling a hundred leagues with blistered feet, they rushed to arrive, fearing only to be late. Reaching the point where there was no space to accommodate them, a great pavilion for a thousand monks was built to house them, with over two thousand followers in all. When he first opened the Dharma hall and ascended the seat, before the questions and answers were finished, several monks vied to step forward and compete in questioning. The Master stopped them, saying: "Stop, stop! Even if the plants and trees of the great earth were all ground into dust, each speck of dust had a mouth, each mouth was endowed with the mark of an unobstructed, broad and long tongue, each tongue uttered immeasurable distinct sounds, each sound produced immeasurable distinct words, and each word had immeasurable distinct wondrous meanings—if patch-robed monks as numerous as the dust specks above each possessed such mouths, such tongues, such sounds, such words, and such wondrous meanings, and simultaneously raised hundreds of thousands of difficult questions, every single question being distinct, it would not take more than a single cough from the elder of Jingshan to answer them all at once! Seizing the moment, within it he performs immeasurable and boundless, vast and great Buddhist deeds; each Buddhist deed pervades the Dharma realm. As it is said: 'A single hair manifests spiritual transformations; all Buddhas together expound the sūtras.' Through immeasurable kalpas one could not reach its limit. To go on like that bustling the monastic gates may be fine, but if viewed with the correct eye, it is precisely karmic consciousness, vast and boundless, with no foundation to rely on; within the Patriarch's gate, not a bit of it can be used! How much less hook-like phrases and thorny clauses, flaunting the edge of words: this not only buries the ancestral lineage from above, but also splits the nostrils of patch-robed monks with laughter. Therefore it is said: 'Fastening a thought for a hair's breadth is the karmic cause for the three destinies; in a flash an emotion arises, a fetter for ten thousand kalpas.' Sacred names and worldly designations are all empty sounds; distinctive marks and inferior forms are all illusory colors. If you seek them, can you be free of encumbrance? When you come to loathe them, it again becomes a great affliction. See how the ancient worthies exhorted and announced in this way, like the state using weapons only when there is no choice; in the fundamental affair there is not even this message. Today, the mountain monk raising and chanting like this is very much like speaking of a dream when there is no dream, or gouging into healthy flesh to make a wound. Examining it, I ought to take a blow of the staff. Right now, is there anyone who can strike with a poisonous hand? If there is, he is worthy of repaying the kindness that cannot be repaid, and together aiding the transformation of non-action. If not, I shall reverse the implementation of this order." Suddenly holding up his staff, he said, "Holding the Moye blade crosswise, fully execute the correct order!"