續傳燈錄 28.26

28.26

Lady Benming, styled Mingshi, after having an accord with Yuanwu, visited eminent elders everywhere, and all bestowed their seals of approval upon her. On the full moon of the second month of the gengshen year of the Shaoxing era, she personally wrote three gāthās and sent them to Caotang Qing, faintly intimating her intention of leaving the world. Toward the end of the ten-day period, she took leave of her kin and passed away. Caotang wrote an afterword to her gāthās and published them; Dahui had also once uttered words to extol her. The gāthās said: 'Not knowing that affliction is bodhi; / If one follows affliction, that is foolishness. / At the moment of arising and ceasing, one must understand: / A sparrowhawk passes Silla without anyone knowing. / Not knowing that affliction is bodhi; / The pure flower grows from muddy silt. / If someone comes to ask me what to do: / Eating gruel, eating rice, and finishing, wash the bowl. / Pay no heed to it, pay no heed to it; / Playing with ocean sand all day long in foolish bliss. / If you wish to know your original true face: / It is just the Patriarch's single wooden fork. / Those who cannot speak die beneath the fork; / Those who can speak also die beneath the fork. / In the end, how is it? / Walking by night is not permitted; you must arrive when day breaks.'