續傳燈錄 3.9

3.9

Chan Master Quanju of Fahua Cloister in Shuzhou went to Upādhyāya Gong'an Yuan. Yuan asked, "What is a monastery?" The Master said, "A lone tiger hidden deep in the mountains; a throng of snakes exposed in shallow grass." Yuan asked, "What is a person inside the monastery?" The Master said, "A green pine cannot cover [him]; how could yellow leaves conceal [him]?" Yuan said, "What are you saying?" The Master said, "In youth, having savored every moon at the edge of the sky; in senescence, struggling with the Fusang tree where the sun never sinks." Yuan said, "When a phrase or two opens the clouds to reveal the moon, how is it?" The Master said, "It illuminates through and shatters buddhas and patriarchs." He went to Upādhyāya Dayu Zhi. Dayu asked, "What was the ancient's intention upon seeing peach blossoms?" The Master said, "The crooked does not conceal the straight." Dayu said, "Let that one be; what about this one?" The Master said, "Gold picked up on the main street—how can the neighbors on all sides know of it?" Dayu said, "Does the elder monk still know?" The Master said, "Meeting a swordsman on the road, one must present a sword; to one who is not a poet, do not offer poetry." Dayu said, "An adept poet!" The Master said, "A single red thread pulled by two people." Dayu said, "Xuansha said: 'Thoroughly correct, most thoroughly correct—I dare guarantee that the venerable brother has not yet penetrated through.' What about that?" The Master said, "When the sea dries up, one finally sees the bottom; when a person dies, their mind remains unknown." Dayu said, "Indeed so." The Master said, "The pavilion soars to touch the clouds; the mountain peaks pile up in layers of emerald." He went to Upādhyāya Langye Jue. Langye asked, "Where have you recently left?" The Master said, "The two Zhe circuits." Langye said, "Did you come by boat or by land?" The Master said, "By boat." Langye said, "Where is the boat?" The Master said, "At the foot of the steps." Langye said, "Without traveling the road, say a phrase: how is it?" The Master struck him once with his sitting cloth and said, "Fabricating elders are as plentiful as hemp seeds and millet grains!" Flicking his sleeves, he walked out. Langye asked his attendant, "Who is this person?" The attendant said, "Elder Ju." Langye said, "Could it be Senior Dharma Uncle Ju? My late master instructed me to seek him out and see him." He then went down, stepped forward, and asked, "Elder monk, could you be Senior Dharma Uncle Ju? Do not blame me for offending you just now." The Master gave a shout. He then asked, "When did the elder arrive at Fenyang?" Langye said, "At such-and-such time." The Master said, "I had long heard your name in Zhejiang, yet your view turns out to be merely like this. How did your name come to spread throughout the realm?" Langye then bowed and said, "This one's fault." The Master went to the Western Hermitage in Hangzhou. The hermitage master had once seen Mingzhao. The master cited a verse saying: 'Upon the topmost Western Peak, / Who dares face the precipitous dynamic? / Transcending beyond both commoner and sage, / At a glance arise two layers of radiance.' The Master asked, "What are the two layers of radiance?" The hermitage master said, "The moon rises from the east; the sun sets into the west." The Master asked, "How was it before the hermitage master saw Mingzhao?" The hermitage master said, "A full cup of oil is hard to exhaust." The Master asked, "How about after seeing him?" The hermitage master said, "Many wicks easily run dry." After becoming abbot, a monk asked, "What is taking away the person but not taking away the environment?" The Master said, "White chrysanthemums newly open in the warmth of the Double Ninth; the centenarian noble youth never meets spring." The monk asked, "What is taking away the environment but not taking away the person?" The Master said, "From the great earth, news is cut off; carefree, he alone relies on reality." The monk asked, "What is taking away both person and environment?" The Master said, "Weeds grow wild as people pale; commoner and sage are both completely emptied." The monk asked, "What is taking away neither person nor environment?" The Master said, "Clear breeze and bright moon; they smile in intimacy at each other from the wilds." Ascending the hall, [the Master said,] "Śākya did not appear in the world; Bodhidharma did not come from the west. The Buddha Dharma pervades the whole world; in discussing the mystery, mouths do not open." Ascending the hall, [the Master said,] "Bells toll, drums sound, magpies chatter, and crows caw—for all of you, prajñā has been preached and nirvāṇa has been expounded. Can you all genuinely believe it? Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva displays great supernatural powers right before all of you. If you cannot believe it, he goes off to other lands to relieve suffering and benefit living beings." Ascending the hall, [the Master said,] "Opening the mouth becomes adding words; not opening the mouth becomes surplus words." He then said, "The edict of the Iron-Wheel-Turning Emperor; the house style of an inn is different." Ascending the hall, [the Master said,] "The mouths of the buddhas of the three periods are hung upon the wall. Where can the old upādhyāyas under heaven lay their hands? When all of you go to the various quarters, how will you bring this up? That this mountain monk speaks like this is also having birch-waxed lips for a long time." He gave a shout. Ascending the hall, [the Master said,] "An ancient said: 'If I were to promote the ancestral lineage without exception, the grass in the Dharma hall would grow ten feet deep.' One cannot seal off the doors of the Sangha hall on account of the ācāryas! Even though this is so, it is also a turtle stirring up dust as it walks on dry land." Ascending the hall, [the Master said,] "Speaking of the gradual, it reverses to the ordinary and accords with the Way. Discussing the sudden, it leaves not a trace. Even if one discusses its suddenness and reverses to its ordinariness, this too is done by forced constraint." A monk asked, "Before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch, why did hundreds of birds carry flowers in their beaks to offer him?" The Master said, "When fruit is ripe, the gibbon feels the weight." The monk asked, "Why did they not carry flowers after he saw him?" The Master said, "When the forest is sparse, birds do not pass through." A monk asked, "The radiance of the Seven Stars shines as dawn approaches; without violating the imperial wind, try to speak of it." The Master said, "The general's horse hooves are red." The monk said, "Wrong!" The Master immediately struck him. The monk bowed, spread out his sitting cloth, and then took it back. The Master said, "One spread and one retrieval—every single dharma is complete. Intending to ask further, what reason could there be?" He then asked, "Do you understand?" The monk said, "I do not understand." The Master immediately struck him.