續傳燈錄 32.8

32.8

Chan Master Lan'an Dingxu of Xichan in Fuzhou was a son of the Lin clan of the same prefecture. In his youth, he sat for the jinshi examination with renown. At the age of twenty-five, upon reading the Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching, he suddenly said: "I was nearly led astray by the scholar's cap!" He wished to leave home, but his mother objected. Because his wedding was already scheduled, the Master broke it off, saying: "Tender peach blossoms and red apricots I entrust all at once to the spring wind; green bamboo and yellow flowers shall henceforth forever be my companions on the Path." He eventually relied on Chan Master Le of Baoshou to become a monk. Carrying a single staff through the Lake and Xiang regions, he visited famous masters everywhere, but the Dharma held no different flavor for him. Returning to his home region, he built a hut on the sheer summit of Qiang Peak, not coming down the mountain for three years. Chan Master Fo Xin Cai drew him out to lead the assembly at Dacheng. He once heard about the nidāna of "mind itself is Buddha" among students. At that time, Miaoxi was dwelling in a hut at Yangyu. The Master's friend Miguang sent him a letter saying: "The hut-master's methods are different from those elsewhere; could you come for a short stay?" The Master did not reply. Guang used a pretext to invite the Master to a meal, and the Master went to attend. It happened that Miaoxi was conducting interviews in the abbot's room for his disciples, and the Master joined in. Miaoxi cited the monk asking Mazu: "'What is the Buddha?' and Mazu said: 'Mind itself is Buddha'—how do you understand this?" The Master offered a turning phrase. Miaoxi scolded him, saying: "With views like yours, how dare you rashly act as a teacher to others?" Beating the drum, he gave a general discourse, exposing what [Dingxu] had treasured throughout his life as his strength and rejecting it as heterodox understanding. Tears streamed down the Master's cheeks; he did not dare look up. He secretly thought to himself: "Since what I have attained has been rejected, could it be that the uninherited message of the West's coming is not limited to this?" He thereupon submitted his mind and joined the ranks of his disciples. One day, Miaoxi asked: "Not letting out what is inside, not letting in what is outside—at just such a time, how is it?" The Master was about to open his mouth when Miaoxi took his bamboo stick and struck his back three times in succession. At this, the Master was greatly awakened and said in a stern voice: "Upādhyāya, that is already too much!" Miaoxi struck him once more. The Master bowed. Miaoxi laughed and said: "Today you finally know that I have not deceived you." He then confirmed him with a gāthā: "Atop the crown stands the eye of Maheśvara; / Behind the elbow hangs slanting the talisman that takes life. / Blind the eye, cast off the talisman— / East of Zhaozhou's wall hangs a gourd." Thereupon, his reputation resounded through the monasteries. After becoming abbot, he ascended the hall and said: "The meaning within the phrase, the phrase within the meaning—Sumeru towers over the great river. The phrase cuts away the meaning, the meaning cuts away the phrase—a heroic warrior releases a wild arrow. Let their teeth be like a grove of swords and their mouths like basins of blood; they merely flaunt the sharpness of words and make an empty show of bravado. Therefore, Vimalakīrti's closing of his mouth was already getting tangled in excessive words; Magadha's closing of the gate had already exposed the family scandal. As for the rest, the old fellow of the Tile Coffin and Great Master Yantou, on the summit of Qiang Peak, seized the wind and stirred the waves, toying with spiritual transformations—beneath their feet, they should properly be given thirty blows. Tell me, where was their fault?" After a long pause, he said: "The mechanism was not made by Han Guang; do not treat what is in your chest lightly." On the winter solstice, he ascended the hall and said: "Before the twenty-fifth day, the yin elements subside, and the mud dragon closes its door. After the twenty-fifth day, the single yang returns, and the iron tree blossoms. Right on the twenty-fifth day, drunken guests amidst the dust ride donkeys and horses, congratulating one another in front streets and back alleys. Idle people beyond worldly things cover their heads with patched robes and sit around the hearth. The wind whistles, the rain drizzles, chilly and bleak. Who cares about you, Mr. Zhang, Daoist Priest Li, or bearded Bodhidharma!" He ascended the hall: "The lazy old fellow is the laziest of the lazy; / Laziest of all, he is too lazy to speak of Chan. / Neither honoring himself, / Nor honoring the ancient worthies. / Who cares about your earth? / Who cares about your heaven? / Free and easy beyond worldly things, without a single concern; / When the sun is three poles high, he is still sleeping." He ascended the hall and cited a monk asking Zhaozhou: "What were the words of the ancients?" Zhou said: "Listen closely, listen closely." The Master said: "'Listen closely' is indeed not absent, but be careful not to mistake a bell for an earthen jar!" In the abbot's room, he asked a monk: "'The myriad dharmas return to one; where does the one return?'" The monk said: "In the kingdom of Silla." The Master said: "'When I was in Qingzhou, I made a cloth robe weighing seven catties'—what about that?" The monk said: "Today I have met Zhaozhou in person." The Master said: "Did you meet him in front, or did you meet him behind?" The monk made a gesture of shielding his forehead. The Master said: "Where are you from, Elder?" The monk said: "Jiangxi." The Master said: "Why did you come here to admit defeat?" The monk hesitated, and the Master hit him.