南嶽總勝集 3.46

3.46

衡嶽泉禪師。南人也。名谷泉少。聰敏性耐垢污。大言不遜。流俗憎惡。造汾陽昭禪師。密使記南歸。放浪湘中。與虎湫蛟穴為伴。因遊南嶽雲峯寺。住懶瓚巖。又移芭蕉庵。復遷寶真。大書壁曰。予此芭蕉庵。幽古堆雲處。千般異境未暇數。且看矮松三四樹。寒來燒枯杉。飢飡大紫芋。而今拋之去。不知誰來住。寶真庵最險絕處。夜地坐祝融峯下。有大蟒蟠繞之。泉解衣帶縛其腰。夜不見。明日杖山策遍山尋之。衣帶纏枯松上。蓋松妖也。又自後洞負一石像至南臺。約數百斤。眾僧驚駭莫知其來。後洞僧亦不知其去。因相傳云飛來羅漢。嘗過衡山縣。見屠者斫肉。立其旁作可憐態。指其肉又指其口。屠問曰。汝啞耶。即肯首。屠憐之。割巨臠置鉢中。泉喜出望外□謝而去。一市大笑。而泉自若。以杖荷大瓢。來往山中。人曰。瓢中何物。大道漿也。自作偈曰。我不誰管爾。誰是不管底。着箇破紙褉。一味工打睡。金烏住東上。玉免從西墜。榮辱何繫我。興亡不相關。一條拄杖一葫蘆。閑走南山與北山。醉臥山路間。值大雪。起作偈曰。今朝甚好雪。紛紛如秋月。文殊不出頭。普賢呈醜拙。畜一奴名調。古日令捨薪汲澗。或呼對坐巖石間。贈之以偈。我有山童名調。古不誦經不禮祖。能搬榾柮禦冬寒。隨分衣衫破不補。會栽蔬能種芋。千山萬山去無懼。呵呵呵有甚討處。

Chan Master Quan of Hengyue was a southerner. His name was Guquan. In his youth he was clever and astute; by nature he could endure dirt and filth. He spoke big words without deference and was detested by vulgar society. He visited Chan Master Zhao of Fenyang, who secretly gave him a prediction and sent him back south. He wandered unrestrained through the Xiang region, keeping company with tiger pools and dragon dens. Passing through Nanyue's Yunfeng Monastery, he lived at Lanzan's Rock, then moved to Bajiao Hermitage, and later relocated to Baozhen. In large characters, he wrote on the wall: 'Here at my Bajiao Hermitage, / A secluded, ancient place where clouds gather, / I have no leisure to count a thousand marvelous scenes; / Let me just gaze at three or four dwarf pines. / When cold comes, I burn withered fir; / When hungry, I eat large purple taros. / And now I cast it aside and depart, / Knowing not who will come to live here.' Baozhen Hermitage was at the most treacherous and remote spot. Sitting on the ground at night below Zhurong Peak, a giant python coiled around him. Quan unfastened his sash and tied it around its waist. In the night it vanished. The next day, leaning on his mountain staff, he searched throughout the mountains; the sash was wrapped around a withered pine—it had been a pine demon. Furthermore, he carried a stone statue weighing several hundred catties from the Rear Grotto to Nantai; the monks were astounded and did not know how it had come, nor did the monks of the Rear Grotto know how it had gone. Thus tradition called it the Flying Arhat. Once, passing through Hengshan County, he saw a butcher chopping meat. Standing beside him, he put on a pitiful appearance, pointing to the meat and then to his mouth. The butcher asked, 'Are you mute?' He nodded. Taking pity on him, the butcher cut off a huge hunk of meat and placed it in his alms bowl. Quan was overjoyed beyond expectations, bowed in gratitude, and departed. The whole marketplace broke into great laughter, but Quan was completely unperturbed. Carrying a large gourd on his staff, he came and went in the mountains. People asked, 'What is in the gourd?' He replied, 'It is the nectar of the Great Way.' He composed a verse himself: 'I care for nobody, / And who is it that cares not? / Wearing a worn-out paper smock, / Entirely given over to sleeping. / The golden crow rises from the east; / The jade rabbit sinks from the west. / How does honor or disgrace bind me? / Rise and fall are none of my concern. / A single walking staff, a single gourd; / Idly roaming the southern mountain and the northern mountain.' Lying drunk along the mountain path, he encountered heavy snow. Getting up, he composed a verse: 'This morning's snow is truly fine, / Swirling thick like the autumn moon. / Mañjuśrī dares not show his head; / Samantabhadra displays his clumsiness.' He kept a servant named Tiaogu, whom he ordered daily to gather firewood and draw water from the ravine, or sometimes called him to sit opposite him among the rocks. He presented him with a verse: 'I have a mountain lad named Tiaogu; / He does not chant scriptures, nor does he bow to the patriarchs. / He can carry kindling to ward off the winter cold; / Following his lot, his clothes are torn and not patched. / He knows how to plant vegetables and can grow taros; / Going through a thousand mountains and ten thousand mountains without fear. / Haha, haha! Where could one ever find the like?'