南嶽總勝集 3.7

3.7

何尊師者。不知何許人也。龍朔中居衡嶽。不顯名氏。其顏若四十許。行步如飛。常往來蒼梧五嶺間。來無所慕。去無所斁。僅百餘年。人常見之。狀貌不改。或問其氏族及年壽。但云何何。或詰其鄉里及修證。亦云何何。時人號曰何尊師。衣弊履穿。其心浩如也。逸人田虛應鄧虛中嘗請曰。尊師卒無言。何以開悟學者。則曰知不知者上不知知者病。誰能鑿混沌之竅。遺自然之理耶。遂杖藜而入林中。須臾群虎隨之不復見。開元中。司馬承禎遊南嶽祝融峯曰。當有高仙處之。何氣色之秀異若此。已而見尊師於林中出。承禎致禮造問。則據石而坐。若無所覩。時不見答而退。歎曰。此可謂才全而德不形者也。乃建庵於峯頂延之。尊師就止復不出。觀察使呂渭即其廬。請傳符籙。張太虛田虛應鄧虛中師事之。皆不得其旨。天寶二年下元日。有雲鶴翔空。異香芬郁。謂弟子曰。吾去之後。當舉之於紫蓋南峯盤石之上。遂化。顏色不變。弟子乃環衛行遷神之法。中夕聞雷震聲。即失其所在。衡陽太守蘇務廉文。其碑在銓德觀。

Master He was a man of unknown origins. During the Longshuo era he dwelt on Mount Heng, not revealing his name or surname. His face appeared to be about forty years old, and he walked as if flying. He frequently traveled between Cangwu and the Five Ridges, arriving without desire and leaving without weariness. For over a hundred years, people often saw him, his appearance never changing. If someone asked his family clan or his age, he merely said, “He, He!” If someone inquired into his native place or his spiritual attainments, he also said, “He, He!” People of the time called him Master He. In tattered clothes and worn shoes, his mind was vast. The recluses Tian Xuying and Deng Xuzhong once requested, “The Master ultimately says nothing; how can you enlighten students?” He then said, “Knowing one does not know is highest; not knowing yet thinking one knows is a disease. Who can bore holes into Chaos and abandon the principle of spontaneity?” Thereupon, leaning on a goosefoot cane, he entered the forest; presently a pack of tigers followed him, and he was seen no more. During the Kaiyuan era, Sima Chengzhen traveled to Zhurong Peak on Nanyue and said, “An exalted immortal must dwell here; why else would the atmospheric colors be so remarkably refined like this?” Soon after, he saw Master He emerge from the forest. Chengzhen paid homage and stepped forward to inquire, but the Master sat leaning on a rock as if seeing nothing. Seeing he received no answer, Chengzhen withdrew and sighed, “This can be called one whose talent is complete yet whose virtue remains unmanifest.” He then built a hermitage at the mountain peak to invite him. Master He went to stay there and did not come out again. Surveillance Commissioner Lü Wei went to his hut to ask for the transmission of talismans and registers. Zhang Taixu, Tian Xuying, and Deng Xuzhong served him as disciples, but none could grasp his purport. On the Xiayuan day in the second year of Tianbao, cloud-cranes soared in the sky and a wondrous fragrance wafted richly. He said to his disciples, “After I am gone, you should carry me up onto the flat boulder on the southern peak of Zigai.” He then transformed, his countenance unchanged. His disciples formed a guard around him and performed the rite of moving the spirit; in the middle of the night they heard the sound of thunder, and his whereabouts were lost. Su Wulian, Governor of Hengyang, composed an inscription for him, which stands at the Quande Abbey.