景德傳燈錄

THE JINGDE RECORD OF THE TRANSMISSION OF THE LAMP — VOLUME 15

VOLUME 15

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Xingsi of Mount Qingyuan in Ji Prefecture.

Fourth generation—17 persons.

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Chongxin of Longtan in Feng Prefecture, 2 persons:

1. Chan Master Xuanjian of Deshan in Lang Prefecture,
2. Venerable Baofeng of Zhutan in Hong Prefecture,

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Xingkong of Ji Prefecture, 2 persons:

1. Venerable Maoyuan of Xi Prefecture,
2. Chan Master Guangren of Mount Zao, (records of these 2 persons are found in the collection)

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Wuxue of Cuiwei in the Capital Region, 5 persons:

1. Chan Master Lingzun of Mount Qingping in Yu Prefecture,
2. Chan Master Datong of Mount Touzi in Shu Prefecture,
3. Chan Master Runna of Mount Daochang in Hu Prefecture,
4. Chan Master Yue of Baiyun in Jian Prefecture, (records of these 4 persons are found in the collection)
5. Chan Master Yuantong of Mount Funiu, (no record of this 1 person is found in the collection)

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Yuanzhi of Mount Daowu in Tan Prefecture, 3 persons:

1. Chan Master Qingzhu of Shishuang in Tan Prefecture,
2. Chan Master Zhongxing of Jianyuan in Tan Prefecture,
3. Venerable Luqing (records of these 3 persons are found in the collection).

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Tancheng of Yunyan in Tan Prefecture, 4 persons:

1. Chan Master Liangjie of Dongshan in Yun Prefecture,
2. Chan Master Jianhong of Xingshan in Shi Prefecture,
3. Chan Master Sengmi of Shenshan in Tan Prefecture,
4. Venerable Youxi.

– Dharma successor of Chan Master Decheng, the Boatman of Huating, 1 person:

1. Chan Master Shanhui of Jiashan in Feng Prefecture.
Fifth generation, Part 1—14 persons:

– Dharma successors of Chan Master Datong of Mount Touzi in Shu Prefecture, 13 persons:

1. Chan Master Wen, the second-generation master of Touzi,
2. Chan Master Wei of Niutou in Fu Prefecture,
3. Chan Master Chengzhao of Xiangshan in Western Sichuan,
4. Venerable Tianfu of Hepu,
5. Venerable Siming of Hao Prefecture,
6. Venerable Zhaofu of Fengxiang,
7. Chan Master Zungu of Mount Zhongliang in Xingyuan,
8. Venerable Guyin of Xiang Prefecture,
9. Venerable Qiongshan of Jiunao in An Prefecture,
10. The second-generation Venerable of Panshan in You Prefecture,
11. Chan Master Jinghui of Mount Jiunao,
12. Chan Master Yanjun of the Guanyin Cloister in the Eastern Capital, (records of the 12 persons above are found in the collection)
13. Chan Master Zhen of Guiyang Longfu, (no record of this 1 person is found in the collection)

– Dharma successor of Chan Master Lingzun of Mount Qingping in E Prefecture, 1 person:

1. Chan Master Linggui of Mount Sanjiao in Zhuo Prefecture (a record of this 1 person is found in the collection).
The fourth generation after Master Xingsi.

– Dharma successor of Chan Master Chongxin of Longtan in the aforementioned Li Prefecture.

1. Chan Master Xuanjian of Deshan in Lang Prefecture.
The Master was a native of Jiannan, and his family name was Zhou. He left home while still young, and upon reaching the proper age received the precepts and devoted himself to the study of the Vinaya treasury. He thoroughly mastered the purport of the teachings on nature and characteristics in the sutras, and frequently lectured on the Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra. People of the time called him “Diamond Zhou.” Later, the Master went in search of instruction in the Chan school. He once told a fellow student: “A single hair swallows the ocean of nature, yet the ocean of nature does not diminish. A tiny mustard seed is cast upon the point of a sharp needle, yet the sharp point does not move. Of learning and no-learning, I alone have knowledge.”
He then went to Chan Master Longtan Chongxin, and in their questions and answers each exchanged only a single utterance. The Master immediately took his leave. Longtan detained him. One evening, the Master sat silently outside the abbot’s quarters. Longtan asked, “Why do you not return to your room?”
The Master replied, “It is pitch-dark.”
Longtan then lit a torch for him. Just as the Master was about to take it, Longtan blew it out. The Master immediately bowed.
Longtan asked, “What have you seen?”
He replied, “From this day forward, I shall no longer doubt the tongues of the old venerables throughout the land.”
The next morning, he prepared to depart. Longtan told his disciples: “Among you is a fellow whose fangs are like swords and whose mouth is like a basin of blood. Even if struck with a staff, he will not turn his head. Someday he will establish my Way upon a solitary mountain peak.”
The Master went directly to Guishan. He crossed the Dharma hall from west to east, then turned back and gazed at the abbot’s quarters. Guishan said nothing. The Master said, “It is not so! It is not so!” and then went out. In front of the Sangha hall, the Master said, “Though it is so, I must not be careless.” He then arranged his deportment properly and went in again for an interview. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he raised his sitting cloth and called, “Venerable!” Guishan was about to take up his whisk. The Master immediately shouted, shook out his sleeves, and withdrew.
That evening, Guishan asked the assembly, “Where is the newly arrived monk who came today?”
They replied, “That monk met the Venerable, and then, without even looking toward the Sangha hall, departed at once.”
Guishan asked the assembly, “Do you understand that monk?”
They replied, “We do not understand.”
Guishan said, “In the future, he will go forth to the summit of a solitary peak, build a grass hut, revile the Buddha, and berate the patriarchs.”
The Master remained in Liyang for thirty years. During Emperor Wuzong’s persecution of Buddhism in the Tang dynasty, the Master took refuge in a stone chamber on Mount Dufu. At the beginning of the Dazhong era, Xue Tingwang, the Prefect of Wuling, restored a monastery at Deshan and named it the Ancient Virtue Chan Monastery.

Seeking a worthy sage to serve as its abbot, he heard of the Master’s cultivation of the Way and repeatedly invited him, but the Master would not descend from the mountain. Tingwang then devised a plan and secretly ordered an official to plant tea and salt among the Master’s belongings and falsely accuse him of violating the prohibitions of the law. The Master was arrested and brought into the prefecture.

There, Tingwang paid homage to him and earnestly invited him to reside at the monastery and widely propagate the tradition.
The Master ascended the Dharma hall and instructed the assembly: “If you have no concerns within yourselves, do not engage in deluded seeking. Even if you obtain what you deludedly seek, it is still not attainment. You need only be free of concerns in the mind and have no mind amid affairs; then you will be empty yet numinous, void yet wondrous.

If, even by a hair’s breadth, you discourse upon roots and branches, you are merely deceiving yourselves. The slightest attachment of thought is a karmic cause for the three evil paths. In the blink of an eye, feelings arise, and you are bound for ten thousand kalpas.

The designations ‘sage’ and ‘ordinary being’ are all empty sounds; extraordinary forms and appearances are all illusory colors. You wish to seek and obtain them—how could you remain unencumbered? When you grow weary of them, they become a great calamity and are ultimately of no benefit.”
The Master ascended the Dharma hall and said: “Tonight no one may ask a question. Whoever asks a question will receive thirty blows.”
At that moment, a monk stepped forward and bowed. The Master immediately struck him.
The monk said, “I had not yet even asked anything. Why did the Venerable strike me?”
The Master asked, “Where are you from?”
He replied, “I am from Silla.”
The Master said, “Before you had even stepped down from the boat, you already deserved thirty blows.”
A monk came for an interview. The Master asked the rector, “How many newcomers arrived today?”
He replied, “Eight.”
The Master said, “Bring them all together and settle the case at once.”
Longya asked, “If a student, wielding the Moye sword, were about to take the Master’s head, what then?”
The Master stretched out his neck.
Longya said, “Your head has fallen!”
The Master smiled.
Later, Longya went to Dongshan and related the preceding exchange.
Dongshan asked, “What did Deshan say?”
He replied, “Deshan said nothing.”
Dongshan said, “Do not say that he said nothing. Bring Deshan’s fallen head here and show it to this old monk.”
Longya awakened and repented. Someone related this to the Master.
The Master said, “That old fellow Dongshan does not know good from bad. How long has that old man been dead? Even if he could be saved, what use would it be?”
A monk asked, “What is a bodhisattva?”
The Master struck him and said, “Get out! Do not defecate in that direction.”
A monk asked, “What is the Buddha?”
The Master said, “The Buddha is an old bhiksu in the Western Heaven.”
Xuefeng asked, “From ancient times onward, by what Dharma has this tradition taught people?”
The Master said, “My school has no words or phrases; truly, it has not a single Dharma to give anyone.”
When Yantou heard this, he said, “Old Deshan has a backbone as hard as iron; it cannot be broken. Even so, within the gate of expounding the teaching, he still imitates others.”
Ordinarily, whenever a monk came for an interview, the Master would most often strike him with his staff. When Linji heard of this, he sent his attendant for an interview, instructing him: “If Deshan strikes you, simply seize his staff and thrust it against his belly.”
The attendant arrived, and no sooner had he bowed than the Master struck him. The attendant caught the staff and thrust it upright against him. The Master returned to the abbot’s quarters. The attendant went back and recounted the incident to Linji.

Ji said: “Later, question that old fellow.” The Master ascended the Dharma hall and said: “To ask is an error, yet not to ask is contrary.” A monk stepped forward and bowed. The Master immediately struck him. The monk said, “I had only just bowed; why did you strike me?” The Master said, “What could I have done if I had waited until you opened your mouth?”

The Master had the attendant summon Yicun. When Cun arrived, the Master said, “I called for Yicun myself; why have you come?” Yicun was unable to reply.

When the Master saw a monk approaching, he shut the door. The monk knocked. The Master asked, “Who is it?” He replied, “A lion cub.” The Master then opened the door. The monk bowed. The Master immediately seized him by the neck and said, “Where did this beast come from?”

Xuefeng asked, “What was the ancient one’s intention in cutting the cat in two?” The Master struck him and drove him away, then asked, “Do you understand?” Feng said, “I do not understand.” The Master said, “Even though I am an old grandmother, I do not understand either.”

A monk asked, “How far apart are ordinary beings and sages?” The Master immediately shouted.

When the Master was ill, a monk came and asked, “Is there also one who is not ill?” The Master said, “There is.” He asked, “What is the one who is not ill like?” The Master said, “A-xie, a-xie! A-dua, a-dua! Wrong, wrong!”

The Master further told his disciples: “You cannot grasp sound; you merely weary your minds and spirits. When the dream is over and you awaken, knowing that it was not a real scene, what affair is there?” Having spoken, he sat upright and passed away. It was the third day of the twelfth month in the sixth year of the Tang Xiantong era (Yiyou). He was eighty-six years old and had spent sixty-five years in the Sangha. The emperor bestowed on him the posthumous title “Great Master Who Sees the Nature.”

2. Venerable Baofeng of Letan, Hongzhou

A monk had just arrived. The Master called to him and said, “The matter within is easy to speak of; without falling into the matter within, it is difficult to speak from beginning to end.” The monk said, “While I was still on the road, I knew there would be this question.” The Master said, “Even if you were allowed to travel on foot for another twenty years, you would not be much different.” The monk asked, “Could it be that I have not accorded with the Venerable’s intention?” The Master said, “The bitter gourd is awaiting the guest.”

The Master asked a monk, “The ancient ones had a path by which they received later beginners. Do you know it?” He replied, “Master, please point out the path of the ancient ones.” The Master said, “That is precisely what the acarya knows.” The monk said, “You are placing another head atop your head.” The Master said, “Baofeng does not accord with the worthy one’s question.” He replied, “Ask again; what obstruction could there be?” The Master said, “Here there has never been anyone who babbled principles of the Way. Leave!”

– Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xingkong of Jizhou

1. Venerable Maoyuan of Shezhou:

Pingtian came for an interview. The Master was about to rise. Pingtian immediately restrained him and said, “If you open your mouth, you lose; if you keep your mouth shut, you die. If you continue resisting like this, Master, please speak.” The Master covered his ears with his hands. Pingtian released him and said, “One step is easy; two steps are difficult.” The Master said, “Why are you dying in such haste?” Tian said, “Were it not for this, Master, you would not escape searching in all directions.”

2. Chan Master Guangren of Zaoshan:

The Master ascended the Dharma hall, and the great assembly gathered like clouds. The Master emerged from the abbot’s quarters, but before reaching the Chan seat he called to the assembly and said, “Do not betray the eyes and ears gained during your lifelong travels. Is there still anyone who can come forth and ask about the future?” Only then did he ascend the Dharma hall and sit down. A monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, “You have not betrayed me, but why do you still follow the great assembly?” The Master immediately returned to the abbot’s quarters.

The next morning, another monk requested an explanation of the meaning of the previous day’s words. The Master said, “At mealtime there is rice for you to eat, and at night there is a bed for you to sleep in. Why do you persistently press me?” The monk bowed. The Master said, “Suffering, suffering!” The monk said, “Master, please point directly.” The Master then stretched out his legs and said, “Whether they are stretched out or drawn in is up to this old monk.”

– Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Wuxue of Cuiwei in Jingzhao

1. Chan Master Lingxun of Qingping Mountain, Ezhou

The Master was from Dongping, and his family name was Wang. As a child he entered Puti Monastery north of Ezhou, and in the sixth year of the Tang Xiantong era he shaved his head. Later, at Kaiyuan Monastery in Huazhou, he received the full precepts and studied the Vinaya. One day the Master said to his fellow students: “A sramana must penetrate birth and death and mysteriously comprehend the Buddha’s principle. If one forever follows books and clings rigidly to their phrases, it is all like sand from the sea and merely wastes the strength of the mind.” He therefore abandoned his former studies and traveled afar to investigate the Chan school.

The Master went to Baima Monastery in Jiangling. Entering the Sangha hall, he met a senior monk named Huiqin and stayed close to him to learn. Qin said, “For a long time I attended Master Danxia, but now I am old and weary of teaching. You should go see Cuiwei; he and I studied together.” The Master bowed in thanks, departed, and went to Master Cuiwei. He asked, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the Western Land?” Cuiwei said, “Wait until no one is here, and then I shall tell you.”

The Master remained silent for a long while, then said, “There is no one here now. Master, please speak.” Cuiwei descended from the Chan seat and led the Master into the bamboo garden. The Master again said, “There is no one here now. Venerable, please speak.” Cuiwei pointed to the bamboo and said, “Why is this bamboo so tall, and that bamboo so short?” Although the Master gained some understanding of these subtle words, he had not yet thoroughly penetrated their profound purport.

In the first year of the Wende era, the Master went to Shangcha. The military governor of Huizhou established the Datong Chan Cloister and invited the Master to expound the essential principles of the school. The Master recalled the words spoken when he first met Cuiwei and told the assembly: “For my sake, the late Master entered the mud and water. From then on, I no longer knew good from bad.” The Master thereafter spread the Way for more than ten years.

In the Guanghua era, the Master led more than one hundred disciples on a journey to Ezhou. The military governor, Di Hong, invited him to reside at the Anle Cloister on Qingping Mountain. The Master ascended the Dharma hall and said:

“Venerable ones, those who have left home must understand the Buddha’s intention. If you understand the Buddha’s intention, you will not attach importance to whether one is a monastic or layperson, male or female, noble or lowly. Simply live frugally or abundantly according to the household, and you will immediately be at ease. Venerable ones, you have long dwelt in monasteries and have traveled everywhere to inquire of venerable adepts. How, then, do you understand the Buddha’s intention? Try presenting it so that we may discuss it together.

“Do not be devoid of lofty spirit, lest afterward you accomplish nothing and waste an entire lifetime. If you have not yet understood the Buddha’s intention, then even if water sprays from the top of your head, fire issues from beneath your feet, you burn your body and hands, possess intelligence and eloquence, gather assemblies of one or two thousand people, preach the Dharma like clouds and rain, and lecture on sutras until celestial flowers fall, you will only produce heterodox doctrines and contend over right and wrong. You will be very far from the Buddhadharma.

“You have fortunately encountered a time when your bodies are strong and healthy and you face no calamities. Why hesitate over the matter immediately before you? Apply your effort here and properly understand the Buddha’s intention.”

At that time, a monk came forward and asked, “What is the Great Vehicle?” The Master said, “Ma Tuo—rummaging through the sesame?”

He asked, “What is the Lesser Vehicle?” The Master said, “A string of cash.”

He asked, “What is the family style of Qingping?” The Master said, “One peck of flour makes three pots of cakes.”

He asked, “What is Chan?” The Master said, “A macaque climbs a tree, waves its tail, tumbles, and falls.”

He asked, “What is conditioned and subject to outflows?” The Master said, “A bamboo strainer.”

He asked, “What is unconditioned and free from outflows?” The Master replied, “A wooden ladle.”

He asked, “What is it like when we meet face-to-face and present it to one another?” The Master replied, “Entrust it to the chief cook.”

Apart from these, his responses and skillful means did not conform to worldly sentiments. Whether opposing or according, rolling up or letting unfold, his words transcended thought.

At noon on the twenty-fifth day of the first month in the sixteenth year of the Tianyou era, the Master entered nirvana. He was seventy-five years old. In the sixth year of the Later Zhou Xiande era, the emperor bestowed on him the posthumous title “Chan Master Faxi,” and named his stupa “Shanying.”

2. Chan Master Datong of Touzi Mountain, Shuzhou

The Master was from Huaining in this prefecture, and his family name was Liu. As a child he left home under Chan Master Man of Baotang Monastery. At first he studied contemplation of anapana; later, while reading the Avatamsaka Sutra, his nature became illumined. He then encountered Cuiwei’s Dharma assembly and suddenly awakened to the purport of the school. Thereafter he wandered freely everywhere, then returned to his native region and built a thatched hermitage on Touzi Mountain, where he lived.

One day, Venerable Nian of Zhaozhou came to Tongcheng County. The Master also descended the mountain, and they met on the road without yet knowing one another. Zhaozhou discreetly asked whether he was a layperson, then—

Knowing that the Master was Touzi, he deliberately approached from the opposite direction and asked: “Is this Mount Touzi?”
The Master replied: “Please give me money for tea and salt.” Zhaozhou then went ahead and sat down in the hermitage. The Master arrived afterward, carrying a jar of oil back to the hermitage. Zhaozhou said: “I have long heard of Touzi, but now that I have come, I see only an oil seller.” The Master said: “You see only the oil seller, but you do not recognize Touzi.”
He asked: “What is Touzi?”
The Master said: “Oil! Oil!”
Zhaozhou asked: “When one has died and then comes back to life, how is it?”
The Master said: “Travel is not permitted at night; at dawn, one must arrive.”
Zhaozhou said: “I attended upon a white one early on; here I attend upon a black one.”

From then on, the Master’s Way was heard throughout the realm, and companions of clouds and waters vied with one another to come and meet him. The Master instructed the assembly, saying: “You have come here intending to seek novel sayings, gathering flowery phrases in fours and sixes. Your honored mouths may well be able to speak them.

This old man’s strength is failing, and his lips and tongue are slow. If you have questions, I shall answer accordingly. There is nothing mysterious or wondrous in my replies beyond what you yourselves possess.

Nor do I teach you to conceal your faculties. Ultimately, I do not speak of upward or downward, of Buddha or Dharma, of ordinary beings or sages; none of these remain. Yet you bind yourselves and conjure up a thousand transformations.

All this comes from the understanding you yourselves produce. You bear your own future, acting by yourselves and receiving the consequences yourselves. In this matter, I cannot share it with you.

I dare not crazily threaten or intimidate you. It is neither outside nor inside. Can it be spoken of as being like you?

Do you understand?”

At that time, a monk asked: “When neither inside nor outside is gathered in, how is it?”
The Master said: “You intend to conceal that faculty.”

A monk asked: “Is there anything extraordinary in the teachings of the Great Canon?”
The Master said: “Expounding it brings forth the teachings of the Great Canon.”

Question: “What is the matter before the eyes have opened?”
The Master said: “Pure eyes should be as broad as blue lotus blossoms.”

Question: “All Buddhas and the Dharma of all Buddhas arise from this sutra. What is this sutra?”
The Master said: “It is the name that you are now upholding.”

Question: “Does a dragon still吟 in a withered tree?”
The Master said: “I say that within a skull, a lion roars.”

Question: “All dharmas universally permeate and moisten all sentient beings. What are all dharmas?”
The Master said: “Rain falls.”

Question: “When a single mote of dust contains the entire dharmadhatu, how is it?”
The Master replied: “Already it is counted as dust.”

Question: “When the golden lock has not yet been opened, how is it?”
The Master replied: “Open it.”

Question: “When a student wishes to cultivate the Way, what should he do?”
The Master replied: “Empty space cannot be shattered.”

Xuefeng was standing in attendance. The Master pointed to a rock before the hermitage and said: “The Buddhas of the three times are all within it.”
Xuefeng said: “You must know that there is someone who refuses to remain within it.”
The Master then returned to the hermitage and sat down.

One day, Xuefeng followed the Master and asked about the hermitage master of Longmian. Xuefeng asked: “Which way leads to Longmian?”
The Master raised his staff and pointed straight ahead.
Xuefeng asked: “Should I go east or west?”
The Master said: “Lacquer bucket!”

On another day, Xuefeng again asked: “When a single blow brings immediate completion, how is it?”
The Master replied: “You are not a fellow surnamed Bao.”
Xuefeng asked: “When it does not depend upon a single blow, how is it?”
The Master replied: “Lacquer bucket!”

One day, the Master was sitting in the hermitage. Xuefeng asked: “Venerable, is there anyone here who comes to inquire?”
The Master stepped down from his seat, seized a hoe, and threw it down before him.
Xuefeng asked: “Where should the ground be dug?”
The Master said: “The lacquer bucket is not pleased.”

Xuefeng took his leave and departed. The Master accompanied him to the gate, then suddenly called loudly: “Wayfarer!”
Xuefeng turned his head and answered: “Yes!”
The Master said: “Along the way, take good care.”

A monk asked: “The old year passes and the new year arrives. Is there still someone who does not pass through these two paths?”
The Master said: “There is.”
The monk asked: “What is the person who does not pass through these two paths?”
The Master said: “Just when blessings begin to unfold, the myriad things are renewed.”

Question: “Dim and indistinct, like a half-moon without a shadow; like three stars that heaven and earth cannot contain—toward what does the Master shine?”
The Master asked: “What are you saying?”
The monk said: “I thought the Master had only clear waves upon the water, and no waves that surged beyond the heavens.”
The Master said: “Idle words.”

Question: “At that time, within that kind, how is it?”
The Master said: “Did you come among humans, or among horses?”

Question: “Buddha after Buddha transmits it hand to hand, and patriarch after patriarch passes it on. What Dharma is transmitted?”
The Master said: “This old monk does not understand deceitful words.”

Question: “What is it to go out the gate without seeing the Buddha?”
The Master said: “There is nowhere to see.”

Question: “What is it to enter the private chamber of one’s parents?”
The Master said: “There is nowhere of birth.”

Question: “What is it to conceal oneself within a blazing fire?”
The Master said: “Where is there any oppression?”

Question: “What is it to conceal oneself within burning charcoal?”
The Master said: “I say you are as black as lacquer.”

Question: “When everything is utterly unilluminated, how is it?”
The Master said: “Illuminate it!”

Question: “What is the final phrase?”
The Master said: “Can you not illuminate the first?”

Question: “From the seed and sprout one may discuss the soil; from words one may know the person. But when there is nothing yet known, by what can one discern?”
The Master said: “Dan, the place where nothing adheres or obstructs.”

Question: “Among the three hundred people in the monastery, is there anyone not included in that number?”
The Master replied: “Look again a hundred years before and fifty years afterward.”

The Master asked a monk: “I have long heard that you stayed at Shushan. Is that not so?”
The monk was unable to answer.

A monk asked: “I bring a genuine jewel to the Master and request that the Master grind, polish, and carve it.”
The Master said: “It is not material for beams and pillars.”
He replied: “It is impetuous yet even-tempered, with nowhere to escape.”
The Master said: “To bear and carry it is to endure lonely hardship and suffering.”

Question: “When one does not bear or carry it, how is it?”
The Master said: “I did not tell you to bring a genuine jewel to the Master and request that he bore, polish, and carve it.”

Question: “Prince Nezha returned his bones to his father and his flesh to his mother. What is Nezha’s original body?”
The Master immediately let fall the staff in his hand.

Question: “How can the two words ‘Buddha-Dharma’ be discussed in terms of purity and defilement?”
The Master said: “The Buddha-Dharma is defiled and pure.”
The monk said: “This student does not understand.”
The Master asked: “What did you just ask?”

Question: “It is uniformly water; why is seawater salty while river water is fresh?”
The Master said: “Stars are in the sky; trees are on the earth.”

Question: “What is the Patriarch’s intention?”
The Master said: “Maitreya seeks the place of his prediction of Buddhahood but cannot find it.”

Question: “What realm does the Venerable have here?”
The Master replied: “Boys and girls wear white-silk braids upon their heads.”

Question: “What is it when the insentient expounds the Dharma?”
The Master said: “Ugly.”

Question: “What is Vairocana?”
The Master said: “There is already a name.”

Question: “Who is Vairocana’s teacher?”
The Master replied: “Before there was Vairocana, understand it for yourself.”

Question: “Please, Master, speak one clear and distinct phrase.”
The Master said: “Good.”

Question: “When the four mountains press in upon one another, how is it?”
The Master said: “The five skandhas are all empty.”

Question: “When not a single thought has yet arisen, how is it?”
The Master said: “Those are truly deceptive words.”

Question: “How far apart are ordinary beings and sages?”
The Master stepped down from the meditation seat and stood.

Question: “When this student asks one question, the Venerable answers; but if suddenly there were a thousand questions and ten thousand questions, how would it be?”
The Master said: “Like a hen incubating eggs.”

Question: “‘Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am the World-Honored One.’ What is this ‘I’?”
The Master said: “What fault did that old barbarian have that you would shove him down?”

Question: “Who is the Venerable’s teacher?”
The Master said: “Meeting him, one cannot see his head; following him, one cannot see his form.”

Question: “Before the image has been fashioned, where is the body?”
The Master said: “Do not create things chaotically.”

A monk asked: “What is it when a star appears yet does not appear?”
The Master said: “Where is its base?”

Question: “How does one who has not lost it advance a step?”
The Master said: “Throughout the ten directions.”

Question: “Without eyes, how can one pervade the ten directions?”
The Master asked: “Can you manage to be without eyes?”

Question: “What is the intention of the coming from the Western Land?”
The Master said: “Without fear or apprehension.”

Question: “When the moon is not yet full, how is it?”
The Master said: “Swallow two or three.”

A monk asked: “After it is full, how is it?”
The Master said: “Spit out seven or eight.”

Question: “Before the sun and moon shine, where are the Buddha and sentient beings?”
The Master said: “When they see this old monk angry, they immediately speak of anger; when they see this old monk joyful, they speak of joy.”

The Master asked a monk: “Where have you come from?”
He replied: “I came from paying homage to the Patriarch on the eastern and western mountains.”
The Master said: “The Patriarch is not on the eastern or western mountains.”
The monk was unable to answer.

Question:

“What is ‘within the mystery’?” The Master said, “It does not reach your mouth to be spoken.” Asked, “Before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch, how was it?” The Master said, “He served as a teacher to others.” Again asked, “And after he had met the teacher, how was it?” The Master said, “He did not serve as a teacher to others.” Asked, “The Buddhas appear in the world solely for the causes and conditions of one great matter.

What are the causes and conditions of the great matter?” The Master replied, “Director Doãn opened the Dharma hall for this old monk.” Asked, “What is the Buddha?” The Master replied, “An illusion cannot be sought.” Asked, “I have traveled a thousand miles in search of the Master; I beg the Master to receive me once.” The Master said, “Today this old monk has a pain in his back.” The vegetable gardener (the garden supervisor) entered the abbot’s quarters to request instruction.

The Master said, “Wait until no one is here, and I shall speak for you, Acarya.” The next day, when no one was present, he came to request instruction, saying, “Venerable, please speak.” The Master told him, “Come closer.” The gardener stepped forward, and the Master said, “Quickly, speak! Do not imitate others.” Asked, “Without throat, lips, or mouth, I beg the Master to speak.” The Master said, “You only insist that I cannot speak.” Asked, “Before Bodhidharma arrived, how was it?” The Master said, “It filled heaven and earth.” Asked, “After he arrived, how was it?” The Master said, “It could not be concealed.” Asked, “Before the Venerable met the former master, how was it?” The Master said, “What could be done with the whole body?” Asked, “After meeting the former master,

how was it?” The Master said, “The whole body could not be smashed to pieces.” Asked, “Was it then obtained from the teacher?” The Master said, “In the end, we do not fail one another.” Asked, “Then it was obtained from the teacher.” The Master said, “Whatever clings to the eyes, drive it away.” Asked, “Then this is to fail the former master.” The Master said, “It is not only failing the former master; it is also precisely failing this old monk.” Asked, “The Seven Buddhas were disciples of Manjusri.

Did Manjusri also have a teacher?” The Master replied, “What you just said greatly resembles bowing down and exalting another.” Asked, “Before the golden rooster crows, how is it?” The Master replied, “That sound cannot be restrained.” Asked, “And after it has crowed, how is it?” The Master replied, “Each knows the time for himself.” Asked, “The lion is king among beasts; why is it swallowed by the six sense objects?” The Master said, “Without contrivance, there is utterly no self or other.” The Master dwelt on Mount Touzi for more than thirty years.

Those who came and went seeking encouragement and instruction followed him until the house was full. The Master, with fearless eloquence, answered according to each question. He swallowed and disgorged simultaneously, and his subtle words were exceedingly numerous; only a small portion is recorded here in brief.

During the Zhonghe era of the Tang, bandits were everywhere and the realm was in turmoil. A madman carrying a spear climbed the mountain and asked the Master, “What are you doing here?” The Master expounded the Dharma according to the occasion. When the chieftains heard him, they bowed in submission, took off garments to offer him, and departed.

On the sixth day of the fourth month in the fourth year of Qianhua (the jiaxu year), the Master fell slightly ill. The assembly invited a physician. The Master told them, “The activity, abiding, and dissolution of the four great elements are ordinary matters.

Do not worry; I shall take care of myself.” Having said this, he sat cross-legged and passed away. He was ninety-six years old. The sovereign bestowed upon him the posthumous title Great Master Ciji, and his stupa was inscribed Zhenji.

3. Chan Master Runa of Mount Daochang in Huzhou

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of the teaching?” The Master said, “See for yourself.” The monk bowed. The Master said, “The bright moon hangs amid the lofty sky; the forms of mountains and rivers reveal themselves.” Asked, “How is it that what hears is the nature, which is not lost in following conditions?” The Master said, “Try listening.” The monk bowed. The Master said, “A deaf man sings a barbarian tune; whether good or bad, high or low, he himself does not hear it.” The monk said, “This is the clearly manifest nature of hearing.” The Master said, “A stone stands in empty space; fire blazes in water.” Asked, “Does empty space have boundaries?” The Master said, “You too know a great deal.” The monk bowed.

The Master said, “A three-foot staff bears the sun and moon; a single mote rises and conceals the sun.” Asked, “What is a person of the Way?” The Master said, “Walking and acting, he leaves no trace; whether sitting or standing, no one knows him.” Asked, “What is right?” The Master said, “Three furnaces lie utterly spent, without smoke or flame; ten thousand places are peaceful, and the waters do not overflow.” Asked, “When not a single thought arises, how is it?” The Master said, “What can you do with it?” The monk could not answer.

The Master further said, “Once beyond the Dragon Gate, clouds and rain gather; mountains, rivers, and the great earth leave no trace.” The Master had two pupils in each eye, and his arms extended beyond his knees. He received the seal of realization from Master Cuiwei. He then built a thatched hermitage on Mount Daochang and dwelt there.

Students came from the four directions, so a Chan monastery was established and the Dharma teaching was widely propagated. The three robes, bowl, straw sandals, and crooked staff he left behind when he founded the monastery remain to this day in the portrait hall.

4. Chan Master Yue of Baiyun in Jianzhou

A monk asked, “Not merely sitting at home and watching, nor abiding in the stage beyond learning—where should such a person be placed?” The Master said, “There is no thunder in the blue sky.” Venerable Shao of Tiantai came to inquire. The Master asked, “Where have you come from?” Shao said, “From north of the Yangtze.” The Master asked, “Did you come by boat or on foot?” He replied, “I came by boat.” The Master said, “Did you encounter fish and turtles?” He replied, “I encountered them often.” The Master said, “What did you do when you encountered them?” Shao said, “I drew in my head and passed by.” The Master laughed aloud.

– Dharma-heirs of the former Chan Master Yuanzhi of Daowu in Tanzhou

1. Chan Master Shanqing Zhu of Mount Shishuang in Tanzhou

The Master was a native of Xinqian in Luling, and his family name was Chen. At the age of thirteen, he relied upon Chan Master Shaoluan at Xishan in Hongjing and shaved his head. At twenty-three, he ascended Mount Song and received the full precepts, then went to Luoxia to study the Vinaya. Although he understood the prescribed precepts through study, ultimately this still belonged to the gradual teaching. He then returned to Guishan and served as cook.

One day, the Master was in the rice room sifting rice. Guishan said, “Do not throw away the donors’ offerings.” The Master said, “I am not throwing them away.” Guishan picked up a grain of rice from the ground and asked, “You say you are not throwing them away; where, then, did I get this?” The Master could not answer. Guishan further said, “Do not make light of that grain of rice. Hundreds of thousands of grains arise from this one grain.” The Master said, “If hundreds of thousands of grains arise from this one grain, I do not yet know from where this one grain arises.” Guishan laughed heartily and returned to the abbot’s quarters. That evening, he ascended the Dharma hall and said, “Great assembly, there is an insect in the rice.”

Later, the Master went to inquire of Daowu, asking, “How is it that wherever one encounters it, all is bodhi?” Daowu called, “Sramanera!” The sramanera answered, “Yes!” Daowu said, “Add water to the pure-water vase.” Daowu then asked the Master, “What did you just come to ask?” The Master repeated his earlier question. Daowu rose and departed. The Master thereupon awakened.

Daowu said, “I am ill and am about to depart. In my mind there has long been a thing that has caused illness. Who can remove it?” The Master said, “Mind and things are both wrong; removing them only makes the illness worse.” Daowu said, “Excellent! Excellent!” At that time, the Master had been a monk for only two summer retreats. Because he was fleeing the troubles of the age and concealing his tracks, he went to Changsha and stayed in the home of a potter in Liuyang. He left in the morning and returned in the evening, and no one knew him. Later, only when Venerable Jie of Dongshan sent a monk to seek him out was he revealed. He was then invited to return and dwell on Mount Shishuang.

One day, when Daowu was about to pass away, he appointed the Master as his legitimate Dharma-heir. The Master then went to dwell at Shishuang, always attending upon Daowu each day and fully observing the proprieties between teacher and disciple. When Daowu entered nirvana, more than five hundred fellow students gathered there.

One day, the Master summoned the assembly and said, “Throughout the teachings of a whole lifetime, whenever the actions of an ordinary person’s hands and feet are explained as having a cause, they are all brought into the present time. Proceeding directly to the Dharma-body that is no body—this is the ultimate principle of the doctrinal schools. Yet we sramanas wholly refuse to follow it. If one differentiates, one immediately errs; if one does not differentiate, one sinks into mud and water. It is only because the mind and thought falsely speak of seeing and hearing.”

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of the coming from the Western Land?” The Master said, “A single slab of stone in midair.” The monk bowed. The Master asked, “Do you understand?” He replied, “I do not understand.” The Master said, “It is thanks to your not understanding. Had you understood, I would immediately have smashed your head.” Asked, “What is the Venerable’s fundamental matter?” He replied, “Can a stone sweat?” Again asked, “Why can nothing be said upon reaching that place?” The Master said, “How could the feet adhere to the mouth?” Asked, “Does the true body appear in the world?” The Master said, “It does not appear in the world.” Asked, “What is the true body?” The Master replied, “It is the mouth of a crystal vase.” The Master

While the Master was in the abbot’s quarters, a monk outside the window asked, “Within the space of a foot or an inch, why can I not see the Master’s face?”

The Master said, “I say that throughout the entire realm it has never been contained.”

The monk took this and asked Xuefeng, “What is the meaning of ‘Throughout the entire realm it is not contained’?”

Xuefeng said, “What place is not Shishuang?”

The monk returned and reported Xuefeng’s words to the Master. The Master said, “What urgent death does that old fellow have?”

Someone asked, “I do not ask about when the ten thousand households all have their doors shut. What about when the ten thousand households all have their doors open?”

The Master said, “What is happening within the house?”

The monk replied, “No one can receive him.”

The Master said, “What you say is indeed forcefully said, but you have attained only eighty or ninety percent.”

The monk replied, “I do not yet know how the Venerable would speak.”

The Master said, “No one can know him.”

Someone asked, “What is it when Buddha-nature is like empty space?”

The Master said, “When lying down, it is there; when sitting, it is not.”

Someone asked, “What is it when one forgets to draw in one foot?”

The Master replied, “I will not chant together with you.”

Someone asked, “What is it when the wind arises and the waves surge?”

The Master replied, “Within the city of Hunan, the clamor of killing resounds. There is someone who will not accept the fruit of Jiangxi.”

On one occasion, a monk related that Dongshan, while instructing the assembly, had said, “Brothers, at the beginning of autumn and the end of summer, whether you go east or west, you must travel directly to a place ten thousand miles away where not an inch of grass grows.” He then added, “Yet how can one go to the place ten thousand miles away where not an inch of grass grows?”

When the Master heard this, he said, “The moment you step outside the gate, there is grass.”

A monk cited this and asked Dongshan about it. Dongshan said, “How many such people are there in the Great Tang realm?”

The Master dwelt at Mount Shishuang for about twenty years. The students in his assembly sat continually without lying down, standing erect like dead trees; throughout the land they were called “the assembly of withered trees.”

When Emperor Xizong of the Tang heard of the Master’s Way, he dispatched an envoy to bestow a purple robe upon him, but the Master firmly declined and would not accept it. On the twentieth day of the second month in the fourth year of Guangqi, the wushen year, on a jihai day, the Master became ill and entered nirvana. He was eighty-two years old and had completed fifty-nine Dharma summers. On the full-moon day of the third month, he was interred at the northwestern corner of the monastery. The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title Great Master Puhui, and his stupa was inscribed “Jianxiang.”

2. Chan Master Zhongxing of Jianyuan, Tanzhou

The Master served as head cook under Daowu. One day, he accompanied Daowu to the home of a donor to offer condolences at a funeral. The Master struck the coffin with his hand and asked, “Alive or dead?”

Daowu said, “I will not say alive, and I will not say dead.”

The Master asked, “Why will you not say?”

Daowu said, “I will not say! I will not say!”

After the condolence visit, they returned together. On the road, the Master said, “Today, Venerable, you must tell Zhongxing. If you still will not speak, I shall strike you.”

Daowu said, “Strike me if you will, but I shall not say alive, and I shall not say dead.”

The Master then struck Daowu several times. Upon returning to the monastery, Daowu told the Master, “Go away for a while. If the monastery’s senior monk learns of this, he will beat you.”

The Master then bowed in apology and went to Shishuang. He related the former words and his striking of Daowu, and then asked the Venerable to explain.

Shishuang said, “Did you not hear Daowu say, ‘I will not say alive, and I will not say dead’?”

At this, the Master immediately attained great awakening. He then prepared a vegetarian feast and performed repentance.

One day, the Master brought a mattock into the Dharma hall. Shishuang asked, “What are you doing?”

The Master said, “I am searching for the numinous bones of my late master.”

Shishuang said, “Vast and boundless are the great waves; their white crests reach the heavens. Why search for his numinous bones?”

The Master said, “Precisely here one must strive.”

Shishuang said, “Here, even a golden needle cannot pierce through. What is the use of striving?”

3. Venerable Luqing

A monk asked, “Without falling into Daowu’s mechanism, I ask the Master to speak.”

The Master said, “Before the courtyard, the red amaranth grows leaves but bears no flowers.”

The Master remained silent for a long while and then asked, “Do you understand?”

The monk said, “I do not understand.”

The Master said, “This is precisely Daowu’s mechanism. Why do you not understand?”

The monk bowed. The Master immediately struck him and said, “Only when this old monk strikes you will it do.”

– Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Chengtan of Tanzhou

1. Chan Master Liangjie of Dongshan, Junzhou

The Master was a native of Kuaiji, and his family name was Yu. When still young, he followed a teacher. Once, while reciting the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, he questioned his teacher about the meaning of there being no sense faculties or sense objects. His teacher was alarmed and said, “I am not your teacher.” He then directed the Master to Mount Wuxie, where he bowed to Chan Master Mo and had his head shaved. At the age of twenty-one, the Master ascended Mount Song and received the full precepts.

During his travels, the Master first encountered Nanquan on the day a memorial vegetarian feast was being held for Mazu. Nanquan asked the assembled monks, “Tomorrow we shall hold a vegetarian feast for Master Ma. I wonder whether Master Ma will come?”

None of the assembly could answer. The Master then stepped forward and replied, “He will come as soon as he has a companion.”

Upon hearing this, Nanquan praised him, saying, “Although this man is a junior, he has polished himself very deeply.”

The Master said, “Venerable, do not regard Liangjie, your grandchild, as lowly.”

Next, the Master visited Guishan and asked, “I have heard that National Teacher Nanyang said, ‘Insentient beings expound the Dharma.’ I, Liangjie, do not yet understand its profound mystery.”

Guishan replied, “I also have it here, but it is difficult to find someone capable of hearing it.”

The Master said, “I ask the Master to speak.”

Guishan said, “This mouth, born of my father and mother, ultimately does not dare speak it.”

The Master asked, “Is there anyone who sought the Way at the same time as the Master?”

Guishan replied, “From here, near the stone chamber, there is the man of the Way Yunyan. If you can part the grass and discern the wind, he will surely hold you in high regard.”

The Master then went to Yunyan and asked, “When insentient beings expound the Dharma, who can hear it?”

Yunyan said, “When insentient beings expound the Dharma, insentient beings hear it.”

The Master asked, “Can the Venerable hear it?”

Yunyan said, “If I could hear it, you would be unable to hear me expound the Dharma.”

The Master asked, “If so, then I, Liangjie, do not hear the Venerable expound the Dharma.”

Yunyan said, “You do not even hear me expound the Dharma; how much less the Dharma expounded by insentient beings!”

The Master then presented Yunyan with this verse:

How wondrous! How wondrous!
The Dharma expounded by the insentient is inconceivable.
If you listen for it with the ears, its sound cannot be perceived;
Only when the eye hears the sound can it be known.

The Master took leave of Yunyan. Yunyan asked, “Where are you going?”

The Master said, “Although I am leaving the Venerable, I have not yet decided where to go.”

Yunyan asked, “Are you not going to Hunan?”

The Master said, “No.”

Yunyan asked, “Are you not returning to your native place?”

The Master said, “No.”

Yunyan said, “Sooner or later, you will return.”

The Master said, “I shall return when the Venerable has a dwelling place.”

Yunyan said, “After this departure, it will be difficult for us to meet again.”

The Master said, “It will be difficult not to meet.”

The Master further asked Yunyan, “After the Venerable has passed away, if someone asks me, ‘Can you still portray your Master’s likeness?’ how should I answer?”

Yunyan said, “Simply tell them, ‘Just this.’”

The Master remained silent for a long while.

Yunyan said, “You must examine this matter with the greatest care.”

The Master still harbored doubts. Later, while crossing a stream, he saw his reflection and immediately attained great awakening concerning the earlier meaning. He then composed this verse:

One day, while making offerings before an image of Yunyan, a monk asked, “When the late Master said, ‘Just this,’ was that correct?”

The Master said, “It was.”

The monk asked, “What was the meaning?”

The Master said, “At that time, I almost misunderstood the late Master’s words.”

The monk asked, “I do not yet know whether the late Master himself knew that it existed.”

The Master said, “If he had not known that it existed, how could he have understood to say it? If he knew that it existed, how could he have consented to say it?”

At Letan, the Master encountered Senior Monk Chu, who instructed the assembly, saying, “How wondrous! How wondrous! The realm of the Buddha and the realm of the Way are inconceivable.”

The Master said, “I do not ask about the realm of the Buddha or the realm of the Way. Who is the one who speaks of the realm of the Buddha and the realm of the Way? I ask you, Chu, to say a word.”

Chu remained silent for a long while without saying anything.

The Master asked, “Why do you not speak quickly?”

Chu said, “I cannot prevail in the contention.”

The Master said, “You have not yet said anything. Why say that you cannot prevail in the contention?”

Chu did not answer.

The Master said, “Buddha and the Way are merely names. Why do you not cite the scriptures?”

Chu asked, “What do the scriptures say?”

The Master said, “Once the meaning is attained, the words are forgotten.”

Chu said, “Still, taking the meaning of the scriptures makes the mind ill.”

The Master said, “How great or small is the illness of the realm of the Buddha and the realm of the Way?”

At this, Chu passed into transformation and entered nirvana.

Near the end of the Dazhong era of the Tang, the Master dwelt at Mount Xinfeng, where he guided students. Later, his transforming influence flourished greatly at Dongshan.

Gao’an was in Yuzhang. On the anniversary of Master Yunyan’s death, the Master held a vegetarian memorial offering.
A monk asked, “What instruction did you receive while staying with your former master?” The Master said, “Although I was there, I received no special instruction.” The monk said, “Since you received no instruction, why hold a vegetarian memorial offering for him?” The Master replied, “Even so, how could I dare turn against him?”
The monk asked, “When you first encountered Master Nanquan and awakened, why do you hold a vegetarian memorial offering for Yunyan?” The Master said, “I do not esteem my former master’s virtue, nor do I do this for the sake of the Buddha-Dharma. What I esteem is that he did not explain everything away for me.”
On another occasion, during a vegetarian memorial offering, a monk asked, “In making this offering for your former master, do you acknowledge your former master?” The Master said, “I acknowledge him by half and do not acknowledge him by half.”
The monk asked, “Why do you not acknowledge him entirely?”
The Master said, “If I acknowledged him entirely, I would be betraying my former master.”
A monk asked, “If I wish to see the Master’s original teacher, how may I see him?”
The Master said, “When the years and months are alike, there will certainly be no obstruction.”
The monk presented his doubt. The Master said, “Without following the traces before you, offer a single statement.” The monk could not answer.
Yunju answered in his stead, “That means I do not see the Master’s original teacher.”
The Master also said, “Is there anyone who does not repay the four benefactions and the three realms of existence? If you cannot enter into this meaning, how can you pass beyond the trials of beginning and end? You must let thought after thought touch no object and step after step abide nowhere, remaining always uninterrupted; only then will you attain accordance.”
The Master asked a monk, “Where have you come from?”
He replied, “I have come from roaming in the mountains.”
The Master asked, “Did you ascend to the mountain peak?”
He replied, “I did.”
The Master asked, “Was anyone on the mountain peak?”
He replied, “There was no one.”
The Master said, “Then, Acarya, you did not reach the peak.”
He replied, “If I had not reached the peak, how could I know there was no one?”
The Master asked, “Acarya, why did you not remain there?”
He replied, “I would not have declined to remain, but there is someone in India who would not permit it.”
The Master asked Elder Tai, “There is a thing that supports heaven above and upholds the earth below, black as lacquer, always present amid activity and function. Where does its fault lie?”
Tai said, “Its fault lies in activity and function.”
The Master immediately shouted, “Get out!”
Someone asked, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from India?”
The Master said, “It greatly resembles a horse frightened by a rhinoceros-chicken.”
The Master asked Yunfeng, “Where have you come from?”
Yunfeng said, “From Tiantai.”
The Master asked, “Did you see the Wise One?”
He replied, “Yicun deserves a share of the iron staff.”
A monk asked, “When a snake swallows a frog, is it right to save it, or is it right not to save it?”
The Master said, “If you save it, both eyes will not see; if you do not save it, its form and shadow will not appear.”
One dark night, when no lamp had been lit, a monk came forward to ask a question. After speaking, he withdrew. The Master told the attendant to light a lamp. He then called, “Let the monk who just asked the question come forward.” The monk approached. The Master said, “Give that senior monk a few ounces of flour.” The monk brushed out his sleeves and withdrew. From that moment, he awakened and brought forth the profound purport. He then gave away all his clothing to assist with the vegetarian offering. After three years, he took leave of the Master.
The Master said, “Do it well.”
At that time, Xuefeng was standing in attendance. He asked, “When will that monk who has taken leave return?”
The Master said, “He knows only how to go and not how to return.”
The monk returned to the Sangha hall, sat down beneath his robe and bowl, and passed away. Xuefeng went up and reported this to the Master. The Master said, “Even so, he is still three lives behind this old monk.”
Xuefeng went to inquire of the Master. The Master said, “One who enters the gate must be able to speak. If he cannot express the Way, it would be better for him to die early.”
Xuefeng said, “Yicun has no mouth.”
The Master said, “Though you have no mouth, you have still come through my eyes.”
Xuefeng could not answer.
The Master asked a monk, “Where have you come from?”
He replied, “From the pagoda of the Third Patriarch.”
The Master said, “Since you have come from the Patriarch’s place, why have you come to meet this old monk?”
He replied, “The Patriarch may be different, but this student and the Reverend are not different.”
The Master said, “This old monk wishes to see the Acarya’s original teacher. May I?”
He replied, “The Reverend must first stick out his own head.”
The Master said, “This old monk has only just arrived and is not staying at Yunju for the time being.”
Someone asked, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from India?”
The Master said, “Acarya, there is someone behind you holding a straw raincoat.”
(Another version has someone ask, “Acarya, why do you turn toward them and associate with officials?”)
Someone asked, “Is there anyone who cultivates the practice?”
The Master said, “Wait until you become a child, then cultivate the practice.”
An ancient said, “When meeting, nothing is brought forth; when it is brought forth, the meaning is immediately known.” What about this?
Zhu then joined his palms and raised them to his head in homage.
The Master asked Deshan’s attendant, “Where have you come from?”
He replied, “From Deshan.”
The Master said, “Why have you come?”
He replied, “I have come out of filial devotion to the Reverend.”
The Master asked, “What thing in the world is the most filial?”
The attendant could not answer.
At one time the Master said, “Only when you understand the Buddha of the upward matter will you have a share in his words.”
A monk then asked, “What is it like when he speaks?”
The Master said, “When he speaks, Acarya, you do not hear him.”
The monk asked, “Does the Reverend hear him?”
The Master said, “Wait until I am not speaking; then you will hear him.”
A monk asked, “What is a correct question and a correct answer?”
The Master replied, “It is not spoken from the mouth.”
The monk asked, “If someone questioned the Master, would you answer?”
The Master said, “He has not yet asked.”
Someone asked, “What does it mean that what enters through the gate is not a treasure?”
The Master replied, “Enough, enough.”
The Master asked a monk who lectured on the Vimalakirti Sutra, “‘It cannot be known by wisdom and cannot be known by consciousness’—what kind of words are these?”
He replied, “Words praising the Dharma-body.”
The Master said, “The Dharma-body itself is praise; why praise it again?”
At one time the Master said, “According to the Way, from the beginning there has not been a single thing, yet one still has not received another’s robe and bowl.”
A monk immediately asked, “Who can accord with this?”
The Master said, “One who has not entered the gate.”
The monk asked, “Can one who has not entered the gate attain it?”
The Master replied, “Even so, one cannot but share it with others.”
The Master also said, “Even if one directly says, ‘From the beginning there has not been a single thing,’ one still has not received another’s robe and bowl. Here, one must produce a pivotal phrase that accords with it. What can be said after that?”
A senior monk gave ninety-six pivotal phrases, but none accorded with the Master’s meaning. Only the final phrase accorded with the Master’s meaning.
The Master asked, “Acarya, why did you not say that sooner?”
A monk heard that this senior monk had been requested to present the matter in this way. For three years, the monk attended him with towel and water pitcher, but the senior monk never disclosed it. Then the senior monk fell ill. The monk said, “For three years I have asked the Master to present that statement, but I have not obtained it. Since I cannot obtain it by doing good, I must do evil.” He then took up a knife and said, “If you do not speak it for me, I will kill you at once.”
The senior monk was terrified and said, “Acarya, wait! I will tell you.” He then said, “From now on, there is nowhere at all to cling.”
The monk bowed in gratitude.
A monk asked, “The Master ordinarily teaches people to travel the bird’s path. I do not yet know what the bird’s path is.”
The Master said, “It is not encountering a single person.”
The monk asked, “How does one travel it?”
The Master replied, “Go directly beneath your feet without revealing yourself.”
The monk asked, “Is traveling the bird’s path the original face?”
The Master replied, “Acarya, why are you turned upside down?”
The monk asked, “In what way is this disciple turned upside down?”
The Master said, “If you are not turned upside down, why do you take a servant for your elder brother?”
The monk asked, “What is the original face?”
The Master replied, “Do not travel the bird’s path.”
The Master told the assembly, “Only after knowing the person of the Buddha of the upward matter does one have a share in words.”
At that time a monk asked, “What is the person of the Buddha of the upward matter?”
The Master replied, “Extraordinary.”
The Master asked a monk, “Where have you come from?”
The monk said, “I have come from making sandals.”
The Master asked, “Do you know it yourself, or do you rely on someone else?”
The monk replied, “I rely on someone else.”
The Master asked, “Does that other person instruct you, Acarya?”
The monk replied, “I do not go against him.”
A monk went to ask Master Zhuyu, “What is the conduct of a sramana?”
Zhuyu said, “If one acts so that everyone knows, one immediately goes against it.”
He then told the monk to leave.
The monk said, “I do not yet know where to go.”
Zhuyu said, “Where the Buddha goes—the Buddha.”
The monk returned and recounted this to the Master.
The Master said, “Youzhou is acceptable enough; the great hardship lies in Silla.”
The monk then asked the Master, “What is the conduct of a sramana?”
The Master said, “The head is three feet long, and the neck is two inches long.”
When the Master saw Senior Monk You arrive, he immediately went and stood behind the meditation platform. You asked, “Reverend, why are you hiding from this student?”

The Master said: “Samadhi-jewel.”

“Acarya, seek out this old monk.”

Someone asked, “What is the mysterious within the mysterious?”

The Master said, “Like the tongue of a dead man.”

While the Master was washing his bowl, he saw two birds fighting over a frog. A monk thereupon asked, “Why did that creature come to such a pass?”

The Master said, “Only because of you, Acarya.”

A monk asked, “What is the master of the Dharma-body of Vairocana?”

The Master said, “A straw figure carrying rice.”

He was asked, “Among the three bodies, which body does not fall among the multitude?”

The Master replied, “I am always here.”

Once, while the Master was inspecting a rice field, Senior Lang was leading an ox. The Master said, “You must watch that ox carefully and not let it eat the rice.”

Lang said, “If so, it would be best if the ox did not eat rice.”

The Master asked a monk, “What thing in the world is the most painful?”

The monk replied, “Hell is the most painful.”

The Master said, “No.”

He asked, “What does the Master mean?”

The Master said, “To wear this robe of threads yet remain unenlightened about the great matter—this is called the greatest suffering.”

The Master asked a monk, “What is your name?”

He replied, “My name is A.”

The Master asked, “Which one is your master, Acarya?”

The monk said, “When I see him, I shall answer.”

The Master said, “How painful! How painful! People nowadays are all like this. They are merely people deceived before the donkey and behind the horse, yet they take this to be themselves. The hairpin-level Dharma of the Buddha is right here. They have not yet distinguished host from guest; how, then, could they distinguish the host within the host?”

The monk again asked, “What is the host within the host?”

The Master replied, “Acarya, say it yourself.”

The monk asked, “What I have attained is precisely the host within the guest; what, then, is the host within the host?”

The Master said, “That Way is indeed different; even its continuation is extremely difficult.”

When the Master became ill, he sent a novice to Yunju to convey a message. He further said, “If he suddenly asks whether your Venerable Master said anything, merely say: ‘The road to Yunyan is utterly cut off.’ After speaking these words, you must stand far away, lest he strike you.”

The novice received his instructions and departed. Before he had finished speaking, Yunju struck him once with his staff. The novice could not respond.

When the Master was about to enter quiescence, he told the assembly, “I have an idle name in the world. Who can remove it for me?”

No one in the assembly could answer. At that time, a novice replied, “May I hear the Venerable Master’s Dharma-name?”

The Master replied, “The idle name has already vanished.”

Someone asked, “When the Venerable Master is ill, is there also one who is not ill?”

The Master replied, “There is.”

The monk asked, “Does the one who is not ill visit the Venerable Master?”

The Master said, “This old monk has a share in seeing that other one.”

He asked, “How can the Venerable Master see that other one?”

The Master said, “When this old monk sees, he does not perceive any illness.”

The Master further said, “When you have left this leaking shell, where will you meet me?”

The assembly could not answer.

In the third month of the tenth year of Xiantong of the Tang dynasty, the Master had someone shave his head and dress him in his robes. He ordered the bell to be struck, then sat upright and passed into quiescence. At that time, the great assembly grieved and wept so loudly that heaven and earth were shaken. The Master suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, and said, “Those who have left the household must not entrust their minds to things. This is the conduct of true cultivation. Since all that is born must die, why grieve and weep?”

He then summoned the monk in charge and ordered him to bring out the foolish monk, so that he might rebuke him for clinging to emotion. Yet the assembly continued grieving and weeping without cease. The Master therefore postponed his departure for seven days. Provisions were made in abundance, and the Master ate his meals with the assembly. When he had finished eating, he said, “For members of the Sangha, there is no greater matter than the time of departure, yet you make such an uproar.”

When the seventh day had ended, the Master bathed, sat peacefully, and passed away. He was sixty-three years old and had been ordained for forty-two years. The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title Great Master Wuben, “Awakening to the Source,” and his stupa was named Huijue, “Wisdom and Awakening.”

2. Chan Master Jianhong of Xingshan in Zhuozhou

Someone asked, “What is the white ox exposed on the open ground?”

The Master said, “Hong.”

Linji said, “Mute is the mouth of Xingshan.”

The Master said, “Elder brother, what are you doing?”

Linji replied, “That old beast.”

The Master then desisted.

The Master composed five eulogies and ten penetrations, all of which accorded with the mysterious wind. After the Master passed into quiescence, his body was cremated, and five-colored relics were obtained.

3. Chan Master Sengmi of Shenshan in Tanzhou

While the Master was at Nanquan, he was casting a net. Nanquan asked, “What are you doing?”

The Master said, “Casting a net.”

Nanquan asked, “Are you casting it with your hands or with your feet?”

The Master said, “I ask the Venerable Master to speak.”

Nanquan said, “Remember this clearly. Later, when you meet someone with clear eyes, simply raise this saying.”

The Master and Dongshan were once wading across a stream. Dongshan said, “Do not make a mistake beneath your feet.”

The Master said, “If I make a mistake, I will not be able to cross.”

Dongshan said, “If nothing is being done, then what?”

The Master said, “I am crossing the water together with the Elder.”

One day, the Master and Dongshan were hoeing weeds in a tea garden. Dongshan threw down his hoe and said, “Today I am utterly exhausted; I have not even a trace of strength.”

The Master said, “If you have no strength, how can you know this and speak of it?”

Dongshan asked, “What sort of strength would you say is correct?”

Grand Councilor Pei (Pei Xiu) asked a monk, “When offerings are made to a Buddha, does the Buddha eat them?”

The monk replied, “It is like the Grand Councilor making offerings to his ancestors.”

The Grand Councilor took this matter to Yunyan and asked him about it. Yunyan answered on the monk’s behalf, “How many kinds of people eat the meal? They arrive only a short while later.”

Yunyan then asked the Master, “What do they do after arriving a short while later?”

The Master replied, “Afterward, they gather the bowls and basins.”

Yunyan approved.

A monk asked, “What is the place where there is nothing heard?” Then he requested instruction on hearing the sutras.

The Master said, “How bad! Do you understand?”

The monk said, “I wish to understand.”

The Master said, “If you do not yet understand, listen to the sutras.”

Someone asked, “On the first ground there is no seeing; what about the second ground?”

The Master said, “Are you mistaken? On which ground are you?”

A practitioner asked, “Concerning the matter of birth and death, I ask the Master to speak one word.”

The Master said, “Have you ever come and gone in birth and death?”

He replied, “I do not understand. I ask the Master to explain.”

The Master said, “If you do not understand, you must go and die once.”

4. Venerable Youxi

A monk asked, “When the great function manifests before us and no rules remain, what then?”

The Master rose, walked once around the Chan platform, and sat down again. The monk was about to offer words, but the Master kicked him once. The monk returned to his former place and stood there.

The Master said, “You are thus, but I am not thus; when you are not thus, I am immediately thus.”

The monk again prepared to speak. The Master kicked him once more.

“Thirty years from now, I shall speak of the Great Practice.”

– Dharma heir of Chuanzi Decheng of Huating

1. Chan Master Shanhui of Jiashan in Fengzhou

The Master was from Xiandting in Guangzhou, and his family name was Liao. At the age of nine, he left the household at Mount Longya in Tanzhou. When he reached the proper age, he received the full precepts. He then went to Jiangling to study the sutras and treatises, training in the three studies, and also sought instruction in the Chan school.

At first, the Master went to Jingkou. One day, Daowu arrived leaning on his staff. He encountered the Master ascending the Dharma Hall. A monk asked, “What is the Dharma-body?”

The Master said, “The Dharma-body is without form or characteristics.”

The monk asked, “What is the Dharma-eye?”

The Master said, “The Dharma-eye is without blemish.”

The Master further said, “Before the eyes there is no Dharma; the meaning lies before the eyes. It is not the Dharma before the eyes and cannot be reached by the eyes or ears.”

Daowu then laughed. The Master became doubtful and asked Daowu, “Why did you laugh?”

Daowu replied, “Although the Venerable Master is of the first rank among those who have transcended the world, you have not yet had a teacher. Go to Huating County in Zhezhong and meet Venerable Chuanzi.”

The Master said, “Can he be questioned?”

Daowu said, “Above him there is not a single tile to shelter his head; beneath him there is no ground in which to plant an awl.”

The Master then changed his robes and went to Huating, where he met Chuanzi, who came sounding an oar. The Master assisted him, saying, “Continuing the subtlety, not even the blink of an eye is retained; comparing it with the world, the functioning is forgotten.” Students filled his residence and, morning and evening, came to inquire and take refuge.

In the eleventh year of Xiantong of the Tang dynasty (the gengyin year), the assembly made divinations and selected Jiashan, where they established a monastery. The Master ascended the Dharma Hall and instructed the assembly, saying:

“Since the coming of the Patriarch, those who have mistakenly understood have succeeded one another down to the present day. They take the sayings with which the Buddhas and patriarchs instructed people as their teacher and model. Acting in this way, they become mad and devoid of wisdom.

“He merely points out to you that there is no Dharma whatsoever that is originally the Way. The Way has not a single Dharma: there is no Buddha to become, no Way to attain, and no Dharma to relinquish. Therefore it is said: ‘Before the eyes there is no Dharma; the meaning lies before the eyes. It is not the Dharma before the eyes.’

“If you turn toward the Buddhas and patriarchs to study, you still have no eyes. All of this belongs to a Dharma upon which one depends; you do not attain freedom. Fundamentally, there is only the vast expanse of birth and death, while discriminating consciousness has no share in freedom. You travel a thousand or ten thousand miles seeking a good spiritual friend, yet what you need is the true eye, so that you may entirely escape erroneous views. Samadhi”

taking the birth and death before your eyes and regarding it as truly existent, then regarding it as truly nonexistent. If anyone can settle this, I shall allow you to show your head. Those of superior capacity understand the Way immediately after hearing the words. As for those of middling and inferior faculties, with waves and waters stretching boundlessly, why do they not turn toward birth and death and settle it? What will you take as your ground? Will doubts about the Buddha and doubts about the patriarchs take the place of birth and death for you? A wise person would laugh and present you with this verse:

Wearily clinging to the Dharma of birth and death,
You merely turn toward the Buddha and seek.
Before your eyes, you are deluded about the true principle;
Striking fire, you search for floating foam.

A monk asked: “From ancient times, the Patriarch’s intent and the teaching’s intent have been established. Why does the Venerable say here that they do not exist?” The Master said: “For three years no one has eaten rice, yet before your eyes there is no hungry person.” He asked: “Since there is no hungry person, why have I not awakened?” The Master said: “It is only because of awakening and delusion that you are an acarya.” The Master spoke this verse:

Clearly, clearly, there is no awakening to the Dharma;
Awaken to the Dharma, and at once the person is deluded.
Stretching out both legs, one sleeps;
There is neither falsehood nor truth.

A monk asked: “What is the Way?” The Master said: “The sun fills the eyes; for ten thousand miles, not a single cloud obstructs.” He asked: “How can this be understood?” The Master said: “In clear water, the swimming fish is itself deluded.” He asked: “What is the root?” The Master said: “Drink the water without losing sight of its source.” He asked: “Why did the man of old spread his hair over the mud?” The Master said: “Nine passed through and exhausted it; one diseased eye still remains. One arrow falls to the ground, yet all beneath heaven does not become dark.” He asked: “Are the Patriarch’s intent and the teaching’s intent the same or different?” The Master replied: “The wind blows over lotus leaves filling the green pond; along a ten-mile journey, the traveler departs.”

The Master had a young novice who had attended him for a long time. After the Master took up residence there, he sent the novice traveling on pilgrimage. The novice visited Chan monasteries everywhere but found nowhere to apply his mind. Hearing that the Master had gathered a hall full of followers of the Way, he returned to visit and asked: “Venerable, since you possess such an extraordinary matter, why did you not tell me earlier?” The Master said: “When you cooked the rice, I tended the fire; when you served the food, I opened the bowls. In what way have I ever failed you?” From that moment, the novice awakened and entered.

One day, after the Master had finished drinking tea, he poured a cup and offered it to the attendant. As the attendant was about to receive it, the Master drew back his hand and asked: “What is it?” The attendant could not answer.

A venerable monk came and asked the Master: “If it concerns the meaning of the teaching, I have no doubts; but what about the matter within the Chan school?” The Master replied: “This old monk knows only how to turn the raw into the cooked.”

He was asked: “What is the principle of ultimate reality?” The Master said: “On the rock, a rootless tree holds the clouds, unmoving.”

He was asked: “What is the lion emerging from its cave?” The Master said: “Empty space has no image; beneath one’s feet the clouds wander.”

The head monk of Western Sichuan traveled about and came to Master Baima. Citing the Huayan teaching, he asked: “What is it when a single mote of dust contains the boundless Dharma-realm?” Baima said: “Like a bird’s two wings, like a cart’s two wheels.” The head monk said: “I had thought the Chan school possessed a special and extraordinary matter of its own, but it turns out that it does not go beyond the teaching vehicle.” He then returned to his former place.

Hearing that Jiashan’s transforming instruction was flourishing, he sent a young novice to bring the preceding exchange and question the Master about it. The Master said: “The words touch sand but do not touch jade; tying grass runs contrary to the Wayfarer’s intent.” The novice returned and reported this to the head monk. The head monk praised him, saying: “I had firmly thought that the Chan school did not differ from the intent of the teaching, but it turns out there is an extraordinary matter.”

He was asked: “What is the realm of Jiashan?” The Master replied: “The young roc spreads its wings and returns to the green mountain; a bird holds a flower that falls before the curtain of the jade-green cave.”

The Master continued to open wide the Mysterious Pass for one full cycle.

In the first year of the Zhonghe era of the Tang dynasty, on the seventh day of the eleventh month, the Master summoned the administrator and said: “For many years I have spoken of the Way with the assembly of monks. You must each know for yourselves the profound intent of the Buddha-Dharma. Now this illusory body of mine is nearing its end, and I shall depart.

Guard yourselves well, just as when I was still alive. Do not make a clamor like worldly people or hastily give rise to grief.” After he finished speaking, at midnight he lay down peacefully and passed away. On the twenty-ninth day of that month, he was interred in a stupa on his home mountain, Jiashan.

He was seventy-seven years old and had been a monk for fifty-seven years. The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title Great Master Chuanming, “Transmission of Radiance,” and named his stupa Yongji, “Perpetual Aid.”

The fifth generation after Chan Master Xingsi.

– Dharma-successor disciples of the aforementioned Chan Master Datong of Mount Touzi in Shuzhou.

1. Chan Master Ganwen of Mount Touzi.

A monk asked: “For whom does the Master ascend the jeweled seat and offer instruction?” The Master replied: “Like the moon shining upon a thousand ravines.” The monk said: “Then it fills the whole earth without deficiency.” The Master said: “Do not speak that way.” The monk asked: “The father has no head; why is the son Touzi, ‘Head-Son’?” The Master said: “How could this be an affair in another person’s house?” The monk asked: “Do father and son belong to merit?” The Master said: “They do not belong.” He asked: “Since they do not belong to merit, how is it?” The Master replied: “Father and son are each liberated of themselves.” He asked: “Why is it so?” The Master replied: “You and I understand each other.”

While walking in the mountains, the Master saw the cast-off shell of a cicada. The attendant asked: “The shell is here; where has the cicada gone?” The Master picked up the shell, held it to his ear, and shook it five or three times, making the sound of a cicada. The monk immediately awakened.

2. Chan Master Wei of Niutou, Fuzhou.

The Master ascended the Dharma Hall and instructed the assembly: “The Buddhas of the three times cannot employ even a single speck of clever skill. The mouths of the old masters beneath heaven resemble winnowing baskets. Whatever you people do, you truly must not take it lightly—unless you know that it exists, yet cannot know it.”

A monk asked: “What is the Venerable’s family style?” The Master said: “(?)” The monk asked: “If an honored guest suddenly arrives, what should be done?” The Master replied: “If he eats, I shall eat with him. If he does not eat, he may go east or west as he pleases.”

He was asked: “I do not ask about the jewel beneath the black dragon’s throat. How can one know that there is treasure in the house?” The Master said: “Amid busyness, how can one become an idle person?”

3. Chan Master Chengzhao of Fragrant Mountain in Qingcheng, Western Sichuan.

A monk asked: “When the Buddhas encounter calamity, they conceal their bodies within a flame. When a patch-robed monk encounters calamity, where does he conceal his body?” The Master said: “Place this wave inside a crystal vase.” He asked: “What is the newly risen moon?” The Master said: “It pervades half the person, yet cannot be seen.”

4. Venerable Tianfu of Shanfu.

A monk asked: “What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?” The Master said: “The Yellow River has not a single drop of water; Mount Huayue is entirely peaceful.”

5. Venerable Siming of Haozhou.

While the Master was in the assembly at Touzi, a monk asked: “What is the senior monk’s conduct as a child novice?” The Master said: “Yes.” The monk asked: “What is the pure Dharma-body?” The Master said: “Maggots in excrement poke out and withdraw.”

6. Venerable Zhaofu of Fengxiang Prefecture.

A monk asked: “The eastern crow and the dark crow both come out in formation; why does the Venerable not come out in formation?” The Master said: “The ways of maintaining the monastery are all different. Acarya, why should you find it strange?”

7. Chan Master Zungu of Mount Zhongliang, Xingyuan Prefecture.

He was asked: “In the empty kalpa, there was no one who could inquire about the Dharma. Now that someone is inquiring about the Dharma, how can there be peace?” The Master replied: “The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion sits inside a jar.” He was asked: “What is the intent of the Patriarch’s coming from the Western Land?” The Master said: “A Daoist carries a cracked bowl on his shoulder.”

8. Venerable Guyin of Xiangzhou.

A monk asked: “What is it not to touch Baiyun’s pivotal function?” The Master said: “A crane bears a crow’s face; floating life does not relinquish it.”

9. The Venerable of Mount Jiunao in Anzhou.

A monk asked: “What is Buddha?” The Master said: “It is precisely you.” He asked: “From afar I heard the fame of Jiunao, ‘Nine Nao’; but after arriving, I see only one Nao.” The Master replied: “Acarya, you see only one Nao and do not see the nine Nao.” He asked: “What are the nine ramparts?” The Master replied: “The water’s waves are swift; the flowers are coarse.”

10. Venerable Panshan.

A monk asked: “How can one escape the three realms?” The Master said: “How long have you been dwelling in the mountains?” He asked: “How can one get out?” The Master said: “The green mountain does not hinder the white clouds from flying.” He asked: “The teaching vehicle contains the words: ‘Like the afflictions of an illusory person, like the child of a barren woman.’ What is the principle here?” The Master said: “Acarya, right here you are the barren woman!”

11. Chan Master Jinghui of Jiunao, Anzhou.

A monk asked: “How can one cross the deep pit of liberation?” The Master said: “Do not seek to cross it.” The monk asked: “How, then, can it be crossed?” The Master said: “Seeking to cross it is also wrong.”

12. Chan Master Yanzun of the Guanyin Cloister in the Eastern Capital.

The Master was a native of Xingtai, and his family name was Lian. At first, he visited Suxi and journeyed widely through various

In Henglu, Min, and Shu, he once passed through phoenix forests and deep caves and rejoiced to discover a cache of treasure. His companions discussed among themselves how they might safeguard it together. The Master said: “When the ancients plowed the earth and found pure gold, they regarded it as tiles and bricks. Wait until my official cap covers my head; I shall use it here to make offerings to the Sangha of the four directions.” Having said this, he departed.

He went to meet Master Touzi. Touzi asked: “Where were you yesterday?” The Master replied: “At the Immovable Bodhimanda.” Touzi asked: “Since you say it is immovable, why have you come here?” The Master said: “Is coming here movement?” Touzi replied: “So it turns out that you spend the night without being attached to any place.” Touzi tacitly acknowledged him.

The Master then made his way to the Eastern Capital. Among the assembly was Liang Shaobao Li Pu, elder brother of Military Commissioner Han of Heyang, who was well versed in the scriptures and greatly esteemed the Master. He therefore renovated his residence into a monastery called Guanyin Mingsheng and invited the Master to reside there. Before Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou ascended the throne, whenever they entered the abbot’s quarters they bowed on their knees before him. After ascending the throne, they specially bestowed upon him a purple robe and conferred on him the title Great Master Pure Precepts. His assembly always numbered several hundred people.

In the third month of the Bingyin year of the Qiande era, the Master suffered from a dental illness. After giving final instructions to his disciples, he joyfully joined his palms and passed away. He was eighty-five years old and had spent sixty-five years in the monastic order. On the eighth day of the fourth month of that year, a stupa was erected for him at Fengtai Village in the eastern suburbs.

– Dharma-heirs of Chan Master Lingzun of Qingping Mountain in Ezhou.

1. Chan Master Linggui of Sanjiao Mountain in Danzhou.

The Master first went to consult Master Qingping. Qingping asked: “What have you come for?” The Master said: “I have come to pay homage.” Qingping asked: “To whom do you pay homage?” The Master said: “I have come especially to pay homage to you, Venerable.” Qingping shouted: “You dull-witted old teacher!” The Master then bowed in homage. Qingping struck the Master once on the neck with his hand. Thereupon, the Master gathered up his robe and silently understood the essential purport of the School.

Later, a monk asked: “What is the Buddha?” The Master told him: “Come here tomorrow, and I shall tell you. I cannot tell you today.”