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伴我淨侶 Banwo Jinglu (17th c.)

七十一世伴我淨侶禪師
伴我淨侶 Banwo Jinglu (17th c.), Patriarch of the Seventy-first Generation
佛祖道影白話解 Lives of the Patriarchs
虛雲老和尚編輯 Composed by the Elder Master Hsu Yun (虚云 Xuyun, 1840-1959)
宣公上人講於一九八五年八月五日 Commentary by the Venerable Master Hua on August 5, 1985 (宣化 Xuanhua, 1918-1995)
金剛 菩提海 Vajra Bodhi Sea (VBS): A Monthly Journal of Orthodox Buddhism, Nos. 338-339.

http://www.drbachinese.org/vbs/publish/338/vbs338p012.htm
http://www.drbachinese.org/vbs/publish/339/vbs339p013.htm

Text: The Master was a son of the Zhang family in Deqing. He studied under Elder Master Rui of Bianshan. Elder Master Bianshan asked, “What is your own self like?” As the Master was deliberating on what to answer, Bianshan beat him and drove him out. Thereupon he fathomed Bianshan's intention and gave a great laugh. Hearing it, Bianshan summoned him into the Abbot's room and asked him, “Why did you laugh uproariously last night?”  The Master said, “I am no longer laughing today.”  Bianshan said, “So you've come again?” The Master flounced his sleeves and left.  Bianshan gave him a verse with a line that said: “A goldfish travels along the wall.” He then asked, “Why don't you try to walk it?” The Master bowed and said, “My doing that would startle heaven and earth.” Bianshan said, “I don't believe you.”  The Master said, “Your teaching has obliterated doubts from antiquity.”  During the year of jichou [1649] in the Shunzhi reign period, he established the Dharma at Yuxi, Huxiao, Tiaozhi , Zifu, Bianshan, and other monasteries. The Master's moral virtue was lofty and rare. He never exhibited pleasure or anger. Among Confucian scholars, he was an eminent worthy. In the gate of Dharma, he was a spiritual virtuoso. His stupa was built to the right of Elder Master Bianshan's. Commentary:   This Patriarch of the Seventy-first Generation in the Caodong Sect was called Dhyana Master Banwo (“accompany me”) and Jinglü (“pure companion”).  The Master was a son of the Zhang family in Deqing.  He was a native of Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province.  He studied under Elder Master Rui of Bianshan.  He drew near the Elder Master Ruibai to study the Buddhadharma. Elder Master Bianshan asked, “What is your own self like?”  The word “self” does not refer only to your self; it includes all people within its scope. What is your self like? What is his self like? What is my self like? This self refers to the self in general. This question was purposefully posed in a way that it would be impossible to answer. If the Master answered concerning his own self, Bianshan could say, “I am asking you to tell me what my self is like.” And so, just  as the Master was deliberating on what to answer,  when he was applying effort in the “den of ghosts,” trying to think of what to say that would be an appropriate reply, Elder Master  Bianshan beat him and drove him out. When he was thrown out, his discriminating conscious mind was cut off. The conscious mind could no longer make mischief.  Thereupon he fathomed Bianshan's intention  and understood why Master Bianshan had beaten him. The value of that beating was impossible to calculate. He was suddenly enlightened,  and  so  gave a great , crazy  laugh. Hearing it,  Elder Master  Bianshan summoned him  back  into the Abbot's room and asked him, “Why did you laugh uproariously last night?  When I gave you a beating last night, why did you run out and start laughing hysterically? ” The Master said, “ I have forgotten why I was laughing yesterday. And so  I am no longer laughing today.  I can't recall why I was laughing.” So he just said he had forgotten, and did not answer the question. He could not say, “Oh, I've gotten enlightened and I know what you're all about.” Only frauds would try to show off their own skill. In his place, they would have said, “I know why you beat me.” He did not say that. He merely said, “I'm not laughing today.” Bianshan said, “So you've come again?  Have you come back?” When he came the day before, he was not laughing either.   This time,  the Master  did not wait to be beaten, but  flounced his sleeves and left.  Master  Bianshan  saw that he understood. He had left without waiting for a beating. Probably he was afraid of getting beaten, so he flapped his sleeves and walked off. So Master Bianshan  gave him a verse with a line that said: “A goldfish travels along the wall.”  The goldfish was not in a fish tank, but was on the wall. He then asked, “Why don't you try to walk it?  Can you walk along the wall, like the goldfish? This goldfish not only swims in water, but walks on land, on the wall. You try it.”  The Master , Dhyana Master Jinglü,  bowed to Elder Master Bianshan  and said, “My doing that would startle heaven and earth.”  “How could I do it? It would startle heaven and earth.” Bianshan said, “I don't believe you.” The Master said, “Your teaching has obliterated doubts from antiquity.”  “The teaching I have gained from you has wiped out the mass of doubts accrued since ancient times. They are all gone now.” In other words, his wild mind had stopped. From their repartee, their give-and-take, reading between the lines it was clear that this Dhyana Master was enlightened. During the year of jichou [1649] in the Shunzhi reign period, he established the Dharma at Yuxi, Huxiao, Tiaozhi, Zifu, Bianshan, and other monasteries.  He was the Abbot at all those large monasteries.  The Master's moral virtue was lofty and rare  in both ancient and modern times.  He never exhibited pleasure or anger. Throughout his life, people could not tell when he was happy, nor did they know it when he was angry. He did not allow joy and anger to show on his face.  Among Confucian scholars, he was an eminent worthy.  He was extremely erudite. In Confucianism, he was a worthy and virtuous personage.  In the gate of Dharma,  in Buddhism,  he was a spiritual virtuoso.  After he completed the stillness,  his stupa was built to the right of Elder Master Bianshan's. A verse in praise says: One hysterical laugh startled  heaven and earth.   Having his eye punched out,  he was able to pick up his lips and nose. His Path went beyond the ancient and the modern.   Clouds gathered, and the rain brought deliverance.   Jia Creek flowed backward without limit or boundary. Commentary: One hysterical laugh startled heaven and earth.  His one great laugh shook up the world.  Having his eye punched out, he was able to pick up his lips and nose.  Dhyana Master Ruibai beat him, ridding him of his “eye” for discrimination. He did not literally punch his eyes out and make him blind. He just got rid of his discriminating consciousness. And then the Master understood what the root of birth and death is.  His Path went beyond the ancient and the modern.  His Dao surpassed both ancient and contemporary times.  Clouds gathered, and the rain brought deliverance.  The clouds gathered, and the rain came down, rescuing the masses.  Jia Creek flowed backward without limit or boundary.  In the age of the Dharma's demise, he went against the current and his Dharma lineage knew no boundaries.

Another verse says: Knowing the false, he roamed the rivers and mountains in quest of truth.  Turning his back on the dust and uniting with enlightenment, he saw a clue.  Those who take thieves to be their sons are crazy fools.  Taking suffering to be bliss, immortals guard their corpses.  Pure Companion painfully endured the merciless stick.  This Venerable One transcended the heavens with outflows.  Burning the boats on the River Ji forces a decisive victory.  Spiritual artisans at the Gate of Dharma should also be that way. Another verse says: Knowing the false, he roamed the rivers and mountains in quest of truth.  Since he recognized what was false, he wanted to find the real thing. He knew that our human body is a temporary combination of the four elements and that sooner or later, we would have to leave it behind. No one is exempt from the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death. He knew that the body was not a real thing, so he wanted to find something real. But the people in this world are very strange. They all mistake the false for the true, and take suffering to be bliss. Caught up in the false, they forget about what is genuine. Even if someone tells them that there is something true beyond what they see, they don't believe it and keep clinging to the false. They don't hunt for the true. Turning his back on the dust and uniting with enlightenment, he saw a clue. Ordinary beings turn their backs on enlightenment and join with the dust. He wanted to cultivate, however, so he turned away from the dust and joined with enlightenment. He understood a little bit; he had a hint of what it was all about. Those who take thieves to be their sons are crazy fools. People in the world all take thieves to be their sons. They think their conscious mind is the real thing. They believe in their mind, their intellect, and their consciousness. They are controlled by these three things, but don't even realize it. Such people are insane; they chase after fame and profit and get caught up in wealth and glory. They are all taking thieves to be their sons. Taking suffering to be bliss, immortals guard their corpses. Not to mention ordinary, worldly people, even cultivators of immortality are attached to their physical bodies. They are nothing but "corpse-guarding ghosts"—there is nothing special about them. Pure Companion painfully endured the merciless stick. In his quest for truth, he visited Good and Wise Advisors everywhere. When those advisors beat him, he was able to bear it. This Venerable One transcended the heavens with outflows. Since he was able to bear the beatings and not listen to his mind, intellect, and consciousness, he surpassed the heavens with outflows, which refers to the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. Beings in the Three Realms all have outflows. Burning the boats on the River Ji forces a decisive victory. This is like when soldiers cross a river and burn the boats behind them. Feeling that there is no path of retreat, they can only advance. Advance repre­sents life; retreat means death. If they retreat, they will fall into the river and drown, since the boats have been burned. Victory is the only choice; defeat is not permitted. Spiritual artisans at the Gate of Dharma should also be that way. As workers in Buddhism, we should also have this kind of spirit of risking death in order to gain new life. If you cannot risk death, you cannot gain life. And if you cannot renounce the false, you cannot accomplish the true.