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宗寶道獨 Zongbao Daodu (1600-1661)
aka 怡山空隱宗寶 Yishan Kongyin Zongbao
七十世 怡山空隱宗寶禪師
Kongyin (‘Empty & Hidden') Zongbao (‘Treasure of the Chan School') of Yi Mountain, Patriarch of the
Seventieth
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 一九八五年七月十七日 Commentary by the Venerable Master Hua on July 17, 1985 (宣化 Xuanhua, 1918-1995)
金剛 菩提海 Vajra Bodhi Sea (VBS): A Monthly Journal of Orthodox Buddhism, No. 329.
http://www.drbachinese.org/vbs/publish/329/vbs329p013.htm
Text:
The Master was a native of Nanhai. His surname was Lu. When he was sixteen, he took a knife, stepped onto a slab of stone, bowed to the Buddha, and shaved his hair off. He then built a hut at Longshan (Dragon Mountain) and devoted himself to studying Chan. One day he read a passage in a book of lectures, which said, "Bamboo shoots that are pressed down by stones emerge sideways. Flowers hanging from a cliff grow upside-down." His sudden awakening was like ice melting. He attended upon his mother with utmost filial piety. When she passed away, he stayed in a hut by her grave for three months. Afterwards, he paid his respects to Dhyana Master Boshan. One day Master Boshan asked the assembly to say something on the topic of riding an ox backwards into the Buddha Hall. The Master submitted a verse which said:
Greedy to succeed, I made vigorous efforts;
the dawn caught me unawares.
The more I sought, the more hopeless it was.
When encountered without seeking, it was perfect.
But right then, I became confused again.
It's like an ant trying to drag a millstone,
While men of stone rub their palms and laugh.
It's a special sign of the dynamic principle
of the universe,
That doesn't follow any tune.
Master Boshan certified him and gave him a prediction. Later he dwelt at Luofu, Changqing, and Haichuang, where he extensively propagated Boshan's Way. On the twenty-second day of the seventh month, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Sunzhi, the Master sat upright and departed. He was sixty-two years old. A stupa was built to house his body at Huashou Platform in Luofu.Commentary:
The Dhyana Master was a native of Nanhai County in Guangdong Province. His lay surname was Lu. When he was sixteen, he took a knife, stepped onto a large slab of stone, bowed to the Buddha, and shaved his hair off. He then built a hut at Longshan (Dragon Mountain) and devoted himself to studying Chan. The approach of the Chan School is called "going upwards."
One day he read a passage in a book of lectures, which said, "Bamboo shoots that are pressed down by stones emerge sideways. When there are stones on the ground, bamboo shoots cannot grow up directly, so they emerge from the side. Flowers hanging from a cliff grow upside-down. Basically flowers grow from the bottom up, but now they are growing in the reverse direction. His sudden awakening was like ice melting so that there was nothing left. He attended upon his mother with utmost filial piety. When she passed away, he stayed in a hut by her grave for three months.
Afterwards, he paid his respects to Dhyana Master Boshan. One day Master Boshan asked the assembly , everyone who lived there, to say something on the topic of riding an ox backwards into the Buddha Hall. The Master Kongyin composed and submitted a verse which said:
Greedy to succeed, I made vigorous efforts. Perhaps he meant that at night he was applying effort at meditation, wanting very much to become enlightened and to attain spiritual penetrations. The dawn caught me unawares. He kept sitting and sitting, without falling alseep, seeking outside his mind for the Dharma. The more I sought, the harder his mind worked, the more hopeless it was. The farther he got, the less likely it was that he would find what he was seeking. He didn't realize that "the sea of suffering is boundless; a turn of the head is the other shore." All you have to do is see through things and put them down, and you'll naturally attain freedom and ease. When encountered without seeking, it was perfect. If you seek for something, you won't find it simply because you're seeking for it. But if you don't seek, you will encounter it. It was never apart from you, but you always looked outside and far away for it, so how could you find it? All you have to do is turn around, and there it is. But right then, right after seeing it, I became confused again.
What is this external searching like? It's like an ant trying to drag and move a huge millstone, / While men of stone rub their palms and laugh. Observing the ant expending such great strength in its vain attempt to move the millstone, the stone statues start laughing. This kind of state is extraordinary. It's a special sign of the dynamic principle of the universe / That doesn't follow any tune. The secret workings of heaven are vividly being revealed, but they cannot be analyzed as any regular melody of do, re, mi, etc.
Master Boshan saw right away that his verse was not bad at all, so he certified him and gave him a prediction. Later he dwelt at Luofu Mountain, Changqing, and Haichuang , as well as several other places, where he extensively propagated Boshan's Way. He spread the Dharma of the Chan School as taught by Master Boshan, whom many people admired at the time. On the twenty-second day of the seventh month, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Sunzhi, the Master sat upright and departed , manifesting the stillness. He was sixty-two years old. A stupa was built to house his body at Huashou Platform in Luofu.
A verse in praise says:
Bamboo shoots come out from under the stone,
and flowers hang upside-down along the cliff.
With the sudden opening of his two eyes—
the Dharma eye and the wisdom eye—
the sun appeared at midnight.
Meeting the answer everywhere,
it was like thunder and lightning.
Boshan, for no apparent reason,
rode an ox into the Buddha Hall.Commentary:
Bamboo shoots come out from under the stone, and flowers hang upside-down along the cliff. / With the sudden opening of his two eyes—the Dharma eye and the wisdom eye—the sun appeared at midnight. Sometimes when cultivators reach a high level of skill, nighttime and daytime become the same to them. Even at midnight there seemed to be sunlight just as if it were day.
Meeting the answer everywhere, it was like thunder and lightning. It was as swift as a lightning flash or a spark of fire. Boshan, for no apparent reason, rode an ox into the Buddha Hall. Master Boshan was looking for something to do when there was nothing to do. He couldn't stand to be idle. So he talked about riding an ox into the Buddha Hall. Wouldn't you say he was looking for something to do in his idleness?
Another verse says:
The youth from Nanhai shaved off his own hair.
Dwelling alone deep in the mountains, he planted
bamboo and hemp.
Pressed down by stone, bamboo shoots emerge
from the side.
Flowers grow on a cliff wall, roots and all.
The innocent wilderness reveals the mysterious.
In this spiritual land of noble individuals, there is
no self or other.
The truth is met everywhere, yet no one recognizes it.
The stone men clap their hands and laugh: ha ha!Commentary:
The youth from Nanhai , that is, Dhyana Master Kongyin, shaved off his own hair by himself. Now, that's really strange. Dwelling alone deep in the mountains, he planted bamboo and hemp. He observed that, pressed down by stone, bamboo shoots emerge from the side. Also, flowers grow on a cliff wall, roots and all. Usually plants don't grow roots on top, but in this case, the roots and flowers all grew together on the cliff.
The innocent wilderness , the dynamic working of the universe, reveals the mysterious . The secrets of heaven are divulged. In this spiritual land of noble individuals, there is no self or other. Probably the geomantic properties of the place were pretty good, so it was an efficacious area where outstanding people lived. He cultivated and reached the state of there being no self and no others.
The truth is met everywhere, yet no one recognizes it. The innocence of the wilderness, the natural state of things, the principle of the Buddha nature, is found everywhere, yet ordinary people don't recognize it. As a result, the stone men eagerly clap their hands and laugh: ha ha! See? Even men of stone can laugh!
