Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (74 page)

Caoshan said, “The myriad things don’t have this ability. The cessation of breath has moral power.”

In the summer of [the year 901], Caoshan asked a monk, “What month and day is this?”

The monk said, “It’s the fifteenth day of the sixth month.”

Caoshan said, “Caoshan has traveled his entire life. Everywhere it is observed that a summer has ninety days.”

The next day during the hour of the dragon [7–9 A.M.] Caoshan died. He was sixty-two years old and had been a priest for thirty-one years. He was cremated on the west side of the mountain. He received the posthumous name “Zen Master Evidence of the Source.” His stupa was named ”Blessed Perfection.”

QINGLIN SHIQIAN

QINGLIN SHIQIAN (n.d.) was a disciple of Dongshan Liangjie. His origins are obscure. An account of his life from the time he met his teacher is given in the
Wudeng Huiyuan
:

When Qinglin first met Dongshan, Dongshan asked him, “Where did you come from?”

Qinglin said, “Wuling.”

Dongshan said, “How does the Dharma teaching in Wuling compare with here?”

Qinglin said, “In a foreign land, bamboo sprouts are picked in winter.”

Dongshan said, “Provide this man fragrant rice cooked in a separate pot.”

Qinglin then shook his sleeves and went out.

Dongshan said, “Someday this one will trample everyone on earth to death.”

Once when Qinglin was planting pine trees on Mt. Dong, an old man asked him for a poem. Qinglin composed and recited this verse:

More than three feet long,
The thick green grass,
I don’t know what generation
Will see this pine’s old age.

The monk showed the poem to Dongshan, who said, “Here is the third leader of Mt. Dong.”

Qinglin prepared to leave Mt. Dong.

Dongshan asked, “Where are you going?”

Qinglin said, “The golden wheel is not concealed; in every realm the red dust is cut off.”

Dongshan said, “The great good is entrusted to you.”

Qinglin thanked Dongshan and began to leave. Dongshan accompanied him to the gate and said, “In a phrase, how would you describe what you’re doing?”

Qinglin replied, “Step by step walking on red dust—a shadowless, pervasive body.”

Dongshan was silent for a long while.

Qinglin said, “Why doesn’t the master speak more quickly?”

Dongshan said, “What makes you in such a hurry?”

Qinglin said, “I’m sorry.”

He then bade Dongshan farewell.

Qinglin went to Qingcun Mountain in Shannanfu and lived in a hut. After ten years he suddenly recalled something Dongshan had told him, and said, “I should try to benefit the many benighted beings. Why limit it to a few?”

He then went to Suizhou where he was invited to become the abbot at Green Forest Monastery. Later he moved back to Mt. Dong.

The monastery rules at Mt. Dong required a newly arrived monk to first make three trips hauling firewood before entering the hall.

Once, a monk was unwilling to do this and asked Qinglin, “Not asking about inside three trips, I ask what about outside three trips?”

Qinglin said, “Iron Wheel Emperor issues a decree at the center of the universe.”

The monk was silent.

Qinglin then drove him away with blows.

A monk asked, “For a long time I’ve been miserably ill, and I took poisonous medicine. Please cure me.”

Qinglin said, “Gold! Poke it into your brain! Pour the rich liquor on the top of your head.”

The monk said, “Thank you for this cure.”

Qinglin then hit the monk.

Zen master Qinglin Shiqian entered the hall and addressed the monks, saying, “The gate of the ancestors is obscure and mysterious. Through exhaustive merit they have transmitted it. Without careful investigation it is most difficult to realize. You must practice apart from mind, intention, or consciousness. If you leave the path of studying ‘sacred’ and ‘mundane,’ then you are upholding it. If you do not practice thus, then you can’t be considered my disciples.”