98.荻港渡水遇難 Encountering difficulty while crossing the river at Ti Kang

荻港渡水遇難

癸巳諦閑法師來度夏。甲午仍習經教。乙未五十六歲。揚州高旻寺月朗和尚。約打十二個禪七。將屆七。眾推公先行。至大通荻港後欲渡無錢。舟去。沿江行。忽失足墮水浮沉一晝夜。

宣化偈曰： 高僧習教已三年。月朗相約眾參禪。 荻港水難經晝夜。死而不亡壽命昌。

Encountering difficulty while crossing the river at Ti Kang

The following year, Dharma Master Ti Hsien (Examining the Barriers) came to spend the summer. The Master remained on the mountain studying sutras. When the Master was fifty-six, the monks learned that Abbot Yueh Lang (Clear Moon) of Kao Min Monastery in Yang Chou was going to convene a continuous twelve-week session of dhyana meditation. Preparing to leave, the group asked the Master to go first. After reaching Ti Kang at T’ung (Great Penetration), he had to cross the water, but had no money. The ferry left without him. As he walked along the river’s edge, the Master suddenly lost his footing and fell into the rushing water, where he bobbed helplessly for a day and night.

The verse says: The eminent Sanghans had studied together for a period of three years, And the Venerable Abbot Yueh Lang invited the monks to investigate Ch’an. But at Reed Harbor, the Master slipped, and drifted for a day and night. Although he probably should have drowned, his life was not yet over.