46.獅子山寺過年 Passing the New Year at Shih Tzu Shan Monastery

獅子山寺過年

江浦縣獅子嶺。在浦口鎮。西北方七十余里。嶺上有一大茅蓬。住居十方參禪行者。道風甚篤。盛名遠播。老參上座源源而來。參方者不可勝數。公亦順道而至。恰逢過年時期留度歲。

宣化偈曰： 獅子山寺獅子居。龍象藏處龍象棲。 大冶洪爐同鍛鍊。高僧大德從此出。

Passing the New Year at Shih Tzu Shan Monastery

On Shih Tzu Peak in Chiang P’u (Extensive River) County, over seventy miles to the northwest of the tower of P’u K’ou (Flowing Mouth), was a large grass hut. Within it dwelt well-seasoned cultivators of Ch’an meditation who were renowned for possessing the Way. Old Ch’an adepts and senior monks arrived in an unending stream, their number uncountable. The Master Yun also followed the path to that place. He spent New Year’s there.

The verse says: The Lion Mountain Monastery is where the lions dwell, While dragons and elephants sequester themselves in dragon and elephant abodes. Fused together in the cosmic furnace, one is wrought and forged. Great and virtuous eminent Sanghans often emerge from here.