26.道引善知識 Finding a guiding advisor

道引善知識

公超然物外。無掛無礙。信步遨游。至溫州一山岩棲止。有禪者至。頂禮求教。惶愧無以應。勉曰。愚癡無知。不明開示。彼詢修行多久告之。禪者曰。天台華頂融鏡老人。乃今唯一善知識。

宣化偈曰： 歧路指迷化高賢。若非淨居即天仙。 知識曰善尤第一。遙示天台華頂前。

Finding a guiding advisor

The Master had transcended the corporeal and was unfettered and unobstructed. He freely wandered about until he reached a cliff hut in Wen Chou, where he stayed. A dhyana adept arrived one day and seeking his instruction, made obeisance. Unable to answer his query, the Master was ashamed and said tensely, “I am stupid and have no knowledge. I cannot give instruction.” The dhyana adept then inquired how long the Master had been cultivating and the Master told him. The Ch’an monk then said that the Venerable Yung Ching (Interpenetrating Mirror) of Hua Ting (Flower Peak), T’ien T’ai mountain, was the sole knowledgeable advisor of the present-day.

The verse says: Setting him straight off a confused path, a lofty sage appeared. If he wasn’t a god of the pure heavens, then he was a rsi (immortal). There was a knowledgeable advisor who was said to be the best, Spreading wide the T’ien T’ai school the Good Advisor stayed at Hua Ting Peak.