2Baizhang's Fox百丈野狐
百丈和尚。凡參次有一老人。常隨眾聽法。眾人退老人亦退。忽一日不退。師遂問。面前立者復是何人。老人云。諾某甲非人也。於過去迦葉佛時。曾住此山。因學人問。大修行底人還落因果。也無。某甲對云。不落因果。五百生墮野狐身。今請和尚。代一轉語貴。脫野狐遂問。大修行底人還落因果。也無。師云。不昧因果。老人於言下大悟。作禮云。某甲已脫野狐身。住在山後。敢告和尚。乞依亡僧事例。師令無維那白槌告眾。食後送亡僧。大眾言議。一眾皆安涅槃堂。又無人病。何故如是。食後只見師領眾。至山後巖下。以杖挑出一死野狐。乃依火葬。師至晚上堂。舉前因緣。黃蘗便問。古人錯祇對一轉語。墮五百生野狐身。轉轉不錯。合作箇甚麼。師云。近前來與伊道。黃蘗遂近前。與師一掌。師拍手笑云。將謂。胡鬚赤更有赤鬚胡。
Whenever Master Baizhang gave a talk, an old man would come to hear the teaching along with the monks. When they filed out, he filed out too. Then one day he stayed behind. Baizhang asked, "Who is this, standing here in front of me?"
The old man said, "I am not a human being. Long ago, in the age of Kashyapa Buddha, I was the teacher on this mountain. A student asked me, 'Does a person of deep practice still fall under cause and effect?' I told him, 'No, such a person is free of it.' For that I have been reborn a fox five hundred times. I beg you, Master: say the turning word in my place and free me from this fox's body." Then he asked, "Does a person of deep practice still fall under cause and effect?"
Baizhang said, "Such a person is not blind to cause and effect."
At those words the old man woke completely. He bowed and said, "I am done with the fox's body. It lies behind the mountain. I ask you to bury it as you would a dead monk."
Baizhang had the head monk strike the gavel and announce that after the meal there would be a funeral for a monk who had died. The monks were baffled. "Everyone is healthy. No one is even sick. What is this about?" After the meal Baizhang led them all to the foot of a cliff behind the mountain, fished out a dead fox with his staff, and they cremated it like a monk.
That evening Baizhang took the seat and told the whole story. Huangbo spoke up. "This old man missed with one turning word and spent five hundred lifetimes as a fox. Suppose he had gotten every word right. What then?"
Baizhang said, "Step up here and I will tell you." Huangbo stepped up and slapped him. Baizhang clapped his hands and laughed. "I thought the barbarian's beard was red, and here is another red-bearded barbarian!"
Wumen's Comment 無門曰
不落因果。為甚墮野狐。不昧因果。為甚脫野狐。若向者裏著得一隻眼。便知得。前百丈贏得。風流五百生。
"Free of cause and effect," and it dropped him into a fox. "Not blind to cause and effect," and it sprang him loose. Get one clear eye on that, and you will see how old Baizhang won himself five hundred lifetimes of fun.