On this rock ledge directly above South Peak Temple, Shih T’ou built
his meditation hut, as described in the “Grass Shack Song”. It sits on
a ledge about 30 meters long,
has a flat surface, and directly overlooks the northeastern side of
the temple.
Shih T’ou thus became known as Shitou Heshang, the “Stone Monk.”
South Mountain has been known traditionally as one of the Five Holy
Buddhist Mountains of China. According to one legend, Bodhidharma stopped
at South Mountain for a visit on his way from India.
Shih T’ou
(Shitou Xiqian, Shih-t’ou Hsi-ch’ien, Shitou
Heshang)
(Kao Yao, Gao Yao, Sekito Kisen)
( 700 – 790 )
Song of the Grass Shack
I’ve built a grass shack with nothing of value inside.
After a good meal, I like to take a nice nap.
The grass thatching still looks new;
When it wears out, I’ll add fresh thatch to the roof.
The person inside the shack is always present,
But you won’t find him inside or out.
He doesn’t hang out with worldly people,
And he doesn’t like the things they like.
This little shack contains the entire universe,
And my physical body is integrated with it.
Great Bodhisattvas don’t doubt my ideas,
Although humans may think them strange.
If you say that my hut looks shabby, I’ll answer
That the One Mind abides right where it is.
East or west, north or south,
A solid foundation is what counts.
With green pines hanging over the roof
And bright windows in the walls, not even a royal palace
can compare with my shack.
With a monk’s robe over my shoulders
And a hood over my head, I’ve got no worries at all.
It’s not that I praise myself for living here,
Like some merchant pushing his product.
It’s just that when the twilight comes,
My mind is limitless from front to back.
——————————————————-
Most content on this page comes courtesy
James Mitchell’s excellent site:
Ven. Shi Bao Tan, Abbot of Nan Tai Si, South Peak Temple, Nanyue, Hunan
Province, 1991. The sign at the temple gate announces that one is entering
a “Cao-Dong Ancestors” temple. South Peak Temple itself was reportedly
founded in the late 6th or early 7th-century. In modern times, the temple
was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt in 1981-82, with
support from Soto Zenshu in Japan. In 1991, it housed a small sangha of
about 80 monks and nuns. The Jian Xiang pagoda, erected as a memorial tower
after Shitou’s death, was in 1991 a pile of rubble, overgrown by bushes
and thorns. It lies about half a kilometer down the side of the mountain
from South Peak Temple, just inside a Chinese military reservation, used
in recent decades as a missile base. Shitou’s body was mummified in black
lacquer. Much damaged by fire, it was brought to Japan during the time
of the Chinese Revolution (1911), and it may be viewed today at the Soto
zen temple of Soji-ji in Yokohama. (For further information concerning
Shitou’s remains, see Bernard Faure, The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural
Critique of Zen, pp. 167-168, with illustration.)
bibliographies:
Soto Zen
Ancestors in China bibliography
(from the above bibliography)
in the book store databases:
The Awakening of Faith
attributed to Asvaghosha
Translated by Yoshito S. Hakeda
Paperback / Published 1974
information and order from:
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Zen Buddhism: A History
Vol. 1., India and China
by Heinrich Dumoulin
Paperback / Published 1994
information and order from:
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A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras:
Selections from the Maharatnakuta Sutra
Garma C.C. Chang(Editor) /
Hardcover / Published 1983
information and order from:
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and noble
Entry into the Inconceivable:
An Introduction to Hua-Yen Buddhism
Thomas Cleary / Paperback / Published 1995
information and order from:
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The Flower Ornament Scripture:
A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra:
Thomas Cleary (Translator)
Hardcover / Published 1993
information and order from:
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and noble
Transmission of Light:
Zen in the Art of Enlightenment
Zen Master Keizan, Thomas Cleary
Paperback / Published 1990
information and order from:
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and noble
Buddhism in China:
A Historical Survey
Kenneth Chen, et al
Paperback / Published 1974
information and order from:
amazon.com
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and noble
Hua-Yen:
The Jewel Net of Indra
by Francis H. Cook
Paperback / March 1977
information and order from:
amazon.com
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and noble
The Record of Tung-Shan
(Classics in East Asian Buddhism)
by William Powell (Translator)
Paperback / July 1986
information and order from:
amazon.com
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and noble
The Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade, editor-in-chief
Hardcover / Published 1993
information and order from:
amazon.com
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and noble
The Rhetoric of Immediacy:
A Cultural Critique of Zen.
by Bernard Faure
Paperback / Published 1995
information and order from:
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and noble
Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism
by Peter N. Gregory
Hardcover / September 1991
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Cultivating the Empty Field:
The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi
Zen Master Hongzhi, Taigen Daniel Leighton (Translator)
Paperback / Published 1991
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and noble
Cultivating the Empty Field:
The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi
Zen Master Hongzhi, Taigen Daniel Leighton (Translator)
Hardcover / Published 1991
information and order from:
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and noble
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
Hui-Neng Liu-Tsu-ta
Philip B. Yampolsky (Translator)
Paperback / 6th ed. /June 1978
information and order from:
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and noble
The Record of Transmitting the Light:
Zen Master Keizan’s Denkoroku
by Francis H. Cook
Paperback / February 1991
information and order from:
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Buddha Nature
(Suny Series in Buddhist Studies)
by Sallie B. King
Hardcover / October 1990
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Early Ch’an in China and Tibet
by R. Lewis Lancaster
and Whalen Lai, eds.
information and order from:
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The Recorded Sayings of Ma-tsu
(Studies in Asian Thought and Religion, Vol 6)
by Ma-Tsu, Julian F. Pas
Hardcover / August 1987
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The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
by Red Pine (Translator)
Paperback / December 1989
information and order from:
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The World of Thought in Ancient China
Benjamin Isadore Schwartz
Paperback / Published 1989
information and order from:
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The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti:
A Mahayana Scripture
Vimalakirtinirdesa
Robert A. Thurman (Translator)
Paperback / Published 1987
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The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti:
A Mahayana Scripture
Vimalakirtinirdesa
Robert A. Thurman (Translator)
Hardcover / Published 1991
information and order from:
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Book of Serenity:
One Hundred Zen Dialogues
Hsing-Hsiu, Thomas Cleary (Translator)
Hardcover / Published 1998
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Buddhism under the T’ang
(Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions)
by Stanley Weinstein
information and order from:
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Original Teachings of Ch’an Buddhism;
Selected from the Transmission of the Lamp
Chang Chung-Yuan (Compiler)
Paperback / Published 1995
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