In Wu Jiang County of Jiang Su Province, there’s a monk named Doing Nothing, who was older than me, more respectable than me, and earlier than me to enter monastic life. I used to do Chan practice with him in the same meditation hall in my early years.
Later on, after I became the abbot of Yun Qi Temple, he came to visit me, asking to receive the precepts from me and become my disciple. I thanked him but wouldn’t accept it. He insisted, saying: “In the good old times, when the Pure Land Lotus Society was set up on Mt. Lushan, even Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and Bodhisattva Universal Wisdom asked to join in. Now how could a nobody like me forgo such an extraordinary opportunity!”
Moved by his earnest, I didn’t have the heart to say no again, but to follow the example of Wang Yang Ming accepting the great courtesy extended by Dong Luo Shi (in which case the latter was much more advanced in age too, comparing to the former).
Truly, Venerable Doing Nothing exhibited such a style of nobility and humility, exactly like the people of good old times, treating their inferiors with respect and grace. So I jot it down here, simply to motivate latecomers.
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
僧無為 – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
吳江流慶菴無為能公，齒先予，德先予，出家先予；予蚤歲遊蘇湖間，與同堂坐禪。及予住雲棲，公來受戒，求列名弟子。予謝不允，則固請曰:「昔普慧、普賢二大菩薩尚求入匡廬蓮社，我何人斯，自絕佳會。」不得已，如董蘿石謁新建故事，許之。以賢下愚，有古人風，筆之以勸後進。
Buddha Mind 