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Once, when Chan Master Huangbo made a trip to Mount Tiantai, he ran into a fellow practitioner. The two of them talked and laughed like old friends, as they strolled to the bank of a stream. All of a sudden, the water began to rise rapidly. The practitioner called on Huangbo to cross it with him. Huangbo replied, “My dear friend, the water is quite deep. Can it be crossed?” The practitioner rolled up his pants and crossed as easily as if he were walking on dry ground. Looking back at Huangbo, he urged, “Come! Come!” Huangbo yelled, “Hey! Had I known that you were a self-liberating practitioner with supernatural powers, I would have broken your heels.” Chastened by this remark, the practitioner sighed, “You truly are a great vessel of the Dharma. I am not your equal!” Then he vanished. Buddhism is divided into the Great Vehicle, which stresses liberation of others, and the Small Vehicle, which promotes self-liberation. The Bodhisattva vow epitomizes first approach: “Though I have not yet attained liberation, I dedicate myself above all to the liberation of others.” Sages who think only of self-liberation, even if they attain the Way, are inferior to practitioners who vow to liberate others. Naturally, Huangbo’s rebuke of his self-liberating colleague moved that sage to exalt Huangbo as the great vessel of the Dharma.