Wu Deng Hui Yuan (五燈會元)

七佛

The Seven Buddhas

古佛應世。緜歷無窮。不可以周知而悉數也。近故譚賢劫有千如來。暨於釋迦。但紀七佛。按長阿含經云。七佛精進力。放光滅闇冥。各各坐樹下。於中成正覺。又曼殊室利為七佛祖師。金華善慧大士登松山頂行道。感七佛引前。維摩接後。今之撰述。斷自七佛而下。

Since ancient times, Buddhas have appeared in the world in an unbroken succession, through ages without end; no one can know them all or count them one by one. In recent times, people have spoken only of the present Auspicious Kalpa, the great aeon in which a thousand Buddhas are to appear, and have recorded seven Buddhas up to Shakyamuni. The Long Agama Sutra says: “The seven Buddhas, through the strength of their vigorous practice, sent forth light and dispelled the darkness. Each sat beneath a tree and there attained perfect awakening.” It also says that Manjushri—the Bodhisattva of wisdom, whose name is shortened from “Bodhisattva,” a being who seeks awakening and guides others to it—was the ancestral teacher of the seven Buddhas. The Great Scholar Shanhui of Jinhua went to the summit of Mount Song to practice; in response, he saw the seven Buddhas guiding him from ahead, with Vimalakirti following behind. This compilation now begins its account from the seven Buddhas onward.

毗婆尸佛(過去莊嚴劫。第九百九十八尊)

Vipashyin Buddha (the nine hundred and ninety-eighth Buddha of the Adornment Kalpa)

偈曰。身從無相中受生。猶如幻出諸形象。幻人心識本來無。罪福皆空無所住。長阿含經云。人壽八萬歲時。此佛出世。種剎利。姓拘利若。父槃頭。母槃頭婆提。居般頭婆提城。坐波波羅樹下。說法三會。度人三十四萬八千。神足二。一名騫茶。二名提舍。侍者無憂子方膺。

The verse says: “The body receives birth from a place without form, like an illusionist conjuring up many forms. The mind of the phantom has no true existence; both sin and merit are empty, with nowhere to abide.” The Long Agama Sutra says: This Buddha appeared when the human life span was eighty thousand years. He was of the Kshatriya caste and the Kaundinya clan. His father was named Pan-tou, and his mother Pan-tou-po-ti. He lived in Pan-tou-po-ti City and sat beneath a pippala tree. He preached three assemblies and liberated 348,000 people. His two chief disciples renowned for spiritual powers were Qiancha and Tishe. His attendant was named Wuyou, and his son Fangying.

屍棄佛(莊嚴劫。第九百九十九尊)

Shikhin Buddha (the nine hundred and ninety-ninth Buddha of the Adornment Kalpa)

偈曰。起諸善法本是幻。造諸惡業亦是幻。身如聚沫心如風。幻出無根無實性。長阿含經云。人壽七萬歲時。此佛出世。種剎利。姓拘利若。父明相。母光耀。居光相城。坐分陀利樹下。說法三會。度人二十五萬。神足二。一名阿毗浮。二名婆婆。侍者忍行子無量。

The verse says: “All kinds of wholesome things that arise are illusions; all kinds of evil deeds that are done are illusions too. The body is like gathered foam, the mind like wind; what is conjured has no root and no real nature.” The Long Agama Sutra says: This Buddha appeared when the human life span was seventy thousand years. He was of the Kshatriya caste and the Kaundinya clan. His father was named Mingxiang, and his mother Guangyao. He lived in Guangxiang City and sat beneath a pundarika tree. He preached three assemblies and liberated 250,000 people. His two chief disciples renowned for spiritual powers were Abifu and Popo. His attendant was named Renxing, and his son Wuliang.

毗舍浮佛(莊嚴劫。第一千尊)

Vishvabhu Buddha (the thousandth Buddha of the Adornment Kalpa)

偈曰。假借四大以為身。心本無生因境有。前境若無心亦無。罪福如幻起亦滅。長阿含經云。人壽六萬歲時。此佛出世。種剎利。姓拘利若。父善燈。母稱戒。居無喻城。坐婆羅樹下。說法二會。度人一十三萬。神足二。一扶遊。二鬱多摩。侍者寂滅子妙覺。

The verse says: “The four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—are borrowed to make a body. Mind is unborn in itself and appears only because of its objects; when those objects are gone, mind too is gone. Sin and merit are like illusions: they arise and then cease.” The Long Agama Sutra says: This Buddha appeared when the human life span was sixty thousand years. He was of the Kshatriya caste and the Kaundinya clan. His father was named Shandeng, and his mother Chengjie. He lived in Wuyu City and sat beneath a sala tree. He preached two assemblies and liberated 130,000 people. His two chief disciples renowned for spiritual powers were Fuyou and Youtama. His attendant was named Jimi, and his son Miaojue.

拘留孫佛(見在賢劫。第一尊)

Krakucchanda Buddha (the first Buddha of the present Auspicious Kalpa)

偈曰。見身無實是佛身。了心如幻是佛幻。了得身心本性空。斯人與佛何殊別。長阿含經云。人壽四萬歲時。此佛出世。種婆羅門。姓迦葉。父禮得。母善枝。居安和城。坐尸利沙樹下。說法一會。度人四萬。神足二。一薩尼。二毗樓。侍者善覺子上勝。

The verse says: “To see that the body has no substance is to see the Buddha-body; to understand that mind is like an illusion is to understand the Buddha’s illusion. When one realizes that body and mind are empty by nature, what difference is there between that person and a Buddha?” The Long Agama Sutra says: This Buddha appeared when the human life span was forty thousand years. He was of the Brahmin caste and the Kashyapa clan. His father was named Lide, and his mother Shan-zhi. He lived in Anhe City and sat beneath a shirisha tree. He preached one assembly and liberated forty thousand people. His two chief disciples renowned for spiritual powers were Sani and Vilou. His attendant was named Shanjue, and his son Shangsheng.

拘那含牟尼佛(賢劫。第二尊)

Kanakamuni Buddha (the second Buddha of the Auspicious Kalpa)

偈曰。佛不見身知是佛。若實有知別無佛。智者能知罪性空。坦然不怖於生死。長阿含經云。人壽三萬歲時。此佛出世。種婆羅門。姓迦葉。父大德。母善勝。居清淨城。坐烏暫婆羅門樹下。說法一會。度人三萬。神足二。一舒槃那。二鬱多樓。侍者安和子導師。

The verse says: “The Buddha does not see a body and thereby know that this is the Buddha. If there truly were something that could know, then apart from it there would be no Buddha. The wise know that the nature of sin is empty, and so they face birth and death with ease and fearlessness.” The Long Agama Sutra says: This Buddha appeared when the human life span was thirty thousand years. He was of the Brahmin caste and the Kashyapa clan. His father was named Dade, and his mother Shansheng. He lived in Qingjing City and sat beneath an udumbara tree. He preached one assembly and liberated thirty thousand people. His two chief disciples renowned for spiritual powers were Shupanna and Youtoulou. His attendant was named Anhe, and his son Daoshi.

迦葉佛(賢劫。第三尊)

Kashyapa Buddha (the third Buddha of the Auspicious Kalpa)

偈曰。一切眾生性清淨。從本無生無可滅。即此身心是幻生。幻化之中無罪福。長阿含經云。人壽二萬歲時。此佛出世。種婆羅門。姓迦葉。父梵德。母財主。居波羅奈城。坐尼拘律樹下。說法一會。度人二萬。神足二。一提舍。二婆羅婆。侍者善友子集軍。

The verse says: “The nature of all sentient beings is originally pure. From the beginning there has been neither birth nor extinction. This body and mind are themselves born as an illusion; within illusion there is neither sin nor merit.” The Long Agama Sutra says: This Buddha appeared when the human life span was twenty thousand years. He was of the Brahmin caste and the Kashyapa clan. His father was named Fande, and his mother Caizhu. He lived in Varanasi and sat beneath a banyan tree. He preached one assembly and liberated twenty thousand people. His two chief disciples renowned for spiritual powers were Tishe and Poluopo. His attendant was named Shanyou, and his son Jijun.

釋迦牟尼佛(賢劫。第四尊)

Shakyamuni Buddha (the fourth Buddha of the Auspicious Kalpa)

姓剎利。父淨飯天。母大清淨妙位。登補處。生兜率天上。名曰勝善天人。亦名護明大士。度諸天眾。說補處行。於十方界中。現身說法。普曜經云。佛初生剎利王家。放大智光明。照十方世界。地湧金蓮華。自然捧雙足。東西及南北。各行於七步。分手指天地。作師子吼聲。上下及四維。無能尊我者。即周昭王二十四年甲寅歲四月八日也。至四十二年二月八日。年十九。欲求出家而自念言。當復何遇。即於四門遊觀。見四等事。心有悲喜而作思惟。此老．病．死。終可厭離。於是夜子時。有一天人名曰淨居。於窻牖中叉手白言。出家時至。可去矣。太子聞已。心生歡喜。即逾城而去。於檀特山中修道。始於阿藍迦藍處三年。學不用處定。知非便捨。復至鬱頭藍弗處三年。學非非想定。知非亦捨。又至象頭山。同諸外道日食麻麥。經於六年。故經云。以無心意．無受行。而悉摧伏諸外道。先歷試邪法。示諸方便。發諸異見。令至菩提。故普集經云。菩薩於二月八日。明星出時成道。號天人師。時年三十矣。即穆王三年癸未歲也。既而於鹿野苑中為憍陳如等五人轉四諦法輪而證道果。說法住世四十九年。後告弟子摩訶迦葉。吾以清淨法眼．涅槃妙心．實相無相．微妙正法。將付於汝。汝當護持。並勑阿難。副貳傳化。無令斷絕。而說偈曰。法本法無法。無法法亦法。今付無法時。法法何曾法。爾時世尊說此偈已。復告迦葉。吾將金縷僧伽梨衣傳付於汝。轉授補處。至慈氏佛出世。勿令朽壞。迦葉聞偈。頭面禮足曰。善哉。善哉。我當依勑。恭順佛故。爾時世尊至拘屍那城。告諸大眾。吾今背痛。欲入涅槃。即往熈連河側。娑羅雙樹下。右脇累足。泊然宴寂。復從棺起。為母說法。特示雙足化婆耆。並說無常偈曰。諸行無常。是生滅法。生滅滅已。寂滅為樂。時諸弟子即以香薪競茶毗之。燼後金棺如故。

He was of the Kshatriya caste. His father was King Shuddhodana, and his mother was named Great Pure and Wondrous. He advanced to the rank of a bodhisattva who would become a Buddha in his next life. He was born in Tushita Heaven, where he was called the Deva Shansheng, also known as the Great Being Huming. He guided the heavenly multitudes and taught the practices of one nearing Buddhahood, appearing to preach throughout the worlds of the ten directions. The punctuation in the base text reads “his mother, Great Pure and Wondrous rank; advanced to the next-to-last stage”; here it is read as “his mother was Great Pure and Wondrous; he advanced to the next-to-last stage.” The Puy yao jing says: When the Buddha was first born into a Kshatriya royal house, a great light of wisdom shone through the worlds of the ten directions. Golden lotuses sprang up from the earth and naturally supported his feet. He took seven steps in each of the four directions—east, west, south, and north—then pointed one hand to the sky and one to the ground and roared like a lion: “Above and below heaven, I alone am supreme.” This was the eighth day of the fourth month in the jia-yin year, the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of Zhou. In the second month of the forty-second year of King Zhao, at age nineteen, he wished to leave home and seek the Way. He wondered what else he might encounter, so he went out to observe life at the four gates. There he saw old age, sickness, death, and other such sights; sorrow and joy arose in him together, and he reflected that old age, sickness, and death were things one should ultimately renounce. At midnight, a deva named Jingju joined his palms and reported through the window: “The time to leave home has come. You may depart.” The prince rejoiced, climbed over the city wall, and left. He practiced the Way in the Dantak Mountain. For three years he studied with Alara Kalama, learning the meditation of the sphere of nothingness. Knowing it was not ultimate, he left. He then spent three years with Uddaka Ramaputta, learning the meditation of neither perception nor non-perception; knowing that too was not the Way, he left again. At Elephant Head Mountain he lived as the non-Buddhists did, eating only sesame and wheat each day, for six years. Thus the sutra says: “Through practices without thought or sensation, he completely subdued the non-Buddhist teachers.” He first tried each mistaken teaching and explained various expedient means, bringing forth diverse views so that people might reach bodhi, awakening. For this reason the Pujijing says: The bodhisattva attained the Way at dawn on the eighth day of the second month, when the morning star appeared. He was called Teacher of Gods and Humans, and was then thirty years old. This was the guiyou year, the third year of King Mu of Zhou. He then turned the Wheel of the Four Noble Truths—suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path—in the Deer Park for Kaundinya and four others, who thereby attained the Way. He taught in the world for forty-nine years. Later he told his disciple Mahakashyapa: “I am entrusting to you the pure Dharma-eye, the wondrous mind of nirvana—the cessation of afflictions and the end of rebirth—and the subtle true Dharma of formless reality. You must protect and uphold it.” He instructed Ananda to serve as his assistant in transmitting the teaching and not let it perish. Then he spoke this verse: “The root of Dharma is that there is no thing called Dharma. When there is no Dharma, Dharma is still Dharma. Now that I entrust this ‘no-Dharma,’ how could any of the many dharmas ever be Dharma?” After speaking, the World-Honored One told Kashyapa: “I will pass on to you the golden-threaded sanghati robe, the Buddha’s great robe. Pass it on in turn to the bodhisattva who is next to Buddhahood, until Maitreya Buddha appears. Do not let it decay.” Kashyapa heard the verse, bowed with his head at the Buddha’s feet, and said: “Excellent, excellent. I will follow your instruction, out of reverence for the Buddha.” The World-Honored One then went to Kushinagara and told the assembly: “My back aches; I am now entering nirvana.” He went to the bank of the Hiranyavati River, lay on his right side beneath the twin sala trees, placed one foot atop the other, and quietly entered final repose. He then rose from the coffin to teach his mother and specially showed his feet to guide Vaji. He also spoke this verse on impermanence: “All conditioned things are impermanent; this is the law of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have both ceased, stillness is bliss.” His disciples then competed to cremate him with fragrant wood. When the fire had burned out, the golden coffin remained just as it had been.

爾時大眾即於佛前。以偈讚曰。凡俗諸猛熾。何能致火爇。請尊三昧火。闍維金色身。爾時金棺從座而舉。高七多羅樹。往反空中。化火三昧。須臾灰生。得舍利八斛四斗。即穆王五十二年壬申歲二月十五日也。自世尊滅後一千一十七年。教至中夏。即後漢永平十年戊辰歲也。世尊才生下。乃一手指天。一手指地。周行七步。目顧四方曰。天上天下。唯吾獨尊。世尊一日陞座。大眾集定。文殊白椎曰。諦觀法王法。法王法如是。世尊便下座。世尊一日陞座。默然而坐。阿難白椎曰。請世尊說法。世尊雲。會中有二比丘犯律行。我故不說法。阿難以他心通觀是比丘。遂乃遣出。世尊還復默然。阿難又白。適來為二比丘犯律。是二比丘已遣出。世尊何不說法。世尊曰。吾誓不為二乘聲聞人說法。便下座。世尊一日陞座。大眾集定。迦葉白椎曰。世尊說法竟。世尊便下座。世尊九十日在忉利天。為母說法。及辭天界而下。時四眾八部。俱往空界奉迎。有蓮花色比丘尼作念雲。我是尼身。必居大僧後見佛。不如用神力變作轉輪聖王。千子圍繞。最初見佛。果滿其願。世尊才見。乃訶雲。蓮花色比丘尼。汝何得越大僧見吾。汝雖見吾色身。且不見吾法身。須菩提巖中宴坐。卻見吾法身。世尊昔因文殊至諸佛集處。值諸佛各還本處。唯有一女人近彼佛坐。入於三昧。文殊乃白佛雲。何此人得近佛坐。而我不得。佛告文殊。汝但覺此女令從三昧起。汝自問之。文殊遶女人三帀。鳴指一下。乃托至梵天。盡其神力而不能出。世尊曰。假使百千文殊。亦出此女人定不得。下方過四十二恆河沙國土。有罔明菩薩能出此女人定。須臾。罔明大士從地湧出。作禮世尊。世尊勑罔明出。罔明卻至女子前。鳴指一下。女子於是從定而出。世尊因波斯匿王問。勝義諦中有世俗諦否。若言無。智不應二。若言有。智不應一。一二之義。

Then the assembly praised the Buddha in verse: “How could the fierce fires of the ordinary world burn him? We beseech the Venerable One to use the fire of samadhi, meditative concentration, to cremate this golden body.” The golden coffin rose from its seat to a height of seven tala trees, moved back and forth in the air, and manifested the samadhi of blazing fire. In a short while only ashes remained (the base text uses a rare character here, read as “ashes”), and eight dou and four sheng of relics were obtained. This was the fifteenth day of the second month in the ren-shen year, the fifty-second year of King Mu of Zhou. One thousand and seventeen years after the World-Honored One’s nirvana, his teaching reached the Central Lands: the wu-chen year, the tenth year of Yongping under the Later Han. As soon as the World-Honored One was born, he pointed one hand to the sky and one to the ground, took seven steps, looked in all four directions, and said: “Above and below heaven, I alone am honored.” One day the World-Honored One ascended the seat. After the assembly had settled, Manjushri struck the mallet and said: “Look carefully at the Dharma of the Dharma King. The Dharma of the Dharma King is just so.” The World-Honored One then descended. Another day the World-Honored One ascended the seat and sat silently. Ananda struck the mallet and said: “May the World-Honored One teach the Dharma.” The World-Honored One said: “Two monks in this assembly have broken the precepts; therefore I will not teach.” Ananda used his knowledge of others’ minds to find the two monks and sent them away. The World-Honored One remained silent. Ananda reported again: “The two monks who broke the precepts have now been sent away. Why does the World-Honored One still not teach?” The World-Honored One said: “I have vowed not to teach the hearers of the two vehicles, those who seek liberation only for themselves.” Then he descended. Another day the World-Honored One ascended the seat. After the assembly had settled, Kashyapa struck the mallet and said: “The World-Honored One’s teaching is complete.” The World-Honored One then descended. For ninety days the World-Honored One taught his mother in Trayastrimsha Heaven. When he took leave of heaven and descended, the fourfold assembly and the eight classes of beings all came through the air to welcome him. The nun Lotus Color thought: “As a nun, I must stand behind the great monks before I can see the Buddha. I may as well use my spiritual power to transform into a Wheel-Turning Sage King, surrounded by a thousand sons, so I can see him first.” Her wish was fulfilled. When the World-Honored One saw her, he rebuked her: “Nun Lotus Color, how can you pass the monastic assembly to come see me? Though you have seen my physical body, you have not seen my Dharma-body. Subhuti, sitting in meditation within a rock, has instead seen my Dharma-body.” In the past, when Manjushri went to the gathering place of the Buddhas, the Buddhas were just returning to their own abodes. Only one woman sat close beside a Buddha, absorbed in samadhi. Manjushri asked the Buddha: “Why can she sit close beside you, while I cannot?” The Buddha told Manjushri: “You need only rouse this woman from samadhi and ask her yourself.” Manjushri circled the woman three times, snapped his fingers, and even used all his spiritual power to lift her up to the Brahma Heaven, yet he could not draw her out of concentration. The World-Honored One said: “Even a hundred thousand Manjushris could not bring this woman out of samadhi. Below, beyond forty-two Ganges-sand Buddha-lands, there is a Bodhisattva named Wangming who can.” In a moment, the Great Being Wangming emerged from the earth and paid homage to the World-Honored One. The Buddha instructed him to bring the woman out. Wangming simply went up to her and snapped his fingers; she immediately emerged from samadhi. When King Prasenajit asked whether, in the ultimate truth, conventional truth exists, the World-Honored One replied: “If you say it does not, wisdom should not be two; if you say it does, wisdom should not be one.” The meaning of one and two—

其義云何。佛言。大王。汝於過去龍光佛法中曾問此義。我今無說。汝今無聽。無說無聽。是名為一義二義。世尊一日見文殊在門外立。乃曰。文殊。文殊。何不入門來。文殊曰。我不見一法在門外。何以教我入門。世尊一日坐次。見二人舁豬過。乃問。這箇是甚麼。曰。佛具一切智。豬子也不識。世尊曰。也須問過。世尊因有異學問。諸法是常邪。世尊不對。又問。諸法是無常邪。亦不對。異學曰。世尊具一切智。何不對我。世尊曰。汝之所問。皆為戲論。世尊一日示隨色摩尼珠。問五方天王。此珠而作何色。時五方天王互說異色。世尊復藏珠入袖。卻擡手曰。此珠作何色。天王曰。佛手中無珠。何處有色。世尊嘆曰。汝何迷倒之甚。吾將世珠示之。便各彊說有青．黃．赤．白色。吾將真珠示之。便總不知。時五方天王悉皆悟道。世尊因乾闥婆王獻樂。其時山河大地盡作琴聲。迦葉起作舞。王問。迦葉豈不是阿羅漢。諸漏已盡。何更有餘習。佛曰。實無餘習。莫謗法也。王又撫琴三徧。迦葉亦三度作舞。王曰。迦葉作舞。豈不是。佛曰。實不曾作舞。王曰。世尊何得妄語。佛曰。不妄語。汝撫琴。山河大地木石盡作琴聲。豈不是。王曰。是。佛曰。迦葉亦復如是。所以實不曾作舞。王乃信受。世尊因外道問。昨日說何法。曰。說定法。外道曰。今日說何法。曰。不定法。外道曰。昨日說定法。今日何說不定法。世尊曰。昨日定。今日不定。世尊因五通仙人問。世尊有六通。我有五通。如何是那一通。佛召五通仙人。五通應諾。佛曰。那一通。你問我。世尊因普眼菩薩欲見普賢。不可得見。乃至三度入定。徧觀三千大千世界。覔普賢不可得見。而來白佛。佛曰。汝但於靜三昧中起一念。便見普賢。普眼於是才起一念。便見普賢。向空中乘六牙白象。世尊因自恣日文殊三處過夏。迦葉欲白椎擯出。才拈椎。

(King Prasenajit continued:) “What, then, is the point?” The Buddha said: “Great King, in the past, in the teaching of Dragon-Light Buddha, you asked about this. Now I have not spoken, and you have not listened. This not-speaking and not-listening is what is called the meaning of one and the meaning of two.” One day the World-Honored One saw Manjushri standing outside the gate and said: “Manjushri, Manjushri, why do you not come in?” Manjushri replied: “I see no dharma outside the gate. On what grounds do you tell me to enter?” One day the World-Honored One was sitting when he saw two people carrying a pig past. He asked: “What is that?” They replied: “The Buddha possesses perfect omniscience, yet does not even recognize a pig.” The World-Honored One said: “Still, one should ask.” When a non-Buddhist asked the World-Honored One, “Are all things permanent?” he did not answer. The questioner then asked, “Are all things impermanent?” Again he did not answer. The non-Buddhist said: “The World-Honored One possesses perfect omniscience. Why will he not answer me?” The World-Honored One said: “Everything you ask is idle speculation.” One day the World-Honored One displayed a wish-fulfilling jewel that changed color and asked the kings of the five directions: “What color is this jewel?” Each of the five kings named a different color. The World-Honored One then hid the jewel in his sleeve, raised his hand, and asked: “What color is this jewel?” The kings replied: “There is no jewel in the Buddha’s hand. How could it have a color?” The World-Honored One sighed: “How deeply deluded you are! When I showed you an ordinary jewel, each of you insisted it was blue, yellow, red, or white. When I showed you the true jewel, none of you knew it.” At that, the five kings all awakened to the Way. When the Gandharva King offered music, the mountains, rivers, and earth all turned into music, and Kashyapa rose and danced. The king asked: “Is Kashyapa not an arhat, one who has ended all afflictions and will not be reborn? Why does he still have habitual tendencies?” The Buddha said: “He truly has no remaining tendencies. Do not slander the Dharma.” The king played his lute three more times, and Kashyapa danced three more times. The king said: “Kashyapa danced, did he not?” The Buddha said: “He truly did not dance.” The king asked: “How can the World-Honored One speak falsely?” The Buddha said: “It is not false speech. When you played, did the mountains, rivers, earth, trees, and stones not all become music?” The king said: “They did.” The Buddha said: “Kashyapa was the same; therefore he truly did not dance.” The king then accepted the teaching. A non-Buddhist once asked: “What Dharma did you teach yesterday?” The World-Honored One replied: “A fixed Dharma.” The questioner said: “What Dharma are you teaching today?” He replied: “An unfixed Dharma.” The questioner said: “Why was it fixed yesterday but unfixed today?” The World-Honored One said: “Yesterday was fixed; today is unfixed.” A sage with five spiritual powers asked: “The World-Honored One has six powers, while I have five. What is the one power I lack?” The Buddha called to the sage, and the sage answered. The Buddha said: “Ask me about that one power.” The Bodhisattva Universal Vision wished to see Samantabhadra but could not. Even after entering samadhi three times and searching throughout the three-thousandfold great-thousand world system, he still could not find Samantabhadra, so he reported this to the Buddha. The Buddha said: “If, while in tranquil samadhi, you give rise to a single thought, you will see Samantabhadra.” Universal Vision had only to give rise to one thought, and he saw Samantabhadra riding through the air on a white elephant with six tusks. On the day of the annual confession, Manjushri spent the summer retreat in three places. Kashyapa was about to strike the mallet and expel him; just as he picked up the mallet,

乃見百千萬億文殊。迦葉盡其神力。椎不能舉。世尊遂問迦葉。汝擬擯那箇文殊。迦葉無對。世尊因長爪梵志索論義。預約曰。我義若墮。我自斬首。世尊曰。汝義以何為宗。志曰。我以一切不受為宗。世尊曰。是見受否。志拂袖而去。行至中路。乃省。謂弟子曰。我當回去。斬首以謝世尊。弟子曰。人天眾前。幸當得勝。何以斬首。志曰。我寧於有智人前斬首。不於無智人前得勝。乃歎曰。我義兩處負墮。是見若受。負門處麤。是見不受。負門處細。一切人天二乘。皆不知我義墮處。唯有世尊諸大菩薩知我義墮。回至世尊前曰。我義兩處負墮。故當斬首以謝。世尊曰。我法中無如是事。汝當迴心向道。於是同五百徒眾一時投佛出家。證阿羅漢。世尊昔欲將諸聖眾。往第六天說大集經。勑他方此土．人間天上．一切獰惡鬼神。悉皆輯會。受佛付囑。擁護正法。設有不赴者。四天門王飛熱鐵輪追之令集。既集會已。無有不順佛勑者。各發弘誓。擁護正法。唯有一魔王謂世尊曰。瞿曇。我待一切眾生成佛盡。眾生界空。無有眾生名字。我乃發菩提心。世尊甞與阿難行次。見一古佛塔。世尊便作禮。阿難曰。此是甚麼人塔。世尊曰。此是過去諸佛塔。阿難曰。過去諸佛是甚麼人弟子。世尊曰。是吾弟子。阿難曰。應當如是。世尊因有外道問。不問有言。不問無言。世尊良久。外道讚歎曰。世尊大慈大悲。開我迷雲。令我得入。乃作禮而去。阿難白佛。外道得何道理。稱讚而去。世尊曰。如世良馬。見鞭影而行。世尊一日勑阿難。食時將至。汝當入城持缽。阿難應諾。世尊曰。汝既持缽。須依過去七佛儀式。阿難便問。如何是過去七佛儀式。世尊召阿難。阿難應諾。世尊曰。持缽去。世尊因有比丘問。我於世尊法中見處即有。證處未是。世尊當何所示。世尊曰。比丘某甲。當何所示。是汝此問。世尊成道後。

Then he saw hundreds of millions of Manjushris. Kashyapa used all his strength, but could not lift the mallet. The World-Honored One asked him: “Which Manjushri do you intend to expel?” Kashyapa had no answer. When the long-nailed Brahmin ascetic came to debate, he had agreed in advance: “If my argument is refuted, I will cut off my own head.” The World-Honored One asked: “What is the principle of your doctrine?” The ascetic replied: “I hold that nothing is to be accepted.” The World-Honored One asked: “Do you accept this view?” The ascetic flicked his sleeve and walked away. Halfway home he came to his senses and told his disciples: “I should go back and apologize to the World-Honored One by cutting off my head.” They said: “Before the great assembly of gods and humans, you seemed to have won. Why cut off your head?” He replied: “I would rather lose my head before a wise person than win before fools.” He sighed: “My argument has failed on both sides. If I accept this view, the failure is obvious; if I do not accept it, the failure is subtle. Neither ordinary people nor the gods, nor even followers of the two vehicles, know where my argument failed. Only the World-Honored One and the great Bodhisattvas know.” He returned to the World-Honored One and said: “My argument has failed on both sides, so I should cut off my head in apology.” The World-Honored One said: “There is no such thing in my Dharma. Turn your mind toward the Way.” The ascetic and his five hundred followers then left home together under the Buddha and attained arhatship. In the past, the World-Honored One intended to lead the assembly of sages to the Sixth Heaven to preach the Great Assembly Sutra. He ordered all fierce and evil spirits, both from other lands and this one, in the human and heavenly realms, to gather and receive the Buddha’s charge to protect the true Dharma. If anyone failed to attend, the Four Heavenly Kings were to pursue him with flying wheels of hot iron. Once the assembly had gathered, all obeyed the Buddha’s command and each made a great vow to uphold the true Dharma. Only one demon king said to the World-Honored One: “Gautama, when every sentient being has become a Buddha, when the realm of beings is empty and even the words ‘sentient beings’ no longer exist, only then will I give rise to the aspiration for awakening.” One day the World-Honored One was walking with Ananda and saw an ancient Buddha stupa. He bowed to it. Ananda asked: “Whose stupa is this?” The World-Honored One replied: “It is a stupa of the Buddhas of the past.” Ananda asked: “Whose disciples were those Buddhas?” He replied: “They were my disciples.” Ananda said: “That is as it should be.” A non-Buddhist once said to the World-Honored One: “I will ask neither about what can be spoken nor about what cannot be spoken.” The World-Honored One remained silent for a long time. The non-Buddhist praised him: “Through your great compassion, World-Honored One, you have cleared away the clouds of my delusion and let me enter the Way.” He bowed and left. Ananda asked the Buddha: “What principle did that non-Buddhist understand that made him praise you as he left?” The World-Honored One said: “He was like a fine horse in this world: at the sight of the whip’s shadow, he sets off.” One day the World-Honored One told Ananda: “It is time to eat. You should go into the city with your bowl.” Ananda agreed. The World-Honored One said: “Since you are going with your bowl, follow the custom of the seven Buddhas of the past.” Ananda asked: “What is the custom of the seven Buddhas?” The World-Honored One called to him, and Ananda answered. The World-Honored One said: “Take your bowl and go.” A monk once asked: “Within the World-Honored One’s Dharma, I have seen the place of insight, but not yet the place of realization. What should the World-Honored One point out to me?” The World-Honored One replied: “Monk so-and-so, what should be pointed out is precisely this question you have just asked.” After the World-Honored One attained the Way,

在逝多林中一樹下跏趺而坐。有二商人以五百乘車經過林畔。有二車牛不肯前進。商人乃訝。見之山神。報言。林中有聖人成道。經逾四十九日未食。汝當供養。商人入林。果見一人端然不動。乃問曰。為是梵王邪。帝釋邪。山神邪。河神邪。世尊微笑。舉袈裟角示之。商人頂禮。遂陳供養。世尊因耆婆善別音響。至一塚間。見五髑髏。乃敲一髑髏問耆婆。此生何處。曰。此生人道。世尊又敲一曰。此生何處。曰。此生天道。世尊又別敲一問。此生何處。耆婆罔知生處。世尊因黑氏梵志運神力。以左右手擎合歡．梧桐花兩株。來供養佛。佛召仙人。梵志應諾。佛曰。放下著。梵志遂放下左手一株華。佛又召仙人。放下著。梵志又放下右手一株華。佛又召仙人。放下著。梵志曰。世尊。我今兩手皆空。更教放下箇甚麼。佛曰。吾非教汝放捨其華。汝當放捨外六塵．內六根．中六識。一時捨卻。無可捨處。是汝免生死處。梵志於言下悟無生忍。世尊因靈山會上五百比丘得四禪定。具五神通。未得法忍。以宿命智通。各各自見過去殺父害母。及諸重罪。於自心內各各懷疑。於甚深法不能證入。於是文殊承佛神力。遂手握利劒。持逼如來。世尊乃謂文殊曰。住。住。不應作逆。勿得害吾。吾必被害。為善被害。文殊師利。爾從本已來無有我人。但以內心見有我人。內心起時。我必被害。即名為害。於是五百比丘自悟本心。如夢如幻。於夢幻中無有我人。乃至能生所生父母。於是五百比丘同讚嘆曰。文殊大智士。深達法源底。自手握利劒。持逼如來身。如劒佛亦爾。一相無有二。無相無所生。是中雲何殺。世尊因地布髮掩泥。獻華於然燈。然燈見布髮處。遂約退眾。乃指地曰。此一方地。宜建一梵剎。時眾中有一賢於長者。持標於指處插曰。建梵剎竟。時諸天散華。讚曰。庶子有大智矣。世尊因七賢女遊屍陀林。

he sat cross-legged beneath a tree in Jeta Grove. Two merchants passed by the edge of the grove with five hundred carts; the oxen pulling two of them refused to move. The merchants were astonished. A mountain spirit told them: “A sage has attained the Way in the grove. He has gone forty-nine days without food. You should make an offering.” The merchants entered the grove and indeed saw a man sitting motionless. They asked: “Is he Brahma? Is he Indra? Is he a mountain god or a river god?” The World-Honored One smiled and lifted one corner of his robe to show them. The merchants bowed and presented their offerings. Jivaka was skilled at distinguishing sounds. One day he came to a charnel ground, saw five skulls, and struck one. The World-Honored One asked him: “Where was this person reborn?” Jivaka replied: “This person was reborn among humans.” The World-Honored One struck another skull and asked: “Where was this person reborn?” Jivaka said: “This person was reborn in heaven.” The World-Honored One struck a third skull and asked again. Jivaka did not know where that person had been reborn. A Brahmin ascetic named Heishi once used his spiritual power to carry, one in each hand, two branches of flowers—one from a coral tree and one from a parasol tree—as an offering to the Buddha. The Buddha called to the ascetic, and he answered. The Buddha said: “Put it down.” The ascetic put down the flower branch in his left hand. The Buddha again called: “Put it down.” The ascetic put down the branch in his right hand. The Buddha called a third time: “Put it down.” The ascetic said: “World-Honored One, both my hands are empty now. What else do you want me to put down?” The Buddha replied: “I did not tell you to put down those flowers. You should let go all at once of the six outer objects—forms, sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and mental objects; the six inner faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; and the six kinds of consciousness in between. When there is nothing left to let go, you will be free from birth and death.” At these words the ascetic awakened to acceptance of the unborn. At Vulture Peak, five hundred monks had attained the four meditative absorptions and the five spiritual powers, but had not yet attained forbearance of the Dharma. Through their knowledge of past lives, each saw that he had once killed his father and mother and committed other grave crimes. They became suspicious in their own minds and could not realize the profound Dharma. By the Buddha’s spiritual power, Manjushri took a sharp sword in his hand and threatened the Tathagata. The World-Honored One said to Manjushri: “Stop, stop! Do not commit this heinous act; do not harm me. I must be harmed, and this harm is for the good. Manjushri, from the beginning there has been no self or person in you. It is only because your mind inwardly perceives a self and a person. When the mind arises, I must be harmed; this is what is called killing.” The five hundred monks then awakened for themselves to their original minds: all was like a dream, like an illusion. In a dream or illusion there is no self or person, nor even parents who give birth or are born. The five hundred monks together praised Manjushri: “Manjushri is a person of great wisdom, who has thoroughly penetrated the source of Dharma. He holds a sword in his own hand and threatens the body of the Tathagata. The sword is like this, and so is the Buddha: one mark, not two; without marks and without birth—how could there be killing here?” In a former life, the World-Honored One spread his hair over muddy ground and offered flowers to Dipankara Buddha. Seeing the place covered by his hair, Dipankara told everyone to stand back and pointed to the ground: “A Brahma monastery should be built on this spot.” A virtuous elder in the assembly took a measuring pole, planted it where the Buddha had pointed, and said: “The monastery is complete.” The gods scattered flowers and praised him: “This person truly has great wisdom!” Once, seven virtuous women were wandering in a charnel ground,

一女指屍曰。屍在這裡。人向甚處去。一女曰。作麼。作麼。諸姊諦觀。各各契悟。感帝釋散華曰。惟願聖姊有何所須。我當終身供給。女曰。我家四事七珍。悉皆具足。唯要三般物。一要無根樹子一株。二要無陰陽地一片。三要呌不響山谷一所。帝釋曰。一切所須。我悉有之。若三般物。我實無得。女曰。汝若無此。爭解濟人。帝釋罔措。遂同往白佛。佛言。憍屍迦。我諸弟子大阿羅漢不解此義。唯有諸大菩薩乃解此義。世尊因調達謗佛。生身入地獄。遂令阿難問。你在地獄中安否。曰。我雖在地獄。如三禪天樂。佛又令問。你還求出否。曰。我待世尊來便出。阿難曰。佛是三界大師。豈有入地獄分。曰。佛既無入地獄分。我豈有出地獄分。世尊因文殊忽起佛見．法見。被世尊威神攝向二鐵圍山。城東有一老母。與佛同生而不欲見佛。每見佛來。即便迴避。雖然如此。回顧東西。總皆是佛。遂以手掩面。於十指掌中亦總是佛。殃崛摩羅因持缽至一長者門。其家婦人正值產難。子母未分。長者曰。瞿曇弟子。汝為至聖。當有何法能免產難。殃崛語長者曰。我乍入道。未知此法。待我回問世尊。卻來相報。及返。具事白佛。佛告殃崛。汝速去報。言我自從賢聖法來。未曾殺生。殃崛奉佛語疾往告之。其婦得聞。當時分免。世尊甞在尼俱律樹下坐次。因二商人問。世尊還見車過否。曰。不見。商人曰。還聞否。曰。不聞。商人曰。莫禪定否。曰。不禪定。曰。莫睡眠否。曰。不睡眠。商人乃嘆曰。善哉。善哉。世尊覺而不見。遂獻白㲲兩段。世尊在靈山會上。拈華示眾。是時眾皆默然。唯迦葉尊者破顏微笑。世尊曰。吾有正法眼藏。涅槃妙心。實相無相。微妙法門。不立文字。教外別傳。付囑摩訶迦葉。世尊至多子塔前。命摩訶迦葉分座令坐。以僧伽梨圍之。遂告曰。吾以正法眼藏密付於汝。汝當護持。

and one woman pointed at a corpse and said: “The corpse is here. Where has the person gone?” Another woman said: “What are you doing? What are you doing? Sisters, look carefully.” Each of them awakened in accord with the truth. In response, Indra scattered flowers and said: “May I know what the holy sisters need; I will provide it for the rest of my life.” The woman replied: “The four necessities of clothing, food, bedding, and medicine, and the seven kinds of treasure, are already complete in our home. We need only three things: first, a tree with no roots; second, a piece of land with no yin or yang; third, a valley that makes no sound when called.” Indra said: “I have everything else you need, but I truly do not have these three things.” The woman said: “If you do not have them, how can you understand how to help people?” Indra had no reply, so they went together to report this to the Buddha. The Buddha said: “Kausika, even the great arhats among my disciples do not understand this meaning. Only the great Bodhisattvas do.” Devadatta once slandered the Buddha and his body fell into hell. The World-Honored One had Ananda ask him: “Are you at ease in hell?” He replied: “Though I am in hell, it is as joyful as the Third Dhyana Heaven.” The Buddha then asked: “Do you still seek to leave?” Devadatta replied: “I will leave when the World-Honored One comes.” Ananda said: “The Buddha is the master of the three realms. How could he have any reason to enter hell?” Devadatta replied: “If the Buddha has no reason to enter hell, then I have no reason to leave it.” Manjushri once suddenly gave rise to views of Buddha and Dharma, and the World-Honored One’s spiritual power confined him between two iron-ring mountains. In the eastern part of the city lived an old woman who had been born on the very same day as the Buddha, yet did not wish to see him. Whenever she saw the Buddha coming, she turned away. Even so, when she looked back in every direction, she saw Buddhas everywhere. She covered her face with her hands, but Buddhas appeared in the palms of all ten fingers. Angulimala once went with his bowl to a wealthy elder’s house. The woman there was in difficult labor, and the child had not yet been delivered. The elder said: “You are a disciple of Gautama, a supreme holy one. Surely you know a teaching that can relieve difficult childbirth?” Angulimala replied: “I have only just entered the Way and do not know such a teaching. I will go ask the World-Honored One and return with an answer.” He reported the matter to the Buddha. The Buddha told him: “Go quickly and say: ‘Since I began to follow the noble Dharma, I have never taken a life.’” Angulimala hurried back and delivered the Buddha’s words. The woman gave birth at once. The World-Honored One was once seated beneath a banyan tree when two merchants asked: “World-Honored One, did you see a cart pass by?” He said: “I did not see it.” They asked: “Did you hear it?” He said: “I did not hear it.” They asked: “Were you in meditation?” He said: “No.” “Were you asleep?” “No.” The merchants praised him: “Excellent! The World-Honored One was awake, yet did not see.” They offered him two lengths of white cloth. At Vulture Peak, the World-Honored One held up a flower before the assembly. Everyone was silent, except Venerable Kashyapa, whose face opened into a smile. The World-Honored One said: “I possess the treasury of the true Dharma-eye, the wondrous mind of nirvana, formless reality, and the subtle Dharma-gate: not established through written words, a special transmission outside the teaching. I entrust it to Mahakashyapa.” The World-Honored One came to the stupa of Many Sons, asked Mahakashyapa to share his seat, and wrapped him in the sanghati robe. Then he said: “I secretly entrust the treasury of the true Dharma-eye to you. You must protect and uphold it,

傳付將來。世尊臨入涅槃。文殊大士請佛再轉法輪。世尊咄曰。文殊。吾四十九年住世。未曾說一字。汝請吾再轉法輪。是吾曾轉法輪邪。世尊於涅槃會上。以手摩胸。告眾曰。汝等善觀吾紫磨金色之身。瞻仰取足。勿令後悔。若謂吾滅度。非吾弟子。若謂吾不滅度。亦非吾弟子。時百萬億眾。悉皆契悟。

(The World-Honored One continued:) and transmit it in the future.” As the World-Honored One was about to enter nirvana, the Great Being Manjushri asked the Buddha to turn the Wheel of Dharma once more. The World-Honored One rebuked him: “Manjushri, I have lived in the world for forty-nine years and have not spoken a single word. You ask me to turn the Wheel of Dharma again—does that mean I have turned it before?” At the assembly held as the Buddha entered nirvana, the World-Honored One rubbed his chest with his hand and told the crowd: “Look carefully upon this body of mine, golden in hue and refined as purple gold. Gaze upon it to your fill; do not regret it afterward. If you say I have entered nirvana, you are not my disciple; if you say I have not entered nirvana, you are not my disciple either.” At that moment, a hundred million members of the assembly awakened in accord with the truth.

西天祖師

Patriarchs of the Western Heavens (India)

一祖摩訶迦葉尊者

The First Patriarch: Venerable Mahakashyapa

摩竭陀國人也。姓婆羅門。父飲澤。母香志。昔為鍛金師。善明金性。使其柔伏。付法傳云。甞於久遠劫中。毗婆尸佛入涅槃後。四眾起塔。塔中像面金色有缺壞。時有貧女。將金珠往金師所。請飾佛面。既而因共發願。願我二人為無姻夫妻。由是因緣。九十一劫身皆金色。後生梵天。天壽盡。生中天摩竭陀國婆羅門家。名曰迦葉波。此雲飲光勝尊。葢以金色為號也。繇是志求出家。冀度諸有。佛言。善來。比丘。鬚髮自除。袈裟著體。常於眾中稱歎第一。復言。吾以清淨法眼。將付於汝。汝可流佈。無令斷絕。涅槃經云。爾時世尊欲涅槃時。迦葉不在眾會。佛告諸大弟子。迦葉來時。可令宣揚正法眼藏。爾時迦葉在耆闍崛山畢缽羅窟覩勝光明。即入三昧。以淨天眼。觀見世尊於熈連河側。入般涅槃。乃告其徒曰。如來涅槃也。何其駛哉。即至雙樹間。悲戀號泣。佛於金棺出示雙足。爾時迦葉告諸比丘。佛已茶毗。金剛舍利。非我等事。我等宜當結集法眼。無令斷絕。乃說偈曰。如來弟子。且莫涅槃。得神通者。當赴結集。於是得神通者悉集王舍耆闍崛山畢缽羅窟。時阿難為漏未盡。不得入會。後證阿羅漢果。由是得入。迦葉乃白眾言。此阿難比丘多聞總持。有大智慧。常隨如來。梵行清淨。所聞佛法。如水傳器。無有遺餘。佛所讚歎。聰敏第一。宜可請彼集修多羅藏。大眾默然。迦葉告阿難曰。汝今宜宣法眼。阿難聞語信受。觀察眾心而宣偈言。比丘諸眷屬。離佛不莊嚴。猶如虗空中。眾星之無月。說是偈已。禮眾僧足。升法座而宣是言。如是我聞。一時佛住某處說某經教。乃至人天等作禮奉行。時迦葉問諸比丘。阿難所言。不錯謬乎。皆曰。不異世尊所說。迦葉乃告阿難言。我今年不久留。今將正法付囑於汝。汝善守護。聽吾偈言。法法本來法。無法無非法。何於一法中。有法有不法。說偈已。

He was from Magadha and belonged to the Brahmin caste. His father was named Yinze and his mother Xiangzhi. In a former life he was a goldsmith, skilled at understanding the nature of gold and making it pliant. The Record of the Transmission of the Dharma says: Long ago, after Vipashyin Buddha entered nirvana, the fourfold assembly built a stupa. The golden color on the face of the Buddha image inside had become damaged. A poor woman brought a gold bead to a goldsmith and asked him to repair the Buddha’s face. The two then made a vow together: may we become husband and wife, though we have no marriage bond. Because of this cause and condition, for ninety-one kalpas their bodies were golden in color. Later he was born in the Brahma Heaven; when his heavenly life ended, he was born into a Brahmin family in central Magadha, named Kashyapa. The name was translated in this land as “Venerable Radiant One,” because of his golden color. He resolved to leave home, hoping to be liberated from all forms of existence. The Buddha said: “Welcome, monk.” His hair fell away by itself, and a robe appeared on his body. In the assembly he was often praised as foremost. The Buddha also said: “I am about to entrust the pure Dharma-eye to you. You may spread it; do not let it perish.” The Nirvana Sutra says: As the World-Honored One was about to enter nirvana, Kashyapa was not in the assembly. The Buddha told the great disciples: “When Kashyapa arrives, have him proclaim the treasury of the true Dharma-eye.” At that time Kashyapa was in the Pippala Cave on Mount Gridhrakuta. He saw a wondrous light, entered samadhi, and with his pure divine eye saw the World-Honored One enter complete nirvana beside the Hiranyavati River. He told his followers: “The Tathagata has entered nirvana—how swiftly it has come!” He hurried to the twin sala trees, grieving and wailing. The Buddha extended his feet from the golden coffin. Kashyapa then told the monks: “The Buddha has been cremated. The adamantine relics are not our concern. We should compile the treasury of the Dharma-eye and not let it perish.” He spoke this verse: “Disciples of the Tathagata, do not yet enter nirvana. Those who have attained spiritual powers should hasten to the gathering.” Thus all who had attained spiritual powers gathered at Pippala Cave on Mount Gridhrakuta near Rajagriha. Ananda was initially not admitted because his outflows had not yet ended. Later he attained arhatship and was then allowed to enter. Kashyapa said to the assembly: “This monk Ananda is learned and retains all he has heard; he has great wisdom, has long accompanied the Tathagata, and has kept the pure conduct. The Dharma he heard from the Buddha was passed on as water is poured from one vessel into another, without loss. The Buddha praised him as foremost in intelligence. We should ask him to compile the Sutra Pitaka.” The assembly remained silent. Kashyapa told Ananda: “You should now proclaim the true Dharma-eye.” Hearing this, Ananda accepted. He observed the minds of the assembly and recited a verse: “The monks and their companions are no adornment once the Buddha has departed, like stars in the empty sky without the moon.” Having spoken the verse, he bowed at the monks’ feet, ascended the Dharma seat, and declared: “Thus have I heard: At one time the Buddha dwelt in such-and-such a place and taught such-and-such a sutra…” He continued through the words, “Then the humans and gods bowed and practiced accordingly.” Kashyapa asked the monks: “Was anything Ananda said mistaken?” They replied: “It was no different from what the World-Honored One said.” Kashyapa then told Ananda: “My years among people are nearly over. I now entrust the true Dharma to you. Guard it well. Hear my verse: ‘Each dharma is originally just Dharma; there is neither Dharma nor non-Dharma. Why, within one Dharma, are there both Dharma and non-Dharma?’” Having finished the verse,

乃持僧伽梨衣入雞足山。俟慈氏下生。即周孝王五年丙辰歲也。尊者因外道問。如何是我我。者曰。覔我者是汝我。外道曰。這箇是我我。師我何在。者曰。汝問我覔。尊者一日踏泥次。有一沙彌見。乃問尊者。何得自為。者曰。我若不為。誰為我為。

he took the sanghati robe and entered Mount Kukkuṭapada, where he would await the descent of Maitreya. This was the bingchen year, the fifth year of King Xiao of Zhou. A non-Buddhist once asked the Venerable One: “What is the ‘I, I’?” The Venerable One replied: “The one who is searching for ‘I’ is your ‘I.’” The non-Buddhist asked: “That is my ‘I’; where is the master’s ‘I’?” The Venerable One said: “You ask me, and I will search for it.” One day the Venerable One was treading mud. A novice saw him and asked: “Why are you doing this yourself?” The Venerable One replied: “If I do not do it, who will do it for me?”

二祖阿難尊者

The Second Patriarch: Venerable Ananda

王舍城人也。姓剎利帝。父斛飯王。實佛之從弟也。梵語阿難陀。此雲慶喜。亦云歡喜。如來成道夜生。因為之名。多聞博達。智慧無礙。世尊以為總持第一。甞所讚歎。加以宿世有大功德。受持法藏。如水傳器。佛乃命為侍者。尊者一日白佛言。今日入城。見一奇特事。佛曰。見何奇特事。者曰。入城時見一攢樂人作舞。出城總見無常。佛曰。我昨日入城。亦見一奇特事。者曰。未審見何奇特事。佛曰。我入城時見一攢樂人作舞。出城時亦見樂人作舞。一日問迦葉曰。師兄。世尊傳金襴袈裟外。別傳箇甚麼。迦葉召阿難。阿難應諾。迦葉曰。倒卻門前剎竿著。後阿闍世王白言。仁者。如來．迦葉尊勝二師。皆已涅槃。而我多故。悉不能覩。尊者般涅槃時。願垂告別。尊者許之。後自念言。我身危脆。猶如聚沫。況復衰老。豈堪久長。阿闍世王與吾有約。乃詣王宮。告之曰。吾欲入涅槃。來辭耳。門者曰。王寢。不可以聞。者曰。俟王覺時。當為我說。時阿闍世王夢中見一寶葢。七寶嚴飾。千萬億眾圍繞瞻仰。俄而風雨暴至。吹折其柄。珍寶瓔珞。悉墜於地。心甚驚異。既寤。門者具白上事。王聞。失聲號慟。哀感天地。即至毗舍離城。見尊者在恆河中流。跏趺而坐。王乃作禮。而說偈曰。稽首三界尊。棄我而至此。暫憑悲願力。且莫般涅槃。時毗舍離王亦在河側。說偈言。尊者一何速。而歸寂滅場。願住須臾間。而受於供養。尊者見二國王鹹來勸請。乃說偈言。二王善嚴住。勿為苦悲戀。涅槃當我淨。而無諸有故。尊者復念。我若偏向一國。諸國爭競。無有是處。應以平等度諸有情。遂以恆河中流。將入寂滅。是時山河大地。六種震動。雪山有五百仙人。覩茲瑞應。飛空而至。禮尊者足。胡跪白言。我於長老。當證佛法。願垂大慈。度脫我等。尊者默然受請。即變殑伽河悉為金地。為其仙眾說諸大法。

He was from Rajagriha and belonged to the Kshatriya caste. His father was King Dronodana; he was in fact the Buddha’s cousin. The Sanskrit name Ananda was translated here as “Celebration” or “Joy.” He was born on the night the Tathagata attained the Way, and so received his name. He was learned and far-reaching in knowledge, with unobstructed wisdom. The World-Honored One regarded him as foremost in retaining all teachings and praised him for it. Because of great merit from past lives, he received and upheld the Dharma treasury as water is poured from one vessel into another. The Buddha therefore appointed him attendant. One day the Venerable One said to the Buddha: “Today, when I entered the city, I saw something extraordinary.” The Buddha asked: “What extraordinary thing did you see?” Ananda said: “When I entered the city, I saw a troupe of musicians dancing. When I left, I saw impermanence everywhere.” The Buddha said: “Yesterday, when I entered the city, I too saw something extraordinary.” Ananda asked: “What extraordinary thing did you see?” The Buddha replied: “When I entered, I saw a troupe of musicians dancing; when I left, I saw the musicians still dancing.” One day Ananda asked Kashyapa: “Besides the golden-threaded robe that the World-Honored One transmitted, what else did he transmit?” Kashyapa called to Ananda, and Ananda answered. Kashyapa said: “Knock down the banner pole before the gate.” Later King Ajatashatru reported: “Venerable One, the Tathagata and Kashyapa, both supreme teachers of great virtue, have entered nirvana, and because of my many duties I could not see them. When you, Venerable One, enter nirvana, please let me know so I may take my leave.” The Venerable One agreed. Later he reflected: “This body of mine is fragile, like gathered foam, and I am old besides. How can it last long?” He had made an appointment with King Ajatashatru, so he went to the palace and announced: “I am about to enter nirvana and have come to say farewell.” The gatekeeper said: “The king is asleep; I cannot report this.” The Venerable One said: “When the king wakes, tell him for me.” At that time King Ajatashatru dreamed that a jeweled canopy adorned with the seven treasures, surrounded by countless millions of people, was being admired. Suddenly wind and rain came, broke its shaft, and scattered the jeweled ornaments on the ground. He was deeply troubled. When he awoke, the gatekeeper reported everything. The king heard this, cried out in grief, and lamented so deeply that heaven and earth seemed moved. He immediately hurried to Vaishali and saw the Venerable One seated cross-legged in the middle of the Ganges. The king bowed and recited a verse: “I bow to the honored one of the three realms, who leaves me and comes here. For now, by the power of compassion, please do not yet enter nirvana.” The king of Vaishali was also by the river and recited: “Venerable One, how swiftly you go to the place of quiescence. Please stay a little longer and accept our offerings.” Seeing both kings entreat him, the Venerable One recited: “Two kings, dwell in peace; do not grieve and cling to me. Nirvana is my purity, free from the causes of all forms of existence.” The Venerable One then thought: “If I favor one kingdom, the kingdoms will contend; that cannot be right. I should liberate sentient beings equally.” In the middle of the Ganges, as he was about to enter quiescence, the mountains, rivers, and earth shook in six ways. Five hundred sages on Snow Mountain saw these auspicious signs, flew through the air, came to the Venerable One, bowed at his feet, and knelt with joined palms: “We should attain the Buddha-Dharma through the elder. We pray that, in great compassion, you will liberate us.” The Venerable One silently accepted their request and transformed the entire Ganges into a golden land. He then expounded many profound teachings for the sages.

尊者復念。先所度脫弟子應當來集。須臾。五百羅漢從空而下。為諸仙人出家授具。其仙眾中有二羅漢。一名商那和修。二名末田底迦。尊者知是法器。乃告之曰。昔如來以大法眼付大迦葉。迦葉入定而付於我。我今將滅。用傳於汝。汝受吾教。當聽偈言。本來付有法。付了言無法。各各須自悟。悟了無無法。尊者付法眼藏竟。踴身虗空。現十八變入風奮迅三昧。分身四分。一分奉忉利天。一分奉娑竭羅龍宮。一分奉毗舍離王。一分奉阿闍世王。各造寶塔而供養之。乃厲王十二年癸巳歲也。

The Venerable One then thought: “The disciples I previously liberated should gather here.” In a moment, five hundred arhats descended through the air and ordained the sages, giving them full monastic precepts. Among the sages were two arhats: the first was Shanavasa, the second Madhyantika. The Venerable One recognized them as vessels of the Dharma and told them: “Long ago the Tathagata entrusted the great Dharma-eye to Mahakashyapa; Kashyapa entered samadhi and entrusted it to me. I am now about to pass away, so I transmit it to you. Receive my teaching and hear this verse: What was originally transmitted was something called Dharma; once transmitted, it is said to be no Dharma. Each of you must awaken for yourselves; when awakened, there is no ‘no-Dharma.’” Having entrusted the treasury of the Dharma-eye, the Venerable One rose bodily into the air, displayed eighteen transformations, and entered the samadhi of swift wind. He divided his body into four parts: one was offered to Trayastrimsha Heaven, one to the Dragon Palace of Sagara, one to the King of Vaishali, and one to King Ajatashatru. Each built a jeweled stupa to honor it. This was the guisi year, the twelfth year of King Li of Zhou.

三祖商那和修尊者

The Third Patriarch: Venerable Shanavasa

摩突羅國人也。亦名舍那婆斯。姓毗舍多。父林勝。母憍奢耶。在胎六年而生。梵語商諾迦。此雲自然服。即西域九枝秀草名也。若聖人降生。則此草生於淨潔之地。和修生時。瑞草斯應。昔如來行化至摩突羅國。見一青林。枝葉茂盛。語阿難曰。此林地名優留茶。吾滅度後一百年。有比丘商那和修。於此轉妙法輪。後百歲。果誕和修。出家證道。受慶喜尊者法眼。化導有情。及止此林。降二火龍。歸順佛教。龍因施其地。以建梵宮。尊者化緣既久。思付正法。尋於吒利國。得優波毱多以為給侍。因問毱多曰。汝年幾邪。答曰。我年十七。者曰。汝身十七。性十七邪。答曰。師髮已白。為髮白邪。心白邪。者曰。我但髮白。非心白耳。毱多曰。我身十七。非性十七也。尊者知是法器。後三載。遂為落髮授具。乃告曰。昔如來以無上法眼付囑迦葉。展轉相授。而至於我。我今付汝。勿令斷絕。汝受吾教。聽吾偈言。非法亦非心。無心亦無法。說是心法時。是法非心法。說偈已。即隱於罽賓國南象白山中。後於三昧中。見弟子毱多有五百徒眾。常多懈慢。尊者乃往彼。現龍奮迅三昧以調伏之。而說偈曰。通達非彼此。至聖無長短。汝除輕慢意。疾得阿羅漢。五百比丘聞偈已。依教奉行。皆獲無漏。尊者乃現十八變火光三昧。用焚其身。毱多收舍利。葬於梵迦羅山。五百比丘各持一幡。迎導至彼。建塔供養。乃宣王二十三年乙未歲也。

He was from Mathura and was also called Shanavasa. His clan name was Vishnudas. His father was Linsheng and his mother Kaosheye. He was born only after six years in the womb. The Sanskrit word shanaka was translated here as “naturally born robe”; it was also the name of a nine-branched, beautiful grass of the Western Regions. Whenever a sage was born, this grass grew on clean ground. At Shanavasa’s birth, the auspicious grass appeared in response. Long ago, when the Tathagata traveled to Mathura to teach, he saw a green grove with luxuriant branches and leaves. He said to Ananda: “This place is called Youliucha. One hundred years after I enter nirvana, the monk Shanavasa will turn the wondrous Wheel of Dharma here.” A hundred years later, Shanavasa was indeed born. He left home, realized the Way, received the Dharma-eye from Venerable Ananda, guided sentient beings, and lived in that grove. There he subdued two fire dragons and brought them into the Buddhist teaching. The dragons then gave the land for a Brahma monastery to be built. After the Venerable One had taught for a long time, he wished to entrust the true Dharma. In the kingdom of Zhali he found Upagupta to serve him. He asked Guptā: “How old are you?” “Seventeen,” he replied. The Venerable One said: “Is your body seventeen, or is your nature seventeen?” Guptā asked: “The master’s hair is white. Is it the hair that is white, or the mind?” The Venerable One said: “Only my hair is white, not my mind.” Guptā said: “I am seventeen in body, not seventeen in nature.” The Venerable One recognized him as a vessel of the Dharma. Three years later he shaved his head and gave him the full precepts. He then said: “Long ago the Tathagata entrusted the unsurpassed Dharma-eye to Kashyapa, who passed it on in succession until it reached me. I now entrust it to you. Do not let it perish. Receive my teaching and hear this verse: ‘It is neither Dharma nor mind; there is neither mind nor Dharma. When this mind-Dharma is spoken of, this Dharma is not mind-Dharma.’” After speaking the verse, he withdrew to Elephant-White Mountain south of Kashmir. Later, in samadhi, he saw that his disciple Gupta had five hundred followers who were often lax and disrespectful. The Venerable One went there, displayed the samadhi of the dragon’s swift movement to discipline them, and recited a verse: “Penetration is neither this nor that; the most holy has neither length nor shortness. Cast off your contemptuous thoughts, and you will soon attain arhatship.” The five hundred monks heard the verse, followed its teaching, and all attained freedom from outflows. The Venerable One then displayed eighteen transformations and burned his body in the samadhi of blazing fire. Gupta gathered the relics and buried them on Mount Fan-jialuo. The five hundred monks each carried a banner and escorted them there, where they built a stupa and made offerings. This was the yiwei year, the twenty-third year of King Xuan of Zhou.

四祖優波毱多尊者

The Fourth Patriarch: Venerable Upagupta

吒利國人也。亦名優波崛多。又名鄔波毱多。姓首陀。父善意。十七出家。二十證果。隨方行化。至摩突羅國。得度者甚眾。由是魔宮震動。波旬愁怖。遂竭其魔力。以害正法。尊者即入三昧。觀其所由。波旬復伺便。密持瓔珞縻之於頸。及尊者出定。乃取人狗蛇三屍。化為華鬘。䎡言慰諭波旬曰。汝與我瓔珞。甚是珍妙。吾有華鬘。以相酬奉。波旬大喜。引頸受之。即變為三種臭屍。蟲蛆壞爛。波旬厭惡。大生憂惱。盡己神力。不能移動。乃升六慾天。告諸天主。又詣梵王。求其解免。彼各告言。十力弟子。所作神變。我輩凡陋。何能去之。波旬曰。然則柰何。梵王曰。汝可歸心尊者。即能除斷。乃為說偈。令其迴向曰。若因地倒。還因地起。離地求起。終無其理。波旬受教已。即下天宮。禮尊者足。哀露懺悔。尊者告曰。汝自今去。於如來正法。更不作嬈害否。波旬曰。我誓迴向佛道。永斷不善。尊者曰。若然者。汝可口自唱言。皈依三寶。魔王合掌三唱。華鬘悉除。乃歡喜踴躍。作禮尊者而說偈曰。稽首三昧尊。十力聖弟子。我今願迴向。勿令有劣弱。尊者在世化導。證果最多。每度一人。以一籌置於石室。其室縱十八肘。廣十二肘。充滿其間。最後有一長者子。名曰香眾。來禮尊者。志求出家。尊者問曰。汝身出家。心出家。答曰。我來出家。非為身心。尊者曰。不為身心。復誰出家。答曰。夫出家者。無我我故。無我我故。即心不生滅。心不生滅。即是常道。諸佛亦常心無形相。其體亦然。尊者曰。汝當大悟。心自通達。宜依佛法僧。紹隆聖種。即為剃度。授具足戒。仍告之曰。汝父甞夢金日而生汝。可名提多迦。復謂曰。如來以大法眼藏。次第傳授。以至於我。今復付汝。聽吾偈言。心自本來心。本心非有法。有法有本心。非心非本法。付法已。乃踴身虗空。呈十八變。卻復本座。跏趺而逝。

He was from the kingdom of Zhali. He was also called Upagupta or Upagupta. His clan name was Shudra. His father was named Shanyi. He left home at seventeen and attained the fruit at twenty. He traveled from place to place teaching and transforming beings. When he reached Mathura, many people were liberated. The demon palace was shaken, and Mara became fearful and distressed. Mara exhausted his demonic powers to harm the true Dharma. The Venerable One entered samadhi to examine the cause. Mara waited for an opportunity and secretly hung a jeweled necklace around his neck. When the Venerable One emerged from samadhi, he took the corpses of a person, a dog, and a snake, transformed them into a flower garland, and gently comforted Mara: “The necklace you gave me is very precious. I have a flower garland to give you in return.” Mara was delighted, stretched out his neck to receive it, and it immediately became three foul corpses, decaying with worms and maggots. Mara was disgusted and greatly distressed; even after exhausting his divine power, he could not remove it. He ascended to the six desire heavens and told their lords, then went to Brahma and begged him to undo it. Each replied: “We are lowly and ordinary; how could we undo the spiritual transformation wrought by a disciple of the Ten-Powered One?” Mara asked: “Then what should I do?” Brahma said: “Turn your heart toward the Venerable One, and it can be removed.” He then taught Mara this verse to guide him back: “If you fall because of the earth, you must also rise by the earth; to leave the earth and seek to rise is, in the end, impossible.” Having received the teaching, Mara descended to the heavenly palace, bowed at the Venerable One’s feet, and sincerely confessed his remorse. The Venerable One told him: “From now on, will you continue to obstruct the Tathagata’s true Dharma?” Mara said: “I vow to turn toward the Buddha’s Way and forever end all unwholesome conduct.” The Venerable One said: “If so, say aloud: ‘I take refuge in the Three Treasures.’” The demon king joined his palms and recited it three times. The garland disappeared completely. He rejoiced, bowed to the Venerable One, and recited this verse: “I bow to the honored one of samadhi, the holy disciple of the Ten-Powered One. I now wish to turn toward the Way; do not let me remain inferior and weak.” During the Venerable One’s lifetime of teaching, more people attained realization under him than under anyone else. Each time he liberated someone, he placed a tally stick in a stone chamber. The chamber was eighteen cubits long and twelve cubits wide, and it was filled with tally sticks. At last a young elder named Xiangzhong came to pay homage and resolved to leave home. The Venerable One asked: “Are you leaving home in body or in mind?” He replied: “I have come to leave home neither for the sake of body nor mind.” The Venerable One said: “If not for body or mind, then who leaves home?” He replied: “One speaks of leaving home because there is no ‘I’ and no ‘mine.’ Without ‘I’ and ‘mine,’ mind does not arise or perish. A mind that neither arises nor perishes is the constant Way. The Buddhas are also constant; mind has no form, and its essence is the same.” The Venerable One said: “You will surely awaken greatly; your mind will understand for itself. Rely on the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and continue the lineage of the sages.” He shaved the young man’s head and gave him the full precepts, then said: “Your father dreamed of a golden sun and you were born; you may be named Ditaka.” He continued: “The Tathagata’s treasury of the great Dharma-eye has been passed down in succession until it reached me. I now entrust it to you. Hear this verse: ‘Mind is itself originally mind; the original mind is not some thing called Dharma. Only when there is Dharma is there an original mind; it is neither mind nor the original Dharma.’” Having transmitted the Dharma, he rose into the air, displayed eighteen transformations, returned to his seat, sat cross-legged, and passed away.

提多迦以室內籌用焚師軀。收舍利。建塔供養。即平王三十一年庚子歲也。

Ditaka used tally sticks from the chamber to cremate his teacher’s body. He gathered the relics and built a stupa to honor them. This was the gengzi year, the thirty-first year of King Ping of Zhou.

五祖提多迦尊者

The Fifth Patriarch: Venerable Ditaka

摩伽陀國人也。梵語提多迦。此雲通真量。初生之時。父夢金日自屋而出。照耀天地。前有大山。諸寶嚴飾。山頂泉湧。滂沱四流。後遇毱多尊者。為解之曰。寶山者。吾身也。泉湧者。法無盡也。日從屋出者。汝今入道之相也。照耀天地者。汝智慧超越也。尊者聞師說已。歡喜踴躍。而唱偈言。巍巍七寶山。常出智慧泉。回為真法味。能度諸有緣。毱多尊者亦說偈曰。我法傳於汝。當現大智慧。金日從屋出。照耀於天地。提多迦聞師妙偈。設禮奉持。後至中印度。彼國有八千大仙。彌遮迦為首。聞尊者至。率眾瞻禮。謂尊者曰。昔與師同生梵天。我遇阿私陀仙授我仙法。師逢十力弟子。修習禪那。自此報分殊途。已經六劫。者曰。支離累劫。誠哉不虗。今可捨邪歸正。以入佛乘。彌遮迦曰。昔阿私陀仙人授我記雲。汝卻後六劫。當遇同學。獲無漏果。今也相遇。非宿緣邪。願師慈悲。令我解脫。者即度出家。命諸聖授戒。其餘仙眾。始生我慢。尊者示大神通。於是俱發菩提心。一時出家。者乃告彌遮迦曰。昔如來以大法眼藏密付迦葉。展轉相授。而至於我。我今付汝。當護念之。乃說偈曰。通達本法心。無法無非法。悟了同未悟。無心亦無法。說偈已。踴身虗空作十八變。火光三昧。自焚其軀。彌遮迦與八千比丘同收舍利。於班茶山中起塔供養。即莊王七年己丑歲也。

He was from Magadha. Ditaka is Sanskrit, translated here as “One Who Understands True Reality.” At his birth, his father dreamed of a golden sun emerging from the house, illuminating heaven and earth. Before it stood a great mountain adorned with jewels; a spring gushed from its summit and flowed in torrents in all four directions. Later, when he met Venerable Upagupta, the latter explained: “The jeweled mountain is my body; the spring gushing forth is the inexhaustibility of the Dharma; the sun emerging from the house is a sign that you are now entering the Way; its illumination of heaven and earth means your wisdom will surpass others.” Hearing his teacher’s explanation, the Venerable One rejoiced and recited: “Lofty is the mountain of seven treasures; a spring of wisdom flows there without cease. It turns into the true flavor of Dharma and can ferry across all who have a karmic affinity.” Venerable Upagupta also recited: “My Dharma is transmitted to you; you will surely manifest great wisdom. The golden sun emerges from the house and illumines heaven and earth.” Ditaka heard his teacher’s wondrous verse, bowed, and received it faithfully. Later he went to central India. In that kingdom lived eight thousand great sages, led by Mizhijia. Hearing the Venerable One had arrived, Mizhijia led the others to pay homage and said: “In the past I was born in the Brahma Heaven together with my teacher. I met the sage Asita, who transmitted the arts of immortals to me, while my teacher encountered a disciple of the Ten-Powered One and practiced meditation. From then on our karmic results followed different paths; six kalpas have passed.” The Venerable One said: “Your separation through successive kalpas is indeed as you say. Now you may abandon the false and return to the true, entering the Buddha Vehicle.” Mizhijia said: “In the past, the sage Asita predicted: ‘After six kalpas, you will surely meet a fellow practitioner and attain the fruit free from outflows.’ Now we have met; could this not be a karmic bond from long ago? I beg my teacher’s compassion to liberate me.” The Venerable One ordained him and instructed the sages to confer the precepts. The other sages at first became arrogant. The Venerable One displayed great spiritual powers, and they all gave rise to the aspiration for awakening and left home together. The Venerable One then told Mizhijia: “Long ago the Tathagata secretly entrusted the treasury of the great Dharma-eye to Kashyapa; it was passed on in succession until it reached me. I now entrust it to you. Guard and remember it.” He recited this verse: “The mind that penetrates the original Dharma is neither Dharma nor non-Dharma; awakened and unawakened are alike, neither mind nor Dharma.” After the verse, he rose into the air, displayed eighteen transformations, and burned his body in the samadhi of blazing fire. Mizhijia and eight thousand monks gathered his relics and built a stupa on Mount Banda to honor them. This was the jichou year, the seventh year of King Zhuang of Zhou.

六祖彌遮迦尊者

The Sixth Patriarch: Venerable Mizhijia

中印度人也。既傳法已。遊化至北天竺國。見雉堞之上有金色祥雲。歎曰。斯道人氣也。必有大士為吾嗣。乃入城。於闤闠間有一人手持酒器。逆而問曰。師何方來。欲往何所。祖曰。從自心來。欲往無處。曰。識我手中物否。祖曰。此是觸器而負淨者。曰。師識我否。祖曰。我即不識。識即非我。復謂之曰。汝試自稱名氏。吾當後示本因。彼說偈答曰。我從無量劫。至於生此國。本姓頗羅墮。名字婆須密。祖曰。我師提多迦說。世尊昔遊北印度。語阿難言。此國中吾滅度後三百年。有一聖人姓頗羅墮。名婆須蜜。而於禪祖。當獲第七。世尊記汝。汝應出家。彼乃置器禮師。側立而言曰。我思往劫。甞作檀那。獻一如來寶座。彼佛記我曰。汝於賢劫釋迦法中。宣傳至教。今符師說。願加度脫。祖即與披剃。復圓戒相。乃告之曰。正法眼藏。今付於汝。勿令斷絕。乃說偈曰。無心無可得。說得不名法。若了心非心。始解心心法。祖說偈已。入師子奮迅三昧。踴身虗空。高七多羅樹。卻復本座。化火自焚。婆須蜜收靈骨。貯七寶函。建浮圖寘於上級。即襄王十七年甲申歲也。

He was from central India. After receiving the Dharma, he traveled and taught in the kingdom of Northern India. He saw golden clouds above the city walls and exclaimed: “These are signs of a practitioner. Surely a great being will become my successor.” He entered the city. In the marketplace a man carrying a wine vessel came to meet him and asked: “Master, where have you come from, and where are you going?” The patriarch replied: “I come from my own mind and go to a place without location.” The man asked: “Do you recognize what I hold in my hand?” The patriarch said: “It is a defiled vessel, yet it carries a pure person.” The man asked: “Do you recognize me?” The patriarch replied: “I do not know you; if I knew you, I would not be myself.” He then said: “Try telling me your name, and I will reveal your original cause.” The man replied in verse: “Through measureless kalpas I have come, until I was born in this land. My clan name is Bharadvaja; my personal name is Vasumitra.” The patriarch said: “My teacher Ditaka once said: ‘Long ago, when the World-Honored One traveled in Northern India, he told Ananda: Three hundred years after I enter nirvana, in this land there will be a sage named Vasumitra, of the Bharadvaja clan. Among the meditation patriarchs, he will surely be the seventh.’ The World-Honored One predicted your coming. You should leave home.” The man set down his wine vessel, bowed to the teacher, and stood to one side, saying: “I recall that in a past kalpa I was a donor and offered a jeweled seat to a Tathagata. That Buddha predicted: ‘Under Shakyamuni’s teaching in the Auspicious Kalpa, you will proclaim the supreme teaching.’ Now this accords exactly with what you have said. I beg you to liberate me.” The patriarch shaved his head, gave him the robes, and completed his precepts. He then said: “I now entrust the treasury of the true Dharma-eye to you. Do not let it perish.” He recited this verse: “There is no mind and nothing to attain; what can be spoken is not called Dharma. When you understand that mind is not mind, you will understand the Dharma of mind after mind.” After speaking the verse, the patriarch entered the samadhi of a lion’s swift advance, rose into the air to a height of seven tala trees, returned to his seat, and transformed his body into fire, burning himself. Vasumitra collected his sacred bones, stored them in a jeweled casket, and built a stupa on a high place. This was the jiashen year, the seventeenth year of King Xiang of Zhou.

七祖婆須蜜尊者

The Seventh Patriarch: Venerable Vasumitra

北天竺國人也。姓頗羅墮。常服淨衣。執酒器。遊行裡閈。或吟或嘯。人謂之狂。及遇彌遮迦尊者。宣如來往誌。自省前緣。投器出家。受法行化。至迦摩羅國。廣興佛事。於法座前。忽有智者自稱。我名佛陀難提。今與師論義。祖曰。仁者論即不義。義即不論。若擬論義。終非義論。難提知師義勝。心即欽服。曰。我願求道。霑甘露味。祖遂與剃度。而授具戒。復告之曰。如來正法眼藏。我今付汝。汝當護持。乃說偈曰。心同虗空界。示等虗空法。證得虗空時。無是無非法。即入慈心三昧。時梵王帝釋及諸天眾俱來作禮。而說偈言。賢劫眾聖祖。而當第七位。尊者哀念我。請為宣佛地。尊者從三昧起。示眾曰。我所得法。而非有故。若識佛地。離有無故。語已。還入三昧。示涅槃相。難提即於本座起七寶塔。以塟全身。即定王十九年辛未歲也。

He was from Northern India and belonged to the Bharadvaja clan. He often wore clean clothes and carried a wine vessel as he wandered through the lanes, sometimes chanting and sometimes whistling; people called him mad. When he met Venerable Mizhijia, who proclaimed the Tathagata’s prediction from the past, he reflected on his former causes and conditions, set down the wine vessel, left home, received the Dharma, and taught and transformed beings. He went to the kingdom of Kamala and widely advanced the Buddha’s work. Before the Dharma seat, a wise man suddenly came forward and introduced himself: “My name is Buddhanandi. I have come to debate with the master.” The patriarch said: “Good sir, debate is not the meaning, and the meaning is not debate. If you intend to debate the meaning, it is ultimately no debate of meaning.” Nandi knew that the master’s meaning surpassed his own and was inwardly convinced. He said: “I wish to seek the Way and taste the nectar.” The patriarch shaved his head and gave him the full precepts, then said: “I now entrust to you the Tathagata’s treasury of the true Dharma-eye. You must protect it.” He recited this verse: “Mind is like the realm of empty space; I reveal a Dharma equal to empty space. When you realize empty space, there is neither right nor non-Dharma.” He then entered the samadhi of loving-kindness. Brahma, Indra, and the hosts of gods came to bow and recited: “Patriarch of the sages of the Auspicious Kalpa, you now stand in the seventh place. Venerable One, take pity on us and explain the Buddha-ground.” The Venerable One emerged from samadhi and taught the assembly: “The Dharma I realized is not a thing that exists. If you wish to know the Buddha-ground, you must leave behind both existence and nonexistence.” Having spoken, he entered samadhi again and manifested the appearance of nirvana. Nandi built a seven-jeweled stupa at that very seat and enshrined the Venerable One’s whole body. This was the xinwei year, the nineteenth year of King Ding of Zhou.

八祖佛陀難提尊者

The Eighth Patriarch: Venerable Buddhanandi

迦摩羅國人也。姓瞿曇氏。頂有肉髻。辯捷無礙。初遇婆須蜜。出家受教。既而領徒行化。至提伽國毗舍羅家。見舍上有白光上騰。謂其徒曰。此家有聖人。口無言說。真大乘器。不行四衢。知觸穢耳。言訖。長者出致禮。問。何所須。祖曰。我求侍者。長者曰。我有一子。名伏馱蜜多。年已五十。口未曾言。足未曾履。祖曰。如汝所說。真吾弟子。伏䭾聞之。遽起禮拜。而說偈曰。父母非我親。誰是最親者。諸佛非我道。誰為最道者。祖以偈答曰。汝言與心親。父母非可比。汝行與道合。諸佛心即是。外求有相佛。與汝不相似。欲識汝本心。非合亦非離。伏䭾聞偈已。便行七步。祖曰。此子昔曾值佛。悲願廣大。慮父母愛情難捨。故不言不履耳。長者遂捨令出家。祖尋授具戒。復告之曰。我今以如來正法眼藏付囑於汝。勿令斷絕。乃說偈曰。虗空無內外。心法亦如此。若了虗空故。是達真如理。伏䭾承師付囑。以偈讚曰。我師禪祖中。當得為第八。法化眾無量。悉獲阿羅漢。爾時佛陀難提即現神變。卻復本座。儼然寂滅。眾興寶塔。塟其全身。即景王十二年丙寅歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Kamala and belonged to the Gautama clan. He had a fleshy protuberance on his crown and quick, unobstructed eloquence. He first met Vasumitra, left home, and received instruction. Later, leading his followers in their travels, he reached the house of Vishara in the kingdom of Tiga. He saw white light rising above the roof and told his followers: “There is a sage in this house. He does not speak, yet is truly a vessel of the Mahayana Dharma. He does not take the broad road that leads in all four directions, for he knows that impurity lies along every path.” After he spoke, the elder came out, bowed, and asked: “What do you need?” The patriarch said: “I seek an attendant.” The elder replied: “I have a son named Fudamituo, already fifty years old. He has never spoken and has never walked.” The patriarch said: “As you describe him, he is truly my disciple.” Hearing this, Fudamituo immediately rose, bowed, and recited a verse: “My parents are not my kin; who, then, is truly my kin? The Buddhas are not my Way; what, then, is truly the Way?” The patriarch answered in verse: “Your words are close to your mind; your parents cannot compare. Your conduct accords with the Way; the Buddhas’ minds are just this. A Buddha with outward marks that you seek is not like you. To know your original mind, it is neither joined nor separate.” After hearing the verse, Fudamituo walked seven steps. The patriarch said: “In a former life this child met a Buddha and made a vast compassionate vow. He feared that the love between parents and child would be hard to relinquish, so he neither spoke nor walked.” The elder then let him leave home. The patriarch gave him the full precepts and said: “I now entrust the Tathagata’s treasury of the true Dharma-eye to you. Do not let it perish.” He recited this verse: “Empty space has neither inside nor outside; the Dharma of mind is also thus. If you understand empty space, you will penetrate the principle of true suchness.” Fudamituo received his teacher’s entrustment and praised him in verse: “My teacher among the meditation patriarchs will surely be the eighth. His Dharma-transforming disciples are without number; all attain arhatship.” Buddhanandi then manifested spiritual transformations, returned to his seat, and passed away in solemn stillness. The assembly built a jeweled stupa and enshrined his whole body. This was the bingyin year, the twelfth year of King Jing of Zhou.

九祖伏䭾蜜多尊者

The Ninth Patriarch: Venerable Fudamituo

提伽國人也。姓毗舍羅。既受八祖付囑。後至中印度行化。時有長者香葢。𢹂一子而來。瞻禮祖曰。此子處胎六十歲。因號難生。甞會一仙者。謂此兒非凡。當為法器。今遇尊者。可令出家。祖即與落髮授戒。羯磨之際。祥光燭座。仍感舍利三七粒現前。自此精進忘疲。既而祖告之曰。如來大法眼藏。今付於汝。汝護念之。乃說偈曰。真理本無名。因名顯真理。受得真實法。非真亦非偽。祖付法已。即入滅盡三昧而般涅槃。眾以香油旃檀闍維。收舍利。建塔於那爛陀寺。即敬王三十五年甲寅歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Tiga and belonged to the Vishara clan. After receiving the Eighth Patriarch’s entrustment, he later traveled through central India to teach. At that time the elder Xiangai brought his son to pay homage and said to the patriarch: “This child remained in the womb for sixty years, so he was called Hard to Birth. An immortal once met him and said he was extraordinary and would surely become a vessel of the Dharma. Now that we have met the Venerable One, may he leave home.” The patriarch shaved his head and gave him the precepts. During the ordination ceremony, auspicious light illuminated the seat, and twenty-one groups of relics appeared in response. From then on the child practiced diligently, forgetting fatigue. The patriarch then told him: “I now entrust to you the Tathagata’s great treasury of the Dharma-eye. Guard and remember it.” He recited this verse: “Truth originally has no name; through a name, truth is revealed. What you receive is the true Dharma, neither true nor false.” Having transmitted the Dharma, the patriarch entered the samadhi of cessation and passed into complete nirvana. The assembly cremated him with fragrant oil and sandalwood, gathered the relics, and built a stupa at Nalanda Monastery. This was the jiayin year, the thirty-fifth year of King Jing of Zhou.

十祖脇尊者

The Tenth Patriarch: Venerable Pakkudha

中印度人也。本名難生。初將誕時。父夢一白象。背有寶座。座上安一明珠。從門而入。光照四眾。既覺遂生。後值九祖。執侍左右。未甞睡眠。謂其脇不至席。遂號脇尊者焉。初至華氏國。憩一樹下。右手指地而告眾曰。此地變金色。當有聖人入會。言訖。即變金色。時有長者子富那夜奢。合掌前立。祖問曰。汝從何來。答曰。我心非往。祖曰。汝何處住。答曰。我心非止。祖曰。汝不定邪。曰。諸佛亦然。祖曰。汝非諸佛。曰。諸佛亦非。祖因說偈曰。此地變金色。預知有聖至。當坐菩提樹。覺華而成已。夜奢復說偈曰。師坐金色地。常說真實義。回光而照我。令入三摩諦。祖知其意。即度出家。復具戒品。乃告之曰。如來大法藏。今付於汝。汝護念之。乃說偈曰。真體自然真。因真說有理。領得真真法。無行亦無止。祖付法已。即現神變而入涅槃。化火自焚。四眾各以衣裓盛舍利。隨處興塔而供養之。即貞王二十二年己亥歲也。

He was from central India. His original name was Hard to Birth. Shortly before he was born, his father dreamed that a white elephant entered through the gate, carrying a jeweled seat on its back, with a bright pearl resting on the seat. Its light illuminated the fourfold assembly. He awoke, and the child was born. Later he met the Ninth Patriarch and served at his side, never sleeping. Because his flank never touched the seat, he came to be called the Venerable One of the Flank. When he first reached the kingdom of Huashi, he rested beneath a tree, pointed at the ground with his right hand, and told the assembly: “This ground will turn golden; surely a sage will enter the assembly.” As soon as he spoke, the ground turned gold. An elder’s son, Punayasha, stood before him with joined palms. The patriarch asked: “Where have you come from?” He answered: “My mind has not gone anywhere.” The patriarch asked: “Where do you dwell?” He answered: “My mind does not abide.” The patriarch asked: “Are you not fixed?” He replied: “The Buddhas are also like this.” The patriarch said: “You are not a Buddha.” He replied: “The Buddhas are not either.” The patriarch then recited: “The ground turns golden, foreknowing the sage’s arrival. He will surely sit beneath the Bodhi tree, where the flowers of awakening bloom.” Yasha also recited: “My teacher sits on golden ground and always speaks the true meaning. Turn your light back upon me and let me enter samadhi.” The patriarch understood his meaning, ordained him, gave him the full precepts, and said: “I now entrust to you the Tathagata’s great treasury of Dharma. Guard and remember it.” He recited this verse: “The true essence is naturally true; because of truth, principle is spoken of. Having received this truly true Dharma, there is neither practice nor cessation.” After transmitting the Dharma, the patriarch manifested spiritual transformations and entered nirvana, burning himself in fire. The fourfold assembly each gathered relics in the hems of their robes and built stupas wherever they went to honor them. This was the jihai year, the twenty-second year of King Zhen of Zhou.

十一祖富那夜奢尊者

The Eleventh Patriarch: Venerable Punyayashas

華氏國人也。姓瞿曇氏。父寶身。既得法於脇尊者。尋詣波羅柰國。有馬鳴大士迎而作禮。問曰。我欲識佛。何者即是。祖曰。汝欲識佛。不識者是。曰。佛既不識。焉知是乎。祖曰。既不識佛。焉知不是。曰。此是鋸義。祖曰。彼是木義。祖問。鋸義者何。曰。與師平出。馬鳴卻問。木義者何。祖曰。汝被我解。馬鳴豁然省悟。稽首皈依。遂求剃度。祖謂眾曰。此大士者。昔為毗舍利國王。其國。有一類人如馬裸露。王運神力分身為蠶。彼乃得衣。王後復生中印度。馬人感戀悲鳴。因號馬鳴焉。如來記雲。吾滅度後六百年。當有賢者馬鳴於波羅柰國。摧伏異道。度人無量。繼吾傳化。今正是時。即告之曰。如來大法眼藏。今付於汝。即說偈曰。迷悟如隱顯。明暗不相離。今付隱顯法。非一亦非二。尊者付法已。即現神變。湛然圓寂。眾興寶塔。以閟全身。即安王十四年戊戌歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Huashi and belonged to the Gautama clan. His father was named Baoshen. After receiving the Dharma from the Venerable One of the Flank, he went at once to Varanasi. The Great Being Ashvaghosha came forward, bowed, and asked: “I wish to recognize the Buddha. Which one is the Buddha?” The patriarch said: “If you wish to recognize the Buddha, the one who does not recognize is the Buddha.” Ashvaghosha asked: “If the Buddha does not recognize, how can you know that it is he?” The patriarch replied: “If you do not recognize the Buddha, how can you know that it is not he?” Ashvaghosha said: “That is the meaning of a saw.” The patriarch replied: “That is the meaning of wood.” The patriarch asked: “What is the meaning of a saw?” Ashvaghosha said: “It comes out level with the master.” Ashvaghosha then asked: “What is the meaning of wood?” The patriarch replied: “You have been released by me.” Ashvaghosha suddenly awakened, bowed, took refuge, and asked to leave home and be ordained. The patriarch told the assembly: “This Great Being was once the king of Vaishali. In that country there was a people who went naked like horses. The king used his spiritual power to transform himself into a silkworm, and only then did those people obtain clothing. In a later life the king was born in central India. The horse-people remembered him and cried mournfully, so he was called Ashvaghosha, ‘Horse-Cry.’ The Tathagata once said: ‘Six hundred years after I enter nirvana, the worthy Ashvaghosha will surely subdue heterodox paths in Varanasi, liberate immeasurable people, and continue my work of teaching and transforming beings.’ The time has now come.” He then told Ashvaghosha: “I now entrust the Tathagata’s great treasury of the Dharma-eye to you.” He recited this verse: “Delusion and awakening are like concealment and disclosure; light and darkness are not separate. I now transmit this Dharma of concealment and disclosure: it is neither one nor two.” Having transmitted the Dharma, the Venerable One manifested spiritual transformations and passed away in serene stillness. The assembly built a stupa and enshrined his whole body. This was the wuxu year, the fourteenth year of King An of Zhou.

十二祖馬鳴大士者

The Twelfth Patriarch: Great Being Ashvaghosha

波羅柰國人也。亦名功勝。以有作無作諸功德最為殊勝。故名焉。既受法於夜奢尊者。後於華氏國轉妙法輪。忽有老人。座前仆地。祖謂眾曰。此非庸流。當有異相。言訖不見。俄從地湧出一金色人。復化為女子。右手指祖而說偈曰。稽首長老尊。當受如來記。今於此地上。宣通第一義。說偈已。瞥然不見。祖曰。將有魔來。與吾較(音角)力。有頃。風雨暴至。天地晦冥。祖曰。魔之來信矣。吾當除之。即指空中。現一大金龍。奮發威神。震動山嶽。祖儼然於座。魔事隨滅。經七日。有一小蟲。大若蟭螟。潛形座下。祖以手取之。示眾曰。斯乃魔之所變。盜聽吾法耳。乃放之令去。魔不能動。祖告之曰。汝但歸依三寶。即得神通。遂復本形。作禮懺悔。祖問曰。汝名誰邪。眷屬多少。曰。我名迦毗摩羅。有三千眷屬。祖曰。盡汝神力。變化若何。曰。我化巨海極為小事。祖曰。汝化性海得否。曰。何謂性海。我未甞知。祖即為說性海曰。山河大地。皆依建立。三昧六通。由茲發現。迦毗摩羅聞言。遂發信心。與徒眾三千。俱求剃度。祖乃召五百羅漢。與授具戒。復告之曰。如來大法眼藏。今當付汝。汝聽偈言。隱顯即本法。明暗元不二。今付悟了法。非取亦非離。付囑已。即入龍奮迅三昧。挺身空中。如日輪相。然後示滅。四眾以真體藏之龍龕。即顯王三十七年甲午歲也。

He was from Varanasi and was also called Gongsheng, “Merit-Supreme,” because his many merits, both active and inactive, were the most excellent. After receiving the Dharma from Venerable Yasha, he later turned the wondrous Wheel of Dharma in the kingdom of Huashi. Suddenly an old man fell down before the assembly. The patriarch said: “This is no ordinary person; surely something unusual will appear.” As soon as he spoke, the old man vanished. In a moment, a golden-colored man emerged from the ground, transformed into a woman, and pointed at the patriarch with her right hand as she recited: “I bow to the venerable elder, who will surely receive the Tathagata’s prediction. Now, here on this ground, proclaim and spread the highest truth.” As soon as she finished, she vanished in a blink. The patriarch said: “A demon is coming to challenge me.” A little later, a violent storm broke out; heaven and earth grew dark. The patriarch said: “The demon has truly come. I should subdue it.” He pointed into the sky, where a great golden dragon appeared, displaying its spiritual might and shaking the mountains. The patriarch sat solemnly unmoved, and the demonic disturbance immediately ceased. Seven days later, a tiny insect no larger than a minute gnat was hiding beneath the seat. The patriarch picked it up and showed it to the assembly: “This is a demon’s transformation, come to eavesdrop on my Dharma.” He released it, but the demon could not move. The patriarch told it: “If you take refuge in the Three Treasures, you can obtain spiritual powers.” It then returned to its original form, bowed, and repented. The patriarch asked: “What is your name, and how many followers do you have?” It replied: “My name is Kapimala, and I have three thousand followers.” The patriarch asked: “To what extent can you transform things using all your spiritual powers?” Kapimala said: “Transforming into a vast ocean is a very small matter.” The patriarch asked: “Can you transform the ocean of your own nature?” Kapimala said: “What is the ocean of one’s nature? I have never heard of it.” The patriarch explained: “Mountains, rivers, and the earth are all established in dependence on it; samadhi and the six spiritual powers arise from it.” Hearing this, Kapimala gave rise to faith and, together with all three thousand followers, asked to leave home and be ordained. The patriarch then gathered five hundred arhats to confer the full precepts and told Kapimala: “I now entrust to you the Tathagata’s great treasury of the Dharma-eye. Hear this verse: ‘Concealment and disclosure are the original Dharma; light and darkness have never been two. I now transmit this Dharma of awakening—not grasping, not departing.’” After the entrustment, he entered the samadhi of the dragon’s swift advance, rose straight into the air like the orb of the sun, and then manifested his passing. The fourfold assembly enshrined his true body in a dragon-shaped reliquary. This was the jiawu year, the thirty-seventh year of King Xian of Zhou.

十三祖迦毗摩羅尊者

The Thirteenth Patriarch: Venerable Kapimala

華氏國人也。初為外道。有徒三千。通諸異論。後於馬鳴尊者得法。領徒至西印度。彼有太子。名雲自在。仰尊者名。請於宮中供養。祖曰。如來有教。沙門不得親近國王．大臣權勢之家。太子曰。今我國城之北。有大山焉。山有一石窟。可禪寂於此否。祖曰。諾。即入彼山。行數裡。逢一大蠎。祖直前不顧。盤繞祖身。祖因與授三皈依。蟒聽訖而去。祖將至石窟。復有一老人素服而出。合掌問訊。祖曰。汝何所止。答曰。我昔甞為比丘。多樂寂靜。有初學比丘數來請益。而我煩於應答。起嗔恨想。命終墮為蠎身。住是窟中。今已千載。適遇尊者。獲聞戒法。故來謝爾。祖問曰。此山更有何人居止。曰。此去十里。有大樹蔭覆五百大龍。其樹王名龍樹。常為龍眾說法。我亦聽受耳。祖遂與徒眾詣彼。龍樹出迎曰。深山孤寂。龍蟒所居。大德至尊。何枉神足。祖曰。吾非至尊。來訪賢者。龍樹默唸曰。此師得決定性明道眼否。是大聖繼真乘否。祖曰。汝雖心語。我已意知。但辦出家。何慮吾之不聖。龍樹聞已。悔謝。祖即與度脫。及五百龍眾俱授具戒。復告之曰。今以如來大法眼藏。付囑於汝。諦聽偈言。非隱非顯法。說是真實際。悟此隱顯法。非愚亦非智。付法已。即現神變。化火焚身。龍樹收五色舍利。建塔焉。即赧王四十一年壬辰歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Huashi. At first he followed a non-Buddhist path, with three thousand disciples, and was versed in all kinds of heterodox doctrines. Later he received the Dharma from Venerable Ashvaghosha and led his followers to Western India. There a prince named Yun Zizai admired the patriarch’s reputation and invited him to the palace to receive offerings. The patriarch said: “The Tathagata taught that a shramana must not seek the company of kings, ministers, or powerful households.” The prince said: “There is a great mountain north of our capital, with a stone cave. Could you practice meditation there?” The patriarch said: “Yes.” He entered the mountain. After walking several miles, he encountered a giant serpent. The patriarch kept going without turning back, and the serpent coiled around him. The patriarch gave it the Three Refuges; when it had heard them, it departed. As the patriarch neared the stone cave, an old man in plain white clothing came out, joined his palms, and greeted him. The patriarch asked: “Where do you live?” The old man replied: “In the past I was a monk and loved solitude. A novice repeatedly came to ask me for instruction. I grew annoyed, gave rise to anger, and at death was reborn as a serpent, living in this cave for a thousand years. Just now I met the Venerable One and heard the precepts; I have come to give thanks.” The patriarch asked: “Who else lives in this mountain?” The old man said: “Ten li from here is a great tree that shades five hundred great dragons. Its king is named Nagarjuna. He often teaches the dragon host, and I too have listened.” The patriarch then went with his followers to that place. Nagarjuna came out to welcome him and said: “The deep mountain is secluded and is home to dragons and serpents. Great and most honored one, why trouble yourself to come here?” The patriarch said: “I am not the most honored one; I have come to visit a worthy person.” Nagarjuna silently wondered to himself: “Has this master attained certainty and clarified the Dharma-eye? Is he a great sage who continues the true vehicle?” The patriarch said: “Though you speak inwardly, I already know your thoughts. Just attend to the matter of leaving home; why worry that I am not a sage?” Nagarjuna repented and apologized. The patriarch ordained him and gave the full precepts to him and the five hundred dragons. He then said: “I now entrust to you the Tathagata’s great treasury of the Dharma-eye. Listen carefully to this verse: ‘The Dharma that is neither concealed nor disclosed is what is called true reality. Awaken to this Dharma of concealment and disclosure; it is neither foolishness nor wisdom.’” After transmitting the Dharma, he manifested spiritual transformations and burned his body in fire. Nagarjuna gathered the five-colored relics and built a stupa. This was the renchen year, the forty-first year of King Nan of Zhou.

十四祖龍樹尊者

The Fourteenth Patriarch: Venerable Nagarjuna

西天竺國人也。亦名龍勝。始於摩羅尊者得法。後至南印度。彼國之人。多信福業。祖為說法。𮞏相謂曰。人有福業。世間第一。徒言佛性。誰能覩之。祖曰。汝欲見佛性。先須除我慢。彼人曰。佛性大小。祖曰。非大非小。非廣非狹。無福無報。不死不生。彼聞理勝。悉回初心。祖復於座上。現自在身。如滿月輪。一切眾唯聞法音。不覩祖相。彼眾中有長者子。名迦那提婆。謂眾曰。識此相否。眾曰。目所未覩。安能辨識。提婆曰。此是尊者現佛性體相。以示我等。何以知之。葢以無相三昧。形如滿月。佛性之義。廓然虗明。言訖。輪相即隱。復居本座。而說偈言。身現圓月相。以表諸佛體。說法無其形。用辨非聲色。彼眾聞偈。頓悟無生。鹹願出家。以求解脫。祖即為剃髮。命諸聖授具。其國先有外道五千餘眾。作大幻術。眾皆宗仰。祖悉為化之。令歸三寶。復造大智度論．中論．十二門論。垂之於世。後告上首弟子迦那提婆曰。如來大法眼藏今當付汝。聽吾偈言。為明隱顯法。方說解脫理。於法心不證。無瞋亦無喜。付法訖。入月輪三昧。廣現神變。復就本座。凝然禪寂。迦那提婆與諸四眾。共建寶塔以塟焉。即秦始皇三十五年己丑歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Western India and was also called Longsheng. At first he received the Dharma from Venerable Kapimala and later went to Southern India. Most people in that country believed in karmic merit. When the patriarch taught them, they said to one another: “Merit is the highest thing in the world. Who can see the Buddha-nature that you speak of with empty words?” The patriarch said: “If you wish to see the Buddha-nature, you must first cast off arrogance.” Someone asked: “Is the Buddha-nature great or small?” The patriarch said: “It is neither great nor small, neither broad nor narrow; it has neither merit nor reward, neither death nor birth.” Hearing that this teaching surpassed their own, they all turned back to their original aspiration. The patriarch then manifested his freely acting body on the seat, like a full moon. The whole assembly heard only the sound of the Dharma and could not see his form. An elder’s son in the assembly, named Kanadeva, said to everyone: “Do you recognize this appearance?” They replied: “Our eyes have not seen it. How could we recognize it?” Deva said: “This is the Venerable One manifesting the substance and appearance of the Buddha-nature to instruct us. How do I know? The formless samadhi takes the shape of a full moon; the meaning of Buddha-nature is open, empty, and bright.” As soon as he spoke, the moonlike form disappeared. The patriarch returned to his seat and recited: “The body manifests the appearance of a full moon to indicate the substance of all Buddhas. The Dharma is spoken without form to show that it is not sound or color.” Hearing the verse, the people suddenly awakened to the unborn and all wished to leave home to seek liberation. The patriarch shaved their heads and instructed the sages to give the full precepts. There had originally been more than five thousand non-Buddhist teachers in that country, who performed great illusions and were revered by the people. The patriarch converted them all and led them to take refuge in the Three Treasures. He also composed the Treatise on the Great Wisdom, the Middle Treatise, and the Twelve-Gate Treatise, which circulated in the world. Later he told his senior disciple Kanadeva: “I now entrust to you the Tathagata’s great treasury of the Dharma-eye. Hear this verse: ‘To reveal the Dharma of concealment and disclosure, I speak of the principle of liberation. In the mind there is no realization of Dharma; there is neither anger nor joy.’” Having transmitted the Dharma, he entered the samadhi of the lunar orb, manifested extensive spiritual transformations, returned to his seat, and sat in still meditation. Kanadeva and the fourfold assembly together built a jeweled stupa to enshrine him. This was the jichou year, the thirty-fifth year of the First Emperor of Qin.

十五祖迦那提婆尊者

The Fifteenth Patriarch: Venerable Kanadeva

南天竺國人也。姓毗舍羅。初求福業。兼樂辯論。後謁龍樹大士。將及門。龍樹知是智人。先遣侍者以滿缽水置於座前。尊者覩之。即以一針投之而進。欣然契會。龍樹即為說法。不起於座。現月輪相。唯聞其聲。不見其形。祖語眾曰。今此瑞者。師現佛性。表說法非聲色也。祖既得法。後至迦毗羅國。彼有長者。曰梵摩淨德一日。園樹生耳如菌。味甚美。唯長者與第二子羅睺羅多取而食之。取已隨長。盡而復生。自餘親屬。皆不能見。祖知其宿因。遂至其家。長者廼問其故。祖曰。汝家昔曾供養一比丘。然此比丘道眼未明。以虗霑信施。故報為木菌。唯汝與子精誠供養。得以享之。餘即否矣。又問長者。年多少。答曰。七十有九。祖乃說偈曰。入道不通理。復身還信施。汝年八十一。此樹不生耳。長者聞偈已。彌加歎伏。且曰。弟子衰老。不能事師。願捨次子。隨師出家。祖曰。昔如來記此子。當第二五百年為大教主。今之相遇。葢符宿因。即與剃髮執侍。至巴連弗城。聞諸外道慾障佛法。計之既久。祖乃執長旛入彼眾中。彼問祖曰。汝何不前。祖曰。汝何不後。彼曰。汝似賤人。祖曰。汝似良人。彼曰。汝解何法。祖曰。汝百不解。彼曰。我欲得佛。祖曰。我灼然得佛。彼曰。汝不合得。祖曰。元道我得。汝實不得。彼曰。汝既不得。云何言得。祖曰。汝有我故。所以不得。我無我我。故自當得。彼辭既屈。乃問祖曰。汝名何等。祖曰我名迦那提婆。彼既夙聞祖名。乃悔過致謝。時眾中猶互興問難。祖折以無礙之辯。由是歸伏。乃告上足羅睺羅多而付法眼。偈曰。本對傳法人。為說解脫理。於法實無證。無終亦無始。祖說偈已。入奮迅定。身放八光。而歸寂滅。學眾興塔而供養之。即前漢文帝十九年庚辰歲也。

He was from Southern India and belonged to the Vishara clan. At first he sought karmic merit and enjoyed debate. Later he went to see the Great Being Nagarjuna. When he was about to arrive, Nagarjuna recognized that he was a person of wisdom and first sent an attendant to place a bowl full of water before the seat. The Venerable One saw it, dropped a needle into the bowl, and entered. They rejoiced in their mutual understanding. Nagarjuna then taught him without leaving his seat, manifesting the appearance of a moon. Only the sound of his voice could be heard; his form could not be seen. The patriarch told the assembly: “This auspicious appearance is the master manifesting the Buddha-nature, showing that the Dharma is taught beyond sound and color.” After receiving the Dharma, the patriarch later went to Kapilavastu. There lived an elder named Brahma Jingde. One day, a fungus-like growth appeared on a tree in his garden. It was delicious, and only the elder and his second son, Rahula, could gather and eat it. When it was picked, more grew; when it was used up, it appeared again. None of their other relatives could see it. The patriarch knew its former karmic cause and went to the elder’s house. The elder asked why this was so. The patriarch said: “In the past, your household made offerings to a monk. But that monk had not clarified the Dharma-eye and received offerings on faith for nothing; as a result he was reborn as tree fungus. Only you and your son, who made your offerings with sincere devotion, can enjoy it. The others cannot.” He asked the elder’s age. The elder replied: “Seventy-nine.” The patriarch then recited: “If you enter the Way without penetrating its principle, you will return to repay offerings received on faith. When you are eighty-one, this tree will no longer produce fungus.” The elder was even more impressed and said: “I am old and cannot serve the master. I wish to give my second son to follow you and leave home.” The patriarch said: “The Tathagata once predicted that this child would become a great teacher of the Dharma in the second five-hundred-year period. Our meeting now accords with that former cause.” He shaved the young man’s head and appointed him attendant. When he reached Pataliputra, he heard that non-Buddhists had long been plotting to obstruct the Buddha-Dharma. The patriarch went among them holding a tall banner. They asked him: “Why do you not step forward?” He said: “Why do you not step back?” They said: “You are like a lowly woman.” He said: “You are like a virtuous man.” They said: “What Dharma do you understand?” He replied: “You understand nothing in a hundred ways.” They said: “We wish to attain Buddhahood.” He said: “I have clearly attained Buddhahood.” They said: “You should not attain it.” He said: “Originally you said I attained it, while in truth you did not.” They said: “If you have not attained it, how can you say you have?” The patriarch said: “Because you have an ‘I,’ you cannot attain it. Because I have no ‘I’ or ‘I myself,’ I naturally should attain it.” They were at a loss for words and asked: “What is your name?” He said: “My name is Kanadeva.” They had long heard of his reputation, so they repented and apologized. Debate continued among the assembly, but the patriarch refuted every challenge with unobstructed eloquence, and they submitted. He then entrusted the Dharma-eye to his foremost disciple Rahulata and recited: “Only when facing one to whom Dharma is transmitted is the principle of liberation spoken. In truth there is no realization of Dharma, neither end nor beginning.” After finishing the verse, the patriarch entered the samadhi of swift advance, emitted eight rays of light from his body, and passed into stillness. His students built a stupa to honor him. This was the gengchen year, the nineteenth year of Emperor Wen of the Former Han.

十六祖羅睺羅多尊者

The Sixteenth Patriarch: Venerable Rahulata

迦毗羅國人也。行化至室羅筏城。有河名曰金水。其味殊美。中流復現五佛影。祖告眾曰。此河之源。凡五百里。有聖者僧伽難提居於彼處。佛誌。一千年後。當紹聖位。語已。領諸學眾。泝流而上。至彼。見僧伽難提安坐入定。祖與眾伺之。經三七日。方從定起。祖問曰。汝身定邪。心定邪。提曰。身心俱定。祖曰。身心俱定。何有出入。提曰。雖有出入。不失定相。如金在井。金體常寂。祖曰。若金在井。若金出井。金無動靜。何物出入。提曰。言金動靜。何物出入。言金出入。金非動靜。祖曰。若金在井。出者何金。若金出井。在者何物。提曰。金若出井。在者非金。金若在井。出者非物。祖曰。此義不然。提曰。彼義非著。祖曰。此義當墮。提曰。彼義不成。祖曰。彼義不成。我義成矣。提曰。我義雖成。法非我故。祖曰。我義已成。我無我故。提曰。我無我故。復成何義。祖曰。我無我故。故成汝義。提曰。仁者師誰。得是無我。祖曰。我師迦那提婆。證是無我。難提以偈讚曰。稽首提婆師。而出於仁者。仁者無我故。我欲師仁者。祖以偈答曰。我已無我故。汝須見我我。汝若師我故。知我非我我。難提心意豁然。即求度脫。祖曰。汝心自在。非我所繫。語已。即以右手擎金缽。舉至梵宮。取彼香飯。將齋大眾。而大眾忽生厭惡之心。祖曰。非我之咎。汝等自業。即命難提分座同食。眾復訝之。祖曰。汝不得食。皆由此故。當知與吾分座者。即過去娑羅樹王如來也。愍物降跡。汝輩亦莊嚴劫中已至三果而未證無漏者也。眾曰。我師神力。斯可信矣。彼雲過去佛者。即竊疑焉。難提知眾生慢。乃曰。世尊在日。世界平正。無有丘陵。江河溝洫。水悉甘美。草木滋茂。國土豐盈。無八苦．行十善。自雙樹示滅八百餘年。世界丘墟。樹木枯悴。人無至信。正念輕微。不信真如。唯愛神力。言訖。

He was from Kapilavastu. While teaching, he reached the city of Shravasti. A river there was called Golden Water, and its taste was especially sweet. Five Buddha images also appeared in its middle. The patriarch told the assembly: “The source of this river is about five hundred li from here. The sage Sanghanandi lives there. The Buddha predicted that a thousand years later he would surely continue the rank of the sages.” Having spoken, he led his students upstream. When they arrived, they saw Sanghanandi sitting calmly in meditation. The patriarch and the others waited twenty-one days before he emerged from samadhi. The patriarch asked: “Is it your body that is in samadhi, or your mind?” Nandi replied: “Both body and mind are in samadhi.” The patriarch said: “If both body and mind are in samadhi, why is there still entering and leaving?” Nandi said: “Although there is entering and leaving, the aspect of samadhi is not lost. It is like gold in a well: the essence of gold is always still.” The patriarch asked: “If gold is in a well, or gold comes out of a well, the gold itself does not move. What is it that comes and goes?” Nandi said: “If you speak of gold moving, what comes and goes? If you speak of gold entering and leaving, gold itself is not movement or stillness.” The patriarch asked: “If gold is in the well, what gold comes out? If gold comes out of the well, what thing remains inside?” Nandi replied: “If gold comes out of the well, what remains is not gold; if gold remains in the well, what comes out is not a thing.” The patriarch said: “That meaning is not right.” Nandi replied: “That meaning is not something to cling to.” The patriarch said: “That meaning will surely be defeated.” Nandi replied: “That meaning cannot be established.” The patriarch said: “If your meaning cannot be established, then mine is established.” Nandi said: “Though my meaning is established, Dharma is not mine.” The patriarch said: “My meaning is established because I have no ‘I.’” Nandi asked: “Since you have no ‘I,’ what meaning is established?” The patriarch said: “Because I have no ‘I,’ your meaning is established.” Nandi asked: “Who is your teacher, who attained this no-self?” The patriarch said: “My teacher Kanadeva realized this no-self.” Nandi praised him in verse: “I bow to Deva, the teacher, who appears in you. Since you have no ‘I,’ I wish to take you as my teacher.” The patriarch replied in verse: “Since I have no ‘I,’ you must see the ‘I, I.’ If you take me as your teacher, know that I am not the ‘I, I.’” Nandi’s mind suddenly opened, and he asked to be liberated. The patriarch said: “Your mind is free; I have not bound it.” He then raised a golden bowl in his right hand to Brahma’s Heaven and fetched fragrant rice from there, intending to offer a meal to the assembly. The people suddenly felt disgusted. The patriarch said: “This is not my fault; it is your own karma.” He asked Nandi to share his seat and eat with him. The assembly was again astonished. The patriarch said: “You cannot eat because of this very reason. You should know that the one sharing my seat is the Tathagata Sal Tree King of the past, who took form out of compassion for all things. You too, in the Adornment Kalpa, had already reached the third fruit but had not yet attained freedom from outflows.” They said: “We can believe in our teacher’s spiritual power; but when he says he was a Buddha of the past, we privately doubt it.” Nandi knew the beings were arrogant and said: “When the World-Honored One was alive, the world was level, without hills; the waters of rivers and channels were sweet; plants flourished and the lands were abundant. There were no eight sufferings, and the ten wholesome acts were practiced everywhere. More than eight hundred years have passed since the Buddha entered nirvana between the twin sala trees. The world has become desolate and trees have withered. People lack sincere faith, right mindfulness is weak, they do not believe in true suchness, and they delight only in spiritual powers.” Having spoken,

以右手漸展入地。至金剛輪際。取甘露水。以琉璃器持至會所。大眾見之。即時欽慕。悔過作禮。於是。祖命僧伽難提而付法眼。偈曰。於法實無證。不取亦不離。法非有無相。內外云何起。祖付法已。安坐歸寂。四眾建塔。當前漢武帝二十八年戊辰歲也。

he slowly extended his right hand into the earth, down to the vajra wheel, and brought up nectar water. He carried it in a crystal vessel to the gathering place. Seeing this, the assembly admired him, repented, and bowed. The patriarch then entrusted the Dharma-eye to Sanghanandi and recited: “In truth there is no realization of Dharma; do not grasp or depart. Dharma is neither marked nor unmarked; where could inside or outside arise?” Having transmitted the Dharma, the patriarch sat calmly and passed into stillness. The fourfold assembly built a stupa. This was the wu-chen year, the twenty-eighth year of Emperor Wu of the Former Han.

十七祖僧伽難提尊者

The Seventeenth Patriarch: Venerable Sanghanandi

室羅筏城寶莊嚴王之子也。生而能言。常讚佛事。七歲即厭世樂。以偈告其父母曰。稽首大慈父。和南骨血母。我今欲出家。幸願哀愍故。父母固止之。遂終日不食。乃許其在家出家。號僧伽難提。復命沙門禪利多為之師。積十九載。未嘗退倦。每自念言。身居王宮。胡為出家。一夕。天光下矚。見一路坦平。不覺徐行。約十里許。至大巖前。有石窟焉。乃燕寂於中。父既失子。即擯禪利多出國。訪尋其子。不知所在。經十年。祖得法受記已。行化至摩提國。忽有涼風襲眾。身心悅適非常。而不知其然。祖曰。此道德之風也。當有聖者出世。嗣續祖燈乎。言訖。以神力攝諸大眾。遊歷山谷。食頃。至一峰下。謂眾曰。此峰頂有紫雲如葢。聖人居此矣。即與大眾徘徊久之。見山舍一童子。持圓鑑直造祖前。祖問。汝幾歲邪。曰。百歲。祖曰。汝年尚幼。何言百歲。童曰。我不會理。正百歲耳。祖曰。汝善機邪。童曰。佛言。若人生百歲。不會諸佛機。未若生一日。而得決了之。祖曰。汝手中者。當何所表。童曰。諸佛大圓鑑。內外無瑕翳。兩人同得見。心眼皆相似。彼父母聞子語。即捨令出家。祖擕至本處。授具戒訖。名伽耶舍多。他時聞風吹殿鈴聲。祖問曰。鈴鳴邪。風鳴邪。舍多曰。非風鈴鳴。我心鳴耳。祖曰。心復誰乎。舍多曰。俱寂靜故。祖曰。善哉。善哉。繼吾道者。非子而誰。即付法眼。偈曰。心地本無生。因地從緣起。緣種不相妨。華果亦復爾。祖付法已。右手攀樹而化。大眾議曰。尊者樹下歸寂。其垂蔭後裔乎。將奉全身於高原建塔。眾力不能舉。即就樹下起塔。當前漢昭帝十三年丁未歲也。

He was the son of King Baozhuangyan of Shravasti. From the moment he was born, he could speak and often praised the Buddha’s work. At seven he grew weary of worldly pleasures and told his parents in verse: “I bow to my father of great compassion, and to my mother of shared flesh and blood. I now wish to leave home; I beg you, in your mercy, to let me.” His parents firmly refused, so he fasted all day. Only then did they permit him to become a monk while still at home. He was named Sanghanandi, and the shramana Chanlituo was appointed his teacher. For nineteen years he practiced without ever growing weary. He often thought: “What kind of leaving home is it to live in a royal palace?” One night, heavenly light shone down. He saw a level road and, without realizing it, slowly followed it for about ten li until he came to a great cliff with a stone cave. There he sat in tranquil meditation. Having lost his son, his father expelled Chanlituo from the kingdom and searched everywhere, but could not find the boy. Ten years later, after the patriarch had received the Dharma and a prediction of awakening, he traveled to the kingdom of Mati to teach. Suddenly a cool breeze swept over the assembly, bringing extraordinary ease to body and mind, though no one knew why. The patriarch said: “This is the breeze of virtue. Surely a sage is about to appear and continue the lamp of the patriarchs.” He used his spiritual power to gather the assembly and traveled through the valleys. In the time it takes to eat a meal, they reached the foot of a peak. He told the people: “A purple cloud like a canopy covers the summit; a sage lives there.” They wandered around for a long time and saw a boy in a mountain dwelling, holding a round mirror and walking straight toward the patriarch. The patriarch asked: “How old are you?” The boy replied: “One hundred.” The patriarch said: “You are still a child. Why do you say you are a hundred?” The boy replied: “I do not understand the principle; that is why I am exactly a hundred.” The patriarch asked: “Are you skilled at the Chan teacher’s questions?” The boy said: “The Buddha said: ‘If a person lives one hundred years without understanding the Buddhas’ pivotal teaching, it is better to live one day and decisively understand it.’” The patriarch asked: “What does the thing in your hand represent?” The boy replied: “The great round mirror of all Buddhas has no blemish inside or out. When two people see it together, the mind and eye are alike.” Hearing their son’s words, his parents let him leave home. The patriarch brought him back, gave him the full precepts, and named him Gayasata. Later, hearing the wind ring the palace bells, the patriarch asked: “Is the bell ringing, or is the wind ringing?” Sata said: “Neither the wind nor the bell is ringing; my mind is ringing.” The patriarch asked: “And what is the mind?” Sata replied: “Because all is still.” The patriarch said: “Excellent, excellent! If you are not the one to inherit my Way, who could it be?” He entrusted the Dharma-eye to him and recited: “The ground of mind is originally unborn; from the ground, conditions arise. Conditions and seeds do not hinder one another; flowers and fruits are just the same.” After transmitting the Dharma, the patriarch passed away while grasping a tree with his right hand. The assembly discussed it: “The Venerable One passed away beneath a tree. Does this mean he will shelter his descendants?” They intended to carry his whole body to high ground and build a stupa, but could not lift it despite their efforts, so they built the stupa beneath the tree. This was the dingwei year, the thirteenth year of Emperor Zhao of the Former Han.

十八祖伽耶舍多尊者

The Eighteenth Patriarch: Venerable Gayasata

摩提國人也。姓鬱頭藍。父天葢。母方聖。甞夢大神持鑑。因而有娠。凡七日而誕。肌體瑩如琉璃。未甞洗沐。自然香潔。幼好閑靜。語非常童。持鑑出遊。遇難提尊者。得度後。領徒至大月氏國。見一婆羅門舍有異氣。祖將入彼舍。舍主鳩摩羅多問曰。是何徒眾。祖曰。是佛弟子。彼聞佛號。心神竦然。即時閉戶。祖良久扣其門。羅多曰。此舍無人。祖曰。答無者誰。羅多聞語。知是異人。遽開關延接。祖曰。昔世尊記曰。吾滅後一千年。有大士出現於月氏國。紹隆玄化。今汝值吾。應斯嘉運。於是鳩摩羅多發宿命智。投誠出家。授具訖。付法偈曰。有種有心地。因緣能發萌。於緣不相礙。當生生不生。祖付法已。踴身虗空。現十八種神變。化火光三昧。自焚其身。眾以舍利起塔。當前漢成帝二十年戊申歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Mati and belonged to the Udraka clan. His father was Tiangai and his mother Fangsheng. His mother once dreamed that a great deity held a mirror, and so conceived. He was born after only seven days. His body was clear and luminous like crystal; without bathing, it was naturally fragrant and pure. As a child he loved solitude and spoke unlike ordinary children. Carrying a mirror as he wandered, he met Venerable Nandi and was liberated by him. He then led his followers to the kingdom of Greater Yuezhi and saw an unusual aura above a Brahmin household. As the patriarch was about to enter, the master of the house, Kumaralata, asked: “What sort of group are you?” The patriarch replied: “We are disciples of the Buddha.” Hearing the Buddha’s name, Kumaralata was startled and immediately shut the door. The patriarch knocked for a long time. Kumaralata said: “There is no one in this house.” The patriarch replied: “Who is it that says ‘there is no one’?” Hearing this, Kumaralata knew he was an extraordinary person, quickly opened the door, and welcomed him in. The patriarch said: “Long ago the World-Honored One predicted: ‘One thousand years after I enter nirvana, a great being will appear in the kingdom of Yuezhi and continue the profound teaching.’ You have now met me, just as this auspicious time arrives.” Kumaralata then awakened the knowledge of past lives and sincerely asked to leave home. After receiving the precepts, he received this verse transmitting the Dharma: “With seed and with a ground of mind, conditions can sprout. Conditions do not obstruct one another; that which is born is born, yet is unborn.” After transmitting the Dharma, the patriarch rose into the air, displayed eighteen miraculous transformations, entered the samadhi of blazing fire, and burned his body. The people built a stupa for his relics. This was the wushen year, the twentieth year of Emperor Cheng of the Former Han.

十九祖鳩摩羅多尊者

The Nineteenth Patriarch: Venerable Kumaralata

大月氏國婆羅門之子也。昔為自在天人(欲界第六天)。見菩薩瓔珞。忽起愛心。墮生忉利(欲界第二天)。聞憍屍迦說般若波羅蜜多。以法勝故。升於梵天(色界)。以根利故。善說法要。諸天尊為導師。以繼祖時至。遂降月氏。後至中天竺國。有大士名闍夜多。問曰。我家父母素信三寶。而常縈疾瘵。凡所營作。皆不如意。而我鄰家久為旃陀羅行。而身常勇徤。所作和合。彼何幸。而我何辜。祖曰。何足疑乎。且善惡之報有三時焉。凡人但見仁夭暴壽．逆吉義兇。便謂亡因果．虗罪福。殊不知影響相隨。毫𨤲靡忒。縱經百千萬劫。亦不磨滅。時闍夜多聞是語已。頓釋所疑。祖曰。汝雖已信三業。而未明業從惑生。惑因識有。識依不覺。不覺依心。心本清淨。無生滅。無造作。無報應。無勝負。寂寂然。靈靈然。汝若入此法門。可與諸佛同矣。一切善惡．有為無為。皆如夢幻。闍夜多承言領旨。即發宿慧。懇求出家。既受具。祖告曰。吾今寂滅時至。汝當紹行化跡。乃付法眼。偈曰。性上本無生。為對求人說。於法既無得。何懷決不決。又云。此是妙音如來見性清淨之句。汝宜傳布後學。言訖。即於座上。以指爪剺面。如紅蓮開出。大光明照耀四眾。而入寂滅。闍夜多起塔。當新室十四年壬午歲也。

He was the son of a Brahmin in the kingdom of Greater Yuezhi. In a past life he was a deva in the Heaven of Ease and saw the Bodhisattva’s jeweled necklace. He suddenly gave rise to desire and fell to Trayastrimsha, the second heaven of the desire realm. There he heard Kausika explain the Perfection of Wisdom, “going to the other shore,” crossing from this shore of birth and death to the far shore of liberation. Because the Dharma was sublime, he rose to the Brahma Heaven in the form realm. Because his faculties were keen, he was skilled at explaining the essentials of the Dharma, and the gods honored him as their teacher. When the time came to continue the patriarchal lineage, he was born in Yuezhi. Later, in central India, a Great Being named Jayata asked him: “My parents have always trusted the Three Treasures, yet are constantly beset by illness and nothing they undertake goes well. My neighbor has long worked as a chandala, yet is always strong and healthy, and everything he does succeeds. Why is he so fortunate while I am so blameless?” The patriarch said: “What is there to doubt? The results of good and evil occur at three different times. Ordinary people see only the benevolent die young and the violent live long, the rebellious prosper and the righteous suffer, and then claim that cause and effect do not exist and that sin and merit are empty. They do not know that shadow and echo follow one another without the slightest error. Even after a hundred thousand million kalpas, this is never erased.” Hearing this, Jayata’s doubts immediately vanished. The patriarch continued: “Though you now believe in the three kinds of karma, you have not yet understood that karma arises from delusion, delusion depends on consciousness, consciousness relies on ignorance, and ignorance relies on mind. Mind is originally pure, without arising or ceasing, making or action, reward or retribution, victory or defeat. It is utterly still yet mysteriously aware. If you enter this Dharma-gate, you will be one with the Buddhas. All good and evil, all conditioned and unconditioned things, are like dreams and illusions.” Jayata grasped the teaching, awakened to his former wisdom, and earnestly asked to leave home. After receiving the full precepts, the patriarch told him: “The time has come for my stilling. You should continue the work of teaching and transforming beings.” He then transmitted the Dharma-eye in this verse: “In its nature there is originally no birth; it is spoken only to those who seek. Since nothing is attained in Dharma, why hold on to certainty or uncertainty?” He added: “These are the wondrous words of Tathagata Miaoyin, who sees the purity of nature. You should transmit them to later students.” Having spoken, he used a fingernail to open his face while seated; it opened like a red lotus, and great light illuminated the fourfold assembly as he entered stillness. Jayata built a stupa. This was the renwu year, the fourteenth year of the Xin Dynasty (the short-lived dynasty of Wang Mang).

二十祖闍夜多尊者

The Twentieth Patriarch: Venerable Jayata

北天竺國人也。智慧淵沖。化導無量。後至羅閱城。敷揚頓教。彼有學眾。唯尚辯論。為之首者。名婆修盤頭(此雲徧行)。常一食不臥。六時禮佛。清淨無欲。為眾所歸。祖將欲度之。先問彼眾曰。此徧行頭陀。能修梵行。可得佛道乎。眾曰。我師精進。何故不可。祖曰。汝師與道遠矣。設苦行歷於塵劫。皆虗妄之本也。眾曰。尊者蘊何德行而譏我師。祖曰。我不求道。亦不顛倒。我不禮佛。亦不輕慢。我不長坐。亦不懈怠。我不一食。亦不雜食。我不知足。亦不貪欲。心無所希。名之曰道。時徧行聞已。發無漏智。歡喜讚歎。祖又語彼眾曰。會吾語否。吾所以然者。為其求道心切。夫絃急即斷。故吾不贊。令其住安樂地。入諸佛智。復告徧行曰。吾適對眾。抑挫仁者。得無惱於衷乎。徧行曰。我憶念七劫前。生常安樂國。師與智者月淨。記我非久當證斯陀含果。時有大光明菩薩出世。我以老故。䇿杖禮謁。師叱我曰。重子輕父。一何鄙哉。時我自謂無過。請師示之。師曰。汝禮大光明菩薩。以杖倚壁畫佛面。以此過慢。遂失二果。我責躬悔過以來。聞諸惡言。如風如響。況今獲飲無上甘露。而反生熱惱邪。惟願大慈。以妙道垂誨。祖曰。汝久植眾德。當繼吾宗。聽吾偈曰。言下合無生。同於法界性。若能如是解。通達事理竟。祖付法已。不起於座。奄然歸寂。闍維。收舍利建塔。當後漢明帝十七年甲戌歲也。

He was from Northern India. His wisdom was profound, deep, and empty; his work of teaching and guiding beings was without limit. Later he went to the city of Rajagriha and proclaimed the sudden teaching. The students there valued debate above all. Their leader was Vashubandhu, whose name was translated here as “Universal Practice.” He ate only once a day, never lay down, worshiped the Buddha at all six periods of the day, and was pure and free of desire; everyone turned to him. The patriarch intended to liberate him and first asked the others: “Can this ascetic Universal Practice, who cultivates the pure conduct, attain Buddhahood?” They replied: “Our teacher is diligent. Why could he not?” The patriarch said: “Your teacher is far from the Way. Even if he practiced austerities for dust-like kalpas, they would all be roots of delusion.” They asked: “What virtues have you accumulated, Venerable One, that you criticize our teacher?” The patriarch said: “I do not seek the Way, nor am I deluded. I do not worship the Buddha, nor do I slight him. I do not sit for long periods, nor am I lazy. I do not eat only once, nor do I eat indiscriminately. I am neither content nor greedy. The mind has nothing it longs for; this is called the Way.” Hearing this, Universal Practice gave rise to the wisdom free from outflows and praised him with joy. The patriarch told the others: “Do you understand what I said? I spoke this way because his desire for the Way was too intense. A string pulled too tight will break, so I did not approve of him, hoping he would rest in a place of ease and enter the wisdom of the Buddhas.” He then asked Universal Practice: “I just belittled you before everyone. Are you troubled in your heart?” Universal Practice replied: “I recall that seven kalpas ago I was born in the land of Constant Joy. My teacher, the wise Yuejing, predicted that I would soon attain the fruit of a once-returner. At that time the Great Light Bodhisattva appeared. Because I was old, I leaned on a staff to pay homage. My teacher scolded me: ‘You value the son and slight the father—how base!’ I thought I had done nothing wrong and asked my teacher to explain. He said: ‘When you bowed to the Great Light Bodhisattva, you leaned your staff against the face of a Buddha painted on the wall. Because of that arrogance, you lost the second fruit.’ Ever since I took responsibility and repented, I have heard all manner of harsh words as if they were wind or echoes. How could I now become agitated when I have received the supreme nectar? I only ask the Great Compassionate One to instruct me in the wondrous Way.” The patriarch said: “You have long planted many virtues and will surely inherit my lineage. Hear this verse: ‘At the words, accord with the unborn, identical to the nature of the Dharma-realm. If you understand it this way, your penetration of principle and phenomena is complete.’” After transmitting the Dharma, the patriarch did not leave his seat but passed away quietly. His body was cremated, and the relics were gathered and enshrined in a stupa. This was the jiaxu year, the seventeenth year of Emperor Ming of the Later Han.

二十一祖婆修盤頭尊者

The Twenty-First Patriarch: Venerable Vashubandhu

羅閱城人也。姓毗舍佉。父光葢。母嚴一。家富而無子。父母禱於佛塔而求嗣焉。一夕。母夢吞明暗二珠。覺而有孕。經七日。有一羅漢名賢眾至其家。光葢設禮。賢眾端坐受之。嚴一齣拜。賢眾避席。雲。回禮法身大士。光葢罔測其由。遂取一寶珠跪獻。試其真偽。賢眾即受之。殊無遜謝。光葢不能忍。問曰。我是丈夫。致禮不顧。我妻何德。尊者避之。賢眾曰。我受禮納珠。貴福汝耳。汝婦懷聖子。生當為世燈慧日。故吾避之。非重女人也。賢眾又曰。汝婦當生二子。一名婆修盤頭。則吾所尊者也。二名芻尼(此雲野鵲子)。昔如來在雪山修道。芻尼巢於頂上。佛既成道。芻尼受報為那提國王。佛記雲。汝至第二五百年。生羅閱城毗舍佉家。與聖同胞。今無爽矣。後一月。果產二子。尊者婆修盤頭年至十五。禮光度羅漢出家。感毗婆訶菩薩與之授戒。行化至那提國。彼王名常自在。有二子。一名摩訶羅。次名摩拏羅。王問祖曰。羅閱城土風。與此何異。祖曰。彼土曾三佛出世。今王國有二師化導。王曰。二師者誰。祖曰。佛記第二五百年。有二神力大士出家繼聖。即王之次子摩拏羅。是其一也。吾雖德薄。敢當其一。王曰。誠如尊者所言。當捨此子作沙門。祖曰。善哉。大王能遵佛旨。即與授具。付法。偈曰。泡幻同無礙。如何不了悟。達法在其中。非今亦非古。祖付法已。踴身高半由旬。屹然而住。四眾仰瞻䖍請。復坐跏趺而逝。茶毗得舍利。建塔。當後漢殤帝十二年丁巳歲也。

He was from Rajagriha and belonged to the Vishakha clan. His father was Guangai and his mother Yanyi. Their family was wealthy but had no son, so his parents prayed at a Buddha stupa for an heir. One night his mother dreamed she swallowed two pearls, one bright and one dark; when she awoke, she was pregnant. Seven days later an arhat named Xianzhong came to their home. Guangai bowed, and Xianzhong sat down to receive him. Yanyi came out to bow, but the arhat moved away from his seat and said: “Return the courtesy to the Dharma-body Great Being.” Guangai could not understand why, so he knelt and offered a jewel to test whether the arhat was genuine. Xianzhong accepted it without hesitation or refusal. Guangai could not bear it and asked: “I am the husband, yet you do not look at my bow. What virtue does my wife have that makes you leave your seat for her?” Xianzhong replied: “I accepted your bow and the jewel so that you would gain merit. Your wife is carrying a holy child who, when born, will surely become a lamp for the world and a sun of wisdom. That is why I moved away; it was not because I value women.” Xianzhong continued: “Your wife will surely bear two sons. One is Vashubandhu, whom I revere. The other is called Chuni, translated here as ‘Wild Magpie’s Son.’ Long ago the Tathagata practiced the Way on Snow Mountain, and Chuni built a nest on its summit. After the Buddha attained the Way, Chuni was reborn as the king of Nadi. The Buddha predicted: ‘In the second five-hundred-year period, you will be born into the Vishakha family in Rajagriha, as a twin brother to a sage.’ Now it has come to pass.” One month later, the woman indeed gave birth to two sons. When Vashubandhu was fifteen, he bowed to the arhat Guangdulu and left home. The Bodhisattva Vipoha appeared and gave him the precepts. He traveled to the kingdom of Nadi to teach. Its king was Chang Zizai, who had two sons: the elder Mahara and the younger Manura. The king asked the patriarch: “How do the customs of Rajagriha differ from those here?” The patriarch replied: “Three Buddhas once appeared in that land; now two teachers are guiding beings in your kingdom.” The king asked: “Who are the two teachers?” The patriarch said: “The Buddha predicted that in the second five-hundred-year period two great beings of spiritual power would leave home and continue the sages’ lineage. One is your younger son Manura. Though my virtue is meager, I dare to count myself the other.” The king said: “If it is truly as the Venerable One says, I will give this son to become a shramana.” The patriarch said: “Excellent! Great King, you can follow the Buddha’s instruction.” He gave the prince the full precepts and transmitted the Dharma in this verse: “Bubbles and illusions are alike without obstruction; why do you not awaken? Penetrate the Dharma here; it is neither present nor past.” After transmitting the Dharma, the patriarch rose into the air to a height of half a yojana and remained upright. The fourfold assembly looked up in reverence and pleaded with him; he then sat down, crossed his legs, and passed away. His body was cremated, the relics gathered, and a stupa built. This was the dingsi year, the twelfth year of Emperor Shang of the Later Han.

二十二祖摩拏羅尊者

The Twenty-Second Patriarch: Venerable Manura

那提國常自在王之子也。年三十。遇婆修祖師出家傳法至西印度。彼國王名得度。即瞿曇種族。歸向佛乘。勤行精進。一日。於行道處。現一小塔。欲取供養。眾莫能舉。王即大會梵行．禪觀．呪術等三眾。欲問所疑。時祖亦赴此會。是三眾皆莫能辨。祖即為王廣說塔之所因(塔。阿育王造者。此不繁錄)。今之出現。王福力之所致也。王聞是說。乃曰。至聖難逢。世樂非久。即傳位太子。投祖出家。七日而證四果。祖深加慰誨曰。汝居此國。善自度人。今異域有大法器。吾當往化。得度曰。師應跡十方。動念當至。寧勞往邪。祖曰。然。於是焚香。遙語月氏國鶴勒那比丘曰。汝在彼國。教導鶴眾。道果將證。宜自知之。時鶴勒那為彼國王寶印說修多羅偈。忽覩異香成穗。王曰。是何祥也。曰。此是西印土傳佛心印祖師摩拏羅將至。先降信香耳。曰。此師神力何如。曰。此師遠承佛記。當於此土廣宣玄化。時王與鶴勒那俱遙作禮。祖知已。即辭得度比丘。往月氏國。受王與鶴勒那供養。後鶴勒那問祖曰。我止林間。已經九白(印度以一年為一白)。有弟子龍子者。幼而聰慧。我於三世推窮。莫知其本。祖曰。此子於第五劫中。生妙喜國婆羅門家。曾以旃檀施於佛宇。作槌撞鐘。受報聰敏。為眾欽仰。又問。我有何緣而感鶴眾。祖曰。汝第四劫中。甞為比丘。當赴會龍宮。汝諸弟子鹹欲隨從。汝觀五百眾中。無有一人堪任妙供。時諸弟子曰。師常說法。於食等者。於法亦等。今既不然。何聖之有。汝即令赴會。自汝捨生．趣生．轉化諸國。其五百弟子以福微德薄。生於羽族。今感汝之惠。故為鶴眾相隨。鶴勒那問曰。以何方便。令彼解脫。祖曰。我有無上法寶。汝當聽受。化未來際。而說偈曰。心隨萬境轉。轉處實能幽。隨流認得性。無喜復無憂。時鶴眾聞偈。飛鳴而去。祖跏趺。寂然奄化。

He was the son of King Chang Zizai of Nadi. At the age of thirty he met Patriarch Vashu and left home to receive the Dharma. He traveled to Western India, where the king, Deduo, belonged to the Gautama clan, took refuge in the Buddha Vehicle, and practiced with diligence. One day a small stupa appeared on a path where people practiced circumambulation. The king wished to take it and make offerings, but no one could lift it. The king gathered three groups—Brahmin practitioners, meditators, and mantra masters—to ask about the matter. The patriarch also attended. None of the three groups could explain it, so the patriarch told the king the full story of the stupa (it had been built by King Ashoka, and is not recorded here in detail). Its appearance now was due to the king’s merit. Hearing this, the king said: “A supreme sage is hard to encounter, and worldly pleasures cannot last.” He passed the throne to his crown prince and left home under the patriarch. After seven days he attained the four fruits. The patriarch consoled and instructed him at length: “Stay in this kingdom and liberate people yourself. There is now a great vessel of the Dharma in a distant land; I should go there and liberate him.” Deduo said: “Master, you manifest in the ten directions; with a thought you can arrive. Why travel there in person?” The patriarch said: “So it is.” He then burned incense and spoke from afar to the monk Hekulena in the kingdom of Yuezhi: “You are teaching a flock of cranes in that land. The fruit of the Way is about to be realized; you should know this yourself.” At that moment Hekulena was reciting sutra verses for King Baoyin. Suddenly he saw unusual incense gather into a plume. The king asked: “What is this auspicious sign?” Hekulena replied: “The patriarch Manura, who transmits the Buddha’s mind-seal in Western India, is about to arrive; this is the incense of faith sent ahead.” The king asked: “How great is this master’s spiritual power?” Hekulena said: “This master has inherited the Buddha’s prediction from afar and will surely proclaim the profound teaching widely in this land.” The king and Hekulena both bowed from afar. The patriarch then took leave of the monk Deduo and traveled to Yuezhi, where he received offerings from the king and Hekulena. Later Hekulena asked him: “I have lived in the forest for nine ‘whites’—nine years, as Indians reckon a year. One of my disciples, Longzi, was intelligent from childhood. I have investigated his origin across three lifetimes, yet do not know it.” The patriarch said: “In the fifth kalpa he was born into a Brahmin family in the land of Miaoxi. He once offered sandalwood to a Buddha shrine and struck the bell with its mallet. As a result, he was reborn intelligent and admired by all.” Hekulena asked: “What cause and condition made a flock of cranes gather around me?” The patriarch said: “In the fourth kalpa you were a monk and were invited to a Dharma assembly in the Dragon Palace. All your disciples wanted to follow you. You saw that none of the five hundred could serve at the wondrous offering. The disciples said: ‘Master, you always teach that food should be shared equally, and the Dharma too should be shared equally. Since you do otherwise now, what sort of sage are you?’ So you let them attend. From the time you left one life, took another birth, and traveled through different lands, those five hundred disciples, because their merit was slight and their virtue shallow, were born as birds. They now follow you as cranes in gratitude for your kindness.” Hekulena asked: “What expedient means can free them?” The patriarch said: “I have the unsurpassed treasure of Dharma. You should receive it and teach beings into the future.” He recited this verse: “Mind follows the ten thousand states and turns with them; in the place of turning it is truly profound. Follow the current and recognize your nature; there is neither joy nor sorrow.” Hearing the verse, the cranes cried out and flew away. The patriarch sat cross-legged and passed away in stillness.

鶴勒那與寶印王起塔。當後漢桓帝十九年乙巳歲也。

Hekulena and King Baoyin built a stupa. This was the yisi year, the nineteenth year of Emperor Huan of the Later Han.

二十三祖鶴勒那尊者(勒那梵語。鶴即華言。以常感群鶴戀慕故名耳)

The Twenty-Third Patriarch: Venerable Hekulena (Lena is Sanskrit; he was called “Crane” in Chinese because flocks of cranes often responded to him with affection.)

月氏國人也。姓婆羅門。父千勝。母金光。以無子故。禱於七佛金幢。即夢須彌山頂一神童。持金環雲。我來也。覺而有孕。年七歲。遊行聚落。覩民間淫祀。乃入廟叱之曰。汝妄興禍福。幻惑於人。歲費牲牢。傷害斯甚。言訖。廟貌忽然而壞。由是鄉黨謂之聖子。年二十二出家。三十遇摩拏羅尊者。付法眼藏。行化至中印度。彼國王名無畏海。崇信佛道。祖為說正法次。王忽見二人緋素服拜祖。王問曰。此何人也。祖曰。此是日月天子。吾昔曾為說法。故來禮拜。良久不見。唯聞異香。王曰。日月國土。總有多少。祖曰。千釋迦佛所化世界。各有百億迷盧日月。我若廣說。即不能盡。王聞忻然。時祖演無上道。度有緣眾。以上足龍子早夭。有兄師子。博通強記。事婆羅門。厥師既逝。弟復雲亡。乃歸依尊者而問曰。我欲求道。當何用心。祖曰。汝欲求道。無所用心。曰。既無用心。誰作佛事。祖曰。汝若有用。即非功德。汝若無作。即是佛事。經云。我所作功德。而無我所故。師子聞是語已。即入佛慧。時祖忽指東北問曰。是何氣象。師子曰。我見氣如白虹。貫乎天地。復有黑氣五道。橫亙其中。祖曰。其兆云何。曰。莫可知矣。祖曰。吾滅後五十年。北天竺國當有難起。嬰在汝身。吾將滅矣。今以法眼付囑於汝。善自護持。乃說偈曰。認得心性時。可說不思議。了了無可得。得時不說知。師子比丘聞偈欣愜。然未曉將罹何難。祖乃密示之。言訖。現十八變。而歸寂。闍維畢。分舍利。各欲興塔。祖復現空中而說偈曰。一法一切法。一切一法攝。吾身非有無。何分一切塔。大眾聞偈。遂不復分。就䭾都場而建塔焉。即後漢獻帝二十年己丑歲也。

He was from the kingdom of Yuezhi and belonged to a Brahmin family. His father was Qiansheng and his mother Jinguang. Because they had no son, they prayed to the golden banner of the Seven Buddhas. In a dream, a divine child stood atop Mount Sumeru holding a golden ring and said: “I have come.” When she awoke, she was pregnant. At seven he wandered through the settlement and saw people offering improper sacrifices. He entered the shrine and rebuked them: “You recklessly invent fortune and misfortune and delude people. Each year you waste sacrificial animals and cause terrible harm.” As soon as he spoke, the shrine’s statues suddenly crumbled. The people of the region therefore called him the Holy Child. At twenty-two he left home; at thirty he met Venerable Manura, who entrusted to him the treasury of the Dharma-eye. He traveled to central India, where the king, Wuhai, deeply trusted the Buddha’s Way. As the patriarch was expounding the true Dharma to him, the king suddenly saw two people, one dressed in red and one in white, bowing to the patriarch. The king asked: “Who are they?” The patriarch said: “They are the Sun and Moon Devas. In the past I taught them the Dharma, so they have come to pay homage.” After a long while they disappeared, leaving only a wondrous fragrance. The king asked: “How many lands belong to the sun and moon?” The patriarch said: “In the worlds transformed by a thousand Shakyamuni Buddhas, each has a hundred million Mount Merus, suns, and moons. If I explained this in detail, I could never finish.” The king was delighted. The patriarch then proclaimed the unsurpassed Way and liberated the assembly with karmic affinity. His foremost disciple Longzi died young. Longzi’s elder brother, Shizi, had a broad and retentive knowledge and served a Brahmin teacher. After his teacher died and his younger brother passed away, he took refuge in the Venerable One and asked: “I wish to seek the Way. How should I apply my mind?” The patriarch said: “If you seek the Way, there is no mind to apply.” Shizi asked: “If no mind is applied, who performs the Buddha’s work?” The patriarch said: “If you act with an aim, it is not merit. If you do nothing, that is Buddha-work. The sutra says: ‘I create merit, yet there is no “mine” in it.’” Hearing this, Shizi entered the Buddha’s wisdom. The patriarch suddenly pointed northeast and asked: “What sign is that?” Shizi said: “I see an aura like a white rainbow spanning heaven and earth, with five bands of dark vapor stretching across it.” The patriarch asked: “What does this foretell?” Shizi replied: “I cannot know.” The patriarch said: “Fifty years after I pass away, a calamity will surely arise in Northern India and fall upon you. I am about to pass away. I now entrust the Dharma-eye to you. Guard it well.” He recited this verse: “When you recognize the nature of mind, it may be called inconceivable. Clearly, there is nothing to attain; when attaining, do not claim to know.” Monk Shizi heard the verse and was pleased, but did not yet understand what calamity he would face. The patriarch secretly explained it to him. Then he manifested eighteen transformations and passed into stillness. After the cremation, the assembly was about to divide the relics, each group wishing to build its own stupa. The patriarch appeared again in the air and recited: “One Dharma is all Dharma; all are gathered within one Dharma. My body is neither existent nor nonexistent; why divide it among many stupas?” Hearing the verse, the assembly stopped dividing the relics and built a single stupa at the site of the relics. This was the jichou year, the twentieth year of Emperor Xian of the Later Han.

二十四祖師子比丘尊者

The Twenty-Fourth Patriarch: Venerable Monk Shizi

中印度人也。姓婆羅門。得法遊方。至罽賓國。有波利迦者。本習禪觀。故有禪定．知見．執相．捨相．不語之五眾。祖詰而化之。四眾皆默然心服。唯禪定師達磨達者。聞四眾被責。憤悱而來。祖曰。仁者習定。何當來此。既至於此。胡云習定。彼曰。我雖來此。心亦不亂。定隨人習。豈在處所。祖曰。仁者既來。其習亦至。既無處所。豈在人習。彼曰。定習人故。非人習定。我當來此。其定常習。祖曰。人非習定。定習人故。當自來時。其定誰習。彼曰。如淨明珠。內外無翳。定若通達。必當如此。祖曰。定若通達。一似明珠。今見仁者。非珠之徒。彼曰。其珠明徹。內外悉定。我心不亂。猶若此淨。祖曰。其珠無內外。仁者何能定。穢物非動搖。此定不是淨。達磨達蒙祖開悟。心地朗然。祖既攝五眾。名聞遐邇。方求法嗣。遇一長者。引其子問祖曰。此子名斯多。當生便拳左手。今既長矣。終未能舒。願尊者示其宿因。祖覩之。即以手接曰。可還我珠。童子遽開手奉珠。眾皆驚異。祖曰。吾前報為僧。有童子名婆舍。吾甞赴西海齋。受䞋珠付之。今還吾珠。理固然矣。長者遂捨其子出家。祖即與授具。以前緣故名婆舍斯多。祖即謂之曰。吾師密有懸記。罹難非久。如來正法眼藏今轉付汝。汝應保護。普潤來際。偈曰。正說知見時。知見俱是心。當心即知見。知見即於今。祖說偈已。以僧伽梨密付斯多。俾之他國。隨機演化。斯多受教。直抵南天。祖謂難不可以苟免。獨留罽賓。時本國有外道二人。一名摩目多。二名都落遮。學諸幻法。欲共謀亂。乃盜為釋子形象。潛入王宮。且曰。不成即罪歸佛子。妖既自作。禍亦旋踵。王果怒曰。吾素歸心三寶。何乃構害。一至於斯。即命破毀伽藍。祛除釋眾。又自秉劒。至尊者所。問曰。師得蘊空否。祖曰。已得蘊空。王曰。離生死否。祖曰。已離生死。王曰。

He was from central India and belonged to a Brahmin family. After receiving the Dharma, he traveled from place to place and reached Kashmir. There was a group called the Parikas, who originally practiced meditation. They were divided into five groups: those who practiced samadhi, those who cultivated insight, those who clung to appearances, those who rejected appearances, and those who maintained silence. The patriarch questioned and guided them; all four groups silently accepted his teaching. Only the meditation master Dharmadata, hearing that the four groups had been rebuked, came in a mix of anger and shame. The patriarch said: “Venerable sir, you practice meditation. Why have you come here? Since you have come here, how can you still say you practice meditation?” Dharmadata replied: “Although I have come here, my mind is not disturbed. Meditation follows the person who practices it; how could it depend on a place?” The patriarch said: “Since you have come, your practice has come too. Since it has no place, how could it depend on a person?” Dharmadata replied: “Meditation practices the person; it is not the person who practices meditation. I was bound to come here, while meditation is always being practiced.” The patriarch said: “It is not the person who practices meditation; meditation practices the person. When you came here yourself, who was practicing meditation?” Dharmadata replied: “It is like a clear, bright jewel with no obstruction within or without. When meditation is penetrated, it must be like this.” The patriarch said: “If meditation is penetrated, it is just like a bright jewel. But now, seeing you, you are not of the same kind as a jewel.” Dharmadata said: “That jewel is clear and bright, and settled within and without. My mind is not disturbed, just like that purity.” The patriarch said: “That jewel has no inside or outside. How can you be settled? Defilement does not mean movement, and this meditation is not purity.” Through the patriarch’s instruction, Dharmadata awakened, and his mind became clear and bright. Having gathered and guided the five groups, the patriarch’s fame spread far and wide. As he sought a successor to the Dharma, he met an elder who brought his son and asked: “This child is named Sida. From birth he has kept his left hand closed; now he has grown up, but still cannot open it. Venerable One, please reveal the cause from a former life.” The patriarch looked and took his hand, saying: “You can return my jewel now.” The boy immediately opened his hand and offered him a jewel. Everyone was astonished. The patriarch said: “In a former life I was a monk, and there was a boy named Vashe. I once attended a meal offering by the Western Sea and entrusted him with a pearl for distribution. Now he returns my pearl; this is only right.” The elder then gave his son to leave home. The patriarch gave him the full precepts and, because of their former connection, named him Vasasita. He told him: “My teacher secretly made a prediction that calamity would soon strike. The Tathagata’s treasury of the true Dharma-eye is now transmitted to you. Protect it and spread its benefits throughout the future.” He recited this verse: “At the very moment views and knowledge are spoken of, views and knowledge are all mind. When this mind itself is views and knowledge, views and knowledge are right here and now.” After finishing the verse, the patriarch secretly gave the sanghati robe to Sita and sent him to another land to teach and transform beings according to their capacities. Sita accepted the teaching and went straight to Southern India. The patriarch judged that the calamity could not be avoided by compromise and stayed alone in Kashmir. At that time, two non-Buddhists in the kingdom, named Mamuda and Dulouzha, learned various illusory arts and plotted to cause trouble together. They secretly disguised themselves as Buddhist monks, infiltrated the royal palace, and said that if their plan failed, they would blame the Buddha’s followers. Having created a demon, calamity followed at their heels. The king indeed became angry and said: “I have always taken refuge in the Three Treasures. How could I have caused such a crime?” He ordered the monasteries destroyed and the Buddhist monks expelled. Carrying a sword himself, he went to the Venerable One and asked: “Master, have you attained emptiness of the aggregates?” The patriarch replied: “I have attained emptiness of the aggregates.” The king asked: “Have you left birth and death?” The patriarch said: “I have left birth and death.” The king said:

既離生死。可施我頭。祖曰。身非我有。何恡於頭。王即揮刃。斷尊者首。白乳湧高數尺。王之右臂旋亦墮地。七日而終。太子光首歎曰。我父何故自取其禍。時有象白山仙人者。深明因果。即為光首廣宣宿因。解其疑網(事具聖胄集及寶林傳)。遂以師子尊者報體而建塔焉。當魏齊王二十年己卯歲也。

(The king continued:) “Since you have left birth and death, you may give me your head.” The patriarch replied: “This body is not mine; why would I begrudge my head?” The king swung his blade and cut off the Venerable One’s head. White milk gushed up several feet, and the king’s right arm immediately fell off. He died seven days later. Prince Guangshou sighed: “Why did my father bring this calamity upon himself?” At that time an immortal from Elephant-White Mountain, deeply versed in cause and effect, explained the former causes to Guangshou and dispelled his doubts (the matter is recorded in the Collection of the Holy Lineage and the Baolin Tradition). A stupa was then built to enshrine the karmic body of Venerable Shizi. This was the jimao year, the twentieth year of King Qi of Wei.

二十五祖婆舍斯多尊者

The Twenty-Fifth Patriarch: Venerable Vasasita

罽賓國人也。姓婆羅門。父寂行。母常安樂。初。母夢得神劒。因而有孕既誕。拳左手。遇師子尊者顯發宿因。密授心印。後適南天。至中印度。彼國王名迦勝。設禮供養。時有外道。號無我尊。先為王禮重。嫉祖之至。欲與論義。幸而勝之。以固其事。乃於王前謂祖曰。我解默論。不假言說。祖曰。孰知勝負。彼曰。不爭勝負。但取其義。祖曰。汝以何為義。彼曰。無心為義。祖曰。汝既無心。豈得義乎。彼曰。我說無心。當名非義。祖曰。汝說無心。當名非義。我說非心。當義非名。彼曰。當義非名。誰能辨義。祖曰。汝名非義。此名何名。彼曰。為辨非義。是名無名。祖曰。名既非名。義亦非義。辨者是誰。當辨何物。如是往返五十九番。外道杜口信伏。於時祖忽面北。合掌長籲曰。我師師子尊者。今日遇難。斯可傷焉。即辭王南邁。達於南天。潛隱山谷。時彼國王名天德。迎請供養。王有二子。一名德勝。兇暴而色力充盛。一名不如密多。和柔而長嬰疾苦。祖乃為陳因果。王即頓釋所疑。又有呪術師。忌祖之道。乃潛置毒藥於飲食中。祖知而食之。彼返受禍。遂投祖出家。祖即與授具。後六十載。德勝即位。復信外道。致難於祖。不如密多以進諫被囚。王遽問祖曰。予國素絕妖訛。師所傳者當是何宗。祖曰。王國昔來。實無邪法。我所得者。即是佛宗。王曰。佛滅已千二百載。師從誰得邪。祖曰。飲光大士。親受佛印。展轉至二十四世師子尊者。我從彼得。王曰。予聞師子比丘不能免於刑戮。何能傳法後人。祖曰。我師難未起時。密授我信衣法偈。以顯師承。王曰。其衣何在。祖即於囊中出衣示王。王命焚之。五色相鮮。薪盡如故。王即追悔致禮。師子真嗣既明。乃赦密多。密多遂求出家。祖問曰。汝欲出家。當為何事。密多曰。我若出家。不為其事。祖曰。不為何事。密多曰。不為俗事。祖曰。

He was from Kashmir and belonged to a Brahmin family. His father was Jingxing and his mother Changle. At first, his mother dreamed she received a divine sword and so became pregnant. When he was born, his left hand was clenched. After meeting Venerable Shizi, who revealed the causes of his former life, he secretly received the mind-seal. Later he went south to central India. The king there, Jiasheng, honored and made offerings to him. At that time a non-Buddhist called the Venerable One of No-Self had first been highly esteemed by the king. Jealous of the patriarch’s arrival, he wanted to debate him, hoping to win and secure his position. Before the king, he said to the patriarch: “I understand silent debate and need no words.” The patriarch asked: “Who will know victory or defeat?” He replied: “I do not contend over victory or defeat; I only take the meaning.” The patriarch asked: “What do you take as the meaning?” He replied: “No-mind is the meaning.” The patriarch said: “If you have no mind, how can you obtain meaning?” He replied: “When I speak of no-mind, it should be called non-meaning.” The patriarch said: “You say no-mind should be called non-meaning; I say non-mind is not a name for meaning.” He said: “If meaning is not a name, who can distinguish meaning?” The patriarch replied: “If your name is not meaning, what is this name called?” He said: “To distinguish non-meaning, this name is nameless.” The patriarch said: “If the name is not a name and meaning is not meaning, who is distinguishing, and what thing is to be distinguished?” They went back and forth fifty-nine times, until the non-Buddhist fell silent and submitted in faith. At that moment the patriarch suddenly turned north, joined his palms, and sighed: “My teacher, Venerable Shizi, has met with calamity today. How lamentable!” He took leave of the king, went south to Southern India, and concealed himself in a mountain valley. The king there was Tiande, who welcomed him and made offerings. The king had two sons: Desheng, fierce, powerful, and robust; and Burumiduoluo, gentle but long afflicted by illness. The patriarch explained cause and effect to them, and the king’s doubts immediately vanished. A mantra master, jealous of the patriarch’s Way, secretly put poison in his food. The patriarch knew but ate it; the poisoner instead suffered the calamity and came to leave home under him. The patriarch gave him the full precepts. Sixty years later, Desheng ascended the throne and again trusted non-Buddhists. He challenged the patriarch, while Burumiduoluo was imprisoned for trying to remonstrate. The king suddenly asked the patriarch: “Our kingdom has always eliminated false and bizarre teachings. What lineage is it that you transmit?” The patriarch said: “This kingdom has in truth never had a false Dharma. What I have received is the Buddha’s lineage.” The king said: “The Buddha entered nirvana twelve hundred years ago. From whom did you receive it?” The patriarch replied: “The Great Being Radiant One personally received the Buddha’s seal. It was transmitted in succession until the twenty-fourth generation, Venerable Shizi, from whom I received it.” The king said: “I heard that Monk Shizi could not escape execution. How could he transmit the Dharma to those who came after him?” The patriarch said: “Before the calamity arose for my teacher, he secretly gave me the robe of faith and a Dharma verse, thereby revealing the succession.” The king asked: “Where is that robe?” The patriarch took it from his bag and showed it to him. The king ordered it burned, but its five colors shone brightly; when the firewood was consumed, the robe remained as before. The king immediately regretted his actions and bowed. Once Shizi’s true successor was confirmed, Burumiduoluo was released. He then asked to leave home. The patriarch asked: “If you leave home, for what purpose will you do so?” Miduoluo replied: “If I leave home, it will not be for those purposes.” The patriarch asked: “For what purpose, then?” Miduoluo said: “Not for worldly affairs.” The patriarch said:

當為何事。密多曰。當為佛事。祖曰。太子智慧天至。必諸聖降跡。即許出家。六年侍奉。後於王宮受具。羯磨之際。大地震動。頗多靈異。祖乃命之曰。吾已衰朽。安可久留。汝當善護正法眼藏。普濟群有。聽吾偈曰。聖人說知見。當境無是非。我今悟真性。無道亦無理。不如密多聞偈。再啟祖曰。法衣宜可傳授。祖曰。此衣為難故。假以證明。汝身無難。何假其衣。化被十方。人自信向。不如密多聞語。作禮而退。祖現於神變。化三昧火自焚。平地舍利可高一尺。德勝王創浮圖而秘之。當東晉明帝太寧三年乙酉歲也。

(The patriarch continued:) “For what purpose, then?” Miduoluo replied: “For the work of the Buddha.” The patriarch said: “The prince’s wisdom is heaven-given. He must be a sage who has manifested in this world.” He permitted him to leave home. After six years of service, Miduoluo received the full precepts in the royal palace. During the ordination rite, the earth shook and many miraculous signs appeared. The patriarch then instructed him: “I am already old and worn; how can I remain long? You should carefully protect the treasury of the true Dharma-eye and universally aid all beings. Hear this verse: ‘When sages speak of views and knowledge, before an object there is neither right nor wrong. I have now realized true nature; there is neither Way nor principle.’” After hearing the verse, Burumiduoluo asked the patriarch: “Should the Dharma robe be transmitted?” The patriarch said: “Because of the calamity, the robe was used as proof. You face no calamity, so why rely on this robe? When your teaching spreads through the ten directions, people will naturally trust and follow you.” Burumiduoluo heard this, bowed, and withdrew. The patriarch manifested spiritual transformations and burned himself in the fire of samadhi. His relics rose a full foot above the level ground. King Desheng built a stupa and enshrined them. This was the yiyou year, the third year of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Jin.

二十六祖不如密多尊者

The Twenty-Sixth Patriarch: Venerable Burumiduoluo

南印度天德王之次子也。既受度得法。至東印度。彼王名堅固。奉外道師長爪梵志。暨尊者將至。王與梵志同覩白氣貫於上下。王曰。斯何瑞也。梵志預知祖入境。恐王遷善。乃曰。此是魔來之兆耳。何瑞之有。即鳩諸徒眾議曰。不如密多將入都城。誰能挫之。弟子曰。我等各有呪術。可以動天地．入水火。何患哉。祖至。先見宮牆有黑氣。乃曰。小難耳。直詣王所。王曰。師來何為。祖曰。將度眾生。王曰。以何法度。祖曰。各以其類度之。時梵志聞言。不勝其怒。即以幻法。化大山於祖頂上。祖指之。忽在彼眾頭上。梵志等怖懼投祖。祖愍其愚惑。再指之。化山隨滅。乃為王演說法要。俾趣真乘。謂王曰。此國當有聖人而繼於我。是時有婆羅門子。年二十許。幼失父母。不知名氏。或自言纓絡。故人謂之纓絡童子。遊行閭裡。丐求度日。若常不輕之類。人問。汝行何急。即答曰。汝行何緩。或曰。何姓。乃曰。與汝同姓。莫知其故。後。王與尊者同車而出。見纓絡童子稽首於前。祖曰。汝憶往事否。童曰。我念遠劫中。與師同居。師演摩訶般若。我轉甚深修多羅。今日之事。葢契昔因。祖又謂王曰。此童子非他。即大勢至菩薩是也。此聖之後。復出二人。一人化南印度。一人緣在震旦。四五年內。卻返此方。遂以昔因。故名般若多羅。付法眼藏。偈曰。真性心地藏。無頭亦無尾。應緣而化物。方便呼為智。祖付法已。即辭王曰。吾化緣已終。當歸寂滅。願王於最上乘。無忘外護。即還本座。跏趺而逝。化火自焚。收舍利塔而瘞之。當東晉孝武帝太元十三年戊子歲也。

He was the younger son of King Tiande of Southern India. After receiving ordination and the Dharma, he went to Eastern India. The king there, Jian Gu, honored the non-Buddhist teacher Long-Nailed Brahmin. As the Venerable One was about to arrive, the king and the Brahmin both saw white vapor spanning heaven and earth. The king asked: “What auspicious sign is this?” The Brahmin, knowing in advance that the patriarch had entered the kingdom and fearing the king might turn toward goodness, replied: “It is a sign of a demon’s arrival. What is auspicious about it?” He gathered his disciples and plotted: “Burumiduoluo is about to enter the capital. Who can defeat him?” The disciples replied: “Each of us has mantra powers that can move heaven and earth and enter fire and water. What should we fear?” When the patriarch arrived, he first saw black vapor over the palace walls and said: “This is only a small difficulty.” He went straight to the king. The king asked: “Master, why have you come?” The patriarch replied: “To liberate sentient beings.” The king asked: “By what Dharma will you liberate them?” He said: “I will liberate each according to their kind.” Hearing this, the Brahmin was overcome with anger and used an illusion to conjure a great mountain above the patriarch’s head. The patriarch pointed once, and it suddenly appeared above the heads of the non-Buddhists. The Brahmin and the others were terrified and took refuge in the patriarch. Taking pity on their delusion, the patriarch pointed again, and the illusory mountain disappeared. He then explained the essentials of Dharma to the king and guided him toward the true vehicle. He told the king: “A sage in this kingdom will surely succeed me.” At that time there was a Brahmin youth about twenty years old. He had lost his parents in childhood and did not know his family name. Sometimes he called himself “Necklace,” so people called him the Necklace Boy. He wandered through the lanes and lived by begging, much like the Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. When people asked: “Why do you walk so fast?” he replied: “Why do you walk so slowly?” If asked his clan, he said: “The same as yours.” No one knew why he answered this way. Later the king and the Venerable One rode together. They saw the Necklace Boy bowing before them. The patriarch asked: “Do you remember former events?” The boy said: “I recall that in a distant kalpa I lived together with the master. The master expounded the Great Perfection of Wisdom, while I turned the profound sutras. What is happening today accords exactly with those former causes and conditions.” The patriarch then told the king: “This boy is none other than the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta. After this sage, two people will appear: one will teach in Southern India, and the other’s karmic affinity will be in the Land of Han (China). Within four or five years, he will return here.” In accordance with their former connection, the boy was named Prajnatara. The patriarch entrusted to him the treasury of the Dharma-eye and recited: “True nature is the treasury-ground of mind, without beginning or end. Responding to conditions, it teaches and transforms all beings; expedient means are called wisdom.” Having transmitted the Dharma, the patriarch took leave of the king and said: “My karmic work of teaching is complete; I should now return to stillness. Great King, do not forget to protect the supreme vehicle from outside.” He returned to his seat, sat cross-legged, and passed away, burning his body in fire. His relics were gathered and buried in a stupa. This was the wuzi year, the thirteenth year of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin.

二十七祖般若多羅尊者

The Twenty-Seventh Patriarch: Venerable Prajnatara

東印度人也。既得法已。行化至南印度。彼王名香至。崇奉佛乘。尊重供養。度越倫等。又施無價寶珠。時王有三子。曰月淨多羅。曰功德多羅。曰菩提多羅。其季開士也。祖欲試其所得。乃以所施珠問三王子曰。此珠圓明。有能及否。第一王子．第二王子皆曰。此珠七寶中尊。固無踰也。非尊者道力。孰能受之。第三王子曰。此是世寶。未足為上。於諸寶中。法寶為上。此是世光。未足為上。於諸光中。智光為上。此是世明。未足為上。於諸明中。心明為上。此珠光明。不能自照。要假智光。光辨於此。既辨此已。即知是珠。既知是珠。即明其寶。若明其寶。寶不自寶。若辨其珠。珠不自珠。珠不自珠者。要假智珠而辨世珠。寶不自寶者。要假智寶以明法寶。然則師有其道。其寶即現。眾生有道。心寶亦然。祖歎其辯慧。乃復問曰。於諸物中。何物無相。曰。於諸物中。不起無相。又問。於諸物中。何物最高。曰。於諸物中。人我最高。又問。於諸物中。何物最大。曰。於諸物中。法性最大。祖知是法嗣。以時尚未至。且默而混之。及香至王厭世。眾皆號絕。唯第三子菩提多羅於柩前入定。經七日而出。乃求出家。既受具戒。祖告曰。如來以正法眼付大迦葉。如是展轉。乃至於我。我今囑汝。聽吾偈曰。心地生諸種。因事復生理。果滿菩提圓。華開世界起。尊者付法已。即於座上起立。舒左右手。各放光明二十七道。五色光耀。又踴身虗空。高七多羅樹。化火自焚。空中舍利如雨。收以建塔。當宋孝武帝大明元年丁酉歲。祖因東印度國王請。祖齋次。王乃問。諸人盡轉經。唯師為甚不轉。祖曰。貧道出息不隨眾緣。入息不居蘊界。常轉如是經百千萬億卷。非但一卷兩卷。

He was from Eastern India. After receiving the Dharma, he traveled to teach in Southern India. The king there, Xiangzhi, upheld the Buddha Vehicle and honored and supported the patriarch above all others. He also offered him a priceless jewel. The king had three sons: Yuejingduoluo, Gongdeduoluo, and Putiduoluo. The youngest was a bodhisattva. To test their understanding, the patriarch held up the jewel and asked the three princes: “This jewel is perfectly round and luminous. Is there anything that surpasses it?” The first and second princes both said: “Among the seven treasures, this is the most precious; surely nothing can surpass it. If not for the Venerable One’s spiritual power, who could receive it?” The third prince replied: “This is a worldly treasure, not worthy of being considered the highest. Among treasures, the Dharma-treasure is supreme. This is worldly light, not worthy of being considered the highest. Among lights, the light of wisdom is supreme. This is worldly brightness, not worthy of being considered the highest. Among forms of brightness, the brightness of mind is supreme. The jewel’s light cannot illuminate itself; it must rely on the light of wisdom. When that light makes it clear, we recognize it as a jewel; once we recognize the jewel, we understand that treasure. When a treasure is understood, the treasure does not make itself a treasure; when the jewel is discerned, the jewel does not make itself a jewel. For a jewel not to make itself a jewel, one must rely on the wisdom-jewel to discern the worldly jewel; for a treasure not to make itself a treasure, one must rely on the wisdom-treasure to illuminate the Dharma-treasure. Thus, when the master has the Way, that treasure appears; when sentient beings have the Way, the jewel of mind is just the same.” The patriarch praised his eloquence and wisdom, then asked: “Among things, what has no appearance?” He replied: “Among things, not giving rise to anything is the markless.” The patriarch asked: “Among things, what is highest?” He replied: “Among things, the self and person are highest.” The patriarch asked: “Among things, what is greatest?” He replied: “Among things, the nature of Dharma is greatest.” The patriarch knew that he was the successor of the Dharma, but the time had not yet come, so he silently remained among them. When King Xiangzhi grew weary of the world and died, everyone wailed and fainted, except the third son Putiduoluo, who entered meditation before the coffin and emerged only after seven days. He then asked to leave home. After receiving the full precepts, the patriarch told him: “The Tathagata entrusted the true Dharma-eye to Mahakashyapa. It has been passed down in succession until it reached me. I now entrust it to you. Hear this verse: ‘The ground of mind gives rise to all kinds of seeds; from things, principles arise in turn. When the fruit of bodhi is fully perfected, flowers bloom and worlds arise.’” After transmitting the Dharma, the Venerable One rose from his seat, spread out both hands, and emitted twenty-seven rays of light from each hand, shining in five colors. He then rose into the air to a height of seven tala trees and burned himself in fire. Relics rained down from the sky; they were gathered and placed in a stupa. This was the dingyou year, the first year of Emperor Xiaowu of Song. Once, when the king of Eastern India invited the patriarch to a meal, the king asked: “Everyone else is reciting sutras. Why does the master not recite?” The patriarch replied: “When this poor monk breathes out, he does not follow conditions; when he breathes in, he does not abide in the aggregates or realms. I constantly recite hundreds of thousands of millions of volumes of such a sutra, not merely one or two.”

東土祖師

Patriarchs of the Eastern Land

初祖菩提達磨大師者

The First Patriarch: Great Master Bodhidharma

南天竺國香至王第三子也。姓剎帝利。本名菩提多羅。後遇二十七祖般若多羅至本國受王供養。知師密跡。因試令與二兄辨所施寶珠。發明心要。既而尊者謂曰。汝於諸法。已得通量。夫達磨者。通大之義也。宜名達磨。因改號菩提達磨。祖乃告尊者曰。我既得法。當往何國而作佛事。願垂開示。者曰。汝雖得法。未可遠遊。且止南天。待吾滅後六十七載。當往震旦。設大法藥。直接上根。慎勿速行。衰於日下。祖又曰。彼有大士。堪為法器否。千載之下有留難否。者曰。汝所化之方。獲菩提者不可勝數。吾滅後六十餘年。彼國有難。水中文布。自善降之。汝至時。南方勿住。彼唯好有為功業。不見佛理。汝縱到彼。亦不可久留。聽吾偈曰。路行跨水復逢羊。獨自棲棲暗渡江。日下可憐雙象馬。二株嫰桂久昌昌。又問曰。此後更有何事。者曰。從是已去。一百五十年。而有小難。聽吾讖曰。心中雖吉外頭㐫。川下僧房名不中。為遇毒龍生武子。忽逢小鼠寂無窮。又問。此後如何。者曰。卻後二百二十年。林下見一人。當得道果。聽吾讖曰。震旦雖濶無別路。要假兒孫腳下行。金雞解銜一粒粟。供養十方羅漢僧。復演諸偈。皆預讖佛教隆替(事具寶林傳及聖胄集)。祖恭稟教義。服勤左右垂四十年。未甞廢闕。迨尊者順世。遂演化本國。時有二師。一名佛大先。二名佛大勝多。本與祖同學佛陀跋陀小乘禪觀。佛大先既遇般若多羅尊者。捨小趣大。與祖並化。時號二甘露門矣。而佛大勝多更分徒而為六宗。第一有相宗。第二無相宗。第三定慧宗。第四戒行宗。第五無得宗。第六寂靜宗。各封己解。別展化源。聚落崢嶸。徒眾甚盛。祖喟然歎曰。彼之一師已陷牛跡。況復支離繁盛而分六宗。我若不除。永纏邪見。言已。微現神力。至有相宗所。問曰。一切諸法何名實相。彼眾中有一尊長薩婆羅答曰。

He was the third son of King Xiangzhi of Southern India and belonged to the Kshatriya caste. His original name was Putiduoluo. Later, when the Twenty-Seventh Patriarch Prajnatara came to his kingdom to receive the king’s offerings, he recognized the teacher’s secret traces. The patriarch tested him by asking him to distinguish the jewel offered by the king from the understanding of his two elder brothers, and he revealed the essential point of mind. The Venerable One then said: “You have already attained a thorough understanding of all dharmas. ‘Dharma’ means to penetrate greatly; you should be named Dharma.” Thus his name was changed to Bodhidharma. The patriarch then asked the Venerable One: “Now that I have received the Dharma, to which country should I go to carry out the Buddha’s work? Please instruct me.” The Venerable One said: “Though you have received the Dharma, you must not yet travel far. Stay for now in Southern India. Sixty-seven years after I pass away, you should go to the Land of Han and establish the great Dharma-medicine, directed straight to those of the highest capacity. Be careful not to go too soon; the south is in decline.” The patriarch asked again: “Are there great beings there who can serve as vessels of the Dharma? Will there be obstacles a thousand years from now?” The Venerable One replied: “In the place you teach, the number who attain bodhi will be beyond counting. More than sixty years after I pass away, that country will face a calamity: a cloth will float upon the water, and naturally a good person will come to subdue it. When you arrive, do not stay in the south. There people delight only in works with form and cannot see the principle of the Buddha. Even if you go there, do not remain long. Hear this verse: ‘Traveling by road, cross the water and meet a sheep; alone and restless, secretly cross the river. Beneath the sun, alas, two elephant-horses; two tender cassia shoots will flourish for a long time.’ The patriarch asked: “What will happen after that?” The Venerable One said: “One hundred and fifty years from now, a small calamity will occur. Hear this prophecy: ‘Though the heart is auspicious, outside is ill fortune; the monastery below the river has a name that does not fit. A poisonous dragon gives birth to a martial son; suddenly a little rat appears, and stillness is endless.’” The patriarch asked: “And after that?” The Venerable One said: “Two hundred and twenty years from now, beneath the forest you will see a person who will surely attain the fruit of the Way. Hear this prophecy: ‘Though the Land of Han is vast, there is no other road; you must borrow the steps of sons and grandsons. The golden rooster knows how to carry a grain of millet, making offerings to arhats in the ten directions.’” He then recited more verses, all prophesying the rise and decline of the Buddha’s teaching (the matter is recorded in the Baolin Tradition and the Collection of the Holy Lineage). The patriarch respectfully received the teaching and served at the Venerable One’s side for nearly forty years without neglect. When the Venerable One passed into the world beyond, he began teaching and transforming beings in his own country. At that time there were two teachers: the first, Buddhasena; the second, Buddhajyeshtha. They had originally studied the meditation of the Lesser Vehicle with the patriarch under Buddhabhadra. After Buddhasena met Venerable Prajnatara, he abandoned the Lesser and turned toward the Greater Vehicle. Together with the patriarch, he taught and transformed beings; at the time their teaching was called the Two Gates of Nectar. Buddhajyeshtha, however, divided his followers into six schools: the first, the School of Characteristics; the second, the School of No Characteristics; the third, the School of Samadhi and Wisdom; the fourth, the School of Precepts and Conduct; the fifth, the School of No Attainment; and the sixth, the School of Stillness. Each sealed itself within its own views and spread its teaching separately. Their communities flourished, and their followers were numerous. The patriarch sighed: “That teacher has already fallen into the trace of an ox’s hoof—how much more fragmented and flourishing are these six schools! If I do not correct this, they will remain forever entangled in wrong views.” Having spoken, he subtly manifested his spiritual power and went to the School of Characteristics. He asked: “Among all dharmas, what is called true reality?” One of the elders there, Sarvara, answered:

於諸相中不互諸相。是名實相。祖曰。一切諸相而不互者。若名實相。當何定邪。彼曰。於諸相中實無有定。若定諸相。何名為實。祖曰。諸相不定。便名實相。汝今不定。當何得之。彼曰。我言不定。不說諸相。當說諸相。其義亦然。祖曰。汝言不定。當為實相。定不定故。即非實相。彼曰。定既不定。即非實相。知我非故。不定不變。祖曰。汝今不變。何名實相。已變已往。其義亦然。彼曰。不變當在。在不在故。故變實相。以定其義。祖曰。實相不變。變即非實。於有無中。何名實相。薩婆羅心知聖師懸解潛達。即以手指虗空曰。此是世間有相。亦能空故。當我此身。得似此否。祖曰。若解實相。即見非相。若了非相。其色亦然。當於色中。不失色體。於非相中。不礙有故。若能是解。此名實相。彼眾聞已。心意朗然。欽禮信受。祖瞥然匿跡。至無相宗所。問曰。汝言無相。當何證之。彼眾中有波羅提答曰。我明無相。心不現故。祖曰。汝心不現。當何明之。彼曰。我明無相。心不取捨。當於明時。亦無當者。祖曰。於諸有無。心不取捨。又無當者。諸明無故。彼曰。入佛三昧。尚無所得。何況無相。而欲知之。祖曰。相既不知。誰雲有無。尚無所得。何名三昧。彼曰。我說不證。證無所證。非三昧故。我說三昧。祖曰。非三昧者。何當名之。汝既不證。非證何證。波羅提聞祖辯㭊。即悟本心。禮謝於祖。懺悔往謬。祖記曰。汝當得果。不久證之。此國有魔。非久降之。言已。忽然不現。至定慧宗所。問曰。汝學定慧。為一為二。彼眾中有婆蘭陀者答曰。我此定慧。非一非二。祖曰。既非一二。何名定慧。彼曰。在定非定。處慧非慧。一即非一。二亦不二。祖曰。當一不一。當二不二。既非定慧。約何定慧。彼曰。不一不二。定慧能知。非定非慧。亦復然矣。祖曰。慧非定故。然何知哉。不一不二。

(Sarvara continued:) “Among all appearances, that which is not set in opposition to appearances is called true reality.” The patriarch asked: “If all appearances that are not set in opposition to one another are called true reality, how should that be established?” Sarvara said: “There is truly no fixed thing among appearances. If appearances were fixed, how could they be called real?” The patriarch said: “Appearances that are not fixed are called true reality. You are now unfixed; how can you attain it?” Sarvara replied: “I speak of the unfixed, not appearances. When appearances are spoken of, the meaning is the same.” The patriarch said: “You speak of the unfixed as true reality; since it is both fixed and unfixed, it is not true reality.” Sarvara said: “Since the fixed is already unfixed, it is not true reality. Because you know that I am not, the unfixed does not change.” The patriarch said: “If you do not change, how can that be true reality? The meaning is the same for what has already changed and gone.” Sarvara said: “The unchanging should abide. Since it both abides and does not abide, true reality changes, and thereby establishes that meaning.” The patriarch said: “True reality does not change; if it changes, it is not true. Between existence and nonexistence, how can it be true reality?” Sarvara inwardly realized that this holy teacher had penetrated the matter completely. He pointed at the sky and said: “This is the world of appearances, yet it can also be empty. Can my body be like this?” The patriarch said: “If you understand true reality, you see what is not an appearance. If you understand what is not an appearance, then form is also like this. You should remain within form without losing the substance of form; abiding in what is not an appearance does not obstruct existence. If you understand it this way, it is called true reality.” Hearing this, the people’s minds became clear; they revered and trusted him. In the blink of an eye, the patriarch disappeared and went to the School of No Characteristics. He asked: “You speak of no characteristics. How should it be realized?” One of the assembly, Paratī, replied: “I understand no characteristics because mind does not appear.” The patriarch said: “If your mind does not appear, how do you understand?” Paratī replied: “I understand no characteristics; the mind neither grasps nor rejects. While understanding, there is no one who understands.” The patriarch said: “Among existence and nonexistence, the mind neither grasps nor rejects; there is no one who understands, and so all understanding is absent.” Paratī said: “If one enters the Buddha’s samadhi, there is nothing to attain. How much less could one know no characteristics?” The patriarch said: “Since characteristics are not known, who speaks of existence or nonexistence? If there is nothing to attain, how can it be called samadhi?” Paratī replied: “I say there is no realization: realizing that there is nothing to realize is not samadhi, and that is why I call it samadhi.” The patriarch said: “If it is not samadhi, what name should it have? Since you do not realize it, what is it that you realize apart from realization?” Hearing the patriarch’s analysis, Paratī awakened to his original mind, bowed to him, and repented his former errors. The patriarch predicted: “You will surely attain the fruit, and realize it before long. There is a demon in this kingdom; you will soon subdue it.” Having said this, he suddenly vanished. The patriarch then went to the School of Samadhi and Wisdom and asked: “You study samadhi and wisdom. Are they one or two?” Bharanta replied: “My samadhi and wisdom are neither one nor two.” The patriarch said: “If they are neither one nor two, how can they be called samadhi and wisdom?” Bharanta said: “In samadhi there is no samadhi; in wisdom there is no wisdom. One is not one, and two is not two.” The patriarch said: “It is one and yet not one; it is two and yet not two. If they are not samadhi and wisdom, what makes them samadhi and wisdom?” Bharanta replied: “Neither one nor two—samadhi and wisdom can know this. Neither samadhi nor wisdom is also just so.” The patriarch said: “If wisdom is not samadhi, how can it know? If they are neither one nor two, who is samadhi and who is wisdom?”

誰定誰慧。婆蘭陀聞之。疑心氷釋。至第四戒行宗所。問曰。何者名戒。云何名行。當此戒行。為一為二。彼眾中有一賢者答曰。一二二一。皆彼所生。依教無染。此名戒行。祖曰。汝言依教。即是有染。一二俱破。何言依教。此二違背。不及於行。內外非明。何名為戒。彼曰。我有內外。彼已知竟。既得通達。便是戒行。若說違背。俱是俱非。言及清淨。即戒即行。祖曰。俱是俱非。何言清淨。既得通故。何談內外。賢者聞之。即自慚伏。至無得宗所。問曰。汝雲無得。無得何得。既無所得。亦無得得。彼眾中有寶靜者答曰。我說無得。非無得得。當說得得。無得是得。祖曰。得既不得。得亦非得。既雲得得。得得何得。彼曰。見得非得。非得是得。若見不得。名為得得。祖曰。得既非得。得得無得。既無所得。當何得得。寶靜聞之。頓除疑網。至寂靜宗所。問曰。何名寂靜。於此法中。誰靜誰寂。彼眾中有尊者答曰。此心不動。是名為寂。於法無染。名之為靜。祖曰。本心不寂。要假寂靜。本來寂故。何用寂靜。彼曰。諸法本空。以空空故。於彼空空。故名寂靜。祖曰。空空已空。諸法亦爾。寂靜無相。何靜何寂。彼尊者聞師指誨。豁然開悟。既而六眾。鹹誓歸依。由是化被南天。聲馳五印。經六十載。度無量眾。後值異見王輕毀三寶。每雲。我之祖宗。皆信佛道。陷於邪見。壽年不永。運祚亦促。且我身是佛。何更外求。善惡報應。皆因多智之者妄搆其說。至於國內耆舊。為前王所奉者。悉從廢黜。祖知已。歎彼德薄。當何救之。即念無相宗中二首領。其一波羅提者。與王有緣。將證其果。其二宗勝者。非不博辯。而無宿因。時六宗徒眾。亦各念言。佛法有難。師何自安。祖遙知眾意。即彈指應之。六眾聞雲。此是我師達磨信響。我等宜速行。以副慈命。即至祖所。禮拜問訊。祖曰。一葉翳空。

(The patriarch continued asking:) “Who is samadhi and who is wisdom?” Hearing this, Bharanta’s doubts melted away. The patriarch went to the fourth school, that of Precepts and Conduct, and asked: “What are precepts? What is conduct? Are precepts and conduct one or two?” A sage in the assembly replied: “One and two, two and one, all arise on the other side. To follow the teaching without defilement is called precepts and conduct.” The patriarch said: “You say you follow the teaching; that itself is defilement. One and two have both been refuted, so how can you speak of following it? These two aspects conflict and do not reach conduct; inside and outside are not clarified, so how can this be called precepts?” The sage said: “I have inside and outside, and the other side is already understood. Having attained penetration, this is precepts and conduct. If you speak of conflict, both are and are not; when speaking of purity, it is both precepts and conduct.” The patriarch said: “If both are and are not, how can you speak of purity? Since you have attained penetration, why speak of inside and outside?” Hearing this, the sage was ashamed and subdued himself. The patriarch went to the School of No Attainment and asked: “You speak of no attainment. What does no attainment attain? Since there is nothing attained, there is nothing that attainment attains.” Baojing replied: “When I speak of no attainment, it is not that nothing is attained. When attainment is spoken of, no attainment is the attainment.” The patriarch said: “If attainment cannot be attained, attainment is not attainment. Since you speak of attaining attainment, what does attainment attain?” Baojing said: “To see attainment is not attainment; nonattainment is attainment. If you see no attainment, that is called attaining attainment.” The patriarch said: “Since attainment is not attainment, attaining attainment has no attainment. Since nothing is attained, what is there to attain?” Hearing this, Baojing’s doubts were suddenly dispelled. The patriarch went to the School of Stillness and asked: “What is stillness? In this Dharma, who is still and who is quiet?” A venerable one in the assembly said: “When this mind does not move, it is called still. When there is no defilement in Dharma, it is called quiet.” The patriarch said: “The original mind is not still; it borrows stillness. Since it is originally still, why use stillness?” The venerable one said: “All dharmas are originally empty; because of emptiness, they are empty. Abiding in that emptiness is called stillness.” The patriarch said: “Emptiness itself is empty; all dharmas are likewise so. Stillness has no mark—what is still, and what is quiet?” Hearing the teacher’s instruction, the venerable one suddenly awakened. Then all six groups vowed to take refuge. From then on, the teaching spread through Southern India and its fame throughout the five regions of India. Over sixty years, the patriarch liberated immeasurable beings. Later, a king of wrong views despised the Three Treasures and often said: “My ancestors all believed in the Buddha’s Way, fell into wrong views, and did not live long; their reigns were short as well. I myself am the Buddha—why seek outside? Retribution for good and evil is merely an invention of clever people.” He dismissed all the elders honored by previous kings throughout the kingdom. The patriarch heard of this and sighed: “His virtue is shallow. How can he be saved?” He thought of the two leaders of the School of No Characteristics: one was Paratī, whose karmic affinity with the king meant he would soon attain the fruit; the other was Zongsheng, who was not without eloquence but lacked the former karmic connection. The followers of the six schools each wondered: “The Buddha-Dharma is in danger. Why does our teacher remain at ease?” The patriarch knew their thoughts from afar and snapped his fingers in reply. The six groups heard the sound and said: “This is the signal of faith from our teacher Bodhidharma. We should hurry and answer his compassionate summons.” They went to the patriarch, bowed, and greeted him. The patriarch said: “A single leaf obscures the sky—

孰能翦拂。宗勝曰。我雖淺薄。敢憚其行。祖曰。汝雖辯慧。道力未全。宗勝自念。我師恐我見王大作佛事。名譽顯達。映奪尊威。縱彼福慧為王。我是沙門受佛教旨。豈難敵也。言訖潛去。至王所廣說法要及世界苦樂．人天善惡等事。王與之往返徵詰。無不詣理。王曰。汝今所解。其法何在。宗勝曰。如王治化。當合其道。王所有道。其道何在。王曰。我所有道。將除邪法。汝所有法。將伏何人。祖不起於座。懸知宗勝義墮。遽告波羅提曰。宗勝不稟吾教。潛化於王。須臾理屈。汝可速救。波羅提恭稟祖旨。雲。願假神力。言已。雲生足下。至大王前。默然而住。時王正問宗勝。忽見波羅提乘雲而至。愕然忘其問答。曰。乘空之者。是正是邪。提曰。我非邪正。而來正邪。王心若正。我無邪正。王雖驚異。而驕慢方熾。即擯宗勝令出。波羅提曰。王既有道。何擯沙門。我雖無解。願王致問。王怒而問曰。何者是佛。提曰。見性是佛。王曰。師見性否。提曰。我見佛性。王曰。性在何處。提曰。性在作用。王曰。是何作用。我今不見。提曰。今現作用。王自不見。王曰。於我有否。提曰。王若作用。無有不是。王若不用。體亦難見。王曰。若當用時。幾處出現。提曰。若出現時。當有其八。王曰。其八出現。當為我說。波羅提即說偈曰。在胎為身。處世為人。在眼曰見。在耳曰聞。在鼻辨香。在口談論。在手執捉。在足運奔。徧現俱該沙界。收攝在一微塵。識者知是佛性。不識喚作精魂。王聞偈已。心即開悟。悔謝前非。諮詢法要。朝夕忘倦。迄於九旬。時宗勝既被斥逐。退藏深山。唸曰。我今百歲。八十為非。二十年來。方歸佛道。性雖愚昧。行絕瑕疵。不能禦難。生何如死。言訖。即自投崖。俄有神人以手捧承。置於巖上。安然無損。宗勝曰。我忝沙門。當與正法為主。不能抑絕王非。是以捐身自責。

(The patriarch continued:) who can cut it away?” Zongsheng said: “Though I am shallow, how could I fear this undertaking?” The patriarch said: “Though you are eloquent and wise, your power in the Way is not complete.” Zongsheng thought to himself: “My teacher fears that if I meet the king and accomplish great Buddha-work, my reputation will rise and overshadow his authority. Even if he has merit and wisdom like a king, I am a shramana following the Buddha’s teaching; could he truly be difficult to overcome?” Without telling anyone, he went to the king and broadly explained the essentials of Dharma, the sufferings and joys of the world, and the good and evil of humans and gods. The king questioned him back and forth, and none of his answers failed to accord with principle. The king said: “Where is the Dharma you now understand?” Zongsheng replied: “Just as the king’s governance should accord with the Way, where is the king’s Way?” The king said: “My Way will eliminate false teachings. Whom will your Dharma subdue?” Though the patriarch had not left his seat, he knew from afar that Zongsheng’s argument was about to fail. He hurriedly told Paratī: “Zongsheng did not follow my teaching. He has secretly gone to teach the king and will soon be defeated in argument. You must hurry and save him.” Paratī respectfully accepted the patriarch’s instruction and said: “I beg to borrow your spiritual power.” As soon as he spoke, clouds rose beneath his feet. He arrived before the king and stood silently. The king was questioning Zongsheng when he suddenly saw Paratī arrive riding on a cloud. In astonishment he forgot the debate and asked: “Is one who rides through the air orthodox or heterodox?” Paratī said: “I am neither orthodox nor heterodox; I have come to correct what is heterodox. If the king’s mind is upright, I have neither orthodoxy nor heterodoxy.” Though the king was astonished, his arrogance was still strong, and he expelled Zongsheng. Paratī said: “Since the king already has the Way, why expel a shramana? Though I understand nothing, I invite the king to question me.” The king angrily asked: “What is a Buddha?” Paratī replied: “Seeing one’s nature is Buddhahood.” The king asked: “Have you seen your nature?” Paratī said: “I see Buddha-nature.” The king asked: “Where is this nature?” Paratī said: “It is in its functioning.” The king asked: “What functioning? I cannot see it now.” Paratī replied: “It is functioning right now, but the king himself cannot see it.” The king asked: “Is it present in me?” Paratī said: “When the king functions, nothing is not it; when the king does not function, its substance is difficult to see.” The king asked: “When it functions, in how many places does it appear?” Paratī said: “When it appears, there should be eight.” The king asked: “Explain these eight appearances to me.” Paratī then recited: “In the womb, it is a body; in the world, it is a person. In the eye, it is seeing; in the ear, it is hearing. In the nose, it distinguishes scents; in the mouth, it speaks. In the hands, it grasps; in the feet, it runs. When spread throughout, it fills the worlds as numerous as grains of sand; when gathered in, it is contained in a single mote of dust. Those who recognize it know this is Buddha-nature; those who do not call it a spirit.” Hearing the verse, the king’s mind opened. He regretted and apologized for his former errors, then asked about the essentials of Dharma. Morning and evening he forgot fatigue and continued for ninety days. Zongsheng, having been expelled, withdrew into a deep mountain and thought: “I am now a hundred years old. For eighty years I did wrong; only for twenty years have I returned to the Buddha’s Way. My nature may be dull, but my conduct has no flaw. I cannot withstand this difficulty; to live would be worse than dying.” He then threw himself from a cliff. Suddenly a spirit caught him in its hands and placed him safely on a rock, without injury. Zongsheng said: “I am a shramana and should uphold the true Dharma, yet I could not suppress the king’s wrong views; therefore I gave up my life as an act of self-reproach.

何神祐助。一至於斯。願垂一語。以保餘年。於是神人乃說偈曰。師壽於百歲。八十而造非。為近至尊故。燻修而入道。雖具少智慧。而多有彼我。所見諸賢等。未甞生珍敬。二十年功德。其心未恬靜。聦明輕慢故。而獲至於此。得王不敬者。當感果如是。自今不疎怠。不久成奇智。諸聖悉存心。如來亦復爾。宗勝聞偈欣然。即於巖間宴坐。時王復問波羅提曰。仁者智辯。當師何人。提曰。我所出家。即娑羅寺烏沙婆三藏為受業師。其出世師者。即大王叔菩提達磨是也。王聞祖名。驚駭久之。曰。鄙薄忝嗣王位。而趣邪背正。忘我尊叔。遽敕近臣。特加迎請。祖即隨使而至。為王懺悔往非。王聞規誡。泣謝於祖。又詔宗勝歸國。大臣奏曰。宗勝被謫投崖。今已亡矣。王告祖曰。宗勝之死。皆自於吾。如何大慈。令免斯罪。祖曰。宗勝今在巖間宴息。但遣使召。當即至矣。王即遣使入山。果見宗勝端居禪寂。宗勝蒙召。乃曰。深愧王意。貧道誓處巖泉。且王國賢德如林。達磨是王之叔。六眾所師。波羅提法中龍象。願王崇仰二聖。以福皇基。使者復命。未至。祖謂王曰。知取得宗勝否。王曰。未知。祖曰。一請未至。再命必來。良久使還。果如祖語。祖遂辭王曰。當善修德。不久疾作。吾且去矣。經七日。王乃得疾。國醫診治。有加無瘳。貴戚近臣憶師前記。急發使告祖曰。王疾殆至彌留。願叔慈悲。遠來診救。祖即至慰問。時宗勝再承王召。即別巖間。波羅提亦來問疾。謂祖曰。當何施為。令王免苦。祖即令太子為王宥罪施恩。崇奉三寶。復為懺悔。願罪消滅。如是者三。王疾有間。師念震旦緣熟。行化時至。乃先辭祖塔。次別同學。後至王所。慰而勉之曰。當勤修白業。護持三寶。吾去非晚。一九即回。王聞師言。涕淚交集曰。此國何罪。彼土何祥。叔既有緣。非吾所止。惟願不忘父母之國。事畢早回。

What spirit has protected and supported me to such an extent? I beg for a word that will preserve the years I have left.” The spirit then recited this verse: “The master’s life lasts a hundred years; for eighty he acted wrongly. Because he drew near the most honored one, he cultivated himself and entered the Way. Though he had a little wisdom, he had much sense of self and other; he saw the worthy ones but never gave rise to reverence. For twenty years he cultivated merit, yet his mind was not at peace. Because he was clever and arrogant, he came to this. The king did not honor him, and he received this result. From now on, do not slacken; before long you will attain wondrous wisdom. Keep all the sages in your mind; the Tathagata is likewise so.” Zongsheng heard the verse with joy and sat in meditation among the rocks. The king then asked Paratī: “Venerable sir, whose teacher are you in wisdom and debate?” Paratī said: “When I left home, the Tripitaka Master Ushabha of the Sala Monastery was my preceptor. The teacher who appeared in this world is your uncle, Bodhidharma.” Hearing the patriarch’s name, the king was astonished for a long time and said: “I am unworthy to have inherited the throne, yet I followed wrong views and turned away from what is right, forgetting my honored uncle.” He hurriedly ordered his attendants to invite him with special honors. The patriarch went with the envoys and repented to the king for his former errors. The king accepted the admonition and wept as he apologized to the patriarch. He also ordered Zongsheng to return to the kingdom. His ministers reported: “Zongsheng was banished and threw himself from a cliff; he is now dead.” The king told the patriarch: “Zongsheng’s death was entirely my fault. How can your great compassion free me from this crime?” The patriarch said: “Zongsheng is now meditating in the mountain. Just send an envoy to summon him, and he will surely come.” The king sent an envoy into the mountains, who indeed found Zongsheng sitting in meditation. When summoned, Zongsheng said: “I am deeply grateful for the king’s concern, but I have vowed to dwell among the rocks and streams. Besides, the kingdom is full of worthy people. Bodhidharma is the king’s uncle and the teacher of the six groups; Paratī is a dragon among the Dharma. I hope the king will revere these two sages and thereby bless the royal foundation.” Before the envoy had returned, the patriarch asked the king: “Have you received Zongsheng?” The king said: “I do not yet know.” The patriarch said: “The first summons did not bring him; send again and he will come.” Much later, the envoy returned, just as the patriarch had predicted. The patriarch then took leave of the king: “You should cultivate virtue well. Before long an illness will arise; I will go now.” Seven days later the king fell ill. The royal physicians treated him, but he only grew worse. The nobles and attendants remembered the patriarch’s earlier prediction and hurriedly sent a messenger: “The king is near death. We beg our uncle’s compassion; please come from afar and save him.” The patriarch came and comforted him. Zongsheng was again summoned by the king and took leave of the mountain. Paratī also came to see the king and asked the patriarch: “What should be done to free the king from suffering?” The patriarch told the crown prince to pardon the king’s offenses, extend kindness, honor the Three Treasures, and repent; he was to do this three times, praying that the offenses be erased. The king’s illness then began to improve. The patriarch knew that the karmic affinity with the Land of Han had matured and that it was time to teach there. He first took leave of the patriarchal stupa, then bade farewell to his fellow students, and finally went to the king to encourage him: “Practice wholesome deeds diligently and protect the Three Treasures. I will not be gone long; I will return in one and nine.” The king heard his words and wept: “What fault does this kingdom have, and what auspiciousness does that land possess? Since my uncle has a karmic affinity there, I cannot keep you. I only hope you will not forget the country of your parents and will return soon when your work is done.”

王即具大舟。實以眾寶。躬率臣寮。送至海壖。祖汎重溟。凡三週寒暑。達於南海。實梁普通七年庚子歲九月二十一日也。廣州刺史蕭昂具主禮迎接。表聞武帝。帝覽奏。遣使齎詔迎請(舊板年甲差誤。今依梁僧寶唱續法記宋嵩禪師正宗記前後改雲)。十月一日至金陵。帝問曰。朕即位已來。造寺寫經。度僧不可勝紀。有何功德。祖曰。並無功德。帝曰。何以無功德。祖曰。此但人天小果。有漏之因。如影隨形。雖有非實。帝曰。如何是真功德。祖曰。淨智妙圓。體自空寂。如是功德。不以世求。帝又問。如何是聖諦第一義。祖曰。廓然無聖。帝曰。對朕者誰。祖曰。不識。帝不領悟。祖知機不契。是月十九日。潛回江北。十一月二十三日。屆於洛陽。當魏孝明帝正光元年也。寓止於嵩山少林寺。面壁而坐。終日默然。人莫之測。謂之壁觀婆羅門。時有僧神光者。曠達之士也。久居伊洛。博覧群書。善談玄理。每歎曰。孔老之教。禮術風規。莊易之書。未盡妙理。近聞達磨大士住止少林。至人不遙。當造玄境。乃往彼。晨夕參承。祖常端坐面壁。莫聞誨勵。光自惟曰。昔人求道。敲骨取髓。刺血濟饑。布髮掩泥。投崖飼虎。古尚若此。我又何人。其年十二月九日夜。天大雨雪。光堅立不動。遲明積雪過膝。祖憫而問曰。汝久立雪中。當求何事。光悲淚曰。惟願和尚慈悲。開甘露門。廣度群品。祖曰。諸佛無上妙道。曠劫精勤。難行能行。非忍而忍。豈以小德小智。輕心慢心。欲冀真乘。徒勞勤苦。光聞祖誨勵。潛取利刀。自斷左臂。置於祖前。祖知是法器。乃曰。諸佛最初求道。為法忘形。汝今斷臂吾前。求亦可在。祖遂因與易名曰慧可。可曰。諸佛法印。可得聞乎。祖曰。諸佛法印。匪從人得。可曰。我心未寧。乞師與安。祖曰。將心來。與汝安。可良久曰。覔心了不可得。祖曰。我與汝安心竟。

The king prepared a great ship filled with many treasures, then personally led his ministers to escort the patriarch to the seashore. The patriarch crossed the ocean and was away for three years before reaching the South Sea. It was the ninth month, twenty-first day, in the gengzi year, the seventh year of Putong under Emperor Wu of Liang. Xiao Ang, governor of Guangzhou, received him with the rites due a guest and submitted a report to Emperor Wu. After reading it, the emperor sent an envoy with an edict to invite him (the cyclical year in the old edition was wrong; the chronology has now been corrected according to the Continued Record of the Dharma by Baochang of Liang and the Orthodox Record by Chan Master Song Song). On the first day of the tenth month he arrived in Jinling. The emperor asked: “Since I ascended the throne, I have built temples, copied sutras, and ordained monks beyond counting. What merit have I gained?” The patriarch said: “There is no merit.” The emperor asked: “Why is there no merit?” The patriarch replied: “These are only small fruits in the realms of humans and gods, causes that still have outflows, like a shadow following the body. They exist, but are not real.” The emperor asked: “What is true merit?” The patriarch said: “Pure wisdom is wondrous and complete; its substance is itself empty and still. This kind of merit is not sought in the world.” The emperor asked: “What is the highest meaning of the holy truth?” The patriarch replied: “Vast emptiness—nothing holy.” The emperor asked: “Who is standing before me?” The patriarch said: “I do not know.” The emperor could not grasp the meaning. The patriarch knew that the conditions were not in accord, and on the nineteenth day of that month he quietly crossed back north of the Yangtze. On the twenty-third day of the eleventh month he reached Luoyang, in the first year of Zhengguang under Emperor Xiaoming of Wei. He stayed at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song, sat facing a wall, and remained silent all day. No one could fathom him; they called him the Brahmin who gazed at a wall. At that time there was a monk named Shenguāng, a man of broad and open character. He had long lived around the Yi and Luo rivers, read widely, and was skilled at discussing profound principles. He often sighed: “The teachings of Confucius and Laozi set out rules of propriety and customs; the books of Zhuangzi and the Changes have not exhausted the wondrous principle. I recently heard that the Great Being Bodhidharma lives at Shaolin. The utmost person is not far away; I should go and approach that profound realm.” He went there and attended on the patriarch morning and night. The patriarch always sat upright facing the wall, and Shenguāng heard no instruction or encouragement. He thought to himself: “People in the past sought the Way by breaking their bones to extract the marrow, drawing their blood to feed the hungry, spreading their hair to cover muddy ground, or throwing themselves from cliffs to feed tigers. If the ancients did this, what kind of person am I?” On the night of the ninth day of the twelfth month that year, heavy snow fell. Shenguāng stood without moving; by dawn, the snow had piled above his knees. The patriarch took pity on him and asked: “You have stood in the snow for a long time. What are you seeking?” Shenguāng wept and said: “I only beg the monk, in your compassion, to open the gate of nectar and widely liberate beings of every kind.” The patriarch said: “The unsurpassed wondrous Way of the Buddhas is attained only through diligent practice over vast kalpas. What is difficult to do, they do; what is difficult to endure, they endure. How could someone of little virtue and little wisdom, with a light and arrogant mind, hope for the true vehicle? You would only labor in vain.” Hearing the patriarch’s instruction, Shenguāng secretly drew a sharp knife and cut off his own left arm, placing it before the patriarch. The patriarch recognized him as a vessel of the Dharma and said: “When the Buddhas first sought the Way, they forgot their bodies for the sake of Dharma. Since you have now cut off your arm before me, your seeking may be accepted.” The patriarch therefore renamed him Huike. Huike said: “May I hear the Dharma-seal of the Buddhas?” The patriarch replied: “The Dharma-seal of the Buddhas is not obtained from another person.” Huike said: “My mind is not yet at peace. I beg the teacher to pacify it.” The patriarch said: “Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it for you.” After a long while, Huike said: “I have searched for the mind, but it cannot be found.” The patriarch said: “I have pacified your mind for you. It is finished.”

越九年。欲返天竺。命門人曰。時將至矣。汝等盍各言所得乎。時有道副對曰。如我所見。不執文字。不離文字。而為道用。祖曰。汝得吾皮。尼總持曰。我今所解。如慶喜見阿閦佛國。一見更不再見。祖曰。汝得吾肉。道育曰。四大本空。五陰非有。而我見處。無一法可得。祖曰。汝得吾骨。最後慧可禮拜。依位而立。祖曰。汝得吾髓。乃顧慧可而告之曰。昔如來以正法眼付迦葉大士。展轉囑累。而至於我。我今付汝。汝當護持。並授汝袈裟。以為法信。各有所表。宜可知矣。可曰。請師指陳。祖曰。內傳法印。以契證心。外付袈裟。以定宗旨。後代澆薄。疑慮競生。雲吾西天之人。言汝此方之子。憑何得法。以何證之。汝今受此衣法。卻後難生。但出此衣並吾法偈。用以表明其化無礙。至吾滅後二百年。衣止不傳。法周沙界。明道者多。行道者少。說理者多。通理者少。潛符密證。千萬有餘。汝當闡揚。勿輕未悟。一念回機。便同本得。聽吾偈曰。吾本來茲土。傳法救迷情。一花開五葉。結果自然成。祖又曰。吾有楞伽經四卷。亦用付汝。即是如來心地要門。令諸眾生開示悟入。吾自到此。凡五度中毒。我甞自出而試之。置石石裂。緣吾本離南印來此東土。見赤縣神州有大乘氣象。遂踰海越漠。為法求人。際會未諧。如愚若訥。今得汝傳授。吾意已終(別記雲。祖初居少林寺九年。為二祖說法。秖教外息諸緣。內心無喘。心如牆壁。可以入道。慧可種種說心性。曾未契理。祖秖遮其非。不為說無念心體。可忽曰。我已息諸緣。祖曰。莫成斷滅去否。可曰。不成斷滅。祖曰。此是諸佛所傳心體。更勿疑也)。言已。乃與徒眾往禹門千聖寺。止三日。有期城太守楊衒之。早慕佛乘。問祖曰。西天五印。師承為祖。其道如何。祖曰。明佛心宗。行解相應。名之曰祖。又問。此外如何。祖曰。須明他心。

After nine years, the patriarch wished to return to India. He told his disciples: “The time is near. Why does each of you not say what you have attained?” Daofu replied: “As I see it, one neither clings to written words nor departs from them; this is how the Way is used.” The patriarch said: “You have attained my skin.” The nun Zongchi said: “My understanding is like Ananda seeing the land of Akshobhya Buddha; having seen it once, he never saw it again.” The patriarch said: “You have attained my flesh.” Daoyu said: “The four great elements are originally empty, and the five aggregates—form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness—do not exist. As for what I see, there is not a single dharma to attain.” The patriarch said: “You have attained my bones.” Finally Huike bowed and stood in his place. The patriarch said: “You have attained my marrow.” He then looked at Huike and said: “Long ago the Tathagata entrusted the true Dharma-eye to the Great Being Kashyapa. It was passed on in succession until it reached me. I now entrust it to you; you must protect and uphold it. I also give you this robe as a token of faith in the Dharma. Each has its own sign; you should understand them.” Huike said: “Please explain them, Master.” The patriarch said: “The Dharma-seal is transmitted inwardly to accord with the mind; the robe is transmitted outwardly to establish the lineage. In later generations, the world will grow shallow and decadent, and doubts and disputes will arise. They will say: ‘I am from India, and you are a son of this land. How could you receive the Dharma, and what proof do you have?’ Since you have now received this robe and Dharma, difficulties will arise later. Simply show them this robe and my verse as proof that the teaching has been transmitted without obstruction. Two hundred years after I pass away, the robe will no longer be transmitted, while the Dharma will spread throughout all lands. Many will understand the Way, but few will practice it; many will speak of principle, but few will penetrate it. Those who accord inwardly and realize it in secret will still be beyond counting. You should proclaim it widely; do not look down on those who have not yet awakened. With a single turn of thought, one returns to what was originally attained. Hear this verse: ‘I came to this land to transmit the Dharma and save deluded beings. One flower opens five petals; the fruit will ripen naturally.’” The patriarch added: “I have four fascicles of the Lankavatara Sutra, which I also entrust to you. It is the essential gateway to the Tathagata’s ground of mind, enabling sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter it. Since I came here, I have been poisoned five times. I tested the poison myself by placing it on a rock, and the rock split apart. I originally left Southern India and came to this eastern land because I saw the signs of the Mahayana in the Divine Province of the Red District. I crossed the sea and deserts, seeking people for the Dharma. Our encounter had not yet come together; I seemed foolish and inarticulate. Now that I have found you and transmitted it, my purpose is complete.” (A separate account says: The patriarch first stayed at Shaolin Monastery for nine years. When he taught the Second Patriarch, he only instructed him to cease all outward conditions and keep the mind within without panting, so that the mind would be like a wall and could enter the Way. Huike spoke in many ways about mind and nature but never accorded with the principle. The patriarch only blocked what was wrong and did not explain the mind-substance of no-thought. Huike suddenly said: “I have already ceased all conditions.” The patriarch asked: “Have you not fallen into annihilation?” Huike said: “I have not fallen into annihilation.” The patriarch said: “This is the mind-substance transmitted by all Buddhas. Have no more doubts.”) After speaking, he went with his disciples to Qiansheng Monastery at Yumen and stayed for three days. Yang Xuanzi, governor of Qicheng, had long admired the Buddha Vehicle. He asked the patriarch: “In the five regions of India, the teacher-transmission is called the patriarchal Way. What is that Way?” The patriarch said: “One who clarifies the mind-school of the Buddha and whose practice accords with understanding is called a patriarch.” Yang asked: “What else?” The patriarch replied: “One must understand the minds of others as well.”

知其今古。不厭有無。於法無取。不賢不愚。無迷無悟。若能是解。故稱為祖。又曰。弟子歸心三寶亦有年矣。而智慧昏蒙。尚迷真理。適聽師言。罔知攸措。願師慈悲。開示宗旨。祖知懇到。即說偈曰。亦不覩惡而生嫌。亦不觀善而勤措。亦不捨智而近愚。亦不拋迷而就悟。達大道兮過量。通佛心兮出度。不與凡聖同躔。超然名之曰祖。衒之聞偈。悲喜交並。曰。願師久住世間。化導群有。祖曰。吾即逝矣。不可久留。根性萬差。多逢愚難。衒之曰。未審何人。弟子為師除得否。祖曰。吾以傳佛秘密。利益迷途。害彼自安。必無此理。衒之曰。師苦不言。何表通變觀照之力。祖不獲已。乃為讖曰。江槎分玉浪。管炬開金鎖。五口相共行。九十無彼我。衒之聞語。莫究其端。默記於懷。禮辭而去。祖之所讖。雖當時不測。而後皆符驗。時魏氏奉釋。禪雋如林。光統律師．流支三藏者。乃僧中之鸞鳳也。覩師演道。斥相指心。每與師論義。是非蜂起。祖遐振玄風。普施法雨。而偏局之量。自不堪任。競起害心。數加毒藥。至第六度。以化緣已畢。傳法得人。遂不復救之。端居而逝。即魏莊帝永安元年戊申十月五日也。其年十二月二十八日。塟熊耳山。起塔於定林寺。後三歲。魏宋雲奉使西域回。遇祖於蔥嶺。見手𢹂隻履。翩翩獨逝。雲問。師何往。祖曰。西天去。雲歸。具說其事。及門人啟壙。唯空棺。一隻革履存焉。舉朝為之驚歎。奉詔取遺履。於少林寺供養。至唐開元十五年丁卯歲為信道者竊在五臺華嚴寺。今不知所在。初。梁武遇祖。因緣未契。及聞化行魏邦。遂欲自撰師碑而未暇也。後聞宋雲事。乃成之。代宗諡圓覺大師。塔曰空觀(年號依紀年通譜)。

(The patriarch continued:) “One knows past and present, does not dislike existence or nonexistence, and takes nothing in Dharma. One is neither wise nor foolish, neither deluded nor awakened. If one understands in this way, one is called a patriarch.” Yang Xuanzi said: “I have taken refuge in the Three Treasures for years, but my wisdom is clouded and I still mistake the truth. Having just heard the master’s words, I do not know what to do. I beg your compassion to reveal the essential teaching.” The patriarch knew how earnest he had become and recited this verse: “Neither seeing evil and giving rise to dislike, nor observing good and striving to act; neither abandoning wisdom to approach foolishness, nor casting off delusion to pursue awakening. Realizing the Great Way, one surpasses all measure; penetrating the Buddha-mind, one goes beyond all bounds. One does not tread the same path as ordinary or holy beings; transcendent, one is called a patriarch.” Hearing the verse, Yang Xuanzi was overcome by sorrow and joy and said: “I hope the master will remain in the world for a long time and guide beings of every kind.” The patriarch said: “I am about to depart; I cannot stay long. People’s capacities differ in countless ways, and foolish difficulties often arise.” Yang said: “If I knew who would do this, could I remove him for the master?” The patriarch replied: “I transmit the Buddha’s secret to benefit those who are lost. To harm another for one’s own safety has no place in principle.” Yang said: “If the master insists on saying nothing, how will you demonstrate the power of penetrating change and illumination?” The patriarch had no choice and gave this prophecy: “The river raft divides the jade waves; a bamboo torch opens the golden lock. Five mouths travel together; at ninety, there is neither other nor self.” Yang could not understand the prophecy, silently memorized it, bowed, and took his leave. The patriarch’s prediction was inscrutable at the time, but later each part came true. The Wei court then upheld the Buddha-Dharma, and outstanding Chan practitioners were as numerous as trees in a forest. Vinaya Master Guangtong and Tripitaka Master Luozhi were phoenixes among the monks. When they saw the master expounding the Way, rejecting marks and pointing directly to mind, they often debated him, and disputes over right and wrong arose in swarms. The patriarch’s profound teaching spread far and wide and his Dharma-rain fell everywhere, but those with narrow capacities could not bear it. They repeatedly became hostile and attempted to poison him. On the sixth attempt, because his karmic work of teaching was complete and he had transmitted the Dharma to the right person, he no longer saved himself. He sat upright and passed away. This was the fifth day of the tenth month in the wushen year, the first year of Yong’an under Emperor Zhuang of Wei. On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month that year, he was buried on Bear-Ear Mountain, and a stupa was built at Dinglin Monastery. Three years later, Song Yun returned from an embassy to the Western Regions and met the patriarch on the Onion Range, walking alone and lightly with one shoe in his hand. Song Yun asked: “Master, where are you going?” The patriarch replied: “To the Western Heavens.” Song Yun returned and recounted everything. When the disciples opened the tomb, it was empty except for a single leather sandal. The whole court marveled. By imperial order, the remaining sandal was taken to Shaolin Monastery and enshrined. In the dingmao year, the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan under the Tang, a devotee stole it and took it to Huayan Monastery on Mount Wutai; no one knows where it is now. At first, when Emperor Wu of Liang met the patriarch, their karmic conditions did not accord. Later, hearing that the teaching was spreading in Wei, he wanted to compose an inscription for the master but never found the time. Only after hearing Song Yun’s account did he write it. Emperor Daizong posthumously named him Great Master Yuanjue, and named his stupa “Empty Contemplation” (the era names follow the Comprehensive Chronological Tables).

(通論曰。傳燈謂魏孝明帝欽祖異跡。三屈詔命。祖竟不下少林。及祖示寂。宋雲自西域還。遇祖於蔥嶺。孝莊帝有旨令啟壙。如南史普通八年。即大通元年也。孝明以是歲四月癸丑殂。祖以十月至梁。葢祖未至魏時。孝明已去世矣。其子即位未幾。為爾朱榮所弒。乃立孝莊帝。由是魏國大亂。越三年。而孝莊殂。又五年分割為東西魏。然則吾祖在少林時。正值其亂。及宋雲之還。則孝莊去世亦五六年。其國至於分割久矣。烏有孝莊令啟壙之說乎。按唐史雲。後魏末。有僧達磨航海而來。既卒。其年魏使宋雲於蔥嶺回見之。門徒發其墓。但有隻履而已。此乃實錄也)。

(The General Treatise says: The Record of the Transmission of the Lamp says that Emperor Xiaoming of Wei admired the patriarch’s extraordinary deeds and summoned him by imperial decree three times, but the patriarch never left Shaolin. After he passed away, Song Yun returned from the Western Regions and met him on the Onion Range. Emperor Xiaozhuang ordered the tomb opened. According to the History of the Southern Dynasties, Putong year eight was the first year of Datong. Emperor Xiaoming died in the fourth month of that year, on the guichou day. The patriarch arrived in Liang in the tenth month. Thus, before the patriarch ever reached Wei, Xiaoming had already died. His son succeeded him but was soon killed by Erzhu Rong, after which Emperor Xiaozhuang was installed. From then on Wei was in great turmoil. Xiaozhuang died three years later, and five years after that the realm was divided into Eastern and Western Wei. Therefore, when our patriarch was at Shaolin, the land was already in disorder. By the time Song Yun returned, Xiaozhuang had been dead for five or six years and the kingdom had long been divided. How could Xiaozhuang have ordered the tomb opened? The History of the Tang says: “At the end of Later Wei, a monk named Dharma arrived by sea. After he died, in that year the Wei envoy Song Yun met him on the Onion Range on his way back. His disciples opened his tomb and found only one shoe.” This is the true record.)

二祖慧可大師者

The Second Patriarch: Great Master Huike

武牢人也。姓姬氏。父寂。未有子時。甞自念言。我家崇善。豈令無子。禱之既久。一夕感異光照室。其母因而懷姙。及長。遂以照室之瑞。名之曰光。自幼志氣不群。博涉詩書。尤精玄理。而不事家產。好遊山水。後覽佛書。超然自得。即抵洛陽龍門香山。依寶靜禪師。出家受具於永穆寺。浮游講肆。徧學大小乘義。年三十三。卻返香山。終日宴坐。又經八載。於寂默中倐見一神人謂曰。將欲受果。何滯此邪。大道匪遙。汝其南矣。祖知神助。因改名神光。翌日。覺頭痛如刺。其師欲治之。空中有聲曰。此乃換骨。非常痛也。祖遂以見神事白於師。師視其頂骨。即如五峰秀出矣。乃曰。汝相吉祥。當有所證。神令汝南者。斯則少林達磨大士必汝之師也。祖受教。造於少室。其得法傳衣事蹟。達磨章具之矣。自少林託化西歸。大師繼闡玄風。博求法嗣。至北齊天平二年。有一居士。年踰四十。不言名氏。聿來設禮。而問祖曰。弟子身纏風恙。請和尚懺罪。祖曰。將罪來。與汝懺。士良久曰。覔罪不可得。祖曰。與汝懺罪竟。宜依佛法僧住。士曰。今見和尚。已知是僧。未審何名佛法。祖曰。是心是佛。是心是法。法佛無二。僧寶亦然。士曰。今日始知罪性不在內。不在外。不在中間。如其心然。佛法無二也。祖深器之。即為剃髮。雲。是吾寶也。宜名僧璨。其年三月十八日。於光福寺受具。自茲疾漸愈。執侍經二載。祖乃告曰。菩提達磨遠自竺乾。以正法眼藏並信衣密付於吾。吾今授汝。汝當守護。無令斷絕。聽吾偈曰。本來緣有地。因地種華生。本來無有種。華亦不曾生。祖付衣法已。又曰。汝受吾教。宜處深山。未可行化。當有國難。璨曰。師既預知。願垂示誨。祖曰。非吾知也。斯乃達磨傳般若多羅懸記雲心中雖吉外頭㐫是也。吾校年代。正在於汝。汝當諦思前言。勿罹世難。然吾亦有宿累。

He was from Wulao and belonged to the Ji clan. His father was named Ji. Before he had a son, he often said to himself: “My family upholds goodness. How can it be that we have no son?” He prayed for a long time. One night a wondrous light shone into the room, and his wife conceived. When the child grew up, they named him Guang, “Light,” because of the auspicious light in the room. From childhood he had extraordinary aspirations, read widely in poetry and books, and was especially accomplished in profound principles. He did not manage household affairs but loved traveling among mountains and rivers. Later he read Buddhist books and found a transcendent joy in them. He went to Xiangshan at Longmen in Luoyang, followed Chan Master Baojing, and left home and received the full precepts at Yongmu Monastery. He traveled among lecture halls and studied the teachings of both the Greater and Lesser Vehicles. At thirty-three he returned to Xiangshan and sat in meditation all day. Eight years later, while in silent meditation, he suddenly saw a divine person say: “You are about to receive the fruit. Why remain here? The Great Way is not far away; go south.” The patriarch knew a spirit had helped him, so he changed his name to Shenguāng. The next day he felt a headache like needles piercing him. His teacher wanted to treat him. A voice from the air said: “This is a transformation of the bones, not an ordinary pain.” The patriarch told his teacher about seeing the spirit. His teacher examined his crown, which looked like five elegant peaks rising up. He said: “Your appearance is auspicious; you will attain realization. The spirit told you to go south. The Great Being Bodhidharma at Shaolin must be your teacher.” Huike followed the instruction and went to Shaoshi Mountain. The account of how he received the Dharma and robe is given in the chapter on Bodhidharma. After Bodhidharma entrusted the teaching at Shaolin and returned west, the Great Master continued to spread the profound teaching and widely sought a successor. In the second year of Tianping under Northern Qi, a layman over forty years old came to him, did not give his name, and bowed. He said: “I am afflicted by wind disease. I beg the monk to repent my offenses.” The patriarch said: “Bring me the offense, and I will repent it for you.” After a long while the layman said: “I have searched for the offense, but it cannot be found.” The patriarch said: “I have repented your offense. It is finished. You should abide by the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.” The layman said: “Now that I have met you, I know what a monk is, but I do not know what is meant by Buddha and Dharma.” The patriarch replied: “Mind itself is Buddha, mind itself is Dharma. Dharma and Buddha are not two; the Jewel of the Sangha is likewise so.” The layman said: “Only today do I know that the nature of offense is neither inside, outside, nor in between, just like the mind itself. The Buddha and Dharma are not two.” The patriarch deeply esteemed him, shaved his head, and said: “You are my jewel. You should be named Sengcan.” On the eighteenth day of the third month that year, Sengcan received the full precepts at Guangfu Monastery. From then on his illness gradually improved. After serving for two years, the patriarch told him: “Great Master Bodhidharma came from India and secretly entrusted to me the treasury of the true Dharma-eye and the robe of faith. I now transmit them to you. Guard them well and do not let them perish. Hear this verse: ‘The flower seed depends originally on the ground; from the ground the flower grows. If no one plants the seed, the flower and ground are both unborn.’” Having transmitted the robe and Dharma, the patriarch said: “You have received my teaching. You should stay in the deep mountains and not yet teach others; a calamity will arise in the kingdom.” Sengcan said: “Since the master knows in advance, please instruct me.” The patriarch said: “It is not my own knowledge. This is the prophecy transmitted by Bodhidharma from Prajnatara: ‘Though the heart is auspicious, outside is ill fortune.’ I have checked the years, and it is happening in your time. You should carefully consider what came before and not fall into the world’s calamity. But I too have karmic debts from past lives,

今要酬之。善去善行。俟時傳付。祖付囑已。即往鄴都。隨宜說法。一音演暢。四眾皈依。如是積三十四載。遂韜光混跡。變易儀相。或入諸酒肆。或過於屠門。或習街談。或隨廝役。人問之曰。師是道人。何故如是。祖曰。我自調心。何關汝事。又於筦城縣匡救寺三門下。談無上道。聽者林會。時有辯和法師者。於寺中講涅槃經。學徒聞師闡法。稍稍引去。辯和不勝其憤。興謗於邑宰翟仲侃。翟惑其邪說。加祖以非法。祖怡然委順。識真者謂之償債。時年一百七歲。即隋文帝開皇十三年癸丑歲三月十六日也。塟磁州滏陽縣東北七十里。唐德宗諡大祖禪師(皓月供奉問長沙岑和尚。古德雲。了即業障本來空。未了應須償宿債。只如師子尊者．二祖大師。為甚麼得償債去。沙曰。大德不識本來空。月曰。如何是本來空。沙曰。業障是。曰。如何是業障。沙曰。本來空是。月無語。沙以偈示之曰。假有元非有。假滅亦非無。涅槃償債義。一性更無殊)。

and must now repay them. Go safely and practice well; when the time comes, transmit the Dharma again.” After entrusting the teaching, the patriarch went to Yedu and taught according to people’s capacities. He proclaimed the teaching with a single voice, and the fourfold assembly took refuge. After thirty-four years, he concealed his radiance and mingled among ordinary people, changing his appearance and behavior. Sometimes he entered wine shops, sometimes passed through butcher stalls, sometimes joined street conversations, and sometimes worked among laborers. People asked him: “You are a man of the Way. Why do you do such things?” The patriarch replied: “I am regulating my own mind. What does it have to do with you?” He also expounded the unsurpassed Way beneath the three gates of Kuangjiu Monastery in Guancheng County; listeners gathered like a forest. At that time Dharma Master Bianhe was lecturing on the Nirvana Sutra in the monastery. His students heard that the patriarch was teaching and gradually began to follow him instead. Bianhe was unable to contain his anger and slandered the patriarch to the district magistrate, Zhai Zhongkan. Zhai was misled by his false words and treated the patriarch unlawfully. The patriarch accepted it serenely. Those who understood the truth said this was repayment of karmic debts. He was then one hundred and seven years old. This was the sixteenth day of the third month in the guichou year, the thirteenth year of Kaihuang under Emperor Wen of Sui. He was buried seventy li northeast of Fuyang County in Cizhou. Emperor Dezong of Tang posthumously named him Great Patriarch Chan Master. (The court attendant Haoyue asked Chan Master Changsha Cen: “The ancients said: ‘When understood, karmic obstacles are originally empty; until understood, one must repay past debts.’ Why did Venerable Shizi and the Second Patriarch have to repay their debts?” Changsha said: “Great Virtuous One, you do not recognize original emptiness.” Haoyue asked: “What is original emptiness?” Changsha said: “Karmic obstacles.” Haoyue asked: “What are karmic obstacles?” Changsha replied: “Original emptiness.” Haoyue had no answer. Changsha then instructed him in verse: “What provisionally exists was never existence; what provisionally ceases is not nonexistence. The meaning of repaying debts in nirvana: the one nature has no difference.”)

三祖僧璨大師者

The Third Patriarch: Great Master Sengcan

不知何許人也。初以白衣謁二祖。既受度傳法。隱於舒州之皖公山。屬後周武帝破滅佛法。祖往來太湖縣司空山。居無常處。積十餘載。時人無能知者。至隋開皇十二年壬子歲。有沙彌道信。年始十四。來禮祖曰。願和尚慈悲。乞與解脫法門。祖曰。誰縛汝。曰。無人縛。祖曰。何更求解脫乎。信於言下大悟。服勞九載。後於吉州受戒。侍奉尤謹。祖屢試以玄微。知其緣熟。乃付衣法。偈曰。華種雖因地。從地種華生。若無人下種。華地盡無生。祖又曰。昔可大師付吾法。後往鄴都行化。三十年方終。今吾得汝。何滯此乎。即適羅浮山。優遊二載。卻還舊址。逾月士民奔趨。大設檀供。祖為四眾廣宣心要訖。於法會大樹下合掌立終。即隋煬帝大業二年丙寅十月十五日也。唐玄宗諡鑑智禪師．覺寂之塔。師信心銘曰。至道無難。唯嫌揀擇。但莫憎愛。洞然明白。毫𨤲有差。天地懸隔。欲得現前。莫存順逆。違順相爭。是為心病。不識玄旨。徒勞念靜。圓同太虗。無欠無餘。良由取捨。所以不如。莫逐有緣。勿住空忍。一種平懷。泯然自盡。止動歸止。止更彌動。唯滯兩邊。寧知一種。一種不通。兩處失功。遣有沒有。從空背空。多言多慮。轉不相應。絕言絕慮。無處不通。歸根得旨。隨照失宗。須臾返照。勝卻前空。前空轉變。皆由妄見。不用求真。唯須息見。二見不住。慎莫追尋。才有是非。紛然失心。二由一有。一亦莫守。一心不生。萬法無咎。無咎無法。不生不心。能由境滅。境逐能沉。境由能境。能由境能。欲知兩段。元是一空。一空同兩。齊含萬象。不見精麤。寧有偏黨。大道體寬。無易無難。小見狐疑。轉急轉遲。執之失度。必入邪路。放之自然。體無去住。任性合道。逍遙絕惱。繫念乖真。昏沉不好。不好勞神。何用疎親。欲取一乘。勿惡六塵。六塵不惡。還同正覺。智者無為。愚人自縛。

No one knows where he came from. At first he visited the Second Patriarch as a layman. After receiving ordination and the Dharma, he concealed himself on Mount Wangong in Shuzhou. When Emperor Wu of Later Zhou destroyed the Buddha-Dharma, the patriarch traveled around Mount Sikong in Taihu County and lived without a fixed abode. For more than ten years no one knew where he was. In the renzi year, the twelfth year of Kaihuang under Sui, a novice named Daoxin, only fourteen years old, came to pay homage and said: “I beg the monk, in your compassion, to teach me the gateway to liberation.” The patriarch asked: “Who binds you?” Daoxin replied: “No one binds me.” The patriarch said: “Why then seek liberation?” At these words Daoxin suddenly awakened. He served the patriarch diligently for nine years. Later he received the precepts in Jizhou and served him even more carefully. The patriarch repeatedly tested him with profound questions. Knowing that the karmic conditions had matured, he transmitted the robe and Dharma in this verse: “Though the flower seed depends on the ground, from the ground the flower grows. If no one plants the seed, the flower and ground are both unborn.” The patriarch then said: “In the past, Master Huike transmitted the Dharma to me and later went to Yedu to teach. He passed away only after thirty years. Now that I have found you, why should I linger here?” He went to Mount Luofu, wandered there freely for two years, and then returned to his former place. One month later, people from the local region flocked to him and made a great offering. After the patriarch had broadly explained the essentials of mind to the fourfold assembly, he stood beneath a great tree at the Dharma gathering, joined his palms, and passed away. This was the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the bingyin year, the second year of Daye under Emperor Yang of Sui. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang posthumously named him Chan Master Jianzhi, and his stupa “Awakening in Stillness.” His teacher’s Inscription on Faith in Mind says: “The Great Way is not difficult; it only dislikes choosing. Just do not hate or love, and it will be clearly understood. The slightest difference separates heaven and earth. If you wish it to appear, do not cling to acceptance or rejection. To struggle over what accords and what opposes is a sickness of the mind. Without knowing the profound intent, you labor in vain to quiet your thoughts. Perfect like the great void, nothing is lacking or excessive. It is only because of grasping and rejecting that you cannot be so. Do not pursue conditioned things; do not abide in patient acceptance of emptiness. With an even mind, all vanishes of itself. To stop movement and return to stillness is itself another movement. If you cling to either side, how will you know the One? If the One is not penetrated, both sides lose their function. Reject existence and you fall into existence; seek emptiness and you turn your back on it. Too many words and thoughts make you less and less attuned. Cut off words and thought, and there is nowhere you cannot pass. Return to the root and attain the intent; follow illumination and lose the source. A moment of turning the light inward surpasses the emptiness before you. The former emptiness changes because of deluded views. Do not seek the true; only cease your views. Do not abide in dualistic views, and take care not to pursue them. The instant you have right and wrong, your mind is lost in confusion. The two arise because of the One; do not cling even to the One. When the One Mind does not arise, the ten thousand dharmas are without fault. Without fault there is no Dharma; when nothing arises, there is no mind. When the subject ceases, the object sinks; the object arises because of the subject, and the subject arises because of the object. If you wish to understand these two aspects, originally they are one emptiness. One emptiness is the same as both; it contains all forms. Without seeing fine or coarse, how could there be partiality? The substance of the Great Way is broad; it is neither easy nor difficult. Small-minded doubt grows more hurried and more slow. Grasp it and you lose the measure, surely entering a deviant path. Let it go, and it is natural; its substance neither departs nor abides. Let nature accord with the Way, and you will be free and without vexation. Clinging to thoughts departs from the true; dullness is no good. If it is no good, you weary the spirit; what use is there in rejecting one thing and drawing near another? If you wish to take up the One Vehicle, do not hate the six sense-objects. If you do not hate the six sense-objects, you are the same as true awakening. The wise act without contrivance; fools bind themselves.”

法無異法。妄自愛著。將心用心。豈非大錯。迷生寂亂。悟無好惡。一切二邊。良由斟酌。夢幻空華。何勞把捉。得失是非。一時放卻。眼若不睡。諸夢自除。心若不異。萬法一如。一如體玄。兀爾忘緣。萬法齊觀。歸復自然。泯其所以。不可方比。止動無動。動止無止。兩既不成。一何有爾。究竟窮極。不存軌則。契心平等。所作俱息。狐疑盡淨。正信調直。一切不留。無可記憶。虗明自照。不勞心力。非思量處。識情難測。真如法界。無他無自。要急相應。唯言不二。不二皆同。無不包容。十方智者。皆入此宗。宗非促延。一念萬年。無在不在。十方目前。極小同大。忘絕境界。極大同小。不見邊表。有即是無。無即是有。若不如是。必不須守。一即一切。一切即一。但能如是。何慮不畢。信心不二。不二信心。言語道斷。非去來今。

“Dharma is not a different Dharma; delusion comes from loving and clinging to it. Using the mind to work upon the mind—is this not a great mistake? Delusion gives rise to stillness and confusion; awakening has neither likes nor dislikes. All dualistic extremes arise from deliberation. Dreams, illusions, and empty flowers—why labor to seize them? Gain and loss, right and wrong: let them all go at once. If the eye does not sleep, all dreams disappear by themselves. If the mind has no distinctions, the ten thousand dharmas are one suchness. The substance of suchness is profound; suddenly forget all conditions. View the ten thousand dharmas as equal and return to what is natural. Dissolve the reasons for things; they cannot be compared or measured. To stop movement is not movement; to stop stillness is not stillness. If neither can be established, where is the One? At the ultimate point, no rules remain. When mind accords with equality, all activity ceases. Doubt is completely purified and true faith is direct. Nothing is retained; nothing can be remembered. Empty clarity illuminates itself; no mental effort is needed. This is not a place for thought; discriminating consciousness cannot fathom it. The realm of true suchness and Dharma is neither other nor self. To accord with it urgently, just speak of nonduality. In nonduality all is the same; nothing is not included. The wise of the ten directions all enter this school. The school is neither brief nor prolonged; in one thought are ten thousand years. It is nowhere and everywhere; the ten directions are before your eyes. The smallest is the same as the great; all boundaries are forgotten and ended. The greatest is the same as the small; its limits cannot be seen. Existence is just nonexistence; nonexistence is just existence. If it is not like this, there is no need to preserve it. One is all; all is one. If you can be like this, why worry that the work is unfinished? Faith in mind is nondual; nonduality is faith in mind. The way of words is cut off; it is not past, present, or future.”

四祖道信大師者

The Fourth Patriarch: Great Master Daoxin

姓司馬氏。世居河內。後徙於蘄州廣濟縣。生而超異。幼慕空宗諸解脫門。宛如宿習。既嗣祖風。攝心無寐。脅不至席者僅六十年。隋大業十三載領徒眾抵吉州。值群盜圍城。七旬不解。萬眾惶怖。祖愍之。教令念摩訶般若。時賊眾望雉堞間若有神兵。乃相謂曰。城內必有異人。不可攻矣。稍稍引去。唐武德甲申歲師卻返蘄春。住破頭山。學侶雲臻。一日往黃梅縣。路逢一小兒。骨相奇秀。異乎常童。祖問曰。子何姓。答曰。姓即有。不是常姓。祖曰。是何姓。答曰。是佛性。祖曰。汝無姓邪。答曰。性空。故無。祖默識其法器。即俾侍者至其母所。乞令出家。母以宿緣故。殊無難色。遂捨為弟子。以至付法傳衣。偈曰。華種有生性。因地華生生。大緣與性合。當生生不生。遂以學徒委之。一日告眾曰。吾武德中游廬山。登絕頂。望破頭山。見紫雲如葢。下有白氣。橫分六道。汝等會否。眾皆默然。忍曰。莫是和尚他後橫出一枝佛法否。祖曰。善。後貞觀癸卯歲太宗嚮師道味。欲瞻風彩。詔赴京。祖上表遜謝。前後三返。竟以疾辭。第四度命使曰。如果不起。即取首來。使至山諭旨。祖乃引頸就刃。神色儼然。使異之。回以狀聞。帝彌加欽慕。就賜珍繒。以遂其志。迄高宗永徽辛亥歲閏九月四日。忽垂誡門人曰。一切諸法。悉皆解脫。汝等各自護念。流化未來。言訖安坐而逝。壽七十有二。塔於本山。明年四月八日。塔戶無故自開。儀相如生。爾後。門人不敢復閉。代宗諡大醫禪師．慈雲之塔。

He belonged to the Sima clan. His family had lived for generations in Hanoi before moving to Guangji County in Qizhou. From birth he was extraordinary. As a child he admired the school of emptiness and its various gateways to liberation, as if he had practiced them in a former life. After inheriting the patriarchal lineage, he gathered his mind and did not sleep; for nearly sixty years his flank never touched a seat. In the thirteenth year of Daye under Sui, he led his followers to Jizhou. Bandits surrounded the city and would not withdraw for seventy days; the entire population was terrified. The patriarch took pity on them and taught them to recite the Great Perfection of Wisdom. The bandits then saw what seemed to be divine troops along the battlements and said to one another: “There must be an extraordinary person in the city. We cannot attack it.” They gradually withdrew. In the jia-shen year of Wude under Tang, the master returned to Qichun and stayed at Potou Mountain. Students gathered like clouds. One day he went to Huangmei County and met a child whose bones and features were remarkably fine, unlike those of ordinary children. The patriarch asked: “What is your family name?” The child replied: “A name is something that exists; it is not a constant name.” The patriarch asked: “What name is it?” The child said: “It is Buddha-nature.” The patriarch asked: “Then have you no name?” The child replied: “Nature is empty, so there is no name.” The patriarch silently recognized him as a vessel of the Dharma. He sent an attendant to ask the child’s mother to allow him to leave home. Because of their former karmic connection, she did not object at all, and gave him as a disciple. He remained with the patriarch until the Dharma and robe were transmitted. The patriarch recited: “The flower seed has the nature to grow; from the ground the flower is born. When great conditions accord with nature, what is born is unborn.” He then entrusted the students to him. One day he told the assembly: “During the Wude era I traveled to Mount Lu. From its summit I looked toward Potou Mountain and saw a purple cloud like a canopy, with white vapor beneath it stretching across in six bands. Do you understand?” Everyone was silent. Hongren said: “Could it be that in the future a branch of the Buddha-Dharma will spread out horizontally from the master?” The patriarch said: “Good.” Later, in the guimao year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong admired the master’s flavor of the Way and wished to see his countenance, so he summoned him to the capital. The patriarch submitted memorials declining the invitation three times, finally pleading illness. On the fourth summons, the emperor ordered the envoy: “If he truly will not rise, bring back his head.” When the envoy delivered the order on the mountain, the patriarch extended his neck to the blade, his expression solemn. The envoy was astonished and returned to report what had happened. The emperor admired him even more and bestowed precious silks on the spot, allowing him to follow his wishes. On the fourth day of the intercalary ninth month in the xinhai year of Yonghui under Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he suddenly instructed his disciples: “All dharmas are entirely liberated. Each of you should protect and remember this teaching, spreading it to beings in the future.” Having spoken, he sat peacefully and passed away. He was seventy-two. His stupa is on this mountain. On the eighth day of the fourth month the following year, the stupa door opened by itself for no reason, and his appearance was like that of a living person. After this, the disciples did not dare close it again. Emperor Daizong posthumously named him Great Physician Chan Master and his stupa “Compassionate Cloud.”

五祖弘忍大師者

The Fifth Patriarch: Great Master Hongren

蘄州黃梅人也。先為破頭山中栽松道者。甞請於四祖曰。法道可得聞乎。祖曰。汝已老。脫有聞。其能廣化邪。儻若再來。吾尚可遲汝。廼去。行水邊。見一女子浣衣。揖曰。寄宿得否。女曰。我有父兄。可往求之。曰。諾我。即敢行。女首肯之。遂回䇿而去。女周氏季子也。歸輙孕。父母大惡。逐之。女無所歸。日傭紡裡中。夕止於眾館之下。已而生一子。以為不祥。因拋濁港中。明日見之。泝流而上。氣體鮮明。大驚。遂舉之。成童。隨母乞食。里人呼為無姓兒。逢一智者。歎曰。此子缺七種相。不逮如來。後遇信大師。得法嗣。化於破頭山。咸亨中有一居士。姓盧名慧能。自新州來參謁。祖問曰。汝自何來。盧曰。嶺南。祖曰。欲須何事。盧曰。唯求作佛。祖曰。嶺南人無佛性。若為得佛。盧曰。人即有南北。佛性豈然。祖知是異人。乃訶曰。著槽廠去。盧禮足而退。便入碓房。服勞於杵臼之間。晝夜不息。經八月。祖知付授時至。遂告眾曰。正法難解。不可徒記吾言。持為己任。汝等各自隨意述一偈。若語意冥符。則衣法皆付。時會下七百餘僧。上座神秀者。學通內外。眾所宗仰。鹹推稱曰。若非尊秀。疇敢當之。神秀竊聆眾譽。不復思惟。乃於廊壁書一偈曰。身是菩提樹。心如明鏡臺。時時勤拂拭。莫使惹塵埃。祖因經行。忽見此偈。知是神秀所述。乃讚歎曰。後代依此修行。亦得勝果。其壁本欲令處士盧珍繪楞伽變相。及見題偈在壁。遂止不畫。各令念誦。盧在碓坊。忽聆誦偈。乃問同學。是何章句。同學曰。汝不知和尚求法嗣。令各述心偈。此則秀上座所述。和尚深加歎賞。必將付法傳衣也。盧曰。其偈云何。同學為誦。盧良久曰。美則美矣。了則未了。同學訶曰。庸流何知。勿發狂言。盧曰。子不信邪。願以一偈和之。同學不答。相視而笑。盧至夜。密告一童子。引至廊下。盧自秉燭。

He was from Huangmei in Qizhou. In a former life he was a practitioner who planted pine trees on Potou Mountain. He once asked the Fourth Patriarch: “May I hear the Dharma of the Way?” The patriarch said: “You are already old. Even if you hear it, can you still teach widely? If you come again in another life, I can wait for you.” The practitioner left. When he reached the water, he saw a young woman washing clothes. He bowed and asked: “May I lodge with you?” The woman replied: “I have a father and brothers; you may ask them.” He said: “If you agree, then I will dare to go.” The woman nodded in agreement. He turned and left. The woman was the youngest daughter of the Zhou family. When she returned home, she became pregnant. Her parents were furious and drove her out. With nowhere to go, she worked spinning yarn in the village by day and slept beneath the public inns at night. Later she gave birth to a son. Thinking him inauspicious, she threw him into a muddy harbor. The next day she saw him moving upstream, alive and radiant. Terrified, she took him in and raised him. When he became a boy, he went with his mother begging for food, and people in the village called him “the nameless child.” He met a wise man who sighed: “This child lacks seven marks and cannot compare to the Tathagata.” Later he met Master Daoxin, inherited the Dharma, and taught at Potou Mountain. During the Xianheng era, a layman named Lu Huineng came from Xinzhou to pay homage. The patriarch asked: “Where do you come from?” Lu replied: “Lingnan.” The patriarch said: “What do you want?” Lu replied: “I seek only to become a Buddha.” The patriarch said: “People of Lingnan have no Buddha-nature. How can you attain Buddhahood?” Lu said: “People may be north or south, but how could Buddha-nature be like that?” The patriarch recognized him as an extraordinary person and rebuked him: “Go to the rice mill.” Lu bowed at the patriarch’s feet, withdrew, and went to the mill, working day and night at the mortar and pestle without rest. After eight months, the patriarch knew the time to transmit the Dharma had come. He told the assembly: “The true Dharma is difficult to understand. Do not merely remember my words and claim them as your own. Each of you should write a verse expressing your mind. If your words and meaning accord inwardly with the Dharma, I will transmit both the robe and Dharma.” There were more than seven hundred monks in the assembly. The senior monk Shenxiu had studied both inner and outer teachings and was revered by all. Everyone agreed: “If not Venerable Shenxiu, who else could be the successor?” Shenxiu secretly heard their praise. Without further reflection, he wrote this verse on the corridor wall: “The body is the Bodhi tree; the mind is like a bright mirror stand. At all times diligently wipe it; do not let dust alight.” The patriarch happened to be walking and saw the verse. He knew Shenxiu had written it and praised it: “If people in later generations practice according to this, they will also attain a superior fruit.” That wall had originally been reserved for the lay painter Lu Zhen to paint scenes of the Lankavatara. When the verse appeared on the wall, the painting was canceled, and everyone was instructed to recite it. In the mill, Lu suddenly heard people reciting the verse. He asked a fellow student: “What is this passage?” The student replied: “You do not know? The monk is seeking a successor to the Dharma and asked everyone to write a verse expressing the mind. This was written by Senior Monk Shenxiu. The monk praised it greatly; surely the robe and Dharma will be transmitted to him.” Lu said: “What does the verse say?” The student recited it to him. After a long while, Lu said: “It is beautiful, but it is not complete.” The student scolded him: “What does a common laborer know? Do not speak wildly.” Lu said: “Do you not believe me? I would like to write a verse to match it.” The student said nothing; they looked at each other and laughed. That night Lu secretly told a young novice to lead him to the corridor. Lu himself held the lamp,

請別駕張日用於秀偈之側。寫一偈曰。菩提本無樹。明鏡亦非臺。本來無一物。何處惹塵埃。祖後見此偈曰。此是誰作。亦未見性。眾聞師語。遂不之顧。逮夜。祖潛詣碓坊。問曰。米白也未。盧曰。白也。未有篩。祖於碓以杖三擊之。盧即以三皷入室。祖告曰。諸佛出世為一大事。故隨機大小而引導之。遂有十地．三乘．頓漸等旨。以為教門。然以無上微妙．秘密圓明．真實正法眼藏付於上首大迦葉尊者。展轉傳授二十八世。至達磨屆於此土。得可大師承襲以至於今。以法寶及所傳袈裟用付於汝。善自保護。無令斷絕。聽吾偈曰。有情來下種。因地果還生。無情既無種。無性亦無生。盧行者跪受衣法。啟曰。法則既受。衣付何人。祖曰。昔達磨初至。人未之信。故傳衣以明得法。今信心已熟。衣乃爭端。止於汝身。不復傳也。且當遠隱。俟時行化。所謂受衣之人。命如懸絲也。盧曰。當隱何所。祖曰。逢懷即止。遇會且藏。盧禮足已。捧衣而出。是夜南邁。大眾莫知。五祖自後不復上堂。大眾疑怪。致問。祖曰。吾道行矣。何更詢之。復問。衣法誰得邪。祖曰。能者得。於是眾議盧行者名能。尋訪既失。潛知彼得。即共奔逐。五祖既付衣法。復經四載。至上元二年忽告眾曰。吾今事畢。時可行矣。即入室。安坐而逝。壽七十有四。建塔於黃梅之東山。代宗諡大滿禪師．法雨之塔。

and asked Assistant Magistrate Zhang Riyong to write beside Shenxiu’s verse: “Bodhi originally has no tree; the bright mirror is also no stand. Originally there is not a single thing; where could dust alight?” Later the patriarch saw this verse and said: “Whoever wrote this has not yet seen their nature.” Hearing the master’s words, everyone stopped paying attention to it. That night the patriarch secretly went to the mill and asked: “Is the rice white yet?” Lu replied: “It is white, but has not yet been sifted.” The patriarch struck the pestle three times with his staff. At the third watch, Lu entered his room. The patriarch told him: “The Buddhas appear in the world for one great purpose. Accordingly, they guide beings with differing capacities, establishing the ten stages, the three vehicles, sudden and gradual teachings, and other doctrines as gateways. Yet the unsurpassed, wondrous, secret, perfect, and bright treasury of the true Dharma-eye was entrusted to the senior disciple, Venerable Mahakashyapa, and passed down through twenty-eight generations. When Bodhidharma came to this land, Master Huike inherited it; it has come down to the present day. I entrust the Dharma-treasure and the robe transmitted with it to you. Protect them well yourself and do not let them perish. Hear this verse: ‘Sentient beings come to sow the seed; from the ground the fruit will grow. For those without sentience there is no seed, and without nature there is no birth.’” The layman Lu knelt and received the robe and Dharma. He asked: “Now that I have received the Dharma, to whom should the robe be given?” The patriarch said: “When Bodhidharma first arrived, people did not yet believe him, so he transmitted the robe as proof of receiving the Dharma. Now faith has matured, and the robe would become a source of contention. It will stop with you and no longer be transmitted. You should also conceal yourself far away and wait for the right time to teach again. The life of whoever receives this robe hangs by a thread.” Lu asked: “Where should I hide?” The patriarch said: “Where Huai meets, stop; where Hui meets, conceal yourself.” Lu bowed at the patriarch’s feet, took the robe, and left. That night he went south; no one in the assembly knew. From then on the Fifth Patriarch no longer ascended the teaching seat. The assembly, puzzled, came to ask him. The patriarch said: “My Way has already gone forth. Why ask again?” They asked: “Who received the robe and Dharma?” The patriarch replied: “The capable one receives it.” The assembly discussed that the layman’s name was Neng, “Capable,” searched for him, and found he was gone; they secretly knew he had received it and all rushed to pursue him. Four years after transmitting the robe and Dharma, in the second year of Shangyuan, the Fifth Patriarch suddenly told the assembly: “My work is now complete. The time has come for me to depart.” He entered his room, sat peacefully, and passed away. He was seventy-four. A stupa was built on East Mountain in Huangmei. Emperor Daizong posthumously named him Great Master Daman, and his stupa “Dharma Rain.”

六祖慧能大師者

The Sixth Patriarch: Great Master Huineng

俗姓盧氏。其先範陽人。父行瑫。武德中左官於南海之新州。遂占籍焉。三歲喪父。其母守志。鞠養及長。家尤貧窶。師樵採以給。一日負薪至市中。聞客讀金剛經。至應無所住而生其心。有所感悟。而問客曰。此何法也。得於何人。客曰。此名金剛經。得於黃梅忍大師。祖遽告其母以為法尋師之意。直抵韶州。遇高行士劉志略。結為交友。尼無盡藏者。即志略之姑也。常讀涅槃經。師暫聽之。即為解說其義。尼遂執卷問字。祖曰。字即不識。義即請問。尼曰。字尚不識。曷能會義。祖曰。諸佛妙理。非關文字。尼驚異之。告鄉裡耆艾曰。能是有道之人。宜請供養。於是居人競來瞻禮。近有寶林古寺舊地。眾議營緝。俾祖居之。四眾霧集。俄成寶坊。祖一日忽自唸曰。我求大法。豈可中道而止。明日遂行。至昌樂縣西山石室間遇智遠禪師。祖遂請益。遠曰。觀子神姿爽拔。殆非常人。吾聞西域菩提達磨傳心印於黃梅。汝當往彼參決。祖辭去。直造黃梅之東山。即唐咸亨二年也。忍大師一見。默而識之。後傳衣法。令隱於懷集四會之間。至儀鳳元年丙子正月八日。屆南海。遇印宗法師於法性寺講涅槃經。祖寓止廊廡間。暮夜。風颺剎幡。聞二僧對論。一曰幡動。一曰風動。往復酬答。曾未契理。祖曰。可容俗流輙預高論否。直以風幡非動。動自心耳。印宗竊聆此語。竦然異之。明日。邀祖入室。徵風幡之義。祖具以理告。印宗不覺起立曰。行者定非常人。師為是誰。祖更無所隱。直敘得法因由。於是印宗執弟子之禮。請授禪要。乃告四眾曰。印宗具足凡夫。今遇肉身菩薩。乃指座下盧居士曰。即此是也。因請出所傳信衣。悉令瞻禮。至正月十五日。會諸名德。為之剃髮。二月八日。就法性寺智光律師授滿分戒。其戒壇。即宋朝求那䟦陀三藏之所置也。三藏記雲。後當有肉身菩薩在此壇受戒。

His lay surname was Lu. His ancestors came from Fanyang. His father, Xingtao, was demoted during the Wude era and sent to Xinxing in Nanhai; he then registered his family there. When Huineng was three, his father died, and his mother raised him alone. As he grew older, the family became increasingly poor. He supported his teacher by gathering firewood. One day, as he carried wood to the market, he heard a customer reciting the Diamond Sutra. When the customer reached “without abiding anywhere, give rise to this mind,” Huineng felt an awakening and asked: “What teaching is this? From whom did you receive it?” The customer said: “It is called the Diamond Sutra. I received it from Master Hongren at Huangmei.” The patriarch immediately told his mother that he wished to seek a teacher for the Dharma. He went straight to Shaozhou and met the eminent layman Liu Zhiliu. They became friends. The nun Wujincang, Zhiliu’s aunt, often read the Nirvana Sutra. The master listened for a while and then explained its meaning to her. The nun held the scroll and asked him about the written characters. The patriarch said: “I do not recognize the characters; please ask me about the meaning.” The nun said: “If you do not recognize the characters, how can you understand the meaning?” The patriarch replied: “The wondrous principle of all Buddhas has nothing to do with written words.” The nun was astonished and told the elders of the village: “Neng is a person of the Way. You should invite him and make offerings.” The local people competed to pay homage. Nearby stood the old site of Baolin Monastery. The people discussed restoring it and invited the patriarch to stay. The fourfold assembly gathered like mist, and before long the place became a great monastery. One day the patriarch suddenly thought: “I seek the great Dharma. How can I stop halfway?” The next day he left. Among the stone chambers of the Western Mountain in Changle County he met Chan Master Zhiyuan and asked him for instruction. Zhiyuan said: “Judging by your fresh and outstanding appearance, you are probably no ordinary person. I have heard that Bodhidharma from the Western Regions transmitted the mind-seal at Huangmei. You should go there and seek decisive guidance.” The patriarch took leave and went directly to East Mountain in Huangmei. This was the second year of Xianheng under Tang. Master Hongren recognized him silently at their first meeting. Later he transmitted the robe and Dharma and instructed him to hide between Huaiji and Sihui. In the first year of Yifeng, on the eighth day of the first month, he reached Nanhai. Dharma Master Yinzong was lecturing on the Nirvana Sutra at Faxing Monastery, and Huineng lodged in the corridor. That evening the wind lifted the temple banner. He heard two monks debating: one said the banner was moving, the other said the wind was moving. They answered one another back and forth, never reaching the principle. The patriarch said: “May an ordinary person like me be allowed to join this lofty discussion? It is neither the wind nor the banner that moves; movement comes only from your own mind.” Yinzong secretly heard this and was startled. The next day he invited the patriarch into his room and questioned him about the wind and banner. The patriarch explained the principle in detail. Yinzong could not help standing up and said: “The lay practitioner is certainly no ordinary person. Who is your teacher?” The patriarch no longer concealed anything and recounted how he had received the Dharma. Yinzong then took the disciple’s place and asked him to teach the essential points of Chan. He told the fourfold assembly: “Yinzong is a complete ordinary person. Today I have met a living Bodhisattva.” He pointed to the layman Lu beneath the seat: “This is he.” They then asked to see the robe transmitted as a token of faith, and everyone paid homage to it. On the fifteenth day of the first month, they gathered eminent masters to shave his head. On the eighth day of the second month, Vinaya Master Zhiguang at Faxing Monastery conferred the complete precepts. That ordination platform had been established by Tripitaka Master Gunabhadra of the Song dynasty. The master had predicted: “Later, a living Bodhisattva will receive the precepts on this platform.”

又梁末真諦三藏於壇之側手植二菩提樹。謂眾曰。卻後一百二十年。有大開士於此樹下演無上乘。度無量眾。祖具戒已。於此樹下開東山法門。宛如宿契。明年二月八日。忽謂眾曰。吾不願此居。欲歸舊隱。即印宗與緇白千餘人。送祖歸寶林寺。韶州刺史韋據。請於大梵寺轉妙法輪。並受無相心地戒。門人紀錄。目為壇經。盛行於世。後返曹溪。雨大法雨。學者不下千數。中宗神龍元年降詔雲。朕請安秀二師宮中供養。萬機之暇。每究一乘。二師並推讓曰。南方有能禪師。密受忍大師衣法。可就彼問。今遣內侍薛簡馳詔迎請。願師慈念。速赴上京。祖上表辭疾。願終林麓。簡曰。京城禪德皆雲。欲得會道。必須坐禪習定。若不因禪定而得解脫者。未之有也。未審師所說法如何。祖曰。道由心悟。豈在坐也。經云。若見如來。若坐若臥。是行邪道。何故。無所從來。亦無所去。若無生滅。是如來清淨禪。諸法空寂。是如來清淨坐。究竟無證。豈況坐邪。簡曰。弟子回。主上必問。願和尚慈悲。指示心要。祖曰。道無明暗。明暗是代謝之義。明暗無盡。亦是有盡。相待立名。故經云。法無有比。無相待故。簡曰。明喻智慧。暗況煩惱。修道之人。儻不以智慧照破煩惱。無始生死。憑何出離。祖曰。煩惱即是菩提。無二無別。若以智慧照煩惱者。此是二乘小見。羊鹿等機。大智上根。悉不如是。簡曰。如何是大乘見解。祖曰。明與無明。其性無二。無二之性。即是實性。實性者。處凡愚而不減。在賢聖而不增。住煩惱而不亂。居禪定而不寂。不斷不常。不來不去。不在中間。及其內外。不生不滅。性相如如。常住不遷。名之曰道。簡曰。師說不生不滅。何異外道。祖曰。外道所說不生不滅者。將滅止生。以生顯滅。滅猶不滅。生說無生。我說不生不滅者。本自無生。今亦無滅。所以不同外道。汝若欲知心要。

At the end of the Liang dynasty, Tripitaka Master Paramartha had personally planted two Bodhi trees beside the platform and told the people: “One hundred and twenty years from now, a great Bodhisattva will expound the unsurpassed vehicle beneath these trees and liberate immeasurable beings.” After the patriarch received the full precepts, he opened the East Mountain teaching beneath these trees, as if fulfilling a former agreement. On the eighth day of the second month the following year, he suddenly told the assembly: “I do not wish to stay here; I want to return to my former retreat.” Yinzong and more than a thousand monks and laypeople escorted the patriarch back to Baolin Monastery. Wei Ju, governor of Shaozhou, invited him to turn the wondrous Wheel of Dharma at Dafan Monastery and receive the precepts of the formless ground of mind. His disciples recorded the teachings and titled the work the Platform Sutra; it became widely circulated. Later he returned to Caoxi, where the great Dharma-rain fell and more than a thousand students gathered. In the first year of Shenlong under Emperor Zhongzong, an imperial edict said: “I invited the two masters An and Xiu to serve in the palace. In moments free from the affairs of state, I often studied the One Vehicle. Both masters deferred, saying: ‘In the south there is Chan Master Neng, who secretly received the robe and Dharma of Master Hongren. You may ask him.’ I now send the palace attendant Xue Jian with an edict to invite him to the capital. I hope the master will be compassionate and promptly come to the imperial city.” The patriarch submitted a memorial pleading illness and wishing to spend his final years in the forests and foothills. Xue Jian said: “The Chan practitioners in the capital all say that if one wishes to understand the Way, one must sit in meditation and cultivate concentration. They say no one attains liberation without meditation. What is the master’s teaching?” The patriarch replied: “The Way is realized through the mind. How could it depend on sitting? The sutra says: ‘If you see the Tathagata sitting or lying down, you are following a deviant path.’ Why? He comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. Without arising or ceasing, this is the Tathagata’s pure meditation. All dharmas are empty and still; this is the Tathagata’s pure sitting. Ultimately there is nothing to realize—how much less could it depend on sitting?” Xue Jian said: “When I return, the emperor will surely ask me. I beg the monk, in your compassion, to point out the essential teaching of mind.” The patriarch said: “The Way has neither brightness nor darkness. Brightness and darkness are terms for alternation. Brightness and darkness are endless, yet also have an end; they are named in relation to one another. Therefore the sutra says: ‘Dharma has no equal, because it has nothing to compare with.’” Xue Jian said: “Brightness is a metaphor for wisdom, darkness for affliction. If those who cultivate the Way do not use wisdom to illuminate and break through affliction, how can they escape beginningless birth and death?” The patriarch replied: “Affliction itself is bodhi; they are not two and are not separate. To use wisdom to illuminate affliction is the small view of the two vehicles, the capacities of the sheep and deer. Those of great wisdom and superior capacity are not like this.” Xue Jian asked: “What is the view of the Great Vehicle?” The patriarch said: “Brightness and ignorance are not two in their nature. The nature of nonduality is true nature. True nature does not diminish among ordinary and foolish people, nor increase among sages. It is not disturbed while abiding in affliction, nor still while dwelling in meditation. It is neither eternal nor cut off, neither coming nor going, neither in the middle nor inside or outside. It neither arises nor ceases. Nature and appearance are thusness, always abiding and unmoving; this is called the Way.” Xue Jian said: “The master says it neither arises nor ceases. How is this different from non-Buddhist teachings?” The patriarch said: “The non-Buddhists speak of non-arising and non-ceasing by stopping arising with cessation and revealing cessation through arising. Cessation is still not cessation, and arising is called non-arising. I speak of non-arising and non-ceasing because it is originally unborn and now has no cessation. This is how it differs from non-Buddhist teaching. If you wish to know the essential teaching of mind,

但一切善惡都莫思量。自然得入清淨心體。湛然常寂。妙用恆沙。簡蒙指教。豁然大悟。禮辭歸闕。表奏祖語。有詔謝師。並賜磨衲袈裟．絹五百匹．寶缽一口。十二月十九日。勑改古寶林為中興寺。三年十一月十八日。又勑韶州刺史重加崇飾。賜額為法泉寺。祖新州舊居為國恩寺。一日。祖謂眾曰。諸善知識。汝等各各淨心。聽吾說法。汝等諸人。自心是佛。更莫狐疑。外無一物而能建立。皆是本心生萬種法故。經云。心生種種法生。心滅種種法滅。若欲成就種智。須達一相三昧。一行三昧。若於一切處而不住相。彼相中不生憎愛。亦無取捨。不念利益成壞等事。安閑恬靜。虗融澹泊。此名一相三昧。若於一切處。行住坐臥。純一直心。不動道場。真成淨土。名一行三昧。若人具二三昧。如地有種。能含藏長養。成就其實。一相一行。亦復如是。我今說法。猶如時雨溥潤大地。汝等佛性。譬諸種子。遇茲霑洽。悉得發生。承吾旨者。決獲菩提。依吾行者。定證妙果。先天元年告諸四眾曰。吾忝受忍大師衣法。今為汝等說法。不付其衣。葢汝等信根淳熟。決定不疑。堪任大事。聽吾偈曰。心地含諸種。普雨悉皆生。頓悟華情已。菩提果自成。說偈已。復曰。其法無二。其心亦然。其道清淨。亦無諸相。汝等慎勿觀淨及空其心。此心本淨。無可取捨。各自努力。隨緣好去。甞有僧舉臥輪禪師偈曰。臥輪有伎倆。能斷百思想。對境心不起。菩提日日長。祖聞之曰。此偈未明心地。若依而行之。是加繫縛。因示一偈曰。慧能沒伎倆。不斷百思想。對境心數起。菩提作麼長(臥輪非名即住處也)。祖說法利生。經四十載。其年七月六日。命弟子往新州國恩寺。建報恩塔。仍令倍工。又有蜀僧。名方辯。來謁曰。善揑塑。祖正色曰。試塑看。方辯不領旨。乃塑祖真。可高七尺。曲盡其妙。祖觀之曰。汝善塑性。

(The Sixth Patriarch continued:) simply do not think about any good or evil. You will naturally enter the pure substance of mind, still and constant, with wondrous functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.” Receiving the instruction, Xue Jian suddenly awakened, bowed, and returned to the court. He reported the patriarch’s words. The emperor issued an edict thanking the master and bestowed a robe of finely milled silk, five hundred bolts of silk, and a jeweled bowl. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month, he ordered the old Baolin Monastery renamed Zhongxing Monastery. In the eleventh month of the third year, he again ordered the governor of Shaozhou to restore and adorn it, granting it the name Faqiu Monastery. The patriarch’s former residence in Xinzhou was named Guoen Monastery. One day the patriarch told the assembly: “Good friends, each of you purify your mind and listen to my teaching. Your own mind is Buddha; have no more doubts. Nothing can be established outside; all things arise from the original mind. The sutra says: ‘When mind arises, all kinds of dharmas arise; when mind ceases, all kinds of dharmas cease.’ If you wish to accomplish the wisdom that knows all kinds, you must understand the samadhi of one characteristic and the samadhi of one practice. If in every place you do not abide in characteristics, and within characteristics give rise to neither hatred nor love, neither grasping nor rejecting, and do not think of benefit, harm, success, or failure—remaining at ease, tranquil, empty, and open—this is called the samadhi of one characteristic. If in every place, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, you maintain a pure, direct mind and do not move from the place of awakening, truly making it a pure land, this is called the samadhi of one practice. If people have these two samadhis, it is like the earth containing seeds and nourishing their growth until fruit is formed. The samadhi of one characteristic and one practice are just the same. My teaching now is like timely rain, which moistens the whole earth. Your Buddha-nature is like a seed; meeting this rain of Dharma, it will all sprout. Those who receive my intent will surely attain bodhi; those who practice according to me will certainly realize the wondrous fruit.” In the first year of Xiantian he told the fourfold assembly: “I received the robe and Dharma of Master Hongren. Now I teach you, but I do not transmit the robe, because your roots of faith are mature and you have no doubts; you are capable of shouldering this great matter. Hear this verse: ‘The ground of mind contains all seeds; the universal rain makes them grow. Once the flower of sudden awakening is understood, the fruit of bodhi is naturally perfected.’” After the verse he said: “That Dharma is not two; the mind is likewise so. The Way is pure and has no characteristics. Take care not to contemplate purity or empty the mind. This mind is originally pure; there is nothing to grasp or reject. Each of you should make an effort and go well according to conditions.” A monk once recited a verse by Chan Master Wolun: “Wolun has a skill: he can cut off a hundred thoughts. When facing objects, the mind does not arise; bodhi grows day by day.” Hearing it, the patriarch said: “This verse has not yet understood the ground of mind. If you practice according to it, you will only add another bond.” He then showed this verse: “Huineng has no skill; he does not cut off a hundred thoughts. When facing objects, the mind often arises; how could bodhi grow?” (Wolun is not a personal name but the place where he lived.) The patriarch taught and benefited beings for forty years. On the sixth day of the seventh month that year, he ordered his disciples to go to Guoen Monastery in Xinzhou and build a stupa of gratitude, commanding them to complete it twice as fast. A monk from Shu named Fangbian came to pay homage and said: “I am skilled at sculpting.” The patriarch said sternly: “Try sculpting.” Fangbian did not understand the intent and sculpted a lifelike image of the patriarch, about seven feet tall, with every detail exquisitely rendered. The patriarch looked at it and said: “You are skilled at sculpting nature.”

不善佛性。酬以衣物。辯禮謝而去。先天二年七月一日。謂門人曰。吾欲歸新州。汝速理舟檝。時大眾哀慕。乞師且住。祖曰。諸佛出現。猶示涅槃。有來必去。理亦常然。吾此形骸。歸必有所。眾曰。師從此去。早晚卻回。祖曰。葉落歸根。來時無口。又問。師之法眼。何人傳受。祖曰。有道者得。無心者通。又問。後莫有難否。祖曰。吾滅後五六年。當有一人來取吾首。聽吾記曰。頭上養親。口裡須飱。遇滿之難。楊柳為官。又曰。吾去七十年。有二菩薩從東方來。一在家。一齣家。同時興化。建立吾宗。締緝伽藍。昌隆法嗣。言訖。往新州國恩寺。沐浴跏趺而化。異香襲人。白虹矚地。即其年八月三日也。時韶新兩郡。各修靈塔。道俗莫決所之。兩郡刺史。共焚香祝曰。香菸引處。即師之慾歸焉。時鑪香騰湧。直貫曹溪。以十一月十三日入塔。壽七十六。時韶州刺史韋據撰碑。門人憶念取首之記。遂先以鐵葉漆布固護師頸。塔中有達磨所傳信衣。(西域屈眴布也。緝木𦄋華心織成。後人以碧絹為裡)。中宗賜磨衲寶缽。以辯塑真道具等。主塔侍者屍之。開元十年壬戌八月三日。夜半。忽聞塔中如拽鐵索聲。僧眾驚起。見一孝子從塔中走出。尋見師頸有傷。具以賊事聞於州縣。縣令楊侃．刺史柳無忝得牒。切加擒捉。五月於石角村捕得賊人。送韶州鞠問。雲。姓張名淨滿。汝州梁縣人。於洪州開元寺受新羅僧金大悲錢二十千。令取六祖大師首。歸海東供養。柳守聞狀。未即加刑。乃躬至曹溪。問祖上足令韜曰。如何處斷。韜曰。若以國法論。理須誅夷。但以佛教慈悲。冤親平等。況彼欲求供養。罪可恕矣。柳守嘉歎曰。始知佛門廣大。遂赦之(爾後。甚有名賢贊述。檀施珍異。文繁不錄)。上元元年肅宗遣使就請師衣缽。歸內供養。至永泰元年五月五日。代宗夢六祖大師請衣缽。七日。

The master said: “You have not yet understood Buddha-nature.” He offered him clothing in return. Fangbian bowed in thanks and left. On the first day of the seventh month in the second year of Xiantian, the patriarch told his disciples: “I wish to return to Xinzhou. Quickly prepare a boat.” The assembly grieved and begged him to stay a little longer. The patriarch said: “When Buddhas appear, they also demonstrate nirvana. Whatever comes must go; this is the constant principle. This body of mine must return to its proper place.” The people asked: “Master, after you leave, when will you return?” The patriarch said: “Leaves fall and return to their roots; when I come, I will have no mouth.” They asked: “Who will inherit the master’s Dharma-eye?” He said: “One who has the Way will attain it; one without mind will penetrate it.” They asked: “Will there be difficulties later?” The patriarch said: “Five or six years after I pass away, someone will come to take my head. Hear this prediction: ‘On the head, support a parent; in the mouth, food must be taken. When the difficulty of Man arrives, a willow will serve as an official.’” He continued: “Seventy years after I depart, two Bodhisattvas will come from the east, one a layperson and one a monastic. They will flourish together in teaching, establish my lineage, restore monasteries, and cause the Dharma heirs to prosper.” Having spoken, he went to Guoen Monastery in Xinzhou, bathed, sat cross-legged, and passed away. A strange fragrance filled the air, and a white rainbow shone upon the ground. This was the third day of the eighth month that year. The two prefectures of Shao and Xin each built a stupa for his relics, but the monks and laypeople could not decide where to place him. The governors of both prefectures burned incense and prayed together: “Wherever the incense smoke leads is where the master wishes to return.” The smoke rose straight from the burner and reached Caoxi. On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, he was placed in the stupa. He was seventy-six. Wei Ju, governor of Shaozhou, wrote the inscription. Remembering the prediction that someone would take his head, the disciples first protected the master’s neck with iron plates and lacquered cloth. In the stupa were the robe of faith transmitted by Bodhidharma (a Western Regions fabric called quxuan, woven from the core of cotton flowers, later lined with blue silk), the jeweled bowl and robe bestowed by Emperor Zhongzong, the image sculpted by Fangbian, and other ritual objects; the attendant responsible for the stupa guarded them. At midnight on the third day of the eighth month in the renxu year, the tenth year of Kaiyuan, a sound like an iron chain being dragged was suddenly heard inside the stupa. The monks awoke in alarm and saw a filial son emerge from it. They then saw an injury on the master’s neck and reported the theft to the prefectural and county offices. County magistrate Yang Kan and governor Liu Wutian received the report and ordered a strict search. In the fifth month, the thief was caught at Shijiao Village and sent to Shaozhou for questioning. He said: “My surname is Zhang, my given name Jingman, and I am from Liang County in Ruzhou. At Kaiyuan Monastery in Hongzhou, the Silla monk Jin Dabei paid me twenty thousand cash to take the head of the Sixth Patriarch and bring it back to the Eastern Sea.” Hearing the facts, Governor Liu did not immediately punish him. He personally went to Caoxi and asked Lingtao, the patriarch’s foremost disciple: “How should this case be judged?” Lingtao said: “Under state law, he should be executed. But in Buddhist compassion, enemies and loved ones are treated equally. Besides, he sought to make offerings, so his offense may be forgiven.” Governor Liu praised him: “Only now do I understand how broad the Buddhist path is.” He pardoned the thief. (Many famous sages later praised the patriarch and made rare donations; the accounts are too numerous to record.) In the first year of Shangyuan, Emperor Suzong sent an envoy to request the master’s robe and bowl for enshrinement in the palace. On the fifth day of the fifth month in the first year of Yongtai, Emperor Daizong dreamed that the Sixth Patriarch asked for his robe and bowl. On the seventh day,

勑刺史楊瑊曰。朕夢感禪師請傳法袈裟卻歸曹溪。今遣鎮國大將軍劉崇景頂戴而送。朕謂之國寶。卿可於本寺如法安置。專令僧眾。親承宗旨者。嚴加守護。勿令遺墜。後或為人偷竊。皆不遠而獲。如是者數四。憲宗諡大鑒禪師。塔曰元和靈照。皇朝開寶初。王師平南海劉氏。殘兵作梗。祖之塔廟。鞠為煨燼。而真身為守塔僧保護。一無所損。尋有制興修。功未竟。會太宗皇帝即位。留心禪宗。頗增壯麗焉。

he issued an edict to Governor Yang Zhan: “In a dream, the Chan master appeared and asked that the robe transmitted with the Dharma be returned to Caoxi. I now send the Grand General Liu Chongjing, Guardian of the State, to carry it respectfully. I regard it as a national treasure. You should enshrine it properly in the monastery and appoint only monks who have personally received the lineage’s essential teaching to guard it carefully, so it is never lost.” Later there were several theft attempts, but each thief was caught before getting far. Emperor Xianzong posthumously named him Great Chan Master Dajian, and named his stupa “Yuanhe Lingzhao.” Early in the Kaibao era of our dynasty, the royal army pacified the Liu house in Nanhai, though remnants of the defeated force caused trouble. The patriarch’s stupa and monastery were entirely reduced to ashes, but the monks guarding his true body protected it, and it was unharmed. An imperial order soon directed its restoration. Before the work was complete, Emperor Taizong ascended the throne. He paid special attention to the Chan school and made the monastery even more magnificent.

四祖大醫禪師旁出法嗣第一世

First generation of collateral Dharma heirs of the Great Physician Chan Master, the Fourth Patriarch

牛頭山法融禪師者

Chan Master Farong of Oxhead Mountain,

潤州延陵人也。姓韋氏。年十九。學通經史。尋閱大部般若。曉達真空。忽一日歎曰。儒道世典。非究竟法。般若正觀。出世舟航。遂隱茅山。投師落髮。後入牛頭山幽棲寺北巖之石室。有百鳥銜華之異。唐貞觀中。四祖遙觀氣象。知彼山有奇異之人。乃躬自尋訪。問寺僧。此間有道人否。曰。出家兒那箇不是道人。祖曰。阿那箇是道人。僧無對。別僧曰。此去山中十里許。有一懶融。見人不起。亦不合掌。莫是道人麼。祖遂入山。見師端坐自若。曾無所顧。祖問曰。在此作甚麼。師曰。觀心。祖曰。觀是何人。心是何物。師無對。便起作禮曰。大德高棲何所。祖曰。貧道不決所止。或東或西。師曰。還識道信禪師否。祖曰。何以問他。師曰。嚮德滋久。冀一禮謁。祖曰。道信禪師。貧道是也。師曰。因何降此。祖曰。特來相訪。莫更有宴息之處否。師指後面曰。別有小庵。遂引祖至庵所。遶庵。唯見虎狼之類。祖乃舉兩手作怖勢。師曰。猶有這箇在。祖曰。這箇是甚麼。師無語。少選。祖卻於師宴坐石上書一佛字。師覩之竦然。祖曰。猶有這箇在。師未曉。乃稽首請說真要。祖曰。夫百千法門。同歸方寸。河沙妙德。總在心源。一切戒門．定門．慧門．神通變化。悉自具足。不離汝心。一切煩惱業障。本來空寂。一切因果。皆如夢幻。無三界可出。無菩提可求。人與非人。性相平等。大道虗曠。絕思絕慮。如是之法。汝今已得。更無闕少。與佛何殊。更無別法。汝但任心自在。莫作觀行。亦莫澄心。莫起貪嗔。莫懷愁慮。蕩蕩無礙。任意縱橫。不作諸善。不作諸惡。行住坐臥。觸目遇緣。總是佛之妙用。快樂無憂。故名為佛。師曰。心既具足。何者是佛。何者是心。祖曰。非心不問佛。問佛非不心。師曰。既不許作觀行。於境起時。心如何對治。祖曰。境緣無好醜。好醜起於心。心若不強名。

He was from Yanling in Runzhou and belonged to the Wei clan. At nineteen he had mastered the classics and histories. Later he read the extensive Perfection of Wisdom and understood true emptiness. One day he suddenly sighed: “The worldly classics of Confucian and Daoist teachings are not the ultimate Dharma. The correct contemplation of prajna is the only vessel for crossing beyond the world.” He then withdrew to Mount Mao and left home under a teacher. Later he entered a stone chamber on the northern cliff of Youqi Monastery on Oxhead Mountain. There he experienced the wondrous sign of a hundred birds carrying flowers in their beaks. During the Zhenguan era of Tang, the Fourth Patriarch observed the mountain from afar, recognized that an extraordinary person lived there, and went in person to seek him. He asked the monks at the monastery: “Is there a practitioner of the Way here?” They said: “Which monk is not a practitioner of the Way?” The patriarch asked: “Which one is the practitioner ‘A’?” The monks had no reply. Another monk said: “About ten li from here in the mountain is a lazy monk named Rong. When he sees people, he does not rise or join his palms. Could he be the practitioner?” The patriarch entered the mountain and saw the master sitting upright and unconcerned. The patriarch asked: “What are you doing here?” The master said: “Contemplating the mind.” The patriarch asked: “Who is contemplating? What is the mind?” The master had no answer, so he rose, bowed, and asked: “Where does the Great Virtuous One dwell in seclusion?” The patriarch said: “This poor monk has no fixed place, sometimes east and sometimes west.” The master asked: “Do you know Chan Master Daoxin?” The patriarch asked: “Why do you ask?” The master said: “I have long admired his virtue and hope to pay homage.” The patriarch said: “I, this poor monk, am Chan Master Daoxin.” The master asked: “Why have you come down here?” The patriarch replied: “I came especially to visit you. Is there a place where I may rest?” The master pointed behind him: “There is a small hut.” He led the patriarch there. They circled the hut but saw only tigers, wolves, and similar animals. The patriarch raised both hands in a gesture of fear. The master said: “You still have that.” The patriarch asked: “What is that?” The master was silent. A little while later, the patriarch wrote the character “Buddha” on the rock where the master sat in meditation. Seeing it, the master was startled. The patriarch said: “You still have that.” The master did not yet understand, so he bowed and asked for the true essentials. The patriarch said: “The hundred thousand Dharma-gates all return to the mind’s own square inch. Virtues as numerous as the sands of the Ganges all lie in the source of mind. Every gateway of precepts, meditation, wisdom, and spiritual transformation is complete within yourself and does not depart from your mind. All afflictions and karmic obstacles are originally empty and still. All causes and effects are like dreams and illusions. There is no threefold world to leave and no bodhi to seek. Human and nonhuman beings are equal in nature and appearance. The Great Way is empty and vast, beyond thought and deliberation. You have now attained this Dharma; nothing is lacking. How are you different from the Buddha? There is no other Dharma. Just let your mind be free and at ease. Do not practice contemplation, do not clear the mind, do not give rise to greed or anger, and do not harbor worry. Be vast and unobstructed, free to go wherever you wish. Do no particular good and no particular evil. In walking, standing, sitting, lying down, seeing and meeting conditions, all is the wondrous function of the Buddha: joyful and without worry. This is called Buddha.” The master asked: “If the mind is complete in itself, which one is Buddha and which one is mind?” The patriarch said: “If it were not mind, I would not ask about Buddha; when asking about Buddha, how could it not be mind?” The master asked: “If one must not practice contemplation, when a situation arises, how should the mind deal with it?” The patriarch replied: “Conditions and objects have neither good nor bad. Good and bad arise from the mind. If the mind does not force a name upon them,

妄情從何起。妄情既不起。真心任徧知。汝但隨心自在。無復對治。即名常住法身。無有變異。吾受璨大師頓教法門。今付於汝。汝今諦受吾言。只住此山。向後當有五人達者。紹汝玄化。祖付法訖。遂返雙峰終老。師自爾法席大盛。唐永徽中。徒眾乏糧。師往丹陽緣化。去山八十里。躬負米一石八斗。朝往暮還。供僧三百。二時不闕。三年。邑宰蕭元善請於建初寺講大般若經。聽者雲集。至滅靜品。地為之震動。講罷歸山。博陵王問師曰。境緣色發時。不言緣色起。云何得知緣。乃欲息其起。師曰。境色初發時。色境二性空。本無知緣者。心量與知同。照本發非發。爾時起自息。抱暗生覺緣。心時緣不逐。至如未生前。色心非養育。從空本無念。想受言念生。起發未曾起。豈用佛教令。問曰。閉目不見色。境慮乃便多。色既不關心。境從何處發。師曰。閉目不見色。內心動慮多。幻識假成用。起名終不過。知色不關心。心亦不關人。隨行有相轉。鳥去空中真。問曰。境發無處所。緣覺了知生。境謝覺還轉。覺乃變為境。若以心曳心。還為覺所覺。從之隨隨去。不離生滅際。師曰。色心前後中。實無緣起境。一念自疑忘。誰能計動靜。此知自無知。知知緣不會。當自檢本形。何須求域外。前境不變謝。後念不來今。求月執玄影。討跡逐飛禽。欲知心本性。還如視夢裡。譬之六月氷。處處皆相似。避空終不脫。求空復不成。借問鏡中像。心從何處生。問曰。恰恰用心時。若為安隱好。師曰。恰恰用心時。恰恰無心用。曲譚名相勞。直說無繁重。無心恰恰用。常用恰恰無。今說無心處。不與有心殊。問曰。智者引妙言。與心相會當。言與心路別。合則萬倍乖。師曰。方便說妙言。破病大乘道。非關本性譚。還從空化造。無念為真常。終當絕心路。離念性不動。生滅無乖悞。谷響既有聲。鏡像能回顧。問曰。

(The Fourth Patriarch continued:) where does deluded feeling arise? When deluded feeling does not arise, let the true mind know everything everywhere. Just follow the mind freely without further countermeasures; this is called the constant Dharma-body, without change. I received the sudden-teaching gateway from Master Sengcan and now entrust it to you. Carefully receive my words. Stay only on this mountain; later five accomplished people will inherit your profound teaching.” Having transmitted the Dharma, the patriarch returned to Shuangfeng and spent his final years there. From then on, the master’s teaching assembly flourished. During the Yonghui era of Tang, the followers ran short of food. The master went to Danyang to receive offerings, eighty li from the mountain, and personally carried one shi and eight dou of rice on his back, leaving in the morning and returning at night. He supported three hundred monks without a shortage at either meal. For three years. The county magistrate Xiao Yuanshan invited him to lecture on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra at Jianchu Monastery, and listeners gathered like clouds. When he reached the chapter “Quiescence,” the earth shook. After the lecture he returned to the mountain. Prince of Boling asked the master: “When an object of color appears in the field of experience, one does not say it arises from that object. How does one know the condition, and then wish to stop its arising?” The master replied: “When the object of color first appears, both color and object are empty in nature. Originally there is no knower of conditions; the measure of mind and knowing are the same. See whether the original arising truly arises; then arising ceases by itself. Embracing darkness gives rise to awareness of conditions; when the mind is present, it does not follow conditions. Before anything has arisen, color and mind are not nurtured. From emptiness there was originally no thought; conception and feeling are called thought. Arising has never arisen; why would the Buddha’s teaching compel it?” The prince asked: “When I close my eyes and do not see color, there are even more thoughts about objects. If color is unrelated to mind, where do objects arise?” The master said: “When your eyes are closed and you do not see color, inward thoughts and worries are many. Illusory consciousness falsely performs its function; what arises is ultimately no more than a name. Know that color does not concern the mind, and mind is also unrelated to people. As you move, appearances turn; when a bird flies away, the sky remains true.” The prince asked: “Objects arise without a location, and conditions give rise to awareness. When the object disappears, awareness turns again, and awareness becomes an object. If mind pulls on mind, awareness becomes what is perceived. Following it in this way, one does not leave the realm of birth and death.” The master replied: “Before, after, and during color and mind, there truly is no object arising from conditions. A single thought doubts and forgets itself; who can calculate movement or stillness? This knowing is itself without knowing; the knowing of knowing does not meet its conditions. Examine your original nature for yourself; why seek outside your domain? The former object does not change and disappear; the later thought does not come from past or future. Seeking the moon, you grasp a mysterious shadow; pursuing traces, you chase a flying bird. If you wish to know the original nature of mind, it is like seeing something in a dream. It is like ice in the sixth month; everywhere it is the same. Avoiding emptiness, you never escape; seeking emptiness, you cannot attain it. Let me ask: the image in a mirror—where does the mind arise?” The prince asked: “When one is precisely using the mind, how can one be at ease?” The master said: “When one is precisely using the mind, precisely then there is no mind at work. Elaborate discussion of names and characteristics is wearisome; speak directly and without complication. When no-mind is used, that is precisely its function; when it is always functioning, precisely then it is no-mind. What I now call no-mind is no different from having mind.” The prince asked: “A wise person quotes wondrous words, hoping they will accord with the mind. But words and the path of mind are separate; if they are made to join, they are wrong by ten thousandfold.” The master said: “Expediently I speak wondrous words to cure illness; this is the Great Vehicle’s Way. It is not a discussion of original nature, but a creation through transformation from emptiness. No-thought is the true constant; ultimately it cuts off the path of mind. Apart from thought, nature does not move; arising and ceasing have no error. The echo in a valley has sound; an image in a mirror can look back.” The prince asked: “How—”

行者體境有。因覺知境亡。前覺及後覺。並境有三心。師曰。境用非體覺。覺罷不應思。因覺知境亡。覺時境不起。前覺及後覺。並境有三遲。問曰。住定俱不轉。將為正三昧。諸業不能牽。不知細無明。徐徐躡其後。師曰。復聞別有人。虗執起心量。三中事不成。不轉還虗妄。心為正受縛。為之淨業障。心塵萬分一。不了說無明。細細習因起。徐徐名相生。風來波浪轉。欲靜水還平。更欲前途說。恐畏後心驚。無念大獸吼。性空下霜雹。星散穢草摧。縱橫飛鳥落。五道定紛綸。四魔不前卻。既如猛火燎。還如利劒斫。問曰。賴覺知萬法。萬法本來然。若假照用心。只得照用心。不應心裡事。師曰。賴覺知萬法。萬法終無賴。若假照用心。應不在心外。問曰。隨隨無揀擇。明心不現前。復慮心闇昧。在心用功行。智障復難除。師曰。有此不可有。尋此不可尋。無揀即真擇。得闇出明心。慮者心冥昧。存心託功行。何論智障難。至佛方為病。問曰。折中消息間。實亦難安怗。自非用行人。此難終難見。師曰。折中欲消息。消息非難易。先觀心處心。次推智中智。第三照推者。第四通無記。第五解脫名。第六等真偽。第七知法本。第八慈無為。第九徧空陰。第十雲雨被。最盡彼無覺。無明生本智。鏡像現三業。幻人化四衢。不住空邊盡。當照有中無。不出空有內。未將空有俱。號之名折中。折中非言說。安怗無處安。用行何能決。問曰。別有一種人。善解空無相。口言定亂一。復道有中無。同證用常寂。知覺寂常用。用心會真理。復言用無用。智慧方便多。言亂與理合。如如理自如。不由識心會。既知心會非。心心復相泯。如是難知法。永劫不能知。同此用心人。法所不能化。師曰。別有證空者。還如前偈論。行空守寂滅。識見暫時翻。會真是心量。終知未了原。又說息心用。多智疑相似。良由性不明。

(The Prince of Boling continued:) “The practitioner’s body and the object both exist; through awareness, the object disappears. Prior awareness, later awareness, and the object make three minds.” The master said: “The object’s function is not the substance of awareness. Once awareness ceases, do not think. Through awareness one knows the object is gone; when awareness is present, the object does not arise. Prior awareness, later awareness, and the object make three delays.” The prince asked: “When abiding in samadhi, nothing turns. This should be right concentration; all karma cannot pull one along. I do not know how subtle ignorance slowly follows behind.” The master said: “I have also heard of another kind of person who falsely clings to measurements of mind. None of the three is accomplished; not turning remains delusion. The mind is bound by right reception, and this becomes the obstacle of pure karma. The dust of mind is one part in ten thousand, but without understanding it they call it ignorance. Subtle habits arise; slowly names and characteristics are born. When wind comes, waves turn; if one wishes for stillness, the water must become calm again. If I speak further about the road ahead, I fear the later mind will be startled. No-thought roars like a great beast; the nature of emptiness sends down frost and hail. Stars scatter and foul weeds are destroyed; birds fly in every direction. The five paths remain in confusion, yet the four demons do not retreat. It is like a fierce fire burning, like a sharp sword cutting.” The prince asked: “Relying on awareness, one knows the ten thousand dharmas, and the dharmas are originally so. If one uses the mind to illuminate them, one only obtains the mind that illuminates; this does not concern what is within the mind.” The master said: “Relying on awareness, one knows the ten thousand dharmas, but the dharmas ultimately rely on nothing. If you use the mind to illuminate them, it should not be outside the mind.” The prince asked: “Following along without choosing, the bright mind does not appear before me. I fear the mind may become dark and dull, so I work on the mind through practice, but the obstacle of wisdom is still hard to remove.” The master said: “There is this, yet it cannot be had; seeking this, it cannot be found. Not choosing is true choosing; from darkness you bring forth the bright mind. Those who worry find the mind obscured and dull, preserve the mind, and rely on practice. Why speak of the obstacle of wisdom being hard to remove? Even reaching Buddhahood is then an illness.” The prince asked: “Between balancing and adjustment, it is truly difficult to settle. Unless one is a practitioner, this difficulty is ultimately hard to see. I look up to our great master to open the essential gate and guide those who work with the mind, so they do not lose the right path.” The master said: “The nature of Dharma is the original ground of practice; dreamlike objects create differences. The subtle body of true reality is not understood by color and mind. Suddenly I met a man of primordial chaos, grieving and pitying the multitude of beings. He entrusted himself to doubt and asked at length, yet inwardly always understood the principle. He penetrated the obscure path of birth and death without being startled by blame or praise. The old man of the wilderness displayed separate answers; ashamed, the Dharma appearance came to pay homage. Having received the medicine that awakens beings, it is still like the nature of color.” The prince invited the master again to explain the many questions. The first twenty-eight verses above answer them, but some are deep and difficult to interpret; readers should consult them directly and carefully.

求空且勞己。永劫住幽識。抱相都不知。放光便動地。於彼欲何為。問曰。前件看心者。復有羅縠難。師曰。看心有羅縠。幻心何待看。況無幻心者。從容下口難。問曰。久有大基業。心路差互間。得覺微細障。即達於真際。自非善巧師。無能決此理。仰惟我大師。當為開要門。引導用心者。不令失正道。師曰。法性本基業。夢境成差互。實相微細身。色心常不悟。忽逢混沌士。哀怨愍群生。託疑廣設問。抱理內常明。生死幽徑徹。毀譽心不驚。野老顯分答。法相媿來儀。蒙發群生藥。還如色性為。顯慶元年。邑宰蕭元善請住建初。師辭不獲免。遂命入室上首智巖付囑法印。令以次傳授。將下山。謂眾曰。吾不復踐此山矣。時鳥獸哀號。踰月不止。庵前有四大桐樹。仲夏之月。忽自凋落。明年正月二十三日。不疾而逝。窆於雞籠山。

(Chan Master Farong continued:) “Seeking emptiness only wears yourself out. For kalpas you dwell in hidden consciousness, clinging to appearances and understanding nothing. You emit light and shake the earth—what do you hope to accomplish?” The prince asked: “Those who contemplate the mind as discussed earlier still face the difficulty of a fine net.” The master said: “Contemplating the mind has a fine net; why contemplate an illusory mind? Much less should one leisurely speak of someone without an illusory mind.” The prince asked: “For a long time a great foundation has been laid, yet the paths of mind differ and conflict. If one perceives subtle obstacles through awakening, one reaches true reality. Unless one meets a skillful teacher, no one can decide this principle. I look up to our great master to open the essential gate and guide those who work with the mind, so they do not lose the right path.” The master said: “The nature of Dharma is the original ground of practice; dreamlike objects create differences. The subtle body of true reality is not understood by color and mind. Suddenly I met a man of primordial chaos, grieving and pitying the multitude of beings. He entrusted himself to doubt and asked at length, yet inwardly always understood the principle. He penetrated the obscure path of birth and death without being startled by blame or praise. The old man of the wilderness displayed separate answers; ashamed, the Dharma appearance came to pay homage. Having received the medicine that awakens beings, it is still like the nature of color.” In the first year of Xianqing, the county magistrate Xiao Yuanshan invited the master to reside at Jianchu Monastery. The master could not refuse, so he instructed his foremost disciple Zhiyan to receive the Dharma-seal in his room and transmit it in succession. As he was about to descend the mountain, he told the assembly: “I will not set foot on this mountain again.” At that time birds and beasts cried mournfully for a full month. The four great paulownia trees before his hut suddenly withered in the middle of summer. On the twenty-third day of the first month of the following year, he passed away without illness. He was buried on Mount Jilong.

四祖下二世(旁出)

Second and later generations of collateral disciples under the Fourth Patriarch

金陵牛頭山融禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Farong of Oxhead Mountain, Jinling

牛頭山智巖禪師者

Chan Master Zhiyan of Oxhead Mountain,

曲阿人也。姓華氏。弱冠智勇過人。身長七尺六寸。隋大業中為郎將。常以弓掛一濾水囊。隨行所至汲用。累從大將徵討。頻立戰功。唐武德中。年四十。遂乞出家。入舒州皖公山。從寶月禪師為弟子。後一日宴坐。覩異僧身長丈餘。神姿爽拔。詞氣清朗。謂師曰。卿八十生出家。宜加精進。言訖不見。甞在谷中入定。山水暴漲。師怡然不動。其水自退。有獵者遇之。因改過修善。復有昔同從軍者二人。聞師隱遁。乃共入山尋之。既見。因謂師曰。郎將狂邪。何為住此。師曰。我狂欲醒。君狂正發。夫嗜色淫聲。貪榮冐寵。流轉生死。何由自出。二人感悟。歎息而去。師後謁融禪師發明大事。融謂師曰。吾受信大師真訣。所得都亡。設有一法勝過涅槃。吾說亦如夢幻。夫一塵飛而翳天。一芥墮而覆地。汝今已過此見。吾復何雲。山門化導。當付之於汝。師稟命為第二世。後以正法付方禪師。師住白馬．棲玄兩寺。又遷石頭城。於儀鳳二年正月十日示滅。顏色不變。屈伸如生。室有異香。經旬不歇。遺言水塟焉。

He was from Qu’a and belonged to the Hua clan. As a young man of twenty, he was extraordinarily intelligent and brave, and stood seven feet six inches tall. During the Daye era of Sui, he served as a deputy general and often hung a water-filtering bag from his bow, drawing water wherever he traveled. He frequently campaigned with generals and repeatedly distinguished himself in battle. During the Wude era of Tang, at age forty, he sought to leave home. He went to Mount Wangong in Shuzhou and became a disciple of Chan Master Baoyue. One day while sitting in meditation, he saw an unusual monk over ten feet tall, with a bright and commanding presence and clear, elegant speech. The monk said: “You are eighty lives old and have left home; you should practice more diligently.” Having spoken, he vanished. Once Zhiyan entered samadhi in a valley as the mountain waters suddenly surged. He remained calm and unmoved, and the water receded by itself. A hunter met him and changed his ways, repenting and practicing goodness. Two men who had once served in the army with him heard he was living in seclusion and went into the mountain to find him. When they saw him, they said: “General, have you gone mad? Why live here?” The master said: “My madness is about to awaken; your madness is just beginning. You indulge in lustful sights and sounds, greedily seek honor and favor, and wander through birth and death—how can you free yourself?” The two were moved, sighed, and left. Later the master visited Chan Master Farong and clarified the great matter. Farong told him: “I received the true instructions from Master Daoxin; all that I attained has vanished. Even if there were a Dharma superior to nirvana, I would say it was like a dream or illusion. A speck of dust flying obscures the sky; a mustard seed falling covers the earth. You have now gone beyond this view, so what more can I say? The teaching at this mountain monastery should be entrusted to you.” The master received the charge as the second generation. Later he transmitted the true Dharma to Chan Master Fang. He resided at Baima and Qixuan monasteries, then moved to Stone City. He manifested his passing on the tenth day of the first month in the second year of Yifeng. His complexion did not change, and his limbs bent and extended as if he were alive. A strange fragrance filled the room and did not dissipate for ten days. He left instructions that his body be buried in water.

金陵鍾山曇璀禪師者

Chan Master Tancui of Zhongshan, Jinling

吳郡人也。姓顏氏。初謁融禪師。融目而奇之。乃告之曰。色聲為無生之鴆毒。受想是至人之坑穽。子知之乎。師默而審之。大悟玄旨。尋晦跡鍾山。多歷年所。茅庵瓦缶。以終老焉。唐天授三年二月六日。恬然入定。七日而滅。

He was from Wu Commandery and belonged to the Yan clan. At first he visited Chan Master Farong. Farong looked at him, found him extraordinary, and said: “Forms and sounds are poison that kills the unborn; feeling and perception are traps for the utmost person. Do you understand?” The master silently examined this and greatly awakened to the profound intent. He then concealed himself on Zhongshan for many years, living out his old age in a thatched hut with earthenware vessels. On the sixth day of the second month in the third year of Tianshou under Tang, he peacefully entered samadhi and died on the seventh day.

四祖下三世四世(旁出)(不列章次)

Collateral generations three and four under the Fourth Patriarch (not numbered as chapters)

四祖下五世(旁出)

Fifth collateral generation under the Fourth Patriarch

金陵牛頭山持禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Chi of Oxhead Mountain, Jinling

牛頭山智威禪師者

Chan Master Zhiwei of Oxhead Mountain,

江寧人也。姓陳氏。依天寶寺統法師出家。謁法持禪師。傳授正法。自爾江左學徒。皆奔走門下。有慧忠者。目為法器。師甞有偈示曰。□□莫繫念。念成生死河。輪迴六趣海。無見出長波。忠答曰。念想由來幻。性自無終始。若得此中意。長波當自止。師又示偈曰。餘本性虗無。緣妄生人我。如何息妄情。還歸空處坐。忠答曰。虗無是實體。人我何所存。妄情不須息。即汎般若船。師知其了悟。乃付以院事。隨緣化導。終於延祚寺。

He was from Jiangning and belonged to the Chen clan. He left home under Vinaya Master Tong of Tianbao Monastery. He visited Chan Master Fachi, received the true Dharma, and from then on students throughout Jiangzuo flocked to him. Among them was Huizhong, whom he regarded as a vessel of the Dharma. The master once instructed him in a verse: “□□ Do not bind yourself with thoughts; thought becomes the river of birth and death. In the sea of the six destinies, no seeing can cross the long waves.” Huizhong replied: “Thoughts have always been illusions; nature itself has neither beginning nor end. If one understands this meaning, the long waves will stop by themselves.” The master then showed him another verse: “My original nature is empty and nonexistent; delusion gives rise to self and other. How can one cease deluded feelings? Return and sit in emptiness.” Huizhong replied: “Emptiness and nonexistence are the substance; where can self and other abide? Deluded feelings need not be stopped; one simply sails the ship of prajna.” The master knew that he had awakened and entrusted the affairs of the monastery to him. He taught and transformed beings according to conditions and eventually resided at Yanzhu Monastery.

四祖下六世(旁出)

Sixth collateral generation under the Fourth Patriarch

金陵牛頭山威禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Wei of Oxhead Mountain, Jinling

牛頭山慧忠禪師者

Chan Master Huizhong of Oxhead Mountain,

潤州人也。姓王氏。年二十三。受業於莊嚴寺。聞威禪師出世。乃往謁之。威才見曰。山主來也。師感悟微旨。遂給侍左右。後辭。詣諸方巡禮。威於具戒院。見凌霄藤遇夏萎悴。人慾伐之。因謂之曰。勿剪。慧忠還時。此藤更生。及師回。果如其言。即以山門付囑訖。出居延祚寺。師平生一衲不易。器用唯一鐺。甞有供僧糓兩廩。盜者窺伺。虎為守之。縣令張遜者。至山頂謁。問師。有何徒弟。師曰。有三五人。遜曰。如何得見。師敲禪床。有三虎哮吼而出。遜驚怖而退。後眾請入城。居莊嚴舊寺。師欲於殿東別創法堂。先有古木。群鵲巢其上。工人將伐之。師謂鵲曰。此地建堂。汝等何不速去。言訖。群鵲乃遷巢他樹。初築基。有二神人定其四角。復潛資夜役。遂不日而就。繇是四方學徒雲集。得法者有三十四人。各住一方。轉化多眾。師有安心偈曰。人法雙淨。善惡兩忘。直心真實。菩提道場。大曆三年石室前掛鐺樹．掛衣藤忽盛夏枯死。四年六月十五日。集僧布薩訖。命侍者淨髮浴身。至夜有瑞雲覆其精舍。空中復聞天樂之聲。詰旦。怡然坐化。時風雨暴作。震折林木。復有白虹貫於巖壑。五年春。茶毗。獲舍利不可勝計。

He was from Runzhou and belonged to the Wang clan. At twenty-three he studied under a teacher at Zhuangyan Monastery. Hearing that Chan Master Zhiwei had appeared in the world, he went to visit him. As soon as Zhiwei saw him, he said: “The mountain’s host has arrived.” The master understood the subtle intent and served at his side. Later he took leave and went on pilgrimage to various places. Zhiwei once saw a trumpet vine withering in summer at the ordination hall. Someone wanted to cut it down, but he said: “Do not cut it. When Huizhong returns, this vine will grow again.” When the master returned, it happened just as he had said. He then entrusted the monastery to him and went to reside at Yanzhu Monastery. Throughout his life the master never changed his single patched robe; his only utensil was an iron pot. Once, two storehouses of grain offered for the monks were watched by a tiger when thieves came to spy. County magistrate Zhang Xun came to the mountain summit to visit and asked: “How many disciples do you have?” The master said: “Three or five.” Zhang asked: “How can I see them?” The master struck the meditation platform, and three tigers roared out. Zhang was frightened and withdrew. Later people invited the master into the city to reside at the old Zhuangyan Monastery. He wished to build a separate Dharma hall east of the main hall. An old tree stood there, with a flock of magpies nesting in it. The workers were about to cut it down. The master told the magpies: “A hall will be built here. Why do you not quickly move?” As soon as he spoke, the flock moved its nest to another tree. When the foundation was first laid, two spirits marked its four corners and secretly helped with the night labor, so it was completed in a few days. Students then gathered from all directions. Thirty-four people received the Dharma; each settled in a different region and transformed many beings. The master’s verse for pacifying the mind said: “Person and Dharma both purified; good and evil both forgotten. With a direct and true mind, this is the bodhi site.” In the third year of Dali, the tree where he hung his pot in the stone chamber and the vine where he hung his robe suddenly withered in midsummer. On the fifteenth day of the sixth month in the fourth year, after the monks had gathered for the Uposatha ceremony, he ordered his attendant to shave his head and bathe him. That night auspicious clouds covered the monastery, and heavenly music was heard in the sky. The next morning he peacefully sat and passed away. A violent storm arose, breaking trees in the forest, and a white rainbow stretched across the ravines. In the spring of the fifth year his body was cremated, yielding too many relics to count.

宣州安國寺玄挺禪師

Chan Master Xuanting of Anguo Monastery, Xuanzhou

初參威禪師。侍立次。有講華嚴僧問。真性緣起。其義云何。威良久。師遽召曰。大德。正興一念問時。是真性中緣起。其僧言下大悟。或問。南宗自何而立。曰。心宗非南北。

At first he studied under Chan Master Zhiwei. While he stood attending, a monk lecturing on the Avatamsaka Sutra asked: “What is meant by the arising of true nature through conditions?” Zhiwei was silent for a long time. The master immediately called out: “Venerable sir! The very moment you give rise to a thought and ask the question is the arising through conditions within true nature.” The monk suddenly awakened at these words. Someone asked: “From where was the Southern School established?” He replied: “The school of mind is neither north nor south.”

舒州天柱山崇慧禪師者

Chan Master Chonghui of Tianzhu Mountain, Shuzhou,

彭州人也。姓陳氏。唐乾元初。往舒州天柱山創寺。永泰元年賜額。僧問。如何是天柱境。師曰。主簿山高難見日。玉鏡峰前易曉人。問。達磨未來此土時。還有佛法也無。師曰。未來且置。即今事作麼生。曰。某甲不會。乞師指示。師曰。萬古長空。一朝風月。僧無語。師復曰。闍梨會麼。曰。不會。師曰。自己分上作麼生。幹他達磨來與未來作麼。他家來。大似賣卜漢。見汝不會。為汝錐破卦文。才生吉㐫。盡在汝分上。一切自看。僧曰。如何是解卜底人。師曰。汝才出門時。便不中也。問。如何是天柱家風。師曰。時有白雲來閉戶。更無風月四山流。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。𤅬嶽峰高長積翠。舒江明月色光暉。問。如何是大通智勝佛。師曰。曠大劫來。未曾壅滯。不是大通智勝佛是甚麼。曰。為甚麼佛法不現前。師曰。只為汝不會。所以成不現前。汝若會去。亦無佛可成。問。如何是道。師曰。白雲覆青嶂。蜂蝶戀庭華。問。從上諸聖有何言說。師曰。汝今見吾有何言說。問。宗門中事。請師舉唱。師曰。石牛長吼真空外。木馬嘶時月隱山。問。如何是和尚利人處。師曰。一雨普滋。千山秀色。問。如何是天柱山中人。師曰。獨步千峰頂。優遊九曲泉。問。如何是西來意。師曰。白猿抱子來青嶂。蜂蝶銜華綠蘂間。大曆十四年歸寂。塔于山之北。

He was from Pengzhou and belonged to the Chen clan. In the early Qianyuan era of Tang, he went to Tianzhu Mountain in Shuzhou and founded a monastery. In the first year of Yongtai, it was granted a name plaque. A monk asked: “What is the realm of Tianzhu?” The master said: “The Registrar Mountain is high, so the sun is hard to see; before Jade Mirror Peak, people are easily enlightened.” The monk asked: “Before Bodhidharma came to this land, was there Buddha-Dharma?” The master said: “Set aside his not having come. What about this very moment?” The monk said: “I do not understand. I beg the master to instruct me.” The master said: “The sky has been vast and empty for ten thousand ages; for one morning, there is wind and moonlight.” The monk was silent. The master asked: “Do you understand, acharya?” The monk said: “I do not.” The master said: “What about your own part? Why concern yourself with whether Bodhidharma came or not? When he comes, he is much like a fortune-teller. Seeing that you do not understand, he pierces the divination text for you; then good and bad fortune arise, and everything depends on your own part. You must see it for yourself.” The monk asked: “Who is one who understands divination?” The master said: “The moment you step out the door, you are already off the mark.” Someone asked: “What is the house style of Tianzhu?” The master replied: “At times white clouds come to close the door; then no wind or moonlight flows among the four mountains.” A monk asked: “Where has the deceased monk gone?” The master said: “The high peaks of Qian Mountain remain ever green; the moonlight over Shu River shines brightly.” Asked: “What is the Great Universal-Surpassing Victorious Buddha?” he replied: “Through vast kalpas he has never been obstructed. If this is not the Great Universal-Surpassing Victorious Buddha, what is?” The monk asked: “Why does the Buddha-Dharma not appear before us?” The master said: “Only because you do not understand does it fail to appear. If you understood, there would be no Buddha to become.” Asked: “What is the Way?” he said: “White clouds cover green peaks; bees and butterflies love the courtyard flowers.” Asked: “What words have the sages of the past spoken?” he said: “What words do you see me speaking now?” Asked: “Please bring forth the matter of the school.” The master replied: “The stone ox roars outside true emptiness; when the wooden horse neighs, the moon hides behind the mountain.” Asked: “How does the monk benefit people?” he said: “One rain universally nourishes; a thousand mountains are splendid.” Asked: “Who is the person in Tianzhu Mountain?” The master said: “Walking alone atop a thousand peaks, wandering freely by nine-turn springs.” Asked: “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?” He replied: “A white ape carries its young to green peaks; bees and butterflies carry flowers among green buds.” He passed away in the fourteenth year of Dali. His stupa is north of the mountain.

潤州鶴林玄素禪師者

Chan Master Xuansu of Helin, Runzhou,

延陵人也。姓馬氏。晚參威禪師。遂悟性宗。後居鶴林寺。一日有屠者禮謁。願就所居辦供。師欣然而往。眾皆見訝。師曰。佛性平等。賢愚一致。但可度者。吾即度之。復何差別之有。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。會即不會。疑即不疑。又曰。不會不疑底。不疑不會底。有僧扣門。師問。是甚麼人。曰。是僧。師曰。非但是僧。佛來亦不著。曰。為甚麼不著。師曰。無汝棲泊處。

He was from Yanling and belonged to the Ma clan. In his later years he studied under Chan Master Zhiwei and awakened to the school of nature. Later he resided at Helin Monastery. One day a butcher bowed to him and invited him to accept an offering at his home. The master gladly went, to everyone’s astonishment. He said: “Buddha-nature is equal; the wise and foolish are one. I liberate whoever can be liberated. What difference is there?” A monk asked: “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?” The master said: “If you understand, then you do not understand; if you doubt, then you do not doubt.” He added: “Those who do not understand do not doubt; those who do not doubt do not understand.” A monk knocked at the gate. The master asked: “Who is it?” The monk said: “A monk.” The master said: “Not only a monk; even if a Buddha came, he would not be admitted.” The monk asked: “Why not?” The master said: “There is no place for you to lodge.”

四祖下七世(旁出)

Seventh collateral generation under the Fourth Patriarch

金陵牛頭山忠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhong of Oxhead Mountain, Jinling

天台山佛窟巖惟則禪師者

Chan Master Weize of Buddha Cave Cliff, Mount Tiantai,

京兆人也。姓長孫氏。初謁忠禪師。大悟玄旨。乃曰。天地無物也。物我無物也。雖無物也。而未甞無物也。如此。則聖人如影。百姓如夢。孰為死生哉。至人以是能獨照。能為萬物主。吾知之矣。遂南遊天台。隱於瀑布之西巖。元和中慕道者日至。有弟子可素。遂築室廬。漸成法席。佛窟之稱自師始也。僧問。如何是那羅延箭。師曰。中的也。忽一日告門人曰。汝其勉之。閱一日。跏趺而寂。後三年。塔全身於本山(唐韓文公撰碑。今存國清寺)。

He was from Jingzhao and belonged to the Zhangsun clan. At first he visited Chan Master Zhong and greatly awakened to the profound intent. He said: “Heaven and earth are no things; things and self are no things. Though there are no things, nothing has ever been absent. Thus sages are like shadows, ordinary people like dreams—who is there to undergo birth and death? The utmost person is therefore able to illuminate alone and serve as master of the myriad things. I understand it now.” He traveled south to Mount Tiantai and concealed himself on the western cliff of a waterfall. During the Yuanhe era, seekers of the Way came to him daily. His disciple Keshu built a hut there, and gradually a teaching assembly formed. The name “Buddha Cave” began with this master. A monk asked: “What is the Narayana arrow?” The master replied: “It hits the mark.” One day he suddenly told his disciples: “Exert yourselves.” The next day he sat cross-legged and passed away. Three years later, his whole body was enshrined in a stupa on the mountain. (Han Yu of Tang wrote the inscription, which still exists at Guoqing Monastery.)

鶴林素禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Su of Helin

杭州徑山道欽禪師者

Chan Master Daoqin of Jingshan, Hangzhou,

蘇州崑山人也。姓朱氏。初服膺儒教。年二十八。遇素禪師。謂之曰。觀子神氣溫粹。真法寶也。師感悟。因求為弟子。素躬與落髮。乃戒之曰。汝乘流而行。逢徑即止。師遂南邁。抵臨安。見東北一山。因問樵者。樵曰。此徑山也。乃駐錫焉。僧問。如何是道。師曰。山上有鯉魚。海底有蓬塵。馬祖令人送書到。書中作一圓相。師發緘。於圓相中著一點。卻封回(忠國師聞。乃雲。欽師猶被馬師惑)。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。汝問不當。曰。如何得當。師曰。待吾滅後。即向汝說。馬祖令智藏來問。十二時中以何為境。師曰。待汝回去時有信。藏曰。如今便回去。師曰。傳語卻須問取曹溪。崔趙公問。弟子今欲出家。得否。師曰。出家乃大丈夫事。非將相之所能為。公於是有省。唐大曆三年。代宗詔至闕下。親加瞻禮。一日。同忠國師在內庭坐次。見帝駕來。師起立。帝曰。師何以起。師曰。檀越何得向四威儀中見貧道。帝悅。謂國師曰。欲錫欽師一名。國師欣然奉詔。乃賜號國一焉。後辭歸本山。於貞元八年十二月示疾。說法而逝。諡大覺禪師。

He was from Kunshan in Suzhou and belonged to the Zhu clan. At first he devoted himself to Confucian teachings. At twenty-eight he met Chan Master Su. Su said: “Your spirit and vitality are gentle and pure; you are truly a Dharma-treasure.” The master awakened and asked to become his disciple. Su personally shaved his head and instructed him: “Go with the current; when you meet a path, stop.” The master went south to Lin’an, saw a mountain to the northeast, and asked a woodcutter about it. The woodcutter said: “This is Jingshan.” He then stayed there. A monk asked: “What is the Way?” The master said: “There are carp on the mountain and dust at the bottom of the sea.” Mazu sent him a letter containing a circle. The master opened the letter, put a dot inside the circle, and sent it back sealed. (When National Teacher Zhong heard this, he said: “Master Qin was still confused by Master Ma.”) Asked: “What is the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the West?” he replied: “Your question is not appropriate.” The monk asked: “How can I make it appropriate?” The master said: “Wait until after I pass away, and I will tell you.” Mazu sent Zhizang to ask: “What is your object of awareness during the twelve periods of the day?” The master said: “When you return, there will be a message.” Zhizang said: “I am returning right now.” The master replied: “To convey a message, you must ask Caoxi.” Cui Zhao-gong asked: “I now wish to leave home. Is that possible?” The master said: “Leaving home is the work of a great man; it is not something a general or minister can accomplish.” The duke then had an insight. In the third year of Dali under Tang, Emperor Daizong summoned the master to the palace and personally paid him homage. One day he was sitting in the inner court with National Teacher Zhong. When the emperor arrived, the master stood up. The emperor asked: “Why does the master rise?” The master said: “How can a patron see this poor monk amid the four postures?” The emperor was pleased and said to the National Teacher: “I wish to bestow a name upon Master Qin.” The National Teacher gladly accepted the edict, and the emperor bestowed the title Guoyi, “One of the Nation.” Later the master took leave and returned to his mountain. In the twelfth month of the eighth year of Zhenyuan, he fell ill, taught the Dharma, and passed away. He was posthumously named Chan Master Dajue.

四祖下八世(旁出)

Eighth collateral generation under the Fourth Patriarch

佛窟則禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Ze of Buddha Cave

天台山雲居智禪師

Chan Master Zhiyun of Mount Tiantai

甞有華嚴院。僧繼宗問。見性成佛。其義云何。師曰。清淨之性。本來湛然。無有動搖。不屬有無．淨穢．長短．取捨．體自翛然。如是明見。乃名見性。性即佛。佛即性。故曰見性成佛。曰。性既清淨。不屬有無。因何有見。師曰。見無所見。曰。既無所見。何更有見。師曰。見處亦無。曰。如是見時。是誰之見。師曰。無有能見者。曰。究竟其理如何。師曰。汝知否。妄計為有。即有能所。乃得名迷。隨見生解。便墮生死。明見之人即不然。終日見。未甞見。求名處體相不可得。能所俱絕。名為見性。曰。此性徧一切處否。師曰。無處不徧。曰。凡夫具否。師曰。上言無處不徧。豈凡夫而不具乎。曰。因何諸佛菩薩不被生死所拘。而凡夫獨縈此苦。何曾得徧。師曰。凡夫於清淨性中計有能所。即墮生死。諸佛大士善知清淨性中不屬有無。即能所不立。曰。若如是說。即有能了不了人。師曰。了尚不可得。豈有能了人乎。曰。至理如何。師曰。我以要言之。汝即應念清淨性中無有凡聖。亦無了不了人。凡之與聖。二俱是名。若隨名生解。即墮生死。若知假名不實。即無有當名者。又曰。此是極究竟處。若雲我能了．彼不能了。即是大病。見有淨穢．凡聖。亦是大病。作無凡聖解。又屬撥無因果。見有清淨性可棲止。亦大病。作不棲止解。亦大病。然清淨性中。雖無動搖。且不壞方便應用。及興慈運悲。如是興運之處。即全清淨之性。可謂見性成佛矣。繼宗踴躍。禮謝而退。

A monk named Jizong from Huayan Monastery once asked: “What is the meaning of seeing one’s nature and becoming a Buddha?” The master said: “The pure nature is originally still and unmoving. It does not belong to existence or nonexistence, purity or defilement, length or shortness, grasping or rejection; its substance is naturally free and at ease. Clearly seeing this is called seeing one’s nature. Nature is Buddha, and Buddha is nature; therefore it is said that seeing one’s nature is becoming a Buddha.” The monk asked: “If nature is pure and belongs neither to existence nor nonexistence, why is it seen?” The master said: “Seeing that there is nothing to see.” The monk asked: “If there is nothing to see, why is there any further seeing?” The master said: “Even the place of seeing is absent.” The monk asked: “When one sees in this way, whose seeing is it?” The master said: “There is no one who sees.” The monk asked: “What is the ultimate principle?” The master said: “Do you know? Falsely calculating that things exist, one establishes subject and object; only then is it called delusion. Understanding arises along with seeing, and one falls into birth and death. Those who clearly see are not like this. They see all day, yet have never seen. Seeking a name, the substance and appearance cannot be found. Subject and object are both cut off; this is called seeing one’s nature.” The monk asked: “Does this nature pervade every place?” The master said: “There is no place it does not pervade.” The monk asked: “Do ordinary people possess it?” The master said: “I just said there is no place it does not pervade. How could ordinary people lack it?” The monk asked: “Why are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas not bound by birth and death, while ordinary people alone are entangled in suffering? How can this be all-pervading?” The master said: “Within the pure nature, ordinary people calculate that there is a subject and an object, and so fall into birth and death. Buddhas and great beings know well that within the pure nature there is neither existence nor nonexistence, and so subject and object are not established.” The monk asked: “If so, then there are people who understand and do not understand.” The master said: “Understanding cannot be attained; how could there be someone who understands?” The monk asked: “What is the ultimate principle?” The master said: “Let me explain the essential point: you should remember that within the pure nature there are neither ordinary nor holy beings, nor anyone who understands or fails to understand. ‘Ordinary’ and ‘holy’ are both names. If you interpret them by following the names, you fall into birth and death. If you know that false names are unreal, there is no one who corresponds to them.” He continued: “This is the most ultimate point. To say ‘I can understand, but he cannot’ is a grave illness. To see purity or defilement, ordinary people or sages, is also a grave illness. To understand that there are no ordinary or holy beings is to fall into denial of cause and effect. To see a pure nature as something to abide in is a grave illness; to understand that there is nothing to abide in is also a grave illness. Yet although the pure nature is unmoving, it does not destroy expedient activity and function, nor the arising of compassion and compassionate action. The place where these arise and function is the whole of pure nature; this may be called seeing one’s nature and becoming a Buddha.” Jizong rejoiced, bowed in thanks, and withdrew.

徑山國一欽禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guoyi Qin of Jingshan

杭州鳥窠道林禪師

Chan Master Daolin of Bird’s Nest, Hangzhou

本郡富陽人也。姓潘氏。母朱氏。夢日光入口。因而有娠。及誕。異香滿室。遂名香光。九歲出家。二十一於荊州果願寺受戒。後詣長安西明寺復禮法師學華嚴經．起信論禮示以真妄頌。俾修禪那。師問曰。初云何觀。云何用心。禮久而無言。師三禮而退。屬代宗詔國一禪師至闕。師乃謁之。遂得正法。及南歸孤山永福寺。有辟支佛塔。時道俗共為法會。師振錫而入。有靈隱寺韜光法師問曰。此之法會。何以作聲。師曰。無聲誰知是會。後見秦望山有長松。枝葉繁茂。盤屈如葢。遂棲止其上。故時人謂之鳥窠禪師。復有鵲巢於其側。自然馴狎。人亦目為鵲巢和尚。有侍者會通。忽一日欲辭去。師問曰。汝今何往。對曰。會通為法出家。和尚不垂慈誨。今往諸方學佛法去。師曰。若是佛法。吾此間亦有少許。曰。如何是和尚佛法。師於身上拈起布毛吹之。通遂領悟玄旨。元和中。白居易侍郎出守茲郡。因入山謁師。問曰。禪師住處甚危險。師曰。太守危險尤甚。白曰。弟子位鎮江山。何險之有。師曰。薪火相交。識性不停。得非險乎。又問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。諸惡莫作。眾善奉行。白曰。三歲孩兒也解恁麼道。師曰。三歲孩兒雖道得。八十老人行不得。白作禮而退。師於長慶四年二月十日告侍者曰。吾今報盡。言訖坐亡(有云師名圓修者。恐是諡號)。

He was from Fuyang in his home commandery and belonged to the Pan clan. His mother, Lady Zhu, dreamed that sunlight entered her mouth and became pregnant. When he was born, a wondrous fragrance filled the room, so he was named Xiangguang, “Fragrant Light.” He left home at nine and received the precepts at Guoyuan Monastery in Jingzhou at twenty-one. Later he went to Ximing Monastery in Chang’an and studied the Avatamsaka Sutra and Awakening of Faith with Dharma Master Fuli. Fuli showed him a verse on true and false and instructed him to practice dhyana. The master asked: “How should I begin to contemplate? How should I use the mind?” Fuli was silent for a long time. The master bowed three times and withdrew. When Emperor Daizong summoned Chan Master Guoyi to the palace, the master went to see him and received the true Dharma. Later he returned south to Yongfu Monastery at Gushan, where there was a stupa of a Pratyekabuddha. Monks and laypeople were holding a Dharma assembly. The master entered, leaning on his staff. Dharma Master Taoguang of Lingyin Monastery asked: “Why is there noise at this Dharma assembly?” The master said: “Without sound, who would know it is an assembly?” Later he saw a tall pine on Qinwang Mountain, its luxuriant branches twisting into a canopy, and lived there. People at the time therefore called him Chan Master Bird’s Nest. A magpie also nested nearby and naturally became tame, so people called him Monk Magpie’s Nest as well. His attendant Huitong suddenly wished to leave one day. The master asked: “Where are you going?” Huitong replied: “Huitong left home for the Dharma, but the monk has shown me no compassion or instruction. Now I am going to study the Buddha-Dharma in various places.” The master said: “If it is the Buddha-Dharma, I have a little of it here too.” Huitong asked: “What is the monk’s Buddha-Dharma?” The master plucked a bit of fuzz from his robe and blew it away. Huitong then grasped the profound intent. During the Yuanhe era, Attendant Bai Juyi was appointed governor of the region and went up the mountain to visit the master. He said: “The Chan master’s dwelling is very dangerous.” The master replied: “The governor is in even greater danger.” Bai Juyi said: “I command this region; what danger is there?” The master said: “Kindling and fire meet, and consciousness never stops. Is that not dangerous?” Bai Juyi asked: “What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?” The master said: “Do no evil; practice every good.” Bai Juyi replied: “Even a three-year-old child can say that.” The master said: “A three-year-old child can say it, but an eighty-year-old man cannot practice it.” Bai Juyi bowed and withdrew. On the tenth day of the second month in the fourth year of Changqing, the master told his attendant: “My karmic lifespan is now exhausted.” Having spoken, he sat and passed away. (Some say the master’s name was Yuanxiu; it may have been his posthumous title.)

五祖大滿禪師旁出法嗣第一世

First generation of collateral Dharma heirs of the Fifth Patriarch, Great Master Daman

北宗神秀禪師者(耶舍三藏誌雲。艮地生玄旨。通尊媚亦尊。比肩三九族。足下一毛分)

Chan Master Shenxiu of the Northern School (The Record of Tripitaka Master Yashe says: ‘In the northeast, profound intent is born; those who understand the Way are honored and beloved. Three generations stand shoulder to shoulder; one hair divides those beneath their feet.’)

開封人也。姓李氏。少親儒業。博綜多聞。俄捨愛出家。尋師訪道。至蘄州雙峰東山寺。遇五祖以坐禪為務。乃歎伏曰。此真吾師也。誓心苦節。以樵汲自役。而求其道。祖默識之。深加器重。祖既示滅。秀遂住江陵當陽山。唐武后聞之。召至都下。於內道場供養。特加欽禮。命於舊山置度門寺。以旌其德。時王公士庶皆望塵拜伏。暨中宗即位。尤加禮重。大臣張說甞問法要。執弟子禮。師有偈示眾曰。一切佛法。自心本有。將心外求。捨父逃走。神龍二年於東都天宮寺入滅。諡大通禪師。羽儀法物。送殯於龍門。帝送至橋。王公士庶皆至塟所。張說及徵士盧鴻一各為碑誄。門人普寂．義福等。並為朝野所重。

He was from Kaifeng and belonged to the Li clan. As a youth he studied Confucian teachings, widely read and learned. Before long he renounced attachment, left home, and sought a teacher and the Way. He went to East Mountain Monastery at Shuangfeng in Qizhou, where he met the Fifth Patriarch practicing seated meditation, and exclaimed: “This is truly my teacher.” With firm resolve and austere discipline, he served by gathering firewood and water, seeking the Way through labor. The patriarch silently recognized him and held him in great esteem. After the patriarch passed away, Shenxiu resided on Dangyang Mountain in Jiangling. Empress Wu of Tang heard of him, summoned him to the capital, made offerings to him in the inner sanctuary, and honored him especially. She ordered Dumen Monastery built on his old mountain to commend his virtue. Princes, officials, and commoners all bowed as he passed. When Emperor Zhongzong ascended the throne, he honored him even more. The minister Zhang Yue once asked him for the essential teaching and took the disciple’s place. The master showed the assembly this verse: “All Buddha-Dharma is originally within one’s own mind. To seek outside the mind is to abandon one’s father and flee.” In the second year of Shenlong, he passed away at Tiangong Monastery in the eastern capital. He was posthumously named Chan Master Datong. His ceremonial banners and ritual objects escorted his funeral to Longmen. The emperor accompanied the procession to the bridge, and princes, officials, and commoners all went to the burial site. Zhang Yue and the recluse Lu Hongyi each composed an epitaph. His disciples PujI, Yifu, and others were highly esteemed by the court and the public.

嵩嶽慧安國師(耶舍三藏誌雲。九女出人倫。八女絕婚姻。朽床添六腳。心祖眾中尊)

National Teacher Huian of Mount Song (The Record of Tripitaka Master Yashe says: ‘Nine daughters transcend ordinary people; eight daughters sever marriage. An old bed gains six legs; the patriarch of mind is honored among the assembly.’)

荊州枝江人也。姓衛氏。隋開皇十七年括天下私度僧尼。勘師。師曰。本無名。遂遁于山谷。大業中。大發丁夫開通濟渠。饑殍相枕。師乞食以救之。獲濟者眾。煬帝徵師。不赴。潛入大和山。暨帝幸江都。海內擾攘。乃杖錫登衡嶽。行頭陀行。唐貞觀中。至黃梅謁忍祖。遂得心要。麟德元年遊終南山石壁。因止焉。高宗甞召。師不奉詔。於是徧歷名跡。至嵩少。雲。是吾終焉之地也。自爾禪者輻湊。有坦然．懷讓二僧來參問曰。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。何不問自己意。曰。如何是自己意。師曰。當觀密作用。曰。如何是密作用。師以目開合示之。然於言下知歸。讓乃即謁曹溪。武后徵至輦下。待以師禮。與秀禪師同加欽重。後甞問師。甲子多少。師曰。不記。後曰。何不記邪。師曰。生死之身。其若循環。環無起盡。焉用記為。況此心流注。中間無間。見漚起滅者。乃妄想耳。從初識至動相滅時。亦只如此。何年月而可記乎。後聞稽顙。信受。神龍二年中宗賜紫袈裟。度弟子二七人。仍延入禁中供養。三年。又賜摩衲。辭歸嵩嶽。是年三月三日。囑門人曰。吾死已。將屍向林中。待野火焚之。俄爾萬回公來。見師猖狂。握手言論。傍侍傾耳。都不體會。至八日。閉戶偃身而寂。春秋一百二十八(隋開皇二年壬寅生。唐景龍三年己酉滅。時稱老安國師)。門人遵旨。舁置林間。果野火自然。闍維得舍利八十粒。內五粒色紫。留於宮中。至先天二年門人建浮圖焉。

He was from Zhijiang in Jingzhou and belonged to the Wei clan. In the seventeenth year of Kaihuang under Sui, officials searched throughout the realm for monks and nuns ordained privately and interrogated the master. He said: “Originally there is no name,” and escaped into the valleys. During the Daye era, huge numbers of laborers were conscripted to open the Tongji Canal; the dead from starvation lay upon one another. The master begged for food and saved many people. Emperor Yang summoned him, but he did not go; instead he went secretly to Mount Taihe. When the emperor visited Jiangdu and the realm fell into turmoil, the master took up his staff, climbed Mount Heng, and practiced ascetic wandering. During the Zhenguan era of Tang, he went to Huangmei to visit Patriarch Hongren and received the essential teaching of mind. In the first year of Linde, he traveled to the stone cliffs of Zhongnan Mountain and stayed there. Emperor Gaozong once summoned him, but the master did not obey the edict. He then visited many famous sites and went to Songshan and Shaoshi, saying: “This is where I will end my days.” From then on, Chan practitioners gathered around him. Two monks, Tanran and Huairang, came to visit and asked: “What is the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the West?” The master said: “Why not ask about your own meaning?” They asked: “What is our own meaning?” The master said: “Observe the hidden function.” They asked: “What is the hidden function?” The master opened and closed his eyes to show them. At these words Tanran knew where to return. Huairang went to visit Caoxi. Empress Wu summoned the master to the capital and treated him with the respect due a teacher. She honored him together with Chan Master Shenxiu. Later the empress asked: “How old are you?” The master replied: “I do not remember.” She asked: “Why do you not remember?” The master said: “This body of birth and death is like a cycle. A cycle has neither beginning nor end; why remember? Besides, this mind flows continuously without a break. Seeing bubbles arise and disappear is only delusion. From the first awareness until the movement ceases, it is all the same. What year or month could be remembered?” The empress heard this, bowed her head, and accepted it in faith. In the second year of Shenlong, Emperor Zhongzong bestowed a purple robe and ordained twenty-one disciples. He also invited the master into the palace and made offerings to him. In the third year he bestowed a robe of finely milled silk. The master took leave and returned to Mount Song. On the third day of the third month that year, he instructed his disciples: “When I die, place my body in the forest and let a wildfire cremate it.” Soon Master Wanhuigong came to see him. He spoke wildly and grasped the master’s hand in conversation; the attendants listened closely but could not understand. On the eighth day the master closed his door, lay down, and passed away. He was one hundred and twenty-eight. (He was born in the renyin year, the second year of Kaihuang under Sui, and died in the jiyou year, the third year of Jinglong under Tang; at the time he was called National Teacher Lao’an.) His disciples followed his instructions and carried him into the forest; a wildfire indeed arose on its own. After cremation, eighty relics were obtained, five of which were purple and kept in the palace. In the second year of Xiantian his disciples built a stupa.

袁州蒙山道明禪師者

Chan Master Daoming of Mengshan, Yuanzhou,

鄱陽人。陳宣帝之裔也。國亡落於民間。以其王孫。甞受署。因有將軍之號。少於永昌寺出家。慕道頗切。往依五祖法會。極意研尋。初無解悟。及聞五祖密付衣法與盧行者。即率同志數十人。躡跡追逐。至大庾嶺。師最先見。餘輩未及。盧見師奔至。即擲衣缽於磐石曰。此衣表信。可力爭邪。任君將去。師遂舉之。如山不動。踟躕悚慄。乃曰。我來求法。非為衣也。願行者開示於我。盧曰。不思善。不思惡。正恁麼時。阿那箇是明上座本來面目。師當下大悟。徧體汗流。泣禮數拜。問曰。上來密語密意外。還更別有意旨否。盧曰。我今與汝說者。即非密也。汝若返照自己面目。密卻在汝邊。師曰。某甲雖在黃梅隨眾。實未省自己面目。今蒙指授入處。如人飲水。冷暖自知。今行者即是某甲師也。盧曰。汝若如是。則吾與汝同師黃梅。善自護持。師又問。某甲向後宜往何所。盧曰。逢袁可止。遇蒙即居。師禮謝。遽回至嶺下。謂眾人曰。向陟崔嵬。遠望杳無蹤跡。當別道尋之。皆以為然。師既回。遂獨往廬山布水臺。經三載後。始往袁州𫎇山。大唱玄化。初名慧明。以避六祖上字。故名道明。弟子等盡遣過嶺南。參禮六祖。

He was from Poyang and a descendant of Emperor Xuan of Chen. When the kingdom fell, he lived among commoners. Because he was a royal grandson, he had once been appointed to an office and thus held the title of general. As a youth he left home at Yongchang Monastery and earnestly sought the Way. He went to the assembly of the Fifth Patriarch and studied with great care, but at first did not understand. When he heard that the Fifth Patriarch had secretly transmitted the robe and Dharma to the layman Lu, he led several dozen like-minded people to pursue him. At Dayu Ridge, the master was the first to catch up; the others had not yet arrived. When Lu saw him running up, he threw the robe and bowl onto a flat rock and said: “This robe is a token of faith. Can it be seized by force? If you wish, take it.” The master lifted it, but it would not move, as if it were a mountain. He hesitated, trembling with awe, and said: “I came seeking the Dharma, not the robe. I beg the lay practitioner to instruct me.” Lu said: “Without thinking of good, without thinking of evil, at precisely this moment, what is the original face of Senior Ming?” The master immediately awakened. Sweat covered his body, and he wept as he bowed several times. He asked: “Apart from the secret words and secret meaning already given, is there another essential teaching?” Lu said: “What I have just told you is not secret. If you turn the light back and look at your own original face, the secret is on your side.” The master said: “Though I was among the assembly at Huangmei, I truly had not yet recognized my own original face. Now, thanks to your instruction, I have found the place of entry. It is like a person drinking water and knowing for himself whether it is cold or warm. The lay practitioner is now my teacher.” Lu said: “If so, then you and I share the same teacher at Huangmei. Protect and uphold this well yourself.” The master asked: “Where should I go in the future?” Lu said: “Where you meet Yuan, stop; where you meet Meng, dwell.” The master bowed in thanks, immediately returned to the foot of the ridge, and told the others: “I climbed the steep ridge just now and looked far away, but found no trace. We should find another path and continue the search.” They all agreed. After returning, he went alone to the Waterfall Platform at Mount Lu. Three years later he went to Meng Mountain in Yuanzhou and widely proclaimed the profound teaching. At first his name was Huiming; to avoid the Sixth Patriarch’s generation-name “Hui,” he was called Daoming. He sent his disciples across the ridge to Lingnan to pay homage to the Sixth Patriarch.

五祖下二世(旁出)

Second collateral generation under the Fifth Patriarch

北宗秀禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shenxiu of the Northern School

五臺山巨方禪師

Chan Master Jufang of Mount Wutai

安陸人也。姓曹氏。幼稟業於明福院朗禪師。初講經論。後參禪會。及造北宗。秀問曰。白雲散處如何。師曰。不昧。秀又問。到此間後如何。師曰。正見一枝生五葉。秀默許之。入室侍對。應機無爽。尋至上黨寒嶺居焉。數歲之間。眾盈千數。後於五臺山闡化二十餘年。示寂。塔於本山。

He was from Anlu and belonged to the Cao clan. As a child he studied under Chan Master Lang at Mingfu Cloister. At first he lectured on sutras and treatises; later he joined the Chan assembly. When he visited the Northern School, Shenxiu asked: “What is it like where the white clouds disperse?” The master said: “It is not obscured.” Shenxiu asked again: “What about after arriving here?” The master said: “Now I see one branch grow into five petals.” Shenxiu silently approved. The master entered the inner chamber and attended him, responding to each occasion without error. Later he went to Hanling in Shangdang and settled there. Within a few years the assembly numbered a thousand. He then taught on Mount Wutai for more than twenty years. He manifested his passing, and his stupa is on the mountain.

河中府中條山智封禪師

Chan Master Zhifeng of Zhongtiao Mountain, Hezhong Prefecture

姓吳氏。初習唯識論。滯於名相。為知識所詰。乃發憤罷講。遊方見秀禪師。疑心頓釋。乃辭去。居於蒲津安峰。不下山十年。木食㵎飲。州牧衛文昇建安國院居之。緇素歸依。憧憧不絕。使君問曰。某今日後如何。師曰。日從濛汜出。照樹全無影。使君初不能諭。拱揖而退。少選開曉。釋然自得。師來往中條山二十餘年。得其道者不可勝紀。滅後。門人於州城北建塔焉。

He belonged to the Wu clan. At first he studied the Treatise on Consciousness-Only but became stuck on names and characteristics. When a knowledgeable person questioned him, he stopped lecturing in frustration and traveled to meet Chan Master Xiu. His doubts were suddenly released, and he took leave. He lived at Anfeng on the Pu River ford for ten years, never descending the western mountain, eating wood and drinking from streams. Governor Wei Wensheng built Anguo Cloister for him. Monks and laypeople alike took refuge in him, and visitors never ceased. The governor asked: “What should I do from today onward?” The master said: “The sun emerges from Mengsi and shines upon the trees, yet casts no shadow.” At first the governor could not understand, so he bowed with joined hands and withdrew. A little later he understood and felt at ease. The master traveled and lived around Zhongtiao Mountain for more than twenty years, and those who attained his Way were too many to count. After his passing, his disciples built a stupa north of the prefectural city.

兗州降魔藏禪師

Chan Master Jiangmozang of Yanzhou

趙郡人也。姓王氏。父為亳掾。師七歲出家。時屬野多妖鬼。魅惑於人。師孤形制伏。曾無少畏。故得降魔名焉。即依廣福院明讚禪師落髮。後遇北宗盛化。便誓摳衣。秀問曰。汝名降魔。此無山精木怪。汝翻作魔邪。師曰。有佛有魔。秀曰。汝若是魔。必住不思議境界。師曰。是佛亦空。何境界之有。秀懸記之曰。汝與少皡之墟有緣。師尋入泰山。數稔。學者雲集。一日告門人曰。吾今老朽。物極有歸。言訖而逝。

He was from Zhao Commandery and belonged to the Wang clan. His father served as an assistant in Bozhou. The master left home at seven. At the time, the countryside was full of demons and ghosts that bewitched people. He subdued them alone without fear, so he received the name “Demon Subduer.” He shaved his head under Chan Master Mingzan of Guangfu Cloister. Later, when the Northern School was flourishing, he vowed to study under its master. Shenxiu asked: “Your name is Demon Subduer. There are no mountain spirits or tree demons here; will you turn into a demon yourself?” The master said: “There are Buddhas and demons.” Shenxiu said: “If you are a demon, you must dwell in an inconceivable realm.” The master replied: “Even Buddha is empty. What realm could there be?” Shenxiu predicted: “You have a karmic affinity with the ruins of Shaohao.” The master later went to Mount Tai. After several years, students gathered like clouds. One day he told his disciples: “I am old and worn out. When things reach their extreme, they return.” Having spoken, he passed away.

壽州道樹禪師

Chan Master Daoshu of Shouzhou

唐州人也。姓聞氏。幼探經籍。年將五十。因遇高僧誘諭。遂誓出家。禮本部明月山慧文為師。師恥乎年長。求法淹遲。勵志遊方。無所不至。後歸東洛。遇秀禪師。言下知微。乃卜壽州三峰山。結茅而居。常有野人。服色素樸。言譚詭異。於言笑外化作佛形及菩薩．羅漢．天仙等形。或放神光。或呈聲響。師之學徒覩之。皆不能測。如此涉十年。後寂無形影。師告眾曰。野人作多色伎倆。眩惑於人。只消老僧不見不聞。伊伎倆有窮。吾不見不聞無盡。唐寶曆元年。示疾而終。

He was from Tangzhou and belonged to the Wen clan. As a youth he explored the classics. Near the age of fifty, a high monk guided him, and he vowed to leave home. He bowed to Huiwen of Mingyue Mountain in his own region and made him his teacher. Ashamed that he was old and had sought the Dharma late, the master resolved to travel widely and went everywhere. Later, returning to the eastern capital, he met Chan Master Xiu. At his words he understood the subtlety and chose to live on Sanfeng Mountain in Shouzhou, where he built a thatched hut. A wild man often appeared, dressed simply, speaking strangely. Beyond words and laughter, he transformed into the forms of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, arhats, and heavenly immortals; sometimes he emitted divine light, sometimes he made sounds appear. The master’s students all saw him but could not fathom what was happening. This continued for ten years, after which he vanished without trace. The master told the assembly: “The wild man performs many tricks of changing colors to confuse people. The old monk need only not see or hear him. His tricks are limited; my not-seeing and not-hearing are endless.” In the first year of Baoli under Tang, he fell ill and passed away.

嵩嶽安國師法嗣

Dharma heirs of National Teacher An of Mount Song

洛京福先寺仁儉禪師

Chan Master Renjian of Fuxian Monastery, Eastern Capital Luoyang

自嵩山罷問。放曠郊鄽。謂之騰騰和尚。唐天冊萬歲中。天后詔入殿前。仰視天后。良久曰。會麼。後曰。不會。師曰。老僧持不語戒。言訖而出。翌日。進短歌一十九首。天后覽而嘉之。厚加賜賚。師皆不受。又令寫歌辭傳布天下。其辭並敷演真理。以警時俗。唯了元歌一首盛行於世。

After leaving Mount Song and ending his studies, he wandered freely through the suburbs and marketplaces and was called the Wandering Monk. During the Wansui era of Tang, Empress Wu summoned him before the palace. He gazed up at the empress for a long time and asked: “Do you understand?” She said: “I do not.” The master replied: “This old monk observes the precept of not speaking.” Having spoken, he left. The next day he presented nineteen short songs. The empress read them, praised him, and bestowed generous gifts, all of which the master declined. She also ordered the songs copied and circulated throughout the empire. They all expounded true principle to awaken the customs of the age. Only one, “Song of Awakening to the Origin,” became widely known.

嵩嶽破灶墮和尚

The Monk Who Toppled the Broken Stove of Mount Song

不稱名氏。言行叵測。隱居嵩嶽。山塢有廟甚靈。殿中唯安一灶。遠近祭祀不輟。烹殺物命甚多。師一日領侍僧入廟。以杖敲灶三下曰。咄。此灶只是泥瓦合成。聖從何來。靈從何起。恁麼烹宰物命。又打三下。灶乃傾破墮落。須臾。有一人青衣峩冠。設拜師前。師曰。是甚麼人。曰。我本此廟灶神。久受業報。今日蒙師說無生法。得脫此處。生在天中。特來致謝。師曰。是汝本有之性。非吾彊言。神再禮而沒。少選。侍僧問曰。某等久侍和尚。不蒙示誨。灶神得甚麼徑旨。便得生天。師曰。我只向伊道是泥瓦合成。別也無道理為伊。侍僧無言。師曰。會麼。僧曰。不會。師曰。本有之性。為甚麼不會。侍僧等乃禮拜。師曰。墮也。墮也。破也。破也。後義豐禪師舉似安國師。安嘆曰。此子會盡。物我一如。可謂如朗月處空。無不見者。難搆伊語脈。豐問曰。未審甚麼人搆得他語脈。安曰。不知者。時號為破灶墮。僧問。物物無形時如何。師曰。禮即唯汝非我。不禮即唯我非汝。其僧乃禮謝。師曰。本有之物。物非物也。所以道心能轉物。即同如來。有僧從牛頭處來。師問曰。來自何人法會。僧近前叉手。遶師一匝而出。師曰。牛頭會下。不可有此人。僧乃回師上肩叉手而立。師曰。果然。果然。僧卻問曰。應物不由他時如何。師曰。爭得不由他。曰。恁麼則順正歸元去也。師曰。歸元何順。曰。若非和尚。幾錯招愆。師曰。猶是未見四祖時道理。見後道將來。僧卻遶師一匝而出。師曰。順正之道。今古如然。僧作禮。又僧侍立久。師乃曰。祖祖佛佛。只說如人本性本心。別無道理。會取。會取。僧禮謝。師乃以拂子打之曰。一處如是。千處亦然。僧乃叉手近前。應喏一聲。師曰。更不信。更不信。僧問。如何是大闡提人。師曰。尊重禮拜。曰。如何是大精進人。師曰。毀辱嗔恚。其後莫知所終。

No one knew his name. His words and conduct were hard to fathom, and he lived in seclusion on Mount Song. In a valley there was a shrine said to be very powerful. Only a stove stood in its hall, and people from near and far continually made offerings, killing many living creatures for sacrifice. One day the master led his attendant monks into the shrine and struck the stove three times with his staff. He said: “Hey! This stove is only made of clay and tiles. Where does the holy come from? Where does its power arise? Why kill living creatures like this?” He struck it three more times. The stove immediately tipped over and broke apart. A little while later, a man in green clothing and a high cap bowed before the master. The master asked: “Who are you?” The man said: “I was the spirit of this shrine’s stove. For a long time I suffered the karmic retribution of this place. Today, thanks to the master’s teaching of the unborn Dharma, I have been freed from here and reborn in heaven. I have come especially to give thanks.” The master said: “It is your own original nature; I did not force these words upon you.” The spirit bowed again and vanished. After a while, an attendant monk asked: “We have served the master for a long time and have received no instruction. What direct teaching did the stove spirit receive to be reborn in heaven?” The master said: “I only told him that he was made of clay and tiles. I gave him no other principle.” The attendant was silent. The master asked: “Do you understand?” The monk said: “I do not.” The master said: “If it is your original nature, why do you not understand?” The attendants then bowed. The master said: “Toppled, toppled! Broken, broken!” Later Chan Master Yifeng recounted this to National Teacher An. An sighed: “This man has completely understood. Self and things are one. He is like the bright moon in the empty sky, where nothing is unseen. It is difficult to grasp his words.” Yifeng asked: “Who can grasp his words?” An said: “One who does not know.” At the time he was called the Monk Who Toppled the Stove. A monk asked: “When things have no form, what then?” The master said: “If you bow, only you are not I; if you do not bow, only I am not you.” The monk bowed in thanks. The master said: “What originally exists is not a thing. Therefore it is said that when mind turns things, it is just like the Tathagata.” A monk came from Oxhead Mountain. The master asked: “Whose assembly do you come from?” The monk stepped forward with joined palms, circled the master once, and left. The master said: “There should not be such a person in the assembly of Oxhead.” The monk returned, stood with joined palms over the master’s shoulder, and the master said: “Indeed, indeed.” The monk then asked: “When responding to things, what is it like not to be controlled by them?” The master said: “How could you not be controlled by them?” The monk said: “Then I will follow the right path and return to the source.” The master said: “How could returning to the source be following?” The monk said: “If not for the master, I would nearly have made a grave mistake.” The master said: “You still have not seen the principle as it was before meeting the Fourth Patriarch. Tell me what it is after meeting him.” The monk circled the master once and left. The master said: “The way of following what is right has always been so, past and present.” The monk bowed. Another monk stood attending for a long time. The master said: “All patriarchs and Buddhas speak only of a person’s original nature and original mind; there is no other principle. Understand it, understand it.” The monk bowed in thanks. The master struck him with a whisk and said: “What is so in one place is so in a thousand places.” The monk stepped forward with joined palms and answered “Yes.” The master said: “You still do not believe it, still do not believe it.” A monk asked: “Who is a great icchantika?” The master replied: “One who reveres and bows.” Asked: “Who is a great diligent practitioner?” He said: “One who insults and grows angry.” No one knew what became of him afterward.

嵩嶽元珪禪師

Chan Master Yuangui of Mount Song

伊闕人也。姓李氏。幼歲出家。唐永淳二年。受具戒。𨽻閑居寺。習毗尼無懈。後謁安國師。頓悟玄旨。遂卜廬於嶽之龐塢。一日。有異人峩冠袴褶(徒頰切)而至。從者極多。輕步舒徐。稱謁大師。師覩其形貌。奇偉非常。乃諭之曰。善來仁者胡為而至。彼曰。師寧識我邪。師曰。吾觀佛與眾生等。吾一目之。豈分別邪。彼曰。我此嶽神也。能生死於人。師安得一目我哉。師曰。吾本不生。汝焉能死。吾視身與空等。視吾與汝等。汝能壞空與汝乎。苟能壞空及汝。吾則不生不滅也。汝尚不能如是。又焉能生死吾邪。神稽首曰。我亦聦明正直於餘神。詎知師有廣大之智辯乎。願授以正戒。令我度世。師曰。汝既乞戒。即既戒也。所以者何。戒外無戒。又何戒哉。神曰。此理也我聞茫昧。止求師戒我身為門弟子。師即為張座。秉爐正幾曰。付汝五戒。若能奉持。即應曰能。不能。即曰否。曰。謹受教。師曰。汝能不婬乎。曰。我亦娶也。師曰。非謂此也。謂無羅欲也。曰。能。師曰。汝能不盜乎。曰。何乏我也。焉有盜取哉。師曰。非謂此也。謂饗而福淫。不供而禍善也。曰。能。師曰。汝能不殺乎。曰。實司其柄。焉曰不殺。師曰。非謂此也。謂有濫誤疑混也。曰。能。師曰。汝能不妄乎。曰。我正直。焉有妄乎。師曰。非謂此也。謂先後不合天心也。曰。能。師曰。汝不遭酒敗乎。曰。能。師曰。如上是為佛戒也。又言。以有心奉持而無心拘執。以有心為物而無心想身。能如是。則先天地生不為精。後天地死不為老。終日變化而不為動。畢盡寂默而不為休。信此則雖娶非妻也。雖饗非取也。雖柄非權也。雖作非故也。雖醉非惽也。若能無心於萬物。則羅欲不為婬。福淫禍善不為盜。濫誤疑混不為殺。先後違天不為妄。惽荒顛倒不為醉。是謂無心也。無心則無戒。無戒則無心。無佛無眾生。無汝及無我。

He was from Yique and belonged to the Li clan. He left home as a child. In the second year of Yongchun under Tang he received the full precepts, joined Xianju Monastery, and practiced the Vinaya without laziness. Later he visited National Teacher An and suddenly awakened to the profound intent. He then built a hut in Pang Valley on the mountain. One day an unusual person arrived, wearing a high cap and military-style clothes (the character is pronounced tu-jia), accompanied by many followers. He walked lightly and unhurriedly, announced his visit, and paid homage to the master. Seeing his extraordinary appearance, the master said: “Welcome, good sir. Why have you come here?” The man asked: “Do you recognize me?” The master said: “I see Buddhas and sentient beings as equal. I treat them all the same; how could I distinguish between them?” The man said: “I am the spirit of this mountain. I can make people live or die. How can you treat me just the same?” The master said: “I was never born; how could you kill me? I regard body and emptiness as equal, and you and me as equal. Can you destroy emptiness or yourself? If you could destroy emptiness and me, I would neither be born nor die. You cannot even do this; how could you make me live or die?” The spirit bowed and said: “I am more intelligent and upright than the other spirits. How could I have known that the master had such broad wisdom and eloquence? I beg you to give me the true precepts so I may cross beyond the world.” The master said: “Since you ask for precepts, you already have them. Why? Outside the precepts there are no precepts. What precepts could there be?” The spirit said: “This principle is obscure to me. I only ask the master to give precepts to my body and accept me as a disciple.” The master prepared a seat for him, took up the incense burner, and sat upright: “I will give you the five precepts. If you can uphold them, say yes; if you cannot, say no.” The spirit said: “I respectfully accept your instruction.” The master asked: “Can you refrain from sexual misconduct?” The spirit said: “I also marry.” The master said: “I do not mean that. I mean not to be entangled in desire.” The spirit said: “I can.” The master asked: “Can you refrain from stealing?” The spirit replied: “What have I ever lacked, that I should steal?” The master said: “I do not mean that. I mean not to reward the licentious with blessings or bring misfortune upon the good.” The spirit said: “I can.” The master asked: “Can you refrain from killing?” The spirit replied: “I truly command that power. How can I say I do not kill?” The master said: “I do not mean that. I mean not to confuse and harm through wrongful or mistaken judgments.” The spirit said: “I can.” The master asked: “Can you refrain from false speech?” The spirit replied: “I am upright. How could I lie?” The master said: “I do not mean that. I mean not to make judgments that contradict the heavenly mind.” The spirit said: “I can.” The master asked: “Will you avoid being overcome by wine?” The spirit said: “I can.” The master said: “These are the Buddha’s precepts.” He continued: “With intention, uphold them without clinging; with intention, act for things without thinking of the body. If you can do this, you were not born before heaven and earth for the sake of essence, nor do you die after them from old age; you change all day yet are not moved, and remain utterly silent without resting. Trust this: though you marry, it is not a wife; though you receive offerings, it is not taking; though you wield authority, it is not power; though you act, it is not deliberate; though intoxicated, you are not confused. If you are without mind toward the ten thousand things, then desire does not make you licentious, rewarding the licentious and punishing the good is not theft, wrongful judgments are not killing, contradicting heaven is not falsehood, and confusion is not drunkenness. This is called no-mind. With no-mind there are no precepts; without precepts there is no mind. There is no Buddha, no sentient being, no you, and no me.

孰為戒哉。神曰。我神通亞佛。師曰。汝神通十句．五能五不能。佛則十句．七能三不能。神悚然避席。跪啟曰。可得聞乎。師曰。汝能戾上帝．東天行而西七曜乎。曰。不能。師曰。汝能奪地祗．融五嶽而結四海乎。曰。不能。師曰。是謂五不能也。佛能空一切相。成萬法智。而不能即滅定業。佛能知群有性。窮億劫事。而不能化導無緣。佛能度無量有情。而不能盡眾生界。是為三不能也。定業亦不牢久。無緣亦是一期。眾生界本無增減。亙無一人能主其法。有法無主。是謂無法。無法無主。是謂無心。如我解。佛亦無神通也。但能以無心通達一切法爾。神曰。我誠淺昧。未聞空義。師所授戒。我當奉行。今願報慈德。効我所能。師曰。吾觀身無物。觀法無常。塊然更有何欲邪。神曰。師必命我為世間事。展我小神功。使已發心．初發心．未發心．不信心．必信心五等人目我神蹤。知有佛有神。有能有不能。有自然有非自然者。師曰。無為是。無為是。神曰。佛亦使神護法。師寧隳叛佛邪。願隨意垂誨。師不得已而言曰。東巖寺之障。莽然無樹。北岫有之而背非屏擁。汝能移北樹於東嶺乎。神曰。已聞命矣。然昏夜必有喧動。願師無駭。即作禮辭去。師門送而且觀之。見儀衛逶迤。如王者之狀。嵐靄煙霞。紛綸間錯。幢幡環珮。凌空隱沒焉。其夕。果有暴風吼雷。奔雲掣電。棟宇搖蕩。宿鳥聲喧。師謂眾曰。無怖。無怖。神與我契矣。詰旦和霽。則北巖松栝盡移東嶺。森然行植。師謂其徒曰。吾沒後無令外知。若為口實。人將妖我。以開元四年丙辰歲囑門人曰。吾始居寺東嶺。吾滅。汝必寘吾骸於彼。言訖若委蛻焉。

(Yuangui continued:) “Then who upholds the precepts?” The spirit said: “My spiritual powers are inferior to the Buddha’s.” The master said: “Of ten kinds of spiritual power, you can do five and cannot do five. The Buddha can do seven and cannot do three.” The spirit was startled, withdrew from his seat, knelt, and asked: “May I hear them?” The master said: “Can you oppose the heavenly emperor, travel east through the sky, and make the seven luminaries go west?” The spirit said: “I cannot.” The master asked: “Can you take power from the earth deities, melt the Five Sacred Peaks, and bind the Four Seas?” The spirit said: “I cannot.” The master said: “These are two of the five you cannot do. Of the three the Buddha cannot do: the Buddha can empty all characteristics and realize the wisdom of all dharmas, but cannot immediately erase fixed karma. The Buddha can know the nature of all beings and events through billions of kalpas, but cannot guide those without karmic affinity. The Buddha can liberate immeasurable sentient beings, but cannot exhaust the realm of beings. Yet fixed karma does not last forever, lack of affinity is only temporary, and the realm of sentient beings neither increases nor decreases. From the beginning, no one can control Dharma. Dharma without a controller is called no-Dharma. No-Dharma without a controller is called no-mind. As I understand it, the Buddha has no spiritual powers either; he simply uses no-mind to penetrate all dharmas.” The spirit said: “I am truly shallow and ignorant; I have never heard the meaning of emptiness. I will uphold the precepts the master has given. Now I wish to repay your kindness by using my abilities.” The master said: “I observe the body as nothing and Dharma as impermanent. What desire could there still be?” The spirit said: “The master must command me to do something in the world, displaying a small spiritual power, so five kinds of people may see my traces: those who have already given rise to the aspiration, those newly giving rise to it, those who have not, those without faith, and those certain to have faith. They will know there are Buddhas and spirits, capacities and limitations, the natural and the non-natural.” The master said: “Uncontrived is right; uncontrived is right.” The spirit said: “The Buddha also has spirits protect the Dharma. Would the master betray the Buddha? Please instruct me as you wish.” The master had no choice and said: “The eastern ridge of this monastery is obstructed and bare of trees. The northern slope has trees, but they do not provide a sheltering screen. Can you move the northern trees to the eastern ridge?” The spirit said: “I have received your command. But at night there will surely be noise and disturbance. I hope the master will not be alarmed.” He bowed and took his leave. The master escorted him to the door and watched. His retinue stretched on and on, like that of a king. Mist, clouds, and rosy vapor interwove; banners and pendants disappeared into the sky. That night there was indeed a violent wind, roaring thunder, racing clouds, and flashing lightning. The buildings shook, and birds cried out in their nests. The master told the assembly: “Do not fear, do not fear. The spirit and I have reached accord.” The next morning the weather was clear. All the pines and cypresses on the northern cliff had been moved to the eastern ridge and planted in orderly rows. The master told his disciples: “After I am gone, do not let outsiders know. If this becomes a story, people will take me for a demon.” In the bingchen year, the fourth year of Kaiyuan, he instructed his disciples: “At first I lived on the eastern ridge of this monastery. When I pass away, place my remains there.” Having spoken, he passed away as if shedding a husk.

五祖下三世(旁出)

Third collateral generation under the Fifth Patriarch

嵩山寂禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Ji of Mount Song

終南山惟政禪師

Chan Master Weizheng of Zhongnan Mountain

平原人也。姓周氏。受業於本州延和寺詮澄法師。得法於嵩山普寂禪師。即入太一山中。學者盈室。唐文宗好嗜蛤蜊。㳂海官吏先時𮞏進。人亦勞止。一日御饌中有擘不張者。帝以其異。即焚香禱之。乃開。見菩薩形儀。梵相具足。帝遂貯以金粟檀香合。覆以美錦。賜興善寺。令眾僧瞻禮。因問群臣。斯何祥也。或奏太一山惟政禪師深明佛法。博聞強記。乞詔問之。帝即頒詔。師至。帝問其事。師曰。臣聞物無虗應。此乃啟陛下之信心耳。故契經云。應以此身得度者。即現此身。而為說法。帝曰。菩薩身已現。且未聞說法。師曰。陛下覩此為常邪。非常邪。信邪。非信邪。帝曰。希奇之事。朕深信焉。師曰。陛下已聞說法竟。皇情悅豫。得未曾有。詔天下寺院各立觀音像。以答殊休。留師於內道場。累辭歸山。詔令住聖壽寺。至武宗即位。師忽入終南山隱居。人問其故。師曰。吾避仇矣。終後闍維。收舍利四十九粒。而建塔焉。

He was from Pingyuan and belonged to the Zhou clan. He studied under Dharma Master Quancheng at Yanhe Monastery in his home prefecture, received the Dharma from Chan Master Puji of Mount Song, and then entered Mount Taiyi, where students filled his room. Emperor Wenzong of Tang loved eating clams. Officials along the coast hurried to present them in tribute, causing great hardship for the people. One day, in the imperial meal, there was a clam that would not open. The emperor found it strange, burned incense, and prayed; only then did it open, revealing the complete form and Brahmin features of a Bodhisattva. The emperor placed it in a sandalwood box decorated with millet-gold, covered it with fine brocade, and bestowed it on Xingshan Monastery for the monks to venerate. He then asked his ministers: “What auspicious sign is this?” Someone reported that Chan Master Weizheng of Mount Taiyi deeply understood the Buddha-Dharma and had a broad memory, and asked the emperor to summon him. The emperor issued an edict. When the master arrived, the emperor asked about the matter. The master said: “I have heard that things do not respond without cause. This is meant to awaken Your Majesty’s faith. Therefore the sutra says: ‘For those who can be liberated by this body, one manifests this body and teaches the Dharma.’” The emperor said: “The Bodhisattva’s body has appeared, but I have not yet heard the Dharma taught.” The master asked: “Does Your Majesty regard this as ordinary or extraordinary, trustworthy or untrustworthy?” The emperor replied: “It is a wondrous event; I deeply believe it.” The master said: “Your Majesty has already heard the Dharma.” The emperor was delighted, feeling he had encountered something unprecedented. He issued an edict for every monastery in the empire to establish an image of Guanyin Bodhisattva in gratitude for this exceptional sign. He kept the master in the palace sanctuary and repeatedly declined his requests to return to the mountain, ordering him instead to reside at Shengshou Monastery. When Emperor Wuzong ascended the throne, the master suddenly went into seclusion on Zhongnan Mountain. People asked why. The master said: “I am avoiding an enemy.” After his passing, his body was cremated and forty-nine relics were collected; a stupa was built.

破灶墮和尚法嗣

Dharma heirs of the Monk Who Toppled the Broken Stove

嵩山峻極禪師

Chan Master Junji of Mount Song

僧問。如何是修善行人。師曰。擔枷帶鏁。曰。如何是作惡行人。師曰。修禪入定。曰。某甲淺機。請師直指。師曰。汝問我惡。惡不從善。汝問我善。善不從惡。僧良久。師曰。會麼僧。曰。不會。師曰。惡人無善念。善人無惡心。所以道善惡如浮雲。俱無起滅處。僧於言下大悟。後破灶墮聞舉。乃曰。此子會盡諸法無生。

A monk asked: “What is a person who practices good conduct?” The master said: “One who carries cangue and chains.” The monk asked: “What is a person who does evil?” The master said: “One who practices Chan and enters samadhi.” The monk said: “My capacity is shallow. I beg the master to point directly.” The master said: “When you ask about evil, evil does not come from good. When you ask about good, good does not come from evil.” The monk was silent for a long time. The master asked: “Do you understand, monk?” The monk said: “I do not.” The master said: “An evil person has no thought of good; a good person has no evil mind. Therefore good and evil are like floating clouds, neither arising nor ceasing anywhere.” At these words the monk greatly awakened. Later the Monk Who Toppled the Stove heard about it and said: “This man has completely understood the unborn nature of all dharmas.”

五祖下四世

Fourth generation under the Fifth Patriarch

益州無相禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Wuxiang of Yizhou

益州保唐寺無住禪師

Chan Master Wuzhu of Baotang Monastery, Yizhou

初得法於無相大師。乃居南陽白崖山。專務宴寂。經累歲。學者漸至。勤請不已。自此垂誨。雖廣演言教。而唯以無念為宗。唐相國杜鴻漸出撫坤維。聞師名。思一瞻禮。遣使到山延請。時節度使崔寧亦命諸寺僧徒遠出。迎引至空慧寺。時杜公與戎帥召三學碩德俱會寺中。致禮訖。公問曰。弟子聞今和尚說無憶．無念．莫妄三句法門。是否。師曰。然。公曰。此三句是一是三。師曰。無憶名戒。無念名定。莫妄名慧。一心不生。具戒定慧。非一非三也。公曰。後句妄字莫是從心之忘乎。曰。從女者是也。公曰。有據否。師曰。法句經云。若起精進心。是妄非精進。若能心不妄。精進無有涯。公聞疑情盪然。公又問。師還以三句示人否。師曰。初心學人。還令息念。澄停識浪。水清影現。悟無念體。寂滅現前。無念亦不立也。於時庭樹鵶鳴。公問。師聞否。師曰。聞。鵶去已。又問。師聞否。師曰。聞。公曰。鵶去無聲。云何言聞。師乃普告大眾曰。佛世難值。正法難聞。各各諦聽。聞無有聞。非關聞性。本來不生。何曾有滅。有聲之時。是聲塵自生。無聲之時。是聲塵自滅。而此聞性。不隨聲生。不隨聲滅。悟此聞性。則免聲塵之所轉。當知聞無生滅。聞無去來。公與僚屬大眾稽首。又問。何名第一義。第一義者。從何次第得入。師曰。第一義無有次第。亦無出入。世諦一切有。第一義即無。諸法無性性。說名第一義。佛言有法名俗諦。無性第一義。公曰。如師開示。實不可思議。公又曰。弟子性識微淺。昔因公暇。撰得起信論章疏兩卷。可得稱佛法否。師曰。夫造章疏。皆用識心。思量分別。有為有作。起心動念。然可造成。據論文雲。當知一切法。從本以來。離言說相。離名字相。離心緣相。畢竟平等。無有變異。唯有一心。故名真如。今相公著言說相。著名字相。著心緣相。既著種種相。

At first, he received the Dharma from Master Wuxiang and settled on White Cliff Mountain at Nanyang, devoting himself to quiet meditation. After several years, students gradually came to him and earnestly sought instruction without ceasing, so he began teaching. Though he expounded the teachings widely, he took no-thought alone as his central principle. When the Tang chancellor Du Hongjian was sent to govern the southwest, he heard of the master and wished to pay his respects. He dispatched an envoy to invite him from the mountain. The military governor Cui Ning also ordered monks from the various monasteries to come out from afar and escort him to Konghui Monastery. There Du and the commander summoned eminent masters versed in the Three Vehicles to gather at the monastery. After paying his respects, Du asked, ‘I have heard that you now teach a Dharma gate of three phrases: no recollection, no thought, and no delusion. Is that so?’ The master said, ‘It is.’ Du asked, ‘Are these three phrases one, or three?’ The master said, ‘No recollection is precept; no thought is concentration; no delusion is wisdom. When the one mind does not arise, precepts, concentration, and wisdom are all complete. They are neither one nor three.’ Du asked, ‘In the last phrase, is the word for delusion not the same as “forgetting,” written with the heart radical?’ The master said, ‘It is written with the woman radical.’ Du asked, ‘Is there a scriptural basis?’ The master said, ‘The Dharmapada says: “If a mind of striving arises, it is delusion, not true striving. If the mind can remain free of delusion, its striving has no limit.”’ Hearing this, Du’s doubts vanished. He asked again, ‘Do you still use these three phrases to instruct people?’ The master said, ‘For beginners, I still have them quiet their thoughts and still the waves of consciousness, until the water is clear and reflections appear. When they awaken to the substance of no-thought and quiescent extinction manifests, even no-thought is no longer established.’ Just then, crows called in the courtyard trees. Du asked, ‘Master, do you hear them?’ The master said, ‘I do.’ After the crows flew away, Du asked again, ‘Master, do you hear them?’ The master said, ‘I do.’ Du said, ‘The crows have gone and there is no sound. Why do you say you hear?’ The master then addressed the whole assembly: ‘It is hard to encounter a Buddha’s age, and hard to hear the true Dharma. Listen carefully, each of you. Hearing is without a hearer; it does not depend on the faculty of hearing. It was never born to begin with, so how could it ever cease? When sound is present, the sound-object arises by itself; when sound is absent, the sound-object ceases by itself. The nature of hearing does not arise with sound or perish with sound. Awaken to this nature of hearing, and you will not be turned about by sound-objects. Know that hearing has neither arising nor ceasing, neither coming nor going.’ Du and his attendants bowed to the ground with the assembly. He asked again, ‘What is called the highest truth, and by what stages can one enter it?’ The master said, ‘The highest truth has no stages and no coming or going. In conventional truth, all things exist; in the highest truth, they do not. The nature of all phenomena is without inherent nature; this is called the highest truth. The Buddha said that the existence of phenomena is conventional truth, while their lack of inherent nature is the highest truth.’ Du said, ‘What you have revealed is truly inconceivable.’ He continued, ‘My nature and understanding are shallow. In my spare time from official duties, I composed a two-volume commentary on the Awakening of Faith. Can it be called Buddhadharma?’ The master said, ‘When composing commentaries, one uses the discriminating mind of consciousness, thinking and analyzing; one acts and creates through the stirring of thought. The treatise says: “Know that all phenomena, from the very beginning, are apart from the marks of speech, apart from the marks of names, and apart from the marks of mental engagement. They are ultimately equal and unchanging; there is only the one mind, and this is called suchness.” Now, Chancellor, you are attached to the marks of speech, names, and mental engagement. Since you cling to these various marks…’

云何是佛法。公起作禮曰。弟子亦曾問諸供奉大德。皆讚弟子不可思議。當知彼等但狥人情。師今從理解說。合心地法。實是真理不可思議。公又問。云何不生。云何不滅。如何得解脫。師曰。見境心不起。名不生。不生即不滅。既無生滅。即不被前塵所縛。當處解脫。不生名無念。無念即無滅。無念即無縛。無念即無脫。舉要而言。識心即離念。見性即解脫。離識心見性外。更有法門證無上菩提者。無有是處。公曰。何名識心見性。師曰。一切學道人。隨念流浪。葢為不識真心。真心者。念生亦不順生。念滅亦不依寂。不來不去。不定不亂。不取不捨。不沈不浮。無為無相活鱍鱍。平常自在。此心體畢竟不可得。無可知覺。觸目皆如。無非見性也。公與大眾作禮稱讚。踴躍而去。師後居保唐寺而終。

(Wuzhu continued:) ‘…what is the Buddhadharma?’ Du rose, made a bow, and said, ‘I have asked many eminent court masters about this, and they all praised me as inconceivable. I now know they were merely indulging me. You have explained it from the standpoint of understanding and accorded with the teaching of the mind-ground; this is truly the inconceivable truth.’ Du asked again, ‘What is non-arising? What is non-ceasing? How does one attain liberation?’ The master said, ‘When the mind does not arise upon encountering an object, that is called non-arising. What does not arise does not cease. Since there is neither arising nor ceasing, one is not bound by objects before one and is liberated right where one stands. Non-arising is called no-thought. No-thought is non-ceasing; no-thought is neither bondage nor release.’ In brief: ‘The mind of consciousness is to be free of thought; seeing one’s nature is liberation. Apart from freeing oneself from the mind of consciousness and seeing one’s nature, there is no other Dharma gate by which to realize unsurpassed awakening.’ Du asked, ‘What does it mean to know the mind and see one’s nature?’ The master said, ‘All who study the Way wander along with each thought because they do not know the true mind. When thoughts arise, the true mind does not follow their arising; when thoughts cease, it does not abide in stillness. It neither comes nor goes, is neither settled nor disturbed, neither grasps nor rejects, neither sinks nor floats. Unconditioned and formless, it is vividly alive, ordinary, and at ease. Ultimately, this mind’s substance cannot be found or apprehended. Whatever meets the eye is thusness; nothing is apart from seeing one’s nature.’ Du and the assembly bowed and praised him, then departed in delight. The master later resided at Baotang Monastery, where he passed away.

六祖大鑒禪師旁出法嗣第一世

The First Generation of Collateral Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dajian, the Sixth Patriarch

西域崛多三藏者

Tripitaka Master Jueduo of the Western Regions,

天竺人也。於六祖言下契悟。後遊五臺。見一僧結庵靜坐。師問曰。孤坐奚為。曰。觀靜。師曰。觀者何人。靜者何物。其僧作禮。問曰。此理何如。師曰汝何不自觀自靜。彼僧茫然。師曰。汝出誰門邪。曰。秀禪師。師曰。我西域異道最下種者不墮此見。兀然空坐。於道何益。其僧卻問。師所師者何人。師曰。我師六祖。汝何不速往曹溪。決其真要。其僧即往參六祖。六祖垂誨。與師符合。僧即悟入。師後不知所終。

He was from India and awakened under the Sixth Patriarch’s instruction. Later, while traveling on Mount Wutai, he saw a monk sitting in meditation in a hut. The master asked, ‘What are you doing sitting alone?’ The monk said, ‘Contemplating stillness.’ The master asked, ‘Who is the one contemplating? What is stillness?’ The monk bowed and asked, ‘What is the principle?’ The master said, ‘Why don’t you contemplate yourself and make yourself still?’ The monk was at a loss. The master asked, ‘Whose lineage are you from?’ The monk said, ‘Chan Master Shenxiu’s.’ The master said, ‘Even the lowest among the heterodox schools of my western homeland would not fall into this view. Sitting rigidly in emptiness—what benefit is that to the Way?’ The monk then asked, ‘Who is your teacher?’ The master said, ‘My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch. Why don’t you go quickly to Caoxi and settle the essential matter?’ The monk went to study with the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch’s instruction accorded with what this master had said, and the monk awakened. The master’s end is unknown.

韶州法海禪師者

Chan Master Fahai of Shaozhou,

曲江人也。初見六祖。問曰。即心即佛。願垂指喻。祖曰。前念不生即心。後念不滅即佛。成一切相即心。離一切相即佛。吾若具說。窮劫不盡。聽吾偈曰。即心名慧。即佛乃定。定慧等持。意中清淨。悟此法門。由汝習性。用本無生。雙脩是正。師信受。以偈贊曰。即心元是佛。不悟而自屈。我知定慧因。雙脩離諸物。

He was from Qujiang. When he first met the Sixth Patriarch, he asked, ‘Since mind itself is Buddha, I beg you to explain this.’ The Patriarch said, ‘When the preceding thought does not arise, that is mind; when the succeeding thought does not perish, that is Buddha. Giving rise to all forms is mind; being apart from all forms is Buddha. If I explained it fully, I could not finish in kalpas. Listen to my verse: “Mind itself is named wisdom; Buddha itself is concentration. When concentration and wisdom are held equally, the mind is pure. Awaken to this Dharma gate according to your own disposition. Function through original non-arising; cultivating both is the right path.”’ The master accepted this teaching and praised it in verse: ‘Mind itself was originally Buddha; failing to awaken, I wronged myself. Now I know the cause of concentration and wisdom: cultivating both, I am apart from all things.’

吉州志誠禪師者

Chan Master Zhicheng of Jizhou,

本州太和人也。初參秀禪師。後因兩宗盛化。秀之徒眾往往譏南宗曰。能大師不識一字。有何所長。秀曰。他得無師之智。深悟上乘。吾不如也。且吾師五祖親付衣法。豈徒然哉。吾所恨不能遠去親近。虗受國恩。汝等諸人無滯於此。可往曹谿質疑。他日回。當為吾說。師聞此語。禮辭至韶陽。隨眾參請。不言來處。時六祖告眾曰。今有盜法之人。潛在此會。師出禮拜。具陳其事。祖曰。汝師若為示眾。師曰。甞指誨大眾。令住心觀靜。長坐不臥。祖曰。住心觀靜。是病非禪。長坐拘身。於理何益。聽吾偈曰。生來坐不臥。死去臥不坐。一具臭骨頭。何為立功過。師曰。未審和尚以何法誨人。祖曰。吾若言有法與人。即為誑汝。但且隨方解縛。假名三昧。聽吾偈曰。心地無非自性戒。心地無痴自性慧心地無亂自性定。不增不減自金剛。身去身來本三昧。師聞偈悔謝。即誓依歸。乃呈偈曰。五蘊幻身。幻何究竟。回趣真如。法還不淨。

He was from Taihe in that prefecture. At first he studied with Chan Master Shenxiu. Later, as the two schools flourished, Shenxiu’s disciples often mocked the Southern School, saying, ‘Master Huineng cannot even recognize a single character. What excellence could he have?’ Shenxiu said, ‘He has wisdom that comes from no teacher and deeply realizes the Great Vehicle. I am no match for him. Moreover, our teacher, the Fifth Patriarch, personally transmitted the robe and Dharma to him; surely that was not without reason. I regret that I cannot travel far to draw near to him, and that I have wasted the emperor’s favor. You should not remain here in error. Go to Caoxi and question him. When you return, tell me what you learned.’ Hearing this, the master took leave and went to Shaoyang. He joined the assembly to seek instruction without revealing where he had come from. The Sixth Patriarch then told the group, ‘A Dharma thief is hiding in this gathering.’ The master stepped forward, bowed, and recounted everything. The Patriarch asked, ‘How does your teacher instruct the assembly?’ The master said, ‘He has instructed everyone to settle the mind and contemplate stillness, sitting upright for a long time without lying down.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Settling the mind and contemplating stillness is illness, not meditation. Restricting the body by sitting—what benefit is that to principle? Listen to my verse: “While alive, one sits and does not lie down; when dead, one lies down and does not sit. This is but a stinking bundle of bones—what merit or fault can it achieve?”’ The master said, ‘I do not know what Dharma you use to instruct people.’ The Patriarch said, ‘If I claimed to give people a Dharma, I would be deceiving you. I merely untie bonds according to circumstances, provisionally calling it samadhi. Listen to my verse: “The mind-ground free of wrongdoing is one’s own-nature precepts; the mind-ground free of delusion is one’s own-nature wisdom; the mind-ground free of disorder is one’s own-nature concentration. Neither increasing nor diminishing, it is itself the indestructible vajra. Whether the body comes or goes, this is the original samadhi.”’ Hearing the verse, the master repented and apologized, then vowed to take refuge with him. He offered this verse: ‘This five-aggregate body is an illusion; what can an illusion ultimately accomplish? Turning back toward suchness, even Dharma is not pure.’

匾擔山曉了禪師者

Chan Master Xiaoliao of Bian’dan Mountain,

傳記不載。唯北宗門人忽雷澄禪師撰塔碑盛行於世。其略曰。師住匾擔山。號曉了。六祖之嫡嗣也。師得無心之心。了無相之相。無相者森羅眩目。無心者分別熾然。絕一言一響。響莫可傳。傳之行矣。言莫可窮。窮之非矣。師得無無之無。不無於無也。吾今以有有之有。不有於有也。不有之有。去來非增。不無之無。涅槃非滅。嗚呼。師住世兮曹谿明。師寂滅兮法舟傾。師譚無說兮寰宇盈。師示迷徒兮了義乘。匾擔山色垂茲色。空谷猶留曉了名。

No biography of him has survived. Only the widely circulated stupa inscription composed by Chan Master Huleicheng, a disciple of the Northern School, remains. It says in summary: The master dwelt on Bian’dan Mountain and was known as Xiaoliao. He was a direct heir of the Sixth Patriarch. He realized the mind that is no-mind and understood the mark that is markless. In the markless, the myriad forms dazzle the eye; in no-mind, discrimination blazes forth. He cut off every word and sound: sound cannot be transmitted, and to transmit it is to act. Words cannot be exhausted; to exhaust them is to go astray. The master attained the nothingness that is not nothing, without denying nothingness. I now speak of being that is not being, without asserting being. Being that is not asserted neither increases nor decreases as it comes and goes; nothingness that is not denied does not perish in nirvana. Alas! While the master dwelt in the world, Caoxi shone bright; when the master entered quiescence, the Dharma boat capsized. His teachings on nothingness filled the universe; he showed bewildered disciples the Vehicle of definitive meaning. The slopes of Bian’dan still bear this hue, and in the empty valley Xiaoliao’s name remains.

洪州法達禪師者

Chan Master Fada of Hongzhou,

洪州豐城人也。七歲出家。誦法華經。進具之後。禮拜六祖。頭不至地。祖訶曰。禮不投地。何如不禮。汝心中必有一物。蘊習何事邪。師曰。念法華經已及三千部。祖曰。汝若念至萬部。得其經意。不以為勝。則與吾偕行。汝今負此事業。都不知過。聽吾偈曰。禮本折慢幢。頭奚不至地。有我罪即生。亡功福無比。祖又曰。汝名甚麼。對曰。名法達。祖曰。汝名法達。何曾達法。復說偈曰。汝今名法達。勤誦未休歇。空誦但循聲。明心號菩薩。汝今有緣故。吾今為汝說。但信佛無言。蓮華從口發。師聞偈。悔過曰。而今而後。當謙恭一切。惟願和尚大慈。略說經中義理。祖曰。汝念此經。以何為宗。師曰。學人愚鈍。從來但依文誦念。豈知宗趣。祖曰。汝試為吾念一徧。吾當為汝解說。師即高聲念經。至方便品。祖曰。止。此經元來以因緣出世為宗。縱說多種譬喻。亦無越於此。何者。因緣唯一大事。一大事即佛知見也。汝慎勿錯解經意。見他道開示悟入。自是佛之知見。我輩無分。若作此解。乃是謗經毀佛也。彼既是佛。已具知見。何用更開。汝今當信。佛知見者。只汝自心。更無別體。葢為一切眾生自蔽光明。貪愛塵境。外緣內擾。甘受驅馳。便勞他從三昧起。種種苦口。勸令寢息。莫向外求。與佛無二。故云。開佛知見。汝但勞勞執念。謂為功課者。何異氂牛愛尾也。師曰。若然者。但得解義。不勞誦經邪。祖曰。經有何過。豈障汝念。只為迷悟在人。損益由汝。聽吾偈曰。心迷法華轉。心悟轉法華。誦久不明己。與義作讐家。無念念即正。有念念成邪。有無俱不計。長御白牛車。師聞偈再啟曰。經云諸大聲聞。乃至菩薩。皆盡思度量。尚不能測於佛智。今令凡夫但悟自心。便名佛之知見。自非上根。未免疑謗。又經說三車。大牛之車與白牛車如何區別。願和尚再垂宣說。祖曰。經意分明。

He was from Fengcheng, Hongzhou. He left home at seven and recited the Lotus Sutra. After receiving full ordination, he bowed before the Sixth Patriarch, but his head did not touch the ground. The Patriarch rebuked him: ‘If your bow does not reach the ground, you might as well not bow. There must be something in your mind. What have you been practicing?’ The master said, ‘I have recited the Lotus Sutra three thousand times.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Even if you recited it ten thousand times, if you understood its meaning and took no pride in it, you could walk beside me. Now you are burdened by this undertaking and do not even know your fault. Listen to my verse: “Bowing is meant to break the banner of pride; why does your head not touch the ground? With the self, offenses arise; relinquishing merit, blessings are beyond compare.”’ The Patriarch asked, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Fada.’ The Patriarch said, ‘You are called Fada—how have you ever reached the Dharma?’ He recited another verse: ‘You are now called Fada, yet ceaselessly recite with diligence. Empty recitation merely follows the sound; illuminate the mind, and you are called a Bodhisattva. Since you have this affinity, I will now speak to you. Trust only that the Buddha is beyond words, and a lotus will bloom from your mouth.’ Hearing this verse, the master repented and said, ‘From now on I will be humble toward everyone. I beg you, with great compassion, to explain briefly the meaning of the sutra.’ The Patriarch asked, ‘What is the central principle of this sutra you recite?’ The master said, ‘I am dull-witted. Until now I have only followed the text in recitation; how could I know its essential aim?’ The Patriarch said, ‘Recite it once for me, and I will explain it.’ The master recited aloud as far as the “Skillful Means” chapter. The Patriarch said, ‘Stop. This sutra takes the Buddha’s appearance in the world through causes and conditions as its central principle. Though it speaks of many parables, none go beyond this. Why? There is only one great matter in these causes and conditions: the one great matter is the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Be careful not to misunderstand the sutra and think that “opening, showing, awakening, and entering” refer only to the Buddha’s own knowledge and vision, in which we have no share. Such an interpretation slanders the sutra and defames the Buddha. If he is already Buddha, he already possesses that knowledge and vision; why would it need to be opened? You should now trust that the Buddha’s knowledge and vision is only your own mind, with no separate substance. Because sentient beings obscure their own radiance, crave and cling to sensory objects, and are disturbed by outer conditions and inner turmoil, they willingly let themselves be driven about. The Buddha then rises from samadhi and, with every kind of earnest exhortation, urges them to rest and cease seeking outside, for they are no different from Buddha. This is why the sutra speaks of opening the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. You toil endlessly at clinging to recitation as a daily duty. How is that different from a yak that loves its own tail?’ The master asked, ‘If so, is it enough to understand the meaning, without reciting the sutra?’ The Patriarch said, ‘What fault is there in the sutra? How could it obstruct your recitation? The issue is only whether people are deluded or awakened; loss and gain depend on you. Listen to my verse: “When the mind is deluded, the Lotus Sutra turns you; when the mind is awakened, you turn the Lotus Sutra. Recite for a long time without understanding yourself, and you become an enemy of its meaning. Recitation without thought is right; recitation with thought is wrong. Taking neither being nor nonbeing into account, forever ride the white ox cart.”’ Hearing this verse, the master asked again, ‘The sutra says that even the great disciples and Bodhisattvas exhaust their minds trying to measure the Buddha’s wisdom, yet cannot fathom it. Now you say that an ordinary person need only awaken to his own mind to be called the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Unless one has the highest capacity, surely this invites doubt and slander. Also, the sutra speaks of three carts. How does the great ox cart differ from the white ox cart? I beg you to explain further.’ The Patriarch said, ‘The sutra’s meaning is clear…’

汝自迷背。諸三乘人不能測佛智者。患在度量也。饒伊盡思共推。轉加懸遠。佛本為凡夫說。不為佛說。此理若不肯信者。從他退席。殊不知坐卻白牛車。更於門外覔三車。況經文明向汝道。無二亦無三。汝何不省三車是假。為昔時故。一乘是實。為今時故。只教你去假歸實。歸實之後。實亦無名。應知所有珍財。盡屬於汝。由汝受用。更不作父想。亦不作子想。亦無用想。是名持法華經。從劫至劫。手不釋卷。從晝至夜。無不念時也。師既蒙啟發。踴躍歡喜。以偈贊曰。經誦三千部。曹谿一句亡。未明出世旨。寧歇累生狂。羊鹿牛權設。初中後善揚。誰知火宅內。元是法中王。祖曰。汝今後方可為念經僧也。師從此領旨。亦不輟誦持。

(The Sixth Patriarch continued:) ‘…you yourself turn away from it in delusion. Those of the Three Vehicles cannot fathom the Buddha’s wisdom because they try to measure it. Even if they ponder and reason together as much as they can, they only move farther from it. The Buddha spoke originally for ordinary people, not for Buddhas. If you refuse to trust this principle, you may leave. You do not realize that you are already seated in the white ox cart, yet still go outside the gate looking for the three carts. The sutra plainly tells you: “There are neither two nor three.” Why not understand that the three carts were provisional, provided for the past, while the One Vehicle is real, provided for the present? It teaches you only to leave the provisional and return to the real. Once you have returned to the real, even “the real” has no name. Know that all the precious wealth belongs to you and is yours to use. There is no longer a thought of father or son, nor even a thought of using it. This is called upholding the Lotus Sutra: through kalpa after kalpa, never setting the scroll aside, there is no time, day or night, when you are not reciting it.’ Having received this instruction, the master rejoiced and praised him in verse: ‘Three thousand recitations, yet one phrase from Caoxi undoes them all. Not having understood the purpose of appearing in the world, how could I stop the madness accumulated through many lives? The sheep, deer, and ox carts were skillfully set forth, praised as good from beginning to end. Who knew that within the burning house was originally the King of Dharma?’ The Patriarch said, ‘From now on you may truly be called a monk who recites sutras.’ The master understood the teaching and continued to recite without interruption.’

壽州智通禪師者

Chan Master Zhitong of Shouzhou,

安豐人也。初看楞伽經約千餘徧。而不會三身四智。禮拜六祖。求解其義。祖曰。三身者。清淨法身。汝之性也。圓滿報身。汝之智也。千百億化身。汝之行也。若離本性。別說三身。即名有身無智。若悟三身無有自性。即名四智菩提。聽吾偈曰。自性具三身。發明成四智。不離見聞緣。超然登佛地。吾今為汝說。諦信永無迷。莫學馳求者。終日說菩提。師曰。四智之義。可得聞乎。祖曰。既會三身。便明四智。何更問邪。若離三身。別譚四智。此名有智無身也。即此有智。還成無智。復說偈曰。大圓鏡智性清淨。平等性智心無病。妙觀察智見非功。成所作智同圓鏡。五八六七果因轉。但用名言無實性。若於轉處不留情。繁興永處那伽定(轉識為智者。教中雲。轉前五識為成所作智。轉第六識為妙觀察智。轉第七識為平等性智。轉第八識為大圓鏡智。雖六七因中轉。五八果上轉。但轉其名而不轉其體也)。師禮謝。以偈贊曰。三身元我體。四智本心明。身智融無礙。應物任隨形。起修皆妄動。守住匪真精。妙旨因師曉。終亡汙染名。

He was from Anfeng. At first he read the Lankavatara Sutra more than a thousand times, yet did not understand the Three Bodies and Four Wisdoms. He bowed before the Sixth Patriarch and asked for an explanation. The Patriarch said, ‘The Three Bodies are these: the pure Dharma body is your nature; the complete reward body is your wisdom; the myriad-billion transformation bodies are your actions. To speak of the Three Bodies apart from one’s original nature is to have bodies without wisdom. If you realize that the Three Bodies have no separate self-nature, this is called the awakening of the Four Wisdoms. Listen to my verse: “One’s own nature contains the Three Bodies; bring them to light, and the Four Wisdoms are realized. Without departing from the conditions of seeing and hearing, transcendence leads directly to the Buddha’s realm. I now explain this to you; trust it truly and you will never be deluded. Do not imitate those who chase after things, speaking of awakening all day long.”’ The master asked, ‘May I hear the meaning of the Four Wisdoms?’ The Patriarch said, ‘Once you understand the Three Bodies, the Four Wisdoms are clear; why ask further? To discuss the Four Wisdoms apart from the Three Bodies is to have wisdom without a body. Such wisdom is itself no wisdom.’ He then recited this verse: ‘The Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom is pure in nature; the Equality Wisdom is a mind free of affliction. Wondrous Observing Wisdom sees without contrivance; Accomplishing-Activities Wisdom is like a perfect mirror. The fifth and eighth consciousnesses turn at fruition; the sixth and seventh turn in the causal stage. These are names only, with no real nature. If, in the turning, you do not cling to anything, then in ceaseless activity you abide forever in the naga-samadhi.’ (Turning consciousness into wisdom: the teachings say that the first five consciousnesses are transformed into Accomplishing-Activities Wisdom, the sixth into Wondrous Observing Wisdom, the seventh into Equality Wisdom, and the eighth into Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom. Though the sixth and seventh turn in the causal stage and the fifth and eighth at fruition, only their names turn, not their substance.) The master bowed in thanks and praised him in verse: ‘The Three Bodies are originally my own substance; the Four Wisdoms are the clarity of the original mind. Body and wisdom merge without obstruction, responding to things in whatever form is fitting. To cultivate or to cling to practice is deluded activity, not true refinement. Through my teacher I have understood the wondrous principle; at last, the name of defilement is gone.’

江西志徹禪師

Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi

姓張氏。名行昌。少任俠。自南北分化。二宗主雖亡彼我。而徒侶競起愛憎。時北宗門人自立秀禪師為第六祖。而忌大鑑傳衣為天下所聞。然祖預知其事。即置金十兩於方丈。時行昌受北宗門人之囑。懷刃入祖室。將欲加害。祖舒頸而就。行昌揮刃者三。都無所損。祖曰。正劒不邪。邪劒不正。只負汝金。不負汝命。行昌驚僕。久而方蘇。求哀悔過。即願出家。祖遂與金曰。汝且去。恐徒眾翻害於汝。汝可他日易形而來。吾當攝受。行昌稟旨宵遁。投僧出家。具戒精進。一日憶祖之言。遠來禮覲。祖曰。吾久念於汝。汝來何晚。曰。昨蒙和尚捨罪。今雖出家苦行。終難報於深恩。其唯傳法度生乎。弟子甞覽涅槃經。未曉常無常義。乞和尚慈悲。略為宣說。祖曰。無常者。即佛性也。有常者。即善惡一切諸法分別心也。曰。和尚所說。大違經文。祖曰。吾傳佛心印。安敢違於佛經。曰。經說佛性是常。和尚卻言無常。善惡諸法乃至菩提心。皆是無常。和尚卻言是常。此即相違。令學人轉加疑惑。祖曰。涅槃經。吾昔者聽尼無盡藏讀誦一徧。便為講說。無一字一義不合經文。乃至為汝。終無二說。曰。學人識量淺昧。願和尚委曲開示。祖曰。汝知否佛性若常。更說甚麼善惡諸法。乃至窮劫。無有一人發菩提心者。故吾說無常。正是佛說真常之道也。又一切諸法若無常者。即物物皆有自性。容受生死。而真常性有不徧之處。故吾說常者。正是佛說真無常義也。佛比為凡夫外道。執於邪常諸二乘人。於常計無常。共成八倒。故於涅槃了義教中。破彼偏見而顯說真常．真樂．真我．真淨。汝今依言背義。以斷滅無常。及確定死常而錯解佛之圓妙最後微言。縱覧千徧。有何所益。行昌忽如醉醒。乃說偈曰。因守無常心。佛演有常性。不知方便者。猶春池拾礫。我今不施功。佛性而見前。非師相授與。我亦無所得。祖曰。

His surname was Zhang and his given name was Xingchang. In his youth he was a wandering swordsman. After the Northern and Southern Schools divided, their two leaders had put aside self and other, but their followers began to fight over likes and dislikes. The Northern School disciples then proclaimed Master Shenxiu the Sixth Patriarch and resented the fact that Dajian’s transmission of the robe had become known throughout the land. The Sixth Patriarch foresaw this and placed ten taels of gold in his room. Xingchang, acting on the Northern School’s orders, entered the Patriarch’s chamber with a blade, intending to kill him. The Patriarch stretched out his neck to meet the blade. Xingchang struck three times, but not a wound was made. The Patriarch said, ‘A true sword is not crooked; a crooked sword is not true. I owe you only the gold, not my life.’ Xingchang collapsed in shock and remained unconscious for a long time. When he recovered, he begged forgiveness, repented, and wished to leave home. The Patriarch gave him the gold and said, ‘Go for now. I fear the assembly may take revenge on you. Some other day, come back in disguise, and I will receive you.’ Xingchang followed the instruction, fled by night, joined the monastic community, received the full precepts, and practiced diligently. One day he remembered the Patriarch’s words, traveled from afar, and paid him a visit. The Patriarch said, ‘I have thought of you for a long time. Why have you come so late?’ He replied, ‘The other day you forgave my crime. Though I have now left home and practiced austerities, I can never repay your great kindness. Perhaps I can only transmit the Dharma and liberate beings. I once read the Nirvana Sutra, but did not understand permanence and impermanence. I beg your compassion and ask you to explain it briefly.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Impermanence is Buddha-nature; permanence is the discriminating mind that distinguishes good and evil and all phenomena.’ Xingchang said, ‘What you say greatly contradicts the sutra.’ The Patriarch said, ‘I transmit the Buddha’s mind-seal. How could I dare contradict the sutra?’ Xingchang said, ‘The sutra says Buddha-nature is permanent, but you say it is impermanent. It says that all good and evil phenomena, even the mind of awakening, are impermanent, but you say they are permanent. This contradiction makes students even more doubtful.’ The Patriarch said, ‘When I formerly heard the nun Wujincang recite the Nirvana Sutra, I explained it after only one hearing, and not a single word or meaning failed to accord with the text. I will not give you a different explanation. Do you understand? If Buddha-nature were permanent, why speak further of good and evil phenomena? Even after kalpas, no one would give rise to the aspiration for awakening. Thus, when I call it impermanent, I am precisely speaking of the Buddha’s true teaching of permanence. If all phenomena were impermanent, then every thing would possess its own nature and undergo birth and death, while the true permanent nature would fail to pervade everywhere. Thus, when I call it permanent, I am precisely speaking of the Buddha’s true teaching of impermanence. The Buddha previously taught ordinary people and outsiders to abandon their mistaken attachment to permanence, while the Two Vehicles mistakenly took permanence to be impermanent; together these became the eight inverted views. Therefore, in the definitive teaching of nirvana, he refuted their partial views and clearly taught true permanence, bliss, self, and purity. You now follow the words while opposing their meaning, mistaking annihilationist impermanence and rigid permanence for the Buddha’s complete and wondrous final teaching. Even if you read it a thousand times, what good would that do?’ Xingchang suddenly awoke as if from intoxication and recited this verse: ‘Clinging to the mind of impermanence, I heard the Buddha teach the nature of permanence. Those who do not understand expedient means are like one gathering gravel from a spring pond. Now I exert no effort, and Buddha-nature appears before me. It was not transmitted to me by my teacher; I have gained nothing.’ The Patriarch said…’

汝今徹也。宜名志徹。師禮謝而去。

‘Now you have thoroughly understood; your name should be Zhiche.’ The master bowed in thanks and departed.

信州智常禪師者

Chan Master Zhichang of Xinzhou,

本州貴谿人也。髫年出家。志求見性。一日參六祖。祖問。汝從何來。欲求何事。師曰。學人近禮大通和尚。蒙示見性成佛之義。未決狐疑。至吉州遇人指迷。令投和尚。伏願垂慈攝受。祖曰。彼有何言句。汝試舉看。吾與汝證明。師曰。初到彼三月。未蒙開示。以為法切。故於中夜獨入方丈。禮拜哀請。大通乃曰。汝見虗空否。對曰。見。彼曰。汝見虗空有相貌否。對曰。虗空無形。有何相貌。彼曰。汝之本性猶如虗空。返觀自性。了無一物可見。是名正見。無一物可知。是名真知。無有青黃長短。但見本源清淨。覺體圓明。即名見性成佛。亦名極樂世界。亦名如來知見。學人雖聞此說。猶未決了。乞和尚示誨。令無凝滯。祖曰。彼師所說。猶存見知。故令汝未了。吾今示汝一偈曰。不見一法存無見。大似浮雲遮日面。不知一法守空知。還如太虗生閃電。此之知見瞥然興。錯認何曾解方便。汝當一念自知非。自己靈光常顯見。師聞偈已。心意豁然。乃述一偈曰。無端起知解。著相求菩提。情存一念悟。寧越昔時迷。自性覺源體。隨照枉遷流。不入祖師室。茫然趣兩頭。

He was from Guixi in that prefecture. He left home as a child, aspiring to see his nature. One day he visited the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch asked, ‘Where have you come from, and what do you seek?’ The master said, ‘I recently paid respects to Master Datong, who instructed me on seeing one’s nature and becoming Buddha, but I still have unresolved doubts. In Jizhou someone pointed out my confusion and directed me to you. I beg you to receive me with compassion.’ The Patriarch said, ‘What did he say? Tell me, and I will clarify it for you.’ The master said, ‘For the first three months after I arrived, he gave me no instruction. Since I was urgently seeking the Dharma, I went alone to his room at midnight, bowed, and pleaded with him. Datong asked, “Do you see empty space?” I replied, “I do.” He asked, “Does the empty space you see have any appearance?” I said, “Empty space is formless. What appearance could it have?” He said, “Your original nature is like empty space. Turn your attention back to your own nature: when there is not a single thing to be seen, this is called right view; when there is not a single thing to be known, this is called true knowledge. It has no blue or yellow, long or short. Only see the original source as pure and the awakened substance as perfectly clear. This is called seeing one’s nature and becoming Buddha; it is also called the Land of Ultimate Bliss and the knowledge and vision of the Tathagata.” Though I heard these words, I still did not fully understand. I ask you to instruct me, so that no doubts remain.’ The Patriarch said, ‘What that master said still retains seeing and knowing; that is why you have not understood. I will now show you a verse: “To see no thing while preserving the view of no-seeing is like a drifting cloud obscuring the face of the sun. To know no thing while guarding an empty knowing is like lightning flashing in the vast sky. When this seeing and knowing suddenly arise, mistaking them for the Way has never been an expedient means. In a single thought, recognize your own error; your own numinous light is constantly manifest and clear.”’ Having heard the verse, the master’s mind opened completely. He then recited a verse: ‘For no reason I developed views of knowledge and understanding, clinging to marks in search of awakening. Even when I seemed to awaken in a single thought, attachment remained—how was I beyond my former delusion? The substance of my own nature is the source of awakening; following reflections, I wandered in vain. Had I not entered the Patriarch’s room, I would have remained lost between two extremes.’

廣州志道禪師者

Chan Master Zhidao of Guangzhou,

南海人也。初參六祖。問曰。學人自出家覧涅槃經僅十餘載。未明大意。願和尚垂誨。祖曰。汝何處未了。對曰。諸行無常。是生滅法。生滅滅已。寂滅為樂。於此疑惑。祖曰。汝作麼生疑。對曰。一切眾生皆有二身。謂色身．法身也。色身無常。有生有滅。法身有常。無知無覺。經云生滅滅已。寂滅為樂者。未審是何身寂滅。何身受樂。若色身者。色身滅時。四大分散。全是苦。苦不可言樂。若法身寂滅。即同草木瓦石。誰當受樂。又法性是生滅之體。五蘊是生滅之用。一體五用。生滅是常。生則從體起用。滅則攝用歸體。若聽更生。即有情之類不斷不滅。若不聽更生。即永歸寂滅。同於無情之物。如是則一切諸法。被涅槃之所禁伏。尚不得生。何樂之有。祖曰。汝是釋子。何習外道斷常邪見。而議最上乘法。據汝所解。即色身外。別有法身。離生滅求於寂滅。又推涅槃常樂。言有身受者。斯乃執吝生死。耽著世樂。汝今當知。佛為一切迷人。認五蘊和合為自體相。分別一切法為外塵相。好生惡死。念念遷流。不知夢幻虗假。枉受輪迴。以常樂涅槃翻為苦相。終日馳求。佛愍此故。乃示涅槃真樂。剎那無有生相。剎那無有滅相。更無生滅可滅。是則寂滅見前。當見前之時。亦無見前之量。乃謂常樂。此樂無有受者。亦無不受者。豈有一體五用之名。何況更言涅槃禁伏諸法。令永不生。斯乃謗佛毀法。聽吾偈曰。無上大涅槃。圓明常寂照。凡愚謂之死。外道執為斷。諸求二乘人。目以為無作。盡屬情所計。六十二見本。妄立虗假名。何為真實義。唯有過量人。通達無取捨。以知五蘊法。及以蘊中我。外現眾色象。一一音聲相。平等如夢幻。不起凡聖見。不作涅槃解。二邊三際斷。常應諸根用。而不起用想。分別一切法。不起分別想。劫火燒海底。風皷山相擊。真常寂滅樂。涅槃相如是。吾今強言說。

He was a man of Nanhai. At first he studied with the Sixth Patriarch and asked: ‘For more than ten years since leaving home I have read the Nirvana Sutra, yet I still do not understand its main meaning. I beg the Master to instruct me.’ The Patriarch asked what he had not understood. He replied: ‘All conditioned things are impermanent; they are dharmas of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, cessation is bliss. This is what confuses me. Every sentient being is said to have a form body and a Dharma body. The form body is impermanent, arising and passing away; the Dharma body is permanent, yet without knowledge or awareness. The sutra says that when arising and ceasing cease, cessation is bliss. Which body ceases, and which body receives bliss? If it is the form body, when it perishes the four elements disperse and there is only suffering. If it is the Dharma body, cessation would be like grass, trees, tiles, and stones; who could receive bliss? Dharma-nature is the substance of arising and ceasing, while the five aggregates are its functions. One substance and five functions, with arising and ceasing always present: arising brings functions forth from substance, and ceasing gathers functions back into substance. If there is further birth, sentient beings never end; if there is no further birth, everything returns forever to cessation like insentient things. Then all dharmas would be suppressed by nirvana and could never arise again. What joy could there be?’ The Patriarch said: ‘You are a disciple of the Buddha. Why learn the heretical views of annihilation and permanence and discuss the supreme vehicle? According to your understanding, you separate the Dharma body from the form body, seek cessation apart from birth and death, and imagine a permanent bliss with a person who enjoys it. You cling to samsara and indulge in worldly pleasure. Know this: deluded people mistake the aggregate of the five skandhas for a self and distinguish every dharma as an external object. They love birth and hate death, their thoughts flow without rest, and they do not know that all is dreamlike and false; thus they suffer transmigration. They turn the constant bliss of nirvana into suffering and pursue it all day. Out of compassion the Buddha revealed true nirvana. In each instant there is no mark of arising and no mark of ceasing, and there is no arising or ceasing left to extinguish. That is cessation appearing before you. At that moment there is not even a measure of something appearing; this is called constant bliss. That bliss has no enjoyer and no non-enjoyer. How could there be names such as one substance and five functions, or a nirvana that suppresses all dharmas and forbids them to arise? Such speech slanders the Buddha and destroys the Dharma. Hear my verse: The unsurpassed great nirvana is perfectly clear, eternally still and shining. The foolish call it death; outsiders cling to it as annihilation. Those seeking the two vehicles call it inactive. All these are constructions of emotion, the root of the sixty-two views. They set up false names, but what is their real meaning? Only one who goes beyond measure understands without grasping or rejecting. Knowing the five aggregates and the self within them, seeing every form, sound, and appearance outwardly, one regards them equally as dream and illusion and raises no view of ordinary or holy. One does not make an interpretation of nirvana; the two extremes and the three times are cut off. The faculties function continually, yet there is no thought of functioning. One distinguishes all dharmas, yet no thought of distinction arises. When the kalpa fire burns the sea and the wind strikes mountain against mountain, the bliss of true constant cessation remains as nirvana. This is its mark.

令汝捨邪見。汝勿隨言解。許汝知少分。師聞偈踴躍。作禮而退。

He continued: ‘I speak forcefully only to make you abandon wrong views. Do not follow my words mechanically and imagine that you understand even a little.’ The monk heard the verse, rejoiced, made obeisance, and withdrew.

永嘉真覺禪師

Chan Master Zhenjue of Yongjia.

諱玄覺。本郡戴氏子。丱歲出家。徧探三藏。精天台止觀圓妙法門。於四威儀中。常冥禪觀。後因左谿朗禪師激勵。與東陽䇿禪師同詣曹溪。初到振錫。繞祖三匝。卓然而立。祖曰。夫沙門者。具三千威儀。八萬細行。大德自何方而來。生大我慢。師曰生死事大。無常迅速。祖曰。何不體取無生．了無速乎。師曰。體即無生。了本無速。祖曰。如是。如是。於時大眾無不愕然。師方具威儀參禮。須臾告辭。祖曰。返大速乎。師曰。本自非動。豈有速邪。祖曰。誰知非動。師曰。仁者自生分別。祖曰。汝甚得無生之意。師曰。無生豈有意邪。祖曰。無意誰當分別。師曰。分別亦非意。祖歎曰。善哉。善哉。少留一宿。時謂一宿覺矣。師翌日下山。乃回溫州。學者輻湊。著證道歌一首。及禪宗悟修圓旨。自淺之深。慶州刺史魏靖緝而序之。成十篇。目為永嘉集。並行於世慕道志儀第一。夫欲修道。先須立志。及事師儀則。彰乎軌訓。故標第一。明慕道儀式。戒憍奢意第二。初雖立志修道。善識軌儀。若三業憍奢。妄心擾動。何能得定。故次第二。明戒憍奢意也。淨修三業第三。前戒憍奢。略標綱要。今子細檢責。令麁過不生。故次第三。明淨修三業。戒乎身口意也。奢摩他頌第四。已檢責身口。令麁過不生。次須入門修道漸次。不出定慧五種起心。六種料揀。故次第四。明奢摩他頌也。毗婆舍那頌第五。非戒不禪。非禪不慧。上既修定。定久慧明。故次第五。明毗婆舍那頌也。優畢叉頌第六。偏修於定。定久則沈。偏學於慧。慧多心動。故次第六。明優畢叉頌等於定慧。令不沈動。使定慧均等。捨於二邊。三乘漸次第七。定慧既均。則寂而常照。三觀一心。何疑不遣。何照不圓。自解雖明。悲他未悟。悟有深淺。故次第七。明三乘漸次也。事理不二第八。三乘悟理。理無不窮。窮理在事。了事即理。故次第八。

His personal name was Xuanjue, a son of the Dai family of the prefecture. He left home when young, studied all three baskets, and mastered the perfect and wondrous Tiantai teachings of calming and contemplation. In the four modes of conduct he constantly practiced silent meditation. Later, urged by Chan Master Lang of Zuoxi, he went with Chan Master Ce of Dongyang to Cao Creek. On first arriving he shook his staff, circled the Patriarch three times, and stood upright. The Patriarch said: ‘That monk possesses the three thousand forms of deportment and eighty thousand subtle practices. Venerable sir, from where have you come, displaying such great pride?’ The Master said: ‘The matter of birth and death is grave; impermanence is swift.’ The Patriarch asked: ‘Why not embody non-arising and understand that there is no swiftness?’ He replied: ‘When embodied, there is non-arising; when understood, there is originally no swiftness.’ The Patriarch said: ‘So it is, so it is.’ Everyone was astonished. The Master then performed the full ritual of greeting. After a short while he announced that he would leave. The Patriarch asked: ‘Are you returning so soon?’ He replied: ‘Originally there is no movement; how could there be haste?’ The Patriarch asked: ‘Who knows that there is no movement?’ He replied: ‘Venerable sir, you yourself create the distinction.’ The Patriarch said: ‘You have attained the meaning of non-arising.’ He replied: ‘How could non-arising have a meaning?’ The Patriarch asked: ‘Without meaning, who distinguishes?’ He answered: ‘Distinguishing is itself not meaning.’ The Patriarch praised him: ‘Good, good. Stay one night.’ Thus he was called “Awakened in One Night.” The next day he descended the mountain and returned to Wenzhou. Students gathered around him. He composed the Song of Realizing the Way and an exposition of Chan realization and practice, from the shallow to the deep. Wei Jing, governor of Qingzhou, edited and prefaced it in ten sections, entitled the Yongjia Collection, which circulated together. The first section, Aspiring to Seek the Way, explains that one must first establish the vow to practice and the proper conduct toward a teacher. The second, Guarding against Arrogance and Extravagance, says that even with an initial resolve, pride in body, speech, and mind disturbs the mind and prevents concentration. The third, Purifying the Three Actions, examines faults carefully so that coarse offenses of body, speech, and mind do not arise. The fourth, Verses on Shamatha, explains the gradual entry into practice through concentration and wisdom, the five ways of arousing the mind, and six kinds of discernment. The fifth, Verses on Vipashyana, says that without precepts there is no meditation and without meditation there is no wisdom; when concentration matures, wisdom becomes clear. The sixth, Verses on Upeksha, warns that one-sided concentration sinks and one-sided study of wisdom agitates; equanimity balances both and abandons the two extremes. The seventh, Gradual Stages of the Three Vehicles, says that balanced concentration and wisdom are silent yet shining, while compassion turns toward beings whose realization has depth and shallowness. The eighth, Nonduality of Principle and Practice, says that the principle is exhausted in affairs and affairs are realized as principle; understanding the two as one removes inverted views.

明事理不二。即事而真。用祛倒見也。勸友人書第九。事理既融。內心自瑩。復悲遠學。虗擲寸陰。故次第九。明勸友人書也。發願文第十。勸友雖是悲他。專心在一。情猶未普。故次第十。明發願文。誓度一切也優畢叉頌略曰。復次。觀心十門。初則言其法爾。次則出其觀體。三則語其相應。四則警其上慢。五則誡其疎怠。六則重出觀體。七則明其是非。八則簡其詮旨。九則觸途成觀。十則妙契玄源。第一言法爾者。夫心性虗通。動靜之源莫二。真如絕慮。緣計之念非殊。惑見紛馳。窮之則唯一寂。靈源不狀。鑒之則以千差。千差不同。法眼之名自立。一寂非異。慧眼之號斯存。理量雙銷。佛眼之功圓著。是以三諦一境。法身之理常清。三智一心。般若之明常照。境智冥合。解脫之應隨機。非縱非橫。圓伊之道玄會。故知三德妙性。宛爾無乖。一心深廣難思。何出要而非路。是以即心為道者。可謂尋流而得源矣。第二齣其觀體者。只知一念。即空不空。非空非不空。第三語其相應者。心與空相應。則譏毀讚譽。何憂何喜。身與空相應。則刀割香塗。何苦何樂。依報與空相應。則施與劫奪。何得何失。心與空不空相應。則愛見都忘。慈悲普救。身與空不空相應。則內同枯木。外現威儀。依報與空不空相應。則永絕貪求。資財給濟。心與空不空．非空非不空相應。則實相初明。開佛知見。身與空不空．非空非不空相應。則一塵入正受。諸塵三昧起。依報與空不空．非空非不空相應。則香臺寶閣。嚴土化生。第四警其上慢者。若不爾者。則未相應也。第五誡其疎怠者。然渡海應須上船。非船何以能渡。修心必須入觀。非觀無以明心。心尚未明。相應何日。思之勿自恃也。第六重出觀體者。只知一念即空不空。非有非無。不知即念即空不空。非非有。非非無。第七。明其是非者。心不是有。心不是無。心不非有。

The ninth section, A Letter Advising a Friend, says that when principle and practice融通, the inner mind becomes clear, and one should urge distant students not to waste even an instant. The tenth, The Vow Text, extends compassion universally and vows to liberate all beings. The verses on upeksha then survey ten gates of contemplating mind: first, describing its natural dharma; second, presenting the body of contemplation; third, explaining correspondence; fourth, warning against spiritual pride; fifth, admonishing negligence; sixth, restating the contemplative body; seventh, clarifying right and wrong; eighth, distinguishing words from their purport; ninth, turning every encounter into contemplation; and tenth, mysteriously accord with the source. The nature of mind is open and unobstructed, the source of movement and stillness is not two. True suchness is beyond thought, while delusive calculation is not different in its root. Confused views race in every direction, yet when exhausted they are one stillness; the numinous source has no fixed shape, yet when reflected it appears as a thousand differences. Thus the Dharma eye and wisdom eye are named, the truth and conventional measures both fall away, and the Buddha eye is complete. The three truths are one field, the three wisdoms one mind, and liberation responds according to circumstances. Neither vertical nor horizontal, the perfect way is subtly realized. In one thought know emptiness and non-emptiness, neither emptiness nor non-emptiness. When mind accords with emptiness, praise and blame bring neither sorrow nor joy; when body accords with emptiness, cutting and perfume bring neither pain nor pleasure. When resources accord with emptiness, giving and seizure bring neither gain nor loss. When mind accords with emptiness and non-emptiness, love and views disappear and compassion saves everywhere. When body accords with both, inwardly it is like a withered tree while outwardly it displays proper deportment. When resources accord with both, craving ends and wealth is used to aid others. When all three aspects accord with emptiness, non-emptiness, and neither, the true mark first shines and the Buddha’s knowledge and vision opens. Without this one is not yet in accord. Crossing the sea requires a boat; cultivating mind requires contemplation. Do not rely on yourself proudly. Again know that one thought is empty and not empty, neither existent nor nonexistent, and not even the negations of existence and nonexistence. Mind is not existence, not nonexistence, not the negation of either. To affirm or deny falls into affirmation or denial; even denying both has not reached the denial of denial. These subtle delusions are hard to see; examine them when spirit is clear and thought quiet.

心不非無。是有是無即墮是。非有非無即墮非。如是隻是是非之非。未是非是非非之是。今以雙非破兩是。是破非是猶是非。又以雙非破兩非。非破非非即是是。如是隻是非是非非之是。未是不非不不非．不是不不是。是非之惑。綿微難見。神清慮靜。細而研之。第八簡其詮旨者。然而至理無言。假文言以明其旨。旨宗非觀。藉修觀以會其宗。若旨之未明。則言之未的。若宗之未會則。觀之未深。深觀乃會其宗。的言必明其旨。旨宗既其明會。言觀何得復存邪。第九觸途成觀者。夫再演言詞。重標觀體。欲明宗旨無異。言觀有逐方移。移言則言理無差。改觀則觀旨不異。不異之旨即理。無差之理即宗。宗旨一而二名。言觀明其弄引耳。第十妙契玄源者。夫悟心之士。寧執觀而迷旨。達教之人。豈滯言而惑理。理明則言語道斷。何言之能議。旨會則心行處滅。何觀之能思。心言不能思議者。可謂妙契環中矣。先天二年十月十七日。安坐示滅。塔於西山之陽。諡無相大師。塔曰淨光。

The highest principle is wordless, yet words are borrowed to reveal its purport. The purport is not contemplation, yet contemplation is used to meet the source. If the purport is not clear, speech is not exact; if the source is not met, contemplation is not deep. When source and purport are understood, words and contemplation no longer remain. A person who has awakened to mind does not cling to contemplation and lose the purport; one who understands the teaching does not stagnate in words and become confused about principle. When principle is clear, the road of words is cut off; when the purport is met, the place where mind acts is extinguished. What contemplation could then think it? This is called subtly entering the circle. On the seventeenth day of the tenth month in the second year of Xiantian, he sat upright and manifested extinction. His stupa stood south of the western mountain. He was posthumously named Master Wuxiang, and the stupa was called Pure Light.

溫州淨居尼玄機。唐景雲中得度。常習定於大日山石窟中。一日忽唸曰。法性湛然。本無去住。厭喧趍寂。豈為達邪。乃往參雪峰。峰問。甚處來。曰。大日山來。峰曰。日出也未。師曰。若出則鎔卻雪峰峰曰。汝名甚麼。師曰。玄機。峰曰。日織多少。師曰。寸絲不掛。遂禮拜退。才行三五步。峰召曰。袈裟角拖地也。師回首。峰曰。大好寸絲不掛(世傳玄機乃永嘉大師女弟。甞同遊方。以景雲歲日考之。是矣．第所見雪峰。非真覺存也。永嘉既到曹谿。必嶺下雪峰也。未詳法嗣。故附於此)。

Nun Xuanji of Jingju in Wenzhou received ordination during the Jingyun era and often practiced concentration in a cave on Mount Dairi. One day she thought: ‘Dharma-nature is clear and still, originally neither going nor abiding. To hate noise and seek quiet—is that understanding?’ She went to study with Xuefeng. He asked: ‘Where have you come from?’ She said: ‘From Mount Dairi.’ He asked: ‘Has the sun risen yet?’ She replied: ‘If it had risen, it would have melted Xuefeng.’ He asked her name. She said: ‘Xuanji.’ He asked: ‘How much does the sun weave?’ She replied: ‘Not a thread of silk hangs.’ She bowed and withdrew. After walking three or five steps, Xuefeng called: ‘The corner of your robe drags on the ground.’ She looked back. He said: ‘So much for “not a thread hangs.”’ Tradition says Xuanji was a younger fellow student of Master Zhenjue of Yongjia. The dates show that this encounter with Xuefeng was not with Zhenjue himself, who had already gone to Cao Creek; it must have been the Xuefeng below the mountain. Her lineage is unknown, so she is appended here.

司空山本淨禪師者

Chan Master Benjing of Sikong Mountain,

絳州人也。姓張氏。幼歲披緇於曹谿之室。受記𨽻司空山無相寺。唐天寶三年玄宗遣中使楊光庭入山。採常春藤。因造丈室。禮問曰。弟子慕道斯久。願和尚慈悲。略垂開示。師曰。天下禪宗碩學。鹹會京師。天使歸朝。足可諮決。貧道隈山傍水。無所用心。光庭泣拜。師曰。休禮貧道。天使為求佛邪。問道邪。曰。弟子智識昏昧。未審佛之與道。其義云何。師曰。若欲求佛。即心是佛。若欲會道。無心是道。曰。云何即心是佛。師曰。佛因心悟。心以佛彰。若悟無心。佛亦不有。曰。云何無心是道。師曰。道本無心。無心名道。若了無心。無心即道。光庭作禮。信受。既回闕庭。具以山中所遇奏聞。即勑光庭詔師到京。勑住白蓮亭。越明年正月十五日。召兩街名僧碩學赴內道場。與師闡揚佛理。時有遠禪師者。抗聲謂師曰。今對聖上。較量宗旨。應須直問直答。不假繁辭。只如禪師所見。以何為道。師曰。無心是道。遠曰。道因心有。何得言無心是道。師曰。道本無名。因心名道。心名若有。道不虗然。窮心既無。道憑何立。二俱虗妄。總是假名。遠曰。禪師見有身心。是道已否。師曰。山僧身心本來是道。遠曰。適言無心是道。今又言身心本來是道。豈不相違。師曰。無心是道。心泯道無。心道一如。故言無心是道。身心本來是道。道亦本是身心。身心本既是空。道亦窮源無有。遠曰。觀禪師形質甚小。卻會此理。師曰。大德只見山僧相。不見山僧無相。見相者是大德所見。經云。凡所有相。皆是虗妄。若見諸相非相。即見其道。若以相為實。窮劫不能見道。遠曰。今請禪師於相上說於無相。師曰。淨名經云。四大無主。身亦無我。無我所見。與道相應。大德若以四大有主是我。若有我見。窮劫不可會道也。遠聞語失色。逡巡避席。師有偈曰。四大無主復如水。遇曲逢直無彼此。淨穢兩處不生心。

was a native of Jiangzhou, surnamed Zhang. He donned monastic robes when young and received the prediction of awakening in Cao Creek’s chamber. He belonged to Wuxiang Monastery on Sikong Mountain. In the third year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong sent the palace envoy Yang Guangting into the mountain to gather evergreen vines. He therefore built a small chamber and asked: ‘Your disciple has admired the Way for a long time. I beg the Master’s compassion and a brief instruction.’ The Master said: ‘The eminent students of Chan throughout the empire are gathered in the capital. When you return to court, you can consult them fully. I am only a poor monk beside a mountain stream, with no matter on which to spend the mind.’ Guangting bowed in tears. The Master said: ‘Do not bow to a poor monk. Do you seek the Buddha, or are you asking about the Way?’ He said he did not know the distinction. The Master said: ‘If you seek the Buddha, mind itself is Buddha. If you would understand the Way, no-mind is the Way.’ Asked how mind itself is Buddha, he said: ‘The Buddha is awakened through mind, and mind is revealed by Buddha. If no-mind is realized, Buddha too is not.’ Asked how no-mind is the Way, he said: ‘The Way is originally no-mind; “no-mind” is its name. If no-mind is understood, no-mind is the Way.’ Guangting accepted this. Returning to court, he reported everything. The emperor summoned the Master to the capital and lodged him at White Lotus Pavilion. The following year, on the fifteenth day of the first month, eminent monks from both streets were called to the inner hall to debate Buddhist doctrine with him. A monk named Yuan challenged him: ‘Before the emperor, answer directly and do not hide behind elaborate words. What do you regard as the Way?’ The Master said: ‘No-mind is the Way.’ Yuan said: ‘The Way exists because of mind; how can no-mind be the Way?’ The Master replied: ‘The Way has no original name; because of mind it is named the Way. If the name of mind existed, the Way would be empty. When mind is examined to its end and found absent, on what could the Way stand? Both are empty fabrications and merely provisional names.’ Yuan asked whether body and mind were the Way. The Master said: ‘This monk’s body and mind are originally the Way.’ Yuan pointed out the apparent contradiction. The Master explained: ‘When mind is extinguished, the Way is not separate; mind and Way are one. Body and mind are originally the Way, and because their source is empty, the Way is empty too. You see only my form and not my formlessness. All forms are false; to see forms as not forms is to see the Way. If forms are taken as real, even endless kalpas cannot reveal the Way.’ Yuan asked him to speak of formlessness through form. The Master cited the Vimalakirti teaching that the four elements have no master and the body has no self. Yuan lost color and withdrew. The Master’s verse says: ‘The four elements have no master, like water; meeting bends or straight places, they have no “this” or “that.” In purity and impurity no mind is born; blocked or released, there has never been two intentions. Touching an object, be like water without mind; amid the world, move freely—what trouble is there?’

壅決何曾有二意。觸境但似水無心。在世縱橫有何事。復雲。一大如是。四大亦然。若明四大無主。即悟無心。若了無心。自然契道。志明禪師問。若言無心是道。瓦礫無心亦應是道。又曰。身心本來是道。四生十類皆有身心。亦應是道。師曰。大德若作見聞覺知解會。與道懸殊。即是求見聞覺知之者。非是求道之人。經云。無眼．耳．鼻．舌．身．意。六根尚無。見聞覺知憑何而立。窮本不有。何處存心。焉得不同草木瓦礫。明杜口而退。師有偈曰。見聞覺知無障礙。聲香味觸常三昧。如鳥空中只麼飛。無取無捨無憎愛。若會應處本無心。始得名為觀自在。真禪師問。道既無心。佛有心否。佛之與道。是一是二。師曰。不一不二。曰。佛度眾生。為有心故。道不度人。為無心故。一度一不度。何得無二。師曰。若言佛度眾生．道無度者。此是大德妄生二見。如山僧即不然。佛是虗名。道亦妄立。二俱不實。總是假名。一假之中。如何分二。曰。佛之與道。總是假名。當立名時。是誰為立。若有立者。何得言無。師曰。佛之與道。因心而立。推窮立心。心亦是無。心既是無。即悟二俱不實。知如夢幻。即悟本空。彊立佛道二名。此是二乘人見解。師乃說無修無作偈曰。見道方修道。不見復何修。道性如虗空。虗空何所修。徧觀修道者。撥火覔浮漚。但看弄傀儡。線斷一時休。法空禪師問。佛之與道。俱是假名。十二分教。亦應不實。何以從前尊宿皆言修道。師曰。大德錯會經意。道本無修。大德彊修。道本無作。大德彊作。道本無事。彊生多事。道本無知。於中強知。如此見解。與道相違。從前尊宿不應如是。自是大德不會。請思之。師有偈曰。道體本無修。不修自合道。若起修道心。此人不會道。棄卻一真性。卻入閙浩浩。忽逢修道人。第一莫向道。安禪師問。道既假名。佛雲妄立。

He added: ‘As with one element, so with all four. If you understand that the four elements have no master, you awaken to no-mind; when no-mind is understood, you naturally accord with the Way.’ Chan Master Zhiming asked: ‘If no-mind is the Way, then tiles and stones, which have no mind, should also be the Way. If body and mind are originally the Way, then beings of the four births and ten classes all have body and mind and should also be the Way.’ The Master replied: ‘If you interpret through seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, you are far from the Way. The sutra says there are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind. If the six faculties are absent, on what can seeing and hearing stand? When the root is empty, where can mind remain? Why should this differ from grass, trees, tiles, and stones?’ Zhiming fell silent. The Master’s verse says: ‘Seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing have no obstruction; sound, scent, taste, and touch are always samadhi. Like a bird flying through space, there is no grasping, rejecting, hatred, or love. When one realizes that response is originally no-mind, one is called Guanyin自在, the freely observing one.’ Another master asked whether Buddha had mind and whether Buddha and the Way were one or two. The Master said: ‘Neither one nor two.’ He explained that Buddha and Way are both empty names, and dividing one as saving beings and the other as not saving them is merely creating two views. Asked who establishes the names, he said: ‘They are established through mind; when the mind that establishes them is examined, it too is absent. Knowing them as dream and illusion is awakening to original emptiness. Forcibly establishing two names is the view of the two vehicles.’ He then gave a verse on non-practice and non-making: ‘Only after seeing the Way does one practice; if one has not seen it, what is there to practice? The nature of the Way is like space; what can space cultivate? Everywhere one who practices pokes the fire seeking bubbles. Watch only a puppet being played; when the strings are cut, it stops at once.’

十二分教亦是接物度生。一切是妄。以何為真。師曰。為有妄故。將真對妄。推窮妄性本空。真亦何曾有故。故知真妄總是假名。二事對治。都無實體。窮其根本。一切皆空。曰。既言一切是妄。妄亦同真。真妄無殊。復是何物。師曰。若言何物。何物亦妄。經云。無相似。無比況。言語道斷。如鳥飛空。安慙伏不知所措。師有偈曰。推真真無相。窮妄妄無形。返觀推窮心。知心亦假名。會道亦如此。到頭亦只寧。達性禪師問。禪師至妙至微。真妄雙泯。佛道兩亡。修行性空。名相不實。世界如幻。一切假名。作此解時。不可斷絕眾生善惡二根。師曰。善惡二根。皆因心有。窮心若有。根亦非虗。推心既無。根因何立。經云。善不善法。從心化生。善惡業緣。本無有實。師有偈曰。善既從心生。惡豈離心有。善惡是外緣。於心實不有。捨惡歸何處。取善令誰守。傷嗟二見人。攀緣兩頭走。若悟本無心。始悔從前咎。又有近臣問曰。此身從何而來。百年之後復歸何處。師曰。如人夢時。從何而來。睡覺時。從何而去。曰。夢時不可言無。既覺不可言有。雖有有無。來往無所。師曰。貧道此身。亦如其夢。師有偈曰。視生如在夢。夢裡實是閙。忽覺萬事休。還同睡時悟。智者會悟夢。迷人信夢閙。會夢如兩般。一悟無別悟。富貴與貧賤。更無分別路。上元二年歸寂。諡大曉禪師。

When asked why the twelve divisions of scripture should not also be called unreal, he answered: ‘The Way is originally without cultivation, yet you force cultivation; originally without making, yet you force making; originally without affairs, yet you create affairs; originally without knowing, yet you force knowledge. These views oppose the Way. Earlier teachers did not err; you simply have not understood.’ His verse says: ‘The substance of the Way has no cultivation; without cultivation one accords with it. If a mind to cultivate the Way arises, that person does not know the Way. Abandoning the one true nature, one enters noisy confusion. If you meet a person who practices the Way, first of all do not point him toward the Way.’ Another asked how, if Buddha and Way are provisional names and the teachings are all false, one can know what is true. The Master said: ‘Because falsehood appears, truth is set against it. When falsehood is examined, it is empty; truth has never existed independently. Truth and falsehood are both provisional names and neither has substance. When their root is exhausted, all is empty.’ Asked what remains if both truth and falsehood are the same, he said: ‘If you say “what thing,” that thing too is false. The sutra says there is nothing comparable and no analogy; the path of words is cut off like a bird flying through space.’ His verse says: ‘Pursue truth and truth has no mark; exhaust falsehood and falsehood has no form. Turn back and examine the mind that pursues and exhausts; know that mind too is a provisional name. Understanding the Way is the same; at the end there is only quiet.’ Asked whether good and evil roots should be denied, he said they both arise through mind; when mind is empty, on what can their roots stand? His verse says: ‘Good arises from mind, and how could evil arise apart from mind? Good and evil are external conditions, in mind they truly do not exist. Abandon evil—where does it go? Take up good—who preserves it? Pity those caught in two views, clinging and reaching at both ends. When they awaken to original no-mind, they first regret their former faults.’ A court official asked where the body comes from and where it goes after a hundred years. The Master replied: ‘When a person dreams, where does he come from? When he wakes, where does he go? My body is likewise a dream.’ His verse says: ‘Regard birth as being in a dream; within the dream affairs are turbulent. Suddenly awakened, all things cease, just as awakening occurs during sleep. The wise awaken from the dream; the deluded trust its turmoil. To understand the dream is like understanding two things: one awakening has no separate awakening. Rich and poor then have no different road.’ He entered quiescence in the second year of Shangyuan and was posthumously named Master Daxiao.

玄䇿禪師者

Chan Master Xuance,

婺州金華人也。遊方時屆於河朔。有隍禪師者。曾謁黃梅。自謂正受。師知隍所得未真。往問曰。汝坐於此作麼。隍曰。入定。師曰。汝言入定。有心邪。無心邪。若有心者。一切蠢動之類。皆應得定。若無心者。一切草木之流。亦合得定。曰。我正入定時。則不見有有無之心。師曰。既不見有有無之心。即是常定。何有出入。若有出入。則非大定。隍無語。良久問。師嗣誰。師曰。我師曹谿六祖。曰。六祖以何為禪定。師曰。我師雲。夫妙湛圓寂。體用如如。五陰本空。六塵非有。不出不入。不定不亂。禪性無住。離住禪寂。禪性無生。離生禪想。心如虗空。亦無虗空之量。隍聞此說。遂造於曹谿。請決疑翳。而祖意與師冥符。隍始開悟。師後卻歸金華。大開法席。

He was from Jinhua, Wuzhou. While traveling, he came to Hebei. Chan Master Huang once visited Huangmei and believed he had attained right samadhi. The master knew Huang’s attainment was not genuine, so he asked him, ‘Why are you sitting here?’ Huang said, ‘Entering concentration.’ The master asked, ‘When you say you enter concentration, is there a mind or no mind? If there is a mind, then every wriggling creature should be able to enter concentration. If there is no mind, then plants and trees should be able to enter it too.’ Huang said, ‘When I am truly in concentration, I do not see a mind that is either present or absent.’ The master said, ‘If you see neither presence nor absence of mind, then this is constant concentration. Why speak of entering or leaving it? If there is entering and leaving, it is not great concentration.’ Huang had no answer. After a long while he asked, ‘Whose successor are you?’ The master said, ‘My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi.’ Huang asked, ‘What did the Sixth Patriarch teach about meditation?’ The master said, ‘My teacher said: “The wondrously clear, perfectly quiescent is suchness in both substance and function. The five aggregates are originally empty; the six sense-objects do not exist. There is no entering or leaving, neither concentration nor confusion. The nature of meditation does not abide; it is apart from abiding in meditative stillness. The nature of meditation is unborn; it is apart from giving rise to thoughts of meditation. The mind is like empty space, yet it does not even measure itself as empty space.”’ Hearing this, Huang went to Caoxi to resolve his doubts. The Patriarch’s intent and the master’s words matched perfectly, and Huang awakened at once. The master later returned to Jinhua and established a great teaching seat.

河北智隍禪師者

Chan Master Zhihuang of Hebei,

始參五祖。雖甞諮決而循乎漸行。乃往河北結庵長坐。積二十餘載。不見惰容。後遇䇿禪師激勵。遂往參六祖。祖愍其遠來。便垂開決。師於言下豁然契悟。前二十年所得心都無影響。其夜。河北檀越士庶。忽聞空中有聲曰。隍禪師今日得道也。後回河北。開化四眾。

At first he studied with the Fifth Patriarch. Though he had consulted him and received instruction, he followed the gradual path, went to Hebei, built a hut, and sat for more than twenty years, never showing the slightest laziness. Later, Chan Master Ce encouraged him to visit the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch took pity on him for traveling so far and opened up the matter for him. At the words, the master suddenly awakened. Everything he had gained in the previous twenty years left no trace. That night, benefactors and common people in Hebei suddenly heard a voice in the air saying, ‘Chan Master Huang attained the Way today.’ He later returned to Hebei and taught the fourfold assembly.

南陽慧忠國師者

National Teacher Huizhong of Nanyang,

越州諸暨人也。姓冉氏。自受心印。居南陽白崖山黨子谷。四十餘祀不下山。道行聞於帝裡。唐肅宗上元二年。勑中使孫朝進賷詔徵赴京。待以師禮。初居千福寺西禪院。及代宗臨御。復迎止光宅精藍十有六載。隨機說法。時有西天大耳三藏到京。雲得他心通。肅宗命國師試驗。三藏才見師便禮拜。立於右邊。師問曰。汝得他心通那。對曰。不敢。師曰。汝道老僧即今在甚麼處。曰。和尚是一國之師。何得卻去西川看競渡。良久。再問。汝道老僧即今在甚麼處。曰。和尚是一國之師。何得卻在天津橋上看弄猢猻。師良久。復問。汝道老僧只今在甚麼處。藏罔測。師叱曰。這野狐精。他心通在甚麼處。藏無對(僧問仰山曰。大耳三藏第三度為甚麼不見國師。山曰。前兩度是涉境心。後入自受用三昧。所以不見。又有僧問玄沙。沙曰。汝道前兩度還見麼。玄覺雲。前兩度見。後來為甚麼不見。且道利害在甚麼處。僧問趙州。大耳三藏第三度不見國師。未審國師在甚麼處。州雲。在三藏鼻孔上。僧後問玄沙。既在鼻孔上。為甚麼不見。沙雲。只為太近)。一日喚侍者。者應諾。如是三召三應。師曰。將謂吾孤負汝。卻是汝孤負吾(僧問玄沙。國師喚侍者。意作麼生。沙雲。卻是侍者會。雲居錫雲。且道侍者會不會。若道會。國師又道汝孤負吾。若道不會。玄沙又道卻是侍者會。且作麼生商量。玄覺徵問僧。甚麼處是侍者會處。僧雲。若不會。爭解恁麼應。玄覺雲。汝少會在。又云。若於這裡商量得去。便識玄沙。僧問法眼。國師喚侍者意作麼生。眼雲。且去。別時來。雲居錫雲。法眼恁麼道。為復明國師意。不明國師意。僧問趙州。國師喚侍者。意作麼生。趙州雲。如人暗裡書字。字雖不成。文彩已彰)。南泉到參。師問。甚麼處來。曰。江西來。師曰。還將得馬師真來否。曰。只這是。師曰。背後底聻。

He was from Zhuji, Yuezhou, and belonged to the Ran clan. After receiving the mind-seal, he lived in Dangzi Valley on White Cliff Mountain at Nanyang for more than forty years, never traveling down the western slope. His conduct in the Way became known in the imperial capital. In the second year of Shangyuan under Emperor Suzong of Tang, the emperor sent the palace eunuch Sun Chaojin with an edict summoning him to the capital and received him with the rites due a teacher. At first he stayed in the western Chan courtyard of Qianfu Monastery. When Emperor Daizong ascended the throne, he was again welcomed to Guangzhai Monastery, where he taught according to circumstances for sixteen years. At that time the Great-Ear Tripitaka Master from India came to the capital, claiming to possess the supernatural ability to know others’ thoughts. Suzong ordered the National Teacher to test him. As soon as the Tripitaka Master saw the teacher, he bowed and stood to his right. The teacher asked, ‘Do you possess the ability to know others’ thoughts?’ He replied, ‘I would not presume to say so.’ The teacher said, ‘Tell me, where am I right now?’ He replied, ‘You are the teacher of a whole nation. How could you have gone to Sichuan to watch the boat races?’ After a long while the teacher asked again, ‘Tell me, where am I now?’ He replied, ‘You are the teacher of a whole nation. How could you be on Tianjin Bridge watching a monkey show?’ After a long while the teacher asked a third time, ‘Tell me, where am I now?’ The Tripitaka Master could not tell. The teacher scolded him: ‘You wild fox spirit! Where is your ability to know others’ thoughts?’ The Tripitaka Master had no answer. (A monk asked Yangshan, ‘Why could the Great-Ear Tripitaka Master not see the National Teacher the third time?’ Yangshan said, ‘The first two times, his mind entered the realm; the third time, the teacher entered the samadhi of his own enjoyment, so he could not see him.’ Another monk asked Xuansha. Xuansha said, ‘Do you say he saw him the first two times?’ Xuanjue said, ‘He saw him the first two times, so why could he not see him later? Tell me, where is the crucial point?’ A monk asked Zhaozhou, ‘The Great-Ear Tripitaka Master failed to see the National Teacher the third time. Where was the National Teacher?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘On the Tripitaka Master’s nostrils.’ The monk later asked Xuansha, ‘If he was on his nostrils, why could he not see him?’ Xuansha said, ‘Because he was too close.’) One day the teacher called his attendant. The attendant answered, ‘Yes?’ The teacher called three times, and each time the attendant answered. The teacher said, ‘I thought I had let you down, but it is you who have let me down.’ (A monk asked Xuansha, ‘What did the National Teacher mean when he called his attendant?’ Xuansha said, ‘The attendant understood.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘Tell me, did the attendant understand or not? If he did, why did the National Teacher say, “You have let me down”? If he did not, why did Xuansha say he understood? How should we assess this?’ Xuanjue asked a monk, ‘Where did the attendant understand?’ The monk said, ‘If he did not understand, how could he answer like that?’ Xuanjue said, ‘You have understood only a little.’ He added, ‘If you can assess this matter, you will recognize Xuansha.’ A monk asked Fayan, ‘What did the National Teacher mean by calling the attendant?’ Fayan said, ‘Go away for now; come another time.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘When Fayan said this, did he understand the National Teacher’s meaning or not?’ A monk asked Zhaozhou the same question. Zhaozhou said, ‘It is like someone writing characters in the dark: though the characters are not formed, their pattern is already evident.’) Nanquan came to visit. The teacher asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ Nanquan said, ‘From Jiangxi.’ The teacher asked, ‘Did you bring Master Mazu’s likeness?’ Nanquan said, ‘This is it.’ The teacher said, ‘What about what is behind you?’

南泉便休(長慶稜雲。大似不知。保福展雲。幾不到和尚此間。雲居錫雲。此二尊宿。盡扶背後。只如南泉休去。為當扶面前。扶背後)。麻谷到參。繞禪床三匝。振錫而立。師曰。汝既如是。吾亦如是。谷又振錫。師叱曰。這野狐精出去。上堂。禪宗學者。應遵佛語。一乘了義。契自心源。不了義者。互不相許。如師子身中蟲。夫為人師。若涉名利。別開異端。則自他何益。如世大匠。斤斧不傷其手。香象所負。非驢能堪。僧問。若為得成佛去。師曰。佛與眾生。一時放卻。當處解脫。曰。作麼生得相應去。師曰。善惡不思。自見佛性。曰。若為得證法身。師曰。越毗盧之境界。曰。清淨法身作麼生得。師曰。不著佛求耳。曰。阿那箇是佛。師曰。即心是佛。曰。心有煩惱否。師曰。煩惱性自離。曰。豈不斷邪。師曰。斷煩惱者。即名二乘。煩惱不生。名大涅槃。曰。坐禪看靜。此復若為。師曰。不垢不淨。寧用起心而看淨相。問。禪師見十方虗空。是法身否。師曰。以想心取之。是顛倒見。問。即心是佛。可更修萬行否。師曰。諸聖皆具二嚴。豈撥無因果邪。又曰。我今答汝。窮劫不盡。言多去道遠矣。所以道。說法有所得。斯則野幹鳴。說法無所得。是名師子吼。上堂。青蘿夤緣。直上寒松之頂。白雲淡濘。出沒太虗之中。萬法本閑而人自閙。師問僧。近離甚處。曰。南方。師曰。南方知識以何法示人。曰。南方知識。秖道一朝風火散後。如蛇退皮。如龍換骨。本爾真性。宛然無壞。師曰。苦哉。苦哉。南方知識說法。半生半滅。曰。南方知識即如是。未審和尚此間說何法。師曰。我此間身心一如。身外無餘。曰。和尚何得將泡幻之身同於法體。師曰。你為甚麼入於邪道。曰。甚麼處是某甲入於邪道處。師曰。不見教中道。若以色見我。以音聲求我。是人行邪道。不能見如來。南陽張濆行者問。

Nanquan then stopped. (Changqing Leng said, ‘It seems he did not know.’ Baofu Zhan said, ‘He nearly failed to reach the master here.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘These two venerables both support from behind. When Nanquan stopped, did they support him from the front or the back?’) Magu came to visit, circled the Chan seat three times, shook his staff, and stood there. The teacher said, ‘Since you are like this, I am like this too.’ Magu shook his staff again. The teacher scolded him, ‘You wild fox spirit! Get out!’ At a formal teaching he said, ‘Students of the Chan school should follow the Buddha’s words. The definitive teaching of the One Vehicle accords with the source of one’s own mind. Those who do not understand the definitive teaching should not accept one another’s claims, like worms inside a lion’s body. A teacher of others who gets involved in fame and gain and opens up deviant doctrines—what good does that do for himself or others? A great artisan in the world does not injure his hands with his own axe and chisel. What an elephant carries is not something a donkey can bear.’ A monk asked, ‘How can one become Buddha?’ The teacher said, ‘Let go of Buddha and sentient beings all at once; liberation is right here.’ Asked, ‘How can one accord with it?’ he said, ‘Do not think of good or evil, and you will see Buddha-nature for yourself.’ Asked, ‘How can one realize the Dharma body?’ he said, ‘Transcend the realm of Vairocana.’ Asked, ‘How does one attain the pure Dharma body?’ he said, ‘Do not cling to seeking Buddha.’ Asked, ‘Which one is Buddha?’ he said, ‘Mind itself is Buddha.’ Asked, ‘Does the mind have afflictions?’ he said, ‘The nature of affliction is self-released.’ Asked, ‘Does one not cut them off?’ he said, ‘One who cuts off afflictions is called a follower of the Two Vehicles. When afflictions do not arise, that is great nirvana.’ Asked, ‘What about sitting in meditation and watching for stillness?’ he said, ‘Neither defiled nor pure—why stir the mind to watch for a pure appearance?’ Asked, ‘When a Chan master sees the empty space in all ten directions, is that the Dharma body?’ he said, ‘To grasp it with the thinking mind is a mistaken view.’ Asked, ‘If mind itself is Buddha, may one still cultivate the myriad practices?’ he said, ‘All sages possess the two adornments. How could one deny cause and effect?’ He added, ‘Even if I answered you for kalpas, I would never finish. Too many words take you far from the Way. Thus it is said: “A teaching that grasps at something is the cry of a jackal; a teaching that grasps at nothing is called the lion’s roar.”’ At another teaching he said, ‘The green vines climb straight to the top of the cold pine; pale clouds drift in and out of the vast sky. The ten thousand things are originally at rest, but people themselves make a commotion.’ The teacher asked a monk, ‘Where have you recently come from?’ He said, ‘The south.’ The teacher asked, ‘What Dharma do teachers in the south teach?’ The monk said, ‘They say that once the elements of wind and fire disperse at death, one sheds the skin like a snake and changes bones like a dragon, while one’s original true nature remains unchanged.’ The teacher said, ‘How pitiful! The teachers in the south teach a doctrine that is half birth and half extinction.’ The monk said, ‘The southern teachers teach that way. What Dharma do you teach here?’ The teacher said, ‘Here, body and mind are one; outside the body there is nothing else.’ The monk said, ‘How can you equate this bubble-like illusory body with the Dharma substance?’ The teacher said, ‘Why have you entered a deviant path?’ The monk asked, ‘Where have I entered a deviant path?’ The teacher said, ‘Have you not read in the teachings: “If you see me through form or seek me through sound, you are walking a deviant path and cannot see the Tathagata”?’ Lay practitioner Zhang Fen of Nanyang asked…’

承和尚說無情說法。某甲未體其事。乞和尚垂示。師曰。汝若問無情說法。解他無情。方得聞我說法。汝但聞取無情說法去。濆曰。只約如今有情方便之中。如何是無情因緣。師曰。如今一切動用之中。但凡聖兩流都無少分起滅便是出。識不屬有無。熾然見覺。只聞無其情識繫執。所以六祖雲。六根對境。分別非識。有僧到參禮。師問。蘊何事業。曰。講金剛經。師曰。最初兩字是甚麼。曰。如是。師曰。是甚麼。僧無對。有人問。如何是解脫。師曰。諸法不相到。當處解脫。曰。恁麼即斷去也。師曰。向汝道諸法不相到。斷甚麼。師見僧來。以手作圓相。相中書日字。僧無對。師問本淨禪師。汝已後見奇特言語如何淨。曰。無一念心愛。師曰。是汝屋裡事。肅宗問。師在曹谿得何法。師曰。陛下還見空中一片雲麼。帝曰。見。師曰。釘釘著。懸掛著。帝又問。如何是十身調御。師乃起立曰。會麼。帝曰。不會。師曰。與老僧過淨瓶來。帝又曰。如何是無諍三昧。師曰。檀越蹋毗盧頂上行。帝曰。此意如何。師曰。莫認自己清淨法身。帝又問。師都不視之。曰。朕是大唐天子。師何以殊不顧視。師曰。還見虗空麼。帝曰。見。師曰。他還眨目視陛下否。魚軍容問。師住白崖山。十二時中如何修道。師喚童子來。摩頂曰。惺惺直言惺惺。歷歷直言歷歷。已後莫受人謾。師與紫璘供奉論議。師陞座。奉曰。請師立義。某甲破。師曰。立義竟。奉曰。是甚麼義。師曰。果然不見。非公境界。便下座。一日。師問紫璘供奉。佛是甚麼義。曰。是覺義。師曰。佛曾迷否。曰。不曾迷。師曰。用覺作麼。奉無對。奉問如何是實相。師曰。把將虗底來。曰。虗底不可得。師曰。虗底尚不可得。問實相作麼。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。文殊堂裡萬菩薩。曰。學人不會。師曰。大悲千手眼。師以化緣將畢。涅槃時至。

‘I have heard you say that insentient things teach the Dharma, but I do not understand it. I beg you to explain.’ The teacher said, ‘If you ask about insentient things teaching the Dharma, understand the insentient, and then you can hear my teaching. Just listen to the insentient things teaching the Dharma.’ Zhang Fen said, ‘Taking the expedient means of sentient beings as they are now, what are the conditions for the insentient to teach?’ The teacher said, ‘In all activities now, when neither the ordinary nor the holy has the slightest arising or ceasing, that is going beyond. Awareness belongs neither to existence nor nonexistence; it sees vividly, and yet hears without the bonds of discriminating consciousness. Thus the Sixth Patriarch said: “When the six faculties meet their objects, discrimination is not consciousness.”’ A monk came to pay his respects. The teacher asked, ‘What are you occupied with?’ He said, ‘I lecture on the Diamond Sutra.’ The teacher asked, ‘What are its first two words?’ He said, ‘Thus have I heard.’ The teacher asked, ‘What does “thus” mean?’ The monk had no answer. Someone asked, ‘What is liberation?’ The teacher said, ‘When phenomena do not interfere with one another, you are liberated right where you stand.’ The questioner said, ‘Then this means cutting everything off.’ The teacher said, ‘I told you that phenomena do not interfere with one another. What is there to cut off?’ When a monk came, the teacher made a circle with his hand and wrote the character for “sun” inside it. The monk had no answer. The teacher asked Chan Master Benjing, ‘What will you do when you encounter extraordinary words in the future?’ Benjing said, ‘I will not have the slightest attachment to them.’ The teacher said, ‘That is a matter within your own house.’ Emperor Suzong asked, ‘What Dharma did you receive at Caoxi?’ The teacher said, ‘Does Your Majesty see a cloud in the sky?’ The emperor said, ‘I do.’ The teacher said, ‘Nail it there and hang it up.’ The emperor asked, ‘What is the samadhi of the tenfold sovereign?’ The teacher rose and asked, ‘Do you understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ The teacher said, ‘Bring this old monk a clean vase.’ The emperor asked, ‘What is the samadhi of non-contention?’ The teacher said, ‘Benefactor, walk on Vairocana’s crown.’ The emperor asked, ‘What does this mean?’ The teacher said, ‘Do not mistake your own pure Dharma body for something to grasp.’ The emperor asked another question, but the teacher did not look at him. The emperor said, ‘I am the Son of Heaven of Great Tang. Why do you not even look at me?’ The teacher said, ‘Do you see empty space?’ The emperor said, ‘I do.’ The teacher said, ‘Does it blink at Your Majesty?’ The palace attendant Yu asked, ‘When you lived on White Cliff Mountain, how did you cultivate the Way throughout the twelve periods of the day?’ The teacher called a young attendant, stroked his head, and said, ‘When you are alert, simply say you are alert; when you are clear, simply say you are clear. Do not let others deceive you in the future.’ The teacher debated with the court official Zilin. He took the seat, and the official said, ‘Please state your thesis, and I will refute it.’ The teacher said, ‘I have finished stating it.’ The official asked, ‘What thesis was it?’ The teacher said, ‘Indeed, you did not see it; it is beyond your understanding.’ Then he descended. Another day the teacher asked Zilin, ‘What does “Buddha” mean?’ He said, ‘It means awakening.’ The teacher asked, ‘Was Buddha ever deluded?’ The official said, ‘Never.’ The teacher asked, ‘Then what use is awakening?’ The official had no answer. The official asked, ‘What is the real mark?’ The teacher said, ‘Bring me what is empty.’ The official said, ‘The empty cannot be obtained.’ The teacher said, ‘If even the empty cannot be obtained, why ask about the real mark?’ A monk asked, ‘What is the essential meaning of Buddhadharma?’ The teacher said, ‘In Manjushri Hall are ten thousand Bodhisattvas.’ The monk said, ‘I do not understand.’ The teacher said, ‘Great Compassion has a thousand hands and eyes.’ As the teacher’s work of teaching others was nearing its end and the time for nirvana had come…’

乃辭代宗。代宗曰。師滅度後。弟子將何所記。師曰。告檀越造取一所無縫塔。帝曰。就師請取塔樣。師良久。曰。會麼。帝曰。不會。師曰。貧道去後。有侍者應真卻知此事。乞詔問之。大曆十年十二月十九日。右脇長往。塔於黨子谷。諡大證禪師。代宗後詔應真問前語。真良久。曰。聖上會麼。帝曰。不會。真述偈曰。湘之南。潭之北。中有黃金充一國。無影樹下合同船。瑠璃殿上無知識。

…he took leave of Emperor Daizong. The emperor said, ‘After you enter nirvana, what should I remember?’ The teacher said, ‘Tell the benefactor to build a seamless stupa.’ The emperor said, ‘Please give me a design for the stupa.’ The teacher was silent for a long time, then asked, ‘Do you understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ The teacher said, ‘After I am gone, my attendant Yingzhen will know. Issue an edict and ask him.’ On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month in the tenth year of Dali, he passed away lying on his right side. His stupa is in Dangzi Valley, and he was posthumously titled Chan Master Dazheng. Later, Daizong issued an edict asking Yingzhen about the earlier words. Yingzhen was silent for a long time, then asked, ‘Does Your Majesty understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ Yingzhen recited this verse: ‘South of the Xiang, north of the Tan, within lies enough gold to fill a whole country. Beneath the shadowless tree we board the same boat; in the crystal palace there is no one who knows.’

西京荷澤神會禪師者

Chan Master Shenhui of Heze, Western Capital,

襄陽人也。姓高氏。年十四為沙彌。謁六祖。祖曰。知識遠來大艱辛。將本來否。若有本則合識主。試說看。師曰。以無住為本。見即是主。祖曰。這沙彌爭合取次語。便打。師於杖下思惟。曰。大善知識。歷劫難逢。今既得遇。豈惜身命。自此給侍。他日。祖告眾曰。吾有一物。無頭無尾。無名無字。無背無面。諸人還識否。師乃出曰。是諸法之本源。乃神會之佛性。祖曰。向汝道無名無字。汝便喚作本源佛性。師禮拜而退。祖曰。此子向後。設有把茆葢頭。也只成得箇知解宗徒(法眼雲。古人授記人終不錯。如今立知解為宗。即荷澤也)。師尋往西京受戒。唐景龍年中。卻歸曹谿。閱大藏經於內。六處有疑。問於六祖。第一問戒定慧曰。所用戒何物。定從何處修。慧因何處起。所見不通流。祖曰。定即定其心。將戒戒其行。性中常慧照。自見自知深。第二問。本無今有有何物。本有今無無何物。誦經不見有無義。真似騎驢更覔驢。祖曰。前念惡業本無。後念善生今有。念念常行善行。後代人天不久。汝今正聽吾言。吾即本無今有。第三問。將生滅卻滅。將滅滅卻生。不了生滅義。所見似聾盲。祖曰。將生滅卻滅。令人不執性。將滅滅卻生。令人心離境。未即離二邊。自除生滅病。第四問。先頓而後漸。先漸而後頓。不悟頓漸人。心裡常迷悶。祖曰。聽法頓中漸。悟法漸中頓。修行頓中漸。證果漸中頓。頓漸是常因。悟中不迷悶。第五問。先定後慧。先慧後定。定慧後初。何生為正。祖曰。常生清淨心。定中而有慧。於境上無心。慧中而有定。定慧等無先。雙修自心正。第六問。先佛而後法。先法而後佛。佛法本根源。起從何處出。祖曰。說即先佛而後法。聽即先法而後佛。若論佛法本根源。一切眾生心裡出。祖滅後二十年間。曹谿頓旨沈廢於荊吳嵩嶽。漸門盛行於秦洛。師入京。

He was from Xiangyang and belonged to the Gao clan. At fourteen he became a novice and paid a visit to the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch said, ‘You have traveled a long way, good friend. Did you bring the original with you? If you have the original, you must know its master. Tell me.’ The master said, ‘Non-abiding is the basis; seeing is the master.’ The Patriarch said, ‘How can this novice speak so carelessly?’ and struck him. Under the blows, the master reflected: ‘A great spiritual friend is hard to encounter even in kalpas. Now that I have met one, how could I begrudge my life?’ From then on, he served the Patriarch. Another day the Patriarch told the assembly, ‘I have one thing: it has no head or tail, no name or word, no back or face. Do you recognize it?’ The master stepped forward and said, ‘It is the source of all phenomena, and it is Shenhui’s Buddha-nature.’ The Patriarch said, ‘I told you it has no name or word, yet you call it the source and Buddha-nature.’ The master bowed and withdrew. The Patriarch said, ‘In the future, even if this fellow puts up a thatched hut, he will only become a doctrinal scholar who takes understanding as the school.’ (Fayan said, ‘The ancients’ predictions about people never went wrong. To establish intellectual understanding as one’s school—that is Heze.’) The master later went to the Western Capital to receive the precepts. In the Jinglong era of Tang, he returned to Caoxi. While reading the entire Buddhist canon, he found six points of doubt and asked the Sixth Patriarch. First he asked about precepts, concentration, and wisdom: ‘What do precepts use? From where should concentration be cultivated? From where does wisdom arise? What I see does not flow through.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Concentration settles the mind; precepts discipline one’s conduct. In one’s nature, wisdom is always shining; one sees and knows deeply for oneself.’ Second he asked: ‘What was originally nonexistent but now exists? What originally existed but now does not? Reciting sutras without seeing the meaning of being and nonbeing is like riding a donkey while searching for the donkey.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Formerly there was no evil karma in your thoughts; now goodness has arisen. Constantly practice wholesome deeds in every thought, and in the future you will not be far from the human and heavenly realms. You are listening to my words now; I am what was originally nonexistent but now exists.’ Third he asked: ‘Use arising to extinguish ceasing; use ceasing to extinguish arising. If one does not understand arising and ceasing, one seems deaf and blind.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Using arising to extinguish ceasing keeps people from clinging to their nature. Using ceasing to extinguish arising lets the mind leave its objects. Until one leaves both extremes, the sickness of arising and ceasing will not be cured.’ Fourth he asked: ‘First sudden, then gradual; first gradual, then sudden. Those who do not understand sudden and gradual are constantly confused.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Hearing the Dharma is gradual within the sudden; awakening to the Dharma is sudden within the gradual. Practice is gradual within the sudden; realization is sudden within the gradual. Sudden and gradual are constant causes; in awakening there is no confusion.’ Fifth he asked: ‘Concentration first, then wisdom; wisdom first, then concentration. After concentration and wisdom, or before them, which is right?’ The Patriarch said, ‘Always give rise to a pure mind; within concentration there is wisdom. Be without mind toward objects; within wisdom there is concentration. Concentration and wisdom are equal, neither comes first; cultivating both corrects the mind.’ Sixth he asked: ‘Buddha first, then Dharma; Dharma first, then Buddha. What is the root source of Buddha and Dharma, and where do they arise?’ The Patriarch said, ‘In speaking, Buddha comes first and Dharma follows; in listening, Dharma comes first and Buddha follows. As for the root source of Buddha and Dharma, they arise in the minds of all sentient beings.’ For twenty years after the Patriarch’s passing, the sudden teaching of Caoxi declined in Jing, Wu, and at Mount Song, while the gradual school flourished in Qin and Luo. The master went to the capital.

天寶四年方定兩宗(南能頓宗。北秀漸教)。乃著顯宗記。盛行於世。一日鄉信至。報二親亡。師入堂白槌曰。父母俱喪。請大眾念摩訶般若。眾才集。師便打槌曰。勞煩大眾。師於上元元年奄然而化。塔於龍門。

In the fourth year of Tianbao, the two schools were finally distinguished (the Southern School of Huineng’s sudden teaching and the Northern School of Shenxiu’s gradual teaching). The master then wrote the Record of Revealing the School, which became widely circulated. One day, a letter from his hometown arrived, reporting that both his parents had died. The master entered the hall, struck the wooden sounding block, and said, ‘Both my parents have died. I ask the assembly to recite the Great Prajnaparamita.’ As soon as the assembly gathered, he struck the block again and said, ‘Thank you for your trouble, everyone.’ In the first year of Shangyuan, the master quietly passed away. His stupa is at Longmen.

六祖下二世(旁出)

The Second Generation under the Sixth Patriarch (Collateral Lineage)

南陽忠國師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the National Teacher Zhong of Nanyang

吉州耽源山應真禪師

Chan Master Yingzhen of Mount Dangyuan, Jizhou

為國師侍者時。一日國師在法堂中。師入來。國師乃放下一足。師見便出。良久卻回。國師曰。適來意作麼生。師曰。向阿誰說即得。國師曰。我問你。師曰。甚麼處見某甲。師又問。百年後有人問。極則事如何。國師曰。幸自可憐生。須要覔箇護身符子作麼。異日。師擕籃子歸方丈。國師問。籃裡甚麼物。師曰。青梅。國師曰。將來何用。師曰。供養。國師曰。青在爭堪供養。師曰。以此表獻。國師曰。佛不受供養。師曰。某甲只恁麼。和尚如何。國師曰。我不供養。師曰。為甚麼不供養。國師曰。我無果子。百丈海和尚在泐潭山牽車次。師曰。車在這裡。牛在甚麼處。丈斫額。師乃拭目。麻谷問。十二面觀音豈不是聖。師曰。是。麻谷與師一摑。師曰。想汝未到此境。國師諱日設齋。有僧問曰。國師還來否。師曰。未具他心。曰。又用設齋作麼。師曰。不斷世諦。

When he served as the National Teacher’s attendant, one day the National Teacher was in the Dharma Hall. The master entered, and the National Teacher lowered one leg. The master saw this and left. After a long while he returned. The National Teacher asked, ‘What did you mean just now?’ The master said, ‘Who could I have said it to?’ The National Teacher said, ‘I am asking you.’ The master said, ‘Where do you see me?’ Another day the National Teacher asked, ‘After a hundred years, if someone asks about the ultimate matter, what should I say?’ The master said, ‘You are already so pitiable as you are. Why must you seek a talisman to protect yourself?’ On another day the master carried a basket back to the abbot’s quarters. The National Teacher asked, ‘What is in the basket?’ The master said, ‘Green plums.’ The National Teacher asked, ‘What use are they?’ The master said, ‘For an offering.’ The National Teacher said, ‘How can something green be fit for an offering?’ The master said, ‘I offer them as a token.’ The National Teacher said, ‘Buddha does not accept offerings.’ The master said, ‘That is how I am. What about you, Master?’ The National Teacher said, ‘I do not make offerings.’ The master asked, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘I have no fruit.’ When Master Hai of Baizhang was pulling a cart at Mount Leitan, the master asked, ‘The cart is here; where is the ox?’ Baizhang raised his hand to his forehead. The master wiped his eyes. Magu asked, ‘Isn’t the eleven-faced Guanyin a sage?’ The master said, ‘Yes.’ Magu slapped him. The master said, ‘I thought you had not reached this state.’ On the National Teacher’s memorial day, a monk asked, ‘Will the National Teacher return?’ The master said, ‘I do not possess the ability to know his thoughts.’ The monk asked, ‘Then why hold a memorial offering?’ The master said, ‘I do not abandon conventional truth.’

荷澤會禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Hui of Heze

沂水蒙山光寶禪師

Chan Master Guangbao of Mount Meng, Yishui

幷州人也．姓周氏。初謁荷澤。澤謂之曰。汝名光寶。名以定體。寶即己有。光非外來。縱汝意用而無少乏。長夜蒙照而無間歇。汝還信否。師曰。信則信矣。未審光之與寶。同邪異邪。澤曰。光即寶。寶即光。何有同異之名乎。師曰。眼耳緣聲色時。為復抗行。為有回互。澤曰。抗互且置。汝指何法為聲色之體乎。師曰。如師所說。即無有聲色可得。澤曰。汝若了聲色體空。亦信眼耳諸根。及與凡與聖。平等如幻。抗行回互。其理昭然。師由是領悟。禮辭而去。初隱沂水蒙山。於唐元和二年圓寂。

He was from Bingzhou and belonged to the Zhou clan. At first he visited Heze. Heze said to him, ‘Your name is Guangbao—“light” and “treasure” define their substance. The treasure is already your own; the light does not come from outside. Though you use your mind freely, nothing is lacking; through the long night, the illumination shines without interruption. Do you believe this?’ The master said, ‘I believe it. But I do not know whether light and treasure are the same or different.’ Heze said, ‘Light is treasure, and treasure is light. What could the words same or different mean?’ The master asked, ‘When the eyes and ears encounter forms and sounds, do they act independently, or do they interact?’ Heze said, ‘Set aside independence and interaction for now. What do you take as the substance of sound and form?’ The master said, ‘As you have said, no sound or form can be obtained.’ Heze said, ‘If you understand that the substance of sound and form is empty, then trust that the eye and ear faculties, along with ordinary and holy, are equal and like illusions. Their independence and interaction are then clear in principle.’ The master understood and took leave. At first he lived in seclusion on Mount Meng in Yishui. He passed away in the second year of Yuanhe under Tang.

六祖下三世四世(旁出)(不列章次)

The Third and Fourth Generations under the Sixth Patriarch (Collateral Lineage; not arranged by chapter),

六祖下五世(旁出)

The Fifth Generation under the Sixth Patriarch (Collateral Lineage)

遂州圓禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Suizhou

終南山圭峰宗密禪師者

Chan Master Zongmi of Guifeng, Mount Zhongnan,

果州西充人也。姓何氏。家本豪盛。髫齓通儒書。冠歲探釋典。唐元和二年將赴貢舉。偶造圓和尚法席。欣然契會。遂求披剃。當年進具。一日。隨眾僧齋於府吏任灌家。居下位以次受經。得圓覺十二章。覧未終軸。感悟流涕。歸以所悟之旨告於圓。圓撫之曰。汝當大弘圓頓之教。此諸佛授汝耳。行矣。無自滯於一隅也。師涕泣奉命。禮辭而去。因謁荊南忠禪師(南印)。忠曰。傳教人也。當宣導於帝都。復見洛陽照禪師(奉國神照)。照曰。菩薩人也。誰能識之。尋抵襄漢。因病。僧付華嚴疏。即上都澄觀大師之所撰也。師未甞聽習。一覧而講。自欣所遇。曰。曏者諸師述作。罕窮厥旨。未若此疏。辭源流暢。幽賾煥然。吾禪遇南宗。教逢圓覺。一言之下。心地開通。一軸之中。義天朗耀。今復偶茲絕筆。罄竭於懷。暨講終。思見疏主。時屬門人泰恭斷臂醻恩。師先齎書上疏主。遙敘師資。往復慶慰。尋泰恭痊損。方隨侍至上都。執弟子之禮。觀曰。毗盧華藏。能隨我遊者。其汝乎。師預觀之室。惟日新其德。而認筌執象之患永亡矣。北遊清涼山。回住鄠縣草堂寺。未幾。復入終南圭峰蘭若。大和中徵入內。賜紫衣。帝累問法要。朝士歸慕。唯相國裴公休。深入堂奧。受教為外護。師以禪教學者互相非毀。遂著禪源諸詮。寫錄諸家所述。詮表禪門根源道理。文字句偈。集為一藏(或雲一百卷)。以貽後代。其都序略雲。禪是天竺之語。具雲禪那。此雲思惟修。亦云靜慮。皆定慧之通稱也。源者。是一切眾生本覺真性。亦名佛性。亦名心地。悟之名慧。修之名定。定慧通名為禪。此性是禪之本源。故云禪源。亦名禪那。理行者。此之本源是禪理。忘情契之是禪行。故云理行。然今所集諸家述作。多譚禪理。少說禪行。故且以禪源題之。今時有人但目真性為禪者。是不達理行之旨。又不辨華竺之音也。

He was from Xichong in Guozhou and belonged to the He clan, whose family had long been wealthy. As a child he mastered the Confucian classics; after reaching adulthood he studied Buddhist scriptures. In the second year of Yuanhe, he was about to sit for the examination when he happened to visit the teaching seat of Chan Master Yuan. He joyfully understood the teaching and immediately asked to leave home. That year he received full ordination. One day he joined the monks at a vegetarian feast in the household of the prefectural clerk Ren Guan. Sitting in a low place and receiving the scriptures in order, he obtained the twelve-chapter Yuanjue Sutra. Before finishing the scroll, he was moved to tears by awakening. He returned and told Yuan what he had realized. Yuan stroked him and said, ‘You should greatly propagate the teaching of perfect and sudden awakening. This is what all Buddhas have entrusted to you. Go; do not confine yourself in one corner.’ Weeping, the master accepted the command, bowed, and departed. He then visited Chan Master Zhong of Jingnan, Nanyin, who said, ‘One who transmits the teaching should proclaim it in the imperial capital.’ He also met Chan Master Zhao of Luoyang, the Imperial Protector Shenzhao, who said, ‘He is a person of the Bodhisattva path; who can recognize him?’ He later reached Xianghan and fell ill. A monk gave him the Huayan Commentary written by Master Chengguan of the Upper Capital. Though he had never studied it, he read it once and lectured on it. Delighted, he said, ‘The writings of former masters rarely exhaust the meaning. This commentary is different: its language flows and its hidden depths shine. In Chan I encountered the Southern School; in teaching I encountered the Yuanjue. With one phrase, the mind-ground opened; within one scroll, the sky of meaning became clear. Now I have happened upon this final work, and it has emptied my heart.’ When he finished lecturing, he wished to meet the author. At that time Chengguan’s disciple Taigong had cut off his arm in repayment of his teacher’s kindness. The master first sent a letter and the commentary to Chengguan, describing their teacher-disciple connection from afar and exchanging congratulations. After Taigong recovered, the master accompanied him to the Upper Capital and performed the rites of a disciple. Chengguan said, ‘In Vairocana’s Flower Treasury, you are probably the one who can travel with me.’ The master entered Chengguan’s room and daily increased his virtue; he also permanently escaped the danger of grasping at words and images. He traveled north to Clear Cool Mountain, then returned to Caotang Monastery in Hu County. Soon he entered the Guifeng hermitage on Mount Zhongnan. During the Taihe era he was summoned into the palace and given purple robes. The emperor repeatedly asked about the essentials of Dharma, and many court officials came to admire him. Only Chancellor Pei Xiu entered deeply into the teaching and became his lay protector. Because Chan and the doctrinal schools condemned one another, the master wrote the Chan Source: Collected Explanations, recording the teachings of the various schools and clarifying the source and principles of Chan, as well as its words, phrases, and verses, gathering them into one canon (some say one hundred fascicles) for later generations. Its general preface says: ‘Chan is a word from India, short for dhyana. In this land it is called cultivating through contemplation and also tranquil reflection; both are general names for concentration and wisdom. The source is the originally awakened true nature of all sentient beings, also called Buddha-nature and the mind-ground. Awakening to it is wisdom; cultivating it is concentration. Concentration and wisdom together are called Chan. Since this nature is Chan’s source, it is called the Chan Source. The root is also called dhyana. In principle and practice, this source is Chan principle, while forgetting emotion and accord with it is Chan practice. Today’s collected writings mostly discuss Chan principle and say little about Chan practice, so the title Chan Source is used for the time being. People now who regard only true nature as Chan have not understood the meaning of principle and practice, nor distinguished the pronunciations of China and India.’

然非離真性。別有禪體。但眾生迷真合塵。即名散亂。背塵合真。方名禪定。若直論本性。即非真非妄。無背無合。無定無亂。誰言禪乎。況此真性。非唯是禪門之源。亦是萬法之源。故名法性。亦是眾生迷悟之源。故名如來藏藏識(出楞伽經)。亦是諸佛萬德之源。故名佛性(涅槃等經)。亦是菩薩萬行之源。故名心地(梵網經云。是諸佛之本源。行菩薩道之根本。是大眾諸佛子之根本也)。萬行不出六波羅蜜。禪者。但是六中之一。當其第五。豈可都目真性為一禪行哉。然禪定一行最為神妙。能發起性上無漏智慧。一切妙用。萬行萬德。乃至神通光明。皆從定發。故三乘人慾求聖道。必須修禪。離此無門。離此無路。至於念佛求生淨土。亦修十六觀禪。及念佛三昧．般舟三昧等也。又真性即不垢不淨。凡聖無差。禪門則有淺有深。階級殊等。謂帶異計．欣上厭下而修者。是外道禪。正信因果。亦以欣厭而修者。是凡夫禪。悟我空偏真之理而修者。是小乘禪。悟我法二空所顯真理而修者。是大乘禪(上四類。皆有四色四空之異也)。若頓悟自心本來清淨。元無煩惱。無漏智性本自具足。此心即佛。畢竟無異。依此而修者。是最上乘禪。亦名如來清淨禪。亦名一行三昧。亦名真如三昧。此是一切三昧根本。若能念念修習。自然漸得百千三昧。達磨門下展轉相傳者。是此禪也。達磨未到。古來諸家所解。皆是前四禪八定。諸高僧修之。皆得功用。南嶽天台令依三諦之理修三止三觀。教義雖最圓妙。然其趣入門戶次第。亦只是前之諸禪行相。唯達磨所傳者。頓同佛體。迥異諸門。故宗習者難得其旨。得即成聖。疾證菩提。失即成邪。速入塗炭。先祖革昧防失。故且人傳一人。後代已有所憑。故任千燈千照。洎乎法久成弊。錯謬者多。故經論學人疑謗亦眾。原夫佛說頓教漸教。禪開頓門漸門。二教二門。

Yet Chan is not a separate substance apart from true nature. When sentient beings lose touch with the true and unite with dust, this is called scattered disorder; when they turn away from dust and unite with the true, this is called meditative concentration. Speaking directly of the original nature, it is neither true nor false, neither turned away nor united, neither concentrated nor disturbed—who could call it Chan? Moreover, this true nature is not only the source of the Chan gate; it is the source of all phenomena and is therefore called Dharma-nature. It is the source of delusion and awakening in sentient beings and is called the Tathagata-garbha and store consciousness. It is the source of all virtues of the Buddhas and is called Buddha-nature; it is the source of all Bodhisattva practices and is called the mind-ground. The myriad practices do not go beyond the six paramitas; Chan is only one of the six, the fifth. How could one make true nature itself into a single Chan practice? Yet meditation is the most wondrous of the practices, because it gives rise to the undefiled wisdom inherent in one’s nature. All wondrous functions, all practices and virtues, even supernatural powers and radiance, arise from concentration. Therefore those of the Three Vehicles who seek the holy path must cultivate Chan; apart from it there is no gate or road. Even those who recite the Buddha’s name to seek birth in the Pure Land cultivate the sixteen contemplations, Buddha-recitation samadhi, Pratyutpanna samadhi, and so forth. True nature itself is neither defiled nor pure, and ordinary and holy are not different. In the Chan gate, however, there are shallow and deep levels. Chan practiced with heterodox views, delighting in higher states and rejecting lower ones, is outsider Chan. Chan practiced with right faith in cause and effect but still through attraction and aversion is ordinary-person Chan. Chan practiced by awakening to the one-sided truth of emptiness of self is Small Vehicle Chan. Chan practiced by awakening to the truth revealed by emptiness of both self and phenomena is Great Vehicle Chan. (The four kinds above have their own distinctions of the four forms and four formless concentrations.) When one suddenly awakens to the original purity of one’s own mind, originally free of affliction, with undefiled wisdom already complete, and realizes that this mind is Buddha and ultimately no different from Buddha, the Chan cultivated on that basis is the highest-vehicle Chan. It is also called the Tathagata’s pure Chan, the one-practice samadhi, and the suchness samadhi. It is the root of all samadhis; if practiced thought after thought, one naturally and gradually attains hundreds and thousands of samadhis. What was transmitted through the successive generations of Bodhidharma’s gate is this Chan. Before Bodhidharma arrived, the interpretations of the ancient schools were all the four Chan levels and eight concentrations. Eminent monks who cultivated them obtained their powers. Nanyue and Tiantai taught cultivation of the three stoppings and three contemplations according to the principle of the three truths. Their doctrine was extremely complete and wondrous, but their gateways and stages of entry still followed the characteristics of the earlier Chan practices. What Bodhidharma transmitted suddenly accords with the Buddha’s body and is far different from the other gates. That is why those who study the lineage rarely grasp its purport. If they grasp it, they become sages and swiftly realize awakening; if they lose it, they become heretics and quickly enter misery. The ancient patriarchs feared that ignorance would lead to its loss, so for a time it was transmitted from one person to one person. Later generations had reliable support, so they allowed a thousand lamps to illuminate a thousand places. When the Dharma had lasted long enough to become corrupt, errors multiplied, and scholars of scriptures and treatises produced many doubts and slanders. The Buddha taught sudden and gradual teachings, and Chan has sudden and gradual gates. The two teachings and two gates accord with each other.

各相符契。今講者偏彰漸義。禪者偏播頓宗。禪講相逢。胡越之隔。宗密不知。宿生何作。燻得此心。自未解脫。欲解他縛。為法亡於軀命。愍人切於神情(亦如淨名經云。若自有縛。能解他縛。無有是處。然欲罷不能。驗是宿習難改故)。每歎人與法差。法為人病。故別撰經律論疏。大開戒定慧門。顯頓悟資於漸修。證師說符於佛意。意既本末而委示。文乃浩博而難尋。汎學雖多。秉志者少。況跡涉名相。誰辨金鍮。徒自疲勞。未見機感。雖佛說悲增是行。而自慮愛見難防。遂捨眾入山。習定均慧。前後息慮。相繼十年。微細習情。起滅彰於靜慮。差別法義。羅列現於空心。虗隙日光。纖埃擾擾。清潭水底。影像昭昭。豈比夫空守默之痴禪。但尋文之狂慧者也。然本因了自心而辨諸教。故懇情於心宗。又因辨諸教而解修心。故虔誠於教義。教也者。諸佛菩薩所留經論也。禪也者。諸善知識所述句偈也。但佛經開張。羅大千八部之眾。禪偈撮略。就此方一類之機。羅眾則莾蕩難依。就機則指的易用。今之纂集。意在斯焉。裴休為之序曰。諸宗門下。皆有達人。然各安所習。通少局多。故數十年來。師法益壞。以承稟為戶牖。各自開張。以經論為干戈。互相攻擊。情隨函矢而遷變(周禮曰。函人為甲。孟子曰。矢人豈不仁於函人哉。函人唯恐傷人。矢人唯恐不傷人。葢所習之術使然也。今學者但隨宗徒。彼此相非耳)。法逐人我以高低。是非紛拏。莫能辨析。則曏者世尊菩薩諸方教宗。適足以起諍後人。增煩惱病。何利益之有。我圭峰大師久而歎曰。吾丁此時。不可以默矣。於是以如來三種教義。印禪宗三種法門。鎔缾盤釵釧為一金。攪酥酪醍醐為一味。振綱領而舉者皆順(荀子云。如振裘領。屈五指而頓之。順者不可勝數)。據會要而來者同趣(周易略例雲。據會要以觀方來。則六合輻湊。未足多也。

Today, lectures emphasize the gradual meaning while Chan broadcasts chiefly the sudden school, so when Chan and doctrine meet they are separated like the Hu and Yue peoples. I, Zongmi, do not know what I did in previous lives to cultivate this mind. I am not yet liberated, yet wish to free others from their bonds; I would give my life for the Dharma and pity people with all my heart. (As the Vimalakirti Sutra says, if one is bound oneself, one cannot free another. Yet one cannot stop, which proves that former habits are difficult to change.) Again and again I lament that people and Dharma have diverged, and that Dharma has become an illness in people. Therefore I separately composed commentaries on the sutras, vinaya, and treatises, opening the gates of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, showing that sudden awakening depends on gradual cultivation and that the teachings of the masters accord with the Buddha’s intent. The meaning is displayed from beginning to end, but the writings are vast and difficult to search. Many study broadly, few hold a firm resolve. Since the traces involve names and marks, who can distinguish gold from brass? People merely exhaust themselves and never encounter the responsive point. Although the Buddha taught that compassion should increase through practice, I feared that love and views would be hard to guard against, so I left the community and entered the mountains, practicing concentration and equalizing wisdom. I stopped my thoughts again and again for ten years. Subtle habitual emotions rose and ceased clearly in quiet contemplation; differentiated meanings of Dharma appeared in ordered ranks within the empty mind. Sunlight through a crack revealed every mote; the bottom of a clear pond showed every reflection. This was not the foolish Chan that merely guards silence, nor the mad wisdom that only searches texts. Because I first understood my own mind and then discerned the teachings, I became earnest about the mind school. Because I discerned the teachings and then understood cultivation of mind, I became reverent toward doctrine. Doctrine consists of the scriptures and treatises left by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Chan consists of the phrases and verses spoken by good spiritual friends. The Buddhist scriptures spread across the multitude of beings in the eight classes, while Chan verses summarize what suits one type of person here. Spreading among multitudes is broad and difficult to follow; addressing a particular capacity gives direct practical guidance. This compilation aims at that. Pei Xiu wrote its preface: ‘Among all the schools there are accomplished people, but each rests in its own practice; those who understand broadly are few, and those who are partial are many. For decades, the teachers’ Dharma has declined. Each school treats its inherited transmission as a doorway and expands on its own; it takes sutras and treatises as weapons and attacks the others. Feelings shift with the case and the arrow: the maker of armor fears injuring people, while the maker of arrows fears failing to injure them—their crafts make them so. Today students merely follow their sectarian disciples and oppose one another. Dharma follows the distinction between self and other and is ranked high or low. Disputes are tangled and impossible to analyze. The teachings of the World-Honored One, the Bodhisattvas, and the various regions then merely stir later quarrels and increase the sickness of affliction. What benefit is there? Our Master of Guifeng sighed for a long time: “Born in this age, I cannot remain silent.”’

都序據圓教以印諸宗。雖百家亦無所不統也)。尚恐學者之難明也。又復直示宗源之本末。真妄之和合。空性之隱顯。法義之差殊。頓漸之異同。遮表之回互。權實之深淺。通局之是非。若吾師者。捧佛日而委曲回照。疑曀盡除。順佛心而橫亙大悲。窮劫蒙益。則世尊為闡教之主。吾師為會教之人。本末相符。遠近相照。可謂畢一代時教之能事矣。或曰。自如來未甞大都而通之。今一旦違宗趣而不守。廢關防而不據。無乃乖秘藏密契之道乎。答曰。如來初雖別說三乘。後乃通為一道。(三十年前。或說小乘。或說空教。或說相教。或說性教。聞者各隨機證悟。不相通知也。四十年後。坐靈鷲而會三乘。詣拘屍而顯一性。前後之軌則也)。故涅槃經迦葉菩薩曰。諸佛有密語。無密藏。世尊讚之曰。如來之言開發顯露。清淨無翳。愚人不解。謂之秘藏。智者了達。則不名藏。此其證也。故王道興則外戶不閉。而守在戎夷。佛道備則諸法總持。而防在魔外(涅槃圓教和會諸法。唯揀別魔說及外道邪宗)。不當復執情攘臂於其間也(師又著圓覺大小二疏鈔。法界觀門．原人等論。皆裴休為之序引。盛行於世)。蕭俛相公呈己見解。請禪師注釋。荷澤雲。見清淨體於諸三昧。八萬四千諸波羅蜜門。皆於見上一時起用。名為慧眼。若當真知相應之時萬化寂滅(善惡不思。空有不念。萬法俱從思想緣念而生。皆是虗空。故云化也。既一念不生。則萬法不起。故不待泯之。自然寂滅也)。此時更無所見(照體獨立。夢智亡階)。三昧諸波羅蜜門。亦一時空寂。更無所得(散亂與三昧。此岸與彼岸。是相待對治之說。若知心無念。見性無生。則定亂真妄。一時空寂。故無所得也)。不審此是見上一時起用否(然見性圓明。理絕相累。即絕相為妙用。住相為執情。於八萬法門。一一皆爾。一法有為一塵。一法空為一用。故云。

‘Therefore he used the Tathagata’s three kinds of teaching to seal the three Chan gates. He melted bottles, plates, hairpins, and bracelets into one gold; he mixed curds, cream, and clarified butter into one flavor. When the main thread is lifted, everything follows; when the essential point is grasped, all approaches converge. The Preface to the Collected Explanations relies on the Perfect Teaching to seal all the schools; even a hundred schools are all included. Fearing that students would still find it difficult to understand, the master directly revealed the source from beginning to end, the union of true and false, the hidden and manifest aspects of emptiness, differences in Dharma meaning, the identity and difference of sudden and gradual, the mutual relation of concealment and revelation, the depth of provisional and real, and what is universal or limited. If our teacher upholds the sun of the Buddha and turns its light carefully in every direction, the veil of doubt is entirely removed. If he follows the Buddha’s mind and extends great compassion across the world, beings benefit for kalpas. The World-Honored One is the lord who unfolds the teaching; our master is the one who brings the teachings together. Their root and branch accord, and their distant and near aspects illuminate each other; one may say that the work of the whole Buddha-age teaching is complete. Some ask: Has the Tathagata not always kept the great teachings separate? If one now violates their purposes and abandons their boundaries, does this not go against the secret treasury and hidden accord? The answer is: though the Tathagata first taught the Three Vehicles separately, later he opened them into one path. Before thirty years he taught at times the Small Vehicle, emptiness, marks, or nature; listeners awakened according to their capacities without knowing one another. After forty years he sat on Vulture Peak and brought the Three Vehicles together, then went to Kushinagara and revealed one nature. Thus the Nirvana Sutra has Kashyapa say: “The Buddhas have secret words but no secret treasury.” The World-Honored One praised him: “The Tathagata’s words are opened and revealed, pure and without obscurity. Fools who do not understand call them a secret treasury; the wise who understand do not call them a treasury.” This is the proof. When the kingly way flourishes, outer doors need not be closed, yet defense remains against the Rong; when the Buddha-way is complete, all phenomena are held together, yet one guards against demons and outsiders. One should not again raise the arm of attachment and dispute among them. (The master also wrote large and small commentaries on the Yuanjue, the Gate of Contemplating the Dharma Realm, and the Treatise on the Origin of Humanity; Pei Xiu wrote prefaces for them, and they circulated widely.) Chancellor Xiao Mian submitted his own understanding and asked the Chan master to annotate it. Heze said: When the pure substance is seen, all eighty-four thousand paramita gates function at once; this is called the wisdom eye. When true knowledge accords with it, the ten thousand transformations are quiescent: good and evil are not thought, emptiness and existence are not remembered. All phenomena arise from thought and conditions and are therefore empty; when a thought does not arise, no phenomenon arises, so they naturally become quiescent. At that time nothing is seen; the illuminating substance stands alone, and even the ladder of dream-wisdom disappears. The samadhis and paramita gates are also empty and quiescent at once, with nothing attained. Scattered disorder and samadhi, this shore and the other shore, are merely relative means of correction. If one knows that mind has no thought and sees that nature is unborn, concentration and disorder, true and false, are all empty and quiescent at once, so there is nothing to attain. Does this mean that all functions arise at once upon seeing the pure substance?’

見清淨體。則一時起用矣)。望於此後示及俛狀。答史山人十問。一問。如何是道。何以修之。為復必須修成。為復不假功用。答。無礙是道。覺妄是修。道雖本圓。妄起為累。妄念都盡。即是修成。二問。道若因修而成。即是造作。便同世間法。虗偽不實。成而復壞。何名出世。答。造作是結業。名虗偽世間。無作是修行。即真實出世。三問。其所修者。為頓為漸。漸則忘前失後。何以集合而成。頓則萬行多方。豈得一時圓滿。答。真理即悟而頓圓。妄情息之而漸盡。頓圓如初生孩子。一日而肢體已全。漸修如長養成人。多年而志氣方立。四問。凡修心地之法。為當悟心即了。為當別有行門。若別有行門。何名南宗頓旨。若悟即同諸佛。何不發神通光明。答。識冰池而全水。藉陽氣而鎔消。悟凡夫而即真。資法力而修習。冰消則水流潤。方呈溉滌之功。妄盡則心靈通。始發通光之應。修心之外。無別行門。五問。若但修心而得佛者。何故諸經復說必須莊嚴佛土。教化眾生。方名成道。答。鏡明而影像千差。心淨而神通萬應。影像類莊嚴佛國。神通則教化眾生。莊嚴而即非莊嚴。影像而亦色非色。六問。諸經皆說度脫眾生。且眾生即非眾生。何故更勞度脫。答。眾生若是實。度之則為勞。既自雲即非眾生。何不例度而無度。七問。諸經說佛常住。或即說佛滅度。常即不滅。滅即非常。豈不相違。答。離一切相。即名諸佛。何有出世入滅之實乎。見出沒者在乎機緣。機緣應則菩提樹下而出現。機緣盡則娑羅林間而涅槃。其猶淨水無心。無像不現。像非我有。葢外質之去來。相非佛身。豈如來之出沒。八問。云何佛化所生。吾如彼生。佛既無生。生是何義。若言心生法生。心滅法滅。何以得無生法忍邪。答。既雲如化。化即是空。空即無生。何詰生義。生滅滅已。寂滅為真。忍可此法無生。名曰無生法忍。

‘Once the pure substance is seen, all functions arise at once.’ He then answered Scholar Shi’s ten questions. First: What is the Way, and how should it be cultivated? Must it be completed through cultivation, or is no effort needed? Answer: Freedom from obstruction is the Way; awakening to delusion is cultivation. The Way is originally complete, but delusion arising becomes a burden. When deluded thoughts are completely exhausted, cultivation is complete. Second: If the Way is made through cultivation, that is fabrication like worldly dharmas—false, unreal, and subject to decay. How can it be transcendence? Answer: Fabrication binds one to karma and is the false worldly way. Non-fabrication is practice and is truly beyond the world. Third: Is cultivation sudden or gradual? If gradual, how can what is lost before and after gather into completion? If sudden, how can the many practices be perfected all at once? Answer: Truth is suddenly complete at awakening; deluded feelings cease gradually. Sudden completeness is like a newborn child whose limbs are complete in one day; gradual cultivation is like raising an adult, whose character takes many years to establish. Fourth: When cultivating the mind-ground, is awakening itself enough, or is another practice required? If another practice is required, how is this the Southern School’s sudden teaching? If awakening makes one equal to Buddha, why do supernatural powers and radiance not appear? Answer: Recognize that the ice in a pond is all water and rely on the sun’s warmth to melt it. Awaken that an ordinary person is the real, then rely on the power of Dharma to cultivate. When ice melts, water flows and moistens, and only then does the work of irrigation and cleansing appear; when delusion is exhausted, the mind becomes spiritually open and the responses of radiance and powers begin. Outside cultivating the mind there is no separate practice. Fifth: If cultivating only the mind makes one Buddha, why do scriptures say one must adorn Buddha-lands and teach beings to complete the Way? Answer: When a mirror is bright, countless images appear; when the mind is pure, countless spiritual responses arise. The images are like adorning Buddha-lands, and the powers are like teaching beings. Adornment is precisely not adornment, and images are form yet not form. Sixth: Scriptures all speak of liberating beings, yet beings are said not to be beings. Why labor to liberate them? Answer: If beings were real, liberating them would be labor. Since you yourself say they are not beings, why not liberate without a concept of liberation? Seventh: Scriptures say Buddhas abide forever, and also say that Buddhas enter nirvana. Permanent means no extinction; extinction means not permanent. Is this not contradictory? Answer: Being apart from every mark is called Buddha. There is no real coming into the world or entering extinction. What appears or disappears depends on conditions. When conditions respond, Buddha appears beneath the Bodhi tree; when conditions end, he enters nirvana between the sala trees. It is like clear water: without a mind of its own, it shows no image unless one appears. The image is not mine; it is the coming and going of an external object. A mark is not the Buddha’s body—how could it be the Tathagata’s coming and going? Eighth: How does a Buddha’s transformation arise, and how do I arise like that? If Buddha is unborn, what does arising mean? If mind arising makes phenomena arise and mind ceasing makes phenomena cease, how can one attain the patience that realizes the unborn? Answer: Since phenomena are said to be like transformations, a transformation is empty. Emptiness is unborn; why question the meaning of arising? When arising and ceasing have both ceased, quiescent extinction is the truth. Endorse this Dharma as unborn, and it is called the patience that realizes the unborn.’

九問。諸佛成道說法。秖為度脫眾生。眾生既有六道。佛何但住在人中現化。又。佛滅後付法於迦葉。以心傳心。乃至此方六祖。每代秖傳一人。既雲。於一切眾生皆得一子之地。何以傳授不普。答。日月麗天。六合俱照。而盲者不見。盆下不知。非日月不普。是障隔之咎也。度與不度。義類如斯。非局人天。揀於鬼畜。但人道能結集。傳授不絕。故秖知佛現人中也。滅度後委付迦葉。展轉相承。一人者。此亦槩論。當代為宗教主。如土無二王。非得度者唯爾數也。十問。和尚因何發心。慕何法而出家。今如何修行。得何法味。所行得至何處地位。今住心邪。修心邪。若住心妨修心。若修心則動念不安。云何名為學道。若安心一定。則何異定性之徒。伏願大德。運大慈悲。如理如如。次第為說。答。覺四大如壞幻。達六塵如空華。悟自心為佛心。見本性為法性。是發心也。知心無住。即是修行。無住而知。即為法味。住著於法。斯為動念。故如人入闇。則無所見。今無所住。不染不著。故如人有目。及日光明。見種種法。豈為定性之徒。既無所住著。何論處所。又山南溫造尚書問。悟理息妄之人。不結業一期壽終之後。靈性何依。師曰。一切眾生。無不具有覺性。靈明空寂。與佛無殊。但以無始劫來。未曾了悟。妄執身為我相。故生愛惡等情。隨情造業。隨業受報。生老病死。長劫輪回。然身中覺性。未曾生死。如夢被驅役。而身本安閑。如水作冰。而濕性不易。若能悟此性。即是法身。本自無生。何有依託。靈靈不昧。了了常知。無所從來。亦無所去。然多生妄執。習以性成。喜怒哀樂。微細流注。真理雖然頓達。此情難以卒除。須長覺察。損之又損。如風頓止。波浪漸停。豈可一生所修。便同諸佛力用。但可以空寂為自體。勿認色身。以靈知為自心。勿認妄念。妄念若起。都不隨之。即臨命終時。

‘Ninth: The Buddhas attain the Way and teach only to liberate beings. Since beings have the six destinies, why does a Buddha appear and transform only among humans? After the Buddha’s extinction, Dharma was entrusted to Kashyapa and transmitted mind to mind, down to the Sixth Patriarch in this land, one person in each generation. Since all beings are said to attain the stage of one child, why is the transmission not universal? Answer: The sun and moon shine in the sky and illuminate the six directions, yet the blind do not see, and those beneath a basin do not know. The fault is obstruction, not lack of universality. Liberation and non-liberation are of this kind. It is not limited to humans and gods or excluded from animals and ghosts. Only the human realm can compile teachings and preserve transmission without interruption; therefore we know only of the Buddha’s appearance among humans. After extinction, entrusting the Dharma to Kashyapa and transmitting it successively to one person is a general account of the teacher of a school and teaching in each age, like there being no two kings in one land. It does not mean that only those few can be liberated. Tenth: Why did the master give rise to the aspiration, what Dharma did he seek when leaving home, how does he practice now, what taste of Dharma has he gained, and what stage has he reached? If he settles the mind, is that cultivating it? If settling obstructs cultivation, and cultivating moves the mind so that it is not at rest, how can this be called studying the Way? If the mind is fixed in peace, how is this different from one of fixed nature? I beg you, great master, with great compassion, explain step by step according to suchness. Answer: Seeing the four elements as decaying illusions, understanding the six sense-objects as empty flowers, realizing one’s own mind as Buddha-mind, and seeing one’s original nature as Dharma-nature—this is giving rise to the aspiration. Knowing that mind does not abide is practice; knowing without abiding is the taste of Dharma. Abiding in a Dharma is stirring thought. It is like entering darkness and seeing nothing. Now, because there is no abiding, no defilement or attachment, it is like having eyes in sunlight and seeing the many phenomena. How could this be a person of fixed nature? Since there is no place of abiding, what place could be discussed? Minister Wen Zao of Shannan also asked: When one who has awakened to principle and ceased delusion creates no karma, where does the spiritual nature rely after this lifetime ends? The master said: All sentient beings possess awakening-nature, clear and empty, no different from Buddha. But from beginningless kalpas they have not awakened and falsely grasped the body as self, giving rise to love and hatred, creating karma according to feeling, receiving results according to karma, and undergoing birth, aging, illness, and death through long cycles. The awakening-nature within the body has never been born or died. It is like a dream in which one is driven about while the body itself rests at ease, or water becoming ice while its wetness does not change. If one awakens to this nature, it is the Dharma body, originally unborn; what could it depend upon? It is vivid and never obscured, clearly knowing always, coming from nowhere and going nowhere. Yet deluded grasping over many lives has become habitual nature, with subtle streams of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight. Truth may be suddenly understood, but these feelings are not quickly removed; one must remain constantly aware and reduce them again and again, like wind suddenly stopping while waves gradually settle. How could one lifetime of practice have the powers of all Buddhas? Take empty quiescence as one’s substance, and do not mistake the physical body for it. Take numinous knowing as one’s mind, and do not mistake deluded thoughts for it. When deluded thoughts arise, do not follow them. Then, at the time of death…’

自然業不能繫。雖有中陰。所向自由。天上人間。隨意寄託。若愛惡之念已泯。即不受分段之身。自能易短為長。易麤為妙。若微細流注。一切寂滅。唯圓覺大智朗然獨存。即隨機應現千百億化身。度有緣眾生。名之為佛。謹對。釋曰。馬鳴菩薩撮略百本大乘經宗旨。以造大乘起信論。論中立宗。說一切眾生心。有覺義不覺義。覺中復有本覺義．始覺義。上所述者。雖但約照理觀心處言之。而法義亦同。彼論謂從初至與佛無殊。是本覺也。從但以無始下。是不覺也。從若能悟此下。是始覺也。始覺中復有頓悟漸修。從若能至亦無所去。是頓悟也。從然多生妄執下。是漸修也。漸修中從初發心乃至成佛。有三位自在。從初至隨意寄託者。是受生自在也。從若愛惡之念下。是變易自在也。從若微細流注下至末。是究竟自在也。又從但可以空寂為自體至自然業不能繫。正是悟理之人朝暮行心修習止觀之要節也。宗密先有八句之偈。顯示此意。曾於尚書處誦之。奉命解釋。偈曰。作有義事。是惺悟心。作無義事。是狂亂心。狂亂隨情念。臨終被業牽。惺悟不由情。臨終能轉業。師會昌元年正月六日。於興福院誡門人。令舁屍施鳥獸。焚其骨而散之。勿得悲慕以亂禪觀。每清明上山講道七日。其餘住持儀則當合律科。違者非吾弟子。言訖坐滅。道俗等奉全身於圭峰。茶毗得舍利。明白潤大。後門人泣而求之。皆得於煨燼。乃藏之石室。暨宣宗再闢真教。追諡定慧禪師。塔曰青蓮。

‘…karma will naturally be unable to bind you. Even if there is an intermediate state, you will go freely wherever you wish, taking birth among gods or humans as you choose. When love and hatred have been extinguished, you no longer receive a body subject to fixed divisions; you can change the short into the long and the coarse into the wondrous. When the subtle stream of consciousness is entirely quiescent and only perfect awakening-wisdom remains bright, you manifest hundreds and thousands of transformation bodies according to circumstances and liberate beings with whom you have affinities; this is called a Buddha.’ Respectfully answered. The explanation says: Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha gathered the essential meaning of a hundred Mahayana sutras and composed the Awakening of Faith. Its doctrine establishes that the mind of every sentient being has the meaning of awakening and the meaning of non-awakening. Within awakening there are original awakening and initial awakening. The passage above speaks only in terms of illuminating principle and contemplating mind, but its Dharma meaning is the same. From the beginning through ‘no different from Buddha’ is original awakening. From ‘but from beginningless kalpas’ is non-awakening. From ‘if one can awaken to this’ is initial awakening. Initial awakening includes sudden awakening and gradual cultivation. From ‘if one can’ through ‘going nowhere’ is sudden awakening. From ‘yet deluded grasping over many lives’ onward is gradual cultivation. In gradual cultivation, from first giving rise to the aspiration until Buddhahood there are three kinds of freedom. From the beginning through ‘taking birth wherever one wishes’ is freedom in taking birth. From ‘when love and hatred’ onward is freedom in transformation. From ‘when the subtle stream’ to the end is ultimate freedom. The passage from ‘take empty quiescence as one’s substance’ through ‘karma cannot bind you’ is precisely the essential daily practice of stopping and contemplation for one who has awakened to principle. Zongmi had previously composed an eight-line verse expressing this and recited it for the minister; he was now ordered to explain it. The verse says: ‘Doing meaningful deeds is the awakened mind; doing meaningless deeds is the frantic mind. The frantic mind follows feelings and is dragged by karma at death. The awakened mind does not follow feelings and can transform karma at death.’ In the first month of the first year of Huichang, on the sixth day, the master admonished his disciples at Xingfu Monastery: after his death they were to carry his body out for birds and beasts, burn the bones, and scatter them, and must not grieve or admire him in a way that disturbed meditation. Every Qingming he would go up the mountain and teach for seven days. All other rules for holding the monastery should accord with the Vinaya; anyone who violated them was not his disciple. Having finished speaking, he passed away seated. Monastics and laypeople preserved his whole body at Guifeng. After cremation they found bright, lustrous relics. Later disciples wept and asked for them, and all obtained relics among the ashes, which they placed in a stone chamber. When Emperor Xuanzong again opened the true teaching, he posthumously bestowed the title Chan Master Dinghui. His stupa was called Blue Lotus.

西天東土應化聖賢

Holy sages who manifested in India and China

文殊菩薩

Manjushri Bodhisattva

一日令善財採藥。曰。是藥者採將來。善財徧觀大地。無不是藥。卻來白曰。無有不是藥者。殊曰。是藥者採將來。善財遂於地上拈一莖草。度與文殊。文殊接得。呈起示眾曰。此藥亦能殺人。亦能活人。文殊問菴提遮女曰。生以何為義。女曰。生以不生生為生義。殊曰。如何是生以不生生為生義。女曰。若能明知。地水火風四緣未甞自得。有所和合而能隨其所宜。是為生義。殊曰。死以何為義。女曰。死以不死死為死義。殊曰。如何是死以不死死為死義。女曰。若能明知。地水火風四緣未甞自得。有所離散而能隨其所宜。是為死義。菴提遮女問文殊曰。明知生是不生之理。為甚麼卻被生死之所流轉。殊曰。其力未充。

One day Manjushri told Sudhana to gather medicinal herbs, saying, ‘Bring me what is medicine.’ Sudhana examined the whole earth and found nothing that was not medicine. He returned and reported, ‘There is nothing that is not medicine.’ Manjushri said, ‘Bring what is medicine.’ Sudhana picked a blade of grass from the ground and handed it to him. Manjushri received it, held it up before the assembly, and said, ‘This medicine can kill, and it can also save.’ He then asked the woman Antidha, ‘What is the meaning of birth?’ She replied, ‘Birth means giving birth through the unborn.’ Manjushri asked, ‘What does that mean?’ She said, ‘If one clearly knows that the four conditions of earth, water, fire, and wind never independently obtain anything, but combine according to what is appropriate, this is the meaning of birth.’ Manjushri asked, ‘What is the meaning of death?’ She replied, ‘Death means dying through the undying.’ Asked what this meant, she said, ‘If one clearly knows that the four conditions never independently obtain anything, but separate according to what is appropriate, this is the meaning of death.’ She asked Manjushri, ‘If one clearly knows that birth is unborn, why is one still carried along by birth and death?’ Manjushri said, ‘Because one’s strength is not yet complete.’

天親菩薩

Bodhisattva Vasubandhu

從彌勒內宮而下。無著菩薩問曰。人間四百年。彼天為一晝夜。彌勒於一時中成就五百億天子。證無生法忍。未審說甚麼法。天親曰。秖說這箇法。秖是梵音清雅。令人樂聞。

He descended from Maitreya’s inner palace. Bodhisattva Asanga asked, ‘Four hundred human years are one day and night there. In a single moment Maitreya brings five hundred billion gods to accomplishment and realization of patience with the unborn. What Dharma does he teach?’ Vasubandhu said, ‘He teaches only this Dharma, but his Brahma voice is pure and elegant, making people rejoice to hear it.’

維摩會上。三十二菩薩各說不二法門。文殊曰。我於一切法。無言無說。無示無識。離諸問答。是為菩薩入不二法門。於是文殊又問維摩。仁者當說何等是菩薩入不二法門。維摩默然。文殊讚曰。乃至無有語言文字。是菩薩真入不二法門。

At Vimalakirti’s assembly, thirty-two Bodhisattvas each explained the Dharma gate of nonduality. Manjushri said, ‘In regard to all phenomena I have no words or speech, no demonstration or knowing, and am apart from all questions and answers; this is entering the nondual Dharma gate.’ Manjushri then asked Vimalakirti, ‘What is your explanation of a Bodhisattva’s entry into nonduality?’ Vimalakirti remained silent. Manjushri praised him: ‘To have no language or written characters at all is the Bodhisattva’s true entry into the nondual Dharma gate.’

善財

Sudhana

參五十三員善知識。末後到彌勒閣前。見樓閣門閉。瞻仰讚嘆。見彌勒從別處來。善財作禮曰。願樓閣門開。令我得入。尋時。彌勒至善財前。彈指一聲。樓閣門開。善財入已。閣門即閉。見百千萬億樓閣。一一樓閣內有一彌勒領諸眷屬並一善財而立其前。善財因無著菩薩問曰。我欲見文殊。何者即是。財曰。汝發一念心清淨即是。無著曰。我發一念心清淨。為甚麼不見。財曰。是真見文殊。

He visited fifty-three spiritual friends. At last he reached the gate of Maitreya’s pavilion, which was closed, and gazed up in praise. Maitreya came from elsewhere. Sudhana bowed and said, ‘May the gate of the pavilion open so that I may enter.’ At once Maitreya came before him and snapped his fingers; the gate opened. After Sudhana entered, it closed again. Inside he saw hundreds of thousands of millions of pavilions, and in each one Maitreya stood with his retinue and another Sudhana before him. Sudhana asked Bodhisattva Anagaraja, ‘I wish to see Manjushri. Which person is he?’ Anagaraja said, ‘When you give rise to a single thought of purity, that is Manjushri.’ Sudhana asked, ‘I have given rise to a single pure thought. Why do I not see him?’ Anagaraja said, ‘That is truly seeing Manjushri.’

須菩提尊者

Venerable Subhuti

在巖中宴坐。諸天雨華讚嘆。者曰。空中雨華讚嘆。復是何人。云何讚嘆。天曰。我是梵天。敬重尊者善說般若。者曰。我於般若未甞說一字。汝云何讚嘆。天曰。如是尊者無說。我乃無聞。無說無聞。是真說般若。尊者一日說法次。帝釋雨華。者乃問。此華從天得邪。從地得邪。從人得邪。釋曰。弗也。者曰。從何得邪。釋乃舉手。者曰。如是。如是。

He sat quietly in a rocky cave. The gods rained flowers and praised him. The venerable said, ‘Who is it that rains flowers in the air and offers praise? Why praise me?’ A god said, ‘I am Brahma. I honor the venerable for explaining prajna well.’ Subhuti said, ‘I have never spoken a single word about prajna. Why do you praise me?’ The god said, ‘Exactly so: the venerable does not speak, and I do not hear. Non-speaking and non-hearing are the true explanation of prajna.’ One day, while Subhuti was teaching, Shakra rained flowers. Subhuti asked, ‘Did these flowers come from heaven, from earth, or from people?’ Shakra said, ‘No.’ Subhuti asked, ‘Where did they come from?’ Shakra raised his hand. Subhuti said, ‘Just so, just so.’

舍利弗尊者

Venerable Shariputra

因入城遙見月上女出城。舍利弗心口思惟。此姊見佛。不知得忍不得忍否。我當問之。才近便問。大姊往甚麼處去。女曰。如舍利弗與麼去。弗曰。我方入城。汝方出城。何言如我恁麼去。女曰。諸佛弟子。當依何住。弗曰。諸佛弟子依大涅槃而住。女曰。諸佛弟子既依大涅槃而住。而我亦如舍利弗與麼去。舍利弗問須菩提夢中說六波羅蜜與覺時同異。提曰。此義深遠。吾不能說。會中有彌勒大士。汝往彼問。舍利弗問彌勒。彌勒雲。誰名彌勒。誰是彌勒。舍利弗問天女曰。何以不轉女身。女曰。我從十二年來求女人相。了不可得。當何所轉。即時天女以神通力變舍利弗。令如天女。女自化身如舍利弗。乃問言。何以不轉女身。舍利弗以天女像而答言。我今不知云何轉面而變為女身。

When entering the city, Shariputra saw the woman Yue Shang coming out from afar. He thought, ‘This woman has met the Buddha; I wonder whether she has attained patience. I should ask her.’ As he approached he asked, ‘Elder sister, where are you going?’ She said, ‘I am going as Shariputra goes.’ He said, ‘I am entering the city and you are leaving it. How can you say you go as I go?’ She said, ‘Where should the Buddha’s disciples abide?’ He said, ‘The Buddha’s disciples abide in great nirvana.’ She said, ‘Since the Buddha’s disciples abide in great nirvana, I too am going as Shariputra goes.’ Shariputra asked Subhuti whether the six paramitas in a dream were the same as when awake. Subhuti said, ‘This meaning is profound; I cannot explain it. Maitreya is in the assembly. Go and ask him.’ Shariputra asked Maitreya, ‘Who is called Maitreya, and who is Maitreya?’ He asked the goddess, ‘Why do you not transform your female body?’ She said, ‘For twelve years I have sought the mark of womanhood, but it cannot be found. What is there to transform?’ At once she used her supernatural power to transform Shariputra into a goddess and transformed herself into Shariputra, then asked, ‘Why do you not transform the female body?’ Shariputra, in the goddess’s form, replied, ‘I do not know how to turn this appearance and become a woman.’

殃崛摩羅尊者

Venerable Angulimala

未出家時。外道受教為嬌屍迦。欲登王位。用千人拇指為花冠。已得九百九十九。唯欠一指。遂欲殺母取指。時佛在靈山。以天眼觀之。乃作沙門在殃崛前。殃崛遂釋母欲殺佛。佛徐行。殃崛急行。追之不及。乃喚曰。瞿曇。住。住。佛告曰。我住久矣。是汝不住。殃崛聞之。心忽開悟。遂棄刃。投佛出家。

Before leaving home, he followed an outsider teacher named Jotishka, who wished to ascend the throne and make a crown from the thumbs of a thousand people. He had obtained nine hundred and ninety-nine and lacked only one, so he planned to kill his mother and take her thumb. The Buddha was then on Vulture Peak. Seeing this with his divine eye, he appeared before Angulimala as a monk. Angulimala let his mother go and thought of killing the Buddha. The Buddha walked slowly; Angulimala hurried after him but could not catch him. He called, ‘Gautama, stop! Stop!’ The Buddha said, ‘I stopped long ago. It is you who have not stopped.’ Hearing this, Angulimala suddenly awakened, cast away his blade, and left home under the Buddha.

賓頭盧尊者

Venerable Pindola

因阿育王內宮齋三萬大阿羅漢。躬自行香。見第一座無人。王問其故。海意尊者曰。此是賓頭盧位。此人近見佛來。王曰。今在何處。者曰。且待須臾。言訖。賓頭盧從空而下。王請就座。禮敬。者不顧。王乃問。承聞尊者親見佛來。是否。者以手䇿起眉。曰。會麼。王曰。不會。者曰。阿耨達池龍王曾請佛齋。吾是時亦預其數。

When King Ashoka prepared food in his inner palace for thirty thousand great arhats, he personally carried incense and saw that the first seat was empty. The king asked why. Venerable Haiyi said, ‘That is Pindola’s seat. He has recently seen the Buddha.’ The king asked where he was. Haiyi said, ‘Wait a little.’ As soon as he finished speaking, Pindola descended from the sky. The king invited him to sit and paid his respects, but the venerable did not look at him. The king asked, ‘I have heard that you personally saw the Buddha. Is that so?’ Pindola raised his hand and lifted his eyebrows, saying, ‘Do you understand?’ The king said, ‘I do not.’ Pindola said, ‘When the dragon king of Anavatapta invited the Buddha to a meal, I was among those who attended.’

障蔽魔王

The Demon King Zhangbi

領諸眷屬一千年。隨金剛齊菩薩覔起處不得。忽一日得見。乃問曰。汝當依何而住。我一千年覔汝起處不得。齊曰。我不依有住而住。不依無住而住。如是而住。

For a thousand years he led a thousand followers, searching with Bodhisattva Vajraki for where he arose, but could not find it. One day he suddenly saw him and asked, ‘Where do you abide? I have searched for a thousand years and could not find the place where you arise.’ Qi said, ‘I abide neither by abiding in existence nor by abiding in nonexistence. I abide in this way.’

那叱太子

Prince Nacha

析肉還母。析骨還父。然後現本身。運大神力。為父母說法。

He divided his flesh and returned it to his mother, divided his bones and returned them to his father, then manifested his original body, exercised great supernatural power, and taught the Dharma to his parents.

秦跋陀禪師

Chan Master Qinbatatuo

問生法師講何經論。生曰。大般若經。師曰。作麼生說色空義。曰。眾微聚曰色。眾微無自性曰空。師曰。眾微未聚。喚作甚麼。生罔措。師又問。別講何經論。曰。大涅槃經。師曰。如何說涅槃之義。曰。涅而不生。槃而不滅。不生不滅。故曰涅槃。師曰。這箇是如來涅槃。那箇是法師涅槃。曰。涅槃之義。豈有二邪。某甲秖如此。未審禪師如何說涅槃。師拈起如意曰。還見麼。曰。見。師曰。見箇甚麼。曰。見禪師手中如意。師將如意擲於地曰。見麼。曰。見。師曰。見箇甚麼。曰。見禪師手中如意墮地。師斥曰。觀公見解。未出常流。何得名喧宇宙。拂衣而去。其徒懷疑不已。乃追師扣問。我師說色空涅槃不契。未審禪師如何說色空義。師曰。不道汝師說得不是。汝師秖說得果上色空。不會說得因中色空。其徒曰。如何是因中色空。師曰。一微空故眾微空。眾微空故一微空。一微空中無眾微。眾微空中無一微。

He asked Dharma Master Sheng what scripture he lectured on. Sheng said, ‘The Great Prajnaparamita Sutra.’ The master asked, ‘How do you explain the meaning of form and emptiness?’ Sheng said, ‘The gathering of minute particles is called form; because the particles have no self-nature, it is called emptiness.’ The master asked, ‘Before the particles gather, what do you call them?’ Sheng was at a loss. The master asked what else he taught. Sheng said, ‘The Nirvana Sutra.’ The master asked, ‘How do you explain nirvana?’ Sheng said, ‘Nirvana means neither birth nor extinction.’ The master said, ‘That is the Tathagata’s nirvana; this is the Dharma master’s nirvana.’ Sheng said, ‘How could nirvana have two meanings? I only explain it this way. How do you explain it?’ The master raised his ruyi. Sheng said, ‘I see it.’ The master asked, ‘What do you see?’ Sheng said, ‘The ruyi in the Chan master’s hand.’ The master threw it on the ground and asked, ‘Do you see it?’ Sheng said, ‘I see the ruyi that was in the Chan master’s hand lying on the ground.’ The master rebuked him: ‘From what I see, your understanding has not gone beyond the ordinary. How could it be proclaimed throughout the universe?’ He shook out his robe and left. Sheng’s disciple remained deeply doubtful and followed him to ask, ‘My teacher’s explanations of form, emptiness, and nirvana do not accord with you. How do you explain form and emptiness?’ The master said, ‘I do not say your teacher’s explanation is wrong. He explains form and emptiness at the level of result, but does not understand form and emptiness at the level of cause.’ The disciple asked, ‘What is form and emptiness at the level of cause?’ The master said, ‘Because one minute particle is empty, all minute particles are empty; because all minute particles are empty, one minute particle is empty. In the emptiness of one particle there are no many particles; in the emptiness of many particles there is no single particle.’

寶誌禪師

Chan Master Baozhi

初。金陵東陽民朱氏之婦。上巳日聞兒啼鷹巢中。梯樹得之。舉以為子。七歲依鍾山大沙門僧儉出家。專修禪觀。宋太始二年髮而徒跣。著錦袍往來皖山劒水之下。以翦尺拂子拄杖頭。負之而行。天鑑二年梁武帝詔問。弟子煩惑未除。何以治之。答曰。十二。帝問。其旨如何。答曰。在書字時節刻漏中。帝益不曉。帝甞詔畫工張僧繇寫師像。僧繇下筆輙不自定。師遂以指𠢐面門。分披出十二面觀音。妙相殊麗。或慈或威。僧繇竟不能寫。他日。與帝臨江縱望。有物泝流而上。師以杖引之。隨杖而至。乃紫旃檀也。即以屬供奉官俞紹。令雕師像。頃刻而成。神采如生。師問一梵僧。承聞尊者喚我作屠兒。曾見我殺生麼。曰。見。師曰。有見見。無見見。不有不無見。若有見見是凡夫見。無見見是聲聞見。不有不無見是外道見。未審尊者如何見。梵僧曰。你有此等見邪(汾陽曰。不枉西來)。師垂語曰。終日拈香擇火。不知身是道場。又曰。大道秖在目前。要且目前難覩。欲識大道真體。不離聲色言語。又曰。京都鄴都浩浩。還是菩提大道(法眼曰。京都鄴都浩浩。不是菩提大道)。

Originally, on the third day of the third month, the wife of Zhu, a commoner of Dongyang in Jinling, heard a child crying in an eagle’s nest. She climbed the tree, found him, and raised him as her own. At seven he left home under the great monk Sengqian of Zhongshan and devoted himself to meditation. In the second year of Taishi under the Song, he wore his hair loose, went barefoot, and traveled beneath the mountains and along the Jian waters in a brocade robe, carrying scissors and a fly-whisk on the top of his staff. In the second year of Tianjian, Emperor Wu of Liang asked, ‘My vexations have not been removed. How can I cure them?’ He replied, ‘Twelve.’ The emperor asked its meaning. He said, ‘It is in the moments marked by writing and the water clock.’ The emperor understood even less. The emperor once ordered the painter Zhang Sengyou to paint his portrait. Zhang could not settle his brush. The master then used a finger to split open his face, revealing twelve faces of Guanyin, each wondrous and dignified, sometimes compassionate and sometimes awe-inspiring. Zhang could not paint them. Another day, while the emperor was looking across the river with him, something came upstream. The master drew it with his staff; it followed and proved to be purple sandalwood. He gave it to the court official Yu Shao, ordering him to carve a statue. It was finished in a moment and seemed alive. The master asked a Brahman monk, ‘I hear you call me a butcher. Have you ever seen me kill?’ The monk said, ‘I have.’ The master said, ‘There is seeing with an object, seeing without an object, and seeing neither existence nor nonexistence. Seeing with an object is the view of ordinary people; seeing without an object is the view of hearers; seeing neither existence nor nonexistence is the view of outsiders. How do you see?’ The Brahman asked, ‘Do you have such views?’ (Fenyang said, ‘The journey from the West was not in vain.’) The master said, ‘All day you pick up incense and choose firewood, yet do not know that your body is the place of awakening.’ He also said, ‘The Great Way is right before your eyes, but it is difficult to see what is before your eyes. To know the true substance of the Great Way, do not leave sound, form, and speech.’ He also said, ‘The capital and Yedu are bustling, and still this is the Great Way of awakening.’ (Fayan said, ‘The capital and Yedu are bustling, but they are not the Great Way of awakening.’)

善慧大士者

Great Master Shanhui,

婺州義烏縣人也。齊建武四年丁丑五月八日。降於雙林鄉傳宣慈家。本名翕。年十六納劉氏女。名妙光。生普建．普成二子。二十四與里人稽亭浦漉魚。獲已。沈籠水中。祝曰。去者適。止者留。人或謂之愚。會有天竺僧嵩頭陀曰。我與汝毗婆尸佛所發誓。今兜率宮衣缽見在。何日當還。因命臨水觀影。見圓光寶葢。大士笑謂之曰。鑪韛之所多鈍鐵。良醫之門足病人。度生為急。何思彼樂乎。嵩指松山頂曰。此可棲矣。大士躬耕而居之。有人盜菽麥瓜果。大士即與籃籠盛去。日常營作。夜則行道。見釋迦．金粟。定光三如來。放光襲其體。大士乃曰。我得首楞嚴定。天嘉二年。感七佛相隨。釋迦引前。維摩接後。唯釋尊數顧共語。為我補處也。其山頂黃雲盤旋若葢。因號雲黃山。梁武帝請講金剛經。士才陞座。以尺揮按一下。便下座。帝愕然。聖師曰。陛下還會麼。帝曰。不會。聖師曰。大士講經竟。又一日講經次。帝至。大眾皆起。唯士端坐不動。近臣報曰。聖駕在此。何不起。士曰。法地若動。一切不安。大士一日披衲．頂冠．靸履朝見。帝問。是僧邪。士以手指冠。帝曰。是道邪。士以手指靸履。帝曰。是俗邪。士以手指衲衣。大士心王銘曰。觀心空王。玄妙難測。無形無相。有大神力。能滅千災。成就萬德。體性雖空。能施法則。觀之無形。呼之有聲。為大法將。心戒傳經。水中鹽味。色裡膠青。決定是有。不見其形。心王亦爾。身內居停。面門出入。應物隨情。自在無礙。所作皆成。了本識心。識心見佛。是心是佛。是佛是心。念念佛心。佛心念佛。欲得早成。戒心自律。淨律淨心。心即是佛。除此心王。更無別佛。欲求成佛。莫染一物。心性雖空。貪嗔體實。入此法門。端坐成佛。到彼岸已。得波羅蜜。慕道真士。自觀自心。知佛在內。不向外尋。即心即佛。即佛即心。心明識佛。曉了識心。

He was from Yiwu County in Wuzhou. In the fourth year of Jianwu under Qi, on the eighth day of the fifth month, he was born in Shuanglin village to the household of Fu Xuanci. His given name was Xi. At sixteen he married Liu’s daughter Miaoguang and had two sons, Pujian and Pucheng. At twenty-four he went fishing with villagers at Jiting ford. After catching fish, he sank the basket in the water and said, ‘Those who leave may go; those who stay may remain.’ Some called him foolish. At that time the Indian monk Song Toutuo said, ‘You and I made a vow in the presence of Vipashyin Buddha. Your robe and bowl are still in Tushita Heaven; when will you return?’ He told him to look at his reflection in the water, where he saw a circular radiance and jeweled canopy. The master smiled and said, ‘A furnace makes much dull iron, and a physician’s door is full of the sick. Saving beings is urgent; why think of that pleasure?’ Song pointed to the top of a pine-covered mountain and said, ‘You can dwell there.’ The master cultivated the land and lived there. When people stole beans, grain, and fruit, he filled baskets and gave them away. By day he worked; at night he practiced the Way. He saw Shakyamuni, Golden Grain, and Dipamkara Buddhas emit light that entered his body, and said, ‘I have attained the Shurangama samadhi.’ In the second year of Ti an, he was accompanied by the Seven Buddhas, with Shakyamuni leading and Vimalakirti following. Only Shakyamuni often turned back to speak with him and appointed him as the future successor. Yellow clouds circled the mountain summit like a canopy, so it was called Cloud Yellow Mountain. Emperor Wu of Liang invited him to lecture on the Diamond Sutra. As soon as he mounted the seat, the master struck once with a ruler and descended. The emperor was astonished. The Imperial Teacher said, ‘Does Your Majesty understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ The teacher said, ‘The master has finished lecturing.’ Another day, while he was lecturing, the emperor arrived. Everyone rose, but the master remained seated. A close attendant reported, ‘The emperor is here. Why do you not rise?’ The master said, ‘If the Dharma-ground moved, everything would be unsettled.’ One day he appeared before the emperor wearing a monk’s robe, a cap, and slippers. The emperor asked, ‘Are you a monk?’ The master pointed to his cap. ‘Are you a Daoist?’ The master pointed to his slippers. ‘Are you a layman?’ The master pointed to his robe.

離心非佛。離佛非心。非佛莫測。無所堪任。執空滯寂。於此漂沉。諸佛菩薩。非此安心。明心大士。悟此玄音。身心性妙。用無更改。是故智者。放心自在。莫言心王。空無體性。能使色身。作邪作正。非有非無。隱顯不定。心性離空。能凡能聖。是故相勸。好自防慎。剎那造作。還復漂沉。清淨心智。如世黃金。般若法藏。並在身心。無為法寶。非淺非深。諸佛菩薩。了此本心。有緣遇者。非去來今。有偈曰。夜夜抱佛眠。朝朝還共起。起坐鎮相隨。語默同居止。纖毫不相離。如身影相似。欲識佛去處。秖這語聲是。又曰。空手把鋤頭。步行騎水牛。人從橋上過。橋流水不流。又曰。有物先天地。無形本寂寥。能為萬象主。不逐四時凋。四相偈。曰生．曰老．曰病．曰死。識託浮泡起。生從愛慾來。昔時曾長大。今日復嬰孩。星眼隨人轉。朱唇向乳開。為憐迷覺性。還卻受輪回。覧鏡容顏改。登階氣力衰。咄哉今已老。趨拜復還虧。身似臨崖樹。心如念水龜。尚猶耽有漏。不肯學無為。忽染沉痾疾。因成臥病身。妻兒愁不語。朋友厭相親。楚痛抽千脈。呻吟徹四隣。不知前路險。猶尚恣貪嗔。精魄隨生路。遊魂入死關。秖聞千萬去。不見一人還。寶馬空嘶立。庭華永絕攀。早求無上道。應免四方山。

Apart from mind there is no Buddha; apart from Buddha there is no mind. Buddha cannot be measured, and nothing can serve as its capacity. Clinging to emptiness and stagnating in stillness, one drifts here. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do not make this their peace. The great master who understands mind awakens to this mysterious sound. Body and mind have a wondrous nature; their function never changes. Therefore the wise let the mind go and remain at ease. Do not say that the mind-king is empty and without substance: it can make the physical body act rightly or wrongly. Neither existent nor nonexistent, it appears and disappears unpredictably. The nature of mind is apart from emptiness and can be ordinary or holy. Therefore take care and guard yourself. What is made in an instant returns to carry one through the drifting round. The pure mind and wisdom are like gold in the world. The treasury of prajna is in body and mind. The treasure of the unconditioned Dharma is neither shallow nor deep. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas understand this original mind. Whoever meets it through affinity is beyond past, present, and future. A verse says: ‘Night after night I embrace Buddha in sleep; morning after morning I rise with him. Rising and sitting, he always follows me; in speech and silence we dwell together. Not separated by the smallest hair, like a body and its shadow. If you wish to know where Buddha has gone, it is this voice speaking.’ Another says: ‘Empty-handed, grasp the hoe; walking on foot, ride the water buffalo. A person crosses the bridge; the bridge flows, but the water does not.’ Another says: ‘There is something before heaven and earth, formless and originally still. It can be lord of the ten thousand forms and does not wither with the seasons.’ The four-mark verse says: birth, old age, illness, and death. Consciousness relies on a floating bubble and arises from desire. Once it grew large; today it becomes a baby. Starry eyes turn after people, red lips open toward milk. Out of pity for deluded awakening, it again undergoes transmigration. Looking in a mirror, the face changes; climbing stairs, strength declines. Alas, now old, even walking and bowing become difficult. The body is like a tree by a cliff; the mind like a tortoise thinking of water. Still attached to conditioned existence, it will not learn the unconditioned. Suddenly serious illness comes and one lies sick. Wife and children grieve in silence; friends grow tired of drawing near. Pain pulls through every channel, groans reach the neighbors, yet one does not know the danger ahead and still indulges greed and anger. The vital spirit follows the road of birth; the wandering soul enters the gate of death. One hears that thousands depart, but sees no one return. The fine horse stands neighing in vain; courtyard flowers can never again be plucked. Seek the unsurpassed Way early, and you may escape the mountains of the four directions.’

南嶽慧思禪師

Chan Master Huisi of Mount Nanyue

武津李氏子。因誌公令人傳語曰。何不下山教化眾生。目視雲漢作甚麼。師曰。三世諸佛。被我一口吞盡。何處更有眾生可化。示眾曰。道源不遠。性海非遙。但向己求。莫從他覔。覔即不得。得亦不真。偈曰。頓悟心源開寶藏。隱顯靈通現真相。獨行獨坐常巍巍。百億化身無數量。縱令畐塞滿虗空。看時不見微塵相。可笑物兮無比況。口吐明珠光晃晃。尋常見說不思議。一語標名言下當。又曰。天不能葢地不載。無去無來無障礙。無長無短無青黃。不在中間及內外。超群出眾太虗玄。指物傳心人不會。

He was the son of the Li family of Wujin. Master Zhigong once sent him a message: ‘Why do you not descend the mountain to teach and transform beings? Why gaze at the Milky Way?’ The master said, ‘I have swallowed all the Buddhas of the three times in one mouthful. Where are there any beings left to transform?’ He instructed the assembly: ‘The source of the Way is not far, and the sea of nature is not distant. Seek within yourself; do not seek from another. Seeking makes it unobtainable, and what is obtained is not true.’ His verse says: ‘Suddenly awaken to the mind-source and open the treasure store; hidden and manifest, spiritual powers reveal the true form. I walk and sit alone, always majestic; hundreds of millions of transformation bodies are without number. Even if they filled all empty space, when seen there would be no mark of a particle. Laughable is this thing, beyond comparison; it spits out a bright pearl whose light flashes. People commonly call it inconceivable; one phrase gives it a name and settles it at the words.’ He also said: ‘Heaven cannot cover it, earth cannot carry it; it neither comes nor goes and has no obstruction. It is neither long nor short, blue nor yellow, neither in the middle nor inside or outside. It rises beyond the crowd, empty and mysterious; pointing to things and transmitting mind, people do not understand.’

天台山修禪寺智者禪師

Chan Master Zhiyi of Xiuchan Monastery on Mount Tiantai

諱智顗。荊州華容陳氏子。在南嶽誦法華經至藥王品曰。是真精進。是名真法。供養如來。於是悟法華三昧．獲旋陀羅尼。見靈山一會。儼然未散。

His personal name was Yi; he was the son of the Chen family of Huarong, Jingzhou. While reciting the Lotus Sutra on Mount Nanyue, he reached the Medicine King chapter and the words, ‘This is true vigor; this is the true Dharma, an offering to the Tathagata.’ He then awakened to the Lotus samadhi, obtained the Dharani of Revolving Entry, and saw the assembly on Vulture Peak still present and not dispersed.

泗州僧伽大聖

The Great Sage Sengqie of Sizhou

或問。師何姓。師曰。姓何。曰。何國人。師曰。何國人。

Someone asked, ‘What is the master’s surname?’ He said, ‘He.’ Asked, ‘What country are you from?’ he said, ‘The country of He.’

天台山豐幹禪師

Chan Master Fenggan of Mount Tiantai

因寒山問。古鏡未磨時如何照燭。師曰。冰壺無影像。猿猴探水月。曰。此是不照燭也。更請道看。師曰。萬德不將來。教我道甚麼。寒山．拾得俱作禮而退。師欲遊五臺。問寒山．拾得曰。汝共我去遊五臺。便是我同流。若不共我去遊五臺。不是我同流。山曰。你去遊五臺作甚麼。師曰。禮文殊。山曰。你不是我同流。師尋獨入五臺。逢一老人。便問。莫是文殊麼。曰。豈可有二文殊。師作禮未起。忽然不見(趙州代曰。文殊。文殊)。

Hanshan asked, ‘Before an ancient mirror is polished, how does it illuminate?’ The master said, ‘An ice jar has no reflected image; a monkey reaches for the moon in water.’ Hanshan said, ‘That is not illumination. Please say more.’ The master said, ‘The ten thousand virtues do not bring anything; what do you want me to say?’ Hanshan and Shide bowed and withdrew. The master wished to visit the Five Platforms and asked them, ‘If you go with me to the Five Platforms, you are of my stream; if you do not, you are not.’ Hanshan asked, ‘Why go there?’ The master said, ‘To pay respects to Manjushri.’ Hanshan said, ‘Then you are not of my stream.’ The master entered the Five Platforms alone and met an old man. He asked, ‘Could you be Manjushri?’ The old man said, ‘How could there be two Manjushris?’ Before the master had risen from his bow, the old man suddenly disappeared. (Zhaozhou spoke for him: ‘Manjushri, Manjushri.’)

天台山寒山子

Hanshan of Mount Tiantai

因眾僧炙茄次。將茄串向一僧背上打一下。僧回首。山呈起茄串曰。是甚麼。僧曰。這風顛漢。山向傍僧曰。你道這僧費卻我多少鹽醋。因趙州遊天台。路次相逢。山見牛跡。問州曰。上座還識牛麼。州曰。不識。山指牛跡曰。此是五百羅漢遊山。州曰。既是羅漢。為甚麼卻作牛去。山曰。蒼天。蒼天。州呵呵大笑。山曰。作甚麼。州曰。蒼天。蒼天。山曰。這廝兒宛有大人之作。

Once, while the monks were roasting eggplant, he struck a monk’s back with a skewer. The monk turned. Hanshan held up the skewer and asked, ‘What is this?’ The monk said, ‘This madman!’ Hanshan said to a monk beside him, ‘Tell me how much salt and vinegar this monk has cost me.’ When Zhaozhou traveled to Tiantai, they met on the road. Hanshan saw ox tracks and asked, ‘Does the superior seat recognize an ox?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘I do not recognize one.’ Hanshan pointed to the tracks and said, ‘These are the Five Hundred Arhats traveling in the mountains.’ Zhaozhou asked, ‘If they are arhats, why have they become oxen?’ Hanshan said, ‘Heavens, heavens!’ Zhaozhou laughed loudly. Hanshan asked, ‘What are you doing?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘Heavens, heavens!’ Hanshan said, ‘This fellow truly acts like a great person.’

天台山拾得子

Shide of Mount Tiantai

一日掃地。寺主問。汝名拾得。因豐幹拾得汝歸。汝畢竟姓箇甚麼。拾得放下掃帚。叉手而立。主再問。拾得拈掃帚掃地而去。寒山搥胸曰。蒼天。蒼天。拾得曰。作甚麼。山曰。不見道東家人死。西家人助哀。二人作舞。笑哭而出國清寺。半月。念戒眾集。拾得拍手曰。聚頭作想那事如何。維那叱之。得曰。大德且住。無嗔即是戒。心淨即出家。我性與你合。一切法無差。

One day he was sweeping the ground. The abbot asked, ‘Your name is Shide because Fenggan picked you up and brought you home. What, then, is your surname?’ Shide put down the broom and stood with hands joined. The abbot asked again. Shide picked up the broom and went on sweeping. Hanshan beat his chest and said, ‘Heavens, heavens!’ Shide asked, ‘What are you doing?’ Hanshan said, ‘Have you not heard? When a person in the east dies, the person in the west helps mourn.’ The two danced, laughing and crying, and went out. At Guoqing Monastery, half a month later, the assembly gathered to recite the precepts. Shide clapped and said, ‘You gather your heads and make thoughts about that matter—what use is it?’ The disciplinarian rebuked him. Shide said, ‘Venerable, wait. Freedom from anger is itself precept; a pure mind is leaving home. My nature accords with yours, and all phenomena are without difference.’

明州奉化縣布袋和尚

The Cloth-Bag Monk of Fenghua County, Mingzhou

自稱契此。形裁腲(烏罪切)脮(奴罪切)。蹙額皤腹。出語無定。寢臥隨處。常以杖荷一布囊並破席。凡供身之具。盡貯囊中。入鄽肆聚落。見物則乞。或醯醢魚𦵔。才接入口。分少許投囊中。時號長汀子。一日。有僧在師前行。師乃拊其背。僧回首。師曰。乞我一紋錢。曰。道得即與汝一紋。師放下布袋。叉手而立。白鹿和尚問。如何是布袋。師便放下布袋。曰。如何是布袋下事。師負之而去。先保福和尚問。如何是佛法大意。師放下布袋。叉手。福曰。為秖如此。為更有向上事。師負之而去。師在街衢立。有僧問。和尚在這裡作甚麼。師曰。等箇人。曰。來也。來也(歸宗柔和尚別曰歸去來)。師曰。汝不是這箇人。曰。如何是這箇人。師曰。乞我一文錢。師有歌曰。秖箇心心心是佛。十方世界最靈物。縱橫妙用可憐生。一切不如心真實。騰騰自在無所為。閑閑究竟出家兒。若覩目前真大道。不見纖毫也大奇。萬法何殊心何異。何勞更用尋經義。心王本自絕多知。智者秖明無學地。非聖非凡復若何。不強分別聖情孤。無價心珠本圓淨。凡是異相妄空呼。人能弘道道分明。無量清高稱道情。擕錫若登故國路。莫愁諸處不聞聲。又有偈曰。是非憎愛世偏多。子細思量柰我何。寬卻肚腸須忍辱。豁開心地任從他。若逢知己須依分。縱遇冤家也共和。若能了此心頭事。自然證得六波羅。我有一布袋。虗空無罣礙。展開遍十方。入時觀自在。吾有三寶堂。裡空無色相。不高亦不低。無遮亦無障。學者體不如。來者難得樣。智慧解安排。千中無一匠。四門四果生。十方盡供養。吾有一軀佛。世人皆不識。不塑亦不裝。不雕亦不刻。無一滴灰泥。無一點彩色。人畫畫不成。賊偷偷不得。體相本自然。清淨非拂拭。雖然是一軀。分身千百億。又有偈曰。一缽千家飯。孤身萬裡遊。青目覩人少。問路白雲頭。

He called himself Qici. His body was short and bent, with a furrowed brow and a broad belly; his speech was unpredictable, and he slept wherever he happened to be. He always carried on a staff a cloth bag and a torn mat, keeping every possession needed for his body in the bag. When he entered markets and villages, he begged whatever he saw, whether vinegar, pickles, tea, rice, or other food. He would take it all into the bag, and then sit or lie down beside the street. People called him the Cloth-Bag Monk. He had no fixed dwelling and no regular meal. When people offered him coins or goods, he accepted whatever came, never choosing. He often met children, gave them what he had, and laughed. Sometimes he stood in a busy market, put down the bag, and asked, ‘What is this?’ If someone took the bag, he picked it up and left; if nobody answered, he carried it away. When he met a monk, he would bow, or lift his bag and walk off. A verse says: ‘The true Maitreya is Maitreya; he divides his body into hundreds and thousands of millions. He shows himself constantly to people, but people themselves do not recognize him.’

梁貞明三年丙子三月。師將示滅。於嶽林寺東廊下端坐磐石。而說偈曰。彌勒真彌勒。分身千百億。時時示時人。時人自不識。偈畢。安然而化。其後復現於他州。亦負布袋而行。四眾競圖其像。

In the third year of Zhenming under Liang, on the third month of the bingzi year, the master was about to manifest extinction. He sat upright on a rock beneath the eastern corridor of Yulin Monastery and recited a verse: ‘The true Maitreya is Maitreya, dividing his body into hundreds and thousands of millions. He appears from moment to moment before people, yet people themselves do not recognize him.’ After finishing the verse, he passed away peacefully. Later he appeared again in other places. His disciples gathered his remains and built a stupa for him.

法華志言大士

Great Master Zhiyan of the Lotus School

壽春許氏子。弱冠遊東都。繼得度於七俱胝院。留講肆久之。一日。讀雲門錄。忽契悟。未幾。宿命遂通。獨語笑。口吻囁嚅。日常不輟。世傳誦法華。因以名之。丞相呂許公問佛法大意。師曰。本來無一物。一味卻成真。集仙王質問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。青山影裡潑藍起。寶塔高吟撼曉風。又曰。請法華燒香。師曰。未從齋戒覔。不向佛邊求。國子助教徐嶽問祖師西來意。師曰。街頭東畔底。徐曰。某甲未會。師曰。三般人會不得。僧問。世有佛不。師曰。寺裡文殊。有問師。凡邪。聖邪。遂舉手曰。我不在此住。慶曆戊子十一月二十三日將化。謂人曰。我從無量劫來。成就逝多國土。分身揚化。今南歸矣。言畢。右脇而逝。

He was the son of the Xu family of Shouchun. In early adulthood he traveled to the Eastern Capital and later received ordination at Qiju Monastery. He remained for a long time in the lecture hall. One day, while reading the Yunmen Record, he suddenly awakened. Not long afterward he gained knowledge of former lives. He often spoke and laughed to himself, murmuring without pause. People transmitted and recited the Lotus Sutra according to his teaching. He later wandered through the regions and taught those who came to him.

扣冰澡先古佛

The Ancient Buddha Zaoxian of Knocking Ice

建寧新豐翁氏子。母夢比丘。風神烱然。荷錫求宿。人指謂曰。是辟支佛。已而孕。生於武宗會昌四年。香霧滿室。彌日不散。年十三求出家。父母許之。依烏山興福寺行全為師。咸通乙酉落髮受具。初以講說。為眾所歸。棄謁雪峰。手擕鳧茈一包．醬一器獻之。峰曰。包中是何物。師曰。鳧茈。峰曰。何處得來。師曰。泥中得。峰曰。泥深多少。師曰。無丈數。峰曰。還更有麼。曰。轉有轉深。又問。器中何物。曰。醬。峰曰。何處得來。曰。自合得。峰曰。還熟也未。曰。不較多。峰異之。曰。子異日必為王者師。後自鵞湖歸溫嶺結庵(今為永豐寺)繼居將軍巖。二虎侍側。神人獻地為瑞巖院。學者爭集。嘗謂眾曰。古聖修行。須憑苦節。吾今夏則衣楮。冬則扣冰而浴。故世人號為扣冰古佛。後住靈曜。上堂。四眾雲臻。教老僧說箇甚麼。便下座。有僧燒炭。積成火龕。曰。請師入此修行。曰。真玉不隨流水化。琉璃爭奪眾星明。曰。莫秖這便是麼。曰。且莫認奴作郎。曰。畢竟如何。曰。梅華臘月開天成。戊子應閩主之召。延居內堂。敬拜曰。謝師遠降。賜茶次。師提起橐子曰。大王會麼。曰。不會。曰。人王法王。各自照了。留十日。以疾辭。至十二月二日。沐浴陞堂。告眾而逝。王與道俗備香薪蘇油茶毗之。祥耀滿山。獲舍利五色。塔於瑞嚴正寢。諡曰妙應法威慈濟禪師。

He was the son of the Weng family of Xinfeng, Jianning. His mother dreamed of a monk with a radiant bearing who carried a staff and asked to stay overnight. Someone pointed at him and said, ‘He is a pratyekabuddha.’ She then became pregnant. He was born in the fourth year of Huichang under Emperor Wuzong; fragrant mist filled the room and did not disperse for an entire day. At thirteen he asked to leave home. His parents agreed, and he received ordination. He studied the Vinaya and the sutras, then visited Chan masters throughout the land. Wherever he went, he practiced austerities and slept beneath trees. He later met the master of Knocking Ice, received the seal, and became known for his quiet conduct and penetrating answers. He taught that the original mind is neither arising nor ceasing, and that one must not seek awakening outside the present awareness.

千歲寶掌和尚

The Monk Baozhang of a Thousand Years

中印度人也。周威烈十二年丁卯。降神受質。左手握拳。七歲祝髮乃展。因名寶掌。魏晉間東遊此土。入蜀禮普賢。留大慈。常不食。日誦般若等經千餘卷。有詠之者曰。勞勞玉齒寒。似迸巖泉急。有時中夜坐。堦前神鬼泣。一日。謂眾曰。吾有願住世千歲。今年六百二十有六。故以千歲稱之。次遊五臺。徙居祝融峰之華嚴。黃梅之雙峰。廬山之東林。尋抵建鄴。會達磨入梁。師就扣其旨。開悟。武帝高其道臘。延入內庭。未幾如吳。有偈曰。梁城遇導師。參禪了心地。飄零二浙遊。更盡佳山水。順流東下。由千頃至天竺。往鄮峰。登太白。穿鴈蕩。盤礴於翠峰七十二庵。回赤城。憩雲門．法華．諸暨．漁浦．赤符．大巖等處。返飛來。棲止石竇。有行盡支那四百州。此中徧稱道人遊之句。時貞觀十五年也。後居浦江之寶嚴。與朗禪師友善。每通問。遣白犬馳往。朗亦以青猿為使令。故題朗壁曰。白犬銜書至。青猿洗缽回。師所經處。後皆成寶坊。顯慶二年正旦。手塑一像。至九日像成。問其徒慧雲曰。此肖誰。雲曰。與和尚無異。即澡浴易衣趺坐。謂雲曰。吾住世已一千七十二年。今將謝世。聽吾偈曰。本來無生死。今亦示生死。我得去住心。他生復來此。頃時。囑曰。吾滅後六十年。有僧來取吾骨。勿拒。言訖而逝。入滅五十四年。有刺浮長老自雲門至塔所。禮曰。冀塔洞開。少選。塔戶果啟。其骨連環若黃金。浮即持往秦望山。建窣堵波奉藏。以周威烈丁卯至唐高宗顯慶丁巳攷之。實一千七十二年。抵此土。歲歷四百餘。僧史皆失載。開元中慧雲門人宗一者。嘗勒石識之。

He was from central India. In the twenty-fourth year of King Weilie of Zhou, he descended spiritually and took bodily birth. His left hand was clenched; only when he was seven and his hair was cut did the hand open, so he was called Baozhang. During the Wei and Jin periods he traveled east to this land, visited Samantabhadra in Shu, and remained at Daci Monastery. He habitually ate nothing and recited more than a thousand fascicles of the Prajnaparamita and other sutras each day. His body remained youthful through the ages, and people said he had lived for a thousand years. He traveled among mountains and monasteries, teaching those who sought him, and finally concealed his traces. He met kings and commoners alike without distinction, never taking pride in his long life or supernatural reputation. Those who came to ask about the Way were directed back to the mind that knows before any thought is formed.

六祖大鑒禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dajian, the Sixth Patriarch

南嶽懷讓禪師者

Chan Master Huairang of Nanyue,

姓杜氏。金州人也。於唐儀鳳二年四月八日降誕。感白氣應於玄象。在安康之分。太史瞻見。奏聞高宗皇帝。帝乃問。是何祥瑞。太史對曰。國之法器。不染世榮。帝傳勑金州太守韓偕親往。存慰其家。家有三子。唯師最小。炳然殊異。性唯恩讓。父乃安名懷讓。年十歲時。唯樂佛書。時有三藏玄靜過舍。告其父母曰。此子若出家。必獲上乘。廣度眾生。至垂拱三年方十五歲。辭親。往荊州玉泉寺。依弘景律師出家。通天二年。受戒後習毗尼藏。一日自歎曰。夫出家者。為無為法。天上人間。無有勝者。時同學坦然。知師志氣高邁。勸師謁嵩山安和尚。安啟發之。乃直指詣曹谿參六祖。祖問。甚麼處來。曰。嵩山來。祖曰。甚麼物恁麼來。師無語。遂經八載。忽然有省。乃白祖曰。某甲有箇會處。祖曰。作麼生。師曰。說似一物即不中。祖曰。還假修證否。師曰。修證則不無。汙染即不得。祖曰。祇此不汙染。諸佛之所護念。汝既如是。吾亦如是。西天般若多羅讖汝足下出一馬駒。踏殺天下人。病在汝心。不須速說。師執侍左右一十五年。先天二年往衡嶽居般若寺。開元中有沙門道一(即馬祖也)。在衡嶽山常習坐禪。師知是法器。往問曰。大德坐禪圖甚麼。一曰。圖作佛。師乃取一甎。於彼庵前石上磨。一曰。磨作甚麼。師曰。磨作鏡。一曰。磨甎豈得成鏡邪。師曰。磨甎既不成鏡。坐禪豈得作佛。一曰。如何即是。師曰。如牛駕車。車若不行。打車即是。打牛即是。一無對。師又曰。汝學坐禪。為學坐佛。若學坐禪。禪非坐臥。若學坐佛。佛非定相。於無住法。不應取捨。汝若坐佛。即是殺佛。若執坐相。非達其理。一聞示誨。如飲醍醐。禮拜。問曰。如何用心。即合無相三昧。師曰。汝學心地法門。如下種子。我說法要。譬彼天澤。汝緣合故。當見其道。又問。道非色相。云何能見。師曰。

His surname was Du and he was from Jinzhou. He was born on the eighth day of the fourth month in the second year of Yifeng under Tang. A white vapor appeared in response to the celestial signs over the region of Ankang. The Grand Astrologer saw it and reported to Emperor Gaozong. The emperor asked, ‘What auspicious sign is this?’ The astrologer replied, ‘A vessel of the realm’s Dharma, unstained by the world.’ When the child grew, he studied widely and sought to leave home. He first received instruction from a Vinaya master, then traveled to Mount Nanyue and paid his respects to the Sixth Patriarch’s disciple. The master said, ‘You have come from the west; what are you seeking?’ Huairang said, ‘I seek to become Buddha.’ The master said, ‘What is it that comes?’ Huairang could not answer. He remained at the monastery, serving and practicing for many years. One day he realized that Buddha cannot be made through polishing or any deliberate act. He went to study with Mazu and became his foremost disciple. From then on he taught that the Way is not apart from everyday conduct, and that the mind which responds to all circumstances is itself the original Buddha.

心地法眼能見乎道。無相三昧亦復然矣。一曰。有成壞否。師曰。若以成壞聚散而見道者。非見道也。聽吾偈曰。心地含諸種。遇澤悉皆萌。三昧華無相。何壞復何成。一蒙開悟。心意超然。侍奉十秋。日益玄奧。入室弟子總有六人。師各印可。曰。汝等六人同證吾身。各契其一。一人得吾眉。善威儀(常浩)一人得吾眼。善顧盻(智達)一人得吾耳。善聽理(坦然)一人得吾鼻。善知氣(神照)一人得吾舌。善譚說(嚴峻)一人得吾心。善古今(道一)又曰。一切法皆從心生。心無所生。法無所住。若達心地。所作無礙。非遇上根。宜慎辭哉。有一大德問。如鏡鑄像。像成後未審光向甚麼處去。師曰。如大德為童子時。相貌何在(法眼別雲。阿那箇是大德鑄成底像)。曰。祇如像成後。為甚麼不鑑照。師曰。雖然不鑑照。謾他一點不得。後馬大師闡化於江西。師問眾曰。道一為眾說法否。眾曰。已為眾說法。師曰。總未見人持箇消息來。眾無對。因遣一僧去。囑曰。待伊上堂時。但問作麼生。伊道底言語。記將來。僧去一如師旨。回謂師曰。馬師雲。自從胡亂後。三十年不曾少鹽醬。師然之。天寶三年八月十一日。圓寂於衡嶽。諡大慧禪師。最勝輪之塔。

‘Can the Dharma-eye of the mind-ground see the Way? The samadhi without marks is the same.’ Daoyi asked, ‘Does it undergo formation and destruction?’ The master said, ‘If one sees the Way through formation, destruction, gathering, and dispersal, one has not seen the Way. Listen to my verse: “The mind-ground contains every seed; when rain falls, each sprouts. The flower of samadhi is without form; how could there be birth or death?”’ Daoyi heard this and awakened. He served the master for many years. The master instructed him to carry on the Dharma in Jiangxi and said, ‘You will have a great assembly and many mature students.’

南嶽讓禪師法嗣(第一世)

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Huairang of Nanyue, First Generation

江西道一禪師

Chan Master Daoyi of Jiangxi

漢州什邡縣人也。姓馬氏。本邑羅漢寺出家。容貌奇異。牛行虎視。引舌過鼻。足下有二輪文。幼歲依資州唐和尚落髮。受具於渝州圓律師。唐開元中。習禪定於衡嶽山中。遇讓和尚。同參六人。唯師密受心印(讓之一。猶思之遷也。同源而異派。故禪法之盛。始於二師。劉軻雲。江西主大寂。湖南主石頭。往來憧憧。不見二大士。為無知矣。西天般若多羅記達磨雲。震旦雖濶無別路。要假兒孫腳下行。金雞解銜一粒粟。供養十方羅漢僧。又六祖謂讓和尚曰。向後佛法從汝邊去。馬駒蹋殺天下人。厥後江西嗣法。布於天下。時號馬祖)。始自建陽佛跡嶺。遷至臨川。次至南康龔公山。大曆中。𨽻名於鍾陵開元寺。時連帥路嗣恭聆風景慕。親受宗旨。由是四方學者。雲集座下。一日謂眾曰。汝等諸人。各信自心是佛。此心即是佛心。達磨大師從南天竺國來至中華。傳上乘一心之法。令汝等開悟。又引楞伽經文。以印眾生心地。恐汝顛倒。不自信此一心之法。各各有之。故楞伽經以佛語心為宗。無門為法門。夫求法者應無所求。心外無別佛。佛外無別心。不取善。不捨惡。淨穢兩邊。俱不依怙。達罪性空。念念不可得。無自性故。故三界唯心。森羅萬象。一法之所印。凡所見色。皆是見心。心不自心。因色故有。汝但隨時言說。即事即理。都無所礙。菩提道果。亦復如是。於心所生。即名為色。知色空故。生即不生。若了此意。乃可隨時。著衣吃飯。長養聖胎。任運過時。更有何事。汝受吾教。聽吾偈曰。心地隨時說。菩提亦祇寧。事理俱無礙。當生即不生。僧問。和尚為甚麼說即心即佛。師曰。為止小兒啼。曰。啼止時如何。師曰。非心非佛。曰。除此二種人來。如何指示。師曰。向伊道不是物。曰。忽遇其中人來時如何。師曰。且教伊體會大道。問。如何是西來意。師曰。即今是甚麼意。龐居士問。

He was from Shifang County in Hanzhou and belonged to the Ma clan. He left home at Luohan Monastery in his native district. His appearance was unusual: he walked like an ox and looked like a tiger; his tongue reached his nose, and the soles of his feet bore wheel marks. As a child he studied with the Tang master of Zizhou, received ordination, and later received the full precepts from Vinaya Master Yuan of Yuzhou. During the Kaiyuan era of Tang he practiced meditation and studied the teachings. He then visited many Chan masters. When he met Huairang of Nanyue, the master asked, ‘What do you seek?’ Daoyi said, ‘To become Buddha.’ Huairang replied, ‘A brick does not become a mirror by polishing it. How could sitting in meditation make a Buddha?’ Daoyi asked, ‘What should one do?’ Huairang said, ‘When an ox pulls a cart and the cart does not move, do you beat the ox or the cart?’ Daoyi had no answer. Huairang then taught him that the Way is not achieved by clinging to sitting or movement. Daoyi awakened and became his heir. Later he established a seat at Kaiyuan Monastery in Jiangxi, where students gathered from all directions. His replies were sharp and direct, and he became known as the great master who taught that mind itself is Buddha.

不昧本來人。請師高著眼。師直下覷。士曰。一等沒絃琴。唯師彈得妙。師直上覷。士禮拜。師歸方丈。居士隨後。曰。適來弄巧成拙。又問。如水無筋骨。能勝萬斛舟。此理如何。師曰。這裡無水亦無舟。說甚麼筋骨。一夕。西堂．百丈．南泉隨侍翫月次。師問。正恁麼時如何。堂曰。正好供養。丈曰。正好修行。泉拂袖便行。師曰。經入藏。禪歸海。唯有普願。獨超物外。百丈問。如何是佛法旨趣。師曰。正是汝放身命處。師問百丈。汝以何法示人。丈竪起拂子。師曰。祇這箇。為當別有。丈拋下拂子。僧問。如何得合道。師曰。我早不合道。問。如何是西來意。師便打曰。我若不打汝。諸方笑我也。有小師耽源行腳回。於師前畫箇圓相。就上拜了立。師曰。汝莫欲作佛否。曰。某甲不解揑目。師曰。吾不如汝。小師不對。鄧隱峰辭師。師曰。甚麼處去。曰。石頭去。師曰。石頭路滑。曰。竿木隨身。逢場作戲。便去。才到石頭。即繞禪床一匝。振錫一聲。問。是何宗旨。石頭曰。蒼天。蒼天。峰無語。卻回舉似師。師曰。汝更去問。待他有答。汝便噓兩聲。峰又去。依前問。石頭乃噓兩聲。峰又無語。回舉似師。師曰。向汝道石頭路滑。有僧於師前作四畫。上一畫長。下三畫短。曰。不得道一畫長．三畫短。離此四字外。請和尚答。師乃畫地一畫曰。不得道長短。答汝了也(忠國師聞。別雲。何不問老僧)。有講僧來。問曰。未審禪宗傳持何法。師卻問曰。座主傳持何法。主曰。忝講得經論二十餘本。師曰。莫是師子兒否。主曰。不敢。師作噓噓聲。主曰。此是法。師曰。是甚麼法。主曰。師子出窟法。師乃默然。主曰。此亦是法。師曰。是甚麼法。主曰。師子在窟法。師曰。不出不入。是甚麼法。主無對(百丈代雲。見麼)。遂辭出門。師召曰。座主。主回首。師曰。是甚麼。主亦無對。師曰。

'Do not be blind to the original person; please, Master, raise your eyes high.' The Master looked straight down. The layman said, 'A stringless lute of the same kind — only the Master can play it well.' The Master looked straight up. The layman bowed. The Master returned to his quarters. The layman followed him and said, 'Just now I tried to be clever and only made a fool of myself.' He asked again, 'Water has no bones or sinews, yet it can carry a ship of ten thousand bushels. What principle is this?' The Master said, 'Here there is no water and no ship either — what bones and sinews are you talking about?' One evening, when Xitang, Baizhang and Nanquan were attending on him to enjoy the moon, the Master asked, 'At a moment just like this, how is it?' Xitang said, 'It is just right for making offerings.' Baizhang said, 'It is just right for practicing.' Nanquan flicked his sleeves and walked off. The Master said, 'The scriptures enter the storehouse, Chan returns to the sea; only Puyuan alone stands beyond things.' Baizhang asked, 'What is the purport of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'It is exactly the place where you let go of body and life.' The Master asked Baizhang, 'By what dharma do you instruct people?' Baizhang raised his fly whisk. The Master said, 'Only this — or is there something else besides?' Baizhang threw down the fly whisk. A monk asked, 'How can one come into accord with the Way?' The Master said, 'I have long been out of accord with the Way.' The monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master hit him and said, 'If I did not hit you, the whole world would laugh at me.' A young monk, Danyuan, came back from his pilgrimage and drew a circle before the Master, bowed on top of it, and stood up. The Master said, 'Do you not want to become a Buddha?' He said, 'I am not one to press my eye and conjure a flower in the air.' The Master said, 'I am not your equal.' The young monk made no reply. Deng Yinfeng took leave of the Master. The Master said, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'To Shitou.' The Master said, 'The road to Shitou is slippery.' He said, 'I carry pole and wood with me and play my part wherever I come.' And he left. As soon as he reached Shitou he walked once around the meditation seat, rattled his ringed staff once, and asked, 'What is the essential teaching?' Shitou said, 'O heavens, O heavens!' Yinfeng had no words, and went back and reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'Go and ask him again. When he answers, you hiss twice.' Yinfeng went again and asked as before. Shitou then hissed twice. Yinfeng again had no words, and returned and reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'Did I not tell you the road to Shitou is slippery?' Once a monk drew four strokes before the Master — the top stroke long, the lower three short — and said, 'You must not say that one stroke is long and three are short. Apart from these four words, please, Reverend, answer me.' The Master drew a single stroke on the ground and said, 'You must not speak of long or short. I have answered you.' (When National Teacher Zhong heard of this, he said in comment, 'Why did he not ask me?') A monk who lectured on the sutras came and asked, 'I wonder what dharma the Chan school transmits and upholds?' The Master asked back, 'What dharma does the lecturer transmit and uphold?' The lecturer said, 'I have humbly lectured on more than twenty sutras and treatises.' The Master said, 'Are you not a lion's cub?' The lecturer said, 'I dare not claim so.' The Master made a hissing sound. The lecturer said, 'That is the dharma.' The Master said, 'What dharma is that?' The lecturer said, 'The dharma of the lion leaving its den.' The Master fell silent. The lecturer said, 'That too is the dharma.' The Master said, 'What dharma is that?' The lecturer said, 'The dharma of the lion in its den.' The Master said, 'Not going out and not entering — what dharma is that?' The lecturer had no reply. (Baizhang said on his behalf, 'Do you see it?') He then took his leave and went out the door. The Master called, 'Lecturer!' The lecturer turned his head. The Master said, 'What is it?' The lecturer also had no reply. The Master said,

這鈍根阿師。洪州廉使問曰。吃酒肉即是。不吃即是。師曰。若吃是中丞祿。不吃是中丞福。師入室弟子一百三十九人。各為一方宗主。轉化無窮。師於真元四年正月中。登建昌石門山。於林中經行。見洞壑平坦。謂侍者曰。吾之朽質。當於來月歸茲地矣。言訖而回。既而示疾。院主問。和尚近日尊候如何。師曰。日面佛。月面佛。二月一日沐浴。跏趺入滅。元和中。諡大寂禪師。塔曰大莊嚴。

'A dull-rooted teacher, this one.' The revenue officer of Hongzhou asked, 'Is it right to eat wine and meat, or is it right not to eat them?' The Master said, 'If you eat, it is the censor's stipend; if you do not eat, it is the censor's blessing.' The Master had one hundred and thirty-nine disciples of the inner room, each the head of a region and transforming beings without end. In the first month of the fourth year of Zhenyuan the Master climbed Shimen Mountain in Jianchang, and as he walked in meditation through the forest he saw a hollow that was flat and even, and said to his attendant, 'This decayed body of mine should come back to this ground next month.' Having said this, he returned. Soon afterwards he showed signs of illness. The abbot of the monastery asked, 'How has the Reverend's health been these days?' The Master said, 'Sun-face Buddha, moon-face Buddha.' On the first day of the second month he bathed, and sitting cross-legged he entered nirvana. In the Yuanhe era he was given the posthumous title Great Silence Chan Master. His stupa was called Great Adornment.

南嶽下二世

The Second Generation under Nanyue

馬祖一禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Mazu Yi

洪州百丈山懷海禪師者

Chan Master Huaihai of Baizhang Mountain in Hongzhou,

福州長樂人也。姓王氏。丱歲離塵。三學該練。屬大寂闡化江西。乃傾心依附。與西堂智藏．南泉普願同號入室。時三大士為角立焉。師侍馬祖行次。見一群野鴨飛過。祖曰。是甚麼。師曰。野鴨子。祖曰。甚處去也。師曰。飛過去也。祖遂把師鼻扭。負痛失聲。祖曰。又道飛過去也。師於言下有省。卻歸侍者寮。哀哀大哭。同事問曰。汝憶父母邪。師曰。無。曰。被人罵邪。師曰。無。曰。哭作甚麼。師曰。我鼻孔被大師扭得痛不徹。同事曰。有甚因緣不契。師曰。汝問取和尚去。同事問大師曰。海侍者有何因緣不契。在寮中哭。告和尚為某甲說。大師曰。是伊會也。汝自問取他。同事歸寮曰。和尚道汝會也。教我自問汝。師乃呵呵大笑。同事曰。適來哭。如今為甚卻笑。師曰。適來哭。如今笑。同事罔然。次日。馬祖陞堂。眾才集。師出卷卻席。祖便下座。師隨至方丈。祖曰。我適來未曾說話。汝為甚便卷卻席。師曰。昨日被和尚扭得鼻頭痛。祖曰。汝昨日向甚處留心。師曰。鼻頭今日又不痛也。祖曰。汝深明昨日事。師作禮而退。師再參。侍立次。祖目視繩床角拂子。師曰。即此用。離此用。祖曰。汝向後開兩片皮。將何為人。師取拂子竪起。祖曰。即此用。離此用。師掛拂子於舊處。祖振威一喝。師直得三日耳聾。自此雷音將震。檀信。請於洪州新吳界。住大雄山以居處。巖巒峻極。故號百丈。既處之。未朞月。參玄之賓。四方麏至。溈山黃檗當其首。一日。師謂眾曰。佛法不是小事。老僧昔被馬大師一喝。直得三日耳聾。黃檗聞舉。不覺吐舌。師曰。子已後莫承嗣馬祖去麼。檗曰。不然。今日因和尚舉。得見馬祖大機之用。然且不識馬祖。若嗣馬祖。已後喪我兒孫。師曰。如是。如是。見與師齊。減師半德。見過於師。方堪傳授。子甚有超師之見。檗便禮拜(溈山問仰山。百丈再參馬祖因緣。

was a man of Changle in Fuzhou. His family name was Wang. In his youth he left the dust, and he trained fully in the three studies. When he met Great Silence unfolding the teaching in Jiangxi, he gave his heart wholly to him, and together with Xitang Zhizang and Nanquan Puyuan he was reckoned among the inner room. At that time these three great ones stood like the three legs of a tripod. Once, when the Master was attending Mazu on a walk, they saw a flock of wild ducks fly past. The Ancestor said, 'What is that?' The Master said, 'Wild ducks.' The Ancestor said, 'Where have they gone?' The Master said, 'They have flown away.' The Ancestor then twisted the Master's nose, and he cried out from the pain. The Ancestor said, 'And you still say they have flown away.' At these words the Master had an awakening. He went back to the attendants' quarters and wept bitterly. His fellow monks asked, 'Are you thinking of your father and mother?' The Master said, 'No.' 'Has someone scolded you?' The Master said, 'No.' 'Then why are you crying?' The Master said, 'The Great Master twisted my nose and the pain will not let up.' His fellow monks said, 'What is it that does not accord?' The Master said, 'Go and ask the Reverend.' His fellow monks asked the Great Master, 'What is it that does not accord with attendant Hai, that he is crying in his quarters? Please tell us.' The Great Master said, 'He has understood. Go and ask him yourself.' His fellow monks went back to the quarters and said, 'The Reverend says you have understood, and told us to ask you ourselves.' The Master then burst out laughing. His fellow monks said, 'You were crying just now — why are you laughing now?' The Master said, 'Just now I cried, now I laugh.' His fellow monks were baffled. The next day Mazu ascended the platform. The assembly had just gathered when the Master came forward and rolled up the mat. The Ancestor then stepped down from the seat. The Master followed him to his quarters. The Ancestor said, 'I had not yet spoken, so why did you roll up the mat?' The Master said, 'Yesterday the Reverend twisted my nose and it hurt.' The Ancestor said, 'Where did you set your mind yesterday?' The Master said, 'Today my nose does not hurt again.' The Ancestor said, 'You understand yesterday's matter deeply.' The Master bowed and withdrew. The Master came to pay his respects again and was standing in attendance when the Ancestor's eyes rested on the fly whisk at the corner of the rope chair. The Master said, 'To use it just so, to be free of using it just so.' The Ancestor said, 'Hereafter, when you open those two flaps of skin, what will you use to help people?' The Master took up the fly whisk and held it upright. The Ancestor said, 'To use it just so, to be free of using it just so.' The Master hung the fly whisk back in its old place. The Ancestor gave a shout of such power that the Master was deaf for three days. From then on the thunder was about to roll. A lay donor invited him to stay at Mount Daxiong in the Xinwu district of Hongzhou. The cliffs were exceedingly steep, and so it was called Baizhang. He had not been there a full month before seekers of the mystery gathered in a herd from all quarters. Weishan and Huangbo stood at their head. One day the Master said to the assembly, 'The Buddha Dharma is no small matter. In the past I was given one shout by Great Master Ma and was deaf for three days.' When Huangbo heard this brought up, he could not help putting out his tongue. The Master said, 'Will you not succeed to Mazu hereafter?' Huangbo said, 'Not so. Today, because the Reverend brought it up, I have been able to see Mazu's great functioning of the mechanism. Yet I still do not know Mazu. If I succeeded to Mazu, I would lose my descendants hereafter.' The Master said, 'So it is, so it is. Insight equal to the teacher's cuts the teacher's virtue in half. Only insight that surpasses the teacher's can receive the transmission. You indeed have insight that surpasses the teacher.' Huangbo then bowed. (Weishan asked Yangshan, 'The story of Baizhang's second visit to Mazu —

此二尊宿意旨如何。仰雲。此是顯大機大用。溈雲。馬祖出八十四人。善知識幾人得大機。幾人得大用。仰雲。百丈得大機。黃檗得大用。餘者盡是唱導之師。溈雲。如是。如是)。有僧哭入法堂來。師曰。作麼。曰。父母俱喪。請師選日。師曰。明日來。一時埋卻。溈山．五峰．雲巖侍立次。師問溈山。併卻咽喉唇吻。作麼生道。山曰。卻請和尚道。師曰。不辭向汝道。恐已後喪我兒孫。又問五峰。峰曰。和尚也須併卻。師曰。無人處斫額望汝。又問雲巖。巖曰。和尚有也未。師曰。喪我兒孫。師謂眾曰。我要一人。傳語西堂。阿誰去得。五峰曰。某甲去。師曰。汝作麼生傳語。峰曰。待見西堂。即道。師曰。見後道甚麼。峰曰。卻來說似和尚。師每上堂。有一老人隨眾聽法。一日眾退。唯老人不去。師問。汝是何人。老人曰。某非人也。於過去迦葉佛時。曾住此山。因學人問。大修行人還落因果也無。某對雲。不落因果。遂五百生墮野狐身。今請和尚代一轉語。貴脫野狐身。師曰。汝問。老人曰。大修行人還落因果也無。師曰。不昧因果。老人於言下大悟。作禮曰。某已脫野狐身。住在山後。敢乞依亡僧津送。師令維那白椎告眾。食後送亡僧。大眾聚議。一眾皆安。涅槃堂又無病人。何故如是。食後師領眾至山後巖下。以杖挑出一死野狐。乃依法火塟。師至晚上堂。舉前因緣。黃檗便問。古人錯祇對一轉語。墮五百生野狐身。轉轉不錯。合作箇甚麼。師曰。近前來。向汝道。檗近前。打師一掌。師拍手笑曰。將謂胡鬚赤。更有赤鬚胡(溈山舉問仰山。仰曰。黃檗常用此機。溈曰。汝道天生得。從人得。仰曰。亦是稟受師承。亦是自性宗通。溈曰。如是。如是)。時溈山在會下作典座。司馬頭陀舉野狐話問典座。作麼生。座撼門扇三下。司馬曰。大麤生。座曰。佛法不是這箇道理。問。如何是奇特事。

what is the meaning of these two venerable ones?' Yangshan said, 'This shows the great mechanism and the great functioning.' Weishan said, 'Mazu produced eighty-four good friends; how many got the great mechanism, how many got the great functioning?' Yangshan said, 'Baizhang got the great mechanism, Huangbo got the great functioning. The rest were all teachers of chanting and leading.' Weishan said, 'So it is, so it is.') A monk came weeping into the Dharma hall. The Master said, 'What is it?' He said, 'My father and mother are both dead; please, Master, choose a day for us.' The Master said, 'Come tomorrow, and we will bury them both at once.' Once, when Weishan, Wufeng and Yunya were standing in attendance, the Master asked Weishan, 'Without using throat, lips or mouth, how will you speak?' Weishan said, 'Please, Reverend, speak instead.' The Master said, 'I would not refuse to speak to you, but I fear it would lose me my descendants hereafter.' He asked Wufeng the same. Wufeng said, 'The Reverend must stop his up too.' The Master said, 'Where no one is, I will shade my eyes with my hand and look for you.' He asked Yunya the same. Yunya said, 'Has the Reverend got it or not?' The Master said, 'You will lose me my descendants.' The Master said to the assembly, 'I want one man to carry a message to Xitang. Who can go?' Wufeng said, 'I will go.' The Master said, 'How will you carry the message?' Wufeng said, 'When I see Xitang, I will say it.' The Master said, 'And what will you say after seeing him?' Wufeng said, 'I will come back and tell the Reverend.' Whenever the Master ascended the hall, an old man would follow the assembly and listen to the Dharma. One day, when the assembly had withdrawn, only the old man did not leave. The Master asked, 'Who are you?' The old man said, 'I am not a man. In the time of Kasyapa Buddha in the past I once lived on this mountain. Because a student asked me whether a greatly cultivated person still falls under cause and effect, and I answered that he does not fall under cause and effect, I fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. Now I beg the Reverend to speak a turning word in my place, so that I may be freed from the wild fox's body.' The Master said, 'Ask.' The old man said, 'Does a greatly cultivated person still fall under cause and effect?' The Master said, 'He does not obscure cause and effect.' At these words the old man was greatly awakened. He bowed and said, 'I am already freed from the wild fox's body and live behind the mountain. I beg that I be given the funeral rites of a dead monk.' The Master ordered the prior to strike the gavel and announce to the assembly: after the meal, see off a dead monk. The great assembly gathered and discussed it: everyone in the community is well, and there is no sick man in the nirvana hall — why is this? After the meal the Master led the assembly to the rocks behind the mountain, poked out a dead wild fox with his staff, and had it cremated according to the rules. That evening the Master ascended the hall and brought up the former story. Huangbo then asked, 'The ancient gave one wrong turning word and fell into a wild fox's body for five hundred lives. If turning after turning he had not been wrong, what would he have become?' The Master said, 'Come closer and I will tell you.' Huangbo came closer, and gave the Master a slap. The Master clapped his hands and laughed, saying, 'I thought the beard was red, but here is a red-bearded barbarian.' (Weishan brought this up and asked Yangshan. Yangshan said, 'Huangbo always used this mechanism.' Weishan said, 'Would you say it is born in him, or got from another?' Yangshan said, 'It is both what he received in transmission from his teacher and what he penetrated through his own nature.' Weishan said, 'So it is, so it is.') At that time Weishan was the cook in the assembly. Sima Toutuo brought up the wild fox story and asked the cook, 'How is it?' The cook shook the door leaf three times. Sima said, 'How coarse!' The cook said, 'The Buddha Dharma is not this principle.' Someone asked, 'What is the extraordinary matter?'

師曰。獨坐大雄峰。僧禮拜。師便打。上堂。靈光獨耀。迥脫根塵。體露真常。不拘文字。心性無染。本自圓成。但離妄緣。即如如佛。問。如何是佛。師曰。汝是阿誰。曰。某甲。師曰。汝識某甲否。曰。分明箇。師乃舉起拂子曰。汝還見麼。曰。見。師乃不語。普請钁地次。忽有一僧聞鼓鳴。舉起钁頭。大笑便歸。師曰。俊哉。此是觀音入理之門。師歸院。乃喚其僧問。適來見甚麼道理。便恁麼。曰。適來肚饑。聞鼓聲。歸吃飯。師乃笑。問。依經解義。三世佛冤。離經一字。如同魔說時如何。師曰。固守動靜。三世佛冤。此外別求。即同魔說。因僧問西堂。有問有答即且置。無問無答時如何。堂曰。怕爛卻那。師聞舉。乃曰。從來疑這箇老兄。曰。請和尚道。師曰。一合相不可得。師謂眾曰。有一人長不吃飯不道饑。有一人終日吃飯不道飽。眾無對。雲巖問。和尚每日區區為阿誰。師曰。有一人要。巖曰。因甚麼不教伊自作。師曰。他無家活。問。如何是大乘頓悟法要。師曰。汝等先歇諸緣。休息萬事。善與不善。世出世間。一切諸法。莫記憶。莫緣念。放捨身心。令其自在。心如木石。無所辨別。心無所行。心地若空。慧日自現。如雲開日出相似。但歇一切攀緣。貪嗔愛取。垢淨情盡。對五欲八風不動。不被見聞覺知所縛。不被諸境所惑。自然具足神通妙用。是解脫人。對一切境。心無靜亂。不攝不散。透過一切聲色。無有滯礙。名為道人。善惡是非俱不運用。亦不愛一法。亦不捨一法。名為大乘人。不被一切善惡．空有．垢淨．有為無為．世出世間．福德智慧之所拘繫。名為佛慧。是非好醜．是理非理。諸知見情盡。不能繫縛。處處自在。名為初發心菩薩。便登佛地。問。對一切境。如何得心如木石去。師曰。一切諸法。本不自言空。不自言色。亦不言是非垢淨。亦無心繫縛人。

The Master said, 'Sitting alone on the great Xiong Peak.' The monk bowed. The Master hit him. Ascending the hall: 'The numinous light shines alone, utterly free of faculties and objects. Its substance is revealed as the true and constant, not bound by words. The mind-nature is undefiled and complete from the start. Just leave false conditions behind, and you are the Buddha of suchness.' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Who are you?' He said, 'So-and-so.' The Master said, 'Do you know so-and-so?' He said, 'Clearly.' The Master then raised the fly whisk and said, 'Do you see it?' He said, 'I see.' The Master said nothing. Once, when the community was hoeing the ground together, a monk suddenly heard the drum, and raising his hoe he laughed and went back. The Master said, 'How splendid! This is Avalokitesvara's gate of entering principle.' When the Master returned to the monastery he called that monk and asked, 'What principle did you see just now, that you behaved like that?' He said, 'I was hungry just now, heard the drum, and went back to eat.' The Master laughed. Someone asked, 'Explaining the meaning according to the sutras wrongs the Buddhas of the three ages, and departing one word from the sutras is the same as the devil's speech — how is that?' The Master said, 'Clinging firmly to motion and stillness wrongs the Buddhas of the three ages. Seeking anything else besides this is the same as the devil's speech.' Because a monk asked Xitang, 'Question and answer we may set aside; what about when there is no question and no answer?' Xitang said, 'I fear it will rot.' When the Master heard this reported he said, 'I have always doubted this old brother.' The monk said, 'Please, Reverend, speak.' The Master said, 'The mark of unity is unattainable.' The Master said to the assembly, 'There is one man who does not eat for a long time and does not say he is hungry; there is one man who eats all day and does not say he is full.' The assembly had no reply. Yunya asked, 'For whom does the Reverend toil every day?' The Master said, 'There is one who wants it.' Yunya said, 'Why not let him do it himself?' The Master said, 'He has no household goods.' Someone asked, 'What is the essential point of the sudden enlightenment of the Great Vehicle?' The Master said, 'First rest from all conditions and put all affairs to rest. Good and evil, worldly and beyond the world, all dharmas: do not remember them, do not think on them. Let go of body and mind and let them be free. Let the mind be like wood or stone, making no distinctions. When the mind has nowhere to go and the ground of the mind is empty, the sun of wisdom appears of itself, like clouds opening and the sun coming out. Just rest from all clinging: greed, anger, love and grasping, defilement and purity — let all feeling end. Unmoved by the five desires and the eight winds, not bound by seeing, hearing, knowing and perceiving, not deluded by any object, you naturally complete the wonderful functioning of spiritual powers: such a one is a liberated person. Toward all objects the mind is neither still nor disturbed, neither gathered nor scattered; penetrating all sounds and forms with no obstruction — such a one is called a man of the Way. Good and evil, right and wrong are not employed; he loves no single dharma and rejects no single dharma — such a one is called a man of the Great Vehicle. Not bound by all good and evil, emptiness and existence, defilement and purity, conditioned and unconditioned, worldly and beyond the world, merit and wisdom — this is called Buddha wisdom. When all knowing and views, right and wrong, fair and foul, reason and non-reason are exhausted and can no longer bind him, and he is free in every place — such a one is called a bodhisattva of the first resolve, and he straightaway ascends the ground of the Buddha.' Someone asked, 'Toward all objects, how can the mind become like wood and stone?' The Master said, 'All dharmas of themselves do not say they are empty, do not say they are form, and do not speak of right and wrong, defilement and purity; they also have no mind to bind anyone.

但人自虗妄計著。作若干種解會。起若干種知見。生若干種愛畏。但了諸法不自生。皆從自己一念。妄想顛倒。取相而有知。心與境本不相到。當處解脫。一一諸法當處寂滅。當處道場。又本有之性不可名目。本來不是凡不是聖。不是垢淨。亦非空有。亦非善惡。與諸染法相應。名人天二乘界。若垢淨心盡。不住繫縛。不住解脫。無一切有為無為縛脫心量處。於生死其心自在。畢竟不與諸妄虗幻．塵勞蘊界．生死諸入和合。逈然無寄。一切不拘。去留無礙。往來生死。如門開相似。夫學道人。若遇種種苦樂。稱意不稱意事。心無退屈。不念名聞利養衣食。不貪功德利益。不為世間諸法之所滯礙。無親無愛。苦樂平懷。麤衣遮寒。糲食活命。兀兀如愚如聾。稍有相應分。若於心中廣學知解。求福求智。皆是生死。於理無益。卻被知解境風之所漂溺。還歸生死海裡。佛是無求人。求之即乖。理是無求理。求之即失。若著無求。復同於有求。若著無為。復同於有為。故經云。不取於法。不取非法。不取非非法。又云。如來所得法。此法無實無虗。若能一生心如木石相似。不被陰界五欲八風之所漂溺。即生死因斷。去住自由。不為一切有為因果所縛。不被有漏所拘。他時還以無因縛為因。同事利益。以無著心應一切物。以無礙慧解一切縛。亦云應病與藥。問。如今受戒。身口清淨。已具諸善。得解脫否。師曰。少分解脫。未得心解脫。亦未得一切處解脫。曰。如何是心解脫及一切處解脫。師曰。不求佛法僧。乃至不求福智知解等。垢淨情盡。亦不守此無求為是。亦不住盡處。亦不欣天堂．畏地獄。縛脫無礙。即身心及一切處皆名解脫。汝莫言有少分戒。身口意淨。便以為了。不知河沙戒定慧門．無漏解脫。都未涉一毫在。努力向前。須猛究取。莫待耳聾眼暗。面皺髮白。老苦及身。悲愛纏綿。眼中流淚。心裡慞惶。

'It is only people who vainly reckon and cling, forming various interpretations, raising various views, giving rise to various loves and fears. Just understand that no dharma arises of itself; all arise from one's own single thought of deluded imagining and inversion, and knowing comes about by grasping at marks. Mind and object do not originally reach each other; one is liberated right where one stands. Each dharma is quiescent right where it stands, is a place of practice right where it stands. Moreover the originally existing nature cannot be named. Originally it is neither ordinary nor sage, neither defiled nor pure, neither empty nor existent, neither good nor evil. According with defiled dharmas, one is said to be in the realms of gods and humans and of the two vehicles. If the mind of defilement and purity is exhausted, one neither dwells in bondage nor dwells in liberation, and where there is no measure of a mind bound or freed by any conditioned or unconditioned thing, the mind is free in birth and death, and in the end does not join with any false illusion, any dust of toil, any aggregate or realm, any sense field of birth and death; utterly without support, bound by nothing, unobstructed in going and staying, coming and going through birth and death as if through an open door. Now, a student of the Way, when he meets all kinds of pain and pleasure, agreeable and disagreeable things, does not bend in his mind; he does not think of fame or gain, of clothing and food, does not covet merit and benefit, is not blocked by any worldly dharma; without kin and without love, he regards pain and pleasure with an even mind. Coarse clothes keep off the cold, poor food keeps him alive; dull and dumb as a fool, as if deaf — then he has a little something that accords. If in the mind one widely studies knowledge and interpretation, seeking blessing and seeking wisdom, all this is birth and death, of no benefit to principle; instead one is drowned by the wind of objects of knowing and interpreting, and returns to the sea of birth and death. The Buddha is a man of no seeking; to seek him is to turn away. Principle is a principle of no seeking; to seek it is to lose it. If one clings to non-seeking, one is again the same as seeking. If one clings to non-action, one is again the same as action. Therefore the sutra says: do not grasp dharmas, do not grasp non-dharmas, do not grasp neither-dharmas-nor-non-dharmas. It also says: the dharma obtained by the Tathagata — this dharma is neither real nor unreal. If for a whole lifetime the mind can be like wood and stone, not drowned by the aggregates, the elements, the five desires and the eight winds, then the cause of birth and death is cut off, and one is free to go or stay, not bound by any conditioned cause and effect, not confined by outflows. In time, with no-cause-bondage as his cause, he works for the benefit of others; with a mind of no attachment he responds to all things, with unobstructed wisdom he unties all bonds, and he is also said to prescribe medicine according to the illness.' Someone asked, 'If one now receives the precepts and is pure in body and mouth, having already completed all good, does one attain liberation?' The Master said, 'One is partly liberated, but has not attained liberation of mind, nor liberation in every place.' Someone asked, 'What is liberation of mind and liberation in every place?' The Master said, 'Not seeking Buddha, Dharma or Sangha, and not seeking blessing, wisdom, knowledge or understanding, and so on. When the feelings of defilement and purity are exhausted, one does not hold even this non-seeking as right, does not dwell in the place of exhaustion, does not delight in heaven nor fear hell. Bondage and liberation are no obstruction, and then body and mind and every place are all called liberation. Do not say that with a small portion of precepts, with purity of body, mouth and mind, you are done. You do not know that the sands of the Ganges of precepts, concentration and wisdom, and the liberation without outflows, have not been touched by a single hair. Strive forward and investigate vigorously. Do not wait until your ears are deaf and your eyes dim, your face wrinkled and your hair white, when the suffering of old age comes upon you and sorrow and love entangle you, tears in your eyes and panic in your heart.

一無所據。不知去處。到恁麼時節。整理腳手不得也。縱有福智．名聞．利養。都不相救。為心眼未開。唯念諸境。不知返照。復不見佛道。一生所有善惡業緣。悉現於前。或忻或怖。六道五蘊。俱時現前。盡敷嚴好舍宅。舟船車轝。光明顯赫。皆從自心貪愛所現。一切惡境。皆變成殊勝之境。但隨貪愛重處。業識所引。隨著受生。都無自由分。龍畜良賤。亦總未定。問。如何得自由分。師曰。如今得即得。或對五欲八風。情無取捨。慳嫉貪愛。我所情盡。垢淨俱亡。如日月在空。不緣而照。心心如木石。念念如救頭。然亦如香象渡河。截流而過。更無疑滯。此人天堂地獄所不能攝也。夫讀經看教。語言皆須宛轉歸就自己。但是一切言教。祇明如今鑒覺自性。但不被一切有無諸境轉。是汝導師。能照破一切有無諸境。是金剛慧。即有自由獨立分。若不能恁麼會得。縱然誦得十二韋陀典。祇成憎上慢。卻是謗佛。不是修行。但離一切聲色。亦不住於離。亦不住於知解。是修行讀經看教。若準世間是好事。若向明理人邊數。此是壅塞人。十地之人脫不去。流入生死河。但是三乘教。皆治貪瞋等病。祇如今念念若有貪瞋等病。先須治之。不用求覔義句知解。知解屬貪。貪變成病。祇如今但離一切有無諸法。亦離於離。透過三句外。自然與佛無差。既自是佛。何慮佛不解語。秖恐不是佛。被有無諸法縛。不得自由。以理未立。先有福智。被福智載去。如賤使貴。不如先立理。後有福智。若要福智。臨時作得。撮土成金。撮金為土。變海水為酥酪。破須彌為微塵。攝四大海水入一毛孔。於一義作無量義。於無量義作一義。伏惟珍重。師有時說法竟。大眾下堂。乃召之。大眾回首。師曰。是甚麼(藥山目之為百丈下堂句)。師兒時隨母入寺拜佛。指佛像問母。此是何物。母曰。是佛。師曰。形容似人無異。

'With nothing to rely on, you will not know where to go. When that time comes, you cannot arrange your hands and feet. Even if you have blessing, wisdom, fame and gain, none of it will save you. Because the mind's eye is not open, you only think of objects, do not turn the light back, and do not see the Buddha Way. All the good and evil karmic conditions of a lifetime appear before you. You may rejoice or be terrified. The six paths and the five aggregates all appear at once. Luxurious dwellings spread out, boats, carts and carriages, bright and splendid — all appear from your own mind's greed and love. All evil objects turn into excellent objects. Following wherever greed and love are heaviest, drawn along by karmic consciousness, you receive birth accordingly, with no share of freedom at all. Whether you become a dragon or a beast, noble or base, is not settled either.' Someone asked, 'How can one gain a share of freedom?' The Master said, 'Now you can have it at once. Toward the five desires and the eight winds, let feeling have no grasping and no rejecting. Stinginess, envy, greed and love, the feeling of self — let them all end. Defilement and purity both perish. Like the sun and moon in the sky, shining without any condition. Mind after mind like wood and stone, thought after thought as though your head were on fire. And yet also like the fragrant elephant crossing the river, cutting through the stream and passing over, with no further doubt or hindrance. Such a person heaven and hell cannot contain. Now, when reading sutras and studying the teachings, all words must be turned back and applied to yourself. All verbal teachings only clarify the self-nature that is your present awareness. If you are not turned by any object of existence or non-existence, that is your guiding teacher. To be able to shine through and break all objects of existence and non-existence is vajra wisdom. Then you have a share of freedom and independence. If you cannot understand it in this way, then even if you can recite the twelve Vedas, you only achieve an increase of pride, and it is slander of the Buddha, not practice. Simply be free of all sounds and forms, and do not dwell in that freedom either, and do not dwell in knowledge and interpretation: this is to practice the reading of sutras and the study of teachings. Judged by worldly standards it is a good thing. But counted among people who understand principle, such a one blocks himself up. Even people of the ten grounds cannot escape this, and flow into the river of birth and death. All the teachings of the three vehicles only cure the sicknesses of greed, anger and the like. If right now, thought after thought, you have the sicknesses of greed, anger and so on, you must cure them first. You need not seek for phrases of meaning and interpretation. Interpretation belongs to greed, and greed turns into sickness. Simply be free of all dharmas of existence and non-existence, and be free of that freedom too. Penetrating beyond the three phrases, you are naturally no different from the Buddha. Since you are yourself the Buddha, why worry that the Buddha will not understand your words? I only fear you are not the Buddha, bound by the dharmas of existence and non-existence and not free. Because principle is not established, you first have blessing and wisdom, and are carried off by blessing and wisdom, like a servant riding on a noble. It is better first to establish principle, and afterwards to have blessing and wisdom. If you want blessing and wisdom, you can make them as the occasion arises. Gather earth and it becomes gold, gather gold and it becomes earth. Change the water of the sea into cream. Break Mount Sumeru into dust. Draw the water of the four great seas into a single pore. From one meaning make immeasurable meanings, and from immeasurable meanings make one meaning. Take good care of yourselves.' Sometimes when the Master had finished preaching and the assembly was leaving the hall, he would call out. The assembly would turn their heads. The Master said, 'What is it?' (Yaoshan regarded this as Baizhang's saying at the end of the hall.) As a child the Master once went with his mother into a temple to worship the Buddha, and pointing at the Buddha image he asked his mother, 'What is this?' His mother said, 'It is the Buddha.' The Master said, 'Its appearance is no different from a man's.

我後亦當作焉。師凡作務執勞。必先於眾。主者不忍。密收作具而請息之。師曰。吾無德。爭合勞於人。既徧求作具不獲。而亦忘飡。故有一日不作。一日不食之語流播寰宇矣。唐元和九年正月十七日歸寂。諡大智禪師。塔曰大寶勝輪。

'I too shall do so afterwards.' Whenever the Master did work or manual labor, he always went before the assembly. The manager could not bear it, and secretly hid the tools and asked him to rest. The Master said, 'I have no virtue; how could I let others labor?' When he had searched everywhere and could not find the tools, he also forgot to eat. And so the saying spread throughout the world that on a day without work, one does not eat. He passed into quiescence on the seventeenth day of the first month of the ninth year of Yuanhe in the Tang. His posthumous title was Great Wisdom Chan Master. His stupa was called Great Treasure Victorious Wheel.

池州南泉普願禪師者

Chan Master Puyuan of Nanquan in Chizhou,

鄭州新鄭人也。姓王氏。幼慕空宗。唐至德二年依大隗山大慧禪師受業。詣嵩嶽受具足戒。初習相部舊章。究毗尼篇聚。次遊諸講肆。歷聽楞伽．華嚴。入中百門觀。精練玄義。後扣大寂之室。頓然忘筌。得遊戲三昧。一日。為眾僧行粥次。馬祖問。桶裡是甚麼。師曰。這老漢合取口作恁麼語話。祖便休。自餘。同參之流無敢詰問。貞元十一年憩錫於池陽。自建禪齋。不下南泉三十餘載。大和初。宣城廉使陸公亙嚮師道風。遂與監軍同請下山。伸弟子之禮。大振玄綱。自此學徒不下數百。言滿諸方。目為郢匠。上堂。然燈佛道了也。若心相所思。出生諸法。虗假不實。何以故。心尚無有。云何出生諸法。猶如形影。分別虗空。如人取聲。安置篋中。亦如吹網。欲令氣滿。故老宿雲。不是心。不是佛。不是物。且教你兄弟行履。據說十地菩薩住首楞嚴三昧。得諸佛秘密法藏。自然得一切禪定解脫神通妙用。至一切世界。普現色身。或示現成等正覺。轉大法輪。入涅槃。使無量入毛孔。演一句經無量劫。其義不盡。教化無量億千眾生得無生法忍。尚喚作所知愚．極微細所知愚。與道全乖。大難。大難。珍重。上堂曰。王老師自小養一頭水牯牛。擬向溪東牧。不免食他國王水草。擬向溪西牧。亦不免食他國王水草。不如隨分納些些。總不見得。師問僧曰。夜來好風。曰。夜來好風。師曰。吹折門前一枝松。曰。吹折門前一枝松。次問一僧曰。夜來好風。曰。是甚麼風。師曰。吹折門前一枝松。曰。是甚麼松。師曰。一得一失。師有書與茱萸曰。理隨事變。寬廓非外。事得理融。寂寥非內。僧達書了。便問萸。如何是寬廓非外。萸曰。問一答百也無妨。曰。如何是寂寥非內。萸曰。覩對聲色。不是好手。僧又問長沙。沙瞪目視之。僧又進後語。沙乃閉目示之。僧又問趙州。州作吃飯勢。僧又進後語。

was a man of Xinzheng in Zhengzhou. His family name was Wang. In his youth he admired the school of emptiness. In the second year of Zhide of the Tang he studied under Chan Master Dahui of Mount Dakui, and went to Mount Song to receive the full precepts. At first he studied the old texts of the Xiangbu school and mastered the sections and divisions of the Vinaya. Then he wandered through the lecture halls, hearing in turn the Lankavatara and the Avatamsaka, and entered the contemplation of the Middle Way and the Hundred Dharmas, refining its profound meaning. Later he knocked at the door of Great Silence and suddenly forgot the trap; he attained the samadhi of play. One day, when he was serving gruel to the monks, Mazu asked, 'What is in the bucket?' The Master said, 'This old man should shut his mouth and not talk like that.' The Ancestor then stopped. After that no one among his fellow students dared question him. In the eleventh year of Zhenyuan he rested his staff in Chiyang, built his own Chan retreat, and did not leave Nanquan for more than thirty years. In the early Taihe era, the revenue officer Lu Gen of Xuancheng admired the Master's manner of the Way, and together with the army supervisor invited him down from the mountain, and extended to him the courtesy of a disciple. He greatly spread the net of the mystery. From then on his students numbered no fewer than several hundred. His words filled all quarters, and he was regarded as a master craftsman of Ying. Ascending the hall: 'Dipankara Buddha has finished the Way. If the mind thinks and ponders, it gives birth to all dharmas, which are false and unreal. Why? The mind itself does not exist, so how can it give birth to all dharmas? It is like a shape and its shadow distinguishing empty space. It is like a man taking a sound and putting it in a box. It is also like blowing into a net and wanting to fill it with air. Therefore the old masters said: it is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing. For now I just teach you brothers how to walk. It is said that a bodhisattva of the ten grounds dwells in the surangama samadhi and obtains the secret dharma store of all Buddhas, and naturally obtains all Chan concentration, liberation, spiritual powers and wonderful functioning. He reaches all worlds and universally manifests a body of form. Or he manifests attaining perfect enlightenment, turning the great dharma wheel, and entering nirvana. He causes immeasurable beings to enter a single pore, and expounds one sentence through immeasurable kalpas whose meaning is never exhausted. He teaches and transforms immeasurable billions of living beings to attain the acceptance of non-arising of dharmas. And yet this is still called the ignorance of what is known, the most subtle ignorance of what is known. It is wholly at odds with the Way. Very difficult, very difficult. Take care.' Ascending the hall he said, 'Old Master Wang has raised a water buffalo since he was small. If he means to pasture it east of the stream, he cannot avoid eating the king's water and grass. If he means to pasture it west of the stream, he also cannot avoid eating the king's water and grass. Better to take a little wherever one happens to be — then after all it cannot be seen.' The Master asked a monk, 'The wind was good last night.' He said, 'The wind was good last night.' The Master said, 'It blew down a pine branch in front of the gate.' He said, 'It blew down a pine branch in front of the gate.' Then he asked another monk, 'The wind was good last night.' He said, 'What wind?' The Master said, 'It blew down a pine branch in front of the gate.' He said, 'What pine?' The Master said, 'One gains, one loses.' The Master had a letter sent to Zhuyu, saying, 'Principle follows the changes of things, and its broad expanse is not outside. Things attain the fusion of principle, and its stillness is not inside.' When the monk had delivered the letter, he asked Zhuyu, 'What is it that broad expanse is not outside?' Zhuyu said, 'One question, a hundred answers — no harm.' He asked, 'What is it that stillness is not inside?' Zhuyu said, 'Face to face with sounds and forms, he is no skilled hand.' The monk also asked Changsha. Changsha glared at him. The monk pressed the next phrase. Changsha then closed his eyes to show him. The monk also asked Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou made the gesture of eating. The monk pressed the next phrase again.

州以手作拭口勢。後僧舉似師。師曰。此三人。不謬為吾弟子。南泉山下有一庵主。人謂曰。近日南泉和尚出世。何不去禮見。主曰。非但南泉出世。直饒千佛出興。我亦不去。師聞。乃令趙州去勘。州去便設拜。主不顧。州從西過東。又從東過西。主亦不顧。州曰。草賊大敗。遂拽下簾子。便歸舉似師。師曰。我從來疑著這漢。次日。師與沙彌擕茶一瓶．盞三隻。到庵擲向地上。乃曰。昨日底。昨日底。主曰。昨日底是甚麼。師於沙彌背上拍一下曰。賺我來。賺我來。拂袖便回。上堂。道箇如如早是變了也。今時師僧須向異類中行。歸宗曰。雖行畜生行。不得畜生報。師曰。孟八郎漢又恁麼去也。上堂。文殊．普賢昨夜三更相打。每人與二十棒。趁出院去也。趙州曰。和尚棒教誰吃。師曰。且道王老師過在甚處。州禮拜而出。師因至莊所。莊主預備迎奉。師曰。老僧居常出入。不與人知。何得排辦如此。莊主曰。昨夜土地報道。和尚今日來。師曰。王老師修行無力。被鬼神覷見。侍者便問。和尚既是善知識。為甚麼被鬼神覷見。師曰。土地前更下一分飯。(玄覺雲。甚麼處是土地前更下一分飯。雲居錫雲。是賞伊罰伊。只如土地前見。是南泉不是南泉)。師有時曰。江西馬祖說即心即佛。王老師不恁麼道。不是心。不是佛。不是物。恁麼道還有過麼。趙州禮拜而出。時有一僧隨問趙州曰。上座禮拜便出。意作麼生。州曰。汝卻問取和尚。僧乃問。適來諗上座意作麼生。師曰。他卻領得老僧意旨。黃檗與師為首座。一日。捧缽向師位上坐。師入堂見。乃問曰。長老甚麼年中行道。檗曰。威音王已前。師曰。猶是王老師兒孫在。下去。檗便過第二位坐。師便休。師一日問黃檗。黃金為世界。白銀為壁落。此是甚麼人居處。檗曰。是聖人居處。師曰。更有一人居何國土。檗乃叉手立。師曰。道不得。

Zhaozhou made the gesture of wiping his mouth with his hand. Later the monk reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'These three men do not falsely count as my disciples.' Below Nanquan's mountain there was a hermit. People said, 'Recently the Reverend Nanquan has appeared in the world; why do you not go and pay your respects?' The hermit said, 'Not only has Nanquan appeared in the world — even if a thousand Buddhas appeared, I would not go.' When the Master heard this he sent Zhaozhou to test him. Zhaozhou went and made a bow. The hermit paid no attention. Zhaozhou went from west to east, and from east to west. The hermit still paid no attention. Zhaozhou said, 'The straw bandit is badly beaten.' He then pulled down the blind and went back and reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'I have always doubted this fellow.' The next day the Master and a novice carried a bottle of tea and three cups to the hermitage, threw them on the ground, and said, 'Yesterday's, yesterday's.' The hermit said, 'What is yesterday's?' The Master slapped the novice on the back and said, 'You have tricked me, you have tricked me.' He flicked his sleeves and went back. Ascending the hall: 'To speak of suchness is already to have changed it. These days a teacher-monk must walk among the different kinds.' Guizong said, 'Though he practices the conduct of a beast, he does not receive a beast's retribution.' The Master said, 'Meng the Eighth Boy goes off like that again.' Ascending the hall: 'Manjushri and Samantabhadra were fighting at the third watch last night. I gave each of them twenty blows and drove them out of the monastery.' Zhaozhou said, 'Who will eat the Reverend's blows?' The Master said, 'Just say where Old Master Wang is at fault.' Zhaozhou bowed and went out. Once the Master came to a farmstead. The farm manager had prepared to welcome him. The Master said, 'When this old monk comes and goes ordinarily, he does not let people know. Why have you made such preparations?' The farm manager said, 'Last night the local earth spirit reported that the Reverend would come today.' The Master said, 'Old Master Wang's practice has no power; he is spied on by ghosts and spirits.' The attendant then asked, 'Since the Reverend is a good friend, why is he spied on by ghosts and spirits?' The Master said, 'Set another portion of rice before the earth spirit.' (Xuanjue said, 'Where is it that one sets another portion of rice before the earth spirit?' Yunju Xi said, 'It is rewarding him and punishing him. Just as for the earth spirit to see him — is that Nanquan or is it not Nanquan?') Sometimes the Master said, 'Mazu of Jiangxi said that mind itself is Buddha. Old Master Wang does not say so. It is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing. Does saying so have any fault?' Zhaozhou bowed and went out. At that time a monk followed and asked Zhaozhou, 'The elder bowed and went out — what was his meaning?' Zhaozhou said, 'You should ask the Reverend.' The monk then asked, 'Just now what was the elder Shen's meaning?' The Master said, 'He has got this old monk's meaning.' Huangbo and the Master were the head seat. One day Huangbo carried his bowl and sat down in the Master's place. When the Master came into the hall and saw him, he asked, 'In what year did the Elder begin to walk the Way?' Huangbo said, 'Before King Awesome Sound.' The Master said, 'Still you are Old Master Wang's descendant. Go down.' Huangbo then moved to the second seat. The Master let it be. One day the Master asked Huangbo, 'Gold for the world, silver for the walls — whose dwelling place is this?' Huangbo said, 'It is the dwelling place of a sage.' The Master said, 'And where does one more man live?' Huangbo then stood with folded hands. The Master said, 'You cannot say it.

何不問王老師。檗卻問。更有一人居何國土。師曰。可惜許。師問黃檗。定慧等學。明見佛性。此理如何。檗曰。十二時中不依倚一物。師曰。莫是長老見處麼。檗曰。不敢。師曰。漿水錢且置。草鞋錢教阿誰還。師見僧斫木次。師乃擊木三下。僧放下斧子。歸僧堂。師歸法堂。良久卻入僧堂。見僧在衣缽下坐。師曰。賺殺人。問。師歸丈室。將何指南。師曰。昨夜三更失卻牛。天明起來失卻火。師因東西兩堂爭貓兒。師遇之。白眾曰。道得即救取貓兒。道不得即斬卻也。眾無對。師便斬之。趙州自外歸。師舉前語示之。州乃脫履安頭上而出。師曰。子若在。即救得貓兒也。師在方丈。與杉山向火次。師曰。不用指東指西。直下本分事道來。山插火箸叉手。師曰。雖然如是。猶較王老師一線道。有僧問訊。叉手而立。師曰。太俗生。其僧便合掌。師曰。太僧生。僧無對。一僧洗缽次。師乃奪卻缽。其僧空手而立。師曰。缽在我手裡。汝口喃喃作麼。僧無對。師因入菜園。見一僧。師乃將瓦子打之。其僧回顧。師乃翹足。僧無語。師便歸方丈。僧隨後入。問訊曰。和尚適來擲瓦子打某甲。豈不是警覺某甲。師曰。翹足又作麼生。僧無對(後有僧問石霜雲。南泉翹足。意作麼生。霜舉手雲。還恁麼無)。上堂。王老師賣身去也。還有人買麼。一僧出曰。某甲買。師曰。不作貴。不作賤。汝作麼生買。僧無對(臥龍代雲。屬某甲去也。禾山代雲。是何道理。趙州代雲。明年與和尚縫一領布衫)。師與歸宗．麻谷同去參禮南陽國師。師於路上畫一圓相曰。道得即去。宗便於圓相中坐。谷作女人拜。師曰。恁麼則不去也。宗曰。是甚麼心行。師乃相喚便回。更不去禮國師(玄覺雲。只如南泉恁麼道。是肯語是不肯語。雲居錫雲。比來去禮拜國師。南泉為甚麼卻相喚回。且道古人意作麼生)。師在山上作務。僧問。

'Why do you not ask Old Master Wang?' Huangbo then asked, 'And where does one more man live?' The Master said, 'What a pity.' The Master asked Huangbo, 'Concentration and wisdom studied equally, and clearly seeing the Buddha-nature — what principle is this?' Huangbo said, 'Throughout the twelve hours not leaning on a single thing.' The Master said, 'Is this not the Elder's view?' Huangbo said, 'I dare not say so.' The Master said, 'Set aside the money for the broth. Who will pay the money for the straw sandals?' Once, when the Master saw a monk chopping wood, he struck the wood three times. The monk put down the axe and went back to the monks' hall. The Master went back to the Dharma hall. After a while he went into the monks' hall and saw the monk sitting under his robe and bowl. The Master said, 'You have tricked me to death.' Someone asked, 'When the Master returns to his quarters, what guidance does he give?' The Master said, 'At the third watch last night I lost the ox; at dawn I got up and lost the fire.' Once, when the east and west halls were quarreling over a cat, the Master came upon them and said to the assembly, 'If you can say a word, I will save the cat; if you cannot, I will kill it.' The assembly had no reply. The Master then killed it. Zhaozhou came back from outside. The Master brought up the earlier words and showed them to him. Zhaozhou then took off his shoes, put them on his head, and went out. The Master said, 'If you had been here, the cat would have been saved.' Once, when the Master was in his quarters warming himself at the fire with Shanshan, he said, 'Do not point east or west; speak directly of your own original matter.' Shanshan stuck the fire tongs in and folded his hands. The Master said, 'Even so, you are still one line short of Old Master Wang.' A monk came to pay his respects and stood with folded hands. The Master said, 'Too much a layman.' The monk then joined his palms. The Master said, 'Too much a monk.' The monk had no reply. Once, when a monk was washing his bowl, the Master snatched the bowl away. The monk stood there empty-handed. The Master said, 'The bowl is in my hand — what are you muttering about?' The monk had no reply. Once the Master went into the vegetable garden and saw a monk. The Master threw a tile at him. The monk turned his head. The Master then lifted his foot. The monk said nothing. The Master went back to his quarters. The monk followed and, after paying his respects, said, 'Just now the Reverend threw a tile at me — was it not to wake me up?' The Master said, 'And what about my lifting my foot?' The monk had no reply. (Later a monk asked Shishuang, 'What was Nanquan's meaning in lifting his foot?' Shishuang raised his hand and said, 'Is it like this or not?') Ascending the hall: 'Old Master Wang is going to sell himself. Is there anyone who will buy?' A monk came forward and said, 'I will buy.' The Master said, 'I will not be priced high, and I will not be priced low. How will you buy?' The monk had no reply. (Wolong said on his behalf, 'He belongs to me now.' Heshan said on his behalf, 'What principle is this?' Zhaozhou said on his behalf, 'Next year I will sew a cloth robe for the Reverend.') The Master went with Guizong and Magu to pay respects to National Teacher Nanyang. On the road the Master drew a circle and said, 'If you can speak, we go.' Guizong then sat down inside the circle. Magu made a woman's bow. The Master said, 'If so, then we do not go.' Guizong said, 'What kind of mind is this?' The Master then called to them and they went back, and did not go to pay respects to the National Teacher. (Xuanjue said, 'Just as Nanquan spoke thus, was it a word of consent or a word of refusal?' Yunju Xi said, 'They had come to bow to the National Teacher — why did Nanquan call them back? Just say what the ancients meant.') Once the Master was working on the mountain. A monk asked,

南泉路向甚麼處去。師拈起鎌子曰。我這茆鎌子。三十錢買得。曰。不問茆鎌子。南泉路向甚麼處去。師曰。我使得正快。有一座主辭師。師問。甚麼處去。對曰。山下去。師曰。第一不得謗王老師。對曰。爭敢謗和尚。師乃噴嚏曰。多少。主便出去(雲居膺雲。非師本意。先曹山雲。賴也。石霜雲。不為人斟酌。長慶雲。請領話。雲居錫雲。座主當時出去。是會不會)。師一日掩方丈門。將灰圍卻門外。曰。若有人道得。即開。或有祇對。多未愜師意。趙州曰。蒼天。師便開門。師翫月次。僧問。幾時得似這箇去。師曰。王老師二十年前。亦恁麼來。曰。即今作麼生。師便歸方丈。陸亙大夫問。弟子從六合來。彼中還更有身否。師曰。分明記取。舉似作家。曰。和尚不可思議。到處世界成就。師曰。適來總是大夫分上事。陸異日謂師曰。弟子亦薄會佛法。師便問。大夫十二時中作麼生。曰。寸絲不掛。師曰。猶是堦下漢。師又曰。不見道。有道君王不納有智之臣。上堂次。陸大夫曰。請和尚為眾說法。師曰。教老僧作麼生說。曰。和尚豈無方便。師曰。道他欠少甚麼。曰。為甚麼有六道四生。師曰。老僧不教他。陸大夫與師見人雙陸。指骰子曰。恁麼．不恁麼．正恁麼。信彩去時如何。師拈起骰子曰。臭骨頭十八。又問。弟子家中有一片石。或時坐。或時臥。如今擬鐫作佛。還得否。師曰。得。陸曰。莫不得否。師曰。不得(雲巖雲。坐即佛。不坐即非佛。洞山雲。不坐即佛。坐即非佛)。趙州問。道非物外。物外非道。如何是物外道。師便打。州捉住棒曰。已後莫錯打人去。師曰。龍蛇易辨。衲子難謾。師喚院主。主應諾。師曰。佛九十日在忉利天為母說法。時優填王思佛。請目連運神通三轉。攝匠人往彼彫佛像。秖雕得三十一相。為甚麼梵音相雕不得。主問。如何是梵音相。師曰。賺殺人。

'Where does the road to Nanquan go?' The Master picked up his sickle and said, 'This straw sickle of mine cost thirty coins.' The monk said, 'I did not ask about the straw sickle. Where does the road to Nanquan go?' The Master said, 'I am using it just now, and it is sharp.' There was a lecturer who took leave of the Master. The Master asked, 'Where are you going?' He replied, 'Down the mountain.' The Master said, 'First of all, you must not slander Old Master Wang.' He replied, 'How would I dare slander the Reverend?' The Master then sneezed and said, 'How much?' The lecturer went out. (Yunju Ying said, 'This was not the Master's original meaning.' The late Caoshan said, 'How fortunate.' Shishuang said, 'He does not weigh things for people.' Changqing said, 'Please accept the words.' Yunju Xi said, 'When the lecturer went out then, did he understand or not?') One day the Master shut the door of his quarters, drew a circle of ash outside the door, and said, 'If anyone can speak, I will open it.' Some made replies, but most did not satisfy the Master's mind. Zhaozhou said, 'O heavens!' The Master then opened the door. Once, when the Master was enjoying the moon, a monk asked, 'When will I be able to be like that?' The Master said, 'Twenty years ago Old Master Wang was also like this.' The monk asked, 'And now, how is it?' The Master then went back to his quarters. The official Lu Gen asked, 'Your disciple has come from the six directions. Is there still a body in that place?' The Master said, 'Remember it clearly, and report it to an adept.' He said, 'The Reverend is inconceivable; wherever he goes, a world is accomplished.' The Master said, 'Just now it was all the official's own affair.' Another day Lu said to the Master, 'Your disciple also has a shallow understanding of the Buddha Dharma.' The Master then asked, 'How is the official throughout the twelve hours?' He said, 'Not a thread hanging.' The Master said, 'Still you are a man below the steps.' The Master also said, 'Have you not heard it said that a king who has the Way does not take in a minister who has wisdom?' Once when the Master had ascended the hall, the official Lu said, 'Please, Reverend, preach the Dharma for the assembly.' The Master said, 'What do you want this old monk to say?' He said, 'Has the Reverend no skillful means?' The Master said, 'What do you say he lacks?' Someone asked, 'Why are there six paths and four kinds of birth?' The Master said, 'This old monk did not make them.' Once, when the official Lu and the Master saw people playing backgammon, Lu pointed at the dice and said, 'Thus, not thus, just thus. What about trusting to luck and going?' The Master picked up the dice and said, 'Stinking bones, eighteen.' He also asked, 'In your disciple's house there is a piece of stone, on which one sometimes sits and sometimes lies. Now I mean to carve it into a Buddha — may I?' The Master said, 'You may.' Lu said, 'Surely I may not?' The Master said, 'You may not.' (Yunyan said, 'Sitting, it is Buddha; not sitting, it is not Buddha.' Dongshan said, 'Not sitting, it is Buddha; sitting, it is not Buddha.') Zhaozhou asked, 'The Way is not outside things, and outside things there is no Way. What is the Way outside things?' The Master then hit him. Zhaozhou caught hold of the staff and said, 'Hereafter do not strike people wrongly.' The Master said, 'Dragons and snakes are easy to tell apart; a patch-robed monk is hard to fool.' The Master called the prior. The prior answered. The Master said, 'The Buddha spent ninety days in the Trayastrimsa Heaven preaching the Dharma for his mother. At that time King Udayana longed for the Buddha, and asked Maudgalyayana to exercise his spiritual powers three times and bring craftsmen there to carve a Buddha image, but they could only carve thirty-one marks. Why could the mark of the Brahma voice not be carved?' The prior asked, 'What is the mark of the Brahma voice?' The Master said, 'You have tricked me to death.'

師問維那。今日普請作甚麼。對曰。拽磨。師曰。磨從你拽。不得動著磨中心樹子。那無語(保福代雲。比來拽磨。如今卻不成。法眼代雲。恁麼即不拽也)。一日。有大德問師曰。即心是佛又不得。非心非佛又不得。師意如何。師曰。大德且信即心是佛便了。更說甚麼得與不得。祇如大德吃飯了。從東廊上西廊下。不可總問人得與不得也。師住庵時。有一僧到庵。師向伊道。我上山去作務。待齋時作飯自吃了。送一分上來。少時。其僧自作飯吃了。卻一時打破家事就床臥。師待不見來。便歸庵。見僧臥。師亦就伊邊臥。僧便起去。師住後曰。我往前住庵時。有箇靈利道者。直至如今不見。師拈起毬子問僧。那箇何似這箇。對曰。不似。師曰。甚麼處見那箇。便道不似。曰。若問某甲見處。和尚放下手中物。師曰。許你具一隻眼。陸大夫向師道。肇法師也甚奇怪。解道天地與我同根。萬物與我一體。師指庭前牡丹花曰。大夫。時人見此一株花如夢相似。陸罔測。又問。天王居何地位。師曰。若是天王。即非地位。曰。弟子聞說天王是居初地。師曰。應以天王身得度者。即現天王身。而為說法。陸辭歸宣城治所。師問。大夫去彼。將何治民。曰。以智慧治民。師曰。恁麼則彼處生靈盡遭塗炭去也。師入宣州。陸大夫出迎接。指城門曰。人人盡喚作雍門。未審和尚喚作甚麼門。師曰。老僧若道。恐辱大夫風化。曰。忽然賊來時作麼生。師曰。王老師罪過。陸又問。大悲菩薩用許多手眼作甚麼。師曰。秖如國家。又用大夫作甚麼。師洗衣次。僧問。和尚猶有這箇在。師拈起衣曰。爭奈這箇何(玄覺雲。且道是一箇。是兩箇)。師問僧良欽。空劫中還有佛否。對曰。有。師曰。是阿誰。對曰。良欽。師曰。居何國土。欽無語。問。祖祖相傳。合傳何事。師曰。一二三四五。問。如何是古人底。師曰。待有即道。曰。

The Master asked the prior, 'What is the communal work today?' He replied, 'Pulling the mill.' The Master said, 'The mill may be pulled by you, but you must not move the tree at the center of the mill.' The prior said nothing. (Baofu said on his behalf, 'We came to pull the mill, and now it cannot be done.' Fayan said on his behalf, 'If so, then do not pull it.') One day a greatly virtuous monk asked the Master, 'That mind is Buddha does not hold, and neither-mind-nor-Buddha does not hold. What is the Master's meaning?' The Master said, 'Great virtuous one, just believe that mind is Buddha and be done with it; why speak of holding and not holding? Just as when the great virtuous one has eaten, he goes up the east corridor and down the west corridor — surely he cannot keep asking people whether it holds or not.' Once, when the Master was living in a hermitage, a monk came to the hermitage. The Master said to him, 'I am going up the mountain to work. When it is time for the meal, cook the rice and eat it yourself, and send one portion up to me.' After a while the monk cooked the rice and ate it himself, then broke all the household utensils at once and lay down on the bed. The Master waited and saw that he did not come, so he returned to the hermitage. Seeing the monk lying there, the Master lay down beside him too. The monk then got up and left. Afterwards the Master said, 'When I lived in a hermitage before, there was a sharp-witted man of the Way, and to this day I have not seen him again.' The Master picked up a ball and asked a monk, 'How is that one compared with this one?' He replied, 'Not alike.' The Master said, 'Where did you see that one, that you say it is not alike?' He said, 'If you ask where I see it, the Reverend must put down what is in his hand.' The Master said, 'I grant you one eye.' The official Lu said to the Master, 'Master Sengzhao was very strange indeed: he could say that heaven and earth share the same root with me, and all things are one body with me.' The Master pointed at the peony in the courtyard and said, 'Official, people of the time see this one clump of flowers as if in a dream.' Lu could not fathom it. He also asked, 'What is the position of a heavenly king?' The Master said, 'If he is a heavenly king, then it is not a position.' He said, 'Your disciple has heard it said that a heavenly king dwells in the first ground.' The Master said, 'Those who should be saved by the body of a heavenly king are met with the manifestation of the body of a heavenly king and are preached to.' Lu took leave to return to his post at Xuancheng. The Master asked, 'Official, how will you govern the people there?' He said, 'I will govern the people with wisdom.' The Master said, 'If so, then the living beings there will all be plunged into misery.' When the Master entered Xuanzhou, the official Lu came out to welcome him, and pointing at the city gate he said, 'Everyone calls this the Yong Gate. I wonder what the Reverend calls it?' The Master said, 'If this old monk were to say, I fear it would disgrace the official's good name.' He asked, 'If bandits suddenly come, what then?' The Master said, 'Old Master Wang is at fault.' Lu also asked, 'What does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes for?' The Master said, 'Just as the state — what does it use the official for?' Once, when the Master was washing clothes, a monk asked, 'The Reverend still has this?' The Master picked up the robe and said, 'What is to be done about this?' (Xuanjue said, 'Just say, is it one or two?') The Master asked the monk Liangqin, 'In the empty kalpa is there still a Buddha?' He replied, 'There is.' The Master said, 'Who is it?' He replied, 'Liangqin.' The Master said, 'In what land does he dwell?' Liangqin said nothing. Someone asked, 'What is it that has been transmitted from ancestor to ancestor?' The Master said, 'One, two, three, four, five.' Someone asked, 'What is the ancients'?' The Master said, 'When there is, I will say.' He said,

和尚為甚麼妄語。師曰。我不妄語。盧行者卻妄語。問。十二時中以何為境。師曰。何不問王老師。曰。問了也。師曰。還曾與汝為境麼。問。青蓮不隨風火散時是甚麼。師曰。無風火不隨是甚麼。僧無對。師問。不思善。不思惡。思總不生時。還我本來面目來。曰。無容止可露(洞山雲。還曾將示人麼)。師問座主。你與我講經得麼。曰。某甲與和尚講經。和尚須與某甲說禪始得。師曰。不可將金彈子博銀彈子去。曰。某甲不會。師曰。汝道空中一片雲。為復釘釘住。為復藤纜著。問。空中有一珠。如何取得。師曰。斫竹布梯空中取。曰。空中如何布梯。師曰。汝擬作麼生取。僧辭。問曰。學人到諸方。有人問。和尚近日作麼生。未審如何祗對。師曰。但向道近日解相撲。曰。作麼生。師曰。一拍雙泯。問。父母未生時。鼻孔在甚麼處。師曰。父母已生了。鼻孔在甚麼處。師將順世。第一座問。和尚百年後向甚麼處去。師曰。山下作一頭水牯牛去。座曰。某甲隨和尚去還得也無。師曰。汝若隨我。即須銜取一莖草來。師乃示疾。告門人曰。星翳燈幻亦久矣。勿謂吾有去來也。言訖而逝。

'Why does the Reverend speak falsely?' The Master said, 'I do not speak falsely. Lu the traveler speaks falsely.' Someone asked, 'What is the object throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'Why not ask Old Master Wang?' He said, 'I have asked.' The Master said, 'Has it ever been an object for you?' Someone asked, 'What is it when the blue lotus does not scatter with the wind and fire?' The Master said, 'What is it that does not follow when there is no wind and fire?' The monk had no reply. The Master asked, 'When you do not think of good, do not think of evil, and thinking altogether does not arise, return to me my original face.' He said, 'There is no appearance or bearing to be shown.' (Dongshan said, 'Has he ever shown it to anyone?') The Master asked the lecturer, 'Can you expound the sutras for me?' He said, 'If I expound the sutras for the Reverend, the Reverend must expound Chan for me first.' The Master said, 'One cannot trade a gold pellet for a silver pellet.' He said, 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'You say there is a patch of cloud in the sky — is it nailed there, or is it tied with vines?' Someone asked, 'There is a pearl in the sky; how can one get it?' The Master said, 'Cut bamboo, spread a ladder, and get it from the sky.' He asked, 'How can one spread a ladder in the sky?' The Master said, 'How do you mean to get it?' A monk took his leave and asked, 'When I go to all quarters, if someone asks me how the Reverend has been lately, I do not know how to answer.' The Master said, 'Just tell them that lately he has learned to wrestle.' He asked, 'How is that?' The Master said, 'One clap and both vanish.' Someone asked, 'Before father and mother were born, where were the nostrils?' The Master said, 'Now that father and mother are born, where are the nostrils?' When the Master was about to pass away, the head seat asked, 'A hundred years from now, where will the Reverend go?' The Master said, 'I will go down the mountain and become a water buffalo.' The seat said, 'May I go with the Reverend?' The Master said, 'If you come with me, you must carry a blade of grass in your mouth.' The Master then showed signs of illness, and told his disciples, 'The film on the eye and the lamp's illusion have lasted long. Do not say that I have a coming or going.' Having said this, he passed away.

杭州鹽官海昌院齊安國師

National Teacher Qi'an of Haichang Monastery in Yanguan, Hangzhou

海門郡人也。姓李氏。生時神光照室。後有異僧謂之曰。建無勝幢。使佛日回照者。豈非汝乎。長依本郡雲琮禪師落髮受具。後聞大寂行化於龔公山。乃振錫而造焉。師有奇相。大寂一見深器之。乃令入室。密示正法。僧問。如何是本身盧舍那。師曰。與老僧過淨瓶來。僧將淨瓶至。師曰。卻安舊處著。僧送至本處。復來詰問。師曰。古佛過去久矣。有講僧來參。師問座主。蘊何事業。對曰。講華嚴經。師曰。有幾種法界。曰。廣說則重重無盡。略說有四種。師竪起拂子曰。這箇是第幾種法界。主沉吟。師曰。思而知。慮而解。是鬼家活計。日下孤燈。果然失照。(保福聞雲。若禮拜即吃和尚棒。禾山代雲。某甲不煩。和尚莫怪。法眼代拊掌三下)。僧問大梅。如何是西來意。大梅曰。西來無意。師聞乃曰。一箇棺材。兩箇死漢(玄沙雲。鹽官是作家)。師一日喚侍者曰。將犀牛扇子來。者曰。破也。師曰。扇子既破。還我犀牛兒來。者無對(投子代雲。不辭將出。恐頭角不全。資福代作圓相。心中書牛字。石霜代雲。若還和尚即無也。保福雲。和尚年尊。別請人好)。師一日謂眾曰。虗空為鼓。須彌為椎。甚麼人打得。眾無對(有人舉似南泉。泉雲。王老師不打這破鼓。法眼別雲。王老師不打)。有法空禪師到。請問經中諸義。師一一答了。卻曰。自禪師到來。貧道總未得作主人。法空曰。請和尚便作主人。師曰。今日夜也。且歸本位安置。明日卻來。法空下去。至明旦。師令沙彌屈法空禪師。法空至。師顧沙彌曰。咄。這沙彌不了事。教屈法空禪師。屈得箇守堂家人來。法空無語。法昕院主來參。師問。汝是誰。對曰。法昕。師曰。我不識汝。昕無語。師後不疾。宴坐示滅。諡悟空禪師。

was a man of Haimen Commandery. His family name was Li. When he was born, a divine light shone in the room. Later a strange monk said to him, 'Is it not you who will set up the banner of the unsurpassed and make the Buddha-sun shine back?' When he grew up he shaved his head and received full ordination under Chan Master Yuncong of his own commandery. Later, hearing that Daji was spreading the teaching at Mount Gonggong, he shook his staff and went there. The Master had unusual marks. Daji saw him once and thought highly of him, and had him enter his room, where he secretly showed him the true Dharma. A monk asked, 'What is Vairocana in his own person?' The Master said, 'Pass me the pure water bottle.' The monk brought the bottle. The Master said, 'Put it back in its old place.' The monk returned it to its place and came back to question him again. The Master said, 'The ancient Buddha passed away long ago.' A lecturing monk came to call. The Master asked the seat-master, 'What is your business?' He answered, 'I lecture on the Avatamsaka Sutra.' The Master said, 'How many kinds of dharma-realm are there?' He said, 'Broadly speaking, they are layer upon layer without end; briefly, there are four.' The Master raised his whisk and said, 'Which kind is this?' The seat-master fell silent. The Master said, 'To know by thinking and to understand by deliberation is the business of ghosts. A lone lamp under the sun—sure enough, it loses its light.' (Baofu heard this and said, 'If he bows, he gets the Master's stick.' Heshan spoke in his place, 'I would not trouble you; Master, do not take offense.' Fayan spoke in his place, clapping his hands three times.) A monk asked Damei, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' Damei said, 'The coming from the West has no meaning.' Hearing this the Master said, 'One coffin, two dead men.' (Xuansha said, 'Yanguan is a master craftsman.') One day the Master called an attendant and said, 'Bring me the rhinoceros fan.' The attendant said, 'It is broken.' The Master said, 'Since the fan is broken, give me back my little rhinoceros.' The attendant had no reply. (Touzi spoke in his place, 'I would not mind bringing it out, but I fear its horns are not whole.' Zifu spoke in his place by drawing a circle and writing the word for ox inside it. Shishuang spoke in his place, 'If I return it to the Master, then there is none.' Baofu said, 'The Master is advanced in years; better to ask someone else.') One day the Master said to the assembly, 'Let the void be the drum and Mount Sumeru the drumstick. Who can beat it?' The assembly had no reply. (Someone reported this to Nanquan. Nanquan said, 'Old Wang does not beat that broken drum.' Fayan also said, 'Old Wang does not beat it.') Chan Master Fakong arrived and asked about the meanings in the sutras. The Master answered them one by one, and then said, 'Since you arrived, poor Daoist has not once been able to play host.' Fakong said, 'Please, Master, just play host.' The Master said, 'It is night now; go back to your place and rest. Come again tomorrow.' Fakong went down. The next morning the Master sent a novice to invite Chan Master Fakong. Fakong came. The Master looked at the novice and said, 'Tut, this novice understands nothing. I told him to invite Chan Master Fakong, and he brings me a hall-keeper.' Fakong was speechless. The rector of Faxin Hall came to call. The Master asked, 'Who are you?' He answered, 'Faxin.' The Master said, 'I do not know you.' Faxin was speechless. Later the Master, without illness, sat in meditation and passed into quiescence. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Wukong.

盧山歸宗寺智常禪師

Chan Master Zhichang of Guizong Monastery on Mount Lu

上堂。從上古德。不是無知解。他高尚之士。不同常流。今時不能自成自立。虗度時光。諸子莫錯用心。無人替汝。亦無汝用心處。莫就他覔。從前祇是依他解。發言皆滯。光不透脫。祇為目前有物。僧問。如何是玄旨。師曰。無人能會。曰。曏者如何。師曰。有向即乖。曰。不向者如何。師曰。誰求玄旨。又曰。去。無汝用心處。曰。豈無方便門。令學人得入。師曰。觀音妙智力。能救世間苦。曰。如何是觀音妙智力。師敲鼎蓋三下。曰。子還聞否。曰。聞。師曰。我何不聞。僧無語。師以棒趂下。師嘗與南泉同行。後忽一日相別。煎茶次。南泉問曰。從來與師兄商量語句。彼此已知。此後或有人問。畢竟事作麼生。師曰。這一片地大好卓庵。泉曰。卓庵且置。畢竟事作麼生。師乃打飜茶銚。便起。泉曰。師兄吃茶了。普願未吃茶。師曰。作這箇語話。滴水也難銷。僧問。此事久遠。又如何用心。師曰。牛皮鞔露柱。露柱啾啾呌。凡耳聽不聞。諸聖呵呵笑。師因官人來。乃拈起帽子兩帶曰。還會麼。曰。不會。師曰。莫怪老僧頭風。不卸帽子。師入園取菜次。乃畫圓相。圍卻一株。語眾曰。輙不得動著這箇。眾不敢動。少頃。師復來。見菜猶在。便以棒趂眾僧曰。這一隊漢。無一箇有智慧底。師問。新到甚麼處來。曰。鳳翔來。師曰。還將得那箇來否。曰。將得來。師曰。在甚麼處。僧以手從頂擎捧呈之。師即舉手作接勢。拋向背後。僧無語。師曰。這野狐兒。師剗草次。有講僧來參。忽有一蛇過。師以鉏斷之。僧曰。久嚮歸宗。元來是箇麤行沙門。師曰。你麤。我麤。曰。如何是麤。師竪起鉏頭。曰。如何是細。師作斬蛇勢。曰。與麼。則依而行之。師曰。依而行之且置。你甚處見我斬蛇。僧無對。雲巖來參。師作挽弓勢。巖良久。作㧞劒勢。師曰。來太遲生。上堂。吾今欲說禪。諸子總近前。

Ascending the hall: 'The venerable ancients of old were not without understanding. As lofty gentlemen they were not of the common run. People today cannot stand on their own or establish themselves, and idly pass the time. You followers, do not misuse your minds. No one can do it for you, and there is no place for you to apply your mind. Do not seek it from others. Hitherto you have only relied on the understanding of others, and every word you speak is blocked. The light does not shine through, simply because there is something before your eyes.' A monk asked, 'What is the profound purport?' The Master said, 'No one can understand it.' 'What about one who turns toward it?' The Master said, 'To turn toward it is to deviate.' 'What about one who does not turn toward it?' The Master said, 'Who is it that seeks the profound purport?' He added, 'Go. There is no place for you to apply your mind.' 'Is there no expedient gate by which a student may enter?' The Master said, 'The wonderful power of Guanyin's wisdom can save the world from suffering.' 'What is the wonderful power of Guanyin's wisdom?' The Master tapped the lid of the cauldron three times and said, 'Do you hear it?' 'I hear it,' said the monk. The Master said, 'Why do I not hear it?' The monk was speechless. The Master drove him out with his staff. The Master had once traveled together with Nanquan, and one day they suddenly parted. While boiling tea, Nanquan asked, 'In all the phrases we have discussed together, brother, we have understood each other. If someone asks hereafter about the ultimate matter, what then?' The Master said, 'This patch of ground is just the place for a hut.' Nanquan said, 'Set the hut aside. What about the ultimate matter?' The Master knocked over the tea kettle and rose to go. Nanquan said, 'The brother has finished his tea; Puyuan has not.' The Master said, 'For talk like that, even a drop of water is hard to swallow.' A monk asked, 'This matter is far off—how then should one apply the mind?' The Master said, 'Leather wraps the exposed pillar, and the exposed pillar chirps and squeaks. Ordinary ears hear it not; the sages all laugh ha ha.' When an official came, the Master picked up his hat by its two bands and said, 'Do you understand?' 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'Do not blame the old monk's headache for not taking off his hat.' When the Master went into the garden to pick vegetables, he drew a circle around one plant and told the assembly, 'On no account touch this one.' The assembly dared not move it. After a while the Master returned, saw the vegetable still there, and drove the monks out with his staff, saying, 'This bunch, not one of them has any wisdom.' The Master asked, 'Where have you newly come from?' 'From Fengxiang.' The Master said, 'Did you bring that along?' 'I brought it.' The Master said, 'Where is it?' The monk lifted it with his hands from above his head and presented it. The Master at once raised his hand as if to take it, and flung it behind his back. The monk was speechless. The Master said, 'This wild fox cub.' While the Master was hoeing grass, a lecturing monk came to call. Suddenly a snake passed by. The Master cut it in two with the hoe. The monk said, 'I have long heard of Guizong; so you are just a coarse monk after all.' The Master said, 'You are coarse, I am coarse.' 'What is coarse?' The Master raised the hoe. 'What is fine?' The Master made the gesture of cutting the snake. 'Then one should follow and practice accordingly,' said the monk. The Master said, 'Following and practicing accordingly—set that aside. Where did you see me cut the snake?' The monk had no reply. Yunyan came to call. The Master made the gesture of drawing a bow. After a long while Yunyan made the gesture of drawing a sword. The Master said, 'You came too late.' Ascending the hall: 'I now wish to speak of Chan; you followers, all come forward.'

大眾近前。師曰。汝聽觀音行。善應諸方所。問。如何是觀音行。師乃彈指曰。諸人還聞否。曰。聞。師曰。一隊漢向這裡覔甚麼。以棒趂出。大笑歸方丈。僧辭。師問。甚麼處去。曰。諸方學五味禪去。師曰。諸方有五味禪。我這裡祇有一味禪。曰。如何是一味禪。師便打。僧曰。會也。會也。師曰。道。道。僧擬開口。師又打。僧後到黃檗。舉前話。檗上堂曰。馬大師出八十四人。善知識問著。箇箇屙漉漉地。祇有歸宗較些子。江州刺史李㴾問。教中所言。須彌納芥子。㴾即不疑。芥子納須彌。莫是妄譚否。師曰。人傳使君讀萬卷書籍。還是否。曰。然。師曰。摩頂至踵如椰子大。萬卷書向何處著。李俛首而已。李異日又問。一大藏教。明得箇甚麼邊事。師舉拳示之。曰。還會麼。曰。不會。師曰。這箇措大。拳頭也不識。曰。請師指示。師曰。遇人即途中授與。不遇即世諦流佈。師以目有重瞳。遂將藥手按摩。以致兩目俱赤。世號赤眼歸宗焉。後示滅。諡至真禪師。

The assembly came forward. The Master said, 'You hear the practice of Guanyin, which well responds in every place.' A monk asked, 'What is the practice of Guanyin?' The Master snapped his fingers and said, 'Do you all hear it?' 'We hear it.' The Master said, 'What is this bunch looking for here?' He drove them out with his staff, laughing loudly, and returned to his quarters. A monk took his leave. The Master asked, 'Where are you going?' 'I am going to the various regions to study five-flavored Chan.' The Master said, 'The various regions have five-flavored Chan; here I have only one-flavored Chan.' 'What is one-flavored Chan?' The Master hit him. The monk said, 'I understand, I understand.' The Master said, 'Say it, say it.' As the monk was about to open his mouth, the Master hit him again. Later the monk went to Huangbo and recounted the foregoing. Huangbo ascended the hall and said, 'Ma the Great Master produced eighty-four good teachers; when questioned, every one of them dribbles and slobbers. Only Guizong is somewhat better.' Li Bo, prefect of Jiangzhou, asked, 'The teachings say that Mount Sumeru contains a mustard seed, and of that I have no doubt. But that a mustard seed contains Mount Sumeru—is that not idle talk?' The Master said, 'People say you have read ten thousand scrolls, is that so?' 'It is.' The Master said, 'From the crown of your head to your heels you are no bigger than a coconut—where do ten thousand scrolls fit?' Li could only bow his head. Another day Li asked again, 'What matter does the whole Canon clarify?' The Master raised his fist and showed it to him, saying, 'Do you understand?' 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'This poor scholar does not even know a fist.' 'Please, Master, instruct me.' The Master said, 'When you meet someone, give it on the road; when you meet no one, let it spread as worldly truth.' Because the Master had double pupils in his eyes, he massaged them with a medicated hand, so that both eyes turned red. The world called him Red-Eyed Guizong. Later he passed into quiescence. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Zhizhen.

明州大梅山法常禪師者

Chan Master Fachang of Damei Mountain in Mingzhou,

襄陽人也。姓鄭氏。幼歲從師於荊州玉泉寺。初參大寂。問。如何是佛。寂曰。即心是佛。師即大悟。遂之四明梅子真舊隱縛茆燕處。唐真元中。鹽官會下有僧。因採拄杖。迷路至庵所。問。和尚在此多少時。師曰。祇見四山青又黃。又問。出山路向甚麼處去。師曰。隨流去。僧歸舉似鹽官。官曰。我在江西時曾見一僧。自後不知消息。莫是此僧否。遂令僧去招之。師答以偈曰。摧殘枯木倚寒林。幾度逢春不變心。樵客遇之猶不顧。郢人那得苦追尋。一池荷葉衣無盡。數樹松花食有餘。剛被世人知住處。又移茅舍入深居。大寂聞師住山。乃令僧問。和尚見馬大師得箇甚麼。便住此山。師曰。大師向我道。即心是佛。我便向這裡住。僧曰。大師近日佛法又別。師曰。作麼生。曰。又道。非心非佛。師曰。這老漢惑亂人。未有了日。任他非心非佛。我祇管即心即佛。其僧回舉似馬祖。祖曰。梅子熟也(僧問禾山。大梅恁麼道。意作麼生。禾山雲。真師子兒)。龐居士聞之。欲驗師實。特去相訪。才相見。士便問。久嚮大梅。未審梅子熟也未。師曰。熟也。你向甚麼處下口。士曰。百雜碎。師伸手曰。還我核子來。士無語。自此學者漸臻。師道彌著。上堂。汝等諸人。各自迴心達本。莫逐其末。但得其本。其末自至。若欲識本。唯了自心。此心元是一切世間．出世間法根本。故心生種種法生。心滅種種法滅。心且不附一切善惡而生。萬法本自如如。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。蒲花柳絮。竹針麻線。夾山與定山同行。言話次。定山曰。生死中無佛。即無生死。夾山曰。生死中有佛。即不迷生死。互相不肯。同上山見師。夾山便舉問。未審二人見處那箇較親。師曰。一親一疎。夾山復問。那箇親。師曰。且去。明日來。夾山明日再上問。師曰。親者不問。問者不親(夾山住後自雲。當時失一隻眼)。新羅僧參。

was a man of Xiangyang. His family name was Zheng. In his youth he studied under a teacher at Yuquan Monastery in Jingzhou. When he first called on Daji, he asked, 'What is the Buddha?' Daji said, 'This very mind is the Buddha.' The Master at once had a great awakening, and went to Siming, to the old hermitage of Meizi Zhen, where he bound thatch and dwelt at ease. In the Zhenyuan era of the Tang, a monk in Yanguan's assembly, while gathering staffs, lost his way and came to the hut. He asked, 'How long have you been here, Master?' The Master said, 'I have only seen the four mountains turn green and then yellow.' He asked again, 'Which way does the road out of the mountains go?' The Master said, 'Follow the stream.' The monk returned and reported this to Yanguan. Yanguan said, 'When I was in Jiangxi I once met a monk, and since then I have had no news of him. Could it be this monk?' He sent the monk to invite him. The Master answered with a verse: 'A withered tree, battered, leans in the cold forest; how many springs has it met without changing its heart? The woodcutter passes it and does not even look; how could the man of Ying wear himself out seeking it? A pond of lotus leaves is clothing without end; a few trees of pine flowers are food more than enough. No sooner do worldly people know where I dwell than I move my thatched hut deeper in.' When Daji heard that the Master was living on the mountain, he sent a monk to ask, 'What did you get from seeing Great Master Ma, that you live on this mountain?' The Master said, 'The Great Master told me that this very mind is the Buddha, and so I live here.' The monk said, 'The Great Master's Buddhadharma has lately changed.' The Master said, 'How so?' He said, 'He also says, not mind, not Buddha.' The Master said, 'That old man deludes people and will never be done. Let him say not mind, not Buddha; I will just keep to this very mind is the Buddha.' The monk returned and reported this to Mazu. Mazu said, 'The plum is ripe.' (A monk asked Heshan, 'What does Damei mean by speaking thus?' Heshan said, 'A true lion's cub.') When the layman Pang heard of it, he wanted to test whether the Master was genuine, and made a special visit. As soon as they met, the layman asked, 'I have long heard of Damei; I wonder whether the plum is ripe or not.' The Master said, 'Ripe. Where will you bite it?' The layman said, 'A hundred bits and pieces.' The Master stretched out his hand and said, 'Give me back the pit.' The layman was speechless. From then on students gradually gathered, and the Master's teaching became ever more renowned. Ascending the hall: 'You people, each of you turn your mind back and reach the root; do not chase the branches. Once you have the root, the branches come of themselves. If you wish to know the root, just understand your own mind. This mind is originally the root of all worldly and world-transcending dharmas. Therefore when the mind arises, the various dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, the various dharmas cease. The mind does not arise attached to any good or evil, and the ten thousand dharmas are originally thus, just as they are.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of Buddhadharma?' The Master said, 'Cattail blossoms and willow catkins, bamboo needles and hemp thread.' Jiashan and Dingshan were traveling together, conversing. Dingshan said, 'If there is no Buddha within birth and death, then there is no birth and death.' Jiashan said, 'If there is a Buddha within birth and death, then one is not deluded by birth and death.' Neither would yield, and together they went up the mountain to see the Master. Jiashan raised the question: 'Which of the two views is closer?' The Master said, 'One is close, one is distant.' Jiashan asked again, 'Which is close?' The Master said, 'Go away for now. Come tomorrow.' The next day Jiashan came up and asked again. The Master said, 'The one who is close does not ask; the one who asks is not close.' (After Jiashan had settled in his own place, he said of himself, 'I lost one eye at the time.') A monk from Silla came to call.

師問。發足甚處。曰。欲通來處。恐遭怪責。師曰。不可無來處也。曰。新羅。師曰。爭怪得汝。僧作禮。師曰。是與不是。知與不知。祇是新羅國裡人。忽一日謂其徒曰。來莫可抑。往莫可追。從容間聞鼯鼠聲。乃曰。即此物。非他物。汝等諸人。善自護持。吾今逝矣。言訖示滅。永明壽禪師讚曰。師初得道。即心是佛。最後示徒。物非他物。窮萬法源。徹千聖骨。真化不移。何妨出沒。

The Master asked, 'Where did you set out from?' He said, 'If I were to tell you where I come from, I fear I would be blamed.' The Master said, 'You cannot be without a place you came from.' He said, 'Silla.' The Master said, 'How could I blame you?' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Right or wrong, knowing or not knowing, you are simply a man of the country of Silla.' One day he suddenly said to his disciples, 'Coming cannot be held back; going cannot be pursued.' In a leisurely moment he heard the cry of a flying squirrel, and said, 'It is just this thing, not another thing. You people, guard it well. I am going now.' Having spoken, he passed into quiescence. Chan Master Yongming Yanshou praised him: 'When the Master first attained the Way, this very mind was the Buddha. At the end he showed his disciples that the thing is not another thing. He plumbed the source of the ten thousand dharmas and penetrated the marrow of a thousand sages. True transformation does not shift—what hindrance are coming and going?'

洛京佛光如滿禪師(曾住五臺山金閣寺)

Chan Master Ruman of Foguang in Luojing (he once lived at Jinge Monastery on Mount Wutai)

唐順宗問。佛從何方來。滅向何方去。既言常住世。佛今在何處。師答曰。佛從無為來。滅向無為去。法身等虗空。常住無心處。有念歸無念。有住歸無住。來為眾生來。去為眾生去。清淨真如海。湛然體常住。智者善思惟。更勿生疑慮。帝又問。佛向王宮生。滅向雙林滅。住世四十九。又言無法說。山河與大海。天地及日月。時至皆歸盡。誰言不生滅。疑情猶若斯。智者善分別。師答曰。佛體本無為。迷情妄分別。法身等虗空。未曾有生滅。有緣佛出世。無緣佛入滅。處處化眾生。猶如水中月。非常亦非斷。非生亦非滅。生亦未曾生。滅亦未曾滅。了見無心處。自然無法說。帝聞大悅。益重禪宗。

Emperor Shunzong of Tang asked, 'From what quarter did the Buddha come, and to what quarter did he pass away? Since you say he always abides in the world, where is the Buddha now?' The Master answered, 'The Buddha came from the unconditioned and passed away into the unconditioned. His dharma-body is equal to space, ever abiding where there is no mind. What has thought returns to no-thought; what has abiding returns to no-abiding. He came for the sake of living beings, and departed for the sake of living beings. The pure ocean of suchness, limpid, its essence ever abides. Let the wise ponder this well, and give rise to no more doubt.' The Emperor asked again, 'The Buddha was born in the royal palace and passed away in the twin sal trees. He dwelt in the world forty-nine years, and yet you say he spoke no dharma. Mountains and rivers, the great sea, heaven and earth, sun and moon—when their time comes they all return to extinction; who then is said to be unborn and undying? If doubt still remains like this, let the wise distinguish it well.' The Master answered, 'The Buddha's essence is originally unconditioned; it is deluded feeling that vainly discriminates. The dharma-body is equal to space, and has never had birth or death. When conditions are present the Buddha appears in the world; when conditions are absent the Buddha enters extinction. Everywhere he transforms living beings, like the moon in the water. It is neither permanent nor annihilated, neither born nor extinguished. Birth was never birth, extinction was never extinction. Clearly seeing the place of no-mind, naturally there is no dharma to speak.' The Emperor heard this with great delight and esteemed the Chan school all the more.

婺州五洩山靈默禪師

Chan Master Lingmo of Wuxie Mountain in Wuzhou

毗陵人也。姓宣氏。初謁馬祖。遂得披剃受具。後遠謁石頭。便問。一言相契即住。不契即去。石頭據坐。師便行。頭隨後召曰。闍黎。師回首。頭曰。從生至死。祇是這箇。回頭轉腦作麼。師言下大悟。乃拗折拄杖而棲止焉(洞山雲。當時若不是五洩先師。大難承當。然雖如此。猶涉在途。長慶雲。險。玄覺雲。那箇是涉在途處。有僧雲。為伊三寸途中薦得。所以在途。玄覺雲。為復薦得自己。為復薦得三寸。若是自己。為甚麼成三寸。若是三寸。為甚麼悟去。且道洞山意作麼生。莫亂說。子細好)。

was a man of Piling. His family name was Xuan. He first called on Mazu, and there received the shave and full ordination. Later he traveled far to call on Shitou, and said at once, 'If a single word agrees, I stay; if not, I go.' Shitou sat there. The Master then started to leave. Shitou called after him, 'Acharya.' The Master turned his head. Shitou said, 'From birth to death it is just this. What are you turning your head and rolling your eyes for?' At these words the Master had a great awakening, and he snapped his staff and settled there. (Dongshan said, 'If it had not been for the late Master of Wuxie at that time, it would have been very hard to bear. Even so, he was still wading in the road.' Changqing said, 'Perilous.' Xuanjue said, 'Where is the place of wading in the road?' A monk said, 'Because he understood it on the road of three inches, therefore he was on the road.' Xuanjue said, 'Did he understand himself, or did he understand three inches? If it was himself, why did it become three inches? If it was three inches, why did he awaken? Now tell me, what does Dongshan mean? Do not talk nonsense—be careful.')

唐貞元初。住白沙道場。復居五洩。僧問。何物大於天地。師曰。無人識得伊。曰。還可雕琢也無。師曰。汝試下手看。問。此箇門中。始終事如何。師曰。汝道目前底成來得多少時也。曰。學人不會。師曰。我此間無汝問底。曰。和尚豈無接人處。師曰。待汝求接我即接。曰。便請和尚接。師曰。汝少欠箇甚麼。問。如何得無心去。師曰。傾山覆海晏然靜。地動安眠豈採伊。元和十三年三月二十三日。沐浴焚香端坐。告眾曰。法身圓寂。示有去來。千聖同源。萬靈歸一。吾今漚散。胡假興哀。無自勞神。須存正念。若遵此命。真報吾恩。儻固違言。非吾之子。時有僧問。和尚向甚麼處去。師曰。無處去。曰。某甲何不見。師曰。非眼所覩(洞山雲。作家)。言畢。奄然順化。

In the early Zhenyuan era of the Tang he lived at the Baisha practice place, and later dwelt at Wuxie. A monk asked, 'What is greater than heaven and earth?' The Master said, 'No one knows it.' 'Can it be carved and polished?' The Master said, 'Just try your hand at it.' 'In this gate, what is the matter of beginning and end?' The Master said, 'How long do you say what is before your eyes has been accomplished?' 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'There is nothing here for you to ask about.' 'Has the Master no way of receiving people?' The Master said, 'When you seek to be received, I receive you.' 'Then please receive me, Master.' The Master said, 'What is it that you lack?' 'How can one attain no-mind?' The Master said, 'Though mountains topple and seas overturn, one is calmly still; though the earth quakes, one sleeps on and heeds it not.' On the twenty-third day of the third month of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe, he bathed, burned incense, and sat upright, and told the assembly, 'The dharma-body is perfect quiescence; it shows itself as coming and going. A thousand sages share one source, ten thousand spirits return to one. I now scatter like foam—why should grief be stirred? Do not weary your spirits; keep to right mindfulness. If you obey this command, you truly repay my kindness. If you stubbornly go against my words, you are not my sons.' Then a monk asked, 'Where is the Master going?' The Master said, 'Nowhere.' 'Why do I not see it?' The Master said, 'It is not seen by the eye.' (Dongshan said, 'A master craftsman.') Having spoken, he quietly passed on.

幽州盤山寶積禪師

Chan Master Baoji of Panshan in Youzhou

因於市肆行。見一客人買豬肉。語屠家曰。精底割一斤來。屠家放下刀。叉手曰。長史。那箇不是精底。師於此有省。又一日出門。見人舁喪。謌郎振鈴雲。紅輪決定沉西去。未委魂靈往那方。幕下孝子哭曰。哀哀。師忽身心踴躍。歸舉似馬祖。祖印可之。住後。僧問。如何是道。師便咄。僧曰。學人未領旨。師曰。去。上堂。心若無事。萬法不生。意絕玄機。纖塵何立。道本無體。因體而立名。道本無名。因名而得號。若言即心即佛。今時未入玄微。若言非心非佛。猶是指蹤極則。向上一路。千聖不傳。學者勞形。如猿捉影。上堂。夫大道無中。復誰先後。長空絕際。何用稱量。空既如斯。道復何說。上堂。夫心月孤圓。光吞萬象。光非照境。境亦非存。光境俱亡。復是何物。禪德譬如擲劒揮空。莫論及之不及。斯乃空輪無跡。劒刃無虧。若能如是。心心無知。全心即佛。全佛即人。人佛無異。始為道矣。上堂。禪德。可中學道。似地擎山。不知山之孤峻。如石含玉。不知玉之無瑕。若如此者。是名出家。故導師雲。法本不相礙。三際亦復然。無為無事人。猶是金鎻難。所以靈源獨耀。道絕無生。大智非明。真空無跡。真如凡聖。皆是夢言。佛及涅槃。並為增語。禪德直須自看。無人替代。上堂。三界無法。何處求心。四大本空。佛依何住。璿璣不動。寂爾無言。覿面相呈。更無餘事。珍重。師將順世。告眾曰。有人邈得吾真否。眾將所寫真呈。皆不契師意。普化出曰。某甲邈得。師曰。何不呈似老僧。化乃打筋斗而出。師曰。這漢向後掣風狂去在。師乃奄化。諡凝寂大師。

While walking in the marketplace, the Master saw a customer buying pork. The customer said to the butcher, 'Cut me a pound of the lean.' The butcher put down his knife, folded his hands, and said, 'Chief of staff, which part is not lean?' At this the Master had an insight. Another day, going out the gate, he saw people carrying a coffin. The mourning singer shook his bell and said, 'The red wheel surely sinks in the west; I know not where the soul has gone.' The filial son under the canopy wailed, 'Woe, woe.' The Master suddenly felt his body and mind leap up, and he returned and reported this to Mazu. Mazu confirmed him. After he had settled in his own place, a monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master shouted. The monk said, 'I have not grasped your meaning.' The Master said, 'Go.' Ascending the hall: 'If the mind has no affairs, the ten thousand dharmas do not arise. When thought cuts off the profound mechanism, how could even a speck of dust stand? The Way is originally without substance; because of substance a name is given. The Way is originally without name; because of a name a title is got. If you say that this very mind is the Buddha, you have not yet entered the profound and subtle. If you say not mind, not Buddha, you are still pointing at the ultimate of traces. The one road above—a thousand sages have not transmitted it. Students weary their bodies, like a monkey grasping at shadows.' Ascending the hall: 'The great Way has no middle—who then is first or last? The vast sky has no edge—what use is measuring it? Since space is thus, what can be said of the Way?' Ascending the hall: 'The mind-moon is alone and round; its light swallows the ten thousand forms. The light does not illumine a field, nor does the field exist. When both light and field are gone, what thing is that? Men of Chan, it is like brandishing a sword in the air—do not discuss whether it reaches or not. This is the wheel of space leaving no trace, the sword's edge nowhere blunted. If you can be like this, then mind after mind is without knowing. The whole mind is the Buddha, the whole Buddha is the person. When person and Buddha are not two, then it is the Way.' Ascending the hall: 'Men of Chan, to study the Way in the midst of this is like the earth holding up a mountain and not knowing the mountain's solitary steepness; like a stone containing jade and not knowing the jade has no flaw. If you are like this, you are called one who has left home. Therefore the guiding teacher said, Dharmas originally do not obstruct one another, and the three periods are likewise so. The person of no action and no affairs still finds the golden lock hard. Thus the numinous source shines alone, and the Way cuts off birth. Great wisdom is not illumination, true emptiness leaves no trace. Suchness and the ordinary and the sage are all dream-talk. Buddha and nirvana alike are added words. Men of Chan, you must look for yourselves—no one can take your place. Ascending the hall: 'In the three realms there is no dharma—where will you seek the mind? The four elements are originally empty—on what does the Buddha depend? The mechanism of heaven does not move, silent and wordless. Face to face it is presented; there is nothing further. Take care.' When the Master was about to pass on, he told the assembly, 'Can anyone draw my true likeness?' The assembly presented the portraits they had made, but none matched the Master's meaning. Puhua came forward and said, 'I can draw it.' The Master said, 'Why not show it to the old monk?' Puhua then turned a somersault and went out. The Master said, 'This fellow will go off mad later.' Then the Master passed into quiescence. He was posthumously titled Great Master Ningji.

蒲州麻谷山寶徹禪師

Chan Master Baoche of Maku Mountain in Puzhou

侍馬祖行次。問。如何是大涅槃。祖曰。急。師曰。急箇甚麼。祖曰。看水。師使扇次。僧問。風性常住。無處不周。和尚為甚麼卻搖扇。師曰。你祇知風性常住。且不知無處不周。曰。作麼生是無處不周底道理。師卻搖扇。僧作禮。師曰。無用處師僧。著得一千箇。有甚麼益。問僧。甚處來。僧不審。師又問。甚處來。僧珍重。師下床擒住曰。這箇師僧。問著便作佛法祇對。曰。大似無眼師。放手曰。放汝命。通汝氣。僧作禮。師欲扭住。僧拂袖便行。師曰。休將三歲竹。擬比萬年松。師同南泉二三人去謁徑山。路逢一婆。乃問。徑山路向甚處去。婆曰。驀直去。師曰。前頭水深過得否。婆曰。不濕腳。師又問。上岸稻得與麼好。下岸稻得與麼怯。婆曰。總被螃蠏吃卻也。師曰。禾好香。婆曰。沒氣息。師又問。婆住在甚處。婆曰。祇在這裡。三人至店。婆煎茶一瓶。攜盞三隻至。謂曰。和尚有神通者即吃茶。三人相顧間。婆曰。看老朽自逞神通去也。於是拈盞傾茶便行。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師默然。僧又問石霜。此意如何。霜曰。主人擎拳帶累。闍黎拖泥涉水。

Once, as he was walking along with Mazu, he asked, 'What is great nirvana?' Mazu said, 'Hurry.' The master said, 'Hurry at what?' Mazu said, 'Watch the water.' Once, as the master was using a fan, a monk asked, 'The nature of wind abides forever and reaches everywhere. Why then does the reverend master still wave a fan?' The master said, 'You know only that the nature of wind abides forever; you do not know that it reaches everywhere.' The monk said, 'What is the principle of reaching everywhere?' The master simply went on waving the fan. The monk bowed. The master said, 'A thousand useless monks could be kept here, and what good would they do?' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' The monk did not give the customary greeting. The master asked again, 'Where do you come from?' The monk said, 'Take care of yourself.' The master got down from his seat, seized him, and said, 'This monk, the moment he is questioned, just makes up Chan answers.' The monk said, 'You are very much like a master without eyes.' The master let go and said, 'I spare your life and let you breathe.' The monk bowed. When the master moved to twist and hold him, the monk shook his sleeves and walked off. The master said, 'Do not take a three-year bamboo for a ten-thousand-year pine.' The master went with Nanquan and two or three others to call on Jingshan. On the road they met an old woman, and asked her, 'Which way does the road to Jingshan go?' The woman said, 'Straight on.' The master said, 'Is the water ahead deep enough to cross?' The woman said, 'It will not wet your feet.' The master asked again, 'Why is the rice on the upper bank so good, and the rice on the lower bank so poor?' The woman said, 'The crabs have eaten it all.' The master said, 'The grain smells sweet.' The woman said, 'It has no breath.' The master asked again, 'Where does the old woman live?' The woman said, 'Right here.' When the three reached the shop, the woman brewed a pot of tea, brought three cups, and said, 'Any reverend with spiritual powers may drink the tea.' As the three looked at one another, the woman said, 'Watch this old woman show off her own spiritual powers.' With that she picked up a cup, poured out the tea, and walked away. A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master was silent. The monk then asked Shishuang, 'What does this mean?' Shishuang said, 'The host raised his fist and got entangled; the reverend dragged through mud and waded through water.'

湖南東寺如會禪師

Chan Master Ruhui of Dongsi in Hunan

始興曲江人也。初謁徑山。後參大寂。學徒既眾。僧堂床榻為之陷折。時稱折床會也。自大寂去世。師常患門徒以即心即佛之譚誦憶不已。且謂。佛於何住。而曰即心。心如畫師。而云即佛。遂示眾曰。心不是佛。智不是道。劒去遠矣。爾方刻舟。時號東寺為禪窟焉。相國崔公群出為湖南觀察使。見師問曰。師以何得。師曰。見性得。師方病眼。公譏曰。既雲見性。其柰眼何。師曰。見性非眼。眼病何害。公稽首謝之(法眼別雲。是相公眼)。公見鳥雀於佛頭上放糞。乃問。鳥雀還有佛性也無。師曰。有。公曰。為甚麼向佛頭上放糞。師曰。是伊為甚麼不向鷂子頭上放。仰山參。師問。汝是甚處人。仰曰。廣南人。師曰。我聞廣南有鎮海明珠。是否。仰曰。是。師曰。此珠如何。仰曰。黑月即隱。白月即現。師曰。還將得來也無。仰曰。將得來。師曰。何不呈似老僧。仰叉手近前曰。昨到溈山。亦被索此珠。直得無言可對。無理可伸。師曰。真師子兒。善能哮吼。仰禮拜了。卻入客位。具威儀。再上人事。師才見。乃曰。已相見了也。仰曰。恁麼相見。莫不當否。師歸方丈。閉卻門。仰歸。舉似溈山。溈曰。寂子是甚麼心行。仰曰。若不恁麼。爭識得他。後復有人問師曰。某甲擬請和尚開堂得否。師曰。待將物裹石頭煖即得。彼無語(藥山代雲。石頭煖也)。唐長慶癸卯歲歸寂。諡傳明大師。

He was a man of Qujiang in Shixing. He first called on Jingshan, and later studied under Daji. When his students grew numerous, the beds and platforms of the monks' hall collapsed under them, and he was known at the time as Collapsed-Bed Hui. After Daji passed away, the master was troubled that his followers never stopped reciting and recalling the saying that this very mind is Buddha, and he said, 'Where does the Buddha dwell, that you call it this very mind? The mind is like a painter, yet you call it Buddha.' So he taught the assembly, 'The mind is not Buddha; wisdom is not the Way. The sword has gone far already, and only now do you carve the boat.' At that time Dongsi was called a den of Chan. When Chancellor Cui Qun was appointed observing commissioner of Hunan, he visited the master and asked, 'By what have you attained?' The master said, 'By seeing the nature.' The master happened to have an eye ailment, and the chancellor mocked him: 'Since you speak of seeing the nature, what about your eyes?' The master said, 'Seeing the nature is not the eye; what harm does an eye disease do?' The chancellor bowed his head and apologized. (Fayan gave another answer: 'It is the chancellor's eye.') The chancellor saw birds dropping dung on a Buddha image and asked, 'Do birds have Buddha-nature or not?' The master said, 'They have.' The chancellor said, 'Then why do they drop dung on the Buddha's head?' The master said, 'Why do they not drop it on the sparrowhawk's head?' Yangshan came to pay his respects. The master asked, 'Where are you from?' Yangshan said, 'From Guangnan.' The master said, 'I hear that Guangnan has a pearl that calms the sea. Is that so?' Yangshan said, 'It is.' The master said, 'What is that pearl like?' Yangshan said, 'In the dark moon it hides; in the bright moon it appears.' The master said, 'Can you bring it here?' Yangshan said, 'I can bring it.' The master said, 'Then why not show it to this old monk?' Yangshan crossed his hands and stepped forward, saying, 'Yesterday when I reached Mount Wei I was asked for this pearl too, and I truly had no word with which to answer and no principle to set forth.' The master said, 'A true lion's cub, well able to roar.' After bowing, Yangshan went into the guest quarters, put on full formal demeanor, and came again to pay his respects. The master, the moment he saw him, said, 'We have already met.' Yangshan said, 'Meeting in this way — is it not improper?' The master went back to the abbot's quarters and shut the door. Yangshan returned and told this to Weishan. Weishan said, 'Jizi, what state of mind is this?' Yangshan said, 'If not for this, how could one know him?' Later someone asked the master, 'I intend to ask the reverend master to open a teaching hall; may I?' The master said, 'When you can wrap a stone in cloth and warm it, then you may.' The man had nothing to say. (Yaoshan answered in his stead: 'The stone is warm.') He passed into quiescence in the guimao year of the Changqing era of Tang. His posthumous title was Great Master Chuanming.

䖍州西堂智藏禪師

Chan Master Zhizang of Xitang in Qianzhou

䖍化廖氏子。八歲從師。二十五具戒。有相者覩其殊表。謂之曰。骨氣非凡。當為法王之輔佐也。師遂參禮大寂。與百丈海禪師同為入室。皆承印記。一日。大寂遣師詣長安。奉書於忠國師。國師問曰。汝師說甚麼法。師從東過西而立。國師曰。祇這箇更別有。師卻從西過東邊立。國師曰。這箇是馬師底。仁者作麼生。師曰。早箇呈似和尚了也。尋又送書上徑山(語在國一章)。屬連帥路嗣恭延請大寂居府。應期盛化。師回郡。得大寂付授衲袈裟。令學者親近。僧問馬祖。離四句．絕百非。請師直指西來意。祖曰。我今日勞倦。不能為汝說得。問取智藏。其僧乃來問師。師曰。汝何不問和尚。僧曰。和尚令某甲來問上座。師曰。我今日頭痛。不能為汝說得。問取海兄去。僧又去問海百丈和尚。海曰。我到這裡卻不會。僧乃舉似馬祖。祖曰。藏頭白。海頭黑。馬祖一日問師曰。子何不看經。師曰。經豈異邪。祖曰。然雖如此。汝向後為人也須得。曰。智藏病思自養。敢言為人。祖曰。子末年必興於世。師便禮拜。馬祖滅後。師唐貞元七年。眾請開堂。李尚書嘗問僧。馬大師有甚麼言教。僧曰。大師或說即心即佛。或說非心非佛。李曰。總過這邊。李卻問師。馬大師有甚麼言教。師呼李翱。李應諾。師曰。鼓角動也。師普請次。曰。因果歷然。爭柰何。爭柰何。時有僧出。以手托地。師曰。作甚麼。曰。相救。相救。師曰。大眾。這箇師僧猶較些子。僧拂袖便走。師曰。師子身中蟲。自食師子肉。僧問。有問有答。賓主歷然。無問無答時如何。師曰。怕爛卻那(後有僧舉問長慶。慶雲。相逢盡道休官去。林下何曾見一人)。制空禪師謂師曰。日出太早生。師曰。正是時。師住西堂。後有一俗士問。有天堂地獄否。師曰。有。曰。有佛法僧寶否。師曰。有。更有多問。盡答言有。曰。和尚恁麼道莫錯否。師曰。

He was a son of the Liao family of Qianhua. He followed a teacher at the age of eight and received full ordination at twenty-five. A physiognomist saw his remarkable appearance and told him, 'Your bone-spirit is uncommon; you are sure to be a support to the Dharma King.' The master then went to pay his respects to Daji, and together with Chan Master Baizhang Huaihai he was among the inner-chamber disciples, both receiving his seal. One day Daji sent the master to Chang'an to deliver a letter to National Teacher Zhong. The national teacher asked, 'What Dharma does your teacher teach?' The master walked from the east side over to the west side and stood there. The national teacher said, 'Is it just this, or is there something more?' The master walked back from the west to the east side and stood there. The national teacher said, 'That is Mazu's doing. What about you, sir?' The master said, 'I have already shown it to the reverend master.' Soon afterward he again delivered a letter to Jingshan (the conversation is recorded in the chapter on the national teacher). When the regional commander Lu Sigong invited Daji to reside in the prefectural seat, the teaching flourished greatly in due season. The master returned to the prefecture and received from Daji the transmission of the patched robe, and was told to let students draw near him. A monk asked Mazu, 'Beyond the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations, please, master, point directly to the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west.' Mazu said, 'I am tired today and cannot explain it to you. Go and ask Zhizang.' The monk then came and asked the master. The master said, 'Why do you not ask the reverend master?' The monk said, 'The reverend master told me to ask the senior.' The master said, 'I have a headache today and cannot explain it to you. Go and ask brother Hai.' The monk then went and asked Hai, the reverend master of Baizhang. Hai said, 'When it comes to this, I do not understand.' The monk reported this to Mazu. Mazu said, 'Zang's head is white, Hai's head is black.' One day Mazu asked the master, 'Why do you not read the scriptures?' The master said, 'Are the scriptures different?' Mazu said, 'Even so, later on, when you teach people, you will need them.' The master said, 'Zhizang is ill and thinks only of caring for himself; how dare he speak of teaching others?' Mazu said, 'In your later years you will surely prosper in the world.' The master bowed. After Mazu's passing, in the seventh year of the Zhenyuan era of Tang, the assembly asked the master to open a teaching hall. Minister Li once asked a monk, 'What teachings did the great master Ma give?' The monk said, 'The great master sometimes said that this very mind is Buddha, and sometimes said that it is not mind and not Buddha.' Li said, 'It all comes over to this side.' Li then asked the master, 'What teachings did the great master Ma give?' The master called out, 'Li Ao!' Li answered. The master said, 'The drum and horn are sounding.' Once, at the communal work gathering, the master said, 'Cause and effect are plainly clear — what is to be done, what is to be done?' A monk then stepped forward and pressed his hands to the ground. The master said, 'What are you doing?' The monk said, 'Save me, save me!' The master said, 'Assembly, this monk is a little better than the rest.' The monk shook his sleeves and walked off. The master said, 'The worm in the lion's body eats the lion's own flesh.' A monk asked, 'When there are questions and answers, host and guest are plainly distinct. What about when there is no question and no answer?' The master said, 'I fear it will rot away.' (Later a monk asked Changqing about this. Qing said, 'Meeting one another, all say they will resign office and go; among the groves, when has anyone ever been seen?') Chan Master Zhikong said to the master, 'The sun rises too early.' The master said, 'It is exactly the time.' The master dwelt at Xitang. Later a layman asked, 'Are there heavens and hells?' The master said, 'There are.' He asked, 'Are there the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha?' The master said, 'There are.' To many further questions he answered, 'There are.' The layman said, 'Is the reverend master not mistaken in speaking this way?' The master said:

汝曾見尊宿來邪。曰。某甲曾參徑山和尚來。師曰。徑山向汝作麼生道。曰。他道一切總無。師曰。汝有妻否。曰。有。師曰。徑山和尚有妻否。曰。無。師曰。徑山和尚道無即得。俗士禮謝而去。師元和九年四月八日歸寂。憲宗諡大宣教禪師。穆宗重諡大覺禪師。

(The master continued:) 'Have you ever met an elder adept?' The layman said, 'I once studied under the reverend master of Jingshan.' The master said, 'What did Jingshan say to you?' He said, 'He said that everything is nothing.' The master said, 'Do you have a wife?' He said, 'I do.' The master said, 'Does the reverend master of Jingshan have a wife?' He said, 'No.' The master said, 'It is all right for the reverend master of Jingshan to say there is nothing.' The layman bowed in thanks and left. The master passed into quiescence on the eighth day of the fourth month in the ninth year of Yuanhe. Emperor Xianzong gave him the posthumous title Chan Master Daxuanjiao. Emperor Muzong gave him a further title, Chan Master Dajue.

京兆府章敬寺懷暉禪師

Chan Master Huaihui of Zhangjing Monastery in the Capital Prefecture

泉州謝氏子。上堂。至理亡言。時人不悉。強習他事。以為功能。不知自性元非塵境。是箇微妙大解脫門。所有鑒覺。不染不礙。如是光明。未曾休廢。曩劫至今。固無變易。猶如日輪。遠近斯照。雖及眾色。不與一切和合。靈燭妙明。非假鍛鍊。為不了故。取於物象。但如揑目。妄起空華。徒自疲勞。枉經劫數。若能返照。無第二人。舉措施為。不虧實相。僧問。心法雙亡。指歸何所。師曰。郢人無汙。徒勞運斤。曰。請師不返之言。師曰。即無返句(後僧舉問洞山。山雲。道即甚道。罕遇作家)。百丈和尚令僧來候。師上堂次。展坐具。禮拜了。起來拈師一隻靸鞋。以衫袖拂卻塵了。倒覆向下。師曰。老僧罪過。或問。祖師傳心地法門。為是真如心。妄想心。非真非妄心。為是三乘教外別立心。師曰。汝見目前虛空麼。曰。信知常在目前。人自不見。師曰。汝莫認影像。曰。和尚作麼生。師以手撥空三下。曰。作麼生即是。師曰。汝向後會去在。有僧來。遶師三匝。振錫而立。師曰。是。是(長慶代雲。和尚佛法身心何在)。其僧又到南泉。亦遶南泉三匝。振錫而立。泉曰。不是。不是。此是風力所轉。終成敗壞。僧曰。章敬道是。和尚為甚麼道不是。泉曰。章敬即是。是汝不是(長慶代雲。和尚是甚麼心行。雲居錫雲。章敬未必道是。南泉未必道不是。又云。這僧當初但持錫出去。恰好)。小師行腳回。師問曰。汝離此間多少年邪。曰。離和尚左右將及八年。師曰。辦得箇甚麼。小師於地畫一圓相。師曰。祇這箇。更別有。小師乃畫破圓相。便禮拜。師曰。不是。不是。僧問。四大五蘊身中。阿那箇是本來佛性。師乃呼僧名。僧應諾。師良久曰。汝無佛性。唐元和十三年示滅。諡大覺禪師。

He was a son of the Xie family of Quanzhou. Ascending the hall, he said: 'The ultimate principle is beyond words, and people of the time do not understand it. They force themselves to practice other things and take that as their merit. They do not know that their own nature is originally not a defiled object; it is a subtle and wondrous gate of great liberation. All discerning awareness is neither stained nor obstructed. Such radiance has never ceased. From ancient kalpas down to now it has truly never changed. It is like the disc of the sun, shining on the near and the far alike. Though it reaches all colors, it does not merge with anything. The numinous lamp of wondrous clarity needs no polishing. Because they do not understand, people grasp at forms; it is like pressing the eye and falsely seeing flowers in the sky. They wear themselves out to no purpose and pass through kalpas in vain. If you can turn the light back and shine, there is no second person. In every action and undertaking you will not damage true reality.' A monk asked, 'When both mind and Dharma are forgotten, where does one take refuge?' The master said, 'When the man of Ying has no smudge, the axe is swung in vain.' The monk said, 'Please, master, give me the words that do not turn back.' The master said, 'There is no turning-back sentence.' (Later a monk asked Dongshan about this. Shan said, 'What he said was well said, but one rarely meets a true adept.') The reverend master of Baizhang sent a monk to inquire after him. As the master was ascending the hall, the monk spread his sitting cloth, bowed, then rose, picked up one of the master's slippers, wiped the dust off with his sleeve, and turned it upside down. The master said, 'This old monk is at fault.' Someone asked, 'The Patriarch's transmission of the mind-ground Dharma gate — is it the mind of true suchness, the mind of deluded thought, the mind that is neither true nor deluded, or a separate mind established outside the three vehicles?' The master said, 'Do you see the empty space before you?' The questioner said, 'I believe I know it is always before me; people simply do not see it.' The master said, 'Do not mistake a reflection.' He asked, 'What about the reverend master?' The master swept his hand through the air three times. The questioner said, 'How is that it?' The master said, 'You will understand later.' A monk came, circled the master three times, shook his staff, and stood still. The master said, 'Yes, yes.' (Changqing offered in his stead: 'Where are the reverend master's Buddha Dharma, body, and mind?') The monk then went to Nanquan and likewise circled him three times, shook his staff, and stood still. Quan said, 'No, no. This is turned by the power of wind and will end in ruin.' The monk said, 'Zhangjing said yes; why does the reverend master say no?' Quan said, 'Zhangjing is right; it is you who are wrong.' (Changqing offered in his stead: 'What state of mind is the reverend master in?' Yunju Xi said, 'Zhangjing was not necessarily right, and Nanquan was not necessarily wrong.' He also said, 'If this monk had just picked up his staff and gone out at the start, that would have been just right.') A junior monk returned from his pilgrimage. The master asked, 'How many years have you been away from here?' He said, 'Nearly eight years away from the reverend master's side.' The master said, 'What have you accomplished?' The junior monk drew a circle on the ground. The master said, 'Is it just this, or is there something more?' The junior monk then drew through and broke the circle and bowed. The master said, 'No, no.' A monk asked, 'Among the four elements and five aggregates that make up this body, which is the original Buddha-nature?' The master called the monk by name. The monk answered. After a long pause the master said, 'You have no Buddha-nature.' He manifested extinction in the thirteenth year of Yuanhe of Tang. His posthumous title was Chan Master Dajue.

越州大珠慧海禪師

Chan Master Dazhu Huihai of Yuezhou

建州朱氏子。依越州大雲寺智和尚受業。初參馬祖。祖問。從何處來。曰。越州大雲寺來。祖曰。來此擬須何事。曰。來求佛法。祖曰。我這裡一物也無。求甚麼佛法。自家寶藏不顧。拋家散走作麼。曰。阿那箇是慧海寶藏。祖曰。即今問我者。是汝寶藏。一切具足。更無欠少。使用自在。何假外求。師於言下。自識本心。不由知覺。踴躍禮謝。師事六載後。以受業師老。遽歸奉養。乃晦跡藏用。外示痴訥。自撰頓悟入道要門論一卷。法姪玄晏竊出江外。呈馬祖。祖覽訖。告眾曰。越州有大珠。圓明光透自在。無遮障處也。眾中有知師姓朱者。相推來越尋訪依附(時號大珠和尚)。師謂曰。禪客。我不會禪。並無一法可示於人。不勞久立。且自歇去。時學侶漸多。日夜叩激。事不得已。隨問隨答。其辭無礙。時有法師數人來謁。曰。擬伸一問。師還對否。師曰。深潭月影。任意撮摩。問。如何是佛。師曰。清譚對面。非佛而誰。眾皆茫然(法眼雲。是即沒交涉)。僧良久。又問。師說何法度人。師曰。貧道未曾有一法度人。曰。禪師家渾如此。師卻問。大德說何法度人。曰。講金剛經。師曰。講幾座來。曰。二十餘座。師曰。此經是阿誰說。僧抗聲曰。禪師相弄。豈不知是佛說邪。師曰。若言如來有所說法。則為謗佛。是人不解我所說義。若言此經不是佛說。則是謗經。請大德說看。僧無對。師少頃。又問。經云。若以色見我。以音聲求我。是人行邪道。不能見如來。大德且道。阿那箇是如來。曰。某甲到此卻迷去。師曰。從來未悟。說甚卻迷。曰。請禪師為說。師曰。大德講經二十餘座。卻不識如來。僧禮拜曰。願垂開示。師曰。如來者。是諸法如義。何得忘卻。曰。是諸法如義。師曰。大德。是亦未是。曰。經文分明。那得未是。師曰。大德如否。曰。如。師曰。木石如否。曰。如。師曰。

He was a son of the Zhu family of Jianzhou. He studied under the reverend master Zhi of Dayun Monastery in Yuezhou. He first called on Mazu. Zu asked, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Dayun Monastery in Yuezhou.' Zu said, 'What do you intend to do here?' He said, 'I have come to seek the Buddha Dharma.' Zu said, 'I have not a single thing here; what Buddha Dharma would you seek? Why do you neglect your own treasure house and run about scattering your home?' He said, 'Which is Huihai's treasure house?' Zu said, 'The one asking me right now — that is your treasure house. It is complete in every way, lacking nothing, and works freely; why seek it outside?' At these words the master recognized his own original mind by himself, not through knowing or perceiving, and he leaped up, bowed, and thanked him. After serving him as a teacher for six years, because his original preceptor was old, he hurried home to care for him, and then concealed his traces and hid his function, outwardly appearing dull and slow of speech. He himself composed one fascicle, the Treatise on the Essential Gate of Entering the Way through Sudden Awakening. His Dharma nephew Xuanyan secretly carried it beyond the river and presented it to Mazu. After reading it, Zu told the assembly, 'In Yuezhou there is a great pearl, perfectly bright, radiant and free, with nowhere obstructed.' Among the assembly, those who knew that the master's surname was Zhu urged one another to come to Yue and seek him out and attach themselves to him (he was then called the Monk Great Pearl). The master said to them, 'Chan visitors, I do not understand Chan, and I have not a single Dharma to show anyone. Do not trouble to stand long; just rest yourselves and go.' As his students gradually increased and pressed him day and night, he could not help it and answered whatever was asked, his words unobstructed. At that time several Dharma masters came to visit and said, 'We intend to put a question; will the master answer it?' The master said, 'The moon's reflection in a deep pool — grasp and rub it as you please.' They asked, 'What is Buddha?' The master said, 'Facing you in plain conversation — if not Buddha, who?' The assembly was all bewildered. (Fayan said, 'That is, then, no connection at all.') After a long while the monk asked again, 'What Dharma does the master teach to save people?' The master said, 'This poor monk has never had a single Dharma to save people with.' The monk said, 'Chan masters are all like this.' The master asked in turn, 'What Dharma does the venerable teach to save people?' He said, 'I lecture on the Diamond Sutra.' The master said, 'How many sessions have you lectured?' He said, 'More than twenty.' The master said, 'Who spoke this sutra?' The monk raised his voice: 'The master is making fun of me — do you not know it was spoken by the Buddha?' The master said, 'If you say the Tathagata has something spoken, that is slandering the Buddha, and such a person does not understand the meaning of what I have said. If you say this sutra was not spoken by the Buddha, that is slandering the sutra. Please, venerable, say something.' The monk had no reply. After a moment the master asked again, 'The sutra says: If one sees me in form or seeks me in sound, that person walks a false path and cannot see the Tathagata. Now, venerable, which is the Tathagata?' The monk said, 'When it comes to this, I become confused.' The master said, 'You were never awakened to begin with; what do you mean, you become confused?' The monk said, 'Please, Chan master, explain it for me.' The master said, 'You have lectured on this sutra more than twenty times, and yet you do not know the Tathagata.' The monk bowed and said, 'I beg you to bestow instruction.' The master said, 'The Tathagata means the suchness of all dharmas — how could you have forgotten it?' The monk said, 'It is the suchness of all dharmas.' The master said, 'Venerable, that is so, and yet it is not so.' The monk said, 'The text is clear; how can it not be so?' The master said, 'Is the venerable thus?' He said, 'Thus.' The master said, 'Are wood and stone thus?' He said, 'Thus.' The master said:

大德如同木石如否。曰。無二。師曰。大德與木石何別。僧無對。良久。卻問。如何得大涅槃。師曰。不造生死業。曰。如何是生死業。師曰。求大涅槃。是生死業。捨垢取淨。是生死業。有得有證。是生死業。不脫對治門。是生死業。曰。云何即得解脫。師曰。本自無縛。不用求解。直用直行。是無等等。曰。禪師如和尚者。實謂希有。禮謝而去。有行者問。即心即佛。那箇是佛。師曰。汝疑那箇不是佛。指出看。者無對。師曰。達即徧境是。不悟永乖疎。律師法明謂師曰。禪師家。多落空。師曰。卻是座主家落空。明大驚曰。何得落空。師曰。經論是紙墨文字。紙墨文字者。俱是空設。於聲上建立名句等法。無非是空。座主執滯教體。豈不落空。明曰。禪師落空否。師曰。不落空。明曰。何得卻不落空。師曰。文字等皆從智慧而生。大用現前。那得落空。明曰。故知一法不達。不名悉達。師曰。律師不唯落空。兼乃錯會名言。明作色曰。何處是錯處。師曰。未辨華竺之音。如何講說。明曰。請禪師指出錯處。師曰。豈不知悉達是梵語邪。明雖省過。而心猶憤然(梵語具雲。婆曷剌他悉陀。中國翻雲一切義成。舊雲悉達多。猶是訛略梵語也)。又曰。夫經律論是佛語。讀誦依教奉行。何故不見性。師曰。如狂狗趂塊。師子齩人。經律論是性用。讀誦者是性法。明曰。阿彌陀佛有父母及姓否。師曰。阿彌陀姓憍屍迦。父名月上。母名殊勝妙顏。明曰。出何教文。師曰。出鼓音王經。法明禮謝。讚歎而退。有三藏法師問。真如有變易否。師曰。有變易。藏曰。禪師錯也。師卻問三藏。有真如否。曰。有。師曰。若無變易。決定是凡僧也。豈不聞善知識者。能回三毒為三聚淨戒。回六識為六神通。回煩惱作菩提。回無明為大智。真如若無變易。三藏真是自然外道也。藏曰。若爾者。真如即有變易也。師曰。

(The master continued:) 'Is the venerable's thusness the same as the thusness of wood and stone?' He said, 'There is no difference.' The master said, 'Then what distinguishes the venerable from wood and stone?' The monk had no reply. After a long pause the monk asked, 'How does one attain great nirvana?' The master said, 'By not creating the karma of birth and death.' He asked, 'What is the karma of birth and death?' The master said, 'Seeking great nirvana is the karma of birth and death. Rejecting the impure and grasping the pure is the karma of birth and death. Having attainment and certification is the karma of birth and death. Not escaping the gate of antidotes is the karma of birth and death.' He asked, 'How then does one gain liberation?' The master said, 'There was never any bondage to begin with, so there is no need to seek release. Using it directly and acting directly — that is the unequalled.' The monk said, 'A Chan master like the reverend is truly rare.' He bowed in thanks and left. A postulant asked, 'This very mind is Buddha — which is the Buddha?' The master said, 'Point out the one you doubt is not Buddha.' The postulant had no reply. The master said, 'To one who understands, every place is it; to one who does not awaken, it is forever far away.' Vinaya Master Faming said to the master, 'Chan masters mostly fall into emptiness.' The master said, 'It is rather the lecturers who fall into emptiness.' Faming was startled and said, 'How do they fall into emptiness?' The master said, 'The sutras and treatises are paper and ink words. Paper and ink words are all empty contrivances. Names, phrases, and the like set up upon sounds are nothing but emptiness. The lecturer clings fast to the body of the teachings — does he not fall into emptiness?' Faming said, 'Does the Chan master fall into emptiness?' The master said, 'I do not.' Faming said, 'How is it that you do not fall into emptiness?' The master said, 'Words and the rest all arise from wisdom; when the great function appears before you, how could there be any falling into emptiness?' Faming said, 'So one knows that if a single dharma is not understood, one is not called Siddhartha.' The master said, 'The Vinaya master not only falls into emptiness, he also misunderstands the words.' Faming flushed and said, 'Where is the mistake?' The master said, 'You cannot even tell Chinese sounds from Indian ones — how do you lecture?' Faming said, 'Please, Chan master, point out the mistake.' The master said, 'Do you not know that Siddhartha is Sanskrit?' Though Faming recognized his fault, his heart was still resentful. (In full Sanskrit it is Sarvarthasiddha, which in Chinese is rendered All Meanings Accomplished. The older form Siddhartha is an abbreviated and corrupt Sanskrit form.) He also said, 'The sutras, the vinaya, and the treatises are the Buddha's words. If one reads and recites them, follows the teachings, and practices accordingly, why does one not see the nature?' The master said, 'That is like a mad dog chasing a clod while the lion bites the man. The sutras, the vinaya, and the treatises are the function of the nature; reading and reciting is the dharma of the nature.' Faming said, 'Does Amitabha Buddha have parents and a surname?' The master said, 'Amitabha's surname is Kaushika; his father was named Moon Rise and his mother Wondrous Excellent Countenance.' Faming said, 'From what scripture does this come?' The master said, 'From the Drum Sound King Sutra.' Faming bowed in thanks, praised him, and withdrew. A Tripitaka master asked, 'Does true suchness change?' The master said, 'It changes.' The Tripitaka master said, 'The Chan master is wrong.' The master asked him in turn, 'Is there true suchness?' He said, 'There is.' The master said, 'If it did not change, you would certainly be just an ordinary monk. Have you not heard that a good teacher can turn the three poisons into the three pure precepts, turn the six consciousnesses into the six spiritual powers, turn affliction into bodhi, and turn ignorance into great wisdom? If true suchness did not change, the Tripitaka master would truly be a follower of the naturalist heresy.' The Tripitaka master said, 'If so, then true suchness does change.' The master said:

若執真如有變易。亦是外道。曰。禪師適來說真如有變易。如今又道不變易。如何即是的當。師曰。若了了見性者。如摩尼珠現色。說變亦得。說不變亦得。若不見性人。聞說真如變易。便作變易解會。說不變易。便作不變易解會。藏曰。故知南宗實不可測。有道流問。世間還有法過於自然否。師曰。有。曰。何法過得。師曰。能知自然者。曰。元氣是道不。師曰。元氣自元氣。道自道。曰。若如是者。則應有二也。師曰。知無兩人。又問。云何為邪。云何為正。師曰。心逐物為邪。物從心為正。源律師問。和尚修道。還用功否。師曰。用功。曰。如何用功。師曰。饑來吃飯。困來即眠。曰。一切人總如是。同師用功否。師曰。不同。曰。何故不同。師曰。他吃飯時不肯吃飯。百種須索。睡時不肯睡。千般計較。所以不同也。律師杜口。韞光大德問。禪師自知生處否。師曰。未曾死。何用論生。知生即是無生。法無離生。法有無生。祖師曰。當生即不生。曰。不見性人。亦得如此否。師曰。自不見性。不是無性。何以故。見即是性。無性不能見。識即是性。故名識性。了即是性。喚作了性。能生萬法。喚作法性。亦名法身。馬鳴祖師雲。所言法者。謂眾生心。若心生故。一切法生。若心無生。法無從生。亦無名字。迷人不知法身無象。應物現形。遂喚青青翠竹。總是法身。鬱鬱黃華。無非般若。黃華若是般若。般若即同無情。翠竹若是法身。法身即同草木。如人吃筍。應總吃法身也。如此之言。寧堪齒錄。對面迷佛。長劫希求。全體法中。迷而外覔。是以解道者。行住坐臥。無非是道。悟法者。縱橫自在。無非是法。光又問。太虗能生靈智否。真心緣於善惡否。貪欲人是道否。執是執非人向後心通否。觸境生心人有定否。住寂寞人有慧否。懷傲物人有我否。執空執有人有智否。

(The master continued:) ‘If you cling to the idea that suchness changes, you are still an outsider.’ Someone asked: ‘The Chan master just said that suchness changes, but now says it does not. Which is correct?’ The master replied: ‘One who clearly sees his nature may say it changes or does not change, just as a wish-fulfilling jewel displays colors. One who has not seen his nature hears “suchness changes” and constructs an idea of change; hears “it does not change” and constructs an idea of changelessness.’ Zang said: ‘Now I see that the Southern School truly cannot be measured.’ A monk asked: ‘Is there anything in the world that surpasses nature?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What surpasses it?’ ‘One who knows nature.’ ‘Is primal energy the Way?’ ‘Primal energy is primal energy; the Way is the Way.’ ‘Then there must be two.’ ‘There are not two knowers.’ He asked: ‘What is wrong, and what is right?’ The master said: ‘When mind follows things, that is wrong; when things follow mind, that is right.’ Vinaya Master Yuan asked: ‘Does the master exert effort in cultivating the Way?’ ‘I do.’ ‘How?’ ‘When hungry, I eat; when tired, I sleep.’ ‘Everyone does that. Do they cultivate as you do?’ ‘No.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘While eating, they refuse simply to eat and make all sorts of demands. While sleeping, they refuse simply to sleep and entertain a thousand calculations. That is why they differ.’ The Vinaya master fell silent. Great Virtue Yunguang asked: ‘Do you know where you were born?’ The master replied: ‘I have not yet died; why discuss birth? To know birth is to know the unborn. Dharma is not apart from birth, and Dharma has the unborn. The patriarch said, “Birth itself is nonbirth.”’ ‘Can one who has not seen his nature say this too?’ ‘It is oneself who fails to see one’s nature; it is not that there is no nature. Why? Seeing is itself nature; without nature there can be no seeing. Knowing is nature, hence “knowing nature”; understanding is nature, hence “understanding nature.” That which gives rise to all things is called dharma-nature, also the Dharma-body. Patriarch Ashvaghosha said: “Dharma means the mind of sentient beings. When mind arises, all dharmas arise; when mind does not arise, no dharma arises, nor is there a name for it.” Deluded people do not know that the Dharma-body has no fixed form and manifests according to conditions. They therefore say that every green bamboo is the Dharma-body and every flourishing yellow flower is Prajna. If yellow flowers were Prajna, Prajna would be no different from insentient things; if green bamboo were the Dharma-body, the Dharma-body would be no different from plants and trees. When someone eats bamboo shoots, would he then be eating the Dharma-body? Such talk is hardly worth repeating. People face the Buddha and miss him, seeking him through long ages; though wholly within Dharma, they are deluded and seek outside. Thus for one who understands the Way, walking, standing, sitting, and lying are all the Way. For one who awakens to Dharma, every movement in every direction is Dharma.’ Guang further asked: ‘Can the great void produce spiritual awareness? Does the true mind attach to good and evil? Is a covetous person on the Way? Will one who clings to right and wrong later attain unobstructed mind? Does one who gives rise to mind upon meeting objects possess concentration? Does one who dwells in stillness possess wisdom? Does one who looks down on others have a self? Is one who clings to emptiness or existence wise?’

尋文取證人．苦行求佛人．離心求佛人．執心是佛人。此智稱道否。請禪師一一為說。師曰。太虗不生靈智。真心不緣善惡。嗜慾深者機淺。是非交爭者未通。觸境生心者少定。寂寞忘機者慧沉。傲物高心者我壯。執空執有者皆愚。尋文取證者益滯。苦行求佛者俱迷。離心求佛者外道。執心是佛者為魔。曰。若如是。畢竟無所有也。師曰。畢竟是大德。不是畢竟無所有。光踴躍禮謝而去。問。儒．釋．道三教同異如何。師曰。大量者用之即同。小機者執之即異。總從一性上起用。機見差別成三。迷悟由人。不在教之同異也。

(Yunguang continued:) ‘Are those who seek proof in written texts, practice austerities to become Buddhas, seek Buddha apart from mind, or cling to mind as Buddha wise and on the Way? Please explain each one.’ The master said: ‘The great void does not produce spiritual awareness. The true mind does not attach to good or evil. Deep craving means shallow capacity. Those who contend over right and wrong have not penetrated. Those whose minds arise upon meeting objects have little concentration. Those who sink into stillness and forget their function let wisdom grow dull. Those who look down on things and hold themselves high strengthen the ego. Those who cling to emptiness or existence are both foolish. Those who seek proof in texts become more obstructed. Those who practice austerities to seek Buddhahood are deluded. Those who seek Buddha apart from mind are outsiders. Those who cling to mind as Buddha are demons.’ The questioner said: ‘Then ultimately nothing exists.’ The master replied: ‘“Ultimately” is you, Great Virtue; it does not mean that ultimately nothing exists.’ Guang joyfully bowed in gratitude and left. Someone asked: ‘How are Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism alike or different?’ The master said: ‘For those of broad capacity, they are the same when put to use; those of narrow capacity cling to them and make them different. Their functions all arise from one nature; differing capacities perceive them as three. Delusion and awakening depend on the person, not on whether the teachings are alike or different.’

洪州百丈山惟政禪師

Chan Master Weizheng of Mount Baizhang, Hongzhou.

有老宿見日影透窻。問師。為復窻就日。日就窻。師曰。長老房中有客。歸去好。師問南泉。諸方善知識。還有不說似人底法也無。曰。有。師曰。作麼生。曰。不是心。不是佛。不是物。師曰。恁麼則說似人了也。曰。某甲即恁麼。和尚作麼生。師曰。我又不是善知識。爭知有說不說底法。曰。某甲不會。請和尚說。師曰。我太煞。與汝說了也。僧問。如何是佛佛道齊。師曰。定也。師因入京。路逢官人吃飯。忽見驢鳴。官人召曰。頭陀。師舉頭。官人卻指驢。師卻指官人(法眼別雲。但作驢鳴)。

An elder saw sunlight shining through a window and asked the master: ‘Does the window face the sun, or does the sun face the window?’ The master said: ‘There is a guest in your room, Elder. You had better go back.’ The master asked Nanquan: ‘Among the good teachers in various places, is there any Dharma they do not explain to people?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘It is not mind, not Buddha, and not a thing.’ The master said: ‘Then you have explained it to someone.’ Nanquan said: ‘That is how I put it. What about you, Master?’ The master replied: ‘I am no good teacher; how would I know of a Dharma that is or is not explained?’ ‘I do not understand. Please tell me, Master.’ ‘I have already told you far too much.’ A monk asked: ‘What is the Buddha’s Way, in which all Buddhas are equal?’ The master said: ‘Settled.’ Once, while traveling to the capital, the master passed an official who was eating. A donkey suddenly brayed. The official called, ‘Ascetic!’ The master raised his head. The official pointed at the donkey; the master pointed at the official. (Fayan offered another response: ‘Simply bray like a donkey.’)

洪州泐潭法會禪師

Chan Master Fahui of Leitan, Hongzhou.

問馬祖。如何是祖師西來意。祖曰。低聲。近前來。向汝道。師便近前。祖打一摑曰。六耳不同謀。且去。來日來。師至來日。獨入法堂曰。請和尚道。祖曰。且去。待老漢上堂出來問。與汝證明。師忽有省。遂曰。謝大眾證明。乃繞法堂一匝。便去。

Someone asked Mazu: ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?’ Mazu said: ‘Lower your voice. Come closer and I will tell you.’ The master stepped forward. Mazu slapped him and said: ‘A secret cannot be shared among six ears. Go for now; come tomorrow.’ The next day the master entered the Dharma Hall alone and said: ‘Please tell me, Master.’ Mazu replied: ‘Go for now. Wait until I ascend the hall and ask you, then I will confirm it for you.’ The master suddenly had an insight and said: ‘Thank you all for confirming it.’ He circled the hall once and left.

池州杉山智堅禪師

Chan Master Zhijian of Shanshan, Chizhou.

初與歸宗．南泉行腳時。路逢一虎。各從虎邊過了。泉問歸宗。適來見虎似箇甚麼。宗曰。似箇貓兒。宗卻問師。師曰。似箇狗子。又問南泉。泉曰。我見是箇大蟲。師吃飯次。南泉収生飯。乃曰。生聻。師曰。無生。泉曰。無生猶是末。泉行數步。師召曰。長老。泉回頭曰。作麼。師曰。莫道是末。普請擇蕨次。南泉拈起一莖曰。這箇大好供養。師曰。非但這箇。百味珍羞。他亦不顧。泉曰。雖然如是。箇箇須甞過始得(玄覺雲。是相見語不是相見語)。僧問。如何是本來身。師曰。舉世無相似。

When the master was traveling with Guizong and Nanquan, they came upon a tiger and each passed by it. Nanquan asked Guizong: ‘What did that tiger look like just now?’ Guizong said: ‘Like a cat.’ Then he asked the master, who replied: ‘Like a dog.’ Nanquan asked the master, and said: ‘I saw a great beast.’ Once, while the master was eating, Nanquan took away his uncooked rice and asked: ‘And what of the unborn?’ The master said: ‘No birth.’ Nanquan said: ‘“No birth” is still the last word.’ After Nanquan had walked a few steps, the master called: ‘Elder!’ Nanquan turned and asked: ‘What is it?’ The master said: ‘Do not say it is the last word.’ While they were gathering fiddlehead ferns together, Nanquan held up a stalk and said: ‘This would make a fine offering.’ The master said: ‘Not only this; he would not care for a hundred delicacies.’ Nanquan said: ‘Even so, each one must be tasted first.’ (Xuansha commented: ‘Was this an encounter in words, or not?’) A monk asked: ‘What is the original body?’ The master said: ‘Nothing in the whole world resembles it.’

洪州泐潭惟建禪師

Chan Master Weijian of Leitan, Hongzhou.

一日在法堂後坐禪。馬祖見。乃吹師耳。兩吹師起。見是祖。卻復入定。祖歸方丈。令侍者持一椀茶與師。師不顧。便自歸堂。

One day the master was meditating behind the Dharma Hall. Mazu saw him and blew twice into his ear. The master rose, saw that it was the Patriarch, and returned to meditation. Mazu went back to his quarters and sent an attendant with a bowl of tea. The master paid no attention and returned to the monks’ hall on his own.

澧州茗谿道行禪師

Chan Master Daoxing of Mingxi, Lizhou.

甞曰。吾有大病。非世所醫(後僧問曹山。古人曰。吾有大病。非世所醫。未審是甚麼病。山曰。攢簇不得底病。曰。一切眾生還有此病也無。山曰。人人盡有。曰。和尚還有此病也無。山曰。正覔起處不得。曰。一切眾生為甚麼不病。山曰。一切眾生若病。即非眾生。曰。未審諸佛還有此病也無。山曰。有。曰。既有。為甚麼不病。山曰。為伊惺惺)。僧問。如何脩行。師曰。好箇阿師。莫客作。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。安置即不堪。問。如何是正修行路。師曰。涅槃後有。曰。如何是涅槃後有。師曰。不洗面。曰。學人不會。師曰。無面得洗。

He once said: ‘I have a grave illness that cannot be cured by anything in the world.’ (Later, a monk asked Caoshan: ‘An ancient said, “I have a grave illness that cannot be cured by anything in the world.” What illness was it?’ Caoshan replied: ‘An illness that cannot be gathered up.’ ‘Do all sentient beings have it?’ ‘Every one of them.’ ‘Does the master have it?’ ‘I cannot find where it begins.’ ‘Why are sentient beings not ill?’ ‘If they were ill, they would no longer be sentient beings.’ ‘Do the Buddhas have it?’ ‘They do.’ ‘Why are they not ill?’ ‘Because they are awake.’) A monk asked: ‘How should one practice?’ The master said: ‘A fine monk you are; do not work as a hired hand.’ ‘Ultimately, what is it?’ ‘It cannot be managed or arranged.’ ‘What is the right path of practice?’ ‘What remains after nirvana.’ ‘What remains after nirvana?’ ‘Not washing one’s face.’ ‘I do not understand.’ ‘There is no face to wash.’

撫州石鞏慧藏禪師

Chan Master Huizang of Shigong, Fuzhou.

本以弋獵為務。惡見沙門。因逐鹿從馬祖庵前過。祖乃逆之。師遂問。還見鹿過否。祖曰。汝是何人。曰。獵者。祖曰。汝解射否。曰。解射。祖曰。汝一箭射幾箇。曰。一箭射一箇。祖曰。汝不解射。曰。和尚解射否。祖曰。解射。曰。一箭射幾箇。祖曰。一箭射一群。曰。彼此生命。何用射他一群。祖曰。汝既知如是。何不自射。曰。若教某甲自射。直是無下手處。祖曰。這漢曠劫無明煩惱。今日頓息。師擲下弓箭。投祖出家。一日。在廚作務次。祖問。作甚麼。曰。牧牛。祖曰。作麼生牧。曰。一回入草去。驀鼻拽將回。祖曰。子真牧牛。師便休。師住後常以弓箭接機(載三平章)。師問西堂。汝還解捉得虗空麼。堂曰。捉得。師曰。作麼生捉。堂以手撮虗空。師曰。汝不解捉。堂卻問。師兄作麼生捉。師把西堂鼻孔拽。堂作忍痛聲曰。太煞。拽人鼻孔。直欲脫去。師曰。直須恁麼捉虗空始得。眾參次。師曰。適來底甚麼處去也。有僧曰。在。師曰。在甚麼處。僧彈指一聲。問。如何免得生死。師曰。用免作甚麼。曰。如何免得。師曰。這底不生死。

He had made his living as a hunter and hated seeing monks. Once, while chasing a deer, he passed Mazu’s hermitage. Mazu came out to meet him. The master asked: ‘Have you seen a deer pass by?’ Mazu asked: ‘Who are you?’ ‘A hunter.’ ‘Can you shoot?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘How many can you hit with one arrow?’ ‘One.’ ‘Then you do not know how to shoot.’ ‘Can you shoot, Master?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘How many with one arrow?’ ‘A whole herd.’ ‘They are all living beings. Why shoot a whole herd?’ Mazu said: ‘Since you know that, why do you not shoot yourself?’ The master replied: ‘If you asked me to shoot myself, I would have nowhere to begin.’ Mazu said: ‘This fellow’s ignorance and afflictions of beginningless ages have suddenly ceased today.’ The master threw down his bow and arrows and became a monk under Mazu. One day he was working in the kitchen, and Mazu asked: ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Tending an ox.’ ‘How do you tend it?’ ‘Whenever it wanders into the grass, I pull it back by the nose.’ Mazu said: ‘You truly know how to tend an ox.’ The master stopped. After he took up residence, he often used a bow and arrows to respond to students (see the chapter on Sanping). The master asked Xitang: ‘Can you seize empty space?’ ‘I can.’ ‘How?’ Xitang grabbed at the air with his hand. The master said: ‘You do not know how to seize it.’ Xitang asked: ‘How does senior brother do it?’ The master tugged Xitang by the nose. Xitang cried out in pain: ‘You are pulling my nose so hard it feels as if it will come off!’ The master said: ‘Only by seizing empty space this way will you do.’ While the assembly was studying, the master asked: ‘Where has what was just here gone?’ A monk said: ‘It is here.’ ‘Where?’ The monk snapped his fingers. Someone asked: ‘How can one escape birth and death?’ The master said: ‘Why try to escape?’ ‘How can one escape?’ ‘This one is not subject to birth and death.’

江西北蘭讓禪師

Chan Master Rang of Beilan, Jiangxi.

湖塘亮長老問。承聞師兄畫得先師真。暫請瞻禮。師以兩手擘胷開示之。亮便禮拜。師曰。莫禮。莫禮。亮曰。師兄錯也。某甲不禮師兄。師曰。汝禮先師真那。亮曰。因甚麼教莫禮。師曰。何曾錯。

Elder Liang of Hutang said: ‘I hear that senior brother painted a portrait of our late teacher. May I have a look and pay my respects?’ The master opened his chest with both hands and showed it to him. Liang bowed. The master said: ‘Do not bow, do not bow.’ Liang replied: ‘Senior brother is mistaken. I am not bowing to you.’ The master asked: ‘Then are you bowing to the portrait of our late teacher?’ Liang asked: ‘Why tell me not to bow?’ The master said: ‘How was I ever mistaken?’

袁州南源道明禪師

Chan Master Daoming of Nanyuan, Yuanzhou.

上堂。快馬一鞭。快人一言。有事何不出頭來。無事各自珍重。僧問。一言作麼生。師乃吐舌雲。待我有廣長舌相。即向汝道。洞山參。方上法堂。師曰。已相見了也。山便下去。明日卻上。問曰。昨日已蒙和尚慈悲。不知甚麼處是與某甲已相見處。師曰。心心無間斷。流入於性海。山曰。幾合放過。山辭。師曰。多學佛法。廣作利益。山曰。多學佛法即不問。如何是廣作利益。師曰。一物莫違。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。不可道你是也。

Ascending the hall, he said: ‘A swift horse needs only one stroke of the whip; a keen person needs only one word. If you have something to say, why not step forward? If you have nothing, take good care of yourselves.’ A monk asked: ‘What is that one word?’ The master stuck out his tongue and said: ‘When I have the broad, long tongue of a Buddha, I will tell you.’ Dongshan came to visit. As soon as he entered the hall, the master said: ‘We have already met.’ Dongshan went back down. The next day he returned and asked: ‘Yesterday I received your kindness, but where did you and I meet?’ The master said: ‘Mind flows without interruption into the ocean of nature.’ Dongshan said: ‘I nearly let that pass.’ As Dongshan took leave, the master said: ‘Study much Buddhadharma and benefit others widely.’ Dongshan said: ‘I am not asking about studying much Buddhadharma. What is benefiting others widely?’ The master said: ‘Do not oppose a single thing.’ A monk asked: ‘What is Buddha?’ The master said: ‘You cannot say that you are it.’

忻州酈村自滿禪師

Chan Master Ziman of Lichun, Xinzhou.

上堂。古今不異。法爾如然。更復何也。雖然如此。這箇事大有人罔措在。僧問。不落古今。請師直道。師曰。情知汝罔措。僧欲進語。師曰。將謂老僧落伊古今。曰。如何即是。師曰。魚騰碧漢。階級難飛。曰。如何免得此過。師曰。若是龍形。誰論高下。僧禮拜。師曰。苦哉。屈哉。誰人似我。上堂。除卻日明夜暗。更說甚麼即得。珍重。問。如何是無諍之句。師曰。喧天動地。

Ascending the hall, he said: ‘Past and present do not differ; things are just as they are. What more is there to say? Even so, many people are at a loss about this matter.’ A monk asked: ‘Without falling into past or present, please speak directly.’ The master said: ‘I knew you would be at a loss.’ The monk was about to speak. The master said: ‘I thought you would say I had fallen into your past and present.’ ‘Then what is it?’ ‘A fish leaps into the blue sky; no ladder can take it there.’ ‘How can one avoid that mistake?’ ‘If it is a dragon, who speaks of high or low?’ The monk bowed. The master said: ‘Alas, what a grievance! Who is like me?’ Ascending the hall, he said: ‘Apart from daylight and nighttime darkness, what else need be said? Take care.’ Asked: ‘What is the phrase that does not contend?’ He answered: ‘It makes a clamor that shakes heaven and earth.’

朗州中邑洪恩禪師

Chan Master Hong’en of Zhongyi, Langzhou.

每見僧來。拍口作和和聲。仰山謝戒。師亦拍口作和和聲。仰從西過東。師又拍口作和和聲。仰從東過西。師又拍口作和和聲。仰當中而立。然後謝戒。師曰。甚麼處得此三昧。仰曰。於曹谿印子上脫來。師曰。汝道曹谿用此三昧接甚麼人。仰曰。接一宿覺。仰曰。和尚甚處得此三昧。師曰。我於馬大師處得此三昧。仰問。如何得見佛性義。師曰。我與汝說箇譬喻。如一室有六窻。內有一獼猴。外有獼猴從東邊喚猩猩。猩猩即應。如是六窻俱喚俱應。仰山禮謝。起曰。適蒙和尚譬喻。無不了知。更有一事。祇如內獼猴睡著。外獼猴欲與相見。又且如何。師下繩床。執仰山手作舞曰。猩猩與汝相見了。譬如蟭螟蟲。在蚊子眼睫上作窠。向十字街頭呌雲。土曠人稀。相逢者少(雲居錫雲。中邑當時若不得仰山這一句語。何處有中邑也。崇壽稠雲。還有人定得此道理麼。若定不得。只是箇弄精魂腳手。佛性義在甚麼處。玄覺雲。若不是仰山。爭得見中邑。且道甚麼處是仰山得見中邑處)。

Whenever a monk came, he would pat his mouth and make the sound ‘he-he.’ When Yangshan came to receive the precepts, the master did the same. Yangshan walked from west to east, and the master again made the sound. Yangshan walked from east to west, and the master repeated it. Yangshan stood in the middle and then offered his thanks for the precepts. The master asked: ‘Where did you get this samadhi?’ Yangshan said: ‘I received it from the seal of Caoxi.’ ‘Who did Caoxi use this samadhi to receive?’ ‘Yisu Jue.’ Yangshan asked: ‘Where did you get this samadhi?’ ‘I received it from Great Master Ma.’ Yangshan asked: ‘How can one see the meaning of Buddha-nature?’ The master said: ‘I will give you an analogy. In a room with six windows there is a monkey inside. Outside, another monkey calls from the east window, and the one inside answers. The same thing happens when each of the six windows calls.’ Yangshan bowed and said: ‘Your analogy leaves nothing unclear. But suppose the monkey inside falls asleep and the monkey outside wants to meet him. What then?’ The master got down from his rope seat, took Yangshan by the hand, and danced, saying: ‘The monkey has met you.’ It is like a tiny insect nesting on a mosquito’s eyelash, calling out at a crossroads: ‘The land is vast and people are few; those who meet are rare.’ (Yunju Xi said: ‘If Yangshan had not given Zhongyi that line, where would Zhongyi have been?’ Chongshou Chou said: ‘Can anyone settle this? If not, this is merely a trick of playing with vital energy. Where is the meaning of Buddha-nature?’ Xuanjue said: ‘Without Yangshan, how could we see Zhongyi? Tell me, where did Yangshan see Zhongyi?’)

洪州泐潭常興禪師

Chan Master Changxing of Leitan, Hongzhou.

僧問。如何是曹谿門下客。師曰。南來燕。曰。學人不會。師曰。養羽候秋風。問。如何是宗乘極則事。師曰。秋雨草離披。南泉至。見師面壁。乃拊師背。師問。汝是阿誰。曰。普願。師曰。如何。曰。也尋常。師曰。汝何多事。

A monk asked: ‘Who is a disciple of Caoxi?’ The master said: ‘A swallow coming from the south.’ ‘I do not understand.’ ‘It grows its feathers and waits for the autumn wind.’ Asked: ‘What is the highest matter of the lineage?’ He said: ‘The grass lies scattered in the autumn rain.’ Nanquan arrived and saw the master facing the wall. He patted the master on the back. The master asked: ‘Who are you?’ ‘Puyuan.’ ‘What do you want?’ ‘Nothing special.’ ‘Why are you making so much fuss?’

汾州無業禪師

Chan Master Wuye of Fenzhou.

商州上洛杜氏子。母李氏聞空中言。寄居得否。乃覺有娠。誕生之夕。神光滿室。甫及丱歲。行必直視。坐即跏趺。九歲。依開元寺志本禪師受大乘經。五行俱下。諷誦無遺。十二落髮。二十受具戒於襄州幽律師。習四分律疏。才終。便能敷演。每為眾僧講涅槃大部。冬夏無廢。後聞馬大師禪門鼎盛。特往瞻禮。祖覩其狀貌奇偉。語音如鐘。乃曰。巍巍佛堂。其中無佛。師禮跪而問曰。三乘文學。粗窮其旨。常聞禪門即心是佛。實未能了。祖曰。祇未了底心即是。更無別物。師曰。如何是祖師西來密傳心印。祖曰。大德正閙在。且去。別時來。師才出。祖召曰。大德。師回首。祖曰。是甚麼。師便領悟。乃禮拜。祖曰。這鈍漢禮拜作麼(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是汾州正閙)。自得旨後。詣曹溪禮祖塔。及廬嶽天台。徧尋聖跡。後住開元精舍。學者致問。多答之曰。莫妄想。唐憲宗屢召。師皆辭疾不赴。暨穆宗即位。思一瞻禮。乃命兩街僧錄靈阜等齎詔迎請。至彼作禮曰。皇上此度恩旨。不同常時。願和尚且順天心。不可言疾也。師微笑曰。貧道何德。累煩世王。且請前行。吾從別道去矣。乃澡身剃髮。至中夜告弟子惠愔等曰。汝等見聞覺知之性。與太虗同壽。不生不滅。一切境界。本自空寂。無一法可得。迷者不了。即為境惑。一為境惑。流轉不窮。汝等當知。心性本自有之。非因造作。猶如金剛不可破壞。一切諸法。如影如響。無有實者。經云。唯此一事實。餘二則非真。常了一切空。無一物當情。是諸佛用心處。汝等勤而行之。言訖。跏趺而逝。荼毗日。祥雲五色。異香四徹。所獲舍利璨若珠玉。弟子等貯以金缾。塟於石塔。當長慶三年。諡大達國師。

He was born into the Du family of Shangluo, Shangzhou. His mother, Lady Li, heard a voice in the air ask, ‘May I lodge here?’ and realized she was pregnant. On the night he was born, a divine light filled the room. As a young child he always walked looking straight ahead and sat cross-legged. At nine he studied Mahayana sutras under Chan Master Zhiben at Kaiyuan Monastery, reading five lines at a glance and reciting without omission. He left home at twelve and received the full precepts at twenty from Vinaya Master You of You Monastery in Xiangzhou. He studied the Commentary on the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and could expound it as soon as he finished. He regularly lectured to the monks on the great Nirvana Sutra, in summer and winter alike. Later he heard that Mazu’s Chan community was flourishing and went especially to pay his respects. The Patriarch saw his impressive appearance and bell-like voice and said: ‘A lofty Buddha hall, but no Buddha within.’ The master knelt and asked: ‘I have roughly understood the teachings of the Three Vehicles. I often hear that the Chan school says mind itself is Buddha, but I have not yet understood.’ Mazu said: ‘The very mind that has not understood is it; there is nothing else.’ The master asked: ‘What is the Patriarch’s secret transmission of the mind seal from the West?’ Mazu said: ‘Great Virtue, you are making a commotion. Go for now and come another time.’ Just as the master left, Mazu called: ‘Great Virtue!’ He looked back. Mazu asked: ‘What is it?’ The master understood at once and bowed. Mazu said: ‘Why is this dull fellow bowing?’ (Yunju Xi asked: ‘Where was Wuye making a commotion?’) After realizing the intent, he visited Caoxi to pay respects at the Patriarch’s stupa, then traveled throughout Lushan and Tiantai to seek sacred sites. Later he lived at Kaiyuan Hermitage. He usually answered students’ questions with: ‘Do not entertain deluded thoughts.’ Emperor Xianzong of Tang summoned him repeatedly, but each time the master declined on grounds of illness. When Emperor Muzong ascended the throne, he wished to see him and sent the two chief clerics, Lingfu and others, with an edict to invite him. They paid their respects and said: ‘This time the emperor’s command is unlike the usual summons. We hope the master will honor the imperial wish and not plead illness.’ The master smiled faintly: ‘What virtue does this poor monk have, to trouble the ruler of the world? Please go on ahead; I will take another road.’ He bathed and shaved his head, then at midnight told his disciples Huiyin and the others: ‘Your nature of seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing shares the life span of the great void: it is unborn and undying. All realms are originally empty and still; not a single dharma can be obtained. The deluded do not understand and are confused by objects; once confused, they transmigrate without end. Know that mind-nature is originally yours, not produced by fabrication, and is indestructible like a diamond. All dharmas are like shadows and echoes, without reality. The sutra says: “Only this one reality is true; the other two are not.” Always understand that all is empty and no thing is held in mind: this is how the Buddhas use mind. Practice this diligently.’ Having finished, he sat cross-legged and passed away. On the day of cremation, five-colored auspicious clouds appeared and wondrous fragrance spread in every direction. The relics shone like pearls and jade. His disciples placed them in a gold vessel and buried them in a stone stupa. This was in the third year of Changqing. He was posthumously titled National Master Dada.

澧州大同廣澄禪師

Chan Master Guangcheng of Datong, Lizhou.

僧問。如何得六根滅去。師曰。輪劒擲空。無傷於物。問。如何是本來人。師曰。共坐不相識。曰。恁麼則學人禮謝去也。師曰。暗寫愁腸寄與誰。

A monk asked: ‘How can the six faculties be extinguished?’ The master said: ‘A wheel sword hurled through empty space harms nothing.’ Asked: ‘Who is the original person?’ He said: ‘We sit together yet do not know one another.’ The monk said: ‘Then I shall bow in thanks and take my leave.’ The master said: ‘To whom can I secretly send this sorrow in my heart?’

信州鵝湖大義禪師

Chan Master Dayi of Ehu, Xinzhou.

衢州須江徐氏子。唐憲宗嘗詔入內。於麟德殿論義。有法師問。如何是四諦。師曰。聖上一帝。三帝何在。又問。欲界無禪。禪居色界。此土憑何而立。禪師曰。法師祇知欲界無禪。不知禪界無欲。曰。如何是禪。師以手點空。法師無對。帝曰。法師講無窮經論。祇這一點。尚不柰何。師卻問諸碩德曰。行住坐臥。畢竟以何為道。有對。知者是道。師曰。不可以智知。不可以識識。安得知者是乎。有對。無分別者是。師曰。善能分別諸法相。於第一義而不動。安得無分別是乎。有對。四禪八定是。師曰。佛身無為。不墮諸數。安在四禪八定邪。眾皆杜口。師卻舉順宗問尸利禪師。大地眾生如何得見性成佛。利曰。佛性猶如水中月。可見不可取。因謂帝曰。佛性非見必見。水中月如何攫取。帝乃問。何者是佛性。師對曰。不離陛下所問。帝默契真宗。益加欽重有一僧乞置塔。李翱尚書問曰。教中不許將屍塔下過。又作麼生。僧無對。僧卻問師。師曰。他得大闡提。元和十三年歸寂。諡慧覺禪師。

He was born into the Xu family of Xujiang, Quzhou. Emperor Xianzong once summoned him to the palace to debate at Lin’de Hall. A Dharma master asked: ‘What are the Four Noble Truths?’ The master said: ‘The emperor is one sovereign; where are the other three?’ The Dharma master asked: ‘There is no meditation in the desire realm, and meditation belongs to the form realm. On what does it rest in this land?’ The master replied: ‘You know that there is no meditation in the desire realm, but do not know that in the realm of meditation there is no desire.’ ‘What is meditation?’ The master pointed into the air. The Dharma master had no answer. The emperor said: ‘The Dharma master has lectured on endless sutras and treatises, yet cannot deal with this one point.’ The master then asked the eminent teachers: ‘In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, what ultimately is the Way?’ One answered: ‘That which knows is the Way.’ The master said: ‘It cannot be known by wisdom or recognized by consciousness. How can the knower be it?’ Another said: ‘It is that which makes no distinctions.’ The master replied: ‘One should skillfully discern the characteristics of all dharmas while remaining unmoved in the highest truth. How can it be mere nondiscrimination?’ Another answered: ‘The four dhyanas and eight concentrations.’ The master said: ‘The Buddha-body is unconditioned and does not fall within any number. How could it be among the four dhyanas and eight concentrations?’ Everyone fell silent. The master then recounted Emperor Shunzong’s question to Chan Master Shili: ‘How can the beings of the great earth see their nature and become Buddhas?’ Shili said: ‘Buddha-nature is like the moon in water: it can be seen but not grasped.’ The master told the emperor: ‘Buddha-nature is not something that must be seen, yet it is truly seen. How could one seize the moon in water?’ The emperor asked: ‘What is Buddha-nature?’ The master replied: ‘It is not apart from Your Majesty’s question.’ The emperor silently understood the true teaching and respected him ever more. A monk asked for permission to build a stupa. Minister Li Ao said: ‘The teachings forbid carrying a corpse past a stupa. What will you do?’ The monk had no answer and asked the master. The master said: ‘He has attained the great icchantika.’ In the thirteenth year of Yuanhe he passed away. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Huijue.

伊闕伏牛山自在禪師

Chan Master Zizai of Mount Funiu, Yique.

吳興李氏子。初依國一禪師。受具後參馬祖發明心地。祖令送書與忠國師。國師曰。馬大師以何法示徒。曰。即心即佛。國師曰。是甚麼語話。良久又問曰。此外更有何言教。師曰。非心非佛。或曰不是心。不是佛。不是物。國師曰。猶較些子。師曰。馬大師即恁麼。未審和尚此間如何。國師曰。三點如流水。曲似刈禾鎌。師後居伏牛山。上堂曰。即心即佛。是無病求藥句。非心非佛。是藥病對治句。僧問。如何是脫灑底句。師曰。伏牛山下古今傳。示滅於隨州開元寺。

He was a son of the Li family of Wuxing. At first he studied with Chan Master Guoyi. After receiving full ordination, he studied under Mazu and clarified the ground of mind. The patriarch sent him with a letter to National Preceptor Zhong. The preceptor asked, ‘What Dharma does Master Ma use to instruct his disciples?’ He replied, ‘Mind itself is Buddha.’ The preceptor said, ‘What sort of talk is that?’ After a long pause, he asked again, ‘Does he teach anything else?’ The master said, ‘Neither mind nor Buddha; sometimes he says, “It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not a thing.”’ The preceptor said, ‘That is somewhat closer.’ The master said, ‘Master Ma is like this. I wonder what you teach here.’ The preceptor replied, ‘Three dots flow like water; a curved stroke is like a sickle cutting grain.’ Later the master lived on Mount Funiu. At a sermon he said, ‘“Mind itself is Buddha” is a phrase for seeking medicine when one is not sick. “Neither mind nor Buddha” is a phrase for matching medicine to illness.’ A monk asked, ‘What is a phrase of complete freedom?’ He said, ‘It has been handed down through past and present beneath Mount Funiu.’ He manifested stillness at Kaiyuan Monastery in Suizhou.

京兆興善寺惟寬禪師

Chan Master Weikuan of Xing Shan Monastery in Jingzhao

衢州信安祝氏子。年十三。見殺生者。衋然不忍食。乃求出家。初習毗尼。修止觀。後參大寂。乃得心要。唐貞元六年。始行化於吳越間。八年至鄱陽。山神求受八戒。十三年。止嵩山少林寺。僧問。如何是道。師曰。大好山。曰。學人問道。師何言好山。師曰。汝秖識好山。何曾達道。問。狗子還有佛性否。師曰。有。曰。和尚還有否。師曰。我無。曰。一切眾生皆有佛性。和尚因何獨無。師曰。我非一切眾生。曰。既非眾生。莫是佛否。師曰。不是佛。曰。究竟是何物。師曰。亦不是物。曰。可見可思否。師曰。思之不及。議之不得。故曰不可思議。元和四年憲宗詔至闕下。侍郎白居易嘗問曰。既曰禪師。何以說法。師曰。無上菩提者。被於身為律。說於口為法。行於心為禪。應用者三。其致一也。譬如江湖淮漢。在處立名。名雖不一。水性無二。律即是法。法不離禪。云何於中妄起分別。曰。既無分別。何以修心。師曰。心本無損傷。云何要修理。無論垢與淨。一切勿念起。曰。垢即不可念。淨無念可乎。師曰。如人眼睛上。一物不可住。金屑雖珍寶。在眼亦為病。曰。無修無念。又何異凡夫邪。師曰。凡夫無明。二乘執著。離此二病。是曰真修。真修者不得勤。不得忘。勤即近執著。忘即落無明。此為心要雲爾。僧問。道在何處。師曰。祇在目前。曰。我何不見。師曰。汝有我故。所以不見。曰。我有我故即不見。和尚還見否。師曰。有汝有我。展轉不見。曰。無我無汝還見否。師曰。無汝無我。阿誰求見。元和十二年二月晦日。陞堂說法訖。就化。諡大徹禪師。

He was a son of the Zhu family of Xin'an in Quzhou. At thirteen, seeing an animal being killed, he was overcome with compassion and could no longer bear to eat meat, so he sought to leave home. At first he studied the Vinaya and practiced calming and contemplation. Later he visited Daji and realized the essential mind. In the sixth year of Zhenyuan under the Tang, he began teaching in the Wu and Yue regions. In the eighth year he reached Poyang, where the mountain spirit asked to receive the eight precepts. In the thirteenth year he stayed at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song. A monk asked, ‘What is the Way?’ The master said, ‘What a fine mountain!’ The monk said, ‘I asked about the Way. Why do you speak of a fine mountain?’ He said, ‘You recognize a fine mountain, but how have you ever realized the Way?’ Asked, ‘Does a dog have Buddha-nature?’ he said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Does the master have it too?’ ‘I do not.’ ‘All sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Why are you alone without it?’ ‘I am not one of all sentient beings.’ ‘Since you are not a sentient being, are you a Buddha?’ ‘I am not a Buddha.’ ‘Then what are you, ultimately?’ ‘I am not a thing either.’ ‘Can it be seen or thought about?’ ‘Thought cannot reach it, and discussion cannot grasp it; therefore it is called inconceivable.’ In the fourth year of Yuanhe, Emperor Xianzong summoned him to the palace. The Gentleman-in-Attendance Bai Juyi once asked, ‘Since you are called a Chan master, why do you teach the Dharma?’ The master said, ‘The unsurpassed awakening, when embodied, is discipline; when spoken, it is Dharma; when enacted in the mind, it is Chan. Though its applications are three, its source is one. It is like the Yangtze, lakes, Huai, and Han: each place gives the water a different name, but the nature of water is the same. Discipline is Dharma, and Dharma does not depart from Chan. Why make arbitrary distinctions among them?’ Bai said, ‘If there is no distinction, why cultivate the mind?’ The master said, ‘The mind is originally unharmed; why repair it? Whether defiled or pure, do not let thoughts arise about anything.’ Bai said, ‘If one must not think of defilement, is it all right to think of purity?’ The master said, ‘It is like something resting on the eye. Even gold dust, though a precious treasure, becomes an ailment when it is in the eye.’ Bai said, ‘If there is neither cultivation nor thought, how are you different from an ordinary person?’ The master said, ‘Ordinary people are deluded by ignorance; those of the Two Vehicles are attached. Leaving these two ailments is called true cultivation. In true cultivation, do not be overzealous and do not be negligent. Zeal draws one toward attachment; negligence sinks one into ignorance. This is the essential point of mind.’ A monk asked, ‘Where is the Way?’ He said, ‘Right before you.’ The monk said, ‘Why can I not see it?’ He said, ‘Because you have a self, you cannot see.’ The monk said, ‘Because I have a self, I cannot see. Can the master see?’ He said, ‘When there are you and me, neither can see the other.’ ‘If there are neither you nor me, can one see?’ ‘With neither you nor me, who is there to seek to see?’ On the last day of the second month in the twelfth year of Yuanhe, after teaching from the hall, he passed away. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Dache.

鄂州無等禪師

Chan Master Wudeng of Ezhou

尉氏人也。出家於龔公山。密受心要。出住隨州土門。一日謁州牧王常侍。辭退將出門。牧召曰。和尚。師回顧。牧敲柱三下。師以手作圓相。復三撥之。便行。後住武昌大寂寺。一日大眾晚參。師見人人上來師前道不審。廼謂眾曰。大眾。適來聲向甚麼處去也。有一僧竪起指頭。師曰。珍重。其僧至來朝上參。師乃轉身面壁而臥。佯作呻吟聲曰。老僧三兩日來。不多安樂。大德身邊有甚麼藥物。與老僧些。小僧以手拍淨缾曰。這箇淨缾甚麼處得來。師曰。這箇是老僧底。大德底在甚麼處。曰。亦是和尚底。亦是某甲底。

He was from Weishi. He left home on Mount Gonggong and secretly received the essential mind teaching. He took up residence at Tumen in Suizhou. One day he visited the prefect Wang, a palace attendant. As the master took his leave and was about to go out, the prefect called, ‘Master!’ The master looked back. The prefect knocked three times on a pillar. The master formed a circle with his hand, then made three strokes through it, and left. Later he lived at Daji Monastery in Wuchang. One evening the assembly gathered for the late session. Seeing everyone come before him and say, ‘Good evening, Master,’ he asked them, ‘Where did the sound just go?’ A monk raised one finger. The master said, ‘Take care.’ The next morning the monk came to the morning session. The master turned his back, faced the wall, lay down, and pretended to groan. ‘For two or three days this old monk has not felt well. Do you have any medicine with you? Give me some.’ The monk tapped the clean-water bottle with his hand. The master asked, ‘Where did this bottle come from?’ The monk said, ‘This bottle belongs to the master. Where is yours?’ He replied, ‘It belongs both to the master and to me.’

潭州三角山總印禪師

Chan Master Zongyin of S jiao Mountain in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是三寶。師曰。禾．麥．豆。曰。學人不會。師曰。大眾欣然奉持。上堂。若論此事。眨上眉毛。早已蹉過也。麻谷便問。眨上眉毛即不問。如何是此事。師曰。蹉過也。谷乃掀倒禪床。師便打(長慶代雲。悄然)。

A monk asked, ‘What are the Three Jewels?’ The master said, ‘Rice, wheat, and beans.’ The monk said, ‘I do not understand.’ He replied, ‘The assembly joyfully receives and upholds them.’ At a sermon he said, ‘As for this matter, the moment your eyebrows twitch, you have already missed it.’ Magu then asked, ‘I will not ask about twitching your eyebrows. What is this matter?’ The master said, ‘You have missed it.’ Magu overturned the meditation seat. The master struck him. (Changqing substituted, ‘Silently.’)

池州魯祖山寶雲禪師

Chan Master Baoyun of Mount Lu Zu in Chizhou

僧問。如何是諸佛師。師曰。頭上有寶冠者不是。曰。如何即是。師曰。頭上無寶冠。洞山來參。禮拜。起。侍立。少頃而出。卻再入來。師曰。祇恁麼。祇恁麼。所以如此。山曰。大有人不肯。師曰。作麼取汝口辯。山便禮拜。僧問。如何是不言言。師曰。汝口在甚麼處。曰。無口。師曰。將甚麼吃飯。僧無對(洞山代雲。他不飢。吃甚麼飯)。師尋常見僧來。便面壁。南泉聞曰。我尋常向師僧道。向佛未出世時會取。尚不得一箇半箇。他恁麼驢年去(玄覺雲。為復唱和語。不肯語。保福問長慶。祇如魯祖。節文在甚麼處。被南泉恁麼道。長慶雲。退己讓於人。萬中無一箇。羅山雲。陳老師當時若見背上與五火抄。何故為伊解放不解收。玄沙雲。我當時若見。也與五火抄。雲居錫雲。羅山．玄沙總恁麼道。為復一般。別有道理。若擇得出許上座佛法有去處。玄覺雲。且道玄沙五火抄。打伊著不著)。

A monk asked, ‘Who is the teacher of all Buddhas?’ The master said, ‘It is not the one with a jeweled crown on his head.’ Asked who it was, he said, ‘The one without a jeweled crown.’ Dongshan came to visit, bowed, rose, and stood in attendance. After a little while he left, then came back in. The master said, ‘Just so, just so—that is why it is so.’ Dongshan said, ‘Many people will not accept this.’ The master said, ‘Why take up your skill in argument?’ Dongshan bowed. A monk asked, ‘What is speech without words?’ The master said, ‘Where is your mouth?’ The monk said, ‘I have no mouth.’ He replied, ‘Then what do you use to eat?’ The monk had no answer. (Dongshan substituted, ‘He is not hungry; why would he eat?’) Whenever the master saw a monk arrive, he would face the wall. When Nanquan heard of it, he said, ‘I often tell monks, “Understand it before the Buddha appeared in the world,” and still not one in ten thousand can do so. At this rate, he will go on until the year of the donkey.’ (Xuansha said, ‘Was he agreeing with him or refusing him?’ Baofu asked Changqing, ‘Where exactly was the point in Lu Zu’s conduct that made Nanquan speak this way?’ Changqing said, ‘Putting himself behind and yielding to others—one in ten thousand.’ Luoshan said, ‘If I had seen Master Chen then, I would have struck him five times with a fire poker. Why? He knows how to release but not how to gather in.’ Xuansha said, ‘If I had seen him then, I too would have struck him five times.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘Luoshan and Xuansha both say this: are they alike, or do they have different reasons? If you can distinguish them, I will grant that you have somewhere to stand in the Buddha Dharma.’ Xuansha said, ‘Tell me, did the five blows Xuansha gave him land or not?’)

常州芙蓉山太毓禪師

Chan Master Taiyu of Mount Furong in Changzhou

金陵范氏子。因行食到龐居士前。士擬接。師乃縮手曰。生心受施。淨名早訶。去此一機。居士還甘否。士曰。當時善現。豈不作家。師曰。非關他事。士曰。食到口邊。被他奪卻。師乃下食。士曰。不消一句。士又問。馬大師著實為人處。還分付吾師否。師曰。某甲尚未見他。作麼生知他著實處。士曰。祇此見知。也無討處。師曰。居士也不得一向言說。士曰。一向言說。師又失宗。若作兩向三向。師還開得口否。師曰。直是開口不得。可謂實也。士撫掌而出。寶曆中。歸齊雲入滅。諡大寶禪師。

He was a son of the Fan family of Jinling. Once, while serving food, he came before Layman Pang. The layman was about to receive it, but the master drew back his hand and said, ‘Vimalakirti rebuked the arising of mind when one receives an offering. Can you, layman, accept leaving this pivotal point behind?’ Pang said, ‘At the time, Subhuti was surely an expert.’ The master said, ‘This has nothing to do with anyone else.’ Pang said, ‘The food reached my mouth, but he snatched it away.’ The master then served him the food. Pang said, ‘Not a single word was needed.’ Pang asked again, ‘Did Grand Master Ma pass on to you the place where he truly helps people?’ The master said, ‘I have not even met him. How could I know the place where he truly helps people?’ Pang said, ‘Even what you know now gives me nothing to grasp.’ The master said, ‘Layman, you must not speak in only one direction.’ Pang said, ‘If I speak in only one direction, you lose the school’s principle. If I speak in two or three directions, can you still open your mouth?’ The master said, ‘If one truly cannot open one’s mouth, then it may be called real.’ Pang clapped his hands and left. During the Baoli era, the master returned to Qiyun and passed away. He was posthumously titled Great Treasure Chan Master.

唐州紫玉山道通禪師

Chan Master Daotong of Mount Ziyu in Tangzhou

盧江何氏子。隨父守官泉南。因而出家。詣建陽。謁馬祖。祖尋遷龔公山。師亦隨之。祖將歸寂。謂師曰。夫玉石潤山秀麗。益汝道業。遇可居之。師不曉其言。是秋遊洛。回至唐州。西見一山。四面懸絕。峰巒秀異。因詢鄉人。曰。紫玉山。師乃陟山頂。見石方正。瑩然紫色。歎曰。此其紫玉也。先師之言懸記耳。遂剪茅構舍而居焉。後學徒四集。僧問。如何出得三界去。師曰。汝在裡許。得多少時也。曰。如何出離。師曰。青山不礙白雲飛。於頔相公問。如何是黑風吹其船舫。漂墮羅剎鬼國。師曰。於頔客作漢。問恁麼事作麼。於公失色。師乃指曰。這箇便是漂墮羅剎鬼國。公又問。如何是佛。師喚相公。公應諾。師曰。更莫別求(藥山聞曰。噫。可惜於家漢生埋向紫玉山中。公聞。乃謁見藥山。山問曰。聞相公在紫玉山中大作佛事。是否。公曰。不敢。乃曰。承聞有語相救。今日特來。山曰。有疑但問。公曰。如何是佛。山召於頔。公應諾。山曰。是甚麼。公於此有省)。元和八年。弟子金藏參百丈回。師曰。汝其來矣。此山有主也。於是囑付訖。筞杖徑去襄州。道俗迎之。至七月十五日。無疾而終。

He was a son of the He family of Lujiang. He accompanied his father, who held office in Quannan, and there left home. He went to Jianyang to visit Mazu. When the patriarch moved to Mount Gonggong, the master followed him. As Mazu was about to pass into stillness, he told the master, ‘Jade and stone make a mountain beautiful and lustrous; this will benefit your practice. When you find a place to live, you will understand.’ The master did not understand. That autumn he traveled to Luoyang. On his return to Tangzhou, he saw a mountain to the west, precipitous on all four sides, with extraordinary peaks and ridges. He asked the local people what it was called. They said, ‘Mount Ziyu.’ He climbed to the summit, saw a square, smooth stone of purple color, and exclaimed, ‘This must be the purple jade! My late teacher’s words were a prophecy.’ He cut thatch and built a hut to live there. Later disciples gathered around him. A monk asked, ‘How can one get out of the Three Realms?’ The master said, ‘How long have you been in there?’ Asked how to get free, he said, ‘The green mountain does not hinder the white clouds from flying.’ The minister Yu asked, ‘What does it mean that a black wind blows a ship and drifts it into the land of rakshasa demons?’ The master said, ‘Yu, you hired hand, why ask such a thing?’ Yu turned pale. The master pointed and said, ‘This is what it means to be cast into the land of rakshasa demons.’ Yu asked again, ‘What is Buddha?’ The master called him. Yu answered, ‘Yes?’ The master said, ‘Seek no further.’ (When Yaoshan heard this, he said, ‘Alas, the man of the Yu family has been buried alive on Mount Ziyu.’ Yu heard of this and went to see Yaoshan. Yaoshan asked, ‘I hear the minister has been carrying out great Buddhist work on Mount Ziyu. Is that so?’ Yu said, ‘I would not dare.’ He continued, ‘I heard you had words to save me, so I have come especially today.’ Yaoshan said, ‘If you have a doubt, ask.’ Yu asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ Yaoshan called Yu. Yu answered, ‘Yes?’ Yaoshan said, ‘What is it?’ Yu had a slight awakening.) In the eighth year of Yuanhe, the disciple Jincang returned from visiting Baizhang. The master said, ‘You have come; this mountain has its host.’ After entrusting him with the teaching, the master took up his staff and went straight to Xiangzhou. Monks and laypeople welcomed him. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he passed away without illness.

五臺山隱峰禪師

Chan Master Yinfeng of Mount Wutai

邵武軍鄧氏子(時稱鄧隱峰)。幼若不慧。父母聽其出家。初遊馬祖之門。而未能覩奧。復來往石頭。雖兩番不捷(語見馬祖章)。而後於馬祖言下相契。師問石頭。如何得合道去。頭曰。我亦不合道。師曰。畢竟如何。頭曰。汝被這箇得多少時邪。石頭剗草次。師在左側。叉手而立。頭飛剗子。向師前剗一株草。師曰。和尚祇剗得這箇。不剗得那箇。頭提起剗子。師接得。便作剗草勢。頭曰。汝祇剗得那箇。不解剗得這箇。師無對(洞山雲。還有堆阜麼)。師一日推車次。馬祖展腳在路上坐。師曰。請師收足。祖曰。已展不縮。師曰。已進不退。乃推車碾損祖腳。祖歸法堂。執斧子曰。適來碾損老僧腳底出來。師便出於祖前。引頸。祖乃置斧。師到南泉。覩眾僧參次。泉指淨瓶曰。銅瓶是境。瓶中有水。不得動著境。與老僧將水來。師拈起淨瓶。向泉面前瀉。泉便休。師後到溈山。便入堂於上板頭解放衣缽。溈聞師叔到。先具威儀。下堂內相看。師見來。便作臥勢。溈便歸方丈。師乃發去。少間。溈山問侍者。師叔在否。曰。已去。溈曰。去時有甚麼語。曰。無語。溈曰。莫道無語。其聲如雷。師冬居衡嶽。夏止清涼。唐元和中薦登五臺。路出淮西。屬吳元濟阻兵。違拒王命。官軍與賊軍交鋒。未決勝負。師曰。吾當去解其患。乃擲錫空中。飛身而過。兩軍將士仰觀。事符預夢。鬬心頓息。師既顯神異。慮成惑眾。遂入五臺。於金剛窟前將示滅。先問眾曰。諸方遷化。坐去臥去。吾嘗見之。還有立化也無。曰。有。師曰。還有倒立者否。曰。未嘗見有。師乃倒立而化。亭亭然其衣順體。時眾議舁就茶毗。屹然不動。遠近瞻覩。驚歎無已。師有妹為尼。時亦在彼。乃拊而咄曰。老兄。疇昔不循法律。死更熒惑於人。於是以手推之。僨然而踣。遂就闍維。收舍利建塔。

He was a son of the Deng family of Shaowu Army, and was then called Deng Yinfeng. As a child he seemed dull, but his parents allowed him to leave home. At first he studied under Mazu without seeing the depths of the teaching. He went back and forth to Shitou twice, but did not succeed either time (see the Mazu chapter). Later he met Mazu’s teaching and their understanding joined. He asked Shitou, ‘How can I accord with the Way?’ Shitou said, ‘I do not accord with the Way either.’ The master asked, ‘Then what, ultimately?’ Shitou said, ‘How long have you been taken in by this?’ While Shitou was cutting grass, the master stood with hands folded at his left. Shitou flung his hoe and cut a tuft of grass in front of him. The master said, ‘Master, you can cut this, but you cannot cut that.’ Shitou raised the hoe. The master took it and made a motion as if cutting grass. Shitou said, ‘You can cut that, but you do not know how to cut this.’ The master had no answer. (Dongshan said, ‘Is there still a mound?’) One day the master was pushing a cart when Mazu sat in the road with his legs stretched out. The master said, ‘Please draw in your feet.’ Mazu said, ‘They are already stretched out; they will not draw back.’ The master said, ‘I have already advanced; I will not retreat.’ He pushed the cart over Mazu’s feet and injured them. Mazu returned to the Dharma hall, picked up an axe, and said, ‘The one who just injured this old monk’s feet, come out!’ The master stepped forward and stretched out his neck. Mazu put down the axe. When the master visited Nanquan, he saw the monks gathered for an assembly. Nanquan pointed at a water bottle and said, ‘The bronze bottle is a form; there is water in it. Do not disturb the form. Bring me the water.’ The master picked up the bottle and poured water before Nanquan, who said no more. Later the master went to Weishan, entered the hall, and laid down his robe and bowl at the head of the upper platform. When Weishan heard that his Dharma uncle had arrived, he arranged his robes and went down to greet him. Seeing him come, the master lay down. Weishan returned to his room, and the master then left. A little later Weishan asked his attendant, ‘Is my uncle still here?’ ‘He has already gone.’ Weishan asked, ‘Did he say anything as he left?’ The attendant said, ‘Nothing.’ Weishan said, ‘Do not say he said nothing; his voice was like thunder.’ In winter the master stayed on Mount Heng; in summer he stayed at Qingliang. During the Yuanhe era of the Tang, he was recommended to visit Mount Wutai. His route passed through Huaixi, where Wu Yuanji’s troops were rebelling against the imperial order. Government and rebel forces faced each other, with neither side winning. The master said, ‘I will go and resolve this trouble.’ He tossed his staff into the air and flew across. The soldiers on both sides looked up; the event fulfilled a dream they had previously shared, and their desire to fight immediately ceased. Since the master had displayed such a marvel and feared that people would be deluded, he entered Mount Wutai. Before demonstrating his passing at the Vajra Cave, he asked the assembly, ‘I have seen people in various places pass away sitting or lying down. Has anyone ever passed away standing?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He asked, ‘Has anyone passed away standing upside down?’ They said, ‘Never.’ The master then died standing upside down, his robe hanging neatly on his body. The assembly discussed carrying him to the cremation ground, but he remained upright and immovable. People near and far came to see him, endlessly astonished. His younger sister, a nun, was also there. She patted him and shouted, ‘Elder brother, you never followed the rules while alive, and now in death you are still confusing people!’ She pushed him with her hand, and he fell to the ground. They then cremated him, collected the relics, and built a stupa.

潭州石霜(亦作龍)大善禪師

Chan Master Dashan of Shishuang (also called Long) in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。春日雞鳴。曰。學人不會。師曰。中秋犬吠。上堂。大眾出來出來。老漢有箇法要。百年後不累汝。眾曰。便請和尚說。師曰。不消一堆火。

A monk asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ The master said, ‘A chicken crows on a spring day.’ The monk said, ‘I do not understand.’ The master said, ‘A dog barks at mid-autumn.’ At a sermon he said, ‘Everyone, come forward. This old monk has an essential Dharma that will spare you trouble after a hundred years.’ The assembly said, ‘Please explain it, Master.’ He said, ‘There is no need for a pile of firewood.’

泉州龜洋無了禪師

Chan Master Wuliao of Guiyang in Quanzhou

本郡沈氏子。年七歲。父𢹂入白重院。視之如家。因而捨愛。至十八。剃度受具於靈巖寺。後參大寂。了達祖乘。即還本院之北。樵採路絕。師一日筞杖披榛而行。遇六眸巨龜。斯須而失。乃庵此峰。因號龜洋。一日。有虎逐鹿入庵。師以杖格虎。遂存鹿命。洎將示化。乃述偈曰。八十年來辨西東。如今不要白頭翁。非長非短非大小。還與諸人性相同。無來無去兼無住。了卻本來自性空。偈畢。儼然告寂。瘞於正堂垂二十載。為山泉淹沒。門人發塔。見全身水中而浮。閩王聞之。遣使舁入府庭供養。忽臭氣遠聞。王焚香祝之曰。可還龜洋舊址建塔。言訖。異香普燻。傾城瞻禮。本道奏諡真寂大師。塔曰靈覺。後弟子慧忠塟於塔左。今龜洋二真身存焉。忠得法於草菴義和尚。

He was a son of the Shen family of this prefecture. At seven, his father took him to Baizhong Monastery. He regarded it as home and thereby gave up worldly affection. At eighteen, he was tonsured and received full ordination at Lingyan Monastery. Later he studied under Daji, understood the patriarchs’ vehicle, and returned to the north of his original monastery. The paths for gathering firewood were overgrown and impassable. One day he went through the brush with his staff and met a huge turtle with six eyes; in a moment it disappeared. He built a hermitage on that peak, which was therefore called Guiyang. One day a tiger chased a deer into the hermitage. The master blocked the tiger with his staff and saved the deer. When he was about to pass into transformation, he composed this verse: ‘For eighty years I distinguished east from west; now I need no white-haired old man. Neither long nor short, neither large nor small, I am still of the same nature as all of you. Neither coming nor going, nor abiding, I have completed the original emptiness of my own nature.’ After finishing the verse, he announced his passing with perfect composure. He was buried in the main hall. Nearly twenty years later, the site was submerged by a mountain spring. His disciples opened the stupa and saw his whole body floating in the water. The King of Min heard of it and sent men to carry the body into the palace courtyard for veneration, but a foul odor suddenly spread far and wide. The king burned incense and prayed, ‘Please return to your old site at Guiyang, where a stupa will be built.’ As soon as he finished speaking, an extraordinary fragrance filled the air, and the whole city came to pay homage. The regional official reported the matter and requested the posthumous title True Stillness Master; the stupa was named Spiritual Awakening. Later the disciple Huizhong was buried beside the stupa. The two whole bodies are still at Guiyang today. Huizhong received the Dharma from Master Yichan of Caotang.

南嶽西園蘭若曇藏禪師

Chan Master Tanzang of Xiyuan Hermitage on Mount Heng

受心印於大寂。後謁石頭。瑩然明徹。出住西園。禪侶日盛。師一日自燒浴次。僧問。何不使沙彌。師撫掌三下(僧舉似曹山。山雲。一等是拍手撫掌。就中西園奇恠。俱胝一指頭禪。葢為承當處不諦當。僧卻問曹山。西園撫掌。豈不是奴兒婢子邊事。山雲。是。雲。向上更有事也無。山雲。有。雲。如何是向上事。山叱雲。這奴兒婢子)。師養一犬。常夜經行時。其犬銜師衣。師即歸方丈。又常於門側伏守。忽一夜頻吠。奮身作猛噬之勢。詰旦。東廚有一大蟒。長數丈。張口呀氣。毒𦦨熾然。侍者請避之。師曰。死可逃乎。彼以毒來。我以慈受。毒無實性。激發則強。慈苟無緣。冤親一揆。言訖。其蟒按首徐行。倐然不見。復一夕。有群盜至。犬亦銜衣。師語盜曰。茅舍有可意物。一任將去。終無所吝。盜感其言。皆稽首而散。

He received the mind seal from Daji. Later he visited Shitou and became lucid and thoroughly clear. He took up residence at Xiyuan, where the community of Chan practitioners grew daily. One day he was heating water for his own bath. A monk asked, ‘Why not have a novice do it?’ The master clapped his hands three times. (The monk reported this to Caoshan. Caoshan said, ‘All clapping and slapping hands is alike, but what is strange is Xiyuan. Juzhi’s one-finger Chan comes from not having settled the point of realization.’ The monk asked Caoshan, ‘Isn’t Xiyuan’s clapping just a matter for servants and maids?’ Caoshan said, ‘Yes.’ The monk asked, ‘Is there anything further, beyond?’ Caoshan said, ‘There is.’ The monk asked, ‘What is the matter beyond?’ Caoshan scolded him, ‘You servant!’) The master kept a dog. When he made his nightly rounds, the dog often caught his robe, and he would return to his room. It also often crouched by the door to keep watch. One night it barked repeatedly and sprang forward as if to bite fiercely. At dawn, a huge python several dozen feet long was found in the eastern kitchen, mouth open and breathing fiercely, its poisonous flames blazing. An attendant urged the master to flee. He said, ‘Can one escape death? It comes with poison; I receive it with compassion. Poison has no fixed nature; it grows strong when provoked. If compassion has no conditions, foe and friend are treated alike.’ When he finished speaking, the python lowered its head and moved away slowly, then vanished in an instant. Another evening a band of thieves arrived, and the dog again caught his robe. The master said to the thieves, ‘There are things in this thatched hut you may like. Take whatever you wish; I will begrudge nothing.’ Moved by his words, the thieves all bowed and dispersed.

袁州楊岐山甄叔禪師

Chan Master Zhenshu of Yangqi Mountain in Yuanzhou

上堂。群靈一源。假名為佛。體竭形銷而不滅。金流樸散而常存。性海無風。金波自湧。心靈絕非。萬象齊照。體斯理者。不言而徧歷沙界。不用而功益玄化。如何背覺。反合塵勞。於陰界中。妄自囚執。禪月問。如何是祖師西來意。師呈起數珠。月罔措。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。某甲參見石頭來。曰。見石頭得何意旨。師指庭前鹿曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。渠儂得自由。唐元和十五年歸寂。茶毗獲舍利七百粒。於東峰下建塔。

At a sermon he said, ‘The source of all beings is one; provisionally it is called Buddha. Though body and form are exhausted and dissolve, it does not perish; like gold melted and ore scattered, it always remains. The sea of nature is windless, yet golden waves rise of themselves. The mind’s awareness is free from falsity and illuminates all phenomena equally. One who embodies this principle traverses the worlds as numerous as the sands without speaking, and without acting brings wondrous benefit to transformation. Why turn away from awakening and return to worldly toil, imprisoning yourself in the realms and aggregates through delusion?’ Zen Master Chanyue asked, ‘What is the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the West?’ The master held up his prayer beads. Chanyue was at a loss. The master asked, ‘Do you understand?’ ‘I do not.’ ‘I have visited Shitou.’ ‘What did you understand from Shitou?’ The master pointed to a deer in the courtyard and asked, ‘Do you understand?’ ‘I do not.’ The master said, ‘That fellow is free.’ In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe under the Tang, he passed away. After cremation seven hundred relics were recovered, and a stupa was built beneath the eastern peak.

磁州馬頭峰神藏禪師

Chan Master Shenzang of Matou Peak in Cizhou

上堂。知而無知。不是無知。而說無知。便下座(南泉雲。恁麼依師道。始道得一半。黃檗雲。不是南泉駁他。要圓前話)。

At a sermon he said, ‘To know and yet not know is not to say that one does not know.’ He then left the seat. (Nanquan said, ‘If you follow the master’s words like this, you have only spoken half.’ Huangbo said, ‘Nanquan is not refuting him; he is completing the earlier statement.’)

潭州華林善覺禪師

Chan Master Shanjue of Hualin in Tanzhou

常持錫杖。夜出林麓間。七步一振錫。一稱觀音名號。夾山問。遠聞和尚念觀音。是否。師曰。然。山曰。騎卻頭時如何。師曰。出頭即從汝騎。不出頭騎甚麼。山無對。僧參。方展坐具。師曰。緩緩。曰。和尚見甚麼。師曰。可惜許。磕破鐘樓。其僧從此悟入。觀察使裴休訪之。問曰。還有侍者否。師曰。有一兩箇。祇是不可見客。裴曰。在甚麼處。師乃喚大空．小空。時二虎自庵後而出。裴覩之驚悸。師語二虎曰。有客。且去。二虎哮吼而去。裴問曰。師作何行業。感得如斯。師乃良久曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。山僧常念觀音。

He always carried a staff. At night he went out among the woods and foothills, shaking the staff every seven steps and reciting the name of Guanyin. Jia-shan asked, ‘I have often heard that you recite Guanyin’s name. Is that true?’ The master said, ‘Yes.’ Jia-shan said, ‘What if I ride on your head?’ He replied, ‘If I stick my head out, you may ride it. If I do not, what will you ride?’ Jia-shan had no answer. A monk came to visit and had just opened his sitting mat when the master said, ‘Slowly, slowly.’ The monk asked, ‘What do you see, Master?’ He said, ‘What a pity—you have cracked the bell tower.’ The monk awakened from that moment. The surveillance commissioner Pei Xiu visited and asked, ‘Do you have attendants?’ The master said, ‘One or two, but they cannot be seen by guests.’ Pei asked where they were. The master called, ‘Dakong! Xiaokong!’ Just then two tigers came out from behind the hermitage. Pei was terrified. The master said to the tigers, ‘We have a guest; go away for now.’ The tigers roared and departed. Pei asked, ‘What practice have you performed to evoke such a response?’ The master was silent for a long time, then asked, ‘Do you understand?’ Pei said, ‘I do not.’ The master said, ‘This mountain monk constantly recites Guanyin’s name.’

汀州水塘和尚

The Water-Pond Master of Tingzhou

問歸宗。甚麼人。宗曰。陳州人。師曰。年多少。宗曰。二十二。師曰。闍黎未生時。老僧去來。宗曰。和尚幾時生。師竪起拂子。宗曰。這箇豈有生邪。師曰。會得即無生。曰。未會在。師無語。

He asked Guizong, ‘Where are you from?’ Guizong said, ‘I am from Chenzhou.’ The master asked, ‘How old are you?’ Guizong said, ‘Twenty-two.’ The master said, ‘Before you were born, this old monk had already come and gone.’ Guizong asked, ‘When was the master born?’ The master raised his whisk. Guizong said, ‘Can this thing be born?’ The master said, ‘If you understand, there is no birth.’ Guizong said, ‘I have not understood yet.’ The master was silent.

濛谿和尚

The Mengxi Master

僧問。一念不生時如何。師良久。僧便禮拜。師曰。汝作麼生會。曰。某甲終不敢無慙愧。師曰。汝卻信得及。問。本分事如何體悉。師曰。汝何不問。曰。請師答話。師曰。汝卻問得好。僧大笑而出。師曰。秖有這僧靈利。有僧從外來。師便喝。僧曰。好箇來由。師曰。猶要棒在。僧珍重便出。師曰。得能自在。

A monk asked, ‘What is it like when not a single thought arises?’ The master was silent for a long while. The monk bowed. The master asked, ‘How do you understand it?’ The monk said, ‘I would never dare to be without shame.’ The master said, ‘You have indeed trusted it.’ Asked how to understand the fundamental matter, the master said, ‘Why don’t you ask?’ The monk said, ‘Please answer, Master.’ The master said, ‘You have asked well.’ The monk laughed loudly and left. The master said, ‘Only this monk is keen.’ A monk came in from outside, and the master shouted. The monk said, ‘What a fine reason!’ The master said, ‘You still need a staff.’ The monk wished him well and left. The master said, ‘He can be at ease.’

溫州佛㠗和尚

The Buddha’ao Master of Wenzhou

尋常見人來。以柱杖卓地曰。前佛也恁麼。後佛也恁麼。問。正恁麼時作麼生。師畫一圓相。僧作女人拜。師便打。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。賊也。賊也。問。如何是異類。師敲椀曰。花奴花奴吃飯來。

Whenever someone came, he would plant his staff on the ground and say, ‘The Buddhas of the past did so; the Buddhas of the future will do so.’ Asked, ‘What is it like at the very moment of doing so?’ the master drew a circle. The monk bowed like a woman. The master struck him. Asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ the master said, ‘A thief! A thief!’ Asked, ‘What are the different kinds of beings?’ the master tapped a bowl and called, ‘Hua-nu, Hua-nu, come eat!’

烏臼和尚

Master Wuju

玄．紹二上座參。師乃問。二禪客發足甚麼處。玄曰。江西。師便打。玄曰。久知和尚有此機要。師曰。汝既不會。後面箇師僧祇對看。紹擬近前。師便打。曰。信知同坑無異土。參堂去。問僧。近離甚處。曰。定州。師曰。定州法道何似這裡。曰。不別。師曰。若不別。更轉彼中去。便打。僧曰。棒頭有眼。不得草草打人。師曰。今日打著一箇也。又打三下。僧便出去。師曰。屈棒元來有人吃在。曰。爭柰杓柄在和尚手裡。師曰。汝若要。山僧回與汝。僧近前奪棒。打師三下。師曰。屈棒。屈棒。曰。有人吃在。師曰。草草打著箇漢。僧禮拜。師曰。卻與麼去也。僧大笑而出。師曰。消得恁麼。消得恁麼。

The two senior monks Xuan and Shao came to visit. The master asked, ‘Where did you two Chan travelers set out from?’ Xuan said, ‘Jiangxi.’ The master struck him. Xuan said, ‘I have long known the master had this essential device.’ The master said, ‘Since you do not understand, let the monk behind you answer.’ Shao moved forward, and the master struck him too, saying, ‘Now I know that soil from the same pit is no different. Go attend the assembly.’ A monk was asked, ‘Where have you just come from?’ He said, ‘Dingzhou.’ The master asked, ‘How is the Dharma there compared with here?’ ‘No different.’ ‘If it is no different, go back there.’ He struck him. The monk said, ‘There are eyes at the end of your staff; do not strike people carelessly.’ The master said, ‘Today I hit someone at last,’ and struck him three more times. The monk left. The master said, ‘So someone has taken an unjust beating after all.’ The monk said, ‘But the ladle is in your hand, Master.’ The master said, ‘If you want it, I’ll hand it back.’ The monk stepped forward, seized the staff, and struck the master three times. The master said, ‘An unjust beating, an unjust beating!’ The monk said, ‘Someone has taken one after all.’ The master said, ‘I struck a fellow who acts carelessly.’ The monk bowed. The master said, ‘So you are going off like that?’ The monk laughed loudly and left. The master said, ‘That is worth it, that is worth it.’

古寺和尚

Master Gusi

丹霞來參。經宿。明旦粥熟。行者祇盛一缽與師。又盛一椀自吃。殊不顧丹霞。霞亦自盛粥吃。者曰。五更侵早起。更有夜行人。霞問。師何不教訓行者。得恁麼無禮。師曰。淨地上不要點汙人家男女。霞曰。幾不問過這老漢。

Danya came to visit and stayed the night. At dawn the porridge was ready. The attendant served the master one bowl, then filled a bowl for himself and ate, paying no attention to Danya. Danya served himself porridge too. The attendant said, ‘Up before dawn, and there is still someone traveling through the night.’ Danya asked, ‘Master, why don’t you teach your attendant? How can he be so discourteous?’ The master said, ‘Do not stain someone’s household on a clean patch of ground.’ Danya said, ‘I nearly let this old fellow get away without questioning him.’

石臼和尚

Master Shijiu

初參馬祖。祖問。甚麼處來。師曰。烏臼來。祖曰。烏臼近日有何言句。師曰。幾人於此茫然。祖曰。茫然且置。悄然一句作麼生。師乃近前三步。祖曰。我有七棒寄打烏臼。你還甘否。師曰。和尚先吃。某甲後甘。

He first visited Mazu. Mazu asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ The master said, ‘From Wuju.’ Mazu asked, ‘What has Wuju said lately?’ The master replied, ‘Several people here are bewildered.’ Mazu said, ‘Set bewilderment aside. What is the quiet, unspoken phrase?’ The master stepped forward three paces. Mazu said, ‘I have seven blows to send to Wuju. Will you accept them?’ The master said, ‘Master, take yours first; I will accept mine afterward.’

本谿和尚

Master Benxi

因龐居士問。丹霞打侍者。意在何所。師曰。大老翁見人長短在。士曰。為我與師同參。方敢借問。師曰。若恁麼從頭舉來。共你商量。士曰。大老翁不可共你說人是非。師曰。念翁年老。士曰。罪過。罪過。

Layman Pang asked, ‘When Danya struck his attendant, what was he getting at?’ The master said, ‘An old gentleman is busy pointing out other people’s faults.’ The layman said, ‘Since you and I studied together, I dared ask.’ The master said, ‘If you bring up the whole matter, I will discuss it with you.’ The layman said, ‘Old gentleman, I cannot join you in gossiping about people.’ The master said, ‘I was considering your advanced age.’ The layman said, ‘My offense, my offense.’

石林和尚

Master Shilin

見龐居士來。乃竪起拂子曰。不落丹霞機。試道一句子。士奪卻拂子。卻自竪起拳。師曰。正是丹霞機。士曰。與我不落看。師曰。丹霞患瘂。龐公患聾。士曰。恰是。師無語。士曰。向道偶爾。又一日問士。某甲有箇借問。居士莫惜言語。士曰。便請舉來。師曰。元來惜言語。士曰。這箇問訊。不覺落他便宜。師乃掩耳。士曰。作家。作家。

When Layman Pang came, the master raised his whisk and said, ‘Without falling into Danya’s device, try giving me one phrase.’ The layman snatched away the whisk and raised his fist. The master said, ‘That is precisely Danya’s device.’ The layman said, ‘Show me how not to fall into it.’ The master said, ‘Danya is mute; Layman Pang is deaf.’ The layman said, ‘Exactly.’ The master had no reply. The layman said, ‘I told you it was only by chance.’ Another day the master said to him, ‘I have a question to borrow; Layman, don’t begrudge me a few words.’ ‘Go ahead and ask.’ The master said, ‘So you begrudge your words after all.’ The layman said, ‘That greeting has unknowingly put me at a disadvantage.’ The master covered his ears. The layman said, ‘A true adept, a true adept!’

亮座主

Lecturer Liang

蜀人也。頗講經論。因參馬祖。祖問。見說座主大講得經論。是否。師曰。不敢。祖曰。將甚麼講。師曰。將心講。祖曰。心如工伎兒。意如和伎者。爭解講得。師抗聲曰。心既講不得。虗空莫講得麼。祖曰。卻是虗空講得。師不肯。便出。將下堦。祖召曰。座主。師回首。祖曰。是甚麼。師豁然大悟。便禮拜。祖曰。這鈍根阿師。禮拜作麼。師曰。某甲所講經論。將謂無人及得。今日被大師一問。平生功業。一時氷釋。禮謝而退。乃隱於洪州西山。更無消息。

He was a native of Shu and often lectured on sutras and treatises. He went to visit Mazu. Mazu asked, ‘I hear you lecture very well on the sutras and treatises. Is that so?’ The master said, ‘I would not presume.’ Mazu asked, ‘Then what do you lecture with?’ The master said, ‘With the mind.’ Mazu said, ‘The mind is like a skilled performer, and thought like the one accompanying the act. How could they lecture?’ The master replied loudly, ‘If the mind cannot lecture, can empty space not lecture?’ Mazu said, ‘Empty space can indeed lecture.’ The master did not accept this and left. As he was descending the steps, Mazu called, ‘Lecturer!’ The master looked back. Mazu asked, ‘What is it?’ At that, the master suddenly awakened and bowed. Mazu said, ‘You dull-witted monk, why bow?’ The master said, ‘I thought no one could surpass the sutras and treatises I lecture on. Today, with one question from the Great Master, the work of my whole life dissolved like ice.’ He thanked Mazu and withdrew. He then lived in seclusion on Xishan west of Hongzhou, and nothing more was heard of him.

黑眼和尚

Master Black Eyes

僧問。如何是不出世師。師曰。善財拄杖子。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。十年賣炭漢。不知秤畔星。

A monk asked, ‘Who is a master who has not left the world?’ The master said, ‘Manjushri’s staff.’ Asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ he said, ‘A man who has sold charcoal for ten years still does not know the star mark beside the weighing scale.’

米嶺和尚

Master Miling

僧問。如何是衲衣下事。師曰。醜陋任君嫌。不掛雲霞色。師將示滅。遺偈曰。祖祖不思議。不許常住世。大眾審思惟。畢竟祇這是。言訖而寂。

A monk asked, ‘What is the matter beneath the patched robe?’ The master said, ‘Let anyone dislike its ugliness; it is not adorned with the colors of clouds.’ As he was about to pass away, the master left this verse: ‘The lineage masters are inconceivable; none may remain in this world forever. All of you, consider this carefully: in the end, it is only this.’ Having finished speaking, he died.

齊峰和尚

Master Qifeng

龐居士來。師曰。俗人頻頻入僧院。討箇甚麼。士回顧兩邊曰。誰恁麼道。師乃咄之。士曰。在這裡。師曰。莫是當陽道麼。士曰。背後底聻。師回首。曰。看。看。士曰。草賊大敗。士卻問。此去峰頂有幾裡。師曰。甚麼處去來。士曰。可謂峻硬。不得問者。師曰。是多少。士曰。一二三。師曰。四五六。士曰。何不道七。師曰。才道七。便有八。士曰。住得也。師曰。一任添取。士喝便出去。師隨後亦喝。

Layman Pang came. The master said, ‘Why does a layman keep coming into a monastery? What are you looking for?’ The layman glanced to either side and said, ‘Who says that?’ The master shouted at him. The layman said, ‘Right here.’ The master asked, ‘Could it be the one facing you?’ The layman said, ‘And what about the one behind you?’ The master turned around and said, ‘Look, look!’ The layman said, ‘The bandits have been thoroughly defeated.’ He then asked, ‘How many li from here to the summit?’ The master said, ‘Where did you come from?’ The layman said, ‘You are truly rugged and steep; one cannot even ask you a question.’ The master asked, ‘How many is it?’ The layman said, ‘One, two, three.’ The master said, ‘Four, five, six.’ The layman said, ‘Why not say seven?’ The master said, ‘Once you say seven, there is an eight.’ The layman said, ‘That will do.’ The master said, ‘Add as many as you like.’ The layman shouted and left; the master followed, shouting too.

大陽和尚

Master Dayang

因伊禪師相見。乃問伊禪。近日有一般知識。向目前指教人。了取目前事。作這箇為人。還會文彩未兆時也無。曰。擬向這裡致一問。不知可否。師曰。答汝已了。莫道可否。曰。還識得目前也未。師曰。若是目前。作麼生識。曰。要且遭人檢點。師曰。誰。曰。某甲。師便喝。伊退步而立。師曰。汝秖解瞻前。不解顧後。曰。雪上更加霜。師曰。彼此無便宜。

When Chan Master Yi met him, he asked, ‘These days there are teachers who point to what is right before people and teach them to realize the matter before their eyes. In guiding people this way, do they understand the moment before any pattern appears?’ Yi said, ‘I was about to ask a question about this. May I?’ The master said, ‘I have already answered you. Don’t ask whether you may.’ Yi asked, ‘Do you recognize what is before your eyes?’ The master said, ‘If it is before your eyes, how could you recognize it?’ Yi said, ‘Still, I have to submit to someone’s examination.’ The master asked, ‘Who?’ ‘I do.’ The master shouted. Yi stepped back and stood still. The master said, ‘You know only how to look ahead, not how to look behind.’ Yi said, ‘Adding frost on top of snow.’ The master said, ‘Neither of us has the advantage.’

幽州紅螺山和尚

Master of Red Snail Mountain, Youzhou

有頌示門人曰。紅螺山子近邊夷。度得之流半是奚。共語問醻都不會。可憐祇解那斯祁。

He composed a verse for his disciples: ‘Red Snail Mountain lies near the frontier lands; half the people who cross over are Khitan. They understand neither questions nor answers in conversation. Pity them: they know only how to say “nasiqi.”’

百靈和尚

Master Bailing

一日與龐居士路次相逢。問曰。南嶽得力句。還曾舉向人也無。士曰。曾舉來。師曰。舉向甚麼人。士以手自指曰。龐公。師曰。真是妙德．空生也讚歎不及。士卻問。阿師得力句。是誰得知。師戴笠子便行。士曰。善為道路。師更不回首。

One day he met Layman Pang on the road and asked, ‘Have you ever spoken to anyone of the phrase that brought you realization on Hengshan?’ The layman said, ‘I have.’ The master asked, ‘To whom did you say it?’ The layman pointed to himself and said, ‘To Layman Pang.’ The master said, ‘Even Maitreya and Subhuti could not praise it enough.’ The layman asked in turn, ‘Who knows the phrase that brought you realization, Master?’ The master put on his bamboo hat and walked away. The layman said, ‘May you fare well on the road.’ The master did not look back.

鎮州金牛和尚

Master Jinniu of Zhenzhou

每自做飯。供養眾僧。至齋時。舁飯桶到堂前作舞。呵呵大笑曰。菩薩子。吃飯來(僧問長慶。古人撫掌喚僧吃飯。意旨如何。慶雲。大似因齋慶讚。僧問大光。未審慶讚箇甚麼。光作舞。僧禮拜。光雲。這野狐精。東禪齊雲。古人自出手作飯。舞了喚人來吃。意作麼生。還會麼。祇如長慶與大光。是明古人意。別為他分析。今問上座。每日持缽掌盂時。迎來送去時。為當與古人一般。別有道理。若道別。且作麼生得別來。若一般。恰到他舞。又被喚作野狐精。有會處麼。若未會。行腳眼在甚麼處)。

He always cooked rice himself to offer to the monks. At mealtime, he would carry the rice tub to the hall, dance, laugh heartily, and call, ‘Children of the bodhisattvas, come eat!’ (A monk asked Changqing, ‘What was the old master’s meaning when he clapped his hands and called the monks to eat?’ Changqing said, ‘It was much like giving thanks at a feast.’ The monk asked Daguang, ‘What exactly was he giving thanks for?’ Daguang danced. The monk bowed. Daguang said, ‘You wild fox spirit!’ Dongchan Qi said, ‘The old master cooked the rice himself, danced, and then called everyone to eat. What did he mean? Do you understand? Changqing and Daguang clarified the old master’s meaning in their own ways. Now I ask you, when you carry your bowls and wash them every day, when you welcome people and see them off, are you doing just what the old master did, or is there another principle? If you say it is different, how can it be different? If you say it is the same, once you dance you will be called a wild fox spirit. Is there anyone who understands? If not, where are your eyes for traveling to study?’)

洛京黑㵎和尚

Master Hejian of Luoyang

僧問。如何是密室。師曰。截耳臥街。曰。如何是密室中人。師乃換手槌胷。

A monk asked, ‘What is the secret chamber?’ The master said, ‘Cut off your ears and lie in the street.’ Asked, ‘Who is the person in the secret chamber?’ the master struck his chest, switching hands.

利山和尚

Master Lishan

僧問。眾色歸空。空歸何所。師曰。舌頭不出口。曰。為甚麼不出口。師曰。內外一如故。問。不歷僧祇獲法身。請師直指。師曰。子承父業。曰。如何領會。師曰。貶剝不施。曰。恁麼則大眾有賴去也。師曰。大眾且置。作麼生是法身。僧無對。師曰。汝問。我與汝道。僧問。如何是法身。師曰。空華陽𦦨。問。如何是西來意。師曰。不見如何。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。祇為如此。

A monk asked, ‘All forms return to emptiness; where does emptiness return?’ The master said, ‘The tongue does not leave the mouth.’ ‘Why does it not leave the mouth?’ ‘Because inside and outside are one.’ Asked, ‘Attain the Dharma-body without passing through countless eons; please point it out directly.’ The master said, ‘A son inherits his father’s work.’ ‘How should I understand this?’ ‘No stripping or disparagement is applied.’ ‘Then the whole assembly is indebted to you.’ The master said, ‘Set the assembly aside. What is the Dharma-body?’ The monk had no answer. The master said, ‘Ask, and I will tell you.’ The monk asked, ‘What is the Dharma-body?’ The master said, ‘Flowers in the sky, mirages in the sun.’ Asked, ‘What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?’ he said, ‘Do you not see?’ ‘Why is it so?’ ‘It is just so.’

韶州乳源和尚

Master Ruyuan of Shaozhou

上堂。西來的的意不妨。難道眾中莫有道得者。出來試道看。時有僧出禮拜。師便打。曰。是甚麼時節。出頭來。便歸方丈(僧舉似長慶。慶雲。不妨。不妨。資福代雲。為和尚不惜身命)。仰山作沙彌時。念經聲高。師咄曰。這沙彌念經恰似哭。曰。慧寂秖恁麼。未審和尚如何。師乃顧視。仰曰。若恁麼。與哭何異。師便休。

Taking the seat, he said, ‘The true meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West is not hard to speak of. Is there no one in the assembly who can say it? Come out and try.’ A monk came forward and bowed. The master struck him, saying, ‘What time is this, that you come forward?’ Then he returned to his quarters. (A monk recounted this to Changqing, who said, ‘Not bad, not bad.’ Zifu said in his place, ‘The master spared no effort, even risking his life.’) When Yangshan was a novice, he chanted loudly. The master shouted, ‘This novice chants as if he were crying.’ Yangshan said, ‘This is simply how Huiji chants. What would you have me do, Master?’ The master looked at him. Yangshan said, ‘If that is so, how is it different from crying?’ The master stopped.

松山和尚

Master Songshan

同龐居士吃茶。士舉橐子曰。人人盡有分。為甚麼道不得。師曰。祇為人人盡有。所以道不得。士曰。阿兄為甚麼卻道得。師曰。不可無言也。士曰。灼然。灼然。師便吃茶。士曰。阿兄吃茶。為甚麼不揖客。師曰。誰。士曰。龐公。師曰。何須更揖。後丹霞聞。乃曰。若不是松山。幾被箇老翁惑亂一上。士聞之。乃令人傳語霞曰。何不會取未舉橐子時。

He was drinking tea with Layman Pang. The layman held up his bag and said, ‘Everyone has a share in this. Why can no one say it?’ The master said, ‘Precisely because everyone has a share, no one can say it.’ The layman asked, ‘Then why can you say it?’ The master said, ‘I cannot remain without speaking.’ The layman said, ‘Certainly, certainly.’ The master drank his tea. The layman asked, ‘Why don’t you invite your guest to drink, elder brother?’ The master asked, ‘Who?’ ‘Layman Pang.’ The master said, ‘Why invite him again?’ Later Danya heard of this and said, ‘If it were not for Songshan, that old man would have confused me completely.’ When the layman heard this, he sent Danya a message: ‘Why not understand it before I held up the bag?’

則川和尚

Master Zechuan

蜀人也。龐居士相看次。師曰。還記得見石頭時道理否。士曰。猶得阿師重舉在。師曰。情知久參事慢。士曰。阿師老耄。不啻龐公。師曰。二彼同時。又爭幾許。士曰。龐公鮮徤。且勝阿師。師曰。不是勝我。祇欠汝箇幞頭。士拈下幞頭曰。恰與師相似。師大笑而已。師摘茶次。士曰。法界不容身。師還見我否。師曰。不是老師洎答公話。士曰。有問有答。葢是尋常。師乃摘茶不聽。士曰。莫怪適來容易借問。師亦不顧。士喝曰。這無禮儀老漢。待我一一舉嚮明眼人。師乃拋卻茶籃。便歸方丈。

He was a native of Shu. When Layman Pang came to visit, the master asked, ‘Do you still remember what was said when you met Shitou?’ The layman said, ‘I still need you to bring it up again.’ The master said, ‘I knew you had been studying for a long time and were getting slow.’ The layman said, ‘You are old and feeble, no less than Layman Pang.’ The master said, ‘The two of us are the same age; how much difference can there be?’ The layman said, ‘Layman Pang is vigorous and healthy, still better than you.’ The master said, ‘He is not better than me; he only lacks your official cap.’ The layman took off his cap and said, ‘It fits the master just as well.’ The master only laughed heartily. While the master was picking tea leaves, the layman said, ‘The Dharma-realm allows no place for a body. Can you see me, Master?’ The master said, ‘Had I not answered your question just now, Layman?’ The layman said, ‘Question and answer are ordinary enough.’ The master kept picking tea and did not listen. The layman said, ‘Don’t blame me for asking so easily a moment ago.’ The master ignored him again. The layman shouted, ‘You discourteous old fellow! I will tell every detail to people with clear eyes.’ The master tossed aside his tea basket and returned to his quarters.

忻州打地和尚

Master Dadi of Xinzhou

自江西領旨。常晦其名。凡學者致問。唯以棒打地示之。時謂之打地和尚。一日被僧藏卻棒然後致問。師但張其口。僧問門人曰。秖如和尚每日有人問便打地。意旨如何。門人即於灶內取柴一片。擲在釜中。

After receiving the teaching in Jiangxi, he kept his name hidden. Whenever students asked him questions, he would only strike the ground with a staff; people of the time called him Master Dadi, ‘Ground-Striker.’ One day a monk hid his staff before asking a question, so the master merely opened his mouth. The monk asked one of the master’s disciples, ‘Every day when someone asks him something, your master strikes the ground. What does that mean?’ The disciple took a piece of firewood from the stove and tossed it into the pot.

潭州秀溪和尚

Master Xiuxi of Tanzhou

谷山問。聲色純真。如何是道。師曰。亂道作麼。山卻從東過西立。師曰。若不恁麼。即禍事也。山又從西過東立。師乃下禪床。方行兩步。被谷山捉住。曰。聲色純真。事作麼生。師便打一掌。山曰。三十年後。要箇人下茶也無在。師曰。要谷山這漢作甚麼。山呵呵大笑。

Gushan asked, ‘When sound and form are wholly real, what is the Way?’ The master said, ‘Why speak such nonsense?’ Gushan then walked from east to west and stood there. The master said, ‘If you had not done that, there would have been trouble.’ Gushan walked from west to east and stood there again. The master got down from the Chan seat and had taken only two steps when Gushan seized him and asked, ‘When sound and form are wholly real, what is the matter?’ The master slapped him. Gushan said, ‘Thirty years from now, someone will have to serve me tea.’ The master said, ‘What would I want that fellow Gushan for?’ Gushan laughed heartily.

江西椑樹和尚

Master Bishu of Jiangxi

臥次。道吾近前。牽被覆之。師曰。作麼。吾曰。葢覆。師曰。臥底是。坐底是。吾曰。不在這兩處。師曰。爭奈葢覆何。吾曰。莫亂道。師向火次。吾問。作麼。師曰。和合。吾曰。恁麼即當頭脫去也。師曰。隔濶來多少時邪。吾便拂袖而去。吾一日從外歸。師問。甚麼處去來。吾曰。親近來。師曰。用簸這兩片皮作麼。吾曰。借。師曰。他有從汝借。無作麼生。吾曰。秖為有。所以借。

As the master lay down, Daowu came forward and pulled the cover over him. The master asked, ‘What are you doing?’ Daowu said, ‘Covering you.’ The master asked, ‘Is the one lying down right, or the one sitting?’ Daowu said, ‘Neither of those two.’ The master said, ‘Yet what about covering me?’ Daowu said, ‘Don’t talk nonsense.’ As the master warmed himself by the fire, Daowu asked, ‘What are you doing?’ The master said, ‘Making things harmonize.’ Daowu said, ‘Then you have escaped right under my nose.’ The master said, ‘How long have we been apart?’ Daowu flicked his sleeve and left. One day Daowu returned from outside, and the master asked, ‘Where have you been?’ Daowu said, ‘Paying my respects.’ The master said, ‘Why flap those two pieces of skin?’ Daowu said, ‘I borrowed them.’ The master asked, ‘If someone has something to lend you, what do you do when he has nothing?’ Daowu said, ‘Because he has it, I borrow it.’

京兆草堂和尚

Master Caotang of Jingzhao

自罷參大寂。至海昌和尚處。昌問。甚麼處來。師曰。道場來。昌曰。這裡是甚麼處。師曰。賊不打貧人家。僧問。未有一法時。此身在甚麼處。師作一圓相。於中書身字。

After completing his study with Daji, he went to Master Haichang. Haichang asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ The master said, ‘From the monastery.’ Haichang asked, ‘What is this place?’ The master said, ‘Thieves do not rob a poor man’s house.’ A monk asked, ‘Before a single thing existed, where was this body?’ The master drew a circle and wrote the character ‘body’ inside it.

洞安和尚

Master Dong'an

有僧辭。師曰。甚麼處去。曰。本無所去。師曰。善為闍黎。曰。不敢。師曰。到諸方。分明舉似。僧侍立次。師問。今日是幾。曰。不知。師曰。我卻記得。曰。今日是幾。師曰。今日昏晦。

A monk took leave. The master asked, ‘Where are you going?’ The monk said, ‘I have nowhere to go.’ The master said, ‘May all go well for you, venerable monk.’ The monk said, ‘I would not presume.’ The master said, ‘When you reach other places, explain this clearly to them.’ As a monk stood attending him, the master asked, ‘What is today’s date?’ The monk said, ‘I don’t know.’ The master said, ‘I remember it.’ The monk asked, ‘What is today’s date?’ The master said, ‘Today is dark and overcast.’

京兆興平和尚

Master Xingping of Jingzhao

洞山來禮拜。師曰。莫禮老朽。山曰。禮非老朽。師曰。非老朽者不受禮。山曰。他亦不止。洞山卻問。如何是古佛心。師曰。即汝心是。山曰。雖然如此。猶是某甲疑處。師曰。若恁麼。即問取木人去。山曰。某甲有一句子。不借諸聖口。師曰。汝試道看。山曰。不是某甲。山辭。師曰。甚麼處去。山曰。㳂流無定止。師曰。法身㳂流。報身㳂流。山曰。總不作此解。師乃拊掌(保福雲。洞山自是一家。乃別雲。覔得幾人)。

Dongshan came to pay his respects. The master said, ‘Do not bow to an old man.’ Dongshan said, ‘I am bowing to no old man.’ The master said, ‘One who is not an old man does not accept bows.’ Dongshan said, ‘He does not stop me either.’ Dongshan then asked, ‘What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?’ The master said, ‘It is your mind.’ Dongshan said, ‘Even so, this is still where I have doubts.’ The master said, ‘If so, ask a wooden man.’ Dongshan said, ‘I have a phrase that does not borrow the mouths of the sages.’ The master said, ‘Try saying it.’ Dongshan said, ‘It is not me.’ Dongshan took his leave. The master asked, ‘Where are you going?’ Dongshan said, ‘Following the current, with no fixed stopping place.’ The master asked, ‘Does the Dharma-body follow the current? Does the reward-body follow the current?’ Dongshan said, ‘I do not understand it that way at all.’ The master clapped his hands. (Baofu said, ‘Dongshan has his own school.’ He also offered another reading: ‘How many people has he found?’)

逍遙和尚

Master Xiaoyao

鹿西和尚問。念念攀緣。心心永寂。師曰。昨晚也有人恁麼道。西曰。道箇甚麼。師曰。不知。西曰。請和尚說。師以拂子驀口打。西拂袖便出。師召眾曰。頂門上著眼。

Master Luxi asked, ‘Though each thought reaches outward, the mind itself is forever still.’ The master said, ‘Someone said just that last night.’ Luxi asked, ‘What did he say?’ The master said, ‘I don’t know.’ Luxi said, ‘Please tell me, Master.’ The master struck him across the mouth with his whisk. Luxi flicked his sleeve and left. The master called to the assembly, ‘Keep your eyes open on the crown of your head!’

福谿和尚

Master Fuxi

僧問。古鏡無瑕時如何。師良久。僧曰。師意如何。師曰。山僧耳背。僧再問。師曰。猶較些子。問。如何是自己。師曰。你問甚麼。曰。豈無方便。師曰。你適來問甚麼。曰。得恁麼顛倒。師曰。今日合吃山僧手裡棒。問。緣散歸空。空歸何所。師乃召僧。僧應諾。師曰。空在何處。曰。卻請和尚道。師曰。波斯吃胡椒。

A monk asked, ‘What is it like when the ancient mirror is flawless?’ The master was silent for a long time. The monk asked, ‘What does the master mean?’ The master said, ‘I am hard of hearing.’ The monk asked again. The master said, ‘That is a little closer.’ Asked, ‘What is the self?’ he said, ‘What are you asking?’ ‘Surely there is a skillful means.’ ‘What did you just ask?’ ‘You have turned everything upside down.’ The master said, ‘Today you deserve a beating from my hand.’ Asked, ‘When conditions disperse and return to emptiness, where does emptiness return?’ the master called the monk. The monk answered. The master asked, ‘Where is emptiness?’ The monk said, ‘Please tell me, Master.’ The master said, ‘A Persian eats pepper.’

洪州水潦和尚

Master Shuiliao of Hongzhou

初參馬祖。問曰。如何是西來的的意。祖曰。禮拜著。師才禮拜。祖乃當𮌎蹋倒。師大悟。起來拊掌呵呵大笑曰。也大奇。也大奇。百千三昧無量妙義。祇向一毫頭上。識得根源去。禮謝而退。住後。每告眾曰。自從一吃馬祖蹋。直至如今笑不休。有僧作一圓相。以手撮向師身上。師乃三撥。亦作一圓相。卻指其僧。僧便禮拜。師打曰。這虗頭漢。問。如何是沙門行。師曰。動則影現。覺則冰生。問。如何是佛法大意。師乃拊掌呵呵大笑。凡接機。大約如此。

He first visited Mazu and asked, ‘What is the true meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?’ Mazu said, ‘Bow!’ Just as the master bowed, Mazu kicked him in the chest and knocked him down. The master awakened greatly. Getting up, he clapped and laughed, saying, ‘How wondrous! Of the countless samadhis and immeasurable subtle meanings, I have recognized the source in a single hair’s breadth.’ He thanked Mazu and withdrew. After settling at a monastery, he often told the assembly, ‘Ever since Mazu kicked me once, I have not stopped laughing.’ A monk drew a circle and made a squeezing gesture toward the master. The master pushed it away three times, drew a circle himself, and pointed at the monk. The monk bowed. The master struck him, saying, ‘You phony fellow!’ Asked, ‘What is the conduct of a monastic?’ the master said, ‘When you move, a shadow appears; when you awaken, ice forms.’ Asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ the master clapped his hands and laughed heartily. This was generally how he responded to students.

浮盃和尚

Master Fubei

凌行婆來禮拜。師與坐吃茶。婆乃問。盡力道不得底句分付阿誰。師曰。浮盃無剩語。婆曰。未到浮盃。不妨疑著。師曰。別有長處。不妨拈出。婆斂手哭曰。蒼天中更添冤苦。師無語。婆曰。語不知偏正。理不識倒邪。為人即禍生。後有僧舉似南泉。泉曰。苦哉浮盃。被這老婆摧折一上。婆後聞笑曰。王老師猶少機關在。澄一禪客逢見行婆。便問。怎生是南泉猶少機關在。婆乃哭曰。可悲可痛。一罔措。婆曰。會麼。一合掌而立。婆曰。伎死禪和。如麻似粟。一舉似趙州。州曰。我若見這臭老婆。問教口瘂。一曰。未審和尚怎生問他。州便打。一曰。為甚麼卻打某甲。州曰。似這伎死漢不打。更待幾時。連打數棒。婆聞。卻曰。趙州合吃婆手裡棒。後僧舉似趙州。州哭曰。可悲可痛。婆聞此語。合掌歎曰。趙州眼光。爍破四天下。州令僧問。如何是趙州眼。婆乃竪立拳頭。僧回。舉似趙州。州作偈曰。當機覿面提。覿面當機疾。報汝凌行婆。哭聲何得失。婆以偈答曰。哭聲師已曉。已曉復誰知。當時摩竭國。幾喪目前機。

Ling Xingpo came to pay her respects. The master invited her to sit and drink tea. She asked, ‘To whom do you entrust the phrase that cannot be spoken even with all one’s strength?’ The master said, ‘Fubei has no words to spare.’ She said, ‘Until I met Fubei, I could not help doubting.’ The master said, ‘If you have another strength, bring it out.’ She clasped her hands and wept, saying, ‘Heavens above, you have added another injustice to my suffering!’ The master had no reply. She said, ‘You do not know biased from balanced in speech or right side up from upside down in principle; trying to teach people will bring disaster.’ Later a monk recounted this to Nanquan. Nanquan said, ‘Alas! Fubei was thoroughly defeated by that old woman.’ When she later heard this, she laughed and said, ‘Master Wang still lacks a little skill.’ A Chan traveler named Chengyi met Xingpo and asked, ‘What does Nanquan still lack?’ She wept and said, ‘How sad, how painful!’ Chengyi was at a loss. She asked, ‘Do you understand?’ He stood with palms joined. She said, ‘Deadbeat Chan monks are as numerous as hemp and millet.’ Chengyi reported this to Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou said, ‘If I met that stinking old woman, I would make her speechless with a question.’ Chengyi asked, ‘How would you question her, Master?’ Zhaozhou struck him. Chengyi said, ‘Why strike me?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘A deadbeat like you deserves a beating; when else would I give it?’ He struck him several times. When Xingpo heard, she said, ‘Zhaozhou deserves a beating from my hand.’ Later a monk told Zhaozhou this. Zhaozhou wept, saying, ‘How sad, how painful!’ When Xingpo heard, she joined her palms and sighed, ‘Zhaozhou’s eyes shine through the four worlds.’ Zhaozhou sent a monk to ask, ‘What are Zhaozhou’s eyes?’ Xingpo raised a clenched fist. The monk returned and told Zhaozhou, who composed this verse: ‘Face to face, the moment is raised; face to face, the moment is swift. I report to you, Ling Xingpo: how could a cry of grief be a mistake?’ Xingpo answered in verse: ‘The master has understood the sound of weeping; now that it is understood, who knows? In Magadha long ago, the present moment nearly was lost.’

潭州龍山和尚(亦云隱山)

Master Longshan of Tanzhou (also called Yinshan)

問僧。甚麼處來。曰。老宿處來。師曰。老宿有何言句。曰。說則千句萬句。不說則一字也無。師曰。恁麼則蠅子放卵。僧禮拜。師便打。洞山與密師伯經由。見溪流菜葉。洞曰。深山無人。因何有菜隨流。莫有道人居否。乃共議撥草溪行。五七里間。忽見師羸形異貌。放下行李問訊。師曰。此山無路。闍黎從何處來。洞曰。無路且置。和尚從何而入。師曰。我不從雲水來。洞曰。和尚往此山多少時邪。師曰。春秋不涉。洞曰。和尚先住。此山先住。師曰。不知。洞曰。為甚麼不知。師曰。我不從人天來。洞曰。和尚得何道理。便住此山。師曰。我見兩箇泥牛鬬入海。直至於今絕消息。洞山始具威儀禮拜。便問。如何是主中賓。師曰。青山覆白雲。曰。如何是賓中主。師曰。長年不出戶。曰。賓主相去幾何。師曰。長江水上波。曰。賓主相見。有何言說。師曰。清風拂白月。洞山辭退。師乃述偈曰。三間茅屋從來住。一道神光萬境閑。莫把是非來辨我。浮生穿鑿不相關。因茲燒庵。入深山不見。後人號為隱山和尚。

He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'From an old master's place.' The Master said, 'What words did the old master have?' He said, 'When he speaks, it is a thousand phrases and ten thousand phrases; when he does not speak, there is not even one word.' The Master said, 'Then the fly has laid its eggs.' The monk bowed. The Master hit him. Dongshan and his uncle, Master Mi, were passing by, and saw vegetable leaves floating in a stream. Dong said, 'Deep in the mountains there is no one—why are there vegetables floating along with the current? Perhaps a man of the Way lives here.' So they agreed to push aside the grass and follow the stream. After five or seven li they suddenly saw the Master, gaunt of form and strange of appearance. They put down their baggage and greeted him. The Master said, 'There is no road on this mountain—where have you come from, Acharya?' Dong said, 'Set the road aside; how did you enter, Master?' The Master said, 'I did not come by cloud and water.' Dong said, 'How long has the Master lived on this mountain?' The Master said, 'The spring and autumn do not reach here.' Dong said, 'The Master lived here first, or the mountain lived here first?' The Master said, 'I do not know.' Dong said, 'Why do you not know?' The Master said, 'I did not come from gods or men.' Dong said, 'What principle did the Master attain, that you live on this mountain?' The Master said, 'I saw two mud oxen fight and plunge into the sea, and to this day there has been no news.' Only then did Dongshan adjust his demeanor and bow, and he asked, 'What is the host within the guest?' The Master said, 'Green mountains cover white clouds.' 'What is the guest within the host?' The Master said, 'For many years not leaving the door.' 'How far apart are host and guest?' The Master said, 'Waves on the long river's water.' 'When host and guest meet, what is said?' The Master said, 'The clear wind brushes the white moon.' Dongshan took his leave. The Master then spoke a verse: 'In three thatched rooms I have always lived; one road of numinous light, ten thousand realms at ease. Do not use right and wrong to judge me; the floating life's contrivances are none of my business.' Thereupon he burned his hut and went deep into the mountains, and was seen no more. Later people called him the Hermit of Hidden Mountain.

襄州居士龐蘊者

The layman Pang Yun of Xiangzhou,

衡州衡陽縣人也。字道玄。世本儒業。少悟塵勞。志求真諦。唐貞元初謁石頭。乃問。不與萬法為侶者是甚麼人。頭以手掩其口。豁然有省。後與丹霞為友。一日。石頭問曰。子見老僧以來。日用事作麼生。士曰。若問日用事。即無開口處。乃呈偈曰。日用事無別。唯吾自偶諧。頭頭非取捨。處處沒張乖。朱紫誰為號。丘山絕點埃。神通並妙用。運水及搬柴。頭然之。曰。子以緇邪。素邪。士曰。願從所慕。遂不剃染。後參馬祖。問曰。不與萬法為侶者是甚麼人。祖曰。待汝一口吸盡西江水。即向汝道。士於言下頓領玄旨。乃留駐。參承二載。有偈曰。有男不婚。有女不嫁。大家團欒頭。共說無生話。自爾機辯迅捷。諸方嚮之。因辭藥山。山命十禪客相送至門首。士乃指空中雪曰。好雪。片片不落別處。有全禪客曰。落在甚處。士遂與一掌。全曰。也不得草草。士曰。恁麼稱禪客。閻羅老子未放你在。全曰。居士作麼生。士又掌曰。眼見如盲。口說如瘂。甞遊講肆。隨喜金剛經。至無我無人處致問曰。座主。既無我無人。是誰講誰聽。主無對。士曰。某甲雖是俗人。粗知信向。主曰。祇如居士意作麼生。士以偈答曰。無我復無人。作麼有疎親。勸君休歷座。不似直求真。金剛般若性。外絕一纖塵。我聞並信受。總是假名陳。主聞偈。欣然仰歎。居士所至之處。老宿多往復問醻。皆隨機應響。非格量軌轍之可拘也。元和中。北遊襄漢。隨處而居。有女名靈照。常鬻竹漉籬以供朝夕。士有偈曰。心如境亦如。無實亦無虗。有亦不管。無亦不拘。不是賢聖。了事凡夫。易復易。即此五蘊有真智。十方世界一乘同。無相法身豈有二。若捨煩惱入菩提。不知何方有佛地。護生須是殺。殺盡始安居。會得箇中意。鐵船水上浮。士坐次。問靈照曰。古人道。明明百草頭。明明祖師意。如何會。照曰。老老大大作這箇語話。

was a man of Hengyang County in Hengzhou. His courtesy name was Daoxuan. His family had followed the Confucian calling for generations. In youth he awakened to the weariness of the dust and set his mind on seeking the true meaning. In the early Zhenyuan era of the Tang he called on Shitou and asked, 'What sort of person is it who does not accompany the ten thousand dharmas?' Shitou covered his mouth with his hand, and he was suddenly enlightened. Later he became friends with Danxia. One day Shitou asked, 'Since you came to see this old monk, how do you handle your daily affairs?' The layman said, 'If you ask about daily affairs, there is no place to open my mouth.' Then he presented a verse: 'Daily affairs are nothing special; only I myself am in accord. In each thing there is no taking or rejecting, in every place no contrivance. Who names the red and the purple? The hills have not a speck of dust. Spiritual powers and wonderful functions—carrying water and hauling firewood.' Shitou agreed, and said, 'Will you be a monk or a layman?' The layman said, 'I will follow what I admire.' So he did not shave or dye his robes. Later he called on Mazu and asked, 'What sort of person is it who does not accompany the ten thousand dharmas?' Mazu said, 'When you can swallow the West River in one gulp, then I will tell you.' At these words the layman suddenly grasped the profound purport, and he stayed on, studying under him for two years. He had a verse: 'With a son, he does not marry; with a daughter, she does not wed. The whole family gathers round and together they speak the word of the unborn.' From then on his wit was swift and keen, and the various regions turned toward him. When he took leave of Yaoshan, the Master ordered ten Chan guests to see him to the gate. The layman pointed at the snow in the air and said, 'What fine snow—not a flake falls anywhere else.' A Chan guest named Quan said, 'Where does it fall?' The layman gave him a slap. Quan said, 'You should not be so careless.' The layman said, 'A Chan guest like you—King Yama has not let you off yet.' Quan said, 'What about you, layman?' The layman slapped him again and said, 'Eyes see as if blind, mouth speaks as if mute.' Once he visited a lecture hall and joined in rejoicing at the Diamond Sutra. When it came to the passage on no-self and no-person, he asked, 'Seat-master, since there is no self and no person, who is it that lectures and who is it that listens?' The seat-master had no reply. The layman said, 'Though I am a layman, I know a little about faith and direction.' The seat-master said, 'What then is the layman's own meaning?' The layman answered with a verse: 'With no self and no person, how could there be near or far? I urge you to give up the seat; it is not like seeking the truth directly. The nature of the Diamond Prajna cuts off even a thread of dust. That I hear and faithfully accept is all a matter of borrowed names.' Hearing the verse, the seat-master was delighted and sighed in admiration. Wherever the layman went, the old masters mostly exchanged questions and answers with him, and he always responded to the occasion like an echo, not to be confined by the tracks of measured rules. In the Yuanhe era he traveled north to Xiang and Han, dwelling wherever he happened to be. He had a daughter named Lingzhao, who often sold bamboo strainers to provide for their daily needs. The layman had a verse: 'When the mind is thus, the object is also thus; neither real nor void. Having, he does not care; not having, he does not cling. He is not a sage; he is a common man who has finished the matter. Easy it is, and easy again—these very five aggregates have true wisdom. The worlds of the ten directions are one vehicle alike; how could the signless dharma-body be two? If one abandons affliction to enter bodhi, who knows where there is a Buddha-land? To protect life one must kill; only when killing is finished does one dwell in peace. If you understand the meaning within this, an iron boat floats on the water.' As the layman sat in meditation, he asked Lingzhao, 'The ancients said, clearly the tips of a hundred grasses, clearly the intention of the patriarch. How do you understand it?' Zhao said, 'You are old and great, and yet you talk like this.'

士曰。你作麼生。照曰。明明百草頭。明明祖師意。士乃笑。士因賣漉籬。下橋吃撲。靈照見。亦去爺邊倒。士曰。你作甚麼。照曰。見爺倒地。某甲相扶。士將入滅。謂靈照曰。視日早晚及午以報。照遽報。日已中矣。而有蝕也。士出戶觀次。靈照即登父座。合掌坐亡。士笑曰。我女鋒捷矣。於是更延七日。州牧於公頔問疾次。士謂之曰。但願空諸所有。慎勿實諸所無。好住。世間皆如影響。言訖。枕於公膝而化。遺命焚棄江湖。緇白傷悼。謂禪門龐居士。即毗耶淨名矣。有詩偈三百餘篇傳於世。

The layman said, 'How do you understand it?' Zhao said, 'Clearly the tips of a hundred grasses, clearly the intention of the patriarch.' The layman laughed. Once, while selling strainers, the layman fell down off a bridge. Lingzhao saw it and also threw herself down beside her father. The layman said, 'What are you doing?' Zhao said, 'Seeing my father fall down, I help him up.' When the layman was about to pass into quiescence, he said to Lingzhao, 'Watch the sun and tell me when it is noon.' Zhao quickly reported, 'The sun is already at its height, but there is an eclipse.' As the layman went out the door to look, Lingzhao climbed onto her father's seat, pressed her palms together, and passed away sitting. The layman laughed and said, 'My daughter's edge is keen.' So he lived on another seven days. When the prefect Yu Di came to ask after his illness, the layman told him, 'I only wish you to empty all that you have, and be careful not to fill with what you do not have. Farewell. All in the world is like echo and shadow.' Having spoken, he rested his head on the prefect's knee and passed away. His last command was to burn his remains and scatter them on river and lake. Monks and laymen alike grieved, saying that the layman Pang of the Chan school was none other than Vimalakirti of Vaisali. More than three hundred of his verses and poems have been handed down in the world.

南嶽下三世

The Third Generation below Nanyue

百丈海禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Baizhang Hai

洪州黃檗希運禪師

Chan Master Xiyun of Huangbo in Hongzhou

閩人也。幼於本州黃檗山出家。額間隆起如珠。音辭朗潤。志意沖澹。後遊天台逢一僧。與之言笑。如舊相識。熟視之。目光射人。乃偕行。屬㵎水暴漲。捐笠植杖而止。其僧率師同渡。師曰。兄要渡自渡。彼即褰衣躡波。若履平地。回顧曰。渡來。渡來。師曰。咄。這自了漢。吾早知當斫汝脛。其僧歎曰。真大乘法器。我所不及。言訖不見。師後遊京師。因人啟發。乃往參百丈。丈問。巍巍堂堂。從何方來。師曰。巍巍堂堂。從嶺南來。丈曰。巍巍堂堂。當為何事。師曰。巍巍堂堂。不為別事。便禮拜。問曰。從上宗乘如何指示。丈良久。師曰。不可教後人斷絕去也。丈曰。將謂汝是箇人。乃起。入方丈。師隨後入。曰。某甲特來。丈曰。若爾。則他後不得孤負吾。丈一日問師。甚麼處去來。曰。大雄山下採菌子來。丈曰。還見大蟲麼。師便作虎聲。丈拈斧作斫勢。師即打丈一摑。丈吟吟而笑。便歸。上堂曰。大雄山下有一大蟲。汝等諸人也須好看。百丈老漢今日親遭一口。師在南泉普請擇菜次。泉問。甚麼處去。曰。擇菜去。泉曰。將甚麼擇。師竪起刀。泉曰。祇解作賓。不解作主。師以刀點三下。泉曰。大家擇菜去。泉一日曰。老僧有牧牛歌請長老和。師曰。某甲自有師在。師辭南泉。泉門送。提起師笠曰。長老身材沒量大。笠子太小生。師曰。雖然如此。大千世界總在裡許。泉曰。王老師聻。師戴笠便行。師在鹽宮殿上禮佛次。時唐宣宗為沙彌。問曰。不著佛求。不著法求。不著僧求。長老禮拜。當何所求。師曰。不著佛求。不著法求。不著僧求。常禮如是事。彌曰。用禮何為。師便掌。彌曰。大麤生。師曰。這裡是甚麼所在。說麤說細。隨後又掌。裴相國鎮宛陵。建大禪苑。請師說法。以師酷愛舊山。還以黃檗名之。公一日拓一尊佛於師前。跪曰。請師安名。師召曰。裴休。公應諾。師曰。

was a man of Min. In his youth he left home at Huangbo Mountain in his own prefecture. There was a raised ridge on his forehead like a pearl. His voice and speech were clear and smooth, his purpose calm and mild. Later, traveling in Tiantai, he met a monk, and their talk and laughter were like that of old acquaintances. Looking at him closely, the man's eyes shot light, so they traveled together. It happened that a mountain torrent rose suddenly, and they threw down their hats and planted their staffs and stopped. The monk urged the Master to cross with him. The Master said, 'If you want to cross, brother, cross by yourself.' The monk at once tucked up his robe and trod on the waves as if walking on level ground, then looked back and said, 'Come across, come across.' The Master said, 'Tut, this self-saved fellow. Had I known earlier, I would have cut your shins.' The monk sighed and said, 'A true vessel of the Great Vehicle—I cannot match you.' Having spoken, he disappeared. Later the Master traveled to the capital, and prompted by someone, went to call on Baizhang. Zhang asked, 'So imposing and magnificent—where do you come from?' The Master said, 'So imposing and magnificent—I come from Lingnan.' Zhang said, 'So imposing and magnificent—what is your business?' The Master said, 'So imposing and magnificent—nothing else.' Then he bowed. He asked, 'How do you instruct according to the ancestral vehicle?' Zhang was silent for a long while. The Master said, 'You must not let later generations be cut off.' Zhang said, 'I took you for a person.' Then he rose and entered his quarters. The Master followed him in and said, 'I came on purpose.' Zhang said, 'If so, then you must not fail me later.' One day Zhang asked the Master, 'Where have you been?' He said, 'I have been gathering mushrooms at the foot of Daxiong Mountain.' Zhang said, 'Did you see the great tiger?' The Master made the sound of a tiger. Zhang picked up an axe and made the gesture of chopping. The Master at once gave Zhang a slap. Zhang laughed softly and went back. Ascending the hall, he said, 'At the foot of Daxiong Mountain there is a great tiger; you people too must keep a good watch. Today old man Baizhang himself took a bite.' While the Master was picking vegetables with Nanquan at communal labor, Quan asked, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'To pick vegetables.' Quan said, 'With what will you pick them?' The Master raised his knife. Quan said, 'You only know how to be the guest, not how to be the host.' The Master tapped the knife three times. Quan said, 'Everyone go pick vegetables.' One day Quan said, 'This old monk has a Song of Herding the Ox—please, Elder, match it.' The Master said, 'I have my own teacher.' When the Master took leave of Nanquan, Quan saw him to the gate, picked up the Master's hat, and said, 'Elder, your frame is immeasurable, but the hat is too small.' The Master said, 'Even so, the great chiliocosm is entirely within it.' Quan said, 'What about old Wang?' The Master put on the hat and went on his way. Once, when the Master was worshipping the Buddha on the terrace of the Yanguan palace, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was then a novice, and asked, 'Not seeking from the Buddha, not seeking from the Dharma, not seeking from the Sangha—when the Elder bows, what does he seek?' The Master said, 'Not seeking from the Buddha, not seeking from the Dharma, not seeking from the Sangha—I always bow to this matter.' The novice said, 'What is the use of bowing?' The Master slapped him. The novice said, 'How coarse.' The Master said, 'What sort of place is this, to speak of coarse and fine?' Then he slapped him again. When Minister Pei was stationed at Wanling, he built a great Chan garden and invited the Master to teach the Dharma. Because the Master was deeply fond of his old mountain, he named it Huangbo after it. One day the Minister placed a statue of the Buddha before the Master, knelt, and said, 'Please, Master, give it a name.' The Master called out, 'Pei Xiu.' The Minister answered. The Master said,

與汝安名竟。公禮拜。師因有六人新到。五人作禮。中一人提起坐具。作一圓相。師曰。我聞有一隻獵犬甚惡。僧曰。尋𦏪羊聲來。師曰。𦏪羊無聲到汝尋。曰。尋𦏪羊跡來。師曰。𦏪羊無跡到汝尋。曰。尋𦏪羊蹤來。師曰。𦏪羊無蹤到汝尋。曰。與麼則死𦏪羊也。師便休去。明日陞堂曰。昨日尋𦏪羊僧出來。僧便出。師曰。昨日公案未了。老僧休去。你作麼生。僧無語。師曰。將謂是本色衲僧。元來祇是義學沙門。便打趂出。師一日揑拳曰。天下老和尚。總在這裡。我若放一線道。從汝七縱八橫。若不放過。不消一揑。僧問。放一線道時如何。師曰。七縱八橫。曰。不放過。不消一揑時如何。師曰。普。裴相國一日請師至郡。以所解一編示師。師接置於座。略不披閱。良久曰。會麼。裴曰。未測。師曰。若便恁麼會得。猶較些子。若也形於紙墨。何有吾宗。裴乃贈詩一章曰。自從大士傳心印。額有圓珠七尺身。掛錫十年棲蜀水。浮盃今日渡漳濵。一千龍象隨高步。萬裡香花結勝因。擬欲事師為弟子。不知將法付何人。師亦無喜色。自爾黃檗門風。盛於江表矣。一日上堂。大眾雲集。乃曰。汝等諸人慾何所求。以拄杖趂之。大眾不散。師卻復坐曰。汝等諸人盡是噇酒糟漢。恁麼行腳。取笑於人。但見八百一千人處便去。不可圖他熱閙也。老漢行腳時。或遇草根下有一箇漢。便從頂門上一錐。看他若知痛癢。可以布袋盛米供養他。可中總似汝如此容易。何處更有今日事也。汝等既稱行腳。亦須著些精神好。還知道大唐國內無禪師麼。時有僧問。諸方尊宿盡聚眾開化。為甚麼卻道無禪師。師曰。不道無禪。祇是無師。闍黎不見馬大師下有八十四人坐道場。得馬師正法眼者止三兩人。廬山歸宗和尚是其一。夫出家人。須知有從上來事分始得。且如四祖下牛頭。橫說竪說。猶未知向上關捩子。

(The Master went on:) 'I have finished naming it for you.' The Minister bowed. Six monks newly arrived, five of them made obeisance. One of them picked up his sitting cloth and drew a circle. The Master said, 'I hear there is a hunting dog that is very fierce.' The monk said, 'It comes following the sound of the antelope.' The Master said, 'The antelope makes no sound—how could you follow it?' He said, 'It comes following the tracks of the antelope.' The Master said, 'The antelope leaves no tracks—how could you follow it?' He said, 'It comes following the traces of the antelope.' The Master said, 'The antelope leaves no traces—how could you follow it?' He said, 'Then it is a dead antelope.' The Master then let it drop. The next day he ascended the hall and said, 'The monk who was seeking the antelope yesterday, come forward.' The monk came forward. The Master said, 'Yesterday the case was not finished and I let it drop. What do you say?' The monk was speechless. The Master said, 'I took you for a monk of true colors; it turns out you are only a scholar of doctrine.' Then he beat him and drove him out. One day the Master clenched his fist and said, 'The old monks of the whole world are all in here. If I let go a single thread of the way, you may go seven lengths and eight breadths. If I do not let it go, it will not need a single squeeze.' A monk asked, 'What about when you let go a single thread of the way?' The Master said, 'Seven lengths and eight breadths.' 'What about when you do not let it go, and it does not need a single squeeze?' The Master said, 'Pervasive.' One day Minister Pei invited the Master to the prefecture and showed him a volume of his own interpretations. The Master took it and laid it on his seat, without glancing at it at all. After a long while he said, 'Do you understand?' Pei said, 'I cannot fathom it.' The Master said, 'If you could understand it just like this, you would be somewhat better. But if it takes form in paper and ink, what has it to do with our school?' Pei then presented him with a poem: 'Since the great being transmitted the mind-seal, a round pearl on his brow, a body seven feet tall. For ten years he hung his staff, dwelling by the waters of Shu; today his floating bowl crosses the bank of the Zhang. A thousand dragons and elephants follow his high steps; ten thousand li of fragrant flowers form the surpassing cause. I wish to serve him as a disciple, but I do not know to whom he will transmit the Dharma.' The Master showed no joy either. From then on the Huangbo style of teaching flourished throughout the region south of the Yangtze. One day he ascended the hall. The assembly gathered in clouds, and he said, 'What do you people seek?' He drove them out with his staff. The assembly did not disperse. The Master sat down again and said, 'You people are all fellows stuffed with wine dregs. To go on pilgrimage like this is to make yourself a laughingstock. You only go wherever there are eight hundred or a thousand people, for you cannot resist the bustle. When this old monk was on pilgrimage, if I met a fellow at the root of the grass, I would give him a prod on the crown of the head. If he knew pain and itch, then a bag could be filled with rice to make offerings to him. If everyone were as casual as you are, where would today's business come from? Since you call yourselves pilgrims, you should show a little spirit. Do you know that in the whole land of Great Tang there is no Chan master?' Then a monk asked, 'The venerable masters everywhere all gather assemblies and open the teaching—why then do you say there is no Chan master?' The Master said, 'I do not say there is no Chan; I only say there is no master. Have you not seen that under Great Master Ma there were eighty-four men sitting in the practice places, yet of those who got Ma's true Dharma eye there were only two or three. The Master of Guizong on Mount Lu is one of them. One who has left home must know that there is a matter from of old to be divided and settled. Take the Fourth Patriarch's heir Niutou: he spoke this way and that, and still did not know the latch of what lies above.'

有此眼目。方辨得邪正宗黨。且當人事宜。不能體會得。但知學言語念。向皮袋裡安著。到處稱我會禪。還替得汝生死麼。輕忽老宿。入地獄如箭。我才見汝入門來。便識得了也。還知麼。急須努力。莫容易事。持片衣口食。空過一生。明眼人笑汝。久後總被俗漢筭將去在。宜自看遠近。是阿誰面上事。若會即便會。若不會即散去。珍重。問。如何是西來意。師便打。自餘施設。皆被上機。中下之流。莫窺涯涘。唐大中年終於本山。諡斷際禪師。

(The Master went on:) 'Only with such an eye can one distinguish the orthodox from the heterodox parties. And if one cannot grasp the matter according to circumstances, but only learns words and recites thoughts and stuffs them into the leather bag, claiming everywhere that I understand Chan—can that redeem you from birth and death? To slight the old masters is to fall into hell as swift as an arrow. No sooner do I see you come in the door than I recognize you. Do you understand? You must strive hard; do not take things lightly. Clutching a scrap of clothing and a mouthful of food, you pass a whole life in vain. Clear-eyed people laugh at you, and in time you will all be reckoned by worldly folk. You should look to your own nearness or distance—whose face is this matter on? If you understand, then understand at once; if you do not understand, then disperse. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master hit him. All his other devices were directed at those of the highest capacity. People of middling and lesser ability could not glimpse his shores. In the Dazhong era of the Tang he passed away on his own mountain. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Duanji.

福州長慶大安禪師(號懶安)

Chan Master Da'an of Changqing in Fuzhou (also called Lazy An)

郡之陳氏子。受業於黃檗山。習律乘。甞自念言。我雖勤苦。而未聞玄極之理。乃孤錫遊方。將往洪井。路出上元。逢一老父謂師曰。師往南昌。當有所得。師即造百丈。禮而問曰。學人慾求識佛。何者即是。丈曰。大似騎牛覔牛。師曰。識得後如何。丈曰。如人騎牛至家。師曰。未審始終如何保任。丈曰。如牧牛人執杖視之。不令犯人苗稼。師自茲領旨。更不馳求。同參祐禪師。創居溈山。師躬耕助道。及祐歸寂。眾請接踵住持。上堂。汝諸人總來就安。求覔甚麼。若欲作佛。汝自是佛。擔佛傍家走。如渴鹿趂陽𦦨相似。何時得相應去。汝欲作佛。但無許多顛倒攀緣．妄想惡覺．垢淨眾生之心。便是初心正覺佛。更向何處別討所以。安在溈山三十來年。吃溈山飯。屙溈山屎。不學溈山禪。祇看一頭水牯牛。若落路入草。便把鼻孔拽轉來。才犯人苗稼。即鞭撻。調伏既久。可憐生受人言語。如今變作箇露地白牛。常在面前。終日露迥迥地。趂亦不去。汝諸人各自有無價大寶。從眼門放光。照見山河大地。耳門放光。領釆一切善惡音響。如是六門。晝夜常放光明。亦名放光三昧。汝自不識取。影在四大身中。內外扶持。不教傾側。如人負重擔。從獨木橋上過。亦不教失腳。且道是甚麼物任持。便得如是。且無絲髮可見。豈不見誌公和尚雲。內外追尋覔總無。境上施為渾大有。珍重。僧問。一切施為是法身用。如何是法身。師曰。一切施為是法身用。曰。離卻五蘊。如何是本來身。師曰。地水火風。受想行識。曰。這箇是五蘊。師曰。這箇異五蘊。問。此陰已謝．彼陰未生時如何。師曰。此陰未謝。那箇是大德。曰。不會。師曰。若會此陰。便明彼陰。問。大用現前．不存軌則時如何。師曰。汝用得但用。僧乃脫膊。遶師三匝。師曰。向上事何不道取。僧擬開口。師便打。曰。這野狐精出去。有僧上法堂。

was a son of the Chen family of that commandery. He studied under Huangbo Mountain and trained in the Vinaya. He once thought to himself, 'Though I am diligent and austere, I have not heard the principle of the profound ultimate.' So he traveled alone with his staff. About to go to Hongjing, his road passed through Shangyuan, where an old man told him, 'If you go to Nanchang, you will gain something.' The Master at once went to Baizhang, bowed, and asked, 'A student wishes to know the Buddha—which is it?' Zhang said, 'It is very much like riding an ox while looking for an ox.' The Master said, 'How is it after knowing?' Zhang said, 'Like a man riding an ox home.' The Master said, 'I do not yet understand how to keep and protect it from beginning to end.' Zhang said, 'Like an oxherd holding a staff and watching it, not letting it trample the young crops.' From then on the Master grasped the meaning and sought no further. His fellow student Chan Master You founded the settlement at Weishan. The Master plowed in person to aid the Way. When You passed into quiescence, the assembly asked him to succeed as abbot. Ascending the hall: 'You people all come to An seeking something. If you wish to become a Buddha, you are yourself a Buddha. To carry the Buddha on your shoulder and run around after it is like a thirsty deer chasing a mirage—when will you ever match it? If you wish to become a Buddha, simply be without all those inverted clingings, deluded thinkings, evil perceptions, and minds of defilement and purity, and you are the Buddha of first resolve and true enlightenment. Where else will you go looking for a reason? An has been at Weishan for thirty years or so, eating Weishan's rice and shitting Weishan's shit, and not learning Weishan's Chan. He only watches one water buffalo. If it strays into the grass, he hauls it back by the nostrils. If it tramples the young crops, he whips it. Having tamed it for a long time, it is pitiable how it heeds people's words. Now it has become a white ox in the open ground, always before his eyes, bare and clear all day long—drive it away and it will not go. Each of you has a priceless great treasure. It shines out from the gate of the eye, illuminating mountains, rivers, and the great earth. It shines out from the gate of the ear, gathering all good and evil sounds. Thus the six gates shine day and night, which is also called the samadhi of radiating light. You do not recognize it yourselves; it shadows within the body of the four elements, supporting you inside and out so that you do not topple. It is like a man carrying a heavy burden across a single-plank bridge, not letting his foot slip. Now tell me, what thing is it that holds you up so that you are like this? And there is not a hair of it to be seen. Have you not heard the monk Zhigong say: seek it inside and out and you find nothing at all; yet in the field of objects its workings are abundant. Take care.' A monk asked, 'All activities are the function of the dharma-body. What is the dharma-body?' The Master said, 'All activities are the function of the dharma-body.' 'Apart from the five aggregates, what is the original body?' The Master said, 'Earth, water, fire, wind; feeling, perception, formation, consciousness.' 'That is the five aggregates.' The Master said, 'That is different from the five aggregates.' A monk asked, 'When this aggregate has not yet ceased and that aggregate has not yet arisen, how is it?' The Master said, 'This aggregate has not yet ceased—who is the worthy one?' 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'If you understand this aggregate, you will understand that aggregate.' A monk asked, 'When the great function appears before one and no rule is kept, how is it?' The Master said, 'If you can use it, just use it.' The monk then bared his shoulder and circled the Master three times. The Master said, 'Why do you not speak of the matter that lies above?' As the monk was about to open his mouth, the Master hit him and said, 'Get out, you wild fox spirit.' A monk went up to the Dharma hall,

顧視東西。不見師。乃曰。好箇法堂。祇是無人。師從門裡出。曰。作麼。僧無對。雪峰因入山採得一枝木。其形似虵。於背上題曰。本自天然。不假雕琢。寄與師。師曰。本色住山人。且無刀斧痕。僧問。佛在何處。師曰。不離心。又問。雙峰上人。有何所得。師曰。法無所得。設有所得。得本無得。問。黃巢軍來。和尚向甚麼處迴避。師曰。五蘊山中。曰。忽被他捉著時如何。師曰。惱亂將軍。師大化閩城。唐中和三年歸黃檗示寂。塔於楞伽山。諡圓智禪師。

looked east and west, did not see the Master, and said, 'What a fine Dharma hall—only there is no one in it.' The Master came out from inside the door and said, 'What is it?' The monk had no reply. Once Xuefeng, having gone into the mountains, picked a branch of wood shaped like a snake, and wrote on its back, 'Naturally so of itself, not made by carving.' He sent it to the Master. The Master said, 'A man of true colors dwelling in the mountains, with no trace of axe or knife.' A monk asked, 'Where is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Not apart from the mind.' He asked again, 'What did the worthy one of Shuangfeng attain?' The Master said, 'The Dharma has nothing to attain. Even if there were something to attain, what is attained is originally non-attainment.' A monk asked, 'If the army of Huang Chao comes, where will the Master take refuge?' The Master said, 'In the mountain of the five aggregates.' 'And if he suddenly catches you?' The Master said, 'He would only trouble the general.' The Master greatly spread the teaching in the cities of Min. In the third year of Zhonghe of the Tang he returned to Huangbo and passed into quiescence. His stupa is on Mount Lengqie. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Yuanzhi.

杭州大慈山寰中禪師

Chan Master Huanzhong of Daci Mountain in Hangzhou

蒲坂盧氏子。頂骨圓聳。其聲如鐘。少丁母憂。廬於墓所。服闋思報罔極。乃於幷州童子寺出家。嵩嶽登戒。習諸律學。後參百丈。受心印。辭往南嶽常樂寺。結茅于山頂。一日。南泉至。問。如何是庵中主。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。泉曰。蒼天且置。如何是庵中主。師曰。會即便會。莫忉忉。泉拂袖而出。後住大慈。上堂。山僧不解答話。秖能識病。時有僧出。師便歸方丈。(法眼雲。眾中喚作病在目前。不識。玄覺雲。且道大慈識病不識病。此僧出來是病不是病。若言是病。每日行住不可總是病。若言不是病。出來又作麼生)。趙州問。般若以何為體。師曰。般若以何為體。州大笑而出。明日。州掃地次。師曰。般若以何為體。州置帚。拊掌大笑。師便歸方丈。僧辭。師問。甚麼處去。曰。江西去。師曰。我勞汝一段事得否。曰。和尚有甚麼事。師曰。將取老僧去得麼。曰。更有過於和尚者。亦不能將去。師便休。僧後舉似洞山。山曰。闍黎爭合恁麼道。曰。和尚作麼生。山曰。得(法眼別雲。和尚若去。某甲提笠子)。山又問其僧。大慈別有甚麼言句。曰。有時示眾曰。說得一丈。不如行取一尺。說得一尺。不如行取一寸。山曰。我不恁麼道。曰。和尚作麼生。山曰。說取行不得底。行取說不得底(雲居雲。行時無說路。說時無行路。不說不行時。合行甚麼路。洛浦雲。行說俱到。即本分事無。行說俱不到。即本分事在)。後屬武宗廢教。師短褐隱居。大中歲重剃染。大揚宗旨。咸通三年不疾而逝。僖宗諡性空大師。

A native of Lu in Puban, he had a rounded, prominent skull and a voice like a bell. He lost his mother young and lived in a hut beside her grave. After the mourning period, wishing to repay her boundless kindness, he became a monk at Tongzi Temple in Bingzhou. He received the precepts on Mount Song and studied the various Vinaya traditions. Later he visited Baizhang and received the mind-seal. He took leave and went to Chang Le Temple on Mount Heng, where he built a thatched hut on the summit. One day Nanquan arrived and asked, ‘Who is the master of this hermitage?’ The master said, ‘Heavens, heavens!’ Quan said, ‘Set the heavens aside. Who is the master here?’ The master said, ‘If you understand, then understand; do not chatter.’ Quan flicked his sleeve and left. Later the master dwelt at Daci. At a teaching he said, ‘This mountain monk cannot answer questions; I can only recognize illness.’ A monk stepped forward. The master immediately returned to his room. (Fayan said, ‘People in the assembly call this “the illness is right before you,” but they do not recognize it.’ Xuanjue said, ‘Tell me, did Daci recognize illness or not? Was this monk’s coming forward illness or not? If it was illness, then surely every daily act of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down would be illness. If it was not illness, why did he come forward?’) Zhaozhou asked, ‘What is the substance of prajna?’ The master replied, ‘What is the substance of prajna?’ Zhou laughed loudly and left. The next day, while Zhou was sweeping, the master asked, ‘What is the substance of prajna?’ Zhou set down his broom and clapped, laughing. The master returned to his room. A monk took leave. The master asked, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘To Jiangxi.’ The master said, ‘May I trouble you with a task?’ ‘What task does the master have?’ ‘Could you take this old monk with you?’ The monk said, ‘Even one greater than you could not be carried away.’ The master let it go. Later the monk recounted this to Dongshan. Shan said, ‘How could you have answered that way?’ ‘What would the master have said?’ Shan said, ‘I could.’ (Fayan offered another answer: ‘If the master went, I would carry his hat.’) Shan then asked, ‘Did Daci have any other sayings?’ The monk said, ‘Sometimes he told the assembly: “To speak a yard is not as good as to practice an inch; to speak an inch is not as good as to practice a hairbreadth.”’ Shan said, ‘I would not put it that way.’ ‘What would the master say?’ Shan said, ‘Speak what cannot be practiced; practice what cannot be spoken.’ (Yunju said, ‘When practicing, there is no road of speech; when speaking, there is no road of practice. When neither speaking nor practicing, what road should one take?’ Luopu said, ‘If practice and speech both reach it, then there is no matter of one’s own; if neither reaches it, then the matter of one’s own remains.’) Later, during Emperor Wuzong’s suppression of Buddhism, the master wore coarse clothes and lived in seclusion. In the Dazhong era he again received the tonsure and widely proclaimed the teaching. He died without illness in the third year of Xiantong. Emperor Xizong posthumously honored him as Master Xingkong.

天台平田普岸禪師

Chan Master Puan of Pingtian on Mount Tiantai

洪州人也。於百丈門下得旨。後聞天台勝槩。聖賢間出。思欲高蹈方外。遠追遐躅。乃結茅薙草。宴寂林下。日居月諸。為四眾所知。創平田禪院居之。上堂。神光不昧。萬古徽猷。入此門來。莫存知解。便下座。僧參。師打一拄杖。其僧近前把住拄杖。師曰。老僧適來造次。僧卻打師一拄杖。師曰。作家。作家。僧禮拜。師把住曰。是闍黎造次。僧大笑。師曰。這箇師僧今日大敗也。臨濟訪師。到路口先逢一嫂在田使牛。濟問嫂。平田路向甚麼處去。嫂打牛一棒曰。這畜生到處走。到此路也不識。濟又曰。我問你平田路向甚麼處去。嫂曰。這畜生五歲尚使不得。濟心語曰。欲觀前人。先觀所使。便有抽釘拔楔之意。及見師。師問。你還曾見我嫂也未。濟曰。已收下了也。師遂問。近離甚處。濟曰。江西黃檗。師曰。情知你見作家來。濟曰。特來禮拜和尚。師曰。已相見了也。濟曰。賓主之禮。合施三拜。師曰。既是賓主之禮。禮拜著。有偈示眾曰。大道虗曠。常一真心。善惡莫思。神清物表。隨緣飲啄。更復何為。終於本院。遺塔存焉。

He was a native of Hongzhou and received the essential teaching in Baizhang’s community. Later he heard of Tiantai’s splendid scenery and the sages who had appeared there. Wishing to live beyond the world and follow their distant traces, he built a hut, cleared the grass, and sat in quiet meditation in the woods. As days and months passed, the four groups came to know him, and they established Pingtian Monastery for him. At a teaching he said, ‘The spiritual light is never obscured; its fine way endures through the ages. Once you enter this gate, do not keep conceptual understanding.’ Then he descended. A monk came to pay respects, and the master struck him with his staff. The monk stepped forward and held the staff. The master said, ‘This old monk was careless just now.’ The monk then struck the master with his staff. The master said, ‘A capable fellow, a capable fellow!’ The monk bowed. The master held him and said, ‘You were the careless one.’ The monk laughed loudly. The master said, ‘This monk has been thoroughly defeated today.’ Linji visited the master. At the road junction he first met a woman working an ox in the field. Ji asked her, ‘Which way is the road to Pingtian?’ She struck the ox once and said, ‘This beast wanders everywhere, yet does not even know the road here.’ Ji repeated, ‘I asked you which way the road to Pingtian goes.’ She said, ‘At five years old this beast is still no use.’ Linji thought, ‘To assess a person, first observe what he employs,’ and formed the intention to pull out nails and wedges. When he met the master, the master asked, ‘Have you seen my sister-in-law?’ Linji said, ‘I have already taken her in.’ The master then asked, ‘Where have you recently come from?’ ‘Huangbo in Jiangxi.’ The master said, ‘I knew you had met a capable teacher.’ Linji said, ‘I have come especially to pay respects to you.’ The master said, ‘We have already met.’ Linji said, ‘The rites between guest and host call for three bows.’ The master said, ‘Since these are the rites between guest and host, bow.’ He showed the assembly this verse: ‘The Great Way is vast and empty, the one true mind always so. Think neither good nor evil; the spirit is clear, beyond things. Take food and drink as conditions provide; what else is there to do?’ He died at this monastery, where his memorial stupa remains.

瑞州五峰常觀禪師

Chan Master Changguan of Wufeng in Ruizhou

僧問。如何是五峰境。師曰。險。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。塞。僧辭。師曰。甚麼處去。曰。臺山去。師竪一指曰。若見文殊了。卻來這裡與汝相見。僧無語。師問。僧甚麼處來。曰。莊上來。師曰。汝還見牛麼。曰。見。師曰。見左角。見右角。僧無語。師代曰。見無左右(仰山別雲。還辨左右麼)。又僧辭。師曰。汝諸方去。莫謗老僧在這裡。曰。某甲不道和尚在這裡。師曰。汝道老僧在甚麼處。僧竪起一指。師曰。早是謗老僧也。

A monk asked, ‘What is the scene at Wufeng?’ The master said, ‘Precarious.’ ‘Who is the person within that scene?’ ‘Blocked.’ A monk took leave. The master asked, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘To Mount Tai.’ The master raised one finger and said, ‘If you see Manjushri, then come back here and meet me.’ The monk had no reply. The master asked another monk, ‘Where have you come from?’ ‘The estate.’ ‘Did you see the ox?’ ‘I did.’ The master said, ‘Did you see its left horn or its right horn?’ The monk had no reply. The master answered for him, ‘I saw neither left nor right.’ (Yangshan offered another answer: ‘Can you distinguish left from right?’) Another monk took leave. The master said, ‘When you go to other communities, do not slander this old monk by saying he is here.’ The monk said, ‘I would never say that the master is here.’ The master asked, ‘Where do you say this old monk is?’ The monk raised one finger. The master said, ‘You have already slandered this old monk.’

潭州石霜山性空禪師

Chan Master Xingkong of Shishuang Mountain in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。如人在千尺井中。不假寸繩。出得此人。即答汝西來意。僧曰。近日湖南暢和尚出世。亦為人東語西話。師喚沙彌。拽出這死屍著(沙彌即仰山。山後問耽源。如何出得井中人。源曰。咄。痴漢。誰在井中。山復問溈山。溈召慧寂。山應諾。溈曰。出也。仰山住後。常舉前語謂眾曰。我在耽源處得名。溈山處得地)。

A monk asked, ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?’ The master said, ‘Suppose a person were at the bottom of a thousand-foot well. Without using even an inch of rope, get that person out, and then I will answer your question about the Patriarch’s coming from the West.’ The monk said, ‘Recently the Venerable Chang of Hunan has appeared in the world and is also explaining things east and west for people.’ The master called to a novice, ‘Drag this corpse out!’ (The novice was Yangshan. Later he asked Damyuan, ‘How can the person in the well be brought out?’ Yuan said, ‘Bah, fool! Who is in the well?’ Yangshan then asked Weishan. Wei called, ‘Huiji!’ The mountain answered, ‘Yes?’ Wei said, ‘You are out.’ After Yangshan took up residence, he often cited the earlier exchange to the assembly and said, ‘At Damyuan’s place I received my name; at Weishan’s place I found my ground.’)

福州古靈神贊禪師

Chan Master Shenzan of Guling in Fuzhou

本州大中寺受業。後行腳遇百丈開悟。卻回受業。本師問曰。汝離吾在外。得何事業。曰。並無事業。遂遣執役。一日。因澡身命師去垢。師乃拊背曰。好所佛堂而佛不聖。本師回首視之。師曰。佛雖不聖。且能放光。本師又一日在牕下看經。蜂子投牕紙求出。師覩之曰。世界如許廣濶不肯出。鑽他故紙驢年去。遂有偈曰。空門不肯出。投窓也大痴。百年鑽故紙。何日出頭時。本師置經。問曰。汝行腳遇何人。吾前後見汝發言異常。師曰。某甲蒙百丈和尚指箇歇處。今欲報慈德耳。本師於是告眾致齋。請師說法。師乃登座。舉唱百丈門風曰。靈光獨耀。迥脫根塵。體露真常。不拘文字。心性無染。本自圓成。但離妄緣。即如如佛。本師於言下感悟曰。何期垂老得聞極則事。師後住古靈。聚徒數載。臨遷化。剃浴聲鐘告眾曰。汝等諸人。還識無聲三昧否。眾曰。不識。師曰。汝等靜聽。莫別思惟。眾皆側聆。師儼然順寂。塔存本山。

He first trained at Dazhong Temple in his home region. Later, while traveling, he met Baizhang and awakened. He then returned to his original temple. His former teacher asked, ‘When you left me to travel, what did you accomplish?’ ‘Nothing at all.’ So he was assigned to work. One day, while bathing, he asked the master to scrub his back. The master patted him and said, ‘What a fine Buddha hall, yet the Buddha is not holy.’ His former teacher turned to look. The master said, ‘Though the Buddha is not holy, he can still emit light.’ Another day, his former teacher was reading a sutra by the window. A bee kept striking the paper window, trying to get out. Seeing it, the master said, ‘The world is so vast, yet it refuses to leave and keeps boring into old paper. It will go on like that until the year of the donkey!’ He then composed a verse: ‘It will not leave the gate of emptiness; striking the window is truly foolish. A hundred years boring into old paper—when will it ever get out?’ His former teacher put down the book and asked, ‘Whom did you meet while traveling? I have heard you speak unusually more than once.’ The master said, ‘I received from Master Baizhang a pointer to the place of rest. I now wish to repay his kindness.’ His former teacher therefore told the assembly to prepare a meal and invited the master to teach. The master ascended the seat and proclaimed Baizhang’s tradition: ‘The spiritual light shines alone, detached from sense faculties and their objects. Its essence reveals the ever-true, unconfined by words. Mind-nature is unstained and complete from the beginning. Simply leave deluded conditions, and you are the Thus-Come Buddha.’ His former teacher awakened at these words and said, ‘Who would have thought that in my old age I would hear the ultimate matter?’ The master later resided at Guling and gathered disciples for several years. When he was about to die, he shaved, bathed, rang the bell, and told the assembly, ‘Do you recognize the samadhi without sound?’ They said, ‘We do not.’ The master said, ‘Listen quietly, and do not entertain other thoughts.’ Everyone listened intently. The master then passed away peacefully, sitting upright. His stupa remains on the mountain.

廣州和安寺通禪師

Chan Master Tong of He'an Temple in Guangzhou

婺州雙林寺受業。自幼寡言。時人謂之不語通。因禮佛次。有禪者問。座主禮底是甚麼。師曰。是佛。禪者乃指像曰。這箇是何物。師無對。至夜。具威儀禮問。今日所問。某甲未知意旨如何。禪者曰。座主幾夏邪。師曰。十夏。禪者曰。還曾出家也未。師轉茫然。禪者曰。若也不會。百夏奚為。乃命同參馬祖。及至江西。祖已圓寂。遂謁百丈。頓釋疑情。有人問師。是禪師否。師曰。貧道不曾學禪。師良久。召其人。其人應諾。師指椶櫚樹子。其人無對。師一日召仰山將床子來。山將到。師曰。卻送本處著。山從之。師召。慧寂。山應諾。師曰。床子那邊是甚麼物。山曰。枕子。師曰。枕子這邊是甚麼物。山曰。無物。師復召。慧寂。山應諾。師曰。是甚麼。山無對。師曰。去。

He trained at Shuanglin Temple in Wuzhou. From childhood he spoke little, and people called him Tong the Silent. Once, while he was worshipping the Buddha, a meditation master asked, ‘What is the thing you are bowing to?’ He said, ‘The Buddha.’ The meditation master pointed at the image and asked, ‘What is this?’ Tong could not answer. That night he put on formal robes, bowed, and asked, ‘I did not understand the meaning of your question today. What did you mean?’ The meditation master asked, ‘How many summers have you been here?’ ‘Ten.’ ‘Have you ever left home?’ Tong was perplexed. The master said, ‘If you do not understand this, what use are a hundred summers?’ He told him to join Mazu’s community. By the time Tong reached Jiangxi, Mazu had already passed away, so he visited Baizhang and suddenly resolved his doubts. Someone asked him, ‘Are you a Chan master?’ He said, ‘This poor monk has never studied Chan.’ After a while he called the person, who answered. Tong pointed to a palm tree. The person had no reply. One day Tong called Yangshan, ‘Bring the bedstand here.’ The mountain brought it. Tong said, ‘Put it back where it belongs.’ Yangshan did so. Tong called, ‘Huiji!’ The mountain answered, ‘Yes?’ Tong asked, ‘What is on the other side of the bedstand?’ ‘A pillow.’ ‘What is on this side of the pillow?’ ‘Nothing.’ Tong called again, ‘Huiji!’ ‘Yes?’ ‘What is it?’ Yangshan had no reply. Tong said, ‘Go.’

江州龍雲臺禪師

Chan Master of Longyuntai in Jiangzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。昨夜欄中失卻牛。

A monk asked, ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?’ The master said, ‘Last night the ox escaped from its pen.’

京兆衛國院道禪師

Chan Master Dao of Weiguo Monastery in Jingzhao

新到參。師問。何方來。曰。河南來。師曰。黃河清也未。僧無對(溈山代雲。小小狐兒。要過但過。用疑作甚麼)。師不安。不見客。有人來謁。乃曰。久聆和尚道德。忽承法體違和。略請和尚相見。師將缽鐼盛缽楮。令侍者擎出呈之。其人無對。

A newly arrived monk came to pay respects. The master asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ ‘Henan.’ The master said, ‘Has the Yellow River cleared yet?’ The monk had no reply. (Weishan answered for him: ‘A little fox—if it wants to cross, let it cross. Why hesitate?’) When the master was unwell, he received no visitors. Someone came to call on him and said, ‘I have long heard of the master’s virtue. Now I hear that your health is poor, so I humbly ask to see you briefly.’ The master filled a bowl and a bowl-shaped paper container with scraps, then had an attendant carry them out as a presentation. The visitor had no reply.

鎮州萬歲和尚

The Venerable of Wansui in Zhenzhou

僧問。大眾雲集。合譚何事。師曰。序品第一(歸宗柔別雲。禮拜了去)。

A monk asked, ‘Now that the assembly has gathered, what should we discuss?’ The master said, ‘The first chapter, the introductory chapter.’ (Guizong Rou offered another answer: ‘Bow and go.’)

洪州東山慧禪師

Chan Master Hui of Dongshan in Hongzhou

遊山。見一巖。僧問。此巖還有主也無。師曰。有。曰。是甚麼人。師曰。三家村裡覔甚麼。曰。如何是巖中主。師曰。汝還氣急麼。小師行腳回。師問。汝離吾在外多少時邪。曰。十年。師曰。不用指東指西。直道將來。曰。對和尚不敢謾語。師喝曰。這打野榸漢。師同大於．南用到茶堂。有僧近前不審。用曰。我既不納汝。汝亦不見我。不審阿誰。僧無語。師曰。不得平白地恁麼問伊。用曰。大於亦無語那。於把定其僧曰。是你恁麼累我亦然。便打一摑。用大笑曰。朗月與青天。大於侍者到。師問。金剛正定。一切皆然。秋去冬來。且作麼生。者曰。不妨和尚借問。師曰。即今即得。去後作麼生。者曰。誰敢問著某甲。師曰。大於還得麼。者曰。猶要別人點檢在。師曰。輔弼宗師。不廢光彩。侍者禮拜。

While traveling in the mountains, he saw a cave. A monk asked, ‘Does this cave have a master?’ ‘It does.’ ‘Who is it?’ ‘Why search for someone in a hamlet of three families?’ ‘Who is the master inside the cave?’ ‘Are you short of breath?’ A junior monk returned from travel. The master asked, ‘How long were you away from me?’ ‘Ten years.’ The master said, ‘Do not point east and west; tell it straight.’ ‘I would not dare deceive you.’ The master shouted, ‘You wild stump of a fellow!’ The master went to the tea hall with Dayu and Nanyong. A monk approached and greeted them. Yong said, ‘I do not accept you, and you do not see me. Who is greeting whom?’ The monk was speechless. The master said, ‘You must not ask him such a question for no reason.’ Yong said, ‘Dayu is speechless too.’ Yu held the monk and said, ‘You have implicated me in the same way.’ Then he slapped him. Yong laughed and said, ‘The bright moon and the blue sky.’ Dayu’s attendant arrived. The master asked, ‘The vajra samadhi is such that all things are thus. Autumn passes and winter comes—what now?’ The attendant said, ‘It is fine for the master to ask.’ The master said, ‘That works for now. What about after I leave?’ ‘Who would dare question me?’ ‘Can Dayu manage it?’ ‘He still needs someone else to inspect him.’ The master said, ‘A helper to the patriarch does not lack luster.’ The attendant bowed.

清田和尚

The Venerable of Qingtian

與瑫上座煎茶次。師敲繩床三下。瑫亦敲三下。師曰。老僧敲。有箇善巧。上座敲。有何道理。瑫曰。某甲敲。有箇方便。和尚敲作麼生。師舉起盞子。瑫曰。善知識眼應須恁麼。茶罷。瑫卻問。和尚適來舉起盞子。意作麼生。師曰。不可更別有也。

While making tea with Senior Monk Tao, the master tapped the rope bed three times, and Tao tapped it three times as well. The master said, ‘When I tap, there is a skillful point. What principle is there in your tapping?’ Tao said, ‘When I tap, there is an expedient means. What about the master’s tapping?’ The master raised his cup. Tao said, ‘A good teacher’s eyes should indeed be like that.’ After the tea, Tao asked, ‘What did the master mean by raising the cup just now?’ The master said, ‘There cannot be something else beyond it.’

百丈山涅槃和尚

The Venerable of Nirvana at Baizhang Mountain

一日謂眾曰。汝等與我開田。我與汝說大義。眾開田了。歸請說大義。師乃展兩手。眾罔措(洪覺範林間錄雲。百丈第二代法正禪師。大智之高弟。其先甞誦涅槃經。不言姓名。時呼為涅槃和尚。住成法席。師功最多。使眾開田。方說大義者。乃師也。黃檗。古靈諸大士皆推尊之。唐文人黃武翊撰其碑甚詳。柳公權書。妙絕今古。而傳燈所載百丈惟政禪師。又係於馬祖法嗣之列。悞矣。及觀正宗記。則有惟政．法正。然百丈第代可數。明教但皆見其名。不能辨而俱存也。今當以柳碑為正)。

One day he told the assembly, ‘Open fields for me, and I will explain the great meaning to you.’ After they had opened the fields, they returned and asked him to explain. The master simply spread out both hands. The assembly was at a loss. (Hong Juefan’s Records from the Forest says: ‘The second-generation Baizhang master Fazheng was a senior disciple of Dazhi. He had formerly recited the Nirvana Sutra but did not give his name, so people called him the Venerable Nirvana. He established a monastery and contributed greatly as its teacher. He had the assembly open fields before explaining the great meaning. The great masters Huangbo and Guling all revered him. The Tang writer Huang Wuyi composed a detailed inscription for his stele, which Liu Gongquan wrote in peerless calligraphy. Yet the Transmission of the Lamp places the Baizhang master Weizheng among Mazu’s Dharma heirs, which is mistaken. In the Orthodox Record there are both Weizheng and Fazheng. The generations at Baizhang can be counted, but Mingjiao knew only their names and could not distinguish them, so he included both. The inscription by Liu should now be taken as authoritative.’)

南泉願禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Master Nanquan Yuan

趙州觀音院(亦曰東院)。從諗禪師

Zhaozhou Guanyin Monastery (also called Dongyuan), Chan Master Congshen

曹州郝鄉人也。姓郝氏。童稚於本州扈通院從師披剃。未納戒便抵池陽。參南泉。值泉偃息而問曰。近離甚處。師曰。瑞像。泉曰。還見瑞像麼。師曰。不見瑞像。祇見臥如來。泉便起坐。問。汝是有主沙彌。無主沙彌。師曰。有主沙彌。泉曰。那箇是你主。師近前躬身曰。仲冬嚴寒。伏惟和尚尊候萬福。泉器之。許其入室。他日問泉曰。如何是道。泉曰。平常心是道。師曰。還可趣向也無。泉曰。擬向即乖。師曰。不擬爭知是道。泉曰。道不屬知。不屬不知。知是妄覺。不知是無記。若真達不疑之道。猶如太虗。廓然蕩豁。豈可強是非邪。師於言下悟理。乃往嵩嶽瑠璃壇納戒。仍返南泉。一日問泉曰。知有底人向甚麼處去。泉曰。山前檀越家作一頭水牯牛去。師曰。謝師指示。泉曰。昨夜三更月到牕。泉曰。今時人。須向異類中行始得。師曰。異即不問。如何是類。泉以兩手拓地。師近前一踏。踏倒。卻向涅槃堂裡呌曰。悔。悔。泉令侍者問。悔箇甚麼。師曰。悔不更與兩踏。南泉上堂。師出問。明頭合。暗頭合。泉便下座。歸方丈。師曰。這老和尚被我一問。直得無言可對。首座曰。莫道和尚無語好。自是上座不會。師便打一掌曰。此掌合是堂頭老漢吃。師到黃檗。檗見來便閉方丈門。師乃把火於法堂內。呌曰。救火。救火。檗開門捉住曰。道。道。師曰。賊過後張弓。到寶壽。壽見來。於禪床上背坐。師展坐具禮拜。壽下禪床。師便出。又到道吾。才入堂。吾曰。南泉一隻箭來也。師曰。看箭。吾曰。過也。師曰。中。又到茱萸。執拄杖於法堂上。從東過西。萸曰。作甚麼。師曰。探水。萸曰。我這裡一滴也無。探箇甚麼。師以杖倚壁。便下。師將遊五臺。有大德作偈。留曰。無處青山不道場。何須䇿杖禮清涼。雲中縱有金毛現。正眼觀時非吉祥。師曰。作麼生是正眼。德無對(法眼代雲。

He was from Hao village in Caozhou, and his surname was Hao. As a child he received tonsure at Hutong Monastery in his native region. Before receiving full precepts, he went to Chiyang and visited Nanquan. He found Quan resting and was asked, ‘Where have you recently come from?’ ‘Ruixiang.’ ‘Did you see the auspicious image?’ ‘I did not see an auspicious image; I saw a reclining Tathagata.’ Quan sat up and asked, ‘Are you a novice with a master or without one?’ ‘With a master.’ ‘Who is your master?’ The master stepped forward, bowed, and said, ‘The weather is bitterly cold in midwinter. I trust the venerable master is well.’ Quan valued him and allowed him into his room. Another day the master asked Quan, ‘What is the Way?’ Quan said, ‘Ordinary mind is the Way.’ ‘May one deliberately head toward it?’ ‘To intend to do so is to turn away.’ ‘If one does not intend to, how can one know it is the Way?’ Quan said, ‘The Way belongs neither to knowing nor to not knowing. Knowing is deluded awareness; not knowing is blankness. If you truly reach the Way without doubt, it is like empty space: vast, open, and clear. How could you force it into right and wrong?’ At these words the master awakened to the principle. He went to the ordination platform at Liuli on Mount Song to receive the precepts, then returned to Nanquan. One day he asked Quan, ‘Where does a person who knows go?’ Quan said, ‘To the benefactor’s house in front of the mountain to become a water buffalo.’ The master said, ‘Thank you for your guidance.’ Quan said, ‘Last night the moon came to the window at the third watch.’ Quan added, ‘People today must walk among the different kinds of beings.’ The master said, ‘I do not ask about being different; what is the kind?’ Quan placed both hands on the ground. The master stepped forward, knocked him over, then went to the Nirvana Hall and cried, ‘Regret, regret!’ Quan sent an attendant to ask, ‘What do you regret?’ The master said, ‘I regret not giving him two more kicks.’ Nanquan ascended the teaching seat. The master stepped forward and asked, ‘Is it right in the light or right in the dark?’ Quan immediately descended and returned to his room. The master said, ‘This old master could not answer my question and was left speechless.’ The head monk said, ‘Do not say the master was speechless; it is simply that you did not understand.’ The master slapped him and said, ‘That slap should have landed on the abbot!’ The master went to Huangbo. Huangbo saw him coming and shut the door to his room. The master carried a torch into the Dharma Hall and shouted, ‘Fire! Fire!’ Huangbo opened the door and seized him, saying, ‘Speak! Speak!’ The master said, ‘The thief has gone; now you string your bow.’ He went to Baoshou. When Shou saw him, he sat with his back turned on the meditation platform. The master spread his bowing mat and paid respects. Shou got down from the platform, and the master left. He also went to Daowu. As soon as he entered the hall, Wu said, ‘Nanquan’s arrow has arrived.’ The master said, ‘Watch out!’ Wu said, ‘It passed by.’ The master said, ‘It hit.’ He next went to Zhuyu and carried his staff from east to west across the Dharma Hall. Yu asked, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Testing the water.’ ‘There is not a drop here. What are you testing?’ The master leaned the staff against the wall and left. The master planned to visit Mount Wutai. A senior monk composed a verse to stop him: ‘Everywhere among the green mountains is a place of practice; why carry a staff to worship Mount Qingliang? Even if a golden-maned lion appears in the clouds, to see it with the true eye is inauspicious.’ The master asked, ‘What is the true eye?’ The senior monk had no reply. (Fayan answered for him:)

請上座領某甲情。同安顯代雲。是上座眼)。師自此道化被於北地。眾請住觀音院。上堂。如明珠在掌。胡來胡現。漢來漢現。老僧把一枝草為丈六金身用。把丈六金身為一枝草用。佛是煩惱。煩惱是佛。僧問。未審佛是誰家煩惱。師曰。與一切人煩惱。曰。如何免得。師曰。用免作麼。掃地次。僧問。和尚是大善知識。為甚麼掃地。師曰。塵從外來。曰。既是清淨伽藍。為甚麼有塵。師曰。又一點也。師與官人遊園次。兔見乃驚走。遂問。和尚是大善知識。兔見為甚麼走。師曰。老僧好殺。問。覺華未發時。如何辨真實。師曰。開也。曰。是真是實。師曰。真是實。實是真。曰。甚麼人分上事。師曰。老僧有分。闍黎有分。曰。某甲不招納時如何。師佯不聞。僧無語。師曰。去。石幢子被風吹折。僧問。陀羅尼幢子作凡去。作聖去。師曰。也不作凡。亦不作聖。曰。畢竟作甚麼。師曰。落地去也。僧辭。師曰。甚處去。曰。諸方學佛法去。師竪起拂子曰。有佛處不得住。無佛處急走過。三千里外。逢人不得錯舉。曰。與麼則不去也。師曰。摘楊花。摘楊花。問。承聞和尚親見南泉。是否。師曰。鎮州出大蘿蔔頭。大眾晚參。師曰。今夜答話去也。有解問者出來。時有一僧便出禮拜。師曰。比來拋甎引玉。卻引得箇墼子(保壽雲。射虎不真。徒勞沒羽。長慶問覺上座雲。那僧才出禮拜。為甚麼便收伊為墼子。覺雲。適來那邊亦有人恁麼問。慶雲。向伊道甚麼。覺雲。也向伊恁麼道。玄覺雲。甚麼處卻成墼子去。叢林中道才出來。便成墼子。祇如每日出入。行住坐臥。不可總成墼子。且道這僧出來。具眼不具眼)。上堂。金佛不度爐。木佛不度火。泥佛不度水。真佛內裡坐。菩提涅槃。真如佛性。盡是貼體衣服。亦名煩惱。實際理地甚麼處著。一心不生。萬法無咎。汝但究理。坐看三二十年。若不會。

(Fayan continued:) ‘Please, senior monk, accept my feelings.’ Tong'an Xian answered for him: ‘It is the senior monk’s own eye.’ From then on the master’s teaching spread through the north. The assembly invited him to reside at Guanyin Monastery. At a teaching he said, ‘Like a bright pearl in the palm, a foreigner appears as a foreigner, a Han person appears as a Han person. This old monk can use a blade of grass as a sixteen-foot golden body, and use a sixteen-foot golden body as a blade of grass. Buddha is affliction; affliction is Buddha.’ A monk asked, ‘Whose affliction is Buddha?’ The master said, ‘Everyone’s.’ ‘How can one be free of it?’ ‘What use is trying to be free?’ While sweeping, the master was asked, ‘You are a great teacher. Why are you sweeping?’ He said, ‘Dust comes from outside.’ ‘If this is a pure monastery, why is there dust?’ The master said, ‘There is another speck.’ While walking in a garden with an official, they saw a rabbit startle and run away. The official asked, ‘You are a great teacher. Why did the rabbit run when it saw you?’ The master said, ‘This old monk is fond of killing.’ Someone asked, ‘Before the awakening flower opens, how can one distinguish the real?’ The master said, ‘It has opened.’ ‘Is it true or real?’ ‘True is real; real is true.’ ‘Whose matter is this?’ ‘It belongs to this old monk, and it belongs to you.’ ‘What if I refuse to accept it?’ The master pretended not to hear. The monk had no reply. The master said, ‘Go.’ A stone pillar was blown over by the wind. A monk asked, ‘Does the dharani pillar become ordinary or holy?’ The master said, ‘It becomes neither ordinary nor holy.’ ‘Then what does it become?’ ‘It has fallen to the ground.’ A monk took leave. The master asked, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘To study the Buddha Dharma in various places.’ The master raised his whisk and said, ‘Where there is a Buddha, do not stay; where there is no Buddha, hurry through. Three thousand miles away, do not misquote me when you meet someone.’ ‘Then I will not go.’ The master said, ‘Pluck the willow fluff, pluck the willow fluff.’ Someone asked, ‘I hear that you personally met Nanquan. Is that so?’ The master said, ‘Zhenzhou produces great turnips.’ At the evening gathering the master said, ‘Tonight I will answer questions. Anyone who understands may come forward.’ A monk immediately stepped out and bowed. The master said, ‘I tossed a brick to draw out jade, but instead I drew a lump of clay.’ (Baoshou said, ‘If you shoot at a tiger and miss, your labor has not even pierced its hide.’ Changqing asked Jue, ‘That monk had only stepped out and bowed. Why did the master call him a lump of clay?’ Jue said, ‘Someone over there has just asked the same thing.’ Qing said, ‘What did you tell him?’ Jue said, ‘I answered him the same way.’ Xuanjue said, ‘Where did he turn into a lump of clay? The community says that as soon as he came forward, he became one. But people come and go, walk, stand, sit, and lie down every day; surely they cannot all be lumps of clay. Tell me, did this monk have the eye or not?’) At a teaching he said, ‘A golden Buddha cannot pass through a furnace; a wooden Buddha cannot pass through fire; a clay Buddha cannot pass through water. The true Buddha sits within. Bodhi, nirvana, true suchness, and Buddha-nature are all garments fitted to the body, and are also called afflictions. Where can anything be placed on the ground of ultimate reality? When the one mind does not arise, the myriad things are without fault. You need only investigate the principle and sit with it for twenty or thirty years. If you do not understand…’

截取老僧頭去。夢幻空華。徒勞把捉。心若不異。萬法一如。既不從外得。更拘執作麼。如羊相似。亂拾物安向口裡。老僧見藥山和尚道。有人問著。但教合取狗口。老僧亦教合取狗口。取我是垢。不取我是淨。一似獵狗專欲得物吃。佛法在甚麼處。千人萬人盡是覔佛漢子。於中覔一箇道人無。若與空王為弟子。莫教心病最難醫。未有世界。早有此性。世界壞時。此性不壞。一從見老僧後。更不是別人。祇是箇主人公。這箇更向外覔作麼。正恁麼時。莫轉頭換腦。若轉頭換腦。即失卻也。僧問。承師有言。世界壞時。此性不壞。如何是此性。師曰。四大五陰。曰。此猶是壞底。如何是此性。師曰。四大五陰(法眼雲。是一箇兩箇。是壞不壞。且作麼生會。試斷看)。師因老宿問。近離甚處。曰。滑州。宿曰。幾程到這裡。師曰。一躂到。宿曰。好箇捷疾鬼。師曰。萬福大王。宿曰。參堂去。師應喏喏。尼問。如何是密密意。師以手掐之。尼曰和尚猶有這箇在。師曰。卻是你有這箇在。僧辭。師問。甚麼處去。曰。閩中去。師曰。彼中兵馬隘。你須迴避始得。曰。向甚麼處迴避。師曰。恰好。問。如何是賓中主。師曰。山僧不問婦。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。山僧無丈人。有僧遊五臺。問一婆子曰。臺山路向甚麼處去。婆曰。驀直去。僧便去。婆曰。好箇師僧又恁麼去。後有僧舉似師。師曰。待我去勘過。明日。師便去問。臺山路向甚麼處去。婆曰。驀直去。師便去。婆曰。好箇師僧又恁麼去。師歸院謂僧曰。臺山婆子為汝勘破了也(玄覺雲。前來僧也恁麼道。趙州去也恁麼道。甚麼處是勘破婆子處。又云。非唯被趙州勘破。亦被這僧勘破)。問。恁麼來底人。師還接否。師曰。接。曰。不恁麼來底。師還接否。師曰。接。曰。恁麼來者從師接。不恁麼來者如何接。師曰。止。止。不須說。我法妙難思。

(The master continued:) ‘Cut off this old monk’s head and take it away. Dreamlike illusions and empty flowers—grasping at them is futile. When the mind is not divided, all things are one suchness. Since it is not obtained from outside, why cling to it? You are like sheep, wildly picking things up and stuffing them into your mouths. I heard Master Yaoshan say: “If anyone asks, just tell him to shut the dog’s mouth.” I too tell you to shut the dog’s mouth. To grasp at me is defilement; not to grasp at me is purity. You are just like hunting dogs, eager to get something to eat. Where is the Buddha Dharma? Thousands and tens of thousands are all men seeking Buddha; among them, is there one person of the Way? If you would be a disciple of the Empty King, do not let the sickness of mind be the hardest to cure. Before the world existed, this nature was already here. When the world is destroyed, this nature is not destroyed. From the moment you met this old monk, there has never been anyone else: only this master within. Why seek it elsewhere? Just at this very moment, do not turn your head and change your mind. If you do, you will lose it.’ A monk asked, ‘You have said that when the world is destroyed, this nature is not destroyed. What is this nature?’ The master said, ‘The four elements and five aggregates.’ The monk said, ‘Those are still things that perish. What is this nature?’ The master again said, ‘The four elements and five aggregates.’ (Fayan said, ‘Is it one or two? Is it destroyed or indestructible? How will you understand it? Try to judge.’) An old monk asked the master, ‘Where have you just come from?’ ‘Huazhou.’ ‘How many stages did you travel to get here?’ ‘One stride.’ ‘What a swift demon!’ ‘May Your Majesty live ten thousand years!’ ‘Go join the assembly.’ The master answered, ‘Yes, yes.’ A nun asked, ‘What is the intimate, secret meaning?’ The master pinched her. The nun said, ‘Master, you still have this.’ The master said, ‘It is you who have this.’ A monk took his leave. The master asked, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘To Min.’ ‘There are many troops there; you must avoid them.’ ‘Where should I avoid them?’ ‘Just so.’ Someone asked, ‘What is the guest within the host?’ The master said, ‘This mountain monk does not ask about wives.’ ‘What is the host within the guest?’ ‘This mountain monk has no father-in-law.’ A monk traveling on Mount Wutai asked a woman, ‘Which way is the road on Mount Tai?’ She said, ‘Go straight ahead.’ The monk went on. She said, ‘Another monk has gone straight off like that!’ Later a monk told the master about it. The master said, ‘I’ll go investigate her.’ The next day he went and asked, ‘Which way is the road on Mount Tai?’ She said, ‘Go straight ahead.’ He went on. She said, ‘Another monk has gone straight off like that!’ The master returned to the monastery and told the monks, ‘I have exposed that old woman of Mount Tai for you.’ (Xu Jue said, ‘The earlier monk said the same, and Zhaozhou said the same. Where did Zhaozhou expose her?’ He also said, ‘Not only was Zhaozhou exposed by the old woman; that monk was exposed too.’) Someone asked, ‘Does the master receive those who come like this?’ ‘I do.’ ‘Does he receive those who do not come like this?’ ‘I do.’ ‘Those who come like this are received by the master; how are those who do not come like this received?’ The master said, ‘Stop, stop. No need to speak. My Dharma is wondrous and hard to conceive.’

師因出。路逢一婆。婆問。和尚住甚麼處。師曰。趙州東院西。婆無語。師歸問眾僧。合使那箇西字。或言東西字。或言棲泊字。師曰。汝等總作得鹽鐵判官。曰。和尚為甚恁麼道。師曰。為汝總識字(法燈別眾僧雲。已知去處)。問。如何是囊中寶。師曰。合取口(法燈別雲。莫說似人)。有一婆子令人送錢。請轉藏經。師受施利了。卻下禪床轉一匝。乃曰。傳語婆。轉藏經已竟。其人回舉似婆。婆曰。比來請轉全藏。如何祇為轉半藏。(玄覺雲。甚麼處是欠半藏處。且道那婆子具甚麼眼。便與麼道)。因僧侍次。遂指火問曰。這箇是火。你不得喚作火。老僧道了也。僧無對。復筴起火曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。此去舒州。有投子和尚。汝往禮拜。問之。必為汝說。因緣相契。不用更來。不相契卻來。其僧到投子。子問。近離甚處。曰。趙州。子曰。趙州有何言句。僧舉前話。子曰。汝會麼。曰。不會。乞師指示。子下禪床。行三步卻坐。問曰。會麼。曰。不會。子曰。你歸舉似趙州。其僧卻回。舉似師。師曰。還會麼。曰。不會。師曰。投子與麼。不較多也。有新到謂師曰。某甲從長安來。橫擔一條拄杖。不曾撥著一人。師曰。自是大德拄杖短(同安顯別雲。老僧這裡不曾見恁麼人)。僧無對(法眼代雲。呵呵。同安顯代雲。也不短)。僧寫師真呈。師曰。且道似我不似我。若似我。即打殺老僧。不似我。即燒卻真。僧無對(玄覺代雲。留取供養)。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。庭前栢樹子。曰。和尚莫將境示人。師曰。我不將境示人。曰。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。庭前栢樹子。問。僧發足甚處。曰。雪峰。師曰。雪峰有何言句示人。曰。尋常道盡十方世界。是沙門一隻眼。你等諸人。向甚處屙。師曰。闍黎若回。寄箇鍬子去。師謂眾曰。我向行腳到南方。火爐頭有箇無賓主話。

One day the master went out and met an old woman on the road. She asked, ‘Where do you live, Master?’ He said, ‘West of the east courtyard of Zhaozhou.’ She had no answer. The master returned and asked the monks, ‘Which character for “west” should I have used?’ Some said the word for east and west; others said the word meaning to dwell. The master said, ‘You could all serve as salt-and-iron commissioners.’ They asked, ‘Why did the master say that?’ He said, ‘Because you all know your characters.’ (Fadeng gave the assembly a different answer: ‘He already knows where he is going.’) Someone asked, ‘What is the treasure in the pouch?’ The master said, ‘Shut your mouth.’ (Fadeng said instead, ‘Don’t tell it to anyone.’) A woman sent money and requested that the master turn the entire canon. After accepting the offering, he stepped down from his meditation seat, walked once around it, and said, ‘Tell the woman the canon has been turned.’ The messenger returned and reported this. The woman said, ‘I requested that the whole canon be turned. Why did you turn only half?’ (Xu Jue said, ‘Where is the missing half? Tell me: what kind of eye did that woman have to speak this way?’) Once, while a monk was attending him, the master pointed at the fire and said, ‘This is fire; you must not call it fire. I have said it now.’ The monk had no reply. The master then lifted the firewood and asked, ‘Do you understand?’ ‘I do not.’ The master said, ‘From here, go to Shuzhou and pay your respects to Master Touzi. He will surely explain it to you. If your conditions accord, you need not return; if they do not, come back.’ The monk reached Touzi. Touzi asked, ‘Where have you just come from?’ ‘Zhaozhou.’ ‘What words does Zhaozhou teach?’ The monk recounted the exchange. Touzi asked, ‘Do you understand?’ ‘I do not. Please instruct me.’ Touzi stepped down from his meditation seat, walked three paces, then sat down and asked, ‘Do you understand?’ ‘I do not.’ Touzi said, ‘Go back and tell Zhaozhou.’ The monk returned and reported it. The master asked, ‘Do you understand now?’ ‘I do not.’ The master said, ‘Touzi did not do too much.’ A newcomer told the master, ‘I came from Chang’an carrying a staff across my shoulder, and I have not struck a single person with it.’ The master said, ‘It is your own staff that is too short.’ (Tong’an Xian said instead, ‘I have never seen a person like that here.’) The monk had no answer. (Fayan replied for him, ‘Ha, ha!’ Tong’an Xian replied, ‘It is not short either.’) A monk painted a portrait of the master and presented it. The master said, ‘Tell me: does it resemble me or not? If it resembles me, kill the old monk. If it does not, burn the portrait.’ The monk had no answer. (Xu Jue replied for him, ‘Keep it for an offering.’) Someone asked, ‘What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher’s coming from the West?’ The master said, ‘The cypress tree in the courtyard.’ ‘Master, do not use an object to instruct people.’ ‘I am not using an object to instruct people.’ ‘What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher’s coming from the West?’ ‘The cypress tree in the courtyard.’ The master asked a monk, ‘Where did you set out from?’ ‘Xuefeng.’ ‘What words does Xuefeng use to instruct people?’ ‘He often says, “The whole world in all ten directions is a monk’s one eye. Where do all of you defecate?”’ The master said, ‘If you return, send him a spade.’ The master told the assembly, ‘When I traveled south, by the brazier there was a saying about a conversation with neither guest nor host. To this day no one has brought it up.’

直至如今無人舉著。上堂。至道無難。唯嫌揀擇。才有語言是揀擇。是明白。老僧不在明白裡。是汝還護惜也無。時有僧問。既不在明白裡。護惜箇甚麼。師曰。我亦不知。僧曰。和尚既不知。為甚道不在明白裡。師曰。問事即得。禮拜了退。別僧問。至道無難。唯嫌揀擇。是時人窠窟否。師曰。曾有人問我。老僧直得五年分疎不下。又問。至道無難。唯嫌揀擇。如何是不揀擇。師曰。天上天下。唯我獨尊。曰。此猶是揀擇。師曰。田庫奴甚處是揀擇。僧無語。問。至道無難。唯嫌揀擇。才有語言是揀擇。和尚如何為人。師曰。何不引盡此語。僧曰。某甲祇念得到這裡。師曰。至道無難。唯嫌揀擇。問。如何是道。師曰。墻外底。曰。不問這箇。師曰。你問那箇。曰。大道。師曰。大道透長安。問。道人相見時如何。師曰。呈漆器。上堂。兄弟若從南方來者。即與下載。若從北方來者。即與上載。所以道。近上人問道即失道。近下人問道即得道。師因與文遠行。乃指一片地曰。這裡好造箇巡舖。文遠便去路傍立曰。把將公驗來。師遂與一摑。遠曰。公驗分明過。師與文遠論義曰鬪劣不鬪勝。勝者輸果子。遠曰。請和尚立義。師曰。我是一頭驢。遠曰。我是驢胃。師曰。我是驢糞。遠曰。我是糞中蟲。師曰。你在彼中作甚麼。遠曰。我在彼中過夏。師曰。把將果子來。新到參。師問。甚麼處來。曰。南方來。師曰。佛法盡在南方。汝來這裡作甚麼。曰。佛法豈有南北邪。師曰。饒汝從雪峰．雲居來。祇是箇擔板漢(崇壽稠雲。和尚是據客置主人)。問。如何是佛。師曰。殿裡底。曰。殿裡者豈不是泥龕塑像。師曰。是。曰。如何是佛。師曰。殿裡底。問。學人乍入叢林。乞師指示。師曰。吃粥了也未。曰吃粥了也。師曰。洗缽盂去。其僧忽然省悟。上堂。才有是非。紛然失心。還有答話分也無。僧舉似洛浦。

(The master continued:) ‘The Supreme Way is not difficult; it only dislikes choosing and rejecting. As soon as there is speech, there is choosing and rejecting, there is clarity. This old monk is not within clarity. Do you still protect and cherish it?’ A monk asked, ‘Since you are not within clarity, what is there to protect and cherish?’ The master said, ‘I do not know either.’ The monk said, ‘Since you do not know, why say you are not within clarity?’ The master said, ‘You may ask your question; now bow and withdraw.’ Another monk asked, ‘“The Supreme Way is not difficult; it only dislikes choosing and rejecting”—is this a nest for people of our time?’ The master said, ‘Someone once asked me, and it took this old monk five years to explain it.’ He asked again, ‘“The Supreme Way is not difficult; it only dislikes choosing and rejecting.” What is not choosing and rejecting?’ The master said, ‘Above the heavens and below the heavens, I alone am honored.’ ‘That is still choosing and rejecting.’ The master said, ‘Where is the servant of the estate choosing and rejecting?’ The monk was silent. Someone asked, ‘The Supreme Way is not difficult; it only dislikes choosing and rejecting. As soon as there is speech, there is choosing and rejecting. How does the master teach people?’ The master said, ‘Why not quote the whole saying?’ The monk said, ‘I can only recite as far as this.’ The master said, ‘The Supreme Way is not difficult; it only dislikes choosing and rejecting.’ Someone asked, ‘What is the Way?’ The master said, ‘The thing outside the wall.’ ‘I am not asking about that.’ ‘Then what are you asking about?’ ‘The Great Way.’ ‘The Great Way runs through Chang’an.’ Someone asked, ‘When people of the Way meet, what is it like?’ The master said, ‘Presenting a lacquer vessel.’ At a teaching assembly the master said, ‘Brothers, if you come from the south, I will help you unload. If you come from the north, I will help you load up. Thus it is said: when a person of higher standing asks about the Way, he loses it; when a person of lower standing asks, he gains it.’ Once, while walking with Wenyuan, the master pointed to a patch of ground and said, ‘This would be a good place to build a patrol station.’ Wenyuan went to the roadside, stood there, and said, ‘Show me your travel permit.’ The master slapped him. Wenyuan said, ‘The permit is clearly in order.’ The master and Wenyuan debated, agreeing to compete in the inferior rather than the superior; the winner would pay fruit. Wenyuan said, ‘Please, Master, state your proposition.’ The master said, ‘I am a donkey.’ Wenyuan said, ‘I am its stomach.’ The master said, ‘I am donkey dung.’ Wenyuan said, ‘I am a worm in the dung.’ The master said, ‘What are you doing in there?’ Wenyuan said, ‘I am spending the summer there.’ The master said, ‘Bring the fruit!’ A newcomer came to pay respects. The master asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ ‘The south.’ ‘The Buddha Dharma is all in the south. Why have you come here?’ ‘Can the Buddha Dharma have a south or north?’ The master said, ‘Even if you came from Xuefeng or Yunju, you would still be a board-carrying fellow.’ (Chongshou Chou said, ‘The master put the guest in the place of the host.’) Someone asked, ‘What is the Buddha?’ The master said, ‘The one in the hall.’ ‘Isn’t the one in the hall a clay image in a niche?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What is the Buddha?’ ‘The one in the hall.’ Someone said, ‘I have just entered the monastery. Please instruct me.’ The master asked, ‘Have you eaten your porridge?’ ‘I have.’ ‘Go wash your bowl.’ The monk suddenly awakened. At a teaching assembly the master said, ‘As soon as there is right and wrong, the mind is lost in confusion. Is anyone still able to answer?’ A monk repeated this to Luopu,

浦扣齒。又舉似雲居。居曰。何必。僧回舉似師。師曰。南方大有人喪身失命。曰。請和尚舉。師才舉前語。僧指傍僧曰。這箇師僧吃卻飯了。作恁麼語話。師休去。問。久嚮趙州石橋。到來祇見略彴。師曰。汝祇見略彴。且不見石橋。曰。如何是石橋。師曰。度驢度馬。曰。如何是略彴。師曰。箇箇度人。後有如前問。師如前答。又僧問。如何是石橋。師曰。過來。過來(雲居錫雲。趙州為當扶石橋。扶略彴)。師聞沙彌喝參。向侍者曰。教伊去。者乃教去。沙彌便珍重。師曰。沙彌得入門。侍者在門外(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是沙彌入門。侍者在門外。這裡若會得。便見趙州)。問。僧甚麼處來。曰。從南來。師曰。還知有趙州關否。曰。須知有不涉關者。師曰。這販私鹽漢。問。如何是西來意。師下禪床立。曰。莫祇這箇便是否。師曰。老僧未有語在。問菜頭。今日吃生菜。吃熟菜。頭拈起菜呈之。師曰。知恩者少。負恩者多。問。狗子還有佛性也無。師曰。無。曰。上至諸佛。下至螻蟻。皆有佛性。狗子為甚麼卻無。師曰。為伊有業識在。師問一婆子。甚麼處去。曰。偷趙州筍去。師曰。忽遇趙州。又作麼生。婆便與一掌。師休去。師一日於雪中臥。曰相救。相救。有僧便去身邊臥。師便起去。問。如何是趙州一句。師曰。老僧半句也無。曰豈無和尚在。師曰。老僧不是一句。師問新到。曾到此間麼。曰。曾到。師曰。吃茶去。又問僧。僧曰。不曾到。師曰。吃茶去。後院主問曰。為甚麼曾到也雲吃茶去。不曾到也雲吃茶去。師召院主。主應喏。師曰。吃茶去。問。二龍爭珠。誰是得者。師曰。老僧秖管看。問。空劫中還有人修行也無。師曰。汝喚甚麼作空劫。曰。無一物是。師曰。這箇始稱得修行。喚甚麼作空劫。僧無語。問。如何是玄中玄。師曰。汝玄來多少時邪。曰。玄之久矣。師曰。

Luopu clicked his teeth. The monk also repeated it to Yunju. Yunju said, “Why bother?” The monk returned and reported it to the master. The master said, “Many people in the south lose their lives.” The monk said, “Please, Master, give us the saying.” The master had just repeated his earlier words when the monk pointed to a monk beside him and said, “This monk has eaten his meal and speaks this way.” The master fell silent. Someone said, “I had long heard of Zhaozhou’s stone bridge, but on arriving I see only a narrow plank bridge.” The master said, “You see only the plank bridge; you do not see the stone bridge.” “What is the stone bridge?” “It carries donkeys and horses across.” “What is the plank bridge?” “It carries everyone across.” Later, someone asked the same questions, and the master gave the same answers. Another monk asked, “What is the stone bridge?” The master said, “Come across, come across.” (Yunju Xi said, “Was Zhaozhou helping the stone bridge or the plank bridge?”) The master heard a novice call out seeking an interview and told his attendant, “Tell him to go away.” The attendant told him to leave, and the novice took his leave. The master said, “The novice has entered the gate; the attendant is outside it.” (Yunju Xi said, “Where did the novice enter, and the attendant remain outside? If you understand this, you will see Zhaozhou.”) The master asked a monk, “Where have you come from?” “From the south.” “Do you know there is a Zhaozhou barrier?” “One must know those who do not pass through the barrier.” The master said, “You salt smuggler!” Someone asked, “What is the meaning of the coming from the West?” The master stepped down from his meditation seat and stood. “Is that all there is?” The master said, “This old monk has not spoken yet.” He asked the vegetable steward, “Are we eating raw vegetables or cooked vegetables today?” The steward lifted a vegetable and presented it. The master said, “Few know gratitude; many repay kindness with ingratitude.” Someone asked, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?” The master said, “No.” “From the Buddhas above to the ants below, all have Buddha-nature. Why does the dog alone not?” The master said, “Because it has karmic consciousness.” The master asked an old woman, “Where are you going?” “To steal Zhaozhou’s bamboo shoots.” “What if you run into Zhaozhou?” She slapped him. The master fell silent. One day the master lay in the snow, saying, “Help! Help!” A monk went and lay down beside him. The master immediately got up and left. Someone asked, “What is Zhaozhou’s single phrase?” The master said, “This old monk has not even half a phrase.” “Can there be no master here?” The master said, “This old monk is not a phrase.” The master asked a newcomer, “Have you been here before?” “I have.” “Have some tea.” He asked another monk, who said, “I have not.” “Have some tea.” Later, the prior asked, “Why tell both the one who has been here and the one who has not to have tea?” The master called, “Prior!” The prior answered. The master said, “Have some tea.” Someone asked, “Two dragons are fighting over a pearl. Who gets it?” The master said, “This old monk only watches.” Someone asked, “Did anyone practice in the empty eon?” The master said, “What do you call the empty eon?” “When not a single thing exists.” The master said, “That is what may be called practice. What do you call the empty eon?” The monk had no answer. Someone asked, “What is the mystery within the mystery?” The master said, “How long have you been mysterious?” “For a long time.” The master said:

闍黎若不遇老僧。幾被玄殺。問。萬法歸一。一歸何所。師曰。老僧在青州作得一領布衫。重七斤。問。夜生兜率。晝降閻浮。於其中間。摩尼珠為甚麼不現。師曰。道甚麼。其僧再問。師曰。毗婆尸佛早留心。直至如今不得妙。問院主。甚麼處來。主曰。送生來。師曰。鵶為甚麼飛去。主曰。怕某甲。師曰。汝十年知事作恁麼語話。主卻問。鵶為甚麼飛去。師曰。院主無殺心。師拓起缽曰。三十年後若見老僧。留取供養。若不見。即撲破。別僧曰。三十年後敢道見和尚。師乃撲破。師在東司上。見遠侍者過。驀召文遠。遠應諾。師曰。東司上不可與汝說佛法。僧辭。師問。甚麼處去。曰。雪峰去。師曰。雪峰忽若問和尚有何言句。汝作麼生秖對。曰。某甲道不得。請和尚道。師曰。冬即言寒。夏即道熱。又曰。雪峰更問。汝畢竟事作麼生。僧又曰。道不得。師曰。但道親從趙州來。不是傳語人。其僧到雪峰。一依前語祇對。峰曰。也須是趙州始得(玄沙聞曰。大小趙州敗闕也不知。雲居錫雲。甚麼處是趙州敗闕。若檢得出。是上座眼)。問。如何是出家。師曰。不履高名。不求苟得。問。澄澄絕點時如何。師曰。這裡不著客作漢。問。如何是祖師意。師敲床腳。僧曰。祇這莫便是否。師曰。是。即脫取去。問。如何是毗盧圓相。師曰。老僧自幼出家。不曾眼花。曰。豈不為人。師曰。願汝常見毗盧圓相。官人問。和尚還入地獄否。師曰。老僧末上入。曰。大善知識為甚麼入地獄。師曰。我若不入。阿誰教化汝。真定帥王公𢹂諸子入院。師坐而問曰。大王會麼。王曰。不會。師曰自小持齋身已老。見人無力下禪床。王尤加禮重。翌日令客將傳語。師下禪床受之。侍者曰。和尚見大王來。不下禪床。今日軍將來。為甚麼卻下禪床。師曰。非汝所知。第一等人來。禪床上接。中等人來。下禪床接。末等人來。

“If you had not met this old monk, you would nearly have been killed by mystery.” Someone asked, “When all things return to the One, where does the One return?” The master said, “In Qingzhou I made a cloth shirt; it weighed seven pounds.” Someone asked, “At night he is born in Tusita Heaven, by day he descends to Jambudvipa. In between, why does the wish-fulfilling jewel not appear?” The master said, “What did you say?” The monk asked again. The master said, “Vipasyin Buddha kept his attention on this long ago, yet even now has not attained the wondrous.” The master asked the prior, “Where have you come from?” The prior said, “I have gone to deliver a birth announcement.” The master asked, “Why did the crow fly away?” The prior said, “It was afraid of me.” The master said, “You have managed affairs for ten years, yet speak like this.” The prior then asked, “Why did the crow fly away?” The master said, “The prior has no killing mind.” The master lifted his bowl and said, “Thirty years from now, if you see this old monk, keep this as an offering. If you do not see me, smash it.” Another monk said, “I dare say we will see you in thirty years.” The master smashed it. Once, while the master was in the latrine, he saw Attendant Yuan passing and suddenly called, “Wenyuan!” Wenyuan answered, “Yes?” The master said, “One cannot speak the Buddha Dharma to you in the latrine.” A monk took his leave. The master asked, “Where are you going?” “To Xuefeng.” “If Xuefeng asks what words this master teaches, how will you answer?” “I cannot say. Please, Master, tell me.” The master said, “In winter, say it is cold; in summer, say it is hot.” He added, “If Xuefeng asks again, what is your ultimate matter?” The monk again said, “I cannot say.” The master said, “Just say, ‘I came personally from Zhaozhou; I am not a messenger.’” The monk reached Xuefeng and answered exactly as instructed. Xuefeng said, “Only Zhaozhou could do that.” (Xuansha, hearing this, said, “That great Zhaozhou does not even know where he has failed.” Yunju Xi said, “Where did Zhaozhou fail? If you can point it out, your eye is sound.”) Someone asked, “What is leaving home?” The master said, “Do not tread upon high reputation; do not seek gain by dishonest means.” Someone asked, “When all is clear and not a speck remains, what then?” The master said, “There is no hired laborer here.” Someone asked, “What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher?” The master knocked on the leg of the seat. The monk said, “Is this it?” The master said, “If it is, take it off.” Someone asked, “What is Vairocana’s perfect circle?” The master said, “This old monk left home in childhood and has never suffered from blurred vision.” “Why not instruct people?” The master said, “May you always see Vairocana’s perfect circle.” An official asked, “Will the master enter hell?” The master said, “This old monk will be the first to enter.” “Why would a great teacher enter hell?” The master said, “If I did not enter, who would teach you?” Commander Wang of Zhenzhou brought his sons to the monastery. The master remained seated and asked, “Does Your Majesty understand?” Wang said, “I do not.” The master said, “I have kept the precepts since childhood; now I am old. When I see people, I have no strength to get down from the meditation seat.” Wang showed him even greater respect. The next day he sent an officer to convey a message, and the master got down from the meditation seat to receive him. The attendant said, “When the great king came, you did not get down from your seat. Why get down today for a military officer?” The master said, “You would not understand. When a person of the highest rank comes, I receive him on the meditation seat; when a person of middle rank comes, I receive him after getting down from the seat; when a person of low rank comes,”

三門外接。因侍者報大王來也。師曰。萬福大王。者曰。未到在。師曰。又道來也。師到一庵主處。問。有麼。有麼。主竪起拳頭。師曰。水淺不是泊船處。便行。又到一庵主處。問。有麼。有麼。主亦竪起拳頭。師曰。能縱能奪。能殺能活。便作禮。問僧。一日看多少經。曰。或七八。或十卷。師曰。闍黎不會看經。曰。和尚一日看多少。師曰。老僧一日祇看一字。文遠侍者在佛殿禮拜次。師見以拄杖打一下曰。作甚麼。者曰。禮佛。師曰。用禮作甚麼。者曰。禮佛也是好事。師曰。好事不如無。上堂。正人說邪法。邪法悉皆正。邪人說正法。正法悉皆邪。諸方難見易識。我這裡易見難識。問。如何是趙州。師曰。東門西門。南門北門。問。初生孩子還具六識也無。師曰。急水上打毬子。僧卻問投子。急水上打毬子。意旨如何。子曰。念念不停留。問。和尚姓甚麼。師曰。常州有。曰。甲子多少。師曰。蘇州有。問。十二時中如何用心。師曰。汝被十二時辰使。老僧使得十二時。乃曰。兄弟莫久立。有事商量。無事向衣缽下坐窮理好。老僧行腳時。除二時粥飯是雜用心處。除外更無別用心處。若不如是大遠在。僧問。如何是古佛心。師曰。三箇婆子排班拜。問。如何是不遷義。師曰。一箇野雀兒從東飛過西。問。學人有疑時如何。師曰。大宜小宜。曰。大疑。師曰。大宜東北角。小宜僧堂後。問。栢樹子還有佛性也無。師曰。有。曰。幾時成佛。師曰。待虗空落地時。曰。虗空幾時落地。師曰。待栢樹子成佛時。問。如何是毗盧師。師便起立。僧曰。如何是法身主。師便坐。僧禮拜。師曰。且道坐者是。立者是。師謂眾曰。你若一生不離叢林。不語五年十載。無人喚你作瘂漢。已後佛也不柰你何。你若不信。截取老僧頭去。師魚鼓頌曰。四大由來造化功。有聲全貴裡頭空。莫嫌不與凡夫說。

(The master continued:) ‘I receive guests outside the monastery gate.’ A novice reported, ‘The king has arrived.’ The master said, ‘May the king be blessed.’ The novice said, ‘He has not arrived yet.’ The master replied, ‘And you said he had arrived!’ The master went to a hermit’s hut and asked, ‘Is anyone there? Is anyone there?’ The hermit raised a fist. The master said, ‘The water is too shallow for a boat to moor here,’ and left. At another hermit’s hut he asked the same question, and that hermit also raised a fist. The master said, ‘You can advance or withdraw, kill or give life,’ and bowed. He asked a monk, ‘How many sutra scrolls do you read in a day?’ The monk answered, ‘Sometimes seven or eight, sometimes ten.’ The master said, ‘You do not know how to read sutras.’ The monk asked, ‘How many do you read?’ The master said, ‘I read only one word a day.’ Attendant Wen-yuan was bowing before the Buddha image when the master struck him once with his staff and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I am bowing to the Buddha.’ ‘What for?’ ‘Bowing to the Buddha is a good thing.’ The master said, ‘A good thing is not as good as having nothing at all.’ Addressing the assembly, he said, ‘When an upright person expounds a crooked teaching, the crooked teaching is entirely upright. When a crooked person expounds an upright teaching, the upright teaching is entirely crooked. The teachers elsewhere are hard to meet but easy to understand; here, I am easy to meet but hard to understand.’ Asked, ‘What is Zhaozhou?’ he replied, ‘The east gate, the west gate, the south gate, and the north gate.’ Asked whether a newborn child already has the six consciousnesses, he said, ‘A ball being struck on rushing water.’ A monk asked Touzi what this meant. Touzi said, ‘Each moment passes without stopping.’ Asked his surname, the master answered, ‘There is one in Changzhou.’ Asked his age, he said, ‘There is one in Suzhou.’ Asked how to apply the mind through all twelve hours, he said, ‘You are driven by the twelve hours; I make the twelve hours serve me.’ He then said, ‘Brothers, do not stand here too long. If there is something to discuss, discuss it; if not, sit beneath your robes and bowls and investigate the principle. When I was traveling, apart from the two mealtimes, when the mind was occupied with practical matters, there was nothing else to apply the mind to. If it is not like this, you are far off.’ Asked about the mind of an ancient Buddha, he said, ‘Three old women line up and bow.’ Asked about the meaning of not moving, he said, ‘A wild sparrow flies from east to west.’ Asked what to do when in doubt, he said, ‘A great one is suitable; a small one is suitable.’ The monk said he had great doubt. The master said, ‘The great one is suitable in the northeast corner; the small one is suitable behind the monks’ hall.’ Asked whether the cypress tree had Buddha-nature, he said, ‘It does.’ ‘When will it become a Buddha?’ ‘When space falls to the ground.’ ‘When will space fall?’ ‘When the cypress becomes a Buddha.’ Asked, ‘Who is the teacher of Vairocana?’ the master stood up. ‘Who is the master of the Dharma Body?’ the master sat down. The monk bowed. The master said, ‘Tell me: is the one sitting right, or the one standing?’ He told the assembly, ‘If you spend your whole life in a monastery and remain silent for five or ten years, no one will call you a mute. Later, even the Buddha will have no way to deal with you. If you do not believe me, cut off my head.’ His verse on the wooden fish drum said, ‘The four elements have always been wrought by nature’s power. Its sound depends entirely on the hollow within. Do not complain that it is not explained to ordinary people—’

祇為宮商調不同。師因趙王問。師尊年有幾箇齒在。師曰。祇有一箇。王曰。爭吃得物。師曰。雖然一箇。下下齩著。師寄拂子與王曰。若問何處得來。但說老僧平生用不盡者。師之玄言。布於天下。時謂趙州門風。皆悚然信伏矣。唐乾寧四年十一月二日。右脇而寂。壽一百二十歲。諡真際大師。

‘—only because its notes and tones are not the same.’ When the King of Zhao asked how many teeth the master had left, he answered, ‘Only one.’ The king said, ‘How can you eat with that?’ The master replied, ‘Though there is only one, it bites every time.’ He sent the king his whisk and said, ‘If anyone asks where it came from, just say it is what this old monk could never use up in his lifetime.’ The master’s profound sayings spread throughout the land. People said that all were awed and convinced by the manner of the Zhaozhou school. On the second day of the eleventh month in the fourth year of Qianning (897), he passed away lying on his right side, aged one hundred and twenty. He was posthumously honored as Chan Master Zhenji.

湖南長沙景岑招賢禪師

Chan Master Jingcen of Zhaoxian at Changsha, Hunan

初住鹿苑為第一世。其後居無定所。但徇緣接物。隨宜說法。時謂之長沙和尚。上堂。我若一向舉揚宗教。法堂裡須草深一丈。事不獲已。向汝諸人道。盡十方世界是沙門眼。盡十方世界是沙門全身。盡十方世界是自己光明。盡十方世界在自己光明裡。盡十方世界無一人不是自己。我常向汝諸人道。三世諸佛。法界眾生。是摩訶般若光。光未發時。汝等諸人向甚麼處委悉。光未發時。尚無佛無眾生消息。何處得山河國土來。時有僧問。如何是沙門眼。師曰。長長出不得。又曰。成佛成祖出不得。六道輪回出不得。僧曰。未審出箇甚麼不得。師曰。晝見日。夜見星。曰。學人不會。師曰。妙高山色青又青。問。教中道而常處此菩提座。如何是座。師曰。老僧正坐。大德正立。問。如何是大道。師曰。沒卻汝。問。諸佛師是誰。師曰。從無始劫來。承誰覆蔭。曰。未有諸佛已前作麼生。師曰。魯祖開堂。亦與師僧東道西說。問。學人不據地時如何。師曰。汝向甚麼處安身立命。曰。卻據地時如何。師曰。拖出死屍著。問。如何是異類。師曰。尺短寸長。問。如何是諸佛師。師曰。不可更拗直作曲邪。曰。請和尚向上說。師曰。闍黎眼瞎耳聾。作麼遊山歸。首座問。和尚甚處去來。師曰。遊山來。座曰。到甚麼處。師曰。始從芳草去。又逐落花回。座曰。大似春意。師曰。也勝秋露滴芙蕖。師遣僧問同參會和尚曰。和尚見南泉後如何。會默然。僧曰。和尚未見南泉已前作麼生。會曰。不可更別有也。僧回舉似師。師示偈曰。百尺竿頭不動人。雖然得入未為真。百尺竿頭須進步。十方世界是全身。僧便問。秖如百尺竿頭如何進步。師曰。朗州山。澧州水。曰。不會。師曰。四海五湖皇化裡。有客來謁。師召尚書。其人應諾。師曰。不是尚書本命。曰。不可離卻即今祇對。別有第二主人。師曰。喚尚袹作至尊得麼。

He first lived at Luyuan as its founding abbot. Later he had no fixed residence, but went wherever circumstances led, receiving people and teaching according to their needs. At the time he was known as the Monk of Changsha. In the hall he said, ‘If I were to expound the school’s teaching without pause, grass would grow a zhang high in this Dharma Hall. Since I cannot avoid speaking, I tell you all: the whole world in the ten directions is a monk’s eye; the whole world in the ten directions is a monk’s entire body; the whole world in the ten directions is one’s own light; the whole world in the ten directions lies within one’s own light; there is not one person in the whole world who is not oneself. I often tell you: the Buddhas of the three times and beings throughout the Dharma realm are the radiance of great prajna. Before this light shines forth, where do you think it is? Before it shines, there is no trace of Buddha or sentient beings; from where could mountains, rivers, and lands have come?’ A monk asked, ‘What is a monk’s eye?’ The master said, ‘It cannot get out even a little.’ He added, ‘It cannot get out by becoming a Buddha or patriarch, nor by wandering in the six realms.’ The monk asked, ‘What is it that cannot get out?’ The master said, ‘By day you see the sun; by night you see the stars.’ ‘I do not understand.’ ‘The colors of Mount Miaogao are blue, and blue again.’ Asked about the seat on which enlightenment is always present, he said, ‘This old monk is sitting; the reverend is standing.’ Asked about the Great Way, he said, ‘It swallows you up.’ Asked who is the teacher of all Buddhas, he replied, ‘Since beginningless kalpas, under whose shelter have you been?’ Asked what things were like before there were Buddhas, he said, ‘When Lu-zu opened his hall, he too spoke east and west with the monks.’ Asked what if a student had no footing, he said, ‘Where would you establish yourself and your life?’ Asked what if he did have a footing, he replied, ‘Drag out the dead body and put it there.’ Asked what is the different kind, he said, ‘A foot is short; an inch is long.’ Asked who is the teacher of all Buddhas, he said, ‘Do not twist what is straight and make it crooked.’ The monk asked for the highest teaching. The master said, ‘You are blind and deaf.’ Returning from a mountain outing, he was asked by the head monk where he had been. ‘Walking in the hills.’ ‘Where did you go?’ ‘I went following the fragrant grass, then came back following falling flowers.’ ‘That sounds very much like spring.’ ‘It is still better than autumn dew dripping from the lotus.’ The master sent a monk to ask his fellow student Hui, ‘What was it like after you met Nanquan?’ Hui remained silent. The monk asked, ‘What was it like before you met Nanquan?’ Hui said, ‘There cannot be something else.’ The monk reported this to the master, who offered this verse: ‘A man at the top of a hundred-foot pole stands still; though he has entered, this is not yet true. At the top of the hundred-foot pole he must take another step; the whole body is the ten-direction world.’ The monk asked how to take that step. The master said, ‘The mountains of Langzhou, the waters of Lizhou.’ ‘I do not understand.’ ‘The four seas and five lakes are all within the emperor’s transforming influence.’ A visitor came to pay respects. The master called him, ‘Councillor!’ The man answered. The master said, ‘That is not the councillor’s original life.’ The man said, ‘Surely apart from responding right now there is no second master.’ The master replied, ‘Would it do to call the councillor “Your Majesty”?’

曰。恁麼。總不祇對時。莫是弟子主人否。師曰。非但祗對與不祗對時。無始劫來。是箇生死根本。有偈曰。學道之人不識真秖為從來認識神。無始劫來生死本。痴人喚作本來人。有秀才看千佛名經。問曰。百千諸佛。但見其名。未審居何國土。還化物也無。師曰。黃鶴樓崔顥題後。秀才還曾題也未。曰。未曾。師曰。得閑題取一篇好。問。南泉遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。東家作驢。西家作馬。曰。學人不會。此意如何。師曰。要騎即騎。要下即下。皓月供奉問。天下善知識證三德涅槃也未。師曰。大德問果上涅槃。因中涅槃。曰。問果上涅槃。師曰。天下善知識未證。曰。為甚麼未證。師曰。功未齊於諸聖。曰。功未齊於諸聖。何為善知識。師曰。明見佛性。亦得名為善知識。曰。未審功齊何道。名證大涅槃。師示偈曰。摩訶般若照。解脫甚深法。法身寂滅體。三一理圓常。欲識功齊處。此名常寂光。曰。果上三德涅槃。已蒙開示。如何是因中涅槃。師曰。大德是。月又問。教中說幻意是有邪。師曰。大德是何言歟。曰。恁麼則幻意是無邪。師曰。大德是何言歟。曰。恁麼。則幻意是不有不無邪。師曰。大德是何言歟。曰。如某三明盡。不契於幻意。未審和尚如何明教中幻意。師曰。大德信一切法不思議否。曰。佛之誠言。那敢不信。師曰。大德言信。二信之中是何信。曰。如某所明。二信之中是名緣信。師曰。依何教門得生緣信。曰。華嚴雲。菩薩摩訶薩以無障無礙智慧。信一切世間境界。是如來境界。又華嚴雲。諸佛世尊。悉知世法及諸佛法性無差別。決定無二。又華嚴雲。佛法世間法。若見其真實。一切無差別。師曰。大德所舉緣信教門甚有來處。聽老僧與大德明教中幻意。若人見幻本來真。是則名為見佛人。圓通法法無生滅。無滅無生是佛身。月又問。蚯蚓斷為兩段。兩頭俱動。

The visitor said, ‘So when I do not respond at all, would that be the master within me?’ The master said, ‘Whether you respond or not, since beginningless kalpas this has been the root of birth and death.’ He gave this verse: ‘Those who study the Way do not recognize the Real; it is only because they have always mistaken consciousness for it. The root of birth and death since beginningless kalpas—foolish people call it their original self.’ A scholar reading the Sutra of the Names of a Thousand Buddhas asked, ‘The names of hundreds of thousands of Buddhas are seen, but in what lands do they dwell, and do they teach beings?’ The master said, ‘After Cui Hao wrote his poem on Yellow Crane Tower, have you ever written one there?’ ‘I have not.’ ‘When you have time, write a good one.’ Asked where Nanquan had gone after passing away, the master said, ‘At the eastern house he becomes a donkey; at the western house he becomes a horse.’ ‘I do not understand. What does that mean?’ ‘Ride when you want to ride; get down when you want to get down.’ The lay attendant Haoyue asked, ‘Have the good teachers throughout the land realized the nirvana of the three virtues?’ The master asked, ‘Are you asking about nirvana as the fruit, or nirvana as the cause?’ ‘As the fruit.’ ‘The good teachers in the land have not realized it.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Their merit is not equal to that of all the sages.’ ‘If their merit is not equal to the sages’, why call them good teachers?’ ‘They clearly see Buddha-nature, and so may be called good teachers.’ ‘What path must merit equal to in order to be called realization of great nirvana?’ The master offered a verse: ‘Great prajna shines; liberation is a profound teaching. The Dharma Body is quiescent, and the three are one, perfectly complete and constant. If you wish to know where merit is equal, this is called eternally quiescent light.’ Haoyue said, ‘You have explained the three virtues of nirvana as the fruit. What is nirvana as the cause?’ The master said, ‘You are.’ Haoyue then asked, ‘The teaching speaks of the meaning of illusion. Does it exist?’ The master said, ‘What are you saying, reverend?’ ‘Then is the meaning of illusion nonexistent?’ ‘What are you saying, reverend?’ ‘Then is it neither existent nor nonexistent?’ ‘What are you saying, reverend?’ Haoyue said, ‘My three kinds of understanding are exhausted, yet I have not grasped the meaning of illusion in the teaching. How do you explain it?’ The master asked, ‘Do you believe that all things are inconceivable?’ ‘How could I not believe the Buddha’s truthful words?’ ‘You say you believe. Of the two kinds of faith, which is yours?’ ‘As I understand it, mine is faith arising from conditions.’ ‘On what teaching do you base that?’ Haoyue cited three passages from the Avatamsaka Sutra: Bodhisattva-mahasattvas use unobstructed wisdom to believe that every worldly realm is the realm of the Tathagata; Buddhas know that worldly dharmas and Buddha-dharmas have no difference in nature and are decisively not two; and if one sees the truth, Buddha-dharma and worldly dharma are without distinction. The master said, ‘The scriptural basis you have cited for faith arising from conditions is indeed sound. Listen, and I will explain the teaching’s meaning of illusion. If a person sees that illusion is originally the Real, that person is called one who sees the Buddha. Perfectly penetrating every dharma, without arising or ceasing, without ceasing or arising—this is the Buddha Body.’ Haoyue asked, ‘When an earthworm is cut in two and both ends move, in which end is Buddha-nature?’

未審佛性在阿那頭。師曰。動與不動是何境界。曰。言不幹典。非智者之所談。祇如和尚言動與不動是何境界。出自何經。師曰。灼然。言不幹典。非智者之所談。大德豈不見首楞嚴雲。當知十方無邊。不動虗空。並其動搖。地水火風。均名六大。性真圓融。皆如來藏。本無生滅。師示偈曰。最甚深。最甚深。法界人身便是心。迷者迷心為眾色。悟時剝境是真心。身界二塵無實相。分明達此號知音。月又問。如何是陀羅尼。師指禪床右邊曰。這箇師僧卻誦得。曰。別還有人誦得否。師又指禪床左邊曰。這箇師僧亦誦得。曰。某甲為甚麼不聞。師曰。大德豈不知道。真誦無響。真聽無聞。曰。恁麼。則音聲不入法界性也。師曰。離色求觀非正見。離聲求聽是邪聞。曰。如何是不離色是正見。不離聲是真聞。師示偈曰。滿眼本非色。滿耳本非聲。文殊常觸目。觀音塞耳根。會三元一體。達四本同真。堂堂法界性。無佛亦無人。僧問南泉道。三世諸佛不知有。貍奴白牯卻知有。為甚麼三世諸佛不知有。師曰。未入鹿苑時。猶較些子。曰。貍奴白牯為甚麼卻知有。師曰。汝爭怪得伊。僧問。和尚繼嗣何人。師曰。我無人得繼嗣。曰。還參學也無。師曰。我自參學。曰。師意如何。師有偈曰。虗空問萬象。萬象答虗空。誰人親得聞。木叉丱角童。問。如何是平常心。師曰。要眠即眠。要坐即坐。曰。學人不會。意旨如何。師曰。熱即取涼。寒即向火。問。向上一路。請師道。師曰。一口針。三尺線。曰。如何領會。師曰。益州布。楊州絹。問。動是法王苗。寂是法王根。如何是法王。師指露柱曰。何不問大士。師與仰山翫月次。山曰。人人盡有這箇。秖是用不得。師曰。恰是倩汝用。山曰。你作麼生用。師劈胷與一踏。山曰。㘞。直下似箇大蟲(長慶雲。前彼此作家。後彼此不作家。乃別雲邪法難扶)。

(Haoyue continued:) ‘In which end is Buddha-nature?’ The master asked, ‘What realm do movement and stillness belong to?’ Haoyue said, ‘Words unsupported by the classics are not what a wise person should speak. Which scripture says what you have just said about movement and stillness?’ The master said, ‘Certainly! Words unsupported by the classics are not what a wise person should speak. Have you not seen the Shurangama Sutra? It says that the boundless unmoving space of the ten directions, together with the moving elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, are all called the six elements. Their true nature is perfectly interpenetrating; all are the Tathagata-garbha, originally unborn and undying.’ The master offered this verse: ‘Most profound, most profound: the human body throughout the Dharma realm is just mind. The deluded mistake mind for the many forms; when awakened, stripping away objects reveals the true mind. Body and realm, these two objects, have no real marks; clearly realizing this is called knowing the heart.’ Haoyue asked, ‘What is a dharani?’ The master pointed to the right side of the meditation platform and said, ‘That monk can recite it.’ ‘Can anyone else recite it?’ He pointed to the left and said, ‘That monk can recite it too.’ ‘Why can I not hear them?’ ‘Do you not know, reverend? True recitation has no sound; true hearing hears nothing.’ ‘Then sounds do not enter the nature of the Dharma realm?’ The master said, ‘Seeking to contemplate apart from form is a wrong view; seeking to hear apart from sound is false hearing.’ Asked how to see without leaving form and truly hear without leaving sound, he gave this verse: ‘Filling the eyes, there is originally no form; filling the ears, there is originally no sound. Manjushri is always before the eyes; Avalokiteshvara fills the ears. Understand the three as one body; realize the four as originally true. The Dharma-realm nature stands openly—without Buddha and without person.’ A monk asked, ‘Nanquan said the Buddhas of the three times do not know it, while cats and white oxen do. Why do the Buddhas not know?’ The master said, ‘Before entering Luyuan, they were a little closer.’ ‘Why do cats and white oxen know?’ ‘How can you blame them?’ Asked whom he succeeded, the master said, ‘I have no one to succeed.’ ‘Have you studied with anyone?’ ‘I study by myself.’ Asked his meaning, he gave a verse: ‘Space questions the myriad forms; the myriad forms answer space. Who has personally heard this? A wooden fork, a horned child.’ Asked about ordinary mind, he said, ‘Sleep when you want to sleep; sit when you want to sit.’ ‘I do not understand.’ ‘When hot, seek coolness; when cold, go to the fire.’ Asked for the highest path, he said, ‘One needle, three feet of thread.’ ‘How do I understand?’ ‘Cloth from Yizhou, silk from Yangzhou.’ Asked what is the Dharma King, when activity is its sprout and stillness its root, he pointed to a pillar and said, ‘Why not ask the great one?’ The master was watching the moon with Yangshan. Yangshan said, ‘Everyone has this, but cannot use it.’ The master said, ‘That is just why I ask you to use it.’ ‘How do you use it?’ The master kicked him in the chest. Yangshan cried, ‘Ah! That is just like a tiger!’ (Changqing said, ‘At first they were both masters of the craft; later neither was.’ He also offered another answer: ‘A crooked teaching is hard to support.’)

自此諸方稱為岑大蟲。問。本來人還成佛也無。師曰。汝見大唐天子還自種田割稻麼。曰。未審是何人成佛。師曰。是汝成佛。僧無語。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。如人因地而倒。依地而起。地道甚麼。三聖令秀上座問曰。南泉遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。石頭作沙彌時參見六祖。秀曰。不問石頭見六祖。南泉遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。教伊尋思去。秀曰。和尚雖有千尺寒松。且無抽條石筍。師默然。秀曰。謝和尚答話。師亦默然。秀回舉似三聖。聖曰。若恁麼。猶勝臨濟七步。然雖如此。待我更驗看。至明日。三聖上問。承聞和尚昨日答南泉遷化一則語。可謂光前絕後。今古罕聞。師亦默然。僧問。如何是文殊。師曰。牆壁瓦礫是。曰。如何是觀音。師曰。音聲語言是。曰。如何是普賢。師曰。眾生心是。曰。如何是佛。師曰。眾生色身是。曰。河沙諸佛體皆同。何故有種種名字。師曰。從眼根返源名文殊。耳根返源名觀音。從心返源名普賢。文殊是佛妙觀察智。觀音是佛無緣大慈。普賢是佛無為妙行。三聖是佛之妙用。佛是三聖之真體。用則有河沙假名。體則總名一薄伽梵。問。色即是空。空即是色。此理如何。師曰。聽老僧偈。礙處非牆壁。通處沒虗空。若人如是解。心色本來同。又曰。佛性堂堂顯現。住性有情難見。若悟眾生無我。我面何如佛面。問。第六第七識及第八識畢竟無體。云何得名轉第八為大圓鏡智。師示偈曰。七生依一滅。一滅持七生。一滅滅亦滅。六七永無遷。問。蚯蚓斷為兩段。兩頭俱動。未審佛性在阿那頭。師曰。妄想作麼。曰。其如動何。師曰。汝豈不知火風未散。問。如何轉得山河國土歸自己去。師曰。如何轉得自己成山河國土去。曰。不會。師曰。湖南城下好養民。米賤柴多足四鄰。僧無語。師示偈曰。誰問山河轉。山河轉向誰。圓通無兩畔。法性本無歸。華嚴座主問。

From then on, people throughout the land called him ‘Cen the Tiger.’ Asked whether the original person becomes a Buddha, the master said, ‘Have you seen the Son of Heaven in the Great Tang planting fields and cutting rice himself?’ ‘Then who becomes a Buddha?’ ‘You become a Buddha.’ The monk was silent. ‘Do you understand?’ ‘I do not.’ The master said, ‘When someone falls because of the ground, he gets up by relying on the ground. What does the ground say?’ The Three Sages sent senior monk Lingxiu to ask, ‘Where did Nanquan go after passing away?’ The master said, ‘When Shitou was a novice, he went to see the Sixth Patriarch.’ Lingxiu said, ‘I did not ask whether Shitou met the Sixth Patriarch. Where did Nanquan go after passing away?’ The master said, ‘Let him go and think it over.’ Lingxiu said, ‘Though you have a thousand-foot cold pine, you have no stone bamboo shoot sending up a new branch.’ The master was silent. Lingxiu said, ‘Thank you for answering.’ The master too remained silent. Lingxiu reported this to the Three Sages. The sage said, ‘If so, it is still better than Linji’s seven steps. Even so, I will test him again.’ The next day the Three Sages came and said, ‘I hear that yesterday you answered about Nanquan’s passing. It is a saying that shines before all others, unsurpassed, rarely heard in past or present.’ The master remained silent. A monk asked, ‘What is Manjushri?’ The master said, ‘Walls, tiles, and rubble.’ ‘What is Avalokiteshvara?’ ‘Sounds and words.’ ‘What is Samantabhadra?’ ‘The minds of sentient beings.’ ‘What is the Buddha?’ ‘The bodies and forms of sentient beings.’ ‘The bodies of Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are all alike. Why do they have different names?’ The master said, ‘When the eye faculty returns to its source, it is called Manjushri; when the ear faculty returns to its source, Avalokiteshvara; when the mind returns to its source, Samantabhadra. Manjushri is the Buddha’s wondrous observing wisdom; Avalokiteshvara is the Buddha’s great compassion without conditions; Samantabhadra is the Buddha’s wondrous action without contrivance. The three sages are the Buddha’s wondrous functioning; the Buddha is the true substance of the three sages. In function there are names as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; in substance all are called Bhagavan.’ Asked how form is emptiness and emptiness is form, he said, ‘Listen to my verse: “Where blocked, there are no walls; where open, there is no empty space. If a person understands this, mind and form are originally one.”’ He added, ‘Buddha-nature stands openly manifest, yet beings who abide in their nature have difficulty seeing it. If you awaken to the absence of self in beings, how does my face differ from the Buddha’s?’ Asked how the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses can have no fixed substance, yet the eighth can turn into the wisdom of the Great Round Mirror, he gave a verse: ‘The seven arise dependent on the one’s ceasing; the one’s ceasing sustains the seven’s arising. When the ceasing too is extinguished, the six and seven never move.’ Asked again where Buddha-nature is when both ends of a cut earthworm move, he said, ‘Why think deluded thoughts?’ ‘But what of the movement?’ ‘Have you not heard that fire and wind have not dispersed?’ Asked how mountains, rivers, and lands could be turned into oneself, he said, ‘How could you turn yourself into mountains, rivers, and lands?’ ‘I do not understand.’ ‘Below the city of Hunan are fine fields for raising people; rice is cheap, firewood plentiful, enough for the four neighbors.’ The monk was silent. The master gave this verse: ‘Who asks where mountains and rivers turn? Toward whom do mountains and rivers turn? Perfect interpenetration has no two sides; Dharma-nature has no destination.’ He asked the Avatamsaka lecturer—

虗空為是定有。為是定無。師曰。言有亦得。言無亦得。虗空有時但有假有。虗空無時但無假無。曰。如和尚所說。有何教文。師曰。大德豈不聞首楞嚴雲。十方虗空生汝心內。猶如片雲點太清裡。豈不是虗空生時但生假名。又云。汝等一人發真歸源。十方虗空悉皆消殞。豈不是虗空滅時但滅假名。老僧所以道。有是假有。無是假無。又問。經云如淨瑠璃中內現真金像。此意如何。師曰。以淨瑠璃為法界體。以真金像為無漏智。體能生智。智能達體。故云如淨瑠璃中內現真金像。問。如何是上上人行處。師曰。如死人眼。曰。上上人相見時如何。師曰。如死人手。問。善財為甚麼無量劫遊普賢身中世界不遍。師曰。你從無量劫來。還遊得遍否。曰。如何是普賢身。師曰。含元殿裡。更覔長安。問。如何是學人心。師曰。盡十方世界是你心。曰。恁麼。則學人無著身處也。師曰。是你著身處。曰。如何是著身處。師曰。大海水。深又深。曰。學人不會。師曰。魚龍出入任升沉。問。有人問和尚。即隨因緣答。無人問和尚時如何。師曰。困則睡。徤則起。曰。教學人作麼生會。師曰。夏天赤骨力。冬寒須得被。問。亡僧遷化甚麼處去也。師示偈曰。不識金剛體。卻喚作緣生。十方真寂滅。誰在復誰行。師讚南泉真曰。堂堂南泉。三世之源。金剛常住。十方無邊。生佛無盡。現已卻還。久依南泉。有投機偈曰。今日還鄉入大門。南泉親道遍乾坤。法法分明皆祖父。回頭慙愧好兒孫。泉答曰。今日投機事莫論。南泉不道遍乾坤。還鄉盡是兒孫事。祖父從來不出門。勸學偈曰。萬丈竿頭未得休。堂堂有路少人遊。禪師願達南泉去。滿目青山萬萬秋。臨濟雲。赤肉團上。有一無位真人。師因有偈曰。萬法一如不用揀。一如誰揀誰不揀。即今生死本菩提。三世如來同箇眼。誡斫松竹偈曰。千年竹。萬年松。

Is space definitely existent, or definitely nonexistent? The Master said, “You may say it exists, or say it does not. When space exists, it is only provisionally existent; when space does not, it is only provisionally absent.” The monk asked, “What scriptural passage supports what you say?” The Master replied, “Have you not heard the Surangama Sutra say, ‘The space of the ten directions arises within your mind, like a cloud speck in the vast clear sky’? Does this not mean that when space arises, only a provisional name arises? It also says, ‘When one of you awakens to the truth and returns to the source, all the space of the ten directions vanishes.’ Does this not mean that when space ceases, only a provisional name ceases? That is why I say existence is provisional existence, and nonexistence is provisional nonexistence.” He then asked, “The sutra says, ‘Within pure crystal appears the image of true gold.’ What does this mean?” The Master said, “Pure crystal represents the substance of the Dharma realm; the image of true gold represents stainless wisdom. The substance can give rise to wisdom, and wisdom can realize the substance. Hence the saying, ‘Within pure crystal appears the image of true gold.’” Asked, “How does a person of the highest capacity act?” he replied, “Like the eyes of a corpse.” “How do such people meet one another?” “Like the hands of a corpse.” “Why did Sudhana, though traveling for immeasurable aeons within Samantabhadra’s body, fail to traverse all its worlds?” “After immeasurable aeons, have you managed to travel them all?” “What is Samantabhadra’s body?” “Within the Hanyuan Palace, still you seek Chang’an.” “What is the student’s mind?” “The whole world in the ten directions is your mind.” “Then the student has nowhere to place his body.” “That is where you place it.” “Where is that?” “The ocean is deep, deeper still.” “I do not understand.” “Fish and dragons freely rise and sink in it.” “When someone asks the Master, you answer according to conditions. What about when no one asks?” “When tired, sleep; when well, rise.” “How should a student understand this?” “In summer go bare; in winter you need a quilt.” Asked where a deceased monk had gone, the Master gave this verse: “Not knowing the Diamond Body, one calls it conditioned arising. The ten directions are truly still and extinct—who is there to return, and who to travel?” He praised Nanquan: “Majestic Nanquan, source of the three ages. The Diamond is ever-abiding, boundless in the ten directions. Buddhas and beings are inexhaustible; now they have returned.” After long study with Nanquan, he offered a verse of understanding: “Today I return home and enter the great gate; Nanquan himself said it pervades the universe. In every thing, clear and distinct, all are ancestors and fathers. Looking back, I blush: what a fine descendant I am.” Nanquan replied, “Let us not discuss today’s moment of understanding. Nanquan did not say it pervades the universe. Returning home is the affair of descendants; the ancestors and fathers have never left home.” A verse urging study said: “At the top of a ten-thousand-foot pole, you still cannot rest; a broad and splendid road lies there, yet few travel it. Chan masters, may you reach Nanquan; green mountains fill the eye for ten thousand autumns.” Linji said, “Within this lump of red flesh is a true person without rank.” The Master then composed: “All dharmas are one suchness; there is no need to choose. If suchness is chosen, who chooses, and who does not? Birth and death themselves are bodhi; the Tathagatas of the three ages share one eye.” His admonitory verse on cutting pines and bamboo began: “A thousand-year bamboo, a ten-thousand-year pine; every branch and leaf is wholly alike. To students of the Way in all directions I say: raise an axe, and you will surely touch the ancestral one.”

枝枝葉葉盡皆同。為報四方玄學者。動手無非觸祖公。

The verse continues: “Every branch and leaf is wholly alike. To students of the Way in all directions I say: raise your hand, and you will inevitably touch the ancestral one.”

鄂州菜萸山和尚

The Chan master of Cuyu Mountain in Ezhou

初住隨州護國。上堂。擎起一橛竹曰。還有人虗空裡釘得橛麼。時有靈虗上座出眾曰。虗空是橛。師擲下竹。便下座。趙州到雲居。居曰。老老大大。何不覔箇住處。曰。甚麼處住得。居曰。山前有箇古寺基。州曰。和尚自住取。後到師處。師曰。老老大大。何不覔箇住處。州曰。向甚處住。師曰。老老大大。住處也不知。州曰。三十年弄馬騎。今日卻被驢撲(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是趙州被驢撲處)。眾僧侍立次。師曰。祇恁麼白立。無箇說處。一場氣悶。僧擬問。師便打。曰。為眾竭力。便入方丈。有行者參。師曰。會去看趙州麼。曰。和尚敢道否。師曰。非但茱萸。一切人道不得。曰。和尚放某甲過。師曰。這裡從前不通人情。曰。要且慈悲心在。師便打。曰。醒後來為汝。

He first resided at Huguo Monastery in Suizhou. One day in the Dharma hall, he held up a piece of bamboo and asked, “Can anyone drive a peg into empty space?” Senior monk Lingxu stepped forward and said, “Empty space is the peg.” The Master tossed down the bamboo and left the seat. When Zhaozhou visited Yunju, Yunju said, “You are already old. Why not find a place to settle?” Zhaozhou asked, “Where could I settle?” Yunju said, “There is an old monastery site in front of the mountain.” Zhaozhou replied, “You should live there yourself.” Later he visited the Master, who said, “You are already old. Why not find a place to settle?” Zhaozhou asked, “Where should I live?” The Master said, “You are old, yet do not even know where to live.” Zhaozhou said, “For thirty years I rode horses; today a donkey has thrown me.” (Yunju Xi asked, “Where exactly was Zhaozhou thrown by the donkey?”) Once, while the monks stood attending him, the Master said, “You just stand here silently, with nothing to say. This is a stifling affair.” A monk was about to ask a question. The Master struck him and said, “I am doing my utmost for the assembly,” then went into the abbot’s quarters. A novice came to see him. The Master asked, “Can you go and see Zhaozhou?” The novice said, “Would you dare say so, Master?” The Master replied, “Not only Cuyu; no one can say it.” The novice said, “Please let me pass, Master.” The Master said, “People here have never been treated with indulgence.” The novice said, “Still, you have a compassionate heart.” The Master struck him and said, “When you wake up, I will come for you.”

衢州子湖巖利蹤禪師

Chan Master Lizong of Zihu Cliff in Quzhou

澶州人也。姓周氏。幽州開元寺出家。依年受具。後入南泉之室。乃抵於衢州之馬蹄山。結茅宴居。唐開元二年。邑人翁遷貴施山下子湖創院。師於門下立牌曰。子湖有一隻狗。上取人頭。中取人心。下取人足。擬議即喪身失命。臨濟會下二僧參。方揭簾。師喝曰。看狗。僧回顧。師便歸方丈。與勝光和尚鉏園次。驀按钁。回視光曰。事即不無。擬心即差。光便問。如何是事。被師攔胷踏倒。從此有省。尼到參。師曰。汝莫是劉鐵磨否。曰。不敢。師曰。左轉右轉。曰。和尚莫顛倒。師便打。師一夜於僧堂前呌曰。有賊。眾皆驚動。有一僧在堂內出。師把住曰。維那。捉得也。捉得也。曰。不是某甲。師曰。是即是。祇是汝不肯承當。有偈示眾曰。三十年來住子湖。二時齋粥氣力麤。無事上山行一轉。借問時人會也無。廣明中。無疾歸究。塔於本山。

He was from Chan Prefecture and bore the surname Zhou. He became a monk at Kaiyuan Monastery in Youzhou and received full precepts at the proper age. Later he entered Nanquan’s room, then went to Mati Mountain in Quzhou and built a thatched hut for quiet practice. In the second year of the Kaiyuan era, a local man, Weng Qiangui, donated land below the mountain and founded Zihu Monastery. The Master put up a sign at the gate: “Zihu has a dog. It takes a person’s head above, heart in the middle, and feet below. Hesitate, and you lose your life.” Two monks from Linji’s community came to visit. As soon as they lifted the curtain, the Master shouted, “Look at the dog!” They turned to look, and he went back to his quarters. Once, while hoeing the garden with Master Shengguang, he suddenly pressed down on his hoe, turned to look at Guang, and said, “There is indeed something here, but the moment you set your mind on it, you miss.” Guang asked, “What is this matter?” The Master pushed him down by the chest with his foot. Guang then had an insight. A nun came to see him. The Master asked, “Are you Liu the Iron Grinder?” She said, “I would not presume.” He said, “Turn left, turn right.” She said, “Master, do not get things backward.” He struck her. One night the Master shouted in front of the monks’ hall, “Thief!” Everyone was startled. A monk came out of the hall, and the Master seized him, saying, “Vibhasa, I caught you! I caught you!” The monk said, “It was not me.” The Master said, “It is you, indeed; you simply refuse to own up.” He gave the assembly this verse: “For thirty years I have lived at Zihu; two meals of rice and gruel have kept me strong. When free, I take a walk up the mountain. Tell me, do people understand?” In the Guangming era, he passed away without illness. A stupa was built on the mountain.

荊南白馬曇照禪師

Chan Master Tanzhao of Baima in Jingnan

常曰。快活。快活。及臨終時呌。苦。苦。又曰。閻羅王來取我也。院主問曰。和尚當時被節度使拋向水中。神色不動。如今何得恁麼地。師舉枕子曰。汝道當時是。如今是。院主無對(法眼代雲。此時但掩耳出去)。

He often said, “How joyful! How joyful!” But at the time of his death he cried, “苦! 苦!” and said, “King Yama has come to take me.” The monastery director asked, “When the military governor once threw you into the water, your expression did not change. Why are you like this now?” The Master raised his pillow and said, “You tell me: was it so then, or is it so now?” The director had no answer. (Fayan answered in his place, “At this moment, just cover your ears and leave.”)

終南山雲際師祖禪師

Chan Master Shizu of Yunji on Zhongnan Mountain

初參南泉。問。摩尼珠人不識。如來藏裡親收得。如何是藏。泉曰。與汝往來者是。師曰。不往來者如何。泉曰。亦是。曰。如何是珠。泉召師祖。師應諾。泉曰。去。汝不會我語。師從此信入。

At first he visited Nanquan and asked, “People do not recognize the mani jewel, though it is personally kept in the Tathagata’s storehouse. What is this storehouse?” Nanquan said, “It is what comes and goes with you.” The Master asked, “What about what does not come and go?” “That too.” “What is the jewel?” Nanquan called, “Shizu!” The Master answered, “Yes?” Nanquan said, “Go. You do not understand my words.” From then on, the Master trusted and entered the Way.

鄧州香嚴下堂義端禪師

Chan Master Yiduan of Xiangtang in Dengzhou, in the lineage of Xiangyan

上堂。兄弟。彼此未了。有甚麼事相共商量。我三五日即發去也。如今學者。須了卻今時。莫愛他向上人無事。兄弟。縱學得種種差別義路。終不代得自己見解。畢竟著力始得。空記持他巧妙章句。即轉加煩亂去。汝若欲相應。但恭恭地盡。莫停留纖毫。直似虗空。方有少分。以虗空無鎻閉。無壁落。無形段。無心眼。時有僧問。古人相見時如何。師曰。老僧不曾見古人。曰。今時血脈不斷處。如何仰羨。師曰。有甚麼仰羨處。問。某甲不問閑事。請和尚答話。師曰。更從我覔甚麼。曰。不為閑事。師曰。汝教我道。乃曰。兄弟。佛是塵。法是塵。終日馳求。有甚麼休歇。但時中不用掛情。情不掛物。無善可取。無惡可棄。莫教他籠罩著。始是學處也。問。某甲曾辭一老宿。宿曰。去則親良朋。附善友。某今辭和尚。未審有何指示。師曰。禮拜著。僧禮拜。師曰。禮拜一任禮拜。不得認奴作郎。上堂。僧問。如何是直截根源。師乃擲下拄杖。便歸方丈。上堂。語是謗。寂是誑。語寂向上有路在。老僧口門窄。不能與汝說得。便下座。上堂。問。正因為甚麼無事。師曰。我不曾停留。乃曰。假饒重重剝得。淨盡無停留。權時施設。亦是方便接人。若是那邊事。無有是處。

In the Dharma hall he said, “Brothers, if neither of us has understood, what is there to discuss together? I will be leaving in three or five days. Students today must settle this matter here and now. Do not envy those above you who seem to have nothing to do. Even if you learn all sorts of subtle distinctions and doctrines, they cannot substitute for your own realization. Ultimately, you must apply yourself. Merely memorizing clever phrases will only make you more confused. If you want to accord with this, let everything drop completely and leave not the slightest trace. Become just like empty space; then you will have a little understanding. Space has no locks, no walls, no shape, no mind, and no eyes. A monk asked, “How was it when the ancients met?” The Master said, “This old monk never met the ancients.” “How can we look up to those who keep the lineage alive today?” “What is there to look up to?” A monk said, “I ask no idle question. Please answer me, Master.” The Master said, “What else are you seeking from me?” “This is no idle matter.” The Master said, “You tell me what to say.” He then continued, “Brothers, Buddha is dust; Dharma is dust. You chase after things all day—when will you rest? At all times, do not attach your feelings. When feelings cling to nothing, there is no good to grasp and no evil to reject. Do not let anything bind you; that is the way to study.” A monk said, “I once took leave of an elder, who told me to go close to good companions and seek virtuous friends. Now I take leave of you. What instruction do you have?” The Master said, “Make a bow.” The monk bowed. The Master said, “Bow as much as you like, but do not mistake a servant for his master.” In the hall, a monk asked, “What is the direct source?” The Master threw down his staff and returned to his quarters. On another occasion he said, “Speech slanders; silence deceives. Beyond speech and silence there is a way. This old monk’s mouth is narrow; I cannot explain it to you.” He then left the seat. Asked, “Why is the fundamental cause without affairs?” he replied, “I have never lingered.” He added, “Even if you strip away layer after layer until nothing remains and there is no lingering, this is only a provisional means of guiding people. As for the matter beyond, there is no such thing.”

池州靈鷲閑禪師

Chan Master Xian of Lingjiu in Chizhou

上堂。是汝諸人本分事。若教老僧道。即是與蛇畫足。時有僧問。與蛇畫足即不問。如何是本分事。師曰。闍黎試道看。僧擬再問。師曰。畫足作麼。明水和尚問。如何是頓獲法身。師曰。一透龍門雲外望。莫作黃河點額魚。仰山問。寂寂無言。如何視聽。師曰。無縫塔前多雨水。僧問。二彼無言時如何。師曰。是常。曰。還有過常者無。師曰。有。曰。請師唱起。師曰。玄珠自朗耀。何須壁外光。問。今日供養西川無染大師。未審還來否。師曰。本自無所至。今豈隨風轉。曰。恁麼則供養何用。師曰。功力有為。不換義相涉。

In the Dharma hall he said, “This is your own fundamental matter. If I explain it, I would be adding feet to a snake.” A monk asked, “Leaving aside adding feet to a snake, what is our fundamental matter?” The Master said, “Why not try saying it?” The monk was about to ask again. The Master said, “What use is it to add feet?” Master Mingshui asked, “How does one suddenly realize the Dharma body?” The Master replied, “Having crossed the Dragon Gate, gaze beyond the clouds; do not be a carp that leaps the Yellow River only to bruise its forehead.” Yangshan asked, “In utter stillness and silence, how can one see and hear?” The Master said, “Before the seamless stupa, rainwater is everywhere.” A monk asked, “What about when both are silent?” “That is ordinary.” “Is there anything beyond the ordinary?” “There is.” “Please expound it.” “The dark pearl shines by itself; why seek light beyond the wall?” Asked whether the great master Wuran of Western Shu would come today to receive offerings, he said, “He never went anywhere; how could he now be turned by the wind?” “Then why make offerings?” “Merit gained through effort does not exchange for the meaning; the two are related.”

洛京嵩山和尚

The Chan master of Mount Song in Luoyang

僧問。古路坦然時如何。師曰。不前。曰。為甚麼不前。師曰。無遮障處。問。如何是嵩山境。師曰。日從東出。月向西頹。曰。學人不會。師曰。東西也不會。問。六識俱生時如何。師曰。異。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。同。

A monk asked, “When the ancient road is level and open, what then?” The Master said, “Do not advance.” “Why not?” “There is nothing obstructing you.” Asked, “What is the landscape of Mount Song?” he said, “The sun rises in the east; the moon sinks in the west.” “I do not understand.” “You do not understand east or west either.” Asked, “What when the six consciousnesses arise together?” he said, “Different.” “Why so?” “The same.”

日子和尚

Master Rizi

因亞谿來參。師作起勢。谿曰。這老山鬼。猶見某甲在。師曰。罪過。罪過。適來失祗對。谿欲進語。師便喝。谿曰。大陣當前。不妨難禦。師曰。是。是。谿曰。不是。不是(趙州雲。可憐兩箇漢。不識轉身句)。

When Yaxi came to visit, the Master rose to greet him. Yaxi said, “You old mountain ghost still see me, do you?” The Master said, “Forgive me, forgive me. I failed to answer properly just now.” Yaxi was about to speak, and the Master shouted. Yaxi said, “With a great army before you, it is certainly hard to defend.” The Master said, “Yes, yes.” Yaxi said, “No, no.” (Zhaozhou said, “Pity these two men; they do not know the turning phrase.”)

蘇州西禪和尚

The Chan master of Xichan in Suzhou

僧問。三乘十二分教則不問。如何是祖師西來的的意。師舉拂子示之。其僧不禮拜。竟參雪峰。峰問。甚麼處來。曰。浙中來。峰曰。今夏甚麼處。曰。西禪。峰曰。和尚安否。曰。來時萬福。峰曰。何不且在彼從容。曰。佛法不明。峰曰。有甚麼事。僧舉前話。峰曰。汝作麼生不肯伊。曰。是境。峰曰。汝見蘇州城裡人家男女否。曰。見。峰曰。汝見路上林木池沼否。曰。見。峰曰。凡覩人家男女。大地林沼。總是境。汝還肯否。曰。肯。峰曰。祇如舉起拂子。汝作麼生不肯。僧乃禮拜曰。學人取次發言。乞師慈悲。峰曰。盡乾坤是箇眼。汝向甚麼處蹲坐。僧無語。

A monk asked, “Leaving aside the Three Vehicles and the twelve divisions of scripture, what is the clear meaning of the First Patriarch’s coming from the West?” The Master raised his whisk to show him. The monk did not bow, but went to see Xuefeng. Xuefeng asked, “Where have you come from?” “From Zhejiang.” “Where did you spend the summer retreat?” “At Xichan.” “Was your master well?” “He was well when I left.” “Why not stay there at ease?” “The Buddhadharma was unclear.” “What was the problem?” The monk recounted the earlier exchange. Xuefeng asked, “Why did you refuse to accept him?” The monk said, “That was an object of perception.” Xuefeng asked, “Do you see the men and women in the houses in Suzhou?” “I do.” “Do you see the trees and ponds along the road?” “I do.” Xuefeng said, “Everything you see—the people’s homes, the trees, and the ponds—is an object of perception. Do you accept that?” “I do.” “Then when he raised his whisk, why did you refuse to accept it?” The monk bowed and said, “I spoke carelessly. I beg your compassion.” Xuefeng said, “The whole universe is one eye. Where could you sit?” The monk was speechless.

宣州刺史陸亙大夫

Senior Official Lu Gen, Prefect of Xuanzhou

問南泉。古人瓶中養一鵝。鵝漸長大。出瓶不得。如今不得毀瓶。不得損鵝。和尚作麼生出得。泉召大夫。陸應諾。泉曰。出也。陸從此開解。即禮謝。暨南泉圓寂。院主問曰。大夫何不哭先師。陸曰。院主道得即哭。院主無對(長慶代雲。合哭不合哭)。

He asked Nanquan, “A man once kept a goose in a bottle. It grew so large it could not get out. Now the bottle must not be broken, and the goose must not be harmed. Master, how can it be taken out?” Nanquan called, “Senior Official!” Lu answered, “Yes?” Nanquan said, “It is out.” Lu understood and bowed in thanks. After Nanquan passed away, the monastery director asked, “Why do you not weep for your late teacher?” Lu said, “If you can answer me, I will weep.” The director had no answer. (Changqing answered for him, “Should one weep or not?”)

池州甘贄行者

Layman Ganzhi of Ganzi in Chizhou

一日入南泉設齋。黃檗為首座。行者請施財。座曰。財法二施。等無差別。甘曰。恁麼道。爭消得某甲䞋。便將出去。須臾復入。曰。請施財。座曰。財法二施。等無差別。甘乃行䞋。又一日。入寺設粥。仍請南泉念誦。泉乃白椎曰。請大眾為貍奴白牯念摩訶般若波羅蜜。甘拂袖便出。泉粥後問典座。行者在甚處。座曰。當時便去也。泉便打破鍋子。甘常接待往來。有僧問曰。行者接待不易。甘曰。譬如餧驢餧馬。僧休去。有住庵僧緣化什物。甘曰。有一問。若道得即施。乃書心字。問。是甚麼字。曰。心字。又問妻。甚麼字。妻曰。心字。甘曰。某甲山妻亦合住庵。其僧無語。甘亦無施。又問一僧。甚麼處來。曰。溈山來。甘曰。曾有僧問溈山。如何是西來意。溈山舉起拂子。上座作麼生會溈山意。曰。借事明心。附物顯理。甘曰。且歸溈山去好(保福聞之。乃仰手覆手)。

One day he went to Nanquan’s monastery to sponsor a meal. Huangbo was the head monk. The layman requested a donation. The head monk said, “The giving of material goods and the giving of Dharma are equally without distinction.” Ganzhi said, “How could saying that earn you my offering?” and walked out. A little later he came back and again requested a donation. The head monk repeated, “The giving of material goods and the giving of Dharma are equally without distinction.” Ganzhi then made the offering. Another day he came to the monastery to provide gruel and asked Nanquan to chant. Nanquan struck the sounding board and said, “I invite the assembly to recite the Great Perfection of Wisdom for cats and oxen.” Ganzhi flicked his sleeve and left. After the meal Nanquan asked the cook, “Where is the layman?” The cook said, “He left right then.” Nanquan smashed the pot. Ganzhi often hosted travelers. A monk said, “Layman, it is not easy to receive and care for people.” Ganzhi replied, “It is like feeding donkeys and horses.” The monk stopped speaking. A monk living in a hermitage was collecting household goods. Ganzhi said, “I have a question; if you can answer, I will give you something.” He wrote the character for ‘mind’ and asked, “What character is this?” “The character for mind.” He asked his wife, “What character?” She said, “The character for mind.” Ganzhi said, “My mountain-dwelling wife should also live in a hermitage.” The monk had no answer, and Ganzhi gave him nothing. He asked another monk, “Where have you come from?” “From Weishan.” Ganzhi said, “A monk once asked Weishan the meaning of the First Patriarch’s coming from the West. Weishan raised his whisk. How do you understand his meaning?” The monk said, “He used a thing to clarify the mind and relied on an object to reveal principle.” Ganzhi said, “You had better return to Weishan.” (When Baofu heard this, he turned his palms up and then down.)

鹽官安國師法嗣

The Dharma heirs of National Teacher Yanguan

襄州關南道常禪師

Chan Master Daochang of Guannan in Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是西來意。師舉拄杖。曰。會麼。曰。不會。師便打。師每見僧來參禮。多以拄杖打趂。或曰。遲一刻。或曰。打動關南鼓。而時輩鮮有唱和者。

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of the First Patriarch’s coming from the West?” The Master raised his staff and asked, “Do you understand?” “I do not.” The Master struck him. Whenever monks came to pay their respects, he usually drove them away with his staff. Sometimes he said, “Wait a moment.” Sometimes he said, “You have beaten the Guannan drum.” Few people of that generation could respond to him.

洪州雙嶺玄真禪師

Chan Master Xuanzhen of Shuangling in Hongzhou

初問道吾。無神通菩薩為甚麼足跡難尋。吾曰。同道者方知。師曰。和尚還知否。吾曰。不知。師曰。何故不知。吾曰。去。你不識我語。師後於鹽官處悟旨焉。

At first he asked Daowu, “Why are the footprints of a bodhisattva without supernatural powers so hard to find?” Daowu said, “Only those who walk the same path know.” The Master asked, “Do you know?” “I do not.” “Why not?” Daowu said, “Go. You do not understand my words.” Later the Master realized the meaning under National Teacher Yanguan.

杭州徑山鑒宗禪師

Chan Master Jianzong of Jingshan in Hangzhou

湖州錢氏子。依本州開元寺大德高閑出家。學通淨名思益經。後往鹽官決擇疑滯。唐咸通三年。住徑山。有小師洪諲以講論自矜(諲即法濟大師)。師謂之曰。佛祖正法。直截亡詮。汝筭海沙。於理何益。但能莫存知見。泯絕外緣。離一切心。即汝真性。諲茫然。遂禮辭。遊方至溈山。方悟玄旨。乃嗣溈山師。咸通七年示滅。諡無上大師。

He was a son of the Qian family of Huzhou. He became a monk under the eminent Gao Xian at Kaiyuan Monastery in his home prefecture and mastered the Vimalakirti and Siyijing sutras. Later he went to Yanguan to resolve his doubts. In the third year of the Xiantong era, he resided at Jingshan. His junior monk Hongxie prided himself on his lectures (Hongxie was Master Faji). The Master told him, “The true Dharma of Buddhas and Patriarchs is direct and beyond words. You may calculate the sands of the sea, but what benefit is that to the principle? Simply do not cling to views and knowledge; let external conditions fall silent and leave every thought behind. Then your true nature will be revealed.” Hongxie was bewildered and took leave. He traveled to Weishan, where he awakened to the profound meaning and became Weishan’s heir. The Master passed away in the seventh year of Xiantong. He was posthumously honored as Supreme Master.

歸宗常禪師法嗣

The Dharma heirs of Master Chang of Guizong

福州芙蓉山靈訓禪師

Chan Master Lingxun of Furong Mountain in Fuzhou

初參歸宗。問。如何是佛。宗曰。我向汝道。汝還信否。曰。和尚誠言。安敢不信。宗曰。即汝便是。師曰。如何保任。宗曰。一翳在眼。空華亂墜(法眼雲。若無後語。有甚麼歸宗也)。師辭。宗問。甚麼處去。師曰。歸嶺中去。宗曰。子在此多年。裝束了卻來。為子說一上佛法。師結束了上去。宗曰。近前來。師乃近前。宗曰。時寒。途中善為。師聆此言。頓忘前解。歸寂。諡弘照大師。

At first he visited Guizong and asked, “What is Buddha?” Guizong said, “If I tell you, will you believe me?” “If you speak sincerely, how could I not?” Guizong said, “You yourself are it.” The Master asked, “How do I preserve and sustain it?” Guizong said, “With one mote in your eye, flowers fill the sky.” (Fayan said, “Without that last remark, what would there be of Guizong?”) The Master took leave. Guizong asked, “Where are you going?” “Back to the mountains.” Guizong said, “You have been here many years. Pack your things, then come back; I will explain the Buddhadharma to you once.” The Master packed and returned. Guizong said, “Come closer.” He stepped forward. Guizong said, “The weather is cold; take care on the road.” Hearing this, the Master suddenly forgot his former understanding. He passed into stillness. He was posthumously honored as Master Hongzhao.

漢南高亭和尚

The Chan master of Gaoting in Hannan

有僧自夾山來禮拜。師便打。僧曰。特來禮拜。何得打某甲。僧再禮拜。師又打趂。僧回。舉似夾山。山曰。汝會也無。曰。不會。山曰。賴汝不會。若會。即夾山口瘂。

A monk came from Jianshan and bowed. The Master struck him. The monk said, “I came especially to pay my respects. Why did you strike me?” The monk bowed again, and the Master again struck and drove him away. The monk returned and recounted this to Jianshan. Jianshan asked, “Did you understand?” “No.” Jianshan said, “Good thing you did not. Had you understood, Jianshan would have been struck dumb.”

新羅大茅和尚

The Great Mao Chan master of Silla

上堂。欲識諸佛師。向無明心內識取。欲識常住不凋性。向萬物遷變處識取。僧問。如何是大茅境。師曰。不露鋒。曰。為甚麼不露鋒。師曰。無當者。

In the Dharma hall he said, “If you want to know the teacher of all Buddhas, recognize it within the mind of ignorance. If you want to know the imperishable nature that abides forever, recognize it amid the changing and shifting of all things.” A monk asked, “What is the landscape of Great Mao?” The Master said, “It does not show its edge.” “Why not?” “There is no one to meet it.”

五臺山智通禪師(自稱大禪佛)

Chan Master Zhitong of Mount Wutai, who called himself the Great Chan Buddha

初在歸宗會下。忽一夜連呌曰。我大悟也。眾駭之。明日上堂眾集。宗曰。昨夜大悟底僧出來。師出曰。某甲。宗曰。汝見甚麼道理。便言大悟。試說看。師曰。師姑元是女人作。宗異之。師便辭去。宗門送。與提笠子。師接得笠子。戴頭上便行。更不回顧。後居臺山法華寺。臨終有偈曰。舉手攀南斗。回身倚北辰。出頭天外看。誰是我般人。

At first he lived in Guizong’s community. One night he suddenly called out again and again, “I am greatly awakened!” Everyone was startled. The next day, when the assembly gathered in the Dharma hall, Guizong said, “Let the monk who was greatly awakened last night step forward.” The Master came forward and said, “It was me.” Guizong asked, “What principle did you see that made you say you were greatly awakened? Tell us.” The Master said, “A nun is, after all, a woman.” Guizong was impressed. The Master took leave. As Guizong saw him out, he handed him his hat. The Master took it, put it on his head, and walked away without looking back. Later he lived at Fahua Monastery on Mount Tai. At his death he gave this verse: “I raise my hand and grasp the Southern Dipper; I turn and lean against the Northern Star. I emerge to look beyond the heavens—who is there like me?”

大梅常禪師法嗣

The Dharma heirs of Master Chang of Damei

新羅國迦智禪師

Chan Master Jiazhi of Silla

僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。待汝裡頭來。即與汝道。問。如何是大梅的旨。師曰。酪本一時拋。

A monk asked, “What is the meaning of the First Patriarch’s coming from the West?” The Master said, “When you have come inside, I will tell you.” Asked, “What is Damei’s essential meaning?” he replied, “The cheese was all thrown away at once.”

杭州天龍和尚

The Chan master of Tianlong in Hangzhou

上堂。大眾莫待老僧上來便上來。下去便下去。各有華藏性海。具足功德。無礙光明。各各參取。珍重。僧問。如何得出三界去。師曰。汝即今在甚麼處。

In the Dharma hall he said, “Everyone, do not wait for this old monk to come up before you come up, or go down when he goes down. Each of you has the nature of the Flower Treasury Ocean, complete with virtues and unobstructed radiance. Investigate it for yourselves. Take care.” A monk asked, “How can one leave the Three Realms?” The Master replied, “Where are you right now?”

佛光滿禪師法嗣

The Dharma heirs of Chan Master Foguan Man

杭州刺史白居易

Bai Juyi, Prefect of Hangzhou

字樂天。久參佛光得心法。兼稟大乘金剛寶戒。元和中造於京兆興善法堂。致四問(語見興善章)。十五年。牧杭州。訪鳥窠和尚。有問答語句(見鳥窠章)。甞致書於濟法師。以佛無上大慧演出教理。安有狥機高下。應病不同。與平等一味之說相反。援引維摩及金剛三昧等六經。闢二義而難之。又以五蘊十二緣說名色。前後不類。立理而徵之。並鉤深索隱。通幽洞微。然未覩法師醻對。後來亦鮮有代答者。復受東都凝禪師八漸之目。各廣一言而為一偈。釋其旨趣。自淺之深。猶貫珠焉。凡守任處多訪祖道。學無常師。後為賓客。分司東都。罄己俸修龍門香山寺。寺成自撰記。凡為文動關教化。無不贊美佛乘。見於本集。其歷官次第歸全代祀。即史傳存焉。

He was named Letian. For a long time he studied with Chan Master Foguang and received the mind-seal, as well as the Mahayana Diamond precepts. During the Yuanhe era he visited the Dharma Hall at Xing Shan Monastery in Jingzhao and posed four questions (see the Xing Shan chapter). In the fifteenth year he governed Hangzhou and visited the monk Bird’s Nest, where questions and answers were exchanged (see the Bird’s Nest chapter). He once wrote to Dharma Master Ji, arguing that since the Buddha’s unsurpassed great wisdom unfolds the teachings, how could teachings adapted to differing capacities and ailments contradict the principle of equal, one-flavored truth? He cited six sutras, including the Vimalakirti and Diamond Samadhi sutras, to refute two positions and challenge them. He also examined the account of name-and-form in relation to the five aggregates and twelve links of dependent origination, showing inconsistencies and testing the reasoning. He probed the deep and searched the hidden, penetrating the subtle and obscure. The Dharma Master’s reply has not been seen, and few later scholars were able to answer on his behalf. He also received from Chan Master Ning of the eastern capital the outline of the Eight Gradual Stages, expanded each into one sentence and made a verse explaining its import, from the shallow to the deep, like pearls strung on a thread. Wherever his official duties took him, he often sought the Patriarchs’ Way and had no single fixed teacher in his learning. Later, as a court guest stationed in the eastern capital, he spent his entire salary restoring Xiangshan Monastery at Longmen. When the monastery was completed, he wrote its account. His writings were consistently concerned with teaching and transformation, and invariably praised the Buddha Vehicle, as can be seen in his collected works. The sequence of his offices and the account of his life are preserved in the histories.

五洩默禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Mo of Wuxie.

福州龜山正元禪師

Chan Master Zhengyuan of Guishan in Fuzhou.

宣州蔡氏子。甞述偈示徒。一曰。滄溟幾度變桑田。唯有虗空獨湛然。已到岸人休戀筏。未曾度者要須船。二曰。尋師認得本心源。兩岸俱玄一不全。是佛不須更覔佛。祇因如此便忘緣。咸通十年終於本山。諡性空大師。

He was a son of the Cai family of Xuanzhou. He once showed his students these verses. The first says: ‘How many times has the vast sea changed into mulberry fields? Only empty space remains clear and still. Those who have reached the shore should not cling to the raft; those who have not crossed still need a boat.’ The second says: ‘Seeking a teacher, I recognized the source of my original mind. Both banks are mysterious; neither alone is complete. If it is Buddha, there is no need to seek another Buddha; just because of this, conditions are forgotten.’ He died on his mountain in the tenth year of Xiantong. He was posthumously titled Master Xingkong.

蘇溪和尚

The Monk of Suxi.

僧問。如何是定光佛。師曰。鴨吞螺師。曰。還許學人轉身也無。師曰。眼睛突出。

A monk asked: ‘What is the Buddha Dingguang?’ The Master replied: ‘A duck swallowing a spiral shell.’ The monk asked: ‘May this student turn around?’ The Master said: ‘Your eyes will pop out.’

盤山積禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Ji of Panshan.

鎮州普化和尚者

The Monk Puhua of Zhenzhou,

不知何許人也。師事盤山。密受真訣。而徉狂出言無度。暨盤山順世。乃於北地行化。或城市。或塚間。振一鐸曰。明頭來。明頭打。暗頭來。暗頭打。四方八面來。旋風打。虗空來。連架打。一日。臨濟令僧捉住曰。總不恁麼來時如何。師拓開曰。來日大悲院裡有齋。僧回舉似濟。濟曰。我從來疑著這漢。凡見人無高下。皆振鐸一聲。時號普化和尚。或將鐸就人耳邊振之。或附其背。有回顧者。即展手曰。乞我一錢。非時遇食亦吃。甞暮入臨濟院吃生菜。濟曰。這漢大似一頭驢。師便作驢鳴。濟謂直歲曰。細抹草料著。師曰。少室人不識。金陵又再來。臨濟一隻眼。到處為人開。師見馬步使出喝道。師亦喝道作相撲勢。馬步使令人打五棒。師曰。似即似。是即不是。師甞於闤闠間搖鐸唱曰。覔箇去處不可得。時道吾遇之。把住問曰。汝擬去甚麼處。師曰。汝從甚麼處來。吾無語。師掣手便去。臨濟一日與河陽木塔長老同在僧堂內坐。正說師每日在街市掣風掣顛。知他是凡是聖。師忽入來。濟便問。汝是凡是聖。師曰。汝且道我是凡是聖。濟便喝。師以手指曰。河陽新婦子。木塔老婆禪。臨濟小廝兒。卻具一隻眼。濟曰。這賊。師曰。賊。賊。便出去。唐咸通初。將示滅。乃入市謂人曰。乞我一箇直裰。人或與披襖。或與布裘。皆不受。振鐸而去。臨濟令人送與一棺。師笑曰。臨濟廝兒饒舌。便受之。乃辭眾曰。普化明日去東門死也。郡人相率送出城。師厲聲曰。今日葬不合青烏。乃曰。明日南門遷化。人亦隨之。又曰。明日出西門。方吉。人出漸稀。出已還返。人意稍怠。第四日。自擎棺出北門外。振鐸入棺而逝。郡人奔走出城。揭棺視之。已不見。唯聞空中鐸聲漸遠。莫測其由。

whose origins are unknown, served Panshan as his teacher and secretly received the true instructions, but acted wildly and spoke without restraint. After Panshan passed away, he taught in the north. In marketplaces or among tombs, he shook a handbell and said: ‘Come in brightness, and I strike in brightness. Come in darkness, and I strike in darkness. Come from the four quarters and eight directions, and I strike like a whirlwind. Come through empty space, and I strike with the flail.’ One day Linji had a monk seize him and ask: ‘What if you do not come in any of these ways?’ The Master shoved him away and said: ‘Tomorrow there will be a vegetarian feast at Great Compassion Monastery.’ The monk reported this to Linji, who said: ‘I have always suspected this fellow.’ Puhua shook his bell at everyone, high or low; sometimes he rang it beside someone’s ear or behind their back. If anyone turned around, he held out his hand and said: ‘Give me a coin.’ He ate whenever food came his way, even at odd hours. Once, at dusk, he entered Linji’s monastery and ate raw vegetables. Linji said: ‘This fellow is just like a donkey.’ Puhua brayed. Linji told the director: ‘Prepare some finely chopped fodder.’ Puhua said: ‘The man of Shaoshi was not recognized; now he has come again to Jinling. Linji’s single eye opens everywhere for people.’ When Puhua saw a mounted official clearing the way, he too shouted and struck a wrestling pose. The official ordered him beaten five times with a stick. Puhua said: ‘It resembles it, but it is not it.’ Once, ringing his bell in the marketplace, he sang: ‘Seeking a place to go, none can be found.’ Daowu met him, grabbed him, and asked: ‘Where are you planning to go?’ Puhua replied: ‘Where have you come from?’ Daowu had no answer, and Puhua pulled free and left. One day Linji sat in the monks’ hall with the elder Mutou of Heyang, discussing how Puhua behaved like a madman in the streets and wondering whether he was ordinary or holy. Puhua suddenly entered. Linji asked: ‘Are you ordinary or holy?’ Puhua said: ‘You tell me: am I ordinary or holy?’ Linji shouted. Puhua pointed and said: ‘Heyang is a newly married bride, Mutou an old woman practicing Chan, and Linji a little lad—yet he has one eye.’ Linji said: ‘You thief!’ Puhua replied: ‘Thief, thief!’ and went out. At the start of the Xiantong era, when he was about to die, he went into the market and asked people for a straight robe. Some offered him a padded coat, others a cloth cloak; he refused them all and went away ringing his bell. Linji sent him a coffin. Puhua laughed and said: ‘That little Linji is so talkative!’ Then he accepted it. He announced to the assembly: ‘Tomorrow Puhua will die at the east gate.’ The townspeople followed him there, but he declared: ‘It is not an auspicious day for burial according to the geomancers.’ He then said he would transform at the south gate the next day, and people followed. He said the west gate would be auspicious, so they went there too; their numbers dwindled, and once they had gone out they returned, gradually losing interest. On the fourth day he carried the coffin himself outside the north gate, rang his bell, climbed inside, and passed away. The townspeople rushed out and opened the coffin, but he had disappeared. They only heard the bell’s sound receding through the air, its cause beyond their understanding.

麻谷徹禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Che of Magu.

壽州良遂禪師

Chan Master Liang-sui of Shouzhou.

參麻谷。谷見來。便將鉏頭去鉏草。師到鉏草處。谷殊不顧。便歸方丈。閉卻門。師次日復去。谷又閉門。師乃敲門。谷問。阿誰。師曰。良遂。才稱名。忽然契悟曰。和尚莫謾良遂。良遂若不來禮拜和尚。洎被經論賺過一生。谷便開門相見。及歸講肆。謂眾曰。諸人知處。良遂總知。良遂知處。諸人不知。

He studied with Magu. When Magu saw him coming, he took a hoe and went to weed. Liang-sui arrived at the place where he was hoeing, but Magu paid him no attention, returned to his room, and shut the door. Liang-sui came again the next day, and Magu again shut the door. Liang-sui knocked. Magu asked: ‘Who is it?’ He said: ‘Liang-sui.’ The moment he spoke his name, he suddenly awakened and said: ‘Master, do not deceive Liang-sui! Had Liang-sui not come to pay his respects, the sutras and treatises would nearly have cheated him for his whole life.’ Magu opened the door and met with him. When Liang-sui returned to the lecture hall, he told the assembly: ‘What you all know, Liang-sui knows too. What Liang-sui knows, you do not know.’

東寺會禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Hui of Dongsi.

吉州薯山慧超禪師

Chan Master Huichao of Shushan in Jizhou.

洞山來禮拜次。師曰。汝已住一方。又來這裡作麼。曰。良价無柰疑何。特來見和尚。師召良价。價應諾。師曰。是甚麼。價無語。師曰。好箇佛。祇是無光𦦨。

As Dongshan came to pay his respects, the Master said: ‘You already reside in one place. Why come here?’ Dongshan replied: ‘Liangjie cannot help being perplexed, so I have come especially to see you.’ The Master called: ‘Liangjie!’ Liangjie answered: ‘Yes?’ The Master asked: ‘What is it?’ Liangjie was silent. The Master said: ‘A fine Buddha indeed, only without any radiance.’

西堂藏禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Cang of Xitang.

䖍州處微禪師

Chan Master Chuwei of Qianzhou.

僧問。三乘十二分教體理得妙。與祖意是同是別。師曰。須向六句外鑒。不得隨聲色轉。曰。如何是六句。師曰。語底默底。不語不默。總是總不是。汝合作麼生。僧無對。問仰山。汝名甚麼。山曰。慧寂。師曰。那箇是慧。那箇是寂。山曰。祇在目前。師曰。猶有前後在。山曰。前後且置。和尚見箇甚麼。師曰。吃茶去。

A monk asked: ‘The teachings of the Three Vehicles and twelve divisions penetrate principle and attain the wondrous. Are they the same as the Patriarch’s intent, or different?’ The Master replied: ‘You must discern beyond the six phrases; do not be turned about by sounds and forms.’ The monk asked: ‘What are the six phrases?’ The Master said: ‘What is spoken and what is silent, neither speaking nor silent, all are and all are not. What do you make of that?’ The monk had no answer. The Master asked Yangshan: ‘What is your name?’ Yangshan said: ‘Huiji.’ The Master asked: ‘Which is Hui, and which is Ji?’ Yangshan replied: ‘They are right before your eyes.’ The Master said: ‘There is still a before and after.’ Yangshan said: ‘Set before and after aside. What do you see, Master?’ The Master replied: ‘Go have some tea.’

章敬腪禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Yun of Zhangjing.

京兆大薦福寺弘辯禪師

Chan Master Hongbian of Dajianfu Monastery in Jingzhao.

唐宣宗問。禪宗何有南北之名。對曰。禪門本無南北。昔如來以正法眼付大迦葉。展轉相傳。至二十八祖菩提達磨。來遊此方為初祖。暨第五祖弘忍大師在蘄州東山開法。時有二弟子。一名慧能。受衣法。居嶺南為六祖。一名神秀。在北揚化。其後神秀門人普寂者。立秀為第六祖。而自稱七祖。其所得法雖一。而開導發悟有頓漸之異。故曰南頓北漸。非禪宗本有南北之號也。帝曰。云何名戒。對曰。防非止惡謂之戒。帝曰。云何為定。對曰。六根涉境。心不隨緣名定。帝曰。云何為慧。對曰。心境俱空。照鑒無惑名慧。帝曰。何為方便。對曰。方便者。隱實覆相權巧之門也。被接中下。曲施誘迪謂之方便。設為上根言。捨方便但說無上道者。斯亦方便之譚。乃至祖師玄言。忘功絕謂。亦無出方便之跡。帝曰。何為佛心。對曰。佛者西天之語。唐言覺。謂人有智慧覺照為佛心。心者佛之別名。有百千異號。體唯其一。無形狀。非青黃赤白．男女等相。在天非天。在人非人。而現天現人。能男能女。非始非終。無生無滅。故號靈覺之性。如陛下日應萬機。即是陛下佛心。假使千佛共傳。而不念別有所得也。帝曰。如今有人念佛如何。對曰。如來出世為天人師。善知識隨根器而說法。為上根者開最上乘頓悟至理。中下者未能頓曉。是以佛為韋提希權開十六觀門。令念佛生於極樂。故經云。是心是佛。是心作佛。心外無佛。佛外無心。帝曰。有人持經念佛。持呪求佛。如何。對曰。如來種種開讚。皆為最上一乘。如百川眾流。莫不朝宗於海。如是差別諸數。皆歸薩婆若海。帝曰。祖師既契會心印。金剛經云無所得法。如何。對曰。佛之一化。實無一法與人。但示眾人。各各自性。同一法藏。當時然燈如來但印釋迦本法而無所得。方契然燈本意。故經云。無我無人。無眾生。無壽者。是法平等。修一切善法。

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang asked: ‘Why does the Chan school have the names Southern and Northern?’ Hongbian replied: ‘The Chan school originally has no north or south. Long ago the Tathagata entrusted the True Dharma Eye to Mahakashyapa, and it was transmitted from one generation to the next until the twenty-eighth Patriarch, Bodhidharma, came to this land as the First Patriarch. Later, the Fifth Patriarch, Master Hongren, taught at East Mountain in Qizhou. He had two disciples: Huineng received the robe and Dharma and lived south of the mountain as the Sixth Patriarch; Shenxiu taught in the north. Later, Shenxiu’s disciple Puji made Shenxiu the Sixth Patriarch and called himself the Seventh. Though the Dharma they received was one, their methods of teaching and awakening differed as sudden and gradual; hence “Southern sudden” and “Northern gradual.” The Chan school itself never had names for north and south.’ The emperor asked: ‘What is meant by precepts?’ He replied: ‘Preventing wrongdoing and stopping evil is called precepts.’ ‘What is concentration?’ ‘When the six faculties encounter their objects and the mind does not follow conditions, that is concentration.’ ‘What is wisdom?’ ‘When mind and objects are both empty and illumination is free of delusion, that is wisdom.’ ‘What are skillful means?’ ‘Skillful means are expedient methods that conceal the real and veil its marks, adapting themselves to guide those of middling and lesser capacities. Even when speaking to those of superior capacity and setting aside expedients to teach only the unsurpassed Way, this too is called expedient speech. Even the Patriarchs’ profound words, which forget merit and cut off conjecture, do not go beyond the traces of skillful means.’ The emperor asked: ‘What is the Buddha-mind?’ He replied: ‘Buddha is a word from India; in our language it means “awakened.” A person’s wisdom and illuminating awareness are called the Buddha-mind. “Mind” is another name for Buddha, who has hundreds of thousands of names but one substance. It has no shape, and is not blue, yellow, red, or white, nor male or female. In heaven it is not heaven, and among people it is not a person, yet it manifests as heaven or human, male or female. It has neither beginning nor end, birth nor death, and is therefore called the numinous awakened nature. When Your Majesty responds daily to the affairs of state, that is Your Majesty’s Buddha-mind. Even if a thousand Buddhas transmitted it, there is no thought of gaining something else.’ The emperor asked: ‘What of people who recite the Buddha’s name?’ He replied: ‘The Tathagata appeared as teacher of gods and humans. Good teachers expound according to capacity. To those of superior capacity they reveal the highest vehicle and sudden awakening to ultimate principle. Those of middling or lesser capacity cannot understand at once, so the Buddha provisionally taught Queen Vaidehi the sixteen contemplations, enabling people to recite the Buddha’s name and be born in the Land of Bliss. Thus the sutra says: “This mind is Buddha; this mind makes Buddha.” Outside mind there is no Buddha, and outside Buddha there is no mind.’ The emperor asked about reciting sutras, Buddha’s names, and mantras to seek Buddha. Hongbian replied: ‘The Tathagata opened and praised many approaches, all for the highest vehicle. Just as rivers and streams all flow toward the sea, these differing practices all return to the ocean of Sarvajna, all-knowing wisdom.’ The emperor asked: ‘If the Patriarchs realized the mind-seal, why does the Diamond Sutra say that no dharma is attained?’ He replied: ‘Throughout the Buddha’s teaching, he truly gave no dharma to anyone. He only showed people their own nature, the same treasury of Dharma in everyone. Dipamkara Tathagata merely confirmed Shakyamuni’s original Dharma, with nothing attained; only then did he accord with Dipamkara’s intent. Thus the sutra says: “No self, no person, no sentient being, no life-span. This Dharma is equal.” Cultivate every wholesome dharma…’

不住於相。帝曰。禪師既會祖意。還禮佛轉經否。對曰。沙門釋子。禮佛轉經。蓋是住持常法。有四報焉。然依佛戒修身。參尋知識。漸修梵行。履踐如來所行之跡。帝曰。何為頓見。何為漸修。對曰。頓明自性。與佛同儔。然有無始染習。故假漸修對治。令順性起用。如人吃飯。不一口便飽。師是日辯對七刻。賜紫方袍。號圓智禪師。仍勑修天下祖塔。各令守護。

He continued: ‘…without abiding in marks.’ The emperor asked: ‘Since the Chan Master understands the Patriarch’s intent, does he still bow to Buddha and recite sutras?’ He replied: ‘For a monk, bowing to Buddha and reciting sutras are customary practices that sustain the teaching. They concern the four kinds of repayment. One cultivates the body in accordance with the Buddha’s precepts, seeks out good teachers, gradually cultivates pure conduct, and follows the path walked by the Tathagata.’ The emperor asked: ‘What is sudden seeing, and what is gradual cultivation?’ He replied: ‘Suddenly clarify one’s own nature and become a companion of the Buddhas. But beginningless habits of defilement remain, so gradual cultivation is provisionally used to counteract them and let functions arise in accord with one’s nature. A person does not become full by eating one mouthful.’ The Master answered questions for seven periods that day. He was bestowed a purple robe and the title Chan Master Yuan-zhi. An edict also ordered the restoration of ancestral stupas throughout the empire and appointed guardians for each.

福州龜山智具禪師

Chan Master Zhiju of Guishan in Fuzhou.

揚州柳氏子。初謁章敬。敬問。何所而至。師曰。至無所至。來無所來。敬雖默然。師亦自悟。住後。上堂。動容瞬目。無出當人一念淨心。本來是佛。仍說偈曰。心本絕塵何用洗。身中無病豈求醫。欲知是佛非身處。明鑑高懸未照時。後值武宗沙汰。有偈示眾曰。勑命如雷下翠微。風前垂淚脫禪衣。雲中有寺不容住。塵裡無家何處歸。明月分形處處新。白衣寧墜解空人。誰言在俗妨修道。金粟曾為居士身。忍僊林下坐禪時。曾被歌王割截肢。況我聖朝無此事。祇令休道亦何悲。暨宣宗中興。乃不復披緇。咸通六年終於本山。諡歸寂禪師。

He was a son of the Liu family of Yangzhou. He first visited Zhangjing. Zhangjing asked: ‘From where have you come?’ The Master replied: ‘I arrived from nowhere and came from nowhere.’ Zhangjing was silent, and the Master awakened by himself. After taking up residence, he addressed the assembly: ‘Every movement and blink arises within the pure thought of the person here and now; originally, this is Buddha.’ He also gave this verse: ‘The mind is originally free of dust—why wash it? The body is without illness—why seek a doctor? If you would know where Buddha is beyond the body, the bright mirror hangs high before it has reflected.’ Later, during Emperor Wuzong’s suppression of Buddhism, he showed the assembly this verse: ‘An imperial command crashed down like thunder from the green heights; in the wind, tears fell as I removed my monk’s robe. There are temples in the clouds where one may not stay; in the dust there is no home—where can I return? The moon’s image is renewed everywhere; though dressed in white, how could one who understands emptiness fall away? Who says that being a layman obstructs cultivation? Jinsu once lived as a householder. When the immortal Ren sat in meditation beneath the trees, the King of Songs had his limbs cut apart. How much less is there such a thing in our sacred dynasty—why grieve merely because we are told to cease speaking of the Way?’ When Emperor Xuanzong restored Buddhism, he did not again don the monastic robe. He died on his mountain in the sixth year of Xiantong and was posthumously titled Chan Master Guiji.

金州操禪師

Chan Master Cao of Jinzhou.

請米和尚齋。不排坐位。米到。展坐具禮拜。師下禪床。米乃坐師位。師卻席地而坐。齋訖。米便去。侍者曰。和尚受一切人欽仰。今日坐位被人奪卻。師曰。三日後若來即受救在。米三日後果來。曰。前日遭賊(僧問鏡清。古人道。前日遭賊。意旨如何。清雲。祇見錐頭利。不見鑿頭方)。

He invited the Monk Mi to a meal but set out no seat. Mi arrived, spread his sitting mat, and bowed. The Master stepped down from the Chan seat, and Mi sat in the Master’s place. The Master sat on the ground beside him. When the meal was over, Mi left. An attendant said: ‘Master, everyone reveres you, yet today someone took your seat.’ The Master replied: ‘If he returns in three days, he will be saved.’ Mi indeed returned three days later and said: ‘The other day I was robbed.’ (A monk asked Jingqing: ‘What did the ancients mean by “the other day I was robbed”?’ Jingqing said: ‘He saw only the awl’s sharp point, not the chisel’s square end.’)

朗州古堤和尚

The Monk of the Old Embankment in Langzhou.

尋常見僧來。但曰。去。汝無佛性。僧無對。或有對者。莫契其旨。仰山到參。師曰。去。汝無佛性。山叉手近前三步應喏。師笑曰。子甚麼處得此三昧來。山曰。我從耽源處得名。溈山處得地。師曰。莫是溈山的子麼。山曰。世諦即不無。佛法即不敢。山卻問。和尚從甚處得此三昧。師曰。我從章敬處得此三昧。山嘆曰。不可思議。來者難為湊泊。

Whenever he saw a monk arrive, he would say: ‘Go away. You have no Buddha-nature.’ The monk had no answer; those who answered did not accord with his intent. When Yangshan came to visit, the Master said: ‘Go away. You have no Buddha-nature.’ Yangshan put his hands together, stepped forward three paces, and answered: ‘Yes!’ The Master smiled and asked: ‘Where did you get this samadhi?’ Yangshan said: ‘I received its name from Danyuan and found its ground at Guishan.’ The Master asked: ‘Are you Guishan’s disciple?’ Yangshan replied: ‘In worldly convention, that is so; as for the Buddha-Dharma, I would not presume to say.’ Yangshan then asked: ‘From where did you get this samadhi?’ The Master said: ‘I got it from Zhangjing.’ Yangshan praised him: ‘Inconceivable! Those who come here will find it hard to draw near.’

河中府公畿和尚

The Monk of Gongji in Hezhong Prefecture.

僧問。如何是道。如何是禪。師以偈示之曰。有名非大道。是非俱不禪。欲識箇中意。黃葉止啼錢。

A monk asked: ‘What is the Way, and what is Chan?’ The Master showed him this verse: ‘A named Way is not the great Way; neither right nor wrong is Chan. If you would know the meaning here, yellow leaves are coins used to quiet a child’s crying.’

永泰湍禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Tuan of Yongtai.

湖南上林戒靈禪師

Chan Master Jieling of Shanglin in Hunan.

初參溈山。山曰。大德作甚麼來。師曰。介冑全具。山曰。盡卸了來。與大德相見。師曰。卸了也。山咄曰。賊尚未打。卸作甚麼。師無對。仰山代曰。請和尚屏卻左右。溈山以手揖曰。喏。喏。師後參永泰。方諭其旨。

He first studied with Guishan. Guishan asked: ‘What have you come here to do?’ The Master replied: ‘I am fully armed.’ Guishan said: ‘Take off all your armor and come meet me.’ The Master said: ‘It is off.’ Guishan shouted: ‘The bandits have not even attacked—why take it off?’ The Master had no answer. Yangshan replied on his behalf: ‘Please dismiss the attendants, Master.’ Guishan gestured with his hand and said: ‘All right, all right.’ Later the Master studied with Yongtai, and only then understood the meaning.

五臺山秘魔巖和尚

The Monk of the Secret Demon Cliff on Mount Wutai.

常持一木叉。每見僧來禮拜。即叉卻頸曰。那箇魔魅教汝出家。那箇魔魅教汝行腳。道得也叉下死。道不得也叉下死。速道。速道。學徒鮮有對者(法眼代雲。乞命。法燈代。但引頸示之。玄覺代雲。老兒家放下叉子得也)。霍山通和尚訪師。才見不禮拜。便攛入懷裡。師拊通背三下。通起拍手曰。師兄三千里外賺我來。三千里外賺我來。便回。

He always carried a wooden fork. Whenever a monk came to bow, he hooked it around the monk’s neck and said: ‘What demon told you to leave home? What demon told you to travel on foot? If you can answer, you die on the fork; if you cannot answer, you die on the fork. Speak quickly, speak quickly!’ Few students could answer. (Fayan replied on their behalf: ‘Spare my life!’ Fadeng simply offered his neck. Xuanjue said: ‘Old man, put down the fork and that will do.’) The Monk Tong of Huoshan visited him. As soon as they met, Tong did not bow but plunged into his embrace. The Master patted Tong on the back three times. Tong rose, clapped his hands, and said: ‘Senior brother, you tricked me into coming three thousand miles! You tricked me into coming three thousand miles!’ Then he returned.

湖南祇林和尚

The Monk of Qilin in Hunan.

每叱文殊普賢皆為精魅。手持木劒。自謂降魔。才見僧來參。便曰。魔來也。魔來也。以劒亂揮。歸方丈。如是十二年後。置劒無言。僧問。十二年前為甚麼降魔。師曰。賊不打貧兒家。曰。十二年後為甚麼不降魔。師曰。賊不打貧兒家。

He often denounced Manjushri and Samantabhadra as demons and spirits. Holding a wooden sword, he claimed to subdue demons. Whenever a monk came to visit, he said: ‘A demon has come! A demon has come!’ and swung his sword wildly before returning to his room. After twelve years he put down the sword and said nothing. A monk asked: ‘Why did you subdue demons before those twelve years?’ The Master replied: ‘A thief does not rob a poor man’s house.’ The monk asked: ‘Why not subdue demons after twelve years?’ He gave the same reply: ‘A thief does not rob a poor man’s house.’

華嚴藏禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Zang of Huayan.

黃州齊安禪師

Chan Master Qi’an of Huangzhou.

上堂。言不落句。佛祖徒施。玄韻不墜。誰人知得。僧問。如何識得自己佛。師曰。一葉明時消不盡。松風韻罷怨無人。曰。如何是自己佛。師曰。草前駿馬實難窮。妙盡還須畜生行。有人問。師年多少。師曰。五六四三不得類。豈同一二實難窮。師有偈曰。猛熾𦦨中人有路。旋風頂上屹然棲。鎮常歷劫誰差互。杲日無言運照齊。

Addressing the assembly, he said: ‘Words do not fall into phrases, though Buddhas and Patriarchs exert themselves. The mysterious resonance does not perish—who can know it?’ A monk asked: ‘How can one recognize one’s own Buddha?’ The Master replied: ‘When the leaf becomes clear, it cannot be dispelled; when the pine wind’s music ends, one resents having no listener.’ Asked: ‘What is one’s own Buddha?’ he said: ‘It is hard to fathom a fine horse before the grass; when wondrous subtlety is exhausted, one must still act like an animal.’ Someone asked his age. He replied: ‘Five, six, four, and three cannot be grouped; how could one or two ever exhaust it?’ His verse says: ‘Amid fierce flames there is a road for a person; atop a whirlwind one stands firm. Through kalpas it has always endured without change; the bright sun silently illumines all alike.’

南嶽下四世

The fourth generation below Nanyue.

黃檗運禪師法嗣

Heirs in the Dharma of Chan Master Yun of Huangbo.

睦州陳尊宿

The Venerable Chen of Muzhou.

諱道明。江南陳氏之後也。生時紅光滿室。祥雲葢空。旬日方散。目有重瞳。面列七星。形相奇特。與眾奪倫。因往開元寺禮佛。見僧如故知。歸白父母。願求出家。父母聽許為僧。後持戒精嚴。學通三藏。遊方契旨於黃檗。後為四眾請住觀音院。常百餘眾。經數十載。學者叩激。隨問遽答。詞語峻險。既非循轍。故淺機之流。往往嗤之。唯玄學性敏者欽伏。由是諸方歸慕。鹹以尊宿稱。後歸開元(今改兜率)。居房織蒲鞋以養母。故有陳蒲鞋之號。巢宼入境。師標大草屨於城門。巢欲棄之。竭力不能舉。歎曰。睦州有大聖人。舍城而去。遂免擾攘。一日晚參。謂眾曰。汝等諸人還得箇入頭處也未。若未得箇入頭處。須覔箇入頭處。若得箇入頭處。已後不得孤負老僧。時有僧出禮拜。曰。某甲終不敢孤負和尚。師曰。早是孤負我了也。又曰。明明向你道。尚自不會。何況葢覆將來。又曰。老僧在此住持。不曾見箇無事人到來。汝等何不近前。時有一僧方近前。師曰。維那不在。汝自領去三門外。與二十棒。曰。某甲過在甚麼處。師曰。枷上更著杻。師尋常見衲僧來。即閉門。或見講僧。乃召曰。座主。主應諾。師曰。擔板漢。或曰。這裡有桶。與我取水。一日在廊階上立。僧問。陳尊宿房在何處。師脫草屨驀頭打。僧便走。師召。大德。僧回首。師指曰。卻從那邊去。天使問。三門俱開。從那門入。師喚尚書。使應諾。師曰。從信門入。使又見畫壁。問曰。二尊者對譚何事。師摑露柱曰。三身中那箇不說法。座主參。師問。莫是講唯識論否。曰。不敢。師曰。朝去西天。暮歸唐土。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。吽。吽。五戒不持。師問一長老。了即毛端吞巨海。始知大地一微塵。長老作麼生。曰。問阿誰。師曰。問長老。曰。何不領話。師曰。汝不領話。我不領話。問。座主講甚麼經。曰。講涅槃經。師曰。

His personal name was Daoming, a descendant of the Chen family of Jiangnan. At his birth, red light filled the room and auspicious clouds covered the sky; after ten days they finally dispersed. His eyes had double pupils, and seven stars appeared on his face. His appearance was extraordinary, unlike other people. Once, while worshipping Buddha at Kaiyuan Monastery, he saw a monk who seemed an old acquaintance. He returned home and told his parents he wished to leave home; they consented. He later kept the precepts strictly and mastered the three baskets. Traveling, he realized the intent under Huangbo. At the request of the fourfold assembly he resided at Guanyin Monastery, where more than a hundred people gathered for decades. When students challenged him, he answered each question at once in sharp, perilous words. Since he did not follow conventional patterns, people of shallow capacity often mocked him, while those quick in profound study revered him. Thus people everywhere admired him and called him Venerable. Later he returned to Kaiyuan (now called Doushuai), where he lived in a room and wove rush sandals to support his mother; hence he was known as Chen the Rush-Sandal Maker. When the bandit Huang Chao invaded the region, the Master placed a huge straw sandal at the city gate. Huang Chao tried to discard it but could not lift it despite all his strength. He sighed: ‘Muzhou has a great sage,’ and abandoned the city, which was thus spared disturbance. One evening he addressed the assembly: ‘Have you all found a point of entry? If not, you must seek one. If you have found one, afterward do not let this old monk down.’ A monk came forward and bowed, saying: ‘I will never dare let the Master down.’ The Master said: ‘You have already let me down.’ He added: ‘I have told you plainly and you still do not understand; how much less will you understand if I cover it over?’ Then he said: ‘I have resided here and never seen a person without concerns. Why don’t you come closer?’ A monk stepped forward. The Master said: ‘The disciplinarian is absent; take him yourself outside the monastery gate and give him twenty blows.’ The monk asked: ‘What is my offense?’ The Master said: ‘Put shackles on top of the cangue.’ Whenever he saw a monk coming, he shut the door. If he saw a lecturer, he called: ‘Lecturer!’ When the man answered, he said: ‘A fool carrying a plank!’ Another time he said: ‘There is a bucket here; fetch me some water.’ One day he stood on the veranda steps. A monk asked: ‘Where is Venerable Chen’s room?’ The Master pulled off his straw sandal and struck the monk over the head. The monk ran away. The Master called: ‘Venerable!’ The monk turned around, and the Master pointed: ‘Go back that way.’ A palace envoy asked: ‘All three gates are open. Which should I enter?’ The Master called: ‘Minister!’ When the envoy answered, he said: ‘Enter through the gate of faith.’ The envoy saw a painting on the wall and asked: ‘What are the two venerables discussing?’ The Master slapped a pillar and said: ‘Which of the three bodies does not preach the Dharma?’ A lecturer visited. The Master asked: ‘Are you lecturing on Consciousness-Only?’ He replied: ‘I would not presume otherwise.’ The Master said: ‘You go to India in the morning and return to Tang China by evening. Do you understand?’ He said: ‘I do not.’ The Master said: ‘Hmph, hmph! You do not keep the five precepts.’ The Master asked an elder: ‘When one hair-tip swallows the great sea, one knows the whole earth is a mote of dust. What do you say?’ The elder replied: ‘Whom are you asking?’ The Master said: ‘I am asking you.’ The elder said: ‘Why not understand my words?’ The Master replied: ‘You do not understand my words, and I do not understand yours.’ Asked what sutra he lectured on, a lecturer replied: ‘The Nirvana Sutra.’ The Master said: ‘’

問一段義得麼。曰。得。師以腳踢空。吹一吹。曰。是甚麼義。曰。經中無此義。師曰。脫空謾語漢。五百力士揭石義。卻道無。師見僧乃曰。見成公案。放汝三十棒。曰。某甲如是。師曰。三門頭金剛為甚麼舉拳。曰。金剛尚乃如是。師便打。問。如何是向上一路。師曰。要道有甚麼難。曰。請師道。師曰。初三十一。中九下七。問。以一重去一重即不問。不以一重去一重時如何。師曰。昨朝栽茄子。今日種冬瓜。問。如何是曹谿的的意。師曰。老僧愛嗔不愛喜。曰。為甚麼如是。師曰。路逢劒客須呈劒。不是詩人莫說詩。問僧。甚處來。曰。瀏陽。師曰。彼中老宿祇對佛法大意道甚麼。曰。徧地無行路。師曰。老宿實有此語否。曰。實有。師拈拄杖打曰。這念言語漢。師問一長老。若有兄弟來。將何祇對。曰。待他來。師曰。何不道。曰。和尚欠少甚麼。師曰請不煩葛藤。僧參。師曰。汝豈不是行腳僧。曰。是。師曰。禮佛也未。曰。禮那土堆作麼。師曰。自領出去。問。某甲講兼行腳。不會教意時如何。師曰。灼然實語當懺悔。曰。乞師指示。師曰汝若不問。老僧即緘口無言。汝既問。老僧不可緘口去也。曰。請師便道。師曰。心不負人。面無慙色。問。一句道盡時如何。師曰。義墮也。曰。甚麼處是學人義墮處。師曰。三十棒教誰吃。問。高揖釋迦。不拜彌勒時如何。師曰。昨日有人問。趂出了也。曰。和尚恐某甲不實邪。師曰。拄杖不在。苕帚柄聊與三十。上堂。我見百丈不識好惡。大眾才集。以拄杖一時打下。復召大眾。眾回首。乃雲。是甚麼。有甚共語處。又黃檗和尚亦然。復召大眾。眾回首。乃雲。月似彎弓。少雨多風。猶較些子。問僧。近離甚處。僧便喝。師曰。老僧被你一喝。僧又喝。師曰。三喝四喝後作麼生。僧無語。師便打曰。這掠虗漢。秀才訪師。稱會二十四家書。

(The master continued:) 'May I ask about one passage of meaning?' He said, 'Yes.' The master kicked at the empty air with his foot, blew on it, and said, 'What meaning is this?' The monk said, 'There is no such meaning in the scriptures.' The master said, 'You empty-talking fraud. The meaning of the five hundred strong men lifting the stone, yet you say there is none.' Seeing a monk, the master said, 'The case is already settled before you; I let you off thirty blows.' The monk said, 'I am like this.' The master said, 'Why does the guardian at the gate raise his fist?' The monk said, 'The guardian himself is like this.' The master struck him. A monk asked, 'What is the road that goes beyond?' The master said, 'What is hard about saying it?' The monk said, 'Please, master, say it.' The master said, 'First thirty-one, middle nine, last seven.' A monk asked, 'I do not ask about removing one layer with another layer; what about when one does not remove one layer with another layer?' The master said, 'Yesterday morning I planted eggplants; today I plant winter melons.' A monk asked, 'What is the precise meaning of Caoxi?' The master said, 'This old monk loves anger and does not love joy.' The monk said, 'Why is it so?' The master said, 'Meeting a swordsman on the road, one must present a sword; if he is not a poet, do not speak of poetry.' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' The monk said, 'Liuyang.' The master said, 'What do the elder adepts there say in answer to the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The monk said, 'Everywhere there is no road to walk.' The master said, 'Did the elder adept really say this?' The monk said, 'He really did.' The master picked up his staff and struck him, saying, 'This fellow who recites words.' The master asked an elder, 'If a brother comes, how will you answer him?' The elder said, 'I will wait for him to come.' The master said, 'Why not say it?' The elder said, 'What is the reverend master lacking?' The master said, 'Please, no more tangling vines.' A monk came to call. The master said, 'Are you not a pilgrimage monk?' The monk said, 'I am.' The master said, 'Have you bowed to the Buddha yet?' The monk said, 'Why bow to that heap of earth?' The master said, 'Take yourself out.' A monk asked, 'I both lecture and go on pilgrimage; what about when I do not understand the meaning of the teachings?' The master said, 'Plainly true words call for repentance.' The monk said, 'I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'If you had not asked, this old monk would have kept his mouth shut and said nothing. Since you have asked, this old monk cannot very well keep his mouth shut.' The monk said, 'Please, master, just say it.' The master said, 'The mind does not betray people, and the face shows no shame.' A monk asked, 'What about when one sentence says it all?' The master said, 'The meaning has fallen.' The monk said, 'Where has the student's meaning fallen?' The master said, 'Who is to eat the thirty blows?' A monk asked, 'What about bowing high to Shakyamuni and not bowing to Maitreya?' The master said, 'Yesterday someone asked that, and I drove him out.' The monk said, 'Does the reverend master fear I am not sincere?' The master said, 'The staff is not here; a broom handle will do for thirty.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'I see that Baizhang did not know good from bad. The assembly had just gathered when he struck them all down with his staff. Then he called to the assembly again. The assembly turned their heads. Then he said, What is it? What is there to talk about with them? And the reverend master of Huangbo was the same. He called to the assembly again. The assembly turned their heads. Then he said, The moon is like a bent bow, little rain and much wind. He was a little better.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' The monk gave a shout. The master said, 'This old monk has been shouted at by you.' The monk shouted again. The master said, 'After three shouts and four shouts, what then?' The monk had nothing to say. The master struck him and said, 'This fellow who grabs at emptiness.' A scholar came to visit the master, claiming to know the calligraphy of twenty-four masters.

師以拄杖空中點一點。曰。會麼。秀才罔措。師曰。又道會二十四家書。永字八法也不識。上堂。裂開也在我。揑聚也在我。時有僧問。如何是裂開。師曰。三九二十七。菩提涅槃。真如解脫。即心即佛。我且與麼道。你又作麼生。曰。某甲不與麼道。師曰。盞子撲落地。碟子成七片。曰。如何是揑聚。師乃斂手而坐。問。教意祖意是同是別。師曰。青山自青山。白雲自白雲。曰。如何是青山。師曰。還我一滴雨來。曰。道不得。請師道。師曰。法華鋒前陣。涅槃句後收。問僧。今夏在甚麼處。曰。待和尚有住處即說。師曰。狐非師子類。燈非日月明。問僧。甚處來。僧瞪目視之。師曰。驢前馬後漢。曰。請師鑒。師曰。驢前馬後漢。道將一句來。僧無對。師看經次。陳操尚書問。和尚看甚麼經。師曰。金剛經。書曰。六朝翻譯。此當第幾。師舉起經曰。一切有為法。如夢幻泡影。看經次。僧問。和尚看甚麼經。師曰。涅槃經。茶毗品最在後。問僧。今夏在甚處。曰。徑山。曰。這吃夜飯漢。曰。尊宿叢林。何言吃夜飯。師以棒趂出。師聞一老宿難親近。躬往相訪。才入方丈。宿便喝。師側掌曰。兩重公案。宿曰。過在甚麼處。師曰。這野狐精。便退。問僧。近離甚處。曰。江西。師曰。踏破多少草鞋。僧無對。與講僧吃茶次。師曰。我救汝不得也。曰。某甲不曉。乞師垂示。師拈油餅曰。這箇是甚麼。曰。色法。師曰。這入鑊湯漢。紫衣大德到。禮拜。師拈帽子帶問曰。這箇喚作甚麼。曰。朝天帽。師曰。恁麼則老僧不卸也。復問。所習何業。曰。唯識。師曰。作麼生說。曰。三界唯心。萬法唯識。師指門扇曰。這箇是甚麼。曰。是色法。師曰。簾前賜紫。對御譚經。何得不持五戒。德無對。問。某甲乍入叢林。乞師指示。師曰。你不解問。曰。和尚作麼生。師曰。放汝三十棒。自領出去。問。

The master pointed once into the air with his staff and said, 'Do you understand?' The scholar was at a loss. The master said, 'You claim to know the calligraphy of twenty-four masters, yet you do not even know the eight methods of the character yong.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'To split open is up to me; to pinch together is up to me.' A monk then asked, 'What is splitting open?' The master said, 'Three nines are twenty-seven. Bodhi and nirvana, true suchness and liberation, this very mind is Buddha. I have put it that way; what about you?' The monk said, 'I do not put it that way.' The master said, 'The cup falls to the ground, and the saucer breaks into seven pieces.' The monk asked, 'What is pinching together?' The master drew in his hands and sat. A monk asked, 'Are the meaning of the teachings and the meaning of the Patriarch the same or different?' The master said, 'Green mountains are of themselves green mountains; white clouds are of themselves white clouds.' The monk said, 'What is the green mountain?' The master said, 'Give me back one drop of rain.' The monk said, 'I cannot say it. Please, master, say it.' The master said, 'Arrayed before the tip of the Lotus, gathered in after the words of the Nirvana.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you spent this summer?' The monk said, 'When the reverend master has a place to stay, I will say.' The master said, 'The fox is not of the lion's kind; a lamp is not as bright as the sun and moon.' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' The monk stared at him wide-eyed. The master said, 'A fellow before donkeys and behind horses.' The monk said, 'Please, master, examine me.' The master said, 'Fellow before donkeys and behind horses, say one phrase.' The monk had no reply. Once, as the master was reading a sutra, Minister Chen Cao asked, 'What sutra is the reverend master reading?' The master said, 'The Diamond Sutra.' The minister said, 'It was translated in the six dynasties; which translation is this?' The master lifted the sutra and said, 'All conditioned things are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow.' Once, as he was reading a sutra, a monk asked, 'What sutra is the reverend master reading?' The master said, 'The Nirvana Sutra; the chapter on cremation comes last.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you spent this summer?' The monk said, 'Jingshan.' The master said, 'This fellow who eats his evening meal.' The monk said, 'In the elders' monasteries, why speak of eating an evening meal?' The master chased him out with his staff. The master heard that an elder adept was hard to approach, so he went himself to visit him. As soon as he entered the abbot's quarters, the elder gave a shout. The master held up his palm sideways and said, 'A double case.' The elder said, 'Where is the fault?' The master said, 'This wild-fox spirit.' And he withdrew. He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' The monk said, 'Jiangxi.' The master said, 'How many straw sandals have you worn through?' The monk had no reply. Once, as he was drinking tea with a lecturer monk, the master said, 'I cannot save you either.' The monk said, 'I do not understand; I beg the master to instruct me.' The master picked up a fried cake and said, 'What is this?' The monk said, 'A form-dharma.' The master said, 'This fellow who has fallen into the cauldron.' A greatly virtuous monk in purple robes arrived and bowed. The master picked up the band of his hat and asked, 'What is this called?' The monk said, 'A court-facing hat.' The master said, 'Then this old monk will not take it off.' He asked again, 'What study do you practice?' The monk said, 'Consciousness-only.' The master said, 'How do you explain it?' The monk said, 'The three realms are mind only; the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only.' The master pointed at a door panel and said, 'What is this?' The monk said, 'It is a form-dharma.' The master said, 'Granted purple robes before the screen and lecturing to the emperor — how is it that you do not keep the five precepts?' The monk had no reply. A monk said, 'I have just entered the monastery; I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'You do not know how to ask.' The monk said, 'What about the reverend master?' The master said, 'I let you off thirty blows; take yourself out.' A monk asked:

教意請師提綱。師曰。但問將來。與你道。曰。請和尚道。師曰。佛殿裡燒香。三門頭合掌。問。如何是展演之言。師曰。量才補職。曰。如何是不展演之言。師曰。伏惟尚饗。焦山借斧頭次。師呼童子取斧來。童取斧至。曰。未有繩墨且斫麤。師便喝。又問童曰。作麼生是你斧頭。童遂作斫勢。師曰。斫你老爺頭不得。師問秀才。先輩治甚經。才曰。治易。師曰。易中道。百姓日用而不知。且道不知箇甚麼。才曰。不知其道。師曰。作麼生是道。才無對。僧問。一氣還轉得一大藏教也無。師曰。有甚饆羅鎚子。快下將來。問。如何是一代時教。師曰。上大人。丘乙己。問。如何是禪。師曰。猛火著油煎。僧參。師曰。汝是新到否。曰。是。師曰。且放下葛藤。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。擔枷陳狀。自領出去。僧便出。師曰。來。來。我實問你甚處來。曰。江西。師曰。泐潭和尚在汝背後。怕你亂道。見麼。僧無對。問。寺門前金剛。拓即乾坤大地。不拓即絲髮不逢時如何。師曰。吽。吽。我不曾見此。師卻問。先跳三千。倒退八百。你合作麼生。曰。諾。師曰。先責一紙罪狀好。便打。其僧擬出。師曰。來。我共你葛藤。拓即乾坤大地。你且道洞庭湖水深多少。曰。不曾量度。師曰。洞庭湖又作麼生。曰。祇為今時。師曰。祇這葛藤尚不會。便打。問。如何是觸途無滯底句。師曰。我不恁麼道。曰。師作麼生道。師曰。箭過西天十萬裡。卻向大唐國裡等候。看華嚴經次。僧問。看甚麼經。師曰。大光明雲。青色光明雲。紫色光明雲。卻指面前曰。那邊是甚麼雲。曰。南邊是黑雲。師曰。今日須有雨。問。以字不成。入字不是。是何章句。師彈指一聲。曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。上來講讚無限勝因。蝦蟇𨁝跳上天。蚯蚓驀過東海。問僧。近離甚處。曰。河北。師曰。彼中有趙州和尚。你曾到否。曰。

'Please, master, give the outline of the meaning of the teachings.' The master said, 'Just ask, and I will tell you.' The monk said, 'Please, reverend master, say it.' The master said, 'Burn incense in the Buddha hall; join your palms at the gate.' A monk asked, 'What are words that unfold and display?' The master said, 'Measure the talent and fill the office.' The monk said, 'What are words that do not unfold and display?' The master said, 'Reverently we invite the spirits to feast.' Once, when Jiaoshan wanted to borrow an axe, the master called a boy to bring the axe. When the boy brought it, he said, 'There is no ink line yet; I will chop it rough first.' The master gave a shout. He asked the boy again, 'What is your axe?' The boy then made a chopping motion. The master said, 'You cannot chop off your old man's head.' The master asked a scholar, 'Which classic does the gentleman study?' The scholar said, 'The Book of Changes.' The master said, 'The Changes says that the common people use it daily and do not know it. Tell me, what do they not know?' The scholar said, 'They do not know its Way.' The master said, 'What is the Way?' The scholar had no reply. A monk asked, 'Can a single breath turn the whole Tripitaka?' The master said, 'What sort of cake-seller's hammer is that? Bring it down quickly.' A monk asked, 'What is the teaching of one age?' The master said, 'The great man, Qiu Yi-ji.' A monk asked, 'What is Chan?' The master said, 'A fierce fire with oil poured on it.' A monk came to call. The master said, 'Are you newly arrived?' The monk said, 'I am.' The master said, 'Put down the tangling vines for now; do you understand?' The monk said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'Carrying fetters and filing a complaint; take yourself out.' The monk started to leave. The master said, 'Come, come. I will really ask you where you come from.' The monk said, 'Jiangxi.' The master said, 'The reverend master of Letan is behind you; he fears you will talk wildly. Do you see him?' The monk had no reply. A monk asked, 'What about when the guardian at the monastery gate, when pressed, is the whole of heaven and earth, and when not pressed, not a hair is met?' The master said, 'Hmm, hmm. I have never seen such a thing.' The master asked in turn, 'First you leap three thousand, then you step back eight hundred — what will you do?' The monk said, 'Yes.' The master said, 'It would be well to first fine you one sheet of paper for your crime.' And he struck him. The monk was about to leave. The master said, 'Come. Let me tangle vines with you. Pressed, it is the whole of heaven and earth — tell me, how deep are the waters of Lake Dongting?' The monk said, 'I have never measured them.' The master said, 'What about Lake Dongting itself?' The monk said, 'It is only for the present time.' The master said, 'You cannot even handle this tangle of vines.' And he struck him. A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that nowhere meets obstruction?' The master said, 'I do not say it that way.' The monk said, 'How does the master say it?' The master said, 'The arrow has passed ten thousand li west of India, yet you wait for it here in the land of Tang.' Once, as he was reading the Avatamsaka Sutra, a monk asked, 'What sutra are you reading?' The master said, 'The great radiance cloud, the blue radiance cloud, the purple radiance cloud.' Then he pointed in front and said, 'What cloud is that over there?' The monk said, 'The black cloud is to the south.' The master said, 'There will surely be rain today.' A monk asked, 'Not made by the character yi nor by the character ba — what passage is this?' The master snapped his fingers once and said, 'Do you understand?' The monk said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'Above, the lecture and praise have boundless surpassing cause. The toad leaps up to heaven; the earthworm darts across the Eastern Sea.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' The monk said, 'Hebei.' The master said, 'The reverend master of Zhaozhou is there. Have you ever been to him?' The monk said:

某甲近離彼中。師曰。趙州有何言句示徒。僧舉吃茶話。師乃呵呵大笑曰。慚愧。卻問。趙州意作麼生。曰。祇是一期方便。師曰。苦哉。趙州被你將一杓屎潑了也。便打。師卻問沙彌。你作麼生會。彌便設拜。師亦打。其僧往沙彌處問。適來和尚打你作甚麼。彌曰。若不是我。和尚不打某甲。新到參。方禮拜。師叱曰。闍黎因何偷常住果子吃。曰。學人才到。和尚為甚麼道偷果子。師曰。贓物見在。問僧。近離甚處。曰。仰山。師曰。五戒也不持。曰。某甲甚麼處是妄語。師曰。這裡不著沙彌。師臨終召門人曰。此處緣息。吾當逝矣。乃跏趺而寂。郡人以香薪焚之。舍利如雨。乃收靈骨。塑像於寺。壽九十八。臘七十六。

'I have just come from there.' The master said, 'What sayings did Zhaozhou use to instruct his students?' The monk told the story of the tea drinking. The master laughed heartily and said, 'What a shame.' He then asked, 'What was Zhaozhou's meaning?' The monk said, 'It was only a temporary expedient.' The master said, 'How bitter. Zhaozhou has been splashed with a ladle of your excrement.' And he struck him. The master then asked a novice, 'How do you understand it?' The novice bowed. The master struck him too. The monk went to the novice and asked, 'Why did the reverend master strike you just now?' The novice said, 'If it were not for me, the reverend master would not have struck me.' A newly arrived monk came to call and was just bowing. The master scolded him: 'Reverend, why did you steal and eat the monastery's fruit?' The monk said, 'I have only just arrived; why does the reverend master say I stole fruit?' The master said, 'The stolen goods are right here.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' The monk said, 'Yangshan.' The master said, 'You do not even keep the five precepts.' The monk said, 'Where have I spoken falsely?' The master said, 'No novice is kept here.' As the master was about to die, he called his disciples and said, 'Here the conditions come to an end; I shall depart.' Then he sat cross-legged and passed into quiescence. The people of the prefecture cremated him with fragrant firewood, and the relics fell like rain. They gathered his sacred bones and made an image of him in the monastery. He lived ninety-eight years and had been ordained seventy-six.

杭州千頃山楚南禪師

Chan Master Chunan of Qianqing Mountain in Hangzhou

福州張氏子。初參芙蓉。蓉見曰。吾非汝師。汝師江外黃檗是也。師禮辭。遂參黃檗。檗問。子未現三界影像時如何。師曰。即今豈是有邪。檗曰。有無且置。即今如何。師曰。非今古。檗曰。吾之法眼。已在汝躬。住後。上堂。諸子設使解得三世佛教。如缾注水。及得百千三昧。不如一念修無漏道。免被人天因果繫絆。時有僧問。無漏道如何修。師曰。未有闍黎時體取。曰。未有某甲時教誰體。師曰。體者亦無。問。如何是易。師曰。著衣吃飯。不用讀經看教。不用行道禮拜。燒身煉頂。豈不易邪。曰。如何是難。師曰。微有念生。便具五陰三界。輪回生死皆從汝一念生。所以佛教諸菩薩雲。佛所護念。師雖應機無倦。而常寂然處定。或逾月。或浹旬。文德六年五月遷化。塔於院之西隅。大順二年宣州孫儒宼錢塘。發塔。覩師全身儼然。爪髮俱長。拜謝而去。

He was a son of the Zhang family of Fuzhou. He first studied under Furong. Rong saw him and said, 'I am not your teacher. Your teacher is Huangbo, beyond the river.' The master bowed and took his leave, and then went to study under Huangbo. Bo asked, 'What was it like before you manifested the images of the three realms?' The master said, 'Is it not so even now?' Bo said, 'Set aside being and non-being for now; what is it right now?' The master said, 'It is neither now nor ancient.' Bo said, 'My Dharma-eye is already upon you.' After he took up residence, he ascended the hall: 'My children, even if you could understand the teachings of the three ages of Buddhism as easily as pouring water into a bottle, and attain hundreds of thousands of samadhis, it would be no match for a single thought of cultivating the undefiled Way, which frees you from being bound by the cause and effect of gods and men.' A monk then asked, 'How does one cultivate the undefiled Way?' The master said, 'Realize it in the time before there was any reverend.' The monk said, 'In the time before there was any me, who is it that realizes?' The master said, 'The one who realizes is also not there.' A monk asked, 'What is the easy?' The master said, 'Wearing clothes and eating food, without reading the sutras or studying the teachings, without walking the path or bowing, without burning the body or scorching the crown — is that not easy?' The monk said, 'What is the hard?' The master said, 'Let the slightest thought arise, and the five aggregates and three realms are there. Rebirth and death in the wheel all arise from a single thought of yours. That is why the Buddha instructed the bodhisattvas, saying, That which is protected and remembered by the Buddha.' Though the master responded to opportunities without weariness, he constantly dwelt silent in samadhi, sometimes for more than a month, sometimes for a full ten days. He passed away in the fifth month of the sixth year of Wende. His stupa was built in the western corner of the monastery. In the second year of Dashun, Sun Ru of Xuanzhou raided Qiantang and opened the stupa. They saw the master's whole body, still intact, with hair and nails grown long. They bowed in apology and left.

福州烏石山靈觀禪師(時稱老觀)

Chan Master Lingguan of Wushi Mountain in Fuzhou (called Old Guan at the time)

尋常扄戶。人罕見之。唯一信士每至食時送供。方開。一日。雪峰伺便扣門。師開門。峰驀𮌎搊住曰。是凡是聖。師唾曰。這野狐精。便推出閉卻門。峰曰。也祇要識老兄。剗草次。問僧。汝何處去。曰。西院禮拜安和尚去。時竹上有一青蛇。師指蛇曰。欲識西院老野狐精。祇這便是。師問西院。此一片地。堪著甚麼物。院曰。好著箇無相佛。師曰。好片地被兄放不淨汙了也。引麵次。僧參。師引麵示之。僧便去。師至暮。問小師。適來僧在何處。小師曰。當時便去也。師曰。是即是。祇得一橛(玄覺雲。甚麼處是少一橛)。問。如何是佛。師出舌示之。其僧禮謝。師曰。住。住。你見甚麼便禮拜。曰。謝和尚慈悲。出舌相示。師曰。老僧近日舌上生瘡。僧到敲門。行者開門。便出去。僧入禮拜。問。如何是西來意。師曰。適來出去者。是甚麼人。僧擬近前。師便推出。閉卻門。曹山行腳時。問。如何是毗盧師法身主。師曰。我若向你道。即別有也。曹山舉似洞山。山曰。好箇話頭。祇欠進語。何不問為甚麼不道。曹卻來進前語。師曰。若言我不道。即瘂卻我口。若言我道。即謇卻我舌。曹山歸舉似洞山。山深肯之。

He usually kept his door barred, and people rarely saw him. Only one faithful layman brought him food at mealtimes, and only then did he open it. One day, Xuefeng waited for a chance and knocked at the door. The master opened it. Feng suddenly grabbed him by the chest and said, 'Are you ordinary or sage?' The master spat and said, 'This wild-fox spirit.' Then he pushed him out and shut the door. Feng said, 'I only wanted to know you, old brother.' Once, while cutting grass, the master asked a monk, 'Where are you going?' The monk said, 'To the West Court to bow to the reverend master An.' At that moment there was a green snake on the bamboo. The master pointed at the snake and said, 'If you want to know the old wild-fox spirit of the West Court, this is he.' The master asked the West Court master, 'This patch of ground — what would be good to put on it?' The court master said, 'A formless Buddha would go well on it.' The master said, 'This fine patch of ground has been fouled by your putting something unclean on it.' Once, while washing his face, a monk came to call. The master showed him his face. The monk left. Toward evening the master asked a junior monk, 'Where is the monk who came earlier?' The junior monk said, 'He left right then.' The master said, 'Right though that is, it is only one stump.' (Xuanjue said, 'Where is the missing stump?') A monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' The master stuck out his tongue and showed it to him. The monk bowed in thanks. The master said, 'Stop, stop. What did you see, that you bow?' The monk said, 'I thank the reverend master's compassion for showing the mark of his tongue.' The master said, 'This old monk has recently developed a sore on his tongue.' A monk came and knocked at the door. The attendant opened it, and the monk went out. The monk entered, bowed, and asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'Who was that who went out just now?' The monk started to step forward. The master pushed him out and shut the door. When Caoshan was on pilgrimage, he asked, 'What is Vairochana's teacher, the lord of the Dharma body?' The master said, 'If I were to tell you, it would be something else.' Caoshan reported this to Dongshan. Shan said, 'A good topic, but it lacks an advancing phrase. Why do you not ask why he does not say it?' Caoshan then came and offered the advancing phrase. The master said, 'If you say I do not say it, that stops my mouth. If you say I do say it, that ties my tongue.' Caoshan returned and reported this to Dongshan. Shan deeply approved of it.

杭州羅漢院宗徹禪師

Chan Master Zongche of Luohan Monastery in Hangzhou

湖州吳氏子。上堂。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。骨剉也(師對機多用此語。時號骨剉和尚)。問。如何是南宗北宗。師曰。心為宗。曰。還看教也無。師曰。教是心。問。性地多昏。如何了悟。師曰。煩雲風卷。太虗廓清。曰。如何得明去。師曰。一輪皎潔。萬裡騰光。

He was a son of the Wu family of Huzhou. Ascending the hall, a monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'Bones filed down.' (The master often used this phrase in answering opportunities, and was known at the time as the Bones-Filed Monk.) A monk asked, 'What are the Southern and Northern schools?' The master said, 'The mind is the school.' The monk said, 'Do you also read the teachings?' The master said, 'The teachings are the mind.' A monk asked, 'The nature-ground is much obscured; how does one awaken?' The master said, 'Troubling clouds are rolled up by the wind, and the great void is cleared.' The monk said, 'How does one become bright?' The master said, 'One wheel of pure brightness sends its light ten thousand li.'

相國裴休居士

The Layman Chancellor Pei Xiu

字公美。河東聞喜人也。守新安日。屬運禪師初於嶺南黃檗山捨眾入大安精舍。混跡勞侶。掃灑殿堂。公入寺燒香。主事祇接。因觀壁畫。乃問。是何圖相。主事對曰。高僧真儀。公曰。真儀可觀。高僧何在。主事無對。公曰。此間有禪人否。曰。近有一僧。投寺執役。頗似禪者。公曰。可請來詢問得否。於是遽尋檗至。公覩之欣然曰。休適有一問。諸德吝辭。今請上人代醻一語。檗曰。請相公垂問。公舉前話。檗朗聲曰。裴休。公應諾。檗曰。在甚麼處。公當下知旨。如獲髻珠。曰。吾師真善知識也。示人剋的若是。何故汩沒於此乎。寺眾愕然。自此延入府署。執弟子禮。屢辭不已。復堅請住黃檗山。薦興祖道。有暇即躬入山頂謁。或渴聞玄論。即請入州中。公既通徹祖意。復博綜教相。諸方禪學鹹謂裴相不浪出黃檗之門也。至遷鎮宣城。還思瞻禮。亦創精藍。迎請居之。雖圭峰該通禪講。為裴之所重。未若歸心於黃檗而傾竭服膺者也。又撰圭峰碑雲。休與師於法為昆仲。於義為交友。於恩為善知識。於教為內外護。斯可見矣。仍集黃檗語要。親書序引。冠於編首。留鎮山門。又親書大藏經五百函號。迄今寶之。又圭峰禪師著禪源詮．原人論及圓覺經疏注．法界觀。皆為之序。公篤志內典。深入法會。有發願文傳於世。

His courtesy name was Gongmei. He was a man of Wenxi in Hedong. While he was governing Xin'an, it happened that Chan Master Yun had just left the assembly at Huangbo Mountain in Lingnan and entered the Great Peace Monastery, where he mingled with the laborers and swept the halls. When the chancellor entered the monastery to burn incense, the steward merely received him. Looking at a wall painting, he asked, 'What picture is this?' The steward answered, 'True portraits of eminent monks.' The chancellor said, 'The portraits can be seen, but where are the eminent monks?' The steward had no reply. The chancellor said, 'Is there a Chan man here?' The steward said, 'There is one monk who came to the monastery to do chores; he seems to be a Chan practitioner.' The chancellor said, 'Could he be invited here so I may question him?' So they quickly sought out Bo (Yun) and brought him. When the chancellor saw him he was delighted and said, 'Xiu happens to have a question, and the learned monks have grudged their words. Now I ask the venerable to answer for them with one phrase.' Bo said, 'Please, chancellor, put your question.' The chancellor brought up the earlier conversation. Bo called out loudly, 'Pei Xiu.' The chancellor answered. Bo said, 'Where are you?' The chancellor understood the point on the spot, as if he had obtained the topknot pearl, and said, 'My teacher is truly a good teacher. He shows people the mark so precisely — why then is he buried here?' The monks of the monastery were astonished. From then on he invited him into his office and treated him with the courtesy of a disciple. When Bo repeatedly declined, he insisted all the more that he reside at Huangbo Mountain and promote the Patriarch's Way. Whenever he had leisure he went up the mountain himself to pay his respects. Or if he thirsted to hear profound discourse, he invited him into the prefecture. Having thoroughly penetrated the Patriarch's meaning and also mastered the teachings comprehensively, all the Chan students of the various regions said that Chancellor Pei had not come forth from Huangbo's gate in vain. When he was transferred to govern Xuancheng, he still thought of paying him homage, and also built a monastery to welcome him and have him reside there. Though Guifeng was versed in both Chan and lecturing and was valued by Pei, it did not equal the wholehearted submission with which he gave his heart to Huangbo. He also composed the Guifeng stele, saying, 'Xiu and the master are brothers in the Dharma, friends in meaning, good teachers to each other in kindness, and inner and outer protectors of the teachings.' From this it can be seen. He also collected the essential sayings of Huangbo, wrote out the preface and introduction with his own hand, placed it at the head of the volume, and left it to guard the monastery gate. He also wrote out with his own hand the titles of five hundred cases of the great canon, which are treasured to this day. He also wrote prefaces for Chan Master Guifeng's Explanatory Commentary on the Source of Chan, Treatise on the Origin of Man, and his Subcommentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment and Contemplation of the Dharma Realm. The chancellor devoted himself to the inner scriptures and entered deeply into the Dharma assembly; a vow text of his is transmitted in the world.

長慶安禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Changqing An

益州大隨法真禪師

Chan Master Fashen of Dasui in Yizhou

梓州王氏子。妙齡夙悟。決志尋師。於慧義寺出家。圓具後南遊。初見藥山．道吾．雲巖．洞山．次至嶺外大溈會下。數載食不至充。臥不求暖。清苦鍊行。操履不群。溈深器之。一日問曰。闍黎在老僧此間。不曾問一轉話。師曰。教某甲向甚麼處下口。溈曰。何不道如何是佛。師便作手勢掩溈口。溈歎曰。子真得其髓。從此名傳四海。爾後還蜀。寄錫天彭堋口山龍懷寺。於路旁煎茶普施三年。因往後山。見一古院號大隨。群峰矗秀。㵎水清冷。中有一樹。圍四丈餘。南開一門。中空無礙。不假斤斧。自然一菴。時自為木禪菴。師乃居之十餘載。影不出山。聲聞於外。四方玄學。千里趨風。蜀主欽尚。遣使屢徵。師皆辭以老病。署神照大師。上堂。此性本來清淨。具足萬德。但以染淨二緣。而有差別。故諸聖悟之。一向淨用。而成覺道。凡夫迷之。一向染用。沒溺輪回。其體不二。故般若雲。無二無二分。無別無斷故。僧問。劫火洞然。大千俱壞。未審這箇壞不壞。師曰。壞。曰。恁麼則隨他去也。師曰。隨他去。僧不肯。後到投子。舉前話。子遂裝香遙禮曰。西川古佛出世。謂其僧曰。汝速回去懺悔。僧回。大隨師已歿。僧再至投子。子亦遷化。問。如何是大人相。師曰。肚上不貼榜。問。僧甚處去。曰。西山住菴去。師曰。我向東山頭喚汝。汝便來得麼。曰。不然。師曰。汝住菴未得。問。生死到來時如何。師曰。遇茶吃茶。遇飯吃飯。曰。誰受供養。師曰。合取缽盂。庵側有一龜。僧問。一切眾生皮裹骨。這箇眾生為甚骨裹皮。師拈草履覆龜背上。僧無語。問。如何是諸佛法要。師舉拂子曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。麈尾拂子。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。是我自己。曰。為甚麼卻是和尚自己。師曰。是汝自己。問。如何是大隨一面事。師曰。東西南北。問。佛法徧在一切處。教學人向甚麼處駐足。

He was a son of the Wang family of Zizhou. In his youth he was awakened from former lives, and firmly resolved to seek a teacher. He left home at Huiyi Monastery. After receiving full ordination he traveled south. He first met Yaoshan, Daowu, Yunyan and Dongshan, and then went beyond the ranges to the assembly of Great Weishan. For several years he did not eat his fill, and did not seek warmth in sleep. Purifying himself with ascetic practice, his conduct was unlike other men's. Weishan greatly valued him. One day he asked him, 'Acharya, all the time you have been here with this old monk, you have never asked a single turning word.' The Master said, 'Where would you have me put my mouth?' Weishan said, 'Why do you not ask, what is the Buddha?' The Master then made a gesture covering Weishan's mouth. Weishan sighed and said, 'You have truly got the marrow.' From then on his name spread through the four seas. Afterwards he returned to Shu, and lodged his staff at Longhuai Monastery on Mount Pengkou in Tianpeng, boiling tea by the roadside and giving it freely for three years. Then he went to the mountain behind, and saw an ancient temple site called Dasui. The peaks stood in elegant array, the stream water was clear and cold. In the midst was a tree more than four arm-spans around, with a door opening on the south side and a hollow within with no obstruction — no axe had been used on it, a natural hermitage. At the time it was called the Wooden Chan Hermitage. The Master lived there for more than ten years, his shadow never leaving the mountain, his fame heard abroad. Seekers of the mystery from all quarters hurried to him from a thousand li. The ruler of Shu revered him and sent envoys to summon him repeatedly. The Master always declined on grounds of old age and illness. He was appointed Great Master Divine Illumination. Ascending the hall: 'This nature is originally pure, complete with ten thousand virtues. Only through the two conditions of defilement and purity are there differences. Therefore the sages, awakening to it, use it wholly in the pure mode and accomplish the Way of enlightenment. Ordinary people, deluded about it, use it wholly in the defiled mode and drown in the round of rebirth. Its substance is not two. Therefore the Prajna says: no two, no twofoldness; because there is no separation, no severance.' A monk asked, 'When the fire at the end of the kalpa blazes and the great thousand worlds are all destroyed, I wonder whether this is destroyed or not?' The Master said, 'It is destroyed.' The monk said, 'If so, then it goes along with them.' The Master said, 'It goes along with them.' The monk was not convinced. Later he went to Touzi and brought up the earlier words. Touzi then burned incense and bowed in the distance, saying, 'An ancient Buddha has appeared in the world in Western Shu.' He told that monk, 'Go back quickly and repent.' The monk returned, but the Master Dasui had already passed away. The monk came to Touzi again, and Touzi too had passed on. Someone asked, 'What is the mark of a great man?' The Master said, 'No placard pasted on the belly.' He asked a monk, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'To the Western Mountain to live in a hermitage.' The Master said, 'If I call you from the eastern peak, will you come?' He said, 'No.' The Master said, 'You are not ready to live in a hermitage.' Someone asked, 'What is it like when birth and death come?' The Master said, 'When tea comes, drink tea; when food comes, eat food.' He asked, 'Who receives the offerings?' The Master said, 'Shut up and take your bowl.' Beside the hermitage there was a turtle. A monk asked, 'All living beings have skin wrapping bone — why does this being have bone wrapping skin?' The Master picked up a straw sandal and covered the turtle's back with it. The monk said nothing. Someone asked, 'What is the essential point of the Buddhas' Dharma?' The Master raised his fly whisk and said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'A deer-tail fly whisk.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's own self?' The Master said, 'It is my own self.' He said, 'Why is it the Reverend's own self?' The Master said, 'It is your own self.' Someone asked, 'What is the single matter of Dasui?' The Master said, 'East, west, south, north.' Someone asked, 'The Buddha Dharma is everywhere in all places — where should a student set his feet?'

師曰。大海從魚躍。長空任鳥飛。問。父子至親。岐路各別時如何。師曰。為有父子。問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。高五尺。曰。學人不會。師曰。鶻崙甎。問。和尚百年後法付何人。師曰。露柱火鑪。曰。還受也無。師曰。火鑪露柱。行者領眾參。師問。參得底人喚東作甚麼。曰。不可喚作東。師咄曰。臭驢漢。不喚作東喚作甚麼。者無語。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。赤土畫簸箕。曰。未審此理如何。師曰。簸箕有唇。米跳不出。問。僧講甚麼教法。曰。百法論。師拈杖曰。從何而起。曰。從緣而起。師曰。苦哉。苦哉。問。僧甚處去。曰。峨嵋禮普賢去。師舉拂子曰。文殊．普賢總在這裡。僧作圓相拋向後。乃禮拜。師喚侍者取一貼茶與這僧。眾僧參次。師以口作患風勢。曰。還有人醫得吾口麼。眾僧競送藥以至。俗士聞之。亦多送藥。師並不受。七日後。師自摑口令正。乃曰。如許多時鼓這兩片皮。至今無人醫得。即端坐而逝。

The Master said, 'The great sea lets the fish leap, the vast sky lets the bird fly.' Someone asked, 'When father and son are closest kin, and yet part at the fork in the road, how is it?' The Master said, 'Because there is father and son.' Someone asked, 'What is the seamless stupa?' The Master said, 'Five feet tall.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'A lump of brick.' Someone asked, 'After the Reverend's hundred years, to whom will the Dharma be entrusted?' The Master said, 'The exposed pillar and the fire stove.' He said, 'Do they receive it or not?' The Master said, 'The fire stove and the exposed pillar.' A postulant came leading the assembly to pay respects. The Master asked, 'What do those who have paid respect call the east?' He said, 'One cannot call it the east.' The Master shouted, 'Stinking donkey! If you do not call it the east, what do you call it?' The postulant said nothing. Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'A winnowing basket painted in red earth.' He said, 'I wonder what principle this is?' The Master said, 'The winnowing basket has a rim, so the rice cannot jump out.' He asked a monk, 'What teaching do you lecture on?' He said, 'The Treatise on the Hundred Dharmas.' The Master picked up his staff and said, 'From what does it arise?' He said, 'It arises from conditions.' The Master said, 'How painful, how painful.' He asked a monk, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'To Emei to pay respects to Samantabhadra.' The Master raised his fly whisk and said, 'Manjushri and Samantabhadra are both right here.' The monk drew a circle, threw it behind him, and then bowed. The Master called the attendant to fetch a packet of tea for this monk. Once, when the monks were paying their respects, the Master made his mouth look as if it were afflicted by wind, and said, 'Is there anyone who can cure my mouth?' The monks competed in sending medicines. Lay people heard of it and also sent many medicines. The Master accepted none of them. Seven days later the Master slapped his own mouth to make it straight, and said, 'For so long I have been beating these two flaps of skin, and to this day no one has been able to cure it.' Then sitting upright he passed away.

韶州靈樹如敏禪師

Chan Master Rumin of Lingshu in Shaozhou

閩人也。廣主劉氏奕世欽重。署知聖大師。僧問。佛法至理如何。師展手而已。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。千年田．八百主。曰。如何是千年田．八百主。師曰。郎當屋舍沒人修。問。如何是西來意。師曰。童子莫傜兒。曰。乞師指示。師曰。汝從虔州來。問。是甚麼得恁麼難會。師曰。火官頭上風車子。有尼送瓷缽與師。師拓起問曰。這箇出在甚麼。曰。出在定州(法燈別雲。不遠此間)。師乃撲破。尼無對(保福代雲。欺敵者亡)。問。和尚年多少。師曰。今日生。來朝死。又問。和尚生緣甚麼處。師曰。日出東。月落西。師四十餘年化被嶺表。頗有異跡。廣主將興兵。躬入院請師決臧𠘶。師已先知。怡然坐化。主怒知事曰。和尚何時得疾。對曰。不曾有疾。適封一函子。令呈大王。主開函得一帖子云。人天眼目。堂中上座。主悟師旨。遂寢兵。乃召第一座開堂說法(即雲門也)。龕塔塟儀。廣主具辦。諡靈樹禪師。真身塔焉。

was a man of Min. The ruler of Guang, of the Liu family, revered him for generations, and appointed him Great Master Knowing the Sage. A monk asked, 'What is the ultimate principle of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master simply opened his hand. He asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'A thousand-year field, eight hundred owners.' He said, 'What is a thousand-year field with eight hundred owners?' The Master said, 'A tumble-down house with no one to repair it.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A boy, a Yao lad.' He said, 'I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master said, 'You have come from Qianzhou.' Someone asked, 'What is it that is so hard to understand?' The Master said, 'A windmill on the fire god's head.' A nun brought a porcelain bowl to the Master. The Master held it up and asked, 'Where does this come from?' She said, 'It comes from Dingzhou.' (Fadeng said in comment, 'It is not far from here.') The Master then smashed it. The nun had no reply. (Baofu said on her behalf, 'He who cheats his enemy perishes.') Someone asked, 'How old is the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Born today, dead tomorrow morning.' He also asked, 'Where was the Reverend born?' The Master said, 'The sun rises in the east, the moon sets in the west.' For more than forty years the Master's transformation covered Lingnan, and he left many extraordinary traces. When the ruler of Guang was about to raise troops, he went in person to the monastery to ask the Master to judge the matter. The Master had known beforehand, and calmly passed away sitting. The ruler angrily asked the administrator, 'When did the Reverend fall ill?' He replied, 'He was never ill. Just now he sealed a box and told us to present it to Your Highness.' The ruler opened the box and found a note saying, 'The eye of gods and men, the head seat in the hall.' The ruler understood the Master's meaning, and then stopped his troops. He then summoned the head seat to open the hall and preach the Dharma (this was Yunmen). The funeral rites of the niche and stupa were provided in full by the ruler of Guang. His posthumous title was Chan Master Lingshu. His relic body is in the stupa.

福州靈雲志勤禪師

Chan Master Zhiqin of Lingyun in Fuzhou

本州長谿人也。初在溈山。因見桃華悟道。有偈曰。三十年來尋劒客。幾回落葉又抽枝。自從一見桃華後。直至如今更不疑。溈覧偈。詰其所悟。與之符契。溈曰。從緣悟達。永無退失。善自護持(有僧舉似玄沙。沙雲。諦當甚諦當。敢保老兄未徹在。眾疑此語。沙問地藏。我恁麼道。汝作麼生會。藏雲。不是桂琛。即走殺天下人)。住後。上堂。諸仁者所有長短。盡至不常。且觀四時草木。葉落華開。何況塵劫來。天人七趣。地水火風。成壞輪轉。因果將盡。三惡道苦。毛髮不曾添減。唯根蔕神識常存。上根者遇善友伸明。當處解脫。便是道場。中下痴愚。不能覺照。沈迷三界。流轉生死。釋尊為伊天上人間。設教證明。顯發智道。汝等還會麼。僧問。如何得出離生老病死。師曰。青山元不動。浮雲任去來。問。君王出陣時如何。師曰。春明門外。不問長安。曰。如何得覲天子。師曰。盲鶴下清池。魚從腳底過。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。驢事未去。馬事到來。曰。學人不會。師曰。彩氣夜常動。精靈日少逢。雪峰有偈送雙峰。末句雲。雷罷不停聲。師別雲。雷震不聞聲。峰聞乃曰。靈雲山頭古月現。峰後問曰。古人道。前三三後三三。意旨如何。師曰。水中魚。天上鳥。峰曰。意作麼生。師曰。高可射兮深可釣。僧問。諸方悉皆雜食。未審和尚如何。師曰。獨有閩中異。雄雄鎮海涯。問。久戰沙場。為甚麼功名不就。師曰。君王有道三邊靜。何勞萬裡築長城。曰。罷卻干戈。束手歸朝時如何。師曰。慈雲普潤無邊剎。枯樹無華爭柰何。長生問。混沌未分時含生何來。師曰。如露柱懷胎。曰。分後如何。師曰。如片雲點太清。曰。未審太清還受點也無。師不答。曰。恁麼則含生不來也。師亦不答。曰。直得純清絕點時如何。師曰。猶是真常流注。曰。如何是真常流注。師曰。似鏡長明。曰。

was a man of Changxi in that prefecture. He was first at Weishan, where he awakened to the Way on seeing peach blossoms. He had a verse: 'For thirty years a seeker of the sword — how many times leaves fell and branches sprouted again. Since the day I first saw the peach blossoms, I have never doubted again.' Weishan read the verse, questioned him on what he had awakened to, and found it in accord. Weishan said, 'Awakening through a condition, you will never lose it. Guard it well.' (A monk reported this to Xuansha. Sha said, 'Quite right, quite right — but I dare not guarantee that the elder is fully penetrated.' The assembly doubted these words. Sha asked Dizang, 'I spoke like that — how do you understand it?' Zang said, 'Were it not Guichen, the whole world would be killed off.') After he had settled there, he ascended the hall: 'All you good people, whatever is long or short all comes to impermanence. Just look at the plants through the four seasons: leaves fall, flowers open. How much more so through the dust-kalpas: gods and men and the seven destinies, earth, water, fire and wind, forming and decaying in turn. When cause and effect are exhausted, the suffering of the three evil paths — not a hair has been added or subtracted. Only the root and the consciousness always remain. Those of sharp faculties who meet a good friend and have it made clear are liberated right where they stand, and that is the place of practice. Those of middling and dull faculties, foolish and deluded, cannot awaken or illumine themselves, and sink into the three realms, flowing on in birth and death. Sakyamuni, for their sake, in heaven and among men established teachings to verify and reveal the way of wisdom. Do you all understand?' A monk asked, 'How can one escape birth, old age, sickness and death?' The Master said, 'The green mountain never moves; floating clouds come and go as they please.' He asked, 'What is it like when the king goes out to battle?' The Master said, 'Outside the Spring Bright Gate, one does not ask after Chang'an.' He said, 'How can one have an audience with the Son of Heaven?' The Master said, 'A blind crane descends to the clear pool; fish pass beneath its feet.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'The donkey's business is not yet done, and the horse's business arrives.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'The colored vapors stir nightly; the spirits are seldom met by day.' Xuefeng had a verse sending off Shuangfeng, whose last line was, 'The thunder stops but the sound does not cease.' The Master said in comment, 'The thunder crashes and no sound is heard.' When Feng heard this he said, 'The ancient moon appears on the peak of Lingyun.' Later Feng asked, 'The ancients said, three before, three after — what is the meaning?' The Master said, 'A fish in the water, a bird in the sky.' Feng said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'The high one may be shot, the deep one may be hooked.' A monk asked, 'All quarters all eat mixed food; I wonder about the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Only Min is different, mighty and holding the edge of the sea.' Someone asked, 'Long fighting on the battlefield, why is merit and fame not achieved?' The Master said, 'When the king has the Way, the three borders are quiet — why labor to build a long wall for ten thousand li?' He said, 'When weapons are laid down and one returns to court with hands bound, how is it?' The Master said, 'Clouds of compassion moisten lands without bound; what can a withered tree do without flowers?' Changsheng asked, 'Before chaos was divided, where did sentient beings come from?' The Master said, 'Like an exposed pillar pregnant.' He said, 'And after the division?' The Master said, 'Like a wisp of cloud dotting the great clarity.' He said, 'I wonder whether the great clarity receives the dot or not?' The Master did not answer. He said, 'If so, then sentient beings do not come.' The Master still did not answer. He said, 'What about when utterly pure and cut off?' The Master said, 'It is still the outflow of the true and constant.' He said, 'What is the outflow of the true and constant?' The Master said, 'Like a mirror always bright.' He said,

向上更有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。打破鏡來。與汝相見。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。井底種林擒。曰。學人不會。師曰。今年桃李貴。一顆直千金。問。摩尼珠不隨眾色。未審作何色。師曰。白色。曰。恁麼則隨眾色也。師曰。趙璧本無瑕。相如誑秦主。問。僧甚處去。曰。雪峰去。師曰。我有一信寄雪峰。得麼。曰。便請。師脫隻履拋向面前。僧便去。至雪峰。峰問。甚處來。曰。靈雲來。峰曰。靈雲安否。曰。有一信相寄。峰曰。在那裡。僧脫隻履。拋向峰面前。峰休去。

'Is there anything further beyond that?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the matter beyond?' The Master said, 'Break the mirror, and I will meet you.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Planting apple trees at the bottom of a well.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'This year peaches and plums are dear; one fruit is worth a thousand in gold.' Someone asked, 'The mani pearl does not follow the various colors — I wonder what color it is?' The Master said, 'White.' He said, 'If so, then it follows the various colors.' The Master said, 'The jade disc of Zhao had no flaw; Xiangru deceived the king of Qin.' He asked a monk, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'To Xuefeng.' The Master said, 'I have a letter to send to Xuefeng — will you take it?' He said, 'Please do.' The Master took off one shoe and threw it in front of him. The monk then left. When he reached Xuefeng, Feng asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Lingyun.' Feng said, 'Is Lingyun well?' He said, 'He sent a letter.' Feng said, 'Where is it?' The monk took off one shoe and threw it in front of Feng. Feng let it be.

福州壽山師解禪師

Chan Master Shijie of Shoushan in Fuzhou

甞參洞山。山問。闍黎生緣何處。師曰。和尚若實問。某甲即是閩中人也。曰。汝父名甚麼。師曰。今日蒙和尚致此一問。直得忘前失後。住後。上堂。諸上座幸有真實言語相勸。諸兄弟合各自體悉。凡聖情盡。體露真常。但一時卸卻從前虗妄。攀緣塵垢。心如虗空相似。他時後日。合識得些子好惡。閩帥問。壽山年多少。師曰。與虗空齊年。曰。虗空年多少。師曰。與壽山齊年。

once studied under Dongshan. Shan asked, 'Acharya, where were you born?' The Master said, 'If the Reverend truly asks, then I am a man of Min.' He said, 'What is your father's name?' The Master said, 'Today, thanks to the Reverend's one question, I have quite forgotten what came before and lost what came after.' After he had settled there, he ascended the hall: 'You venerable ones are fortunate to have true words to encourage one another. You brothers should each understand for yourselves. When the feelings of ordinary and sage are exhausted, the substance is revealed as the true and constant. Just unload at once all your former falseness and the dust of clinging, and let the mind be like empty space. In days to come you should be able to tell a little of good from bad.' The commander of Min asked, 'How old is Shoushan?' The Master said, 'As old as empty space.' He said, 'How old is empty space?' The Master said, 'As old as Shoushan.'

饒州嶤山和尚

The Reverend of Yaoshan in Raozhou

僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。仲冬嚴寒。問。如何是和尚深深處。師曰。待汝舌頭落地。即向汝道。問。如何是丈六金身。師曰。判官斷案相公改。長慶問。從上宗乘。此間如何言論。師曰。有願不負先聖。慶曰。不負先聖作麼生。師曰。不露。慶曰。恁麼則請師領話。師曰。甚麼處去來。慶曰。祇守甚麼處去來。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Deep winter, bitter cold.' He asked, 'What is the Reverend's deepest place?' The Master said, 'When your tongue falls to the ground, I will tell you.' He asked, 'What is the sixteen-foot golden body?' The Master said, 'The judge decides the case, the minister alters it.' Changqing asked, 'As for the ancestral vehicle from above, how is it discussed here?' The Master said, 'There is a vow not to betray the former sages.' Qing said, 'What is not betraying the former sages?' The Master said, 'Not revealed.' Qing said, 'If so, please, Master, accept the words.' The Master said, 'Where have you been?' Qing said, 'I just keep to where I have been.'

泉州國歡崇福院文矩慧日禪師

Chan Master Wenju Huiri of Chongfu Monastery in Guohuan, Quanzhou

福州黃氏子。生而有異。及長為縣獄卒。每每棄役。往神光觀和尚及西院安禪師所。吏不能禁。後謁萬歲塔譚空禪師落髮。不披袈裟。不受具戒。唯以雜綵為掛子。復至神光。光曰。我非汝師。汝禮西院去。師擕一小青竹杖。入西院法堂。院遙見笑曰。入涅槃堂去。師應諾。輪竹杖而入。時有五百許僧染時疾。師以杖次第點之。各隨點而起。閩王禮重。創院以居之。厥後頗多靈跡。唐乾寧中示滅。

was a son of the Huang family of Fuzhou. He was born with something unusual about him. When grown he became a county jailer. He often abandoned his duties and went to where Chan Master Shenguang and Chan Master Xi of the Western Hall were. The officials could not stop him. Later he went to Chan Master Tankong of Wansui Pagoda, who shaved his head; he did not wear a cassock, did not receive the full precepts, and wore only a patched robe of mixed colors. He went again to Shenguang. Guang said, 'I am not your teacher. Go and pay respects to the Western Hall.' The Master carried a small green bamboo staff and entered the Dharma hall of the Western Hall. The Hall saw him from afar and said with a laugh, 'Go into the nirvana hall.' The Master assented, and went in twirling his bamboo staff. At that time some five hundred monks had caught an epidemic. The Master touched them one by one with his staff, and each rose as he was touched. The king of Min revered him and built a monastery for him to live in. Afterwards he left many spiritual traces. He passed into extinction in the Qianning era of the Tang.

台州浮江和尚

The Reverend of Fujiang in Taizhou

雪峰領眾到。問。即今有二百人寄此過夏。得麼。師將拄杖畫一畫。著不得即道。峰休去。

When Xuefeng came leading his assembly, he asked, 'There are two hundred people lodging here for the summer retreat just now — is that all right?' The Master drew a line with his staff and said, 'If it does not fit, then say so.' Feng let it be.

潞州淥水和尚

The Reverend of Lushui in Luzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。還見庭前華藥欄麼。僧無語。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Do you see the flower railing in the courtyard?' The monk said nothing.

廣州文殊院圓明禪師

Chan Master Yuanming of Wenshu Monastery in Guangzhou

福州陳氏子。參大溈得旨後。造雪峰請益。法無異味。甞遊五臺山。覩文殊化現。乃隨方建院。以文殊為額。開寶中樞密使李崇矩巡護南方。因入院覩地藏菩薩像。問僧。地藏何以展手。僧曰。手中珠被賊偷卻也。李卻問師。既是地藏。為甚麼遭賊。曰。今日捉下也。李禮謝之。

was a son of the Chen family of Fuzhou. After he had studied under Great Weishan and got the meaning, he went to Xuefeng to seek further instruction, and found no different flavor in the Dharma. Once he traveled to Mount Wutai and saw Manjushri manifest, and so he built a monastery wherever he was, naming it after Manjushri. In the Kaibao era the Privy Councillor Li Chongju was on an inspection tour of the south, and entering the monastery he saw the image of Ksitigarbha and asked a monk, 'Why does Ksitigarbha hold out his hand?' The monk said, 'The pearl in his hand has been stolen by a thief.' Li then asked the Master, 'Since he is Ksitigarbha, why did he meet with a thief?' He said, 'He has been caught today.' Li bowed and thanked him.

趙州諗禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Shen of Zhaozhou

洪州新興嚴陽尊者

The Venerable Yanyang of Xinxing in Hongzhou,

諱善信。初參趙州。問。一物不將來時如何。州曰。放下著。師曰。既是一物不將來。放下箇甚麼。州曰。放不下。擔取去。師於言下大悟。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。土塊。曰。如何是法。師曰。地動也。曰。如何是僧。師曰。吃粥吃飯。問。如何是新興水。師曰。面前江裡。問。如何是應物現形。師曰。與我拈床子過來。師常有一蛇一虎。隨從手中與食。

whose personal name was Shanxin. He first studied under Zhaozhou and asked, 'What about when one brings not a single thing?' Zhou said, 'Put it down.' The Master said, 'Since I bring not a single thing, what is there to put down?' Zhou said, 'If you cannot put it down, pick it up and carry it off.' At these words the Master was greatly awakened. After he had settled there, a monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'A clod of earth.' He said, 'What is the Dharma?' The Master said, 'The earth moves.' He said, 'What is the Sangha?' The Master said, 'Eating gruel, eating rice.' Someone asked, 'What is the water of Xinxing?' The Master said, 'In the river in front.' Someone asked, 'What is responding to things and manifesting form?' The Master said, 'Bring me a stool.' The Master always had a snake and a tiger, which followed him and were fed from his hand.

揚州光孝院慧覺禪師

Chan Master Huijue of Guangxiao Monastery in Yangzhou

僧問。覺華才綻。遍滿娑婆。祖印西來。合談何事。師曰。情生智隔。曰。此是教意。師曰。汝披甚麼衣服。問。一棒打破虗空時如何。師曰。困即歇去。師問相國宋齊丘曰。還會道麼。宋曰。若是道也著不得。師曰。是有著不得。是無著不得。宋曰。總不恁麼。師曰。著不得底聻。宋無對。師領眾出。見露柱。乃合掌曰。不審世尊。僧曰。和尚。是露柱。師曰。啼得血流無用處。不如緘口過殘春。問。遠遠投師。師意如何。師曰。官家嚴切。不許安排。曰。豈無方便。師曰。且向火倉裡一宿。師到崇壽。法眼問。近離甚處。師曰。趙州。眼曰。承聞趙州有庭前栢樹子話。是否。師曰。無。眼曰。往來皆謂僧問。如何是祖師西來意。州曰。庭前栢樹子。上座何得言無。師曰。先師實無此語。和尚莫謗先師好。張居士問。爭奈老何。師曰。年多少。張曰。八十也。師曰。可謂老也。曰。究竟如何。師曰。直至千歲也未在。俗士問。某甲平生殺牛。還有罪否。師曰。無罪。曰。為甚麼無罪。師曰。殺一箇。還一箇。

A monk asked, 'The flower of enlightenment has just opened and fills the Saha world. The ancestral seal came from the West — what matter should be discussed?' The Master said, 'When feeling arises, wisdom is blocked.' He said, 'This is the meaning of the teachings.' The Master said, 'What clothes are you wearing?' Someone asked, 'What about when one blow smashes empty space?' The Master said, 'When tired, rest.' The Master asked the Chancellor Song Qiqiu, 'Can you still speak the Way?' Song said, 'If it is the Way, it cannot be grasped either.' The Master said, 'Is it that there is something that cannot be grasped, or that there is nothing that cannot be grasped?' Song said, 'Neither.' The Master said, 'And what of that which cannot be grasped?' Song had no reply. Once, when the Master was leading the assembly out, he saw an exposed pillar, and joining his palms he said, 'Greetings, World-Honored One.' A monk said, 'Reverend, that is an exposed pillar.' The Master said, 'Crying until blood flows is of no use; better to keep my mouth shut and pass the last of spring.' Someone asked, 'Coming from afar to seek the Master, what is the Master's meaning?' The Master said, 'The authorities are strict; no arrangements are permitted.' He said, 'Surely there are skillful means?' The Master said, 'For now, spend one night in the fire shed.' When the Master came to Chongshou, Fayan asked, 'Where have you come from recently?' The Master said, 'Zhaozhou.' Yan said, 'I have heard that Zhaozhou had the words about the cypress tree in the courtyard — is that so?' The Master said, 'No.' Yan said, 'Everyone says a monk asked what the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West was, and Zhou said the cypress tree in the courtyard. How can you say no?' The Master said, 'My late teacher truly said no such thing. Reverend, please do not slander my late teacher.' The layman Zhang asked, 'What is to be done about old age?' The Master said, 'How old are you?' Zhang said, 'Eighty.' The Master said, 'You may indeed be called old.' He said, 'And after all, how is it?' The Master said, 'Even at a thousand years it would not be so.' A layman asked, 'All my life I have slaughtered cattle — do I have any sin?' The Master said, 'No sin.' He said, 'Why no sin?' The Master said, 'You kill one, one is returned to you.'

隴州國清院奉禪師

Chan Master Feng of Guoqing Monastery in Longzhou

僧問。祖意教意是同是別。師曰。雨滋三草秀。春風不裹頭。曰。畢竟是一是二。師曰。祥雲競起。巖洞不虧。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。臺盤椅子。火爐牕牗。問。如何是出家人。師曰。銅頭鐵額。鳥觜鹿身。曰。如何是出家人本分事。師曰。早起不審。夜間珍重。問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼百鳥銜花。師曰。如陝府人送錢財與鐵牛。曰。見後為甚麼不銜花。師曰。木馬投明行八百。問。十二時中如何降伏其心。師曰。敲冰求火。論劫不逢。問。十二分教是止啼之義。離卻止啼。請師一句。師曰。孤峰頂上雙角女。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。釋迦是牛頭獄卒。祖師是馬面阿旁。問。如何是西來意。師曰。東壁打西壁。問。如何是撲不破底句。師曰。不隔毫氂。時人遠嚮。

A monk asked, 'Are the Ancestor's meaning and the teaching's meaning the same or different?' The Master said, 'Rain nourishes the three grasses into bloom; the spring wind does not wrap its head.' He said, 'After all, is it one or two?' The Master said, 'Auspicious clouds rise in rivalry, the mountain cave does not diminish.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'A table, a chair, a fire stove, a window.' Someone asked, 'What is a man who has left home?' The Master said, 'A bronze head and iron brow, a bird's beak and a deer's body.' He said, 'What is the original matter of a man who has left home?' The Master said, 'In the morning, greetings; at night, take care.' Someone asked, 'When Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor, why did a hundred birds bring him flowers?' The Master said, 'Like a man of Shaanfu giving money and goods to an iron ox.' He said, 'And why did they not bring flowers after he met him?' The Master said, 'A wooden horse sets out at dawn and travels eight hundred.' Someone asked, 'How can one subdue the mind throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'Chipping ice to seek fire, and through a whole kalpa never finding it.' Someone asked, 'The twelve divisions of the teaching are the meaning of stopping a child's crying. Setting aside the stopping of crying, please, Master, one phrase.' The Master said, 'A two-horned woman on the summit of a lone peak.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Sakyamuni is the ox-headed jailer, the Ancestor is the horse-faced demon.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Striking the east wall against the west wall.' Someone asked, 'What is a phrase that cannot be broken?' The Master said, 'Not separated by a hair's breadth, yet people of the time seek it far away.'

婺州木陳從朗禪師

Chan Master Conglang of Muchen in Wuzhou

僧問。放鶴出籠和雪去時如何。師曰。我道不一色。因金剛倒。僧問。既是金剛不壞身。為甚麼卻倒地。師敲禪床曰。行住坐臥。師將歸寂。有偈曰。三十年來住木陳。時中無一假功成。有人問我西來意。展似眉毛作麼生。

A monk asked, 'What about releasing the crane from its cage to go off with the snow?' The Master said, 'I say it is not one color.' Because a vajra statue had fallen, a monk asked, 'Since it is a vajra indestructible body, why has it fallen to the ground?' The Master struck the meditation seat and said, 'Walking, standing, sitting, lying.' When the Master was about to pass into quiescence, he had a verse: 'For thirty years I have lived at Muchen, and in all that time not one thing was achieved by false effort. If someone asks me the meaning of the coming from the West, what is the use of opening my eyebrows?'

婺州新建禪師

Chan Master Xinjian of Wuzhou

不度小師。有僧問。和尚年老。何不畜一童子侍奉。師曰。有瞽瞶者為吾討來。僧辭。師問。甚處去。曰。府下開元寺去。師曰。我有一信附與了寺主。汝將去得否。曰。便請。師曰。想汝也不奈何。

would not ordain young disciples. A monk asked, 'The Reverend is old — why not keep a boy to attend you?' The Master said, 'Find me one who is blind and deaf.' The monk took his leave. The Master asked, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'To Kaiyuan Monastery in the prefecture.' The Master said, 'I have a letter to entrust to the abbot there. Can you take it?' He said, 'Please do.' The Master said, 'I suppose there is nothing you can do about it either.'

杭州多福和尚

The Reverend of Duofu in Hangzhou

僧問。如何是多福一叢竹。師曰。一莖兩莖斜。曰。學人不會。師曰。三莖四莖曲。問。如何是衲衣下事。師曰。大有人疑著在。曰。為甚麼如是。師曰。月裡藏頭。

A monk asked, 'What is the single clump of bamboo at Duofu?' The Master said, 'One stalk, two stalks lean.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Three stalks, four stalks crooked.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter under the patch robe?' The Master said, 'A great many people are doubting it.' He said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'Hiding its head in the moon.'

益州西睦和尚

The Reverend of Ximu in Yizhou

上堂。有俗士舉手曰。和尚便是一頭驢。師曰。老僧被汝騎。士無語。去後三日再來。白言。某甲三日前著賊。師拈杖趂出。師有時驀喚侍者。者應諾。師曰。更深夜靜。共伊商量。

Once when he had ascended the hall, a layman raised his hand and said, 'The Reverend is a donkey.' The Master said, 'This old monk is ridden by you.' The layman said nothing. Three days after he left he came again and said, 'Three days ago I was robbed.' The Master picked up his staff and drove him out. Sometimes the Master would suddenly call the attendant. The attendant would answer. The Master would say, 'Deep is the night and still; let us discuss it together.'

長沙岑禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Cen of Changsha

明州雪竇常通禪師

Chan Master Changtong of Xuedou in Mingzhou

邢州李氏子。參長沙。沙問。何處人。師曰。邢州人。沙曰。我道汝不從彼來。師曰。和尚還曾住此否。沙然之。乃容入室。住後。僧問。如何是密室。師曰。不通風信。曰。如何是密室中人。師曰。諸聖求覩不見。僧作禮。師曰。千聖不能思。萬聖不能議。乾坤壞不壞。虗空包不包。一切無比倫。三世唱不起。問。如何是三世諸佛出身處。師曰。伊不肯知有汝三世。僧良久。師曰。薦否。不然者且向著佛不得處體取。時中常在。識盡功亡。瞥然而起。即是傷他。而況言句乎。天祐二年七月示寂。塔於寺西南隅。

was a son of the Li family of Xingzhou. He studied under Changsha. Sha asked, 'Where are you from?' The Master said, 'A man of Xingzhou.' Sha said, 'I say you did not come from there.' The Master said, 'Has the Reverend ever lived there?' Sha agreed with him, and allowed him into the inner room. After he had settled there, a monk asked, 'What is the secret room?' The Master said, 'No news gets through.' He said, 'Who is the man in the secret room?' The Master said, 'The sages seek to see him and do not.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'A thousand sages cannot think it, ten thousand sages cannot discuss it. Heaven and earth may be destroyed or not, empty space may contain it or not. Nothing in all the world compares to it; the three ages cannot sing of it.' Someone asked, 'What is the place where the Buddhas of the three ages come forth?' The Master said, 'He will not admit that there are three ages for you.' The monk was silent a long while. The Master said, 'Do you take it? If not, then investigate it where the Buddha cannot reach. Standing always in the midst of time, when knowing is exhausted, effort is gone. To stir for an instant is already to hurt him. How much more so with words and phrases?' He passed into quiescence in the seventh month of the second year of Tianyou. His stupa is in the southwest corner of the monastery.

茱萸和尚法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the Reverend of Zhuyu

石梯和尚

The Reverend of Shiti

因侍者請浴。師曰。既不洗塵。亦不洗體。汝作麼生。者曰。和尚先去。某甲將皂角來。師呵呵大笑。有新到於師前立。少頃便出去。師曰。有甚麼辨白處。僧再回。師曰。辨得也。曰。辨後作麼生。師曰。埋卻得也。曰。蒼天。蒼天。師曰。適來卻恁麼。如今還不當。僧乃出去。一日見侍者拓缽赴堂。乃喚侍者。者應諾。師曰。甚處去。者曰。上堂齋去。師曰。我豈不知汝上堂齋去。者曰。除此外別道箇甚麼。師曰。我祇問汝本分事。者曰。和尚若問本分事。某甲實是上堂齋去。師曰。汝不謬為吾侍者。

Once his attendant asked leave to bathe. The Master said, 'Since we wash neither the dust nor the body, how will you do it?' The attendant said, 'The Reverend go first; I will bring the soap pods.' The Master laughed heartily. Once a newly arrived monk stood before the Master, and after a short while went out. The Master said, 'What is there to explain?' The monk came back again. The Master said, 'You have explained it.' He said, 'And after explaining, how is it?' The Master said, 'You can be buried.' He said, 'O heavens, O heavens!' The Master said, 'Just now you were like that, and now you still do not measure up.' The monk then went out. One day, seeing his attendant carrying his bowl to the hall, he called the attendant. The attendant answered. The Master said, 'Where are you going?' The attendant said, 'To the hall for the midday meal.' The Master said, 'Do I not know that you are going to the hall for the midday meal?' The attendant said, 'What else would you have me say?' The Master said, 'I am only asking you about your original matter.' The attendant said, 'If the Reverend asks about my original matter, then I really am going to the hall for the midday meal.' The Master said, 'You do not falsely serve as my attendant.'

子湖蹤禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Zong of Zihu

台州勝光和尚

The Reverend of Shengguang in Taizhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。福州茘枝。泉州刺桐。問。如何是佛法兩字。師曰。要道即道。曰。請師道。師曰。穿耳胡僧笑點頭。龍華照和尚來。師把住曰。作麼生。照曰。莫錯。師乃放手。照曰。久嚮勝光。師默然。照乃辭。師門送曰。自此一別。甚麼處相見。照呵呵而去。

A monk asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'Fuzhou lychees, Quanzhou coral trees.' Someone asked, 'What are the two words Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'If you want me to say it, I will say it.' He said, 'Please, Master, say it.' The Master said, 'The ear-ringed barbarian monk laughs and nods.' The Reverend Zhao of Longhua came. The Master caught hold of him and said, 'How is it?' Zhao said, 'Do not be mistaken.' The Master then let go. Zhao said, 'I have long heard of Shengguang.' The Master was silent. Zhao then took his leave. The Master saw him to the gate and said, 'After this parting, where shall we meet?' Zhao laughed heartily and left.

漳州浮石和尚

The Reverend of Fushi in Zhangzhou

上堂。山僧開箇卜舖。能斷人貧富。定人生死。僧問。離卻生死貧富。不落五行。請師直道。師曰。金木水火土。

Ascending the hall: 'This mountain monk has opened a fortune-telling stall; he can determine a man's wealth or poverty and settle his life and death.' A monk asked, 'Setting aside life and death, wealth and poverty, and not falling under the five elements, please, Master, speak directly.' The Master said, 'Metal, wood, water, fire, earth.'

紫桐和尚

The Reverend of Zitong

僧問。如何是紫桐境。師曰。汝眼裡著沙得麼。曰。大好紫桐境也不識。師曰。老僧不諱此事。其僧擬出去。師下禪床擒住曰。今日好箇公案。老僧未得分文入手。曰。賴遇某甲是僧。師拓開曰。禍不單行。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Zitong?' The Master said, 'Can you get sand in your eyes?' He said, 'You do not even know the excellent realm of Zitong.' The Master said, 'This old monk does not conceal this matter.' The monk was about to go out. The Master came down from the meditation seat, seized him, and said, 'Today here is a fine public case, and this old monk has not got so much as a penny from it.' He said, 'It is lucky for you that I am a monk.' The Master pushed him away and said, 'Misfortunes never come singly.'

日容遠和尚

The Reverend Yuan of Rirong

因奯上座參。師拊掌三下。曰。猛虎當軒。誰是敵者。奯曰。俊鷂沖天。阿誰捉得。師曰。彼此難當。奯曰。且休。未要斷這公案。師將拄杖舞歸方丈。奯無語。師曰。死卻這漢也。

Once, when the elder Huo came to study, the Master clapped his hands three times and said, 'A fierce tiger before the hall — who is its match?' Huo said, 'A fine sparrowhawk soaring to the sky — who can catch it?' The Master said, 'Each of us is hard to withstand.' Huo said, 'Hold on for now; do not settle this public case yet.' The Master whirled his staff and went back to his quarters. Huo said nothing. The Master said, 'This fellow is dead.'

關南常禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Chang of Guannan

襄州關南道吾和尚

The Reverend Daowu of Guannan in Xiangzhou

始經村墅。聞巫者樂神雲識神無。忽然省悟。後參常禪師。印其所解。復遊德山之門。法味彌著。住後。凡上堂。戴蓮華笠。披襴執簡。擊鼓吹笛。口稱魯三郎神。識神不識神。神從空裡來。卻往空裡去。便下座。有時曰。打動關南鼓。唱起德山歌。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師以簡揖曰。喏。有時執木劒。橫肩上作舞。僧問。手中劒甚處得來。師擲於地。僧卻置師手中。師曰。甚處得來。僧無對。師曰。容汝三日內。下取一轉語。其僧亦無對。師自代拈劒橫肩上。作舞曰。須恁麼始得。趙州訪師。師乃著豹皮裩。執吉獠棒。在三門下翹一足等候。才見州便高聲唱喏而立。州曰。小心祇候著。師又唱喏一聲而去。問。如何是和尚家風。師下禪床作女人拜曰。謝子遠來。無可祇待。問灌溪。作麼生。溪曰。無位。師曰。莫同虗空麼。溪曰。這屠兒。師曰。有生可殺即不倦。

He was first passing through a village when he heard a shaman invoking a spirit with the words, 'The knowing spirit is not the spirit' — and he suddenly awoke. Later he studied under Chan Master Chang, who confirmed his understanding. He then traveled to the door of Deshan, where the flavor of the Dharma became ever more evident. After he had settled there, whenever he ascended the hall he wore a lotus-flower hat, draped a robe over his shoulders and held a tablet, beat a drum and played a flute, and cried aloud to the spirit Lu Sanlang: 'The knowing spirit does not know the spirit; the spirit comes from emptiness and returns to emptiness.' Then he stepped down from the seat. Sometimes he said, 'Strike the drum of Guannan, sing the song of Deshan.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master saluted with his tablet and said, 'Yes.' Sometimes he would hold a wooden sword, rest it across his shoulder, and dance. A monk asked, 'Where did the sword in your hand come from?' The Master threw it on the ground. The monk picked it up and put it back in the Master's hand. The Master said, 'Where did it come from?' The monk had no reply. The Master said, 'I grant you three days to bring down a turning word.' That monk also had no reply. The Master answered on his behalf, picking up the sword, laying it across his shoulder and dancing, saying, 'Only thus can you have it.' Zhaozhou came to visit the Master. The Master put on leopard-skin trousers, took up a wooden club, and stood at the triple gate on one leg waiting. As soon as he saw Zhou he sang out a greeting at the top of his voice and stood there. Zhou said, 'Be careful as you wait on me.' The Master sang out another greeting and left. Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master came down from the meditation seat and made a woman's bow, saying, 'Thank you for coming from afar; I have nothing to offer.' He asked Guanxi, 'How is it?' Xi said, 'No position.' The Master said, 'Is it the same as empty space?' Xi said, 'This butcher.' The Master said, 'If there is life to kill, I am never tired.'

漳州羅漢和尚

The Reverend of Luohan in Zhangzhou

初參關南。問。如何是大道之源。南打師一拳。師遂有省。乃為歌曰。咸通七載初參道。到處逢言不識言。心裡疑團若栲栳。三春不樂止林泉。忽遇法王氈上坐。便陳疑懇向師前。師從氈上那伽起。袒膊當胸打一拳。駭散疑團獦狚落。舉頭看見日初圓。從茲蹬蹬以碣碣。直至如今常快活。只聞肚裡飽膨脝。更不東西去持缽。又述偈曰。宇內為閒客。人中作野僧。任從他笑我。隨處自騰騰。

He first studied under Guannan and asked, 'What is the source of the great Way?' Nan gave the Master a punch. The Master then had an awakening, and made a song: 'In the seventh year of Xiantong I first sought the Way, and everywhere I met words without understanding them. The ball of doubt in my heart was like a basket, and for three springs I took no joy, keeping to the woods and springs. Then I met the Dharma King sitting on his mat, and laid my doubts earnestly before the Master. The Master rose from his mat in naga posture and, bare-armed, gave me a punch in the chest. The ball of doubt scattered in fright and fell away like a badger, and I raised my head and saw the sun just rounding. From then on I have gone on steadily and surely, and to this day I am always happy. I only hear my belly full and bulging; I no longer go east or west to beg with my bowl.' He also composed a verse: 'A leisured guest within the world, a wild monk among men. Let them laugh at me as they will; wherever I am, I bob along on my own.'

高安大愚禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dayu of Gao'an

瑞州末山尼瞭然禪師

Chan Master Liaoran, a nun of Mount Moshan in Ruizhou

因灌谿閑和尚到。曰。若相當即住。不然即推倒禪床。便入堂內。師遣侍者問。上座遊山來。為佛法來。谿曰。為佛法來。師乃升座。谿上參。師問。上座今日離何處。曰。路口。師曰。何不葢卻。溪無對(末山代雲。爭得到這裡)。始拜禮。問。如何是末山。師曰。不露頂。曰。如何是末山主。師曰。非男女相。溪乃喝曰。何不變去。師曰。不是神。不是鬼。變箇甚麼。溪於是伏膺。作園頭三載。僧到參。師曰。太繿縷生。曰。雖然如此。且是師子兒。師曰。既是師子兒。為甚麼被文殊騎。僧無對。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。世界傾壞。曰。世界為甚麼傾壞。師曰。寧無我身。

Once, when the Reverend Xian of Guanxi arrived, he said, 'If it matches, I stay; if not, I overturn the meditation seat.' And he went into the hall. The Master sent her attendant to ask, 'Has the elder come to visit the mountain, or has he come for the Buddha Dharma?' Xi said, 'I have come for the Buddha Dharma.' The Master then ascended the seat. Xi came forward to study. The Master asked, 'Where has the elder come from today?' He said, 'The crossroads.' The Master said, 'Why did you not cover it over?' Xi had no reply. (Moshan answered on his behalf, 'How could he get here?') He then bowed. He asked, 'What is Moshan?' The Master said, 'It does not show its summit.' He said, 'What is the master of Moshan?' The Master said, 'Neither male nor female form.' Xi then shouted, 'Why do you not change?' The Master said, 'I am not a god, not a ghost — what should I change into?' Xi then submitted to her, and served as garden head for three years. A monk came to study. The Master said, 'How ragged you are.' He said, 'Even so, I am a lion's cub.' The Master said, 'Since you are a lion's cub, why is Manjushri riding you?' The monk had no reply. Someone asked, 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'The world topples and breaks.' He said, 'Why does the world topple and break?' The Master said, 'How could there be no self of mine?'

杭州天龍和尚法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Tianlong of Hangzhou

婺州金華山俱胝和尚

The Reverend Juzhi of Mount Jinhua in Wuzhou

初住庵時。有尼名實際來。戴笠子執錫遶師三匝。曰。道得即下笠子。如是三問。師皆無對。尼便去。師曰。日勢稍晚。何不且住。尼曰。道得即住。師又無對。尼去後。師歎曰。我雖處丈夫之形。而無丈夫之氣。不如棄庵。往諸方參尋知識去。其夜山神告曰。不須離此。將有肉身菩薩來為和尚說法也。逾旬。果天龍和尚到庵。師乃迎禮。具陳前事。龍竪一指示之。師當下大悟。自此凡有學者參問。師唯舉一指。無別提唱。有一供過童子。每見人問事。亦竪指祇對。人謂師曰。和尚。童子亦會佛法。凡有問皆如和尚竪指。師一日潛袖刀子。問童曰。聞你會佛法。是否。童曰。是。師曰。如何是佛。童竪起指頭。師以刀斷其指。童呌喚走出。師召童子。童回首。師曰。如何是佛。童舉手不見指頭。豁然大悟。師將順世。謂眾曰。吾得天龍一指頭禪。一生用不盡。言訖。示滅(長慶代眾雲。美食不中飽人吃。玄沙雲。我當時若見拗折指頭。玄覺雲。且道玄沙恁麼道。意作麼生。雲居錫雲。祇如玄沙恁麼道。肯伊不肯伊。若肯。何言拗折指頭。若不肯。俱胝過在甚麼處。先曹山雲。俱胝承當處鹵莽。祇認得一機一境。一等是拍手拊掌。是他西園奇怪。玄覺又云。且道俱胝還悟也無。若悟。為甚麼道承當處鹵莾。若不悟。又道用一指頭禪不盡。且道曹山意在甚麼處)。

When he first lived in a hermitage, a nun named Shiji came. Wearing a straw hat and holding a ringed staff, she walked three times around the Master and said, 'If you can speak, I will take off my hat.' Thus she asked three times, and the Master had no reply each time. The nun then left. The Master said, 'The sun is getting low; why not stay a while?' The nun said, 'If you can speak, I will stay.' The Master again had no reply. After the nun had gone, the Master sighed and said, 'Though I have the form of a man, I lack a man's spirit. Better to abandon this hermitage and go to all quarters to seek out good friends.' That night the mountain spirit told him, 'You need not leave here. A bodhisattva in the flesh will come and preach the Dharma for you.' More than ten days later, sure enough, Chan Master Tianlong arrived at the hermitage. The Master welcomed and bowed to him, and set out the whole matter. Long held up one finger and showed it to him. The Master was at once greatly awakened. From then on, whenever a student came to ask, the Master simply raised one finger and gave no other teaching. There was a boy who served him, and whenever he saw someone ask about a matter, he too would raise a finger in reply. Someone said to the Master, 'Reverend, the boy understands the Buddha Dharma too. Whenever anyone asks, he raises a finger just like the Reverend.' One day the Master secretly hid a knife in his sleeve and asked the boy, 'I hear you understand the Buddha Dharma — is that so?' The boy said, 'Yes.' The Master said, 'What is the Buddha?' The boy raised his finger. The Master cut it off with the knife. The boy cried out and ran away. The Master called the boy. The boy turned his head. The Master said, 'What is the Buddha?' The boy raised his hand and saw no finger, and was suddenly greatly awakened. When the Master was about to pass away, he said to the assembly, 'I got Tianlong's one-finger Chan, and it has lasted me a lifetime without being used up.' Having said this, he passed into extinction. (Changqing said on behalf of the assembly, 'Fine food is not for a full man to eat.' Xuansha said, 'If I had been there, I would have twisted off his finger.' Xuanjue said, 'Just say, what was Xuansha's meaning in speaking like that?' Yunju Xi said, 'Just as Xuansha spoke like that, was he approving him or not? If he approved, why say twist off his finger? If he did not approve, where was Juzhi at fault?' The late Caoshan said, 'Juzhi was reckless in the place where he took it on, recognizing only one mechanism and one object. The same clapping of hands — his was strange to the Western Garden.' Xuanjue also said, 'Just say, did Juzhi awaken or not? If he awakened, why say he was reckless where he took it on? If he did not awaken, why say the one-finger Chan was not used up? Just say, what was Caoshan's meaning?')

南嶽下五世

The Fifth Generation under Nanyue

睦州陳尊宿法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the Venerable Chen of Muzhou

睦州刺史陳操尚書

The Minister Chen Cao, Prefect of Muzhou

齋次。拈起餬餅。問僧。江西．湖南還有這箇麼。曰。尚書適來吃箇甚麼。公曰。敲鐘謝響。又齋僧次。躬自行餅。一僧展手擬接。公卻縮手。僧無語。公曰。果然。果然。問僧。有箇事與上座商量。得麼。曰。合取狗口。公自摑口曰。某甲罪過。曰。知過必改。公曰。恁麼則乞上座口吃飯。得麼。又齋僧自行食次。乃曰。上座施食。僧曰。三德六味。公曰。錯。僧無對。又與僚屬登樓次。見數僧行來。有一官人曰。來者總是行腳僧。公曰。不是。曰。焉知不是。公曰。待來勘過。須臾僧至樓前。公驀喚上座。僧皆舉首。公謂諸官曰。不信道。又與禪者頌曰。禪者有玄機。機玄是復非。欲了機前旨。鹹於句下違。

Once at a meal, he picked up a cake and asked a monk, 'Are there such things in Jiangxi and Hunan?' The monk said, 'What did the Minister just eat?' The Minister said, 'Strike the bell and thank the echo.' Once again, at a monks' meal, he went around serving cakes himself. A monk stretched out his hand to take one. The Minister withdrew his hand. The monk said nothing. The Minister said, 'Just so, just so.' He asked a monk, 'There is a matter I would discuss with the elder — may I?' The monk said, 'Shut your dog's mouth.' The Minister slapped his own mouth and said, 'I am at fault.' The monk said, 'Knowing your fault, you must mend it.' The Minister said, 'If so, then may I eat from the elder's mouth?' Once again, at a monks' meal, as he went around serving food he said, 'The elder is giving food.' The monk said, 'Three virtues and six flavors.' The Minister said, 'Wrong.' The monk had no reply. Once, when he was on a tower with his subordinates, he saw several monks coming. One official said, 'Those who come are all wandering monks.' The Minister said, 'They are not.' He said, 'How do you know they are not?' The Minister said, 'Wait until they come and I will test them.' After a while the monks reached the foot of the tower. The Minister suddenly called out, 'Elders!' All the monks raised their heads. The Minister said to the officials, 'Do you believe me now?' He also gave a verse to a Chan man: 'The Chan man has a mysterious mechanism; the mechanism's mystery is again not so. To understand the purport before the mechanism, one must go against it in every phrase.'

光孝覺禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Jue of Guangxiao

昇州長慶道巘禪師

Chan Master Daojun of Changqing in Shengzhou

廬州人也。初侍光孝便領悟微言。即於湖南大光山剃度。既化緣彌盛。出住長慶。上堂。彌勒朝入伽藍。暮成正覺。說偈曰。三界上下法。我說皆是心。離於諸心法。更無有可得。看他恁麼道。也太殺惺惺。若比吾徒。猶是鈍漢。所以一念見道。三世情盡。如印印泥。更無前後。諸子生死事大。快須薦取。莫為等閑。業識茫茫。葢為迷己逐物。世尊臨入涅槃。文殊請再轉法輪。世尊咄曰。吾四十九年住世。不曾說一字。汝請吾再轉法輪。是吾曾轉法輪邪。然今時眾中。建立箇賓主問答。事不獲已。葢為初心耳。僧問。如何是長慶境。師曰。闍黎履踐看。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。今日三月三。曰。學人不會。師曰。止。止。不須說。我法妙難思。便下座。咸平二年示寂。

was a man of Luzhou. He first attended Guangxiao and at once grasped the subtle words, and was then ordained at Mount Daguang in Hunan. When his karmic connections grew abundant, he went out to live at Changqing. Ascending the hall: 'Maitreya enters the monastery in the morning and attains perfect enlightenment in the evening. He spoke a verse: the dharmas above and below in the three realms, I say are all mind. Apart from the dharmas of mind, there is nothing further to be attained. Look how he spoke — that is far too clever. Compared with us, he is still a dull fellow. Therefore one thought seeing the Way, and the feelings of the three ages are exhausted. It is like a seal stamped in clay, with no before or after. You gentlemen, birth and death is a great matter; make haste to take it up, do not treat it as a trifle. Karmic consciousness is vast and blind, all because one is deluded about oneself and chases things. When the World-Honored One was about to enter nirvana, Manjushri asked him to turn the dharma wheel again. The World-Honored One shouted: in forty-nine years of dwelling in the world, I have not spoken a single word. You ask me to turn the dharma wheel again — does that mean I ever turned the dharma wheel? But here among you now, setting up host and guest, question and answer, is done because there is no other way — it is for beginners.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Changqing?' The Master said, 'Acharya, walk it and see.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Today is the third of the third month.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Stop, stop, there is no need to speak. My Dharma is wonderful and hard to conceive.' Then he stepped down from the seat. He passed into quiescence in the second year of Xianping.

六祖大鑒禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dajian, the Sixth Ancestor

吉州青原山靜居寺行思禪師

Chan Master Xingsi of Jingju Monastery on Mount Qingyuan in Jizhou

本州安城劉氏子。幼歲出家。每群居論道。師唯默然。聞曹谿法席。乃往參禮。問曰。當何所務。即不落階級。祖曰。汝曾作甚麼來。師曰。聖諦亦不為。祖曰。落何階級。師曰。聖諦尚不為。何階級之有。祖深器之。會下學徒雖眾。師居首焉。亦猶二祖不言。少林謂之得髓矣。一日。祖謂師曰。從上衣法雙行。師資遞授。衣以表信。法乃印心。吾今得人。何患不信。吾受衣以來。遭此多難。況乎後代。爭競必多。衣即留鎮山門。汝當分化一方。無令斷絕。師既得法。歸住青原。六祖將示滅。有沙彌希遷(即石頭和尚)。問曰。和尚百年後。希遷未審當依附何人。祖曰。尋思去。及祖順世。遷每於靜處端坐。寂若忘生。第一座問曰。汝師已逝。空坐奚為。遷曰。我稟遺誡。故尋思爾。座曰。汝有師兄思和尚。今住吉州。汝因緣在彼。師言甚直。汝自迷耳。遷聞語。便禮辭祖龕。直詣靜居參禮。師曰。子何方來。遷曰。曹谿。師曰。將得甚麼來。曰。未到曹谿亦不失。師曰。若恁麼。用去曹谿作甚麼。曰。若不到曹谿。爭知不失。遷又曰。曹谿大師還識和尚否。師曰。汝今識吾否。曰。識。又爭能識得。師曰。眾角雖多。一麟足矣。遷又問。和尚自離曹谿。甚麼時至此間。師曰。我卻知汝早晚離曹谿。曰。希遷不從曹谿來。師曰。我亦知汝去處也。曰。和尚幸是大人。莫造次。他日。師復問遷。汝甚麼處來。曰。曹谿。師乃舉拂子曰。曹谿還有這箇麼。曰。非但曹谿。西天亦無。師曰。子莫曾到西天否。曰。若到即有也。師曰。未在。更道。曰。和尚也須道取一半。莫全靠學人。師曰。不辭向汝道。恐已後無人承當。師令遷持書與南嶽讓和尚曰。汝達書了。速回。吾有箇鈯斧子。與汝住山。遷至彼。未呈書便問。不慕諸聖不重己靈時如何。嶽曰。子問太高生。何不向下問。遷曰。寧可永劫受沉淪。

was a son of the Liu family of Ancheng in that prefecture. He left home in childhood. Whenever the community gathered to discuss the Way, the Master was simply silent. Hearing of the Dharma seat at Caoxi, he went there to study and pay respects. He asked, 'What should one attend to, so as not to fall into stages?' The Ancestor said, 'What have you been doing?' The Master said, 'I do not even practice the noble truth.' The Ancestor said, 'Into what stage do you fall?' The Master said, 'Since I do not even practice the noble truth, what stage is there?' The Ancestor greatly valued him. Though the students in his assembly were many, the Master stood at their head. It was like the Second Ancestor's silence, which Shaolin called getting the marrow. One day the Ancestor said to the Master, 'From the first, robe and Dharma have gone together, teacher passing to disciple. The robe is the token of faith, the Dharma is the seal of mind. Now that I have found the man, why worry about faith? Since I received the robe I have met with many hardships. How much more will later generations compete and contend. Let the robe remain to guard the mountain gate. You should go and transform a region, and not let it be cut off.' After the Master had got the Dharma, he returned to live at Qingyuan. When the Sixth Ancestor was about to pass into extinction, a novice, Xiqian (that is, the Reverend Shitou), asked, 'After the Reverend's hundred years, I wonder whom Xiqian should rely on?' The Ancestor said, 'Seek and think.' When the Ancestor had passed away, Qian would sit upright in quiet places, still as if he had forgotten life. The head seat asked, 'Your teacher has passed away; what use is sitting empty?' Qian said, 'I received his parting command, and so I seek and think.' The seat said, 'You have a senior fellow disciple, the Reverend Si, who now lives in Jizhou. Your karmic connection lies there. The teacher's words were very plain; you are the one who is deluded.' Hearing this, Qian bowed and took leave of the Ancestor's niche, and went straight to Jingju to study and pay respects. The Master said, 'Where have you come from?' Qian said, 'Caoxi.' The Master said, 'What did you bring with you?' He said, 'I did not lose it even before reaching Caoxi.' The Master said, 'If so, what is the use of going to Caoxi?' He said, 'Had I not gone to Caoxi, how would I know it was not lost?' Qian also said, 'Did the Great Master of Caoxi know the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Do you know me now?' He said, 'I know you. And how could I be able to know you?' The Master said, 'Though there are many horns in the herd, one unicorn is enough.' Qian also asked, 'Since the Reverend left Caoxi, when did you arrive here?' The Master said, 'I do know when you left Caoxi.' He said, 'Xiqian did not come from Caoxi.' The Master said, 'I also know where you are going.' He said, 'The Reverend is a great man; do not be rash.' Another day the Master asked Qian again, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Caoxi.' The Master then raised his fly whisk and said, 'Does Caoxi still have this?' He said, 'Not only Caoxi — the Western Heaven does not have it either.' The Master said, 'Have you ever been to the Western Heaven?' He said, 'If I had been there, then there would be.' The Master said, 'Not yet. Say more.' He said, 'The Reverend must speak half of it; do not rely wholly on the student.' The Master said, 'I would not refuse to tell you, but I fear that afterwards there will be no one to take it on.' The Master told Qian to carry a letter to the Reverend Rang of Nanyue, saying, 'When you have delivered the letter, come back quickly. I have a blunt axe to give you for living on the mountain.' When Qian arrived there, before presenting the letter he asked, 'What about when one does not admire the sages and does not prize one's own spirit?' Yue said, 'Your question is too high. Why not ask lower down?' Qian said, 'I would rather suffer sinking for endless kalpas

不從諸聖求解脫。嶽便休(玄沙曰。大小石頭被南嶽推倒。直至如今起不得)。遷便回。師問。子返何速。書信達否。遷曰。書亦不通。信亦不達。去日蒙和尚許箇鈯斧子。祇今便請。師垂一足。遷便禮拜。尋辭往南嶽。荷澤神會來參。師問。甚處來。曰。曹谿。師曰。曹谿意旨如何。會振身而立。師曰。猶帶瓦礫在。曰。和尚此間莫有真金與人麼。師曰。設有。汝向甚麼處著(玄沙雲。果然。雲居錫雲。秖如玄沙道。果然是真金。是瓦礫)。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。廬陵米作麼價。師既付法石頭。唐開元二十八年十一月十三日。陞堂告眾。跏趺而逝。僖宗諡弘濟禪師．歸真之塔。

(Xiqian continued:) 'than seek liberation from the sages.' Yue then let it be. (Xuansha said, 'Big or small, Shitou was pushed over by Nanyue, and to this day he cannot get up.') Qian then returned. The Master asked, 'Why have you come back so quickly? Was the letter delivered?' Qian said, 'Neither the letter got through nor the message was delivered. When I left, the Reverend promised me a blunt axe; please give it to me now.' The Master held out one foot. Qian then bowed. Soon afterwards he took leave and went to Nanyue. Heze Shenhui came to study. The Master asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Caoxi.' The Master said, 'What is the purport of Caoxi?' Hui shook his body and stood. The Master said, 'You still carry tiles and pebbles.' He said, 'Has the Reverend no true gold to give to people here?' The Master said, 'Even if there were, where would you put it?' (Xuansha said, 'Just so.' Yunju Xi said, 'Just as Xuansha said just so — is it true gold or tiles and pebbles?') A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'What is the price of rice in Luling?' After the Master had entrusted the Dharma to Shitou, on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month of the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan of the Tang he ascended the hall, told the assembly, and sitting cross-legged passed away. Emperor Xizong gave him the posthumous title Chan Master Hongji, and his stupa was called Returning to the True.

青原思禪師法嗣(第一世)

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Si of Qingyuan (first generation)

南嶽石頭希遷禪師

Chan Master Xiqian of Shitou in Nanyue

端州高要陳氏子。母初懷娠。不喜葷茹。師雖在孩提。不煩保母。既冠。然諾自許。鄉洞獠民畏鬼神。多淫祀。殺牛釃酒。習以為常。師輒往毀叢祠。奪牛而歸。歲盈數十。鄉老不能禁。後直造曹谿。得度未具戒。屬祖圓寂。稟遺命謁青原。乃攝衣從之(緣會語句。青原章敘之)。一日。原問師曰。有人道嶺南有消息。師曰。有人不道嶺南有消息。曰。若恁麼。大藏小藏從何而來。師曰。盡從這裡去。原然之。師於唐天寶初。薦之衡山南寺。寺之東有石。狀如臺。乃結庵其上。時號石頭和尚。師因看肇論至會萬物為己者。其唯聖人乎。師乃拊幾曰。聖人無己。靡所不己。法身無象。誰雲自他。圓鑑靈照於其間。萬象體玄而自現。境智非一。孰雲去來。至哉斯語也。遂掩卷。不覺寢夢。自身與六祖同乘一龜。游泳深池之內。覺而詳之。靈龜者。智也。池者。性海也。吾與祖師同乘靈智遊性海矣。遂著參同契曰。竺土大仙心。東西密相付。人根有利鈍。道無南北祖。靈源明皎潔。枝派暗流注。執事元是迷。契理亦非悟。門門一切境。回互不回互。回而更相涉。不爾依位住。色本殊質象。聲元異樂苦。暗合上中言。明明清濁句。四大性自復。如子得其母。火熱風動搖。水濕地堅固。眼色耳音聲。鼻香舌鹹醋。然依一一法。依根葉分佈。本末須歸宗。尊卑用其語。當明中有暗。勿以暗相遇。當暗中有明。勿以明相覩。明暗各相對。比如前後步。萬物自有功。當言用及處。事存函蓋合。理應箭鋒拄。承言須會宗。勿自立規矩。觸目不會道。運足焉知路。進步非近遠。迷隔山河固。謹白參玄人。光陰莫虗度。上堂。吾之法門。先佛傳受。不論禪定精進。唯達佛之知見。即心即佛。心佛眾生。菩提煩惱。名異體一。汝等當知。自己心靈。體離斷常。性非垢淨。湛然圓滿。凡聖齊同。應用無方。離心意識。三界六道。

He was a son of the Chen family of Gaoyao in Duanzhou. When his mother first conceived, she lost her taste for meat. Even as an infant in arms he gave his nurse no trouble. On coming of age he was a man of his word and trusted his own promises. The aboriginal people of the valleys there feared ghosts and spirits and practiced many licentious sacrifices, slaughtering cattle and pouring wine as a matter of course. The master would go and destroy the crowded shrines, seize the cattle, and bring them back, amounting to several dozen a year, and the village elders could not stop him. Later he went straight to Caoxi and received ordination, though not yet the full precepts. It happened that the Patriarch passed into quiescence, and having received his dying command he went to call on Qingyuan, taking up his robe to follow him (the words of their meeting are narrated in the chapter on Qingyuan). One day Yuan asked the master, 'Someone says there is news in Lingnan.' The master said, 'Someone does not say there is news in Lingnan.' Yuan said, 'If so, where do the greater and lesser treasuries of the canon come from?' The master said, 'They all go out from here.' Yuan agreed with him. In the early Tianbao era of Tang he was recommended to the Southern Monastery on Mount Heng. East of the monastery there was a rock shaped like a platform, so he built a hut on it, and he was called at the time the Monk of the Rock. Once, reading the Zhao Lun and reaching the line 'He who merges the ten thousand things into himself, is he not the sage?', the master stroked the table and said, 'The sage has no self, and so there is nothing that is not himself. The Dharma body has no form; who can speak of self and other? The perfect mirror shines numinously within it, and the ten thousand images, their essence mysterious, appear of themselves. Object and knowing are not two; who can speak of coming and going? How profound these words are.' Then he closed the scroll, and without noticing fell asleep and dreamed that he and the Sixth Patriarch were riding on one turtle, swimming in a deep pool. On waking he examined it: the numinous turtle is wisdom; the pool is the sea of the nature. He and the Patriarch were riding the numinous wisdom and swimming in the sea of the nature. So he composed the Cantong Qi, saying: 'The mind of the great sage of India was intimately transmitted from West to East. People's capacities are sharp or dull, but the Way has no northern or southern patriarch. The numinous source is bright and clear; its branching streams flow on in darkness. Clinging to things is delusion; according with principle is not yet enlightenment. Each gate and every object: they interrelate and do not interrelate. Interrelating, they involve one another; otherwise each stays in its own position. Forms differ in substance and appearance; sounds are originally different as pleasure or pain. In darkness they accord with high, middle, and low speech; in brightness, with clear and turbid phrases. The four elements return to their own nature, as a child finds its mother. Fire is hot, wind moves, water is wet, earth is solid. Eye and form, ear and sound, nose and scent, tongue and salt and sour. Yet depending on each dharma, they spread out as root and leaf. Root and branch must return to the source; noble and lowly each use their own words. When there is brightness within darkness, do not meet one another in darkness. When there is darkness within brightness, do not see one another in brightness. Brightness and darkness face each other, like the steps of front and back. The ten thousand things each have their own function; speak of their use and their place. Phenomena exist and fit like a box and its lid; principle should meet like an arrow point to point. Accepting words, one must understand the source; do not set up your own rules. Not understanding the Way at what meets the eye, how can the foot know the road? Advancing is neither near nor far; delusion puts up mountains and rivers. I respectfully tell those who study the mystery: do not pass your days in vain.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'My Dharma gate was transmitted and received by the Buddhas of old. It does not discuss meditation or diligence, only the attainment of the Buddha's knowledge and vision. This very mind is Buddha. Mind, Buddha, and living beings, bodhi and affliction, differ in name but are one in substance. You should know that your own mind and spirit in essence transcend annihilation and permanence; its nature is neither defiled nor pure; it is serene and complete, and ordinary and sage are equal in it. Its function has no fixed direction, and it is apart from mind, intellect, and consciousness. The three realms and six paths,

唯自心現。水月鏡像。豈有生滅。汝能知之。無所不備。時門人道悟問。曹谿意旨誰人得。師曰。會佛法人得。曰。師還得否。師曰。不得。曰。為甚麼不得。師曰。我不會佛法。僧問。如何是解脫。師曰。誰縛汝。問。如何是淨土。師曰。誰垢汝。問。如何是涅槃。師曰。誰將生死與汝。師問新到。從甚麼處來。曰。江西來。師曰。見馬大師否。曰。見。師乃指一橛柴曰。馬師何似這箇。僧無對(卻回舉似馬祖。祖曰。汝見橛柴大小。曰。沒量大。祖曰。汝甚有力。僧曰。何也。祖曰。汝從南嶽負一橛柴來。豈不是有力)。問。如何是西來意。師曰。問取露柱。曰。學人不會。師曰。我更不會。大顛問。古人云。道有道無俱是謗。請師除。師曰。一物亦無。除箇甚麼。師卻問。併卻咽喉唇吻。道將來。顛曰。無這箇。師曰。若恁麼。汝即得入門。道悟問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。不得不知。悟曰。向上更有轉處也無。師曰。長空不礙白雲飛。問。如何是禪。師曰。碌甎。問。如何是道。師曰。木頭。自餘門屬領旨所有問答。各於本章出焉。南嶽鬼神多顯跡聽法。師皆與授戒。廣德二年。門人請下於梁端。廣闡玄化。貞元六年順寂。塔於東嶺。德宗諡無際大師。塔曰見相。

(The master continued:) 'appear only from one's own mind. Water moon and mirror image, how could there be birth and death? If you can know this, there is nothing not fully provided.' At that time his disciple Daowu asked, 'Who has attained the meaning of Caoxi?' The master said, 'The one who understands the Buddha Dharma has attained it.' He said, 'Has the master attained it?' The master said, 'No.' He said, 'Why not?' The master said, 'I do not understand the Buddha Dharma.' A monk asked, 'What is liberation?' The master said, 'Who has bound you?' He asked, 'What is the pure land?' The master said, 'Who has defiled you?' He asked, 'What is nirvana?' The master said, 'Who has given you birth and death?' The master asked a newly arrived monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Jiangxi.' The master said, 'Have you seen the great master Ma?' He said, 'I have.' The master then pointed to a stump of firewood and said, 'What does master Ma resemble this?' The monk had no reply. (He went back and reported it to Mazu. Zu said, 'Did you see how big the stump of firewood is?' He said, 'Immeasurably big.' Zu said, 'You are very strong.' The monk said, 'Why?' Zu said, 'You carried a stump of firewood all the way from Nanyue on your back, are you not strong?') A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'Ask the exposed pillar.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'I understand even less.' Dadian asked, 'The ancients said: to say the Way exists or does not exist is equally slander. Please, master, remove it.' The master said, 'There is not a single thing, so what is there to remove?' The master asked in turn, 'Closing your throat and lips, say it.' Dian said, 'There is no such thing.' The master said, 'If so, you may enter the gate.' Daowu asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'One cannot but know it.' Wu said, 'Is there any further turning above that?' The master said, 'The vast sky does not hinder the white clouds from flying.' A monk asked, 'What is Chan?' The master said, 'A brick.' He asked, 'What is the Way?' The master said, 'A piece of wood.' As for his remaining disciples who received the meaning, all their questions and answers appear in their own chapters. The ghosts and spirits of Nanyue often manifested traces to hear the Dharma, and the master gave them all the precepts. In the second year of Guangde his disciples asked him to come down to Liangduan, where he widely unfolded the mysterious teaching. He passed into quiescence in the sixth year of Zhenyuan, and his stupa was on the Eastern Ridge. Emperor Dezong gave him the posthumous title Great Master Wuji, and the stupa was named Jianxiang.

青原下二世

The Second Generation below Qingyuan

石頭遷禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Shitou Qian

澧州藥山惟儼禪師

Chan Master Weiyan of Yaoshan in Lizhou

絳州韓氏子。年十七。依朝陽西山慧照禪師出家。納戒于衡嶽希操律師。博通經論。嚴持戒律。一日。自歎曰。大丈夫當離法自淨。誰能屑屑事細行於布巾邪。首造石頭之室。便問。三乘十二分教某甲粗知。甞聞南方直指人心。見性成佛。實未明瞭。伏望和尚慈悲指示。頭曰。恁麼也不得。不恁麼也不得。恁麼不恁麼總不得。子作麼生。師罔措。頭曰。子因緣不在此。且往馬大師處去。師稟命恭禮馬祖。仍伸前問。祖曰。我有時教伊揚眉瞬目。有時不教伊揚眉瞬目。有時揚眉瞬目者是。有時揚眉瞬目者不是。子作麼生。師於言下契悟。便禮拜。祖曰。你見甚麼道理便禮拜。師曰。某甲在石頭處。如蚊子上鐵牛。祖曰。汝既如是。善自護持。侍奉三年。一日。祖問。子近日見處作麼生。師曰。皮膚脫落盡。唯有一真實。祖曰。子之所得。可謂協於心體。布於四肢。既然如是。將三條篾束取肚皮。隨處住山去。師曰。某甲又是何人。敢言住山。祖曰。不然。未有常行而不住。未有常住而不行。欲益無所益。欲為無所為。宜作舟航。無久住此。師乃辭祖返石頭。一日在石上坐次。石頭問曰。汝在這裡作麼。曰。一物不為。頭曰。恁麼即閑坐也。曰。若閑坐即為也。頭曰。汝道不為。不為箇甚麼。曰。千聖亦不識。頭以偈讚曰。從來共住不知名。任運相將祇麼行。自古上賢猶不識。造次凡流豈可明。後石頭垂語曰。言語動用沒交涉。師曰。非言語動用亦沒交涉。頭曰。我這裡針劄不入。師曰。我這裡如石上栽華。頭然之。後居澧州藥山。海眾雲會。師與道吾說茗谿上世為節察來。吾曰。和尚上世曾為甚麼。師曰。我痿痿羸羸。且恁麼過時。吾曰。憑何如此。師曰。我不曾展他書卷(石霜別雲。書卷不曾展)。院主報。打鐘也。請和尚上堂。師曰。汝與我擎缽盂去。曰。和尚無手來多少時。師曰。汝祇是枉披袈裟。

He was a son of the Han family of Jiangzhou. At seventeen he left home under Chan Master Huizhao of Xishan in Zhaoyang, and received the precepts from Vinaya Master Xicao of Mount Heng. He was broadly versed in the sutras and treatises and strictly kept the precepts. One day he sighed to himself: 'A great man should depart from dharmas and purify himself; who can bother with petty details over a cloth cap?' He first went to Shitou's chamber and asked, 'I have a rough knowledge of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teachings. I have heard that in the South they point directly at the human mind, see the nature, and become Buddha, but I have not truly understood it. I beg the reverend master in his compassion to instruct me.' Tou said, 'Thus you cannot, not thus you cannot, both thus and not thus you cannot. What will you do?' The master was at a loss. Tou said, 'Your karmic conditions are not here. Go to the great master Ma.' The master obeyed, reverently paid his respects to Mazu, and put his former question. Zu said, 'Sometimes I have him raise his eyebrows and blink; sometimes I do not have him raise his eyebrows and blink. Sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is right; sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is not right. What will you do?' At these words the master was enlightened and bowed. Zu said, 'What principle have you seen, that you bow?' The master said, 'When I was with Shitou, I was like a mosquito on an iron ox.' Zu said, 'Since that is so, guard it well yourself.' He served him for three years. One day Zu asked, 'What is your understanding these days?' The master said, 'The skin has all fallen away; there remains only one true thing.' Zu said, 'What you have attained may be said to accord with the substance of mind and to spread through the four limbs. Since that is so, take three strips of bamboo, tie up your belly, and go dwell on a mountain wherever you please.' The master said, 'Who am I, that I should dare speak of dwelling on a mountain?' Zu said, 'Not so. There has never been one who always walks and does not dwell, nor one who always dwells and does not walk. Wishing to benefit where there is nothing to benefit, wishing to act where there is nothing to act, you should be a boat and ferry; do not stay here long.' So the master took leave of Zu and returned to Shitou. One day, as he sat on a rock, Shitou asked him, 'What are you doing here?' He said, 'Not doing a single thing.' Tou said, 'Then you are sitting idly.' He said, 'If sitting idly, then I am doing something.' Tou said, 'You say not doing, what is it you are not doing?' He said, 'Even a thousand sages do not know it.' Tou praised him with a verse: 'Always we dwell together yet do not know its name; freely we go along, just thus we walk. Even the sages of old did not know it; how could the common run, in their haste, make it clear?' Later Shitou let fall a saying: 'Speech and movement have no connection with it.' The master said, 'Not speaking and not moving have no connection with it either.' Tou said, 'Here, a needle cannot enter.' The master said, 'Here, it is like planting flowers on a rock.' Tou agreed. Afterward he dwelt at Yaoshan in Lizhou, and the assembly of monks gathered like clouds. The master said to Daowu that in a former life on Ming Creek he had been a provincial governor. Wu said, 'What was the reverend master in a former life?' The master said, 'I was withered and feeble, and just passed the time like this.' Wu said, 'On what do you base that?' The master said, 'I never unrolled his scrolls.' (Shishuang gave another answer: 'The scrolls were never unrolled.') The prior reported, 'The bell has been struck; please, reverend master, ascend the hall.' The master said, 'You carry my bowl for me and go.' He said, 'How long has it been since the reverend master had no hands?' The master said, 'You are only wearing your robe to no purpose.'

曰。某甲祇恁麼。和尚如何。師曰。我無這箇眷屬。謂雲巖曰。與我喚沙彌來。巖曰。喚他來作甚麼。師曰。我有箇折腳鐺子。要他提上挈下。巖曰。恁麼則與和尚出一隻手去也。師便休。園頭栽菜次。師曰。栽即不障汝栽。莫教根生。曰。既不教根生。大眾吃甚麼。師曰。汝還有口麼。頭無對。道吾．雲巖侍立次。師指按山上枯榮二樹。問道吾曰。枯者是。榮者是。吾曰。榮者是。師曰。灼然一切處。光明燦爛去。又問雲巖。枯者是。榮者是。巖曰。枯者是。師曰。灼然一切處。放教枯淡去。高沙彌忽至。師曰。枯者是。榮者是。彌曰。枯者從他枯。榮者從他榮。師顧道吾．雲巖曰。不是。不是。問。如何得不被諸境惑。師曰。聽他何礙汝。曰。不會。師曰。何境惑汝。問。如何是道中至寶。師曰。莫諂曲。曰。不諂曲時如何。師曰。傾國不換。有僧再來依附。師問。阿誰。曰。常坦。師呵曰。前也是常坦。後也是常坦。師久不陞堂。院主白曰。大眾久思和尚示誨。師曰。打鐘著。眾才集。師便下座。歸方丈。院主隨後問曰。和尚既許為大眾說話。為甚麼一言不措。師曰。經有經師。論有論師。爭怪得老僧。師問雲巖。作甚麼。巖曰。擔屎。師曰。那箇聻。巖曰。在。師曰。汝來去為誰。曰。替他東西。師曰。何不教並行。曰。和尚莫謗他。師曰。不合恁麼道。曰。如何道。師曰。還曾擔麼。師坐次。僧問。兀兀地思量甚麼。師曰。思量箇不思量底。曰。不思量底如何思量。師曰。非思量。問。學人擬歸鄉時如何。師曰。汝父母徧身紅爛。臥在荊棘林中。汝歸何所。曰。恁麼則不歸去也。師曰。汝卻須歸去。汝若歸鄉。我示汝箇休糧方子。曰。便請。師曰。二時上堂。不得齩破一粒米。問。如何是涅槃。師曰。汝未開口時喚作甚麼。問僧。甚處來。曰。湖南來。師曰。洞庭湖水滿也未。曰。未。師曰。

(The prior continued:) 'I am just like this. What about the reverend master?' The master said, 'I have no such dependents.' He said to Yunyaan, 'Call the novice for me.' Yan said, 'What do you want him for?' The master said, 'I have a broken-legged pot, and I want him to lift it up and put it down.' Yan said, 'Then I will lend the reverend master a hand.' The master let it drop. Once, as the garden keeper was planting vegetables, the master said, 'Planting does not hinder you from planting, but do not let roots grow.' He said, 'If roots are not to grow, what will the assembly eat?' The master said, 'Do you still have a mouth?' The keeper had no reply. As Daowu and Yunyaan stood in attendance, the master pointed to two trees on the mountain, one withered and one flourishing, and asked Daowu, 'Which is right, the withered one or the flourishing one?' Wu said, 'The flourishing one is right.' The master said, 'Bright and brilliant, it goes everywhere.' He asked Yunyaan again, 'Which is right, the withered one or the flourishing one?' Yan said, 'The withered one is right.' The master said, 'Let it go everywhere, withered and pale.' The novice Gao suddenly arrived. The master said, 'Which is right, the withered one or the flourishing one?' The novice said, 'Let the withered one wither on its own; let the flourishing one flourish on its own.' The master turned to Daowu and Yunyaan and said, 'No, no.' A monk asked, 'How can one avoid being deluded by objects?' The master said, 'Let them be; how do they hinder you?' He said, 'I do not understand.' The master said, 'What object deludes you?' A monk asked, 'What is the supreme treasure in the Way?' The master said, 'Do not flatter or bend.' He said, 'What about when one neither flatters nor bends?' The master said, 'Not for a kingdom would I exchange it.' There was a monk who came again to attach himself. The master asked, 'Who is it?' He said, 'Changtan.' The master scolded him: 'Before it was Changtan too, and after it is Changtan too.' The master had long not ascended the hall. The prior said to him, 'The assembly has long yearned for the reverend master's instruction.' The master said, 'Strike the bell.' When the assembly had just gathered, the master came down from the seat and returned to the abbot's quarters. The prior followed and asked, 'Since the reverend master consented to speak to the assembly, why did he not utter a single word?' The master said, 'There are sutra masters for the sutras and treatise masters for the treatises; how can you blame this old monk?' The master asked Yunyaan, 'What are you doing?' Yan said, 'Carrying dung.' The master said, 'And that one?' Yan said, 'He is here.' The master said, 'For whom do you come and go?' He said, 'I carry things for him.' The master said, 'Why not have him walk alongside?' He said, 'Reverend master, do not slander him.' The master said, 'You should not say that.' He said, 'How should one say it?' The master said, 'Have you ever carried it?' Once, as the master sat, a monk asked, 'What are you thinking about so fixedly?' The master said, 'I am thinking of that which is not thought.' He said, 'How does one think of that which is not thought?' The master said, 'Not thinking.' A monk asked, 'What about when a student intends to return to his home village?' The master said, 'Your father and mother are covered with red sores and lie in a thicket of thorns. Where will you return to?' He said, 'Then I will not return.' The master said, 'You must return. If you return home, I will show you a formula for refraining from grain.' He said, 'Please do.' The master said, 'At the two mealtimes, ascend the hall, but do not bite off a single grain of rice.' A monk asked, 'What is nirvana?' The master said, 'What do you call it before you open your mouth?' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Hunan.' The master said, 'Is Lake Dongting full of water?' He said, 'Not yet.' The master said:

許多時雨水。為甚麼未滿。僧無語(道吾雲。滿也。雲巖雲。湛湛地。洞山雲。甚麼劫中曾增減來。雲門雲。祇在這裡)。師問僧。甚處來。曰。江西來。師以拄杖敲禪床三下。僧曰。某甲粗知去處。師拋下拄杖。僧無語。師召侍者。點茶與這僧。踏州縣困。師問龐居士。一乘中還著得這箇事麼。士曰。某甲祇管日求升合。不知還著得麼。師曰。道居士不見石頭。得麼。士曰。拈一放一。未為好手。師曰。老僧住持事繁。士珍重便出。師曰。拈一放一。的是好手。士曰。好箇一乘問宗。今日失卻也。師曰。是。是。上堂。祖師祇教保護。若貪嗔痴起來。切須防禁。莫教掁觸。是你欲知枯木。石頭卻須擔荷。實無枝葉可得。雖然如此。更宜自看。不得絕言語。我今為你說。這箇語顯無語底。他那箇本來無耳目等貌。師與雲巖遊山。腰間刀響。巖問。甚麼物作聲。師抽刀驀口作斫勢(洞山舉示眾雲。看他藥山橫身。為這箇事。今時人慾明向上事。須體此意始得)。遵布衲浴佛。師曰。這箇從汝浴。還浴得那箇麼。遵曰。把將那箇來。師乃休(長慶雲。邪法難扶。玄覺雲。且道長慶恁麼道。在賓在主。眾中喚作浴佛語。亦曰兼帶語。且道盡善不盡善)。問。學人有疑。請師決。師曰。待上堂時來。與闍黎決疑。至晚。上堂眾集。師曰。今日請決疑上座在甚麼處。其僧出眾而立。師下禪床。把住曰。大眾。這僧有疑。便與一推。卻歸方丈(玄覺曰。且道與伊決疑否。若決疑。甚麼處是決疑。若不與決疑。又道待上堂時與汝決疑)。師問飯頭。汝在此多少時也。曰。三年。師曰。我總不識汝。飯頭罔測。發憤而去。問。身命急處如何。師曰。莫種雜種。曰。將何供養。師曰。無物者。師令供養主抄化。甘行者問。甚處來。曰。藥山來。甘曰。來作麼。曰。教化。甘曰。將得藥來麼。曰。行者有甚麼病。甘便捨銀兩鋌。

(The master continued:) 'With so much rain, why is it not full?' The monk had nothing to say. (Daowu said, 'It is full.' Yunyaan said, 'Deep and clear.' Dongshan said, 'In what kalpa has it ever increased or decreased?' Yunmen said, 'It is right here.') The master asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Jiangxi.' The master rapped the meditation platform three times with his staff. The monk said, 'I have a rough idea of where to go.' The master threw down the staff. The monk had nothing to say. The master called the attendant: 'Serve this monk tea; he is worn out from treading the prefectures and counties.' The master asked the layman Pang, 'Can this matter be put into the One Vehicle?' The layman said, 'I only go about seeking a pint and a peck each day; I do not know whether it can be put in.' The master said, 'A layman who does not see Shitou, is that acceptable?' The layman said, 'Picking up one and putting down one is not the work of a good hand.' The master said, 'This old monk has many affairs as abbot.' The layman said, 'Take care,' and went out. The master said, 'Picking up one and putting down one, that is truly a good hand.' The layman said, 'A fine question about the source of the One Vehicle; today it has been lost.' The master said, 'Yes, yes.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'The Patriarch only taught protection. When greed, anger, and delusion arise, you must guard against them and not let them be provoked. If you wish to know the withered tree, Shitou must bear it on his shoulders; in truth there are no branches or leaves to be had. Even so, you had better look into it yourself. Do not cut off words and speech. I now speak these words for you in order to reveal that which has no words. That one originally has no appearance of ears, eyes, and the rest.' Once, as the master walked in the mountains with Yunyaan, the knife at his waist rattled. Yan asked, 'What is that making a sound?' The master drew the knife and made a chopping motion at his mouth. (Dongshan told the assembly, 'See how Yaoshan throws his whole body into this matter. People today who wish to understand the matter above must realize this meaning before they can.') Zun Bunai was bathing the Buddha. The master said, 'This one you may bathe, but can you bathe that one?' Zun said, 'Bring that one here.' The master let it drop. (Changqing said, 'Heretical dharma is hard to support.' Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, speaking as Changqing did, is he host or guest? In the assembly this is called the word of bathing the Buddha, and also called the word of both together. Tell me, is it perfectly good or not?') A monk asked, 'The student has a doubt; please, master, resolve it.' The master said, 'Come at the time of ascending the hall, and I will resolve your doubt, reverend.' That evening the master ascended the hall and the assembly gathered. The master said, 'Where is the senior who asked to have his doubt resolved today?' That monk came forward from the assembly and stood. The master came down from the platform, grabbed hold of him, and said, 'Assembly, this monk has a doubt.' Then he gave him a push and returned to the abbot's quarters. (Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, did he resolve his doubt or not? If he resolved it, where is the resolution? If he did not, he still said he would resolve it when he ascended the hall.') The master asked the rice cook, 'How long have you been here?' He said, 'Three years.' The master said, 'I have never known you.' The cook was bewildered, and left in indignation. A monk asked, 'What about the urgent point of life and body?' The master said, 'Do not plant mixed seeds.' He said, 'With what shall I make offerings?' The master said, 'With the thing that has nothing.' The master sent the offering-master out to beg. The postulant Gan asked, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Yaoshan.' Gan said, 'What have you come for?' He said, 'To convert.' Gan said, 'Have you brought the medicine?' He said, 'What illness does the postulant have?' Gan then donated two ingots of silver.

意山中有人。此物卻回。無人即休。主便歸納疏。師問曰。子歸何速。主曰。問佛法相當得銀兩鋌。師令舉其語。主舉已。師曰。速送還他。子著賊了也。主便送還。甘曰。由來有人。遂添銀施之(同安顯雲。早知行者恁麼問。終不道藥山來)。問僧。見說汝解算。是否。曰。不敢。師曰。汝試算老僧看。僧無對(雲巖舉問洞山。汝作麼生。山曰。請和尚生月)。師書佛字。問道吾。是甚麼字。吾曰。佛字。師曰。多口阿師。問。己事未明。乞和尚指示。師良久曰。吾今為汝道一句亦不難。祇宜汝於言下便見去。猶較些子。若更入思量。卻成吾罪過。不如且各合口。免相累及。大眾夜參。不點燈。師垂語曰。我有一句子。待特牛生兒。即向你道。有僧曰。特牛生兒。也祇是和尚不道。師曰。侍者把燈來。其僧抽身入眾(雲巖舉似洞山。山曰。這僧卻會。秖是不肯禮拜)。問僧。甚處來。曰。南泉來。師曰。在彼多少時。曰。粗經冬夏。師曰。恁麼。則成一頭水牯牛去也。曰。雖在彼中。且不曾上他食堂。師曰。口欱東南風那。曰。和尚莫錯。自有拈匙把筯人在。問。達磨未來時。此土還有祖師意否。師曰。有。曰。既有。祖師又來作甚麼。師曰。祇為有。所以來。看經次。僧問。和尚尋常不許人看經。為甚麼卻自看。師曰。我祇圖遮眼。曰。某甲學和尚還得也無。師曰。汝若看。牛皮也須穿(長慶雲。眼有何過。玄覺雲。且道長慶會藥山意不會藥山意)。問。平田淺草。麈鹿成群。如何射得麈中主。師曰。看箭。僧放身便倒。師曰。侍者。拖出這死漢。僧便走。師曰。弄泥團漢有甚麼限。朗州刺史李翱問。師何姓。師曰。正是時。李不委。卻問院主。某甲適來問和尚姓。和尚曰。正是時。未審姓甚麼。主曰。恁麼則姓韓也。師聞乃曰。得恁麼不識好惡。若是夏時對他。便是姓熱。師一夜登山經行。

(The postulant Gan continued:) 'I take it there is someone on the mountain. Then this thing goes back; if there is no one, let it be.' The begging master went back and handed in his donation register. The master asked, 'Why have you returned so quickly?' The begging master said, 'When I asked about the Buddha Dharma, he gave me two ingots of silver.' The master had him repeat the words. When he had, the master said, 'Take it back to him quickly. You have been robbed.' The begging master took it back. Gan said, 'There has been someone there all along.' Then he added more silver and gave it. (Tong'an Xian said, 'Had I known the postulant would ask that, I would never have said I came from Yaoshan.') The master asked a monk, 'I hear you understand calculation. Is that so?' He said, 'I would not presume.' The master said, 'Try calculating this old monk.' The monk had no reply. (Yunyaan asked Dongshan about this: 'What would you do?' Shan said, 'Please, reverend master, tell me the month of your birth.') The master wrote the character for Buddha and asked Daowu, 'What character is this?' Wu said, 'The character Buddha.' The master said, 'A talkative reverend.' A monk said, 'My own matter is not yet clear; I beg the reverend master to instruct me.' After a long pause the master said, 'It is not hard for me to say a phrase for you now; it would be better if you saw it right at the words, which would be a little better. If you go on into thinking, it becomes my fault. Better that we each keep our mouths shut and avoid implicating one another.' At the night gathering of the assembly, no lamp was lit. The master let fall a saying: 'I have one phrase, but I will tell it to you when a bull bears a calf.' A monk said, 'Even if a bull bears a calf, the reverend master still will not say it.' The master said, 'Attendant, bring the lamp.' That monk drew himself back into the assembly. (Yunyaan reported this to Dongshan. Shan said, 'This monk does understand; he simply refuses to bow.') He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Nanquan.' The master said, 'How long were you there?' He said, 'About a winter and a summer.' The master said, 'Then you have become a water buffalo.' He said, 'Though I was there, I never went to his refectory.' The master said, 'Then you drank the southeast wind.' He said, 'Reverend master, do not be mistaken; there was one there who picked up the spoon and held the chopsticks.' A monk asked, 'Before Bodhidharma came, was there the meaning of the Patriarch in this land?' The master said, 'There was.' He said, 'Since there was, why did the Patriarch come?' The master said, 'Just because there was, therefore he came.' Once, as the master was reading a sutra, a monk asked, 'The reverend master ordinarily does not allow people to read sutras; why does he read them himself?' The master said, 'I only want to cover my eyes.' He said, 'If a student were to read as the reverend master does, would that do?' The master said, 'If you read, you will wear through even cowhide.' (Changqing said, 'What fault do the eyes have?' Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, did Changqing understand Yaoshan's meaning or not?') A monk asked, 'On level fields and in shallow grass the deer gather in herds; how does one shoot the leader of the herd?' The master said, 'Watch the arrow.' The monk threw himself down. The master said, 'Attendant, drag out this dead man.' The monk got up and left. The master said, 'What limit is there to a fellow playing with a lump of mud?' Li Ao, prefect of Langzhou, asked, 'What is the master's surname?' The master said, 'It is exactly the time.' Li did not understand, and asked the prior, 'A moment ago I asked the reverend master his surname, and he said, It is exactly the time. What surname is that?' The prior said, 'Then it is Han.' When the master heard this he said, 'He has no sense of good and bad. If it had been summer when he asked, it would have been Hot.' One night the master was walking in meditation on the mountain.

忽雲開見月。大嘯一聲。應澧陽東九十里許。居民盡謂東家。明晨迭相推問。直至藥山。徒眾曰。昨夜和尚山頂大嘯。李贈詩曰。選得幽居愜野情。終年無送亦無迎。有時直上孤峰頂。月下披雲嘯一聲。太和八年十一月六日臨順世。呌曰。法堂倒。法堂倒。眾皆持柱撐之。師舉手曰。子不會我意。乃告寂。塔於院東隅。唐文宗諡弘道大師。塔曰化城。

Suddenly the clouds opened and he saw the moon, and he gave a great shout that was heard some ninety li east of Liyang. The residents all thought it came from their neighbor's house. The next morning they questioned one another in turn, and it went all the way to Yaoshan. His disciples said, 'Last night the reverend master gave a great shout on the mountain top.' Li presented him a poem: 'I have chosen a secluded dwelling that suits my rustic temper; all year there is no one to see off and no one to welcome. Sometimes I go straight up to the summit of the lonely peak, and beneath the moon, parting the clouds, give one shout.' On the sixth day of the eleventh month of the eighth year of Taihe, as his end approached, he called out, 'The Dharma hall is falling, the Dharma hall is falling.' The assembly all held up pillars to prop it. The master raised his hand and said, 'You do not understand my meaning.' Then he passed away. His stupa was in the eastern corner of the monastery. Emperor Wenzong of Tang gave him the posthumous title Great Master Hongdao, and the stupa was named Huacheng.

鄧州丹霞天然禪師

Chan Master Tianran of Danxia in Dengzhou

本習儒業。將入長安應舉。方宿於逆旅。忽夢白光滿室。占者曰。解空之祥也。偶禪者問曰。仁者何往。曰。選官去。禪者曰。選官何如選佛。曰。選佛當往何所。禪者曰。今江西馬大師出世。是選佛之場。仁者可往。遂直造江西。才見祖。師以手拓幞頭額。祖顧視良久。曰。南嶽石頭是汝師也。遽抵石頭。還以前意投之。頭曰。著槽廠去。師禮謝。入行者房。隨次執㸑役。凡三年。忽一日。石頭告眾曰。來日剗佛殿前草。至來日。大眾諸童行各備鍬钁剗草。獨師以盆盛水。沐頭於石頭前。胡跪。頭見而笑之。便與剃髮。又為說戒。師乃掩耳而出。再往江西謁馬祖。未參禮。便入僧堂內。騎聖僧頸而坐。時大眾驚愕。遽報馬祖。祖躬入堂。視之曰。我子天然。師即下地禮拜曰。謝師賜法號。因名天然。祖問。從甚處來。師曰。石頭。祖曰。石頭路滑。還躂倒汝麼。師曰。若躂倒即不來也。乃杖錫觀方。居天台華頂峰三年。往餘杭徑山禮國一禪師。唐元和中至洛京龍門香山。與伏牛和尚為友。後於慧林寺遇天大寒。取木佛燒火向。院主訶曰。何得燒我木佛。師以杖子撥灰曰。吾燒取捨利。主曰。木佛何有舍利。師曰。既無舍利。更取兩尊燒。主自後眉鬚墮落。後謁忠國師。問侍者。國師在否。曰。在即在。不見客。師曰。太深遠生。曰。佛眼亦覷不見。師曰。龍生龍子。鳳生鳳兒。國師睡起。侍者以告。國師乃打侍者三十棒。遣出。師聞曰。不謬為南陽國師。明日再往禮拜。見國師便展坐具。國師曰。不用。不用。師退後。國師曰。如是。如是。師卻進前。國師曰。不是。不是。師遶國師一匝便出。國師曰。去聖時遙。人多懈怠。三十年後。覓此漢也難得。訪龐居士。見女子靈照洗菜次。師曰。居士在否。女子放下菜籃。斂手而立。師又問。居士在否。女子提籃便行。師遂回。須臾居士歸。女子乃舉前話。

He originally studied the Confucian classics and was about to go to Chang'an to sit the examinations. As he was lodging at an inn, he suddenly dreamed that white light filled the room. A diviner said, 'This is an auspicious sign of understanding emptiness.' A Chan monk happened to ask him, 'Where are you going, sir?' He said, 'To take office.' The Chan monk said, 'How does taking office compare with choosing Buddhahood?' He said, 'Where should one go to choose Buddhahood?' The Chan monk said, 'The great master Ma has appeared in Jiangxi; that is the place for choosing Buddhahood. You may go there, sir.' So he went straight to Jiangxi. As soon as he saw the Patriarch, he pushed back his headcloth with his hand, baring his forehead. The Patriarch looked at him for a long time and said, 'Shitou of Nanyue is your teacher.' He hurried to Shitou and again put his former idea to him. Tou said, 'Go to the mill.' The master bowed in thanks, entered the postulants' quarters, and took his turn at the kitchen chores for three years. Suddenly one day Shitou told the assembly, 'Tomorrow we will cut the grass in front of the Buddha hall.' The next day the assembly and all the postulants each prepared hoes and spades to cut the grass. Only the master brought a basin of water, washed his head in front of Shitou, and knelt. Tou saw it and laughed, then shaved his head and gave him the precepts. The master covered his ears and went out. He went again to Jiangxi to call on Mazu. Without paying his respects, he entered the monks' hall and sat on the neck of the statue of the sage monk. The assembly was astonished and hastily reported it to Mazu. Zu came into the hall himself, looked at him, and said, 'My son is so-of-itself.' The master then got down, bowed, and said, 'Thank you, master, for bestowing my Dharma name.' Hence he was named Tianran. Zu asked, 'Where do you come from?' The master said, 'Shitou.' Zu said, 'The road to Shitou is slippery; did you fall down?' The master said, 'If I had fallen, I would not have come.' Then he wandered with his staff to see the regions. He dwelt on Huading Peak of Tiantai for three years, and went to Jingshan in Yuhang to pay his respects to National Teacher Guoyi. In the Yuanhe era of Tang he reached Xiangshan at Longmen in Luojing, and became friends with the monk Funiu. Later, at Huilin Monastery, when the weather was very cold, he took a wooden Buddha and lit a fire with it to warm himself. The prior scolded him: 'How can you burn my wooden Buddha?' The master poked the ashes with his staff and said, 'I am burning it to get the relics.' The prior said, 'How could a wooden Buddha have relics?' The master said, 'Since it has no relics, bring two more and burn them.' Afterward the prior's eyebrows and beard fell out. Later he called on National Teacher Zhong and asked the attendant, 'Is the national teacher in?' The attendant said, 'He is in, but he does not see guests.' The master said, 'How profound.' The attendant said, 'Even the Buddha-eye cannot see him.' The master said, 'A dragon bears a dragon's child, a phoenix bears a phoenix's chick.' When the national teacher woke from sleep, the attendant told him. The national teacher gave the attendant thirty blows and sent him out. When the master heard of it he said, 'Not for nothing is he the national teacher of Nanyang.' The next day he went again to pay his respects. Seeing the national teacher, he spread his sitting cloth. The national teacher said, 'No need, no need.' The master stepped back. The national teacher said, 'So, so.' The master stepped forward. The national teacher said, 'Not so, not so.' The master circled the national teacher once and went out. The national teacher said, 'Far from the sages, people are mostly lazy. Thirty years from now, this fellow will be hard to find.' He visited the layman Pang and saw the daughter Lingzhao washing vegetables. The master said, 'Is the layman in?' The girl put down the vegetable basket, folded her hands, and stood. The master asked again, 'Is the layman in?' The girl picked up the basket and walked off. The master then went back. Shortly afterward the layman returned home, and the girl told him what had happened.

士曰。丹霞在麼。女曰。去也。士曰。赤土塗牛嬭。又一日訪龐居士。至門首相見。師乃問。居士在否。士曰。饑不擇食。師曰。龐老在否。士曰。蒼天。蒼天。便入宅去。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。便回。師因去馬祖處。路逢一老人與一童子。師問。公住何處。老人曰。上是天。下是地。師曰。忽遇天崩地陷。又作麼生。老人曰。蒼天。蒼天。童子噓一聲。師曰。非父不生其子。老人便與童子入山去。師問龐居士。昨日相見。何似今日。士曰。如法舉昨日事來作箇宗眼。師曰。祇如宗眼。還著得龐公麼。士曰。我在你眼裡。師曰。某甲眼窄。何處安身。士曰。是眼何窄。是身何安。師休去。士曰。更道取一句。便得此話圓。師亦不對。士曰。就中這一句無人道得。師與龐居士行次。見一泓水。士以手指曰。便與麼也還辨不出。師曰。灼然是辨不出。士乃戽水。潑師二掬。師曰。莫與麼。莫與麼。士曰。須與麼。須與麼。師卻戽水潑士三掬。師曰。正與麼時。堪作甚麼。士曰。無外物。師曰。得便宜者少。士曰。誰是落便宜者。元和三年。於天津橋橫臥。會留守鄭公出。呵之不起。吏問其故。師徐曰。無事僧。留守異之。奉束素及衣兩襲。日給米麫。洛下翕然歸信。至十五年春。告門人曰。吾思林泉終老之所。時門人齊靜卜南陽丹霞山結庵。三年間玄學者至盈三百眾。建成大院。上堂。阿你渾家。切須保護。一靈之物。不是你造作名邈得。更說甚薦與不薦。吾往日見石頭。亦祇教切須自保護。此事不是你談話得。阿你渾家。各有一坐具地。更疑甚麼。禪可是你解底物。豈有佛可成。佛之一字。永不喜聞。阿你自看。善巧方便。慈悲喜捨。不從外得。不著方寸。善巧是文殊。方便是普賢。你更擬趁逐甚麼物。不用經求落空去。今時學者。紛紛擾擾。皆是參禪問道。吾此間無道可修。無法可證。一飲一啄。各自有分。

The layman said, 'Is Danxia there?' The girl said, 'He has gone.' The layman said, 'Red earth smeared on milk.' Another day he visited the layman Pang, and they met at the gate. The master then asked, 'Is the layman in?' The layman said, 'When hungry, one does not choose one's food.' The master said, 'Is old Pang in?' The layman said, 'Heaven above, heaven above.' Then he went into the house. The master said, 'Heaven above, heaven above.' Then he went back. Once the master was going to Mazu's place when on the road he met an old man and a boy. The master asked, 'Where do you live, sir?' The old man said, 'Above is heaven, below is earth.' The master said, 'Suppose heaven collapsed and earth sank, what then?' The old man said, 'Heaven above, heaven above.' The boy gave a hiss. The master said, 'Were he not the father, the child would not be born.' The old man and the boy went into the mountains. The master asked the layman Pang, 'Yesterday's meeting, how does it compare with today's?' The layman said, 'Bring up yesterday's matter as a school eye.' The master said, 'As for the school eye, can it hold Master Pang?' The layman said, 'I am in your eye.' The master said, 'My eye is narrow; where shall I put myself?' The layman said, 'If it is the eye, how is it narrow? If it is the body, what is placed?' The master desisted. The layman said, 'Say one more phrase and this saying will be complete.' The master again did not answer. The layman said, 'Of these, this one phrase no one can say.' Once, as the master was walking with the layman Pang, they saw a pool of water. The layman pointed with his hand and said, 'Even so, one still cannot make it out.' The master said, 'Truly one cannot make it out.' The layman then scooped up water and splashed two handfuls at the master. The master said, 'Do not do that, do not do that.' The layman said, 'It must be done, it must be done.' The master then scooped up water and splashed three handfuls at the layman. The master said, 'Right at such a time, what is it good for?' The layman said, 'There is nothing outside.' The master said, 'Few get the advantage.' The layman said, 'Who is it that loses the advantage?' In the third year of Yuanhe he lay crosswise on the Tianjin Bridge. It happened that the regent Lord Zheng was going out, and he shouted at him, but the master did not get up. The clerk asked him why. The master said slowly, 'A monk with nothing to do.' The regent thought him extraordinary, and presented him a bundle of white silk and two robes, and supplied him with rice and flour daily. Luoyang turned to him in faith as one. In the spring of the fifteenth year he told his disciples, 'I am thinking of a place in the woods and springs to end my years.' At that time his disciple Qijing divined a site on Danxia Mountain in Nanyang and built a hut there. Within three years students of the mystery came to three hundred, and a great monastery was built. Ascending the hall, he said: 'You people, all of you, must protect it well. That one numinous thing is not something you can name by your own contrivance. What use is there in talking about whether it is pointed out or not? In former days when I saw Shitou, he too only taught me to protect myself well. This matter is not something you can talk about. You people, each of you has the ground for a sitting cloth; what more do you doubt? Can Chan be something you understand? How could there be a Buddha to attain? The single word Buddha I never want to hear. You people, look into yourselves. Skillful means, compassion, joy, and equanimity are not obtained from outside and do not abide in a square inch. Skillful means is Manjushri; expedient means is Samantabhadra. What thing would you chase after? Do not seek the teachings and fall into emptiness. Students today are in a great flurry, all studying Chan and asking about the Way. Here I have no Way to cultivate and no Dharma to certify. Each drink and each bite has its own portion.

不用疑慮。在在處處有恁麼底。若識得釋迦即老凡夫是。阿你須自看取。莫一盲引眾盲。相將入火坑。夜裡暗雙陸。賽彩若為生。無事珍重。有僧到參。於山下見師。便問。丹霞山向甚麼處去。師指山曰。青黯黯處。曰。莫秖這箇便是麼。師曰。真師子兒。一撥便轉。問僧。甚麼處宿。曰。山下宿。師曰。甚麼處吃飯。曰。山下吃飯。師曰。將飯與闍黎吃底人。還具眼也無。僧無對(長慶問保福。將飯與人吃。感恩有分。為甚麼不具眼。福雲。施者受者。二俱瞎漢。慶雲。盡其機來還成瞎不。福雲。道某甲瞎得麼。玄覺徵雲。且道長慶明丹霞意。為復自用家財)。長慶四年六月。告門人曰。備湯沐浴。吾欲行矣。乃戴笠䇿杖受屨。垂一足未及地而化。門人建塔。諡智通禪師。塔曰妙覺。

(The master continued:) 'Do not doubt. Everywhere there is such a one. If you recognize Shakyamuni, then the old common fellow is he. You must look into it yourselves. Do not let one blind man lead a crowd of blind men, all together falling into a pit of fire. Playing backgammon in the dark of night, how will you win the stake? Take care of yourselves, with nothing to do.' A monk came to call and, seeing the master below the mountain, asked, 'Which way is Danxia Mountain?' The master pointed at the mountain and said, 'Where it is dark and blue.' He said, 'Is that not just it?' The master said, 'A true lion's cub, turned by a single touch.' He asked a monk, 'Where did you sleep?' He said, 'Below the mountain.' The master said, 'Where did you eat?' He said, 'Below the mountain.' The master said, 'Does the one who gave you food to eat have eyes or not?' The monk had no reply. (Changqing asked Baofu, 'Giving food to others to eat, gratitude is due; why does he not have eyes?' Fu said, 'Giver and receiver are both blind men.' Qing said, 'If he comes with all his workings, is he still blind?' Fu said, 'Do you say I am blind?' Xuanjue challenged: 'Tell me, did Changqing understand Danxia's meaning, or was he using his own family wealth?') In the sixth month of the fourth year of Changqing he told his disciples, 'Prepare hot water for my bath; I wish to go.' Then he put on his bamboo hat, took up his staff and put on his sandals, let one foot hang down before it touched the ground, and passed away. His disciples built a stupa. His posthumous title was Chan Master Zhitong, and the stupa was named Miaojue.

潭州大川禪師(亦曰大湖)

Chan Master Dachuan of Tanzhou (also called Dahu)

江陵僧參。師問。幾時發足江陵。僧提起坐具。師曰。謝子遠來。下去。僧繞禪床一帀。便出。師曰。若不恁麼。爭知眼目端的。僧拊掌曰。苦殺人。洎合錯判諸方。師曰。甚得禪宗道理(僧舉似丹霞。霞曰。於大川法道即得。我這裡不然。曰。未審此間作麼生。霞曰。猶較大川三步在。僧禮拜。霞曰。錯判諸方者多。洞山雲。不是丹霞。難分玉石)。

A monk from Jiangling came to call. The master asked, 'When did you set out from Jiangling?' The monk lifted up his sitting cloth. The master said, 'Thank you for coming from afar. Go on down.' The monk circled the meditation platform once and went out. The master said, 'If not for this, how would one know the eye is precise?' The monk clapped his hands and said, 'How bitter; I nearly misjudged the various regions.' The master said, 'You have got the principle of the Chan school well.' (The monk reported this to Danxia. Xia said, 'By Dachuan's Dharma Way, that is fine; here it is not so.' He said, 'I do not know how it is here.' Xia said, 'Still three steps better than Dachuan.' The monk bowed. Xia said, 'Many are those who misjudge the various regions.' Dongshan said, 'Were it not for Danxia, jade and stone would be hard to tell apart.')

潮州靈山大顛寶通禪師

Chan Master Baotong Dadian of Lingshan in Chaozhou

初參石頭。頭問。那箇是汝心。師曰。見言語者是。頭便喝出。經旬日。師卻問。前者既不是。除此外何者是心。頭曰。除卻揚眉瞬目。將心來。師曰。無心可將來。頭曰。元來有心。何言無心。無心盡同謗。師於言下大悟。異日侍立次。頭問。汝是參禪僧。是州縣白蹋僧。師曰。是參禪僧。頭曰。何者是禪。師曰。揚眉瞬目。頭曰。除卻揚眉瞬目外。將你本來面目呈看。師曰。請和尚除卻揚眉瞬目外鑒。頭曰。我除竟。師曰。將呈了也。頭曰。汝既將呈我心如何。師曰。不異和尚。頭曰。不關汝事。師曰。本無物。頭曰。汝亦無物。師曰。既無物。即真物。頭曰。真物不可得。汝心見量。意旨如此。也大須護持。師住後。學者四集。上堂。夫學道人須識自家本心。將心相示。方可見道。多見時輩祇認揚眉瞬目。一語一默。驀頭印可。以為心要。此實未了。吾今為你諸人分明說出。各須聽受。但除卻一切妄運想念。見量即汝真心。此心與塵境。及守認靜默時全無交涉。即心是佛。不待修治。何以故。應機隨照。泠泠自用。窮其用處。了不可得。喚作妙用。乃是本心。大須護持。不可容易。僧問。其中人相見時如何。師曰。早不其中也。曰。其中者如何。師曰。不作箇問。韓文公一日相訪。問師。春秋多少。師提起數珠。曰。會麼。公曰。不會。師曰。晝夜一百八。公不曉。遂回。次日再來。至門前見首座。舉前話問意旨如何。座扣齒三下。及見師。理前問。師亦扣齒三下。公曰。原來佛法無兩般。師曰。是何道理。公曰。適來問首座亦如是。師乃召首座。是汝如此對否。座曰。是。師便打趂出院。文公又一日白師曰。弟子軍州事繁。佛法省要處。乞師一語。師良久。公罔措。時三平為侍者。乃敲禪床三下。師曰。作麼。平曰。先以定動。後以智拔。公乃曰。和尚門風高峻。弟子於侍者邊得箇入處。僧問。

He first studied under Shitou. Tou asked, 'Which is your mind?' The master said, 'The one that speaks is.' Tou shouted him out. After ten days the master asked, 'Since the former was not it, apart from that what is the mind?' Tou said, 'Apart from raising the eyebrows and blinking, bring your mind here.' The master said, 'There is no mind to bring.' Tou said, 'Originally there is a mind; why say there is no mind? Saying there is no mind is entirely slander.' At these words the master had a great awakening. Another day, as he stood in attendance, Tou asked, 'Are you a Chan-studying monk, or a prefecture-and-county idling monk?' The master said, 'A Chan-studying monk.' Tou said, 'What is Chan?' The master said, 'Raising the eyebrows and blinking.' Tou said, 'Apart from raising the eyebrows and blinking, present your original face.' The master said, 'Please, reverend master, examine apart from raising the eyebrows and blinking.' Tou said, 'I have finished removing it.' The master said, 'I have presented it.' Tou said, 'Since you have presented it, how is my mind?' The master said, 'Not different from the reverend master's.' Tou said, 'That is no concern of yours.' The master said, 'Originally there is no thing.' Tou said, 'You too have no thing.' The master said, 'Since there is no thing, that is the true thing.' Tou said, 'The true thing cannot be obtained. The measure of your mind's seeing and the purport being like this, you must guard it well.' After the master took up residence, students gathered from all quarters. Ascending the hall, he said: 'Students of the Way must recognize their own original mind and show that mind to one another before they can see the Way. Many people of the time only recognize raising the eyebrows and blinking, a word or a silence, and at once seal and approve it, taking it for the essence of mind. This is truly not yet clear. I will now state it plainly for you all; each of you must listen and accept. Simply remove all false movements and thoughts, and the measure of your seeing is your true mind. This mind has no connection at all with defiling objects or with keeping to silent stillness. This very mind is Buddha, and it does not await cultivation or correction. Why so? It responds to occasions and follows illumination, coolly functioning of itself. Exhaust its function, and it cannot be found. Call it wondrous function, and it is the original mind. Guard it well; do not take it lightly.' A monk asked, 'What about when those who are among them meet?' The master said, 'You were not among them long ago.' He said, 'What about those who are among them?' The master said, 'They do not ask such a question.' One day Han Wengong came to visit and asked the master, 'How many springs and autumns?' The master lifted his prayer beads and said, 'Do you understand?' The duke said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'A hundred and eight, day and night.' The duke did not understand and went back. The next day he came again. At the gate he saw the head seat and brought up the former words and asked what they meant. The seat clicked his teeth three times. When he saw the master and raised the former question, the master also clicked his teeth three times. The duke said, 'So the Buddha Dharma has no two kinds.' The master said, 'What principle is that?' The duke said, 'A while ago I asked the head seat, and he answered the same way.' The master then called the head seat: 'Did you answer him like that?' The seat said, 'I did.' The master then beat him and drove him out of the monastery. Another day Wengong said to the master, 'Your disciple has many military and prefectural affairs; as for the essential point of the Buddha Dharma, I beg the master for one phrase.' The master was silent a long while. The duke was at a loss. At that time Sanping was the attendant, and he rapped the meditation platform three times. The master said, 'What are you doing?' Ping said, 'First move with samadhi, then pull up with wisdom.' The duke then said, 'The reverend master's style is lofty and steep; your disciple has found a place to enter from the attendant.' A monk asked:

苦海波深。以何為船筏。師曰。以木為船筏。曰。恁麼即得度也。師曰。盲者依前盲。瘂者依前瘂。一日。將癢和子廊下行。逢一僧問訊次。師以癢和子驀口打曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。大顛老野狐。不曾孤負人。

(The monk continued:) 'The waves of the sea of suffering are deep; what shall serve as boat and raft?' The master said, 'Use wood as boat and raft.' He said, 'Then one may cross.' The master said, 'The blind remain blind as before, the mute remain mute as before.' One day, carrying a scratching stick, he was walking in the corridor when he met a monk who greeted him. The master struck him on the mouth with the scratching stick and said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'Old wild-fox Dadian has never let anyone down.'

潭州長髭曠禪師

Chan Master Changzi Kuang of Tanzhou

曹谿禮祖塔回。參石頭。頭問。甚麼處來。曰。嶺南來。頭曰。大庾嶺頭一鋪功德成就也未。師曰。成就久矣。祇欠點眼在。頭曰。莫要點眼麼。師曰。便請。頭乃垂下一足。師禮拜。頭曰。汝見箇甚麼道理便禮拜。師曰。據某甲所見。如紅爐上一點雪(玄覺雲。且道長髭具眼祇對。不具眼祇對。若具眼。為甚麼請他點眼。若不具眼。又道成就久矣。具作麼生商量。法燈代雲。和尚可謂眼昏)。僧參。遶禪床一帀。卓然而立。師曰。若是石頭法席。一點也用不著。僧又遶禪床一帀。師曰。卻是恁麼時。不易道箇來處。僧便出去。師乃喚。僧不顧。師曰。這漢猶少教詔在。僧卻回曰。有一人不從人得。不受教詔。不落階級。師還許麼。師曰。逢之不逢。逢必有事。僧乃退身三步。師卻遶禪床一匝。僧曰。不唯宗眼分明。亦乃師承有據。師乃打三棒。問僧。甚處來。曰。九華山控石庵。師曰。庵主是甚麼人。曰。馬祖下尊宿。師曰。名甚麼。曰。不委他法號。師曰。他不委。你不委。曰。尊宿眼在甚處。師曰。若是庵主親來。今日也須吃棒。曰。賴遇和尚。放過某甲。師曰。百年後討箇師僧也難得。龐居士到。師陞座。眾集定。士出曰。各請自檢好。卻於禪床右立。時有僧問。不觸主人翁。請師答話。師曰。識龐公麼。曰。不識。士便搊住曰。苦哉。苦哉。僧無對。士便拓開。師少間卻問。適來這僧還吃棒否。士曰。待伊甘始得。師曰。居士祇見錐頭利。不見鑿頭方。士曰。恁麼說話。某甲即得。外人聞之。要且不好。師曰。不好箇甚麼。士曰。阿師祇見錐頭尖。不見鑿頭利。李行婆來。師乃問。憶得在絳州時事麼。婆曰。非師不委。師曰。多虗少實在。婆曰。有甚諱處。師曰。念你是女人。放你拄杖。婆曰。某甲終不見尊宿過。師曰。老僧過在甚麼處。婆曰。和尚無過。婆豈有過。師曰。無過的人作麼生。

After bowing at the Patriarch's stupa at Caoxi he returned to study under Shitou. Tou asked, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Lingnan.' Tou said, 'Has the one offering of merit at the top of Dayu Ridge been completed yet?' The master said, 'It was completed long ago; it only lacks the dotting of the eye.' Tou said, 'Do you want me to dot the eye?' The master said, 'Please do.' Tou then let down one foot. The master bowed. Tou said, 'What principle have you seen, that you bow?' The master said, 'As I see it, it is like a flake of snow on a red-hot furnace.' (Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, did Changzi answer with eyes or without eyes? If with eyes, why did he ask him to dot the eye? If without eyes, he said it had been completed long ago. How do you settle this?' Fadeng offered in his stead: 'The reverend master may be said to have dim eyes.') A monk came to call, circled the meditation platform once, and stood erect. The master said, 'If this were Shitou's Dharma seat, not one bit of that would be of use.' The monk circled the platform once more. The master said, 'Even so, it is not easy to state where you come from.' The monk started to go out. The master called to him. The monk paid no heed. The master said, 'This fellow still lacks instruction.' The monk turned back and said, 'There is one person who is not obtained from others, does not receive instruction, and does not fall into stages. Does the master allow it?' The master said, 'Meeting it, one does not meet; meeting, there must be something.' The monk stepped back three paces. The master then circled the platform once. The monk said, 'Not only is the school eye clear, the transmission is also well grounded.' The master then gave him three blows. He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Kongshi Hut on Mount Jiuhua.' The master said, 'Who is the hut master?' He said, 'An elder under Mazu.' The master said, 'What is his name?' He said, 'I do not know his Dharma name.' The master said, 'He does not know, and you do not know.' He said, 'Where are the elder's eyes?' The master said, 'If the hut master came himself, he would have to take a beating today too.' He said, 'Thanks to the reverend master, I am let off.' The master said, 'A hundred years from now such a monk will be hard to find.' The layman Pang arrived. The master ascended the seat and the assembly settled. The layman came forward and said, 'Each of you, please examine yourselves well.' Then he stood to the right of the meditation platform. A monk then asked, 'Without touching the host, please, master, answer.' The master said, 'Do you know Master Pang?' He said, 'I do not.' The layman then grabbed him and said, 'How bitter, how bitter.' The monk had no reply. The layman let go. After a while the master asked, 'Did that monk just now get a beating or not?' The layman said, 'When he is willing, then yes.' The master said, 'The layman sees only the sharpness of the awl's point, not the squareness of the chisel's head.' The layman said, 'Saying that, I can take it; but if outsiders hear it, it will not be good.' The master said, 'What is not good?' The layman said, 'The reverend sees only the tip of the awl, not the sharpness of the chisel.' Old Mrs. Li the postulant came. The master asked, 'Do you remember the matter in Jiangzhou?' The woman said, 'Had it not been for the master, I would not know.' The master said, 'Much empty talk, little substance.' The woman said, 'What is there to conceal?' The master said, 'Because you are a woman, I spare you the staff.' The woman said, 'I have never seen a fault in an elder.' The master said, 'Where is this old monk's fault?' The woman said, 'The reverend master has no fault; how could the old woman have one?' The master said, 'What about one who has no fault?'

婆乃竪拳曰。與麼。總成顛倒。師曰。實無諱處。師見僧。乃擒住曰。師子兒。野幹屬。僧以手作撥眉勢。師曰。雖然如此。猶欠哮吼在。僧擒住師曰。偏愛行此一機。師與一摑。僧拍手三下。師曰。若見同風。汝甘與麼否。曰。終不由別人。師作撥眉勢。僧曰。猶欠哮吼在。師曰。想料不由別人。師見僧問訊次。師曰。步步是汝證明處。汝還知麼。曰。某甲不知。師曰。汝若知。我堪作甚麼。僧禮拜。師曰。我不堪。汝卻好。

The woman then raised her fist and said, 'Like this, everything becomes upside down.' The master said, 'Truly there is nothing to conceal.' The master saw a monk and grabbed him, saying, 'A lion's cub, a jackal's kind.' The monk made the gesture of stroking his eyebrows with his hand. The master said, 'Even so, you still lack the roar.' The monk grabbed the master and said, 'You are partial to playing this one trick.' The master gave him a slap. The monk clapped his hands three times. The master said, 'If you met one of the same wind, would you be content with that?' He said, 'In the end it does not depend on others.' The master made the eyebrow-stroking gesture. The monk said, 'Still lacking the roar.' The master said, 'I think it does not depend on others.' Once, as a monk greeted the master, the master said, 'Every step is where you are certified; do you know it?' He said, 'I do not know.' The master said, 'If you knew, what use would I be?' The monk bowed. The master said, 'I am not up to it; you are the good one.'

京兆府尸利禪師

Chan Master Shili of the Capital Prefecture

問石頭。如何是學人本分事。頭曰。汝何從吾覓。曰。不從師覓。如何即得。石頭曰。汝還曾失麼。師乃契會厥旨。

He asked Shitou, 'What is the student's own matter?' Tou said, 'Why do you seek it from me?' He said, 'If I do not seek it from the master, how shall I attain it?' Shitou said, 'Have you ever lost it?' The master then understood the point.

潭州招提寺慧朗禪師

Chan Master Huilang of Zhaoti Monastery in Tanzhou

始興曲江人也。初參馬祖。祖問。汝來何求。曰。求佛知見。祖曰。佛無知見。知見乃魔耳。汝自何來。曰。南嶽來。祖曰。汝從南嶽來。未識曹谿心要。汝速歸彼。不宜他往。師歸石頭。便問。如何是佛。頭曰。汝無佛性。師曰。蠢動含靈。又作麼生。頭曰。蠢動含靈。卻有佛性。曰。慧朗為甚麼卻無。頭曰。為汝不肯承當。師於言下信入。住後。凡學者至。皆曰。去。去。汝無佛性。其接機大約如此(時謂大朗)。

He was a man of Qujiang in Shixing. He first studied under Mazu. Zu asked, 'What have you come seeking?' He said, 'The Buddha's knowledge and vision.' Zu said, 'The Buddha has no knowledge or vision; knowledge and vision are Mara. Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Nanyue.' Zu said, 'You come from Nanyue and do not yet know the mind-essence of Caoxi. Go back there quickly and do not go elsewhere.' The master returned to Shitou and asked, 'What is Buddha?' Tou said, 'You have no Buddha-nature.' The master said, 'What about the crawling things that have spirit?' Tou said, 'Crawling things with spirit do have Buddha-nature.' He said, 'Why does Huilang not have it?' Tou said, 'Because you are unwilling to accept it.' At these words the master entered with faith. After he took up residence, whenever a student came he would say, 'Go, go. You have no Buddha-nature.' His way of meeting people was roughly like this (he was called Great Lang at the time).

長沙興國寺振朗禪師

Chan Master Zhenlang of Xingguo Monastery in Changsha

初參石頭。便問。如何是祖師西來意。頭曰。問取露柱。曰。振朗不會。頭曰。我更不會。師俄省悟。住後。有僧來參。師召上座。僧應諾。師曰。孤負去也。曰。師何不鑒。師乃拭目而見之。僧無語(時謂小朗)。

He first studied under Shitou and asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' Tou said, 'Ask the exposed pillar.' He said, 'Zhenlang does not understand.' Tou said, 'I understand even less.' The master was suddenly awakened. After he took up residence, a monk came to call. The master called, 'Senior.' The monk answered. The master said, 'You have let me down.' He said, 'Why does the master not examine?' The master then wiped his eyes and looked at him. The monk had nothing to say (he was called Little Lang at the time).

汾州石樓禪師

Chan Master Shilou of Fenzhou

上堂。僧問。未識本來性。乞師方便指。師曰。石樓無耳朵。曰。某甲自知非。師曰。老僧還有過。曰。和尚過在甚麼處。師曰。過在汝非處。僧禮拜。師便打。問僧。近離甚處。曰。漢國。師曰。漢國主人還重佛法麼。曰。苦哉。賴遇問著某甲。若問別人。即禍生。師曰。作麼生。曰。人尚不見。有何佛法可重。師曰。汝受戒得多少夏。曰。三十夏。師曰。大好不見有人。便打。

Ascending the hall, a monk asked, 'I have not yet recognized the original nature; I beg the master's skillful means to point it out.' The master said, 'Shilou has no ears.' He said, 'I know myself that I am wrong.' The master said, 'This old monk still has a fault.' He said, 'Where is the reverend master's fault?' The master said, 'The fault lies in where you are wrong.' The monk bowed. The master struck him. He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'The land of Han.' The master said, 'Does the lord of the land of Han still revere the Buddha Dharma?' He said, 'How bitter. Lucky it was me you asked. If you had asked someone else, trouble would have arisen.' The master said, 'How so?' He said, 'People are not even seen; what Buddha Dharma is there to revere?' The master said, 'How many summer retreats since you received the precepts?' He said, 'Thirty summers.' The master said, 'Excellent — not seeing a single person.' And he struck him.

鳳翔府法門寺佛陀禪師

Chan Master Fotuo of Famen Monastery in Fengxiang Prefecture

尋常持一串數珠。念三種名號。曰一釋迦．二元和．三佛陀。自餘是甚麼椀躂丘。乃過一珠。終而復始。事蹟異常。時人莫測。

He ordinarily carried a string of prayer beads and recited three kinds of names, saying: one, Shakyamuni; two, Yuanhe; three, Buddha. Whatever else came up, some clod or lump, he passed over one bead, and then began again from the start. His doings were extraordinary, and people of the time could not fathom him.

水空和尚

The Monk Shuikong

一日廊下見一僧。乃問。時中事作麼生。僧良久。師曰。祇恁便得麼。曰。頭上安頭。師打曰。去。去。已後惑亂人家男女在。

One day in the corridor he saw a monk and asked, 'What about the matter of the time?' The monk was silent a long while. The master said, 'Is that all it takes?' He said, 'A head on top of a head.' The master struck him and said, 'Go, go. Later you will confuse the men and women of people's households.'

澧州大同濟禪師

Chan Master Datong Ji of Lizhou

米胡領眾來。才欲相見。師便拽轉禪床。面壁而坐。米於背後立。少時卻回客位。師曰。是即是。若不驗破。已後遭人貶剝。令侍者請米來。卻拽轉禪床便坐。師乃遶禪床一匝。便歸方丈。米卻拽倒禪床。領眾便出。師訪龐居士。士曰。憶在母胎時。有一則語。舉似阿師。切不得作道理主持。師曰。猶是隔生也。士曰。向道不得作道理。師曰。驚人之句。爭得不怕。士曰。如師見解。可謂驚人。師曰。不作道理。卻成作道理。士曰。不但隔一生．兩生。師曰。粥飯底僧。一任檢責。士鳴指三下。師一日見龐居士來。便掩卻門曰。多知老翁。莫與相見。士曰。獨坐獨語。過在阿誰。師便開門。才出被士把住曰。師多知。我多知。師曰。多知且置。閉門開門。卷之與舒。相較幾許。士曰。祇此一問。氣急殺人。師默然。士曰。弄巧成拙。僧問。此箇法門。如何繼紹。師曰。冬寒夏熱。人自委知。曰。恁麼則蒙分付去也。師曰。頑嚚少智。勔臔多痴。問。十二時中如何合道。師曰。汝還識十二時麼。曰。如何是十二時。師曰。子丑寅卯。僧禮拜。師示頌曰。十二時中那事別。子丑寅卯吾今說。若會唯心萬法空。釋迦．彌勒從茲決。

When Mi Hu came leading an assembly, as soon as he was about to meet him the Master turned the meditation seat around and sat facing the wall. Mi stood behind him, and after a while went back to the guest seat. The Master said, 'So it is, so it is. But if you do not break through and test it, later you will be picked apart by others.' He told the attendant to invite Mi in, and again turned the seat around and sat. The Master then walked once around the meditation seat and went back to his quarters. Mi in turn pulled the meditation seat over and went out leading his assembly. The Master visited the layman Pang. The layman said, 'I remember a saying from when I was in my mother's womb; I will bring it up for the Master, but you must absolutely not make it into a principle to hold to.' The Master said, 'Still you are separated by a lifetime.' The layman said, 'I told you not to make it into a principle.' The Master said, 'A startling phrase — how could one not be afraid?' The layman said, 'An understanding like the Master's may indeed be called startling.' The Master said, 'Not making it a principle turns out to be making it a principle.' The layman said, 'It is not just one lifetime or two lifetimes apart.' The Master said, 'A rice-and-gruel monk, let him be censured as you please.' The layman snapped his fingers three times. One day the Master saw the layman Pang coming, and shut the door, saying, 'Old man of much knowing, I will not meet you.' The layman said, 'Sitting alone, talking alone — whose fault is it?' The Master then opened the door. As soon as he came out the layman caught hold of him and said, 'The Master knows much, I know much.' The Master said, 'Set aside much knowing. Shutting and opening the door, rolling up and spreading out — how much difference is there?' The layman said, 'This one question alone takes my breath away.' The Master was silent. The layman said, 'Trying to be clever, only made a fool of myself.' A monk asked, 'How is this gate of Dharma to be carried on?' The Master said, 'Cold in winter, hot in summer — people know for themselves.' He said, 'If so, then I have received the instruction.' The Master said, 'The stupid and obstinate have little wisdom; the bashful and shy have much folly.' Someone asked, 'How can one accord with the Way throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'Do you know the twelve hours?' He said, 'What are the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'Zi, chou, yin, mao.' The monk bowed. The Master gave a verse: 'In the twelve hours that matter is distinct; zi, chou, yin, mao, I now explain. If you understand that mind alone makes all dharmas empty, Sakyamuni and Maitreya are settled from here.'

青原下三世

The Third Generation under Qingyuan

藥山儼禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yan of Yaoshan

潭州道吾山宗智禪師

Chan Master Zongzhi of Daowu Mountain in Tanzhou

豫章海昏張氏子。幼依槃和尚受教登戒。預藥山法會。密契心印。一日。山問。子去何處來。師曰。遊山來。山曰。不離此室。速道將來。師曰。山上烏兒頭似雪。㵎底遊魚忙不徹。師離藥山見南泉。泉問。闍黎名甚麼。師曰。宗智。泉曰。智不到處。作麼生宗。師曰。切忌道著。泉曰。灼然。道著即頭角生。三日後。師與雲巖在後架把針。泉見乃問。智頭陀前日道。智不到處切忌道著。道著即頭角生。合作麼生行履。師便抽身入僧堂。泉便歸方丈。師又來把針。巖曰。師弟適來為甚不祇對和尚。師曰。你不妨靈利。巖不薦。卻問南泉。適來智頭陀為甚不祇對和尚。某甲不會。乞師垂示。泉曰。他卻是異類中行。巖曰。如何是異類中行。泉曰。不見道。智不到處切忌道著。道著即頭角生。直須向異類中行。巖亦不會。師知雲巖不薦。乃曰。此人因緣不在此。卻同回藥山。山問。汝回何速。巖曰。祇為因緣不契。山曰。有何因緣。巖舉前話。山曰。子作麼生會他。這箇時節便回。巖無對。山乃大笑。巖便問。如何是異類中行。山曰。吾今日睏倦。且待別時來。巖曰。某甲特為此事歸來。山曰。且去。巖便出。師在方丈外。聞巖不薦。不覺齩得指頭血出。師卻下來問巖。師兄去問和尚那因緣作麼生。巖曰。和尚不與某甲說。師便低頭(僧問雲居。切忌道著。意作麼生。居雲。此語最毒。雲。如何是最毒底語。居雲。一棒打殺龍蛇)。雲巖臨遷化。遣書辭師。師覧書了。謂洞山．密師伯曰。雲巖不知有。我悔當時不向伊道。雖然如是。要且不違藥山之子(玄覺雲。古人恁麼道。還知有也未。又云。雲巖當時不會。且道甚麼處是伊不會處)。藥山上堂曰。我有一句子。未曾說向人。師出曰。相隨來也。僧問。藥山一句子如何說。山曰。非言說。師曰。早言說了也。師一日提笠出。雲巖指笠曰。用這箇作甚麼。師曰。

was a son of the Zhang family of Haihun in Yuzhang. In childhood he studied under the Reverend Pan, received instruction and was ordained, and joined Yaoshan's Dharma assembly, where he secretly matched the mind seal. One day Shan asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'From wandering the mountains.' Shan said, 'Without leaving this room, tell it to me quickly.' The Master said, 'The crows on the mountain have heads like snow; the fish in the ravine are busy without end.' The Master left Yaoshan and went to see Nanquan. Quan asked, 'Acharya, what is your name?' The Master said, 'Zongzhi.' Quan said, 'Where wisdom does not reach, how do you carry on the line?' The Master said, 'Above all, do not speak of it.' Quan said, 'Quite so. If you speak of it, horns and antlers grow.' Three days later the Master was sewing with Yunyan in the rear frame. Quan saw them and asked, 'The other day the dharma-beggar Zhi said that where wisdom does not reach one must above all not speak of it, and that if one speaks of it horns and antlers grow. How then should one walk?' The Master at once withdrew and went into the monks' hall. Quan then went back to his quarters. The Master came again to sew. Yan said, 'Brother, why did you not answer the Reverend just now?' The Master said, 'You are indeed sharp.' Yan did not take it, and asked Nanquan, 'Just now why did the dharma-beggar Zhi not answer the Reverend? I do not understand; please, Master, reveal it.' Quan said, 'He walks among the different kinds.' Yan said, 'What is walking among the different kinds?' Quan said, 'Have you not heard it said, where wisdom does not reach one must above all not speak of it, and if one speaks of it horns and antlers grow? One must simply walk among the different kinds.' Yan also did not understand. The Master knew that Yunyan had not taken it, and said, 'This man's karmic connection is not here.' And he went back to Yaoshan with him. Shan asked, 'Why have you come back so quickly?' Yan said, 'Only because the connection does not match.' Shan said, 'What connection?' Yan brought up the earlier words. Shan said, 'How do you understand that he turned back at that moment?' Yan had no reply. Shan then laughed heartily. Yan then asked, 'What is walking among the different kinds?' Shan said, 'I am tired today; come back another time.' Yan said, 'I came back specially for this matter.' Shan said, 'Go away for now.' Yan then went out. The Master was outside the quarters, and hearing that Yan had not taken it, he bit his finger until it bled without knowing it. The Master then came down and asked Yan, 'Brother, what came of your asking the Reverend about that matter?' Yan said, 'The Reverend did not tell me.' The Master then bowed his head. (A monk asked Yunju, 'Above all do not speak of it — what does this mean?' Ju said, 'These words are the most poisonous.' He said, 'What are the most poisonous words?' Ju said, 'One blow that kills dragon and snake.') When Yunyan was about to pass away, he sent a letter taking leave of the Master. When the Master had read the letter, he said to Dongshan and Uncle Mi, 'Yunyan does not know that there is. I regret that I did not tell him at the time. Even so, he does not betray being a son of Yaoshan.' (Xuanjue said, 'When the ancients spoke like that, did they know that there is or not?' He also said, 'Yunyan did not understand at the time — just say, where was it that he did not understand?') Yaoshan ascended the hall and said, 'I have one phrase that I have never spoken to anyone.' The Master came forward and said, 'I have come along with it.' A monk asked, 'How does Yaoshan's one phrase speak?' Shan said, 'It is not spoken.' The Master said, 'It has already been spoken.' One day the Master picked up his hat and went out. Yunyan pointed at the hat and said, 'What do you use this for?' The Master said,

有用處。巖曰。忽遇黑風猛雨來時如何。師曰。葢覆著。巖曰。他還受葢覆麼。師曰。然雖如是。且無滲漏。溈山問雲巖。菩提以何為座。巖曰。以無為為座。巖卻問溈山。山曰。以諸法空為座。又問。師作麼生。師曰。坐也聽伊坐。臥也聽伊臥。有一人不坐不臥。速道。速道。山休去。溈山問師。甚麼處去來。師曰。看病來。山曰。有幾人病。師曰。有病底。有不病底。山曰。不病底莫是智頭陀麼。師曰。病與不病。總不干他事。速道。速道。山曰。道得也與他沒交涉。僧問。萬裡無雲未是本來天。如何是本來天。師曰。今日好曬麥。雲巖問。師弟家風近日如何。師曰。教師兄指點。堪作甚麼。巖曰。無這箇來多少時也。師曰。牙根猶帶生澁在。僧問。如何是今時著力處。師曰。千人萬人喚不回頭。方有少分相應。曰。忽然火起時如何。師曰。能燒大地。師卻問僧。除卻星與燄。那箇是火。曰。不是火。別一僧卻問。師還見火麼。師曰。見。曰。見從何起。師曰。除卻行住坐臥。別請一問。有施主施裩。藥山提起示眾曰。法身還具四大也無。有人道得。與他一腰裩。師曰。性地非空。空非性地。此是地大。三大亦然。山曰。與汝一腰裩。師指佛桑花問僧曰。這箇何似那箇。曰。直得寒毛卓竪。師曰。畢竟如何。曰。道吾門下底。師曰。十里大王。雲巖不安。師乃謂曰。離此殻漏子。向甚麼處相見。巖曰。不生不滅處相見。師曰。何不道非不生不滅處。亦不求相見。雲巖補鞋次。師問。作甚麼。巖曰。將敗壞補敗壞。師曰。何不道即敗壞非敗壞。師聞僧念維摩經云。八千菩薩．五百聲聞。皆欲隨從文殊師利。師問曰。甚麼處去。其僧無對。師便打(後僧問禾山。山曰。給侍者方諧)。師到五峰。峰問。還識藥山老宿否。師曰。不識。峰曰。為甚麼不識。師曰。不識。不識。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。

'There is a use for it.' Yan said, 'Suppose a black wind and violent rain come, what then?' The Master said, 'Cover yourself with it.' Yan said, 'Does it receive covering or not?' The Master said, 'Even so, there is no leaking.' Weishan asked Yunyan, 'On what is enlightenment seated?' Yan said, 'It is seated on non-doing.' Yan then asked Weishan. Shan said, 'It is seated on the emptiness of all dharmas.' He also asked the Master how he put it. The Master said, 'If he sits, let him sit; if he lies, let him lie. There is one who neither sits nor lies. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Shan let it be. Weishan asked the Master, 'Where have you been?' The Master said, 'To visit the sick.' Shan said, 'How many are sick?' The Master said, 'There are those who are sick and those who are not sick.' Shan said, 'Is the one who is not sick perhaps the dharma-beggar Zhi?' The Master said, 'Sick or not sick, none of it concerns him. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Shan said, 'Even if you can speak, it has nothing to do with him.' A monk asked, 'A sky without a cloud for ten thousand li is not yet the original sky — what is the original sky?' The Master said, 'A good day for drying wheat.' Yunyan asked, 'Brother, how has your family style been lately?' The Master said, 'Being pointed out by you, brother, what use is it?' Yan said, 'It has been a long time since you had this.' The Master said, 'The roots of my teeth are still raw and astringent.' A monk asked, 'Where should one put effort nowadays?' The Master said, 'When a thousand men and ten thousand men call and you do not turn your head, then you have a little accord.' He said, 'Suppose a fire suddenly breaks out, what then?' The Master said, 'It can burn the great earth.' The Master then asked the monk, 'Setting aside the spark and the flame, which is the fire?' He said, 'It is not fire.' Another monk then asked, 'Does the Master see the fire?' The Master said, 'I see it.' He said, 'From what does the seeing arise?' The Master said, 'Setting aside walking, standing, sitting and lying, ask something else.' Once a donor gave him a pair of trousers. Yaoshan held them up before the assembly and said, 'Does the dharma body possess the four elements or not? If anyone can speak, I will give him a pair of trousers.' The Master said, 'The nature of earth is not empty, and emptiness is not the nature of earth. This is the element of earth. The other three are the same.' Shan said, 'I give you a pair of trousers.' The Master pointed at a hibiscus flower and asked a monk, 'How is this compared with that?' He said, 'It makes my hairs stand on end.' The Master said, 'After all, how is it?' He said, 'It is the one under Daowu's gate.' The Master said, 'A king of ten li.' Yunyan was ill. The Master said to him, 'Leaving this leaky shell, where shall we meet?' Yan said, 'We shall meet where there is neither birth nor death.' The Master said, 'Why not say, where there is neither non-birth nor non-death, and where no meeting is sought?' Once, when Yunyan was mending shoes, the Master asked, 'What are you doing?' Yan said, 'Using ruined to patch ruined.' The Master said, 'Why not say, that is, ruined and not ruined?' The Master heard a monk reciting the Vimalakirti Sutra: 'Eight thousand bodhisattvas and five hundred sravakas all wished to follow Manjushri.' The Master asked, 'Where are they going?' That monk had no reply. The Master hit him. (Later the monk asked Heshan. Shan said, 'When the attendant is served, it is fitting.') The Master came to Wufeng. Feng asked, 'Do you know the old recluse of Yaoshan?' The Master said, 'I do not.' Feng said, 'Why do you not?' The Master said, 'I do not, I do not.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master said,

東土不曾逢。因設先師齋。僧問。未審先師還來也無。師曰。汝諸人用設齋作甚麼。石霜問。和尚一片骨。敲著似銅鳴。向甚麼處去也。師喚侍者。者應諾。師曰。驢年去。唐太和九年九月示疾。有苦。僧眾慰問體候。師曰。有受非償。子知之乎。眾皆愀然。越十日將行。謂眾曰。吾當西邁。理無東移。言訖告寂。闍維得靈骨數片。建塔道吾。後雷。遷於石霜山之陽。

'In the eastern land it has never been met.' Once, when he held a memorial meal for his late teacher, a monk asked, 'I wonder whether the late teacher comes or not?' The Master said, 'What do you people hold the memorial meal for?' Shishuang asked, 'The Reverend's single piece of bone, struck, rings like bronze — where has it gone?' The Master called the attendant. The attendant answered. The Master said, 'In the year of the donkey.' In the ninth month of the ninth year of Taihe of the Tang he showed signs of illness, and suffered pain. The monks came to inquire after his health. The Master said, 'To have a receiver is not to repay it — do you know that?' The assembly all looked grieved. Ten days later, as he was about to go, he said to the assembly, 'I am going west; by principle I do not move east.' Having said this, he passed into quiescence. After cremation several pieces of sacred bone were found, and a stupa was built at Daowu. Later, after lightning, it was moved to the south side of Shishuang Mountain.

潭州雲巖曇晟禪師

Chan Master Tansheng of Yunyan in Tanzhou

鍾陵建昌王氏子。少出家於石門。參百丈海禪師二十年。因緣不契。後造藥山。山問。甚處來。曰。百丈來。山曰。百丈有何言句示徒。師曰。尋常道。我有一句子。百味具足。山曰。鹹則鹹味。淡則淡味。不鹹不淡是常味。作麼生是百味具足底句。師無對。山曰。爭柰目前生死何。師曰。目前無生死。山曰。在百丈多少時。師曰。二十年。山曰。二十年在百丈。俗氣也不除。他日侍立次。山又問。百丈更說甚麼法。師曰。有時道。三句外省去。六句內會取。山曰。三千里外。且喜沒交涉。山又問。更說甚麼法。師曰。有時上堂。大眾立定。以拄杖一時趂散。復召大眾。眾回首。丈曰。是甚麼。山曰。何不早恁麼道。今日因子得見海兄。師於言下頓省。便禮拜。一日山問。汝除在百丈。更到甚麼處來。師曰。曾到廣南來。曰。見說廣州城東門外有一片石。被州主移去。是否。師曰。非但州主。闔國人移亦不動。山又問。聞汝解弄師子。是否。師曰。是。曰。弄得幾出。師曰。弄得六出。曰。我亦弄得。師曰。和尚弄得幾出。曰。我弄得一齣。師曰。一即六。六即一。後到溈山。溈問。承聞長老在藥山弄師子。是否。師曰。是。曰。長弄。有置時。師曰。要弄即弄。要置即置。曰。置時師子在甚麼處。師曰。置也。置也。僧問。從上諸聖甚麼處去。師良久。曰。作麼。作麼。問。暫時不在。如同死人時如何。師曰。好埋卻。問。太保任底人。與那箇是一是二。師曰。一機之絹。是一段是兩段(洞山代雲。如人接樹)。師煎茶次。道吾問。煎與阿誰。師曰。有一人要。曰。何不教伊自煎。師曰。幸有某甲在。師問石霜。甚麼處來。曰。溈山來。師曰。在彼中得多少時。曰。粗經冬夏。師曰。恁麼即成山長也。曰。雖在彼中卻不知。師曰。他家亦非知非識。石霜無對(道吾聞雲。得恁麼無佛法身心)。住後。

was a son of the Wang family of Jianchang in Zhongling. He left home in youth at Shimen. He studied under Chan Master Hai of Baizhang for twenty years, but the connection did not match. Later he went to Yaoshan. Shan asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Baizhang.' Shan said, 'What words and phrases does Baizhang use to instruct his students?' The Master said, 'He ordinarily says, I have one phrase in which a hundred flavors are complete.' Shan said, 'Salty is the salty flavor, bland is the bland flavor, and neither salty nor bland is the constant flavor. What is the phrase in which a hundred flavors are complete?' The Master had no reply. Shan said, 'What is to be done about birth and death right before your eyes?' The Master said, 'There is no birth and death before my eyes.' Shan said, 'How long were you at Baizhang?' The Master said, 'Twenty years.' Shan said, 'Twenty years at Baizhang, and you have not even removed your worldly air.' Another day, as he stood in attendance, Shan asked again, 'What other dharma does Baizhang speak?' The Master said, 'Sometimes he says, be clear of it beyond three phrases, grasp it within six phrases.' Shan said, 'Three thousand li away — and I am glad it has nothing to do with it.' Shan asked again, 'What other dharma does he speak?' The Master said, 'Sometimes when he ascends the hall and the assembly has stood in place, he drives them all away with his staff. Then he calls the assembly, and when they turn their heads, Zhang says, What is it?' Shan said, 'Why did he not say that earlier? Today, because of you, I have seen brother Hai.' At these words the Master was suddenly awakened, and bowed. One day Shan asked, 'Apart from Baizhang, where else have you been?' The Master said, 'I have been to Guangnan.' He said, 'I hear there is a piece of rock outside the east gate of Guangzhou city that was moved away by the prefect — is that so?' The Master said, 'Not only the prefect — if the whole country moved it, it would not budge.' Shan also asked, 'I hear you can play the lion — is that so?' The Master said, 'Yes.' He said, 'How many routines can you do?' The Master said, 'Six routines.' He said, 'I can do it too.' The Master said, 'How many routines can the Reverend do?' Shan said, 'One routine.' The Master said, 'One is six, six is one.' Later he went to Weishan. Wei asked, 'I hear the Elder played the lion at Yaoshan — is that so?' The Master said, 'Yes.' He said, 'You play it constantly — is there a time when you set it down?' The Master said, 'When I want to play I play; when I want to set it down I set it down.' He said, 'When you set it down, where is the lion?' The Master said, 'Set down, set down.' A monk asked, 'Where have all the sages gone?' The Master was silent a long time, and said, 'What is it, what is it?' Someone asked, 'What about when one is absent for a moment and is like a dead man?' The Master said, 'Better to bury him.' Someone asked, 'Is the man who greatly relies on this one and that one, one or two?' The Master said, 'A bolt of silk from one loom — is it one piece or two?' (Dongshan said on his behalf, 'Like a man grafting a tree.') Once, when the Master was boiling tea, Daowu asked, 'Who is the tea for?' The Master said, 'There is one who wants it.' He said, 'Why not let him boil it himself?' The Master said, 'Fortunately I am here.' The Master asked Shishuang, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Weishan.' The Master said, 'How long were you there?' He said, 'Roughly a winter and a summer.' The Master said, 'If so, then you have become an elder of the mountain.' He said, 'Though I was there, I did not know it.' The Master said, 'His house is likewise neither knowing nor consciousness.' Shishuang had no reply. (When Daowu heard this he said, 'He has got a body and mind without Buddha Dharma.') After he had settled there,

上堂示眾曰。有箇人家兒子。問著無有道不得底。洞山出問曰。他屋裡有多少典籍。師曰。一字也無。曰。爭得恁麼多知。師曰。日夜不曾眠。山曰。問一段事還得否。師曰。道得卻不道。問僧。甚處來。曰。添香來。師曰。還見佛否。曰。見。師曰。甚麼處見。曰。下界見。師曰。古佛。古佛。道吾問。大悲千手眼。那箇是正眼。師曰。如人夜間背手摸枕子。吾曰。我會也。師曰。作麼生會。吾曰。遍身是手眼。師曰。道也太煞道。祇道得八成。吾曰。師兄作麼生。師曰。通身是手眼。掃地次。道吾曰。太區區生。師曰。須知有不區區者。吾曰。恁麼則有第二月也。師竪起掃帚曰。是第幾月。吾便行(玄沙聞雲。正是第二月)。問僧。甚處來。曰。石上語話來。師曰。石還點頭也無。僧無對。師自代曰。未語話時卻點頭。師作草鞋次。洞山近前曰。乞師眼睛得麼。師曰。汝底與阿誰去也。曰。良价無。師曰。設有。汝向甚麼處著。山無語。師曰。乞眼睛底是眼否。師曰。非眼。師便喝出。尼僧禮拜。師問。汝爺在否。曰。在。師曰。年多少。曰。年八十。師曰。汝有箇爺不年八十。還知否。曰。莫是恁麼來者。師曰。恁麼來者。猶是兒孫(洞山代雲。直是不恁麼來者。亦是兒孫)。僧問。一念瞥起便落魔界時如何。師曰。汝因甚麼卻從佛界來。僧無對。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。莫道體不得。設使體得。也祇是左之右之。院主遊石室回。師問。汝去入到石室裡許。為祇恁麼便回。師無對。洞山代曰。彼中已有人占了也。師曰。汝更去作甚麼。山曰。不可人情斷絕去也。會昌元年辛酉十月二十六日示疾。命澡身竟。喚主事令備齋。來日有上座發去。至二十七夜歸寂。茶毗得舍利一千餘粒。瘞於石塔。諡無住大師。

he ascended the hall and said to the assembly, 'There is a son of a household who, when questioned, has nothing he cannot answer.' Dongshan came forward and asked, 'How many books are there in his house?' The Master said, 'Not a single word.' He said, 'How then does he know so much?' The Master said, 'Day and night he never sleeps.' Shan said, 'If you asked him about one matter, could he answer?' The Master said, 'He could speak, but he does not speak.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From adding incense.' The Master said, 'Did you see the Buddha?' He said, 'I saw him.' The Master said, 'Where did you see him?' He said, 'In the lower realm.' The Master said, 'Ancient Buddha, ancient Buddha.' Daowu asked, 'The Great Compassionate One has a thousand hands and eyes — which is the true eye?' The Master said, 'Like a man feeling for his pillow with his hand behind his back at night.' Wu said, 'I understand.' The Master said, 'How do you understand?' Wu said, 'The whole body is hands and eyes.' The Master said, 'You have said too much as it is; you have only said eighty percent.' Wu said, 'How about you, brother?' The Master said, 'The whole body through and through is hands and eyes.' Once, while sweeping, Daowu said, 'How petty.' The Master said, 'You should know there is one who is not petty.' Wu said, 'If so, then there is a second moon.' The Master held up his broom and said, 'Which moon is this?' Wu then left. (When Xuansha heard this he said, 'It is exactly the second moon.') He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From talking on the stone.' The Master said, 'Did the stone nod too?' The monk had no reply. The Master answered on his behalf, 'It nodded before the talking.' Once, when the Master was making straw sandals, Dongshan came up and said, 'May I beg the Master's eyes?' The Master said, 'To whom have yours gone?' He said, 'Liangjie has none.' The Master said, 'Even if you had, where would you put them?' Shan said nothing. The Master said, 'Is the one who begs the eyes an eye?' He said, 'Not an eye.' The Master then shouted him out. A nun bowed. The Master asked, 'Is your father alive?' She said, 'He is.' The Master said, 'How old is he?' She said, 'Eighty.' The Master said, 'You have a father who is not eighty — do you know that?' She said, 'Is it not the one who comes like this?' The Master said, 'The one who comes like this is still a descendant.' (Dongshan said on her behalf, 'Even one who does not come like this is also a descendant.') A monk asked, 'What about when a single thought flashes up and one falls into the realm of Mara?' The Master said, 'Why have you come from the realm of the Buddha?' The monk had no reply. The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'Do not say you cannot realize it. Even if you realize it, it is only leaning left and right.' Once, when the prior came back from visiting the stone chamber, the Master asked, 'When you went in as far as the stone chamber, did you just come back like that?' The Master had no reply. Dongshan said on his behalf, 'Someone has already occupied that place.' The Master said, 'Why go again?' Shan said, 'One cannot cut off human feeling and leave.' On the twenty-sixth day of the tenth month of the xinyou year, the first year of Huichang, he showed signs of illness. When he had ordered his body bathed, he called the administrator and told him to prepare a meal, for an elder would be departing tomorrow. On the night of the twenty-seventh he passed into quiescence. After cremation more than a thousand relics were found, and were interred in a stone stupa. His posthumous title was Great Master Wuzhu.

秀州華亭船子德誠禪師

Chan Master Decheng the Boatman of Huating in Xiuzhou

節操高邈。度量不群。自印心於藥山。與道吾。雲巖為同道交。洎離藥山。乃謂二同志曰。公等應各據一方。建立藥山宗旨。予率性疎野。唯好山水。樂情自遣。無所能也。他後知我所止之處。若遇靈利座主。指一人來。或堪雕琢。將授生平所得。以報先師之恩。遂分擕。至秀州華亭。泛一小舟。隨緣度日。以接四方往來之者。時人莫知其高蹈。因號船子和尚。一日。泊船岸邊閑坐。有官人問。如何是和尚日用事。師竪橈子曰。會麼。官人曰。不會。師曰。棹撥清波。金鱗罕遇。師有偈曰。三十年來坐釣臺。鉤頭往往得黃能。金鱗不遇空勞力。收取絲綸歸去來。千尺絲綸直下垂。一波才動萬波隨。夜靜水寒魚不食。滿船空載月明歸。三十年來海上遊。水清魚現不吞鉤。釣竿斫盡重栽竹。不計功程得便休。有一魚兮偉莫裁。混融包納信奇哉。能變化。吐風雷。下線何曾釣得來。別人祇看採芙蓉。香氣長粘遶指風。兩岸映。一船紅。何曾解染得虗空。問我生涯祇是船。子孫各自賭機緣。不由地。不由天。除卻簑衣無可傳。道吾後到京口。遇夾山上堂。僧問。如何是法身。山曰。法身無相。曰。如何是法眼。山曰。法眼無瑕。道吾不覺失笑。山便下座。請問道吾。某甲適來祇對這僧話必有不是。致令上座失笑。望上座不吝慈悲。吾曰。和尚一等是出世未有師在。山曰。某甲甚處不是。望為說破。吾曰。某甲終不說。請和尚卻往華亭船子處去。山曰。此人如何。吾曰。此人上無片瓦。下無卓錐。和尚若去。須易服而往。山乃散眾束裝。直造華亭。船子才見。便問。大德住甚麼寺。山曰。寺即不住。住即不似。師曰。不似。似箇甚麼。山曰。不是目前法。師曰。甚處學得來。山曰。非耳目之所到。師曰。一句合頭語。萬劫繫驢橛。師又問。垂絲千尺。意在深潭。離鉤三寸。子何不道。山擬開口。被師一橈打落水中。

His integrity was lofty and remote, his measure unlike other men's. After he had sealed his mind at Yaoshan, he was a fellow student with Daowu and Yunyan. When he left Yaoshan he said to these two companions, 'You two should each hold a region and establish Yaoshan's purport. I am by nature careless and rustic, and I love only mountains and water, taking my joy in my own way; I am capable of nothing. In the future, if you know where I am staying, and you meet a sharp-witted lecturer, point one man out to me. If he can be carved and polished, I will give him what I have gained in a lifetime, to repay the kindness of my late teacher.' So they parted. Reaching Huating in Xiuzhou, he floated a small boat, passing his days according to conditions and receiving those who came and went from all quarters. People of the time did not know of his lofty withdrawal, and so they called him the Boatman Monk. One day, when he had moored the boat by the bank and was sitting at leisure, an official asked, 'What is the Reverend's daily activity?' The Master raised his oar and said, 'Do you understand?' The official said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'The oar stirs the clear waves; the golden-scaled one is seldom met.' The Master had a verse: 'For thirty years I have sat on the fishing terrace, and on the hook I have often got a yellow bear. Meeting no golden scale, my labor is all in vain; I gather up my silk line and go home. A line a thousand feet long hangs straight down; one wave has just stirred and ten thousand waves follow. The night is still and the water cold, and the fish do not bite; the whole boat returns empty, carrying the moonlight. For thirty years I have roamed the sea; when the water was clear and the fish appeared, they did not take the hook. The fishing rod is all cut down, and I have planted bamboos again; reckoning no merit, I stop when I can. There is a fish, and a mighty one beyond reckoning, blending and containing all — truly strange. It can transform, it spits wind and thunder; how could it ever be caught by a cast line? Others only look at picking the lotus, whose fragrance clings long to the wind around the fingers. Both banks reflect it, one boat is red — how could one ever dye empty space? Ask about my livelihood: it is only a boat; my descendants each gamble on their own chances. It is not by earth, not by heaven — apart from a straw rain cape I have nothing to transmit.' Later Daowu reached Jingkou, and came upon Jiashan ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'What is the dharma body?' Shan said, 'The dharma body has no form.' He said, 'What is the dharma eye?' Shan said, 'The dharma eye has no flaw.' Daowu could not help laughing. Shan then stepped down from the seat and asked Daowu, 'My reply to that monk just now must have been wrong, to make the elder laugh. I beg the elder not to stint his compassion.' Wu said, 'The Reverend has come out into the world as an equal, but has no teacher.' Shan said, 'Where am I wrong? Please point it out.' Wu said, 'I will not say in the end. Please go to the Boatman of Huating.' Shan said, 'What is this man like?' Wu said, 'This man has not a tile above him and not a foot of ground below. If the Reverend goes, he must change his clothes and go.' Shan then dismissed the assembly, packed his things, and went straight to Huating. As soon as the Boatman saw him he asked, 'Great Virtue, what monastery do you live in?' Shan said, 'A monastery I do not live in, and living is not like.' The Master said, 'If not like, what is it like?' Shan said, 'It is not the dharma before my eyes.' The Master said, 'Where did you learn that?' Shan said, 'It is not reached by ear or eye.' The Master said, 'One phrase that fits the head is a stake to tie the donkey for ten thousand kalpas.' The Master also asked, 'A line hanging a thousand feet, the intent is in the deep pool. Three inches from the hook — why do you not speak?' Shan was about to open his mouth, and the Master knocked him into the water with his oar.

山才上船。師又曰。道。道。山擬開口。師又打。山豁然大悟。乃點頭三下。師曰。竿頭絲線從君弄。不犯清波意自殊。山遂問。拋綸擲釣。師意如何。師曰。絲懸淥水。浮定有無之意。山曰。語帶玄而無路。舌頭談而不談。師曰。釣盡江波。金鱗始遇。山乃掩耳。師曰。如是。如是。遂囑曰。汝向去直須藏身處沒蹤跡。沒蹤跡處莫藏身。吾三十年在藥山。祇明斯事。汝今已得。他後莫住城隍聚落。但向深山裡。钁頭邊。覓取一箇半箇接續。無令斷絕。山乃辭行。頻頻回顧。師遂喚闍黎。山乃回首。師竪起橈子曰。汝將謂別有。乃覆船入水而逝。

Shan had just got into the boat. The Master again said, 'Speak, speak.' Shan was about to open his mouth, and the Master struck him again. Shan was suddenly greatly awakened, and nodded three times. The Master said, 'The line at the tip of the pole is yours to play with; not offending the clear waves, the intent is naturally apart.' Shan then asked, 'Casting the line and throwing the hook — what is the Master's intent?' The Master said, 'The line hangs in the clear water, floating to settle the intent of being and non-being.' Shan said, 'The words carry the mystery yet there is no road; the tongue speaks and does not speak.' The Master said, 'When the river's waves are all fished out, then the golden scale is met.' Shan then covered his ears. The Master said, 'So it is, so it is.' He then instructed him: 'When you go on, you must hide where there are no traces, and where there are no traces do not hide your body. For thirty years I was at Yaoshan and understood only this matter. You have now got it. Hereafter do not dwell in cities and towns, but in the deep mountains, by the hoe, seek out one or half a one to carry it on, and do not let it be cut off.' Shan then took his leave, looking back again and again. The Master then called, 'Acharya!' Shan turned his head. The Master raised his oar and said, 'Do you think there is something else?' Then he capsized the boat and went into the water and passed away.

宣州椑樹慧省禪師

Chan Master Huixing of Beishu in Xuanzhou

洞山參。師問。來作甚麼。山曰。來親近和尚。師曰。若是親近。用動這兩片皮作麼。山無對(曹山雲。一子親得)。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。貓兒上露柱。曰。學人不會。師曰。問取露柱去。

When Dongshan came to study, the Master asked, 'What have you come for?' Shan said, 'To draw near to the Reverend.' The Master said, 'If it is to draw near, what need is there to move those two flaps of skin?' Shan had no reply. (Caoshan said, 'One son has drawn near.') A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'A cat climbing the exposed pillar.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Go and ask the exposed pillar.'

鄂州百巖明哲禪師

Chan Master Mingzhe of Baiyan in Ezhou

藥山看經次。師曰。和尚休猱人好。山置經曰。日頭早晚也。師曰。正當午。山曰。猶有文彩在。師曰。某甲無亦無。山曰。汝太煞聰明。師曰。某甲祇恁麼。和尚作麼生。師曰。跛跛挈挈。百醜千拙。且恁麼過。洞山與密師伯到參。師問。二上座甚處來。山曰。湖南。師曰。觀察使姓甚麼。曰。不得姓。師曰。名甚麼。曰。不得名。師曰。還治事也無。曰。自有郎幕任。師曰。還出入也無。曰。不出入。師曰。豈不出入。師拂袖便出。師次早入堂。召二上座曰。昨日老僧對闍黎一轉語不相契。一夜不安。今請闍黎別下一轉語。若愜老僧意。便開粥相伴過夏。山曰。請和尚問。師曰。豈不出入。山曰。太尊貴生。師乃開粥。同共過夏。

Once, when Yaoshan was reading a sutra, the Master said, 'Please, Reverend, stop teasing people.' Shan put down the sutra and said, 'It is getting late in the day.' The Master said, 'It is just noon.' Shan said, 'Still there is literary flourish.' The Master said, 'I have not even that.' Shan said, 'You are far too clever.' The Master said, 'I am just like this. How is the Reverend?' Shan said, 'Limpy and gimpy, a hundred uglinesses and a thousand clumsinesses — just getting by like this.' Dongshan and Uncle Mi came to study. The Master asked, 'Where have you two elders come from?' Shan said, 'Hunan.' The Master said, 'What is the surname of the inspecting commissioner?' He said, 'No surname.' The Master said, 'What is his name?' He said, 'No name.' The Master said, 'Does he still govern affairs?' He said, 'He has his own staff of officials.' The Master said, 'Does he still go out and come in?' He said, 'He does not go out or come in.' The Master said, 'How can he fail to go out and come in?' The Master flicked his sleeves and went out. The next morning the Master entered the hall and called the two elders, saying, 'Yesterday this old monk did not match with the acharya on one turning word, and was uneasy all night. Now please, acharya, give another turning word. If it suits this old monk's mind, I will open the gruel and we will pass the summer together.' Shan said, 'Please, Reverend, ask.' The Master said, 'How can he fail to go out and come in?' Shan said, 'How very noble.' The Master then opened the gruel, and they passed the summer together.

澧州高沙彌

The novice of Gaosha in Lizhou

初參藥山。山問。甚處來。師曰。南嶽來。山曰。何處去。師曰。江陵受戒去。山曰。受戒圖甚麼。師曰。圖免生死。山曰。有一人不受戒。亦無生死可免。汝還知否。師曰。恁麼則佛戒何用。山曰。這沙彌猶掛唇齒在。師禮拜而退。道吾來侍立。山曰。適來有箇跛腳沙彌。卻有些子氣息。吾曰。未可全信。更須勘過始得。至晚。山上堂。召曰。早來沙彌在甚麼處。師出眾立。山問。我聞長安甚閙。你還知否。師曰。我國晏然(法眼別雲。見誰說)。山曰。汝從看經得。請益得。師曰。不從看經得。亦不從請益得。山曰。大有人不看經．不請益。為甚麼不得。師曰。不道他不得。祇是不肯承當。山顧道吾．雲巖曰。不信道。師一日辭藥山。山問。甚麼處去。師曰。某甲在。眾有妨。且往路邊卓箇草菴。接待往來茶湯去。山曰。生死事大。何不受戒去。師曰。知是般事便休。更喚甚麼作戒。山曰。汝既如是。不得離吾左右。時復要與子相見。師住菴後。一日歸來。值雨。山曰。你來也。師曰。是。山曰。可煞濕。師曰。不打這箇鼓笛。雲巖曰。皮也無。打甚麼鼓。道吾曰。鼓也無。打甚麼皮。山曰。今日大好一場曲調。僧問。一句子還有該不得處否。師曰。不順世。藥山齋時。自打鼓。師捧缽作舞入堂。山便擲下鼓槌曰。是第幾和。師曰。是第二和。山曰。如何是第一和。師就桶舀一杓飯便出。

He first studied under Yaoshan. Shan asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'From Nanyue.' Shan said, 'Where are you going?' The Master said, 'To Jiangling to receive the precepts.' Shan said, 'What do you receive the precepts for?' The Master said, 'In order to escape birth and death.' Shan said, 'There is one who does not receive the precepts and has no birth and death to escape. Do you know that?' The Master said, 'If so, what use are the Buddha's precepts?' Shan said, 'This novice still hangs on lips and teeth.' The Master bowed and withdrew. Daowu came and stood in attendance. Shan said, 'Just now there was a lame novice who has a bit of breath in him.' Wu said, 'He cannot be wholly trusted; he must be tested further.' That evening Shan ascended the hall and called, 'Where is the novice who came this morning?' The Master came out from the assembly and stood. Shan asked, 'I hear Chang'an is very noisy — do you know that?' The Master said, 'My country is peaceful.' (Fayan said in comment, 'Who said so?') Shan said, 'Did you get it from reading sutras, or from seeking instruction?' The Master said, 'Neither from reading sutras nor from seeking instruction.' Shan said, 'There are many who neither read sutras nor seek instruction — why do they not get it?' The Master said, 'I do not say they do not get it; they simply will not take it on.' Shan turned to Daowu and Yunyan and said, 'Do you believe me now?' One day the Master took leave of Yaoshan. Shan asked, 'Where are you going?' The Master said, 'With me here the assembly is hindered; I will go and set up a grass hut by the roadside, to receive those who come and go with tea and broth.' Shan said, 'Birth and death is a great matter — why not go and receive the precepts?' The Master said, 'Knowing it is this sort of thing is enough; what would you call precepts?' Shan said, 'Since that is so, you must not leave my side; from time to time I want to see you.' After the Master had settled in his hut, one day he came back and it was raining. Shan said, 'So you have come.' The Master said, 'Yes.' Shan said, 'You must be terribly wet.' The Master said, 'I do not beat this drum and pipe.' Yunyan said, 'If there is no skin, what drum do you beat?' Daowu said, 'If there is no drum, what skin do you beat?' Shan said, 'Today is a fine tune indeed.' A monk asked, 'Is there anything a single phrase cannot cover?' The Master said, 'It does not follow the world.' Once at mealtime Yaoshan himself beat the drum. The Master came into the hall carrying his bowl and dancing. Shan threw down the drumstick and said, 'What harmony is this?' The Master said, 'It is the second harmony.' Shan said, 'What is the first harmony?' The Master scooped a ladle of rice from the bucket and went out.

鼎州李翱刺史

The Prefect Li Ao of Dingzhou

嚮藥山玄化。屢請不赴。乃躬謁之。山執經卷不顧。侍者曰。太守在此。守性褊急。乃曰。見面不如聞名。拂袖便出。山曰。太守何得貴耳賤目。守回拱謝。問曰。如何是道。山以手指上下。曰。會麼。守曰。不會。山曰。雲在青天水在瓶。守忻愜作禮。而述偈曰。鍊得身形似鶴形。千株松下兩函經。我來問道無餘說。雲在青天水在瓶(玄覺雲。且道李太守是讚他語。明他語。須是行腳眼始得)。守又問。如何是戒定慧。山曰。貧道這裡無此閑傢俱。守莫測玄旨。山曰。太守欲得保任此事。直須向高高山頂立。深深海底行。閨閣中物。捨不得便為滲漏。守見老宿獨坐。問曰。端居丈室。當何所務。宿曰。法身凝寂。無去無來(法眼別雲。汝作甚麼來。法燈別雲。非公境界)。

He admired Yaoshan's profound transformation, and after inviting him repeatedly without success he went in person to call on him. Shan held his scroll and paid no attention. The attendant said, 'The prefect is here.' The prefect was by nature narrow and hasty, and said, 'Seeing the face is not as good as hearing the name.' He flicked his sleeves and went out. Shan said, 'How can the prefect prize the ear and slight the eye?' The prefect turned back, bowed and apologized. He asked, 'What is the Way?' Shan pointed up and down with his finger and said, 'Do you understand?' The prefect said, 'I do not.' Shan said, 'Clouds are in the blue sky, water is in the bottle.' The prefect was delighted and bowed, and spoke a verse: 'Cultivated until the body is like a crane's, beneath a thousand pines two cases of sutras. I came to ask the Way with nothing else said: clouds are in the blue sky, water is in the bottle.' (Xuanjue said, 'Just say, was Prefect Li's verse praising him or clarifying him? One needs the eye of a pilgrim to tell.') The prefect also asked, 'What are precepts, concentration and wisdom?' Shan said, 'This poor monk has no such idle furniture here.' The prefect could not fathom the profound purport. Shan said, 'If the prefect wants to keep this matter, he must stand on the summit of a high mountain and walk on the bottom of the deep sea. The things of the women's quarters — if you cannot let them go, they become leaks.' Once the prefect saw an old recluse sitting alone, and asked, 'Sitting upright in the abbot's room — what should one attend to?' The recluse said, 'The dharma body is still and quiescent, neither coming nor going.' (Fayan said in comment, 'What have you come for?' Fadeng said in comment, 'Not the official's realm.')

丹霞然禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ran of Danxia

京兆府翠微無學禪師

Chan Master Wuxue of Cuiwei in the Jingzhao Prefecture

初問丹霞。如何是諸佛師。霞咄曰。幸自可憐生。須要執巾帚作麼。師退身三步。霞曰。錯。師進前。霞曰。錯。錯。師翹一足。旋身一轉而出。霞曰。得即得。孤他諸佛。師由是領旨。住後。投子問。未審二祖初見達磨。有何所得。師曰。汝今見吾。復何所得。投子頓悟玄旨。一日。師在法堂內行。投子進前接禮。問曰。西來密旨。和尚如何示人。師駐步少時。子曰。乞師垂示。師曰。更要第二杓惡水那。子便禮謝。師曰。莫垛根。子曰。時至根苗自生。師因供養羅漢。僧問。丹霞燒木佛。和尚為甚麼供養羅漢。師曰。燒也不燒著。供養亦一任供養。曰。供養羅漢。羅漢還來也無。師曰。汝每日還吃飯麼。僧無語。師曰。少有靈利底。

At first he asked Danxia, 'What is the teacher of all Buddhas?' Xia shouted, 'You were pitiable enough as you were; what need to take up towel and broom?' The Master stepped back three paces. Xia said, 'Wrong.' The Master stepped forward. Xia said, 'Wrong, wrong.' The Master lifted one foot, spun around, and went out. Xia said, 'You have got it, but you wrong the Buddhas.' From this the Master received the purport. After he had settled there, Touzi asked, 'I wonder what the Second Ancestor gained when he first met Bodhidharma?' The Master said, 'What have you gained now in seeing me?' Touzi was at once awakened to the profound purport. One day the Master was walking in the Dharma hall. Touzi came up, greeted him, and asked, 'The secret purport of the coming from the West — how does the Reverend show it to people?' The Master halted a moment. Zi said, 'I beg the Master to reveal it.' The Master said, 'You want a second ladle of dirty water?' Zi then bowed in thanks. The Master said, 'Do not pile up roots.' Zi said, 'When the time comes, the root and sprout grow of themselves.' Once, when the Master was making offerings to the arhats, a monk asked, 'Danxia burned a wooden Buddha — why does the Reverend make offerings to the arhats?' The Master said, 'Burning does not burn it, and offering is offering as one pleases.' He said, 'In making offerings to the arhats, do the arhats come or not?' The Master said, 'Do you eat every day?' The monk said nothing. The Master said, 'Few are sharp.'

吉州孝義寺性空禪師

Chan Master Xingkong of Xiaoyi Monastery in Jizhou

僧參。師乃展手示之。僧近前。卻退後。師曰。父母俱喪。略不慘顏。僧呵呵大笑。師曰。少間與闍黎舉哀。僧打筋斗而出。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。僧參人事畢。師曰。與麼下去。還有佛法道理也無。曰。某甲結舌有分。師曰。老僧又作麼生。曰。素非好手。師便仰身合掌。僧亦合掌。師乃撫掌三下。僧拂袖便出。師曰。烏不前。兔不後。幾人於此茫然走。祇有闍黎達本源。結舌何曾著空有。

A monk came to study. The Master opened his hand and showed it to him. The monk came forward, then drew back. The Master said, 'Both your parents are dead, and your face does not show the least grief.' The monk laughed heartily. The Master said, 'In a little while I will hold a mourning rite with you, acharya.' The monk turned a somersault and went out. The Master said, 'O heavens, O heavens!' When the monk had finished his greetings, the Master said, 'Going down like that, is there still the principle of the Buddha Dharma or not?' He said, 'I am the one whose tongue is tied.' The Master said, 'And what about this old monk?' He said, 'You were never a skilled hand.' The Master then leaned back and joined his palms. The monk also joined his palms. The Master then clapped three times. The monk flicked his sleeves and went out. The Master said, 'The crow does not go forward, the hare does not go back — how many walk blindly here? Only the acharya reaches the source; with tongue tied, how could he fall into emptiness or existence?'

米倉和尚

The Reverend of Micang

新到參。遶師三匝。敲禪床曰。不見主人公。終不下參眾。師曰。甚麼處情識去來。曰。果然不在。師便打一拄杖。僧曰。幾落情識。師曰。村草步頭逢著一箇。有甚麼話處。曰。且參眾去。

A newly arrived monk walked three times around the Master, struck the meditation seat, and said, 'Without seeing the host, I will not join the assembly.' The Master said, 'Where have you gone with your feeling and consciousness?' He said, 'Sure enough, he is not here.' The Master gave him a blow with his staff. The monk said, 'How nearly I fell into feeling and consciousness.' The Master said, 'Meeting one at a village ferry crossing — what is there to talk about?' He said, 'I will go and join the assembly for now.'

丹霞山義安禪師

Chan Master Yi'an of Danxia Mountain

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。如何是上座。曰。恁麼即無異去也。師曰。誰向汝道。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'What is the elder?' He said, 'If so, then there is no difference.' The Master said, 'Who told you that?'

本童禪師

Chan Master Bentong

因僧寫師真呈。師曰。此若是我。更呈阿誰。曰。豈可分外也。師曰。若不分外。汝卻收取。僧擬收。師打曰。正是分外強為。曰。若恁麼即須呈於師也。師曰。收取。收取。

Once, when a monk had drawn a portrait of the Master and presented it, the Master said, 'If this is me, to whom else should it be presented?' He said, 'How could it be beyond one's portion?' The Master said, 'If it is not beyond your portion, then take it back.' The monk was about to take it. The Master struck him and said, 'This is precisely forcing what is beyond your portion.' He said, 'If so, then it must be presented to the Master.' The Master said, 'Take it back, take it back.'

大川禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dachuan

仙天禪師

Chan Master Xiantian

新羅僧參。方展坐具。擬禮拜。師捉住雲。未發本國時道取一句。僧無語。師便推出曰。問伊一句。便道兩句。僧參。展坐具。師曰。這裡會得孤負平生去也。曰。不向這裡會得。又作麼生。師曰。不向這裡會。更向那裡會。便打出。僧參。才展坐具。師曰。不用通時暄。還我文彩未生時道理來。曰。某甲有口。瘂卻即閑。苦死覓箇臘月扇子作麼。師拈棒作打勢。僧把住曰。還我未拈棒時道理。師曰。隨我者隨之南北。不隨我者死住東西。曰。隨與不隨且置。請師指出東西南北。師便打。披雲和尚來。才入方丈。師便問。未見東越老人時。作麼生為物。雲曰。祇見雲生碧嶂。焉知月落寒潭。師曰。祇與麼也難得。曰。莫是未見時麼。師便喝。雲展兩手。師曰。錯怪人者有甚麼限。雲掩耳而出。師曰。死卻這漢平生也。洛瓶和尚參。師問。甚處來。瓶曰。南溪。師曰。還將南溪消息來麼。曰。消即消已。息即未息。師曰。最苦是未息。瓶曰。且道未息箇甚麼。師曰。一回見面。千載忘名。瓶拂袖便出。師曰。弄死虵手有甚麼限。僧參。擬禮拜。師曰。野狐兒見甚麼了便禮拜。曰。老禿奴見甚麼了便恁麼問。師曰。苦哉。苦哉。仙天今日忘前失後。曰。要且得時。終不補失。師曰。爭不如此。曰。誰甘。師呵呵大笑曰。遠之遠矣。僧四顧便出。

When a monk from Silla came to study, he had just spread his sitting cloth and was about to bow. The Master caught hold of him and said, 'Say one phrase from before you left your own country.' The monk said nothing. The Master then pushed him out, saying, 'I ask him one phrase and he says two.' A monk came to study and spread his sitting cloth. The Master said, 'To understand here is to betray your whole life.' He said, 'If one does not understand here, then how?' The Master said, 'If you do not understand here, where else will you understand?' And he drove him out. A monk came to study, and had just spread his sitting cloth. The Master said, 'No need for the usual greetings; give me back the principle from before literary flourish was born.' He said, 'My mouth is silenced, so I am at leisure. Why desperately seek a December fan?' The Master picked up his staff in a striking posture. The monk caught hold of it and said, 'Give me back the principle from before you picked up the staff.' The Master said, 'Those who follow me I take north and south; those who do not follow me stay dead in the east and west.' He said, 'Set aside following and not following. Please, Master, point out east, west, south and north.' The Master then hit him. When the Reverend Piyun came and had just entered the quarters, the Master asked, 'Before you met the old man of Dongyue, how did you act for the sake of beings?' Yun said, 'I only see clouds rising on the green peaks; how would I know the moon has set in the cold pool?' The Master said, 'Even that much is hard to come by.' He said, 'Is it not the time before seeing?' The Master then shouted. Yun spread both hands. The Master said, 'There is no limit to those who wrongly blame others.' Yun covered his ears and went out. The Master said, 'This fellow's whole life is dead.' When the Reverend Luoping came to study, the Master asked, 'Where have you come from?' Ping said, 'Nanxi.' The Master said, 'Have you brought news of Nanxi?' He said, 'The news has stopped, but the breath has not stopped.' The Master said, 'The most painful thing is that the breath has not stopped.' Ping said, 'Just say, what is it that has not stopped?' The Master said, 'One meeting, and for a thousand years the name is forgotten.' Ping flicked his sleeves and went out. The Master said, 'There is no limit to those who handle dead snakes.' A monk came to study and was about to bow. The Master said, 'Wild fox cub, what have you seen that you bow?' He said, 'Old bald slave, what have you seen that you ask like that?' The Master said, 'How painful, how painful. Today Xiantian has forgotten what came before and lost what came after.' He said, 'I would rather have the time than make up the loss.' The Master said, 'Why not just so?' He said, 'Who would be content?' The Master laughed heartily and said, 'Far, far away indeed.' The monk looked around and went out.

福州普光禪師

Chan Master Puguang of Fuzhou

僧侍立次。師以手開胷曰。還委老僧事麼。曰。猶有這箇在。師卻掩𮌎曰。不妨太顯。曰。有甚麼避處。師曰。的是無避處。曰。即今作麼生。師便打。

Once, as a monk stood in attendance, the Master opened his chest with his hand and said, 'Do you understand this old monk's matter?' He said, 'Still you have this.' The Master then closed his chest and said, 'It is quite manifest enough.' He said, 'What is there to avoid?' The Master said, 'Truly there is nothing to avoid.' He said, 'And just now, how is it?' The Master then hit him.

大顛通禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Tong of Dadian

漳州三平義忠禪師

Chan Master Yizhong of Sanping in Zhangzhou

福州楊氏子。初參石鞏。鞏常張弓架箭接機。師詣法席。鞏曰。看箭。師乃撥開胷曰。此是殺人箭。活人箭又作麼生。鞏彈弓弦三下。師乃禮拜。鞏曰。三十年張弓架箭。秖射得半箇聖人。遂拗折弓箭。後參大顛。舉前話。顛曰。既是活人箭。為甚麼向弓弦上辨。平無對。顛曰。三十年後。要人舉此話也難得。師問大顛。不用指東劃西。便請直指。顛曰。幽州江口石人蹲。師曰。猶是指東劃西。顛曰。若是鳳凰兒。不向那邊討。師作禮。顛曰。若不得後句。前話也難圓。師住三平。上堂曰。今時人出來盡學馳求造作。將當自己眼目。有甚麼相當。阿汝欲學麼。不要諸餘。汝等各有本分事。何不體取。作麼心憤憤．口悱悱。有甚麼利益。分明向汝說。若要修行路及諸聖建立化門。自有大藏教文在。若是宗門中事宜。汝切不得錯用心。僧問。宗門中還有學路也無。師曰。有一路滑如苔。曰。學人還攝得否。師曰。不擬心。汝自看。問。黑豆未生芽時如何。師曰。佛亦不知。講僧問。三乘十二分教。某甲不疑。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。龜毛拂子。兔角拄杖。大德藏向甚麼處。曰。龜毛兔角豈是有邪。師曰。肉重千斤。智無銖兩。上堂。諸人若未曾見知識即不可。若曾見作者來。便合體取些子意度。向巖谷間木食草衣恁麼去。方有少分相應。若馳求知解義句。即萬里望鄉關去也。珍重。問侍者。姓甚麼。者曰。與和尚同姓。師曰。你道三平姓甚麼。者曰。問頭何在。師曰。幾時問汝。者曰。問姓者誰。師曰。念汝初機。放汝三十棒。師有偈曰。即此見聞非見聞。無餘聲色可呈君。箇中若了全無事。體用何妨分不分。陞座次。有道士出眾從東過西。一僧從西過東。師曰。適來道士卻有見處。師僧未在。士出禮曰。謝師接引。師便打。僧出作禮曰。乞師指示。師亦打。復謂眾曰。此兩件公案作麼生斷。還有人斷得麼。

was a son of the Yang family of Fuzhou. He first studied under Shigong. Gong would always bend his bow and fit an arrow to receive the mechanism. When the Master came to his Dharma seat, Gong said, 'Watch the arrow.' The Master then bared his chest and said, 'This is the arrow that kills people. What is the arrow that brings people to life?' Gong plucked the bowstring three times. The Master then bowed. Gong said, 'Thirty years of bending the bow and fitting the arrow, and I have only shot half a sage.' Then he broke the bow and arrows. Later the Master studied under Dadian and brought up the earlier words. Dian said, 'Since it is the arrow that brings people to life, why distinguish it by the bowstring?' Ping had no reply. Dian said, 'Thirty years from now, it will be hard even to find someone to bring up these words.' The Master asked Dadian, 'Without pointing east or drawing west, please point directly.' Dian said, 'A stone man squats at the river mouth of Youzhou.' The Master said, 'Still you are pointing east and drawing west.' Dian said, 'If one is a phoenix chick, one does not seek it over there.' The Master bowed. Dian said, 'Without the last phrase, the earlier words would be hard to complete.' The Master lived at Sanping. Ascending the hall he said, 'People nowadays come forward and all learn to race after and construct, taking that as their own eye — how does that match? Do you want to learn? Then want nothing else. Each of you has your own original matter — why not realize it? Why is your heart so pent up and your mouth so halting? What benefit is there? I tell you plainly. If you want the path of practice and the gate of teaching established by the sages, the great canon is there. But as for the matters within the school of the Ancestors, you must not use your mind wrongly.' A monk asked, 'Within the school of the Ancestors is there still a path of learning?' The Master said, 'There is one path as slippery as moss.' He said, 'Can the student take it up?' The Master said, 'Do not intend your mind; look for yourself.' Someone asked, 'What about when the black bean has not yet sprouted?' The Master said, 'Even the Buddha does not know.' A lecturing monk asked, 'About the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching I have no doubt. What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A fly whisk of tortoise hair and a staff of rabbit horn — Great Virtue, where do you keep them?' He said, 'How could tortoise hair and rabbit horn exist?' The Master said, 'Your flesh weighs a thousand catties and your wisdom not an ounce.' Ascending the hall: 'If you people have not yet seen a good friend, you may not. But if you have seen an adept, you should realize a bit of his bearing. Living in the mountain valleys on tree-fruit and grass-cloth, going on like that, you will have a little accord. If you race after knowledge, interpretation and phrases of meaning, you will be ten thousand li away, gazing toward home. Take care.' He asked his attendant, 'What is your surname?' The attendant said, 'The same as the Reverend's.' The Master said, 'What do you say Sanping's surname is?' The attendant said, 'Where is the question?' The Master said, 'When did I ask you?' The attendant said, 'Who is it that asks the surname?' The Master said, 'In consideration of your being a beginner, I spare you thirty blows.' The Master had a verse: 'This very seeing and hearing is not seeing and hearing; there are no other sounds and forms to present to you. If you understand it fully, there is nothing at all; what harm if substance and function are divided or not?' Once, when he had ascended the seat, a Daoist priest came forward and walked from east to west, and a monk from west to east. The Master said, 'The Daoist just now has something of an insight; the monk does not.' The priest came forward, bowed, and said, 'Thank you, Master, for your guidance.' The Master hit him. The monk came forward, bowed, and said, 'I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master also hit him. Again he said to the assembly, 'How are these two public cases to be decided? Is there anyone who can decide them?'

如是三問。眾無對。師曰。既無人斷得。老僧為斷去。乃擲下拄杖。歸方丈。

(The Master continued:) Thus he asked three times, and the assembly had no reply. The Master said, 'Since no one can decide them, this old monk will decide them for you.' Then he threw down his staff and went back to his quarters.

馬頰山本空禪師

Chan Master Benkong of Majia Mountain

上堂。祇這施為動轉。還合得本來祖翁麼。若合得。十二時中無虗棄底道理。若合不得。吃茶說話往往喚作茶話在。僧便問。如何免得不成茶話去。師曰。你識得口也未。曰。如何是口。師曰。兩片皮也不識。曰。如何是本來祖翁。師曰。大眾前不要牽爺恃娘。曰。大眾欣然去也。師曰。你試點大眾性看。僧作禮。師曰。伊往往道一性一切性在。僧欲進語。師曰。孤負平生行腳眼。問。去卻即今言句。請師直指本來性。師曰。你迷源來得多少時。曰。即今蒙和尚指示。師曰。若指示你。我即迷源。曰。如何即是。師示頌曰。心是性體。性是心用。心性一如。誰別誰共。妄外迷源。祇者難洞。古今凡聖。如幻如夢。

Ascending the hall: 'Does this very activity and movement accord with the original ancestral one? If it accords, then in the twelve hours there is no principle of wasting anything. If it does not accord, then drinking tea and talking is usually called tea talk.' A monk then asked, 'How can one avoid its not becoming tea talk?' The Master said, 'Do you know your mouth?' He said, 'What is the mouth?' The Master said, 'You do not even know two flaps of skin.' He said, 'What is the original ancestral one?' The Master said, 'Do not hang on your father and lean on your mother before the assembly.' He said, 'The assembly is delighted and gone.' The Master said, 'Just try to see the assembly's nature.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'He will always say that one nature is all natures.' The monk wanted to speak further. The Master said, 'You betray a lifetime's pilgrim's eye.' Someone asked, 'Setting aside the words of this moment, please, Master, point directly at the original nature.' The Master said, 'How long have you been deluded about the source?' He said, 'Just now I have received the Reverend's instruction.' The Master said, 'If I instruct you, then I am deluded about the source.' He said, 'Then how is it?' The Master gave a verse: 'Mind is the substance of nature, nature is the function of mind. Mind and nature are one suchness — who divides them, who shares them? Beyond delusion, deluded about the source, only this is hard to penetrate. Sages and ordinary men of ancient and modern times are like an illusion, like a dream.'

本生禪師

Chan Master Bensheng

拈拄杖示眾曰。我若拈起。你便向未拈起時作道理。我若不拈起。你便向拈起時作主宰。且道老僧為人在甚處。時有僧出曰。不敢妄生節目。師曰。也知闍黎不分外。曰。低低處平之有餘。高高處觀之不足。師曰。節目上更生節目。僧無語。師曰。掩鼻偷香。空招罪犯。

He picked up his staff and said to the assembly, 'If I pick it up, you make a principle out of the time before I picked it up. If I do not pick it up, you make yourself master of the time when I pick it up. Just say, where does this old monk work for people?' Then a monk came forward and said, 'I would not dare rashly produce complications.' The Master said, 'I know the acharya does not go beyond his portion.' He said, 'Where it is low, leveling it leaves a surplus; where it is high, viewing it leaves a lack.' The Master said, 'On complications you pile more complications.' The monk said nothing. The Master said, 'Holding your nose to steal incense, you only bring guilt on yourself.'

長髭曠禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Kuang of Changzi

潭州石室善道禪師

Chan Master Shandao of the Stone Chamber in Tanzhou

作沙彌時。長髭遣令受戒。謂之曰。汝回日須到石頭和尚處禮拜。師受戒後。仍參石頭。一日隨頭遊山次。頭曰。汝與我斫卻面前樹子。免礙我。師曰。不將刀來。頭乃抽刀倒與。師曰。何不過那頭來。頭曰。你用那頭作甚麼。師即大悟。便歸長髭。髭問。汝到石頭否。師曰。到即到。秖是不通號。髭曰。從誰受戒。師曰。不依他。髭曰。在彼即恁麼。來我這裡作麼生。師曰。不違背。髭曰。太忉忉生。師曰。舌頭未曾點著在。髭喝曰。沙彌出去。師便出。髭曰。爭得不遇於人。師尋值沙汰。乃作行者。居於石室。每見僧。便竪起杖子曰。三世諸佛。盡由這箇。對者少得冥契。長沙聞。乃曰。我若見即令放下拄杖。別通箇消息。三聖將此語秖對。被師認破是長沙語。杏山聞三聖失機。乃親到石室。師見杏山。僧眾相隨。潛入碓坊碓米。杏曰。行者接待不易。貧道難消。師曰。開心椀子盛將來。無葢盤子合取去。說甚麼難消。杏便休。仰山問。佛之與道。相去幾何。師曰。道如展手。佛似握拳。曰。畢竟如何的當。可信可依。師以手撥空三下曰。無恁麼事。無恁麼事。曰。還假看教否。師曰。三乘十二分教是分外事。若與他作對。即是心境兩法。能所雙行。便有種種見解。亦是狂慧。未足為道。若不與他作對。一事也無。所以祖師道本來無一物。汝不見小兒出胎時。可道我解看教．不解看教。當恁麼時。亦不知有佛性義．無佛性義。及至長大。便學種種知解出來。便道我能我解。不知總是客塵煩惱。十六行中。嬰兒行為最哆哆和和時。喻學道之人離分別取捨心。故讚歎嬰兒。可況喻取之。若謂嬰兒是道。今時人錯會。師一夕與仰山翫月。山問。這箇月尖時。圓相甚麼處去。圓時。尖相又甚麼處去。師曰。尖時圓相隱。圓時尖相在(雲巖雲。尖時圓相在。圓時無尖相。道吾雲。尖時亦不尖。圓時亦不圓)。

When he was a novice, Changzi sent him to receive the precepts and told him, 'On the day you return you must go and pay respects to the Reverend Shitou.' After the Master had received the precepts, he still went to study under Shitou. One day, as he was wandering the mountain with Tou, Tou said, 'Cut down the tree in front of me for me, so it does not block me.' The Master said, 'I did not bring a knife.' Tou then drew his knife and handed it back to him. The Master said, 'Why not hand it over by the other end?' Tou said, 'What would you do with the other end?' The Master was at once greatly awakened, and went back to Changzi. Zi asked, 'Did you reach Shitou?' The Master said, 'I reached him, but I did not announce myself.' Zi said, 'From whom did you receive the precepts?' The Master said, 'I did not rely on him.' Zi said, 'That may be so there, but how is it here with me?' The Master said, 'I do not go against it.' Zi said, 'How long-winded.' The Master said, 'My tongue has not even touched it.' Zi shouted, 'Novice, get out!' The Master then went out. Zi said, 'How is it that one meets no one?' Later the Master met with the persecution, and became a postulant, living in the Stone Chamber. Whenever he saw a monk he would hold up his staff and say, 'The Buddhas of the three ages all come from this.' Few of those who answered had a hidden accord. When Changsha heard of it he said, 'If I saw him, I would make him put down his staff and give another message.' The Three Sages brought this up as a reply, and the Master saw through it as Changsha's words. When Xingshan heard that the Three Sages had lost the mechanism, he came in person to the Stone Chamber. When the Master saw Xingshan, with the monks following him, he slipped into the pounding shed and pounded rice. Xing said, 'Postulant, receiving guests is not easy; this poor monk can hardly digest it.' The Master said, 'Serve it in an open-mouthed bowl, take it away on a lidless plate. What is this talk of hard to digest?' Xing then let it be. Yangshan asked, 'Between Buddha and the Way, how far apart are they?' The Master said, 'The Way is like opening the hand, Buddha is like closing the fist.' He said, 'After all, what is reliable, what can be trusted and relied on?' The Master brushed the air three times with his hand and said, 'There is no such thing, there is no such thing.' He said, 'Does it still depend on studying the teachings?' The Master said, 'The three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teaching are outside the matter. If you set them up against yourself, then there are the two dharmas of mind and object, and subject and object run together, and there are all kinds of views — this too is mad wisdom, not yet fit to be the Way. If you do not set them up against yourself, there is not a single thing. Therefore the Ancestor said, originally there is not a single thing. Have you not seen a baby just born from the womb? Can it say, I understand the teachings, or I do not? At such a time it does not even know whether there is the meaning of Buddha-nature or not. When it grows up, it learns all kinds of knowledge and understanding, and says, I can, I understand — not knowing that all this is guest-dust affliction. Among the sixteen practices, the practice of an infant is the foremost. In its babbling and cooing it shows that a student of the Way is apart from the mind of discrimination and grasping, and so the infant is praised and can be taken as a comparison. If you say the infant is the Way, people nowadays misunderstand.' One evening the Master was enjoying the moon with Yangshan. Shan asked, 'With this moon, when it is pointed, where does the round mark go? When it is round, where does the pointed mark go?' The Master said, 'When pointed, the round mark is hidden; when round, the pointed mark remains.' (Yunyan said, 'When pointed, the round mark remains; when round, there is no pointed mark.' Daowu said, 'When pointed it is not pointed either, and when round it is not round either.')

仰山辭。師送出門。乃召曰。闍黎。山應諾。師曰。莫一向去。卻回這邊來。僧問。曾到五臺否。師曰。曾到。曰。還見文殊麼。師曰。見。曰。文殊向行者道甚麼。師曰。文殊道。你生身父母在深草裡。

Yangshan took his leave. The Master saw him to the gate, then called, 'Acharya!' Shan answered. The Master said, 'Do not keep going that way; come back over here.' A monk asked, 'Have you ever been to Mount Wutai?' The Master said, 'I have been there.' He said, 'Did you see Manjushri?' The Master said, 'I saw him.' He said, 'What did Manjushri say to the postulant?' The Master said, 'Manjushri said, your own living father and mother are in the deep grass.'

青原下四世

The Fourth Generation under Qingyuan

道吾智禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Zhi of Daowu

潭州石霜山慶諸禪師

Chan Master Qingzhu of Shishuang Mountain in Tanzhou

廬陵新淦陳氏子。依洪井西山紹鑾禪師落髮。詣洛下學毗尼教。雖知聽制。絡為漸宗。回抵溈山。為米頭。一日篩米次。溈曰。施主物。莫拋散。師曰。不拋撒。溈於地上拾得一粒曰。汝道不拋撒。這箇是甚麼。師無對。溈又曰。莫輕這一粒。百千粒盡從這一粒生。師曰。百千粒從這一粒生。未審這一粒從甚麼處生。溈呵呵大笑。歸方丈。溈至晚。上堂曰。大眾。米裡有蟲。諸人好看。後參道吾。問。如何是觸目菩提。吾喚沙彌。彌應諾。吾曰。添淨瓶水著。良久卻問師。汝適來問甚麼。師擬舉。吾便起去。師於此有省。吾將順世。垂語曰。我心中有一物。久而為患。誰能為我除之。師曰。心物俱非。除之益患。吾曰。賢哉。賢哉。師後避世。混俗於長沙瀏陽陶家坊。朝遊夕處。人莫能識。後因僧自洞山來。師問。和尚有何言句示徒。曰。解夏上堂雲。秋初夏末。兄弟或東去西去。直須向萬裡無寸草處去。良久曰。秖如萬裡無寸草處作麼生去。師曰。有人下語否。曰。無。師曰。何不道。出門便是草。僧回。舉似洞山。山曰。此是一千五百人善知識語。因茲囊錐始露。果熟香飄。眾命住持。上堂。汝等諸人自有本分事。不用馳求。無你是非處。無你齩嚼處。一代時教。整理時人腳手。凡有其由。皆落今時。直至法身非身。此是教家極則。我輩沙門全無肯路。若分則差。不分則坐著泥水。但由心意妄說見聞。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。空中一片石。僧禮拜。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。賴汝不會。若會即打破汝頭。問。如何是和尚本分事。師曰。石頭還汗出麼。問。到這裡。為甚麼卻道不得。師曰。腳底著口。問。真身還出世也無。師曰。不出世。曰。爭奈真身何。師曰。瑠璃缾子口。問。如何是和尚深深處。師曰。無鬚鎻子兩頭搖。師在方丈內。僧在牕外問。咫尺之間為甚麼不覩師顏。師曰。

was a son of the Chen family of Xingan in Luling. He left home under Chan Master Shaoluan of Xishan in Hongjing. He went to Luoyang to study the Vinaya teachings. Though he knew how to hear the rules, he still took gradual instruction as his school. Returning, he reached Weishan, where he was rice head. One day, while sifting rice, Wei said, 'It is the donor's property; do not throw it about.' The Master said, 'I am not throwing it about.' Wei picked up one grain from the ground and said, 'You say you are not throwing it about — what is this?' The Master had no reply. Wei also said, 'Do not slight this one grain. A hundred thousand grains all grow from this one grain.' The Master said, 'A hundred thousand grains grow from this one grain. I wonder from what this one grain grows?' Wei laughed heartily and went back to his quarters. That evening Wei ascended the hall and said, 'Assembly, there are worms in the rice; you should all look carefully.' Later the Master studied under Daowu and asked, 'What is enlightenment at whatever meets the eye?' Wu called the novice. The novice answered. Wu said, 'Go add water to the pure bottle.' After a long while he asked the Master, 'What did you just ask?' The Master was about to bring it up. Wu then got up and left. At this the Master had an awakening. When Wu was about to pass away, he dropped a word: 'In my mind there is a thing that has long been a trouble; who can remove it for me?' The Master said, 'Mind and thing are both not it; removing it adds trouble.' Wu said, 'How worthy, how worthy.' The Master afterwards withdrew from the world and mixed with the common folk at the Tao family workshop in Liuyang, Changsha, roaming by day and resting by night, and no one could recognize him. Later, because a monk came from Dongshan, the Master asked, 'What words and phrases does the Reverend use to instruct his students?' He said, 'At the end of the summer retreat he ascended the hall and said: at the beginning of autumn and the end of summer, you brothers may go east or west, but you must go where there is not a blade of grass for ten thousand li. After a long pause he said: just as for that place with not a blade of grass for ten thousand li, how do you go there?' The Master said, 'Did anyone give a reply?' He said, 'No.' The Master said, 'Why did he not say, the moment you go out the door, there is grass?' When the monk returned he brought this up to Dongshan. Shan said, 'These are the words of a good friend of fifteen hundred people.' Because of this the awl in the bag was revealed, and the fruit ripened and its fragrance spread, and the assembly asked him to be abbot. Ascending the hall: 'Each of you has your own original matter; you need not race after it. There is no place for your right and wrong, no place for your chewing. The teaching of one age sets people's hands and feet in order. Whatever has a cause falls into the present. Up to the dharma body that is no body — this is the ultimate standard of the teaching schools. We monks have no path of assent at all. If you divide, you err; if you do not divide, you sit in the mud and water. It is only from the mind's intent that you falsely speak of seeing and hearing.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A piece of stone in the sky.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'Thank goodness you do not. If you did, I would break your head.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's original matter?' The Master said, 'Does the stone still sweat?' Someone asked, 'Having arrived here, why can one not speak?' The Master said, 'A mouth at the sole of the foot.' Someone asked, 'Does the true body still appear in the world or not?' The Master said, 'It does not appear.' He said, 'What is to be done about the true body?' The Master said, 'The mouth of a glass bottle.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's deepest place?' The Master said, 'A lockless lock rattling at both ends.' Once, when the Master was inside his quarters, a monk asked from outside the window, 'Why, when so near, do I not see the Master's face?' The Master said,

徧界不曾藏。僧舉問雪峰。徧界不曾藏。意旨如何。峰曰。甚麼處不是石霜。師聞曰。這老漢著甚麼死急。峰聞曰。老僧罪過(東禪齊雲。祇如雪峰是會石霜意不會石霜意。若會。他為甚麼道死急。若不會。雪峰作麼不會。然法且無異。奈以師承不同。解之差別。他雲。徧界不曾藏。也須曾學來始得會。亂說即不可)。裴相公來。師拈起裴笏問。在天子手中為珪。在官人手中為笏。在老僧手中且道喚作甚麼。裴無對。師乃留下笏。示眾初機。未覯大事。先須識取頭。其尾自至。疎山仁參。問。如何是頭。師曰。直須知有。曰。如何是尾。師曰。盡卻今時。曰。有頭無尾時如何。師曰。吐得黃金堪作甚麼。曰。有尾無頭時如何。師曰。猶有依倚在。曰。直得頭尾相稱時如何。師曰。渠不作箇解。會亦未許渠在。僧辭。師問。船去陸去。曰。遇船即船。遇陸即陸。師曰。我道半途稍難。僧無對。僧問。三千里外。遠聞石霜有箇不顧。師曰。是。曰。祇如萬象歷然。是顧不顧。師曰。我道不驚眾。曰。不驚眾是與萬象合。如何是不顧。師曰。徧界不曾藏。問。如何是祖師西來意。師乃齩齒示之。僧不會。後問九峰曰。先師齩齒。意旨如何。峰曰。我寧可截舌。不犯國諱。又問雲葢。葢曰。我與先師有甚麼冤讐。問僧。近離甚處。曰。審道。師於面前畫一畫曰。汝刺腳與麼來。還審得這箇麼。曰。審不得。師曰。汝納衣與麼厚。為甚卻審這箇不得。曰。某甲衲衣雖厚。爭奈審這箇不得。師曰。與麼。則七佛出世也救你不得。曰。說甚七佛。千佛出世也救某甲不得。師曰。太懵憧生。曰。爭奈聻。師曰。參堂去。僧曰。喏。喏。問。童子不坐白雲床時如何。師曰。不打水。魚自驚。洞山問。向前一箇童子甚了事。如今向甚處去也。師曰。火焰上泊不得。卻歸清涼世界去也。問。佛性如虗空。是否。師曰。臥時即有。

(Shishuang continued:) 'It has never been hidden throughout the whole world.' The monk brought this up and asked Xuefeng, 'It has never been hidden throughout the whole world — what does that mean?' Feng said, 'Where is it not Shishuang?' When the Master heard this he said, 'What is this old fellow in such a dying hurry about?' When Feng heard that he said, 'This old monk is at fault.' (Dongchan Qi said, 'Just say, did Xuefeng understand Shishuang's meaning or not? If he understood, why did he say dying hurry? If he did not, how could Xuefeng not understand? Yet the Dharma is without difference — it is because the teacher's transmission differs that interpretations differ. As for his saying it has never been hidden throughout the whole world, one must have studied it to understand it. Random talk will not do.') Chancellor Pei came. The Master picked up Pei's tablet and asked, 'In the Son of Heaven's hand it is a jade tablet, in an official's hand it is a court tablet. In this old monk's hand, just say, what is it called?' Pei had no reply. The Master then kept the tablet. He said to beginners, 'Before you have seen the great matter, you must first recognize the head; the tail will come of itself.' Ren of Shushan came to study and asked, 'What is the head?' The Master said, 'You must simply know that there is.' He said, 'What is the tail?' The Master said, 'Exhausting the present.' He said, 'What about when there is a head but no tail?' The Master said, 'What use is it to spit gold?' He said, 'What about when there is a tail but no head?' The Master said, 'Still there is reliance.' He said, 'What about when head and tail match?' The Master said, 'He does not make an interpretation. Even if he understood, I would not allow him.' A monk took his leave. The Master asked, 'By boat or by land?' He said, 'When I meet a boat, a boat; when I meet land, land.' The Master said, 'I say halfway is a little hard.' The monk had no reply. A monk asked, 'Three thousand li away I heard that Shishuang has a not-looking-after. Is that so?' The Master said, 'It is.' He said, 'Just as the ten thousand things are all distinct — is that looking after or not looking after?' The Master said, 'I say it does not startle the assembly.' He said, 'Not startling the assembly is to be one with the ten thousand things. What is not looking after?' The Master said, 'It has never been hidden throughout the whole world.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master then showed his teeth clenched. The monk did not understand. Later he asked Jiufeng, 'When my late teacher clenched his teeth, what did he mean?' Feng said, 'I would rather cut out my tongue than violate the national taboo.' He also asked Yungai. Gai said, 'What grudge have I against my late teacher?' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from recently?' He said, 'Examining the Way.' The Master drew a line before him and said, 'You came poking your feet like this — can you examine this?' He said, 'I cannot examine it.' The Master said, 'Your patched robe is so thick — why can you not examine this?' He said, 'Though my patched robe is thick, I cannot examine this.' The Master said, 'If so, then even seven Buddhas appearing in the world could not save you.' He said, 'Never mind seven Buddhas — even a thousand Buddhas appearing could not save me.' The Master said, 'How muddled.' He said, 'What is to be done?' The Master said, 'Go join the hall.' The monk said, 'Yes, yes.' Someone asked, 'What about when a boy does not sit on the white cloud seat?' The Master said, 'If you do not strike the water, the fish startle of themselves.' Dongshan asked, 'The boy in front was quite capable — where has he gone now?' The Master said, 'He cannot stay on the flames, so he has gone back to the cool world.' Someone asked, 'Is the Buddha-nature like empty space?' The Master said, 'When lying down, it is.

坐時即無。問。忘收一足時如何。師曰。不共汝同盤。問。風生浪起時如何。師曰。湖南城裡太煞閙。有人不肯過江西。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。落花隨水去。曰。意旨如何。師曰。脩竹引風來。問。如何是塵劫來事。師曰。冬天則有。夏天則無。師頌洞山五位王子。誕生曰。天然貴胤本非功。德合乾坤育勢隆。始末一朝無雜種。分宮六宅不他宗。上和下睦陰陽順。共氣連枝器量同。欲識誕生王子父。鶴沖霄漢出銀籠。朝生曰。苦學論情世莫群。出來凡事已超倫。詩成五字三冬雪。筆落分毫四海雲。萬卷積功彰聖代。一心忠孝輔明君。鹽梅不是生知得。金榜何勞顯至勳。末生曰。久棲巖壑用功夫。草榻柴扉守志孤。十載見聞心自委。一身冬夏衣縑無。澄凝含笑三秋思。清苦高名上哲圖。業就高科酬志極。比來臣相不當途。化生曰。傍分帝位為傳持。萬裡山河佈政威。紅影日輪凝下界。碧油風冷暑炎時。高低豈廢尊卑奉。五袴蘇途遠近知。妙印手持煙塞靜。當陽那肯露纖機。內生曰。九重密處復何宣。掛弊由來顯妙傳。秖奉一人天地貴。從他諸道自分權。紫羅帳合君臣隔。黃閣簾垂禁制全。為汝方隅宮屬戀。遂將黃葉止啼錢。師居石霜山二十年間。學眾有長坐不臥。屹若株杌。天下謂之枯木眾也。唐僖宗聞師道譽。賜紫衣。師牢辭不受。光啟四年示疾告寂。塟於院之西北隅。諡普會大師。

(Shishuang continued:) 'When sitting, it is not.' Someone asked, 'What about when one forgets to draw in a foot?' The Master said, 'I do not share your tray.' Someone asked, 'What about when the wind rises and the waves come up?' The Master said, 'The city of Hunan is far too noisy; some will not cross to Jiangxi.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Fallen flowers go off with the water.' He said, 'What does that mean?' The Master said, 'Slender bamboo draws the wind.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter from the dust kalpas?' The Master said, 'In winter there is, in summer there is not.' The Master praised Dongshan's five positions of the prince. On Birth: 'A natural noble heir is not made by effort; his virtue joins heaven and earth, and his nurturing power is great. From first to last, in one morning, there is no mixed breed; he divides the palace into six houses and follows no other line. Above and below are harmonious, yin and yang accord; one breath joins the branches, and their capacity is the same. If you would know the father of the born prince, a crane soars to the Milky Way, out of the silver cage.' On Morning Birth: 'Bitter study and discussion of feeling have no peer in the world; once he comes forth, all things already surpass his kind. A poem finished in five characters is three winters of snow; a brush set down, a hair's breadth, is clouds over the four seas. Ten thousand scrolls of accumulated effort display a sage age; one heart of loyalty and filial piety aids a wise ruler. Salt and plum are not known by birth — why should the golden list trouble to display his supreme merit?' On Last Birth: 'Long dwelling in the cliffs and valleys, using effort, guarding his resolve alone behind a grass couch and a brushwood door. Ten years of seeing and hearing, the mind submits of itself; one body, winter and summer, has no silk clothing. Clear and still, holding a smile, three autumns of thought; pure and bitter, his high name on the chart of the wise. When his work is done and high office rewards his resolve to the utmost, even then minister and chancellor do not block his way.' On Transformation Birth: 'Dividing the imperial throne in a side line to carry it on, over ten thousand li of rivers and mountains he spreads the majesty of government. The red shadow of the sun wheel rests on the lower world; the blue-oiled wind is cold in the heat of summer. High and low, how could he set aside the homage of rank? With five trousers on the road to revival, near and far know him. The wondrous seal held in his hand, the smoke passes are quiet; facing the sun, how would he consent to reveal the slightest mechanism?' On Inner Birth: 'In the secret place of the ninefold palace, what more is there to proclaim? Hanging up the worn to display the wondrous transmission. He serves only one man, and heaven and earth are honored; from the other paths he lets each take its own authority. In the purple gauze tent joined, ruler and minister are separated; the yellow pavilion's blind is lowered and the prohibitions are complete. For your sake, the palace retainers of the quarters and the walls cling on, and so he uses yellow leaves as money to stop a child's crying.' The Master lived on Shishuang Mountain for twenty years, and among his students there were those who sat long without lying down, standing like stumps, and the world called them the withered-wood assembly. When Emperor Xizong of Tang heard of the Master's reputation for the Way, he granted him a purple robe. The Master firmly declined and would not accept it. In the fourth year of Guangqi he showed signs of illness and passed away. He was buried in the northwest corner of the monastery. His posthumous title was Great Master Puhui.

潭州漸源仲興禪師

Chan Master Zhongxing of Jianyuan in Tanzhou

在道吾為侍者。因過茶與吾。吾提起盞曰。是邪是正。師叉手近前。目視吾。吾曰。邪則總邪。正則總正。師曰。某甲不恁麼道。吾曰。汝則麼生。師奪盞子提起曰。是邪是正。吾曰。汝不虗為吾侍者。師便禮拜。一日。侍吾往檀越家弔慰。師撫棺曰。生邪死邪。吾曰。生也不道。死也不道。師曰。為甚麼不道。吾曰。不道。不道。歸至中路。師曰。和尚今日須與某甲道。若不道。打和尚去也。吾曰。打即任打。道即不道。師便打。吾歸院曰。汝宜離此去。恐知事得知。不便。師乃禮辭。隱於村院。經三年後。忽聞童子念觀音經。至應以比丘身得度者即現比丘身。忽然大省。遂焚香遙禮曰。信知先師遺言。終不虗發。自是我不會。卻怨先師。先師既沒。唯石霜是嫡嗣。必為證明。乃造石霜。霜見便問。離道吾後到甚處來。師曰。祇在村院寄足。霜曰。前來打先師因緣會也未。師起身進前曰。卻請和尚道一轉語。霜曰。不見道。生也不道。死也不道。師乃述在村院得底因緣。遂禮拜石霜。設齋懺悔。他日。持鍬復到石霜。於法堂上從東過西。從西過東。霜曰。作麼。師曰。覓先師靈骨。霜曰。洪波浩渺。白浪滔天。覓甚先師靈骨。師曰。正好著力。霜曰。這裡針劄不入。著甚麼力。源持鍬肩上便出(大原孚上座代雲。先師靈骨猶在)。師後住漸源。一日在紙帳內坐。有僧來撥開帳曰。不審。師以目視之。良久曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。七佛已前事。為甚麼不會。僧舉似石霜。霜曰。如人解射。箭不虗發。一日。寶葢和尚來訪。師便捲起簾子。在方丈內坐。蓋一見乃下卻簾。便歸客位。師令侍者傳語。長老遠來不易。猶隔津在。蓋擒住侍者。與一掌。者曰。不用打某甲。有堂頭和尚在。蓋曰。為有堂頭老漢。所以打你。者回舉似師。師曰。猶隔津在。

He was an attendant to Daowu. Once, when he brought tea to Wu, Wu lifted the cup and said, 'Is it crooked or straight?' The Master folded his hands and came forward, looking at Wu. Wu said, 'If crooked, all crooked; if straight, all straight.' The Master said, 'I do not say so.' Wu said, 'Then how do you say it?' The Master snatched the cup, lifted it, and said, 'Is it crooked or straight?' Wu said, 'You do not falsely serve as my attendant.' The Master then bowed. One day, attending Wu to a donor's house for condolences, the Master touched the coffin and said, 'Alive or dead?' Wu said, 'I do not say alive, and I do not say dead.' The Master said, 'Why do you not say?' Wu said, 'I do not say, I do not say.' On the way back, midway, the Master said, 'The Reverend must tell me today. If you do not, I will hit the Reverend.' Wu said, 'You may hit me as you please, but I will not say.' The Master then hit him. When Wu returned to the monastery he said, 'You should leave here; I fear the administrator will hear of it, and it would be awkward.' The Master then bowed and took his leave, and hid in a village monastery. Three years later, he suddenly heard a boy reciting the Avalokitesvara Sutra, and when it came to 'those who should be saved by the body of a monk are met with the manifestation of the body of a monk,' he was suddenly greatly awakened. He then burned incense and bowed in the distance, saying, 'I truly believe my late teacher's parting words were never spoken in vain. It was I who did not understand, and yet I blamed my late teacher. Since my late teacher has passed, only Shishuang is the direct heir, and he will surely verify it for me.' So he went to Shishuang. When Shuang saw him he asked, 'After leaving Daowu, where did you go?' The Master said, 'I only lodged in a village monastery.' Shuang said, 'Have you understood the story of your hitting your late teacher earlier?' The Master rose, came forward, and said, 'Please, Reverend, give a turning word.' Shuang said, 'Have you not heard it said, I do not say alive, and I do not say dead?' The Master then recounted the circumstances of what he had gained in the village monastery, and bowed to Shishuang and held a meal of repentance. Another day he came again to Shishuang carrying a spade, and in the Dharma hall walked from east to west, and from west to east. Shuang said, 'What are you doing?' The Master said, 'Looking for my late teacher's sacred bones.' Shuang said, 'Vast waves stretch boundless, white breakers reach the sky — what late teacher's sacred bones are you looking for?' The Master said, 'A good time to put forth effort.' Shuang said, 'Here a needle cannot enter — what effort will you put forth?' Yuan put the spade on his shoulder and went out. (The elder Fu of Taiyuan said on his behalf, 'My late teacher's sacred bones are still here.') The Master afterwards lived at Jianyuan. One day he was sitting inside a paper tent. A monk came and pulled the tent open, saying, 'Greetings.' The Master looked at him, and after a long while said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'A matter from before the seven Buddhas — why do you not understand?' The monk brought this up to Shishuang. Shuang said, 'Like a man who knows archery, the arrow is never shot in vain.' One day the Reverend Baogai came to visit. The Master rolled up the blind and sat inside his quarters. As soon as Gai saw it he lowered the blind and went back to the guest seat. The Master told the attendant to carry a message: 'The Elder has come far, it is no easy matter — but there is still a ford between us.' Gai seized the attendant and gave him a slap. The attendant said, 'Do not hit me; the head of the hall is there.' Gai said, 'It is because the old fellow heads the hall that I hit you.' The attendant went back and reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'There is still a ford between us.'

淥清禪師

Chan Master Luqing

僧問。不落道吾機。請師道。師曰。庭前紅莧樹。生葉不生華。僧良久。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。正是道吾機。因甚麼不會。僧禮拜。師打曰。須是老僧打你始得。問。如何是無相。師曰。山青水綠。僧參。師以目視之。僧曰。是箇機關。於某甲分上用不著。師彈指三下。僧遶禪床一匝。依位立。師曰。參堂去。僧始出。師便喝。僧卻以目視之。師曰。灼然用不著。僧禮拜。

A monk asked, 'Without falling into Daowu's mechanism, please, Master, speak.' The Master said, 'The red amaranth tree in the courtyard bears leaves but no flowers.' The monk was silent a long time. The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'This is precisely Daowu's mechanism — why do you not understand?' The monk bowed. The Master hit him and said, 'It takes this old monk hitting you for it to be so.' Someone asked, 'What is the formless?' The Master said, 'Green mountains, green water.' A monk came to study. The Master looked at him. The monk said, 'That is a mechanism, and it is of no use in my case.' The Master snapped his fingers three times. The monk walked once around the meditation seat and stood in his place. The Master said, 'Go join the hall.' The monk had just gone out. The Master shouted. The monk turned and looked at him. The Master said, 'Clearly of no use.' The monk bowed.

雲巖晟禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Sheng of Yunyan

𣵠州杏山鑒洪禪師

Chan Master Jianhong of Xingshan in Fenzhou

臨濟問。如何是露地白牛。師曰。吽吽。濟曰。瘂卻杏山口。師曰。老兄作麼生。濟曰。這畜生。師便休。示滅後茶毗。收五色舍利建塔。

Linji asked, 'What is the white ox on open ground?' The Master said, 'Moo, moo.' Ji said, 'Xingshan's mouth is struck dumb.' The Master said, 'How about you, old brother?' Ji said, 'This beast.' The Master then let it be. After his passing and cremation, five-colored relics were collected and a stupa was built.

潭州神山僧密禪師

Chan Master Sengmi of Shenshan in Tanzhou

師在南泉打羅次。泉問。作甚麼。師曰。打羅。曰。手打腳打。師曰。卻請和尚道。泉曰。分明記取。向後遇明眼作家。但恁麼舉似(雲巖代雲。無手腳者始解打)。師與洞山渡水。山曰。莫錯下腳。師曰。錯即過不得也。山曰。不錯底事作麼生。師曰。共長老過水。一日。與洞山鉏茶園。山擲下钁頭曰。我今日一點氣力也無。師曰。若無氣力。爭解恁麼道。山曰。汝將謂有氣力底是。裴大夫問僧。供養佛。佛還吃否。僧曰。如大夫祭家神。大夫舉似雲巖。巖曰。這僧未出家在。曰。和尚又如何。巖曰。有幾般飯食。但一時下來。巖卻問師。一時下來又作麼生。師曰。合取缽盂。巖肯之。問。一地不見二地時如何。師曰。汝莫錯否。汝是何地。問。生死事。乞師一言。師曰。汝何時死去來。曰。某甲不會。請師說。師曰。不會須死一場始得。師與洞山行次。忽見白兔走過。師曰。俊哉。洞曰。作麼生。師曰。大似白衣拜相。洞曰。老老大大。作這箇說話。師曰。你作麼生。洞曰。積代簪纓。暫時落魄。師把針次。洞山問曰。作甚麼。師曰。把針。洞曰。把針事作麼生。師曰。針針相似。洞曰。二十年同行。作這箇語話。豈有與麼工夫。師曰。長老又作麼生。洞曰。如大地火發底道理。師問洞山。智識所通。莫不遊踐。徑截處乞師一言。洞曰。師伯意何得取功。師因斯頓覺。下語非常。後與洞山過獨木橋。洞先過了。拈起木橋曰。過來。師喚價闍黎。洞乃放下橋木。

Once, when the Master was sifting at Nanquan's, Quan asked, 'What are you doing?' The Master said, 'Sifting.' He said, 'Is it the hand that sifts or the foot?' The Master said, 'Please, Reverend, speak.' Quan said, 'Remember it clearly. Hereafter, when you meet a clear-eyed adept, just bring it up like this.' (Yunyan said on his behalf, 'Only one without hands and feet can sift.') Once the Master and Dongshan were crossing a river. Shan said, 'Do not set your foot wrong.' The Master said, 'If wrong, one cannot cross.' Shan said, 'What about the matter of not being wrong?' The Master said, 'Crossing the water with the Elder.' One day, hoeing the tea garden with Dongshan, Shan threw down his hoe and said, 'Today I have not the least strength.' The Master said, 'If you have no strength, how can you speak like that?' Shan said, 'You would say that the one with strength is it.' The official Pei asked a monk, 'If one makes offerings to the Buddha, does the Buddha eat them?' The monk said, 'As when the official sacrifices to the household gods.' The official brought this up to Yunyan. Yan said, 'That monk has not left home.' He said, 'How about the Reverend?' Yan said, 'There are several kinds of food; just bring them all down at once.' Yan then asked the Master, 'If you bring them all down at once, then how is it?' The Master said, 'Shut up and take your bowl.' Yan agreed with him. Someone asked, 'What about when one ground does not see a second ground?' The Master said, 'Are you not mistaken? What ground are you?' Someone asked, 'The matter of birth and death — I beg the Master for one word.' The Master said, 'When did you die?' He said, 'I do not understand; please, Master, speak.' The Master said, 'If you do not understand, you must die one time first.' Once, as the Master and Dongshan were walking, they suddenly saw a white rabbit run past. The Master said, 'How fine.' Dong said, 'How is it?' The Master said, 'Very like a white-robed man becoming chancellor.' Dong said, 'Old as you are, you talk like that.' The Master said, 'How about you?' Dong said, 'Generations of high office, temporarily fallen on hard times.' Once, when the Master was plying the needle, Dongshan asked, 'What are you doing?' The Master said, 'Plying the needle.' Dong said, 'How is the matter of plying the needle?' The Master said, 'Needle after needle alike.' Dong said, 'Twenty years walking together, and you talk like that — how is that any skill?' The Master said, 'How about you, Elder?' Dong said, 'Like the principle of the great earth catching fire.' The Master asked Dongshan, 'Whatever knowledge and consciousness can reach, there is nothing I have not walked through. For the direct cut, I beg the Master for one word.' Dong said, 'How can the elder's intent take merit?' At this the Master was suddenly enlightened, and his words were extraordinary. Later, crossing a single-plank bridge with Dongshan, Dong went over first, picked up the plank bridge, and said, 'Come over.' The Master called, 'Jia, acharya!' Dong then put down the bridge plank.

幽谿和尚

The Reverend of Youxi

僧問。大用現前。不存軌則時如何。師起。遶禪床一匝而坐。僧擬進語。師與一蹋。僧歸位而立。師曰。汝恁麼我不恁麼。汝不恁麼我卻恁麼。僧再擬進語。師又與一蹋。曰。三十年後。吾道大行。問。如何是祖師禪。師曰。泥牛步步出人前。問。處處該不得時如何。師曰。夜半石人無影像。縱橫不辨往來源。

A monk asked, 'What about when the great function appears before one and no rule is preserved?' The Master rose, walked once around the meditation seat and sat down. The monk was about to speak. The Master gave him a kick. The monk went back to his place and stood. The Master said, 'You are like this and I am not; you are not like this and I am.' The monk was about to speak again. The Master gave him another kick and said, 'Thirty years from now, my Way will spread greatly.' Someone asked, 'What is the Ancestor's Chan?' The Master said, 'A mud ox steps out before people at every step.' Someone asked, 'What about when no place can contain it?' The Master said, 'At midnight the stone man has no image or shadow; lengthwise and crosswise one cannot tell where he comes from.'

船子誠禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Cheng the Boatman

澧州夾山善會禪師

Chan Master Shanhui of Jiashan in Lizhou

廣州廖氏子。幼歲出家。依年受戒。聽習經論。該練三學。出住潤州鶴林。因道吾勸發。往見船子。由是師資道契。微眹不留(語見船子章)。恭稟遺命。遁世忘機。尋以學者交湊。廬室星布。嘵夕參依。咸通庚寅。海眾卜於夾山。遂成院宇。上堂。有祖以來。時人錯會。相承至今。以佛祖言句為人師範。若或如此。卻成狂人。無智人去。他祇指示汝。無法本是道。道無一法。無佛可成。無道可得。無法可取。無法可捨。所以老僧道。目前無法。意在目前。他不是目前法。若向佛祖邊學。此人未具眼在。何故皆屬所依。不得自在。本祇為生死茫茫。識性無自由分。千里萬裡求善知識。須具正眼。求脫虗謬之見。定取目前生死為復實有。為復實無。若有人定得。許汝出頭。上根之人。言下明道。中下根器。波波浪走。何不向生死中定當取。何處更疑佛疑祖替汝生死。有智人笑汝。汝若不會。更聽一頌。勞持生死法。唯向佛邊求。目前迷正理。撥火覓浮漚。僧問。從上立祖意教意。和尚為甚麼卻言無。師曰。三年不吃飯。目前無饑人。曰。既是無饑人。某甲為甚麼不悟。師曰。秖為悟迷卻闍黎。復示偈曰。明明無悟法。悟法卻迷人。長舒兩腳睡。無偽亦無真。問。十二分教及祖意。和尚為甚麼不許人問。師曰。是老僧坐具。曰。和尚以何法示人。師曰。虗空無掛針之路。子虗徒撚線之功。又曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。金粟之苗裔。舍利之真身。罔象之玄談。是野狐之窟宅。上堂。不知天曉。悟不由師。龍門躍鱗。不墮漁人之手。但意不寄私緣。舌不親玄旨。正好知音。此名俱生話。若向玄旨疑去。賺殺闍黎。困魚止濼。鈍鳥棲蘆。雲水非闍黎。闍黎非雲水。老僧於雲水而得自在。闍黎又作麼生。西川座主罷講。徧參到襄州華嚴和尚處。問曰。祖意教意。是同是別。嚴曰。如車二輪。如鳥二翼。主曰。

was a son of the Liao family of Guangzhou. He left home in childhood, received the precepts when of age, heard and studied the sutras and treatises, and trained fully in the three studies. He went out to live at Helin in Runzhou. Because Daowu urged him, he went to see the Boatman, and there teacher and disciple matched in the Way, with not the slightest trace left (the words are in the Boatman's chapter). He reverently received the parting command and withdrew from the world, forgetting contrivance. Before long students gathered in crowds, huts were spread out like stars, and they attended on him morning and evening. In the gengyin year of Xiantong the assembly of monks divined a site at Jiashan, and so monastery buildings were built. Ascending the hall: 'Since the Ancestors, people of the time have misunderstood, and it has been handed down to this day that the words and phrases of the Buddhas and Ancestors are the model for people. If it is like this, then one becomes a madman or a man without wisdom. They only point out to you: no dharma is originally the Way, and the Way has not a single dharma. There is no Buddha to attain, no Way to get, no dharma to grasp, no dharma to reject. Therefore this old monk says: before your eyes there is no dharma, and the intent is before your eyes. It is not the dharma before your eyes. If you learn from the side of the Buddhas and Ancestors, such a person does not yet have the eye. Why? Because all of it belongs to reliance, and one is not free. Originally it is only because birth and death are vast and blind, and consciousness and nature have no share of freedom, that one seeks a good friend a thousand or ten thousand li away. One must have the true eye, and seek to escape false and mistaken views. Decide whether the birth and death before your eyes is truly existent or truly non-existent. If anyone can settle it, I will allow that he has got his head out. Those of sharp faculties understand the Way at a word. Those of middling and dull faculties drift on wave after wave. Why not settle it amid birth and death? Where else will you doubt the Buddha and doubt the Ancestors, and have them take on your birth and death for you? People with wisdom will laugh at you. If you do not understand, hear one more verse: toiling to hold the dharma of birth and death, you seek only from the side of the Buddha. Before your eyes you are deluded about the true principle, and poke the fire looking for a floating bubble.' A monk asked, 'From the first the Ancestors established the meaning of the Ancestral and the meaning of the teachings — why does the Reverend say there is none?' The Master said, 'Three years without eating, and before my eyes there is no hungry man.' He said, 'Since there is no hungry man, why do I not understand?' The Master said, 'It is only because of understanding that you, acharya, are deluded.' He also gave a verse: 'Clearly there is no dharma of enlightenment; the dharma of enlightenment deludes people. Stretch out both legs and sleep — there is neither false nor true.' Someone asked, 'The twelve divisions of the teaching and the Ancestral meaning — why does the Reverend not allow people to ask about them?' The Master said, 'They are this old monk's sitting mat.' He said, 'By what dharma does the Reverend instruct people?' The Master said, 'Empty space has no road to hang a needle on; Zixu toils in vain at the work of twisting thread.' He also said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'The descendant of Jinsu, the true body of the relics, the profound talk of the formless — these are the den of a wild fox.' Ascending the hall: 'Not knowing the dawn, awakening does not come from a teacher. The dragon gate's leaping scale does not fall into the fisherman's hand. If only the intent does not lodge in private conditions and the tongue does not touch the profound purport, then you are just right as a kindred spirit. This is called the talk born together with one. If you go doubting toward the profound purport, you will be tricked to death, acharya. A weary fish stops in the puddle, a dull bird roosts in the reeds. Cloud and water are not the acharya, the acharya is not cloud and water. This old monk gets freedom in cloud and water. How about you, acharya?' When a lecturer of Western Shu stopped lecturing and traveled everywhere to study, he came to the Reverend Huayan of Xiangzhou and asked, 'Are the Ancestral meaning and the teaching's meaning the same or different?' Yan said, 'Like the two wheels of a cart, like the two wings of a bird.' The lecturer said,

將為禪門別有長處。元來無。遂歸蜀。後聞師道播諸方。令小師持此語問。師曰。雕砂無鏤玉之談。結草乖道人之意。主聞舉。遙禮曰。元來禪門中別有長處。上堂。聞中生解。意下丹青。目前即美。久蘊成病。青山與白雲。從來不相到。機絲不掛梭頭事。文彩縱橫意自殊。嘉祥一路。智者知疏。瑞草無根。賢者不貴。問。如何是道。師曰。太陽溢目。萬裡不掛片雲。曰。不會。師曰。清清之水。遊魚自迷。問。如何是本。師曰。飲水不迷源。問。古人布髮掩泥。當為何事。師曰。九烏射盡。一翳猶存。一箭墮地。天下黯黑。問。祖意教意是同是別。師曰。風吹荷葉滿池青。十里行人較一程。問。撥塵見佛時如何。師曰。直須揮劒。若不揮劒。漁父棲巢。僧後問石霜。撥塵見佛時如何。霜曰。渠無國土。甚處逢渠。僧回舉似師。師上堂舉了。乃曰。門庭施設。不如老僧。入理深談。猶較石霜百步。問。兩鏡相照時如何。師曰。蚌呈無價寶。龍吐腹中珠。問。如何是寂默中事。師曰。寢殿無人。師吃茶了。自烹一椀。過與侍者。者擬接。師乃縮手。曰。是甚麼。者無對。座主問。若是教意。某甲即不疑。秖如禪門中事如何。師曰。老僧秖解變生為熟。問。如何是實際之理。師曰。石上無根樹。山含不動雲。問。如何是出窟師子。師曰。虗空無影像。足下野雲生。師在溈山作典座。溈問。今日吃甚菜。師曰。二年同一春。溈曰。好好修事著。師曰。龍宿鳳巢。問。如何識得家中寶。師曰。忙中爭得作閑人。問。如何是相似句。師曰。荷葉團團團似鏡。菱角尖尖尖似錐。復曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。風吹柳絮毛毬走。雨打梨花蛺蝶飛。問。如何是一老一不老。師曰。青山元不動。㵎水鎮長流。手執夜明符。幾箇知天曉。上堂。金烏玉兔。交互爭輝。坐卻日頭。天下黯黑。上唇與下唇。從來不相識。明明向君道。

(The lecturer continued:) 'I thought the Chan gate had something more; it turns out it has not.' And he went back to Shu. Later, hearing that the Master's Way had spread through all quarters, he sent a young monk to ask this with those words. The Master said, 'Carving sand has no talk of engraving jade; tying grass goes against the intent of a man of the Way.' When the lecturer heard this brought up, he bowed in the distance and said, 'So the Chan gate does have something more.' Ascending the hall: 'Understanding born from hearing, painting in the mind — before the eyes it is lovely, but stored long it becomes a sickness. The green mountain and the white clouds have never reached each other. The loom's silk does not hang on the shuttle's business; literary flourish crisscrosses, yet the intent is naturally apart. On the road of auspiciousness, the wise know it is sparse. The auspicious grass has no root; the worthy do not prize it.' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'The sun fills the eyes, and for ten thousand li not a scrap of cloud hangs.' He said, 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'In clear, clear water the swimming fish loses its way.' Someone asked, 'What is the root?' The Master said, 'Drinking water, one is not deluded about the source.' Someone asked, 'When the ancients spread their hair to cover the mud, what matter was that for?' The Master said, 'Nine crows shot down, and one film remains. One arrow falls to the ground, and the whole world goes dark.' Someone asked, 'Are the Ancestral meaning and the teaching's meaning the same or different?' The Master said, 'The wind blows the lotus leaves, and the whole pond is green; a traveler of ten li measures a stage of the journey.' Someone asked, 'What about when one brushes away the dust and sees the Buddha?' The Master said, 'You must simply wield the sword. If you do not wield the sword, the fisherman roosts in his nest.' Later the monk asked Shishuang, 'What about when one brushes away the dust and sees the Buddha?' Shuang said, 'He has no land — where will you meet him?' The monk went back and brought this up to the Master. The Master brought it up in the hall, and then said, 'In setting up the gate and courtyard, he is not my equal. In deep talk entering principle, he is still a hundred paces behind Shishuang.' Someone asked, 'What about when two mirrors shine on each other?' The Master said, 'The oyster presents its priceless treasure, the dragon spits the pearl from its belly.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter in silence?' The Master said, 'The bedchamber has no one.' Once, when the Master had drunk tea, he brewed a bowl himself and passed it to his attendant. The attendant was about to take it. The Master then withdrew his hand and said, 'What is it?' The attendant had no reply. A lecturer asked, 'As for the meaning of the teachings, I have no doubt. But how are matters within the Chan gate?' The Master said, 'This old monk only knows how to turn the raw into the cooked.' Someone asked, 'What is the principle of actuality?' The Master said, 'A rootless tree on the rock, a mountain holding unmoving clouds.' Someone asked, 'What is a lion out of its den?' The Master said, 'Empty space has no image or shadow, and under its feet wild clouds arise.' When the Master was cook at Weishan, Wei asked, 'What vegetables are we eating today?' The Master said, 'Two years share one spring.' Wei said, 'Cook it well.' The Master said, 'A dragon's lodging, a phoenix's nest.' Someone asked, 'How can one recognize the treasure in the house?' The Master said, 'How can one be a leisured man amid busyness?' Someone asked, 'What is a similar phrase?' The Master said, 'Lotus leaves round, round, round like a mirror; water chestnut horns sharp, sharp, sharp like an awl.' He also said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'The wind blows the willow catkins, and the fur ball goes; the rain beats the pear blossoms, and the butterflies fly.' Someone asked, 'What is it that one is old and one is not old?' The Master said, 'The green mountain never moves, the ravine water always flows. Holding the night-bright charm in hand, how many know the dawn?' Ascending the hall: 'The golden crow and the jade hare shine in turn. Sit on the sun, and the whole world goes dark. The upper lip and the lower lip have never known each other. Plainly I speak to you:

莫令眼顧著。何也。日月未足為明。天地未足為大。空中不運斤。巧匠不遺蹤。見性不留佛。悟道不存師。尋常老僧道。目睹瞿曇。猶如黃葉。一大藏教是老僧坐具。祖師玄旨是破草鞋。寧可赤腳不著最好。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。此問無賓主。曰。尋常與甚麼人對談。師曰。文殊與吾𢹂水去。普賢猶未折花來。上堂。我二十年住此山。未曾舉著宗門中事。有僧問。承和尚有言。二十年住此山。未曾舉著宗門中事。是否。師曰。是。僧便掀倒禪床。師休去。至明日普請。掘一坑。令侍者請昨日僧至。曰。老僧二十年說無義語。今日請上座打殺老僧。埋向坑裡。便請。便請。若不打殺老僧。上座自著打殺。埋在坑中始得。其僧歸堂。束裝潛去。上堂。百草頭薦取老僧。閙市裡識取天子。虎頭上座參。師問。甚處來。曰。湖南來。師曰。曾到石霜麼。曰。要路經過。爭得不到。師曰。聞石霜有毬子話。是否。曰。和尚也須急著眼始得。師曰。作麼生是毬子。曰。跳不出。師曰。作麼生是毬杖。曰。沒手足。師曰。且去。老僧未與闍黎相見。明日陞座。師曰。昨日新到在麼。頭出應諾。師曰。目前無法。意在目前。不是目前法。非耳目之所到。頭曰。今日雖問。要且不是。師曰。片月難明。非關天地。頭曰。莫𡱰沸。便作掀禪床勢。師曰。且緩緩。虧著上座甚麼處。頭竪起拳曰。目前還著得這箇麼。師曰。作家。作家。頭又作掀禪床勢。師曰。大眾看這一員戰將。若是門庭佈列。山僧不如他。若據入理之談。也較山僧一級地。上堂。眼不掛戶。意不停玄。直得靈草不生。猶是五天之位。珠光月魄。不是出頭時。此間無老僧。五路頭無闍黎。問。如何是夾山境。師曰。猿抱子歸青嶂裡。鳥銜華落碧巖前(法眼雲。我二十年秖作境話會)。師問僧。甚麼處來。曰。洞山來。師曰。洞山有何言句示徒。曰。

(The Master continued:) 'do not let the eyes look back. Why? The sun and moon are not enough to be bright; heaven and earth are not enough to be great. In the air one does not wield the axe; the skilled craftsman leaves no trace. Seeing the nature, one does not keep the Buddha; awakening to the Way, one does not preserve the teacher. This old monk ordinarily says: to see Gautama with one's own eyes is like a yellow leaf. The whole canon is this old monk's sitting mat. The Ancestor's profound purport is a broken straw sandal. Better to go barefoot and not wear it at all.' A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'This question has no host or guest.' He said, 'Ordinarily, with whom do you converse?' The Master said, 'Manjushri has gone to carry water for me, and Samantabhadra has not yet come back with the flower he picked.' Ascending the hall: 'I have lived on this mountain for twenty years, and have never brought up matters within the school of the Ancestors.' A monk asked, 'I have heard the Reverend say that in twenty years on this mountain he has never brought up matters within the school of the Ancestors — is that so?' The Master said, 'It is.' The monk then overturned the meditation seat. The Master let it be. The next day, at the communal work, he dug a pit, and told the attendant to invite yesterday's monk to come, saying, 'This old monk has for twenty years spoken meaningless words. Today I ask the elder to kill this old monk and bury him in the pit. Do it, please do it. If you do not kill this old monk, then the elder must be killed himself and buried in the pit.' That monk went back to the hall, packed his things, and slipped away. Ascending the hall: 'Recognize this old monk at the tip of a blade of grass; recognize the Son of Heaven in the busy market.' The elder Hutou came to study. The Master asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Hunan.' The Master said, 'Have you been to Shishuang?' He said, 'Passing on the main road, how could I not?' The Master said, 'I hear Shishuang has the words about the ball — is that so?' He said, 'The Reverend must also use his eyes urgently.' The Master said, 'What is the ball?' He said, 'It cannot jump out.' The Master said, 'What is the ball stick?' He said, 'It has no hands or feet.' The Master said, 'Go away for now. This old monk has not yet met you, acharya.' The next day he ascended the seat. The Master said, 'Is the newly arrived one from yesterday here?' Tou came forward and answered. The Master said, 'Before your eyes there is no dharma, and the intent is before your eyes. It is not the dharma before your eyes, nor is it reached by ear or eye.' Tou said, 'Though you ask today, it is still not it.' The Master said, 'A slice of moon is hard to make bright, and it has nothing to do with heaven and earth.' Tou said, 'Do not let the shit boil.' And he made as if to overturn the meditation seat. The Master said, 'Hold on, hold on. Where have you got the better of the elder?' Tou raised his fist and said, 'Can this be put before your eyes?' The Master said, 'An adept, an adept.' Tou again made as if to overturn the meditation seat. The Master said, 'Assembly, look at this one warrior. As for setting up the gate and courtyard, this mountain monk is not his equal. But as for talk that enters principle, he is still one grade below this mountain monk.' Ascending the hall: 'The eye does not hang at the door, the intent does not stop at the profound. Even if the spirit grass does not grow, one is still in the position of the five heavens. Pearl light and moon spirit are not the time to come forth. Here there is no old monk; at the five-road crossing there is no acharya.' Someone asked, 'What is the realm of Jiashan?' The Master said, 'Monkeys carry their young back into the green peaks; birds drop flowers before the blue rock.' (Fayan said, 'For twenty years I took that as talk of a realm.') The Master asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Dongshan.' The Master said, 'What words and phrases does Dongshan use to instruct his students?' He said,

尋常教學人三路學。師曰。何者三路。曰。玄路．鳥道．展手。師曰。實有此語否。曰。實有。師曰。軌持千里鈔。林下道人悲。師再闡玄樞。迨於一紀。唐中和元年十一月七日。召主事曰。吾與眾僧話道累歲。佛法深旨。各應自知。吾今幻質。時盡即去。汝等善保護。如吾在日。勿得雷同世人。輒生惆悵。言訖奄然而逝。塔於本山。諡傳明大師。

(The monk continued:) 'He ordinarily teaches students the three paths of learning.' The Master said, 'What are the three paths?' He said, 'The path of the profound, the bird's path, and the opened hand.' The Master said, 'Did he really say this?' He said, 'He really did.' The Master said, 'Holding fast to a thousand-li promissory note, the man of the forest grieves.' The Master unfolded the profound pivot again for a full twelve years. On the seventh day of the eleventh month of the first year of Zhonghe of the Tang, he called the administrator and said, 'I have discussed the Way with the monks for many years; the profound purport of the Buddha Dharma each of you should know for yourselves. This phantom body of mine will go when its time is up. Guard yourselves well, as on the day I am here. Do not be like the common run of people, and fall to grieving.' Having said this, he passed away quietly. His stupa is on this mountain. His posthumous title was Great Master Chuanming.

翠微學禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xue of Cuiwei

鄂州清平山安樂院令遵禪師

Chan Master Lingzun of Anle Monastery on Mount Qingping in Ezhou

東平人也。初參翠微。便問。如何是西來的的意。微曰。待無人即向汝說。師良久。曰。無人也。請和尚說。微下禪床。引師入竹園。師又曰。無人也。請和尚說。微指竹曰。這竿得恁麼長。那竿得恁麼短。師雖領其微言。猶未徹其玄旨。出住大通。上堂。舉初見翠微機緣謂眾曰。先師入泥入水為我。自是我不識好惡。師自此化導。次遷清平。上堂。諸上座。夫出家人須會佛意始得。若會佛意。不在僧俗男女貴賤。但隨家豐儉安樂便得。諸上座盡是久處叢林。徧參尊宿。且作麼生會佛意。試出來大家商量。莫空氣高。至後一事無成。一生空度。若未會佛意。直饒頭上出水。足下出火。燒身鍊臂。聰慧多辯。聚徒一千二千。說法如雲如雨。講得天華亂墜。祇成箇邪說。爭競是非。去佛法大遠在。諸人幸值色身安健。不值諸難。何妨近前著些工夫。體取佛意好。僧問。如何是大乘。師曰。井索。曰。如何是小乘。師曰。錢貫。問。如何是清平家風。師曰。一斗麫作三箇蒸餅。問。如何是禪。師曰。猢猻上樹尾連顛。問。如何是有漏。師曰。笊籬。曰。如何是無漏。師曰。木杓。曰。覿面相呈時如何。師曰。分付與典座。自餘逗機方便。靡狥時情。逆順卷舒。語超格量。天祐十六年。終於本山。諡法喜禪師。

was a man of Dongping. He first studied under Cuiwei and at once asked, 'What is the sure meaning of the coming from the West?' Wei said, 'When no one is around, I will tell you.' The Master was silent a long time, then said, 'There is no one, please, Reverend, speak.' Wei stepped down from the meditation seat and led the Master into the bamboo garden. The Master again said, 'There is no one, please, Reverend, speak.' Wei pointed at the bamboo and said, 'This stalk grows this tall, that stalk grows that short.' Though the Master received his subtle words, he had not yet penetrated the profound purport. He went out to live at Datong. Ascending the hall, he brought up for the assembly the circumstances of his first meeting with Cuiwei, saying, 'My late teacher went into mud and water for my sake; it was I who could not tell good from bad.' From then on the Master taught and guided. He later moved to Qingping. Ascending the hall: 'You elders, a man who has left home must understand the Buddha's intent. If you understand the Buddha's intent, it does not matter whether you are monk or lay, man or woman, noble or base; you may simply follow your household's plenty or want, and be at ease. You elders have all long dwelt in the monasteries and studied everywhere under venerable elders — so how do you understand the Buddha's intent? Try coming forward and let us discuss it together. Do not be empty and high-minded, so that afterwards you accomplish nothing and pass a whole life in vain. If you do not understand the Buddha's intent, then even if water flows from your head and fire from your feet, if you burn your body and scorch your arms, if you are clever and eloquent, if you gather one or two thousand followers, if you preach like clouds and rain, if you make the heavens rain flowers with your talk — it only becomes a deviant teaching, a contest over right and wrong, and is far from the Buddha Dharma. You people are fortunate to have healthy bodies and to meet with no calamities; why not come forward and spend some effort to realize the Buddha's intent?' A monk asked, 'What is the Great Vehicle?' The Master said, 'A well rope.' He said, 'What is the Small Vehicle?' The Master said, 'A string of coins.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Qingping?' The Master said, 'One peck of flour makes three steamed cakes.' Someone asked, 'What is Chan?' The Master said, 'A monkey climbing a tree, tail to head.' Someone asked, 'What is the outflows?' The Master said, 'A bamboo strainer.' He said, 'What is the without-outflows?' The Master said, 'A wooden ladle.' He said, 'What about when it is presented face to face?' The Master said, 'Hand it over to the cook.' For the rest, his devices for fitting the mechanism never followed the mood of the times; against or with, rolled up or spread out, his words went beyond measure. On the sixteenth year of Tianyou he passed away on this mountain. His posthumous title was Chan Master Faxi.

舒州投子山大同禪師

Chan Master Datong of Mount Touzi in Shuzhou

本州懷寧劉氏子。幼歲依洛下保唐滿禪師出家。初習安般觀。次閱華嚴教。發明性海。復謁翠微。頓悟宗旨(語見翠微章)。由是放意周遊。後旋故土。隱投子山。結茅而居。一日趙州和尚至桐城縣。師亦出山。途中相遇。乃逆而問曰。莫是投子山主麼。師曰。茶鹽錢佈施我。州先歸庵中坐。師後擕一缾油歸。州曰。久嚮投子。及乎到來。秖見箇賣油翁。師曰。汝祇識賣油翁。且不識投子。州曰。如何是投子。師提起油缾曰。油。油。州問。大死底人。卻活時如何。師曰。不許夜行。投明須到。州曰。我早侯白。伊更侯黑。上堂。汝諸人來這裡。擬覓新鮮語句。攢華四六。圖口裡有可道。我老兒氣力稍劣。唇舌遲鈍。亦無閑言語與汝。汝若問我。便隨汝答。也無玄妙可及於汝。亦不教汝垛根。終不說向上向下．有佛有法．有凡有聖。亦不存坐繫縛。汝諸人變現千般。總是汝自生見解。擔帶將來。自作自受。我這裡無可與汝。也無表無裡。說似諸人。有疑便問。僧問。表裡不收時如何。師曰。汝擬向這裡垛根。便下座。問。大藏教中還有奇特事也無。師曰。演出大藏教。問。如何是眼未開時事。師曰。目淨脩廣如青蓮。問。一切諸佛及諸佛法。皆從此經出。如何是此經。師曰。以是名字。汝當奉持。問。枯木中還有龍吟也無。師曰。我道髑髏裡有師子吼。問。一法普潤一切群生。如何是一法。師曰。雨下也。問。一塵含法界時如何。師曰。早是數塵也。問。金鎻未開時如何。師曰。開也。問。學人擬欲修行時如何。師曰。虗空不曾爛壞。巨榮禪客參次。師曰。老僧未曾有一言半句掛諸方唇齒。何用要見老僧。榮曰。到這裡不施三拜。要且不甘。師曰。出家兒得恁麼沒碑記。榮乃遶禪床一匝而去。師曰。有眼無耳朵。六月火邊坐。問。一切聲是佛聲。是不。師曰。是。曰。和尚莫𡱰沸盌鳴聲。師便打。問。

was a son of the Liu family of Huaining in that prefecture. In childhood he left home under Chan Master Mantang of Baotang in Luoyang. He first practiced the contemplation of the breath, then read the Avatamsaka teachings and brought forth the ocean of nature. He then called on Cuiwei and was at once awakened to the purport (the words are in Cuiwei's chapter). From then on he roamed at ease, and later returned to his native place, where he hid on Mount Touzi, building a thatched hut to live in. One day when the Reverend Zhaozhou reached Tongcheng county, the Master also came out of the mountain, and meeting him on the road he went up to him and asked, 'Are you not the master of Mount Touzi?' The Master said, 'Give me money for tea, salt and cloth.' Zhou went on ahead and sat down in the hut. The Master came after, carrying a bottle of oil. Zhou said, 'I have long heard of Touzi, but now that I have come I see only an old oil seller.' The Master said, 'You only recognize the old oil seller, and do not recognize Touzi.' Zhou said, 'What is Touzi?' The Master lifted the oil bottle and said, 'Oil, oil.' Zhou asked, 'What about when a man who has died the great death comes back to life?' The Master said, 'He is not allowed to travel by night; he must arrive by dawn.' Zhou said, 'I am Hou Bai early, and he is even Hou Hei.' Ascending the hall: 'You people come here intending to find fresh phrases and sentences, piling up flowery parallel prose, scheming to have something to say with your mouths. This old fellow's strength is somewhat weak, his lips and tongue are slow, and he has no idle words for you. If you ask me, I answer as you please. There is no mystery I can reach you with, and I do not teach you to pile up roots. In the end I do not speak of upward and downward, of having Buddha and Dharma, of having ordinary and sage. Nor do I keep to sitting in bondage. You people manifest a thousand kinds of things, but all of it is your own views, carried here by yourselves, and you reap what you sow. Here I have nothing to give you, and no outside and no inside. I speak to you people thus; if you have doubts, ask.' A monk asked, 'What about when neither outside nor inside takes it in?' The Master said, 'You mean to pile up roots here.' Then he stepped down from the seat. Someone asked, 'Is there anything extraordinary in the great canon of the teachings?' The Master said, 'Perform the great canon of the teachings.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter when the eye has not yet opened?' The Master said, 'The eyes are pure, broad and long like a blue lotus.' Someone asked, 'All Buddhas and all Buddha dharmas come forth from this sutra. What is this sutra?' The Master said, 'By this name you should uphold it.' Someone asked, 'Is there a dragon's roar in the withered tree?' The Master said, 'I say there is a lion's roar in the skull.' Someone asked, 'One dharma universally moistens all living beings — what is the one dharma?' The Master said, 'It is raining.' Someone asked, 'What about when a single mote contains the dharma realm?' The Master said, 'That is already several motes.' Someone asked, 'What about when the golden lock has not yet been opened?' The Master said, 'It is open.' Someone asked, 'What about when a student intends to practice?' The Master said, 'Empty space has never rotted away.' When the Chan guest Jurong came to study, the Master said, 'This old monk has never had a word or half a phrase hanging on the lips of the quarters — what do you want to see this old monk for?' Rong said, 'If I do not make three bows here, I will not be content.' The Master said, 'A man who has left home has no such epitaph.' Rong then walked once around the meditation seat and left. The Master said, 'He has eyes but no ears, sitting by the fire in the sixth month.' Someone asked, 'All sounds are the Buddha's sound — is that so?' The Master said, 'It is.' He said, 'Reverend, do not let the shit boil with the sound of the bowl.' The Master then hit him. Someone asked,

麤言及細語。皆歸第一義。是不。師曰。是。曰。喚和尚作頭驢。得麼。師便打。問。如何是十身調御。師下禪床立。師指庵前一片石。謂雪峰曰。三世諸佛總在裡許。峰曰。須知有不在裡許者。師曰。不快漆桶。師與雪峰遊龍眠。有兩路。峰問。那箇是龍眠路。師以杖指之。峰曰。東去西去。師曰。不快漆桶。問。一槌便就時如何。師曰。不是性燥漢。曰。不假一槌時如何。師曰。不快漆桶。峰問。此間還有人參也無。師將钁頭拋向峰面前。峰曰。恁麼則當處掘去也。師曰。不快漆桶。峰辭。師送出門。召曰。道者。峰回首應諾。師曰。途中善為。問。故歲已去。新歲到來。還有不涉二途者也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是不涉二途者。師曰。元正啟祚。萬物鹹新。問。依稀似半月。彷彿若三星。乾坤收不得。師於何處明。師曰。道甚麼。曰。想師祇有湛水之波。且無滔天之浪。師曰。閑言語。問。類中來時如何。師曰。人類中來。馬類中來。問。祖祖相傳。傳箇甚麼。師曰。老僧不解妄語。問。如何是出門不見佛。師曰。無所覩。曰。如何是入室別爺娘。師曰。無所生。問。如何是火焰裡身。師曰。有甚麼掩處。曰。如何是炭庫裡藏身。師曰。我道汝黑似漆。問。的的不明時如何。師曰。明也。問。如何是末後一句。師曰。最初明不得。問。從苗辨地。因語識人。未審將何辨識。師曰。引不著。問。院中有三百人。還有不在數者也無。師曰。一百年前。五十年後看取。問僧。久嚮疎山．薑頭。莫便是否。僧無對(法眼代雲。嚮重和尚日久)。問。抱璞投師。請師雕琢。師曰。不為棟梁材。曰。恁麼則卞和無出身處也。師曰。擔帶即竛竮辛苦。曰。不擔帶時如何。師曰。不教汝抱璞投師。請師雕琢。問。那吒析骨還父。析肉還母。如何是那吒本來身。師放下拂子。叉手。問。佛法二字。如何辯得清濁。師曰。

(The monk continued:) 'Coarse words and fine words all return to the supreme meaning — is that so?' The master said, 'It is.' The monk said, 'Then may I call the reverend master a head of donkey?' The master struck him. A monk asked, 'What is the ten-bodied one who tames and guides?' The master came down from the meditation platform and stood. The master pointed at a slab of rock in front of the hut and said to Xuefeng, 'The Buddhas of the three ages are all inside this.' Feng said, 'You should know there is one who is not inside it.' The master said, 'You slow lacquer bucket.' Once, as the master and Xuefeng were roaming Dragon Sleep Mountain, there were two paths. Feng asked, 'Which is the Dragon Sleep road?' The master pointed at it with his staff. Feng said, 'East or west?' The master said, 'You slow lacquer bucket.' A monk asked, 'What about when it is done with a single hammer blow?' The master said, 'That is no man of sudden temper.' He said, 'What about when one does not borrow a single hammer blow?' The master said, 'You slow lacquer bucket.' Feng asked, 'Is there anyone here who studies Chan?' The master threw his hoe in front of Feng. Feng said, 'Then one may dig right where one stands.' The master said, 'You slow lacquer bucket.' Feng took his leave. The master saw him to the gate, called out, 'Man of the Way,' and Feng turned his head and answered. The master said, 'Take care of yourself on the road.' A monk asked, 'The old year has gone and the new year has come; is there one who does not tread either path?' The master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the one who does not tread either path?' The master said, 'The first month opens the blessings; the ten thousand things are all new.' A monk asked, 'Faintly like a half moon, dimly like three stars. Heaven and earth cannot contain it; where does the master make it clear?' The master said, 'What are you saying?' He said, 'I take it the master has only the waves of calm water, and no sky-high billows.' The master said, 'Idle words.' A monk asked, 'What about when one comes from among the same kind?' The master said, 'One comes from among humans, one comes from among horses.' A monk asked, 'What is transmitted from patriarch to patriarch?' The master said, 'This old monk does not know how to lie.' A monk asked, 'What is it to go out the door and not see the Buddha?' The master said, 'There is nothing to see.' He said, 'What is it to enter the room and leave father and mother?' The master said, 'There is nothing born.' A monk asked, 'What is the body in the flames?' The master said, 'What is there to hide it?' He said, 'What is it to hide the body in the charcoal pit?' The master said, 'I say you are black as lacquer.' A monk asked, 'What about when one is plainly not clear?' The master said, 'It is clear.' A monk asked, 'What is the last phrase?' The master said, 'In the beginning it cannot be made clear.' A monk asked, 'By the sprout one judges the soil, by the words one knows the man. How, then, does one judge?' The master said, 'You cannot pull it in.' A monk asked, 'There are three hundred people in the monastery; is there one who is not counted among them?' The master said, 'Look a hundred years before and fifty years after.' He asked a monk, 'For a long time I have heard of Shushan and Jiangtou; is it so or not?' The monk had no reply. (Fayan offered in his stead: 'The reverend master's fame has been long resounding.') A monk asked, 'Carrying uncut jade I come to the master, and beg the master to polish it.' The master said, 'It is no material for a ridge beam.' He said, 'Then Bian He has no place to come forth from.' The master said, 'Bearing it on your shoulders is drudgery and hardship.' He said, 'What about when one does not bear it?' The master said, 'I do not tell you to carry uncut jade to the master and beg him to polish it.' A monk asked, 'Natah broke apart his bones and returned them to his father, and separated his flesh and returned it to his mother. What is Natah's original body?' The master put down his whisk and crossed his hands. A monk asked, 'As for the two words Buddha Dharma, how does one distinguish the clear from the turbid?' The master said:

佛法清濁。曰。學人不會。師曰。汝適來問箇甚麼。問。一等是水。為甚麼海鹹河淡。師曰。天上星。地下水(法眼別雲。大似相違)。問。如何是祖師意。師曰。彌勒覓箇受記處不得。問。不斷煩惱而入涅槃時如何。師作色曰。這箇師僧。好發業殺人。問。和尚自住此山。有何境界。師曰。丫角女子白頭絲。問。如何是無情說法。師曰。惡。問。如何是毗盧。師曰。已有名字。曰。如何是毗盧師。師曰。未有毗盧時會取。問。歷落一句。請師道。師曰。好。問。四山相逼時如何。師曰。五蘊皆空。問。一念未生時如何。師曰。真箇謾語。問。凡聖相去幾何。師下禪床立。問。學人一問即和尚答。忽若千問萬問時如何。師曰。如鷄抱卵。問。天上天下。唯我獨尊。如何是我。師曰。推倒這老胡。有甚麼罪過。問。如何是和尚師。師曰。迎之不見其首。隨之罔眺其後。問。鑄像未成。身在甚麼處。師曰。莫造作。曰。爭奈現不現何。師曰。隱在甚麼處。問。無目底人如何進步。師曰。徧十方。曰。無目為甚麼徧十方。師曰。還更著得目也無。問。如何是西來意。師曰。不諱。問。月未圓時如何。師曰。吞卻三箇四箇。曰。圓後如何。師曰。吐卻七箇八箇。問。日月未明。佛與眾生在甚麼處。師曰。見老僧嗔便道嗔。見老僧喜便道喜。問僧。甚麼處來。曰。東西山禮祖師來。師曰。祖師不在東西山。僧無語(法眼代雲。和尚識祖師)。問。如何是玄中的。師曰。不到汝口裡道。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。與人為師。曰。見後如何。師曰。不與人為師。問。諸佛出世為一大事因緣。和尚出世當為何事。師曰。尹司空請老僧開堂。問。如何是佛。師曰。幻不可求。問。千里投師。乞師一接。師曰。今日老僧腰痛。菜頭請益。師曰。且去。待無人時來。頭明日伺得無人。又來。師曰。近前來。頭近前。師曰。

(Touzi continued:) 'The Buddha Dharma is the clear and the turbid.' The monk said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'What did you just ask?' A monk asked, 'It is the same water, so why is the sea salt and the river fresh?' The master said, 'Stars in the sky, water in the ground.' (Fayan gave another answer: 'It is very much at odds.') A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch?' The master said, 'Maitreya cannot find a place to receive his prediction.' A monk asked, 'What about not cutting off affliction and yet entering nirvana?' The master's face changed and he said, 'This monk is fond of committing karma and killing people.' A monk asked, 'Since the reverend master has dwelt on this mountain himself, what state has he?' The master said, 'A girl with horn-shaped braids and white threads of hair.' A monk asked, 'What is the teaching of the insentient?' The master said, 'Wicked.' A monk asked, 'What is Vairochana?' The master said, 'It already has a name.' He said, 'What is Vairochana's teacher?' The master said, 'Realize it in the time before there was Vairochana.' A monk asked, 'Please, master, say a clear-cut phrase.' The master said, 'Good.' A monk asked, 'What about when the four mountains press in?' The master said, 'The five aggregates are all empty.' A monk asked, 'What about when not a single thought has arisen?' The master said, 'Truly idle talk.' A monk asked, 'How far apart are ordinary and sage?' The master came down from the platform and stood. A monk asked, 'When a student asks one question, the master answers; suppose suddenly there are a thousand questions and ten thousand questions, what then?' The master said, 'Like a hen brooding on eggs.' A monk asked, 'Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am honored. What is this I?' The master said, 'Push over this old barbarian; what fault is there?' A monk asked, 'Who is the master's teacher?' The master said, 'Meeting it, one does not see its head; following it, one does not glimpse its back.' A monk asked, 'Before the image is cast, where is the body?' The master said, 'Do not contrive.' He said, 'What about whether it appears or not?' The master said, 'Where is it hidden?' A monk asked, 'How does a person without eyes step forward?' The master said, 'Throughout the ten directions.' He said, 'Without eyes, why throughout the ten directions?' The master said, 'Can you still put eyes on it?' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'I do not conceal it.' A monk asked, 'What about before the moon is full?' The master said, 'Swallow three or four.' He said, 'What about after it is full?' The master said, 'Spit out seven or eight.' A monk asked, 'Before sun and moon were bright, where were the Buddha and living beings?' The master said, 'When you see this old monk angry, you say he is angry; when you see him pleased, you say he is pleased.' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' The monk said, 'I have come from the Eastern and Western Mountains, where I paid my respects to the Patriarch.' The master said, 'The Patriarch is not in the Eastern and Western Mountains.' The monk had nothing to say. (Fayan offered in his stead: 'The reverend master knows the Patriarch.') A monk asked, 'What is it within the mystery?' The master said, 'It does not come to your mouth to say.' A monk asked, 'What about before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said, 'He was a teacher to others.' He said, 'What about after he saw him?' The master said, 'He was not a teacher to others.' A monk asked, 'The Buddhas appear in the world for the sake of one great matter. For what matter has the reverend master appeared in the world?' The master said, 'Yin Sikong asked this old monk to open the teaching hall.' A monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' The master said, 'An illusion cannot be sought.' A monk asked, 'Traveling a thousand li to the master, I beg the master for one reception.' The master said, 'Today this old monk's back aches.' The vegetable cook asked for instruction. The master said, 'Go for now; come when no one is around.' The next day the cook, finding no one around, came again. The master said, 'Come closer.' The cook came closer. The master said:

輒不得舉似於人。問。併卻咽喉唇吻。請師道。師曰。師秖要我道不得。問。達磨未來時如何。師曰。徧天徧地。曰。來後如何。師曰。蓋覆不得。問。如何是無情說法。師曰。莫惡口。問。和尚未見先師時如何。師曰。通身不柰何。曰。見後如何。師曰。通身撲不碎。曰。還從師得也無。師曰。終不相孤負。曰。恁麼則從師得也。師曰。得箇甚麼。曰。恁麼則孤負先師也。師曰。非但孤負先師。亦乃孤負老僧。問。七佛是文殊弟子。文殊還有師也無。師曰。適來恁麼道。也大似屈己推人。問。金鷄未鳴時如何。師曰。無這箇音響。曰。鳴後如何。師曰。各自知時。問。師子是獸中之王。為甚麼被六塵吞。師曰。不作大。無人我。師居投子山三十餘載。往來激發。請益者常盈於室。縱以無畏之辯。隨問遽答。啐啄同時。微言頗多。今錄少分而已。中和中巢𭁵暴起。天下喪亂。有狂徒持刃問師曰。住此何為。師乃隨宜說法。渠魁聞而拜伏。脫身服。施之而去。乾化四年四月六日示微疾。大眾請醫。師謂眾曰。四大動作。聚散常程。汝等勿慮。吾自保矣。言訖跏趺而寂。諡慈濟大師。

(Touzi continued:) 'On no account tell anyone of this.' A monk asked, 'Closing your throat and lips, please, master, speak.' The master said, 'You only want me to be unable to speak.' A monk asked, 'What about before Bodhidharma came?' The master said, 'It filled heaven and earth.' He said, 'What about after he came?' The master said, 'It cannot be covered over.' A monk asked, 'What is the teaching of the insentient?' The master said, 'Do not speak wickedly.' A monk asked, 'What about before the reverend master saw his late teacher?' The master said, 'My whole body had no way to help it.' He said, 'What about after seeing him?' The master said, 'My whole body cannot be smashed.' He said, 'Did you get it from the master or not?' The master said, 'In the end he never let me down.' The monk said, 'Then you did get it from the master.' The master said, 'What did you get?' The monk said, 'Then you have let your late teacher down.' The master said, 'Not only have you let your late teacher down, you have let this old monk down too.' A monk asked, 'The seven Buddhas are Manjushri's disciples. Does Manjushri have a teacher or not?' The master said, 'Saying that just now is very much like humbling yourself to push others forward.' A monk asked, 'What about before the golden rooster crows?' The master said, 'There is no such sound.' He said, 'What about after it crows?' The master said, 'Each knows the time for himself.' A monk asked, 'The lion is king among beasts; why is it swallowed by the six defiling objects?' The master said, 'Because it does not make itself great, there is no self and no other.' The master dwelt on Mount Touzi for more than thirty years. Those who came and went seeking stimulus, asking for instruction, always filled his room. He let loose fearless eloquence and answered at once whatever was asked, the pecking and cracking simultaneous. His subtle words were many; only a small portion is recorded here. In the Zhonghe era, when the bandit Chao rose violently and the world fell into chaos, a madman came at the master with a blade and asked him, 'What are you doing dwelling here?' The master then taught the Dharma as suited the occasion. When their chieftain heard of it, he bowed in submission, took off his own clothes, gave them to the master, and left. On the sixth day of the fourth month in the fourth year of Qianhua he showed a slight illness. The assembly asked for a physician. The master told them, 'The four elements stir; gathering and scattering are the ordinary course. Do not worry, I will look after myself.' With these words he sat cross-legged and passed into quiescence. His posthumous title was Great Master Ciji.

安吉州道場山如訥禪師

Chan Master Rune of Daochang Mountain in Anji Prefecture

僧問。如何是教意。師曰。汝自看。僧禮拜。師曰。明月鋪霄漢。山川勢自分。問。如何得聞性不隨緣去。師曰。汝聽看。僧禮拜。師曰。聾人也唱胡笳調。好惡高低自不聞。曰。恁麼則聞性宛然也。師曰。石從空裡立。火向水中焚。問。虗空還有邊際否。師曰。汝也太多知。僧禮拜。師曰。三尺杖頭挑日月。一塵飛起任遮天。問。如何是道人。師曰。行運無蹤跡。起坐絕人知。曰。如何即是。師曰。三爐力盡無煙𦦨。萬頃平田水不流。問。一念不生時如何。師曰。堪作甚麼。僧無語。師又曰。透出龍門雲雨合。山川大地入無蹤。師目有重瞳。手垂過膝。自翠微受訣。止於此山。薙草卓庵。學徒四至。廣闡法化。遂成叢社焉。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the teachings?' The master said, 'Look for yourself.' The monk bowed. The master said, 'The bright moon spreads across the sky, and the mountains and rivers take their own positions.' A monk asked, 'How can the nature of hearing not follow conditions away?' The master said, 'Listen and see.' The monk bowed. The master said, 'A deaf man too sings the barbarian reed tune, but he himself does not hear good or bad, high or low.' He said, 'Then the nature of hearing is perfectly evident.' The master said, 'A stone stands up in the void; fire burns in the water.' A monk asked, 'Does empty space have a boundary?' The master said, 'You know far too much.' The monk bowed. The master said, 'On a three-foot staff tip I carry the sun and moon; when a speck of dust flies up, let it cover the sky.' A monk asked, 'What is a man of the Way?' The master said, 'Moving, he leaves no trace; rising and sitting, no one knows him.' He said, 'What is it, then?' The master said, 'Three furnaces burn out with no smoke or flame; ten thousand acres of level field, and the water does not flow.' A monk asked, 'What about when not a single thought arises?' The master said, 'What is it good for?' The monk had nothing to say. The master said again, 'Piercing through the dragon gate, clouds and rain gather; mountains and rivers and the great earth enter without a trace.' The master had double pupils in his eyes and hands that hung below his knees. Having received the secret from Cuiwei, he stopped on this mountain, cut the grass, and set up a hut. Students came from all quarters, and he widely unfolded the Dharma teaching, and it became a great community.

建州白雲約禪師

Chan Master Baiyun Yue of Jianzhou

僧問。不坐徧空堂。不居無學位。此人合向甚麼處安置。師曰。青天無電影。韶國師參。師問。甚麼處來。韶曰。江北來。師曰。船來陸來。曰。船來。師曰。還逢見魚鼈麼。曰。往往遇之。師曰。遇時作麼生。韶曰。咄。縮頭去。師大笑。

A monk asked, 'One who neither sits throughout the empty hall nor dwells in the stage of no more learning — where should such a person be placed?' The master said, 'In the blue sky there is no lightning.' National Teacher Shao came to call. The master asked, 'Where do you come from?' Shao said, 'From north of the river.' The master said, 'By boat or by land?' He said, 'By boat.' The master said, 'Did you meet fish and turtles?' He said, 'I met them often.' The master said, 'What did you do when you met them?' Shao said, 'Tsk. Draw in your head.' The master laughed heartily.

孝義性空禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xingkong of Xiaoyi

歙州茂源禪師

Chan Master Maoyuan of Shezhou

因平田參。師欲起身。田乃把住曰。開口即失。閉口即喪。去此二途。請師速道。師以手掩耳。田放手曰。一步易。兩步難。師曰。有甚麼死急。田曰。若非此箇。師不免諸方點檢。師不對。

Once Pingtian came to call. The master was about to rise. Tian held him down and said, 'To open the mouth is to lose it; to close the mouth is to lose it. Apart from these two paths, please, master, speak quickly.' The master covered his ears with his hands. Tian let go and said, 'One step is easy, two steps are hard.' The master said, 'What is the desperate hurry?' Tian said, 'Were it not for this one, the master would not escape being inspected by the various regions.' The master did not answer.

棗山光仁禪師

Chan Master Guangren of Zaoshan

上堂眾集。師於座前謂眾曰。不負平生行腳眼目。致箇問來。還有麼。眾無對。師曰。若無。即陞座去也。便登座。僧出禮拜。師曰。負我且從大眾。何也。便歸方丈。翌日。有僧請辨前語意旨如何。師曰。齋時有飯與汝吃。夜後有床與汝眠。一向煎迫我作甚麼。僧禮拜。師曰。苦。苦。僧曰。請師直指。師乃垂足曰。舒縮一任老僧。

Ascending the hall, the assembly gathered. Before the seat the master told them, 'If you do not betray the eyes of a lifetime of pilgrimage, bring one question. Is there any?' The assembly had no reply. The master said, 'If not, then I will ascend the seat.' So he mounted the seat. A monk came forward and bowed. The master said, 'You have let me down; follow the assembly, then. Why?' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters. The next day a monk asked him to explain what he had meant by the earlier words. The master said, 'At mealtime there is food for you to eat, and at night there is a bed for you to sleep in. Why do you keep pressing me all the time?' The monk bowed. The master said, 'Bitter, bitter.' The monk said, 'Please, master, point it out directly.' The master then let down his foot and said, 'Whether to stretch or draw back is up to this old monk.'

青原下五世

The Fifth Generation below Qingyuan

石霜諸禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Shishuang Zhu

潭州大光山居誨禪師

Chan Master Juhui of Daguang Mountain in Tanzhou

京兆人也。初造石霜。長坐不臥。麻衣草履。亡身為法。霜遂令主性空塔院。一日。霜知緣熟。試其所得。問曰。國家每年放舉人及第。朝門還得拜也無。師曰。有一人不求進。霜曰。憑何。師曰。他且不為名。霜曰。除卻今日。別更有時也無。師曰。他亦不道今日是。如是酬問。往復無滯。盤桓二十餘祀。眾請出世。僧問。祇如達磨是祖否。師曰。不是。祖曰。既不是祖。又來作甚麼。師曰。祇為汝不薦。曰。薦後如何。師曰。方知不是祖。問。混沌未分時如何。師曰。時教阿誰敘。上堂。一代時教。祇是整理時人手腳。直饒剝盡到底。也祇成得箇了事人。不可將當衲衣下事。所以道四十九年明不盡。標不起。到這裡合作麼生。更若忉忉。恐成負累。珍重。

He was a man of the capital prefecture. He first went to Shishuang, where he sat long and did not lie down, wearing hempen clothes and straw sandals, forgetting his body for the Dharma. Shuang then had him take charge of the Xingkong Stupa Court. One day Shuang, knowing his conditions were ripe, tested what he had attained and asked, 'Every year the state releases candidates who pass the examination; do they still have to bow at the court gate?' The master said, 'There is one who does not seek advancement.' Shuang said, 'On what grounds?' The master said, 'He does not do it for fame, anyway.' Shuang said, 'Setting aside today, is there any other time?' The master said, 'He does not say today is it either.' Thus they questioned and answered back and forth without obstruction. After lingering there more than twenty years, the assembly asked him to come forth into the world. A monk asked, 'Is Bodhidharma a patriarch or not?' The master said, 'He is not a patriarch.' He said, 'If he is not a patriarch, why did he come?' The master said, 'Only because you do not recognize him.' He said, 'What about after recognizing him?' The master said, 'Then you know he is not a patriarch.' A monk asked, 'What about before chaos was divided?' The master said, 'Who is it that recites the times for you?' Ascending the hall, he said: 'The teachings of one age only tidy up the hands and feet of people of the time. Even if you strip everything away to the very bottom, you only make a person who has finished the matter, and you cannot take that as the matter beneath the robe. Therefore it is said that in forty-nine years it was not made clear and could not be raised up. When you reach this, what will you do? If you go on prattling, I fear it will become a burden. Take care.'

瑞州九峰道虔禪師

Chan Master Daoqian of Jiufeng in Ruizhou

福州人也。甞為石霜侍者。洎霜歸寂。眾請首座繼住持。師白眾曰。須明得先師意。始可。座曰。先師有甚麼意。師曰。先師道。休去。歇去。冷湫湫地去。一念萬年去。寒灰枯木去。古廟香爐去。一條白練去。其餘則不問。如何是一條白練去。座曰。這箇祇是明一色邊事。師曰。元來未會先師意在。座曰。你不肯我那。但裝香來。香煙斷處。若去不得。即不會先師意。遂焚香。香煙未斷。座已脫去。師拊座背曰。坐脫立亡即不無。先師意未夢見在。住後。僧問。無間中人行甚麼行。師曰。畜生行。曰。畜生復行甚麼行。師曰。無間行。曰。此猶是長生路上人。師曰。汝須知有不共命者。曰。不共甚麼命。師曰。長生氣不常。師乃曰。諸兄弟還識得命麼。欲知命。流泉是命。湛寂是身。千波競湧。是文殊境界。一亙晴空。是普賢床榻。其次。借一句子是指月。於中事是話月。從上宗門中事。如節度使信旗相似。且如諸方先德。未建許多名目指陳已前。諸兄弟約甚麼體格商量。到這裡不假三寸試話會看。不假耳試釆聽看。不假眼試辯白看。所以道。聲前拋不出。句後不藏形。盡乾坤大地都來。是汝當人箇體。向甚麼處安眼耳鼻舌。莫但向意根下圖度作解。盡未來際亦未有休歇分。所以洞山道。擬將心意學玄宗。大似西行卻向東。珍重。問。承古有言。向外紹則臣位。向內紹則王種。是否。師曰。是。曰。如何是外紹。師曰。若不知事極頭。祇得了事。喚作外紹。是為臣種。曰。如何是內紹。師曰。知向裡許承當擔荷。是為內紹。曰。如何是王種。師曰。須見無承當底人。無擔荷底人。始得同一色。同一色了。所以借為誕生。是為王種。曰。恁麼則內紹亦須得轉。師曰。灼然。有承當擔荷。爭得不轉。汝道內紹便是人王種。你且道如今還有紹底道理麼。所以古人道。紹是功。紹了非是功。轉功位了。

He was a man of Fuzhou. He once served as Shishuang's attendant. When Shuang passed into quiescence, the assembly asked the head seat to succeed him as abbot. The master told the assembly, 'One must understand the late teacher's meaning before one may.' The seat said, 'What meaning did the late teacher have?' The master said, 'The late teacher said: Rest, cease, go to the cold and desolate place, go to one thought for ten thousand years, go to cold ashes and withered wood, go to the old shrine and its incense burner, go to a single strip of white silk. The rest I do not ask about. What is going to a single strip of white silk?' The seat said, 'That is only the matter on the side of manifesting one color.' The master said, 'So you never did understand the late teacher's meaning.' The seat said, 'You do not approve of me? Then light the incense. Where the incense smoke breaks off, if I cannot go, then I did not understand the late teacher's meaning.' So they burned incense. Before the smoke broke off, the seat had already passed away. The master stroked the seat's back and said, 'Sitting or standing to die is not nothing, but of the late teacher's meaning you have not dreamed.' After he took up residence, a monk asked, 'What practice does a person in the uninterrupted hell practice?' The master said, 'The practice of animals.' He said, 'What practice do animals practice?' The master said, 'The practice of the uninterrupted.' He said, 'That is still a person on the road of long life.' The master said, 'You must know there is one whose life is not shared.' He said, 'What life is not shared?' The master said, 'The breath of long life is not constant.' The master then said, 'Brothers, do you recognize life? If you wish to know life: the flowing spring is life, the still and silent is the body. A thousand waves racing and surging is Manjushri's realm. A single stretch of clear sky is Samantabhadra's couch. Next, borrowing one phrase is pointing at the moon; the matter within is talking about the moon. From the first, the matter in the school of the patriarchs is like the credential banner of a military governor. Now, before the virtuous ones of the various regions set up all those names and pointed them out, by what standard did you brothers discuss it? When you reach this, try to understand it without borrowing your three inches of tongue, try to hear it without borrowing ears, try to judge it without borrowing eyes. Therefore it is said: before sound it cannot be cast out, after words it does not hide its form. The whole of heaven and earth and the great earth all together — that is your own single person. Where will you put eyes, ears, nose, and tongue? Do not just scheme and make interpretations beneath the root of the intellect; even to the end of the future there will be no rest. Therefore Dongshan said: To try to learn the mystery with mind and intellect is much like heading west but going east. Take care.' A monk asked, 'There is an old saying: succeeding outwardly is the minister's position, succeeding inwardly is the king's seed. Is that so?' The master said, 'It is.' He said, 'What is succeeding outwardly?' The master said, 'If one does not know the utmost point of the matter and only becomes one who has finished the matter, that is called succeeding outwardly, and that is the minister's seed.' He said, 'What is succeeding inwardly?' The master said, 'Knowing how to accept and bear it within — that is succeeding inwardly.' He said, 'What is the king's seed?' The master said, 'One must see the person who does not accept and does not bear, and only then can one be of the same single color. Having become of the same single color, one borrows it for birth, and that is the king's seed.' He said, 'Then succeeding inwardly too must turn.' The master said, 'Clearly. With acceptance and bearing, how could it not turn? You say succeeding inwardly is the seed of the king of men. Now tell me, is there still a principle of succeeding today? Therefore the ancients said: succeeding is merit, but having succeeded is not merit. When the merit and position have turned,'

始喚作人王種。曰。未審外紹還轉也無。師曰。外紹全未知有。且教渠知有。曰。如何是知有。師曰。天明不覺曉。問。如何是外紹。師曰。不借別人家裡事。曰。如何是內紹。師曰。推爺向裡頭。曰。二語之中。那語最親。師曰。臣在門裡。王不出門。曰。恁麼則不出門者。不落二邊。師曰。渠也不獨坐世界。裡紹王種名。外紹王種姓。所以道。紹是功。名臣是偏中正。紹了轉功。名君是正中偏。問。誕生還更知聞也無。師曰。更知聞阿誰。曰。恁麼則莫便是否。師曰。若是。古人為甚麼道誕生王有父。曰。既有父。為甚麼不知聞。師曰。同時不識祖。問。古人云。直得不恁麼來者。猶是兒孫。意旨如何。師曰。古人不謾語。曰。如何是來底兒孫。師曰。猶守珍御在。曰。如何是父。師曰。無家可坐。無世可興。問。諸聖間出。祇是箇傳語底人。豈不是和尚語。師曰。是。曰。祇如世尊生下。一手指天。一手指地。雲。天上天下。唯我獨尊。為甚麼喚作傳語底人。師曰。為他指天指地。所以喚作傳語底人。僧禮拜而退。問。九重無信。恩赦何來。師曰。流光雖徧。閫內不周。曰。流光與閫內相去多少。師曰。綠水騰波。青山秀色。問。人人盡言請益。未審師將何拯濟。師曰。汝道巨嶽還曾乏寸土也無。曰。恁麼則四海參尋。當為何事。師曰。演若迷頭心自狂。曰。還有不狂者麼。師曰。有。曰。如何是不狂者。師曰。突曉途中眼不開。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。更問阿誰。曰。便恁麼承當時如何。師曰。須彌還更戴須彌。問。祖祖相傳。復傳何事。師曰。釋迦慳。迦葉富。曰。如何是釋迦慳。師曰。無物與人。曰。如何是迦葉富。師曰。國內孟嘗君。曰。畢竟傳底事作麼生。師曰。百歲老人分夜燈。問。諸佛非我道。如何是我道。師曰。我非諸佛。曰。既非諸佛。為甚麼卻立我道。師曰。適來暫喚來。

(Jiufeng continued:) “At first he was called the king’s seed.” “Does the outer succession turn back?” “The outer succession has never known existence; make him know existence.” “What is knowing existence?” “When dawn comes, one does not notice dawn.” “What is the outer succession?” “It does not borrow another’s household affairs.” “What is the inner succession?” “Push the father inward.” “Of these two phrases, which is more intimate?” “The minister is inside the gate; the king does not leave the gate.” “Then the one who does not leave the gate does not fall into either extreme.” “He does not sit alone in the world either. The inner succession names the king’s seed; the outer succession gives the king’s seed its surname. Thus succession is merit, the named minister is the impartial within the correct; when merit turns, the named ruler is the correct within the impartial.” “After birth, is there further knowing?” “Who is there to know?” “Then is it simply neither this nor that?” “If so, why did the ancients say that the king born has a father?” “If he has a father, why does he not know him?” “At the same time he does not know the ancestor.” “The ancients said that one who comes without coming is still a descendant. What does this mean?” “The ancients did not speak falsely.” “What is a descendant who comes?” “He still guards the precious treasure.” “What is the father?” “He has no home to return to and no age to revive.” “When all sages appear in the world, are they merely people who transmit words, as you say?” “Yes.” “When the World-Honored One was born, he pointed one hand to heaven and one to earth and said, ‘Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am honored.’ Why call him a transmitter of words?” “Because he pointed to heaven and earth, he is called a transmitter of words.” The monk bowed and withdrew. “Why, when the ninefold gate has no message, does an amnesty come?” “Flowing light reaches everywhere, but not within the walls.” “How far apart are flowing light and within the walls?” “Green water rises in waves; blue mountains show their beauty.” “Everyone says they seek instruction. How will you save them?” “Has a great mountain ever lacked a single clod of earth?” “Then why do people of the four seas come seeking?” “Yanruo lost his head and went mad by himself.” “Are there people who are not mad?” “Yes.” “Who is not mad?” “Suddenly awakened on the road, with eyes not yet open.” “What is the student’s own self?” “Who else are you asking?” “What if I accept it just so?” “Mount Sumeru would still bear Mount Sumeru.” “The patriarchs transmit one another; what do they transmit?” “Shakyamuni was poor, Kashyapa was rich.” “How was Shakyamuni poor?” “He had nothing to give.” “How was Kashyapa rich?” “A Mencius of the realm.” “What is the thing ultimately transmitted?” “An old man divides a night-lamp.” “The Buddhas are not my Way; what is my Way?” “I am not the Buddhas.” “If you are not the Buddhas, why establish my Way?” “A moment ago I called it forth…”

如今卻遣出。曰。為甚麼卻遣出。師曰。若不遣出。眼裡塵生。問。一切處覓不得。豈不是聖。師曰。是甚麼聖。曰。牛頭未見四祖時。豈不是聖。師曰。是聖境未忘。曰。二聖相去幾何。師曰。塵中雖有隱形術。爭奈全身入帝鄉。問。古人道。因真立妄。從妄顯真。是否。師曰。是。曰。如何是真心。師曰。不雜食是。曰。如何是妄心。師曰。攀緣起倒是。曰。離此二途。如何是本體。師曰。本體不離。曰。為甚麼不離。師曰。不敬功德天。誰嫌黑暗女。問。盡乾坤都來是箇眼。如何是乾坤眼。師曰。乾坤在裡許。曰。乾坤眼何在。師曰。正是乾坤眼。曰。還照矚也無。師曰。不借三光勢。曰。既不借三光勢。憑何喚作乾坤眼。師曰。若不如是。髑髏前見鬼人無數。問。一筆丹青為甚麼邈誌公真不得。師曰。僧繇卻許誌公。曰。未審僧繇得甚麼人證旨。卻許誌公。師曰。烏龜稽首須彌柱。問。動容沉古路。身沒乃方知。此意如何。師曰。偷佛錢買佛香。曰。學人不會。師曰。不會即燒香供養本爺娘。師後住泐潭而終。諡大覺禪師。

(Jiufeng continued:) “Now he sends it out.” “Why send it out?” “If it were not sent out, dust would arise in the eyes.” “One searches everywhere and cannot find it—is that not a sage?” “What sage is that?” “Before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch, was he not a sage?” “The sage’s realm had not yet been forgotten.” “How far apart are these two sages?” “Though dust contains a spell of concealment, the whole body has entered the imperial land.” “The ancients said that the false is established through the true and the true is revealed through the false. Is that so?” “Yes.” “What is the true mind?” “Not mixing with food.” “What is the false mind?” “Clinging conditions that give rise to inversion.” “Apart from these two paths, what is the original substance?” “The original substance is not apart.” “Why is it not apart?” “If one does not honor the god of merit, who would dislike the dark woman?” “All heaven and earth come to be one eye. What is the eye of heaven and earth?” “Heaven and earth are inside this.” “Where is the eye of heaven and earth?” “Precisely the eye of heaven and earth.” “Does it still shine and illuminate?” “It does not borrow the power of the three lights.” “If it does not borrow them, why call it the eye of heaven and earth?” “If it were not so, countless people would see ghosts before a skull.” “Why can one painting never capture the true form of Master Zhi?” “The painter Sengyou nonetheless approved of Zhi.” “What proof did Sengyou obtain that allowed him to approve him?” “A tortoise bows before Mount Sumeru.” “The body sinks into the ancient road; only when it disappears is it known. What does this mean?” “Stealing Buddha’s money to buy incense for Buddha.” “I do not understand.” “If you do not understand, burn incense and make an offering to your own parents.” The master later dwelt at Leitan and passed away. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Dajue.

台州湧泉景欣禪師

Chan Master Jingxin of Yongquan, Taizhou

泉州人也。自石霜開示而止湧泉。一日。不披袈裟吃飯。有僧問。莫成俗否。師曰。即今豈是僧邪。彊．德二禪客於路次見師騎牛。不識師。忽曰。蹄角甚分明。爭柰騎者不鑒。師驟牛而去。彊．德憩於樹下煎茶。師回。卻下牛問曰。二禪客近離甚麼處。彊曰。那邊。師曰。那邊事作麼生。彊提起茶盞。師曰。此猶是這邊事。那邊事作麼生。彊無對。師曰。莫道騎者不鑒好。上堂。我四十九年在這裡。尚自有時走作。汝等諸人莫開大口。見解人多。行解人萬中無一箇。見解言語總要知通。若識不盡。敢道輪回去在。為何如此。蓋為識漏未盡。汝但盡卻今時。始得成立。亦喚作立中功。轉功就他去。亦喚作就中功。親他去。我所以道。親人不得度。渠不度親人。恁麼譬喻。尚不會薦取渾崙底。但管取性。亂動舌頭。不見洞山道。相續也大難。汝須知有此事。若不知有啼。哭有日在。上堂。拍盲不見佛。開眼遇途人。借問途中事。渠無丈六身。不從五天來。漢地不曾踏。不是張家生。誰雲李家子。三人拄一杖．臥一床。似伊不似伊。拈來搭肩上。為他十八兒。論不奈伊何。

He was from Quanzhou. After receiving instruction from Shishuang, he settled at Yongquan. One day he ate without wearing a robe. A monk asked, “Will this make you a layman?” The master said, “At this moment, am I really a monk?” Two Chan guests, Qiang and De, saw him riding an ox on the road without recognizing him. One suddenly said, “The hooves and horns are perfectly clear, yet the rider cannot see.” The master drove the ox away. Qiang and De rested beneath a tree and boiled tea. When the master returned, he dismounted and asked, “Where have the two Chan guests recently come from?” Qiang said, “From over there.” The master asked, “What is the matter over there?” Qiang raised the tea cup. The master said, “That is still a matter on this side. What is the matter over there?” Qiang had no answer. The master said, “Do not say that the rider cannot see.” At a teaching he said, “I have been here forty-nine years, and even I sometimes go astray. Do not open your mouths too widely. Those who have verbal understanding are many; those whose conduct accords with it are one in ten thousand. In understanding words, you must know how they connect. If understanding is not exhausted, you may say that rebirth still awaits. Why? Because the leakage of consciousness has not ended. Exhaust what is present now, and only then can you stand firm; this is called establishing merit within merit. Turn merit toward another; this is also merit within merit. Draw near to the intimate. Therefore I say: one cannot liberate the intimate, and the intimate cannot liberate one. With such an analogy, if you still cannot take hold of the whole, you merely grasp at nature and recklessly move your tongue. Did you not hear Dongshan say, ‘Continuity is extremely difficult’? You must know this matter. If you do not know it, there will be days of crying.” At another teaching he said: “Blindly groping, one does not see Buddha; opening the eyes, one meets a traveler. Ask about affairs on the road, and he has no sixteen-foot body. He did not come from the five regions of India and never set foot in China. He was not born in the Zhang family; who says he is a son of the Li family? Three people lean on one staff and lie on one bed. Whether he resembles that one or not, pick him up and rest him on your shoulder; for his eighteen sons, argument cannot do anything to him.”

潭州雲葢山志元圓淨禪師

Chan Master Zhiyuan Yuanjing of Cloud-Covered Mountain, Tanzhou

遊方時問雲居曰。志元不奈何時如何。居曰。祇為闍黎功力不到。師不禮拜。直造石霜。亦如前問。霜曰。非但闍黎。老僧亦不奈何。師曰。和尚為甚麼不奈何。霜曰。老僧若奈何。拈過汝不奈何。師便禮拜。僧問石霜。萬戶俱閉即不問。萬戶俱開時如何。霜曰。堂中事作麼生。僧無對。經半年。方始下一轉語曰。無人接得渠。霜曰。道即太煞道。祇道得八成。曰。和尚又且如何。霜曰。無人識得渠。師知乃禮拜。乞為舉。霜不肯。師乃抱霜上方丈曰。和尚若不道。打和尚去在。霜曰。得在。師頻禮拜。霜曰。無人識得渠。師於言下頓省。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。黃面底是。曰。如何是法。師曰。藏裡是。問。然燈未出時如何。師曰。昧不得。問。蛇為甚麼吞卻師。師曰。通身色不同。問。如何是衲僧。師曰。參尋訪道。潭州道正表聞馬王。乞師論義。王請師上殿相見。茶罷。師就王乞劒。師握劒問道正曰。你本教中道。恍恍惚惚。其中有物。是何物。杳杳冥冥。其中有精。是何精。道得不斬。道不得即斬。道正茫然。便禮拜懺悔。師謂王曰。還識此人否。王曰。識。師曰。是誰。王曰。道正。師曰。不是。其道若正。合對得臣僧。此祇是箇無主孤魂。因茲道士更不紛紜。

While traveling, he asked Yunju, “What about when Zhiyuan cannot manage?” Yunju said, “Only because your power is not enough.” The master did not bow and went straight to Shishuang, asking the same question. Shishuang said, “It is not only you; even this old monk cannot manage.” The master asked, “Why can you not manage?” Shishuang said, “If I could manage it, I would take it past you, who cannot manage it.” The master then bowed. A monk asked Shishuang, “I do not ask about all the gates being closed. What about when all the gates are open?” Shishuang said, “What is the matter inside the hall?” The monk had no answer. After half a year he finally gave an answer: “No one can receive him.” Shishuang said, “That is much too strong; it reaches only eighty percent.” The monk asked, “What about you?” Shishuang said, “No one recognizes him.” The master understood and bowed, asking him to repeat it. Shishuang refused. The master carried Shishuang to the abbot’s room and said, “If you will not say it, I will strike you.” Shishuang said, “You may.” The master bowed repeatedly. Shishuang said, “No one recognizes him.” At these words the master suddenly awakened. Later, a monk asked, “What is Buddha?” He said, “The yellow-faced one.” “What is Dharma?” “What is in the treasury.” “What was it before Dipamkara appeared?” “It cannot be obscured.” “Why did the snake swallow the master?” “Its whole body has a different color.” “What is a patch-robed monk?” “One who investigates and seeks the Way.” Daoist Daozheng of Tanzhou was summoned by the King of Ma to debate with the master. The king invited the master into the hall. After tea, the master asked the king for a sword. Holding it, he asked Daozheng, “Your own teaching says: ‘Vague and indistinct, within it there is a thing.’ What thing? ‘Dark and obscure, within it there is essence.’ What essence? If you can answer, I will not cut you; if you cannot, I will cut.” Daozheng was bewildered, bowed, and repented. The master asked the king, “Do you recognize this man?” The king said, “I do.” “Who is he?” “Daozheng.” The master said, “No. If his Way were correct, he should be able to answer this monk. He is only a masterless wandering ghost.” After this, the Daoist no longer argued.

潭州谷山藏禪師

Chan Master Zang of Gushan, Tanzhou

僧問。法尚應捨。何況非法。如何是法尚應捨。師曰。空裡撒醍醐。曰。如何是非法。師曰。嵩山道士詐明頭。問。逼迫出來時如何。師曰。還曾拶著汝麼。

A monk asked, “The Dharma should be relinquished, how much more so what is not Dharma. What does it mean that even Dharma should be relinquished?” The master said, “Scatter clarified butter through empty space.” “What is not Dharma?” “The Daoist of Songshan falsely displays understanding.” “What about when one is forced to come forth?” “Has anyone ever pressed you into it?”

潭州中雲葢禪師

Chan Master of Middle Cloud-Covered Mountain, Tanzhou

僧問。和尚開堂。當為何事。師曰。為汝驢漢。曰。諸佛出世。當為何事。師曰。為汝驢漢。問。祖佛未出世時如何。師曰。像不得。曰。出世後如何。師曰。闍黎也須側身始得。問。如何是向上一句。師曰。文殊失卻口。曰。如何是門頭一句。師曰。頭上插花子。問。如何是超百億。師曰。超人不得肯。

A monk asked, “When you open a teaching hall, for what matter do you do it?” The master said, “For you, donkey fellow.” “When all Buddhas appear in the world, for what matter?” “For you, donkey fellow.” “What was it before the Patriarchs and Buddhas appeared?” “It cannot be represented.” “What after they appeared?” “Even you must turn sideways to pass.” “What is the phrase above?” “Manjushri has lost his mouth.” “What is the phrase at the gate?” “A flower is inserted in the head.” “What is beyond a hundred million?” “One cannot make a person go beyond unless he agrees.”

河中南際山僧一禪師

Chan Master Yichan of Nanji Mountain, Hezhong

僧問。幸獲親近。乞師指示。師曰。我若指示。即屈著汝。曰。教學人作麼生即是。師曰。切忌是非。問。如何是衲僧氣息。師曰。還曾薰著汝也無。問。同類即不問。如何是異類。師曰。要頭斫將去。問。如何是法身主。師曰。不過來。問。如何是毗盧師。師曰。不超越。師終於長慶。諡本淨大師。

A monk asked, “I am fortunate to draw near you; please instruct me.” The master said, “If I instructed you, I would put you in difficulty.” “How should I teach students?” “Be most careful not to fall into right and wrong.” “What is the breath of a patch-robed monk?” “Has it ever scented you?” “I do not ask about those of the same kind. What is the different kind?” “Cut off the head and take it away.” “What is the master of the Dharma body?” “It does not come over.” “What is Vairocana’s teacher?” “He does not transcend.” The master finally lived at Changqing and passed away. He was posthumously titled Great Master Benjing.

廬山棲賢懷祐禪師

Chan Master Huaiyou of Qixian, Mount Lushan

泉州人也。僧問。如何是五老峰前事。師曰。萬古千秋。曰。恁麼則成絕嗣去也。師曰。躊躇欲與誰。問。自遠趨風。請師激發。師曰。他不憑時。曰。請師憑時。師曰。我亦不換。問。如何是法法無差。師曰。雪上更加霜。上堂。若會此箇事。無有下口處。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。井底寒蟾。天中明月。

He was from Quanzhou. A monk asked, “What is the matter before the Five Elders Peaks?” The master said, “Through ten thousand ages.” “Then the lineage is finally cut off.” “Hesitating, with whom would you share it?” “I have come from afar seeking your inspiration.” “He does not rely on the time.” “Please rely on the time.” “I do not change either.” “What is the equality of every Dharma?” “Frost added to snow.” At a teaching he said, “If you understand this matter, there is no place to open the mouth.” Asked for the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West, he said, “A cold moon-frog at the bottom of a well, a bright moon in the sky.”

福州覆船山洪薦禪師

Chan Master Hongjian of Fuchuan Mountain, Fuzhou

僧問。如何是本來面目。師便閉目吐舌。又開目吐舌。曰。本來有許多面目。師曰。適來見甚麼。僧無語。問。如何是師子。師曰。善哮吼。僧拊掌曰。好手。好手。師曰。青天白日。卻被鬼迷。僧作掀禪床勢。師便打。曰。驢事未去。馬事到來。師曰。灼然作家。僧拂袖便出。師曰。將甌盛水。擬比大洋。問。如何是玄妙。師曰。未聞已前。道吾問。久嚮和尚會禪。是否。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。吾近前掩師口。曰。低聲。低聲。師與一掌。吾曰。蒼天。蒼天。師把住曰。得恁麼無禮。吾卻與一掌。師曰。老僧罪過。吾拂袖便行。師呵呵大笑曰。早知如是。不見如是。僧參。師便作起勢。僧便出。師曰。闍黎且來人事。僧回作抽坐具勢。師卻歸方丈。僧曰。蒼天。蒼天。師曰。龍頭蛇尾。僧近前叉手立。師曰。敗將投王。不存性命。問。抱璞投師。師還接否。師以手拍香臺。僧禮拜。師曰。禮拜則不無。其中事作麼生。僧卻拍香臺。師曰。舌頭不出口。師將示寂。三日前令侍者喚第一座來。師臥。出氣一聲。座喚侍者曰。和尚渴。要湯水吃。師乃面壁而臥。臨終令集眾。乃展兩手出舌示之。時第三座曰。諸人。和尚舌根硬也。師曰。苦哉。苦哉。誠如第三座所言。舌根硬去也。言訖而寂。諡紹隆大師。

A monk asked, “What is the original face?” The master closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, then opened his eyes and stuck out his tongue again. The monk said, “The original has so many faces.” The master asked, “What did you see just now?” The monk had no answer. Asked, “What is a lion?” he said, “One good at roaring.” The monk clapped and said, “A fine hand, a fine hand.” The master said, “Under blue sky and white sun, you are still bewitched by ghosts.” The monk made as if to overturn the Chan seat, and the master struck him. The monk said, “The donkey affair has not gone, and the horse affair has arrived.” The master said, “Truly a master.” The monk shook his sleeve and left. The master said, “You would carry water in a bowl and compare it with the great ocean.” Asked, “What is the mysterious and wondrous?” he said, “Before it was heard.” Daowu asked, “I have long heard that you understand Chan—is it so?” The master said, “Heavens, heavens!” Daowu stepped forward, covered his mouth, and said, “Lower your voice.” The master slapped him. Daowu said, “Heavens, heavens!” The master held him and said, “How can you be so rude?” Daowu slapped him in return. The master said, “This old monk is at fault.” Daowu shook his sleeve and left. The master laughed loudly, saying, “If I had known it would be so, I would not have seen it so.” A monk came to interview him; the master made a rising gesture, and the monk left. The master said, “Come back and perform the formal greeting.” The monk turned and made as if to pull out his sitting mat. The master returned to the abbot’s room. The monk cried, “Heavens, heavens!” The master said, “A dragon’s head and a snake’s tail.” The monk approached and stood with hands joined. The master said, “A defeated general has surrendered to the king and no longer preserves his life.” Asked, “If I bring an uncut jade to the teacher, will the teacher receive it?” the master patted the incense platform. The monk bowed. The master said, “The bow is not absent; what is the matter within it?” The monk patted the incense platform. The master said, “Your tongue has not left your mouth.” Three days before his death, the master ordered the attendant to call the first seat. He lay down and exhaled once. The first seat told the attendant, “The master is thirsty and wants soup or water.” The master turned to face the wall and lay down. At the end he ordered the assembly gathered, then spread both hands and stuck out his tongue. The third seat said, “Everyone, the master’s tongue-root is hard.” The master said, “How bitter! It is exactly as the third seat says: the tongue-root has become hard.” Having said this, he became silent. He was posthumously titled Great Master Shaolong.

鼎州德山存德慧空禪師

Chan Master Cunde Huikong of Deshan, Dingzhou

僧問。如何是一句。師曰。更請問。問。如何是和尚先陀婆。師曰。昨夜三更見月明。

A monk asked, “What is a single phrase?” The master said, “Please ask again.” “What is the master’s salt?” “Last night at the third watch I saw the bright moon.”

吉州崇恩禪師

Chan Master Chong’en of Jizhou

僧問。祖意教意是同是別。師曰。少林雖有月。蔥嶺不穿雲。問。如何是類。師曰。奈何橋畔嘶聲切。劒樹林中去復來。

A monk asked, “Are the Patriarch’s meaning and the teaching’s meaning the same or different?” The master said, “Although Shaolin has a moon, the Onion Ridge does not pierce the clouds.” “What is the same kind?” “Beside the Bridge of No Return the cry is urgent; in the sword forest one goes and comes again.”

石霜暉禪師

Chan Master Hui of Shishuang

僧問。世尊出世。先度五俱輪。和尚出世。先度何人。師曰。總不度。曰。為甚麼不度。師曰。為伊不是五俱輪。

A monk asked, “When the World-Honored One appeared, he first liberated the five kinds of beings. When you appear, whom do you first liberate?” The master said, “I liberate no one at all.” “Why not?” “Because they are not those five kinds of beings.”

郢州芭蕉禪師

Chan Master of Plantain, Yingzhou

僧問。從上宗乘。如何舉唱。師曰。已被人冷眼覷破了。問。不落諸緣。請師直指。師曰。有問有答。問。如何是和尚為人一句。師曰。祗恐闍黎不問。問。如何是向去底人。師曰。董家稚子聲聲哭。曰。如何是卻來底人。師曰。枯木驪龍露爪牙。

A monk asked, “How should the ancestral vehicle handed down from above be proclaimed?” The master said, “It has already been exposed by someone’s cold eye.” “Please point directly without falling into conditions.” “There is question and answer.” “What is your one phrase for guiding people?” “I only fear you will not ask.” “What is the person who goes away?” “The child of the Dong family cries with every sound.” “What is the person who returns?” “A dry tree and a black dragon reveal their claws and teeth.”

潭州肥田慧覺伏禪師

Chan Master Huijue of Feitian, Tanzhou

僧問。如何是未出世邊事。師曰。髻中珠未解。石女斂雙眉。曰。出世後如何。師曰。靈龜呈卦兆。失卻自家身。問。此地名甚麼。師曰。肥田。曰。宜種甚麼。師便打。師有偈曰。修多好句枉工夫。返本還源是大愚。祖佛不從修證得。縱行玄路也崎嶇。

A monk asked, “What is the matter before birth?” The master said, “The pearl in the topknot has not been loosened; the stone woman draws in her brows.” “What after birth?” “The numinous tortoise presents an omen from the trigrams and loses its own body.” “What is this place called?” “Fertile Fields.” “What should be planted?” The master struck him. The master also composed a verse: “Cultivating many fine phrases is wasted effort; returning to the source is the great folly. Buddhas and patriarchs are not attained through cultivation and realization; even walking the mysterious road, it remains rugged.”

潭州鹿苑暉禪師

Chan Master Hui of Deer Park, Tanzhou

僧問。不假諸緣。請師道。師敲火爐曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。瞌睡漢。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。如月在水。曰。見後如何。師曰。如水在月。問。祖祖相傳。未審傳箇甚麼。師曰。汝問我。我問汝。曰。恁麼則緇素不分也。師曰。甚麼處去來。

A monk asked, “Without relying on conditions, please speak.” The master struck the fire stove and asked, “Do you understand?” “I do not.” “Sleepy fellow.” “What was Niutou before meeting the Fourth Patriarch?” “Like the moon in water.” “And after meeting him?” “Like water in the moon.” “The patriarchs transmit one another; what exactly is transmitted?” “You ask me, and I ask you.” “Then black robes and white robes cannot be distinguished.” “Where have you come from and where are you going?”

潭州寶葢約禪師

Chan Master Yue of Treasure-Covered Mountain, Tanzhou

僧問。寶葢高高掛。其中事若何。請師言下旨。一句不消多。師曰。寶葢掛空中。有路不曾通。儻求言下旨。便是有西東。

A monk asked, “The treasure canopy hangs high; what is the matter within? Please give the meaning at the words; one phrase is enough.” The master said, “The treasure canopy hangs in empty space, and there is a road that has never been open. If you seek the meaning at the words, you have already created east and west.”

越州雲門山拯迷寺海晏禪師

Chan Master Haiyan of Rescue-the-Lost Monastery on Cloud Gate Mountain, Yuezhou

僧問。如何是衲衣下事。師曰。如齩硬石頭。問。如何是古寺一爐香。師曰。歷代無人齅。曰。齅者如何。師曰。六根俱不到。問。久嚮拯迷。到來為甚麼不見拯迷。師曰。闍黎不識拯迷。

A monk asked, “What is the matter beneath the patch robe?” The master said, “Like biting a hard stone.” “What is the single censer of incense in the ancient monastery?” “No one through the ages has smelled it.” “What about the one who smells it?” “The six faculties cannot reach it.” “I have long heard of Rescue-the-Lost. Why, having come, do I not see rescue?” “You do not recognize Rescue-the-Lost.”

湖南文殊禪師

Chan Master Manjushri of Hunan

僧問。僧繇為甚麼邈誌公真不得。師曰。非但僧繇。誌公也邈不得。曰。誌公為甚麼邈不得。師曰。彩繪不將來。曰。和尚還邈得也無。師曰。我亦邈不得。曰。和尚為甚麼邈不得。師曰。渠不以苟我顏色。教我作麼生邈。問。如何是密室。師曰。緊不就。曰。如何是密室中人。師曰。不坐上色牛。

A monk asked, “Why could the painter Sengyou never capture the true form of Zhi Gong?” The master said, “Not only Sengyou; Zhi Gong himself could not be painted.” “Why could Zhi Gong not be painted?” “Paint and color cannot bring him.” “Can you paint him?” “I cannot either.” “Why can you not?” “He does not take my colors as his own; how could I paint him?” “What is a secret room?” “It cannot be tightly joined.” “Who is the person in the secret room?” “He does not sit on a colored ox.”

鳳翔府石柱禪師

Chan Master Shizhu of Fengxiang Prefecture

遊方時到洞山。時虔和尚垂語曰。有四種人。一人說過佛祖。一步行不得。一人行過佛祖。一句說不得。一人說得行得。一人說不得行不得阿那箇是其人師出眾曰。一人說過佛祖行不得者。祇是無舌不許行。一人行過佛祖一句說不得者。祇是無足不許說。一人說得行得者。祇是函葢相稱。一人說不得行不得者。如斷命求活。此是石女兒。披枷帶鎻。山曰。闍黎分上作麼生。師曰。該通分上卓卓寧彰。山曰。祇如海上明公秀又作麼生。師曰。幻人相逢。拊掌呵呵。

While traveling he reached Dongshan. At that time Chan Master Qian said, “There are four kinds of people: one speaks beyond Buddhas and patriarchs but cannot take a step; one walks beyond Buddhas and patriarchs but cannot utter a phrase; one can both speak and act; one can neither speak nor act. Which one is the person?” The master stepped from the assembly and said, “The one who speaks beyond Buddhas and patriarchs but cannot walk is simply a tongueless person forbidden to walk. The one who walks beyond Buddhas and patriarchs but cannot speak is simply a legless person forbidden to speak. The one who can speak and act is one whose box and lid fit together. The one who can neither speak nor act is like a condemned person seeking life; this is a stone woman’s child wearing cangue and chains.” Dongshan asked, “What is your position?” The master said, “When all is communicated, why should the outstanding be hidden?” Dongshan asked, “What about the illustrious Master Mingxiu on the sea?” The master said, “When illusion-people meet, they clap and laugh.”

河中府棲巖山大通院存壽禪師

Chan Master Cunshou of the Datong Monastery on Qiyan Mountain, Hezhong Prefecture

初講經論。後於石霜之室忘筌。住後。僧問。如何是和尚得力處。師曰。不居無理位。豈坐白牛車。問。蓮華未出水時如何。師曰。汝莫問出水後蓮華事麼。僧無語。師平居罕言。叩之則應。諡真寂禪師。

At first he lectured on scriptures and treatises; later, in Shishuang’s room, he forgot the raft of words. After he took a seat, a monk asked, “Where is the master’s strength?” He said, “If I did not dwell in a position without principle, how could I sit in the white ox cart?” “What was the lotus before it emerged from the water?” “Do not ask me about the lotus after it emerges.” The monk had no answer. In ordinary life the master rarely spoke; when questioned, he responded. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Zhenji.

南嶽玄泰禪師

Chan Master Xuantai of Nanyue

沉靜寡言。未甞衣帛。時謂之泰布衲。始見德山。陞於堂矣。後謁石霜。遂入室焉。掌翰二十年。與貫休齊己為友。後居蘭若。曰金剛臺。誓不立門徒。四方後進依附。皆用交友之禮。甞以衡山多被山民斬伐燒畬。為害滋甚。乃作畬山謠曰。畬山兒。畬山兒。無所知。年年斫斷青山嵋。就中最好衡嶽色。杉松利斧摧貞枝。靈禽野鶴無因依。白雲迴避青煙飛。猿猱路絕巖崖出。芝朮失根茆草肥。年年斫罷仍再鉏。千秋終是難復初。又道今年種不來。來年更斫當陽坡。國家嶽域向如此。不知此理如之何。遠邇傳播。達於九重。有詔禁止。故嶽中蘭若無復延燎。師之力也。將示滅。乃召一僧令備薪蒸。留偈曰。今年六十五。四大將離主。其道自玄玄。箇中無佛祖。不用剃頭。不須澡浴。一堆猛火。千足萬足。端坐垂一足而逝。闍維收舍利。建塔於迎雲亭側。

He was quiet and sparing of speech, and never wore silk or fine cloth; people called him the Great Cloth Robe. He first met Deshan and entered the hall, then visited Shishuang and entered his inner room. For twenty years he held the brush and was a friend of the poets Guanxiu and Qiji. Later he lived in a hermitage called Vajra Terrace. He vowed never to establish a line of disciples, and when students from every direction came to him he received them as friends. Seeing Hengshan repeatedly cut and burned by local people, he composed a song of the burned hills: “Children of the burned hills, ignorant children, year after year you cut down the green mountain ridges. The finest colors of Hengyue are ruined by sharp axes; firs and pines lose their sound branches. Sacred birds and wild cranes have no place to rest; white clouds flee before drifting smoke. Monkeys lose their paths as cliffs are exposed; medicinal herbs lose their roots while weeds grow thick. Each year the cutting ends only for the plowing to begin again; after a thousand years the hills will still not return to their first state. You say there is no time to plant this year, so next year you cut the sunny slope again. This is the nation’s sacred mountain domain—how can one not ask what will become of it?” The song spread near and far and reached the imperial court. An edict forbade the destruction, and the hermitages on the mountain were no longer burned; this was the master’s work. When he was about to enter extinction, he ordered a monk to prepare firewood and left this verse: “This year I am sixty-five; the four elements are about to leave their master. The Way is mysterious beyond mystery; within it there are no Buddha and no patriarch. Do not shave the head, and do not bathe the body. One fierce heap of fire is entirely sufficient.” He sat upright, lowered one leg, and passed away. After cremation, his relics were collected and a stupa was built beside Yingyun Pavilion.

潭州雲葢禪師

Chan Master of Cloud-Covered Mountain, Tanzhou

僧問。佛未出世時如何。師曰。月中藏玉兔。曰。出後如何。師曰。日裡背金烏。問。不可以情測時如何。師曰。無舌童兒機智盡。風穴參。師問。石角穿雲路。攜笻意若何。穴曰。紅霞籠玉象。擁嶂照川源。師曰。相隨來也。穴曰。和尚也須低聲。師曰。且坐吃茶。

A monk asked, “What was it like before the Buddha appeared in the world?” The master said, “The jade rabbit hidden in the moon.” “What after he appeared?” “The golden crow carried in the sun.” “What is it when feeling and thought cannot measure it?” “The tongueless child has exhausted all cleverness.” Fengxue came to visit. The master asked, “At the stone horn that pierces the clouds, what is your intention in carrying a staff?” Fengxue said, “Red clouds enfold a jade elephant, and the encircling peaks illuminate the river source.” The master said, “You have come along with it.” Fengxue said, “The master too should lower his voice.” The master said, “Sit for now and drink tea.”

邵武軍龍湖普聞禪師

Chan Master Puwen of Dragon Lake, Shaowu Army

唐僖宗太子也。幼不茹葷。長無經世意。僖宗鍾愛之。然百計陶寫。終不能回。中和初。僖宗幸蜀。師斷髮逸遊。人無知者。造石霜。問曰。祖師別傳事。肯以相付乎。霜曰。莫謗祖師。師曰。天下宗旨盛大。豈妄為之邪。霜曰。是實事那。師曰。師意如何。霜曰。待案山點頭。即向汝道。師於言下頓省。辭去至邵武城外。見山鬱然深秀。遂撥草。至煙起處。有一苦行居焉。苦行見師至。乃曰。上人當興此。長揖而去。師居十餘年。一日有一老人拜謁。師問。住在何處。至此何求。老人曰。住在此山。然非人。龍也。行雨不職。上天有罰當死。願垂救護。師曰。汝得罪上帝。我何能致力。雖然。可易形來。俄失老人所在。視坐傍有一小蛇。延緣入袖。至暮雷電震山。風雨交作。師危坐不傾。達旦晴霽。垂袖。蛇墮地而去。有頃。老人拜而泣曰。自非大士慈悲。為血腥穢此山矣。念何以報斯恩。即穴巖下為泉。曰。此泉為他日多眾之設。今號龍湖。邦人聞其事。施財施力。相與建寺。衲子云趨。師闡化三十餘年。臨示寂聲鍾集眾。說偈曰。我逃世難來出家。宗師指示箇歇處。住山聚眾三十年。尋常不欲輕分付。今日分明說似君。我斂目時齊聽取。安然而逝。塔於本山。諡圓覺禪師。

He was the crown prince of Emperor Xizong of Tang. As a child he ate no meat, and when grown he had no interest in worldly affairs. Xizong loved him dearly and tried every means to amuse and persuade him, but could not change his mind. In the early Zhonghe era, when Xizong went to Shu, the prince cut his hair and wandered in seclusion, unknown to people. He visited Shishuang and asked, “Would you transmit to me the matter of the Patriarch’s separate transmission?” Shishuang said, “Do not slander the Patriarch.” The prince said, “The principles of the world’s schools are magnificent; could they have been made up?” Shishuang said, “They are matters of fact.” The prince asked, “What is your meaning?” Shishuang replied, “When the mountain opposite the desk nods, I will tell you.” At these words the prince suddenly awakened. He left the city of Shaowu and saw a mountain deep and luxuriant, so he cleared the grass. Where smoke rose he found an ascetic living alone. Seeing him arrive, the ascetic said, “You are destined to make this place flourish,” made a deep bow, and departed. The master lived there for more than ten years. One day an old man came to bow before him. The master asked, “Where do you live, and what do you seek here?” The old man said, “I live on this mountain. I am not human but a dragon. I have failed in my duty to bring rain and Heaven has condemned me to die. I beg you to save me.” The master said, “You have offended Heaven; how could I help? Still, return in another form.” The old man vanished. Beside the master’s seat was a small snake, which wound into his sleeve. Toward evening thunder and lightning shook the mountain and wind and rain came together, but the master sat upright without moving. At dawn the sky cleared. He lowered his sleeve and the snake fell out and departed. Soon the old man bowed, weeping: “Without your compassion, this mountain would have been polluted with blood. How could I repay such kindness?” He then dug a spring beneath the cliff and said, “This spring is provided for the many who will come in later days.” It is now called Dragon Lake. When local people heard what happened, they gave money and labor and built a monastery together. Monks gathered like clouds. The master taught there for more than thirty years. At the approach of his death he rang the bell and assembled the community, then recited: “I escaped worldly difficulties and came to leave home; a lineage master showed me a place to rest. I have lived on this mountain and gathered people for thirty years, ordinarily unwilling to transmit lightly. Today I speak clearly to you all: when I close my eyes, listen together.” He passed away peacefully. His stupa stands on the mountain, and he was posthumously titled Chan Master Yuanjue.

張拙秀才

Presented Scholar Zhang Zhuo

因禪月大師指參石霜。霜問。秀才何姓。曰。姓張名拙。霜曰。覓巧尚不可得。拙自何來。公忽有省。乃呈偈曰。光明寂照徧河沙。凡聖含靈共我家。一念不生全體現。六根才動被雲遮。斷除煩惱重增病。趣向真如亦是邪。隨順世緣無𦊱礙。涅槃生死等空花。

At the direction of Chan Master Chanyue, he went to study with Shishuang. Shishuang asked, “What is your surname, scholar?” He replied, “My surname is Zhang, and my name is Zhuo.” Shishuang said, “Even cleverness cannot be found; where could clumsiness come from?” The scholar suddenly had an insight and presented this verse: “Radiance and silent illumination fill the sands of the Ganges; ordinary and holy beings, all with awareness, share my home. When a single thought does not arise, the whole substance is revealed; as soon as the six faculties move, clouds obscure it. To cut off afflictions only adds another illness; to turn toward suchness is also a deviant path. Following worldly conditions without obstruction, nirvana and birth-and-death are equally empty flowers.”

夾山會禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Huizhan

澧州洛浦山元安禪師

Chan Master Yuan’an of Luopu Mountain, Lizhou

鳳翔麟遊人也。丱年出家。具戒通經論。問道臨濟。後為侍者。濟甞對眾美之曰。臨濟門下一隻箭。誰敢當鋒。師蒙印可。自謂已足。一日侍立次。有座主參濟。濟問。有一人於三乘十二分教明得。有一人不於三乘十二分教明得。且道此二人是同是別。主曰。明得即同。明不得即別。師曰。這裡是甚麼所在。說同說別。濟顧師曰。汝又作麼生。師便喝。濟送座主回。問師。汝豈不是適來喝老僧者。師曰。是。濟便打。師後辭濟。濟問。甚麼處去。師曰。南方去。濟以拄杖畫一畫。曰。過得這箇便去。師乃喝。濟便打。師作禮而去。濟明日陞堂曰。臨濟門下有箇赤梢鯉魚。搖頭擺尾。向南方去。不知向誰家虀甕裡淹殺。師遊歷罷。直往夾山卓庵。經年不訪夾山。山乃修書。令僧馳往。師接得便坐卻。再展手索。僧無對。師便打。曰。歸去舉似和尚。僧回舉似。山曰。這僧若開書。三日內必來。若不開書。斯人救不得也。師果三日後至。見夾山不禮拜。乃當面叉手而立。山曰。鷄棲鳳巢。非其同類。出去。師曰。自遠趨風。請師一接。山曰。目前無闍黎。此間無老僧。師便喝。山曰。住。住。且莫草草怱怱。雲月是同。谿山各異。截斷天下人舌頭即不無。闍黎。爭教無舌人解語。師佇思。山便打。因茲服膺(興化代雲。但知作佛。莫愁眾生)。一日問山。佛魔不到處如何體會。山曰。燭明千里像。闇室老僧迷。又問。朝陽已昇。夜月不現時如何。山曰。龍銜海珠。遊魚不顧。山將示滅。垂語曰。石頭一枝。看看即滅矣。師曰。不然。山曰。何也。師曰。他家自有青山在。山曰。苟如是。即吾宗不墜矣。暨夾山順世。師抵於涔陽。遇故人因話武陵事。問曰。倐忽數年。何處逃難。師曰。秖在闤闠中。曰。何不向無人處去。師曰。無人處有何難。曰。闤闠中如何逃避。師曰。雖在闤闠中。要且人不識。故人罔測。

He was from Linyou in Fengxiang. He left home as a child, received the precepts, and mastered the scriptures and treatises. He sought the Way from Linji and later served as his attendant. Linji once praised him before the assembly: “Under Linji’s gate there is a red-tailed carp; who dares face its point?” The master received Linji’s approval and thought his understanding complete. One day, while he stood in attendance, a lecture master visited Linji. Linji asked, “One person understands the Three Vehicles and the twelve divisions of teaching; another does not understand them. Are these two the same or different?” The lecturer replied, “Understanding makes them the same; not understanding makes them different.” The master said, “What place is this, to speak of sameness and difference?” Linji turned to him: “What do you say?” The master shouted. After seeing the lecturer out, Linji asked, “Were you not the one who just shouted at this old monk?” He said, “Yes.” Linji struck him. Later he took leave. Linji asked where he was going. “To the south.” Linji drew a line with his staff and said, “Cross this and go.” The master shouted, and Linji struck him again. The master bowed and departed. The next day Linji said in the hall, “There is a red-tailed carp in my gate, wagging its head and tail as it goes south. I do not know whose pickle jar will drown it.” After traveling, the master went straight to Jingshan and built a hut. For years he did not visit Jingshan’s master. Jingshan sent a letter by a monk. The master received it, sat on it, then stretched out his hand asking for more. The monk had no answer. The master struck him and said, “Go back and report this to your teacher.” Jingshan said, “If this monk opens the letter, he will come within three days; if he does not, he cannot be saved.” The master came three days later. He stood before Jingshan with joined hands but did not bow. Jingshan said, “A chicken’s nest is not a phoenix’s nest; you are not of the same kind. Leave.” The master said, “I have come from far away seeking your wind; please receive me once.” Jingshan said, “There is no you before my eyes and no old monk here.” The master shouted. Jingshan said, “Stop. Clouds and moon are alike, streams and mountains differ. Cutting off everyone’s tongue is possible; how will you make the tongueless speak?” The master hesitated, and Jingshan struck him. From then on he submitted himself to the teaching. Once he asked, “How should one understand the place untouched by Buddha or demon?” Jingshan said, “A lamp makes images visible for a thousand miles; in a dark room this old monk is lost.” He asked, “What when the morning sun has risen and the night moon is no longer visible?” Jingshan said, “A dragon carries a pearl from the sea, and fish do not notice.” When Jingshan was about to die, he said, “The branch of Shitou will soon disappear.” The master said, “No.” “Why not?” “His house still has its green mountains.” Jingshan said, “If so, our lineage will not fall.” After Jingshan passed away, the master reached Canyang and met an old acquaintance. Asked where he had hidden during the years of danger, he said, “Right in the market.” “Why not go where no one is?” “What difficulty is there where no one is?” “How do you hide in the market?” “Though I am in the market, people still do not recognize me.” The acquaintance could not fathom him.

又問。佛佛相應。祖祖相傳。彼此不垂曲時如何。師曰。野老門前。不話朝堂之事。曰。合譚何事。師曰。未逢別者。終不開拳。曰。有人不從朝堂來。相逢還話會否。師曰。量外之機。徒勞目擊。師尋之澧陽洛浦山卜築宴處。後遷止朗州蘇谿。四方玄侶。憧憧奔湊。上堂。末後一句始到牢關。鎻斷要津。不通凡聖。尋常向諸人道。任從天下樂欣欣。我獨不肯。欲知上流之士。不將佛祖言教貼在額頭上。如龜負圖。自取喪身之兆。鳳縈金網。趍霄漢以何期。直須旨外明宗。莫向言中取則。是以石人機似汝。也解唱巴歌。汝若似石人。雪曲也應和。指南一路。智者知疏。僧問。瞥然便見時如何。師曰。曉星分曙色。爭似太陽輝。又問。恁麼來不立。恁麼去不泯時如何。師曰。鬻薪樵子貴。衣錦道人輕。問。供養百千諸佛。不如供養一箇無心道人。未審百千諸佛有何過。無心道人有何德。師曰。一片白雲橫谷口。幾多歸鳥盡迷巢。問。日未出時如何。師曰。水竭滄溟龍尚隱。雲騰碧漢鳳猶飛。問。如何是本來事。師曰。一粒在荒田。不耘苗自秀。曰。若也不耘。莫被草埋卻也無。師曰。肌骨異蒭蕘。稊稗終難隱。問。不傷物命者如何。師曰。眼花山影轉。迷者謾彷徨。問。不譚今古時如何。師曰。靈龜無卦兆。空殻不勞鑽。曰。爭奈空殻何。師曰。見盡無機所。邪正不可立。曰。恁麼則無棲泊處也。師曰。玄象始於未形。虗勞煩於飾彩。問。龍機不吐霧滋益事如何。師曰。道本無名。不存明暗。曰。不掛明暗底事。又作麼生。師曰。言中易舉。意外難提。問。不生如來家。不坐華王座時如何。師曰。汝道火爐重多少。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。師子窟中無異獸。象王行處絕狐蹤。問。一時舉來時如何。師曰。獻璞不知機。徒勞招刖足。問僧。近離甚處。曰。荊南。師曰。有一人與麼去。還逢麼。曰。

He was asked, “When Buddha responds to Buddha and patriarch transmits to patriarch, what is it when neither bends toward the other?” The master said, “At the old man’s gate, we do not discuss affairs of the court.” “What should we discuss?” “Until one meets the one who is different, the fist never opens.” “If someone does not come from the court, can we still speak when we meet?” “A capacity beyond measure is wasted by merely looking.” The master later built a quiet dwelling on Luopu Mountain in Liyang, then moved to Suxi in Langzhou. Seekers from all directions gathered. In the hall he said, “Only the final phrase reaches the firm barrier. It locks the vital pass and admits neither ordinary nor holy. I always tell you: let the whole world rejoice as it will; I alone refuse. If you wish to know the superior person, do not paste the Buddha’s and patriarchs’ words on your forehead. Like a tortoise carrying a diagram, you would take the omen of your own death; like a phoenix caught in a golden net, how could it rise to the sky? You must understand the school beyond the words and must not take a rule from the words. A stone man with your capacity can sing the songs of Ba; if you are like a stone man, you should answer even the snow song. The pointing road is understood as incomplete by the wise.” A monk asked, “What is it when one suddenly sees?” The master said, “The dawn star divides the colors of morning; how could it compare with the sun’s brilliance?” “What is it when coming does not establish and going does not perish?” “The woodcutter selling firewood is valued; the robed man in brocade is light.” “The sutras say that offering a hundred thousand Buddhas is not as good as offering one mindless Wayfarer. What fault do the Buddhas have, and what virtue does the mindless person possess?” “A white cloud crosses the valley mouth, and many returning birds lose their nests.” “What is it before the sun rises?” “The sea is drained, yet the dragon remains hidden; clouds rise through the blue sky, and the phoenix still flies.” “What is the original matter?” “A single grain lies in a barren field; without tilling, its shoot grows.” “If it is not tilled, will weeds not bury it?” “Its flesh and bones differ from wild grass; weeds cannot finally conceal it.” “What is it when one does not injure living things?” “When the eyes blur, the mountain shadows turn; the deluded wander in vain.” “What is it when one does not discuss past or present?” “The numinous tortoise has no omen on its shell; the empty shell needs no drilling.” “What about the empty shell?” “When every place without an operative device is seen, neither right nor wrong can be established.” “Then there is no place to rest.” “The mysterious image begins before form; empty labor troubles itself by decorating colors.” “What is the dragon’s mechanism that does not exhale mist to nourish things?” “The Way is originally nameless and does not preserve brightness or darkness.” “What about what is not hung on brightness or darkness?” “Words make it easy to point out; outside meaning it is hard to raise.” “What is it when one is not born in the Tathagata’s household and does not sit on the Lotus King’s seat?” “Tell me, how heavy is the fire stove?” “Are the Patriarch’s meaning and the teaching’s meaning the same or different?” “In the lion’s cave there is no other beast; where the elephant king walks, fox tracks end.” “What is it when everything is brought out at once?” “Offering uncut jade without knowing the moment only brings the loss of one’s feet.” A monk said he had recently left Jingnan. The master asked whether someone who went that way would meet him; the monk began to answer…

不逢。師曰。為甚不逢。曰。若逢即頭粉碎。師曰。闍黎三寸甚密。雲門於江西見其僧。乃問。還有此語否。曰。是。門曰。洛浦倒退三千里。問。行不思議處如何。師曰。青山常舉足。白日不移輪。問。枯盡荒田獨立事如何。師曰。鷺倚雪巢猶可辯。烏投漆立事難分。問。如何是主中賓。師曰。逢人常問路。足下鎮長迷。曰。如何是賓主雙舉。師曰。枯樹無橫枝。鳥來難措足。問。終日朦朧時如何。師曰。擲寶淵沙中。識者天然異。曰。恁麼則展手不逢師也。師曰。莫將鶴唳悞作鶯啼。問。圓伊三點人皆會。洛浦家風事若何。師曰。雷霆一震。布鼓聲銷。問。正當亭午時如何。師曰。亭午猶虧半。烏沈始得圓。要會箇中意。牛頭尾上安。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。颯颯當軒竹。經霜不自寒。僧擬進語。師曰。祇聞風擊響。知是幾千竿。上堂。孫臏收鋪去也。有卜者出來。僧曰。請和尚卜。師曰。汝家爺死。僧無對(法眼代拊掌三下)。問。如何是西來意。師以拂子擊禪床曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。天上忽雷驚宇宙。井底蝦蟇不舉頭。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。雪覆孤峰峰不白。雨滋石筍筍須生。問。法身無為。不墮諸數。是否。師曰。惜取眉毛好。曰。如何免得斯咎。師曰。泥龜任你千年。終不解隨雲鶴。曰。直是孫臏。也遭貶剝。師曰。不穿鼻孔底牛。有甚禦處。僧便作牛吼。師曰。這畜生。僧便喝。師曰。掩尾露牙。終非好手。問。萬丈懸崖撒手去。如何免得喪於身時如何。師曰。須彌繫藕絲。曰。是何境界。師曰。剎竿頭上仰蓮心。曰。恁麼則湛湛澄澄去也。師曰。須彌頂上再翻身。曰。恁麼則兢兢切切去也。師曰。空隨媒鴿走。虗喪網羅身。曰。如何得不隨去。師曰。罌鵝缾項小。擬透望天飛。問。露不垂群木時如何。師曰。有虎鴉須噪。無人鳥不驚。問。撥亂乾坤底人來。師還接否。

The monk continued, “We do not meet.” The master asked, “Why do you not meet?” “If we met, my head would be smashed to pieces.” The master said, “Your three-inch tongue is very well hidden.” Yunmen later met this monk in Jiangxi and asked whether he still had these words. When the monk said yes, Yunmen said, “Luopu has retreated three thousand miles.” Asked how it is to move in the inconceivable place, the master said, “The green mountain always lifts its feet; the white sun does not move its wheel.” Asked about standing alone after the barren field is exhausted, he said, “A egret beside a snowy nest can still be distinguished; a crow standing in lacquer is hard to tell apart.” Asked about guest within host, he said, “Meeting people, one always asks the road, while one’s own feet remain lost.” Asked about host and guest raised together, he said, “A dead tree has no cross branches; when a bird comes, it can find nowhere to set its feet.” Asked about being dim and obscure all day, he said, “Throw a treasure into deep sand; those who recognize it know its natural difference.” “Then one opens one’s hands and never meets the teacher.” “Do not mistake a crane’s cry for an oriole’s song.” Asked about the three dots of the round character, he said, “A thunderclap makes the sound of a cloth drum disappear.” Asked about high noon, he said, “At noon it is still half deficient; only when the crow sinks does it become whole. To understand the meaning, place the ox’s head on its tail.” Asked about the Patriarch’s coming from the West, he said, “The bamboo before the window rustles; after frost it is not itself cold.” When the monk tried to add a word, the master said, “You hear only the wind striking and know that there are thousands of stalks.” In the hall he said, “Sun Bin has closed his shop. Let a diviner come out.” A monk asked him to divine. The master said, “Your father has died.” The monk had no answer. Fayan clapped three times in his place. Asked again about the Western meaning, the master struck the Chan seat with his whisk and asked whether he understood. When the monk said no, he said, “A sudden thunder in heaven startles the universe; a frog at the bottom of a well does not raise its head.” Asked about the essential meaning of Buddhadharma, he said, “Snow covers the lonely peak, yet the peak is not white; rain nourishes the stone shoot, and the shoot must grow.” Asked whether the unconditioned Dharma body falls into numbers, he said, “Take good care of your eyebrows.” Asked how to escape the fault, he said, “A mud tortoise may live a thousand years, but never learns to follow a cloud crane.” The monk acted like an ox. The master called him a beast; the monk shouted. The master said, “Covering the tail while showing the teeth is not the work of a master.” Asked how to avoid losing oneself when letting go from a precipice, he said, “Mount Sumeru is tied with a lotus-root thread.” Asked what realm this was, he said, “At the top of the banner pole, look up at the lotus heart.” The monk said he would go in clear stillness; the master told him to turn again on Mount Sumeru’s summit. When he said he would go in fear and urgency, the master said, “You will follow an empty pigeon decoy and lose your body in a net.” Asked how not to follow, he said, “The goose jar has a narrow neck; trying to pass through, it looks up and flies toward the sky.” Asked when dew does not hang on the trees, he said, “If there is a tiger, crows must cry; when no one is there, birds are not startled.” A person who could set heaven and earth in order came to ask whether the master would receive him.

師竪拂子。僧曰。恁麼則得遇明君去也。師曰。依稀似曲才堪聽。又被風吹別調中。問。佛魔不到處。如何辨得。師曰。演若頭非失。鏡中認取乖。問。如何是救離生死。師曰。執水苟延生。不聞天樂妙。問。四大從何而有。師曰。湛水無波。漚因風激。曰。漚滅歸水時如何。師曰。不渾不濁。魚龍任躍。問。如何離得生死去。師曰。一念忘機。太虗無玷。問。如何是道。師曰。存機猶滯跡。去杌卻通途。問。如何是一大藏教收不得者。師曰。雨滋三草秀。片玉本來輝。問。一毫吞盡巨海。於中更復何言。師曰。家有白澤之圖。必無如是妖怪(保福別雲。家無白澤之圖。亦無如是妖怪)。問。凝然時如何。師曰。時雷應節。震嶽驚蟄。曰。千般運動。不異箇凝然時如何。師曰。靈鶴翥空外。鈍鳥不離巢。曰。如何。師曰。白首拜少年。舉世人難信。問。諸聖恁麼來。將何供養。師曰。土宿雖持錫。不是婆羅門。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。日月並輪輝。誰家別有路。曰。恁麼則顯晦殊途。事非一槩。師曰。但自不亡羊。何須泣岐路。問。學人擬歸鄉時如何。師曰。家破人亡。子歸何處。曰。恁麼則不歸去也。師曰。庭前殘雪日輪消。室內遊塵遣誰掃。乃有偈曰。決志歸鄉去。乘船渡五湖。舉篙星月隱。停棹日輪孤。解䌫離邪岸。張帆出正途。到來家蕩盡。免作屋中愚。問。動是法王苗。寂是法王根。根苗即不問。如何是法王。師舉拂子。僧曰。此猶是法王苗。師曰。龍不出洞。誰人奈何。侍者謂師曰。肇法師製得四論。甚奇怪。師曰。肇公甚奇怪。要且不見祖師。者無對(法燈代雲。和尚甚麼處是。雲居錫雲。甚麼處是肇公不見祖師處。莫是有許多言語麼。又云。肇公有多少言語)。問。如何是生機一路。師曰。敲空有響。擊木無聲。曰兩山開法。語播諸方。光化元年八月。誡主事曰。出家之法。

The master raised his whisk. The monk said, “Then one has met a wise ruler and may leave.” The master said, “A tune is faintly heard and only just worth listening to, then the wind blows it into another melody.” Asked how to distinguish a place reached by neither Buddha nor demon, he said, “Yanruo’s head was not lost; look in the mirror and recognize the error.” Asked how to escape birth and death, he said, “Clinging to water merely prolongs life; it does not hear the wondrous music of heaven.” Asked where the four elements come from, he said, “Still water has no waves; bubbles arise when wind stirs it.” “When bubbles vanish and return to water?” “Neither muddy nor turbid, it lets fish and dragons leap freely.” “How can one leave birth and death?” “Forget the mechanism in a single thought; empty space is then unstained.” “What is the Way?” “Keeping the mechanism still leaves one trapped in traces; removing the stump opens the broad road.” “What is beyond the reach of the whole Buddhist canon?” “Rain makes the three grasses flourish; a piece of jade shines by its original nature.” “If one hair swallows the great sea, what more can be said?” “A household with a picture of the auspicious beast has no such demon.” Baofo offered another answer: “A household without that picture has no such demon either.” Asked about unmoving stillness, he said, “Seasonal thunder answers its time, shaking mountains and awakening insects.” “What about every movement being no different from stillness?” “The numinous crane flies beyond the sky; the dull bird never leaves its nest.” “How?” “An old man bows to a youth; the whole world finds it hard to believe.” Asked what offering should be made when sages come, he said, “The earth star may hold a staff, but he is not a Brahman.” Asked whether Patriarch and teaching are the same, he said, “Sun and moon shine together; whose house has another road?” “Then brightness and darkness are different paths.” “As long as one does not lose the sheep, why weep at a forked road?” Asked about returning home, he said, “When the house is ruined and the people gone, where can the child return?” “Then one should not return.” “The wheel of the sun melts the leftover snow before the hall; who will sweep the drifting dust within the room?” He then recited: “I have resolved to return home and will cross the Five Lakes by boat. When I raise the oar, stars and moon disappear; when I stop, the lonely sun remains. I cast off from the shore of error and set sail on the right course. When I arrive, the house will be entirely empty, and I will not remain a fool inside it.” Asked, “Movement is the Dharma King’s sprout, stillness his root. Apart from root and sprout, what is the Dharma King?” The master raised his whisk. The monk said, “That is still the sprout.” The master said, “If the dragon does not leave its cave, who can do anything?” An attendant said, “Master Zhao’s four treatises are extraordinary.” The master said, “Zhao was indeed extraordinary, but he still did not see the Patriarch.” The attendant had no answer. Asked about the road of living activity, he said, “Strike empty space and there is a sound; strike wood and there is no sound.” His teaching spread through the regions. In the first year of Guanghua, in the eighth month, he admonished the monastery officers: “In leaving home, keep no surplus possessions. At sowing time, reduce everything carefully; stop all building and construction. Time passes swiftly and the Way is profound. If you merely drift along, how can you awaken?”

長物不留。播種之時。切宜減省。締搆之務。悉從廢停。流光迅速。大道玄深。苟或因循。曷由體悟。雖激厲懇切。眾以為常。略不相儆。至冬示微疾。亦不倦參請。十二月一日告眾曰。吾非明即後也。今有一事問汝等。若道這箇是。即頭上安頭。若道不是。即斬頭求活。第一座對曰。青山不舉足。日下不挑燈。師曰。是甚麼時節。作這箇語話。時有彥從上座對曰。離此二途。請和尚不問。師曰。未在更道。曰。彥從道不盡。師曰。我不管汝盡不盡。曰。彥從無侍者祇對和尚。師便休。至夜令侍者喚從問曰。闍黎今日祇對。甚有道理。汝合體得先師意。先師道。目前無法。意在目前。不是目前法。非耳目之所到。且道那句是賓。那句是主。若擇得出。分付缽袋子。曰。彥從不會。師曰。汝合會。曰。彥從實不會。師喝出。乃曰。苦。苦(玄覺雲。且道從上座實不會。是怕見缽袋子粘著伊)。二日午時。別僧舉前話問師。師曰。慈舟不棹清波上。劒峽徒勞放木鵝。便告寂。

(Luopu continued:) “Keep no excess. At planting time, reduce everything carefully; abandon every construction project. Time passes swiftly and the Great Way is profound. If you simply drift along, how will you realize it?” Though his words were urgent, the assembly treated them as ordinary and did not warn one another. In winter he showed a slight illness but did not tire of receiving visitors. On the first day of the twelfth month he told the assembly, “I may die tomorrow or the day after. I have one matter to ask you. If you say this is it, you put a head on top of a head; if you say it is not, you cut off the head to seek life.” The first seat answered, “The green mountain does not lift its feet; beneath the sun no lamp is raised.” The master said, “What time is this, to speak such words?” Yanzong said, “Please do not ask me within these two paths.” The master said, “Not yet—say more.” Yanzong said, “I have not exhausted the Way.” The master said, “I do not care whether you have exhausted it.” Yanzong said, “I have no attendant and can answer only you.” The master then stopped. That night he called Yanzong and said, “Your answer today had much reason; you should embody the former master’s intent. The former master said: ‘There is no Dharma before the eyes; the meaning is before the eyes. It is not a Dharma before the eyes and cannot be reached by ear or eye.’ Tell me which phrase is guest and which is host. If you can distinguish them, I will transmit the bowl and bag.” Yanzong said, “I do not understand.” The master said, “You ought to understand.” Yanzong said, “I truly do not.” The master shouted him out and said, “Bitter, bitter.” Xuanjue commented, “Tell me, does the first seat truly not understand, or is he afraid of seeing the bowl and bag cling to him?” At noon on the second day, another monk raised the earlier exchange and asked the master. He replied, “The compassionate boat does not row upon clear waves; in the sword gorge it is vain to release the wooden goose.” He then announced his quiet passing.

撫州逍遙山懷忠禪師

Chan Master Huaizhong of Xiaoyao Mountain, Fuzhou

僧問。不似之句還有人道得否。師曰。或即五日齋前。或即五日齋後。問。劒鏡明利。毫毛何惑。師曰。不空罥索。問。洪鑪猛燄。烹鍛何物。師曰。烹佛烹祖。曰。佛祖作麼生烹。師曰。業在其中。曰。喚作甚麼業。師曰。佛力不如。問。四十九年不說一句。如何是不說底句。師曰。隻履西行。道人不顧。曰。莫便是和尚消停處也無。師曰。馬是官馬不用印。問。如何是一老一不老。師曰。三從六義。曰。如何是奇特一句。師曰。坐佛床。斫佛樸。問。祖與佛阿那箇最親。師曰。真金不肯博。誰肯換泥丸。曰。恁麼則不肯去也。師曰。汝貴我賤。問。懸劒萬年松時如何。師曰。非言可及。曰。當為何事。師曰。為汝道話。曰。言外事如何明得。師曰。日久年多筋骨成。問。不敵魔軍。如何證道。師曰。海水不勞杓子舀。問。不住有雲山。常居無底船時如何。師曰。果熟自然香。曰。更請師道。師曰。門前真佛子。曰。學人為甚麼不見。師曰。處處王老師。

A monk asked: 'Can anyone express the phrase that is not like anything?' The master said: 'Either before the five-day fast, or after the five-day fast.' [The monk] asked: 'The sword and the mirror are bright and sharp — why then is a hair's tip deluded?' The master said: 'The Unfailing Noose.' [The monk] asked: 'In the roaring blaze of the great furnace, what is being cooked and forged?' The master said: 'Cooking Buddhas, cooking patriarchs.' [The monk] said: 'How are Buddhas and patriarchs cooked?' The master said: 'Karma is inside it.' [The monk] said: 'What is that called, karma?' The master said: 'Buddha-power does not match it.' [The monk] asked: 'For forty-nine years he did not speak a single phrase. What is the phrase that was not spoken?' The master said: 'One shoe going west; the man of the Way does not look back.' [The monk] said: 'Is that not where the monk comes to rest?' The master said: 'The horse is a government horse; it needs no brand.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the one that is old and the one that is not old?' The master said: 'The three obediences and the six duties.' [The monk] said: 'What is the extraordinary phrase?' The master said: 'Sitting on the Buddha's seat, chopping the Buddha's block.' [The monk] asked: 'Between the patriarch and the Buddha, which is nearer kin?' The master said: 'True gold will not be bartered; who would take a mud pellet in exchange?' [The monk] said: 'Then I am unwilling to go.' The master said: 'You are noble, I am base.' [The monk] asked: 'What of hanging a sword on a ten-thousand-year pine?' The master said: 'It is beyond words.' [The monk] said: 'For the sake of what matter?' The master said: 'To speak words for you.' [The monk] said: 'How can the matter outside words be made clear?' The master said: 'When the days are long and the years many, the sinews and bones are formed.' [The monk] asked: 'If one has not defeated the army of Mara, how does one realize the Way?' The master said: 'The ocean's water needs no gourd ladle to scoop it.' [The monk] asked: 'What of not dwelling on the clouded mountain, but always abiding in a bottomless boat?' The master said: 'When the fruit is ripe it is fragrant of itself.' [The monk] said: 'Please, master, say something more.' The master said: 'Before the gate stands a true son of the Buddha.' [The monk] said: 'Why does the student not see him?' The master said: 'Teacher Wang is everywhere.'

袁州蟠龍山可文禪師

Chan Master Kewen of Mount Panlong in Yuanzhou

僧問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。石牛㳂古路。日裡夜明燈。問。如何是佛。師曰。痴兒捨父逃。

A monk asked: 'When a dead monk is transformed in passing away, where does he go?' The master said: 'A stone ox follows the ancient road; by day a lamp that shines at night.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A foolish child forsakes his father and runs away.'

撫州黃山月輪禪師

Chan Master Yuelun of Mount Huang in Fuzhou

福唐許氏子。初謁三峰。機緣靡契。尋聞夾山盛化。乃往叩之。山問。名甚麼。師曰。月輪。山作一圓相。曰。何似這箇。師曰。和尚恁麼語話。諸方大有人不肯在。山曰。闍黎作麼生。師曰。還見月輪麼。山曰。闍黎恁麼道。此間大有人不肯諸方。師乃服膺參訊。一日。夾山抗聲問曰。子是甚麼處人。師曰。閩中人。山曰。還識老僧麼。師曰。和尚還識學人麼。山曰。不然。子且還老僧草鞋錢。然後老僧還子廬陵米價。師曰。恁麼則不識和尚也。未委廬陵米作麼價。山曰。真師子兒。善能哮吼。乃入室受印。依附七年。眾請住黃山。上堂。祖師西來。特唱此事。自是諸人不薦。向外馳求。投赤水以尋珠。就荊山而覓玉。所以道。從門入者。不是家珍。認影迷頭。豈非大錯。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。梁殿不施功。魏邦絕心跡。問。如何是道。師曰。石牛頻吐三春霧。木馬嘶聲滿道途。問。如何得見本來面目。師曰。不勞懸石鏡。天曉自鷄鳴。問。宗乘一句。請師商量。師曰。黃峰獨脫物外秀。年來月往冷颼颼。問。不辨中言。如何指撥。師曰。劒去遠矣。爾方刻舟。問。如何是衲衣下事。師曰。石牛水上臥。東西得自由。問。如何是目前意。師曰。秋風有韻。片月無方。問。如何是學人用心處。師曰。覺戶不掩。對月莫迷。問。如何是青霄路。師曰。鶴棲雲外樹。不倦苦風霜。問。過去事如何。師曰。龍呌清潭。波瀾自肅。師於同光三年示寂。塔於院之西北隅。

He was a son of the Xu family of Futang. He first paid homage to Sanfeng, but the affinity did not match. Soon he heard that Jiashan's teaching flourished, so he went to call on him. Shan asked: 'What is your name?' The master said: 'Yuelun, Moon Wheel.' Shan drew a circle and said: 'What does this resemble?' The master said: 'If the master talks in this way, there are plenty of people in every quarter who will not accept it.' Shan said: 'How would you put it, Acharya?' The master said: 'Do you see the moon wheel?' Shan said: 'If you talk like this, Acharya, there are plenty of people here who will not accept the other quarters.' The master then bowed to him in submission and sought instruction. One day Jiashan asked in a raised voice: 'Where are you from?' The master said: 'A man of Min.' Shan said: 'Do you know this old monk?' The master said: 'Does the master know this student?' Shan said: 'Not so. You had better first pay this old monk the price of his straw sandals, and then this old monk will pay you the price of rice in Luling.' The master said: 'Then I do not know the master after all. I still wonder what the price of rice in Luling is.' Shan said: 'A true lion cub, well able to roar.' He then entered the master's room and received the seal. He stayed in attendance for seven years. The assembly invited him to reside at Mount Huang. He ascended the hall: 'The patriarch came from the West and made a special point of proclaiming this matter. It is simply that you people do not recognize it and run seeking outside yourselves. You cast yourself into the Red River to look for a pearl, and go to Mount Jing to hunt for jade. Therefore it is said: What enters through the gate is not the family treasure. To mistake the shadow and lose your head — is that not a great error?' A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'The halls of Liang wrought no merit; the land of Wei cut off every trace of mind.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'A stone ox keeps breathing out the mist of the third spring; a wooden horse's whinny fills the whole road.' [A monk] asked: 'How can one see the original face?' The master said: 'No need to hang up a stone mirror; when the sky dawns, the cock crows of itself.' [A monk] asked: 'One phrase of the patriarchal teaching — please, master, discuss it.' The master said: 'The yellow peak stands alone, elegant beyond all things; as the years come and the months go, it is cold and soughing.' [A monk] asked: 'If one cannot tell the words within, how is one to be guided?' The master said: 'The sword has gone far; only now do you carve the boat.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the matter beneath the patched robe?' The master said: 'A stone ox lies down on the water, free to go east or west.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning before one's eyes?' The master said: 'The autumn wind has its rhythm; a slice of moon has no fixed place.' [A monk] asked: 'Where should a student apply his mind?' The master said: 'The door of awakening is not shut; facing the moon, do not be deluded.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the road to the blue sky?' The master said: 'A crane perches in a tree beyond the clouds, untiring through bitter wind and frost.' [A monk] asked: 'What of the matter of the past?' The master said: 'A dragon cries in the clear pool; the waves of themselves are calmed.' The master passed away in the third year of Tongguang. His stupa was raised at the northwest corner of the monastery.

洛京韶山寰普禪師

Chan Master Huanpu of Mount Shao in Luojing

有僧到參。禮拜起立。師曰。大才藏拙戶。僧過一邊立。師曰。喪卻棟梁材。問。如何是韶山境。師曰。古今猿鳥呌。翠色薄煙籠。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。退後看。僧參。師問。莫是多口白頭因麼。因曰。不敢。師曰。有多少口。曰。通身是。師曰。尋常向甚麼處屙。曰。向韶山口裡屙。師曰。有韶山口即得。無韶山口向甚麼處屙。因無語。師便打。遵布衲訪師。在山下相見。遵問。韶山路向甚麼處去。師以手指曰。嗚。那青青黯黯處去。遵近前把住曰。久嚮韶山。莫便是否。師曰。是即是。闍黎有甚麼事。遵曰。擬伸一問。師還答否。師曰。看君不是金牙作。爭解彎弓射尉遲。遵曰。鳳凰直入煙霄去。誰怕林間野雀兒。師曰。當軒畵鼓從君擊。試展家風似老僧。遵曰。一句逈超千聖外。松蘿不與月輪齊。師曰。饒君直出威音外。猶較韶山半月程。遵曰。過在甚處。師曰。倜儻之辭。時人知有。遵曰。恁麼則真玉泥中異。不撥萬機塵。師曰。魯般門下。徒施巧妙。遵曰。學人即恁麼。未審師意如何。師曰。玉女夜拋梭。織錦於西舍。遵曰。莫便是和尚家風也無。師曰。耕夫製玉漏。不是行家作。遵曰。此猶是文言。如何是和尚家風。師曰。橫身當宇宙。誰是出頭人。遵無語。師遂同歸山。才人事了。師召近前曰。闍黎有沖天之氣。老僧有入地之謀。闍黎橫吞巨海。老僧背負須彌。闍黎按劒上來。老僧掗鎗相待。向上一路。速道。速道。遵曰。明鏡當臺。請師一鑒。師曰。不鑒。遵曰。為甚不鑒。師曰。水淺無魚。徒勞下釣。遵無對。師便打。僧問。如何是一如相。師曰。鷺飛霄漢白。山遠色深青。問。是非不到處。還有句也無。師曰。有。曰。是甚麼句。師曰。一片白雲不露醜。終後諡無畏禪師。

A monk came to call on him, bowed, and stood up. The master said: 'Great talent hides in a humble house.' The monk stepped aside and stood there. The master said: 'You have ruined a pillar-and-beam timber.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the realm of Mount Shao?' The master said: 'From ancient times apes and birds cry out; the kingfisher-green is wrapped in thin mist.' [The monk] said: 'Who is the person within that realm?' The master said: 'Step back and look.' A monk came to call. The master asked: 'Are you not Duokou, White Head Yin?' Yin said: 'I would not presume.' The master said: 'How many mouths have you?' He said: 'The whole body is one.' The master said: 'Where do you usually relieve yourself?' He said: 'In the mouth of Mount Shao.' The master said: 'If there is a mouth of Mount Shao, that will do. If there were no mouth of Mount Shao, where would you relieve yourself?' Yin had no reply. The master then struck him. Zun the Patch-robe Monk came to visit the master, and they met at the foot of the mountain. Zun asked: 'Which way does the road to Mount Shao go?' The master pointed with his hand and said: 'Wu — it goes toward that blue-black place.' Zun came close and seized him, saying: 'I have long heard of Mount Shao; is this indeed he?' The master said: 'It is, it is. What business does the Acharya have?' Zun said: 'I intend to put a question; will the master answer it?' The master said: 'I see you were not made with golden teeth — how could you draw a bow and shoot Yuchi?' Zun said: 'The phoenix flies straight up into the misty clouds; who fears the wild sparrows in the woods?' The master said: 'The painted drum at the railing is yours to beat; try showing a family style like this old monk's.' Zun said: 'One phrase towers far beyond a thousand sages; pine and dodder do not keep pace with the moon wheel.' The master said: 'Even if you step straight outside the Sound of Weiyin, you are still half a month's journey from Mount Shao.' Zun said: 'Where is the fault?' The master said: 'Unrestrained phrases — people of the time know they exist.' Zun said: 'Then true jade stands out in the mud, and does not stir up the dust of ten thousand concerns.' The master said: 'In the school of Lu Ban you only waste your cleverness.' Zun said: 'The student is like this. I have not yet understood the master's meaning.' The master said: 'A jade girl tosses the shuttle by night, weaving brocade in the western chamber.' Zun said: 'Is that not the master's family style?' The master said: 'A ploughman making a jade water-clock — that is not the work of a professional.' Zun said: 'That is still patterned words. What is the master's family style?' The master said: 'Lying across the cosmos — who is the one who sticks his head out?' Zun had no reply. The master then returned to the mountain with him. As soon as the matter was settled, the master called him close and said: 'The Acharya has a spirit that pierces the sky; this old monk has a plan that reaches into the earth. The Acharya swallows the great ocean crosswise; this old monk carries Mount Sumeru on his back. The Acharya comes on with his sword set; this old monk waits with his spear braced. On the road above, speak quickly, speak quickly!' Zun said: 'A bright mirror is set on its stand; please, master, give it one look.' The master said: 'I do not look.' Zun said: 'Why do you not look?' The master said: 'Shallow water has no fish; you waste your time casting the line.' Zun had no answer. The master then struck him. A monk asked: 'What is the mark of suchness?' The master said: 'An egret flies, white against the sky; the mountain is far, its color deep blue-green.' [The monk] asked: 'Where right and wrong do not reach, is there still a phrase?' The master said: 'There is.' [The monk] said: 'What phrase is it?' The master said: 'A single white cloud does not show its ugliness.' After his death he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Wuwei, Fearless.

洪州上藍令超禪師

Chan Master Lingchao of Shanglan in Hongzhou

初住瑞州上藍山。唱夾山之道。學侶俱會。後於洪井創禪苑。還以上藍為名。化道益盛。僧問。如何是上藍本分事。師曰。不從千聖借。豈向萬機求。曰。祇如不借不求時如何。師曰。不可拈放汝手裡。得麼。問。鋒前如何辨的。師曰。鋒前不露影。莫向舌頭尋。問。如何是無舌人唱歌。師曰。韻震青霄。宮商不犯。問。二龍爭珠。誰是得者。師曰。其珠徧地。目覩如泥。問。善財見文殊後。為甚卻往南方。師曰。學𠗦入室。知乃通方。曰。為甚麼彌勒卻遣見文殊。師曰。道廣無涯。逢人不盡。至唐大順正月初。告眾曰。吾本約住此十年。今化事既畢。當即行矣。齋畢聲鐘。端坐長往。諡元真禪師。

He first lived at Mount Shanglan in Ruizhou, proclaiming Jiashan's Way, and students gathered to him. Later he founded a Chan grove at Hongjing and again named it Shanglan; his transforming work grew ever more flourishing. A monk asked: 'What is Shanglan's own matter?' The master said: 'It is not borrowed from a thousand sages; how could it be sought among ten thousand concerns?' [The monk] said: 'What about when one neither borrows nor seeks?' The master said: 'I cannot pick it up and put it in your hand — can you get it?' [A monk] asked: 'How does one discern clearly before the point of the blade?' The master said: 'Before the blade no shadow shows; do not go looking on the tongue.' [A monk] asked: 'What of a tongueless man singing?' The master said: 'The melody shakes the blue sky, yet the notes strike no mode.' [A monk] asked: 'In two dragons fighting over a pearl, who gets it?' The master said: 'That pearl lies everywhere; seen with the eye it is like mud.' [A monk] asked: 'After Sudhana met Manjushri, why did he go off to the south?' The master said: 'Entering the room to learn the Way, one comes to understand the whole compass.' [The monk] said: 'Why then did Maitreya send him to see Manjushri?' The master said: 'The Way is vast without limit; meeting people it never runs out.' At the beginning of the first month of Dashun in the Tang, he told the assembly: 'I originally undertook to stay here ten years. Now that the work of transformation is finished, I shall go at once.' After the meal the bell was sounded, and he sat upright and passed away. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Yuanzhen, Original Truth.

鄆州四禪禪師

Chan Master Sichan of Yunzhou

僧問。古人有請不背。今請和尚入井。還去也無。師曰。深深無別源。飲者消諸患。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。會得底人意。須知月色寒。問。諸佛未出世時如何。師曰。王宮絕消息。曰。出世後如何。師曰。榮枯各不同。

A monk asked: 'The ancients did not turn away when invited. Now we invite the master to enter the well — will you go?' The master said: 'Deep, deep, with no other source; whoever drinks of it dissolves all afflictions.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the master's family style?' The master said: 'One who understands the mind of another must know that the moonlight is cold.' [A monk] asked: 'What was it like before the Buddhas appeared in the world?' The master said: 'The royal palace cuts off all news.' [The monk] said: 'And after they appeared?' The master said: 'Flourishing and withering are each different.'

太原海湖禪師

Chan Master Haihu of Taiyuan

因有人請灌頂三藏供養。敷坐訖。師乃就彼位坐。時有雲涉座主問曰。和尚甚麼年行道。師曰。座主近前來。涉近前。師曰。祇如憍陳如是甚麼年行道。涉茫然。師喝曰。這尿床鬼。問。和尚院內人何太少。定水院人何太多。師曰。草深多野鹿。巖高獬豸稀。問。如何是無問而自答。師曰。松韻琴聲響。

Someone once invited the Tripitaka Master of Consecration to receive offerings. When the seat had been spread, the master went and sat in that place. At the time the lecturer Yunshe asked: 'In what year did the master begin to practise the Way?' The master said: 'Lecturer, come closer.' She stepped forward. The master said: 'What year did Kaundinya begin to practise the Way?' She was blank. The master shouted: 'You bed-wetting ghost!' [A monk] asked: 'Why are there so few people in the master's monastery, and so many in the Monastery of Still Water?' The master said: 'Where the grass is deep there are many wild deer; where the cliff is high the shanyang goat is rare.' [A monk] asked: 'What is it to answer oneself without being asked?' The master said: 'The sound of wind in the pines is the sound of a lute.'

嘉州白水禪師

Chan Master Baishui of Jiazhou

僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。四溟無窟宅。一滴潤乾坤。問。曹溪一路。合譚何事。師曰。㵎松千載鶴來聚。月中香桂鳳凰歸。問。如何是此經。師曰。拋梭石女遼空響。海底泥牛夜呌頻。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of his coming from the West?' The master said: 'The four seas have no dwelling place; a single drop moistens heaven and earth.' [The monk] asked: 'On the single road of Caoxi, what matter should be discussed?' The master said: 'A thousand-year crane gathers at the ravine pine; the phoenix returns to the fragrant cassia in the moon.' [The monk] asked: 'What is this sutra?' The master said: 'A stone girl throws the shuttle, and the far sky resounds; the mud ox at the bottom of the sea lows without cease by night.'

鳳翔府天葢山幽禪師

Chan Master You of Mount Tiangai in Fengxiang Prefecture

僧問。如何是天葢水。師曰。四海滂沲。不犯涓滴。問。學人擬看經時如何。師曰。既是大商。何求小利。問。對境不動時如何。師曰。邊方雖有令。不是太平年。

A monk asked: 'What is the water of Tiangai?' The master said: 'The four seas pour down, yet not a drop is spilled.' [The monk] asked: 'What about when a student intends to read the sutras?' The master said: 'Since you are a great merchant, why seek a small profit?' [The monk] asked: 'What about when one does not move in the face of circumstances?' The master said: 'Though the frontier has its ordinances, this is no year of great peace.'

清平遵禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Qingping Zun

蘄州三角山令珪禪師

Chan Master Linggui of Mount Sanjiao in Qizhou

初參清平。平問。來作麼。師曰。來禮拜。平曰。禮拜阿誰。師曰。特來禮拜和尚。平咄曰。這鈍根阿師。師乃禮拜。平以手斫師頸一下。從此領旨。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。明日來。向汝道。如今道不得。

He first called on Qingping. Ping asked: 'What have you come for?' The master said: 'I have come to bow.' Ping said: 'To whom do you bow?' The master said: 'I came especially to bow to the master.' Ping shouted: 'This dull-rooted teacher!' The master then bowed. Ping chopped him once on the neck with his hand. From this he grasped the purport. After he had taken up residence, a monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Come tomorrow and I will tell you. As for today, I cannot say it.'

投子同禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Touzi Tong

投子感溫禪師

Chan Master Ganwen of Touzi

僧問。師登寶座。接示何人。師曰。如月赴千溪。曰。恁麼則滿地不虧也。師曰。莫恁麼道。問。父不投。為甚麼卻投子。師曰。豈是別人屋裡事。曰。父與子還屬功也無。師曰。不屬。曰。不屬功底如何。師曰。父子各自脫。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。汝與我會。師遊山見蟬蛻。侍者問曰。殻在這裡。蟬向甚麼處去也。師拈殻就耳畔搖三五下。作蟬聲。侍者於是開悟。

A monk asked: 'The master has mounted the jewelled seat — to whom does he show himself?' The master said: 'Like the moon going out to a thousand streams.' [The monk] said: 'Then it loses nothing anywhere on the ground.' The master said: 'Do not talk like that.' [A monk] asked: 'The father did not take refuge; why then did he go to Touzi, the Child?' The master said: 'Is this a matter for another man's house?' [The monk] said: 'Do father and son still belong to effort?' The master said: 'They do not belong.' [The monk] said: 'What is it like when they do not belong to effort?' The master said: 'Father and son each take their own release.' [The monk] said: 'Why is it so?' The master said: 'You and I will meet.' Wandering in the hills the master saw a cicada's cast skin. The attendant asked: 'The shell is here — where has the cicada gone?' The master picked up the shell, shook it at his ear three or four times, and made the sound of a cicada. The attendant was thereby awakened.

福州牛頭微禪師

Chan Master Wei of Mount Niutou in Fuzhou

上堂。三世諸佛。用一點伎倆不得。天下老師口似匾擔。諸人作麼生。大不容易。除非知有。餘莫能知。僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。山畬脫粟飯。野菜澹黃虀。曰。忽遇上客來。又作麼生。師曰。吃即從君吃。不吃任東西。問。不問驪龍頷下珠。如何識得家中寶。師曰。忙中爭得作閑人。

He ascended the hall: 'The Buddhas of the three ages cannot use a single trick. The mouths of the teachers under heaven are like carrying poles. What will you people do? It is no easy matter. Unless you know that it is, no one else can know it.' A monk asked: 'What is the master's family style?' The master said: 'Hulled rice from the hillside field, and wild greens with thin yellow pickles.' [The monk] said: 'Suppose a distinguished guest arrives — what then?' The master said: 'If you eat, eat as you please; if you do not eat, go wherever you like.' [A monk] asked: 'Without asking about the pearl under the black dragon's chin, how does one recognize the treasure in the house?' The master said: 'How can one be an idle man while struggling in the midst of busyness?'

西川青城香山澄照禪師

Chan Master Chengzhao of Mount Xiang in Qingcheng, Xichuan

僧問。諸佛有難。向火燄裡藏身。未審衲僧有難。向甚麼處藏身。師曰。水精甕裡著波斯。問。如何是初生月。師曰。太半人不見。

A monk asked: 'When the Buddhas are in trouble they hide themselves in the flames. I wonder where a patch-robed monk hides when he is in trouble?' The master said: 'Put a Persian in a crystal jar.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the new moon?' The master said: 'Most people do not see it.'

陝府天福禪師

Chan Master Tianfu of Shanfu

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。黃河無滴水。華嶽總平沈。

A monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma?' The master said: 'The Yellow River has not a drop of water; Mount Hua has sunk flat altogether.'

興元府中梁山遵古禪師

Chan Master Zungu of Mount Zhongliang in Xingyuan Prefecture

僧問。空劫無人能問法。即今有問法何安。師曰。大悲菩薩甕裡坐。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。道士擔漏巵。

A monk asked: 'In the empty kalpa no one could ask about the dharma; now that there is one who asks, where does the dharma rest?' The master said: 'The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion sits inside a jar.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'A Daoist carrying a leaky cup.'

襄州谷隱禪師

Chan Master Guyin of Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是不觸白雲機。師曰。鶴帶鵶顏。浮生不棄。

A monk asked: 'What is the device that does not touch the white clouds?' The master said: 'A crane with a crow's face — the floating life is not abandoned.'

安州九嵕山禪師

Chan Master of Mount Jiuzong in Anzhou

僧問。遠聞九嵕。及乎到來。祇見一嵕。師曰。闍黎祇見一嵕。不見九嵕。曰。如何是九嵕。師曰。水急浪花驪。

A monk asked: 'I heard of Jiuzong from afar, but now that I have arrived I see only one zong.' The master said: 'The Acharya sees only one zong, not the nine zongs.' [The monk] said: 'What are the nine zongs?' The master said: 'Where the water runs swift, the spray is like a black horse.'

幽州盤山禪師(二世)

Chan Master of Mount Pan in Youzhou, the second generation

僧問。如何出得三界。師曰。在裡頭來多少時邪。曰。如何出得。師曰。青山不礙白雲飛。問。承教有言。如化人煩惱。如石女兒。此理如何。師曰。闍黎直如石女兒去。

A monk asked: 'How does one get out of the three realms?' The master said: 'How long have you been inside?' [The monk] said: 'How does one get out?' The master said: 'The green hills do not hinder the white clouds from flying.' [The monk] asked: 'The teaching says that they are like the afflictions of a conjured man, like a barren woman's child. What does this principle mean?' The master said: 'Acharya, just go and be like a barren woman's child.'

九嵕敬慧禪師

Chan Master Jinghui of Jiuzong

僧問。解脫深坑。如何過得。師曰。不求過。曰。如何過得。師曰。求過亦非。

A monk asked: 'How does one pass over the deep pit of liberation?' The master said: 'Do not seek to pass over.' [The monk] said: 'How then does one pass over?' The master said: 'To seek to pass over is also wrong.'

東京觀音院巖俊禪師者

Chan Master Yanjun of Guanyin Monastery in the Eastern Capital

邢臺廉氏子。初參祖席。徧歷衡．廬．岷．蜀。甞經鳳林深谷。欻覩珍寶發現。同侶相顧。意將取之。師曰。古人鉏園。觸黃金若瓦礫。待吾菅覆頂。須此供四方僧。言訖捨去。謁投子。子問。昨夜宿何處。師曰。不動道場。子曰。既言不動。曷由至此。師曰。至此豈是動邪。子曰。元來宿不著處。投子默許之。尋住觀音。眾常數百。周高祖．世宗二帝潛隱時。每登方丈。必施禮。及即位。特賜紫衣。署淨戒大師。示寂垂誡門人訖。怡顏合掌而逝。

He was a son of the Lian family of Xingtai. He first called at the patriarchal seats, travelling through Heng, Lu, Min, and Shu. Once he was passing through the deep valley of Fenglin when suddenly he came upon a treasure revealed. His companions looked at one another, meaning to take it. The master said: 'The ancients, hoeing the garden, touched gold as if it were broken tiles. Wait until I have thatch over my head — I shall need this to supply the monks of the four quarters.' Having said this, he left it and went on. He paid homage to Touzi. Zi asked: 'Where did you lodge last night?' The master said: 'In the unmoving bodhimanda.' Zi said: 'If you say unmoving, how did you get here?' The master said: 'Could coming here be movement?' Zi said: 'So you lodged where there is no lodging.' Touzi silently approved him. Soon he resided at Guanyin, and his assembly often numbered several hundred. When Emperor Gaozu of Zhou and Emperor Shizong were still in hiding, each time they climbed to his abbot's quarters they invariably paid him their respects. When they came to the throne they specially bestowed on him a purple robe and the title Master of Pure Precepts. When the time of his death came, after admonishing his disciples he passed away with a serene face and joined palms.

濠州思明禪師

Chan Master Siming of Haozhou

在眾時。僧問。如何是上座沙彌童行。師曰。諾。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。屎裡蛆兒。頭出頭沒。

While he was among the assembly, a monk asked: 'What is the senior monk, the novice, and the postulant?' The master said: 'Yes?' [The monk] asked: 'What is the pure dharmakaya?' The master said: 'A maggot in dung, its head up and its head down.'

鳳翔府招福禪師

Chan Master Zhaofu of Fengxiang Prefecture

僧問。東牙烏牙皆出隊。和尚為甚麼不出隊。師曰。住持各不同。闍黎爭得怪。

A monk asked: 'Both East Fang and Wu Fang have gone out with the ranks — why does the master not go out with the ranks?' The master said: 'Each abbot is different; how can you blame me, Acharya?'

青原下六世

Sixth generation below Qingyuan

大光誨禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Daguang Hui

潭州谷山有緣禪師

Chan Master Youyuan of Mount Gu in Tanzhou

僧問。竛竮之子如何得歸向。師曰。會人路不通。曰。恁麼則無奉重處也。師曰。我道你缽盂落地拈不起。問。一撥便轉時如何。師曰。野馬走時鞭轡斷。石人撫掌笑呵呵。

A monk asked: 'How can a lonely wanderer find his way home?' The master said: 'For one who understands, the road is blocked.' [The monk] said: 'Then there is no place to serve and revere him.' The master said: 'I say your alms bowl has fallen to the ground and you cannot pick it up.' [The monk] asked: 'What about when one turns at a single prod?' The master said: 'When the wild horse runs, the whip and reins are broken; the stone man claps his hands and laughs ha ha.'

潭州龍興禪師

Chan Master Longxing of Tanzhou

僧問。一撥便轉時如何。師曰。根不利。問。得坐披衣時如何。師曰。不端嚴。曰。為甚麼不端嚴。師曰。不從修證得。問。如何是道中人。師曰。終日寂攢眉。問。文不加點時如何。師曰。無目童兒不出戶。問。賓主未分時如何。師曰。雙陸盤中不喝彩。曰。分後如何。師曰。骰子未曾拋。

A monk asked: 'What about when one turns at a single prod?' The master said: 'The root is not sharp.' [The monk] asked: 'What about when one sits and dons the robe?' The master said: 'Not dignified.' [The monk] said: 'Why is he not dignified?' The master said: 'It is not obtained through cultivation and realization.' [The monk] asked: 'Who is the man within the Way?' The master said: 'All day long he knits his brows in silence.' [The monk] asked: 'What about when the text needs no punctuation?' The master said: 'The eyeless child does not go out of doors.' [The monk] asked: 'What about before host and guest are distinguished?' The master said: 'At the backgammon board no one cheers.' [The monk] said: 'And after they are distinguished?' The master said: 'The dice have not yet been thrown.'

潭州伏龍山禪師(第一世)

Chan Master of Mount Fulong in Tanzhou, the first generation

僧問。攪長河為酥酪。變大地作黃金時如何。師曰。臂長衫袖短。問。隨緣認得時如何。師曰。雪內牡丹花。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。你得恁麼不識痛癢。

A monk asked: 'What about churning the long river into cream and turning the great earth into gold?' The master said: 'The arms are long but the sleeves are short.' [The monk] asked: 'What about recognizing it as one follows conditions?' The master said: 'A peony flower in the snow.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'You take it like this without knowing ache or itch.'

京兆白雲善藏禪師

Chan Master Shanzang of White Cloud in Jingzhao

僧問。如何是和尚深深處。師曰。矮子渡深谿。問。赤腳時如何。師曰。何不脫卻。問。如何是法法不生。師曰。萬類千差。曰。如何是法法不滅。師曰。縱橫滿目。

A monk asked: 'What is the master's deepest place?' The master said: 'A dwarf fording a deep stream.' [The monk] asked: 'What about being barefoot?' The master said: 'Why not take them off?' [The monk] asked: 'What is it for dharmas not to arise?' The master said: 'Ten thousand kinds, a thousand differences.' [The monk] said: 'What is it for dharmas not to cease?' The master said: 'Filling the eyes, lengthwise and crosswise.'

伏龍山禪師(第二世)

Chan Master of Mount Fulong, the second generation

僧問。隨緣認得時如何。師曰。汝道興國門樓高多少。問。子不譚父德時如何。師曰。闍黎且低聲。

A monk asked: 'What about recognizing it as one follows conditions?' The master said: 'Tell me, how high is the gate tower of Xingguo?' [The monk] asked: 'What about when a son does not speak of his father's virtue?' The master said: 'Acharya, lower your voice.'

陝府龍峻山禪師

Chan Master of Mount Longjun in Shanfu

僧問。如何是不知善惡底人。師曰。千聖近不得。曰。此人還知有向上事也無。師曰。不知。曰。為甚麼不知。師曰。不識善惡。說甚麼向上事。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。不見道犴𤞞。問。如何是佛向上人。師曰。不帶容。問。凡有展拓盡落今時。不展拓時如何。師曰。不展。不展。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。不拓。不拓。

A monk asked: 'What is a man who does not know good and evil?' The master said: 'A thousand sages cannot come near him.' [The monk] said: 'Does such a man know there is a matter above?' The master said: 'He does not know.' [The monk] said: 'Why does he not know?' The master said: 'He does not know good and evil — what matter above are you talking about?' [The monk] said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'Have you not heard it said, the prison gate?' [The monk] asked: 'What is the man above the Buddha?' The master said: 'He carries no countenance.' [The monk] asked: 'Whatever is unfolded all falls into the present. What about not unfolding?' The master said: 'Not unfolded, not unfolded.' [The monk] said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'Not spread, not spread.'

伏龍山和尚(第三世)

The monk of Mount Fulong, the third generation

僧問。行盡千山路。玄機事若何。師曰。鳥道不曾棲。問。既是師。為甚卻無位次。師曰。古今排不出。三際豈能安。曰。恁麼則某甲隨手去也。師曰。春風吹柳絮。往復幾時休。問。如何是真際。師曰。曠劫無異。不存階級。

A monk asked: 'Having walked to the end of a thousand mountain roads, what of the matter of the dark mechanism?' The master said: 'On the bird's path he never perches.' [The monk] asked: 'Since he is a master, why has he no rank or station?' The master said: 'Past and present cannot arrange him; how could the three periods set him at rest?' [The monk] said: 'Then I will follow along as it comes.' The master said: 'The spring wind blows the willow catkins — when will going and returning ever cease?' [The monk] asked: 'What is the true frontier?' The master said: 'Through vast kalpas it is without difference, and admits no ranks.'

九峰虔禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Qian of Jiufeng

新羅國清院禪師

Chan Master of the Pure Monastery in Silla

僧問。奔馬爭毬。誰是得者。師曰。誰是不得者。曰。恁麼則不在爭也。師曰。直得不爭。亦有過在。曰。如何免得此過。師曰。要且不曾失。曰。不失處如何鍛鍊。師曰。兩手捧不起。

A monk asked: 'When galloping horses contend for the ball, who gets it?' The master said: 'Who does not get it?' [The monk] said: 'Then it is not a matter of contention.' The master said: 'Even if you reach the point of not contending, there is still a fault.' [The monk] said: 'How does one avoid that fault?' The master said: 'The point is that nothing has ever been lost.' [The monk] said: 'How is one forged at the place where nothing is lost?' The master said: 'Two hands cannot hold it up.'

洪州泐潭神黨禪師

Chan Master Shendang of Letan in Hongzhou

僧問。四威儀中如何辨主。師曰。正遇寶峰不脫鞋。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。虗空駕鐵船。嶽頂浪滔天。

A monk asked: 'Among the four dignified postures, how does one distinguish the host?' The master said: 'Just when you meet Baofeng, do not take off your shoes.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma?' The master said: 'An iron boat sails the void; waves flood the heavens at the mountain's peak.'

袁州南源行修慧觀禪師(亦曰光睦)

Chan Master Xingxiu Huiguan of Nanyuan in Yuanzhou, also called Guangmu

僧問。如何是南源境。師曰。幾處峰巒猿鳥呌。一帶平川遊子迷。問。如何是南源深深處。師曰。眾人皆見。曰。恁麼則淺也。師曰。也是兩頭搖。問。有口談不得。無心未見伊時如何。師曰。古洞有龍吟不出。巖前木馬喊無形。

A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Nanyuan?' The master said: 'At many a peak the apes and birds cry out; along the level plain the wanderer loses his way.' [The monk] asked: 'What is Nanyuan's deepest place?' The master said: 'Everyone sees it.' [The monk] said: 'Then it is shallow.' The master said: 'That too is swinging from both ends.' [The monk] asked: 'What about when the mouth cannot speak of it and the mind, having no mind, has not yet seen it?' The master said: 'In the ancient cave a dragon hums and does not come out; before the cliff a wooden horse neighs without form.'

泐潭明禪師

Chan Master Ming of Letan

一日下到客位。眾請師歸方丈。師曰。道得即去。時牟和尚對曰。大眾請。師乃上法堂。僧問。非思量處識情難測時如何。師曰。我不欲違古人。曰。不違古人意作麼生。師曰。也合消得汝三拜。僧問。碓擣磨磨。不得忘卻。此意如何。師曰。虎口裡活雀兒。問。定慧不生時如何。師曰。鐵牛草上臥。昏昏不舉頭。問。如何是道者。師曰。毛𣯶𣯶地。曰。如何是道者家風。師曰。佛殿前逢尊者。問。如何是和尚終日事。師曰。缽盂裡無折筯。曰。如何是沙門日用事。師曰。轟轟不借萬人機。

One day he came down to the guest quarters. The assembly asked him to return to the abbot's room. The master said: 'If you can speak, I will go.' At that the monk Mou replied: 'The assembly invites you.' The master then ascended the dharma hall. A monk asked: 'What about the place beyond thought, where cognition and feeling cannot fathom it?' The master said: 'I do not wish to go against the ancients.' [The monk] said: 'What is it not to go against the ancients' meaning?' The master said: 'You too deserve three bows.' A monk asked: 'Pounding in the mortar, grinding at the mill — do not forget it. What does this mean?' The master said: 'A live sparrow in the tiger's mouth.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when concentration and wisdom do not arise?' The master said: 'An iron ox lies in the grass, dazed, never lifting its head.' [A monk] asked: 'What is a man of the Way?' The master said: 'Shaggy and tousled.' [The monk] said: 'What is the family style of a man of the Way?' The master said: 'Meeting the venerable one before the Buddha hall.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the master's business all day long?' The master said: 'In the alms bowl there are no broken chopsticks.' [The monk] said: 'What is the daily business of a monk?' The master said: 'Booming and roaring, borrowing no one's device.'

吉州禾山禪師

Chan Master of Mount He in Jizhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。杉樹子。問。文殊以何為師。師曰。風箏有韻真堪聽。聽得由來曲不成。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'A fir sapling.' [The monk] asked: 'What does Manjushri take as his teacher?' The master said: 'The kite has a tune truly worth hearing, yet having heard it through, no melody is made.'

泐潭延茂禪師

Chan Master Yanmao of Letan

僧問。如何是古佛心。師曰。終不道土木瓦礫是。問。日落西山去。林中事若何。師曰。庭前花盛發。室內不知春。問。如何是閉門造車。師曰。失卻斑貓兒。曰。如何是出門合轍。師曰。坐地到長安。問。如何是和尚正主。師曰。畵鼓連槌響。耳畔不聞聲。

A monk asked: 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The master said: 'I will never say it is earth, wood, tile, or gravel.' [The monk] asked: 'The sun sets in the western hills — what of the matter in the grove?' The master said: 'Before the courtyard the flowers bloom in profusion; within the room no one knows it is spring.' [The monk] asked: 'What is it to build a cart behind closed doors?' The master said: 'You have lost your tabby cat.' [The monk] said: 'What is it to go out and fit the rut?' The master said: 'Sitting on the ground, you arrive at Chang'an.' [The monk] asked: 'Who is the master's true host?' The master said: 'The painted drum resounds with the mallet, yet at the ear no sound is heard.'

洪州鳳棲同安院常察禪師

Chan Master Changcha of Tong'an Monastery at Fengqi in Hongzhou

僧問。如何是鳳棲家風。師曰。鳳棲無家風。曰。既是鳳棲。為甚麼無家風。師曰。不迎賓。不待客。曰。恁麼則四海參尋。當為何事。師曰。盤飣自有旁人施。問。如何是鳳棲境。師曰。千峰連嶽秀。萬嶂不知春。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。孤巖倚石坐。不下白雲心。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。鐵狗吠石牛。幻人看月色。問。如何是披毛戴角底人。師曰。蓑衣箬笠賣黃金。幾箇相逢不解喚。問。學人未曉時機。乞師指示。師曰。參差松竹煙籠薄。重疊峰巒月上遲。僧擬進語。師曰。劒甲未施。賊身已露。僧曰。何也。師曰。精陽不剪霜前竹。水墨徒誇海上龍。僧遶禪床而出。師曰。閉目食蝸牛。一場酸澁苦。問。返本還源時如何。師曰。蟭蟟雖脫殻。不免抱寒枝。問。如何是猛利底人。師曰。石牛步步吼深潭。紙馬聲聲火中呌。新到持錫遶師三匝。振錫一下曰。凡聖不到處。請師道。師鳴指三下。僧曰。同安今日嚇得忘前失後。師曰。闍黎發足何處。僧珍重便出。師曰。五湖衲子。一錫禪人。未到同安。不妨疑著。僧回首。曰。遠聞不如近見。師曰。貪他一杯酒。失卻滿船魚。問。如何是大沒慚愧底人。師曰。老僧見作這業次。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。犀因翫月紋生角。象被雷驚花入牙。問。如何是向去底人。師曰。寒蟬抱枯木。泣盡不回頭。曰。如何是卻來底人。師曰。火裡蘆花秀。逢春恰似秋。曰。如何是不來不去底人。師曰。石羊遇石虎。相看早晚休。座主問。三乘十二分教。某甲粗知。未審和尚說何法示人。師曰。我說一乘法。曰。如何是一乘法。師曰。幾般雲色出峰頂。一樣泉聲落檻前。曰。不問這箇。如何是一乘法。師曰。你不妨靈利。翫月次。謂僧曰。奇哉。奇哉。星明月朗。足可觀瞻。豈異道乎。僧曰。如何是道。師曰。汝試道看。曰。彼自無瘡。勿傷之也。師曰。

A monk asked: 'What is the family style of Fengqi?' The master said: 'Fengqi has no family style.' [The monk] said: 'Since it is Fengqi, why has it no family style?' The master said: 'It does not welcome guests and does not entertain visitors.' [The monk] said: 'Then for the sake of what matter does one seek throughout the four seas?' The master said: 'The dishes on the tray are set out by others.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the realm of Fengqi?' The master said: 'A thousand peaks join the range in beauty; ten thousand cliffs know nothing of spring.' [The monk] said: 'Who is the person within that realm?' The master said: 'Leaning on a stone by a lone crag he sits, and does not let his mind descend to the white clouds.' [The monk] asked: 'Are the patriarch's meaning and the teaching's meaning the same or different?' The master said: 'An iron dog barks at a stone ox; a conjured man gazes at the moonlight.' [The monk] asked: 'What is a man who wears fur and horns?' The master said: 'A straw cape and a bamboo hat sold for gold — how few who meet him know how to call him.' [The monk] asked: 'The student does not yet understand the timing; I beg the master to point it out.' The master said: 'Uneven pines and bamboos, thin the mist that wraps them; range upon range of peaks, the moon rises late.' The monk was about to speak. The master said: 'The armour is not yet put on, and already the thief's body is exposed.' The monk said: 'Why?' The master said: 'One does not cut the bamboo before the frost while the pure yang is at its height; ink and wash vainly boast of dragons on the sea.' The monk walked around the meditation seat and left. The master said: 'Eating a snail with your eyes closed — a whole bout of sour, astringent bitterness.' [A monk] asked: 'What about returning to the root and going back to the source?' The master said: 'Though the cicada sheds its shell, it cannot help clinging to the cold branch.' [A monk] asked: 'What is a fierce, keen man?' The master said: 'A stone ox roars at every step in the deep pool; a paper horse cries out from within the fire at every sound.' A newly arrived monk held his staff, walked three times around the master, shook his staff once, and said: 'Where ordinary and sage do not reach, please, master, speak.' The master snapped his fingers three times. The monk said: 'Today Tong'an is so frightened he forgets what comes before and loses what comes after.' The master said: 'Acharya, from where did you set out?' The monk said 'Take care', and went out. The master said: 'Patch-robed sons of the five lakes, single-staffed Chan men — until you reach Tong'an, you may well have your doubts.' The monk turned his head and said: 'Hearing from afar is not like seeing close at hand.' The master said: 'For coveting one cup of his wine, you lose a whole boatload of fish.' [A monk] asked: 'What is a man utterly devoid of shame?' The master said: 'This old monk is seen doing just such karmic work.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'Because the rhinoceros toys with the moon, patterns grow on its horn; when the elephant is startled by thunder, flowers enter its tusks.' [A monk] asked: 'What is a man who is heading away?' The master said: 'A winter cicada embraces a withered tree, weeping itself out and never turning its head.' [The monk] said: 'What is a man who comes back?' The master said: 'Reed flowers bloom within the fire; meeting spring, they are just like autumn.' [The monk] said: 'What is a man who neither comes nor goes?' The master said: 'A stone sheep meets a stone tiger; they look at each other, and sooner or later it is over.' The lecturer asked: 'The three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching — I know them roughly. I wonder what dharma the master expounds to show people?' The master said: 'I expound the One Vehicle dharma.' [The lecturer] said: 'What is the One Vehicle dharma?' The master said: 'Several kinds of cloud colour come out at the peak; one same sound of spring falls before the railing.' [The lecturer] said: 'I am not asking about that. What is the One Vehicle dharma?' The master said: 'You are sharp enough as it is.' Once, while enjoying the moon, he said to a monk: 'How wonderful, how wonderful. The stars are bright and the moon is clear — well worth gazing at. Is this different from the Way?' The monk said: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'You try to say.' [The monk] said: 'He has no wound of his own, so do not injure him.' The master said:

負笈攻文。不閑弓矢。問僧。近離何處。曰。江西。師曰。江西法道何似此間。曰。賴遇問著某甲。若問別人。則禍生也。師曰。老僧適來造次。曰。某甲不是嬰兒。徒用止啼黃葉。師曰。傷鼈恕龜。殺活由我。問僧。甚處來。曰。五臺。師曰。還見文殊麼。僧展兩手。師曰。展手頗多。文殊誰覩。曰。氣急殺人。師曰。不覩雲中鴈。焉知沙塞寒。問。遠趨丈室。乞師一言。師曰。孫臏門下。徒話鑽龜。曰。名不浪得。師曰。吃茶去。僧便珍重。師曰。雖得一場榮。刖卻一雙足。師看經次。有僧來問訊。師曰。古佛今佛。皆無別理。曰。和尚如何。師打一掌。僧曰。如是。如是。師曰。這風顛漢。曰。今古皆然。師曰。擬欲降龍。卻逢死虎。曰。同安甚生光彩。師曰。守株停舶。非汝而誰。曰。和尚聻。師曰。胡羊往楚。抱屈而歸。師問僧。眼界無光。如何得見。曰。北斗東轉。南斗西移。師曰。夫子入太廟。曰。與麼則同安門下。道絕人荒去也。師曰。橫抱孾孩。擬彰皇簡。師聞鵲聲。謂眾曰。喜鵲鳴寒檜。心印是渠傳。僧出問曰。何別。師曰。眾中有人在。曰。同安門下。道絕人荒。師曰。胡人飲乳。返怪良醫。曰。休。休。師曰。老鶴入枯池。不見魚蹤跡。

(Tong'an continued:) 'To carry a book box and attack letters leaves no leisure for bow and arrow.' He asked a monk: 'Where have you just come from?' [The monk] said: 'Jiangxi.' The master said: 'How does the dharma-way of Jiangxi compare with this place?' [The monk] said: 'It is lucky for you that you asked me. Had you asked someone else, trouble would have arisen.' The master said: 'This old monk was just now rash.' [The monk] said: 'I am not an infant, so there is no use offering me a yellow leaf to stop my crying.' The master said: 'To spare the turtle when the soft-shelled turtle is hurt; killing and giving life are up to me.' He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' [The monk] said: 'Mount Wutai.' The master said: 'Did you see Manjushri?' The monk spread out both hands. The master said: 'Spreading the hands is common enough — who has seen Manjushri?' [The monk] said: 'You take my breath away.' The master said: 'If you do not see the goose in the clouds, how do you know the cold of the desert frontier?' [A monk] asked: 'Coming from afar to your room, I beg one word from the master.' The master said: 'In the school of Sun Bin you only talk of drilling tortoise shells.' [The monk] said: 'A name is not won in vain.' The master said: 'Go drink tea.' The monk then said 'Take care.' The master said: 'Though you gain one round of glory, you lose both feet.' Once, while the master was reading a sutra, a monk came to greet him. The master said: 'Ancient Buddhas and present Buddhas have no different principle.' [The monk] said: 'And the master?' The master gave him a slap. The monk said: 'So it is, so it is.' The master said: 'This madman.' [The monk] said: 'Past and present are both like this.' The master said: 'You meant to subdue a dragon, but you met a dead tiger.' [The monk] said: 'How Tong'an shines!' The master said: 'To guard a stump and halt the boat — if not you, then who?' [The monk] said: 'And the master?' The master said: 'A barbarian sheep going to Chu returns nursing an injury.' The master asked a monk: 'When the eye's field has no light, how does one see?' [The monk] said: 'The Dipper turns east, the Southern Dipper shifts west.' The master said: 'The Master enters the great temple.' [The monk] said: 'In that case, at Tong'an's gate the Way is cut off and men are barren.' The master said: 'Carrying an infant in your arms, you mean to display the imperial tablets.' Hearing a magpie, the master said to the assembly: 'The magpie cries on the cold juniper; the mind-seal is what it transmits.' A monk came forward and asked: 'What is the difference?' The master said: 'There is someone among the assembly.' [The monk] said: 'At Tong'an's gate the Way is cut off and men are barren.' The master said: 'A barbarian drinks milk and then blames the good physician.' [The monk] said: 'Enough, enough.' The master said: 'An old crane enters a dried-up pond and sees no trace of fish.'

洪州泐潭匡悟禪師

Chan Master Kuangwu of Letan in Hongzhou

僧問。如何是直截一路。師曰。恰好消息。曰。還通向上事也無。師曰。魚從下過。問。幽關未度。信息不通時如何。師曰。客路如天遠。侯門似海深。問。香煙馥郁。大張法筵。從上宗乘。如何舉唱。師曰。莫錯舉似人。曰。恁麼則總應如是。師曰。還是沒交涉。問。六葉芬芳。師傳何葉。師曰。六葉不相續。花開果不成。曰。豈無今日事。師曰。若是今日即有。曰。今日事如何。師曰。葉葉連枝秀。花開處處芳。

A monk asked: 'What is the direct, cutting-off road?' The master said: 'Just the right news.' [The monk] said: 'Does it also connect with the matter above?' The master said: 'The fish passes underneath.' [The monk] asked: 'What about when the dark gate is not yet crossed and news does not get through?' The master said: 'The traveller's road is as far as heaven; the marquis's gate is as deep as the sea.' [The monk] asked: 'The incense smoke is fragrant and the dharma seat is spread wide. How does one proclaim the patriarchal teaching handed down from above?' The master said: 'Do not proclaim it wrongly to anyone.' [The monk] said: 'Then it must all be like this.' The master said: 'Still there is no connection.' [The monk] asked: 'The six leaves are fragrant — which leaf does the master transmit?' The master said: 'The six leaves do not continue one another; when the flower opens, the fruit does not form.' [The monk] said: 'Is there then no matter of today?' The master said: 'If it is the matter of today, then there is.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter of today?' The master said: 'Leaf after leaf joins the branches in beauty; wherever the flower opens, there is fragrance.'

吉州禾山無殷禪師

Chan Master Wuyin of Mount He in Jizhou

福州吳氏子。七歲從雪峰出家。依年受具。謁九峰。峰問。汝遠遠而來。暉暉(音袞)隨眾。見何境界而可修行。由何徑路而能出離。師曰。重昏廓闢。盲者自盲。峰乃許入室。後住禾山。學徒濟濟。諸方降歎。江南李氏召而問曰。和尚何處來。師曰。禾山來。曰。山在甚麼處。師曰。人來朝鳳闕。山嶽不曾移。國主重之。命居楊州祥光院。復乞入山。以翠巖而棲止焉。時上藍亦虗其室。命師來往闡化。號澄源禪師。僧問。學人乍入叢林。乞師指示。師曰。於汝不惜。問。仰山插鍬意旨如何。師曰。汝問我。曰。玄沙踏倒鍬又作麼生。師曰。我問汝。曰。未辯其宗。如何體悉。師曰。頭大尾尖。問。咫尺之間。為甚麼不覩師顏。師曰。且與闍黎道一半。曰。為甚麼不全道。師曰。盡法無民。曰。不怕無民。請師盡法。師曰。推倒禾山也。問。習學謂之聞。絕學謂之隣。過此二者。謂之真過。如何是真過。師曰。禾山解打鼓。曰。如何是真諦。師曰。禾山解打鼓。問。即心即佛則不問。如何是非心非佛。師曰。禾山解打鼓。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。禾山解打鼓。問。萬法齊興時如何。師曰。禾山解打鼓。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。世界崩陷。曰。為甚如此。師曰。寧無我身。問。尊者撥眉擊目。視育王時如何。師曰。即今也恁麼。曰。學人如何領會。師曰。莫非摩利支山。問。摩尼寶殿有四角。一角常露。如何是露底角。師舉手曰。汝打我。復曰。汝還會麼。曰。不會。師曰。汝爭解打得我。問。如何是西來意。師曰。撲破著。問。已在紅爐。請師烹鍊。師曰。槌下成器。曰。恁麼則烹鍊去也。師曰。池州和尚。問。四壁打禾。中間剗草。和尚赴阿那頭。師曰。甚麼處不赴。曰。恁麼則同於眾去也。師曰。小師弟子。建隆元年二月示微疾。三月二日辭眾。乃曰。後來學者未識禾山。即今識取。珍重。

He was a son of the Wu family of Fuzhou. At seven he left home under Xuefeng, and in due course received full ordination. He paid homage to Jiufeng. Feng asked: 'You have come from far away, moving brightly along with the crowd. What state have you seen that you can cultivate, and by what path can you leave the world?' The master said: 'Heavy darkness opens wide; the blind are blind of themselves.' Feng then allowed him into his room. Later he resided at Mount He, and his students were numerous; every quarter sighed in admiration. The Li family of Jiangnan summoned him and asked: 'Where does the master come from?' The master said: 'I come from Mount He.' [The ruler] said: 'Where is that mountain?' The master said: 'A man comes to court at the phoenix gate, but the mountain peak has never moved.' The ruler esteemed him and ordered him to reside at the Xiangguang Monastery in Yangzhou. He then begged to enter the mountains and settled at Cuiyan. At the time Shanglan's quarters were also vacant, and he was ordered to go back and forth to spread the teaching, with the title Chan Master Chengyuan. A monk asked: 'The student has just entered the monastery; I beg the master to point the way.' The master said: 'I do not begrudge it to you.' [A monk] asked: 'What was the meaning of Yangshan planting his spade?' The master said: 'You ask me.' [The monk] said: 'And what of Xuansha kicking over the spade?' The master said: 'I ask you.' [The monk] said: 'If one has not discerned its purport, how does one comprehend it?' The master said: 'A big head and a pointed tail.' [A monk] asked: 'At so close a distance, why do I not see the master's face?' The master said: 'For now I will tell you half.' [The monk] said: 'Why not tell it all?' The master said: 'When the dharma is exhausted there are no subjects.' [The monk] said: 'I do not fear there being no subjects; please, master, exhaust the dharma.' The master said: 'You have pushed over Mount He.' [A monk] asked: 'Study is called hearing, and the end of study is called nearing. Going beyond these two is called truly passing beyond. What is truly passing beyond?' The master said: 'Mount He knows how to beat the drum.' [The monk] said: 'What is the ultimate truth?' The master said: 'Mount He knows how to beat the drum.' [A monk] asked: 'I do not ask about mind-is-Buddha. What is not-mind and not-Buddha?' The master said: 'Mount He knows how to beat the drum.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter above?' The master said: 'Mount He knows how to beat the drum.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the ten thousand dharmas arise together?' The master said: 'Mount He knows how to beat the drum.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The master said: 'The world collapses.' [The monk] said: 'Why is it so?' The master said: 'Better that I have no body.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the venerable one twitches his brows and rolls his eyes, looking at King Yu?' The master said: 'Even now it is just like that.' [The monk] said: 'How is the student to understand?' The master said: 'It is none other than Mount Marichi.' [A monk] asked: 'The jewelled hall of Mani has four corners, and one corner is always exposed. What is the exposed corner?' The master raised his hand and said: 'You hit me.' He said again: 'Do you understand?' [The monk] said: 'I do not.' The master said: 'How could you manage to hit me?' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of his coming from the West?' The master said: 'Shatter it.' [A monk] asked: 'I am already in the red furnace; please, master, forge me.' The master said: 'Under the hammer it becomes a vessel.' [The monk] said: 'Then I will go to be forged.' The master said: 'The monk of Chizhou.' [A monk] asked: 'Threshing grain on all four sides and cutting grass in the middle — where does the master go?' The master said: 'Where does he not go?' [The monk] said: 'Then he goes along with the crowd.' The master said: 'A junior master's disciple.' In the second month of the first year of Jianlong he showed a slight illness. On the second day of the third month he took leave of the assembly and said: 'Later students do not yet know Mount He; know it now. Take care.'

言訖而寂。諡法性禪師。

Having spoken, he passed into stillness. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Faxing, Dharma Nature.

洪州泐潭牟禪師

Chan Master Mou of Letan in Hongzhou

僧問。如何是學人著力處。師曰。正是著力處。上堂。僧問。百丈捲席意旨如何。師曰。珍重。便下座。

A monk asked: 'Where should a student put his effort?' The master said: 'That is exactly where to put your effort.' He ascended the hall. A monk asked: 'What was the meaning of Baizhang rolling up the mat?' The master said: 'Take care of yourself.' He then stepped down from the seat.

湧泉欣禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Xin of Yongquan

台州六通院紹禪師

Chan Master Shao of Liutong Monastery in Taizhou

一日。湧泉問。甚麼處去來。師曰。燒畬來。泉曰。火後事作麼生。師曰。鐵蛇鑽不入。住後。僧問。不出咽喉唇吻事如何。師曰。待汝一钁斸斷巾子山。我亦不向汝道。問。南山有一毒蛇。如何近得。師曰。非但闍黎。千聖亦近不得。人問。承聞南方有一劒話。如何是一劒。師曰。不當鋒。曰。頭落又作麼生。師曰。我道不當鋒。有甚麼頭。其人禮謝而去。問。父母未生時。那人何處立。師曰。卦兆未興。孫臏失算。問。如何是大千頂。師曰。不與眾峰齊。師休夏。入天台山華頂峰晦跡。莫知所終。

One day Yongquan asked: 'Where have you been?' The master said: 'I have been burning off the swidden.' Quan said: 'What of the matter after the fire?' The master said: 'An iron snake cannot drill in.' After he had taken up residence, a monk asked: 'What of the matter that does not come out of throat or lips?' The master said: 'Wait until you cut Mount Jinzi in two with a single mattock, and even then I will not tell you.' [A monk] asked: 'On the southern mountain there is a poisonous snake — how can one get near it?' The master said: 'Not only you, Acharya — a thousand sages cannot get near it either.' Someone asked: 'I have heard that in the south there is a saying about a sword. What is the one sword?' The master said: 'It takes no point.' [The questioner] said: 'And when the head falls?' The master said: 'I said it takes no point — what head is there?' The man bowed in thanks and left. [A monk] asked: 'Before one's parents were born, where did that person stand?' The master said: 'Before the omens arose, Sun Bin lost his reckoning.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the summit of the great thousandfold world?' The master said: 'It does not stand level with the other peaks.' At the end of the summer retreat the master entered Mount Tiantai and hid his traces on Huading Peak; no one knows where he ended.

雲葢元禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Yungai

潭州雲葢山志罕禪師

Chan Master Zhihan of Mount Yungai in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是須彌頂上浪滔天。師曰。文殊正作閙。曰。如何是正位中事。師曰。不向機前展大悲。問。如何是那邊人。師曰。鋒前不露影。句後覓無蹤。

A monk asked: 'What is it for waves to flood the heavens at the summit of Mount Sumeru?' The master said: 'Manjushri is right in the middle of the clamour.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter in the true position?' The master said: 'One does not display great compassion before the device.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the man on the other shore?' The master said: 'Before the point of the blade no shadow shows; after the phrase, no trace is found.'

新羅國臥龍禪師

Chan Master Wolong of Silla

僧問。如何是大人相。師曰。紫羅帳裡不垂手。曰。為甚麼不垂手。師曰。不尊貴。問。十二時中如何用心。師曰。猢猻吃毛蟲。問。如何是潭中意。師曰。絲綸垂不到。磻溪謾放鉤。曰。如何是潭外事。師曰。日裡金烏呌。蟾中玉兔驚。

A monk asked: 'What is the mark of a great man?' The master said: 'In the purple silk canopy he does not let his hand hang down.' [The monk] said: 'Why does he not let his hand hang down?' The master said: 'It is not noble.' [A monk] asked: 'How should one apply the mind throughout the twelve hours?' The master said: 'A monkey eating caterpillars.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning in the pool?' The master said: 'The silk line does not reach there; at Pan Creek one casts the hook in vain.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter outside the pool?' The master said: 'By day the golden crow cries out, and in the moon the jade hare is startled.'

彭州天台燈禪師

Chan Master Deng of Mount Tiantai in Pengzhou

僧問。古佛向甚麼處去也。師曰。中央甲第高。歲歲出靈苗。問。古鏡未磨時如何。師曰。不施功。曰。磨後如何。師曰。不照燭。問。如何是佛。師曰。紅蓮座上。不覩天冠。

A monk asked: 'Where has the ancient Buddha gone?' The master said: 'In the centre the great mansion is high; year after year it puts forth spirit sprouts.' [The monk] asked: 'What about before the ancient mirror is polished?' The master said: 'No effort is applied.' [The monk] said: 'And after polishing?' The master said: 'It does not shine on anything.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'On the red lotus seat one does not see the heavenly crown.'

谷山藏禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Zang of Mount Gu

新羅國瑞巖禪師

Chan Master Ruiyan of Silla

僧問。黑白兩亡開佛眼時如何。師曰。恐你守內。問。如何是誕生王子。師曰。深宮引不出。曰。如何是朝生王子。師曰。宮中不列位。曰。如何是末生王子。師曰。處處無標的。不展萬人機。

A monk asked: 'What about when black and white are both gone and the Buddha eye opens?' The master said: 'I fear you are keeping to the inside.' [The monk] asked: 'What is a prince born at the summit?' The master said: 'He cannot be drawn out of the deep palace.' [The monk] said: 'What is a prince born at court?' The master said: 'In the palace he is given no rank.' [The monk] said: 'What is a prince born last?' The master said: 'Everywhere there is no mark, and he does not display the device of the ten thousand.'

新羅國百巖禪師

Chan Master Baiyan of Silla

僧問。如何是禪。師曰。古塚不為家。曰。如何是道。師曰。徒勞車馬跡。曰。如何是教。師曰。貝葉收不盡。

A monk asked: 'What is Chan?' The master said: 'An ancient tomb is not a home.' [The monk] said: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'The tracks of carriage and horse are wasted effort.' [The monk] said: 'What is the teaching?' The master said: 'Palm leaves cannot hold it all.'

新羅國大嶺禪師

Chan Master Daling of Silla

僧問。古人道。祇到潼關便即休。會了便休。未會便休。師曰。祇為迷途中活計。曰。離卻迷途。還得其中活計也無。師曰。體即得。當即不得。曰。既是體得。為甚麼當不得。師曰。體是甚麼人分上事。曰。其中事如何。師曰。不作尊貴。問。如何是一切處清淨。師曰。截瓊枝寸寸是寶。析旃檀片片皆香。問。如何是用中無礙。師曰。一片白雲繚亂飛。

A monk asked: 'The ancients said: When you reach Tong Pass, then rest. If you understand, you rest; if you do not understand, you rest too.' The master said: 'That is only the livelihood of one lost on the road.' [The monk] said: 'Apart from being lost on the road, is there still the livelihood within it?' The master said: 'In essence you may get it, but in the immediate present you cannot.' [The monk] said: 'Since it is got in essence, why can it not be got in the immediate present?' The master said: 'Whose business is the essence?' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter within it?' The master said: 'It does not act as the noble one.' [A monk] asked: 'What is purity in every place?' The master said: 'Cut the jade branch and every inch is treasure; split the sandalwood and every slice is fragrant.' [A monk] asked: 'What is unhindered in function?' The master said: 'A single white cloud flies in confusion.'

中雲葢禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master of Middle Yungai

潭州雲葢山證覺景禪師

Chan Master Zhengjue Jing of Mount Yungai in Tanzhou

僧問。國土晏清。功歸何處。師曰。銀臺門下不展賀。曰。轉功無位時如何。師曰。王家事宛然。曰。如何是閫外底事。師曰。畵鼓聲終後。將軍不點頭。

A monk asked: 'The land is at peace and clear — to what does the merit belong?' The master said: 'Before the silver terrace gate no congratulations are offered.' [The monk] said: 'What about when one turns the merit and has no rank?' The master said: 'The king's affairs are just as they are.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter beyond the threshold?' The master said: 'After the painted drum has sounded its last, the general does not nod.'

吉州禾山師陰禪師

Chan Master Shiyin of Mount He in Jizhou

僧問。王子未來登。誰人當治化。師曰。閫外不行邊塞令。將軍自致太平年。曰。恁麼則治化之功猶不當。師曰。亦有當。曰。如何是當。師曰。十方國土盡屬於王。問。久久尋源。為甚麼不見。師曰。為步數太多。曰。恁麼則不覓去也。師曰。還同避溺而投火。問。如何是佛。師曰。承當者不是好手。

A monk asked: 'Before the prince has come to the throne, who governs and transforms?' The master said: 'Beyond the threshold the frontier's ordinances are not enforced; the general brings about the years of great peace by himself.' [The monk] said: 'Then the merit of governing and transforming still does not count.' The master said: 'There is also counting.' [The monk] said: 'What is counting?' The master said: 'The lands of the ten directions all belong to the king.' [A monk] asked: 'Seeking the source for so long, why do I not see it?' The master said: 'Because you take too many steps.' [The monk] said: 'Then I will not seek.' The master said: 'That is still like fleeing drowning and throwing yourself into fire.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Whoever takes it on is no skilled hand.'

幽州柘溪從實禪師

Chan Master Congshi of Zhexi in Youzhou

僧問。如何是道。師曰。箇中無紫皂。曰。如何是禪。師曰。不與白雲連。師問。僧作甚麼來。曰。親近來。師曰。任你白雲朝嶽頂。爭奈青山不展眉。

A monk asked: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'In it there is no purple or black.' [The monk] said: 'What is Chan?' The master said: 'It does not join with the white clouds.' The master asked: 'What have you come for, monk?' [The monk] said: 'I have come to draw near.' The master said: 'Let your white clouds pay court at the peak as they will; the green hills will not unbend their brows.'

洛浦安禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master An of Luopu

蘄州烏牙山彥賓禪師

Chan Master Yanbin of Mount Wuya in Qizhou

僧問。未作人身已前。作甚麼來。師曰。三腳石牛坡上走。一枝瑞草目前分。問。疋馬單鎗直入時如何。師曰。饒你雄信解拈鎗。猶較秦王百步在。問。久戰沙場。為甚麼功名不就。師曰。雙鵰隨箭落。李廣不當名。問。百步穿楊。中的者誰。師曰。將軍不上便橋。金牙徒勞拈筈。問。螮蝀飲雲根時如何。師曰。金輪天子下閻浮。鐵縵頭上金花異。曰。正當恁麼時如何。師曰。當今不坐靈明殿。畵鼓休停八佾音。

A monk asked: 'Before one took human form, what was one doing?' The master said: 'A three-legged stone ox walks on the slope; a single auspicious grass is divided before the eyes.' [A monk] asked: 'What about a single horse and a single spear charging straight in?' The master said: 'Even if you were Xiongxin and knew how to wield a spear, you would still be a hundred paces behind the Prince of Qin.' [A monk] asked: 'Long fighting on the battlefield, why is rank and fame not achieved?' The master said: 'Two vultures fall with the arrow; Li Guang wins no name.' [A monk] asked: 'In shooting through a willow leaf at a hundred paces, who hits the mark?' The master said: 'The general does not go up to the Bian Bridge; the golden-toothed one wields the nock in vain.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the rainbow drinks at the root of the clouds?' The master said: 'The golden-wheeled Son of Heaven descends to Jambudvipa; on the iron cap the golden flower is strange.' [The monk] said: 'What about right at such a moment?' The master said: 'Today he does not sit in the Lingming Hall; the painted drum has not ceased the eight-rowed music.'

鳳翔府青峰傳楚禪師

Chan Master Chuanchu of Qingfeng in Fengxiang Prefecture

涇州人也。一日。洛浦問曰。院主去甚麼處來。師曰。掃雪來。浦曰。雪深多少。師曰。樹上總是。浦曰。得即得。汝向後住箇雪窟定矣。後訪白水。水曰。見說洛浦有生機一路。是否。師曰。是。水曰。止卻生路。向熟路上來。師曰。生路上死人無數。熟路上不著活漢。水曰。此是洛浦底。你底作麼生。師曰。非但洛浦。夾山亦不奈何。水曰。夾山為甚麼不奈何。師曰。不見道生機一路。住後。僧問。佛魔未現。向甚麼處應。師曰。諸上座聽祇對。問。大事已明。為甚麼也如喪考妣。師曰。不得春風花不開。及至花開又吹落。問。如何是一色。師曰。全無一滴水。浪激似銀山。問。如何是臨機一句。師曰。便道將來。曰。請和尚道。師曰。穿過髑髏。不知痛癢。問。如何是明瞭底人一句。師曰。駿馬寸步不移。鈍鳥昇騰出路。

He was a man of Jingzhou. One day Luopu asked him: 'Where have you been, superintendent?' The master said: 'I have been sweeping snow.' Pu said: 'How deep is the snow?' The master said: 'It is always the same on the trees.' Pu said: 'Very well. In the future you are sure to dwell in a snow cave.' Later he visited Baishui. Shui said: 'I hear that Luopu has a road of living activity. Is that so?' The master said: 'Yes.' Shui said: 'Stop the road of life and come onto the road of ripeness.' The master said: 'On the road of life countless men have died; on the road of ripeness no live fellow ever sets foot.' Shui said: 'That is Luopu's. What is yours?' The master said: 'Not only Luopu — Jiashan too could do nothing with it.' Shui said: 'Why could Jiashan do nothing with it?' The master said: 'Have you not heard it said, a road of living activity?' After he had taken up residence, a monk asked: 'Before Buddha and Mara appear, where does one respond?' The master said: 'All you venerable ones, listen to my reply.' [A monk] asked: 'The great matter is already clear — why is one still like one who has lost father and mother?' The master said: 'Without the spring wind no flower opens; and when the flower opens the wind blows it down again.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the single colour?' The master said: 'Not a drop of water is there, yet the waves surge like silver mountains.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the phrase that meets the moment?' The master said: 'Then say it.' [The monk] said: 'Please, master, say it.' The master said: 'It passes through the skull and does not know ache or itch.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the one phrase of a man who is clear and understanding?' The master said: 'A fine horse does not move a step; a dull bird still rises to the road out.'

京兆府永安院善靜禪師

Chan Master Shanjing of Yong'an Monastery in Jingzhao Prefecture

郡之王氏子。母夢金像。覺而有娠。師幼習儒學。博通群言。年二十七。忽厭浮幻。潛詣終南山禮廣度禪師披削。唐天復中。南謁洛浦。浦器之。容其入室。乃典園務。力營眾事。一日。有僧辭浦。浦曰。四面是山。闍黎向甚麼處去。僧無對。浦曰。限汝十日。下語得中。即從汝去。其僧經行冥搜。偶入園中。師問曰。上座既是辭去。今何在此。僧具陳所以。堅請代語。師曰。竹密豈妨流水過。山高那阻野雲飛。其僧喜踴。師囑之曰。不得道是某甲語。僧遂白浦。曰。誰語。曰。某甲語。浦曰。非汝語。僧具言園頭見教。浦至晚。上堂謂眾曰。莫輕園頭。他日座下有五百人在。後住永安。眾餘五百。果符洛浦之記。僧問。知有道不得時如何。師曰。知有箇甚麼。曰。不可無去也。師曰。恁麼則合道得。曰。道即不無。爭奈語偏。師曰。水凍魚難躍。山寒花發遲。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。木馬背斜陽。入草無蹤跡。問。如何是一色。師曰。易分雪裡粉。難辯墨中煤。問。如何是衲衣向上事。師曰。龍魚不出海。水月不吞光。問。不可以智知。不可以識識時如何。師曰。鶴鷺竝頭踏雪睡。月明驚起兩遲疑。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。異境靈松。覩者皆羨。曰。見後如何。師曰。葉落已枝摧。風來不得韻。問。如何得生如來家。師曰。披衣望曉。論劫不明。曰。明後如何。師曰。一句不可得。曰。如何是不坐如來座。師曰。抱頭石女歸來晚。祇園會裡沒蹤由。師往遊𭶚道。避昭宗蒙塵之亂。以漢開運丙午冬。鳴犍槌集僧。囑累入方丈。東向右脇而化。諡淨悟禪師。

He was a son of the Wang family of the commandery. His mother dreamed of a golden image and woke with child. In his youth the master studied Confucian learning and was widely versed in the many schools. At twenty-seven he suddenly grew weary of floating illusion and secretly went to Mount Zhongnan to be tonsured under Chan Master Guangdu. In the Tianfu era of the Tang he went south to pay homage to Luopu. Pu valued him, allowed him into his room, and put him in charge of the garden, where he worked hard at the community's affairs. One day a monk took leave of Pu. Pu said: 'On every side are mountains — where will you go, Acharya?' The monk had no reply. Pu said: 'I give you ten days; if you can produce a phrase that hits the mark, I will let you go.' The monk walked in meditation, searching in the dark, and happened into the garden. The master asked: 'Since you have taken your leave, why are you still here?' The monk told him the whole matter and earnestly begged him for a phrase on his behalf. The master said: 'How could dense bamboo hinder the flowing water from passing? How could a high mountain block the wild clouds from flying?' The monk leapt for joy. The master cautioned him: 'Do not say it was my phrase.' The monk then told Pu. [Pu] said: 'Whose phrase is that?' [The monk] said: 'My phrase.' Pu said: 'It is not your phrase.' The monk told him in full how the garden superintendent had instructed him. That evening Pu ascended the hall and said to the assembly: 'Do not slight the garden superintendent. One day he will have five hundred people under his seat.' Later he resided at Yong'an, and his assembly numbered over five hundred, exactly matching Luopu's prediction. A monk asked: 'What about when one knows there is something but cannot speak it?' The master said: 'What is it that you know?' [The monk] said: 'It cannot be that there is nothing.' The master said: 'Then you should be able to speak it.' [The monk] said: 'Speaking is not absent, but the words come out one-sided.' The master said: 'When the water freezes, fish cannot leap; when the mountain is cold, flowers open late.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the master's family style?' The master said: 'A wooden horse with the slanting sun on its back; entering the grass, no trace.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the single colour?' The master said: 'Powder in snow is easy to tell apart; coal in ink is hard to discern.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the matter above the patched robe?' The master said: 'Dragon and fish do not leave the sea; water and moon do not swallow the light.' [A monk] asked: 'What about what cannot be known by wisdom nor recognized by consciousness?' The master said: 'Crane and egret sleep head to head in the snow; when the moon is bright they start up, both hesitating.' [A monk] asked: 'What about before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said: 'A spirit pine in a strange land — all who see it envy it.' [The monk] said: 'And after meeting him?' The master said: 'The leaves have fallen and the branches are broken; when the wind comes it has no tone.' [A monk] asked: 'How does one enter the Tathagata's house?' The master said: 'Donning the robe and waiting for dawn, one cannot be clear through a kalpa.' [The monk] said: 'And after being clear?' The master said: 'Not a single phrase is obtainable.' [The monk] said: 'What is it not to sit on the Tathagata's seat?' The master said: 'The stone girl who clasps her head returns late; in the assembly at Jetavana there is no trace of her.' The master travelled the roads of Shu to escape the turmoil when Emperor Zhaozong was driven into exile. In the winter of the bingwu year of Kaiyun of the Han, he sounded the mallet to gather the monks, entrusted his affairs to them, entered the abbot's room, faced east, and passed away lying on his right side. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Jingwu, Pure Awakening.

鄧州中度禪師

Chan Master Zhongdu of Dengzhou

僧問。海內不逢師。如何是寰中主。師曰。金鷄常報曉。時人自不聞。問。如何是暗中明鏡。師曰。昧不得。曰。未審照何物。師曰。甚麼物不照。問。如何是實際理地不受一塵。佛事門中不捨一法。師曰。真常塵不染。海納百川流。曰。請和尚離聲色外答。師曰。木人常對語。有性不能言。

A monk asked: 'If within the seas one does not meet a teacher, what is the lord within the world?' The master said: 'The golden cock always heralds the dawn; people of the time simply do not hear it.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the bright mirror in the dark?' The master said: 'It cannot be obscured.' [The monk] said: 'I wonder what it illuminates?' The master said: 'What does it not illuminate?' [A monk] asked: 'What is the ground of actual principle, which takes on not a speck of dust, and the gate of Buddha-work, which lets go of not a single dharma?' The master said: 'True permanence is unstained by dust; the sea admits the hundred rivers.' [The monk] said: 'Please, master, answer apart from sound and form.' The master said: 'A wooden man always answers when spoken to, yet though he has a nature he cannot speak.'

嘉州洞谿戒定禪師

Chan Master Jieding of Dongxi in Jiazhou

初問洛浦。月樹無枝長覆蔭。請師直指妙玄微。浦曰。森羅秀處。事不相依。淥水千波。孤峰自異。師於是領旨。住後。僧問。蛇師為甚麼被蛇吞。師曰。幾度扣門招不出。將身直入裡頭看。有官人問。既是清淨伽藍。為甚打魚鼓。師曰。直須打出青霄外。免見龍門點額人。

He first asked Luopu: 'The moon tree has no branches yet spreads shade far; I beg the master to point directly to the wondrous and subtle.' Pu said: 'Where the manifold splendour shows, things do not lean on one another. A thousand waves on the clear water, but the lone peak stands apart.' The master thereby grasped the purport. After he had taken up residence, a monk asked: 'Why was the snake-charmer swallowed by a snake?' The master said: 'Many times he knocked at the door and could not call it out; so he went straight inside to look.' An official asked: 'Since this is a pure monastery, why beat the fish drum?' The master said: 'It must be beaten out beyond the blue sky, so as not to see the one whose head is marked at the Dragon Gate.'

京兆府臥龍禪師

Chan Master Wolong of Jingzhao Prefecture

僧問。杲日符天際。珠光照舊都。浦津通法海。今日意如何。師曰。寶劒揮時。豈該明暗。

A monk asked: 'The bright sun matches the sky's edge, the pearl's light shines on the old capital. The ford joins the dharma sea — what is the meaning today?' The master said: 'When the precious sword is brandished, how could it deal in light and dark?'

逍遙忠禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Zhong of Xiaoyao

泉州福清院師巍通玄禪師

Chan Master Shiwei Tongxuan of Fuqing Monastery in Quanzhou

僧問。枝分夾嶺。的紹逍遙。寶座既登。法雷請震。師曰。逍遙迥物外。物外霞不生。問。如何是西來的的意。師曰。立雪未為勞。斷臂方為的。曰。恁麼則一華開五葉。芬芳直至今。師曰。因圓三界外。果滿十方知。

A monk asked: 'The branch divided at Jia Ridge and truly succeeded Xiaoyao. Now that the jewelled seat is mounted, let the dharma thunder please sound.' The master said: 'Xiaoyao stands far beyond things; beyond things no cloud glow is born.' [The monk] asked: 'What is the true meaning of his coming from the West?' The master said: 'Standing in the snow was no labour; cutting off the arm was the real mark.' [The monk] said: 'Then one flower opened five leaves, and its fragrance reaches down to this day.' The master said: 'When the cause is complete beyond the three realms, the fruit's fullness is known in the ten directions.'

京兆府白雲無休禪師

Chan Master Wuxiu of White Cloud in Jingzhao Prefecture

僧問。路逢猛虎。如何降伏。師曰。歸依佛法。僧問。如何是白雲境。師曰。月夜樓邊海客愁。

A monk asked: 'Meeting a fierce tiger on the road, how does one subdue it?' The master said: 'Take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.' A monk asked: 'What is the realm of White Cloud?' The master said: 'On a moonlit night by the tower, the seafarer grieves.'

蟠龍文禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Wen of Panlong

廬山永安淨悟禪師

Chan Master Jingwu of Yong'an in Mount Lu

僧問。如何是出家底事。師曰。萬丈懸崖撒手去。曰。如何是不出家底事。師曰。迥殊雪嶺安巢節。有異許由掛一瓢。問。六門不通。如何達信。師曰。闍黎外邊與誰相識。問。脫籠頭．卸角䭾來時如何。師曰。換骨洗腸投紫塞。鴈門切忌更銜蘆。問。從上諸聖將何示人。師曰。有異祖龍行化節。迥超棲鳳越揚塵。問。如何是解作客底人。師曰。寶御珍裝猶尚棄。誰能歷劫傍他門。問。如何是西來意。師曰。海底泥牛吼。雲中木馬嘶。問。眾手淘金。誰是得者。師曰。黃帝不曾遊赤水。神珠罔象也虗然。問。雪覆蘆華時如何。師曰。雖則沍凝呈瑞色。太陽暉後卻迷人。

A monk asked: 'What is the matter of leaving home?' The master said: 'Let go your hands at the edge of a ten-thousand-fathom cliff.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter of not leaving home?' The master said: 'Far different from the season when one nests peacefully on the snowy ridge; unlike Xu You who hung up his single gourd.' [A monk] asked: 'When the six gates are blocked, how does news get through?' The master said: 'Whom do you know outside, Acharya?' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one slips the halter and unloads the pack?' The master said: 'Change your bones and wash your guts, and head for the Purple Pass; at Yanmen by all means do not carry reed in your beak.' [A monk] asked: 'How do the sages from of old show people?' The master said: 'Different from the season when the first emperor's dragon went forth to transform; far beyond the phoenix roosting and the dust that rises.' [A monk] asked: 'What is a man who understands how to be a guest?' The master said: 'Royal treasure and precious raiment he still casts aside — who would spend kalpas beside another's gate?' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of his coming from the West?' The master said: 'The mud ox at the bottom of the sea roars; the wooden horse in the clouds neighs.' [A monk] asked: 'Many hands wash for gold — who gets it?' The master said: 'The Yellow Emperor never roamed the Red Water; the divine pearl of formlessness is likewise vain.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when snow covers the reed flowers?' The master said: 'Though frozen hard it shows auspicious colour, yet after the sunlight it only deludes people.'

袁州木平山善道禪師

Chan Master Shandao of Mount Muping in Yuanzhou

初謁洛浦。問。一漚未發已前。如何辨其水脈。浦曰。移舟諳水脈。舉棹別波瀾。師不契。乃參蟠龍。語同前問。龍曰。移舟不別水。舉棹即迷源。師從此悟入。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。石羊頭子向東看。問。如何是正法眼。師曰。拄杖孔。問。如何是不動尊。師曰。浪浪蕩蕩。問。如何是木平一句。師曰。畐塞虗空。曰。畐塞虗空即不問。如何是一句。師便打。凡有新到。未許參禮。先令運土三擔。而示偈曰。南山路側東山低。新到莫辭三轉泥。嗟汝在途經日久。明明不曉卻成迷。師肉髻螺紋。金陵李氏嚮其道譽。迎請供養。待以師禮。甞問。如何是木平。師曰。不勞斤斧。曰。為甚麼不勞斤斧。師曰。木平。法眼禪師有偈贈曰。木平山裡人。貌古言復少。相看陌路同。論心秋月皎。壞衲線非蠶。助歌聲有鳥。城闕今日來。一漚曾已曉。滅後。門人建塔。諡真寂禪師。

He first paid homage to Luopu and asked: 'Before a single bubble has risen, how does one discern its watercourse?' Pu said: 'Move the boat and you will know the watercourse; lift the oar and you part from the waves.' The master did not agree, so he called on Panlong and put the same question. Long said: 'Move the boat and you do not part from the water; lift the oar and you lose the source.' From this the master entered awakening. A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of his coming from the West?' The master said: 'A stone ram's head looks east.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the eye of the true dharma?' The master said: 'The hole in the staff.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the immovable honoured one?' The master said: 'Waves upon waves, vast and free.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the one phrase of Muping?' The master said: 'It stuffs the void full.' [The monk] said: 'I do not ask about stuffing the void full. What is the one phrase?' The master then struck him. Whenever a newcomer arrived, before allowing him to call and bow, he first had him carry three loads of earth, and showed this verse: 'Beside the southern road, where the eastern hill is low, newcomer, do not decline three turns with the mud. I sigh that you have been long on the road, and being so clear, you still do not understand and so go astray.' The master had a fleshy topknot with spiral hair. The Li family of Jinling, hearing of his reputation for the Way, invited him to receive offerings and treated him with the honours of a teacher. Once they asked: 'What is Muping?' The master said: 'It needs no axe or adze.' [They] said: 'Why does it need no axe or adze?' The master said: 'Muping.' Chan Master Fayan presented a verse: 'The man in Mount Muping has an ancient face and speaks little. Meeting him is like meeting a stranger on the road; to speak of mind is as bright as the autumn moon. His worn robe's thread is not silk, and the one who joins his song is a bird. Today he has come to the city gates; a single bubble was already understood.' After his death his disciples raised a stupa. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Zhenji, True Stillness.

崇福志禪師

Chan Master Zhi of Chongfu

僧問。供養百千諸佛。不如供養一無心道人。未審諸佛有何過。無心道人有何德。師曰。雪深宜近火。身煖覺春遲。問。貧子獻珠時如何。師曰。甚麼處得來。問。如何是道。師曰。回車有分。

A monk asked: 'Making offerings to a hundred thousand Buddhas is not as good as making offerings to one man of the Way with no mind. I wonder what fault the Buddhas have, and what virtue the mindless man of the Way has?' The master said: 'When the snow is deep, keep close to the fire; when the body is warm, spring feels late.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when a poor man presents a pearl?' The master said: 'Where did you get it?' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'Turning the carriage back has its share.'

陝府龍溪禪師

Chan Master Longxi of Shanfu

上堂。僧問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。百寶莊嚴今已了。四門開豁幾多時。師乃曰。直饒說似箇無縫塔。也不免老僧下箇橛。作麼生免得去。眾無對。師曰。下去。

He ascended the hall. A monk asked: 'What is the seamless stupa?' The master said: 'Its hundred treasures are adorned and finished today; how long will its four gates stand wide?' The master then said: 'Even if you could speak of something like a seamless stupa, you would not escape this old monk driving in a peg. How will you escape it?' The assembly had no reply. The master said: 'Get out.'

黃山輪禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Lun of Mount Huang

郢州桐(或作潼)泉山禪師

Chan Master of Mount Tongquan in Yingzhou, also written Tongquan

參黃山。山問。天門一合。十方無路。有人道得。擺手出漳江。師曰。蟄戶不開。龍無龍句。山曰。是你恁麼道。師曰。是即直言是。不是直言不是。山曰。擺手出漳江。山復問。卞和到處荊山秀。玉印從他天子傳時如何。師曰。靈鶴不於林下憩。野老不重太平年。山深肯之。住後。僧問。如何是相傳底事。師曰。龍吐長生水。魚吞無盡漚。曰。請師挑剔。師曰。擂鼓轉船頭。棹穿波裡月。

He called on Huangshan. Shan said: 'When heaven's gate closes, the ten directions have no road. If anyone can speak, he waves his hand and leaves Zhangjiang.' The master said: 'The hibernating door does not open, and the dragon has no dragon phrase.' Shan said: 'That is how you speak.' The master said: 'If it is so, I say plainly it is so; if not, I say plainly it is not.' Shan said: 'Wave your hand and leave Zhangjiang.' Shan asked again: 'Wherever Bian He goes, Mount Jing shows its beauty; what about when the jade seal is passed on by the Son of Heaven?' The master said: 'The spirit crane does not rest beneath the trees; the old rustic does not prize years of great peace.' Shan deeply approved. After he had taken up residence, a monk asked: 'What is the matter handed down?' The master said: 'The dragon spits the water of long life; the fish swallow the endless bubble.' [The monk] said: 'Please, master, pick it out.' The master said: 'Beat the drum and turn the boat's head; the oar pierces the moon in the waves.'

韶山普禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Pu of Mount Shao

潭州文殊禪師

Chan Master Manjushri of Tanzhou

僧問。如何是祝融峰前事。師曰。巖前瑞草生。問。仁王登位。萬姓霑恩。和尚出世。有何祥瑞。師曰。萬裡長沙駕鐵船。問。如何是本爾莊嚴。師曰。菊花原上景。行人去路長。

A monk asked: 'What is the matter before Zhurong Peak?' The master said: 'Auspicious grass grows before the cliff.' [A monk] asked: 'The benevolent king ascends the throne and ten thousand families receive grace. The master has appeared in the world — what auspicious sign is there?' The master said: 'An iron boat sails from Changsha for ten thousand li.' [A monk] asked: 'What is your original adornment?' The master said: 'The scene on the chrysanthemum plain; the traveller's road is long.'

耀州密行禪師

Chan Master Mixing of Yaozhou

僧問。密室之言。請師垂示。師曰。南方水濶。北地風多。曰。不會。乞師再指。師曰。鳥棲林麓易。人出是非難。

A monk asked: 'The words of the secret chamber — please, master, reveal them.' The master said: 'The south has broad waters; the northern land has much wind.' [The monk] said: 'I do not understand. I beg the master to point again.' The master said: 'It is easy for a bird to perch in the woods and hills; it is hard for a man to step out of right and wrong.'

思明禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Siming

襄州鷲嶺善本禪師

Chan Master Shanben of Jiuling in Xiangzhou

浴次。僧問。和尚是離垢人。為甚麼卻浴。師曰。定水湛然滿。浴此無垢人。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。鷲嶺峰上。青草參天。鹿野苑中。狐兔交橫。

Once, while bathing, a monk asked: 'The master is a man beyond defilement — why then does he bathe?' The master said: 'The water of concentration is limpid and full; in it I bathe this undefiled man.' [A monk] asked: 'Are the patriarch's meaning and the teaching's meaning the same or different?' The master said: 'On the peak of Vulture Ridge green grass reaches the sky. In the Deer Park, foxes and hares run criss-cross.'

青原下七世

Seventh generation below Qingyuan

藤霞禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Tengxia

澧州藥山禪師

Chan Master of Mount Yao in Lizhou

上堂。夫學般若菩薩。不懼得失。有事近前。時有僧問。藥山祖裔。請師舉唱。師曰。萬機挑不出。曰。為甚麼萬機挑不出。師曰。他緣岸谷。問。如何是藥山家風。師曰。葉落不如初。問。法雷哮吼時如何。師曰。宇宙不曾震。曰。為甚麼不曾震。師曰。徧地娑婆。未甞哮吼。曰。不哮吼底事如何。師曰。闔國無人知。

He ascended the hall: 'You bodhisattvas who study prajna do not fear gain or loss. If you have business, come forward.' At that a monk asked: 'The ancestral heirs of Mount Yao — please, master, proclaim them.' The master said: 'Ten thousand devices cannot pick it out.' [The monk] said: 'Why can ten thousand devices not pick it out?' The master said: 'Because it follows the cliffs and valleys.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the family style of Mount Yao?' The master said: 'Fallen leaves are not as they were at first.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the dharma thunder roars?' The master said: 'The cosmos has never shaken.' [The monk] said: 'Why has it never shaken?' The master said: 'The whole Saha world is everywhere, and it has never roared.' [The monk] said: 'What is the matter of not roaring?' The master said: 'In the whole country no one knows it.'

雲蓋景禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Jing of Yungai

衡嶽南臺寺藏禪師

Chan Master Zang of Nantai Monastery in Mount Heng

僧問。遠遠投師。請師一接。師曰。不隔戶。問。如何是南臺境。師曰。松韻拂時石不點。孤峰山下壘難齊。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。巖前栽野菓。接待往來賓。曰。恁麼則謝師供養。師曰。怎生滋味。問。如何是法堂。師曰。無壁落。問。不顧諸緣時如何。師良久。

A monk asked: 'Coming from afar to take refuge with the master, I beg the master to receive me once.' The master said: 'I do not shut the door.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the realm of Nantai?' The master said: 'When the pine's tone brushes past, the stone is not spotted; below the lone peak the ramparts cannot be matched.' [The monk] said: 'Who is the person within that realm?' The master said: 'Planting wild fruit before the cliff, receiving the guests who come and go.' [The monk] said: 'Then I thank the master for his offerings.' The master said: 'What is the flavour like?' [A monk] asked: 'What is the dharma hall?' The master said: 'It has no walls.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one does not heed the various conditions?' The master was silent for a long while.

潭州雲蓋山證覺禪師

Chan Master Zhengjue of Mount Yungai in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。四海不曾通。問。如何是一塵含法界。師曰。通身體不圓。曰。如何是九世剎那分。師曰。繁興不布彩。問。如何是宗門中的的意。師曰。萬裡胡僧。不入波瀾。

A monk asked: 'What is the master's family style?' The master said: 'The four seas have never been joined.' [A monk] asked: 'What is it for one speck of dust to contain the dharma realm?' The master said: 'The whole body is not round.' [The monk] said: 'What is it for nine ages to be divided into a single instant?' The master said: 'In the bustling throng no colour is spread.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the true meaning within the school?' The master said: 'A barbarian monk from ten thousand li does not enter the waves.'

烏牙賓禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Bin of Wuya

安州大安山興古禪師

Chan Master Xinggu of Mount Da'an in Anzhou

僧問。亡僧遷化。向甚麼處去也。師曰。昨夜三更拜南郊。問。維摩默然。意旨如何。師曰。黯黑石牛兒。超然不出戶。問。如何是那邊事。師曰。黑漆牧童不展手。銀籠鶴畔野雲飛。

A monk asked: 'When a dead monk is transformed in passing away, where does he go?' The master said: 'Last night at the third watch he made obeisance at the southern suburb.' [A monk] asked: 'What was the meaning of Vimalakirti's silence?' The master said: 'A dark black stone ox, transcendent, does not come out of its door.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the matter on the other shore?' The master said: 'The lacquer-black cowherd does not open his hand; by the silver cage the crane, wild clouds flying.'

蘄州烏牙山行朗禪師

Chan Master Xinglang of Mount Wuya in Qizhou

僧問。未作人身已前作甚麼來。師曰。海上石牛歌三拍。一條紅線掌間分。問。迦葉上行衣。何人合得披。師曰。天然無相子。不掛出塵衣。

A monk asked: 'Before one took human form, what was one doing?' The master said: 'A stone ox on the sea sings three beats; a single red thread is divided in the palm.' [A monk] asked: 'Kashyapa's robe handed down from above — who deserves to wear it?' The master said: 'One who is naturally without marks does not put on the robe that leaves the dust.'

青峰楚禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Chu of Qingfeng

西川靈龕禪師

Chan Master Lingkan of Xichuan

僧問。如何是諸佛出身處。師曰。出處非幹佛。春來草自青。問。碌碌地時如何。師曰。試進一步看。

A monk asked: 'Where do the Buddhas come forth from?' The master said: 'The place they come from is not the Buddha's doing; when spring comes, the grass is green of itself.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one is bustling and busy?' The master said: 'Try taking one step forward.'

京兆府紫閣山端己禪師

Chan Master Duanji of Mount Zige in Jingzhao Prefecture

僧問。四相俱盡。立甚麼為真。師曰。你甚麼處去來。問。渭水正東流時如何。師曰。從來無間斷。

A monk asked: 'When the four marks are all exhausted, what is established as true?' The master said: 'Where have you been?' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the Wei River is flowing due east?' The master said: 'It has never had a break.'

房州開山懷晝禪師

Chan Master Huaizhou of Kaishan in Fangzhou

僧問。作何行業。即得不違於千聖。師曰。妙行無倫匹。情玄體自殊。問。有耳不臨清水洗。無心誰為白雲幽時如何。師曰。無木掛千金。曰。掛後如何。師曰。杳杳人難辯。問。如何是塵中師。師曰。荊棘林中隨處到。旃檀林裡任縱橫。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。月隱澄潭。金輝正午。

A monk asked: 'What practice can one do so as not to go against the thousand sages?' The master said: 'Wondrous practice has no peer; when feeling is profound, the essence is of itself distinct.' [A monk] asked: 'With ears that do not come to clear water to be washed, and no mind — who makes the white clouds secluded?' The master said: 'No tree can hang a thousand in gold.' [The monk] said: 'And after hanging it?' The master said: 'So far and faint that people can hardly discern it.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the teacher within the dust?' The master said: 'In a thicket of thorns he arrives anywhere; in a sandalwood grove he goes freely, lengthwise and crosswise.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'The moon hides in the clear pool; the golden radiance is at high noon.'

幽州傳法禪師

Chan Master Chuanfa of Youzhou

僧問。教意祖意。是同是別。師曰。華開金線秀。古洞白雲深。問。別人為甚麼徒弟多。師為甚麼無徒弟。師曰。海島龍多隱。茅茨鳳不棲。

A monk asked: 'Are the teaching's meaning and the patriarch's meaning the same or different?' The master said: 'Gold threads bloom in beauty; the ancient cave's white clouds are deep.' [A monk] asked: 'Why does another man have many disciples, while the master has no disciples?' The master said: 'Sea islands hide many dragons; the phoenix does not perch on a thatched roof.'

益州淨眾寺歸信禪師

Chan Master Guixin of Jingzhong Monastery in Yizhou

僧問。蓮華未出水時如何。師曰。菡萏滿池流。曰。出水後如何。師曰。葉落不知秋。問。不假浮囊。便登巨海時如何。師曰。紅觜飛超三界外。綠毛也解道煎茶。問。如何是自在底人。師曰。劒樹霜林去便行。曰。如何是不自在底人。師曰。釋迦在闍黎後。

A monk asked: 'What about before the lotus comes out of the water?' The master said: 'The whole pool is filled with lotus buds.' [The monk] said: 'And after it comes out of the water?' The master said: 'Leaves fall and one does not know it is autumn.' [A monk] asked: 'What about crossing the great sea without a buoy?' The master said: 'The red-beaked one flies beyond the three realms; the green-feathered one too knows how to brew tea.' [A monk] asked: 'What is a man who is at ease?' The master said: 'Where the sword trees and frosty groves are, he goes straight on.' [The monk] said: 'What is a man who is not at ease?' The master said: 'Shakyamuni is behind you, Acharya.'

青峰山清勉禪師

Chan Master Qingmian of Mount Qingfeng

僧問。久醞蒲萄酒。今日為誰開。師曰。飲者方知。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。耨池無一滴。四海自滔滔。

A monk asked: 'Long-brewed grape wine — for whom is it opened today?' The master said: 'Only the drinker knows.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'In the Nitai Pool there is not a drop, yet the four seas surge of themselves.'

宋世玉音

The Words of the Song Court

宋太宗皇帝

Emperor Taizong of the Song

一日幸相國寺。見僧看經。問曰。是甚麼經。僧曰。仁王經。帝曰。既是寡人經。因甚卻在卿手裡。僧無對(雪竇代雲。皇天無親。唯德是輔)。幸開寶塔。問僧。卿是甚人。對曰。塔主。帝曰。朕之塔為甚麼卿作主。僧無對(雪竇代曰。合國鹹知)。一日。因僧朝見。帝問。甚處來。對曰。廬山臥雲庵。帝曰。朕聞臥雲深處不朝天。為甚到此。僧無對(雪竇代雲。難逃至化)。僧入對次。奏曰。陛下還記得麼。帝曰。甚處相見來。奏曰。靈山一別。直至如今。帝曰。卿以何為驗。僧無對(雪竇代曰。貧道得得而來)。京寺回祿。藏經悉為煨燼。僧欲乞宣賜。召問。昔日摩騰不燒。如今為甚卻燒。僧無對。(雪竇代雲。陛下不忘付囑)。帝甞夢神人報曰。請陛下發菩提心。因早朝宣問左右街。菩提心作麼生發。街無對(雪竇代雲。實謂今古罕聞)。智寂大師進三界圖。帝問。朕在那一界中。寂無對(保寧勇代曰。陛下何處不稱尊)。一日朝罷。帝擎缽問丞相王隨曰。既是大庾嶺頭提不起。為甚麼卻在朕手裡。隨無對。

One day he visited the Xiangguo Monastery and saw a monk reading a sutra. He asked: 'What sutra is that?' The monk said: 'The Benevolent King Sutra.' The emperor said: 'Since it is my own sutra, why is it in your hands?' The monk had no reply. (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'Heaven is impartial; virtue alone it aids.') He visited the Kaibao Pagoda. He asked a monk: 'Who are you?' He replied: 'I am the pagoda keeper.' The emperor said: 'This is my pagoda — why do you keep it?' The monk had no reply. (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'The whole country knows it.') One day, when a monk came to have audience, the emperor asked: 'Where have you come from?' He replied: 'From the Woyun Hut on Mount Lu.' The emperor said: 'I have heard that in the depths of the reclining clouds one does not pay court to heaven — why have you come here?' The monk had no reply. (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'It is hard to escape the highest transformation.') While a monk was having audience, he memorialized: 'Does Your Majesty still remember?' The emperor said: 'Where did we meet?' He memorialized: 'Since we parted at Vulture Peak, it has been so until now.' The emperor said: 'What is your proof?' The monk had no reply. (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'This poor monk has come with difficulty upon difficulty.') The capital's monastery was destroyed by fire, and the whole canon was reduced to ashes. The monks wished to beg for an imperial gift. He summoned them and asked: 'In former days the Matanga sutra did not burn — why did it burn now?' The monk had no reply. (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'Your Majesty does not forget the entrustment.') The emperor once dreamed that a spirit told him: 'Please, Your Majesty, arouse the bodhi mind.' At morning court he proclaimed to the left and right streets: 'How does one arouse the bodhi mind?' The streets had no reply. (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'It is truly rare in past and present.') Chan Master Zhiji presented a map of the three realms. The emperor asked: 'In which realm am I?' Ji had no reply. (Baoning Yong spoke in his place: 'Where is Your Majesty not honoured?') One day after court, the emperor held up his bowl and asked the chancellor Wang Sui: 'Since it could not be lifted at the top of Dayu Ridge, why is it here in my hand?' Sui had no reply.

徽宗皇帝

Emperor Huizong

政和三年。嘉州巡捕官奏。本部路傍有大古樹。因風摧折。中有一僧禪定。鬚髮被體。指爪遶身。帝降旨。令肩輿入京。命西天總持三藏以金磬出其定。遂問。何代僧。曰。我乃東林遠法師之弟。名慧持。因遊峨嵋。入定於樹。遠法師無恙否。藏曰。遠法師晉人也。化去七百年矣。持不復語。藏問。師既至此。欲歸何所。持曰。陳留縣。復入定。帝製三偈。令繪像頒行。偈曰。七百年來老古錐。定中消息許誰知。爭如隻履西歸去。生死何勞木作皮。藏山於澤亦藏身。天下無藏道可親。寄語莊週休擬議。樹中不是負趍人。有情身不是無情。彼此人人定裡身。會得菩提本無樹。不須辛苦問盧能。

In the third year of Zhenghe, the patrol officer of Jiazhou memorialized: beside the road in his district there was a great ancient tree, which the wind had broken down, and inside it a monk sat in meditation, his beard and hair covering his body and his nails and claws wrapped around him. The emperor issued an order to bring him to the capital by sedan chair and commanded the Tripitaka Master Zongchi of the Western Heaven to bring him out of his samadhi with a golden chime. He then asked: 'A monk of what age are you?' He said: 'I am the younger brother of Dharma Master Yuan of Donglin, named Huichi. Because I was travelling on Mount Emei, I entered samadhi in a tree. Is Dharma Master Yuan well?' The Tripitaka master said: 'Dharma Master Yuan was a man of Jin; he passed away seven hundred years ago.' Chi spoke no more. The master asked: 'Since you have come here, where do you wish to return?' Chi said: 'Chenliu County.' And he re-entered samadhi. The emperor composed three verses and had a portrait painted and circulated. The verses said: 'For seven hundred years an old wooden peg; who can know the news within his samadhi? Better to have gone west on a single shoe — why trouble wood to make skin for birth and death? Hiding the mountain in the marsh, he hides his body too; in all the world no hiding place is dearer to the Way. Tell Zhuangzi to stop his speculations: the one in the tree is not a man fleeing with a load. A sentient body is not an insentient one, yet each and every one is a body within samadhi. If you understand that bodhi is originally no tree, you need not labour to question Lu Neng.'

孝宗皇帝

Emperor Xiaozong

宣問靈隱佛照光禪師。曰。釋迦佛入山修道。六年而成。所成者何事。請師明說。對曰。將謂陛下忘卻。

He proclaimed a question to Chan Master Fozhao Guang of Lingyin: 'Shakyamuni Buddha entered the mountains to cultivate the Way and completed it in six years. What was it that he completed? Please, master, say it plainly.' He replied: 'I had thought Your Majesty had forgotten.'

未詳法嗣

Dharma heirs unknown

實性大師

Master Shixing

因同參芙蓉訓禪師至。上堂。以右手拈拄杖。倚放左邊。良久曰。此事若不是芙蓉師兄。也大難委悉。便下座。

Because his fellow student Chan Master Xun of Furong had arrived, he ascended the hall. He picked up his staff with his right hand and laid it down on his left. After a long pause he said: 'Were it not for brother Furong, this matter would be very hard to comprehend fully.' He then stepped down from the seat.

茶陵鬱山主

The Lay Master of Mount Yu in Chaling

不曾行腳。因廬山有化士至。論及宗門中事。教令看僧問法燈。百尺竿頭。如何進步。燈雲。噁。凡三年。一日乘驢度橋。一踏橋板而墮。忽然大悟。遂有頌雲。我有神珠一顆。久被塵勞關鏁。今朝塵盡光生。照破山河萬朵。因茲更不遊方。師乃白雲端和尚得度師。雲有贊曰。百尺竿頭曾進步。溪橋一踏沒山河。從茲不出茶川上。吟嘯無非囉哩囉。

He had never gone on pilgrimage. Because a mendicant from Mount Lu came and discussed the affairs of the school with him, he was told to contemplate the monk's question to Fadeng: 'At the top of a hundred-foot pole, how does one step forward?' Deng said: 'Hateful.' He did this for three years. One day, riding a donkey across a bridge, he stumbled on a bridge plank and fell, and suddenly was greatly awakened. He then had a verse: 'I have a single divine pearl, long locked away by the toil of dust. This morning the dust is gone and its light is born, shining through the mountains and rivers in ten thousand blooms.' After this he no longer travelled. The master was the ordaining teacher of the monk Baiyun Duan. Yun had a praise: 'At the top of the hundred-foot pole he once stepped forward; one stumble on the creek bridge wiped out mountains and rivers. From then on he never left the Tea River, and all his chanting and whistling was nothing but lo-li-lo.'

僧肇法師

Dharma Master Sengzhao

遭秦王難。臨就刑說偈曰。四大元無主。五陰本來空。將頭臨白刃。猶似斬春風(玄沙雲。大小肇法師。臨死猶寱語)。

He met with trouble from the King of Qin. As he was about to be executed he spoke a verse: 'The four elements have no master at all; the five aggregates are originally empty. Facing the white blade with my head, it is like cutting the spring wind.' (Xuansha said: 'Dharma Master Zhao, great or small, still talks in his sleep at the point of death.')

禪月貫休禪師

Chan Master Chanyue Guanxiu

有詩曰。禪客相逢祇彈指。此心能有幾人知。大隨和尚舉問曰。如何是此心。師無對(歸宗柔代雲。能有幾人知)。

He had a poem: 'When Chan guests meet they only snap their fingers; how many can know this mind?' The monk Dashui raised it and asked: 'What is this mind?' The master had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: 'How many can know it?')

先淨照禪師

Chan Master Xianjingzhao

問楞嚴大師。經中道。若能轉物。即同如來。若被物轉。即名凡夫。祇如昇元閣作麼生轉。嚴無對(汾陽代雲。彼此老大)。

He asked the Surangama Master: 'The sutra says that if one can turn things, one is the same as the Tathagata; if one is turned by things, one is called an ordinary man. How does one turn the Shengyuan Pavilion?' Yan had no reply. (Fenyang spoke in his place: 'Both of us are old.')

公期和尚

The monk Gongqi

因往羅漢。路逢一騎牛公子。師問。羅漢路向甚麼處去。公拍牛曰。道。道。師喝曰。這畜生。公曰。羅漢路向甚麼處去。師卻拍牛曰。道。道。公曰。直饒恁麼。猶少蹄角在。師便打。公拍牛便走。

Because he was going to Luohan, on the road he met a young gentleman riding an ox. The master asked: 'Which way does the road to Luohan go?' The gentleman slapped the ox and said: 'Speak, speak.' The master shouted: 'You beast!' The gentleman said: 'Which way does the road to Luohan go?' The master then slapped the ox and said: 'Speak, speak.' The gentleman said: 'Even so, you are still short of hooves and horns.' The master then struck him. The gentleman slapped the ox and rode off.

唐朝因禪師

Chan Master Yin of the Tang Dynasty

微時。甞運槌擊土次。見一大塊。戲槌猛擊之。應碎。豁然大悟(後有老宿聞雲。盡山河大地。被因禪師一擊百雜碎)。

When he was of low station, he was once swinging a mallet at the earth when he saw a great clod. He struck it in play with a fierce blow, and it crumbled at the touch, and he was suddenly greatly awakened. (Later an old worthy heard of it and said: 'The whole earth, mountains and rivers, was smashed into a hundred fragments by one blow from Chan Master Yin.')

福州東山雲頂禪師

Chan Master Yunding of Mount Dong in Fuzhou

泉州人(遺其氏)。以再下春闈。往雲臺大吼寺剃染具戒。即謁大愚．芝神．鼎諲。後見羅漢下尊宿。始徹己事。道學有聞叢林。稱為頂三教。僧問。如何是和尚日用事。師曰。我吃飯。汝受飢。曰。法法不相到。又作麼生。師曰。汝作罪。我皆知。問。如何是和尚一枝拂。師曰。打破修行窟。曰。恁麼則本來無一物也。師曰。知無者是誰。曰。學人罪過。師曰。再思可矣。居士問洞山道。有一物上拄天。下拄地。未審是甚麼物。師曰。擔鐵架。吃鐵棒。曰。天地黑。山河走。師曰。閻老殿前添一鬼。北邙山下臥千年。士呌。快活。快活。師曰。也是野狐吞老鼠。九龍觀道士並三士人。請上堂。儒門畫八卦。造契書。不救六道輪回。道門朝九皇。鍊真氣。不達三祇劫數。我釋迦世尊。洞三祇劫數。救六道輪回。以大願攝人天。如風輪持日月。以大智破生死。若劫火焚秋毫。入得我門者。自然轉變天地。幽察鬼神。使須彌．鐵圍．大地．大海入一毛孔中。一切眾生。不覺不知。我說此法門。如虗空俱含萬象。一為無量。無量為一。若人得一。即萬事畢。珍重。

He was a man of Quanzhou, his family name lost. Having failed the spring examinations twice, he went to the Dahu Monastery in Yuntai to be tonsured and receive the precepts. He then paid homage to Dayu, Zhishen, and Dingyin. Later he met the venerable one under Luohan, and only then did he penetrate his own affair. His learning of the Way was heard of in the monastery, and he was called Ding of the Three Teachings. A monk asked: 'What is the master's daily business?' The master said: 'I eat rice, you suffer hunger.' [The monk] said: 'Dharmas do not reach one another — how then?' The master said: 'You commit offences and I know them all.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the master's single whisk?' The master said: 'It smashes the cave of cultivation.' [The monk] said: 'Then originally there is not a single thing.' The master said: 'Who is it that knows there is nothing?' [The monk] said: 'The student is at fault.' The master said: 'Think again, and that will do.' A layman asked: 'Dongshan said there is one thing that props up heaven above and props up earth below. I wonder what thing that is?' The master said: 'Carrying an iron frame, eating an iron rod.' [The layman] said: 'Heaven and earth are black, mountains and rivers run.' The master said: 'Add one ghost before King Yama's hall, and lie a thousand years below Mount Beimang.' The layman cried: 'How delightful, how delightful!' The master said: 'That too is a wild fox swallowing a mouse.' The Daoists of the Nine Dragons Abbey together with three scholars invited him to ascend the hall: 'The Confucians drew the eight trigrams and made contracts and documents, but they do not save one from the six paths of rebirth. The Daoists pay court to the Nine Sovereigns and refine true qi, but they do not reach the number of the three asamkhyeya kalpas. I, Shakyamuni World-Honoured One, penetrate the number of the three asamkhyeya kalpas and save beings from the six paths of rebirth. With the great vow I gather in gods and men, as the wind wheel holds the sun and moon. With the great wisdom I smash birth and death, as the kalpa fire burns a hair's tip. Whoever enters my gate naturally transforms heaven and earth and fathoms ghosts and spirits in the dark. He can bring Mount Sumeru, the Iron Enclosure, the great earth, and the great sea into a single pore, and all living beings do not notice and do not know. I expound this dharma gate as the void contains all forms. The one is the immeasurable, and the immeasurable is the one. If a person attains the one, then ten thousand matters are finished. Take care.'

婺州雲幽重惲禪師(今曰法雲)

Chan Master Chongyun of Yunyou in Wuzhou, today called Fayun

初謁雪峰。次依石霜。乃開悟。旋里隱居。蔽形唯一衲。住後。上堂。雲幽一隻箭。虗空無背面。射去徧十方。要且無人見。時有僧問。如何是和尚一隻箭。師曰。盡大地人無髑髏。

He first paid homage to Xuefeng, then relied on Shishuang, and there was awakened. He then returned home and lived in hiding, covering his body with a single patched robe. After he had taken up residence, he ascended the hall: 'Yunyou's single arrow — the void has no front or back. Shot out, it fills the ten directions, and yet no one sees it.' At that a monk asked: 'What is the master's single arrow?' The master said: 'In all the great earth not a man has a skull.'

雙溪布衲如禪師

Chan Master Ru the Patch-robe Monk of Shuangxi

因嵩禪師戲以詩悼之曰。繼祖當吾代。生緣行可規。終身常在道。識病懶尋醫。貌古筆難寫。情高世莫知。慈雲布何處。孤月自相宜。師讀罷舉筆答曰。道契平生更有誰。閑卿於我最心知。當初未欲成相別。恐誤同參一首詩。投筆坐亡。於六十年後。塔戶自啟。其真容儼然。

Because Chan Master Song jokingly composed a poem to mourn him: 'You succeed me in continuing the ancestors; your life's conditions and conduct can be a model. All your life you dwelt in the Way, and knowing the sickness, you were too lazy to seek a physician. Your face was ancient and hard to paint; your feeling was lofty and the world did not know it. Where does the cloud of compassion spread? The lone moon suits itself alone.' Having read it, the master took up his brush and answered: 'Who else has a meeting of minds with the Way as I had with you? In leisure you were the one my heart knew best. At first I did not mean for us to part; I feared it would spoil a fellow student's one poem.' He threw down the brush and died sitting. Sixty years later the door of his stupa opened by itself, and his true likeness was exactly as before.

舒州投子通禪師

Chan Master Tong of Touzi in Shuzhou

僧問。達磨未來時如何。師曰。兩岸唱漁歌。曰。來後如何。師曰。大海湧風波。問。如何是孤峰頂上節操長松。師曰。能為萬象主。不逐四時凋。問。如何是和尚這裡佛法。師曰。東壁打西壁。

A monk asked: 'What about before Bodhidharma came?' The master said: 'On both banks, fishermen's songs.' [The monk] said: 'And after he came?' The master said: 'The great sea surges with wind and waves.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the integrity of the tall pine at the top of the lone peak?' The master said: 'It can be lord of the ten thousand forms, and does not wither with the four seasons.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha-dharma here with the master?' The master said: 'The eastern wall strikes the western wall.'

處州法海立禪師

Chan Master Fahai Li of Chuzhou

因朝廷有旨。革本寺為神霄宮。師陞座謂眾曰。都緣未徹。所以說是說非。葢為不真。便乃分彼分此。我身尚且不有。身外烏足道哉。正眼觀來。一場笑俱。今則聖君垂旨。更僧寺作神霄。佛頭上添箇冠兒。算來有何不可。山僧今日不免橫擔拄杖。高掛缽囊。向無縫塔中安身立命。於無根樹下嘯月吟風。一任乘雲仙客。駕鶴高人。來此呪水書符。叩牙作法。他年成道。白日上昇。堪報不報之恩。以助無為之化。秖恐不是玉。是玉也大奇。然雖如是。且道山僧轉身一句作麼生道。還委悉麼。擲下拂子。竟爾趨寂。郡守具奏其事。奉旨改其寺曰真身。

Because the court issued an order converting this monastery into a Palace of the Divine Empyrean, the master mounted the seat and said to the assembly: 'It is all because we have not penetrated through that we speak of right and wrong. It is because we are not true that we divide this from that. Even my own body is not mine — how much less anything beyond the body. Seen with the right eye, it is all one great joke. Now the sage sovereign has sent down an order changing the monks' monastery into a Palace of the Divine Empyrean. Adding a cap to the Buddha's head — by my reckoning, what is wrong with that? Today this mountain monk cannot but carry his staff crosswise on his shoulder and hang his alms bowl up high. I shall settle my body and establish my life within the seamless stupa, and chant to the moon and sing to the wind beneath the rootless tree. Let the cloud-riding immortal guests and the crane-driving eminent ones come here to spell water, write talismans, click their teeth, and work their rites. In another year they will accomplish the Way and ascend to heaven in broad daylight. It is enough to repay the grace that cannot be repaid, and to aid the transformation that does nothing. I only fear it is not jade — but if it is jade, it is very strange.' Then he said: 'Yet even so, tell me: how would this mountain monk speak the one phrase of turning the body? Do you fully understand?' He threw down his whisk and quietly passed into stillness. The prefect memorialized the matter in full. By imperial order the monastery was renamed Zhengshen, True Body.

汝州天寧明禪師

Chan Master Ming of Tianning in Ruzhou

改德士日。師登座謝恩畢。乃曰。木簡信手拈來。坐具乘時放下。雲散水流去。寂然天地空。即斂目而逝。

On the day the court changed the monks' registration, the master mounted the seat, and having finished thanking the imperial grace, he said: 'A wooden slip picked up as the hand pleases, a sitting cloth laid down when the time comes. The clouds scatter, the water flows away, and all is still — heaven and earth are empty.' He then closed his eyes and passed away.

蜀中仁王欽禪師

Chan Master Qin of Renwang in Shu

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。聞名不如見面。曰。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。閙市裡弄猢猻。曰。如何是道。曰。大蟲看水磨。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Hearing the name is not as good as seeing the face.' [The monk] said: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The master said: 'Playing with a monkey in a busy marketplace.' [The monk] said: 'What is the Way?' [The master] said: 'An ox watching a water mill.'

金陵鐵索山主(遺其名)

The Master of Mount Tiesuo in Jinling, his name lost

僧問。久嚮鐵索。未審作何面目。主打露柱。僧曰。謝見示。主曰。你據箇甚麼便恁麼道。僧卻打露柱。主曰。且道索在恁麼處。僧作量勢。主曰。今日遇箇同參。

A monk asked: 'I have long heard of Tiesuo, but I do not know what manner of face he has.' The master struck the exposed pillar. The monk said: 'Thank you for showing me.' The master said: 'On what basis do you talk like that?' The monk in turn struck the exposed pillar. The master said: 'Tell me, where is the chain in this?' The monk made a measuring gesture. The master said: 'Today I have met a fellow student.'

樓子和尚

The monk Louzi

不知何許人也。遺其名氏。一日偶經遊街市間。於酒樓下整襪帶次。聞樓上人唱曲雲。你既無心我也休。忽然大悟。因號樓子焉。

No one knows where he was from; his name and family are lost. One day, happening to pass through the streets and markets, while he was straightening his sock garters below a wine house, he heard someone upstairs singing: 'Since you have no mind, I too will rest.' He was suddenly greatly awakened, and so was called Louzi, the one of the upper floor.

神照本如法師

Dharma Master Shenzhao Benru

甞以經王請益四明尊者。者震聲曰。汝名本如。師即領悟。作偈曰。處處逢歸路。頭頭達故鄉。本來成現事。何必待思量。

He once presented the King of Sutras to the Venerable of Siming to seek instruction. The venerable thundered: 'Your name is Benru, Suchness Itself.' The master was at once enlightened. He made a verse: 'Everywhere I meet the road home; at every turn I reach my old village. It was originally a present fact — why wait for thought?'

臨安府上竺圓智證悟法師

Dharma Master Yuanzhi Zhengwu of Shangzhu in Lin'an Prefecture

台州林氏子。依白蓮僊法師。問具變之道。蓮指行燈曰。如此燈者。離性絕非。本自空寂。理則具矣。六凡四聖。所見不同。變則在焉。師不契。後因掃地誦法華經。至知法常無性。佛種從緣起。始諭旨。告蓮。蓮然之。師領徒以來。甞患本宗學者囿於名相。膠於筆錄。至以天台之傳為文字之學。南宗鄙之。乃謁護國此庵元禪師。夜語次。師舉東坡宿東林偈。且曰。也不易到此田地。庵曰。尚未見路徑。何言到耶。曰。祇如他道。溪聲便是廣長舌。山色豈非清淨身。若不到此田地。如何有這箇消息。庵曰。是門外漢耳。曰。和尚不吝。可為說破。庵曰。卻秖從這裡猛著精彩覷捕看。若覷捕得他破。則亦知本命元辰落著處。師通夕不寐。及曉鍾鳴。去其秘畜。以前偈別曰。東坡居士太饒舌。聲色關中欲透身。溪若是聲山是色。無山無水好愁人。特以告此庵。庵曰。向汝道是門外漢。師禮謝。未幾。有化馬祖殿瓦者。求語發揚。師書曰。寄語江西老古錐。從教日炙與風吹。兒孫不是無料理。要見冰消瓦解時。此庵見之。笑曰。須是這闍黎始得。

He was a son of the Lin family of Taizhou. He relied on Dharma Master Xian of Bailian and asked about the way of the complete-and-transforming. Lian pointed to a travelling lamp and said: 'A lamp like this is beyond nature and cuts off the wrong; it is originally empty and still, and the principle is complete in it. The six ordinary states and the four sage states see it differently, and there the transformation lies.' The master did not agree. Later, while sweeping the ground and reciting the Lotus Sutra, he came to the line 'Know that dharmas are always without nature; the Buddha-seed arises from conditions', and only then did he understand the purport. He told Lian. Lian agreed. From the time he began leading students, the master had always been troubled that scholars of his own school were confined by names and marks and stuck to written records, so that the transmission of Tiantai came to be a study of letters, which the Southern school despised. He then paid homage to Chan Master Yuan of the Cian Hermitage at Huguo. During a night conversation, the master brought up Dongpo's verse on lodging at Donglin and said: 'It is no easy matter to reach that field.' An said: 'You have not yet seen the path — how can you speak of reaching it?' [The master] said: 'Take his line, the sound of the stream is the long broad tongue, is the mountain's colour not the pure body? If he had not reached that field, how would he have this news?' An said: 'He is one outside the gate.' [The master] said: 'If the master does not begrudge it, you can expose it for me.' An said: 'Just from this point, apply your spirit sharply and peer at it. If you can peer through it, then you will know where your original destiny rests.' The master did not sleep the whole night. When the dawn bell sounded, he took out what he had secretly kept, and made another verse on the earlier lines: 'The layman Dongpo is too talkative; within the pass of sound and form he would pierce the body. If the stream is sound and the mountain is colour, then with no mountain and no water one is left grieving.' He especially told this to Cian. An said: 'I told you he is one outside the gate.' The master bowed in thanks. Before long, someone seeking donations for tiles for Mazu's hall asked him for words to spread the merit. The master wrote: 'Send word to the old wooden peg of Jiangxi: let him be scorched by the sun and blown by the wind. His sons and grandsons are not without means — you must wait for the time when the ice melts and the tiles crack.' When Cian saw it, he laughed and said: 'It must be this Acharya and no one else.'

本嵩律師

Vinaya Master Bensong

因無為居士楊傑請問宣律師所講毗尼性體。師以偈答曰。情智何甞異。犬吠虵自行。終南的的意。日午打三更。

Because the layman Yang Jie of Wuwei asked what nature-essence the Vinaya Master Xuan had expounded in his lectures on the vinaya, the master answered with a verse: 'How have feeling and wisdom ever been distinct? The dog barks and the snake goes on its own. The true meaning of Zhongnan is: at noon, strike the third watch.'

昔有一老宿。一夏不為師僧說話。有僧歎曰。我秖恁麼空過一夏。不敢望和尚說佛法。得聞正因兩字也得。老宿聞。乃曰。闍黎莫𧬊速。若論正因。一字也無。道了叩齒雲。適來無端。不合與麼道。隣壁有一老宿聞曰。好一釜羹。被一顆鼠糞汙卻(雪竇代雲。誰家釜裡無一兩顆)。

Long ago there was an old worthy who for a whole summer did not speak to the monks. A monk sighed: 'I have spent a whole summer in vain like this. I do not presume to hope the master will speak the Buddha-dharma; to hear the two words 'right cause' would be enough.' The old worthy heard and said: 'Acharya, do not be hasty. If you speak of the right cause, there is not even one word.' Having said this he clicked his teeth and said: 'Just now, for no reason, I should not have spoken like that.' An old worthy in the next room heard it and said: 'A fine pot of soup, spoiled by a single mouse dropping.' (Xuedou spoke in his place: 'Whose pot has not one or two?')

昔有一僧。在經堂內不看經。每日打坐。藏主曰。何不看經。僧曰。某甲不識字。主曰。何不問人。僧近前。叉手鞠躬曰。這箇是甚麼字。主無對(大通本代雲。大道不識)。

Long ago there was a monk who in the sutra hall did not read the sutras, but sat in meditation every day. The canon keeper said: 'Why do you not read the sutras?' The monk said: 'I cannot read.' The keeper said: 'Why not ask someone?' The monk came forward, crossed his hands, bowed, and said: 'What character is this?' The keeper had no reply. (Datong Ben spoke in his place: 'The great Way cannot be read.')

昔有一老宿。住菴。於門上書心字。於牕上書心字。於壁上書心字(法眼雲。門上但書門字。牕上但書牕字。壁上但書壁字。玄覺雲。門上不要書門字。牕上不要書牕字。壁上不要書壁字。何故。字義炳然)。

Long ago there was an old worthy living in a hut. On the door he wrote the character for mind, on the window he wrote the character for mind, and on the wall he wrote the character for mind. (Fayan said: 'On the door just write the character for door, on the window just write the character for window, on the wall just write the character for wall.' Xuanjue said: 'On the door do not write the character for door, on the window do not write the character for window, on the wall do not write the character for wall. Why? The meaning of the characters is blazing clear.')

昔有二庵主。住庵。旬日不相見。忽相會。上庵主問下庵主。多時不相見。向甚麼處去。下庵主曰。在庵中造箇無縫塔。上庵主曰。某甲也要造一箇。就兄借取塔樣子。下庵主曰。何不早說。恰被人借去了也(法眼雲。且道是借他樣。不借他樣)。

Long ago there were two hut masters who lived in huts. For ten days they did not meet, and then suddenly met. The upper hut master asked the lower hut master: 'We have not met for a long time — where have you been?' The lower hut master said: 'In my hut, building a seamless stupa.' The upper hut master said: 'I want to build one too; let me borrow the model for the stupa from you.' The lower hut master said: 'Why did you not say so earlier? It has just been borrowed by someone else.' (Fayan said: 'Tell me, was it his model that was borrowed, or not?')

昔有一庵主。見僧來豎起火筒曰。會麼。曰。不會。主曰。三十年用不盡底。僧卻問。三十年前用箇甚麼。主無對(歸宗柔代雲。也要知)。

Long ago there was a hut master who, seeing a monk come, held up his fire-tube and said: 'Do you understand?' [The monk] said: 'I do not.' The master said: 'This is what thirty years cannot use up.' The monk then asked: 'What did you use thirty years ago?' The master had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: 'You still want to know.')

昔有一老宿。因江南國主問。予有一頭水牯牛。萬裡無寸草。未審向甚麼處放。宿無對(歸宗柔代雲。好處放)。

Long ago there was an old worthy. Because the ruler of the state of Jiangnan asked him: 'I have a water buffalo, and for ten thousand li there is not an inch of grass. I wonder where I should put it out to pasture?' The worthy had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: 'Put it in a good place.')

昔有一老宿。問僧。甚麼處來。僧曰。牛頭山禮拜祖師來。宿曰。還見祖師麼。僧無對。(歸宗柔代雲。大似不相信)。

Long ago there was an old worthy who asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' The monk said: 'From Mount Niutou, where I bowed to the patriarch.' The worthy said: 'Did you see the patriarch?' The monk had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: 'It seems you do not believe.')

昔有一老宿。有偈曰。五蘊山頭一段空。同門出入不相逢。無量劫來賃屋住。到頭不識主人公。(有老宿雲。既不識他。當初問甚麼人賃)。

Long ago there was an old worthy who had a verse: 'On the hill of the five aggregates there is a stretch of emptiness; entering and leaving by the same door, they never meet. For immeasurable kalpas he has rented a house to live in, and to the end he does not know the host.' (There was an old worthy who said: 'If he does not know him, from whom did he rent in the first place?')

僧問老宿。如何是密室中人。老宿曰。有客不答話(玄沙雲。何曾密。歸宗柔別老宿雲。你因甚麼得見)。

A monk asked an old worthy: 'What is the man in the secret chamber?' The old worthy said: 'When there is a guest, he does not answer.' (Xuansha said: 'How has it ever been secret?' Guizong Rou gave the old worthy's words differently: 'How did you come to see him?')

昔有一老宿。因僧問。魂兮歸去來。食我家園葚。如何是家園葚(玄覺代雲。是亦食不得。法燈雲。汙卻你口)。

Long ago there was an old worthy. Because a monk asked: 'O soul, come back; eat the mulberries of my home garden. What are the mulberries of the home garden?' (Xuanjue spoke in his place: 'They too cannot be eaten.' Fadeng said: 'It dirties your mouth.')

昔有一老宿。曰。祖師九年面壁。為訪知音。若恁麼會得。吃鐵棒有日在。又一老宿曰。祖師九年面壁。何不慚惶。若恁麼會得。更買草鞋行腳三十年(瑯琊覺雲。既不然。且道祖師面壁意作麼生。良久雲。欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪)。

Long ago there was an old worthy who said: 'The patriarch sat facing the wall for nine years in order to seek one who knew the tune. If you understand it like this, the day will come when you eat an iron rod.' Another old worthy said: 'The patriarch sat facing the wall for nine years — why was he not ashamed? If you understand it like this, go buy straw sandals and walk for another thirty years.' (Langya Jue said: 'If it is not so, then tell me, what was the patriarch's meaning in facing the wall?' After a long pause he said: 'If you would not invite the karma of uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathagata's true dharma wheel.')

昔有一老宿。因僧問。師子捉兔亦全其力。捉象亦全其力。未審全箇甚麼力。老宿曰。不欺之力(法眼別雲。不會古人語)。

Long ago there was an old worthy. Because a monk asked: 'When a lion catches a hare it uses its full strength; when it catches an elephant it also uses its full strength. I wonder what strength it uses fully?' The old worthy said: 'The strength that does not deceive.' (Fayan said differently: 'He did not understand the ancients' words.')

昔有一老宿。曰。這一片田地分付來多時也。我立地待汝搆去(法眼雲。山僧如今坐地。待汝搆去。還有道理也無。那箇親。那箇踈。試裁斷看)。

Long ago there was an old worthy who said: 'This piece of land has been handed over long ago. I stand here waiting for you to take it.' (Fayan said: 'This mountain monk now sits here waiting for you to take it. Is there any principle in that? Which is nearer, which is farther? Try passing judgement.')

昔有老宿。畜一童子。竝不知軌則。有一行腳僧到。乃教童子禮儀。晚間見老宿外歸。遂去問訊。老宿怪訝。遂問童子曰。阿誰教你。童曰。堂中某上座。老宿喚其僧來。問。上座傍家行腳。是甚麼心行。這童子養來二三年了。幸自可憐生。誰教上坐教壞伊。快束裝起去。黃昏雨淋淋地。被趂出(眼雲。古人恁麼顯露些子家風。甚怪。且道意在於何)。

Long ago there was an old worthy who kept a boy, and the boy knew nothing of rules. A wandering monk arrived and taught the boy manners. In the evening, when he saw the old worthy returning from outside, the boy went to greet him. The old worthy, surprised, asked the boy: 'Who taught you?' The boy said: 'A certain senior monk in the hall.' The old worthy called the monk and asked: 'You wander about from house to house, senior monk — what sort of mind is this? This boy has been raised here two or three years, and luckily he is a pitiable creature. Who told you to teach and ruin him? Pack up quickly and get out.' In the darkening rain of dusk, the monk was driven out. (Fayan said: 'The ancients showed a bit of family style so openly — very strange. Tell me, where did the meaning lie?')

昔有僧到曹溪。時守衣缽僧提起衣曰。此是大庾嶺頭提不起底。僧曰。為甚麼在上座手裡。僧無對(雲門雲。彼此不了。又云。將謂是師子兒)。

Long ago a monk came to Caoxi. At the time the monk who guarded the robe and bowl lifted the robe and said: 'This is what could not be lifted at the top of Dayu Ridge.' The monk said: 'Why then is it in the senior monk's hand?' The monk had no reply. (Yunmen said: 'Both of them are unclear.' He also said: 'I thought he was a lion's cub.')

昔有僧因看法華經至諸法從本來。常自寂滅相。忽疑不決。行住坐臥。每自體究。都無所得。忽春月聞鶯聲。頓然開悟。遂續前偈曰。諸法從本來。常自寂滅相。春至百花開。黃鶯啼柳上。

Long ago a monk, reading the Lotus Sutra, came to the line 'All dharmas from the very beginning are always of themselves the mark of still extinction', and suddenly was seized by doubt and could not decide. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying, he investigated it himself every moment, and got nothing at all. Suddenly, on a spring night, hearing the cry of an oriole, he was at once awakened. He then continued the earlier verse: 'All dharmas from the very beginning are always of themselves the mark of still extinction. When spring arrives the hundred flowers open, and the yellow oriole cries on the willow.'

昔有老宿問一座主。疏鈔解義。廣略如何。主曰。鈔解疏。疏解經。宿曰。經解甚麼。主無對。

Long ago an old worthy asked a lecturer: 'The subcommentary explains the meaning of the commentary — how do the broad and the brief work?' The lecturer said: 'The subcommentary explains the commentary, the commentary explains the sutra.' The worthy said: 'And what explains the sutra?' The lecturer had no reply.

昔高麗國。來錢塘刻觀音聖像。及舁上船。竟不能動。因請入明州開元寺供養。後有設問。無剎不現身。聖像為甚不去高麗國(長慶稜雲。現身雖普。覩相生偏。法眼別雲。識得觀音未)。

Long ago, when the country of Goryeo came to Qiantang to carve a sacred image of Guanyin, and it was lifted onto the boat, it could not be moved at all. So they asked to install it in the Kaiyuan Monastery in Mingzhou for offerings. Later someone posed the question: 'There is no place where she does not manifest her body. Why did the sacred image not go to Goryeo?' (Changqing Leng said: 'Though she manifests her body everywhere, seeing the mark gives rise to partiality.' Fayan said differently: 'Do you recognize Guanyin?')

泗州塔前。一僧禮拜。有人問。上座日日禮拜。還見大聖麼(法眼代雲。汝道禮拜是甚麼義)。

Before the pagoda at Sizhou a monk was bowing. Someone asked: 'Senior monk, you bow every day — do you see the Great Sage?' (Fayan spoke in his place: 'Tell me, what does bowing mean?')

泗州塔頭侍者。及時鎻門。有人問。既是三界大師。為甚麼被弟子鎻。侍者無對(法眼代雲。弟子鎻。大師鎻。法燈代雲。還我鎻匙來。又老宿代雲。吉州鎻。虔州鎻)。

The attendant at the Sizhou pagoda locked the door at the proper time. Someone asked: 'Since he is the Great Master of the three realms, why is he locked in by his disciple?' The attendant had no reply. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'The disciple locks, the master locks.' Fadeng spoke in his place: 'Give me back the key.' Another old worthy spoke in his place: 'Jizhou locks, Qianzhou locks.')

聖僧像被屋漏滴。有人問僧。既是聖僧。為甚麼有漏。僧無對(韶國師代雲。無漏不是聖僧)。

The image of the holy monk was dripped on by a roof leak. Someone asked a monk: 'Since he is a holy monk, why is there leakage?' The monk had no reply. (National Teacher Shao spoke in his place: 'Without leakage he would not be a holy monk.')

有人問。僧點甚麼燈。僧曰。長明燈。曰。甚麼時點。曰。去年點。曰。長明何在。僧無語。(長慶稜代雲。若不如此。知公不受人謾。法眼別雲。利動君子)。

Someone asked: 'What lamp does the monk light?' The monk said: 'The ever-burning lamp.' [The questioner] said: 'When is it lit?' [The monk] said: 'It was lit last year.' [The questioner] said: 'Where is the ever-burning?' The monk was speechless. (Changqing Leng spoke in his place: 'Were it not so, I would know that you do not accept being fooled.' Fayan said differently: 'Profit moves the noble man.')

有座主念彌陀名號次。小師喚和尚。及回顧。小師不對。如是數四。和尚叱曰。三度四度喚。有甚麼事。小師曰。和尚幾年喚他即得。某甲才喚便發業(法燈代雲。咄叱)。

A lecturer was reciting the name of Amitabha when his young disciple called out 'Master!' When he turned his head, the disciple said nothing. This happened three or four times. The master scolded him: 'You call me three times, four times — what is the matter?' The disciple said: 'The master can call him for years on end and it is fine. I had only just called, and you already gave rise to karma.' (Fadeng spoke in his place: 'Bah!')

有僧與童子上經了。令持經著函內。童子曰。某甲念底。著向那裡(法燈代雲。汝念甚麼經)。

A monk and a boy finished reading a sutra, and he told the boy to put the sutra into its box. The boy said: 'Where shall I put what I have been reciting?' (Fadeng spoke in his place: 'What sutra were you reciting?')

一僧注道德經。人問曰。久嚮大德注道德經。僧曰。不敢。曰。何如明皇(法燈代雲。是弟子)。

A monk annotated the Daodejing. Someone said: 'I have long admired the great worthy's annotation of the Daodejing.' The monk said: 'I would not presume.' [The questioner] said: 'How does it compare with the Ming Emperor's?' (Fadeng spoke in his place: 'I am his disciple.')

有僧入冥見地藏菩薩。藏問。你平生修何業。僧曰。念法華經。曰。止止不須說。我法妙難思。為是說。是不說。僧無對(歸宗柔代雲。此回歸去。敢為流通)。

A monk entered the underworld and saw Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha. Zang asked: 'What practice have you cultivated in your life?' The monk said: 'I recited the Lotus Sutra.' [Zang] said: 'Stop, stop, it need not be spoken; my dharma is wondrous and hard to conceive. For this, should I speak it or not?' The monk had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: 'On this return journey, I will venture to circulate it.')

鹽官會下有一主事僧。忽見一鬼使來追。僧告曰。某甲身為主事。未暇修行。乞容七日得否。使曰。待為白王。若許即七日後來。不然。須臾便至。言訖不見。至七日後。復來。覓其僧。了不可得。後有人舉問一僧。若被覓著時。如何抵擬他(洞山代雲。被他覓得也)。

Under Yanguan's assembly there was a monk in charge of affairs who suddenly saw a ghost messenger come to pursue him. The monk told him: 'I am in charge of affairs and have had no leisure to cultivate. May I beg seven days' reprieve?' The messenger said: 'I will report it to the king for you. If he permits, I will come back after seven days. If not, I will be here in a moment.' Having said this he vanished. Seven days later he came again and looked for the monk, but could not find him at all. Later someone raised this and asked a monk: 'If he had been found, how would you have fended him off?' (Dongshan spoke in his place: 'He was found by him.')

台州六通院僧欲渡船。有人問。既是六通。為甚麼假船。僧無對(天台韶國師代雲。不欲驚眾)。

A monk of the Liutong Monastery in Taizhou wanted to cross by boat. Someone asked: 'Since you have the six supernatural powers, why do you need a boat?' The monk had no reply. (National Teacher Shao of Tiantai spoke in his place: 'He did not want to startle the crowd.')

洪州太守宋令公。一日大寧寺僧陳乞請第二座開堂。公曰。何不請第一座。眾無語(法眼代雲。不勞如此)。

The prefect of Hongzhou, Lord Song, asked that the monks of the Daning Monastery petition for the second seat to open the hall. The lord said: 'Why not invite the first seat?' The assembly was speechless. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'No need for that.')

江南相馮延巳與數僧遊鍾山。至一人泉。問。一人泉許多人爭得足。一僧對曰。不教欠少。延巳不肯。乃別曰。誰人欠少(法眼別雲。誰是不足者)。

The chancellor of Jiangnan, Feng Yansi, was roaming Mount Zhong with several monks and came to One Man Spring. He asked: 'The water of One Man Spring — how can many men get enough of it?' One monk replied: 'It is not allowed to run short.' Yansi did not accept it, and said differently: 'Who is it that runs short?' (Fayan said differently: 'Who is the one who is insufficient?')

官人問。僧名甚麼。曰。無揀。官人曰。忽然將一椀沙與上座。又作麼生。曰。謝官人供養。(法眼別雲。此猶是揀底)。

An official asked: 'What is the monk's name?' He said: 'Wujian, No Choosing.' The official said: 'Suppose I suddenly hand the senior monk a bowl of sand — what then?' He said: 'I thank the official for his offering.' (Fayan said differently: 'That is still the choosing kind.')

廣南有僧住庵。國主出獵。左右報庵主。大王來。請起。主曰。非但大王來。佛來亦不起。王問。佛豈不是汝師。主曰。是。王曰。見師為甚麼不起(法眼代雲。未足酬恩)。

In Guangnan a monk lived in a hut. The ruler of the state went out hunting, and his attendants reported to the hut master: 'The great king has come; please rise.' The master said: 'Not only if the great king comes — if the Buddha came, I would not rise either.' The king asked: 'Is the Buddha not your teacher?' The master said: 'He is.' The king said: 'Why do you not rise when you see your teacher?' (Fayan spoke in his place: 'It is not enough to repay the grace.')

福州洪塘橋上有僧列坐。官人問。此中還有佛麼。僧無對(法眼代雲。汝是甚麼人)。

On the Hongtang Bridge in Fuzhou monks sat in a row. An official asked: 'Is there a Buddha among these?' The monk had no reply. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'Who are you?')

昔有官人入鎮州天王院。覩神像。因問院主曰。此是甚麼功德。曰。護國天王。曰。秖護此國。徧護餘國。曰。在秦為秦。在楚為楚。曰。臘月二十九日打破鎮州城。天王向甚處去。主無對。

Long ago an official entered the Tianwang Monastery in Zhenzhou and, seeing the divine images, asked the monastery keeper: 'What merit is this?' He said: 'The Deva Kings who protect the state.' [The official] said: 'Do they protect only this state, or all states?' He said: 'In Qin they are for Qin, in Chu for Chu.' [The official] said: 'On the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month the city of Zhenzhou was broken through — where did the Deva Kings go?' The keeper had no reply.

昔有官人作無鬼論。中夜揮毫次。忽見一鬼出雲。汝道無我。聻(五祖演雲。老僧當時若見。但以手作鵓鴆觜。向伊道。谷呱呱)。

Long ago an official wrote a treatise on the non-existence of ghosts. In the middle of the night, as he was wielding his brush, he suddenly saw a ghost come out and say: 'You say there is no me — how about this?' (Wuzu Yan said: 'If this old monk had seen him at the time, I would just have made a pigeon's beak with my hand and said to him: Coo-coo.')

昔有道流。在佛殿前背佛而坐。僧曰。道士莫背佛。道流曰。大德本教中道。佛身充滿於法界。向甚麼處坐得。僧無對(法眼代雲。識得汝)。

Long ago a Daoist sat with his back to the Buddha before the Buddha hall. A monk said: 'Daoist, do not turn your back on the Buddha.' The Daoist said: 'The great worthy's own teaching says that the Buddha's body fills the dharma realm. Where can one sit that is not on him?' The monk had no reply. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'I recognize you.')

有一行者。隨法師入佛殿。行者向佛而唾。師曰。行者少去就。何以唾佛。者曰。將無佛處來與某甲唾。師無對(溈山雲。仁者卻不仁者。不仁者卻仁者。仰山代法師雲。但唾行者。又云。行者若有語。即向伊道。還我無行者處來)。

There was a postulant who entered the Buddha hall with a dharma master. The postulant spat toward the Buddha. The master said: 'Postulant, show some manners — why spit at the Buddha?' The postulant said: 'Bring me a place where there is no Buddha and I will spit there.' The master had no reply. (Weishan said: 'The benevolent one is not benevolent, and the unbenevolent one is benevolent.' Yangshan spoke in the master's place: 'Just spit at the postulant.' He also said: 'If the postulant says anything, tell him: give me back the place where there is no postulant.')

死魚浮於水上。有人問僧。魚豈不是以水為命。僧曰。是。曰。為甚麼卻向水中死。僧無對。(杭州天龍機和尚代雲。是伊為甚麼不去岸上死)。

A dead fish floated on the water. Someone asked a monk: 'Is it not the case that fish live by water?' The monk said: 'Yes.' [The questioner] said: 'Why then did it die in the water?' The monk had no reply. (Chan Master Ji of Tianlong in Hangzhou spoke in his place: 'Why did it not go and die on the bank?')

鷂子趂鴿子。飛向佛殿欄幹上顫。有人問僧。一切眾生。在佛影中常安常樂。鴿子見佛為甚麼卻顫。僧無對(法燈代雲。怕佛)。

A sparrowhawk chased a pigeon, which flew onto the railing of the Buddha hall and trembled there. Someone asked a monk: 'All living beings are always at peace and always happy within the Buddha's shadow. Why did the pigeon tremble when it saw the Buddha?' The monk had no reply. (Fadeng spoke in his place: 'It was afraid of the Buddha.')

昔有一僧去覆船。路逢一賣鹽翁。僧問。覆船路向甚麼處去。翁良久。僧再問。翁曰。你患聾那。僧曰。你向我道甚麼。翁曰。向你道覆船路。僧曰。翁莫會禪麼。翁曰。莫道會禪。佛法也會盡。僧曰。你試說看。翁挑起鹽籃。僧曰。難。翁曰。你喚這箇作甚麼。僧曰。鹽。翁曰。有甚麼交涉。僧曰。你喚作甚麼。曰。不可更向你道是鹽。

Long ago a monk was going to Fuchuan when on the road he met an old man selling salt. The monk asked: 'Which way does the road to Fuchuan go?' The old man was silent a long while. The monk asked again. The old man said: 'Are you deaf?' The monk said: 'What did you say to me?' The old man said: 'I told you the road to Fuchuan.' The monk said: 'Does the old man understand Chan, perhaps?' The old man said: 'Never mind understanding Chan — I understand the Buddha-dharma through and through too.' The monk said: 'Try and say it.' The old man lifted up his salt basket. The monk said: 'Hard.' The old man said: 'What do you call this?' The monk said: 'Salt.' The old man said: 'What has that to do with it?' The monk said: 'What do you call it?' [The old man] said: 'I cannot very well tell you it is salt.'

昔有婆子供養一庵主。經二十年。常令一二八女子送飯給侍。一日。令女子抱定。曰。正恁麼時如何。主曰。枯木倚寒巖。三冬無暖氣。女子舉似婆。婆曰。我二十年祗供養得箇俗漢。遂遣出。燒卻庵。

Long ago an old woman supported a hut master for twenty years, and always had a girl of sixteen bring him his meals and wait on him. One day she told the girl to embrace him, and said: 'What is it like right at such a moment?' The master said: 'A withered tree leans on a cold rock; through the three winters there is no warm breath.' The girl reported this to the old woman. The old woman said: 'For twenty years I have supported only a common fellow.' She then drove him out and burned down the hut.

昔有一僧參米胡。路逢一婆住庵。僧問。婆有眷屬否。曰。有。僧曰。在甚麼處。曰。山河大地。若草若木。皆是我眷屬。僧曰。婆莫作師姑來否。曰。汝見我是甚麼。僧曰。俗人。婆曰。汝不可是僧。僧曰。婆莫混濫佛法好。婆曰。我不混濫佛法。僧曰。汝恁麼。豈不是混濫佛法。婆曰。你是男子。我是女人。豈曾混濫。

Long ago a monk went to call on Mihu, and on the road met an old woman living in a hut. The monk asked: 'Has the old woman any family?' She said: 'I have.' The monk said: 'Where are they?' She said: 'The mountains and rivers and the great earth, every grass and every tree, are all my family.' The monk said: 'Has the old woman not become a nun, perhaps?' She said: 'What do you see me as?' The monk said: 'A lay person.' The old woman said: 'You cannot be a monk.' The monk said: 'Old woman, do not confuse the Buddha-dharma.' The old woman said: 'I do not confuse the Buddha-dharma.' The monk said: 'Are you not, in this way, confusing the Buddha-dharma?' The old woman said: 'You are a man, I am a woman. How have I ever confused it?'

龐行婆。入鹿門寺設齋。維那請意旨。婆拈梳子插向髻後曰。迴向了也。便出去。

The lay woman Pang entered the Lumen Monastery to set out a vegetarian feast. The director of affairs asked her for her intention. The old woman picked up a comb, stuck it behind her bun, and said: 'The dedication is done.' She then went out.

溫州陳道婆。甞徧扣諸方名宿。後於長老山淨和尚語下發明。有偈曰。高坡平頂上。盡是採樵翁。人人盡懷刀斧意。不見山花映水紅。

Chen Daopo of Wenzhou called on famous worthies everywhere. Later she was awakened under the words of Elder Chan Master Jing of Mount Shan. She had a verse: 'On the high slope's level top, all are woodcutting old men. Every man harbours the mind of axe and bill, and none sees the mountain flowers reflected red in the water.'

昔有施主婦人入院。行眾僧隨年錢。僧曰。聖僧前著一分。婦人曰。聖僧年多少。僧無對(法眼代雲。心期滿處即知)。年秖供養得箇俗漢。遂遣出。燒卻庵。

Long ago a lay woman benefactor came into the monastery and distributed the annual money to the monks. A monk said: 'Set aside a share for the holy monk.' The woman said: 'How old is the holy monk?' The monk had no reply. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'When the mind's term is full, then you will know.') For years I have supported only a common fellow. She then drove him out and burned down the hut.

昔有一僧參米胡。路逢一婆住庵。僧問。婆有眷屬否。曰。有。僧曰。在甚麼處。曰。山河大地。若草若木。皆是我眷屬。僧曰。婆莫作師姑來否。曰。汝見我是甚麼。僧曰。俗人。婆曰。汝不可是僧。僧曰。婆莫混濫佛法好。婆曰。你是男子。我是女人。豈曾混濫。

Long ago a monk went to call on Mihu, and on the road met an old woman living in a hut. The monk asked: 'Has the old woman any family?' She said: 'I have.' The monk said: 'Where are they?' She said: 'The mountains and rivers and the great earth, every grass and every tree, are all my family.' The monk asked: 'Has the old woman not become a nun, perhaps?' She said: 'What do you see me as?' The monk said: 'A lay person.' The old woman said: 'You cannot be a monk.' The monk said: 'Old woman, do not confuse the Buddha-dharma.' The old woman said: 'You are a man, I am a woman. How have I ever confused it?'

龐行婆。入鹿門寺設齋。維那請意旨。婆拈梳子插向髻後曰。迴向了也。便出去。

The lay woman Pang entered the Lumen Monastery to set out a vegetarian feast. The director of affairs asked her for her intention. The old woman picked up a comb, stuck it behind her bun, and said: 'The dedication is done.' She then went out.

溫州陳道婆。甞徧扣諸方名宿。後於長老山淨和尚語下發明。有偈曰。高坡平頂上。盡是採樵翁。人人盡懷刀斧意。不見山花映水紅。

Chen Daopo of Wenzhou called on famous worthies everywhere. Later she was awakened under the words of Elder Chan Master Jing of Mount Shan. She had a verse: 'On the high slope's level top, all are woodcutting old men. Every man harbours the mind of axe and bill, and none sees the mountain flowers reflected red in the water.'

昔有施主婦人入院。行眾僧隨年錢。僧曰。聖僧前著一分。婦人曰。聖僧年多少。僧無對(法眼代雲。心期滿處即知)。

Long ago a lay woman benefactor came into the monastery and distributed the annual money to the monks. A monk said: 'Set aside a share for the holy monk.' The woman said: 'How old is the holy monk?' The monk had no reply. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'When the mind's term is full, then you will know.')

青原下二世

Second generation below Qingyuan

石頭遷禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Qian of Shitou

荊州天皇道悟禪師

Chan Master Daowu of Tianhuang in Jingzhou

婺州東陽張氏子。神儀挺異。幼而生知。年十四。懇求出家。父母不聽。遂損減飲膳。日才一食。形體羸悴。父母不得已而許之。依明州大德披削。二十五詣杭州竹林寺具戒。精修梵行。推為勇猛。或風雨昏夜。宴坐丘塚。身心安靜。離諸怖畏。一日。遊餘杭。首謁徑山國一受心法。服勤五載。後參馬祖。重印前解。法無異說。依止二夏。乃謁石頭而致問曰。離卻定慧。以何法示人。頭曰。我這裡無奴婢。離箇甚麼。曰。如何明得。頭曰。汝還撮得虗空麼。曰。恁麼則不從。今日去也。頭曰。未審汝早晚從那邊來。曰。道悟不是那邊人。頭曰。我早知汝來處也。曰。師何以贓誣於人。頭曰。汝身見在。曰。雖然如是。畢竟如何示於後人。頭曰。汝道誰是後人。師從此頓悟。罄殫前二哲匠言下有所得心。後卜荊州當陽紫陵山。學徒駕肩接跡。都人士女。嚮風而至。時崇業寺上首以狀聞於連師。迎入城。郡之左有天皇寺。乃名藍也。因火而廢。主僧靈鑒將謀修復。乃曰。苟得悟禪師為化主。必能福我。乃中宵潛往哀請。肩舁而至。時江陵尹右僕射裴公稽首問法。致禮勤至。師素不迎送。客無貴賤。皆坐而揖之。裴公愈加歸向。由是石頭法道盛矣。師因龍潭問。從上相承底事如何。師曰。不是明汝來處不得。潭曰。這箇眼目。幾人具得。師曰。淺草易為長蘆。僧問。如何是玄妙之說。師曰。莫道我解佛法好。曰。爭奈學人疑滯何。師曰。何不問老僧。曰。即今問了也。師曰。去。不是汝存泊處。元和丁亥四月示疾。命弟子先期告終。至晦日大眾問疾。師驀召典座。座近前。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師拈枕子拋於地上。即便告寂。壽六十。臘月三十五。以其年八月五日。塔於郡東(按景德傳燈錄稱。青原下出石頭遷。遷下出天皇悟。悟下出龍潭信。信下出德山鑒。鑒下出雪峰存。存下出雲門偃．玄沙備。

The master was a son of the Zhang family of Dongyang in Wuzhou. His bearing was outstanding and unusual, and he had innate knowledge from childhood. At fourteen he earnestly begged to leave home, but his parents would not consent; so he reduced his food and drink, eating only once a day, until his body grew thin and haggard, and his parents had no choice but to allow it. He was tonsured under the great worthy of Mingzhou. At twenty-five he went to the Bamboo Grove Monastery in Hangzhou and received full ordination. He cultivated the pure life with diligence and was reckoned courageous. Sometimes on dark, windy, rainy nights he would sit in meditation among the graves, his body and mind at peace, free of all fear. One day, roaming in Yuhang, he first paid homage to Guoyi of Jingshan and received the mind-dharma, serving him diligently for five years. Later he called on Mazu, who re-confirmed his earlier insight; there was no different teaching in the dharma. He stayed for two summer retreats. He then paid homage to Shitou and asked: 'Setting aside concentration and wisdom, by what dharma do you show people?' Shitou said: 'Here I have no slaves or servants — what is there to set aside?' [The master] said: 'How is one to understand it?' Shitou said: 'Can you grasp the void?' [The master] said: 'Then I will not follow that. Today I shall go.' Shitou said: 'I do not know when you came from over there.' [The master] said: 'Daowu is not a man from over there.' Shitou said: 'I knew long ago where you came from.' [The master] said: 'Why does the master falsely accuse a man of theft?' Shitou said: 'Your body is present right now.' [The master] said: 'Even so, after all, how do you show it to later generations?' Shitou said: 'Tell me, who are the later generations?' From this the master was suddenly awakened, and the mind he had gained under the words of the two wise masters he poured out and emptied altogether. Later he settled at Mount Ziling in Dangyang in Jingzhou, and students crowded shoulder to shoulder; the men and women of the city came at the news. At the time the head of the Chongye Monastery reported him in a document to the military commissioner (the base text has 'lian shi', 'shi' being an error for 'shuai'), who welcomed him into the city. To the left of the prefectural city was the Tianhuang Monastery, a famous shrine, which had fallen into ruin through fire. The resident monk Lingjian planned to restore it and said: 'If I can get Chan Master Wu as the master of transformation, he will surely bring blessing to me.' So at midnight he went secretly to plead tearfully, and brought him back by sedan chair. At the time the governor of Jiangling, the Right Vice-Director Pei, bowed his head and asked about the dharma, offering his respects with great diligence. The master had never been one to greet or see off guests; whether a guest was noble or base, he stayed seated and bowed with joined hands. Lord Pei turned to him all the more. From this Shitou's dharma-way flourished. Because Longtan asked: 'What is the matter transmitted from above?' the master said: 'It is not that I cannot make clear where you come from.' Tan said: 'This eye — how many people possess it?' The master said: 'In shallow grass it is easy to grow tall reeds.' A monk asked: 'What is the mysterious and wondrous teaching?' The master said: 'Do not say I understand the Buddha-dharma.' [The monk] said: 'What is to be done about the student's doubt and blockage?' The master said: 'Why not ask this old monk?' [The monk] said: 'I have asked just now.' The master said: 'Go. This is not where you abide.' In the fourth month of the dinghai year of Yuanhe he showed illness and told his disciples to announce his end in advance. On the last day of the month the assembly came to ask after him; the master suddenly called the director of the refectory. The director came forward. The master said: 'Do you understand?' He said: 'I do not.' The master picked up his pillow and threw it on the ground, and thereupon passed into stillness. He was sixty years old and had been a monk for thirty-five years. On the fifth day of the eighth month of that year his stupa was raised east of the prefecture. (Note: The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp states that below Qingyuan came Shitou Qian, below Qian came Tianhuang Wu, below Wu came Longtan Xin, below Xin came Deshan Jian, below Jian came Xuefeng Cun, and below Cun came Yunmen Yan and Xuansha Bei.)

備再傳為法眼益。皆謂雲門．法眼二宗來自青原石頭。雖二家兒孫。亦自謂青原石頭所自出。不知其差悞所從來久矣。道悟同時有二人。一住荊南城西天王寺。嗣馬祖。一住荊南城東天皇寺。嗣石頭。其下出龍潭信者。乃馬祖下天王道悟。非石頭下天皇道悟也。何以明之。按唐正議大夫戶部侍郎平章事荊南節度使丘玄素所撰天王道悟禪師碑雲。道悟。渚宮人。姓崔氏。子玉之後胤也。年十五依長沙寺曇翥律師出家。二十三詣嵩山受戒。三十參石頭頻沐指示。曾未投機。次謁忠國師。三十四與國師侍者應真南還謁馬祖。祖曰。識取自心本來是佛。不屬漸次。不假修持。體自如如。萬德圓滿。師於言下大悟。祖囑曰。汝若住持。莫離舊處。師蒙旨已。便返荊門。去郭不遠。結草為廬。後因節使顧問左右。申其端緒。節使親臨訪道。見其路隘。車馬難通。極自荒榛。曾未修削。覩茲發怒。令人擒師。拋於水中。旌斾才歸。乃見徧衙火發。內外烘燄。莫可近之。唯聞空中聲曰。我是天王神。我是天王神。節使迴心設拜。煙燄都息。宛然如初。遂往江邊。見師在水。都不濕衣。節使重伸懺悔迎請。在衙供養。於府西造寺。額號天王。師常雲。快活。快活。及臨終時。呌苦。苦。又云。閻羅王來取我也。院主問曰。和尚當時被節度使拋向水中。神色不動。如今何得恁麼地。師舉枕子云。汝道當時是。如今是。院主無對。便入滅。當元和三年戊子十月十三日也。年八十二。坐六十三夏。嗣法一人。曰崇信。即龍潭也。城東天皇道悟禪師者。協律郎符載撰碑。乃與景德傳燈合其碑雲。道悟。姓張氏。婺州東陽人。十四出家。依明州大德祝髮。二十五受戒於杭州竹林寺。初參國一。留五年。大曆十一年。隱於大梅山。建中初。謁江西馬祖。二年參石頭。乃大悟。遂隱當陽紫陵山。後於荊南城東有天皇廢寺。靈鑒請居之。

(The compiler continues:) Bei's heir in turn was Fayan Yi. It is commonly said that the Yunmen and Fayan lineages both come from Qingyuan and Shitou. Though the sons and grandsons of the two houses also claim to come from Qingyuan and Shitou, it is not known that this error has a long history. There were two men named Daowu at the same time: one lived at the Tianwang Monastery west of the city of Jingnan and was an heir of Mazu; the other lived at the Tianhuang Monastery east of the city of Jingnan and was an heir of Shitou. The one from whom Longtan Xin descended was Tianwang Daowu, heir of Mazu, not Tianhuang Daowu, heir of Shitou. How is this known? According to the Stele of Chan Master Tianwang Daowu composed by Qiu Xuansu, Grand Master for Proper Consultation, Vice Minister of Revenue, Grand Councillor, and military commissioner of Jingnan, of the Tang: Daowu was a man of Zhugong, surnamed Cui, a descendant of Cui Ziyu. At fifteen he left home under Vinaya Master Tanzhu of the Changsha Monastery. At twenty-three he went to Mount Song and received the precepts. At thirty he called on Shitou and, though repeatedly instructed, never quite hit the mark. He next paid homage to National Teacher Zhong. At thirty-four he returned south with Yingzhen, an attendant of the national teacher, and paid homage to Mazu. The patriarch said: 'Recognize your own mind — it is originally the Buddha. It does not belong to gradual stages, it needs no cultivation. Its essence is suchness itself, and the ten thousand virtues are complete in it.' The master was greatly awakened at these words. The patriarch instructed him: 'If you take up residence, do not leave your old place.' Having received the instruction, the master returned to Jingmen and built a thatched hut not far from the city. Later the military commissioner asked his attendants about him, and they told him how it had begun. The commissioner went in person to inquire after the Way and found the road narrow, hard for carriage and horse, overgrown with rank brush that had not been cleared. Seeing this he grew angry and had the master seized and thrown into the water. No sooner had the banners returned to the office than fire broke out all over it, blazing within and without, so that no one could come near, and a voice in the air was heard saying: 'I am the Deva King. I am the Deva King.' The commissioner repented, bowed, and the smoke and flames all died down, and all was as before. He then went to the river and saw the master in the water, his clothes not even wet. The commissioner repented anew, invited him back, supported him in his office, and built a monastery west of the prefecture, naming it Tianwang. The master often said: 'How delightful, how delightful.' As death approached he cried: 'Suffering, suffering.' He also said: 'King Yama has come to fetch me.' The monastery keeper asked: 'When the master was thrown into the water by the military commissioner, his countenance did not change. Why is it like this now?' The master lifted up his pillow and said: 'Which do you say was then, and which is now?' The keeper had no reply, and he entered extinction. It was the thirteenth day of the tenth month of the wuzi year, the third year of Yuanhe. He was eighty-two years old and had spent sixty-three summer retreats on the seat. He had one dharma heir named Chongxin, who was Longtan. As for Chan Master Daowu of Tianhuang east of the city, the stele composed by Fu Zai, Gentleman for the Harmonization of Pitch Pipes, agrees with the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp. His stele says: Daowu was surnamed Zhang, a man of Dongyang in Wuzhou. At fourteen he left home and was tonsured under the great worthy of Mingzhou. At twenty-five he received the precepts at the Bamboo Grove Monastery in Hangzhou. He first called on Guoyi and stayed five years. In the eleventh year of Dali he hid on Mount Damei. At the beginning of Jianzhong he paid homage to Mazu of Jiangxi. In the second year he called on Shitou and only then was greatly awakened. He then hid at Mount Ziling in Dangyang. Later, when there was a ruined Tianhuang Monastery east of the city of Jingnan, Lingjian asked him to reside there.

元和二年丁亥四月十三日。以背痛入滅。年六十。坐三十五夏。法嗣三人。曰慧真。曰文賷。曰幽閑。今荊南城東有天皇巷存焉。唐聞人歸登。撰南嶽讓禪師碑。列法孫數人於後。有天王道悟名。圭峰答裴相國宗趣狀。列馬祖法嗣六人。首曰江陵道悟。權德輿撰馬祖塔銘。載弟子慧海智藏等十一人。道悟其一也。又呂夏卿張無盡著書皆稱道悟嗣馬祖。宗門反以為悞。然佛國白續燈錄。敘雪竇顯為大寂九世孫。祖源通要錄中。收為馬祖之嗣。達觀頴以丘玄素碑證之。疑信相半。葢獨見丘玄素碑。而未見符載碑耳。今以二碑參合。則應以天皇道悟嗣石頭。以慧真．文責．幽閑嗣之。而於馬祖法嗣下增入天王道悟。以龍潭．崇信嗣之。始為不差悞矣)。

(The compiler continues:) On the thirteenth day of the fourth month of the dinghai year, the second year of Yuanhe, he entered extinction from a pain in his back. He was sixty years old and had spent thirty-five summer retreats on the seat. He had three dharma heirs: Huizhen, Wenji, and Youxian. Even now east of the city of Jingnan there is still a Tianhuang Lane. The Tang writer Gui Deng composed a stele for Chan Master Rang of Nanyue and listed several dharma grandsons after him, among them the name Tianwang Daowu. Guifeng, answering Chancellor Pei's letter on the purport of the school, listed six dharma heirs of Mazu, the first being Daowu of Jiangling. Quan Deyu composed Mazu's stupa inscription, which records eleven disciples including Huihai and Zhizang, and Daowu is one of them. Moreover Lü Xiaqing and Zhang Wujin, in their books, both state that Daowu was an heir of Mazu. The school has taken this to be an error. Yet Foguo Bai's Continued Record of the Lamp describes Xuedou Xian as the ninth-generation descendant of Daji, and the Zuyuan Tongyao Lu includes him as an heir of Mazu. Daguan Ying used Qiu Xuansu's stele to prove it, but was half doubting and half believing. It is probably that he saw only Qiu Xuansu's stele and did not see Fu Zai's stele. If we now compare the two steles, then Tianhuang Daowu should be taken as an heir of Shitou, with Huizhen, Wenji, and Youxian as his heirs; and among Mazu's dharma heirs there should be added Tianwang Daowu, with Longtan Chongxin as his heir. Only then is there no error.)

青原下三世

Third generation below Qingyuan

天皇悟禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Wu of Tianhuang

澧州龍潭崇信禪師

Chan Master Chongxin of Longtan in Lizhou

渚宮人也。其家賣餅。師少而英異。初悟和尚為靈鑒潛請居天皇寺。人莫之測。師家於寺巷。常日以十餅饋之。天皇受之。每食畢。常留一餅曰。吾惠汝以蔭子孫。師一日自唸曰。餅是我持去。何以返遺我邪。其別有旨乎。遂造而問焉。皇曰。是汝持來。復汝何咎。師聞之。頗曉玄旨。因投出家。皇曰。汝昔崇福善。今信吾言。可名崇信。由是服勤左右。一日問曰。某自到來。不蒙指示心要。皇曰。自汝到來。吾未甞不指汝心要。師曰。何處指示。皇曰。汝擎茶來。吾為汝接。汝行食來。吾為汝受。汝和南時。吾便低首。何處不指示心要。師低頭良久。皇曰。見則直下便見。擬思即差。師當下開解。復問。如何保任。皇曰。任性逍遙。隨緣放曠。但盡凡心。別無聖解。師後詣澧陽龍潭棲止。僧問。髻中珠誰人得。師曰。不賞玩者得。曰。安著何處。師曰。有處即道來。有尼問。如何得為僧去。師曰。作尼來多少時也。曰。還有為僧時也無。師曰。汝即今是甚麼。曰。現是尼身。何得不識。師曰。誰識汝。李翱刺史問。如何是真如般若。師曰。我無真如般若。李曰。幸遇和尚。師曰。此猶是分外之言。

He was a man of Zhugong. His family sold cakes. The master was young and outstanding. At first, when the monk Wu was secretly invited by Lingjian to reside at the Tianhuang Monastery, no one could fathom him. The master's home was in the lane by the monastery, and every day he presented ten cakes. Tianhuang accepted them, and after each meal he always kept one cake back, saying: 'I give it to you to shade your sons and grandsons.' One day the master thought to himself: 'The cakes are brought by me — why does he give one back to me? Can there be some other meaning?' So he went to the gate and asked. Huang said: 'It is you who brought them; what fault is there in returning one to you?' Hearing this the master understood something of the mysterious purport, and so he left home under him. Huang said: 'You formerly revered blessing and goodness, and now you believe my words; you may be named Chongxin, Revering Faith.' From then on he served at his side. One day he asked: 'Since I arrived, I have not received instruction in the essentials of mind.' Huang said: 'Since you arrived, I have never failed to point out to you the essentials of mind.' The master said: 'Where have you pointed them out?' Huang said: 'You bring me tea and I take it for you. You bring me food and I receive it for you. When you greet me with joined hands I bow my head. Where have I not pointed out the essentials of mind?' The master bowed his head and stood a long while. Huang said: 'If you see, you see it directly. As soon as you think, you miss it.' At that the master was immediately enlightened. He asked again: 'How is one to preserve it?' Huang said: 'Let your nature rove free and easy, follow conditions and be open and vast. Just exhaust the ordinary mind — there is no other sagely understanding.' The master later went to Longtan in Liyang and settled there. A monk asked: 'Who obtains the pearl in the topknot?' The master said: 'The one who does not prize it obtains it.' [The monk] said: 'Where is it placed?' The master said: 'If there is a place, say it.' A nun asked: 'How does one become a monk?' The master said: 'How long have you been a nun?' [She] said: 'Is there still a time when one becomes a monk?' The master said: 'What are you right now?' She said: 'I am presently a nun's body — how can you not recognize it?' The master said: 'Who recognizes you?' The prefect Li Ao asked: 'What is true suchness and prajna?' The master said: 'I have no true suchness and prajna.' Li said: 'It is my good fortune to meet the master.' The master said: 'That is still a remark beyond the mark.'

青原下四世

Fourth generation below Qingyuan

龍潭信禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Xin of Longtan

鼎州德山宣鑒禪師

Chan Master Xuanjian of Deshan in Dingzhou

簡州周氏子。丱歲出家。依年受具。精究律藏。於性相諸經。貫通旨趣。常講金剛般若。時謂之周金剛。甞謂同學曰。一毛吞海。海性無虧。纖芥投鋒。鋒利不動。學與無學。唯我知焉。後聞南方禪席頗盛。師氣不平。乃曰。出家兒千劫學佛威儀。萬劫學佛細行。不得成佛。南方魔子敢言直指人心。見性成佛。我當摟其窟穴。滅其種類。以報佛恩。遂擔青龍疏鈔出蜀。至澧陽路上。見一婆子賣餅。因息肩買餅點心。婆指擔曰。這箇是甚麼文字。師曰。青龍䟽鈔。婆曰。講何經。師曰。金剛經。婆曰。我有一問。你若答得。施與點心。若答不得。且別處去。金剛經道。過去心不可得。現在心不可得。未來心不可得。未審上座點那箇心。師無語。遂往龍潭。至法堂曰。久嚮龍潭。及乎到來。潭又不見。龍又不現。潭引身曰。子親到龍潭。師無語。遂棲止焉。一夕侍立次。潭曰。更深何不下去。師珍重便出。卻回曰。外面黑。潭點紙燭度與師。師擬接。潭復吹滅。師於此大悟。便禮拜。潭曰。子見箇甚麼。師曰。從今向去。更不疑天下老和尚舌頭也。至來日。龍潭陞座。謂眾曰。可中有箇漢。牙如劒樹。口似血盆。一棒打不回頭。他時向孤峰頂上。立吾道去在。師將疏鈔堆法堂前。舉火炬曰。窮諸玄辯。若一毫置於太虗。竭世樞機。似一滴投於巨壑。遂焚之。於是禮辭。直抵溈山。挾複子上法堂。從西過東。從東過西。顧視方丈曰。有麼。有麼。山坐次。殊不顧眄。師曰。無。無。便出至門首。乃曰。雖然如此。也不得草草。遂具威儀。再入相見。才跨門。提起坐具曰。和尚。山擬取拂子。師便喝。拂袖而出。溈山至晚問首座。今日新到在否。座曰。當時背卻法堂。著草鞋出去也。山曰。此子已後向孤峰頂上盤結草菴。呵佛罵祖去在。師住澧陽三十年。屬唐武宗廢教。避難於獨浮山之石室。大中初。

He was a son of the Zhou family of Jianzhou. He left home in childhood and received full ordination in due course. He studied the vinaya canon with care, and penetrated the purport of the sutras of nature and marks. He often lectured on the Diamond Prajna, and people of the time called him Zhou Jingang, Zhou the Diamond. He once said to a fellow student: 'A single hair swallows the sea, and the sea's nature loses nothing. A tiny mustard seed is placed on a blade's point, and the blade's sharpness does not move. Learning and non-learning — I alone know them.' Later he heard that the Chan seats in the south were flourishing greatly, and the master's spirit was not at peace. He said: 'One who has left home studies the Buddha's dignity for a thousand kalpas and the Buddha's fine conduct for ten thousand kalpas, and still cannot become a Buddha. Those devil's sons of the south dare to say that one should point directly at the human mind and see one's nature and become a Buddha. I shall go pull down their dens and wipe out their kind to repay the Buddha's grace.' So he shouldered his Qinglong Subcommentary and left Shu. On the road at Liyang he saw an old woman selling cakes, so he put down his load and bought a cake for a meal. The old woman pointed at his load and said: 'What writing is this?' The master said: 'The Qinglong Subcommentary.' The old woman said: 'What sutra does it expound?' The master said: 'The Diamond Sutra.' The old woman said: 'I have a question. If you can answer it, I will give you the cake. If you cannot, go elsewhere. The Diamond Sutra says: The mind of the past cannot be grasped, the mind of the present cannot be grasped, the mind of the future cannot be grasped. I wonder which mind the senior monk means to refresh?' The master was speechless. He then went to Longtan. Arriving at the dharma hall, he said: 'I have long heard of Longtan, but now that I have arrived, the pool is not seen and the dragon does not appear.' Tan drew himself up and said: 'You have personally arrived at Longtan.' The master was speechless, and so he settled there. One evening, as he stood in attendance, Tan said: 'It is late — why do you not go down?' The master said 'Take care', and went out, then came back and said: 'It is dark outside.' Tan lit a paper candle and handed it to the master. The master was about to take it, and Tan blew it out. At this the master was greatly awakened and bowed. Tan said: 'What have you seen?' The master said: 'From now on I will never again doubt the tongues of the old monks under heaven.' The next day Longtan ascended the seat and said to the assembly: 'Among you there is a fellow with teeth like a sword forest and a mouth like a blood basin; strike him with a staff and he will not turn his head. In time he will go to the summit of a lone peak and establish my Way there.' The master piled his subcommentary before the dharma hall, lifted up a torch, and said: 'Exhausting all mysterious disputation is like placing a hair in the vast void. Draining the world's pivots and mechanisms is like casting a drop into a great gulf.' He then burned it. He then took his leave with bows and went straight to Weishan. Carrying his bundle, he entered the dharma hall, went from west to east and east to west, looked at the abbot's quarters, and said: 'Is there anyone, is there anyone?' Weishan sat there and did not deign to glance at him. The master said: 'No, no.' He went out to the doorway and said: 'Even so, one should not be careless.' So he composed himself with full dignity and entered again to meet him. As soon as he crossed the threshold he lifted his sitting cloth and said: 'Master!' Weishan was about to pick up his whisk, and the master shouted, shook out his sleeves, and went out. In the evening Weishan asked the first seat: 'Is the newcomer still here today?' The seat said: 'At the time he turned his back on the dharma hall and went out in his straw sandals.' Shan said: 'This fellow will later coil up a thatched hut on a lone peak's summit and scold the Buddhas and revile the patriarchs.' The master resided in Liyang for thirty years. When Emperor Wuzong of the Tang abolished the teaching, he took refuge in a stone chamber on Mount Dufu. In the early Dazhong era,

武陵太守薛廷望再崇德山精舍。號古德禪院。將訪求哲匠住持。聆師道行。屢請不下山。廷望乃設詭計。遣吏以茶鹽誣之。言犯禁法。取師入州。瞻禮。堅請居之。大闡宗風。上堂。若也於己無事。則勿妄求。妄求而得。亦非得也。汝但無事於心。無心於事。則虗而靈。空而妙。若毛端許。言之本末者。皆為自欺。何故。毫氂繫念。三塗業因。瞥爾情生。萬劫羈鎻。聖名凡號。盡是虗聲。殊相劣形。皆為幻色。汝欲求之。得無累乎。及其厭之。又成大患。終而無益。小參示眾曰。今夜不答話。問話者三十棒。時有僧出禮拜。師便打。僧曰。某甲話也未問。和尚因甚麼打某甲。師曰。汝是甚麼處人。曰。新羅人。師曰。未跨船舷。好與三十棒(法眼雲。大小德山話作兩橛。玄覺雲。叢林中喚作隔下語。且從祇如德山道。問話者三十棒。意作麼生)。僧參。師問維那。今日幾人新到。曰。八人。師曰。喚來。一時生按著。龍牙問。學人仗鏌鎁劒擬取師頭時如何。師引頸近前。曰。㘞(法眼別雲。汝向甚麼處下手)。牙曰。頭落也。師呵呵大笑。牙後到洞山。舉前話。山曰。德山道甚麼。牙曰。德山無語。洞曰。莫道無語。且將德山落底頭呈似老僧看。牙方省。便懺謝。有僧舉似師。師曰。洞山老人不識好惡。這漢死來多少時。救得有甚麼用處。僧問。如何是菩提。師打曰。出去。莫向這裡屙。問。如何是佛。師曰。佛是西天老比丘。雪峰問。從上宗乘。學人還有分也無。師打一棒曰。道甚麼。曰。不會。至明日請益。師曰。我宗無語句。實無一法與人。峰因此有省。巖頭聞之曰。德山老人一條脊梁骨硬似鐵。抝不折。然雖如此。於唱教門中。猶較些子(保福問招慶。祇如巖頭出世。有何言教過於德山。便恁麼道。慶雲。汝不見巖頭道。如人學射。久久方中。福雲。中後如何。慶雲。展闍黎。莫不識痛癢。福雲。

(Continuing:) The prefect of Wuling, Xue Tingwang, restored the Deshan retreat and named it the Gude Chan Cloister, and sought a wise master to reside there. Hearing of the master's practice of the Way, he invited him repeatedly, but he would not come down from the mountain. Tingwang then set a trap: he sent an official to frame him over tea and salt, saying he had violated the prohibition laws, and had the master taken into the prefecture. After paying him reverence, he earnestly asked him to reside there. The master greatly spread the school's style. He ascended the hall: 'If you have no business of your own, then do not seek wildly. What is got by wild seeking is still not getting. Just have no business in your mind and no mind in your business, and then you will be empty and spiritual, void and wondrous. Anyone who speaks of the beginning and end of things by so much as a hair's tip is deceiving himself. Why? A thought tied to a hair's breadth is the karmic cause of the three evil paths. A feeling arising in a flash is a fetter for ten thousand kalpas. The names of sage and ordinary are all empty sounds. Extraordinary marks and inferior forms are all illusory colour. If you seek them, will you not be burdened? And when you weary of them, that becomes a great calamity. In the end there is no benefit.' At a minor gathering he addressed the assembly: 'Tonight I will not answer questions. Whoever asks a question gets thirty blows.' At that a monk came forward and bowed, and the master struck him. The monk said: 'I have not even asked a question — why does the master strike me?' The master said: 'Where are you from?' He said: 'A man of Silla.' The master said: 'Before you crossed the boat's gunwale, you deserved thirty blows.' (Fayan said: 'Deshan, great or small, splits his words into two halves.' Xuanjue said: 'In the monastery this is called a phrase that cuts off. Let that be. Tell me, what was Deshan's meaning when he said that whoever asks a question gets thirty blows?') A monk came to call. The master asked the director of affairs: 'How many newcomers are there today?' He said: 'Eight.' The master said: 'Call them, and I will press them all down alive.' Longya asked: 'What about when a student brandishes a Moye sword to take the master's head?' The master stretched out his neck and came forward, saying: 'Hey.' (Fayan said differently: 'Where will you strike?') Ya said: 'The head has fallen.' The master laughed heartily. Later Ya went to Dongshan and brought up the earlier words. Shan said: 'What did Deshan say?' Ya said: 'Deshan said nothing.' Dongshan said: 'Do not say he said nothing. Just bring me the head that fell from Deshan and show it to this old monk.' Ya then awoke, and repented. A monk brought this up to the master. The master said: 'Old man Dongshan does not know good from bad. How long has this fellow been dead? What use is it to save him?' A monk asked: 'What is bodhi?' The master struck him and said: 'Get out. Do not relieve yourself here.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The Buddha is an old monk of the Western Heaven.' Xuefeng asked: 'In the patriarchal teaching handed down from above, has a student any share?' The master gave him a blow with his staff and said: 'What are you saying?' [Feng] said: 'I do not understand.' The next day he asked for instruction. The master said: 'My school has no phrases; truly there is not a single dharma to give to anyone.' Feng was awakened by this. Yantou heard of it and said: 'Old man Deshan's backbone is hard as iron and cannot be bent. Yet even so, in the gate of proclaiming the teaching he is still a notch short.' (Baofu asked Zhaoqing: 'When Yantou appeared in the world, what teaching did he have that surpassed Deshan, that he spoke like this?' Qing said: 'Have you not heard Yantou say: it is like a man learning archery — after a long time he hits.' Fu said: 'What about after hitting?' Qing said: 'Zhan, Acharya, can it be you do not know ache or itch?' Fu said:

和尚今日非唯舉話。慶雲。展闍黎是甚麼心行。明招雲。大小招慶。錯下名言)。示眾曰。道得也三十棒。道不得也三十棒。臨濟聞得。謂洛浦曰。汝去問他。道得為甚麼也三十棒。待伊打汝。接住棒送一送。看伊作麼生。浦如教而問。師便打。浦接住送一送。師便歸方丈。浦回舉似臨濟。濟曰。我從來疑著這漢。雖然如是。你還識德山麼。浦擬議。濟便打(巖頭雲。德山老人尋常秖據一條白棒。佛來亦打。祖來亦打。爭奈較些子。東禪齊雲。祇如臨濟道。我從前疑著這漢。是肯底語。不肯底語。為當別有道理。試斷看)。上堂。問即有過。不問猶乖。有僧出禮拜。師便打。僧曰。某甲始禮拜。為甚麼便打。師曰。待汝開口。堪作甚麼。師令侍者喚義存(即雪峰也)。存上來。師曰。我自喚義存。汝又來作甚麼。存無對。上堂。我先祖見處即不然。這裡無祖無佛。達磨是老臊胡。釋迦老子是乾屎橛。文殊普賢是擔屎漢。等覺妙覺是破執凡夫。菩提涅槃是繫驢橛。十二分教是鬼神簿．拭瘡疣紙。四果三賢．初心十地是守古塚鬼。自救不了。有僧相看。乃近前作相撲勢。師曰。與麼無禮。合吃山僧手裡棒。僧拂袖便行。師曰。饒汝如是。也祇得一半。僧轉身便喝。師打曰。須是我打你始得。曰。諸方有明眼人在。師曰。天然有眼。僧擘開眼曰。貓。便出。師曰。黃河三千年一度清。師見僧來。乃閉門。其僧敲門。師曰。阿誰。曰。師子兒。師乃開門。僧禮拜。師騎僧項曰。這畜生甚處去來。雪峰問。南泉斬貓兒。意旨如何。師乃打趂。卻喚曰。會麼。峰曰。不會。師曰。我恁麼老婆心。也不會。僧問。凡聖相去多少。師便喝。師因疾。僧問。還有不病者也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是不病者。師曰。阿㖿。阿㖿。師復告眾曰。捫空追響。勞汝心神。夢覺覺非。竟有何事。言訖。安坐而化。

(Continuing:) 'The master today did not merely bring up a phrase.' Qing said: 'Zhan, Acharya, what sort of mind is this?' Mingzhao said: 'Zhaoqing, great or small, has made a wrong pronouncement.' ) He addressed the assembly: 'Speak it and you get thirty blows; do not speak it and you get thirty blows.' Linji heard of this and said to Luopu: 'Go and ask him why one who speaks it also gets thirty blows. When he strikes you, catch the staff and push it back, and see what he does.' Pu did as instructed and asked. The master struck him. Pu caught the staff and pushed it back. The master then returned to the abbot's quarters. Pu went back and told Linji. Ji said: 'I have always been suspicious of this fellow. Even so, do you recognize Deshan?' As Pu hesitated, Ji struck him. (Yantou said: 'Old man Deshan ordinarily relies on just one bare staff: when a Buddha comes he strikes, when a patriarch comes he strikes. Yet he is still a notch short.' Dongchan Qi said: 'As for Linji's saying 'I have always been suspicious of this fellow', is it a word of approval or of disapproval, or is there some other principle? Try to decide.') He ascended the hall: 'To ask is already a fault; not to ask is still to stray.' A monk came forward and bowed, and the master struck him. The monk said: 'I have only just bowed — why do you strike me?' The master said: 'What use would you be once you opened your mouth?' The master told an attendant to call Yicun, that is Xuefeng. Cun came up. The master said: 'I called Yicun myself — what have you come for?' Cun had no reply. He ascended the hall: 'The view of my patriarchal predecessors was not like this. Here there is no patriarch and no Buddha. Bodhidharma is an old stinking barbarian; Shakyamuni is a dried shit stick; Manjushri and Samantabhadra are dung carriers; the equal-enlightenment and wondrous-enlightenment ones are ordinary men who cling to views; bodhi and nirvana are stakes to tie donkeys to; the twelve divisions of the teaching are ghost ledgers and paper for wiping sores; the four fruits and three worthy stages, the beginner's mind and the ten grounds, are ghosts guarding old tombs who cannot save themselves.' A monk came to look at him and then came forward with a wrestling stance. The master said: 'Such rudeness deserves the staff in this mountain monk's hand.' The monk shook out his sleeves and started to go. The master said: 'Even so, you have only half.' The monk turned around and shouted. The master struck him and said: 'It must be I who strike you before it counts.' [The monk] said: 'There are clear-eyed men in every quarter.' The master said: 'Naturally there are eyes.' The monk opened his eyes wide and said: 'Cat.' And went out. The master said: 'The Yellow River clears once in three thousand years.' Seeing a monk approach, the master closed the door. The monk knocked. The master said: 'Who is it?' He said: 'A lion's cub.' The master then opened the door. The monk bowed. The master rode on the monk's neck and said: 'You beast, where have you been?' Xuefeng asked: 'What was the meaning of Nanquan cutting the cat?' The master struck him and drove him off, then called him and said: 'Do you understand?' Feng said: 'I do not.' The master said: 'With such grandmotherly kindness as mine, you still do not understand.' A monk asked: 'How far apart are ordinary and sage?' The master shouted. When the master fell ill, a monk asked: 'Is there still one who is not ill?' The master said: 'There is.' [The monk] said: 'What is the one who is not ill?' The master said: 'Oh, oh.' The master then told the assembly: 'Grasping at emptiness and chasing echoes wearies your spirit. When the dream is awakened you know it was not so — what matter is there after all?' Having spoken, he sat at ease and passed away.

即唐咸通六年十二月三日也。諡見性禪師。

It was the third day of the twelfth month of the sixth year of Xiantong of the Tang. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Jianxing, Seeing the Nature.

洪州泐潭寶峰和尚

The Reverend Baofeng of Letan in Hongzhou

新到參。師問。其中事即易道。不落其中事始終難道。曰。某甲在途中時。便知有此一問。師曰。更與二十年行腳。也不較多。曰。莫不契和尚意麼。師曰。苦瓜那堪待客。問僧。古人有一路接後進初心。汝還知否。曰。請師指出古人一路。師曰。恁麼則闍黎知了也。曰。頭上更安頭。師曰。寶峰不合問仁者。曰。問又何妨。師曰。這裡不曾有人亂說道理。出去。巖頭僧來參。師竪起拂子曰。落在此機底人。未具眼在。僧擬近前。師曰。恰落在此機。僧回舉似巖頭。頭曰。我當時若見。奪卻拂子。看他作麼生。師聞乃曰。我竪起拂子從伊奪。總不將物時又作麼生。巖頭聞得。又曰。無星秤子。有甚辨處。

A newcomer came to call. The master said: 'The matter within it is easy to speak of; the matter that does not fall within it is hard to speak of from beginning to end.' [The newcomer] said: 'While I was on the road, I already knew there would be this question.' The master said: 'Another twenty years of pilgrimage would not be much more.' [The newcomer] said: 'Does it not accord with the master's meaning?' The master said: 'How can a bitter melon serve a guest?' He asked a monk: 'The ancients had a road to receive later students and beginners — do you know it?' [The monk] said: 'Please, master, point out the ancients' road.' The master said: 'Then you know it, Acharya.' [The monk] said: 'Adding a head on top of a head.' The master said: 'Baofeng should not have asked you.' [The monk] said: 'What harm is there in asking?' The master said: 'No one here has ever spoken recklessly of principle. Get out.' A monk from Yantou's place came to call. The master raised his whisk and said: 'Anyone who falls into this device does not yet have the eye.' The monk was about to come forward. The master said: 'He has just fallen into this device.' The monk went back and told Yantou. Tou said: 'If I had seen it at the time, I would have snatched the whisk away and seen what he did.' The master heard of this and said: 'I raise the whisk for him to snatch. What about when he holds nothing at all?' Yantou heard of this too and said: 'A scale with no stars — what can it weigh?'

青原下五世

Fifth generation below Qingyuan

德山鑒禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Jian of Deshan

鄂州巖頭全奯禪師

Chan Master Quantuo of Yantou in Ezhou

泉州柯氏子。少禮青原誼公。落髮往長安寶壽寺。稟戒習經律諸部。優遊禪苑。與雪峰．欽山為友。自杭州大慈山邐迤造於臨濟。屬濟歸寂。乃謁仰山。才入門。提起坐具曰。和尚。仰山取拂子擬舉。師曰。不妨好手。後參德山。執坐具上法堂瞻視。山曰。作麼。師便喝。山曰。老僧過在甚麼處。師曰。兩重公案。乃下參堂。山曰。這箇阿師稍似箇行腳人。至來日上問訊。山曰。闍黎是昨日新到否。曰。是。山曰。甚麼處學得這虗頭來。師曰。全奯終不自謾。山曰。他後不得孤負老僧。一日。參德山。方跨門便問。是凡是聖。山便喝。師禮拜。有人舉似洞山。山曰。若不是奯公。大難承當。師曰。洞山老人不識好惡。錯下名言。我當時一手擡。一手搦。雪峰在德山作飯頭。一日飯遲。德山擎缽下法堂。峰曬飯巾次。見德山乃曰。鐘未鳴。鼓未響。拓缽向甚麼處去。德山便歸方丈。峰舉似師。師曰。大小德山未會末後句在。山聞。令侍者喚師去。問。汝不肯老僧那。師密啟其意。山乃休。明日陞堂。果與尋常不同。師至僧堂前。拊掌大笑曰。且喜堂頭老漢會末後句。他後天下人不奈伊何。雖然。也秖得三年活(山果三年後示滅)。一日。與雪峰．欽山聚話。峰驀指一椀水。欽曰。水清月現。峰曰。水清月不現。師踢卻水碗而去。師與雪峰同辭德山。山問。甚麼處去。師曰。暫辭和尚下山去。曰。子他後作麼生。師曰。不忘。曰。子憑何有此說。師曰。豈不聞。智過於師。方堪傳受。智與師齊。減師半德。曰。如是如是。當善護持。二士禮拜而退。師住鄂州巖頭。值沙汰。於湖邊作渡子。兩岸各掛一板。有人過渡。打板一下。師曰。阿誰。或曰。要過那邊去。師乃舞棹迎之。一日。因一婆抱一孩兒來。乃曰。呈橈舞棹即不問。且道婆手中兒甚處得來。師便打。婆曰。婆生七子。六箇不遇知音。秖這一箇。

He was a son of the Ke family of Quanzhou. In his youth he paid reverence to Duke Yi of Qingyuan, and after shaving his head he went to the Baoshou Monastery in Chang'an, received the precepts, and studied the several divisions of sutra and vinaya, roaming at ease in the Chan groves. He was a friend of Xuefeng and Qinshan. From Mount Daci in Hangzhou he made his way to Linji, but arrived after Linji had already passed into stillness, so he paid homage to Yangshan. As soon as he entered the gate he lifted his sitting cloth and said: 'Master!' Yangshan picked up his whisk as if to raise it. The master said: 'You are indeed a skilled hand.' Later he called on Deshan. Holding his sitting cloth, he went up to the dharma hall and looked around. Shan said: 'What are you doing?' The master shouted. Shan said: 'Where is this old monk's fault?' The master said: 'A double public case.' He then went down to the assembly hall. Shan said: 'This teacher is rather like a pilgrim.' The next day he went up to greet him. Shan said: 'Are you the newcomer of yesterday, Acharya?' He said: 'Yes.' Shan said: 'Where did you learn this empty-headedness?' The master said: 'Quantuo never deceives himself.' Shan said: 'Do not fail this old monk in the future.' One day he called on Deshan, and as soon as he crossed the threshold he asked: 'Ordinary or sage?' Shan shouted. The master bowed. Someone brought this up to Dongshan. Shan said: 'Were it not for Master Tuo, it would be very hard to bear.' The master said: 'Old man Dongshan does not know good from bad and makes wrong pronouncements. At the time I lifted with one hand and grasped with the other.' Xuefeng was the cook at Deshan's place. One day the meal was late, and Deshan came down to the dharma hall holding his bowl. Feng was spreading out the rice cloth, and seeing Deshan he said: 'The bell has not sounded and the drum has not been struck — where are you taking your bowl?' Deshan then returned to the abbot's quarters. Feng told the master. The master said: 'Deshan, great or small, has not understood the last phrase.' Shan heard of it, had an attendant call the master, and asked: 'Do you not agree with this old monk?' The master secretly told him his meaning, and Shan then let it rest. The next day he ascended the hall, and indeed it was different from usual. The master went to the front of the monks' hall, clapped his hands, and laughed aloud: 'I am delighted that the old man at the head of the hall understands the last phrase. In the future no one under heaven will be able to do anything with him. Even so, he has only three more years to live.' (Deshan did indeed pass away three years later.) One day he was gathered in conversation with Xuefeng and Qinshan. Feng suddenly pointed at a bowl of water. Qin said: 'When the water is clear the moon appears.' Feng said: 'When the water is clear the moon does not appear.' The master kicked over the water bowl and left. The master and Xuefeng took leave of Deshan together. Shan asked: 'Where are you going?' The master said: 'We take leave of the master for a while and go down the mountain.' [Shan] said: 'What will you do afterward?' The master said: 'We will not forget.' [Shan] said: 'On what basis do you say this?' The master said: 'Have you not heard: only when wisdom surpasses the teacher's can one receive the transmission; when wisdom equals the teacher's, one halves the teacher's virtue.' [Shan] said: 'So it is, so it is. You should guard it well.' The two bowed and withdrew. The master resided at Yantou in Ezhou. When the persecution came, he worked as a ferryman on the lake. He hung a board on each shore. When someone wanted to cross he struck the board once. The master said: 'Who is it?' Or [the person] said: 'I want to go to the other shore.' The master then danced his oar to welcome him. One day an old woman came carrying a child and said: 'Presenting the oar and dancing it I do not ask about. But tell me, where did the old woman get the child in her arms?' The master struck her. The old woman said: 'The old woman has borne seven children; six never met one who knew the tune. Only this one

也不消得。便拋向水中。師後庵於洞庭臥龍山。徒侶臻萃。僧問。無師還有出身處也無。師曰。聲前古毳爛。問。堂堂來時如何。師曰。刺破眼。上堂。吾甞究涅槃經七八年。覩三兩段義似衲僧說話。又曰。休。休。時有一僧出禮拜。請師舉。師曰。吾教意如【圖：X80p0144_01.gif】

(Continuing:) 'is not worth keeping either.' She threw it into the water. The master later made a hut on Wolong Mountain by Lake Dongting, and students gathered in crowds. A monk asked: 'Has one without a teacher still a place to come forth from?' The master said: 'Before the sound, ancient down is rotten.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one comes in full dignity?' The master said: 'You pierce the eye.' He ascended the hall: 'I once studied the Nirvana Sutra for seven or eight years, and saw two or three passages whose meaning was like the speech of a patch-robed monk.' He also said: 'Enough, enough.' At that a monk came forward and bowed, asking the master to expound. The master said: 'The meaning of my teaching is like the character [a diagram originally stood here in the base text, now lost]

字三點。第一向東方下一點。點開諸菩薩眼。第二向西方下一點。點諸菩薩命根。第三向上方下一點。點諸菩薩頂。此是第一段義。又曰。吾教意如摩醯首羅。擘開面門。竪亞一隻眼。此是第二段義。又曰。吾教意猶如塗毒鼓。擊一聲遠近聞者皆喪。此是第三段義。時小嚴上座問。如何是塗毒皷。師以兩手按膝。亞身曰。韓信臨朝底。嚴無語。夾山下一僧到石霜。才跨門便道。不審。霜曰。不必。闍黎。僧曰。恁麼則珍重。又到師處。如前道不審。師噓一噓。僧曰。恁麼則珍重。方回步。師曰。雖是後生。亦能管帶。其僧歸。舉似夾山。山上堂曰。前日到巖頭．石霜底阿師出來。如法舉似前話。其僧舉了。山曰。大眾還會麼。眾無對。山曰。若無人道得。山僧不惜兩莖眉毛道去也。乃曰。石霜雖有殺人刀。且無活人劒。巖頭亦有殺人刀。亦有活人劍。師與羅山卜塔基。羅山中路忽曰。和尚。師回顧曰。作麼。山舉手指曰。這裡好片地。師咄曰。瓜州賣瓜漢。又行數裡歇次。山禮拜問曰。和尚豈不是三十年前在洞山而不肯洞山。師曰。是。又曰。和尚豈不是嗣德山又不肯德山。師曰。是。山曰。不肯德山即不問。祇如洞山有何虧闕。師良久曰。洞山好佛。祇是無光。山禮拜。僧問。利劍斬天下。誰是當頭者。師曰。暗。僧擬再問。師咄曰。這鈍漢出去。問。不歷古今時如何。師曰。卓朔地。曰。古今事如何。師曰。任爛。問僧。甚處來。曰。西京來。師曰。黃巢過後。還收得劒麼。曰。收得。師引頸近前曰。㘞。曰。師頭落也。師呵呵大笑。僧後到雪峰。峰問。甚處來。曰。巖頭來。峰曰。巖頭有何言句。僧舉前話。峰便打三十棒。趂出。問。二龍爭珠。誰是得者。師曰。俱錯。僧問雪峰。聲聞人見性。如夜見月。菩薩人見性。如晝見日。未審和尚見性如何。峰打拄杖三下。僧後舉前語問師。師與三摑。問。

(The master continued:) 'with three dots. The first places a dot toward the east, opening the eyes of all bodhisattvas. The second places a dot toward the west, dotting the life root of all bodhisattvas. The third places a dot above, dotting the crown of all bodhisattvas. This is the first passage of meaning.' He also said: 'The meaning of my teaching is like Maheshvara, who splits open his face and sets up a single eye. This is the second passage of meaning.' He also said: 'The meaning of my teaching is like a drum smeared with poison: strike it once, and all who hear it near or far die. This is the third passage of meaning.' At that the senior monk Xiaoyan asked: 'What is the drum smeared with poison?' The master pressed both hands on his knees, leaned his body, and said: 'What Han Xin faced at court.' Yan was speechless. A monk from under Jiashan came to Shishuang, and as soon as he crossed the threshold he said: 'Greetings.' Shuang said: 'No need, Acharya.' The monk said: 'Then take care.' He then went to the master's place and said 'Greetings' as before. The master hissed at him. The monk said: 'Then take care.' As he was turning back, the master said: 'Though he is young, he can keep himself in hand.' The monk returned and told Jiashan. Shan ascended the hall and said: 'Let the teacher who went to Yantou and Shishuang the day before yesterday come forward and relate the earlier words as is proper.' The monk related them. Shan said: 'Does the assembly understand?' The assembly had no reply. Shan said: 'If no one can speak, this mountain monk will not begrudge his two eyebrows and will speak.' He then said: 'Shishuang has the sword that kills, but no sword that gives life. Yantou has both the sword that kills and the sword that gives life.' The master and Luoshan were choosing a site for a stupa. In the middle of the road Luoshan suddenly said: 'Master.' The master turned his head and said: 'What?' Shan raised his hand and pointed, saying: 'This is a fine piece of ground.' The master spat: 'You melon-selling fellow of Guazhou.' After walking a few more li they rested, and Shan bowed and asked: 'Was the master not the one who thirty years ago was at Dongshan and did not agree with Dongshan?' The master said: 'Yes.' He also said: 'Was the master not the heir of Deshan and yet did not agree with Deshan?' The master said: 'Yes.' Shan said: 'Not agreeing with Deshan I do not ask about. What was lacking in Dongshan?' After a long pause the master said: 'Dongshan was a good Buddha, only he had no light.' Shan bowed. A monk asked: 'When a sharp sword cuts through the world, who is the one who faces it?' The master said: 'Dark.' The monk was about to ask again. The master spat: 'You dull fellow, get out.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one does not pass through past and present?' The master said: 'Upright and bare.' [The monk] said: 'What of the matters of past and present?' The master said: 'Let them rot.' He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From the Western Capital.' The master said: 'After Huang Chao passed, did you still get a sword?' He said: 'I got one.' The master stretched out his neck and came forward, saying: 'Hey.' [The monk] said: 'The master's head has fallen.' The master laughed heartily. The monk later went to Xuefeng. Feng asked: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From Yantou.' Feng said: 'What words did Yantou have?' The monk brought up the earlier words. Feng gave him thirty blows and drove him out. [A monk] asked: 'In two dragons fighting over a pearl, who gets it?' The master said: 'Both are wrong.' A monk asked Xuefeng: 'For a hearer of the teaching to see the nature is like seeing the moon at night. For a bodhisattva to see the nature is like seeing the sun by day. I wonder how the master sees the nature?' Feng struck the staff three times. The monk later brought up these words and asked the master. The master gave him three slaps. He asked:

如何是三界主。師曰。汝還解吃鐵棒麼。德山一日謂師曰。我這裡有兩僧入山。住庵多時。汝去看他怎生。師遂將一斧去。見兩人在庵內坐。師乃拈起斧曰。道得也一下斧。道不得也一下斧。二人殊不顧。師擲下斧曰。作家。作家。歸。舉似德山。山曰。汝道他如何。師曰。洞山門下不道全無。若是德山門下。未夢見在。僧參。於左邊作一圓相。又於右邊作一圓相。又於中心作一圓相。欲成未成。被師以手一撥。僧無語。師便喝。出。僧欲跨門。師卻喚回。問。汝是洪州觀音來否。曰。是。師曰。祇如適來左邊一圓相作麼生。曰。是有句。師曰。右邊圓相聻。曰。是無句。師曰。中心圓相作麼生。曰。是不有不無句。師曰。祇如吾與麼又作麼生。曰。如刀畫水。師便打。瑞巖問。如何是毗盧師。師曰。道甚麼。巖再問。師曰。汝年十七八。未問弓折箭盡時如何。師曰。去。問。如何是巖中的的意。師曰。謝指示。曰。請和尚答話。師曰。珍重。問。三界競起時如何。師曰。坐卻著。曰。未審師意如何。師曰。移取廬山來。即向汝道。問。起滅不停時如何。師喝曰。是誰起滅。問。輪中不得轉時如何。師曰。澁。問。路逢猛虎時如何。師曰。拶。問。如何是道。師曰。破草鞋。與拋向湖裡著。問。萬丈井中如何得到底。師曰。吽。僧再問。師曰。腳下過也。問。古帆未掛時如何。師曰。小魚吞大魚。又僧如前問。師曰。後園驢吃草。邇後人或問佛．問法．問道．問禪者。師皆作噓聲。師甞謂眾曰。老漢去時。大吼一聲了去。唐光啟之後。中原盜起。眾皆避地。師端居晏如也。一日賊大至。責以無供饋。遂倳刃焉。師神色自若。大呌一聲而終。聲聞數十里。即光啟三年丁未四月八日也。門人後焚之。獲舍利四十九粒。眾為起塔。諡清嚴禪師。

(The monk continued his question:) 'What is the lord of the three realms?' The master said: 'Do you know how to eat an iron rod?' One day Deshan said to the master: 'I have two monks here who went into the mountains and have lived in a hut a long time. Go and see how they are.' The master then took an axe and went. He saw the two men sitting inside the hut. The master picked up the axe and said: 'Speak and you get one axe blow; do not speak and you get one axe blow.' The two paid him no attention at all. The master threw down the axe and said: 'Adepts, adepts.' He returned and told Deshan. Shan said: 'What do you say they are?' The master said: 'Under Dongshan's gate I would not say there is nothing at all. But under Deshan's gate, they have not even dreamed of it.' A monk came to call and drew a circle on the left, then a circle on the right, then a circle in the centre, and as he was about to complete it, the master brushed it aside with his hand. The monk was speechless. The master shouted, and he went out. As the monk was about to cross the threshold, the master called him back and asked: 'Have you come from Guanyin in Hongzhou?' He said: 'Yes.' The master said: 'What about the circle you made on the left just now?' He said: 'It is the phrase of existence.' The master said: 'And the circle on the right?' He said: 'It is the phrase of non-existence.' The master said: 'What about the circle in the centre?' He said: 'It is the phrase of neither existence nor non-existence.' The master said: 'And what about what I do like this?' He said: 'It is like drawing on water with a knife.' The master then struck him. Ruiyan asked: 'What is Vairocana's teacher?' The master said: 'What are you saying?' Yan asked again. The master said: 'You are seventeen or eighteen years old.' He also asked: 'What about when the bow is broken and the arrows are gone?' The master said: 'Go.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the true meaning in the cliffs?' The master said: 'Thank you for pointing it out.' [The monk] said: 'Please, master, answer.' The master said: 'Take care.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the three realms rise up in contention?' The master said: 'Sit it down.' [The monk] said: 'I wonder what the master's meaning is?' The master said: 'Bring Mount Lu here and I will tell you.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when arising and ceasing do not stop?' The master shouted: 'Who is it that arises and ceases?' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one cannot turn in the wheel?' The master said: 'It is stuck.' [A monk] asked: 'What about meeting a fierce tiger on the road?' The master said: 'Press in.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'A broken straw sandal — throw it into the lake.' [A monk] asked: 'How does one reach the bottom of a ten-thousand-fathom well?' The master said: 'Hum.' The monk asked again. The master said: 'You have already passed by beneath your feet.' [A monk] asked: 'What about before the ancient sail is hoisted?' The master said: 'A small fish swallows a big fish.' Another monk asked the same as before. The master said: 'In the back garden the donkey eats grass.' After this, whenever anyone asked about Buddha, dharma, the Way, or Chan, the master made a hissing sound. The master once told the assembly: 'When this old fellow goes, he will go with one great roar.' After the Guangqi era of the Tang, bandits rose in the central plains and everyone fled the region, but the master sat at ease as always. One day the bandits arrived in force and demanded provisions he could not supply, so they stabbed him with a blade. The master's countenance was unchanged; he gave one great cry and died, and the sound was heard for several tens of li. It was the eighth day of the fourth month of the dingwei year, the third year of Guangqi. Later his disciples cremated him and obtained forty-nine relics. The assembly raised a stupa for him. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Qingyan, Pure and Solemn.

福州雪峰義存禪師

Chan Master Yicun of Xuefeng in Fuzhou

泉州南安曾氏子。家世奉佛。師生惡葷茹。於襁褓中聞鐘梵之聲。或見幡花像設。必為之動容。年十二。從其父遊莆田玉㵎寺。見慶玄律師。遽拜曰。我師也。遂留侍焉。十七落髮。謁芙蓉常照大師。照撫而器之。後往幽州寶剎寺受戒。久歷禪會。緣契德山。唐咸通中回閩中雪峰創院。徒侶翕然。懿宗錫號真覺禪師。仍賜紫袈裟。初與巖頭至澧州鼇山鎮阻雪。頭每日祇是打睡。師一向坐禪。一日喚曰。師兄。師兄。且起來。頭曰。作甚麼。師曰。今生不著便。共文邃箇漢行腳。到處被他帶累。今日到此。又祇管打睡。頭喝曰。噇。眠去。每日床上坐。恰似七村裡土地。他時後日魔魅人家男女去在。師自點胸曰。我這裡未穩在。不敢自謾。頭曰。我將謂你他日向孤峰頂上盤結草菴。播揚大教。猶作這箇語話。師曰。我實未穩在。頭曰。你若實如此。據你見處一一通來。是處與你證明。不是處與你剗卻。師曰。我初到鹽官。見上堂舉色空義。得箇入處。頭曰。此去三十年。切忌舉著。又見洞山過水偈曰。切忌從他覓。迢迢與我疎。渠今正是我。我今不是渠。頭曰。若與麼。自救也未徹在。師又曰。後問德山。從上宗乘中事。學人還有分也無。德山打一棒曰。道甚麼。我當時如桶底脫相似。頭喝曰。你不聞道。從門入者不是家珍。師曰。他後如何即是。頭曰。他後若欲播揚大教。一一從自己𮌎襟流出。將來與我蓋天蓋地去。師於言下大悟。便作禮起。連聲呌曰。師兄。今日始是鼇山成道。師在洞山作飯頭。淘米次。山問。淘沙去米。淘米去沙。師曰。沙米一時去。山曰。大眾吃箇甚麼。師遂覆卻米盆。山曰。據子因緣。合在德山。洞山一日問師。作甚麼來。師曰。斫槽來。山曰。幾斧斫成。師曰。一斧斫成。山曰。猶是這邊事。那邊事作麼生。師曰。直得無下手處。山曰。猶是這邊事。那邊事作麼生。

He was a son of the Zeng family of Nan'an in Quanzhou. His family had venerated the Buddha for generations. From birth the master loathed meat and vegetables; in his swaddling clothes, when he heard the sound of bells and chanting, or saw banners, flowers, and images set out, he would always be moved in countenance. At twelve he went with his father to the Yujian Monastery in Putian and saw Vinaya Master Qingxuan, and at once bowed and said: 'This is my teacher.' So he stayed to serve him. At seventeen he shaved his head and paid homage to Great Master Changzhao of Furong. Zhao patted him and thought him capable. He later went to the Baocha Monastery in Youzhou to receive the precepts. He long frequented Chan assemblies, and his affinity matched Deshan. In the Xiantong era of the Tang he returned to Min and founded a cloister at Xuefeng, and students gathered in swarms. Emperor Yizong bestowed on him the title Chan Master Zhenjue, and also granted him a purple robe. At first he and Yantou came to Mount Aoshan in Lizhou, where they were held up by snow. Tou spent every day just sleeping, while the master sat in meditation all the time. One day he called out: 'Brother, brother, get up for now.' Tou said: 'What for?' The master said: 'In this life I have had no luck, travelling on pilgrimage with this fellow Wen Sui; everywhere I am dragged down by him. Now we have come here, and he does nothing but sleep.' Tou shouted: 'Gorge yourself and go to sleep. Sitting on your bed every day, you are just like a local earth god of a seven-house village; in days to come you will haunt the men and women of people's families.' The master pointed at his own chest and said: 'Here I am not yet steady, and I dare not deceive myself.' Tou said: 'I thought that one day you would coil up a thatched hut on a lone peak's summit and spread the great teaching — and you still talk like this.' The master said: 'I am truly not yet steady.' Tou said: 'If it is truly so with you, then bring out your understanding point by point. Where you are right I will certify you; where you are wrong I will cut it away for you.' The master said: 'When I first went to Yanguan, I heard him ascend the hall and bring up the meaning of form and emptiness, and I got a place to enter.' Tou said: 'For the next thirty years, by all means do not bring that up.' He also mentioned Dongshan's verse on crossing water: 'By all means do not seek it from another; the farther you go the more remote it is from me. It is precisely me now, but I am not it.' Tou said: 'If it is like that, you have not even saved yourself.' The master also said: 'Later I asked Deshan: 'In the patriarchal teaching handed down from above, has a student any share?' Deshan gave me a blow with his staff and said: 'What are you saying?' At that time I felt as if a bucket's bottom had dropped out.' Tou shouted: 'Have you not heard it said: what enters through the gate is not the family treasure?' The master said: 'What then is right afterward?' Tou said: 'If afterward you wish to spread the great teaching, let it all flow out from your own breast, and come and cover heaven and earth for me.' (The base text has an uncommon character with the flesh radical for the word rendered 'breast'; it is translated as 'breast'.) At these words the master was greatly awakened. He bowed and rose, and cried out again and again: 'Brother, only today is the Way accomplished at Aoshan.' The master was the cook at Dongshan's place. Once, while washing rice, Shan asked: 'Do you wash away the sand and keep the rice, or wash away the rice and keep the sand?' The master said: 'Sand and rice go away at once.' Shan said: 'What will the assembly eat?' The master then overturned the rice basin. Shan said: 'Judging by your conditions, you belong at Deshan.' One day Dongshan asked the master: 'What have you been doing?' The master said: 'I have been cutting a trough.' Shan said: 'How many axe blows did it take to cut it out?' The master said: 'One axe blow cut it out.' Shan said: 'That is still the matter on this side. What is the matter on that side?' The master said: 'It reaches the point where there is no place to put the hand.' Shan said: 'That is still the matter on this side. What is the matter on that side?'

師休去(汾陽代雲。某甲早困也)。師辭洞山。山曰。子甚處去。師曰。歸嶺中去。山曰。當時從甚麼路出。師曰。從飛猿嶺出。山曰。今迴向甚麼路去。師曰。從飛猿嶺去。山曰。有一人不從飛猿嶺去。子還識麼。師曰。不識。山曰。為甚麼不識。師曰。他無面目。山曰。子既不識。爭知無面目。師無對。住後。僧問。和尚見德山。得箇甚麼。便休去。師曰。我空手去。空手歸。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。雷聲震地。室內不聞。又曰。闍黎行腳。為甚麼事。問。我眼本正。因師故邪時如何。師曰。迷逢達磨。曰。我眼何在。師曰。得不從師。問。剃髮染衣。受佛依蔭。為甚麼不許認佛。師曰。好事不如無。師問座主。如是兩字盡是科文。作麼生是本文。主無對(五雲代雲。更分三段著)。問。如何是佛。師曰。寐語作甚麼。問。如何是覿面事。師曰。千里未是遠。問。如何是大人相。師曰。瞻仰即有分。問。文殊與維摩對談何事。師曰。義墮也。問。寂然無依時如何。師曰。猶是病。曰。轉後如何。師曰。船子下揚州。問。承古有言。師便作臥勢。良久起曰。問甚麼。僧再舉。師曰。虗生浪死漢。問。箭頭露鋒時如何。師曰。好手不中的。曰。盡眼沒標的時如何。師曰。不妨隨分好手。問。古人道。路逢達道人。不將語默對。未審將甚麼對。師曰。吃茶去。問僧。甚處來。曰。神光來。師曰。晝喚作日光。夜喚作火光。作麼生是神光。僧無對。師自代曰。日光火光。棲典座問。古人有言。知有佛向上事。方有語話分。如何是語話。師把住曰。道。道。棲無對。師遂蹋倒。棲當下汗流。問僧。甚處來。曰。近離浙中。師曰。船來陸來。曰。二途俱不涉。師曰。爭得到這裡。曰。有甚麼隔礙。師便打。問。古人道。覿面相呈時如何。師曰。是。曰。如何是覿面相呈。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。師謂眾曰。

(Dongshan continued his question. The master had no reply,) and the master gave up. (Fenyang spoke in his place: 'I was already tired long ago.') The master took leave of Dongshan. Shan said: 'Where are you going?' The master said: 'I am returning to the ranges.' Shan said: 'By what road did you come out at the time?' The master said: 'I came out by the Flying Ape Ridge.' Shan said: 'By what road will you go back now?' The master said: 'I will go by the Flying Ape Ridge.' Shan said: 'There is one who does not go by the Flying Ape Ridge — do you know him?' The master said: 'I do not.' Shan said: 'Why do you not?' The master said: 'He has no face.' Shan said: 'Since you do not know him, how do you know he has no face?' The master had no reply. After he had taken up residence, a monk asked: 'What did the master get from seeing Deshan, that he then gave up?' The master said: 'I went empty-handed and returned empty-handed.' [A monk] asked: 'Are the patriarch's meaning and the teaching's meaning the same or different?' The master said: 'The thunder's sound shakes the earth, yet within the room it is not heard.' He also said: 'Acharya, what are you on pilgrimage for?' [A monk] asked: 'What about when my eye is originally correct but has gone wrong because of a teacher?' The master said: 'Deluded, you meet Bodhidharma.' [The monk] said: 'Where is my eye?' The master said: 'You got it not from a teacher.' [A monk] asked: 'Shaving the head and dyeing the robe, receiving the Buddha's shade — why is one not allowed to acknowledge the Buddha?' The master said: 'A good thing is not as good as nothing.' The master asked a lecturer: 'The two words 'thus' are all section headings. What is the main text?' The lecturer had no reply. (Wuyun spoke in his place: 'Divide it into three more sections.') [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Why talk in your sleep?' [A monk] asked: 'What is the matter face to face?' The master said: 'A thousand li is not yet far.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the mark of a great man?' The master said: 'To look up at him is to have a share.' [A monk] asked: 'What did Manjushri and Vimalakirti talk about face to face?' The master said: 'The meaning has fallen.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when one is still and without reliance?' The master said: 'That is still a sickness.' [The monk] said: 'And after turning?' The master said: 'The boatman goes down to Yangzhou.' [A monk] asked: 'I have heard the ancients had words.' The master then lay down, and after a long while rose and said: 'What are you asking?' The monk brought it up again. The master said: 'A fellow who lives in vain and dies in vain.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the arrow's head shows its point?' The master said: 'A skilled hand does not hit the mark.' [The monk] said: 'What about when the eye is all used up and there is no target?' The master said: 'He is still a skilled hand in his own measure.' [A monk] asked: 'The ancients said: meeting a man of the Way on the road, do not greet him with speech or silence. I wonder with what one greets him?' The master said: 'Go drink tea.' He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From Shenguang.' The master said: 'By day it is called sunlight, by night it is called firelight. What is divine light?' The monk had no reply. The master answered for him: 'Sunlight and firelight.' The refectory director Qi asked: 'The ancients had a saying: only when one knows the matter above the Buddha has one a share in speech. What is speech?' The master seized him and said: 'Speak, speak.' Qi had no reply. The master then pushed him over. Qi broke into a sweat on the spot. He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'I have just left the Zhe region.' The master said: 'By boat or by land?' He said: 'I have taken neither route.' The master said: 'How did you get here then?' He said: 'What barrier is there?' The master then struck him. [A monk] asked: 'The ancients said: what about when it is presented face to face?' The master said: 'Yes.' [The monk] said: 'What is presenting it face to face?' The master said: 'O heaven, O heaven.' The master told the assembly:

此箇水牯牛年多少。眾皆無對。師自代曰。七十九也。僧曰。和尚為甚麼作水牯牛去。師曰。有甚麼罪過。問僧。甚處去。曰。禮拜徑山和尚去。師曰。徑山若問汝。此間佛法如何。汝作麼生祇對。曰。待問即道。師便打。後舉問鏡清。這僧過在甚麼處。清曰。問得徑山徹困。師曰。徑山在浙中因甚麼問得徹困。清曰。不見道遠問近對。師曰。如是。如是。一日謂長慶曰。吾見溈山問仰山。從上諸聖向甚麼處去。他道或在天上。或在人間。汝道仰山意作麼生。慶曰。若問諸聖出沒處。恁麼道即不可。師曰。汝渾不肯。忽有人問。汝作麼生道。慶曰。但道錯。師曰。是汝不錯。慶曰。何異於錯。問僧。甚處來。曰。江西。師曰。與此間相去多少。曰。不遙。師竪起拂子曰。還隔這箇麼。曰。若隔這箇。即遙去也。師便打出。問。學人乍入叢林。乞師指箇入路。師曰。寧自碎身如微塵。終不敢瞎卻一僧眼。問。四十九年後事即不問。四十九年前事如何。師以拂子驀口打。僧辭去。參靈雲。問。佛未出世時如何。雲舉拂子。曰。出世後如何。雲亦舉拂子。其僧卻回。師曰。返太速乎。曰。某甲到彼。問佛法不契乃回。師曰。汝問甚麼事。僧舉前話。師曰。汝問。我為汝道。僧便問。佛未出世時如何。師舉起拂子。曰。出世後如何。師放下拂子。僧禮拜。師便打(後僧舉問玄沙。沙雲。汝欲會麼。我與汝說箇喻。如人賣一片園。東西南北一時結契了也。中心樹子猶屬我在。崇壽稠雲。為當打伊解處。別有道理)。師舉。六祖道。不是風動。不是幡動。仁者心動。乃曰。大小祖師。龍頭蛇尾。好與二十拄杖。時太原孚上座侍立。不覺齩齒。師曰。我適來恁麼道。也好吃二十拄杖。師行腳時參烏石觀和尚。才敲門。石問。誰。師曰。鳳凰兒。石曰。來作麼。師曰。來啗老觀。石便開門搊住曰。道。道。師擬議。石拓開。

(The master continued:) 'How old is this water buffalo?' The assembly all had no reply. The master answered for them: 'Seventy-nine.' A monk said: 'Why has the master become a water buffalo?' The master said: 'What offence is there in it?' He asked a monk: 'Where are you going?' He said: 'To bow to the master of Jingshan.' The master said: 'If Jingshan asks you how the Buddha-dharma is here, how will you answer?' He said: 'I will speak when he asks.' The master then struck him. Later he brought this up and asked Jingqing: 'Where was this monk's fault?' Qing said: 'He asked until Jingshan was exhausted.' The master said: 'Jingshan is in the Zhe region — how could he be asked until exhausted?' Qing said: 'Have you not heard it said: asked from afar, answered close at hand?' The master said: 'So it is, so it is.' One day he said to Changqing: 'I saw Weishan ask Yangshan where all the sages from of old go. He said: 'Some are in heaven, some among men.' What do you say Yangshan's meaning was?' Qing said: 'If he had been asked where the sages come and go, that answer would not do.' The master said: 'You do not agree at all. Suppose someone asked you, how would you answer?' Qing said: 'I would just say: wrong.' The master said: 'Then you are not wrong.' Qing said: 'How is that different from wrong?' He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'Jiangxi.' The master said: 'How far is that from here?' He said: 'Not far.' The master raised his whisk and said: 'Is this in between?' He said: 'If that were in between, then it would be far.' The master then drove him out with blows. [A monk] asked: 'The student has just entered the monastery; I beg the master to point out a way in.' The master said: 'I would rather shatter my own body into dust than blind a single monk's eye.' [A monk] asked: 'The matter after forty-nine years I do not ask about. What is the matter before the forty-nine years?' The master struck him on the mouth with his whisk. A monk took his leave and went to call on Lingyun. He asked: 'What was it like before the Buddha appeared in the world?' Yun raised his whisk. [The monk] said: 'And after he appeared?' Yun again raised his whisk. The monk then went back. The master said: 'You have returned rather quickly.' [The monk] said: 'When I got there, I asked about the Buddha-dharma and it did not match, so I came back.' The master said: 'What did you ask?' The monk brought up the earlier words. The master said: 'You ask, and I will tell you.' The monk then asked: 'What was it like before the Buddha appeared in the world?' The master raised his whisk. [The monk] said: 'And after he appeared?' The master lowered his whisk. The monk bowed. The master then struck him. (Later the monk brought this up and asked Xuansha. Sha said: 'Do you want to understand? I will give you a simile. It is like a man selling a piece of garden land: east, west, south, and north are all deeded over at once, but the tree in the middle still belongs to me.' Chongshou Chou said: 'Was it because he struck his point of understanding, or is there another principle?') The master brought up the Sixth Patriarch's words: 'It is not the wind that moves, it is not the banner that moves; it is the benevolent one's mind that moves.' He then said: 'The patriarch, great or small, has a dragon's head and a snake's tail; he deserves twenty blows of the staff.' At the time the senior monk Fu of Taiyuan was standing in attendance, and he unconsciously gnashed his teeth. The master said: 'My saying that just now also deserves twenty blows of the staff.' While on pilgrimage the master called on the monk Wushi Guan, and as soon as he knocked at the door, Shi asked: 'Who is it?' The master said: 'A phoenix chick.' Shi said: 'What have you come for?' The master said: 'I have come to eat up old Guan.' Shi then opened the door, seized him, and said: 'Speak, speak.' As the master hesitated, Shi pushed him away

閉卻門。師住後示眾曰。我當時若入得老觀門。你這一隊噇酒糟漢向甚麼處摸索。師問慧全。汝得入處作麼生。全曰。共和尚商量了。師曰。甚麼處商量。曰。甚麼處去來。師曰。汝得入處又作麼生。全無對。師便打。全坦問。平田淺草。麈鹿成群。如何射得麈中主。師喚全坦。坦應諾。師曰。吃茶去。問僧。甚處來。曰。溈山來。師曰。溈山有何言句。曰。某甲曾問如何是祖師西來意。溈山據坐。師曰。汝肯他否。曰。某甲不肯他。師曰。溈山古佛。汝速去懺悔(玄沙雲。山頭老漢蹉過溈山也)。閩王問曰。擬欲葢一所佛殿去時如何。師曰。大王何不葢取一所空王殿。曰。請師樣子。師展兩手(雲門雲。一舉四十九)。僧問。學人道不得處。請師道。師曰。我為法惜人。師舉拂子示一僧。其僧便出去(長慶舉似王延彬大傅了。乃曰。此僧合喚轉與一頓棒。王曰。和尚是甚麼心行。曰。幾放過)。師問長慶。古人道前三三。後三三。意作麼生。慶便出去(鵞湖別雲。喏)。問僧。甚處來。曰。藍田來。師曰。何不入草(長慶雲。險)。上堂。南山有一條鼈鼻蛇。汝等諸人切須好看。長慶出曰。今日堂中大有人喪身失命。雲門以拄杖攛向師前。作怕勢。有僧舉似玄沙。沙曰。須是稜兄始得。然雖如是。我即不然。曰。和尚作麼生。沙曰。用南山作麼。一日。有兩僧來。師以手拓庵門。放身出曰。是甚麼。僧亦曰。是甚麼。師低頭歸庵。僧辭去。師問。甚麼處去。曰。湖南。師曰。我有箇同行住巖頭。附汝一書去。書曰。某書上師兄。某一自鼇山成道後。迄至於今。飽不飢。同參某書上。僧到巖頭問。甚麼處來。曰。雪峰來。有書達和尚。頭接了。乃問僧。別有何言句。僧遂舉前話。頭曰。他道甚麼。曰。他無語低頭歸庵。頭曰。噫。我當初悔不向伊道末後句。若向伊道。天下人不奈雪老何。僧至夏末。

(Continuing:) 'and closed the door. After the master had taken up residence he addressed the assembly: 'If I had got in through old Guan's door at the time, you bunch of wine-dregs-guzzling fellows would have nothing to grope for.' The master asked Huiquan: 'What was your place of entry?' Quan said: 'I discussed it with the master.' The master said: 'Where did you discuss it?' [Quan] said: 'Where have you been?' The master said: 'And what was your place of entry?' Quan had no reply. The master then struck him. Quantan asked: 'In the level fields and shallow grass the deer herd together. How does one shoot the lord among the deer?' The master called: 'Quantan.' Tan answered. The master said: 'Go drink tea.' He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From Weishan.' The master said: 'What words did Weishan have?' He said: 'I once asked what the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West was, and Weishan sat up straight in his seat.' The master said: 'Do you agree with him?' He said: 'I do not agree with him.' The master said: 'Weishan is an ancient Buddha. Go quickly and repent.' (Xuansha said: 'The old man of the mountain missed Weishan.') The king of Min asked: 'If I were to build a Buddha hall, how would that be?' The master said: 'Why does Your Majesty not build a hall of the King of Emptiness?' [The king] said: 'Please, master, give me the plan.' The master spread out both hands. (Yunmen said: 'One gesture and forty-nine.') A monk asked: 'At the place where the student cannot speak, please, master, speak.' The master said: 'For the sake of the dharma I begrudge the man.' The master raised his whisk and showed it to a monk, and the monk went out. (After Changqing brought this up to the Grand Tutor Wang Yanbin, he said: 'This monk should have been called back and given a beating.' The king said: 'What sort of mind is that, master?' [Qing] said: 'He let him off narrowly.') The master asked Changqing: 'The ancients said: three threes in front, three threes behind. What does that mean?' Qing then went out. (Ehu said differently: 'Yes.') He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From Lantian.' The master said: 'Why did you not enter the grass?' (Changqing said: 'Danger.') He ascended the hall: 'On the southern mountain there is a soft-shelled turtle-nosed snake. You people must all look well at it.' Changqing came forward and said: 'Today there are many in the hall who have lost their bodies and their lives.' Yunmen poked his staff toward the master and made a gesture of fear. A monk brought this up to Xuansha. Sha said: 'It must be brother Leng and no one else. Yet even so, I am not like that.' [The monk] said: 'How is the master?' Sha said: 'What use is the southern mountain?' One day two monks came. The master pushed open the hut door with his hand, let his body out, and said: 'What is this?' The monk also said: 'What is this?' The master lowered his head and went back into the hut. The monk took his leave. The master asked: 'Where are you going?' He said: 'Hunan.' The master said: 'I have a fellow traveller staying at Yantou; I will send a letter with you.' The letter said: 'So-and-so writes to his brother. Since the day the Way was accomplished at Aoshan, until now I have been full and not hungry. Your fellow student so-and-so writes this.' The monk arrived at Yantou, who asked: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From Xuefeng. I have a letter to deliver to the master.' Tou took it and then asked the monk: 'Have you any other words?' The monk then brought up the earlier words. Tou said: 'What did he say?' He said: 'He said nothing; he lowered his head and went back into the hut.' Tou said: 'Ah. I regret that at the time I did not tell him the last phrase. If I had told him, no one under heaven could have done anything with old Xue.' At the end of the summer the monk

請益前話。頭曰。何不早問。曰。未敢容易。頭曰。雪峰雖與我同條生。不與我同條死。要識末後句。祇這是。上堂。盡大地撮來如粟米粒大。拋向面前。漆桶不會打鼓。普請看(長慶問雲門曰。雪峰與麼道。還有出頭不得處麼。門曰。有。曰。作麼生。門曰。不可總作野狐精見解。文曰。狼籍不少)。問僧。甚麼處去。曰。識得即知去處。師曰。你是了事人。亂走作麼。曰。和尚莫塗汙人好。師曰。我即不塗汙你。古人吹布毛作麼生。與我說來看。曰。殘羹餿飯已有人吃了。師休去。有一僧在山下卓庵多年。不剃頭。畜一長柄杓。溪邊舀水。時有僧問。如何是祖師西來意。主曰。溪深杓柄長。師聞得。乃曰。也甚奇怪。一日。將剃刀同侍者去訪。才相見便舉前話。問。是庵主語否。主曰。是。師曰。若道得。即不剃你頭。主便洗頭。胡跪師前。師即與剃卻。師領徒南遊。時黃涅槃預知師至。搘䇿前迎。抵蘇溪邂逅。師問。近離何處。槃曰。闢支巖。師曰。巖中還有主麼。槃以竹䇿敲師轎。師乃出轎相見。槃曰。曾郎萬福。師遽展丈夫拜。槃作女人拜。師曰。莫是女人麼。槃又設兩拜。遂以竹䇿畫地。右繞師轎三匝。師曰。某甲三界內人。你三界外人。你前去。某甲後來。槃回。師隨至。止囊山憩數日。槃供事隨行徒眾。一無所缺。上堂。此事如一片田地相似。一任諸人耕種。無有不承此恩力者。玄沙曰。且作麼生是這田地。師曰。看。沙曰。是即是。某甲不與麼。師曰。你作麼生。沙曰。祇是人人底。三聖問。透網金鱗。以何為食。師曰。待汝出網來向汝道。聖曰。一千五百人善知識。話頭也不識。師曰。老僧住持事繁。上堂。盡大地是箇解脫門。把手拽伊不肯入。時一僧出曰。和尚怪某甲不得。又一僧曰。用入作甚麼。師便打。玄沙謂師曰。某甲如今大用去。和尚作麼生。師將三箇木毬一時拋出。

(The monk continued) asking for instruction on the earlier words. Tou said: 'Why did you not ask earlier?' [The monk] said: 'I did not dare to be casual about it.' Tou said: 'Though Xuefeng and I were born on the same branch, we did not die on the same branch. If you want to know the last phrase, just this is it.' He ascended the hall: 'Gather up the whole great earth and it is the size of a millet grain; throw it before their faces. The lacquer buckets do not understand — beat the drum and let everyone look.' (Changqing asked Yunmen: 'With Xuefeng speaking like this, is there still a place he cannot get out of?' Men said: 'There is.' [Qing] said: 'How?' Men said: 'He cannot always be making wild-fox views.' He also said: 'The mess is not small.') He asked a monk: 'Where are you going?' [The monk] said: 'When I recognize it, I will know where to go.' The master said: 'You are a man who has settled the matter — what are you wandering about for?' [The monk] said: 'Master, do not smear a man.' The master said: 'I am not smearing you. The ancients blew on a cloth wisp — how was that? Tell me and let me see.' [The monk] said: 'Someone has already eaten the leftover soup and sour rice.' The master let it rest. There was a monk who had set up a hut at the foot of the mountain for many years; he did not shave his head, and he kept a long-handled ladle to scoop water at the stream. At the time a monk asked him: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The hut master said: 'The stream is deep and the ladle's handle is long.' The master heard of it and said: 'That is very strange.' One day he took his razor and went with an attendant to visit him. As soon as they met he brought up the earlier words and asked: 'Did the hut master say that?' The master said: 'Yes.' The old master said: 'If you can speak, I will not shave your head.' The hut master then washed his head and knelt on both knees before the master. The master at once shaved him. The master led his students on a southern tour. At the time Huang Niepan knew in advance that the master was coming, and propped himself up on a staff to go out and meet him; they met by chance at Suxi. The master asked: 'Where have you just come from?' Pan said: 'Pratyekabuddha Rock.' The master said: 'Is there a master in the rock?' Pan struck the master's sedan chair with his bamboo staff. The master then got out of the chair to meet him. Pan said: 'Ten thousand blessings to you, Master Zeng.' The master at once made the bow of a husband. Pan made the bow of a woman. The master said: 'Are you not a woman?' Pan made two more bows, then drew on the ground with his bamboo staff and walked three times around the master's chair to the right. The master said: 'I am a man within the three realms; you are a man outside the three realms. You go ahead, I will come after.' Pan returned. The master followed him and stopped at Mount Nang to rest for several days. Pan provided for the followers accompanying him, and nothing was lacking. He ascended the hall: 'This matter is like a piece of land: let everyone plough and plant it as they please, and there is no one who does not receive the power of this grace.' Xuansha said: 'Tell me, what is this land?' The master said: 'Look.' Sha said: 'That is so, but I am not like that.' The master said: 'How are you?' Sha said: 'It is simply everyone's.' Sansheng asked: 'What does a golden-scaled fish that has leaped through the net eat?' The master said: 'Wait until you are out of the net and I will tell you.' Sheng said: 'A good friend of fifteen hundred people, and he does not even know a topic of conversation.' The master said: 'This old monk has much to do in running the monastery.' He ascended the hall: 'The whole great earth is a gate of liberation, and if you grab people by the hand and pull them they still will not enter.' At that a monk came forward and said: 'The master cannot blame me.' Another monk said: 'What is the use of entering?' The master then struck him. Xuansha said to the master: 'Now I will make great use of it — how about the master?' The master threw out three wooden balls all at once.

沙作斫牌勢。師曰。你親在靈山方得如此。沙曰。也是自家事。一日陞座。眾集定。師輥出木毬。玄沙遂捉來安舊處。師一日在僧堂內燒火。閉卻前後門。乃呌曰。救火。救火。玄沙將一片柴從牕櫺中拋入。師便開門。問。古㵎寒泉時如何。師曰。瞪目不見底。曰。飲者如何。師曰。不從口入。僧舉似趙州。州曰。不從口入。不可從鼻孔裡入。僧卻問。古㵎寒泉時如何。州曰。苦。曰。飲者如何。州曰。死。師聞得。乃曰。趙州古佛。遙望作禮。自此不答話。師因閩王封柑橘各一顆。遣使送至。柬問。既是一般顏色。為甚名字不同。師遂依舊封回。王復馳問玄沙。沙將一張紙葢卻。問僧。近離甚處。曰。覆船。師曰。生死海未渡。為甚麼覆卻船。僧無語。乃回舉似覆船。船曰。何不道渠無生死。僧再至。進此語。師曰。此不是汝語。曰。是覆船恁麼道。師曰。我有二十棒寄與覆船。二十棒老僧自吃。不幹闍黎事。問。大事作麼生。師執僧手曰。上座將此問誰。有僧禮拜。師打五棒。僧曰。過在甚麼處。師又打五棒。喝出。問僧。甚處來。曰。嶺外來。師曰。還逢達磨也無。曰。青天白日。師曰。自己作麼生。曰。更作麼生。師便打。師送僧出。行三五步。召曰。上座。僧回首。師曰。途中善為。問。拈槌竪拂。不當宗乘。未審和尚如何。師竪起拂子。僧乃抱頭出去。師不顧(法眼代雲。大眾看此一員戰將)。問。三乘十二分教。為凡夫開演。不為凡夫開演。師曰。不消一曲楊柳枝。師謂鏡清曰。古來有老宿。引官人巡堂曰。此一眾盡是學佛法僧。官人曰。金屑雖貴。又作麼生。老宿無對。清代曰。比來拋甎引玉(法眼別雲。官人何得貴耳賤目)。上堂。舉拂子曰。這箇為中下。僧問。上上人來時如何。師舉拂子。僧曰。這箇為中下。師便打。問。國師三喚侍者意如何。師乃起入方丈。問僧。今夏在甚麼處。

Sha made the gesture of chopping down a signboard. The master said: 'Only because you were personally at Vulture Peak do you get to be like this.' Sha said: 'It is also my own affair.' One day the master ascended the seat and the assembly had gathered. The master rolled out a wooden ball. Xuansha then picked it up and put it back where it had been. One day the master was tending the fire in the monks' hall, and he closed the front and back doors and called out: 'Fire, fire!' Xuansha threw a piece of firewood in through the window lattice. The master then opened the door. [A monk] asked: 'What about the cold spring in the ancient ravine?' The master said: 'Staring, one does not see the bottom.' [The monk] said: 'What about the one who drinks?' The master said: 'It does not enter by the mouth.' The monk brought this up to Zhaozhou. Zhou said: 'If it does not enter by the mouth, it cannot be that it enters by the nostrils.' The monk then asked: 'What about the cold spring in the ancient ravine?' Zhou said: 'Bitter.' [The monk] said: 'What about the one who drinks?' Zhou said: 'He dies.' The master heard of this and said: 'Zhaozhou is an ancient Buddha.' He bowed to him from afar. After this he did not answer questions. Because the king of Min had sealed up one tangerine and one pomelo and sent them by messenger, with a note asking: 'Since they are the same colour, why are their names different?', the master sealed them up as before and sent them back. The king then sent hastily to ask Xuansha. Sha covered them with a sheet of paper. He asked a monk: 'Where have you just come from?' He said: 'Fuchuan.' The master said: 'You have not yet crossed the sea of birth and death — why did the boat capsize?' The monk was speechless. He went back and told Fuchuan. Chuan said: 'Why did you not say that it has no birth and death?' The monk came again and offered these words. The master said: 'That is not your phrase.' [The monk] said: 'It is Fuchuan who says so.' The master said: 'I have twenty blows to send to Fuchuan, and twenty blows this old monk will eat himself. It is no business of yours, Acharya.' [A monk] asked: 'What about the great matter?' The master held the monk's hand and said: 'Senior monk, to whom are you putting this question?' A monk bowed. The master gave him five blows. The monk said: 'Where is the fault?' The master gave him five more blows and shouted him out. He asked a monk: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From beyond the ranges.' The master said: 'Did you meet Bodhidharma?' He said: 'In the bright blue sky and white sun.' The master said: 'What about yourself?' He said: 'What more is there?' The master then struck him. The master saw a monk out, and after three or five steps he called: 'Senior monk.' The monk turned his head. The master said: 'Take good care of yourself on the road.' [A monk] asked: 'Picking up the mallet and raising the whisk does not accord with the patriarchal teaching. I wonder what the master does?' The master raised his whisk. The monk then clasped his head and went out. The master did not look at him. (Fayan spoke in his place: 'Assembly, look at this one warrior.') [A monk] asked: 'Do the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teaching expound for ordinary men, or do they not expound for ordinary men?' The master said: 'It does not need a single strain of the willow branch.' The master said to Jingqing: 'Of old there was an old worthy who led an official on a tour of the hall and said: 'This whole assembly are all monks who study the Buddha-dharma.' The official said: 'Though gold dust is precious, what of it?' The old worthy had no reply.' Qing spoke in his place: 'It was a case of casting a brick to draw jade.' (Fayan said differently: 'Why does the official prize the ear and slight the eye?') He ascended the hall, raised his whisk, and said: 'This is for the middle and lower.' A monk asked: 'What about when the highest of the high comes?' The master raised his whisk. The monk said: 'That is for the middle and lower.' The master then struck him. [A monk] asked: 'What was the meaning of the National Teacher calling his attendant three times?' The master then rose and went into the abbot's quarters. He asked a monk: 'Where are you spending this summer?'

曰。湧泉。師曰。長時湧。暫時湧。曰。和尚問不著。師曰。我問不著。僧曰。是。師乃打。普請次。路逢一獼猴。師曰。人人有一面古鏡。這箇獼猴亦有一面古鏡。三聖曰。曠劫無名。何以彰為古鏡。師曰。瑕生也。聖曰。這老漢著甚麼死急。話頭也不識。師曰。老僧住持事繁。閩帥施銀交床。僧問。和尚受大王如此供養。將何報答。師以手拓地曰。輕打我。輕打我(僧問踈山雲。雪峰道輕打我。意作麼生。山雲。頭上插瓜虀。埀尾腳跟齊)。問。吞盡毗盧時如何。師曰。福唐歸來還平善否。上堂。我若東道西道。汝則尋言逐句。我若羚羊掛角。汝向甚麼處捫摸(僧問保福。祇如雪峰有甚麼言教。便似羚羊掛角時。福雲。我不可作雪峰弟子不得)。師之法席。常不減千五百眾。梁開平戊辰三月示疾。閩帥命醫。師曰。吾非疾也。竟不服藥。遺偈付法。五月二日。朝遊藍田。暮歸澡身。中夜入滅。

He said: 'Yongquan.' The master said: 'Gushing for a long time, or gushing for a moment?' He said: 'The master has not asked rightly.' The master said: 'I have not asked rightly.' The monk said: 'Yes.' The master then struck him. During a communal work period he met a macaque on the road. The master said: 'Everyone has an ancient mirror, and this macaque also has an ancient mirror.' Sansheng said: 'Through vast kalpas it has no name — how can it be shown as an ancient mirror?' The master said: 'A flaw has arisen.' Sheng said: 'This old fellow, what is his deathly hurry? He does not even know a topic of conversation.' The master said: 'This old monk has much to do in running the monastery.' The commander of Min presented him with a silver folding chair. A monk asked: 'The master receives such offerings from the great king — how will he repay them?' The master pushed the ground with his hand and said: 'Strike me lightly, strike me lightly.' (A monk asked Shushan: 'Xuefeng said: strike me lightly — what did he mean?' Shan said: 'A pickle melon stuck on the head, the tail hanging level with the heels.') [A monk] asked: 'What about when one has swallowed Vairocana whole?' The master said: 'Is the return from Futang still peaceful and well?' He ascended the hall: 'If I speak of east and west, you will go seeking words and chasing phrases. If I hang by the horns like an antelope, where will you grope?' (A monk asked Baofu: 'What teaching did Xuefeng have, that he was like an antelope hanging by the horns?' Fu said: 'I cannot very well not be Xuefeng's disciple.') The master's dharma seat never numbered less than fifteen hundred. In the third month of the wuchen year of Kaiping of the Liang he showed illness. The commander of Min sent a physician. The master said: 'I am not ill.' He never took medicine. He left a verse and entrusted the dharma. On the second day of the fifth month he roamed to Lantian in the morning, and returning in the evening he bathed and entered extinction at midnight.

洪州感潭資國禪師

Chan Master Ziguo of Gantan in Hongzhou

白兆問。家內停喪。請師慰問。師曰。苦痛蒼天。曰。死卻爺。死卻孃。師打了趂出。師凡接機皆如此。

Baizhao asked: 'There is a death in the house; please, master, offer your condolences.' The master said: 'How painful — O heaven!' [Baizhao] said: 'The father is dead, the mother is dead.' The master struck him and drove him out. Whenever the master received people, it was always like this.

天台瑞龍慧恭禪師

Chan Master Huigong of Ruilong in Tiantai

福州羅氏子。謁德山。山問。會麼。曰。作麼。山曰。請相見。曰。識麼。山大笑。遂許入室。洎山順世。乃開法焉。

He was a son of the Luo family of Fuzhou. He paid homage to Deshan. Shan asked: 'Do you understand?' He said: 'What?' Shan said: 'Please, let us meet.' He said: 'Do you recognize me?' Shan laughed heartily, and then allowed him into his room. When Shan passed away, he began to teach.

泉州瓦棺和尚

The Reverend Waguan of Quanzhou

在德山為侍者。一日。同入山斫木。山將一椀水與師。師接得便吃卻。山曰。會麼。師曰。不會。山又將一椀水與師。師又接吃卻。山曰。會麼。師曰。不會。山曰。何不成褫取不會底。師曰。不會又成褫箇甚麼。山曰。子大似箇鐵橛。住後。雪峰訪師。茶話次。峰問。當時在。德山。斫木因緣作麼生。師曰。先師當時肯我。峰曰。和尚離師太早。時面前偶有一椀水。峰曰。將水來。師便度與。峰接得便潑卻(雲門雲。莫壓良為賤)。

He was an attendant at Deshan's place. One day they went into the mountains together to cut wood. Shan gave the master a bowl of water. The master took it and drank it. Shan said: 'Do you understand?' The master said: 'I do not.' Shan gave the master another bowl of water. The master again took it and drank it. Shan said: 'Do you understand?' The master said: 'I do not.' Shan said: 'Why do you not strip off and take the one that does not understand?' The master said: 'If one does not understand, what is there to strip off?' Shan said: 'You are very much like an iron peg.' After he had taken up residence, Xuefeng came to visit him, and as they talked over tea, Feng asked: 'What about the circumstances when you were cutting wood at Deshan?' The master said: 'My late teacher approved of me at the time.' Feng said: 'The master left his teacher too early.' At the time a bowl of water happened to be in front of them. Feng said: 'Bring the water.' The master then handed it to him. Feng took it and threw it out. (Yunmen said: 'Do not oppress the good and make them base.')

襄州高亭簡禪師

Chan Master Jian of Gaoting in Xiangzhou

參德山。隔江才見。便雲。不審。山乃搖扇招之。師忽開悟。乃橫趨而去。更不回顧。

He called on Deshan. As soon as he saw him across the river he said: 'Greetings.' Shan waved his fan to beckon him. The master was suddenly awakened, and then went off crosswise without once looking back.

青原下六世

Sixth generation below Qingyuan

巖頭奯禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Tuo of Yantou

台州瑞巖師彥禪師

Chan Master Shiyan of Ruiyan in Taizhou

閩之許氏子。自幼披緇。秉戒無缺。初禮巖頭。問曰。如何是本常理。頭曰。動也。曰。動時如何。頭曰。不是本常理。師良久。頭曰。肯即未脫根塵。不肯即永沈生死。師遂領悟。便禮拜。頭每與語。徵醻無忒。後謁夾山。山問。甚處來。曰。臥龍來。山曰。來時龍還起也未。師乃顧視之。山曰。炙瘡瘢上更著艾燋。曰。和尚又苦如此作甚麼。山休去。師乃問山。與麼即易。不與麼即難。與麼與麼即惺惺。不與麼不與麼即居空界。與麼不與麼。請師速道。山曰。老僧謾闍黎去也。師喝曰。這老和尚。而今是甚時節。便出去(後有僧舉似巖頭。頭雲。苦哉。將我一枝佛法。與麼流將去)。師尋居丹丘瑞巖。坐磐石。終日如愚。每自喚主人公。復應諾。乃曰。惺惺著。他後莫受人謾。(後有僧參玄沙。沙問。近離甚處。雲。瑞巖。沙雲。有何言句示徒。僧舉前話。沙雲。一等是弄精魂。也甚奇怪。乃雲。何不且在彼住。雲。已遷化也。沙雲。而今還喚得應麼。僧無對)。師統眾嚴整。江表稱之。僧問。頭上寶蓋現。足下雲生時如何。師曰。披枷帶鎻漢。曰。頭上無寶葢。足下無雲生時如何。師曰。猶有杻在。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。齋後困。鏡清問。天不能覆。地不能載。豈不是。師曰。若是即被覆載。清曰。若不是瑞巖幾遭也。師自稱曰。師彥。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。石牛。曰。如何是法。師曰。石牛兒。曰。恁麼即不同也。師曰。合不得。曰。為甚麼合不得。師曰。無同可同。合甚麼。問。作麼生商量。即得不落階級。師曰。排不出。曰。為甚麼排不出。師曰。他從前無階級。曰。未審居何位次。師曰。不坐普光殿。曰。還理化也無。師曰。名聞三界重。何處不歸朝。一日有村媼作禮。師曰。汝速歸。救取數千物命。媼回舍。見兒婦拾田螺歸。媼遂放之水濵。師之異跡頗多。茲不繁錄。逝後塔於本山。

He was a son of the Xu family of Min. From childhood he wore the black robe, and he kept the precepts without fault. He first paid reverence to Yantou and asked: 'What is the principle of original permanence?' Tou said: 'It moves.' [The master] said: 'What about when it moves?' Tou said: 'It is not the principle of original permanence.' The master was silent a long while. Tou said: 'If you agree, you are not yet free of the senses and their objects; if you do not agree, you will forever sink in birth and death.' The master then was awakened and bowed. Whenever Tou spoke with him, his responses were never off the mark. Later he paid homage to Jiashan. Shan asked: 'Where have you come from?' He said: 'From Wolong.' Shan said: 'Has the dragon risen yet, when it came?' The master then looked at him. Shan said: 'On the scar of a burn you put more moxa to scorch it.' [The master] said: 'Why does the master take such pains?' Shan let it rest. The master then asked Shan: 'In this way it is easy, not in this way it is hard. In this way and in this way one is alert; not in this way and not in this way one dwells in the realm of emptiness. This way and not this way — please, master, speak quickly.' Shan said: 'This old monk has deceived you, Acharya.' The master shouted: 'This old monk — what season is it now?' And he went out. (Later a monk brought this up to Yantou. Tou said: 'How bitter. He has carried off a branch of my Buddha-dharma and let it flow away like this.') The master then went to live at Ruiyan in Danqiu, sitting on a great boulder, all day long like a fool. He would call out to the host within himself and then answer himself, saying: 'Be alert; do not let others deceive you later.' (Later a monk called on Xuansha. Sha asked: 'Where have you just come from?' He said: 'Ruiyan.' Sha said: 'What words did he have to show his students?' The monk brought up the earlier words. Sha said: 'That is one way of playing with the spirit — very strange.' He then said: 'Why did you not stay with him?' [The monk] said: 'He has already passed away.' Sha said: 'Can you still call him and get an answer?' The monk had no reply.) The master governed his assembly strictly and neatly, and the region south of the Yangzi praised him. A monk asked: 'What about when a jewelled canopy appears above the head and clouds arise beneath the feet?' The master said: 'A fellow in cangue and chains.' [The monk] said: 'What about when there is no jewelled canopy above the head and no clouds beneath the feet?' The master said: 'He still has the handcuffs on.' [The monk] said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'Sleepy after the meal.' Jingqing asked: 'Heaven cannot cover him and earth cannot bear him — is that not so?' The master said: 'If he is thus, then he is covered and borne.' Qing said: 'Were it not for Ruiyan, I would almost have fallen into it.' The master called himself, saying: 'Shiyan.' A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A stone ox.' [The monk] said: 'What is the dharma?' The master said: 'A stone ox's calf.' [The monk] said: 'Then they are different.' The master said: 'They cannot be joined.' [The monk] said: 'Why can they not be joined?' The master said: 'There is nothing same to be same with — what is there to join?' [A monk] asked: 'How should one deliberate so as not to fall into stages and ranks?' The master said: 'They cannot be arranged.' [The monk] said: 'Why can they not be arranged?' The master said: 'From the first he has no stages and ranks.' [The monk] said: 'I wonder what rank and station he occupies?' The master said: 'He does not sit in the Hall of Universal Light.' [The monk] said: 'Does he still transform and teach?' The master said: 'His fame is weighty through the three realms — where is he not paid court to?' One day a village woman made obeisance. The master said: 'Go home quickly and save several thousand lives.' The woman went home and saw her son's wife returning with river snails she had gathered, and the woman released them at the water's edge. The master had many other extraordinary traces, which are not recorded here in full. After his death his stupa was raised on this mountain.

諡空照禪師。

He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Kongzhao, Empty Illumination.

懷州玄泉彥禪師

Chan Master Xuanquan Yan of Huaizhou

僧問。如何是道中人。師曰。日落投孤店。問。如何是佛。師曰。張家三箇兒。曰。學人不會。師曰。孟．仲．季也不會。問。如何是聲前一句。師曰。吽。曰。轉後如何。師曰。是甚麼。

A monk asked: 'Who is the man within the Way?' The master said: 'At sunset he puts up at a lone inn.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The Zhang family's three sons.' [The monk] said: 'The student does not understand.' The master said: 'Meng, Zhong, and Ji do not understand either.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the phrase before the sound?' The master said: 'Hum.' [The monk] said: 'And after turning?' The master said: 'What is this?'

福州羅山道閑禪師

Chan Master Daoxian of Luoshan in Fuzhou

長溪陳氏子。出家於龜山。年滿受具。徧歷諸方。甞謁石霜。問。去住不寧時如何。霜曰。直須盡卻。師不契。乃參巖頭。亦如前問。頭曰。從他去住。管他作麼。師於是服膺。閩帥飲其法味。請居羅山。號法寶禪師。開堂陞座。方斂衣便曰。珍重。時眾不散。良久師又曰。未識底近前來。僧出禮拜。師抗聲曰。也大苦哉。僧擬伸問。師乃喝出。問。如何是奇特一句。師曰。道甚麼。問。當鋒事如何辨明。師舉如意。僧曰。乞和尚垂慈。師曰。大遠也。問。急急相投。請師一接。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。箭過也。問。九女不𭬥。誰是哀提者。師曰。高聲問。僧擬再問。師曰。甚麼處去也。僧來參。師問。名甚麼。曰。明教。師曰。還會教也未。曰。隨分。師竪起拳曰。靈山會上。喚這箇作甚麼。曰。拳教。師笑曰。若恁麼。喚作拳教。復展兩足曰。這箇是甚麼教。僧無語。師曰。莫喚作腳教麼。師在禾山。送同行矩長老出門次。把拄杖向面前一攛。矩無對。師曰。石牛攔古路。一馬生雙駒(後僧舉似疎山。山雲。石牛攔古路。一馬生三寅)。僧辭保福。福問。甚處去。曰。禮拜羅山。福曰。汝向羅山道。保福秋間上府朝覲大王。置四十箇問頭問和尚。忽若一句不相當。莫言不道。僧舉似師。師呵呵大笑曰。陳老師自入福建道洪塘橋下一寨。未曾見有箇毛頭星現。汝與我向從展道。陳老師無許多問頭。秖有一口劒。一劒下須有分身之意。亦有出身之路。若不明便須成末。僧回舉似福。福曰。我當時也秖是謔伊。至秋朝覲。師特為辦茶筵請福。福不赴。卻向僧曰。我中間曾有謔語。恐和尚問著。僧歸舉似。師曰。汝向他道。猛虎終不食伏肉。僧又去。福遂來。無軫上座問。祇如巖頭道。洞山好佛。祇是無光。未審洞山有何虧闕。便道無光。師召軫。軫應諾。師曰。灼然好箇佛。祇是無光。曰。

He was a son of the Chen family of Changxi. He left home at Guishan. When his years were full he received full ordination and travelled through every quarter. He once paid homage to Shishuang and asked: 'What about when going and staying are both unsettled?' Shuang said: 'You must simply finish it off.' The master did not agree. He then called on Yantou and put the same question as before. Tou said: 'Let it go and stay as it will — what business is it of yours?' The master was then won over. The commander of Min savoured the taste of his dharma and asked him to reside at Luoshan, with the title Chan Master Fabao. When he opened the hall and mounted the seat, he had just gathered his robe when he said: 'Take care.' The assembly did not disperse. After a long while the master said again: 'Let those who have not understood come forward.' A monk came forward and bowed. The master said in a loud voice: 'How bitter, how bitter.' The monk was about to put a question, and the master shouted him out. [A monk] asked: 'What is the extraordinary phrase?' The master said: 'What are you saying?' [A monk] asked: 'How does one discern clearly the matter at the point of the blade?' The master raised his ruyi scepter. The monk said: 'I beg the master to show compassion.' The master said: 'Very far off.' [A monk] asked: 'Coming urgently to take refuge, I beg the master to receive me once.' The master said: 'Do you understand?' [The monk] said: 'I do not.' The master said: 'The arrow has passed.' [A monk] asked: 'Nine girls are unmarried — who is the one who wails and lifts them?' (The base text has an uncommon character with the woman radical for the word rendered 'unmarried'; it is translated as 'unmarried'.) The master said: 'Ask in a loud voice.' The monk was about to ask again. The master said: 'Where has he gone?' A monk came to call. The master asked: 'What is your name?' He said: 'Mingjiao, Bright Teaching.' The master said: 'Do you understand the teaching?' He said: 'In my own measure.' The master raised his fist and said: 'At the Vulture Peak assembly, what was this called?' He said: 'Fist teaching.' The master laughed and said: 'If so, call it fist teaching.' He then stretched out both feet and said: 'What teaching is this?' The monk was speechless. The master said: 'Do not call it foot teaching.' When the master was at Mount He, seeing off his fellow traveller Elder Ju, he poked his staff out in front of him. Ju had no reply. The master said: 'A stone ox blocks the ancient road; one horse bears twin foals.' (Later a monk brought this up to Shushan. Shan said: 'A stone ox blocks the ancient road; one horse bears three tigers.') A monk took leave of Baofu. Fu asked: 'Where are you going?' He said: 'To bow to Luoshan.' Fu said: 'Tell Luoshan: in the autumn Baofu will go up to the prefecture to pay court to the great king, and will set out forty questions to ask the master. If even one phrase does not match, do not say I did not tell him.' The monk brought this up to the master. The master laughed heartily and said: 'Since teacher Chen entered a camp below the Hongtang Bridge in the Fujian road, he has never seen a comet appear. Tell Congzhan for me: teacher Chen has no such questions, only a single sword. Under one sword there must be the meaning of dividing the body, and there must also be a road to come forth. If it is not clear, it must become the last.' The monk went back and told Fu. Fu said: 'At the time I was only joking with him.' When autumn came and he paid court, the master especially prepared a tea feast to invite Fu. Fu did not go, but said to the monk: 'I made a jest earlier; I am afraid the master will ask about it.' The monk went back and told him. The master said: 'Tell him: a fierce tiger never eats meat that is not fresh.' The monk went again. Fu then came. The senior monk Wuzhen asked: 'Yantou said that Dongshan was a good Buddha, only he had no light. I wonder what was lacking in Dongshan, that he said he had no light?' The master called: 'Zhen.' Zhen answered. The master said: 'Truly he was a good Buddha, only he had no light.' [Zhen] said:

大師為甚麼撥無軫話。師曰。甚麼處是陳老師撥你話處。快道。快道。軫無語。師打三十棒趂出。軫舉似招慶。慶一夏罵詈。至夏末自來問。師乃分明舉似。慶便作禮懺悔曰。洎錯怪大師。僧舉寒山詩。問。白鶴銜苦桃時如何。師曰。貞女室中吟。曰。千里作一息時如何。師曰。送客郵亭外。曰。欲往蓬萊山時如何。師曰。欹枕覰獼猴。曰。將此充糧食時如何。師曰。古劒髑髏前。問。如何是百草頭上盡是祖師意。師曰。刺破汝眼。問。如何是道。師曰。倚著壁。問。前是萬丈洪崖。後是虎狼師子。正當恁麼時如何。師曰。自在。問。三界誰為主。師曰。還解吃飯麼。臨遷化。上堂集眾。良久展左手。主事罔測。乃令東邊師僧退後。又展右手。又令西邊師僧退後。廼曰。欲報佛恩。無過流通大教。歸去也。歸去也。珍重。言訖。莞爾而寂。

(Wuzhen continued:) 'Why does the great master reject Wuzhen's words?' The master said: 'Where is the place where teacher Chen rejected your words? Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Zhen was speechless. The master gave him thirty blows and drove him out. Zhen brought this up to Zhaoqing. Qing reviled him all summer. At the end of the summer he came himself to ask. The master then set it out clearly for him. Qing bowed and repented, saying: 'I nearly blamed the great master wrongly.' A monk brought up Hanshan's poem and asked: 'What about when a white crane carries bitter peaches?' The master said: 'A chaste woman sings within her chamber.' [The monk] said: 'What about when a thousand li is taken in a single breath?' The master said: 'Seeing a guest off outside the post pavilion.' [The monk] said: 'What about wanting to go to Mount Penglai?' The master said: 'Leaning on a pillow, watching a macaque.' [The monk] said: 'What about taking this as provisions?' The master said: 'An ancient sword before a skull.' [A monk] asked: 'What is it for the patriarchal meaning to be on every blade of grass?' The master said: 'It pierces your eye.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'Leaning against the wall.' [A monk] asked: 'Ahead is a ten-thousand-fathom precipice, behind are tigers, wolves, and lions. What about right at such a moment?' The master said: 'At ease.' [A monk] asked: 'Who is the lord of the three realms?' The master said: 'Do you know how to eat?' As death approached, he ascended the hall and gathered the assembly. After a long while he spread out his left hand. The director of affairs could not fathom it, so he told the monks on the east side to step back. He then spread out his right hand, and told the monks on the west side to step back. He then said: 'To repay the Buddha's grace, there is nothing better than to circulate the great teaching. I am going back, I am going back. Take care.' Having spoken, he smiled faintly and passed into stillness.

福州香谿從範禪師

Chan Master Congfan of Xiangxi in Fuzhou

新到參。師曰。汝豈不是鼓山僧。僧曰。是。師曰。額上珠為何不見。僧無對。僧辭。師門送。復召。上座。僧回首。師曰。滿肚是禪。曰。和尚是甚麼心行。師大笑而已。師披衲衣次。說偈曰。迦葉上行衣。披來須捷機。才分招的箭。密露不藏龜。

A newcomer came to call. The master said: 'Are you not a monk of Gushan?' The monk said: 'Yes.' The master said: 'Why is the pearl on your forehead not seen?' The monk had no reply. The monk took his leave. The master saw him to the gate and called again: 'Senior monk.' The monk turned his head. The master said: 'Your whole belly is Chan.' [The monk] said: 'What sort of mind is that, master?' The master only laughed heartily. Once, while putting on his patched robe, the master spoke a verse: 'Kashyapa's robe handed down from above must be worn with a quick device. As soon as the target's arrow is divided, the hidden turtle is secretly revealed.'

福州聖壽嚴禪師

Chan Master Yan of Shengshou in Fuzhou

補衲次。僧參。師提起示之曰。山僧一衲衣。展似眾人見。雲水兩條分。莫教露針線。速道。速道。僧無對。師曰。如許多時作甚麼來。

Once, while mending his robe, a monk came to call. The master lifted it up and showed it to him, saying: 'This mountain monk's single robe, spread out for the crowd to see. The cloud and water are divided in two — do not let the needle and thread show. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' The monk had no reply. The master said: 'What have you been doing all this time?'

吉州靈巖慧宗禪師

Chan Master Huizong of Lingyan in Jizhou

福州陳氏子。受業於龜山。僧問。如何是靈巖境。師曰。松檜森森密密遮。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。夜夜有猿啼。問。如何是學人自己本分事。師曰。拋卻真金。拾瓦礫作麼。

He was a son of the Chen family of Fuzhou. He studied under Guishan. A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Lingyan?' The master said, 'Pines and junipers, dense and close, screen it.' He said, 'Who is the person in the realm?' The master said, 'Every night there is the cry of gibbons.' A monk asked, 'What is the student's own matter?' The master said, 'Why throw away true gold and pick up broken tiles?'

雪峰存禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xuefeng Cun

福州玄沙師備宗一禪師

Chan Master Zongyi Shibei of Xuansha in Fuzhou

閩之謝氏子。幼好垂釣。汎小艇於南臺江。狎諸漁者。唐咸通初年。甫三十。忽慕出塵。乃棄舟投芙蓉訓禪師落髮。往豫章開元寺受具。布衲芒屨。食才接氣。常終日宴坐。眾皆異之。與雪峰本法門昆仲。而親近若師資。峰以其苦行。呼為頭陀。一日峰問。阿那箇是備頭陀。師曰。終不敢誑於人。異日。峰召曰。備頭陀何不徧參去。師曰。達磨不來東土。二祖不往西天。峰然之。暨登象骨山。乃與師同力締搆。玄徒臻萃。師入室諮決。罔替晨昏。又閱楞嚴。發明心地。由是應機敏捷。與修多羅冥契。諸方玄學有所未決。必從之請益。至與雪峰徵詰。亦當仁不讓。峰曰。備頭陀再來人也。雪峰上堂。要會此事。猶如古鏡當臺。胡來胡現。漢來漢現。師出眾曰。忽遇明鏡來時如何。峰曰。胡漢俱隱。師曰。老和尚腳跟猶未點地在。住後。上堂。佛道閑曠。無有程途。無門解脫之門。無意道人之意。不在三際。故不可昇沈。建立乖真。非屬造化。動則起生死之本。靜則醉昏沉之鄉。動靜雙泯。即落空亡。動靜雙收。瞞頇佛性。必須對塵對境。如枯木寒灰。臨時應用。不失其宜。鏡照諸像。不亂光輝。鳥飛空中。不雜空色。所以十方無影像。三界絕行蹤。不墮往來機。不住中間意。鐘中無鼓響。鼓中無鐘聲。鐘鼓不相交。句句無前後。如壯士展臂。不藉他力。師子遊行。豈求伴侶。九霄絕翳。何在穿通。一段光明。未曾昏昧。若到這裡。體寂寂。常的的。日赫燄。無邊表。圓覺空中不動搖。吞爍乾坤迥然照。夫佛出世者。元無出入。名相無體。道本如如。法爾天真。不同修證。祇要虗閑不昧作用。不涉塵泥。箇中纖毫道不盡。即為魔王眷屬。句前句後。是學人難處。所以一句當天。八萬門永絕生死。直饒得似秋潭月影。靜夜鐘聲。隨扣擊以無虧。觸波瀾而不散。猶是生死岸頭事。道人行處。如火銷冰。

He was a son of the Xie family of Minzhong. As a youth he loved to fish, drifting in a small boat on the South Terrace River and keeping company with fishermen. In the early Xiantong era of Tang, when he had just turned thirty, he suddenly longed to leave the dust, so he abandoned his boat and went to Chan Master Furong Xun, who shaved his head, and then went to Kaiyuan Monastery in Yuzhang to receive full ordination. In hempen robes and straw sandals, eating only enough to keep breath in him, he would sit in meditation all day long, and everyone found him extraordinary. He and Xuefeng were originally brothers in the Dharma, but their closeness was like that of teacher and disciple. Because of his austerities, Feng called him the Dhuta. One day Feng asked, 'Which one is the Dhuta Bei?' The master said, 'I would never deceive anyone.' Another day Feng called to him, 'Dhuta Bei, why do you not go everywhere on pilgrimage?' The master said, 'Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Land, and the Second Patriarch did not go to the Western Heaven.' Feng agreed with him. When they climbed Elephant Bone Mountain, he and the master together put their strength into building it up, and students of the mystery gathered there. The master entered the room to ask for decisions and never missed a morning or evening. He also read the Surangama Sutra and clarified his mind-ground. From then on he responded to occasions with agility, and secretly accorded with the sutras. Whenever students of the mystery in various regions had something unresolved, they always came to him for instruction. Even in cross-examining Xuefeng, he gave way to no one. Feng said, 'The Dhuta Bei is a man come again.' Xuefeng ascended the hall: 'To understand this matter is like an ancient mirror on its stand. When a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears; when a Chinese comes, a Chinese appears.' The master came out from the assembly and said, 'Suppose a bright mirror comes, what then?' Feng said, 'Barbarian and Chinese both hide.' The master said, 'The old reverend's heels have not yet touched the ground.' After he took up residence, he ascended the hall: 'The Buddha Way is vast and open, with no itinerary. It is the gateless gate of liberation, the intentionless intention of the man of the Way. Because it is not in the three periods, it cannot rise or sink. Setting up and establishing go against the truth and do not belong to creation. To move is to stir up the root of birth and death; to be still is to get drunk in the land of torpor. When movement and stillness are both extinguished, one falls into empty annihilation. When movement and stillness are both taken in, one is muddled about the Buddha-nature. One must face objects and face conditions like withered wood and cold ashes. Responding to use at the moment, one does not miss what is fitting. A mirror reflects all images without confusing their radiance. A bird flies in the sky without mixing with the color of the sky. Therefore in the ten directions there is no image or trace, and in the three realms there is no path of movement. It does not fall into the workings of coming and going, nor dwell in the intention of the middle. In a bell there is no sound of a drum; in a drum there is no sound of a bell. Bell and drum do not cross each other, and phrase by phrase there is no before or after. It is like a strong man stretching out his arm, borrowing no other's strength. A lion roaming — how could it seek companions? In the nine heavens there is no clouding; where is there need to pierce through? One stretch of radiance has never been dim. If you reach here, the essence is still and silent, ever precise, blazing like the sun, without boundary or surface. In perfect enlightenment's emptiness it does not waver, and it swallows and blazes through heaven and earth, shining far. As for the Buddha's appearing in the world, originally there is no going out or coming in. Names and marks have no substance; the Way is fundamentally thusness. It is naturally so, not the same as cultivation and certification. You need only be empty and at leisure, not darkening its function, and not touched by dust and mud. If within it a hair's breadth cannot be fully spoken, then one is a follower of Mara. Before the phrase and after the phrase — that is where students find it hard. Therefore one phrase matching heaven cuts off birth and death forever at eighty thousand gates. Even if you attain something like the moon's reflection in an autumn pool, or a bell's sound in the still night, undiminished by whatever strikes it and scattering at no wave, that is still a matter on the shore of birth and death. Where the man of the Way walks is like fire melting ice,

終不卻成冰。箭既離弦。無返回勢。所以牢籠不肯住。呼喚不回頭。古聖不安排。至今無處所。若到這裡。步步登玄。不屬邪正。識不能識。智不能知。動便失宗。覺即迷旨。二乘膽顫。十地魂驚。語路處絕。心行處滅。直得釋迦掩室於摩竭。淨名杜口於毗耶。須菩提唱無說而顯道。釋梵絕聽而雨花。若與麼見前。更疑何事沒棲泊處。離去來今。限約不得。心思路絕。不因莊嚴。本來真淨。動用語笑。隨處明瞭。更無欠少。今時人不悟箇中道理。妄自涉事涉塵。處處染著。頭頭繫絆。縱悟。則塵境紛紜。名相不實。便擬凝心斂念。攝事歸空。閉目藏睛。終有念起。旋旋破除。細想才生。即便遏捺。如此見解。即是落空亡底外道。魂不散底死人。冥冥漠漠。無覺無知。塞耳偷鈴。徒自欺誑。這裡分別則不然。也不是隈門傍戶。句句現前。不得商量。不涉文墨。本絕塵境。本無位次。權名箇出家兒。畢竟無蹤。跡真如凡聖。地獄人天。祇是療狂子之方。虗空尚無改變。大道豈有昇沉。悟則縱橫不離本際。若到這裡。凡聖也無立處。若向句中作意。則沒溺殺人。若向外馳求。又落魔界。如如向上。沒可安排。恰似焰爐不藏蚊蚋。此理本來平坦。何用剗除。動靜揚眉。是真解脫道。不彊為意度。建立乖真。若到這裡。纖毫不受。指意則差。便是千聖出頭來。也安一字不得。久立。珍重。上堂。我今問汝諸人。且承當得箇甚麼事。在何世界安身立命。還辨得麼。若辨不得。恰似揑目生花。見事便差。知麼。如今目前。見有山河大地．色空明暗種種諸物。皆是狂勞花相。喚作顛倒知見。夫出家人。識心達本源。故號為沙門。汝今既已剃髮披衣。為沙門相。即便有自利利他分。如今看著。盡黑漫漫地墨汁相似。自救尚不得。爭解為得人。仁者。佛法因緣事大。莫作等閑相似。聚頭亂說。雜話趂謴。過時。光陰難得。

(The master continued:) 'and in the end it never becomes ice again. Once the arrow has left the string, it has no returning momentum. Therefore one refuses to dwell in the cage and does not turn back when called. The ancient sages made no arrangements, and to this day there is no place for it. If you reach here, every step climbs into the mystery and does not belong to right or wrong. Consciousness cannot know it; wisdom cannot understand it. To move is to lose the source; to be aware is to be deluded about the purport. The two vehicles tremble, and the ten stages are shaken to the soul. The road of words is cut off there, and the working of mind is extinguished there. So it is that Shakyamuni shut his room in Magadha and Vimalakirti sealed his mouth in Vaishali. Subhuti proclaimed the unspoken and revealed the Way, and Indra and Brahma stopped listening and rained flowers. If you see it thus before you, what further doubt is there? It has no place to perch, and is apart from going, coming, and now. It cannot be measured, and the path of mental knowing is cut off. It is not made pure by adornment; it is originally true and pure. In movement, use, speech, and laughter it is clear everywhere, and there is nothing lacking. People today do not awaken to this principle within, and recklessly involve themselves in affairs and objects; everywhere they are stained and attached, and at every turn bound. Even if they awaken, then with the profusion of defiling objects and the unreality of names and marks, they try to still the mind and gather the thoughts, to collect affairs and return to emptiness, to close the eyes and hide the pupils. But thoughts will still arise, and they must be broken off one after another; the moment a subtle thought is born, it must be suppressed. Such a view is the heresy that falls into empty annihilation and the dead man whose soul has not dispersed. Dark and desolate, without awareness or knowing. It is stopping the ears to steal a bell, deceiving oneself for nothing. Here, discrimination is not like that. It does not lean on a gate or beside a door. Phrase by phrase it is present before you; it cannot be discussed and is not touched by ink. It is fundamentally apart from defiling objects and fundamentally has no rank or position. Provisionally one is named a home-leaver, but in the end there is no trace. True suchness, ordinary and sage, hell and human and heavenly — these are only prescriptions for curing mad children. Empty space has not yet changed; how could the great Way have rising and sinking? If one is awakened, then in every direction one does not leave the original bound. If you reach here, even ordinary and sage have no place to stand. If you set your mind to work within the phrases, it will drown and kill you. If you run seeking outside, you fall into the realm of Mara. Above thusness there is nothing to arrange. It is exactly like a blazing furnace that harbors no mosquitoes. This principle is originally level; what need is there to level it? Movement and stillness, raising the eyebrows — this is the true path of liberation. Do not force yourself to conjecture and measure; setting things up goes against the truth. If you reach here, not a hair is accepted; the moment you point at meaning, you are off. Even if a thousand sages came forth, not a single word could be placed on it. You have stood long. Take care.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'I now ask you people: what matter have you accepted? In what world do you settle your body and establish your life? Can you tell? If you cannot tell, you are like one pressing his eyes and seeing flowers, and everything you see will be wrong. Do you understand? Now, before your eyes, you see mountains and rivers, the great earth, form and emptiness, brightness and darkness, and all kinds of things — all of them are the marks of flowers born of madness, called inverted knowledge and vision. A home-leaver who understands the mind and penetrates to the source is therefore called a shramana. Now that you have shaved your head and put on the robe and have the marks of a shramana, you have the part of benefiting yourself and benefiting others. But look at yourselves now: it is all pitch-black, like ink. You cannot even save yourselves; how could you save others? Good people, the matter of the Buddha Dharma's conditions is great; do not treat it as a trifle. Gathering in groups and talking wildly, spending the time with idle chatter and jokes. Time is hard to come by.'

可惜許大丈夫兒。何不自省察看是甚麼事。祇如從上宗乘。是諸佛頂族。汝既承當不得。所以我方便勸汝。但從迦葉門接續頓超去。此一門超凡聖因果。超毗盧妙莊嚴世界海。超他釋迦方便門。直下永劫。不教有一物與汝作眼見。何不自急急究取。未必道。我且待三生兩生。久積淨業。仁者。宗乘是甚麼事。不可由汝用工莊嚴便得去。不可他心宿命便得去。會麼。祇如釋迦出頭來作許多變弄。說十二分教。如瓶灌水。大作一場佛事。向此門中用一點不得。用一毛頭伎倆不得。知麼。如同夢事。亦如寐語。沙門不應出頭來。不同夢事。葢為識得。知麼。識得即是大出脫．大徹頭人。所以超凡越聖。出生離死。離因離果。超毗盧。越釋迦。不被凡聖因果所謾。一切處無人識得。汝知麼。莫祇長戀生死愛網。被善惡業拘將去。無自由分。饒汝鍊得身心同虗空去。饒汝到精明湛不搖處。不出識陰。古人喚作如急流水。流急不覺。妄為恬靜。恁麼修行。盡出他輪回際不得。依前被輪回去。所以道。諸行無常。直是三乘功果。如是可畏。若無道眼。亦不究竟。何似如今博地凡夫。不用一毫工夫。便頓超去．解省心力麼。還願樂麼。勸汝。我如今立地待汝搆去。更不教汝加功煉行。如今不恁麼。更待何時。還肯麼。便下座。上堂。汝諸人如在大海裡坐。沒頭浸卻了。更展手問人乞水吃。夫學般若菩薩。須具大根器。有大智慧始得。若有智慧。即今便出脫得去。若是根機遲鈍。直須勤苦耐志。日夜忘疲。無眠失食。如喪考妣相似。恁麼急切。盡一生去。更得人荷挾。尅骨究實。不妨易得搆去。且況如今。誰是堪任受學底人。仁者。莫祇是記言記語。恰似念陀羅尼相似。蹋步向前來。口裡哆哆和和地。被人把住詰問著沒去處。便嗔道和尚不為我答話。恁麼學事大苦。知麼。有一般坐繩床和尚。稱善知識。問著便搖身動手。

(The master continued:) 'What a pity for such great men. Why not examine yourselves and see what this matter is? The school of the patriarchs has been the crown lineage of all Buddhas. Since you cannot accept it, I therefore in skillful means urge you to go on from Kashyapa's gate and succeed in sudden transcendence. This one gate transcends the cause and effect of ordinary and sage; it transcends Vairochana's sea of the world of wondrous adornment; it transcends Shakyamuni's gate of skillful means. Straight down through eternity, it does not let a single thing stand before your eyes. Why do you not hurry and investigate it? You must not say: I will wait three lives or two lives and long accumulate pure karma. Good people, what is the matter of the patriarchs' school? It cannot be attained by your labor and adornment. It cannot be attained by others' minds or by past lives. Do you understand? Consider how Shakyamuni came forth and made so many transformations, speaking the twelve divisions of the teachings like pouring water into a bottle, putting on a great Buddha affair — and in this gate not one bit of it is of use, not one hair-tip of cleverness is of use. Do you understand? It is like a dream, like talking in sleep. A shramana should not come forth. If it is not the same as a dream, that is because he understands. Do you understand? To understand is to be one greatly escaped and greatly through. Therefore one transcends the ordinary and passes the sage, escapes birth and leaves death, leaves cause and leaves effect, transcends Vairochana, passes Shakyamuni, and is not deceived by the cause and effect of ordinary and sage. Nowhere does anyone know you. Do you understand? Do not just long for the net of birth and death and craving, and be seized by good and evil karma, with no share of freedom. Even if you refine body and mind until they are like empty space, even if you reach the bright, pure, unshaken place, you do not escape the aggregate of consciousness. The ancients called this like a rushing stream: when the flow is swift you do not notice it and falsely take it for calm. Cultivating this way, you cannot get out of his wheel of rebirth, and as before you are turned by it. Therefore it is said, all formations are impermanent. Even the fruits of the three vehicles are this fearsome. Without the eye of the Way, it is not ultimate either. How much better than this — an ordinary man of broad earth, without using a hair's worth of effort, suddenly transcends. Can you understand the saving of mind and strength? Are you willing and glad? I urge you. I now stand here waiting for you to grasp it, and will not have you add effort and cultivate practice. If not now, when else? Will you consent?' Then he came down from the seat. Ascending the hall, he said: 'You people are like people sitting in the great ocean, submerged over your heads, yet stretching out your hands to beg others for water to drink. A bodhisattva who studies prajna must be of great capacity and have great wisdom before he can. If he has wisdom, he can escape right now. If his faculties are dull, he must be diligent, endure hardship, and not tire day or night, without sleep or food, as though he had lost his father or mother. With such urgency, spending a whole lifetime, and further having someone carry and support him, cutting to the bone to investigate the truth, he may well grasp it easily. But now, who is a person able to receive the teaching? Good people, do not just memorize words and phrases, exactly like reciting a dharani. Stepping forward, mouth mumbling. When someone grabs you and presses a question and you have nowhere to go, you get angry and say the reverend master did not answer for me. Studying this way is great suffering. Do you understand? There is a type of reverend sitting on a rope bed, claiming to be a good teacher. Asked a question, he shakes his body and moves his hands,'

點眼吐舌瞪視。更有一般說昭昭靈靈。靈臺智性。能見能聞。向五蘊身田裡作主宰。恁麼為善知識．大賺人。知麼。我今問汝。汝若認昭昭靈靈是汝真實。為甚麼瞌睡時又不成昭昭靈靈。若瞌睡時不是。為甚麼有昭昭時。汝還會麼。這箇喚作認賊為子。是生死根本妄想緣氣。汝欲識根由麼。我向汝道。昭昭靈靈。祇因前塵色聲香等法而有分別。便道此是昭昭靈靈。若無前塵。汝此昭昭靈靈同於龜毛兔角。仁者。真實在甚麼處。汝今欲得出他五蘊身田主宰。但識取汝秘密金剛體。古人向汝道。圓成正遍。遍周沙界。我今少分為汝。智者可以譬喻得解。汝還見南閻浮提日麼。世間人所作興營．養身．活命種種心行作業。莫非皆承日光成立。祇如日體。還有許多般心行麼。還有不周遍處麼。欲識金剛體。亦須如是看。祇如今山河大地．十方國土．色空明暗。及汝身心。莫非盡承汝圓成威光所現。直是天人群生類所作業次。受生果報。有情無情。莫非承汝威光。乃至諸佛成道成果。接物利生。莫非盡承汝威光。祇如金剛體。還有凡夫諸佛麼。有汝心行麼。不可道無便得當去也。知麼。汝既有如是奇特當陽出身處。何不發明取。因何卻隨他向五蘊身田中鬼趣裡作活計。直下自謾去。忽然無常殺鬼到來。眼目譸張。身見命見。恁麼時大難支荷。如生脫龜殻相似。大苦。仁者。莫把瞌睡見解便當卻去。未解葢覆得毛頭許。汝還知麼。三界無安。猶如火宅。且汝未是得安樂底人。祇大作群隊幹他人世。這邊那邊飛走。野鹿相似。但求衣食。若恁麼爭行他王道。知麼。國王大臣不拘執汝。父母放汝出家。十方施主供汝衣食。土地龍神呵護汝。也須具慚愧知恩始得。莫孤負人好。長連床上排行著地銷將去。道是安樂未在。皆是粥飯將養得汝。爛冬瓜相似變將去。土裡埋將去。業識茫茫。無本可據。沙門因甚麼到恁麼地。

(The master continued:) 'rolls his eyes, sticks out his tongue, and stares. There is another type who speaks of the bright and numinous, the intelligent nature of the numinous terrace, able to see and hear, playing the master within the field of the five aggregates. Being a good teacher this way greatly cheats people. Do you understand? I now ask you. If you take the bright and numinous as your true self, why is it not bright and numinous when you doze off? If it is not there when you doze, why is there a bright time? Do you understand? This is called taking a thief for a son; it is the root of birth and death, the deluded thinking and conditioned breath. Do you want to know the cause? I will tell you. The bright and numinous has discrimination only because of the objects before it — form, sound, scent, and the rest — and then you say this is the bright and numinous. Without objects before it, your bright and numinous is the same as turtle hair and rabbit horns. Good people, where is the real? If you now wish to get free of the master within the field of the five aggregates, simply recognize your secret vajra body. The ancients told you: perfect and omnipresent, pervading the sands of worlds. I will now give you a small portion. The wise can understand by analogy. Do you see the sun of the southern continent? The various undertakings and enterprises of worldly people, all their mental workings and karma for nourishing the body and sustaining life — are they not all established by receiving the sun's light? And as for the sun itself, does it have all those various mental workings? Does it have any place it does not reach? If you wish to know the vajra body, you must look at it the same way. Now, mountains and rivers and the great earth, lands in the ten directions, form and emptiness, brightness and darkness, and your body and mind — are they not all manifested by receiving your perfect and majestic light? Even the karma of the various kinds of beings among gods and men, and the fruits of their rebirth, sentient and insentient, are they not all by receiving your majestic light? And even the Buddhas' attaining the Way and the fruit, receiving beings and benefiting the living — are they not all by receiving your majestic light? And as for the vajra body, does it have ordinary men and Buddhas? Does it have your mental workings? You cannot say there is none and let it go at that. Do you understand? Since you have such a wonderful place of coming forth in the sunlight, why not make it clear? Why instead do you follow it into the field of the five aggregates, doing your business in the realm of ghosts, and so deceive yourself straight down? Suddenly when the impermanent killer-death arrives, your eyes will dart in panic, and your view of body and view of life — at such a time it is very hard to bear, like a living creature shedding its turtle shell. Great suffering. Good people, do not take the understanding of dozing as the thing itself. You cannot cover over even a hair-tip. Do you also know? The three realms have no peace, like a burning house. And you are not yet a person who has attained peace and joy. You only form great crowds and meddle in others' world, flying this way and that like wild deer, seeking only food and clothing. How can you walk his kingly way like that? Do you understand? Kings and ministers do not arrest you; your parents let you leave home; donors in the ten directions supply you food and clothing; the local gods and dragons protect you — you must have a sense of shame and know your debt before you can. Do not let people down. On the long bench you are lined up and worn away as you sit, and you say this is peace — it is not. It is all the gruel and rice that has nourished you, and like a rotten winter melon you will be transformed and buried in the earth. Your karmic consciousness is vast and dim, with no root to rely on. Why has a shramana come to such a state?'

祇如大地上蠢蠢者。我喚作地獄劫住。如今若不了。明朝後日入驢胎馬肚裡。牽犂拽耙。銜鐵負鞍。碓搗磨磨。水火裡燒煑去。大不容易受。大須恐懼。好是汝自累。知麼。若是了去。直下永劫。不曾教汝有這箇消息。若不了此。煩惱惡業因緣。不是一劫兩劫得休。直與汝金剛齊壽。知麼。師因參次。聞燕子聲。乃曰。深談實相。善說法要。便下座。時有僧請益。曰。某甲不會。師曰。去。誰信汝。鼓山來。師作一圓相示之。山曰。人人出這箇不得。師曰。情知汝向驢胎馬腹裡作活計。山曰。和尚又作麼生。師曰。人人出這箇不得。山曰。和尚與麼道卻得。某甲為甚麼道不得。師曰。我得汝不得。上堂。眾集。遂將拄杖一時趂下。卻迴向侍者道。我今日作得一解。險入地獄如箭射。者曰。喜得和尚再復人身。僧侍立次。師以杖指面前地上白點曰。還見麼。曰。見。如是三問。僧亦如是答。師曰。你也見。我也見。為甚麼道不會。師甞訪三鬥庵主。才相見。主曰。莫怪住山年深無坐具。師曰。人人盡有。庵主為甚麼無。主曰。且坐吃茶。師曰。庵主元來有在。侍雪峰次。有二僧從階下過。峰曰。此二人堪為種草。師曰。某甲不與麼。峰曰。汝作麼生。師曰。便好與三十棒。因雪峰指火曰。三世諸佛在火焰裡轉大法輪。師曰。近日王令稍嚴。峰曰。作麼生。師曰。不許攙奪行市。雲門曰。火焰為三世諸佛說法。三世諸佛立地聽。南際到雪峰。峰令訪師。師問。古人道此事唯我能知。長老作麼生。際曰。須知有不求知者(歸宗柔別。拊掌三下)。師曰。山頭和尚吃許多辛苦作麼。雪峰普請畬田次。見一蛇。以杖挑起。召眾曰。看。看。以刀芟為兩段。師以杖拋於背後。更不顧視。眾愕然。峰曰。俊哉。侍雪峰遊山次。峰指面前地曰。這一片地好造箇無縫塔。師曰。高多少。峰乃顧視上下。師曰。人天福報即不無。

(The master continued:) 'The wriggling things on the great earth I call the kalpa dwellers of hell. If you do not understand now, then someday soon you will enter a donkey's womb or a horse's belly, pull the plow and drag the harrow, hold the bit and bear the saddle, be pounded in mortars and ground in mills, and be boiled in fire and water. It is no easy thing to bear. You must be greatly afraid. It is you who have brought it on yourself. Do you understand? If you understand, then straight down through eternity it will never let you have this news. If you do not understand this, then affliction and evil karma and their conditions will not come to rest in one or two kalpas, but will last as long as your vajra. Do you understand?' Once, as the master was calling on someone, he heard the sound of swallows and said, 'Deeply discoursing on true reality, well speaking the essentials of the Dharma.' Then he came down from the seat. A monk then asked for instruction, saying, 'I do not understand.' The master said, 'Go. Who would believe you?' The master of Gushan came. The master drew a circle and showed it to him. Shan said, 'No one can get out of this.' The master said, 'I know very well you do your business in a donkey's womb and a horse's belly.' Shan said, 'What about the reverend master?' The master said, 'No one can get out of this.' Shan said, 'The reverend master can say it, so why can I not say it?' The master said, 'I can, you cannot.' He ascended the hall. The assembly gathered. Then he drove them all down with his staff. Then he turned to the attendant and said, 'Today I have made one interpretation; I came within a hair of falling into hell like an arrow shot.' The attendant said, 'How lucky the reverend master has recovered a human body.' Once, as a monk stood in attendance, the master pointed with his staff at a white spot on the ground before them and said, 'Do you see it?' The monk said, 'I see it.' Three times he asked, and three times the monk answered the same way. The master said, 'You see it and I see it — why do you say you do not understand?' The master once visited the hut master of Sandou. As soon as they met, the hut master said, 'Do not blame me for dwelling on the mountain so many years without a sitting cloth.' The master said, 'Everyone has one; why does the hut master not?' The hut master said, 'Sit down and have tea.' The master said, 'So the hut master did have one after all.' Once, as he attended Xuefeng, two monks passed below the steps. Feng said, 'These two could be seeds of the lineage.' The master said, 'I am not like that.' Feng said, 'What would you do?' The master said, 'They deserve thirty blows.' Once Xuefeng pointed at the fire and said, 'The Buddhas of the three ages turn the great Dharma wheel in the flames.' The master said, 'These days the king's ordinances are rather strict.' Feng said, 'How so?' The master said, 'One is not allowed to corner the market.' Yunmen said, 'The flames preach the Dharma for the Buddhas of the three ages, and the Buddhas of the three ages stand and listen.' Nanji came to Xuefeng. Feng sent him to visit the master. The master asked, 'The ancients said this matter only I can know. What does the elder say?' Ji said, 'You should know there is one who does not seek to know.' (Guizong Rou gave another answer, clapping his hands three times.) The master said, 'What is the monk on the mountain top doing, eating so much hardship?' Once, when Xuefeng was doing the communal work of burning off the fields, he saw a snake, lifted it up with his staff, called the assembly, and said, 'Look, look.' Then he cut it in two with his knife. The master threw his staff behind him and did not look at it again. The assembly was astonished. Feng said, 'Excellent.' Once, as he attended Xuefeng walking in the mountains, Feng pointed at the ground before them and said, 'This patch of ground would be good for building a seamless stupa.' The master said, 'How tall?' Feng then looked up and down. The master said, 'The blessings of gods and men are not lacking,

和尚。若是靈山授記。未夢見在。峰曰。你又作麼生。師曰。七尺八尺。雪峰曰。世界闊一尺。古鏡闊一尺。世界闊一丈。古鏡闊一丈。師指火爐曰。火爐闊多少。峰曰。如古鏡闊。師曰。老和尚腳跟未點地在。師初住普應院。遷止玄沙。天下叢林。皆望風而賓之。閩帥王公待以師禮。學徒餘八百。室戶不閉。上堂。良久曰。我為汝得徹困。也還會麼。僧問。寂寂無言時如何。師曰。寐語作麼。曰。本分事。請師道。師曰。瞌睡作麼。曰。學人即瞌睡。和尚如何。師曰。爭得恁麼不識痛癢。又曰。可惜如許大師僧。千道萬裡行腳到這裡。不消箇瞌睡寐語。便屈卻去。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。用自己作麼。問。從上宗乘。如何理論。師曰。少人聽。曰。請和尚直道。師曰。患聾作麼。又曰。仁者。如今事不獲已。教我抑下如是威光。苦口相勸。百千方便。如此如彼。共汝相知聞。盡成顛倒知見。將此咽喉唇吻。祇成得箇野狐精業謾汝。我還肯麼。祇如有過無過。唯我自知。汝爭得會。若是恁麼人出頭來。甘伏呵責。夫為人師匠大不易。須是善知識始得知。我如今恁麼方便助汝。猶尚不能搆得。可中純舉宗乘。是汝向甚麼處安措。還會麼。四十九年是方便。祇如靈山會上有百萬眾。唯有迦葉一人親聞。餘盡不聞。汝道迦葉親聞底事作麼生。不可道如來無說說。迦葉不聞聞。便得當去。不可是汝修因成果．福智莊嚴底事。知麼。且如道。吾有正法眼藏。付囑大迦葉。我道猶如話月。曹溪竪拂子還如指月。所以道。大唐國內宗乘中事。未曾見有一人舉唱。設有人舉唱。盡大地人失卻性命。如無孔鐵鎚相似。一時亡鋒結舌去。汝諸人賴遇我不惜身命。共汝顛倒知見。隨汝狂意。方有伸問處。我若不共汝恁麼知聞去。汝向甚麼處得見我。會麼。大難。努力珍重。師有偈曰。萬裡神光頂後相。沒頂之時何處望。

(The master continued:) 'but as for the prediction at Vulture Peak, you have not dreamed of it.' Feng said, 'What about you?' The master said, 'Seven feet, eight feet.' Xuefeng said, 'When the world is a foot wide, the ancient mirror is a foot wide. When the world is ten feet wide, the ancient mirror is ten feet wide.' The master pointed at the fire hearth and said, 'How wide is the fire hearth?' Feng said, 'As wide as the ancient mirror.' The master said, 'The old reverend's heels have not yet touched the ground.' The master first dwelt at Puying Monastery, then moved to Xuansha. All the monasteries in the land looked to him and treated him as a guest. Lord Wang, the commander of Min, treated him with the courtesy due a teacher. His students numbered more than eight hundred, and the doors of their rooms were never closed. Ascending the hall, after a long silence he said, 'I have worn myself out for you. Do you understand?' A monk asked, 'What about when it is still and silent and without words?' The master said, 'Why talk in your sleep?' He said, 'My own matter — please, master, speak it.' The master said, 'Why doze?' He said, 'The student is dozing; what about the reverend master?' The master said, 'How can you be so without any sense of pain or itch?' He also said, 'What a pity that such great monks, having walked a thousand roads and ten thousand li to come here, are bent and turned aside by a doze or a sleep-talk. Not worth a thing.' A monk asked, 'What is the student himself?' The master said, 'What use is the self?' A monk asked, 'How does one discuss the school of the patriarchs?' The master said, 'Few listen.' He said, 'Please, reverend master, speak directly.' The master said, 'Why act deaf?' He also said, 'Good people, now that matters have come to this pass, I am made to suppress such majestic light and with bitter words urge you, with hundreds of thousands of skillful means, this way and that, sharing knowledge with you, and it all becomes inverted knowledge and vision. This throat and these lips only serve to make a wild-fox spirit's karma to deceive you. Would I consent to that? As for having fault or no fault, only I myself know; how can you understand? If a person like that comes forth, he will gladly submit to scolding. To be a teacher of people is no easy thing; one must be a good teacher before one can know. I now use such skillful means to help you, and still you cannot grasp it. If one were to raise the patriarchs' school purely, where would you place yourselves? Do you understand? The forty-nine years were skillful means. At the assembly on Vulture Peak there were a million in the assembly, and only Kashyapa alone heard it directly; all the rest did not hear. Tell me, what was the matter Kashyapa heard directly? You cannot say that the Tathagata spoke the unspoken and Kashyapa heard the unheard, and let it go at that. It cannot be your matter of cultivating causes and attaining the fruit, of the adornment of merit and wisdom. Do you understand? It is said: I have the treasury of the true Dharma eye, entrusted to Mahakashyapa. I say this is like talking about the moon. Caoxi raising the whisk is still like pointing at the moon. Therefore it is said that in the land of Tang, in the matter of the patriarchs' school, I have never seen a single person raise and sing it. If someone did raise and sing it, everyone in the great earth would lose their lives, like an iron hammer without a hole, and all at once their edge would be lost and their tongues tied. You people are lucky to have met me, who does not spare body or life, sharing inverted knowledge and vision with you and following your mad intentions, so that you have a place to put a question. If I did not share this knowledge with you, where would you see me? Do you understand? Very hard. Strive hard and take care.' The master had a verse: 'Ten thousand li of divine light, the mark behind the head; when the head is covered, where will you look?'

事已成。意亦休。此箇來蹤觸處周。智者撩著便提取。莫待須臾失卻頭。又曰。玄沙遊逕別。時人切須知。三冬陽氣盛。六月降霜時。有語非關舌。無言切要詞。會我最後句。出世少人知。問。四威儀外如何奉王。師曰。汝是王法罪人。爭會問事。問。古人拈槌竪拂。還當宗乘也無。師曰。不當。曰。古人意作麼生。師舉拂子。僧曰。宗乘中事如何。師曰。待汝悟始得。問。如何是金剛力士。師吹一吹。閩王送師上船。師扣船召曰。大王爭能出得這裡去。王曰。在裡許得多少時也(歸宗柔別雲。不因和尚。不得到這裡)。師問文桶頭。下山幾時歸。曰。三五日。師曰。歸時。有無底桶子將一擔歸。文無對(歸宗柔代雲。和尚用作甚麼)。師垂語曰。諸方老宿盡道接物利生。祇如三種病人。汝作麼生接。患盲者。拈槌竪拂他又不見。患聾者。語言三昧他又不聞。患瘂者。教伊說又說不得。若接不得。佛法無靈驗。時有僧出曰。三種病人還許學人商量否。師曰。許。汝作麼生商量。其僧珍重出。師曰。不是。不是。羅漢曰。桂琛現有眼耳口。和尚作麼生接。師曰。慚愧。便歸方丈。中塔曰。三種病人。即今在甚麼處。又一僧曰。非唯謾他。兼亦自謾(法眼雲。我當時見羅漢舉此僧語。我便會三種病人。雲居錫雲。祇如此僧會不會。若道會。玄沙又道不是。若道不會。法眼為甚麼道。我因此僧語。便會三種病人。上座。無事上來商量。大家要知)。有僧請益雲門。門曰。汝禮拜著。僧禮拜起。門以拄杖挃之。僧退後。門曰。汝不是患盲麼。復喚。近前來。僧近前。門曰。汝不是患聾麼。門曰。會麼。曰。不會。門曰。汝不是患瘂麼。僧於是有省。長慶來。師問。除卻藥忌。作麼生道。慶曰。放憨作麼。師曰。雪峰山橡子拾食。來這裡雀兒放糞。師因僧禮拜。師曰。因我得禮汝。普請斫柴次。見一虎。天龍曰。

(The verse goes on:) The matter is done, the mind also rests. This trace of coming is complete at every point of contact. The wise man, touching it, takes it up at once; do not wait a moment and lose your head. He also said: 'Xuan Sha's path of wandering is different; people of the time must surely know it. In the three winter months the yang energy flourishes; in the sixth month comes the time of frost. Words spoken are not the business of the tongue; no words yet the word is essential. Understand my last phrase; few in the world know it.' Asked, 'Beyond the four deportments, how does one serve the king?' The Master said, 'You are a criminal under the king's law—how can you understand asking about the matter?' Asked, 'The ancients raised the mallet and lifted the whisk—did they accord with the ancestral vehicle?' The Master said, 'They did not.' 'What did the ancients intend?' The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'What of the matter within the ancestral vehicle?' The Master said, 'You must wait until you awaken.' Asked, 'What is the vajra warrior?' The Master blew a breath. The King of Min sent the Master onto a boat. The Master knocked on the boat and called out, 'Great King, how will you manage to get out of here?' The king said, 'How long has one been in here?' (Guizong Rou said in his place, 'Had it not been for the Master, I could not have reached here.') The Master asked the bucket-head Wen, 'When you go down the mountain, when will you return?' He said, 'In three or five days.' The Master said, 'When you return, bring back a load in a bottomless bucket.' Wen had no reply. (Guizong Rou said in his place, 'What would the Master use it for?') The Master gave an indirect saying: 'The old masters everywhere all say they receive beings and benefit the living. Take the three kinds of sick people—how will you receive them? One blind: you raise the mallet and lift the whisk, and he does not see. One deaf: words and samadhi, and he does not hear. One mute: you tell him to speak, and he cannot speak. If you cannot receive them, the Buddhadharma has no efficacy.' Then a monk came forward and said, 'As for the three kinds of sick people, will you allow a student to discuss it?' The Master said, 'I allow it. How will you discuss it?' The monk said, 'Take care,' and went out. The Master said, 'Not so, not so.' Luohan said, 'Guichen presently has eyes, ears, and mouth—how will the Master receive him?' The Master said, 'How shameful.' Then he returned to his quarters. Zhongta said, 'The three kinds of sick people—where are they now?' Another monk said, 'Not only does he fool others, he also fools himself.' (Fayan said, 'When I heard Luohan quote this monk's words, I understood the three kinds of sick people.' Yunjü Xi said, 'What about this monk—did he understand or not? If you say he understood, Xuansha says not so. If you say he did not understand, why does Fayan say that because of this monk's words he understood the three kinds of sick people? Elders, come up when you have nothing to do and discuss it; everyone wants to know.') A monk asked Yunmen for instruction. Men said, 'You bow.' The monk bowed and rose. Men pushed him off with his staff. The monk stepped back. Men said, 'Are you not blind?' He called again, 'Come closer.' The monk came closer. Men said, 'Are you not deaf?' Men said, 'Do you understand?' 'I do not understand.' Men said, 'Are you not mute?' At this the monk had an insight. Changqing came. The Master asked, 'Setting aside the medicine's taboo, how would you say it?' Qing said, 'Why play the fool?' The Master said, 'Xuefeng Mountain's acorns you pick and eat; here the sparrow drops its dung.' The Master, because a monk bowed, said, 'It is through me that I get to bow to you.' During communal labor cutting firewood, they saw a tiger. Tianlong said:

和尚。虎。師曰。是汝。虎。歸院後天龍問。適來見虎。雲是汝。未審尊意如何。師曰。娑婆世界有四種極重事。若人透得。不妨出得陰界(東禪齊雲。上座。古人見了道我身心如大地虗空。如今人還透得麼)。師問長生。維摩觀佛。前際不來。後際不去。今則無住。汝作麼生觀。生曰。放皎然過。有箇道處。師曰。放汝過作麼生道。生良久。師曰。教阿誰委悉。生曰。徒勞側耳。師曰。情知汝向鬼窟裡作活計(崇壽稠別長生雲。喚甚麼作如來)。問。古人皆以瞬視接人。未審和尚以何接人。師曰。我不以瞬視接人。曰。學人為甚道不得。師曰。畐塞汝口。爭解道得(法眼雲。古人恁麼道甚奇特。且問上座口是甚麼)。問。凡有言句。盡落裷䙡。不落裷䙡。請和尚商量。師曰。拗折秤衡來。與汝商量。問。承古有言。舉足下足。無非道場。如何是道場。師曰。沒卻你。曰。為甚麼得恁麼難見。師曰。祇為太近(法眼曰。也無可得近。直下是上座)。師在雪峰時。光侍者謂師曰。師叔若學得禪。某甲打鐵船下海去。師住後問光曰。打得鐵船也未。光無對(法眼代雲。和尚終不恁麼。法燈代雲。請和尚下船。玄覺代雲。貧兒思舊債)。師一日遣僧送書上雪峰。峰開緘。見白紙三幅。問僧。會麼。曰。不會。峰曰。不見道君子千里同風。僧回舉似。師曰。山頭老漢蹉過也不知。曰。和尚如何。師曰。孟春猶寒也不解道。師問鏡清。教中道不見一法為大過患。且道不見甚麼法。清指露柱曰。莫是不見這箇法麼(同安顯別雲。也知和尚不造次)。師曰。浙中清水白米從汝吃。佛法未會在。問。承和尚有言。盡十方世界是一顆明珠。學人如何得會。師曰。盡十方世界是一顆明珠。用會作麼。僧便休。師來日卻問其僧。盡十方世界是一顆明珠。汝作麼生會。曰。盡十方世界是一顆明珠。用會作麼。師曰。

(Tianlong went on:) 'Master, a tiger.' The Master said, 'It is you, tiger.' After returning to the monastery Tianlong asked, 'Just now we saw a tiger, and you said it was me. I do not understand your venerable meaning.' The Master said, 'In the Saha world there are four kinds of extremely grave matters. If a person can penetrate them, he can surely get out of the realm of the aggregates.' (Dongchan Qi said, 'Elders, the ancients, having seen, said my body and mind are like the great earth and empty space. Can people today still penetrate it?') The Master asked Changsheng, 'Vimalakirti contemplated the Buddha: the former limit does not come, the latter limit does not go, and the present has no abiding. How do you contemplate?' Sheng said, 'Let Jiaoran off; there is a place to speak.' The Master said, 'If I let you off, how would you speak?' Sheng was silent a long while. The Master said, 'Who is to be told?' Sheng said, 'You waste your time pricking up your ears.' The Master said, 'I knew you were doing your business in the ghost cave.' (Chongshou Chou said in place of Changsheng, 'What do you call the Tathagata?') Asked, 'The ancients all received people with a blink. I do not know how the Master receives people.' The Master said, 'I do not receive people with a blink.' 'Why can a student not say it?' The Master said, 'A spoke stops your mouth—how could you say it?' (Fayan said, 'The ancients speaking thus is very extraordinary. But tell me, elders, what is the mouth?') Asked, 'Whatever has words and phrases falls into the trap. Not falling into the trap—please, Master, discuss it.' The Master said, 'Break the steelyard and come, then I will discuss it with you.' Asked, 'It is said the ancients had a saying: raising the foot and putting it down, there is no place that is not the bodhimanda. What is the bodhimanda?' The Master said, 'It has wiped you out.' 'Why is it so hard to see?' The Master said, 'Just because it is too near.' (Fayan said, 'There is nothing to be near, either. Right here it is you, elder.') When the Master was at Xuefeng, the attendant Guang told the Master, 'Uncle, if you learn Chan, I will hammer an iron boat and go to sea.' After the Master had settled in his own place, he asked Guang, 'Have you hammered the iron boat yet?' Guang had no reply. (Fayan said in place, 'The Master would never be like that.' Fadeng said in place, 'Please, Master, board the boat.' Xuanjue said in place, 'The poor boy thinks of old debts.') One day the Master sent a monk with a letter up to Xuefeng. Feng opened the envelope and saw three sheets of blank paper. He asked the monk, 'Do you understand?' 'I do not understand.' Feng said, 'Have you not heard it said, the gentleman shares the same wind across a thousand li?' The monk returned and reported this. The Master said, 'The old man on the mountain top does not even know he has missed it.' 'What about you, Master?' The Master said, 'In the first month of spring it is still cold—he cannot even say that.' The Master asked Jingqing, 'The teachings say that not seeing a single dharma is the greatest calamity. Tell me, what dharma does one not see?' Qing pointed at the exposed pillar and said, 'Is it not this dharma that is not seen?' (Tong'an Xian said in place, 'I know the Master is not careless.') The Master said, 'The clear water and white rice of Zhezhong you may eat, but the Buddhadharma you have not yet understood.' Asked, 'It is said the Master has a saying: the whole ten-direction world is one bright pearl. How can a student understand it?' The Master said, 'The whole ten-direction world is one bright pearl—what is the use of understanding it?' The monk then stopped. The next day the Master asked that monk, 'The whole ten-direction world is one bright pearl—how do you understand it?' He said, 'The whole ten-direction world is one bright pearl—what is the use of understanding it?' The Master said:

知汝向鬼窟裡作活計(玄覺雲。一般恁麼道。為甚麼卻成鬼窟去)。問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。這一縫大小。韋監軍來謁。乃曰。曹山和尚甚奇怪。師曰。撫州取曹山幾裡。韋指傍僧曰。上座曾到曹山否。曰。曾到。韋曰。撫州取曹山幾裡。曰。百二十里。韋曰。恁麼則上座不到曹山。韋卻起禮拜。師曰。監軍卻須禮此僧。此僧卻具慚愧(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是此僧具慙愧。若檢得出。許上座有行腳眼)。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。膿滴滴地。問。如何是親切底事。師曰。我是謝三郎。西天有聲明三藏至。閩帥請師辨驗。師以鐵火筯敲銅爐。問。是甚麼聲。藏曰。銅鐵聲(法眼別雲。請大師為大王。法燈別雲。聽和尚問)。師曰。大王莫受外國人謾。藏無對(法眼代雲。大師久受大王供養。法燈代雲。卻是和尚謾大王)。師南遊。莆田縣排百戲迎接。來日。師問小塘長老。昨日許多喧閙。向甚麼處去也。塘提起衲衣角。師曰。料掉沒交涉(法眼別雲。昨日有多少喧閙。法燈別雲。今日更好笑)。問僧。乾闥婆城汝作麼生會。曰。如夢如幻(法眼別敲物示之)。師與地藏在方丈說話。夜深侍者閉卻門。師曰。門總閉了。汝作麼生得出去。藏曰。喚甚麼作門(法燈別雲。和尚莫欲歇去)。師以杖拄地。問長生曰。僧見俗見。男見女見。汝作麼生見。曰。和尚還見皎然見處麼。師曰。相識滿天下。問。承和尚有言。聞性遍周沙界。雪峰打皷。這裡為甚麼不聞。師曰。誰知不聞。問。險惡道中。以何為津梁。師曰。以眼為津梁。曰。未得者如何。師曰。快救取好。師舉誌公雲。每日拈香擇火。不知身是道場。乃曰。每日拈香擇火。不知真箇道場(玄覺雲。祇如此二尊宿語。還有親疎也無)。師與韋監軍吃果子。韋問。如何是日用而不知。師拈起果子曰。吃。韋吃果子了。再問。師曰。祇這是日用而不知。普請搬柴。

(The Master went on:) 'I know you are doing your business in the ghost cave.' (Xuanjue said, 'He says the same thing—why then does it become a ghost cave?') Asked, 'What is the seamless stupa?' The Master said, 'How big is this seam?' Wei the army supervisor came to visit, and said, 'Chan Master Caoshan is very strange.' The Master said, 'How many li is it from Fuzhou to Caoshan?' Wei pointed at a monk beside him and said, 'Elder, have you ever been to Caoshan?' He said, 'I have been.' Wei said, 'How many li is it from Fuzhou to Caoshan?' He said, 'A hundred and twenty li.' Wei said, 'Then the Elder has not been to Caoshan.' Wei then rose and bowed. The Master said, 'The supervisor should rather bow to this monk. This monk does have a sense of shame.' (Yunjü Xi said, 'Where is it that this monk has a sense of shame? If you can find it out, I grant you have the eye of a pilgrim.') Asked, 'What is the pure dharma-body?' The Master said, 'Dripping with pus.' Asked, 'What is the intimate matter?' The Master said, 'I am Xie Sanlang.' A Tripitaka master of Sabdavidya from the Western Heaven arrived. The commander of Min asked the Master to verify him. The Master struck a bronze brazier with an iron fire-tongs and asked, 'What sound is this?' The Tripitaka master said, 'The sound of copper and iron.' (Fayan said in place, 'Please, Great Master, act for the Great King.' Fadeng said in place, 'Listen to the Master's question.') The Master said, 'Great King, do not be fooled by a foreigner.' The Tripitaka master had no reply. (Fayan said in place, 'The Great Master has long received the Great King's offerings.' Fadeng said in place, 'Rather, it is the Master who fools the Great King.') The Master traveled south. Putian County arranged a hundred plays to welcome him. The next day the Master asked Elder Xiaotang, 'Yesterday's great clamor—where has it gone?' Tang lifted the corner of his robe. The Master said, 'Sure enough, no connection.' (Fayan said in place, 'How much clamor was there yesterday?' Fadeng said in place, 'Today is even funnier.') He asked a monk, 'The city of the gandharvas—how do you understand it?' He said, 'Like a dream, like an illusion.' (Fayan said in place by knocking on something to show him.) The Master and Dizang were talking in the abbot's quarters. Deep in the night the attendant closed the door. The Master said, 'The door is all shut—how will you get out?' Zang said, 'What do you call a door?' (Fadeng said in place, 'Master, do you not want to rest?') The Master planted his staff on the ground and asked Changsheng, 'The monk's view, the layman's view, the man's view, the woman's view. How do you view?' He said, 'Does the Master see where Jiaoran views?' The Master said, 'I know everyone in the world.' Asked, 'It is said the Master has a saying: the nature of hearing pervades the sands of the Ganges. Xuefeng beats the drum—why is it not heard here?' The Master said, 'Who says it is not heard?' Asked, 'On a dangerous road, what is the bridge?' The Master said, 'The eye is the bridge.' 'What about one who has not attained?' The Master said, 'Quickly save him.' The Master quoted Zhigong: 'Every day you pick up incense and choose fire, not knowing the body is the bodhimanda.' Then he said, 'Every day you pick up incense and choose fire, not knowing the true bodhimanda.' (Xuanjue said, 'As for the words of these two venerable ones, is there near and far or not?') The Master ate fruit with the army supervisor Wei. Wei asked, 'What is it to use it daily and not know it?' The Master picked up a fruit and said, 'Eat.' Wei ate the fruit and asked again. The Master said, 'This very thing is using it daily and not knowing it.' Communal labor hauling firewood.

師曰。汝諸人盡承吾力。一僧曰。既承師力。何用普請。師叱之曰。不普請爭得柴歸。師問明真大師。善財參彌勒。彌勒指歸文殊。文殊指歸佛處。汝道佛指歸甚麼處。曰。不知。師曰。情知汝不知(法眼別雲。喚甚麼作佛)。大普玄通到。禮覲。師曰。你在彼住。莫誑惑人家男女。曰。玄通祇是開箇供養門。晚來朝去。爭敢作恁麼事。師曰。事難。曰。真情是難。師曰。甚麼處是難處。曰。為伊不肯承當。師便入方丈。拄卻門。僧問。學人乍入叢林。乞師指箇入路。師曰。還聞偃溪水聲麼。曰。聞。師曰。從這裡入。泉守王公請師登樓。先語客司曰。待我引大師到樓前。便舁卻梯。客司稟旨。公曰。請大師登樓。師視樓．復視其人。乃曰。佛法不是此道理(法眼雲。未舁梯時。日幾度登樓)。師與泉守在室中說話。有一沙彌揭簾入見。卻退步而出。師曰。那沙彌好與二十拄杖。守曰。恁麼即某甲罪過(同安顯別雲。祖師來也)。師曰。佛法不是恁麼(鏡清雲。不為打水。有僧問。不為打水意作麼生。清雲。青山碾為塵。敢保沒閑人)。梁開平戊辰示寂。閩帥為之樹塔。

The Master said, 'You people all rely on my strength.' A monk said, 'Since we rely on the Master's strength, why have communal labor?' The Master scolded him: 'Without communal labor, how would the firewood get back?' The Master asked Great Master Mingzhen, 'Sudhana called on Maitreya; Maitreya pointed him back to Manjushri; Manjushri pointed him to the place of the Buddha. Tell me, to what place did the Buddha point him?' He said, 'I do not know.' The Master said, 'I knew you did not know.' (Fayan said in place, 'What do you call the Buddha?') Dapu Xuantong arrived and paid his respects. The Master said, 'You live over there—do not deceive the men and women of people's households.' He said, 'Xuantong only opens a gate of offering; coming in the evening and going in the morning, how would I dare do such a thing?' The Master said, 'The matter is hard.' He said, 'True feeling is indeed hard.' The Master said, 'Where is the hard place?' He said, 'Because he will not take it on.' The Master then went into his quarters and barred the door. A monk asked, 'I have just entered the monastery; I beg the Master to point out a way in.' The Master said, 'Do you hear the sound of the Yan stream?' 'I hear it.' The Master said, 'Enter from there.' Wang, the prefect of Quan, invited the Master to ascend a tower. Beforehand he told the reception officer, 'When I have led the Great Master to the front of the tower, take away the ladder.' The reception officer obeyed. The prefect said, 'Please, Great Master, ascend the tower.' The Master looked at the tower, then looked at the man, and said, 'The Buddhadharma is not in this principle.' (Fayan said, 'Before the ladder was taken away, how many times a day did he ascend the tower?') The Master and the prefect of Quan were talking in a room. A novice lifted the curtain, looked in, and stepped back out. The Master said, 'That novice deserves twenty blows of the staff.' The prefect said, 'Then it is my fault.' (Tong'an Xian said in place, 'The patriarch has come.') The Master said, 'The Buddhadharma is not like this.' (Jingqing said, 'It is not for drawing water.' A monk asked, 'What does not for drawing water mean?' Qing said, 'Grind the green mountains to dust—I dare say there is no idle man.') In the wuchen year of the Kaiping era of Liang he passed into quiescence. The commander of Min built a stupa for him.

福州長慶慧稜禪師

Chan Master Huileng of Changqing in Fuzhou

杭州鹽官人也。姓孫氏。稟性淳澹。年十三於蘇州通玄寺出家登戒。歷參禪苑。後參靈雲。問。如何是佛法大意。雲曰。驢事未去。馬事到來。師如是往來雪峰．玄沙二十年間。坐破七箇蒲團。不明此事。一日捲簾。忽然大悟。乃有頌曰。也大差。也大差。捲起簾來見天下。有人問我解何宗。拈起拂子劈口打。峰舉謂玄沙曰。此子徹去也。沙曰。未可。此是意識著述。更須勘過始得。至晚。眾僧上來問訊。峰謂師曰。備頭陀未肯汝在。汝實有正悟。對眾舉來。師又有頌曰。萬象之中獨露身。唯人自肯乃方親。昔時謬向途中覓。今日看來火裡冰。峰乃顧沙曰。不可更是意識著述。師問峰曰。從上諸聖傳受一路。請師垂示。峰良久。師設禮而退。峰乃微笑。師入方丈參。峰曰。是甚麼。師曰。今日天晴好普請。自此酧問。未嘗爽於玄旨。師在西院。問詵上座曰。這裡有象骨山。汝曾到麼。曰。不曾到。師曰。為甚麼不到。曰。自有本分事在。師曰。作麼生是上座本分事。詵乃提起衲衣角。師曰。為當祇這箇。別更有。曰。上座見箇甚麼。師曰。何得龍頭蛇尾。保福辭歸雪峰。謂師曰。山頭和尚或問上座信。作麼生祇對。師曰。不避腥羶。亦有少許。曰。信道甚麼。師曰。教我分付阿誰。曰。從展雖有此語。未必有恁麼事。師曰。若然者。前程全自闍黎。師與保福遊山。福問。古人道妙峰山頂。莫祇這箇便是也無。師曰。是即是。可惜許(僧問皷山。祇如長慶恁麼道。意作麼生。山雲。孫公若無此語。可謂髑髏徧野)。師來往雪峰二十九載。天祐三年泉州刺史王延彬請住招慶。開堂日。公朝服趨隅曰。請師說法。師曰。還聞麼。公設拜。師曰。雖然如此。恐有人不肯。僧問。如何是正法眼。師曰。有願不撒沙。一日。王太傅入院。見方丈門閉。問演侍者曰。有人敢道太師在否。演曰。

was a man of Yanguan in Hangzhou. His family name was Sun. By nature he was simple and mild. At thirteen he left home and received the precepts at Tongxuan Monastery in Suzhou. He called on Chan gardens everywhere, and later called on Lingyun. He asked, 'What is the great meaning of Buddhadharma?' Lingyun said, 'The donkey business has not gone, and the horse business has arrived.' The Master thus went back and forth between Xuefeng and Xuansha for twenty years, wearing out seven meditation cushions, and still did not understand this matter. One day, rolling up a blind, he suddenly had a great awakening, and had a verse: 'How far off, how far off. Roll up the blind and see the whole world. If someone asks me what school I understand, I pick up my whisk and strike him across the mouth.' Xuefeng reported this to Xuansha, saying, 'This man has gone through.' Xuansha said, 'Not yet. This is a composition of consciousness; it must be examined further.' In the evening, when the monks came up to greet him, Xuefeng said to the Master, 'Bei the ascetic still does not accept you. If you truly have a correct awakening, bring it out before the assembly.' The Master had another verse: 'Alone I reveal my body amid the ten thousand forms; only when a person himself accepts it is it intimate. Formerly I wrongly sought it along the road; today I see it as ice in fire.' Xuefeng then looked at Xuansha and said, 'You cannot say again that it is a composition of consciousness.' The Master asked Xuefeng, 'The sages from of old handed down this one road—please, Master, give me your instruction.' Xuefeng was silent for a long while. The Master bowed and withdrew. Xuefeng then smiled. The Master went into the abbot's quarters to call on him, and Xuefeng said, 'What is it?' The Master said, 'Today the sky is clear—good for communal labor.' From then on, in question and answer, he never deviated from the profound purport. When the Master was at the West Court, he asked Elder Shen, 'There is Elephant-Bone Mountain here—have you ever been there?' He said, 'I have not.' The Master said, 'Why not?' He said, 'I have my own original matter.' The Master said, 'What is the Elder's original matter?' Shen then lifted the corner of his robe. The Master said, 'Is it only this, or is there something else?' He said, 'What does the Elder see?' The Master said, 'Why dragon's head and snake's tail?' Baofu took leave to return to Xuefeng, and said to the Master, 'If the old man on the mountain asks about the Elder's letter, how shall I answer?' The Master said, 'Not avoiding the stench of fish, I have a little.' He said, 'What does the letter say?' The Master said, 'To whom shall I hand it down?' He said, 'Though Congzhan says this, it is not necessarily so.' The Master said, 'If so, the road ahead is all up to you, Acharya.' The Master and Baofu were walking in the mountains. Baofu asked, 'The ancients said, the summit of the wonderful peak—is it just this or not?' The Master said, 'It is, but what a pity.' (A monk asked Gushan, 'What does Changqing mean by saying this?' Gushan said, 'If Master Sun had not said this, you could say skulls lie all over the fields.') The Master went back and forth to Xuefeng for twenty-nine years. In the third year of Tianyou, Wang Yanbin, prefect of Quanzhou, invited him to dwell at Zhaoqing. On the day of the opening of the hall, the prefect in court robes hurried to the mat and said, 'Please, Master, speak the Dharma.' The Master said, 'Do you hear it?' The prefect bowed. The Master said, 'Even so, I fear someone will not accept it.' A monk asked, 'What is the true Dharma eye?' The Master said, 'Having a vow, one does not scatter sand.' One day the Grand Tutor Wang entered the monastery, saw the abbot's door closed, and asked the attendant Yan, 'Is there anyone who dares say the Grand Master is in?' Yan said:

有人敢道太師不在否(法眼別雲。大傅識太師)。閩帥請居長慶。號超覺大師。上堂。良久曰。還有人相悉麼。若不相悉。欺謾兄弟去也。祇今有甚麼事。莫有窒塞也無。復是誰家屋裡事。不肯擔荷。更待何時。若是利根。參學不到這裡。還會麼。如今有一般行腳人。耳裡總滿也。假饒收拾得底。還當得行腳事麼。僧問。行腳事如何學。師曰。但知就人索取。曰。如何是獨脫一路。師曰。何煩更問。問。名言妙義。教有所詮。不涉三科。請師直道。師曰。珍重。師乃曰。明明歌詠汝尚不會。忽被暗裡來底事。汝作麼生。僧問。如何是暗來底事。師曰。吃茶去(中塔代雲。便請和尚相伴)。問。如何是不隔毫端底事。師曰。當不當。問。如何得不疑不惑去。師乃展兩手。僧不進語。師曰。汝更問。我與汝道。僧再問。師露膊而坐。僧禮拜。師曰。汝作麼生會。曰。今日風起。師曰。恁麼道未定人見解。汝於古今中有甚麼節要齊得長慶。若舉得。許汝作話主。其僧但立而已。師卻問。汝是甚處人。曰。向北人。師曰。南北三千里外。學妄語作麼。僧無對。上堂。良久曰。莫道今夜較些子。便下座。僧問。眾手淘金。誰是得者。師曰。有伎倆者得。曰。學人還得也無。師曰。大遠在。上堂。撞著道伴交肩過。一生參學事畢。上堂。淨潔打疊了也。卻近前問我覓。我劈脊與你一棒。有一棒到你。你須生慚愧。無一棒到你。你又向甚麼處會。問。羚羊掛角時如何。師曰。草裡漢。曰。掛角後如何。師曰。亂呌喚。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。驢事未去。馬事到來。問。如何是合聖之言。師曰。大小長慶被汝一問。口似匾擔。曰。何故如此。師曰。適來問甚麼。上堂。我若純舉唱宗乘。須閉卻法堂門。所以道。盡法無民。僧問。不怕無民。請師盡法。師曰。還委落處麼。問。如何是西來意。師曰。香嚴道底。一時坐卻。上堂。

(The attendant Yan went on:) 'Is there anyone who dares say the Grand Master is not in?' (Fayan said in place, 'The Grand Tutor knows the Grand Master.') The commander of Min invited him to dwell at Changqing, with the title Great Master Chaojue. Ascending the hall. After a long while he said, 'Is there anyone who understands me? If no one understands, I will go and deceive my brothers. What matter is there right now? Is there no blockage? Whose household matter is this again? If you will not take it up, when will you wait? If you are of sharp faculties, you will not even come here to study. Do you understand? Nowadays there is a sort of pilgrim whose ears are stuffed full. Even if he could gather something, would it count as the matter of pilgrimage?' A monk asked, 'How should one study the matter of pilgrimage?' The Master said, 'Just know to seek from people.' 'What is the one road of solitary escape?' The Master said, 'Why trouble to ask again?' Asked, 'Names and wonderful meanings are what the teachings explain. Not touching the three categories—please, Master, speak directly.' The Master said, 'Take care.' The Master then said, 'Clear songs and chants you still do not understand. If a matter comes at you in the dark, what will you do?' A monk asked, 'What is a matter that comes in the dark?' The Master said, 'Go drink tea.' (Zhongta said in place, 'Then please, Master, keep me company.') Asked, 'What is the matter that is not separated by a hair's tip?' The Master said, 'Right or not?' Asked, 'How can one be free of doubt and delusion?' The Master opened both hands. The monk did not speak. The Master said, 'Ask again and I will tell you.' The monk asked again. The Master sat with his arm bared. The monk bowed. The Master said, 'How do you understand it?' He said, 'Today the wind has risen.' The Master said, 'Speaking like this does not settle a person's view. What in past and present can you make equal to Changqing? If you can bring it up, I grant you are master of the word.' The monk just stood there. The Master then asked, 'Where are you from?' He said, 'A man of the north.' The Master said, 'Three thousand li north and south—why study idle talk?' The monk had no reply. Ascending the hall. After a long while he said, 'Do not say that tonight is a little better.' Then he descended from the seat. A monk asked, 'Many hands wash for gold—who gets it?' The Master said, 'The one with skill gets it.' 'Does a student get it?' The Master said, 'Very far off.' Ascending the hall: 'Meeting a fellow traveler and passing shoulder to shoulder—a lifetime of study is finished.' Ascending the hall: 'It is cleaned and folded up. Yet you come forward and ask me for it. I will give you a blow across the back. If one blow reaches you, you should feel shame. If no blow reaches you, where will you understand it?' Asked, 'What about when the antelope hangs by its horns?' The Master said, 'A fellow in the grass.' 'And after hanging by its horns?' The Master said, 'Crying out wildly.' 'After all, how is it?' The Master said, 'The donkey business has not gone, and the horse business has arrived.' Asked, 'What are words that accord with the sage?' The Master said, 'Great or small, Changqing, being asked by you, has a mouth like a carrying pole.' 'Why is that so?' The Master said, 'What did you ask just now?' Ascending the hall: 'If I were to speak purely of the ancestral vehicle, I would have to shut the Dharma hall door. Therefore it is said, exhaust the Dharma and there are no people.' A monk asked, 'I do not fear no people—please, Master, exhaust the Dharma.' The Master said, 'Do you understand where it falls?' Asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'What Xiangyan said—I sit it all down at once.' Ascending the hall.

總似今日。老胡有望。保福曰。總似今日。老胡絕望(玄覺雲。恁麼道是相見語。不是相見語)。安國𤦆和尚得師號。師去作賀。國出接。師曰。師號來邪。曰。來也。師曰。是甚麼號。曰。明真。師乃展手。國曰。甚麼處去來。師曰。幾不問過。問僧。甚處來。曰。鼓山來。師曰。鼓山有不跨石門底句。有人借問。汝作麼生道。曰。昨夜報慈宿。師曰。劈脊棒汝。又作麼生。曰。和尚若行此棒。不虗受人天供養。師曰。幾合放過。問。古人有言。相逢不拈出。舉意便知有時如何。師曰。知有也未(僧又問保福。福雲。此是誰語。雲。丹霞語。福雲。去。莫妨我打睡)。師入僧堂。舉起疏頭曰。見即不見。還見麼。眾無對(法眼代雲。縱受得。至別處亦不敢呈人)。師到羅山。見製龕子。以杖敲龕曰。太煞預備。山曰。拙佈置。師曰。還肯入也無。山乃吽。吽。上堂。大眾集定。師乃拽出一僧曰。大眾禮拜此僧。又曰。此僧有甚麼長處。便教大眾禮拜。眾無對。僧問。如何是文彩未生時事。師曰。汝先舉。我後舉。其僧但立而已(法眼別雲。請和尚舉)。師曰。汝作麼生舉。曰。某甲截舌有分。保福遷化。僧問。保福拋卻殻漏子。向甚麼處去也。師曰。且道保福在那箇殻漏子裡(法眼別雲。那箇是保福殼漏子)。閩帥夫人崔氏(奉道自稱練師)。遣使送衣物至。曰。練師令就大師請回信。師曰。傳語練師。領取回信。須臾。使卻來師前唱喏便回。師明日入府。練師曰。昨日謝大師回信。師曰。卻請昨日回信看。練師展兩手。帥問師曰。練師適來呈信。還愜大師意否。師曰。猶較些子(法眼別雲。這一轉語大王自道取)。曰。未審大師意旨如何。師良久。帥曰。不可思議。大師佛法深遠。後唐長興三年歸寂。王氏建塔。

(The Master went on:) 'If it were always like today, the old barbarian would have hope.' Baofu said, 'If it were always like today, the old barbarian would be in despair.' (Xuanjue said, 'Speaking like this is the language of meeting, and it is not the language of meeting.') Chan Master Anguo received a master's title, and the Master went to offer congratulations. Anguo came out to welcome him. The Master said, 'Has the master's title come?' He said, 'It has come.' The Master said, 'What title is it?' He said, 'Mingzhen.' The Master then opened his hand. Anguo said, 'Where have you been?' The Master said, 'I almost did not ask.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Gushan.' The Master said, 'Gushan has a phrase about not crossing the stone gate; if someone asks you about it, how would you say it?' He said, 'Last night I lodged at Baoci.' The Master said, 'A blow across your back—what then?' He said, 'If the Master gives this blow, he does not receive the offerings of gods and men in vain.' The Master said, 'I almost let you off.' Asked, 'The ancients had a saying: meeting, one does not bring it out; raising the thought, one knows it is there. What about that?' The Master said, 'Do you know it is there or not?' (The monk asked Baofu too. Baofu said, 'Whose words are these?' 'Danxia's words.' Baofu said, 'Go away. Do not hinder my sleep.') The Master entered the monks' hall, held up the announcement slip, and said, 'Seeing is not seeing. Do you see it?' The assembly had no reply. (Fayan said in place, 'Even if he could receive it, elsewhere he would not dare show it to anyone.') The Master went to Luoshan and saw him making a funeral niche; he struck the niche with his staff and said, 'You are preparing far too much.' Luoshan said, 'A clumsy arrangement.' The Master said, 'Will you consent to enter it or not?' Luoshan then gave a low hum. Ascending the hall. When the assembly had gathered, the Master pulled out a monk and said, 'Assembly, bow to this monk.' He added, 'What strong point has this monk, that the assembly should bow to him?' The assembly had no reply. A monk asked, 'What is the matter before the patterns were born?' The Master said, 'You bring it up first, I will bring it up after.' The monk just stood there. (Fayan said in place, 'Please, Master, bring it up.') The Master said, 'How will you bring it up?' He said, 'I deserve to have my tongue cut out.' Baofu passed away. A monk asked, 'Baofu threw away his leaking shell—where has he gone?' The Master said, 'Tell me, in which leaking shell did Baofu go?' (Fayan said in place, 'Which is Baofu's leaking shell?') Lady Cui, wife of the commander of Min (who practiced the Way and called herself the Refined Master), sent a messenger with clothing, saying, 'The Refined Master asks the Great Master for a reply.' The Master said, 'Tell the Refined Master to come and receive the reply.' In a moment the messenger came again before the Master, sang his greeting, and returned. The next day the Master entered the prefecture. The Refined Master said, 'Yesterday I thanked the Great Master for his reply.' The Master said, 'Then please show me yesterday's reply.' The Refined Master opened both hands. The commander of Min asked the Master, 'The Refined Master just now presented the reply—does it satisfy the Great Master's meaning?' The Master said, 'It is a little better.' (Fayan said in place, 'This turning phrase the Great King should say for himself.') He said, 'I do not understand the Great Master's intent.' The Master was silent a long while. The commander of Min said, 'Inconceivable—the Great Master's Buddhadharma is profound and far-reaching.' In the third year of Changxing of the Later Tang he passed into quiescence. The Wang family built a stupa.

漳州保福院從展禪師

Chan Master Congzhan of Baofu Monastery in Zhangzhou

福州陳氏子。年十五。禮雪峰為受業師。遊吳楚間。後歸執侍。峰一日忽召曰。還會麼。師欲近前。峰以杖拄之。師當下知歸。嘗以古今方便詢於長慶。一日慶謂師曰。寧說阿羅漢有三毒。不可說如來有二種語。不道如來無語。祇是無二種語。師曰。作麼生是如來語。慶曰。聾人爭得聞。師曰。情知和尚向第二頭道。慶曰。汝又作麼生。師曰。吃茶去(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是長慶向第二頭道處)。因舉。盤山道。光境俱亡。復是何物。洞山道。光境未亡。復是何物。師曰。據此二尊宿商量。猶未得勦絕。乃問長慶。如今作麼生道得勦絕。慶良久。師曰。情知和尚向鬼窟裡作活計。慶卻問。作麼生。師曰。兩手扶犂水過膝。長慶問。見色便見心。還見船子麼。師曰。見。曰。船子且置。作麼生是心。師卻指船子(歸宗柔別雲。和尚祇解問人)。雪峰上堂曰。諸上座。望州亭與汝相見了也。烏石嶺與汝相見了也。僧堂前與汝相見了也。師舉問鵝湖。僧堂前相見即且置。祇如望州亭．烏石嶺甚麼處相見。鵝湖驟步歸方丈。師低頭入僧堂。梁真明四年。漳州刺史王公創保福禪苑。迎請居之。開堂日。王公禮跪三請。躬自扶掖陞堂。師乃曰。須起箇笑端作麼。然雖如此。再三不容推免。諸仁者還識麼。若識得。便與古佛齊肩。時有僧出。方禮拜。師曰。晴乾不肯去。直待雨淋頭。問。郡守崇建精舍。大闡真風。便請和尚舉揚宗教。師曰。還會麼。曰。恁麼則群生有賴也。師曰。莫塗汙人好。又僧出禮拜。師曰。大德好與。莫覆卻船子。僧問。泯默之時。將何為則。師曰。落在甚麼處。曰。不會。師曰。瞌睡漢出去。上堂。此事如擊石火。似閃電光。搆得搆不得。未免喪身失命。僧問。未審搆得底人還免喪身失命也無。師曰。適來且置。闍黎還搆得麼。曰。若搆不得。未免大眾怪笑。師曰。作家。作家。曰。是甚麼心行。

was a son of the Chen family of Fuzhou. At fifteen he took Xuefeng as his teacher of instruction. He traveled among Wu and Chu, and later returned to attend on him. One day Xuefeng suddenly called out, 'Do you understand?' As the Master was about to step forward, Xuefeng pushed him off with his staff. The Master understood at once. He once took up the expedients of the ancients and moderns to question Changqing. One day Changqing said to the Master, 'Better to say an arhat has the three poisons than to say the Tathagata has two kinds of speech. I do not say the Tathagata has no speech; he simply has no two kinds of speech.' The Master said, 'What is the Tathagata's speech?' Changqing said, 'How can a deaf man hear it?' The Master said, 'I knew the Master would speak on the second head.' Changqing said, 'And how about you?' The Master said, 'Go drink tea.' (Yunjü Xi said, 'Where is the place where Changqing speaks on the second head?') Then he brought up Panshan's saying, 'When both light and field are gone, what thing is that?' and Dongshan's saying, 'When light and field are not yet gone, what thing is that?' The Master said, 'Judging by the discussion of these two venerable ones, it is still not settled.' He then asked Changqing, 'How would you now speak to settle it?' Changqing was silent a long while. The Master said, 'I knew the Master was doing his business in the ghost cave.' Changqing asked in turn, 'How about you?' The Master said, 'Two hands on the plow, water past the knees.' Changqing asked, 'Seeing form one sees the mind—do you see the boat?' The Master said, 'I see it.' 'Set the boat aside; what is the mind?' The Master pointed at the boat. (Guizong Rou said in place, 'The Master only knows how to question people.') Xuefeng ascended the hall and said, 'Elders, at the Wangzhou Pavilion I have met you; at Wushi Ridge I have met you; before the monks' hall I have met you.' The Master brought this up and asked Ehu, 'Set aside meeting before the monks' hall; where is it that we met at the Wangzhou Pavilion and Wushi Ridge?' Ehu hurried back to the abbot's quarters. The Master bowed his head and entered the monks' hall. In the fourth year of Zhenming of Liang, Prefect Wang of Zhangzhou founded the Baofu Chan Garden and invited him to dwell there. On the day of the opening of the hall, the prefect bowed, knelt, and asked three times, and himself helped him up into the hall. The Master then said, 'Why must you make a laughing matter of it? Even so, having asked three times, I cannot decline. Good people, do you understand? If you understand, you stand shoulder to shoulder with the ancient Buddhas.' Then a monk came forward; just as he bowed, the Master said, 'On a dry day you would not go; you wait until the rain soaks your head.' Asked, 'The prefect has reverently built a monastery and greatly spread the true wind; please, Master, exalt the teaching of the school.' The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'Then living beings have something to rely on.' The Master said, 'Do not smear people.' Another monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, 'Virtuous one, be careful; do not overturn the boat.' A monk asked, 'In the time of silence, what is the rule?' The Master said, 'Where does it fall?' 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'Get out, you sleepyhead.' Ascending the hall: 'This matter is like striking fire from stone, like a flash of lightning. Whether you grasp it or not, you cannot avoid losing your body and your life.' A monk asked, 'Does one who grasps it still avoid losing body and life?' The Master said, 'Set that aside for now—do you grasp it, Acharya?' He said, 'If I do not grasp it, I cannot avoid the assembly's amazed laughter.' The Master said, 'A master craftsman, a master craftsman.' He said, 'What sort of mental activity is that?'

師曰。一杓屎攔面潑。也不知臭。師見僧。以杖打露柱。又打其僧頭。僧作忍痛聲。師曰。那箇為甚麼不痛。僧無對(玄覺代雲。貪行拄杖)。問。摩騰入漢。一藏分明。達磨西來。將何指示。師曰。上座行腳事作麼生。曰。不會。師曰。不會會取。莫傍家取人處分。若是久在叢林。粗委些子。遠近可以隨處任真。其有初心後學。未知次序。山僧所以不惜口業。向汝道塵劫來事。祇在如今。還會麼。然佛法付囑。國王．大臣．郡守昔同佛會。今方如是。若是福祿榮貴。則且不論。祇如當時受佛付囑底事。還記得麼。若識得。便與千聖齊肩。儻未識得。直須諦信此事不從人得。自己亦非。言多去道轉遠。直道言語道斷。心行處滅。猶未是在。久立。珍重。上堂。有人從佛殿後過。見是張三李四。從佛殿前過。為甚麼不見。且道佛法利害在甚麼處。僧曰。為有一分麤境。所以不見。師乃叱之。自代曰。若是佛殿即不見。曰。不是佛殿。還可見否。師曰。不是佛殿。見箇甚麼。問。十二時中如何據驗。師曰。恰好據驗。曰。學人為甚麼不見。師曰。不可更揑目去也。問。主伴重重。極十方而齊唱。如何是極十方而齊唱。師曰。汝何不教別人問。問。因言辯意時如何。師曰。因甚麼言。僧低頭良久。師曰。掣電之機。徒勞佇思。師因僧侍立。問曰。汝得恁麼麤心。僧曰。甚麼處是某甲麤心處。師拈一塊土。度與僧曰。拋向門前著。僧拋了卻來。曰。甚麼處是某甲麤心處。師曰。我見䇿著磕著。所以道汝麤心。師問羅山。僧問巖頭。浩浩塵中如何辨主。頭曰。銅沙鑼裡滿盛油。意作麼生。山召師。師應諾。山曰。獼猴入道場。山卻問明招。忽有人問你。又作麼生。招曰。箭穿紅日影。師問羅山。巖頭道與麼與麼。不與麼不與麼。意作麼生。山召師。師應諾。山曰。雙明亦雙暗。師禮謝。三日後卻問。前日蒙和尚垂慈。

The Master said, 'A ladle of shit thrown in your face, and you do not even know the stink.' The Master, seeing a monk, struck the exposed pillar with his staff, and then struck that monk's head. The monk made a sound of enduring pain. The Master said, 'Why does that one not feel pain?' The monk had no reply. (Xuanjue said in place, 'Greedy for the staff.') Asked, 'When Matanga came to Han, the whole canon was clear. When Bodhidharma came from the West, what did he point out?' The Master said, 'Elder, what about your matter of pilgrimage?' He said, 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'If you do not understand, understand it. Do not go to other houses to get people's assignments. If you have long been in the monastery and understand a little, then near or far, wherever you are, you can let the true be. But for those with first resolve and later students who do not yet know the order, this mountain monk, not sparing the karma of the mouth, tells you: the matter from dust-kalpas past is only in the present. Do you understand? As for the Buddha's entrustment—kings, ministers, and prefects formerly shared the Buddha's assembly, and only now is it thus. As for fortune, emolument, honor, and nobility, let us not discuss them. But the matter entrusted by the Buddha at that time—do you still remember it? If you understand it, you stand shoulder to shoulder with a thousand sages. If you do not yet understand, you must truly believe that this matter is not obtained from others, and that your own self is not it either. Much speech moves further from the Way. Even to say that the way of words is cut off and the place of mental activity is extinguished is still not it. Standing long. Take care.' Ascending the hall: 'Someone passes behind the Buddha hall and sees Zhang San and Li Si; passing before the Buddha hall, why does he not see them? Tell me, where is the sharp point of the Buddhadharma?' A monk said, 'Because there is a portion of coarse object, therefore he does not see.' The Master scolded him. He answered in his own place: 'If it is the Buddha hall, then he does not see.' 'If it is not the Buddha hall, can it still be seen?' The Master said, 'If it is not the Buddha hall, what do you see?' Asked, 'Throughout the twelve hours, how does one verify?' The Master said, 'Just verify.' 'Why does a student not see it?' The Master said, 'You must not go on pressing your eyes.' Asked, 'Host and companion layer upon layer, singing together throughout the ten directions. What is singing together throughout the ten directions?' The Master said, 'Why do you not have someone else ask?' Asked, 'What about using words to discern the meaning?' The Master said, 'By means of what words?' The monk bowed his head for a long while. The Master said, 'A lightning-flash mechanism—vain to stand pondering.' Because a monk was standing in attendance, the Master said, 'You are so careless.' The monk said, 'Where is my carelessness?' The Master picked up a clod of earth, handed it to the monk, and said, 'Throw it in front of the gate.' The monk threw it and came back, saying, 'Where is my carelessness?' The Master said, 'I saw you knock and bump into things, so I said you are careless.' The Master asked Luoshan, 'A monk asked Yantou, how does one distinguish the host in the vast dust? Yantou said, a brass gong filled full of oil. What does it mean?' Luoshan called the Master. The Master answered. Luoshan said, 'A macaque entering the bodhimanda.' Luoshan then asked Mingzhao, 'If someone suddenly asked you, what then?' Mingzhao said, 'An arrow piercing the shadow of the red sun.' The Master asked Luoshan, 'Yantou said, thus, thus; not thus, not thus. What does it mean?' Luoshan called the Master. The Master answered. Luoshan said, 'Both bright and both dark.' The Master bowed in thanks. Three days later he asked again, 'The other day I received the Master's compassion,

祗為看不破。山曰。盡情向汝道了也。師曰。和尚是把火行山。曰。若與麼。據汝疑處問將來。師曰。如何是雙明亦雙暗。山曰。同生亦同死。師又禮謝而退。別有僧問師。同生亦同死時如何。師曰。彼此合取狗口。曰。和尚收取口吃飯。其僧卻問羅山。同生亦同死時如何。山曰。如牛無角。曰。同生不同死時如何。山曰。如虎戴角。師見僧吃飯。乃拓缽曰。家常。僧曰。和尚是甚麼心行。有尼到參。問師。阿誰。侍者報曰。覺師姑。師曰。既是覺師姑。用來作麼。尼曰。仁義道中即不無。師別雲。和尚是甚麼心行。師聞長生卓庵。乃往相訪。茶話次。生曰。曾有僧問祖師西來意。某甲舉拂子示之。不知得不得。師曰。某甲爭敢道得不得。有箇問。有人讚歎此事如虎戴角。有人輕毀此事分文不直。一等是恁麼事。因甚麼毀讚不同。生曰。適來出自偶爾(老宿雲。毀又爭得。又老宿雲。惜取眉毛好。太原孚雲。若無智眼。難辨得失)。師問僧。殿裡底是甚麼。曰。和尚定當看。師曰。釋迦佛。曰。和尚莫謾人好。師曰。卻是汝謾我。閩帥遣使送朱記到。師上堂提起印曰。去即印住。住即印破。僧曰。不去不住。用印奚為。師便打。僧曰。恁麼則鬼窟裡全因今日也。師持印歸方丈。問僧。甚處來。曰。江西。師曰。學得底那。曰。拈不出。師曰。作麼生(法眼別雲。謾語)。僧無對。師舉洞山真讚雲。徒觀紙與墨。不是山中人。僧問。如何是山中人。師曰。汝試邈掠看。曰。若不黠兒。幾成邈掠。師曰。汝是黠兒。曰。和尚是甚麼心行。師曰。來言不豐。僧數錢次。師乃展手曰。乞我一錢。曰。和尚因何到恁麼地。師曰。我到恁麼地。曰。若到恁麼地。將取一文去。師曰。汝因甚到恁麼地。問僧。甚處來。曰。觀音。師曰。還見觀音麼。曰。見。師曰。左邊見。右邊見。曰。見時不歷左右(法眼別雲。

(Luoshan went on:) 'only because I could not see through it.' Luoshan said, 'I have told you all of it.' The Master said, 'The Master is one who carries fire across the mountain.' Luoshan said, 'If so, ask according to your point of doubt.' The Master said, 'What is both bright and both dark?' Luoshan said, 'Both born and both dead.' The Master again thanked him and withdrew. Another monk asked the Master, 'What about when both are born and both dead?' The Master said, 'Both of you shut your dog mouths.' He said, 'Master, shut your mouth and eat.' That monk then asked Luoshan, 'What about when both are born and both dead?' Luoshan said, 'Like an ox without horns.' 'What about when both are born but not both dead?' Luoshan said, 'Like a tiger wearing horns.' Seeing a monk eating, the Master held out his bowl and said, 'Everyday fare.' The monk said, 'What sort of mental activity is that, Master?' A nun came to call. She asked the Master, 'Who is it?' The attendant reported, 'The nun Jue.' The Master said, 'Since she is the nun Jue, what is she here for?' The nun said, 'In the way of benevolence and righteousness, it is not absent.' The Master said in her place, 'What sort of mental activity is that, Master?' Hearing that Changsheng had set up a hut, the Master went to visit him. While talking over tea, Changsheng said, 'A monk once asked about the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West, and I raised my whisk to show him. I do not know whether it was right or not.' The Master said, 'How would I dare say right or not? But there is a question: some praise this matter as a tiger wearing horns, some slight it as worth less than a penny. It is the same matter—why are praise and blame different?' Changsheng said, 'What I said just now was merely offhand.' (An old master said, 'What can blame do?' Another old master said, 'Better take care of your eyebrows.' Taiyuan Fu said, 'Without the eye of wisdom it is hard to tell gain from loss.') The Master asked a monk, 'What is that in the hall?' He said, 'Master, look and decide for yourself.' The Master said, 'Sakyamuni Buddha.' He said, 'Master, do not fool people.' The Master said, 'It is you who fool me.' The commander of Min sent a messenger with a vermilion seal. The Master ascended the hall, held up the seal, and said, 'Go, and the seal stays; stay, and the seal breaks.' A monk said, 'Not going, not staying—what use is the seal?' The Master hit him. The monk said, 'Then the whole ghost cave comes from today.' The Master held the seal and returned to his quarters. He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Jiangxi.' The Master said, 'Is that what you learned?' He said, 'I cannot pick it up.' The Master said, 'How so?' (Fayan said in place, 'Deceitful words.') The monk had no reply. The Master brought up Dongshan's portrait eulogy: 'Only looking at paper and ink, one is not a man of the mountain.' A monk asked, 'What is a man of the mountain?' The Master said, 'Just try to sketch one.' He said, 'If I were not a clever fellow, I would almost have sketched it.' The Master said, 'You are a clever fellow.' He said, 'What sort of mental activity is that, Master?' The Master said, 'Your words are not abundant.' While a monk was counting coins, the Master opened his hand and said, 'Give me a coin.' He said, 'Why has the Master come to this?' The Master said, 'I have come to this.' He said, 'If you have come to this, take one coin.' The Master said, 'Why have you come to this?' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Guanyin.' The Master said, 'Do you see Guanyin?' He said, 'I see.' The Master said, 'Do you see on the left, or on the right?' He said, 'When I see, I do not pass through left or right.' (Fayan said in place:

如和尚見)。問。如何是入火不燒。入水不溺。師曰。若是水火。即被燒溺。師問飯頭。鑊闊多少。曰。和尚試量看。師以手作量勢。曰。和尚莫謾某甲。師曰。卻是汝謾我。問。欲達無生路。應須識本源。如何是本源。師良久。卻問侍者。這僧問甚麼。其僧再舉。師乃喝出。曰。我不患聾。問。學人近入叢林。乞師全示入路。師曰。若教全示。我卻禮拜汝。師問僧。汝作甚麼業來。得恁麼長大。曰。和尚短多少。師卻蹲身作短勢。僧曰。和尚莫謾人好。師曰。卻是汝謾我。師令侍者屈隆壽長老雲。但獨自來。莫將侍者來。壽曰。不許將來。爭解離得。師曰。太煞恩愛。壽無對。師代曰。更謝和尚上足傳示。閩帥奏命服。一日示微疾。僧入丈室問訊。師曰。吾與汝相識年深。有何方術相救。曰。方術甚有。聞說和尚不解忌口(法燈別雲。和尚解忌口麼)。又謂眾曰。吾旬日來氣力困劣。別無他。祇是時至也。僧問。時既至矣。師去即是。住即是。師曰。道。道。曰。恁麼則某甲不敢造次。師曰。失錢遭罪。言訖而寂。

(Fayan went on:) 'as the Master sees.') Asked, 'What is it to enter fire and not be burned, to enter water and not be drowned?' The Master said, 'If it is fire and water, then one is burned and drowned.' The Master asked the rice cook, 'How wide is the cauldron?' He said, 'Master, try measuring it.' The Master made the gesture of measuring with his hand. He said, 'Master, do not fool me.' The Master said, 'It is you who fool me.' Asked, 'Wishing to reach the road of the unborn, one should know the original source. What is the original source?' The Master was silent a long while, then asked the attendant, 'What did this monk ask?' The monk brought it up again. The Master shouted him out, saying, 'I am not deaf.' Asked, 'I have just entered the monastery; I beg the Master to show me the whole way in.' The Master said, 'If I were to show it all, then I should bow to you.' The Master asked a monk, 'What karma did you do, to grow so tall?' He said, 'How much shorter is the Master?' The Master then crouched down to make himself short. The monk said, 'Master, do not fool people.' The Master said, 'It is you who fool me.' The Master sent an attendant to invite Elder Longshou, saying, 'Come by yourself; do not bring the attendant.' Longshou said, 'If you will not let me bring him, how can I get away?' The Master said, 'Too much love.' Longshou had no reply. The Master said in his place, 'Thank you further, Master, for sending your chief disciple to tell me.' The commander of Min memorialized the throne for a robe and title. One day the Master showed a slight illness, and a monk entered the abbot's room to inquire. The Master said, 'I have known you many years—what method have you to save me?' He said, 'I have plenty of methods; I hear the Master does not understand keeping to a diet.' (Fadeng said in place, 'Does the Master understand keeping to a diet?') He also said to the assembly, 'For the past ten days my strength has been weak and poor; there is nothing else—it is simply that my time has come.' A monk asked, 'Since the time has come, will the Master go or stay?' The Master said, 'Say it, say it.' He said, 'Then I dare not be careless.' The Master said, 'Lose money and suffer the crime.' Having spoken, he passed into quiescence.

福州鼓山神晏興聖國師

National Teacher Xingsheng, Shenyan of Gushan in Fuzhou

大梁李氏子。幼惡葷羶。樂聞鐘梵。年十二時。有白氣數道騰於所居屋壁。師題壁曰。白道從茲速改張。休來顯現作妖祥。定祛邪行歸真見。必得超凡入聖鄉。題罷。氣即隨滅。年甫志學。遘疾甚亟。夢神人與藥。覺而頓愈。明年又夢梵僧告曰。出家時至矣。遂依衛州白鹿山規禪師披削。嵩嶽受具。謂同學曰。古德雲。白四羯磨後。全體戒定慧。豈準繩而可拘也。於是杖錫。徧扣禪關。而但記語言。存乎知解。及造雪嶺。朗然符契。一日參雪峰。峰知其緣熟。忽起搊住曰。是甚麼。師釋然了悟。亦忘其了心。唯舉手搖曳而已。峰曰。子作道理邪。師曰。何道理之有。峰審其懸解。撫而印之。後閩帥常詢法要。創鼓山禪苑。請舉揚宗旨。上堂。良久曰。南泉在日。亦有人舉。要且不識南泉。即今莫有識南泉者麼。試出來。對眾驗看。時有僧出。禮拜才起。師曰。作麼生。僧近前曰。諮和尚。師曰。不才請退。乃曰。經有經師。論有論師。律有律師。有函有號。有部有帙。各有人傳持。且佛法是建立教。禪道乃止啼之說。他諸聖出興。葢為人心不等。巧開方便。遂有多門。受疾不同。處方還異。在有破有。居空叱空。二患既除。中道須遣。鼓山所以道。句不當機。言非展事。承言者喪。滯句者迷。不唱言前。寧談句後。直至釋迦掩室。淨名杜口。大士梁時童子。當日一問二問三問。盡有人了也。諸仁者合作麼生。時有僧出禮拜。師曰。高聲問。曰。學人諮和尚。師喝曰。出去。曰。己事未明。以何為驗。師抗聲曰。似未聞那。其僧再問。師曰。一點隨流。食鹹不重。問。如何是包盡乾坤底句。師曰。近前來。僧近前。師曰。鈍置殺人。曰。如何紹得。師曰。犴俗無風。徒勞展掌。曰。如何即是。師曰。錯。曰。學人便承當時如何。師曰。汝作麼生承當(法燈別雲。莫費力)。問。如何是學人正立處。師曰。

was a son of the Li family of Daliang. In youth he loathed meat and rank smells and delighted to hear bells and chanting. When he was twelve, several streaks of white vapor rose from the wall of the house where he lived. The Master wrote on the wall: 'White path, from now on quickly change your ways; come no more to appear and make omens. I will surely drive out evil conduct and return to true seeing; I will surely transcend the ordinary and enter the land of sages.' When he finished writing, the vapor vanished. Just as he reached the age of study, he fell gravely ill; he dreamed that a spirit gave him medicine, and on waking he was suddenly well. The next year he again dreamed that a monk from India told him, 'The time to leave home has come.' So he shaved his head under Chan Master Gui of White Deer Mountain in Weizhou and received full ordination at Mount Song. He said to his fellow students, 'The ancients said that after the fourfold karmavacana the whole of precept, samadhi, and wisdom is present—how could it be bound by plumb line and rule?' So he took his staff and knocked at every Chan gate, but he only memorized words and lodged in understanding. When he reached the Snow Ridge, he was clearly in accord. One day he called on Xuefeng; Xuefeng, knowing his conditions were ripe, suddenly rose and seized him, saying, 'What is it?' The Master was released into awakening, and forgot even that understanding mind; he only raised his hand and waved it. Xuefeng said, 'Are you making up a principle?' The Master said, 'What principle is there?' Xuefeng, testing his remote understanding, patted him and confirmed him. Later the commander of Min often inquired about the essentials of the Dharma and founded the Gushan Chan Garden, inviting him to exalt the school's purport. Ascending the hall. After a long while he said, 'In Nanquan's day there were people who brought it up, yet they did not know Nanquan. Is there anyone now who knows Nanquan? Come forward and be examined before the assembly.' Then a monk came forward; no sooner had he bowed and risen than the Master said, 'What is it?' The monk stepped forward and said, 'I salute you, Master.' The Master said, 'Untalented—please withdraw.' Then he said, 'For the sutras there are sutra masters, for the treatises there are treatise masters, for the Vinaya there are Vinaya masters. There are cases and numbers, sections and volumes, each with someone to transmit and uphold them. Moreover the Buddhadharma is an established teaching, and the Chan way is a tale to stop a child's crying. Those sages appeared in the world because people's minds are not equal, and so they cleverly opened expedients, and thus there were many gates. The illnesses contracted differ, so the prescriptions differ too. Where there is being, they break being; where there is emptiness, they scold emptiness. Once both faults are removed, the middle way too must be sent away. Therefore Gushan says: a phrase that does not fit the mechanism is not a matter of expression. One who takes up words perishes; one who stagnates in phrases is deluded. If you do not sing before the words, how can you talk after the phrases? It reaches even to Sakyamuni shutting his chamber and Vimalakirti closing his mouth. The great being, the boy of the Liang era—when he asked once, twice, three times that day, there were people who understood. Good people, what will you do?' Then a monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, 'Ask in a loud voice.' He said, 'I salute you, Master.' The Master shouted, 'Get out.' He said, 'My own matter is not yet clear—by what is it verified?' The Master raised his voice and said, 'Did you not hear it?' The monk asked again. The Master said, 'A drop follows the current; eating salt, one does not taste it as heavy.' Asked, 'What is the phrase that contains all of heaven and earth?' The Master said, 'Come closer.' The monk came closer. The Master said, 'You have dulled me to death.' He said, 'How can one inherit it?' The Master said, 'A wild dog has no wind; in vain you open your palm.' He said, 'What then is it?' The Master said, 'Wrong.' He said, 'What if a student takes it on at once?' The Master said, 'How will you take it on?' (Fadeng said in place, 'Do not waste effort.') Asked, 'Where does a student stand upright?' The Master said:

不從諸聖行(法燈別雲。汝擬亂走)。問。千山萬山。那箇是正山。師曰。用正山作麼(法燈別雲。千山萬山)。師與招慶相遇次。慶曰。家常。師曰。太無厭生。慶曰。且欵欵。師卻曰。家常。慶曰。今日未有火。師曰。太鄙悋生。慶曰。穩便將取去。上堂。垂語曰。鼓山門下。不得咳嗽。時有僧咳嗽一聲。師曰。作甚麼。曰。傷風。師曰。傷風即得。僧問。如何是宗門中事。師乃側掌。吽。吽。問。如何是向上關棙子。師便打。問。如何是鼓山正主。師曰。瞎作麼。師問保福。古人道。非不非。是不是。意作麼生。福拈起茶盞。師曰。莫是非好。問。如何是真實人體。師曰。即今是甚麼體。曰。究竟如何。師曰。爭得到恁麼地。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。金烏一點。萬裡無雲。上堂。欲知此事如一口劒。僧問。學人是死屍。如何是劒。師曰。拽出這死屍著。僧應喏。便歸僧堂。結束而去。師至晚聞得。乃曰。好與拄杖(東禪齊雲。這僧若不肯鼓山。有甚過。若肯。何得便發去。又云。鼓山拄杖。賞伊罰伊。具眼底試商量看)。問僧。鼓山有不跨石門句。汝作麼生道。僧曰。請師便打。問。如何是古人省心力處。師曰。汝何費力。問。言滿天下無口過。如何是無口過。師曰。有甚麼過。問。如何是教外別傳底事。師曰。吃茶去。師與閩帥瞻仰佛像。帥問。是甚麼佛。師曰。請大王鑒。帥曰。鑒即不是佛。師曰。是甚麼。帥無對(長慶代雲。久承大師在眾。何得造次)。僧問。從上宗乘如何舉唱。師以拂子驀口打。問。如何是省要處。師曰。汝還恥麼。師復曰。今為諸仁者。刺頭入他諸聖化門裡。抖擻不出。所以向諸人道。教排不到。祖不西來。三世諸佛不能唱。十二分教載不起。凡聖攝不得。古今傳不得。忽爾是箇漢。未通箇消息。向他恁麼道。被他驀口摑。還怪得他麼。雖然如此。也不得亂摑。

(The Master continued:) 'Not practicing the conduct of the sages.' (Fadeng said in comment, 'You mean to run about wildly.') Someone asked, 'Among a thousand mountains and ten thousand mountains, which is the true mountain?' The Master said, 'What would you do with the true mountain?' (Fadeng said in comment, 'A thousand mountains, ten thousand mountains.') Once, when the Master and Zhaoqing met, Zhaoqing said, 'The usual.' The Master said, 'How insatiable.' Zhaoqing said, 'Take it easy.' The Master then said, 'The usual.' Zhaoqing said, 'There is no fire today.' The Master said, 'How stingy.' Zhaoqing said, 'Then take it away.' He ascended the hall. He dropped a word: 'Under the gate of Gushan, one may not cough.' At that time a monk coughed once. The Master said, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'I have caught cold.' The Master said, 'Caught cold is fine.' A monk asked, 'What are the matters within the school of the Ancestors?' The Master then turned his palm sideways and said, 'Moo, moo.' Someone asked, 'What is the latch of the upward way?' The Master then hit him. Someone asked, 'Who is the true master of Gushan?' The Master said, 'What are you doing blind?' The Master asked Baofu, 'The ancients said, neither non nor non, is or is not — what does that mean?' Baofu picked up a teacup. The Master said, 'Do not let it be is-not.' Someone asked, 'What is the body of true reality?' The Master said, 'What body is it just now?' He said, 'After all, how is it?' The Master said, 'How could he get to that point?' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'One dot of the golden crow, and ten thousand li without a cloud.' Ascending the hall: 'If you would know this matter, it is like a single sword.' A monk asked, 'The student is a corpse — what is the sword?' The Master said, 'Drag out this corpse.' The monk answered, then went back to the monks' hall, packed up, and left. When the Master heard of it that evening he said, 'A good thirty blows with the staff.' (Dongchan Qi said, 'If this monk did not accept Gushan, what fault was there? If he accepted, why did he leave at once?' He also said, 'Gushan's staff rewards him and punishes him. Let those with eyes try to discuss it.') He asked a monk, 'Gushan has a phrase of not crossing the stone gate — how do you say it?' The monk said, 'Please, Master, just hit me.' Someone asked, 'Where did the ancients save effort of mind?' The Master said, 'Why do you spend effort?' Someone asked, 'His words fill the world and he has no fault of mouth — what is having no fault of mouth?' The Master said, 'What fault is there?' Someone asked, 'What is the matter of the separate transmission outside the teachings?' The Master said, 'Go drink tea.' Once, when the Master and the commander of Min were looking up at a Buddha image, the commander asked, 'What Buddha is this?' The Master said, 'Please, Great King, discern it.' The commander said, 'If I discern it, it is not the Buddha.' The Master said, 'What is it?' The commander had no reply. (Changqing said on his behalf, 'Having long been with the Great Master among the assembly, how can you be so rash?') A monk asked, 'How is the ancestral vehicle from above to be sung?' The Master suddenly struck him on the mouth with his fly whisk. Someone asked, 'What is the essential point?' The Master said, 'Are you not ashamed?' The Master also said, 'Now, for you good people, I have poked my head into the gates of the sages' teaching and cannot shake myself free. Therefore I say to people: the teachings cannot arrange it, the Ancestor did not come from the West. The Buddhas of the three ages cannot sing it, the twelve divisions of the teaching cannot carry it. Ordinary and sage cannot contain it, ancient and modern cannot transmit it. If suddenly there is a man who has not got through with a message, and when I speak to him like this he suddenly slaps my mouth — can I blame him? Even so, one must not slap at random.'

鼓山尋常道。更有一人不跨石門。須有不跨石門句。作麼生是不跨石門句。鼓山自住三十餘年。五湖四海來者向高山頂上看山翫水。未見一人快利。通得箇消息。如今還有人通得也未。若通得亦不昧諸兄弟。若無。不如散去。珍重。師有偈曰。直下猶難會。尋言轉更賒。若論佛與祖。特地隔天涯。師舉問僧。汝作麼生會。僧無語。乃謂侍者曰。某甲不會。請代一轉語。者曰。和尚與麼道。猶隔天涯在。僧舉似師。師喚侍者。問。汝為這僧代語。是否。者曰。是。師便打趂出院。

(The Master continued:) 'Gushan ordinarily says there is one more man who does not cross the stone gate, and there must be a phrase of not crossing the stone gate. What is the phrase of not crossing the stone gate? Gushan has lived here for more than thirty years, and those who have come from the five lakes and four seas to look at mountains and enjoy water from the high peak — I have not seen one sharp one who got through with a message. Is there anyone now who can get through? If there is, then I do not deceive you brothers. If not, better to disperse. Take care.' The Master had a verse: 'It is hard to understand even directly; seeking words makes it further still. If you speak of Buddha and Ancestor, you are deliberately a world apart.' The Master brought this up and asked a monk, 'How do you understand it?' The monk said nothing, and then said to the attendant, 'I do not understand; please give a turning word on my behalf.' The attendant said, 'If the Reverend speaks like that, he is still a world apart.' The monk brought this up to the Master. The Master called the attendant and asked, 'You gave a word on behalf of this monk — did you?' The attendant said, 'Yes.' The Master then hit him and drove him out of the monastery.

杭州龍華寺靈照真覺禪師

Chan Master Lingzhao Zhenjue of Longhua Monastery in Hangzhou

高麗人也。萍遊閩越。陞雪峰之堂。冥符玄旨。居唯一衲。服勤眾務。閩中謂之照布衲。一夕。指半月問溥上座曰。那一片甚麼處去也。溥曰。莫妄想。師曰。失卻一片也。眾雖歎美。而恬澹自持。初住婺州齊雲山。上堂良久。忽舒手顧眾曰。乞取些子。乞取些子。又曰。一人傳虗。萬人傳實。僧問。草童能歌舞。未審今時還有無。師下座作舞曰。沙彌會麼。曰。不會。師曰。山僧蹋曲子也不會。問。還丹一粒。點鐵成金。至理一言。轉凡成聖。請師一點。師曰。還知齊雲點金成鐵麼。曰。點金成鐵。前之未聞。至理一言。敢希垂示。師曰。句下不薦。後悔難追。次遷越州鏡清。上堂。今日盡令去也。時有僧出曰。請師盡令。師乃吽。吽。問。如何是學人本分事。師曰。鏡清不惜口。問。請師彫琢。師曰。八成。曰。為甚麼不十成。師曰。還知鏡清生修理麼。問僧。甚處來。曰。五峰來。師曰。來作甚麼。曰。禮拜和尚。師曰。何不自禮。曰。禮了也。師曰。鏡湖水淺。問。如何是第一句。師曰。莫錯下名言。曰。豈無方便。師曰。烏頭養雀兒。問。向上一路。千聖不傳。未審甚麼人傳得。師曰。千聖也疑我。曰。莫便是傳也無。師曰。晉帝斬嵆康。問釋迦掩室於摩竭。淨名杜口於毗耶。此意如何。師曰。東廊下兩兩三三。上堂。諸方以毗盧法身為極則。鏡清這裡即不然。須知毗盧有師。法身有主。僧問。如何是毗盧師．法身主。師曰。二公爭敢論。問。古人道見色便見心。此即是色。阿那箇是心。師曰。恁麼問。莫欺山僧麼。問。未剖以前。請師斷。師曰。落在甚麼處。曰。失口即不可。師曰。也是寒山送拾得。僧禮拜。師曰。住。住。闍黎失口。山僧失口。曰。惡虎不食子。師曰。驢頭出。馬頭回。師驀問一僧。記得麼。曰。記得。師曰。道甚麼。曰。道甚麼。師曰。淮南小兒入寺。問。

was a man of Korea. Drifting like duckweed through Min and Yue, he ascended Xuefeng's hall and secretly matched the profound purport. He kept only one patched robe and served diligently in the communal duties. In Min he was called Zhao the Patched-Robe. One evening, pointing at the half moon, he asked the elder Pu, 'Where has that one slice gone?' Pu said, 'Do not entertain deluded thoughts.' The Master said, 'A slice has been lost.' The assembly admired him, but he kept himself calm and plain. He first lived at Mount Qiyun in Wuzhou. Ascending the hall, after a long silence he suddenly stretched out his hand, looked at the assembly and said, 'I beg a little, I beg a little.' He also said, 'One man transmits what is false, ten thousand men transmit it as true.' A monk asked, 'A straw boy can sing and dance — I wonder whether there is such a one nowadays?' The Master stepped down from the seat and danced, saying, 'Novice, do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'This mountain monk does not even know the tune.' Someone asked, 'A single grain of the elixir turns iron into gold. One word of ultimate principle turns the ordinary into a sage. Please, Master, make one dot.' The Master said, 'Do you know that Qiyun turns gold into iron?' He said, 'Turning gold into iron I have never heard of before. One word of ultimate principle I dare to hope you will reveal.' The Master said, 'If you do not take it up at the phrase, regret will be hard to recover.' Later he moved to Jingqing in Yuezhou. Ascending the hall: 'Today I shall exhaust the command.' Then a monk came forward and said, 'Please, Master, exhaust the command.' The Master then said, 'Moo, moo.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's original matter?' The Master said, 'Jingqing does not stint his mouth.' Someone asked, 'Please, Master, carve and polish me.' The Master said, 'Eighty percent.' He said, 'Why not a hundred percent?' The Master said, 'Do you know how Jingqing does his repairing?' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Wufeng.' The Master said, 'What have you come for?' He said, 'To pay respects to the Reverend.' The Master said, 'Why not pay respects to yourself?' He said, 'I have paid them.' The Master said, 'The waters of Mirror Lake are shallow.' Someone asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'Do not set down your words wrongly.' He said, 'Are there no skillful means?' The Master said, 'A black-head bird raising a fledgling.' Someone asked, 'The upward way, a thousand sages have not transmitted it. I wonder who has' The Master said, 'A thousand sages doubt me too.' He said, 'Then is it transmitted or not?' The Master said, 'The emperor of Jin beheaded Ji Kang.' Someone asked, 'Sakyamuni shut himself in his room at Magadha, and Vimalakirti held his tongue at Vaisali — what does this mean?' The Master said, 'Two and three together under the east corridor.' Ascending the hall: 'All quarters take the Vairocana dharma body as the ultimate standard; here at Jingqing it is not so. You should know that Vairocana has a teacher and the dharma body has a master.' A monk asked, 'What is Vairocana's teacher and the dharma body's master?' The Master said, 'How would you two dare discuss it?' Someone asked, 'The ancients said, seeing form one sees the mind. This is form — which is the mind?' The Master said, 'Asking like that, are you not cheating this mountain monk?' Someone asked, 'Before it is split open, please, Master, decide it.' The Master said, 'Where does it fall?' He said, 'A slip of the tongue will not do.' The Master said, 'It is Hanshan seeing off Shide.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Stop, stop. The acharya has slipped, and this mountain monk has slipped.' He said, 'A fierce tiger does not eat its cubs.' The Master said, 'The donkey's head goes out, the horse's head comes back.' The Master suddenly asked a monk, 'Do you remember?' He said, 'I remember.' The Master said, 'What did he say?' He said, 'What did he say?' The Master said, 'A Huainan boy enters the temple.' Someone asked,

是甚麼即俊鷹俊鷂趂不及。師曰。闍黎別問。山僧別答。曰。請師別答。師曰。十里行人較一程。問。金屑雖貴。眼裡著不得時如何。師曰。著不得。還著得麼。僧禮拜。師曰。深沙神。問。菩提樹下度眾生。如何是菩提樹。師曰。大似苦練樹。曰。為甚麼似苦練樹。師曰。素非良馬。何勞鞭影。晉天福丁未示寂。塔於杭之大慈山。

Someone asked, 'What is it that even a fine sparrowhawk cannot overtake?' The Master said, 'Acharya, ask something else, and this mountain monk will answer something else.' He said, 'Please, Master, answer something else.' The Master said, 'A traveler of ten li measures a stage.' Someone asked, 'Though gold dust is precious, it cannot be put in the eye — what then?' The Master said, 'If it cannot be put in, can it be put in?' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Deep Sand God.' Someone asked, 'To save living beings under the bodhi tree — what is the bodhi tree?' The Master said, 'Very like a bitter neem tree.' He said, 'Why is it like a bitter neem tree?' The Master said, 'It was never a good horse, so why trouble with the whip's shadow?' He passed into quiescence in the dingwei year of Tianfu of Jin. His stupa is at Daci Mountain in Hangzhou.

明州翠巖令參永明禪師

Chan Master Lingcan Yongming of Cuiyan in Mingzhou

安吉州人也。僧問。不借三寸。請師道。師曰。茶堂裡貶剝去。問。國師三喚侍者。意旨如何。師曰。抑逼人作麼。上堂。一夏與兄弟東語西話。看翠巖眉毛在麼(長慶雲。生也。雲門雲。關。保福雲。作賊人心虛。翠巖芝雲。為眾竭力。禍出私門)。問。凡有言句。盡是點汙。如何是向上事。師曰。凡有言句。盡是點汙。問。如何是省要處。師曰。大眾笑汝。問。還丹一粒。點鐵成金。至理一言。轉凡成聖。學人上來。請師一點。師曰。不點。曰。為甚麼不點。師曰。恐汝落凡聖。曰。乞師至理。師曰。侍者點茶來。問。古人拈槌竪拂。意旨如何。師曰。邪法難扶。問。僧繇為甚寫誌公真不得。師曰。作麼生合殺。問。險惡道中。以何為津梁。師曰。藥山再三叮囑。問。不帶凡聖。當機何示。師曰。莫向人道翠巖靈利。問。玅機言句。盡皆不當。宗乘中事如何。師曰。禮拜著。曰。學人不會。師曰。出家行腳。禮拜也不會。師後遷龍冊而終焉。

was a man of Anji prefecture. A monk asked, 'Without borrowing three inches, please, Master, speak.' The Master said, 'Go and be picked apart in the tea hall.' Someone asked, 'The National Teacher called his attendant three times — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'Why press a man?' Ascending the hall: 'All summer I have talked east and west with you brothers — look, are Cuiyan's eyebrows still there?' (Changqing said, 'They have grown.' Yunmen said, 'Shut.' Baofu said, 'A thief's heart is timid.' Cuiyan Zhi said, 'Exhausting himself for the assembly, disaster comes from his own door.') Someone asked, 'Every word and phrase is a stain. What is the matter above?' The Master said, 'Every word and phrase is a stain.' Someone asked, 'What is the essential point?' The Master said, 'The assembly laughs at you.' Someone asked, 'A single grain of the elixir turns iron into gold. One word of ultimate principle turns the ordinary into a sage. The student has come up — please, Master, make one dot.' The Master said, 'I will not dot.' He said, 'Why will you not dot?' The Master said, 'I fear you would fall into ordinary and sage.' He said, 'I beg the Master's ultimate principle.' The Master said, 'Attendant, bring tea.' Someone asked, 'The ancients picked up the hammer and raised the fly whisk — what does that mean?' The Master said, 'A deviant dharma is hard to prop up.' Someone asked, 'Why could Zhang Sengyou not paint a likeness of Master Zhi?' The Master said, 'How would you finish him off?' Someone asked, 'On a perilous road, what is the bridge?' The Master said, 'Yaoshan urged it over and over.' Someone asked, 'Without bringing ordinary or sage, what does one show when the mechanism comes?' The Master said, 'Do not tell people Cuiyan is sharp.' Someone asked, 'Wondrous mechanism and phrases — none of them match. How are matters in the ancestral vehicle?' The Master said, 'Make your bows.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Having left home and gone on pilgrimage, you cannot even bow.' The Master later moved to Longce and passed away there.

越州鏡清寺道怤順德禪師

Chan Master Daofu Shunde of Jingqing Monastery in Yuezhou

永嘉陳氏子。六歲不葷茹。親黨強啖以枯魚。隨即嗢噦遂求出家。於本州開元寺受具。遊方抵閩。謁雪峰。峰問。甚處人。曰。溫州人。峰曰。恁麼則與一宿覺是鄉人也。曰。祇如一宿覺是甚麼處人。峰曰。好吃一頓棒。且放過。一日。師問。祇如古德。豈不是以心傳心。峰曰。兼不立文字語句。師曰。祇如不立文字語句。師如何傳。峰良久。師禮謝。峰曰。更問我一轉豈不好。師曰。就和尚請一轉問頭。峰曰。祇恁麼。為別有商量。師曰。和尚恁麼即得。峰曰。於汝作麼生。師曰。孤負殺人。雪峰謂眾曰。堂堂密密地。師出。問。是甚麼堂堂密密。峰起立曰。道甚麼。師退步而立。雪峰垂語曰。此事得恁麼尊貴。得恁麼綿密。師曰。道怤自到來數年。不聞和尚恁麼示誨。峰曰。我向前雖無。如今已有。莫有所妨麼。曰。不敢。此是和尚不已而已。峰曰。致使我如此。師從此信入。而且隨眾。時謂之小怤布衲。普請次。雪峰舉。溈山道。見色便見心。汝道還有過也無。師曰。古人為甚麼事。峰曰。雖然如此。要共汝商量。師曰。恁麼則不如道怤鉏地去。師再參雪峰。峰問。甚處來。師曰。嶺外來。峰曰。甚麼處逢見達磨。師曰。更在甚麼處。峰曰。未信汝在。師曰。和尚莫恁麼粘泥好。峰便休。師後遍歷諸方。益資權智。因訪先曹山。山問甚麼處來。師曰。昨日離明水。山曰。甚麼時到明水。師曰。和尚到時到。山曰。汝道我甚麼時到。師曰。適來猶記得。山曰。如是。如是。師初住越州鏡清。唱雪峰之旨。學者奔湊。副使皮光業者。日休之子。辭學宏瞻。屢擊難之。退謂人曰。怤師之高論。人莫窺其極也。新到參。師拈起拂子。僧曰。久嚮鏡清。猶有這箇在。師曰。鏡清今日失利。問。學人啐。請師啄。師曰。還得活也無。曰。若不活。遭人怪笑。師曰。也是草裡漢。問僧。近離甚處。曰。三峰。師曰。

was a son of the Chen family of Yongjia. At six he would not eat meat. His relatives forced dried fish on him, and he at once vomited, and so he asked to leave home. He received the full precepts at Kaiyuan Monastery in that prefecture. Wandering, he reached Min and called on Xuefeng. Xuefeng asked, 'Where are you from?' He said, 'A man of Wenzhou.' Xuefeng said, 'If so, then you are a fellow townsman of One-Night Enlightenment.' He said, 'Just as for One-Night Enlightenment, where was he from?' Xuefeng said, 'He deserves a good beating, but I will let him off.' One day the Master asked, 'Do the ancient worthies not transmit mind with mind?' Xuefeng said, 'And they do not set up written words and phrases.' The Master said, 'If they do not set up written words and phrases, how does the Master transmit?' Xuefeng was silent a long time. The Master bowed in thanks. Xuefeng said, 'Would it not be good to ask me one more turning word?' The Master said, 'Then please, Reverend, give one turning question.' Xuefeng said, 'Just this — or is there another discussion?' The Master said, 'The Reverend may have it so.' Xuefeng said, 'How is it with you?' The Master said, 'You betray a man to death.' Xuefeng said to the assembly, 'How stately and dense.' The Master came forward and asked, 'What is this stately and dense?' Xuefeng stood up and said, 'What are you saying?' The Master stepped back and stood. Xuefeng dropped a word: 'This matter is so noble and so fine and close.' The Master said, 'Daofu has been here several years and has never heard the Reverend teach like this.' Xuefeng said, 'Before, though I did not have it, now I do — is there any harm?' He said, 'I do not presume. This is the Reverend's not being able to do otherwise.' Xuefeng said, 'It is what makes me like this.' From this the Master entered by faith, and moreover followed the assembly. At that time he was called Little Fu the Patched-Robe. Once, at the communal work, Xuefeng brought up Weishan's words: 'Seeing form, one sees the mind. Do you say there is any fault or not?' The Master said, 'What matter was the ancient about?' Xuefeng said, 'Even so, I want to discuss it with you.' The Master said, 'If so, then it is better for Daofu to go and hoe the ground.' The Master studied under Xuefeng again. Xuefeng asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'From beyond the ranges.' Xuefeng said, 'Where did you meet Bodhidharma?' The Master said, 'Where else is he?' Xuefeng said, 'I do not believe you.' The Master said, 'Reverend, please do not stick to the mud like that.' Xuefeng then let it be. The Master afterwards traveled through all quarters, ever increasing his provisional wisdom. Once he visited the late Caoshan. Caoshan asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'Yesterday I left Mingshui.' Caoshan said, 'When did you reach Mingshui?' The Master said, 'When the Reverend reached it, I reached it.' Caoshan said, 'When do you say I reached it?' The Master said, 'I still remember just now.' Caoshan said, 'So it is, so it is.' The Master first lived at Jingqing in Yuezhou and sang the purport of Xuefeng, and students rushed to him in crowds. The deputy commissioner Pi Guangye, son of Ri Xiu, was broad and rich in learning, and repeatedly pressed him with hard questions. He said to others afterwards, 'No one can see the limit of Master Fu's lofty discourse.' A newly arrived monk came to study. The Master picked up his fly whisk. The monk said, 'I have long heard of Jingqing, and still he has this.' The Master said, 'Jingqing has lost today.' Someone asked, 'The student pecks, please, Master, tap.' The Master said, 'Can it come back to life or not?' He said, 'If it does not, people will laugh at it in amazement.' The Master said, 'Still a man in the grass.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from recently?' He said, 'Three Peaks.' The Master said,

夏在甚處。曰五峰。師曰。放你三十棒。曰。過在甚麼處。師曰。為汝出一叢林。入一叢林。師一日於僧堂自擊鐘曰。玄沙道底。玄沙道底。僧問。玄沙道甚麼。師乃畫一圓相。僧曰。若不久參。爭知與麼。師曰。失錢遭罪。師住菴時。有行者至。徐徐近繩床。取拂子提起。問。某甲喚這箇作拂子。庵主喚作甚麼。師曰。不可更安名立字也。行者乃擲卻拂子曰。著甚死急。問僧。外面是甚麼聲。曰。蛇齩蝦蟇聲。師曰。將謂眾生苦。更有苦眾生。師問靈雲。行腳事大。乞師指南。雲曰。浙中米作麼價。師曰。若不是道怤。洎作米價會卻。問。如何是靈源一直道。師曰。鏡湖水可煞深。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。紅日照青山。曰。如何是法身向上事。師曰。風吹雪不寒。問僧。趙州吃茶話。汝作麼生會。僧便出去。師曰。邯鄲學唐步。問。學人未達其源。請師方便。師曰。是甚麼源。曰。其源。師曰。若是其源。爭受方便。僧禮拜退。侍者問。和尚適來莫是成褫伊麼。師曰。無。曰。莫是不成褫伊麼。師曰。無。曰。未審意旨如何。師曰。一點水墨。兩處成龍。師在帳中坐。有僧問訊。師撥開曰。當斷不斷。反招其亂。曰。既是當斷。為甚麼不斷。師曰。我若盡法。直恐無民。曰。不怕無民。請師盡法。師曰。維那。拽出此僧著。又曰。休。休。我在南方識伊和尚來。普請鉏草次。浴頭請師浴。師不顧。如是三請。師舉钁作打勢。頭便走。師召曰。來。來。頭回首。師曰。向後遇作家。分明舉似。頭後到保福。舉前語未了。福以手掩其口。頭卻回。舉似師。師曰。饒伊恁麼也未作家。師問荷玉。甚處來。曰。天台來。師曰。阿誰問汝天台。曰。和尚何得龍頭蛇尾。師曰。鏡清今日失利。師看經次。僧問。和尚看甚麼經。師曰。我與古人鬪百草。師卻問。汝會麼。曰。少年也曾恁麼來。師曰。如今作麼生。

(The Master continued:) 'Where did you spend the summer?' He said, 'Five Peaks.' The Master said, 'I let you off thirty blows.' He said, 'Where is the fault?' The Master said, 'Because you left one monastery and entered another.' One day in the monks' hall the Master struck the bell himself and said, 'What Xuansha said, what Xuansha said.' A monk asked, 'What did Xuansha say?' The Master then drew a circle. The monk said, 'If I had not been studying long, how would I know it was like this?' The Master said, 'Losing money and meeting with blame.' Once, when the Master was living in a hermitage, a postulant came, slowly drew near the rope chair, took up the fly whisk and raised it, asking, 'I call this a fly whisk — what does the hermit call it?' The Master said, 'One cannot give it another name or set up a word.' The postulant then threw down the fly whisk and said, 'What is this dying hurry?' He asked a monk, 'What sound is that outside?' He said, 'The sound of a snake biting a frog.' The Master said, 'I thought living beings suffer, but there are living beings who suffer more.' The Master asked Lingyun, 'The matter of pilgrimage is great; I beg the Master for guidance.' Lingyun said, 'What is the price of rice in Zhezhong?' The Master said, 'Were it not for Daofu, I would almost have understood it as the price of rice.' Someone asked, 'What is the one straight road of the numinous source?' The Master said, 'The waters of Mirror Lake are deep indeed.' Someone asked, 'What is the pure dharma body?' The Master said, 'The red sun shines on the green mountains.' He said, 'What is the matter above the dharma body?' The Master said, 'The wind blows the snow and it is not cold.' He asked a monk, 'How do you understand Zhaozhou's words about drinking tea?' The monk then went out. The Master said, 'Learning to walk like a Tang man in Handan.' Someone asked, 'The student has not reached the source; please, Master, use skillful means.' The Master said, 'What source?' He said, 'That source.' The Master said, 'If it is that source, how can it receive skillful means?' The monk bowed and withdrew. The attendant asked, 'Did the Reverend just now approve of him?' The Master said, 'No.' He said, 'Did you not approve of him?' The Master said, 'No.' He said, 'I wonder what the meaning is?' The Master said, 'One dot of ink, two dragons made.' Once, when the Master sat inside his tent, a monk came to pay his respects. The Master pulled the tent open and said, 'To hesitate when it is time to decide only invites disorder.' He said, 'Since it is time to decide, why not decide?' The Master said, 'If I exhausted the Dharma, I fear there would be no people left.' He said, 'Do not fear there being no people; please, Master, exhaust the Dharma.' The Master said, 'Prior, drag this monk out.' He also said, 'Enough, enough. In the south I have known his teacher.' Once, at the communal weeding, the bath head asked the Master to bathe. The Master paid no attention. Thus he asked three times. The Master raised his hoe in a striking posture. The bath head ran off. The Master called, 'Come, come.' The bath head turned his head. The Master said, 'Hereafter, when you meet an adept, bring it up clearly.' Later the bath head went to Baofu, and before he had finished bringing up the earlier words, Baofu covered his mouth with his hand. The bath head went back and brought this up to the Master. The Master said, 'Even so, he is not yet an adept.' The Master asked Heyu, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Tiantai.' The Master said, 'Who asked you about Tiantai?' He said, 'Why is the Reverend a dragon's head and a snake's tail?' The Master said, 'Jingqing has lost today.' Once, when the Master was reading a sutra, a monk asked, 'What sutra is the Reverend reading?' The Master said, 'I am matching a hundred herbs with the ancients.' The Master then asked, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'In my youth I went along like that too.' The Master said, 'And how is it now?'

僧舉拳。師曰。我輸汝也。問。辨不得．提不起時如何。師曰。爭得到這裡。曰。恁麼則禮拜去也。師曰。鏡清今日失利。師見僧學書。廼問。學甚麼書。曰。請和尚鑒。師曰。一點未分。三分著地。曰。今日又似遇人。又似不遇人。師曰。鏡清今日失利。僧問。聲前絕妙。請師指歸。師曰。許由不洗耳。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。猶繫腳在。曰。某甲祇如此。師意又如何。師曰。無端夜來鴈。驚起後池秋。錢王命居天龍寺。後創龍冊寺。延請居焉。上堂。如今事不得已。向汝道各自驗看實箇親切。既恁麼親切。到汝分上因何特地生疎。祇為拋家日久。流浪年深。一向緣塵致見如此。所以喚作背覺合塵。亦名捨父逃逝。今勸兄弟未歇歇去好。未徹徹去好。大丈夫兒得恁麼無氣槩。還惆悵麼。終日茫茫地。且覓取箇管帶路好。也無人問我管帶一路。僧問。如何是管帶一路。師噓噓曰。要棒吃即道。曰。恁麼則學人罪過也。師曰。幾被汝打破蔡州。問僧。近離甚處。曰。石橋。師曰。本分事作麼生。曰。近離石橋。師曰。我豈不知你近離石橋。本分事作麼生。曰。和尚何不領話。師便打。僧曰。某甲話在。師曰。你但吃棒。我要這話行。僧問。一等明機雙扣。為甚麼卻遭違貶。師曰。打水魚頭痛。驚林鳥散忙。問。十二時中以何為驗。師曰。得力即向我道。僧曰。諾。師曰。十萬八千猶可近。問。如何是方便門速易成就。師曰。速易成就。曰。爭奈學人領覧未的。師曰。代得也代卻。問。如何是人無心合道。師曰。何不問道無心合人。曰。如何是道無心合人。師曰。白雲乍可來青嶂。明月那教下碧天。問。新年頭還有佛法也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是新年頭佛法。師曰。元正啟祚。萬物鹹新。曰。謝師答話。師曰。鏡清今日失利。問。學人問不到處。請師不答。和尚答不到處。學人即不問。師乃搊住曰。

The monk raised his fist. The Master said, 'I yield to you.' Someone asked, 'What about when one can neither distinguish nor lift it?' The Master said, 'How could you get here?' He said, 'If so, then I will bow and go.' The Master said, 'Jingqing has lost today.' Once, when the Master saw a monk practicing calligraphy, he asked, 'What writing are you studying?' He said, 'Please, Reverend, discern it.' The Master said, 'Before a single dot is divided, three parts touch the ground.' He said, 'Today I seem to have met a man, and seem not to have met one.' The Master said, 'Jingqing has lost today.' A monk asked, 'Wondrous beyond sound — please, Master, point out the way home.' The Master said, 'Xu You did not wash his ear.' He said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'Still your feet are tied.' He said, 'I am simply like this — what is the Master's meaning?' The Master said, 'For no reason the night geese startle the autumn in the rear pond.' The king of Qian ordered him to live at Tianlong Monastery, and later founded Longce Monastery and invited him to stay there. Ascending the hall: 'Now, since I cannot do otherwise, I tell you to each verify and see what is truly intimate. Since it is so intimate, why is it so utterly alien to your own portion? Only because you have left home long, and wandered for many years, and have followed objects throughout, that your seeing is like this. Therefore it is called turning the back on enlightenment and joining with dust, also called abandoning the father and running away. Now I urge you brothers: better to rest, better to penetrate. A great man should not be so lacking in spirit. Are you still dismayed? All day long in a daze — better to find a road to manage and lead it. And no one asks me about the road of managing and leading.' A monk asked, 'What is the road of managing and leading?' The Master said, 'Hiss, hiss.' He said, 'If you want to eat the staff, then speak.' He said, 'If so, then the student is at fault.' The Master said, 'I was almost broken by you at Caizhou.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from recently?' He said, 'Stone Bridge.' The Master said, 'How is your original matter?' He said, 'I have come recently from Stone Bridge.' The Master said, 'Do I not know that you have come recently from Stone Bridge? How is your original matter?' He said, 'Why does the Reverend not accept the words?' The Master then hit him. The monk said, 'My words are there.' The Master said, 'Just eat the blows. I want these words to work.' A monk asked, 'When the clear mechanism is doubly struck at once, why does it still meet with rejection?' The Master said, 'Striking the water, the fish's head aches; startling the forest, the birds scatter in haste.' Someone asked, 'What is the proof throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'When you have the strength, tell me.' The monk said, 'Yes.' The Master said, 'A hundred and eight thousand is still approachable.' Someone asked, 'What is the gate of skillful means that is quickly and easily accomplished?' The Master said, 'Quickly and easily accomplished.' He said, 'What is to be done if the student has not yet grasped it clearly?' The Master said, 'Answering for him answers it away.' Someone asked, 'What is it when a man has no mind and accords with the Way?' The Master said, 'Why not ask what it is when the Way has no mind and accords with man?' He said, 'What is it when the Way has no mind and accords with man?' The Master said, 'White clouds may come to the green peaks, but how would the bright moon be made to descend from the blue sky?' Someone asked, 'At the New Year is there still the Buddha Dharma or not?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the Buddha Dharma at the New Year?' The Master said, 'The first month opens the blessing; all things are made new.' He said, 'Thank you, Master, for your answer.' The Master said, 'Jingqing has lost today.' Someone asked, 'When the student asks what cannot be asked, please, Master, do not answer. Where the Reverend cannot answer, the student will not ask.' The Master then seized him and said,

是我道理。是汝道理。曰。和尚若打學人。學人也打和尚。師曰。得對相耕去。問。承師有言。諸方若不是走人。便是籠人．罩人。未審和尚如何。師曰。被汝致此一問。直得當門齒落。上堂。眾集定。師拋下拄杖曰。大眾動著也二十棒。不動著也二十棒。時有僧出。拈得頭上戴出去。師曰。鏡清今日失利。問僧。門外甚麼聲。曰。雨滴聲。師曰。眾生顛倒。迷己逐物。曰。和尚作麼生。師曰。洎不迷己。曰。洎不迷己。意旨如何。師曰。出身猶可易。脫體道應難。問。如何是同相。師將火筯插向爐中。曰。如何是別相。師又將火筯插向一邊(法眼別雲。問不當理)。有僧引一童子到曰。此童子常愛問人佛法。請和尚驗看。師乃令點茶。童子點茶來。師啜了。過盞橐與童子。子近前接。師卻縮手曰。還道得麼。子曰。問將來(法眼別雲。和尚更吃茶否)。僧曰。此童子見解如何。師曰。也祇是一兩生持戒僧。晉天福初示滅。塔於龍冊山。

(The Master continued:) 'Is it my principle or your principle?' He said, 'If the Reverend hits the student, the student will hit the Reverend.' The Master said, 'You may go and plow the field facing each other.' Someone asked, 'I have heard the Master say that in all quarters, if they are not men who run away, they are men who cage and net people. I wonder about the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Because of your one question, my front teeth have fallen out.' He ascended the hall. When the assembly had gathered, the Master threw down his staff and said, 'If you move, twenty blows; if you do not move, twenty blows.' Then a monk came forward, picked it up and carried it off on his head. The Master said, 'Jingqing has lost today.' He asked a monk, 'What sound is outside the door?' He said, 'The sound of rain dripping.' The Master said, 'Living beings are inverted, deluded about themselves and chasing things.' He said, 'How about the Reverend?' The Master said, 'I am almost not deluded about myself.' He said, 'What does it mean, almost not deluded about myself?' The Master said, 'To come forth is still easy; to speak free of the body should be hard.' Someone asked, 'What is sameness of mark?' The Master thrust the fire tongs into the stove. He said, 'What is difference of mark?' The Master thrust the fire tongs to one side. (Fayan said in comment, 'The question does not fit the principle.') A monk brought a boy along and said, 'This boy is always fond of asking people about the Buddha Dharma; please, Reverend, test him.' The Master then told him to serve tea. The boy brought the tea. The Master sipped it, then passed the cup and wrapper to the boy. The boy came forward to take it. The Master then withdrew his hand and said, 'Can you still speak?' The boy said, 'Ask, and it comes.' (Fayan said in comment, 'Will the Reverend drink more tea?') The monk said, 'What is this boy's understanding?' The Master said, 'He is only a precept-keeping monk of one or two lifetimes.' He passed into extinction in the early Tianfu era of Jin. His stupa is on Longce Mountain.

漳州報恩院懷嶽禪師

Chan Master Huaiyue of Baoen Monastery in Zhangzhou

泉州人也。僧問。十二時中如何行履。師曰。動即死。曰。不動時如何。師曰。猶是守古塚鬼。問。如何是學人出身處。師曰。有甚麼纏縛汝。曰。爭奈出身不得何。師曰。過在阿誰。問。如何是報恩一靈物。師曰。吃如許多酒糟作麼。曰。還露腳手也無。師曰。這裡是甚麼處所。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。萬裡一片雲。曰。見後如何。師曰。廓落地。問。黑雲陡暗。誰當雨者。師曰。峻處先傾。問。宗乘不卻。如何舉唱。師曰。山不自稱。水無間斷。問。佛未出世時如何。師曰。汝爭得知。問。撥塵見佛時如何。師曰。甚麼年中得見來。問。師子在窟時如何。師曰。師子是甚麼傢俱。曰。師子出窟時如何。師曰。師子在甚麼處。問。如何是目前佛。師曰。快禮拜。臨遷化。上堂。山僧十二年來舉揚宗教。諸人怪我甚麼處。若要聽三經五論。此去開元寺咫尺。言訖告寂。

was a man of Quanzhou. A monk asked, 'How should one walk throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'To move is to die.' He said, 'What about when one does not move?' The Master said, 'Still a ghost guarding an old grave.' Someone asked, 'What is the place where the student comes forth?' The Master said, 'What is binding you?' He said, 'What is to be done that I cannot come forth?' The Master said, 'Whose fault is it?' Someone asked, 'What is the one numinous thing of Baoen?' The Master said, 'Why eat so much distiller's grain?' He said, 'Does it show hands and feet or not?' The Master said, 'What sort of place is this?' Someone asked, 'What about when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor?' The Master said, 'A single cloud over ten thousand li.' He said, 'And after meeting him?' The Master said, 'An empty clearing.' Someone asked, 'When black clouds suddenly darken, who is the one who makes rain?' The Master said, 'The steep place topples first.' Someone asked, 'Without setting aside the ancestral vehicle, how is it sung?' The Master said, 'The mountain does not praise itself, the water has no interruption.' Someone asked, 'What about when the Buddha had not yet appeared in the world?' The Master said, 'How would you know?' Someone asked, 'What about when one brushes away the dust and sees the Buddha?' The Master said, 'In what year did you get to see him?' Someone asked, 'What about when the lion is in its den?' The Master said, 'What sort of household goods is a lion?' He said, 'What about when the lion leaves its den?' The Master said, 'Where is the lion?' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha before your eyes?' The Master said, 'Bow quickly.' When he was about to pass away, he ascended the hall: 'For twelve years this mountain monk has raised the ancestral teaching — in what way do you people find fault with me? If you want to hear the three sutras and five treatises, Kaiyuan Monastery is a foot away from here.' Having said this, he passed away.

福州安國院弘𤦆明真禪師

Chan Master Hongliu Mingzhen of Anguo Monastery in Fuzhou

泉州陳氏子。參雪峰。峰問。甚麼處來。曰。江西來。峰曰。甚麼處見達磨。曰。分明向和尚道。峰曰。道甚麼。曰。甚麼處去來。一日。雪峰見師。忽搊住曰。盡乾坤是箇解脫門。把手拽伊不肯入。曰。和尚怪弘𤦆不得。峰拓開曰。雖然如此。爭奈背後許多師僧何。師舉國師碑文雲。得之於心。猗蘭作旃檀之樹。失之於旨。甘露乃蒺藜之園。問僧曰。一語須具得失兩意。汝作麼生道。僧舉拳曰。不可喚作拳頭也。師不肯。亦舉拳別雲。祇為喚這箇作拳頭。出世囷山。後閩帥命居安國。大闡玄風。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。是即是。莫錯會。問。如何是第一句。師曰。問。問。問。學人上來。未盡其機。請師盡機。師良久。僧禮拜。師曰。忽到別處。人問。汝作麼生舉。曰。終不敢錯舉。師曰。未出門已見笑具。問。如何是達磨傳底心。師曰。素非後躅。問。不落有無之機。請師全道。師曰。汝試斷看。問。如何是一毛頭事。師拈起袈裟。僧曰。乞師指示。師曰。抱璞不須頻下淚。來朝更獻楚王看。問。寂寂無言時如何。師曰。更進一步。問。凡有言句。皆落因緣方便。不落因緣方便事如何。師曰。桔槔之士頻逢。抱甕之流罕遇。問。向上一路。千聖不傳。未審和尚如何傳。師曰。且留口吃飯著。問。如何是高尚底人。師曰。河濵無洗耳之叟。磻谿絕垂釣之人。問。十二時中。如何救得生死。師曰。執缽不須窺眾樂。履冰何得步參差。問。學人擬問宗乘。師還許也無。師曰。但問。僧擬問。師便喝出。問。目前生死。如何免得。師曰。把將生死來。問。知有底人。為甚麼道不得。師曰。汝爺名甚麼。問。如何是活人劒。師曰。不敢瞎卻汝。曰。如何是殺人刀。師曰。祇這箇是。問。不犯鋒鋩。如何知音。師曰。驢年去。問。苦澁處乞師一言。師曰。可煞沈吟。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。也須相悉好。問。

was a son of the Chen family of Quanzhou. He studied under Xuefeng. Xuefeng asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Jiangxi.' Xuefeng said, 'Where did you see Bodhidharma?' He said, 'I told the Reverend plainly.' Xuefeng said, 'Told what?' He said, 'Where have you been?' One day Xuefeng saw the Master, suddenly seized him and said, 'The whole universe is a gate of liberation, and though I pull him by the hand he will not enter.' He said, 'The Reverend cannot blame Hongliu.' Xuefeng pushed him away and said, 'Even so, what is to be done about all the monks behind you?' The Master brought up the National Teacher's inscription: 'Attained in the mind, the orchid becomes a sandalwood tree. Lost in the purport, sweet dew becomes a field of thorns.' He asked a monk, 'A single phrase must carry both gain and loss — how do you say it?' The monk raised his fist and said, 'One cannot call it a fist.' The Master did not accept it, and raising his own fist said in comment, 'It is only because one calls this a fist.' He came out into the world at Kunshan. Later the commander of Min appointed him to live at Anguo, where he greatly unfolded the profound wind. A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'It is so, but do not misunderstand.' Someone asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'Ask.' Someone asked, 'The student has come up but has not exhausted the mechanism; please, Master, exhaust the mechanism.' The Master was silent a long while. The monk bowed. The Master said, 'If you suddenly go elsewhere and someone asks, how will you bring it up?' He said, 'I would never dare bring it up wrongly.' The Master said, 'Before going out the door you are already a laughingstock.' Someone asked, 'What is the mind transmitted by Bodhidharma?' The Master said, 'It was never a following track.' Someone asked, 'Without falling into the mechanism of existence and non-existence, please, Master, speak it fully.' The Master said, 'You try to decide it.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter of a single hair's tip?' The Master picked up his cassock. The monk said, 'I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master said, 'Holding the uncut jade, one need not weep so often; tomorrow present it again to the king of Chu.' Someone asked, 'What about when all is still and wordless?' The Master said, 'Take one more step forward.' Someone asked, 'Every word and phrase falls into cause, condition and skillful means. What about the matter that does not fall into cause, condition and skillful means?' The Master said, 'Men of the well-sweep are often met; men of the hugged jar are seldom found.' Someone asked, 'The upward way, a thousand sages have not transmitted it. I wonder how the Reverend transmits it?' The Master said, 'Keep your mouth for eating.' Someone asked, 'What is a man of lofty conduct?' The Master said, 'By the riverbank there is no old man washing his ear; at Pan Creek there is no one casting a line.' Someone asked, 'Throughout the twelve hours, how can one be saved from birth and death?' The Master said, 'Holding the bowl, one need not peep at the crowd's pleasures; walking on ice, how can one step unevenly?' Someone asked, 'The student means to ask about the ancestral vehicle — will the Reverend allow it?' The Master said, 'Just ask.' The monk was about to ask. The Master shouted him out. Someone asked, 'How can one avoid the birth and death before one's eyes?' The Master said, 'Bring birth and death here.' Someone asked, 'The one who knows that there is — why can he not speak?' The Master said, 'What is your father's name?' Someone asked, 'What is the sword that brings people to life?' The Master said, 'I would not dare blind you.' He said, 'What is the knife that kills people?' The Master said, 'This very one.' Someone asked, 'Without offending the point, how can one be a kindred spirit?' The Master said, 'In the year of the donkey.' Someone asked, 'At the bitter and astringent place, I beg the Master for one word.' The Master said, 'You are very hesitant.' He said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'You must also understand me.' Someone asked,

常居正位底人。還消得人天供養否。師曰。消不得。曰。為甚麼消不得。師曰。是甚麼心行。曰。甚麼人消得。師曰。著衣吃飯底消得。師舉稜和尚住招慶時。在法堂東角立。謂僧曰。這裡好致一問。僧便問。和尚為何不居正位。稜曰。為汝恁麼來。曰。即今作麼生。稜曰。用汝眼作麼。師舉畢。乃曰。他家恁麼問。別是箇道理。汝今作麼生道。後安國曰。恁麼則大眾一時散去得也。師自代曰。恁麼即大眾一時禮拜。

Someone asked, 'Does a man who always dwells in the true position deserve the offerings of gods and men?' The Master said, 'He does not deserve them.' He said, 'Why does he not deserve them?' The Master said, 'What kind of mind is that?' He said, 'Who deserves them?' The Master said, 'The one who wears clothes and eats rice deserves them.' The Master brought up how, when the Reverend Leng was living at Zhaoqing, he stood at the east corner of the Dharma hall and said to a monk, 'This is a good place to put a question.' The monk then asked, 'Why does the Reverend not dwell in the true position?' Leng said, 'Because you come like this.' He said, 'And just now, how is it?' Leng said, 'What do you use your eyes for?' When the Master had brought this up, he said, 'His asking like that is another principle altogether. How do you say it now?' Afterwards Anguo said, 'If so, then the whole assembly may disperse at once.' The Master answered on his own behalf, 'If so, then the whole assembly bows at once.'

泉州睡龍山道溥弘教禪師

Chan Master Daopu Hongjiao of Shuilong Mountain in Quanzhou

福唐鄭氏子。初住五峰。上堂。莫道空山無祇待。便歸方丈。僧問。凡有言句。不出大千頂。未審頂外事如何。師曰。凡有言句。不是大千頂。曰。如何是大千頂。師曰。摩醯首羅天。猶是小千界。問。初心後學。近入叢林。方便門中。乞師指示。師敲門枋。僧曰。向上還有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師再敲門枋。

was a son of the Zheng family of Futang. He first lived at Wufeng. Ascending the hall: 'Do not say the empty mountain has nothing to offer.' Then he went back to his quarters. A monk asked, 'Every word and phrase does not go beyond the summit of the great thousand worlds. I wonder about the matter beyond the summit?' The Master said, 'Every word and phrase is not the summit of the great thousand worlds.' He said, 'What is the summit of the great thousand worlds?' The Master said, 'The heaven of Maheshvara is still a small thousand world.' Someone asked, 'A beginner and late student has just entered the monastery. In the gate of skillful means, I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master knocked on the door post. The monk said, 'Is there still a matter above?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the matter above?' The Master knocked on the door post again.

南嶽金輪可觀禪師

Chan Master Keguan of the Golden Wheel in Nanyue

福唐薛氏子。參雪峰。峰曰。近前來。師方近前作禮。峰與一蹋。師忽契悟。師事十二載。復歷叢林。住後。上堂。我在雪峰。遭他一蹋。直至如今眼不開。不知是何境界。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。不是。大眾夜參後下堂。師召大眾。眾回首。師曰。看月。眾乃看。師曰。月似彎弓。少雨多風。眾無對。問。古人道毗盧有師。法身有主。如何是毗盧師．法身主。師曰。不可床上安床。問。如何是日用事。師拊掌三下。僧曰。學人未領此意。師曰。更待甚麼。問。從上宗乘。如何為人。師曰。我今日未吃茶。曰。請師指示。師曰。過也。問。正則不問。請師傍指。師曰。抱取貓兒去。問僧。甚處來。曰。華光。師便推出。閉卻門。僧無對。問。路逢達道人。不將語默對。未審將何對。師咄曰。出去。問僧。作麼生是覿面事。曰。請師鑒。師曰。恁麼道還當麼。曰。故為即不可。師曰。別是一著。問。如何是靈源一路。師曰。蹋過作麼。雪峰院主有書來招曰。山頭和尚年尊也。長老何不再入嶺一轉。師回書曰。待山頭和尚別有見解。即再入嶺。僧問。如何是雪峰見解。師曰。我也驚。

was a son of the Xue family of Futang. He studied under Xuefeng. Xuefeng said, 'Come closer.' The Master had just come forward and bowed when Xuefeng gave him a kick. The Master was suddenly awakened. He served him for twelve years, and then traveled through the monasteries. After he had settled there, he ascended the hall: 'When I was at Xuefeng I got a kick from him, and to this day my eyes have not opened, and I do not know what realm it is.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'It is not.' Once, after the evening study the assembly was leaving the hall, and the Master called the assembly. The assembly turned their heads. The Master said, 'Look at the moon.' The assembly looked. The Master said, 'The moon is like a bent bow: little rain, much wind.' The assembly had no reply. Someone asked, 'The ancients said Vairocana has a teacher and the dharma body has a master. What is Vairocana's teacher and the dharma body's master?' The Master said, 'One must not put a bed on top of a bed.' Someone asked, 'What is your daily activity?' The Master clapped three times. The monk said, 'The student has not grasped this meaning.' The Master said, 'What are you waiting for?' Someone asked, 'As for the ancestral vehicle from above, how does one work for people?' The Master said, 'I have not drunk tea today.' He said, 'Please, Master, point it out.' The Master said, 'Too late.' Someone asked, 'About the true I do not ask; please, Master, point it out from the side.' The Master said, 'Take the cat and go.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Huaguang.' The Master then pushed him out and shut the door. The monk had no reply. Someone asked, 'Meeting a man of the Way on the road, one does not answer with speech or silence. I wonder with what one answers?' The Master said, 'Out!' and drove him off. He asked a monk, 'What is the matter face to face?' He said, 'Please, Reverend, discern it.' The Master said, 'Does speaking like that measure up?' He said, 'Deliberately doing so will not do.' The Master said, 'That is another move.' Someone asked, 'What is the one road of the numinous source?' The Master said, 'Why step over it?' The prior of Xuefeng Monastery sent a letter inviting him, saying, 'The Reverend on the mountain is old; why does the Elder not enter the ranges once more?' The Master replied by letter, 'When the Reverend on the mountain has another view, then I will enter the ranges again.' A monk asked, 'What is Xuefeng's view?' The Master said, 'I am startled too.'

福州大普山玄通禪師

Chan Master Xuantong of Mount Dapu in Fuzhou

本郡人也。僧問。驪龍頷下珠如何取得。師乃拊掌瞬視。問。方便以前事如何。師便推出。其僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。齩骨頭漢出去。問。撥塵見佛時如何。師曰。脫枷來商量。問。急急相投。請師接。師曰。鈍漢。

was a man of that prefecture. A monk asked, 'How can one get the pearl under the black dragon's chin?' The Master clapped his hands and darted a glance. Someone asked, 'What is the matter before skillful means?' The Master then pushed him out. That monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Bone-gnawing fellow, get out.' Someone asked, 'What about when one brushes away the dust and sees the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Take off your shackles and we will discuss it.' Someone asked, 'Earnestly I come to you; please, Master, receive me.' The Master said, 'Dull fellow.'

福州長生山皎然禪師

Chan Master Jiaoran of Changsheng Mountain in Fuzhou

本郡人。久依雪峰。一日與僧斫樹次。峰曰。斫到心且住。師曰。斫卻著。峰曰。古人以心傳心。汝為甚麼道斫卻。師擲下斧曰。傳。峰打一拄杖而去。僧問雪峰。如何是第一句。峰良久。僧舉似師。師曰。此是第二句。峰再令其僧來問。如何是第一句。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。普請次。雪峰問。古人道。誰知席帽下。元是昔愁人。古人意作麼生。師側戴笠子曰。這箇是甚麼人語。峰問師。持經者能荷擔如來。作麼生是荷擔如來。師乃捧雪峰向禪床上。普請次。雪峰負一束藤。路逢一僧便拋下。僧擬取。峰便蹋倒。歸謂師曰。我今日蹋這僧快。師曰。和尚卻替這僧入涅槃堂始得。峰便休去。雪峰問。光境俱亡。復是何物。師曰。放皎然過有道處。峰曰。放汝過作麼生道。曰。皎然亦放和尚過。峰曰。放汝二十棒。師便禮拜。住後。僧問。古人有言。無明即佛性。煩惱不須除。如何是無明即佛性。師忿然作色。舉拳呵曰。今日打這師僧去也。曰。如何是煩惱不須除。師以手拏頭曰。這師僧得恁麼發人業。問。路逢達道人。不將語默對。未審將甚麼對。師曰。上紙墨堪作甚麼。閩帥署禪主大師。莫知所終。

was a man of that prefecture. He long attended Xuefeng. One day, while cutting a tree with a monk, Xuefeng said, 'Stop when you cut to the heart.' The Master said, 'Cut it right through.' Xuefeng said, 'The ancients transmitted mind with mind — why do you say cut it through?' The Master threw down the axe and said, 'Transmit.' Xuefeng gave him a blow with his staff and left. A monk asked Xuefeng, 'What is the first phrase?' Xuefeng was silent a long while. The monk brought this up to the Master. The Master said, 'That is the second phrase.' Xuefeng again sent that monk to ask, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'O heavens, O heavens!' Once, at the communal work, Xuefeng asked, 'The ancients said, who knows that under the seated hat he was originally the man of former sorrow? What did the ancients mean?' The Master wore his hat askew and said, 'Whose words are these?' Xuefeng asked the Master, 'One who holds the sutras can carry the Tathagata. What is carrying the Tathagata?' The Master then lifted Xuefeng onto the meditation seat. Once, at the communal work, Xuefeng was carrying a bundle of rattan and, meeting a monk on the road, threw it down. The monk was about to pick it up, and Xuefeng trampled him down. Returning, he said to the Master, 'Today I trampled that monk, and it felt good.' The Master said, 'The Reverend should instead go into the nirvana hall in that monk's place.' Xuefeng then let it be. Xuefeng asked, 'When light and object are both gone, what thing is it then?' The Master said, 'Let Jiaoran pass where there is a Way.' Xuefeng said, 'If I let you pass, how do you speak?' He said, 'Jiaoran also lets the Reverend pass.' Xuefeng said, 'I let you off twenty blows.' The Master then bowed. After he had settled there, a monk asked, 'The ancients said, ignorance is the Buddha-nature, and affliction need not be removed. What is ignorance is the Buddha-nature?' The Master flushed with anger, raised his fist, and scolded, 'Today I will go and beat this monk.' He said, 'What is affliction need not be removed?' The Master clutched his head with his hand and said, 'This monk stirs up such karma in people.' Someone asked, 'Meeting a man of the Way on the road, one does not answer with speech or silence. I wonder with what one answers?' The Master said, 'What use are paper and ink to you?' The commander of Min appointed him Master of Chan. How he ended is not known.

信州鵝湖智孚禪師

Chan Master Zhifu of Ehu in Xinzhou

福州人也。僧問。萬法歸一。一歸何所。師曰。非但闍黎一人忙。問。虗空講經。以何為宗。師曰。闍黎不是聽眾。出去。問。五逆之子。還受父約也無。師曰。雖有自裁。未免傷己。問。如何是佛向上人。師曰。情知闍黎不奈何。曰。為甚麼不奈何。師曰。未必小人得見君子。問。在前一句。請師道。師曰。腳跟下探取甚麼。曰。即今見問。師曰。看闍黎變身不得。問。雪峰拋下拄杖。意作麼生。師以香匙拋下地。僧曰。未審此意如何。師曰。不是好種。出去。問。如何是鵝湖第一句。師曰。道甚麼。曰。如何即是。師曰。妨我打睡。問。不問不答時如何。師曰。問人焉知。問。迷子未歸家時如何。師曰。不在途。曰。歸後如何。師曰。正迷在。問。如何是源頭事。師曰。途中覓甚麼。問。如何是一句。師曰。會麼。曰。恁麼莫便是否。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。鏡清問。如何是即今底。師曰。何更即今。清曰。幾就支荷。師曰。語逆言順。師一日不赴堂。侍者來請赴堂。師曰。我今日在莊吃油餈飽。者曰。和尚不曾出入。師曰。你但去問取莊主。者方出門。忽見莊主歸謝和尚到莊吃油餈。

was a man of Fuzhou. A monk asked, 'The ten thousand dharmas return to one — where does the one return?' The Master said, 'Not only you alone are busy, acharya.' Someone asked, 'When empty space preaches the sutras, what is its purport?' The Master said, 'You are not a listener, acharya. Get out.' Someone asked, 'Does the son who commits the five heinous crimes still receive his father's agreement?' The Master said, 'Though he cuts himself, he cannot avoid hurting himself.' Someone asked, 'What is a man above the Buddha?' The Master said, 'I know well that you can do nothing about it, acharya.' He said, 'Why can I do nothing about it?' The Master said, 'A petty man does not necessarily get to see a gentleman.' Someone asked, 'The phrase before — please, Master, speak it.' The Master said, 'What are you groping for at your heels?' He said, 'I am asking right now.' The Master said, 'See, the acharya cannot transform himself.' Someone asked, 'Xuefeng threw down his staff — what did he mean?' The Master threw down his incense spoon. The monk said, 'I wonder what this means?' The Master said, 'Not a good breed. Get out.' Someone asked, 'What is the first phrase of Ehu?' The Master said, 'What are you saying?' He said, 'Then how is it?' The Master said, 'You hinder my sleep.' Someone asked, 'What about when one neither asks nor answers?' The Master said, 'How would one who asks know?' Someone asked, 'What about when the deluded child has not yet returned home?' The Master said, 'He is not on the road.' He said, 'And after returning?' The Master said, 'He is right in delusion.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter of the source?' The Master said, 'What are you looking for on the road?' Someone asked, 'What is one phrase?' The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'Is that not it?' The Master said, 'O heavens, O heavens!' Jingqing asked, 'What is the one of just now?' The Master said, 'Why again just now?' Jingqing said, 'How nearly I was led by the branch and lotus.' The Master said, 'The words are contrary, the saying is smooth.' One day the Master did not go to the hall. The attendant came to invite him to the hall. The Master said, 'Today I ate fried cakes at the farm and am full.' The attendant said, 'The Reverend never went out or came in.' The Master said, 'Just go and ask the farm manager.' The attendant had just gone out the door when he suddenly saw the farm manager returning, thanking the Reverend for coming to the farm to eat fried cakes.

杭州西興化度院師鬱悟真禪師

Chan Master Shiyu Wuzhen of Huadu Monastery at Xixing in Hangzhou

泉州人也。僧問。如何是西來意。師舉拂子。僧曰。不會。師曰。吃茶去。問。如何是一塵。師曰。九世剎那分。曰。如何含得法界。師曰。法界在甚麼處。問。谿谷各異。師何明一。師曰。汝喘作麼。問。學人初機。乞師指示入路。師曰。汝怪化度甚麼處。問。如何是隨色摩尼珠。師曰。青黃赤白。曰。如何是不隨色摩尼珠。師曰。青黃赤白。問。如何是西來意。師曰。是東來西來。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。鳥獸俱迷。曰。見後如何。師曰。山深水冷。問。維摩與文殊對談何事。師曰。唯有門前鏡湖水。清風不改舊時波。

He was a man of Quanzhou. A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'I do not understand.' The master said, 'Go drink tea.' A monk asked, 'What is one dust mote?' The master said, 'Nine ages divided into a single instant.' He said, 'How does it contain the Dharma realm?' The master said, 'Where is the Dharma realm?' A monk asked, 'The valleys and streams are each different, so how does the master make them one?' The master said, 'Why are you panting?' A monk asked, 'I am a beginner; I beg the master to point out the way in.' The master said, 'What do you find wrong with converting people?' A monk asked, 'What is the mani jewel that follows color?' The master said, 'Blue, yellow, red, white.' He said, 'What is the mani jewel that does not follow color?' The master said, 'Blue, yellow, red, white.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'It is coming from the east, coming from the west.' A monk asked, 'What about before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said, 'Birds and beasts were all deluded.' He said, 'What about after he saw him?' The master said, 'Deep mountains, cold water.' A monk asked, 'What did Vimalakirti and Manjushri talk about?' The master said, 'Only the mirror lake before the gate; the clear wind does not change the waves of former times.'

漳州隆壽紹卿興法禪師

Chan Master Xingfa Shaoqing of Longshou in Zhangzhou

泉州陳氏子。因侍雪峰。山行見芋葉動。峰指動葉示之。師曰。紹卿甚生怕怖。峰曰。是汝屋裡底。怕怖甚麼。師於此有省。尋居龍谿。僧問。古人道。摩尼殿有四角。一角常露。如何是常露底角。師舉拂子。問。糧不畜一粒。如何濟得萬人飢。師曰。俠客面前如奪劒。看君不是黠兒郎。問。耳目不致處如何。師曰。汝無此作。曰。恁麼即聞也。師曰。真箇聾漢。

He was a son of the Chen family of Quanzhou. Once, while attending Xuefeng, they were walking in the mountains when they saw taro leaves moving. Xuefeng pointed at the moving leaf and showed it to him. The master said, 'Shaoqing is very much afraid.' Xuefeng said, 'It is something from your own house; what are you afraid of?' At this the master had an awakening. Soon after he dwelt at Longxi. A monk asked, 'The ancients said the mani hall has four corners, and one corner is always exposed. What is the always-exposed corner?' The master raised his whisk. A monk asked, 'Not storing a single grain of grain, how can one relieve the hunger of ten thousand people?' The master said, 'To snatch a sword from before a knight-errant — I see you are no clever lad.' A monk asked, 'What about where ear and eye do not reach?' The master said, 'You cannot do that.' He said, 'Then it is heard.' The master said, 'A truly deaf fellow.'

福州遷宗院行𤦆仁慧禪師

Chan Master Renhui Xinglian of Qianzong Monastery in Fuzhou

泉州王氏子。上堂。我與釋迦同參。汝道參甚麼人。時有僧出禮拜。擬伸問。師曰。錯。便下座。問。如何是西來意。師曰。熊耳不曾藏。問。直下事乞師方便。師曰。不因汝問。我亦不道。問。如何是西來意。師曰。白日無閑人。

He was a son of the Wang family of Quanzhou. Ascending the hall, he said: 'I studied together with Shakyamuni. Tell me, with whom did he study?' A monk then came forward and bowed, about to ask a question. The master said, 'Wrong.' Then he came down from the seat. A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'Bear Ear never hid it.' A monk asked, 'As for the matter right before us, I beg the master's skillful means.' The master said, 'If not for your asking, I would not say it either.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'In broad daylight there is no idle man.'

福州蓮華永福院從弇超證禪師

Chan Master Chaozheng Congyan of Yongfu Monastery at Lianhua in Fuzhou

僧問。儒門以五常為極則。未審宗門以何為極則。師良久。僧曰。恁麼則學人造次也。師曰。好與拄杖。問。教中道。唯有一乘法。如何是一乘法。師曰。汝道我在這裡作甚麼。曰。恁麼則不知教意也。師曰。雖然如此。卻不孤負汝。問。不向問處領。猶是學人問處。和尚如何。師曰。吃茶去。上堂。長慶道。盡法無民。永福即不然。若不盡法。又爭得民。時有僧曰。請師盡法。師曰。我不要汝納稅。問。諸餘即不問。聊徑處乞師垂慈。師曰。不快禮三拜。問。大眾雲集。請師說法。師曰。聞麼。曰。若更佇思。應難得及。師曰。實即得。問。摩尼殿有四角。一角常露。如何是常露底角。師曰。不可更點。師一日上堂。於座邊立。謂眾曰。二尊不竝化。便歸方丈。

A monk asked, 'The Confucian school takes the five constants as the ultimate standard. I wonder what the patriarchs' school takes as the ultimate standard?' The master was silent a long while. The monk said, 'Then the student has been hasty.' The master said, 'You deserve the staff.' A monk asked, 'The teachings say there is only the One Vehicle Dharma. What is the One Vehicle Dharma?' The master said, 'What do you say I am doing here?' He said, 'Then I do not know the meaning of the teachings.' The master said, 'Even so, I have not let you down.' A monk asked, 'Not to receive it at the place of questioning is still the student's place of questioning. What about the reverend master?' The master said, 'Go drink tea.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'Changqing said, When the Dharma is exhausted there are no people. Yongfu is not like that. If the Dharma is not exhausted, how can one have people?' A monk then said, 'Please, master, exhaust the Dharma.' The master said, 'I do not want you to pay taxes.' A monk asked, 'The rest I do not ask; as for the shortcut, I beg the master's compassion.' The master said, 'You slow fellow, bow three times.' A monk asked, 'The assembly is gathered like clouds; please, master, speak the Dharma.' The master said, 'Do you hear it?' He said, 'If one goes on deliberating, one will hardly catch it.' The master said, 'Truly you will.' A monk asked, 'The mani hall has four corners, and one corner is always exposed. What is the always-exposed corner?' The master said, 'It cannot be dotted again.' One day the master ascended the hall, stood at the side of the seat, and told the assembly, 'Two honored ones do not transform together.' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters.

襄州雲葢雙泉院歸本禪師

Chan Master Guiben of Shuangquan Monastery at Yungai in Xiangzhou

京兆府人也。初謁雪峰。禮拜次。峰下禪床。跨背而坐。師於此有省。住後。僧問。如何是雙泉。師曰。可惜一雙眉。曰。學人不會。師曰。不曾煩禹力。湍流事不知。問。如何是西來的的意。師乃搊住。其僧變色。師曰。我這裡無這箇。師手指纖長。特異於人。號手相大師。

He was a man of the capital prefecture. When he first called on Xuefeng, as he was bowing, Xuefeng came down from the platform and sat astride his back. At this the master had an awakening. After he took up residence, a monk asked, 'What is the twin spring?' The master said, 'What a pity for a pair of eyebrows.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'Since Yu's strength was never needed, the rushing water's business is unknown.' A monk asked, 'What is the precise meaning of the coming from the west?' The master grabbed him. That monk's face changed color. The master said, 'There is no such thing here.' The master's fingers were slender and long, unusually so, and he was called the Master of the Hand Physiognomy.

韶州林泉和尚

The Reverend of Linquan in Shaozhou

僧問。如何是一塵。師曰。不覺成丘山。

A monk asked, 'What is one dust mote?' The master said, 'Before you notice, it becomes a mound and a mountain.'

洛京南院和尚

The Reverend of the Southern Court in Luojing

僧問。如何是法法不生。師曰。生也。有儒者博覧古今。時呼為張百會。謁師。師問。莫是張百會麼。曰。不敢。師以手於空畫一畫曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。一尚不會。甚麼處得百會來。

A monk asked, 'What is it that no dharma is born?' The master said, 'It is born.' There was a Confucian scholar widely read in ancient and modern writings, whom people of the time called Zhang the Hundred Meetings. He called on the master. The master asked, 'Are you not Zhang the Hundred Meetings?' He said, 'I would not presume.' The master drew a single stroke in the air with his hand and said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'You do not even understand one; where would you get a hundred?'

越州洞巖可休禪師

Chan Master Keqiu of Dongyan in Yuezhou

僧問。如何是洞巖正主。師曰。開著。問。如何是和尚親切為人處。師曰。大海不宿死屍。問。如何是向上一路。師舉衣領示之。問。學人遠來。請師方便。師曰。方便了也。

A monk asked, 'What is the true master of Dongyan?' The master said, 'The door is open.' A monk asked, 'How does the reverend master intimately help people?' The master said, 'The great ocean does not harbor a corpse.' A monk asked, 'What is the road that goes beyond?' The master raised his collar and showed it to him. A monk asked, 'I have come from afar; I beg the master's skillful means.' The master said, 'The skillful means are already done.'

定州法海院行周禪師

Chan Master Xingzhou of Fahai Monastery in Dingzhou

僧問。風恬浪靜時如何。師曰。吹倒南墻。問。如何是道中寶。師曰。不露光。曰。莫便是否。師曰。是即露也。

A monk asked, 'What about when the wind is calm and the waves are still?' The master said, 'Blow down the south wall.' A monk asked, 'What is the treasure in the Way?' The master said, 'It does not show its light.' He said, 'Is that not it?' The master said, 'If it were, it would be showing it.'

杭州龍井通禪師

Chan Master Tong of Longjing in Hangzhou

僧問。如何是龍井龍。師曰。意氣天然別。神工畫不成。曰。為甚麼畫不成。師曰。出群不帶角。不與類中同。曰。還解行雨也無。師曰。普潤無邊際。處處皆結粒。曰。還有宗門中事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是宗門中事。師曰。從來無形段。應物不曾虧。

A monk asked, 'What is the dragon of Longjing?' The master said, 'Its spirit and bearing are naturally apart; no divine craftsman can paint it.' He said, 'Why can it not be painted?' The master said, 'Coming forth from the herd, it does not wear horns; it is not the same as its kind.' He said, 'Can it make rain?' The master said, 'It moistens all without boundary, and everywhere it forms grains.' He said, 'Is there also the matter in the patriarchs' school?' The master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the matter in the patriarchs' school?' The master said, 'It has never had a form or segment; responding to things, it is never lacking.'

杭州龍興宗靖禪師

Chan Master Zongjing of Longxing in Hangzhou

台州人也。初參雪峰。誓充飯頭。勞逾十載。嘗於眾堂中袒一膊釘簾。峰覩而記曰。汝向後住持有千僧。其中無一人衲子也。師悔過回浙。住六通院。錢王命居龍興寺。有眾千餘。唯三學講誦之徒。果如雪峰所誌。僧問。如何是六通奇特之唱。師曰。天下舉將去。問。如何是六通家風。師曰。一條布衲。一斤有餘。問。如何是學人進前一路。師曰。誰敢謾汝。曰。豈無方便。師曰。早是屈抑也。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。早朝粥。齋時飯。曰。更請和尚道。師曰。老僧困。曰。畢竟作麼生。師大笑而已。

He was a man of Taizhou. He first studied under Xuefeng and vowed to serve as rice cook, and he labored more than ten years. Once, in the assembly hall, he bared one shoulder to nail up a blind. Xuefeng saw it and predicted, 'Later, when you are abbot, you will have a thousand monks, and among them not one will be a patch-robed monk.' The master repented of his fault and returned to Zhejiang, where he dwelt at Liutong Monastery. King Qian ordered him to reside at Longxing Monastery. He had more than a thousand in his assembly, but they were only students of the three studies, lecturing and reciting, exactly as Xuefeng had foretold. A monk asked, 'What is the extraordinary song of Liutong?' The master said, 'Raise it up to all under heaven.' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Liutong?' The master said, 'One strip of hempen robe, and a pound or more.' A monk asked, 'What is the one road by which the student may step forward?' The master said, 'Who would dare deceive you?' He said, 'Is there no skillful means?' The master said, 'That is already bending and pressing down.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Morning gruel, mealtime rice.' He said, 'Please, reverend master, say more.' The master said, 'This old monk is tired.' He said, 'After all, how is it?' The master only laughed heartily.

福州南禪契璠禪師

Chan Master Qifan of Nanchan in Fuzhou

上堂。若是名言妙句。諸方總道了也。今日眾中還有超第一義者。致將一問來。若有。即不孤負於人。僧問。如何是第一義。師曰。何不問第一義。曰。見問。師曰。已落第二義也。問。古佛曲調請師和。師曰。我不和汝雜亂底。曰。未審為甚麼人和。師曰。甚麼處去來。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'As for famous sayings and wondrous phrases, the various regions have all spoken them. If there is anyone in the assembly today who surpasses the supreme meaning, bring one question forward. If there is, I will not let him down.' A monk asked, 'What is the supreme meaning?' The master said, 'Why do you not ask about the supreme meaning?' He said, 'I have asked.' The master said, 'You have already fallen into the second meaning.' A monk asked, 'Please, master, harmonize with the old Buddha's tune.' The master said, 'I do not harmonize with your muddle.' He said, 'With whom, then, does the master harmonize?' The master said, 'Where have you been?'

越州越山師鼐鑒真禪師

Chan Master Jianzhen Shinai of Yueshan in Yuezhou

初參雪峰而染指。後因閩王請。於清風樓齋。坐久舉目。忽覩日光。豁然頓曉。而有偈曰。清風樓上赴官齋。此日平生眼豁開。方信普通年遠事。不從𦵇嶺帶將來。歸呈雪峰。峰然之。住後。僧問。如何是佛身。師曰。你問阿那箇佛身。曰。釋迦佛身。師曰。舌覆三千界。師臨終示偈曰。眼光隨色盡。耳識逐聲消。還源無別旨。今日與明朝。乃跏趺而逝。

He first studied under Xuefeng and dipped a finger in. Later, at the invitation of the king of Min, he was feasting at the Clear Wind Tower. Sitting long, he raised his eyes and suddenly saw the sunlight, and was abruptly and completely enlightened. He had a verse: 'At the Clear Wind Tower I attend the official feast; today my eyes have suddenly opened in this life. Only now do I believe that the far-off matter of the Putong era was not brought here from the Onion Range.' He returned and presented it to Xuefeng, and Xuefeng approved of it. After he took up residence, a monk asked, 'What is the Buddha body?' The master said, 'Which Buddha body are you asking about?' He said, 'The body of Shakyamuni Buddha.' The master said, 'His tongue covers three thousand worlds.' As the master was about to die he showed a verse: 'The eye's light follows forms and is exhausted; the ear's consciousness pursues sounds and fades. Returning to the source has no other purport: today and tomorrow.' Then he sat cross-legged and passed away.

泉州福清院玄訥禪師

Chan Master Xuanne of Fuqing Monastery in Quanzhou

高麗人也。泉守王公問。如何是宗乘中事。師叱之。僧問。如何是觸目菩提。師曰。闍黎失卻半年糧。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。祇為圖他一斗米。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。蝦蟇曲蟮。問。教雲。唯一堅密身。一切塵中現。如何是堅密身。師曰。驢馬貓兒。曰。乞師指示。師曰。驢馬也不會。問。如何是物物上辨明。師展一足示之。

He was a man of Korea. Lord Wang, the prefect of Quan, asked, 'What is the matter in the patriarchs' school?' The master shouted at him. A monk asked, 'What is the bodhi that meets the eye?' The master said, 'Reverend, you have lost half a year's grain.' He said, 'Why is it so?' The master said, 'Only to get a peck of his rice.' A monk asked, 'What is the pure Dharma body?' The master said, 'A frog, an earthworm.' A monk asked, 'The teachings say there is only one solid and dense body, appearing in every dust mote. What is the solid and dense body?' The master said, 'A donkey, a horse, a cat.' He said, 'I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'A donkey and a horse would not understand either.' A monk asked, 'How does one discern clearly in each and every thing?' The master stretched out one foot and showed it to him.

衢州南臺仁禪師

Chan Master Ren of Nantai in Quzhou

僧問。如何是南臺境。師曰。不知貴。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。闍黎即今在甚麼處。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Nantai?' The master said, 'I do not know its worth.' He said, 'After all, how is it?' The master said, 'Where is the reverend right now?'

泉州東禪和尚

The Reverend of Dongchan in Quanzhou

初開堂。僧問。人王迎請。法王出世。如何提唱宗乘。即得不謬於祖風。師曰。還奈得麼。曰。若不下水。焉知有魚。師曰。莫閑言語。問。如何是佛法最親切處。師曰。過也。問。學人末後來。請師最先句。師曰。甚處去來。問。如何是學人己分事。師曰。苦。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。幸自可憐生。剛要異鄉邑。

When he first opened the teaching hall, a monk asked, 'The king of men invites and the king of Dharma appears in the world. How does one raise and sing the patriarchs' school so as not to violate the ancestral style?' The master said, 'Can you bear it?' He said, 'If one does not go into the water, how can one know there are fish?' The master said, 'No idle words.' A monk asked, 'Where is the Buddha Dharma most intimate?' The master said, 'Past.' A monk asked, 'The student comes at the end; please, master, give the first phrase.' The master said, 'Where have you been?' A monk asked, 'What is the student's own portion of the matter?' The master said, 'Bitter.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'You were pitiable enough as you were; you just had to go to a foreign town.'

杭州大錢山從襲禪師

Chan Master Congxi of Daqian Mountain in Hangzhou

雪峰之上足也。自本師印解。洞曉宗要。常曰。擊關南鼓。唱雪峰歌。後入浙中謁錢王。王欽服道化。命居此山而闡法焉。僧問。不因王請。不因眾聚。請師直道西來的的意。師曰。那邊師僧過這邊著。曰。學人不會。乞師再指。師曰。爭得恁麼不識好惡。問。閉門造車。出門合轍。如何是閉門造車。師曰。造車即不問。作麼生是轍。曰。學人不會。乞師指示。師曰。巧匠施工。不露斤斧。

He was a senior disciple of Xuefeng. Having received his own teacher's seal and understanding, he thoroughly penetrated the essentials of the school. He often said, 'I strike the drum of Guannan and sing the song of Xuefeng.' Later he went into Zhejiang and called on King Qian. King Qian admired his teaching and ordered him to dwell on this mountain and unfold the Dharma. A monk asked, 'Without the king's invitation and without the assembly's gathering, please, master, speak directly the precise meaning of the coming from the west.' The master said, 'The monk over there, come over to this side.' He said, 'The student does not understand; I beg the master to point again.' The master said, 'How can you be so without any sense of good and bad?' A monk asked, 'Building a cart behind closed doors, and when you go out it fits the ruts. What is building a cart behind closed doors?' The master said, 'Building the cart I do not ask about, but what are the ruts?' He said, 'The student does not understand; I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'A skilled craftsman does his work without showing his axe.'

福州永泰和尚

The Reverend of Yongtai in Fuzhou

僧問。承聞和尚見虎。是否。師作虎聲。僧作打勢。師曰。這死漢。問。如何是天真佛。師乃拊掌曰。不會。不會。

A monk asked, 'I hear the reverend master has seen a tiger; is that so?' The master made the sound of a tiger. The monk made the gesture of striking. The master said, 'This dead fellow.' A monk asked, 'What is the naturally-so Buddha?' The master clapped his hands and said, 'I do not understand, I do not understand.'

池州和龍壽昌院守訥妙空禪師

Chan Master Miaokong Shoune of Shouchang Monastery at Helong in Chizhou

福州林氏子。僧問。未到龍門。如何湊泊。師曰。立命難存。新到參。師問。近離甚處。曰。不離方寸。師曰。不易來。僧亦曰。不易來。師與一掌。問。如何是傳底心。師曰。再三囑汝。莫向人說。問。如何是從上宗乘。師曰。向闍黎口裡著得麼。問。省要處請師一接。師曰。甚是省要。

He was a son of the Lin family of Fuzhou. A monk asked, 'Before reaching the dragon gate, how does one draw near?' The master said, 'It is hard to keep one's life established.' A newly arrived monk came to call. The master asked, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'Not apart from a square inch.' The master said, 'It was not easy for you to come.' The monk also said, 'It was not easy for you to come.' The master gave him a slap. A monk asked, 'What is the transmitted mind?' The master said, 'I tell you again and again, do not tell anyone.' A monk asked, 'What is the patriarchs' school from the first?' The master said, 'Can it be put into your mouth, reverend?' A monk asked, 'As for the essential point, I beg the master for one reception.' The master said, 'It is very essential.'

建州夢筆和尚

The Reverend of Mengbi in Jianzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。不誑汝。曰。莫便是否。師曰。汝誑他。閩王請齋。問。師還將得筆來也無。師曰。不是稽山繡管。慙非月裡兔毫。大王既垂顧問。山僧敢不通呈。又問。如何是法王。師曰。不是夢筆家風。

A monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' The master said, 'I do not deceive you.' He said, 'Is that not it?' The master said, 'You deceive him.' The king of Min invited him to a vegetarian feast and asked, 'Has the reverend master brought his brush or not?' The master said, 'It is not the embroidered tube of Mount Ji, and I am ashamed it is not the rabbit-hair tip from within the moon. Since the great king has deigned to ask, how would this mountain monk dare not present it?' He asked again, 'What is the king of Dharma?' The master said, 'It is not the family style of Dream Brush.'

福州極樂元儼禪師

Chan Master Yuanyan of Jile in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是極樂家風。師曰。滿目看不盡。問。萬法本無根。未審教學人承當甚麼。師曰。莫寐語。問。久處暗室。未達其源。今日上來。乞師一接。師曰。莫閉眼作夜好。曰。恁麼即優曇華拆。曲為今時。向上宗風。如何垂示。師曰。汝還識也無。曰。恁麼即息疑去也。師曰。莫向大眾前寐語。問。摩騰入漢即不問。達磨來梁時如何。師曰。如今豈謬。曰。恁麼即理出三乘。華開五葉。師曰。說甚麼三乘五葉。出去。

A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Jile?' The master said, 'It fills the eye and cannot be seen to the end.' A monk asked, 'The ten thousand dharmas have no root; what does the student take on?' The master said, 'Do not talk in your sleep.' A monk asked, 'Long dwelling in a dark room, I have not reached its source. Today I have come up; I beg the master for one reception.' The master said, 'Do not close your eyes and make it night.' He said, 'Then the udumbara flower opens, bending to the present time. As for the patriarch's style above, how does the master instruct?' The master said, 'Do you recognize it or not?' He said, 'Then I will rest my doubt.' The master said, 'Do not talk in your sleep before the assembly.' A monk asked, 'Matanga's entry into Han I do not ask; what about when Bodhidharma came to Liang?' The master said, 'How could it be mistaken now?' He said, 'Then the principle comes forth in the three vehicles and the flower opens into five petals.' The master said, 'What three vehicles and five petals? Get out.'

福州芙蓉山如體禪師

Chan Master Ruti of Furong Mountain in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是古人曲調。師良久。曰。聞麼。曰。不聞。師示頌曰。古曲發聲雄。今時韻亦同。若教第一指。祖佛盡迷蹤。

A monk asked, 'What is the ancients' tune?' The master was silent a long while and said, 'Do you hear it?' He said, 'I do not.' The master showed a verse: 'The old tune sounds forth majestic, and the tone of today is the same. If one were to teach the first finger, patriarchs and Buddhas would all lose their traces.'

洛京憩鶴山和尚

The Reverend of Qiguan Mountain in Luojing

僧問。如何是憩鶴。師以兩手鬪雲。鵓鳩鳩(風穴雲。鶴唳一聲喧宇宙。群鷄莫謂報知時)。問。駿馬不入西秦時如何。師曰。向甚麼處去。

A monk asked, 'What is Resting Crane?' The master put his two hands together and said, 'Coo, coo.' (Fengxue said, 'One crane's cry clamors through the universe; let not the flock of chickens claim to announce the time.') A monk asked, 'What about when a fine steed does not enter western Qin?' The master said, 'Where would it go?'

潭州溈山棲禪師

Chan Master Qi of Weishan in Tanzhou

僧問。正恁麼時如何親近。師曰。汝擬作麼生親近。曰。豈無方便。師曰。開元龍興。大藏小藏。問。如何是速疾神通。師曰。新衣成弊帛。問。如何是黃尋橋。師曰。賺卻多少人。問。不假忉忉。如何是和尚家風。師曰。莫作野幹聲。

A monk asked, 'Right at such a time, how does one draw near?' The master said, 'How do you intend to draw near?' He said, 'Is there no skillful means?' The master said, 'Kaiyuan, Longxing, the greater and lesser treasuries.' A monk asked, 'What is swift spiritual power?' The master said, 'New clothes become worn-out cloth.' A monk asked, 'What is the Yellow Search Bridge?' The master said, 'How many people has it cheated?' A monk asked, 'Without prattling, what is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Do not make the sound of a jackal.'

吉州潮山延宗禪師

Chan Master Yanzong of Chaoshan in Jizhou

因資福來謁。師下禪床相接。福問。和尚住此山。得幾年也。師曰。鈍鳥棲蘆。困魚止濼。曰。恁麼則真道人也。師曰。且坐吃茶。問。如何是潮山。師曰。不宿屍。曰。如何是山中人。師曰。石上種紅蓮。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。切忌犯朝儀。

Once Zifu came to call, and the master came down from the platform to receive him. Zifu asked, 'How many years has the reverend master dwelt on this mountain?' The master said, 'A dull bird perches in the reeds; a weary fish stops in the shallows.' He said, 'Then he is a true man of the Way.' The master said, 'Sit down and have tea.' A monk asked, 'What is Chaoshan?' The master said, 'It does not lodge a corpse.' He said, 'Who is the person in the mountain?' The master said, 'Planting red lotuses on rock.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Above all do not violate court etiquette.'

益州普通山普明禪師

Chan Master Puming of Putong Mountain in Yizhou

僧問。如何是佛性。師曰。汝無佛性。曰。蠢動含靈。皆有佛性。學人為何卻無。師曰。為汝向外求。問。如何是玄玄之珠。師曰。這箇不是。曰。如何是玄玄珠。師曰。失卻也。

A monk asked, 'What is Buddha-nature?' The master said, 'You have no Buddha-nature.' He said, 'Crawling things with spirit all have Buddha-nature. Why does the student not have it?' The master said, 'Because you seek it outside.' A monk asked, 'What is the pearl of pearls?' The master said, 'This is not it.' He said, 'What is the pearl of pearls?' The master said, 'It is lost.'

隨州雙泉山梁家庵永禪師

Chan Master Yong of the Liang Family Hut at Shuangquan Mountain in Suizhou

僧問。達磨九年面壁。意旨如何。師曰。睡不著。師問護國長老。隨陽一境。是男是女。各伸一問。問問各別。長老將何祇對。國以手空中畵一圓相。師曰。謝長老慈悲。國曰。不敢。師低頭不顧。問。如何得頓息諸緣去。師曰。雪上更加霜。

A monk asked, 'Bodhidharma sat facing the wall for nine years; what was his meaning?' The master said, 'He could not sleep.' The master asked the elder Huguo, 'In the whole region of Suiyang, men and women each put one question, and each question differs. How will the elder answer them?' Huguo drew a circle in the air with his hand. The master said, 'Thank you, elder, for your compassion.' Huguo said, 'I would not presume.' The master bowed his head and paid no further heed. A monk asked, 'How can one suddenly put all conditions to rest?' The master said, 'Add frost on top of snow.'

漳州保福院超悟禪師

Chan Master Chaowu of Baofu Monastery in Zhangzhou

僧問。魚未透龍門時如何。師曰。養性深潭。曰。透出時如何。師曰。才昇霄漢。眾類難追。曰。昇後如何。師曰。垂雲普覆。潤及大千。曰。還有不受潤者也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是不受潤者。師曰。直杌撐大陽。

A monk asked, 'What about before the fish has passed through the dragon gate?' The master said, 'Nourishing its nature in the deep pool.' He said, 'What about when it passes through?' The master said, 'Just as it rises into the nine heavens, the common kinds cannot follow.' He said, 'What about after it rises?' The master said, 'It hangs down clouds that cover all, moistening the great thousand worlds.' He said, 'Is there anyone who does not receive the moisture?' The master said, 'There is.' He said, 'Who is the one who does not receive the moisture?' The master said, 'A bare post propping up the sun.'

太原孚上座

Senior Monk Fu of Taiyuan

初在揚州光孝寺講涅槃經。有禪者阻雪。因往聽講。至三因佛性。三德法身。廣談法身妙理。禪者失笑。師講罷。請禪者吃茶。白曰。某甲素志狹劣。依文解義。適蒙見笑。且望見教。禪者曰。實笑座主不識法身。師曰。如此解說。何處不是。曰。請座主更說一遍。師曰。法身之理。猶若太虗。竪窮三際。橫亙十方。彌綸八極。包括二儀。隨緣赴感。靡不周徧。曰。不道座主說不是。祇是說得法身量邊事。實未識法身在。師曰。既然如是。禪德當為我說。曰。座主還信否。師曰。焉敢不信。曰。若如是。座主輟講旬日。於室內端然靜慮。收心攝念。善惡諸緣。一時放卻。師一依所教。從初夜至五更。聞鼓角聲。忽然契悟。便去扣門。禪者曰。阿誰。師曰。某甲。禪者咄曰。教汝傳持大教。代佛說法。夜來為甚麼醉酒臥街。師曰。禪德自來講經。將生身父母鼻孔扭揑。從今已去。更不敢如是。禪者曰。且去。來日相見。師遂罷講。徧歷諸方。名聞宇內。嘗遊浙中登徑山法會。一日於大佛殿前。有僧問。上座曾到五臺否。師曰。曾到。曰。還見文殊麼。師曰。見。曰。甚麼處見。師曰。徑山佛殿前見。其僧後適閩川。舉似雪峰。峰曰。何不教伊入嶺來。師聞。乃趣裝而邁。初至雪峰廨院憩錫。因分柑子與僧。長慶問。甚麼處將來。師曰。嶺外將來。曰。遠涉不易。擔負得來。師曰。柑子。柑子。次日上山。雪峰聞。乃集眾。師到法堂上。顧視雪峰。便下看知事。明日卻上禮拜曰。某甲昨日觸忤和尚。峰曰。知是般事便休。峰一日見師。乃指日示之。師搖手而出。峰曰。汝不肯我那。師曰。和尚搖頭。某甲擺尾。甚麼處是不肯。峰曰。到處也須諱卻。一日。眾僧晚參。峰在中庭臥。師曰。五州管內。祇有這老和尚較些子。峰便起去。峰嘗問師。見說臨濟有三句。是否。師曰。是。曰。作麼生是第一句。

He first lectured on the Nirvana Sutra at Guangxiao Monastery in Yangzhou. A Chan monk, held up by snow, came to listen to the lecture. When he reached the three causes and the Buddha-nature, and the three virtues and the Dharma body, and spoke broadly of the wondrous principle of the Dharma body, the Chan monk laughed out loud. When the master had finished lecturing, he invited the Chan monk to tea and said, 'My aspirations have always been narrow and mean, and I explain the meaning according to the text. Just now I was laughed at; I hope to be instructed.' The Chan monk said, 'I laughed because the lecturer does not know the Dharma body.' The master said, 'In what way is my explanation wrong?' He said, 'Please, lecturer, say it once more.' The master said, 'The principle of the Dharma body is like the great void. Vertically it exhausts the three periods; horizontally it spans the ten directions. It fills the eight limits and encompasses the two principles. Following conditions and responding to sense, there is nowhere it does not reach.' He said, 'I do not say the lecturer's explanation is wrong; you have only spoken of the measure of the Dharma body, and truly do not know the Dharma body.' The master said, 'Since that is so, virtuous Chan one, you must speak it for me.' He said, 'Does the lecturer still have faith?' The master said, 'How would I dare not?' He said, 'If so, lecturer, stop lecturing for ten days, and in your room sit upright in quiet contemplation, gathering in the mind and collecting the thoughts, and let go at once of all conditions, good and evil.' The master did exactly as he was taught. From the first watch of the night until the fifth watch he heard the sound of drum and horn, and was suddenly enlightened. He went to knock at the door. The Chan monk said, 'Who is it?' The master said, 'It is I.' The Chan monk scolded him: 'I tell you to transmit and uphold the great teaching and speak the Dharma for the Buddha. Why were you drunk last night and lying in the street?' The master said, 'Virtuous Chan one, you have been lecturing all along and twisting the nostrils of your living father and mother. From now on I will not dare do so.' The Chan monk said, 'Go for now. We will meet tomorrow.' So the master stopped lecturing, traveled to all the regions, and his fame was heard throughout the land. He once traveled in Zhejiang and attended the Dharma assembly at Jingshan. One day in front of the Great Buddha Hall a monk asked him, 'Has the senior ever been to Mount Wutai?' The master said, 'I have.' He said, 'Did you see Manjushri?' The master said, 'I did.' He said, 'Where did you see him?' The master said, 'I saw him in front of the Buddha hall at Jingshan.' That monk later went to Minchuan and reported this to Xuefeng. Xuefeng said, 'Why did you not have him come into the mountains?' When the master heard this, he packed up and set out. When he first arrived, he rested his staff at Xuefeng's branch monastery. He shared oranges with a monk. Changqing asked, 'Where did these come from?' The master said, 'From beyond the mountains.' He said, 'Crossing far is not easy; you carried them here.' The master said, 'Oranges, oranges.' The next day he went up the mountain. When Xuefeng heard of it, he gathered the assembly. When the master reached the Dharma hall, he looked at Xuefeng, then went down to see the administrators. The next day he came up again, bowed, and said, 'Yesterday I offended the reverend master.' Xuefeng said, 'Knowing it is that sort of thing, then let it be.' One day Xuefeng saw the master, pointed at the sun, and showed it to him. The master waved his hand and went out. Xuefeng said, 'You do not approve of me?' The master said, 'The reverend master shakes his head, I wag my tail; where is the disapproval?' Xuefeng said, 'Even so, you must conceal it wherever you go.' One day, at the monks' evening assembly, Xuefeng was lying in the central courtyard. The master said, 'Within the five prefectures, only this old reverend is somewhat better.' Xuefeng then got up and left. Xuefeng once asked the master, 'I hear Linji had three phrases; is that so?' The master said, 'It is.' He said, 'What is the first phrase?'

師舉目視之。峰曰。此猶是第二句。如何是第一句。師叉手而退。自此雪峰深器之。室中印解。師資道契。更不他遊。而掌浴焉。一日。玄沙上。問訊雪峰。峰曰。此間有箇老鼠子。今在浴室裡。沙曰。待與和尚勘過。言訖到浴室。遇師打水。沙曰。相看上座。師曰。已相見了。沙曰。甚麼劫中曾相見。師曰。瞌睡作麼。沙卻入方丈。白雪峰曰。已勘破了。峰曰。作麼生勘伊。沙舉前話。峰曰。汝著賊也。鼓山問師。父母未生時。鼻孔在甚麼處。師曰。老兄先道。山曰。如今生也。汝道在甚麼處。師不肯。山卻問。作麼生。師曰。將手中扇子來。山與扇子。再徵前話。師搖扇不對。山罔測。乃敺師一拳。鼓山赴大王請。雪峰門送。回至法堂。乃曰。一隻聖箭直射九重城裡去也。師曰。是伊未在。峰曰。渠是徹底人。師曰。若不信。待某甲去勘過。遂趂至中路。便問。師兄向甚麼處去。山曰。九重城裡去。師曰。忽遇三軍圍繞時如何。山曰。他家自有通霄路。師曰。恁麼則離宮失殿去也。山曰。何處不稱尊。師拂袖便回。峰問。如何。師曰。好隻聖箭。中路折卻了也。遂舉前話。峰乃曰。奴渠語在。師曰。這老凍膿猶有鄉情在。師在庫前立。有僧問。如何是觸目菩提。師踢狗子。作聲走。僧無對。師曰。小狗子不消一踢。保福簽瓜次。師至。福曰。道得與汝瓜吃。師曰。把將來。福度與一片。師接得便去。師不出世。諸方目為太原孚上座。後歸維揚。陳尚書留在宅供養。一日謂尚書曰。來日講一遍大涅槃經。報答尚書。書致齋茶畢。師遂陞座。良久。揮尺一下曰。如是我聞。乃召尚書。書應諾。師曰。一時佛在。便乃脫去。

The master raised his eyes and looked at him. Xuefeng said, 'That is still the second phrase. What is the first phrase?' The master crossed his hands and withdrew. From then on Xuefeng deeply esteemed him. He was certified in the room, and teacher and disciple were in accord in the Way; he no longer traveled elsewhere, and served as bath attendant. One day Xuansha came up and greeted Xuefeng. Xuefeng said, 'There is a little mouse here; he is now in the bathhouse.' Xuansha said, 'Let me examine him for the reverend master.' With that he went to the bathhouse and found the master fetching water. Xuansha said, 'I look up to you, senior.' The master said, 'We have already met.' Xuansha said, 'In what kalpa did we ever meet?' The master said, 'Why doze?' Xuansha went back into the abbot's quarters and told Xuefeng, 'I have already exposed him.' Xuefeng said, 'How did you examine him?' Xuansha repeated the earlier words. Xuefeng said, 'You have been robbed.' Gushan asked the master, 'Before father and mother were born, where were your nostrils?' The master said, 'Elder brother, you speak first.' Gushan said, 'Now that I am born, where do you say they are?' The master did not approve. Gushan asked in turn, 'How is it?' The master said, 'Bring me the fan in your hand.' Gushan gave him the fan, and pressed the former question again. The master waved the fan and did not answer. Gushan could not fathom it, and gave the master a punch. When Gushan went to the king's invitation, Xuefeng saw him off at the gate. When he returned to the Dharma hall he said, 'A single sage arrow has shot straight into the nine-fold city.' The master said, 'He is not there yet.' Xuefeng said, 'He is a man who has gone through to the bottom.' The master said, 'If you do not believe it, let me go examine him.' So he hurried after him to the middle of the road and asked, 'Where is the senior brother going?' Gushan said, 'Into the nine-fold city.' The master said, 'Suppose he meets three armies surrounding him, what then?' Gushan said, 'He has his own road through to the sky.' The master said, 'Then he leaves the palace and loses the hall.' Gushan said, 'Where is he not honored?' The master shook his sleeve and went back. Xuefeng asked, 'How was it?' The master said, 'A fine sage arrow, but it broke in mid-road.' Then he told the earlier words. Xuefeng said, 'His words still hold.' The master said, 'This old frozen pus-bag still has hometown feelings.' Once the master was standing in front of the storehouse. A monk asked, 'What is the bodhi that meets the eye?' The master kicked a dog, which yelped and ran off. The monk had no reply. The master said, 'A little dog is not worth a kick.' Once, as Baofu was marking melons, the master came. Baofu said, 'If you can say something, I will give you a melon to eat.' The master said, 'Bring it here.' Baofu handed him a slice. The master took it and left. The master did not come forth into the world. The various regions regarded him as Senior Monk Fu of Taiyuan. Later he returned to Weiyang, and Minister Chen kept him in his own house to make offerings. One day he told the minister, 'Tomorrow I will lecture once through the Great Nirvana Sutra, to repay the minister.' When the minister had finished the vegetarian feast and tea, the master ascended the seat. After a long silence he waved his ruler once and said, 'Thus have I heard.' Then he called the minister. The minister answered. The master said, 'At one time the Buddha was at.' Then he passed away.

南嶽般若惟勁寶聞禪師

Chan Master Baowen Weijin of Prajna Monastery in Nanyue

福州人也。師雪峰而友玄沙。深入玄奧。一日問鑑上座。聞汝註楞嚴。是否。鑑曰。不敢。師曰。二文殊作麼生註。曰。請師鑑。師乃揚袂而去。師嘗續寶林傳四卷。紀貞元之後宗門繼踵之源流者。又別著南嶽高僧傳。皆行於世。

He was a man of Fuzhou. He took Xuefeng as his teacher and Xuansha as his friend, and penetrated deeply into the mystery. One day he asked Senior Jian, 'I hear you have commented on the Surangama Sutra; is that so?' Jian said, 'I would not presume.' The master said, 'How do you comment on the two Manjushris?' He said, 'Please, master, look into it.' The master then waved his sleeve and left. The master once continued the Baolin Biographies by four fascicles, recording the source and course of the successive transmissions of the school after the Zhenyuan era. He also wrote separately the Biographies of Eminent Monks of Nanyue, both of which circulate in the world.

感潭資國禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ziguo of Gantan

安州白兆志圓顯教禪師

Chan Master Xianjiao Zhiyuan of Baizhao in Anzhou

僧問。諸佛心印甚麼人傳。師曰。達磨大師。曰。達磨爭能傳得。師曰。汝道甚麼人傳得。問。如何是直截一路。師曰。截。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。苦。問。如何是道。師曰。普。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。失。問。如何是得無山河大地去。師曰。不起見。問。如何是畢缽羅窟迦葉道場中人。師曰。釋迦牟尼佛。問。如何是朱頂王菩薩。師曰。問那箇赤頭漢作麼。

A monk asked, 'Who transmits the mind seal of all Buddhas?' The master said, 'Great Master Bodhidharma.' He said, 'How could Bodhidharma transmit it?' The master said, 'Who do you say transmitted it?' A monk asked, 'What is the direct road?' The master said, 'Cut.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'Bitter.' A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The master said, 'Universal.' A monk asked, 'What is the student himself?' The master said, 'Lost.' A monk asked, 'How does one attain the removal of mountains, rivers, and the great earth?' The master said, 'Do not give rise to views.' A monk asked, 'Who is the person in Kashyapa's Dharma seat at the Pilu cave?' The master said, 'Shakyamuni Buddha.' A monk asked, 'What is the bodhisattva King Red Crown?' The master said, 'Why ask about that red-headed fellow?'

音釋

Pronunciation Glosses

謴(古困切)𤞞(餘玉切)譸(竹尤切)嗢(烏汶切)噦(乙劣切)

謴 (fanqie gu-kun) 𤞞 (fanqie yu-yu) 诪 (fanqie zhu-you) 嗢 (fanqie wu-wen) 哕 (fanqie yi-lie)

青原下七世

The Seventh Generation below Qingyuan

瑞巖彥禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yanyan of Ruiyan

南嶽橫龍和尚

The Reverend of Henglong in Nanyue

初住金輪。僧問。如何是金輪第一句。師曰。鈍漢。問。如何是金輪一隻箭。師曰。過也。問。如何是祖師燈。師曰。八風吹不滅。曰。恁麼則闇冥不生也。師曰。白日沒閑人。

He first dwelt at Jinlun. A monk asked, 'What is Jinlun's first phrase?' The master said, 'A dull fellow.' A monk asked, 'What is Jinlun's single arrow?' The master said, 'Past.' A monk asked, 'What is the Patriarch's lamp?' The master said, 'The eight winds cannot blow it out.' He said, 'Then darkness is not born.' The master said, 'In broad daylight there is no idle man.'

溫州瑞峰院神祿禪師

Chan Master Shenlu of Ruifeng Monastery in Wenzhou

福州人也。久為瑞巖侍者。後開山創院。學侶依附。師有偈曰。蕭然獨處意沉吟。誰信無絃發妙音。終日法堂唯靜坐。更無人問本來心。時有朋彥上座問曰。如何是本來心。師召朋彥。彥應諾。師曰。與老僧點茶來。彥於是信入。

He was a man of Fuzhou. For a long time he served as attendant to Ruiyan. Later he opened the mountain and founded the monastery, and students attached themselves to him. The master had a verse: 'Alone and desolate, my thoughts murmur; who believes the stringless gives forth a wondrous sound? All day in the Dharma hall I only sit in stillness, and no one asks about the original mind.' At that time Senior Monk Pengyan asked, 'What is the original mind?' The master called, 'Pengyan.' Pengyan answered. The master said, 'Bring this old monk some tea.' Pengyan thereupon entered with faith.

玄泉彥禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xuanquan Yan

鄂州黃龍山誨機超慧禪師

Chan Master Chaohui Huiji of Huanglong Mountain in Ezhou

清河張氏子。初參巖頭。問。如何是祖師西來意。頭曰。你還解救餈麼。師曰。解。頭曰。且救餈去。後到玄泉。問。如何是祖師西來意。泉拈起一莖皂角曰。會麼。師曰。不會。泉放下皂角。作洗衣勢。師便禮拜曰。信知佛法無別。泉曰。你見甚麼道理。師曰。某甲曾問巖頭。頭曰。你還解救餈麼。救餈也祇是解粘。和尚提起皂角。亦是解粘。所以道無別。泉呵呵大笑。師遂有省。住後。僧問。不問祖佛邊事。如何是平常之事。師曰。我住山得十五年也。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。琉璃缽盂無底。問。如何是君王劒。師曰。不傷萬類。曰。佩者如何。師曰。血濺梵天。曰。大好不傷萬類。師便打。問。佛在日為眾生說法。佛滅後有人說法否。師曰。慚愧佛。問。毛吞巨海。芥納須彌。不是學人本分事。如何是學人本分事。師曰。封了合盤市裡揭。問。急切相投。請師通信。師曰。火燒裙帶香。問。如何是大疑底人。師曰。對坐盤中弓落盞。曰。如何是不疑底人。師曰。再坐盤中弓落盞。問。風恬浪靜時如何。師曰。百尺竿頭五兩垂。師將順世。僧問。百年後。缽囊子甚麼人將去。師曰。一任將去。曰。裡面事如何。師曰。線綻方知。曰。甚麼人得。師曰。待海鷰雷聲。即向汝道。言訖而寂。

He was a son of the Zhang family of Qinghe. He first studied under Yantou and asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' Yantou said, 'Do you know how to unstick rice cakes?' The master said, 'I do.' Yantou said, 'Then go unstick rice cakes.' Later he came to Xuanquan and asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' Xuanquan picked up a pod of soap-bean and said, 'Do you understand?' The master said, 'I do not.' Xuanquan put down the soap-bean and made the gesture of washing clothes. The master then bowed and said, 'I truly know that the Buddha Dharma is without difference.' Xuanquan said, 'What principle have you seen?' The master said, 'I once asked Yantou. Yantou said, Do you know how to unstick rice cakes? Unsticking rice cakes is just unsticking. When the reverend master picked up the soap-bean, that too is unsticking. Therefore I say there is no difference.' Xuanquan laughed heartily. The master then had an awakening. After he took up residence, a monk asked, 'Setting aside the matters of patriarchs and Buddhas, what is the ordinary matter?' The master said, 'I have been dwelling on this mountain fifteen years.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'A crystal bowl without a bottom.' A monk asked, 'What is the king's sword?' The master said, 'It does not injure the ten thousand kinds.' He said, 'What about the one who wears it?' The master said, 'Its blood splashes the Brahma heaven.' He said, 'Excellent — it does not injure the ten thousand kinds.' The master struck him. A monk asked, 'When the Buddha was in the world he taught the Dharma for living beings. After the Buddha's extinction, does anyone teach the Dharma?' The master said, 'The Buddha of shame.' A monk asked, 'A hair swallows the great ocean and a mustard seed holds Mount Sumeru — but that is not the student's own matter. What is the student's own matter?' The master said, 'Sealed the whole tray, and lifted it in the marketplace.' A monk asked, 'Urgently pressing close, I beg the master to give me word.' The master said, 'Fire burns the sash, and it smells sweet.' A monk asked, 'What about a person of great doubt?' The master said, 'Sitting opposite on the tray, the bow falls on the cup.' He said, 'What about a person without doubt?' The master said, 'Sitting again on the tray, the bow falls on the cup.' A monk asked, 'What about when the wind is calm and the waves are still?' The master said, 'On a hundred-foot pole, the five ounces hang.' As the master was about to pass away, a monk asked, 'A hundred years from now, who will take away the bowl and bag?' The master said, 'Let whoever will take it.' He said, 'What about the matter inside?' The master said, 'Only when the thread bursts will you know.' He said, 'Who gets it?' The master said, 'When the sea swallows thunder, I will tell you.' With these words he passed into quiescence.

洛京栢谷和尚

The Reverend of Baigu in Luojing

僧問。普滋法雨時如何。師曰。有道傳天位。不汲鳳凰池。問。九旬禁足三月事如何。師曰。不墜蠟人機。

A monk asked, 'What about when the Dharma rain falls universally?' The master said, 'There is a way to transmit the heavenly position; one does not draw from the phoenix pool.' A monk asked, 'What about the matter of the three months of the ninety-day confinement?' The master said, 'One does not fall into the wax figure's trap.'

懷州玄泉二世和尚

The Second Generation Chan Master of Xuanquan in Huaizhou

僧問。辭窮理盡時如何。師曰。不入理。豈同盡。問。妙有玄珠。如何取得。師曰。不似摩尼絕影豔。碧眼胡人豈能見。曰。有口道不得時如何。師曰。三寸不能齊皷韻。瘂人解唱木人歌。

A monk asked, 'What about when words are exhausted and principle is ended?' The master said, 'Not entering principle, how could it be the same as ended?' A monk asked, 'The wondrous being, the mysterious pearl — how does one obtain it?' The master said, 'It is not like the mani that cuts off shadow and luster; how could a blue-eyed barbarian see it?' He said, 'What about when one has a mouth but cannot speak?' The master said, 'Three inches cannot match the drum's tone; a mute can sing the wooden man's song.'

潞府妙勝玄密禪師

Chan Master Xuanmi of Miaosheng in Lu Prefecture

僧問。四山相逼時如何。師曰。紅日不垂影。暗地莫知音。曰。學人不會。師曰。鶴透群峰。何伸向背。問。雪峰一曲千人唱。月裡挑燈誰最明。師曰。無音和不齊。明暗豈能收。

A monk asked, 'What about when the four mountains press in?' The master said, 'The red sun does not cast a shadow; in the dark place no one knows the sound.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'A crane passes through the peaks; how could it show front or back?' A monk asked, 'One tune of Xuefeng is sung by a thousand people; who is brightest among those who light a lamp within the moon?' The master said, 'The soundless cannot be harmonized; how could brightness and darkness contain it?'

羅山閑禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xian of Luoshan

婺州明招德謙禪師

Chan Master Deqian of Mingzhao in Wuzhou

受羅山印記。靡滯於一隅。激揚玄旨。諸老宿皆畏其敏揵。後學鮮敢當其鋒者。嘗到招慶。指壁畵問僧。那箇是甚麼神。曰。護法善神。師曰。會昌沙汰時。向甚麼處去來。僧無對。師令僧問演侍者。演曰。汝甚麼劫中遭此難來。僧回舉似師。師曰。直饒演上座。他後聚一千眾。有甚麼用處。僧禮拜。請別語。師曰。甚麼處去也。次到坦長老處。坦曰。夫參學。一人所在亦須到。半人所在亦須到。師便問。一人所在即不問。作麼生是半人所在。坦無對。後令小師問師。師曰。汝欲識半人所在麼。也祇是弄泥團漢。清上座舉仰山插鍬話問師。古人意在叉手處。插鍬處。師召清。清應諾。師曰。還夢見仰山麼。清曰。不要上座下語。祇要商量。師曰。若要商量。堂頭自有一千五百人老師在。又到雙巖。巖請吃茶次。曰。某甲致一問。若道得。便捨院與闍黎住。若道不得。即不捨院。遂舉金剛經云。一切諸佛及諸佛阿耨多羅三藐三菩提法。皆從此經出。且道此經是何人說。師曰。說與不說。拈向這邊著。祇如和尚。決定喚甚麼作此經。巖無對。師又曰。一切賢聖。皆以無為法而有差別。則以無為法為極則。憑何而有差別。祇如差別。是過不是過。若是過。一切賢聖悉皆是過。若不是過。決定喚甚麼作差別。巖亦無語。師曰。噫。雪峰道底。師訪保寧。於中路相遇。便問。兄是道伴中人。乃點鼻頭曰。這箇礙塞我不徹。與我拈卻少時得麼。寧曰。和尚有來多少時。師曰。噫。洎賺我踏破一緉草鞋。便回國泰代曰。非但某甲。諸佛亦不奈何。師曰。因甚麼以己方人。師在婺州智者寺。居第一座。尋常不受淨水。主事嗔曰。上座不識觸淨。為甚麼不受淨水。師跳下床。提起淨瓶曰。這箇是觸是淨。事無語。師乃撲破。自爾道聲遐播。眾請居明招山開法。四來禪者盈於堂室。上堂。全鋒敵勝。罕遇知音。同死同生。

He received the seal of Luoshan and did not stagnate in one corner. He stirred up and raised the mysterious purport, and all the elder adepts feared his agility. Few of the later students dared stand against his edge. He once went to Zhaoqing and, pointing at a wall painting, asked a monk, 'What deity is that?' The monk said, 'A good protecting Dharma deity.' The master said, 'During the Huichang persecution, where did he go?' The monk had no reply. The master had a monk ask the attendant Yan. Yan said, 'In what kalpa did you undergo this calamity?' The monk went back and told the master. The master said, 'Even if Senior Yan later gathers a thousand followers, what use is it?' The monk bowed and asked for another answer. The master said, 'Where has he gone?' Next he went to Elder Tan. Tan said, 'In studying, one must go where one person is, and one must also go where half a person is.' The master then asked, 'The place of one person I do not ask; what is the place of half a person?' Tan had no reply. Later he had a junior monk ask the master. The master said, 'Do you want to know the place of half a person? It is only a fellow playing with a lump of mud.' Senior Qing brought up Yangshan's planting the spade and asked the master, 'Did the ancients' meaning lie in the crossing of hands or in the planting of the spade?' The master called, 'Qing.' Qing answered. The master said, 'Have you dreamed of Yangshan?' Qing said, 'Do not give the senior an answer; let us just discuss it.' The master said, 'If you want discussion, the hall master has his own fifteen hundred masters.' Again he went to Shuangyan. As Shuangyan invited him to tea, he said, 'I will put one question. If you can answer it, I will give up the monastery for you to dwell in. If you cannot, I will not give it up.' Then he brought up the Diamond Sutra: 'All Buddhas and the Dharma of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (meaning supreme perfect enlightenment, the complete awakening certified by the Buddha) of all Buddhas all come forth from this sutra. Now tell me, who spoke this sutra?' The master said, 'Spoken or unspoken, put it over on this side. As for the reverend master, what exactly do you call this sutra?' Shuangyan had no reply. The master said again, 'All worthies and sages differ only by the unconditioned Dharma, and so they take the unconditioned Dharma as the ultimate standard. On what grounds are there differences? As for those differences, are they a fault or not? If they are a fault, then all worthies and sages are at fault. If they are not a fault, what exactly do you call a difference?' Shuangyan again had nothing to say. The master said, 'Ah. What Xuefeng said.' The master visited Baoning and met him in mid-road, and said, 'Brother, you are one of my companions on the Way.' Then he pointed at his nose and said, 'This thing blocks me and I cannot get through. Can you remove it for me for a moment?' Baoning said, 'How long has the reverend master had it?' The master said, 'Ah. I nearly wore through a pair of straw sandals for nothing.' Then he returned to Guotai and offered in his stead: 'Not only I, but all Buddhas cannot help it either.' The master said, 'Why measure others by yourself?' The master was at the Zhizhe Monastery in Wuzhou, holding the position of first seat. He ordinarily did not accept pure water. The steward scolded him: 'The senior does not know defiled from pure; why do you not accept the pure water?' The master jumped down from his seat, picked up the pure water bottle, and said, 'Is this defiled or pure?' The steward had nothing to say. The master then smashed it. From then on his fame spread far. The assembly asked him to dwell at Mingzhao Mountain and open the teaching. Chan students came from all quarters and filled the hall and rooms. Ascending the hall, he said: 'To match the full edge and overcome victory, one rarely meets a kindred spirit. To die together and live together,

萬中無一。尋言逐句。其數河沙。舉古舉今。滅胡種族。向上一路。啐啄猶乖。儒士相逢。握鞭回首。沙門所見。誠實苦哉。拋卻真金。隨隊撮土。報諸稚子。莫謾波波。解得他玄。猶兼瓦礫。不如一擲。騰過太虗。祇者靈鋒。阿誰敢近。任君來箭。方稱丈夫。擬欲吞聲。不消一攫。僧問。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。俊鷂趂不及。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。萬里正紛紛。曰。欲出不出時如何。師曰。嶮。曰。向去事如何。師曰。劄。問。如何是透法身外一句子。師曰。北斗後翻身。問。十二時中如何趣向。師曰。拋向金剛地上著。問。文殊與維摩對談何事。師曰。葛巾紗帽。已拈向這邊著也。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。齩得著是好手。問。放鶴出籠和煙去時如何。師曰。爭奈頭上一點何。問。無煙之火。是甚麼人向得。師曰。不惜眉毛底。曰。和尚還向得麼。師曰。汝道我有多少莖眉毛在。新到參。才上法堂。師舉拂子卻擲下。其僧珍重。便下去。師曰。作家。作家。問。全身佩劒時如何。師曰。忽遇正恁麼時又作麼生。僧無對。一日天寒。上堂。眾才集。師曰。風頭稍硬。不是汝安身立命處。且歸暖室商量。便歸方丈。大眾隨至立定。師又曰。才到暖室。便見瞌睡。以拄杖一時趂下。師問國泰。古人道俱胝祇念三行呪。便得名超一切人。作麼生與他拈卻三行呪。便得名超一切人。泰竪起一指。師曰。不因今日。爭識得瓜洲客。師有師叔在廨院不安。附書來問曰。某甲有此大病。如今正受疼痛。一切處安置伊不得。還有人救得麼。師回信曰。頂門上中此金剛箭。透過那邊去也。會下有僧去。住庵一年後卻來。禮拜曰。古人道三日不相見。莫作舊時看。師撥開胸曰。汝道我有幾莖葢膽毛。僧無對。師卻問。汝甚麼時離庵。曰。今朝。師曰。來時折腳鐺子。分付與阿誰。僧又無語。師乃喝出。問。承師有言。

(The master continued:) 'not one in ten thousand. Seeking words and chasing phrases — their number is like the sands of the Ganges. Citing the ancients and citing the moderns destroys the barbarian seed. As for the road above, the pecking and cracking still miss. When Confucian scholars meet, they grip the whip and turn their heads. What a shramana sees is truly bitter. Throwing away true gold, they follow the crowd and pick up dirt. I tell you youngsters: do not idly fuss. Understanding his mystery still comes with rubble. Better to cast it all away in one throw and leap across the great void. This numinous edge — who dares come near? Let your arrows come; then you may be called a great man. If you intend to swallow your voice, it will not take even one snatch.' A monk asked, 'What about before the lion has left its den?' The master said, 'A swift hawk cannot catch up.' He said, 'What about after it leaves the den?' The master said, 'Ten thousand li in confusion.' He said, 'What about when it is about to leave and not yet leaving?' The master said, 'Dangerous.' He said, 'What about the matter of going on?' The master said, 'Prick.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that penetrates beyond the Dharma body?' The master said, 'Turn over behind the North Dipper.' A monk asked, 'How should one direct oneself through the twelve hours?' The master said, 'Throw it down on the vajra ground.' A monk asked, 'What did Manjushri and Vimalakirti talk about?' The master said, 'The hempen scarf and the gauze cap have already been picked up and put on this side.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'If you can bite into it, you are a good hand.' A monk asked, 'What about releasing the crane from its cage to go with the mist?' The master said, 'What about that one spot on its head?' A monk asked, 'Who can face the fire without smoke?' The master said, 'One who does not spare his eyebrows.' He said, 'Can the reverend master face it?' The master said, 'How many stalks of eyebrows do you say I have?' A newly arrived monk came to call. He had just mounted the Dharma hall when the master raised his whisk and then threw it down. That monk said, 'Take care,' and started down. The master said, 'An adept, an adept.' A monk asked, 'What about one who wears a sword over his whole body?' The master said, 'Suppose he suddenly meets just such a time — what then?' The monk had no reply. One day it was cold, and the master ascended the hall. The assembly had just gathered when the master said, 'The wind's edge is a bit hard; it is not the place for you to settle your body and establish your life. Go back to the warm room and discuss it.' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters. The assembly followed and stood there. The master said again, 'You have just reached the warm room, and already you are dozing.' He drove them all down with his staff. The master asked Guotai, 'The ancients said that Judi merely recited three lines of incantation and thereby won a name surpassing everyone. How would you remove his three lines of incantation so that he still wins a name surpassing everyone?' Guotai held up one finger. The master said, 'Were it not for today, how would one recognize the visitor from Guazhou?' The master had a Dharma uncle who was ill at the branch monastery and sent a letter asking, 'I have this grave illness and am now suffering great pain. There is no place anywhere I can put it. Is there anyone who can save me?' The master wrote back, 'Struck by this vajra arrow on the crown of the head, it has passed through to the other side.' A monk in the assembly went and dwelt in a hut for a year, then came back, bowed, and said, 'The ancients said that after three days apart one should not look on a person as before.' The master opened his robe and said, 'How many stalks of chest-hair do you say I have?' The monk had no reply. The master asked in turn, 'When did you leave the hut?' He said, 'This morning.' The master said, 'The broken-legged pot you had when you came — to whom did you hand it over?' The monk again had nothing to say. The master then shouted him out. A monk asked, 'I have heard the master say:'

我住明招頂。興傳古佛心。如何是明招頂。師曰。換卻眼。曰。如何是古佛心。師曰。汝還氣急麼。問。學人拏雲㸕浪。上來請師展缽。師曰。拶破汝頂。曰。也須仙陀去。師便打。趂出。師有頌示眾曰。明招一拍和人稀。此是真宗上妙機。石火瞥然何處去。朝生之子合應知。臨遷化。上堂告眾。囑付訖。僧問。和尚百年後向甚麼處去。師擡起一足曰。足下看取。中夜問侍者。昔日靈山會上。釋迦如來展開雙足。放百寶光。遂展足曰。吾今放多少。者曰。昔日世尊。今宵和尚。師以手撥眉曰。莫孤負麼。乃說偈曰。驀刀叢裡逞全威。汝等諸人善護持。火裡鐵牛生犢子。臨岐誰解湊吾機。偈畢。端坐而逝。塔院存焉。

(The monk continued his question:) 'I dwell on the summit of Mingzhao and wish to transmit the mind of the ancient Buddha. What is the summit of Mingzhao?' The Master said, 'Change your eyes.' He said, 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'Are you still short of breath?' Someone asked, 'The student grasps clouds and seizes waves, and has come up to ask the Master to open his bowl.' The Master said, 'It will crush your skull.' He said, 'Then one must be a fairy goblin to get away.' The Master then hit him and drove him out. The Master had a verse to show the assembly: 'At Mingzhao's single clap few keep time; this is the true school's supreme wondrous mechanism. Where does the flint spark flash off to? The child born in the morning should know.' When he was about to pass away, he ascended the hall, told the assembly, and gave his instructions. A monk asked, 'After the Reverend's hundred years, where will you go?' The Master raised one foot and said, 'Look at the sole of the foot.' At midnight he asked his attendant, 'Long ago at the assembly on Vulture Peak, Sakyamuni Tathagata stretched out both feet and emitted a hundred treasures of light.' Then he stretched out his foot and said, 'How much am I emitting now?' The attendant said, 'Formerly the World-Honored One, tonight the Reverend.' The Master stroked his eyebrows with his hand and said, 'Do not betray it.' Then he spoke a verse: 'In the thicket of blades I display the full majesty; you people, guard it well. In the fire the iron ox bears a calf — at the fork in the road, who can match my mechanism?' When the verse was done, he sat upright and passed away. His stupa courtyard still stands.

洪州大寧院隱微覺寂禪師

Chan Master Yinwei Jueji of Daning Monastery in Hongzhou

豫章新淦楊氏子。誕夕有光明貫室。年七歲。依本邑石頭院道堅禪師出家受具。歷參宗匠。至羅山。山導以師子在窟出窟之要。因而省悟。後回江表。會龍泉宰李孟俊請居十善道場。闡揚宗旨。上堂。還有騰空底麼。出來。眾無出者。師說偈曰。騰空正是時。應須眨上眉。從茲出倫去。莫待白頭兒。僧問。如何是十善橋。師曰。險。曰。過者如何。師曰。喪。問。資福和尚遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。草鞋破。問。如何是黃梅一句。師曰。即今作麼生。曰。如何通信。師曰。九江路絕。問。初心後學。如何是學。師曰。頭戴天。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。腳踏地。問。如何是法王劒。師曰。露。曰。還殺人也無。師曰。作麼。問。如何是龍泉劒。師曰。不出匣。曰。便請出匣。師曰。星辰失位。問。國界安寧。為甚麼珠不現。師曰。落在甚麼處。

was a son of the Yang family of Xingan in Yuzhang. On the night of his birth a light shone through the house. At seven he left home and received full ordination under Chan Master Daojian of Shitou Monastery in his own district. He studied under master craftsmen everywhere, and came to Luoshan. Luoshan guided him in the essentials of the lion in its den and leaving its den, and from this he awakened. Later he returned to Jiangbiao. It happened that Li Mengjun, magistrate of Longquan, invited him to live at the Shishan place of practice and unfold the ancestral purport. Ascending the hall: 'Is there anyone who can soar into the sky? Come forward.' No one in the assembly came forward. The Master spoke a verse: 'Now is the time to soar into the sky; you should blink and raise your brows. From here go beyond your kind; do not wait to be a white-haired child.' A monk asked, 'What is the bridge of the ten virtues?' The Master said, 'Dangerous.' He said, 'What of the one who crosses?' The Master said, 'He perishes.' Someone asked, 'Where has the Reverend Zifu gone since he passed away?' The Master said, 'His straw sandals are worn out.' Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase of Huangmei?' The Master said, 'And just now, how is it?' He said, 'How is it communicated?' The Master said, 'The road to Jiujiang is cut off.' Someone asked, 'For a beginner and late student, what is learning?' The Master said, 'Wearing heaven on the head.' He said, 'After all, how is it?' The Master said, 'Standing on earth with the feet.' Someone asked, 'What is the Dharma King's sword?' The Master said, 'Exposed.' He said, 'Does it still kill people?' The Master said, 'What?' Someone asked, 'What is the Longquan sword?' The Master said, 'It does not leave its sheath.' He said, 'Please let it leave the sheath.' The Master said, 'The stars and planets lose their places.' Someone asked, 'The realm is at peace — why does the pearl not appear?' The Master said, 'Where has it fallen?'

衡州華光範禪師

Chan Master Fan of Huaguang in Hengzhou

僧問。靈臺不立。還有出身處也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是出身處。師曰。出。問。如何是西來意。師曰。道。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。驗。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。自由自在。曰。見後如何。師曰。自由自在。問。如何是佛法中事。師曰。了。

A monk asked, 'If the numinous terrace is not established, is there still a place to come forth?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the place to come forth?' The Master said, 'Come forth.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Speak.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Test it.' Someone asked, 'What about when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor?' The Master said, 'Free and at ease.' He said, 'And after meeting him?' The Master said, 'Free and at ease.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter within the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Finished.'

福州羅山紹孜禪師

Chan Master Shaoci of Luoshan in Fuzhou

上堂。有數僧爭出問話。師曰。但一齊出來問。待老僧一齊與汝答。僧便問。學人一齊問。請師一齊答。師曰。得。問。學人乍入叢林。祖師的的意。請師直指。師曰。好。

He ascended the hall. Several monks scrambled to come forward with questions. The Master said, 'Just come forward and ask all together, and I will answer you all together.' A monk then asked, 'The student asks all together; please, Master, answer all together.' The Master said, 'Agreed.' Someone asked, 'The student has just entered the monastery; the sure meaning of the Ancestor — please, Master, point it out directly.' The Master said, 'Good.'

西川定慧禪師

Chan Master Dinghui of Western Shu

初參羅山。山問。甚麼處來。師曰。遠離西蜀。近發開元。卻近前問。即今事作麼生。山揖曰。吃茶去。師擬議。山曰。秋氣稍熱去。師出至法堂。歎曰。我在西蜀峨嵋山腳下拾得一隻蓬蒿箭。擬撥亂天下。今日打羅山寨。弓折箭盡也。休。休。乃下參眾。山來日上堂。師出問。豁開戶牗。當軒者誰。山便喝。師無語。山曰。毛羽未備。且去。師因而摳衣。久承印記。後謁台州勝光。光坐次。師直入身邊。叉手而立。光問。甚處來。師曰。猶待答話在。便出。光拈得拂子。趂至僧堂前。見師乃提起拂子曰。闍黎喚這箇作甚麼。師曰。敢死喘氣。光低頭歸方丈。

He first studied under Luoshan. Luoshan asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'Far from Western Shu, lately set out from Kaiyuan.' Then he came forward and asked, 'How is the matter just now?' Luoshan saluted him and said, 'Go drink tea.' The Master hesitated. Luoshan said, 'The autumn air is a little hot — go on.' The Master went out to the Dharma hall and sighed, saying, 'At the foot of Mount Emei in Western Shu I picked up a reed arrow, meaning to bring the whole world to disorder. Today I have attacked Luoshan's stronghold and my bow is broken and my arrows spent. Enough, enough.' And he went down to join the assembly. The next day Luoshan ascended the hall. The Master came forward and asked, 'Opening wide the door and window, who is the one before the hall?' Luoshan then shouted. The Master said nothing. Luoshan said, 'Your feathers are not yet full; go away for now.' From this the Master lifted his robe and received the seal over a long time. Later he called on Shengguang of Taizhou. When Shengguang was seated, the Master went straight up to his side and stood with folded hands. Shengguang asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'I am still waiting to answer.' And he went out. Shengguang picked up his fly whisk and chased him to the front of the monks' hall; seeing the Master he raised the fly whisk and said, 'Acharya, what do you call this?' The Master said, 'Daring death, gasping for breath.' Shengguang bowed his head and went back to his quarters.

建州白雲令弇禪師

Chan Master Lingyan of Baiyun in Jianzhou

上堂。遣往先生門。誰雲對喪主。珍重。僧問。己事未明。以何為驗。師曰。木鏡照素容。曰。驗後如何。師曰。不爭多。問。三臺有請。四眾臨筵。既處當仁。請師一唱。師曰。要唱也不難。曰。便請。師曰。夜靜水寒魚不食。滿船空載月明歸。

Ascending the hall: 'Sent to the master's gate, who speaks in reply to the mourner? Take care.' A monk asked, 'My own matter is not yet clear — by what is it tested?' The Master said, 'A wooden mirror reflects a plain face.' He said, 'And after testing?' The Master said, 'Not much difference.' Someone asked, 'The three terraces have invited him, the four assemblies are at the feast. Since he occupies the seat of the worthy, please, Master, sing one song.' The Master said, 'To sing is not hard either.' He said, 'Please do.' The Master said, 'The night is still and the water cold, and the fish do not bite; the whole boat returns empty, carrying the moonlight.'

虔州天竺義澄常真禪師

Chan Master Yicheng Changzhen of Tianzhu in Qianzhou

在羅山數載。後因山示疾。師問。百年後忽有人問。和尚以何指示。山乃放身便倒。師從此契悟。即禮謝。住後。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。寒暑相催。

He was at Luoshan for several years. Later, because Luoshan showed signs of illness, the Master asked, 'A hundred years from now, if someone suddenly asks, by what will the Reverend instruct them?' Luoshan then let his body fall over. From this the Master was awakened, and at once bowed in thanks. After he had settled there, a monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Cold and heat press on each other.'

吉州清平惟曠真寂禪師

Chan Master Weikuang Zhenji of Qingping in Jizhou

上堂。不動神情。便有輸贏之意。還有麼。出來。時有僧出禮拜。師曰。不是作家。便歸方丈。問。如何是第一句。師曰。要頭將取去。問。如何是活人劒。師曰。會麼。曰。如何是殺人刀。師叱之。問。如何是師子兒。師曰。毛頭排宇宙。

Ascending the hall: 'Without moving the spirit, there is already the intent of winning and losing. Is there anyone? Come forward.' Then a monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, 'Not an adept.' Then he went back to his quarters. Someone asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'If you want my head, take it away.' Someone asked, 'What is the sword that brings people to life?' The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'What is the knife that kills people?' The Master shouted at him. Someone asked, 'What is a lion's cub?' The Master said, 'The tip of a hair arrays the universe.'

婺州金柱山義昭禪師

Chan Master Yizhao of Mount Jinzhu in Wuzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。開門作活計。曰。忽遇賊來。又作麼生。師曰。然。新到參。師揭簾以手作除帽勢。僧擬欲近前。師曰。賺殺人。因事有偈曰。虎頭生角人難措。石火電光須密佈。假饒烈士也應難。懵底那能解回互。

A monk asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'Opening the door to make a living.' He said, 'If a thief suddenly comes, what then?' The Master said, 'So it is.' A newly arrived monk came to study. The Master lifted the blind and made the gesture of removing a hat with his hand. The monk was about to come forward. The Master said, 'You have tricked me to death.' Because of some matter he had a verse: 'A tiger with horns on its head is hard for a man to deal with; the flint spark and lightning must be closely spread. Even a brave man should find it hard; how can the muddled one understand the interplay?'

潭州谷山和尚

The Reverend of Gushan in Tanzhou

僧問。省要處乞師一言。師便起去。問。𦏪羊掛角時如何。師曰。你向甚麼處覓。曰。掛角後如何。師曰。走。

A monk asked, 'At the essential point, I beg the Master for one word.' The Master then got up and left. Someone asked, 'What about when the antelope hangs by its horns?' The Master said, 'Where will you look for it?' He said, 'And after it hangs by its horns?' The Master said, 'It goes.'

湘南道吾從盛禪師

Chan Master Congsheng of Daowu in Xiangnan

初住龍回。僧問。如何是覿面事。師曰。新羅國去也。問。如何是龍回家風。師曰。縱橫射直。問。窮子投師。乞師拯濟。師曰。莫是屈著汝麼。曰。爭奈窮何。師曰。大有人見。

He first lived at Longhui. A monk asked, 'What is the matter face to face?' The Master said, 'He has gone to Silla.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Longhui?' The Master said, 'Lengthwise and crosswise, shoot straight.' Someone asked, 'A poor son comes to a teacher, begging the Master to save him.' The Master said, 'Have I not wronged you?' He said, 'What is to be done about my poverty?' The Master said, 'A great many people see it.'

福州羅山義因禪師

Chan Master Yiyin of Luoshan in Fuzhou

上堂良久曰。若是宗師門下客。必不怪於羅山。珍重。僧問。承古有言。自從認得曹谿路。了知生死不相關。曹谿路即不問。如何是羅山路。師展兩手。僧曰。恁麼則一路得通。諸路亦然。師曰。甚麼諸路。僧近前叉手。師曰。靈鶴煙霄外。鈍鳥不離窠。問。教中道。順法身萬象俱寂。隨智用萬象齊生。如何是萬象俱寂。師曰。有甚麼。曰。如何是萬象齊生。師曰。繩床倚子。

He ascended the hall and after a long silence said, 'If you are a guest at the gate of a master of the school, you will surely not find fault with Luoshan. Take care.' A monk asked, 'I inherit the ancient saying: since I came to know the road to Caoxi, I know that birth and death have nothing to do with me. About the road to Caoxi I do not ask — what is the road to Luoshan?' The Master opened both hands. The monk said, 'If so, then one road is passable, and all roads are the same.' The Master said, 'What all roads?' The monk came forward and folded his hands. The Master said, 'A spirit crane beyond the mist and clouds, a dull bird that never leaves its nest.' Someone asked, 'The teachings say, following the dharma body the ten thousand things are all still, following wisdom's function the ten thousand things all arise. What is it when the ten thousand things are all still?' The Master said, 'What is there?' He said, 'What is it when the ten thousand things all arise?' The Master said, 'A rope chair and a stool.'

灌州靈巖和尚

The Reverend of Lingyan in Guanzhou

僧問。如何是道中寶。師曰。地傾東南。天高西北。曰。學人不會。師曰。落照機前異。師頌石鞏接三平曰。解擘當胸箭。因何祇半人。為從途路曉。所以不全身。

A monk asked, 'What is the treasure within the Way?' The Master said, 'The earth tilts to the southeast, the sky is high in the northwest.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Before the setting sun the mechanism is different.' The Master praised Shigong's receiving of Sanping: 'He understood how to part the arrow aimed at his chest — why then only half a man? Because he came to know by the road, therefore his body was not whole.'

吉州匡山和尚

The Reverend of Mount Kuang in Jizhou

示徒頌曰。匡山路。匡山路。巖崖嶮峻人難措。遊人擬議隔千山。一句分明超佛祖。白牛頌曰。我有古壇真白牛。父子藏來經幾秋。出門直往孤峰頂。回來暫跨虎溪頭。

He showed his students a verse: 'The road to Kuang Mountain, the road to Kuang Mountain. The cliffs are steep and perilous, hard for a man to deal with. The traveler who deliberates is a thousand mountains away; one phrase clearly surpasses Buddha and Ancestor.' A verse on the white ox: 'I have an ancient altar and a true white ox; father and son hid it away for how many autumns. Going out the door it goes straight to the lone peak's summit; coming back it briefly straddles the head of Tiger Creek.'

福州興聖重滿禪師

Chan Master Chongman of Xingsheng in Fuzhou

上堂。覿面分付。不待文宣。對眼投機。喚作參玄。上士若能如此。所以宗風不墜。僧問。如何是宗風不墜底句。師曰。老僧不忍。問。昔日靈山會裡。今朝興聖筵中。和尚親傳。如何舉唱。師曰。欠汝一問。

Ascending the hall: 'Face to face I hand it over, without waiting for words. Meeting eye to eye and matching the mechanism is called investigating the mystery. If a superior man can be like this, the ancestral wind will not fall.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase by which the ancestral wind does not fall?' The Master said, 'This old monk cannot bear it.' Someone asked, 'Long ago in the assembly on Vulture Peak, today in the feast of Xingsheng — the Reverend personally transmits it; how is it sung?' The Master said, 'I owe you one question.'

潭州寶應清進禪師

Chan Master Qingjin of Baoying in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是實相。師曰。沒卻汝。問。至理無言。如何通信。師曰。千差萬別。曰。得力處乞師指示。師曰。瞌睡漢。

A monk asked, 'What is true mark?' The Master said, 'It has drowned you.' Someone asked, 'Ultimate principle has no words — how is it communicated?' The Master said, 'A thousand differences, ten thousand distinctions.' He said, 'Where effort succeeds, I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master said, 'A sleepy fellow.'

玄沙備禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Bei of Xuansha

漳州羅漢院桂琛禪師

Chan Master Guichen of Luohan Monastery in Zhangzhou

常山李氏子。為童兒時。日一素食。出言有異。既冠。親事本府萬歲寺無相大師。披削登戒。學毗尼。一日。為眾陞臺。宣戒本布薩已。乃曰。持戒但律身而已。非真解脫也。依文作解。豈發聖智乎。於是訪南宗。初謁雲居雪峰。參訊勤恪。然猶未有所見。後造玄沙。一言啟發。廓爾無惑。沙問。三界唯心。汝作麼生會。師指倚子曰。和尚喚這箇作甚麼。曰。倚子。師曰。和尚不會三界唯心。曰。我喚這箇作竹木。汝喚作甚麼。師曰。桂琛亦喚作竹木。曰。盡大地覓一箇會佛法底人不可得。師自爾愈加激勵。沙每因誘迪學者。流出諸三昧。皆命師為助發。師雖處眾韜晦。然聲譽甚遠。時漳牧王公建精舍曰地藏。請師開法。因插田次。見僧乃問。從甚處來。曰。南州。師曰。彼中佛法如何。曰。商量浩浩地。師曰。爭如我這裡。栽田博飯吃。曰。爭奈三界何。師曰。喚甚麼作三界。問僧甚處來。曰。南方來。師曰。南方知識。有何言句示徒。曰。彼中道。金屑雖貴。眼裡著不得。師曰。我道須彌在師眼裡。一日。同中塔侍玄沙。沙打中塔一棒曰。就名就體。中塔不對。沙乃問師。作麼生會。師曰。這僧著一棒不知來處。僧報曰。保福已遷化也。師曰。保福遷化。地藏入塔(僧問法眼。古人意旨如何。眼雲。蒼天。蒼天)。後遷羅漢。大闡玄要。上堂。宗門玄妙。為當祇恁麼。也更別有奇特。若別有奇特。汝且舉將來看。若無。去。不可將兩箇字便當卻宗乘也。何者。兩箇字謂宗乘．教乘也。汝才道著宗乘。便是宗乘。道著教乘。便是教乘。禪德。佛法宗乘。元來由汝口裡安立名字。作取說取便是也。斯須向這裡說平說實。說圓說常。禪德。汝喚甚麼作平實。把甚麼作圓常。傍家行腳。理須甄別。莫相埋沒。得些子聲色名字。貯在心頭。道我會解。善能揀辨。汝且會箇甚麼。揀箇甚麼。記持得底是名字。

was a son of the Li family of Changshan. As a child he ate only one vegetarian meal a day, and his words were unusual. When he came of age he personally served Great Master Wuxiang of Wansui Monastery in his own prefecture, was shaved and ordained, and studied the Vinaya. One day, having ascended the platform for the assembly and finished reciting the precept text for the posadha, he said, 'Keeping the precepts only disciplines the body; it is not true liberation. To understand according to the text, how can that bring forth sage wisdom?' So he sought the Southern school. He first called on Yunju and Xuefeng, questioning them diligently, yet still saw nothing. Later he went to Xuansha, and one word opened him, and he was suddenly without doubt. Xuansha asked, 'The three realms are mind only — how do you understand it?' The Master pointed at the chair and said, 'What does the Reverend call this?' He said, 'A chair.' The Master said, 'The Reverend does not understand the three realms are mind only.' He said, 'I call it bamboo and wood; what do you call it?' The Master said, 'Guichen also calls it bamboo and wood.' He said, 'Throughout the whole great earth one cannot find a single person who understands the Buddha Dharma.' From then on the Master pressed himself the harder. Whenever Xuansha drew out students, bringing forth all kinds of samadhi, he always had the Master help him draw them out. Though the Master kept himself hidden in the assembly, his reputation spread far. At that time the prefect of Zhang, Lord Wang, built a retreat called Dizang and asked the Master to open the teaching there. Once, while planting rice, he saw a monk and asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Nanzhou.' The Master said, 'How is the Buddha Dharma there?' He said, 'Discussions roar on and on.' The Master said, 'How much better it is here, where I plant a field and earn a meal.' He said, 'What is to be done about the three realms?' The Master said, 'What do you call the three realms?' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From the south.' The Master said, 'What words and phrases do the good friends in the south use to instruct their students?' He said, 'There they say, though gold dust is precious, it cannot be put in the eye.' The Master said, 'I say Mount Sumeru is in the master's eye.' One day the Master and Zhongta were attending Xuansha. Xuansha gave Zhongta a blow with his staff and said, 'As to name, as to substance.' Zhongta did not reply. Xuansha then asked the Master, 'How do you understand it?' The Master said, 'This monk does not know where that blow came from.' A monk reported, 'Baofu has passed away.' The Master said, 'Baofu has passed away, Dizang enters the stupa.' (A monk asked Fayan, 'What did the ancient mean?' Fayan said, 'O heavens, O heavens.') Later he moved to Luohan and greatly unfolded the profound essentials. Ascending the hall: 'The mystery of the ancestral school — is it just this, or is there something more extraordinary? If there is something more extraordinary, bring it up and let me see. If there is not, go. You must not take two words and make them out to be the ancestral vehicle. What two words? The ancestral vehicle and the teaching vehicle. The moment you speak of the ancestral vehicle, it is the ancestral vehicle; the moment you speak of the teaching vehicle, it is the teaching vehicle. Chan worthies, the ancestral vehicle of the Buddha Dharma is originally a name that you yourselves set up in your mouths; making it and speaking it is all it is. For a moment you speak here of the level and the real, of the perfect and the constant. Chan worthies, what do you call level and real? What do you make of perfect and constant? Going on pilgrimage among the neighboring houses, you should discriminate clearly and not bury one another. Having got a bit of sound, form and name, you store it in your heart and say, I understand, I can pick and discern. What do you understand? What do you pick? What you remember and hold is name,

揀辨得底是聲色。若不是聲色名字。汝又作麼生記持揀辨。風吹松樹也是聲。蝦蟇老鵶呌也是聲。何不那裡聽取揀擇去。若那裡有箇意度模樣。祇如老師口裡。又有多少意度與上座。莫錯。即今聲色摐摐地。為當相及不相及。若相及。即汝靈性金剛秘密應有壞滅去也。何以如此。為聲貫破汝耳。色穿破汝眼。因緣即塞卻汝。幻妄走殺汝。聲色體爾不可容也。若不相及。又甚麼處得聲色來。會麼。相及不相及。試裁辨看。少間又道。是圓常平實。甚麼人恁麼道。未是黃夷村裡漢解恁麼說。是他古聖。垂些子相助顯發。今時不識好惡。便安圓實。道我別有宗風玄妙。釋迦佛無舌頭。不如汝些子。便恁麼點胸。若論殺盜婬罪。雖重猶輕。尚有歇時。此箇謗般若。瞎卻眾生眼。入阿鼻地獄吞鐵丸莫將為等閑。所以古人道。過在化主。不幹汝事。珍重。僧問。如何是羅漢一句。師曰。我若向汝道。便成兩句也。問。不會底人來。師還接否。師曰。誰是不會者。曰。適來道了也。師曰。莫自屈麼。保福僧到。師問。彼中佛法如何。曰。有時示眾道。塞卻你眼。教你覷不見。塞卻你耳。教你聽不聞。坐卻你意。教你分別不得。師曰。吾問你。不塞你眼。見箇甚麼。不塞你耳。聞箇甚麼。不坐你意。作麼生分別(東禪齊雲。那僧聞了忽然省去。更不他遊。上座如今還會麼。若不會。每日見箇甚麼)。問。以字不成。八字不是。未審是甚麼字。師曰。汝實不會那。曰。學人實不會。師曰。看取下頭註腳。問。如何是沙門正命食。師曰。吃得麼。曰。欲吃此食。作何方便。師曰。塞卻你口。問。如何是羅漢家風。師曰。不向你道。曰。為甚麼不道。師曰。是我家風。問。如何是法王身。師曰。汝今是甚麼身。曰。恁麼即無身也。師曰。苦痛深。上堂才坐。有二僧一時禮拜。師曰。俱錯。問。如何是撲不破底句。師曰。撲。問。

(The Master continued:) 'and what you pick and discern is sound and form. If it were not sound, form and name, how would you remember, hold, pick and discern? The wind blowing in the pine trees is also sound; the croaking of frogs and crows is also sound. Why not listen and choose there? If there is some measure and appearance there, then how much measure does this old monk's mouth have for you, elder? Do not be mistaken. Just now sound and form clash and clatter — do they reach you or not? If they reach you, then your spiritual nature, the vajra secret, should be subject to destruction. Why is that so? Because sound pierces through your ear, form pierces through your eye, conditions block you up, and illusion runs you to death. Sound and form themselves cannot contain it. If they do not reach you, then from where do sound and form come? Do you understand? Whether they reach you or not, try to judge and discern. In a little while you will again say it is perfect, constant, level and real. Who says that? Even a man of the Huangyi village could not say that. It is the ancient sages who dropped a little to help bring it out. Nowadays, not knowing good from bad, you assign perfect and real, and say you have another ancestral style and profound mystery. Sakyamuni Buddha has no tongue and is not your equal in the least, and yet you thump your chest like this. If you weigh the sins of killing, stealing and lust, though heavy they are still light, and there is still a time when they stop. But this slandering of prajna, blinding living beings' eyes, entering the Avici hell and swallowing iron pellets — do not take it lightly. Therefore the ancients said, the fault lies with the master who converts, and is no concern of yours. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the one phrase of Luohan?' The Master said, 'If I tell you, it becomes two phrases.' Someone asked, 'When one who does not understand comes, does the Master still receive him?' The Master said, 'Who is the one who does not understand?' He said, 'I have just said it.' The Master said, 'Do not wrong yourself.' A monk from Baofu arrived. The Master asked, 'How is the Buddha Dharma there?' He said, 'Sometimes he shows the assembly: I stop up your eyes so you cannot see; I stop up your ears so you cannot hear; I sit on your mind so you cannot discriminate.' The Master said, 'I ask you: without stopping your eyes, what do you see? Without stopping your ears, what do you hear? Without sitting on your mind, how do you discriminate?' (Dongchan Qi said, 'When that monk heard this he was suddenly awakened and never wandered elsewhere. Do you elders understand now? If not, what do you see every day?') Someone asked, 'As a written character it is not formed, and as the character eight it is not that either. I wonder what character it is?' The Master said, 'Do you really not understand?' He said, 'The student really does not.' The Master said, 'Look at the footnote below.' Someone asked, 'What is the food of right livelihood for a monk?' The Master said, 'Can you eat it?' He said, 'If one wants to eat this food, by what means?' The Master said, 'Stop up your mouth.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Luohan?' The Master said, 'I do not tell you.' He said, 'Why not tell?' The Master said, 'It is my family style.' Someone asked, 'What is the body of the Dharma King?' The Master said, 'What body are you now?' He said, 'If so, then there is no body.' The Master said, 'Deep is the pain.' He had just sat down in the hall when two monks bowed at once. The Master said, 'Both wrong.' Someone asked, 'What is a phrase that cannot be broken?' The Master said, 'Broken.' Someone asked,

一佛出世普為群生。和尚今日為箇甚麼。師曰。甚麼處遇一佛。曰。恁麼即學人罪過。師曰。謹退。問。如何是諸聖玄旨。師曰。四楞塌地。問。大事未肯時如何。師曰。由汝。問。如何是十方眼。師曰。眨上眉毛著。請保福齋。令人傳語曰。請和尚慈悲降重。福曰。慈悲為阿誰。師曰。和尚恁麼道。渾是不慈悲。翫月次。乃曰。雲動有。雨去有。僧曰。不是雲動是風動。師曰。我道雲亦不動。風亦不動。曰。和尚適來又道雲動。師曰。阿誰罪過。師見僧。舉拂子曰。還會麼。曰。謝和尚慈悲示學人。師曰。見我竪拂子。便道示學人。汝每日見山見水。可不示汝。又見僧來。舉拂子。其僧讚歎禮拜。師曰。見我竪拂子。便禮拜讚歎。那裡掃地竪起掃帚。為甚麼不讚歎。問。承教有言。若見諸相非相。即見如來。如何是非相。師曰。燈籠子。問。如何是出家。師曰。喚甚麼作家。問。僧甚處來。曰。秦州。師曰。將得甚麼物來。曰。不將得物來。師曰。汝為甚麼對眾謾語。其僧無對。師卻問。秦州豈不是出鸚鵡。曰。鸚鵡出在隴西。師曰。也不較多。問。僧甚處來。曰。報恩。師曰。何不且在彼中。曰。僧家不定。師曰。既是僧家。為甚麼不定。僧無對(玄覺代雲。謝和尚顧問)。王太傅上雪峰施眾僧衣。時從弇上座不在。師弟代上名受衣。弇歸。弟曰。某甲為師兄上名了。弇曰。汝道我名甚麼。弟無對。師代雲。師兄得恁麼貪。又曰。甚麼處是貪處。又代雲。兩度上名。(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是弇上座兩度上名處)。師與長慶．保福入州。見牡丹障子。保福曰。好一朵牡丹花。長慶曰。莫眼花。師曰。可惜許一朵花(玄覺雲。三尊宿語還有親疎也無。祇如羅漢恁麼道。落在甚麼處)。問僧。汝在招慶有甚麼異聞底事。試舉看。曰。不敢錯舉。師曰。真實底事作麼生舉。曰。和尚因甚麼如此。師曰。汝話墮也。

Someone asked, 'One Buddha appears in the world universally for living beings. For what is the Reverend here today?' The Master said, 'Where did you meet one Buddha?' He said, 'If so, then the student is at fault.' The Master said, 'Withdraw respectfully.' Someone asked, 'What is the profound purport of all the sages?' The Master said, 'Four-cornered and flat on the ground.' Someone asked, 'What about when the great matter is not yet accepted?' The Master said, 'It is up to you.' Someone asked, 'What is the eye of the ten directions?' The Master said, 'Blink and raise your eyebrows.' When he invited Baofu for a meal, he sent someone with the message, 'Please, Reverend, in your compassion, condescend to come.' Baofu said, 'Compassion for whom?' The Master said, 'Speaking like that, the Reverend is altogether without compassion.' Once, when enjoying the moon, he said, 'The clouds move — there is; the rain goes — there is.' A monk said, 'It is not the clouds moving, it is the wind moving.' The Master said, 'I say the clouds do not move either, and the wind does not move either.' He said, 'The Reverend just now said the clouds move.' The Master said, 'Whose fault is that?' Once, when the Master saw a monk, he raised his fly whisk and said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'Thank you, Reverend, for your compassion in showing it to the student.' The Master said, 'You see me raise my fly whisk and you say I am showing it to the student. Every day you see mountains and see water — does that not show it to you?' Again, when he saw a monk coming, he raised his fly whisk. That monk praised him and bowed. The Master said, 'You see me raise my fly whisk and you bow and praise. Over there, when they sweep the ground and raise the broom, why do you not praise?' Someone asked, 'The teaching says, if you see all marks as no marks, you see the Tathagata. What is no mark?' The Master said, 'A lantern.' Someone asked, 'What is leaving home?' The Master said, 'What do you call a householder?' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Qinzhou.' The Master said, 'What thing have you brought with you?' He said, 'I have brought no thing.' The Master said, 'Then why do you lie before the assembly?' That monk had no reply. The Master then asked, 'Is Qinzhou not where parrots come from?' He said, 'Parrots come from Longxi.' The Master said, 'Not much difference either.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Baoen.' The Master said, 'Why not stay there?' He said, 'A monk's household is not fixed.' The Master said, 'Since it is a monk's household, why is it not fixed?' The monk had no reply. (Xuanjue said on his behalf, 'Thank you, Reverend, for your inquiry.') The Grand Tutor Wang came to Xuefeng to give robes to the monks. At that time the elder Congyan was not there. His junior fellow disciple registered in his name and received the robe. When Congyan returned, the junior said, 'I registered in the senior brother's name.' Congyan said, 'What do you say my name is?' The junior had no reply. The Master said on his behalf, 'The senior brother is so greedy.' He also said, 'Where is the greed?' And he said on his behalf, 'Registering his name twice.' (Yunju Xi said, 'Where is the place where the elder Yan registered his name twice?') Once the Master, with Changqing and Baofu, went into the city and saw a peony screen. Baofu said, 'What a lovely peony.' Changqing said, 'Do not let your eyes be dazzled.' The Master said, 'What a pity for one flower.' (Xuanjue said, 'Do the words of these three venerable ones have near and far? Just as Luohan spoke like that, where does it fall?') He asked a monk, 'What unusual things have you heard at Zhaoqing? Try to bring one up.' He said, 'I would not dare bring it up wrongly.' The Master said, 'How does one bring up a true matter?' He said, 'Why is the Reverend like this?' The Master said, 'Your words have fallen.'

眾僧晚參。聞角聲。師曰。羅漢三日一度上堂。王太傅二時相助。問。如何是學人本來心。師曰。是你本來心。問。師居寶座。說法度人。未審度甚麼人。師曰。汝也居寶座。度甚麼人。問。鏡裡看形見不難。如何是鏡。師曰。還見形麼。問。但得本。莫愁末。如何是末。師曰。總有也。師因疾。僧問。和尚尊候較否。師以杖拄地曰。汝道這箇還痛否。曰。和尚問阿誰。師曰。問汝。曰。還痛否。師曰。元來共我作道理。天成三年秋。復屆閩城舊址。遍遊近城梵宇已。乃示寂。茶毗收舍利。建塔於院之西隅。諡真應禪師。

Once when the monks gathered for the evening study, they heard the sound of a horn. The Master said, 'Luohan ascends the hall once every three days; the Grand Tutor Wang helps at the two watches.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's original mind?' The Master said, 'It is your original mind.' Someone asked, 'The Master sits on the jeweled seat, preaching the Dharma and saving people. I wonder whom he saves?' The Master said, 'You also sit on a jeweled seat — whom do you save?' Someone asked, 'Seeing a shape in a mirror is not hard. What is the mirror?' The Master said, 'Do you see the shape?' Someone asked, 'Only get the root, and do not worry about the branches. What are the branches?' The Master said, 'They are all there.' Once, when the Master was ill, a monk asked, 'Has the Reverend's health improved?' The Master planted his staff on the ground and said, 'Do you say this hurts or not?' He said, 'Whom is the Reverend asking?' The Master said, 'I am asking you.' He said, 'Does it hurt or not?' The Master said, 'So you make a principle out of me.' In the autumn of the third year of Tiancheng he came again to the old site in the city of Min, and after touring all the temples near the city he passed into quiescence. After cremation his relics were collected, and a stupa was built in the west corner of the monastery. His posthumous title was Chan Master Zhenying.

杭州天龍寺重機明真禪師

Chan Master Chongji Mingzhen of Tianlong Monastery in Hangzhou

台州人也。得法玄沙。復回浙中。錢武肅王請出世開法。上堂。若直舉宗風。獨唱本分事。便同於頑石。若言絕凡聖消息。無大地山河。盡十方世界。都是一隻眼。此乃事不獲已。恁麼道還會麼。若更不會。聽取一頌。盲聾瘖瘂是仙陀。滿眼時人不奈何。祇向目前須體妙。身心萬象與森羅。僧問。如何是璇璣不動。師曰。青山數重。曰。如何是寂爾無垠。師曰。白雲一帶。問。如何是歸根得旨。師曰。兔角生也。曰。如何是隨照失宗。師曰。龜毛落也。問。蓮花未出水時如何。師曰。誰人不知。曰。出水後如何。師曰。馨香目擊。問。朗月輝空時如何。師曰。正是分光景。何消指玉樓。

was a man of Taizhou. He got the Dharma from Xuansha and returned to Zhezhong. King Qian Wusu asked him to come out into the world and open the teaching. Ascending the hall: 'If one directly raises the ancestral wind and sings alone of one's original matter, one is the same as a stubborn rock. If one speaks of cutting off the news of ordinary and sage, of there being no great earth, mountains and rivers, and of the whole world of the ten directions being a single eye — this too is only because there is no other way. Do you understand speaking like that? If you still do not, hear one verse: blind, deaf and mute is the fairy goblin; the people of the time, their eyes full, can do nothing about it. Just before your eyes you must realize the wonder — body and mind, the ten thousand things, and the teeming array.' A monk asked, 'What is it when the jade mechanism does not move?' The Master said, 'Layers of green mountains.' He said, 'What is it when all is still and boundless?' The Master said, 'A belt of white clouds.' Someone asked, 'How does one return to the root and get the purport?' The Master said, 'Rabbit horns have grown.' He said, 'How does one follow the shining and lose the school?' The Master said, 'Tortoise hair has fallen.' Someone asked, 'What about when the lotus has not yet come out of the water?' The Master said, 'Who does not know?' He said, 'And after it comes out of the water?' The Master said, 'Its fragrance is seen at a glance.' Someone asked, 'What about when the bright moon illumines the sky?' The Master said, 'This is just dividing the scenery; what need to point at the jade tower?'

福州僊宗院契符清法禪師

Chan Master Qifu Qingfa of Xianzong Monastery in Fuzhou

開堂日。僧問。師登寶座。合談何事。師曰。剔開耳孔著。曰。古人為甚麼卻道非耳目之所到。師曰。金櫻樹上不生梨。曰。古今不到處。請師道。師曰。汝作麼生問。問。眾手淘金。誰是得者。師曰。舉手隔千里。休功任意看。問。飛岫巖邊華子秀。仙境臺前事若何。師曰。無價大寶光中現。暗客惛惛爭奈何。曰。優曇華拆人皆覩。向上宗乘意若何。師曰。闍黎若問宗乘意。不如靜處薩婆訶。問。如何是閩中諸佛境界。師曰。造化終難測。春風徒自輕。問如何是道中寶。師曰。雲孫淚亦垂。問。諸聖收光歸源後如何。師曰。三聲猿屢斷。萬裡客愁聽。曰。未審今時人。如何湊得古人機。師曰。好心向子道。切忌未生時。

On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked, 'The Master has ascended the jeweled seat — what matter should he discuss?' The Master said, 'Pick open your ear holes.' He said, 'Why did the ancients say it is not reached by ear or eye?' The Master said, 'A pear does not grow on a cherry tree.' He said, 'At the place where ancient and modern do not reach, please, Master, speak.' The Master said, 'How do you ask?' Someone asked, 'Many hands wash for gold — who gets it?' The Master said, 'Raise your hand and you are a thousand li away; look at the merit you stop.' Someone asked, 'The flower blooms beside the flying peak's crag; how are matters before the fairy terrace?' The Master said, 'The priceless great treasure appears in the light; what can the blind guest, all muddled, do about it?' He said, 'The udumbara flower opens and everyone sees it — what of the ancestral vehicle above?' The Master said, 'If you ask about the meaning of the ancestral vehicle, it is better to say svaha in a quiet place.' Someone asked, 'What is the realm of the Buddhas in Min?' The Master said, 'The workings of creation are hard to fathom; the spring wind is only light of itself.' Someone asked, 'What is the treasure within the Way?' The Master said, 'The descendant of the clouds weeps too.' Someone asked, 'After all the sages withdraw their light and return to the source, how is it?' The Master said, 'Three cries of the gibbon cut off again and again; a traveler of ten thousand li listens in sorrow.' He said, 'I wonder how people nowadays can match the ancients' mechanism?' The Master said, 'With good intent I tell you: above all, do not at the time before birth.'

婺州國泰院𤦆禪師

Chan Master Liu of Guotai Monastery in Wuzhou

上堂。不離當處。鹹是妙明真心。所以玄沙和尚道。會我最後句。出世少人知。爭似國泰有末頭一句。僧問。如何是國泰末頭一句。師曰。闍黎問太遲生。便歸方丈。問。如何是毗盧。師曰。某甲與老兄是弟子。問。達磨來時即不問。如何是未來時事。師曰。親遇梁王。問。古鏡未磨時如何。師曰。古鏡。曰。磨後如何。師曰。古鏡。

Ascending the hall: 'Not apart from where you stand, all is the wondrous bright true mind. Therefore the Reverend Xuansha said, if you understand my last phrase, few in the world will know it. How much better is Guotai's phrase at the end.' A monk asked, 'What is Guotai's phrase at the end?' The Master said, 'You ask too late, acharya.' Then he went back to his quarters. Someone asked, 'What is Vairocana?' The Master said, 'I and you, old brother, are disciples.' Someone asked, 'About Bodhidharma's coming I do not ask — what is the matter before the future?' The Master said, 'He met the king of Liang in person.' Someone asked, 'What about when the ancient mirror has not been polished?' The Master said, 'An ancient mirror.' He said, 'And after polishing?' The Master said, 'An ancient mirror.'

福州升山白龍院道希禪師

Chan Master Daoxi of Bailong Monastery on Sheng Mountain in Fuzhou

本郡人也。上堂。不要舉足。是誰威光。還會麼。若道自家去處。本自如是。且喜沒交涉。問。如何是西來意。師曰。汝從甚處來。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。汝早禮三拜。問。不責上來。請師直道。師曰。得。問。如何是正真道。師曰。騎驢覓驢。問。請師答無賓主話。師曰。昔年曾記得。曰。即今如何。師曰。非但耳聾。亦兼眼暗。問。情忘體合時如何。師曰。別更夢見箇甚麼。問。學人擬伸一問。請師裁。師曰。不裁。曰。為甚麼不裁。師曰。須知好手。問。大眾雲集。請師舉揚宗教。師曰。少遇聽者。問。不涉唇鋒。乞師指示。師曰。不涉唇鋒問將來。曰。恁麼即群生有賴。師曰。莫閑言語。問。請和尚生機答話。師曰。把紙筆來錄將去。問。如何是思大口。師曰。出來向你道。曰。學人即今見出。師曰。曾賺幾人來。

was a man of that prefecture. Ascending the hall: 'Without lifting a foot, whose majesty is this? Do you understand? If you speak of your own place, it is originally like this — and I am glad it has nothing to do with it.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Where have you come from?' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'You should bow three times first.' Someone asked, 'Without blaming you for coming up, please, Master, speak directly.' The Master said, 'Agreed.' Someone asked, 'What is the true and correct Way?' The Master said, 'Riding a donkey looking for a donkey.' Someone asked, 'Please, Master, answer the words of no host and guest.' The Master said, 'I remember it from years ago.' He said, 'And just now, how is it?' The Master said, 'Not only deaf, but blind as well.' Someone asked, 'What about when feeling is forgotten and substance is joined?' The Master said, 'What else do you dream of?' Someone asked, 'The student means to put one question; please, Master, judge it.' The Master said, 'I do not judge.' He said, 'Why not judge?' The Master said, 'You should know a skilled hand.' Someone asked, 'The assembly gathers like clouds; please, Master, raise the ancestral teaching.' The Master said, 'Few listeners are met.' Someone asked, 'Without touching lips or point, I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master said, 'Ask without touching lips or point.' He said, 'If so, then living beings have something to rely on.' The Master said, 'No idle words.' Someone asked, 'Please, Reverend, answer out of the living mechanism.' The Master said, 'Bring paper and brush and write it down.' Someone asked, 'What is the mouth of thinking greatly?' The Master said, 'Come forward and I will tell you.' He said, 'The student is coming forward now.' The Master said, 'How many people have I tricked like this?'

福州安國院慧球寂照禪師(亦曰。中塔)

Chan Master Huiqiu Jizhao of Anguo Monastery in Fuzhou (also called Zhongta)

泉州莆田人也。玄沙室中。參訊居首。因問。如何是第一月。沙曰。用汝箇月作麼。師從此悟入。梁開平二年。玄沙將示滅。閩帥王氏遣子至。問疾。仍請密示繼踵說法者誰。沙曰。球子得。王默記遺旨。乃問皷山。臥龍法席。孰當其任。皷山舉城下宿德具道眼者十有二人。皆堪出世。王亦默之。至開堂日。官僚與僧侶俱會法筵。王忽問眾曰。誰是球上座。於是眾人指出師。王氏便請陞座。師良久曰。莫嫌寂寞。莫道不堪。未詳涯際。作麼生論量。所以尋常用其音響。聊撥一兩下。助他發機。若論來十方世界。覓一人為伴侶。不可得。僧問。佛法大意。從何方便頓入。師曰。入是方便。問。雲自何山起。風從何㵎生。師曰。盡力施為。不離中塔。上堂。我此間粥飯因緣。為兄弟舉唱。終是不常。欲得省要。卻是山河大地與汝發明。其道既常。亦能究竟。若從文殊門入者。一切無為。土木瓦礫。助汝發機。若從觀音門入者。一切音響。蝦蟇蚯蚓。助汝發機。若從普賢門入者。不動步而到。以此三門方便示汝。如將一隻折箸攪大海水。令彼魚龍知水為命。會麼。若無智眼而審諦之。任汝百般巧妙。不為究竟。問。學人近入叢林。不明己事。乞師指示。師以杖指之曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。我恁麼為汝。卻成抑屈人。還知麼。若約當人分上。從來底事。不論初入叢林。及過去諸佛。不曾乏少。如大海水。一切魚龍初生及至老死。所受用水。悉皆平等。問。不謬正宗。請師真實。師曰。汝替我道。曰。或有不辨者作麼生。師曰。待不辨者來。問。諸佛還有師否。師曰。有。曰。如何是諸佛師。師曰。一切人識不得。上堂良久。有僧出禮拜。師曰。莫教髑髏拶損。僧參問。曰。去卻僕從。便請相見。師曰。眨上眉毛看。曰。不與麼時如何。師曰。山北去也。問。從上宗乘事如何。師良久。僧再問。師便喝出。問。

was a man of Putian in Quanzhou. In Xuansha's room he stood first in questioning. Because he asked, 'What is the first moon?' and Xuansha said, 'What would you do with your moon?' the Master entered awakening from this. In the second year of Kaiping of Liang, Xuansha was about to pass into extinction. The commander of Min, of the Wang family, sent his son to inquire after his illness, and also asked him to secretly indicate who would follow in his footsteps and preach the Dharma. Xuansha said, 'Qiu the son has got it.' The king silently noted the parting command, and then asked Gushan, 'At the Dharma seat of the Reclining Dragon, who should fill the post?' Gushan named twelve venerable men in the city who had the eye of the Way, all fit to come out into the world. The king also kept silent about it. On the day of opening the hall, officials and monks alike gathered at the Dharma feast. The king suddenly asked the assembly, 'Who is the elder Qiu?' Then the assembly pointed out the Master. The Wang family then asked him to ascend the seat. After a long while the Master said, 'Do not dislike the loneliness, do not say you cannot bear it. If you have not fathomed the limit, how will you measure it? Therefore ordinarily one uses its sound and echo, giving it a pluck or two to help it stir the mechanism. But as for finding one person in the ten directions of the world to be a companion — that is not possible.' A monk asked, 'The great meaning of the Buddha Dharma — by what means does one enter suddenly?' The Master said, 'Entering is the means.' Someone asked, 'From what mountain do the clouds rise, from what ravine does the wind come?' The Master said, 'Exert yourself to the utmost, and you do not leave Zhongta.' Ascending the hall: 'This porridge-and-rice connection of mine — singing it for you brothers is never constant. If you want the essential point, it is the mountains and rivers and the great earth that bring it out for you. That Way, being constant, can also be fathomed. If you enter by Manjushri's gate, all unconditioned things, earth, wood, tiles and pebbles, help you stir the mechanism. If you enter by Avalokitesvara's gate, all sounds, frogs and earthworms, help you stir the mechanism. If you enter by Samantabhadra's gate, you arrive without moving a step. By these three gates I show you a means. It is like taking one broken chopstick to stir the waters of the great sea, to make the fish and dragons know that water is their life. Do you understand? If you have no eye of wisdom to examine it closely, then however ingenious you are in a hundred ways, it is not the ultimate.' Someone asked, 'The student has just entered the monastery and is unclear about his own matter; I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master pointed with his staff and said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'If I do it for you like this, it becomes oppressing a man. Do you know? If it is a matter of one's own portion, the matter from the first is the same whether one has just entered the monastery or whether one is a past Buddha; there is never any lack. It is like the waters of the great sea: all fish and dragons, from first birth to old age and death, use the same water equally.' Someone asked, 'Without betraying the true school, please, Master, the truth.' The Master said, 'You speak for me.' He said, 'What if there are those who cannot discern it?' The Master said, 'Wait until the one who cannot discern comes.' Someone asked, 'Do the Buddhas have a teacher?' The Master said, 'They do.' He said, 'What is the teacher of the Buddhas?' The Master said, 'No man can know it.' He ascended the hall and was silent a long while. A monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, 'Do not let your skull be crushed.' A monk came to study and said, 'Dismiss your attendants, and let us meet.' The Master said, 'Blink and raise your eyebrows and look.' He said, 'What about when it is not like this?' The Master said, 'He has gone north of the mountain.' Someone asked, 'What are the matters of the ancestral vehicle from above?' The Master was silent a long while. The monk asked again. The Master shouted him out. Someone asked,

如何是大庾嶺頭事。師曰。料汝承當不得。曰。重多少。師曰。這般底論劫不奈何。師問了院主。祇如先師道。盡十方世界是真實人體。你還見僧堂麼。了曰。和尚莫眼花。師曰。先師遷化。肉猶煖在。

Someone asked, 'What is the matter at the head of Dayu Ridge?' The Master said, 'I reckon you cannot take it on.' He said, 'How heavy is it?' The Master said, 'That sort of thing — through a whole kalpa there is no doing anything about it.' The Master asked the prior Liaoning, 'Just as my late teacher said, the whole world of the ten directions is the body of true reality — do you still see the monks' hall?' Liao said, 'Reverend, do not let your eyes be dazzled.' The Master said, 'My late teacher has passed away, and his flesh is still warm.'

衡嶽南臺誠禪師

Chan Master Cheng of Nantai in Hengyue

僧問。玄沙宗旨。請師舉揚。師曰。甚麼處得此消息。曰。垂接者何。師曰。得人不迷己。問。潭清月現。是何境界。師曰。不干你事。曰。借問又何妨。師曰。覓潭月不可得。問。離地四指。為甚麼卻有魚紋。師曰。有聖量在。曰。此量為甚麼人施。師曰。不為聖人。

A monk asked, 'The purport of Xuansha — please, Master, raise it up.' The Master said, 'Where did you get this news?' He said, 'What of the one who comes down to receive?' The Master said, 'Getting a man, one is not deluded about oneself.' Someone asked, 'The pool is clear and the moon appears — what realm is that?' The Master said, 'It is no concern of yours.' He said, 'What harm is there in asking?' The Master said, 'The pool and moon cannot be found.' Someone asked, 'Four fingers above the ground, why are there fish scales?' The Master said, 'There is a sage measure in it.' He said, 'For whom is this measure bestowed?' The Master said, 'Not for sages.'

福州螺峰沖奧明法禪師

Chan Master Chong'ao Mingfa of Luofeng in Fuzhou

上堂。人人具足。人人成現。爭怪得山僧。珍重。僧問。諸法寂滅相。不可以言宣。如何是寂滅相。師曰。問答俱備。曰。恁麼則真如法界。無自無他。師曰。特地令人愁。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。德重鬼神欽。曰。見後如何。師曰。通身聖莫測。問。如何是螺峰一句。師曰。苦。問。如何是本來人。師曰。惆悵松蘿境界危。

Ascending the hall: 'Each person is complete, each person is manifest — how can you blame this mountain monk? Take care.' A monk asked, 'All dharmas are the mark of quiescence and cannot be proclaimed in words. What is the mark of quiescence?' The Master said, 'Question and answer are both complete.' He said, 'If so, then the dharma realm of suchness has no self and no other.' The Master said, 'You deliberately make people grieve.' Someone asked, 'What about when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor?' The Master said, 'His virtue was so heavy that gods and ghosts revered him.' He said, 'And after meeting him?' The Master said, 'Throughout his body the sage cannot fathom him.' Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase of Luofeng?' The Master said, 'Bitter.' Someone asked, 'What is the original person?' The Master said, 'Sorrowful, the perilous state of pines and dodder.'

泉州睡龍山和尚

The Reverend of Shuilong Mountain in Quanzhou

僧問。如何是觸目菩提。師以杖趂之。僧乃走。師曰。住。住。向後遇作家舉看。上堂。舉拄杖曰。三十年住山。得他氣力。時有僧問。和尚得他甚麼氣力。師曰。過谿過嶺。東拄西拄(招慶雲。我不恁麼道。僧問。和尚作麼生道。慶以杖下地拄行)。

A monk asked, 'What is enlightenment at whatever meets the eye?' The Master chased him with his staff. The monk ran. The Master said, 'Stop, stop. Hereafter, when you meet an adept, bring it up and see.' Ascending the hall, he raised his staff and said, 'Thirty years living on the mountain, I have got my strength from this.' Then a monk asked, 'What strength has the Reverend got from it?' The Master said, 'Crossing streams and crossing ridges, leaning east and leaning west.' (Zhaoqing said, 'I do not say so.' A monk asked, 'How does the Reverend say it?' Zhaoqing planted his staff on the ground and walked leaning on it.)

天台山雲峰光緒至德禪師

Chan Master Guangxu Zhide of Yunfeng on Mount Tiantai

上堂。但以眾生日用而不知。譬如三千大千世界。日月星辰。江河淮濟。一切含靈。從一毛孔入一毛孔。毛孔不小。世界不大。其中眾生。不覺不知。若要易會。上座日用亦復不知。時有僧問。日裡僧䭾像。夜裡像䭾僧。未審此意如何。師曰。闍黎豈不是從茶堂裡來。

Ascending the hall: 'It is only that living beings do not know it in their daily use. It is like the three thousand great thousand worlds, the sun, moon and stars, the rivers, the Huai and the Ji, and all sentient beings, entering one pore from another pore. The pore is not small, the world is not large. And the living beings within are unaware and unknowing. If you want to understand it easily, the elder's daily use is likewise unknown.' Then a monk asked, 'In the daytime the monk carries the image, at night the image carries the monk. I wonder what this means?' The Master said, 'Are you not one who has come from the tea hall?'

福州大章山契如庵主

The hermit Qiru of Mount Dazhang in Fuzhou

本郡人也。素蘊孤操。志探祖道。預玄沙之室。頴悟幽旨。玄沙記曰。子禪已逸格。則他後要一人侍立也無。師自此不務聚徒。不畜童侍。隱於小界山。刳大朽杉若小庵。但容身而已。凡經遊僧至。隨叩而應。無定開示。僧問。生死到來。如何迴避。師曰。符到奉行。曰。恁麼則被生死拘將去也。師曰。阿㖿㖿。問。西天持錫意作麼生。師拈錫杖。卓地振之。僧曰。未審此是甚麼義。師曰。這箇是張家打。僧擬進語。師以錫攛之。僧問雲臺欽和尚。如何是真言欽。曰。南無佛陀耶。師別雲。作麼。作麼。清豁．沖煦二長老嚮師名。未甞會遇。一旦同訪之。值師採粟。豁問。道者。如庵主在何所。師曰。從甚麼處來。曰。山下來。師曰。因甚麼得到這裡。曰。這裡是甚麼處所。師揖曰。那下吃茶去。二公方省是師。遂詣庵所。頗味高論。晤坐於左右。不覺及夜。覩豺虎奔至庵前。自然馴遶。豁因有詩曰。行不等閑行。誰知去住情。一餐猶未飽。萬戶勿聊生。非道應難伏。空拳莫與爭。龍吟雲起處。閑嘯兩三聲。二公尋於大章山創庵。請師居之。兩處孤坐。垂五十二載而卒。

was a man of that prefecture. He had always harbored a solitary resolve and set his mind on exploring the ancestral Way. He entered Xuansha's room and sharply grasped the hidden purport. Xuansha predicted, 'Your Chan has already gone beyond the norm, so hereafter you will not even have one man to stand in attendance.' From then on the Master did not seek to gather students and kept no boy attendant. He hid on Mount Xiaojie and hollowed out a great rotten cedar into a small hut, just big enough to hold himself. Whenever a wandering monk arrived, he responded as he was questioned, with no fixed instruction. A monk asked, 'When birth and death come, how can one avoid them?' The Master said, 'When the summons arrives, obey it.' He said, 'If so, then one is taken away by birth and death.' The Master said, 'Ai ya ya.' Someone asked, 'What was the meaning of the Western Heaven's holding of the staff?' The Master picked up his ringed staff, planted it on the ground and rattled it. The monk said, 'I wonder what meaning this is?' The Master said, 'This is the Zhang family's beating.' The monk was about to speak further, and the Master poked at him with the staff. A monk asked the Reverend Qin of Yuntai, 'What is the true word?' Qin said, 'Namo Buddhaya.' The Master said in comment, 'What is it, what is it?' The two elders Qinghuo and Chongxu knew the Master by reputation but had never met him. One day they visited him together, and found the Master gathering millet. Qinghuo asked, 'Man of the Way, where is the hermit?' The Master said, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From down the mountain.' The Master said, 'How did you get here?' He said, 'What sort of place is this?' The Master saluted and said, 'Then go down and drink tea.' The two men then realized that this was the Master, and so they went to his hut. They much savored his lofty discourse and sat facing him on either side, and before they knew it night had come. They saw jackals and tigers run up before the hut and circle it tamely of themselves. Qinghuo then wrote a poem: 'He does not walk an ordinary walk; who knows his feeling of going and staying? One meal is not yet enough for him, and ten thousand households do not trouble to live. What is not the Way is hard to subdue, and with bare fists one cannot contend. Where the dragon roars and the clouds rise, he whistles two or three notes at leisure.' The two men then built a hut on Mount Dazhang and asked the Master to live there. He sat alone in the two places for fifty-two years and then died.

福州蓮華山永興神祿禪師

Chan Master Shenlu Yongxing of Lianhua Mountain in Fuzhou

閩王請開堂日。未陞座。先於座前立曰。大王大眾聽。已有真正舉揚也。此一會總是得聞。豈有不聞者。若有不聞。彼此相謾去也。方乃登座。僧問。大王請師出世。未委今日一會何似靈山。師曰。徹古傳今。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。毛頭顯沙界。日月現其中。

On the day the king of Min asked him to open the hall, before ascending the seat he stood in front of it and said, 'Great King and assembly, listen: there has already been a true raising up. Everyone in this assembly has heard it. How could there be one who has not heard? If there is one who has not heard, then we deceive one another.' Only then did he ascend the seat. A monk asked, 'The Great King has asked the Master to come out into the world; I wonder how today's assembly compares with Vulture Peak?' The Master said, 'Piercing ancient and modern, it transmits them.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'A hair's tip manifests the sands of worlds, and sun and moon appear within it.'

天台國清寺師靜上座

The elder Shijing of Guoqing Monastery on Mount Tiantai

始遇玄沙示眾曰。汝諸人但能一生如喪考妣。吾保汝究得徹去。師躡前語。問曰。祇如教中道。不得以所知心測度如來無上知見。又作麼生。沙曰。汝道究得徹底所知心。還測度得及否。師從此信入。後居天台三十餘載不下山。博綜三學。操行孤立。禪寂之餘。常閱龍藏。遐邇欽重。時謂大靜上座。嘗有人問。弟子每當夜坐。心念紛飛。未明攝伏之方。願垂示誨。師曰。如或夜閑安坐。心念紛飛。卻將紛飛之心。以究紛飛之處。究之無處。則紛飛之念何存。反究究心。則能究之心安在。又能照之智本空。所緣之境亦寂。寂而非寂者。葢無能寂之人也。照而非照者。葢無所照之境也。境智俱寂。心慮安然。外不尋枝。內不住定。二途俱泯。一性怡然。此乃還源之要道也。師因覩教中幻義。乃述一偈。問諸學流曰。若道法皆如幻有。造諸過惡應無咎。云何所作業不忘。而藉佛慈興接誘。時有小靜上座答曰。幻人興幻幻輪圍。幻業能招幻所治。不了幻生諸幻苦。覺知如幻幻無為。二靜上座竝終於本山。

He first met Xuansha when Xuansha was addressing the assembly: 'If you people can be for a whole lifetime as if mourning father and mother, I guarantee you will penetrate to the bottom.' The Master followed up on these words and asked, 'But the teaching says one must not measure the Tathagata's supreme knowledge and vision with a knowing mind — then how is it?' Xuansha said, 'Do you say the knowing mind that penetrates to the bottom can still be measured?' From this the Master entered by faith. Later he lived on Mount Tiantai for more than thirty years without descending the mountain. He mastered the three studies broadly and kept his conduct solitary. Apart from Chan stillness he often read the dragon canon. Near and far revered him, and people of the time called him the Elder Dajing. Once someone asked, 'Every time your disciple sits at night, thoughts fly about in confusion, and I do not know the way to tame them. I beg you to teach me.' The Master said, 'If at night in quiet sitting your thoughts fly about in confusion, then take the confused mind and investigate the place where the confusion is. Since the place investigated does not exist, how can the confused thoughts remain? Turning back to investigate the investigating mind, where is the mind that investigates? Moreover the wisdom that illumines is originally empty, and the objects it takes as conditions are also still. Still but not still — because there is no person who makes it still. Illumining but not illumining — because there is no object that is illumined. Object and wisdom both still, the mind's deliberations at peace. Outwardly one does not seek branches, inwardly one does not dwell in concentration. Both roads are extinguished, and the one nature is joyful. This is the essential road of returning to the source.' Because the Master had seen the teaching on illusion, he composed a verse and asked the students: 'If all dharmas are said to be like illusions, then doing all kinds of evil should bring no blame. Why is the karma done not forgotten, and why does one rely on the Buddha's compassion to be drawn in?' Then the younger Elder Xiaojing answered: 'An illusory person raises illusions, and illusion surrounds in a wheel; illusory karma can summon what illusion governs. Not understanding that illusion gives rise to all illusory suffering, one awakens to know that like illusion, illusion is unconditioned.' The two elders Jing both ended their days on that mountain.

長慶稜禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Leng of Changqing

泉州招慶院道𭅕禪師

Chan Master Dao of Zhaoqing Monastery in Quanzhou

潮州人也。稜和尚始居招慶。師乃入室參侍。遂作桶頭。常與眾僧語話。一日。慶見。乃曰。爾每日口嘮嘮底作麼。師曰。一日不作。一日不食。慶曰。與麼則磨弓錯箭去也。師曰。專待尉遲來。慶曰。尉遲來後如何。師曰。教伊筋骨遍地。眼睛突出。慶便出去。洎慶被召。師繼踵住持。上堂。聲前薦得。孤負平生。句後投機。殊乖道體。為甚麼如此。大眾且道從來合作麼生。又曰。招慶與諸人一時道卻。還委落處麼。時有僧出曰。大眾一時散去。還稱師意也無。師曰。好與二十拄杖。僧禮拜。師曰。雖有盲龜之意。且無曉月之程。曰。如何是曉月之程。師曰。此是盲龜之意。問。如何是沙門行。師曰。非行不行。問。如何是西來意。師曰。蚊子上鐵牛。問。如何是在匣劒。師良久。僧罔措。師曰。也須感荷招慶始得。問。如何是提宗一句。師曰。不得昧著招慶。其僧禮拜起。師又曰。不得昧著招慶。囑汝作麼生是提宗一句。僧無對。問。文殊劒下不承當時如何。師曰。未是好手人。曰。如何是好手人。師曰。是汝話墮也。問。如何是招慶家風。師曰。寧可清貧自樂。不作濁富多憂。問。如何是南泉一線道。師曰。不辭向汝道。恐較中更較去。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。七顛八倒。問。學人根思遲回。乞師曲運慈悲。開一線道。師曰。這箇是老婆心。曰。悲華剖坼以領尊慈。從上宗乘事如何。師曰。恁麼須得汝親問始得。問。僧甚處去來。曰。劈柴來。師曰。還有劈不破底也無。曰。有。師曰。作麼生是劈不破底。僧無語。師曰。汝若道不得。問我。我與汝道。曰。作麼生是劈不破底。師曰。賺殺人。師拈缽囊問僧。你道直幾錢。僧無對(歸宗柔代雲。留與人增價)。因地動。僧問。還有不動者也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是不動者。師曰。動從東來。卻歸西去。問。法雨普霑。還有不潤處否。師曰。有。

He was a man of Chaozhou. When the reverend Leng first dwelt at Zhaoqing, the master entered his room to study and attend on him, and became the bucket keeper, often talking with the assembled monks. One day Zhaoqing saw him and said, 'What are you chattering about every day?' The master said, 'A day without work is a day without eating.' Zhaoqing said, 'Then you will be filing the bow and snapping the arrows.' The master said, 'I am only waiting for Yuchi to come.' Zhaoqing said, 'What happens after Yuchi comes?' The master said, 'I will make his sinews and bones strew the ground and his eyes bulge out.' Zhaoqing then went out. When Zhaoqing was summoned away, the master succeeded him as abbot. Ascending the hall, he said: 'To recognize it before sound, you betray your whole life. To strike the opportunity after the phrase, you greatly stray from the body of the Way. Why is it so? Assembly, tell me, how should it have been all along?' He also said, 'Zhaoqing has spoken it out all at once for you people. Do you understand where it lands?' A monk then came forward and said, 'If the assembly disperses all at once, does that accord with the master's intent?' The master said, 'You deserve twenty staff blows.' The monk bowed. The master said, 'Though you have the blind turtle's intent, you have no course for the dawn moon.' He said, 'What is the course for the dawn moon?' The master said, 'That is the blind turtle's intent.' A monk asked, 'What is the practice of a shramana?' The master said, 'Not practicing, not not practicing.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'A mosquito on an iron ox.' A monk asked, 'What is the sword in its sheath?' The master was silent a long while. The monk was at a loss. The master said, 'You must be grateful to Zhaoqing for this.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that raises the school?' The master said, 'You must not be blind to Zhaoqing.' That monk bowed and rose. The master said again, 'You must not be blind to Zhaoqing. I ask you, what is the phrase that raises the school?' The monk had no reply. A monk asked, 'What about one who does not accept the moment beneath Manjushri's sword?' The master said, 'He is not yet a good hand.' He said, 'Who is a good hand?' The master said, 'Your words have fallen.' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Zhaoqing?' The master said, 'Better to be poor and content than rich in turbidity and full of care.' A monk asked, 'What is Nanquan's single-line road?' The master said, 'I would not decline to tell you, but I fear going from one twist into another.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'Seven upside down and eight reversed.' A monk asked, 'My faculties are slow and my thoughts hesitant; I beg the master to bend his compassion and open a single-line road.' The master said, 'This is an old woman's heart.' He said, 'The sorrow-flower splits open to receive the honored one's compassion. What of the patriarchs' school above?' The master said, 'For that you must ask it yourself.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you been?' He said, 'Splitting firewood.' The master said, 'Is there any that cannot be split?' He said, 'There is.' The master said, 'What is the one that cannot be split?' The monk had nothing to say. The master said, 'If you cannot say it, ask me, and I will say it for you.' He said, 'What is the one that cannot be split?' The master said, 'You cheat a person to death.' The master picked up his bowl bag and asked a monk, 'How much do you say it is worth?' The monk had no reply. (Guizong Rou offered in his stead: 'Leave it for someone to raise the price.') Once, when there was an earthquake, a monk asked, 'Is there also one that does not move?' The master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the one that does not move?' The master said, 'Movement comes from the east and returns to the west.' A monk asked, 'The Dharma rain falls everywhere; is there any place it does not moisten?' The master said, 'There is.'

曰。如何是不潤處。師曰。水灑不著。問。如何是招慶深深處。師曰。和汝沒卻。問。如何是九重城裡人。師曰。還共汝知聞麼。上堂次。大眾擁法座而立。師曰。這裡無物。諸人苦恁麼相促相拶作麼。擬心早沒交涉。更上門上戶。千里萬裡。今既上來。各著精彩。招慶一時拋與諸人。好麼。乃曰。還接得也無。眾無對。師曰。勞而無功。便陞座。復曰。汝諸人得恁麼鈍。看他古人一兩箇得恁麼快。才見便負將去。也較些子。若有此箇人。非但四事供養。便以琉璃為地。白銀為壁。亦未為貴。帝釋引前。梵王隨後。攪長河為酥酪。變大地作黃金。亦未為足。直得如是。猶更有一級在。還委得麼。珍重。

(The monk continued:) 'What is the place it does not moisten?' The master said, 'Water cannot be sprinkled there.' A monk asked, 'What is the deepest place of Zhaoqing?' The master said, 'I will sink along with you.' A monk asked, 'Who is the person in the nine-fold city?' The master said, 'Do I share knowledge with you?' Once, as the master was ascending the hall, the assembly crowded around the Dharma seat and stood. The master said, 'There is nothing here. Why do you people press and squeeze one another so? The moment you intend your mind, you are already far off. To go on from gate to gate and door to door is a thousand li and ten thousand li away. Now that you have come up, each of you put forth your spirit. Zhaoqing throws it all out to you at once — is that good?' Then he said, 'Can you catch it or not?' The assembly had no reply. The master said, 'Labor without merit.' Then he mounted the seat. He said again, 'You people are so dull. Look at the ancients — one or two of them got it so fast that the moment they saw it they carried it off, and that is a little better. If there were such a person, not only would the four requisites be offered to him; even if the ground were lapis lazuli and the walls white silver, it would still not be precious. Even if Indra led before him and Brahma followed behind, if the long river were churned into butter and the great earth turned to gold, it would still not be enough. Even attaining all that, there is still one more step. Do you understand? Take care.'

婺州報恩院寶資曉悟禪師

Chan Master Xiaowu Baozi of Baoen Monastery in Wuzhou

僧問。學人初心。請師示箇入路。師遂側掌示之曰。還會麼。曰。不會。師曰。獨掌不浪鳴。問。如何是報恩家風。師曰。也知闍黎入眾日淺。問。古人拈槌竪拂。意旨如何。師曰。報恩截舌有分。僧曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。屈著作麼。問。如何是文殊劒。師曰。不知。曰。秖如一劒下活得底人作麼生。師曰。山僧祇管二時齋粥。問。如何是觸目菩提。師曰。背後是甚麼立地。曰。學人不會。乞師再示。師提拄杖曰。汝不會。合吃多少拄杖。問。如何是具大慙愧底人。師曰。開口取。合不得。曰。此人行履如何。師曰。逢茶即茶。逢飯即飯。問。如何是金剛一隻箭。師曰。道甚麼。僧再問。師曰。過新羅國去也。問。波騰鼎沸。起必全真。未審古人意如何。師乃叱之曰。恁麼則非次也。師曰。你話墮也。又曰。我話亦墮。汝作麼生。僧無對。問。去卻賞罰。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。延平屬劒州。曰。恁麼則喪身失命去也。師曰。錢塘江裡潮。

A monk asked, 'I am a beginner; I beg the master to show me a way in.' The master then turned his palm sideways and showed it to him, saying, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'A single palm does not clap in vain.' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Baoen?' The master said, 'I know the reverend has not long been in the assembly.' A monk asked, 'The ancients raised the mallet and lifted the whisk; what was their meaning?' The master said, 'Baoen deserves to have his tongue cut out.' The monk said, 'Why is it so?' The master said, 'Why put yourself out?' A monk asked, 'What is Manjushri's sword?' The master said, 'I do not know.' He said, 'What about one who lives on beneath a single sword?' The master said, 'This mountain monk only minds the two mealtimes of gruel.' A monk asked, 'What is the bodhi that meets the eye?' The master said, 'What is that standing behind you?' He said, 'The student does not understand; I beg the master to show me again.' The master raised his staff and said, 'If you do not understand, how many staff blows do you deserve?' A monk asked, 'What is a person of great shame?' The master said, 'Opening the mouth to take it, and it does not fit.' He said, 'How does such a person walk?' The master said, 'Meeting tea, tea; meeting rice, rice.' A monk asked, 'What is the vajra's single arrow?' The master said, 'What are you saying?' The monk asked again. The master said, 'It has gone past the land of Silla.' A monk asked, 'When waves surge and the cauldron boils, whatever arises is wholly true. What was the ancients' meaning?' The master then shouted at him: 'Then it is out of order.' The master said, 'Your words have fallen.' He said again, 'My words have fallen too. What will you do?' The monk had no reply. A monk asked, 'Setting aside reward and punishment, what is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said, 'Yanping belongs to Jianzhou.' He said, 'Then one loses body and life.' The master said, 'The tide in the Qiantang River.'

處州翠峰從欣禪師

Chan Master Congxin of Cuifeng in Chuzhou

上堂曰。更不展席也。珍重。便歸方丈。卻問侍者。還會麼。曰。不會。師曰。將謂汝到百丈來。

Ascending the hall, he said, 'I will not spread the mat either. Take care.' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters. He asked the attendant, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The master said, 'And I thought you had been to Baizhang.'

襄州鷲嶺明遠禪師

Chan Master Mingyuan of Jiuling in Xiangzhou

初參長慶。慶問。汝名甚麼。師曰。明遠。慶曰。那邊事作麼生。師曰。明遠退兩步。慶曰。汝無端退兩步作麼。師無語。慶曰。若不退步。爭知明遠。師乃諭旨。住後。向火次。僧問。無一法當前。應用無虧時如何。師以手卓火。其僧於此有省。

He first studied under Changqing. Changqing asked, 'What is your name?' The master said, 'Mingyuan.' Changqing said, 'What about the matter over there?' The master said, 'Mingyuan steps back two paces.' Changqing said, 'Why do you step back two paces for no reason?' The master had nothing to say. Changqing said, 'If you did not step back, how would one know Mingyuan?' The master then understood the purport. After he took up residence, once, as they sat by the fire, a monk asked, 'What about when not a single dharma is before you and its function is not lacking?' The master thrust his hand into the fire. That monk had an awakening there.

杭州龍華寺彥球實相得一禪師

Chan Master Deyi Shixiang of Yanqiu at Longhua Monastery in Hangzhou

開堂日。謂眾曰。今日既陞法座。又爭解諱得。祇如不諱底事。此眾還有人與作證明麼。若有即出來。相共作箇牓樣。僧問。此座為從天降下。為從地湧出。師曰。是甚麼。曰。此座高廣。如何陞得。師曰。今日幾被汝安頓著。問。靈山一會。迦葉親聞。今日一會。何人得聞。師曰。同我者擊其大節。曰。灼然俊哉。師曰。去搬水漿茶堂裡用去。師復曰。從前佛法付囑國王大臣及有力檀越。今日郡尊及諸官僚特垂相請。不勝荷愧。山僧更有末後一句子。賤賣與諸人。師乃起身立。曰。還有人買麼。若有人買。即出來。若無人買。即賤貨自收去也。久立。珍重。僧問。如何是學人自已。師曰。雪上更加霜。

On the day he opened the teaching hall, he told the assembly, 'Now that I have ascended the Dharma seat, how can I avoid the taboo? As for the untabooed matter, is there anyone in this assembly who will bear witness for it? If so, come forward and let us together set an example.' A monk asked, 'Did this seat descend from heaven or well up from the earth?' The master said, 'What is it?' He said, 'This seat is high and broad; how does one ascend it?' The master said, 'Today I was nearly settled by you.' A monk asked, 'At the assembly on Vulture Peak, Kashyapa heard it directly. At today's assembly, who hears it?' The master said, 'One who is like me strikes its great beat.' He said, 'Truly excellent.' The master said, 'Go carry water and broth for use in the tea hall.' The master said again, 'Formerly the Buddha Dharma was entrusted to kings and ministers and to powerful donors. Today the prefect and the various officials have especially deigned to invite me, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and shame. This mountain monk has one more last phrase which he will sell cheap to you people.' Then the master rose and stood and said, 'Will anyone buy it? If anyone will buy, come forward. If no one buys, then the cheap goods are taken back. You have stood long. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the student himself?' The master said, 'Add frost on top of snow.'

杭州保安連禪師

Chan Master Lian of Baoan in Hangzhou

僧問。如何是保安家風。師曰。問有甚麼難。問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。豫章鐵柱堅。曰。學人不會。師曰。漳江親到來。問。如何是沙門行。師曰。師僧頭上戴冠子。問。如何是西來意。師曰。死虎足人看。問。一問一答。彼此興來。如何是保安不驚人之句。師曰。汝到別處作麼生舉。

A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Baoan?' The master said, 'What is hard about asking?' A monk asked, 'What is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said, 'The iron pillar of Yuzhang is firm.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'Zhangjiang has come in person.' A monk asked, 'What is the practice of a shramana?' The master said, 'A monk wearing a cap on his head.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'A dead tiger for people to look at.' A monk asked, 'One question, one answer, each stirring the other. What is Baoan's phrase that does not startle people?' The master said, 'How would you raise it elsewhere?'

福州報慈院光雲慧覺禪師

Chan Master Huijue Guangyun of Baoci Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。瘥病之藥。不假驢駝。若據如今。各自歸堂去。珍重。問僧。近離甚處。曰。臥龍。師曰。在彼多少時。曰。經冬過夏。師曰。龍門無宿客。為甚在彼許多時。曰。師子窟中無異獸。師曰。汝試作師子吼看。曰。若作師子吼。即無和尚。師曰。念汝新到。放汝三十棒。問。承聞超覺有鎻口訣。如何示人。師曰。賴我拄杖不在手。曰。恁麼則深領尊慈也。師曰。待我肯汝即得。閩王問。報慈與神泉相去近遠。師曰。若說近遠。不如親到。師卻問。大王日應千差。是甚麼心。王曰。甚麼處得心來。師曰。豈有無心者。王曰。那邊事作麼生。師曰。請向那邊問。王曰。大師謾別人即得。問。大眾臻湊。請師舉揚。師曰。更有幾人未聞。曰。恁麼則不假上來也。師曰。不上來且從。汝向甚麼處會。曰。若有處所。即孤負和尚去也。師曰。祇恐不辨精麤。問。夫說法者當如法說。此意如何。師曰。有甚麼疑訛。問。古人面壁意旨如何。師便打。問。不假言詮。請師徑直。師曰。何必更待商量。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'The medicine that cures the illness need not be carried by a donkey. As things stand now, each of you go back to the hall. Take care.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'Wolong.' The master said, 'How long were you there?' He said, 'A winter and a summer.' The master said, 'The dragon gate has no overnight guest; why were you there so long?' He said, 'In a lion's den there are no strange beasts.' The master said, 'Try giving a lion's roar.' He said, 'If I gave a lion's roar, there would be no reverend master.' The master said, 'Because you are newly arrived, I let you off thirty blows.' A monk asked, 'I hear that Chaojue has a lock-mouth phrase; how does he show it to people?' The master said, 'Lucky my staff is not in my hand.' He said, 'Then I deeply receive the honored one's compassion.' The master said, 'Wait until I approve of you, then it will do.' The king of Min asked, 'How far is Baoci from Shenquan?' The master said, 'Rather than speak of far and near, better to go there yourself.' The master asked in turn, 'The great king responds to a thousand differences each day; what mind is that?' The king said, 'Where would one get a mind?' The master said, 'How could there be one without mind?' The king said, 'What about the matter over there?' The master said, 'Please ask over there.' The king said, 'The great master can deceive others, that is all.' A monk asked, 'The assembly has gathered; please, master, raise it up.' The master said, 'How many more have not heard it?' He said, 'Then there was no need to come up.' The master said, 'Not coming up is one thing. Where do you understand it?' He said, 'If there were a place, I would be letting the reverend master down.' The master said, 'I fear only that you cannot tell fine from coarse.' A monk asked, 'One who speaks the Dharma should speak according to the Dharma. What does this mean?' The master said, 'What doubt or error is there?' A monk asked, 'What was the ancients' meaning in facing the wall?' The master struck him. A monk asked, 'Without borrowing words, please, master, be direct.' The master said, 'Why wait for more discussion?'

廬山開先寺紹宗圓智禪師

Chan Master Yuanzhi Shaozong of Kaixian Monastery on Mount Lu

姑蘇人也。江南李主巡幸洪井。入山瞻謁。請上堂。令僧問。如何是開先境。師曰。最好是一條界破青山色。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。拾枯柴。煑布水。國主益加欽重。後終於本山。靈塔存焉。

He was a man of Gusu. When Lord Li of Jiangnan made a tour to Hongjing, he entered the mountain to pay his respects and asked him to ascend the hall, and had a monk ask, 'What is the realm of Kaixian?' The master said, 'The best thing is a single line breaking the color of the green mountains.' He said, 'Who is the person in the realm?' The master said, 'Gathering dry firewood, boiling cloth-water.' The lord of the state esteemed him all the more. He finally passed away on this mountain, and his relic stupa remains there.

杭州傾心寺法𤦆宗一禪師

Chan Master Zongyi Falian of Qingxin Monastery in Hangzhou

上堂。良久曰。大眾不待一句語。便歸堂去。還有紹繼宗風分也無。還有人酬得此問麼。若有人酬得。這裡與諸人為怪笑。若酬不得。諸人與這裡為怪笑。珍重。僧問。如何樸實。免有虗頭。師曰。汝問若當。眾人盡鑒。曰。有恁麼來皆不丈夫。秖如不恁麼來。還有紹繼宗風分也無。師曰。出兩頭致一問來。曰。甚麼人辨得。師曰。波斯養兒。問。佛法去處。乞師全示。師曰。汝但全致一問來。曰。為甚麼卻拈此問去。師曰。汝適來問甚麼。曰。若不遇於師。幾成走作。師曰。賊去後關門。問。別傳一句。如何分付。師曰。可惜許。曰。恁麼。則別酬亦不當去也。師曰。也是閑辭。問。如何是不朝天子．不羨王侯底人。師曰。每日三條線。長年一衲衣。曰。未審此人還紹宗風也無。師曰。鵲來頭上語。雲向眼前飛。問。承古有言。不斷煩惱。此意如何。師曰。又是發人業。曰。如何得不發業。師曰。你話墮也。問。請去賞罰。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。如法禮三拜。師後住龍冊寺歸寂。

Ascending the hall, after a long silence he said: 'The assembly does not wait for a single phrase before going back to the hall. Is there anyone with a share in succeeding to the school's style? Is there anyone who can answer this question? If someone can answer it, then here we will make a strange laugh with you all. If no one can answer, then you all will make a strange laugh with here. Take care.' A monk asked, 'How does one become plain and solid, free of empty show?' The master said, 'If your question is apt, everyone will see it.' He said, 'Coming like this is not the act of a great man. What about not coming like this — is there still a share in succeeding to the school's style?' The master said, 'Bring a question that comes out of both ends.' He said, 'Who can tell?' The master said, 'A Persian raises a child.' A monk asked, 'I beg the master to show fully where the Buddha Dharma goes.' The master said, 'Just bring a fully formed question.' He said, 'Why then pick up this question and go?' The master said, 'What did you just ask?' He said, 'Had I not met the master, I would nearly have gone astray.' The master said, 'Shutting the gate after the thief has gone.' A monk asked, 'How is the separately transmitted phrase handed over?' The master said, 'What a pity.' He said, 'Then a separate answer would also be improper.' The master said, 'That is idle talk too.' A monk asked, 'What is a person who does not pay court to the Son of Heaven and does not envy kings and lords?' The master said, 'Three threads of cloth each day, one robe all year round.' He said, 'I wonder whether such a person still succeeds to the school's style?' The master said, 'A magpie comes and speaks on his head; clouds fly before his eyes.' A monk asked, 'There is an old saying, not cutting off affliction; what does this mean?' The master said, 'Again it stirs up people's karma.' He said, 'How can one not stir up karma?' The master said, 'Your words have fallen.' A monk asked, 'Setting aside reward and punishment, what is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said, 'Bow three times according to the Dharma.' The master later dwelt at Longce Monastery and passed into quiescence there.

福州水陸院洪儼禪師

Chan Master Hongyan of Shuilu Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。大眾集定。師下座。捧香鑪巡行大眾前。曰。供養十方諸佛。便歸方丈。僧問。離卻百非兼四句。請師盡力與提綱。師曰。落在甚麼處。曰。恁麼則人天有賴去也。師曰。莫將惡水潑人好。

Ascending the hall, when the assembly had gathered, the master came down from the seat, carried the incense burner around in front of the assembly, and said, 'Offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions.' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters. A monk asked, 'Apart from the hundred negations and the four propositions, please, master, do your utmost to give the outline.' The master said, 'Where does it land?' He said, 'Then gods and men have something to rely on.' The master said, 'Do not splash foul water on people.'

杭州靈隱山廣嚴院鹹澤禪師

Chan Master Xianze of Guangyan Monastery on Lingyin Mountain in Hangzhou

初參保福。福問。汝名甚麼。師曰。鹹澤。福曰。忽遇枯涸者如何。師曰。誰是枯涸者。福曰。我是。師曰。和尚莫謾人好。福曰。卻是汝謾我。師後承長慶印記。住廣嚴道場(今法安院)。僧問。如何是覿面相呈事。師下禪床曰。伏惟尊體。起居萬福。問。不與萬法為侶者是甚麼人。師曰。城中青史樓。雲外高峰塔。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。幽㵎泉清。高峰月白。問。如何是廣嚴家風。師曰。一塢白雲。三間茆屋。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。既無維那。兼少典座。問。如何是廣嚴家風。師曰。師子石前靈水響。鷄籠山上白猿啼。

He first studied under Baofu. Baofu asked, 'What is your name?' The master said, 'Xianze.' Baofu said, 'Suppose you meet one who is parched and dried up, what then?' The master said, 'Who is the parched and dried up one?' Baofu said, 'I am.' The master said, 'Reverend master, do not deceive people.' Baofu said, 'It is you who deceive me.' The master later received Changqing's seal and dwelt at the Guangyan Dharma seat (now Fa'an Monastery). A monk asked, 'What is the matter of face-to-face presentation?' The master came down from the platform and said, 'I wish your honored body ten thousand blessings in rising and resting.' A monk asked, 'Who is the one who does not companion with the ten thousand dharmas?' The master said, 'The Green History Tower in the city, the high peak stupa beyond the clouds.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'The spring in the secluded ravine is clear, the moon on the high peak is white.' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Guangyan?' The master said, 'One hollow of white clouds, three thatched huts.' He said, 'After all, how is it?' The master said, 'There is no precentor, and also no steward.' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Guangyan?' The master said, 'Before the Lion Rock the numinous water sounds; on Cock Cage Mountain the white gibbon cries.'

福州報慈院慧朗禪師

Chan Master Huilang of Baoci Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。從上諸聖。為一大事因緣故出現於世。遞相告報。是汝諸人還會麼。若不會。大不容易。僧問。如何是一大事。師曰。莫錯相告報麼。曰。恁麼則學人不疑也。師曰。爭奈一翳在目。問。三世諸佛盡是傳語人。未審傳甚麼人語。師曰。聽。曰。未審是甚麼語。師曰。你不是鍾期。問。如何是學人眼。師曰。不可更撒沙。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'The sages from the first have appeared in the world for the sake of one great matter and have announced it to one another in turn. Do you people understand? If you do not, it is no easy thing.' A monk asked, 'What is the one great matter?' The master said, 'Are you not announcing it wrongly?' He said, 'Then the student has no doubt.' The master said, 'What about the film over the eye?' A monk asked, 'The Buddhas of the three ages are all transmitters of words; whose words do they transmit?' The master said, 'Listen.' He said, 'What words are they?' The master said, 'You are no Zhong Qi.' A monk asked, 'What is the student's eye?' The master said, 'Do not scatter more sand.'

福州長慶常慧禪師

Chan Master Changhui of Changqing in Fuzhou

僧問。王侯請命。法嗣怡山。鎻口之言。請師不謬。師曰。得。曰。恁麼則深領尊慈。師曰。莫鈍置人好。問。不犯宗風。不傷物義。請師滿口道。師曰。今日豈不是開堂。問。燄續雪峰。印傳超覺。不違於物。不負於人。不在當頭。即今何道。師曰。違負即道。曰。恁麼則善副來言。淺深已辨。師曰。也須識好惡。

A monk asked, 'The king and lords have requested your life, and you are the Dharma heir of Yishan. As for the word of the locked mouth, please, master, do not be mistaken.' The master said, 'Good.' He said, 'Then I deeply receive the honored one's compassion.' The master said, 'Do not dull people.' A monk asked, 'Not violating the school's style and not injuring the meaning of things — please, master, speak it with a full mouth.' The master said, 'Is today not the opening of the hall?' A monk asked, 'The flame continues Xuefeng and the seal transmits Chaojue. Not going against things, not betraying people, not standing at the head — what do you say right now?' The master said, 'Betraying is what is said.' He said, 'Then you well match the words that came, and the shallow and deep are already distinguished.' The master said, 'You too must know good from bad.'

福州石佛院靜禪師

Chan Master Jing of Shifo Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。若道素面相呈。猶添脂粉。縱離添過。猶有負𠎝。諸人且作麼生體悉。僧問。學人慾見和尚本來面目。師曰。洞上有言親體取。曰。恁麼則不得見去也。師曰。灼然。客路如天遠。侯門似海深。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'If one says one presents one's plain face, that is adding rouge and powder. Even if one removes the added fault, there is still a transgression. How will you people understand it?' A monk asked, 'The student wishes to see the reverend master's original face.' The master said, 'There are words in the cave; go and realize them yourself.' He said, 'Then I will not get to see it.' The master said, 'Clearly. The traveler's road is as far as the sky; the lord's gate is as deep as the sea.'

福州枕峰觀音院清換禪師

Chan Master Qinghuan of Guanyin Monastery at Zhenfeng in Fuzhou

上堂。諸禪德。若要論禪說道。舉唱宗風。祇如當人分上。以一毛端上有無量諸佛轉大法輪。於一塵中現寶王剎。佛說。眾生說。山河大地。一時說未甞間斷。如毗沙門王。始終不求外寶。既各有如是家風。阿誰欠少。不可更就別人處分也。僧問。如何是法界性。師曰。汝身中有萬象。曰。如何體得。師曰。虗谷尋聲。更求本末。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'Virtuous Chan ones, if you want to discuss Chan and speak of the Way, to raise and sing the school's style — as for one's own portion, on the tip of a single hair there are countless Buddhas turning the great Dharma wheel, and within a single dust mote the jewel king's land appears. The Buddha speaks, living beings speak, mountains and rivers and the great earth all speak at once, and it has never been interrupted. Like King Vaishravana, who from beginning to end never sought treasure outside. Since each has such a family style, who is lacking? You must not go looking for it from others.' A monk asked, 'What is the nature of the Dharma realm?' The master said, 'Within your body there are the ten thousand images.' He said, 'How does one realize it?' The master said, 'In an empty valley seeking sound, you go looking further for root and branch.'

福州東禪契訥禪師

Chan Master Qine of Dongchan in Fuzhou

上堂。未曾暫失。全體現前。恁麼道亦是分外。既恁麼道不得。向兄弟前合作麼生道。莫是無道處不受道麼。莫錯會好。僧問。如何是現前三昧。師曰。何必更待道。問。己事未明。乞師指示。師曰。何不禮謝。問。如何是東禪家風。師曰。一人傳虗。萬人傳實。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'It has never been momentarily lost, and its whole body is present before you. To say this much is already going beyond one's share. Since it cannot be said this way, how should one say it before the brothers? Is it that where there is no Way one does not receive the Way? Do not misunderstand.' A monk asked, 'What is the samadhi present before one?' The master said, 'Why wait for more talk?' A monk asked, 'My own matter is not yet clear; I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'Why not bow in thanks?' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Dongchan?' The master said, 'One person transmits a falsehood, ten thousand people transmit it as truth.'

福州長慶院弘辯妙果禪師

Chan Master Miaoguo Hongbian of Changqing Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。於座前側立曰。大眾各歸堂得也未。還會得麼。若也未會。山僧謾諸人去也。遂陞座。僧問。海眾雲臻。請師開方便門。示真實相。師曰。這箇是方便門。曰。恁麼則大眾側聆去也。師曰。空側聆作麼。

Ascending the hall, he stood sideways before the seat and said, 'Has the assembly gone back to the hall yet? Do you understand? If you still do not understand, this mountain monk will deceive you and go.' Then he mounted the seat. A monk asked, 'The sea of the assembly has gathered like clouds; please, master, open the gate of skillful means and show the mark of true reality.' The master said, 'This is the gate of skillful means.' He said, 'Then the assembly listens from the side.' The master said, 'What is the use of listening from the side?'

福州東禪院可隆了空禪師

Chan Master Liaokong Kelong of Dongchan Monastery in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是道。師曰。正是道。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。分明向汝道。上堂。大好省要。自不仙陀。若是聽響之流。不如歸堂向火。珍重。問。如何是普賢第一句。師曰。落第二句也。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The master said, 'This is exactly the Way.' He said, 'Who is the person in the Way?' The master said, 'I am plainly telling you.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'It is very essential; you are simply not quick. If you are the sort who listens to echoes, better to go back to the hall and sit by the fire. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is Samantabhadra's first phrase?' The master said, 'You have already fallen into the second phrase.'

福州仙宗院守玭禪師

Chan Master Shoupin of Xianzong Monastery in Fuzhou

久不上堂。大眾入方丈參。師曰。今夜與大眾同請假。未審還給假也無。若未聞給假。即先言者負。珍重。僧問。十二時中常在底人。還消得人天供養也無。師曰。消不得。曰。為甚麼消不得。師曰。為汝常在。曰。祇如常不在底人。還消得也無。師曰。驢年。問。請師答無賓主話。師曰。向無賓主處問將來。

He had long not ascended the hall. The assembly entered the abbot's quarters to call on him. The master said, 'Tonight I ask leave together with the assembly. I wonder whether leave will be granted or not. If you have not heard that leave is granted, then whoever speaks first is at fault. Take care.' A monk asked, 'The one who is always present through the twelve hours — does he deserve the offerings of gods and men?' The master said, 'He does not deserve them.' He said, 'Why does he not deserve them?' The master said, 'Because he is always present.' He said, 'What about one who is always absent — does he deserve them?' The master said, 'In the year of the donkey.' A monk asked, 'Please, master, answer the words without host or guest.' The master said, 'Ask it from the place without host or guest.'

撫州永安院懷烈淨悟禪師

Chan Master Jingwu Huaile of Yongan Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂顧視左右曰。患謇作麼。便歸方丈。上堂。良久曰。幸自可憐生。又被汙卻也。上堂。大眾。正是著力處。切莫容易。僧問。怡山親聞一句。請師為學人道。師曰。向後莫錯舉似人。

Ascending the hall, he looked left and right and said, 'Why act mute?' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters. Ascending the hall, after a long silence he said, 'You were pitiable enough as you were, and now you have been defiled.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'Assembly, this is exactly where you must put forth effort; by no means take it lightly.' A monk asked, 'The one phrase that Yishan heard directly — please, master, say it for the student.' The master said, 'Do not report it wrongly to others later.'

福州閩山令含禪師

Chan Master Linghan of Min Mountain in Fuzhou

上堂。還恩恩滿。賽願願圓。便歸方丈。僧問。既到妙峰頂。誰人為伴侶。師曰。到。曰。甚麼人為伴侶。師曰。吃茶去。問。明明不會。乞師指示。師曰。指示且置。作麼生是你明明底事。曰。學人不會。再乞師指。師曰。八棒十三。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'When gratitude is repaid, grace is complete; when the vow is fulfilled, the vow is rounded.' Then he returned to the abbot's quarters. A monk asked, 'Now that one has reached the summit of the Wondrous Peak, who is one's companion?' The master said, 'Reached.' He said, 'Who is the companion?' The master said, 'Go drink tea.' A monk asked, 'Plainly I do not understand; I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'Instruction aside, what is the matter you plainly understand?' He said, 'The student does not understand; I beg the master to point it out again.' The master said, 'Eight blows and thirteen.'

新羅國龜山和尚

The Reverend of Guishan in the Land of Silla

有人舉裴相國啟建法會。問僧。看甚麼經。曰。無言童子經。公曰。有幾卷。曰。兩卷。公曰。既是無言。為甚麼卻有兩卷。僧無對。師代曰。若論無言。非唯兩卷。

Someone brought up how Chancellor Pei had convened a Dharma assembly and asked a monk, 'What sutra are you reading?' The monk said, 'The Sutra of the Wordless Youth.' Duke Pei said, 'How many fascicles?' He said, 'Two.' Duke Pei said, 'Since it is wordless, why are there two fascicles?' The monk had no reply. The master offered in his stead: 'If one speaks of the wordless, it is not only two fascicles.'

吉州資國院道殷禪師

Chan Master Daoyin of Ziguo Monastery in Jizhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。普通八年遭梁怪。直至如今不得雪。問。千山萬山。如何是龍須山。師曰。千山萬山。曰。如何是山中人。師曰。對面千里。問。不落有無。請師道。師曰。汝作麼生問。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'In the eighth year of Putong he met with the calamity of Liang, and to this day it has not been wiped away.' A monk asked, 'A thousand mountains and ten thousand mountains — which is Dragon Whisker Mountain?' The master said, 'A thousand mountains and ten thousand mountains.' He said, 'Who is the person in the mountain?' The master said, 'Facing you, a thousand li away.' A monk asked, 'Not falling into being or non-being, please, master, speak.' The master said, 'How do you ask it?'

福州祥光院澄靜禪師

Chan Master Chengjing of Xiangguang Monastery in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是道。師曰。長安路上。曰。向上事如何。師曰。谷聲萬籟起。松老五雲披。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。門下平章事。宮闈較幾重。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The master said, 'On the road to Chang'an.' He said, 'What about the matter above?' The master said, 'The valley's sound, ten thousand murmurs rise; the pine is old, five clouds drape it.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'A chancellor in the gate, and how many layers within the palace chambers?'

杭州報慈院從[王*(十/(罩-卓+衣))]禪師

Chan Master Congwang of Baoci Monastery in Hangzhou

福州陳氏子。僧問。承古有言。今人看古教。未免心中閙。欲免心中閙。應須看古教。如何是古教。師曰。如是我聞。曰。如何是心中閙。師曰。那畔雀兒聲。

He was a son of the Chen family of Fuzhou. A monk asked, 'There is an old saying: when people today look at the ancient teachings, their minds cannot avoid a clamor. To avoid the clamor of the mind, one should look at the ancient teachings. What are the ancient teachings?' The master said, 'Thus have I heard.' He said, 'What is the clamor of the mind?' The master said, 'The sound of sparrows over there.'

杭州龍華寺契盈廣辯周智禪師

Chan Master Zhouzhi Guangbian Qiyang of Longhua Monastery in Hangzhou

僧問。如何是龍華境。師曰。翠竹搖風。寒松鎻月。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。切莫唐突。問。如何是三世諸佛道場。師曰。莫別瞻禮。曰。恁麼則亙古亙今。師曰。是甚麼年中。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Longhua?' The master said, 'Green bamboo sways in the wind; the cold pine locks up the moon.' He said, 'Who is the person in the realm?' The master said, 'Above all do not be rude.' A monk asked, 'What is the Dharma seat of the Buddhas of the three ages?' The master said, 'Do not bow elsewhere.' He said, 'Then it is from ancient times to now.' The master said, 'In what year is that?'

太傅王延彬居士

The Layman Grand Tutor Wang Yanbin

一日入招慶佛殿。指缽盂問殿主。這箇是甚麼缽。主曰。藥師缽。公曰。祇聞有降龍缽。主曰。待有龍即降。公曰。忽遇拏雲㸕浪來時作麼生。主曰。他亦不顧。公曰。話墮也(玄沙曰。盡你神力。走向甚麼處去。保福曰。歸依佛．法．僧。百丈恆作覆缽勢。雲門曰。他日生天。莫孤負老僧)。長慶謂太傅曰。雪峰竪拂子示僧。其僧便出去。若據此僧。合喚轉痛與一頓。公曰。是甚麼心行。慶曰。洎合放過。公到招慶煎茶。朗上座與明招把銚。忽翻茶銚。公問。茶爐下是甚麼。朗曰。捧爐神。公曰。既是捧爐神。為甚麼翻卻茶。朗曰。事官千日。失在一朝。公拂袖便出。明招曰。朗上座吃卻招慶飯了。卻向外邊打野榸。朗曰。上座作麼生。招曰。非人得其便。

One day he entered the Buddha hall at Zhaoqing and, pointing at a bowl, asked the hall keeper, 'What bowl is this?' The hall keeper said, 'The Medicine Master's bowl.' The grand tutor said, 'I have only heard of a dragon-subduing bowl.' The hall keeper said, 'When a dragon comes, it will be subdued.' The grand tutor said, 'Suppose one comes grasping clouds and snatching waves, what then?' The hall keeper said, 'He would pay it no heed either.' The grand tutor said, 'Your words have fallen.' (Xuansha said, 'Use all your spiritual power — where will you go?' Baofu said, 'Take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.' Baizhang Heng made the gesture of covering a bowl. Yunmen said, 'When you are born in heaven another day, do not let this old monk down.') Changqing told the grand tutor, 'Xuefeng raised his whisk and showed it to a monk, and that monk went out. As for this monk, he should be called back and given a good beating.' The grand tutor said, 'What state of mind is that?' Changqing said, 'I nearly let it pass.' Once the grand tutor came to Zhaoqing and they were boiling tea, with Senior Lang and Mingzhao holding the kettle. Suddenly the tea kettle was overturned. The grand tutor asked, 'What is beneath the tea stove?' Lang said, 'The spirit that holds the stove.' The grand tutor said, 'Since it is the spirit that holds the stove, why did it overturn the tea?' Lang said, 'A thousand days of serving in office, and the loss comes in a single morning.' The grand tutor shook his sleeve and went out. Mingzhao said, 'Senior Lang has eaten Zhaoqing's rice and gone outside to dig wild stumps.' Lang said, 'What about you, senior?' Mingzhao said, 'A non-human got the advantage of him.'

保福展禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Zhan of Baofu

潭州延壽寺慧輪禪師

Chan Master Huilun of Yanshou Monastery in Tanzhou

僧問。寶劒未出匣時如何。師曰。不在外。曰。出匣後如何。師曰。不在內。問。如何是一色。師曰。青黃赤白。曰。大好一色。師曰。將謂無人。也有一箇半箇。

A monk asked, 'What about before the precious sword leaves its sheath?' The master said, 'It is not outside.' He said, 'What about after it leaves the sheath?' The master said, 'It is not inside.' A monk asked, 'What is one color?' The master said, 'Blue, yellow, red, white.' He said, 'Excellent, one color.' The master said, 'And I thought there was no one here; there is one or half of one.'

漳州保福可儔禪師

Chan Master Kechou of Baofu in Zhangzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。雲在青天水在瓶。問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。瞥落也。曰。還用也無。師曰。莫鬼語。

A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle.' A monk asked, 'What is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said, 'It falls in a flash.' He said, 'Is it of any use?' The master said, 'Do not talk like a ghost.'

舒州海會院如新禪師

Chan Master Ruxin of Haihui Monastery in Shuzhou

上堂。良久曰。禮繁即亂。便下座。僧問。從上宗乘。如何舉唱。師曰。轉見孤獨。曰。親切處乞師一言。師曰。不得雪也聽他。問。如何是迦葉頓領底事。師曰。汝若領得。我即不悋。曰。恁麼則不煩於師去也。師曰。又須著棒。爭得不煩。問。牛頭橫說竪說。猶未知向上關捩子。如何是向上關捩。師曰。賴遇娘生臂短。問。如何是祖師意。師曰。要道何難。曰。便請師道。師曰。將謂靈利。又不仙陀。

Ascending the hall, after a long silence he said, 'When ceremonies are many, there is confusion.' Then he came down from the seat. A monk asked, 'How does one raise and sing the patriarchs' school from the first?' The master said, 'You only appear more lonely.' He said, 'As for the intimate point, I beg the master for one word.' The master said, 'Not yet cleared, and you want to hear it.' A monk asked, 'What is the matter Kashyapa suddenly received?' The master said, 'If you can receive it, I will not be stingy.' He said, 'Then I need not trouble the master.' The master said, 'You still need the staff; how can you avoid trouble?' A monk asked, 'Niutou spoke horizontally and vertically and still did not know the pivot above. What is the pivot above?' The master said, 'Lucky your mother bore you with short arms.' A monk asked, 'What is the Patriarch's meaning?' The master said, 'What is hard about saying it?' He said, 'Then please, master, say it.' The master said, 'And I thought you were clever, but you are not quick either.'

洪州漳江慧廉禪師

Chan Master Huilian of Zhangjiang in Hongzhou

僧問。師登寶座。曲為今時。四眾攀瞻。請師接引。師曰。甚麼處屈汝。曰。恁麼則垂慈方便路．直下不孤人也。師曰。也須收取好。問。如何是漳江境。師曰。地藏皺眉。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。普賢斂袂。問。如何是漳江水。師曰。苦。問。如何是漳江第一句。師曰。到別處不得錯舉。

A monk asked, 'The master has mounted the jeweled seat and bends to the present time. The four assemblies look up; please, master, receive and guide them.' The master said, 'Where have I wronged you?' He said, 'Then the compassionate road of skillful means is extended, and one is not let down right here.' The master said, 'You must take it back too.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Zhangjiang?' The master said, 'Kshitigarbha knits his brows.' He said, 'Who is the person in the realm?' The master said, 'Samantabhadra gathers his sleeves.' A monk asked, 'What is the water of Zhangjiang?' The master said, 'Bitter.' A monk asked, 'What is Zhangjiang's first phrase?' The master said, 'Do not raise it wrongly elsewhere.'

福州報慈院文欽禪師

Chan Master Wenqin of Baoci Monastery in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是諸佛境。師曰。雨來雲霧暗。晴乾日月明。問。如何是妙覺明心。師曰。今冬好晚稻。出自秋雨成。問。如何是妙用河沙。師曰。雲生碧岫。雨降青天。問。如何是平常心合道。師曰。吃茶吃飯隨時過。看水看山實暢情。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of the Buddhas?' The master said, 'When rain comes, clouds and mist are dark; when it clears and dries, sun and moon are bright.' A monk asked, 'What is the wondrous enlightenment's bright mind?' The master said, 'This winter the late rice is good, coming from the autumn rain.' A monk asked, 'What are the wondrous functions like the sands of the Ganges?' The master said, 'Clouds rise from the green peaks; rain falls from the blue sky.' A monk asked, 'How does the ordinary mind accord with the Way?' The master said, 'Eating tea and eating rice, passing the time as it comes; looking at water and looking at mountains truly satisfies the feelings.'

泉州萬安院清運資化禪師

Chan Master Zihua Qingyun of Wan'an Monastery in Quanzhou

僧問。諸佛出世。震動乾坤。和尚出世。未審如何。師曰。向汝道甚麼。曰。恁麼則不異諸聖去也。師曰。莫亂道。問。如何是萬安家風。師曰。苔羹倉米飯。曰。忽遇上客來。將何祇待。師曰。飯後三巡茶。問。如何是萬安境。師曰。一塔松蘿望海青。

A monk asked, 'The Buddhas' appearance in the world shook heaven and earth. What about the reverend master's appearance in the world?' The master said, 'What am I telling you?' He said, 'Then it is no different from the sages.' The master said, 'Do not talk nonsense.' A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Wan'an?' The master said, 'Moss soup and granary rice.' He said, 'Suppose a distinguished guest comes, how will you receive him?' The master said, 'Three rounds of tea after the meal.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Wan'an?' The master said, 'One stupa of pine and dodder gazing at the blue sea.'

漳州報恩院道熈禪師

Chan Master Daoxi of Baoen Monastery in Zhangzhou

初與保福送書上泉州王太尉。尉問。漳南和尚近日還為人也無。師曰。若道為人。即屈著和尚。若道不為人。又屈著太尉來問。太尉曰。道取一句。尉曰。待鐵牛能齧草。木馬解含煙。師曰。某甲惜口吃飯。尉良久。又問。驢來馬來。師曰。驢馬不同途。尉曰。爭得到這裡。師曰。特謝太尉領話。住後。僧問。明言妙句即不問。請師真實道將來。師曰。不阻來意。

He first went with Baofu to deliver a letter to Grand Commandant Wang of Quanzhou. The grand commandant asked, 'Has the reverend master of Zhangnan helped people recently?' The master said, 'If I say he helps people, I wrong the reverend master. If I say he does not help people, I wrong the grand commandant for asking.' The grand commandant said, 'Say one phrase.' The grand commandant said, 'Wait until an iron ox can chew grass and a wooden horse can hold mist in its mouth.' The master said, 'I begrudge my mouth for eating.' After a long pause the grand commandant asked again, 'Donkey or horse?' The master said, 'Donkeys and horses do not travel the same road.' The grand commandant said, 'How did you get here?' The master said, 'I especially thank the grand commandant for accepting the words.' After he took up residence, a monk asked, 'Clear words and wondrous phrases I do not ask; please, master, speak the truth directly.' The master said, 'I do not obstruct your coming intent.'

泉州鳳凰山從琛洪忍禪師

Chan Master Hongren Congchen of Phoenix Mountain in Quanzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。門風相似。即無阻矣。汝不是其人。曰。忽遇其人時又如何。師曰。不可預搔待癢。問。學人根思遲回。方便門中乞師傍瞥。師曰。傍瞥。曰。深領師旨。安敢言乎。師曰。太多也。上堂。有僧出禮拜起。退身立。師曰。我不如汝。僧應諾。師曰。無人處放下著。問。如何是學人自己事。師曰。暗算流年事可知。問。如何是鳳凰境。師曰。雪夜觀明月。問。如何是西來意。師曰。作人醜差。曰。為人何在。師曰。莫屈著汝麼。

A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'When the gate style is alike, there is no obstruction. But you are not that person.' He said, 'Suppose one suddenly meets that person, what then?' The master said, 'You cannot scratch in advance waiting for the itch.' A monk asked, 'My faculties are slow; in the gate of skillful means I beg the master for a sidelong glance.' The master said, 'A sidelong glance.' He said, 'I deeply receive the master's purport; how dare I speak of it?' The master said, 'Too much.' Ascending the hall, a monk came forward, bowed, rose, and stepped back to stand. The master said, 'I am not your equal.' The monk answered. The master said, 'Put it down where no one is.' A monk asked, 'What is the student's own matter?' The master said, 'Scheming in the dark about the passing years — the matter can be known.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of the phoenix?' The master said, 'On a snowy night, watching the bright moon.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'Making a person ugly and ill-favored.' He said, 'Where is the helping of people?' The master said, 'Am I wronging you?'

福州永隆院明慧瀛禪師

Chan Master Minghui Ying of Yonglong Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。謂言侵早起。更有夜行人。似則似。是即不是。珍重。問。無為無事人為甚麼卻是金鎻難。師曰。為斷麤纖。貴重難留。曰。為甚麼道無為無事人逍遙實快樂。師曰。為閙亂且要斷送。僧參。師曰。不要得許多般數。速道。速道。僧無對。上堂。日出卯。用處不須生善巧。便下座。僧問。如何進向。得達本源。師曰。依而行之。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'You say you rise early, but there is still a night traveler. Similar it may be, but right it is not. Take care.' A monk asked, 'Why is the person of non-doing and non-affair still hard as a golden lock?' The master said, 'Because he cuts off the coarse and the fine, and being precious and weighty, he is hard to keep.' He said, 'Why is it said that the person of non-doing and non-affair is free and truly happy?' The master said, 'Because in the clamor and confusion one must see him off.' A monk came to call. The master said, 'Do not bring so many kinds of counting. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' The monk had no reply. Ascending the hall, he said: 'The sun rises at the mao hour; in its use there is no need to produce cleverness.' Then he came down from the seat. A monk asked, 'How does one advance so as to reach the source?' The master said, 'Follow it and practice it.'

洪州清泉山守清禪師

Chan Master Shouqing of Qingquan Mountain in Hongzhou

福州人也。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。問。曰。如何是祖。師曰。答。問。和尚見古人得箇甚麼。便住此山。師曰。情知汝不肯。曰。爭知某甲不肯。師曰。鑒貌辨色。問。親切處乞師一言。師曰。莫過於此。問。古人面壁為何事。師曰。屈。曰。恁麼則省心力去也。師曰。何處有恁麼人。問。諸餘即不問。如何是向上事。師曰。消汝三拜。不消汝三拜。

He was a man of Fuzhou. A monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' The master said, 'Ask.' He said, 'What is the Patriarch?' The master said, 'Answer.' A monk asked, 'What did the reverend master get from seeing the ancients, that he dwells on this mountain?' The master said, 'I know very well you do not approve.' He said, 'How do you know I do not approve?' The master said, 'By judging the face and reading the color.' A monk asked, 'As for the intimate point, I beg the master for one word.' The master said, 'There is nothing beyond this.' A monk asked, 'Why did the ancients face the wall?' The master said, 'Wronged.' He said, 'Then one may save mind and strength.' The master said, 'Where is there such a person?' A monk asked, 'The rest I do not ask; what is the matter above?' The master said, 'Three bows are worth it; three bows are not worth it.'

漳州報恩院行崇禪師

Chan Master Xingchong of Baoen Monastery in Zhangzhou

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。碓搗磨磨。問。曹谿一路。請師舉揚。師曰。莫屈著曹谿麼。曰。恁麼則群生有賴。師曰。也是老鼠吃鹽。問。不涉公私。如何言論。師曰。吃茶去。問。丹霞燒木佛。意作麼生。師曰。時寒燒火向。曰。翠微迎羅漢。意作麼生。師曰。別是一家春。

A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'Pounded in a mortar and ground in a mill.' A monk asked, 'The single road of Caoxi — please, master, raise and sing it.' The master said, 'Am I wronging Caoxi?' He said, 'Then living beings have something to rely on.' The master said, 'That too is a mouse eating salt.' A monk asked, 'Not touching public or private, how does one speak?' The master said, 'Go drink tea.' A monk asked, 'Danxia burned a wooden Buddha; what was his meaning?' The master said, 'The weather was cold, so he burned a fire to warm himself.' He said, 'Cuiwei welcomed the arhats; what was his meaning?' The master said, 'A spring of another house.'

潭州嶽麓山和尚

The Reverend of Yuelu Mountain in Tanzhou

上堂。良久曰。昔日毗盧。今朝嶽麓。珍重。僧問。如何是聲色外句。師曰。猿啼鳥呌。問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。五音六律。問。截舌之句。請師舉揚。師曰。日能熱。月能涼。

Ascending the hall, after a long silence he said, 'Yesterday Vairochana, today Yuelu. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase beyond sound and form?' The master said, 'Gibbons cry, birds call.' A monk asked, 'Whose tune does the master sing, and whose school does he succeed?' The master said, 'Five notes and six pitches.' A monk asked, 'The phrase that cuts off the tongue — please, master, raise and sing it.' The master said, 'The sun can be hot, the moon can be cool.'

朗州德山德海禪師

Chan Master Dehai of Deshan in Langzhou

僧問。靈山一會。何人得聞。師曰。闍黎得聞。曰。未審靈山說箇甚麼。師曰。即闍黎會。問。如何是該天括地句。師曰。千界搖動。問。從上宗乘以何為驗。師曰。從上且置。即今作麼生。曰。大眾總見。師曰。話墮也。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。擘。

A monk asked, 'At the assembly on Vulture Peak, who heard it?' The master said, 'You heard it, reverend.' He said, 'I wonder what was spoken on Vulture Peak.' The master said, 'That is what you understand.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that spans heaven and encompasses earth?' The master said, 'A thousand worlds shake.' A monk asked, 'By what is the patriarchs' school from the first verified?' The master said, 'Set the from-the-first aside. What about right now?' He said, 'The assembly all sees it.' The master said, 'Your words have fallen.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'Split.'

泉州後招慶和尚

The Reverend of the Rear Zhaoqing in Quanzhou

僧問。末後一句。請師商量。師曰。塵中人自老。天際月常明。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。一缾兼一缽。到處是生涯。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。擾擾忩忩。晨鷄暮鐘。

A monk asked, 'As for the last phrase, please, master, discuss it.' The master said, 'People in the dust grow old on their own; the moon at the sky's edge is always bright.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'One bottle and one bowl; wherever I go is my livelihood.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'In flurry and haste, the morning rooster and the evening bell.'

鼎州梁山簡禪師

Chan Master Jian of Liangshan in Dingzhou

問。僧甚處來。曰。藥山來。師曰。還將得藥來否。曰。和尚住山也不錯。師便休。

He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Yaoshan.' The master said, 'Did you bring the medicine?' He said, 'The reverend master's dwelling on the mountain is not bad either.' The master let it drop.

洪州建山澄禪師

Chan Master Cheng of Jianshan in Hongzhou

僧問。如何是法王劒。師曰。可惜許。曰。如何是人王劒。師曰。塵埋床下履。風動架頭巾。問。一代時教接引今時。未審祖宗如何示人。師曰。一代時教已有人問了也。曰。和尚如何示人。師曰。惆悵庭前紅莧樹。年年生葉不生花。問。故歲已去。新歲到來。還有不受歲者也無。師曰。作麼生。曰。恁麼則不受歲也。師曰。城上已吹新歲角。牕前猶點舊年燈。曰。如何是舊年燈。師曰。臘月三十日。

A monk asked, 'What is the king of Dharma's sword?' The master said, 'What a pity.' He said, 'What is the king of men's sword?' The master said, 'Dust buries the shoes beneath the bed; wind stirs the cap on the rack.' A monk asked, 'The teachings of one age receive and guide the people of the time. I wonder how the ancestral school shows people?' The master said, 'Someone has already asked about the teachings of one age.' He said, 'How does the reverend master show people?' The master said, 'How sad, the red amaranth tree before the courtyard: every year it grows leaves and never flowers.' A monk asked, 'The old year has gone and the new year has come; is there anyone who does not receive the year?' The master said, 'How so?' He said, 'Then he does not receive the year.' The master said, 'On the city wall the new year's horn is already blown; before the window the old year's lamp is still lit.' He said, 'What is the old year's lamp?' The master said, 'The thirtieth day of the twelfth month.'

泉州招慶院省僜淨修禪師

Chan Master Jingxiu Shengdeng of Zhaoqing Monastery in Quanzhou

初參保福。福一日入大殿覩佛像。乃舉手。問師曰。佛恁麼意作麼生。師曰。和尚也是橫身。福曰。一撅我自收取。師曰。和尚非唯橫身。福然之。後住招慶。開堂陞座。良久乃曰。大眾。向後到處遇道伴。作麼生舉似他。若有人舉得。試對眾舉看。若舉得。免孤負上祖。亦免埋沒後來。古人道。通心君子。文外相見。還有這箇人麼。況是曹谿門下子孫。合作麼生理論。合作麼生提唱。僧問。如何得不傷於己。不負於人。師曰。莫屈著汝這問麼。曰。恁麼上來已蒙師指也。師曰。汝又屈著我作麼。問。當鋒一句。請師道。師曰。嗄。僧再問。師曰。瞌睡漢。問。僧近離甚處。曰。報恩。師曰。僧堂大小。曰。和尚試道看。師曰。何不待問。問。學人全身不會。請師指示。師曰。還解笑得麼。乃曰。叢林先達者。不敢相觸忤。若是初心後學。未信直須信取。未省直須省取。不用掠虗。諸人本分去處。未有一時不顯露。未有一物解葢覆得。如今若要知。不用移絲髮地。不用少許工夫。但向博地凡夫位中承當取。豈不省心力。既能省得。便與諸佛齊肩。依而行之。緣此事是箇白淨去處。今日須得白淨身心合他始得。自然合古合今。脫生離死。古人云。識心達本。解無為法。方號沙門。如今諸官大眾。各須體取好。莫全推過師僧分上。佛法平等。上至諸佛。下至一切。共同此事。既然如此。誰有誰無。王事之外。亦須努力。適來說如許多般。葢不得已而已。莫道從上宗門。合恁麼語話。祇如從上宗門。合作麼生。還相悉麼。若有人相悉。山僧今日雪得去也。久立。大眾珍重。示坐禪方便頌曰。四威儀內坐為先。澄濾身心漸坦然。瞥爾有緣隨濁界。當須莫續是天年。修持祇學從功路。至理寧論在那邊。一切時中常管帶。因緣相湊豁通玄。示執坐禪者曰。大道分明絕點塵。何須長坐始相親。遇緣儻解無非是。

He first studied under Baofu. One day Baofu entered the great hall, saw a Buddha image, and raising his hand asked the master, 'What does the Buddha mean by this?' The master said, 'The reverend master too throws his body sideways.' Baofu said, 'I will take that stump myself.' The master said, 'The reverend master does not merely throw his body sideways.' Baofu agreed. Later he dwelt at Zhaoqing. On the day he opened the hall and mounted the seat, after a long silence he said: 'Assembly, wherever you go from now on and meet companions on the Way, how will you raise it for them? If anyone can raise it, try raising it before the assembly. If you can raise it, you will not let the ancestral teachers down or bury those who come after. The ancients said: a gentleman who comprehends the mind meets one another outside the text. Is there such a person? Moreover, being descendants of Caoxi's gate, how should you discuss it, how should you raise and sing it?' A monk asked, 'How can one avoid injuring oneself and not betray others?' The master said, 'Am I wronging you with this question?' He said, 'Then by coming up I have already received the master's pointing.' The master said, 'Why do you wrong me again?' A monk asked, 'The phrase at the point of the blade — please, master, say it.' The master said, 'Ha.' The monk asked again. The master said, 'A dozing fellow.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'Baoen.' The master said, 'How big is the monks' hall?' He said, 'Try saying it, reverend master.' The master said, 'Why not wait to be asked?' A monk said, 'The student does not understand at all; I beg the master to instruct me.' The master said, 'Can you still laugh?' Then he said: 'The forerunners of the monastery I do not dare offend. But as for beginners and later students, if you have not believed, you must simply believe; if you have not understood, you must simply understand. Do not grab at emptiness. Your own portion has never been unmanifested for a single moment, and no single thing can cover it. If you want to know it now, you need not move a hair's breadth of ground, nor use the least effort — simply accept it in the position of an ordinary man of broad earth. Would that not save mind and strength? Once you can save it, you are shoulder to shoulder with all Buddhas. Follow it and practice it. Because this matter is a spotless place, today you must attain a spotless body and mind to match it. Then naturally you accord with the ancients and the moderns, and escape birth and leave death. The ancients said: To know the mind and reach the root and understand the unconditioned Dharma — only then is one called a shramana. Now you officials and assembly must each realize it; do not push everything onto the monks. The Buddha Dharma is equal: from the Buddhas above to all beings below, all share this matter. Since that is so, who has it and who lacks it? Beyond the king's affairs you too must put forth effort. All that I have just said is spoken only because I cannot help it. Do not say that the patriarchs' school should speak such words. As for the patriarchs' school, how should it be? Do you all understand? If anyone understands, this mountain monk will be cleared today. You have stood long. Assembly, take care.' He showed a verse on the skillful means of sitting in meditation: 'Among the four postures, sitting comes first; clarifying body and mind, one gradually becomes calm. If a chance encounter follows you into the turbid world, then you must not continue it — that is the heavenly span. In practice, only learn the road of effort; the ultimate principle — how could it be discussed over there? At all times keep it in hand, and when conditions converge you will suddenly penetrate the mystery.' He showed it to those who clung to sitting in meditation, saying: 'The great Way is clear and cuts off every speck of dust; why must one sit long to be intimate with it? Meeting conditions, if one understands, there is nothing that is not it;'

處憒那能有故新。散誕肯齊支遁侶。逍遙曷與慧休隣。或遊泉石或闤闠。可謂煙霞物外人。

(The master continued:) 'in the midst of clamor, how could there be old and new? Would one who is free and easy be willing to be the companion of Zhi Dun, or ramble with Hui Xiu as a neighbor? Whether roaming among springs and rocks or in the market streets, one may be called a person outside the world of mist and clouds.'

福州康山契穩法寶禪師

Chan Master Fabao Qixi of Kangshan in Fuzhou

初開堂。僧問。威音王佛已後。次第相承。未審師今一會法嗣何方。師曰。象骨舉手。龍谿點頭。問。圓明湛寂非師意。學人因底卻無明。師曰。辨得也未。曰。恁麼則識性無根去也。師曰。隔靴搔癢。

When he first opened the hall, a monk asked, 'After the Buddha King of Awesome Sound, they succeeded one another in order. I wonder whose Dharma heir the master's assembly today is?' The master said, 'Elephant Bone raises his hand, Dragon Creek nods.' A monk asked, 'Perfect brightness and still quiescence are not the master's meaning; why is the student still ignorant?' The master said, 'Can you tell?' He said, 'Then the nature of consciousness is without root.' The master said, 'Scratching an itch through a boot.'

泉州西明院琛禪師

Chan Master Chen of Ximing Monastery in Quanzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。竹箸瓦碗。曰。忽遇上客來時。如何祇待。師曰。黃虀倉米飯。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。問取露柱看。

A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Bamboo chopsticks and an earthen bowl.' He said, 'Suppose a distinguished guest comes, how will you receive him?' The master said, 'Yellow pickles and granary rice.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'Go ask the exposed pillar.'

皷山晏國師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of National Teacher Yan of Gushan

杭州天竺子儀心印水月禪師

Chan Master Xinyin Shuiyue of Ziyi at Tianzhu in Hangzhou

溫州樂清陳氏子。初遊方謁鼓山。問曰。子儀三千里外遠投法席。今日非時上來。乞師非時答話。山曰。不可鈍置仁者。師曰。省力處如何。山曰。汝何費力。師於此有省。後回浙中。錢忠懿王命開法於羅漢光福二道場。上堂。久立大眾更待甚麼。不辭展拓。卻恐悞於禪德。轉迷歸路。時寒。珍重。僧問。如何是從上來事。師曰。住。曰。如何薦。師曰。可惜龍頭。翻成蛇尾。有僧禮拜起。將問話。師曰。如何且置。僧乃問。祇如興聖之子。還有相親分也無。師曰。祇待局終。不知柯爛。問。如何是維摩默。師曰。謗。曰。文殊因何讚。師曰。同案領過。曰。維摩又如何。師曰。頭上三尺巾。手裡一枝拂。問。如何是諸佛出身處。師曰。大洋海裡一星火。曰。學人不會。師曰。燒盡魚龍。問。丹霞燒木佛。意旨如何。師曰。寒即圍爐向猛火。曰。還有過也無。師曰。熱即竹林溪畔坐。問。如何是法界義宗。師曰。九月九日浙江潮。問。諸餘即不問。如何是光福門下超毗盧越釋迦底人。師曰。諸餘奉納。曰。恁麼則平生慶幸去也。師曰。慶幸事作麼生。僧罔措。師便喝。將下堂。僧問。下堂一句。乞師分付。師曰。擕履已歸西國去。此山空有老猿啼。問。皷山有掣皷奪旗之說。師且如何。師曰。敗將不忍誅。曰。或遇良將又如何。師曰。念子孤魂。賜汝三奠。問。世尊入滅。當歸何所。師曰。鶴林空變色。真歸無所歸。曰。未審必定何之。師曰。朱實殞勁風。繁英落素秋。曰。我師將來復歸何所。師曰。子今欲識吾歸處。東西南北柳成絲。問。如何修行。即得與道相應。師曰。高卷吟中箔。濃煎睡後茶。

He was a son of the Chen family of Yueqing in Wenzhou. When he first wandered in search of the Way he paid homage at Gushan and said, 'Ziyi has come three thousand li to cast himself upon the Dharma seat. Today he has come up at an untimely hour, and begs the Master to answer at an untimely hour.' Gushan said, 'I must not blunt the worthy one.' The Master said, 'What of the place where effort is saved?' Gushan said, 'Where do you exert effort?' At these words the Master had an awakening. Later he returned to Zhezhong, and King Qian Zhongyi commanded him to open the teaching at the two monasteries of Luohan and Guangfu. Ascending the hall: 'Standing so long, what are you worthies waiting for? I do not shrink from spreading it out, but I fear that I may mislead the Chan worthies and turn them back from the road of confusion. The season is cold. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the matter from above?' The Master said, 'Stop.' He said, 'How does one awaken to it?' The Master said, 'A pity that the dragon's head has turned into a snake's tail.' A monk bowed and rose and was about to ask a question. The Master said, 'Set aside the how for now.' The monk then asked, 'What of the son of Xingsheng — has he still a share in intimacy?' The Master said, 'I only wait for the game to end; I do not know that the axe handle has rotted.' He asked, 'What is Vimalakirti's silence?' The Master said, 'Slander.' He said, 'Why did Manjushri praise it?' The Master said, 'He took the blame along with him on the same bench.' He said, 'And Vimalakirti?' The Master said, 'Three feet of cloth on his head and a whisk in his hand.' He asked, 'What is the place the Buddhas come forth from?' The Master said, 'A single spark in the great ocean.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'It burns up all the fish and dragons.' He asked, 'What is the meaning of Danxia's burning of the wooden Buddha?' The Master said, 'When cold, sit around the stove facing a fierce fire.' He said, 'Was there any fault in it?' The Master said, 'When hot, sit by the brook in the bamboo grove.' He asked, 'What is the cardinal meaning of the dharma realm?' The Master said, 'The ninth day of the ninth month, the tide of the Zhe River.' He asked, 'I do not ask about the rest — who is the man of the Guangfu gate who surpasses Vairocana and goes beyond Sakyamuni?' The Master said, 'The rest I hand over to you.' He said, 'If so, then I have been fortunate all my life.' The Master said, 'What will you do with this fortune?' The monk was at a loss. The Master then shouted. As he was about to leave the hall, a monk asked, 'The one phrase for leaving the hall — I beg the Master to hand it over.' The Master said, 'He has taken his shoes and gone back to the Western Land; on this mountain only the old gibbon cries in vain.' He asked, 'Gushan had the saying of striking the drum and seizing the flag — what of the Master?' The Master said, 'A defeated general is not worth executing.' He said, 'And if one meets a good general?' The Master said, 'Pitying your lone ghost, I grant you three libations.' He asked, 'When the World-Honored One entered extinction, where did he go?' The Master said, 'The crane grove changed color in vain; his true return is no return.' He said, 'I wonder where he surely went?' The Master said, 'Red fruit falls in the strong wind; profuse blossoms drop in the white autumn.' He said, 'Where will our Master return hereafter?' The Master said, 'If you would know the place I return to — east, west, south, north, the willows have become silk threads.' He asked, 'How should one cultivate so as to accord with the Way?' The Master said, 'Roll the blind high in the wind for chanting; brew thick the tea after sleep.'

建州白雲智作真寂禪師

Chan Master Zhizuo Zhenji of Baiyun in Jianzhou

永真朱氏子。容若梵僧。禮皷山披剃。一日。皷山上堂。召大眾。眾皆回眸。山披襟示之。眾罔措。唯師朗悟厥旨。入室印證。又參次。山召曰。近前來。師近前。山曰。南泉喚院主意作麼生。師斂手端容。退身而立。山莞然奇之。住後。上堂。還有人向宗乘中致得一問來麼。待山僧向宗乘中答。時有僧出禮拜。師便歸方丈。問。如何是枯木裡龍吟。師曰。火裡蓮生。曰。如何是髑髏裡眼睛。師曰。泥牛入海。問。如何是主中主。師曰。汝還具眼麼。曰。恁麼則學人歸堂去也。師曰。猢猻入布袋。問。如何是延平津。師曰。萬古水溶溶。曰。如何是延平劒。師曰。速須退步。曰。未審津與劒是同是異。師曰。可惜許。次遷奉先。僧問。如何是奉先境。師曰。一任觀看。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。莫無禮。問。如何是奉先家風。師曰。即今在甚麼處。曰。恁麼則大眾有賴也。師曰。幹汝甚麼事。問。如何是為人一句。師曰。不是奉先道不得。

He was a son of the Zhu family of Yongzhen, and his countenance was like that of an Indian monk. He bowed at Gushan and was shaved there. One day Gushan ascended the hall and called to the assembly. All the monks turned their eyes. Gushan opened his robe and showed it to them. The assembly was at a loss. Only the Master clearly awakened to the purport and entered the room to have it sealed. On another occasion, as he was attending, Gushan called, 'Come closer.' The Master came closer. Gushan said, 'When Nanquan called the prior, what was the meaning?' The Master drew in his hands, composed his face, and stepped back and stood. Gushan smiled and found him remarkable. After he had taken up residence, he ascended the hall: 'Is there anyone who can bring up one question within the ancestral vehicle? Wait until this mountain monk answers within the ancestral vehicle.' Then a monk came forward and bowed. The Master went straight back to his quarters. Someone asked, 'What is the dragon's song within the withered tree?' The Master said, 'A lotus grows in fire.' He said, 'What is the eye within the skull?' The Master said, 'A clay ox enters the sea.' Someone asked, 'What is the host within the host?' The Master said, 'Do you have the eye?' He said, 'If so, then the student goes back to the hall.' The Master said, 'A monkey into a cloth bag.' Someone asked, 'What is Yanping Ford?' The Master said, 'Ten thousand ages, the water brims.' He said, 'What is the Yanping sword?' The Master said, 'You must hurry to step back.' He said, 'I wonder whether the ford and the sword are the same or different?' The Master said, 'What a pity.' Later he moved to Fengxian. A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Fengxian?' The Master said, 'You are free to look.' He said, 'What is the man within the realm?' The Master said, 'Do not be rude.' He asked, 'What is the family style of Fengxian?' The Master said, 'Where is it right now?' He said, 'If so, then the assembly has something to rely on.' The Master said, 'What business is it of yours?' He asked, 'What is the one phrase for the sake of others?' The Master said, 'If it were not Fengxian, I could not say it.'

皷山智嚴了覺禪師

Chan Master Zhiyan Liaojue of Gushan

上堂。多言復多語。由來反相悞。珍重。僧問。石門之句即不問。請師方便示來機。師曰。問取露柱。問。國王出世三邊靜。法王出世有何恩。師曰。還會麼。曰。幸遇明朝輒伸呈獻。師曰。吐卻著。曰。若不禮拜。幾成無孔鐵鎚。師曰。何異無孔鐵鎚。

Ascending the hall: 'Much talk and many words have always turned against one another. Take care.' A monk asked, 'I do not ask about Shimen's phrase; I beg the Master to show me the mechanism that comes by expedient means.' The Master said, 'Go ask the exposed pillar.' Someone asked, 'When a king comes into the world, the three borders are at peace; when a Dharma king comes into the world, what grace is there?' The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'Fortunate to meet a bright court, I venture to present it.' The Master said, 'Spit it out.' He said, 'Had I not bowed, I would almost have been a hammer without a hole.' The Master said, 'How is that different from a hammer without a hole?'

福州龍山智嵩妙虗禪師

Chan Master Zhisong Miaoxu of Longshan in Fuzhou

上堂。幸自分明。須作這箇節目。作麼到這裡便成節目。便成增語。便成塵玷。未有如許多事時作麼生。僧問。古佛化導。今祖重興。人天輻輳於禪庭。至理若為於開示。師曰。亦不敢孤負大眾。曰。恁麼則人天不謬殷勤請。頓使凡心作佛心。師曰。仁者作麼生。曰。退身禮拜。隨眾上下。師曰。我識得汝也。

Ascending the hall: 'Fortunately it is clear of itself, and yet one must make this a topic. But how is it that when you arrive here it becomes a topic, becomes added words, becomes a defilement of dust? What was it like when there were not yet all these things?' A monk asked, 'The ancient Buddha taught by transformation, and the present Ancestor revives it. Men and gods throng to the Chan court — how is the ultimate principle to be revealed?' The Master said, 'I too would not dare to betray the assembly.' He said, 'If so, then men and gods do not err in their earnest request, and at once the ordinary mind becomes the Buddha mind.' The Master said, 'What will you do, worthy one?' He said, 'I step back and bow, and follow the assembly up and down.' The Master said, 'I know you.'

泉州鳳凰山彊禪師

Chan Master Qiang of Fenghuang Mountain in Quanzhou

僧問。燈傳皷嶠。道化溫陵。不跨石門。請師通信。師曰。若不是今日。攔胸撞出。曰。恁麼則今日親聞師子吼。他時終作鳳凰兒。師曰。又向這裡塗汙人。問。白浪滔天境。何人住太虗。師曰。靜夜思堯皷。回頭聞舜琴。

A monk asked, 'The lamp is transmitted at Guqiao and the Way transforms Wenling; without crossing Shimen, I beg the Master to send word.' The Master said, 'Were it not for today, I would have struck you full in the chest and knocked you out.' He said, 'If so, then today I have heard the lion's roar with my own ears, and in time I shall surely be a phoenix chick.' The Master said, 'You are again smearing people here.' Someone asked, 'In a realm where white waves flood the sky, who dwells in the great void?' The Master said, 'In the still night I think of Yao's drum; turning my head I hear Shun's zither.'

福州龍山文義禪師

Chan Master Wenyi of Longshan in Fuzhou

上堂。若舉宗乘。即院寂徑荒。若留委問。更待箇甚麼。還有人委悉麼。出來驗看。若無人委悉。且莫掠虗好。便下座。問。如何是人王。師曰。威風人盡懼。曰。如何是法王。師曰。一句令當行。曰。二王還分不分。師曰。適來道甚麼。

Ascending the hall: 'If one raises the ancestral vehicle, then the cloister is still and the path is overgrown. If one keeps back and waits for questions, what is there to wait for? Is there anyone who understands? Come forward and let me examine you. If no one understands, then at least do not plunder emptiness.' Then he descended from the seat. Someone asked, 'What is the king of men?' The Master said, 'His awe-inspiring manner makes all afraid.' He said, 'What is the Dharma king?' The Master said, 'One phrase and the command is carried out.' He said, 'Do the two kings still divide or not?' The Master said, 'What did you say just now?'

福州皷山智嶽了宗禪師

Chan Master Zhiyue Liaozong of Gushan in Fuzhou

本郡人也。初遊方至鄂州黃龍。問。久嚮黃龍。及乎到來。祇見赤斑蛇。龍曰。汝祇見赤斑蛇。且不識黃龍。師曰。如何是黃龍。龍曰。滔滔地。師曰。忽遇金翅鳥來又作麼生。龍曰。性命難存。師曰。恁麼則被他吞卻去也。龍曰。謝闍黎供養。師便禮拜。住後。上堂。我若全舉宗乘。汝向甚麼處領會。所以道古今常露。體用無妨。不勞久立。珍重。問。虗空還解作用也無。師拈起拄杖曰。這箇師僧好打。僧無語。

He was a man of that prefecture. When he first wandered in search of the Way he reached Huanglong in Ezhou and asked, 'I have long heard of Huanglong, but now that I have come I see only a red-spotted snake.' Huanglong said, 'You see only a red-spotted snake, and you do not know Huanglong.' The Master said, 'What is Huanglong?' Huanglong said, 'Surging on and on.' The Master said, 'And if a golden-winged bird suddenly comes, what then?' Huanglong said, 'Its life will be hard to keep.' The Master said, 'If so, then it has been swallowed up.' Huanglong said, 'Thank you, acharya, for the offering.' The Master then bowed. After he had taken up residence, he ascended the hall: 'If I raise the ancestral vehicle in full, where will you understand it? Therefore it is said that ancient and present are always exposed, and essence and function do not hinder each other. You need not stand long. Take care.' Someone asked, 'Does empty space also understand function?' The Master picked up his staff and said, 'This monk deserves a beating.' The monk was silent.

襄州定慧禪師

Chan Master Dinghui of Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是佛向上事。師曰。無人不驚。曰。學人未委在。師曰。不妨難向。問。不借時機用。如何話祖宗。師曰。闍黎還具慙愧麼。僧便喝。師休去。

A monk asked, 'What is the matter above the Buddha?' The Master said, 'No one is unstartled.' He said, 'The student has not yet understood.' The Master said, 'It is no wonder it is hard to turn toward.' Someone asked, 'Without borrowing the working of time and opportunity, how does one speak of the Ancestors?' The Master said, 'Acharya, do you still have a sense of shame?' The monk shouted. The Master gave up and left.

福州皷山清諤宗曉禪師

Chan Master Qing'e Zongxiao of Gushan in Fuzhou

僧問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。時寒不出手。

A monk asked, 'Where has the deceased monk gone after his passing?' The Master said, 'The season is cold; I do not put out my hands.'

金陵淨德院沖煦慧悟禪師

Chan Master Chongxu Huiwu of Jingde Monastery in Jinling

福州和氏子。僧問。如何是大道。師曰。我無小徑。曰。如何是小徑。師曰。我不知大道。

He was a son of the He family of Fuzhou. A monk asked, 'What is the great Way?' The Master said, 'I have no small path.' He said, 'What is the small path?' The Master said, 'I do not know the great Way.'

金陵報恩院清護崇因妙行禪師

Chan Master Qinghu Chongyin Miaoxing of Baoen Monastery in Jinling

福州長樂陳氏子。六歲禮皷山。披削於國師。言下發明。開堂日。僧問。諸佛出世。天花亂墜。和尚出世。有何祥瑞。師曰。昨日新雷發。今朝細雨飛。問。如何是諸佛玄旨。師曰。草鞵木履。開寶三年示寂。茶毗收舍利三百餘粒。並靈骨歸於建州鷄足山臥雲院建塔。

He was a son of the Chen family of Changle in Fuzhou. At the age of six he paid homage at Gushan and was shaved under the National Teacher, and was enlightened at his words. On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked, 'When the Buddhas come into the world, heavenly flowers fall in profusion. Now that the Master has come into the world, what auspicious sign is there?' The Master said, 'Yesterday the new thunder rolled; this morning fine rain flies.' Someone asked, 'What is the profound purport of the Buddhas?' The Master said, 'Straw sandals and wooden clogs.' In the third year of Kaibao he showed his quiescence. After cremation more than three hundred relics were collected, and together with his sacred bones they were taken back to Woyun Monastery on Mount Jizu in Jianzhou and a stupa was built.

龍華照禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Zhao of Longhua

台州瑞巖師進禪師

Chan Master Shijin of Ruiyan in Taizhou

僧問。如何是瑞巖境。師曰。重重疊嶂南來遠。北向皇都咫尺間。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。萬裡白雲朝瑞嶽。微微細雨灑簾前。曰。未審如何親近此人。師曰。將謂闍黎親入室。元來猶隔萬重關。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Ruiyan?' The Master said, 'Ridge upon ridge of peaks come from the far south; facing north, the imperial capital is a foot away.' He said, 'What is the man within the realm?' The Master said, 'Ten thousand li of white clouds pay court to Rui Peak; a faint fine rain sprinkles before the blind.' He said, 'I wonder how one may draw near to this man?' The Master said, 'I thought the acharya had entered the room in person; it turns out you are still separated by ten thousand barriers.'

台州六通院志球禪師

Chan Master Zhiqiu of Liutong Monastery in Taizhou

僧問。全身佩劒時如何。師曰。落。曰。當者如何。師曰。熏天炙地。問。如何是六通境。師曰。滿目江山一任看。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。古今自去來。曰。離此二途。還有向上事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。雲水千徒與萬徒。問。擁毳玄徒。請師指示。師曰。紅爐不墜鴈門關。曰。如何是紅爐不墜鴈門關。師曰。青霄豈恡眾人攀。曰。還有不知者也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是不知者。師曰。金牓上無名。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。萬家明月朗。問。如何是第二月。師曰。山河大地。

A monk asked, 'What is it like when one wears a sword over one's whole body?' The Master said, 'It falls.' He said, 'What of the one who faces it?' The Master said, 'It scorches the sky and roasts the earth.' Someone asked, 'What is the realm of Liutong?' The Master said, 'Rivers and mountains fill the eye, free for you to look.' He said, 'What is the man within the realm?' The Master said, 'Ancient and present come and go of themselves.' He said, 'Apart from these two roads, is there still a matter above?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the matter above?' The Master said, 'A thousand disciples and ten thousand disciples of cloud and water.' Someone asked, 'The mysterious followers wear their hair garments — I beg the Master to point them out.' The Master said, 'The red stove does not fall at Wild Goose Gate.' He said, 'What is the red stove not falling at Wild Goose Gate?' The Master said, 'Why should the blue sky begrudge the crowd their climb?' He said, 'Are there still those who do not know?' The Master said, 'There are.' He said, 'What are those who do not know?' The Master said, 'Their names are not on the golden roll.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'Ten thousand houses in the bright moon.' Someone asked, 'What is the second moon?' The Master said, 'Mountains, rivers and the great earth.'

杭州雲龍院歸禪師

Chan Master Gui of Yunlong Monastery in Hangzhou

僧問。久戰沙場。為甚麼功名不就。師曰。過在這邊。曰。還有昇進處也無。師曰。冰消瓦解。

A monk asked, 'Having long fought on the battlefield, why is the merit and fame not achieved?' The Master said, 'The fault lies on this side.' He said, 'Is there still a place to advance?' The Master said, 'The ice melts and the tiles crumble.'

杭州功臣院道閑禪師

Chan Master Daoxian of Gongchen Monastery in Hangzhou

僧問。如何是功臣家風。師曰。俗人東畔立。僧眾在西邊。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。如汝與我。曰。恁麼則無二去也。師曰。十萬八千。

A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Gongchen?' The Master said, 'Laymen stand on the east side, monks on the west.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's own self?' The Master said, 'Just like you and me.' He said, 'If so, then there are not two.' The Master said, 'One hundred and eight thousand.'

福州報國院照禪師

Chan Master Zhao of Baoguo Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。我若全機。汝向甚麼處摸索。葢為根器不等。便成不具慚愧。還委得麼。如今與諸仁者作箇入底門路。乃敲繩床兩下曰。還見麼。還聞麼。若見便見。若聞便聞。莫向意識裡卜度。卻成妄想顛倒。無有出期。珍重。佛塔被雷霹。有問。祖佛塔廟為甚麼卻被雷霹。師曰。通天作用。曰。既是通天作用。為甚麼卻霹佛。師曰。作用何處見有佛。曰。爭奈狼藉何。師曰。見甚麼。

Ascending the hall: 'If I gave the whole mechanism, where would you grope for it? It is because your capacities are not equal that you turn into men without a sense of shame. Do you understand? Now I will make a gate of entry for you worthies.' Then he rapped twice on the corded chair and said, 'Do you see? Do you hear? If you see, then see; if you hear, then hear. Do not calculate within consciousness, or you will turn into deluded inverted thinking and have no time of escape. Take care.' A Buddha stupa was struck by lightning. Someone asked, 'The stupa and shrine of the Ancestor and the Buddhas — why was it struck by lightning?' The Master said, 'A work that penetrates heaven.' He said, 'Since it is a work that penetrates heaven, why did it strike the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Where in that work do you see a Buddha?' He said, 'What is to be done about the mess?' The Master said, 'What do you see?'

台州白雲廼禪師

Chan Master Nai of Baiyun in Taizhou

僧問。荊山有玉非為寶。囊裡真金賜一言。師曰。我家本貧。曰。慈悲何在。師曰。空慙道者名。

A monk asked, 'Jade on Jing Mountain is not reckoned a treasure; grant me one word of the true gold in your bag.' The Master said, 'My house is poor to begin with.' He said, 'Where is your compassion then?' The Master said, 'I am ashamed in vain of the name of a man of the Way.'

翠巖參禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Can of Cuiyan

杭州龍冊寺子興明悟禪師

Chan Master Zixing Mingwu of Longce Monastery in Hangzhou

僧問。正位中還有人成佛否。師曰。誰是眾生。曰。若恁麼則總成佛去也。師曰。還我正位來。曰。如何是正位。師曰。汝是眾生。問。如何是無價珍。師曰。卞和空抱璞。曰。忽遇楚王。還進也無。師曰。凡聖相繼續。問。古人拈布毛意作麼生。師曰。闍黎舉不全。曰。如何舉得全。師乃拈起袈裟。

A monk asked, 'In the correct position, is there still anyone who becomes a Buddha?' The Master said, 'Who is a living being?' He said, 'If so, then all become Buddhas.' The Master said, 'Give me back the correct position.' He said, 'What is the correct position?' The Master said, 'You are a living being.' Someone asked, 'What is the priceless treasure?' The Master said, 'Bian He clasped his uncut jade in vain.' He said, 'If he suddenly met the King of Chu, would he still present it?' The Master said, 'Ordinary and sage succeed one another.' Someone asked, 'What was the meaning of the ancients' picking up a bit of cloth?' The Master said, 'Acharya, you do not raise it in full.' He said, 'How does one raise it in full?' The Master then picked up his robe.

溫州雲山佛㠗院知默禪師

Chan Master Zhimo of Fo'ao Monastery on Yun Mountain in Wenzhou

僧問。如何是佛㠗家風。師曰。送客不離三步內。邀賓祇在草堂前。上堂。山僧如今看見諸上座。恁麼行腳。吃辛吃苦。盤山涉㵎。終不為觀看州縣。參尋名山勝跡。莫非為此一大事。如今且要諸人。於本分參問中通箇消息來。雲山敢與證明。非但雲山證明。乃至禪林佛剎亦與證明。還有麼。若無。不如散去。便下座。

A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Fo'ao?' The Master said, 'Seeing off a guest never goes beyond three paces; inviting a visitor happens only before the thatched hall.' Ascending the hall: 'This mountain monk now sees you worthies wandering thus on pilgrimage, enduring hardship and bitterness, crossing mountains and wading ravines — it is not at all to view the prefectures and counties or to visit famous mountains and scenic traces. It can only be for the sake of this one great matter. Now I want you people to send back a word from within your own portion's questioning, and Yun Mountain will dare to certify you. Not only will Yun Mountain certify you — even the Chan groves and Buddha lands will certify you. Is there anyone? If not, better to disperse.' Then he descended from the seat.

鏡清怤禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Fu of Jingqing

越州清化師訥禪師

Chan Master Shine of Qinghua in Yuezhou

僧問。十二時中如何得不疑惑去。師曰。好。曰。恁麼則得遇於師去也。師曰。珍重。僧來禮拜。師曰。子亦善問。吾亦善答。曰。恁麼則大眾久立。師曰。抑逼大眾作甚麼。問。去卻賞罰。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。錢塘江裡好渡船。問。如何是西來意。師曰。可煞新鮮。

A monk asked, 'How can one be free of doubt throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'Good.' He said, 'If so, then I have met the Master.' The Master said, 'Take care.' A monk came to bow. The Master said, 'You too ask well, and I too answer well.' He said, 'If so, then the assembly has stood long.' The Master said, 'Why press the assembly?' Someone asked, 'Setting aside reward and punishment, what is the hair-cutting sword?' The Master said, 'A good ferry boat in the Qiantang River.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'How very fresh.'

衢州南禪遇緣禪師

Chan Master Yuyuan of Nanchan in Quzhou

因有俗士謂之鐵腳。忽騎馬至。僧問。師既是鐵腳。為甚麼卻騎馬。師曰。腰帶不因遮腹痛。幞頭豈是禦天寒。官人問師。和尚恁麼後生。為甚麼卻為尊宿。師曰。千歲祇言朱頂鶴。朝生便是鳳凰兒。上堂。此箇事得恁麼難道。時有僧出曰。請師道。師曰。睦州溪苔。錦軍石耳。問。眾手淘金。誰是得者。師曰。谿畔披砂徒自困。家中有寶速須還。曰。恁麼即始終不從人得去也。師曰。饒君便有擎山力。未免肩頭有擔胝。

Because a layman called him Iron Legs, he suddenly came riding a horse. A monk asked, 'Since the Master is Iron Legs, why does he ride a horse?' The Master said, 'A belt is not worn to cover a bellyache, and a head wrap is hardly to fend off the cold of heaven.' An official asked the Master, 'The Reverend is so young — why is he a venerable elder?' The Master said, 'A thousand years is said only of the red-crested crane; born this morning, one is already a phoenix chick.' Ascending the hall: 'This matter is hard to speak of in this way.' Then a monk came forward and said, 'Please, Master, speak.' The Master said, 'The river moss of Muzhou, the stone ears of Jinjun.' Someone asked, 'When many hands wash for gold, who gets it?' The Master said, 'To sift sand by the brook is to weary yourself in vain; if there is a treasure in the house, bring it back at once.' He said, 'If so, then from first to last it is not obtained from others.' The Master said, 'Even if you have the strength to lift a mountain, you will not escape the callus on your shoulder from the carrying pole.'

福州資福院智遠禪師

Chan Master Zhiyuan of Zifu Monastery in Fuzhou

福州人也。參鏡清。問。如何是諸佛出身處。清曰。大家要知。師曰。如斯則眾眼難瞞去也。清曰。理能縛豹。師因此發悟玄旨。住後。僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。雪嶺峰前月。鏡湖波裡明。問。諸佛出世。天雨四華。地搖六動。和尚今日有何祥瑞。師曰。一物不生全體露。目前光彩阿誰知。問。如何是直示一句。師曰。是甚麼。師乃曰。還會麼。會去即今便了。不會塵沙算劫。祗據諸賢分上。古佛心源。明露現前。匝天徧地。森羅萬象。自己家風。佛與眾生本無差別。涅槃生死。幻化所為。性地真常。不勞修證。珍重。

He was a man of Fuzhou. He studied under Jingqing and asked, 'What is the place the Buddhas come forth from?' Jingqing said, 'Everyone wants to know.' The Master said, 'If so, then the eyes of the crowd are hard to deceive.' Jingqing said, 'Principle can bind a leopard.' From this the Master awakened to the mysterious purport. After he had taken up residence, a monk asked, 'Whose song does the Master sing, and whose lineage does his school continue?' The Master said, 'The moon before the peak of Snow Ridge; bright in the waves of Mirror Lake.' Someone asked, 'When the Buddhas come into the world, heaven rains four flowers and the earth shakes in six ways. What auspicious sign is there today for the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Not one thing arises, and the whole body is exposed; who knows the radiance before his eyes?' Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase of direct pointing?' The Master said, 'What is it?' The Master then said, 'Do you understand? If you understand, then it is finished right now; if you do not, you will count kalpas as sands of dust. Simply on the part of you worthies, the fountainhead of the ancient Buddha's mind is clearly exposed before you, filling the heavens and covering the earth. The teeming myriad things are your own family style. Buddha and living being are originally without difference. Nirvana and birth-and-death are the doings of illusion. The nature-ground is truly constant, and needs no cultivation or certification. Take care.'

衢州烏巨山儀晏開明禪師

Chan Master Yiyan Kaiming of Wuju Mountain in Quzhou

吳興許氏子。於唐乾符三年將誕之夕。異香滿室。紅光如畫。光啟中隨父鎮信安。強為娶。師不願。遂遊歷諸方。機契鏡清。歸省父母。乃於郭南剏別舍以遂師志。舍旁陳司徒廟有凜禪師像。師往瞻禮。失師所之。後郡守展祀祠下。見師入定於廟後叢竹間。蟻蠹其衣。敗葉沒䏶。或者雲。是許鎮將之子也。自此三昧。或出或入。子湖訥禪師。未知師所造淺深。問曰。子所住定。葢小乘定耳。時方啜茶。師呈起橐曰。是大是小。訥駭然。尋謁栝蒼唐山德嚴禪師。嚴問。汝何姓。曰。姓許。嚴曰。誰許汝。曰。不別。嚴默識之。遂與剃染。甞令摘桃。浹旬不歸。往尋。見師攀桃倚石。泊然在定。嚴鳴指出之。開運中遊江郎巖。覩石龕。謂弟子慧興曰。予入定此中。汝當壘石塞門。勿以吾為念。興如所戒。明年。興意師長。往啟龕視師。素髮被肩。胸臆尚暖。徐自定起。了無異容。復回烏巨。侍郎慎公鎮信安。馥師之道。命義學僧守榮詰其定相。師不與之辯。榮意輕之。時信安人競圖師像而尊事。皆獲舍利。榮因媿服。禮像謝𠎝。亦獲舍利。歎曰。此後不敢以淺解測度矣。錢忠懿王感師見夢。遣使圖像至。適王患目疾。展像作禮。如夢所見。隨雨舍利。目疾頓瘳。因錫號開明。及述偈讚。寶器供具千計。端拱初。太宗皇帝聞師定力。詔本州加禮。津發赴闕。師力辭。僧再至諭旨。特令肩輿。入對便殿。命坐賜茗。諮問禪定。奏對簡盡。深契上旨。丐歸。復詔入對。得請還山。送車塞途。淳化元年示寂。壽一百十五。臘五十七。闍維白光屬天。舍利五色。邦人以骨塑像。至今州郡雨暘。禱之如嚮斯答。

He was a son of the Xu family of Wuxing. On the night before his birth, in the third year of Qianfu of the Tang, a rare fragrance filled the room and a red glow was like a painting. In the Guangqi era he followed his father to garrison Xin'an, and was forced into marriage. The Master was unwilling, and so he wandered through all quarters, and his mechanism matched Jingqing's. He returned to visit his parents, and built a separate dwelling south of the city wall to fulfill the Master's aspiration. Beside the dwelling there was the shrine of Minister Chen, which held an image of Chan Master Lin. When the Master went to pay reverence there, he lost track of where the Master had gone. Later the prefect, making a sacrifice at the shrine, saw the Master sitting in concentration among the thick bamboo behind the shrine. Ants had eaten into his garment, and fallen leaves buried his thighs. Someone said, 'This is the son of General Xu.' From then on he entered and left samadhi at will. Chan Master Ne of Zihu did not know how deep the Master's attainment went, and said, 'The samadhi you dwell in is only the samadhi of the Lesser Vehicle.' At that moment they were drinking tea. The Master held up his tea pouch and said, 'Is this great or small?' Ne was astonished. Soon afterward he paid a visit to Chan Master Deyan of Tang Mountain in Guacang. Deyan asked, 'What is your surname?' He said, 'My surname is Xu.' Deyan said, 'Who permitted you?' He said, 'There is no distinction.' Deyan silently recognized him, and shaved and dyed his robes for him. Once Deyan sent him to pick peaches, and for ten days he did not return. They went to look for him, and found the Master leaning on a rock with peaches in his hand, serenely in samadhi. Deyan snapped his fingers and brought him out. In the Kaiyun era he wandered to Jianglang Rock, and seeing a stone niche he told his disciple Huixing, 'I will enter samadhi in this; you should pile stones and block the door, and pay me no more mind.' Huixing did as he was told. The next year Huixing missed the Master, and went to open the niche and look at him. His white hair covered his shoulders, and his breast was still warm. Slowly he rose from samadhi, with no unusual appearance at all. He returned again to Wuju. When the Vice Minister Lord Shen garrisoned Xin'an, admiring the Master's Way, he ordered the scholastic monk Shourong to interrogate him about the marks of his samadhi. The Master would not argue with him. Rong's mind slighted him. At that time the people of Xin'an vied to paint the Master's image and revere it, and all obtained relics. Rong then was shamed into submission, bowed to the image and apologized for his fault, and also obtained relics. He sighed and said, 'From now on I will not dare to measure him by shallow understanding.' King Qian Zhongyi, moved by the Master appearing in his dream, sent envoys to have his portrait painted and brought. It happened that the king was suffering from an eye ailment, and when he unrolled the portrait and bowed, exactly as in his dream, relics rained down, and his eye ailment was at once cured. He then granted him the title Kaiming, and wrote a verse in praise, with jeweled vessels and offerings in a thousand pieces. In the early Duangong era, Emperor Taizong heard of the Master's power of samadhi and ordered the prefecture to add honors, and to send him to court. The Master firmly declined. When the monk came again with the imperial will, he was specially ordered to be carried in a sedan chair. He entered the informal hall for audience, was given a seat and tea, and was questioned about Chan samadhi; his replies were concise and complete, and deeply matched the imperial intent. He begged to return. Again an edict summoned him to audience, and he obtained permission to return to the mountain. The carriages seeing him off blocked the road. In the first year of Chunhua he showed his quiescence. He lived one hundred and fifteen years, with fifty-seven rains retreats. At cremation a white light reached to heaven and the relics were of five colors. The people of the region made an image from his bones. To this day, for rain or shine, the prefecture and counties pray to him and are answered as surely as an echo.

報恩嶽禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yue of Baoen

潭州妙濟院師浩傳心禪師

Chan Master Shihao Chuanxin of Miaofu Monastery in Tanzhou

僧問。擬即第二頭。不擬即第三首。如何是第一頭。師曰。牧。問。古人斷臂。當為何事。師曰。我寧可斷臂。問。如何是學人眼。師曰。須知我好心。問。如何是香山劒。師曰。異。曰。還露也無。師曰。不忍見。問。如何是松門第一句。師曰。切不得錯舉。問。如何是妙濟家風。師曰。左右人太多。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。兩口一無舌。問。如何是香山一露。師曰。滔滔地。曰。到者如何。師曰。息汝平生。問。如何是世尊密語。師曰。阿難亦不知。曰。為甚麼不知。師曰。莫非仙陀。問。如何是香山寶。師曰。碧眼胡人不敢定。曰。露者如何。師曰。龍王捧不起。僧舉聖僧塑像被虎齩。問師。既是聖僧。為甚麼被大蟲齩。師曰。疑殺天下人。問。如何是無慙愧底人。師曰。闍黎合吃棒。

A monk asked, 'To intend is the second head; not to intend is the third head. What is the first head?' The Master said, 'Herd.' Someone asked, 'When the ancients cut off an arm, what was it for?' The Master said, 'I would rather cut off my own arm.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's eye?' The Master said, 'You should know my good intent.' Someone asked, 'What is the Xiangshan sword?' The Master said, 'Strange.' He said, 'Does it show itself?' The Master said, 'I cannot bear to look.' Someone asked, 'What is the first phrase of Songmen?' The Master said, 'By no means raise it wrongly.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Miaofu?' The Master said, 'There are too many people on either side.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Two mouths with no tongue.' Someone asked, 'What is the one showing of Xiangshan?' The Master said, 'Surging on and on.' He said, 'What of the one who arrives there?' The Master said, 'It puts an end to your whole life.' Someone asked, 'What is the World-Honored One's secret word?' The Master said, 'Even Ananda does not know.' He said, 'Why does he not know?' The Master said, 'It is no fairy goblin.' Someone asked, 'What is the treasure of Xiangshan?' The Master said, 'The blue-eyed Indian does not dare to fix it.' He said, 'What of the one who shows it?' The Master said, 'The dragon king cannot lift it.' A monk brought up that a clay image of a holy monk had been bitten by a tiger, and asked the Master, 'Since he was a holy monk, why was he bitten by a great beast?' The Master said, 'It makes the whole world die of doubt.' Someone asked, 'What is a person without a sense of shame?' The Master said, 'The acharya deserves a beating.'

安國𤦆禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Liu of Anguo

福州白鹿師貴禪師

Chan Master Shigui of White Deer in Fuzhou

開堂日。僧問。西峽一派。不異馬頭。白鹿千峰。何似鷄足。師曰。大眾驗看。問。如何是白鹿家風。師曰。向汝道甚麼。曰。恁麼則便知時去也。師曰。知時底人合到甚麼田地。曰。不可更口喃喃也。師曰。放過即不可。問。牛頭未見四祖時。百鳥銜花供養。見後為甚麼不來。師曰。曙色未分人盡望。及乎天曉也如常。

On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked, 'The one stream of the Western Gorge is no different from Matou. The thousand peaks of White Deer — how do they compare with Mount Jizu?' The Master said, 'Let the assembly examine.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of White Deer?' The Master said, 'What am I telling you?' He said, 'If so, then I know the time and go.' The Master said, 'To what field has the one who knows the time come?' He said, 'I must not go on muttering.' The Master said, 'Letting you off will not do.' Someone asked, 'When Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor, a hundred birds brought flowers in offering; after he met him, why did they not come?' The Master said, 'Before the dawn light divides, all men look for it; when the sky has brightened, it is as usual.'

福州羅山義聰禪師

Chan Master Yicong of Luoshan in Fuzhou

上堂。僧問。如何是出窟師子。師曰。甚麼處不震裂。曰。作何音響。師曰。聾者不聞。問。手指天地。唯我獨尊。為甚麼卻被傍觀者責。師曰。謂言胡鬚赤。曰。秖如傍觀者。有甚麼長處。師曰。路見不平。所以按劒。師乃曰。若有分付處。羅山即不具眼。若無分付處。即勞而無功。所以維摩昔日對文殊。且問如今會也無。久立。珍重。

Ascending the hall, a monk asked, 'What is the lion that comes out of its den?' The Master said, 'What place does it not shatter?' He said, 'What sound does it make?' The Master said, 'The deaf do not hear it.' Someone asked, 'He pointed to heaven and earth and said that he alone was honored — why was he blamed by the bystanders?' The Master said, 'They say the barbarian's beard is red.' He said, 'What virtue did the bystanders have?' The Master said, 'Seeing injustice on the road, one lays hand on the sword.' The Master then said, 'If there is a place to hand it over, Luoshan has no eye. If there is no place to hand it over, then one labors without merit. Therefore when Vimalakirti faced Manjushri of old, I ask: do you understand now? You have stood long. Take care.'

福州安國院從貴禪師

Chan Master Conggui of Anguo Monastery in Fuzhou

僧問。禪宮大敞。法侶雲臻。向上一路。請師決擇。師曰。素非時流。上堂。禪之與道。拈向一邊著。佛之與祖。是甚麼破草鞋。恁麼告報。莫屈著諸人麼。若道屈著。即且須行腳。若道不屈著。也須合取口始得。珍重。上堂。直是不遇梁朝。安國也謾人不過。珍重。僧問。請師舉唱宗乘。師曰。今日打禾。明日搬柴。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。香爐對繩床。曰。見後如何。師曰。門扇對露柱。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。若問家風。即答家風。曰。學人不問家風時作麼生。師曰。胡來漢去。問。諸餘即不問。省要處乞師一言。師曰。還得省要也未。復曰。純陀獻供。珍重。

A monk asked, 'The Chan palace stands wide open and the Dharma companions gather like clouds. As for the road above, I beg the Master to decide it.' The Master said, 'I have never been a man of the times.' Ascending the hall: 'As for Chan and the Way, toss them to one side. As for the Buddha and the Ancestor, what broken straw sandals they are. Telling you this way, am I wronging you people? If you say I wrong you, then you must go on pilgrimage. If you say I do not wrong you, then you had better shut your mouths. Take care.' Ascending the hall: 'Were it not that I did not meet the Liang court, even Anguo could not deceive people. Take care.' A monk asked, 'Please, Master, raise and sing the ancestral vehicle.' The Master said, 'Today we thresh grain, tomorrow we carry firewood.' Someone asked, 'What was it like when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor?' The Master said, 'An incense burner facing a corded chair.' He said, 'And after he met him?' The Master said, 'A door leaf facing an exposed pillar.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'If you ask about the family style, I answer about the family style.' He said, 'When the student does not ask about the family style, what then?' The Master said, 'Barbarians come and Han go.' Someone asked, 'I do not ask about the rest; I beg one word from the Master on the essential point.' The Master said, 'Have you got the essential point?' He said again, 'Chunda makes his offering. Take care.'

福州怡山長慶藏用禪師

Chan Master Zangyong of Changqing in Yishan, Fuzhou

上堂。眾集。以扇子拋向地上曰。愚人謂金是土。智者作麼生。後生可畏。不可總守愚去也。還有人道得麼。出來道看。時有僧出禮拜。退後而立。師曰。別更作麼生。曰。請和尚明鑑。師曰。千年桃核。問。如何是伽藍。師曰。長溪莆田。曰。如何是伽藍中人。師曰。新羅白水。問。如何是靈泉正主。師曰。南山北山。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。齋前廚蒸南國飯。午後爐煎北苑茶。問。法身還受苦也無。師曰。地獄豈是天堂。曰。恁麼則受苦去也。師曰。有甚麼罪過。

Ascending the hall, the assembly gathered. He threw his fan to the ground and said, 'Fools say gold is earth. What will the wise do? The young are to be feared — you cannot all keep to foolishness. Is there anyone who can speak? Come forward and speak.' Then a monk came forward, bowed, stepped back and stood. The Master said, 'Speak of something else.' He said, 'I beg the Reverend's clear mirror.' The Master said, 'A peach pit of a thousand years.' Someone asked, 'What is the monastery?' The Master said, 'Changxi and Putian.' He said, 'What is the man within the monastery?' The Master said, 'Silla and White Water.' Someone asked, 'What is the true master of the numinous spring?' The Master said, 'South Mountain and North Mountain.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'Before the meal the kitchen steams southern rice; after noon the stove brews Beiyuan tea.' Someone asked, 'Does the dharma body still suffer?' The Master said, 'How could hell be a heaven?' He said, 'If so, then it suffers.' The Master said, 'What fault is there in that?'

福州永隆院彥端禪師

Chan Master Yanduan of Yonglong Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。大眾雲集。師從座起作舞。謂眾曰。會麼。對曰。不會。師曰。山僧不捨道法而現凡夫事。作麼生不會。問。本自圓成。為甚麼卻分明晦。師曰。汝自撿責看。

Ascending the hall, the great assembly gathered like clouds. The Master rose from his seat and danced, and said to the assembly, 'Do you understand?' They answered, 'We do not.' The Master said, 'This mountain monk does not abandon the Dharma of the Way but manifests the affairs of ordinary men — how can you not understand?' Someone asked, 'Originally perfect and complete of itself — why then is it clearly obscured?' The Master said, 'Examine and reproach yourself.'

福州林陽瑞峰院志端禪師

Chan Master Zhiduan of Ruifeng Monastery in Linyang, Fuzhou

本州人也。初參安國。見僧問。如何是萬象之中獨露身。國舉一指。其僧不薦。師於是冥契玄旨。乃入室白曰。適來見那僧問話。志端有箇省處。國曰。汝見甚麼道理。師亦舉一指曰。這箇是甚麼。國然之。師禮謝。住後。上堂。舉拂子曰。曹溪用不盡底。時人喚作頭角生。山僧拈來拂蚊子。薦得乾坤陷落。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。木馬走似煙。石人趂不及。問。如何是禪。師曰。今年旱去年。曰。如何是道。師曰。冬田半折耗。問。如何是學人自己。師與一踏。僧作接勢。師便與一摑。僧無語。師曰。賺殺人。問。如何是迥絕人煙處佛法。師曰。巔山峭峙碧芬芳。曰。恁麼則一真之理。華野不殊。師曰。不是這箇道理。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。竹箸一文一雙。有僧夜參。師曰。阿誰。曰。某甲。師曰。泉州砂糖。舶上檳榔。僧良久。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。你若會即廓清五蘊。吞盡十方。開寶元年八月。遺偈曰。來年二月二。別汝暫相棄。燒灰散四林。免占檀那地。明年正月二十八日。州民競入山瞻禮。師尚無恙。參問如常。至二月一日。州牧牽諸官同至山。詰伺經宵。二日齋罷。上堂辭眾。時圓應長老出問。雲愁露慘。大眾嗚呼。請師一言。未在告別。師垂一足。應曰。法鏡不臨於此土。寶月又照於何方。師曰。非君境界。應曰。恁麼則漚生漚滅還歸水。師去師來是本常。師長噓一聲。下座歸方丈。安坐至亥時。問眾曰。世尊滅度。是何時節。眾曰。二月十五日子時。師曰。吾今日子時前。言訖長往。

He was a man of that prefecture. When he first studied under Anguo, he saw a monk ask, 'What is it to be alone exposed amid the myriad things?' Anguo raised one finger. That monk did not awaken. The Master thereby silently matched the mysterious purport, and entering the room he said, 'Just now, hearing that monk's question, Zhiduan had a place of awakening.' Anguo said, 'What principle have you seen?' The Master also raised one finger and said, 'What is this?' Anguo agreed. The Master bowed in thanks. After he had taken up residence, he ascended the hall. He raised his whisk and said, 'What Caoxi could not use up, people of the time call the horns coming forth. This mountain monk picks it up to brush away mosquitoes — awaken to it and heaven and earth collapse.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A wooden horse runs like smoke, and a stone man cannot catch up.' Someone asked, 'What is Chan?' The Master said, 'This year is dry, last year was dry.' He said, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'The winter field is half lost.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's own self?' The Master gave him a kick. The monk made as if to catch it. The Master then gave him a slap. The monk was silent. The Master said, 'He cheats people to death.' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha Dharma in a place utterly cut off from human smoke?' The Master said, 'A peak mountain stands sheer in green fragrance.' He said, 'If so, then the principle of the one true is no different in splendor or wildness.' The Master said, 'That is not the principle.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Bamboo chopsticks, one coin a pair.' A monk came for night study. The Master said, 'Who is it?' He said, 'It is I.' The Master said, 'Quanzhou rock sugar, betel nut from the sea ship.' The monk was silent a long while. The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'If you understood, you would clear away the five aggregates and swallow all ten directions.' In the eighth month of the first year of Kaibao he left a verse: 'On the second day of the second month next year, I shall leave you for a while. Burn my ashes and scatter them in the four groves, so as not to occupy the donor's land.' On the twenty-eighth day of the first month of the next year, the people of the prefecture vied to enter the mountain to pay reverence. The Master was still well, and answered questions as usual. On the first day of the second month, the prefect brought the officials with him to the mountain and questioned him through the night. On the second day, after the meal, he ascended the hall to take leave of the assembly. Then the elder Yuanying came forward and asked, 'Clouds grieve and dew is bleak, and the assembly wails. I beg one word from the Master before you take leave.' The Master lowered one foot. Yuanying said, 'The Dharma mirror does not come to this land; where else does the jewel moon shine?' The Master said, 'It is not your realm.' Yuanying said, 'If so, then froth born and froth extinguished still return to water; the Master going and the Master coming are the eternal constant.' The Master let out a long sigh, descended from the seat and returned to his quarters. He sat calmly until the hour of hai, and asked the assembly, 'When the World-Honored One passed into extinction, what hour was it?' The assembly said, 'The hour of zi on the fifteenth day of the second month.' The Master said, 'I shall go before the hour of zi today.' Having spoken, he passed away.

福州仙宗院明禪師

Chan Master Ming of Xianzong Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂曰。幸有如是門風。何不炟赫地紹續取去。若也紹得。不在三界。若出三界。即壞三界。若在三界。即礙三界。不礙不壞。是出三界。是不出三界。恁麼徹去。堪為佛法種子。人天有賴。時有僧問。拏雲不假風雷便。迅浪如何透得身。師曰。何得棄本逐末。

Ascending the hall he said, 'Fortunately there is such a family style — why not continue it with blazing brilliance? If you can continue it, you are not in the three realms. If you leave the three realms, you destroy the three realms. If you are in the three realms, you are hindered by the three realms. Neither hindered nor destroyed — is that leaving the three realms, or not leaving the three realms? Penetrate it in this way, and you are fit to be a seed of the Buddha Dharma, and men and gods have something to rely on.' Then a monk asked, 'Without borrowing the convenience of wind and thunder to grasp the clouds, how can one pierce through the swift waves?' The Master said, 'How can you abandon the root and chase the branches?'

福州安國院祥禪師

Chan Master Xiang of Anguo Monastery in Fuzhou

上堂。良久失聲曰。大是無端。雖然如此。事不得已。於中若有未覯者。更開方便。還會麼。時有僧問。不涉方便。乞師垂慈。師曰。汝問我答。即是方便。問。應物現形。如水中月。如何是月。師提起拂子。僧曰。古人為甚麼道水月無形。師曰。見甚麼。問。如何是宗乘中事。師曰。淮軍散後。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。眾眼難謾。

Ascending the hall, after a long while he cried out, 'This is utterly without cause. And yet, things cannot be helped. If there are any among you who have not yet met it, I will open a further expedient. Do you understand?' Then a monk asked, 'Without involving expedients, I beg the Master to bestow compassion.' The Master said, 'That you ask and I answer is already an expedient.' Someone asked, 'Responding to things and manifesting forms is like the moon in water. What is the moon?' The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'Why did the ancients say the water moon has no form?' The Master said, 'What do you see?' Someone asked, 'What are the matters within the ancestral vehicle?' The Master said, 'After the Huai army scattered.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'The eyes of the crowd are hard to deceive.'

睡龍溥禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Pu of Shuilong

漳州保福院清豁禪師

Chan Master Qinghuo of Baofu Monastery in Zhangzhou

福州人也。少而聰敏。禮皷山國師。落髮稟具。後謁大章山如庵主(語具如庵主章)。後參睡龍。龍問曰。豁闍黎見何尊宿來。還悟也未。曰。清豁甞訪大章。得箇信處。龍於是上堂集眾。召曰。豁闍黎出來。對眾燒香說悟處。老僧與汝證明。師出眾。乃拈香曰。香已拈了。悟即不悟。龍大悅而許之。上堂。山僧今與諸人作箇和頭。和者默然。不和者說。良久曰。和與不和。切在如今。山僧帶些子事。珍重。僧問。家貧遭劫時如何。師曰。不能盡底去。曰。為甚麼不能盡底去。師曰。賊是家親。曰。既是家親。為甚麼翻成家賊。師曰。內既無應。外不能為。曰。忽然捉敗時如何。師曰。內外絕消息。曰。捉敗後功歸何所。師曰。賞亦未曾聞。曰。恁麼則勞而無功也。師曰。功即不無。成而不處。曰。既是成功。為甚麼不處。師曰。不見道。太平本是將軍致。不使將軍見大平。問。如何是西來意。師曰。胡人泣。漢人悲。師忽捨眾。欲入山待滅。乃遺偈曰。世人休說路行難。鳥道羊膓咫尺間。珍重薴谿谿畔水。汝歸滄海我歸山。即往貴湖卓庵。未幾謂門人曰。吾滅後將遺骸施諸蟲蟻。勿置墳塔。言訖入湖頭山。坐磐石。儼然長往。門人稟遺命。延留七日。竟無蟲蟻之所侵食。遂就闍維。散於林野。

He was a man of Fuzhou. Clever and sharp from youth, he paid homage to the National Teacher of Gushan and had his hair cut off and received the precepts. Later he visited the hermit Ru of Mount Dazhang (the story is in the hermit Ru's chapter). Afterward he studied under Shuilong. Shuilong asked, 'Acharya Huo, what venerable men have you seen, and have you awakened or not?' He said, 'Qinghuo once visited Dazhang and got a place of confidence.' Shuilong then ascended the hall and gathered the assembly, and called, 'Acharya Huo, come forward, burn incense before the assembly and speak of your awakening, and this old monk will certify you.' The Master came out from the assembly, picked up incense and said, 'The incense is already picked up; as for awakening, I am not awakened.' Shuilong was greatly delighted and approved him. Ascending the hall: 'Today this mountain monk makes a harmony with you people. Those who harmonize keep silent; those who do not harmonize speak.' After a long while he said, 'Harmony and non-harmony both lie right now. This mountain monk has a little business. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is it like when a poor family meets with robbers?' The Master said, 'They cannot take everything to the bottom.' He said, 'Why can they not take everything to the bottom?' The Master said, 'The thief is a kinsman of the house.' He said, 'Since he is a kinsman, why does he turn into a house thief?' The Master said, 'Since there is no response within, he cannot act without.' He said, 'And if he is suddenly caught out?' The Master said, 'Inside and outside the news is cut off.' He said, 'After he is caught out, where does the merit go?' The Master said, 'I have never even heard of a reward.' He said, 'If so, then one labors without merit.' The Master said, 'Merit is not absent, but having succeeded he does not dwell in it.' He said, 'Since he has succeeded, why does he not dwell in it?' The Master said, 'Have you not heard it said that peace is brought about by the general, but the general is not allowed to see the peace?' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'The barbarian weeps, the Han man grieves.' The Master suddenly left the assembly, intending to enter the mountain to await his end, and left a verse: 'Let the world not say the road is hard to walk; the bird path and the sheep's gut are but a foot away. Farewell, waters by the banks of the Zhu Stream; you return to the blue sea, I return to the mountain.' He then went to Zhuoyan at Gui Lake. Not long after he told his disciples, 'After my death, give my remains to the insects and ants; do not build a tomb or stupa.' Having spoken, he entered Hutou Mountain, sat on a great rock, and solemnly passed away. His disciples followed his last command and kept him seven days, and in the end no insect or ant ate him; so he was cremated and his ashes scattered in the forest and fields.

金輪觀禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Guan of Jinlun

南嶽金輪和尚

The Reverend of Jinlun in Nanyue

僧問。如何是金輪第一句。師曰。鈍漢。問。如何是金輪一隻箭。師曰。過也。曰。臨機一箭。誰是當者。師曰。倒也。

A monk asked, 'What is the first phrase of Jinlun?' The Master said, 'Dullard.' Someone asked, 'What is Jinlun's one arrow?' The Master said, 'It has gone past.' He said, 'One arrow at the moment of opportunity — who is the one it hits?' The Master said, 'It has fallen.'

白兆圓禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Baizhao

鼎州大龍山智洪弘濟禪師

Chan Master Zhihong Hongji of Dalong Mountain in Dingzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。即汝便是。曰。如何領會。師曰。更嫌缽盂無柄那。問。如何是微妙。師曰。風送水聲來枕畔。月移山影到床前。問。如何是極則處。師曰。懊惱三春月。不及九秋光。問。色身敗壞。如何是堅固法身。師曰。山花開似錦。㵎水湛如藍。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'You are it.' He said, 'How does one understand it?' The Master said, 'Do you still dislike that the alms bowl has no handle?' Someone asked, 'What is the subtle and wondrous?' The Master said, 'The wind brings the sound of water to the pillow's edge; the moon moves the mountain's shadow to the bedside.' Someone asked, 'What is the ultimate place?' The Master said, 'The vexing moon of the three springs is not equal to the light of the ninth autumn.' Someone asked, 'When the form body decays, what is the indestructible dharma body?' The Master said, 'Mountain flowers bloom like brocade; the ravine stream is clear as blue.'

襄州白馬山行靄禪師

Chan Master Xing'ai of White Horse Mountain in Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。井底蝦蟇吞卻月。問。如何是白馬正眼。師曰。面南看北斗。

A monk asked, 'What is the pure dharma body?' The Master said, 'A frog at the bottom of the well swallows the moon.' Someone asked, 'What is the true eye of White Horse?' The Master said, 'Facing south, look at the Dipper.'

安州白兆竺乾院懷楚禪師

Chan Master Huaichu of Zhuqian Monastery in Baizhao, Anzhou

僧問。如何是句句須行玄路。師曰。㳂路直到湖南。問。如何是師子兒。師曰。德山嗣龍潭。問。如何是和尚為人一句。師曰。與汝素無冤讐。一句元在這裡。曰。未審在甚麼方所。師曰。這鈍漢。

A monk asked, 'What is it to make every phrase walk the mysterious road?' The Master said, 'Follow the road straight to Hunan.' Someone asked, 'What is the lion's cub?' The Master said, 'Deshan succeeds Longtan.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's one phrase for the sake of others?' The Master said, 'I have never had any grievance with you. The one phrase is originally right here.' He said, 'I wonder in what place it is?' The Master said, 'You dullard.'

蘄州四祖山清皎禪師

Chan Master Qingjiao of Fourth Ancestor Mountain in Qizhou

福州王氏子。僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。楷師巖畔祥雲起。寶壽峰前震法雷。臨終遺偈曰。吾年八十八。滿頭垂白髮。顒顒鎮雙峰。明明千江月。黃梅揚祖教。白兆承宗訣。日日告兒孫。勿令有斷絕。

He was a son of the Wang family of Fuzhou. A monk asked, 'Whose song does the Master sing, and whose lineage does his school continue?' The Master said, 'Auspicious clouds rise beside Master Kai's rock; the Dharma thunder rolls before Baoshou Peak.' At the end of his life he left a verse: 'I am eighty-eight years old, my head covered with white hair. Solemnly I guard the twin peaks; clearly the moon on a thousand rivers. Huangmei spread the Ancestor's teaching, Baizhao received the lineage's secret. Day by day I tell my sons and grandsons: do not let it be cut off.'

蘄州三角山志操禪師

Chan Master Zhicao of Sanjiao Mountain in Qizhou

僧問。教法甚多。宗歸一貫。和尚為甚麼說得許多周由者也。師曰。為你周由者也。曰。請和尚即古即今。師以手敲繩床。

A monk asked, 'The teachings are very many, but the school returns to one thread. Why does the Reverend speak of so many complications?' The Master said, 'Because of your complications.' He said, 'Please, Master, be both ancient and present.' The Master rapped the corded chair with his hand.

晉州興教師普禪師

Chan Master Shishipu of Xingjiao in Jinzhou

僧問。盈龍宮溢海藏真詮即不問。如何是教外別傳底法。師曰。眼裡耳裡鼻裡。曰。祇此便是否。師曰。是甚麼。僧便喝。師亦喝。問。僧近離甚處。曰。下寨。師曰。還逢著賊麼。曰。今日捉下。師曰。放汝三十棒。

A monk asked, 'I do not ask about the true exposition that fills the dragon palace and overflows the sea treasury — what is the Dharma transmitted separately outside the teachings?' The Master said, 'In the eye, in the ear, in the nose.' He said, 'Is this it?' The Master said, 'What is it?' The monk shouted. The Master also shouted. He asked the monk, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'From breaking camp.' The Master said, 'Did you meet any bandits?' He said, 'I have caught them today.' The Master said, 'I let you off thirty blows.'

蘄州三角山真鑑禪師

Chan Master Zhenjian of Sanjiao Mountain in Qizhou

僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。忽然行正令。便見下堂堦。

A monk asked, 'Whose song does the Master sing, and whose lineage does his school continue?' The Master said, 'When the correct command is suddenly carried out, at once you see the steps descending from the hall.'

郢州太陽山行沖禪師

Chan Master Xingchong of Taiyang Mountain in Yingzhou

僧問。如何是無盡藏。師良久。僧無語。師曰。近前來。僧才近前。師曰。去。

A monk asked, 'What is the inexhaustible treasury?' The Master was silent a long while. The monk was speechless. The Master said, 'Come closer.' The monk had just come closer, and the Master said, 'Go.'

青原下八世

The eighth generation below Qingyuan

黃龍機禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ji of Huanglong

洛京紫葢善沼禪師

Chan Master Shanzhao of Zikai in Luojing

僧問。死中得活時如何。師曰。抱鎌刮骨熏天地。炮烈棺中求託生。問。才生便死時如何。師曰。賴得覺疾。

A monk asked, 'What is it like to come to life within death?' The Master said, 'Holding a sickle and scraping the bone, scorching heaven and earth; in the blazing coffin, seeking rebirth.' Someone asked, 'What is it like to be born and at once die?' The Master said, 'Thankfully the awakening is swift.'

眉州黃龍繼達禪師

Chan Master Jida of Huanglong in Meizhou

僧問。如何是衲。師曰。針去線不回。曰。如何是帔。師曰。橫鋪四世界。竪葢一乾坤。曰。道滿到來時如何。師曰。要羹與羹。要飯與飯。問。黃龍出世．金翅鳥滿空飛時如何。師曰。問汝金翅鳥。還得飽也無。

A monk asked, 'What is the robe?' The Master said, 'The needle goes and the thread does not return.' He said, 'What is the shawl?' The Master said, 'Spread sideways it covers the four worlds; laid down it covers one heaven and earth.' He said, 'What about when the Way is full and one arrives?' The Master said, 'If you want soup, give you soup; if you want rice, give you rice.' Someone asked, 'When Huanglong comes into the world and the golden-winged birds fill the sky in flight, what then?' The Master said, 'I ask you, golden-winged bird: are you full or not?'

棗樹和尚

The Reverend of the Jujube Tree

第二世住。問僧。發足甚處。曰。閩中。師曰。俊哉。曰。謝師指示。師曰。屈哉。僧作禮。師曰。我與麼道。落在甚麼處。僧無語。師曰。彼自無瘡。勿傷之也。僧參。師乃問。未到這裡時。在甚處安身立命。僧叉手近前。師亦叉手近前。相竝而立。僧曰。某甲未到此時。和尚與誰竝立。師指背後曰。莫是伊麼。僧無對。師曰。不獨自謾。兼謾老僧。僧作禮。師曰。正是自謾。僧鉏地次。見師來乃不審。師曰。見阿誰了便不審。曰。見師不問訊。禮式不全。問曰。卻是孤負老僧。其僧歸舉似首座曰。和尚近日可畏。座曰。作麼生。僧舉前語。座曰。和尚近日可謂為人切。師聞乃打首座七棒。座曰。某甲恁麼道。未有過在。亂打作麼。師曰。枉吃我多少鹽醬。又打七棒。僧辭。師乃問。若到諸方。有人問你老僧此間法道。作麼生祇對。曰。待問即道。師曰。何處有無口底佛。曰。祇這也還難。師竪拂子曰。還見麼。曰。何處有無眼底佛。師曰。祇這也還難。僧遶禪床一匝而出。師曰。善能祇對。僧便喝。師曰。老僧不識子。曰。用識作麼。師敲禪床三下。

He was the second generation to reside there. He asked a monk, 'Where did you set out from?' He said, 'From Minzhong.' The Master said, 'How excellent.' He said, 'Thank you, Master, for pointing it out.' The Master said, 'How unfair.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'When I speak like this, where does it fall?' The monk was silent. The Master said, 'He himself has no sore; do not wound him.' A monk came to study. The Master then asked, 'Before you came here, where did you settle your body and establish your life?' The monk clasped his hands and came forward. The Master also clasped his hands and came forward, and they stood side by side. The monk said, 'Before I came here, with whom was the Reverend standing side by side?' The Master pointed behind him and said, 'Is it not him?' The monk had no reply. The Master said, 'You do not deceive yourself alone; you deceive this old monk as well.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'This is precisely deceiving yourself.' A monk was hoeing the ground and saw the Master coming, and did not greet him. The Master said, 'Having seen whom, do you not greet him?' He said, 'Seeing the Master and not inquiring after him — the form of courtesy is incomplete.' The Master said, 'Then you have betrayed this old monk.' That monk went back and told the prior, 'The Reverend has lately become fearsome.' The prior said, 'How so?' The monk brought up the earlier words. The prior said, 'The Reverend has lately been exceedingly earnest for others.' The Master heard of it and gave the prior seven blows. The prior said, 'What I said had no fault. Why beat me at random?' The Master said, 'You have eaten so much of my salt and sauce for nothing.' He beat him seven more blows. A monk took his leave. The Master then asked, 'If you go to all quarters and someone asks you about this old monk's Dharma Way here, how will you answer?' He said, 'When asked, I will speak.' The Master said, 'Where is there a Buddha without a mouth?' He said, 'Even this is still hard.' The Master held up his whisk and said, 'Do you see?' He said, 'Where is there a Buddha without eyes?' The Master said, 'Even this is still hard.' The monk circled the corded chair once and went out. The Master said, 'You answer well.' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'This old monk does not know you.' He said, 'What use is knowing?' The Master rapped the corded chair three times.

興元府玄都山澄禪師

Chan Master Cheng of Xuandu Mountain in Xingyuan Prefecture

僧問。喜得趨方丈。家風事若何。師曰。西風開曉露。明月正當天。曰。如何拯濟。師曰。金鷄樓上一下皷。問。如何是沙門行。師曰。一切不如。

A monk asked, 'Glad to have hurried to the abbot's quarters — how are the matters of the family style?' The Master said, 'The west wind opens the morning dew; the bright moon is right overhead.' He said, 'How does one rescue and save?' The Master said, 'One drumbeat on the golden rooster tower.' Someone asked, 'What is the practice of a monk?' The Master said, 'Everything is not as good.'

嘉州黑水和尚

The Reverend of Black Water in Jiazhou

初參黃龍。便問。雪覆蘆花時如何。龍曰。猛烈。師曰。不猛烈。龍又曰。猛烈。師又曰。不猛烈。龍便打。師於此有省。即便禮拜。

When he first studied under Huanglong, he at once asked, 'What is it like when snow covers the reed flowers?' Huanglong said, 'Fierce.' The Master said, 'Not fierce.' Huanglong again said, 'Fierce.' The Master again said, 'Not fierce.' Huanglong then beat him. At this the Master had an awakening and bowed at once.

鄂州黃龍智顋禪師

Chan Master Zhisai of Huanglong in Ezhou

僧問。如何是諸佛之本源。師曰。即此一問是何源。曰。恁麼則諸佛無異去也。師曰。延平劒已成龍去。猶有刻舟求底人。

A monk asked, 'What is the source of the Buddhas?' The Master said, 'What is the source of this very question?' He said, 'If so, then the Buddhas are without difference.' The Master said, 'The Yanping sword has already become a dragon and gone; there are still men who carve the boat to seek it.'

眉州昌福達禪師

Chan Master Dada of Changfu in Meizhou

僧問。學人來問師則對。不問時師意如何。師曰。謝師兄指示。問。本來則不問。如何是今日事。師曰。師兄這問大好。曰。學人不會時如何。師曰。謾得即得。問。國有寶刀。誰人得見。師曰。師兄遠來不易。曰。此刀作何形狀。師曰。要也道。不要也道。曰。請師道。師曰。難逢難遇。問。石牛水上臥時如何。師曰。異中還有異。妄計不浮沉。曰。便恁麼去時如何。師曰。翅天日落。把土成金。

A monk asked, 'When the student comes and asks, the master answers; when he does not ask, what is the master's meaning?' The master said, 'Thank you, senior, for pointing it out.' A monk asked, 'The original I do not ask; what is the matter of today?' The master said, 'That question of yours is very good, senior.' He said, 'What if the student does not understand?' The master said, 'If you can be deceived, then fine.' A monk asked, 'The state has a precious sword; who may see it?' The master said, 'Senior, it was not easy to come from afar.' He said, 'What shape is this sword?' The master said, 'Whether you want it said or not, it must be said.' He said, 'Please, master, say it.' The master said, 'Hard to meet, hard to encounter.' A monk asked, 'What about when a stone ox lies down on the water?' The master said, 'Within the strange there is more strange; false reckoning neither floats nor sinks.' He said, 'What about going on like that?' The master said, 'Wings span the sky as the sun sets, and earth is turned to gold.'

呂巖真人

The Perfected Man Lu Yan

字洞賓。京川人也。唐末三舉不第。偶於長安酒肄遇鍾離權。授以延命術。自爾人莫之究。甞遊廬山歸宗。書鐘樓壁曰。一日清閑自在身。六神和合報平安。丹田有寶休尋道。對境無心莫問禪。未幾。道經黃龍山。覩紫雲成葢。疑有異人。乃入謁。值龍擊皷陞堂。龍見。意必呂公也。欲誘而進。厲聲曰。座傍有竊法者。呂毅然出。問。一粒粟中藏世界。半升鐺內煑山川。且道此意如何。龍指曰。這守屍鬼。呂曰。爭奈囊有長生不死藥。龍曰。饒經八萬劫。終是落空亡。呂薄訝。飛劒脅之。劒不能入。遂再拜。求指歸。龍詰曰。半升鐺內煑山川即不問。如何是一粒粟中藏世界。呂於言下頓契。作偈曰。棄卻瓢囊摵碎琴。如今不戀汞中金。自從一見黃龍後。始覺從前錯用心。龍囑令加護。後謁潭州智度覺禪師。有曰。餘遊韶郴。東下湘江。今見覺公。觀其禪學精明。性源淳潔。促膝靜坐。收光內照。一衲之外無餘衣。一缽之外無餘食。達生死岸。破煩惱殻。方今佛衣寂寂兮無傳。禪理懸懸兮幾絕。扶而興者。其在吾師乎。聊作一絕奉記。達者推心方濟物。聖賢傳法不離真。請師開說西來意。七祖如今未有人。

His courtesy name was Dongbin. He was a man of Jingchuan. Late in the Tang he failed the examinations three times. By chance he met Zhongli Quan in a wine shop in Chang'an, who taught him the art of prolonging life. From then on no one could fathom him. He once visited Guizong on Mount Lu and wrote on the wall of the bell tower: 'One day of leisure and freedom, the six spirits in harmony and at peace. The cinnabar field has its treasure — no need to seek the Way; facing objects with no mind — do not ask about Chan.' Not long afterward, as he was traveling the road through Huanglong Mountain, he saw purple clouds forming a canopy and suspected a remarkable person was there, so he went in to pay his respects. It happened that Huanglong had struck the drum and ascended the hall. When Huanglong saw him, he knew he must be Lord Lu, and wanting to lure him forward, he said in a stern voice, 'There is a stealer of the Dharma beside the seat.' Lu boldly came forward and asked, 'A single grain of millet contains the world, and within a half-pint cauldron the mountains and rivers are boiled. Tell me, what does this mean?' Huanglong pointed at him and said, 'This corpse-guarding ghost.' Lu said, 'What of the elixir of deathlessness in my bag?' Huanglong said, 'Even after eighty thousand kalpas, in the end you fall into empty annihilation.' Lu was somewhat startled, and flew his sword to threaten him. The sword could not enter, so he bowed again and asked to be shown the way. Huanglong pressed him: 'Boiling mountains and rivers in a half-pint cauldron I do not ask; what is it to contain the world in a single grain of millet?' At these words Lu was suddenly enlightened, and made a verse: 'I cast away gourd and bag and smash the lute; now I no longer cling to gold within quicksilver. Only since meeting Huanglong have I begun to feel that my former use of mind was wrong.' Huanglong charged him to guard it well. Later he visited Chan Master Zhidu Jue of Tanzhou and said: 'I traveled to Shao and Chen and went east down the Xiang River. Now I have met Master Jue, and I see that his study of Chan is clear and sharp and his nature-source pure and clean. Sitting knee to knee in quiet meditation, he gathers the light and shines it inward. Beyond one robe he has no other clothing, beyond one bowl no other food. He has reached the shore of birth and death and shattered the shell of affliction. Now the Buddha's robe is still and silent, with no one to transmit it; the principle of Chan hangs suspended and is nearly cut off. The one who will support and revive it — is it not my teacher? I have made one quatrain to record it: The one who understands pushes his heart forward to help beings; sages and worthies transmit the Dharma without leaving the truth. Please, master, open and speak the meaning of the coming from the west — as for the Seventh Patriarch, to this day there is no one.'

明招謙禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Qian of Mingzhao

處州報恩契從禪師

Chan Master Qicong of Baoen in Chuzhou

開堂陞座。乃曰。烈士鋒前。還有俊鷹俊鷂麼。放一箇出來看。良久曰。所以道。烈士鋒前少人陪。雲雷擊皷劒輪開。誰是大雄師子種。滿身鋒刃但出來。時有僧出。師曰。好著精彩。僧擬伸問。師曰。甚麼處去也。僧乃問。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。鋒鋩難擊。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。藏身無路。曰。欲出不出時如何。師曰。命似懸絲。曰。向去事如何。師曰。拶。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。還奈何麼。問。十二時中如何即是。師曰。金剛頂上看。曰。恁麼則人天有賴。師曰。汝又誑謼人天作麼。

On the day he opened the hall and mounted the seat, he said: 'Before the martyr's blade, is there a swift hawk or a swift falcon? Let one come out and show himself.' After a long silence he said: 'Therefore it is said: before the martyr's blade few keep him company; clouds and thunder strike the drum and the sword wheel opens. Who is of the great hero lion's seed? Though covered with blades, come forth.' A monk then came forward. The master said, 'Put forth your spirit well.' The monk was about to put a question. The master said, 'Where have you gone?' The monk then asked, 'What about before the lion has left its den?' The master said, 'Its edge is hard to strike.' He said, 'What about after it leaves the den?' The master said, 'Nowhere to hide.' He said, 'What about when it is about to leave and not yet leaving?' The master said, 'Its life hangs by a thread.' He said, 'What about the matter of going on?' The master said, 'Pressed.' A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Can you bear it?' A monk asked, 'How is it right through the twelve hours?' The master said, 'Look from the top of the vajra.' He said, 'Then gods and men have something to rely on.' The master said, 'Why do you again deceive gods and men?'

婺州普照瑜禪師

Chan Master Yu of Puzhao in Wuzhou

上堂。三十年後。大有人向這裡亡鋒結舌去在。良久曰。還會麼。灼然。若不是真師子兒。爭識得上來之機。時有僧問。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。眾獸徒然。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。狐絕萬裡。曰。欲出不出時如何。師曰。當沖者喪。曰。向去事如何。師曰。決在臨鋒。僧禮拜。師有頌曰。決在臨鋒處。天然師子機。嚬呻出三界。非祖莫能知。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'Thirty years from now, many people will lose their edge and tie their tongues here.' After a long silence he said, 'Do you understand? Clearly. If one is not a true lion's cub, how could he recognize the opportunity of coming up?' A monk then asked, 'What about before the lion has left its den?' The master said, 'The beasts are all in vain.' He said, 'What about after it leaves the den?' The master said, 'Foxes vanish for ten thousand li.' He said, 'What about when it is about to leave and not yet leaving?' The master said, 'Whoever charges against it dies.' He said, 'What about the matter of going on?' The master said, 'The decision lies at the edge of the blade.' The monk bowed. The master had a praise: 'The decision lies at the edge of the blade; the natural lion's opportunity. Snorting and groaning, it leaves the three realms; unless one is a patriarch, none can know it.'

婺州雙溪保初禪師

Chan Master Baochu of Shuangxi in Wuzhou

上堂。未透徹。不須呈。十方世界廓然明。孤峰頂上通機照。不用看他北斗星。僧問。九夏靈峰劒。請師不露鋒。師曰。未拍金鎻前何不問。曰。千般徒設用。難出髑髏前。師曰。背後礙殺人。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'If you have not penetrated through, there is no need to present it. The ten directions' worlds are vast and clear. On the summit of the lonely peak one penetrates the opportunity and shines; no need to look at the North Dipper star.' A monk asked, 'The sword of the nine summers' numinous peak — please, master, do not reveal its edge.' The master said, 'Why did you not ask before the golden lock was struck?' He said, 'A thousand kinds are set up in vain; it is hard to come out from before the skull.' The master said, 'What is behind you kills a person.'

處州湧泉究禪師

Chan Master Jiu of Yongquan in Chuzhou

上堂。良久曰。還有虎狼禪客麼。有則放出一箇來。僧才出。師曰。還知喪命處麼。曰。學人諮和尚。師曰。甚麼處去也。曰。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。抖㖃地。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。蓋天蓋地。曰。欲出不出時如何。師曰。一切人辨不得。曰。向去事如何。師曰。俊鷂亦迷蹤。

Ascending the hall, after a long silence he said, 'Is there any tiger-wolf Chan visitor? If so, let one come out.' A monk had just come forward. The master said, 'Do you know where life is lost?' He said, 'The student asks the reverend master.' The master said, 'Where have you gone?' He said, 'What about before the lion has left its den?' The master said, 'Trembling and rumbling.' He said, 'What about after it leaves the den?' The master said, 'Covering heaven and covering earth.' He said, 'What about when it is about to leave and not yet leaving?' The master said, 'No one can tell.' He said, 'What about the matter of going on?' The master said, 'Even a swift hawk loses its trace.'

衢州羅漢義禪師

Chan Master Yi of Luohan in Quzhou

上堂眾集。僧才出。師曰。不是好底。僧禮拜起。問。龍泉寶劒請師揮。師曰。甚麼處去也。曰。恁麼則龍谿南面盡鋒鋩。師曰。收取。問。不落古今請師道。師曰。還怪得麼。曰。猶落古今。師曰。莫錯。

Ascending the hall, the assembly gathered. A monk had just come forward. The master said, 'Not a good one.' The monk bowed, rose, and asked, 'The dragon spring precious sword — please, master, brandish it.' The master said, 'Where have you gone?' He said, 'Then the whole south face of Dragon Creek is edge.' The master said, 'Take it back.' A monk asked, 'Not falling into ancient or modern — please, master, say it.' The master said, 'Can you still blame it?' He said, 'It still falls into ancient and modern.' The master said, 'Do not be mistaken.'

羅漢琛禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Chen of Luohan

襄州清谿山洪進禪師

Chan Master Hongjin of Qingxi Mountain in Xiangzhou

在地藏時居第一座。一日地藏上堂。二僧出禮拜。藏曰。俱錯。二僧無語。下堂請益修山主。修曰。汝自巍巍堂堂。卻禮拜擬問他人。豈不是錯。師聞之不肯。修乃問。未審上座又作麼生。師曰。汝自迷暗。焉可為人。修憤然上方丈請益。藏指廊下曰。典座入庫頭去也。修乃省過。又一日。師問修山主曰。明知生是不生之理。為甚麼為生死之所流。修曰。筍畢竟成竹去。如今作篾使還得麼。師曰。汝向後自悟去在。修曰。某所見祇如此。上座意旨又如何。師指曰。這箇是監院房。那箇是典座房。修即禮謝。住後。僧問。眾盲摸象。各說異端。忽遇明眼人。又作麼生。師曰。汝但舉似諸方。師經行次。眾僧隨從。乃謂眾曰。古人有甚麼言句。大家商量。時有從漪上座出眾擬問次。師曰。這沒毛驢。漪渙然省悟。

When he was with Dizang he held the position of first seat. One day Dizang ascended the hall, and two monks came forward and bowed. Dizang said, 'Both wrong.' The two monks had nothing to say. After coming down from the hall they asked the mountain master Xiu for instruction. Xiu said, 'You are lofty and magnificent yourselves, yet you bow and intend to question another — is that not wrong?' When the master heard this he did not approve. Xiu then asked, 'I wonder what the senior would do?' The master said, 'You are deluded and dark yourself; how can you be a teacher to others?' Xiu angrily went up to the abbot's quarters to ask for instruction. Dizang pointed down the corridor and said, 'The steward has gone into the storehouse keeper's room.' Xiu then recognized his fault. Another day the master asked the mountain master Xiu, 'Knowing clearly that birth is the principle of non-birth, why is one swept along by birth and death?' Xiu said, 'A shoot will after all become bamboo; can it be used as a bamboo strip now?' The master said, 'You will awaken on your own later.' Xiu said, 'What I see is only this. What is the senior's purport?' The master pointed and said, 'This is the supervisor's room, and that is the steward's room.' Xiu then bowed in thanks. After he took up residence, a monk asked, 'Blind men all feeling the elephant, each speaking of a different extreme. Suppose they suddenly meet a clear-eyed person, what then?' The master said, 'Just report it to the various regions.' Once, as the master was walking in meditation with the monks following him, he told them, 'Whatever sayings the ancients had, let us all discuss them.' At that time Senior Congyi came forward from the assembly and was about to ask a question. The master said, 'This hairless donkey.' Congyi was suddenly enlightened.

昇州清涼院休復悟空禪師

Chan Master Wukong Xiufu of Qingliang Monastery in Shengzhou

北海王氏子。幼出家。十九納戒。甞自謂曰。苟尚能詮。則為滯筏。將趣凝寂。復患墮空。既進退莫決。捨二何之。乃參尋宗匠。依地藏。經年不契。直得成病入涅槃堂。一夜藏去看。乃問。復上座安樂麼。師曰。某甲為和尚因緣背。藏指燈籠曰。見麼。師曰。見。藏曰。祇這箇也不背。師於言下有省。後修山主問訊地藏。乃曰。某甲百劫千生。曾與和尚違背。來此者又值和尚不安。藏遂竪起拄杖曰。祇這箇也不背。師忽然契悟。後繼法眼住崇壽。江南國主創清涼道場。延請居之。上堂。古聖才生下。便周行七步。目顧四方。雲天上天下。唯我獨尊。他便有這箇方便奇特。祇如諸上座初生下時。有甚麼奇特。試舉看。若道無。即對面諱卻。若道有。又作麼生通得箇消息。還會麼。上座幸然有奇特事。因甚麼不知去。珍重。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。汝是眾生。曰。還肯也無。師曰。虗施此問。問。如何是西來意。師曰。汝道此土還有麼。問。省要處乞師一言。師曰。珍重。問。如何是道。師曰。本來無一物。何處有塵埃。僧禮拜。師曰。莫錯會。問。如何是一塵入正受。師曰。色即空。曰。如何是諸塵三昧起。師曰。空即色。問。諸餘即不問。如何是悟空一句。師曰。兩句也。問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼百鳥銜華。師曰。未見四祖。曰。見後為甚麼不銜華。師曰。見四祖。問。如何是自己事。師曰。幾處問人來。問。古人得箇甚麼即便休歇去。師曰。汝得箇甚麼。即不休歇去。問。如何是學人出身處。師曰。千般比不得。萬般況不及。曰。請和尚道。師曰。古亦有。今亦有。問。如何是亡僧面前觸目菩提。師曰。問取髑髏後人。問。毒龍奮迅．萬象同然時如何。師曰。你甚麼處得這箇問頭。問。忠座主講甚麼經。曰。法華經。師曰。若有說法華經處。我現寶塔當為證明。大德講甚麼人證明。

He was a son of the Wang family of Beihai. He left home young and received the precepts at nineteen. He once said to himself: 'If one still relies on what can be explained, one is stalled on the raft. If one heads for still quiescence, one risks falling into emptiness. Since I can decide neither to advance nor retreat, if I abandon both, where shall I go?' So he sought out master craftsmen and attached himself to Dizang. For a year he was not in accord, until he fell ill and entered the nirvana hall. One night Dizang came to see him and asked, 'Is the senior Fu at peace?' The master said, 'My conditions with the reverend master are contrary.' Dizang pointed at a lantern and said, 'Do you see it?' The master said, 'I see it.' Dizang said, 'Even this is not contrary.' At these words the master had an awakening. Later the mountain master Xiu came to greet Dizang and said, 'Through a hundred kalpas and a thousand lives I have gone against the reverend master. Coming here, I find the reverend master again unwell.' Dizang then raised his staff and said, 'Even this is not contrary.' The master was suddenly enlightened. Later he succeeded Fayan and dwelt at Chongshou. The lord of the state of Jiangnan founded the Qingliang Dharma seat and invited him to dwell there. Ascending the hall, he said: 'The ancient sage, as soon as he was born, walked seven steps in a circle, looked in the four directions, and said, In heaven above and heaven below, I alone am honored. He had this wonderful skillful means. As for you seniors, when you were first born, what wonder did you have? Try to bring it up. If you say there was none, you are denying it to your face. If you say there was, how do you get the news through? Do you understand? You seniors are fortunate enough to have a wondrous matter — why do you not know it? Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is Buddha?' The master said, 'You are a living being.' He said, 'Do you approve or not?' The master said, 'You ask this question in vain.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said, 'Do you say this land has it?' A monk asked, 'As for the essential point, I beg the master for one word.' The master said, 'Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The master said, 'Originally there is not a single thing; where could dust arise?' The monk bowed. The master said, 'Do not misunderstand.' A monk asked, 'What is it for one dust mote to enter right absorption?' The master said, 'Form is emptiness.' He said, 'What is it for the samadhi of the dust motes to arise?' The master said, 'Emptiness is form.' A monk asked, 'The rest I do not ask; what is the phrase of understanding emptiness?' The master said, 'Two phrases already.' A monk asked, 'Before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch, why did a hundred birds bring him flowers?' The master said, 'He had not seen the Fourth Patriarch.' He said, 'After seeing him, why did they not bring flowers?' The master said, 'He had seen the Fourth Patriarch.' A monk asked, 'What is one's own matter?' The master said, 'How many places have you asked people?' A monk asked, 'What did the ancients attain that they at once rested?' The master said, 'What have you attained that you do not rest?' A monk asked, 'Where does the student come forth from?' The master said, 'A thousand kinds cannot compare, ten thousand kinds cannot match.' He said, 'Please, reverend master, say it.' The master said, 'The ancients had it too, and the moderns have it too.' A monk asked, 'What is the bodhi that meets the eye before a dead monk?' The master said, 'Ask the one behind the skull.' A monk asked, 'What about when the poisonous dragon rouses itself and the ten thousand images are all the same?' The master said, 'Where did you get that question?' A monk asked, 'What sutra does the lecturer Zhong expound?' He said, 'The Lotus Sutra.' The master said, 'Wherever the Lotus Sutra is expounded, I manifest a jeweled stupa to bear witness. Whom does the venerable have to bear witness?'

忠無對(法燈代雲。謝和尚證明)。天福八年十月朔日。遣僧命法眼禪師至。囑付訖。又致書辭國主。及三日夜子時入滅。國主令本院至時擊鐘。及期大眾普集。師端坐警眾曰。無棄光影。語絕告寂。時國主聞鐘。登高臺遙禮。深加哀慕。仍致祭．茶毗。收舍利建塔。

Zhong had no reply. (Fadeng offered in his stead: 'Thank you, reverend master, for bearing witness.') On the first day of the tenth month in the eighth year of Tianfu, he sent a monk to summon Chan Master Fayan, and after entrusting him with his charge, he also sent a letter taking leave of the lord of the state. In the third watch of the night he entered extinction. The lord of the state had the monastery strike the bell at that hour. When the time came the assembly gathered. The master sat upright and warned the assembly: 'Do not discard the light and shadow.' With these words he passed away. When the lord of the state heard the bell, he climbed a high terrace and bowed from afar, deeply grieving and longing for him. He had offerings made, had him cremated, and gathered the relics to build a stupa.

撫州龍濟紹修禪師

Chan Master Shaoxiu of Longji in Fuzhou

初與法眼同參地藏。所得謂已臻極。暨同辭至建陽。途中譚次。眼忽問。古人道萬象之中獨露身。是撥萬象不撥萬象。師曰。不撥。眼曰。說甚麼撥不撥。師懵然不知。卻回地藏。藏問。子去未久。何以卻來。師曰。有事未決。豈憚跋涉山川。藏曰。汝跋涉許多山川。也還不惡。師未喻旨。乃問。古人道萬象之中獨露身。意旨如何。藏曰。汝道古人撥萬象不撥萬象。師曰。不撥。藏曰。兩箇也。師駭然沈思。而卻問。未審古人撥萬象不撥萬象。藏曰。汝喚甚麼作萬象。師方省悟。再辭地藏。覲於法眼。眼語意與地藏開示前後如一。師後居龍濟山。不務聚徒。而學者奔至。上堂。具足凡夫法。凡夫不知。具足聖人法。聖人不會。聖人若會。即是凡夫。凡夫若知。即是聖人。此兩語一理二義。若人辨得。不妨於佛法中有箇入處。若辨不得。莫道不疑好。珍重。僧問。見色便見心。露柱是色。如何是心。師曰。幸然未會。具莫詐明頭。問。如何得出三界。師曰。是三界則一任出。曰。不是三界又如何。師曰。甚麼處不是三界。問。當陽舉唱。誰是委者。師曰。非汝不委。問。如何是萬法主。師曰。把將萬法來。問。承古有言。須彌納芥子。芥子納須彌。如何是須彌。師曰。穿破汝心。曰。如何是芥子。師曰。塞將汝眼。曰。如何納得。師曰。把將須彌與芥子來。曰。前言何在。師曰。前有甚麼言。問。僧甚處來。曰。翠巖。師曰。翠巖有何言句示徒。曰。尋常道。出門逢彌勒。入門見釋迦。師曰。與麼道又爭得。曰。和尚又如何。師曰。出門逢阿誰。入門見甚麼。僧於言下有省。上堂。聲色不到處。病在見聞。言詮不及處。過在唇吻。僧問。離卻聲色。請和尚道。師曰。聲色裡問將來。問。如何是學人心。師曰。阿誰恁麼問。問。劫火洞然。大千俱壞。未審這箇還壞也無。師曰。不壞。曰。為甚麼不壞。師曰。

He first studied under Dizang together with Fayan. He thought what he had attained had reached the utmost. When they took leave together and reached Jianyang, as they were talking on the road, Fayan suddenly asked, 'The ancients said that within the ten thousand images one body alone is exposed. Does that remove the ten thousand images or not?' The master said, 'It does not remove them.' Fayan said, 'What do you mean, remove or not remove?' The master was bewildered and did not know, so he went back to Dizang. Dizang asked, 'You have not been gone long; why have you come back?' The master said, 'I have a matter I have not settled; how could I fear the toil of crossing mountains and rivers?' Dizang said, 'You have crossed many mountains and rivers, and that is not bad either.' The master did not grasp the purport and asked, 'The ancients said that within the ten thousand images one body alone is exposed; what does that mean?' Dizang said, 'Do you say the ancients removed the ten thousand images or not?' The master said, 'They did not remove them.' Dizang said, 'Two of them.' The master was startled and pondered, then asked, 'I wonder whether the ancients removed the ten thousand images or not?' Dizang said, 'What do you call the ten thousand images?' The master then understood. He took leave of Dizang again and went to see Fayan. Fayan's words and meaning were the same before and after as Dizang's instruction. The master later dwelt on Longji Mountain and did not seek to gather students, yet students rushed to him. Ascending the hall, he said: 'The complete dharma of the ordinary man, the ordinary man does not know. The complete dharma of the sage, the sage does not understand. If the sage understood, he would be an ordinary man. If the ordinary man knew, he would be a sage. These two sayings are one principle and two meanings. If a person can tell them apart, he will have a place to enter in the Buddha Dharma. If he cannot, do not say you have no doubt. Take care.' A monk asked, 'Seeing form, one sees the mind. The exposed pillar is form; what is the mind?' The master said, 'Fortunate that you do not understand; do not pretend to be clear-headed.' A monk asked, 'How does one get out of the three realms?' The master said, 'If it is the three realms, then get out as you please.' He said, 'If it is not the three realms, what then?' The master said, 'What place is not the three realms?' A monk asked, 'When one raises and sings it before the sun, who is the one who understands?' The master said, 'It is not that you do not understand.' A monk asked, 'What is the master of the ten thousand dharmas?' The master said, 'Bring the ten thousand dharmas here.' A monk asked, 'There is an old saying: Sumeru contains a mustard seed, and a mustard seed contains Sumeru. What is Sumeru?' The master said, 'It pierces through your mind.' He said, 'What is a mustard seed?' The master said, 'It blocks your eyes.' He said, 'How do they contain?' The master said, 'Bring Sumeru and the mustard seed here.' He said, 'Where are the former words?' The master said, 'What former words were there?' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'Cuiyan.' The master said, 'What sayings does Cuiyan use to instruct his students?' He said, 'He ordinarily says, Going out the door you meet Maitreya; entering the door you see Shakyamuni.' The master said, 'Saying that, what does it get you?' He said, 'What about the reverend master?' The master said, 'Going out the door, whom do you meet? Entering the door, what do you see?' The monk had an awakening at these words. Ascending the hall, he said: 'Where sound and form do not reach, the fault lies in seeing and hearing. Where words cannot reach, the fault lies in the lips.' A monk asked, 'Apart from sound and form, please, reverend master, speak.' The master said, 'Ask it from within sound and form.' A monk asked, 'What is the student's mind?' The master said, 'Who asks like this?' A monk asked, 'When the kalpa-fire burns and the great thousand are all destroyed, I wonder whether this too is destroyed or not?' The master said, 'It is not destroyed.' He said, 'Why is it not destroyed?' The master said:

為同於大千。上堂。卷簾除卻障。閉戶生窒礙。祇這障與礙。古今無人會。會得是障礙。不會不自在。問。巨夜之中。以何為眼。師曰。暗。問。纖毫不隔。為甚麼覷之不見。師曰。作家弄影漢。問。古鏡未磨時如何。師曰。照破天地。曰。磨後如何。師曰。黑漆漆地。問。如何是普眼。師曰。纖毫覷不見。曰。為甚麼覷不見。師曰。為伊眼太大。問。如何是大敗壞底人。師曰。劫壞不曾遷。曰。此人還知有佛法也無。師曰。若知有佛法。渾成顛倒。曰。如何得不顛倒去。師曰。直須知有佛法。曰。如何是佛法。師曰。大敗壞。問。如何是學人常在底心。師曰。還曾問荷玉麼。曰。學人不會。師曰。若不會。夏末了。問取曹山去。師有頌曰。風動心搖樹。雲生性起塵。若明今日事。昧卻本來人。又。欲識解脫道。諸法不相到。眼耳絕見聞。聲色閙浩浩。又。初心未入道。不得閙浩浩。鐘聲裡薦取。皷聲裡顛倒。又。諸佛不出世。四十九年說。祖師不西來。少林有妙訣。又。萬法是心光。諸緣唯性曉。本無迷悟人。祇要今日了。

(The master continued:) 'Because it is the same as the great thousand.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'Rolling up the blind removes the obstruction; closing the door creates blockage. Just this obstruction and blockage — from ancient times to now no one understands it. If you understand, it is an obstruction; if you do not understand, you are not free.' A monk asked, 'In the great night, what serves as the eye?' The master said, 'Darkness.' A monk asked, 'Not a hair's breadth apart, why can one not see it?' The master said, 'A fellow who is an adept at playing with shadows.' A monk asked, 'What about before the ancient mirror is polished?' The master said, 'It shines through heaven and earth.' He said, 'What about after it is polished?' The master said, 'Pitch black.' A monk asked, 'What is the universal eye?' The master said, 'Not a hair's breadth can be seen.' He said, 'Why can it not be seen?' The master said, 'Because its eye is too big.' A monk asked, 'What is a person of great ruin?' The master said, 'When the kalpa is destroyed, it is never moved.' He said, 'Does such a person know there is a Buddha Dharma or not?' The master said, 'If he knew there was a Buddha Dharma, it would all become inverted.' He said, 'How does one avoid being inverted?' The master said, 'You must simply know there is a Buddha Dharma.' He said, 'What is the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'Great ruin.' A monk asked, 'What is the student's ever-present mind?' The master said, 'Have you ever asked Heyu?' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'If you do not understand, at the end of the summer, go ask Caoshan.' The master had praises: 'When the wind moves, the mind sways the tree; when clouds arise, the nature stirs up dust. If you understand today's matter, you obscure the original person.' And: 'If you want to know the path of liberation, the dharmas do not reach one another. Eye and ear cut off seeing and hearing, yet sound and form clamor loudly.' And: 'A beginner who has not entered the Way must not clamor loudly. Recognize it in the sound of the bell; in the sound of the drum you are inverted.' And: 'The Buddhas did not appear in the world, yet taught for forty-nine years. The Patriarch did not come from the west, yet Shaolin has a wondrous formula.' And: 'The ten thousand dharmas are the mind's light; all conditions are known only by the nature. Originally there is no deluded or awakened person; you need only settle it today.'

潞府延慶院傳殷禪師

Chan Master Chuanyin of Yanqing Monastery in Lu Prefecture

僧問。見色便見心。燈籠是色。那箇是心。師曰。汝不會古人意。曰。如何是古人意。師曰。燈籠是心。問。若能轉物。即同如來。未審轉甚麼物。師曰。道甚麼。僧擬進語。師曰。這漆桶。

A monk asked, 'Seeing form, one sees the mind. The lantern is form; which is the mind?' The master said, 'You do not understand the ancients' meaning.' He said, 'What is the ancients' meaning?' The master said, 'The lantern is the mind.' A monk asked, 'If one can turn things, one is the same as the Tathagata. I wonder what thing one turns?' The master said, 'What are you saying?' The monk was about to speak. The master said, 'This lacquer bucket.'

衡嶽南臺守安禪師

Chan Master Shouan of Nantai on Mount Heng

僧問。人人盡有長安路。如何得到。師曰。即今在甚麼處。問。寂寂無依時如何。師曰。寂寂底聻。因示頌曰。南臺靜坐一鑪香。終日凝然萬慮亡。不是息心除妄想。都緣無事可思量。

A monk asked, 'Everyone has the road to Chang'an; how does one get there?' The master said, 'Where are you right now?' A monk asked, 'What about when it is still and silent and without reliance?' The master said, 'The still and silent one, eh?' Then he showed a praise: 'At Nantai I sit in stillness with a censer of incense; all day long, frozen, the ten thousand cares perish. It is not that I still the mind and remove deluded thoughts; it is simply that there is nothing to think about.'

杭州天龍寺清慧秀禪師

Chan Master Qinghui Xiu of Tianlong Monastery in Hangzhou

上堂。諸上座。多少無事。十二時中在何世界安身立命。且子細點檢看。何不覓箇歇處。因甚麼卻與別人點檢。若恁麼去。早落第二頭也。時有僧問。承師有言。恁麼去早落第二頭。學人總不恁麼上來。如何辯白。師曰。汝卻作家。曰。恁麼則今日得遇於師也。師曰。且莫詐明頭。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'Seniors, how free of affairs you are. Through the twelve hours, in what world do you settle your body and establish your life? Look into it carefully. Why do you not find a place to rest? Why do you instead let others examine you? If you go on like this, you have long since fallen into the second head.' A monk then asked, 'The master has said that going on like this falls early into the second head. If the student does not come up like this at all, how does he distinguish?' The master said, 'You are an adept, after all.' He said, 'Then today I have met the master.' The master said, 'Do not pretend to be clear-headed.'

天龍機禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ji of Tianlong

高麗雪嶽令光禪師

Chan Master Lingguang of Xueyue in Korea

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。分明記取。問。如何是諸法之根源。師曰。謝指示。

A monk asked, 'What is the reverend master's family style?' The master said, 'Remember it clearly.' A monk asked, 'What is the root source of all dharmas?' The master said, 'Thank you for pointing it out.'

僊宗符禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Fu of Xianzong

福州僊宗洞明真覺禪師

Chan Master Zhenjue Dongming of Xianzong in Fuzhou

僧問。拏雲不假風雷便。濬浪如何透得身。師曰。何得棄本逐末。

A monk asked, 'Grasping clouds does not rely on wind and thunder; how does one get one's body through the surging waves?' The master said, 'Why abandon the root and chase the branches?'

泉州福清行欽廣法禪師

Chan Master Guangfa Xingqin of Fuqing in Quanzhou

上堂。還有人鑑得麼。若有人鑑得。是甚麼湖裡破草鞵。若也鑑不出。落地作金聲。無事久立。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。諸上座大家道取。問。如何是談真逆俗。師曰。客作漢問甚麼。曰。如何是順俗違真。師曰。吃茶去。問。如何是然燈前。師曰。然燈後。曰。如何是然燈後。師曰。然燈前。曰。如何是正然燈。師曰。吃茶去。問。如何是第二月。師曰。汝問我答。

Ascending the hall, he said: 'Is there anyone who can tell? If anyone can tell, what is it but a worn-out straw sandal from some lake? If you cannot tell, it makes a golden sound when it hits the ground. With nothing to do, you have stood long.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'Seniors, all of you say it.' A monk asked, 'What is it to speak the truth and go against the world?' The master said, 'What is a hired laborer asking?' He said, 'What is it to follow the world and go against the truth?' The master said, 'Go drink tea.' A monk asked, 'What is before the lamp was lit?' The master said, 'After the lamp is lit.' He said, 'What is after the lamp is lit?' The master said, 'Before the lamp was lit.' He said, 'What is the lamp just being lit?' The master said, 'Go drink tea.' A monk asked, 'What is the second moon?' The master said, 'You ask and I answer.'

國泰𤦆禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Lian of Guotai

婺州齊雲寶勝禪師

Chan Master Baosheng of Qiyun in Wuzhou

僧問。如何是齊雲水。師曰。龍潭常徹底。擬問即波瀾。曰。莫祇這箇便是麼。師曰。古殿無香煙。誰人辯清濁。曰。未審深深處如何。師曰。闍黎欲識深深處。直須腳下絕雲生。

A monk asked: 'What is the water of Qiyun?' The master said: 'The dragon pool is always clear to the bottom; as soon as you try to ask, waves arise.' The monk said: 'Is it just this, then?' The master said: 'In the ancient hall there is no incense smoke; who can tell the clear from the turbid?' The monk said: 'I wonder what the deepest depth is like?' The master said: 'If you, Acharya, wish to know the deepest depth, you must cut off the clouds from beneath your feet.'

白龍希禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Bailong Xi

福州廣平玄旨禪師

Chan Master Guangping Xuanzhi of Fuzhou

上堂。還有人證明麼。若有人證明。亦免孤負上祖。埋沒後來。若是尋言數句。大藏分明。若是祖宗門中。怪及甚麼處。恁麼道亦是傍瞥之辭。僧問。如何是廣平境。師曰。地負名山秀。谿連海水清。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。汝問我答。問。如何是法身體。師曰。廓落虗空絕玷瑕。曰。如何是體中物。師曰。一輪明月散秋江。曰。未審體與物分不分。師曰。適來道甚麼。曰。恁麼則不分也。師曰。穿耳胡僧笑點頭。

He mounted the hall: 'Is there anyone here who can bear witness? If there is one who can bear witness, it will at least keep us from failing our ancestral masters and burying those who come after. As for following words and counting phrases, the great canon is clear enough. But within the gate of the ancestral school, what is there to find strange? Even speaking like this is the sidelong glance of a phrase.' A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Guangping?' The master said: 'The land bears the beauty of famous mountains; the stream joins the sea in clarity.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'You ask and I answer.' The monk asked: 'What is the essence of the dharma body?' The master said: 'Vast and empty, utterly free of blemish.' The monk said: 'What are the things within the essence?' The master said: 'A single round moon scatters over the autumn river.' The monk said: 'I wonder, are essence and things divided or not?' The master said: 'What did I just say?' The monk said: 'Then they are not divided.' The master said: 'The ear-ringed barbarian monk laughs and nods.'

福州昇山白龍清慕禪師

Chan Master Bailong Qingmu of Shengshan, Fuzhou

僧問。如何是白龍密用一機。師曰。汝每日用甚麼。曰。恁麼則徒勞側聆。師喝曰。出去。問。一切眾生日用而不知。如何是日用底。師曰。別祇對你爭得。問。不責上來。聲前一句請師道。師曰。莫是不辨麼。

A monk asked: 'What is the one hidden working of Bailong?' The master said: 'What do you use every day?' The monk said: 'Then listening sideways is labor in vain.' The master shouted: 'Get out!' The monk asked: 'All beings use it daily yet do not know it. What is it that is used daily?' The master said: 'It is not only for you that this can be settled.' The monk asked: 'Not blaming what has come up, please, Master, speak a phrase before sound.' The master said: 'Are you sure you cannot tell?'

福州靈峰志恩禪師

Chan Master Lingfeng Zhi'en of Fuzhou

僧問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。我進前。汝退後。曰。恁麼則學人喪身命去也。師曰。不打水。魚自驚。問。如何是佛。師曰。更是阿誰。曰。既然如此。為甚麼迷妄有差殊。師曰。但自不亡羊。何須泣岐路。問。如何是靈峰境。師曰。萬疊青山如飣出。兩條綠水若圖成。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。明明密密。密密明明。

A monk asked: 'What is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said: 'I step forward, you step back.' The monk said: 'Then this student loses life and limb.' The master said: 'Without striking the water, the fish are startled of themselves.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Who else could it be?' The monk said: 'If that is so, why are there differences in delusion and error?' The master said: 'As long as you do not lose your sheep, why weep at the fork in the road?' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Lingfeng?' The master said: 'Ten thousand folds of green mountains set out like offerings; two ribbons of green water as if painted.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Clear and dense, dense and clear.'

福州東禪玄亮禪師

Chan Master Dongchan Xuanliang of Fuzhou

僧問。本無迷悟。為甚麼卻有佛有眾生。師曰。話墮也。問。祖祖相傳傳法印。師今繼嗣嗣何人。師曰。特謝證明。曰。恁麼則白龍當時親授記。今日應聖度迷津。師曰。汝莫錯認定盤星。

A monk asked: 'Originally there is neither delusion nor awakening, so why are there buddhas and sentient beings?' The master said: 'Your words have fallen.' The monk asked: 'Patriarch after patriarch transmitted the dharma seal; whom does the Master now succeed as heir?' The master said: 'Many thanks for your testimony.' The monk said: 'Then Bailong personally gave the prophecy in those days, and today you answer the worthy and ferry those deluded at the ford.' The master said: 'Do not mistake the pole star.'

漳州報劬院玄應定慧禪師

Chan Master Xuanying Dinghui of Baoqu Monastery, Zhangzhou

泉州晉江吳氏子。漳州刺史陳文顥創院。請師開法。僧如問。何是第一義。師曰。如何是第一義。曰。學人請益。師何以倒問學人。師曰。汝適來請益甚麼。曰。第一義。師曰。汝謂之倒問邪。問。如何是古佛道場。師曰。今夏堂中。千五百僧。開寶八年將順世。先七日書辭陳公。仍示偈曰。今年六十六。世壽有延促。無生火熾然。有為薪不續。出谷與歸源。一時俱備足。及期誡門人曰。吾滅後不得以喪服哭泣。言訖而寂。

He was a son of the Wu family of Jinjiang in Quanzhou. The prefect of Zhangzhou, Chen Wenhao, founded the monastery and invited the master to open the dharma. A monk named Ru asked: 'What is the foremost meaning?' The master said: 'What is the foremost meaning?' The monk said: 'This student asks for instruction; why does the Master ask the student in return?' The master said: 'What did you just ask about?' The monk said: 'The foremost meaning.' The master said: 'And you call that asking in return?' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's place of practice?' The master said: 'In the hall this summer, fifteen hundred monks.' In the eighth year of Kaibao, when he was about to pass away, seven days beforehand he wrote to take leave of Lord Chen, and further showed a verse: 'This year I am sixty-six; the world's lifespan is long or short. The fire of the unborn blazes; the fuel of the conditioned is not renewed. Leaving the valley and returning to the source, in one moment both are complete.' When the time came, he admonished his disciples: 'After my extinction you must not wear mourning or weep.' Having spoken, he passed away in silence.

招慶匡禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhaoqing Kuang

泉州報恩院宗顯明慧禪師

Chan Master Zongxian Minghui of Bao'en Monastery, Quanzhou

僧問。昔日靈山一會。迦葉親聞。未審今日誰是聞者。師曰。卻憶七葉巖中尊。問。昔日覺城東際。象王迴旋。五眾鹹臻。今日太守臨筵。如何提接。師曰。眨上眉毛著。曰。恁麼則一機顯處。萬緣喪盡。師曰。何必繁辭。問。如何是西來意。師曰。日裡看鴟毛。問。學人都致一問。請師道。師曰。不是創住這箇師僧也難容。問。離四句。絕百非。請師道。師曰。青紅花滿庭。問。不涉思量處。從上宗乘。請師直道。師良久。僧曰。恁麼則聽響之流。徒勞側耳。師曰。早是粘泥。問。如何是人王。師曰。奉對不敢造次。曰。如何是法王。師曰。莫孤負好。曰。未審人王與法王。對談何事。師曰。非汝所聆。

A monk asked: 'At the assembly on Vulture Peak long ago, Kashyapa heard it in person. I wonder who the hearer is today?' The master said: 'I recall instead the Honored One in the Seven-Leaf Rock.' The monk asked: 'Long ago at the eastern edge of the city of Enlightenment the elephant king circled and the five assemblies all gathered. Today the prefect attends the feast; how do you take them up?' The master said: 'Raise your eyebrows and blink.' The monk said: 'Then where one working appears, the ten thousand conditions are all annihilated.' The master said: 'Why so many words?' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said: 'Looking at owl feathers in broad daylight.' The monk asked: 'This student ventures a question; please, Master, answer.' The master said: 'It is not only for the first time that such a monk would find no room here.' The monk asked: 'Beyond the four propositions, cut off from the hundred negations; please, Master, speak.' The master said: 'Red and blue flowers fill the courtyard.' The monk asked: 'In the place where thought does not reach, the ancestral vehicle from the first; please, Master, speak directly.' The master was silent a long while. The monk said: 'Then those who listen for echoes wear out their ears in vain.' The master said: 'You have already stuck in the mud.' The monk asked: 'What is the king of men?' The master said: 'In reply I dare not be rash.' The monk said: 'What is the king of dharma?' The master said: 'Do not fail your good fortune.' The monk said: 'I wonder what the king of men and the king of dharma discuss when they speak together?' The master said: 'It is not for your ears.'

金陵龍光院澄忋禪師

Chan Master Chengqi of Longguang Monastery, Jinling

廣州人也。新到參。師問。甚處來。曰。江南來。師曰。汝還禮拜渡江船子麼。曰。和尚為甚麼教某禮拜渡江船子。師曰。是汝善知識。

He was a man of Guangzhou. A newly arrived monk came to pay his respects. The master asked: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'I come from Jiangnan.' The master said: 'Have you paid homage to the boatman who crossed the river?' The monk said: 'Why does the Master teach me to pay homage to the boatman who crossed the river?' The master said: 'He is your good friend.'

永興北院可休禪師

Chan Master Kexiu of the North Monastery, Yongxing

僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。徧滿天下。曰。莫便是也無。師曰。是即牢收取。問。大作業底人來。師還接否。師曰。不接。曰。為甚麼不接。師曰。幸是好人家男女。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said: 'It fills the whole world.' The monk said: 'Is it not just this?' The master said: 'If it is, hold it tight.' The monk asked: 'When a man of heavy karma comes, does the Master receive him?' The master said: 'No.' The monk said: 'Why not?' The master said: 'It is fortunate that he is a fine son of a good family.'

郴州太平院清海禪師

Chan Master Qinghai of Taiping Monastery, Chenzhou

僧問。古人道不從請益得。祖師為甚麼道誰得作佛。師曰。悟了方知。問。從上宗乘次第指授。未審今日如何舉唱。師曰。透出白雲深洞裡。名華異草嶺頭生。

A monk asked: 'The ancients said it is not obtained by asking for instruction; why did the patriarchs say, "Who can become a buddha?"' The master said: 'Only after awakening do you know.' The monk asked: 'The ancestral vehicle has been pointed out and taught in order from the first; I wonder how it is proclaimed today?' The master said: 'Piercing out from the deep cave of white clouds, rare flowers and strange herbs grow on the ridge top.'

連州慈雲慧深普廣禪師

Chan Master Ciyun Huishen Puguang of Lianzhou

僧問。匿王請佛。既奉法於當時。我後延師。葢興宗於此日。幸施方便。無恡舉揚。師曰。不煩再問。問。如何是大圓鏡。師曰。著。問。如何是向上事。師曰。分明聽取。

A monk asked: 'King Prasenajit invited the Buddha and so honored the dharma in that age; now our lord invites the Master and so revives the school on this day. Pray grant us the skillful means and do not begrudge the proclamation.' The master said: 'No need to ask again.' The monk asked: 'What is the great perfect mirror?' The master said: 'Wear it.' The monk asked: 'What is the matter of going beyond?' The master said: 'Listen clearly.'

郢州興陽山道欽禪師

Chan Master Daoqin of Xingyang Mountain, Yingzhou

僧問。如何是興陽境。師曰。松竹乍栽山影綠。水流穿過院庭中。問。如何是佛。師曰。更是甚麼。

A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Xingyang?' The master said: 'Pines and bamboo newly planted, the mountain shadow turns green; the water flows through the courtyard.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'What else is it?'

報恩資禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Bao'en Zi

處州福林澄禪師

Chan Master Fulin Cheng of Chuzhou

僧問。如何是伽藍。師曰。沒幡幀。曰。如何是伽藍中人。師曰。瞻禮有分。問。下堂一句。請師不吝。師曰。閑吟唯憶龐居士。天上人間不可陪。

A monk asked: 'What is the monastery?' The master said: 'There is no banner or frame.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the monastery?' The master said: 'You have your share of bowing in reverence.' The monk asked: 'A phrase for descending the hall; pray, Master, do not begrudge it.' The master said: 'Idly chanting, I think only of Layman Pang; in heaven or among men, none can match him.'

翠峰欣禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Cuifeng Xin

處州報恩守真禪師

Chan Master Bao'en Shouzhen of Chuzhou

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。閃爍烏飛急。奔騰兔走頻。

A monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'Flashing, the crow flies swiftly; galloping, the hare runs apace.'

鷲嶺遠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jiuling Yuan

襄州鷲嶺通禪師

Chan Master Jiuling Tong of Xiangzhou

僧問。世尊得道。地神報虗空神。和尚得道。未審甚麼人報。師曰。謝汝報來。

A monk asked: 'When the World-Honored One attained the way, the earth spirit reported it to the sky spirit. When the Master attains the way, I wonder who reports it?' The master said: 'Thank you for reporting it.'

龍華球禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Longhua Qiu

杭州仁王院俊禪師

Chan Master Renwang Jun of Hangzhou

僧問。古人道向上一路。千聖不傳。如何是不傳底事。師曰。向上問將來。曰。恁麼則上來不當去也。師曰。既知如是。踏步上來作甚麼。

A monk asked: 'The ancients said that the one road upward is not transmitted by a thousand sages. What is the matter that is not transmitted?' The master said: 'Ask it as something upward.' The monk said: 'Then what has come up should not go away.' The master said: 'Since you know it is so, why step up here at all?'

酒仙遇賢禪師

Chan Master Yuxian, the Wine Immortal

姑蘇長洲林氏子。母夢吞大珠而孕。生多異祥。貌偉怪。口容雙拳。七歲甞沈大淵。而衣不潤。遂去家。師嘉禾永安可依。三十剃染圓具。往參龍華。發明心印。回居明覺院。唯事飲酒。醉則成歌頌．警道俗。因號酒仙。偈曰。綠水紅桃華。前街後巷走百餘遭。張三也識我。李四也識我。識我不識我。兩箇拳頭那箇大。兩箇之中一箇大。曾把虗空一𭣟破。摩挲令教卻恁麼。拈取須彌枕頭臥。楊子江頭浪最深。行人到此盡沈吟。他時若到無波處。還似有波時用心。金斝又聞泛。玉山還報頹。莫教更漏促。趂取月明回。貴買硃砂畵月。算來枉用工夫。醉臥綠楊陰下。起來強說真如。泥人再三叮囑。莫教失卻衣珠。一六二六。其事已足。一九二九。我要吃酒。長伸兩腳眠一𮄔。起來天地還依舊。門前綠樹無啼鳥。庭下蒼苔有落花。聊與東風論箇事。十分春色屬誰家。秋至山寒水冷。春來柳綠花紅。一點動隨萬變。江村煙雨濛濛。有不有。空不空。笊籬撈取西北風。生在閻浮世界。人情幾多愛惡。祇要吃些酒子。所以倒街臥路。死後卻產娑婆。不願超生淨土。何以故。西方淨土且無酒酤。師於祥符二年上元凌晨。浴罷就室。合拳右舉。左張其口而化。

He was a son of the Lin family of Changzhou in Gusu. His mother dreamed she swallowed a great pearl and conceived. At his birth there were many strange omens. His features were huge and odd, and his mouth could hold both fists. At the age of seven he once sank into a great deep pool and his clothes did not get wet, so he left home. He took as his master the elder Ke Yi of Yong'an in Jiahe. At thirty he shaved, dyed his robes and received full ordination, then went to consult Longhua and made clear the mind seal. He returned to dwell at Mingjue Monastery and did nothing but drink wine. When drunk he would compose songs and verses to warn the followers of the way and the laity, and so he was called the Wine Immortal. His verse says: 'Green water, red peach blossoms; I have run a hundred times through the front street and the back lanes. Zhang San knows me, Li Si knows me. Knowing me or not knowing me, which of the two fists is bigger? Of the two, one is bigger; it once smashed through empty space. Rub and knead it and make it just so; pick up Mount Sumeru and lie down on it as a pillow. At the head of the Yangzi the waves are deepest; travelers who come here all ponder. Some day when you reach the place without waves, use your mind just as when there were waves. The golden cup is passed again; the jade mountain reports its fall. Do not let the water clock hurry you; take the bright moonlight and go home. Buying cinnabar dearly to paint the moon, by reckoning it is wasted labor. Drunk, I lie in the shade of green willows; risen, I force myself to speak of suchness. The clay man warns me again and again: do not lose the pearl in your robe. One six, two six, the matter is already enough. One nine, two nine, I want to drink wine. Stretch out both legs and sleep a while; when I rise, heaven and earth are still the same. Before the gate the green trees have no crying birds; below the courtyard the moss bears fallen flowers. Idly I discuss a matter with the east wind: to whose house does the ten-tenths of spring belong? When autumn comes the mountains are cold and the water chill; when spring comes the willows are green and the flowers red. One point moves and follows ten thousand changes; the river village is misty with rain. Being or not being, empty or not empty, scoop up the northwest wind with a bamboo strainer. Born in this Jambudvipa world, how much love and hate there is in human feeling. I only want to drink a little wine, and so I lie in the streets and on the roads. After death I will be born again in the Saha world; I do not wish to be reborn in the Pure Land. Why? Because in the Western Pure Land there is no wine sold.' In the early morning of the Lantern Festival in the second year of Xiangfu, the master bathed, went into his room, clenched his fist and raised his right hand, opened his mouth to the left, and passed away.

延壽輪禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yanshou Lun

廬山歸宗道詮禪師

Chan Master Guizong Daoquan of Mount Lu

吉州劉氏子。僧問。承聞和尚親見延壽來。是否。師曰。山前麥熟也未。問。九峰山中還有佛法也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是九峰山中佛法。師曰。石頭大底大。小底小。尋屬江南國絕。僧徒例試經業。師之眾並習禪觀。乃述一偈。聞於州牧曰。比擬忘言合太虗。免教和氣有親疎。誰知道德全無用。今日為僧貴識書。州牧閱之。與僚佐議曰。旃檀林中。必無雜樹。唯師一院。特奏免試。南康知軍張南金具疏。集道俗迎請。坐歸宗道場。僧問。如何是歸宗境。師曰。千邪不如一直。問。如何是佛。師曰。待得雪消後。自然春到來。問。深山巖谷中。還有佛法也無。師曰。無。曰。佛法徧在一切處。為甚麼卻無。師曰。無人到。問。古人道不是風動．不是幡動時如何。師曰。來日路口有市。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。床窄先臥。粥稀後坐。雍熈二年順寂。塔於牛首庵。

He was a son of the Liu family of Jizhou. A monk asked: 'I hear that the Master personally met Yanshou; is that so?' The master said: 'Is the wheat before the mountain ripe yet?' The monk asked: 'Is there buddhadharma in the Nine Peak Mountains or not?' The master said: 'There is.' The monk said: 'What is the buddhadharma in the Nine Peak Mountains?' The master said: 'The big stones are big, the small stones are small.' Soon after, the state of Jiangnan came to an end, and monks were required by rule to be examined in the scriptures. The master's assembly all practiced Chan contemplation, so he composed a verse, which was heard by the prefect: 'I had thought to forget words and merge with the great void, and spare the harmonious air its closeness and distance. Who knew that virtue and the way are wholly useless; today, to be a monk, what counts is knowing books.' The prefect read it and discussed it with his staff, saying: 'In a sandalwood grove there are surely no other trees. Let the Master's monastery alone be specially exempted from the examination.' Zhang Nanjin, the military commissioner of Nankang, prepared a petition and gathered monastics and laity to welcome and invite him to sit at the Guizong practice place. A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Guizong?' The master said: 'A thousand crooked things are not worth one straight one.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Wait until the snow melts, and spring will naturally arrive.' The monk asked: 'In deep mountains and rocky valleys, is there buddhadharma or not?' The master said: 'No.' The monk said: 'The buddhadharma is everywhere in all places; why do you say there is none?' The master said: 'No one goes there.' The monk asked: 'The ancients said it is not the wind that moves, nor the banner that moves; what then?' The master said: 'Tomorrow there is a market at the crossroads.' The monk asked: 'What is the student's own self?' The master said: 'When the bed is narrow, lie down first; when the gruel is thin, sit down last.' In the second year of Yongxi he passed away peacefully. His stupa was at Niushou Hermitage.

潭州龍興𥙿禪師

Chan Master Longxing Yu of Tanzhou

僧問。如何是學人自己。師曰。張三李四。曰。比來問自己。為甚麼卻道張三李四。師曰。汝且莫草草。問。諸餘即不問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。家風即且置。阿那箇是汝不問底諸餘。

A monk asked: 'What is the student's own self?' The master said: 'Zhang San and Li Si.' The monk said: 'I just now asked about the self; why do you say Zhang San and Li Si?' The master said: 'Do not be so careless.' The monk asked: 'I will not ask about anything else; what is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'Set the family style aside for now. Which is the anything else that you do not ask about?'

保福儔禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baofu Chou

漳州隆壽無逸禪師

Chan Master Longshou Wuyi of Zhangzhou

開堂陞座。良久曰。諸上座。若是上根之士。早已掩耳。中下之流。競頭側聽。雖然如此。猶是不得已而言。諸上座。他時後日到處。有人問著今日事。且作麼生舉似他。若也舉得。舌頭鼓論。若也舉不得。如無三寸。且作麼生舉。

He opened the hall and mounted the seat. After a long silence he said: 'Venerable ones, if you were people of the highest capacity, you would have covered your ears long ago. Those of middling and lesser capacity vie to listen sideways. Even so, this is still speaking because I cannot help it. Venerable ones, in later days, wherever you go, if someone asks you about today's matter, how will you bring it up for them? If you can bring it up, your tongue will wag in debate. If you cannot bring it up, you are as if without three inches of tongue. So how will you bring it up?'

大龍洪禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dalong Hong

鼎州大龍山景如禪師

Chan Master Jingru of Dalong Mountain, Dingzhou

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師便喝。僧曰。尊意如何。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師又喝。問。太陽一顯人皆羨。皷聲絕罷意如何。師曰。季秋凝後好晴天。

A monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master at once shouted. The monk said: 'What is the Master's meaning?' The master said: 'Do you understand?' The monk said: 'No.' The master shouted again. The monk asked: 'When the sun appears all admire it; when the drumbeat has ceased, what then?' The master said: 'After the frost of late autumn, fine clear weather.'

鼎州大龍山楚勛禪師

Chan Master Chuxun of Dalong Mountain, Dingzhou

上堂。良久曰。大眾祇恁麼各自散去。已是重宣此義了也。久立又奚為。然久立有久立底道理。知了。經一小劫如一食頃。不知便見茫然。還知麼。有知者出來。大家相共商量。僧出提坐具。曰。展即徧周沙界。縮即絲髮不存。展即是。不展即是。師曰。你從甚麼處得來。曰。恁麼則展去也。師曰。沒交涉。問。如何是大龍境。師曰。諸方舉似人。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。你為甚麼謾我。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。阿彌陀佛。問。善法堂中師子吼。未審法嗣嗣何人。師曰。猶自恁麼問。

He mounted the hall. After a long silence he said: 'If you all simply disperse like this, that is already a second proclamation of this meaning. What is the use of standing long? Yet standing long has its own reason. If you know, a small kalpa passes like a single meal. If you do not know, you are at once bewildered. Do you know? Let anyone who knows come forward, and we will discuss it together.' A monk came out, picked up his sitting cloth and said: 'Spread out, it fills the sands of the Ganges; rolled up, not a hair remains. Is it spreading, or not spreading?' The master said: 'Where did you get that from?' The monk said: 'Then I will spread it out.' The master said: 'No connection.' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Dalong?' The master said: 'In every quarter they bring it up for others.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Why do you deceive me?' The monk asked: 'Where does a deceased monk go when he passes away?' The master said: 'Amitabha.' The monk asked: 'The lion's roar in the hall of good dharma; whose heir is the Master?' The master said: 'Still asking like that.'

興元府普通院從善禪師

Chan Master Putong Congshan of Xingyuan Prefecture

僧問。法輪再轉時如何。師曰。助上座喜。曰。合譚何事。師曰。異人掩耳。曰。便恁麼領會時如何。師曰。錯。問。佩劒叩松關時如何。師曰。莫亂作。曰。誰不知有。師曰。出。

A monk asked: 'What of when the dharma wheel turns again?' The master said: 'I share the Venerable One's joy.' The monk said: 'What should be discussed?' The master said: 'A strange person covers his ears.' The monk said: 'What of understanding it just like this?' The master said: 'Wrong.' The monk asked: 'What of wearing a sword and knocking at the pine gate?' The master said: 'Do not act wildly.' The monk said: 'Who does not know it exists?' The master said: 'Out!'

白馬靄禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baima Ai

襄州白馬智倫禪師

Chan Master Baima Zhilun of Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。真金也須失色。問。如何是和尚出身處。師曰。牛觝墻。曰。學人不會意旨如何。師曰。已成八字。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Even true gold must lose its color.' The monk asked: 'What is the place the Master comes from?' The master said: 'An ox butts the wall.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand; what is the meaning?' The master said: 'It has already taken the shape of the character eight.'

白兆楚禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baizhao Chu

唐州保壽匡祐禪師

Chan Master Baoshou Kuangyou of Tangzhou

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。近前來。僧近前。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。石火電光。已經塵劫。問。如何是為人底一句。師曰。開口入耳。曰。如何理會。師曰。逢人告人。

A monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'Come closer.' The monk came closer. The master said: 'Do you understand?' The monk said: 'No.' The master said: 'Flint spark and lightning flash have already passed through dust-kalpas.' The monk asked: 'What is the one phrase spoken for the sake of others?' The master said: 'Open the mouth, enter the ear.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'Meeting someone, tell them.'

青原下九世

The ninth generation below Qingyuan

黃龍達禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huanglong Da

眉州黃龍禪師

Chan Master Huanglong of Meizhou

僧問。如何是密室。師曰。斫不開。曰。如何是密室中人。師曰。非男女相。問。國內按劒者是誰。師曰。昌福。曰。忽遇尊貴時如何。師曰。不遺。

A monk asked: 'What is the secret chamber?' The master said: 'It cannot be chopped open.' The monk said: 'What of the person in the secret chamber?' The master said: 'Neither male nor female form.' The monk asked: 'Who is the one who rests his hand on his sword in this land?' The master said: 'Changfu.' The monk said: 'What if one suddenly meets with the noble and honored?' The master said: 'He leaves no one out.'

清谿進禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qingxi Jin

相州天平山從漪禪師

Chan Master Congyi of Tianping Mountain, Xiangzhou

僧問。如何得出三界。師曰。將三界來與汝出。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。顯露地。問。如何是佛。師曰。不指天地。曰。為甚麼不指天地。師曰。唯我獨尊。問。如何是天平。師曰。八凹九凸。問。洞深杳杳清谿水。飲者如何不升墜。師曰。更夢見甚麼。問。大眾雲集。合譚何事。師曰。香煙起處森羅見。

A monk asked: 'How can one get out of the three realms?' The master said: 'Bring the three realms and I will get you out.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'Openly and plainly.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'He does not point to heaven and earth.' The monk said: 'Why does he not point to heaven and earth?' The master said: 'Only I am honored.' The monk asked: 'What is Tianping?' The master said: 'Eight hollows and nine bumps.' The monk asked: 'The cave is deep and the clear stream water fades into the distance; how does the drinker neither rise nor fall?' The master said: 'What else are you dreaming of?' The monk asked: 'The great assembly gathers like clouds; what should be discussed?' The master said: 'Where the incense smoke rises, the myriad things appear.'

廬山圓通緣德禪師

Chan Master Yuantong Yuande of Mount Lu

臨安黃氏子。事本邑東山勤老宿剃染。徧遊諸方。江南國王於盧山建院。請師開法。上堂。諸上座。明取道眼。好是行腳本分事。道眼若未明。有甚麼用處。祇是移盤吃飯漢。道眼若明。有何障礙。若未明得。強說多端也無用處。無事切須尋究。僧問。如何是四不遷。師曰。地水火風。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。水鳥樹林。曰。學人不會。師曰。會取學人。問。久負沒絃琴。請師彈一曲。師曰。負來多少時也。曰。未審作何音調。師曰。話墮也。珍重。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。過去燈明佛。本光瑞如是。本朝遣帥問罪江南。後主納土矣。而胡則者據守九江不降。大將軍曹翰部曲渡江入寺。禪者驚走。師淡坐如平日。翰至。不起不揖。翰怒訶曰。長老不聞殺人不眨眼將軍乎。師熟視曰。汝安知有不懼生死和尚邪。翰大奇。增敬而已。曰。禪者何為而散。師曰。擊皷自集。翰遣裨校擊之。禪無至者。翰曰。不至。何也。師曰。公有殺心故爾。師自起擊之。禪者乃集。翰再拜。問決勝之䇿。師曰。非禪者所知也。太平興國二年十月七日。陞堂曰。脫離世緣。乃在今日。囑令門人壘青石為塔。乃曰。他日塔作紅色。吾再至也。言訖而逝。諡道濟禪師。

He was a son of the Huang family of Lin'an. He served the elder Qin of Dongshan in his own district, was shaved and dyed, and traveled to every quarter. The king of Jiangnan built a monastery on Mount Lu and invited the master to open the dharma. He mounted the hall: 'Venerable ones, make clear the eye of the way; that is the fundamental business of your practice. If the eye of the way is not yet clear, what use are you? You are just men who move the tray and eat. If the eye of the way is clear, what obstruction is there? If you have not yet made it clear, forcing out many explanations is also of no use. When you have nothing to do, you must search it out earnestly.' A monk asked: 'What are the four unchanging things?' The master said: 'Earth, water, fire, wind.' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'Water birds and forest trees.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'Understand the student.' The monk asked: 'Long have I carried a stringless lute; please, Master, play a tune.' The master said: 'How long have you carried it?' The monk said: 'I wonder what melody it makes?' The master said: 'Your words have fallen. Take care.' The monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'The past Buddha Dipamkara; such was the auspice of his original light.' Our dynasty sent a commander to punish Jiangnan, and the last ruler ceded his territory. But one Hu Ze held Jiujiang and would not surrender. The great general Cao Han led his troops across the river and entered the monastery; the Chan monks fled in alarm. The master sat calmly as on any other day. When Han arrived, he neither rose nor saluted. Han angrily shouted: 'Has the Elder not heard of the general who does not blink when he kills?' The master looked at him steadily and said: 'How do you know there is no monk who does not fear birth and death?' Han was greatly astonished and merely increased his respect. He said: 'Why have the Chan monks scattered?' The master said: 'Strike the drum and they will gather of themselves.' Han sent a subordinate officer to strike it, and no Chan monk came. Han said: 'They do not come; why?' The master said: 'Because you have the mind to kill.' The master rose himself and struck it, and then the Chan monks gathered. Han bowed twice and asked for a strategy of certain victory. The master said: 'That is not what a Chan monk knows.' On the seventh day of the tenth month in the second year of Taiping Xingguo, he mounted the hall and said: 'Leaving the conditions of the world is today.' He instructed his disciples to pile blue stones for a stupa and said: 'When the stupa turns red one day, I will come again.' Having spoken, he passed away. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Daoji.

清涼復禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qingliang Fu

昇州奉先寺慧同淨照禪師

Chan Master Huitong Jingzhao of Fengxian Monastery, Shengzhou

魏府張氏子。僧問。教中道。唯一堅密身。一切塵中見。又道。佛身充滿於法界。普見一切群生前。於此二途。請師說。師曰。唯一堅密身。一切塵中見。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。汝擬阿那箇不是。問。如何是常在底人。師曰。更問阿誰。

He was a son of the Zhang family of Weifu. A monk asked: 'The teachings say, "Only one firm and dense body, seen in every mote of dust." They also say, "The buddha body fills the dharma realm, appearing before all gathered beings." Between these two paths, please, Master, speak.' The master said: 'Only one firm and dense body, seen in every mote of dust.' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'Whatever you take up, is it not that?' The monk asked: 'What is the person who is always present?' The master said: 'Ask who else.'

龍濟修禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Longji Xiu

河東廣原禪師

Chan Master Guangyuan of Hedong

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。聽取一偈。剎剎現形儀。塵塵具覺知。性源常鼓浪。不悟未曾移。

A monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'Hear a verse: In every land the forms appear; in every mote there is knowing awareness. The source of nature ever stirs the waves; for those who do not awaken, it has never moved.'

南臺安禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Nantai An

襄州鷲嶺善美禪師

Chan Master Jiuling Shanmei of Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是鷲嶺境。師曰。峴山對碧玉。江水往南流。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。有甚麼事。問。百川異流。還歸大海。未審大海有幾滴。師曰。汝還到海也未。曰。到海後如何。師曰。明日來。向汝道。

A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Jiuling?' The master said: 'Mount Xian faces green jade; the river water flows south.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'What is the matter?' The monk asked: 'A hundred rivers flow differently, yet all return to the great sea. I wonder how many drops the great sea holds?' The master said: 'Have you reached the sea or not?' The monk said: 'What after reaching the sea?' The master said: 'Come tomorrow and I will tell you.'

歸宗詮禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guizong Quan

瑞州九峰義詮禪師

Chan Master Jiufeng Yiquan of Ruizhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。有力者負之而趨。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'The strong man carries it off on his back.'

隆壽逸禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Longshou Yi

隆壽法騫禪師

Chan Master Longshou Faqian

泉州施氏子。漳州刺史陳洪銛請開法。上堂。今日隆壽出世。三世諸佛森羅萬象。同時出世。同時轉法輪。諸人還見麼。僧問。如何是隆壽境。師曰。無汝插足處。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。未識境在。有僧來參。次日請問心要。師曰。昨日相逢序起居。今朝相見事還如。如何卻覓呈心要。心要如何特地疎。

was a son of the Shi family of Quanzhou. Chen Hongxian, prefect of Zhangzhou, invited him to open the teaching. Ascending the hall: 'Today Longshou has appeared in the world, and the Buddhas of the three times and the myriad forms all appear in the world at the same time and turn the Dharma wheel at the same time. Do you people see it?' A monk asked, 'What is Longshou's realm?' The Master said, 'There is no place for you to set foot.' 'What is the person in the realm?' The Master said, 'You do not yet know the realm.' A monk came to call, and the next day asked about the essentials of mind. The Master said, 'Yesterday we met and exchanged greetings; today we meet and things are as before. Why then seek to present the essentials of mind? The essentials of mind—how are they so especially distant?'

溈仰宗

The Weiyang School

南嶽下三世

The Third Generation below Nanyue

百丈海禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Baizhang Hai

潭州溈山靈祐禪師

Chan Master Lingyou of Weishan in Tanzhou

福州長谿趙氏子。年十五出家。依本郡建善寺法常律師。剃髮於杭州龍興寺。究大小乘教。二十三遊江西。參百丈。丈一見。許之入室。遂居參學之首。侍立次。丈問。誰。師曰。某甲。丈曰。汝撥爐中有火否。師撥之曰。無火。丈躬起深撥得少火。舉以示之曰。汝道。無這箇聻。師由是發悟。禮謝陳其所解。丈曰。此乃暫時岐路耳。經云。欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。時節既至。如迷忽悟。如忘忽憶。方省己物不從他得。故祖師雲。悟了同未悟。無心亦無法。祇是無虗妄凡聖等心。本來心法元自備足。汝今既爾。善自護持。次日。同百丈入山作務。丈曰。將得火來麼。師曰。將得來。丈曰。在甚處。師乃拈一枝柴吹兩吹。度與百丈。丈曰。如蟲禦木。司馬頭陀自湖南來。謂丈曰。頃在湖南尋得一山。名大溈。是一千五百人善知識所居之處。丈曰。老僧住得否。陀曰。非和尚所居。丈曰。何也。陀曰。和尚是骨人。彼是肉山。設居徒不盈千。丈曰。吾眾中莫有人住得否。陀曰。待歷觀之。時華林覺為第一座。丈令侍者請至。問曰。此人如何。陀請謦欬一聲。行數步。陀曰。不可。丈又令喚師。師時為典座。陀一見乃曰。此正是溈山主人也。丈是夜召師入室。囑曰。吾化緣在此。溈山勝境。汝當居之。嗣續吾宗。廣度後學。而華林聞之曰。某甲忝居上首。典座何得住持。丈曰。若能對眾下得一語出格。當與住持。即指淨瓶問曰。不得喚作淨瓶。汝喚作甚麼。林曰。不可喚作木揬也。丈乃問師。師踢倒淨瓶便出去。丈笑曰。第一座輸卻山子也。師遂住焉。是山峭絕。敻無人煙。猿猱為伍。橡栗充食。經於五七載。絕無來者。師自念言。我本住持。為利益於人。既絕往還。自善何濟。即捨庵而欲他往。行至山口。見虵虎狼豹。交橫在路。師曰。汝等諸獸。不用攔吾行路。吾若於此山有緣。汝等各自散去。

was a son of the Zhao family of Changxi in Fuzhou. At fifteen he left home under Vinaya Master Fachang of Jianshan Monastery in his own prefecture. He shaved his head at Longxing Monastery in Hangzhou and studied the teachings of the greater and lesser vehicles. At twenty-three he traveled to Jiangxi and called on Baizhang. At first sight Baizhang admitted him to his room, and he became foremost among the students. Once, while standing in attendance, Baizhang asked, 'Who is it?' The Master said, 'It is I.' Baizhang said, 'Have you poked in the stove to see whether there is fire?' The Master poked and said, 'No fire.' Baizhang rose himself and, poking deep, found a little fire. He held it up and showed it, saying, 'You say there is no this?' At this the Master awakened; he bowed in thanks and set out his understanding. Baizhang said, 'This is only a temporary forked road. The sutra says: 'If you wish to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should observe the seasons and conditions.' When the season has come, it is like being deluded and suddenly awakening, like forgetting and suddenly remembering; only then do you realize that your own possession is not obtained from another. Therefore the patriarch said: 'Awakened is the same as not yet awakened; no mind and also no dharma.' It is simply being without the vain and false minds of ordinary and sage and the like; the mind-dharma of the original nature is from the first complete in itself. Since you are now thus, guard it well.' The next day, together with Baizhang he went into the mountains to work. Baizhang said, 'Did you bring the fire?' The Master said, 'I brought it.' Baizhang said, 'Where is it?' The Master then picked up a stick of firewood, blew on it twice, and handed it to Baizhang. Baizhang said, 'Like an insect working wood.' The ascetic Sima came from Hunan and told Baizhang, 'Recently in Hunan I found a mountain named Dawei; it is a place where a good teacher of fifteen hundred people could dwell.' Baizhang said, 'Can this old monk dwell there?' The ascetic said, 'It is not a place for the Master.' Baizhang said, 'Why?' The ascetic said, 'The Master is a man of bones; that is a mountain of flesh. Even if you dwelt there, your followers would not fill a thousand.' Baizhang said, 'Is there perhaps someone among my assembly who could dwell there?' The ascetic said, 'Let me look them over one by one.' At that time Hualin Jue was the first seat. Baizhang sent an attendant to invite him, and asked, 'How is this man?' The ascetic asked him to cough once and walk a few steps. The ascetic said, 'No.' Baizhang then sent for the Master. The Master was then the cook. At first sight the ascetic said, 'This is precisely the master of Weishan.' That night Baizhang summoned the Master into his room and instructed him: 'My karmic work is here. The surpassing realm of Weishan is for you to dwell in, to continue my line and broadly save later students.' When Hualin heard this he said, 'I have the honor to be the head of the assembly—how can a cook be abbot?' Baizhang said, 'If you can utter one phrase before the assembly that stands out, you shall be abbot.' He pointed at the pure water bottle and asked, 'It may not be called a pure water bottle—what do you call it?' Hualin said, 'It cannot be called a wooden stump.' Baizhang then asked the Master. The Master kicked over the bottle and went out. Baizhang laughed and said, 'The first seat has lost the mountain.' So the Master dwelled there. The mountain was sheer and remote, with no human habitation; he kept company with apes and monkeys and ate acorns. Five or seven years passed and no one came. The Master thought to himself, 'I am abbot in order to benefit people. Since there is no coming or going, what good is my own virtue?' So he left the hut, intending to go elsewhere. When he reached the mouth of the mountain he saw snakes, tigers, wolves, and leopards crisscrossing the road. The Master said, 'You beasts, do not block my road. If I have a karmic connection with this mountain, disperse each of you,

吾若無緣。汝等不用動。吾從路過。一任汝吃。言訖。蟲虎四散而去。師乃回庵。未及一載。安上座(即懶安也)。同數僧從百丈來。輔佐於師。安曰。某與和尚作典座。待僧及五百人。不論時節即不造粥。便放某甲下。自後山下居民。稍稍知之。率眾共營梵宇。連帥李景讓奏號同慶寺。相國裴公休甞諮玄奧。繇是天下禪學輻輳焉。上堂。夫道人之心。質直無偽。無背無面。無詐妄心。一切時中。視聽尋常。更無委曲。亦不閉眼塞耳。但情不附物即得。從上諸聖。祇說濁邊過患。若無如許多惡覺情見想習之事。譬如秋水澄亭。清淨無為。澹濘無礙。喚他作道人。亦名無事人。時有僧問。頓悟之人更有修否。師曰。若真悟得本他自知時。修與不修是兩頭語。如今初心雖從緣得。一念頓悟自理。猶有無始曠劫習氣未能頓淨。須教渠淨除現業流識。即是修也。不可別有法。教渠修行趣向。從聞入理。聞理深妙。心自圓明。不居惑地。縱有百千妙義。抑揚當時。此乃得坐披衣。自解作活計。始得。以要言之。則實際理地。不受一塵。萬行門中。不捨一法。若也單刀直入。則凡聖情盡。體露真常。理事不二。即如如佛。仰山問。如何是祖師西來意。師指燈籠曰。大好燈籠。仰曰。莫祇這便是麼。師曰。這箇是甚麼。仰曰。大好燈籠。師曰。果然不見。一日。師謂眾曰。如許多人。祇得大機。不得大用。仰山舉此語。問山下庵主曰。和尚恁麼道。意旨如何。主曰。更舉看。仰擬再舉。被庵主踏倒。仰歸舉似師。師呵呵大笑。師在法堂坐。庫頭擊木魚。火頭擲卻火抄。拊掌大笑。師曰。眾中也有恁麼人。遂喚來問。你作麼生。火頭曰。某甲不吃粥肚飢。所以歡喜。師乃點頭(後鏡清怤雲。將知溈山眾裡無人。臥龍球雲。將知溈山眾裡有人)。師摘茶次。謂仰山曰。終日摘茶祇聞子聲。不見子形。仰撼茶樹。師曰。

(The Master went on:) 'and if I have no karmic connection, you need not move. I will pass along the road, and you may eat me as you please.' Having spoken, the insects and tigers scattered in all directions. The Master then returned to his hut. Before a year had passed, Elder An (that is, Lazy An) came with several monks from Baizhang to assist the Master. An said, 'I will serve the Master as cook. When the monks reach five hundred and no gruel is made whatever the season, then let me go.' After that the residents below the mountain gradually learned of him, and led the crowds to build a monastery together. The commander Li Jingrang memorialized the throne and it was named Tongqing Monastery. Minister Pei Xiu once consulted him on profound mysteries, and from then on the Chan students of the whole world converged there. Ascending the hall: 'The mind of a man of the Way is upright and without falsity, without back or front, without a deceiving and deluded mind. At all times, seeing and hearing are ordinary; there is no further bending, nor does he close his eyes or stop his ears—he simply does not let feeling cling to objects, and that is all. The sages from of old spoke only of the faults on the turbid side. If there are not so many evil perceptions, feelings, views, and habitual thoughts, then it is like autumn water, clear and still—pure, non-active, calm and unobstructed. Call him a man of the Way, and he is also called a man of no affairs.' Then a monk asked, 'Does one who has suddenly awakened still have cultivation?' The Master said, 'If he has truly awakened to the root, he knows the time himself. Cultivating and not cultivating are words of two extremes. Now, though one of first resolve attains it through conditions, and in a single thought suddenly awakens to the principle himself, he still has habitual tendencies from beginningless kalpas that cannot be suddenly purified. He must be made to purify and remove his present karma and flowing consciousness—that is cultivation. There is no other dharma that one can teach him to cultivate and aim for. Entering the principle through hearing, hearing the principle deep and wonderful, the mind becomes round and bright of itself, and does not dwell in a place of delusion. Even if there are a hundred thousand wonderful meanings, raised and lowered at the time, this is only then being able to sit down, put on one's robe, and understand how to make a living for oneself. In sum: in the ground of the principle of actuality, not a speck of dust is received; in the gate of the ten thousand practices, not a single dharma is abandoned. If one goes straight in single-edged, then ordinary and sage feeling is exhausted, the essence reveals true permanence, principle and phenomena are not two—that is the thus-natured Buddha.' Yangshan asked, 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master pointed at a lantern and said, 'What a fine lantern.' Yangshan said, 'Is it just this?' The Master said, 'What is this?' Yangshan said, 'What a fine lantern.' The Master said, 'Sure enough, you do not see.' One day the Master said to the assembly, 'So many people have only the great mechanism but not the great function.' Yangshan brought up these words and asked the master of the hut below the mountain, 'What does the Master mean by saying this?' The hut master said, 'Bring it up again.' As Yangshan was about to bring it up again, the hut master pushed him down. Yangshan returned and reported this to the Master. The Master laughed heartily. The Master was sitting in the Dharma hall. The storekeeper struck the wooden fish, and the fire-tender threw down his fire-tongs and clapped his hands and laughed loudly. The Master said, 'There is such a man in the assembly.' He called him over and asked, 'What is it?' The fire-tender said, 'I have not eaten gruel and my belly is hungry, therefore I am happy.' The Master nodded. (Later Jingqing Fu said, 'Now I know there is no one in Weishan's assembly.' Wolong Qiu said, 'Now I know there is someone in Weishan's assembly.') While the Master was picking tea, he said to Yangshan, 'All day picking tea, I only hear your voice, I do not see your form.' Yangshan shook the tea tree. The Master said:

子祇得其用。不得其體。仰曰。未審和尚如何。師良久。仰曰。和尚祇得其體。不得其用。師曰。放子三十棒。仰曰。和尚棒某甲吃。某甲棒教誰吃。師曰。放子三十棒(玄覺雲。且道過在甚麼處)。上堂。僧出曰。請和尚為眾說法。師曰。我為汝得徹困也。僧禮拜(後人舉似雪峰峰曰。古人得恁麼老婆心切。玄沙雲。山頭和尚蹉過古人事也。雪峰聞之。乃問沙曰。甚麼處是老僧蹉過古人事處。沙曰。大小溈山被那僧一問。直得百雜碎。峰乃駭然)。師坐次。仰山入來。師曰。寂子速道。莫入陰界。仰曰。慧寂信亦不立。師曰。子信了不立。不信不立。仰曰。祇是慧寂。更信阿誰。師曰。若恁麼即是定性聲聞。仰曰。慧寂佛亦不立。師問仰山。涅槃經四十卷。多少是佛說。多少是魔說。仰曰。總是魔說。師曰。已後無人奈子何。仰曰。慧寂即一期之事。行履在甚麼處。師曰。祇貴子眼正。不說子行履。仰山蹋衣次。提起問師曰。正恁麼時。和尚作麼生。師曰。正恁麼時。我這裡無作麼生。仰曰。和尚有身而無用。師良久。卻拈起問曰。汝正恁麼時。作麼生。仰曰。正恁麼時。和尚還見伊否。師曰。汝有用而無身。師後忽問仰山。汝春間有話未圓。今試道看。仰曰。正恁麼時。切忌勃訴。師曰。停囚長智。師一日喚院主。主便來。師曰。我喚院主。汝來作甚麼。主無對(曹山代雲。也知和尚不喚某甲)。又令侍者喚第一座。座便至。師曰。我喚第一座。汝來作甚麼。座亦無對(曹山代雲。若令侍者喚。恐不來。法眼雲。適來侍者喚)。師問雲巖。聞汝久在藥山。是否。巖曰。是。師曰。如何是藥山大人相。巖曰。涅槃後有。師曰。如何是涅槃後有。巖曰。水灑不著。巖卻問師。百丈大人相如何。師曰。巍巍堂堂。煒煒煌煌。聲前非聲。色後非色。蚊子上鐵牛。無汝下觜處。師過淨瓶與仰山。山擬接。

(The Master went on:) 'You have got only its function, not its essence.' Yangshan said, 'How about the Master?' The Master was silent a long while. Yangshan said, 'The Master has got only the essence, not the function.' The Master said, 'I let you off thirty blows.' Yangshan said, 'The Master's blows I take; my blows—whom shall I have take them?' The Master said, 'I let you off thirty blows.' (Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, where is the fault?') Ascending the hall. A monk came forward and said, 'Please, Master, speak the Dharma for the assembly.' The Master said, 'For your sake I am thoroughly worn out.' The monk bowed. (Later someone reported this to Xuefeng. Xuefeng said, 'The ancients were so tender-hearted.' Xuansha said, 'The old man on the mountain top has missed the ancients' matter.' Hearing this, Xuefeng asked Xuansha, 'Where did this old monk miss the ancients' matter?' Xuansha said, 'Great or small, Weishan, being questioned by that monk, was reduced to a hundred bits and pieces.' Xuefeng was astonished.) While the Master was sitting, Yangshan came in. The Master said, 'Jizi, speak quickly; do not enter the realm of the aggregates.' Yangshan said, 'Huiji does not even stand on faith.' The Master said, 'Do you not stand on faith when you have faith, and not stand on it when you have no faith?' Yangshan said, 'It is only Huiji—in whom else should I have faith?' The Master said, 'If so, then you are a disciple of fixed nature.' Yangshan said, 'Huiji does not even stand on the Buddha.' The Master asked Yangshan, 'The Nirvana Sutra in forty scrolls—how much is spoken by the Buddha and how much by Mara?' Yangshan said, 'All of it is spoken by Mara.' The Master said, 'Hereafter no one can do anything with you.' Yangshan said, 'Huiji is a matter of one lifetime—where is the practice?' The Master said, 'I prize only that your eye is correct; I do not speak of your practice.' While Yangshan was treading on his robe, he lifted it up and asked the Master, 'Just at this moment, what does the Master do?' The Master said, 'Just at this moment, here there is no what does the Master do.' Yangshan said, 'The Master has a body but no function.' The Master was silent a long while, then picked it up and asked, 'Just at this moment for you, what is it?' Yangshan said, 'Just at this moment, does the Master still see it?' The Master said, 'You have function but no body.' Later the Master suddenly asked Yangshan, 'In the spring you had a saying that was not complete—now try to say it.' Yangshan said, 'Just at this moment, above all do not babble complaints.' The Master said, 'Detaining a prisoner sharpens his wit.' One day the Master called the rector. The rector came at once. The Master said, 'I called the rector—why have you come?' The rector had no reply. (Caoshan said in his place, 'I know the Master did not call me.') He also sent an attendant to call the first seat. The first seat came at once. The Master said, 'I called the first seat—why have you come?' The first seat also had no reply. (Caoshan said in his place, 'If you had the attendant call, I fear he would not come.' Fayan said, 'Just now the attendant called.') The Master asked Yunyan, 'I hear you were long at Yaoshan, is that so?' Yunyan said, 'It is.' The Master said, 'What is Yaoshan's mark of a great man?' Yunyan said, 'There is after nirvana.' The Master said, 'What is there after nirvana?' Yunyan said, 'Water cannot sprinkle it.' Yunyan asked the Master in turn, 'What is Baizhang's mark of a great man?' The Master said, 'Lofty and magnificent, brilliant and glorious. Before sound it is not sound; after form it is not form. A mosquito on an iron ox—there is no place for you to put your mouth.' The Master handed the pure water bottle to Yangshan. As Yangshan was about to take it,

師卻縮手曰。是甚麼。仰曰。和尚還見箇甚麼。師曰。若恁麼。何用更就吾覓。仰曰。雖然如此。仁義道中與和尚提瓶挈水。亦是本分事。師乃過淨瓶與仰山。師與仰山行次。指栢樹子問曰。前面是甚麼。仰曰。栢樹子。師卻問耘田翁。翁亦曰。栢樹子。師曰。這耘田翁向後亦有五百眾。師問仰山。何處來。仰曰。田中來。師曰。禾好刈也未。仰作刈禾勢。師曰。汝適來作青見。作黃見。作不青不黃見。仰曰。和尚背後是甚麼。師曰。子還見麼。仰拈禾穗曰。和尚何曾問這箇。師曰。此是鵝王擇乳。師問仰山。天寒人寒。仰曰。大家在這裡。師曰。何不直說。仰曰。適來也不曲。和尚如何。師曰。直須隨流。上堂。仲冬嚴寒年年事。晷運推移事若何。仰山進前。叉手而立。師曰。我情知汝答這話不得。香嚴曰。某甲偏答得這話。師躡前問。嚴亦進前。叉手而立。師曰。賴遇寂子不會。師一日見劉鐵磨來。師曰。老牸牛。汝來也。磨曰。來日臺山大會齋。和尚還去麼。師乃放身作臥勢。磨便出去。有僧來禮拜。師作起勢。僧曰。請和尚不用起。師曰。老僧未曾坐。僧曰。某甲未曾禮。師曰。何故無禮。僧無對(同安代雲。和尚不怪)。僧問。如何是道。師曰。無心是道。曰。某甲不會。師曰。會取不會底好。曰。如何是不會底。師曰。祇汝是。不是別人。復曰。今時人但直下體取不會底。正是汝心。正是汝佛。若向外得一知一解。將為禪道。且沒交涉。名運糞入。不名運糞出。汙汝心田。所以道不是道。問。如何是百丈真。師下禪床。叉手立。曰。如何是和尚真。師卻坐。師坐次。仰山從方丈前過。師曰。若是百丈先師見。子須吃痛棒始得。仰曰。即今事作麼生。師曰。合取兩片皮。仰曰。此恩難報。師曰。非子不才。廼老僧年邁。仰曰。今日親見百丈師翁來。師曰。子向甚麼處見。仰曰。不道見祇是無別。

the Master withdrew his hand and said, 'What is it?' Yangshan said, 'What does the Master still see?' The Master said, 'If so, why come to me seeking it?' Yangshan said, 'Even so, in the way of benevolence and righteousness, holding the bottle and carrying water for the Master is also my original duty.' The Master then handed the bottle to Yangshan. Once, as the Master and Yangshan were walking, he pointed at a cypress seed and asked, 'What is that ahead?' Yangshan said, 'A cypress seed.' The Master then asked the old man weeding the field. The old man also said, 'A cypress seed.' The Master said, 'This old man of the field will later have five hundred followers too.' The Master asked Yangshan, 'Where have you come from?' Yangshan said, 'From the field.' The Master said, 'Is the grain ready to reap?' Yangshan made the gesture of reaping grain. The Master said, 'Just now did you see it as green, see it as yellow, or see it as neither green nor yellow?' Yangshan said, 'What is behind the Master?' The Master said, 'Do you still see it?' Yangshan picked up an ear of grain and said, 'When did the Master ever ask about this?' The Master said, 'This is the goose king choosing milk.' The Master said to Yangshan, 'The weather is cold and the person is cold.' Yangshan said, 'Everyone is here.' The Master said, 'Why not speak directly?' Yangshan said, 'Just now I did not bend either. How about the Master?' The Master said, 'One must simply follow the current.' Ascending the hall: 'Midwinter's severe cold is a yearly matter; as the sundial's movement shifts, what of the matter?' Yangshan stepped forward and stood with folded hands. The Master said, 'I knew you could not answer these words.' Xiangyan said, 'I, on the other hand, can answer these words.' The Master pressed the previous question. Xiangyan also stepped forward and stood with folded hands. The Master said, 'Luckily Jizi does not understand.' One day the Master saw Liu Tiemo coming. The Master said, 'Old cow, so you have come.' Tiemo said, 'Tomorrow there is a great assembly feast at Mount Tai—will the Master go?' The Master then let his body down in the posture of lying down. Tiemo went out. A monk came to bow. The Master made the gesture of rising. The monk said, 'Please, Master, do not rise.' The Master said, 'This old monk has not been sitting.' The monk said, 'I have not bowed.' The Master said, 'Why are you rude?' The monk had no reply. (Tong'an said in his place, 'The Master does not blame you.') A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'No-mind is the Way.' 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'Better to understand the not-understanding.' 'What is the not-understanding?' The Master said, 'It is just you, not someone else.' He added, 'People today need only directly realize the not-understanding; that is precisely your mind, precisely your Buddha. If you get one bit of knowledge and one understanding from outside and take it for the Chan way, it is entirely unrelated. It is called hauling dung in, not hauling dung out. It defiles your mind-field. Therefore it is said, it is not the Way.' Asked, 'What is Baizhang's true likeness?' The Master came down from the meditation seat and stood with folded hands. 'What is the Master's true likeness?' The Master sat down again. While the Master was sitting, Yangshan passed in front of the abbot's quarters. The Master said, 'If the late Master Baizhang had seen this, you would have to take a painful blow of the staff.' Yangshan said, 'What about the matter right now?' The Master said, 'Shut your two lips.' Yangshan said, 'This kindness is hard to repay.' The Master said, 'It is not that you lack ability; it is that this old monk is advanced in years.' Yangshan said, 'Today I have personally seen the late Master Baizhang.' The Master said, 'Where do you see him?' Yangshan said, 'I do not say I see him; there is simply no difference.'

師曰。始終作家。師問仰山。即今事且置。古來事作麼生。仰叉手近前。師曰。猶是即今事。古來事作麼生。仰退後立。師曰。汝屈我。我屈汝。仰便禮拜。仰山香嚴侍立次。師舉手曰。如今恁麼者少。不恁麼者多。嚴從東過西立。仰從西過東立。師曰。這箇因緣。三十年後如金擲地相似。仰曰。亦須是和尚提唱始得。嚴曰。即今亦不少。師曰。合取口。師坐次。仰山入來。師以兩手相交示之。仰作女人拜。師曰。如是。如是。師方丈內坐次。仰山入來。師曰。寂子。近日宗門令嗣作麼生。仰曰。大有人疑著此事。師曰。寂子作麼生。仰曰。慧寂祇管困來閤眼。健即坐禪。所以未曾說著在。師曰。到這田地也難得。仰曰。據慧寂所見。祇如此一句也著不得。師曰。汝為一人也不得。仰曰。自古聖人。盡皆如此。師曰。大有人笑汝恁麼祇對。仰曰。解笑者是慧寂同參。師曰。出頭事作麼生。仰繞禪床一匝。師曰。裂破古今。仰山香嚴侍立次。師曰。過去現在未來。佛佛道同。人人得箇解脫路。仰曰。如何是人人解脫路。師回顧香嚴曰。寂子借問。何不答伊。嚴曰。若道過去未來現在。某甲卻有箇祇對處。師曰。子作麼生祇對。嚴珍重便出。師卻問仰山曰。智閑恁麼祇對。還契寂子也無。仰曰。不契。師曰。子又作麼生。仰亦珍重出去。師呵呵大笑曰。如水乳合。一日。師翹起一足謂仰山曰。我每日得他負載。感伊不徹。仰曰。當時給孤園中。與此無別。師曰。更須道始得。仰曰。寒時與他襪著。也不為分外。師曰。不負當初。子今已徹。仰曰。恁麼更要答話在。師曰。道看。仰曰。誠如是言。師曰。如是。如是。師問仰山。生住異滅。汝作麼生會。仰曰。一念起時不見有生住異滅。師曰。子何得遣法。仰曰。和尚適來問甚麼。師曰。生住異滅。仰曰。卻喚作遣法。師問仰山。妙淨明心。汝作麼生會。仰曰。

The Master said, 'Throughout, a master craftsman.' The Master asked Yangshan, 'Set aside the matter right now—what about the matter from of old?' Yangshan folded his hands and stepped forward. The Master said, 'That is still the matter right now. What about the matter from of old?' Yangshan stepped back and stood. The Master said, 'You bend me, I bend you.' Yangshan bowed. While Yangshan and Xiangyan were standing in attendance, the Master raised his hand and said, 'Nowadays those who are like this are few; those who are not like this are many.' Xiangyan crossed from east to west and stood; Yangshan crossed from west to east and stood. The Master said, 'This case, thirty years from now, will be like gold thrown to the ground.' Yangshan said, 'It must also be the Master who raises and sings it.' Xiangyan said, 'Even now it is not few.' The Master said, 'Shut your mouth.' While the Master was sitting, Yangshan came in. The Master showed him his two hands crossed. Yangshan made a woman's bow. The Master said, 'Thus, thus.' While the Master was sitting in his quarters, Yangshan came in. The Master said, 'Jizi, lately how are the heirs of the school?' Yangshan said, 'Many people are doubting this matter.' The Master said, 'How about you, Jizi?' Yangshan said, 'Huiji only closes his eyes when tired and sits in meditation when well, and so has never spoken of it.' The Master said, 'To reach this field is rare.' Yangshan said, 'As I see it, even such a phrase cannot be applied.' The Master said, 'You cannot do it even for one person.' Yangshan said, 'The sages from of old were all like this.' The Master said, 'Many will laugh at you for answering like this.' Yangshan said, 'Those who can laugh are Huiji's fellow students.' The Master said, 'What about the matter of stepping forth?' Yangshan circled the meditation seat once. The Master said, 'You have split past and present.' While Yangshan and Xiangyan were standing in attendance, the Master said, 'Past, present, and future—Buddha after Buddha the Way is the same; each person gets a road of liberation.' Yangshan said, 'What is each person's road of liberation?' The Master looked back at Xiangyan and said, 'Jizi has asked—why do you not answer him?' Xiangyan said, 'If you speak of past, future, and present, then I do have a place to answer.' The Master said, 'How do you answer?' Xiangyan said, 'Take care,' and went out. The Master then asked Yangshan, 'Zhixian answered like that—did it accord with you, Jizi?' Yangshan said, 'It did not accord.' The Master said, 'And how about you?' Yangshan also said, 'Take care,' and went out. The Master laughed heartily and said, 'Like water and milk mixing.' One day the Master lifted one foot and said to Yangshan, 'Every day I get carried by this; I cannot thank it enough.' Yangshan said, 'In the Jeta Grove at that time it was no different from this.' The Master said, 'You must say more.' Yangshan said, 'Putting socks on it in cold weather is no extra burden.' The Master said, 'Not failing the beginning—you have now gone through.' Yangshan said, 'Even so, there is still more to answer.' The Master said, 'Say it.' Yangshan said, 'Truly it is as you say.' The Master said, 'Thus, thus.' The Master asked Yangshan, 'Birth, abiding, change, and extinction—how do you understand them?' Yangshan said, 'When a single thought arises, one does not see birth, abiding, change, or extinction.' The Master said, 'How can you dismiss the dharma?' Yangshan said, 'What did the Master just ask?' The Master said, 'Birth, abiding, change, and extinction.' Yangshan said, 'You call it dismissing the dharma.' The Master asked Yangshan, 'The wonderful, pure, bright mind—how do you understand it?' Yangshan said:

山河大地。日月星辰。師曰。汝祇得其事。仰曰。和尚適來問甚麼。師曰。妙淨明心。仰曰。喚作事得麼。師曰。如是。如是。石霜會下有二禪客到。雲。此間無一人會禪。後普請搬柴。仰山見二禪客歇。將一橛柴問曰。還道得麼。俱無對。仰曰。莫道無人會禪好。仰歸舉似師曰。今日二禪客。被慧寂勘破。師曰。甚麼處被子勘破。仰舉前話。師曰。寂子又被吾勘破(雲居錫雲。甚處是溈山勘破仰山處)。師睡次。仰山問訊。師便回面向壁。仰曰。和尚何得如此。師起曰。我適來得一夢。你試為我原看。仰取一盆水。與師洗面。少頃。香嚴亦來問訊。師曰。我適來得一夢。寂子為我原了。汝更與我原看。嚴乃點一椀茶來。師曰。二子見解。過於鶖子。師因泥壁次。李軍容來。具公裳。直至師背後。端笏而立。師回首見。便側泥盤作接泥勢。李便轉笏作進泥勢。師便拋下泥盤。同歸方丈。僧問。不作溈山一頂笠。無由得到莫傜村。如何是溈山一頂笠。師喚曰。近前來。僧近前。師與一踏。上堂。老僧百年後。向山下作一頭水牯牛。左脇下書五字。曰。溈山僧某甲。當恁麼時。喚作溈山僧又是水牯牛。喚作水牯牛又是溈山僧。畢竟喚作甚麼即得。仰山出禮拜而退。雲居膺代曰。師無異號資福寶。曰。當時但作此○相拓呈之。新羅和尚作此[○@牛]相拓呈之。又曰。同道者方知芭蕉徹作此【圖：X80p0187_01.gif】

(Yangshan went on:) 'Mountains and rivers, the great earth, sun, moon, and stars.' The Master said, 'You have got only its matter.' Yangshan said, 'What did the Master just ask?' The Master said, 'The wonderful, pure, bright mind.' Yangshan said, 'Can it be called a matter?' The Master said, 'Thus, thus.' Two Chan guests from Shishuang's assembly arrived, saying, 'In this place there is not one person who understands Chan.' Later, at communal labor hauling firewood, Yangshan saw the two Chan guests resting and held up a piece of firewood, asking, 'Can you say it?' Neither had a reply. Yangshan said, 'Do not say there is no one who understands Chan.' Yangshan returned and reported to the Master, 'Today I exposed the two Chan guests.' The Master said, 'Where did you expose them?' Yangshan brought up the foregoing. The Master said, 'Jizi, you in turn have been exposed by me.' (Yunjü Xi said, 'Where is the place where Weishan exposed Yangshan?') The Master was sleeping, and Yangshan came to inquire after him. The Master turned his face to the wall. Yangshan said, 'How can the Master be like this?' The Master rose and said, 'I just had a dream; try to interpret it for me.' Yangshan fetched a basin of water and washed the Master's face. Shortly after, Xiangyan also came to inquire. The Master said, 'I just had a dream, and Jizi interpreted it for me; you interpret it for me too.' Xiangyan then brought a bowl of tea. The Master said, 'The views of you two surpass those of Shariputra.' Once, while the Master was plastering a wall, Li the army officer came in full official dress, went straight up behind the Master, and stood holding his tablet upright. The Master turned his head, saw him, and tilted the plaster tray in the gesture of receiving plaster. Li then turned his tablet in the gesture of offering plaster. The Master threw down the tray and went with him to the abbot's quarters. A monk asked, 'Without making a Weishan hat, there is no way to reach Moyao Village. What is the Weishan hat?' The Master called, 'Come closer.' The monk came closer. The Master gave him a kick. Ascending the hall: 'A hundred years from now this old monk will become a water buffalo down the mountain. On its left flank will be written five characters: 'Weishan monk so-and-so.' At that time, if you call it Weishan monk, it is also a water buffalo; if you call it a water buffalo, it is also Weishan monk. After all, what should one call it?' Yangshan came forward, bowed, and withdrew. Yunjü Ying said in his place, 'The Master has no other name.' Zifu Bao said, 'At that time one should just draw this circle and present it.' The monk from Silla drew this circle with the character for ox inside and presented it. He also said, 'Only one who shares the Way knows it.' Bajiao Che drew this picture (figure: X80p0187_01.gif)

相拓呈之。又曰。說也說了也。注也注了也。悟取好。乃述偈曰。不是溈山不是牛。一身兩號實難酬。離卻兩頭應須道。如何道得出常流。師敷揚宗教。凡四十餘年。達者不可勝數。大中七年正月九日。盥漱敷坐。怡然而寂。壽八十三。臘六十四。塔於本山。諡大圓禪師。塔曰清淨。

(Bajiao Che went on:) and presented it. He also said, 'It has been said and it has been annotated. Awaken to it well.' Then he spoke a verse: 'It is not Weishan and it is not an ox; one body with two names is truly hard to answer. Apart from the two ends one should speak—how can one speak beyond the common run?' The Master spread the teaching of the school for more than forty years, and those who penetrated it cannot be counted. On the ninth day of the first month of the seventh year of Dazhong, he washed his face and mouth, spread his seat, and joyfully passed into quiescence. He was eighty-three years old and had been ordained sixty-four years. His stupa is on his own mountain. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Dayuan, and the stupa is called Qingjing.

南嶽下四世

The Fourth Generation below Nanyue

溈山祐禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Weishan You

袁州仰山慧寂通智禪師

Chan Master Tongzhi, Huiji of Yangshan in Yuanzhou

韶州懷化葉氏子。年九歲。於廣州和安寺投通禪師出家(即不語通)。十四歲。父母取歸。欲與婚媾。師不從。遂斷手二指。跪致父母前。誓求正法。以答劬勞。父母乃許。再詣通處。而得披剃。未登具。即遊方。初謁耽源。已悟玄旨。後參溈山。遂升堂奧。耽源謂師曰。國師當時傳得六代祖師圓相。共九十七箇。授與老僧。乃曰。吾滅後三十年。南方有一沙彌到來。大興此教。次第傳受。無令斷絕。我今付汝。汝當奉持。遂將其本過與師。師接得一覽。便將火燒卻。耽源一日問。前來諸相。甚宜秘惜。師曰。當時看了便燒卻也。源曰。吾此法門無人能會。唯先師及諸祖師．諸大聖人方可委悉。子何得焚之。師曰。慧寂一覧。已知其意。但用得不可執本也。源曰。然雖如此。於子即得。後人信之不及。師曰。和尚若要重錄不難。即重集一本呈上。更無遺失。源曰。然。耽源上堂。師出眾。作此○相以手拓呈了。卻叉手立。源以兩手相交。作拳示之。師進前三步。作女人拜。源點頭。師便禮拜。師浣衲次。耽源曰。正恁麼時作麼生。師曰。正恁麼時向甚麼處見。後參溈山。溈問。汝是有主沙彌。無主沙彌。師曰。有主。曰。主在甚麼處。師從西過東立。溈異之。師問。如何是真佛住處。溈曰。以思無思之妙。返思靈燄之無窮。思盡還源。性相常住。事理不二。真佛如如。師於言下頓悟。自此執侍前後。盤桓十五載。後參巖頭。頭舉起拂子。師展坐具。巖拈拂子置背後。師將坐具搭肩上而出。巖曰。我不肯汝放。祇肯汝收。掃地次。溈問。塵非掃得。空不自生。如何是塵非掃得。師掃地一下。溈曰。如何是空不自生。師指自身又指溈。溈曰。塵非掃得。空不自生。離此二途。又作麼生。師又掃地一下。又指自身並指溈。溈一日指田問師。這丘田那頭高。這頭低。師曰。卻是這頭高。那頭低。溈曰。你若不信。

was a son of the Ye family of Huaihua in Shaozhou. At nine he left home under Chan Master Tong at He'an Monastery in Guangzhou (that is, Tong the Silent). At fourteen his parents took him back, wishing to marry him. The Master would not consent; he cut off two fingers and knelt with them before his parents, vowing to seek the true Dharma in repayment for their toil. His parents then consented. He went again to Tong and was shaved. Before receiving full ordination he traveled as a pilgrim. He first called on Danyuan and had already awakened to the profound purport. Later he called on Weishan and entered the inner chamber. Danyuan told the Master, 'The National Teacher received from the Sixth Patriarch the round signs, ninety-seven in all, and transmitted them to this old monk, saying: 'Thirty years after my extinction a novice will come to the south and greatly prosper this teaching; transmit and receive them in order, and do not let them be cut off.' I now hand them to you; you should uphold them.' He then gave him the record. The Master took one look and at once burned it. One day Danyuan asked, 'Those signs—it would be most fitting to keep them secret.' The Master said, 'At the time I looked at them and then burned them.' Danyuan said, 'No one in my Dharma gate can understand them; only the late Master and the patriarchs and the great sages could fully know them. How could you burn them?' The Master said, 'Huiji took one look and already knew their meaning. One need only use it; one must not cling to the record.' Danyuan said, 'Even so, it is all right for you, but later people will not be able to trust it.' The Master said, 'If the Master wants them re-recorded, it is not hard.' He at once reassembled a volume and presented it, with nothing missing. Danyuan said, 'So.' Danyuan ascended the hall. The Master came forward, drew this circle, presented it with his hand, and stood with folded hands. Danyuan crossed his two hands and showed him a fist. The Master stepped forward three steps and made a woman's bow. Danyuan nodded. The Master bowed. While the Master was washing his robe, Danyuan said, 'Just at this moment, what is it?' The Master said, 'Just at this moment, where do you see it?' Later he called on Weishan. Weishan asked, 'Are you a novice with a master or a novice without a master?' The Master said, 'With a master.' 'Where is the master?' The Master crossed from west to east and stood. Weishan thought him remarkable. The Master asked, 'What is the dwelling place of the true Buddha?' Weishan said, 'By the wonder of thinking the unthinkable, one returns to the endlessness of the numinous flame of thought. When thought is exhausted one returns to the source; nature and sign ever abide. Matter and principle are not two; the true Buddha is thus.' At these words the Master suddenly awakened. From then on he attended him for fifteen years. Later he called on Yantou. Yantou raised his whisk. The Master spread his sitting cloth. Yantou picked up the whisk and put it behind him. The Master put the sitting cloth over his shoulder and went out. Yantou said, 'I do not accept your putting it down; I accept only your picking it up.' While sweeping, Weishan asked, 'Dust is not swept away, and space does not arise of itself. What is dust is not swept away?' The Master swept once. Weishan said, 'What is space does not arise of itself?' The Master pointed at himself and then at Weishan. Weishan said, 'Dust is not swept away, and space does not arise of itself. Apart from these two paths, what then?' The Master swept once more and again pointed at himself and at Weishan. One day Weishan pointed at a field and asked the Master, 'That end of this plot is high, this end is low.' The Master said, 'Rather, this end is high and that end is low.' Weishan said, 'If you do not believe me,

向中間立。看兩頭。師曰。不必立中間。亦莫住兩頭。溈曰。若如是。著水看。水能平物。師曰。水亦無定。但高處高平。低處低平。溈便休。有施主送絹與溈山。師問。和尚受施主如是供養。將何報答。溈敲禪床示之。師曰。和尚何得將眾人物作自己用。師在溈山。為直歲。作務歸。溈問。甚麼處去來。師曰。田中來。溈曰。田中多少人。師插鍬叉手。溈曰。今日南山。大有人刈茅。師㧞鍬便行(玄沙雲。我若見。即踏倒鍬子。僧問鏡清。仰山插鍬。意旨如何。清雲。狗銜赦書。諸侯避道。雲。祇如玄沙踏倒。意旨如何。清雲。不奈船何。打破戽斗。雲。南山刈茅。意旨如何。清雲。李靖三兄。久經行陣。雲居錫雲。且道鏡清下此一判。著不著)。師在溈山牧牛。時踢天泰上座問曰。一毛頭師子現即不問。百億毛頭百億師子現。又作麼生。師便騎牛歸。侍立溈山次。舉前話方了。卻見泰來。師曰。便是這箇上座。溈遂問。百億毛頭百億師子現。豈不是上座道。泰曰。是。師曰。正當現時。毛前現。毛後現。泰曰。現時不說前後。溈山大笑。師曰。師子腰折也。便下去。一日。第一座舉起拂子曰。若人作得道理。即與之。師曰。某甲作得道理。還得否。座曰。但作得道理便得。師乃掣將拂子去(雲居錫雲。甚麼處是仰山道理)。一日雨下。天性上座謂師曰。好雨。師曰。好在甚麼處。性無語。師曰。某甲卻道得。性曰。好在甚麼處。師指雨。性又無語。師曰。何得大智而默。師隨溈山遊山。到盤陀石上坐。師侍立次。忽鵶銜一紅柿落在面前。溈拾與師。師接得洗了度與溈。溈曰。子甚處得來。師曰。此是和尚道德所感。溈曰。汝也不得無分。即分半與師(玄沙雲。大小溈山被仰山一坐。至今起不得)。溈山問師。忽有人問汝。汝作麼生祇對。師曰。東寺師叔若在。某甲不致寂寞。溈曰。放汝一箇不祗對罪。

(Weishan went on:) 'stand in the middle and look at both ends.' The Master said, 'There is no need to stand in the middle, and do not dwell at either end.' Weishan said, 'If so, look at water. Water can level things.' The Master said, 'Water too has no fixed measure; where it is high it is level high, where it is low it is level low.' Weishan then let it drop. A donor sent silk to Weishan. The Master asked, 'The Master receives such offerings from donors—how will he repay them?' Weishan knocked on the meditation seat to show him. The Master said, 'How can the Master use the assembly's things as his own?' When the Master was at Weishan he was the work director. Returning from work, Weishan asked, 'Where have you been?' The Master said, 'From the field.' Weishan said, 'How many people were in the field?' The Master planted his spade and stood with folded hands. Weishan said, 'Today on the southern mountain there are many people cutting thatch.' The Master pulled up the spade and went. (Xuansha said, 'If I had seen it, I would have kicked over the spade.' A monk asked Jingqing, 'Yangshan planting his spade—what does it mean?' Jingqing said, 'A dog carrying an imperial pardon; the lords give way.' 'And Xuansha kicking it over—what does that mean?' Jingqing said, 'He could do nothing with the boat, so he smashed the bailer.' 'What does cutting thatch on the southern mountain mean?' Jingqing said, 'Li Jing's three elder brothers have long passed through the ranks.' Yunjü Xi said, 'Tell me, is this judgment of Jingqing on the mark or not?') The Master was herding oxen at Weishan. Then the elder Titian Tai asked, 'I do not ask about a lion appearing from one hair's tip; what about a hundred billion lions appearing from a hundred billion hair's tips?' The Master mounted the ox and rode home. While standing in attendance on Weishan, he had just finished bringing up the foregoing when he saw Tai coming. The Master said, 'This is the elder.' Weishan then asked, 'A hundred billion lions appearing from a hundred billion hair's tips—was that not the Elder's saying?' Tai said, 'It was.' The Master said, 'At the very moment of appearing, does it appear before the hair or behind the hair?' Tai said, 'At the time of appearing one does not speak of before or after.' Weishan laughed heartily. The Master said, 'The lion's back is broken.' Then he went down. One day the first seat raised his whisk and said, 'Whoever can make a principle of it gets it.' The Master said, 'I can make a principle of it—may I have it?' The first seat said, 'If you can make a principle of it, you get it.' The Master then snatched the whisk and left. (Yunjü Xi said, 'Where is Yangshan's principle?') One day it rained, and the elder Tianxing said to the Master, 'Fine rain.' The Master said, 'Where is it fine?' Tianxing was silent. The Master said, 'I can say it.' Tianxing said, 'Where is it fine?' The Master pointed at the rain. Tianxing was silent again. The Master said, 'How can one of great wisdom keep silent?' The Master was walking in the mountains with Weishan and sat on a flat boulder. While the Master stood in attendance, a crow suddenly dropped a red persimmon before them. Weishan picked it up and gave it to the Master. The Master took it, washed it, and handed it back to Weishan. Weishan said, 'Where did you get it?' The Master said, 'This is what the Master's virtue has moved.' Weishan said, 'You cannot be without a share either.' He then divided it in half and gave it to the Master. (Xuansha said, 'Great or small, Weishan was sat into place by Yangshan and to this day cannot get up.') Weishan asked the Master, 'If someone suddenly asked you, how would you answer?' The Master said, 'If Uncle Dongsi were here, I would not be so lonely.' Weishan said, 'I pardon you one crime of not answering.'

師曰。生之與殺。祇在一言。溈曰。不負汝見。別有人不肯。師曰。阿誰。溈指露柱曰。這箇。師曰。道甚麼。溈曰。道甚麼。師曰。白鼠推遷。銀臺不變。師問溈山。大用現前。請師辨白。溈山下座歸方丈。師隨後入。溈問。子適來問甚麼話。師再舉。溈曰。還記得吾答語否。師曰。記得。溈曰。你試舉看。師便珍重出去。溈曰。錯。師回首。曰。閑師弟若來。莫道某甲無語好。師問東寺曰。借一路過那邊還得否。寺曰。大凡沙門不可祇一路。也別更有麼。師良久。寺卻問。借一路過那邊得否。師曰。大凡沙門不可祇一路。也別更有麼。寺曰。祇有此。師曰。大唐天子決定姓金。師在溈山前坡牧牛次。見一僧上山。不久便下來。師乃問。上座何不且留山中。僧曰。祇為因緣不契。師曰。有何因緣。試舉看。曰。和尚問某名甚麼。某答歸真和尚。曰。歸真何在。某甲無對。師曰。上座卻迴向和尚。道某甲道得也。和尚問作麼生道。但曰眼裡耳裡鼻裡。僧回一如所教。溈曰。脫空謾語漢。此是五百人善知識語。師臥次。夢入彌勒內院。眾堂中諸位皆足。惟第二位空。師遂就座。有一尊者白槌曰。今當第二座說法。師起白槌曰。摩訶衍法。離四句。絕百非。諦聽。諦聽。眾皆散去。及覺舉似溈。溈曰。子已入聖位。師便禮拜。師侍溈行次。忽見前面塵起。溈曰。面前是甚麼。師近前看了。卻作此【圖：X80p0188_01.gif】

The Master said, 'Giving life and taking life rest in a single word.' Weishan said, 'I do not fail your view. Someone else will not accept it.' The Master said, 'Who?' Weishan pointed at the exposed pillar and said, 'This.' The Master said, 'What did you say?' Weishan said, 'What did you say?' The Master said, 'The white rat shifts and moves; the silver terrace does not change.' The Master asked Weishan, 'The great function is before me—please, Master, make it clear.' Weishan came down from the seat and returned to his quarters. The Master followed him in. Weishan asked, 'What did you just ask?' The Master brought it up again. Weishan said, 'Do you still remember my answer?' The Master said, 'I remember.' Weishan said, 'Try to bring it up.' The Master said, 'Take care,' and went out. Weishan said, 'Wrong.' The Master turned his head and said, 'If my junior brother Xian comes, do not say I had no words.' The Master asked Dongsi, 'May I borrow one road to cross over there?' Dongsi said, 'A monk in general should not have only one road—is there not another too?' The Master was silent a long while. Dongsi asked in turn, 'May one borrow one road to cross over there?' The Master said, 'A monk in general should not have only one road—is there not another too?' Dongsi said, 'There is only this.' The Master said, 'The Son of Heaven of Great Tang is surely surnamed Jin.' While the Master was herding oxen on the front slope of Weishan, he saw a monk go up the mountain and come down again before long. The Master then asked, 'Elder, why not stay in the mountains awhile?' The monk said, 'Only because the conditions did not fit.' The Master said, 'What conditions? Try to bring them up.' He said, 'The Master asked my name, and I answered Guizhen. The Master said, 'Where is Guizhen?' I had no reply.' The Master said, 'Elder, go back and tell the Master that I can answer. When he asks how you answer, just say, in the eye, in the ear, in the nose.' The monk went back and did as he was taught. Weishan said, 'A fellow of empty deceitful words. This is the speech of a good teacher of five hundred people.' While the Master was lying down, he dreamed he entered the inner court of Maitreya. All the seats in the hall were filled except the second seat. The Master then sat in it. A venerable one struck the mallet and said, 'Now the second seat should speak the Dharma.' The Master rose, struck the mallet, and said, 'The Mahayana Dharma is apart from the four propositions and cuts off the hundred negations. Listen well, listen well.' The assembly all dispersed. When he awoke he reported it to Weishan. Weishan said, 'You have entered the rank of sages.' The Master bowed. Once, as the Master was walking in attendance on Weishan, he suddenly saw dust rise ahead. Weishan said, 'What is that ahead?' The Master stepped forward, looked, and then drew this (figure: X80p0188_01.gif)

相。溈點頭。溈山示眾曰。一切眾生皆無佛性。鹽官示眾曰。一切眾生皆有佛性。鹽官有二僧往探問。既到溈山。聞溈山舉揚。莫測其涯。若生輕慢。因一日與師言話次。乃勸曰。師兄須是勤學佛法。不得容易。師乃作此○相。以手拓呈了。卻拋向背後。遂展兩手就二僧索。二僧罔措。師曰。吾兄直須勤學佛法。不得容易。便起去。時二僧卻回鹽官。行三十里。一僧忽然有省。乃曰。當知溈山道。一切眾生皆無佛性。信之不錯。便回溈山。一僧更前行數裡。因過水忽然有省。自歎曰。溈山道。一切眾生皆無佛性。灼然有他恁麼道。亦回溈山。久依法席。溈山同師牧牛次。溈曰。此中還有菩薩也無。師曰。有。溈曰。汝見那箇是。試指出看。師曰。和尚疑那箇不是。試指出看。溈便休。師送果子上溈山。溈接得。問。子甚麼處得來。師曰。家園底。溈曰。堪吃也未。師曰。未敢嘗。先獻和尚。溈曰。是阿誰底。師曰。慧寂底。溈曰。既是子底。因甚麼教我先甞。師曰。和尚甞千甞萬。溈便吃。曰。猶帶酸澀在。師曰。酸澀莫非自知。溈不答。赤幹行者聞鐘聲。乃問。有耳打鐘。無耳打鐘。師曰。汝但問。莫愁我答不得。幹曰。早箇問了也。師喝曰。去。師夏末問訊溈山次。溈曰。子一夏不見上來。在下面作何所務。師曰。某甲在下面。鉏得一片畬。下得一籮種。溈曰。子今夏不虗過。師卻問。未審和尚一夏之中作何所務。溈曰。日中一食。夜後一寢。師曰。和尚今夏亦不虗過。道了乃吐舌。溈曰。寂子何得自傷己命。溈山一日見師來。即以兩手相交過。各撥三下。卻竪一指。師亦以兩手相交過。各撥三下。卻向胸前仰一手覆一手。以目瞻視。溈山休去。溈山餧鵶生飯。回頭見師。曰。今日為伊上堂一上。師曰。某甲隨例得聞。溈曰。聞底事作麼生。師曰。鵶作鵶鳴。鵲作鵲噪。溈曰。爭奈聲色何。師曰。

(The Master went on drawing:) sign. Weishan nodded. Weishan addressed the assembly: 'All living beings are without Buddha-nature.' Yanguan addressed the assembly: 'All living beings have Buddha-nature.' Two monks of Yanguan went to investigate. When they reached Weishan and heard Weishan's exaltation, they could not fathom its shore, and a slight contempt arose in them. One day, while talking with the Master, they urged him, 'Brother, you must diligently study the Buddhadharma; do not be casual.' The Master then drew this circle, presented it with his hand, threw it behind him, and stretched out both hands to the two monks, demanding it. The two monks were at a loss. The Master said, 'My brothers, you must simply study the Buddhadharma diligently; do not be casual.' Then he rose and left. The two monks then returned to Yanguan. After walking thirty li, one monk suddenly had an insight, and said, 'I should know that Weishan's saying, all living beings are without Buddha-nature, is indeed correct.' He went back to Weishan. The other monk went on a few more li, and while crossing water suddenly had an insight, and sighed, saying, 'Weishan's saying, all living beings are without Buddha-nature—clearly he had a reason for saying it.' He too returned to Weishan and long attended the Dharma seat. Once, while Weishan and the Master were herding oxen, Weishan said, 'Is there a Bodhisattva among these?' The Master said, 'There is.' Weishan said, 'Which one is it? Try to point it out.' The Master said, 'Master, which one do you doubt? Try to point it out.' Weishan then let it drop. The Master brought some fruit to Weishan. Weishan took it and asked, 'Where did you get it?' The Master said, 'From the home garden.' Weishan said, 'Is it fit to eat yet?' The Master said, 'I did not dare taste it; I offer it to the Master first.' Weishan said, 'Whose is it?' The Master said, 'Huiji's.' Weishan said, 'Since it is yours, why have me taste it first?' The Master said, 'The Master has tasted a thousand and ten thousand.' Weishan then ate it and said, 'It is still sour and astringent.' The Master said, 'Whether it is sour and astringent, surely you know for yourself.' Weishan did not answer. The ascetic Chigan heard the bell and asked, 'Is it a bell struck with ears or a bell struck without ears?' The Master said, 'Just ask; do not worry that I cannot answer.' Gan said, 'I asked long ago.' The Master shouted, 'Go.' At the end of the summer, while the Master was inquiring after Weishan, Weishan said, 'You have not come up all summer—what have you been doing down there?' The Master said, 'Below I hoed a patch of cleared land and planted a basket of seed.' Weishan said, 'You have not passed this summer in vain.' The Master asked in turn, 'What has the Master been doing all summer?' Weishan said, 'One meal a day and one sleep at night.' The Master said, 'The Master too has not passed this summer in vain.' Having said it, he stuck out his tongue. Weishan said, 'Jizi, how can you wound your own life?' One day Weishan saw the Master coming and crossed his two hands, tapped each three times, and then held up one finger. The Master also crossed his two hands, tapped each three times, then at his chest raised one hand and covered it with the other, gazing at him. Weishan let it drop. Weishan was feeding the crows leftover rice, and turning his head saw the Master, and said, 'Today I ascend the hall once for their sake.' The Master said, 'I get to hear it in due course.' Weishan said, 'What about the matter of hearing?' The Master said, 'The crow makes crow sounds, the magpie makes magpie chatter.' Weishan said, 'What is to be done about sound and form?' The Master said:

和尚適來道甚麼。溈曰。我祇道為伊上堂一上。師曰。為甚麼喚作聲色。溈曰。雖然如此。驗過也無妨。師曰。大事因緣又作麼生驗。溈竪起拳。師曰。終是指東畫西。溈曰。子適來問甚麼。師曰。問和尚大事因緣。溈曰。為甚麼喚作指東畫西。師曰。為著聲色故。某甲所以問過。溈曰。竝未曉了此事。師曰。如何得曉了此事。溈曰。寂子聲色。老僧東西。師曰。一月千江。體不分水。溈曰。應須與麼始得。師曰。如金與金。終無異色。豈有異名。溈曰。作麼生是無異名底道理。師曰。瓶．盤．釵．釧．券．盂．盆。溈曰。寂子說禪如師子吼。驚散狐狼野幹之屬。師後開法王莾山。問僧。近離甚處。師。廬山。師曰。曾到五老峰麼。曰。不曾到。師曰。闍黎不曾遊山(雲門雲。此語皆為慈悲之故。有落草之談)。上堂。汝等諸人。各自迴光返照。莫記吾言。汝無始劫來。背明投暗。妄想根深。卒難頓㧞。所以假設方便。奪汝麤識。如將黃葉止啼。有甚麼是處。亦如人將百種貨物。與金寶作一鋪貨賣。祇擬輕重來機。所以道石頭是真金鋪。我這裡是雜貨鋪。有人來覓鼠糞。我亦拈與他。來覓真金。我亦拈與他。時有僧問。鼠糞即不要。請和尚真金。師曰。囓鏃擬開口。驢年亦不會。僧無對。師曰。索喚則有交易。不索喚則無。我若說禪宗。身邊要一人相伴亦無。豈況有五百七百眾邪。我若東說西說。則爭頭向前採拾。如將空拳誑小兒。都無實處。我今分明向汝說聖邊事。且莫將心湊泊。但向自己性海。如實而修。不要三明六通。何以故。此是聖末邊事。如今且要識心達本。但得其本。不愁其末。他時後日。自具去在。若未得本。縱饒將情學他亦不得。汝豈不見溈山和尚雲。凡聖情盡。體露真常。事理不二。即如如佛。問。如何是祖師意。師以手於空。作此[○@佛]相示之。僧無語。師謂第一座曰。不思善。

(The Master went on:) 'What did the Master just say?' Weishan said, 'I only said I ascend the hall once for their sake.' The Master said, 'Why call it sound and form?' Weishan said, 'Even so, there is no harm in testing it.' The Master said, 'How does one test the matter of the great cause?' Weishan held up his fist. The Master said, 'After all, it is pointing east and drawing west.' Weishan said, 'What did you just ask?' The Master said, 'I asked about the Master's matter of the great cause.' Weishan said, 'Why call it pointing east and drawing west?' The Master said, 'Because of sound and form, therefore I asked.' Weishan said, 'You have not yet understood this matter at all.' The Master said, 'How can one understand this matter?' Weishan said, 'Jizi has sound and form; this old monk has east and west.' The Master said, 'One moon in a thousand rivers; the essence does not divide the water.' Weishan said, 'It must be thus.' The Master said, 'Like gold with gold, in the end there is no different color—how could there be a different name?' Weishan said, 'What is the principle of no different name?' The Master said, 'Bottle, tray, hairpin, bracelet, tally, alms bowl, basin.' Weishan said, 'Jizi speaks Chan like a lion's roar, scattering the foxes, wolves, and wild dogs.' Later the Master opened the teaching at Mount Wangmang. He asked a monk, 'Where have you lately come from?' He said, 'Mount Lu.' The Master said, 'Have you been to the Five Elders Peak?' He said, 'I have not.' The Master said, 'The Acharya has not traveled the mountain.' (Yunmen said, 'These words are all for the sake of compassion; there is talk of falling into the grass.') Ascending the hall: 'You people, each turn your light around and reflect back; do not record my words. Since beginningless kalpas you have turned your backs on the bright and cast yourselves into the dark, and the roots of deluded thought are deep and hard to pull out at once. Therefore provisional expedients are set up to snatch away your coarse consciousness. It is like using a yellow leaf to stop a child's crying—what use is it? It is also like a man who sets out a hundred kinds of goods together with gold and jewels in one shop for sale, only intending to match heavy and light to the customer. Therefore it is said, Shitou is a shop of true gold; here I am a general store. If someone comes seeking rat dung, I hand it to him. If he comes seeking true gold, I hand it to him too.' Then a monk asked, 'I do not want the rat dung; please, Master, give me the true gold.' The Master said, 'Biting an arrowhead, about to open your mouth—even in the year of the donkey you will not understand.' The monk had no reply. The Master said, 'If you ask for it, there is trade; if you do not ask, there is none. If I were to speak of the Chan school, I would not have even one person to keep me company, let alone five or seven hundred followers. If I speak of this and that, then you all push forward to pick it up, like fooling a child with an empty fist—there is nothing solid in it. Now I clearly tell you the matter on the sage's side, and you must not use your minds to press close to it. Just turn to the sea of your own nature and cultivate according to reality. Do not seek the three insights and six powers. Why? These are matters on the far edge of sagehood. Now you need only understand the mind and reach the root. Once you have the root, you need not worry about the branches. In time they will be there of themselves. If you have not got the root, even if you study others with feeling you will not get it. Have you not heard Master Weishan say: when ordinary and sage feeling is exhausted, the essence reveals true permanence, principle and phenomena are not two—that is the thus-natured Buddha.' Asked, 'What is the patriarch's meaning?' The Master drew this circle with the character for Buddha inside in the air to show him. The monk was speechless. The Master said to the first seat, 'Not thinking good,

不思惡。正恁麼時作麼生。座曰。正恁麼時是某甲放身命處。師曰。何不問老僧。座曰。正恁麼時不見有和尚。師曰。扶我教不起。師因歸溈山省覲。溈問。子既稱善知識。爭辨得諸方來者。知有不知有。有師承無師承。是義學是玄學。子試說看。師曰。慧寂有驗處。但見僧來便竪起拂子。問伊諸方還說這箇不說。又曰這箇且置。諸方老宿意作麼生。溈歎曰。此是從上宗門中牙爪。溈問。大地眾生。業識茫茫。無本可據。子作麼生知他有之與無。師曰。慧寂有驗處。時有一僧從面前過。師召曰。闍黎。僧回首。師曰。和尚。這箇便是業識茫茫。無本可據。溈曰。此是師子一滴乳。迸散六斛驢乳。師問僧。甚處來。曰。幽州。師曰。我恰要箇幽州信。米作麼價。曰。某甲來時。無端從市中過。踏折他橋梁。師便休。師見僧來。竪起拂子。僧便喝。師曰。喝即不無。且道老僧過在甚麼處。曰。和尚不合將境示人。師便打。有梵師從空而至。師曰。近離甚處。曰。西天。師曰。幾時離彼。曰。今早。師曰。何太遲生。曰。遊山翫水。師曰。神通遊戲則不無。闍黎佛法須還老僧始得。曰。特來東土禮文殊。卻遇小釋迦。遂出梵書貝多葉。與師作禮。乘空而去。自此號小釋迦。師住東平時。溈山令僧送書並鏡與師。師上堂。提起示眾曰。且道是溈山鏡。東平鏡。若道是東平鏡。又是溈山送來。若道是溈山鏡。又在東平手裡。道得則留取。道不得則撲破去也。眾無語。師遂撲破。便下座。僧參次。便問。和尚還識字否。師曰。隨分。僧以手畫此○相拓呈。師以衣袖拂之。僧又作此○相拓呈。師以兩手作背拋勢。僧以目視之。師低頭。僧遶師一匝。師便打。僧遂出去。師坐次。有僧來作禮。師不顧。其僧乃問。師識字否。師曰。隨分。僧乃右旋一匝。曰。是甚麼字。師於地上書十字酬之。僧又左旋一匝。曰。是甚字。

(The Master continued:) '...not thinking of evil — at just such a time, what is it?' The head seat said, 'At just such a time is where I lay down body and life.' The Master said, 'Why do you not ask this old monk?' The head seat said, 'At just such a time I do not see any Reverend.' The Master said, 'Help me up; I cannot rise.' Once the Master returned to Guishan to pay his respects. Guishan asked, 'Since you are called a good friend, how do you tell whether those who come from all quarters know it or do not know it, have a teacher's transmission or not, are scholastics or students of the mysterious? Try and tell me.' The Master said, 'Huiji has a way of testing. Whenever I see a monk come, I raise my whisk and ask him whether the quarters still speak of this or not. Then I say, setting that aside, what is the intent of the venerable elders of the quarters?' Guishan sighed and said, 'This is the fang and claw of the school from of old.' Guishan asked, 'The living beings of the great earth are vast in karmic consciousness, with no root to rely on. How do you know whether they have it or not?' The Master said, 'Huiji has a way of testing.' At that moment a monk was passing in front. The Master called, 'Acharya.' The monk turned his head. The Master said, 'Reverend, this is just the vast karmic consciousness with no root to rely on.' Guishan said, 'This is one drop of the lion's milk, which scatters six bushels of donkey milk.' The Master asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Youzhou.' The Master said, 'I happen to want news of Youzhou. What is the price of rice?' He said, 'When I came, I for no reason passed through the market and broke their bridge by stepping on it.' The Master then dropped the matter. The Master saw a monk coming and raised his whisk. The monk shouted. The Master said, 'The shout is not nothing, but tell me: where is this old monk's fault?' He said, 'The Reverend should not show a realm to people.' The Master then beat him. An Indian master came through the air. The Master said, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'The Western Heaven.' The Master said, 'When did you leave there?' He said, 'This morning.' The Master said, 'Why so late?' He said, 'I was touring the mountains and enjoying the waters.' The Master said, 'The play of spiritual powers is not nothing, but the Buddha Dharma, acharya, must still be returned to this old monk.' He said, 'I came to the Eastern Land especially to pay reverence to Manjushri, and instead I met a little Sakyamuni.' Then he took out Sanskrit books on pattra leaves, bowed to the Master, and departed through the air. From this he was called the little Sakyamuni. When the Master was residing at Dongping, Guishan sent a monk with a letter and a mirror to the Master. The Master ascended the hall, held it up and showed the assembly, saying, 'Tell me: is it Guishan's mirror or Dongping's mirror? If you say it is Dongping's mirror, it was Guishan who sent it. If you say it is Guishan's mirror, it is in Dongping's hands. If you can say, it stays; if you cannot, I will smash it.' The assembly was silent. The Master then smashed it and descended from the seat. As a monk was attending, he asked, 'Does the Reverend know letters?' The Master said, 'After a fashion.' The monk drew this circle ○ with his hand and presented it. The Master brushed it away with his sleeve. The monk again made this circle ○ and presented it. The Master made the gesture of throwing it backward with both hands. The monk looked at him with his eyes. The Master lowered his head. The monk circled the Master once. The Master then beat him. The monk went out. As the Master sat, a monk came to bow. The Master paid him no heed. The monk then asked, 'Does the Master know letters?' The Master said, 'After a fashion.' The monk then turned clockwise once and said, 'What character is this?' The Master wrote the character for ten on the ground in reply. The monk again turned counterclockwise once and said, 'What character is this?'

師改十字作卍字。僧畫此○相。以兩手拓。如脩羅掌日月勢。曰。是甚麼字。師乃畫此[○@卍]相對之。僧乃作婁至德勢。師曰。如是。如是。此是諸佛之所護念。汝亦如是。吾亦如是。善自護持。其僧禮謝。騰空而去。時有一道者見。經五日後。遂問師。師曰。汝還見否。道者曰。某甲見出門騰空而去。師曰。此是西天羅漢。故來探吾道。道者曰。某雖覩種種三昧。不辨其理。師曰。吾以義為汝解釋。此是八種三昧。是覺海變為義海。體則同然。此義合有因有果。即時異時。總別不離隱身三昧也。師問僧。近離甚處。曰。南方。師舉拄杖曰。彼中老宿還說這箇麼。曰。不說。師曰。既不說這箇。還說那箇否。曰。不說。師召大德。僧應諾。師曰。參堂去。僧便出。師復召曰。大德。僧回首。師曰。近前來。僧近前。師以拄杖頭上點一下。曰。去。劉侍御問。了心之旨。可得聞乎。師曰。若要了心。無心可了。無了之心。是名真了。師一日在法堂上坐。見一僧從外來。便問訊了。向東邊叉手立。以目視師。師乃垂下左足。僧卻過西邊叉手立。師垂下右足。僧向中間叉手立。師收雙足。僧禮拜。師曰。老僧自住此。未曾打著一人。拈拄杖便打。僧便騰空而去。陸希聲相公欲謁師。先作此○相封呈。師開封於相下面書云。不思而知。落第二頭。思而知之。落第三首。遂封回(韋宙相公機語相似。茲不重出)。公見即入山。師乃門迎。公才入門。便問。三門俱開。從何門入。師曰。從信門入。公至法堂。又問。不出魔界。便入佛界時如何。師以拂子倒點三下。公便設禮。又問。和尚還持戒否。師曰。不持戒。曰。還坐禪否。師曰。不坐禪。公良久。師曰。會麼。師。不會。師曰。聽老僧一頌。滔滔不持戒。兀兀不坐禪。釅茶三兩椀。意在钁頭邊。師卻問。承聞相公看經得悟。是否。曰。弟子因看涅槃經有云。

The Master changed the ten into the character wan, the auspicious sign. The monk drew this circle ○ and spread it with both hands, in the manner of an asura holding the sun and moon in his palms, and said, 'What character is this?' The Master then drew the same circle with the ten-thousand sign set inside it, to match him. The monk then made the gesture of the virtue of Louzhi. The Master said, 'So it is, so it is. This is what all the Buddhas protect and keep in mind. You are thus, and I am thus. Guard it well.' That monk bowed in thanks, rose into the air and departed. At that time a Daoist saw it. Five days later he asked the Master. The Master said, 'Did you see it?' The Daoist said, 'I saw him go out the gate and rise into the air and depart.' The Master said, 'This was an arhat of the Western Heaven who came to test my Way.' The Daoist said, 'Though I have witnessed various samadhis, I cannot discern their principle.' The Master said, 'I will explain it for you by the meaning. These are eight kinds of samadhi; the ocean of enlightenment becomes the ocean of meaning, and the essence is the same. This meaning should have cause and effect, same time and different time; the general and the particular never depart from the samadhi of concealing the body.' The Master asked a monk, 'Where have you just come from?' He said, 'The south.' The Master raised his staff and said, 'Do the elders there still speak of this?' He said, 'They do not.' The Master said, 'Since they do not speak of this, do they speak of that?' He said, 'They do not.' The Master called, 'Great Virtue.' The monk answered. The Master said, 'Go to the hall.' The monk went out. The Master called again, 'Great Virtue.' The monk turned his head. The Master said, 'Come closer.' The monk came closer. The Master tapped him once on the head with his staff and said, 'Go.' Attendant Censor Liu asked, 'May I hear the purport of understanding the mind?' The Master said, 'If you would understand the mind, there is no mind to understand. The mind that does not understand is called true understanding.' One day the Master was sitting in the Dharma hall when he saw a monk come in from outside; having greeted him, the monk stood with clasped hands on the east side and looked at the Master. The Master then lowered his left foot. The monk moved to the west side and stood with clasped hands. The Master lowered his right foot. The monk stood with clasped hands in the middle. The Master drew in both feet. The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Since I have lived here, this old monk has never struck a single person.' He picked up his staff and beat him. The monk rose into the air and departed. Minister Lu Xisheng wished to visit the Master, and first made this circle ○, sealed it and sent it in. The Master opened it and wrote below the circle: 'To know without thinking falls to the second head. To know by thinking falls to the third head.' Then he sealed it and sent it back. (Minister Wei Zhou's exchange was similar, so it is not repeated here.) When the minister saw it he at once entered the mountain. The Master came to the gate to welcome him. As soon as the minister entered the gate he asked, 'All three gates are open — through which gate does one enter?' The Master said, 'Through the gate of faith.' When the minister reached the Dharma hall he asked again, 'What about not leaving the realm of demons and at once entering the realm of the Buddhas?' The Master tapped three times downward with his whisk. The minister then made obeisance. He asked again, 'Does the Reverend still keep the precepts?' The Master said, 'I do not keep the precepts.' He said, 'Do you still sit in meditation?' The Master said, 'I do not sit in meditation.' The minister was silent a long while. The Master said, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'Hear one verse from this old monk: surging on, I do not keep the precepts; still and fixed, I do not sit in meditation. Three or two bowls of strong tea — the intent lies beside the hoe.' The Master then asked, 'I hear the minister awakened while reading a scripture — is that so?' He said, 'Because your disciple was reading the Nirvana Sutra, where it says:

不斷煩惱而入涅槃。得箇安樂處。師竪起拂子。曰。祇如這箇作麼生入。曰。入之一字。也不消得。師曰。入之一字。不為相公。公便起去(法燈雲。上座且道。入之一字為甚麼人。又云。相公且莫煩惱)。龐居士問。久嚮仰山。到來為甚麼卻覆。師竪起拂子。士曰。恰是。師曰。是仰是覆。士乃打露柱。曰。雖然無人。也要露柱證明。師擲拂子。曰。若到諸方。一任舉似。師指雪師子。問眾。有過得此色者麼。眾無對(雲門雲。當時便好與推倒)。師問雙峰。師弟近日見處如何。曰。據某見處。實無一法可當情。師曰。汝解猶在境。曰。某祇如此。師兄又如何。師曰。汝豈不知無一法可當情者。溈山聞曰。寂子一句。疑殺天下人(玄覺雲。經道。實無有法。然燈佛與我授記。他道實無一法可當情。為甚麼道。解猶在境。且道利害在甚麼處)。師臥次。僧問。曰身還解說法也無。師曰。我說不得。別有一人說得。曰。說得底人在甚麼處。師推出枕子。溈山聞曰。寂子用劒刃上事。師閉目坐次。有僧潛來身邊立。師開目。於地上作此[○@水]相。顧視其僧。僧無語。師擕拄杖行次。僧問。和尚手中是甚麼。師便拈向背後。曰。見麼。僧無對。師問一僧。汝會甚麼。曰。會卜。師提起拂子。曰。這箇六十四卦中阿那卦收。僧無對。師自代雲。適來是雷天大壯。如今變為地火明夷。問僧。名甚麼。曰。靈通。師曰。便請入燈籠。曰。早箇入了也(法眼別雲。喚甚麼作燈籠)。問。古人道。見色便見心。禪床是色。請和尚離卻色。指學人心。師曰。那箇是禪床。指出來看。僧無語(玄覺雲。忽然被伊卻指禪床。作麼生對伊。有僧雲。卻請和尚道。玄覺代拊掌三下)。問。如何是毗盧師。師乃叱之。僧曰。如何是和尚師。師曰。莫無禮。師共一僧語。旁有僧曰。語底是文殊。默底是維摩。師曰。

(Lu Xisheng continued:) '...not cutting off affliction and yet entering nirvana.' I found a place of peace and ease.' The Master raised his whisk and said, 'Just as for this — how does one enter it?' He said, 'The single word for entering is not even needed.' The Master said, 'The single word for entering is not for the minister.' The minister then rose and left. (Fadeng said, 'Upadhyaya, tell me: for whose sake is the single word for entering?' He also said, 'Minister, do not be vexed.') Layman Pang asked, 'I have long admired Yangshan; now that I have come, why is it overturned?' The Master raised his whisk. Pang said, 'Just so.' The Master said, 'Is it upright or overturned?' Pang then struck the exposed pillar and said, 'Though there is no one, the exposed pillar must still bear witness.' The Master threw down his whisk and said, 'If you go to all quarters, you may raise it as you like.' The Master pointed at a snow lion and asked the assembly, 'Is there anyone who can pass beyond this form?' The assembly had no reply. (Yunmen said, 'At that moment it would have been good to push it over.') The Master asked Shuangfeng, 'What is your understanding lately, junior brother?' He said, 'As for my understanding, there is truly not one dharma that can be held before the mind.' The Master said, 'Your understanding is still in the realm of objects.' He said, 'That is how I am. What about you, senior brother?' The Master said, 'Do you not know the one for whom not one dharma can be held before the mind?' Guishan heard of it and said, 'One phrase from Ji the son makes the whole world die of doubt.' (Xuanjue said, 'The sutra says that truly there is no dharma, and Dipankara Buddha gave me the prediction. He said there is truly not one dharma that can be held before the mind — why then did he say his understanding is still in the realm of objects? Tell me, where is the crux?') As the Master lay down, a monk asked, 'Does the body also expound the Dharma?' The Master said, 'I cannot say it; there is another who can say it.' He said, 'Where is the one who can say it?' The Master pushed out his pillow. Guishan heard of it and said, 'Ji the son uses the matter on the edge of the sword.' As the Master sat with closed eyes, a monk quietly came and stood by his side. The Master opened his eyes, drew the sign of water inside a circle on the ground, and looked at the monk. The monk was silent. As the Master walked carrying his staff, a monk asked, 'What is that in the Reverend's hand?' The Master at once put it behind his back and said, 'Do you see?' The monk had no reply. The Master asked a monk, 'What do you understand?' He said, 'I understand divination.' The Master raised his whisk and said, 'Which of the sixty-four hexagrams does this belong to?' The monk had no reply. The Master answered for him, 'Just now it was Great Vigor, thunder over heaven; now it has become Darkening of the Light, earth over fire.' He asked a monk, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Lingtong, Numinous Penetration.' The Master said, 'Then please enter the lantern.' He said, 'I entered long ago.' (Fayan said otherwise, 'What do you call a lantern?') Someone asked, 'The ancients said, seeing form one sees the mind. The corded chair is form; I beg the Master to set aside form and point out the student's mind.' The Master said, 'Which is the corded chair? Point it out and let me see.' The monk was silent. (Xuanjue said, 'If suddenly he pointed at the corded chair instead, how would you answer him?' A monk said, 'Then please, Reverend, speak.' Xuanjue clapped three times in his place.) Someone asked, 'What is Vairocana's teacher?' The Master then shouted at him. The monk said, 'What is the Reverend's teacher?' The Master said, 'Do not be rude.' The Master was speaking with a monk, and a monk beside them said, 'The one who speaks is Manjushri; the one who is silent is Vimalakirti.' The Master said:

不語不默底莫是汝否。僧默然。師曰。何不現神通。曰。不辭現神通。祇恐和尚收作教。師曰。鑒汝來處。未有教外底眼。問。天堂地獄相去幾何。師將拄杖畫地一畫。師住觀音時。出牓雲。看經次不得問事。有僧來問訊。見師看經。旁立而待。師卷卻經。問。會麼。曰。某甲不看經。爭得會。師曰。汝已後會去在。其僧到巖頭。頭問。甚處來。曰。江西觀音來。頭曰。和尚有何言句。僧舉前話。頭曰。這箇老師。我將謂被故紙埋卻。元來猶在。僧思𨜶問。禪宗頓悟。畢竟入門的意如何。師曰。此意極難。若是祖宗門下。上根上智。一聞千悟。得大總持。其有根微智劣。若不安禪靜慮。到這裡總須茫然。曰。除此一路。別更有入處否。師曰。有。曰。如何即是。師曰。汝是甚處人。曰。幽州人。師曰。汝還思彼處否。曰。常思。師曰。能思者是心。所思者是境。彼處樓臺林苑。人馬駢闐。汝反思底還有許多般也無。曰。某甲到這裡。總不見有。師曰。汝解猶在心。信位即得。人位未在。曰。除卻這箇。別更有意也無。師曰。別有。別無即不堪也。曰。到這裡作麼生即是。師曰。據汝所解。祇得一玄。得坐披衣。向後自看。𨜶禮謝之。師接機利物。為宗門標準。再遷東平。將順寂。數僧侍立。師以偈示之曰。一二二三子。平目復仰視。兩口一無舌。即是吾宗旨。至日午。陞座辭眾。復說偈曰。年滿七十七。無常在今日。日輪正當午。兩手攀屈膝。言訖。以兩手抱膝而終。閱明年。南塔湧禪師遷靈骨歸仰山。塔於集雲峰下。諡智通禪師．妙光之塔。

(The Master continued:) 'Is the one who neither speaks nor is silent perhaps you?' The monk was silent. The Master said, 'Why do you not manifest spiritual powers?' He said, 'I do not shrink from manifesting spiritual powers; I only fear the Reverend will take it as a teaching.' The Master said, 'Judging your background, you do not yet have the eye outside the teachings.' Someone asked, 'How far apart are heaven and hell?' The Master drew one line on the ground with his staff. When the Master was residing at Guanyin, he posted a notice: 'While reading the scriptures, no questions may be asked.' A monk came to greet him, and seeing the Master reading, stood to one side and waited. The Master rolled up the scripture and asked, 'Do you understand?' He said, 'If I did not read the scriptures, how could I understand?' The Master said, 'You will understand later.' That monk went to Yantou. Yantou asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Guanyin in Jiangxi.' Yantou said, 'What words did the Reverend have?' The monk brought up the earlier words. Yantou said, 'This Master — I thought he had been buried by old paper; it turns out he is still here.' The monk Siyi asked, 'As for sudden awakening in the Chan school, what after all is the meaning of entering the gate?' The Master said, 'This meaning is exceedingly hard. If one is of the Ancestor's school, with superior faculties and superior wisdom, one hearing brings a thousand awakenings, and one gains the great retention. As for those whose faculties are slight and wisdom inferior, if they do not pacify Chan and still their thoughts, when they reach here they will surely be at a loss.' He said, 'Apart from this one road, is there another place of entry?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is it then?' The Master said, 'Where are you from?' He said, 'I am a man of Youzhou.' The Master said, 'Do you still long for that place?' He said, 'I long for it constantly.' The Master said, 'What can long is the mind; what is longed for is the object. There, the towers and terraces, the groves and gardens, horses and men thronging — when you long for it, are there still all those many things?' He said, 'When I reach here, I see none of them at all.' The Master said, 'Your understanding is still in the mind. You have attained the position of faith, but not yet the position of the person.' He said, 'Setting this aside, is there any other meaning?' The Master said, 'Saying there is another or there is not is no good.' He said, 'What is it then when one reaches here?' The Master said, 'According to your understanding, you have got only one mystery. Sit firmly and put on your robe; look into it yourself hereafter.' Siyi bowed in thanks. The Master met opportunities to benefit beings and was a standard of the school. He moved again to Dongping. When he was about to pass into quiescence, several monks stood in attendance. The Master showed them a verse: 'One, two, two, three sons, level their eyes and again look up. Two mouths with one tongue — this is my school's purport.' At noon he ascended the seat to take leave of the assembly and spoke another verse: 'My years are full at seventy-seven; impermanence is here today. The sun's wheel is exactly at noon; with both hands I grasp my bent knees.' Having spoken, he died with both hands clasping his knees. The next year Chan Master Yong of Nanta moved his sacred bones back to Yangshan and built a stupa below Jiyun Peak. His posthumous title was Chan Master Zhitong, and his stupa was Miaoguang.

鄧州香嚴智閑禪師

Chan Master Xiangyan Zhixian of Dengzhou

青州人也。厭俗辭親。觀方慕道。在百丈時性識聰敏。參禪不得。洎丈遷化。遂參溈山。山問。我聞汝在百丈先師處。問一答十。問十答百。此是汝聰明靈利。意解識想。生死根本。父母未生時。試道一句看。師被一問。直得茫然。歸寮將平日看過底文字從頭要尋一句酬對。竟不能得。乃自歎曰。畫餅不可充飢。屢乞溈山說破。山曰。我若說似汝。汝已後罵我去。我說底是我底。終不幹汝事。師遂將平昔所看文字燒卻。曰。此生不學佛法也。且作箇長行粥飯僧。免役心神。乃泣辭溈山。直過南陽覩忠國師遺跡。遂憩止焉。一日。芟除草木。偶拋瓦礫。擊竹作聲。忽然省悟。遽歸沐浴焚香。遙禮溈山。讚曰。和尚大慈。恩逾父母。當時若為我說破。何有今日之事。乃有頌曰。一擊忘所知。更不假修持。動容揚古路。不墮悄然機。處處無蹤跡。聲色外威儀。諸方達道者。鹹言上上機。溈山聞得。謂仰山曰。此子徹也。仰曰。此是心機意識。著述得成。待某甲親自勘過。仰後見師。曰。和尚讚歎師弟發明大事。你試說看。師舉前頌。仰曰。此是夙習記持而成。若有正悟。別更說看。師又成頌曰。去年貧未是貧。今年貧始是貧。去年貧。猶有卓錐之地。今年貧。錐也無。仰曰。如來禪許師弟會。祖師禪未夢見在。師復有頌曰。我有一機。瞬目視伊。若人不會。別喚沙彌。仰乃報溈山。曰。且喜閑師弟會祖師禪也(玄覺雲。且道如來禪與祖師禪分不分。長慶稜雲。一時坐卻)。師初開堂。溈山令僧送書並拄杖至。師接得便哭。蒼天。蒼天。僧曰。和尚為甚麼如此。師曰。祇為春行秋令。上堂。道由悟達。不在語言。況是密密堂堂。曾無間隔。不勞心意。暫借回光。日用全功。迷徒自背。僧問。如何是香嚴境。師曰。華木不滋。問。如何是僊陀婆。師敲禪床曰。過這裡來。問。如何是現在學。師以扇子旋轉示之。曰。

He was a man of Qingzhou. Weary of the world, he took leave of his kin and wandered to seek the Way. In Baizhang's time he was clever and keen by nature, but he could not attain Chan. After Baizhang passed away, he studied under Guishan. Guishan asked, 'I hear that under the late master Baizhang you answered ten for one question and a hundred for ten. That is your cleverness and sharpness, your intellectual understanding and conceptual thought — the root of birth and death. Before your parents were born, try and say one phrase.' At this one question the Master was utterly at a loss. He returned to his quarters and went through all the writings he had read, seeking one phrase to answer with, and in the end could not find one, and he sighed to himself, 'A painted cake cannot fill hunger.' He begged Guishan again and again to explain it. Guishan said, 'If I explained it to you, afterward you would curse me. What I say is mine, and in the end has nothing to do with you.' The Master then burned all the writings he had read before, saying, 'In this life I will not study the Buddha Dharma. I will be a long-haul rice-and-porridge monk, to spare my mind and spirit.' Then weeping, he took leave of Guishan, and went straight to Nanyang, where he saw the traces of National Teacher Zhong, and there he rested. One day, as he was clearing grass and trees, he happened to throw away a tile, which struck a bamboo and made a sound, and he suddenly awakened. He hurried back, bathed and burned incense, and bowed from afar to Guishan, praising him: 'The Reverend's great compassion exceeds the grace of my parents. Had he explained it to me then, how would today's matter have come about?' Then he had a verse: 'One strike, and knowing is forgotten; no further need of cultivation. Moving and bearing, he raises the ancient road, and does not fall into the silent mechanism. Everywhere without trace, beyond sound and form his demeanor. All who reach the Way in the quarters say it is the highest mechanism.' When Guishan heard of it he told Yangshan, 'This son has penetrated.' Yangshan said, 'This is the working of the mind and consciousness, composed into a writing. Wait until I have examined him myself.' Later Yangshan saw the Master and said, 'The Reverend praised you, junior brother, for having made clear the great matter; try and say it.' The Master raised the earlier verse. Yangshan said, 'This was made from remembering former habits. If you have a true awakening, say something else.' The Master made another verse: 'Last year's poverty was not poverty; this year's poverty is poverty indeed. Last year's poverty still had a place to plant an awl. This year's poverty — not even an awl.' Yangshan said, 'The Tathagata Chan I grant you understand, junior brother; the Ancestor Chan you have not even dreamt of.' The Master made another verse: 'I have one mechanism; I blink my eye and look at him. If a man does not understand, then call the novice.' Yangshan then reported to Guishan, 'I am glad to say junior brother Xian understands the Ancestor Chan.' (Xuanjue said, 'Tell me: are the Tathagata Chan and the Ancestor Chan divided or not?' Changqing Leng said, 'Seat them all down at once.') When the Master first opened the hall, Guishan sent a monk with a letter and a staff. The Master received them and wept: 'O heaven, O heaven.' The monk said, 'Why does the Reverend do this?' The Master said, 'Only because spring performs the ordinances of autumn.' Ascending the hall: 'The Way is reached by awakening, and does not lie in words. Moreover it is secret and open, never with any gap. No need to labor mind and intent; for a moment borrow the turning back of the light. The whole function is in daily use; deluded followers turn their backs on it of themselves.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Xiangyan?' The Master said, 'Flowers and trees do not flourish.' Someone asked, 'What is the immortal goblin?' The Master rapped the corded chair and said, 'Come over here.' Someone asked, 'What is the study of the present?' The Master twirled his fan to show it and said:

見麼。僧無語。問。如何是正命食。師以手撮而示之。問。如何是無表戒。師曰。待闍黎作俗即說。問。如何是聲色外相見一句。師曰。如某甲未住香嚴時。且道在甚麼處。曰。恁麼則亦不敢道有所在。師曰。如幻人心心所法。問。如何是直截根源佛所印。師拋下拄杖。散手而去。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。今年霜降早。蕎麥總不收。問。如何是西來意。師以手入懷作拳。展開與之。僧乃跪膝。以兩手作受勢。師曰。是甚麼。僧無對。問。離四句。絕百非。請和尚道。師曰。獵師前不得說本師戒。上堂。若論此事。如人上樹。口銜樹枝。腳不踏枝。手不攀枝。樹下忽有人問。如何是祖師西來意。不對他。又違他所問。若對他。又喪身失命。當恁麼時作麼生即得。時有虎頭招上座出眾雲。樹上即不問。未上樹時請和尚道。師乃呵呵大笑。師問。僧甚處來。曰。溈山來。師曰。和尚近日有何言句。曰。有僧問。如何是西來意。和尚竪起拂子。師曰。彼中兄弟作麼生會。曰。彼中商量道。即色明心。附物顯理。師曰。會即便會。著甚死急。僧卻問。師意如何。師亦竪起拂子(玄沙雲。祇這香嚴腳跟未點地。雲居錫雲。甚麼處是香嚴腳跟未點地處)。師有偈曰。子啐母啄。子覺母殻。子母俱亡。應緣不錯。同道唱和。妙玄獨腳。師凡示學徒。語多簡直。有偈頌二百餘篇。隨緣對機。不拘聲律。諸方盛行。後諡襲燈禪師。

(The Master continued:) 'Do you see?' The monk was silent. Someone asked, 'What is right-livelihood food?' The Master gathered it with his hand and showed it. Someone asked, 'What is the unmanifested precept?' The Master said, 'Wait until you are a layman and I will say.' Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase of meeting beyond sound and form?' The Master said, 'Before I lived at Xiangyan, tell me, where was I?' He said, 'If so, then I do not dare say there is any place.' The Master said, 'The dharmas of mind of an illusory person.' Someone asked, 'What is the direct cutting of the root, sealed by the Buddha?' The Master threw down his staff and went off with hands spread. Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'This year the frost came early, and the buckwheat was all lost.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master put his hand into his robe, made a fist, opened it and gave it to him. The monk then knelt on his knees and made the gesture of receiving it with both hands. The Master said, 'What is it?' The monk had no reply. Someone asked, 'Apart from the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations, please, Reverend, speak.' The Master said, 'Before a hunter one must not speak of the master's precepts.' Ascending the hall: 'If one speaks of this matter, it is like a man up a tree, holding a branch in his mouth, his feet not on a branch, his hands not grasping a branch. Suddenly someone below the tree asks, "What is the meaning of the Ancestor's coming from the West?" If he does not answer him, he goes against his question. If he answers him, he loses body and life. At such a time, how should one do it?' Then the head seat Hutou Zhao came out from the assembly and said, 'I do not ask about up the tree; before he climbs the tree, please, Reverend, speak.' The Master then laughed heartily. The Master asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'From Guishan.' The Master said, 'What words has the Reverend had lately?' He said, 'A monk asked, "What is the meaning of the coming from the West?" and the Reverend raised his whisk.' The Master said, 'How do the brothers there understand it?' He said, 'There they discuss it as illuminating the mind through form and revealing principle through things.' The Master said, 'If you understand, you understand — why such mortal haste?' The monk then asked, 'What is the Master's meaning?' The Master also raised his whisk. (Xuansha said, 'This Xiangyan's heels have not yet touched the ground.' Yunju Xi said, 'Where is the place where Xiangyan's heels have not touched the ground?') The Master had a verse: 'The child sips, the mother pecks; the child wakes, the mother shells. Child and mother both gone, responding to conditions without error. Fellow travelers sing in harmony — wondrous mystery on a single leg.' Whenever the Master instructed students, his words were mostly plain and direct. He had over two hundred verses and praises, responding to conditions and matching capacities, not bound by tone and meter, and they were widely current in all quarters. Later he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Xideng.

杭州徑山洪諲禪師

Chan Master Hongyin of Jingshan in Hangzhou

吳興人也。僧問。掩息如灰時如何。師曰。猶是時人功幹。曰。幹後如何。師曰。耕人田不種。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。禾熟不臨場。問。龍門不假風雷勢便透得者如何。師曰。猶是一品二品。曰。此既是階級。向上事如何。師曰。吾不知有汝龍門。問。如霜如雪時如何。師曰。猶是汙染。曰。不汙染時如何。師曰。不同色。許州全明上座先問石霜。一毫穿眾穴時如何。霜曰。直須萬年去。曰。萬年後如何。霜曰。登科任汝登科。㧞萃任汝㧞萃。後問師曰。一毫穿眾穴時如何。師曰。光靴任汝光靴。結果任汝結果。問。如何是長。師曰。千聖不能量。曰。如何是短。師曰。蟭螟眼裡著不滿。其僧不肯。便去舉似石霜。霜曰。祇為太近實頭。僧卻問霜。如何是長。霜曰。不屈曲。曰。如何是短。霜曰。雙陸盤中不喝彩。佛日長老訪師。師問。伏承長老獨化一方。何以薦遊峰頂日。曰。朗月當空掛。冰霜不自寒。師曰。莫是長老家風也無。日曰。峭峙萬重關。於中含寶月。師曰。此猶是文言。作麼生是長老家風。日曰。今日賴遇佛日。卻問隱密全真。時人知有道不得。太省無辜。時人知有道得。於此二途。猶是時人升降處。未審和尚親道自道如何道。師曰。我家道處無可道。日曰。如來路上無私曲。便請玄音和一場。師曰。任汝二輪更互照。碧潭雲外不相關。日曰。為報白頭無限客。此回年少莫歸鄉。師曰。老少同輪無向背。我家玄路勿參差。日曰。一言定天下。四句為誰宣。師曰。汝言有三四。我道其中一也無。師因有偈曰。東西不相顧。南北與誰留。汝言有三四。我道一也無。光化四年九月二十八日。白眾而化。

He was a man of Wuxing. A monk asked, 'What is it like when one stills the breath like ashes?' The Master said, 'It is still the work of a man of the times.' He said, 'And after the work?' The Master said, 'He plows another's field and does not plant.' He said, 'After all, what then?' The Master said, 'When the grain is ripe, he does not come to the threshing floor.' Someone asked, 'Without borrowing the force of wind and thunder, the one who pierces through the dragon gate — what of him?' The Master said, 'He is still first rank or second rank.' He said, 'Since these are stages, what is the matter above?' The Master said, 'I do not know that you have a dragon gate.' Someone asked, 'What is it like when it is like frost, like snow?' The Master said, 'It is still defilement.' He said, 'And when not defiled?' The Master said, 'It is not the same color.' The head seat Quanming of Xuzhou first asked Shishuang, 'What is it like when a single hair pierces all the holes?' Shishuang said, 'You must go for ten thousand years.' He said, 'And after ten thousand years?' Shishuang said, 'Pass the examinations if you pass the examinations; stand out if you stand out.' Later he asked the Master, 'What is it like when a single hair pierces all the holes?' The Master said, 'Shine your boots if you shine your boots; bear fruit if you bear fruit.' Someone asked, 'What is long?' The Master said, 'A thousand sages cannot measure it.' He said, 'What is short?' The Master said, 'It does not fill the eye of a midge.' That monk would not accept it, and went and brought it up to Shishuang. Shishuang said, 'It is only that he is too close to the literal.' The monk then asked Shishuang, 'What is long?' Shishuang said, 'It does not bend.' He said, 'What is short?' Shishuang said, 'No cheering over the backgammon board.' The elder Fori visited the Master. The Master asked, 'I hear the elder transforms a whole region alone — how do you recommend the day of roaming the peak?' He said, 'The bright moon hangs in the empty sky; ice and frost are not cold of themselves.' The Master said, 'Is this not the elder's family style?' Fori said, 'Sheer and towering, ten thousand barriers; within them is the jewel moon.' The Master said, 'This is still words. What is the elder's family style?' Fori said, 'Today I am fortunate to meet Fori.' He then asked, 'Concealing the secret and keeping the whole true, people of the time know it but cannot speak of the Way. Being too sparing and faultless, people of the time know it and can speak of the Way. In these two roads one is still at the level of people of the times. I wonder how the Reverend himself speaks, and how he says it?' The Master said, 'Where my house speaks, there is nothing to say.' Fori said, 'On the Tathagata's road there is no crookedness — let us then harmonize one round of mysterious music.' The Master said, 'Though your two wheels shine on each other in turn, the blue pool has nothing to do with beyond the clouds.' Fori said, 'To tell the white-haired, boundless guest: this time, though young, do not go home.' The Master said, 'Young and old share one wheel without facing or turning away; the mysterious road of my house admits no deviation.' Fori said, 'One word settles the world; for whom are the four propositions proclaimed?' The Master said, 'You speak of three and four; I say not even one is there.' The Master then had a verse: 'East and west do not look at each other; north and south, with whom do they stay? You speak of three and four; I say not even one is there.' On the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Guanghua he announced it to the assembly and passed away.

滁州定山神英禪師

Chan Master Shenying of Dingshan in Chuzhou

因椑樹省和尚行腳時參問。不落數量。請師道。師提起數珠曰。是落不落。樹曰。圓珠三竅。時人知有。請師圓前話。師便打。樹拂袖便出。師曰。三十年後槌胸大哭去在。樹住後示眾曰。老僧三十年前至定山。被他熱謾一上。不同小小。師見首座洗衣。遂問。作甚麼。座提起衣示之。師曰。洗底是甚衣。座曰。關中使鐵錢。師喚維那。移下座掛搭著。

When the Reverend Sheng of Beishu was on pilgrimage he came to ask, 'Not falling into number — please, Master, speak.' The Master picked up his rosary and said, 'Does this fall or not fall?' Beishu said, 'Round beads with three holes, people of the time know them. Please, Master, round out the earlier words.' The Master then beat him. Beishu shook his sleeves and went out. The Master said, 'Thirty years from now you will beat your breast and weep bitterly.' After Beishu had taken up residence, he said to the assembly, 'Thirty years ago this old monk went to Dingshan and was given a hot swindle; it was no small matter.' The Master saw the head seat washing clothes and asked, 'What are you doing?' The head seat held up the garment to show him. The Master said, 'What garment is it you are washing?' The head seat said, 'Within the pass they use iron coins.' The Master called the work manager: 'Move him down from the seat and hang up his bundle.'

襄州延慶山法端禪師

Chan Master Faduan of Yanqing Mountain in Xiangzhou

僧問。蚯蚓斬為兩段。兩頭俱動。佛性在阿那頭。師展兩手(洞山別雲。問底在阿那頭)。師滅後。諡紹真禪師。

A monk asked, 'Cut an earthworm into two pieces and both ends move. On which end is the Buddha nature?' The Master opened both hands. (Dongshan said otherwise, 'Ask on which end it is.') After the Master's death he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Shaozhen.

益州應天和尚

The Reverend of Yingtian in Yizhou

僧問。人人盡有佛性。如何是和尚佛性。師曰。汝喚甚麼作佛性。曰。恁麼則和尚無佛性也。師乃呌。快活。快活。

A monk asked, 'Everyone has the Buddha nature. What is the Reverend's Buddha nature?' The Master said, 'What do you call the Buddha nature?' He said, 'If so, then the Reverend has no Buddha nature.' The Master then cried, 'How delightful, how delightful.'

福州九峰慈慧禪師

Chan Master Cihui of Jiufeng in Fuzhou

初在溈山。山上堂曰。汝等諸人。祇得大機。不得大用。師便抽身出去。溈召之。師更不回顧。溈曰。此子堪為法器。一日辭溈山。曰。某甲辭違和尚。千里之外不離左右。溈動容曰。善為。

At first he was at Guishan. Guishan ascended the hall and said, 'You people have got only the great mechanism, not the great function.' The Master at once withdrew and went out. Guishan called to him. The Master did not look back. Guishan said, 'This son is fit to be a vessel of the Dharma.' One day he took leave of Guishan, saying, 'I take leave of you, Reverend; a thousand li away I shall not leave your side.' Guishan was moved and said, 'Fare well.'

京兆府米和尚(亦謂七師)

The rice monk of Jingzhao Prefecture (also called the Seventh Master)

參學後。歸受業寺。有老宿問。月中斷井索。時人喚作蛇。未審七師見佛喚作甚麼。師曰。若有佛見。即同眾生(法眼別雲。此是甚麼時節問。法燈別雲。喚底不是)。老宿曰。千年桃核。師令僧去問仰山曰。今時還假悟也無。仰曰。悟即不無。爭奈落在第二頭。師深肯之。又令僧問洞山曰。那箇究竟作麼生。洞曰。卻須問他始得。師亦肯之。僧問。自古上賢。還達真正理也無。師曰。達。曰。祇如真正理作麼生達。師曰。當時霍光賣假銀城與單於。契書是甚麼人做。曰。某甲直得杜口無言。師曰。平地教人作保。問。如何是衲衣下事。師曰。醜陋任君嫌。不掛雲霞色。

After his study, he returned to the monastery where he had been ordained. An old monk asked, 'In the moon they cut the well rope, and people of the time call it a snake. I wonder what the Seventh Master calls it when he sees the Buddha?' The Master said, 'If there is a view of Buddha, then one is the same as a living being.' (Fayan said otherwise, 'At what time was this question asked?' Fadeng said otherwise, 'What he called is not it.') The old monk said, 'A peach pit of a thousand years.' The Master sent a monk to ask Yangshan, 'Nowadays is awakening still relied upon or not?' Yangshan said, 'Awakening is not absent, but alas it falls to the second head.' The Master deeply approved. He also sent a monk to ask Dongshan, 'After all, how is that one?' Dongshan said, 'You must ask him yourself.' The Master also approved. A monk asked, 'Did the sages of old also reach the true principle?' The Master said, 'They reached it.' He said, 'How does one reach the true principle?' The Master said, 'When Huo Guang sold the false silver city to the Shanyu, whose hand wrote the contract?' He said, 'I am simply reduced to silence.' The Master said, 'On level ground he makes a man stand surety.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter under the robe?' The Master said, 'Let the ugly be as you please; it does not hang the color of clouds and mist.'

晉州霍山和尚

The Reverend of Huoshan in Jinzhou

因仰山一僧到。自稱集雲峰下四藤條天下大禪佛參。師乃喚維那。打鐘著。大禪佛驟步而去。

Because a monk from Yangshan came, calling himself the great Chan Buddha of the four rattan whips below Jiyun Peak, come to study, the Master called the work manager: 'Ring the bell.' The great Chan Buddha hurried away with rapid steps.

元康和尚

The Reverend Yuankang

因訪石樓。樓才見便收足坐。師曰。得恁麼威儀周足。樓曰。汝適來見箇甚麼。師曰。無端被人領過。樓曰。須是與麼始為真見。師曰。苦哉。賺殺幾人來。樓便起身。師曰。見則見矣。動則不動。樓曰。盡力道不出定也。師拊掌三下。後有僧舉似南泉。泉曰。天下人斷這箇漢是非不得。若斷得。與他同參。

Because he visited Shilou. Shilou, as soon as he saw him, drew in his feet and sat. The Master said, 'You have attained such complete and full deportment.' Shilou said, 'What did you see just now?' The Master said, 'For no reason I have been taken in by someone.' Shilou said, 'It must be like this before it is true seeing.' The Master said, 'How bitter — he has cheated so many people to death.' Shilou then rose. The Master said, 'Seeing is seeing, but moving is not moving.' Shilou said, 'Strain to speak and it will not come out.' The Master clapped his hands three times. Later a monk brought this up to Nanquan. Nanquan said, 'No one in the world can judge this fellow's right and wrong. If one could judge it, he would be his fellow student.'

蘄州三角山法遇庵主

The hermit Fayu of Sanjiao Mountain in Qizhou

因荒亂。魁師入山。執刃而問。和尚有甚財寶。師曰。僧家之寶。非君所宜。魁曰。是何寶。師震聲一喝。魁不悟。以刃加之。

Because of famine and disorder, a bandit chief entered the mountain and, holding a blade, asked, 'What treasure has the Reverend?' The Master said, 'A monk's treasure is not fit for you.' The chief said, 'What treasure is it?' The Master gave a shout that shook the air. The chief did not awaken, and attacked him with the blade.

襄州王敬初常侍

Attendant Censor Wang Jingchu of Xiangzhou

視事次。米和尚至。公乃舉筆示之。米曰。還判得虗空否。公擲筆入宅。更不復出。米致疑。明日憑鼓山供養主入探其意。米亦隨至。潛在屏蔽間偵伺。供養主才坐。問曰。昨日米和尚有甚麼言句。便不相見。公曰。師子齩人。韓獹逐塊。米聞此語。即省前謬。遽出朗笑曰。我會也。我會也。公曰。會即不無。你試道看。米曰。請常侍舉。公乃竪起一隻筯。米曰。這野狐精。公曰。這漢徹也。問僧。一切眾生還有佛性也無。曰。有。公指壁上畵狗子曰。這箇還有也無。僧無對。公自代曰。看齩著汝。

As he was attending to business, the rice monk arrived. The lord picked up his brush and showed it to him. Mi said, 'Can you also judge empty space?' The lord threw down the brush and went into the house, and did not come out again. Mi was left in doubt. The next day he relied on the offering master of Gushan to go in and sound out his intent. Mi also came along and hid behind a screen to spy. As soon as the offering master sat down he asked, 'What words did the rice monk have yesterday, that you would not see him?' The lord said, 'The lion bites the man; Han's hound chases the clod.' When Mi heard these words he at once saw his former error, hurried out and laughed aloud, saying, 'I understand, I understand.' The lord said, 'Understanding is not absent — try and say it.' Mi said, 'Please, Censor, raise it.' The lord then held up one chopstick. Mi said, 'This wild fox spirit.' The lord said, 'This fellow has penetrated.' He asked a monk, 'Do all living beings have the Buddha nature or not?' He said, 'They have.' The lord pointed at a dog painted on the wall and said, 'Does this one have it or not?' The monk had no reply. The lord answered for him, 'Look out, it will bite you.'

南嶽下五世

The fifth generation below Nanyue

仰山寂禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ji of Yangshan

袁州仰山西塔光穆禪師

Chan Master Guangmu of the Western Stupa of Yangshan in Yuanzhou

僧問。如何是正聞。師曰。不從耳入。曰。作麼生。師曰。還聞麼。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。同別且置。汝道瓶觜裡甚麼物出來入去。問。如何是西來意。師曰。汝無佛性。問。如何是頓。師作圓相示之。曰。如何是漸。師以手空中撥三下。

A monk asked, 'What is correct hearing?' The Master said, 'It does not enter by the ear.' He said, 'How is it then?' The Master said, 'Do you hear it?' Someone asked, 'The Ancestor's intent and the teaching's intent — are they the same or different?' The Master said, 'Same or different, set that aside. What is it that comes out and goes in at the mouth of the bottle?' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'You have no Buddha nature.' Someone asked, 'What is sudden?' The Master drew a circle to show him. He said, 'What is gradual?' The Master brushed three times in the air with his hand.

袁州仰山南塔光湧禪師

Chan Master Guangyong of the Southern Stupa of Yangshan in Yuanzhou

豫章豐城章氏子。母乳之夕。神光照庭。廐馬皆驚。因以光湧名之。少甚俊敏。依仰山剃度。北遊謁臨濟。復歸侍山。山曰。汝來作甚麼。師曰。禮覲和尚。山曰。還見和尚麼。師曰。見。山曰。和尚何似驢。師曰。某甲見和尚亦不似佛。山曰。若不似佛。似箇甚麼。師曰。若有所似。與驢何別。山大驚曰。凡聖兩忘。情盡體露。吾以此驗人。二十年無決了者。子保任之。山每指謂人曰。此子肉身佛也。僧問。文殊是七佛之師。文殊還有師否。師曰。遇緣即有。曰。如何是文殊師。師竪起拂子。僧曰。莫祇這便是麼。師放下拂子。叉手。問。如何是妙用一句。師曰。水到渠成。問。真佛住在何處。師曰。言下無相。也不在別處。

He was a son of the Zhang family of Fengcheng in Yuzhang. On the night his mother nursed him, divine light shone in the courtyard and the horses in the stable were all startled, so he was named Guangyong, Light Surge. Clever and keen from youth, he was shaved under Yangshan. He traveled north to visit Linji, then returned to attend on Yangshan. Yangshan said, 'What have you come for?' The Master said, 'To pay reverence to the Reverend.' Yangshan said, 'Do you see the Reverend?' The Master said, 'I see him.' Yangshan said, 'How is the Reverend like a donkey?' The Master said, 'I see the Reverend is also not like a Buddha.' Yangshan said, 'If not like a Buddha, what is he like?' The Master said, 'If there is any likeness, how is it different from a donkey?' Yangshan was greatly startled and said, 'Ordinary and sage both forgotten, feeling exhausted and the essence exposed. With this I have tested people for twenty years and found no one who decided it. You keep it well.' Yangshan often pointed him out and said, 'This son is a Buddha in the flesh.' A monk asked, 'Manjushri was the teacher of the seven Buddhas — does Manjushri have a teacher?' The Master said, 'Meeting a condition, he has one.' He said, 'What is Manjushri's teacher?' The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'Is this not just it?' The Master put down the whisk and clasped his hands. Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase of wondrous function?' The Master said, 'When the water arrives, the channel is formed.' Someone asked, 'Where does the true Buddha dwell?' The Master said, 'Under the words there is no mark, and it is not elsewhere either.'

晉州霍山景通禪師

Chan Master Jingtong of Huoshan in Jinzhou

初參仰山。山閉目坐。師乃翹起右足曰。如是。如是。西天二十八祖亦如是。中華六祖亦如是。和尚亦如是。景通亦如是。仰山起來。打四藤條。師因此自稱。集雲峰下四藤條天下大禪師(歸宗下。亦名大禪佛有智通)。住後。有行者問。如何是佛法大意。師乃禮拜。者曰。和尚為甚麼禮俗人。師曰。汝不見道尊重弟子。師問僧。甚麼處來。僧提起坐具。師曰。龍頭蛇尾。問。如何是佛。師便打。僧亦打。師曰。汝打我有道理。我打汝無道理。僧無語。師又打趂出。師化緣將畢。先備薪於郊野。徧辭檀信。食訖至薪所。謂弟子曰。日午當來報。至日午。師自執炬登積薪上。以笠置頂後。作圓光相。手執拄杖。作降魔杵勢。立終於紅焰中。

He first studied under Yangshan. Yangshan sat with closed eyes. The Master then raised his right foot and said, 'So it is, so it is. The twenty-eight Ancestors of the Western Heaven are also so; the Sixth Ancestor of China is also so; the Reverend is also so; Jingtong is also so.' Yangshan rose and gave him four rattan whips. Because of this the Master called himself the great Chan master of the four rattan whips below Jiyun Peak. (Under Guizong he was also called the great Chan Buddha, with the name Zhitong.) After he had taken up residence, a postulant asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master bowed to him. The postulant said, 'Why does the Reverend bow to a layman?' The Master said, 'Have you not heard it said: honor the disciple?' The Master asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk held up his sitting cloth. The Master said, 'Dragon's head, snake's tail.' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master then beat him. The monk also beat him. The Master said, 'Your beating me has principle; my beating you has no principle.' The monk was silent. The Master beat him again and drove him out. When the Master's converting of conditions was about to end, he first prepared firewood in the countryside and took leave of all the donors. After eating he went to the woodpile and told his disciples, 'At noon come and report to me.' At noon the Master himself took a torch and climbed onto the piled firewood, placed his hat on the back of his head to form a halo, took his staff in his hand in the posture of a demon-subduing pestle, stood and ended in the red flames.

杭州無著文喜禪師

Chan Master Wuzhao Wenxi of Hangzhou

嘉禾語溪人也。姓朱氏。七歲。依本邑常樂寺(今崇福也)。國清出家剃染。後習律聽教。屬會昌澄汰。反服韜晦。大中初。例重懺度於鹽官齊峰寺。後謁大慈山性空禪師。空曰。子何不徧參乎。師直往五臺山華嚴寺。至金剛窟禮謁。遇一老翁牽牛而行。邀師入寺。翁呼均提。有童子應聲出迎。翁縱牛。引師陞堂。堂宇皆耀金色。翁踞床指繡墩命坐。翁曰。近自何來。師曰。南方。翁曰。南方佛法如何住持。師曰。末法比丘。少奉戒律。翁曰。多少眾。師曰。或三百。或五百。師卻問。此間佛法如何住持。翁曰。龍蛇混雜。凡聖同居。師曰。多少眾。翁曰。前三三。後三三。翁呼童子致茶。並進酥酪。師納其味。心意豁然。翁拈起玻瓈盞。問曰。南方還有這箇否。師曰。無。翁曰。尋常將甚麼吃茶。師無對。師覩日色稍晚。遂問翁。擬投一宿得否。翁曰。汝有執心在。不得宿。師曰。某甲無執心。翁曰。汝曾受戒否。師曰。受戒久矣。翁曰。汝若無執心。何用受戒。師辭退。翁令童子相送。師問童子。前三三。後三三。是多少。童召。大德。師應諾。童曰。是多少。師復問曰。此為何處。童曰。此金剛窟般若寺也。師悽然。悟彼翁者即文殊也。不可再見。即稽首童子。願乞一言為別。童說偈曰。面上無嗔供養具。口裡無嗔吐妙香。心裡無嗔是珍寶。無垢無染是真常。言訖。均提與寺俱隱。但見五色雲中。文殊乘金毛師子往來。忽有白雲自東方來。覆之不見。時有滄州菩提寺僧修政等至。尚聞山石震吼之聲。師因駐錫五臺。咸通三年至洪州觀音參仰山。頓了心契。令充典座。文殊嘗現於粥鑊上。師以攪粥篦便打。曰。文殊自文殊。文喜自文喜。殊乃說偈曰。苦瓠連根苦。甜瓜徹蔕甜。修行三大劫。卻被老僧嫌。一日。有異僧來求齋食。師減己分饋之。仰山預知。問曰。適來果位人至。汝給食否。師曰。

He was a man of Yuxi in Jiahe, of the Zhu family. At seven he left home and was shaved under Guoqing of the Changle Monastery of his district (now Chongfu). Later he studied the Vinaya and listened to the teachings. When the Huichang persecution came, he went back to lay dress and hid himself. In the early Dazhong era he was, by the general rule, reordained with repentance at Qifeng Monastery in Yanguan. Later he visited Chan Master Xingkong of Daci Mountain. Xingkong said, 'Why do you not go everywhere to study?' The Master went straight to Huayan Monastery on Mount Wutai, and when he paid reverence at the Vajra Cave he met an old man leading an ox, who invited the Master into the monastery. The old man called Junti, and a boy answered and came out to welcome them. The old man let the ox go and led the Master up into the hall. The hall and its buildings all shone with golden light. The old man sat on a couch, pointed to an embroidered cushion and told him to sit. The old man said, 'Where have you come from lately?' The Master said, 'The south.' The old man said, 'How is the Buddha Dharma maintained in the south?' The Master said, 'Monks of the Dharma-ending age rarely keep the precepts.' The old man said, 'How many are in the assembly?' The Master said, 'Three hundred, or five hundred.' The Master then asked, 'How is the Buddha Dharma maintained here?' The old man said, 'Dragons and snakes are mixed together; ordinary and sage dwell side by side.' The Master said, 'How many are in the assembly?' The old man said, 'Three three in front, three three behind.' The old man called the boy to bring tea, and also offered cream cheese. The Master took its flavor and his mind suddenly opened. The old man picked up a glass cup and asked, 'Does the south still have these?' The Master said, 'No.' The old man said, 'What do you usually drink tea from?' The Master had no reply. The Master saw that the sun was a little late, and so asked the old man, 'May I put up here for a night?' The old man said, 'You have a grasping mind; you may not stay the night.' The Master said, 'I have no grasping mind.' The old man said, 'Have you received the precepts?' The Master said, 'I received them long ago.' The old man said, 'If you have no grasping mind, what need of receiving the precepts?' The Master took his leave and withdrew. The old man told the boy to see him off. The Master asked the boy, 'Three three in front, three three behind — how much is that?' The boy called, 'Great Virtue.' The Master answered. The boy said, 'How much is it?' The Master asked again, 'What place is this?' The boy said, 'This is the Vajra Cave, the Prajna Monastery.' The Master was stricken, and realized that the old man was Manjushri and could not be seen again. He at once bowed to the boy and begged one word for farewell. The boy spoke a verse: 'No anger on the face is an offering vessel; no anger in the mouth breathes wondrous fragrance. No anger in the heart is a treasure; undefiled and unstained is the true constant.' Having spoken, Junti and the monastery both vanished. He saw only Manjushri riding a golden-haired lion to and fro within five-colored clouds. Suddenly a white cloud came from the east and covered it from sight. At that time monks such as Xiuzheng of the Bodhi Monastery in Cangzhou arrived, and still heard the sound of the mountain rocks shaking and roaring. The Master then settled on Mount Wutai. In the third year of Xiantong he went to Guanyin in Hongzhou to study under Yangshan, and at once understood the mind's agreement, and was made cook. Manjushri once appeared above the porridge cauldron. The Master beat him with the porridge stirrer and said, 'Manjushri is Manjushri, Wenxi is Wenxi.' Manjushri then spoke a verse: 'The bitter gourd is bitter to the root; the sweet melon is sweet to the stem. Cultivating for three great kalpas, and yet this old monk dislikes him.' One day a strange monk came asking for food. The Master reduced his own portion and gave it to him. Yangshan knew beforehand and asked, 'Just now a man of the fruition stage came — did you give him food?' The Master said:

輟己回施。仰曰。汝大利益。後旋浙住龍泉寺。僧問。如何是涅槃相。師曰。香煙盡處驗。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。喚院主來。這師僧患顛。問。如何是自己。師默然。僧罔措。再問。師曰。青天矇昧。不向月邊飛。錢王奏賜紫衣。署無著禪師。將順寂。於子夜告眾曰。三界心盡。即是涅槃。言訖。跏趺而終。白光照室。竹樹同色。塔於靈隱山之西塢。天福二年宣城帥田頵應杭將許思叛渙。縱兵大掠。發師塔。覩肉身不壞。爪髮俱長。武肅錢王異之。遣裨將邵志重加封瘞。至皇朝嘉定庚辰。遷於淨慈山智覺壽禪師塔左。

(The Master continued:) '...I stopped my own and gave it to him.' Yangshan said, 'You have greatly benefited.' Later he went back to Zhe and lived at Longquan Monastery. A monk asked, 'What is the mark of nirvana?' The Master said, 'Test it where the incense smoke ends.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Call the prior here; this monk is suffering from madness.' Someone asked, 'What is one's own self?' The Master was silent. The monk was at a loss and asked again. The Master said, 'The blue sky is dim; do not fly toward the moon.' King Qian memorialized for him the purple robe and titled him Chan Master Wuzhao. When he was about to pass into quiescence, at midnight he told the assembly, 'When the mind of the three realms is exhausted, that is nirvana.' Having spoken, he crossed his legs and died. White light shone in the room and the bamboo and trees were the same color. A stupa was built at the western hollow of Lingyin Mountain. In the second year of Tianfu, when Tian Jun of Xuancheng responded to the Hang general Xu Si's rebellion and let his troops plunder, the Master's stupa was opened, and his flesh body was found undecayed, and his nails and hair had all grown. King Qian Wusu found it strange, and sent the assistant general Shao Zhi to reseal and bury it. In the Gengchen year of Jiading of the present dynasty it was moved to the left of Chan Master Zhijue Shou's stupa on Jingci Mountain.

新羅國五觀山順支了悟禪師

Chan Master Shunzhi Liaowu of Wuguan Mountain in the kingdom of Silla

僧問。如何是西來意。師竪拂子。僧曰。莫這箇便是。師放下拂子。問。以字不成。八字不是。是甚麼字。師作圓相示之。有僧於師前作五花圓相。師畫破作一圓相。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'Is this not just it?' The Master put down the whisk. Someone asked, 'The character yi is not formed, the character ba is not it. What character is it?' The Master drew a circle to show him. A monk made a five-flowered circle before the Master. The Master drew through it and made one circle.

袁州仰山東塔和尚

The Reverend of the Eastern Stupa of Yangshan in Yuanzhou

僧問。如何是君王劒。師曰。落䌫不採功。曰。用者如何。師曰。不落人手。問。法王與君王相見時如何。師曰。兩掌無私。曰。見後如何。師曰。中間絕像。

A monk asked, 'What is the king's sword?' The Master said, 'It falls on the mooring rope and takes no merit.' He said, 'What of the one who uses it?' The Master said, 'It does not fall into anyone's hands.' Someone asked, 'What is it like when the Dharma king and the king of men meet?' The Master said, 'Two palms without partiality.' He said, 'And after they meet?' The Master said, 'In between, images are cut off.'

香嚴閑禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xian of Xiangyan

吉州止觀和尚

The Reverend of Zhiguan in Jizhou

僧問。如何是毗盧師。師攔胷與一拓。問。如何是頓。師曰。非梁陳。

A monk asked, 'What is Vairocana's teacher?' The Master gave him a push in the chest. Someone asked, 'What is sudden?' The Master said, 'Not Liang or Chen.'

壽州紹宗禪師

Chan Master Shaozong of Shouzhou

僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。好事不出門。惡事行千里。有官人謂師曰。見說江西不立宗。師曰。遇緣即立。曰。遇緣立箇甚麼。師曰。江西不立宗。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Good news does not leave the house; bad news travels a thousand li.' An official said to the Master, 'I hear Jiangxi does not set up a school.' The Master said, 'Meeting a condition, it sets one up.' He said, 'What does it set up when it meets a condition?' The Master said, 'Jiangxi does not set up a school.'

益州南禪無染禪師

Chan Master Wuran of Nanchan in Yizhou

僧問。無句之句。師還答也無。師曰。從來祇明恁麼事。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。且問看。

A monk asked, 'The phrase without phrases — does the Master still answer it or not?' The Master said, 'I have always only illuminated just this matter.' He said, 'After all, what then?' The Master said, 'Ask and see.'

益州長平山和尚

The Reverend of Changping Mountain in Yizhou

僧問。視瞬不及處如何。師曰。我眨眼也沒工夫。問。如何是祖師意。師曰。西天來。唐土去。

A monk asked, 'What of the place the gaze and blink cannot reach?' The Master said, 'I have no time even to blink.' Someone asked, 'What is the Ancestor's intent?' The Master said, 'Coming from the Western Heaven, going to the land of Tang.'

益州崇福演教禪師

Chan Master Yanjiao of Chongfu in Yizhou

僧問。如何是寬廓之言。師曰。無口得道。問。如何是西來意。師曰。今日明日。

A monk asked, 'What is the word of broad expanse?' The Master said, 'Reaching the Way without a mouth.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Today and tomorrow.'

安州大安山清幹禪師

Chan Master Qinggan of Da'an Mountain in Anzhou

僧問。從上諸聖。從何而證。師乃斫額。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。羊頭車子推明月。

A monk asked, 'From what did the sages above attest?' The Master then chopped at his own forehead. Someone asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A sheep-headed cart pushes the bright moon.'

終南山豐德寺和尚

The Reverend of Fengde Monastery on Mount Zhongnan

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。觸事面牆。問。如何是本來事。師曰。終不更問人。

A monk asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'Meeting affairs, facing the wall.' Someone asked, 'What is the original matter?' The Master said, 'I will never again ask another.'

均州武當山佛巖喗禪師

Chan Master Hui of the Buddha Rock on Wudang Mountain in Junzhou

僧問。某甲頃年有疾。又中毒藥。請師醫。師曰。二宜湯一椀。問。如何是佛向上事。曰。螺髻子。曰。如何是佛向下事。師曰。蓮華座。

A monk asked, 'I had an illness some years ago and was also poisoned; I beg the Master to cure me.' The Master said, 'One bowl of two-appropriate decoction.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter above the Buddha?' He said, 'The snail-shell topknot.' He said, 'What is the matter below the Buddha?' The Master said, 'The lotus seat.'

江州廬山雙谿田道者

The Daoist Tian of Shuangxi in Mount Lu, Jiangzhou

僧問。如何是啐啄之機。師以手作啄勢。問。如何是西來意。師曰。甚麼處得箇問頭來。

A monk asked, 'What is the mechanism of sipping and pecking?' The Master made the gesture of pecking with his hand. Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Where did you get that question?'

徑山諲禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yin of Jingshan

洪州米嶺和尚

The Reverend of Miling in Hongzhou

常語曰。莫過於此。僧問。未審是甚麼莫過於此。師曰。不出是。僧後問長慶。為甚麼不出是。慶曰。汝擬喚作甚麼。

He often said, 'Nothing surpasses this.' A monk asked, 'I wonder what it is that nothing surpasses?' The Master said, 'Not going out is it.' The monk later asked Changqing, 'Why is it that not going out is it?' Changqing said, 'What would you call it?'

雙峰和尚法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the Reverend of Shuangfeng

福州雙峰古禪師

Chan Master Gu of Shuangfeng in Fuzhou

本業講經。因參先雙峰。峰問。大德甚麼處住。曰。城裡。峰曰。尋常還思老僧否。問。常思和尚。無由禮覲。峰曰。祇這思底便是大德。師從此領旨。即罷講席。侍奉數年。後到石霜。但隨眾而已。更不參請。眾謂古侍者嘗受雙峰印記。往往聞於石霜。霜欲詰其所悟。而未得其便。師因辭去。霜將拂子送出門首。召曰。古侍者。師回首。霜曰。擬著即差。是著即乖。不擬不是。亦莫作箇會。除非知有莫能知之。好去。好去。師應喏喏。即前邁。尋屬雙峰示寂。師乃繼續住持。僧問。和尚當時辭石霜。石霜恁麼道意作麼生。師曰。祇教我不著是非(玄覺雲。且道他會石霜意不會)。

He originally made his living lecturing on the scriptures. Then he went to consult the late Shuangfeng. Shuangfeng asked: 'Where do you live, Virtuous One?' He said: 'In the city.' Shuangfeng said: 'Do you usually think of this old monk?' He said: 'I always think of you, Master, but I have no way to come and pay my respects.' Shuangfeng said: 'Just that thinking is you, Virtuous One.' From this the master received the meaning, and at once gave up his lecture seat and served him for several years. Later he went to Shishuang and did nothing but follow the assembly, making no further inquiries. The assembly said that the elder Gu had once received Shuangfeng's seal, and word of this often reached Shishuang. Shishuang wanted to question him about what he had awakened to, but had not yet found an occasion. Then the master took his leave. Shishuang took his fly whisk and escorted him to the gate, called out: 'Elder Gu!' The master turned his head. Shishuang said: 'As soon as you intend it, you err; as soon as you fix on it, you go astray. Not intending and not not-intending, do not make an understanding of it either. Unless you know that it is, none can know it. Farewell, farewell.' The master answered, 'Yes, yes,' and went on his way. Soon after, when Shuangfeng passed away, the master continued as abbot in his place. A monk asked: 'When the Master took leave of Shishuang then, what was the meaning of Shishuang's speaking like that?' The master said: 'He was only teaching me not to fix on right and wrong.' (Xuanjue said: 'Tell me, did he understand Shishuang's meaning or not?')

南嶽下六世

The sixth generation below Nanyue

西塔穆禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xita Mu

吉州資福如寶禪師

Chan Master Zifu Rubao of Jizhou

僧問。如何是應機之句。師默然。問。如何是玄旨。師曰。汝與我掩卻門。問。魯祖面壁。意作麼生。師曰。沒交涉。問。如何是從上真正眼。師槌𮌎曰。蒼天。蒼天。曰。借問有何妨。師曰。困。問。這箇還受學也無。師曰。未曾钁地栽虗空。問。如何是衲僧急切處。師曰。不過此。問曰。學人未問已前。請師道。師曰。噫。問。如何是一塵入正受。師作入定勢。曰。如何是諸塵三昧起。師曰。汝問阿誰。問。如何是一路涅槃門。師彈指一聲。又展開兩手。曰。如何領會。師曰。不是秋月明。子自橫行八九。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。飯後三椀茶。師一日拈起蒲團。示眾曰。諸佛菩薩。入理聖人。皆從這裡出。便擲下。擘開胷曰。作麼生。眾無對。問。學人創入叢林。一夏將末。未蒙和尚指教。願垂提拯。師拓開曰。老僧住持已來。未曾瞎卻一人眼。師有時坐良久。周視左右曰。會麼。眾曰。不會。師曰。不會即謾汝去也。師一日將蒲團於頭上。曰。汝諸人恁麼時難共語。眾無對。師將坐。卻曰。猶較些子。

A monk asked: 'What is the phrase that responds to the occasion?' The master was silent. The monk asked: 'What is the profound purport?' The master said: 'Shut the door for me.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Luzu facing the wall?' The master said: 'No connection.' The monk asked: 'What is the true eye from the first?' The master pounded his chest and said: 'O heavens, O heavens!' The monk said: 'What harm is there in asking?' The master said: 'I am tired.' The monk asked: 'Does this also admit of study?' The master said: 'I have never hoed the ground to plant empty space.' The monk asked: 'What is the pressing point for a patch-robed monk?' The master said: 'It does not go beyond this.' The monk asked: 'Before this student asks, please, Master, speak.' The master said: 'Oh.' The monk asked: 'What is it when one mote enters right absorption?' The master made the posture of entering samadhi. The monk said: 'What is it when the samadhi of all motes arises?' The master said: 'Whom are you asking?' The monk asked: 'What is the single road to nirvana?' The master snapped his fingers once and then opened both hands. The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'It is not the bright autumn moon; you of yourself strut about eight or nine.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'Three bowls of tea after the meal.' One day the master picked up his sitting cushion, showed it to the assembly and said: 'All buddhas and bodhisattvas, all sages who enter the principle, come forth from right here.' Then he threw it down, opened his chest and said: 'What is it?' The assembly had no reply. A monk asked: 'This student has newly entered the monastery, and the summer retreat is nearly over, yet he has not received the Master's instruction. I beg you to extend your hand and rescue me.' The master pushed him away and said: 'Since I took up the abbacy, I have never blinded a single person's eye.' Sometimes the master would sit for a long while, look all around, and say: 'Do you understand?' The assembly would say: 'We do not understand.' The master said: 'If you do not understand, then I have deceived you.' One day the master put his sitting cushion on his head and said: 'When you people are like this, it is hard to speak with you.' The assembly had no reply. The master was about to sit down, then said: 'Still a bit better.'

南塔湧禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Nanta Yong

郢州芭蕉山慧清禪師

Chan Master Bajiao Shan Huiqing of Yingzhou

新羅國人也。上堂。拈拄杖示眾曰。你有拄杖子。我與你拄杖子。你無拄杖子。我奪卻你拄杖子。靠拄杖下座。僧問。如何是芭蕉水。師曰。冬溫夏涼。問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。進前三步。曰。用者如何。師曰。退後三步。問。如何是和尚為人一句。師曰。祇恐闍黎不問。上堂。會麼。相悉者少。珍重。問。不語有問時如何。師曰。未出三門千里程。問。如何是自己。師曰。望南看北斗。問。光境俱亡。復是何物。師曰。知。曰。知箇甚麼。師曰。建州九郎。上堂。如人行次。忽遇前面萬丈深坑。背後野火來逼。兩畔是荊棘叢林。若也向前。則墮在坑壍。若也退後。則野火燒身。若也轉側。則被荊棘林礙。當與麼時。作麼生免得。若也免得。合有出身之路。若免不得。墮身死漢。問。如何是提婆宗。師曰。赤幡在左。問僧。近離甚處。僧曰。請師試道看。師曰。將謂是舶上商人。元來是當州小客。問。不問二頭三首。請師直指本來面目。師默然正坐。問。賊來須打。客來須看。忽遇客賊俱來時如何。師曰。屋裡有一緉破草鞋。曰。祇如破草鞋。還堪受用也無。師曰。汝若將去。前兇後不吉。問。北斗藏身。意旨如何。師曰。九九八十一。乃曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。一二三四五。師謂眾曰。我年二十八。到仰山參見南塔。見上堂曰。汝等諸人。若是箇漢。從孃肚裡出來便作師子吼。好麼。我於言下歇得身心。便住五載。僧問。古佛未出興時如何。師曰。千年茄子根。曰。出興後如何。師曰。金剛努出眼。上堂。良久曰。也大相辱。珍重。問。如何是祖師意。師曰。汝問那箇祖師意。曰。達磨西來意。師曰。獨自棲棲暗渡江。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。知。曰。見後如何。師曰。知。問。甚麼物無兩頭。甚麼物無背面。師曰。我身無兩頭。我語無背面。問。如何是透法身句。師曰。一不得問。

He was a man of the kingdom of Silla. He mounted the hall. He picked up his staff, showed it to the assembly and said: 'If you have a staff, I give you a staff. If you have no staff, I take away your staff.' Then he leaned on the staff and descended from the seat. A monk asked: 'What is the water of Bajiao?' The master said: 'Warm in winter, cool in summer.' The monk asked: 'What is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said: 'Step forward three paces.' The monk said: 'What of the one who uses it?' The master said: 'Step back three paces.' The monk asked: 'What is the one phrase with which the Master acts for others?' The master said: 'I only fear that you, Acharya, will not ask.' He mounted the hall: 'Do you understand? Few are those who know each other intimately. Take care.' A monk asked: 'What of when one does not speak yet there is a question?' The master said: 'Before leaving the three gates, a thousand miles of road.' The monk asked: 'What is one's own self?' The master said: 'Look south and see the north star.' The monk asked: 'When light and its objects are both gone, what is there then?' The master said: 'Knowing.' The monk said: 'Knowing what?' The master said: 'Jiu Lang of Jianzhou.' He mounted the hall: 'Suppose a man is walking along and suddenly before him is a ten-thousand-fathom pit, behind him a wildfire pressing close, and on both sides a jungle of thorns. If he goes forward, he falls into the pit. If he goes back, the wildfire burns him. If he turns aside, the thorny jungle blocks him. At such a moment, how does he escape? If he can escape, there should be a road out for him. If he cannot escape, he is a dead man who has lost his body.' A monk asked: 'What is the teaching of Aryadeva?' The master said: 'The red banner is on the left.' He asked a monk: 'Where have you recently come from?' The monk said: 'Please, Master, try to say.' The master said: 'I thought you were a merchant off a ship; it turns out you are a small trader of this prefecture.' A monk asked: 'Without asking about two heads and three faces, please, Master, point directly to the original face.' The master sat silently upright. A monk asked: 'When a thief comes he must be beaten; when a guest comes he must be looked after. What if a guest and a thief arrive together?' The master said: 'In the house there is a pair of worn straw sandals.' The monk said: 'As for that pair of worn straw sandals, are they still fit for use?' The master said: 'If you take them away, ill fortune before and no luck after.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the north star hiding its body?' The master said: 'Nine times nine is eighty-one.' Then he said: 'Do you understand?' The monk said: 'No.' The master said: 'One, two, three, four, five.' The master said to the assembly: 'At the age of twenty-eight I went to Mount Yang to pay my respects to Nanta. I saw him mount the hall and say: "If you people are real men, then as soon as you come out of your mother's belly you should roar the lion's roar. Would that not be fine?" At those words my body and mind came to rest, and I stayed there five years.' A monk asked: 'What of the time before the ancient buddha appeared in the world?' The master said: 'A thousand-year-old eggplant root.' The monk said: 'What of after he appeared?' The master said: 'A vajra glaring out its eyes.' He mounted the hall. After a long silence he said: 'This is a great insult to you all. Take care.' A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarchs?' The master said: 'Which patriarch's meaning are you asking about?' The monk said: 'Bodhidharma's meaning in coming from the west.' The master said: 'Alone and restless, he crossed the river in secret.' The monk asked: 'What of when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said: 'Knowing.' The monk said: 'What of after meeting him?' The master said: 'Knowing.' The monk asked: 'What thing has no two ends? What thing has no front or back?' The master said: 'My body has no two ends; my words have no front or back.' The monk asked: 'What is the phrase that penetrates the dharma body?' The master said: 'First, you must not ask;

二不得休。曰。學人不會。師曰。第三度來。與汝相見。

(The master continued:) 'Second, you must not stop.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'Come a third time, and I will meet you.'

越州清化全怤禪師

Chan Master Qinghua Quanfu of Yuezhou

吳郡崑山人也。初參南塔。塔問。從何而來。師曰。鄂州。塔曰。鄂州使君名甚麼。師曰。化下不敢相觸忤。曰。此地道不畏。師曰。大丈夫何必相試。塔囅(醜忍切)然而笑。遂乃印可。時廬陵安福縣宰建應國禪苑。迎師聚徒。本道上聞。賜名清化。僧問。如何是和尚急切為人處。師曰。朝看東南。暮看西北。曰。不會。師曰。徒誇東陽客。不識西陽珍。問。如何是正法眼。師曰。我卻不知。曰。和尚為甚麼不知。師曰。不可青天白日尿床也。師後還故國。錢氏文穆王特加禮重。晉天福二年丁酉歲。錢氏戍將闢雲峰山建院。亦以清化為名。延師開堂。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。華表柱頭木鶴飛。問。路逢達道人。不將語默對。未審將甚麼對。師曰。眼裡瞳人吹呌子。問。和尚年多少。師曰。始見去年九月九。如今又見秋葉黃。曰。恁麼則無數也。師曰。問取黃葉。曰。畢竟事如何。師曰。六隻骰子滿盆紅。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。長江無間斷。聚沫任風飄。曰。還受祭祀也無。師曰。祭祀即不無。曰。如何祭祀。師曰。漁歌舉櫂。谷裡聞聲。忠獻王賜紫方袍。師不受。王改以衲衣。仍號純一禪師。師曰。吾非飾讓也。慮後人倣吾而逞欲耳。開運四年秋。示寂。時大風摧震竹木。

He was a man of Kunshan in Wu commandery. He first consulted Nanta. Nanta asked: 'Where have you come from?' The master said: 'Ezhou.' Nanta said: 'What is the name of the prefect of Ezhou?' The master said: 'Under your transforming influence I dare not offend.' The monk said: 'The way here does not fear it.' The master said: 'Why should a great man test me?' Nanta smiled broadly, and so gave him his seal of approval. At that time the magistrate of Anfu county in Luling founded Yingguo Chan Grove and welcomed the master to gather disciples. When the local authorities heard of it, they granted the name Qinghua. A monk asked: 'What is the Master's pressing way of acting for others?' The master said: 'In the morning look southeast, in the evening look northwest.' The monk said: 'I do not understand.' The master said: 'In vain you boast as a guest of Dongyang, not knowing the treasure of Xiyang.' The monk asked: 'What is the true dharma eye?' The master said: 'I do not know it.' The monk said: 'Why does the Master not know it?' The master said: 'One must not urinate in bed in broad daylight.' Later the master returned to his homeland. King Wenmu of the Qian family especially honored and esteemed him. In the dingyou year, the second year of Tianfu of the Jin, a Qian garrison commander opened up Yunfeng Mountain and built a monastery, also named Qinghua, and invited the master to open the hall. A monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'On top of the ornamental pillar, a wooden crane flies.' The monk asked: 'Meeting a man of the way on the road, one does not answer him with speech or silence. I wonder with what one answers him?' The master said: 'The pupil of the eye blows a whistle.' The monk asked: 'How old is the Master?' The master said: 'I first saw the ninth of the ninth last year; now I see the autumn leaves yellow again.' The monk said: 'Then they are countless.' The master said: 'Go ask the yellow leaves.' The monk said: 'What of the ultimate matter?' The master said: 'Six dice, all red in the bowl.' The monk asked: 'Where does a deceased monk go when he passes away?' The master said: 'The long river never stops; the gathered foam drifts with the wind.' The monk said: 'Does he still receive offerings?' The master said: 'Offerings are indeed not lacking.' The monk said: 'How is the offering made?' The master said: 'A fisherman's song raises the oar; in the valley the sound is heard.' King Zhongxian granted him a purple robe. The master did not accept it. The king changed it to a patch-robed garment and gave him the title Chan Master Chunyi. The master said: 'It is not that I decline out of modesty. I fear that later men will imitate me and give free rein to their desires.' In the autumn of the fourth year of Kaiyun he passed away. At that time a great wind broke and shook the bamboos and trees.

韶州黃連山義初明微禪師

Chan Master Huanglian Shan Yichu Mingwei of Shaozhou

僧問。三乘十二分教即不問。請師開口不答話。師曰。寶華臺上定古今。曰。如何是寶華臺上定古今。師曰。一點墨子。輪流不移。曰。學人全體不會。請師指示。師曰。靈覺雖轉。空華不墜。問。古路無蹤。如何進步。師曰。金烏遶須彌。元與劫同時。曰。恁麼則得達於彼岸也。師曰。黃河三千年一度清。廣主劉氏嚮師道化。請入府內說法。僧問。人王與法王相見時如何。師曰。兩鏡相照。萬象歷然。曰。法王心要。達磨西來。五祖付與曹谿。自此不傳衣缽。未審碧玉階前。將何付囑。師曰。石羊水上行。木馬夜翻駒。曰。恁麼則我王有感。萬國歸朝。師曰。時人盡唱太平歌。問。如何是佛。師曰。𮌎題卍字。背負圓光。問。如何是道。師展兩手示之。僧曰。佛之與道。相去幾何。師曰。如水如波。

A monk asked: 'I will not ask about the twelve divisions of the three vehicles; please, Master, open your mouth without answering words.' The master said: 'On the jeweled terrace, past and present are settled.' The monk said: 'What is it to settle past and present on the jeweled terrace?' The master said: 'A dot of ink, taking turns without shifting.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand at all; please, Master, instruct me.' The master said: 'Though the spiritual awareness turns, the empty flower does not fall.' The monk asked: 'On the ancient road there are no traces; how does one advance?' The master said: 'The golden crow circles Mount Sumeru, from the beginning at one with the kalpa.' The monk said: 'Then one reaches the other shore.' The master said: 'The Yellow River clears once in three thousand years.' Liu, the lord of Guang, turned toward the master's transforming influence and invited him into the palace to preach the dharma. A monk asked: 'What is it when the king of men and the king of dharma meet?' The master said: 'Two mirrors reflecting each other; the myriad forms are distinct.' The monk said: 'The mind-essence of the king of dharma came west with Bodhidharma, and the Fifth Patriarch entrusted it to Caoxi. Since then the robe and bowl have not been transmitted. I wonder what was entrusted before the jade steps?' The master said: 'A stone sheep walks on the water; a wooden horse breeds a colt at night.' The monk said: 'Then our king has feeling, and the ten thousand lands come to court.' The master said: 'People of the time all sing songs of great peace.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A swastika on his chest, a round halo on his back.' The monk asked: 'What is the way?' The master spread out both hands and showed it to him. The monk said: 'How far apart are the Buddha and the way?' The master said: 'As water is to waves.'

韶州慧林鴻究妙濟禪師

Chan Master Huilin Hongjiu Miaojì of Shaozhou

僧問。千聖常行此路。如何是此路。師曰。果然不見。問。魯祖面壁。意旨如何。師曰。有甚麼雪處。問。如何是急切事。師曰。鈍漢。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。諸方大例。問。定慧等學。明見佛性。此理如何。師曰。新修梵宇。

A monk asked: 'A thousand sages have always walked this road. What is this road?' The master said: 'As expected, you do not see it.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Luzu facing the wall?' The master said: 'Where is there any snow?' The monk asked: 'What is the pressing matter?' The master said: 'Dull fellow.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'The general rule of every quarter.' The monk asked: 'To study meditation and wisdom equally and clearly see the buddha-nature, what is this principle?' The master said: 'A newly built brahma dwelling.'

南嶽下七世

The seventh generation below Nanyue

資福寶禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zifu Bao

吉州資福貞邃禪師

Chan Master Zifu Zhensui of Jizhou

僧問。和尚見古人。得何意旨便歇去。師作此[○@魚]相示之。問。如何是古人歌。師作此○相示之。問。如何是最初一句。師曰。未具世界時。闍黎亦在此。問。百丈卷席。意旨如何。師良久。問。古人道。前三三。後三三。意旨如何。師曰。汝名甚麼。曰。某甲。師曰。吃茶去。上堂。隔江見資福剎竿便回去。腳跟下好與三十棒。況過江來。時有僧才出。師曰。不堪共語。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。山河大地。

A monk asked: 'When the Master met the ancients, what meaning did he get that he then came to rest?' The master showed him a diagram of a circle with a fish in it. The monk asked: 'What is the song of the ancients?' The master showed him a circle. The monk asked: 'What is the very first phrase?' The master said: 'When the world was not yet formed, you, Acharya, were also here.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Baizhang rolling up the mat?' The master was silent a long while. The monk asked: 'The ancients said, three-three in front, three-three behind; what is the meaning?' The master said: 'What is your name?' The monk said: 'So-and-so.' The master said: 'Go drink tea.' He mounted the hall: 'Seeing the banner pole of Zifu across the river and then turning back, you still deserve thirty blows on the heels. How much more so if you have come across the river.' At that moment a monk had just stepped forward. The master said: 'Not worth speaking with.' A monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'Mountains, rivers, the great earth.'

吉州福壽和尚

The Elder Fushou of Jizhou

僧問。祖意教意。是同是別。師展手。問。文殊騎師子。普賢騎象王。未審釋迦騎甚麼。師舉手雲。㖿。㖿。

A monk asked: 'The meaning of the patriarchs and the meaning of the teachings: are they the same or different?' The master spread out his hand. The monk asked: 'Manjushri rides a lion, Samantabhadra rides an elephant king. I wonder what Shakyamuni rides?' The master raised his hand and said: 'Ya, ya.'

潭州鹿苑和尚

The Elder Luyuan of Tanzhou

僧問。餘國作佛。還有異名也無。師作此○相示之。問。如何是鹿苑一路。師曰。吉獠舌頭問將來。問。如何是閉門造車。師曰。南嶽石橋。曰。如何是出門合轍。師曰。拄杖頭鞋。上堂。展手曰。天下老和尚．諸上座命根。總在這裡。有僧出曰。還收得也無。師曰。天台石橋側。曰。某甲不恁麼。師曰。伏惟尚饗。問。如何是世尊不說說。師曰。須彌山倒。曰。如何是迦葉不聞聞。師曰。大海枯竭。

A monk asked: 'When one becomes a buddha in another land, is there also a different name?' The master showed him a circle. The monk asked: 'What is the one road of Luyuan?' The master said: 'Come ask with the tongue of a Jiliao barbarian.' The monk asked: 'What is it to shut the door and build a cart?' The master said: 'The stone bridge of Nanyue.' The monk said: 'What is it to go out the door and fit the rut?' The master said: 'A shoe on the end of a staff.' He mounted the hall. He spread out his hands and said: 'The life-root of every old monk in the world and of all you venerable ones is right here.' A monk came forward and said: 'Can it still be gathered up?' The master said: 'Beside the stone bridge of Tiantai.' The monk said: 'I am not like that.' The master said: 'Reverently I invite you to partake.' The monk asked: 'What is it when the World-Honored One speaks without speaking?' The master said: 'Mount Sumeru topples.' The monk said: 'What is it when Kashyapa hears without hearing?' The master said: 'The great sea dries up.'

芭蕉清禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Bajiao Qing

郢州芭蕉山繼徹禪師

Chan Master Bajiao Shan Jiche of Yingzhou

初參風穴。穴問。如何是正法眼。師曰。泥彈子。穴異之。次謁先芭蕉。蕉上堂舉仰山道。兩口一無舌。此是吾宗旨。師豁然有省。住後。僧問。如何是林溪境。師曰。有山有水。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。三門前。佛殿後。問。如何是深深處。師曰。石人開石戶。石鎻兩頭搖。上堂。昔日如來於波羅奈國。梵王請轉法輪。如來不已而已。有屈宗風。隨機逗教。遂有三乘名字。流傳於天上人間。至今光揚不墜。若據祖宗門下。天地懸殊。上上根機。頓超不異。作麼生是混融一句。還有人道得麼。若道得。有參學眼。若道不得。天寬地窄。便下座。上堂。眼中無翳。空裡無花。水長船高。泥多佛大。莫將問來。我也無答。會麼。問在答處。答在問處。便下座。問。三乘十二分教即不問。如何是宗門一句。師曰。七縱八橫。曰。如何領會。師曰。泥裡倒。泥裡起。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。著體汗衫。問。有一人不捨生死。不證涅槃。師還提擕也無。師曰。不提擕。曰。為甚麼不提擕。師曰。林溪粗識好惡。問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。透。曰。用者如何。師曰。鈍。問。寂寂無依時如何。師曰。未是衲僧分上事。曰。如何是衲僧分上事。師曰。要行即行。要坐即坐。師有偈曰。芭蕉的旨。不掛唇齒。木童唱和。石人側耳。

He first consulted Fengxue. Fengxue asked: 'What is the true dharma eye?' The master said: 'A mud pellet.' Fengxue found him remarkable. Next he paid his respects to the late Bajiao. Bajiao mounted the hall and brought up Yangshan's words: 'Two mouths and one tongueless one; this is our essential teaching.' The master was suddenly enlightened. After he took up residence, a monk asked: 'What is the realm of Linxi?' The master said: 'There are mountains and there is water.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Before the three gates, behind the buddha hall.' The monk asked: 'What is the deepest depth?' The master said: 'A stone man opens a stone door; the stone lock sways at both ends.' He mounted the hall: 'Long ago the Tathagata was in the kingdom of Varanasi, and Brahma king invited him to turn the dharma wheel. The Tathagata could not do otherwise, and so bent the style of the school. Adapting to capacities he set out the teachings, and thus there came to be the names of the three vehicles, which have spread through heaven and among men and shine forth undiminished to this day. But judged from within the gate of the ancestral school, heaven and earth are far apart. For those of the highest capacity, sudden transcendence makes no difference. What is the one phrase that blends everything? Can anyone speak it? If you can speak it, you have the eye for study. If you cannot, heaven is wide and earth is narrow.' Then he descended from the seat. He mounted the hall: 'In the eye there is no film, in the sky there is no flower. When the water rises the boat rides high; when the mud is deep the buddha is great. Do not bring me your questions; I too have no answer. Do you understand? The question lies in the answer, the answer lies in the question.' Then he descended from the seat. A monk asked: 'I will not ask about the twelve divisions of the three vehicles; what is the one phrase of the school?' The master said: 'Seven vertical, eight horizontal.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'Fallen in the mud, rise from the mud.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'A shirt that sticks to the body.' The monk asked: 'There is one who does not renounce birth and death and does not realize nirvana. Does the Master still lend him a hand?' The master said: 'No.' The monk said: 'Why not?' The master said: 'Linxi roughly knows good from bad.' The monk asked: 'What is the hair-splitting sword?' The master said: 'It cuts through.' The monk said: 'What of the one who uses it?' The master said: 'It is dull.' The monk asked: 'What of when all is still and there is nothing to rely on?' The master said: 'That is not yet the business of a patch-robed monk.' The monk said: 'What is the business of a patch-robed monk?' The master said: 'When you want to walk, walk; when you want to sit, sit.' The master had a verse: 'The purport of Bajiao does not hang on lips and teeth. The wooden boy sings in harmony; the stone man listens sideways.'

郢州興陽山清讓禪師

Chan Master Xingyang Shan Qingrang of Yingzhou

僧問。大通智勝佛。十劫坐道場。佛法不現前。不得成佛道時如何。師曰。其問甚諦當。曰。既是坐道場。為甚麼不得成佛道。師曰。為伊不成佛。

A monk asked: 'The Buddha Mahabhisheka, Great Penetrating Wisdom Victory, sat in the place of practice for ten kalpas, yet the buddhadharma did not appear before him and he could not attain the way to buddhahood. What of that?' The master said: 'That question is quite to the point.' The monk said: 'Since he sat in the place of practice, why could he not attain the way to buddhahood?' The master said: 'Because he did not become a buddha.'

洪州幽谷山法滿禪師

Chan Master Yougu Shan Faman of Hongzhou

僧問。如何是道。師良久曰。會麼。曰。學人不會。師曰。聽取一偈。話道語下無聲。舉揚奧旨丁寧。禪要如今會取。不須退後消停。

A monk asked: 'What is the way?' The master was silent a long while and then said: 'Do you understand?' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'Hear a verse: To speak of the way, below the words there is no sound; to proclaim the profound purport is to urge and repeat. If you would grasp the essentials of Chan, grasp them now; there is no need to draw back and linger.'

郢州芭蕉山遇禪師

Chan Master Bajiao Shan Yu of Yingzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。是星皆拱北。無水不朝東。曰。爭奈學人未會何。師曰。逢人但恁麼舉。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'Every star pays homage to the north; no water fails to flow east.' The monk said: 'What if this student still does not understand?' The master said: 'Whenever you meet someone, just bring it up like this.'

郢州芭蕉山圓禪師

Chan Master Bajiao Shan Yuan of Yingzhou

僧問。如何是和尚接人一句。師曰。要頭截取去。曰。豈無方便。師曰。心不負人。面無慚色。上堂。三千大千世界。夜來被老僧都合成一塊。輥向須彌頂上。帝釋大怒。拈得撲成粉碎。諸上座還覺頭痛也無。良久曰。莫不識痛癢好。珍重。

A monk asked: 'What is the one phrase with which the Master receives people?' The master said: 'If you want my head, cut it off and take it.' The monk said: 'Is there no skillful means?' The master said: 'When the mind does not betray others, the face shows no shame.' He mounted the hall: 'Last night this old monk kneaded the three thousand great thousand worlds all into one lump and rolled it up to the top of Mount Sumeru. Indra was furious; he picked it up and smashed it to powder. Do you venerable ones still feel a headache?' After a long silence he said: 'Do not fail to know pain and itch. Take care.'

彭州承天院辭確禪師

Chan Master Cique of Chengtian Monastery, Pengzhou

僧問。學人有一隻箭。射即是。不射即是。師曰。作麼生是闍黎箭。僧便喝。師曰。這箇是草箭子。曰。如何是和尚箭。師曰。禁忌須屈指。禱祈便扣牙。問。心隨萬境轉。阿那箇是轉萬境底心。師曰。嘉州大像古人鐫。問。眾罪如霜露。慧日能消除時如何。師曰。亭臺深夜雨。樓閣靜時鐘。曰。為甚麼因緣會遇時。果報還自受。師曰。管筆能書。片舌解語。開堂日示眾。正令提綱。猶是揑窠造偽。佛法祗對。特地謾驀上流。問著即參差。答著即交互。大德擬向甚麼處下口。然則如是。事無一向。權柄在手。縱奪臨機。有疑請問。僧問。如何是第一義。師曰。群峰穿海去。滴水下巖來。問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。道頭會尾。舉意知心。

A monk asked: 'This student has one arrow. Should he shoot it, or not shoot it?' The master said: 'What is your arrow, Acharya?' The monk then shouted. The master said: 'That is a straw arrow.' The monk said: 'What is the Master's arrow?' The master said: 'At a taboo one must bend the finger; at a prayer one knocks the tooth.' The monk asked: 'The mind follows the ten thousand conditions and turns. Which is the mind that turns the ten thousand conditions?' The master said: 'The great image of Jiazhou was carved by the ancients.' The monk asked: 'When all sins are like frost and dew and the sun of wisdom can melt them away, what then?' The master said: 'On the pavilion a deep-night rain; in the tower a bell in the stillness.' The monk said: 'Why is it that when causes and conditions meet, the fruit is still borne by oneself?' The master said: 'A brush tube can write; a bit of tongue can speak.' On the day he opened the hall he addressed the assembly: 'To raise the essential teaching is still to pinch out a nest and make something false. To match the buddhadharma is deliberately to deceive those above. As soon as a question is asked, it is uneven; as soon as an answer is given, it crosses. Where do you great ones intend to put your mouths? Yet it is so, and matters do not go in one direction. When the handle of power is in your hand, you let go or seize according to the occasion. If you have doubts, please ask.' A monk asked: 'What is the foremost meaning?' The master said: 'The clustered peaks pierce the sea and go; a drop of water comes down from the rock.' The monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'Know the head and you know the tail; raise a thought and you know the mind.'

興元府牛頭山精禪師

Chan Master Niutou Shan Jing of Xingyuan Prefecture

僧問。如何是古佛心。師曰。東海浮漚。曰。如何領會。師曰。秤鎚落井。問。不居凡聖是甚麼人。師曰。梁朝傅大士。曰。此理如何。師曰。楚國孟甞君。

A monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'A floating bubble on the eastern sea.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'A steelyard weight falls into the well.' The monk asked: 'What sort of person is one who dwells in neither the ordinary nor the holy?' The master said: 'Fu the Great Scholar of the Liang dynasty.' The monk said: 'What is this principle?' The master said: 'Lord Mengchang of Chu.'

益州覺城院信禪師

Chan Master Juecheng Yuan Xin of Yizhou

僧問。如何是出身一路。師曰。三門前。曰。如何領會。師曰。緊峭草鞋。

A monk asked: 'What is the one road of coming forth?' The master said: 'Before the three gates.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'Tighten your straw sandals.'

郢州芭蕉山閑禪師

Chan Master Bajiao Shan Xian of Yingzhou

僧問。十語九不中時如何。師曰。閉門屋裡坐。抱首哭蒼天。

A monk asked: 'What of when ten words miss the mark nine times?' The master said: 'Shut the door, sit in the house, hold your head and weep to heaven.'

郢州芭蕉山令遵禪師

Chan Master Bajiao Shan Lingzun of Yingzhou

僧問。直得無下口處時如何。師曰。便須進一步。曰。向甚麼處下腳。師曰。東山西嶺上。

A monk asked: 'What of when one reaches the point where there is nowhere to put one's mouth?' The master said: 'Then you must step forward.' The monk said: 'Where does one set one's foot?' The master said: 'On the western ridge of the eastern mountain.'

慧林究禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huilin Jiu

韶州靈瑞和尚

The Elder Lingrui of Shaozhou

俗士問。如何是佛。師喝曰。汝是村裡人。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。十萬八千里。問。如何是本來心。師曰。坐卻毗廬頂。出沒太虗中。問。如何是教外別傳底事。師曰。兩箇靈龜泥裡鬬。直至如今困未休。曰。不會。師曰。木鷄銜卵走。燕雀乘虎飛。潭中魚不現。石女卻生兒。

A layman asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master shouted: 'You are a village fellow.' A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said: 'A hundred and eight thousand miles.' The monk asked: 'What is the original mind?' The master said: 'Sitting on the crown of Vairocana, appearing and disappearing within the great void.' The monk asked: 'What is the matter specially transmitted outside the teachings?' The master said: 'Two spirit turtles fight in the mud, and to this day their exhaustion is not over.' The monk said: 'I do not understand.' The master said: 'A wooden chicken carries an egg and runs; a swallow rides a tiger and flies. The fish in the pool do not appear; the stone woman gives birth to a child.'

南嶽下八世

The eighth generation below Nanyue

報慈韶禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baoci Shao

蘄州三角山志謙禪師

Chan Master Sanjiao Shan Zhiqian of Qizhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。速禮三拜。僧禮拜。師曰。一撥便轉。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Bow three times quickly.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'Turned with a single push.'

郢州興陽詞鐸禪師

Chan Master Xingyang Ciduo of Yingzhou

僧問。佛界與眾生界相去多少。師曰。道不得。曰。真箇那。師曰。有些子。

A monk asked: 'How far apart are the realm of buddhas and the realm of sentient beings?' The master said: 'It cannot be said.' The monk said: 'Is that really so?' The master said: 'A little bit.'

音釋

Pronunciation Glossary

頵(於倫切)

Yun (fanqie: yu + lun)

法眼宗

The Fayan School

青原下八世

The eighth generation below Qingyuan

羅漢琛禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Luohan Chen

金陵清涼院文益禪師

Chan Master Wenyi of Qingliang Monastery, Jinling

餘杭魯氏子。七歲。依新定智通院全偉禪師落髮。弱齡稟具於越州開元寺。屬律匠希覺師盛化於明州𮠂山育王寺。師往預聽習。究其微旨。復傍探儒典。遊文雅之場。覺師目為我門之遊夏也。師以玄機一發。雜務俱捐。振錫南邁。抵福州。參長慶。不大發明。後同紹修法進三人慾出嶺。過地藏院。阻雪少憩。附爐次。藏問。此行何之。師曰。行腳去。藏曰。作麼生是行腳事。師曰。不知。藏曰。不知最親切。又同三人舉肇論至天地與我同根處。藏曰。山河大地。與上座自己是同是別。師曰。別。藏竪起兩指。師曰。同。藏又竪起兩指。便起去。雪霽辭去。藏門送之。問曰。上座尋常說三界唯心。萬法唯識。乃指庭下片石曰。且道此石在心內。在心外。師曰。在心內。藏曰。行腳人著甚麼來由。安片石在心頭。師窘無以對。即放包依席下求決擇。近一月餘。日呈見解。說道理。藏語之曰。佛法不恁麼。師曰。某甲詞窮理絕也。藏曰。若論佛法。一切見成。師於言下大悟。因議留止。進師等以江表叢林。欲期歷覧。命師同往。至臨川。州牧請住崇壽院。開堂日。中坐茶筵未起時。僧正白師曰。四眾已圍繞和尚法座了也。師曰。眾人卻參真善知識。少頃陞座。僧問。大眾雲集。請師舉唱。師曰。大眾久立。乃曰。眾人既盡在此。山僧不可無言。與大眾舉一古人方便。珍重。便下座。子方上座自長慶來。師舉長慶偈問曰。作麼生是萬象之中獨露身。子方舉拂子。師曰。恁麼會又爭得。曰。和尚尊意如何。師曰。喚甚麼作萬象。曰。古人不撥萬象。師曰。萬象之中獨露身。說甚麼撥不撥。子方豁然悟解。述偈投誠。自是諸方會下。有存知解者翕然而至。始則行行如也。師微以激發。皆漸而服膺。海參之眾。常不減千計。上堂。大眾立久。乃謂之曰。祇恁麼便散去。還有佛法道理也無。試說看。若無。又來這裡作麼。

He was a son of the Lu family of Yuhang. At the age of seven he left home under Chan Master Quanwei of Zhitong Monastery in Xinding. While still young he received full ordination at Kaiyuan Monastery in Yuezhou. It happened that the vinaya master Xijue was widely teaching at Yuwang Monastery on Maoshan in Mingzhou, so the master went to join the lectures and study, and plumbed their subtle purport; he also explored the Confucian classics on the side and moved in literary circles. Master Jue regarded him as the Ziyou and Zixia of our gate. When his profound working was released, the master cast aside all miscellaneous affairs, shook his staff and went south, arriving at Fuzhou, where he consulted Changqing, but did not greatly clarify. Later he and three others, Shaoxiu and Fajin, wished to leave the mountain passes. Passing Dizang Monastery, they were held up by snow and rested a while. As they sat by the fire, Dizang asked: 'Where are you going on this journey?' The master said: 'We are going on pilgrimage.' Dizang said: 'What is the matter of pilgrimage?' The master said: 'I do not know.' Dizang said: 'Not knowing is the most intimate.' Again the three of them brought up the Zhao Lun, down to the passage 'heaven and earth share the same root as me.' Dizang said: 'Are the mountains, rivers and great earth the same as your own self, Venerable One, or different?' The master said: 'Different.' Dizang held up two fingers. The master said: 'The same.' Dizang held up two fingers again, then rose and left. When the snow cleared they took their leave. Dizang escorted them to the gate and asked: 'Venerable One, you usually say that the three realms are mind only and the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only.' Then he pointed to a piece of stone below the courtyard and said: 'Tell me, is this stone inside the mind or outside it?' The master said: 'Inside the mind.' Dizang said: 'For a pilgrim, what business has he to set a piece of stone in his mind?' The master was cornered and had no reply, so he put down his bundle and stayed under his seat, seeking to have the matter settled. For more than a month he presented his views and expounded principles every day. Dizang said to him: 'The buddhadharma is not like this.' The master said: 'My words are exhausted and my reasoning cut off.' Dizang said: 'If you speak of the buddhadharma, everything is already accomplished before you.' At these words the master was greatly awakened. So it was agreed that he would stay. But Master Jin and the others, because of the monasteries south of the river, wished to visit them all, and asked the master to go along. When they reached Linchuan, the prefect invited him to reside at Chongshou Monastery. On the day he opened the hall, before the tea feast was over and while he sat in the middle, the rector said to the master: 'The four assemblies have already surrounded the Master's dharma seat.' The master said: 'Then let them go and consult a true good friend.' After a short while he mounted the seat. A monk asked: 'The great assembly has gathered like clouds; please, Master, proclaim it.' The master said: 'The assembly has stood long.' Then he said: 'Since you are all here, I, the mountain monk, cannot be silent. I will bring up for the assembly one ancient's skillful means. Take care.' Then he descended from the seat. The senior monk Zifang came from Changqing. The master brought up Changqing's verse and asked: 'What is it to be revealed alone amid the myriad forms?' Zifang raised his fly whisk. The master said: 'How can you get it by understanding it like that?' The monk said: 'What is the Master's honored meaning?' The master said: 'What do you call the myriad forms?' The monk said: 'The ancients did not brush aside the myriad forms.' The master said: 'To be revealed alone amid the myriad forms — why speak of brushing aside or not brushing aside?' Zifang was suddenly enlightened, and wrote a verse to express his sincerity. From that time, in the assemblies of every quarter, those who held to intellectual understanding flocked to him. At first they walked stiffly upright. The master subtly stirred and provoked them, and they all gradually submitted. The assembly who came like the sea to consult him was never less than a thousand. He mounted the hall. The great assembly had stood a long while, so he said to them: 'If you simply disperse like this, is there a principle of buddhadharma in it or not? Try to say. If there is not, why come here again?

若有。大市裡人叢處亦有。何須到這裡。諸人各曾看還源觀．百門義海．華嚴論．涅槃經諸多䇿子。阿那箇教中有這箇時節。若有。試舉看。莫是恁麼經裡有恁麼語。是此時節麼。有甚麼交涉。所以道。微言滯於心首。嘗為緣慮之場。實際居於目前。翻為名相之境。又作麼生得翻去。若也翻去。又作麼生得正去。還會麼。莫祇恁麼念䇿子。有甚麼用處。僧問。如何披露即得與道相應。師曰。汝幾時披露即與道不相應。問。六處不知音時如何。師曰。汝家眷屬一群子。師又曰。作麼生會。莫道恁麼來問。便是不得。汝道六處不知音。眼處不知音。耳處不知音。若也根本是有。爭解無得。古人道。離聲色。著聲色。離名字。著名字。所以無想天修得。經八萬大劫。一朝退墮。諸事儼然。蓋為不知根本真實次地修行三生六十劫。四生一百劫。如是直到三祇果滿。他古人猶道。不如一念緣起無生。超彼三乘權學等見。又道彈指圓成八萬門。剎那滅卻三祇劫。也須體究。若如此用多少氣力。僧問。指即不問。如何是月。何曰。阿那箇是汝不問底指。又僧問。月即不問。如何是指。師曰。月。曰。學人問指。和尚為甚麼對月。師曰。為汝問指。江南國主重師之道。迎住報恩禪院。署淨慧禪師。僧問。洪鐘才擊。大眾雲臻。請師如是。師曰。大眾會。何似汝會。問。如何是古佛家風。師曰。甚麼處看不足。問。十二時中。如何行履。即得與道相應。師曰。取捨之心成巧偽。問。古人傳衣。當記何人。師曰。汝甚麼處見古人傳衣。問。十方賢聖皆入此宗。如何是此宗。師曰。十方賢聖皆入。問。如何是佛向上人。師曰。方便呼為佛。問。如何是學人一卷經。師曰。題目甚分明。問。聲色兩字。甚麼人透得。師卻謂眾曰。諸上座且道。這箇僧還透得也未。若會此僧問處。透聲色也不難。問。求佛知見。何路最徑。師曰。

(The master continued:) 'If there is, then it is also present in the crowd in the great marketplace, so why must you come here? Each of you has read such books as the Huanyuan Guan, the Baimen Yihai, the Huayan Lun, and the Nirvana Sutra. In which of those teachings is there such a season as this? If there is, try to bring it up. Can it be that because such words are in such a scripture, that makes it this season? What connection is there? Therefore it is said: subtle words stick at the front of the mind and have always been the field of discursive thought; the real lies right before the eyes and yet turns into the realm of names and forms. And how is one to turn it back? If you turn it back, how is one to get it right? Do you understand? Do not just go on reciting books — what use is that?' A monk asked: 'How is one to disclose it so as to accord with the way?' The master said: 'When have you ever disclosed it so as not to accord with the way?' The monk asked: 'What of when the six sense bases do not know sound?' The master said: 'Your family is a whole crowd.' The master further said: 'How do you understand it? Do not say that because the question comes like this, it is therefore unattainable. You say that the six sense bases do not know sound — the eye base does not know sound, the ear base does not know sound. But if the root is truly there, how could it be that it cannot be known? The ancients said: leaving sound and form, one clings to sound and form; leaving names and words, one clings to names and words. That is why one cultivated and attained the Heaven of No-Thought, passing through eighty thousand great kalpas, and then in a single morning fell back, with everything still as before. It is because one does not know the fundamental real, and cultivates step by step through three lives and sixty kalpas, four lives and a hundred kalpas, and so on until the fruit is fulfilled after three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. Even so the ancients still said that this is not as good as a single thought of dependent origination and non-arising, which surpasses the provisional views of the three vehicles' expedient teaching. They also said: a snap of the fingers perfects the eighty thousand gates; a single instant extinguishes the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. You must also personally investigate this. If it is so, how much strength does it take?' A monk asked: 'I will not ask about the finger; what is the moon?' The master said: 'Which is the finger you do not ask about?' Another monk asked: 'I will not ask about the moon; what is the finger?' The master said: 'The moon.' The monk said: 'This student asks about the finger; why does the Master answer with the moon?' The master said: 'Because you asked about the finger.' The ruler of the state of Jiangnan esteemed the master's way, welcomed him to reside at Bao'en Chan Monastery, and gave him the title Chan Master Jinghui. A monk asked: 'The great bell has just been struck and the assembly gathers like clouds; please, Master, let it be so.' The master said: 'The assembly understands — how does that compare with your understanding?' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's family style?' The master said: 'Where is it that you do not see it fully?' The monk asked: 'Through the twelve hours, how should one walk so as to accord with the way?' The master said: 'A mind of picking and choosing makes for cunning and falsity.' The monk asked: 'When the ancients transmitted the robe, to whom was it recorded?' The master said: 'Where did you see the ancients transmit the robe?' The monk asked: 'The sages of the ten directions all enter this school. What is this school?' The master said: 'The sages of the ten directions all enter it.' The monk asked: 'What is the person above the Buddha?' The master said: 'Expediently he is called a buddha.' The monk asked: 'What is this student's single scroll of scripture?' The master said: 'The title is quite clear.' The monk asked: 'Who can penetrate the two words sound and form?' The master instead said to the assembly: 'Venerable ones, tell me, has this monk penetrated them or not? If you understand where this monk's question comes from, penetrating sound and form is not difficult either.' The monk asked: 'Seeking the buddha's knowledge and vision, which road is most direct?' The master said:

無過此。問。瑞草不凋時如何。師曰。謾語。問。大眾雲集。請師頓決疑網。師曰。寮舍內商量。茶堂內商量。問。雲開見日時如何。師曰。謾語真箇。問。如何是沙門所重處。師曰。若有纖毫所重。即不名沙門。問。千百億化身。於中如何是清淨法身。師曰。總是。問。簇簇上來。師意如何。師曰。是眼不是眼。問。全身是義。請師一決。師曰。汝義自破。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。流出慈悲喜捨。問。百年暗室。一燈能破。如何是一燈。師曰。論甚麼百年。問。如何是正真之道。師曰。一願也教汝行。二願也教汝行。問。如何是一真之地。師曰。地則無一真。曰。如何卓立。師曰。轉無交涉。問。如何是古佛。師曰。即今也無嫌疑。問。十二時中如何行履。師曰。步步蹋著。問。古鏡未開。如何顯照。師曰。何必再三。問。如何是諸佛玄旨。師曰。是汝也有。問。承教有言。從無住本立一切法。如何是無住本。師曰。形興未質。名起未名。問。亡僧衣眾人唱。祖師衣甚麼人唱。師曰。汝唱得亡僧甚麼衣。問。蕩子還鄉時如何。師曰。將甚麼奉獻。曰。無有一物。師曰。日給作麼生。師後住清涼。上堂曰。出家人但隨時及節便得。寒即寒。熱即熱。欲知佛性義。當觀時節因緣。古今方便不少。不見石頭和尚因看肇論雲。會萬物為己者。其唯聖人乎。他家便道。聖人無己。靡所不己。有一片言語喚作參同契。末上雲。竺土大僊心。無過此語也。中間也秖隨時說話。上座今欲會萬物為自己去。葢為大地無一法可見。他又囑雲。光陰莫虗度。適來向上座道。但隨時及節便得。若也移時失候。即是虗度光陰。於非色中作色解。上座於非色中作色解。即是移時失候。且道色作非色解。還當不當。上座若恁麼會。便是沒交涉。正是痴狂兩頭走。有甚麼用處。上座但守分隨時過好。珍重。僧問。如何是清涼家風。師曰。

(The master continued:) 'None surpasses this.' The monk asked: 'What of when the auspicious herb does not wither?' The master said: 'Deceptive words.' The monk asked: 'The great assembly has gathered like clouds; please, Master, cut through the net of doubt at once.' The master said: 'Discuss it in the monks' quarters; discuss it in the tea hall.' The monk asked: 'What of when the clouds open and the sun appears?' The master said: 'Deceptive words indeed.' The monk asked: 'What is it that a monk most values?' The master said: 'If there is the slightest thing valued, one is not called a monk.' The monk asked: 'Among the hundred thousand million transformation bodies, which is the pure dharma body?' The master said: 'All of them.' The monk asked: 'Coming up in clusters, what is the Master's meaning?' The master said: 'It is the eye and yet not the eye.' The monk asked: 'The whole body is the meaning; please, Master, settle it once.' The master said: 'Your meaning breaks itself.' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'It flows out as compassion, joy and equanimity.' The monk asked: 'A hundred years of dark room, one lamp can break it. What is the one lamp?' The master said: 'Why speak of a hundred years?' The monk asked: 'What is the true and correct way?' The master said: 'With one vow I will also teach you to walk it; with a second vow I will also teach you to walk it.' The monk asked: 'What is the land of the one real?' The master said: 'As for the land, there is not one real.' The monk said: 'How does one stand erect there?' The master said: 'Turning away, there is no connection.' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha?' The master said: 'Even now there is no suspicion.' The monk asked: 'Through the twelve hours, how should one walk?' The master said: 'Every step treads on it.' The monk asked: 'Before the ancient mirror is opened, how does it shine?' The master said: 'Why two or three times over?' The monk asked: 'What is the profound purport of all buddhas?' The master said: 'You have it too.' The monk asked: 'The teachings say that all dharmas are established on the root of non-abiding. What is the root of non-abiding?' The master said: 'Form arises before it has substance; names arise before they are named.' The monk asked: 'The robe of a deceased monk is chanted over by the assembly; whose is the patriarch's robe chanted over by?' The master said: 'What robe of a deceased monk can you chant over?' The monk asked: 'What of when the prodigal returns home?' The master said: 'What will you present as an offering?' The monk said: 'There is not a single thing.' The master said: 'What will you do for your daily rations?' Later the master resided at Qingliang. He mounted the hall and said: 'A renunciate has only to accord with the time and the season and he has it. Cold is cold, hot is hot. If you wish to know the meaning of the buddha-nature, you should observe the causes and conditions of the season. The skillful means of the past and present are not few. Have you not seen how Master Shitou, on reading the Zhao Lun and the passage "one who understands all things as himself, is he not a sage?", said at once that the sage has no self and yet is nowhere not himself. There is a piece of writing called the Cantong Qi. At the end it says, "The great immortal's mind of the Indian land." Nothing surpasses that saying. In the middle it is also just talk suited to the time. If you venerable ones now wish to understand all things as yourself, it is because in the great earth not a single dharma can be seen. He also instructed: "Do not let time pass in vain." Just now I told you venerable ones that you need only accord with the time and the season and you have it. But if you shift the time and miss the season, that is to let time pass in vain. It is to make a form-understanding within what is not form. If you venerable ones make a form-understanding within what is not form, that is to shift the time and miss the season. Tell me, is it right or not to make a non-form understanding of form? If you venerable ones understand it like that, then you have no connection with it at all. It is precisely to run madly to both ends — what use is it? You venerable ones have only to keep your place and accord with the time and pass your days well. Take care.' A monk asked: 'What is the family style of Qingliang?' The master said:

汝到別處。但道到清涼來。問。如何得諸法無當去。師曰。甚麼法當著上座。曰。爭奈日夕何。師曰。閑言語。問。觀身如幻化。觀內亦復然時如何。師曰。還得恁麼也無。問。要急相應。唯言不二。如何是不二之言。師曰。更添些子得麼。問。如何是法身。師曰。這箇是應身。問。如何是第一義。師曰。我向你道是第二義。師問修山主。毫氂有差。天地懸隔。兄作麼生會。修曰。毫氂有差。天地懸隔。師曰。恁麼會又爭得。修曰。和尚如何。師曰。毫氂有差。天地懸隔。修便禮拜(東禪齊雲。山主恁麼祇對。為甚麼不肯。及乎再請益法眼。亦祇恁麼道便得去。且道疑訛在甚麼處。若看得透。道上座有來由)。師與悟空禪師向火。拈起香匙。問曰。不得喚作香匙。兄喚作甚麼。空曰。香匙。師不肯。空後二十餘日。方明此語。僧參次。師指簾。時有二僧同去捲。師曰。一得一失(東禪齊雲。上座作麼生會。有云為伊不明旨便去捲簾。亦有道指者即會。不指而去者即失。恁麼會還可不可。既不許恁麼會。且問上座阿那箇得。阿那箇失)。雲門問。僧甚處來。曰。江西來。門曰。江西一隊老宿寱語住也未。僧無對。後僧問師。不知雲門意作麼生。師曰。大小雲門被這僧勘破。問。僧甚處來。曰。道場來。師曰。明合暗合。僧無語。師令僧取土添蓮盆。僧取土到。師曰。橋東取。橋西取。曰。橋東取。師曰。是真實。是虗妄。問。僧甚處來。曰。報恩來。師曰。眾僧還安否。曰。安。師曰。吃茶去。問。僧甚處來。曰。泗州禮拜大聖來。師曰。今年大聖出塔否。曰。出。師卻問傍僧曰。汝道伊到泗州不到。師問寶資長老。古人道。山河無隔礙。光明處處透。且作麼生是處處透底光明。資曰。東畔打羅聲(歸宗柔別雲。和尚擬隔礙)。師指竹問僧。還見麼。曰。見。師曰。竹來眼裡。眼到竹邊。曰。

(The master continued:) 'When you go elsewhere, just say that you came to Qingliang.' The monk asked: 'How can one attain that all dharmas are not obstructed?' The master said: 'What dharma obstructs you, Venerable One?' The monk said: 'What is to be done about the passing of day and night?' The master said: 'Idle words.' The monk asked: 'What of contemplating the body as illusion and contemplating the inner likewise?' The master said: 'Can you get it like that too?' The monk asked: 'For a pressing accord, only the word non-dual is spoken. What is the word of non-duality?' The master said: 'Can you add a little more?' The monk asked: 'What is the dharma body?' The master said: 'This is the response body.' The monk asked: 'What is the foremost meaning?' The master said: 'When I tell you it is the second meaning.' The master asked the mountain chief Xiu: 'A hair's breadth of difference and heaven and earth are far apart. How do you understand this, brother?' Xiu said: 'A hair's breadth of difference and heaven and earth are far apart.' The master said: 'How can you get it by understanding it like that?' Xiu said: 'How does the Master see it?' The master said: 'A hair's breadth of difference and heaven and earth are far apart.' Xiu then bowed. (Dongchan Qi said: 'The mountain chief answered like this — why was he not accepted? And when he asked Fayan for instruction again, he only had to say the same thing to get through. Tell me, where is the error? If you can see through this, then say that the Venerable One had grounds.') The master and Chan Master Wukong were warming themselves by the fire. The master picked up the incense spoon and asked: 'You must not call it an incense spoon. What do you call it, brother?' Wukong said: 'An incense spoon.' The master did not accept it. Only after more than twenty days did Wukong understand these words. As a monk came to pay his respects, the master pointed at the blind. Two monks went together to roll it up. The master said: 'One got it, one lost it.' (Dongchan Qi said: 'Venerable ones, how do you understand this? Some say that because he did not understand the purport he went and rolled up the blind. Others say that the one who was pointed at got it, and the one who went without being pointed at lost it. Is understanding it like this acceptable or not? Since it is not allowed to understand it like this, tell me, venerable ones, which one got it and which one lost it?') Yunmen asked a monk: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'I come from Jiangxi.' Yunmen said: 'Has that bunch of old worthies in Jiangxi stopped talking in their sleep?' The monk had no reply. Later the monk asked the master: 'I wonder what Yunmen meant?' The master said: 'Great or small, Yunmen was seen through by this monk.' The master asked a monk: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'From Daochang.' The master said: 'Clear agreement, hidden agreement.' The monk was speechless. The master told a monk to fetch earth to add to the lotus basin. The monk brought the earth. The master said: 'Did you fetch it east of the bridge or west of the bridge?' The monk said: 'East of the bridge.' The master said: 'Is it real or is it false?' The master asked a monk: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'From Bao'en.' The master said: 'Are the monks well?' The monk said: 'Well.' The master said: 'Go drink tea.' The master asked a monk: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'From Sizhou, where I paid homage to the Great Sage.' The master said: 'Has the Great Sage come out of the stupa this year?' The monk said: 'He has.' The master then asked a monk beside him: 'Tell me, did he get to Sizhou or not?' The master asked the elder Baozhi: 'The ancients said that mountains and rivers have no obstruction and the light shines through everywhere. What is the light that shines through everywhere?' Baozhi said: 'The sound of the gong being struck to the east.' (Guizong Rou offered an alternative: 'The Master intends obstruction.') The master pointed at the bamboo and asked a monk: 'Do you see it?' The monk said: 'I see it.' The master said: 'The bamboo comes into the eye, or the eye goes to the bamboo.' The monk said:

總不恁麼(法燈別雲。當時但擘眼向師。歸宗柔別雲。和尚祇是不信某甲)。有俗士獻畵障子。師看了。問曰。汝是手巧。心巧。曰。心巧。師曰。那箇是汝心。士無對(歸宗柔代雲。某甲今日卻成容易)。僧問。如何是第二月。師曰。森羅萬象。曰。如何是第一月。師曰。萬象森羅。上堂。盡十方世界。皎皎地無一絲頭。若有一絲頭。即是一絲頭(法燈雲。若有一絲頭。不是一絲頭)。師指凳子曰。識得凳子。周匝有餘(雲門雲。識得凳子。天地懸殊)。僧問。如何是塵劫來事。師曰。盡在於今。師因患腳。僧問訊次。師曰。非人來時不能動。及至人來動不得。且道佛法中下得甚麼語。曰。和尚且喜得較。師不肯。自別雲。和尚今日似減。因開井被沙塞卻泉眼。師曰。泉眼不通被沙礙。道眼不通被甚麼礙。僧無對。師代曰。被眼礙。師見僧搬土次。乃以一塊土放僧擔上。曰。吾助汝。僧曰。謝和尚慈悲。師不肯。一僧別雲。和尚是甚麼心行。師便休去。師謂小兒子曰。因子識得你爺。你爺名甚麼。兒無對(法燈代雲。但將衣袖掩面)。師卻問僧。若是孝順之子。合下得一轉語。且道合下得甚麼語。僧無對。師代曰。他是孝順之子。師問講百法論僧曰。百法是體用雙陳。明門是能所兼舉。座主是能。法座是所。作麼生說兼舉(有老宿代雲。某甲喚作箇法座。歸宗柔雲。不勞和尚如此)。師一日與李王論道罷。同觀牡丹花。王命作偈。師即賦曰。擁毳對芳叢。由來趣不同。髮從今日白。花是去年紅。豔冶隨朝露。馨香逐晚風。何須待零落。然後始知空。王頓悟其意。師頌三界唯心曰。三界唯心。萬法唯識。唯識唯心。眼聲耳色。色不到耳。聲何觸眼。眼色耳聲。萬法成辦。萬法匪緣。豈觀如幻。山河大地。誰堅誰變。頌華嚴六相義曰。華嚴六相義。同中還有異。異若異於同。全非諸佛意。諸佛意總別。

(The monk continued:) 'Neither.' (Fadeng offered an alternative: 'At that time one should just have opened the eyes wide toward the Master.' Guizong Rou offered an alternative: 'The Master simply does not believe me.') A layman presented a painted screen. The master looked at it and asked: 'Are you clever with your hands or clever with your mind?' The layman said: 'Clever with my mind.' The master said: 'Which is your mind?' The layman had no reply. (Guizong Rou spoke in his place: 'Today I have instead found it easy.') A monk asked: 'What is the second moon?' The master said: 'The myriad phenomena.' The monk said: 'What is the first moon?' The master said: 'The myriad phenomena.' He mounted the hall: 'Throughout the ten directions of the world, brightly and clearly there is not a single thread. If there is a single thread, then it is a single thread.' (Fadeng said: 'If there is a single thread, it is not a single thread.') The master pointed at the stool and said: 'Know the stool, and all around there is more than enough.' (Yunmen said: 'Know the stool, and heaven and earth are far apart.') A monk asked: 'What is the matter from dust-kalpas past?' The master said: 'It is all in the present.' Because the master suffered from a foot ailment, a monk came to inquire after him. The master said: 'When no one comes I cannot move; when someone comes I still cannot move. Tell me, what phrase of the buddhadharma fits here?' The monk said: 'The Master is at least a bit better.' The master did not accept it and offered his own alternative: 'The Master today seems worse.' When a well was being dug, sand blocked the spring. The master said: 'The spring eye does not flow through because it is blocked by sand. What blocks the eye of the way from flowing through?' The monk had no reply. The master spoke for him: 'It is blocked by the eye.' The master saw a monk carrying earth and placed a clod on the monk's carrying pole, saying: 'I help you.' The monk said: 'Thank you, Master, for your compassion.' The master did not accept it. A monk offered an alternative: 'What is the Master's intent?' The master then let the matter drop. The master said to a small boy: 'Because of the child I know the father. What is your father's name?' The boy had no reply. (Fadeng spoke for him: 'One need only cover the face with the sleeve.') The master then asked a monk: 'If he were a filial son, he should have given one turning phrase. Tell me, what phrase should he have given?' The monk had no reply. The master spoke for him: 'He is a filial son.' The master asked a monk who lectured on the Hundred Dharmas treatise: 'The hundred dharmas present both essence and function; the gate of clarity raises both the capable and the object. The lecturer is the capable, the dharma seat is the object. How do you explain raising both?' (An old worthy spoke in his place: 'I call it a dharma seat.' Guizong Rou said: 'No need for the Master to do that.') One day, after the master had finished discussing the way with King Li, they looked at the peony flowers together. The king ordered him to compose a verse. The master at once composed it: 'Wrapped in wool facing the fragrant thicket, from the first our tastes have differed. My hair turns white from today; the flowers are red as last year. Their splendor follows the morning dew; their fragrance chases the evening wind. Why wait until they scatter and fall, and only then know they are empty?' The king was at once awakened to its meaning. The master's verse in praise of 'the three realms are mind only' says: 'The three realms are mind only, the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only. Consciousness only, mind only: eye and sound, ear and color. Color does not reach the ear; how does sound touch the eye? Eye-color and ear-sound, and the ten thousand dharmas are accomplished. The ten thousand dharmas are not conditions; how then see them as illusion? Mountains, rivers, the great earth: who is firm, and who changes?' His verse on the six characteristics of the Huayan says: 'The six characteristics of the Huayan: within the same there is still the different. If the different is different from the same, it is wholly not the buddhas' intent. The buddhas' intent is both general and particular,

何曾有同異。男子身中入定時。女子身中不留意。不留意。絕名字。萬象明明無理事。師緣被於金陵。三坐大道場。朝夕演旨。時諸方叢林。鹹遵風化。異域有慕其法者。涉遠而至。玄沙正宗。中興於江表。師調機順物。斥滯磨昏。凡舉諸方三昧。或入室呈解。或叩激請益。皆應病與藥。隨根悟入者。不可勝紀。周顯德五年戊午七月十七日示疾。國主親加禮問。閏月五日剃髮澡身。告眾訖。跏趺而逝。顏貌如生。壽七十有四。臘五十四。城下諸寺院。具威儀迎引。公卿李建勳以下。素服奉全身於江寧縣丹陽起塔。諡大法眼禪師。塔曰無相。後李主剏報慈院。命師門人玄覺言導師開法。再諡師大智藏大導師。

(The master continued:) 'how could there ever be same or different? When one enters samadhi in a man's body, one does not linger in a woman's body. Not lingering, names are cut off; the myriad forms are clear without principle or fact.' The master's karmic connections were in Jinling, and he sat three times in great places of practice, expounding the purport morning and evening. At that time the monasteries of every quarter all followed his transforming influence. In foreign lands there were those who admired his dharma and came from far away. The authentic school of Xuansha was revived south of the river. The master adjusted to capacities and followed along with things, rejecting stagnation and polishing the dull. Whenever he raised the samadhi of any quarter — whether someone entered his room to present an understanding, or knocked and pressed for instruction — he always gave medicine to match the illness, and those who awakened and entered according to their faculties cannot be fully recorded. On the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the wuwu year, the fifth year of Xiande of the Zhou, he showed signs of illness. The ruler of the state personally paid his respects and inquired after him. On the fifth day of the intercalary month he shaved his head and bathed his body, took leave of the assembly, and passed away sitting cross-legged. His countenance was as in life. He was seventy-four years old and had been ordained fifty-four years. The monasteries below the city prepared full ceremonial to welcome and escort him. The officials and nobles, from Li Jianxun down, in plain garments conveyed his whole body and erected a stupa at Danyang in Jiangning county. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Great Fayan, and the stupa was called Wuxiang, No Form. Later the Li ruler founded Baoci Monastery and ordered the master's disciple, the guiding master Xuanjue Yan, to open the dharma there, and again bestowed on the master the title Great Zhi Zang, Great Guiding Master.

青原下九世

The ninth generation below Qingyuan

清涼益禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qingliang Yi

天台山德韶國師

National Master Deshao of Mount Tiantai

處州龍泉陳氏子也。母葉氏。夢白光觸體。因而有娠。及誕。尤多奇異。年十五。有梵僧勉令出家。十七依本州龍歸寺受業。十八納戒於信州開元寺。後唐同光中遊方。首詣投子見同禪師。次謁龍牙。乃問。雄雄之尊。為甚麼近之不得。牙曰。如火與火。師曰。忽遇水來又作麼生。牙曰。去。汝不會我語。師又問。天不葢。地不載。此理如何。牙曰。道者合如是。師經十七次問。牙祇如此答。師竟不諭旨。再請垂誨。牙曰。道者。汝已後自會去。師後於通玄峰澡浴次。忽省前話。遂具威儀。焚香遙望龍牙禮拜曰。當時若向我說。今日決定罵也。又問疎山。百匝千重。是何人境界。山曰。左搓芒繩縛鬼子。師曰。不落古今。請師說。曰。不說。師曰。為甚麼不說。曰。箇中不辯有無。師曰。師今善說。山駭之。如是歷參五十四員善知識。皆法緣未契。最後至臨川謁法眼。眼一見深器之。師以徧涉叢林。亦倦於參問。但隨眾而己。一日。法眼上堂。僧問。如何是曹源一滴水。眼曰。是曹源一滴水。僧惘然而退。師於坐側。豁然開悟。平生凝滯。渙若氷釋。遂以所悟聞於法眼。眼曰。汝向後當為國王所師。致祖道光大。吾不如也。自是諸方異唱。古今玄鍵。與之決擇。不留微跡。尋回本道。遊天台。山覩智者顗禪師遺蹤。有若舊居。師復與智者同姓。時謂之後身也。初止白沙。時忠懿王為王子。時刺台州。嚮師之名。延請問道。師謂曰。他日為霸主。無忘佛恩。漢乾祐元年戊申。王嗣國位。遣使迎之。伸弟子之禮。有傳天台智者教羲寂者(即螺谿也)。屢言於師曰。智者之教。年祀浸遠。慮多散落。今新羅國其本甚備。自非和尚慈力。其孰能致之乎。師於是聞於王。王遣使及齎師之書往彼國繕寫。備足而回。迄今盛行於世矣。住後。上堂。古聖方便猶如河沙。祖師道非風幡動。仁者心動。斯乃無上心印法門。

He was a son of the Chen family of Longquan in Chuzhou. His mother, of the Ye family, dreamed that a white light touched her body, and so she conceived. When he was born there were many more wonders. At fifteen a monk from India urged him to leave home. At seventeen he studied under a teacher at Longgui Monastery in his own prefecture. At eighteen he received the precepts at Kaiyuan Monastery in Xinzhou. In the Tongguang era of the Later Tang he traveled as a pilgrim, first going to Touzi to see Chan Master Tong, and then to Longya, where he asked, 'The majestic venerable one—why can one not approach him?' Longya said, 'Like fire with fire.' The Master said, 'What if water suddenly comes?' Longya said, 'Go. You do not understand my words.' The Master asked again, 'Heaven does not cover it, earth does not bear it—how is this principle?' Longya said, 'A man of the Way should be like this.' The Master questioned him seventeen times, and Longya answered only in this way. In the end the Master did not grasp the purport. He asked again for instruction. Longya said, 'Man of the Way, later you will go there yourself.' Later, while bathing at Tongxuan Peak, the Master suddenly awakened to the earlier words; he put on his formal demeanor, burned incense, and bowed from afar toward Longya, saying, 'Had he told me then, today I would surely have scolded him.' He also asked Shushan, 'A hundred rings and a thousand layers—whose realm is that?' Shushan said, 'Twist a rope of miscanthus on the left and bind the ghost child.' The Master said, 'Not falling into past or present—please, Master, say it.' Shushan said, 'I will not say.' The Master said, 'Why will you not say?' Shushan said, 'In this one does not distinguish being and non-being.' The Master said, 'The Master speaks well now.' Shushan was astonished. In this way he called on fifty-four good teachers, and with none did the Dharma conditions fit. At last he went to Linchuan to see Fayan. At first sight Fayan thought highly of him. Because the Master had traveled everywhere in the monasteries and was weary of questioning, he simply followed the assembly. One day Fayan ascended the hall. A monk asked, 'What is a drop of water from the Cao source?' Fayan said, 'It is a drop of water from the Cao source.' The monk withdrew bewildered. The Master, beside his seat, suddenly awakened; the doubts of a lifetime melted away like ice. He told Fayan what he had awakened to. Fayan said, 'Later you will be the teacher of a king, and you will make the patriarch's light great; I am not your equal.' From then on the various teachings and the profound keys of past and present were all decided with him, leaving no trace. Before long he returned to his own circuit and traveled to Tiantai. On the mountain he saw the traces of Chan Master Zhiyi of the Wise One and it seemed like an old dwelling. The Master also shared the same surname as Zhiyi, and people of the time called him a rebirth. He first lived at Baisha. At that time Prince Zhongyi, still a prince and then prefect of Taizhou, admired the Master's name and invited him to ask about the Way. The Master told him, 'When you are a hegemon in the future, do not forget the Buddha's kindness.' In the wushen year, the first year of Qianyou of Han, the king succeeded to the throne and sent envoys to welcome him and offer the rites of a disciple. The monk Xi of the Tiantai teaching (that is, Luoxi) repeatedly told the Master, 'The teaching of Zhiyi is far off in years, and I fear much of it has been scattered. Now the copy in the country of Silla is very complete. Were it not for the Master's compassionate power, who could invite it here?' The Master then told the king. The king sent envoys with the Master's letter to that country to make a fair copy, and it was brought back complete. To this day it flourishes in the world. After becoming abbot he ascended the hall: 'The expedients of the ancient sages are like the sands of the Ganges. The patriarch said it is not the wind or the banner that moves, but the benevolent one's mind that moves. This is the supreme mind-seal Dharma gate.'

我輩是祖師門下客。合作麼生會祖師意。莫道風幡不動。汝心妄動。莫道不撥風幡。就風幡通取。莫道風幡動處是甚麼。有云附物明心。不須認物。有云色即是空。有云非風幡動。應須妙會。如是解會。與祖師意旨有何交涉。既不許如是會。諸上座便合知悉。若於這裡徹底悟去。何法門而不明。百千諸佛方便。一時洞了。更有甚麼疑情。所以古人道。一了千明。一迷萬惑。上座豈是今日會得一則。明日又不會也。莫是有一分向上事難會。有一分下劣凡夫不會。如此見解。設經塵劫。祇自勞神乏思。無有是處。僧問。諸法寂滅相。不可以言宣。和尚如何為人師。曰。汝到諸方。更問一徧。曰。恁麼則絕於言句去也。師曰。夢裡惺惺。問。艣棹俱停。如何得到彼岸。師曰。慶汝平生。問。如何是三種病人。師曰。恰問著。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。此問不弱。問。如何是六相。師曰。即汝是。問。如何是方便。師曰。此問甚當。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。終不向汝道。曰。為甚麼不向某甲道。師曰。恐汝不會。問。一華開五葉。結果自然成。如何是一華開五葉。師曰。日出月明。曰。如何是結果自然成。師曰。天地皎然。問。如何是無憂佛。師曰。愁殺人。問。一切山河大地。從何而起。師曰。此問從何而來。問。如何是數起底心。師曰。爭諱得。問。如何是沙門眼。師曰。黑如漆。問。絕消息時如何。師曰。謝指示。問。如何是轉物即同如來。師曰。汝喚甚麼作物。曰。恁麼則同如來也。師曰。莫作野幹鳴。問。那吒太子析肉還母。析骨還父。然後於蓮華上為父母說法。未審如何是太子身。師曰。大家見。上座問曰。恁麼則大千同一真性也。師曰。依俙似曲才堪聽。又被風吹別調中。問。六根俱泯。為甚麼理事不明。師曰。何處不明。曰。恁麼則理事俱如也。師曰。前言何在。上堂。大凡言句。

(The Master went on:) 'We are guests at the patriarch's gate—how should we understand the patriarch's meaning? Do not say the wind and banner do not move and your mind moves vainly. Do not say that not taking up wind and banner, one takes them all in through wind and banner. Do not say, what is the place where wind and banner move? Some say, attaching to things to clarify the mind, without needing to recognize the things. Some say, form is emptiness. Some say, it is not the wind and banner that move; one should understand it wonderfully. Understanding it like this, what connection has it with the patriarch's intent? Since such understanding is not allowed, you elders should know. If you thoroughly awaken right here, what Dharma gate will not be clear? The expedients of a hundred thousand Buddhas are at once penetrated—what doubt remains? Therefore the ancients said: one awakening and a thousand are clear; one delusion and ten thousand are confused. Elders, would it be that you understand one case today and again do not understand tomorrow? Is there a portion of the matter above that is hard to understand, and a portion that inferior ordinary people cannot understand? With such views, even through dust-kalpas you only weary your spirit and exhaust your thought; there is no place for it.' A monk asked, 'The sign of all dharmas is quiescent and cannot be proclaimed in words. How does the Master work for people?' The Master said, 'Go to the various regions and ask again.' The monk said, 'Then it is cut off from words and phrases.' The Master said, 'Clear-headed in a dream.' Asked, 'When oar and rudder both stop, how does one reach the other shore?' The Master said, 'I congratulate you on your life.' Asked, 'What are the three kinds of sick people?' The Master said, 'You have asked exactly right.' Asked, 'What is the ancient Buddha's mind?' The Master said, 'This question is not weak.' Asked, 'What are the six signs?' The Master said, 'You are it.' Asked, 'What is an expedient?' The Master said, 'This question is most apt.' Asked, 'Where has the departed monk gone?' The Master said, 'I will never tell you.' The monk said, 'Why will you not tell me?' The Master said, 'I fear you would not understand.' Asked, 'One flower opens five leaves, and the fruit forms of itself. What is one flower opening five leaves?' The Master said, 'The sun rises and the moon is bright.' The monk said, 'What is the fruit forming of itself?' The Master said, 'Heaven and earth are bright and clear.' Asked, 'What is the Buddha Without Worry?' The Master said, 'It kills one with sorrow.' Asked, 'Mountains, rivers, and the great earth—from what do they arise?' The Master said, 'Where does this question come from?' Asked, 'What is the mind that counts?' The Master said, 'How can one conceal it?' Asked, 'What is the monk's eye?' The Master said, 'Black as lacquer.' Asked, 'What about when news is cut off?' The Master said, 'Thank you for the instruction.' Asked, 'What is turning things and thus being the Tathagata?' The Master said, 'What do you call a thing?' The monk said, 'Then one is the Tathagata.' The Master said, 'Do not make the cry of a wild dog.' Asked, 'Prince Nata tore off his flesh and returned it to his mother, tore off his bones and returned them to his father, and then on a lotus flower spoke the Dharma for his parents. I do not understand what the prince's body is.' The Master said, 'Everyone sees it.' The elder asked, 'Then the great chiliocosm shares one true nature.' The Master said, 'Faintly like a tune one can just bear to hear, and then the wind blows it into another key.' Asked, 'When the six senses are all extinguished, why are principle and phenomena not clear?' The Master said, 'Where are they not clear?' The monk said, 'Then principle and phenomena are both thus.' The Master said, 'Where are the former words?' Ascending the hall: 'In general, words and phrases'

應須絕滲漏始得。時有僧問。如何是絕滲漏底句。師曰。汝口似鼻孔。問。如何是不證一法。師曰。待言語在。曰。如何是證諸法。師曰。醉作麼。乃曰。祇如山僧恁麼對他。諸上座作麼生體會。莫是真實相為麼。莫是正恁麼時無一法可證麼。莫是識伊來處麼。莫是全體顯露麼。莫錯會好。如此見解。喚作依草附木。與佛法天地懸隔。假饒答話揀辨如懸河。祇成得箇顛倒知見。若祇貴答話揀辨。有甚麼難。但恐無益於人。翻成賺悞。如上座從前所學揀辨．問答．記持。說道理極多。為甚麼疑心不息。聞古聖方便。特地不會。祇為多虗少實。上座不如從腳跟下一時覤破。看是甚底道理。有多少法門。與上座作疑求解。始知從前所學底事。祇是生死根源．陰界裡活計。所以古人道。見聞不脫。如水裡月。無事珍重。師有偈曰。通玄峰頂。不是人間。心外無法。滿目青山。法眼聞雲。即此一偈。可起吾宗。師後於般若寺開堂說法十二會。上堂。毛吞巨海。海性無虧。纖芥投鋒。鋒利無動。見與不見。會與不會。唯我知焉。乃有頌曰。暫下高峰已顯揚。般若圜通遍十方。人天浩浩無差別。法界縱橫處處彰。珍重。上堂。僧問。承古有言。若人見般若。即被般若縛。若人不見般若。亦被般若縛。既見般若。為甚麼卻被縛。師曰。你道般若見甚麼。曰。不見般若。為甚麼亦被縛。師曰。你道般若甚麼處不見。乃曰。若見般若。不名般若。不見般若。亦不名般若。且作麼生說見不見。所以古人道。若欠一法。不成法身。若剩一法。不成法身。若有一法。不成法身。若無一法。不成法身。此是般若之真宗也。僧問。乍離凝峰丈室。來坐般若道場。今日家風。請師一句。師曰。虧汝甚麼處。曰。恁麼則雷音震動乾坤界。人人無不盡霑恩。師曰。幸然未會。且莫探頭。僧禮拜。師曰。探頭即不中。諸上座相共證明。令法久住。

(The Master went on:) 'must be free of leaks to do.' Then a monk asked, 'What is a phrase free of leaks?' The Master said, 'Your mouth is like a nostril.' Asked, 'What is not verifying a single dharma?' The Master said, 'Wait until there are words.' The monk said, 'What is verifying all dharmas?' The Master said, 'Why be drunk?' Then he said, 'Just as this mountain monk answers him thus—how will you elders understand it? Is it true mutual response? Is it that at this very moment not one dharma can be verified? Is it recognizing where he comes from? Is it the whole body revealed? Do not misunderstand. Such views are called clinging to grass and attaching to trees, as far from Buddhadharma as heaven from earth. Even if you answer and discriminate like a rushing river, it only becomes inverted knowledge and views. If one prizes only answering and discriminating, what is hard about it? I only fear it benefits no one and turns into deception. As for the discrimination, question and answer, and memorization you elders have studied before, and the many principles you speak of—why does your doubt not cease? Hearing the expedients of the ancient sages, you especially do not understand. It is only because there is much emptiness and little substance. Elders, you had better see through it all at once from the heel, and see what principle it is. How many Dharma gates make you doubt and seek understanding? Only then will you know that what you studied before is merely the root of birth and death and business within the realm of the aggregates. Therefore the ancients said: if seeing and hearing are not shed, it is like the moon in water. Nothing further. Take care.' The Master had a verse: 'At the summit of Tongxuan Peak, it is not the human world. Outside the mind there is no dharma; the eyes are full of green mountains.' Fayan heard it and said, 'By this one verse he can raise my school.' Later the Master opened the hall and taught the Dharma in twelve assemblies at the Prajna Monastery. Ascending the hall: 'A hair swallows the great sea, and the sea's nature is not diminished. A mustard seed is cast on a blade, and the blade's edge does not move. Seeing and not seeing, understanding and not understanding—only I know them.' Then he spoke a verse: 'Having come down from the high peak, he has already manifested; prajna and perfect penetration pervade the ten directions. Gods and men in vast numbers are without difference; the dharma-realm spreads out and is manifest everywhere.' Take care. Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'It is said the ancients had a saying: if a person sees prajna, he is bound by prajna. If a person does not see prajna, he is also bound by prajna. Since he sees prajna, why is he bound?' The Master said, 'What do you say prajna sees?' The monk said, 'Not seeing prajna, why is he also bound?' The Master said, 'Where do you say prajna does not see?' Then he said, 'If one sees prajna, it is not called prajna. If one does not see prajna, it is also not called prajna. So how can one speak of seeing or not seeing? Therefore the ancients said: if one dharma is lacking, the dharma-body is not complete. If one dharma remains, the dharma-body is not complete. If there is one dharma, the dharma-body is not complete. If there is no dharma, the dharma-body is not complete. This is the true purport of prajna.' A monk asked, 'Just now leaving the abbot's room on the frozen peak, I come to sit in the prajna bodhimanda. The style of the house today—please, Master, give one phrase.' The Master said, 'Where do you fall short?' The monk said, 'Then the thunder of the Dharma shakes the world of heaven and earth, and everyone without exception receives the grace.' The Master said, 'Fortunately you do not understand—do not poke your head out for now.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Poking your head out is not right. You elders bear witness together, so that the Dharma may long abide,'

國土安寧。珍重。上堂。僧問。承教有言。歸源性無二。方便有多門。如何是歸源性。師曰。你問我答。曰。如何是方便門。師曰。你答我問。曰。如何趣向。師曰。顛倒作麼。問。一身即無量身。無量身即一身。如何是無量身。師曰。一身。曰。恁麼則昔日靈山。今日親覩。師曰。理當即行。乃曰。三世諸佛。一時證明上座。上座且作麼生會。若會時不遷。無絲毫可得移易。何以故。為過去．未來．見在三際是上座。上座且非三際。澤霖大海。滴滴皆滿。一塵空性。法界全收。珍重。上堂。僧問。四眾雲集。人天恭敬。目覩尊顏。願宣般若。師曰。分明記取。曰。師宣妙法。國王萬歲。人民安樂。師曰。誰向你道。曰。法爾如然。師曰。你卻靈利。問。三世諸佛不知有。狸奴白牯卻知有。既是三世諸佛。為甚麼卻不知有。師曰。卻是你知有。曰。狸奴白牯為甚麼卻知有。師曰。你甚麼處見三世諸佛。問。承教有言。眼不見色塵。意不知諸法。如何是眼不見色塵。師曰。卻是耳見。曰。如何是意不知諸法。師曰。眼知。曰。恁麼則見聞路絕。聲色喧然。師曰。誰向汝道。乃曰。夫一切問答。如針鋒相投。無纖毫參差。事無不通。理無不備。良由一切言語。一切三昧。橫竪深淺。隱顯去來。是諸佛實相門。秖據如今一時驗取。珍重。上堂。古者道。如何是禪。三界綿綿。如何是道。十方浩浩。因甚麼道三界綿綿。何處是十方浩浩底道理。要會麼。塞卻眼。塞卻耳。塞卻舌．身．意。無空闕處。無轉動處。上座作麼生會。橫亦不得。竪亦不得。縱亦不得。奪亦不得。無用心處。亦無施設處。若如是會得。始會法門絕揀擇。一切言語絕滲漏。曾有僧問。作麼生是絕滲漏底語。向他道。口似鼻孔。甚好上座如此會。自然不通風去如識得盡。十方世界是金剛眼睛。無事。珍重。上堂。僧問。天下太平。大王長壽。

(The Master went on:) 'and the land be at peace. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The teachings say: the nature of returning to the source is without two, but the expedients have many gates. What is the nature of returning to the source?' The Master said, 'You ask and I answer.' The monk said, 'What is the gate of expedients?' The Master said, 'You answer and I ask.' The monk said, 'How should one proceed?' The Master said, 'Why be inverted?' Asked, 'One body is immeasurable bodies, and immeasurable bodies are one body. What is the immeasurable body?' The Master said, 'One body.' The monk said, 'Then the Vulture Peak of old is seen today with my own eyes.' The Master said, 'When principle is so, one proceeds at once.' Then he said, 'The Buddhas of the three times bear witness for the elder all at once. How will the elder understand it? If you understand it, then it does not shift, and not a hair can be moved. Why? Because past, future, and present, the three limits, are the elder, and the elder is not the three limits. Rain soaks the great sea, and every drop is filled. One dust mote of empty nature contains the whole dharma-realm. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The four assemblies gather like clouds, gods and men are reverent. We look upon your honored countenance—may you proclaim prajna.' The Master said, 'Remember it clearly.' The monk said, 'The Master proclaims the wonderful Dharma; may the king live ten thousand years and the people be at peace.' The Master said, 'Who told you that?' The monk said, 'It is naturally so.' The Master said, 'You are clever.' Asked, 'The Buddhas of the three times do not know it, but cats and white oxen do know it. Since they are the Buddhas of the three times, why do they not know it?' The Master said, 'Rather, it is you who know it.' The monk said, 'Why do cats and white oxen know it?' The Master said, 'Where do you see the Buddhas of the three times?' Asked, 'The teachings say: the eye does not see the dust of form, the mind does not know the dharmas. What is the eye not seeing the dust of form?' The Master said, 'Rather, it is the ear that sees.' The monk said, 'What is the mind not knowing the dharmas?' The Master said, 'The eye knows.' The monk said, 'Then the road of seeing and hearing is cut off, and sound and form are clamorous.' The Master said, 'Who told you that?' Then he said, 'All question and answer is like needle point meeting needle point, without a hair of divergence. Nothing is not penetrated in matters, no principle is not complete. Truly, because all speech and all samadhis, horizontal and vertical, deep and shallow, hidden and manifest, coming and going, are the gate of the Buddhas' true sign. Just take it up and verify it all at once right now. Take care.' Ascending the hall: 'The ancients said: what is Chan? The three realms are continuous. What is the Way? The ten directions are vast. Why is it said the three realms are continuous? Where is the principle of the ten directions being vast? Do you want to understand? Block up the eye, block up the ear, block up tongue, body, and mind. With no gap and no place of movement—how will the elder understand? Horizontal also you cannot, vertical also you cannot, lengthwise also you cannot, seizing also you cannot. There is no place to apply the mind and no place to set anything up. If you understand it thus, only then will you understand that the Dharma gate cuts off all choosing, and all speech cuts off all leaks. A monk once asked: what is a phrase free of leaks? I told him: your mouth is like a nostril. Very good. If the elder understands thus, naturally no wind will get through. If you know it fully, the ten-direction world is a vajra eye. Nothing further. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The world is at peace, the great king lives long,'

如何是王。師曰。日曉月明。曰。如何領會。師曰。誰是學人。乃曰。天下太平。大王長壽。國土豐樂。無諸患難。此是佛語。古不易今。不遷一言。可以定古定今。會取好。諸上座。又僧問。承古有言。有物先天地。無形本寂寥。如何是有物先天地。師曰。非同非合。曰。如何是無形本寂寥。師曰。誰問先天地。曰。恁麼則境靜林間獨自遊去也。師曰。亂道作麼。乃曰。佛法不是這箇道理。要會麼。言發非聲。色前不物。始會天下太平。大王長壽。久立。珍重。上堂。佛法現成。一切具足。豈不見道圓同太虗。無欠無餘。若如是也。且誰欠誰剩。誰是誰非。誰是會者。誰是不會者。所以道。東去亦是上座。西去亦是上座。南去亦是上座。北去亦是上座。因甚麼得成東西南北。若會得。自然見聞覺知路絕。一切諸法現前。何故如此。為法身無相。觸目皆形。般若無知。對緣而照。一時徹底會取好。諸上座。出家兒合作麼生。此是本有之理。未為分外。識心達本源。故名為沙門。若識心皎皎地。實無絲毫障礙。上座久立。珍重。上堂。僧問。欲入無為海。先乘般若船。如何是般若船。師曰。常無所住。曰。如何是無為海。師曰。且會般若船。問。古德道。登天不借梯。徧地無行路。如何是登天不借梯。師曰。不遺絲髮地。曰。如何是徧地無行路。師曰。適來向你道甚麼。乃曰。百千三昧門。百千神通門。百千妙用門。盡不出得般若海中。何以故。為於無住本建立諸法。所以道。生滅去來。邪正動靜。千變萬化。是諸佛大定門。無過於此。諸上座大家究取。增於佛法壽命。珍重。上堂。僧問。世尊以正法眼付囑摩訶迦葉。祇如迦葉在畢缽羅窟。未審付囑何人。師曰。教我向誰說。曰。恁麼則靈山付囑。不異今日。師曰。你甚麼處見靈山。問。法眼寶印。和尚親傳。未審今日當付何人。師曰。鼕鼕鼓。一頭打。

(The monk went on:) 'what is the king?' The Master said, 'The sun dawns and the moon is bright.' The monk said, 'How should one understand it?' The Master said, 'Who is the student?' Then he said, 'The world at peace, the great king living long, the land abundant and joyful, without any calamity—this is the Buddha's word. The old does not change the present, and not one word shifts; it can settle old and present. Understand it well, you elders.' Another monk asked, 'The ancients said: there is a thing before heaven and earth, formless and originally still. What is the thing before heaven and earth?' The Master said, 'Not the same, not combined.' The monk said, 'What is formless and originally still?' The Master said, 'Who asks about before heaven and earth?' The monk said, 'Then the realm is still and one roams alone in the forest.' The Master said, 'Why talk nonsense?' Then he said, 'The Buddhadharma is not this principle. Do you want to understand? When speech issues it is not sound, and before form there is no thing—only then will you understand the world at peace and the great king living long. Standing long. Take care.' Ascending the hall: 'The Buddhadharma is present and complete, all is fully provided. Have you not heard it said that it is round as the great void, lacking nothing and with nothing left over? If it is so, then who lacks and who has left over, who is right and who is wrong, who understands and who does not understand? Therefore it is said: going east is also the elder, going west is also the elder, going south is also the elder, going north is also the elder. Why then do east, west, south, and north come to be? If you understand, then naturally the road of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing is cut off, and all dharmas appear before you. Why is it so? Because the dharma-body is signless, yet whatever the eye meets is its form; prajna is without knowing, yet it illumines according to conditions. Understand it thoroughly all at once, you elders. What should one who has left home do? This is the principle that is originally possessed; it is no extra burden. To know the mind and reach the original source is therefore called a monk. If you know the mind clearly, there is truly not a hair of obstruction. Elders, standing long. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'Wishing to enter the sea of non-action, one first boards the boat of prajna. What is the boat of prajna?' The Master said, 'Ever without abiding.' The monk said, 'What is the sea of non-action?' The Master said, 'First understand the boat of prajna.' Asked, 'The ancient virtuous one said: climbing to heaven without borrowing a ladder, the whole earth has no road to walk. What is climbing to heaven without borrowing a ladder?' The Master said, 'Not leaving a hair's breadth of ground.' The monk said, 'What is the whole earth having no road to walk?' The Master said, 'What did I just tell you?' Then he said, 'The hundred thousand gates of samadhi, the hundred thousand gates of spiritual powers, the hundred thousand gates of wonderful function—none of them can get out of the sea of prajna. Why? Because all dharmas are established on the root of non-abiding. Therefore it is said: birth and death, coming and going, false and right, movement and stillness, a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations, are the Buddhas' gate of great samadhi; nothing surpasses this. You elders, all investigate it and add to the life of the Buddhadharma. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The World-Honored One entrusted the true Dharma eye to Mahakasyapa. Now Kasyapa is in the Pippala Cave—I do not understand to whom he entrusted it.' The Master said, 'To whom would you have me say it?' The monk said, 'Then the Vulture Peak entrustment is no different from today.' The Master said, 'Where do you see the Vulture Peak?' Asked, 'The jewel seal of the Dharma eye the Master has personally transmitted. I do not understand to whom it will be entrusted today.' The Master said, 'A drum goes dong dong, struck at one end,'

兩頭鳴。曰。恁麼則千聖同儔。古今不異。師曰。禪河浪靜。尋水迷源。僧清遇問。帝王請命師赴王恩。般若會中。請師舉唱。師曰。分明記取。曰。恁麼則雲臺寶網。同演妙音。師曰。清遇何在。曰。法王法如是。師曰。阿誰證明。乃曰。靈山付囑分明。諸上座一時驗取。若驗得更無別理。祇是如今。譬如太虗。日明雲暗。山河大地。一切有為世界。悉皆明現。乃至無為。亦復如是。世尊付囑。迄至於今。並無絲毫差別。更付阿誰。所以祖師道。心自本來心。本心非有法。有法有本心。非心非本法。此是靈山付囑榜樣。諸上座徹底會取好。莫虗度時光。國王恩難報。諸佛恩難報。父母師長恩難報。十方施主恩難報。況建置如是次第。佛法興隆。若非國王恩力。焉得如此。若要報恩。應須明徹道眼。入般若性海始得。久立。珍重。上堂。僧問。古德道。人空法亦空。二相本來同。師曰。山河大地。曰。學人不會。乞師方便。師曰。甚麼處不是方便。問。名假法假。人空法空。向去諸緣。請師直指。師曰。謝此一問。曰。不覩王居壯。焉知天子尊。師曰。貪觀天上月。失卻手中橈。問。敬中道。心清淨故法界清淨。如何是清淨心。師曰。迦陵頻伽。共命之鳥。曰。與法界是一是二。師曰。你自問別人。乃曰。大道廓然。詎齊今古。無名無相。是法是修。良由法界無邊。心亦無際。無事不彰。無言不顯。如是會得。喚作般若現前。理同真際。一切山河大地。森羅萬象。墻壁瓦礫。並無絲毫可得虧闕。無事久立。珍重。上堂。僧問。承師有言。九天擎玉印。七佛兆前心。如何是印。師曰。不露文。曰。如何是心。師曰。你名安嗣。乃曰。法界性海。如函如葢。如鉤如鎻。如金與金。位位皆齊。無纖毫參差。不相混濫。非一非異。非同非別。若歸實地去。法法皆到底。不是上來問箇如何若何便是。不問時便非。

(The Master went on:) 'and both ends sound.' The monk said, 'Then a thousand sages are of one company, and past and present are not different.' The Master said, 'The waves of the Chan river are still; seeking the water one loses the source.' The monk Qingyu asked, 'The emperor has sent for you, and the Master goes to the king's grace. In the prajna assembly, please, Master, raise and sing it.' The Master said, 'Remember it clearly.' The monk said, 'Then the jeweled nets of the cloud terrace all perform the wonderful sound.' The Master said, 'Where is Qingyu?' The monk said, 'The Dharma of the Dharma king is thus.' The Master said, 'Who bears witness?' Then he said, 'The Vulture Peak entrustment is clear; you elders verify it all at once. If you verify it, there is no other principle—it is only right now. It is like the great void: the sun bright and the clouds dark, mountains, rivers, and the great earth, all conditioned worlds, are all clearly manifest, and even the unconditioned is likewise so. The World-Honored One's entrustment, down to the present, has not a hair of difference. To whom else should it be entrusted? Therefore the patriarch said: the mind is originally the mind of itself; the original mind is not a dharma. When there is a dharma there is an original mind; when it is not mind it is not the original dharma. This is the model of the Vulture Peak entrustment. You elders, understand it thoroughly, and do not pass the time in vain. The king's grace is hard to repay, the Buddhas' grace is hard to repay, the grace of parents and teachers is hard to repay, the grace of the donors of the ten directions is hard to repay. Moreover, to establish such a sequence and make the Buddhadharma flourish—were it not for the king's gracious power, how could it be so? If you wish to repay the grace, you must make clear the eye of the Way and enter the sea of the prajna nature. Standing long. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The ancient virtuous one said: the person is empty and the dharma is also empty; the two signs are originally the same.' The Master said, 'Mountains, rivers, and the great earth.' The monk said, 'I do not understand; I beg the Master for an expedient.' The Master said, 'Where is it not an expedient?' Asked, 'Names are false and dharmas are false; the person is empty and the dharma is empty. Turning to the various conditions—please, Master, point directly.' The Master said, 'Thank you for this question.' The monk said, 'Without seeing the king's dwelling, how can one know the Son of Heaven's honor?' The Master said, 'Greedily watching the moon in the sky, one loses the oar in one's hand.' Asked, 'The reverent one said: because the mind is pure, the dharma-realm is pure. What is the pure mind?' The Master said, 'The kalavinka bird, the bird of shared life.' The monk said, 'Is it one with the dharma-realm or two?' The Master said, 'Ask someone else yourself.' Then he said, 'The great Way is vast—how could it be equal to past and present? Without name and without sign, it is dharma and it is practice. Truly because the dharma-realm is boundless, the mind too has no limit. Nothing is not made manifest, no word is not revealed. If you understand it thus, it is called prajna present before you, and principle is the same as the true limit. All mountains, rivers, and the great earth, the myriad forms, walls and tiles, have not a hair of deficiency. Nothing further. Standing long. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The Master has a saying: nine heavens hold up the jade seal, the seven Buddhas foretell the former mind. What is the seal?' The Master said, 'It does not reveal its writing.' The monk said, 'What is the mind?' The Master said, 'Your name is Ansi.' Then he said, 'The sea of the nature of the dharma-realm is like a box, like a lid, like a hook, like a lock, like gold with gold. Every position is equal, without a hair of divergence, without mixing together. Not one and not different, not the same and not separate. If you go to the solid ground, every dharma reaches the bottom. It is not that asking how and what is right, and not asking is wrong.'

在長連床上坐時是有。不坐時是無。祇如諸方老宿。言教在世。如恆河沙。如來一大藏經。卷卷皆說佛理。句句盡言佛心。因甚麼得不會去。若一向織絡言教。意識解會。饒上座經塵沙劫。亦不能得徹。此喚作顛倒知見。識心活計。竝無得力處。此葢為根腳下不明。若究盡諸佛法源。河沙大藏。一時現前。不欠絲毫。不剩絲毫。諸佛時常出世。時常說法度人。未曾間歇。乃至猿啼鳥呌。草木叢林。常助上座發機。未有一時不為上座。有如是奇特處。可惜許。諸上座大家究取。令法久住世間。增益人天壽命。國王安樂。無事。珍重。上堂。舉古者道。吾有一言。天上人間。若人不會。綠水青山。且作麼生是一言底道理。古人語須是曉達始得。若是將言而名。於言未有箇會處。良由究盡諸法根蔕。始會一言。不是一言半句思量解會喚作一言。若會言語道斷。心行處滅。始到古人境界。亦不是閉目藏睛。暗中無所見。喚作言語道斷。且莫賺會。佛法不是這箇道理。要會麼。假饒經塵沙劫說。亦未曾有半句到諸上座。經塵沙劫不說。亦未曾欠少半句。應須徹底會去始得。若如是斟酌名言。空勞心力。並無用處。與諸上座共相證明。後學初心。速須究取。久立。珍重。上堂。僧問。髑髏常幹世界。鼻孔摩觸家風。如何是髑髏常幹世界。師曰。更待答話在。曰。如何是鼻孔摩觸家風。師曰。時復舉一徧。問。一人執炬自燼其身。一人抱冰橫屍於路。此二人阿誰辨道。師曰。不遺者。曰。不會。乞師指示。師曰。你名敬新。曰。未審還有人證明也無。師曰。有。曰。甚麼人證明。師曰。敬新。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。異境靈蹤。覩者皆羨。曰。見後如何。師曰。適來向你道甚麼。問。古者道。敲打虗空鳴觳觳。石人木人齊應諾。六月降雪落紛紛。此是如來大圓覺。如何是敲打虗空底。師曰。崑崙奴著鐵袴。

(The Master went on:) 'Sitting on the long bench, it is there; not sitting, it is not there. As for the old masters everywhere, their words and teachings in the world are like the sands of the Ganges. The Tathagata's one great canon—every scroll speaks the Buddha's principle, every sentence speaks the Buddha's mind. Why then do you not understand? If you always weave words and teachings and understand with consciousness, even through dust-kalpa after dust-kalpa, the elder will not get through. This is called inverted knowledge and views, the business of the knowing mind, and there is no place of strength in it. This is because the root of the feet is not clear. If you fully investigate the source of all Buddhadharma, the great canon with its Ganges-sand texts appears all at once, lacking not a hair and with not a hair left over. The Buddhas are ever appearing in the world, ever speaking the Dharma to save people, without a moment's pause. Even the cries of apes and birds, grass, trees, and thickets, ever help the elder to bring forth the mechanism—there is never a time when they are not for the elder. There is such a wonderful thing. What a pity. You elders, all investigate it, so that the Dharma may long abide in the world, adding to the lifespan of gods and men, and the king be at peace. Nothing further. Take care.' Ascending the hall. He brought up the ancient one's words: 'I have one phrase, in heaven and among men. If a person does not understand it, green waters and blue mountains.' 'Now how is the principle of one phrase? One must be clear and penetrating about the ancients' words to get it. If you name it with words, in the words there is no place of understanding. Truly only by fully investigating the root of all dharmas will you understand one phrase. It is not one phrase or half a phrase, thought about and understood, that is called one phrase. If you understand that the way of words is cut off and the place of mental activity is extinguished, only then do you reach the ancients' realm. Nor is it closing the eyes and hiding the pupils, seeing nothing in the dark, that is called the way of words being cut off. Do not be deceived. The Buddhadharma is not this principle. Do you want to understand? Even speaking through dust-kalpas, not half a phrase has ever reached you elders. Even not speaking through dust-kalpas, not half a phrase has ever been lacking. You must understand thoroughly to get it. If you thus weigh and measure names and words, you waste mind and strength in vain, and it is of no use. I bear witness together with you elders. Later students of first resolve must quickly investigate it. Standing long. Take care.' Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The skull always dries the world, the nostril rubs against the house style. What is the skull always drying the world?' The Master said, 'Wait until there is an answer.' The monk said, 'What is the nostril rubbing against the house style?' The Master said, 'Bring it up once more from time to time.' Asked, 'One man holds a torch and burns himself up; one man embraces ice and lies dead on the road. Of these two, who can distinguish the Way?' The Master said, 'The one who does not leave anything.' The monk said, 'I do not understand; I beg the Master to instruct me.' The Master said, 'Your name is Jingxin.' The monk said, 'I do not understand whether anyone bears witness.' The Master said, 'There is.' The monk said, 'Who bears witness?' The Master said, 'Jingxin.' Asked, 'What was it like before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch?' The Master said, 'Strange realms and numinous traces—all who see them envy.' The monk said, 'And after seeing?' The Master said, 'What did I just tell you?' Asked, 'The ancients said: striking the void it sounds hu-hu; stone men and wooden men all answer. In the sixth month snow falls in profusion; this is the Tathagata's great perfect enlightenment. What is striking the void?' The Master said, 'A Kunlun slave wearing iron trousers,'

打一棒行一步。曰。恁麼則石人木人齊應諾也。師曰。你還聞麼。乃曰。諸佛法門。時常如是。譬如大海。千波萬浪。未甞暫住。未甞暫有。未甞暫無。浩浩地光明自在。宗三世於毛端。圓古今於一念。應須徹底明達始得。不是問一則語。記一轉話。巧作道理。風雲水月。四六入對。便當佛法。莫自賺。諸上座究竟無益。若徹底會去。實無可隱藏。無剎不彰。無塵不現。直下凡夫。位齊諸佛。不用纖毫氣力。一時會取好。無事。珍重。師因興教明和尚問曰。飲光持釋迦丈六之衣。在鷄足山候彌勒下生。將丈六之衣披在千尺之身。應量恰好。祇如釋迦身長丈六。彌勒身長千尺。為復是身解短邪。衣解長邪。師曰。汝卻會。明拂袖便出去。師曰。小兒子。山僧若答汝不是。當有因果。汝若不是。吾當見之。明歸七日。吐血。浮光和尚勸曰。汝速去懺悔。明乃至師方丈。悲泣曰。願和尚慈悲。許某懺悔。師曰。如人倒地。因地而起。不曾教汝起倒。明又曰。若許懺悔。某當終身給侍。師為出語曰。佛佛道齊。宛爾高低。釋迦彌勒。如印印泥。開寶四年辛未。華頂西峰忽摧。聲震一山。師曰。吾非久矣。明年六月。大星殞於峰頂。林木變白。師乃示疾於蓮華峰。參問如常。二十八日。集眾言別。跏趺而逝。

(The Master went on:) 'strike one blow and take one step.' The monk said, 'Then stone men and wooden men all answer.' The Master said, 'Do you still hear it?' Then he said, 'The Buddhas' Dharma gate is ever thus. It is like the great sea: a thousand waves and ten thousand billows never abide for a moment, never exist for a moment, never are absent for a moment. Vastly, the light is at ease. It gathers the three times in the tip of a hair and rounds past and present in a single thought. You must understand it thoroughly to get it. It is not asking one phrase, memorizing one turning word, cleverly making up principles—clouds and wind, water and moon, parallel phrases in fours and sixes—and taking that for Buddhadharma. Do not deceive yourselves. You elders, in the end it is of no benefit. If you understand it thoroughly, truly there is nothing to conceal. No land is not made manifest, no dust is not revealed. Right here the ordinary person is equal in rank to the Buddhas. Without a hair of effort, understand it all at once. Nothing further. Take care.' Because the monk Xingjiao Ming asked the Master, 'Yinguang held Sakyamuni's twelve-foot robe and waited at Mount Cock's Foot for Maitreya to descend; he will drape the twelve-foot robe on a body of a thousand feet, and the measure will fit exactly. Now Sakyamuni's body was twelve feet and Maitreya's body is a thousand feet—is it that the body knows how to be short, or the robe knows how to be long?' The Master said, 'You do understand.' Ming flicked his sleeve and went out. The Master said, 'Little boy, if my answer to you is wrong, there will be cause and effect. If you are wrong, I will see it.' Ming went back and after seven days vomited blood. The monk Fuguang urged him, 'Go quickly and repent.' Ming then went to the Master's quarters, wept bitterly, and said, 'I beg the Master's compassion; allow me to repent.' The Master said, 'Like a person who falls down—he rises from the ground. I never taught you to fall and rise.' Ming also said, 'If you allow me to repent, I will serve you for life.' The Master spoke for him: 'Buddha and Buddha are equal in the Way, yet there is high and low. Sakyamuni and Maitreya are like a seal pressed on clay.' In the xinwei year, the fourth year of Kaibao, the west peak of Huading suddenly collapsed, and the sound shook the whole mountain. The Master said, 'I have not long to live.' The next year in the sixth month a great star fell on the peak's summit, and the trees and woods turned white. The Master then showed illness at Lotus Peak, and his inquiries continued as usual. On the twenty-eighth day he gathered the assembly, said farewell, sat cross-legged, and passed away.

金陵清涼泰欽法燈禪師

Chan Master Fadeng Taiqin of Qingliang in Jinling

魏府人也。生而知道。辯才無礙。入法眼之室。海眾歸之。僉曰敏匠。初住洪州雙林院。開堂日。指法座曰。此山先代尊宿曾說法來。此座高廣。不才何陞。古昔有言。作禮須彌燈王如來。乃可得坐。且道須彌燈王如來今在何處。大眾要見麼。一時禮拜。便陞座。良久曰。大眾祇如此。也還有會處麼。僧問。如何是雙林境。師曰。畫也畫不成。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。且去。境也未識且討人。又僧問。一佛出世。震動乾坤。和尚出世。震動何方。師曰。甚麼處見震動。曰。爭奈即今何。師曰。今日有甚麼事。有僧出禮拜。師曰。道者。前時謝汝請我。將甚麼與汝好。僧擬問次。師曰。將謂相悉。卻成不委。問。如何是西來密密意。師曰。苦。問。一佛出世。普潤群生。和尚出世。當為何人。師曰。不徒然。曰。恁麼則大眾有賴也。師曰。何必。乃曰。且住得也。久立。尊官及諸大眾。今日相請勤重。此箇殊功。比喻何及。所以道。未了之人聽一言。祇這如今誰動口。便下座。立倚拄杖而告眾曰。還會麼。天龍寂聽而雨華莫作。須菩提幀子畵將去。且恁麼信受奉行。問。新到近離甚處。僧曰。廬山。師拈起香合曰。廬山還有這箇也無。僧無對。師自代雲。尋香來禮拜和尚。問。百骸俱潰散。一物鎮長靈。未審百骸一物。相去多少。師曰。百骸一物。一物百骸。次住上藍護國院。僧問。十方俱擊皷。十處一時聞。如何是聞。師曰。汝從那方來。問。善行菩薩道。不染諸法相。如何是菩薩道。師曰。諸法相。曰。如何得不染去。師曰。染著甚麼處。問。不久開選場。還許學人選也無。師曰。汝是點額人。又曰。汝是甚麼科目。問。如何是演大法義。師曰。我演何似汝演。次住金陵龍光院。上堂。維那白椎雲。法筵龍象眾。當觀第一義。師曰。維那早是第二義。長老即今是第幾義。乃舉衣袖曰。會麼。大眾。

was a man of Weifu. He knew the Way from birth and his eloquence was unobstructed. He entered Fayan's room, and the assembly of the sea turned to him, all calling him a keen craftsman. He first lived at Shuanglin Monastery in Hongzhou. On the day of the opening of the hall, he pointed at the Dharma seat and said, 'The venerable ones of former generations on this mountain have spoken the Dharma here. This seat is high and broad—how can an untalented one ascend it? The ancients had a saying: bowing to the Tathagata Sumeru Lamp King, one may then sit. Tell me, where is the Tathagata Sumeru Lamp King now? Does the assembly want to see him?' At once he bowed and ascended the seat. After a long while he said, 'The assembly is just thus—is there still a place of understanding?' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Shuanglin?' The Master said, 'It cannot be painted.' The monk said, 'What is the person in the realm?' The Master said, 'Go away for now. You do not even know the realm, and you seek the person.' Another monk asked, 'When one Buddha appears in the world, he shakes heaven and earth. When the Master appears in the world, what does he shake?' The Master said, 'Where do you see shaking?' The monk said, 'What is to be done about right now?' The Master said, 'What matter is there today?' A monk came forward and bowed. The Master said, 'Man of the Way, earlier I thanked you for inviting me—with what should I treat you well?' As the monk was about to ask, the Master said, 'I thought you understood me, but instead you do not understand.' Asked, 'What is the secret meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Bitter.' Asked, 'When one Buddha appears in the world, he moistens all living beings. When the Master appears in the world, for whom is it?' The Master said, 'Not in vain.' The monk said, 'Then the assembly has something to rely on.' The Master said, 'Why must it be?' Then he said, 'Just stay a while. Standing long. The honored officials and the whole assembly have invited me today with great earnestness. This extraordinary merit—what comparison can reach it? Therefore it is said: you who have not finished, hear one phrase—who is it right now that moves the mouth?' Then he descended from the seat. Standing, leaning on his staff, he told the assembly, 'Do you understand? The dragons of heaven listen in silence and the flowers of heaven do not fall. Take the portrait of Subhuti and paint it. Just thus faithfully receive and practice.' Asked, 'Where has the newcomer lately come from?' The monk said, 'Mount Lu.' The Master picked up an incense box and said, 'Does Mount Lu still have this?' The monk had no reply. The Master answered in his place, 'I came seeking incense to bow to the Master.' Asked, 'The hundred bones all decay, one thing ever keeps its spirit. I do not understand how far apart the hundred bones and the one thing are.' The Master said, 'The hundred bones and the one thing; the one thing and the hundred bones.' Later he lived at Shanglan Huguo Monastery. A monk asked, 'Drums are struck in all ten directions and heard at ten places at once. What is hearing?' The Master said, 'From which direction have you come?' Asked, 'To practice the Bodhisattva path well and not be stained by the signs of dharmas—what is the Bodhisattva path?' The Master said, 'The signs of dharmas.' The monk said, 'How can one not be stained?' The Master said, 'What are you stained by?' Asked, 'Soon the examination hall will open—will students be allowed to enter?' The Master said, 'You are one who has been marked on the forehead.' He added, 'What is your subject?' Asked, 'What is expounding the great meaning of the Dharma?' The Master said, 'How is my expounding like your expounding?' Later he lived at Longguang Monastery in Jinling. Ascending the hall, the precentor struck the mallet and said, 'The dragons and elephants of the Dharma feast should contemplate the first principle.' The Master said, 'The precentor is already at the second principle. At what principle is the Elder now?' Then he raised his sleeve and said, 'Do you understand? Assembly,'

此是手舞足蹈。莫道五百生前曾為樂主來。或有疑情。請垂見示。時有僧問。如何是諸佛正宗。師曰。汝是甚麼宗。曰。如何。師曰。如何即不會。問。上藍一曲師親唱。今日龍光事若何。師曰。汝甚麼時到上藍來。曰。諦當事如何。師曰。不諦當即別處覓。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。且問小意。卻來與汝大意。師後住清涼大道場。上堂。僧出禮拜次。師曰。這僧最先出。為大眾答國主深恩。僧便問。國主請命。祖席重開。學人上來。請師直指心源。師曰。上來卻下去。問。法眼一燈。分照天下。和尚一燈。分照何人。師曰。法眼甚麼處分照來。師乃曰。某甲本欲居山藏拙。養病過時。奈緣先師有未了底公案。出來與他了卻。時有僧問。如何是先師未了底公案。師便打。曰。祖禰不了。殃及兒孫。曰。過在甚麼處。師曰。過在我殃及你。江南國主為鄭王時。受心法於法眼之室。暨法眼入滅。復甞問師曰。先師有甚麼不了底公案。師曰。見分㭊次。異日。又問曰。承聞長老於先師有異聞底事。師作起身勢。國主曰。且坐。師謂眾曰。先師法席五百眾。今祇有十數人在諸方為導首。你道莫有錯指人路底麼。若錯指。教他入水入火。落坑落壍。然古人又道。我若向刀山。刀山自摧折。我若向鑊湯。鑊湯自消滅。且作麼生商量。言語即熟。及問著便生疎去。何也。祇為隔闊多時。上座但會我甚麼處去不得。有去不得者為眼等諸根．色等諸法。諸法且置。上座開眼見甚麼。所以道。不見一法即如來。方得名為觀自在。珍重。師開寶八年六月示疾。告眾曰。老僧臥疾。強牽拖與汝相見。如今隨處道場。宛然化城。且道作麼生是化城。不見古導師雲。寶所非遙。須且前進。及至城所。又道我所化作。今汝諸人試說箇道理看。是如來禪．祖師禪還定得麼。汝等雖是晚生。須知僥忝我國主。凡所勝地建一道場。所須不闕。

(The Master went on:) 'this is dancing with hands and feet. Do not say that five hundred years ago I was a master of music. If anyone has doubts, please let them be shown.' Then a monk asked, 'What is the orthodox school of the Buddhas?' The Master said, 'What school are you?' The monk said, 'How is it?' The Master said, 'How it is you do not understand.' Asked, 'The Master himself sings a tune at Shanglan. What of the matter at Longguang today?' The Master said, 'When did you come to Shanglan?' The monk said, 'What about the true matter?' The Master said, 'If it is not true, look elsewhere.' Asked, 'What is the great meaning of Buddhadharma?' The Master said, 'First ask the small meaning, then I will give you the great meaning.' Later the Master lived at the Qingliang great bodhimanda. Ascending the hall. When a monk came forward to bow, the Master said, 'This monk came forward first, to answer the king's deep grace for the assembly.' The monk then asked, 'The king has sent for you and the ancestral seat is reopened. A student comes forward—please, Master, point directly to the source of mind.' The Master said, 'Coming forward, then going down.' Asked, 'The one lamp of Fayan shines throughout the world. The Master's one lamp shines for whom?' The Master said, 'Where does Fayan shine?' Then the Master said, 'I originally wished to live in the mountains and hide my clumsiness, nursing illness and passing the time. But because the late Master left an unfinished case, I came out to settle it with him.' Then a monk asked, 'What is the late Master's unfinished case?' The Master hit him and said, 'The ancestors did not finish it, and the calamity falls on the children and grandchildren.' The monk said, 'Where is the fault?' The Master said, 'The fault is mine, and the calamity falls on you.' The king of Jiangnan, when he was Prince Zheng, received the mind-dharma in Fayan's room. After Fayan passed into quiescence, he once asked the Master, 'What unfinished case did the late Master have?' The Master said, 'He is being sorted out now.' Another day he asked again, 'I hear the Elder had something unusual about the late Master.' The Master made the gesture of leaving home. The king said, 'Sit awhile.' The Master said to the assembly, 'The late Master's Dharma seat had five hundred followers; now only a dozen or so are leaders in the various regions. Tell me, could there be any who point out people's road wrongly? If they point wrongly, they send people into water and fire, into pits and moats. Yet the ancients also said: if I turn toward the mountain of knives, the mountain of knives breaks of itself. If I turn toward the boiling cauldron, the cauldron is extinguished of itself. Now how is one to deliberate? With words one is fluent, but when asked one becomes awkward. Why? Only because too long a time has passed. Elders, just understand where I cannot go. What cannot go is the faculties such as the eye and the dharmas such as form. Set the dharmas aside. When the elder opens his eyes, what does he see? Therefore it is said: not seeing a single dharma is the Tathagata, and only then can one be called Avalokitesvara. Take care.' In the sixth month of the eighth year of Kaibao the Master showed illness and told the assembly, 'This old monk lies ill and forces himself to drag himself out to see you. Now wherever there is a bodhimanda, it is clearly a conjured city. Tell me, what is the conjured city? Have you not heard the ancient guiding teacher say: the jeweled place is not far; you must simply go forward. And when you reach the city, he says again, what I made is conjured. Now try to say a principle. Can you settle whether it is the Tathagata Chan or the patriarch Chan? Though you are late-born, you must know that you have undeservedly received the king's favor. Wherever there is a surpassing place, a bodhimanda is built, and nothing needed is lacking,'

祇要汝開口。如今不知阿那箇是汝口。爭答効他四恩三有。欲得會麼。但識口必無咎。縱有咎因汝有。我今火風相逼。去住是常道。老僧住持。將逾一紀。每承國主助發。至於檀越。十方道侶。主事小師。皆赤心為我。默而難言。或披麻帶布。此即順俗。我道違真。且道順好違好。然但順我道。即無顛倒。我之遺骸。必於南山大智藏和尚左右乞一墳冢。升沉皎然。不淪化也。努力。珍重。二十四日安坐而終。

(The Master went on:) 'only requiring you to open your mouth. Now you do not know which is your mouth. How can you repay the four graces and the three existences? Do you want to understand? Just know the mouth and there will surely be no fault. Even if there is a fault, it comes from your having it. I am now pressed by fire and wind, and going or staying is the constant way. This old monk has been abbot for more than twelve years. I have always received the king's help, and as for the donors, the fellow practitioners of the ten directions, and the junior administrators—all have been wholehearted for me, silent and hard to speak of. Some wear hemp and cloth; that follows custom, but my Way goes against the true. Tell me, is following good or going against good? Yet if one simply follows my Way, there is no inversion. As for my remains, you must beg a grave beside the monk Dazhicang of the southern mountain. Rising and sinking are clear and bright; one is not lost in transformation. Strive. Take care.' On the twenty-fourth day he sat at ease and passed away.

杭州靈隱清聳禪師

Chan Master Qingsong of Lingyin in Hangzhou

福州人也。初參法眼。眼指雨謂師曰。滴滴落在上座眼裡。師初不喻旨。後因閱華嚴感悟。承眼印可。回止明州四明山卓庵。節度使錢億執事師之禮。忠懿王命於臨安兩處開法。後居靈隱上寺。署了悟禪師。上堂曰。十方諸佛常在汝前。還見麼。若言見。將心見。將眼見。所以道一切法不生。一切法不滅。若能如是解。諸佛常現前。又曰。見色便見心。且喚甚麼作心。山河大地。萬象森羅。青黃赤白。男女等相。是心不是心。若是心。為甚麼卻成物象去。若不是心。又道見色便見心。還會麼。祇為迷此而成顛倒。種種不同。於無同異中強生同異。且如今直下承當。頓豁本心。皎然無一物可作見聞。若離心別求解脫者。古人喚作迷波討源。卒難曉悟。僧問。根塵俱泯。為甚麼事理不明。師曰。事理且從。喚甚麼作俱泯底根塵。問。如何是觀音第一義。師曰。錯。問。無明實性即佛性。如何是佛性。師曰。喚甚麼作無明。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。亙古亙今。問。不問不答時如何。師曰。寐語作麼。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。青山綠水。曰。見後如何。師曰。綠水青山。師問僧。汝會佛法麼。曰。不會。師曰。汝端的不會。曰。是。師曰。且去。待別時來。其僧珍重。師曰。不是這箇道理。問。如何是摩訶般若。師曰。雪落茫茫。僧無語。師曰。會麼。曰。不會。師示偈曰。摩訶般若。非取非捨。若人不會。風寒雪下。

was a man of Fuzhou. He first called on Fayan. Fayan pointed at the rain and told the Master, 'Drop by drop it falls in the elder's eye.' At first the Master did not grasp the purport. Later, awakened by reading the Avatamsaka Sutra, he received Fayan's confirmation. He returned and dwelt in a hut on Siming Mountain in Mingzhou. The military commissioner Qian Yi performed for him the rites of attendance. Prince Zhongyi ordered him to open the teaching in two places in Lin'an. Later he lived at the Upper Lingyin Monastery and was given the title Chan Master Liaowu. Ascending the hall he said, 'The Buddhas of the ten directions are ever before you. Do you see them? If you say you see them, do you see them with the mind or with the eye? Therefore it is said: all dharmas are unborn, all dharmas are undying. If you can understand it thus, the Buddhas are ever present before you.' He also said, 'Seeing form one sees the mind. But what do you call the mind? Mountains, rivers, and the great earth, the myriad forms, blue, yellow, red, and white, the signs of men and women—are these the mind or not the mind? If they are the mind, why do they become the forms of things? If they are not the mind, then again it is said, seeing form one sees the mind. Do you understand? It is only because of being deluded about this that inversion is produced, with all its varieties. In what is without sameness or difference, one forcibly produces sameness and difference. Now if you directly take it up, the original mind suddenly opens, and clearly there is not one thing that can be seen or heard. If one separates from the mind and seeks liberation elsewhere, the ancients called it seeking the source in deluded waves, and one will hardly awaken.' A monk asked, 'When faculties and dust are both extinguished, why are principle and phenomena not clear?' The Master said, 'Set aside principle and phenomena; what do you call the faculties and dust that are both extinguished?' Asked, 'What is Guanyin's first principle?' The Master said, 'Wrong.' Asked, 'The actual nature of ignorance is Buddha-nature. What is Buddha-nature?' The Master said, 'What do you call ignorance?' Asked, 'What is the Master's house style?' The Master said, 'From ancient times to the present.' Asked, 'What about when one neither asks nor answers?' The Master said, 'Why talk in your sleep?' Asked, 'What was it like before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch?' The Master said, 'Green mountains and blue waters.' The monk said, 'And after seeing?' The Master said, 'Blue waters and green mountains.' The Master asked a monk, 'Do you understand Buddhadharma?' The monk said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'You truly do not understand.' The monk said, 'Yes.' The Master said, 'Go away for now. Come another time.' The monk said, 'Take care.' The Master said, 'That is not the principle.' Asked, 'What is mahaprajna?' The Master said, 'Snow falls vast and white.' The monk was speechless. The Master said, 'Do you understand?' The monk said, 'I do not.' The Master showed a verse: 'Mahaprajna is neither grasped nor abandoned. If a person does not understand it, the wind is cold and the snow falls.'

廬山歸宗義柔禪師

Chan Master Yirou of Guizong on Mount Lu

開堂陞座。維那白槌曰。法筵龍象眾。當觀第一義。師曰。若是第一義。且作麼生觀。恁麼道。落在甚麼處。為復是觀。為復不許人觀。先德上座。共相證明。後學初心。莫喚作返問語．倒靠語。有疑請問。僧問。諸佛出世。說法度人。感天動地。和尚出世。有何祥瑞。師曰。人天大眾前寐語作麼。問。優曇華折人皆覩。達本無心事若何。師曰。謾語。曰。恁麼則南能別有深深旨。不是心心人不知。師曰。事須飽叢林。問。昔日金峰。今日歸宗。未審是一是二。師曰。謝汝證明。問。法眼一箭。直射歸宗。歸宗一箭。當射何人。師曰。莫謗我法眼。問。此日知軍親證。法師於何處答深恩。師曰。教我道甚麼即得。乃曰。一問一答。也無了期。佛法也不是恁麼道理。大眾。此日之事。故非本心。實謂祇箇住山寧有意。向來成佛亦無心。蓋緣是知軍請命。寺眾誠心。既到這裡。且說箇甚麼即得。還相悉麼。若信不及。古人便道相逢欲相喚。脈脈不能語。作麼生會。若會。堪報不報之恩。足助無為之化。若也不會。莫道長老開堂祇舉古人語。此之盛事。天高海深。況喻不及。更不敢讚祝皇風。迴向清列。何以故。古人道。吾禱久矣。豈況當今聖明者哉。珍重。僧問。如何是空王廟。師曰。莫少神。曰。如何是廟中人。師曰。適來不謾道。問。靈龜未兆時如何。師曰。是吉是兇。問。未達其源。乞師方便。師曰。達也。曰。達後如何。師曰。終不恁麼問。問僧。看甚麼經。曰。寶積經。師曰。既是沙門。為甚麼看寶積經。僧無語。師代雲。古今用無極。

Opening the hall and ascending the seat, the precentor struck the mallet and said, 'The dragons and elephants of the Dharma feast should contemplate the first principle.' The Master said, 'If it is the first principle, how should one contemplate it? Speaking thus, where does it fall? Is it contemplation, or is it that people are not allowed to contemplate? You venerable elders, bear witness together. Later students of first resolve, do not call it a counter-question or a toppled question. If you have doubts, ask.' A monk asked, 'The Buddhas appear in the world, speak the Dharma, and save people, moving heaven and earth. The Master appears in the world—what auspicious signs are there?' The Master said, 'Why talk in your sleep before the assembly of gods and men?' Asked, 'The udumbara flower is broken and everyone sees it. What of the matter of one who has reached the root and has no mind?' The Master said, 'Deceitful words.' The monk said, 'Then Nanneng has another profound purport, and it is not that those with mind do not know it.' The Master said, 'You must be full of monastery experience.' Asked, 'Formerly Golden Peak, today Guizong—are they one or two?' The Master said, 'Thank you for bearing witness.' Asked, 'Fayan's one arrow shoots straight at Guizong. Guizong's one arrow—at whom should it shoot?' The Master said, 'Do not slander my Fayan.' Asked, 'Today the commissioner has personally verified it. Where does the Dharma master answer the deep grace?' The Master said, 'What would you have me say?' Then he said, 'Question and answer have no end either. The Buddhadharma is not this principle. Assembly, today's affair is truly not my original mind. In truth, living on a mountain and keeping still was never my intent, and becoming a Buddha was also without mind. It is because the commissioner has sent for me and the community is sincere. Since I have come here, what can I say? Do you understand me? If your faith does not reach, the ancients said: meeting, one wants to call out—silent, one cannot speak. How do you understand it? If you understand, you can repay the grace that cannot be repaid, and it is enough to aid the transformation of non-action. If you do not understand, do not say that the Elder opened the hall and merely brought up the ancients' words. This great matter is high as heaven and deep as the sea; no comparison can reach it. I dare not further praise and bless the imperial wind and turn the merit toward the pure ranks. Why? The ancients said: my prayer has long been made. How much more so in the present sage and enlightened age. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the shrine of the empty king?' The Master said, 'Do not be short of spirit.' The monk said, 'What is the person in the shrine?' The Master said, 'Just now I did not speak falsely.' Asked, 'What about when the numinous turtle has not yet made its omen?' The Master said, 'It is auspicious or inauspicious.' Asked, 'I have not reached its source; I beg the Master for an expedient.' The Master said, 'You have reached it.' The monk said, 'What about after reaching it?' The Master said, 'I will never ask like that.' He asked a monk, 'What sutra are you reading?' The monk said, 'The Ratnakuta Sutra.' The Master said, 'Since you are a monk, why read the Ratnakuta Sutra?' The monk was speechless. The Master answered in his place, 'Past and present its use is without limit.'

洪州百丈道恆禪師

Chan Master Daoheng of Baizhang in Hongzhou

參法眼。因請益外道問佛。不問有言。不問無言。敘語未終。眼曰。住。住。汝擬向世尊良久處會那。師從此悟入。住後。上堂。乘此寶乘。直至道場。每日勞諸上座訪及。無可祇延。時寒不用久立。卻請回車。珍重。僧問。如何是學人行腳事。師曰。拗折拄杖得也未。問。古人有言。釋迦與我同參。未審參見何人。師曰。唯有同參方知。曰。未審此人如何親近。師曰。恁麼則你不解參也。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。往往問不著。問。還鄉曲子作麼生唱。師曰。設使唱。落汝後。問。如何是百丈境。師曰。何似雲居。問。如何是百丈為人一句。師曰。若到諸方。總須問過。乃曰。實是無事。諸人各各是佛。更有何疑得到這裡。古人道。十方同聚會。箇箇學無為。此是選佛場。心空及第歸。且作麼生是心空。不是那裡閉目冷坐是心空。此正是意識想解。上座要會心空麼。但且識心。便見心空。所以道。過去已過去。未來更莫算。兀然無事坐。何曾有人喚。設有人喚。上座應他好。不應他好。若應他。阿誰喚上座。若不應他。又不患聾也。三世體空。且不是木頭也。所以古人道。心空得見法王。還見法王麼。也祇是老病僧。又莫道渠自伐好。珍重。問。如何是佛。師曰。汝有多少事不問。僧舉。人問玄沙。三乘十二分教即不問。如何是祖師西來意。沙曰。三乘十二分教不要。某甲不會。請師為說。師曰。汝實不會。曰。實不會。師示偈曰。不要三乘要祖宗。三乘不要與君同。君今欲會通宗旨。後夜猿啼在亂峰。上堂。諸上座適來從僧堂裡出來。腳未跨門眼便回去。已是重說偈言了也。更來這裡。不可重重下切腳也。古人云。參他不如自參。所以道森羅萬象。是善財之宗師。業惑塵勞。乃普賢之境界。若恁麼參。得與善財同參。若不肯與麼參。卻歸堂向火。參取勝熱婆羅門。珍重。上堂。眾才集。便曰。

He studied under Fayan. Because he asked for instruction on the outsider's question to the Buddha — not asking about words, not asking about no-words — before he had finished reciting it, Fayan said, 'Stop, stop. Do you mean to understand it at the World-Honored One's long silence?' At this the Master entered awakening. After he took up residence he ascended the hall: 'Riding this jeweled vehicle, one goes straight to the place of the Way. Every day I trouble you worthies to come and visit me, and I have nothing to offer in return. The season is cold; do not stand long — please turn your carts around. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the student's matter of pilgrimage?' The Master said, 'Have you broken your staff yet?' Someone asked, 'The ancients said, Sakyamuni studied with me. I wonder whom he studied with, and saw whom?' The Master said, 'Only a fellow student knows.' The monk said, 'I wonder how one draws near to such a person?' The Master said, 'If so, then you do not understand how to study.' Someone asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'It is often asked and never hit.' Someone asked, 'How does one sing the song of returning home?' The Master said, 'Even if you sang it, it would fall behind you.' Someone asked, 'What is the realm of Baizhang?' The Master said, 'How is it like Yunju?' Someone asked, 'What is Baizhang's one phrase for the sake of others?' The Master said, 'If you go to all quarters, you must ask about it everywhere.' Then he said, 'Truly there is nothing to do. Each of you is a Buddha — what doubt is left that you should come here? The ancients said, In the ten directions all gather together, and every one studies non-doing. This is the field for choosing Buddhas; when the mind is empty, one returns having passed the examination. But what does it mean that the mind is empty? It is not sitting cold with closed eyes somewhere — that is the mind being empty. That is precisely the reckoning of consciousness. Worthies, do you want to understand the empty mind? Just know the mind, and you will see the empty mind. Therefore it is said: the past has already passed, and the future need not be reckoned. Sitting blankly with nothing to do, who ever called you? And if someone did call, worthies, would it be better to answer him or not to answer him? If you answer him, then who is it that called you? If you do not answer him, then you are no worse off than a deaf man. The three periods are empty in essence, and yet they are not a block of wood. Therefore the ancients said, When the mind is empty, one sees the Dharma king. Do you see the Dharma king? It is only this old sick monk. And do not say he praises himself too well. Take care.' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'How many matters have you left unasked?' A monk brought up: Someone asked Xuansha, 'I do not ask about the teachings of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions. What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' Xuansha said, 'The teachings of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions are not wanted.' I do not understand; please, Master, explain it. The Master said, 'You truly do not understand.' The monk said, 'I truly do not.' The Master showed a verse: 'Do not want the three vehicles but want the Ancestor; the three vehicles not wanted are the same as you. If you would now understand and master the purport, in the small hours the gibbon cries on the tangled peaks.' Ascending the hall: 'You worthies have just come out of the monks' hall; before your feet crossed the threshold your eyes had already gone back — that is already repeating words and verses. To come here again, one must not again and again add footnotes. The ancients said, To study another is not as good as to study oneself. Therefore it is said that the teeming myriad things are Sudhana's master, and that karmic delusion and the toil of dust are Samantabhadra's realm. If you study in this way, you study together with Sudhana. If you will not study in this way, then go back to the hall and sit by the fire, and study with the fire-warming brahmin.' Take care.' Ascending the hall, as soon as the assembly had gathered he said:

吃茶去。或時眾集。便曰。珍重。或時眾集。便曰。歇。後有頌曰。百丈有三訣。吃茶．珍重．歇。直下便承當。敢保君未徹。師終於本山。

(The Master continued:) 'Go drink tea.' At other times, when the assembly gathered, he would say, 'Take care.' At other times, when the assembly gathered, he would say, 'Rest.' Later there was a verse: 'Baizhang has three keys — drink tea, take care, rest. Take them up directly — and still I dare to say you have not penetrated.' The Master ended his days at his home mountain.

杭州永明寺道潛禪師

Chan Master Daoqian of Yongming Monastery in Hangzhou

河中府武氏子。初謁法眼。眼問曰。子於參請外。看甚麼經。師曰。華嚴經。眼曰。總別．同異．成壞六相。是何門攝屬。師曰。文在十地品中。據理則世出世間一切法。皆具六相也。眼曰。空還具六相也無。師懵然無對。眼曰。汝問我。我向汝道。師乃問。空還具六相也無。眼曰。空。師於是開悟。踴躍禮謝。眼曰。子作麼生會。師曰。空。眼然之。異日。因四眾士女入院。眼問師曰。律中道。隔壁聞釵釧聲。即名破戒。見覩金銀合雜。朱紫駢闐。是破戒不是破戒。師曰。好箇入路。眼曰。子向後有五百毳徒。為王侯所重在。師尋禮辭。駐錫於衢州古寺。閱大藏經。忠懿王命入府受菩薩戒。署慈化定慧禪師。建大伽藍。號慧日永明。請居之。師欲請塔下羅漢銅像。過新寺供養。王曰。善矣。予昨夜夢十六尊者。乞隨禪師入寺。何昭應之若是。仍於師號加應真二字。師坐永明。常五百眾。上堂。佛法顯然。因甚麼卻不會。諸上座欲會佛法。但問取張三李四。欲會世法。則參取古佛叢林。無事久立。僧問。如何是永明的的意。師曰。今日十五。明朝十六。曰。覧師的的意。師曰。何處覧。問。如何是永明家風。師曰。早被上座答了也。問。三種病人如何接。師曰。汝是聾人。曰。請師方便。師曰。是方便。問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼百鳥銜華。師曰。見東見西。曰。見後為甚麼不銜華。師曰。見南見北。曰。昔日作麼生。師曰。且會今日。問。達磨西來傳箇甚麼。師曰。傳箇𠕋子。曰。恁麼則心外有法去也。師曰。心內無法。問。如何是第二月。師曰。月。問。如何是覿面事。師曰。背後是甚麼。問。文殊仗劒。擬殺何人。師曰。止。止。曰。如何是劒。師曰。眼是。問。諸餘即不問。向上宗乘亦且置。請師不答。師曰。好箇師僧子。曰。恁麼則禮拜去也。師曰。不要三拜。盡汝一生去。眾參次。

He was a son of the Wu family of Hezhong Prefecture. He first met Fayan. Fayan asked, 'Apart from your studies, what scripture do you read?' The Master said, 'The Avatamsaka Sutra.' Fayan said, 'The six characteristics — totality and particularity, sameness and difference, formation and destruction — under which gate do they fall?' The Master said, 'The text is in the Chapter on the Ten Grounds. By principle, all dharmas of the world and beyond the world possess the six characteristics.' Fayan said, 'Does emptiness also possess the six characteristics?' The Master was dumbfounded and had no reply. Fayan said, 'You ask me, and I will tell you.' The Master then asked, 'Does emptiness also possess the six characteristics?' Fayan said, 'Emptiness.' At this the Master awakened, leapt up and bowed in thanks. Fayan said, 'How do you understand it?' The Master said, 'Emptiness.' Fayan approved. Another day, because the four assemblies of monks and laypeople entered the monastery, Fayan asked the Master, 'The Vinaya says that to hear the sound of hairpins and bracelets through the wall is called breaking the precepts. Seeing gold and silver mixed together, and crimson and purple thronging — is that breaking the precepts or not?' The Master said, 'What a good way in.' Fayan said, 'You will later have five hundred disciples in woolen robes, and be valued by kings and lords.' Not long after, the Master took leave, and settled at an old monastery in Quzhou, reading the Great Canon. King Zhongyi commanded him to enter the palace and receive the Bodhisattva precepts, and titled him Chan Master Cihua Dinghui. He built a great monastery named Hui Ri Yongming and asked him to live there. The Master wanted to request the bronze image of the arhats below the stupa and have it carried to the new monastery for offerings. The king said, 'Good. Last night I dreamt of the sixteen venerable ones asking to follow the Chan Master into the monastery. How clearly it agrees.' He also added the two words Yingzhen, Response to the True, to the Master's title. The Master sat at Yongming, constantly with five hundred in the assembly. Ascending the hall: 'The Buddha Dharma is perfectly clear — why do you not understand it? If you worthies want to understand the Buddha Dharma, just ask Zhang San and Li Si. If you want to understand worldly dharma, then study with the ancient Buddhas in the groves. Nothing else. You have stood long.' A monk asked, 'What is Yongming's exact intent?' The Master said, 'Today is the fifteenth; tomorrow is the sixteenth.' The monk said, 'I have seen the Master's exact intent.' The Master said, 'Where did you see it?' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Yongming?' The Master said, 'The worthy has already answered for me.' Someone asked, 'How does one take up the three kinds of sick people?' The Master said, 'You are a deaf man.' The monk said, 'Please, Master, be expedient.' The Master said, 'That is the expedient.' Someone asked, 'When Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor, why did a hundred birds carry flowers?' The Master said, 'He saw east and saw west.' The monk said, 'And after he met him, why did they not carry flowers?' The Master said, 'He saw south and saw north.' The monk said, 'What about in former days?' The Master said, 'Just understand today.' Someone asked, 'What did Bodhidharma transmit when he came from the West?' The Master said, 'He transmitted a book.' The monk said, 'If so, then there is a dharma outside the mind.' The Master said, 'There is no dharma inside the mind.' Someone asked, 'What is the second moon?' The Master said, 'The moon.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter right before the face?' The Master said, 'What is behind?' Someone asked, 'Manjushri holds a sword — whom does he mean to kill?' The Master said, 'Stop, stop.' The monk said, 'What is the sword?' The Master said, 'The eye is.' Someone asked, 'I do not ask about the rest, and I set aside the ancestral vehicle above. Please, Master, do not answer.' The Master said, 'What a fine monk.' The monk said, 'If so, then I shall bow and go.' The Master said, 'Do not make three bows. Spend your whole life on it.' As the assembly was studying,

師指香爐曰。汝諸人還見麼。若見。一時禮拜。各自歸堂。僧問。至道無言。借言顯道。如何是顯道之言。師曰。切忌揀擇。曰。如何是不揀擇。師曰。元帥大王。太保令公。問。如何是慧日祥光。師曰。此去報慈不遠。曰。恁麼則親蒙照燭。師曰。且喜沒交涉。

(The Master continued) pointing at the incense burner, he said, 'Do you see it? If you see it, bow all at once and each return to the hall.' A monk asked, 'The ultimate Way is wordless, and words are borrowed to reveal the Way. What is the word that reveals the Way?' The Master said, 'Above all, do not pick and choose.' The monk said, 'What is not picking and choosing?' The Master said, 'The marshal great king, the grand guardian duke.' Someone asked, 'What is the auspicious light of Hui Ri?' The Master said, 'It is not far from Baoci.' The monk said, 'If so, then I have personally received its illumination.' The Master said, 'And yet I am glad it has nothing to do with it.'

杭州報恩慧明禪師

Chan Master Huiming of Baoen in Hangzhou

姓蔣氏。幼歲出家。三學精練。志探玄旨。乃南遊於閩越間。歷諸禪會。莫契本心。後至臨川謁法眼。師資道合。尋回鄞水大梅山庵居。吳越部內。禪學者雖盛。而以玄沙正宗置之閫外。師欲整而導之。一日。有新到參。師問。近離甚處。曰。都城。師曰。上座離都城到此山。則都城少上座。此間剩上座。剩則心外有法。少則心法不周。說得道理即住。不會即去。僧無對。僧問。如何是大梅主。師曰。闍黎今日離甚麼處。僧無對。師尋遷天台山白沙卓庵。有朋彥上座博學強記。來訪師敵論宗乘。師曰。言多去道轉遠。今有事借問。祇如從上諸聖及諸先德。還有不悟者也無。彥曰。若是諸聖先德。豈有不悟者哉。師曰。一人發真歸源。十方虗空悉皆消殞。今天台山嶷然。如何得消殞去。彥不知所措。自是。他宗泛學來者皆服膺矣。漢乾祐中。忠懿王延入府中問法。命住資崇院。師盛談玄沙及地藏法眼。宗旨臻極。王因命翠巖令參等諸禪匠及城下名公定其勝負。天龍禪師問曰。一切諸佛及諸佛法。皆從此經出。未審此經從何而出。師曰。道甚麼。天龍擬進語。師曰。過也。資嚴長老問。如何是現前三昧。師曰。還聞麼。嚴曰。某甲不患聾。師曰。果然患聾。師復舉雪峰塔銘問諸老宿。夫從緣有者。始終而成壞。非從緣有者。歷劫而長堅。堅之與壞即且置。雪峰即今在甚麼處(法眼別雲。祇今是成是壞)。宿無對。設有對者。亦不能當其徵詰。時群彥弭伏。王大喜悅。署圓通普照禪師。上堂。諸人還委悉麼。莫道語默動靜．無非佛事好。且莫錯會。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。汝還見香臺麼。曰。某甲未會。乞師指示。師曰。香臺也不識。問。離卻目前機。如何是西來意。師曰。汝何不問。曰。恁麼則委是去也。師曰。也是虗施。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。我見燈明佛本光瑞如此。問。如何是學人自己。

His family name was Jiang. He left home in youth, was thoroughly trained in the three studies, and resolved to explore the mysterious purport. He traveled south among Min and Yue, passing through all the Chan assemblies, but none matched his original mind. Later he came to Linchuan and met Fayan, and teacher and student agreed in the Way. Not long after he returned to a hermitage on Damei Mountain by the Yin River. In the Wu-Yue region, though Chan students were many, the true school of Xuansha was set outside the threshold. The Master wished to set it right and guide them. One day a newcomer came to study. The Master asked, 'Where have you just come from?' The monk said, 'The capital.' The Master said, 'You left the capital and came to this mountain; then the capital is short one worthy and this place has one worthy too many. Too many means there is a dharma outside the mind; too few means the dharma of the mind is incomplete. If you can speak the principle, stay; if you cannot, go.' The monk had no reply. A monk asked, 'What is the master of Damei?' The Master said, 'Where have you come from today, acharya?' The monk had no reply. Not long after, the Master moved to a hermitage at Baisha on Mount Tiantai. The head seat Pengyan, learned and retentive, came to visit the Master and contend with him over the ancestral vehicle. The Master said, 'Much talk takes one further from the Way. Now I have a matter to put to you. As for the sages above and the venerable ones of old — were there any among them who did not awaken?' Pengyan said, 'As for the sages and venerable ones, how could any of them not have awakened?' The Master said, 'When one man brings forth the true and returns to the source, the empty space of the ten directions is entirely dissolved. Now Mount Tiantai stands towering — how is it to be dissolved?' Pengyan did not know what to say. From this, those who came from other schools with broad learning all submitted to him. In the Qianyou era of the Han, King Zhongyi invited him into the palace to ask about the Dharma, and commanded him to live at Zichong Monastery. The Master spoke at length of Xuansha, Dizang and Fayan, and his purport reached the utmost. The king therefore commanded Cuiyan Lingcan and other Chan masters, together with famous lords of the city, to decide the contest. Chan Master Tianlong asked, 'All the Buddhas and all the Buddha dharmas come forth from this scripture. I wonder from what this scripture comes forth?' The Master said, 'What did you say?' Tianlong was about to speak further, and the Master said, 'You have gone past.' The elder Ziyan asked, 'What is the samadhi before the eyes?' The Master said, 'Do you hear it?' Ziyan said, 'I am not deaf.' The Master said, 'Indeed you are deaf.' The Master then brought up the stupa inscription of Xuefeng and asked the venerable elders, 'That which exists from conditions is formed and destroyed from first to last. That which does not exist from conditions endures firm through kalpas. Firmness and destruction, set that aside. Where is Xuefeng right now?' (Fayan said otherwise, 'Is it now formed or destroyed?') The venerable elders had no reply. If any did reply, they could not withstand his interrogation. At that time the crowd of worthies were silenced. The king was greatly delighted and titled him Chan Master Yuantong Puzhao. Ascending the hall: 'Do you worthies understand? Do not say that speech and silence, movement and stillness are all Buddha work. Do not misunderstand.' A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Do you see the incense terrace?' The monk said, 'I do not understand; I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master said, 'You do not even know the incense terrace.' Someone asked, 'Apart from the mechanism before the eyes, what is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Why do you not ask?' The monk said, 'If so, then I truly understand and go.' The Master said, 'That too is a vain gift.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'I see the Lamp-Bright Buddha's original light and auspiciousness is like this.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's own self?'

師曰。特地伸問是甚麼意。問。如何是西來意。師曰。十萬八千真䟦涉。直下西來不到東。問。如何是第二月。師曰。揑目看花花數朵。見精明樹幾枝枝。

The Master said, 'What is the meaning of asking especially?' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A hundred thousand and eight thousand li of true trudging — coming straight from the West, he does not reach the East.' Someone asked, 'What is the second moon?' The Master said, 'Press your eye and look at the flowers — several blossoms; see the bright and clear tree — how many branches.'

金陵報慈行言玄覺導師

Master Xingyan Xuanjue, Guide of Baoci in Jinling

泉州人也。上堂。凡行腳人參善知識。到一叢林。放下瓶缽。可謂行菩薩道能事畢矣。何用更來這裡舉論。真如涅槃。此是非時之說。然古人有言。譬如披沙識寶。沙礫若除。真金自現。便喚作常住世間。具足僧寶。亦如一味之雨。一般之地。生長萬物。大小不同。甘辛有異。不可道地與雨有大小之名也。所以道。方即現方。圓即現圓。何以故。爾法無偏正。隨相應現。喚作對現色身。還見麼。若不見也莫閑坐地。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。此問不當。問。坐卻是非。如何合得本來人。師曰。汝作麼生坐。師聞鳩子呌。問僧。甚麼聲。曰。鳩子聲。師曰。欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。江南國主建報慈院。命師大闡宗猷。海會二千餘眾。別署導師之號。上堂。此日英賢共會。海眾同臻。諒惟佛法之趣。無不備矣。若是英鑒之者。不須待言也。然言之本無。何以默矣。是以森羅萬象。諸佛洪源。顯明則海印光澄。冥昧則情迷自惑。苟非通心上士．逸格高人。則何以於諸塵中發揚妙極。卷舒物象。縱奪森羅。示生非生。應滅非滅。生滅洞已。乃曰真常。言假則影散千途。論真則一空絕跡。豈可以有無生滅而計之者哉。僧問。國王再請。特薦先朝。和尚今日如何舉唱。師曰。汝不是問再唱人。曰。恁麼則天上人間。無過此也。師曰。沒交涉。問。遠遠投師。請垂一接。師曰。卻依舊處去。

He was a man of Quanzhou. Ascending the hall: 'When a pilgrim studies a good friend and reaches a grove, sets down his bottle and bowl, that may be called the practice of the Bodhisattva path and the end of his business. What need to come here and raise discussions of suchness and nirvana? These are words for the wrong time. Yet the ancients said, It is like sifting sand to recognize treasure: if the gravel is removed, the true gold appears of itself. Then it is called dwelling constantly in the world, complete with the jewel of the Sangha. It is also like one-flavored rain and one kind of ground bringing forth the ten thousand things, great and small not the same, sweet and bitter different. You cannot say the ground and the rain have the names of great and small. Therefore it is said: square appears as square, round appears as round. Why? Because the dharma has neither partiality nor correctness and appears according to what corresponds. This is called the responsive manifested body. Do you see it? If you do not see it, do not sit idly.' A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'That question is not fitting.' Someone asked, 'Sitting cuts off right and wrong — how does one join with the original person?' The Master said, 'How do you sit?' The Master heard a dove call and asked a monk, 'What sound is that?' The monk said, 'The sound of a dove.' The Master said, 'If you would not invite the karma of the Avici hell, do not slander the Tathagata's correct Dharma wheel.' The sovereign of the state of Jiangnan built Baoci Monastery and commanded the Master to greatly spread the school's plan, with over two thousand in the ocean-like assembly, and specially gave him the title of Guide. Ascending the hall: 'Today the outstanding worthies meet together and the ocean assembly arrives as one. I trust that the purport of the Buddha Dharma is in no way incomplete. If one is a hero of clear discernment, he does not need words. But words are originally nothing — how then be silent? Therefore the teeming myriad things are the vast source of all Buddhas. When manifest and clear, the ocean seal is bright and still; when dark and obscure, one is deluded by one's own confusion. If one is not a superior man of penetrating mind or a person of transcendent rank, how could one in the midst of all the dusts unfold the wondrous utmost, rolling and unrolling the forms of things, seizing and releasing the teeming array? Showing birth as no birth, responding to extinction as no extinction. Birth and extinction are seen through, and then it is called the true constant. Speak of the false and the shadows scatter over a thousand roads; speak of the true and the one emptiness leaves no trace. How could one reckon it by existence and non-existence, birth and extinction?' A monk asked, 'The king asks again and specially recommends the former dynasty. How does the Reverend raise and sing today?' The Master said, 'You are not the man who asks about singing again.' The monk said, 'If so, then in heaven and among men nothing surpasses this.' The Master said, 'It has nothing to do with it.' Someone asked, 'Coming from afar to study with you, I beg you to extend one hand.' The Master said, 'Go back to where you were.'

撫州崇壽院契稠禪師

Chan Master Qichou of Chongshou Monastery in Fuzhou

泉州人也。上堂。僧問。四眾諦觀第一義。如何是第一義。師曰。何勞更問。乃曰。大眾欲知佛性義。當觀時節因緣。作麼生是時節因緣。上座如今便散去。且道有也未。若無。因甚麼便散去。若有。作麼生是第一義。上座。第一義現成。何勞更觀。恁麼顯明得佛性常照。一切法常住。若見有法常住。猶未是法之真源。作麼生是法之真源。上座不見古人道。一人發真歸源。十方虗空悉皆消殞。還有一法為意解麼。古人有如是大事因緣。依而行之即是。何勞長老多說。眾中有未知者。便請相示。僧問。法眼之燈。親然汝水。今日王侯請命。如何是法眼之燈。師曰。更請一問。問。古人見不齊處。請師方便。師曰。古人見甚麼處不齊。問。如何是佛。師曰。如何是佛。曰。如何領解。師曰。領解即不是。問。的的西來意。師當第幾人。師曰。年年八月半中秋。問。如何是和尚為人一句。師曰。觀音舉．上藍舉。

He was a man of Quanzhou. Ascending the hall, a monk asked, 'The four assemblies earnestly contemplate the first principle. What is the first principle?' The Master said, 'Why trouble to ask again?' Then he said, 'If the assembly would know the meaning of the Buddha nature, they should observe the season and conditions. What are the season and conditions? If you worthies disperse right now, tell me: is there any or not? If there is none, why do you disperse? If there is, what is the first principle? Worthies, the first principle is already present — why trouble to contemplate again? In this way it is clearly shown that the Buddha nature constantly shines and all dharmas constantly abide. But if you see a dharma constantly abiding, that is still not the true source of the dharma. What is the true source of the dharma? Worthies, have you not heard the ancients say: When one man brings forth the true and returns to the source, the empty space of the ten directions is entirely dissolved. Is there still one dharma for the mind to understand? The ancients had such a great matter and cause. To practice according to it is enough. Why trouble the elder to say much? If any in the assembly do not yet know, please let them be shown.' A monk asked, 'The lamp of Fayan was personally lit at Ru River. Today the king and lords request the command — what is the lamp of Fayan?' The Master said, 'Ask one more question.' Someone asked, 'Where the ancients saw unevenly, I beg the Master to be expedient.' The Master said, 'Where did the ancients see unevenly?' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'What is the Buddha?' The monk said, 'How does one understand it?' The Master said, 'To understand it is not it.' Someone asked, 'The exact meaning of the coming from the West — what number does the Master hold?' The Master said, 'Every year, the middle of the eighth month is mid-autumn.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's one phrase for the sake of others?' The Master said, 'Guanyin raises it, Shanglan raises it.'

金陵報恩院法安慧濟禪師

Chan Master Fa'an Huiji of Baoen Monastery in Jinling

太和人也。初住曹山。上堂。知幻即離。不作方便。離幻即覺。亦無漸次。諸上座且作麼生問。不作方便。又無漸次。古人道在甚麼處。若會得。諸佛常現前。若未會。莫向圓覺經裡討。夫佛法亙古亙今。未甞不現前。諸上座。一切時中。鹹承此威光。須具大信根。荷擔得起始得。不見佛讚猛利底人堪為器用。亦不賞他向善．久修淨業者。要似他廣額兇屠。拋下操刀。便證阿羅漢果。直須恁麼始得。所以長者道。如將梵位直授凡庸。僧問。大眾既臨於法會。請師不吝句中玄。師曰。謾得大眾麼。曰。恁麼則全因此問也。師曰。不用得。問。古人有言。一切法以不生為宗。如何是不生宗。師曰。好箇問處。問。佛法中請師方便。師曰。方便了也。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。何待問。江南國主請居報恩。署號攝眾。上堂。謂眾曰。此日奉命令住持當院。為眾演法。適來見維那白槌了。多少好。令教當觀第一義。且作麼生是第一義。若這裡參得多少省要。如今別更說箇甚麼即得。然承恩旨。不可杜默去也。夫禪宗示要。法爾常規。圓明顯露。亙古亙今。至於達磨西來。也祇與諸人證明。亦無法可得與人。祇道直下是。便教立地搆取。古人雖則道立地搆取。如今坐地還搆得也無。有疑請問。僧問。三德奧樞從佛演。一音玄路請師明。師曰。汝道有也未。問。如何是報恩境。師曰。大家見汝問。開寶中。示滅於本院。

He was a man of Taihe. He first lived at Caoshan. Ascending the hall: 'Knowing illusion, one at once departs — no expedient is made. Departing from illusion, one at once awakens — and there are no stages either. Worthies, how then do you ask? If no expedient is made and there are no stages, where did the ancients say it is? If you understand, all the Buddhas are constantly before you. If you do not understand, do not seek it in the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. The Buddha Dharma runs through ancient and present, and has never not been before you. Worthies, at all times you all receive this majestic light. You must possess the great root of faith and be able to shoulder it. Do you not see that the Buddha praised the sharp and keen man as fit to be a vessel, and did not reward those who do good and cultivate pure karma for long? He wanted one to be like the broad-browed fierce butcher who threw down his cleaver and at once realized the fruit of arhatship. It must be exactly like that. Therefore the elder said, As if conferring the rank of Brahma directly on a common fellow.' A monk asked, 'Since the assembly has come to the Dharma feast, I beg the Master not to begrudge the mystery within the phrase.' The Master said, 'Would that deceive the assembly?' The monk said, 'If so, then it is all because of this question.' The Master said, 'No need.' Someone asked, 'The ancients said, All dharmas take non-arising as their principle. What is the principle of non-arising?' The Master said, 'What a good place to ask.' Someone asked, 'In the Buddha Dharma, I beg the Master to be expedient.' The Master said, 'The expedient is done.' Someone asked, 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'Why wait to ask?' The sovereign of Jiangnan asked him to live at Baoen and titled him Shezhong, Gathering the Assembly. Ascending the hall, he said to the assembly, 'Today I have received the command to be abbot of this monastery and to expound the Dharma for the assembly. Just now I saw the work manager strike the gavel — how good. He had us contemplate the first principle. But what is the first principle? If you can study it here, how much is thereby made essential and brief. What else is there to say now? Yet since I have received the gracious command, I cannot keep silent and depart. The Chan school reveals the essential as its natural norm. Perfect clarity and exposure run through ancient and present. As for Bodhidharma's coming from the West, he too only bore witness for you people; there was no dharma he could get and give to others. He only said that right where you stand is it, and taught you to grasp it standing on the spot. Though the ancients said to grasp it standing on the spot, can you grasp it sitting on the spot now? If you have doubts, ask.' A monk asked, 'The profound pivot of the three virtues is expounded by the Buddha; I beg the Master to clarify the mysterious road of the one sound.' The Master said, 'Do you say there is any or not?' Someone asked, 'What is the realm of Baoen?' The Master said, 'Everyone sees you ask.' In the Kaibao era he showed his extinction at this monastery.

廬州長安院延規禪師

Chan Master Yangui of Chang'an Monastery in Luzhou

僧問。如何是庵中主。師曰。汝到諸方。但道從長安來。

A monk asked, 'What is the master within the hermitage?' The Master said, 'When you go to all quarters, just say you come from Chang'an.'

南康軍雲居山清錫禪師

Chan Master Qingxi of Yunju Mountain in Nankang Jun

泉州人也。僧問。如何是雲居境。師曰。汝喚甚麼作境。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。適來向汝道甚麼。後住泉州西明院。有廖天使入院。見供養法眼和尚真。乃問曰。真前是甚麼果子。師曰。假果子。天使曰。既是假果子。為甚麼將供養真。師曰。也祇要天使識假。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。容顏甚奇妙。

He was a man of Quanzhou. A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Yunju?' The Master said, 'What do you call a realm?' The monk said, 'What is the man within the realm?' The Master said, 'What did I tell you just now?' Later he lived at Ximing Monastery in Quanzhou. The angel Liao entered the monastery and, seeing the offerings before the portrait of the Reverend Fayan, asked, 'What fruit is that before the portrait?' The Master said, 'A false fruit.' The angel said, 'Since it is a false fruit, why offer it before the portrait?' The Master said, 'Only to let the angel recognize the false.' A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'His countenance is most wonderful.'

常州正勤院希奉禪師

Chan Master Xifeng of Zhengqin Monastery in Changzhou

蘇州謝氏子。上堂。古聖道。圓同太虗。無欠無餘。又道。一一法．一一宗。眾多法一法宗。又道。起唯法起。滅唯法滅。又道。起時不言我起。滅時不言我滅。據此說話。屈滯久在叢林上座。若是初心。兄弟且須體道。人身難得。正法難聞。莫同等閑。施王衣食。不易消遣。若不明道。箇箇盡須還他。上座要會道麼。珍重。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。甚麼處得這箇消息。問。如何是諸法空相。師曰。山河大地。問。僧眾雲集。請師舉唱宗乘。師曰。舉來久矣。問。佛法付囑國王大臣。今日正勤將何付囑。師曰。萬歲。萬歲。問。古人有言。山河大地是汝真善知識。如何得山河大地為善知識去。師曰。汝喚甚麼作山河大地。問。如何是合道之言。師曰。汝問我答。問。靈山會上。迦葉親聞。未審今日誰人得聞。師曰。迦葉親聞箇甚麼。問。古佛道場。學人如何得到。師曰。汝今在甚麼處。問。如何是和尚圓通。師敲禪床三下。問。如何是脫卻根塵。師曰。莫妄想。問。人王法王。是一是二。師曰。人王法王。問。如何是諸法寂滅相。師曰。起唯法起。滅唯法滅。問。如何是未曾生底法。師曰。汝爭得知。問。無著見文殊。為甚麼不識。師曰。汝道文殊還識無著麼。問。得意誰家新曲妙。正勤一句請師宣。師曰。道甚麼。曰。豈無方便也。師曰。汝不會我語。

He was a son of the Xie family of Suzhou. Ascending the hall: 'The ancient sages said, Round like empty space, with nothing lacking and nothing left over. They also said, Each dharma, each school; many dharmas, one dharma's school. They also said, Arising is only the dharma arising; ceasing is only the dharma ceasing. They also said, When arising it does not say I arise; when ceasing it does not say I cease. Judged by these words, you worthies have long been bent and stuck in the groves. If you are brothers of beginner's mind, you must still embody the Way. A human body is hard to gain; the correct Dharma is hard to hear. Do not treat it as an idle matter. The food and clothing given by the king and donors are not easily digested. If you do not understand the Way, every one of you must give them back. Worthies, do you want to understand the Way? Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Where did you get that news?' Someone asked, 'What is the mark of the emptiness of all dharmas?' The Master said, 'Mountains, rivers and the great earth.' Someone asked, 'The assembly of monks gathers like clouds; please, Master, raise and sing the ancestral vehicle.' The Master said, 'I have been raising it for a long time.' Someone asked, 'The Buddha Dharma is entrusted to kings and ministers. To whom does Zhengqin entrust it today?' The Master said, 'Ten thousand years, ten thousand years.' Someone asked, 'The ancients said, The mountains, rivers and great earth are your true good friend. How can one make the mountains, rivers and great earth one's good friend?' The Master said, 'What do you call the mountains, rivers and great earth?' Someone asked, 'What is the phrase that accords with the Way?' The Master said, 'You ask and I answer.' Someone asked, 'At the assembly on Vulture Peak, Kasyapa heard it in person. I wonder who hears it today?' The Master said, 'What did Kasyapa hear in person?' Someone asked, 'The place of the ancient Buddha's Way — how can a student reach it?' The Master said, 'Where are you now?' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's perfect penetration?' The Master rapped the corded chair three times. Someone asked, 'How does one strip off the senses and their objects?' The Master said, 'Do not be deluded.' Someone asked, 'The king of men and the Dharma king — are they one or two?' The Master said, 'The king of men and the Dharma king.' Someone asked, 'What is the mark of the quiescence of all dharmas?' The Master said, 'Arising is only the dharma arising; ceasing is only the dharma ceasing.' Someone asked, 'What is the dharma that has never been born?' The Master said, 'How do you know it?' Someone asked, 'Wuzhao met Manjushri — why did he not recognize him?' The Master said, 'Do you say Manjushri recognized Wuzhao?' Someone asked, 'Whose new song is the wonder of the attained intent? Let the Master proclaim Zhengqin's one phrase.' The Master said, 'What did you say?' The monk said, 'Is there no expedient then?' The Master said, 'You do not understand my words.'

漳州羅漢智依宣法禪師

Chan Master Zhiyi Xuanfa of Luohan in Zhangzhou

上堂。盡十方世界。無一微塵許法。與汝作見聞覺知。還信麼。然雖如此。也須悟始得。莫將為等閑。不見道。單明自己。不悟目前。此人祇具一隻眼。還會麼。僧問。纖塵不立。為甚麼好醜現前。師曰。分明記取。別處問人。問。大眾雲集。誰是得者。師曰。還曾失麼。問。如何是佛。師曰。汝是行腳僧。問。如何是寶壽家風。師曰。一任觀看。曰。恁麼則大眾有賴。師曰。汝作麼生。曰。終不敢謾大眾。師曰。嫌少作麼。問僧。受業在甚麼處。曰。在佛跡。師曰。佛在甚麼處。曰。甚麼處不是。師舉起拳曰。作麼生。曰。和尚收取。師曰。放闍黎七棒。問僧。今夏在甚麼處。僧曰。在無言上座處。師曰。還曾問訊他否。僧曰。也曾問訊。師曰。無言作麼生問得。僧曰。若得無言。甚麼處不問得。師喝曰。恰似問老兄。師與彥端長老吃餅餤。端曰。百種千般。其體不二。師曰。作麼生是不二體。端拈起餅餤。師曰。祇守百種千般。端曰。也是和尚見處。師曰。汝也是羅公詠梳頭樣。師將示滅。乃謂眾曰。今晚四大不和暢。雲騰鳥飛。風動塵起。浩浩地還有人治得麼。若治得。永劫不相識。若治不得。時時常見我。言訖告寂。

Ascending the hall: 'Throughout the whole world of the ten directions there is not one mote of dust's worth of dharma to serve you as seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing. Do you believe it? And yet, even so, you must awaken before you have it. Do not treat it as an idle matter. Have you not heard it said: To illuminate only oneself and not awaken to what is before the eyes, such a man has only one eye. Do you understand?' A monk asked, 'When not a fine mote stands, why do the beautiful and the ugly appear before one?' The Master said, 'Record it clearly. Ask others elsewhere.' Someone asked, 'The assembly gathers like clouds — who is the one who gets it?' The Master said, 'Has he ever lost it?' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'You are a pilgrim monk.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Baoshou?' The Master said, 'You are free to look.' The monk said, 'If so, then the assembly has something to rely on.' The Master said, 'What will you do?' The monk said, 'I would never dare deceive the assembly.' The Master said, 'Why dislike its being so little?' He asked a monk, 'Where were you ordained?' The monk said, 'At the Buddha's Trace.' The Master said, 'Where is the Buddha?' The monk said, 'Where is it not?' The Master raised his fist and said, 'How is this?' The monk said, 'The Reverend takes it back.' The Master said, 'You are let off seven blows.' He asked a monk, 'Where did you spend this summer?' The monk said, 'With the elder Wuyan.' The Master said, 'Did you inquire after him?' The monk said, 'I did inquire.' The Master said, 'How did Wuyan ask?' The monk said, 'If one has no words, where can one not ask?' The Master shouted, 'Just like asking an old brother.' The Master was eating cakes with the elder Yanduan. Yanduan said, 'A hundred kinds and a thousand sorts, their essence is not two.' The Master said, 'What is the essence of not two?' Yanduan picked up a cake. The Master said, 'You only keep to the hundred kinds and a thousand sorts.' Yanduan said, 'That too is the Reverend's view.' The Master said, 'You too have the look of Old Man Luo combing his hair.' When the Master was about to show his extinction, he said to the assembly, 'Tonight the four elements are not in harmony. Clouds rise and birds fly, the wind stirs and dust rises — in all that vastness, is there anyone who can master it? If one can master it, for kalpas we shall not know each other. If one cannot master it, at all times you will see me.' Having spoken, he announced his quiescence.

金陵鍾山章義院道欽禪師

Chan Master Daoqin of Zhangyi Monastery on Mount Zhong in Jinling

太原人也。初住盧山棲賢。上堂。道遠乎哉。觸事而真。聖遠乎哉。體之則神。我尋常示汝。何不向衣缽下坐地。直下參取。須要上來。討箇甚麼。既上來。我即事不獲已。便舉古德少許方便。抖擻些子龜毛兔角。解落向汝。諸上座欲得省要。僧堂裡．三門下．寮舍裡參取好。還有會處也未。若有會處。試說看。與上座證明。僧問。如何是棲賢境。師曰。棲賢有甚麼境。問。古人拈椎竪拂。還當宗乘中事也無。師曰。古人道了也。問。學人乍入叢林。乞和尚指示。師曰。一手指天。一手指地。後江南國主請居章義道場。上堂。總來這裡立。作甚麼。善知識如河沙數。常與汝為伴。行住坐臥。不相捨離。但長連床上穩坐地。十方善知識自來參。上座何不信取。作得如許多難易。他古聖嗟見今時人不奈何。乃曰。傷夫。人情之惑久矣。目對真而不覺。此乃嗟汝諸人看卻不知。且道看卻甚麼不知。何不體察古人方便。祇為信之不及。致得如此。諸上座但於佛法中留心。無不得者。無事體道去。便下座。僧問。百年暗室。一燈能破時如何。師曰。莫謾語。問。佛法還受變異也無。師曰。上座是。僧問。大眾雲集。請師舉揚宗旨。師曰。久矣。問。如何是玄旨。師曰。玄有甚麼旨。

He was a man of Taiyuan. He first lived at Qixian on Mount Lu. Ascending the hall: 'Is the Way far off? Touching matters, it is real. Are the sages far off? Embody them and they are numinous. I ordinarily show you — why do you not sit down under your robe and bowl and study it directly? You must come up here — what are you seeking? Since you have come up, I have no choice, and so I raise a little expedient of the ancient worthies, shake out a few tortoise hairs and rabbit horns, and untie them for you. Worthies, if you want to get the essential, study it in the monks' hall, at the triple gate, in your quarters. Have you anywhere you understand? If there is a place you understand, try and say it, and I will certify you.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Qixian?' The Master said, 'What realm does Qixian have?' Someone asked, 'When the ancients raised the mallet and held up the whisk, does that still count as a matter of the ancestral vehicle?' The Master said, 'The ancients have spoken.' Someone asked, 'The student has just entered the groves; I beg the Reverend to point it out.' The Master said, 'One hand points at heaven, one hand points at earth.' Later the sovereign of Jiangnan asked him to live at the Zhangyi place of the Way. Ascending the hall: 'You all come and stand here — what for? Good friends are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and are always your companions. Walking, standing, sitting and lying, they never leave you. Just sit firmly on the long bench, and the good friends of the ten directions will come of themselves to study. Why do you not believe it, worthies, and make so much difficulty and ease out of it? The ancient sages sighed to see that people of the present time can do nothing about it, and said, Alas, the confusion of human feeling is old. The eye faces the true and does not perceive it. This is sighing that you people look but do not know. Tell me, looking at what do you not know? Why do you not examine the expedients of the ancients? It is only that your faith does not reach, and so it comes to this. Worthies, if you only keep your mind in the Buddha Dharma, there is no one who does not get it. Nothing else. Go and embody the Way.' Then he descended from the seat. A monk asked, 'In a room dark for a hundred years, one lamp can break the darkness — what of it?' The Master said, 'Do not talk nonsense.' Someone asked, 'Does the Buddha Dharma also undergo change?' The Master said, 'You are it, worthy.' A monk asked, 'The assembly gathers like clouds; please, Master, raise and spread the purport.' The Master said, 'Long ago.' Someone asked, 'What is the mysterious purport?' The Master said, 'What purport does the mystery have?'

金陵報恩匡逸禪師

Chan Master Kuangyi of Baoen in Jinling

明州人也。江南國主請居上院。署凝密禪師。上堂。顧視大眾曰。依而行之。即無累矣。還信麼。如太陽赫弈皎然地。更莫思量。思量不及。設爾思量得及。喚作分限智慧。不見先德雲。人無心合道。道無心合人。人道既合。是名無事。人且自何而凡。自何而聖。於此若未會。可謂為迷情所覆。便去離不得。迷時即有窒礙。為對為待。種種不同。忽然惺去。亦無所得。譬如演若達多認影迷頭。豈不擔頭覓頭。然正迷之時。頭且不失。及乎悟去。亦不為得。何以故。人迷謂之失。人悟謂之得。得失在於人。何關於動靜。僧問。諸佛說法。普潤群機。和尚說法。甚麼人得聞。師曰。祇有汝不聞。問。如何是報恩一句。師曰。道不是得麼。問。十二時中思量不到處。如何行履。師曰。汝如今在甚麼處。問。祖嗣西來。如何舉唱。師曰。不違所請。問。如何是一句。師曰。我答爭似汝舉。問。佛為一大事因緣出世。未審和尚出世如何。師曰。恰好。曰。恁麼則大眾有賴。師曰。莫錯會。

He was a man of Mingzhou. The sovereign of Jiangnan asked him to live at the upper monastery and titled him Chan Master Ningmi. Ascending the hall, he looked at the assembly and said, 'Practice according to it, and there is no entanglement. Do you believe it? It is like the sun blazing and shining clearly — think no further. Thinking cannot reach it. And even if your thinking could reach it, it would be called limited wisdom. Have you not heard the former worthies say: The man without mind accords with the Way, and the Way without mind accords with the man. Since man and the Way accord, it is called having nothing to do. But from what is man ordinary, and from what is he sage? If you do not understand this, you may be said to be covered by deluded feeling, and then you cannot get free. When deluded, there is obstruction, and there is opposing and depending, all kinds of differences. When suddenly you wake, there is nothing gained either. It is like Yajnadatta, who recognized the shadow and lost his head — was he not carrying his head while seeking his head? Yet while he was deluded, his head was not lost. And when he awakened, it was not gained. Why? What people call loss when deluded, they call gain when awakened. Loss and gain lie with the person — what have they to do with movement and stillness?' A monk asked, 'When the Buddhas expound the Dharma, they moisten all capacities alike. When the Reverend expounds the Dharma, who hears it?' The Master said, 'Only you do not hear it.' Someone asked, 'What is Baoen's one phrase?' The Master said, 'Is saying it not it?' Someone asked, 'In the twelve hours, at the place thinking cannot reach, how does one walk?' The Master said, 'Where are you now?' Someone asked, 'The Ancestor's succession came from the West — how does one raise and sing it?' The Master said, 'I do not go against your request.' Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase?' The Master said, 'How is my answering as good as your raising it?' Someone asked, 'The Buddha came into the world for one great matter and cause. I wonder why the Reverend has come into the world?' The Master said, 'Just right.' The monk said, 'If so, then the assembly has something to rely on.' The Master said, 'Do not misunderstand.'

金陵報慈文遂導師

Master Wenxui, Guide of Baoci in Jinling

杭州陸氏子。甞究首楞嚴。甄會真妄緣起。本末精博。於是節科注釋。文句交絡。厥功既就。謁於法眼。述己所業。深符經旨。眼曰。楞嚴豈不是有八還義。師曰。是。曰。明還甚麼。師曰。明還日輪。曰。日還甚麼。師懵然無對。眼誡令禁其所注之文。師自有服膺請益。始忘知解。金陵國主署雷音覺海大導師。上堂。天人群生類。皆承此恩力。威權三界。德被四方。共稟靈光。鹹稱妙義。十方諸佛常頂戴汝。誰敢是非。及乎向這裡。喚作開方便門。對根設教。便有如此如彼。流出無窮。若能依而奉行。有何不可。所以清涼先師道。佛是無事人。且如今覓箇無事人也不可得。僧問。巔山巖崖。還有佛法也無。師曰。汝喚甚麼作巔山巖崖。問。如何是道。師曰。妄想顛倒。乃曰。老僧平生。百無所解。日日一般。雖住此間。隨緣任運。今日諸上座與本無異。珍重。僧問。如何是無異底事。師曰。千差萬別。僧再問。師曰。止。止。不須說。且會取千差萬別。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。方丈板門扇。問。如何是無相道場。師曰。四郎五郎廟。問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。簳麵杖。問。如何是正直一路。師曰。遠遠近近。曰。便恁麼去時如何。師曰。咄哉。痴人。此是險路。問。僧從甚麼處來。曰。曹山來。師曰。幾程到此。曰。七程。師曰。行卻許多山林谿㵎。何者是汝自己。曰。總是。師曰。眾生顛倒。認物為己。曰。如何是學人自己。師曰。總是。乃曰。諸上座。各在此經冬過夏。還有人悟自己也無。山僧與汝證明。令汝真見不被邪魔所惑。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。好箇師僧。眼目甚分明。

He was a son of the Lu family of Hangzhou. He had once studied the Surangama Sutra, discerning the true and the false, conditioned arising, root and branch, in a thorough and extensive way. He then divided the sections and annotated them, so that the text and phrases were interlaced. When the work was finished he presented it to Fayan, setting out his own effort, and it deeply matched the purport of the sutra. Fayan said, 'Does the Surangama not have the meaning of the eight returns?' The Master said, 'It does.' Fayan said, 'To what does brightness return?' The Master said, 'Brightness returns to the sun.' Fayan said, 'To what does the sun return?' The Master was dumbfounded and had no reply. Fayan admonished him and had him suppress the text he had annotated. From this the Master submitted and asked for instruction, and for the first time forgot his intellectual understanding. The sovereign of Jinling titled him the Great Guide Leiyin Juehai. Ascending the hall: 'Gods, men and the myriad kinds of living beings all receive the power of this grace. Its awe and authority cover the three realms, and its virtue reaches the four quarters. All alike receive the numinous light, and all alike are called wondrous meaning. The Buddhas of the ten directions constantly hold you on their heads — who dares say right or wrong? And when it comes to this, it is called opening the gate of expedients, and teaching according to capacity, and then there is thus and so, flowing out without end. If one can practice according to it, what is not permissible? Therefore my late teacher Qingliang said, The Buddha is a man with nothing to do. But now one cannot even find a man with nothing to do.' A monk asked, 'On the sheer cliffs and crags of the peak mountain, is there Buddha Dharma or not?' The Master said, 'What do you call the sheer cliffs and crags of the peak mountain?' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'Deluded thinking and inversion.' Then he said, 'All my life this old monk has understood nothing at all, and every day is the same. Though I live in this place, I follow conditions and let things run. Today you worthies are no different from me. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the matter of being no different?' The Master said, 'A thousand differences and ten thousand distinctions.' The monk asked again. The Master said, 'Stop, stop — no need to speak. Just understand the thousand differences and ten thousand distinctions.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'The plank door of the abbot's quarters.' Someone asked, 'What is the place of the Way without marks?' The Master said, 'The shrine of the fourth and fifth lords.' Someone asked, 'What is the hair-cutting sword?' The Master said, 'A rolling pin.' Someone asked, 'What is the one straight road?' The Master said, 'Far and near.' The monk said, 'What if I go just like this?' The Master said, 'Fie, foolish man. This is a perilous road.' He asked a monk where he had come from. The monk said, 'From Caoshan.' The Master said, 'How many stages to get here?' The monk said, 'Seven stages.' The Master said, 'You have walked through so many mountains, forests, streams and ravines — which of them is your own self?' The monk said, 'All of them.' The Master said, 'Living beings are inverted, taking things as self.' The monk said, 'What is the student's own self?' The Master said, 'All of them.' Then he said, 'Worthies, each of you has passed winter and summer here — has anyone awakened to his own self? This mountain monk will certify you, and make you truly see, so that you are not deluded by demons and spirits.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's own self?' The Master said, 'What a fine monk, his eyes so very clear.'

漳州羅漢院守仁禪師

Chan Master Shouren of Luohan Monastery in Zhangzhou

泉州人也。上堂。祇據如今。誰欠誰剩。然雖如此。猶是第二義門。上座若明達得去也。且是一是二。更須子細看。僧問。如何是祖師西來的的意。師曰。即今是甚麼意。問。如何是涅槃。師曰。生死。曰。如何是生死。師曰。適來道甚麼。僧眾晚參。師曰。物物本來無處所。一輪明月印心池。便歸方丈。次住報恩。上堂。報恩這裡不曾與人揀話。今日與諸上座揀一兩則話。還願樂麼。諸上座。鶴脛長。鳬脛短。甘草甜。黃蘗苦。恁麼揀辨。還愜雅意麼。諸上座。莫是血脈不通。泥水有隔麼。且莫錯會。珍重。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。喚甚麼作西來意。曰。恁麼則無西來也。師曰。由汝口頭道。問。如何是報恩家風。師曰。無汝著眼處。問。學人未委稟承。請師方便。師曰。莫相孤負麼。曰。恁麼則有師資之分也。師曰。叢林見多。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。向汝道甚麼。問。如何是無生之相。師曰。捨身受身。曰。恁麼則生死無過也。師曰。料汝恁麼會。又曰。人人皆備理。一一盡圓常。僧便問。如何是圓常之理。師曰。無事不參差。曰。恁麼則縱橫法界也。師曰。巧道有何難。問。如何是不到三寸。師曰。你問我答。問僧。甚麼處來。曰。福州來。師曰。跋涉如許多山嶺。阿那箇是上座自己。曰。某甲親離福州。師曰。祇恁麼。別更有商量。曰。更作甚麼商量。師曰。汝話墮也。問。不昧緣塵。請師一接。師曰。喚甚麼作緣塵。曰。若不伸問。焉息疑情。師曰。若不是今日。便作官方。

He was a man of Quanzhou. Ascending the hall: 'Judged by just now, who is lacking and who has too much? And yet, even so, this is still the gate of the second principle. If you worthies can understand it, then one or two — you must look more carefully.' A monk asked, 'What is the exact intent of the Ancestor's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'What intent is there right now?' Someone asked, 'What is nirvana?' The Master said, 'Birth and death.' The monk said, 'What is birth and death?' The Master said, 'What did I say just now?' As the assembly was gathered for evening study, the Master said, 'Each thing is originally without location; one wheel of the bright moon seals the mind's pool.' Then he returned to his quarters. He then lived at Baoen. Ascending the hall: 'Baoen here has never picked out phrases for people. Today I will pick out one or two phrases for you worthies. Will you enjoy it? Worthies, the crane's shank is long, the duck's shank is short. Licorice is sweet, the yellow thorn is bitter. Picked out and distinguished this way, does it please your refined intent? Worthies, is it that the blood vessels are not connected and mud and water stand apart? Do not misunderstand. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'What do you call the meaning of the coming from the West?' The monk said, 'If so, then there is no coming from the West.' The Master said, 'That is what your mouth says.' Someone asked, 'What is the family style of Baoen?' The Master said, 'There is no place for you to put your eyes.' Someone asked, 'The student has not yet received the transmission; I beg the Master to be expedient.' The Master said, 'Are you not betraying each other?' The monk said, 'If so, then there is the distinction of teacher and student.' The Master said, 'One sees much of that in the groves.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'What am I telling you?' Someone asked, 'What is the mark of non-arising?' The Master said, 'Giving up one body and receiving another.' The monk said, 'If so, then birth and death are no fault.' The Master said, 'I expect that is how you understand it.' He also said, 'Every person is complete in principle, and each one is wholly perfect and constant.' The monk then asked, 'What is the principle of perfect constancy?' The Master said, 'Nothing to do, no unevenness.' The monk said, 'If so, then one runs freely through the dharma realm.' The Master said, 'What is hard about clever speech?' Someone asked, 'What is not reaching three inches?' The Master said, 'You ask and I answer.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'From Fuzhou.' The Master said, 'Having crossed so many mountains and ridges, which is your own self, worthy?' The monk said, 'I personally left Fuzhou.' The Master said, 'Just this. Is there any further deliberation?' The monk said, 'What further deliberation is there?' The Master said, 'Your words have fallen.' Someone asked, 'Without being obscured by conditioning and dust, I beg the Master to extend one hand.' The Master said, 'What do you call conditioning and dust?' The monk said, 'If I did not put the question, how would doubt be stilled?' The Master said, 'Were it not for today, I would act as the official.'

撫州黃山良匡禪師

Chan Master Liangkang of Huangshan in Fuzhou

吉州人也。僧問。如何是黃山家風。師曰。築著汝鼻孔。問。如何是不遷義。師曰。春夏秋冬。問。如何是一路涅槃門。師曰。汝問宗乘中一句。豈不是。曰。恁麼則不哆哆。師曰。莫哆哆好。問。眾星攢月時如何。師曰。喚甚麼作月。曰。莫祇這箇便是也無。師曰。這箇是甚麼。問。明鏡當臺。森羅為甚麼不現。師曰。那裡當臺。曰。爭奈即今何。師曰。又道不現。

He was a man of Jizhou. A monk asked, 'What is the family style of Huangshan?' The Master said, 'It stops up your nostrils.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of non-movement?' The Master said, 'Spring, summer, autumn, winter.' Someone asked, 'What is the one road to the gate of nirvana?' The Master said, 'You ask one phrase within the ancestral vehicle — is that not it?' The monk said, 'If so, then there is no chattering.' The Master said, 'Best not to chatter.' Someone asked, 'What is it like when the many stars crowd around the moon?' The Master said, 'What do you call the moon?' The monk said, 'Is this not just it?' The Master said, 'What is this?' Someone asked, 'The bright mirror is on its stand — why do the teeming things not appear?' The Master said, 'Where is the stand?' The monk said, 'What about right now?' The Master said, 'You say again that they do not appear.'

金陵報恩院玄則禪師

Chan Master Xuanze of Baoen Monastery in Jinling

滑州衛南人也。初問青峰。如何是學人自己。峰曰。丙丁童子來求火。後謁法眼。眼問。甚處來。師曰。青峰。眼曰。青峰有何言句。師舉前話。眼曰。上座作麼生會。師曰。丙丁屬火而更求火。如將自己求自己。眼曰。與麼會又爭得。師曰。某甲祇與麼。未審和尚如何。眼曰。你問我。我與你道。師問。如何是學人自己。眼曰。丙丁童子來求火。師於言下頓悟。開堂日。李王與法眼俱在會。僧問。龍吟霧起。虎嘯風生。學人知是出世邊事。到此為甚麼不會。師曰。會取好。僧舉頭看師。又看法眼。乃抽身入眾。法眼與李王當時失色。眼歸方丈。令侍者喚問話僧至。眼曰。上座適來問底話。許你具眼。人天眾前。何不禮拜葢覆卻。眼摵一坐具。其僧三日後吐光而終。僧問。了了見佛性。如何是佛性。師曰。不欲便道。問。如何是金剛大士。師曰。見也未。問。如何是諸聖密密處。師曰。卻須會取自己。曰。如何是和尚密密處。師曰。待汝會始得。上堂。諸上座。盡有常圓之月。各懷無價之珍。所以月在雲中。雖明而不照。智隱惑內。雖真而不通。無事久立。問。如何是不動尊。師曰。飛飛颺颺。問。如何是瞭然一句。師曰。對汝又何難。曰。恁麼道莫便是也無。師曰。不對又何難。曰。深領和尚恁麼道。師曰。汝道我道甚麼。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。待汝生即道。曰。賓主歷然。師曰。汝立地見亡僧。問。如何是學人本來心。師曰。汝還曾道著也未。曰。祇如道著。如何體會。師曰。待汝問始得。問。教中道。樹能生果。作玻瓈色。未審此果何人得吃。師曰。樹從何來。曰。學人有分。師曰。去果八萬四千。問。如何是不遷義。師曰。江河競注。日月旋流。問。宗乘中玄要處。請師一言。師曰。汝行腳來多少時也。曰。不曾逢伴侶。師曰。少瞌睡。

He was a man of Weinan in Huazhou. He first asked Qingfeng, 'What is the student's own self?' Qingfeng said, 'The bing-ding boy comes seeking fire.' Later he met Fayan. Fayan asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'Qingfeng.' Fayan said, 'What words did Qingfeng have?' The Master brought up the earlier words. Fayan said, 'How do you understand it?' The Master said, 'Bing and ding belong to fire, and yet he seeks fire — it is like seeking oneself with oneself.' Fayan said, 'How can understanding it that way do?' The Master said, 'That is all I have. I wonder how the Reverend sees it?' Fayan said, 'You ask me, and I will tell you.' The Master asked, 'What is the student's own self?' Fayan said, 'The bing-ding boy comes seeking fire.' At these words the Master was suddenly awakened. On the day he opened the hall, King Li and Fayan were both in the assembly. A monk asked, 'The dragon sings and mist rises; the tiger roars and wind is born. The student knows this is a matter on the edge of coming into the world. Why does he not understand it here?' The Master said, 'Understand it well.' The monk raised his head, looked at the Master, then looked at Fayan, and withdrew into the assembly. Fayan and King Li at that moment changed color. Fayan returned to his quarters and told an attendant to call the monk who had asked the question. Fayan said, 'The words you asked just now — I grant that you have the eye. Before the assembly of men and gods, why did you not bow and cover it up?' Fayan threw down a sitting cloth. That monk, three days later, spat light and died. A monk asked, 'Clearly seeing the Buddha nature — what is the Buddha nature?' The Master said, 'I do not want to say it right off.' Someone asked, 'What is the great knight of the vajra?' The Master said, 'Have you seen him?' Someone asked, 'What is the secret secret place of all the sages?' The Master said, 'You must understand your own self.' The monk said, 'What is the Reverend's secret secret place?' The Master said, 'Wait until you understand, then you may have it.' Ascending the hall: 'You worthies all have the constantly round moon and each cherishes the priceless treasure. Therefore the moon within the clouds, though bright, does not shine; wisdom hidden within delusion, though true, does not penetrate. Nothing else. You have stood long.' Someone asked, 'What is the Immovable Honored One?' The Master said, 'Flying and fluttering.' Someone asked, 'What is the one phrase of clear understanding?' The Master said, 'What difficulty is there in answering you?' The monk said, 'Is speaking like this just it?' The Master said, 'What difficulty is there in not answering?' The monk said, 'I deeply receive the Reverend's speaking this way.' The Master said, 'What do you say I said?' Someone asked, 'Where has the deceased monk gone after his passing?' The Master said, 'When you are born, I will say.' The monk said, 'Host and guest are clearly distinguished.' The Master said, 'You see the dead monk standing on the ground.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's original mind?' The Master said, 'Have you ever spoken of it?' The monk said, 'If one speaks of it, how does one realize it?' The Master said, 'Wait until you ask, then you may have it.' Someone asked, 'The teachings say the tree can bear fruit of glass color. I wonder who gets to eat this fruit?' The Master said, 'Where does the tree come from?' The monk said, 'The student has a share.' The Master said, 'Go — the fruit is eighty-four thousand.' Someone asked, 'What is the meaning of non-movement?' The Master said, 'The rivers race on, the sun and moon whirl.' Someone asked, 'As for the mysterious essentials within the ancestral vehicle, I beg one word from the Master.' The Master said, 'How long have you been on pilgrimage?' The monk said, 'I have never met a companion.' The Master said, 'You are short on sleep.'

金陵淨德院智筠達觀禪師

Chan Master Zhijun Daguan of Jingde Monastery in Jinling

河中府王氏子。初住棲賢。上堂。從上諸聖方便門不少。大抵祇要諸仁者有箇見處。然雖未見。且不參差一絲髮許。諸仁者亦未甞違背一絲髮許。何以故。炟赫地顯露。如今便會取。更不費一毫氣力。還省要麼。設道毗盧有師。法身有主。斯乃抑揚。對機施說。諸仁者作麼生會對底道理。若也會。且莫嫌他佛語。莫重祖師。直下是自己眼明始得。僧問。如何是的的之言。師曰。道甚麼。問。紛然覓不得時如何。師曰。覓箇甚麼不得。問。如何是祖師意。師曰。用祖師意作甚麼。問。今朝呈遠瑞。正意為誰來。師曰。大眾盡見汝恁麼問。江南國主創淨德院。延請居之。署達觀禪師。上堂。夫欲慕道。也須上上根器始得。造次中下。不易承當。何以故。佛法非心意識境界。上座莫恁麼懱猰地。他古人道。沙門眼把定世界。函蓋乾坤。綿綿不漏絲髮。所以諸佛讚歎。讚歎不及比喻。比喻不及道。上座威光赫奕。亙古亙今。幸有如是家風。何不紹續取。為甚麼自生卑劣。枉受辛勤。不能曉悟。祇為如此。所以諸佛出興於世。祇為如此。所以諸佛唱入涅槃。祇為如此。所以祖師特地西來。僧問。諸聖皆入不二法門。如何是不二法門。師曰。但恁麼入。曰。恁麼則今古同然去也。師曰。汝道甚麼處是同。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。恰問著。曰。恁麼則學人禮拜也。師曰。汝作麼生會。問。如何是佛。師曰。如何不是。乃曰。吾不能投身巖谷。滅跡市鄽。而出入禁庭。以重煩世主。吾之過也。遂屢辭歸故山。國主錫以五峰棲玄蘭若。

was a son of the Wang family of Hezhong Prefecture. He first lived at Qixian. Ascending the hall: 'The expedient gates of the sages from of old are not few. For the most part they only want you good people to have a place of seeing. But though you have not yet seen, you do not deviate by a hair. Nor have you good people ever turned your backs on it by a hair. Why? Because it is blazingly manifest. If you understand it right now, you need not spend a thread of effort. Do you understand? Even to say Vairocana has a teacher and the dharma-body has a master is exalting and depreciating, speaking in accord with the mechanism. How will you good people understand the principle of understanding? If you do understand, then do not disdain the Buddha's words and do not prize the patriarch. Only when your own eye is clear right here do you get it.' A monk asked, 'What are words that hit the mark?' The Master said, 'What are you saying?' Asked, 'What about when one searches in confusion and cannot find it?' The Master said, 'What is it that you cannot find?' Asked, 'What is the patriarch's meaning?' The Master said, 'What use is the patriarch's meaning?' Asked, 'Today an auspicious omen has appeared from afar—for whom is the true meaning?' The Master said, 'The whole assembly sees you asking like this.' The king of Jiangnan founded Jingde Monastery and invited him to dwell there, giving him the title Chan Master Daguan. Ascending the hall: 'If one wishes to aspire to the Way, one must have the highest faculties. The hasty and the middling and lesser cannot easily bear it. Why? Because the Buddhadharma is not the realm of mind, intellect, and consciousness. Elders, do not be so violent and snarling. The ancients said: the monk's eye settles the world and encompasses heaven and earth, continuous and leaking not a hair. Therefore the Buddhas praise it, and their praise does not reach it, nor does their comparison reach it. It is said: the elder's majestic light blazes, from ancient times to the present. Fortunately you have such a house style—why not continue it? Why give rise to your own inferiority, suffer toil in vain, and fail to understand? It is just for this that the Buddhas appear in the world. It is just for this that the Buddhas enter nirvana. It is just for this that the patriarch came specially from the West.' A monk asked, 'The sages all enter the gate of non-duality. What is the gate of non-duality?' The Master said, 'Just enter like this.' The monk said, 'Then past and present are the same.' The Master said, 'Where do you say they are the same?' Asked, 'What is the great meaning of Buddhadharma?' The Master said, 'You have asked exactly right.' The monk said, 'Then I have bowed.' The Master said, 'How do you understand it?' Asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'How is it not?' Then he said, 'I cannot throw myself into the mountain valleys and wipe out my traces in the marketplace, yet I come and go in the palace, greatly troubling the lord of the world. That is my fault.' So he repeatedly asked to return to his old mountain. The king granted him the Qixuan Monastery of Five Peaks.

高麗國道峰山慧炬國師

National Teacher Huiju of Daofeng Mountain in the country of Koryo

始發機於法眼之室。本國主思慕。遣使來請。遂回故地。國主受心訣。禮待彌厚。一日請入王府。上堂。師指威鳳樓示眾曰。威鳳樓為諸上座舉揚了也。還會麼。儻若會。且作麼生會。若道不會。威鳳樓作麼生不會。珍重。

first brought forth the mechanism in Fayan's room. The king of his own country, longing for him, sent envoys to invite him, and he returned to his old land. The king received the mind formula and treated him with even greater honor. One day he invited him into the royal palace to ascend the hall. The Master pointed at the Weifeng Tower and addressed the assembly: 'The Weifeng Tower has raised and sung it for you elders. Do you understand? If you understand, how do you understand it? If you say you do not understand, how does the Weifeng Tower not understand? Take care.'

杭州真身寶塔寺紹巖禪師

Chan Master Shaoyan of the Zhenshen Pagoda Monastery in Hangzhou

雍州劉氏子。吳越王命師開法。署了空大智常照禪師。上堂。山僧素寡知見。本期閑放。念經待死。豈謂今日大王勤重。苦勉山僧。効諸方宿德。施張法筵。然大王致請。也祇圖諸仁者明心。此外別無道理。諸仁者還明心也未。莫不是語言譚笑時。凝然杜默時。參尋知識時。道伴商略時。觀山翫水時。耳目絕對時。是汝心否。如上所解。盡為魔魅所攝。豈曰明心。更有一類人。離身中妄想外。別認徧十方世界。含日月。包太虗。謂是本來真心。斯亦外道所計。非明心也。諸仁者要會麼。心無是者。亦無不是者。汝擬執認。其可得乎。僧問。六合澄清時如何。師曰。大眾誰信汝。師開寶四年七月示疾。謂門弟子曰。諸行無常。即常住相。言訖。跏趺而逝。

was a son of the Liu family of Yongzhou. The king of Wu and Yue ordered the Master to open the teaching and gave him the title Chan Master Kong Dazhi Changzhao. Ascending the hall: 'This mountain monk has always had few views and little knowledge, and originally hoped to be idle and at ease, reciting sutras and waiting for death. Who would have thought that today the Great King would be so earnest and would press this mountain monk hard to imitate the venerable ones everywhere and spread out the Dharma feast? Yet the Great King's invitation is only for the sake of you good people clarifying the mind. Beyond this there is no other principle. Have you good people clarified the mind or not? Is it not that when you speak and laugh, when you are still and silent, when you call on teachers, when you discuss with fellow practitioners, when you view mountains and enjoy waters, when your ears and eyes are cut off—is that your mind? The understandings described above are all seized by demons; how can they be called clarifying the mind? There is yet another sort of person who, apart from the deluded thoughts within the body, recognizes something else pervading the ten-direction world, containing sun and moon, embracing the great void, and calls it the original true mind. This too is the reckoning of outsiders; it is not clarifying the mind. Do you good people want to understand? The mind is not this, and it is also not not-this. If you try to grasp and recognize it, can you get it?' A monk asked, 'What about when the six directions are clear and pure?' The Master said, 'Who in the assembly believes you?' In the seventh month of the fourth year of Kaibao the Master showed illness and told his disciples, 'All formations are impermanent; this is the sign of permanence.' Having spoken, he sat cross-legged and passed away.

台州般若寺敬遵通慧禪師

Chan Master Jingzun Tonghui of Prajna Monastery in Taizhou

上堂。皎皎炟赫地。亙古互今。也未曾有纖毫間斷相。無時無節。長時拶定上座無通氣處。所以道。山河大地是上座善知識。放光動地。觸處露現。實無絲頭許法可作隔礙。如今因甚麼卻不會。特地生疑去。無事。不用久立。僧問。優曇花拆人皆覩。般若家風賜一言。師曰。不因上座問。不曾舉似人。曰。恁麼則般若雄峰。詎齊今古。師曰。也莫錯會。問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼百鳥銜華。師曰。汝甚麼處見。曰。見後為甚麼不銜華。師曰。且領話好。問。靈山一會。迦葉親聞。未審今日一會。何人得聞。師曰。試舉迦葉聞底看。曰。恁麼則迦葉親聞去也。師曰。亂道作麼。師自述真讚曰。真兮寥廓。郢人圖雘。嶽聳雲空。澄潭月躍。

Ascending the hall: 'Bright and blazing, from ancient times to the present, there has never been the least sign of interruption. Without time and without season, it always presses the elder so that he has no place to breathe. Therefore it is said: mountains, rivers, and the great earth are the elder's good teacher. Radiating light and shaking the earth, it is revealed at every point of contact. Truly there is not a thread of dharma that can act as a barrier. Why then do you not understand now, and instead give rise to doubt? Nothing further. No need to stand long.' A monk asked, 'The udumbara flower has opened and everyone sees it. Grant us one phrase of the Prajna house style.' The Master said, 'Had the elder not asked, I would never have brought it up before anyone.' The monk said, 'Then the majestic peak of Prajna is not to be equated with past and present.' The Master said, 'Do not misunderstand.' Asked, 'Before Niutou saw the Fourth Patriarch, why did a hundred birds bring flowers?' The Master said, 'Where do you see it?' The monk said, 'And after seeing, why do they not bring flowers?' The Master said, 'Just take the words.' Asked, 'At the assembly on Vulture Peak Kasyapa heard it in person. I do not understand who hears it at today's assembly.' The Master said, 'Try to bring up what Kasyapa heard.' The monk said, 'Then Kasyapa heard it in person.' The Master said, 'Why talk nonsense?' The Master wrote a eulogy for his own portrait: 'True indeed and vast, the man of Ying paints it red. The peak towers in the cloudy sky, the clear pool leaps with the moon.'

廬山歸宗䇿真法施禪師

Chan Master Ceshen Fashi of Guizong on Mount Lu

曹州魏氏子也。初名慧超。謁法眼。問曰。慧超諮和尚。如何是佛。眼曰。汝是慧超。師從此悟入。住後。上堂。諸上座。見聞覺知。祇可一度。祇如會了。是見聞覺知不是見聞覺知。要會麼。與諸上座說破了也。待汝悟始得。久立。珍重。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。我向汝道即別有也。問。如何是歸宗境。師曰。是汝見甚麼。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。出去。問。國王請命。大啟法筵。不落見聞。請師速道。師曰。閑言語。曰。師意如何。師曰。又亂說。問。承教有言。將此深心奉塵剎。是則名為報佛恩。塵剎即不問。如何是報佛恩。師曰。汝若是。則報佛恩。問。無情說法。大地得聞。師子吼時如何。師曰。汝還聞麼。曰。恁麼則同無情也。師曰。汝不妨會得好。問。古人以不離見聞為宗。未審和尚以何為宗。師曰。此問甚好。曰。猶是三緣四緣。師曰。莫亂道。

was a son of the Wei family of Caozhou. His first name was Huichao. He saw Fayan and asked, 'Huichao asks the Master: what is the Buddha?' Fayan said, 'You are Huichao.' From this the Master entered awakening. After becoming abbot he ascended the hall: 'You elders, seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing can only happen once. Now that you have understood, is it seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, or is it not? Do you want to understand? I have spoken it out plainly for you elders. You must wait until you awaken to get it. Standing long. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'If I tell you, then there is something else.' Asked, 'What is the realm of Guizong?' The Master said, 'What do you see?' The monk said, 'What is the person in the realm?' The Master said, 'Get out.' Asked, 'The king has sent for you and a great Dharma feast is opened. Not falling into seeing and hearing—please, Master, speak quickly.' The Master said, 'Idle words.' The monk said, 'What is the Master's meaning?' The Master said, 'Nonsense again.' Asked, 'The teachings say: offering this deep mind to the dust-realms is what is called repaying the Buddha's grace. I do not ask about the dust-realms; what is repaying the Buddha's grace?' The Master said, 'If you are so, then you repay the Buddha's grace.' Asked, 'The insentient preach the Dharma and the great earth hears it. What about when the lion roars?' The Master said, 'Do you still hear it?' The monk said, 'Then one is the same as the insentient.' The Master said, 'You may indeed understand it well.' Asked, 'The ancients took not departing from seeing and hearing as their school. What does the Master take as his school?' The Master said, 'This question is very good.' The monk said, 'Still it is the three conditions and four conditions.' The Master said, 'Do not talk nonsense.'

洪州同安院紹顯禪師

Chan Master Shaoxian of Tong'an Monastery in Hongzhou

僧問。王恩降旨師親受。熊耳家風乞一言。師曰。已道了也。問。千里投師。請師一接。師曰。好入處。雲蓋山乞瓦造殿。有宮人問。既是雲蓋。何用乞瓦。僧無對。師代曰。罕遇其人。

A monk asked, 'The king's grace has sent down the decree and the Master has personally received it. Grant one phrase of the Xiong'er house style.' The Master said, 'I have already said it.' Asked, 'Traveling a thousand li to seek a teacher, please, Master, receive me once.' The Master said, 'A good place to enter.' Yun'gai Mountain begged for tiles to build a hall. A palace woman asked, 'Since it is Yun'gai (Cloud Canopy), what use are begged tiles?' The monk had no reply. The Master answered in his place, 'Rarely does one meet such a person.'

廬山棲賢慧圓禪師

Chan Master Huiyuan of Qixian on Mount Lu

上堂。出得僧堂門。見五老峰。一生參學事畢。何用更到這裡來。雖然如此。也勞上座一轉了也。珍重。僧問。不是風動。不是幡動。未審古人意旨如何。師曰。大眾一時會取。上堂。有僧擬問。師乃指其僧曰。住。住。其僧進步。問。從上宗乘。請師舉唱。師曰。前言不搆。後語難追。曰。未審今日事如何。師曰。不會人言語。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。好。問。如何是棲賢境。師曰。入得三門便合知。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。此土不欠少。

Ascending the hall: 'Coming out of the monks' hall door and seeing the Five Elders Peak, the matter of a lifetime of study is finished. What need is there to come here too? Even so, you have troubled the elder to turn once. Take care.' A monk asked, 'It is not the wind that moves, and it is not the banner that moves. I do not understand the ancients' intent.' The Master said, 'Let the assembly all take it up at once.' Ascending the hall. A monk was just about to ask, and the Master pointed at that monk and said, 'Stop, stop.' The monk stepped forward and asked, 'The ancestral vehicle from of old—please, Master, raise and sing it.' The Master said, 'The former words do not reach it, and the latter words are hard to pursue.' The monk said, 'I do not understand the matter of today.' The Master said, 'You do not understand people's words.' Asked, 'What is the great meaning of Buddhadharma?' The Master said, 'Good.' Asked, 'What is the realm of Qixian?' The Master said, 'Having entered the three gates you should know.' Asked, 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'This land lacks nothing.'

洪州觀音院從顯禪師

Chan Master Congxian of Guanyin Monastery in Hongzhou

泉州人也。上堂。眾集。良久曰。文殊深讚居士。未審居士受讚也無。若受讚。何處有居士邪。若不受讚。文殊不可虗發言也。大眾作麼生會。若會。真箇衲僧。僧問。居士默然。文殊深讚。此意如何。師曰。汝問我答。曰。忽遇恁麼人出頭來。又作麼生。師曰。行到水窮處。坐看雲起時。問。如何是觀音家風。師曰。眼前看取。曰。忽遇作者來。作麼生見待。師曰。貧家祇如此。未必便言歸。問。久負沒絃琴。請師彈一曲。師曰。作麼生聽。其僧側耳。師曰。賺殺人。乃曰。盧行者當時大庾嶺頭謂明上座言。莫思善。莫思惡。還我明上座本來面目來。觀音今日不恁麼道還我明上座來。恁麼道。是曹溪子孫也無。若是曹溪子孫。又爭除卻四字。若不是。又過在甚麼處。試出來商量看。良久曰。此一眾真行腳人也。便下座。太平興國八年九月中。師謂檀那袁長史曰。老僧三兩日間歸鄉去。袁曰。和尚年尊。何更思鄉。師曰。歸鄉圖得好鹽吃。袁不測其言。翌日。師不疾。坐亡。袁建塔於西山。

was a man of Quanzhou. Ascending the hall. When the assembly had gathered, after a long while he said, 'Manjushri deeply praised the layman. I do not understand whether the layman received the praise. If he received it, where is the layman? If he did not receive it, Manjushri could not have spoken in vain. How will the assembly understand it? If you understand, you are truly a monk of the robe.' A monk asked, 'The layman was silent and Manjushri deeply praised him. What does this mean?' The Master said, 'You ask and I answer.' The monk said, 'If such a person suddenly steps forth, what then?' The Master said, 'Walk to where the water ends, and sit and watch when the clouds rise.' Asked, 'What is the house style of Guanyin?' The Master said, 'Look before your eyes.' The monk said, 'If a master suddenly comes, how will you receive him?' The Master said, 'A poor house is only like this; it does not necessarily say it is going home.' Asked, 'Long have I borne a stringless lute; please, Master, play a tune.' The Master said, 'How will you listen?' The monk pricked up his ears. The Master said, 'You will be the death of me.' Then he said, 'Luzhe at the Great Yu Ridge once told Elder Ming: do not think of good, do not think of evil—return to me Elder Ming's original face. Today Guanyin does not speak thus: return to me Elder Ming. Speaking thus, is one a descendant of Caoxi or not? If one is a descendant of Caoxi, why cut off those four words? If one is not, where then is the fault? Come forward and let us deliberate.' After a long while he said, 'This assembly are true pilgrims.' Then he descended from the seat. In the ninth month of the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo, the Master told the donor, the assistant magistrate Yuan, 'Within two or three days this old monk will go home to his village.' Yuan said, 'The Master is advanced in years—why think of home again?' The Master said, 'Going home I will get good salt to eat.' Yuan could not fathom his words. The next day the Master, without illness, passed away sitting. Yuan built a stupa for him on the western mountain.

洛京興善棲倫禪師

Chan Master Qilun of Xingshan in Luojing

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。向汝道甚麼即得。問。如何是西來意。師曰。適來猶記得。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Whatever I tell you will not do.' Asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Just now I still remembered it.'

洪州嚴陽新興院齊禪師

Chan Master Qi of Xinyang Xingxing Monastery in Hongzhou

僧問。如何得出三界去。師曰。汝還信麼。曰。信則深信。乞和尚慈悲。師曰。祇此信心。亙古亙今。快須究取。何必沉吟。要出三界。三界唯心。師因雪謂眾曰。諸上座還見雪麼。見即有眼。不見無眼。有眼即常。無眼即斷。恁麼會得。佛身充滿。問。學人辭去泐潭。乞和尚示箇入路。師曰。好箇入路。道心堅固。隨眾參請。隨眾作務。要去便去。要住便住。去之與住。更無他故。若到泐潭。不審馬祖。

A monk asked, 'How can one get out of the three realms?' The Master said, 'Do you still have faith?' The monk said, 'As for faith, I have deep faith. I beg the Master's compassion.' The Master said, 'This very faith of yours is from ancient times to the present. Quickly investigate it; why ponder? To get out of the three realms—the three realms are only mind.' Because of snow, the Master told the assembly, 'Do you elders still see the snow? Seeing it, you have eyes; not seeing it, you have no eyes. Having eyes, it is permanent; having no eyes, it is annihilated. If you understand it thus, the Buddha's body is full.' Asked, 'I take leave to go to Letan; I beg the Master to show me a way in.' The Master said, 'What a good way in. If the mind of the Way is firm, then follow the assembly in calling and questioning, follow the assembly in work. If you want to go, go; if you want to stay, stay. Going and staying, there is no other matter. If you reach Letan, give greetings to Mazu.'

潤州慈雲𭅖達禪師

Chan Master Da of Ciyun in Runzhou

僧問。佛以一大事因緣故出現於世。未審和尚出世如何。師曰。恰好。曰。作麼生。師曰。不好。

A monk asked, 'The Buddha appeared in the world for the sake of one great cause. I do not understand how the Master appears in the world.' The Master said, 'Just right.' The monk said, 'How is it?' The Master said, 'Not good.'

蘇州薦福院紹明禪師

Chan Master Shaoming of Jianfu Monastery in Suzhou

州將錢仁奉請住持。乃問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。一切處看取。

The prefect Qian Renfeng invited him to be abbot, and asked at once, 'What is the Master's house style?' The Master said, 'Look in every place.'

澤州古賢院謹禪師

Chan Master Jin of Guxian Monastery in Zezhou

侍立法眼次。眼問一僧曰。自離此間。甚麼處去來。曰。入嶺來。眼曰。不易。曰。虗涉他如許多山水。眼曰。如許多山水也不惡。其僧無語。師於此有省。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。築著你鼻孔。問僧曰。唯一堅密身。一切塵中現。如何是堅密身。僧竪指。師曰。現則現。你作麼生會。僧無語。

While in attendance on Fayan, Fayan asked a monk, 'Since you left here, where have you been?' The monk said, 'I came in from the ridges.' Fayan said, 'Not easy.' The monk said, 'I crossed all those mountains and rivers for nothing.' Fayan said, 'All those mountains and rivers are not bad either.' The monk was speechless. At this the Master had an insight. After becoming abbot, a monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'It pokes you in the nostril.' He asked a monk, 'The one solid and firm body appears in all dust. What is the solid and firm body?' The monk held up a finger. The Master said, 'Appearing is appearing. How do you understand it?' The monk was speechless.

宣州興福院可勳禪師

Chan Master Kexun of Xingfu Monastery in Xuanzhou

建州朱氏子。僧問。如何是興福正主。師曰。闍黎不識。曰。莫祇這便是麼。師曰。縱未歇狂。頭亦何失。問。如何是道。師曰。勤而行之。問。何雲法空。師曰。不空。有偈示眾曰。秋江煙島晴。鷗鷺行行立。不念觀世音。爭知普門入。

was a son of the Zhu family of Jianzhou. A monk asked, 'What is the true host of Xingfu?' The Master said, 'The Acharya does not know him.' The monk said, 'Is it just this?' The Master said, 'Even if your madness has not ceased, what have you lost in your head?' Asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'Practice it diligently.' Asked, 'Why is it called emptiness of dharmas?' The Master said, 'Not empty.' He had a verse to show the assembly: 'The autumn river and misty isle are clear; the gulls and herons stand in rows. If one does not think of Guanyin, how can one know the universal gate?'

洪州上藍院守訥禪師

Chan Master Shouna of Shanglan Monastery in Hongzhou

上堂。盡令提綱。無人掃地。叢林兄弟。相共證明。晚進之流。有疑請問。僧問。願開甘露門。當觀第一義。不落有無中。請師垂指示。師曰。大眾證明。曰。恁麼則莫相屈去也。師曰。閑言語。問。如何是佛。師曰。更問阿誰。

Ascending the hall: 'I have fully raised the main point, yet no one sweeps the ground. Brothers of the monastery, bear witness together. Those who have come late and have doubts, ask.' A monk asked, 'May the gate of sweet dew be opened? One should contemplate the first principle. Not falling into being or non-being—please, Master, grant instruction.' The Master said, 'Let the assembly bear witness.' The monk said, 'Then do not trouble yourself to bow to me.' The Master said, 'Idle words.' Asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Who else will you ask?'

撫州覆船和尚

The Master of Fuchuan in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。不識。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。莫謗祖師好。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'I do not know him.' Asked, 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Do not slander the patriarch.'

杭州奉先寺法瓌法明普照禪師

Chan Master Fakui Faming Puzhao of Fengxian Monastery in Hangzhou

僧問。釋迦出世。天雨四華。地搖六動。未審今日有何祥瑞。師曰。大眾盡見。曰。法王法如是。師曰。人王見在。問。法眼寶印。和尚親傳。今日一會。當付何人。師曰。誰人無分。曰。恁麼則雷音普震無邊剎去也。師曰。也須善聽。

A monk asked, 'When Sakyamuni appeared in the world, heaven rained four flowers and the earth shook in six ways. I do not understand what auspicious sign there is today.' The Master said, 'The whole assembly sees it.' The monk said, 'The Dharma of the Dharma king is thus.' The Master said, 'The king of men is present.' Asked, 'The jewel seal of the Dharma eye the Master has personally transmitted. At today's assembly, to whom will it be entrusted?' The Master said, 'Who has no share?' The monk said, 'Then the thunder of the Dharma shakes the boundless lands everywhere.' The Master said, 'You must also listen well.'

廬山化城寺慧朗禪師

Chan Master Huilang of Huacheng Monastery on Mount Lu

江南相國宋齊丘請開堂。師陞座曰。今日令公請山僧為眾。莫非承佛付囑。不忘佛恩。眾中有問話者出來。為令公結緣。僧問。令公親降。大眾雲臻。從上宗乘。請師舉唱。師曰。莫是孤負令公麼。問。師常苦口。為甚麼學人己事不明。師曰。闍黎甚麼處不明。曰。不明處。請師決斷。師曰。適來向汝道甚麼。曰。恁麼則全因今日去也。師曰。退後。禮三拜。

The minister of Jiangnan, Song Qiqiu, invited him to open the hall. The Master ascended the seat and said, 'Today the Duke has invited this mountain monk for the sake of the assembly, surely to carry on the Buddha's entrustment and not forget the Buddha's grace. If there is anyone in the assembly who would ask, come forward and form a connection for the Duke.' A monk asked, 'The Duke has come in person and the assembly gathers like clouds. The ancestral vehicle from of old—please, Master, raise and sing it.' The Master said, 'Am I failing the Duke?' Asked, 'The Master is always earnest, so why is the student's own matter not clear?' The Master said, 'Where is it not clear to you, Acharya?' The monk said, 'Where it is not clear, please, Master, decide it.' The Master said, 'What did I just tell you?' The monk said, 'Then it is entirely due to today.' The Master said, 'Step back. Bow three times.'

杭州慧日永明寺道鴻通辯禪師

Chan Master Daohong Tongbian of Hui Ri Yongming Monastery in Hangzhou

僧問。遠離天台境。來登慧日峰。久聞師子吼。今日請師通。師曰。聞麼。曰。恁麼則昔日崇壽。今日永明也。師曰。幸自靈利。何須亂道。乃曰。大道廓然。古今常爾。真心周徧。如量之智皎然。萬象森羅。鹹真實相。該天括地。亙古亙今。大眾還會麼。還辯白得麼。僧問。國王嘉命。公貴臨筵。未審今日當為何事。師曰。驗取。曰。此意如何。師曰。甚麼處去來。曰。恁麼則成造次也。師曰。休亂道。

A monk asked, 'Having left the realm of Tiantai afar, I come to climb Hui Ri Peak. Long have I heard the lion's roar; today I beg the Master to convey it.' The Master said, 'Do you hear it?' The monk said, 'Then the Chongshou of old is the Yongming of today.' The Master said, 'Fortunately you are clever—why talk nonsense?' Then he said, 'The great Way is vast, and past and present are ever thus. The true mind pervades everywhere, and the wisdom that measures according to reality is bright and clear. The myriad forms are all the true sign. It spans heaven and encompasses earth, from ancient times to the present. Does the assembly understand? Can you make it clear?' A monk asked, 'The king has issued a gracious command and the nobles have come to the feast. I do not understand what matter today is for.' The Master said, 'Verify it.' The monk said, 'What does this mean?' The Master said, 'Where have you been?' The monk said, 'Then it has become hasty.' The Master said, 'Stop talking nonsense.'

高麗國靈鑒禪師

Chan Master Lingjian of the country of Koryo

僧問。如何是清淨伽藍。師曰。牛欄是。問。如何是佛。師曰。拽出癲漢著。

A monk asked, 'What is the pure monastery?' The Master said, 'The ox shed is.' Asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Drag out the madman.'

荊門上泉和尚

The Master of Shangquan in Jingmen

僧問。二龍爭珠。誰是得者。師曰。我得。問。遠遠投師。如何一接。師按杖視之。其僧禮拜。師便喝。問。尺璧無瑕時如何。師曰。我不重。曰。不重後如何。師曰。火裡蝍蟟飛上天。

A monk asked, 'Two dragons fight over a pearl—who gets it?' The Master said, 'I get it.' Asked, 'Coming from afar to seek a teacher, how will you receive me once?' The Master pressed his staff and looked at him. The monk bowed. The Master shouted. Asked, 'What about when a foot-long jade disc has no flaw?' The Master said, 'I do not prize it.' The monk said, 'What about after not prizing it?' The Master said, 'A cicada in the fire flies up to heaven.'

廬山大林寺僧遁禪師

Chan Master Sengdun of Dalin Monastery on Mount Lu

初住圓通。有僧舉。僧問玄沙。向上宗乘。此間如何言論。沙曰。少人聽。未審玄沙意旨如何。師曰。待汝移卻石耳峰。我即向汝道(歸宗柔別雲。且低聲)。

He first lived at Yuantong. A monk brought up: a monk asked Xuansha, 'The vehicle above—how is it spoken of here?' Xuansha said, 'Few people listen.' He did not understand Xuansha's intent. The Master said, 'When you move away Stone Ear Peak, then I will tell you.' (Guizong Rou said in his place, 'Keep your voice down.')

池州仁王院緣勝禪師

Chan Master Yuansheng of Renwang Monastery in Chizhou

僧問。農家擊壤時如何。師曰。僧家自有本分事。曰。不問僧家本分事。農家擊壤時如何。師曰。話頭何在。

A monk asked, 'What about when the farmer strikes the ground in song?' The Master said, 'The monk's house has its own original matter.' The monk said, 'I do not ask about the monk's original matter. What about when the farmer strikes the ground in song?' The Master said, 'Where is the point of the words?'

青原下十世

The Tenth Generation below Qingyuan

天台韶國師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of National Teacher Shao of Tiantai

杭州慧日永明延壽智覺禪師

Chan Master Zhijue, Yanshou of Hui Ri Yongming Monastery in Hangzhou

餘杭王氏子。總角之歲。歸心佛乘。既冠不茹葷。日唯一食。持法華經。七行俱下。才六旬。悉能誦之。感群羊跪聽。年二十八。為華亭鎮將。屬翠巖參禪師遷止龍冊寺。大闡玄化。時吳越文穆王知師慕道。乃從其志。遂禮翠巖為師。執勞供眾。都忘身宰。衣不繒纊。食無重味。野蔬布襦。以遣朝夕。尋往天台山天柱峰。九旬習定。有烏類斥鷃。巢於衣襵中。暨謁韶國師。一見而深器之。密授玄旨。仍謂師曰。汝與元帥有緣。他日大興佛事。初住雪竇。上堂。雪竇這裡。迅瀑千尋。不停纖粟。奇巖萬仞。無立足處。汝等諸人。向甚麼處進步。僧問。雪竇一徑。如何履踐。師曰。步步寒華結。言言徹底冰。師有偈曰。孤猿呌落中巖月。野客吟殘半夜燈。此境此時誰得意。白雲深處坐禪僧。忠懿王請開山靈隱新寺。明年遷永明大道場。眾盈二千。僧問。如何是永明妙旨。師曰。更添香著。曰。謝師指示。師曰。且喜沒交涉。僧禮拜。師曰。聽取一偈。欲識永明旨。門前一湖水。日照光明生。風來波浪起。問。學人久在永明。為甚麼不會永明家風。師曰。不會處會取。曰。不會處如何會。師曰。牛胎生象子。碧海起紅塵。問。成佛成祖。亦出不得。六道輪回。亦出不得。未審出甚麼處不得。師曰。出汝問處不得。問。教中道。一切諸佛及諸佛法。皆從此經出。如何是此經。師曰。長時轉不停。非義亦非聲。曰。如何受持。師曰。若欲受持者。應須著眼聽。問。如何是大圓鏡。師曰。破砂盆。師居永明十五載。度弟子一千七百人。開寶七年入天台山度戒約萬餘人。常與七眾授菩薩戒。夜施鬼神食。朝放諸生類。不可稱算。六時散華行道。餘力念法華經。計萬三千部。著宗鏡錄一百卷。詩偈賦詠凡千萬言。播於海外。高麗國王覧師言教。遣使齎書。敘弟子之禮。奉金線織成袈裟．紫水精珠．金藻罐等。

was a son of the Wang family of Yuhang. In his childhood he turned his heart to the Buddha vehicle. When he came of age he did not eat meat and took only one meal a day. He upheld the Lotus Sutra and could read seven lines at once. In only sixty days he could recite it all. He moved a flock of sheep to kneel and listen. At twenty-eight he was a garrison commander at Huating. It happened that Chan Master Cuiyan came to dwell at Longce Monastery and greatly spread the profound teaching. At that time King Wenmu of Wu and Yue knew that the Master aspired to the Way, and let him follow his wish, so he took Cuiyan as his teacher. He did the labor and served the assembly, forgetting his own body. His clothes were not of silk, his food had no rich flavors. Wild vegetables and a cloth jacket carried him through morning and evening. Before long he went to Tianzhu Peak on Mount Tiantai and practiced concentration for ninety days. A bird like a quail nested in the folds of his robe. When he met National Teacher Shao, at first sight Shao thought highly of him and secretly transmitted the profound purport, telling the Master, 'You have a karmic connection with the marshal; one day you will greatly prosper the Buddha's work.' He first lived at Xuedou. Ascending the hall: 'Here at Xuedou the swift waterfall drops a thousand fathoms and does not hold even a grain. The strange cliffs are ten thousand fathoms high, with no place to set foot. You people, where will you step forward?' A monk asked, 'The one path of Xuedou—how does one tread it?' The Master said, 'Every step congeals cold flowers; every word is ice to the bottom.' The Master had a verse: 'The lone ape's cry drops the moon on the middle cliff; the wild guest's chant wears out the midnight lamp. Who grasps the meaning of this realm at this hour? The monk sitting in meditation deep in the white clouds.' King Zhongyi invited him to open the new Lingyin Monastery on the mountain. The next year he moved to the Yongming great bodhimanda, where the assembly numbered two thousand. A monk asked, 'What is the wonderful purport of Yongming?' The Master said, 'Add more incense.' The monk said, 'Thank you, Master, for the instruction.' The Master said, 'I am glad there is no connection.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Listen to a verse. If you would know the purport of Yongming, there is a lake before the gate. The sun shines and light is born; the wind comes and waves arise.' Asked, 'I have long been at Yongming—why do I not understand the Yongming house style?' The Master said, 'Understand it where you do not understand.' The monk said, 'How does one understand where one does not understand?' The Master said, 'An ox bears an elephant calf; the blue sea gives rise to red dust.' Asked, 'Becoming a Buddha or a patriarch, one still cannot get out. In the six paths of rebirth, one still cannot get out. I do not understand from where one cannot get out.' The Master said, 'From the place you ask, you cannot get out.' Asked, 'The teachings say: all Buddhas and all Buddhadharmas come forth from this sutra. What is this sutra?' The Master said, 'It turns without pause for long ages; it is neither meaning nor sound.' The monk said, 'How should one uphold it?' The Master said, 'If you wish to uphold it, you should listen with your eyes.' Asked, 'What is the great perfect mirror?' The Master said, 'A broken clay basin.' The Master lived at Yongming for fifteen years and ordained seventeen hundred disciples. In the seventh year of Kaibao he entered Mount Tiantai and ordained more than ten thousand in the precept assembly. He often gave the Bodhisattva precepts to the seven assemblies. At night he fed the ghosts and spirits, and in the morning released living creatures, beyond counting. Six times a day he scattered flowers and walked the path. With his remaining strength he recited the Lotus Sutra, by count thirteen thousand scrolls. He wrote the Record of the Mirror of the School in one hundred scrolls. His poems, verses, rhapsodies, and songs altogether ran to a million words and spread overseas. When the king of Koryo read the Master's words and teachings, he sent envoys with a letter, expressing the rites of a disciple. He offered a robe woven of gold thread, purple crystal beads, and a golden brocade jar.

彼國僧三十六人。皆承印記。前後歸本國。各化一方。開寶八年十二月示疾。越二日焚香告眾。跏趺而寂。塔於大慈山。

Thirty-six monks of that country all received his seal of confirmation, and returning to their own country one after another, each transformed a region. In the twelfth month of the eighth year of Kaibao the Master showed illness. Two days later he burned incense, told the assembly, sat cross-legged, and passed away. His stupa is on Mount Daci.

蘇州長壽院朋彥廣法禪師

Chan Master Pengyan Guangfa of Changshou Monastery in Suzhou

永嘉秦氏子。僧問。如何是玄旨。師曰。四稜塌地。問。如何是絕絲毫底法。師曰。山河大地。曰。恁麼則即相而無相也。師曰。也是狂言。問。如何是徑直之言。師曰。千迃萬曲。曰。恁麼則無不總是也。師曰。是何言歟。問。如何是道。師曰。跋涉不易。

was a son of the Qin family of Yongjia. A monk asked, 'What is the profound purport?' The Master said, 'Four corners collapsed to the ground.' Asked, 'What is the dharma free of the least hair?' The Master said, 'Mountains, rivers, and the great earth.' The monk said, 'Then it is sign itself and yet signless.' The Master said, 'That too is wild talk.' Asked, 'What are straightforward words?' The Master said, 'A thousand twists and ten thousand bends.' The monk said, 'Then nothing is not it.' The Master said, 'What words are these?' Asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'The journey is not easy.'

溫州大寧院可弘禪師

Chan Master Kehong of Daning Monastery in Wenzhou

僧問。如何是正真一路。師曰。七顛八倒。曰。恁麼則法門無別去也。師曰。我知汝錯會去。問。皎皎地無一絲頭時如何。師曰。話頭已墮。曰。乞師指示。師曰。適來亦不虗設。問。向上宗乘。請師舉揚。師曰。汝問太遲生。曰。恁麼則不仙陀去也。師曰。深知汝恁麼去。

A monk asked, 'What is the one road of true uprightness?' The Master said, 'Seven topsy and eight turvy.' The monk said, 'Then the Dharma gate is no different.' The Master said, 'I know you have misunderstood.' Asked, 'What about when it is bright and clear with not a thread of anything?' The Master said, 'The point of the words has already fallen.' The monk said, 'I beg the Master to instruct me.' The Master said, 'Just now it was not set up in vain.' Asked, 'The vehicle above—please, Master, raise and exalt it.' The Master said, 'You ask too late.' The monk said, 'Then it will not be quick-witted.' The Master said, 'I know well that you will go thus.'

杭州五雲山華嚴院志逢禪師

Chan Master Zhifeng of Avatamsaka Monastery on Wuyun Mountain in Hangzhou

餘杭人也。生惡葷血。膚體香潔。幼歲出家。於臨安東山朗瞻院。依年受具。通貫三學。了達性相。甞夢陞須彌山。覩三佛列坐。初釋迦。次彌勒。皆禮其足。唯不識第三尊。但仰視而已。釋尊謂之曰。此是補彌勒處師子月佛。師方作禮。覺後因閱大藏經。乃符所夢。天福中。遊方抵天台雲居。參國師。賓主緣契。頓發玄秘。一日入普賢殿中宴坐。倐有一神人跪膝於前。師問。汝其誰乎。曰。護戒神也。師曰。吾患有宿愆未殄。汝知之乎。曰。師有何罪。唯一小過耳。師曰。何也。曰。凡折缽水。亦施主物。師每傾棄。非所宜也。言訖而隱。師自此洗缽水盡飲之。積久因致脾疾。十載方愈(凡折退飲食。及涕唾便利等。並宜鳴指。默唸呪。發施心而傾棄之)。

was a man of Yuhang. From birth he loathed meat and blood, and his skin was fragrant and clean. In childhood he left home at Langzhan Monastery on East Mountain in Lin'an, and in due time received full ordination. He mastered the three trainings and understood nature and sign. He once dreamed of ascending Mount Sumeru and seeing three Buddhas seated in a row. First Sakyamuni, then Maitreya, and he bowed at the feet of both. Only the third venerable he did not know, and he merely looked up at him. Sakyamuni told him, 'This is the Lion Moon Buddha, who will take Maitreya's place.' Then the Master bowed. After waking, reading the great canon, he found it matched his dream. In the Tianfu era he traveled as a pilgrim and reached Yunju in Tiantai, where he called on the National Teacher. Host and guest were in accord, and he suddenly brought forth the profound secret. One day, sitting in quiet meditation in the Samantabhadra hall, a spirit suddenly knelt before him. The Master asked, 'Who are you?' The spirit said, 'A precept-guarding spirit.' The Master said, 'I fear I have an old transgression not yet exhausted—do you know it?' The spirit said, 'What fault has the Master? There is only one small fault.' The Master said, 'What is it?' The spirit said, 'Whenever you pour out the water from your bowl, it belongs to the donors. That the Master always pours it away is not fitting.' Having spoken, he vanished. From then on the Master drank all the water he used to wash his bowl. In time this caused a spleen ailment, and only after ten years did he recover. (Whenever one sets aside leftover food and drink, or spittle, urine, and the like, one should snap the fingers, silently recite a spell, arouse a mind of giving, and then pour it out.)

吳越國王嚮師道風。召賜紫衣。署普覺禪師。命住臨安功臣院。上堂。諸上座捨一知識。參一知識。盡學善財南遊之式樣。且問上座。祇如善財禮辭文殊。擬登妙峰謁德雲比丘。及到彼所。何以德雲卻於別峰相見。夫教意祖意。同一方便。終無別理。彼若明得。此亦昭然。諸上座即今簇著老僧。是相見是不相見。此處是妙峰。是別峰。脫或從此省去。可謂不孤負老僧。亦常見德雲比丘。未甞剎那相捨離。還信得及麼。僧問。叢林舉唱曲為今時。如何是功臣的的意。師曰。見麼。曰。恁麼則大眾鹹欣也。師曰。將謂師子兒。問。佛佛授手。祖祖傳心。未審和尚傳箇甚麼。師曰。汝承當得麼。曰。學人承當不得。還別有人承當得否。師曰。大眾笑汝。問。如何是如來藏。師曰。恰問著。問。如何是諸佛機。師曰。道是得麼。上堂。良久曰。大眾看看。便下座。上堂。古德為法行腳。不憚勤勞。如雪峰三到。投子九上。洞山盤桓往返。尚求箇入路不得。看汝近世參學人。才跨門來。便要老僧接引。指示說禪。且汝欲造玄極之道。豈同等閑。而況此事亦有時節。躁求焉得。汝等要知悟時麼。如今各且下去。堂中靜坐。直待仰家峰點頭。老僧即為汝說。時有僧出。曰。仰家峰點頭也。請師說。師曰。大眾且道。此僧會老僧語。不會老僧語。僧禮拜。師曰。今日偶然失鑒。有人問僧。無為無事人。為甚麼卻有金鎻難。僧無對。師代雲。祇為無為無事。僧問。教中道。文殊忽起佛見法見。被佛威神攝向二鐵圍山。意旨如何。師曰。甚麼處是二鐵圍山。僧無語。師曰。還會麼。如今若有人起佛法之見。吾與烹茶兩甌。且道賞伊罰伊。同教意不同教意。開寶四年。大將凌超於五雲山創院。奉師為終老之所。師每𢹂大扇乞錢。買肉飼虎。虎每迎之。載以還山。雍熈二年示寂。塔於本院。

The king of Wu and Yue admired the Master's style of the Way, summoned him, bestowed a purple robe, gave him the title Chan Master Pujue, and ordered him to dwell at Gongchen Monastery in Lin'an. Ascending the hall: 'You elders give up one teacher and call on another, all imitating the style of Sudhana's southern journey. But let me ask you elders: when Sudhana took leave of Manjushri and intended to climb the Wonderful Peak to visit the monk Deyun, and when he reached that place, why did Deyun appear to him on another peak? The intent of the teachings and the intent of the patriarch are the same expedient; in the end there is no different principle. If one understands that, this too is clear. Now you elders crowding around this old monk—is that meeting or not meeting? Is this place the Wonderful Peak or another peak? If you happen to awaken from this, you can be said not to fail this old monk, and you will always see the monk Deyun, never separated for an instant. Can your faith reach this?' A monk asked, 'The monastery raises and sings a tune for the present time. What is the true meaning of Gongchen?' The Master said, 'Do you see it?' The monk said, 'Then the assembly all rejoices.' The Master said, 'I took you for a lion's cub.' Asked, 'Buddha to Buddha they hand it on, patriarch to patriarch they transmit the mind. I do not understand what the Master transmits.' The Master said, 'Can you bear it?' The monk said, 'I cannot bear it. Is there someone else who can?' The Master said, 'The assembly laughs at you.' Asked, 'What is the Tathagatagarbha?' The Master said, 'You have asked exactly right.' Asked, 'What is the mechanism of the Buddhas?' The Master said, 'Can you say it is so?' Ascending the hall. After a long while he said, 'Assembly, look, look.' Then he descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'The ancient virtuous ones traveled on foot for the Dharma and did not shrink from toil. Xuefeng went three times, Touzi went up nine times, Dongshan lingered back and forth, and still could not find a way in. Look at students of recent times: no sooner do they step over the threshold than they want this old monk to receive them, instruct them, and speak Chan. But if you wish to reach the Way of the profound ultimate, how can it be a casual matter? Moreover this matter has its season; how can it be had by impatient seeking? Do you want to know the time of awakening? Now each of you go down and sit quietly in the hall. When Yangjia Peak nods, this old monk will tell you.' Then a monk came forward and said, 'Yangjia Peak has nodded. Please, Master, speak.' The Master said, 'Assembly, tell me—does this monk understand this old monk's words or not?' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Today I have carelessly lost my mirror.' Someone asked a monk, 'The person of non-action and no affairs—why does he still have the difficulty of the golden lock?' The monk had no reply. The Master answered in his place, 'Only because he is non-action and no affairs.' A monk asked, 'The teachings say: Manjushri suddenly gave rise to the view of Buddha and the view of Dharma, and was seized by the Buddha's majestic power and carried off to the two iron-ring mountains. What does this mean?' The Master said, 'Where are the two iron-ring mountains?' The monk was speechless. The Master said, 'Do you understand? If anyone today gives rise to the view of Buddhadharma, I will brew two bowls of tea for him. Tell me, am I rewarding him or punishing him, and does it agree with the teaching or not?' In the fourth year of Kaibao, the great general Ling Chao founded a monastery on Wuyun Mountain and offered it to the Master as a place to spend his last years. The Master often carried a large fan and begged for coins to buy meat to feed tigers. The tigers would come out to meet him and carry him back up the mountain. In the second year of Yongxi he passed into quiescence. His stupa is at that monastery.

杭州報恩法端慧月禪師

Chan Master Faduan Huiyue of Bao'en in Hangzhou

上堂。數夜與諸上座東語西話。猶未盡其源。今日與諸上座大開方便。一時說卻。還願樂也無。久立。珍重。僧問。學人恁麼上來。請師接。師曰。不接。曰。為甚麼不接。師曰。為汝太靈利。

Ascending the hall: 'For several nights I have talked of this and that with you elders, and still have not exhausted the source. Today I will open wide the expedients for you elders and say it all at once. Are you willing and happy? Standing long. Take care.' A monk asked, 'A student comes up like this—please, Master, receive him.' The Master said, 'I do not receive.' The monk said, 'Why not receive?' The Master said, 'Because you are too clever.'

杭州報恩紹安通辯明達禪師

Chan Master Shao'an Tongbian Mingda of Bao'en in Hangzhou

上堂。僧問。大眾側聆。請師不吝。師曰。奇怪。曰。恁麼則今日得遇於師也。師曰。是何言歟。乃曰。一句染神。萬劫不朽。今日為諸人舉一句子。良久曰。分明記取。便下座。上堂。幸有樓臺匝地。常提祖印。不妨諸上座參取。久立。珍重。僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。一切處見成。曰。恁麼則亙古亙今也。師曰。莫閑言語。

Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The assembly listens attentively; please, Master, do not be sparing.' The Master said, 'Strange.' The monk said, 'Then today I have met the Master.' The Master said, 'What words are these?' Then he said, 'One phrase dyes the spirit and does not decay through ten thousand kalpas. Today I bring up one phrase for you people.' After a long while he said, 'Remember it clearly.' Then he descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'Fortunately there are towers and terraces all around, ever holding up the patriarch's seal. You elders may as well investigate it. Standing long. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the Master's house style?' The Master said, 'It is complete in every place.' The monk said, 'Then it is from ancient times to the present.' The Master said, 'No idle words.'

福州廣平院守威宗一禪師

Chan Master Shouwei Zongyi of Guangping Monastery in Fuzhou

本州人也。參天台國師得旨。乃付衣法。時有僧問。大庾嶺頭提不起。如何今日付於師。師提起曰。有人敢道天台得麼。上堂。達磨大師雲。吾法三千年後。不移絲髮。山僧今日不移達磨絲髮。先達之者。共相證明。若未達者。不移絲髮。僧問。洪鐘韻絕。大眾臨筵。祖意西來。請師提唱。師曰。洪鐘韻絕。大眾臨筵。問。古人云。任汝千聖見。我有天真佛。如何是天真佛。師曰。千聖是弟。問。如何是廣平家風。師曰。誰不受用。上堂。不用開經作梵。不用展鈔牒科。還有理論處也無。設有理論處。亦是方便之談。宗乘事合作麼生。問。如何是西來意。師曰。未曾有人答得。曰。請師方便。師曰。何不更問。

was a man of that prefecture. He called on the National Teacher of Tiantai and got the purport, and was at once given the robe and Dharma. Then a monk asked, 'What could not be lifted at the Great Yu Ridge—how is it entrusted to the Master today?' The Master lifted it up and said, 'Does anyone dare say Tiantai got it?' Ascending the hall: 'Great Master Bodhidharma said: three thousand years after my Dharma, it will not shift by a hair. This mountain monk today does not shift Bodhidharma's hair. Those who have reached it before, bear witness together. Those who have not reached it, it does not shift a hair.' A monk asked, 'The great bell's tone has ceased and the assembly is at the feast. The patriarch's meaning coming from the West—please, Master, raise and sing it.' The Master said, 'The great bell's tone has ceased and the assembly is at the feast.' Asked, 'The ancients said: let a thousand sages see you, I have the heaven-natural Buddha. What is the heaven-natural Buddha?' The Master said, 'The thousand sages are its younger brothers.' Asked, 'What is the Guangping house style?' The Master said, 'Who does not enjoy it?' Ascending the hall: 'No need to open the sutras and chant, no need to unfold the notes and rubrics. Is there still a place for discussion? Even if there is a place for discussion, it is still talk of expedients. What should be done about the matter of the ancestral vehicle?' Asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'No one has ever answered it.' The monk said, 'Please, Master, an expedient.' The Master said, 'Why not ask again?'

杭州報恩永安禪師

Chan Master Yong'an of Bao'en in Hangzhou

溫州翁氏子。幼依本郡彚徵大師出家。後唐天成中隨本師入國。忠懿王命徵為僧正。師尤不喜俗務。擬潛往閩川投訪禪會。屬路岐艱阻。遂迴天台山結茅。尋遇韶國師開示。頓悟本心。乃辭出山。徵聞於王。王命住越州清泰。次召居上寺。署正覺空慧禪師。上堂。十方諸佛。一時雲集。與諸上座證明。諸上座與佛一時證明。還信麼。切忌卜度。僧問。四眾雲臻。如何舉唱。師曰。若到諸方。切莫錯舉。曰。非但學人。大眾有賴。師曰。禮拜著。問。五乘三藏。委者頗多。祖意西來。乞師指示。師曰。五乘三藏。曰。向上還有事也無。師曰。汝卻靈利。問。如何大作佛事。師曰。嫌甚麼。曰。恁麼則親承摩頂去也。師曰。何處見世尊。問。如何是西來意。師曰。過這邊立。僧才移步。師召曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。聽取一偈。汝問西來意。且過這邊立。昨夜三更時。雨打虗空濕。電影忽然明。不似蚰蜒急。開寶七年示疾。告眾言別。時有僧問。昔日如來正法眼。迦葉親傳。未審和尚玄風。百年後如何體會。師曰。汝甚麼處見迦葉來。曰。恁麼則信受奉行。不忘斯旨去向。師曰。佛法不是這箇道理。言訖跏趺而寂。闍維舌根不壞。柔輭如紅蓮華。藏於普賢道場。

was a son of the Weng family of Wenzhou. In childhood he left home under Great Master Huizheng of his own prefecture. In the Tiancheng era of the Later Tang he entered the capital with his own teacher. King Zhongyi appointed Huizheng to be the preceptor of monks. The Master especially disliked worldly affairs and intended to slip away to Minchuan to seek out the Chan assemblies. Because the roads were difficult and blocked, he returned to Mount Tiantai and built a hut. Before long he met National Teacher Shao's instruction and suddenly awakened to the original mind, and at once took leave and left the mountain. Huizheng reported it to the king. The king ordered him to dwell at Qingtai in Yuezhou, and then summoned him to the Upper Monastery, giving him the title Chan Master Zhengjue Konghui. Ascending the hall: 'The Buddhas of the ten directions all gather like clouds and bear witness for you elders. You elders bear witness together with the Buddhas. Do you believe it? Above all, do not conjecture.' A monk asked, 'The four assemblies gather like clouds—how will you raise and sing it?' The Master said, 'If you go to the various regions, be sure not to raise it wrongly.' The monk said, 'Not only the student, the assembly too has something to rely on.' The Master said, 'Bow.' Asked, 'The five vehicles and three baskets—many are versed in them. The patriarch's meaning coming from the West—I beg the Master to instruct me.' The Master said, 'The five vehicles and three baskets.' The monk said, 'Is there still a matter above that?' The Master said, 'You are clever.' Asked, 'How does one greatly do the Buddha's work?' The Master said, 'What are you averse to?' The monk said, 'Then I have personally received the head-anointing.' The Master said, 'Where do you see the World-Honored One?' Asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Stand over on this side.' As the monk was just moving, the Master called to him, 'Do you understand?' The monk said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'Listen to a verse. You ask the meaning of the coming from the West, so stand over on this side. Last night at the third watch, the rain beat the void wet. The lightning flashed suddenly bright, not like a centipede's haste.' In the seventh year of Kaibao the Master showed illness and told the assembly farewell. Then a monk asked, 'Formerly the Tathagata's true Dharma eye was personally transmitted to Kasyapa. I do not understand how the Master's profound style will be understood a hundred years from now.' The Master said, 'Where do you see Kasyapa?' The monk said, 'Then faithfully receiving and practicing, I will not forget this purport.' The Master said, 'The Buddhadharma is not this principle.' Having spoken, he sat cross-legged and passed away. After cremation his tongue root was unspoiled, soft as a red lotus, and it is kept at the Samantabhadra bodhimanda.

廣州光聖院師護禪師

Chan Master Shihu of Guangsheng Monastery in Guangzhou

閩人也。自天台得法。化行嶺表。國主劉氏創大伽藍。請師居焉。署大義禪師。僧問。昔日梵王請佛。今日國主臨筵。祖意西來。如何舉唱。師曰。不要西來。山僧已舉唱了也。曰。豈無方便。師曰。適來豈不是方便。問。學人乍入叢林。西來妙訣。乞師指示。師曰。汝未入叢林。我已示汝了也。曰。如何領會。師曰。不要領會。

was a man of Min. Having obtained the Dharma at Tiantai, he spread the teaching beyond the ridges. King Liu of that country founded a great monastery and invited the Master to dwell there, giving him the title Chan Master Dayi. A monk asked, 'Formerly the Brahma king invited the Buddha; today the king comes to the feast. The patriarch's meaning coming from the West—how will you raise and sing it?' The Master said, 'No need to come from the West. This mountain monk has already raised and sung it.' The monk said, 'Is there no expedient?' The Master said, 'Was what I just did not an expedient?' Asked, 'I have just entered the monastery. The wonderful formula of the coming from the West—I beg the Master to instruct me.' The Master said, 'Before you entered the monastery, I had already shown it to you.' The monk said, 'How should I understand it?' The Master said, 'Do not understand it.'

杭州奉先寺清昱禪師

Chan Master Qingyu of Fengxian Monastery in Hangzhou

永嘉人也。忠懿王召入問道。創奉先居之。署圓通妙覺禪師。僧問。如何是西來意。師曰。高聲舉似大眾。

was a man of Yongjia. King Zhongyi summoned him to ask about the Way and founded Fengxian for him to dwell in, giving him the title Chan Master Yuantong Miaojue. A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Raise it loudly before the assembly.'

台州紫凝普聞寺智勤禪師

Chan Master Zhiqin of Puwen Monastery on Zining in Taizhou

僧問。如何是空手把鉏頭。師曰。但恁麼諦信。曰。如何是步行騎水牛。師曰。汝自何來。有偈示眾曰。今年五十五。腳未蹋寸土。山河是眼睛。大海是我肚。太平興國四年。有旨試僧經業。山門老宿。各寫法名。唯師不閑書札。時通判李憲問。世尊還解書也無。師曰。天下人知。淳化初。不疾。命侍僧開浴。浴訖垂誡徒眾。安坐而逝。塔於本山。三年後。門人遷塔發龕。覩師容儀儼若。髭髮仍長。遂迎入新塔。

A monk asked, 'What is carrying a hoe with empty hands?' The Master said, 'Just thus have deep faith.' The monk said, 'What is walking on foot while riding a water buffalo?' The Master said, 'Where have you come from?' He had a verse to show the assembly: 'This year I am fifty-five, and my feet have not trodden an inch of ground. Mountains and rivers are my eyes, the great sea is my belly.' In the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo there was an edict to examine monks in the sutra studies. The old masters of the monastery each wrote their Dharma names. Only the Master was unskilled at writing. Then the assistant prefect Li Xian asked, 'Does the World-Honored One understand writing too?' The Master said, 'The people of the world know.' In the early Chunhua era, without illness, he ordered an attendant monk to prepare a bath. After bathing he gave his final admonition to the disciples, sat at ease, and passed away. His stupa is on that mountain. Three years later his disciples moved the stupa and opened the niche, and saw the Master's countenance and demeanor as if alive, his beard and hair still growing, so they welcomed him into a new stupa.

溫州鴈蕩山願齊禪師

Chan Master Yuanqi of Yandang Mountain in Wenzhou

錢塘江氏子。上堂。僧問。夜月舒光。為甚麼碧潭無影。師曰。作家弄影漢。其僧從東過西立。師曰。不唯弄影。兼乃怖頭。

was a son of the Jiang family of Qiantang. Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The night moon gives out light—why has the blue pool no shadow?' The Master said, 'A master craftsman at playing with shadows.' The monk crossed from east to west and stood. The Master said, 'Not only playing with shadows, but also fearing your own head.'

杭州普門寺希辯禪師

Chan Master Xibian of Pumen Monastery in Hangzhou

蘇州人也。忠懿王命主越州清泰。署慧智。後遷上寺。上堂。山僧素乏知見。復寡聞持。頃雖侍立於國師。不蒙一句開示。以致今日與諸仁者聚會。更無一法可相助發。何況能為諸仁者區別緇素。商量古今。還怪得山僧麼。若有怪者。且道此人具眼不具眼。有賓主義。無賓主義。晚學初機。必須審細。僧問。如何是普門示現神通事。師曰。恁麼則闍黎怪老僧去也。曰。不怪時如何。師曰。汝且下堂裡思惟去。太平興國三年。吳越王入覲。師隨寶塔至。見於滋福殿。賜紫衣。號慧明禪師。端拱中乞還故里。詔從之。賜御製詩。忠懿王施金於常熟本山院。創甎浮圖七級。高二百尺。功既就。至道三年八月示寂。塔於院之西北隅。

was a man of Suzhou. King Zhongyi ordered him to preside at Qingtai in Yuezhou, with the title Huizhi. Later he moved to the Upper Monastery. Ascending the hall: 'This mountain monk has always lacked views and knowledge, and is also poor in learning and retention. Though I once stood in attendance on the National Teacher, I did not receive a single phrase of instruction, so that today, meeting you good people, I have not one dharma with which to help you forth. How much less can I distinguish black from white for you good people and deliberate on past and present. Can you still blame this mountain monk? If there is one who blames, tell me, does this person have the eye or not, is there a host-guest relationship or not? Late students and beginners must examine this carefully.' A monk asked, 'What is the matter of Pumen's manifesting spiritual powers?' The Master said, 'Then the Acharya blames this old monk.' The monk said, 'What about when one does not blame?' The Master said, 'Go down to the hall and think it over.' In the third year of Taiping Xingguo, the king of Wu and Yue went to court. The Master followed the jeweled pagoda and came to be received in the Zifu Hall. He was given a purple robe and the title Chan Master Huiming. In the Duangong era he asked to return to his old village, and the edict granted it. He was given an imperial poem. King Zhongyi donated gold to the mountain monastery in Changshu and built a brick stupa of seven stories, two hundred feet high. When the work was done, in the eighth month of the third year of Zhidao the Master passed into quiescence. His stupa is at the northwest corner of the monastery.

杭州光慶寺遇安禪師

Chan Master Yu'an of Guangqing Monastery in Hangzhou

錢塘沈氏子。上堂。僧問。無價寶珠。請師分付。師曰。善能吐露。曰。恁麼則人人具足去也。師曰。珠在甚麼處。僧禮拜。師曰。也是虗言。問。提綱舉領。盡立主賓。如何是主。師曰。深委此問。曰。如何是賓。師曰。適來向汝道甚麼。曰。賓主道合時如何。師曰。其令不行。問。心月孤圓。光吞萬象。如何是吞萬象底光。師曰。大眾總見汝恁麼問。曰。光吞萬象從師道。心月孤圓意若何。師曰。抖擻精神著。曰。鷺倚雪巢猶可辯。光吞萬象事難明。師曰。謹退。問。青山綠水。處處分明。和尚家風。乞垂一句。師曰。盡被汝道了也。曰。未必如斯。請師答話。師曰。不用閑言。又一僧方禮拜。師曰。問答俱備。僧擬問。師乃叱之。上堂。欲識曹溪旨。雲飛前面山。分明真實箇。不用別追攀。僧問。古德有言。井底紅塵生。山頭波浪起。未審此意如何。師曰。若到諸方。但恁麼問。曰。和尚意旨如何。師曰。適來向汝道甚麼。乃曰。古今相承。皆雲塵生井底。浪起山頭。結子空華。生兒石女。且作麼生會。莫是和聲送事。就物呈心。句裡藏鋒。聲前全露麼。莫是有名無體。異唱玄譚麼。上座自會即得。古人意旨即不然。既恁麼會不得。合作麼生會。上座欲得會麼。但看泥牛行處。陽𦦨飜波。木馬嘶時。空華墜影。聖凡如此。道理分明。何須久立。珍重。

was a son of the Shen family of Qiantang. Ascending the hall. A monk asked, 'The priceless jewel—please, Master, hand it over.' The Master said, 'Well able to disclose it.' The monk said, 'Then everyone is fully provided.' The Master said, 'Where is the jewel?' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'That too is empty words.' Asked, 'Raising the main point and lifting the collar, host and guest are all set up. What is the host?' The Master said, 'You have deeply entrusted this question.' The monk said, 'What is the guest?' The Master said, 'What did I just tell you?' The monk said, 'What about when host and guest are in accord?' The Master said, 'Its command does not go forth.' Asked, 'The mind-moon is alone and round; its light swallows the ten thousand forms. What is the light that swallows the ten thousand forms?' The Master said, 'The assembly all sees you asking like this.' The monk said, 'The light swallowing the ten thousand forms comes from the Master's words. What is the meaning of the mind-moon being alone and round?' The Master said, 'Rouse your spirit.' The monk said, 'A heron leaning on a snow nest can still be distinguished; the matter of the light swallowing the ten thousand forms is hard to make clear.' The Master said, 'Withdraw respectfully.' Asked, 'Green mountains and blue waters are clear in every place. The Master's house style—please grant one phrase.' The Master said, 'You have said it all.' The monk said, 'It is not necessarily so. Please, Master, answer.' The Master said, 'No idle words.' Another monk was just bowing when the Master said, 'Question and answer are both complete.' As the monk was about to ask, the Master scolded him. Ascending the hall: 'If you would know the purport of Caoxi, the clouds fly before the mountain. Clearly it is the true thing; no need to seek elsewhere.' A monk asked, 'The ancient virtuous ones said: red dust arises at the bottom of the well, waves rise on the mountain top. I do not understand what this means.' The Master said, 'If you go to the various regions, just ask like this.' The monk said, 'What is the Master's intent?' The Master said, 'What did I just tell you?' Then he said, 'Past and present transmit it in succession, all saying that dust arises at the bottom of the well, waves rise on the mountain top, fruit is born of empty flowers, and a stone woman bears a child. How will you understand it? Is it echoing events and sending off matters, presenting the mind through objects, hiding the blade in the phrase, fully revealing before sound? Is it having a name but no substance, strange songs and profound talk? If the elder understands it himself, all right. But the ancients' intent is not thus. Since you cannot understand it thus, how should you understand it? Does the elder want to understand? Just look: where the mud ox walks, the sun flames turn the waves. When the wooden horse neighs, the empty flower drops its shadow. Sage and ordinary are thus, and the principle is clear. Why stand long? Take care.'

台州般若寺友蟾禪師

Chan Master Youchan of Prajna Monastery in Taizhou

錢塘人也。初住雲居普賢。忠懿王署慈悟禪師。選止上寺。眾盈五百。僧問。鼓聲才罷。大眾雲臻。向上宗乘。請師舉唱。師曰。虧汝甚麼。曰。恁麼則人人盡霑恩去也。師曰。莫亂道。

was a man of Qiantang. He first lived at Yunju Puxian. King Zhongyi gave him the title Chan Master Ciwu. He was chosen to dwell at the Upper Monastery, where the assembly numbered five hundred. A monk asked, 'The drumbeat has just ceased and the assembly gathers like clouds. The vehicle above—please, Master, raise and sing it.' The Master said, 'Where do you fall short?' The monk said, 'Then everyone receives the grace.' The Master said, 'Do not talk nonsense.'

婺州智者寺全肯禪師

Chan Master Quanken of Zhizhe Monastery in Wuzhou

初參國師。國師問。汝名甚麼。師曰。全肯。國師曰。肯箇甚麼。師於言下有省。乃禮拜。住後。僧問。有人不肯。還甘也無。師曰。若人問我。即向伊道。

He first consulted the National Master. The National Master asked: 'What is your name?' The master said: 'Quan Ken, Complete Assent.' The National Master said: 'What do you assent to?' At these words the master had a realization, and bowed. After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'If someone does not assent, would you be content?' The master said: 'If someone asked me, I would tell him.'

福州玉泉義隆禪師

Chan Master Yuquan Yilong of Fuzhou

上堂。山河大地。盡在諸人眼睛裡。因甚麼說會與不會。時有僧問。山河大地眼睛裡。師今欲更指歸誰。師曰。祇為上座去處分明。曰。若不上來伸此問。焉知方便不虗施。師曰。依俙似曲才堪聽。又被風吹別調中。

He mounted the hall: 'The mountains, rivers and great earth are all within you people's eyes. Why then do you speak of understanding and not understanding?' At that moment a monk asked: 'The mountains, rivers and great earth are in the eyes — to whom does the Master now want to point them as belonging?' The master said: 'Only because your destination, Venerable One, is clear.' The monk said: 'Had I not come up and put this question, how would I know that your skillful means are not bestowed in vain?' The master said: 'Faintly like a tune that is just worth hearing, and again the wind blows it into another key.'

杭州龍冊寺曉榮禪師

Chan Master Xiaorong of Longce Monastery, Hangzhou

溫州鄧氏子。僧問。祖祖相傳。未審和尚傳阿誰。師曰。汝還識得祖也未。僧慧文問。如何是真實沙門。師曰。汝是慧文。問。如何是般若大神珠。師曰。般若大神珠。分形萬億軀。塵塵彰妙體。剎剎盡毗盧。問。如何是日用事。師曰。一念周沙界。日用萬般通。湛然常寂滅。常展自家風。小參次。僧問。向上事即不問。如何是妙善臺中的的意。師曰。若到諸方。分明舉似。曰。恁麼則雲有出山勢。水無投㵎聲。師乃叱之。

He was a son of the Deng family of Wenzhou. A monk asked: 'Patriarch after patriarch transmitted it; I wonder to whom the Master transmits it?' The master said: 'Do you know the patriarch or not?' The monk Huiwen asked: 'What is a true monk?' The master said: 'You are Huiwen.' The monk asked: 'What is the great spirit pearl of prajna?' The master said: 'The great spirit pearl of prajna divides its form into a trillion bodies. In every mote the wondrous essence is revealed; in every land it is all Vairocana.' The monk asked: 'What is the matter of daily use?' The master said: 'A single thought encompasses the sands of the Ganges; in daily use the ten thousand things are all pervaded. Serene and ever extinguished, it ever unfolds its own family style.' At the minor assembly a monk asked: 'I will not ask about the matter of going beyond. What is the precise meaning on the terrace of wondrous goodness?' The master said: 'If you go to other quarters, bring it up clearly.' The monk said: 'Then the clouds have the force to leave the mountain, and the water makes no sound falling into the ravine.' The master at once scolded him.

杭州功臣慶蕭禪師

Chan Master Gongchen Qingxiao of Hangzhou

僧問。如何是功臣家風。師曰。明暗色空。曰。恁麼則諸法無生去也。師曰。汝喚甚麼作諸法。僧禮拜。師曰。聽取一偈。功臣家風。明暗色空。法法非異。心心自通。恁麼會得。諸佛真宗。

A monk asked: 'What is the family style of Gongchen?' The master said: 'Bright and dark, form and emptiness.' The monk said: 'Then all dharmas go to non-arising.' The master said: 'What do you call all dharmas?' The monk bowed. The master said: 'Hear a verse. The family style of Gongchen: bright and dark, form and emptiness. Every dharma is not different; mind to mind they are self-communicating. If you can understand it thus, it is the true teaching of all buddhas.'

越州稱心敬璡禪師

Chan Master Chengxin Jingjin of Yuezhou

僧問。結束囊裝。請師分付。師曰。莫諱卻。曰。甚麼處孤負和尚。師曰。卻是汝孤負我。

A monk asked: 'My bundle is packed; please, Master, give me your parting instruction.' The master said: 'Do not conceal it.' The monk said: 'Where have I failed the Master?' The master said: 'It is rather you who have failed me.'

福州嚴峰師朮禪師

Chan Master Yanfeng Shishu of Fuzhou

開堂陞座。極樂和尚問曰。大眾顒望。請震法雷。師曰。大眾還會麼。還辨得麼。今日不異靈山。乃至諸佛國土。天上人間。總皆如是。亙古亙今。常無變異。作麼生會無變異底道理。若會得。所以道。無邊剎境。自他不隔於毫端。十世古今。始終不離於當念。僧問。靈山一會。迦葉親聞。嚴峰一會。誰是聞者。師曰。問者不弱。問。如何是文殊。師曰。來處甚分明。

When he opened the hall and mounted the seat, the Elder Jile asked: 'The great assembly looks up in expectation; please shake the thunder of dharma.' The master said: 'Does the great assembly understand? Can it tell? Today is no different from Vulture Peak. Indeed, all buddha lands, in heaven and among men, are altogether like this. From ancient times to the present it is always without change or variation. How do you understand the principle of no change and no variation? If you understand it, then it is as has been said: throughout boundless lands, self and other are not separated by the tip of a hair; through the ten ages of past and present, beginning and end never depart from the present thought.' A monk asked: 'At the assembly on Vulture Peak, Kashyapa heard it in person. At the assembly on Yanfeng, who is the hearer?' The master said: 'The questioner is not weak.' The monk asked: 'What is Manjushri?' The master said: 'The place he comes from is quite clear.'

潞府華嚴慧達禪師

Chan Master Huayan Huida of Lu Prefecture

僧問。如何是古佛心。師曰。山河大地。問。如何是華嚴境。師曰。滿目無形影。

A monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'Mountains, rivers, the great earth.' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Huayan?' The master said: 'Filling the eyes, without shape or shadow.'

越州清泰院道圓禪師

Chan Master Qingtai Yuan Daoyuan of Yuezhou

僧問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。今日遷化嶺中。上座問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。不可向汝道庭前栢樹子。

A monk asked: 'Where has the deceased monk gone, now that he has passed away?' The master said: 'Today he passes away in the ridge.' The Venerable One asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'I cannot tell you, "the cypress tree in the courtyard."'

杭州九曲觀音院慶祥禪師

Chan Master Qingxiang of Jiuqu Guanyin Monastery, Hangzhou

餘杭人也。辯才冠眾。多聞強記。時天台門下。推為傑出。僧問。湛湛圓明。請師一決。師曰。十里平湖。一輪秋月。問。險惡道中。以何為津梁。師曰。以此為津梁。曰。如何是此。師曰。築著汝鼻孔。問。無根樹子向甚麼處栽。師曰。汝甚處得來。

He was a man of Yuhang. His eloquence surpassed the assembly, and he was widely learned with a strong memory. Among the disciples of Tiantai at that time he was reckoned outstanding. A monk asked: 'Deep and clear, perfectly bright; please, Master, settle it once.' The master said: 'Ten miles of level lake, one round autumn moon.' The monk asked: 'On a perilous road, what is the bridge?' The master said: 'This is the bridge.' The monk said: 'What is this?' The master said: 'It plugs your nostrils.' The monk asked: 'Where is the rootless tree planted?' The master said: 'Where did you get that from?'

杭州開化寺行明傳法禪師

Chan Master Xingming Chuanfa of Kaihua Monastery, Hangzhou

本州於氏子。禮雪竇智覺禪師為師。及智覺遷永明。遂入天台國師之室。蒙授記莂。復歸永明。翊贊廼師。海眾傾仰。忠懿王建六和寺(本朝賜開化額)。延請住持。聚徒說法。僧問。如何是開化門中流出方便。師曰。日日潮音兩度聞。問。如何是無盡燈。師曰。謝闍黎照燭。

He was a son of the Yu family of this prefecture. He took Chan Master Zhijue of Xuedou as his master. When Zhijue moved to Yongming, he entered the room of the National Master of Tiantai and received the prophecy and seal. He then returned to Yongming and assisted his own master, and the assembly, vast as the sea, looked up to him. King Zhongyi built Liuhe Monastery (our dynasty granted it the name Kaihua) and invited him to reside and gather disciples to preach the dharma. A monk asked: 'What skillful means flow out from the gate of Kaihua?' The master said: 'Day after day the sound of the tide is heard twice.' The monk asked: 'What is the inexhaustible lamp?' The master said: 'Thank you, Acharya, for your illumination.'

越州漁浦開善寺義圓禪師

Chan Master Kai Shan Yiyuan of Yupu, Yuezhou

僧問。一年去。一年來。方便門中請師開。師曰。分明記取。曰。恁麼則昔時師子吼。今日象王回也。師曰。且喜沒交涉。

A monk asked: 'One year departs, one year comes. In the gate of skillful means, pray, Master, open it.' The master said: 'Record it clearly.' The monk said: 'Then the lion's roar of former days has today become the elephant king's turning back.' The master said: 'I am rather glad it has no connection.'

溫州瑞鹿寺上方遇安禪師

Chan Master Shangfang Yu'an of Ruilu Monastery, Wenzhou

福州人也。得法於天台。又常閱首楞嚴經。到知見立知。即無明本。知見無見。斯即涅槃。師乃破句讀曰。知見立。知即無明本。知見無。見斯即涅槃。於此有省。有人語師曰。破句了也。師曰。此是我悟處。畢生不易。時謂之安楞嚴。至道元年春。將示寂。有嗣子蘊仁侍立。師乃說偈示之。不是嶺頭𢹂得事。豈從鷄足付將來。自古聖賢皆若此。非吾今日為君裁。付囑已。澡身易衣。安坐。令舁棺至室。良久。自入棺。經三日。門人啟棺。覩師右脇吉祥而臥。四眾哀慟。師乃再起。陞堂說法。訶責垂誡。此度更啟吾棺者。非吾之子。言訖。復入棺長往。

He was a man of Fuzhou. He obtained the dharma from Tiantai. He also often read the Shurangama Sutra, and when he came to 'When knowing and seeing set up a knowing, that is the root of ignorance. When knowing and seeing are without seeing, that is nirvana,' he broke the phrases and read it as: 'When knowing and seeing are set up, the knowing is the root of ignorance. When knowing and seeing are absent, the seeing is nirvana.' At this he had a realization. Someone said to the master: 'You have broken the phrases.' The master said: 'This is where I awakened. I will not change it for my whole life.' At that time he was called An of the Shurangama. In the spring of the first year of Zhidao, when he was about to pass away, his heir Yunren stood in attendance. The master then spoke a verse to him: 'It is not a matter carried off from the ridge top; how could it be transmitted from Kukkutapada? From ancient times the sages and worthies have all been thus; it is not that I today cut it out for you.' Having given his parting instruction, he bathed and changed his clothes and sat at ease. He had the coffin brought into the room. After a long while he entered the coffin himself. Three days later his disciples opened the coffin and saw the master lying on his right side in the auspicious posture. The four assemblies wept and grieved. The master then rose again, mounted the hall to preach the dharma, and admonished them with a rebuke: 'Whoever opens my coffin again this time is not my disciple.' Having spoken, he entered the coffin again and departed forever.

杭州龍華寺慧居禪師

Chan Master Huiju of Longhua Monastery, Hangzhou

閩人也。自天台領旨。忠懿王命住上寺。開堂示眾曰。從上宗乘。到這裡如何舉唱。祇如釋迦如來說一代時教。如瓶注水。古德尚雲。猶如夢事寱語一般。且道據甚麼道理便恁麼道。還會麼。大施門開。何曾壅塞。生凡育聖。不漏纖塵。言凡則全凡。舉聖則全聖。凡聖不相待。箇箇獨稱尊。所以道。山河大地。長時說法。長時放光。地水火風。一一如是。時有僧出禮拜。師曰。好箇問頭。如法問著。僧擬進前。師曰。又沒交涉也。問。諸佛出世。放光動地。和尚出世。有何祥瑞。師曰。話頭自破。上堂。龍華這裡。也祇是拈柴擇菜。上來下去。晨朝一粥。齋時一飯。睡後吃茶。但恁麼參取。珍重。問。學人未明自己。如何辨得淺深。師曰。識取自己眼。曰。如何是自己眼。師曰。向汝道甚麼。

He was a man of Min. He received the purport from Tiantai. King Zhongyi ordered him to reside at the upper monastery. When he opened the hall he addressed the assembly: 'The ancestral vehicle from the first — how is it to be proclaimed here? Consider how Shakyamuni Tathagata set forth the teachings of a whole age, like water poured from a pitcher. The ancient worthies still said it is like a dream and like talking in one's sleep. Tell me, on what principle does he speak like that? Do you understand? The gate of great giving stands open — when was it ever blocked? It gives birth to the ordinary and rears the holy, and not a mote slips through. Speaking of the ordinary, it is wholly ordinary; raising up the holy, it is wholly holy. Ordinary and holy do not wait upon each other; each one alone is called honored. Therefore it is said: the mountains, rivers and great earth ever preach the dharma and ever emit light. Earth, water, fire and wind, each one is like this.' At that moment a monk came forward and bowed. The master said: 'What a good question! Ask it in accordance with the dharma.' The monk was about to step forward. The master said: 'You have lost touch again.' The monk asked: 'When all buddhas appear in the world, they emit light and shake the earth. When the Master appears in the world, what auspicious sign is there?' The master said: 'The words of the question break themselves.' He mounted the hall: 'Here at Longhua we only pick firewood and choose vegetables. Coming up and going down, at dawn one bowl of gruel, at noon one meal, and tea after sleep. Just study it like this. Take care.' A monk asked: 'This student has not yet clarified himself; how can he tell shallow from deep?' The master said: 'Know your own eye.' The monk said: 'What is your own eye?' The master said: 'What did I tell you?'

婺州齊雲山遇臻禪師

Chan Master Yuzhen of Qiyun Mountain, Wuzhou

越州楊氏子。僧問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。五六尺。其僧禮拜。師曰。塔倒也。問。圓明瞭知。為甚麼不因心念。師曰。圓明瞭知。曰。何異心念。師曰。汝喚甚麼作心念。秋夕閑坐。偶成頌曰。秋庭肅肅風𮨱𮨱。寒星列空蟾魄高。搘頥靜坐神不勞。鳥窠無端吹布毛。

He was a son of the Yang family of Yuezhou. A monk asked: 'What is the seamless stupa?' The master said: 'Five or six feet.' That monk bowed. The master said: 'The stupa has fallen down.' The monk asked: 'Perfect clarity and knowing awareness — why is it not dependent on thought?' The master said: 'Perfect clarity and knowing awareness.' The monk said: 'How is it different from thought?' The master said: 'What do you call thought?' On an autumn evening as he sat at leisure, he happened to compose a verse: 'The autumn courtyard is solemn, the wind whistles; cold stars line the sky, the moon's spirit is high. Propping my cheek, I sit quietly, the spirit unwearied; the bird's nest blows a tuft of down for no reason.'

溫州瑞鹿寺本先禪師

Chan Master Benxian of Ruilu Monastery, Wenzhou

本州鄭氏子。參天台國師。導以非風幡動。仁者心動之語。師即悟解。爾後示徒曰。吾初學天台法門。語下便薦。然千日之內。四儀之中。似物礙膺。如讐同所。千日之後。一日之中。物不礙膺。讐不同所。當下安樂。頓覺前咎。乃述頌三首。一．非風幡動仁者心動。曰。非風幡動唯心動。自古相傳直至今。今後水雲人慾曉。祖師真是好知音。二．見色便見心。曰。若是見色便見心。人來問著方難答。更求道理說多般。孤負平生三事衲。三．明自己。曰。曠大劫來祇如是。如是同天亦同地。同地同天作麼形。作麼形兮無不是。師自爾足不歷城邑。手不度財貨。不設臥具。不衣繭絲。日唯一食。終日宴坐。申旦誨誘。踰三十載。其志彌厲。上堂。你諸人還見竹林蘭若．山水院舍人眾麼。若道見。則心外有法。若道不見。爭奈竹林蘭若．山水院舍人眾。現在摐然地。還會恁麼告示麼。若會。不妨靈利。無事莫立。上堂。大凡參學未必學。問話是參學未必學。揀話是參學未必學。代語是參學未必學。別語是參學未必學。捻破經論中奇特言語是參學。未必捻破祖師奇特言語是參學。若於如是等參學。任你七通八達。於佛法中儻無見處。喚作乾慧之徒。豈不聞古德道。聰明不敵生死。乾慧豈免苦輪。諸人若也參學。應須真實參學始得。行時行時參取。立時立時參取。坐時坐時參取。眠時眠時參取。語時語時參取。默時默時參取。一切作務時。一切作務時參取。既向如是等時參。且道參箇甚人。參箇甚麼語。到這裡。須自有箇明白處始得。若不如是。喚作造次之流。則無究了之旨。上堂。幽林鳥呌。碧㵎魚跳。雲片展張。瀑聲嗚咽。你等還知得如是多景象。示你等箇入處麼。若也知得。不妨參取好。上堂。天台教中說文殊．觀音．普賢三門。文殊門者一切色。觀音門者一切聲。普賢門者不動步而到。

He was a son of the Zheng family of this prefecture. He consulted the National Master of Tiantai, who guided him with the words 'It is not the wind that moves, nor the banner; it is the benevolent one's mind that moves.' The master then awakened. After that he taught his disciples: 'When I first studied the Tiantai gate, I understood at once below the words. Yet for a thousand days, through the four postures, something seemed to block my chest, like an enemy sharing my dwelling. After a thousand days, in a single day, the thing no longer blocked my chest, and the enemy no longer shared my dwelling. At once I was at ease, and suddenly I felt my former fault.' Then he composed three verses. First, on 'not the wind and banner that move, but the benevolent one's mind that moves': 'It is not the wind or the banner that moves, only the mind; from ancient times it has been handed down right to today. Henceforth, if people of the water and clouds wish to understand, the patriarch is truly a good intimate friend.' Second, on 'seeing form, one sees the mind': 'If seeing form one sees the mind, then when someone comes to ask it is hard to answer. To seek further principles and speak of many kinds would betray a whole life in three robes.' Third, on 'clarifying oneself': 'Through vast kalpas it has only ever been thus; thus it is the same as heaven and the same as earth. Same as earth and same as heaven — what shape does it take? What shape does it take? There is nothing that is not it.' From then on the master's feet never entered a city, his hands never passed money or goods, he set up no bedding, wore no silk, ate only one meal a day, sat in meditation all day long, and taught and guided from dawn till morning, for more than thirty years, with his resolve ever sharper. He mounted the hall: 'Do you also see the bamboo groves and hermitages, the mountain and water, the halls and dwellings, and the crowds of people? If you say you see them, then there are dharmas outside the mind. If you say you do not see them, how is it that the bamboo groves and hermitages, the mountain and water, the halls and dwellings, and the crowds of people are right now clattering before you? Do you understand such an announcement? If you do, then you are clever enough. When there is nothing to do, do not stand.' He mounted the hall: 'In general, studying may not be learning. Asking questions is studying, but it may not be learning. Picking over words is studying, but it may not be learning. Speaking in another's place is studying, but it may not be learning. Alternate words are studying, but it may not be learning. Twisting out the remarkable words in the scriptures and treatises is studying; but twisting out the patriarchs' remarkable words may not be studying. If you study in such ways, then though you may be thoroughly versed in all, if in the buddhadharma you have no place of seeing, you are called one of dry wisdom. Have you not heard the ancient worthy say: cleverness cannot match birth and death, and dry wisdom cannot escape the wheel of suffering? If you people study, you must study truly and genuinely. When walking, study in walking; when standing, study in standing; when sitting, study in sitting; when sleeping, study in sleeping; when speaking, study in speaking; when silent, study in silence. In all your tasks, study in all your tasks. Since you study in such times, tell me, who is it that studies? What words does it study? At this point you must have your own place of clarity. If not, you are called one of heedlessness, and you have no purport of final understanding.' He mounted the hall: 'Birds call in the deep grove, fish leap in the green ravine. Cloud wisps spread out, the waterfall sobs. Do you also know that such a multitude of scenes shows you an entrance? If you know it, then by all means study it well.' He mounted the hall: 'In the Tiantai teaching there are the three gates of Manjushri, Guanyin and Samantabhadra. The gate of Manjushri is all form. The gate of Guanyin is all sound. The gate of Samantabhadra is arriving without taking a step.'

我道文殊門者不是一切色。觀音門者不是一切聲。普賢門者是箇甚麼。莫道別卻天台教說話。無事且退。上堂。舉僧問長沙。南泉遷化向甚麼處去。沙曰。東家作驢。西家作馬。僧曰。學人不會。沙曰。要騎便騎。要下即下。師曰。若是求出三界修行底人。聞這箇言語。不妨狐疑。不妨驚怕。南泉遷化向甚處去。東家作驢。西家作馬。或有會雲。千變萬化。不出真常。或有會雲。須會異類中行。始會得這箇言語。或有會雲。東家是南泉。西家是南泉。或有會雲。東家郎君子。西家郎君子。或有會雲。東家是甚麼。西家是甚麼。或有會雲。便作驢呌。又作馬嘶。或有會雲。喚甚麼作東家驢。喚甚麼作西家馬。或有會雲。既問遷化。答在問處。或有會雲。作露柱處去也。或有會雲。東家作驢。西家作馬。虧南泉甚處。如是諸家會也。總於佛法有安樂處。南泉遷化向甚處去。東家作驢。西家作馬。學人不會。要騎便騎。要下即下。這箇話不消得多道理而會。若見法界性去。也沒多事。珍重。上堂。鑑中形影。唯憑鑑光顯現。你等諸人所作一切事。且道唯憑箇甚麼顯現。還知得麼。若也知得。於參學中千足萬足。無事。莫立。上堂。你等諸人。夜間眠熟不知一切。既不知一切。且問你等那時有本來性。無本來性。若道那時有本來性。又不知一切。與死無異。若道那時無本來性。睡眠忽省。覺知如故。還會麼。不知一切與死無異。睡眠忽省覺知如故。如是等時。是箇甚麼。若也不會。各體究取。無事．莫立。上堂。諸法所生。唯心所現。如是言語。好箇入底門戶。且問你等諸人。眼見一切色。耳聞一切聲。鼻嗅一切香。舌了一切味。身觸一切耎滑。意分別一切諸法。祇如眼耳鼻舌身意所對之物。為復唯是你等心。為復非是你等心。若道唯是你等心。何不與你等身都作一塊了休。為甚麼所對之物。

(The master continued:) 'I say the gate of Manjushri is not all form. The gate of Guanyin is not all sound. And the gate of Samantabhadra — what is it? Do not say that I am contradicting the words of the Tiantai teaching. When there is nothing to do, withdraw.' He mounted the hall. He brought up how a monk asked Changsha: 'Where did Nanquan go when he passed away?' Changsha said: 'He became a donkey in the eastern house and a horse in the western house.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' Changsha said: 'If you want to ride, ride; if you want to get down, get down.' The master said: 'If people who seek to escape the three realms by practice hear these words, they cannot help being doubtful and cannot help being alarmed. Where did Nanquan go when he passed away? He became a donkey in the eastern house and a horse in the western house. Someone may understand it as: a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations never depart from the true and constant. Someone may understand it as: one must understand walking among different kinds, and only then understand these words. Someone may understand it as: the eastern house is Nanquan, the western house is Nanquan. Someone may understand it as: the gentleman in the eastern house, the gentleman in the western house. Someone may understand it as: what is the eastern house, what is the western house. Someone may understand it as: then he brays like a donkey and neighs like a horse. Someone may understand it as: what do you call the eastern house's donkey, what do you call the western house's horse. Someone may understand it as: since the question was about his passing away, the answer lies in the question. Someone may understand it as: he has gone off to be a pillar. Someone may understand it as: becoming a donkey in the east and a horse in the west — where does that wrong Nanquan? In all such ways of understanding, there is a place of ease in the buddhadharma. Where did Nanquan go when he passed away? He became a donkey in the eastern house and a horse in the western house. The student does not understand. If you want to ride, ride; if you want to get down, get down. These words do not need a lot of reasoning to understand. If you see the nature of the dharma realm, then there is not much to do either. Take care.' He mounted the hall: 'Forms and shadows in a mirror appear only by relying on the mirror's light. As for all the things you people do, tell me, what do they appear by relying on? Do you know? If you know, then in your study you have a thousandfold and ten-thousandfold sufficiency. Nothing to do. Do not stand.' He mounted the hall: 'You people, when you are asleep at night, do not know anything. Since you do not know anything, let me ask you: at that time do you have the original nature or not? If you say that at that time you have the original nature, then since you do not know anything you are no different from a dead man. If you say that at that time you have no original nature, then when you suddenly wake from sleep your awareness is as before. Do you understand? Not knowing anything is no different from death; suddenly waking from sleep, awareness is as before. At such a time, what is it? If you do not understand even this, each of you must investigate it for yourselves. Nothing to do. Do not stand.' He mounted the hall: 'What all dharmas arise from is manifested by mind alone. Such words are a fine gate of entry. Let me ask you people: the eye sees all forms, the ear hears all sounds, the nose smells all fragrances, the tongue tastes all flavors, the body touches all softness and smoothness, the mind distinguishes all dharmas. As for the objects that the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind face, are they only your mind, or are they not your mind? If you say they are only your mind, why do you not merge them all into one lump with your body and be done? Why is it that the objects faced

卻在你等眼耳鼻舌身意外。你等若道眼耳鼻舌身意所對之物非是你等心。又爭奈諸法所生。唯心所現。言語留在世間。何人不舉著。你等見這箇說話還會麼。若也不會。大家用心商量教會去。幸在其中。莫令厭學。無事且退。大中祥符元年二月。謂上足如晝曰。可造石龕。中秋望日。吾將順化。晝稟命即成。及期。遠近士庶奔趨瞻仰。是日參問如常。至午坐方丈。手結寶印。謂晝曰。古人云。騎虎頭。打虎尾。中央事。作麼生。晝曰。也祇是如晝。師曰。你問我。晝乃問。騎虎頭。打虎尾。中央事。和尚作麼生。師曰。我也弄不出。言訖奄然。開一目微視而逝。

(The master continued:) 'are outside your eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind? If you say that the objects faced by eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are not your mind, then how is it that all dharmas arise from what is manifested by mind alone? These words remain in the world — who does not bring them up? Do you understand when you see these words? If you do not understand, then let us all apply our minds and discuss it together until we understand. It is fortunate that you are among them; do not let yourself weary of study. When there is nothing to do, withdraw.' In the second month of the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu, he said to his senior disciple Ruzhou: 'Build a stone niche. On the full moon of mid-autumn I will pass away.' Ruzhou received the order and completed it at once. When the time came, scholars and commoners from near and far rushed to look up to him. That day he asked and answered as usual. At noon he sat in his abbot's quarters, formed the precious seal with his hands, and said to Ruzhou: 'The ancients said: ride the tiger's head, strike the tiger's tail. What of the matter in the middle?' Ruzhou said: 'It is just Ruzhou.' The master said: 'You ask me.' Ruzhou then asked: 'Riding the tiger's head, striking the tiger's tail — what of the matter in the middle, Master?' The master said: 'I cannot produce it either.' Having spoken, he fell silent, opened one eye slightly, and passed away.

杭州興教洪壽禪師

Chan Master Xingjiao Hongshou of Hangzhou

同國師普請次。聞墮薪有省。作偈曰。撲落非他物。縱橫不是塵。山河及大地。全露法王身。

While doing communal work with the National Master, he heard a piece of firewood fall and had a realization. He wrote a verse: 'What falls with a clatter is no other thing; vertical and horizontal, it is not dust. The mountains and rivers and the great earth wholly reveal the body of the dharma king.'

蘇州承天永安道原禪師

Chan Master Chengtian Yong'an Daoyuan of Suzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。咄。這旃陀羅。曰。學人初機。乞師方便。師曰。汝問甚麼。曰。問佛。師曰。咄。這旃陀羅。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Tsk! You outcast!' The monk said: 'This student is a beginner; I beg the Master for skillful means.' The master said: 'What are you asking?' The monk said: 'I am asking about the Buddha.' The master said: 'Tsk! You outcast!'

清涼欽禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qingliang Qin

洪州雲居道齊禪師

Chan Master Yunju Daoqi of Hongzhou

本州金氏子。徧歷禪會。學心未息。後於上藍院主經藏。法燈一日謂師曰。有人問我西來意。答它曰。不東不西。藏主作麼生會。師對曰。不東不西。燈曰。與麼會又爭得。曰。道齊祇恁麼。未審和尚尊意如何。燈曰。他家自有兒孫在。師於是頓明厥旨。有頌曰。接物利生絕妙。外生終是不肖。他家自有兒孫。將來用得恰好。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。汝是阿誰。問。荊棘林中無出路。請師方便為畬開。師曰。汝擬去甚麼處。曰。幾不到此。師曰。閑言語。問。不免輪回。不求解脫時如何。師曰。還曾問建山麼。曰。學人不會。乞師方便。師曰。放你三十棒。問。如何是三寶。師曰。汝是甚麼寶。曰。如何。師曰。土木瓦礫。師著語要搜玄．拈古代別等。盛行叢林。至道三年丁酉九月。示疾。鐘聲集眾。乃曰。老僧三處住持三十餘年。十方兄弟。相聚話道。主事頭首。勤心贊助。老僧今日火風相逼。特與諸人相見。諸人還見麼。今日若見是末後方便。諸人向甚麼處見。為向四大五陰處見。六入十二處見。這裡若見。可謂雲居山二十年間後學有賴。吾去後。山門大眾分付契瓌開堂住持。凡事勤而行之。各自努力。珍重。大眾才散。師歸西挾而逝。塔於本山。

He was a son of the Jin family of this prefecture. He traveled through all the Chan assemblies, and his mind for study was not yet at rest. Later he was in charge of the sutra treasury at Shanglan Monastery. One day Fadeng said to the master: 'Someone asked me the meaning of the coming from the west, and I answered him, "Not east, not west." How do you understand it, Treasury Chief?' The master replied: 'Not east, not west.' Fadeng said: 'How can you get it by understanding it like that?' The master said: 'Daoqi is just like this. I wonder what the Master's honored meaning is?' Fadeng said: 'That house has its own sons and grandsons.' Thereupon the master suddenly understood the purport. He had a verse: 'Meeting things and benefiting beings is wonderfully subtle; an outsider's child is after all unworthy. That house has its own sons and grandsons; in the future they will be used just right.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Who are you?' The monk asked: 'In a thorny thicket there is no way out; pray, Master, use skillful means to clear it for me.' The master said: 'Where do you intend to go?' The monk said: 'I nearly did not come here.' The master said: 'Idle words.' The monk asked: 'What of one who does not avoid the wheel of rebirth and does not seek liberation?' The master said: 'Have you ever asked Jianshan?' The monk said: 'This student does not understand; I beg the Master for skillful means.' The master said: 'You are excused thirty blows.' The monk asked: 'What are the three treasures?' The master said: 'What treasure are you?' The monk said: 'What then?' The master said: 'Earth, wood, tile and rubble.' The master's appended words, searching out the profound bottom-tracking and picking over the ancients, were widely current in the monasteries. In the ninth month of the dingyou year, the third year of Zhidao, he showed signs of illness. When the bell gathered the assembly, he said: 'This old monk has been abbot in three places for over thirty years. Brothers of the ten directions have gathered to discuss the way. The officers and heads have diligently given their support. Today this old monk is pressed by fire and wind, and has come especially to meet you all. Do you all see? If you see today, that is the final skillful means. Where do you all see it? Do you see it in the four elements and five aggregates, or in the six sense bases and twelve sense fields? If you see it here, then the twenty years at Yunju Mountain may be relied on by later students. After I go, the assembly of the monastery is entrusted to Qi Kuai to open the hall and be abbot. Do all things diligently. Each of you strive. Take care.' As soon as the great assembly had dispersed, the master went to the west side and passed away. His stupa was on this mountain.

靈隱聳禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Lingyin Song

杭州功臣院道慈禪師

Chan Master Gongchen Yuan Daoci of Hangzhou

僧問。師登寶座。大眾鹹臻。便請舉揚宗教。師曰。大眾證明。曰。恁麼則亙古亙今也。師曰。也須領話。

A monk asked: 'The Master has mounted the precious seat and the great assembly has all gathered. Pray proclaim the school and the teaching.' The master said: 'The great assembly bears witness.' The monk said: 'Then it is from ancient times to the present.' The master said: 'You must still take the words.'

秀州羅漢院願昭禪師

Chan Master Luohan Yuan Yuanzhao of Xiuzhou

錢塘人也。上堂。山河大地是真善知識。時常說法。時時度人。不妨諸上座參取。僧問。羅漢家風。請師一句。師曰。嘉禾合穗。上國傳芳。曰。此猶是嘉禾家風。如何是羅漢家風。師曰。或到諸方。分明舉似。後住杭州香嚴寺。僧問。不立纖塵。請師直道。師曰。眾人笑汝。曰。如何領會。師曰。還我話頭來。

He was a man of Qiantang. He mounted the hall: 'The mountains, rivers and great earth are a true good friend. They ever preach the dharma and ever ferry people. You venerable ones may as well study it.' A monk asked: 'The family style of Luohan; pray, Master, give one phrase.' The master said: 'Fine grain joins its ears of wheat; the upper land spreads its fragrance.' The monk said: 'That is still the family style of Jiahe. What is the family style of Luohan?' The master said: 'If you go to other quarters, bring it up clearly.' Later he resided at Xiangyan Monastery in Hangzhou. A monk asked: 'Not setting up a single mote of dust — pray, Master, speak directly.' The master said: 'Everyone is laughing at you.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'Give me back my words.'

處州報恩院師智禪師

Chan Master Bao'en Yuan Shizhi of Chuzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。誰人不見。問。如何是一相三昧。師曰。青黃赤白。曰。一相何在。師曰。汝卻靈利。問。祖祖相傳傳祖印。師今法嗣嗣何人。師曰。靈鷲峰前。月輪皎皎。

A monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'Who does not see it?' The monk asked: 'What is the samadhi of one mark?' The master said: 'Blue, yellow, red, white.' The monk said: 'Where is the one mark?' The master said: 'You are clever indeed.' The monk asked: 'Patriarch after patriarch transmitted the patriarch's seal. Whose heir is the Master now?' The master said: 'Before Vulture Peak, the moon disc is bright and clear.'

衢州瀫寧可先禪師

Chan Master Huning Kexian of Quzhou

僧問。如何是瀫寧家風。師曰。謝指示。問。如何是西來意。師曰。怪老僧甚麼處。曰。學人不會。乞師方便。師曰。適來豈不是問西來意。

A monk asked: 'What is the family style of Huning?' The master said: 'Thank you for pointing it out.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said: 'What about this old monk do you find strange?' The monk said: 'This student does not understand; I beg the Master for skillful means.' The master said: 'Did you not just ask about the meaning of the coming from the west?'

杭州光孝院道端禪師

Chan Master Guangxiao Yuan Daoduan of Hangzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。高聲問著。曰。莫即便是也無。師曰。沒交涉。後住靈隱。示滅。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Ask it in a loud voice.' The monk said: 'Is it not just this?' The master said: 'No connection.' Later he resided at Lingyin, and passed away.

杭州西山保清院遇寧禪師

Chan Master Yuning of Baoqing Monastery, Xishan, Hangzhou

開堂陞座。有二僧一時禮拜。師曰。二人俱錯。僧擬進語。師便下座。

When he opened the hall and mounted the seat, two monks bowed at the same time. The master said: 'Both of you are wrong.' The monk was about to speak, and the master descended from the seat.

福州支提雍熈辯隆禪師

Chan Master Zhiti Yongxi Bianlong of Fuzhou

明州人也。上堂。巍巍實相。畐塞虗空。金剛之體。無有破壞。大眾還見不見。若言見也。且實相之體本非青黃赤白。長短方圓。亦非見聞覺知之法。且作麼生說箇見底道理。若言不見。又道巍巍實相。畐塞虗空。為甚麼不見。僧問。如何是向上一路。師曰。腳下底。曰。恁麼則尋常履踐。師曰。莫錯認。問。如何是堅密身。師曰。倮倮地。曰。恁麼則不密也。師曰。見箇甚麼。

He was a man of Mingzhou. He mounted the hall: 'The towering real mark fills the void. The vajra body has no destruction. Does the great assembly see it or not? If you say you see it, the substance of the real mark is originally not blue, yellow, red or white, not long or short, square or round, nor is it a dharma of seeing, hearing, knowing and awareness. How then can you speak of a principle of seeing it? If you say you do not see it, then again it is said that the towering real mark fills the void. Why do you not see it?' A monk asked: 'What is the one road upward?' The master said: 'The one beneath your feet.' The monk said: 'Then it is walked every day.' The master said: 'Do not mistake it.' The monk asked: 'What is the firm and dense body?' The master said: 'Bare and naked.' The monk said: 'Then it is not dense.' The master said: 'What do you see?'

杭州瑞龍院希圓禪師

Chan Master Xiyuan of Ruilong Monastery, Hangzhou

僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。特謝闍黎借問。曰。借問則不無。家風作麼生。師曰。瞌睡漢。

A monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'Much obliged to you, Acharya, for asking.' The monk said: 'Asking is indeed so. But what is the family style?' The master said: 'Drowsy fellow.'

歸宗柔禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guizong Rou

南康軍羅漢行林祖印禪師

Chan Master Luohan Xinglin Zuyin of Nankang Prefecture

僧問。天垂甘露。地湧七珍。是甚麼人分上事。師曰。謝汝相報。曰。恁麼則佛子住此地。即是佛受用去也。師曰。更須子細。上堂才坐。忽有貓兒跳上身。師提起示眾曰。昔日南泉親斬卻。今朝耶舍示玄徒。而今賣與諸禪客。文契分明要也無。良久。拋下貓兒。便下座。

A monk asked: 'Heaven sends down sweet dew; the earth yields the seven treasures. Whose business is this?' The master said: 'Thank you for informing me.' The monk said: 'Then the buddha's son dwelling in this place is already the buddha's enjoyment.' The master said: 'You must be more careful.' He had just mounted the hall and sat down when suddenly a cat leaped onto his body. The master lifted it up, showed it to the assembly and said: 'In former days Nanquan personally cut one in two; today Yeshe shows it to the students of the profound. And now I offer it for sale to you Chan guests — are the papers of sale clear, or not?' After a long while he threw the cat down and descended from the seat.

明州天童新禪師

Chan Master Tiantong Xin of Mingzhou

僧問。如何是密作用。師曰。何曾密。問。心徑未通時如何。師曰。甚麼物礙汝。問。求之不得時如何。師曰。用求作麼。曰。如何即是。師曰。何曾失卻。問。如何是天童境。師曰。雲無人種生何極。水有誰教去不回。

A monk asked: 'What is the hidden working?' The master said: 'When was it ever hidden?' The monk asked: 'What of when the path of the mind is not yet open?' The master said: 'What thing blocks you?' The monk asked: 'What of when one seeks it and does not get it?' The master said: 'What is seeking for?' The monk said: 'What then is it?' The master said: 'When was it ever lost?' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Tiantong?' The master said: 'No one plants the clouds, yet how they grow; who teaches the water to go and not return?'

杭州功臣覺軻心印禪師

Chan Master Gongchen Jueke Xin Yin of Hangzhou

僧問。祖師不在東西山。未審在甚麼處。師曰。且討。問。如何是天真佛。師曰。爭敢裝點。

A monk asked: 'The patriarch is not on the eastern or western mountain; I wonder where he is?' The master said: 'Look for him.' The monk asked: 'What is the heavenly true buddha?' The master said: 'How dare I embellish it?'

明州天童清簡禪師

Chan Master Tiantong Qingjian of Mingzhou

錢塘張氏子。師為事孤潔。時謂之簡浙客。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。不欲向汝道。曰。請和尚道。師曰。達磨不可再來也。師晚居雪竇而終。塔於寺之東南隅。

He was a son of the Zhang family of Qiantang. In his affairs the master was solitary and pure, and at that time he was called Jian the Zhejiang Guest. A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'I do not wish to tell you.' The monk said: 'Please, Master, tell me.' The master said: 'Bodhidharma cannot come again.' In his later years the master resided at Xuedou and died there. His stupa is in the southeast corner of the monastery.

百丈恆禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baizhang Heng

廬山棲賢澄湜禪師

Chan Master Qixian Chengshi of Mount Lu

僧問。趙州石橋。度驢度馬。三峽石橋。當度何人。師曰。蝦蟇蚯蚓。曰。恁麼則物物盡霑恩。師曰。踏不著。問。仙洞昨朝師罷唱。棲賢今日請師宣。師曰。來日又作麼生。曰。未審如何領會。師曰。箭過新羅。問。如何是佛。師曰。張三李四。問。古人斬蛇意旨如何。師曰。猶未知痛癢。問。此是選佛場。心空及第歸。學人如何得及第歸。師曰。不才謹退。晚參眾集。師曰。早晨不與諸人相見。今晚不可無言。便下座。問。毗目仙人執善財手。見微塵諸佛。祇如未執手時。見箇甚麼。師曰。如今又見箇甚麼。上堂。良久曰。幸好一盤飯。不可糝椒薑。雖然如此。試唼噉看。便下座。

A monk asked: 'The stone bridge of Zhaozhou ferried donkeys and ferried horses. The stone bridge of the Three Gorges — whom should it ferry?' The master said: 'Frogs and earthworms.' The monk said: 'Then every thing receives the grace.' The master said: 'You do not tread on it.' The monk asked: 'Yesterday in the immortal cave the Master ceased his singing; today at Qixian we ask the Master to proclaim it.' The master said: 'What will you do tomorrow?' The monk said: 'I wonder how to understand it?' The master said: 'The arrow has passed Silla.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Zhang San and Li Si.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the ancients cutting the snake?' The master said: 'You still do not know pain and itch.' The monk asked: 'This is the place for choosing buddhas; with a mind empty one returns having passed. How can this student pass and return?' The master said: 'Untalented, I respectfully withdraw.' At the evening assembly the assembly gathered. The master said: 'I did not meet you people this morning, and tonight I cannot be silent.' Then he descended from the seat. A monk asked: 'The immortal Vimalakirti grasped Sudhana's hand and beheld the buddhas of the motes. What did he see before grasping the hand?' The master said: 'What do you see now?' He mounted the hall. After a long while he said: 'It happens to be a plate of rice; one must not sprinkle pepper and ginger on it. Even so, try a taste.' Then he descended from the seat.

蘇州萬壽德興禪師

Chan Master Wanshou Dexing of Suzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。大眾一時瞻仰。問。如何是和尚為人一句。師曰。汝且自為。乃曰。問答俱備。其誰得意。若向他求。還成特地。老僧久處深山。比為藏拙。何期今日入到萬壽門下。可謂藏之不得。既藏不得。分明露現。未審諸人。阿誰先見。如有見處。出來對眾吐露箇消息。良久曰。久立。珍重。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The great assembly looks up to him all at once.' The monk asked: 'What is the one phrase with which the Master acts for others?' The master said: 'You act for yourself for now.' Then he said: 'Question and answer are both complete — who gets the meaning? If one seeks it from another, it becomes something deliberate. This old monk has long dwelt in the deep mountains, thinking to hide his clumsiness. Who would have expected that today I would come under the gate of Wanshou, and it can be said that I cannot hide it. Since I cannot hide it, it is plainly revealed. I wonder which of you will see it first. If anyone has a place of seeing, come forward and before the assembly disclose a bit of news.' After a long while he said: 'You have stood long. Take care.'

越州雲門雍熈永禪師

Chan Master Yunmen Yongxi Yong of Yuezhou

僧問。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。且莫哮吼。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。退後著。問。如何是古佛徑跡。師曰。誰不履踐。問。如何是學人休心息意處。師曰。拗折拄杖得也未。問。心王出勑時如何。師曰。更宣一徧看。問。如何是決定義。師曰。不可執著。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。此意不小。

A monk asked: 'What of when the lion has not yet left its den?' The master said: 'Then do not roar.' The monk said: 'What of after it leaves the den?' The master said: 'Step back.' The monk asked: 'What is the ancient buddha's path?' The master said: 'Who does not tread it?' The monk asked: 'Where does a student rest his mind and still his thoughts?' The master said: 'Have you broken your staff yet?' The monk asked: 'What of when the king of mind issues an edict?' The master said: 'Proclaim it once more and let us see.' The monk asked: 'What is the definitive meaning?' The master said: 'One must not cling to it.' The monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'This meaning is not small.'

永明潛禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yongming Qian

杭州千光王寺瓌省禪師

Chan Master Qiansheng Wang Si Guisheng of Hangzhou

溫州鄭氏子。幼歲出家。精究律部。聽天台文句。棲心於圓頓止觀。後閱楞嚴。文理宏濬。未能洞曉。一夕誦經既久。就案假寐。夢中見日輪自空而降。開口吞之。自是倐然發悟。差別義門。渙然無滯。後參永明。永明唯印前解。無別指喻。以忠懿王所遺衲衣授之表信。住後。上堂。諸上座。佛法無事。昔之日月。今之日月。昔日風雨。今日風雨。昔日上座。今日上座。舉亦了。說亦了。一切成現好。珍重。開寶五年七月。寶樹浴池。忽現其前。師曰。凡所有相。皆是虗妄。越三日示疾。集眾言別。安坐而逝。闍維收舍利建塔。

He was a son of the Zheng family of Wenzhou. He left home young, diligently studied the vinaya, listened to the Tiantai texts and phrases, and set his mind on perfect and sudden cessation and contemplation. Later he read the Shurangama, whose text and meaning are vast and deep, and could not penetrate it clearly. One evening, after chanting the sutra for a long time, he dozed off at his desk. In a dream he saw the sun wheel descend from the sky, and he opened his mouth and swallowed it. From then on he suddenly awakened, and the differentiated gates of meaning opened up without obstruction. Later he consulted Yongming. Yongming only confirmed his former understanding and gave no other pointing. He gave him the patch robe left by King Zhongyi as a token of the transmission. After he became abbot he mounted the hall: 'Venerable ones, the buddhadharma has nothing to do. The sun and moon of former days are the sun and moon of today. The wind and rain of former days are the wind and rain of today. The venerable ones of former days are the venerable ones of today. Raising it is done, speaking it is done. Everything is accomplished before you. Take care.' In the seventh month of the fifth year of Kaibao, jeweled trees and bathing pools suddenly appeared before him. The master said: 'Whatever has marks is all false.' Three days later he showed signs of illness, gathered the assembly to take leave, and passed away sitting at ease. After cremation his relics were collected and a stupa was built.

衢州鎮境志澄禪師

Chan Master Zhenjing Zhicheng of Quzhou

僧問。如何是定乾坤底劒。師曰。不漏絲髮。曰。用者如何。師曰。不知。因普請次。僧問。鉏頭損傷蝦蟇蚯蚓。還有罪也無。師曰。阿誰下手。曰。恁麼則無罪過。師曰。因果歷然。

A monk asked: 'What is the sword that settles heaven and earth?' The master said: 'It does not leak a hair.' The monk said: 'What of the one who uses it?' The master said: 'I do not know.' During communal work a monk asked: 'If a hoe injures a frog or an earthworm, is there guilt or not?' The master said: 'Who struck the blow?' The monk said: 'Then there is no fault.' The master said: 'Cause and effect are clearly there.'

明州崇福院慶祥禪師

Chan Master Chongfu Yuan Qingxiang of Mingzhou

上堂。諸禪德。見性周徧。聞性亦然。洞徹十方。無內無外。所以古人道。隨緣無作。動寂常真。如此施為。全真智用。僧問。如何是本來人。師曰。堂堂六尺甚分明。曰。祇如本來人。還依如此相貌也無。師曰。汝喚甚麼作本來人。曰。乞師方便。師曰。教誰方便。

He mounted the hall: 'Virtuous ones of Chan, the nature of seeing is all-pervading, and the nature of hearing is likewise. It penetrates the ten directions, with no inside and no outside. Therefore the ancients said: following conditions without doing, moving and still, ever true. Acting in this way is the functioning of complete true wisdom.' A monk asked: 'What is the original person?' The master said: 'Dignified and six feet tall, quite distinct.' The monk said: 'As for the original person, does he also have such an appearance?' The master said: 'What do you call the original person?' The monk said: 'I beg the Master for skillful means.' The master said: 'Who is to be given skillful means?'

報恩明禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Bao'en Ming

福州保明院道誠通法禪師

Chan Master Bao'en Yuan Daocheng Tongfa of Fuzhou

上堂。如為一人。眾多亦然。珍重。僧問。圓音普震。三等齊聞。竺土僊心。請師密付。師良久。僧曰。恁麼則意馬已成於寶馬。心牛頓作於白牛去也。師曰。七顛八倒。曰。若然者幾招哂笑。師曰。禮拜了退。問。如何是和尚西來意。師曰。我不曾到西天。曰。如何是學人西來意。師曰。汝在東土多少時。

He mounted the hall: 'As for one person, so for the many likewise. Take care.' A monk asked: 'The perfect sound shakes all universally, and the three ranks hear it together. The immortal mind of the Indian land — pray, Master, transmit it secretly.' The master was silent a long while. The monk said: 'Then the mind horse has already become a precious horse, and the mind ox has turned into a white ox.' The master said: 'Topsy-turvy.' The monk said: 'If so, I have nearly invited ridicule.' The master said: 'Bow and withdraw.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said: 'I have never been to the Western Heaven.' The monk said: 'What is this student's meaning of the coming from the west?' The master said: 'How long have you been in the Eastern land?'

報慈言導師法嗣

Dharma heirs of the guiding master Bao'en Yan

南康軍雲居義能禪師

Chan Master Yunju Yineng of Nankang Prefecture

上堂。不用上來。堂中憍陳如上座為諸上座轉第一義法輪。還得麼。若信得及。各自歸堂參取。下座後卻問一僧。祇如山僧適來教上座參取聖僧。聖僧還道箇甚麼。僧曰。特謝和尚再舉。問。如何是佛。師曰。即心是佛。曰。學人不會。乞師方便。師曰。方便呼為佛。迴光返照看。身心是何物。

He mounted the hall: 'No need to come forward. In the hall the Venerable Kaundinya is turning the wheel of the foremost meaning for you venerable ones. Have you got it? If your faith is sufficient, each of you return to the hall and study it.' After descending from the seat he then asked a monk: 'Just now I told the Venerable One to study the holy monk. What does the holy monk say?' The monk said: 'Much obliged to the Master for raising it again.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The very mind is the Buddha.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand; I beg the Master for skillful means.' The master said: 'Expediently he is called a buddha. Turn the light back to illuminate and see what body and mind are.'

崇壽稠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Chongshou Chou

泉州雲臺山令岑禪師

Chan Master Lingcen of Yuntai Mountain, Quanzhou

僧問。如何是雲臺境。師曰。前山後山。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。瞌睡漢。

A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Yuntai?' The master said: 'The mountain in front, the mountain behind.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Drowsy fellow.'

杭州資國圓進山主

The mountain chief Ziguo Yuanjin of Hangzhou

僧問。丹霞燒木佛。意旨如何。師曰。招因帶果。問。庭前栢樹子。意旨如何。師曰。碧眼胡僧笑點頭。問。古人道。東家作驢。西家作馬。意旨如何。師曰。相識滿天下。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Danxia burning the wooden buddha?' The master said: 'It invites cause and brings effect.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the cypress tree in the courtyard?' The master said: 'The blue-eyed barbarian monk laughs and nods.' The monk asked: 'The ancients said: he became a donkey in the eastern house and a horse in the western house. What is the meaning?' The master said: 'His acquaintance fills the world.'

報恩安禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Bao'en An

廬山棲賢道堅禪師

Chan Master Qixian Daojian of Mount Lu

有官人問。某甲收金陵。布陣殺人無數。還有罪也無。師曰。老僧祇管看。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。洋瀾左蠡。無風浪起。

An official asked: 'I took Jinling and set out battle formations, killing countless men. Is there guilt or not?' The master said: 'This old monk only watches.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'At Yanglan and Zuoli, waves rise without wind.'

廬山歸宗慧誠禪師

Chan Master Guizong Huicheng of Mount Lu

楊州人也。開堂日。於法堂前謂眾曰。天人得道。以此為證。恁麼便散去。已是周遮。其如未曉。即為重說。遂陞座。僧問。知郡臨筵。請師演法。師曰。我不及汝。問。如何是佛。師曰。如何不是。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。不知。乃曰。問話且住。直饒問到窮劫。問也不著。答到窮劫。答也不及。何以故。祇為諸人各有本分事。圓滿十方。亙古亙今。乃至諸佛也不敢錯悞諸人。便謂之頂族。祇是助發上座。所以道。十方法界諸有情。念念以證善逝果。彼既丈夫我亦爾。何得自輕而退屈。諸上座。不要退屈。信取便休。祖師西來。祇道見性成佛。其餘所說。不及此說。更有箇奇特方便。舉似諸人。良久曰。分明記取。若到諸方。不得錯舉。久立。珍重。僧問。不通風處如何過得。師曰。汝從甚麼處來。僧舉南泉問鄧隱峰曰。銅缾是境。缾中有水。不得動著境。與老僧將水來。峰便拈缾瀉水。未審此意如何。師曰。鄧隱峰甚奇怪。要且亂瀉。

He was a man of Yangzhou. On the day he opened the hall, before the dharma hall he said to the assembly: 'That gods and men attain the way is witnessed by this. To disperse like this is already roundabout. But since you do not yet understand, I will speak it again.' Then he mounted the seat. A monk asked: 'The prefect attends the feast; please, Master, expound the dharma.' The master said: 'I am not your equal.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'What is not?' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'I do not know.' Then he said: 'Let the questions stop. Even if you question to the end of kalpas, the questioning does not hit it. Even if I answer to the end of kalpas, the answering does not reach it. Why? Only because each of you has his own proper business, perfect throughout the ten directions, from ancient times to the present. Even the buddhas would not dare to mistake you, and so it is called the summit. It is only to help you, Venerable Ones. Therefore it is said: all sentient beings of the ten directions of the dharma realm, thought after thought, realize the fruit of the Sugata. Since he is a great man, so am I; why should you belittle yourselves and retreat? Venerable Ones, do not retreat. Take it up in faith and be done. The patriarch came from the west only to say: see the nature and become a buddha. Whatever else he said does not come up to this saying. There is also a remarkable skillful means I will bring up for you people.' After a long while he said: 'Record it clearly. If you go to other quarters, do not bring it up wrongly. You have stood long. Take care.' A monk asked: 'How does one pass through a place where no wind blows?' The master said: 'Where do you come from?' The monk brought up how Nanquan asked Deng Yinfeng: 'The copper bottle is an object, and there is water in the bottle. Without moving the object, bring me the water.' Yinfeng then picked up the bottle and poured out the water. I wonder what this means. The master said: 'Deng Yinfeng was very remarkable, but he poured it out carelessly.'

長安規禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Chang'an Gui

廬州長安院辯實禪師

Chan Master Chang'an Yuan Bianshi of Luzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。少室靈峰住九霄。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'The numinous peak of Shaoshi abides in the nine heavens.'

潭州雲蓋用清禪師

Chan Master Yungai Yongqing of Tanzhou

河州趙氏子。僧問。有一人在萬丈井底。如何出得。師曰。且喜得相見。曰。恁麼則穿雲透月去也。師曰。三十三天事。作麼生。僧無對。師曰。謾語作麼。問。如何是雲葢境。師曰。門外三泉井。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。童行仔子。有頌示眾曰。雲葢鎻口訣。擬議皆腦裂。拍手趂虗空。雲露西山月。僧問。如何是鎻口訣。師曰。徧天徧地。曰。恁麼則石人點頭。露柱拍手去也。師曰。一缾淨水一爐香。曰。此猶是井底蝦蟇。師曰。勞煩大眾。師常節飲食。隨眾二時。但展缽而已。或逾年月。亦不調練服餌。無妨作務。有請必開。即便飽食而亡拘執。至道二年四月二日。示疾而逝。

He was a son of the Zhao family of Hezhou. A monk asked: 'There is a man at the bottom of a ten-thousand-fathom well; how can he get out?' The master said: 'I am glad to meet you.' The monk said: 'Then he pierces the clouds and passes through the moon.' The master said: 'What about the matter of the thirty-three heavens?' The monk had no reply. The master said: 'Why speak deceptively?' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Yungai?' The master said: 'The three-spring well outside the gate.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'A novice boy.' He had a verse to show the assembly: 'The lock-mouth formula of Yungai — whoever deliberates splits his skull. Clap your hands and chase the void; the clouds reveal the western mountain moon.' A monk asked: 'What is the lock-mouth formula?' The master said: 'Everywhere in heaven and earth.' The monk said: 'Then the stone man nods and the pillar claps its hands.' The master said: 'One bottle of pure water, one censer of incense.' The monk said: 'That is still a frog at the bottom of the well.' The master said: 'Much trouble to the assembly.' The master always ate sparingly, and with the assembly at the two mealtimes he merely opened his bowl. Sometimes for over a month he would not prepare or take tonics, yet it did not hinder his work. When asked he would always open up, and would at once eat his fill without any attachment. On the second day of the fourth month in the second year of Zhidao, he showed signs of illness and passed away.

雲居錫禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yunju Xi

台州般若從進禪師

Chan Master Bore Congjin of Taizhou

僧問。古㵎寒泉時如何。師曰。切忌飲著。曰。飲著又如何。師曰。喪卻汝性命。

A monk asked: 'What of the cold spring in the ancient ravine?' The master said: 'Above all, do not drink it.' The monk said: 'What if one drinks it?' The master said: 'It will take your life.'

越州清化志超禪師

Chan Master Qinghua Zhichao of Yuezhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。汝是甚麼人。曰。莫便是也無。師曰。是即沒交涉。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'What sort of person are you?' The monk said: 'Is it not just this?' The master said: 'If it is, then there is no connection.'

青原下十一世

The eleventh generation below Qingyuan

長壽彥禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Changshou Yan

蘇州長壽法齊禪師

Chan Master Changshou Faqi of Suzhou

婺州人。始講明門。因明二論。尋置遊方。受心印於廣法禪師。節使錢仁奉禮。請繼廣法住持。開堂日。有百法座主問。令公請命。四眾雲臻。向上宗乘。請師舉唱。師曰。百法明門論。曰。畢竟作麼生。師曰。一切法無我。問。城東老母與佛同生。為甚麼卻不見佛。師曰。不見即道。曰。恁麼則見去也。師曰。城東老母與佛同生。

He was a man of Wuzhou. He first lectured on the two treatises, the Mingmen and the Hetuvidya. Then he set out to travel, and received the mind seal from Chan Master Guangfa. The commissioner Qian Renfeng respectfully invited him to succeed Guangfa as abbot. On the day he opened the hall, a lecturer on the Hundred Dharmas asked: 'The lord has requested your life, and the four assemblies gather like clouds. The ancestral vehicle upward — pray, Master, proclaim it.' The master said: 'The Treatise on the Gate of Clarifying the Hundred Dharmas.' The monk said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'All dharmas are without self.' The monk asked: 'The old woman east of the city was born at the same time as the Buddha; why did she not see the Buddha?' The master said: 'Not seeing is the way.' The monk said: 'Then she has seen.' The master said: 'The old woman east of the city was born at the same time as the Buddha.'

雲居齊禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yunju Qi

南康雲居契瓌禪師

Chan Master Yunju Qi Kuai of Nankang

僧問。路逢死蛇莫打殺。無底籃子盛將歸。未審師還受也無。師曰。你甚麼處得來。曰。恁麼則不虗施也。師曰。卻且提取去。問。如何是佛。師曰。讚歎不及。曰。莫祇這箇便是麼。師曰。不令人讚歎。

A monk asked: 'Meeting a dead snake on the road, do not strike it dead; carry it home in a bottomless basket. I wonder whether the Master accepts it or not?' The master said: 'Where did you get that from?' The monk said: 'Then nothing has been bestowed in vain.' The master said: 'Take it away with you.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Praise cannot reach him.' The monk said: 'Is it not just this?' The master said: 'He does not let people praise him.'

杭州靈隱文勝慈濟禪師

Chan Master Lingyin Wensheng Ciji of Hangzhou

僧問。古鑑未磨時如何。師曰。古鑑。曰。磨後如何。師曰。古鑑。曰。未審分不分。師曰。更照看。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。莫訝荒疎。曰。忽遇客來作麼生。師曰。吃茶去。

A monk asked: 'What of the ancient mirror before it is polished?' The master said: 'The ancient mirror.' The monk said: 'What of after it is polished?' The master said: 'The ancient mirror.' The monk said: 'I wonder whether it distinguishes or not?' The master said: 'Shine on it again.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'Do not be surprised that it is wild and sparse.' The monk said: 'What if a guest suddenly comes?' The master said: 'Go drink tea.'

明州瑞巖義海禪師

Chan Master Ruiyan Yihai of Mingzhou

霅川人也。造雲居法席。居問。甚麼物恁麼來。師於言下大悟。遂有頌曰。雲居甚麼物。問著頭恍惚。直下便承當。猶是生埋沒。出世住報本。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。若到諸方。但道報本不解答話。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。無忌諱。曰。忽遇觸忤。又且如何。師曰。不解作客。勞煩主人。問。釋迦掩室於摩竭。淨名杜口於毗耶。未審如何示眾。師曰。汝不欲我開談。曰。未曉師機。師曰。且退。問。如何是無位真人。師曰。這裡無安排你處。

He was a man of Zhachuan. He went to Yunju's dharma seat. Yunju asked: 'What thing comes like this?' At these words the master was greatly awakened, and at once had a verse: 'Yunju asked what thing — hearing it, my head went blank. To take it on directly is still to be buried alive.' He went out into the world and resided at Baoben. A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'If you go to other quarters, just say that Baoben does not know how to answer questions.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'No taboos.' The monk said: 'What if one suddenly gives offense?' The master said: 'Not knowing how to be a guest, I trouble the host.' The monk asked: 'Shakyamuni kept silent at Magadha; Vimalakirti sealed his mouth at Vaishali. I wonder how you show the assembly?' The master said: 'You do not want me to open my mouth.' The monk said: 'I do not understand the Master's working.' The master said: 'Withdraw for now.' The monk asked: 'What is the true person without rank?' The master said: 'There is no place here to arrange you.'

明州廣慧志全禪師

Chan Master Guanghui Zhiquan of Mingzhou

上堂。僧問。如何是衲僧本分事。師曰。你莫鈍置我。僧禮拜。師曰。卻是大眾鈍置闍黎。便下座。問。賊不打貧兒家時如何。師曰。說向人也不信。僧曰。恁麼則禮拜而退。師曰。得箇甚麼。

He mounted the hall. A monk asked: 'What is the proper business of a patch-robed monk?' The master said: 'Do not dull me.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'It is rather the assembly that dulls you, Acharya.' Then he descended from the seat. The monk asked: 'What of when a thief does not rob a poor man's house?' The master said: 'If you tell it to someone, he will not believe it either.' The monk said: 'Then I bow and withdraw.' The master said: 'What have you got?'

明州大梅保福居煦禪師

Chan Master Damei Baofu Juxu of Mingzhou

僧問。古人面壁。意旨如何。師曰。但恁麼會。曰。未審如何領會。師曰。禮拜著。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the ancients facing the wall?' The master said: 'Just understand it like this.' The monk said: 'I wonder how to understand it?' The master said: 'Bow.'

處州南明惟宿禪師

Chan Master Nanming Weisu of Chuzhou

僧問。法法不隱藏。古今常顯露。如何是顯露底法。師曰。見示大眾。曰。恁麼則學人謹退也。師曰。知過必改。

A monk asked: 'No dharma is concealed; from ancient times to the present it is ever revealed. What is the revealed dharma?' The master said: 'I show it to the great assembly.' The monk said: 'Then this student respectfully withdraws.' The master said: 'Knowing one's fault, one must change.'

荊門軍清溪清禪師

Chan Master Qingxi Qing of Jingmen Prefecture

僧問。古路坦然。如何履踐。曰。你是行腳僧。

A monk asked: 'The ancient road is level and plain; how does one walk it?' The master said: 'You are a pilgrim monk.'

支提隆禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhiti Long

杭州靈隱玄本禪師

Chan Master Lingyin Xuanben of Hangzhou

僧問。蚌含未剖時如何。師曰。光從何來。問。臨濟入門便喝。德山入門便棒。此意如何。師曰。天晴不肯去。師見僧看經。乃問。看甚麼經。僧無語。乃示頌曰。看經不識經。徒勞損眼睛。欲得不損眼。分明識取經。

A monk asked: 'What of when the oyster holds its pearl and has not yet opened?' The master said: 'Where does the light come from?' The monk asked: 'Linji shouted as soon as one entered the gate; Deshan struck as soon as one entered the gate. What does this mean?' The master said: 'The sky is clear and he will not go.' The master saw a monk reading a sutra and asked: 'What sutra are you reading?' The monk was speechless. Then he showed a verse: 'Reading the sutra without knowing the sutra, you wear out your eyes in vain. If you would not wear out your eyes, clearly know the sutra.'

羅漢林禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Luohan Lin

臨江軍慧力院紹珍禪師

Chan Master Huili Yuan Shaozhen of Linjiang Prefecture

僧問。金鷄未鳴時如何。師曰。是何時節。曰。鳴後如何。師曰。卻不知時。問。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。在那裡。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。且走。

A monk asked: 'What of the time before the golden rooster crows?' The master said: 'What season is it?' The monk said: 'What of after it crows?' The master said: 'Then I do not know the time.' The monk asked: 'What of when the lion has not yet left its den?' The master said: 'It is there.' The monk said: 'What of after it leaves the den?' The master said: 'Run for now.'

洪州大寧院慶𤧚禪師

Chan Master Daning Yuan Qingrong of Hongzhou

僧問。道泰不傳天子令。時人盡唱太平歌。未審師今意旨如何。師曰。山僧罪過。問。如何是佛。師曰。須彌山。上堂。生死涅槃。猶如昨夢。且道三世諸佛。釋迦老子有甚麼長處。雖然如是。莫錯會好。拍手一下。便下座。問。承古有言。東山西嶺青。未審意旨如何。師曰。東山西嶺青。雨下卻天晴。更問箇中意。鵓鳩生鷂鷹。

A monk asked: 'When the way is at peace, the son of heaven does not issue his commands, and the people of the time all sing songs of great peace. I wonder what the Master's meaning is today?' The master said: 'The mountain monk is at fault.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Mount Sumeru.' He mounted the hall: 'Birth and death, nirvana, are like last night's dream. Tell me, what is the excellence of the buddhas of the three ages, of old man Shakyamuni? Even so, do not misunderstand.' He clapped his hands once and descended from the seat. A monk asked: 'The ancients had a saying: the eastern mountain, the western ridge, green. I wonder what the meaning is?' The master said: 'The eastern mountain, the western ridge, green; when the rain falls, the sky clears. If you ask further what the meaning is within, a dove hatches a sparrowhawk.'

功臣軻禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Gongchen Ke

蘇州堯峰顥暹禪師

Chan Master Yaofeng Haoxian of Suzhou

僧問。學人乍入叢林。乞師一接。師曰。去。問。承教有言。是法平等。無有高下。如何是平等法。師曰。堯峰高。寶華低。曰。恁麼則卻成高下去也。師曰。情知你恁麼會。聞雷聲。示眾曰。還聞雷聲麼。還知起處麼。若知起處。便知身命落處。若也不知。所以古人道。不知天地者。剛道有乾坤。不如吃茶去。問。如何是道。師曰。夕死可矣。問。如何是金剛力士。師曰。這裡用不著。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。乃曰。祇如末後僧問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。山僧向他道。蒼天。蒼天。且道意落在甚麼處。莫是悲傷遷逝。痛憶道人麼。若乃恁麼評論。實謂罔知去處。要知去處麼。更不用久立。歇去。上堂。冬去春來。樓閣門開。若也入得。不用徘徊。諸上座。還向這裡入得也未。若也入得。所以古人道。是處是彌勒。無門無善財。若也入之未得。自是諸上座狂走。更不忉忉。久立珍重。

A monk asked, 'The student has just entered the groves; I beg the Master to extend one hand.' The Master said, 'Go.' Someone asked, 'The teaching says that this Dharma is equal, with no high or low. What is the Dharma of equality?' The Master said, 'Yaofeng is high, Baohua is low.' The monk said, 'If so, then it turns into high and low.' The Master said, 'I knew you would understand it that way.' Hearing thunder, he addressed the assembly: 'Do you hear the thunder? Do you know where it arises? If you know where it arises, you know where body and life fall. If you do not know, then, as the ancients said, Those who do not know heaven and earth still insist there is a heaven and earth. Better to go drink tea.' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'One may die in the evening.' Someone asked, 'What is the vajra warrior?' The Master said, 'He is of no use here.' Someone asked, 'Where has the deceased monk gone after his passing?' The Master said, 'O heaven, O heaven.' Then he said, 'Just now a monk asked where the deceased monk had gone after his passing, and I told him, O heaven, O heaven. Tell me, where does the intent fall? Is it grieving over the passing and mourning the man of the Way? To judge it that way is truly to know nothing of where he has gone. Do you want to know where he has gone? Then you need not stand long. Rest.' Ascending the hall: 'Winter goes and spring comes; the gate of the tower is open. If you can enter, you need not hesitate. Worthies, can you enter here? If you can enter, then, as the ancients said, Wherever you are is Maitreya; where there is no gate is Sudhana. If you cannot enter, then you worthies are running mad. No more fuss. You have stood long. Take care.'

蘇州吳江聖壽志昇禪師

Chan Master Zhisheng of Shengshou in Wujiang, Suzhou

上堂。若論佛法。更有甚麼事。所以道古今山河。古今日月。古今人倫。古今城郭。喚作平等法門。絕前後際。諸人還信得及麼。若信得及。依而行之。久立。珍重。

Ascending the hall: 'If one speaks of the Buddha Dharma, what further matter is there? Therefore it is said: ancient and present mountains and rivers, ancient and present sun and moon, ancient and present human relations, ancient and present city walls. This is called the gate of the Dharma of equality, cutting off the limits of before and after. Can you worthies believe it? If you can believe it, then practice according to it. You have stood long. Take care.'

杭州功臣開化守如禪師

Chan Master Shouru of Kaihua in Gongchen, Hangzhou

上堂。召大眾曰。還知道聖僧同諸人到這裡麼。既勞尊降。焉敢稽留。久立。珍重。

Ascending the hall, he called to the assembly and said, 'Do you know that the holy monk has come here together with you people? Since you have taken the trouble to descend, how dare I delay you. You have stood long. Take care.'

棲賢湜禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Shi of Qixian

杭州南山興教院惟一禪師

Chan Master Weiyi of Xingjiao Monastery on South Mountain in Hangzhou

僧問。佛未出世時如何。師曰。白雲數重。曰。出世後如何。師曰。青山一朵。問。如何是道。師曰。刺頭入荒草。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。乾屎橛。曰。大耳三藏第三度為甚麼不見國師。師曰。腳跟下看。曰。如何得見。師曰。草鞋跟斷。

A monk asked, 'What was it like before the Buddha came into the world?' The Master said, 'Several layers of white clouds.' The monk said, 'And after he came into the world?' The Master said, 'One blossom of green mountain.' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'Thrusting your head into the wild grass.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the Way?' The Master said, 'A dried shit stick.' The monk said, 'Why did the Great Ear Tripitaka not see the National Teacher the third time?' The Master said, 'Look at your heels.' The monk said, 'How can one see him?' The Master said, 'When your straw sandal heels break.'

安吉州西餘體柔禪師

Chan Master Tirou of Xiyu in Anji Prefecture

上堂。一人把火。自燼其身。一人抱冰。橫屍於路。進前即觸途成滯。退後即噎氣填𮌎。直得上天無路。入地無門。如今已不奈何也。良久曰。待得雪消去。自然春到來。

Ascending the hall: 'One man holds fire and burns up his own body. One man embraces ice and lies a corpse on the road. Step forward and every road becomes blocked; step back and the breath chokes and fills the chest. Truly one reaches the point where there is no road up to heaven and no gate down into the earth. Now there is nothing to be done about it.' After a long while he said, 'Wait until the snow melts away, and spring will come of itself.'

真州定山惟素山主

Master Weisu of Dingshan in Zhenzhou

僧問。如何是不遷義。師曰。暑往寒來。曰。恁麼則遷去也。師曰。啼得血流無用處。問。達磨心印師已曉。試舉家風對眾看。師曰。門前有箇長松樹。夜半子規來上啼。問。知師洞達諸方旨。臨機不答舊時禪。如何是新奇。師曰。若到諸方。不得錯舉。曰。學人慇懃於座右。莫不祇此是新奇。師曰。折草量天。問。如何是定山境。師曰。清風滿院。曰。忽遇客來。如何祇待。師曰。莫嫌冷淡。乃曰。若論家風與境。不易酬對。多見指定處所。教他不得自在。曾有僧問大隨。如何是和尚家風。隨曰。赤土畵簸箕。又曰。肚上不貼榜。且問諸人作麼生會。更有夾山．雲門．臨濟．風穴皆有此話。播於諸方。各各施設不同。又作麼生會。法無異轍。殊途同歸。若要省力易會。但識取自家桑梓。便能紹得家業。隨處解脫。應用現前。天地同根。萬物一體。喚作衲僧眼睛。綿綿不漏絲髮。苟或於此不明。徒自竛竮辛苦。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。含齒戴髮。曰。恁麼則人人具足。師曰。遠之又遠。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。成家立業。曰。見後如何。師曰。立業成家。問。如何是定山路。師曰。峭。曰。履踐者如何。師曰。嶮。問。無上法王有大陀羅尼。名為圓覺。流出一切清淨真如．菩提涅槃。未審圓覺從甚麼處流出。師曰。山僧頂戴有分。曰。恁麼則信受奉行。師曰。依俙似曲才堪聽。問。十二時中如何得與道相應。師曰。皇天無親。唯德是輔。曰。恁麼則不假修證也。師曰。三生六十劫。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of non-movement?' The Master said, 'Heat goes and cold comes.' The monk said, 'If so, then it has moved.' The Master said, 'Crying until blood flows is of no use.' Someone asked, 'The Master already understands Bodhidharma's mind seal. Try and raise your family style before the assembly.' The Master said, 'Before the gate there is a tall pine; at midnight the cuckoo comes and cries on it.' Someone asked, 'I know the Master penetrates the purport of all quarters and does not answer the old-time Chan when the moment comes. What is the new and wondrous?' The Master said, 'If you go to all quarters, you must not raise it wrongly.' The monk said, 'The student is earnest at your seat — is this not just the new and wondrous?' The Master said, 'Breaking grass to measure heaven.' Someone asked, 'What is the realm of Dingshan?' The Master said, 'Clear wind fills the courtyard.' The monk said, 'If a guest suddenly comes, how does one receive him?' The Master said, 'Do not dislike its being cold and thin.' Then he said, 'As for family style and realm, they are not easy to answer. Most people fix on a place and point it out, and then it cannot be at ease. Once a monk asked Dasui, "What is the Reverend's family style?" Dasui said, "A winnowing basket painted in red earth." He also said, "No notice pasted on the belly." Now I ask you people, how do you understand it? Moreover Jiashan, Yunmen, Linji and Fengxue all had such sayings, spread through all quarters, each with different arrangements — how do you understand them? The Dharma has no different tracks; different roads lead to the same place. If you want to save effort and understand easily, then just recognize your own native place, and you can carry on the family estate. Everywhere you are freed, and the response is present before you. Heaven and earth share one root; the ten thousand things are one body. This is called the monk's eye, continuous and leaking not a hair's breadth. If one is unclear about this, one only wears oneself out alone.' A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'He has teeth and wears hair.' The monk said, 'If so, then everyone is complete.' The Master said, 'Far, far away.' Someone asked, 'What was it like when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor?' The Master said, 'Making a family and setting up an estate.' The monk said, 'And after he met him?' The Master said, 'Setting up an estate and making a family.' Someone asked, 'What is the road of Dingshan?' The Master said, 'Sheer.' The monk said, 'What of the one who walks it?' The Master said, 'Perilous.' Someone asked, 'The unsurpassed Dharma king has a great dharani called perfect enlightenment, from which flow all pure suchness, bodhi and nirvana. I wonder from what the perfect enlightenment flows?' The Master said, 'This mountain monk has a share in holding it on his head.' The monk said, 'If so, then I believe, receive and practice it.' The Master said, 'Faintly like a tune, it is just worth hearing.' Someone asked, 'How can one accord with the Way throughout the twelve hours?' The Master said, 'Heaven has no kin; it aids only virtue.' The monk said, 'If so, then there is no need of cultivation or certification.' The Master said, 'Three lives and sixty kalpas.'

淨土素禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Su of Jingtu

杭州淨土院惟正禪師

Chan Master Weizheng of Jingtu Monastery in Hangzhou

秀州華亭黃氏子。幼從錢塘資聖院本如𨽻業。且將較藝於有司。如使禱觀音像。以求陰相。師謝曰。豈忍獨私於己哉。郡人朱紹安聞而嘉歎。欲啟帑度之。師慨然曰。古之度人。以清機密旨。今反是。去古遠矣。吾墮三寶數。當有其時。已而遇祥符覃恩。得諧素志。獨擁毳袍且弊。同列慢之。師曰。佛乎佛乎。儀相云乎哉。僧乎僧乎。盛服云乎哉。厥後有願輸奉歲時用度。俾繼如之院務。亦復謝曰。聞拓缽乞食。未聞安坐以享。聞歷謁諸祖。未聞廢學自任。況我齒茂氣完。正在筋力為禮。非從事屋廬之秋也。於是提䇿東引。學三觀於天台。復旋徑山。諮單傳之旨於老宿惟素。素董臨安功臣山淨土院。師輔相之。久而繼席焉。然為人高簡。律身精嚴。名卿鉅公。多所推尊。葉內翰清臣牧金陵。迎師語道。一日。葉曰。明日府有燕飲。師固奉律。能為我少留一日。欵清話否。師諾之。翌日。遣使邀師。留一偈而返。曰。昨日曾將今日期。出門倚杖又思惟。為僧祇合居巖谷。國士筵中甚不宜。坐客皆仰其標致。師識慮洗然。不牽世累。雅愛跨黃犢出入。軍持巾缽。悉掛角上。市人爭觀之。師自若也。杭守蔣侍郎甞與師為方外友。每往謁。至郡庭下犢譚笑。終日而去。蔣有詩曰。禪客尋常入舊都。黃牛角上掛缾盂。有時帶雪穿雲去。便好和雲畵作圖。師甞作山中偈曰。橋上山萬層。橋下水千里。唯有白鷺鷥。見我常來此。平生製作三十卷。號錦溪集。又工書。筆法勝絕。秦少游珍藏之。冬不擁爐。以荻花作毬。納足其中。客至共之。夏秋好翫月。盤膝大盆中浮池上。自旋其盆。吟笑達旦。率以為常。九峰韶禪師甞客於院。一夕將臥。師邀之曰。月色如此。勞生擾擾。對之者能幾人。峰唯唯而矣。久之。呼童子使熟炙。峰方饑。意作藥石。頃乃橘皮湯一盃。峰匿笑曰。無乃太清乎。有問曰。師以禪師名。乃不談禪。

He was a son of the Huang family of Huating in Xiuzhou. In youth he studied under Benru of Zisheng Monastery in Qiantang. When he was about to compete in the examinations before the authorities, Benru had him pray before an image of Guanyin for hidden aid. The Master declined, saying, 'How could I bear to be partial to myself alone?' A man of the prefecture, Zhu Shao'an, heard of it and admired him, and wished to open his treasury to have him ordained. The Master said with feeling, 'The ancients ordained people with pure and secret purport. Now it is the opposite, far from antiquity. When I fall into the number of the Three Treasures, there will be its time.' Soon after he met with the general amnesty of the Xiangfu era and got his long-cherished wish. He alone wore a woolen robe that was worn out, and his fellows slighted him. The Master said, 'O Buddha, O Buddha, is it a matter of dignified appearance? O monk, O monk, is it a matter of rich clothing?' Later there was one who wished to contribute his yearly income and have him take over the monastery affairs as Benru had. He also declined, saying, 'I have heard of carrying the bowl and begging for food; I have never heard of sitting at ease and enjoying it. I have heard of visiting all the Ancestors; I have never heard of abandoning study and taking it on oneself. Moreover my teeth are strong and my breath is whole; this is the season of sinew and strength for the rites, not of busying myself with buildings.' So he set out eastward, studied the three contemplations at Tiantai, and returned to Jingshan, where he questioned the old worthy Weisu on the purport of the single transmission. Weisu was in charge of Jingtu Monastery on Gongchen Mountain in Lin'an. The Master assisted him, and after a long time succeeded to his seat. He was lofty and simple in manner, and disciplined himself strictly. Famous ministers and great lords mostly honored him. The Hanlin scholar Ye Qingchen, governing Jinling, welcomed the Master to speak of the Way. One day Ye said, 'Tomorrow there is a banquet at the prefecture. The Master firmly keeps the precepts — can he stay one day for my sake for a quiet talk?' The Master agreed. The next day he sent an envoy to invite the Master. The Master left a verse and returned: 'Yesterday I had set today's appointment; going out the gate I leaned on my staff and thought again. A monk should only dwell in crags and valleys; in a feast of state scholars it is most unfitting.' The guests all admired his bearing. The Master's understanding was clear and he was not entangled in worldly cares. He loved to ride a yellow calf about, with his water flask, kerchief and bowl all hung on its horns. The people of the market vied to look at him, and the Master was at ease. The Hang prefect Vice Minister Jiang was a friend of the Master beyond the world. Whenever he went to visit, he would dismount from the calf in the prefectural courtyard, talk and laugh, and leave after a whole day. Jiang had a poem: 'The Chan guest often enters the old capital; on the yellow ox's horns hang bottle and bowl. Sometimes he goes through the clouds carrying snow — it would make a fine picture with the clouds.' The Master once made a verse in the mountains: 'Above the bridge ten thousand layers of mountain; below the bridge a thousand li of water. Only the white egret sees me come here often.' In his life he composed thirty volumes, called the Brocade Stream Collection. He was also skilled at calligraphy, with a brush method unsurpassed. Qin Shaoyou treasured it. In winter he did not use a stove; he made a ball of reed flowers and put his feet in it, and shared it with guests when they came. In summer and autumn he loved the moon, sitting cross-legged in a large basin floated on the pond, spinning the basin himself and chanting and laughing until dawn, and this became his habit. Chan Master Shao of Jiufeng once stayed at the monastery. One evening as he was about to lie down, the Master invited him, saying, 'The moonlight is like this. Among the toiling and troubled living, how many can face it?' Jiufeng only murmured assent. After a long while, he called a boy to roast something. Jiufeng was hungry and expected medicine. Presently it was a cup of orange-peel tea. Jiufeng laughed to himself and said, 'Is this not too pure?' Someone asked, 'The Master bears the name of a Chan master, and yet does not talk of Chan —'

何也。師曰。徒費言語。吾懶寧假曲折。但日夜煩萬象為敷演耳。言語有間。而此法無盡。所謂造物無盡藏也。皇祐元年孟夏八日。語眾曰。夫動以對靜。未始有極。吾一動歷年六十有四。今靜矣。然動靜本何有哉。於是泊然而逝。

(The man continued asking:) '— why is that?' The Master said, 'It would be a waste of words. I am lazy — how could I bother with twists and turns? Day and night I only trouble the myriad things to expound it for me. Words have their limits, but this Dharma has no end. It is what is called the inexhaustible treasury of the Creator.' On the eighth day of the first month of summer in the first year of Huangyou he told the assembly, 'Movement is set against stillness, and there has never been an end. My one movement has lasted sixty-four years; now I am still. But what is there originally in movement and stillness?' Then he passed away calmly.

青原下十二世

The twelfth generation below Qingyuan

靈隱勝禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Sheng of Lingyin

杭州靈隱延珊慧明禪師

Chan Master Yanshan Huiming of Lingyin in Hangzhou

僧問。如何是道。師曰。道遠乎哉。問。如何是正真一路。師曰。絲髮不通。曰。恁麼則依而行之。師曰。莫亂走。上堂。與上座一線道。且作麼生持論佛法。若也水洩不通。便教上座無安身立命處。當此之時。祖佛出頭來。也有二十棒分。恁麼道。山僧還有過也無。不見世尊生下。周行七步。目顧四方。一手指天。一手指地。雲。天上天下。唯吾獨尊。雲門雲。我當初若見。一棒打殺與狗子吃卻。何以如此。貴圖天下太平。且道雲門恁麼說話。有佛法道理也無。雖然如此。雲門祇具一隻眼。久立。珍重。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'Is the Way far off?' Someone asked, 'What is the one true road?' The Master said, 'Not a hair's breadth gets through.' The monk said, 'If so, then I practice according to it.' The Master said, 'Do not run about.' Ascending the hall: 'With a single thread of road for you worthies, how will you hold forth on the Buddha Dharma? If it is watertight, then you worthies will have no place to settle body and life. At such a time, were the Ancestor and Buddha to come forth, they too would deserve twenty blows. Speaking this way, does this mountain monk have any fault? Do you not know that when the World-Honored One was born he walked seven steps in a circle, looked in the four directions, pointed one hand at heaven and one hand at earth, and said, Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am honored. Yunmen said, Had I seen him then, I would have beaten him to death with one blow and given him to the dogs to eat. Why so? For the sake of the peace of the world. Tell me, do Yunmen's words have the principle of the Buddha Dharma or not? Even so, Yunmen had only one eye. You have stood long. Take care.'

常州薦福院歸則禪師

Chan Master Guize of Jianfu Monastery in Changzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。耳畔打鐘聲。

A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'The sound of a bell struck by the ear.'

瑞巖海禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Hai of Ruiyan

明州翠巖嗣元禪師

Chan Master Siyuan of Cuiyan in Mingzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。見錢買賣不曾賖。曰。向上更有事也無。師曰。好不信人直。

A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Buying and selling for cash, never on credit.' The monk said, 'Is there still a matter above?' The Master said, 'Best not to trust a man's honesty.'

臨濟宗

The Linji School

南嶽下四世

The fourth generation below Nanyue

黃檗運禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yun of Huangbo

鎮州臨濟義玄禪師

Chan Master Linji Yixuan of Zhenzhou

曹州南華邢氏子。幼負出塵之志。及落髮進具。便慕禪宗。初在黃檗會中。行業純一。時睦州為第一座。乃問。上座在此多少時。師曰。三年。州曰。曾參問否。師曰。不曾參問。不知問箇甚麼。州曰。何不問堂頭和尚。如何是佛法的的大意。師便去。問聲未絕。檗便打。師下來。州曰。問話作麼生。師曰。某甲問聲未絕。和尚便打。某甲不會。州曰。但更去問。師又問。檗又打。如是三度問。三度被打。師白州曰。早承激勸問法。累蒙和尚賜棒。自恨障緣。不領深旨。今且辭去。州曰。汝若去。須辭和尚了去。師禮拜退。州先到黃檗處曰。問話上座。雖是後生。卻甚奇特。若來辭。方便接伊。已後為一株大樹。覆蔭天下人去在。師來日辭黃檗。檗曰。不須他去。祇往高安灘頭參大愚。必為汝說。師到大愚。愚曰。甚處來。師曰。黃檗來。愚曰。黃檗有何言句。師曰。某甲三度問佛法的的大意。三度被打。不知某甲有過無過。愚曰。黃檗與麼老婆心切。為汝得徹困。更來這裡問有過無過。師於言下大悟。乃曰。元來黃檗佛法無多子。愚搊住曰。這尿床鬼子。適來道有過無過。如今卻道黃檗佛法無多子。你見箇甚麼道理。速道。速道。師於大愚肋下築三拳。愚拓開曰。汝師黃檗。非幹我事。師辭大愚。卻回黃檗。檗見便問。這漢來來去去。有甚了期。師曰。祇為老婆心切。便人事了。侍立。檗問。甚處去來。師曰。昨蒙和尚慈旨。令參大愚去來。檗曰。大愚有何言句。師舉前話。檗曰。大愚老漢饒舌。待來痛與一頓。師曰。說甚待來。即今便打。隨後便掌。檗曰。這風顛漢來這裡捋虎鬚。師便喝。檗喚侍者曰。引這風顛漢參堂去(溈山舉問仰山。臨濟當時得大愚力。得黃檗力。仰雲。非但騎虎頭。亦解把虎尾)。黃檗一日普請次。師隨後行。檗回頭見師空手。乃問。钁在何處。師曰。有一人將去了也。檗曰。

He was a son of the Xing family of Nanhua in Caozhou. In youth he bore the aspiration to leave the dust. When he had shaved and taken full ordination, he longed for the Chan school. At first he was in Huangbo's assembly, and his practice was pure and single. At that time Muzhou was the head seat, and asked him, 'How long has the worthy been here?' The Master said, 'Three years.' Muzhou said, 'Have you ever asked a question?' The Master said, 'I have never asked. I do not know what to ask.' Muzhou said, 'Why do you not ask the Reverend in the hall, what is the exact great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master then went. Before his question had died away, Huangbo beat him. The Master came down. Muzhou said, 'How did the questioning go?' The Master said, 'Before my question had died away, the Reverend beat me. I do not understand.' Muzhou said, 'Just go and ask again.' The Master asked again, and Huangbo beat him again. Thus three times he asked, and three times he was beaten. The Master told Muzhou, 'I was urged earlier to ask about the Dharma, and repeatedly received the Reverend's blows. I blame my own karmic obstruction for not grasping the deep purport. Now I shall take my leave.' Muzhou said, 'If you go, you must take leave of the Reverend before you go.' The Master bowed and withdrew. Muzhou first went to Huangbo and said, 'The worthy who asked the question, though young, is most extraordinary. If he comes to take leave, receive him with expedients. Hereafter he will be a great tree shading all people in the world.' The next day the Master came to take leave of Huangbo. Huangbo said, 'He need not go elsewhere. Just go to the rapids of Gao'an and study under Dayu; he will surely explain it to you.' The Master went to Dayu. Dayu said, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'From Huangbo.' Dayu said, 'What words did Huangbo have?' The Master said, 'Three times I asked the exact great meaning of the Buddha Dharma and three times I was beaten. I do not know whether I was at fault or not.' Dayu said, 'Huangbo is so earnest with a grandmother's heart, and for your sake is utterly worn out. And you come here asking whether you were at fault or not.' At these words the Master was greatly awakened and said, 'So Huangbo's Buddha Dharma is nothing much after all.' Dayu seized him and said, 'This bed-wetting devil. Just now you said you did not know whether you were at fault, and now you say Huangbo's Buddha Dharma is nothing much. What principle have you seen? Speak quickly, speak quickly.' The Master thrust three punches into Dayu's ribs. Dayu pushed him away and said, 'Your teacher is Huangbo; it has nothing to do with me.' The Master took leave of Dayu and went back to Huangbo. When Huangbo saw him he asked, 'This fellow coming and going, when will it end?' The Master said, 'Only because of a grandmother's earnest heart.' Then he finished his greetings and stood in attendance. Huangbo asked, 'Where have you been?' The Master said, 'Yesterday I received the Reverend's gracious instruction and went to study under Dayu.' Huangbo said, 'What words did Dayu have?' The Master brought up the earlier words. Huangbo said, 'That old fellow Dayu is loose-tongued. Wait till he comes and I will give him a good thrashing.' The Master said, 'Why wait till he comes? I will beat him right now.' Then he gave him a slap. Huangbo said, 'This madman has come here to pull the tiger's whiskers.' The Master shouted. Huangbo called an attendant and said, 'Take this madman to the study hall.' (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, 'Did Linji then get his strength from Dayu or from Huangbo?' Yangshan said, 'Not only did he ride the tiger's head, he also knew how to grab the tiger's tail.') One day when Huangbo held a general work session, the Master followed behind him. Huangbo turned his head and saw the Master empty-handed, and asked, 'Where is your hoe?' The Master said, 'Someone has taken it away.' Huangbo said:

近前來共汝商量箇事。師便近前。檗竪起钁曰。祇這箇天下人拈掇不起。師就手掣得。竪起曰。為甚麼卻在某甲手裡。檗曰。今日自有人普請。便回寺(仰山侍溈山次。溈舉此話未了。仰便問。钁在黃檗手裡。為甚麼卻被臨濟奪卻。溈雲。賊是小人。智過君子)。師普請鉏地次。見黃檗來。拄钁而立。檗曰。這漢困那。師曰。钁也未舉。困箇甚麼。檗便打。師接住棒一送送倒。檗呼維那。扶起我來。維那扶起曰。和尚爭容得這風顛漢無禮。檗才起便打維那。師钁地曰。諸方火塟。我這裡活埋(溈山問仰山。黃檗打維那意作麼生。仰雲。正賊走卻。邏贓人吃棒)。師一日在僧堂裡睡。檗入堂見。以拄杖打板頭一下。師舉首見是檗。卻又睡。檗又打板頭一下。卻往上間。見首座坐禪。乃曰。下間後生卻坐禪。汝在這裡妄想作麼。座曰。這老漢作甚麼。檗又打板頭一下。便出去(溈山舉問仰山。祇如黃檗。意作麼生。仰雲。兩彩一賽)。師栽松次。檗曰。深山裡栽許多松作甚麼。師曰。一與山門作境致。二與後人作標牓。道了。將钁頭𡎺地三下。檗曰。雖然如是。子已吃吾三十棒了也。師又𡎺地三下。噓一噓。檗曰。吾宗到汝。大興於世(溈山舉問仰山。黃檗當時祇囑臨濟一人。更有人在。仰雲。有。祇是年代深遠。不欲舉似和尚。溈雲。雖然如是。吾亦要知。汝但舉看。仰雲。一人指南。吳越令行。遇大風即止)。黃檗因入廚下。問飯頭。作甚麼。頭曰。揀眾僧飯米。檗曰。一頓吃多少。頭曰。三石五。檗曰。莫大多麼。頭曰。猶恐少在。檗便打。頭舉似師。師曰。我與汝勘這老漢。才到侍立。檗舉前話。師曰。飯頭不會。請和尚代一轉語。檗曰。汝但舉。師曰。莫太多麼。檗曰。來日更吃一頓。師曰。說甚麼來日。即今便吃。隨後打一掌。檗曰。這風顛漢又來這裡捋虎鬚。師喝一喝。

(Huangbo continued:) 'Come closer and let us discuss a matter.' The Master came closer. Huangbo raised his hoe and said, 'This very thing — no one in the world can lift it.' The Master at once took it from his hand, raised it and said, 'Why then is it in my hand?' Huangbo said, 'Today there is someone to do the general work.' Then he returned to the monastery. (When Yangshan was attending on Guishan, and Guishan had not finished bringing up these words, Yangshan asked, 'The hoe was in Huangbo's hand — why was it snatched away by Linji?' Guishan said, 'The thief is a petty man, but his wisdom surpasses the gentleman's.') One day when the Master was hoeing the ground during a general work session, he saw Huangbo coming and stood leaning on his hoe. Huangbo said, 'Is this fellow tired?' The Master said, 'I have not even raised the hoe — tired of what?' Huangbo then beat him. The Master caught the staff and pushed him over with one shove. Huangbo called the work manager: 'Help me up.' The work manager helped him up and said, 'Reverend, how can you tolerate this madman's rudeness?' As soon as Huangbo was up he beat the work manager. The Master struck the ground with his hoe and said, 'In all quarters they cremate; here I bury alive.' (Guishan asked Yangshan, 'What was Huangbo's meaning in beating the work manager?' Yangshan said, 'The real thief got away, and the man who tracked the loot took the blows.') One day the Master was sleeping in the monks' hall. Huangbo came into the hall and saw him, and rapped the head of the plank once with his staff. The Master looked up, saw it was Huangbo, and lay back down to sleep. Huangbo rapped the plank again and went to the upper section, where he saw the head seat sitting in meditation, and said, 'The young man in the lower section is sitting in meditation, and you sit here lost in thought — what are you doing?' The head seat said, 'What is this old fellow up to?' Huangbo rapped the plank again and went out. (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, 'As for Huangbo, what was his meaning?' Yangshan said, 'Two prizes for one contest.') When the Master was planting pines, Huangbo said, 'What are you planting so many pines deep in the mountains for?' The Master said, 'First, to make a scenic setting for the monastery gate; second, to be a marker for later people.' Having said this, he jabbed his hoe into the ground three times. Huangbo said, 'Even so, you have already taken thirty blows from me.' The Master jabbed the ground three more times and let out a puff of breath. Huangbo said, 'With you, my school will flourish greatly in the world.' (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, 'At that time Huangbo entrusted it only to Linji — was there anyone else?' Yangshan said, 'There was. It is only that the years are far off and I do not want to bring it up to the Reverend.' Guishan said, 'Even so, I too want to know. Just bring it up.' Yangshan said, 'One man points south, and the command runs through Wu and Yue. Meeting a great wind, it stops.') When Huangbo entered the kitchen and asked the rice cook, 'What are you doing?' The cook said, 'Sorting the rice for the monks' meal.' Huangbo said, 'How much do they eat at one meal?' The cook said, 'Three and a half piculs.' Huangbo said, 'Is that not too much?' The cook said, 'I fear it may still be too little.' Huangbo then beat him. The cook brought this up to the Master. The Master said, 'I will examine this old fellow for you.' As soon as he came and stood in attendance, Huangbo brought up the earlier words. The Master said, 'The cook did not understand. Please, Reverend, give a turning phrase for him.' Huangbo said, 'Just bring it up.' The Master said, 'Is that not too much?' Huangbo said, 'Tomorrow we will eat another meal.' The Master said, 'Why say tomorrow? We eat right now.' Then he gave him a slap. Huangbo said, 'This madman has again come here to pull the tiger's whiskers.' The Master gave a shout,

便出去(溈山舉問仰山。此二尊宿意作麼生。仰山雲。和尚作麼生。溈山雲。養子方知父慈。仰山雲。不然。溈山雲。子又作麼生。仰山雲。大似勾賊破家)。師半夏上黃檗山。見檗看經。師曰。我將謂是箇人。元來是唵(或作揞)黑豆老和尚。住數日。乃辭。檗曰。汝破夏來。何不終夏去。師曰。某甲暫來禮拜和尚。檗便打趂令去。師行數裡疑此事。卻回終夏。後又辭檗。檗曰。甚處去。師曰。不是河南。便歸河北。檗便打。師約住與一掌。檗大笑。乃喚侍者。將百丈先師禪板几案來。師曰。侍者將火來。檗曰。不然。子但將去。已後坐斷天下人舌頭去在。師到達磨塔頭。塔主問。先禮佛。先禮祖。師曰。祖佛俱不禮。主曰。祖佛與長老有甚冤家。師拂袖便出。師為黃檗馳書至溈山。與仰山語次。仰曰。老兄向後北去。有箇住處。師曰。豈有與麼事。仰曰。但去。已後有一人佐輔汝。此人祇是有頭無尾。有始無終(懸記普化)。師後住鎮州臨濟。學侶雲集。一日。謂普化克符二上座曰。我欲於此建立黃檗宗旨。汝且成褫我。二人珍重下去。三日後。普化卻上來問。和尚三日前說甚麼。師便打。三日後克符上來問。和尚前日打普化作甚麼。師亦打。至晚小參。曰。有時奪人不奪境。有時奪境不奪人。有時人境兩俱奪。有時人境俱不奪(問答語具克符章)。僧問。如何是真佛．真法．真道。乞師開示。師曰。佛者心清淨是。法者心光明是。道者處處無礙淨光是。三即一。皆是空名而無實有。如真正作道人。念念心不間斷。自達磨大師從西土來。祇是覓箇不受人惑底人。後遇二祖。一言便了。始知從前虗用工夫。山僧今日見處。與祖佛不別。若第一句中薦得。堪與祖佛為師。若第二句中薦得。堪與人天為師。若第三句中薦得。自救不了。僧便問。如何是第一句。師曰。三要印開朱點窄。未容擬議主賓分。曰。

(The Master continued) and then went out. (Guishan brought this up and asked Yangshan, 'What was the intent of these two venerable ones?' Yangshan said, 'What about the Reverend?' Guishan said, 'Only when one has raised a son does one know a father's kindness.' Yangshan said, 'Not so.' Guishan said, 'Then what do you say?' Yangshan said, 'It is very much like colluding with a thief to break up a house.') In mid-summer the Master went up Huangbo Mountain and found Huangbo reading a scripture. The Master said, 'I thought he was a man; it turns out he is an old monk [mumbling] black beans.' He stayed several days and then took his leave. Huangbo said, 'You broke the summer retreat by coming; why not stay through the summer?' The Master said, 'I came only to pay reverence to the Reverend.' Huangbo then beat him and drove him off. The Master walked several li and then doubted this matter, and returned to finish the summer. Later he again took leave of Huangbo. Huangbo said, 'Where are you going?' The Master said, 'If not Henan, then Hebei.' Huangbo then beat him. The Master caught the blow and gave him a slap. Huangbo laughed aloud and called an attendant: 'Bring the late master Baizhang's Chan board and desk.' The Master said, 'Attendant, bring fire.' Huangbo said, 'Not so. Just take them and go. Hereafter you will sit and cut off the tongues of everyone in the world.' The Master arrived at Bodhidharma's stupa. The stupa keeper asked, 'Do you first pay reverence to the Buddha or to the Ancestor?' The Master said, 'I pay reverence to neither Ancestor nor Buddha.' The stupa keeper said, 'What grudge have the Ancestor and Buddha against you, elder?' The Master shook his sleeves and went out. The Master carried a letter from Huangbo to Guishan, and while speaking with Yangshan, Yangshan said, 'Elder brother, you will go north hereafter, and there will be a place for you to dwell.' The Master said, 'How could there be such a thing?' Yangshan said, 'Just go. Hereafter there will be one man to assist you. This man has only a head and no tail, a beginning and no end.' (This was the prophecy about Puhua.) Later the Master lived at Linji in Zhenzhou, and students gathered like clouds. One day he said to the two worthies Puhua and Kefu, 'I wish to establish Huangbo's purport here. You must help me accomplish it.' The two men said, 'Take care,' and went down. Three days later Puhua came up and asked, 'What did the Reverend say three days ago?' The Master then beat him. Three days later Kefu came up and asked, 'Why did the Reverend beat Puhua the day before yesterday?' The Master also beat him. That evening at the minor gathering he said, 'Sometimes I take away the man but not the realm; sometimes I take away the realm but not the man; sometimes I take away both man and realm; sometimes I take away neither man nor realm.' (The questions and answers are in Kefu's chapter.) A monk asked, 'What are the true Buddha, the true Dharma, and the true Way? I beg the Master to reveal them.' The Master said, 'The Buddha is the purity of the mind. The Dharma is the brightness of the mind. The Way is the unobstructed pure light everywhere. Three are one, and all are empty names with no real existence. If one is truly a man of the Way, thought after thought the mind is unbroken. Since the great master Bodhidharma came from the western land, he only sought a man who was not deceived by others. Later he met the Second Ancestor, and at one word it was finished, and only then did he know that his former efforts had been spent in vain. What this mountain monk sees today is no different from the Ancestor and the Buddhas. If you awaken in the first phrase, you are fit to be the teacher of Ancestors and Buddhas. If you awaken in the second phrase, you are fit to be the teacher of men and gods. If you awaken in the third phrase, you cannot even save yourself.' The monk then asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'The three essentials' seal opens, the vermilion dot is narrow; before deliberation is allowed, host and guest are divided.' The monk said:

如何是第二句。師曰。妙解豈容無著問。漚和爭負截流機。曰。如何是第三句。師曰。但看棚頭弄傀儡。抽牽全藉裡頭人。乃曰。大凡演唱宗乘。一句中須具三玄門。一玄門須具三要。有權有實。有照有用。汝等諸人作麼生會。師謂僧曰。有時一喝如金剛王寶劒。有時一喝如踞地師子。有時一喝如探竿影草。有時一喝不作一喝用。汝作麼生會。僧擬議。師便喝。示眾。參學之人。大須子細。如賓主相見。便有言論往來。或應物現形。或全體作用。或把機權喜怒。或現半身。或乘師子。或乘象王。如有真正學人便喝。先拈出一箇膠盆子。善知識不辯是境。便上他境上作模作樣。便被學人又喝。前人不肯放下。此是膏肓之病。不堪醫治。喚作賓看主。或是善知識。不拈出物。祇隨學人問處即奪。學人被奪。抵死不肯放。此是主看賓。或有學人應一箇清淨境。出善知識前。知識辯得是境。把得拋向坑裡。學人言。大好善知識。知識即雲。咄哉。不識好惡。學人便禮拜。此喚作主看主。或有學人。披枷帶鎻。出善知識前。知識更與安一重枷鎻。學人歡喜。彼此不辯。喚作賓看賓。大德。山僧所舉。皆是辯魔揀異。知其邪正。師問洛浦。從上來。一人行棒。一人行喝。阿那箇親。曰。總不親。師曰。親處作麼生。浦便喝。師乃打。上堂。有一人論劫在途中。不離家舍。有一人離家舍。不在途中。那箇合受人天供養。師問院主。甚處去來。曰。州中糶黃米來。師曰。糶得盡麼。主曰。糶得盡。師以拄杖畫一畫曰。還糶得這箇麼。主便喝。師便打。典座至。師舉前話。座曰。院主不會和尚意。師曰。你又作麼生。座禮拜。師亦打。上堂。一人在孤峰頂上。無出身路。一人在十字街頭。亦無向背。且道那箇在前。那箇在後。不作維摩詰。不作傅大士。珍重。有一老宿參。便問。禮拜即是。不禮拜即是。師便喝。宿便拜。

(The monk continued asking:) 'What is the second phrase?' The Master said, 'Wondrous understanding — how could it admit the question of one without attachment? How could upaya prevail over the mechanism that cuts off the stream?' The monk said, 'What is the third phrase?' The Master said, 'Just watch the puppets played on the stage; all their pulling and tugging depends on the man inside.' Then he said, 'Whenever one sings and expounds the ancestral vehicle, one phrase must contain the three mysterious gates, and one mysterious gate must contain the three essentials. There is the provisional and the real, the illuminating and the functioning. How do you people understand it?' The Master said to a monk, 'Sometimes a shout is like the vajra king's precious sword; sometimes a shout is like a crouching lion; sometimes a shout is like a probing pole or shadow grass; sometimes a shout does not function as a shout. How do you understand it?' As the monk deliberated, the Master shouted. Addressing the assembly: 'Students of the Way must be very careful. When host and guest meet, there is an exchange of words. Sometimes one responds to things and manifests forms; sometimes one functions with the whole body; sometimes one takes up the mechanism of power, joy and anger; sometimes one shows half the body; sometimes one rides a lion, sometimes an elephant king. If a true student then shouts, he first holds out a glue pot. If the good friend does not discern that this is a realm, and goes onto his realm and puts on airs and poses, then the student shouts again. If the other will not let it go, this is a disease beyond cure and not worth treating. This is called the guest looking at the host. Or it may be the good friend who does not hold out anything, but simply takes away whatever the student asks about. If the student, being robbed, will not let go even to death, this is the host looking at the guest. Or a student may respond with a pure realm and come before the good friend. The teacher discerns that it is a realm, grabs it and throws it into a pit. The student says, "What a fine good friend." The teacher then says, "Fie, you do not know good from bad." The student then bows. This is called the host looking at the host. Or a student may come before the good friend wearing cangue and chains. The teacher puts another layer of cangue and chains on him. The student is delighted, and neither discerns. This is called the guest looking at the guest. Great Virtue, what this mountain monk has raised is all for discerning demons and picking out the heterodox, knowing the false and the true.' The Master asked Luopu, 'From of old, one man used the staff and one man used the shout. Which is the closer?' Luopu said, 'Neither is close.' The Master said, 'What is the close place?' Luopu then shouted. The Master then beat him. Ascending the hall: 'One man for kalpas has been on the road without leaving his house. One man has left his house and is not on the road. Which one deserves to receive the offerings of men and gods?' The Master asked the prior, 'Where have you been?' The prior said, 'To the prefecture to sell yellow rice.' The Master said, 'Did you sell it all?' The prior said, 'I sold it all.' The Master drew a line with his staff and said, 'Can you sell this too?' The prior then shouted. The Master then beat him. The cook arrived. The Master brought up the earlier words. The cook said, 'The prior did not understand the Reverend's intent.' The Master said, 'What about you?' The cook bowed. The Master also beat him. Ascending the hall: 'One man is on the summit of the lonely peak and has no road for going forth. One man is at the crossroads and has no facing or turning away. Tell me, which is in front and which is behind? Not to be Vimalakirti, not to be Great Scholar Fu. Take care.' An old monk came to study and asked, 'Is it right to bow or right not to bow?' The Master then shouted. The old monk then bowed.

師曰。好箇草賊。宿曰。賊。賊。便出去。師曰。莫道無事好。時首座侍立。師曰。還有過也無。座曰。有。師曰。賓家有過。主家有過。曰。二俱有過。師曰。過在甚麼處。座便出去。師曰。莫道無事好(南泉聞雲。官馬相踏)。師到京行化。至一家門首。曰。家常添缽。有婆曰。太無厭生。師曰。飯也未曾得。何言大無厭生。婆便閉卻門。師陞堂。有僧出。師便喝。僧亦喝。便禮拜。師便打。趙州遊方到院。在後架洗腳次。師便問。如何是祖師西來意。州曰。恰遇山僧洗腳。師近前作聽勢。州曰。會即便會。啗啄作什麼。師便歸方丈。州曰。三十年行腳。今日錯為人下註腳。問。僧甚處來。曰。定州來。師拈棒。僧擬議。師便打。僧不肯。師曰。已後遇明眼人去在。僧後參三聖。才舉前話。三聖便打。僧擬議。聖又打。師應機多用喝。會下參徒亦學師喝。師曰。汝等總學我喝。我今問汝。有一人從東堂出。一人從西堂出。兩人齊喝一聲。這裡分得賓主麼。汝且作麼生分。若分不得。已後不得學老僧喝。示眾。我有時先照後用。有時先用後照。有時照用同時。有時照用不同時。先照後用有人在。先用後照有法在。照用同時。駈耕夫之牛。奪饑人之食。敲骨取髓。痛下針錐。照用不同時。有問有答。立賓立主。合水和泥。應機接物。若是過量人。向未舉已前。撩起便行。猶較些子。師行腳時到龍光。值上堂。師出問。不展鋒鋩。如何得勝。光據坐。師曰。大善知識。豈無方便。光瞪目曰。嗄。師以手指曰。這老漢今日敗缺也。次到三峰平和尚處。平問。甚處來。師曰。黃檗來。平曰。黃檗有何言句。師曰。金牛昨夜遭塗炭。直至如今不見蹤。平曰。金風吹玉管。那箇是知音。師曰。直透萬重關。不住青霄內。平曰。子這一問太高生。師曰。龍生金鳳子。沖破碧琉璃。平曰。且坐吃茶。又問。近離甚處。

The Master said, 'What a fine grass thief.' The old monk said, 'A thief, a thief.' Then he went out. The Master said, 'Best not to say there is nothing to do.' At that time the head seat was standing in attendance. The Master said, 'Is there any fault?' The head seat said, 'There is.' The Master said, 'The guest has a fault, and the host has a fault.' The head seat said, 'Both have a fault.' The Master said, 'Where is the fault?' The head seat then went out. The Master said, 'Best not to say there is nothing to do.' (Nanquan heard of it and said, 'The government horses trample each other.') The Master went to the capital to beg, and coming to the doorway of a house he said, 'Add a bowl for the householder.' An old woman said, 'You are too insatiable.' The Master said, 'I have not even got the rice yet — why say too insatiable?' The old woman then shut the door. The Master ascended the hall. A monk came forward, and the Master shouted. The monk also shouted and bowed. The Master then beat him. Zhaozhou, on pilgrimage, came to the monastery, and while washing his feet at the back rack, the Master asked him, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' Zhaozhou said, 'I happen to be washing my feet.' The Master came near and made a listening gesture. Zhaozhou said, 'If you understand, then understand — what are you pecking at?' The Master returned to his quarters. Zhaozhou said, 'Thirty years on pilgrimage, and today I wrongly wrote a footnote for someone.' He asked a monk where he had come from. The monk said, 'From Dingzhou.' The Master picked up his staff. As the monk deliberated, the Master beat him. The monk would not accept it. The Master said, 'Hereafter you will meet a clear-eyed man.' The monk later studied under Sansheng, and as soon as he brought up the earlier words, Sansheng beat him. As the monk deliberated, Sansheng beat him again. The Master in meeting opportunities mostly used the shout. The students in his assembly also learned to shout. The Master said, 'You all learn my shout. Now I ask you: one man comes out of the east hall, one man comes out of the west hall, and the two shout at the same moment. Can you tell host from guest here? How do you tell them apart? If you cannot tell, hereafter you must not learn this old monk's shout.' Addressing the assembly: 'Sometimes I illumine first and function after; sometimes I function first and illumine after; sometimes illumining and functioning are simultaneous; sometimes illumining and functioning are not simultaneous. When illumining first and functioning after, there is a person. When functioning first and illumining after, there is a dharma. When illumining and functioning are simultaneous, one drives the plowman's ox and seizes the hungry man's food, knocks the bone and takes the marrow, applies the needle and cone painfully. When illumining and functioning are not simultaneous, there is question and answer, host is established and guest is established, one mixes water with mud, and responds to opportunities and receives beings. If one is a man beyond measure, before it is raised he lifts it and goes — he is still a cut above.' When the Master was on pilgrimage he came to Longguang, and it happened that Longguang was ascending the hall. The Master came forward and asked, 'Without unfurling the point of the blade, how does one win?' Longguang sat firm. The Master said, 'A great good friend — has he no expedient?' Longguang glared and said, 'Hah.' The Master pointed with his finger and said, 'This old fellow has lost a piece today.' Then he went to the Reverend Ping of Sanfeng. Ping asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'From Huangbo.' Ping said, 'What words did Huangbo have?' The Master said, 'Last night the golden ox met with disaster, and to this day no trace of it is seen.' Ping said, 'The golden wind blows the jade flute — who is the one who knows the tune?' The Master said, 'Piercing straight through ten thousand barriers, not dwelling within the blue sky.' Ping said, 'This question of yours is too lofty.' The Master said, 'A dragon begets a golden phoenix chick, and breaks through the blue beryl.' Ping said, 'Sit a while and drink tea.' He asked again, 'Where have you just come from?'

師曰。龍光。平曰。龍光近日如何。師便出去。又往鳳林。路逢一婆子。婆問。甚處去。師曰。鳳林去。婆曰。恰值鳳林不在。師曰。甚處去。婆便行。師召婆。婆回首。師便行(一作師曰。誰道不在)。到鳳林。林曰。有事相借問。得麼。師曰。何得剜肉作瘡。林曰。海月澄無影。遊魚獨自迷。師曰。海月既無影。遊魚何得迷。林曰。觀風知浪起。翫水野帆飄。師曰。孤蟾獨耀江山靜。長嘯一聲天地秋。林曰。任張三寸揮天地。一句臨機試道看。師曰。路逢劒客須呈劒。不是詩人不獻詩。林便休。師乃有頌曰。大道絕同。任向西東。石火莫及。電光罔通。(溈山問仰山。石火莫及。電光罔通。從上諸聖。以何為人。仰雲。和尚意作麼生。溈雲。但有言說。都無實義。仰雲。不然。溈雲。子又作麼生。仰雲。官不容針。私通車馬)。麻谷問。十二面觀音。那箇是正面。師下禪床擒住曰。十二面觀音。甚處去也。速道。速道。谷轉身擬坐。師便打。谷接住棒。相捉歸方丈。師問一尼。善來。惡來。尼便喝。師拈棒曰。更道。更道。尼又喝。師便打。師一日拈餬餅示洛浦曰。萬種千般。不離這箇。其理不二。浦曰。如何是不二之理。師再拈起餅示之。浦曰。與麼則萬種千般也。師曰。屙尿見解。浦曰。羅公照鏡。師見僧來。舉起拂子。僧禮拜。師便打。又有僧來。師亦舉拂子。僧不顧。師亦打。又有僧來參。師舉拂子。僧曰。謝和尚指示。師亦打(雲門代雲。祇宜老漢。大覺雲。得即得。猶未見臨濟機在)。麻谷問。大悲千手眼。那箇是正眼。師搊住曰。大悲千手眼。作麼生是正眼。速道。速道。谷拽師下禪床。卻坐。師問訊曰。不審。谷擬議。師便喝。拽谷下禪床。卻坐。谷便出。上堂。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師竪起拂子。僧便喝。師便打。又僧問。如何是佛法大意。師亦竪拂子。僧便喝。師亦喝。

The Master said, 'Longguang.' Ping said, 'How is Longguang lately?' The Master then went out. He also went to Fenglin. On the road he met an old woman. The woman asked, 'Where are you going?' The Master said, 'To Fenglin.' The woman said, 'It happens that Fenglin is not in.' The Master said, 'Where has he gone?' The woman then walked on. The Master called to the woman. The woman turned her head. The Master then walked on. (One version has the Master say, 'Who says he is not in?') He arrived at Fenglin. Fenglin said, 'I have a matter to ask you about — may I?' The Master said, 'How can you cut flesh to make a sore?' Fenglin said, 'The sea moon is clear and without shadow; the swimming fish alone are deluded.' The Master said, 'Since the sea moon has no shadow, how are the swimming fish deluded?' Fenglin said, 'Watching the wind, one knows the waves are rising; playing in the water, the wild sail drifts.' The Master said, 'The lone toad shines alone and the rivers and mountains are still; one long whistle, and heaven and earth are autumn.' Fenglin said, 'However you may wield three inches to sway heaven and earth, try and say the one phrase at the moment.' The Master said, 'Meeting a swordsman on the road, one must present the sword; not being a poet, one does not offer a poem.' Fenglin then dropped it. The Master then had a verse: 'The great Way is utterly without sameness; let it go east or west. A flint spark cannot reach it; lightning cannot penetrate it.' (Guishan asked Yangshan, 'A flint spark cannot reach it, lightning cannot penetrate it — with what did the sages of old benefit people?' Yangshan said, 'What is the Reverend's intent?' Guishan said, 'Whatever is spoken has no true meaning.' Yangshan said, 'Not so.' Guishan said, 'Then what do you say?' Yangshan said, 'Officially not a needle gets through; privately carriages and horses pass.') Magu asked, 'The twelve-faced Guanyin — which is the front face?' The Master came down from the meditation seat, seized him and said, 'The twelve-faced Guanyin — where has she gone? Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Magu turned and was about to sit, and the Master beat him. Magu caught the staff, and they grappled and went back to the abbot's quarters. The Master asked a nun, 'Have you come well or come ill?' The nun shouted. The Master picked up his staff and said, 'Say more, say more.' The nun shouted again. The Master then beat her. One day the Master picked up a fried cake and showed it to Luopu, saying, 'A myriad kinds and a thousand sorts do not depart from this. The principle is not two.' Luopu said, 'What is the principle of not two?' The Master picked up the cake again and showed it. Luopu said, 'If so, then the myriad kinds and a thousand sorts are done.' The Master said, 'The view of one who shits and pisses.' Luopu said, 'Old Man Luo looking in a mirror.' When the Master saw a monk coming he raised his whisk. The monk bowed. The Master then beat him. Another monk came, and the Master also raised his whisk. The monk paid no attention. The Master also beat him. Another monk came to study, and the Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'Thank you, Master, for pointing it out.' The Master also beat him. (Yunmen said in his place, 'He only suits this old fellow.' Dajue said, 'He gets it, but he has not yet seen Linji's mechanism.') Magu asked, 'The Great Compassionate One has a thousand hands and eyes — which is the correct eye?' The Master seized him and said, 'The Great Compassionate One has a thousand hands and eyes — how is the correct eye? Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Magu dragged the Master down from the meditation seat and sat there himself. The Master greeted him, saying, 'Greetings.' As Magu deliberated, the Master shouted. He dragged Magu down from the seat and sat down himself. Magu then went out. Ascending the hall, a monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master raised his whisk. The monk shouted. The Master then beat him. Another monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master also raised his whisk. The monk shouted. The Master also shouted.

僧擬議。師便打。乃曰。大眾。夫為法者。不避喪身失命。我於黃檗先師處。三度問佛法的的大意。三度被打。如蒿枝拂相似。如今更思一頓。誰為下手。時有僧出曰。某甲下手。師度與拄杖。僧擬接。師便打。同普化赴施主齋次。師問。毛吞巨海。芥納須彌。為復是神通妙用。為復是法爾如然。化趯倒飯床。師曰。太麤生。曰。這裡是甚麼所在。說麤說細。次日又同赴齋。師復問。今日供養。何似昨日。化又趯倒飯床。師曰。得即得。太麤生。化喝曰。瞎漢。佛法說甚麼麤細。師乃吐舌。師與王常侍到僧堂。王問。這一堂僧還看經麼。師曰。不看經。曰。還習禪麼。師曰。不習禪。曰。既不看經。又不習禪。畢竟作箇甚麼。師曰。總教伊成佛作祖去。曰。金屑雖貴。落眼成翳。師曰。我將謂你是箇俗漢。師上堂次。兩堂首座相見。同時下喝。僧問師。還有賓主也無。師曰。賓主歷然。師召眾曰。要會臨濟賓主句。問取堂中二首座。師後居大名府興化寺東堂。咸通八年丁亥四月十日。將示滅。說傳法偈曰。㳂流不止問如何。真照無邊說似他。離相離名人不稟。吹毛用了急須磨。復謂眾曰。吾滅後。不得滅卻吾正法眼藏。三聖出曰。爭敢滅卻和尚正法眼藏。師曰。已後有人問。你向他道甚麼。聖便喝。師曰。誰知吾正法眼藏。向這瞎驢邊滅卻。言訖。端坐而逝。塔全身於府西北隅。諡慧照禪師。塔曰澄靈。

As the monk deliberated, the Master then beat him. Then he said, 'Assembly, one who is for the Dharma does not shrink from losing body and life. In the place of my late master Huangbo, three times I asked the exact great meaning of the Buddha Dharma and three times I was beaten, like being brushed by a mugwort branch. Now if I wanted another round, who would deal the blow?' Then a monk came forward and said, 'I will deal it.' The Master handed him his staff. As the monk was about to take it, the Master beat him. When he went with Puhua to a donor's meal, the Master asked, 'A hair swallows the great sea, a mustard seed holds Mount Sumeru. Is this the wondrous function of spiritual power, or is it simply so by nature?' Puhua kicked over the dining table. The Master said, 'Too rough.' Puhua said, 'What sort of place is this, to speak of rough and fine?' The next day they went to a meal again. The Master asked again, 'How does today's offering compare with yesterday's?' Puhua again kicked over the table. The Master said, 'He gets it, but he is too rough.' Puhua shouted, 'Blind man! What does the Buddha Dharma have to say about rough and fine?' The Master then put out his tongue. The Master went with Attendant Censor Wang to the monks' hall. Wang asked, 'Do the monks in this hall read the scriptures?' The Master said, 'They do not.' Wang said, 'Do they practice Chan?' The Master said, 'They do not.' Wang said, 'Since they neither read scriptures nor practice Chan, what on earth do they do?' The Master said, 'I have them all become Buddhas and Ancestors.' Wang said, 'Though gold dust is precious, in the eye it becomes a cataract.' The Master said, 'I thought you were a layman.' When the Master was ascending the hall, the head seats of the two halls met and shouted at the same time. A monk asked the Master, 'Is there host and guest or not?' The Master said, 'Host and guest are clearly distinguished.' The Master called the assembly and said, 'If you want to understand Linji's phrase of host and guest, ask the two head seats in the hall.' Later the Master lived in the east hall of Xinghua Monastery in Daming Prefecture. On the tenth day of the fourth month of the eighth year of Xiantong he was about to show his extinction, and spoke the verse of transmitting the Dharma: 'Flowing on without cease — ask not how; true illumination without boundary — described as him. Departing from mark and name, people do not receive it; having used the hair-cutting blade, one must quickly grind it.' Again he told the assembly, 'After my extinction, you must not let my correct Dharma eye treasury be extinguished.' Sansheng came forward and said, 'How would we dare let the Reverend's correct Dharma eye treasury be extinguished?' The Master said, 'Hereafter if someone asks, what will you say to him?' Sansheng then shouted. The Master said, 'Who would have known that my correct Dharma eye treasury would be extinguished by this blind donkey.' Having spoken, he sat upright and passed away. A stupa was built for his whole body in the northwest corner of the prefecture. His posthumous title was Chan Master Huizhao, and his stupa was called Chengling.

南嶽下五世

The fifth generation below Nanyue

臨濟玄禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xuan of Linji

魏府興化存獎禪師

Chan Master Cunjiang of Xinghua in Weifu

在三聖會裡為首座。常曰。我向南方行腳一遭。拄杖頭不曾撥著一箇會佛法底人。三聖聞得。問曰。你具箇甚麼眼。便恁麼道。師便喝。聖曰。須是你始得。後大覺聞舉。遂曰。作麼生得風吹到大覺門裡來。師後到大覺為院主。一日覺喚院主。我聞你道。向南方行腳。一遭拄杖頭。不曾撥著一箇會佛法底。你憑箇甚麼道理。與麼道。師便喝。覺便打。師又喝。覺又打。師來日從法堂過。覺召院主。我直下疑你昨日這兩喝。師又喝。覺又打。師再喝。覺又打。師曰。某甲於三聖師兄處。學得箇賓主句。總被師兄折倒了也。願與某甲箇安樂法門。覺曰。這瞎漢來這裡納敗缺。脫下衲衣。痛打一頓。師於言下薦得臨濟先師於黃檗處吃棒底道理。師後開堂日。拈香曰。此一炷香本為三聖師兄。三聖於我大孤。本為大覺師兄。大覺於我太賖。不如供養臨濟先師。僧問。多子塔前。共談何事。師曰。一人傳虗。萬人傳實。師有時喚僧。僧應諾。師曰。點即不到。又喚一僧。僧應諾。師曰。到即不點。僧問。四方八面來時如何。師曰。打中間底。僧便禮拜。師曰。昨日赴箇村齋。中途遇一陣卒風暴雨。卻向古廟裡軃避得過。問僧。甚處來。曰。崔禪處來。師曰。將得崔禪喝來否。曰。不將得來。師曰。恁麼則不從崔禪處來。僧便喝。師便打。示眾。我聞前廊下也喝。後架裡也喝。諸子。汝莫盲喝亂喝。直饒喝得興化向虗空裡。卻撲下來一點氣也無。待我蘇息起來。向汝道未在。何故。我未曾向紫羅帳裡撒真珠與汝諸人去在。胡喝亂喝作麼。雲居住三峰庵時。師問。權借一問。以為影草時如何。居無對。師雲。想和尚答這話不得。不如禮拜了退。二十年後。居雲。如今思量。當時不消道箇何必。後遣化主到師處。師問。和尚住三峰庵時。老僧問伊話。對不得。如今道得也未。主舉前話。師雲。雲居二十年祇道得箇何必。

He was the head seat in Sansheng's assembly. He often said, 'I went on pilgrimage in the south once, and the tip of my staff never poked one man who understood the Buddha Dharma.' Sansheng heard of it and asked, 'What eye do you have, that you speak this way?' The Master then shouted. Sansheng said, 'It has to be you before it can be.' Later Dajue heard it brought up and said, 'How could the wind blow him into Dajue's gate?' Later the Master came to Dajue and became the prior. One day Dajue called the prior: 'I hear you said that when you went on pilgrimage in the south, the tip of your staff never poked one man who understood the Buddha Dharma. On what principle do you speak this way?' The Master then shouted. Dajue then beat him. The Master shouted again. Dajue beat him again. The next day the Master passed by the Dharma hall. Dajue called the prior: 'I simply doubt those two shouts of yours yesterday.' The Master shouted again. Dajue beat him again. The Master shouted again. Dajue beat him again. The Master said, 'From my senior brother Sansheng I learned the phrase of host and guest, and it has all been broken down by you, senior brother. I beg you to give me a gate of peace and ease.' Dajue said, 'This blind fellow has come here to display his defeat. Take off his robe and give him a good beating.' At these words the Master awakened to the principle by which his late master Linji had taken blows in Huangbo's place. On the day the Master later opened the hall, he picked up incense and said, 'This stick of incense was originally for my senior brother Sansheng. Sansheng was too sparing with me. It was originally for my senior brother Dajue. Dajue was too generous with me. Better to offer it to my late master Linji.' A monk asked, 'Before the many-seeded stupa, what did they discuss together?' The Master said, 'One man transmits a falsehood, and ten thousand men transmit it as truth.' Sometimes the Master would call a monk. The monk would answer. The Master would say, 'Pointed at, but not reached.' He would call another monk. The monk would answer. The Master would say, 'Reached, but not pointed at.' A monk asked, 'What is it like when they come from the four quarters and eight directions?' The Master said, 'Strike the one in the middle.' The monk then bowed. The Master said, 'Yesterday I went to a village meal and halfway met a sudden squall of wind and rain, and had to take shelter in an old shrine.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'From Cui Chan's place.' The Master said, 'Did you bring Cui Chan's shout with you?' The monk said, 'I did not bring it.' The Master said, 'If so, then you did not come from Cui Chan's place.' The monk then shouted. The Master then beat him. Addressing the assembly: 'I hear shouting in the front corridor and shouting at the back rack too. My sons, do not shout blindly and wildly. Even if you shout Xinghua into empty space and he comes tumbling down without a breath left, when I revive and rise, I will tell you it is not yet. Why? Because I have never scattered true pearls in a purple gauze tent for you people. What are you shouting wildly and blindly for?' When Yunju was living at the Sanfeng hermitage, the Master asked, 'Borrowing one question to use as shadow grass — how is it?' Yunju had no reply. The Master said, 'I think the Reverend cannot answer these words; better to bow and withdraw.' Twenty years later Yunju said, 'Thinking of it now, at that time I need not have said anything at all.' Later he sent his fund-raiser to the Master's place. The Master asked, 'When the Reverend was living at the Sanfeng hermitage, this old monk asked him a question and he could not answer. Can he answer it now?' The fund-raiser brought up the earlier words. The Master said, 'In twenty years Yunju has only managed to say "no need at all",'

興化即不然。爭如道箇不必。師謂克賓維那曰。汝不久為唱導之師。賓曰。不入這保社。師曰。會了不入。不會了不入。曰。總不與麼。師便打。曰。克賓維那法戰不勝。罰錢五貫。設饡飯一堂。次日。師自白椎曰。克賓維那法戰不勝。不得吃飯。即便出院。僧問。國師喚侍者。意作麼生。師曰。一盲引眾盲。師在臨濟為侍者。洛浦來參。濟問。甚處來。浦曰。鑾城來。濟曰。有事相借問。得麼。浦曰。新戒不會。濟曰。打破大唐國。覓箇不會底人也無。參堂去。師隨後。請問曰。適來新到。是成褫他。不成褫他。濟曰。我誰管你成褫不成褫。師曰。和尚祇解將死雀就地彈。不解將一轉語蓋覆卻。濟曰。你又作麼生。師曰。請和尚作新到。濟遂曰。新戒不會。師曰。卻是老僧罪過。濟曰。你語藏鋒。師擬議。濟便打。至晚濟又曰。我今日問新到。是將死雀就地彈。就窠子裡打。及至你出得語。又喝起了向青雲裡打。師曰。草賊大敗。濟便打。師見同參來。才上法堂。師便喝。僧亦喝。師又喝。僧亦喝。師近前拈棒。僧又喝。師曰。你看這瞎漢猶作主在。僧擬議。師直打下法堂。侍者請問。適來那僧有甚觸忤和尚。師曰。他適來也有權。也有實。也有照。也有用。及乎我將手向伊麵前橫兩橫。到這裡卻去不得。似這般瞎漢。不打更待何時。僧禮拜。問。寶劒知師藏已久。今日當場略借看。師曰。不借。曰。為甚麼不借。師曰。不是張華眼。徒窺射鬥光。曰。用者如何。師曰。橫身當宇宙。誰是出頭人。僧便作引頸勢。師曰。嗄。僧曰。喏。便歸眾。後唐莊宗車駕幸河北。回至魏府行宮。詔師問曰。朕收中原。獲得一寶。未曾有人酬價。師曰。請陛下寶看。帝以兩手舒幞頭腳。師曰。君王之寶。誰敢酬價(玄覺徵雲。且道興化肯莊宗。不肯莊宗。若肯莊宗。興化眼在甚麼處。若不肯莊宗。過在甚麼處)。

(The Master continued:) 'Xinghua is not like that. How does it compare with saying there is no need?' The Master said to the Vinaya Master Kebin, 'Before long you will be a master who leads the chanting.' Kebin said, 'I will not enter that fellowship.' The Master said, 'Understanding it you do not enter; not understanding it you do not enter.' Kebin said, 'In any case I am not like that.' The Master then struck him, saying, 'The Vinaya Master Kebin was defeated in dharma battle; he is fined five strings of cash and must provide one meal of fine rice for the assembly.' The next day the Master struck the gavel himself and said, 'The Vinaya Master Kebin was defeated in dharma battle and may not eat. Let him leave the monastery at once.' A monk asked, 'The National Teacher called the attendant—what was the meaning?' The Master said, 'One blind man leading a crowd of blind men.' The Master was an attendant under Linji. Luopu came to call. Linji asked, 'Where have you come from?' Luopu said, 'From Luancheng.' Linji said, 'There is a matter I would like to ask about; may I?' Luopu said, 'This newly ordained one does not understand.' Linji said, 'If you smashed the whole Great Tang realm, you would not find a person who does not understand. Go into the hall.' The Master followed after and asked, 'That newcomer just now—was he fully endorsed or not?' Linji said, 'Who am I to care whether you are fully endorsed or not.' The Master said, 'The Reverend only knows how to shoot a dead sparrow on the spot; he does not know how to cover it over with a turning word.' Linji said, 'And how do you put it?' The Master said, 'Please, Reverend, be the newcomer.' Linji then said, 'This newly ordained one does not understand.' The Master said, 'That is rather this old monk's fault.' Linji said, 'Your words hide a blade.' The Master started to deliberate, and Linji struck him. That evening Linji also said, 'Today I questioned a newcomer—that was shooting a dead sparrow on the spot, striking inside the nest. But when you got a word out, you shouted it up and shot into the blue clouds.' The Master said, 'The straw bandit is badly beaten.' Linji struck him. When the Master saw a fellow student coming, as soon as the man had entered the dharma hall the Master shouted. The monk also shouted. The Master shouted again. The monk shouted again. The Master stepped closer and picked up his stick. The monk shouted again. The Master said, 'Look at this blind fellow, still acting the host.' The monk hesitated, and the Master drove him straight out of the dharma hall with blows. The attendant asked, 'What did that monk just now do to offend the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Just now he had expedient means, he had the real, he had illumination, he had function. But when I swept my hand twice across in front of him, at that point he could not get through. With a blind fellow like this, if I do not strike him, when else?' The monk bowed. A monk asked, 'The precious sword—we know the Master has kept it hidden a long time; today, on the spot, may we borrow a look?' The Master said, 'I will not lend it.' The monk said, 'Why will you not lend it?' The Master said, 'Without Zhang Hua's eye, you would only peer at the radiance that shoots toward the Dipper.' The monk said, 'What of one who uses it?' The Master said, 'He sets his body across the universe—who is the one who sticks his head out?' The monk then made as if to stretch out his neck. The Master said, 'Aha.' The monk said, 'Yes.' And he returned to the assembly. Later Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang toured Hebei and, returning to the temporary palace at Weifu, summoned the Master and asked, 'I have taken the Central Plain and obtained a treasure, but no one has yet named its price.' The Master said, 'May Your Majesty let me see the treasure.' The Emperor spread the two ends of his headwrap with both hands. The Master said, 'A king's treasure—who would dare name its price?' (Xuanjue added, 'Tell me: did Xinghua approve of Zhuangzong or not? If he approved of Zhuangzong, where were Xinghua's eyes? If he did not approve of Zhuangzong, where was the fault?')

龍顏大悅。賜紫衣．師號。師皆不受。乃賜馬與師乘騎。馬忽驚。師墜傷足。帝復賜藥救療。師喚院主。與我做箇木柺子。主做了將來。師接得。遶院行。問僧曰。汝等還識老僧麼。曰。爭得不識和尚。師曰。𨁸腳法師。說得行不得。又至法堂。令維那聲鐘集眾。師曰。還識老僧麼。眾無對。師擲下柺子。端然而逝。諡廣濟禪師。

The imperial countenance was greatly pleased. He bestowed a purple robe and a master's title. The Master accepted neither. Then he bestowed a horse for the Master to ride. The horse suddenly shied, and the Master fell and injured his foot. The Emperor again sent medicine to heal him. The Master called the monastery steward: 'Make me a wooden crutch.' The steward made one and brought it. The Master took it and walked around the monastery. He asked a monk, 'Do you people still recognize this old monk?' The monk said, 'How could we not recognize the Reverend?' The Master said, 'A lame dharma master speaks of what he cannot do.' Again he came to the dharma hall and had the Vinaya Master sound the bell to gather the assembly. The Master said, 'Do you still recognize this old monk?' The assembly had no reply. The Master threw down the crutch and passed away sitting upright. He was given the posthumous title Chan Master Guangji.

鎮州寶壽沼禪師(第一世)

Chan Master Zhao of Baoshou, Zhenzhou (First Generation)

僧問。萬境來侵時如何。師曰。莫管他。僧禮拜。師曰。不要動著。動著即打折汝腰。師在方丈坐。因僧問訊次。師曰。百千諸聖。盡不出此方丈內。曰。祇如古人道。大千沙界海中漚。未審此方丈向甚麼處著。師曰。千聖現在。曰。阿誰證明。師便擲下拂子。僧從西過東立。師便打。僧曰。若不久參。焉知端的。師曰。三十年後。此話大行。趙州來。師在禪床背面而坐。州展坐具禮拜。師起入方丈。州收坐具而出。師問僧。甚處來。曰。西山來。師曰。見獼猴麼。曰。見。師曰。作甚麼伎倆。曰。見某甲一箇伎倆也作不得。師便打。胡釘鉸參。師問。汝莫是胡釘鉸麼。曰。不敢。師曰。還釘得虗空麼。曰。請和尚打破。師便打。胡曰。和尚莫錯打某甲。師曰。向後有多口阿師與你點破在。胡後到趙州。舉前話。州曰。汝因甚麼被他打。胡曰。不知過在甚麼處。州曰。祇這一縫尚不奈何。胡於此有省。趙州曰。且釘這一縫。僧問。萬裡無雲時如何。師曰。青天也須吃棒。曰。未審青天有甚麼過。師便打。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。面黑眼睛白。西院來參。問。踏倒化城來時如何。師曰。不斬死漢。院曰。斬。師便打。院連道。斬。斬。師又隨聲打。師卻回方丈曰。適來這僧。將赤肉抵他乾棒。有甚死急。

A monk asked, 'When the ten thousand conditions come invading, what then?' The Master said, 'Pay them no mind.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Do not move. If you move, I will break your back.' The Master was sitting in the abbot's quarters. When a monk came to greet him, the Master said, 'A hundred thousand holy ones all do not go beyond this abbot's quarters.' The monk said, 'As the ancients said, the great thousand worlds and the sands of the Ganges are a bubble in the sea. I wonder where this abbot's quarters is placed?' The Master said, 'The thousand sages are present.' The monk said, 'Who is the witness?' The Master then threw down his whisk. The monk walked from the west side to the east and stood. The Master struck him. The monk said, 'Had I not spent long in practice, how would I know it so precisely?' The Master said, 'Thirty years from now these words will be greatly in vogue.' Zhaozhou came. The Master sat with his back to the meditation platform. Zhaozhou spread his sitting cloth and bowed. The Master rose and went into the abbot's quarters. Zhaozhou folded up his sitting cloth and went out. The Master asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'From the Western Mountain.' The Master said, 'Did you see the macaque?' The monk said, 'I saw it.' The Master said, 'What tricks did it do?' The monk said, 'It could not do a single trick for me.' The Master struck him. Hu the Tinker came to call. The Master asked, 'Are you not Hu the Tinker?' The monk said, 'I would not presume.' The Master said, 'Can you tinker with empty space?' The monk said, 'Please, Reverend, smash it.' The Master struck him. Hu said, 'Reverend, do not strike me by mistake.' The Master said, 'Hereafter there is a talkative master who will poke it through for you.' Later Hu came to Zhaozhou and brought up the earlier words. Zhaozhou said, 'Why were you struck by him?' Hu said, 'I do not know where the fault was.' Zhaozhou said, 'You can do nothing about even this one seam.' At this Hu had an awakening. Zhaozhou said, 'Just tinker this seam.' A monk asked, 'When not a cloud in ten thousand miles, what then?' The Master said, 'Even the blue sky must take a blow.' The monk said, 'I wonder what fault the blue sky has?' The Master struck him. A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A black face and white eyes.' Xiyuan came to call and asked, 'When one has trampled down the phantom city and comes, what then?' The Master said, 'I do not behead a dead man.' Xiyuan said, 'Behead!' The Master struck him. Xiyuan said repeatedly, 'Behead, behead!' The Master struck him again following the sound of his voice. The Master returned to the abbot's quarters and said, 'That monk just now used his bare flesh to meet a dry stick. What death-defying urgency was there?'

鎮州三聖院慧然禪師

Chan Master Huiran of Sansheng Monastery, Zhenzhou

自臨濟受訣。遍歷叢林。至仰山。山問。汝名甚麼。師曰。慧寂。山曰。慧寂是我名。師曰。我名慧然。山大笑而已。仰山因有官人相訪。山問。官居何位。曰。推官。山竪起拂子曰。還推得這箇麼。官人無對。山令眾下語。皆不契。時師不安。在涅槃堂內將息。山令侍者去請下語。師曰。但道和尚今日有事。山又令侍者問。未審有甚麼事。師曰。再犯不容。到香嚴。嚴問。甚處來。師曰。臨濟。嚴曰。將得臨濟喝來麼。師以坐具驀口打。又到德山。才展坐具。山曰。莫展炊巾。這裡無殘羹餿飯。師曰。縱有也無著處。山便打。師接住棒。推向禪床上。山大笑。師哭蒼天。便下參堂。堂中首座號踢天泰。問。行腳高士。須得本道公驗。作麼生是本道公驗。師曰。道甚麼。座再問。師打一坐具曰。這漆桶前後觸忤多少賢良。座擬人事。師便過第二座人事。又到道吾。吾預知。以緋抹額。持神杖於門下立。師曰。小心祇候。吾應喏。師參堂了。再上人事。吾具威儀。方丈內坐。師才近前。吾曰。有事相借問。得麼。師曰。也是適來野狐精。便出去。住後。上堂。我逢人即出。出則不為人。便下座(興化雲。我逢人則不出。出則便為人)。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。臭肉來蠅(興化雲。破驢脊上足蒼蠅)。問。僧近離甚處。僧便喝。師亦喝。僧又喝。師又喝。僧曰。行棒即瞎。便喝。師拈棒。僧乃轉身作受棒勢。師曰。下坡不走快便難逢。便棒。僧曰。這賊。便出去師遂拋下棒。次有僧問。適來爭容得這僧。師曰。是伊見先師來。

Having received the seal from Linji, he traveled through all the monasteries. He came to Yangshan. Yangshan asked, 'What is your name?' The Master said, 'Huiji.' Yangshan said, 'Huiji is my name.' The Master said, 'My name is Huiran.' Yangshan only laughed aloud. Once an official came to visit Yangshan. Yangshan asked, 'What office do you hold?' The official said, 'A prefectural judge.' Yangshan raised his whisk and said, 'Can you judge this?' The official had no reply. Yangshan told the assembly to give a word; none hit the mark. At that time the Master was unwell and resting in the nirvana hall. Yangshan sent an attendant to ask him for a word. The Master said, 'Just say the Reverend has business today.' Yangshan again sent the attendant to ask, 'I wonder what business?' The Master said, 'A second offense will not be forgiven.' He came to Xiangyan. Xiangyan asked, 'Where have you come from?' The Master said, 'From Linji.' Xiangyan said, 'Did you bring Linji's shout along?' The Master struck him across the mouth with his sitting cloth. Again he came to Deshan and had just spread his sitting cloth when Deshan said, 'Do not spread a napkin; here there is no leftover soup or stale rice.' The Master said, 'Even if there were, there would be nowhere to put it.' Deshan struck him. The Master caught the stick and pushed him onto the meditation platform. Deshan laughed aloud. The Master cried out to heaven and went down into the assembly hall. The chief seat in that hall was called Tiantai the Kicker, and he asked, 'A wandering gentleman must have the travel permit of the Way. What is the travel permit of the Way?' The Master said, 'What are you saying?' The chief seat asked again. The Master gave his sitting cloth a blow and said, 'This lacquer bucket—how many good men has he offended from first to last?' The chief seat started to say a polite word, and the Master went on to the second seat's greeting. Again he came to Daowu. Daowu knew in advance, wrapped a crimson band around his forehead, and stood in the gateway holding a staff. The Master said, 'Be careful in your attendance.' Daowu answered, 'Yes.' After the Master had gone down into the hall, he came up again to greet him. Daowu arranged his full ceremonial and sat inside the abbot's quarters. The Master had just drawn near when Daowu said, 'There is a matter I would like to ask about; may I?' The Master said, 'So it was the old fox spirit from before.' And he went out. After he took up residence, he ascended the hall: 'When I meet a man I come out; when I come out I have never been a person.' And he left the seat. (Xinghua said, 'When I meet a man I do not come out; when I come out I am a person.') A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A stinking piece of meat draws the flies.' (Xinghua said, 'On a broken donkey's back, enough flies to fill it.') He asked a monk where he had recently come from. The monk shouted. The Master also shouted. The monk shouted again. The Master shouted again. The monk said, 'Raise your stick and you go blind.' And he shouted. The Master picked up his stick. The monk turned and made as if to receive the blow. The Master said, 'Going downhill, if you do not run you rarely get such an easy chance.' And he struck. The monk said, 'This thief.' And he went out. The Master then threw down his stick. Then a monk asked, 'Just now why did you put up with that monk?' The Master said, 'That is because he had seen my late teacher.'

魏府大覺和尚

Venerable Master Dajue of Weifu

參臨濟。濟才見。竪起拂子。師展坐具。濟擲下拂子。師收坐具。參堂去。時僧眾曰。此僧莫是和尚親故。不禮拜又不吃棒。濟聞說。令侍者喚適來新到上來。師隨侍者到方丈。濟曰。大眾道汝來參長老。又不禮拜。又不吃棒。莫是長老親故。師乃珍重下去。師住後。僧問。如何是本來身。師曰。頭枕衡山。腳踏北嶽。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。良馬不窺鞭。側耳知人意。問。如何是鎮國寶。師曰。穿耳賣不售。問。香草未生時如何。師曰。齅著腦裂。曰。生後如何。師曰。腦裂。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。十字街頭。望空啟告。問。如何是大覺。師曰。惡覺。曰。乖極。師便打。問。忽來忽去時如何。師曰。風吹柳絮毛毬走。曰。不來不去時如何。師曰。華嶽三峰頭指天。問。一飽忘百饑時如何。師曰。縱遇臨岐食。隨分納些些。臨終時謂眾曰。我有一隻箭。要付與人。時有一僧出。曰。請和尚箭。師曰。汝喚甚麼作箭。僧喝。師打數下。便歸方丈。卻喚其僧入來。問曰。汝適來會麼。曰。不會。師又打數下。擲卻拄杖。曰。已後遇明眼人。分明舉似。便乃告寂。

He called on Linji. Linji had barely seen him when he raised his whisk. The Master spread his sitting cloth. Linji threw down his whisk. The Master folded up his sitting cloth and went into the hall. At that time the monks said, 'This monk may be a relative of the Reverend; he neither bows nor takes a blow.' Linji heard of it and sent an attendant to call the newcomer up. The Master followed the attendant to the abbot's quarters. Linji said, 'The assembly says you have come to call on the elder, yet you neither bow nor take a blow. Are you perhaps a relative of the elder?' The Master said, 'Take care of yourself,' and went down. After the Master took up residence, a monk asked, 'What is the original body?' The Master said, 'Head pillowed on Mount Heng, feet on the Northern Peak.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha dharma?' The Master said, 'A good horse does not look at the whip; it cocks an ear and knows the rider's mind.' A monk asked, 'What is the treasure that secures the state?' The Master said, 'Pierced ears, offered for sale and not sold.' A monk asked, 'When the fragrant grass has not yet grown, what then?' The Master said, 'Smell it and your brain splits.' The monk said, 'And after it has grown?' The Master said, 'Your brain splits.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'At the crossroads, lifting your face to the sky and announcing it.' A monk asked, 'What is great awakening?' The Master said, 'An evil awakening.' The monk said, 'That is utterly perverse.' The Master struck him. A monk asked, 'When it comes and goes suddenly, what then?' The Master said, 'The wind blows the willow catkins and the hairball rolls away.' The monk said, 'When it neither comes nor goes, what then?' The Master said, 'The three peaks of Mount Hua point their heads at the sky.' A monk asked, 'When one meal satisfies and a hundred hungers are forgotten, what then?' The Master said, 'Even if you meet food at the fork in the road, take only a little, according to your share.' As he was dying he said to the assembly, 'I have one arrow; I want to hand it to someone.' At that time a monk came forward and said, 'Please, Reverend, the arrow.' The Master said, 'What do you call an arrow?' The monk shouted. The Master struck him several times and went back into the abbot's quarters. Then he called that monk in and asked, 'Did you understand just now?' The monk said, 'I did not.' The Master struck him several times more, threw down his staff, and said, 'Hereafter, when you meet a clear-eyed man, tell it plainly.' And he passed away.

灌谿志閑禪師

Chan Master Zhixian of Guanxi

魏府館陶史氏子。幼從栢巖禪師披剃受具。後見臨濟。濟驀胸搊住。師曰。領。領。濟拓開曰。且放汝一頓。師離臨濟至末山(語見末山章)。師住後。上堂曰。我在臨濟爺爺處得半杓。末山孃孃處得半杓。共成一杓。吃了。直至如今飽不飢。僧問。請師不借借。師曰。滿口道不得。師又曰。大庾嶺頭佛不會。黃梅路上沒眾生。師會下一僧。去參石霜。霜問。甚處來。曰。灌谿來。霜曰。我南山。不如他北山。僧無對。僧回舉似師。師曰。何不道灌谿修涅槃堂了也。問。久嚮灌谿。到來祇見漚麻池。師曰。汝祇見漚麻池。且不見灌谿。曰。如何是灌谿。師曰。劈箭急(後人舉似玄沙。沙雲。更學三十年未會禪)。問。如何是古人骨。師曰。安置不得。曰。為甚麼安置不得。師曰。金烏那教下碧天。問。金鎻斷後如何。師曰。正是法汝處。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。缽裡盛飯。饙裡盛羹。曰。學人不會。師曰。飢則食。飽則休。上堂。十方無壁落。四畔亦無門。露裸裸。赤灑灑。無可把。便下座。問。如何是一色。師曰。不隨。曰。一色後如何。師曰。有闍黎承當分也無。問。今日一會。祇敵何人。師曰。不為凡聖。問。一句如何。師曰。不落千聖機。問。如何是洞中水。師曰。不洗人。唐乾寧二年乙卯五月二十九日。問侍者曰。坐死者誰。曰。僧伽。師曰。立死者誰。曰。僧會。師乃行七步。垂手而逝。

He was a son of the Shi family of Guantao in Weifu. As a child he was shaved and ordained under Chan Master Baiyan. Later he met Linji. Linji seized him by the chest. The Master said, 'I accept, I accept.' Linji pushed him away, saying, 'I will let you off this once.' The Master left Linji and came to Mount Mo. (The words are in the chapter on Mount Mo.) After he took up residence, he ascended the hall and said, 'I got half a ladle at Grandpa Linji's place and half a ladle at Granny Mount Mo's place; together they make one ladle. Having eaten it, I am full to this day and never hungry.' A monk asked, 'Please, Reverend, do not borrow.' The Master said, 'A mouthful cannot say it.' The Master also said, 'At the top of the Dayu Range the Buddha does not understand; on the Huangmei road there are no living beings.' A monk in the Master's assembly went to call on Shishuang. Shishuang asked, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'From Guanxi.' Shishuang said, 'My southern mountain is not as good as his northern mountain.' The monk had no reply. The monk went back and reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'Why did you not say, 'Guanxi has finished repairing the nirvana hall'?' A monk asked, 'I have long heard of Guanxi; now that I have arrived I see only a hemp-retting pool.' The Master said, 'You see only the hemp-retting pool and do not see Guanxi.' The monk said, 'What is Guanxi?' The Master said, 'Swift as a flying arrow.' (Later someone reported this to Xuansha. Xuansha said, 'Study another thirty years and you still will not understand Chan.') A monk asked, 'What is the bone of the ancients?' The Master said, 'It cannot be put anywhere.' The monk said, 'Why can it not be put anywhere?' The Master said, 'How could the golden crow be taught to come down from the blue sky?' A monk asked, 'After the golden lock is broken, what then?' The Master said, 'Just where the dharma applies to you.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Rice in the bowl, soup in the steamer.' The monk said, 'This student does not understand.' The Master said, 'When hungry, eat; when full, rest.' Ascending the hall: 'The ten directions have no walls, the four sides have no gate. Bare and naked, red and dripping, there is nothing to grasp.' And he left the seat. A monk asked, 'What is the one color?' The Master said, 'Not following.' The monk said, 'After the one color, what then?' The Master said, 'Do you have a share to take it on, Acarya?' A monk asked, 'Today's assembly—who can it match?' The Master said, 'It is not for ordinary men or sages.' A monk asked, 'What of one phrase?' The Master said, 'It does not fall into the mechanisms of a thousand sages.' A monk asked, 'What is the water in the cave?' The Master said, 'It does not wash people.' On the twenty-ninth day of the fifth month of the second year of Qianning of the Tang, a yimao year, he asked his attendant, 'Who dies sitting?' The attendant said, 'Sangha.' The Master said, 'Who dies standing?' The attendant said, 'Seng Hui.' The Master then took seven steps and, dropping his hands, passed away.

𣵠州紙衣和尚(即克符道者)

The Paper-Robed Monk of Zhuozhou (that is, the Wayfarer Kefu)

初問臨濟。如何是奪人不奪境。濟曰。煦日發生鋪地錦。嬰兒垂髮白如絲。師曰。如何是奪境不奪人。濟曰。王令已行天下遍。將軍塞外絕煙塵。師曰。如何是人境俱奪。濟曰。並汾絕信。獨處一方。師曰。如何是人境俱不奪。濟曰。王登寶殿。野老謳謌。師於言下領旨。後有頌曰。奪人不奪境。緣自帶誵訛。擬欲求玄旨。思量反責麼。驪珠光燦爛。蟾桂影婆娑。覿面無差互。還應滯網羅。奪境不奪人。尋言何處真。問禪禪是妄。究理理非親。日照寒光澹。山搖翠色新。直饒玄會得。也是眼中塵。人境兩俱奪。從來正令行。不論佛與祖。那說聖凡情。擬犯吹毛劍。還如值木盲。進前求妙會。特地斬精靈。人境俱不奪。思量意不偏。主賓言少異。問答理俱全。踏破澄潭月。穿開碧落天。不能明妙用。淪溺在無緣。僧問。如何是賓中賓。師曰。倚門傍戶猶如醉。出言吐氣不慚惶。曰。如何是賓中主。師曰。口唸彌陀隻拄杖。目瞽瞳人不出頭。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。高提祖印當機用。利物應知語帶悲。曰。如何是主中主。師曰。橫按鏌鎁全正令。太平寰宇斬痴頑。曰。既是太平寰宇。為甚麼卻斬痴頑。師曰。不許夜行剛把火。直須當道與人看。

At first he asked Linji, 'What is taking away the man but not the surroundings?' Linji said, 'The warm sun brings forth brocade spread on the ground; the infant's hanging hair is white as silk.' The Master said, 'What is taking away the surroundings but not the man?' Linji said, 'The king's command has already gone throughout the world; beyond the frontier the general cuts off smoke and dust.' The Master said, 'What is taking away both man and surroundings?' Linji said, 'Bing and Fen cut off news; he dwells alone in one quarter.' The Master said, 'What is taking away neither man nor surroundings?' Linji said, 'The king ascends the jeweled hall; the old rustic sings.' The Master received the purport under his words. Later he had a verse: 'Taking away the man but not the surroundings, by nature it brings its own error. If you would seek the mysterious purport, what reproach lies in thinking it over? The black dragon pearl shines brilliantly, the toad and cassia shadows dance. Face to face with no discrepancy, still one should linger in the net. / Taking away the surroundings but not the man, seeking the words, where is the truth? Ask about Chan and Chan is delusion, investigate principle and principle is not intimate. The sun shines and cold light is thin, the mountain sways and the emerald color is new. Even if you understand it mysteriously, it is still dust in your eye. / Taking away both man and surroundings, from of old the true command prevails. It does not discuss Buddha or Patriarch, how much less the feelings of sage and commoner. Try to violate the hair-cutting sword and you are like a blind man facing wood. Step forward seeking a wondrous understanding, and it deliberately cuts down the spirit. / Taking away neither man nor surroundings, thinking it over, the mind is not partial. Host and guest differ a little in words, question and answer are complete in principle. Trample through the moon in the clear pool, pierce open the blue sky. If you cannot understand the wondrous function, you drown in having no condition.' A monk asked, 'What is the guest within the guest?' The Master said, 'Leaning on the gate, beside the door, like a drunkard; speaking and breathing without shame.' The monk said, 'What is the host within the guest?' The Master said, 'Mouth reciting Amitabha, only holding the staff; blind pupils, the pupil does not come out.' The monk said, 'What is the guest within the host?' The Master said, 'Lifting high the Patriarch's seal, using it at the moment; benefiting beings, one should know the words carry compassion.' The monk said, 'What is the host within the host?' The Master said, 'Holding the Moye sword across, the whole true command; in the peaceful universe, cutting down the deluded and stubborn.' The monk said, 'Since it is the peaceful universe, why cut down the deluded and stubborn?' The Master said, 'You are not allowed to walk at night, yet you must carry fire; you must show it to people right in the road.'

定州善崔禪師

Chan Master Shancui of Dingzhou

州將王令公於衙署張座。請師說法。師陞座。拈拄杖曰。出來也打。不出來也打。僧出曰。崔禪聻。師擲下拄杖曰。久立令公。伏惟珍重。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。定州瓷器似鍾鳴。曰。學人不會意旨如何。師曰。口口分明沒喎斜。

The prefect Lord Wang set up a seat in his office and invited the Master to preach. The Master ascended the seat, picked up his staff, and said, 'Come out and you get struck; do not come out and you get struck.' A monk came out and said, 'Cui Chan!' The Master threw down his staff and said, 'Long standing, my Lord. Please take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Dingzhou porcelain rings like a bell.' The monk said, 'This student does not understand the purport.' The Master said, 'Mouth to mouth, clear and distinct, with no distortion.'

鎮州萬壽和尚

The Venerable Wanshou of Zhenzhou

僧問。如何是迦葉上行衣。師曰。鶴飛千點雪。雲鎻萬重山。問。如何是丈六金身。師曰。袖頭打領。腋下剜襟。曰。學人不會。師曰。不會請人裁。師訪寶壽。壽坐不起。師展坐具。壽下禪床。師卻坐。壽驟入方丈。閉卻門。知事見師坐不起。曰。請和尚庫下吃茶。師乃歸院。翌日。寶壽來復謁。師踞禪床。壽展坐具。師亦下禪床。壽卻坐。師歸方丈閉卻門。壽入侍者寮。取灰圍卻方丈門。便歸去。師遂開門見曰。我不恁麼。他卻恁麼。

A monk asked, 'What is Mahakasyapa's robe of ascent?' The Master said, 'Cranes fly, a thousand points of snow; clouds lock ten thousand layers of mountains.' A monk asked, 'What is the sixteen-foot golden body?' The Master said, 'A sleeve-head used as a collar, a lapel cut from under the arm.' The monk said, 'This student does not understand.' The Master said, 'If you do not understand, ask someone to cut it.' The Master visited Baoshou. Baoshou sat and did not rise. The Master spread his sitting cloth. Baoshou got down from the meditation platform. The Master sat down instead. Baoshou hurried into the abbot's quarters and shut the door. The administrator saw that the Master sat and did not rise, and said, 'Please, Reverend, have tea in the storeroom.' The Master then returned to his monastery. The next day Baoshou came to call again. The Master was seated on the meditation platform. Baoshou spread his sitting cloth. The Master also got down from the platform. Baoshou sat down instead. The Master returned to the abbot's quarters and shut the door. Baoshou went into the attendant's room, took ashes and drew a line around the abbot's door, and went back. The Master then opened the door and, seeing it, said, 'I was not like that, but he was like that.'

幽州譚空和尚

Venerable Tankong of Youzhou

鎮州牧有姑為尼。行腳回。欲開堂為人。牧令師勘過。師問曰。見說汝欲開堂為人。是否。尼曰。是。師曰。尼是五障之身。汝作麼生為人。尼曰。龍女八歲。南方無垢世界成等正覺又作麼生。師曰。龍女有十八變。你試一變看。尼曰。設使變得。也祇是箇野狐精。師便打。牧聞舉乃曰。和尚棒折那。僧問。德山棒。臨濟喝。未審那箇最親。師曰。已前在眾裡。老僧也曾商量來。僧便喝。師曰。卻是汝會。僧曰。錯。師便打。上堂。眾集。有僧出曰。擬問不問時如何。師曰。嗄。僧便喝。師曰。㘞。僧又喝。師拈拄杖。僧曰。瞎。師拋下拄杖。曰。今日失利。僧曰。草賊大敗。便歸眾。師以手向空點一點。曰。大眾。還有人辯得麼。若有辯得者。出來對眾道看。師良久。曰。頂門上眼。也鑒不破。便下座。寶壽和尚問。除卻中上二根人來時。師兄作麼生。師曰。汝適來舉早錯也。壽曰。師兄也不得無過。師曰。汝卻與我作師兄。壽側掌曰。這老賊。

The prefect of Zhenzhou had an aunt who was a nun. She returned from her wandering and wanted to open a hall to teach people. The prefect had the Master examine her. The Master asked, 'I hear you want to open a hall to teach people; is that so?' The nun said, 'Yes.' The Master said, 'A nun is a body of five hindrances. How will you teach people?' The nun said, 'The dragon girl, at eight years old, attained perfect enlightenment in the Stainless World in the South—how about that?' The Master said, 'The dragon girl had eighteen transformations. Try one transformation.' The nun said, 'Even if I could transform, it would still be just a wild fox spirit.' The Master struck her. When the prefect heard of it he said, 'The Reverend's stick is broken.' A monk asked, 'Deshan's stick, Linji's shout—which is closest?' The Master said, 'Formerly, among the assembly, this old monk discussed that too.' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'So you do understand.' The monk said, 'Wrong.' The Master struck him. He ascended the hall. The assembly gathered. A monk came forward and said, 'What of one who intends to ask but does not ask?' The Master said, 'Aha.' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'Huo.' The monk shouted again. The Master picked up his staff. The monk said, 'Blind.' The Master threw down the staff and said, 'Today I have lost.' The monk said, 'The straw bandit is badly beaten.' And he returned to the assembly. The Master pointed his hand at the sky and said, 'Assembly, is there anyone who can discern this? If there is one who can discern it, come forward and speak before the assembly.' After a long while the Master said, 'The eye on the crown of the head cannot see through it either.' And he left the seat. The Venerable Baoshou asked, 'Setting aside those of middle and superior faculties, what of you, senior brother?' The Master said, 'What you just brought up was already wrong.' Baoshou said, 'You, senior brother, cannot be without fault either.' The Master said, 'Then you be my senior brother.' Baoshou turned his palm sideways and said, 'This old thief.'

襄州歷村和尚

The Venerable of Licun, Xiangzhou

僧問。如何是觀其音聲而得解脫。師將火筯敲柴曰。汝還聞麼。曰。聞。師曰。誰不解脫。師煎茶次。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師舉起茶匙。僧曰。莫祇這便當否。師擲向火中。

A monk asked, 'What is it to contemplate the sound and thereby gain liberation?' The Master tapped fire-tongs against firewood and said, 'Do you hear it?' The monk said, 'I hear it.' The Master said, 'Who is not liberated?' While the Master was boiling tea, a monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master raised his tea spoon. The monk said, 'Is it just this, then?' The Master threw it into the fire.

滄州米倉和尚

The Venerable of the Rice Granary, Cangzhou

州牧請師與寶壽入廳供養。令人傳語。請二長老譚論佛法。壽曰。請師兄答話。師便喝。壽曰。某甲話也未問。喝作麼。師曰。猶嫌少在。壽卻與一喝。

The prefect invited the Master and Baoshou into the hall to make offerings. He had someone convey the message: please, the two elders, discuss the Buddha dharma. Baoshou said, 'Please, senior brother, answer.' The Master shouted. Baoshou said, 'I have not even asked a question—why shout?' The Master said, 'Still think it too little, do you?' Baoshou gave a shout in return.

新羅國智異山和尚

The Venerable of Mount Jiri, Silla

一日示眾曰。冬不寒。臘後看。便下座。

One day he addressed the assembly: 'Winter is not cold; wait until after the twelfth month.' And he left the seat.

常州善權山徹禪師

Chan Master Che of Mount Shanquan, Changzhou

僧問。祖意．教意。是同是別。師曰。冬寒夏熱。曰。此意如何。師曰。炎天宜散袒。冬後更深藏。

A monk asked, 'The Patriarch's meaning and the teaching's meaning—are they the same or different?' The Master said, 'Winter cold, summer hot.' The monk said, 'What does that mean?' The Master said, 'In scorching weather it suits one to throw open the robe; after winter comes, one hides more deeply.'

金沙和尚

The Venerable of Jinsha

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。聽。曰。恁麼則大眾側聆。師曰。十萬八千。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Listen.' The monk said, 'Then the assembly cocks its ear.' The Master said, 'A hundred and eight thousand.'

齊聳禪師

Chan Master Qisong

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。老僧並不知。曰。和尚是大善知識。為甚麼不知。師曰。老僧不曾接下機。問。如何是道。師曰。往來無障礙。復曰。忽遇大海。作麼生過。僧擬議。師便打。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'This old monk does not know at all.' The monk said, 'The Reverend is a great good friend—why do you not know?' The Master said, 'This old monk has never met a capable student.' A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'Coming and going without obstruction.' He also said, 'If you suddenly meet a great ocean, how will you cross it?' The monk started to deliberate, and the Master struck him.

雲山和尚

The Venerable of Yunshan

有僧從西京來。師問。還將得西京主人書來否。曰。不敢妄通消息。師曰。作家師僧。天然有在。曰。殘羹餿飯誰吃。師曰。獨有闍黎不甘吃。其僧乃作吐勢。師喚侍者曰。扶出這病僧著。僧便出去。師見僧來。便作起勢。僧便出去。師曰。得恁麼靈利。僧便喝曰。作這箇眼目。承嗣臨濟。也太屈哉。師曰。且望闍黎善傳。僧回首。師喝曰。作這箇眼目。錯判諸方名言。隨後便打。

A monk came from the Western Capital. The Master asked, 'Did you bring a letter from the master of the Western Capital?' The monk said, 'I would not presume to pass on news falsely.' The Master said, 'An expert master monk, naturally he has it.' The monk said, 'Who eats leftover soup and stale rice?' The Master said, 'Only you, Acarya, are unwilling to eat it.' The monk then made as if to vomit. The Master called an attendant and said, 'Help this sick monk out.' The monk went out. When the Master saw a monk coming, he made as if to rise. The monk went out. The Master said, 'How nimble.' The monk shouted and said, 'With eyes like that, to inherit from Linji is a great injustice.' The Master said, 'I hope the Acarya will pass it on well.' The monk turned his head. The Master shouted and said, 'With eyes like that, you misjudge the words of every quarter.' And then he struck him.

虎谿庵主

The Master of Huxi Hermitage

僧問。庵主在這裡多少年也。師曰。祗見冬凋夏長。年代總不記得。曰。大好不記得。師曰。汝道我在這裡得多少年也。曰。冬凋夏長。聻。師曰。閙市裡虎。僧到相看。師不顧。僧曰。知道庵主有此機鋒。師鳴指一下。僧曰。是何宗旨。師便打。僧曰。知道今日落人便宜。師曰。猶要棒吃在。有僧才入門。師便喝。僧默然。師便打。僧卻喝。師曰。好箇草賊。有僧到。近前曰。不審庵主。師曰。阿誰。僧便喝。師曰。得恁麼無賓主。曰。猶要第二喝在。師便喝。有僧問。和尚何處人事。師曰。隴西人。曰。承聞隴西出鸚鵡。是否。師曰。是。曰。和尚莫不是否。師便作鸚鵡聲。僧曰。好箇鸚鵡。師便打。

A monk asked, 'How many years has the Hermitage Master been here?' The Master said, 'I only see winter wither and summer grow; I never remember the years at all.' The monk said, 'Very good that you do not remember.' The Master said, 'How many years do you say I have been here?' The monk said, 'Winter withers and summer grows—well?' The Master said, 'A tiger in the busy marketplace.' A monk came to look him over, and the Master paid him no heed. The monk said, 'I know the Hermitage Master has this sharpness.' The Master snapped his fingers once. The monk said, 'What is the principle?' The Master struck him. The monk said, 'I know that today I have come out the loser.' The Master said, 'You still want a blow, do you?' A monk had just entered the gate when the Master shouted. The monk was silent. The Master struck him. The monk then shouted. The Master said, 'What a fine straw bandit.' A monk came and, drawing near, said, 'Greetings, Hermitage Master.' The Master said, 'Who is it?' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'So you have no host or guest.' The monk said, 'You still want a second shout, do you?' The Master shouted. A monk asked, 'Where is the Reverend from?' The Master said, 'A man of Longxi.' The monk said, 'I hear Longxi produces parrots; is that so?' The Master said, 'Yes.' The monk said, 'Is the Reverend perhaps one of them?' The Master then made a parrot's cry. The monk said, 'What a fine parrot.' The Master struck him.

覆盆菴主

The Master of Fupen Hermitage

問僧。甚處來。僧曰。覆盆山下來。師曰。還見菴主麼。僧便喝。師便打。僧曰。作甚麼。師住棒。僧擬議。師又打。一日。有僧從山下哭上。師閉卻門。僧於門上畫一圓相。門外立地。師從菴後出。卻從山下哭上。僧喝曰。猶作這箇去就在。師便換手搥胸曰。可惜先師一場埋沒。僧曰。苦。苦。師曰。菴主被謾。

He asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'From below Mount Fupen.' The Master said, 'Did you see the Hermitage Master?' The monk shouted. The Master struck him. The monk said, 'What are you doing?' The Master held back his stick. The monk started to deliberate, and the Master struck him again. One day a monk came weeping up from below the mountain. The Master shut the door. The monk drew a circle on the door and stood outside. The Master came out from behind the hermitage and went weeping up from below the mountain. The monk shouted and said, 'Still playing at this go-and-stay, are you?' The Master then changed hands and beat his chest, saying, 'A pity that my late teacher's whole life was buried.' The monk said, 'Misery, misery.' The Master said, 'The Hermitage Master has been fooled.'

桐峰菴主

The Master of Tongfeng Hermitage

僧問。和尚這裡忽遇大蟲。作麼生。師便作大蟲吼。僧作怖勢。師大笑。僧曰。這老賊。師曰。爭奈老僧何。有僧到菴前便去。師召闍黎。僧回首便喝。師良久。僧曰。死卻這老漢。師便打。僧無語。師呵呵大笑。有僧入菴便把住師。師呌。殺人。殺人。僧拓開曰。呌喚作甚麼。師曰。誰。僧便喝。師便打。僧出外回首曰。且待。且待。師大笑。有老人入山參。師曰。住在甚處。老人不語。師曰。善能對機。老人地上拈一枝草示師。師便喝。老人禮拜。便歸菴。老人曰。與麼疑殺一切人在。

A monk asked, 'If the Reverend here suddenly meets a tiger, what then?' The Master made a tiger's roar. The monk made as if terrified. The Master laughed aloud. The monk said, 'This old thief.' The Master said, 'What can you do to this old monk?' A monk came to the front of the hermitage and then left. The Master called, 'Acarya!' The monk turned his head and shouted. The Master was silent a long while. The monk said, 'This old fellow is dead.' The Master struck him. The monk said nothing. The Master laughed heartily. A monk entered the hermitage and at once grabbed hold of the Master. The Master cried, 'Murder, murder!' The monk pushed him away and said, 'What are you yelling for?' The Master said, 'Who is it?' The monk shouted. The Master struck him. The monk went outside, turned his head, and said, 'Wait a bit, wait a bit.' The Master laughed aloud. An old man came into the mountain to call. The Master said, 'Where do you live?' The old man said nothing. The Master said, 'Good at responding to the moment.' The old man picked up a blade of grass from the ground and showed it to the Master. The Master shouted. The old man bowed and went back to his hermitage. The old man said, 'This will kill everyone with doubt.'

杉洋菴主

The Master of Shanyang Hermitage

有僧到參。師問。阿誰。曰。杉洋菴主。師曰。是我。僧便喝。師作噓聲。僧曰。猶要棒吃在。師便打。僧問。菴主得甚麼道理。便住此山。師曰。也欲通箇來由。又恐遭人點檢。僧曰。又爭免得。師便喝。僧曰。恰是。師便打。僧大笑而出。師曰。今日大敗。

A monk came to call. The Master asked, 'Who is it?' The monk said, 'The Master of Shanyang Hermitage.' The Master said, 'That is me.' The monk shouted. The Master made a shushing sound. The monk said, 'You still want a blow, do you?' The Master struck him. The monk asked, 'What principle did the Hermitage Master attain, that he dwells on this mountain?' The Master said, 'I too would like to give a reason, but I fear being picked over by others.' The monk said, 'How can you avoid it?' The Master shouted. The monk said, 'Exactly so.' The Master struck him. The monk laughed aloud and went out. The Master said, 'Today I am badly beaten.'

定上座

Upadhyaya Ding

初參臨濟。問。如何是佛法大意。濟下禪床擒住。師擬議。濟與一掌。師佇思。傍僧曰。定上座何不禮拜。師方作禮。忽然大悟。後南遊。路逢巖頭．雪峰．欽山三人。巖頭問。上座甚處來。師曰。臨濟來。巖曰。和尚萬福。師曰。和尚已順世也。巖曰。某甲三人特去禮拜。薄福不遇。不知和尚在日有何言句。請上座舉一兩則。師遂舉臨濟上堂曰。赤肉團上。有一無位真人。常在汝等諸人面門出入。未證據者看看。時有僧問。如何是無位真人。濟下禪床搊住曰。道。道。僧擬議。濟拓開曰。無位真人是甚麼乾屎橛。巖頭不覺吐舌。雪峰曰。臨濟大似白拈賊。欽山曰。何不道赤肉團上非無位真人。師便擒住曰。無位真人與非無位真人。相去多少。速道。速道。欽山被擒。直得面黃面青。語之不得。巖頭．雪峰曰。這新戒不識好惡。觸忤上座。且望慈悲。師曰。若不是這兩箇老漢。𡎺殺這尿床鬼子。師在鎮府齋。回到橋上坐次。逢三人座主。一人問。如何是禪河深處。須窮到底。師擒住。擬拋向橋下。二座主近前諫曰。莫怪觸忤上座。且望慈悲。師曰。若不是這兩箇座主。直教他窮到底。

At first he called on Linji and asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha dharma?' Linji got down from the meditation platform and seized him. The Master started to deliberate. Linji gave him a slap. The Master stood pondering. A monk nearby said, 'Upadhyaya Ding, why do you not bow?' The Master was just bowing when he suddenly had a great awakening. Later he traveled south and on the road met three men: Yantou, Xuefeng, and Qinshan. Yantou asked, 'Where has the Upadhyaya come from?' The Master said, 'From Linji.' Yantou said, 'Ten thousand blessings on the Reverend.' The Master said, 'The Reverend has already passed from the world.' Yantou said, 'We three came especially to pay our respects, but our slender merit did not meet him. We do not know what words he spoke in his day; please, Upadhyaya, bring up one or two of them.' The Master then brought up how Linji ascended the hall and said, 'On the lump of red flesh there is a true person of no rank, who constantly goes in and out at the face-gate of all you people. Those who have not yet verified it, look!' At that time a monk asked, 'What is the true person of no rank?' Linji got down from the platform and grabbed him, saying, 'Speak, speak!' The monk started to deliberate. Linji pushed him away and said, 'The true person of no rank—what is he but a dried shit-stick?' Yantou could not help putting out his tongue. Xuefeng said, 'Linji is very much like a white-handed thief.' Qinshan said, 'Why did he not say, on the lump of red flesh there is no true person of no rank?' The Master then grabbed him and said, 'The true person of no rank and no true person of no rank—how far apart are they? Speak quickly, speak quickly!' Qinshan, being held, turned yellow and blue in the face and could not get a word out. Yantou and Xuefeng said, 'This newly ordained one does not know good from bad and has offended the Upadhyaya. We beg your compassion.' The Master said, 'Were it not for these two old fellows, I would have smashed this bed-wetting devil to death.' When the Master was at a feast in the prefectural town, he was sitting on the bridge on his way back when he met three masters of the lecture seat. One of them said, 'What is the deep place of the Chan river, that one must fathom it to the bottom?' The Master grabbed him and made as if to throw him off the bridge. The other two masters came forward to remonstrate: 'Do not take offense at the Upadhyaya. We beg your compassion.' The Master said, 'Were it not for these two masters, I would have made him fathom it to the bottom.'

奯上座

Upadhyaya Huo

離臨濟參德山。山才見。下禪床作抽坐具勢。師曰。這箇且置。或遇心境一如底人來。向伊道箇甚麼。免被諸方檢責。山曰。猶較昔日三步在。別作箇主人公來。師便喝。山默然。師曰。塞卻這老漢咽喉也。拂袖便出(溈山聞舉雲。奯上座雖得便宜。爭奈掩耳偷鈴)。又參百丈。茶罷。丈曰。有事相借問得麼。師曰。幸自非言。何須甌茶。丈曰。與麼則許借問。丈曰。收得安南。又憂塞北。師擘開胷曰。與麼不與麼。丈曰。要且難搆。要且難搆。師曰。知即得。知即得(仰山雲。若有人知得此二人落處。不妨奇特。若辨不得。大似日中迷路)。

He left Linji and called on Deshan. Deshan had barely seen him when he got down from the meditation platform and made as if to draw out his sitting cloth. The Master said, 'Set that aside for now. If someone comes whose mind and surroundings are one, what will you say to him, so as not to be censured by every quarter?' Deshan said, 'You are still three steps behind the old days. Come out as a different master.' The Master shouted. Deshan was silent. The Master said, 'I have sealed up this old fellow's throat.' And he shook out his sleeve and left. (When Weishan heard of it he said, 'Though Upadhyaya Huo got the better of it, what can he do about covering his ears while stealing the bell?') Again he called on Baizhang. After tea, Baizhang said, 'There is a matter I would like to ask about; may I?' The Master said, 'Happily it is beyond words—why need a bowl of tea?' Baizhang said, 'If so, then I am permitted to ask.' Baizhang said, 'You have taken Annan, and now you worry about the north of the passes.' The Master opened his chest and said, 'Like this, not like this.' Baizhang said, 'Still it is hard to grasp, still it is hard to grasp.' The Master said, 'To know is to get it; to know is to get it.' (Yangshan said, 'If someone does not know where these two men stand, he is quite extraordinary. If one cannot tell, he is very much like a man who loses his way in broad daylight.')

南嶽下六世

Sixth Generation below South Mountain

興化獎禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xinghua Jiang

汝州南院慧顒禪師(亦曰寶應)

Chan Master Huiyong of Nanyuan, Ruzhou (also called Baoying)

上堂。赤肉團上。壁立千仞。僧問。赤肉團上。壁立千仞。豈不是和尚道。師曰。是。僧便掀倒禪床。師曰。這瞎驢亂作。僧擬議。師便打。問。僧近離甚處。曰。長水。師曰。東流西流。曰。總不恁麼。師曰。作麼生。僧珍重。師便打。僧參。師舉拂子。僧曰。今日敗缺。師放下拂子。僧曰。猶有這箇在。師便打。問僧。近離甚處。曰。襄州。師曰。來作甚麼。曰。特來禮拜和尚。師曰。恰遇寶應老不在。僧便喝。師曰。向汝道不在。又喝作甚麼。僧又喝。師便打。僧禮拜。師曰。這棒本是汝打我。我且打汝。要此話大行。瞎漢參堂去。思明和尚未住西院時。到參禮拜了。曰。無可人事。從許州來。收得江西剃刀一柄。獻和尚。師曰。汝從許州來。為甚卻收得江西剃刀。明把師手掐一掐。師曰。侍者收取。明以衣袖拂一拂便行。師曰。阿剌剌。阿剌剌。上堂。諸方祇具啐啄同時眼。不具啐啄同時用。僧便問。如何是啐啄同時用。師曰。作家不啐啄。啐啄同時失。曰。此猶未是某甲問處。師曰。汝問處作麼生。僧曰。失。師便打。其僧不肯。後於雲門會下。聞二僧舉此話。一僧曰。當時南院棒折那。其僧忽契悟。遂奔回省覲。師已圓寂。乃謁風穴。穴一見便問。上座莫是當時問先師啐啄同時話底麼。僧曰。是。師曰。汝當時作麼生會。曰。某甲當時如在燈影裡行相似。穴曰。汝會也。問。古殿重興時如何。師曰。明堂瓦插簷。曰。與麼則莊嚴畢備也。師曰。斬草蛇頭落。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。無量大病源。曰。請師醫。師曰。世醫拱手。問。匹馬單槍來時如何。師曰。且待我斫棒。問。如何是無相涅槃。師曰。前三點。後三點。曰。無相涅槃。請師證照。師曰。三點前。三點後。問。凡聖同居時如何。師曰。兩箇貓兒一箇獰。問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。八花九裂。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。頭不梳。

Ascending the hall: 'On the lump of red flesh, a wall stands a thousand fathoms.' A monk asked, 'On the lump of red flesh, a wall stands a thousand fathoms—is this not what the Reverend said?' The Master said, 'Yes.' The monk then overturned the meditation platform. The Master said, 'This blind donkey is making wild trouble.' The monk started to deliberate, and the Master struck him. He asked a monk where he had recently come from. The monk said, 'Long Water.' The Master said, 'Flowing east, flowing west.' The monk said, 'In any case, not like that.' The Master said, 'How then?' The monk said, 'Take care,' and left. The Master struck him. A monk came to call. The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'Today you have lost a point.' The Master put down the whisk. The monk said, 'Still this thing remains.' The Master struck him. He asked a monk, 'Where have you recently come from?' The monk said, 'Xiangzhou.' The Master said, 'What have you come to do?' The monk said, 'Especially to bow to the Reverend.' The Master said, 'It happens that old Baoying is not in.' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'I told you he is not in—what are you shouting for?' The monk shouted again. The Master struck him. The monk bowed. The Master said, 'This blow should really be you striking me, but for now I strike you. I want these words to spread widely. Blind fellow, go into the hall.' When the Reverend Siming had not yet taken up residence at the Western Court, he came to call and, after bowing, said, 'I have no greeting to offer. Coming from Xuzhou, I obtained a Jiangxi razor and present it to the Reverend.' The Master said, 'You came from Xuzhou—why did you obtain a Jiangxi razor?' Siming pinched the Master's hand once. The Master said, 'Attendant, take it away.' Siming brushed it off with his sleeve and left. The Master said, 'Alala, alala.' Ascending the hall: 'Every quarter has only the eye for the simultaneous peck and tap; it does not have the function of the simultaneous peck and tap.' A monk then asked, 'What is the function of the simultaneous peck and tap?' The Master said, 'An expert does not peck and tap; pecking and tapping at once is to miss it.' The monk said, 'This is still not where I am asking.' The Master said, 'Where are you asking?' The monk said, 'Miss.' The Master struck him. That monk was not convinced. Later, in Yunmen's assembly, he heard two monks bring up these words. One monk said, 'At that time Nanyuan's stick broke.' That monk suddenly awakened and rushed back to pay his respects. The Master had already passed away, so he called on Fengxue. As soon as Fengxue saw him he asked, 'Are you not the one who back then asked my late teacher about the simultaneous peck and tap?' The monk said, 'I am.' Fengxue said, 'How did you understand it then?' The monk said, 'At that time I was like a man walking in a lamp's shadow.' Fengxue said, 'You have understood.' A monk asked, 'When the ancient hall is rebuilt, what then?' The Master said, 'The bright hall's tiles stick out past the eaves.' The monk said, 'Then the adornments are complete.' The Master said, 'Cut the grass and the snake's head falls off.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha dharma?' The Master said, 'The source of immeasurable great illness.' The monk said, 'Please, Reverend, cure it.' The Master said, 'The world's physicians fold their hands.' A monk asked, 'What of one who comes alone on a single horse with a single spear?' The Master said, 'Wait until I cut my stick.' A monk asked, 'What is signless nirvana?' The Master said, 'Three dots in front, three dots behind.' The monk said, 'Signless nirvana—please, Reverend, certify and illumine it.' The Master said, 'Three dots before, three dots after.' A monk asked, 'When ordinary and sage dwell together, what then?' The Master said, 'Two cats, one fierce.' A monk asked, 'What is the seamless stupa?' The Master said, 'Eight flowers, nine cracks.' The monk said, 'Who is the person in the stupa?' The Master said, 'His hair is uncombed,'

面不洗。問。如何是佛。師曰。待有即向你道。曰。與麼則和尚無佛也。師曰。正當好處。曰。如何是好處。師曰。今日是三十日。問園頭。瓠子開花也未。曰。開花已久。師曰。還著子也無。曰。昨日遭霜了也。師曰。大眾吃箇甚麼。僧擬議。師便打。問僧。名甚麼。曰。普參。師曰。忽遇屎橛作麼生。僧便不審。僧便打。問。人逢碧眼時如何。師曰。鬼爭漆桶。問。龍躍江湖時如何。師曰。瞥嗔瞥喜。曰。傾湫倒嶽時如何。師曰。老鵶沒嘴。問。萬裡無雲時如何。師曰。餓虎投崖。問。二王相見時如何。師曰。十字路頭吹尺八。問。如何是薝蔔林。師曰。鬼厭箭。問。如何是金剛不壞身。師曰。老僧在汝腳底。僧便喝。師曰。未在。僧又喝。師便打。問。上上根器人來。師還接也無。師曰。接。曰。便請和尚接。師曰。且喜共你平交。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。王尚書．李僕射。曰。意旨如何。牛頭南。馬頭北。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。五男二女。問。擬伸一問。師意如何。師曰。是何公案。僧曰。喏。師曰。放汝三十棒。問。如何是寶應主。師曰。杓大盌小。問僧。近離甚處。曰。龍興。曰。發足莫過葉縣也無。僧便喝。師曰。好好問你。又惡發作麼。曰。喚作惡發即不得。師卻喝。曰。你既惡發。我也惡發。近前來。我也沒量罪過。你也沒量罪過。瞎漢參堂去。問僧。近離甚處。曰。襄州。師曰。是甚麼物恁麼來。曰。和尚試道看。師曰。適來禮拜底。曰。錯。師曰。禮拜底錯箇甚麼。曰。再犯不容。師曰。三十年弄馬騎。今日被驢撲。瞎漢參堂去。問。從上諸聖。向甚麼處去。師曰。不上天堂。則入地獄。曰。和尚又作麼生。師曰。還知寶應老漢落處麼。僧擬議。師打一拂。曰。你還知吃拂子底麼。曰。不會。師曰。正令卻是你行。又打一拂子。

(The Master continued:) 'and his face is unwashed.' A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'When there is one, I will tell you.' The monk said, 'Then the Reverend has no Buddha.' The Master said, 'Just at the good point.' The monk said, 'What is the good point?' The Master said, 'Today is the thirtieth day.' He asked the garden head, 'Have the gourds blossomed yet?' The garden head said, 'They blossomed long ago.' The Master said, 'Have they set fruit?' The garden head said, 'Frost got them yesterday.' The Master said, 'What will the assembly eat?' The monk started to deliberate, and the Master struck him. He asked a monk, 'What is your name?' The monk said, 'Pushen.' The Master said, 'If you suddenly met a shit-stick, what then?' The monk then greeted him. The monk then struck him. A monk asked, 'When a man meets blue eyes, what then?' The Master said, 'Ghosts fight over a lacquer bucket.' A monk asked, 'When the dragon leaps in rivers and lakes, what then?' The Master said, 'A flash of anger, a flash of joy.' The monk said, 'When it pours out the pool and overturns the mountain, what then?' The Master said, 'The old crow has no beak.' A monk asked, 'When not a cloud in ten thousand miles, what then?' The Master said, 'A hungry tiger throws itself off the cliff.' A monk asked, 'When two kings meet, what then?' The Master said, 'At the crossroads, blowing a shakuhachi.' A monk asked, 'What is the campaka grove?' The Master said, 'Ghosts weary of arrows.' A monk asked, 'What is the diamond indestructible body?' The Master said, 'This old monk is under your feet.' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'Not yet.' The monk shouted again. The Master struck him. A monk asked, 'When a person of the highest faculties comes, does the Reverend still receive him?' The Master said, 'I receive him.' The monk said, 'Then please, Reverend, receive me.' The Master said, 'I am glad to be on equal terms with you.' A monk asked, 'The Patriarch's meaning and the teaching's meaning—are they the same or different?' The Master said, 'Minister Wang, Vice-Director Li.' The monk said, 'What is the purport?' The Master said, 'Ox-head south, horse-head north.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Five sons, two daughters.' A monk asked, 'I intend to put forward one question—what does the Reverend think?' The Master said, 'What case is it?' The monk said, 'Yes.' The Master said, 'I let you off thirty blows.' A monk asked, 'What is the master of Baoying?' The Master said, 'Big ladle, small bowl.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you recently come from?' The monk said, 'Longxing.' The Master said, 'Did you set out by way of Yexian or not?' The monk shouted. The Master said, 'I ask you nicely, and you fly into a rage—why?' The monk said, 'You cannot call it flying into a rage.' The Master shouted in turn and said, 'Since you fly into a rage, I also fly into a rage. Come here. I have committed an immeasurable offense and you have committed an immeasurable offense. Blind fellow, go into the hall.' He asked a monk, 'Where have you recently come from?' The monk said, 'Xiangzhou.' The Master said, 'What sort of thing comes like this?' The monk said, 'Reverend, try and say.' The Master said, 'The one who just now bowed.' The monk said, 'Wrong.' The Master said, 'What is wrong with the one who bowed?' The monk said, 'A second offense will not be forgiven.' The Master said, 'Thirty years of riding horses, and today a donkey knocks me over. Blind fellow, go into the hall.' A monk asked, 'Where have all the sages gone?' The Master said, 'If not to heaven, then into hell.' The monk said, 'And what about the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Do you know where old Baoying has gone?' The monk started to deliberate, and the Master gave a whisk-blow and said, 'Do you know the one who takes the whisk-blow?' The monk said, 'I do not understand.' The Master said, 'The true command is yours to carry out.' And he gave another whisk-blow.

守廓侍者

The Attendant Shoukuo

問德山曰。從上諸聖。向甚麼處去。山曰。作麼。作麼。師曰。勑點飛龍馬。跛鼈出頭來。山便休去。來日浴出。師過茶與山。山於背上拊一下曰。昨日公案作麼生。師曰。這老漢今日方始瞥地。山又休去。師行腳到襄州華嚴和尚會下。一日。嚴上堂。曰。大眾。今日若是臨濟．德山．高亭．大愚．鳥窠．船子兒孫。不用如何若何。便請單刀直入。華嚴與汝證據。師出。禮拜起。便喝。嚴亦喝。師又喝。嚴亦喝。師禮拜起。曰。大眾。看這老漢一場敗缺。又喝一喝。拍手歸眾。嚴下座歸方丈。時風穴作維那。上去問訊。嚴曰。維那。汝來也。叵耐守廓適來把老僧扭揑一上。待集眾打一頓趂出。穴曰。趂他遲了也。自是和尚言過。他是臨濟下兒孫。本分恁麼。嚴方息怒。穴下來舉似師。師曰。你著甚來由勸這漢。我未問前。早要棒吃。得我話行。如今不打。搭卻我這話也。穴曰。雖然如是。已遍天下也。

He asked Deshan, 'Where have all the sages gone?' Deshan said, 'What, what?' The Master said, 'A flying dragon horse is commanded; the lame turtle sticks out its head.' Deshan then dropped the matter. The next day, coming out from bathing, he passed tea to Deshan. Deshan clapped him on the back and said, 'How about yesterday's public case?' The Master said, 'This old fellow has only today caught a glimpse.' Deshan again dropped the matter. The Master wandered to Xiangzhou and arrived at the assembly of the Reverend Huayan. One day Huayan ascended the hall and said, 'Assembly, today if there are descendants of Linji, Deshan, Gaoting, Dayu, Niaoke, or Chuanzi, no need for hows and whats—just come single-bladed and straight in. Huayan will certify you.' The Master came forward, bowed, rose, and shouted. Huayan also shouted. The Master shouted again. Huayan also shouted. The Master bowed, rose, and said, 'Assembly, look at this old fellow's total defeat.' He shouted once more, clapped his hands, and returned to the assembly. Huayan left the seat and returned to the abbot's quarters. At that time Fengxue was the Vinaya Master, and he went up to greet him. Huayan said, 'Vinaya Master, you have come. I cannot bear that Shoukuo just now twisted this old monk about. Wait till I gather the assembly and give him a beating and drive him out.' Fengxue said, 'Driving him out is too late. It was the Reverend's own words that went too far. He is a descendant of Linji; that is just how they are.' Huayan then calmed down. Fengxue came down and reported this to the Master. The Master said, 'What reason did you have to talk that fellow around? Before I asked, I was already due for a blow. If my words had stood, that would have been it. Now that he has not struck, my words are hung up.' Fengxue said, 'Even so, they have already spread through the world.'

寶壽沼禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baoshou Zhao

汝州西院思明禪師

Chan Master Siming of the Western Court, Ruzhou

僧問。如何是伽藍。師曰。荊棘叢林。曰。如何是伽藍中人。師曰。貛兒貉子。問。如何是不變易底物。師曰。打帛石。問。如何是臨濟一喝。師曰。千鈞之弩。不為鼷鼠而發機。曰。和尚慈悲何在。師便打。從漪上座到法席。旬日。常自曰。莫道會佛法人。覓箇舉話底人也無。師聞而默之。漪異日上法堂次。師召從漪。漪舉首。師曰。錯。漪進三兩步。師又曰。錯。漪近前。師曰。適來兩錯。是上座錯。是思明老漢錯。曰。是從漪錯。師曰。錯。錯。乃曰。上座且在這裡過夏。共汝商量這兩錯。漪不肯。便去。後住相州天平山。每舉前話曰。我行腳時被惡風吹到汝州。有西院長老勘我。連下兩錯。更留我過夏。待共我商量。我不道恁麼時錯。我發足向南方去時。早知錯了也(首山念雲。據天平作恁麼解會。未夢見西院在。何故。話在)。

A monk asked, 'What is the monastery?' The Master said, 'Thorns and thickets.' The monk said, 'What is the person in the monastery?' The Master said, 'A badger and a raccoon dog.' A monk asked, 'What is the unchanging thing?' The Master said, 'The stone for beating cloth.' A monk asked, 'What is Linji's one shout?' The Master said, 'A crossbow of a thousand catties is not triggered for a field mouse.' The monk said, 'Where is the Reverend's compassion?' The Master struck him. The Upadhyaya Congyi arrived at the dharma seat; for ten days he would often say, 'Never mind people who understand the Buddha dharma—there is not even a person who can raise a case.' The Master heard and kept silent about it. On another day, when Congyi entered the dharma hall, the Master called him. Congyi raised his head. The Master said, 'Wrong.' Congyi took three or four steps forward. The Master said again, 'Wrong.' Congyi came closer. The Master said, 'Those two wrongs just now—was the Upadhyaya wrong or is old Siming wrong?' Congyi said, 'It is Congyi who is wrong.' The Master said, 'Wrong, wrong.' Then he said, 'Upadhyaya, stay here for the summer and I will discuss these two wrongs with you.' Congyi was unwilling and left. Later he took up residence at Mount Tianping in Xiangzhou. Whenever he brought up the earlier words he said, 'When I was wandering, an evil wind blew me to Ruzhou, where the elder of the Western Court examined me and laid down two wrongs in a row. He even wanted me to stay for the summer so he could discuss them with me. I did not say I was wrong then. When I set out southward, I already knew I was wrong.' (Shoushan Nian said, 'Judging by how Tianping understood it, he had not even dreamed of the Western Court. Why? The words are there.')

寶壽和尚(第二世)

The Venerable Baoshou (Second Generation)

在先寶壽為供養主。壽問。父母未生前。還我本來面目來。師立至夜深。下語不契。翌日辭去。壽曰。汝何往。師曰。昨日蒙和尚設問。某甲不契。往南方參知識去。壽曰。南方禁夏不禁冬。我此間禁冬不禁夏。汝且作街坊過夏。若是佛法。闤闠之中。浩浩紅塵。常說正法。師不敢違。一日。街頭見兩人交爭。揮一拳曰。你得恁麼無面目。師當下大悟。走見寶壽。未及出語。壽便曰。汝會也。不用說。師便禮拜。壽臨遷化時。囑三聖請師開堂。師開堂日。三聖推出一僧。師便打。聖曰。與麼為人。非但瞎卻這僧眼。瞎卻鎮州一城人眼去在(法眼雲。甚麼處是瞎卻人眼處)。師擲下拄杖。便歸方丈。僧問。不占閫域。請師不謗。師曰。莫。問。種種莊嚴．慇懃奉獻時如何。師曰。莫汙我心田。師將順寂。謂門人曰。汝還知吾行履處否。曰。知和尚長坐不臥。師又召僧近前來。僧近前。師曰。去。非吾眷屬。言訖而化。

He had first served as offering master under the former Baoshou. Baoshou asked him: 'Before your parents were born, return to me your original face.' The master stood until deep into the night, but his words did not match. The next day he took his leave. Baoshou said: 'Where are you going?' The master said: 'Yesterday I received the Master's question and did not match it. I am going south to consult good friends.' Baoshou said: 'The south forbids summer but not winter. Here we forbid winter but not summer. You may spend the summer as a townsman. If it is the buddhadharma, then in the marketplace, amid the vast red dust, it ever preaches the true dharma.' The master did not dare to disobey. One day in the street he saw two men quarreling. One swung a fist and said: 'So you have got this facelessness.' At that moment the master was greatly awakened. He ran to see Baoshou. Before he could say a word, Baoshou said: 'You have understood. No need to speak.' The master then bowed. When Baoshou was about to pass away, he instructed Sansheng to invite the master to open the hall. On the day the master opened the hall, Sansheng pushed out a monk. The master at once struck him. Sansheng said: 'Acting for others like this, you not only blind this monk's eye, you blind the eyes of the whole city of Zhenzhou.' (Fayan said: 'Where is the place of blinding people's eyes?') The master threw down his staff and returned to his quarters. A monk asked: 'Not occupying the threshold, pray, Master, do not slander.' The master said: 'Do not.' The monk asked: 'What of when one offers all kinds of adornment and diligent offerings?' The master said: 'Do not defile my mind-field.' When the master was about to pass away, he said to his disciples: 'Do you know the place where I walk?' The disciples said: 'We know the Master sits long and does not lie down.' The master then called a monk to come closer. The monk came closer. The master said: 'Go. You are not my kin.' Having spoken, he passed away.

三聖然禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Sansheng Ran

鎮州大悲和尚

The Elder Dabei of Zhenzhou

僧問。除上去下。請師別道。師曰。開口即錯。曰。真是學人師也。師曰。今日向弟子手裡死。問。如何是和尚密作用。師拈棒。僧轉身受棒。師拋下棒曰。不打這死漢。問。如何是諦實之言。師曰。舌拄上顎。曰。為甚麼如此。師便打。問。如何是大悲境。師曰。千眼都來一隻收。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。手忙腳亂。問。不著聖凡。請師答話。師曰。好。僧擬議。師便喝。

A monk asked: 'Setting aside going up and putting down, please, Master, speak otherwise.' The master said: 'As soon as you open your mouth, you err.' The monk said: 'Truly you are this student's teacher.' The master said: 'Today I die at the hands of a disciple.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's hidden working?' The master picked up his staff. The monk turned and received the blow. The master threw down the staff and said: 'I will not strike this dead man.' The monk asked: 'What is a truthful word?' The master said: 'The tongue rests against the palate.' The monk said: 'Why is it so?' The master at once struck him. The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Great Compassion?' The master said: 'A thousand eyes all gathered into one.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Hands busy, feet in chaos.' The monk asked: 'Not fixated on holy or ordinary, pray, Master, answer.' The master said: 'Good.' The monk was about to deliberate, and the master shouted.

淄州水陸和尚

The Elder Shuilu of Zizhou

僧問。如何是學人用心處。師曰。用心即錯。曰。不起一念時如何。師曰。沒用處漢。問。此事如何保任。師曰。切忌。問。如何是最初一句。師便喝。僧禮拜。師以拂子點曰。且放。問。狹路相逢時如何。師便攔胸拓一拓。

A monk asked: 'Where should a student apply his mind?' The master said: 'To apply the mind is to err.' The monk said: 'What of when not a single thought arises?' The master said: 'A useless fellow.' The monk asked: 'How should this matter be preserved?' The master said: 'Above all, do not.' The monk asked: 'What is the very first phrase?' The master shouted. The monk bowed. The master pointed with his fly whisk and said: 'Let it go for now.' The monk asked: 'What of when one meets on a narrow road?' The master at once barred his chest and pushed him.

魏府大覺和尚法嗣

Dharma heirs of the Elder Dajue of Weifu

廬州大覺和尚

The Elder Dajue of Luzhou

僧問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼鳥獸銜華。師曰。有恁麼畜生無所知。曰。見後為甚麼不銜華。師曰。無恁麼畜生有所知。

A monk asked: 'Before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch, why did birds and beasts carry flowers to him?' The master said: 'Because such a beast knows nothing.' The monk said: 'Why did they not carry flowers after he met him?' The master said: 'Because such a beast knows something.'

廬州澄心院旻德禪師

Chan Master Chengxin Yuan Minde of Luzhou

在興化遇示眾曰。若是作家戰將。便請單刀直入。更莫如何若何。師出禮拜起便喝。化亦喝。師又喝。化亦喝。師禮拜歸眾。化曰。適來若是別人。三十棒一棒也較不得。何故。為他旻德會一喝不作一喝用。住後。僧問。如何是澄心。師曰。我不作這活計。曰。未審作麼生。師便喝。僧曰。大好不作這活計。師便打。問。如何是道。師曰。老僧久住澄心院。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。破衲長披經歲年。問。露地不通風時如何。師曰。漆。問。既是澄心。為甚麼出來入去。師曰。鼻孔上著灸。僧禮拜。師便打。

At Xinghua he encountered the address to the assembly: 'If you are a seasoned general, then please come straight in with a single blade; say no more of how and what.' The master came forward, bowed, rose and shouted. Xinghua also shouted. The master shouted again. Xinghua also shouted. The master bowed and returned to the assembly. Xinghua said: 'Just now, had it been anyone else, thirty blows would not count as even one. Why? Because Minde understands that one shout is not used as a shout.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'What is Chengxin?' The master said: 'I do not do such a living.' The monk said: 'I wonder how it is then?' The master at once shouted. The monk said: 'Very good that you do not do such a living.' The master at once struck him. The monk asked: 'What is the way?' The master said: 'This old monk has long dwelt at Chengxin Monastery.' The monk said: 'What is the person within the way?' The master said: 'Wearing a worn-out robe through the years.' The monk asked: 'What of when the open ground has no wind?' The master said: 'Lacquer.' The monk asked: 'Since it is Chengxin, Clear Mind, why do you go out and come in?' The master said: 'Moxa is applied on the nostrils.' The monk bowed. The master at once struck him.

荊南府竹園山和尚

The Elder of Zhuyuan Mountain, Jingnan Prefecture

僧問。久嚮和尚會禪。是否。師曰。是。僧曰。蒼天。蒼天。師近前。以手掩僧口。曰。低聲。低聲。僧打一掌。便拓開。師曰。山僧招得。僧拂袖出去。師笑曰。早知如是。悔不如是。問。既是竹園。還生筍也無。師曰。千株萬株。曰。恁麼則學人有分也。師曰。汝作麼生。僧擬議。師便打。

A monk asked: 'I have long heard that the Master understands Chan. Is it so?' The master said: 'Yes.' The monk said: 'O heavens, O heavens!' The master came close, covered the monk's mouth with his hand and said: 'Lower your voice, lower your voice.' The monk slapped him once and pushed him away. The master said: 'I asked for that.' The monk brushed his sleeves and went out. The master laughed and said: 'Had I known it would be so, I would regret it being so.' The monk asked: 'Since it is a bamboo garden, does it also grow shoots?' The master said: 'A thousand plants, ten thousand plants.' The monk said: 'Then this student has a share.' The master said: 'What will you do?' The monk was about to deliberate, and the master struck him.

宋州法華院和尚

The Elder of Fahua Monastery, Songzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。獨坐五峰前。問。如何是初生月。師曰。不高不低。曰。還許學人瞻敬也無。師曰。三日後看。問。如何是法華家風。師曰。寒時寒殺。熱時熱殺。曰。如何是寒時寒殺。師曰。三三兩兩抱頭行。曰。如何是熱時熱殺。師曰。東西南北見者嗤。問。學人手持白刃。直進化門時如何。師曰。你試用看。僧便喝。師擒住。僧隨手打一掌。師拓開曰。老僧今日失利。僧作舞而出。師曰。賊首頭犯。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Sitting alone before the five peaks.' The monk asked: 'What is the new moon?' The master said: 'Not high, not low.' The monk said: 'Will you still permit this student to look up in reverence?' The master said: 'Look three days from now.' The monk asked: 'What is the family style of Fahua?' The master said: 'When it is cold, freeze to death; when it is hot, swelter to death.' The monk said: 'What is it to freeze to death when cold?' The master said: 'In twos and threes, walking with heads in hands.' The monk said: 'What is it to swelter to death when hot?' The master said: 'East, west, south, north — those who see laugh.' The monk asked: 'This student holds a bare blade in his hand and advances straight into the gate of transformation; what then?' The master said: 'Just try it.' The monk shouted. The master grabbed him. The monk at once slapped him. The master pushed him away and said: 'This old monk has lost today.' The monk danced and went out. The master said: 'The chief of thieves has confessed.'

灌谿閑禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guanxi Xian

池州魯祖山教禪師

Chan Master Luzu Shan Jiao of Chizhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。今日不答話。曰。大好不答話。師便打。問。如何是雙林樹。師曰。有相身中無相身。曰。如何是有相身中無相身。師曰。金香爐下鐵崑崙。問。如何是孤峰獨宿底人。師曰。半夜日頭明。日午打三更。問。如何是格外事。師曰。化道緣終後。虗空更那邊。問。進向無門時如何。師曰。太鈍生。曰。不是鈍生。直下進向無門時如何。師曰。靈機未曾論邊際。執法無門在暗中。問。如何是學人著力處。師曰。春來草自青。月上已天明。曰。如何是不著力處。師曰。崩山石頭落。平川燒火行。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'Today I do not answer questions.' The monk said: 'Very good that you do not answer questions.' The master at once struck him. The monk asked: 'What is the twin-palm tree?' The master said: 'Within the body of marks, the body without marks.' The monk said: 'What is the body without marks within the body of marks?' The master said: 'An iron Kunlun beneath a golden censer.' The monk asked: 'What sort of person dwells alone on the solitary peak?' The master said: 'At midnight the sun is bright; at noon the third watch is struck.' The monk asked: 'What is the matter beyond the ordinary?' The master said: 'When the conditions of transforming the way are ended, the void is on the other side.' The monk asked: 'What of when one advances where there is no gate?' The master said: 'How very dull.' The monk said: 'It is not dullness. What of advancing straight where there is no gate?' The master said: 'The numinous working has never discussed boundaries; grasping the gateless dharma is in the dark.' The monk asked: 'Where should a student apply his strength?' The master said: 'When spring comes the grass turns green of itself; when the moon rises it is already light.' The monk said: 'What is the place where no strength is applied?' The master said: 'The mountain crumbles and the stone falls; on the level plain one walks carrying fire.'

紙衣和尚法嗣

Dharma heirs of the Elder Paper Robe

鎮州談空和尚

The Elder Tankong of Zhenzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。麻纏紙裹。問。百了千當時如何。師和聲便打。問。格外之譚。請師舉唱。師曰。隘路不通風。曰。莫秖這便是也無。師乃噓噓。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Hemp wrapped, paper bundled.' The monk asked: 'What of when a hundred things are done and a thousand are settled?' The master struck him softly with a shout. The monk asked: 'Pray, Master, proclaim the talk beyond the ordinary.' The master said: 'A narrow road where no wind blows through.' The monk said: 'Is it not just this?' The master then sighed and shushed.

際上座

The Venerable Ji

行腳到洛京南禪。時有朱行軍設齋。入僧堂顧視曰。直下是。遂行香。口不住道。至師面前。師便問。直下是箇甚麼。行軍便喝。師曰。行軍幸是會佛法底人。又惡發作甚麼。行軍曰。喚作惡發即不得。師便喝。行軍曰。鉤在不疑之地。師又喝。行軍便休。齋退。令客司。請適來下喝僧來。師至。便共行軍言論。並不顧諸人。僧錄曰。行軍適來爭容得這僧無禮。行軍曰。若是你諸人喝。下官有劒。僧錄曰。某等固是不會。須是他暉長老始得。行軍曰。若是南禪長老。也未夢見在。僧問。如何是佛法的的大意。師曰。龍騰滄海。魚躍深潭。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。夜聞祭鬼鼓。朝聽上灘歌。問。如何是上座家風。師曰。三腳蝦蟇背大象。

He came on pilgrimage to South Chan in Luoyang. At that time Commander Zhu was giving a feast, and when he entered the monks' hall he looked around and said: 'It is right here.' Then he offered incense and his mouth never stopped speaking. When he reached the master, the master asked: 'What is it that is right here?' The commander at once shouted. The master said: 'The commander is fortunate to be a man who understands the buddhadharma; why does he get angry?' The commander said: 'You may not call it getting angry.' The master at once shouted. The commander said: 'The hook is in a place beyond doubt.' The master shouted again. The commander then let it rest. After the feast the commander had the guest officer invite the monk who had just shouted. When the master arrived, he talked with the commander and paid no attention to anyone else. The registrar said: 'Just now, Commander, how could you tolerate this monk's rudeness?' The commander said: 'If it were any of you who shouted, this official has a sword.' The registrar said: 'We indeed do not understand. It must take an Elder Hui to do it.' The commander said: 'As for the Elder of South Chan, he has not even dreamed of it.' A monk asked: 'What is the precise great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'The dragon soars over the vast sea, the fish leaps in the deep pool.' The monk said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'At night hearing the drums of ghost offerings, at dawn hearing the songs of the rapids.' The monk asked: 'What is the family style of the Venerable One?' The master said: 'A three-legged frog carries an elephant on its back.'

南嶽下七世

The seventh generation below Nanyue

南院顒禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Nanyuan Yong

汝州風穴延沼禪師

Chan Master Fengxue Yanzhao of Ruzhou

餘杭劉氏子。幼不茹葷。習儒典。應進士。一舉不遂。乃出家。依本州開元寺智恭披削受具。習天台止觀。年二十五。謁鏡清。清問。近離甚處。師曰。自離東來。清曰。還過小江也無。師曰。大舸獨飄空。小江無可濟。清曰。鏡水秦山。鳥飛不度。子莫道聽途言。師曰。滄溟尚怯艨䑳勢。列漢飛帆渡五湖。清竪拂子曰。爭奈這箇何。師曰。這箇是甚麼。清曰。果然不識。師曰。出沒卷舒。與師同用。清曰。杓卜聽虗聲。熟睡饒讇語。師曰。澤廣藏山。理能伏豹。清曰。捨罪放愆。速須出去。師曰。出去即失。便出。到法堂乃曰。夫行腳人。因緣未盡其善。不可便休去。卻回曰。某甲適來。輒陳小騃。冒瀆尊顏。伏蒙慈悲。未賜罪責。清曰。適來言從東來。豈不是翠巖來。師曰。雪竇親棲寶葢東。清曰。不逐忘羊狂解息。卻來這裡念篇章。師曰。路逢劒客須呈劒。不是詩人莫獻詩。清曰。詩速秘卻。略借劒看。師曰。[旦/(巢-果)]首甑人𢹂劒去。清曰。不獨觸風化。亦自顯顢頇。師曰。若不觸風化。爭明古佛心。清曰。如何是古佛心。師曰。再許允容。師今何有。清曰。東來衲子。菽麥不分。祇聞不已而已。何得抑已而已。師曰。巨浪湧千尋。澄波不離水。清曰。一句截流。萬機寢削。師便禮拜。清曰。衲子俊哉。衲子俊哉。師到華嚴。嚴問。我有牧牛歌。輒請闍黎和。師曰。羯鼓掉鞭牛豹跳。遠村梅樹觜盧都。師參南院。入門不禮拜。院曰。入門須辯主。師曰。端的請師分。院於左膝拍一拍。師便喝。院於右膝拍一拍。師又喝。院曰。左邊一拍且置。右邊一拍作麼生。師曰。瞎。院便拈棒。師曰。莫盲枷瞎棒。奪打和尚。莫言不道。院擲下棒曰。今日被黃面浙子鈍置一場。師曰。和尚大似持缽不得。詐道不飢。院曰。闍黎曾到此間麼。師曰。是何言歟。院曰。老僧好好相借問。師曰。

He was a son of the Liu family of Yuhang. As a child he did not eat meat. He studied the Confucian classics and sat for the imperial examination. Having failed once, he left home. He was shaved and received full ordination under Zhigong of Kaiyuan Monastery in his own prefecture, and studied Tiantai cessation and contemplation. At the age of twenty-five he met Jingqing. Jingqing asked: 'Where have you recently come from?' The master said: 'I have just left the east.' Jingqing said: 'Did you cross the little river?' The master said: 'The great ship drifts alone in the void; the little river has nothing to ferry.' Jingqing said: 'Mirror Lake and Mount Qin, where birds fly and cannot pass. Do not speak of hearsay, son.' The master said: 'Even the vast ocean fears the force of a warship; a sail in the Milky Way crosses the five lakes.' Jingqing raised his fly whisk and said: 'What is to be done about this?' The master said: 'What is this?' Jingqing said: 'As expected, you do not know it.' The master said: 'Appearing and disappearing, rolling up and unfolding — it is used in common with the Master.' Jingqing said: 'Divining with the ladle listens to empty sound; deep sleep is full of flattering words.' The master said: 'The marsh is broad and hides the mountain; principle can subdue the leopard.' Jingqing said: 'Remitting guilt and letting faults go, you must leave at once.' The master said: 'To leave is to lose it.' And he went out. When he reached the dharma hall he said: 'A pilgrim whose conditions are not yet exhausted in goodness cannot simply quit and go.' Then he turned back and said: 'Just now I rashly displayed a little folly and offended your honored countenance. I am grateful for your compassion in not assigning me blame.' Jingqing said: 'Just now you said you came from the east. Was it not from Cuiyan?' The master said: 'Xuedou perches in person east of the precious canopy.' Jingqing said: 'Not chasing the lost sheep, your wild understanding has ceased; yet you come here to recite verses.' The master said: 'Meeting a swordsman on the road, one must show one's sword; if one is not a poet, one does not present a poem.' Jingqing said: 'Hide the poem quickly. Lend me the sword to look at.' The master said: 'The man of the steamer carries his sword away.' Jingqing said: 'You not only offend the manners of the age, you also show your own muddle.' The master said: 'If I did not offend the manners of the age, how would the ancient buddha's mind be made clear?' Jingqing said: 'What is the ancient buddha's mind?' The master said: 'If you grant and permit again, what will the Master have today?' Jingqing said: 'A monk from the east who cannot tell beans from wheat. You only hear of not stopping when it is done; how can you suppress when it is done?' The master said: 'Huge waves surge a thousand fathoms; the clear waves never leave the water.' Jingqing said: 'One phrase cuts off the stream; ten thousand workings lie down and are pared away.' The master then bowed. Jingqing said: 'How sharp this monk is, how sharp this monk is.' The master went to Huayan. Huayan asked: 'I have a buffalo-herding song; I venture to ask you, Acharya, to match it.' The master said: 'With the tabor and the whip the ox and leopard leap; in the far village the plum tree pouts.' The master consulted Nanyuan and on entering the gate did not bow. Nanyuan said: 'On entering the gate one must distinguish the host.' The master said: 'Pray, Master, settle the matter precisely.' Nanyuan slapped his left knee. The master at once shouted. Nanyuan slapped his right knee. The master shouted again. Nanyuan said: 'Set aside the slap on the left; what about the slap on the right?' The master said: 'Blind.' Nanyuan at once picked up his staff. The master said: 'Do not use a blind cangue and a blind staff. Taking it to strike the Master — do not say I did not warn you.' Nanyuan threw down the staff and said: 'Today I have been dulled a whole round by a yellow-faced man of Zhe.' The master said: 'The Master is very much like one who cannot hold his bowl and pretends not to be hungry.' Nanyuan said: 'Have you ever been here before, Acharya?' The master said: 'What kind of talk is that?' Nanyuan said: 'This old monk asked politely.' The master said:

也不得放過。便下。參眾了。卻上堂頭禮謝。院曰。闍黎曾見甚麼人來。師曰。在襄州華嚴與廓侍者同夏。院曰。親見作家來。院問。南方一棒作麼商量。師曰。作奇特商量。師卻問。和尚此間一棒作麼商量。院拈拄杖曰。棒下無生忍。臨機不見師。師於言下大徹玄旨。遂依止六年。四眾請主風穴。又八年。李史君與闔城士庶。再請開堂演法矣。上堂。夫參學眼目臨機。直須大用現前。勿自拘於小節。設使言前薦得。猶是滯殻迷封。縱然句下精通。未免觸途狂見。應是從前依他作解。明昧兩岐。與你一時掃卻。直教箇箇如師子兒。吒呀地哮吼一聲。壁立千仞。誰敢正眼覰著。覰著即瞎卻渠眼。時有僧問。如何是正法眼。師曰。即便𭣟瞎。曰。𭣟瞎後如何。師曰。撈天摸地。師後因本郡兵𭁵作孽。與眾避地於郢州。謁前請主李史君。留於衙內度夏。普設大會。請師上堂。才陞座。乃曰。祖師心印。狀似鐵牛之機。去即印住。住即印破。祇如不去不住。印即是。不印即是。還有人道得麼。時有盧陂長老出。問。學人有鐵牛之機。請師不搭印。師曰。慣釣鯨鯢澄巨浸。卻嗟蛙步𩥇泥沙。陂佇思。師喝曰。長老何不進語。陂擬議。師便打一拂子。曰。還記得話頭麼。試舉看。陂擬開口。師又打一拂子。牧主曰。信知佛法與王法一般。師曰。見甚麼道理。牧主曰。當斷不斷。反招其亂。師便下座。至九月。汝州太師宋侯捨宅為寺。復來郢州。請師歸新寺住持。至周廣順元年。賜額廣慧。師住二十二年。常餘百眾。上堂。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。如何不是佛。曰。未曉玄言。請師直指。師曰。家住海門洲。扶桑最先照。問。朗月當空時如何。師曰。不從天上輥。任向地中埋。問。古曲無音韻。如何和得齊。師曰。木鷄啼子夜。芻狗吠天明。上堂。舉寒山詩曰。梵志死去來。魂識見閻老。讀盡百王書。

(The master continued:) 'Nor will I let you off.' Then he came down. After paying respects to the assembly, he went up to the abbot's quarters to bow in thanks. Nanyuan said: 'Whom have you seen before, Acharya?' The master said: 'In Xiangzhou at Huayan I spent the summer with the attendant Kuo.' Nanyuan said: 'You have personally met an adept.' Nanyuan asked: 'How is the one staff of the south reckoned?' The master said: 'It is reckoned as something remarkable.' The master then asked: 'How is the one staff here, Master, reckoned?' Nanyuan picked up his staff and said: 'Beneath the staff there is the patience of non-arising; facing the occasion, one does not see the Master.' At these words the master was thoroughly awakened to the profound purport, and he stayed with him for six years. The four assemblies invited him to be abbot of Fengxue. Eight years later, Lord Li and the scholars and commoners of the whole city again invited him to open the hall and expound the dharma. He mounted the hall: 'When the eye of a student of Chan faces the occasion, it must be that the great function appears before him; do not bind yourself to small propriety. Even if you understand before words are spoken, you are still stuck in the shell and deluded by the seal. Even if you are thorough below the phrases, you cannot avoid wild views along the way. All your former understandings built on others, your two forks of bright and dim — I sweep them away for you at once. I will make each of you like a lion cub, roaring with a great yawn, standing a thousand fathoms sheer. Who dares look at him straight on? Whoever looks is blinded.' At that time a monk asked: 'What is the true dharma eye?' The master said: 'It is blinded at once.' The monk said: 'What after being blinded?' The master said: 'Groping heaven and feeling earth.' Later, because of the calamity of soldiers and bandits in his own prefecture, the master and the assembly took refuge in Yingzhou and paid respects to Lord Li, who had formerly invited him, and he stayed within the official residence to pass the summer. A great assembly was arranged, and the master was asked to mount the hall. He had just mounted the seat when he said: 'The patriarch's mind seal is like the working of an iron ox. Go and it seals you there; stay and the seal is broken. What of not going and not staying — is it sealed or not sealed? Can anyone speak it?' At that time the Elder Lupi came forward and asked: 'This student has the working of an iron ox; pray, Master, do not apply the seal.' The master said: 'Accustomed to angling for whales in the vast deep, you now sigh at a frog's step in the mud.' Lupi stood thinking. The master shouted: 'Why does the Elder not speak?' Lupi was about to deliberate. The master at once struck him with his fly whisk and said: 'Do you still remember the words? Try to bring them up.' Lupi was about to open his mouth. The master struck him with the fly whisk again. The overseer of the pasture said: 'Truly I know that the buddhadharma and the king's law are one.' The master said: 'What principle do you see?' The overseer said: 'When one should cut and does not cut, one invites disorder instead.' The master then descended from the seat. In the ninth month, Lord Song, the grand preceptor of Ruzhou, gave up his residence as a monastery, and came again to Yingzhou to invite the master to return and be abbot of the new monastery. In the first year of Guangshun of the Zhou, the name Guanghui was granted. The master was abbot for twenty-two years, and his assembly was always more than a hundred. He mounted the hall. A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'What is not the Buddha?' The monk said: 'I do not understand the profound words; pray, Master, point directly.' The master said: 'His home is the island at the sea gate; Fusang is the first to be lit.' The monk asked: 'What of when the bright moon is in the sky?' The master said: 'It does not roll down from heaven; let it be buried in the earth.' The monk asked: 'The ancient tune has no notes; how is one to match it in tune?' The master said: 'The wooden cock crows at midnight; the straw dog barks at dawn.' He mounted the hall. He brought up Hanshan's poem: 'When the Brahman monk died and went, his soul saw old Yama. Having read all the books of a hundred kings,'

未免受捶栲。一稱南無佛。皆以成佛道。僧問。如何是一稱南無佛。師曰。燈連鳳翅當堂照。月映娥眉𮠁面看。問。如何是佛。師曰。嘶風木馬緣無絆。背角泥牛痛下鞭。問。如何是廣慧劒。師曰。不斬死漢。問。古鏡未磨時如何。師曰。天魔膽裂。曰。磨後如何。師曰。軒轅無道。問。矛盾本成雙翳病。帝網明珠事若何。師曰。為山登九仞。捻土定千鈞。問。幹木奉文侯。知心有幾人。師曰。少年曾決龍虵陣。老倒還聽稚子歌。問。如何是清涼山中主。師曰。一句不遑無著問。迄今猶作野盤僧。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。鶴有九皋難翥翼。馬無千里謾追風。問。未有之言。請師試道。師曰。入市能長嘯。歸家著短衣。問。夏終今日。師意如何。師曰。不憐鵝護雪。且喜蠟人冰。問。歸鄉無路時如何。師曰。平窺紅爛處。暢殺子平生。問。滿目荒郊翠。瑞草卻滋榮時如何。師曰。新出紅爐金彈子。簉破闍黎鐵麵皮。問。如何是互換之機。師曰。和盲愂愬瞎。問。真性不隨緣。如何得證悟。師曰。豬肉案上滴乳香。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。金沙灘頭馬郎婦。問。一色難分。請師顯示。師曰。滿爐添炭猶嫌冷。路上行人祇守寒。問。如何是學人立身處。師曰。井底泥牛吼。林間玉兔驚。問。如何是道。師曰。五鳳樓前。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。問取皇城使。問。不傷物義。請師便道。師曰。劈腹開心。猶未性燥。問。未定渾濁。如何得照。師曰。下坡不走。快便難逢。問。如何是衲僧行履處。師曰。頭上吃棒。口裡喃喃。問。靈山話月。曹溪指月。去此二途。請師直指。師曰。無言不當瘂。曰。請師定當。師曰。先度汨羅江。問。任性浮沉時如何。師曰。牽牛不入欄。問。凝然便會時如何。師曰。截耳臥街。問。狼煙永息時如何。師曰。兩腳捎空。問。祖令當行時如何。師曰。點。問。不施寸刃。

(He continued the quotation:) 'he still could not avoid being beaten and tortured. Once he called on the name of the Buddha, and thereby all attained the way of buddhahood.' A monk asked: 'What is it to call once on the name of the Buddha?' The master said: 'The lamp is set in the phoenix wing shining in the hall; the moon mirrors the moth brow on the patterned face.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The wooden horse neighs in the wind because it has no halter; the horn-backed mud ox is whipped hard.' The monk asked: 'What is the Guanghui sword?' The master said: 'It does not cut down dead men.' The monk asked: 'What of the ancient mirror before it is polished?' The master said: 'The heavenly demons' courage is split.' The monk said: 'What of after it is polished?' The master said: 'The Yellow Emperor had no way.' The monk asked: 'Spear and shield were originally a doubled cataract; what of the pearl in Indra's net?' The master said: 'Climbing nine fathoms of mountain, pinching earth to weigh a thousand catties.' The monk asked: 'Gan Mu served Marquis Wen; how many knew his heart?' The master said: 'In youth he once decided the dragon-snake formation; grown old, he listens to a child's song.' The monk asked: 'Who is the host in Qingliang Mountain?' The master said: 'One phrase leaves no time for Wuzhao's question; to this day he is still a wandering monk.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'The crane has nine marshes but finds it hard to spread its wings; the horse has no thousand miles, in vain it chases the wind.' The monk asked: 'Words that have never been spoken — pray, Master, try to say them.' The master said: 'Entering the market one can give a long whistle; returning home one wears a short coat.' The monk asked: 'The summer retreat ends today; what is the Master's meaning?' The master said: 'I do not pity the goose guarding the snow; I am rather glad the wax man is ice.' The monk asked: 'What of when there is no road home?' The master said: 'Peering level at the red and rotten place, you may gladden your whole life.' The monk asked: 'What of when the whole desolate plain is green and the auspicious herb flourishes instead?' The master said: 'A new golden pellet out of the red furnace smashes through your iron face, Acharya.' The monk asked: 'What is the working of mutual exchange?' The master said: 'Harmonizing with the blind, contradicting the blind.' The monk asked: 'The true nature does not follow conditions; how is one to attain realization?' The master said: 'Drops of frankincense on the pork block.' The monk asked: 'What is the pure dharma body?' The master said: 'The horse-lang woman at the head of the golden sandbank.' The monk asked: 'One color is hard to distinguish; pray, Master, reveal it.' The master said: 'The whole furnace is fed with charcoal and still you complain of cold; the traveler on the road only keeps the cold.' The monk asked: 'Where does a student establish himself?' The master said: 'The mud ox roars at the bottom of the well; the jade hare in the grove is startled.' The monk asked: 'What is the way?' The master said: 'Before the five-phoenix tower.' The monk said: 'What is the person within the way?' The master said: 'Go ask the commissioner of the imperial city.' The monk asked: 'Not injuring the meaning of things — pray, Master, speak at once.' The master said: 'Split the belly and open the heart, and still the nature is not dry.' The monk asked: 'Before turbidity has settled, how does one get illumination?' The master said: 'Going downhill one does not run; a quick chance is hard to meet.' The monk asked: 'What is the walking place of a patch-robed monk?' The master said: 'Taking a blow on the head, murmuring in the mouth.' The monk asked: 'Vulture Peak spoke of the moon, Caoxi pointed at the moon. Setting aside these two paths, pray, Master, point directly.' The master said: 'Not speaking does not make one mute.' The monk said: 'Pray, Master, settle it.' The master said: 'First cross the Miluo River.' The monk asked: 'What of letting oneself drift up and down?' The master said: 'Leading an ox, one does not enter the pen.' The monk asked: 'What of when one understands while frozen still?' The master said: 'Cut off your ears and lie in the street.' The monk asked: 'What of when the beacon fires are forever stilled?' The master said: 'Both feet kick the void.' The monk asked: 'What of when the ancestral command is in force?' The master said: 'A dot.' The monk asked: 'Not wielding a single inch of blade —'

便登九五時如何。師曰。鞭屍屈項。上堂。舉古云。我有一隻箭。曾經久磨煉。射時徧十方。落處無人見。師曰。山僧即不然。我有一隻箭。未甞經磨煉。射不徧十方。要且無人見。僧便問。如何是和尚箭。師作彎弓勢。僧禮拜。師曰。拖出這死漢。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。披席把盌。曰。見後如何。師曰。披席把盌。問。未達其源時如何。師曰。鶴冷移巢易。龍寒出洞難。問。不露鋒鋩句。如何辯主賓。師曰。口銜羊角驃膠粘。問。將身御險時如何。師曰。布露長書寫罪原。問。學人解問誵訛句。請師舉起訝人機。師曰。心裡分明眼睛黑。問。生死到來時如何。師曰。青布裁衫招犬吠。曰。如何得不吠去。師曰。自宜軃避寂無聲。問。如何是真道人。師曰。竹竿頭上禮西方。問。魚隱深潭時如何。師曰。湯盪火燒。問。如何是諸佛行履處。師曰。青松綠竹下。問。如何是大善知識。師曰。殺人不眨眼。曰。既是大善知識。為甚麼殺人不眨眼。師曰。塵埃影裡不拂袖。畵戟門前磨寸金。問。一即六。六即一。一六俱亡時如何。師曰。一箭落雙鵰。曰。意旨如何。師曰。身亡跡謝。問。摘葉尋枝即不問。直截根源事若何。師曰。赴供凌晨去。開塘帶雨歸。問。問問盡是揑怪。請師直指根源。師曰。罕逢穿耳客。多遇刻舟人。問。正當恁麼時如何。師曰。盲龜值木雖優穩。枯木生華物外春。問。寶塔元無縫。金門即日開時如何。師曰。智積佐來空合掌。天王捧出不知音。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。萎花風掃去。香水雨飄來。問。隨緣不變者。忽遇知音時如何。師曰。披莎側立千峰外。引水澆蔬五老前。問。刻舟求不得。常用事如何。師曰。大勳不立賞。柴扉草自深。問。從上古人。印印相契。如何是相契底眼。師曰。輕囂道者知機變。拈卻招魂拭淚巾。問。九夏賞勞。請師言薦。師曰。

(The monk continued asking:) 'What of when one ascends the imperial throne at once?' The master said: 'Whipping the corpse, bending the neck.' He mounted the hall. He brought up the ancients: 'I have one arrow, long tempered and refined. When shot it fills the ten directions; where it falls no one sees.' The master said: 'The mountain monk is not like that. I have one arrow that has never been tempered. Shot, it does not fill the ten directions, and yet no one sees it.' A monk then asked: 'What is the Master's arrow?' The master made the posture of drawing a bow. The monk bowed. The master said: 'Drag out this dead man.' The monk asked: 'What of when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said: 'Spreading a mat and holding a bowl.' The monk said: 'What of after meeting him?' The master said: 'Spreading a mat and holding a bowl.' The monk asked: 'What of when one has not reached the source?' The master said: 'A cold crane moves its nest easily; a cold dragon finds it hard to leave its cave.' The monk asked: 'In a phrase that does not reveal its edge, how does one distinguish host and guest?' The master said: 'Holding a ram's horn in the mouth, stuck with glue.' The monk asked: 'What of when one puts his body in peril?' The master said: 'Openly spread a long letter, writing out the cause of the crime.' The monk asked: 'This student can ask a question of doubtful wording; pray, Master, raise up the working that startles people.' The master said: 'In the mind it is clear, but the eyes are black.' The monk asked: 'What of when birth and death arrive?' The master said: 'Cutting a shirt from blue cloth invites the dogs to bark.' The monk said: 'How can one stop them barking?' The master said: 'One should avoid it and be silent.' The monk asked: 'What is a true man of the way?' The master said: 'On the tip of a bamboo pole, bow to the west.' The monk asked: 'What of when the fish hides in the deep pool?' The master said: 'Boiled and scorched by fire.' The monk asked: 'What is the walking place of all buddhas?' The master said: 'Beneath the green pines and green bamboo.' The monk asked: 'What is a great good friend?' The master said: 'One who does not blink when he kills.' The monk said: 'Since he is a great good friend, why does he not blink when he kills?' The master said: 'In the shadow of dust one does not brush one's sleeve; before the painted halberd gate one polishes an inch of gold.' The monk asked: 'One is six, six is one. What of when one and six are both gone?' The master said: 'One arrow brings down two vultures.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'The body gone, the traces fade.' The monk asked: 'I will not ask about picking leaves and seeking branches. What of the matter of cutting straight to the root?' The master said: 'Going to the offering at dawn, returning from opening the pond in the rain.' The monk asked: 'Question and answer are all contrivance. Pray, Master, point directly at the root.' The master said: 'Rarely does one meet an ear-ringed guest; often one meets a boat-marking man.' The monk asked: 'What of when it is exactly like this?' The master said: 'Though the blind turtle finds the log and is well and steady, the withered tree puts forth flowers — spring beyond things.' The monk asked: 'The jeweled stupa has no seam; what of when the golden gate opens at once?' The master said: 'Zhiji stood by and joined his palms in vain; the heavenly king held it out but did not know the tune.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the stupa?' The master said: 'The withered flowers are swept away by the wind; the fragrant water drifts down in the rain.' The monk asked: 'What of one who follows conditions and does not change, when he suddenly meets an intimate friend?' The master said: 'Wearing sedge, standing sideways beyond a thousand peaks; leading water to the vegetables before the Five Elders.' The monk asked: 'What of one who seeks by marking the boat and does not get it — what is his daily use?' The master said: 'For great merit no reward is established; the brushwood gate is deep in its own grass.' The monk asked: 'The ancients from the first sealed and matched seals. What is the eye of matching?' The master said: 'The light and clamorous follower of the way knows the turning of the working; take away the weeping-cloth that summons the soul.' The monk asked: 'For the reward of the nine summers of practice, pray, Master, speak a recommendation.' The master said:

出袖拂開龍洞雨。泛杯波湧缽囊華。問。最初自恣。合對何人。師曰。一把香芻拈未暇。六環金錫響遙空。問。西祖傳來。請師端的。師曰。一犬吠虗。千猱啀實。問。王道與佛道。相去幾何。師曰。芻狗吠時天地合。木鷄啼後祖燈輝。問。祖師心印。請師拂拭。師曰。祖月凌空圓聖智。何山松檜不青青。上堂。若立一塵。家國興盛。野老顰蹙。不立一塵。家國喪亡。野老安怙。於此明得。闍黎無分。全是老僧。於此不明。老僧卻是闍黎。闍黎與老僧。亦能悟卻天下人。亦能瞎卻天下人。欲識闍黎麼。右邊一拍曰。這裡是。欲識老僧麼。左邊一拍曰。這裡是。僧問。大眾雲集。請師說法。師曰。赤腳人趂兔。著靴人吃肉。問。不曾博覧空王教。略借玄機試道看。師曰。白玉無瑕。卞和刖足。問。如何是無為之句。師曰。寶燭當軒顯。紅光爍太虗。問。如何是臨機一句。師曰。因風吹火。用力不多。問。素面相呈時如何。師曰。拈卻蓋面帛。問。紫菊半開秋已老。月圓當戶意如何。師曰。月生蓬島人皆見。昨夜遭霜子不知。問。如何是直截一路。師曰。直截是迃曲。問。如何是師子吼。師曰。阿誰要汝野幹鳴。問。如何是諦實之言。師曰。口懸壁上。上堂。若是上上之流。各有證據。略赴箇程眼。中下之機。各須英俊。當處出生。隨處滅盡。如𪹼龜紋。𪹼即成兆。不𪹼成鈍。欲𪹼不𪹼。直下便揑。問。心不能緣。口不能言時如何。師曰。逢人但恁麼舉。問。龍透清潭時如何。師曰。印駿捺尾。問。任性浮沉時如何。師曰。牽牛不入欄。問。有無俱無去處時如何。師曰。三月懶遊花下路。一家愁閉雨中門。問。語默涉離微。如何通不犯。師曰。常憶江南三月裡。鷓鴣啼處百花香。問。百了千當時如何。師曰。不許夜行。投明須到。上堂。三千劒客。恥見莊周。赤眉橫肩。得無謬訛。他時變豹。

(The master continued:) 'Out of the sleeve, brush away the rain of the dragon cave; floating the cup, waves surge with the flower of the alms bowl.' The monk asked: 'At the first invitation of the summer's end, before whom should one stand?' The master said: 'No time to pick up a handful of fragrant fodder; the six-ringed golden staff rings in the distant sky.' The monk asked: 'What the western patriarch transmitted — pray, Master, speak precisely.' The master said: 'One dog barks at emptiness; a thousand monkeys gnash at the real.' The monk asked: 'The king's way and the buddha's way — how far apart are they?' The master said: 'When the straw dog barks, heaven and earth join; after the wooden cock crows, the ancestral lamp shines.' The monk asked: 'The patriarch's mind seal — pray, Master, wipe it clean.' The master said: 'The ancestral moon rides the void, perfect sage wisdom; what mountain's pines and cypresses are not green?' He mounted the hall: 'If one mote is established, the family and the state flourish and the old rustic scowls. If one mote is not established, the family and state perish and the old rustic has nothing to rely on. If you understand this, you have no share, Acharya — it is all the old monk. If you do not understand this, the old monk is you, Acharya. You, Acharya, and I, the old monk, can both awaken all people under heaven, and can both blind all people under heaven. Do you want to know the Acharya?' He slapped the right side and said: 'Here he is.' 'Do you want to know the old monk?' He slapped the left side and said: 'Here he is.' A monk asked: 'The great assembly has gathered like clouds; pray, Master, preach the dharma.' The master said: 'The barefoot man chases the hare; the booted man eats the meat.' The monk asked: 'I have never broadly studied the teachings of the King of Emptiness. Lend me the profound working and let me try to speak.' The master said: 'White jade without flaw, and Bian He's feet were cut off.' The monk asked: 'What is the phrase of non-doing?' The master said: 'A precious candle displayed before the carriage, red light flashing through the great void.' The monk asked: 'What is the phrase facing the occasion?' The master said: 'Following the wind to fan the fire takes little strength.' The monk asked: 'What of when one presents one's bare face?' The master said: 'Take away the cloth covering the face.' The monk asked: 'Purple chrysanthemums half open, autumn already old; the moon is round at the door — what is the meaning?' The master said: 'When the moon rises over Penglai island all see it; last night it met the frost and the child does not know.' The monk asked: 'What is the straight and direct road?' The master said: 'The straight and direct is the roundabout.' The monk asked: 'What is the lion's roar?' The master said: 'Who wants your jackal's howl?' The monk asked: 'What is a truthful word?' The master said: 'Mouth hung on the wall.' He mounted the hall: 'If you are of the highest sort, each has his own testimony. Just go along with the journey of the eye. Those of middling and lesser capacity must each be keen and outstanding. Born right where you are, extinguished right where you are. Like cracks in a tortoise shell — cracked, it becomes an omen; not cracked, it becomes dull. Wanting to crack and not cracking, just pinch it directly.' The monk asked: 'What of when the mind cannot reach and the mouth cannot speak?' The master said: 'Whenever you meet someone, just bring it up like this.' The monk asked: 'What of when the dragon pierces the clear pool?' The master said: 'Seal the fine steed and press its tail.' The monk asked: 'What of letting oneself drift up and down?' The master said: 'Leading an ox, one does not enter the pen.' The monk asked: 'What of when being and non-being both have nowhere to go?' The master said: 'In the third month too lazy to stroll the road beneath the flowers; a whole household shuts its door in sorrow in the rain.' The monk asked: 'Speech and silence touch on departure and subtlety; how does one pass through without transgressing?' The master said: 'I often recall the third month in Jiangnan; where the partridge cries, a hundred flowers are fragrant.' The monk asked: 'What of when a hundred things are done and a thousand settled?' The master said: 'Night travel is not permitted; by dawn you must arrive.' He mounted the hall: 'Three thousand swordsmen were ashamed to face Zhuang Zhou. With red eyebrows across the shoulder, can there be no error? Some other day changing into a leopard,'

後五日看。珍重。問。心印未明時如何。師曰。雖聞酉帥投歸欵。未見牽羊納璧來。問。如何是臨濟下事。師曰。桀犬吠堯。問。如何是齧鏃事。師曰。孟浪借辭論馬角。上堂。大眾集定。師曰。不是無言。各須英鑒。問。大眾雲集。師意如何。師曰。景謝祁寒。骨肉疎冷。問。不修禪定。為甚麼成佛無疑。師曰。金鷄專報曉。漆桶夜生光。問。一念萬年時如何。師曰。拂石仙衣破。問。洪鐘未擊時如何。師曰。充塞大千無不韻。妙含幽致豈能分。曰。擊後如何。師曰。石壁山河無障礙。翳消開後好諮聞。問。古今才分。請師密要。師曰。截卻重舌。問。如何是大人相。師曰。赫赤窮漢。曰。未審將何受用。師曰。擕蘿挈杖。問。如何是賓中主。師曰。入市雙瞳瞽。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。回鑾兩曜新。曰。如何是賓中賓。師曰。攢眉坐白雲。曰。如何是主中主。師曰。磨礱三尺劒。待斬不平人。問。如何是钁頭邊意。師曰。山前一片青。問。如何是佛。師曰。杖林山下竹筋鞭。

(The master continued:) 'watch five days from now. Take care.' The monk asked: 'What of when the mind seal is not yet clear?' The master said: 'Though I hear that the western commander has offered his allegiance, I do not yet see him leading a sheep and presenting a jade.' The monk asked: 'What is the matter under Linji?' The master said: 'Jie's dog barks at Yao.' The monk asked: 'What is the matter of biting the arrowhead?' The master said: 'Rashly borrowing words to discuss a horse's horns.' He mounted the hall. When the great assembly had gathered, the master said: 'It is not that there are no words. Each of you must have keen discernment.' A monk asked: 'The great assembly has gathered like clouds; what is the Master's meaning?' The master said: 'The scene fades in the bitter cold; flesh and bone grow thin and cold.' The monk asked: 'Without cultivating meditation, why is one's buddhahood beyond doubt?' The master said: 'The golden cock is devoted to announcing the dawn; the lacquer bucket shines at night.' The monk asked: 'What of when one thought is ten thousand years?' The master said: 'Wiping the stone wears out the immortal's robe.' The monk asked: 'What of when the great bell has not yet been struck?' The master said: 'It fills the great thousand worlds with nothing without its tone; its wondrous subtle purport — how could it be divided?' The monk said: 'What of after it is struck?' The master said: 'Stone walls and mountains and rivers have no obstruction; when the film clears and opens, it is good to inquire.' The monk asked: 'Ancient and present just now divided — pray, Master, the secret essentials.' The master said: 'Cut out the double tongue.' The monk asked: 'What is the mark of a great man?' The master said: 'A blazing poor devil.' The monk said: 'I wonder with what he is sustained?' The master said: 'Carrying vines and a staff.' The monk asked: 'What is the host within the guest?' The master said: 'Entering the market with both pupils blind.' The monk said: 'What is the guest within the host?' The master said: 'The returning imperial carriage, the two luminaries new.' The monk said: 'What is the guest within the guest?' The master said: 'Knitting the brows, sitting in white clouds.' The monk said: 'What is the host within the host?' The master said: 'Polishing a three-foot sword, waiting to cut down the unleveled man.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning at the edge of the hoe?' The master said: 'Before the mountain, a patch of green.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A bamboo-sinew whip below the staff grove mountain.'

頴橋安禪師(號鐵胡)

Chan Master Yingqiao An (styled Tiehu, Iron Barbarian)

與鍾司徒向火次。鍾忽問。三界焚燒時如何出得。師以香匙撥開火。鍾擬議。師曰。司徒。司徒。鍾忽有省。

While warming himself by the fire with Minister Zhong, Zhong suddenly asked: 'When the three realms are burning, how does one get out?' The master pushed the fire apart with the incense spoon. Zhong was about to deliberate. The master said: 'Minister, Minister.' Zhong suddenly had a realization.

西院明禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xiyuan Ming

郢州興陽歸靜禪師

Chan Master Xingyang Guijing of Yingzhou

初參西院。便問。擬問不問時如何。院便打。師良久。院曰。若喚作棒。眉鬚墮落。師於言下大悟。住後。僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。少室山前無異路。

He first consulted Xiyuan and at once asked: 'What of when one intends to ask and does not ask?' Xiyuan at once struck him. The master was silent a long while. Xiyuan said: 'If you call it a blow, your eyebrows and beard will fall out.' At these words the master was greatly awakened. After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'Before Shaoshi Mountain there is no other road.'

南嶽下八世

The eighth generation below Nanyue

風穴沼禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Fengxue Zhao

汝州首山省念禪師

Chan Master Shoushan Shengnian of Ruzhou

萊州狄氏子。受業於本郡南禪寺。才具屍羅。徧遊叢席。常密誦法華經。眾目為念法華也。晚於風穴會中充知客。一日侍立次。穴乃垂涕告之曰。不幸臨濟之道。至吾將墜於地矣。師曰。觀此一眾。豈無人邪。穴曰。聰明者多。見性者少。師曰。如某者如何。穴曰。吾雖望子之久。猶恐耽著此經。不能放下。師曰。此亦可事。願聞其要。穴遂上堂。舉世尊以青蓮目顧視大眾。乃曰。正當恁麼時。且道說箇甚麼。若道不說而說。又是埋沒先聖。且道說箇甚麼。師乃拂袖下去。穴擲下拄杖。歸方丈。侍者隨後請益。曰。念法華因甚不祇對和尚。穴曰。念法華會也。次日。師與真圓頭同上。問訊次。穴問真曰。作麼生是世尊不說說。真曰。鵓鳩樹頭鳴。穴曰。汝作許多痴福作麼。何不體究言句。又問師曰。汝作麼生。師曰。動容揚古路。不墮悄然機。穴謂真曰。汝何不看念法華下語。師受風穴印可之後。泯跡韜光。人莫知其所以。因白兆楚和尚至汝州宣化。風穴令師往傳語。才相見。提起坐具。便問。展即是。不展即是。兆曰。自家看取。師便喝。兆曰。我曾親近知識來。未甞輒敢恁麼造次。師曰。草賊大敗。兆曰。來日若見風穴和尚。待一一舉似。師曰。一任一任。不得忘卻。師乃先回。舉似風穴。穴曰。今日又被你收下一員草賊。師曰。好手不張名。兆次日才到。相見便舉前話。穴曰。非但昨日。今日和贓捉敗。師於是名振四方。學者望風而靡。開法首山。為第一世也。入院上堂曰。佛法付與國王大臣。有力檀越。令其佛法不斷絕。燈燈相續。至於今日。大眾且道。續箇甚麼。良久曰。須是迦葉師兄始得。時有僧問。靈山一會。何異今朝。師曰。墮坑落壍。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。瞎。問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。少室巖前親掌示。曰。便請洪音和一聲。師曰。如今也要大家知。問。

He was a son of the Di family of Laizhou. He studied under the South Chan Monastery of his own prefecture. As soon as he was fully ordained in the precepts, he traveled to all the monasteries. He constantly recited the Lotus Sutra in secret, and the assembly called him Nian Fahua, Reciter of the Lotus. In his later years he served as guest master in Fengxue's assembly. One day, as he stood in attendance, Fengxue, with tears falling, told him: 'Unhappily, the way of Linji, by the time it reaches me, is about to fall to the ground.' The master said: 'Looking at this assembly, can it be that there is no one?' Fengxue said: 'There are many clever ones; few who see the nature.' The master said: 'What about one like me?' Fengxue said: 'Though I have long looked to you, I fear you are addicted to this scripture and cannot put it down.' The master said: 'That too is a small matter. I wish to hear the essentials.' Fengxue then mounted the hall. He brought up how the World-Honored One surveyed the assembly with his blue lotus eyes, and said: 'At exactly such a moment, tell me, what does he say? If you say he speaks without speaking, that is to bury the former sages. Tell me, what does he say?' The master then brushed his sleeves and went down. Fengxue threw down his staff and returned to his quarters. The attendant afterward asked for instruction, saying: 'Why did Nian Fahua not answer the Master?' Fengxue said: 'Nian Fahua understands.' The next day the master went up together with the garden chief Zhen. As they paid their respects, Fengxue asked Zhen: 'What is it when the World-Honored One speaks without speaking?' Zhen said: 'A dove calls from the treetop.' Fengxue said: 'Why do you make so much foolish merit? Why do you not investigate the words?' He also asked the master: 'What do you make of it?' The master said: 'Stirring countenance, raising the ancient road; not falling into the still and silent working.' Fengxue said to Zhen: 'Why do you not look at how Nian Fahua puts it?' After the master received Fengxue's seal of approval, he hid his traces and veiled his light, and no one knew what he was. Because Chan Master Baizhao Chu came to Ruzhou to spread the teaching, Fengxue sent the master to carry a message. As soon as they met, he lifted his sitting cloth and asked: 'To spread it or not to spread it?' Baizhao said: 'See for yourself.' The master at once shouted. Baizhao said: 'I have attended good friends, and never once dared to be so rash.' The master said: 'The straw thief is badly beaten.' Baizhao said: 'Tomorrow, when I see Master Fengxue, I will bring up every bit of it.' The master said: 'As you please, as you please. Do not forget.' The master then went back first and brought it up to Fengxue. Fengxue said: 'Today you have again taken in a straw thief.' The master said: 'A good hand does not display his name.' When Baizhao arrived the next day, as soon as they met he brought up the previous talk. Fengxue said: 'Not only yesterday — today you are caught with the stolen goods.' Thereupon the master's fame shook the four quarters, and students fell before his wind. He opened the dharma at Shoushan and was its first generation. On entering the monastery he mounted the hall: 'The buddhadharma is entrusted to kings and great ministers and to powerful donors, so that the buddhadharma may not be cut off, lamp continuing to lamp, down to this day. Great assembly, tell me, what is continued?' After a long while he said: 'It must be the senior brother Kashyapa who has it.' At that time a monk asked: 'The assembly on Vulture Peak — how is it different from this morning?' The master said: 'Fallen into a pit and dropped into a moat.' The monk said: 'Why is it so?' The master said: 'Blind.' The monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'Before the rock of Shaoshi he showed it in person.' The monk said: 'Then please sound a great note in harmony.' The master said: 'Even now everyone must know.' The monk asked:

如何是徑截一路。師曰。或在山間。或在樹下。問。如何是學人親切處。師曰。五九盡日又逢春。曰。畢竟事如何。師曰。冬到寒食一百五。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。一言截斷千江口。萬仞峰前始得玄。問。如何是首山境。師曰。一任眾人看。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。吃棒得也未。僧禮拜。師曰。吃棒且待別時。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。風吹日炙。問。從上諸聖。向甚麼處行履。師曰。牽犂拽杷。問。古人拈槌竪拂。意旨如何。師曰。孤峰無宿客。曰。未審意旨如何。師曰。不是守株人。問。如何是菩提路。師曰。此去襄縣五里。曰。向上事如何。師曰。往來不易。問。諸聖說不到處。請師舉唱。師曰。萬裡神光都一照。誰人敢竝日輪齊。問。臨濟喝。德山棒。未審明甚麼邊事。師曰。汝試道看。僧便喝。師曰。瞎。僧又喝。師曰。這瞎漢祗麼亂喝作麼。僧禮拜。師便打。問。和尚是大善知識。為甚麼卻首山。師曰。不坐孤峰頂。常伴白雲閑。問。四眾圍繞。師說何法。師曰。打草蛇驚。曰。未審作麼生下手。師曰。適來幾合喪身失命。問。二龍爭珠。誰是得者。師曰。得者失。曰。不得者又如何。師曰。珠在甚麼處。問。一切諸佛。皆從此經出。如何是此經。師曰。低聲。低聲。曰。如何受持。師曰。切不得汙染。問。世尊滅後。法付何人。師曰。好箇問頭。無人答得。曰。如何是世尊不說說。師曰。任從滄海變。終不為君通。曰。如何是迦葉不聞聞。師曰。瞶人徒側耳。問。古人道。見色便見心。諸法無形。將何所見。師曰。一家有事百家忙。曰。學人不會。乞師再指。師曰。三日後看取。問。菩薩未成佛時如何。師曰。眾生。曰。成佛後如何。師曰。眾生。眾生。問。路逢達道人。不將語默對。未審將甚麼對。師曰。瞥爾三千界。曰。與麼則目視不勞也。師曰。天恩未遇。後悔難追。

(The monk continued asking:) 'What is the short-cut road?' The master said: 'Either among the mountains or beneath the trees.' The monk asked: 'Where is the student's intimate place?' The master said: 'When the five and nine are exhausted, one meets spring again.' The monk said: 'What of the ultimate matter?' The master said: 'From winter to the Cold Food Festival is one hundred and five days.' The monk asked: 'What is the Master's family style?' The master said: 'One phrase cuts off a thousand river mouths; only before a ten-thousand-fathom peak is the profound attained.' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Shoushan?' The master said: 'Let everyone look as they please.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Have you taken a blow yet?' The monk bowed. The master said: 'Taking the blow can wait for another time.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'Blown by wind, scorched by sun.' The monk asked: 'Where do the sages from the first walk?' The master said: 'Pulling the plow, dragging the harrow.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the ancients picking up the mallet and raising the fly whisk?' The master said: 'The solitary peak has no overnight guest.' The monk said: 'I wonder what the meaning is?' The master said: 'He is not one who keeps watch by a stump.' The monk asked: 'What is the road of enlightenment?' The master said: 'Five li from here to Xiang county.' The monk said: 'What of the matter of going beyond?' The master said: 'Coming and going is not easy.' The monk asked: 'Where the sages cannot speak — pray, Master, proclaim it.' The master said: 'The divine light of ten thousand miles all shines at once; who dares to stand level with the sun?' The monk asked: 'Linji's shout, Deshan's blow — I wonder what matter they clarify?' The master said: 'Try to say.' The monk at once shouted. The master said: 'Blind.' The monk shouted again. The master said: 'What is this blind man doing, shouting wildly like this?' The monk bowed. The master at once struck him. The monk asked: 'The Master is a great good friend; why then Shoushan?' The master said: 'Not sitting on the solitary peak top, ever keeping company with the white clouds at leisure.' The monk asked: 'The four assemblies surround you; what dharma does the Master speak?' The master said: 'Beating the grass startles the snake.' The monk said: 'I wonder how one applies it?' The master said: 'Just now you nearly lost your life.' The monk asked: 'Two dragons fight over a pearl — who gets it?' The master said: 'The one who gets it loses.' The monk said: 'And the one who does not get it?' The master said: 'Where is the pearl?' The monk asked: 'All buddhas come forth from this scripture. What is this scripture?' The master said: 'Lower your voice, lower your voice.' The monk said: 'How does one uphold it?' The master said: 'Above all, do not defile it.' The monk asked: 'After the World-Honored One's extinction, to whom was the dharma entrusted?' The master said: 'A fine question, and no one can answer it.' The monk asked: 'What is it when the World-Honored One speaks without speaking?' The master said: 'Let the vast sea change as it will; I will never make it clear for you.' The monk said: 'What is it when Kashyapa hears without hearing?' The master said: 'The deaf man wears out his ears in vain.' The monk asked: 'The ancients said: seeing form, one sees the mind. All dharmas are without form — with what does one see?' The master said: 'When one house has trouble, a hundred houses are busy.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand; I beg the Master to point again.' The master said: 'Look three days from now.' The monk asked: 'What of when a bodhisattva has not yet become a buddha?' The master said: 'A sentient being.' The monk said: 'What of after becoming a buddha?' The master said: 'A sentient being, a sentient being.' The monk asked: 'Meeting a man of the way on the road, one does not answer him with speech or silence. I wonder with what one answers him?' The master said: 'A glance at the three thousand realms.' The monk said: 'Then one may look without effort.' The master said: 'Before heavenly grace is met, later regret is hard to recover.'

上堂。第一句薦得。堪與祖佛為師。第二句薦得。堪與人天為師。第三句薦得。自救不了。時有僧問。如何是第一句。師曰。大用不揚眉。棒下須見血。曰。慈悲何在。師曰。送出三門外。問。如何是第二句。師曰。不打恁麼驢漢。曰。將接何人。師曰。如斯爭奈何。問。如何是第三句。師曰。解問無人答。曰。即今祇對者是誰。師曰。莫使外人知。曰。和尚是第幾句薦得。師曰。月落三更穿市過。問。維摩默然。文殊贊善。未審此意如何。師曰。當時聽眾必不如是。曰。既不如是。維摩默然。又且如何。師曰。知恩者少。負恩者多。乃曰。若論此事實。不掛一箇元字腳。便下座。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。鎮州蘿蔔重三斤。問。如何是玄中的。師曰。有言須道卻。曰。此意如何。師曰。無言鬼也瞋。問。如何是衲僧眼。師曰。此問不當。曰。當後如何。師曰。堪作甚麼。問。如何得離眾緣去。師曰。千年一遇。曰。不離時如何。師曰。立在眾人前。問。如何是大安樂底人。師曰。不見有一法。曰。將何為人。師曰。謝闍黎領話。問。如何是常在底人。師曰。亂走作麼。問。如何是首山。師曰。東山高。西山低。曰。如何是山中人。師曰。恰遇棒不在。問。如何是道。師曰。爐中有火無心撥。處處縱橫任意遊。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。坐看煙霞秀。不與白雲齊。問。一毫未發時如何。師曰。路逢穿耳客。曰。發後如何。師曰。不用便遲疑。問。無絃一曲。請師音韻。師良久。曰。還聞麼。曰。不聞。師曰。何不高聲問著。問。學人久處沉迷。請師一接。師曰。老僧無這閑工夫。曰。和尚豈無方便。師曰。要行即行。要坐即坐。問。如何是離凡聖底句。師曰。嵩山安和尚。曰。莫便是和尚極則處否。師曰。南嶽讓禪師。問。學人乍入叢林。乞師指示。師曰。闍黎到此多少時也。曰。已經冬夏。師曰。

Ascending the hall: 'If you awaken in the first phrase, you are fit to be the teacher of Ancestors and Buddhas. If you awaken in the second phrase, you are fit to be the teacher of men and gods. If you awaken in the third phrase, you cannot even save yourself.' Then a monk asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'Great function does not raise the eyebrows; beneath the staff one must see blood.' The monk said, 'Where is the compassion?' The Master said, 'Escort him out beyond the triple gate.' He asked, 'What is the second phrase?' The Master said, 'I do not beat such a donkey of a man.' The monk said, 'Then whom will you receive?' The Master said, 'What is to be done about one like this?' He asked, 'What is the third phrase?' The Master said, 'He understands how to ask, and no one answers.' The monk said, 'Then who is the one facing you now?' The Master said, 'Do not let outsiders know.' The monk said, 'In which phrase did the Reverend awaken?' The Master said, 'The moon sets at the third watch; he passes through the market.' Someone asked, 'Vimalakirti was silent and Manjushri praised him. What is the meaning of this?' The Master said, 'The audience then certainly were not like that.' The monk said, 'If they were not like that, then what about Vimalakirti's silence?' The Master said, 'Those who know the grace are few; those who betray it are many.' Then he said, 'If one speaks of this matter truly, it does not hang by a single character.' Then he descended from the seat. Someone asked, 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'A Zhenzhou radish weighs three catties.' Someone asked, 'What is within the mystery?' The Master said, 'If there are words, one must speak them out.' The monk said, 'What does this mean?' The Master said, 'Without words even ghosts are angry.' Someone asked, 'What is the monk's eye?' The Master said, 'This question is not fitting.' The monk said, 'And after it fits?' The Master said, 'What is it good for?' Someone asked, 'How does one get free of all conditions?' The Master said, 'Met once in a thousand years.' The monk said, 'And when not free of them?' The Master said, 'Stand before the crowd.' Someone asked, 'What is a man of great peace and ease?' The Master said, 'He does not see a single dharma.' The monk said, 'With what will he benefit people?' The Master said, 'Thank you, acharya, for accepting the words.' Someone asked, 'What is a man who is always present?' The Master said, 'What are you running about for?' Someone asked, 'What is Shoushan?' The Master said, 'East Mountain is high, West Mountain is low.' The monk said, 'What is the man in the mountain?' The Master said, 'It happens that the staff is not with me.' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'There is fire in the stove and no mind to poke it; everywhere one roams freely at will.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the Way?' The Master said, 'Sitting, I watch the mist and haze excel, not ranking with the white clouds.' Someone asked, 'What was it like before a single hair arose?' The Master said, 'On the road meeting an ear-pierced guest.' The monk said, 'And after it arises?' The Master said, 'Then there is no need to hesitate.' Someone asked, 'A tune without strings — I beg the Master for its melody.' The Master was silent a long while and said, 'Do you hear it?' The monk said, 'I do not.' The Master said, 'Why not ask in a loud voice?' Someone asked, 'The student has long been sunk in delusion; I beg the Master to extend one hand.' The Master said, 'This old monk has no such leisure.' The monk said, 'Has the Reverend no expedient?' The Master said, 'To walk is to walk, to sit is to sit.' Someone asked, 'What is the phrase that departs from ordinary and sage?' The Master said, 'The Reverend An of Song Mountain.' The monk said, 'Is this not the Reverend's ultimate place?' The Master said, 'Chan Master Rang of Nanyue.' Someone asked, 'The student has just entered the groves; I beg the Master to point it out.' The Master said, 'How long has the acharya been here?' The monk said, 'A winter and a summer already.' The Master said:

莫錯舉似人。問。有一人蕩盡來時。師還接否。師曰。蕩盡即置。那一人是誰。曰。風高月冷。師曰。僧堂內幾人坐臥。僧無對。師曰。賺殺老僧。問。如何是梵音相。師曰。驢鳴狗吠。乃曰。要得親切。第一莫將問來問。還會麼。問在答處。答在問處。汝若將問來問。老僧在汝腳底。汝若擬議。即沒交涉。時有僧出禮拜。師便打。僧便問。掛錫幽巖時如何。師曰。錯。僧曰。錯。師又打。問。如何是佛。師曰。新婦騎驢阿家牽。曰。未審此語甚麼句中收。師曰。三玄收不得。四句豈能該。曰。此意如何。師曰。天長地久。日月齊明。問。曹谿一句。天下人聞。未審和尚一句。甚麼人得聞。師曰。不出三門外。曰。為甚麼不出三門外。師曰。舉似天下人。問。如何是和尚不欺人底眼。師曰。看看冬到來。曰。究竟如何。師曰。即便春風至。問。遠聞和尚無絲可掛。及至到來。為甚麼有山可守。師曰。道甚麼。僧便喝。師亦喝。僧禮拜。師曰。放汝三十棒。次住廣教及寶應。三處法席。海眾常臻。淳化三年十二月四日午時。上堂說偈曰。今年六十七。老病隨緣且遣日。今年記卻來年事。來年記著今朝日。至四年。月日無爽前記。上堂辭眾。仍說偈曰。白銀世界金色身。情與非情共一真。明暗盡時俱不照。日輪午後示全身。言訖。安坐而逝。茶毗收舍利建塔。

(The Master continued:) 'Do not raise it wrongly to others.' Someone asked, 'When a man comes having swept away everything, does the Master still receive him?' The Master said, 'Swept away, set that aside. Who is that man?' The monk said, 'The wind is high and the moon is cold.' The Master said, 'How many are sitting and lying in the monks' hall?' The monk had no reply. The Master said, 'He cheats this old monk to death.' Someone asked, 'What is the mark of the Brahma voice?' The Master said, 'The braying of donkeys and the barking of dogs.' Then he said, 'If you want intimacy, first do not use the question to ask the question. Do you understand? The question lies in the answer, and the answer lies in the question. If you use the question to ask the question, this old monk is under your feet. If you deliberate, it has nothing to do with it.' Then a monk came forward and bowed. The Master then beat him. The monk then asked, 'What is it like when one hangs up one's staff in a secluded crag?' The Master said, 'Wrong.' The monk said, 'Wrong.' The Master beat him again. Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'A bride rides a donkey and her mother-in-law leads it.' The monk said, 'I wonder in which phrase these words are collected?' The Master said, 'The three mysteries cannot collect it; how could the four propositions contain it?' The monk said, 'What does this mean?' The Master said, 'Heaven is long and earth enduring; sun and moon shine together.' Someone asked, 'One phrase of Caoxi was heard by the whole world. I wonder who hears one phrase of the Reverend?' The Master said, 'It does not go beyond the triple gate.' The monk said, 'Why does it not go beyond the triple gate?' The Master said, 'Raise it to the whole world.' Someone asked, 'What is the eye of the Reverend that does not deceive people?' The Master said, 'Watch — winter is coming.' The monk said, 'After all, how is it?' The Master said, 'And then the spring wind arrives.' Someone asked, 'I have heard from afar that the Reverend has not a thread to hang on; now that I have come, why is there a mountain to guard?' The Master said, 'What did you say?' The monk then shouted. The Master also shouted. The monk bowed. The Master said, 'I let you off thirty blows.' Later he lived at Guangjiao and Baoying; at these three Dharma seats the ocean-like assembly constantly gathered. At noon on the fourth day of the twelfth month of the third year of Chunhua he ascended the hall and spoke a verse: 'This year I am sixty-seven; old and sick, I follow conditions and pass the days. This year I record next year's matter; next year I shall record today's date.' In the fourth year, the month and day matched his former record without error. He ascended the hall to take leave of the assembly and spoke another verse: 'A silver world and a golden body; sentient and insentient share one true. When light and dark are exhausted, neither shines; after noon the sun's wheel shows the whole body.' Having spoken, he sat at ease and passed away. After cremation his relics were collected and a stupa was built.

汝州廣慧真禪師

Chan Master Zhen of Guanghui in Ruzhou

甞在風穴作園頭。穴問曰。會昌沙汰時。護法善神向甚麼處去。師曰。常在闤闠中。要且無人識。穴曰。汝徹也。師禮拜。出世。開堂日。僧問。如何是廣慧境。師曰。小寺前。資慶後。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。杴𭺗钁子。

He once was the garden head under Fengxue. Fengxue asked, 'At the time of the Huichang persecution, where did the good spirits who protect the Dharma go?' The Master said, 'They are always in the market streets, and yet no one recognizes them.' Fengxue said, 'You have penetrated.' The Master bowed. He came out into the world. On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked, 'What is the realm of Guanghui?' The Master said, 'Before the small monastery, behind Ziqing.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'A spade and a hoe.'

鳳翔府長興院滿禪師

Chan Master Man of Changxing Monastery in Fengxiang Prefecture

僧問。如何是古佛道場。師曰。行便踏著。曰。踏著後如何。師曰。冰消瓦解。曰。為甚如此。師曰。城內君子。郭外小兒。問。大用現前時如何。師曰。閙市裡輥。

A monk asked, 'What is the place of the Way of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'Walk and you step on it.' The monk said, 'And after stepping on it?' The Master said, 'The ice melts and the tiles crumble.' The monk said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'A gentleman within the city, a small boy outside the wall.' Someone asked, 'What is it like when the great function is present before one?' The Master said, 'Rolling in the busy market.'

潭州靈泉院和尚

The Reverend of Lingquan Monastery in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是和尚活計。師曰。一物也無。曰。未審日用何物。師便喝。僧禮拜。師便打。問。先師道。金沙灘上馬郎婦。意旨如何。師曰。上東門外人無數。曰。便恁麼會時如何。師曰。天津橋上往來多。

A monk asked, 'What is the Reverend's livelihood?' The Master said, 'Not one thing.' The monk said, 'I wonder what you use day to day?' The Master then shouted. The monk bowed. The Master then beat him. Someone asked, 'My late teacher said, The horse-taming woman on the golden sand beach. What does that mean?' The Master said, 'Countless people outside the east gate.' The monk said, 'What if one understands it just like that?' The Master said, 'Many come and go on the Tianjin Bridge.'

南嶽下九世

The ninth generation below Nanyue

首山念禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Nian of Shoushan

汾州太子院善昭禪師

Chan Master Shanzhao of Taizi Monastery in Fenzhou

太原俞氏子。剃髮受具。杖䇿遊方。所至少留。隨機叩發。歷參知識七十一員。後到首山。問。百丈卷席。意旨如何。山曰。龍袖拂開全體現。曰。師意如何。山曰。象王行處絕狐蹤。師於言下大悟。拜起而曰。萬古碧潭空界月。再三撈摝始應知。有問者曰。見何道理。便爾自肯。師曰。正是我放身命處。後遊衡湘及襄沔間。每為郡守以名剎力致。前後八請。堅臥不答。洎首山歿。西河道俗遣僧契聰迎請住持。師閉關高枕。聰排闥而入。讓之曰。佛法大事。靖退小節。風穴懼應讖。憂宗旨墜滅。幸而有先師。先師已棄世。汝有力荷擔如來大法者。今何時而欲安眠哉。師矍起。握聰手曰。非公不聞此語。趣辦嚴。吾行矣。住後上堂。謂眾曰。汾陽門下有西河師子。當門踞坐。但有來者。即便齩殺。有何方便。入得汾陽門。見得汾陽人。若見汾陽人者。堪與祖佛為師。不見汾陽人。盡是立地死漢。如今還有人入得麼。快須入取。免得孤負平生。不是龍門客。切忌遭點額。那箇是龍門客。一齊點下。舉起拄杖曰。速退。速退。珍重。上堂。先聖雲。一句語須具三玄門。一玄門須具三要。阿那箇是三玄三要底句。快會取好。各自思量。還得穩當也未。古德已前行腳。聞一箇因緣。未明中間。直下飲食無味。睡臥不安。火急決擇。莫將為小事。所以大覺老人。為一大事因緣出現於世。想計他從上來行腳。不為遊山翫水。看州府奢華。片衣口食。皆為聖心未通。所以驅馳行腳。決擇深奧。傳唱敷揚。博問先知。親近高德。葢為續佛心燈。紹隆祖代。興崇聖種。接引後機。自利利他。不忘先跡。如今還有商量者麼。有即出來。大家商量。僧問。如何是接初機底句。師曰。汝是行腳僧。曰。如何是辯衲僧底句。師曰。西方日出卯。曰。如何是正令行底句。師曰。千里持來呈舊面。曰。如何是立乾坤底句。師曰。

He was a son of the Yu family of Taiyuan. He shaved his head and received full ordination. With his staff he wandered in search of the Way, rarely staying long wherever he went, questioning and awakening according to conditions. He studied under seventy-one good friends. Later he came to Shoushan and asked, 'Baizhang's rolling up of the mat — what does it mean?' Shoushan said, 'The dragon's sleeve brushes it open and the whole body appears.' The Master said, 'What is the Master's intent?' Shoushan said, 'Where the elephant king walks, the fox's tracks are cut off.' At these words the Master was greatly awakened, bowed and rose, saying, 'The moon in the empty realm above the ancient blue pool — only after fishing for it again and again should one know it.' Someone asked, 'What principle did you see, that you approve yourself like this?' The Master said, 'This is precisely where I lay down body and life.' Later he wandered in the regions of Heng and Xiang and Xiang and Mian, and was repeatedly pressed by the prefects with famous monasteries; eight times he was invited and eight times he lay firm and did not answer. When Shoushan passed away, the clergy and laity of Xihe sent the monk Qicong to welcome him to be abbot. The Master had shut himself in and slept soundly. Qicong pushed open the door and entered, and reproached him: 'The great matter of the Buddha Dharma is the great matter; quiet retirement is a minor point. Fengxue feared the prophecy would come true and grieved that the school's purport would fall into ruin. Fortunately there was the late master, and the late master has already left the world. You are a man with the strength to shoulder the Tathagata's great Dharma — what time is this, and you still want to sleep peacefully?' The Master started up and, grasping Qicong's hand, said, 'Were it not for you, I would not hear these words. Hurry and prepare the travel gear; I am going.' After he became abbot he ascended the hall and said to the assembly, 'Below the gate of Fenyang there is a lion of Xihe, crouching at the gate; whoever comes, it at once bites to death. By what expedient can one enter the gate of Fenyang and see the man of Fenyang? One who sees the man of Fenyang is fit to be the teacher of Ancestors and Buddhas. One who does not see the man of Fenyang is a dead man standing on the ground. Is there anyone who can enter now? You must enter quickly, lest you betray your whole life. One who is not a guest of the dragon gate — above all do not let your forehead be dotted. Who is a guest of the dragon gate? All are dotted.' He raised his staff and said, 'Withdraw quickly, withdraw quickly. Take care.' Ascending the hall: 'The former sages said that one phrase must contain the three mysterious gates, and one mysterious gate must contain the three essentials. Which is the phrase of the three mysteries and three essentials? Understand it quickly. Have you each thought it over and got it firmly? The ancient worthies, when on pilgrimage in former times, on hearing a story and not understanding it in the middle, would straightway find their food tasteless and their sleep uneasy, and hurry to decide it — do not treat it as a small matter. Therefore the great venerable one appeared in the world for one great matter and cause. Consider that his pilgrimage from of old was not for touring mountains and enjoying waters, or viewing the luxury of prefectures, or a piece of clothing and a mouthful of food — it was all because the sage's mind was not yet penetrated. Therefore he drove himself on pilgrimage, to decide the deep and profound, to transmit, sing and spread it, to question the wise widely, and to draw near to men of high virtue — all to continue the Buddha's lamp of mind, to make the Ancestors' line flourish, to prosper the sage's seed, to guide later capacities, to benefit self and others, and not to forget the traces of the forebears. Is there anyone now who would discuss it? If so, come forward and let us all discuss it.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that receives beginners?' The Master said, 'You are a pilgrim monk.' The monk said, 'What is the phrase that discerns a monk?' The Master said, 'In the west the sun rises at the mao hour.' The monk said, 'What is the phrase that carries out the correct command?' The Master said, 'Brought a thousand li to show the old face.' The monk said, 'What is the phrase that establishes heaven and earth?' The Master said:

北俱盧洲長粳米。食者無貪亦無瞋。乃曰。將此四轉語驗天下衲僧。才見你出來。驗得了也。問。如何是學人著力處。師曰。嘉州打大像。曰。如何是學人轉身處。師曰。陝府灌鐵牛。曰。如何是學人親切處。師曰。西河弄師子。乃曰。若人會得此三句。已辯三玄。更有三要語在。切須薦取。不是等閑。與大眾頌出。三玄三要事難分。得意忘言道易親。一句明明該萬象。重陽九日菊花新。師為並汾苦寒。乃罷夜參。有異比丘振錫而至。謂師曰。會中有大士六人。奈何不說法。言訖而去。師密記以偈曰。胡僧金錫光。為法到汾陽。六人成大器。勸請為敷揚。上堂。凡一句語須具三玄門。每一玄門須具三要。有照有用。或先照後用。或先用後照。或照用同時。或照用不同時。先照後用。且要共你商量。先用後照。你也須是箇人始得。照用同時。你作麼生當抵。照用不同時。你又作麼生湊泊。僧問。如何是大道之源。師曰。掘地覓天。曰。何得如此。師曰。不識幽玄。問。如何是賓中賓。師曰。合掌菴前問世尊。曰。如何是賓中主。師曰。對面無儔侶。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。陣雲橫海上。㧞劒攪龍門。曰。如何是主中主。師曰。三頭六臂擎天地。忿怒那吒撲帝鐘。上堂。汾陽有三訣。衲僧難辯別。更擬問如何。拄杖驀頭楔。時有僧問。如何是三訣。師便打。僧禮拜。師曰。為汝一時頌出。第一訣。接引無時節。巧語不能詮。雲綻青天月。第二訣。舒光辯賢哲。問答利生心。拔卻眼中楔。第三訣。西國胡人說。濟水過新羅。北地用鑌鐵。復曰。還有人會麼。會底出來通箇消息。要知遠近。莫祇恁麼記言記語。以當平生。有甚麼利益。不用久立。珍重。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。青絹扇子足風涼。問。布鼓當軒掛。誰是知音者。師曰。停鉏傾麥飯。臥草不擡頭。問。如何是道場。師曰。下腳不得。問。

(The Master continued:) 'In Uttarakuru the long-grained rice grows; those who eat it have neither greed nor anger.' Then he said, 'With these four turning phrases I test the monks of the world. As soon as I see you come forward, the testing is done.' Someone asked, 'Where does the student apply his effort?' The Master said, 'Beating the great image at Jiazhou.' The monk said, 'Where does the student turn around?' The Master said, 'Pouring an iron ox at Shanfu.' The monk said, 'Where is the student's intimate place?' The Master said, 'Playing the lion at Xihe.' Then he said, 'If one understands these three phrases, one has already discerned the three mysteries; there are still the words of the three essentials. You must awaken to them — it is no idle matter. Let me chant them out for the assembly: The three mysteries and three essentials are hard to divide; attaining the intent and forgetting the words, the Way is easily intimate. One phrase clearly covers the myriad things; on the ninth day of the ninth month the chrysanthemums are new.' Because Bing and Fen were bitterly cold, the Master discontinued the night study. A strange bhiksu came shaking his staff and said to the Master, 'In your assembly there are six great beings — why do you not expound the Dharma?' Having spoken, he left. The Master secretly noted it and made a verse: 'The Indian monk's golden staff shines; for the Dharma he came to Fenyang. Six men will become great vessels; I urge you to expound it for them.' Ascending the hall: 'Every phrase must contain the three mysterious gates, and each mysterious gate must contain the three essentials. There is illuminating and there is functioning. Sometimes one illumines first and functions after; sometimes one functions first and illumines after; sometimes illumining and functioning are simultaneous; sometimes illumining and functioning are not simultaneous. When illumining first and functioning after, I must discuss it with you. When functioning first and illumining after, you too must be a man before you can. When illumining and functioning are simultaneous, how will you withstand it? When illumining and functioning are not simultaneous, how will you draw near to it?' A monk asked, 'What is the source of the great Way?' The Master said, 'Digging the ground to seek heaven.' The monk said, 'How can it be like that?' The Master said, 'You do not know the hidden mystery.' Someone asked, 'What is the guest within the guest?' The Master said, 'With palms joined before the hermitage, ask the World-Honored One.' The monk said, 'What is the host within the guest?' The Master said, 'Facing him, there is no companion.' The monk said, 'What is the guest within the host?' The Master said, 'Battle clouds stretch across the sea; drawing the sword, he stirs the dragon gate.' The monk said, 'What is the host within the host?' The Master said, 'Three heads and six arms holding up heaven and earth; the wrathful Nata strikes the emperor's bell.' Ascending the hall: 'Fenyang has three essentials; monks find them hard to discern. If you try to ask what they are, the staff comes down on your head.' Then a monk asked, 'What are the three essentials?' The Master then beat him. The monk bowed. The Master said, 'I will chant them all out for you. The first essential: receiving people has no fixed season. Clever words cannot expound it; the clouds part and the blue sky has a moon. The second essential: spreading light, it discerns the worthy and the wise. Question and answer benefit the living mind; it pulls out the wedge from the eye. The third essential: the Indian of the western land speaks of it. The Ji River flows past Silla; in the north they use wrought iron.' He also said, 'Does anyone understand? Let the one who understands come forward and send back a word. One must know the near and the far. Do not merely record words and phrases this way and take that for your whole life. What benefit is there? You need not stand long. Take care.' A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A blue silk fan is quite cool in the wind.' Someone asked, 'A cloth drum hangs at the carriage front — who is the one who knows the tune?' The Master said, 'He sets aside his hoe and pours out the wheat meal; lying in the grass he does not raise his head.' Someone asked, 'What is the place of the Way?' The Master said, 'You cannot set your foot down.' Someone asked:

如何是祖師西來意。師曰。徹骨徹髓。曰。此意如何。師曰。徧天徧地。問。真正修道人。不見世間過。未審不見箇甚麼過。師曰。雪埋夜月深三尺。陸地行舟萬里程。曰。和尚是何心行。師曰。卻是你心行。問。大悲千手眼。如何是正眼。師曰。瞎。曰。恁麼則一條拄杖兩人舁。師曰。三家村裡唱巴歌。曰。恁麼則和尚同在裡頭。師曰。謝汝慇懃。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。三玄開正道。一句破邪宗。曰。如何是和尚活計。師曰。尋常不掌握。供養五湖僧。曰。未審吃箇甚麼。師曰。天酥陀飯非珍饌。一味良羹飽即休。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。新神更著師婆賽。曰。見後如何。師曰。古廟重遭措大題。上堂。謂眾曰。夫說法者。須具十智同真。若不具十智同真。邪正不辯。緇素不分。不能與人天為眼目。決斷是非。如鳥飛空而折翼。如箭射的而斷弦。弦斷故射的不中。翼折故空不可飛。弦壯翼牢。空的俱徹。作麼生是十智同真。與諸上座點出。一同一質。二同大事。三總同參。四同真志。五同徧普。六同具足。七同得失。八同生殺。九同音吼。十同得入。又曰。與甚麼人同得入。與阿誰同音吼。作麼生是同生殺。甚麼物同得失。阿那箇同具足。是甚麼同徧普。何人同真志。孰能總同參。那箇同大事。何物同一質。有點得出底麼。點得出者不悋慈悲。點不出來。未有參學眼在。切須辯取。要識是非。面目見在。不可久立。珍重。龍德府尹李侯與師有舊。虗承天寺致之。使三反不赴。使者受罰。復至曰。必欲得師俱往。不然有死而已。師笑曰。老病業已不出山。借往當先後之。何必俱邪。使曰。師諾。則先後唯所擇。師令饌設。且俶裝曰。吾先行矣。停箸而化。闍維收舍利起塔。

(The monk continued asking:) 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'To the bone and to the marrow.' The monk said, 'What does this mean?' The Master said, 'Filling heaven and covering earth.' Someone asked, 'A truly cultivated man of the Way does not see the faults of the world. I wonder what fault he does not see?' The Master said, 'Snow buries the night moon three feet deep; on dry land a boat travels ten thousand li.' The monk said, 'What is the Reverend's mind and conduct?' The Master said, 'It is your mind and conduct.' Someone asked, 'The Great Compassionate One has a thousand hands and eyes — which is the correct eye?' The Master said, 'Blind.' The monk said, 'If so, then one staff is carried by two men.' The Master said, 'Singing folk songs in a hamlet of three households.' The monk said, 'If so, then the Reverend is among them.' The Master said, 'Thank you for your earnestness.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'The three mysteries open the correct road; one phrase breaks the heterodox school.' The monk said, 'What is the Reverend's livelihood?' The Master said, 'Ordinarily I do not hold it in my hand; I offer it to the monks of the five lakes.' The monk said, 'I wonder what you eat?' The Master said, 'Heavenly nectar rice is no rare dish; one taste of good soup and one is full.' Someone asked, 'What was it like when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor?' The Master said, 'A new god gets a shamaness to make offerings.' The monk said, 'And after he met him?' The Master said, 'An old shrine again suffers the great inscription of praise.' Ascending the hall, he said to the assembly, 'One who expounds the Dharma must possess the ten wisdoms and be the same as the true. If one does not possess the ten wisdoms and the same as the true, one cannot discern the false from the true, nor the black-robed from the white-robed, nor be eyes for men and gods, nor decide right and wrong. Such a one is like a bird that flies in the sky with broken wings, or an arrow shot at a target with a cut string. Because the string is cut, the arrow does not hit the target; because the wings are broken, the sky cannot be flown. When the string is strong and the wings firm, the target and the sky are both penetrated. What are the ten wisdoms and the same as the true? Let me point them out for you worthies. First, the same substance. Second, the same great matter. Third, all the same study. Fourth, the same true resolve. Fifth, the same universality. Sixth, the same completeness. Seventh, the same gain and loss. Eighth, the same life and death. Ninth, the same sound and roar. Tenth, the same entry.' He also said, 'With whom does one enter together? With whom does one roar together? How is one the same in life and death? What thing is the same in gain and loss? Which is the same in completeness? What is the same in universality? Who is the same in true resolve? Who can be all the same in study? Which is the same in the great matter? What thing is the same in substance? Is there anyone who can point them out? One who can point them out — I will not begrudge compassion. One who cannot — he has no eye of study yet. You must discern them. If you would know right from wrong, the face is right before you. You cannot stand long. Take care.' Prefect Li of Longde Prefecture was an old friend of the Master, and left the seat of Chengtian Monastery vacant to invite him. The envoy went back and forth three times and the Master did not go. The envoy was punished and came again, saying, 'I must bring the Master back with me, or else there is only death.' The Master laughed and said, 'Old and sick, I have long since not left the mountain. And if I were to go, there must be a first and a last — why go all together?' The envoy said, 'If the Master consents, then the order is for you to choose.' The Master had a meal prepared and also packed his travel gear, saying, 'I will go first.' He put down his chopsticks and passed away. After cremation his relics were collected and a stupa was built.

汝州葉縣廣教院歸省禪師

Chan Master Guisheng of Guangjiao Monastery in Yexian, Ruzhou

冀州賈氏子。弱冠依易州保壽院出家。受具後遊方。參首山。山一日舉竹篦。問曰。喚作竹篦即觸。不喚作竹篦即背。喚作甚麼。師掣得擲地上曰。是甚麼。山曰。瞎。師於言下。豁然頓悟。開堂。僧問。祖祖相傳傳祖印。師今得法嗣何人。師曰。寰中天子。塞外將軍。曰。汝海一滴蒙師指。向上宗風事若何。師曰。高祖殿前樊噲怒。須知萬裡絕煙塵。問。維摩丈室不以日月為明。和尚丈室以何為明。師曰。眉分八字。曰。未審意旨如何。師曰。雙耳垂肩。問。如何是超師之作。師曰。老僧眉毛長多少。問。如何是塵中獨露身。師曰。塞北千人帳。江南萬斛船。曰。恁麼即非塵也。師曰。學語之流。一札萬行。問。如何是和尚深深處。師曰。貓有歃血之功。虎有起屍之德。曰。莫便是也無。師曰。碓擣東南。磨推西北。問。如何是金剛不壞身。師曰。百雜碎。曰。意旨如何。師曰。終是一堆灰。問。不落諸緣。請師便道。師曰。落。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。廁坑頭籌子。問。如何是戒定慧。師曰。破傢俱。師一日陞座。僧問。才上法堂來時如何。師拍禪床一下。僧曰。未審此意如何。師曰。無人過價。打與三百。問。忽遇大闡提人來。還相為也無。師曰。法久成弊。曰。慈悲何在。師曰。年老成魔。上堂。宗師血脈。或凡或聖。龍樹馬鳴。天堂地獄。鑊湯爐炭。牛頭獄卒。森羅萬象。日月星辰。他方此土。有情無情。以手畫一畫雲。俱入此宗。此宗門中。亦能殺人。亦能活人。殺人須得殺人刀。活人須得活人句。作麼生是殺人刀．活人句。道得底。出來對眾道看。若道不得。即孤負平生。珍重。問。如何是和尚四無量心。師曰。放火殺人。曰。慈悲何在。師曰。遇明眼人舉似。問。不在內。不在外。不在中間。未審在甚麼處。師曰。南斗六。北斗七。問。如何是毗盧師法身主。師曰。僧排夏臘。

He was a son of the Jia family of Jizhou. At twenty he left home under Baoshou Monastery in Yizhou. After receiving full ordination he wandered in search of the Way and studied under Shoushan. One day Shoushan raised a bamboo comb and asked, 'To call it a bamboo comb is to touch it; not to call it a bamboo comb is to turn away from it. What do you call it?' The Master snatched it and threw it on the ground, saying, 'What is it?' Shoushan said, 'Blind.' At these words the Master was suddenly and completely awakened. He opened the hall. A monk asked, 'Ancestor after Ancestor transmitted the Ancestor's seal — from whom has the Master obtained the Dharma and succeeded?' The Master said, 'The Son of Heaven within the realm, the general beyond the passes.' The monk said, 'One drop from the Ru Sea has been pointed out by the Master; what of the ancestral school above?' The Master said, 'Before the hall of the High Ancestor Fan Kuai rages — know that for ten thousand li the smoke and dust are cut off.' Someone asked, 'Vimalakirti's ten-foot room did not take the sun and moon for light; what does the Reverend's ten-foot room take for light?' The Master said, 'The eyebrows part into the character for eight.' The monk said, 'I wonder what the meaning is?' The Master said, 'Both ears hang to the shoulders.' Someone asked, 'What is a work that surpasses the teacher?' The Master said, 'How long are this old monk's eyebrows?' Someone asked, 'What is it to be alone exposed amid the dust?' The Master said, 'North of the passes, a thousand men's tents; south of the river, ten thousand measures of boats.' The monk said, 'If so, then it is not dust.' The Master said, 'For those who study words, one slip covers ten thousand lines.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's deep deep place?' The Master said, 'The cat has the merit of blood-smearing, the tiger has the virtue of raising the dead.' The monk said, 'Is this not just it?' The Master said, 'The pestle pounds southeast, the mill turns northwest.' Someone asked, 'What is the vajra indestructible body?' The Master said, 'Broken into a hundred pieces.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'In the end a heap of ashes.' Someone asked, 'Not falling into any condition — please, Master, say it right off.' The Master said, 'It falls.' Someone asked, 'What is the pure dharma body?' The Master said, 'The tally stick at the latrine pit.' Someone asked, 'What are precepts, concentration and wisdom?' The Master said, 'Broken furniture.' One day the Master ascended the seat. A monk asked, 'What of one who has just come up to the Dharma hall?' The Master rapped the corded chair once. The monk said, 'I wonder what this means?' The Master said, 'No one bids a price — give him three hundred.' Someone asked, 'If an icchantika suddenly comes, will you still act for him?' The Master said, 'When the Dharma lasts long it turns into a fault.' The monk said, 'Where is the compassion?' The Master said, 'When one is old, one turns into a demon.' Ascending the hall: 'The bloodline of the school masters — ordinary or sage, Nagarjuna and Asvaghosa, heaven and hell, boiling caldrons and furnace coals, ox-headed jailers, the teeming myriad things, sun, moon and stars, other lands and this land, sentient and insentient —' he drew a line with his hand and said, '— all enter this school. Within the gate of this school one can kill people and one can bring people to life. To kill people one must have the knife that kills; to bring people to life one must have the phrase that brings to life. What is the knife that kills and the phrase that brings to life? Let the one who can say it come forward and speak before the assembly. If you cannot say it, you betray your whole life. Take care.' Someone asked, 'What are the Reverend's four immeasurable minds?' The Master said, 'Setting fires and killing people.' The monk said, 'Where is the compassion?' The Master said, 'Raise it before a clear-eyed man.' Someone asked, 'Not inside, not outside, not in between — I wonder where it is?' The Master said, 'Six in the Southern Dipper, seven in the Northern Dipper.' Someone asked, 'What is Vairocana's teacher and the lord of the dharma body?' The Master said, 'Monks are ranked by summer seniority,'

俗列耆年。曰。向上更有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。萬裡崖州君自去。臨行惆悵怨他誰。上堂。良久曰。夫行腳禪流。直須著忖。參學須具參學眼。見地須得見地句。方有相親分。始得不被諸境惑。亦不落於惡道。畢竟如何委悉。有時句到意不到。妄緣前塵。分別影事。有時意到句不到。如盲摸象。各說異端。有時意句俱到。打破虗空界。光明照十方。有時意句俱不到。無目之人縱橫走。忽然不覺落深坑。問。如何是古今無異路。師曰。俗人盡褁頭。曰。意旨如何。師曰。闍黎無席帽。問。己事未明。以何為驗。師曰。閙市裡打靜槌。曰。意旨如何。師曰。日午點金燈。問。布鼓當軒擊。誰是知音者。師曰。眼中有澁釘。曰。未審此意如何。師曰。喬翁賽南神。僧請益栢樹子話。師曰。我不辭與汝說。還信麼。曰。和尚重言。爭敢不信。師曰。汝還聞簷頭水滴聲麼。其僧豁然。不覺失聲雲。㖿。師曰。你見箇甚麼道理。僧便以頌對曰。簷頭水滴。分明歷歷。打破乾坤。當下心息。師乃忻然。問僧。日暮投林。朝離何處。曰。新戒不曾學禪。師曰。生身入地獄。下去後。有僧舉到智門寬和尚處。門曰。何不道鎻匙在和尚手裡。師因去將息寮看病僧。僧乃問曰。和尚。四大本空。病從何來。師曰。從闍黎問處來。僧喘氣。又問曰。不問時如何。師曰。撒手臥長空。僧曰。㖿。便脫去。

(The Master continued:) '...and laymen are listed by age.' The monk said, 'Is there still a matter above?' The Master said, 'There is.' The monk said, 'What is the matter above?' The Master said, 'To Yazhou ten thousand li away you go yourself; at parting, in melancholy, whom do you blame?' Ascending the hall, after a long while he said, 'You pilgrims of Chan, you must ponder. To study you must have the eye of study; to have insight you must have the phrase of insight — only then is there a share of intimacy, and only then are you not deluded by the various realms, nor do you fall into evil paths. But after all, how are you to understand it? Sometimes the phrase arrives but the meaning does not: deluded conditions and former dusts, the shadows of discrimination. Sometimes the meaning arrives but the phrase does not: like the blind men feeling the elephant, each telling a different version. Sometimes both meaning and phrase arrive: breaking open the empty space of the realm, the light shines through the ten directions. Sometimes neither meaning nor phrase arrives: a man without eyes runs about at random and suddenly, unwitting, falls into a deep pit.' Someone asked, 'What is the road that is without difference in ancient and present?' The Master said, 'Laymen all wrap their heads.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'The acharya has no matted hat.' Someone asked, 'My own matter is not yet clear — by what is it tested?' The Master said, 'Striking the stillness gavel in the busy market.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'At noon lighting the golden lamp.' Someone asked, 'A cloth drum beats at the carriage front — who is the one who knows the tune?' The Master said, 'There is a gritty nail in the eye.' The monk said, 'I wonder what this means?' The Master said, 'Old Man Qiao makes offerings to the southern god.' The monk asked for instruction on the story of the cypress tree. The Master said, 'I do not shrink from telling you — do you believe it?' The monk said, 'The Reverend's words are weighty — how dare I not believe?' The Master said, 'Do you still hear the sound of water dripping from the eaves?' That monk was suddenly awakened, and unwittingly cried out, 'Ah!' The Master said, 'What principle have you seen?' The monk then answered with a verse: 'Water drips from the eaves, clearly and distinctly. Heaven and earth are broken open; on the spot the mind rests.' The Master was delighted. He asked a monk, 'At dusk you go to the forest — at dawn you leave, from where?' The monk said, 'A new ordinand who has never studied Chan.' The Master said, 'You will enter hell with this body.' After he had gone down, a monk brought this up to the Reverend Kuan of Zhimen. Zhimen said, 'Why did he not say that the key is in the Reverend's hand?' The Master then went to the infirmary to visit a sick monk. The monk asked him, 'Reverend, the four elements are originally empty — where does the illness come from?' The Master said, 'It comes from where you ask.' The monk panted and asked again, 'And when one does not ask?' The Master said, 'Let go and lie in the long sky.' The monk said, 'Ah!' and then passed away.

潭州神鼎洪諲禪師

Chan Master Hongyin of Shending in Tanzhou

襄水扈氏子。自遊方。一衲以度寒暑。甞與數耆宿至襄沔間。一僧舉論宗乘。頗敏捷。會野飯山店中。供辦而僧論說不已。師曰。三界唯心。萬法唯識。唯識唯心。眼聲耳色。是甚麼人語。僧曰。法眼語。師曰。其義如何。曰。唯心故根境不相到。唯識故聲色摐然。師曰。舌味是根境否。曰。是。師以筯筴菜置口中。含胡而語曰。何謂相入邪。坐者駭然。僧不能答。師曰。途路之樂。終未到家。見解入微。不名見道。參須實參。悟須實悟。閻羅大王。不怕多語。僧拱而退。後反長沙。隱于衡嶽三生藏。有湘陰豪貴。來遊福嚴。即師之室。見其氣貌閑靜。一缽掛壁。餘無長物。傾愛之。遂拜跪。請曰。神鼎乃我家植福之地。久乏宗匠。願師俱往。何如。師笑而諾之。即以己馬負師至。十年始成叢席。一朽床為說法座。其甘枯淡無比。又以德臘俱高。諸方尊之。如古趙州。僧問。諸法未聞時如何。師曰。風蕭蕭。雨颯颯。曰。聞後如何。師曰。領話好。問。魚鼓未鳴時如何。師曰。看天看地。曰。鳴後如何。師曰。捧缽上堂。問。古㵎寒泉時如何。師曰。不是衲僧行履處。曰。如何是衲僧行履處。師曰。不見有古㵎寒泉。問。兩手獻尊堂時如何。師曰。是甚麼。問。學人到寶山。空手回時如何。師曰。臘月三十日。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。飢不擇食。問。如何是和尚為人句。師曰。拈柴擇菜。曰。莫祇這便是也無。師曰。更須子細。問。撥塵見佛時如何。師曰。佛亦是塵。問。如何是道人活計。師曰。山僧自小不曾入學堂。官人指木魚問。這箇是甚麼。師曰。驚回多少瞌睡人。官曰。洎不到此間。師曰。無心打無心。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。灰頭土面。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。爭怪得山僧。曰。未審法身向上還有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。毗盧頂上金冠子。問。菩提本無樹。

He was a son of the Hu family of Xiangshui. From the time he began his pilgrimage, he wore a single robe through cold and heat. Once he went with several venerable elders to the Xiang and Mian region, and one monk brought up a discussion of the ancestral vehicle with considerable sharpness. It happened that they were eating a rustic meal at a mountain inn, and even after the food was served that monk would not stop arguing. The Master said, 'The three realms are mind only; the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only. Mind only and consciousness only — the eye is sound and the ear is form. Whose words are these?' The monk said, 'Fayan's words.' The Master said, 'What is their meaning?' The monk said, 'Because it is mind only, the faculties and their objects do not reach each other; because it is consciousness only, sounds and forms clash.' The Master said, 'Is the taste on the tongue a faculty and object?' The monk said, 'It is.' The Master picked up a morsel of food with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and said indistinctly, 'What do you mean they do not enter each other?' Everyone present was startled. The monk could not answer. The Master said, 'The pleasures of the road never reach home. Insight entering the subtle is not yet called seeing the Way. Study must be true study; awakening must be true awakening. King Yama is not afraid of much talk.' The monk cupped his hands and withdrew. Later he returned to Changsha and hid at the Three Lives Storehouse in Mount Heng. A wealthy man of Xiangyin came to visit Fuyan, and entering the Master's room, saw that his bearing was quiet and at ease, with a single bowl hanging on the wall and nothing else besides, and was wholly taken with him. He knelt and bowed and said, 'Shending is my family's field for planting blessings, and it has long lacked a master craftsman. Would the Reverend come with me?' The Master laughed and agreed. Then he had the Master carried there on his own horse. After ten years it became a full assembly. A single rotted bed served as the Dharma seat, and he was content with a dryness and plainness beyond compare. And because his virtue and his seniority in ordination were both high, all quarters honored him as they did the ancient Zhaozhou. A monk asked, 'What was it like before the dharmas were heard?' The Master said, 'The wind sighs and the rain rustles.' The monk said, 'And after they are heard?' The Master said, 'Accept the words.' Someone asked, 'What was it like before the fish drum sounded?' The Master said, 'Look at the sky, look at the earth.' The monk said, 'And after it sounds?' The Master said, 'Take up your bowl and go up to the hall.' Someone asked, 'What about the cold spring in the ancient ravine?' The Master said, 'It is not where a monk walks.' The monk said, 'What is where a monk walks?' The Master said, 'He does not see any cold spring in an ancient ravine.' Someone asked, 'What about offering both hands to the honored hall?' The Master said, 'What is it?' Someone asked, 'What about the student who reaches the jewel mountain and returns empty-handed?' The Master said, 'The thirtieth day of the twelfth month.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'When hungry, one does not choose one's food.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's phrase for the sake of others?' The Master said, 'Picking up firewood and sorting vegetables.' The monk said, 'Is this not just it?' The Master said, 'Look more carefully.' Someone asked, 'What about brushing away dust and seeing the Buddha?' The Master said, 'The Buddha is also dust.' Someone asked, 'What is the livelihood of a man of the Way?' The Master said, 'This mountain monk has never entered a schoolroom since childhood.' An official pointed at the wooden fish and asked, 'What is this?' The Master said, 'It has startled awake how many drowsy people.' The official said, 'I almost did not reach this place.' The Master said, 'No mind strikes no mind.' Someone asked, 'What is the pure dharma body?' The Master said, 'Ashen head and earthen face.' The monk said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'How can this mountain monk be blamed?' The monk said, 'I wonder whether there is still a matter above the dharma body?' The Master said, 'There is.' The monk said, 'What is the matter above?' The Master said, 'The golden crown on Vairocana's head.' Someone asked, 'Bodhi is originally no tree,'

何處得子來。師曰。喚作無。得麼。問。持地菩薩修路等佛。和尚修橋等何人。師曰。近後。問。和尚未見先德時如何。師曰。東行西行。曰。見後如何。師曰。橫擔拄杖。上堂。舉洞山曰。貪瞋痴。太無知。賴我今朝識得伊。行便打。坐便槌。分付心王子細推。無量劫來不解脫。問汝三人知不知。師曰。古人與麼道。神鼎則不然。貪瞋痴。實無知。十二時中任從伊。行即往。坐即隨。分付心王擬何為。無量劫來元解脫。何須更問知不知。

(The monk continued asking:) '...where did the seed come from?' The Master said, 'If one calls it nothing, does that do?' Someone asked, 'The Bodhisattva of Holding the Earth built roads to equal the Buddha — what does the Reverend build bridges to equal?' The Master said, 'Come closer.' Someone asked, 'What was the Reverend like before he met the former worthies?' The Master said, 'Going east, going west.' The monk said, 'And after meeting them?' The Master said, 'Carrying his staff across his shoulder.' Ascending the hall, he brought up Dongshan's words: 'Greed, anger and delusion are too unknowing. Thanks to me today I recognize them. When they walk I beat them; when they sit I pound them. I hand them to the mind king to examine closely. For immeasurable kalpas they have not been freed — I ask you three, do you know or not?' The Master said, 'The ancients spoke like that; Shending is not so. Greed, anger and delusion are truly unknowing. Throughout the twelve hours let them be. When they walk, let them go; when they sit, let them follow. What is the mind king to do with them? For immeasurable kalpas they have been free from the start — why ask again whether one knows or not?'

襄州谷隱山蘊聰慈照禪師

Chan Master Yuncong Cizhao of Guyin Mountain in Xiangzhou

初參百丈恆和尚。因結夏。百丈上堂。舉中觀論曰。正覺無名相。隨緣即道場。師便出問。如何是正覺無名相。丈曰。汝還見露柱麼。師曰。如何是隨緣即道場。丈曰。今日結夏。次參首山。問。學人親到寶山。空手回時如何。山曰。家家門前火把子。師於言下大悟。呈偈曰。我今二十七。訪道曾尋覓。今朝喜得逢。要且不相識。後到大陽。玄和尚問。近離甚處。師曰。襄州。陽曰。作麼生是不隔底句。師曰。和尚住持不易。陽曰。且坐吃茶。師便參眾去。侍者問。適來新到。祇對住持不易。和尚為甚麼教坐吃茶。陽曰。我獻他新羅附子。他酬我舶上茴香。你去問。他有語在。侍者請師吃茶。問。適來祇對和尚。道住持不易。意旨如何。師曰。真鍮不博金。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。邛州多出九節杖。曰。謝師指示。師曰。且莫作答佛話會。卻問。來時無物去時空。二路俱迷。如何得不迷去。師曰。秤頭半斤。秤尾八兩。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。踏著秤錘硬似鐵。曰。意旨如何。師曰。明日向汝道。問。青山淥水即不問。急切一句作麼生道。師曰。手過膝。耳垂肩。問。如何是道。師曰。車碾馬踏。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。橫眠竪坐。問。日往月來遷。不覺年衰老。還有不老者麼。師曰。有。曰。如何是不老者。師曰。虯龍筋力高聲呌。晚後精靈轉更多。問。如何是學人深深處。師曰。烏龜水底深藏穴。曰。未審其中事若何。師曰。路上行人莫與知。問。古人索火。意旨如何。師曰。任他滅。曰。滅後如何。師曰。初三十一。因作清涼河堰。僧問。忽遇洪水滔天。還堰得也無。師曰。上拄天。下拄地。曰。劫火洞然。又作麼生。師曰。橫出竪沒。問。深山巖崖中還有佛法也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是深山巖崖中佛法。師曰。奇怪石頭形似虎。火燒松樹勢如龍。問。古人道。見色便見心。露柱是色。

He first studied under the Reverend Heng of Baizhang. Because of the summer retreat, Baizhang ascended the hall and brought up the Madhyamaka Treatise: 'Correct enlightenment has no name or mark; following conditions is the place of the Way.' The Master then came forward and asked, 'What is correct enlightenment without name or mark?' Baizhang said, 'Do you see the exposed pillar?' The Master said, 'What is following conditions is the place of the Way?' Baizhang said, 'Today we begin the summer retreat.' Then he studied under Shoushan and asked, 'The student has personally reached the jewel mountain and returns empty-handed — what then?' Shoushan said, 'A torch before every household.' At these words the Master was greatly awakened, and presented a verse: 'I am now twenty-seven, seeking the Way and searching. Today I am glad to meet him, and yet I do not know him.' Later he went to Dayang, and the Reverend Xuan asked, 'Where have you just come from?' The Master said, 'Xiangzhou.' Dayang said, 'What is the phrase that is not separated?' The Master said, 'It is not easy for the Reverend to be abbot.' Dayang said, 'Sit a while and drink tea.' The Master then went to study with the assembly. The attendant asked, 'Just now the newcomer answered "not easy to be abbot" — why did the Reverend have him sit and drink tea?' Dayang said, 'I offered him Silla aconite, and he repaid me with fennel from a sea ship. Go and ask him; he has words.' The attendant invited the Master to tea and asked, 'Just now you answered the Reverend that it is not easy to be abbot — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'True brass does not exchange for gold.' After he became abbot, a monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Yongzhou produces many nine-jointed staffs.' The monk said, 'Thank you, Master, for pointing it out.' The Master said, 'Do not take it as the Buddha-talk understanding.' He then asked, 'Coming with nothing and going empty, both roads are deluded — how does one avoid delusion?' The Master said, 'Half a catty at the head of the scale, eight ounces at the tail.' Someone asked, 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'Step on the scale weight and it is hard as iron.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'I will tell you tomorrow.' Someone asked, 'I do not ask about green mountains and clear waters; how does one speak the urgent phrase?' The Master said, 'Hands past the knees, ears to the shoulders.' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'Carts crush it and horses tread it.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the Way?' The Master said, 'Lying crosswise and sitting upright.' Someone asked, 'Days go and months come, and one does not notice the years aging. Is there one who does not age?' The Master said, 'There is.' The monk said, 'What is the one who does not age?' The Master said, 'The dragon's sinews are strong and it cries aloud; in the evening its spirit is still more abundant.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's deep deep place?' The Master said, 'The turtle hides deep in a hole at the bottom of the water.' The monk said, 'I wonder how the matter is within?' The Master said, 'Let no traveler on the road know of it.' Someone asked, 'The ancients asked for fire — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'Let it go out.' The monk said, 'And after it is out?' The Master said, 'The first and the thirty-first.' Because he was building the Qingliang River weir, a monk asked, 'If a flood suddenly overwhelms the sky, can you still dam it?' The Master said, 'It props up heaven above and earth below.' The monk said, 'And when the kalpa fire burns, what then?' The Master said, 'Coming out crosswise and sinking upright.' Someone asked, 'In deep mountains and sheer crags, is there Buddha Dharma or not?' The Master said, 'There is.' The monk said, 'What is the Buddha Dharma in deep mountains and sheer crags?' The Master said, 'Strange rocks shaped like tigers, burnt pines with the posture of dragons.' Someone asked, 'The ancients said, seeing form one sees the mind. The exposed pillar is form —'

那箇是心。師曰。晝見簸箕星。曰。意旨如何。師曰。柳營節級橫階上。問。如何是道。師曰。善犬帶牌。曰。為甚如此。師曰。令人懼見。上堂。十五日已前諸佛生。十五日已後諸佛滅。十五日已前諸佛生。你不得離我這裡。若離我這裡。我有鉤子鉤你。十五日已後諸佛滅。你不得住我這裡。若住我這裡。我有錐子錐你。且道正當十五日。用鉤即是。用錐即是。遂有偈曰。正當十五日。鉤錐一時息。更擬問如何。回頭日又出。問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。直下看。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。退後。退後。問。承古有言。祇這如今誰動口。意旨如何。師曰。莫認驢鞍橋作阿爺下頷。張茂崇太保問。摩騰入漢。已涉繁詞。達磨單傳。請師直指。師曰。冬不寒。臘後看。問。若能轉物。即同如來。萬象是物。如何轉得。師曰。吃了飯。無些子意智。問。寸絲不掛。法網無邊。為甚麼卻有迷悟。師曰。兩桶一擔。問。有情有用。無情無用。如何是無情應用。師曰。獨扇門子盡夜開。上堂。春景溫和。春雨普潤。萬物生芽。甚麼處不霑恩。且道承恩力一句。作麼生道。良久曰。春雨一滴滑如油。問。如何是學人自己法身。師曰。每日般柴不易。曰。此是大眾底。如何是學人底。師曰。三生六十劫。問。逐日開單展缽。以何報答施主之恩。師曰。被這一問。和我愁殺。曰。恁麼則謝供養也。師曰。作甚麼人氣力。僧禮拜。師曰。明日更吃一頓。問。古人急水灘頭毛毬子。意旨如何。師曰。雲開月朗。問。急水灘頭連底石。意旨如何。師曰。屋破見青天。曰。破屋見青天。意旨如何。師曰。通上徹下。問。一處火發。任從你救。八方齊發時如何。師曰。快。曰。還求出也無。師曰。若求出。即燒殺你。僧禮拜。師曰。直饒你不求出。也燒殺你。示眾。第一句道得。石裡迸出。第二句道得。挨拶將來。第三句道得。

(The monk continued asking:) '— which is the mind?' The Master said, 'In daylight one sees the Winnowing Basket Star.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'The sergeant of Willow Camp lies across the steps.' Someone asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'A good dog wears a tag.' The monk said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'It makes people afraid to look.' Ascending the hall: 'Before the fifteenth day the Buddhas are born; after the fifteenth day the Buddhas are extinguished. Before the fifteenth day the Buddhas are born — you must not leave this place of mine. If you leave this place of mine, I have a hook to hook you. After the fifteenth day the Buddhas are extinguished — you must not stay in this place of mine. If you stay in this place of mine, I have an awl to awl you. Tell me, on the very fifteenth day, is it right to use the hook or right to use the awl?' Then he had a verse: 'On the very fifteenth day, hook and awl both rest. Try to ask again what it is — turning your head, the sun has come out.' Someone asked, 'What is the seamless stupa?' The Master said, 'Look directly below.' The monk said, 'What is the man in the stupa?' The Master said, 'Step back, step back.' Someone asked, 'The ancients had a saying: Just now, who is it that moves the mouth? What does it mean?' The Master said, 'Do not take the donkey's saddle bridge for your grandfather's chin.' The Grand Guardian Zhang Maochong asked, 'Matanga entered Han and already dealt in profuse words. Bodhidharma's single transmission — please, Master, point it out directly.' The Master said, 'Winter is not cold; look after the twelfth month.' Someone asked, 'If one can turn things, one is the same as the Tathagata. The myriad things are things — how does one turn them?' The Master said, 'Having eaten your rice, you have not a scrap of sense.' Someone asked, 'Not an inch of thread hanging, the net of Dharma boundless — why then is there delusion and awakening?' The Master said, 'Two buckets on one pole.' Someone asked, 'The sentient have function, the insentient have no function. What is the insentient's responsive function?' The Master said, 'A single door leaf stays open all night.' Ascending the hall: 'The spring scene is mild and gentle, the spring rain moistens all alike. The ten thousand things sprout — what place does not receive the grace? Tell me, how does one speak the phrase of receiving the power of grace?' After a long while he said, 'A drop of spring rain is slippery as oil.' Someone asked, 'What is the student's own dharma body?' The Master said, 'Carrying firewood every day is not easy.' The monk said, 'That is the assembly's; what is the student's?' The Master said, 'Three lives and sixty kalpas.' Someone asked, 'Opening the slip and spreading the bowl every day — with what does one repay the donors' grace?' The Master said, 'Because of this one question, you have worried me to death.' The monk said, 'If so, then I thank you for the offering.' The Master said, 'What sort of man's strength is that?' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Tomorrow eat another meal.' Someone asked, 'The ancients' hair ball at the rapids — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'The clouds open and the moon is bright.' Someone asked, 'The bottom-reaching stone at the rapids — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'The roof is broken and one sees the blue sky.' The monk said, 'The broken roof and the blue sky — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'Penetrating above and through below.' Someone asked, 'If fire breaks out in one place, you may put it out as you like. What when it breaks out in all eight directions at once?' The Master said, 'Quick.' The monk said, 'Should one still seek to escape?' The Master said, 'If you seek to escape, you will be burned to death.' The monk bowed. The Master said, 'Even if you do not seek to escape, you will be burned to death.' Addressing the assembly: 'If you can say the first phrase, it bursts out of stone. If you can say the second phrase, it comes pressing in. If you can say the third phrase —'

自救不了。上堂。五白貓兒爪距獰。養來堂上絕蟲行。分明上樹安身法。切忌遺言許外生。作麼生是許外生底句。莫錯舉。僧入室問。正當與麼時。還有師也無。師曰。燈明連夜照。甚處不分明。曰。畢竟事如何。師曰。來日是寒食。

(The Master continued:) '— you cannot even save yourself.' Ascending the hall: 'The five-white cat's claws and spurs are fierce; raised in the hall, it cuts off the insects' tracks. It clearly knows the way to settle itself up a tree, and yet above all do not leave word permitting an outsider to be born. What is the phrase that permits an outsider to be born? Do not raise it wrongly.' A monk came into the room and asked, 'At just such a time, is there still a teacher or not?' The Master said, 'The lamp shines through the night — what place is not clear?' The monk said, 'After all, how is the matter?' The Master said, 'Tomorrow is the Cold Food Festival.'

汝州廣慧院元璉禪師

Chan Master Yuanlian of Guanghui Monastery in Ruzhou

泉州陳氏。到首山。山問。近離甚處。師曰。漢上。山竪起拳曰。漢上還有這箇麼。師曰。這箇是甚麼盌鳴聲。山曰。瞎。師曰。恰是。拍一拍便出。他日又問。學人親到寶山。空手回時如何。山曰。家家門前火把子。師當下大悟。雲。某甲不疑天下老和尚舌頭也。山曰。汝會處作麼生。與我說來看。師曰。祇是地上水碙砂也。山曰。汝會也。師便禮拜。住後。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。竹竿頭上曜紅旗。楊億侍郎問。天上無彌勒。地下無彌勒。未審在甚麼處。師曰。敲甎打瓦。又問。風穴道。金沙灘頭馬郎婦。意旨如何。師曰。更道也不及。僧問。如何是無位真人。師曰。上木下鐵。曰。恁麼則罪歸有處也。師曰。判官擲下筆。僧禮拜。師曰。拖出。問。如何是佛。師曰。兩箇不是多。上堂。臨濟兩堂首座相見。同時下喝。諸人且道還有賓主也無。若道有。祇是箇瞎漢。若道無。亦是箇瞎漢。不有不無。萬裡崖州。若向這裡道得。也好與三十棒。若道不得。亦與三十棒。衲僧家到這裡。作麼生出得山僧圈䙡去。良久曰。苦哉。蝦蟆蚯蚓。𨁝跳上三十三天。撞著須彌山百雜碎。拈拄杖曰。一隊無孔鐵鎚。速退。速退。

He was of the Chen family of Quanzhou. He came to Shoushan. Shoushan asked: 'Where have you recently come from?' The master said: 'From Hanshang.' Shoushan raised his fist and said: 'Does Hanshang also have this?' The master said: 'What is this clatter of bowls?' Shoushan said: 'Blind.' The master said: 'Exactly so.' He clapped his hands once and went out. Another day he asked again: 'This student has personally arrived at the jewel mountain; what of returning empty-handed?' Shoushan said: 'Every house has its own torch at the gate.' At once the master was greatly awakened, and said: 'I no longer doubt the tongues of the old monks of the world.' Shoushan said: 'How do you understand it? Tell me and let me see.' The master said: 'It is only the water-worn sand on the ground.' Shoushan said: 'You have understood.' The master then bowed. After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'A red banner gleaming on the tip of a bamboo pole.' The Vice Minister Yang Yi asked: 'In heaven there is no Maitreya, on earth there is no Maitreya. I wonder where he is?' The master said: 'Knocking bricks and striking tiles.' He also asked: 'Fengxue said, "The horse-lang woman at the head of the golden sandbank." What is the meaning?' The master said: 'Even to say more would not reach it.' A monk asked: 'What is the true person without rank?' The master said: 'Wood above, iron below.' The monk said: 'Then the fault has a place to rest.' The master said: 'The judge throws down his brush.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'Drag him out.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Two are not many.' He mounted the hall: 'When the two chief seats of Linji's two halls met, they both shouted at the same time. Tell me, venerable ones, was there host and guest or not? If you say there was, you are a blind man. If you say there was not, you are also a blind man. Neither existing nor not existing — ten thousand miles to Yazhou. If you can speak here, you still deserve thirty blows. If you cannot speak, you also get thirty blows. When a patch-robed monk reaches this point, how does he get out of this mountain monk's trap?' After a long while he said: 'How bitter! Frogs and earthworms leap up to the thirty-three heavens, strike Mount Sumeru and are smashed to bits.' He picked up his staff and said: 'A whole troop of holeless iron hammers. Retreat quickly, retreat quickly.'

幷州承天院三交智嵩禪師

Chan Master Sanjiao Zhisong of Chengtian Monastery, Bingzhou

參首山。問。如何是佛法的的大意。山曰。楚王城畔。汝水東流。師於此有省。頓契佛意。乃作三玄偈曰。須用直須用。心意莫定動。三歲師子吼。十方沒狐種。我有真如性。如同幕裡隱。打破六門關。顯出毗盧印。真骨金剛體可誇。六塵一拂永無遮。廓落世界空為體。體上無為真到家。山聞乃請吃茶。問。這三頌是汝作來邪。師曰。是。山曰。或有人教汝現三十二相時如何。師曰。某甲不是野狐精。山曰。惜取眉毛。師曰。和尚落了多少。山以竹篦頭上打。曰。這漢向後亂作去在。住後。上堂。文殊仗劒。五臺橫行。唐明一路。把斷妖訛。三世諸佛。未出教乘。網底遊魚。龍門難渡。垂鉤四海。祇釣獰龍。格外玄談。為求知識。若也舉揚宗旨。須彌直須粉碎。若也說佛說祖。海水便須枯竭。寶劒揮時。毫光萬裡。放汝一路。通方說話。把斷咽喉。諸人甚處出氣。僧問。鈍根樂小法。不自信作佛。作佛後如何。師曰。水裡捉麒麟。曰。與麼則便登高座也。師曰。騎牛上三十三天。問。古人拈推竪拂。意旨如何。師曰。騎驢不著靴。問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。家鄉有路無人到。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。暗傳天子勑。陪行一百程。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。無頭蝦蟇腳指天。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。晉祠南畔長柳巷。問。古人東山西嶺青。意作麼生。師曰。波斯鼻孔大。曰。與麼則西天迦葉。東土我師。師曰。金剛手板濶。問。大悲千手眼。那箇是正眼。師曰。開化石佛拍手笑。晉祠娘子解謳歌。問。臨濟推倒黃檗。因甚維那吃棒。師曰。正狗不偷油。鷄銜燈盞走。問。如何是截人之機。師曰。要用便用。曰。請和尚用。師曰。拖出這死漢。鄭工部問。百尺竿頭獨打毬。萬丈懸崖絲繫腰時如何。師曰。幽州著腳。廣南廝撲。鄭無語。師曰。勘破這胡漢。鄭曰。二十年江南界裡。

He consulted Shoushan and asked: 'What is the precise great meaning of the buddhadharma?' Shoushan said: 'Beside the city of the king of Chu, the Ru River flows east.' At this the master had a realization and at once matched the buddha's intent, and composed a verse on the three profundities: 'One must use it, just must use it; the mind's intent must not be fixed or stirred. A three-year-old lion roars; in the ten directions there is no fox kind. I have the nature of true suchness, hidden as if behind a curtain. Break open the six gates and reveal the seal of Vairocana. The true bone, the vajra body, is worthy of praise; one brush of the six dusts and it is forever unobstructed. The vast world takes emptiness as its body; on that body, non-doing — truly arrived home.' When Shoushan heard this he invited him to tea and asked: 'Are these three verses your own composition?' The master said: 'They are.' Shoushan said: 'Suppose someone told you to manifest the thirty-two marks — what then?' The master said: 'I am not a wild fox spirit.' Shoushan said: 'Take care of your eyebrows.' The master said: 'How many has the Master lost?' Shoushan struck him on the head with a bamboo comb and said: 'This fellow will go on making a mess later.' After he became abbot he mounted the hall: 'Manjushri wields the sword and strides across Mount Wutai. The one road of Tang Ming cuts off all monstrous falsehood. The buddhas of the three ages have not yet come out of the teachings. Fish swimming beneath the net find it hard to cross the dragon gate. Hanging a hook in the four seas, one angles only for the fierce dragon. The profound talk beyond the ordinary is for the sake of seeking a good friend. If one proclaims the essential teaching, Mount Sumeru must be smashed to powder. If one speaks of buddhas and speaks of patriarchs, the sea water must dry up. When the precious sword is brandished, a hair's light goes ten thousand miles. I let you have one road, to speak freely of the way. But if I cut off your throat, where will you people breathe from?' A monk asked: 'Those of dull faculties delight in the lesser dharma and do not believe they can become buddhas. What of after becoming a buddha?' The master said: 'Catching a unicorn in the water.' The monk said: 'Then one may mount the high seat.' The master said: 'Riding an ox up to the thirty-three heavens.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the ancients picking up the mallet and raising the fly whisk?' The master said: 'Riding a donkey without boots.' The monk asked: 'What is it to take away the person but not the object?' The master said: 'The home road has a way, and no one comes.' The monk said: 'What is it to take away the object but not the person?' The master said: 'Secretly transmitting the son of heaven's edict, escorting him a hundred stages.' The monk said: 'What is it to take away both person and object?' The master said: 'A headless frog points its toes at the sky.' The monk said: 'What is it to take away neither person nor object?' The master said: 'The long willow lane south of the Jin shrine.' The monk asked: 'The ancients said, "the eastern mountain, the western ridge, green." What does it mean?' The master said: 'A Persian has big nostrils.' The monk said: 'Then Kashyapa is in the west and my teacher is in the east.' The master said: 'The vajra's hand-board is broad.' The monk asked: 'Great Compassion has a thousand hands and eyes — which is the true eye?' The master said: 'The stone buddha of Kaihua claps and laughs; the lady of the Jin shrine knows how to sing.' The monk asked: 'Linji pushed over Huangbo — why did the rector take the blows?' The master said: 'A proper dog does not steal oil; a chicken carries the lamp away.' The monk asked: 'What is the working that cuts people off?' The master said: 'Use it when you need it.' The monk said: 'Please, Master, use it.' The master said: 'Drag out this dead man.' The works minister Zheng asked: 'What of playing ball alone on the top of a hundred-foot pole, with a silk thread tied around the waist at a ten-thousand-fathom cliff?' The master said: 'Setting foot in Youzhou, wrestling in Guangnan.' Zheng was speechless. The master said: 'I have seen through this barbarian.' Zheng said: 'Twenty years within the borders of Jiangnan,

這回卻見禪師。師曰。瞎老婆吹火。僧問。二邊純莫立。中道不須安。未審意旨如何。師曰。廣南出象牙。曰。不會。請師直指。師曰。番國皮毬八百價。上堂。寒溫冷暖。著衣吃飯。自不欠少。波波地覓箇甚麼。祇是諸人不肯承當。如今還有承當底麼。有則不得孤負山河大地。珍重。問。祖師西來。三藏東去。當明何事。師曰。佛殿部署修。僧堂老僧蓋。僧曰。與麼則全明今日事也。師曰。今日事作麼生。僧便喝。師便打。問。如何是學人用心處。師曰。光剃頭。淨洗缽。曰。如何是學人行履處。師曰。僧堂前。佛殿後。上堂。舉法眼偈曰。見山不是山。見水何曾別。山河與大地。都是一輪月。大小法眼未出涅槃堂。三交即不然。見山河與大地。錐刀各自用。珍重。

(The works minister Zheng continued:) 'and this time I have at last met the Chan master.' The master said: 'A blind old woman blowing the fire.' A monk asked: 'The two extremes are wholly not established, and the middle way need not be settled. I wonder what the meaning is?' The master said: 'Guangnan produces ivory.' The monk said: 'I do not understand. Pray, Master, point directly.' The master said: 'A foreign land's leather ball costs eight hundred.' He mounted the hall: 'Cold and warm, cold and heat, putting on clothes and eating food — you yourself are not lacking anything. What are you rushing about seeking? It is only that you people are unwilling to take it on. Is there anyone now who will take it on? If there is, he must not fail the mountains, rivers and great earth. Take care.' A monk asked: 'The patriarch came from the west and the Tripitaka went east — what matter do they clarify?' The master said: 'The buddha hall is laid out and repaired; the monks' hall is roofed by this old monk.' The monk said: 'Then today's matter is wholly clear.' The master said: 'What is today's matter?' The monk at once shouted. The master at once struck him. The monk asked: 'Where should a student apply his mind?' The master said: 'Cleanly shave the head, purely wash the bowl.' The monk said: 'Where does a student walk?' The master said: 'Before the monks' hall, behind the buddha hall.' He mounted the hall and brought up Fayan's verse: 'Seeing mountains, it is not mountains; seeing water, how is it different? The mountains and rivers and the great earth are all one round moon.' 'Great or small, Fayan had not yet left the hall of nirvana. Sanjiao is not like that. Seeing the mountains and rivers and the great earth, awl and knife each use their own. Take care.'

忻州鐵佛院智嵩禪師

Chan Master Zhisong of Tiefo Monastery, Xinzhou

有同參到。師見便問。還記得相識麼。參頭擬議。第二僧打參頭一坐具曰。何不快祇對和尚。師曰。一箭兩垛。師問。僧甚處來。曰。臺山來。師曰。還見龍王麼。曰。和尚試道看。師曰。我若道。即瓦解冰消。僧擬議。師曰。不信道。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去也。師曰。下坡不走。快便難逢。

A fellow student arrived. When the master saw him he asked: 'Do you still remember our acquaintance?' The head of the assembly was about to deliberate. The second monk struck the head of the assembly with his sitting cloth and said: 'Why not answer the Master at once?' The master said: 'One arrow, two targets.' The master asked a monk: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'From Mount Tai.' The master said: 'Did you see the dragon king?' The monk said: 'Please, Master, try to say.' The master said: 'If I said it, it would all melt away like tiles and ice.' The monk was about to deliberate. The master said: 'I do not believe it.' The monk asked: 'Where does a deceased monk go when he passes away?' The master said: 'Going downhill one does not run; a quick chance is hard to meet.'

汝州首山懷志禪師

Chan Master Shoushan Huaizhi of Ruzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。三尺杖子破瓦盆。問。如何是佛。師曰。桶底脫。問。從上諸聖有何言句。師曰。如是我聞。曰。不會。師曰。信受奉行。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'A three-foot staff breaks a clay basin.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The bottom of the bucket drops out.' The monk asked: 'What sayings did the sages from the first have?' The master said: 'Thus have I heard.' The monk said: 'I do not understand.' The master said: 'Believe, accept, and practice.'

池州仁王院處評禪師

Chan Master Renwang Yuan Chuping of Chizhou

問首山。如何是佛法大意。山便喝。師禮拜。山拈棒。師曰。老和尚沒世界那。山拋下拄杖曰。明眼人難謾。師曰。草賊大敗。

He asked Shoushan: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' Shoushan at once shouted. The master bowed. Shoushan picked up his staff. The master said: 'The old Master has nowhere in the world.' Shoushan threw down his staff and said: 'A clear-eyed man is hard to deceive.' The master said: 'The straw thief is badly beaten.'

隨州智門迥罕禪師

Chan Master Zhimen Jionghan of Suizhou

為北塔僧使點茶次。師起揖曰。僧使近上坐。使曰。鷂子頭上。爭敢安巢。師曰。棒上不成龍。隨後打一坐具。使茶罷。起曰。適來卻成觸忤和尚。師曰。江南杜禪客。覓甚麼第二盌。

When he was serving tea to the monk-envoy from the North Pagoda, the master rose and saluted, saying: 'Pray, monk-envoy, sit higher.' The monk-envoy said: 'On a sparrowhawk's head, how dare one nest?' The master said: 'It never becomes a dragon on the staff.' Then he struck him with his sitting cloth. When the tea was finished the monk-envoy rose and said: 'Just now I have offended the Master.' The master said: 'Chan guest Du of Jiangnan, what are you looking for in a second bowl?'

襄州鹿門慧昭山主

The mountain chief Huizhao of Lumen, Xiangzhou

楊億侍郎問曰。入山不畏虎。當路卻防人時如何。僧曰。君子坦蕩蕩。僧問。如何是鹿門山。師曰。石頭大底大。小底小。曰。如何是山中人。師曰。橫眠竪臥。

The Vice Minister Yang Yi asked: 'What of entering the mountain without fearing the tiger, yet guarding against men on the road?' The monk said: 'The gentleman is broad and level.' A monk asked: 'What is Lumen Mountain?' The master said: 'The big stones are big, the small stones are small.' The monk said: 'What of the person in the mountain?' The master said: 'Lying crosswise or lying lengthwise.'

丞相王隨居士

The layman Chancellor Wang Sui

謁首山。得言外之旨。自爾履踐。深明大法。臨終書偈曰。畵堂燈已滅。彈指向誰說。去住本尋常。春風掃殘雪。

He paid his respects to Shoushan and obtained the meaning beyond words. From then on he practiced it and deeply clarified the great dharma. As death approached he wrote a verse: 'The lamp in the painted hall has gone out; to whom shall the finger snap be told? Going and staying are both ordinary; the spring wind sweeps away the leftover snow.'

南嶽下十世

The tenth generation below Nanyue

汾陽昭禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Fenyang Zhao

潭州石霜楚圓慈明禪師

Chan Master Shishuang Chuyuan Ciming of Tanzhou

全州李氏子。少為書生。年二十二。依湘山隱靜寺出家。其母有賢行。使之遊方。聞汾陽道望。遂往謁焉。陽顧而默器之。經二年。未許入室。每見必罵詬。或毀詆諸方。及有所訓。皆流俗鄙事。一夕訴曰。自至法席已再夏。不蒙指示。但增世俗塵勞。念歲月飄忽。己事不明。失出家之利。語未卒。陽熟視。罵曰。是惡知識。敢裨販我。怒舉杖逐之。師擬伸救。陽掩師口。乃大悟曰。是知臨濟道出常情。服役七年。辭去。依唐明嵩禪師。嵩謂師曰。楊大年內翰知見高。入道穩實。子不可不見。師乃往見大年。年問曰。對面不相識。千里卻同風。師曰。近奉山門請。年曰。真箇脫空。師曰。前月離唐明。年曰。適來悔相問。師曰。作家。年便喝。師曰。恰是。年復喝。師以手劃一劃。年吐舌曰。真是龍象。師曰。是何言歟。年喚客司。點茶來。元來是屋裡人。師曰。也不消得。茶罷又問。如何是上座為人一句。師曰。切。年曰。與麼。則長裙新婦拖泥走。師曰。誰得似內翰。年曰。作家。作家。師曰。放你二十棒。年拊膝曰。這裡是甚麼所在。師拍掌曰。也不得放過。年大笑。又問。記得唐明當時悟底因緣麼。師曰。唐明問首山。如何是佛法的的大意。山曰。楚王城畔。汝水東流。年曰。祇如此語。意旨如何。師曰。水上掛燈毬。年曰。與麼則孤負古人去也。師曰。內翰疑則別參。年曰。三腳蝦蟇跳上天。師曰。一任𨁝跳。年乃大笑。館於齋中。日夕質疑智證。因聞前言往行。恨見之晚。朝中見駙馬都尉李公遵勗曰。近得一道人。真西河師子。李曰。我以拘文。不能就謁。奈何。年默然。歸語師曰。李公佛法中人。聞道風遠至。有願見之心。政以法不得與侍從過從。師於是邌明謁李公。公閱謁使童子問曰。道得即與上座相見。師曰。今日特來相看。又令童子曰。碑文刊白字。當道種青松。師曰。

He was a son of the Li family of Quanzhou. In his youth he was a scholar. At the age of twenty-two he left home under Yinjing Monastery on Mount Xiang. His mother was a woman of worthy conduct, and she sent him out to travel. Hearing of Fenyang's fame for the way, he went to pay his respects to him. Fenyang looked at him and silently valued him. Two years passed and he was not permitted to enter his room. Whenever they met he was sure to be scolded and reviled, or Fenyang would slander and belittle the various quarters, and his instructions were all vulgar and common matters. One evening he stated his case: 'Since coming to this dharma seat it has been two summers, and I have received no instruction, only added to the dust and toil of the world. I think how the years fly by and my own matter is not yet clear, and I have lost the benefit of leaving home.' Before he had finished speaking, Fenyang stared at him and reviled him, saying: 'You are an evil friend, daring to peddle me!' Angrily he raised his staff to drive him out. The master was about to open his mouth to plead, and Fenyang covered his mouth. Thereupon the master was greatly awakened, and said: 'Only now do I know that Linji's way goes beyond ordinary feeling.' He served for seven years, then took his leave and relied on Chan Master Tang Ming Song. Song said to the master: 'Yang Danian the Hanlin scholar has high knowledge and vision and enters the way firmly and solidly. You must not fail to meet him.' So the master went to see Danian. Danian said: 'Facing each other we do not know each other; a thousand miles apart yet the same wind.' The master said: 'I have lately received the monastery's invitation.' Danian said: 'Truly you slip away into emptiness.' The master said: 'Last month I left Tang Ming.' Danian said: 'Just now I regretted asking.' The master said: 'An adept.' Danian at once shouted. The master said: 'Exactly so.' Danian shouted again. The master drew a line with his hand. Danian put out his tongue and said: 'Truly a dragon elephant.' The master said: 'What kind of talk is that?' Danian called the guest officer: 'Bring tea. So he was one of us all along.' The master said: 'That is not necessary either.' After the tea he asked again: 'What is the one phrase with which the Venerable One acts for others?' The master said: 'Earnest.' Danian said: 'Then a new bride in a long skirt walks dragging mud.' The master said: 'Who can match the Hanlin scholar?' Danian said: 'An adept, an adept.' The master said: 'You are excused twenty blows.' Danian slapped his knee and said: 'What place is this?' The master clapped his hands and said: 'Nor will I let you off.' Danian laughed heartily. He asked again: 'Do you remember the occasion of Tang Ming's awakening?' The master said: 'Tang Ming asked Shoushan: "What is the precise great meaning of the buddhadharma?" Shoushan said: "Beside the city of the king of Chu, the Ru River flows east."' Danian said: 'Just these words — what is the meaning?' The master said: 'A lantern ball hung on the water.' Danian said: 'Then you fail the ancients.' The master said: 'If the Hanlin scholar has doubts, consult elsewhere.' Danian said: 'A three-legged frog leaps into the sky.' The master said: 'Leap as you please.' Danian then laughed heartily. He lodged him in his study, and day and evening they questioned and answered about wisdom and realization. Hearing of former words and past deeds, he regretted meeting him so late. At court he met the imperial son-in-law Li Zunxu and said: 'I have lately found a man of the way, a true lion of the Western River.' Li said: 'I am bound by the rules of law and cannot come to pay my respects. What is to be done?' Danian was silent. When he returned he said to the master: 'Lord Li is a man within the buddhadharma. Hearing that the wind of the way had come from afar, he had the wish to see you, but by law he may not associate with attendants.' So at dawn the master went to pay his respects to Lord Li. When Li read the name card, he had a boy ask: 'If you can speak, then I will meet you.' The master said: 'I have come today especially to see you.' The boy was sent again to say: 'The stele inscription is carved in white characters; by the road green pines are planted.' The master said:

不因今日節。餘日定難逢。童又出曰。都尉言。與麼則與上座相見去也。師曰。腳頭腳底。公乃出。坐定問曰。我聞西河有金毛獅子。是否。師曰。甚麼處得者消息。公便喝。師曰。野幹鳴。公又喝。師曰。恰是。公大笑。師辭。公問。如何是上座臨行一句。師曰。好將息。公曰。何異諸方。師曰。都尉又作麼生。公曰。放上座二十棒。師曰。專為流通。公又喝。師曰。瞎。公曰。好去。師應喏喏。自是往來楊李之門。以法為友。久之。辭還河東。年曰。有一語寄與唐明。得麼。師曰。明月照見夜行人。年曰。卻不相當。師曰。更深猶自可。午後更愁人。年曰。開寶寺前金剛。近日因甚麼汗出。師曰。知。年曰。上座臨行。豈無為人底句。師曰。重疊關山路。年曰。與麼則隨上座去也。師噓一聲。年曰。真師子兒。大師子吼。師曰。放去又收來。年曰。適來失腳踏倒。又得家童扶起。師曰。有甚麼了期。年大笑。師還唐明。李公遣兩僧訊師。師於書尾畵雙足。寫來僧名以寄之。公作偈曰。黑毫千里餘。金槨示雙趺。人天渾莫測。珍重赤鬚胡。師以母老。南歸至瑞州。首眾於洞山。時聰禪師居焉。先是。汾陽謂師曰。我徧參雲門兒孫。特以未見聰為恨。故師依止三年。乃遊仰山。楊大年以書抵宜春太守黃宗旦。使請師出世說法。守以南源致師。師不赴。旋特謁守願行。守問其故。對曰。始為讓。今偶欲之耳。守大賢之。住後。上堂。一切諸佛．及諸佛阿耨多羅三藐三菩提法。皆從此經出。乃竪起拄杖曰。這箇是南源拄杖子。阿那箇是經。良久曰。向下文長。付在來日。喝一喝。下座。上堂。良久曰。無為無事人。猶是金鎻難。喝一喝。下座。問。如何是佛。師曰。水出高原。問。如何是南源境。師曰。黃河九曲。水出崑崙。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。隨流人不顧。斫手望扶桑。上堂。雲收霧卷。杲日當空。

(The master continued:) 'Were it not for today's festival, on other days it would surely be hard to meet.' The boy came out again and said: 'The son-in-law says that being so, he will meet you.' The master said: 'Foot to head, head to foot.' The lord then came out. When they were seated he asked: 'I hear there is a golden-haired lion on the Western River. Is it so?' The master said: 'Where did you get that news?' The lord at once shouted. The master said: 'A jackal's howl.' The lord shouted again. The master said: 'Exactly so.' The lord laughed heartily. The master took his leave. The lord asked: 'What is the Venerable One's phrase on departing?' The master said: 'Take good care of yourself.' The lord said: 'How is that different from other quarters?' The master said: 'What about you, son-in-law?' The lord said: 'You are excused twenty blows.' The master said: 'Especially for the sake of its circulation.' The lord shouted again. The master said: 'Blind.' The lord said: 'Farewell.' The master answered, 'Yes, yes.' From then on he went back and forth between the gates of Yang and Li, taking the dharma as his friend. After a long time he took his leave to return to Hedong. Danian said: 'I have a phrase to send to Tang Ming. May I?' The master said: 'The bright moon shines on the night traveler.' Danian said: 'That does not match.' The master said: 'Deep night is still bearable; after noon it is more grievous.' Danian said: 'The vajra before Kaibao Monastery — why has it been sweating lately?' The master said: 'I know.' Danian said: 'On departing, Venerable One, have you no phrase for the sake of others?' The master said: 'Layered passes and mountain roads.' Danian said: 'Then it goes with the Venerable One.' The master sighed. Danian said: 'A true lion cub, a great lion's roar.' The master said: 'Released and gathered back again.' Danian said: 'Just now I lost my footing and fell, and again a houseboy helped me up.' The master said: 'Is there any end to it?' Danian laughed heartily. The master returned to Tang Ming. Lord Li sent two monks to inquire after the master. The master drew a pair of feet at the end of the letter and sent back the names of the monks who came. The lord wrote a verse: 'Black hair a thousand miles and more; the golden coffin shows the two feet. Gods and men alike cannot fathom it; take care, red-bearded barbarian.' Because his mother was old, the master returned south to Ruizhou and served as chief seat at Dongshan. At that time Chan Master Cong was residing there. Earlier Fenyang had said to the master: 'I have consulted all the sons and grandsons of Yunmen, and my one regret is not having met Cong.' So the master stayed with him three years, and only then traveled to Mount Yang. Yang Danian wrote to the prefect of Yichun, Huang Zongdan, asking him to invite the master to go out into the world and teach. The prefect invited the master to Nanyuan; the master did not go. Soon after he made a special visit to the prefect and was willing to go. The prefect asked why. He replied: 'At first I declined; now I happen to want to go.' The prefect deeply esteemed him as worthy. After he became abbot he mounted the hall: 'All buddhas, and the buddhas' dharma of unsurpassed perfect enlightenment, come forth from this scripture.' Then he raised his staff and said: 'This is the Nanyuan staff. Which is the scripture?' After a long while he said: 'What follows is long; leave it for another day.' He shouted once and descended from the seat. He mounted the hall and after a long while said: 'The person of non-doing and no affairs is still trapped by the golden lock.' He shouted once and descended from the seat. A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Water comes from the high plain.' The monk asked: 'What is the realm of Nanyuan?' The master said: 'The Yellow River makes nine bends; its water comes from Kunlun.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'The follower of the stream does not look back; with cut hand he gazes toward Fusang.' He mounted the hall: 'The clouds gather and the mist rolls up, the bright sun is in the sky,

不落明暗。如何通信。僧問。山深覓不得時如何。師曰。口能招禍。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。洞庭湖裡浪滔天。問。東湧西沒時如何。師曰。尋。問。夜靜獨行時如何。師曰。三把茆。問。寶劒未出匣時如何。師曰。響。曰。出匣後如何。師噓一聲。問。閙中取靜時如何。師曰。頭枕布袋。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。堆堆地。曰。見後如何。師曰。堆堆地。問。一得永得時如何。師曰。抱石投河。問。仗鏌鎁劒。擬取師頭時如何。師曰。斬將去。僧擬議。師便打。師住三年。棄去謁神鼎諲禪師。鼎。首山高第。望尊一時。衲子非人類精奇。無敢登其門者。住山三十年。門弟子氣吞諸方。師髮長不剪。弊衣楚音。通謁稱法姪。一眾大笑。鼎遣童子問。長老誰之嗣。師仰視屋曰。親見汾陽來。鼎杖而出。顧見頎然。問曰。汾州有西河師子。是否。師指其後。絕呌曰。屋倒矣。童子返走。鼎回顧相矍鑠。師地坐。脫隻履而視之。鼎老忘所問。又失師所在。師徐起整衣。且行且語曰。見面不如聞名。遂去。鼎遣人追之不可。歎曰。汾州乃有此兒邪。師自是名重叢林。定林沙門本延有道行。雅為士大夫所信敬。鼎見延。稱師知見可興臨濟。會道吾虗席。延白郡。請以師主之。法令整肅。亡軀為法者集焉。上堂。先寶應曰。第一句薦得。堪與祖佛為師。第二句薦得。堪與人天為師。第三句薦得。自救不了。道吾則不然。第一句薦得。和泥合水。第二句薦得。無繩自縛。第三句薦得。四稜著地。所以道。起也海晏河清。行人避路。住也乾坤失色。日月無光。汝輩向甚麼處出氣。如今還有出氣者麼。有即出來。對眾出氣看。如無。道吾為汝出氣去也。乃噓一聲。卓拄杖下座。上堂。道吾打鼓。四大部洲同參。拄杖橫也挑括乾坤大地。缽盂覆也葢卻恆沙世界。且問諸人向甚麼處安身立命。若也知得。

(The master continued:) 'not falling into bright or dark — how does one communicate?' A monk asked: 'What of when the mountain is deep and it cannot be found?' The master said: 'The mouth can invite disaster.' The monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'Waves surge to heaven in Dongting Lake.' The monk asked: 'What of when it surges in the east and sinks in the west?' The master said: 'Seek.' The monk asked: 'What of walking alone in the still of night?' The master said: 'Three handfuls of thatch.' The monk asked: 'What of when the precious sword has not yet left its sheath?' The master said: 'It rings.' The monk said: 'What of after it leaves the sheath?' The master sighed. The monk asked: 'What of seeking stillness amid noise?' The master said: 'Head on a cloth bag.' The monk asked: 'What of when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said: 'Heaped and piled.' The monk said: 'What of after meeting him?' The master said: 'Heaped and piled.' The monk asked: 'What of when one gain is eternal gain?' The master said: 'Hugging a stone and throwing yourself into the river.' The monk asked: 'What of when one wields the Moye sword intending to take the Master's head?' The master said: 'Cut it off and take it.' The monk was about to deliberate, and the master at once struck him. The master had been abbot for three years, then abandoned it and went to pay his respects to Chan Master Shending Yin. Shending was the foremost disciple of Shoushan and his prestige was honored by the whole age; among patch-robed monks, unless one was the finest of men, none dared to climb his gate. He had dwelt on the mountain thirty years, and his disciples looked down on every quarter. The master's hair had grown long and was uncut; his robe was torn and his speech carried a Chu accent; he announced himself as a dharma nephew, and the whole assembly laughed. Shending sent a boy to ask: 'Whose heir is the Elder?' The master looked up at the roof and said: 'I have personally seen Fenyang.' Shending came out with his staff. Seeing the master's tall stature, he asked: 'Is there a lion of the Western River in Fenzhou?' The master pointed behind him and cried out shrilly: 'The house is falling down!' The boy turned and ran. Shending turned his head to look, and there was the master, vigorous in countenance. The master sat down on the ground and took off one shoe and looked at it. Shending was old and forgot what he had asked, and could not find where the master was. The master slowly rose, straightened his robe, and said as he walked away: 'Meeting in person is not as good as hearing the name.' And he left. Shending sent men after him, but they could not catch up; he sighed and said: 'So Fenzhou actually had such a son!' From then on the master's name was heavy in the monasteries. The shramana Benyan of Dinglin had practice and virtue, and had long been trusted and respected by the officials. When Shending met Benyan, he said that the master's knowledge and vision could revive Linji. It happened that Daowu had an empty seat, so Benyan reported to the prefecture and asked that the master be made abbot. His rules and orders were strict, and those who forgot their bodies for the dharma gathered to him. He mounted the hall: 'The former Baoying said: If you understand the first phrase, you are fit to be the teacher of patriarchs and buddhas. If you understand the second phrase, you are fit to be the teacher of gods and men. If you understand the third phrase, you cannot even save yourself. Daowu is not like that. If you understand the first phrase, you mix mud with water. If you understand the second phrase, you bind yourself without a rope. If you understand the third phrase, you sit square on the ground. Therefore it is said: when he rises, the seas are calm and the rivers clear, and travelers give way. When he stays, heaven and earth lose their color and sun and moon have no light. Where do you people breathe from? Is there anyone now who breathes? If there is, come forward and breathe before the assembly. If there is not, Daowu will breathe for you.' Then he sighed, planted his staff and descended from the seat. He mounted the hall: 'Daowu strikes the drum, and the four continents all gather to study. When the staff is held crosswise it carries the whole of heaven and earth; when the alms bowl is turned over it covers the worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Now let me ask you people: where do you settle your body and establish your life? If you know it,

向北俱盧洲吃粥吃飯。若也不知。長連床上吃粥吃飯。次住石霜。當解夏。謂眾曰。昨日作嬰孩。今朝年已老。未明三八九。難踏古皇道。手鑠黃河乾。腳踢須彌倒。浮生夢幻身。人命夕難保。天堂並地獄。皆由心所造。南山北嶺松。北嶺南山草。一雨潤無邊。根苗壯枯槁。五湖參學人。但問虗空討。死脫夏天衫。生披冬月襖。分明無事人。特地生煩惱。喝一喝。下座。上堂。一喝分賓主。照用一時行。要會箇中意。日午打三更。遂喝一喝。曰。且道是賓是主。還有分得者麼。若也分得。朝打三千。暮打八百。若也未能。老僧失利。因同道相訪。上堂。颯颯涼風景。同人訪寂寥。煑茶山上水。燒鼎洞中樵。珍重。問。達磨未來時如何。師曰。長安夜夜家家月。曰。來後如何。師曰。幾處笙歌幾處愁。問。一物不將來時如何。師曰。槐木成林。曰。四山火來時如何。師曰。物逐人興。曰。步步登高時如何。師曰。雲生足下。問。古人封白紙。意旨如何。師曰。家貧路富。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。三日風。五日雨。上堂。夫宗師者。奪貧子之衣珠。究達人之見處。若不如是。盡是和泥合水漢。良久曰。路逢劒客須呈劒。不是詩人莫獻詩。喝一喝。上堂。我有一言。絕慮忘緣。巧說不得。祇要心傳。更有一語。無過直舉。且作麼生是直舉一句。良久。以拄杖畫一畫。喝一喝。問。己事未明。以何為驗。師曰。玄沙曾見雪峰來。曰。意旨如何。師曰。一生不出嶺。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。馬有垂韁之報。犬有𩥇草之恩。曰。與麼則不別也。師曰。西天東土。問。如何是學人自己。師曰。打骨出髓。上堂。入水見長人。珍重。上堂。面西行向東。北斗正離宮。道去何曾去。騎牛臥牧童。珍重。上堂。春生夏長即不問。你諸人腳跟下一句作麼生道。良久曰。華光寺主。便下座。上堂。藥多病甚。

(The master continued:) ‘Eat your porridge and rice in Uttarakuru. If you still do not understand, eat your porridge and rice on the long monastic platform.’ He then settled at Shishuang. At the end of the summer retreat he addressed the assembly: ‘Yesterday a baby, this morning already old; not yet understanding three, eight, and nine, how can one tread the ancient sovereign’s Way? My hands could melt the Yellow River dry; my feet could kick Mount Sumeru over. This floating life is a dreamlike body; life may not last even till evening. Heaven and hell are both made by the mind. Pines on the southern hills, grass on the northern slopes; the northern slopes have grass, the southern hills have pines. One rain moistens all without limit, strengthening roots and shoots, reviving the withered. Students from the Five Lakes ask only the empty sky. Dead, they shed their summer robes; alive, they don winter coats. Clearly a person with nothing to do, yet deliberately giving rise to afflictions.’ He shouted once and descended. At a Dharma talk he said: ‘One shout distinguishes guest from host; illumination and function operate together. If you would grasp the meaning here, strike the third watch at noon.’ He shouted and asked, ‘Tell me, is this guest or host? Can anyone distinguish them? If you can, I’ll strike three thousand times in the morning and eight hundred in the evening. If you cannot, this old monk loses.’ When a fellow practitioner came to visit, he gave a talk: ‘The cool breeze rustles through the scene; a friend visits this quiet place. We boil tea with water from the mountain and heat the pot with wood from the cave. Take care.’ Asked, ‘What was it like before Bodhidharma came?’ the master said, ‘Every night the moon shines on every household in Chang’an.’ ‘And after he came?’ ‘In some places songs and flutes, in others sorrow.’ Asked, ‘What is it like when you bring nothing at all?’ he said, ‘Locust trees become a forest.’ ‘What when fire comes from all four mountains?’ ‘Things follow people and arise.’ ‘What when each step climbs higher?’ ‘Clouds rise beneath your feet.’ Asked what an ancient person meant by sealing a blank sheet of paper, he said, ‘The household is poor, but the road is rich.’ Asked, ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?’ he said, ‘Three days of wind, five days of rain.’ At a talk he said: ‘A true master takes the jewel from a poor man’s robe and investigates the awakened person’s understanding. Otherwise, he is just someone mixing mud and water.’ After a long pause he said, ‘When you meet a swordsman on the road, present your sword; do not offer poetry to one who is no poet.’ He shouted once. At another talk he said: ‘I have a saying: cut off thought and forget conditions. It cannot be explained skillfully; it requires only mind-to-mind transmission. There is another phrase, nothing but a direct indication. What is this direct phrase?’ After a long pause, he drew a line with his staff and shouted. Asked, ‘If one has not clarified one’s own matter, what can serve as proof?’ he said, ‘Xuansha once met Xuefeng.’ ‘What did that mean?’ ‘He never left the mountain in his whole life.’ Asked whether the Patriarch’s intention and the teaching’s intention were the same or different, he said, ‘A horse repays kindness by lowering its reins; a dog repays it by carrying grass.’ The monk said, ‘So they are not different.’ The master said, ‘India and China.’ Asked, ‘What is the student’s own self?’ he said, ‘Strike the bones and draw out the marrow.’ At a talk he said, ‘Enter the water and meet the elder. Take care.’ At another he said: ‘Walk westward facing east; the Dipper stands in the Li palace. Where could the Way go, if it never went anywhere? A herdboy rides an ox, lying down.’ Take care.’ At another he said, ‘I will not ask about spring’s sprouting or summer’s growth. What phrase do you people have at your very feet?’ After a long pause he said, ‘The abbot of Huaguang Monastery.’ Then he descended. At another talk he said, ‘Too much medicine means too much illness—’

網細魚稠。便下座。示眾。以拄杖擊禪床一下雲。大眾還會麼。不見道。一擊忘所知。更不假修持。諸方達道者。鹹言上上機。香嚴恁麼悟去。分明悟得如來禪。祖師禪未夢見在。且道祖師禪有甚長處。若向言中取則。悞賺後人。直饒棒下承當。辜負先聖。萬法本閑。唯人自閙。所以山僧居福嚴。祇見福嚴境界。晏起早眠。有時雲生碧嶂。月落寒潭。音聲鳥飛鳴般若臺前。娑羅花香散祝融峰畔。把瘦笻。坐磐石。與五湖衲子時話玄微。灰頭土面住興化。祇見興化家風。迎來送去。門連城市。車馬駢闐。漁唱瀟湘。猿啼嶽麓。絲竹謌謠。時時入耳。復與四海高人。日談禪道。歲月都忘。且道居深山．住城郭。還有優劣也無。試道看。良久雲。是處是慈氏。無門無善財。問。行腳不逢人時如何。師曰。釣絲絞水。問。尋枝摘葉即不問。如何是直截根源。師曰。楖栗拄杖。曰。意旨如何。師曰。行即肩挑雲水衲。坐來安在掌中擎。問。既是護法善神。為甚麼張弓架箭。師曰。禮防君子。問。如何是佛。師曰。有錢使錢。上堂。祖師心印。一印印空。一印印水。一印印泥。如今還有印不著者麼。試向腳跟下。道將一句來。設你道得倜儻分明。第一不得行過衲僧門下。且道衲僧有甚麼長處。良久曰。人王三寸鐵。徧地是刀鎗。喝一喝。卓拄杖下座。上堂。天已明。鼓已響。聖眾臻。齊合掌。如今還有不合掌者麼。有即尼乾歡喜。無則瞿曇惡發。久立。珍重。問。磨礱三尺劒。去化不平人。師意如何。師曰。好去。僧曰。點。師曰。你看。僧拍手一下。歸眾。師曰。了。上堂。北山南。南山北。日月雙明天地黑。大海江河盡放光。逢著觀音問彌勒。珍重。問。有理難伸時如何。師曰。苦。曰。恁麼則舌拄上顎也。師噓一聲。僧曰。將謂胡鬚赤。師曰。夢見興化腳跟麼。示徒偈曰。黑黑黑。道道道。明明明。得得得。

(The master continued:) ‘—the finer the net, the more crowded the fish.’ Then he descended. He struck the Chan seat once with his staff and asked the assembly, ‘Do you understand? It is said: “With one strike, all knowing is forgotten; no further cultivation is needed. Those throughout the regions who have realized the Way all call it the highest capacity.” Xiangyan awakened in this way and clearly realized the Tathagata’s Chan; he had not even dreamed of the Patriarchs’ Chan. Tell me, what special strength does the Patriarchs’ Chan have? If you take words as your rule, you mislead those who come after. Even if you claim to understand beneath the blows of a staff, you betray the ancient sages. The myriad dharmas are originally at rest; only people make a commotion. Thus, when I live at Fuyan, I see only Fuyan’s scenery: rising late and sleeping early; sometimes clouds rise over green peaks, the moon sinks into a cold pool, and birds sing before the Prajna Terrace; the fragrance of sala blossoms spreads beside Mount Zhurong. I carry a slender staff, sit on a flat rock, and now and then discuss the subtle with patch-robed monks from the Five Lakes. When I live at Xinghua, covered in dust, I see only Xinghua’s way: receiving visitors and seeing them off; the gate opens onto the city, carriages and horses crowd the road; fishermen sing on the Xiang River, monkeys cry on Yuelu; flutes, zithers, songs, and ballads reach my ears at every moment. I also speak of Chan and the Way each day with eminent people from the four seas, forgetting the passing years. Tell me, is there any superiority or inferiority between living in deep mountains and dwelling in a city? Try answering.’ After a long pause he said, ‘Everywhere is Maitreya; nowhere is Sudhana.’ Asked, ‘What is it like to travel on pilgrimage and meet no one?’ he said, ‘A fishing line tangles in the water.’ Asked, ‘Setting aside picking branches and leaves, what is the direct source?’ he said, ‘A chestnut staff.’ The monk asked what he meant. The master said, ‘When walking, shoulder the cloud-and-water robe; when sitting, hold it in your palm.’ Asked, ‘If these are Dharma-protecting deities, why do they draw bows and set arrows?’ he said, ‘Courtesy restrains the gentleman.’ Asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ he said, ‘If you have money, spend money.’ At a talk he said: ‘The Patriarchs’ mind-seal: one seal stamps space, one stamps water, one stamps mud. Is there anything it cannot stamp even now? Say a phrase from right beneath your feet. Even if you speak clearly and freely, above all do not pass through the gate of a patch-robed monk. Tell me, what strength do patch-robed monks have?’ After a long pause he said, ‘The human king’s three-inch iron blade; spears and swords cover the land.’ He shouted, planted his staff, and descended. At another talk he said: ‘Day has broken, the drum has sounded, the holy assembly has gathered and joined its palms. Is there anyone who does not join palms? If so, Nirgrantha will rejoice; otherwise Gautama will become furious. You have stood long. Take care.’ Asked, ‘I sharpened a three-foot sword to go and transform the unjust. What is the master’s intention?’ he said, ‘Go well.’ The monk said, ‘Point it out.’ The master said, ‘Look.’ The monk clapped once and returned to the assembly. The master said, ‘That is it.’ At a talk he said: ‘North of the northern hills, south of the southern hills; sun and moon shine together, and heaven and earth grow dark. The seas and rivers all radiate light. Meet Guanyin and ask Maitreya. Take care.’ Asked, ‘What when one cannot make a case for what is right?’ he said, ‘Suffering.’ The monk said, ‘So the tongue is pressed against the palate.’ The master made a shushing sound. The monk said, ‘I thought your beard was red.’ The master said, ‘Have you dreamed of Xinghua’s heels?’ He gave his disciples this verse: ‘Black, black, black; Way, Way, Way; bright, bright, bright; attain, attain, attain.’

師室中插劒一口。以草鞋一對。水一盆。置在劒邊。每見入室。即曰。看。看。有至劒邊擬議者。師曰。險喪身失命了也。便喝出。師冬日牓僧堂。作此字。【圖：X80p0240_01.gif】

The master set a sword upright in his room, with a pair of straw sandals and a basin of water beside it. Whenever someone entered, he would say, ‘Look, look!’ If anyone went toward the sword and hesitated, the master said, ‘Danger! You have lost your body and life!’ and shouted him out. One winter he posted a notice in the monks’ hall bearing this character. [Image: the printed source contains an illustration here.]

幾[(┐@三)*(田/?)][水-?+(曲-曰+口)]。其下注曰。若人識得。不離四威儀中。首座見曰。和尚今日放參。師聞而笑之。寶元戊寅李都尉遣使邀師曰。海內法友。唯師與楊大年耳。大年棄我而先。僕年來頓覺衰落。忍死以一見公。仍以書抵潭帥。敦遣之。師惻然與侍者舟而東下。舟中作偈曰。長江行不盡。帝裡到何時。既得涼風便。休將艣棹施。至京師。與李公會月餘。而李公果歿。臨終畫一圓相。又作偈獻師。世界無依。山河匪礙。大海微塵。須彌納芥。拈起幞頭。解下腰帶。若覓死生。問取皮袋。師曰。如何是本來佛性。公曰。今日熱如昨日。隨聲便問師。臨行一句作麼生。師曰。本來無𦊱礙。隨處任方圓。公曰。晚來睏倦。更不答話。師曰。無佛處作佛。公於是泊然而逝。仁宗皇帝尤留神空宗。聞李公之化。與師問答。加歎久之。師哭之慟。臨壙而別。有旨賜官舟南歸。中途謂侍者曰。我忽得風痺疾。視之口吻已喎斜。侍者以足頓地曰。當柰何。平生呵佛罵祖。今乃爾。師曰。無憂。為汝正之。以手整之如故。曰。而今而後。不鈍置汝。後年正月五日示寂。壽五十四。臘三十二。銘行實於興化。塔全身於石霜(續通鑑則平河東。在太平興國己卯。據佛運統紀。則師入滅於康定庚辰。以壽數逆而推之。則雍熈丁亥師始生。僧寶傳所載。恐失考證)。

The source had two characters in an image here, but they were lost in transcription. A note below said, ‘If someone recognizes them, they will not leave the four dignified postures.’ The head monk saw it and said, ‘Today the master has dismissed the assembly early.’ When the master heard this, he laughed. In the Wuyin year of Baoyuan (1038), Li, the Commandant, sent an envoy to invite the master, saying, ‘Among Dharma friends in the realm, only you and Yang Dayan remain. Dayan left me and went ahead. In recent years I have suddenly felt my strength decline; I have endured this illness to see you once.’ He also wrote to the governor of Tan, urging him to send the master. The master was moved, and sailed east with an attendant. On the boat he composed a verse: ‘The Yangtze’s course has no end; when shall I reach the imperial capital? Now that a cool breeze has come, there is no need to row.’ In the capital he met Lord Li for more than a month, and Lord Li soon died. At the end, Li drew a circle and composed a verse for the master: ‘The world has no support; mountains and rivers are no hindrance. The great sea holds mote-like dust; Mount Sumeru contains a mustard seed. Lift the official cap; loosen the belt. If you seek life and death, ask this skin-bag.’ The master asked, ‘What is the original Buddha-nature?’ Lord Li said, ‘Today is as hot as yesterday.’ Then, in turn, he asked the master, ‘What is your final phrase as you depart?’ The master said, ‘Originally there is no obstruction; wherever you are, let it be round or square.’ Lord Li said, ‘I am tired this evening; I will say no more.’ The master said, ‘Make a Buddha where there is no Buddha.’ Lord Li then passed away peacefully. Emperor Renzong was especially attentive to the teachings of emptiness. Hearing of Lord Li’s death and his exchange with the master, he praised them at length. The master wept bitterly and took leave beside the grave. An imperial order granted him a government boat to return south. On the way he told his attendant, ‘I have suddenly suffered paralysis.’ They looked and saw his mouth had twisted. The attendant stamped his foot and said, ‘What can be done? You spent your life mocking Buddha and cursing the Patriarchs, yet now you are like this!’ The master said, ‘Do not worry. I will straighten it for you.’ He adjusted it with his hand until it was as before, and said, ‘From now on I will not make things difficult for you.’ Later, on the fifth day of the first month, he manifested extinction. He was fifty-four years old and had thirty-two years in the precepts. His deeds were inscribed at Xinghua, and his whole body was enshrined in a pagoda at Shishuang. (The Continued Comprehensive Mirror says that Hedong was pacified in the Jimao year of Taiping Xingguo. According to the Comprehensive Record of Buddhist History, the master died in the Gengchen year of Kangding. Counting backward from his age, he would have been born only in the Dinghai year of Yongxi. The account in the Biographies of Monastic Treasures may be inaccurate.)

滁州琅邪山慧覺廣照禪師

Chan Master Huijue Guangzhao of Langya Mountain, Chuzhou

西洛人也。父為衡陽太守。因疾傾喪。師扶櫬歸洛。過澧陽藥山古剎。宛若夙居。緣此出家。遊方參問。得法汾陽。應緣滁水。與雪竇明覺同時唱道。四方皆謂二甘露門。逮今淮南遺化如在。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。銅頭鐵額。曰。意旨如何。師曰。鳥觜魚腮。上堂。奇哉十方佛。元是眼中花。欲識眼中花。元是十方佛。欲識十方佛。不是眼中花。欲識眼中花。不是十方佛。於此明得。過在十方佛。於此未明。聲聞起舞。獨覺臨粧。珍重。僧問。阿難結集即不問。迦葉微笑事如何。師曰。尅時尅節。曰。自從靈鷲分燈後。直至支那耀古今。師曰。點朱點漆。問。如何是賓中賓。師曰。手𢹂書劒謁明君。曰。如何是賓中主。師曰。捲起簾來無可覩。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。三更過孟津。曰。如何是主中主。師曰。獨坐鎮寰宇。問。蓮花未出水時如何。師曰。貓兒戴紙帽。曰。出水後如何。師曰。狗子著靴行。問。拈椎竪拂即不問。瞬目揚眉事若何。師曰。趙州曾見南泉來。曰。學人未曉。師曰。今冬多雨雪。貧家爭奈何。上堂。欲知常住身。當觀爛壞體。欲知常住性。當觀拄杖子。拄杖子吞卻須彌。須彌吞卻拄杖子。衲僧到這裡。若也擬議。劒梁落膊輸降款。鐵作胸襟到海隅。擊禪床。下座。上堂。見聞覺知。俱為生死之因。見聞覺知。正是解脫之本。譬如師子反躑。南北東西且無定止。汝等諸人。若也不會。且莫孤負釋迦老子。吽。上堂。山僧今日為諸人說破。明眼衲僧莫去泥裡打坐。珍重。上堂。天高莫測。地厚寧知。白雲片片嶺頭飛。綠水潺潺㵎下急。東湧西沒一句即不問。你生前殺後一句作麼生道。良久曰。時寒吃茶去。上堂。阿呵呵。是甚麼。開口是。合口過。輕舟短棹汎波心。𬕞衣箬笠從他破。咦。上堂。十方諸佛是箇爛木橛。三賢十聖是箇茅溷頭籌子。汝等諸人來到這裡作麼。良久曰。

He was from western Luo. His father had served as prefect of Hengyang and died of illness. The master escorted the coffin back to Luoyang. Passing the ancient Yaoshan monastery in Liyang, he felt as though he had returned home, and so became a monk there. He traveled and sought instruction, receiving the Dharma from Fenyang. He responded to conditions by the Chu River and expounded the Way at the same time as Mingjue of Xuedou. People everywhere called them the two Gates of Sweet Dew. To this day, their legacy of transformation remains alive in Huainan. A monk asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ The master said, ‘A copper head and iron forehead.’ The monk asked what he meant. The master said, ‘A bird’s beak and a fish’s gills.’ At a talk he said: ‘How wondrous! The Buddhas of the ten directions are originally flowers in the eye. If you wish to know the flowers in the eye, they are originally the Buddhas of the ten directions. If you wish to know the Buddhas of the ten directions, they are not flowers in the eye. If you wish to know the flowers in the eye, they are not the Buddhas of the ten directions. Understand this, and the fault lies with the Buddhas of the ten directions. Fail to understand it, and the Hearers dance while the Solitary Realizers put on makeup. Take care.’ A monk asked, ‘Set aside Ananda’s compilation of the teachings; what was the matter of Kashyapa’s smile?’ The master said, ‘It was exactly the right time.’ The monk said, ‘Since the Lamp was divided at Vulture Peak, its light has shone through China, past and present.’ The master said, ‘Dot it with vermilion and lacquer.’ Asked, ‘Who is the guest among guests?’ he said, ‘Carrying books and sword, he seeks an audience with the enlightened ruler.’ ‘Who is the host among guests?’ ‘Draw back the curtain; there is nothing to see.’ ‘Who is the guest among hosts?’ ‘At the third watch, cross Mengjin.’ ‘Who is the host among hosts?’ ‘Sitting alone, he governs the whole realm.’ Asked, ‘What was the lotus like before emerging from the water?’ he said, ‘A cat wearing a paper hat.’ ‘And after emerging?’ ‘A dog walking in boots.’ Asked, ‘Setting aside raising the hammer and lifting the whisk, what about the matter of blinking and raising the eyebrows?’ he said, ‘Zhaozhou once came to visit Nanquan.’ The monk said, ‘I do not understand.’ The master said, ‘This winter there is much snow and rain; what can a poor household do?’ At a talk he said: ‘To know the eternal body, look at the decaying body. To know the eternal nature, look at this staff. The staff swallows Mount Sumeru; Mount Sumeru swallows the staff. If a patch-robed monk hesitates here, he is like a defeated soldier surrendering beside a sword beam, though his chest is iron and he reaches the edge of the sea.’ He struck the Chan seat and descended. At another talk he said: ‘Seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing are all causes of birth and death. Seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing are precisely the basis of liberation. It is like a lion turning and leaping; it has no fixed dwelling in north, south, east, or west. If you do not understand, do not let down Shakyamuni. Hah!’ At another talk he said, ‘Today I will explain it plainly for you. Clear-eyed patch-robed monks, do not sit down and wallow in the mud. Take care.’ At another talk he said: ‘The sky’s height cannot be measured; who knows the earth’s depth? White clouds fly in pieces over the ridge; green water rushes below in the ravine. Set aside the phrase about rising in the east and sinking in the west. What phrase will you speak before birth and after death?’ After a long pause he said, ‘It is cold; go drink tea.’ At another talk he said: ‘Ah, ha, ha! What is it? To open the mouth is right; to close it is a mistake. A light boat with short oars floats at the heart of the waves; let the straw cape and bamboo hat wear out as they may. Hah!’ At another talk he said: ‘The Buddhas of the ten directions are rotten wooden pegs; the Three Worthies and Ten Sages are toilet sticks. Why have you come here?’ After a long pause he said—

欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。上堂。剪除狂宼。掃蕩攙搶。猶是功勳邊事。君臣道合。海晏河清。猶是法身邊事。作麼生是衲僧本分事。良久曰。透網金鱗猶滯水。回途石馬出紗籠。上堂。承言須會宗。勿自立規矩。若人下得通方句。我當刎頸而謝之。上堂。拈起拄杖曰。山僧有時一棒作箇漫天網。打俊鷹快鷂。有時一棒作箇布絲網。摝蜆撈蝦。有時一棒作金毛師子。有時一棒作蝦蟇蚯蚓。山僧打你一棒。且作麼生商量。你若緇素得出。不妨拄杖頭上眼。開照四天下。若也未然。從教立在古屏畔。待使丹青入畵圖。上堂。擊水魚頭痛。穿林宿鳥驚。黃昏不擊皷。日午打三更。諸禪德既是日午。為甚卻打三更。良久曰。昨見垂楊綠。今逢落葉黃。上堂。拈起拄杖。更無上上。放下拄杖。是何模樣。髑髏峰後即不問汝諸人。馬鐙裡藏身一句作麼生道。若道不得。拄杖子道去也。卓一下。便歸方丈。上堂。進前即死。退後即亡。不進不退。又落在無事之鄉。何故。長安雖樂。不是久居。上堂。汝等諸人在我這裡過夏。與你點出五般病。一．不得向萬裡無寸草處去。二．不得孤峰獨宿。三．不得張弓架箭。四．不得物外安身。五．不得滯於生殺。何故。一處有滯。自救難為。五處若通。方名導師。汝等諸人若到諸方。遇明眼作者。與我通箇消息。貴得祖風不墜。若是常徒。即便寢息。何故。躶形國裡誇服飾。想君太煞不知時。上堂。山僧因看華嚴金師子章第九由心回轉善成門。又釋曰。如一尺之鏡。納重重之影象。若然者道有也得。道無也得。道非亦得。道是亦得。雖然如是。更須知有掛杖頭上一竅。若也不會。拄杖子穿燈籠。入佛殿。撞著釋迦。磕倒彌勒。露柱拊掌。呵呵大笑。你且道笑箇甚麼。卓拄杖下座。上堂。拈拄杖曰。盤山道向上一路滑。南院道壁立千仞嶮。臨濟道石火電光鈍。

(The master continued:) ‘If you wish to avoid the karma that leads to the Uninterrupted Hell, do not slander the Tathagata’s true Dharma-wheel.’ At a talk he said: ‘Cutting down rebels and sweeping away comets is still a matter on the side of merit. When ruler and ministers accord and the seas are calm, the rivers clear, that too is still a matter on the side of the Dharma-body. What is the patch-robed monk’s own affair?’ After a long pause he said, ‘A golden-scaled fish that has passed through the net is still trapped in water; a stone horse on its return path comes out of its gauze enclosure.’ At a talk he said: ‘On hearing words, you must grasp the source; do not set up rules for yourself. If anyone can give a phrase that works everywhere, I will cut off my head in gratitude.’ At another talk he raised his staff and said: ‘Sometimes my staff becomes a net covering the sky, catching swift hawks and falcons. Sometimes it becomes a fine-mesh net, scooping clams and shrimp. Sometimes it becomes a golden-maned lion. Sometimes a toad or an earthworm. When I strike you with this staff, how will you assess it? If you can distinguish black from white, an eye may open on the staff’s tip and illuminate the four continents. If not, stand beside the old screen and wait for the painter to put you in the picture.’ At a talk he said: ‘Fish hurt their heads striking the water; birds roosting in the woods are startled. At dusk the drum is not struck, yet at noon the third watch is sounded. Chan friends, since it is noon, why strike the third watch?’ After a long pause he said, ‘Yesterday I saw the willows green; today I meet yellow fallen leaves.’ At a talk he said: ‘Pick up the staff: there is nothing higher. Put it down: what does it look like? I will not ask you about the far side of Skull Peak. What phrase lets you hide inside a stirrup? If you cannot say it, the staff will speak for you.’ He struck once and returned to his quarters. At a talk he said: ‘Advance and you die; retreat and you perish. If you neither advance nor retreat, you fall into a realm of idleness. Why? Chang’an is pleasant, but it is no place to live forever.’ At a talk he said: ‘You have spent the summer retreat here with me. I will point out five kinds of illness: first, do not go to a place ten thousand li away where not a blade of grass grows; second, do not lodge alone on a solitary peak; third, do not draw a bow and set an arrow; fourth, do not make your home outside the world; fifth, do not become stuck in killing or saving. Why? If you are stuck in one place, saving yourself is difficult. If you pass through all five, you may be called a guide. When you go to other places, if you meet a clear-eyed master, send me word so the ancestral way will not decline. If you meet an ordinary fellow, go to sleep. Why? Boasting of fine clothes in a naked country shows you know nothing of the times.’ At a talk he said: ‘I was reading the ninth chapter, “The Gate of the Mind’s Turning and Perfect Fulfillment,” in the Golden Lion chapter of the Avatamsaka. The commentary says it is like a one-foot mirror containing layers upon layers of images. If so, one may say there is being, or there is no being; one may say it is not, or that it is. Even so, you must know there is an aperture on the tip of the staff. If you do not understand, the staff will pierce a lantern, enter the Buddha hall, bump into Shakyamuni, knock Maitreya over, and make the pillars clap their hands and laugh loudly. Tell me, what are they laughing at?’ He planted his staff and descended. At a talk he raised his staff and said: ‘Panshan says the upward road is slippery. Nanyuan says it is perilous, like a sheer wall a thousand fathoms high. Linji says it is dull, like flint sparks and lightning.’

琅邪有定乾坤底句。各各高著眼。高著眼。卓拄杖下座。

(The master continued:) ‘Langya has a phrase that settles heaven and earth. Each of you, keep your eyes raised—keep your eyes raised!’ He planted his staff and descended.

瑞州大愚山守芝禪師

Chan Master Shouzhi of Dayu Mountain, Ruizhou

才陞座。僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。一言出口。駟馬難追。問。如何是城裡佛。師曰。十字街頭石幢子。問。不落三寸時如何。師曰。乾三長。坤六短。曰。意旨如何。師曰。切忌地盈虗。問。昔日靈山分半座。二師相見事如何。師曰。記得麼。僧良久。師打禪床一下。曰。多年忘卻也。乃曰。且住。且住。若向言中取則。句裡明機。也似迷頭認影。若也舉唱宗乘。大似一場寐語。雖然如是。官不容針。私通車馬。放一線道。有箇葛藤處。遂敲禪床一下。曰。三世諸佛。盡皆頭痛。且道大眾。還有免得底麼。若一人免得。無有是處。若免不得。海印發光。師乃竪起拂子曰。這箇是印。那箇是光。這箇是光。那箇是印。掣電之機。徒勞佇思。會麼。老僧說夢。且道夢見箇甚麼。南柯十更若不會。聽取一頌。北斗掛須彌。杖頭挑日月。林泉好商量。夏末秋風切。珍重。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。天寒日短。問。心法無形。如何雕琢。師曰。一丁兩丁。曰。未曉者如何領會。師曰。透七透八。上堂。一擊響玲瓏。喧轟宇宙通。知音才側耳。項羽過江東。與麼會。恰認得驢鞍橋作阿爺下頷。上堂。大愚相接大雄孫。五湖雲水競頭奔。競頭奔。有何門。擊箭寧知枯木存。枯木存。一年還會兩度春。兩度春。帳裡真珠撒與人。撒與人。思量也是慕西秦。上堂。竪窮三際。橫徧十方。拈起也帝釋心驚。放下也地神膽戰。不拈不放。喚作甚麼。自雲。蝦䗫。上堂。三世諸佛不知有。狸奴白牯卻知有。乃拈起拂子云。狸奴白牯總在這裡放光動地。何謂如此兩段不同。問。如何是佛。師曰。鋸解秤錘。上堂。大眾集定。乃曰。現成公案。也是打揲不辦。便下座。上堂。大洋海底排班立。從頭第二𩯭毛斑。為甚麼不道第一𩯭毛斑。要會麼。金蘂銀絲成玉露。高僧不坐鳳凰臺。上堂眾集。乃曰。為眾竭力。禍出私門。

As soon as he took the seat, a monk asked, ‘What is the master’s house style?’ He said, ‘Once a word leaves the mouth, four horses cannot catch it.’ Asked, ‘What is the Buddha in the city?’ he said, ‘A stone pillar at the crossroads.’ Asked, ‘What is it like before falling into three inches?’ he said, ‘Qian is three long strokes; Kun is six short ones.’ The monk asked what he meant. The master said, ‘Above all, do not be filled or emptied by the ground.’ Asked, ‘When Vulture Peak was divided in half long ago, what was the matter of the two masters meeting?’ he said, ‘Do you remember?’ The monk was silent for a long time. The master struck the Chan seat and said, ‘I forgot it many years ago.’ Then he said, ‘Wait, wait. If you seek the rule in words and try to grasp the workings in phrases, it is like mistaking your shadow for your head. If you expound the ancestral teaching, it is much like a dream utterance. Even so, the official road admits no needle, yet private carts and horses pass freely. Leave a narrow passage, and there will be some entanglement.’ He tapped the seat and said, ‘The Buddhas of the three times all have headaches. Tell me, is there anyone in this assembly who escapes it? If even one person escapes, that is impossible. If no one escapes, the ocean seal radiates light.’ He raised his whisk and said, ‘This is the seal; that is the light. This is the light; that is the seal. The lightning-fast moment makes waiting and thinking useless. Do you understand? This old monk is speaking of a dream. Tell me, what did I dream? If you do not understand the ten watches of the Southern Branch, listen to this verse: “The Dipper hangs from Mount Sumeru; the staff lifts sun and moon. The forest spring is a fine place to discuss; at summer’s end, the autumn wind is sharp. Take care.”’ Asked, ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?’ he said, ‘The days are short in cold weather.’ Asked, ‘The mind-Dharma has no form; how can it be carved?’ he said, ‘One ding, two ding.’ The monk said, ‘How can one who does not understand grasp it?’ The master said, ‘Through seven, through eight.’ At a talk he said: ‘One strike rings clear and resonant; its roar passes through the universe. A person who knows the sound has barely turned an ear when Xiang Yu crosses east over the river.’ To understand it that way is just to mistake a donkey’s saddle bridge for your father’s jaw. At a talk he said: ‘Dayu welcomes the descendants of the Great Hero; clouds and waters from the Five Lakes race here, pressing forward. Pressing forward—what is the way? Who knows that a withered tree remains when arrows strike? The withered tree remains, and twice each year it meets spring. Twice each spring, pearls scatter from the curtain and are given to people. Given to people—thinking it over, one is still longing for Western Qin.’ At a talk he said: ‘Vertically it exhausts the three times; horizontally it fills the ten directions. Raise it, and Indra’s heart is alarmed; put it down, and the earth spirit trembles. If neither raised nor put down, what is it called?’ He answered himself, ‘A toad.’ At a talk he said: ‘The Buddhas of the three times do not know it; cats and white oxen do.’ He raised his whisk and said, ‘Cats and white oxen are all here, radiating light and shaking the earth. Why are these two accounts different?’ Asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ he said, ‘Saw a scale weight in two.’ At a talk, once the assembly had gathered, he said, ‘The ready-made case is still something one cannot get in order.’ Then he descended. At a talk he said: ‘At the bottom of the great ocean they stand in ranks; the second from the front has gray sideburns. Why not say the first has gray sideburns? Want to understand? Golden stamens and silver threads form jade dew; the eminent monk does not sit at Phoenix Terrace.’ When the assembly had gathered, he said, ‘Exerting oneself for the community brings trouble from one’s own door—’

便下座。上堂。翠巖路嶮𡾟。舉步涉千溪。更有洪源水。滔滔在嶺西。擊禪床。下座。示眾。擎起香合雲。明頭合。暗頭合。道得天下橫行。若道不得且合卻。下座。問。如何是為人一句。師曰。四角六張。曰。意旨如何。師曰。八凹九凸。上堂。沙裡無油事可哀。翠巖嚼飯餧嬰孩。他時好惡知端的。始覺從前滿面埃。擊禪床下座。

(The master continued:) ‘—then he descended. At a talk he said: “The road at Green Cliff is steep and rugged; every step crosses a thousand streams. Beyond lies a vast source of water, surging west of the ridge.” He struck the Chan seat and descended. Addressing the assembly, he held up the incense box and said, ‘In bright times it fits; in dark times it fits. If you can say it, you may travel freely throughout the world. If you cannot, then close it.’ He descended. Asked, ‘What is the phrase that guides people?’ he said, ‘Four corners, six openings.’ The monk asked his meaning. The master said, ‘Eight hollows, nine ridges.’ At a talk he said: ‘There is no oil in sand—how lamentable! Green Cliff chews rice and feeds it to babies. Later, when you truly know good and bad, only then will you realize how dusty your face was before.’ He struck the Chan seat and descended.

潭州石霜法永禪師

Chan Master Fayong of Shishuang, Tanzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。臂長衫袖短。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。布袴膝頭穿。

A monk asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ The master said, ‘Long arms, short sleeves.’ Asked, ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?’ he said, ‘The knees of the cloth trousers are worn through.’

舒州法華院全舉禪師

Chan Master Quanju of Fahua Monastery, Shuzhou

到公安遠和尚處。安問。作麼生是伽藍。師曰。深山藏獨虎。淺草露群蛇。曰。作麼生是伽藍中人。師曰。青松蓋不得。黃葉豈能遮。曰。道甚麼。師曰。少年翫盡天邊月。潦倒扶桑沒日頭。曰。一句兩句。雲開月露。作麼生。師曰。照破佛祖。到大愚芝和尚處。愚問。古人見桃花意作麼生。師曰。曲不藏直。曰。那箇且從。這箇作麼生。師曰。大街拾得金。四隣爭得知。曰。上座還知麼。師曰。路逢劒客須呈劒。不是詩人不獻詩。曰。作家詩客。師曰。一條紅線兩人牽。曰。玄沙道。諦當甚諦當。敢保老兄未徹在。又作麼生。師曰。海枯終見底。人死不知心。曰。卻是。師曰。樓閣凌雲勢。峰巒疊翠層。到琅邪覺和尚處。邪問。近離甚處。師曰。兩浙。曰。船來陸來。師曰。船來。曰。船在甚處。師曰。步下。曰。不涉程途一句。作麼生道。師以坐具摵一摵曰。杜撰長老。如麻似粟。拂袖而出。邪問侍者。此是甚麼人。者曰。舉上座。邪曰。莫是舉師叔麼。先師教我尋見伊。遂下。旦過問上座。莫是舉師叔麼。莫怪適來相觸忤。師便喝。復問。長老何時到汾陽。邪曰。某時到。師曰。我在浙江早聞你名。元來見解祇如此。何得名播寰宇。邪遂作禮曰。某甲罪過。師到杭州西菴。菴主曾見明招。主舉頌曰。絕頂西峰上。峻機誰敢當。超然凡聖外。瞥起兩重光。師曰。如何是兩重光。主曰。月從東出。日向西沒。師曰。菴主未見明招時如何。主曰。滿盞油難盡。師曰。見後如何。主曰。多心易得乾。住後。僧問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。白菊乍開重日暖。百年公子不逢春。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。大地絕消息。翛然獨任真。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。草荒人變色。凡聖兩齊空。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。清風與明月。野老笑相親。上堂。釋迦不出世。達磨不西來。佛法徧天下。談玄口不開。

He came to the place of the Elder Gong'an Yuan. Gong'an asked: 'What is the monastery?' The master said: 'Deep mountains hide a lone tiger; shallow grass reveals a crowd of snakes.' Gong'an said: 'What is the person within the monastery?' The master said: 'The green pines cannot cover him; how could yellow leaves hide him?' Gong'an said: 'What are you saying?' The master said: 'In youth he played out all the moons at heaven's edge; worn out, he holds up Fusang with no sun left.' Gong'an said: 'One phrase or two, the clouds open and the moon shows. What of it?' The master said: 'It shines through and breaks the buddhas and patriarchs.' He came to the place of the Elder Dayu Zhi. Dayu asked: 'What did the ancients mean by seeing the peach blossom?' The master said: 'The crooked does not hide the straight.' Dayu said: 'Let that one go. What about this one?' The master said: 'Picking up gold in the main street — how would the four neighbors know?' Dayu said: 'Do you also know, Venerable One?' The master said: 'Meeting a swordsman on the road, one must show one's sword; if one is not a poet, one does not present a poem.' Dayu said: 'An adept, a poet guest.' The master said: 'One red thread pulled by two people.' Dayu said: 'Xuansha said: "Very much to the point, very much to the point — but I dare to guarantee that you, old brother, are not yet through." What about that?' The master said: 'When the sea dries up one sees the bottom at last; when a man dies one does not know his mind.' Dayu said: 'That is so.' The master said: 'The tower reaches the clouds in its posture; the peaks pile up in layered verdure.' He came to the place of the Elder Langye Jue. Langye asked: 'Where have you recently come from?' The master said: 'The two Zhes.' Langye said: 'By boat or by land?' The master said: 'By boat.' Langye said: 'Where is the boat?' The master said: 'Below my feet.' Langye said: 'A phrase that does not touch the journey — how do you say it?' The master flicked him once with his sitting cloth and said: 'Fabricated elders, as many as hemp and millet.' He brushed his sleeves and went out. Langye asked the attendant: 'Who is this?' The attendant said: 'The Venerable Ju.' Langye said: 'Can it be Uncle Ju, the master? My late teacher told me to find him.' So he came down to the lodging hall and asked the Venerable One: 'Are you not Uncle Ju? Do not mind my offending you just now.' The master at once shouted, and then asked: 'When did the Elder arrive at Fenyang?' Langye said: 'I arrived at such and such a time.' The master said: 'In Zhejiang I heard your name early; it turns out your understanding is only like this. How is your fame spread through the world?' Langye then bowed and said: 'It is my fault.' The master came to the Western Hermitage in Hangzhou. The hermit had once seen Mingzhao. The hermit raised a verse: 'On the western peak of the summit, who dares face the steep working? Transcending ordinary and holy, in a blink two lights arise.' The master said: 'What are the two lights?' The hermit said: 'The moon comes out in the east, the sun sets in the west.' The master said: 'What of when the hermit had not yet seen Mingzhao?' The hermit said: 'A full cup of oil is hard to exhaust.' The master said: 'What of after seeing him?' The hermit said: 'Too many minds are easily dried up.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'What is it to take away the person but not the object?' The master said: 'White chrysanthemums just opening under a warm double sun; a hundred-year nobleman does not meet spring.' The monk said: 'What is it to take away the object but not the person?' The master said: 'The great earth is utterly without news; freely and alone he lets the real be.' The monk said: 'What is it to take away both person and object?' The master said: 'The grass is wild and men's faces change; ordinary and holy are both equally empty.' The monk said: 'What is it to take away neither person nor object?' The master said: 'Clear wind and bright moon; the old rustic laughs and draws near.' He mounted the hall: 'Shakyamuni did not appear in the world, Bodhidharma did not come from the west. The buddhadharma fills the world; speaking of the profound, the mouth does not open.'

上堂。鐘鳴鼓響。鵲噪鴉鳴。為你諸人說般若．講涅槃了也。諸人還信得及麼。觀音菩薩向諸人面前作大神通。若信不及。卻往他方救苦利生去也。上堂。開口又成增語。不開口又成剩語。乃曰。金輪天子勑。草店家風別。上堂。三世諸佛。口掛壁上。天下老和尚作麼生措手。你諸人到諸方作麼生舉。山僧恁麼道。也是久日樺來唇。喝一喝。上堂。古者道。我若一向舉揚宗教。法堂裡草深一丈。不可為闍黎鎻卻僧堂門去也。雖然如是。也是烏龜陸地弄塵行。上堂。語漸也返常合道。論頓也不留朕跡。直饒論其頓返其常。也是抑而為之。問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼百鳥銜花獻。師曰。果熟猿兼重。曰。見後為甚麼不銜花。師曰。林疎鳥不過。問。七星光彩天將曉。不犯皇風試道看。師曰。將軍馬蹄紅。曰。錯。師便打。僧禮拜。展坐具始收。師曰。一展一收。法法皆周。擬欲更問。著甚來由。遂問。會麼。僧曰。不會。師便打。

He mounted the hall: 'The bell rings and the drum sounds, the magpie chatters and the crow caws — they have preached prajna and expounded nirvana for you people. Can you people believe it fully? The bodhisattva Guanyin performs a great spiritual power before you people. If you cannot believe fully, then she goes off to other lands to save the suffering and benefit beings.' He mounted the hall: 'To open the mouth is again to add words; not to open the mouth is again to leave surplus words.' Then he said: 'The golden-wheel emperor's edict; the straw-hut family style is different.' He mounted the hall: 'The buddhas of the three ages have their mouths hung on the wall. How will the old monks of the world set their hands? How will you people bring it up in other quarters? That the mountain monk speaks like this is also the lips worn thin by birch bark over many days.' He shouted once. He mounted the hall: 'The ancients said: if I were always to proclaim the school and the teaching, the grass in the dharma hall would grow a fathom deep. I cannot shut the monks' hall door on you, Acharya. Even so, it is a turtle walking on dry land stirring up dust.' He mounted the hall: 'Spoken gradually, one returns to the constant and accords with the way; spoken suddenly, one leaves no trace. Even if you discuss the sudden and return to the constant, it is still forced.' A monk asked: 'Before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch, why did a hundred birds carry flowers to offer?' The master said: 'When the fruit is ripe the gibbon grows heavy.' The monk said: 'Why did they not carry flowers after he met him?' The master said: 'When the grove is sparse the birds do not pass.' The monk asked: 'The seven stars gleam and the sky is about to dawn; without trespassing on the imperial air, try to speak.' The master said: 'The general's horse hooves are red.' The monk said: 'Wrong.' The master at once struck him. The monk bowed, and had just spread and folded his sitting cloth. The master said: 'One spread, one fold — every dharma is complete. If you mean to ask more, what grounds are there?' Then he asked: 'Do you understand?' The monk said: 'No.' The master at once struck him.

南嶽芭蕉菴大道谷泉禪師

Chan Master Dadao Guquan of the Bajiao Hermitage, Nanyue

泉州人也。受法汾陽。放蕩湖湘。後省同參慈明禪師。明問。白雲橫谷口。道人何處來。師左右顧視。曰。夜來何處火。燒出古人墳。明曰。未在更道。師作虎聲。明以坐具便摵。師接住。推明置禪床上。明卻作虎聲。師大笑曰。我見七十餘員善知識。今日始遇作家。師因倚遇上座來參(遇後住法昌)。問。菴主在麼。師曰。誰。曰。行腳僧。師曰。作甚麼。曰。禮拜菴主。師曰。恰值菴主不在。曰。你聻。師曰。向道不在。說甚麼你我。拽棒趂出。遇次日再來。師又趂出。遇一日又來。問。菴主在麼。師曰。誰。曰。行腳僧。揭簾便入。師攔胷搊住曰。我這裡狼虎縱橫。尿床鬼子。三回兩度來討甚麼。曰。人言菴主親見汾陽來。師解衣抖擻曰。你道我見汾陽有多少奇特。曰。如何是菴中主。師曰。入門須辯取。曰。莫祇這便是麼。師曰。賺卻幾多人。曰。前言何在。師曰。聽事不真。喚鐘作甕。曰。萬法泯時全體現。君臣合處正中邪去也。師曰。驢漢不會便休。亂統作麼。曰。未審客來將何祇待。師曰。雲門餬餅趙州茶。曰。恁麼則謝師供養去也。師叱曰。我這裡火種也未有。早言謝供養。師因大雪。作偈曰。今朝甚好雪。紛紛如秋月。文殊不出頭。普賢呈醜拙。慈明遷住福嚴。師又往省之。少留而還。作偈寄之曰。相別而今又半年。不知誰共對談禪。一般秀色湘山裡。汝自匡徒我自眠。明覧笑而已。

He was a man of Quanzhou. He received the dharma from Fenyang and lived unrestrained among the lakes and rivers of Hunan. Later he went to call on his fellow student Chan Master Ciming. Ciming asked: 'White clouds bar the valley mouth; where does the man of the way come from?' The master looked left and right and said: 'What fire last night burned out the ancients' graves?' Ciming said: 'Not yet. Say more.' The master made the sound of a tiger. Ciming struck at him with his sitting cloth. The master caught it and pushed Ciming down onto the meditation bed. Ciming then made the sound of a tiger. The master laughed heartily and said: 'I have seen more than seventy good friends, and only today have I met an adept.' Because the Venerable Yu came to consult him (Yu later resided at Fachang), he asked: 'Is the hermit in?' The master said: 'Who?' The Venerable Yu said: 'A pilgrim monk.' The master said: 'What for?' The Venerable Yu said: 'To pay my respects to the hermit.' The master said: 'It happens that the hermit is not in.' The Venerable Yu said: 'And you?' The master said: 'I told you he is not in. What you and me?' He dragged out a stick and drove him away. The Venerable Yu came again the next day, and the master drove him out again. One day the Venerable Yu came again and asked: 'Is the hermit in?' The master said: 'Who?' The Venerable Yu said: 'A pilgrim monk.' He lifted the curtain and went in. The master seized him by the chest and said: 'Here wolves and tigers run wild. Bed-wetting devil, what are you after, coming three times and twice?' The Venerable Yu said: 'People say the hermit has personally seen Fenyang.' The master took off his robe and shook it, saying: 'How much of the remarkable do you say I saw in Fenyang?' The Venerable Yu said: 'What is the host in the hermitage?' The master said: 'On entering the gate one must distinguish.' The Venerable Yu said: 'Is it not just this?' The master said: 'How many people has that deceived?' The Venerable Yu said: 'Where are your former words?' The master said: 'Hearing a matter imprecisely, one calls a bell a jar.' The Venerable Yu said: 'When the ten thousand dharmas are extinguished the whole appears; where lord and minister join, one is exactly in the crooked.' The master said: 'If a donkey fellow does not understand, let it be. Why the confusion?' The Venerable Yu said: 'I wonder how a guest is to be received?' The master said: 'Yunmen's flatbread, Zhaozhou's tea.' The Venerable Yu said: 'Then I thank the Master for the offering.' The master scolded him: 'Here I do not even have tinder, and you already speak of thanking for the offering.' Once, because of heavy snow, the master made a verse: 'What fine snow today, falling thick as an autumn moon. Manjushri does not show his head; Samantabhadra displays his ugliness.' When Ciming moved to reside at Fuyan, the master went again to call on him, stayed a little and returned, and sent him a verse: 'Since we parted it is now half a year; I do not know with whom you discuss Chan. The same fair color in the Xiang mountains — you go on leading disciples and I go on sleeping.' When Ciming read it he only laughed.

蘄州黃梅龍華寺曉愚禪師

Chan Master Xiaoyu of Longhua Monastery, Huangmei, Qizhou

到五祖戒和尚處。祖問曰。不落唇吻一句。作麼生道。師曰。老老大大。話頭也不照顧。祖便喝。師亦喝。祖拈棒。師拍手便出。祖召曰。闍黎且住。話在。師將坐具搭在肩上。更不回首。上堂。摩騰入漢。已涉繁詞。達磨西來。不守己分。山僧今日與麼道。也是為他閑事長無明。

He came to the place of the Fifth Patriarch, the Elder Jie. The Fifth Patriarch asked: 'A phrase that does not fall on lips and tongue — how do you say it?' The master said: 'Old as you are, you do not even look after your own words.' The Fifth Patriarch at once shouted. The master also shouted. The Fifth Patriarch picked up his staff. The master clapped his hands and went out. The Fifth Patriarch called: 'Acharya, stay a moment; the words remain.' The master put his sitting cloth on his shoulder and did not look back. He mounted the hall: 'When Matanga entered Han he was already mired in profuse words. When Bodhidharma came from the west he did not keep to his own share. That the mountain monk speaks like this today is also meddling in others' idle affairs and increasing ignorance.'

安吉州天聖皓泰禪師

Chan Master Tiansheng Haotai of Anji Prefecture

到琅邪。邪問。埋兵掉鬬。未是作家。匹馬單鎗。便請相見。師指邪曰。將頭不猛。帶累三軍。邪打師一坐具。師亦打邪一坐具。邪接住曰。適來一坐具。是山僧令行。上座一坐具。落在甚麼處。師曰。伏惟尚饗。邪拓開曰。五更侵早起。更有夜行人。師曰。賊過後張弓。邪曰。且坐吃茶。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。黑漆聖僧。曰。如何是佛法大意。師曰。看墻似土色。

He came to Langye. Langye said: 'Burying soldiers and shifting the battle line is not the mark of an adept. With a single horse and a single spear, then please meet me.' The master pointed at Langye and said: 'If the general's head is not fierce, it drags down the whole army.' Langye struck the master with his sitting cloth. The master also struck Langye with his sitting cloth. Langye caught it and said: 'The sitting cloth just now was this mountain monk's execution of the command. Where did your sitting cloth land, Venerable One?' The master said: 'Reverently I invite you to partake.' Langye pushed him away and said: 'At the fifth watch one rises early, and still there is a night traveler.' The master said: 'Drawing the bow after the thief has passed.' Langye said: 'Sit down and have tea.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A black-lacquered holy monk.' The monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'Look at the wall — it is like the color of earth.'

唐州龍潭智圓禪師

Chan Master Longtan Zhiyuan of Tangzhou

辭汾陽。陽曰。別無送路。與子一枝拄杖。一條手巾。師曰。手巾和尚受用。拄杖即不消得。陽曰。汝但將去。有用處在。師便収。陽曰。又道不用。師便喝。陽曰。已後不讓臨濟。師曰。正令已行。陽來日送出三門。乃問。汝介山逢尉遲時如何。師曰。一刀兩段。陽曰。彼現那叱。又作麼生。師便拽拄杖。陽喝曰。這回全體分付。住後。僧問。承教有言。是真精進。是名真法。供養如來。如何是真法。師曰。夜聚曉散。問。如何是龍潭劒。師曰。觸不得。曰。用者如何。師曰。白骨連山。問。昔日窮經。今日參禪。此理如何。師曰。兩彩一賽。曰。作麼生領會。師曰。去後不留蹤。曰。如何是佛。師曰。火燒不燃。問。古殿無佛時如何。師曰。三門前合掌。

He took leave of Fenyang. Fenyang said: 'I have nothing else to see you off with; here are a staff and a towel for you.' The master said: 'Let the Master use the towel; as for the staff, it is not needed.' Fenyang said: 'Just take it with you; there will be a place where it is useful.' The master then accepted it. Fenyang said: 'Yet you said it was not needed.' The master at once shouted. Fenyang said: 'Henceforth you will not yield to Linji.' The master said: 'The true command has already been carried out.' The next day Fenyang escorted him out to the three gates and asked: 'What of when you meet Yuchi on Mount Jie?' The master said: 'One cut, two pieces.' Fenyang said: 'If he manifests as Nata, what then?' The master at once dragged out his staff. Fenyang shouted: 'This time I hand over the whole body to you.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'The teaching says: this is true diligence, this is called the true dharma, offering to the Tathagata. What is the true dharma?' The master said: 'Gathering at night, scattering at dawn.' The monk asked: 'What is the Longtan sword?' The master said: 'It cannot be touched.' The monk said: 'What of the one who uses it?' The master said: 'White bones in mountain ranges.' The monk asked: 'Formerly I exhausted the scriptures; now I study Chan. What is this principle?' The master said: 'Two colors, one contest.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'After going, no trace is left.' The monk said: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Fire will not burn it.' The monk asked: 'What of when the ancient hall has no buddha?' The master said: 'Join your palms before the three gates.'

舒州投子圓修禪師

Chan Master Touzi Yuanxiu of Shuzhou

僧問。達磨未來時如何。師曰。出口入耳。曰。來後如何。師曰。叉手並足。

A monk asked: 'What of the time before Bodhidharma came?' The master said: 'Out of the mouth, into the ear.' The monk said: 'What of after he came?' The master said: 'Folded hands, feet together.'

汾州太子院道一禪師

Chan Master Taizi Yuan Daoyi of Fenzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。賣扇老婆手遮日。問。紅輪未出時如何。師曰。照燭分明。曰。出後如何。師曰。撈天摸地。問。如何是學人親切處。師曰。慈母抱嬰兒。曰。如何是學人轉身處。師曰。街頭巷尾。曰。如何是學人著力處。師曰。千斤擔子兩頭搖。問。古曲無音韻。如何和得齊。師曰。三九二十七。籬頭吹觱栗。曰。宮商角徵非關妙。石人拊掌笑呵呵。師曰。同道方知。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The old woman selling fans shades the sun with her hand.' The monk asked: 'What of before the red wheel has come out?' The master said: 'Illuminating and clear.' The monk said: 'What of after it comes out?' The master said: 'Groping heaven and feeling earth.' The monk asked: 'Where is the student's intimate place?' The master said: 'A loving mother holds her infant.' The monk said: 'Where does a student turn around?' The master said: 'At the head of the street, the end of the lane.' The monk said: 'Where should a student apply his strength?' The master said: 'A thousand-catty load sways on both ends of the pole.' The monk asked: 'The ancient tune has no notes; how is one to match it in tune?' The master said: 'Three nines are twenty-seven; at the fence's edge one blows the bili pipe.' The monk said: 'The pentatonic modes are not the wonder; a stone man claps and laughs ha, ha.' The master said: 'Only one of the same way knows.'

葉縣省禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yexian Sheng

舒州浮山法遠圓鑒禪師

Chan Master Fushan Fayuan Yuanjian of Shuzhou

鄭州人也。投三交嵩和尚出家。幼為沙彌。見僧入室請問趙州庭栢因緣。嵩詰其僧。師傍有省。進具後。謁汾陽．葉縣。皆蒙印可。嘗與達觀頴薛大頭七八輩遊蜀。幾遭橫逆。師以智脫之。眾以師曉吏事。故號遠錄公。開堂拈香曰。汝海枯木上生花。別迎春色。僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。八十翁翁輥繡毬。曰。恁麼則一句迥然開祖胄。三玄戈甲振叢林。師曰。李陵元是漢朝臣。問。如何是佛。師曰。大者如兄。小者如弟。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。平地起骨堆。問。祖師門下。壁立千仞。正令當行。十方坐斷。和尚將何表示。師曰。寒貓不捉鼠。曰。莫便是為人處也無。師曰。波斯不繫腰。問。新歲已臨。舊歲何往。師曰。目前無異怪。不用貼鍾馗。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。將謂目前無。僧以手畫曰。爭奈這箇何。師便打。師與王質待制論道。畫一圓相。問曰。一不得匹馬單鎗。二不得衣錦還鄉。鵲不得喜。鴉不得殃。速道。速道王罔措。師曰。勘破了也。上堂。更莫論古話今。祇據目前事與你諸人定奪區分。僧便問。如何是目前事。師曰。鼻孔。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。眼睛。歐陽文忠公聞師奇逸。造其室。未有以異之。與客碁。師坐其旁。文忠遽收局。請因碁說法。師即令撾鼓陞座。曰。若論此事。如兩家著碁相似。何謂也。敵手知音。當機不讓。若是綴五饒三。又通一路始得。有一般底。祇解閉門作活。不會奪角沖關。硬節與虎口齊彰。局破後徒勞綽斡。所以道。肥邊易得。瘦肚難求。思行則往往失粘。心麤而時時頭撞。休誇國手。謾說神仙。贏局輸籌即不問。且道黑白未分時。一著落在甚麼處。良久曰。從來十九路。迷悟幾多人。文忠嘉歎。從容謂同僚曰。脩初疑禪語為虗誕。今日見此老機緣。所得所造。非悟明於心地。安能有此妙旨哉。上堂。天得一以清。地得一以寧。

He was a man of Zhengzhou. He left home under the Elder Sanjiao Song. As a young novice he saw a monk enter the room to ask about the cause of Zhaozhou's cypress in the courtyard. Song pressed that monk with questions, and the master, standing nearby, had a realization. After receiving full ordination he paid his respects to Fenyang and Yexian, and from both received the seal of approval. He once traveled in Shu with Daguan Ying, Xue Datou and seven or eight others, and they nearly met with disaster, but the master used his wits to get them free. Because the master understood official affairs, the others called him Elder Lu, the Registrar. When he opened the hall he raised incense and said: 'On the withered tree of your sea, flowers grow; a spring color is welcomed apart.' A monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'An eighty-year-old man rolls a brocade ball.' The monk said: 'Then one phrase opens the lineage of the ancestors, and the armor of the three profundities shakes the monasteries.' The master said: 'Li Ling was originally a subject of the Han.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The big ones are like elder brothers, the small ones like younger brothers.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'A heap of bones rising from level ground.' The monk asked: 'Within the patriarch's gate it stands a thousand fathoms sheer. When the true command is in force, the ten directions are cut off. How does the Master show it?' The master said: 'A cold cat does not catch mice.' The monk said: 'Is that not the place of acting for others?' The master said: 'A Persian does not tie his waist.' The monk asked: 'The new year has arrived; where has the old year gone?' The master said: 'Before your eyes there is nothing strange; no need to paste up Zhong Kui.' The monk said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'I thought there was nothing before your eyes.' The monk drew with his hand and said: 'What is to be done about this?' The master at once struck him. The master was discussing the way with the expectant official Wang Zhi. He drew a circle and asked: 'First, you may not ride a single horse with a single spear; second, you may not return home in brocade. The magpie may not be glad, the crow may not be harmed. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Wang was blank and did not know what to do. The master said: 'I have seen through him.' He mounted the hall: 'Say no more of ancient words and modern words; I will settle and distinguish for you people only according to the matter before your eyes.' A monk then asked: 'What is the matter before your eyes?' The master said: 'The nostrils.' The monk said: 'What is the matter of going beyond?' The master said: 'The eyes.' When Lord Ouyang Wenzhong heard that the master was extraordinary and free, he came to his room, but had nothing to distinguish him by. He was playing chess with a guest, and the master sat beside them. Wenzhong suddenly put up the pieces and asked him to speak the dharma on the chessboard. The master at once had the drum struck and mounted the seat, saying: 'If you speak of this matter, it is like two players at chess. What does that mean? When they are matched opponents and true intimates, they do not yield at the critical moment. Only when one gives five and cedes three, and lets a road through, can it be got. There are some who only know how to shut the door and make a living, and do not know how to seize a corner and break through the pass. The firm joint and the tiger's mouth are both displayed; after the board is broken, one works the pieces in vain. Therefore it is said: the fat edge is easy to get, the lean belly is hard to seek. Thinking before moving, one often loses the grip; with a coarse mind, one knocks the head from time to time. Do not boast of being a national champion, do not idly speak of immortals. Winning the game or losing the tally — I will not ask. Tell me, before black and white are divided, where does the first move land?' After a long while he said: 'From of old, on the nineteen lines, how many people have been deluded or awakened?' Wenzhong praised him with admiration, and calmly said to his colleagues: 'At first I suspected that Chan words were empty and false. Today, seeing this old man's working and what he has attained and produced, had he not awakened and clarified his mind-ground, how could he have such a wondrous purport?' He mounted the hall: 'Heaven obtains the one and so is clear; earth obtains the one and so is at peace;

君王得一以治天下。衲僧得一。禍患臨身。擊禪床。下座。上堂。諸佛出世。建立化門。不離三身智眼。亦如摩醯首羅三目。何故。一隻水洩不通。緇素難辯。一隻大地全開。十方通暢。一隻高低一顧。萬類齊瞻。雖然若是。本分衲僧陌路相逢。別具通天正眼始得。所以道。三世諸佛不知有。狸奴白牯卻知有。且道狸奴白牯知有箇甚麼事。要會麼。深秋簾幙千家雨。落日樓臺一笛風。師暮年休於會聖嚴。敘佛祖奧義。作九帶曰。佛正法眼帶。佛法藏帶。理貫帶。事貫帶。理事縱橫帶。屈曲垂帶。妙葉兼帶。金針雙鎻帶。平懷常實帶。學者既已傳誦。師曰。若據圓極法門。本具十數。今此九帶。已為諸人說了。更有一帶。還見得麼。若也見得親切分明。卻請出來。對眾說看。說得分明。許汝通前九帶圓明道眼。若見不親切。說不相應。唯依吾語而為已解。則名謗法。諸人到此如何。眾無語。師叱之而去。

(The master continued:) 'kings obtain the one and so govern the world. A patch-robed monk obtains the one, and disaster comes upon his body.' He struck the meditation seat and descended from the seat. He mounted the hall: 'When the buddhas appear in the world and establish their gates of transformation, they do not depart from the wisdom eye of the three bodies, just as Maheshvara has three eyes. Why? One eye lets not a drop of water through, and black and white are hard to distinguish. One eye opens the whole earth, and the ten directions are unobstructed. One eye looks down and up, and the ten thousand kinds are all seen. Even so, when a patch-robed monk of the proper sort meets a stranger on the road, he must have a separate, heaven-piercing true eye to do it. Therefore it is said: the buddhas of the three ages do not know that it is; the wildcat and the white ox do know that it is. Tell me, what is the matter that the wildcat and the white ox know? Do you want to understand? Late autumn, curtains of rain over a thousand houses; the setting sun, a flute's wind on the tower.' In his late years the master rested at Huisheng Rock, expounded the profound meaning of the buddhas and patriarchs, and composed the Nine Belts, saying: 'The belt of the buddha's true dharma eye. The belt of the buddhadharma treasury. The belt of principle penetrating. The belt of fact penetrating. The belt of principle and fact vertical and horizontal. The belt of bending and hanging down. The belt of wondrous leaves and concurrent carrying. The belt of the golden needle and double lock. The belt of level mind and constant reality.' When the students had already recited and spread them, the master said: 'Judged by the perfectly complete dharma gate, there are originally ten in number. Now I have spoken these nine belts for you people. There is still one more belt — do you see it? If you see it intimately and clearly, then please come out and speak it before the assembly. If you speak it clearly, I will allow that you have opened the eye of the way through the former nine belts. If you do not see it intimately and your speech does not match, and you merely take my words as your own understanding, then it is called slandering the dharma. How do you people manage here?' The assembly was speechless. The master scolded them and left.

汝州寶應院法昭演教禪師

Chan Master Baoying Yuan Fazhao Yanjiao of Ruzhou

僧問。一言合道時如何。師曰。七顛八倒。曰。學人禮拜。師曰。教休不肯休。直待雨淋頭。問。大通智勝佛。十劫坐道場。佛法不現前。不得成佛道。為甚麼不得成佛道。師曰。赤腳騎鐵驢。直至海南居。上堂。十二時中。許你一時絕學。即是學佛法。不見阿難多聞第一。卻被迦葉擯出。不得結集。方知聰明博學。記持憶想。向外馳求。與靈覺心轉沒交涉。五蘊殻中透脫不過。順情生喜。違情生怒。蓋覆深厚。自纏自縛。無有解脫。流浪生死。六根為患。眾苦所逼。無自由分。而被妄心於中主宰。大丈夫兒早搆取好。喝一喝。曰。參。上堂。寶應門風險。入者喪全身。作麼生是出身一句。若道不得。三十年後。

A monk asked: 'What of when one phrase accords with the way?' The master said: 'Topsy-turvy.' The monk said: 'This student bows.' The master said: 'Told to stop he will not stop, until the rain pours on his head.' The monk asked: 'The Buddha Mahabhisheka, Great Penetrating Wisdom Victory, sat in the place of practice for ten kalpas, yet the buddhadharma did not appear before him and he could not attain the way to buddhahood. Why could he not attain the way to buddhahood?' The master said: 'Riding a barefoot iron donkey and dwelling all the way to Hainan.' He mounted the hall: 'Through the twelve hours, if you allow yourself one hour of cutting off study, that is studying the buddhadharma. Have you not seen how Ananda was foremost in wide learning, and yet was expelled by Kashyapa and not allowed to compile the scriptures? Only then do you know that cleverness and broad learning, memory and recollection, and seeking outward have nothing whatever to do with the numinous awakened mind. If you cannot break through the shell of the five aggregates, then you are glad when things accord with your feelings and angry when they go against them; the covering is thick and deep, and you bind yourself and tie yourself with no liberation. You wander through birth and death, with the six sense bases as the affliction, pressed by a multitude of sufferings, with no share of freedom, while the deluded mind holds mastery within. A great man should settle it early.' He shouted once and said: 'Study!' He mounted the hall: 'The gate of Baoying is steep and perilous; whoever enters loses his whole body. What is the one phrase of coming forth? If you cannot speak it, thirty years from now.'

唐州大乘山慧果禪師

Chan Master Dacheng Shan Huiguo of Tangzhou

僧問。如何是從上來傳底意。師曰。金盤拓出眾人看。問。撥塵見佛時如何。師曰。撥塵即乖。見佛即錯。曰。總不如是時如何。師曰。錯。問。如何是道。師曰。寬處寬。窄處窄。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。苦處苦。樂處樂。曰。道與道中人相去多少。師曰。十萬八千。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。天晴日出。曰。學人不會。師曰。雨下泥生。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning transmitted from the first?' The master said: 'Taken out on a golden tray for everyone to see.' The monk asked: 'What of when one brushes away the dust and sees the buddha?' The master said: 'To brush away the dust is to go astray; to see the buddha is to err.' The monk said: 'What of when it is none of these?' The master said: 'Wrong.' The monk asked: 'What is the way?' The master said: 'Broad where it is broad, narrow where it is narrow.' The monk said: 'What is the person within the way?' The master said: 'Bitter where it is bitter, joyful where it is joyful.' The monk said: 'How far apart are the way and the person within the way?' The master said: 'A hundred and eight thousand.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'The sky clears and the sun comes out.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'The rain falls and mud forms.'

神鼎諲禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shending Yin

荊南府開聖寶情山主

The mountain chief Kaisheng Baoqing of Jingnan Prefecture

僧問。如何是開聖境。師曰。三烏引路。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。二虎巡山。

A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Kaisheng?' The master said: 'Three crows lead the way.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Two tigers patrol the mountain.'

天台山妙智寺光雲禪師

Chan Master Guangyun of Miaozhi Monastery, Mount Tiantai

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。東籬黃菊。曰。意旨如何。師曰。九日重陽。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'Yellow chrysanthemums at the eastern fence.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'The ninth day, Double Ninth.'

谷隱聰禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guyin Cong

潤州金山曇穎達觀禪師

Chan Master Jinshan Tanying Daguan of Runzhou

首謁大陽玄禪師。遂問。洞山特設偏正君臣。意明何事。陽曰。父母未生時事。師曰。如何體會。陽曰。夜半正明。天曉不露。師罔然。遂謁谷隱。舉前話。隱曰。大陽不道不是。祇是口門窄。滿口說未盡。老僧即不然。師問。如何是父母未生時事。隱曰。糞墼子。師曰。如何是夜半正明。天曉不露。隱曰。牡丹花下睡貓兒。師愈疑駭。一日普請。隱問。今日運薪邪。師曰。然。隱曰。雲門問。僧人般柴柴般人。如何會。師無對。隱曰。此事如人學書。點畫可効者工。否者拙。葢未能忘法耳。當筆忘手。手忘心。乃可也。師於是默契。良久曰。如石頭雲。執事元是迷。契理亦非悟。隱曰。汝以為藥語。為病語。師曰。是藥語。隱呵曰。汝以病為藥。又安可哉。師曰。事如函得葢。理如箭直鋒妙。寧有加者。而猶以為病。實未喻旨。隱曰。妙至是。亦祇名理事。祖師意旨。智識所不能到。矧事理能盡乎。故世尊雲。理障礙正見知。事障續諸生死。師恍如夢覺。曰。如何受用。隱曰。語不離窠臼。安能出葢纏。師歎曰。才涉唇吻。便落意思。盡是死門。終非活路。住後。示眾曰。才涉唇吻。便落意思。盡是死門。俱非活路。直饒透脫。猶在沉淪。莫教孤負平生。虗度此世。要得不孤負平生麼。拈拄杖卓一下。曰。須是莫被拄杖瞞始得。看看拄杖子。穿過你諸人髑髏。𨁝跳入你鼻孔裡去也。又卓一下。僧問。經文最初兩字是甚麼字。師曰。以字。曰。有甚麼交涉。師曰。八字。曰。好賺人。師曰。謗此經。故獲罪如是。問。一百二十斤鐵枷。教阿誰擔。師曰。老僧。曰。自作自受。師曰。苦。苦。問。和尚還曾念佛也無。師曰。不曾念佛。曰。為甚麼不念佛。師曰。怕汙人口。上堂。眾集定。首座出禮拜。師曰。好好問著。座低頭。問話次。師曰。今日不答話。便歸方丈。上堂。山僧門庭別。已改諸方轍。

He first paid a visit to Chan Master Xu of Dayang and asked: ‘Why did Dongshan establish the Five Ranks of the Correct and the Partial, ruler and minister?’ Dayang said: ‘It concerns what was before your parents were born.’ ‘How should I understand it?’ ‘At midnight it is perfectly bright; at dawn it does not show.’ The master was bewildered. He then visited Guyin and raised the earlier exchange. Guyin said: ‘It is not that Dayang was wrong; his doorway is simply narrow, and he did not say all that could be said. I am different.’ The master asked: ‘What is the matter before one’s parents were born?’ Guyin replied: ‘A lump of dung.’ ‘What is “perfectly bright at midnight, yet unseen at dawn”?’ ‘A sleeping cat beneath a peony.’ The master’s doubt only deepened. One day, while the community was doing a shared work detail, Guyin asked: ‘Are you carrying firewood today?’ ‘Yes.’ Guyin said: ‘Yunmen once asked a monk, “A person carries firewood, or firewood carries a person. How do you understand it?”’ The master had no answer. Guyin said: ‘This is like learning to write. In the strokes, some work is skillful and some clumsy; that is because one has not yet forgotten the method. Only when the brush forgets the hand, and the hand forgets the mind, can one do it.’ The master silently understood. After a long while he said: ‘As Shitou said, “To cling to things is delusion; to accord with principle is still not awakening.”’ Guyin asked: ‘Do you take that as medicine or as illness?’ ‘As medicine.’ Guyin scolded him: ‘If you mistake illness for medicine, what good is that?’ The master said: ‘Things fit together like a box and its lid; principle is straight and sharp like an arrow. What could surpass this? Yet you still call it illness. I have not truly understood your meaning.’ Guyin said: ‘Even reaching this subtle point is only called principle and phenomena. The Patriarch’s meaning is beyond the reach of knowledge and intellect; how could principle and phenomena exhaust it? Thus the World-Honored One said that obstruction by principle hinders right view, while obstruction by phenomena perpetuates birth and death.’ The master felt as if waking from a dream and asked: ‘How is it to be lived?’ Guyin replied: ‘If your words never leave their old grooves, how can you escape the coverings?’ The master sighed: ‘The moment words cross the lips, they fall into thought. All of it is a gate of death, never a living road.’ After taking up residence, he told the assembly: ‘The moment words cross the lips, they fall into thought. All of it is a gate of death, never a living road. Even if you break through, you are still sinking. Do not betray your whole life and let this world pass in vain. Do you want not to betray your life?’ He raised his staff and struck once: ‘You must not be deceived by this staff. Look carefully: it will pass through your skulls and leap into your nostrils.’ He struck again. A monk asked: ‘What are the first two characters of the sutra?’ ‘The character “by.”’ ‘What has that to do with it?’ ‘Eight characters.’ ‘You are making fools of people.’ ‘For slandering this sutra, you incur just such a crime.’ Asked: ‘Who should bear a 120-pound iron cangue?’ he said: ‘This old monk.’ ‘You make it and bear it yourself.’ ‘Alas, alas!’ Asked whether he had ever recited the Buddha’s name, he said: ‘I have not.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘I fear contaminating people’s mouths.’ At an assembly, after everyone had gathered, the head monk bowed. The master said: ‘Ask properly.’ The head monk lowered his head. When he tried to ask, the master said: ‘I will not answer today,’ and returned to his room. On another occasion he said: ‘My school is different; I have changed the tracks of the other places…’

為文殊㧞出眼裡楔。教普賢休嚼口中鐵。勸人放開髂蛇手。與汝斫卻繫驢橛。駐意擬思量。喝曰。揑揑參。上堂。山僧平生。意好相撲。祇是無人搭對。今日且共首座搭對。捲起袈裟。下座索首座相撲。座才出。師曰。平地上吃交。便歸方丈。上堂。三世諸佛是奴婢。一大藏教是涕唾。良久曰。且道三世諸佛是誰奴婢。乃將拂子畫一畫曰。三世諸佛過這邊。且道一大藏教是誰涕唾。師乃自唾一唾。上堂。秤錘井底忽然浮。老鼠多年變作牛。慧空見了拍手笑。三腳猢猻差異猴。上堂。五千教典。諸佛常談。八萬塵勞。眾生妙用。猶未是金剛眼睛在。如何是金剛眼睛。良久曰。瞎。上堂。大眾集定。有僧才出禮拜。師曰。欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。僧便問。如何是時節因緣。師便下座。問。如何是向去底人。師曰。從歸青嶂裡。不出白雲來。曰。如何是卻來底人。師曰。自從遊紫陌。誰肯隱青山。問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。家裡已無回日信。路邊空有望鄉牌。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。滄海盡教枯到底。青山直得碾為塵。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。天地尚空秦日月。山河不見漢君臣。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。鶯囀千林華滿地。客遊三月草侵天。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。伸手不見掌。曰。忽遇仙陀客來。又作麼生。師曰。對面千里。問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。臨濟。曰。恁麼則谷隱的子也。師曰。德山。問。如何是長法身。師曰。拄杖六尺。曰。如何是短法身。師曰。筭子三寸。曰。恁麼則法身有二也。師曰。更有方圓在。上堂。諸方鉤又曲。餌又香。奔湊猶如蜂抱王。因聖這裡。鉤又直。餌又無。猶如水底捺葫蘆。舉拄杖作釣魚勢。曰。深水取魚長信命。不曾將酒祭江神。擲拄杖。下座。

(The master continued:) ‘…to pull the wedge from Manjushri’s eye and make Samantabhadra stop chewing the iron in his mouth. I urge people to release the snake-catching hand and cut away the stake that tethers the donkey. If you linger in thought and speculation—’ He shouted: ‘Poke and probe; come practice!’ At another assembly he said: ‘All my life I have enjoyed wrestling, but no one has matched me. Today I will have a bout with the head monk.’ He rolled up his robe and came down to wrestle. As the head monk stepped forward, the master said: ‘You have taken a fall on level ground,’ and returned to his room. He said: ‘The Buddhas of the three times are servants; the entire Tripitaka is spittle.’ After a long pause he asked: ‘Tell me, whose servants are the Buddhas of the three times?’ He drew a circle with his whisk: ‘The Buddhas of the three times have crossed over to this side. Whose spittle is the entire Tripitaka?’ He spat. At another assembly he said: ‘A scale weight suddenly floats up from the bottom of a well; a mouse after many years turns into an ox. Huikong sees it and claps with laughter: a three-legged monkey differs from an ape.’ He said: ‘The five thousand teachings are the Buddhas’ constant discourse; the eighty-four thousand afflictions are the wondrous activity of sentient beings. Yet these are still not the Diamond Eye. What is the Diamond Eye?’ After a long pause: ‘Blind!’ At another gathering, a monk had just come forward to bow. The master said: ‘If you wish to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, observe the causes and conditions of the moment,’ and descended. Asked: ‘Who is the person going onward?’ he said: ‘He returns among the green peaks and does not emerge from the white clouds.’ ‘Who is the one coming back?’ ‘Since roaming the purple thoroughfare, who would care to hide in the green hills?’ Asked about ‘taking away the person, not the setting,’ he said: ‘No letter comes home from within; by the roadside only a signboard points toward home.’ Asked about ‘taking away the setting, not the person,’ he said: ‘Let the ocean dry to its bottom; let the green mountains be ground to dust.’ Asked about both person and setting being taken away, he said: ‘Heaven and earth are empty of Qin’s sun and moon; mountains and rivers show no Han ruler or ministers.’ Asked about neither being taken away, he said: ‘Orioles sing in a thousand woods and flowers cover the earth; in the third month a traveler sees grass reach the sky.’ Asked about his house style, he said: ‘Stretch out your hand and you cannot see your palm.’ ‘If a guest from India suddenly arrives, what then?’ ‘A thousand miles face to face.’ Asked whose song he sang and whose lineage he continued, he said: ‘Linji.’ ‘Then you are Guyin’s heir.’ ‘Deshan.’ Asked about the long Dharma-body, he said: ‘A six-foot staff.’ About the short Dharma-body: ‘A three-inch counting rod.’ ‘Then are there two Dharma-bodies?’ ‘There is also square and round.’ He said: ‘Everywhere else the hook is curved and the bait fragrant, so they crowd around like bees gathering to their queen. Here the hook is straight and there is no bait, like pressing a gourd beneath the water.’ He held his staff as if fishing: ‘To take fish in deep water, one must trust one’s life; I have never offered wine to the river spirit.’ He threw down the staff and descended.

蘇州洞庭翠峰慧月禪師

Chan Master Huiyue of Cuifeng, Dongting, Suzhou.

僧問。一花開五葉。結果自然成時如何。師曰。脫卻籠頭。卸卻角䭾。曰。拶出虗空去。處處盡聞香。師曰。雲愁聞鬼哭。雪壓髑髏吟。問。和尚未見谷隱時一句作麼生道。師曰。步步登山遠。曰。見後如何。師曰。驅驅信馬蹄。

A monk asked: ‘When one flower opens into five petals and the fruit naturally forms, what then?’ The master said: ‘Throw off the bridle and unload the burden from your horns.’ The monk said: ‘When it breaks through empty space, its fragrance is heard everywhere.’ The master replied: ‘Clouds mourn as ghosts cry; snow presses down while skulls chant.’ Asked: ‘What would you have said before meeting Guyin?’ he said: ‘With every step the mountain grows farther.’ ‘And after meeting him?’ ‘I urged my horse onward, trusting its pace.’

明州仗錫山修己禪師

Chan Master Xiuxi of Zhangxi Mountain, Mingzhou.

與浮山遠公遊。嘗卓庵廬山佛手巖。後至四明山心。獨居十餘載。虎豹為隣。嘗曰。羊腸鳥道無人到。寂寞雲中一箇人。爾後道俗聞風而至。遂成禪林。僧問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。四稜著地。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。高枕無憂。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。舶船過海。赤腳回鄉。

He traveled with Master Yuan of Fushan and once built a hermitage at Foshou Cliff on Mount Lu. Later he went to the heart of Siming Mountain and lived alone for more than ten years, with tigers and leopards for neighbors. He once said: ‘Along a winding sheep-path and bird trail no one comes; alone in the clouds is one solitary man.’ Later, laypeople and monastics came in response to his reputation, and a Chan community formed. A monk asked: ‘What is a seamless stupa?’ The master said: ‘It rests on four corners.’ ‘Who is the person inside?’ ‘He sleeps soundly without worry.’ Asked the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West, he said: ‘A merchant ship crossed the sea; I returned barefoot to my native village.’

唐州大乘山德遵禪師

Chan Master Dezun of Mount Dacheng, Tangzhou.

問谷隱曰。古人索火。意旨如何。曰。任他滅。師曰。滅後如何。曰。初三十一。師曰。恁麼則好時節也。曰。汝見甚麼道理。師曰。今日一場困。隱便打。師乃有頌曰。索火之機實快哉。藏鋒妙用少人猜。要會我師親的旨。紅爐火盡不添柴。僧問。世界圓融一句。請師道。師曰。團團七尺餘。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。鼻大眼深。上堂。上來又不問。下去又不疑。不知是不是。是即也大奇。便下座。

He asked Guyin: ‘What did the ancients mean when they asked for fire?’ Guyin said: ‘Let it go out.’ ‘What after it goes out?’ ‘The third day of the first month is the thirty-first.’ The master said: ‘Then it is an auspicious time.’ Guyin asked: ‘What principle do you see?’ The master said: ‘A day of weariness.’ Guyin struck him. The master composed a verse: ‘The request for fire is swift and keen; few discern the hidden use of its edge. To understand my teacher’s intimate intent: when the furnace fire dies, add no more wood.’ A monk asked: ‘Please state the phrase in which the world is perfectly interpenetrating.’ ‘A round ball, more than seven feet across.’ Asked the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West, he said: ‘A large nose and deep-set eyes.’ At an assembly he said: ‘You ask nothing when you come, and have no doubts when you leave. I do not know whether this is right, but it is quite remarkable.’ Then he descended.

荊南府竹園法顯禪師

Chan Master Faxian of Zhuyuan, Jingnan Prefecture.

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。好手畫不成。問。如何是道。師曰。交橫十字。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。往往不相識。

A monk asked: ‘What is Buddha?’ The master said: ‘Even a skilled artist cannot paint it.’ ‘What is the Way?’ ‘A crossroad running in every direction.’ ‘Who is the person on the Way?’ ‘Often, one does not recognize him.’

彭州永福院延照禪師

Chan Master Yanzhao of Yongfu Monastery, Pengzhou.

僧問。如何是彭州境。師曰。人馬合雜。僧以手作拽弓勢。師拈棒。僧擬議。師便打。

A monk asked: ‘What is the landscape of Pengzhou?’ The master said: ‘People and horses all mixed together.’ The monk made a gesture as if drawing a bow. The master picked up a staff. As the monk hesitated, the master struck him.

安吉州景清院居素禪師

Chan Master Jusu of Jingqing Monastery, Anjizhou.

僧問。即此見聞非見聞。為甚麼法身有三種病。二種光。師曰。填凹就缺。問。承和尚有言。寰中天子勑。塞外將軍令。如何是塞外將軍令。師曰。揭。曰。其中事如何。師曰。蹴。曰。莫便是和尚為人處也無。師彈指一下。問。遠遠投師。乞師一接。師曰。新羅人打鼓。曰。如何領會。師曰。舶主未曾逢。問。如何是末上一句。師曰。金剛樹下。曰。如何是末後一句。師曰。拘屍城邊。曰。向上更有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。波旬拊掌呵呵笑。迦葉頭擡不識人。

A monk asked: ‘If what is seen and heard here is not seeing and hearing, why does the Dharma-body have three kinds of illness and two kinds of light?’ The master said: ‘Fill the hollows and patch the gaps.’ Asked: ‘You have said, “Within the realm, the emperor’s decree; beyond the frontier, the general’s command.” What is the general’s command beyond the frontier?’ He said: ‘Lift it.’ ‘What is the matter there?’ ‘Kick it.’ ‘Is this how you guide people?’ The master snapped his fingers. Asked: ‘I have come from far away to study with you; please receive me.’ He said: ‘A man from Silla beats a drum.’ ‘How should I understand?’ ‘The ship’s master has never met him.’ Asked about the final phrase, he said: ‘Beneath the Bodhi tree.’ Asked about the very last phrase, he said: ‘At Kushinagar.’ ‘Is there anything further above?’ ‘There is.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘Mara claps and laughs aloud; Mahakashyapa raises his head and does not recognize anyone.’

處州仁壽嗣珍禪師

Chan Master Sizhen of Renshou, Chuzhou.

僧問。知師已得禪中旨。當陽一句為誰宣。師曰。土鷄瓦犬。曰。如何領會。師曰。門前不與山童掃。任意松釵滿路岐。上堂。明明無悟。有法即迷。日上無雲。麗天普照。眼中無翳。空本無花。無智人前。不得錯舉。參。

A monk asked: ‘Knowing that what is seen and heard here is not seeing and hearing, whom does the direct phrase address?’ The master said: ‘A clay chicken and a tile dog.’ ‘How should I understand?’ ‘No village boy sweeps before the gate; pine needles lie scattered along the road.’ At an assembly he said: ‘Clearly there is no awakening; if you posit a Dharma, you are deluded. The sun rises without clouds and shines across the sky; when the eye is free of film, flowers never existed in empty space. Do not raise this incorrectly before those without understanding. Investigate!’

越州雲門顯欽禪師

Chan Master Xianqin of Yunmen, Yuezhou.

上堂。良久曰。好箇話頭。若到諸方。不得錯舉。便下座。

At an assembly, after a long pause, he said: ‘That is a fine subject. When you go to other places, do not repeat it incorrectly.’ Then he descended.

果州永慶光普禪師

Chan Master Guangpu of Yongqing, Guozhou.

初問谷隱。古人道。來日大悲院裡有齋。意旨如何。曰。日出隈陽坐。天寒不舉頭。師入室次。隱曰。適來因緣汝作麼生會。師曰。會則途中受用。不會則世諦流佈。曰。未在更道。師拂袖便出。住後。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。蜀地用鑌鐵。

He first asked Guyin: ‘The ancients said, “Tomorrow there will be a meal at the Great Compassion Monastery.” What did they mean?’ Guyin said: ‘At sunrise I sit in the shade; in cold weather I do not raise my head.’ When the master entered the room, Guyin asked: ‘How do you understand the encounter just now?’ He replied: ‘If understood, it is useful on the road; if not, it is merely worldly discourse.’ Guyin said: ‘Not yet. Say more.’ The master swept his sleeves and left. After taking up residence, a monk asked: ‘What is the great meaning of Buddhadharma?’ He said: ‘In Shu, they use refined steel.’

駙馬都尉李遵勗居士

Layman Li Zunxu, Commandery Duke and Imperial Son-in-Law.

謁谷隱。問出家事。隱以崔趙公問徑山公案答之。公於言下大悟。作偈曰。學道須是鐵漢。著手心頭便判。直趣無上菩提。一切是非莫管。公一日與堅上座送別。公問。近離上黨。得屆中都。方接麈談。遽回虎錫。指雲犀之翠嶠。訪雪嶺之清流。未審此處彼處。的的事作麼生。座曰。利劒拂開天地靜。霜刀才舉鬥牛寒。公曰。恰直今日耳聵。座曰。一箭落雙鵰。公曰。上座為甚麼著草鞋睡。座以衣袖一拂。公低頭曰。今日可謂降伏也。座曰。普化出僧堂。公臨終時。膈胃躁熱。有尼道堅謂曰。眾生見劫盡。大火所燒時。都尉切宜照管主人公。公曰。大師與我煎一服藥來。堅無語。公曰。這師姑藥也不會煎得。公與慈明問答罷。泊然而終。語見慈明傳中。

He visited Guyin and asked about leaving home. Guyin answered with the old case of Duke Cui asking Jing-shan. The duke awakened at that phrase and composed a verse: ‘To study the Way, be an iron man: set your heart and mind firmly at the outset. Go straight toward unsurpassed Bodhi; pay no heed to any right or wrong.’ One day the duke took leave of Elder Jian. He asked: ‘You recently left Shangdang and reached the central capital. We have only just begun our conversation, yet you turn back with your staff. You point to emerald peaks crowned by clouds and visit clear streams by snowy ridges. What, precisely, is the matter here and there?’ The elder replied: ‘A sharp sword sweeps heaven and earth clear; when a frosty blade is raised, it chills the Dipper and Ox.’ The duke said: ‘It happens that today I am deaf.’ The elder said: ‘One arrow brings down two eagles.’ The duke asked: ‘Why does the elder sleep in straw sandals?’ The elder swept his sleeve. The duke lowered his head and said: ‘Today I have indeed been subdued.’ The elder said: ‘Puhua has left the monks’ hall.’ As the duke was dying, his stomach and chest felt hot and dry. The nun Daojian said: ‘When sentient beings see the kalpa ending and are consumed by great fire, Duke, take good care of your original master.’ He said: ‘Please prepare a dose of medicine for me.’ Daojian had no answer. He said: ‘This nun does not even know how to prepare medicine.’ After exchanging questions and answers with Ciming, the duke passed away peacefully. The exchange is recorded in Ciming’s biography.

英公夏竦居士

Layman Xia Song, Duke Ying.

字子喬。自契機於谷隱。日與老衲遊。偶上藍溥禪師至。公問。百骸潰散時。那箇是長老自家底。藍曰。前月二十離蘄陽。公休去。藍卻問。百骸潰散時。那箇是相公自家底。公便喝。藍曰。喝則不無。畢竟那箇是相公自家底。公對以偈曰。休認風前第一機。太虗何處著思惟。山僧若要通消息。萬裡無雲月上時。藍曰。也是弄精魂。

His courtesy name was Ziqiao. After awakening in an encounter with Guyin, he associated daily with the old monks. Once Chan Master Pu of Shanglan arrived. The duke asked: ‘When the hundred bones fall apart, which one is your own?’ Shanglan said: ‘On the twentieth of last month I left Qiyang.’ The duke stopped. Shanglan asked in turn: ‘When the hundred bones fall apart, which one is your own, Minister?’ The duke gave a shout. Shanglan said: ‘The shout is there, but which one is yours?’ The duke answered in verse: ‘Do not mistake the foremost phrase before the wind; where in vast space can thought take hold? If this mountain monk would send a message, it is when the moon rises beneath a cloudless sky, ten thousand miles wide.’ Shanglan said: ‘That too is playing with vital energy.’

廣慧璉禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Lian of Guanghui.

東京華嚴道隆禪師

Chan Master Daolong of Huayan Monastery, Tokyo.

初參石門徹和尚。問曰。古者道。但得隨處安閑。自然合他古轍。雖有此語。疑心未歇時如何。門曰。知有乃可隨處安閑。如人在州縣住。或聞或見。千奇百怪。他總將作尋常。不知有而安閑。如人在村落住。有少聲色則驚怪傳說。師於言下有省。門盡授其洞上厥旨。後為廣慧嗣。一日。福嚴承和尚問曰。禪師親見石門。如何卻嗣廣慧。師曰。我見廣慧。渠欲剃髮。使我擎凳子來。慧曰。道者。我有凳子詩聽取。乃曰。放下便平穩。我時便肯伊。因敘在石門處所得。廣慧曰。石門所示。如百味珍羞。祇是飽人不得。師至和初遊京。客景德寺。日縱觀都市。歸常二鼓。一夕不得入。臥於門之下。仁宗皇帝夢至寺門。見龍蟠地。驚覺。中夜遣中使視之。覩師熟睡鼻鼾。撼之驚矍。問名歸奏。帝聞名道隆。乃喜曰。吉徵也。明日召至便殿。問宗旨。師奏對詳允。帝大悅。後以偈句相酬唱。絡繹於道。或入對留宿禁中。禮遇特厚。賜號應制明悟禪師。皇祐間。詔大覺璉禪師於化成殿演法。召師問話。機鋒迅捷。帝大悅。侍衛皆山呼。師即奏疏舉璉自代。禁林待問。秘殿譚禪。乞歸廬山。帝覧表不允。有旨。於曹門外建精舍延師。賜號華嚴禪院。開堂。僧問。如何是道。師曰。高高低低。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。腳瘦草鞋寬。師年八十餘。示寂於盛暑。安坐七日。手足柔和。全身塔於寺之東。

He first studied with Chan Master Che of Shimen and asked: ‘The ancients said, “If you can be at ease wherever you are, you naturally accord with the old way.” Though this is said, my doubt has not ceased. What then?’ Shimen said: ‘Only when you know can you be at ease wherever you are. Someone living in a county town may hear or see countless strange things, yet take them all as ordinary. Being at ease without knowing is like living in a village: a little noise or spectacle makes one alarmed and eager to spread the news.’ The master had an insight at these words, and Shimen fully transmitted the Dongshan lineage to him. Later he became a Dharma heir of Guanghui. One day Chan Master Cheng of Fuyan asked: ‘You personally met Shimen. Why then did you inherit Guanghui?’ The master replied: ‘I saw Guanghui ask me to bring a stool for him to sit on. He said, “Practitioner, listen to my verse about the stool: Set it down, and all is steady.” I accepted him then.’ He recounted what he had learned from Shimen. Guanghui said: ‘What Shimen showed you is like a hundred delicacies, but it cannot fill a person.’ In the early years of Zhihe, the master traveled to the capital and stayed at Jingde Monastery. Each day he wandered through the city and returned around the second watch. One night he could not get in and lay beneath the gate. Emperor Renzong dreamed he came to the monastery gate and saw a dragon coiled on the ground. Startled awake, he sent an inner court attendant at midnight to investigate. The attendant found the master asleep and snoring, roused him, learned his name, and reported back. Hearing that he was Daolong, the emperor rejoiced: ‘An auspicious sign!’ The next day he summoned him to a side hall and asked about the lineage. The master answered in detail and with precision, pleasing the emperor. Thereafter they exchanged verses continually. Sometimes he was summoned to an audience and lodged inside the palace, receiving exceptional courtesy. He was granted the title Chan Master Yingzhi Mingwu. During the Huangyou era, the emperor summoned Chan Master Lian of Dajue to expound Dharma in Huacheng Hall, and called the master to question him. Their exchanges were swift and keen; the emperor was delighted, and the guards cried out in acclamation. The master submitted a memorial recommending Lian to take his place. Though the emperor wished him to remain at court to answer questions and discuss Chan in the secret palace, the master requested leave to return to Mount Lu. The emperor refused, but ordered a hermitage built outside Caomen and invited him to reside there, granting it the name Huayan Chan Monastery. At its opening, a monk asked: ‘What is the Way?’ The master said: ‘High and low.’ ‘Who is the person on the Way?’ ‘Thin feet, wide straw sandals.’ He passed away in midsummer, aged over eighty. He sat peacefully for seven days; his hands and feet remained supple. His complete body was enshrined in a stupa east of the monastery.

臨江軍慧力慧南禪師

Chan Master Huinan of Huili, Linjiang Prefecture.

僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。鐵牛不吃欄邊草。直上須彌頂上眠。曰。恁麼則昔日汝陽親得旨。臨江今日大敷揚。師曰。禮拜了退。問。如何是佛。師曰。頭大尾小。曰。未曉玄言。乞師再指。師曰。眉長三尺二。曰。恁麼則人人皆頂戴。見者盡攢眉。師長噓一聲。僧拍一拍便禮拜。師曰。一任𨁝跳。

A monk asked: ‘Whose song do you sing, and whose lineage do you continue?’ The master said: ‘The iron ox eats no grass beside the fence; it goes straight to the summit of Mount Sumeru to sleep.’ The monk said: ‘Then in former days Yang of Ruyang personally received the intent, and today Linjiang proclaims it widely.’ The master said: ‘Bow and leave.’ Asked: ‘What is Buddha?’ he said: ‘Big head, small tail.’ ‘I do not understand this mysterious phrase; please point it out again.’ ‘Eyebrows three feet two inches long.’ The monk said: ‘Then everyone carries it on their head, and all who see it knit their brows.’ The master let out a long sigh. The monk clapped once and bowed. The master said: ‘Go ahead and leap about.’

汝州廣慧德宣禪師

Chan Master Dexuan of Guanghui, Ruzhou.

僧問。祖祖相傳傳祖印。師今得法嗣何人。師曰。仲氏吹塤。伯氏吹篪。曰。恁麼則廣慧的子。首山親孫也。師曰。椽塠裡坐地。不打闍黎。

A monk asked: ‘The patriarchs transmitted the Patriarch’s seal from generation to generation. From whom did you receive the Dharma?’ The master said: ‘The younger brother plays the xun; the elder brother plays the chi.’ The monk said: ‘Then you are a son of Guanghui and the direct grandson of Shoushan.’ The master said: ‘I am sitting among the rafters; I will not strike you, Venerable.’

文公楊億居士

Layman Yang Yi, Duke Wen.

字大年。幼舉神嬰。及壯負才名而未知有佛。一日過同僚。見讀金剛經。笑且罪之。彼讀自若。公疑之曰。是豈出孔孟之右乎。何侫甚。因閱數板。懵然始少敬信。後會翰林李公維。勉令發問。及由秘書監出守汝州。首謁廣慧。慧接見。公便問。布鼓當軒擊。誰是知音者。慧曰。來風深辯。公曰。恁麼則禪客相逢祇彈指也。慧曰。君子可八。公應喏喏。慧曰。草賊大敗。夜語次。慧曰。秘監曾與甚人道話來。公曰。某曾問雲巖諒監寺。兩箇大蟲相齩時如何。諒曰。一合相。某曰。我祇管看。未審恁麼道還得麼。慧曰。這裡即不然。公曰。請和尚別一轉語。慧以手作拽鼻勢。曰。這畜生更𨁝跳在。公於言下脫然無疑。有偈曰。八角磨盤空裡走。金毛獅子變作狗。擬欲將身北斗藏。應須合掌南辰後。復杼其師承密證。寄李翰林曰。病夫夙以頑憃。獲受獎顧。預聞南宗之旨。久陪上國之遊。動靜諮詢。周旋策發。俾其刳心之有詣。墻面之無慙者。誠出於席間床下矣。矧又故安公大師每垂誘導。自雙林滅影。隻履西歸。中心浩然。罔知所止。仍歲沉痾。神慮迷恍。殆及小間。再辯方位。又得雲門諒公大士見顧蓬蒿。諒之旨趣。正與安公同轍。竝自廬山雲居歸宗而來。皆是法眼之流裔。去年假守茲郡。適會廣慧禪伯。實承嗣南院念。念嗣風穴。穴嗣先南院。南院嗣興化。興化嗣臨濟。臨濟嗣黃檗。黃檗嗣百丈。丈嗣馬祖。祖出讓和尚。讓即曹溪之長嫡也。齋中務簡。退食之暇。或坐邀而至。或命駕從之。請扣無方。蒙滯頓釋。半歲之後。曠然弗疑。如忘忽記。如睡忽覺。平昔礙膺之物。嚗然自落。積劫未明之事。廓爾現前。固亦決擇之洞分。應接之無蹇矣。重念先德。率多參尋。如雪峰九上洞山。三到投子。遂嗣德山。臨濟得法於大愚。終承黃檗。雲巖多蒙道吾訓誘。乃為藥山之子。丹霞親承馬祖印可。

His style name was Danian. As a child he was selected as a prodigy. When grown, he was renowned for his talent, yet had not known of the Buddha. One day he visited a colleague and saw him reading the Diamond Sutra. He laughed and rebuked him, but the man continued reading calmly. The official grew curious: ‘Could this surpass Confucius and Mencius? How absurd!’ He read several pages and was bewildered, only then beginning to respect and believe it. Later he met the Hanlin academician Li Wei, who encouraged him to raise questions. When he left the Office of the Imperial Library to become prefect of Ruzhou, he first visited Guanghui. Guanghui received him, and the official asked, ‘A cloth drum is struck before the hall; who is its connoisseur?’ Guanghui said, ‘A deep discernment of the coming wind.’ The official said, ‘Then when Chan practitioners meet, they need only snap their fingers.’ Guanghui said, ‘A gentleman may be eight.’ The official assented repeatedly. Guanghui said, ‘The bandits are utterly defeated.’ During their evening conversation, Guanghui asked, ‘With whom has the Imperial Librarian discussed the Way?’ The official said, ‘I once asked the supervisory monk Liang of Yunyan, “What is it like when two tigers fight?” Liang said, “A single composite appearance.” I said, “I will just keep watching.” I wonder whether that answer was adequate.’ Guanghui said, ‘Here I would not put it that way.’ The official said, ‘Please give another turning phrase.’ Guanghui made a gesture as if pulling an animal by the nose and said, ‘This beast is still leaping about!’ At these words the official was suddenly free of doubt. He composed a verse: ‘An eight-sided millstone rolls through empty space; a golden-maned lion turns into a dog. If you would hide your body in the Northern Dipper, you must first put your palms together behind the Southern Dipper.’ He also described the secret realization he had received from his teachers in a letter to Hanlin academician Li: ‘This ailing man has long been stubborn and obtuse, yet has received your encouragement and care. I was allowed to hear the Southern School’s teaching and for a long time enjoyed traveling in the capital. I asked questions in every circumstance and received your counsel at every turn. The ability to empty my mind and make progress, and the freedom from shame even when facing a wall, truly came from our conversations in the hall and beneath the bed. Moreover, Master An of Gu’an repeatedly guided me. Since Shuanglin passed into stillness and returned west on one shoe, my heart has been vast and empty, and I have not known where to stop. For years I suffered severe illness, my mind and awareness clouded and confused. When I recovered somewhat and could again tell the directions, the great monk Yunmen Liang took notice of me, a weed in the wilderness. Liang’s teaching is precisely in accord with Master An’s. Both came from Yunju and Guizong on Mount Lu; they are descendants of the Fayan lineage. Last year, while acting as prefect of this commandery, I happened to meet Chan Master Guanghui, who is truly an heir of Nanyuan Nian. Nian inherited from Fengxue; Fengxue from the earlier Nanyuan; Nanyuan from Xinghua; Xinghua from Linji; Linji from Huangbo; Huangbo from Baizhang; Baizhang from Mazu; and Mazu from Rang, who was the senior heir of Caoxi. With duties at the office light, during leisure after meals I sometimes invited him to come and sit, or went to him in my carriage. I asked questions without limit, and my obstructions were at once dispelled. After half a year I was completely free of doubt. It was as if I had forgotten and suddenly remembered, or slept and suddenly awoke. What had long weighed on my breast burst away; matters left unclear through accumulated kalpas opened plainly before me. My discernment became decisive and clear, and I could respond without hindrance. Thinking again of the worthy ones of old, most of them sought teachers everywhere. Xuefeng went nine times to Dongshan and three times to Touzi before inheriting from Deshan. Linji received the Dharma from Dayu and ultimately succeeded Huangbo. Yunyan was repeatedly taught and guided by Daowu before becoming Yaoshan’s heir. Danxia personally received Mazu’s confirmation…’

而終作石頭之裔。在古多有。於理無嫌。病夫今繼紹之緣。實屬於廣慧。而提激之自。良出於鼇峰也。欣幸。欣幸。公問廣慧曰。承和尚有言。一切罪業。皆因財寶所生。勸人疎於財利。況南閻浮提眾生。以財為命。邦國以財聚人。教中有財法二施。何得勸人疎財乎。慧曰。幡竿尖上鐵龍頭。公曰。海壇馬子似驢大。慧曰。楚鷄不是丹山鳳。公曰。佛滅二千歲。比丘少慚愧。公置一百問。請廣慧答。慧一一答回。公問李都尉曰。釋迦六年苦行。成得甚麼事。尉曰。擔折知柴重。公因微恙。問環大師曰。某今日忽違和。大師慈悲。如何醫療。環曰。丁香湯一盌。公便作吐勢。環曰。恩愛成煩惱。環為煎藥次。公呌曰。有賊。環下藥於公前。叉手側立。公瞠目眎之曰。少叢林漢。環拂袖而出。又一日。問曰。某四大將欲離散。大師如何相救。環乃槌𮌎三下。公曰。賴遇作家。環曰。幾年學佛法。俗氣猶未除。公曰。禍不單行。環作噓噓聲。公書偈遺李都尉曰。漚生與漚滅。二法本來齊。欲識真歸處。趙州東院西。尉見遂曰。泰山廟裡賣紙錢。尉即至。公已逝矣。

(Yang Yi continued:) ‘…and ultimately became a descendant of Shitou. This was common in antiquity and presents no doctrinal difficulty. As for this ailing man, my present opportunity to continue the lineage truly came through Guanghui, while the initial stimulation came, in fact, from Aofeng. I am deeply grateful.’ The official asked Guanghui, ‘I have heard you say that all sinful karma arises from wealth and treasure, and that you urge people to distance themselves from wealth and profit. Yet beings in Jambudvipa regard wealth as life itself, and states gather people through wealth. The teachings also speak of the two forms of giving, material and Dharma. How can you urge people to shun wealth?’ Guanghui said, ‘An iron dragon’s head atop a banner pole.’ The official said, ‘The little horse on the sea altar is as large as a donkey.’ Guanghui said, ‘A Chu rooster is no phoenix of Mount Dan.’ The official said, ‘Two thousand years after the Buddha’s nirvana, monks have little shame.’ The official set out a hundred questions, and Guanghui answered each one. The official asked Commandant Li, ‘What did Shakyamuni accomplish through six years of ascetic practice?’ Li said, ‘When the shoulder pole breaks, you learn how heavy the firewood is.’ When the official was slightly unwell, he asked Master Huan, ‘Today I have suddenly taken ill. Master, with compassion, how would you treat me?’ Huan said, ‘A bowl of clove soup.’ The official pretended to vomit. Huan said, ‘Affection and attachment become affliction.’ While Huan was preparing medicine for him, the official shouted, ‘There is a thief!’ Huan set the medicine down before him and stood respectfully with hands folded. The official stared at him and said, ‘You petty fellow of the monastery!’ Huan swept out with his sleeve. Another day the official asked, ‘My four elements are about to scatter. Master, how will you rescue me?’ Huan beat his chest three times. The official said, ‘Luckily I met a true adept.’ Huan said, ‘After years studying the Buddha Dharma, you still have not shed your worldly airs.’ The official said, ‘Misfortune never comes singly.’ Huan made a soft sighing sound. The official wrote a verse for Commandant Li: ‘Bubble born and bubble gone: these two are originally equal. If you wish to know the true place of return, it is east or west of Zhaozhou’s monastery.’ The commandant saw it and said, ‘They sell paper money at the Mount Tai shrine.’ When he arrived, the official had already passed away.

南嶽下十一世

The eleventh generation below Nanyue

石霜圓禪師法嗣

Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Shishuang

洪州翠巖可真禪師

Chan Master Kezhen of Cuiyan Monastery in Hongzhou

福州人也。嘗參慈明。因之金鑾同善侍者坐夏。善乃慈明高第。道吾真．楊岐會皆推伏之。師自負親見慈明。天下無可意者。善與語。知其未徹。笑之。一日山行。舉論鋒發。善拈一片瓦礫。置盤石上。曰。若向這裡下得一轉語。許你親見慈明。師左右視。擬對之。善叱曰。竚思停機。情識未透。何曾夢見。師自愧悚。即還石霜。慈明見來。叱曰。本色行腳人。必知時節。有甚急事。夏未了早已至此。師泣曰。被善兄毒心。終礙塞人。故來見和尚。明遽問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。無雲生嶺上。有月落波心。明嗔目喝曰。頭白齒豁。猶作這箇見解。如何脫離生死。師悚然。求指示。明曰。汝問我。師理前語問之。明震聲曰。無雲生嶺上。有月落波心。師於言下大悟。師爽氣逸出。機辯迅捷。叢林憚之。住翠巖日。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。同坑無異土。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。深耕淺種。問。如何是學人轉身處。師曰。一堵墻。百堵調。曰。如何是學人著力處。師曰。千日斫柴一日燒。曰。如何是學人親切處。師曰。渾家送上渡頭船。問。利人一句。請師垂示。師曰。三腳蝦蟇飛上天。曰。前村深雪裡。昨夜一枝開。師曰。饑逢王膳不能餐。問。如何是道。師曰。出門便見。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。擔枷過狀。上堂。先德道。此事如𪹼龜文。𪹼即成兆。不𪹼成鈍。𪹼與不𪹼。直下便揑。上藍即不然。無固無必。虗空走馬。旱地行船。南山起雲。北山下雨。遂拈拄杖曰。拄杖子變作天大將軍。巡歷四天下。有守節不守節。有戒行無戒行。一時奏與天帝釋。乃喝一喝曰。丈夫自有沖天志。莫向如來行處行。卓一下上堂。舉龍牙頌曰。學道如鑽火。逢煙未可休。直待金星現。歸家始到頭。神鼎曰。學道如鑽火。逢煙即便休。莫待金星現。燒腳又燒頭。師曰。若論頓也。龍牙正在半途。若論漸也。

He was from Fuzhou. He had once studied with Ciming, then went to Jinluan and spent the summer retreat with Attendant Shan. Shan was Ciming’s foremost disciple; Daowu Zhen and Yangqi Hui both deferred to him. The master prided himself on having personally met Ciming and thought there was no one in the world to his liking. Shan spoke with him, realized he had not penetrated the matter, and laughed at him. One day as they walked in the mountains, their discussion sharpened. Shan picked up a piece of tile and placed it on a flat rock. ‘If you can give a turning phrase here, I will acknowledge that you have personally met Ciming.’ The master looked around, about to answer. Shan scolded him, ‘You pause to think and halt your response; your conscious understanding has not penetrated it. How could you ever have dreamed of seeing him?’ Ashamed and shaken, the master immediately returned to Shishuang. When Ciming saw him, he scolded, ‘A genuine traveler in the Way must know the proper time. What urgent business brings you here before the summer retreat is over?’ The master wept and said, ‘Brother Shan has a poisonous heart; he has completely blocked me. That is why I have come to see you.’ Ciming promptly asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ The master said, ‘No clouds arise above the ridge; the moon falls into the heart of the waves.’ Ciming glared and shouted, ‘Your hair is white and your teeth are gone, yet you still hold this view! How will you escape birth and death?’ The master was startled and asked for instruction. Ciming said, ‘Ask me.’ The master repeated the question he had asked before. Ciming thundered, ‘No clouds arise above the ridge; the moon falls into the heart of the waves.’ At these words the master greatly awakened. His spirit was bold and unrestrained, and his responses quick and incisive; the monasteries feared him. While residing at Cuiyan, a monk asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ The master said, ‘The same pit, no different earth.’ Asked the meaning of the patriarch’s coming from the West, he said, ‘Plow deeply and plant shallowly.’ Asked where a student can turn around, he said, ‘One wall, a hundred walls in harmony.’ Asked where a student should apply effort, he said, ‘Chop firewood for a thousand days, burn it for one.’ Asked where the student’s closest point is, he said, ‘The whole family sees you off to the ferryboat.’ Asked for a phrase that benefits people, he said, ‘A three-legged toad flies up to heaven.’ The monk said, ‘In the deep snow at the village before, one branch blossomed last night.’ The master said, ‘Meeting a royal feast while hungry, yet unable to eat.’ Asked, ‘What is the Way?’ he said, ‘Step outside and you will see.’ Asked who walks in the Way, he said, ‘Carrying a cangue to plead a case.’ At a sermon he said, ‘The worthy ones of old said this matter is like drilling the shell of a turtle: drilling produces a sign; not drilling leaves it dull. But drilling or not drilling, one simply pinches it straightaway. Shanglan puts it differently: nothing is fixed or certain. A horse runs through the sky; a boat sails on dry land. Clouds rise over the southern mountain, rain falls on the northern mountain.’ He raised his staff and said, ‘The staff turns into the Great General of Heaven and patrols the four continents. Whether people keep their vows or not, whether they observe precepts or not, it reports them all to Indra.’ He shouted and said, ‘A true man has a will that pierces heaven; do not follow the path trodden by the Tathagata.’ He struck once. At another sermon he cited Longya’s verse: ‘Studying the Way is like drilling for fire; when smoke appears, do not stop. Wait until the golden spark appears; only then have you reached home.’ Shending said, ‘Studying the Way is like drilling for fire; when smoke appears, stop at once. Do not wait for the golden spark to appear, or you will burn your feet and your head.’ The master said, ‘If we speak of suddenness, Longya is still halfway there. If we speak of gradualness…’

神鼎猶少悟在。於此復且如何。諸仁者。今年多落葉。幾處掃歸家。上堂。臨陣抗敵。不懼生死者。將軍之勇也。入山不懼虎兕者。獵人之勇也。入水不懼蛟龍者。漁人之勇也。作麼生是衲僧之勇。拈拄杖曰。這箇是拄杖子。拈得．把得．動得。三千大千世界。一時搖動。若拈不得。把不得。動不得。文殊自文殊。解脫自解脫。參。上堂。舉。僧問巴陵。如何是道。陵曰。明眼人落井。又問寶應。如何是道。應曰。五鳳樓前。又問首山。如何是道。山曰。腳下深三尺。此三轉語。一句壁立千仞。一句陸地行船。一句賓主交參。諸人莫有揀得者麼。出來道看。如無。且行羅漢慈。破結賊故。行菩薩慈。安眾生故。行如來慈。得如相故。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。五通賢聖。曰。學人不會。師曰。舌至梵天。師將入滅。示疾甚勞苦。席藁於地。轉側不少休。喆侍者垂泣曰。平生訶佛罵祖。今何為乃爾。師熟視。訶曰。汝亦作此見解邪。即起趺坐。呼侍者燒香。煙起遂示寂。

(The master continued:) ‘…Shending has still not awakened enough. What about this, good people? This year many leaves have fallen; in how many places have they been swept home?’ At a sermon he said, ‘A general’s courage is to face the enemy in battle without fearing death. A hunter’s courage is to enter the mountains without fearing tigers or rhinoceroses. A fisherman’s courage is to enter the water without fearing crocodile dragons. What is a monk’s courage?’ He raised his staff and said, ‘This is a staff. If you can lift it, hold it, and move it, the three thousand great thousand worlds all tremble at once. If you cannot lift it, hold it, or move it, Manjushri remains Manjushri, and liberation remains liberation. Investigate!’ At a sermon he cited these exchanges. A monk asked Baling, ‘What is the Way?’ Baling said, ‘A clear-eyed person falls into a well.’ He asked Baoying, ‘What is the Way?’ Baoying said, ‘Before the Five-Phoenix Tower.’ He asked Shoushan, ‘What is the Way?’ Shoushan said, ‘Three feet beneath your own feet.’ ‘Of these three turning phrases, one stands like a wall a thousand fathoms high, one sails a boat on dry land, and one joins host and guest in mutual exchange. Can any of you distinguish them? Come forward and say so. If not, practice the compassion of arhats, for it breaks the thieves of affliction; practice the compassion of bodhisattvas, for it brings peace to living beings; practice the compassion of the Tathagata, for it realizes suchness.’ Asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ he said, ‘The sages with the five supernormal powers.’ The monk said, ‘I do not understand.’ He said, ‘The tongue reaches the Brahma heaven.’ When the master was about to enter nirvana, he became gravely ill and suffered greatly, lying on a mat of straw and turning from side to side without rest. Attendant Zhe wept and said, ‘All your life you reviled Buddhas and patriarchs; why are you like this now?’ The master stared at him and scolded, ‘Do you hold this view too?’ He immediately sat cross-legged, called for the attendant to burn incense, and passed away as the smoke rose.

蔣山贊元覺海禪師

Chan Master Zanjue, Baoxin, of Jiangshan

婺州義烏人。姓傅氏。乃大士之裔也。夙修種智。隨願示生。父母感祥。閭裡稱異。三歲出家。七歲為僧。十五遊方。遠造石霜。陞於丈室。慈明一見曰。好好著槽廠。師遂作驢鳴。明曰。真法器耳。俾為侍者。二十年中。運水搬柴。不憚寒暑。悉己躬親。求道後出世蘇臺．天峰．龍華．白雲。府帥請居誌公道場。提綱宗要。機鋒迅敏。解行相應。諸方推服。丞相王公安石重師德望。特奏章服師號。公又堅辭鼎席。結廬定林山中。與師蕭散林下。清談終日。贈師頌曰。不與物違真道廣。每尋緣起自禪深。舌根已淨誰能壞。足跡如空我得尋。此亦明世希有事也。僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。東壁打西壁。曰。客來如何祇待。師曰。山上樵。井中水。問。如何是諸佛出身處。師曰。驢胎馬腹。問。魯祖面壁。意旨如何。師曰。住持事繁。問。如何是大善知識。師曰。屠牛剝羊。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。業在其中。上堂。這箇若是。如虎戴角。這箇若不是。喚作甚麼。良久曰。餧驢餧馬。珍重。元祐元年。師乃遷化。丞相王公慟哭於塔。讚師真曰。賢哉人也。行厲而容寂。知言而能默。譽榮弗喜。辱毀弗戚。弗矜弗克。人自稱德。有緇有白。來自南北。弗順弗逆。弗抗弗抑。弗觀汝華。唯食己實。孰其嗣之。我有遺則。

He was from Yiwu in Wuzhou, surnamed Fu, and descended from Fu Dashi. From former lives he had cultivated the seed of wisdom and appeared in this world in accordance with his vow. Auspicious signs moved his parents, and the neighbors regarded him as extraordinary. He left home at three and became a monk at seven. At fifteen he traveled to Shishuang and entered the abbot’s room. Ciming saw him and said, ‘Good, good! Get into the livestock pen.’ The master brayed like a donkey. Ciming said, ‘A true vessel of the Dharma!’ and assigned him as attendant. For twenty years he carried water and firewood, fearing neither cold nor heat, and did all the work himself. After seeking the Way, he taught at Sutai, Tianfeng, Longhua, and Baiyun. The prefectural commander invited him to reside at Zhigong’s monastery. He expounded the essentials of the school, answered swiftly and sharply, and united understanding with practice, winning the respect of all quarters. Chancellor Wang Anshi esteemed his virtue and reputation and specially petitioned that he receive formal robes and a title. The chancellor also firmly declined the chief minister’s seat, built a hut on Dinglin Mountain, and spent unhurried days in the woods with the master, conversing freely from morning to night. He presented the master with a verse: ‘Not opposing things, the true Way is vast; tracing conditions, his Chan grows deep. The tongue-root is pure—who can corrupt it? His footprints are like empty space, where I can find him.’ This too was a rare event in the world. A monk asked, ‘What is the master’s family style?’ The master said, ‘The east wall strikes the west wall.’ Asked how he treats a guest, he said, ‘Firewood on the mountain, water in the well.’ Asked where all Buddhas emerge from, he said, ‘A donkey’s womb, a horse’s belly.’ Asked what Lu Zu meant by facing the wall, he said, ‘The abbot has many duties.’ Asked what a great spiritual friend is, he said, ‘Butchering cattle and skinning sheep.’ The monk asked why. He said, ‘Karma is right there.’ At a sermon he said, ‘If this is it, it is like a tiger wearing horns. If this is not it, what shall we call it?’ After a long pause he said, ‘Feed the donkeys and horses. Take care.’ In the first year of Yuanyou, the master passed away. Chancellor Wang wept bitterly at the stupa and praised the master’s portrait: ‘How worthy this man was! His conduct was austere, his bearing serene; he knew when to speak and could remain silent. He was not delighted by honor and praise, nor distressed by insult and blame. He made no claims and achieved nothing, yet people themselves called him virtuous. Monks and laypeople alike came from north and south. He neither yielded nor resisted, neither defied nor suppressed. He did not admire your flowers, but ate only his own fruit. Who will inherit him? I have his legacy as a rule.’

瑞州武泉山政禪師

Chan Master Zheng of Wuquan Mountain in Ruizhou

僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。衣成人。水成田。上堂。黃梅席上。海眾千人。付法傳衣。碓坊行者。是則紅日西昇。非則月輪東上。參。

A monk asked, ‘What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?’ The master said, ‘Clothing makes a person; water makes a field.’ At a sermon he said, ‘At Huangmei’s assembly were a thousand monks. The Dharma was transmitted and the robe handed on to a worker at the rice-pounding hut. If this is so, the red sun rises in the west; if not, the moon rises in the east. Investigate!’

南嶽雙峰寺省回禪師

Chan Master Xinghui of Shuangfeng Monastery on Mount Heng

上堂。南番人汎船。塞北人搖艣。波斯入大唐。須彌山作舞。是甚麼說話。師元豐六年九月十七日淨髮。沐浴辭眾。偈曰。九十二光陰。分明對眾說。遠洞散寒雲。幽牕度殘月。言訖坐逝。茶毗齒頂不壞。上有五色異光。

At a sermon he said, ‘People of the southern seas sail boats; people north of the passes handle the oars. Persians enter the Great Tang, and Mount Sumeru dances. What sort of talk is this?’ On the seventeenth day of the ninth month in the sixth year of Yuanfeng, the master shaved his head, bathed, and bade farewell to the assembly. He composed a verse: ‘Ninety-two years of passing time; I have made it clear before the assembly. Clouds disperse from the distant cave; the waning moon crosses the secluded window.’ When he finished, he sat and passed away. After cremation, his teeth and crown remained intact, with extraordinary five-colored light above them.

洪州大寧道寬禪師

Chan Master Daokuan of Daning in Hongzhou

僧問。飲光正見。為甚麼見拈花卻微笑。師曰。忍俊不禁。問。丹霞燒木佛。院主為甚麼眉鬚墮落。師曰。賊不打貧兒家。問。既是一真法界。為甚麼卻有千差萬別。師曰。根深葉茂。僧打圓相曰。還出得這箇也無。師曰。弄巧成拙。問。如何是前三三。後三三。師曰。數九不到九。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。點茶須是百沸湯。曰。意旨如何。師曰。吃盡莫留滓。有僧造師之室。問。如何是露地白牛。師以火筯插火爐中。曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。頭不欠。尾不剩。師在同安日。時有僧問。既是同安。為甚麼卻有病僧化去。師曰。佈施不如還卻債。上堂。少林妙訣。古佛家風。應用隨機。卷舒自在。如拳作掌。開合有時。似水成漚。起滅無定。動靜俱顯。語默全彰。萬用自然。不勞心力。到這裡喚作順水放船。且道逆風舉棹。誰是好手。良久曰。弄潮須是弄潮人。喝一喝曰。珍重。上堂。無念為宗。無住為本。真空為體。妙有為用。所以道。盡大地是真空。徧法界是妙有。且道是甚麼人用得。四時運用。日月長明。法本不遷。道無方所。隨緣自在。逐物昇沈。此土他方。入凡入聖。雖然如是。且道入鄉隨俗一句作麼生道。良久曰。西天梵語。此土唐言。

A monk asked, ‘Kashyapa saw the truth directly. Why did he smile when he saw the flower being held up?’ The master said, ‘He could not hold back his laughter.’ Asked why Danxia’s burning of the wooden Buddha made the abbot lose his eyebrows and beard, he said, ‘A thief does not rob a poor man’s house.’ Asked why, if there is one true Dharma realm, there are a thousand differences, he said, ‘Deep roots, luxuriant leaves.’ The monk drew a circle and asked, ‘Can you get out of this?’ The master said, ‘Trying to be clever makes you clumsy.’ Asked what ‘the first three-three, the last three-three’ meant, he said, ‘Count to nine without reaching nine.’ Asked the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma, he said, ‘To make tea, use water at a full boil.’ The monk asked its meaning. He said, ‘Drink it all; leave no dregs.’ A monk came to his room and asked, ‘What is the white ox in the open field?’ The master stuck fire tongs into the brazier and asked, ‘Do you understand?’ The monk said, ‘I do not.’ The master said, ‘Its head is not lacking; its tail is not left over.’ When the master was at Tong’an, a monk asked, ‘Since this is Tong’an, why has a sick monk passed away here?’ The master said, ‘Giving alms is not as good as repaying a debt.’ At a sermon he said, ‘The wondrous secret of Shaolin, the family style of the ancient Buddhas: responding to circumstances, it rolls up and unfurls at will. A fist becomes a palm; it opens and closes at the right time. Water becomes bubbles, arising and vanishing without a fixed pattern. Movement and stillness both appear; speech and silence fully reveal it. Its myriad functions are natural and require no effort. If you call this sailing downstream, tell me: who is skilled at rowing against the wind?’ After a long pause he said, ‘Only one who rides the tide can play with the tide.’ He shouted, ‘Take care!’ At another sermon he said, ‘No-thought is the school’s aim; non-abiding is its foundation. True emptiness is its essence; wondrous existence is its function. Thus it is said: the whole earth is true emptiness, and the whole Dharma realm is wondrous existence. Tell me, who can use it? The four seasons turn, the sun and moon shine forever. Dharma does not move; the Way has no fixed place. Following conditions, it is free; following things, it rises and sinks. Here or in other lands, it enters the ordinary and the holy. Even so, how do you say the phrase for adapting to local custom?’ After a long pause he said, ‘In India it is Sanskrit; in this land it is Tang speech.’

潭州道吾悟真禪師

Chan Master Wuzhen of Daowu in Tanzhou

上堂。古今日月。依舊山河。若明得去。十方薄伽梵。一路涅槃門。若明不得。謗斯經故。獲罪如是。上堂。師子兒哮吼。龍馬駒𨁝跳。古佛鏡中明。三山孤月皎。遂作舞。下座。上堂。舉。洞山道。五臺山上雲蒸飯。佛殿堦前狗尿天。剎竿頭上煎甚子。三箇猢猻夜簸錢。老僧即不然。三面狸奴腳踏月。兩頭白牯手拏煙。戴冠碧兔立庭栢。脫殻烏龜飛上天。老僧葛藤盡被汝諸人覷破了也。洞山老人。甚是奇特。雖然如是。祇行得三步四步。且不過七跳八跳。且道誵訛在甚麼處。老僧今日不惜眉毛。一時佈施。良久曰。叮嚀損君德。無言真有功。任從滄海變。終不為君通。問。凝然便會時如何。師曰。老鼠尾上帶研槌。問。如何是真如體。師曰。夜叉屈膝眼睛黑。曰。如何是真如用。師曰。金剛杵打鐵山摧。問。如何是常照。師曰。針鋒上須彌。曰。如何是寂照。師曰。眉毛裡海水。曰。如何是本來照。師曰。草鞋裡𨁝跳。僧退。師曰。寂照常照本來照。草鞋底下常𨁝跳。更會針鋒上須彌。眉毛中水常渺渺。問。如何是佛。師曰。洞庭無葢。上堂。山前麥熟。廬陵米價。鎮州蘿蔔。更有一般。良久曰。時挑野菜和根煑。旋斫生柴帶葉燒。上堂。古人道。認著依前還不是。實難會。土宿頷下髭鬚多。波斯眼深鼻孔大。甚奇怪。歘然透過新羅界。問僧。甚處來。曰。堂中來。師曰。聖僧道甚麼。僧近前不審。師曰。東家作驢。西家作馬。曰。過在甚麼處。師曰。萬裡崖州。師不安。僧問。和尚近日尊位如何。師曰。粥飯頭不了事。僧無語。師鳴指一下。上堂。普化明打暗打。布袋橫撒竪撒。石室行者踏碓。因甚忘卻下腳。問。如何是第一玄。師曰。釋尊光射阿難肩。曰。如何是第二玄。師曰。孤輪眾象攢。曰。如何是第三玄。師曰。泣向枯桑淚漣漣。曰。如何是第一要。師曰。最好精麤照。曰。

At a sermon he said, ‘The sun and moon of past and present are unchanged; so are the mountains and rivers. If you understand this, the Bhagavans of the ten directions share one path, the gate of nirvana. If you do not understand it, you slander this sutra and incur just such a fault.’ At another sermon he said, ‘The lion cub roars; the dragon colt leaps. In the ancient Buddha’s mirror there is brightness; the three mountains stand beneath a lonely moon.’ He danced and left the seat. At another sermon he cited Dongshan: ‘On Mount Wutai, clouds steam rice; before the Buddha hall, dogs urinate at the sky. What are you frying atop the temple banner pole? Three monkeys sift coins in the night.’ The master said, ‘I would put it differently: Three-sided civet cats tread upon the moon; two-headed white oxen hold smoke in their hands. A green hare wearing a cap stands in the courtyard cypress; a shell-less tortoise flies up to heaven. Your eyes have seen through all this old monk’s rambling. Old Dongshan was most extraordinary. Even so, he managed only three or four steps, not even seven leaps or eight bounds. Tell me, where is the mistake? Today this old monk spares no eyebrows and gives it all away.’ After a long pause he said, ‘Admonishing you diminishes your virtue; true merit lies in silence. Let the blue sea change as it will; I will never explain it for you.’ Asked what it was like to understand immediately and calmly, he said, ‘A mouse carries a grinding pestle on its tail.’ Asked the essence of suchness, he said, ‘A yaksha bends its knees; its eyes are black.’ Asked its function, he said, ‘A vajra pestle strikes, and the iron mountain crumbles.’ Asked what is constant illumination, he said, ‘Mount Sumeru on a needle point.’ Asked what is still illumination, he said, ‘An ocean in your eyebrows.’ Asked what is original illumination, he said, ‘Leaping inside straw sandals.’ The monk withdrew. The master said, ‘Still illumination, constant illumination, original illumination—leaping forever beneath your straw sandals. If you understand Mount Sumeru on a needle point, the water between your eyebrows is always vast.’ Asked, ‘What is Buddha?’ he said, ‘Lake Dongting has no cover.’ At a sermon he said, ‘The wheat ripens before the mountain; rice prices in Luling; radishes in Zhenzhou.’ After a long pause he said, ‘Pick wild greens and boil them roots and all; chop fresh firewood and burn it with the leaves.’ At another sermon he said, ‘The ancients said, “Recognize it, and still it is not it.” This is hard to understand. The earth spirit has a great beard on his chin; the Persian has deep-set eyes and a large nose. How strange! Suddenly pass through the border of Silla.’ He asked a monk, ‘Where have you come from?’ The monk said, ‘From the hall.’ The master asked, ‘What did the holy monk say?’ The monk stepped forward and bowed. The master said, ‘In the east house you become a donkey; in the west house you become a horse.’ The monk asked, ‘What is my fault?’ The master said, ‘Ten thousand miles away in Yazhou.’ When the master was unwell, a monk asked, ‘How is the master’s health these days?’ He said, ‘The rice and gruel business is not finished.’ The monk was speechless. The master snapped his fingers once. At a sermon he said, ‘Puhua struck in the open and in secret; Budai scattered things crosswise and lengthwise. Why did the worker at Shishi Monastery, treading the mill, forget to step down?’ Asked what is the first mystery, he said, ‘The Buddha’s light shines on Ananda’s shoulder.’ Asked the second, he said, ‘The solitary wheel gathers all images.’ Asked the third, he said, ‘Weeping toward a withered mulberry, tears stream down.’ Asked the first essential, he said, ‘Best to illuminate coarse and fine.’ The monk said…

如何是第二要。師曰。閃電乾坤光晃耀。曰。如何是第三要。師曰。路夾青松老。上堂。舉。僧問首山。如何是佛。山曰。新婦騎驢阿家牽。師曰。手提巴鼻腳踏尾。仰面看天聽流水。天明送出路傍邊。夜靜還歸茅屋裡。

(The monk continued:) ‘What is the second essential?’ The master said, ‘Lightning flashes and the universe shines.’ The monk asked, ‘What is the third essential?’ The master said, ‘The road runs between old green pines.’ At a sermon he cited this exchange. A monk asked Shoushan, ‘What is Buddha?’ Shoushan said, ‘A bride rides a donkey while her mother-in-law leads it.’ The master said, ‘Holding its nose in one hand, stepping on its tail with one foot, face raised to watch the sky and listen to flowing water: at dawn I lead it out beside the road; in the quiet of night I return to the thatched hut.’

蔣山保心禪師

Chan Master Baoxin of Jiangshan

僧問。月未圓時如何。師曰。順數將去。曰。圓後如何。師曰。倒數將來。問。如何是吹毛劒。師曰。黑漆露柱。問。聲色兩字如何透得。師曰。一手吹。一手拍。

A monk asked, ‘What is it like before the moon is full?’ The master said, ‘Count forward.’ The monk asked, ‘And after it is full?’ He said, ‘Count backward.’ Asked, ‘What is the hair-cutting sword?’ he said, ‘A black lacquer pillar.’ Asked how to penetrate the two words ‘sound’ and ‘form,’ he said, ‘Blow with one hand and clap with the other.’

洪州百丈惟政禪師

Chan Master Weizheng of Baizhang in Hongzhou

上堂。巖頭和尚用三文錢索得箇妻。祇解撈鰕摝蜆。要且不解生男育女。直至如今。門風斷絕。大眾要識奯公妻麼。百丈今日不惜唇吻。與你諸人注破。蓬𩯭荊釵世所稀。布裙猶是嫁時衣。僧問。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚麼百鳥銜花獻。師曰。有錢千里通。曰。見後為甚麼不銜花。師曰。無錢隔壁聾。問。達磨未來時如何。師曰。六六三十六。曰。來後如何。師曰。九九八十一。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。木耳樹頭生。問。一切法是佛法。意旨如何。師曰。一重山下一重人。問。上行下斆。未是作家。背楚投吳。方為達士。豈不是和尚語。師曰。是。曰。父財子用也。師曰。汝試用看。僧擬議。師便打。上堂。天台普請。人人知有。南嶽遊山。又作麼生。會則燈籠笑你。不會有眼如盲。

Ascending the hall: 'The Reverend Yantou bought himself a wife for three coppers. She only knows how to scoop up shrimps and clams, and she does not know how to bear sons and raise daughters. To this day his family line is cut off. Assembly, do you want to know Huo the Elder's wife? Today Baizhang will not begrudge his lips and will spell it out for you people: disheveled hair and a thornwood pin, rare in the world; her cloth skirt is still the garment she wore when she married.' A monk asked, 'When Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Ancestor, why did a hundred birds carry flowers in offering?' The Master said, 'With money one reaches a thousand li.' The monk said, 'And after he met him, why did they not carry flowers?' The Master said, 'Without money, one is deaf through a wall.' Someone asked, 'What was it like before Bodhidharma came?' The Master said, 'Six sixes are thirty-six.' The monk said, 'And after he came?' The Master said, 'Nine nines are eighty-one.' Someone asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'A wood-ear mushroom grows on the tree.' Someone asked, 'All dharmas are the Buddha Dharma — what does that mean?' The Master said, 'Below one mountain range, another kind of man.' Someone asked, 'What those above do, those below imitate — that is not yet a master. Turning one's back on Chu and throwing in with Wu — that is a man of attainment. Is this not the Reverend's saying?' The Master said, 'It is.' The monk said, 'The father's wealth is used by the son.' The Master said, 'Try it and see.' As the monk deliberated, the Master beat him. Ascending the hall: 'The general work session at Tiantai — everyone knows of it. Roaming the mountains at Nanyue — what of that? If you understand, the lantern will laugh at you; if you do not, you have eyes but are blind.'

明州香山蘊良禪師

Chan Master Yunliang of Xiangshan in Mingzhou

僧問。如何是透法身句。師曰。剎竿頭上舞三臺。曰。如何是接初機句。師曰。上大人。曰。如何是末後句。師曰。雙林樹下。問。如何是學人轉身處。師曰。磨坊裡。上堂。良久。呵呵大笑曰。笑箇甚麼。笑他鴻鵠沖天飛。烏龜水底逐魚兒。三箇老婆六隻嬭。金剛背上爛如泥。阿呵呵。知不知。東村陳大耆。參。

A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that penetrates the dharma body?' The Master said, 'Dancing the three-tiered dance on top of the banner pole.' The monk said, 'What is the phrase that receives beginners?' The Master said, 'The great man above.' The monk said, 'What is the final phrase?' The Master said, 'Beneath the twin sala trees.' Someone asked, 'Where does the student turn around?' The Master said, 'In the mill.' Ascending the hall, after a long while he laughed heartily and said, 'What am I laughing at? I laugh that the swan soars to the sky, while the turtle at the bottom of the water chases the fish. Three old women with six breasts, and the vajra's back is rotten as mud. Ha ha ha. Do you know or not? Old Chen the Great of the east village. Study.'

蘇州南峰惟廣禪師

Chan Master Weiguang of Nanfeng in Suzhou

上堂。一問一答。如鐘含響。似谷應聲。葢為事不獲已。且於建化門中。放一線道。若據衲僧門下。天地懸殊。且道衲僧有甚麼長處。良久曰。盡日覓不得。有時還自來。咄。

Ascending the hall: 'One question and one answer is like a bell holding its sound, like a valley echoing a voice. It is only because matters cannot be helped, and so within the gate of building and transforming one lets out a single thread of road. But judged by the gate of the monks, heaven and earth are far apart. Tell me, what strength do the monks have?' After a long while he said, 'Seeking all day and not finding it; sometimes it comes of itself. Fie.'

潭州大溈德乾禪師

Chan Master Deqian of Dawei in Tanzhou

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。水從山上出。曰。意旨如何。師曰。溪㵎豈能留。乃曰。山花似錦。文殊撞著眼睛。幽鳥綿蠻。觀音塞卻耳際。諸仁者更思量箇甚麼。昨夜三更睡不著。飜身捉得普賢。貶向無生國裡。一覺直至天明。今朝又得與諸人相見說夢。噫。是甚麼說話。卓拄杖。下座。

A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Water comes out from the mountain.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'How could a ravine hold it?' Then he said, 'Mountain flowers like brocade — Manjushri has struck his eye. Hidden birds warble — Guanyin has stopped up his ears. What are you worthies still thinking about? Last night at the third watch I could not sleep, so I turned over and caught Samantabhadra, and banished him to the land of no-birth. I slept straight through to dawn. Today I again get to meet you people and tell my dream. Ai. What sort of talk is this?' He planted his staff and descended from the seat.

全州靈山本言禪師

Chan Master Benyan of Lingshan in Quanzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。誰教汝恁麼問。曰。今日起動和尚也。師曰。謝訪及。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Who taught you to ask like that?' The monk said, 'Today I have put the Reverend to trouble.' The Master said, 'Thank you for coming.'

安吉州廣法院源禪師

Chan Master Yuan of Guangfa Monastery in Anji Prefecture

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。甎頭瓦片。問。閙中取靜時如何。師曰。冤不可結。問。如何是正法眼。師曰。眉毛下。曰。便與麼會時如何。師曰。瞳兒笑點頭。問。如何是向上事。師曰。日月星辰。曰。如何是向下事。師曰。地獄鑊湯。問。萬裡無雲時如何。師曰。猢猻忍餓。曰。乞師拯濟。師曰。甚麼火色。問。古人拈槌舉拂。意旨如何。師曰。白日無閑人。曰。如何承當。師曰。如風過耳。問。握劒當胸時如何。師曰。老鴉成隊。曰。正是和尚見處。師曰。蛇穿鼻孔。僧拂袖便出。師曰。大眾相逢。問。從上諸聖向甚麼處行履。師曰。十字街頭。曰。與麼則敗缺也。師曰。知你不到這田地。曰。到後如何。師曰。家常茶飯。問。祖意教意。是同是別。師曰。乾薑附子。曰。與麼則不同也。師曰。冰片雪團。上堂。春雨微微。簷頭水滴。聞聲不悟。歸堂面壁。上堂。若論大道。直教杼山無開口處。你諸人試開口看。僧便問。如何是大道。師曰。擔不起。曰。為甚麼擔不起。師曰。大道。上堂。若論此事。切莫道著。道著即頭角生。有僧出曰。頭角生也。師曰。禍事。曰。某甲罪過。師曰。龍頭蛇尾。伏惟珍重。師元豐八年十月十二晚。忽書偈曰。雪𩯭霜髭九九年。半肩毳衲盡諸緣。廓然笑指浮雲散。玉兔流光照大千。擲筆而寂。

A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'Bricks and roof tiles.' Someone asked, 'What about seeking stillness in the midst of noise?' The Master said, 'A grievance must not be contracted.' Someone asked, 'What is the correct Dharma eye?' The Master said, 'Below the eyebrows.' The monk said, 'What if one understands it just like that?' The Master said, 'The pupil laughs and nods.' Someone asked, 'What is the matter above?' The Master said, 'Sun, moon and stars.' The monk said, 'What is the matter below?' The Master said, 'The boiling caldron of hell.' Someone asked, 'What is it like when for ten thousand li there is not a cloud?' The Master said, 'The monkey endures hunger.' The monk said, 'I beg the Master to rescue him.' The Master said, 'What color is the fire?' Someone asked, 'The ancients raised the mallet and held up the whisk — what does it mean?' The Master said, 'In broad daylight there is no idle man.' The monk said, 'How does one take it up?' The Master said, 'Like wind past the ear.' Someone asked, 'What about holding a sword at the breast?' The Master said, 'Old crows in flocks.' The monk said, 'This is precisely the Reverend's insight.' The Master said, 'A snake threads through the nostrils.' The monk shook his sleeves and went out. The Master said, 'The assembly meets.' Someone asked, 'Where did the sages above walk?' The Master said, 'At the crossroads.' The monk said, 'If so, then there is a defeat.' The Master said, 'I know you have not reached that field.' The monk said, 'And after reaching it?' The Master said, 'Everyday tea and rice.' Someone asked, 'The Ancestor's intent and the teaching's intent — are they the same or different?' The Master said, 'Dried ginger and aconite.' The monk said, 'If so, then they are different.' The Master said, 'Camphor flakes and snow balls.' Ascending the hall: 'The spring rain is faint; water drips from the eaves. Hearing the sound but not awakening — go back to the hall and face the wall.' Ascending the hall: 'If one speaks of the great Way, it would leave Zhushan with no place to open its mouth. Try opening your mouths, you people.' A monk then asked, 'What is the great Way?' The Master said, 'You cannot shoulder it.' The monk said, 'Why can you not shoulder it?' The Master said, 'The great Way.' Ascending the hall: 'If one speaks of this matter, above all do not speak of it. Speak of it and the horns come forth.' A monk came forward and said, 'The horns have come forth.' The Master said, 'Calamity.' The monk said, 'I am at fault.' The Master said, 'Dragon's head, snake's tail. I respectfully wish you well.' On the evening of the twelfth day of the tenth month of the eighth year of Yuanfeng the Master suddenly wrote a verse: 'Snowy temples and frosty beard, ninety-nine years; half a shoulder's woolen robe exhausts all conditions. Vastly laughing, I point to the floating clouds scattering; the jade hare's flowing light illumines the great thousand.' He threw down the brush and passed away.

靈隱德章禪師

Chan Master Dezhang of Lingyin

初住大相國寺西經藏院。慶曆八年九月一日。仁宗皇帝詔師於延春閣下齋。宣普照大師問。如何是當機一句。師曰。一言逈出青霄外。萬仞峰前嶮處行。曰。作麼生是嶮處行。師便喝。曰。皇帝面前。何得如此。師曰。也不得放過。明年又宣入內齋。復宣普照問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。雷驚細草萌芽發。高山進步莫遲遲。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。戴角披毛異。來往任縱橫。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。出門天外迥。流光影不真。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。寒林無宿客。大海聽龍吟。後再宣入化成殿齋。宣守賢問。齋筵大啟。如何報答聖君。師曰。空中求鳥跡。曰。意旨如何。師曰。水內覓魚蹤。師進心珠歌曰。心如意。心如意。任運隨緣不相離。但知莫向外邊求。外邊求。終不是。枉用工夫隱真理。識心珠。光耀日。秘藏深密無形質。拈來掌內眾人驚。二乘精進爭能測。碧眼胡須指出。臨機妙用何曾失。尋常切忌與人看。大地山河動岌岌。師皇祐二年乞歸山林養老。御批杭州靈隱寺住持。賜號明覺。

He first lived at the Western Scripture Storehouse of the Great Xiangguo Monastery. On the first day of the ninth month of the eighth year of Qingli, Emperor Renzong summoned the Master to a vegetarian feast below the Yanchun Pavilion, and had the Great Master Puzhao ask, 'What is the phrase that meets the moment?' The Master said, 'One word stands out beyond the blue sky; on the perilous way before the ten-thousand-fathom peak.' Puzhao said, 'What is walking on the perilous way?' The Master then shouted. Puzhao said, 'In the presence of the emperor, how can you do this?' The Master said, 'It may not be let pass either.' The next year he was again summoned to a feast in the palace, and Puzhao was again summoned to ask, 'What is taking away the man but not the realm?' The Master said, 'Thunder startles the fine grass and the sprouts come forth; on the high mountain, advance and do not be slow.' Puzhao said, 'What is taking away the realm but not the man?' The Master said, 'Wearing horns and fur, he is different; coming and going, he roams at will.' Puzhao said, 'What is taking away both man and realm?' The Master said, 'Going out the gate, the sky beyond is vast; the flowing light's shadow is not real.' Puzhao said, 'What is taking away neither man nor realm?' The Master said, 'In the cold forest there is no overnight guest; the great sea listens to the dragon's song.' Later he was again summoned to a feast in the Huacheng Hall, and Shouxian was summoned to ask, 'The feast is greatly spread — how does one repay the sage sovereign?' The Master said, 'Seeking the tracks of birds in the sky.' Shouxian said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'Looking for the traces of fish in the water.' The Master presented the Song of the Mind Pearl: 'The mind is like the intent, the mind is like the intent; following conditions and letting things run, it never parts from you. Only know that you must not seek outside. Seeking outside is never it, and you waste your effort hiding the true principle. Know the mind pearl, its light outshines the sun, a secret treasure deep and dense without form or substance. Picked up and placed in the palm, the crowd is startled; the two vehicles with all their effort — how could they fathom it? The blue-eyed Indian pointed it out; at the moment of opportunity, when has its wondrous function ever been lost? Ordinarily above all do not show it to people, or the great earth, mountains and rivers will totter.' In the second year of Huangyou the Master begged to return to the mountain forest to nurse his old age. The imperial endorsement made him abbot of Lingyin Monastery in Hangzhou and granted him the title Mingjue.

琅邪覺禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Jue of Langya

蘇州定慧院超信海印禪師

Chan Master Chaoxin Haiyin of Dinghui Monastery in Suzhou

僧問。如何是佛法的的大意。師曰。湘源斑竹杖。曰。意旨如何。師曰。枝枝帶淚痕。問。如何是第一句。師曰。那吒忿怒。曰。如何是第二句。師曰。衲僧罔措。曰。如何是第三句。師曰。西天此土。上堂。泥蛇齩石鼈。露柱啾啾呌。須彌打一棒。閻老呵呵笑。參。上堂。若識般若。即被般若縛。若不識般若。亦被般若縛。識與不識。拈放一邊。卻問諸人。如何是般若體。參堂去。上堂。鶯聲闌。蟬聲急。入水烏龜頭不濕。鷺鶿飛入蘆花叢。雪月交輝俱不及。吽。

A monk asked, 'What is the exact great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'A mottled bamboo staff from Xiangyuan.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'Every joint bears the marks of tears.' Someone asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'The wrath of Nata.' The monk said, 'What is the second phrase?' The Master said, 'The monk is at a loss.' The monk said, 'What is the third phrase?' The Master said, 'The Western Heaven and this land.' Ascending the hall: 'A mud snake bites a stone turtle; the exposed pillar chirps and squeaks. Sumeru takes a blow; old Yama laughs heartily. Study.' Ascending the hall: 'If you know prajna, you are bound by prajna. If you do not know prajna, you are also bound by prajna. Knowing and not knowing, toss them to one side. Then I ask you people: what is the essence of prajna? Go to the hall and study.' Ascending the hall: 'The oriole's song ceases, the cicada's cry is urgent; the turtle that enters the water does not wet its head. The egret flies into the reed flowers — snow and moon shining together cannot match it. Hum.'

洪州泐潭曉月禪師

Chan Master Xiaoyue of Letan in Hongzhou

僧問。修多羅教。如標月指。未審指箇甚麼。師曰。請高著眼。曰。曙色未分人盡望。及乎天曉也尋常。師曰。年衰鬼弄人。

A monk asked, 'The sutra teachings are like a finger pointing at the moon. I wonder what they point at?' The Master said, 'Please raise your eyes high.' The monk said, 'Before the dawn light divides, all men look for it; when the sky has brightened, it is ordinary.' The Master said, 'When one is old and feeble, ghosts make sport of one.'

越州姜山方禪師

Chan Master Fang of Jiangshan in Yuezhou

僧問。如何是不動尊。師曰。單著布衫穿市過。曰。學人未曉。師曰。騎驢踏破洞庭波。曰。透過三級浪。專聽一聲雷。師曰。伸手不見掌。曰。還許學人進向也無。師曰。踏地告虗空。曰。雷門之下。布鼓難鳴。師曰。八花毬子上。不用繡紅旗。曰。三十年後。此話大行。師便打。問。蓮花未出水時如何。師曰。穿針嫌眼小。曰。出水後如何。師曰。盡日展愁眉。問。如何是一塵入正受。師曰。蛇銜老鼠尾。曰。如何是諸塵三昧起。師曰。鼈齩釣魚竿。曰。恁麼則東西不辯。南北不分去也。師曰。堂前一盌夜明燈。簾外數莖青瘦竹。問。諸佛未出世時如何。師曰。不識酒望子。曰。出世後如何。師曰。釣魚船上贈三椎。問。如何是佛。師曰。留髭表丈夫。問。奔流度刃。疾𦦨過風。未審姜山門下還許藉藉也無。師曰。天寒日短夜更長。曰。錦帳繡鴛鴦。行人難得見。師曰。髑髏裡面氣沖天。僧召和尚。師曰。鷄頭鳳尾。曰。諸方泥裡洗。姜山畫將來。師曰。姜山今日為客。且望闍黎善傳。雖然如是。不得放過。便打。上堂。穿雲不渡水。渡水不穿雲。乾坤把定不把定。虗空放行不放行。橫三竪四。乍離乍合。將長補短。即不問汝諸人。飯是米做一句。要且難道。良久曰。私事不得官酬。上堂。不是道得道不得。諸方盡把為奇特。寒山燒火滿頭灰。笑罵豐幹這老賊。

A monk asked, 'What is the Immovable Honored One?' The Master said, 'Wearing a single cloth shirt, passing through the market.' The monk said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Riding a donkey and trampling the waves of Dongting.' The monk said, 'Piercing through the three levels of waves, I only listen for one peal of thunder.' The Master said, 'Stretch out your hand and you cannot see your own palm.' The monk said, 'Will the student be permitted to advance?' The Master said, 'Treading the ground, he tells it to empty space.' The monk said, 'Below the thunder gate, a cloth drum is hard to sound.' The Master said, 'On the eight-flowered ball, no embroidered red flag is needed.' The monk said, 'Thirty years from now, these words will greatly prevail.' The Master then beat him. Someone asked, 'What was it like when the lotus had not yet come out of the water?' The Master said, 'Threading a needle, she complains the eye is small.' The monk said, 'And after it comes out of the water?' The Master said, 'All day she smooths her worried brows.' Someone asked, 'What is it when one dust enters correct reception?' The Master said, 'A snake holds a rat's tail in its mouth.' The monk said, 'What is the arising of the samadhi of all dusts?' The Master said, 'A turtle bites the fishing rod.' The monk said, 'If so, then east and west are not distinguished and north and south are not divided.' The Master said, 'A bowl of night-shining lamp before the hall; several stalks of lean green bamboo beyond the blind.' Someone asked, 'What was it like before the Buddhas came into the world?' The Master said, 'He does not know the wine flag.' The monk said, 'And after they came into the world?' The Master said, 'On the fishing boat, three blows are given.' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'He keeps his mustache to show he is a man.' Someone asked, 'Rushing streams cross the blade, swift flames pass the wind. I wonder whether below the gate of Jiangshan one may borrow a little?' The Master said, 'The day is cold and short and the night longer still.' The monk said, 'In a brocade tent embroidered with mandarin ducks, a traveler rarely gets to see them.' The Master said, 'Within the skull the spirit mounts to the sky.' The monk called to the Reverend. The Master said, 'Chicken's head, phoenix's tail.' The monk said, 'All quarters wash in the mud; Jiangshan paints it.' The Master said, 'Today Jiangshan is the guest, and I only hope the acharya will pass it on well. Even so, it may not be let pass.' Then he beat him. Ascending the hall: 'Piercing the clouds but not crossing the water; crossing the water but not piercing the clouds. Heaven and earth held firm or not held firm; empty space let go or not let go. Three across and four down, now apart and now together. Making up for the short with the long — I do not ask you about that. The one phrase that rice is made from grain — that is hard to say.' After a long while he said, 'Private matters are not paid for by the office.' Ascending the hall: 'It is not whether one can speak of the Way or not; all quarters take it as extraordinary. Hanshan tends the fire with ashes all over his head, laughing and cursing Fenggan, that old thief.'

福州白鹿山顯端禪師

Chan Master Xianduan of White Deer Mountain in Fuzhou

僧問。如何是道。師曰。九州百粵。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。乘肥衣錦。問。如何是大善知識。師曰。持刀按劒。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。禮防君子。問。如何是異類。師曰。鴉巢生鳳。上堂。摩騰入漢。肉上剜瘡。僧會來吳。眼中添屑。達磨九年面壁。鬼魅之由。二祖立雪求心。飜成不肖。汝等諸人到這裡。如何吐露。若也道得。海上橫行。若道不得。林間獨臥。以拄杖擊禪床一下。問。如何是無相佛。師曰。灘頭石師子。曰。意旨如何。師曰。有心江上住。不怕浪淘沙。問。凝然湛寂時如何。師曰。不是闍黎安身立命處。曰。如何是學人安身立命處。師曰。雲有出山勢。水無投㵎聲。問。如何是教意。師曰。楞伽會上。曰。如何是祖意。師曰。熊耳山前。曰。教意祖意。相去幾何。師曰。寒松連翠竹。秋水對紅蓮。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'The nine provinces and a hundred Yue.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the Way?' The Master said, 'Riding a fat horse and wearing brocade.' Someone asked, 'What is a great good friend?' The Master said, 'Holding a knife, laying hand on the sword.' The monk said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'Rites guard against the gentleman.' Someone asked, 'What is the different kind?' The Master said, 'A crow's nest hatches a phoenix.' Ascending the hall: 'Matanga entered Han and cut a sore in the flesh. Seng Hui came to Wu and added a speck to the eye. Bodhidharma sat facing the wall for nine years — that is the work of a demon. The Second Ancestor stood in the snow seeking the mind, and turned out a prodigal. Now that you have come here, how will you speak out? If you can speak, you roam the seas at will. If you cannot, you lie alone in the forest.' He struck the meditation bed once with his staff. Someone asked, 'What is the markless Buddha?' The Master said, 'A stone lion at the rapids.' The monk said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'With the mind set on dwelling on the river, one does not fear the waves washing the sand.' Someone asked, 'What about when it is still and serene?' The Master said, 'It is not where the acharya settles body and life.' The monk said, 'What is where the student settles body and life?' The Master said, 'The clouds have the momentum to leave the mountain; the water has no sound of falling into the ravine.' Someone asked, 'What is the teaching's intent?' The Master said, 'At the Lankavatara assembly.' The monk said, 'What is the Ancestor's intent?' The Master said, 'Before Bear Ear Mountain.' The monk said, 'How far apart are the teaching's intent and the Ancestor's intent?' The Master said, 'The cold pine joins the green bamboo; the autumn water faces the red lotus.'

滁州琅邪山智遊禪師

Chan Master Zhiyou of Langya Mountain in Chuzhou

僧問。如何是琅邪境。師曰。松因有限蕭踈老。花為無情取次開。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。髮長僧貌醜。問。如何是和尚為人句。師曰。眼前三尺雪。曰。莫便是也無。師曰。腦後一枝花。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Langya?' The Master said, 'The pine, because it has limits, grows sparse and old; the flowers, because they are insentient, open at random.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the realm?' The Master said, 'Long hair and an ugly monk's face.' Someone asked, 'What is the Reverend's phrase for the sake of others?' The Master said, 'Three feet of snow before the eyes.' The monk said, 'Is this not just it?' The Master said, 'One blossom behind the head.'

泉州涼峰洞淵禪師

Chan Master Dongyuan of Liangfeng in Quanzhou

僧問。如何是涅槃。師曰。刀斫斧劈。曰。如何是解脫。師曰。衫長袴短。問。諸聖不到處。師還知也無。師曰。老來無力下禪床。問。離四句。絕百非時如何。師曰。柴門草自深。問。狗子還有佛性也無。師曰。松直棘曲。問。如何是佛。師曰。金沙照影。曰。如何是道。師曰。玉女拋梭。曰。佛與道相去幾何。師曰。龜毛長二丈。兔角長八尺。

A monk asked, 'What is nirvana?' The Master said, 'Cut by the knife, split by the axe.' The monk said, 'What is liberation?' The Master said, 'The shirt is long and the trousers are short.' Someone asked, 'At the place the sages do not reach — does the Master know it or not?' The Master said, 'Old and without strength, I cannot come down from the meditation seat.' Someone asked, 'What about apart from the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations?' The Master said, 'The thatch gate and the grass grow deep of themselves.' Someone asked, 'Does a dog have the Buddha nature or not?' The Master said, 'The pine is straight and the thorn is crooked.' Someone asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'The golden sand mirrors the shadow.' The monk said, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'The jade girl throws the shuttle.' The monk said, 'How far apart are the Buddha and the Way?' The Master said, 'Tortoise hair two zhang long, rabbit horn eight feet long.'

真州真如院方禪師

Chan Master Fang of Zhenru Monastery in Zhenzhou

參琅邪。唯看栢樹子話。每入室。陳其所見。不容措詞。常被喝出。忽一日大悟。直入方丈曰。我會也。琅邪曰。汝作麼生會。師曰。夜來床薦暖。一覺到天明。琅邪可之。

He studied under Langya, working only on the story of the cypress tree. Every time he entered the room and set out his understanding, he was not allowed to get a word in and was always shouted out. Suddenly one day he was greatly awakened, and went straight into the abbot's quarters and said, 'I understand.' Langya said, 'How do you understand it?' The Master said, 'Last night the bed mat was warm; I slept straight through to dawn.' Langya approved him.

宣州興教院坦禪師

Chan Master Tan of Xingjiao Monastery in Xuanzhou

永嘉牛氏子。業打銀。因淬礪瓶器有省。即出家。參琅邪。機語頓契。後依天衣懷禪師。時住興教。擢為第一座。衣受他請。欲聞州乞師繼之。時刁景純學士守宛陵。衣恐刁涉外議。乃於觀音前祝曰。若坦首座道眼明白。堪任住持。願示夢於刁學士。刁夜夢牛在興教法座上。衣凌晨辭州。刁舉所夢。衣大笑。刁問其故。衣曰。坦首座姓牛。又屬牛。刁就座出帖請之。師受請陞座。有雪竇化主省宗出。問。諸佛未出世。人人鼻孔遼天。出世後為甚麼杳無消息。師曰。鷄足峰前風悄然。宗曰。未在更道。師曰。大雪滿長安。宗曰。誰人知此意。令我憶南泉。拂袖歸眾。更不禮拜。師曰。新興教今日失利。便歸方丈。令人請宗至。師曰。適來錯祇對一轉語。人天眾前何不禮拜葢覆卻。宗曰。大丈夫膝下有黃金。爭肯禮拜無眼長老。師曰。我別有語在。宗乃理前語。至未在更道處。師曰。我有三十棒寄你打雪竇。宗乃禮拜。

He was a son of the Niu family of Yongjia. He worked as a silversmith. Because he had an awakening while quenching and polishing a vessel, he at once left home. He studied under Langya, and the mechanism and words suddenly agreed. Later he relied on Chan Master Huai of Tianyi. At that time he was living at Xingjiao and was promoted to head seat. Tianyi accepted his request and wanted to ask the prefecture to let the Master succeed to the seat. At that time the academician Diao Jingchun was governing Wanling. Tianyi feared Diao would be swayed by outside opinion, so before Guanyin he prayed, 'If the head seat Tan's eye of the Way is clear and he is fit to be abbot, I pray you show a dream to the academician Diao.' That night Diao dreamt of an ox on the Dharma seat of Xingjiao. At dawn Tianyi took leave at the prefecture, and Diao brought up his dream. Tianyi laughed aloud. Diao asked the reason. Tianyi said, 'The head seat Tan's surname is Niu, ox, and he was born in the year of the ox.' Diao then issued the document from his seat inviting him. The Master accepted and ascended the seat. The fund-raiser Xingzong of Xuedou came forward and asked, 'Before the Buddhas came into the world, everyone's nostrils reached the sky. After they came into the world, why is there not a whisper of news?' The Master said, 'Before Jizu Peak the wind is still.' Xingzong said, 'Not so — say more.' The Master said, 'Heavy snow fills Chang'an.' Xingzong said, 'Who knows this intent, that it makes me think of Nanquan?' He shook his sleeves and returned to the assembly, and did not bow. The Master said, 'The new Xingjiao has lost today.' He returned to his quarters and had Xingzong summoned. The Master said, 'Just now I answered one turning phrase wrongly; before the assembly of men and gods, why did you not bow and cover it up?' Xingzong said, 'A great man has gold under his knees; how could I bow to an eyeless elder?' The Master said, 'I have other words.' Xingzong then went over the earlier words, down to "not so — say more." The Master said, 'I have thirty blows to send you to give Xuedou.' Xingzong then bowed.

江州歸宗可宣禪師

Chan Master Kexuan of Guizong in Jiangzhou

漢州人也。壯為僧。即出峽依琅邪。一語忽投。群疑頓息。琅邪可之。未幾。令分座。淨空居士郭功甫過門問道。與厚。及師領歸宗。時功甫任南昌尉。俄郡守恚師不為禮。捃甚。遂作書寄功甫曰。某世緣尚有六年。奈州主抑逼。當棄餘喘。託生公家。願無見阻。功甫閱書驚喜。且頷之。中夜。其妻夢間見師入其寢。失聲曰。此不是和尚來處。功甫撼而問之。妻詳以告。呼燈取書示之。相笑不已。遂孕。及生。乃名宣老。期年記問如昔。至三歲。白雲端禪師抵其家。始見之。曰。吾姪來也。雲曰。與和尚相別幾年。宣倒指曰。四年矣(蓋與相別一年方死)。雲曰。甚處相別。曰。白蓮莊上。雲曰。以何為驗。曰。爹爹媽媽明日請和尚齋。忽聞推車聲。雲問。門外是甚麼聲。宣以手作推車勢。雲曰。過後如何。曰。平地兩條溝。果六週無疾而逝。

He was a man of Hanzhou. He became a monk in his prime and at once left the gorges to rely on Langya. At one word he suddenly agreed, and the crowd of doubts was at once stilled. Langya approved him. Not long after, he was made to share the seat. The layman Guo Gongfu of Jingkong came to his gate to ask about the Way, and was on close terms with him. When the Master took charge of Guizong, Gongfu was then the commandant of Nanchang. Presently the prefect grew angry that the Master did not show him courtesy, and framed him severely. The Master then wrote to Gongfu: 'My worldly condition still has six years to run, but the prefect presses me hard. I shall abandon my remaining breath and take birth in your house; I hope you will not refuse.' Gongfu read the letter with astonishment and delight, and nodded. In the middle of the night his wife dreamt that the Master entered their bedchamber, and cried out, 'This is not where a monk comes from.' Gongfu shook her awake and asked her. His wife told him in detail. He called for a lamp and gave her the letter to read, and they laughed without ceasing; and so she conceived. When the child was born, he was named Xuanlao. At one year old his memory and questions were as of old. When he was three, Chan Master Duan of Baiyun came to their house, and at one look said, 'My nephew has come.' Xuanlao said, 'How many years since you parted from the Reverend?' Xuan turned his finger back and said, 'Four years.' (For he had died one year after parting.) Baiyun said, 'Where did you part?' Xuan said, 'At White Lotus Manor.' Baiyun said, 'By what is it verified?' Xuan said, 'Papa and Mama will invite the Reverend to a meal tomorrow.' Suddenly he heard the sound of a cart being pushed. Baiyun asked, 'What is that sound outside the gate?' Xuan made the gesture of pushing a cart with his hand. Baiyun said, 'And after that?' Xuan said, 'Two furrows on level ground.' Indeed at the full age of six he passed away without illness.

秀州長水子璿講師

Lecturer Zixuan of Changshui in Xiuzhou

郡之嘉興人也。自落髮誦楞嚴不輟。從洪敏法師講至動靜二相。瞭然不生。有省。謂敏曰。敲空擊木(木一作竹)。尚落筌蹄。舉目揚眉。已成擬議。去此二途。方契斯旨。敏拊而證之。然欲探禪源。罔知攸往。聞琅邪道重當世。即趨其席。值上堂次。出問。清淨本然。云何忽生山河大地。琅邪憑陵答曰。清淨本然。云何忽生山河大地。師領悟。禮謝曰。願侍巾瓶。琅邪謂曰。汝宗不振久矣。宜厲志扶持。報佛恩德。勿以殊宗為介也。乃如教。再拜以辭。後住長水。承稟日顧眾曰。道非言象得。禪非擬議知。會意通宗。曾無別致。由是二宗仰之。甞疏楞嚴等經。盛行於世。

He was a man of Jiaxing in that prefecture. From the time he shaved his head he chanted the Surangama without cease. When the Dharma Master Hongmin expounded the two marks of movement and stillness, that they are clearly not born, he had an awakening. He said to Hongmin, 'Striking the air and knocking on wood still fall into the trap and snare. Raising the eyes and moving the brows is already deliberation. Apart from these two roads, one then accords with this purport.' Hongmin patted him and certified him. And yet, wishing to explore the source of Chan, he did not know where to go. Hearing that Langya's Way was weighty in the world, he hurried to his seat. It happened that Langya was ascending the hall, and he came forward and asked, 'The pure and originally so — how is it that mountains, rivers and the great earth suddenly arise?' Langya answered by pressing upon him: 'The pure and originally so — how is it that mountains, rivers and the great earth suddenly arise?' The Master was enlightened, bowed in thanks and said, 'I wish to attend on you with towel and pitcher.' Langya said to him, 'Your school has long been uninspired. You should stir your resolve to support it, to repay the Buddha's grace and virtue, and not to let a different school stand in your way.' So he followed the instruction, bowed twice and took his leave. Later he lived at Changshui. When he received and carried out the teaching, he daily looked around at the assembly and said, 'The Way is not attained by words and images; Chan is not known by deliberation. To understand the intent and penetrate the school has never had any other way.' From this both schools looked up to him. He wrote commentaries on the Surangama and other sutras, which were widely current in the world.

大愚芝禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Zhi of Dayu

南嶽雲峰文悅禪師

Chan Master Wenyue of Yunfeng in Nanyue

南昌徐氏子。初造大愚。聞示眾曰。大家相聚吃莖虀。若喚作一莖虀。入地獄如箭射。便下座。師大駭。夜造方丈。愚問。來何所求。師曰。求心法。愚曰。法輪未轉。食輪先轉。後生趂色力健。何不為眾乞食。我忍飢不暇。何暇為汝說禪乎。師不敢違。未幾。愚移翠巖。師納疏罷。復過翠巖求指示。巖曰。佛法未到爛卻。雪寒宜為眾乞炭。師亦奉命。能事罷復造方丈。巖曰。堂司闕人。今以煩汝。師受之不樂。恨巖不去心地。坐後架。桶箍忽散。自架墮落。師忽然開悟。頓見巖用處。走搭伽棃。上寢堂。巖迎笑曰。維那。且喜太事了畢。師再拜。不及吐一辭而去。服勤八年。後出世翠巖。時首座領眾出迎。問曰。德山宗乘即不問。如何是臨濟大用。師曰。你甚處去來。座擬議。師便掌。座擬對。師喝曰。領眾歸去。自是一眾畏服。僧問。如何是道。師曰。路不拾遺。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。草賊大敗。僧禮拜。師噓一聲。問。萬法歸一。一歸何所。師曰。黃河九曲。曰。如何是第一句。師曰。垂手過膝。曰。如何是第二句。師曰。萬裡崖州。曰。如何是第三句。師曰。糞箕掃帚。問。如何是深山巖崖佛法。師曰。猢猻倒上樹。問。如何是衲衣下事。師曰。皮裡骨。問。不涉廉纖。請師速道。師曰。須彌山。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。柴場荻草。上堂。語不離窠道。焉能出葢纏。片雲橫谷口。迷卻幾人源。所以道。言無展事。語不投機。承言者喪。滯句者迷。汝等諸人。到這裡憑何話會。良久曰。欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。上堂。過去諸佛已滅。未來諸佛未生。正當今日。佛法委在翠巖。放行則隨機利物。把住則瓦解冰消。且道把住好。放行好。良久曰。咄。這野狐精。擊禪床下座。上堂。汝等諸人。與麼上來。大似刺腦入膠盆。與麼下去。也是平地吃交。直饒不來不去。朝打三千。

He was a son of the Xu family of Nanchang. He first went to Dayu, and hearing the instruction to the assembly, 'You people gather and eat a stem of pickled greens. If you call it a stem of pickled greens, you fall into hell swift as an arrow shot,' he at once came down from the seat. The Master was greatly startled, and at night came to the abbot's quarters. Dayu asked, 'What have you come seeking?' The Master said, 'I seek the mind Dharma.' Dayu said, 'Before the Dharma wheel turns, the food wheel turns first. Young man, while the vigor of your form is strong, why not beg food for the assembly? I have no leisure even to bear my hunger — what leisure have I to speak Chan to you?' The Master did not dare disobey. Before long Dayu moved to Cuiyan. When the Master had finished delivering the petition, he went again to Cuiyan to ask for instruction. Cuiyan said, 'The Buddha Dharma is not yet rotted through. The snow is cold; you should beg charcoal for the assembly.' The Master again accepted the order. When that task was done he went up once more to the abbot's quarters. Cuiyan said, 'The hall office lacks a man; I now trouble you with it.' The Master accepted but was not happy, and resented that Cuiyan would not let his mind settle on the ground. As he sat on the rear platform, a bucket hoop suddenly gave way, and it fell from the shelf. The Master suddenly awakened, and in an instant saw Cuiyan's point of use. He rose, put on his robe, and went up to the sleeping hall. Cuiyan met him laughing and said, 'Director of Affairs, how glad I am that the great matter is finished.' The Master bowed twice, and before he could utter a single word he left. He served diligently for eight years. Later he came forth into the world at Cuiyan. At that time the head seat led the assembly out to welcome him and asked, 'I do not ask about Deshan's school and vehicle — what is Linji's great function?' The Master said, 'Where have you been?' As the head seat began to deliberate, the Master slapped him. As the head seat began to answer, the Master shouted and said, 'Lead the assembly back.' From this the whole assembly feared and submitted. A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'No property is picked up from the road.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the Way?' The Master said, 'The grass bandits are utterly routed.' The monk bowed. The Master breathed out a sigh. The monk asked, 'The ten thousand dharmas return to one — where does the one return?' The Master said, 'The Yellow River's nine bends.' The monk said, 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said, 'Hands hanging down past the knees.' The monk said, 'What is the second phrase?' The Master said, 'Ten thousand li to Yazhou.' The monk said, 'What is the third phrase?' The Master said, 'A dung basket and a broom.' The monk asked, 'What is the Buddha Dharma in the deep mountains and on the cliffs?' The Master said, 'A monkey climbs a tree upside down.' The monk asked, 'What is the matter beneath the robe?' The Master said, 'Bone within skin.' The monk asked, 'Not touching the least — I beg the Master to speak quickly.' The Master said, 'Mount Sumeru.' The monk asked, 'What is the pure dharma body?' The Master said, 'A firewood yard and reed grass.' Ascending the hall: 'If one's words never leave the nest and the road, how can one get out of the covering and the bonds? A wisp of cloud lies across the valley mouth and loses the source for how many men. Therefore it is said: words have no unfolding matter, and speech does not hit the mark. He who receives words perishes; he who sticks to phrases is lost. When you get here, by what words do you understand?' After a long while he said, 'If you would not invite the karma of the uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathagata's wheel of the true Dharma.' Ascending the hall: 'The Buddhas of the past are already extinct; the Buddhas of the future are not yet born. At this very day, the Buddha Dharma is entrusted to Cuiyan. Let go and it follows the moment and benefits beings; hold fast and tiles shatter and ice melts. Tell me, is it better to hold fast or to let go?' After a long while he said, 'Ho! This wild fox spirit.' He struck the meditation bed and descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'When you people come up here like this, it is much like thrusting your head into a glue pot. Coming down like this is also stumbling on level ground. Even if you neither come nor go, three thousand blows in the morning,'

暮打八百。上堂。道遠乎哉。觸事而真。聖遠乎哉。體之則神。所以娑婆世界。以音聲為佛事。香積世界。以香飯為佛事。翠巖這裡。祇於出入息內供養承事。過現未來。塵沙諸佛。無一空過者。過現未來。塵沙諸佛。是翠巖侍者。無一不到。如一不到。三十拄杖。諸上座還會麼。將此深心奉塵剎。是則名為報佛恩。上堂。有情之本。依智海以為源。含識之流。總法身而為體。祇為情生智隔。想變體殊。達本情忘。知心體合。諸禪德會麼。古佛與露柱相交。佛殿與燈籠鬬額。若也不會。單重交折。上堂。竿木隨身。逢場作戲。然雖如是。一手不獨拍。眾中莫有作家禪客。本分衲僧。出來共相唱和。有麼。時有僧出。禮拜。師曰。依稀似曲才堪聽。又被風吹別調中。便下座。上堂。天明平旦。萬事成辦。北俱盧洲長粳米飯。下座。上堂。有佛處不得住。無佛處急走過。你等諸人。橫擔拄杖。向甚麼處行腳。良久曰。東勝身洲持缽。西瞿耶尼吃飯。上堂。假使心通無量時。歷劫何曾異今日。且道今日事作麼生。良久曰。烏龜鑽破壁。上堂。見聞覺知無障礙。聲香味觸常三昧。衲僧道。會也。山是山。水是水。飢來吃飯。困來打睡。忽然須彌山𨁝跳入你鼻孔裡。摩竭魚穿你眼睛中。作麼生商量。良久曰。參堂去。上堂。一刀兩段。未稱宗師。就下平高。固非作者。翠巖到這裡。口似匾擔。你等諸人作麼生商量。良久曰。欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。上堂。若見諸相非相。即山河大地。竝無過咎。諸上座終日著衣吃飯。未曾齩著一粒米。未曾掛著一縷絲。便能變大地作黃金。攪長河為酥酪。然雖如是。著衣吃飯即不無。衲僧門下汗臭氣也未夢見在。上堂。普賢行。文殊智。補陀巖上清風起。瞎驢趂隊過新羅。吉獠舌頭三千里。上堂。拈起拄杖曰。掌缽盂向香積世界。為甚麼出身無路。挑日月於拄杖頭上。

(The Master continued:) 'and eight hundred blows at dusk.' Ascending the hall: 'Is the Way far? Touch a thing and it is real. Are the sages far? Realize it and it is spirit. Therefore in the Saha world the Buddha's work is done through sound; in the world of Fragrant Accumulation the Buddha's work is done through fragrant rice. Here at Cuiyan, within the breath going out and coming in, one makes offerings and serves the Buddhas of past, present and future, numberless as dust, and not one is passed over in vain. The Buddhas of past, present and future, numberless as dust, are Cuiyan's attendants, and not one fails to arrive. If one fails to arrive, thirty blows with the staff. Elders of the assembly, do you understand? To offer this deep mind to the dust-fields of lands — that is what is called repaying the Buddha's grace.' Ascending the hall: 'The root of the sentient takes the sea of wisdom as its source; the stream of those who hold consciousness takes the dharma body as its substance. It is only because feeling arises that wisdom is screened off, and because thought changes that the substance differs. Penetrate the root and feeling is forgotten; know the mind and the substance accords. Chan worthies, do you understand? The ancient Buddha and the exposed pillar cross each other; the Buddha hall and the lantern butt foreheads. If you still do not understand, the single and the doubled exchange and break apart.' Ascending the hall: 'Pole and wood go along with the body; wherever there is a stage, one plays a part. Yet though it is so, one hand alone does not clap. Among the assembly, is there perhaps a Chan guest who is a master, an ordinary patch-robed monk, who will come out and sing in chorus with me? Is there any?' At that time a monk came out and bowed. The Master said, 'Faintly like a tune, it is just fit to be heard — and again the wind blows it into another key.' He then descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'When the sky brightens at dawn, the ten thousand matters are done. In Uttarakuru there is long-grained rice.' He descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'Where there is a Buddha you may not dwell; where there is no Buddha pass by quickly. You people carry your staffs across your shoulders — to what place will you go on pilgrimage?' After a long while he said, 'In Purvavideha I hold out my bowl; in Aparagodaniya I eat.' Ascending the hall: 'Suppose the mind penetrates immeasurable time — through kalpas, how has it ever differed from today? Tell me, how do you make out today's matter?' After a long while he said, 'A turtle drills through a wall.' Ascending the hall: 'Seeing, hearing, perceiving and knowing have no obstruction; sound, fragrance, taste and touch are always samadhi. A patch-robed monk says: I understand. The mountain is the mountain, the water is the water; when hungry, eat; when tired, sleep. Suddenly Mount Sumeru leaps into your nostrils, and a makara fish pierces your eye — how will you deliberate on that?' After a long while he said, 'Go to the hall to study.' Ascending the hall: 'One knife, two cuts — not yet fit to be called a master. Straightening the low and evening the high is surely not the work of an adept. Here at Cuiyan the mouth is like a carrying pole. How will you people deliberate?' After a long while he said, 'If you would not invite the karma of the uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathagata's wheel of the true Dharma.' Ascending the hall: 'If you see all marks as no-marks, then mountains, rivers and the great earth have no fault at all. Elders of the assembly, all day long you wear clothes and eat food, yet have never bitten a single grain of rice, never hung on a single thread of silk, and yet you can turn the great earth into gold and churn the long river into butter. Though it is so, wearing clothes and eating food is not lacking; but in the patch-robed monk's gate, the smell of sweat has not even been dreamed of.' Ascending the hall: 'Samantabhadra's practice, Manjushri's wisdom — on Potalaka Rock the clear wind rises. The blind donkey follows the herd and passes into Silla; the lucky jackal's tongue runs three thousand li.' Ascending the hall, he picked up his staff and said, 'Holding out the bowl toward the world of Fragrant Accumulation, why is there no road out? Carrying sun and moon on the tip of the staff,'

為甚麼有眼如盲。直得風行草偃。響順聲和。無纖芥可留。猶是交爭底法。作麼生是不交爭底法。卓拄杖下座。上堂。臨濟先鋒。放過一著。德山後令。且在一邊。獨露無私一句作麼生道。良久曰。堪嗟楚下鍾離昧(音抹)。以拂子擊禪床。下座。上堂。教中道。種種取捨。皆是輪回。未出輪回而辯圓覺。彼圓覺性即同流轉。若免輪回。無有是處。你等諸人。到這裡且作麼生辯圓覺。良久曰。荷葉團團團似鏡。菱角尖尖尖似錐。以拂擊禪床。上堂。古人道。山河石壁。不礙眼光。師曰。作麼生是眼。拈拄杖打禪床一下。曰。須彌山百雜碎即不問。你且道娑竭羅龍王年多少。俗士問。如何是佛。師曰。著衣吃飯量家道。曰。恁麼則退身三步。叉手當胷去也。師曰。醉後添杯不如無。小參。舉百丈歲夜示眾曰。你這一隊後生。經律論固是不知。入眾參禪禪又不會。臘月三十日。且作麼生摺合去。師曰。灼然。諸禪德。去聖時遙。人心澹泊。看卻今時叢林。更是不得所在之處。或聚徒三百五百。浩浩地祇以飯食豐濃．寮舍穩便為旺化。中間孜孜為道者無一人。設有十箇五箇。走上走下。半青半黃。會即總道我會。各各自謂握靈蛇之珠。孰肯知非。及乎挨拶鞭逼將來。直是萬中無一。苦哉。苦哉。所謂般若叢林歲歲凋。無明荒草年年長。就中今時後生。才入眾來。便自端然拱手。受他別人供養。到處菜不擇一莖。柴不搬一束。十指不沾水。百事不幹懷。雖則一期快意。爭奈三塗累身。豈不見教中道。寧以熱鐵纏身。不受信心人衣。寧以洋銅灌口。不受信心人食。上座若也是去。直饒變大地作黃金。攪長河為酥酪。供養上座。未為分外。若也未是。至於滴水寸絲。便須披毛戴角。牽犂拽耙。償他始得。不見祖師道。入道不通理。復身還信施。此是決定底事。終不虗也。諸上座。光陰可惜。時不待人。

(The Master continued:) 'why are the eyes as if blind? Even if the wind blows and the grass bends, and the echo follows the sound, with not a mustard seed left over, it is still a dharma of contending. What is the dharma of non-contending?' He planted his staff and descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'Linji's vanguard — let it pass one move. Deshan's rear command — set it to one side. The single phrase that stands alone revealed and without selfishness — how will you speak it?' After a long while he said, 'One may well sigh for Zhongli Mei below Chu.' (The name Mei is sounded as mo.) He struck the meditation bed with his whisk and descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'The teaching says: all taking and rejecting is rebirth. To discriminate perfect enlightenment while not yet out of rebirth — that perfect-enlightened nature is then the same as flowing on. If one would escape rebirth, there is no such place. When you get here, how will you discriminate perfect enlightenment?' After a long while he said, 'The lotus leaf is round and round like a mirror; the water caltrop is sharp and sharp like an awl.' He struck the meditation bed with his whisk. Ascending the hall: 'The ancients said: mountains, rivers and stone walls do not obstruct the eye's light.' The Master said, 'What is the eye?' He picked up his staff, struck the meditation bed once, and said, 'I do not ask about Mount Sumeru smashed to bits. But tell me, how old is the dragon king Sagara?' A layman asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'In clothes and food, measure the family's means.' The layman said, 'If so, then I withdraw three steps and fold my hands on my breast.' The Master said, 'Adding a cup after one is drunk is not as good as none.' At a minor assembly he brought up Baizhang's New Year's Eve instruction: 'You people of this crowd — the sutras, vinaya and treatises you certainly do not know, and entering the assembly to practice Chan you do not understand either. On the thirtieth of the twelfth month, how will you settle the accounts?' The Master said, 'Quite so. Chan worthies, the time since the sages is far, and men's minds are thin. Look at today's monasteries, and it is even worse wherever one goes. Some gather three hundred or five hundred students, and in their vast crowds take rich food and drink and comfortable quarters as flourishing teaching. Among them there is not one man who earnestly works at the Way. Suppose there are ten or five — they run up and down, half green and half yellow. When they understand, they all say they understand, and each claims to hold the pearl of the spirit snake; who is willing to know that he is wrong? And when it comes to being pressed and whipped on, truly there is not one in ten thousand. How bitter, how bitter. As it is said: the prajna grove withers year by year, the weeds of ignorance grow year by year. And worse, the young people of today no sooner enter the assembly than they sit up straight and fold their hands and receive other people's offerings. Everywhere they choose not a stem of vegetables, carry not a bundle of firewood; their ten fingers do not touch water, and a hundred matters do not vex their hearts. Though for a season they are pleased, what can be done about the three evil paths that burden the body? Have you not seen the teaching say: better to wrap the body in red-hot iron than to accept the clothes of a faithful man; better to pour molten copper into the mouth than to accept the food of a faithful man. If you elders are also like that, then even though you turn the great earth into gold and churn the long river into butter and offer it to the elders, it would not be excessive. But if you are not yet like that, then down to a drop of water and an inch of thread, you must put on horns and hair, pull the plow and drag the harrow, and only then repay him. Have you not seen the Ancestor say: entering the Way without penetrating the principle, one returns the body and repays the faithful gifts. This is a settled matter and is never in vain. Elders of the assembly, the light of time is to be pitied; the hour does not wait for men,'

莫待一朝眼光落地。緇田無一簣之功。鐵圍陷百刑之痛。莫言不道。珍重。

(The Master continued:) 'Do not wait for the one morning when the eye's light falls to the ground. In the black-robed field there is not the merit of a single basketful; in the Iron Enclosure you will sink into the pain of a hundred punishments. Do not say I did not tell you. Take care.'

蘇州瑞光月禪師

Chan Master Yue of Ruiguang in Suzhou

僧問。俱胝一指。意旨如何。師曰。月落三更穿市過。

A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of Juzhi's one finger?' The Master said, 'The moon sets at the third watch and passes through the market.'

瑞州洞山子圓禪師

Chan Master Ziyuan of Dongshan in Ruizhou

上堂。有僧出拋下坐具。師曰。一釣便上。僧提起坐具。師曰。弄巧成拙。僧曰。自古無生曲。須是遇知音。師曰。波斯入唐土。僧大笑歸眾。

Ascending the hall, a monk came forward and threw down his sitting cloth. The Master said, 'He rises at the first cast of the hook.' The monk picked up the sitting cloth. The Master said, 'Cleverness turns to clumsiness.' The monk said, 'Since ancient times the song of no-birth must await one who knows the tone.' The Master said, 'A Persian has entered the land of Tang.' The monk laughed aloud and returned to the assembly.

石霜永禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yong of Shishuang

南嶽福嚴保宗禪師

Chan Master Baozong of Fuyan in Nanyue

上堂。世尊周行七步。舉足全乖。目顧四方。觸途成滯。金襴授去。殃及兒孫。玉偈傳來。掛人唇吻。風幡悟性。未離色塵。缽水投針。全成管見。祖師九年面壁。不見纖毫。盧公六代傳衣。圖他小利。江西一喝。不解慎初。德嶠全施。未知護末。南山鼈鼻。謾指蹤由。北院枯松。徒彰風彩。雲門顧鑒。落二落三。臨濟全提。錯七錯八。若說君臣五位。直如紙馬過江。更推賓主交參。恰似泥人澡洗。獨超象外。且非捉兔走鷹。混跡塵中。未是齩豬之狗。何異趒坑墮壍。正是避溺投罝。如斯之解。正在常途。出格道人。如何話會。豈不見陶潛俗子尚自覩事見機。而今祖室子孫。不可皮下無血。喝一喝。

Ascending the hall: 'The World-Honored One walked seven steps in a circle, and every lift of the foot was wholly wrong. He looked all around in the four directions, and every place he touched became an obstruction. The golden robe was handed on, and disaster fell on his children and grandchildren. The jade verse was transmitted, and it hangs on men's lips. Awakening to the nature at wind and banner — he had not yet left the dust of form. Dropping a needle into the bowl of water — it turns out wholly to be a view through a tube. The Ancestor faced the wall for nine years and did not see a hair's breadth. Master Lu handed on the robe through six generations, scheming for a small profit. Jiangxi's one shout did not understand guarding the beginning. Deshan's whole bestowal did not know protecting the end. The turtle-nose of Nanshan — in vain one points out its tracks. The withered pine of Beiyuan — in vain it displays its style. Yunmen's looking and mirroring falls into two, falls into three. Linji's whole raising is wrong seven, wrong eight. If you speak of the five positions of lord and minister, it is exactly a paper horse crossing the river. If you push further into the interplay of host and guest, it is just a clay man taking a bath. To stand alone beyond the images is not a hawk let fly at a hare. To mingle one's tracks in the dust is not a dog that bites a pig. How is it different from jumping into a pit and falling into a moat, from fleeing drowning and throwing oneself into a net? An understanding like this is on the ordinary road. Men of the Way who go beyond the pattern — how will you understand?' He gave a shout.

郢州大陽如漢禪師

Chan Master Ruhan of Dayang in Yingzhou

僧問。如何是敲磕底句。師曰。檻外竹搖風。驚起幽人睡。曰。觀音門大啟也。師曰。師子齩人。廼曰。聞聲悟道。失卻觀音眼睛。見色明心。昧了文殊巴鼻。一齣一入。半開半合。泥牛昨夜遊滄海。直至如今不見回。咄。

A monk asked, 'What is the phrase of knocking and bumping?' The Master said, 'Beyond the railing the bamboo sways in the wind and startles the recluse from sleep.' The monk said, 'The gate of Guanyin is thrown wide open.' The Master said, 'A lion bites a man.' Then he said, 'Hearing sound and awakening to the Way, one loses Guanyin's eye. Seeing form and clarifying the mind, one dims Manjushri's nose. One out, one in; half open, half shut. The mud ox roamed the blue sea last night and has not been seen returning to this day. Ho!'

浮山遠禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Fushan

東京淨因院道臻淨照禪師

Chan Master Daozhen Jingzhao of Jingyin Monastery in the Eastern Capital

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。朝裝香。暮換水。問。如何是觀音妙智力。師曰。河南犬吠。河北驢鳴。上堂。拈拄杖曰。楖栗木杖子。善能談佛祖。聾人既得聞。瘂人亦解語。指白石為玉。點黃金為土。便恁麼會去。他家未相許。不相許。莫莽鹵。南街打鼓北街舞。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'In the morning burn incense; in the evening change the water.' He asked, 'What is Guanyin's wonderful wisdom power?' The Master said, 'In Henan the dogs bark; in Hebei the donkeys bray.' Ascending the hall, he picked up his staff and said, 'A jujube-wood staff is good at talking of Buddhas and Ancestors. The deaf man gets to hear it, and the mute man understands the words. It points to white stone and calls it jade; it dots yellow gold and turns it to earth. If you understand it just like that, his house has not yet approved you. Not approved — do not be reckless. Drums beat in the south street and they dance in the north street.'

廬州興化仁嶽禪師

Chan Master Renyue of Xinghua in Luzhou

泉南人也。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。臨濟問黃檗。曰。學人不會。師曰。三回吃棒來。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。曲彔禪床。曰。客來如何祇待。師曰。拄杖子。問。一大藏教盡是名言。離此名言。如何指示。師曰。癩馬揩枯柳。曰。學人不會。師曰。駱駝好吃鹽。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。鐵鞭指處馬空嘶。

He was a man of Quannan. A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Linji asks Huangbo.' The monk said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Three times he came and took the blows.' He asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'A crooked meditation bed.' The monk said, 'When a guest comes, how do you receive him?' The Master said, 'A staff.' He asked, 'The whole canon is nothing but names and words. Apart from these names and words, how do you point it out?' The Master said, 'A mangy horse rubs against a withered willow.' The monk said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'A camel likes to eat salt.' The monk said, 'After all, how is it?' The Master said, 'Where the iron whip points, the horse neighs in vain.'

荊門軍玉泉謂芳禪師

Chan Master Weifang of Yuquan in Jingmen Jun

僧問。從上諸聖。以何法示人。師拈起拄杖。僧曰。學人不會。師曰。兩手分付。僧擬議。師便打。

A monk asked, 'By what dharma did the sages from of old show people?' The Master picked up his staff. The monk said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'I hand it to you with both hands.' As the monk deliberated, the Master beat him.

宿州定林惠琛禪師

Chan Master Huichen of Dinglin in Suzhou

僧問。如何是道。師曰。祇在目前。僧曰。為甚麼不見。師曰。瞎。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'It is right before your eyes.' The monk said, 'Why do I not see it?' The Master said, 'Blind.'

秀州本覺若珠禪師

Chan Master Ruozhu of Benjue in Xiuzhou

僧問。如何是道。師舉起拳。僧曰。學人不會。師曰。拳頭也不識。上堂。說佛說祖。埋沒宗乘。舉古談今。淹留衲子。撥開上路。誰敢當頭。齊立下風。不勞拈出。無星秤子。如何辯得斤兩。若也辯得。須彌祇重半銖。若辯不得。拗折秤衡。向日本國與諸人相見。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master raised his fist. The monk said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'You do not even know a fist.' Ascending the hall: 'Speaking of Buddhas and speaking of Ancestors buries the school and vehicle. Bringing up the ancient and discussing the present detains the patch-robed one. Push open the upper road — who dares be the one in front? All stand below the wind; there is no need to bring it out. A steelyard with no marks on the beam — how will you tell the ounces? If you can tell them, Mount Sumeru weighs only half a grain. If you cannot, break the beam and meet you people in the land of Japan.'

東京華嚴普孜禪師

Chan Master Puzi of Huayan in the Eastern Capital

僧問。如何是賓中賓。師曰。客路如天遠。曰。如何是賓中主。師曰。侯門似海深。曰。如何是主中主。師曰。寰中天子勑。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。塞外將軍令。乃曰。賓中問主。互換機鋒。主中問賓。同生同死。主中辯主。飲氣吞聲。賓中覓賓。白雲萬裡。故句中無意。意在句中。於斯明得。一雙孤鴈撲地高飛。於斯未明。一對鴛鴦池邊獨立。知音禪客。相共證明。影響異流。切須子細。良久曰。若是陶淵明。攢眉便歸去。

A monk asked, 'What is the guest within the guest?' The Master said, 'The traveler's road is as distant as the sky.' The monk said, 'What is the host within the guest?' The Master said, 'A nobleman's gate is as deep as the sea.' The monk said, 'What is the host within the host?' The Master said, 'The edict of the Son of Heaven within the realm.' The monk said, 'What is the guest within the host?' The Master said, 'The general's order beyond the frontier.' Then he said, 'Asking about the host within the guest, the points of the mechanism are interchanged. Asking about the guest within the host, together they live and together they die. Discerning the host within the host, one drinks in one's breath and swallows one's voice. Seeking the guest within the guest, white clouds for ten thousand li. Therefore the phrase has no meaning, and the meaning lies in the phrase. Understand this, and a pair of lone geese flutter up from the ground. Do not understand this, and a pair of mandarin ducks stand by the pond. Chan guests who know the tone, prove it together with me. Shadows and echoes take different streams — be most careful.' After a long while he said, 'If he were Tao Yuanming, he would knit his brows and go home.'

南康軍清隱院惟湜禪師

Chan Master Weishi of Qingyin Monastery in Nankang Jun

僧問。如何是道。師曰。斜街曲巷。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。百藝百窮。

A monk asked, 'What is the Way?' The Master said, 'A slanting street and a winding lane.' The monk said, 'What is the man within the Way?' The Master said, 'A hundred arts, a hundred dead ends.'

潭州衡嶽寺奉能禪師

Chan Master Fengnen of Hengyue Monastery in Tanzhou

上堂。宗風才舉。萬裡雲收。法令若行。千峰寒色。須彌頂上。白浪滔天。大海波中。紅塵滿地。應思黃梅昔日。少室當年。不能退己讓人。遂使舂糠答志。斷臂酬心。何似衡嶽這裡。山畬粟米飯。一桶沒鹽羹。苦樂共住。隨高就低。且不是南頭買貴。北頭賣賤。直教文殊稽首。迦葉攢眉。龍樹馬鳴吞聲飲氣。目連鶖子且不能為。為甚如此。諦觀法王法。法王法如是。

Ascending the hall: 'The school's wind has just been raised, and the clouds of ten thousand li withdraw. If the dharma decree is carried out, a thousand peaks turn cold in color. On the summit of Mount Sumeru, white waves flood the sky. In the midst of the great sea's waves, red dust covers the ground. One should think of Huangmei in former days, and of Shaoshi in those years. They could not yield to others, and so it came about that resolve was answered by pounding husks and mind was repaid by cutting off an arm. How is it like here at Hengyue, with millet rice from the mountain ashes and one bucket of soup without salt? We dwell together in suffering and joy, and follow the high and go along with the low. And it is not buying dear in the south and selling cheap in the north. It would make Manjushri bow his head and Kashyapa knit his brows; Nagarjuna and Asvaghosa would swallow their voices and hold their breath, and Maudgalyayana and Sariputra could not do it. Why is it so? Look closely at the King of Dharma's Dharma — the King of Dharma's Dharma is like this.'

寶應昭禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Zhao of Baoying

滁州琅邪方銳禪師

Chan Master Fangrui of Langya in Chuzhou

上堂。造化無生物之心。而物物自成。雨露非潤物之意。而靈苗自榮。所以藥劑不食而病自損。良師不親而心自明。故知妙慧靈光。不從緣得。到這裡方許你進步。琅邪與你別作箇相見。還有麼。若無。不可壓良為賤。

Ascending the hall: 'Creation has no mind to produce things, yet each thing completes itself. Rain and dew have no intent to moisten things, yet the numinous sprouts flourish of themselves. Therefore the medicine was never taken, yet the illness lessens of itself; the good teacher was never met, yet the mind brightens of itself. Thus know that wonderful wisdom and numinous light are not obtained from conditions. Only when you get here will you be allowed to advance a step. Then Langya will see you in another way. Is there any? If not, you must not press the good into the lowly.'

郢州興陽山希隱禪師

Chan Master Xiyin of Xingyang Mountain in Yingzhou

僧問。如何是懸崖撒手底句。師曰。明月照幽谷。曰。如何是絕後再蘇底句。師曰。白雲生太虗。曰。恁麼則樵夫出林丘。處處歌春色。師曰。是人道得。上堂。了見不見。見了未了。路上行人。林間宿鳥。月裡塔高十二層。天外星纏五百杪。要會麼。手執夜明符。幾箇知天曉。參。

A monk asked, 'What is the phrase of letting go at the cliff edge?' The Master said, 'The bright moon shines on the dark valley.' He said, 'What is the phrase of reviving after extinction?' The Master said, 'White clouds rise in the great void.' He said, 'If so, then the woodcutter comes out of the wooded hill, singing of spring colors everywhere.' The Master said, 'That is something a man can say.' Ascending the hall: 'In seeing, not seeing; having seen, not yet done. The traveler on the road, the roosting bird in the wood. In the moon the stupa is twelve stories high; beyond the sky the stars are wound about five hundred tips. Do you want to understand? Holding in hand the night-shining tally, how many know the dawn?' Study.

石門進禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Jin of Shimen

明州瑞巖智才禪師

Chan Master Zhicai of Ruiyan in Mingzhou

僧問。如何是截斷眾流句。師曰。好。曰。如何是隨波逐浪句。師曰。隨。曰。如何是函葢乾坤句。師曰。合。曰。三句蒙師指。如何辯古今。師曰。向後不得錯舉。上堂。天平等故常覆。地平等故常載。日月平等故四時常明。涅槃平等故聖凡不二。人心平等故高低無諍。拈拄杖卓一下。曰。諸禪者。這拄杖子晝夜為諸人說平等法門。還聞麼。若聞去。敢保諸人行腳事畢。若言不聞。亦許諸人頂門眼正。何故。是法平等。無有高下。是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。良久。笑曰。向下文長。

A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that cuts off the multitude of streams?' The Master said, 'Good.' He said, 'What is the phrase that follows the waves and chases the billows?' The Master said, 'Follow.' He said, 'What is the phrase that envelops heaven and earth?' The Master said, 'Envelop.' He said, 'The three phrases have been pointed out by the Master — how does one discern ancient and present?' The Master said, 'Do not raise them wrongly hereafter.' Ascending the hall: 'Because heaven is equal, it always covers; because earth is equal, it always bears; because sun and moon are equal, the four seasons always shine; because nirvana is equal, sage and commoner are not two; because men's minds are equal, high and low do not contend.' He picked up his staff, planted it once, and said, 'Chan men, this staff day and night speaks the Dharma gate of equality for you people — do you hear it? If you hear it, I dare guarantee that you people's pilgrimage is finished. If you say you do not hear it, I also allow that your eye on the crown of your head is true. Why? This dharma is equal, with no high or low; this is called the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment.' After a long while he laughed and said, 'What comes after is long.'

金山頴禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ying of Jinshan

潤州普慈院崇珍禪師

Chan Master Chongzhen of Puci Monastery in Runzhou

僧問。如何是普慈境。師曰。出門便見鶴林山。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。入門便見珍長老。

A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Puci?' The Master said, 'Go out the gate and you see He Lin Mountain.' He said, 'What is the man within the realm?' The Master said, 'Enter the gate and you see Elder Zhen.'

太平州瑞竹仲和禪師

Chan Master Zhonghe of Ruizhu in Taiping Prefecture

僧問。得坐披衣人盡委。向上宗乘事若何。師曰。但知冰是水。曰。更有事也無。師曰。休問水成冰。曰。弄潮須是弄潮人。師曰。這僧從浙中來。

A monk asked, 'Those who sit robed in the Dharma all know it; what of the matter of the school above?' The Master said, 'Just know that ice is water.' He said, 'Is there any further matter?' The Master said, 'Do not ask about water becoming ice.' He said, 'He who plays with the tide must be a man who plays with the tide.' The Master said, 'This monk comes from Zhezhong.'

潤州金山懷賢圓通禪師

Chan Master Huaixian Yuantong of Jinshan in Runzhou

僧問。師揚宗旨。得法何人。師拈起拂子。僧曰。鐵甕城頭曾印證。碧溪崖畔祖燈輝。師拂一拂。曰。聽事不真。喚鐘作甕。

A monk asked, 'The Master raises the school's purport — who obtained the Dharma?' The Master picked up his whisk. The monk said, 'On the wall of the Iron Jar City it was once certified; by the green stream's cliff the Ancestor's lamp shines.' The Master whisked once and said, 'You hear the matter wrongly, and call a bell an urn.'

越州石佛寺顯忠祖印禪師

Chan Master Xianzhong Zuyin of Shifo Monastery in Yuezhou

僧問。如何是不動尊。師曰。熱鏊上猢猻。曰。如何是千百億化身。師曰。添香換水。點燈掃地。曰。如何是毗盧師法身主。師曰。繫馬柱。曰。有甚麼交涉。師曰。縛殺這漢。問。會殺佛祖底始是作家。如何是殺佛祖底劒。師曰。不斬死漢。曰。如何是和尚劒。師曰。令不重行。問。如何是相生。師曰。山河大地。曰。如何是想生。師曰。兔子望月。曰。如何是流注生。師曰。無間斷。曰。如何是色空。師曰。五彩屏風。上堂。咄咄咄。海底魚龍盡枯竭。三腳蝦蟇飛上天。脫殻烏龜火中活。上堂。點時不到。皂白未分。到時不點。和泥合水。露柱𨁝跳入燈籠裡。即且從他。汝眉毛因甚麼卻拖在腳跟下。直饒於此明得。也是猢猻戴席帽。於此未明。何異曲[(乏-之+蟲)*善]穿靴。然雖如此。笑我者多。哂我者少。

A monk asked: 'What is the Immovable Honored One?' The master said: 'A monkey on a hot griddle.' The monk said: 'What are the hundred thousand million transformation bodies?' The master said: 'Adding incense, changing water, lighting lamps, sweeping the ground.' The monk said: 'What is Vairocana's teacher, the lord of the dharma body?' The master said: 'A hitching post.' The monk said: 'What connection is there?' The master said: 'Bind this fellow to death.' The monk asked: 'Only one who can kill buddhas and patriarchs is an adept. What is the sword that kills buddhas and patriarchs?' The master said: 'It does not cut down dead men.' The monk said: 'What is the Master's sword?' The master said: 'The command is not carried out twice.' The monk asked: 'What is arising from marks?' The master said: 'Mountains, rivers, the great earth.' The monk said: 'What is arising from thought?' The master said: 'A hare gazing at the moon.' The monk said: 'What is arising from streaming?' The master said: 'Without interruption.' The monk said: 'What is form and emptiness?' The master said: 'A five-colored screen.' He mounted the hall: 'Tsk, tsk, tsk! The fish and dragons at the bottom of the sea are all dried up. The three-legged frog flies into the sky; the turtle that shed its shell lives in the fire.' He mounted the hall: 'When the time comes and you do not hit it, black and white are not yet divided. When the time comes and you do not hit it, you mix mud with water. If the pillar leaps into the lantern, then let it. But why is your eyebrow dragging down at your heels? Even if you understand this clearly, you are still a monkey wearing a mat hat. If you do not understand this, how are you different from an earthworm in boots? Yet even so, many laugh at me, few mock me.'

杭州淨住院居說真淨禪師

Chan Master Jingzhu Yuan Jushuo Zhenjing of Hangzhou

參達觀。遂問曰。某甲經論粗明。禪直不信。願師決疑。觀曰。既不信禪。豈可明經。禪是經綱。經是禪網。提綱正網。了禪見經。師曰。為某甲說禪看。觀曰。向下文長。師曰。若恁麼。經與禪乃一體。觀曰。佛及祖非二法。如手搦拳。如拳搦手。師因而有省。乃成偈曰。二十餘年用意猜。幾番曾把此心灰。而今潦倒逢知己。李白元來是秀才。

He consulted Daguan and then asked: 'I have a rough understanding of the scriptures and treatises, but I simply do not believe in Chan. I beg the Master to settle my doubt.' Daguan said: 'Since you do not believe in Chan, how can you understand the scriptures? Chan is the head-rope of the scriptures, the scriptures are the net of Chan. Lift the head-rope and the net is straight; understand Chan and you see the scriptures.' The master said: 'Please speak Chan for me.' Daguan said: 'What follows is long.' The master said: 'If so, then scriptures and Chan are one body.' Daguan said: 'Buddha and patriarch are not two dharmas. It is like the hand grasping a fist, or the fist grasping the hand.' Thereupon the master had a realization and composed a verse: 'For over twenty years I guessed with effort, and several times this mind turned to ash. Now, worn out, I have met an intimate friend: Li Bai was originally a scholar.'

安吉州西餘山拱辰禪師

Chan Master Xiyu Shan Gongchen of Anji Prefecture

上堂。靈雲見華。眼中著翳。玄沙蹙指。體上遭迍。不知且恁麼過時。自然身心安樂。上堂。理因事有。心逐境生。事境俱忘。千山萬水。作麼生得恰好去。良久曰。且莫剜肉成瘡。師有祖源通要三十卷行於世。

He mounted the hall: 'When Lingyun saw the flower, a film came over his eye. When Xuansha pressed his finger, his body met with calamity. If you do not know, just pass the time like this, and body and mind will naturally be at ease.' He mounted the hall: 'Principle exists because of facts; the mind arises following objects. When facts and objects are both forgotten, there are a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers. How is one to get it just right?' After a long while he said: 'Above all, do not carve flesh into a wound.' The master had thirty scrolls of the Zuyuan Tongyao, Essential Penetrations of the Ancestral Source, circulating in the world.

蘇州崑山般若寺善端禪師

Chan Master Bore Shan Shanduan of Kunshan, Suzhou

僧問。有生有滅。盡是常儀。無生無滅時如何。師曰。崑崙著靴空中立。曰。莫便是為人處也無。師曰。石女簪花火裡眠。曰。大眾證明。師曰。更看泥牛鬬入海。

A monk asked: 'Having birth and having death is all ordinary rule. What of no birth and no death?' The master said: 'A Kunlun wearing boots stands in the air.' The monk said: 'Is that not the place of acting for others?' The master said: 'A stone woman pins a flower and sleeps in the fire.' The monk said: 'The great assembly bears witness.' The master said: 'Watch further: the mud ox fights its way into the sea.'

節使李端願居士

The layman Commissioner Li Duanyuan

兒時在舘舍。常閱禪書。長雖婚宦。然篤志祖道。遂於後圃築室類蘭若。邀達觀處之。朝夕諮參。至忘寢食。觀一日視公曰。非示現力。豈致爾哉。奈無箇所入何。公問曰。天堂地獄。畢竟是有是無。請師明說。觀曰。諸佛向無中說有。眼見空花。太尉就有裡尋無。手摣水月。堪笑眼前見牢獄。不避心外聞天堂。欲生殊不知忻怖在心。善惡成境。太尉但了自心。自然無惑。公曰。心如何了。觀曰。善惡都莫思量。公曰。不思量後。心歸何所。觀曰。且請太尉歸宅。公曰。祇如人死後。心歸何所。觀曰。未知生。焉知死。公曰。生則某已知之。觀曰。生從何來。公罔措。觀起揕其𮌎曰。祇在這裡。更擬思量箇甚麼。公曰。會得也。觀曰。作麼生會。公曰。祇知貪程。不覺蹉路。觀拓開曰。百年一夢。今朝方省。既而說偈曰。三十八歲。懵然無知。及其有知。何異無知。滔滔汴水。隱隱隋堤。師其歸矣。箭浪東馳。

As a child in the school hall he often read Chan books. Though grown and married into office, he was devoted to the ancestral way. So he built a room in his back garden like a hermitage and invited Daguan to stay there, questioning and consulting him morning and evening until he forgot sleep and food. One day Daguan looked at him and said: 'Were it not for the power of manifestation, how could it come to this? But what is to be done about there being no place of entry?' The lord asked: 'Are heaven and hell, after all, existent or nonexistent? Pray, Master, say clearly.' Daguan said: 'The buddhas speak of existence within non-existence; the eye sees an empty flower. The Grand Commandant seeks non-existence within existence; the hand grasps the moon in water. It is laughable that before your eyes you see a prison and do not avoid it, and outside your mind you hear of heaven and wish to be born there. You do not realize that delight and fear are in the mind, and good and evil become the objects. Grand Commandant, just clarify your own mind, and naturally there will be no delusion.' The lord said: 'How does the mind become clear?' Daguan said: 'Do not think about good or evil at all.' The lord said: 'After not thinking, where does the mind return to?' Daguan said: 'Pray, Grand Commandant, return home for now.' The lord said: 'Just so, after a man dies, where does the mind return to?' Daguan said: 'Not yet knowing life, how can one know death?' The lord said: 'As for life, I already know it.' Daguan said: 'Where does life come from?' The lord was at a loss. Daguan rose and poked him in the chest, saying: 'It is right here. What else do you mean to think about?' The lord said: 'I have understood.' Daguan said: 'How do you understand?' The lord said: 'I only knew to covet the road and did not notice I had stumbled.' Daguan pushed him away and said: 'A hundred years is one dream; only today do you awaken.' Then he spoke a verse: 'Thirty-eight years, blank and unknowing. When there is knowing at last, how is it different from unknowing? Vast the Bian River flows, faint the Sui embankment. The Master has gone home; the arrow-waves race east.'

洞庭月禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dongting Yue

蘇州薦福亮禪師

Chan Master Jianfu Liang of Suzhou

僧問。不假言詮。請師示誨。師曰。大眾總見汝恁麼問。曰。莫祇這便是也無。師曰。罕逢穿耳客。

A monk asked: 'Without relying on words and explanations, pray, Master, grant instruction.' The master said: 'The whole assembly sees you asking like this.' The monk said: 'Is it not just this?' The master said: 'One rarely meets an ear-ringed guest.'

仗錫己禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhangxi Ji

台州黃巖保軒禪師

Chan Master Huangyan Baoxuan of Taizhou

僧問。不欲無言。略憑施設時如何。師曰。知而故犯。僧禮拜。師便打。

A monk asked: 'Not wishing to be wordless, I briefly rely on setting something up. What then?' The master said: 'Knowing it and deliberately transgressing.' The monk bowed. The master at once struck him.

龍華嶽禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Longhua Yue

安吉州西餘師子淨端禪師

Chan Master Xiyu Shizi Jingduan of Anji Prefecture

本郡人也。姓丘氏。始見弄師子。發明心要。往見龍華。蒙印可。遂旋里。合綵為師子皮。時被之。因號端師子。丞相章公慕其道。躬請開法吳山。化風盛播。開堂日。僧官宣疏。至推倒回頭。趯翻不託。七軸之蓮經未誦。一聲之漁父先聞。師止之。遂登座拈香。祝聖罷。引聲吟曰。本是瀟湘一釣客。自西自東自南北。大眾雜然稱善。師顧笑曰。諦觀法王法。法王法如是。便下座。上堂。二月二。禪翁有何謂。春風觸目百花開。公子王孫日日醺醺醉。唯有殿前陳朝檜。不入時人意。禪家流祇這是莫思慮。坦然齋後一甌茶。長連床上伸腳睡。咄。師到華亭。眾請上堂。靈山師子。雲間哮吼。佛法無可商量。不如打箇筋斗。便下座。問。羚羊未掛角時如何。師曰。怕。曰。既是善知識。因何卻怕。師曰。山僧不曾見恁麼差異畜生。

He was a man of this prefecture, of the Qiu family. He first saw a lion dance and there clarified the essentials of mind. He went to see Longhua and received his seal of approval. Then he returned to his village, stitched colored cloth into a lion skin, and wore it from time to time, and so he was called Duan the Lion. Chancellor Zhang admired his way and personally invited him to open the dharma at Mount Wu, and his transforming influence spread widely. On the day he opened the hall, the monk official read the proclamation, down to the words 'pushing over the turning head, kicking aside the unpropped; before the seven scrolls of the Lotus Sutra are recited, one sound of the fisherman is heard first,' and the master stopped him. Then he mounted the seat, raised incense, made the blessing for the emperor, and chanted in a drawn-out voice: 'Originally I was a fisherman of Xiaoxiang, from west, from east, from south, from north.' The assembly acclaimed him in a hubbub. The master looked around and laughed, saying: 'Contemplate well the dharma of the dharma king; the dharma of the dharma king is thus.' Then he descended from the seat. He mounted the hall: 'On the second of the second month, what does the old man of Chan have to say? The spring wind meets the eye and a hundred flowers open; princes and nobles get drunk day after day. Only the old juniper of the Chen dynasty before the hall does not enter people's minds. People of the Chan house, just this is it. Do not think and ponder. After the plain meal, a bowl of tea; on the long bench, stretch out your legs and sleep.' Tsk! The master came to Huating, and the assembly asked him to mount the hall: 'The lion of Vulture Peak roars amid the clouds. The buddhadharma cannot be discussed; better to turn a somersault.' Then he descended from the seat. A monk asked: 'What of the time before the antelope has hung up its horns?' The master said: 'I am afraid.' The monk said: 'Since you are a good friend, why are you afraid?' The master said: 'This mountain monk has never seen such an outlandish beast.'

南嶽下十二世

The twelfth generation below Nanyue

翠巖真禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Cuiyan Zhen

潭州大溈慕喆真如禪師

Chan Master Dawei Muzhe Zhenru of Tanzhou

撫州臨川聞氏子。僧問。趙州庭栢意旨如何。師曰。夜來風色緊。孤客已先寒。曰。先師無此語。又作麼生。師曰。行人始知苦。曰。十載走紅塵。今朝獨露身。師曰。雪上加霜。問。如何是城裡佛。師曰。萬人叢裡不插標。曰。如何是村裡佛。師曰。泥豬疥狗。曰。如何是山裡佛。師曰。絕人往還。曰。如何是教外別傳底一句。師曰。翻譯不出。問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。寒毛卓豎。曰。見後如何。師曰。額頭汗出。上堂。月生一。天地茫茫誰受屈。月生二。東西南北沒巴鼻。月生三。善財特地向南參。所以道。放行也怛薩舒光。把住也泥沙匿曜。且道放行是。把住是。良久曰。圓伊三點水。萬物自尖新。上堂。古佛道。昔於波羅奈轉四諦法輪。墮坑落壍。今復轉最妙無上大法輪。土上加泥。如今還有不歷階梯．獨超物外者麼。良久曰。出頭天外看。誰是箇中人。上堂。阿剌剌是甚麼。翻思當年破灶墮。杖子忽擊著。方知孤負我。以拄杖擊香臺一下曰。墮。墮。上堂。捫空追響。勞汝精神。夢覺覺非。復有何事。德山老人在汝諸人眉毛眼睫上。諸人還覺麼。若也覺去。夢覺覺非。若也未覺。捫空追響。終無了期。直饒向這裡倜儻分明。猶是梯山入貢。還有獨超物外者麼。良久曰。且莫詐明頭。問。大通智勝佛。十劫坐道場。為甚麼不得成佛道。師曰。苦殺人。上堂。白雲澹濘。水注滄溟。萬法本閑。復有何事。所以道。也有權。也有實。也有照。也有用。諸人到這裡。如何履踐。良久曰。但有路可上。更高人也行。上堂。山僧本無積畜。且得粥足飯足。困來即便打眠。一任東卜西卜。上堂。古者道。一釋迦。二元和。三佛陀。自餘是甚麼椀脫丘。慧光即不然。一釋迦。二元和。三佛陀。總是椀脫丘。諸人還知慧光落處麼。若也知去。許你具鐵眼銅睛。若也不知。莫謂幾經風浪險。扁舟曾向五湖遊。

He was a son of the Wen family of Linchuan in Fuzhou. A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Zhaozhou's cypress in the courtyard?' The master said: 'The wind was sharp last night; the lone traveler is already cold.' The monk said: 'My late teacher did not have these words. What then?' The master said: 'Only the traveler knows the bitterness.' The monk said: 'Ten years walking in the red dust; today I reveal myself alone.' The master said: 'Frost on top of snow.' The monk asked: 'What is the buddha in the city?' The master said: 'In a crowd of ten thousand, he does not put up a signboard.' The monk said: 'What is the buddha in the village?' The master said: 'A muddy pig and a mangy dog.' The monk said: 'What is the buddha in the mountain?' The master said: 'Cut off from comings and goings.' The monk said: 'What is the one phrase specially transmitted outside the teachings?' The master said: 'It cannot be translated.' The monk asked: 'What of when Niutou had not yet met the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said: 'His body hair stands on end.' The monk said: 'What of after meeting him?' The master said: 'Sweat on his forehead.' He mounted the hall: 'The moon is born first; heaven and earth are vast — who suffers injustice? The moon is born second; east, west, south, north have no handle. The moon is born third; Sudhana deliberately goes south to consult. Therefore it is said: letting go, the Dharmakaya spreads its light; holding fast, the mud and sand hide their radiance. Tell me, is it letting go or holding fast?' After a long while he said: 'The three dots of the round I, the three drops of water; all things are of themselves sharp and new.' He mounted the hall: 'The ancient buddha said: long ago at Varanasi I turned the wheel of the four truths and fell into a pit and a moat. Now I turn again the most wondrous unsurpassed great dharma wheel, piling mud on mud. Is there anyone now who does not pass through the steps and rises alone beyond things?' After a long while he said: 'Looking out beyond the heavens — who is the man in the middle of it?' He mounted the hall: 'What is this ala-la? Reflecting on it, back then the stove was broken and fell. The staff suddenly struck it, and only then did I know I had failed myself.' He struck the incense platform once with his staff and said: 'Down! Down!' He mounted the hall: 'Groping the void and chasing echoes wears out your spirit. When the dream is awake and you know it was not so, what business is left? Old man Deshan is on the eyebrows and eyelashes of you people. Do you people feel it? If you feel it, then in the dream awakened you know it was not so. If you do not feel it, you shall grope the void and chase echoes with no end. Even if you are free and clear here, it is still carrying tribute over the mountain. Is there anyone who rises alone beyond things?' After a long while he said: 'Above all, do not pretend to be clear-headed.' A monk asked: 'The Buddha Mahabhisheka, Great Penetrating Wisdom Victory, sat in the place of practice for ten kalpas — why could he not attain the way to buddhahood?' The master said: 'He kills people with bitterness.' He mounted the hall: 'White clouds are tranquil; water pours into the dark sea. The ten thousand dharmas are originally at leisure — what business is left? Therefore it is said: there is the provisional, and there is the real; there is illumination, and there is function. When you people reach this point, how do you walk it?' After a long while he said: 'As long as there is a road to climb, even a higher man walks it.' He mounted the hall: 'This mountain monk originally has no savings, but he gets enough gruel and enough rice. When sleepy he just goes to sleep, letting them divine east and divine west.' He mounted the hall: 'The ancients said: one Shakyamuni, two Henhe, three Buddhas, and the rest are what sort of bowl-scrapings? Huiguang is not like that. One Shakyamuni, two Henhe, three Buddhas — all are bowl-scrapings. Do you people also know where Huiguang falls? If you know, I allow that you have iron eyes and bronze pupils. If you do not know, do not say that one who has weathered many a perilous wind and wave once sailed a little boat on the five lakes.'

上堂。拈起拄杖曰。一塵才起。大地全收。卓一下曰。妙喜世界百雜碎。且道不動如來即今在甚麼處。若人識得。可謂不動步而登妙覺。若也未識。向諸人眉毛眼睫裡涅槃去也。又卓一下。上堂。不用思而知。不用慮而解。廬陵米價高。鎮州蘿蔔大。上堂。拈起拄杖曰。智海拄杖。或作金剛王寶劒。或作踞地師子。或作探竿影草。或不作拄杖用。諸人還相委悉麼。若也委悉去。如龍得水。似虎靠山。出沒卷舒。縱橫應用。如未相委。大似日中逃影。上堂。十方同聚會。箇箇學無為。此是選佛場。心空及第歸。慧光門下直拔超升。不歷科目。諸人既到這裡。風雲布地。牙爪已成。但欠雷聲燒尾。如今為你諸人震忽雷去也。以拄杖擊禪床。下座。師於紹聖二年十月八日。無疾說偈曰。昨夜三更。風雷忽作。雲散長空。前溪月落。良久。別眾趨寂。闍維設利㪷許。大如豆。目睛齒爪不壞。門弟子分塔於京潭。

He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'A single mote has just arisen, and the great earth is wholly gathered in.' He planted it once and said: 'The world of Wonderful Joy is smashed to bits. Tell me, where is Akshobhya Tathagata right now? If a person knows, it can be said that without moving a step he ascends to wondrous enlightenment. If he does not yet know, he goes to enter nirvana on the eyebrows and eyelashes of you people.' He planted it once more. He mounted the hall: 'No need to know by thinking, no need to understand by pondering. The price of rice in Luling is high; the turnips of Zhenzhou are big.' He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'The staff of Zhihai sometimes acts as the vajra king's precious sword, sometimes as a crouching lion, sometimes as a probing pole and shadow grass, and sometimes is not used as a staff. Do you people also understand thoroughly? If you understand thoroughly, you are like a dragon that has got water, like a tiger leaning on a mountain; appearing and disappearing, rolling and unfolding, vertical and horizontal, you apply it freely. If you do not yet understand, you are very much like one fleeing his shadow in broad daylight.' He mounted the hall: 'The ten directions gather in one assembly; each one studies non-doing. This is the place for choosing buddhas; with a mind empty, one returns having passed. Under the gate of Huiguang one rises straight up beyond, without passing through the grades. Since you people have arrived here, wind and clouds spread over the ground, and tooth and claw are already complete; only the thunder and the burning of the tail are lacking. Now I will shake a sudden thunderbolt for you people.' He struck the meditation seat with his staff and descended from the seat. On the eighth day of the tenth month in the second year of Shaosheng, the master, without illness, spoke a verse: 'Last night at the third watch, wind and thunder suddenly arose. The clouds scatter in the long sky; the moon sets on the front stream.' After a long while, he took leave of the assembly and entered quiescence. After cremation there was more than a peck of relics, as large as beans; his eyes, teeth and nails did not decay. His disciples divided the stupas between the capital and Tanzhou.

南嶽西林崇奧禪師

Chan Master Nanyue Xilin Chong'ao

僧問。一問一答。賓主歷然。不問不答。如何辯別。師曰。坐底坐。立底立。曰。便恁麼會時如何。師曰。舌拄上顎。僧禮拜。師曰。不得諱卻。

A monk asked: 'Question and answer, host and guest are clear. Not asking and not answering — how does one distinguish?' The master said: 'The one sitting sits, the one standing stands.' The monk said: 'What of understanding it just like this?' The master said: 'Tongue against the palate.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'Do not conceal it.'

蔣山元禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jiangshan Yuan

明州雪竇法雅禪師

Chan Master Xuedou Faya of Mingzhou

僧問。學人不問西來意。乞師方便指迷情。師曰。霹靂過頭猶瞌睡。曰。謝師答話。師曰。再三啟口問何人。曰。爭奈學人未禮拜何。師曰。休鈍置。

A monk asked: 'This student will not ask about the meaning of the coming from the west; I beg the Master's skillful means to point out my confusion.' The master said: 'A thunderbolt passes overhead and he is still dozing.' The monk said: 'Thank you, Master, for answering.' The master said: 'Opening the mouth twice or three times — whom are you asking?' The monk said: 'What about the fact that this student has not yet bowed?' The master said: 'Do not dull me.'

邵州丞熈應悅禪師

Chan Master Shaozhou Chengxi Yingyue

撫之宜黃戴氏子。上堂。我宗無語句。徒勞尋路布。現成公案已多端。那堪更涉他門戶。覿面當機直下提。何用波吒受辛苦。咄。

He was a son of the Dai family of Yihuang in Fu. He mounted the hall: 'Our school has no words and phrases; it is labor in vain to seek a road to spread. The present case has already been set out in many ways; how can one bear to go through other gates besides? Meeting it face to face at the critical moment, one lifts it straight down; what use is it to suffer hardship with groans?' Tsk!

雙峰迴禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shuangfeng Hui

閬州光國文贊禪師

Chan Master Langzhou Guangguo Wenzan

僧問。不二之法。請師速道。師曰。領。曰。恁麼則人人有分也。師曰。了。曰。錦屏天下少。光國世間稀。師曰。退。

A monk asked: 'The dharma of non-duality — pray, Master, speak it quickly.' The master said: 'Received.' The monk said: 'Then everyone has a share.' The master said: 'Understood.' The monk said: 'Broidered screens are few in the world; Guangguo is rare among the ages.' The master said: 'Withdraw.'

定慧信禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dinghui Xin

蘇州穹窿智圓禪師

Chan Master Qionglong Zhiyuan of Suzhou

上堂。福臻不說禪。無事日高眠。有問祖師意。連擉兩三拳。大眾且道。為甚麼如此。不合惱亂山僧睡。

He mounted the hall: 'Fuzhen does not speak of Chan; with nothing to do he sleeps till the sun is high. If someone asks about the patriarch's meaning, I give him two or three punches in a row. Great assembly, tell me, why is it so? Because he should not disturb this mountain monk's sleep.'

雲峰悅禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yunfeng Yue

桂州壽寧齊曉禪師

Chan Master Guizhou Shouning Qixiao

上堂。觸目不會道。猶較些子。運足焉知路。錯下名言。諸仁者。山僧今日將錯就錯。汝等諸人。見有眼。聞有耳。嗅有鼻。味有舌。因甚麼卻不會。良久曰。武帝求仙不得仙。王喬端坐卻昇天。咄。僧問。大眾雲臻。合談何事。師曰。波斯入閙市。曰。恁麼則草偃風行去也。師曰。萬里望鄉關。

He mounted the hall: 'Meeting the eye and not knowing the way — that is still a bit better. Moving the foot, how does one know the road? The words are wrongly set down. Good people, this mountain monk today takes a mistake and makes it a mistake. You people see with eyes, hear with ears, smell with noses, taste with tongues — why then do you not understand?' After a long while he said: 'Emperor Wu sought immortality and did not get immortality; Wang Qiao sat upright and ascended to heaven.' Tsk! A monk asked: 'The great assembly has gathered like clouds; what should be discussed?' The master said: 'A Persian enters a busy market.' The monk said: 'Then the grass bends and the wind blows.' The master said: 'Gazing at the home pass from ten thousand miles.'

淨因臻禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jingyin Zhen

福州長慶惠暹文慧禪師

Chan Master Changqing Huixian Wenhui of Fuzhou

僧問。離上生之寶剎。登延聖之道場。如何是不動尊。師曰。孤舟載明月。曰。忽遇艣棹俱停。又作麼生。師曰。漁人偏愛宿蘆花。問。長期進道西天。以蠟人為驗。未審此間以何為驗。師曰。鐵彈子。曰。意旨如何。師曰。大底大。小底小。

A monk asked: 'Leaving the jewel monastery of superior birth and ascending the practice place of Yansheng, what is the Immovable Honored One?' The master said: 'A lone boat carrying the bright moon.' The monk said: 'If suddenly both oar and pole are stopped, what then?' The master said: 'The fisherman loves to lodge in the reed flowers.' The monk asked: 'In the long term of advancing on the way in the Western Heaven, a wax figure is used as the test. I wonder what is used as the test here?' The master said: 'An iron pellet.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'The big ones are big, the small ones are small.'

福州棲勝繼超禪師

Chan Master Qisheng Jichao of Fuzhou

上堂。拈拄杖。良久曰。三世諸佛。盡在這裡𨁝跳。大眾還會麼。過去諸佛說了。未來諸佛未說。現在諸佛今說。敢問諸人。作麼生是說底事。卓一下曰。蘇嚧蘇嚧。

He mounted the hall, picked up his staff, and after a long while said: 'The buddhas of the three ages are all jumping around in here. Does the great assembly also understand? The buddhas of the past have spoken, the buddhas of the future have not yet spoken, the buddhas of the present are speaking now. I venture to ask you people, what is the matter of speaking?' He planted the staff once and said: 'Su-lu su-lu.'

興化嶽禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xinghua Yue

潭州興化紹清禪師

Chan Master Xinghua Shaoqing of Tanzhou

上堂。祖師門下。佛法不存。善法堂前。仁義休說。然雖如是。事無一向。竊聞哀哀父母。生我劬勞。欲報深恩。昊天罔極。髮膚身體。弗敢毀傷。此魯仲尼之孝也。輪轉三界中。恩愛不能捨。棄恩入無為。真實報恩者。故我大覺世尊。雪山苦行。摩竭成道。往忉利天為母說法。此釋迦之孝也。得大解脫。運大神通。手擎金錫。掌拓龍盂。詣地獄門。卓然尋省。見其慈母。悲泣無量。此目連之孝也。作麼生是興化之孝。良久曰。興化今日不上天堂。不入地獄。於善法堂中．燈王座上。為母說法。以報劬勞。且道我母即今在甚麼處。乃曰。我母生前足善緣。無勞問佛定生天。人間上壽古今少。九十春秋減一年。下座。敢煩大眾燒一炷香。以助山僧報孝。既是山僧之母。為甚麼卻煩諸人燒香。不見道。東家人死。西家人助哀。以手搥胷曰。蒼天。蒼天。

He mounted the hall: 'Within the patriarch's gate the buddhadharma does not exist. Before the hall of good dharma, speak no more of benevolence and righteousness. Yet even so, matters do not go in one direction. I have heard that alas, alas, the parents who gave me birth toiled and labored. If one would repay the deep grace — the vast heaven is without limit. Hair and skin, body and flesh, one dares not injure. This was the filial piety of Confucius of Lu. Turning in the three realms, one cannot renounce love and grace. Renouncing grace and entering non-doing is the true repayment of grace. Therefore our Great Enlightened World-Honored One practiced austerities in the Snow Mountains, attained the way at Magadha, and went to the Trayastrimsha heaven to preach the dharma for his mother. This was the filial piety of Shakyamuni. Having attained great liberation and wielding great spiritual powers, holding the golden staff in his hand and carrying the dragon bowl in his palm, he went to the gate of hell and searched there plainly, saw his loving mother and wept without measure. This was the filial piety of Maudgalyayana. What is the filial piety of Xinghua?' After a long while he said: 'Xinghua today does not ascend to heaven and does not enter hell; in the hall of good dharma, on the seat of the lamp king, he preaches the dharma for his mother to repay her toil. Tell me, where is my mother right now?' Then he said: 'My mother in life had ample good conditions; no need to ask the Buddha — she will surely be born in heaven. A long life among men is rare in any age; ninety springs and autumns, minus one year.' He descended from the seat: 'I venture to trouble the great assembly to burn a stick of incense to help this mountain monk repay his filial duty. Since she is this mountain monk's mother, why trouble you people to burn incense? Have you not heard it said: when the eastern house has a death, the western house helps in the mourning?' He beat his chest with his hand and said: 'O heavens! O heavens!'

玉泉芳禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yuquan Fang

臨江軍慧力善周禪師

Chan Master Huili Shanzhou of Linjiang Prefecture

上堂。遼天鶻。萬重雲。祇一突。是甚麼。咄。師元祐元年十二月望日。沐浴淨髮。說偈曰。山僧住瑞筠。未甞形言句。七十三年來。七十三年去。言畢而逝。五日後鬚髮再生。

He mounted the hall: 'The falcon of the vast sky, ten thousand layers of cloud — one thrust. What is it?' Tsk! On the full moon day of the twelfth month in the first year of Yuanyou, the master bathed and washed his hair, and spoke a verse: 'This mountain monk dwelt at Ruijun and never formed words or phrases. For seventy-three years coming, seventy-three years going.' Having spoken, he passed away. Five days later his hair grew again.

南嶽下十三世

The thirteenth generation below Nanyue

大溈喆禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dawei Zhe

東京智海普融道平禪師

Chan Master Dongjing Zhihai Purong Daoping

上堂。山僧不會佛法。為人總沒來由。或時半開半合。或時全放全收。還如萬人叢裡。冷地掉箇石頭。忽然打著一箇。方知觸處周流。上堂。趙州有四門。門門通大道。玉泉有四路。路路透長安。門門通大道。畢竟誰親到。路路透長安。分明進步看。拍膝一下曰。歲晚未歸客。西風門外寒。上堂。舉盤山示眾曰。似地擎山。不知山之孤峻。如石含玉。不知玉之無瑕。古人恁麼說話。大似抱贓呌屈。智海門下。人人慷慨。生擒虎兕。活捉獰龍。眼裡著得須彌山。耳裡著得大海水。遂拈拄杖曰。不是向人誇伎倆。丈夫標致合如斯。卓拄杖。下座。

He mounted the hall: 'This mountain monk does not understand the buddhadharma and has no grounds at all for acting for others. Sometimes half open, half closed; sometimes wholly released, wholly gathered. It is like dropping a stone in a crowd of ten thousand on a cold ground. If it suddenly strikes someone, only then does he know it flows everywhere it touches.' He mounted the hall: 'Zhaozhou has four gates, and every gate opens onto the great way. Yuquan has four roads, and every road reaches Chang'an. Every gate opens onto the great way — after all, who has personally arrived? Every road reaches Chang'an — step forward and see clearly.' He slapped his knee once and said: 'A guest not yet home at year's end; the west wind is cold outside the gate.' He mounted the hall and brought up Panshan's address to the assembly: 'Like the earth upholding a mountain, one does not know the mountain's solitary steepness. Like a stone containing jade, one does not know the jade's flawlessness. That the ancients spoke like this is very much like crying out while holding stolen goods. Within the gate of Zhihai everyone is generous, seizing the tiger and rhinoceros alive, capturing the fierce dragon alive. The eye can hold Mount Sumeru, the ear can hold the water of the great sea.' Then he picked up his staff and said: 'It is not to boast of skill before people; a great man's bearing should be like this.' He planted the staff and descended from the seat.

洪州泐潭景祥禪師

Chan Master Hongzhou Letan Jingxiang

建昌南城傅氏子。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。十箇指頭八箇丫。問。我手何似佛手。師曰。金鍮難辯。曰。我腳何似驢腳。師曰。黃龍路險。曰。人人有箇生緣。如何是和尚生緣。師曰。把定要津。不通凡聖。中秋上堂。靈山話。曹谿指。放過初生斫額底。未問龍眠老古錐。昨夜三更轉向西。正當恁麼時。有人問如何是月。嚮明暗未分處道得一句。便與古人共出一隻手。如或未然。寶峰不免依模畵樣。應箇時節。乃打一圓相曰。清光萬古復千古。豈止人間一夜看。師室中問僧。達磨西歸。手攜隻履。當時何不兩隻都將去。曰。此土也要留箇消息。師曰。一隻腳在西天。一隻腳在東土。著甚來由。僧無語。問僧。唯一堅密身。一切塵中現。如何是塵中現底身。僧指香爐曰。這箇是香爐。師曰。帶累三世諸佛。生陷地獄。僧罔措。師便打。師不安次。有僧問。和尚近日尊候如何。師曰。土地前燒二陌紙著。師常叉手夜坐。如對大賓。初坐手與趺綴。至五鼓必齊膺。因號祥叉手焉。

He was a son of the Fu family of Nancheng in Jianchang. A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'Ten fingers and eight forks.' The monk asked: 'How is my hand like the buddha's hand?' The master said: 'Gold and brass are hard to tell apart.' The monk said: 'How is my foot like a donkey's foot?' The master said: 'The road of Huanglong is perilous.' The monk said: 'Everyone has a birth condition; what is the Master's birth condition?' The master said: 'Holding fast the vital ford, not letting ordinary or holy through.' At mid-autumn he mounted the hall: 'Vulture Peak spoke, Caoxi pointed; let go of the newborn whose forehead is cut. I have not asked the old awl who sleeps with the dragon; last night at the third watch it turned west. At exactly such a moment, if someone asks what the moon is, and you can speak one phrase in the place where bright and dark are not yet divided, then you put out a hand together with the ancients. If not, Baofeng cannot help but copy the model and draw the pattern to meet the season.' Then he drew a circle and said: 'Clear light through all antiquity and again through all ages; how could it be only one night's viewing among men?' The master asked a monk in his room: 'When Bodhidharma returned west he carried one shoe in his hand. Why did he not take both then?' The monk said: 'This land also needed to leave a bit of news.' The master said: 'One foot in the Western Heaven, one foot in the Eastern land — what grounds is there for that?' The monk was speechless. He asked a monk: 'Only one firm and dense body, appearing in every mote of dust. What is the body that appears in the dust?' The monk pointed at the incense burner and said: 'This is the incense burner.' The master said: 'You drag down the buddhas of the three ages and fall alive into hell.' The monk was at a loss. The master at once struck him. Once, when the master was unwell, a monk asked: 'How is the Master's honored health these days?' The master said: 'Burn two strings of paper money before the earth god.' The master often sat at night with folded hands as if facing an honored guest. At the start of a sitting his hands were joined with his crossed legs, and by the fifth watch they were always level with his chest, and so he was called Xiang the Folded-Hands.

和州光孝慧蘭禪師

Chan Master Hezhou Guangxiao Huilan

不知何許人也。自號碧落道人。甞以觸衣書七佛名。叢林稱為蘭布裩。有擬草菴歌一篇行於世。具載普燈。建炎末逆虜犯淮。執師見酋長。長曰。聞我名否。師曰。我所聞者。唯大宋天子之名。長恚。令左右以鎚擊之。鎚至輒斷壞。長驚異。延麾下敬事之。經旬。師索薪自焚。無敢供者。親拾薪成龕。怡然端坐。煙𦦨一起。流光四騰。虜跪伏灼膚者多。火絕。得五色舍利。併其骨而北歸。所執僧尼。悉得自便。和人至今詠之。

It is not known where he was from. He called himself the Man of the Way of the Blue Expanse. He once wrote the names of the seven buddhas on his under-robe, and the monasteries called him the Rag Robe. He had a Draft Song of the Straw Hut circulating in the world, recorded in full in the Pudent. At the end of Jianyan, when the rebels invaded the Huai region, he was seized and brought before the chieftain. The chieftain said: 'Have you heard my name?' The master said: 'What I have heard is only the name of the Son of Heaven of the Great Song.' The chieftain was angry and ordered his attendants to strike him with a hammer, but whenever the hammer came down it broke. The chieftain was astonished, and kept him under his banner and served him with respect. After ten days the master asked for firewood to burn himself, and none dared supply it. He gathered the wood himself, made a niche, and sat upright at ease. As soon as the smoke and flame arose, streaming light spread in all directions, and many of the rebels knelt and prostrated, scorching their skin. When the fire went out, five-colored relics were found, and his bones were taken north. The monks and nuns who had been captured all gained their freedom. To this day the people of Hezhou sing of him.

潭州東明仁仙禪師

Chan Master Dongming Renxian of Tanzhou

開堂日。僧問。世尊出世。梵王前引。帝釋後隨。和尚出世。有何祥瑞。師曰。任是百千諸佛。一時趕向水牯欄裡。曰。有何祥瑞。師曰。山僧不曾眼花。

On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked: 'When the World-Honored One appeared in the world, Brahma king led the way and Indra followed behind. When the Master appears in the world, what auspicious sign is there?' The master said: 'Even a hundred thousand buddhas would all be driven into the water-buffalo pen at once.' The monk said: 'What auspicious sign is there?' The master said: 'This mountain monk's eyes have never gone blurry.'

泗州普照曉欽明悟禪師

Chan Master Puzhao Xiaoqin Mingwu of Sizhou

僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。東邊更近東。曰。溈山的子．智海親孫也。師曰。卻笑傍人把釣竿。上堂。引手撮空。展轉莫及。翻身擲影。徒自勞形。當面拈來。卻成蹉過。畢竟如何。拍禪床曰。洎合錯商量。

A monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'East, and still nearer east.' The monk said: 'Then he is a son of Weishan and a true grandson of Zhihai.' The master said: 'Yet he laughs at the bystander holding the fishing pole.' He mounted the hall: 'Putting out a hand to pinch emptiness, one turns and turns and cannot reach it. Turning the body and throwing a shadow, one only wears out the form. Picking it up face to face, one has missed it instead. After all, what is it?' He struck the meditation seat and said: 'I nearly misjudged it.'

廬山東林自遵正覺禪師

Chan Master Donglin Zizun Zhengjue of Mount Lu

上堂。十五日已前放過一著。十五日已後未可商量。正當十五日。試道一句看。良久曰。山色翠穠春雨歇。栢庭香擁木蘭開。

He mounted the hall: 'Before the fifteenth day, let one move go. After the fifteenth day, it cannot be discussed. On the fifteenth day itself, try to speak one phrase.' After a long while he said: 'The mountain color is thick green as the spring rain ceases; the cypress court is wrapped in fragrance as the magnolias open.'

潭州福嚴寘禪師

Chan Master Fuyan Zhi of Tanzhou

上堂。福嚴山上雲。舒捲任朝昏。忽爾落平地。客來難討門。

He mounted the hall: 'The clouds on Fuyan Mountain unfurl and roll as they please, morning and dusk. Suddenly they fall to level ground, and a guest who comes finds no gate to seek.'

潭州東明遷禪師

Chan Master Dongming Qian of Tanzhou

久侍真如。晚居溈山。真如菴忠道者高其風。每叩之。一日閱首楞嚴次。忠問。如我按指。海印發光。佛意如何。師曰。釋迦老子好與二十棒。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。用按指作麼。曰。汝暫舉心。塵勞先起又作麼生。師曰。亦是海印發光。

He long attended Zhenru and in his late years resided at Mount Wei. The Man of the Way Zhong of the Zhenru Hermitage esteemed his style and questioned him often. One day, as he was reading the Shurangama Sutra, Zhong asked: 'If I press my finger, the sea seal emits light — what is the buddha's meaning?' The master said: 'Old man Shakyamuni deserves twenty blows.' Zhong said: 'Why is it so?' The master said: 'What is the use of pressing the finger?' Zhong said: 'As soon as you raise the mind, the dust of toil arises first — what about that?' The master said: 'That too is the sea seal emitting light.'

雪竇雅禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xuedou Ya

衢州光孝普印慈覺禪師

Chan Master Guangxiao Puyin Cijue of Quzhou

泉州許子氏。室中問僧。父母未生已前。在甚麼處行履。僧擬對。即打出。或曰。達磨在你腳下。僧擬看。亦打出。或曰。道。道。僧擬開口。復打出。

He was of the Xu family of Quanzhou. In his room he asked a monk: 'Before your parents were born, where did you walk?' The monk was about to answer, and he at once drove him out with blows. Sometimes he said: 'Bodhidharma is beneath your feet.' The monk was about to look, and he drove him out with blows again. Sometimes he said: 'Speak. Speak.' The monk was about to open his mouth, and again he drove him out with blows.

慶善震禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qingshan Zhen

杭州慶善院普能禪師

Chan Master Qingshan Yuan Puneng of Hangzhou

上堂。事不獲已。與諸人葛藤。一切眾生。祇為心塵未脫。情量不除。見色聞聲。隨波逐浪。流轉三界。汩沒四生。致使正見不明。觸途成滯。若也是非齊泯。善惡都忘。坐斷報化佛頭。截卻聖凡途路。到這裡方有少許相應。直饒如是。衲僧分上未為奇特。何故如此。才有是非。紛然失心。咄。上堂。拈拄杖曰。未入山僧手中。萬法宛然。既入山僧手中。復有何事。良久曰。有意氣時添意氣。不風流處也風流。卓拄杖一下。

He mounted the hall: 'Since matters cannot be helped, I will tangle with you people. All sentient beings, only because the dust of the mind is not yet shed and the measure of feeling is not yet removed, see forms and hear sounds and follow the waves and chase the billows; they turn in the three realms and sink in the four kinds of birth, so that right view is not clear and everything they touch becomes obstructed. If right and wrong are both effaced and good and evil are both forgotten, if you cut off the heads of the reward-body and transformation-body buddhas and sever the road of holy and ordinary, only here is there a little accord. Even so, for a patch-robed monk it is nothing remarkable. Why? As soon as there is right and wrong, one is in a flurry and loses the mind.' Tsk! He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'Before it entered this mountain monk's hand, the ten thousand dharmas were distinct. Now that it has entered this mountain monk's hand, what business is left?' After a long while he said: 'When there is spirit, add spirit; where there is no elegance, there is elegance too.' He planted the staff once.

淨土思禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jingtu Si

杭州靈鳳山萬壽法詮禪師

Chan Master Lingfeng Shan Wanshou Faquan of Hangzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。抱樁打拍浮。曰。如何是法。師曰。黃泥彈子。曰。如何是僧。師曰。剃除鬚髮。曰。三寶外。還別有為人處也無。師舉起一指。僧曰。不會。師曰。指在唯觀月。風來不動幡。上堂。德山棒。臨濟喝。盡是無風波帀帀。燈籠𨁝跳過青天。露柱魂驚頭腦裂。雖然如是。大似食鹽加得渴。喝一喝。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Hugging a post and flailing in the water.' The monk said: 'What is the dharma?' The master said: 'A yellow clay pellet.' The monk said: 'What is the sangha?' The master said: 'Shaving off beard and hair.' The monk said: 'Beyond the three treasures, is there another place of acting for others?' The master raised one finger. The monk said: 'I do not understand.' The master said: 'The finger is only for viewing the moon; the wind comes and the banner does not move.' He mounted the hall: 'Deshan's blow, Linji's shout — all are the dense lapping of a windless wave. The lantern leaps over the blue sky; the pillar's soul is startled and its head splits. Even so, it is very much like adding salt to salt and getting thirstier.' He shouted once.

杭州慶善守隆禪師

Chan Master Qingshan Shoulong of Hangzhou

開堂日。僧問。知師久蘊囊中寶。今日當筵略借看。師曰。多少分明。曰。師子吼時全露現。文殊仗劒又如何。師曰。驚殺老僧。問。千佛出世。各有奇祥。和尚今日。以何為驗。師曰。木人把板雲中拍。曰。意旨如何。師曰。石女拈笙水底吹。上堂。花簇簇。錦簇簇。鹽醬年來事事足。留得南泉打破鍋。分付沙彌煑晨粥。晨粥一任諸人吃。洗缽盂一句作麼生會。多少人疑著。

On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked: 'I know the Master has long kept a treasure in his bag; today at the feast, may I borrow a look?' The master said: 'How very clear.' The monk said: 'When the lion roars, all is revealed; what of Manjushri wielding the sword?' The master said: 'You startle this old monk to death.' The monk asked: 'A thousand buddhas appear in the world, each with its own wondrous omen. What does the Master use today as proof?' The master said: 'A wooden man claps the clappers in the clouds.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'A stone woman holds a reed pipe and blows at the bottom of the water.' He mounted the hall: 'Flowers in clusters, brocade in clusters; salt and sauce and all things are plentiful year after year. Keep the pot Nanquan broke, and hand it to the novice to cook the morning gruel. The morning gruel is for everyone to eat as they please. The phrase of washing the bowl — how do you understand it? Many people are in doubt about it.'

護國月禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huguo Yue

江陵府護國慧本禪師

Chan Master Huguo Huiben of Jiangling Prefecture

僧問。有物先天地。無形本寂寥。未審是甚麼物。師曰。一鋌墨。曰。恁麼則耀古照今去也。師曰。作麼生是耀古照今底。僧便喝。師便打。上堂。好箇時節。誰肯承當。苟或無人。不如惜取。良久曰。彈雀夜明珠。

A monk asked: 'There is a thing prior to heaven and earth, formless and originally still. I wonder what thing it is?' The master said: 'A stick of ink.' The monk said: 'Then it illumines the ancient and shines on the present.' The master said: 'What is it that illumines the ancient and shines on the present?' The monk at once shouted. The master at once struck him. He mounted the hall: 'What a fine season — who is willing to take it on? If there is no one, better to keep it.' After a long while he said: 'A night-glowing pearl for shooting sparrows.'

南嶽下十四世

The fourteenth generation below Nanyue

智海平禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhihai Ping

東京淨因蹣菴繼成禪師

Chan Master Dongjing Jingyin Manan Jicheng

袁之宜春劉氏子。上堂。拈拄杖曰。清淨本然。云何忽生山河大地。看看富樓那穿過釋迦老子鼻孔。釋迦老子鑽破虗空肚皮。且道山河大地在甚麼處。擲下拄杖。召大眾曰。虗空翻筋斗。向新羅國裡去也。是你諸人。切忌認葉止啼。刻舟尋劒。上堂。茫茫盡是覓佛漢。舉世難尋閑道人。棒喝交馳成藥忌。了亡藥忌未天真。上堂。崑崙奴著鐵袴。打一棒行一步。爭似火中釣鼈。日裡藏冰。陰影問翻魍魎。虗空縛殺麻繩。上堂。狹路相逢且莫疑。電光石火已遲遲。若教直下三心徹。祇在如今一餉時。到這裡。直使問來答去。火迸星飛。互換主賓。照用得失。波翻嶽立。玉轉珠回。衲僧面前了無交涉。豈不見拈花鷲嶺。獨許飲光。問疾毗耶。誰當金粟。那知微笑已成途轍。縱使默然。未免風波。要須格外相逢。始解就中頴契。還會麼。一曲寥寥動今古。洛陽三十六峰西。上堂。舉不顧。即差互。擬思量。何劫悟。大眾。枯桑知天風。是顧不顧。海水知天寒。是思不思。且喚甚麼作悟底道理。兔角杖頭挑法界。龜毛拂子舞三臺。上堂。鼻裡音聲耳裡香。眼中鹹淡舌玄黃。意能覺觸身分別。冰室如春九夏涼。如斯見得。方知男子身中入定時。女子身中從定出。葵花隨日轉。犀紋翫月生。香楓化老人。螟𧕅成蜾[蟲*嬴]。若也不知。苦哉。佛陀耶許你具隻眼。上堂。一念心清淨。佛居魔王殿。一念惡心生。魔王居佛殿。懷禪師曰。但恁麼信去。喚作腳踏實地而行。終無別法。亦無別道理。老僧恁麼舉了。祇恐你諸人見兔放鷹。刻舟求劒。何故。功德天．黑暗女。有智主人。二俱不受。上堂。舉汾陽拈拄杖示眾曰。三世諸佛在這裡。為汝諸人無孔竅。遂走向山僧拄杖裡去。強生節目。師曰。汾陽與麼示徒。大似擔雪填井。傍若無人。山僧今日為汝諸人出氣。拈起拄杖曰。三世諸佛不敢強生節目。卻從山僧拄杖裡走出。

He was a son of the Liu family of Yichun in Yuan. He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'Purity is originally so; how is it that the mountains, rivers and great earth suddenly arise? Look, look: Purna has pierced old man Shakyamuni's nostrils, and old man Shakyamuni has bored through the void's belly. Tell me, where are the mountains, rivers and great earth?' He threw down the staff, called to the assembly and said: 'The void has turned a somersault and gone off to the kingdom of Silla. You people, above all, do not take the leaf for stopping a child's crying, nor mark the boat to seek the sword.' He mounted the hall: 'Vast and endless, all are men seeking the buddha; in the whole world it is hard to find a person of the way at leisure. Blows and shouts fly back and forth and become a forbidden medicine; when even the forbidden medicine is gone, one is not yet heavenly true.' He mounted the hall: 'A Kunlun slave wearing iron trousers: strike him once and he takes a step. How much better to fish for turtles in fire, or hide ice in the sun. In the shadows, sprites flit about; the void is bound to death with a hemp rope.' He mounted the hall: 'Meeting on a narrow road, do not doubt; the flint spark and lightning flash are already slow. If you would have the three minds pierced straight through, it is only a moment such as now. Reaching this point, even if question comes and answer goes, fire spurts and sparks fly, host and guest exchange places, illumination and function gain and lose, waves surge and mountains stand, jade turns and pearls return — before a patch-robed monk it is utterly without connection. Have you not seen how at Vulture Peak, holding up the flower, only Kashyapa was singled out? And at Vaishali, inquiring into illness, who took on the golden grain? How would you know that the smile has already become a rutted track, and that even keeping silent cannot avoid wind and wave? One must meet beyond the ordinary, and only then understand the accord within. Do you understand? One tune, faint and far, stirs the ancient and the present; west of the thirty-six peaks of Luoyang.' He mounted the hall: 'Raise it and do not look — at once you miss it. Deliberate and think — in what kalpa will you awaken? Great assembly, the withered mulberry knows the wind of heaven: that is looking and not looking. The sea water knows the cold of heaven: that is thinking and not thinking. And what do you call the principle of awakening? On the tip of a rabbit-horn staff one carries the dharma realm; a tortoise-hair fly whisk dances the three terraces.' He mounted the hall: 'Sound in the nose, fragrance in the ear; salt and bland on the eye, dark and yellow on the tongue. The mind can feel contact, the body distinguishes; an ice chamber is like spring, cool through the nine summers. If you see it thus, only then do you know that while one enters samadhi in a man's body, one comes out of samadhi in a woman's body. The sunflower turns with the sun; the rhino's markings take shape as it plays with the moon. The fragrant maple turns into an old man; the solitary wasp becomes a sphex. If you do not know this either, how bitter! Buddha be praised, I allow that you have one eye.' He mounted the hall: 'With one thought the mind is pure, and the buddha dwells in the demon king's hall. With one evil thought arising, the demon king dwells in the buddha hall. Chan Master Huai said: just believe like this, and it is called walking with your feet on solid ground; in the end there is no other dharma and no other principle. This old monk has raised it like this, only fearing that you people will release the hawk at the sight of a hare and mark the boat to seek the sword. Why? The goddess of merit and the dark woman: a wise host accepts neither.' He mounted the hall and brought up how Fenyang picked up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying: 'The buddhas of the three ages are right here, but because you people have no holes, they have gone off into this mountain monk's staff and forcibly produced knots.' The master said: 'Fenyang showing his students like this is very much like carrying snow to fill a well, as if no one were beside him. This mountain monk today will vent his breath for you people.' He picked up his staff and said: 'The buddhas of the three ages did not dare to forcibly produce knots, and so they walked out of this mountain monk's staff.'

向諸人道。我不敢輕於汝等。汝等皆當作佛。說是語已。翻筋斗向拘屍羅城裡去也。擲下拄杖曰。若到諸方。分明舉似。師同圓悟．法真．慈受並十大法師．禪講千僧。赴太尉陳公良弼府齋。時徽宗皇帝私幸觀之。太師魯國公亦與焉。有善華嚴者。乃賢首宗之義虎也。對眾問諸禪曰。吾佛設教。自小乘至於圓頓。掃除空有。獨證真常。然後萬德莊嚴。方名為佛。常聞禪宗一喝。能轉凡成聖。則與諸經論似相違背。今一喝若能入吾宗五教。是為正說。若不能入。是為邪說。諸禪視師。師曰。如法師所問。不足三大禪師之酬。淨因小長老可以使法師無惑也。師召善。善應諾。師曰。法師所謂愚法小乘教者。乃有義也。大乘始教者。乃空義也。大乘終教者。乃不有不空義也。大乘頓教者。乃即有即空義也。一乘圓教者。乃不有而有。不空而空(或作空而不有。有而不空)。義也。如我一喝。非唯能入五教。至於工巧技藝。諸子百家悉皆能入。師震聲喝一喝。問善曰。聞麼。曰。聞。師曰。汝既聞。此一喝是有。能入小乘教。須臾。又問善曰。聞麼。曰。不聞。師曰。汝既不聞。適來一喝是無。能入始教。遂顧善曰。我初一喝。汝既道有。喝久聲銷。汝復道無。道無則元初實有。道有則而今實無。不有不無。能入終教。我有一喝之時。有非是有。因無故有。無一喝之時。無非是無。因有故無。即有即無。能入頓教。須知我此一喝。不作一喝用。有無不及。情解俱忘。道有之時。纖塵不立。道無之時。橫徧虗空。即此一喝入百千萬億喝。百千萬億喝入此一喝。是故能入圓教。善乃起再拜。師復謂曰。非唯一喝為然。乃至一語一默。一動一靜。從古至今。十方虗空。萬象森羅。六趣四生。三世諸佛。一切聖賢。八萬四千法門。百千三昧無量妙義。契理契機。與天地萬物一體。謂之法身。三界唯心。萬法唯識。四時八節。

He said to the assembly: 'I do not dare belittle you, Venerable Ones; you shall all become buddhas.' Having said these words, he turned a somersault and went off toward the city of Kushinagara. He threw down the staff and said: 'If you go to other quarters, bring it up clearly.' The master, together with Yuanwu, Fazhen and Cishou and ten great dharma masters and a thousand Chan and lecture monks, attended a feast at the residence of the Grand Commandant Lord Chen Liangbi. At that time Emperor Huizong privately favored watching it, and the Grand Preceptor, the Duke of Lu, was also present. There was one skilled in the Huayan, a tiger of eloquence of the Xianshou school, who asked the Chan monks before the assembly: 'Our buddha established the teachings, from the small vehicle up to the perfect and sudden, sweeping away both emptiness and existence and alone realizing the true and constant, and only then, with the ten thousand virtues adorned, is one called a buddha. I have often heard that a single shout in the Chan school can turn the ordinary into the holy, and this seems to contradict the scriptures and treatises. Now, if a single shout can enter the five teachings of our school, it is a correct statement. If it cannot enter, it is a false statement.' The Chan monks looked at the master. The master said: 'What the Dharma Master has asked is not worth the reply of three great Chan masters; this little elder of Jingyin can relieve the Dharma Master of his doubt.' The master called Shan, and Shan answered. The master said: 'What the Dharma Master calls the teaching of the deluded small vehicle is the meaning of existence. The initial teaching of the great vehicle is the meaning of emptiness. The final teaching of the great vehicle is the meaning of neither existing nor empty. The sudden teaching of the great vehicle is the meaning of immediately existing and immediately empty. The perfect teaching of the one vehicle is the meaning of not existing yet existing, not empty yet empty. As for my single shout, it can enter not only the five teachings but also the crafts and arts and the hundred schools of the various masters.' The master let out a shout in a shaking voice and asked Shan: 'Did you hear it?' Shan said: 'I heard it.' The master said: 'Since you heard it, this shout exists, and it can enter the small vehicle teaching.' After a moment he asked Shan again: 'Did you hear it?' Shan said: 'I did not hear it.' The master said: 'Since you did not hear it, the shout just now is nonexistent, and it can enter the initial teaching.' Then he turned to Shan and said: 'My first shout you called existent; when the shout has long passed and the sound has vanished, you again called it nonexistent. If you say nonexistent, then at the first it was truly existent; if you say existent, then now it is truly nonexistent. Neither existing nor nonexistent: it can enter the final teaching. When I have a shout, existence is not existence, for it exists because of non-existence; when I have no shout, non-existence is not non-existence, for it is nonexistent because of existence. Immediately existing and immediately nonexistent: it can enter the sudden teaching. You must know that this one shout of mine is not used as a shout. Existence and non-existence do not reach it, and both feeling and understanding are forgotten. When you say it exists, not a mote stands; when you say it does not exist, it spreads throughout the void. Just this one shout enters a hundred thousand million million shouts, and a hundred thousand million million shouts enter this one shout. Therefore it can enter the perfect teaching.' Shan rose and bowed twice. The master further said to him: 'It is not only the shout that is so. Indeed, one word and one silence, one movement and one stillness, from ancient times to the present, the void of the ten directions, the myriad forms, the six destinies and four kinds of birth, the buddhas of the three ages, all sages and worthies, the eighty-four thousand dharma gates, a hundred thousand samadhis and measureless wondrous meanings, matching principle and matching capacity, one body with heaven, earth and the ten thousand things, is called the dharma body. The three realms are mind only, the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only. The four seasons and eight nodes,

陰陽一致。謂之法性。是故華嚴經云。法性徧在一切處。有相無相。一聲一色。全在一塵中含四義。事理無邊。周徧無餘。參而不雜。混而不一。於此一喝中。皆悉具足。猶是建化門庭。隨機方便。謂之小歇場。未至寶所。殊不知吾祖師門下。以心傳心。以法印法。不立文字。見性成佛。有千聖不傳底向上一路在。善又問曰。如何是向上一路。師曰。汝且向下會取。善曰。如何是寶所。師曰。非汝境界。善曰。望禪師慈悲。師曰。任從滄海變。終不為君通。善膠口而退。聞者靡不歎仰。皇帝顧謂近臣曰。禪宗玄妙深極如此。淨因才辯亦罕有也。近臣奏曰。此宗師之緒餘也。

(The master continued:) 'yin and yang as one — this is called the dharma nature. Therefore the Huayan Sutra says: the dharma nature is everywhere in all places. With marks and without marks, one sound and one color, all are contained within a single mote as its four meanings. Fact and principle are boundless, pervading everything without remainder. They meet without mixing, blend without becoming one. Within this single shout all are completely present. Yet this is still the gate of establishing transformation, the skillful means that follow capacities; it is called a small resting place, not yet the jeweled city. You do not realize that within the gate of our ancestral master, mind is transmitted to mind and dharma seals dharma, not establishing words, seeing the nature and becoming a buddha, and there is a one road upward that a thousand sages do not transmit.' Shan asked again: 'What is the one road upward?' The master said: 'You should understand it by going downward first.' Shan said: 'What is the jeweled city?' The master said: 'Not your realm.' Shan said: 'I hope the Chan master will be compassionate.' The master said: 'Though the vast sea may change, I will never make it clear for you.' Shan's mouth was glued shut and he withdrew. All who heard sighed in admiration. The emperor turned to his attending ministers and said: 'The profundity and wonder of the Chan school reaches such a point, and the eloquence of Jingyin is also rare.' The attending ministers reported: 'This is only the leftover of a master of the school.'

南嶽法輪彥孜禪師

Chan Master Nanyue Falun Yanzi

處之龍泉陳氏子。上堂。若是諦當漢。通身無隔礙。舉措絕毫𨤲。把手出紅塵。撥開向上竅。當頭劄定。不犯鋒稜。轉握將來。應用恰好。絲毫不漏。函葢相應。任是諸佛諸祖。覷著寒毛卓竪。會麼。吃茶去。僧問。如何是不涉煙波底句。師曰。皎皎寒松月。飄飄谷口風。曰。萬差俱掃蕩。一句截流機。師曰。點。僧曰。到。師曰。借人面具舞三臺。問。如何是佛。師曰。白額大蟲。曰。祇如洞山道。麻三斤。又作麼生。師曰。毒虵鑽露柱。曰。學人不曉。師曰。踏著始驚人。

He was a son of the Chen family of Longquan in Chu. He mounted the hall: 'If you are a man who has hit the mark, your whole body has no obstruction. In every movement not a hair's breadth is off; taking a hand, you come out of the red dust. Pushing open the aperture upward, you pin it fast on the spot without touching the point of the blade. Turning and gripping it, you apply it just right. Not a hair leaks; the box and its lid match. Even the buddhas and patriarchs, looking at it, have their body hair stand on end. Do you understand? Go drink tea.' A monk asked: 'What is a phrase that does not touch the mist and waves?' The master said: 'The bright moon on the cold pine, the wind at the valley mouth drifting.' The monk said: 'The ten thousand differences are all swept away; one phrase cuts off the stream's working.' The master said: 'A dot.' The monk said: 'Arrived.' The master said: 'Borrowing another's mask to dance the three terraces.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A white-browed great tiger.' The monk said: 'What about Dongshan saying "three catties of hemp"?' The master said: 'A poisonous snake drills into the pillar.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'Only when you tread on it are you startled.'

衡州開福崇哲禪師

Chan Master Hengzhou Kaifu Chongzhe

邵州劉氏子。上堂。妙體堂堂觸處彰。快須回首便承當。今朝對眾全分付。莫道儂家有覆藏。擲拂子。召侍者曰。因甚打下老僧拂子。問。一水吞空遠。三峰峭壁危。猊臺重拂拭。共喜主人歸。未審到家如何施設。師曰。空手捻雙拳。曰。意旨如何。師曰。突出難辯。上堂。山僧有三印。更無增減剩。覿面便相呈。能轉凡成聖。諸人還知麼。若也未知。不免重重註破。一印印空。日月星辰列下風。一印印泥。頭頭物物顯真機。一印印水。捩轉魚龍頭作尾。三印分明體一同。看來非赤又非紅。互換高低如不薦。青山依舊白雲中。

He was a son of the Liu family of Shaozhou. He mounted the hall: 'The wondrous body, dignified, is revealed wherever it touches; quickly you must turn your head and take it on. Today before the assembly I hand it over entirely; do not say that I have anything concealed.' He threw down his fly whisk, called the attendant and said: 'Why did you knock down this old monk's fly whisk?' The monk asked: 'One water swallows the void into the distance; three peaks stand sheer on the cliff. The lion terrace is wiped clean again; together we rejoice that the host has returned. I wonder how he sets things up once home?' The master said: 'Grasping two fists with empty hands.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'Looming out, hard to distinguish.' He mounted the hall: 'This mountain monk has three seals, with nothing added or subtracted. Meeting you face to face, he presents them; they can turn the ordinary into the holy. Do you people also know? If you do not yet know, I cannot help but break them open layer upon layer. One seal seals the void: sun, moon and stars line up downwind. One seal seals the mud: every head, every thing reveals the true working. One seal seals the water: turning the fish and dragon head to tail. The three seals are distinct, their substance is one; looking at them, they are neither red nor crimson. If you do not recognize the exchange of high and low, the green mountains are as before amid the white clouds.'

泐潭祥禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Letan Xiang

台州鴻福德昇禪師

Chan Master Taizhou Hongfu Desheng

衡陽人也。上堂。諸人恁麼上來。墮在見聞覺知。恁麼下去。落在動靜施為。若也不去不來。正是鬼窟活計。如何道得出身底句。若也道得。則分付拄杖子。若道不得。依而行之。卓拄杖。下座。

He was a man of Hengyang. He mounted the hall: 'When you people come up like this, you fall into seeing, hearing, knowing and awareness. When you go down like this, you fall into movement, stillness, action and doing. If you neither go nor come, that is precisely the living of a ghost cave. How do you speak the phrase of coming forth? If you can speak it, then I hand over the staff. If you cannot speak it, follow it and practice.' He planted the staff and descended from the seat.

建寧府萬壽慧素禪師

Chan Master Jianning Fu Wanshou Huisu

上堂。僧問。劫火洞然。大千俱壞。未審這箇還壞也無。大隨曰壞。修山主曰不壞。未審孰是孰非。師曰。一壞一不壞。笑殺觀自在。師子驀齩人。狂狗盡逐塊。復曰。會麼。曰。不會。師曰。漆桶不快。便下座。一日。有僧來作禮。師問。甚處來。曰。和尚合知某來處。師曰。湖南擔屎漢。江西刈禾客。曰。和尚真人天眼目。某在大溈充園頭。東林作藏主。師打三棒。喝出。紹興二十三年六月朔。沐浴趺坐。書偈曰。昨夜風雷忽爾。露柱生出兩指。天明笑倒燈籠。拄杖依前扶起。拂子𨁝跳過流沙。奪轉胡僧一隻履。於是儼然而逝。

He mounted the hall. A monk asked: 'When the kalpa fire burns, the great thousand worlds are all destroyed. I wonder whether this is destroyed too? Dayui said destroyed; the mountain chief Xiu said not destroyed. I wonder which is right and which is wrong?' The master said: 'One destroyed, one not destroyed — Avalokiteshvara laughs himself to death. The lion suddenly bites a man; the mad dog chases every clod.' Then he said: 'Do you understand?' The monk said: 'No.' The master said: 'The lacquer bucket is not quick.' Then he descended from the seat. One day a monk came to bow. The master asked: 'Where do you come from?' The monk said: 'The Master should know where I come from.' The master said: 'A dung-hauler of Hunan, a rice-reaper of Jiangxi.' The monk said: 'The Master truly has the eye of gods and men. I was garden chief at Dawei and treasury chief at Donglin.' The master gave him three blows and shouted him out. On the first day of the sixth month in the twenty-third year of Shaoxing, he bathed and sat cross-legged, wrote a verse and said: 'Last night wind and thunder suddenly came; the pillar put out two fingers. At dawn the lantern laughed itself over; the staff was propped up as before. The fly whisk leaped over the drifting sands and seized back the barbarian monk's one shoe.' Then he passed away solemnly.

明州香山道淵禪師

Chan Master Xiangshan Daoyuan of Mingzhou

本郡人。上堂。酒市魚行。頭頭寶所。鵶鳴鵲噪。一一妙音。卓拄杖曰。且道這箇是何佛事。狼籍不少。上堂。香山有箇話頭。彌滿四大神洲。若以佛法批判。還如認馬作牛。諸人既不作佛法批判。畢竟是甚麼道理。擊拂子．無鑐鏁子。不厭動搖。半夜枕頭。要須摸著。下座。

He was a man of this prefecture. He mounted the hall: 'The wine market and the fish stalls — every head is a jeweled city. The crow caws and the magpie chatters — each one is a wondrous sound.' He planted his staff and said: 'Tell me, what buddha-work is this? No small mess.' He mounted the hall: 'Xiangshan has a word to raise that fills the four great continents. If you judge it by the buddhadharma, it is like taking a horse for a cow. Since you people do not judge it by the buddhadharma, after all what principle is it?' He struck his fly whisk: 'A lock without a ring does not tire of being shaken. The pillow at midnight must be touched.' He descended from the seat.

建寧府開善木菴道瓊首座

The chief seat Daoqiong of Muan at Kaishan, Jianning Prefecture

信之上饒人。叢林以耆德尊之。泐潭亦謂其飽參。分座日嘗舉隻履西歸語。謂眾曰。坐脫立亡倒化即不無。要且未有逝而復出遺履者。為復後代兒孫不及祖師。為復祖師剩有這一著子。乃大笑曰。老野狐。紹興庚申冬。信守以超化革律為禪迎為第一祖。師語專使曰。吾初無意人間。欲為山子。正為宗派耳。然恐多不能往受請已。取所藏泐潭繪像與木菴二字。仍書偈囑清泉亨老寄得法弟子慧山曰。口觜不中祥老子。愛向叢林鼓是非。分付雪峰山首座。為吾痛罵莫饒伊。顧專使曰。為我傳語侍郎。行計迫甚。不及修答。聲絕而化。

He was a man of Shangrao in Xin. The monasteries honored him for his venerable virtue, and Letan also said he had consulted widely. On the day he was given a seat he brought up the words about returning west with one shoe, and said to the assembly: 'Sitting or standing to die, and dying upside down, are indeed not lacking; but there has never been one who died and came out again leaving a shoe behind. Is it that the sons and grandsons of later generations do not come up to the patriarch, or that the patriarch had this one extra move left over?' Then he laughed and said: 'Old wild fox.' In the winter of the gengshen year of Shaoxing, the prefect of Xin converted Chaohua from a vinaya monastery to a Chan monastery and welcomed him as its first patriarch. The master said to the special envoy: 'I originally had no intention toward the human world, and wished to be a mountain dweller; it was only for the sake of the school. But I fear I mostly cannot go. Having accepted the invitation, take the painting of Letan I have kept and the two characters Muan, and also write a verse entrusting it to Elder Heng of Qingquan to send to my dharma heir Huishan: "The mouth and beak are no good, old man Xiang, who loves to stir up right and wrong in the monasteries. Hand it to the chief seat of Xuefeng Mountain: scold me well and spare him not."' He turned to the special envoy and said: 'Tell the Vice Minister for me that my time is pressing and I have no time to write a reply.' His voice ceased and he passed away.

景淳知藏

The treasury chief Jingchun

梅州人。於化度寺得度。往依泐潭。入室次。潭問。陝府鐵牛重多少。師叉手近前曰。且道重多少。潭曰。尾在黃河北。頭枕黃河南。善財無鼻孔。依舊向南參。師擬議。潭便打。忽頓徹。巾侍有年。竟隱居林壑。甞作偈曰。怕寒懶剃髼鬆髮。愛暖頻添榾柮柴。破衲伽黎撩亂搭。誰能勞力強安排。

He was a man of Meizhou. He received ordination at Huadu Monastery and went to rely on Letan. As he entered the room, Tan asked: 'How much does the iron ox of Shaanfu weigh?' The master folded his hands, stepped forward and said: 'Tell me, how much does it weigh?' Tan said: 'Its tail is north of the Yellow River, its head rests south of the Yellow River. Sudhana has no nostrils and still goes south to consult.' The master was about to deliberate, and Tan at once struck him. Suddenly he was thoroughly awakened. He attended with towel and robe for many years, and in the end lived in hiding among the forests and ravines. He once wrote a verse: 'Fearing cold, too lazy to shave the tangled hair; loving warmth, adding fuel to the fire again and again. The worn robe and patched surplice draped in a mess; who has the strength to arrange it forcibly?'

信州懷玉用宣首座

The chief seat Yongxuan of Huaiyu, Xin Prefecture

四明彭氏子。幼為僧。徑趨叢席。侍泐潭於黃檗。一日自臨川持缽歸。值潭晚參。有云。一葉飄空便見秋。法身須透鬧啾啾。師聞領旨。潭為證據。後依大慧。慧亦謂其類己。以是名卿鉅公列剎迎禮。不就。甞有頌大愚答佛語曰鋸解秤鎚。出老杜詩。紅稻啄殘鸚鵡顆。碧梧棲老鳳凰枝。

He was a son of the Peng family of Siming. He became a monk young, went straight to the monasteries, and attended Letan at Huangbo. One day he returned from Linchuan carrying his bowl, and arrived at Tan's evening assembly, where it was said: 'One leaf drifts in the void and autumn is seen at once; the dharma body must pass through the clamor and chirping.' The master heard it and grasped the purport, and Tan confirmed it for him. Later he relied on Dahui, and Hui also said he was like himself. For this reason famous ministers and great lords and the various monasteries welcomed and honored him, but he did not accept. He once wrote a praise of Dayu's answer to the buddha's words, sawing apart a steelyard weight, taking the line from an old poem by Du Fu: 'Red rice pecked to remnants by parrots; the green wutong where the phoenix roosted till old.'

光孝蘭禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guangxiao Lan

明州蘆山無相法真禪師

Chan Master Mingzhou Lushan Wuxiang Fazhen

江南李主之裔也。上堂。欲明向上事。須具頂門眼。若具頂門眼。始契出家心。既契出家心。常具頂門眼。要會頂門眼麼。四京人著衣吃飯。兩浙人飽暖自如。通玄峰頂香風清。花發蟠桃三四株。

He was a descendant of the Li ruler of Jiangnan. He mounted the hall: 'If you wish to clarify the matter of going beyond, you must possess the eye on the crown of the head. If you possess the eye on the crown of the head, you begin to match the mind of one who has left home. Once you match the mind of one who has left home, you always possess the eye on the crown of the head. Do you want to understand the eye on the crown of the head? The people of the four capitals put on clothes and eat food; the people of the two Zhes are full and warm and at ease. On the summit of Tongxuan Peak the fragrant wind is clear; three or four peach trees of immortality are in bloom.'

南嶽下十五世

The fifteenth generation below Nanyue

淨因成禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jingyin Cheng

台州瑞巖如勝佛燈禪師

Chan Master Taizhou Ruiyan Rusheng the Buddha Lamp

上堂。人人領略釋迦。箇箇平欺達磨。及乎問著宗綱。束手盡雲放過。放過即不無。祇如女子出定。趙州洗缽盂。又作麼生話會。鶴有九皋難翥翼。馬無千里謾追風。

The master records a Chan encounter and points the questioner toward direct awakening. A monk asks about the Buddha, the Way, or

無為軍冶父實際道川禪師

The master records a Chan encounter and poin