Libo

Yong Jia Zheng Dao Ge (永嘉證道歌)

Tang (唐) · Xuan Jue (玄覺)

Yongjia's Song of Realizing the Way

Buddhist Texts

Begin with the opening material of the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, then follow the contents to the teachers and exchanges you wish to read. The page divisions help navigation and do not replace the original fascicle headings.

Yongjia's Song of Realizing the Way

唐慎水沙門玄覺撰

君不見。絕學無為閒道人。不除妄想不求真。

Have you not seen the idle man of the Way, who has nothing more to study and nothing to do, who neither deliberately cuts off deluded thoughts nor deliberately seeks the True Suchness?

無明實性即佛性。幻化空身即法身。法身覺了無一物。

The true nature of ignorance is, right now, the Buddha-nature; this illusory, empty body is, right now, the Dharma body. When the Dharma body is fully awakened, there is not a single thing to be found within it;

本源自性天真佛。五陰浮雲空去來。

the original self-nature is the naturally true Buddha. The five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formation and consciousness are like floating clouds, drifting in and out of the empty sky;

三毒水泡虛出沒。證實相無人法。剎那滅卻阿鼻業。

the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion are like bubbles on water, falsely arising and vanishing. Once one realizes the true nature of things, there is no self and no dharma to cling to, and in an instant the karma that would send one to the Avici hell is wiped out.

若將妄語誑眾生。自招拔舌塵沙劫。

If I deceived living beings with false words, I would bring upon myself the retribution of having my tongue torn out, lasting for kalpas as many as the grains of dust.

頓覺瞭如來禪。六度萬行體中圓。夢裡明明有六趣。

Suddenly awakening to the Tathagata's Zen, the six perfections and ten thousand practices are all complete within this very substance. In a dream there were clearly six paths of rebirth;

覺後空空無大千。無罪福無損益。

after waking, all is empty and bare, and not even a great chiliocosm exists. There is no sin and no merit, no loss and no gain;

寂滅性中莫問覓。比來塵鏡未曾磨。今日分明須剖析。

within the still and extinguished nature, do not go on questioning and searching. This mirror, long covered with dust, has never been wiped; today it must be analyzed and made perfectly clear.

誰無念誰無生。若實無生無不生。

Who is without thought? Who is without birth? If there were truly no birth, then there would be nothing that is not born.

喚取機關木人問。求佛施功早晚成。放四大莫把捉。

Call a wooden puppet over and ask it: relying on effort to seek Buddhahood, when could one ever succeed? Let go of the four great elements of earth, water, fire and wind, and do not cling to them;

寂滅性中隨飲啄。諸行無常一切空。

within the still and extinguished nature, simply eat and drink as circumstances bring. All conditioned things pass away and are impermanent, and everything is empty,

即是如來大圓覺。決定說表真僧。有人不肯任情徵。

and this is the Tathagata's great, perfect enlightenment. What I say here is certain and beyond doubt, offered to show what a true monk is; if anyone refuses to accept it, let them come and question me as they please.

直截根源佛所印。摘葉尋枝我不能。

To cut straight through to the root is what the Buddha approves; as for plucking leaves and searching out twigs, I cannot do such trivial work.

摩尼珠人不識。如來藏裡親收得。六般神用空不空。

The mani jewel is not recognized by people, though it is kept right there in the Tathagata-garbha. The wondrous functions of the six senses are, one may say, empty yet not empty;

一顆圓光色非色。淨五眼得五力。

that one perfect ray of light is, one may say, form yet not form. One purifies the five eyes (the physical, divine, wisdom, Dharma and Buddha eyes) and obtains the five powers of faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom,

唯證乃知難可測。鏡裡看形見不難。水中捉月爭拈得。

which only one who has personally realized them can know, and which are hard to fathom. Seeing a form in a mirror is not hard to do; but scooping the moon out of the water, how could anyone grasp it?

常獨行常獨步。達者同遊涅槃路。

Always walking alone, always striding alone; those who have penetrated the truth all walk together on the road to nirvana.

調古神清風自高。貌顇骨剛人不顧。窮釋子口稱貧。

Their style is ancient and plain, their spirit clear, their bearing naturally lofty; the face is gaunt but the bones are strong, and no one pays them any mind. The poor monk says with his mouth that he is poor,

實是身貧道不貧。貧則身常披縷褐。

but in truth it is the body that is poor, not the Way. The poverty is in the body, always draped in tattered cloth,

道則心藏無價珍。無價珍用無盡。利物應機終不悋。

while the Way is the priceless treasure held within the heart. This priceless treasure can never be used up; it benefits living beings, responds to every circumstance, and is never withheld.

三身四智體中圓。八解六通心地印。

The three bodies (Dharma body, reward body and transformation body) and the four wisdoms that arise when consciousnesses are transformed are all complete in this very substance; the eight liberations and six supernormal powers are all seals of the mind-ground.

上士一決一切了。中下多聞多不信。但自懷中解垢衣。

Those of the highest capacity settle everything in one decisive stroke; those of middling and lower capacity grow less willing to believe the more they hear. Just take off the filthy garment from your own bosom,

誰能向外誇精進。從他謗任他非。

and who would still go outward to boast of his own diligence? Let them slander, let them criticize,

把火燒天徒自疲。我聞恰似飲甘露。銷融頓入不思議。

it is merely holding up a torch to burn the sky, and only wearies oneself in vain. When I hear it, it is as if I were drinking sweet nectar; all at once it melts away, and I enter at once the inconceivable.

觀惡言是功德。此即成吾善知識。

Regard harsh words as merit, and then the one who speaks harshly becomes my good spiritual friend.

不因訕謗起冤親。何表無生慈忍力。宗亦通說亦通。

If I did not tell enemy from friend because of ridicule and slander, how could the power of compassionate patience born of non-arising be shown? When the essential teaching is thoroughly understood, speech is thoroughly understood too,

定慧圓明不滯空。非但我今獨達了。

and concentration and wisdom are perfectly clear, without lingering on "emptiness". This is not something that only I have penetrated now;

恆沙諸佛體皆同。師子吼無畏說。百獸聞之皆腦裂。

the Buddhas, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, all share the same substance. Fearless as a lion's roar, the teaching makes the hundred beasts split their skulls and lose their courage on hearing it,

香象奔波失卻威。天龍寂聽生欣悅。

the fragrant elephant runs off and loses its dignity, while gods and dragons listen quietly and rejoice.

遊江海涉山川。尋師訪道為參禪。自從認得曹谿路。

I crossed rivers and seas and trekked over mountains, seeking teachers and asking after the Way in order to study Zen. Ever since I came to know the road of Caoxi,

了知生死不相關。行亦禪坐亦禪。語默動靜體安然。

I have understood that birth and death have nothing to do with me. Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen; in speech and silence, movement and stillness, the substance is always at ease.

縱遇鋒刀常坦坦。假饒毒藥也閒閒。

Even meeting the point of a blade, my heart is calm and open; even if I were given poison, I would remain unhurried.

我師得見然燈佛。多劫曾為忍辱仙。

My original teacher Shakyamuni once saw Dipamkara Buddha in person, and through many kalpas was also the Patient Immortal.

幾迴生幾迴死。生死悠悠無定止。自從頓悟了無生。

How many times born, how many times dead; birth and death go on and on without settled measure. Since I suddenly awakened to the principle of non-birth,

於諸榮辱何憂喜。入深山住蘭若。岑崟幽邃長松下。

what is there to grieve or rejoice over in honor and disgrace? Entering deep mountains and dwelling in an aranya (a quiet place for practice), beneath tall, deep-set pines,

優遊靜坐野僧家。閴寂安居實蕭灑。

I sit at ease in the dwelling of a mountain monk, dwelling quietly and truly carefree.

覺即了不施功。一切有為法不同。住相佈施生天福。

Once awakened, it is finished and no further effort is needed; this is utterly unlike all conditioned dharmas. Giving while clinging to appearances yields only the blessings of rebirth in heaven,

猶如仰箭射虛空。勢力盡箭還墜。

like shooting an arrow up into the sky: when its strength is spent, the arrow falls back down,

招得來生不如意。爭似無為實相門。一超直入如來地。

and the future life it brings is still unsatisfactory. How can that compare with the unconditioned true-nature teaching, which in a single leap enters directly into the realm of the Tathagata?

但得本莫愁末。如淨瑠璃含寶月。

Just get the root, and there is no need to worry about the branches, like a clear crystal holding a precious moon within.

既能解此如意珠。自利利他終不竭。

Since one is able to understand this wish-fulfilling jewel, benefiting oneself and others will never run dry.

江月照松風吹。永夜清宵何所為。佛性戒珠心地印。

The moon shines on the river and the wind blows through the pines; what is there to do through the long, clear night? Buddha-nature is the jewel of the precepts, the seal of the mind-ground;

霧露雲霞體上衣。降龍缽解虎錫。兩鈷金環鳴歷歷。

mist, dew, clouds and haze are the clothes on one's body. The bowl that subdued the dragon and the staff that parted fighting tigers, with the two golden rings at its head jingling,

不是標形虛事持。如來寶杖親蹤跡。

are not carried for show or in pretense, but are the very traces of the Tathagata's precious staff, handed down in person.

不求真不斷妄。了知二法空無相。無相無空無不空。

Neither seeking the true nor cutting off the false, one understands that both true and false are empty and without form. Without form, without emptiness, and also not non-empty,

即是如來真實相。心鏡明鑒無礙。

this is the true form of the Tathagata. The mirror of the mind is clear and bright, illuminating everything without obstruction,

廓然瑩徹周沙界。萬象森羅影現中。一顆圓光非內外。

vast and crystalline, filling worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges. The images of all myriad phenomena appear within it; that one round light cannot be said to be inside or outside.

豁達空撥因果。莽莽蕩蕩招殃禍。

If one takes "emptiness" to mean nothing at all and discards cause and effect, then one drifts vaguely and invites disaster;

棄有著空病亦然。還如避溺而投火。捨妄心取真理。

to abandon "being" and cling to "emptiness" is the same fault, like avoiding drowning only to leap into fire. Casting off the deluded mind to take hold of truth,

取捨之心成巧偽。學人不了用修行。

this very mind of taking and discarding becomes itself contrivance and falsehood. Students of the Way who do not understand this and still make effort in practice

深成認賊將為子。損法財滅功德。莫不由斯心意識。

deeply mistake a thief for their own son. Wasting the wealth of the Dharma and destroying merit all come from this mind, will and consciousness.

是以禪門了卻心。頓入無生知見力。

Therefore the Zen school cuts this mind off, and at once enters the power of the insight of non-birth.

大丈夫秉慧劍。般若鋒兮金剛焰。非但空摧外道心。

The great man holds the sword of wisdom, the edge of prajna, the flame of the vajra. It does not only shatter the minds of heretics,

早曾落卻天魔膽。震法靁擊法鼓。

it has long since frightened the gall out of the heavenly demons. It sets the thunder of the Dharma shaking and beats the drum of the Dharma,

佈慈雲兮灑甘露。龍象蹴踏潤無邊。三乘五性皆醒悟。

spreads clouds of compassion and sprinkles the sweet dew; where the dragon-elephant treads, the moisture is boundless, and the Three Vehicles of shravaka, pratyekabuddha and Bodhisattva and the five kinds of nature are all awakened by it.

雪山肥膩更無雜。純出醍醐我常納。

The rich, fatty grass of the Snow Mountains is pure and unmixed; the cow that eats it produces only ghee, the finest flavor, which I often enjoy.

一性圓通一切性。一法遍含一切法。一月普現一切水。

One nature fully pervades all natures, and one dharma fully contains all dharmas. One moon appears everywhere in all the waters,

一切水月一月攝。諸佛法身入我性。

and the moon's reflections in all the waters are gathered back into that one moon. The Dharma bodies of all the Buddhas enter my own nature,

我性同共如來合。一地具足一切地。

and my own nature accords with the Tathagata. Every stage of practice and realization holds all the stages,

非色非心非行業。彈指圓成八萬門。剎那滅卻三祇劫。

and it is not form, not mind, and not the work of action. In a snap of the fingers one completes eighty thousand Dharma gates, and in an instant one extinguishes the labor of three great asamkhyeya kalpas.

一切數句非數句。與吾靈覺何交涉。

All words and phrases that can be counted, and even those that cannot, what have they to do with my spiritual, luminous awareness?

不可毀不可讚。體若虛空勿涯岸。不離當處常湛然。

It cannot be destroyed or praised; its substance is like space, without shore. It does not leave this very place, and is always clear and still;

覓即知君不可見。取不得捨不得。

the moment you go looking for it, you know you will not find it. It cannot be grasped, and it cannot be cast away,

不可得中只麼得。默時說說時默。大施門開無壅塞。

and in that very impossibility of grasping, it is just so attained. In silence one speaks, in speaking one is silent; the gate of great giving stands open, with nothing blocked.

有人問我解何宗。報道摩訶般若力。

If someone asks which school I understand, I answer: it is by the power of mahaprajna (great wisdom).

或是或非人不識。逆行順行天莫測。吾早曾經多劫修。

At times it seems right, at times wrong, and people cannot tell; acting against the grain or going with it, even heaven cannot fathom. I have already cultivated through many kalpas,

不是等閒相誑惑。建法幢立宗旨。

and it is by no means casual deception of others. I raise the banner of the Dharma and establish the principle,

明明佛勅曹溪是。第一迦葉首傳燈。二十八代西天記。

clearly and plainly: what the Buddha entrusted is precisely this Caoxi lineage. The first, Kashyapa, was the first to pass on the lamp, and the records of the Western Heaven say it passed through twenty-eight generations.

法東流入此土。菩提達磨為初祖。

The Dharma flowed east and entered this land, and Bodhidharma was the First Patriarch of China.

六代傳衣天下聞。後人得道何窮數。真不立妄本空。

That six generations of patriarchs passed on the robe is known to all under heaven, and those who attained the Way afterward are beyond counting. The true need not be established, the false is empty from the start,

有無俱遣不空空。二十空門元不著。

both being and non-being are cast off together, and not even the emptiness of "not empty" remains. The twenty kinds of emptiness need never be clung to,

一性如來體自同。心是根法是塵。兩種猶如鏡上痕。

and the one nature is naturally the same in substance as the Tathagata. Mind is the sense-root that cognizes, dharma is the object-dust that is cognized; these two are like marks on a mirror,

痕垢盡除光始現。心法雙忘性即真。

and when the marks and dirt are completely removed, the light appears. When both mind and dharma are forgotten, the nature is, right then, the true.

嗟末法惡時世。眾生福薄難調制。去聖遠兮邪見深。

Alas, in this evil, turbid Degenerate Age, beings have thin blessings and are hard to tame and teach. Far from the time of the sages, with deep wrong views,

魔強法弱多恐害。聞說如來頓教門。

demons strong and the Dharma weak, there is much terror and harm. On hearing the Tathagata's sudden-teaching Dharma gate,

恨不滅除令瓦碎。作在心殃在身。不須冤訴更尤人。

they wish only to destroy it, smashing it like a tile to pieces. The deed is done in the mind, but the disaster falls on the body; there is no need to cry out against injustice, still less to blame others.

欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。

If you wish not to bring on the karma of the Unceasing Hell, do not slander the Tathagata's wheel of the true Dharma.

旃檀林無雜樹。欝密森沈師子住。境靜林間獨自遊。

In a grove of sandalwood there are no stray trees; thick and deep, it is where the lion dwells. In that pure place, walking alone in the grove,

走獸飛禽皆遠去。師子兒眾隨後。三歲便能大哮吼。

beasts that run and birds that fly all keep far away. The lion cubs follow behind, and at three years old they can roar aloud.

若是野幹逐法王。百年妖怪虛開口。

If a wild fox follows the Dharma King, though it may play the demon for a hundred years, it merely opens its mouth in vain.

圓頓教勿人情。有疑不決直須爭。不是山僧逞人我。

The perfect and sudden teaching makes no concession to human sentiment; if there is doubt that is not resolved, one should argue it out directly. It is not that I, this mountain monk, want to win a quarrel,

修行恐落斷常坑。非不非是不是。

but that I fear practitioners will fall into the pits of the views of annihilation and permanence. What is called "not right" is not really wrong, and what is called "right" is not really right;

差之毫釐失千里。是則龍女頓成佛。非則善星生陷墜。

a hair's breadth of error becomes a thousand li of distance. Go the right way, and like the Dragon Girl one becomes a Buddha on the spot; go the wrong way, and like the monk Sunakshatra one falls alive into hell.

吾早年來積學問。亦曾討疏尋經論。

In my early years I too accumulated learning, I too studied commentaries and searched through sutras and treatises,

分別名相不知休。入海算沙徒自困。

distinguishing names and concepts without end, like going down to the sea to count grains of sand, only wearing myself out in vain.

卻被如來苦訶責。數他珍寶有何益。從來蹭蹬覺虛行。

For this I was sternly rebuked by the Tathagata: what use is it to count other people's treasures? Stumbling along the way, I came to feel that it had all been wasted effort,

多年枉作風塵客。種性邪錯知解。

and that for years I had been only a dusty wanderer. When one's capacity is lopsided, one's views go wrong,

不達如來圓頓制。二乘精進勿道心。外道聰明無智慧。

and one cannot penetrate the Tathagata's perfect and sudden teaching. The followers of the Two Vehicles are diligent but lack the great-vehicle mind of the Way; heretics are clever but lack true wisdom.

亦愚痴亦小騃。空拳指上生實解。

Foolish and dull, they look at an empty fist and at a pointing finger, and take them to be real,

執指為月枉施功。根境法中虛揑怪。不見一法即如來。

mistaking the finger for the moon and wasting their effort, inventing strange images out of the senses, their objects and dharmas. If one can see that not a single dharma is to be found, then that is the Tathagata,

方得名為觀自在。了即業障本來空。

and only then may one be called Avalokitesvara, the Sovereign Observer. When one awakens, karmic obstacles are empty from the start;

未了應須還夙債。饑逢王饍不能飡。

when one does not awaken, one must still repay old debts. A starving man who meets an imperial banquet cannot eat,

病遇醫王爭得瘥。在欲行禪知見力。火中生蓮終不壞。

and a sick man who meets the King of Physicians, how could he be cured? To practice Zen while living amid desire is possible through the power of insight; like a lotus growing in fire, it will never be destroyed.

勇施犯重悟無生。早時成佛於今在。

The monk Yongshi broke a grave precept yet realized non-birth; he became a Buddha long ago and is still one today.

師子吼無畏說。深嗟懵懂頑皮靼。秖知犯重障菩提。

Fearless as a lion's roar, the teaching deeply laments those muddled and obstinate people who know only that breaking a grave precept obstructs bodhi,

不見如來開秘訣。有二比丘犯婬殺。

and do not see that the Tathagata opened another secret way. Two monks had committed sexual misconduct and murder,

波離螢光增罪結。維摩大士頓除疑。猶如赫日銷霜雪。

and Upali, with the small wisdom of a firefly, judged them and only made their guilt heavier; the great layman Vimalakirti dispelled their doubts with a single word, like a blazing sun melting frost and snow.

不思議解脫力。妙用恆沙也無極。

The power of this inconceivable liberation has wondrous uses as countless as the sands of the Ganges, without end.

四事供養敢辭勞。萬兩黃金亦銷得。粉骨碎身未足酬。

The four offerings of clothing, food, bedding and medicine: how could one dare to find them burdensome? Even ten thousand taels of gold could be received. Though one ground one's bones to powder, it would not be enough to repay them,

一句瞭然超百億。法中王最高勝。

and a single sentence, upon which one is thoroughly awakened, surpasses a hundred billion gifts. The Buddha is the king of the Dharma, supreme and most excellent,

恆沙如來同共證。我今解此如意珠。信受之者皆相應。

as certified together by Tathagatas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. I have now understood this wish-fulfilling jewel, and all who believe and accept it can accord with it.

了了見無一物。亦無人亦無佛。

Seeing clearly that there is not a single thing, there is no person and there is no Buddha.

大千沙界海中漚。一切聖賢如電拂。假使鐵輪頂上旋。

A great-chiliocosm of worlds like sand is only a bubble on the sea, and all the sages are like flashes of lightning. Even if an iron wheel spun above one's head,

定慧圓明終不失。日可冷月可熱。

concentration and wisdom, perfectly clear, would still never be lost. The sun may turn cold and the moon may turn hot,

眾魔不能壞真說。象駕崢嶸謾進途。誰見螗蜋能拒轍。

but the host of demons cannot undo this true teaching. The elephant-drawn cart rolls on, tall and majestic; who has ever seen a praying mantis stop a cart's wheel track?

大象不遊於兔徑。大悟不拘於小節。

The great elephant does not walk the rabbit's small path, and one greatly awakened is not bound by petty details.

莫將管見謗蒼蒼。未了吾今為君訣。

Do not use the narrow view seen through a bamboo tube to slander the vast sky. If you have not yet awakened, I will now settle it clearly for you.

永嘉證道歌(終)

無相大師行狀

What follows is the appendix, the "Biography of Master Wuxiang", the life of Chan Master Xuanjue. (A "biography" here is a form of writing that records the events of a person's life.)

翰林學士朝散大夫行左司諫知制誥同修國史判史判館事柱國南陽郡開國侯食邑一千一百戶賜紫金魚袋楊億述

Composed by Yang Yi. His full title at the time was: Hanlin Academician, Grand Master for Court Audience, Acting Left Remonstrator, Drafter of Edicts, Concurrent Compiler of the National History, Administrator of the Historiography Office, Pillar of the State, Marquis of Nanyang Commandery, with a fief of 1,100 households, granted the purple robe and golden fish-pouch. (This is the full form of a Song-dynasty official's title, listing in order his office name, honorary rank, substantive post, commission, merit rank, noble title, fief and imperial gifts; it is not the names of several people. The base text repeats the character for "administer" in "administer the historiography" by mistake, and it should read "Administrator of the Historiography Office".)

溫州永嘉玄覺禪師者。永嘉人也。姓戴氏。丱歲出家。遍探三藏精天台旨。觀圓妙法門。於四威儀中。常冥禪觀。後因左谿朗禪師激勵。與東陽策禪師。同詣曹谿。初到振錫攜瓶。繞祖三匝。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。何以體取無生。了無速乎。曰體即無生。了本無速。祖雲。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。返太速乎。師曰。本自非動豈有速耶。祖曰。誰知非動。曰仁者自生分別。祖曰。汝甚得無生之意。曰無生豈有意耶。祖曰。無意誰當分別。曰分別亦非意。祖歎曰。善哉善哉。少留一宿。時謂一宿覺矣。策公乃留師。翌日下山迴溫江。學者輻湊。號真覺大師。著禪宗悟修圓旨。自淺之深。慶州刺史魏靜。緝而成十篇。目為永嘉集。及證道歌一首。並盛行於世雲爾。

Chan Master Xuanjue of Yongjia in Wenzhou was a native of Yongjia, whose family name was Dai. He left home in childhood, read widely in the Three Baskets of scripture, mastered the aims of the Tiantai school, and practiced the perfect and wondrous contemplation, always resting his mind in meditation in all four postures of walking, standing, sitting and lying down. Later, spurred on by Chan Master Xuanlang of Zuoxi, he went to Caoxi together with Chan Master Xuance of Dongyang. On arriving, he shook his staff, held his water bottle, and walked three times around the Sixth Patriarch. The Sixth Patriarch said: "A renunciant should possess the three thousand dignified manners and the eighty thousand fine practices. Virtuous one, where do you come from, that you have such great pride?" Xuanjue said: "Birth and death are the great matter, and impermanence comes swiftly." The Patriarch said: "Then why not embody the unborn and realize that which has no swiftness or slowness?" Xuanjue said: "To embody it is itself non-birth, and to realize it is to find that there was never any swiftness or slowness." The Patriarch said: "So it is, so it is." The whole assembly was astonished. Only then did Xuanjue bow with full ceremony, and after a moment he took his leave. The Patriarch said: "Are you not leaving too quickly?" Xuanjue said: "Originally there was no movement, so how can there be speed?" The Patriarch said: "Who knows that there is no movement?" Xuanjue said: "It is you, sir, who give rise to discrimination." The Patriarch said: "You have truly grasped the meaning of non-birth." Xuanjue said: "How can non-birth have any meaning?" The Patriarch said: "If there is no meaning, who is it that discriminates?" Xuanjue said: "Discrimination itself is not a meaning either." The Patriarch praised him: "Excellent, excellent! Stay one night." People of the time therefore called him "the Overnight Awakened One". Master Xuance then kept him there. The next day Xuanjue went down the mountain and returned to Wenjiang, where students gathered to him like spokes to a hub, and he was known as Great Master Zhenjue. He wrote "The Perfect Aim of Awakening and Practice in the Chan School", proceeding from the shallow to the deep; Wei Jing, Prefect of Qingzhou, compiled it into ten chapters under the title "The Yongjia Collection", and together with a single "Song of Realizing the Way" it circulated widely in the world.

The original text is in the public domain. The English is a machine-assisted translation of this library’s own Chinese paraphrase, checked against a fixed glossary so that technical terms match the definitions used elsewhere on this site. It is a reading aid and does not replace the original.