Wu Zhen Pian (悟真篇) · Volume 6

夫戒定慧者，乃法中之妙用也。佛祖雖嘗有言，而未達者有所執。今略而言之，庶資開悟。然其心境兩忘，一念不動曰戒；覺性圓明，內外瑩徹曰定；隨緣應物，妙用無窮曰慧。此三者相須而成，互為體用。三者未嘗斯須相離也。猶如日假光而能照，光假照以能明。非光則不能照，非照則不能明。原其戒定慧者，本乎一性；光照明者，本乎一日；一尚非一，三復何三？三一俱忘，湛然清淨。

Precepts, concentration and wisdom are the wondrous functions within the Dharma. Though the Buddhas and patriarchs have spoken of them, those who have not yet understood grow attached. Now I shall speak briefly in hope of aiding awakening. When mind and object are both forgotten and a single thought does not move, this is called precepts; when the awareness is round and bright and inside and outside are crystal clear, this is called concentration; to respond to things with conditions, with wondrous function without end, is called wisdom. These three depend on each other to come about, and are each other's substance and function. The three have never been apart for an instant. It is like the sun: it illuminates by means of light, and the light is bright by means of illumination. Without light there is no illumination, and without illumination there is no brightness. Trace precepts, concentration and wisdom to their origin, and they are rooted in one nature; light and illumination and brightness are rooted in one sun; if one is not even one, how could three be three? Forget three and one alike, and be clear, still and pure.

西江月（十二首）

Twelve Poems to the Tune of Xijiang Yue.

妄相不復強滅，真如何必希求。本源自性佛齊修，迷悟豈拘前後。悟即剎那成佛，迷兮萬劫淪流。若能一念契真修，滅盡恆沙罪垢。

False marks need not be forcibly extinguished, nor need true suchness be sought. The original nature is cultivated as one with the Buddha, and awakening or delusion is not bound by before and after. Awakened, one becomes a Buddha in an instant; deluded, one sinks and drifts for ten thousand kalpas. If a single thought can accord with true cultivation, the sins and stains of Ganges sands are wiped out.

本是無生無滅，強求生滅區分。只如罪福亦無根，妙體何曾增損。我有一輪明鏡，從來只為蒙昏。今朝磨瑩照乾坤，萬象昭然難隱。

At root there is no birth and no death, and it is by force that we seek to divide birth and death. Sin and merit likewise have no root, so when did the wondrous body ever gain or lose? I have a bright mirror that was only ever covered in dimness. Today I polish it and it lights heaven and earth, and the myriad phenomena are clear and cannot hide.

我性入諸佛性，諸方佛性皆然。亭亭寒影照寒泉，一月千潭普現。小即毫毛莫識，大時遍滿三千。高低不約信方圓，說甚長短深淺。

My nature enters the nature of the Buddhas, and the Buddha-nature of every quarter is just so. A cold, lofty shadow shines on a cold spring, and one moon appears in a thousand pools alike. Small it is hard to recognize even as a hair, and great it fills the three thousand worlds. High or low, it is not fixed as square or round, so why speak of long and short, deep and shallow?

法法法原無法，空空空亦非空。靜喧語默本來同，夢裡何勞說夢。有用用中無用，無功功裡施功。還如果熟自然紅，莫問如何修種。

Dharma, dharma, dharma, the dharma was never a dharma; empty, empty, empty, and the emptiness is not empty either. Stillness and noise, speech and silence are at root the same, so why talk of a dream inside a dream? There is use, and within use no use; there is no merit, and within merit merit is applied. It is like fruit ripening and turning red of itself, so do not ask how to cultivate and plant.

善惡一時忘念，榮枯都不關心。晦明隱顯任浮沉，隨分飢餐渴飲。神靜湛然常寂，不妨坐臥歌吟。一池秋水碧仍深，風動莫驚盡恁。

Forget good and evil at once, and care nothing for flourishing or withering. Dim or bright, hidden or shown, drift or sink; as your lot allows, eat when hungry and drink when thirsty. The spirit is calm, clear, and ever still, and it does no harm to sit, lie down or sing. A pool of autumn water, green and deep: if the wind stirs it, do not be alarmed, but let it be as it is.

對境不須強滅，假名權立菩提。色空明暗本來齊，真妄休分兩體。悟即便明淨土，更無天竺漕溪。誰言極樂在天西，了即彌陀出世。

Facing objects, there is no need to extinguish them by force; a borrowed name sets up bodhi for the time being. Form and emptiness, bright and dark are at root equal, so do not divide truth and delusion into two bodies. Awakened, you at once see the Pure Land, and there is no India or Caoxi (the base text has a wrong character for "Cao"). Who says Paradise lies west of heaven? When you understand, Amitabha comes into the world.

人我眾生壽者，寧分彼此高低。法自通照沒吾伊，念念不須尋覓。見是何嘗見是，聞非未必聞非。從來諸用不相知，生死誰能礙你。

Self, others, sentient beings and lifespan: how to divide this from that, high from low? The Dharma illuminates itself without any "I" or "you," and thought after thought needs no seeking. Seeing right, when did one ever see right? Hearing wrong, one does not necessarily hear wrong. All the functions have never known each other, so who can hinder you in birth and death?

住相修行佈施，果報不離天人。恰如仰箭射浮云，墜落只緣力盡。爭似無為實相，還元返樸歸淳。境忘情盡任天真，以證無生法忍。

Practicing giving while dwelling on marks yields a reward that does not leave the heavens and the human realm. It is like shooting an arrow at floating clouds: it falls only because its strength is spent. How much better is the unconditioned true mark, returning to the source and the plain, and going back to simplicity. When objects are forgotten and feelings exhausted, let natural truth be, and with this realize the forbearance of non-arising.

魚兔若還入手，自然忘卻筌蹄。渡河筏子上天梯，到彼悉皆遺棄。未悟須憑言說，悟來言語成非。雖然四句屬無為，此等仍須脫離。

Once the fish and hare are in hand, one forgets the trap and snare. The raft that crosses the river and the ladder to heaven are both abandoned when you reach the other shore. Before awakening one must rely on words, and once awakened, words turn out wrong. Though the four-line verses belong to non-action, these too must be left behind.

悟了莫求寂滅，隨緣且接群迷。斷常知見及提攜，方便指歸實際。五眼三身四智，六度萬行修齊。圓光一顆好摩尼。利物兼能自濟。

Once awakened, do not seek extinction, but follow conditions and for now guide the multitudes of the lost. Cutting off views of permanence and annihilation and drawing them along, skillful means point toward the true limit. The five eyes, three bodies, four wisdoms, six perfections and ten thousand practices are all cultivated together. One round light, a fine mani pearl, benefits beings and also saves oneself.

我見時人說性，只誇口急酬機。及逢境界轉痴迷，又與愚人何異。說的便須行的，方名言行無虧。能將慧劍斬摩尼，此號如來正智。

I see people of the day speaking of nature, only boasting of quick repartee. When they meet a situation they turn dull and deluded, and how are they different from fools? What one says one must practice, and only then is it called words and deeds without lack. One who can cut the mani pearl with the sword of wisdom is said to have the Tathagata's right wisdom.

欲了無生妙道，莫非自見真心。真身無相亦無音，清淨法身只恁。此道非無非有，非中亦莫求尋。二邊俱遣棄中心，見了名為上品。

Thinking of the wondrous way of non-arising, is it not that you see the true mind yourself? The true body has no mark and no sound, and the pure Dharma body is just so. This Way is neither nothing nor something, and not the middle either, so do not seek it. Send away both extremes and cast off the center, and when you see it, it is called the highest grade.

竊以人之生也，皆緣妄情而有其身。有其身則有患；若無其身，患從何有！夫欲免夫患者，莫若體夫至道；欲體夫至道，莫若明夫本心。故心者道之體也，道者心之用也。人能察心觀性，則圓明之體自現，無為之用自成。不假施功，頓超彼岸。此非心鏡朗然，神珠廓明，則何以使諸相頓離，纖塵不染，心源自在，決定無生者哉！然其明心體道之士，身不能累其性，境不能亂其真，則刀兵烏能傷，虎兕烏能害，巨焚大浸烏足為虞？達人心若明境，鑑而不納，隨機應物，和而不唱，故能勝物而無傷也。此所謂無上至真之妙道也。

I privately think that people are born, all because of deluded feeling, and so have this body. Having a body one has trouble; if there were no body, where would trouble come from! To be free of trouble, nothing is better than to embody the utmost Way; to embody the utmost Way, nothing is better than to clarify the original mind. So the mind is the substance of the Way, and the Way is the function of the mind. If one can examine the mind and observe nature, then the body of round brightness appears of itself, and the function of non-action is accomplished of itself. Without applying effort, one leaps at once to the other shore. If the mind-mirror were not clear and the spirit-pearl not bright, how could all marks be left behind at once, not a particle of dust stain, the mind's source at ease, and non-arising certain! But a person who has clarified the mind and embodied the Way cannot have his nature burdened by the body, nor his truth disturbed by objects, so how could blades wound or tigers and rhinoceroses harm him, and why should great fire and floods be a worry? The mind of an enlightened person is like a bright mirror, reflecting without taking in, responding to things as occasion arises, harmonious without leading, and so he can overcome things without harm. This is what is called the utmost true, unsurpassed, wondrous Way.

原其道本無名，聖人強名；道本無言，聖人強言耳。然則名言若寂，則時流無以識其體而歸其真。是以聖人設教立言以顯其道，故道因言而後顯，言因道而返忘。奈何此道至妙至微，世人根性迷鈍，執其有身而惡死悅生，故卒難了悟。黃老悲其貪著，乃以修生之術，順其所欲，漸次導之。以修生之要在金丹，金丹之要在神水華池，故《道德》、《陰符》之教得以盛行於世矣，蓋人悅其生也。然其言隱而理奧，學者雖諷誦其文，皆莫曉其意，若不遇至人授之口訣，縱揣量百種，終莫能著其功而成其事，豈非學者紛如牛毛，而達者乃如麟角耶！

Tracing the origin, the Way at root has no name, and the sages forced a name on it; the Way at root has no words, and the sages forced themselves to speak of it. But if names and words fell silent, the people of the age would have no way to recognize its substance and return to its truth. So the sages set up teachings and established words to make the Way plain, and thus the Way appears through words, and words return to oblivion through the Way. Unfortunately this Way is utterly wondrous and subtle, and people of the world have dull roots of nature, cling to having a body, hate death and delight in life, so that in the end it is hard for them to awaken. The Yellow Emperor and Laozi pitied their attachment, and so used the arts of cultivating life, following what they desired and gradually leading them on. Since the key to cultivating life lies in the golden elixir, and the key to the golden elixir lies in the divine water and flowery pool, the teachings of the Daodejing and the Yinfujing came to flourish in the world because people delight in their lives. But their words are hidden and their principles deep, and though students recite the texts, none understood their meaning; if they do not meet a perfected person who gives them the oral instructions, then however many hundred ways they guess, they in the end cannot apply effort and complete the work. Are not students as many as the hairs of an ox, and the enlightened as few as the horn of a unicorn!

伯端向己酉歲於成都遇師，授以丹法，自後三傳非人，三遭禍患，皆不愈兩旬，近憶師之所戒云：“異日有與汝解韁脫鎖者，當宜授之，餘皆不許。”爾後欲解名籍，而患此道人不知信，遂撰此《悟真篇》，敘丹法本末。既出，而求學者湊然而來，觀其意勤，心不忍拒，乃擇而授之。然所授者，皆非有巨勢強力能持危拯溺、慷慨特達、能仁明道之士。初再罹禍患，心猶未知，竟至於三，乃省前過。故知大丹之法至簡至易，雖愚昧小人得而行之，則立超聖地，是以天意秘惜，不許輕傳於匪人也。而伯端不遵師語，屢洩天機，以其有身，故每膺譴患，此天之深戒如此之神且速；敢不恐懼克責。自今以往，當鉗口結舌，雖鼎鑊居前，刀劍加項，亦無復敢言矣。

In the Jiyou year, Boduan met a teacher in Chengdu who gave him the elixir method; afterward three times he passed it to unsuitable people, and three times he suffered calamity, each within twenty days. Lately I recalled the teacher's warning: "If someday someone comes who unties your reins and unlocks your shackles, you should give it to him, and to no one else." Afterward, wanting to be freed from my registered name, and fearing others would not know to believe this Way, I composed this Wuzhen Pian (Awakening to Perfection) and set out the beginning and end of the elixir method. Once it was written out, seekers of learning flocked to me, and seeing their earnest intent I could not bear to refuse, so I chose some and gave it to them. But those I gave it to were none of them people of great power and influence who could uphold the endangered and rescue the drowning, or men of generous distinction who were humane and understood the Way. At first I fell into calamity again and did not yet know why, until the third time I finally realized my former mistake. So I know that the great elixir method is utterly simple and easy, so that even a foolish small man who gains it and practices it at once leaps into the sacred ground; for this reason heaven secretly guards it and does not permit it to be lightly given to the unworthy. And Boduan did not obey the teacher's words and repeatedly leaked heaven's secret; because I have a body, I was each time struck by punishment and calamity, so deep and so swift and godlike is heaven's warning; how dare I not fear and rebuke myself. From now on I should seal my lips and tie my tongue, and though cauldrons stand before me and a sword is set at my neck, I will not dare speak again.

此《悟真篇》中所歌詠大丹、藥物、火候細微之旨，無不備悉。倘好事者夙有仙骨，觀之則智慮自明，可以尋文解義，豈須伯端區區之口授耶。如此，乃天之所賜，非伯端之輒傳也。其如篇末歌頌，談見性之事，即上之所謂無上妙覺之道也。然無為之道，濟物為先，雖顯秘要，終無過咎。奈何凡夫，緣業有厚薄，性根有利鈍，縱聞一音，紛成異見，故釋迦、文殊所演法寶，無非一乘，而聽學者隨量會解，自然成三乘之差。此後若有根性猛利之士，見聞此篇，則知伯端得聞達摩、六祖最上一乘之妙旨，可因一言而悟萬法也；如其習氣尚餘，則歸中下之見，亦非伯端之咎矣。

In this Wuzhen Pian, the great elixir, the drugs, and the fine points of the fire timing are all fully described in the songs. If some lover of such things has long had an immortal's bones, then on reading it his thought will clear of itself, and he can seek the meaning in the text, so why would he need Boduan's petty oral teaching? In such a case it is heaven's gift, not something Boduan transmitted on his own. As for the songs at the end of the book, which speak of seeing one's nature, that is the Way of unsurpassed wondrous awakening mentioned above. But the Way of non-action puts saving beings first, and though I have revealed the secrets, in the end there is no fault. Unfortunately ordinary people have thick or thin karmic conditions and sharp or dull roots of nature, and even if they hear the same sound together, they come up with different views; so the Dharma treasures that Shakyamuni and Manjushri expounded were nothing but one vehicle, yet hearers and learners understand according to their capacity, and so naturally the differences of three vehicles arise. After this, if there are people of keen root who see and hear this book, they will know that Boduan heard the wondrous purport of the supreme one vehicle of Bodhidharma and the Sixth Patriarch, and may awaken to the myriad dharmas from a single word; if their old habits remain, they fall back on middling or lower views, and that is not Boduan's fault.

時元豐改元戊午歲仲夏戊寅日張伯瑞平叔再序。

At the time of the first year of the Yuanfeng era, the Wuwu year, on the Wuyin day of midsummer, Zhang Boduan, styled Pingshu, wrote this second preface.