Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Fifteen

卻來與你三十。上堂。日可冷。月可熱。眾魔不能壞真說。作麼生是真說。初三十一。中九下七。若信不及。雲巖與汝道破。萬人齊指處。一鴈落寒空。病起。上堂。舉馬大師日面佛．月面佛。後來東山演和尚頌曰。丫鬟女子畫蛾眉。鸞鏡臺前語似痴。自說玉顏難比竝。卻來架上著羅衣。師曰。東山老翁滿口讚歎則故是。點檢將來。未免有鄉情在。雲巖又且不然。打殺黃鶯兒。莫教枝上啼。幾回驚妾夢。不得到遼西。

'Then I come and give you thirty.' He mounted the hall: 'The sun may be cold, the moon may be hot.' The host of demons cannot destroy the true teaching. 'What is the true teaching? The first and the thirty-first; the middle nine and the lower seven. If you do not believe it, Yunya will break it open for you: where ten thousand men point together, a single wild goose falls in the cold sky.' Rising from illness, he mounted the hall and brought up Great Master Ma's 'sun-faced buddha, moon-faced buddha.' Later Elder Yan of Dongshan made a verse: 'A slave girl paints her moth eyebrows; before the phoenix mirror she speaks like a fool. She says her jade face is hard to match, yet she comes to the rack to put on silk robes.' The Master said: 'It is all very well for old man Dongshan to praise with a full mouth, but examined closely he cannot escape a touch of provincial feeling. Yunya is not so: kill the oriole, do not let it cry on the branch. How many times it startled my dream, so that I could not reach Liaoxi.'

潭州三角智堯禪師

Chan Master Zhiyao of Sanjiao, Tanzhou

上堂。揑土定千鈞。秤頭不立蠅。箇中些子事。走殺嶺南能。還有薦得底麼。直饒薦得。也是第二月。

He mounted the hall: 'Kneading clay, one settles a thousand jun; on the scale's beam a fly cannot stand. Some small matter within this drove Neng of Lingnan to death. Is there any who can grasp it? Even if you grasp it, it is still the second moon.'

慧日雅禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huiri Ya

隆興府九僊法清祖鑑禪師

Chan Master Zujian of Faqing, Jiuxian, Longxing Prefecture

嚴陵人也。甞於池之天寧。以伽棃覆頂而坐。侍郎曾公開問曰。上座僊鄉甚處。曰。嚴州。曰。與此間是同是別。師拽伽棃下地。揖曰。官人曾到嚴州否。曾罔措。師曰。待官人到嚴州時。卻向官人道。住後。上堂曰。萬柳千華暖日開。一華端有一如來。妙談不二虗空藏。動著微言徧九垓。笑咍咍。且道笑箇甚麼。笑覺苑腳跟不點地。上堂。舉睦州示眾曰。汝等諸人未得箇入頭處。須得箇入頭處。既得箇入頭處。不得忘卻。老僧明明向汝道。尚自不會。何況蓋覆將來。師曰。睦州恁麼道。意在甚麼處。其或未然。聽覺苑下箇註腳。張僧見王伴。王伴叫張僧。昨夜放牛處。嶺上及前村。溪西水不飲。溪東草不吞。教覺苑如何即得。會麼。不免與麼去。遂以兩手按空。下座。僧問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。惺惺寂寂。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。寂寂惺惺。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。惺惺惺惺。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。寂寂寂寂。曰。學人今日買鐵得金去也。師曰。甚麼處得這話頭來。

He was a man of Yanling. Once at Tianning in Chi he sat with his patched robe over his head. Lord Zeng, the Vice Minister, came and asked: 'Reverend, where is your immortal district?' He said: 'Yanzhou.' He said: 'Is it the same as this place or different?' The Master dragged his robe to the ground, bowed with hands clasped and said: 'Has the official ever been to Yanzhou?' Zeng was bewildered. The Master said: 'When the official goes to Yanzhou, then I will tell the official.' After he took up residence, he mounted the hall and said: 'Ten thousand willows and a thousand flowers open in the warm sun; in a single flower there is surely a Tathagata. Wondrously discoursing on the non-dual emptiness storehouse, at a touch the subtle words fill the ninefold heaven. Laughing ha-ha — tell me, what are you laughing at? Laughing that Jueyuan's heels do not touch the ground.' He mounted the hall and brought up Muzhou's address to the assembly: 'You people have not yet got a way in; you must get a way in. Once you have got a way in, you must not forget it. This old monk tells you plainly and you still do not understand — how much less if it were covered over.' The Master said: 'When Muzhou spoke thus, where was his meaning? If you are not so, listen to Jueyuan add a footnote: Zhang the monk sees Wang the companion; Wang the companion calls Zhang the monk. Last night where the ox was pastured, on the ridge and in the village ahead. West of the stream he does not drink the water; east of the stream he does not swallow the grass.' How then should Jueyuan do? Do you understand? He cannot but go thus. Then he pressed both hands on emptiness and descended. A monk asked: 'What is taking away the man but not the realm?' The Master said: 'Alert and still.' He said: 'What is taking away the realm but not the man?' The Master said: 'Still and alert.' He said: 'What is taking away both man and realm?' The Master said: 'Alert, alert.' He said: 'What is taking away neither man nor realm?' The Master said: 'Still, still.' He said: 'Today this student buys iron and gets gold.' The Master said: 'Where did you get that topic from?'

平江府覺海法因庵主

The lay brother Fayin of Juehai, Pingjiang Prefecture

郡之嵎山朱氏子。年二十四。披緇服進具。遊方至東林謁慧日。日舉靈雲悟道機語問之。師擬對。日曰。不是。不是。師忽有所契。占偈曰。巖上桃華開。華從何處來。靈雲才一見。回首舞三臺。日曰。子所見雖已入微。然更著鞭。當明大法。師承教。居廬阜三十年。不與世接。叢林尊之。建炎中盜起江左。順流東歸。邑人結庵命居。緇白繼踵問道。甞謂眾曰。汝等飽持定力。無憂晨炊而事幹求也。晚年放浪自若。稱五鬆散人。

He was a son of the Zhu family of Yushan in this prefecture. At twenty-four he put on the black robes and received full ordination. Wandering in search of the Way, he came to Donglin and called on Huiri. Ri brought up Lingyun's awakening story and asked him. The Master was about to answer, and Ri said: 'No, no.' The Master suddenly had an accord. He made a verse: 'On the crag the peach blossom opens — where does the flower come from? Lingyun had only one look, and turned his head and danced on the three terraces.' Ri said: 'What you have seen has already entered the subtle, but whip on further and you will understand the great dharma.' The Master received the instruction and lived on Mount Lu for thirty years, having no dealings with the world; the monasteries revered him. In the Jianyan era, when bandits rose in Jiangzuo, he went east downstream and returned home. The townspeople built a hermitage and asked him to stay. Monks and laymen came one after another to ask about the Way. He once told the assembly: 'If you are full of the power of samadhi, you need not worry about the morning cooking or beg for things.' In his later years he was free and unrestrained, calling himself the Idler of the Five Pines.

龍牙言禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Longya Yan

瑞州洞山擇言禪師

Chan Master Zeyan of Dongshan, Ruizhou

僧問。如何是十身調御。投子下禪床立。未審意旨如何。師曰。腳跟下七穿八穴。

A monk asked: 'What is the Ten-Bodied Sovereign? Touzi came down from the meditation seat and stood — what is the meaning?' The Master said: 'Beneath the heels, pierced seven ways and hollowed eight.'

文殊能禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Wenshu Neng

常德府德山瓊禪師

Chan Master Qiong of Deshan, Changde Prefecture

受請日上堂。曰。作家撈籠不肯住。呼喚不回頭。為甚麼從東過西。自代曰。後五日看。

On the day he accepted the invitation he mounted the hall and said: 'A master craftsman's net will not hold him, calling will not turn his head — why does he go from east to west?' He answered for him: 'Watch five days hence.'

智海青禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhihai Qing

蘄州四祖仲宣禪師

Chan Master Zhongxuan of the Fourth Patriarch, Qizhou

上堂。諸佛出世。為一大事因緣。祖師西來。直指人心是佛。凡聖本來不二。迷悟豈有殊途。非涅槃之可欣。非死生之可厭。但能一言了悟。不起坐而即證無生。一念回光。不舉步而徧周沙界。如斯要徑。引曰宗門。山僧既到這裡。不可徒然。乃舉拂子曰。看看。山河大地。日月星辰。若凡若聖。是人是物。盡在拂子頭上一毛端裡出入遊戲。諸人還見麼。設或便向這裡見得倜儻分明。更須知有向上一路。試問諸人。作麼生是向上一路。良久曰。六月長天降大雪。三冬嶺上火雲飛。

He mounted the hall: 'The buddhas appear in the world for the sake of one great matter. The patriarch came from the West pointing directly at the human mind: it is buddha. Ordinary and sage are originally not two; delusion and awakening — how could they be different paths? There is no nirvana to delight in, no birth and death to loathe. If one can awaken with a single word, one realizes the unborn without rising from one's seat. If one turns the light back in a single thought, one pervades the sands of the Ganges without taking a step. Such is the essential path, leading to speak of the school. Since this mountain monk has come to this, he cannot do it in vain.' Then he held up his fly whisk and said: 'Look, look: mountains, rivers and the great earth, sun, moon and stars, sage and ordinary, man and thing — all come and go and play within a single hair-tip on the head of the fly whisk. Do you people see it? Even if you see it with distinction and clarity here, you must still know there is a one road upward. Let me ask you people: what is the one road upward?' After a long while he said: 'In the long skies of the sixth month great snow falls; on the ridges of the three winters fire-clouds fly.'

泉州乾峰圓慧禪師

Chan Master Yuanhui of Qianfeng, Quanzhou

上堂。達磨正宗。衲僧巴鼻。堪嗟迷者成群。開眼瞌睡。頭上是天。腳下是地。耳朵聞聲。鼻孔出氣。敢問雲堂之徒。時中甚處安置。還見麼。可憐雙林傅大士。卻言祇這語聲是。咄。

He mounted the hall: 'Bodhidharma's true school, the patch-robed monk's nostrils. How pitiful that the deluded gather in crowds and, with eyes open, doze. Above the head is heaven, beneath the feet is earth; the ears hear sound, the nostrils breathe. May I ask the followers of the cloud hall: at ordinary times, where are you placed? Do you see it? Pitiful the layman Fu of Shuanglin, who said that just this sound of the voice is it. Ha!'

大溈瑃禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dawei Chun

眉州中巖慧目蘊能禪師

Chan Master Huimu Yunneng of Zhongyan, Meizhou

本郡呂氏子。年二十二。於村落一富室為校書。偶遊山寺。見禪𠕋。閱之似有得。即裂冠圓具。一缽遊方。首參寶勝澄甫禪師。所趣頗異。至荊湖。謁永安喜．真如喆．德山繪。造詣益高。迨抵大溈。溈問。上座桑梓何處。師曰。西川。曰。我聞西川有普賢菩薩示現。是否。師曰。今日得瞻慈相。曰。白象何在。師曰。爪牙已具。曰。還會轉身麼。師提坐具。繞禪床一帀。溈曰。不是這箇道理。師趨出。一日。溈為眾入室。問僧。黃巢過後。還有人收得劒麼。僧竪起拳。溈曰。菜刀子。僧曰。爭奈受用不盡。溈喝出。次問師。黃巢過後。還有人收得劒麼。師亦竪起拳。溈曰。也祇是菜刀子。師曰。殺得人即休。遂近前。攔胷築之。溈曰。三十年弄馬騎。今日被驢子撲。後還蜀。庵於舊址。應四眾之請。出住報恩。上堂。龍濟道。萬法是心光。諸緣唯性曉。本無迷悟人。祇要今日了。師曰。既無迷悟。了箇甚麼。咄。上堂。舉。雪峰一日普請搬柴。中路見一僧。遂擲下一段柴。曰。一大藏教。祇說這箇。後來真如喆道。一大藏教。不說這箇。據此二尊宿說話。是同是別。山僧則不然。竪起拂子曰。提起則如是我聞。放下則信受奉行。室中問崇真氈頭。如何是你空劫已前父母。真領悟曰。和尚且低聲。遂獻投機頌曰。萬年倉裡曾饑饉。大海中住儘長渴。當初尋時尋不見。如今避時避不得。師為印可。一日與黃提刑奕棊次。黃問。數局之中。無一局同。千著萬著則故是。如何是那一著。師提起棊子示之。黃佇思。師曰。不見道。從前十九路。迷殺幾多人。師住持三十餘載。凡說法不許錄其語。臨終書偈。趺坐而化。闍維時㬥風忽起。煙所至處。皆雨設利。道俗斸其地。皆得之。心舌不壞。塔於本山。

He was a son of the Lu family of this prefecture. At twenty-two he was a book corrector for a rich house in a village. Once, wandering to a mountain monastery, he saw a Chan volume; reading it, he seemed to have some gain, and at once tore off his cap and took full ordination. With one bowl he wandered in search of the Way. He first studied under Chan Master Baosheng Chengfu, and his bent was quite different. Reaching Jinghu, he called on Yongan Xi, Zhenru Zhe and Deshan Hui, and his attainments grew higher. When he came to Dawei, Wei asked: 'Where is the Reverend's native place?' The Master said: 'Western Shu.' He said: 'I hear that in Western Shu Bodhisattva Samantabhadra appears — is that so?' The Master said: 'Today I have been granted a sight of his compassionate countenance.' He said: 'Where is the white elephant?' The Master said: 'His claws and fangs are already complete.' He said: 'Can he still turn his body?' The Master lifted his sitting cloth and walked once around the meditation seat. Wei said: 'That is not the principle.' The Master hurried out. One day Wei entered the room for the assembly and asked a monk: 'After Huang Chao passed, has anyone recovered the sword?' The monk held up his fist. Wei said: 'A vegetable knife.' The monk said: 'But its use is inexhaustible.' Wei shouted him out. Then he asked the Master: 'After Huang Chao passed, has anyone recovered the sword?' The Master also held up his fist. Wei said: 'That too is only a vegetable knife.' The Master said: 'If it can kill a man, that is enough.' Then he came forward and butted him in the chest. Wei said: 'Thirty years riding horses, and today I am thrown by a donkey.' Later he returned to Shu and built a hut on his old site. In response to the request of the four assemblies he came forth to reside at Baoen. He mounted the hall: 'Longji said: the ten thousand dharmas are the light of the mind; all conditions are known only by the nature. Originally there is no deluded or awakened person; one need only finish it today.' The Master said: 'Since there is no delusion or awakening, what is finished? Ha!' He mounted the hall: 'Bring it up.' One day at the general call to carry firewood, Xuefeng saw a monk on the road, threw down a stick of firewood and said: 'The whole tripitaka only speaks of this.' Later Zhenru Zhe said: 'The whole tripitaka does not speak of this.' On the basis of these two elders' words, are they the same or different? This mountain monk is not so.' He held up his fly whisk and said: 'Raised, it is Thus have I heard; set down, it is believed, received and practiced.' In his room he asked Chongzhen, the felt-haired one: 'What are your parents before the empty kalpa?' Zhen had an awakening and said: 'Master, keep your voice down.' Then he presented a verse of accord: 'In the ten-thousand-year granary one has known famine; dwelling in the great sea one has been utterly thirsty. When first one sought, one could not find it; now that one would avoid it, one cannot.' The Master gave him his approval. One day, playing chess with the judicial commissioner Huang, Huang asked: 'Among several games, no two are the same. A thousand moves and ten thousand moves are all very well — what is that one move?' The Master picked up a chess piece and showed it to him. Huang stood pondering. The Master said: 'Have you not heard it said: on the nineteen roads of former days, how many men have been deluded to death?' The Master was abbot for over thirty years. In all his preaching he would not permit his words to be recorded. At the end he wrote a verse and passed away sitting cross-legged. At cremation a violent wind suddenly rose, and wherever the smoke reached, relics rained down. Monks and laymen dug the ground and all found them. His heart and tongue were unspoiled. A stupa was built on his own mountain.

懷安軍雲頂寶覺宗印禪師

Chan Master Zongyin of Yunding Baojue, Huai'an Jun

上堂。古者道。識得凳子。周帀有餘。又道。識得凳子。天地懸殊。山僧總不恁麼。識得凳子是甚麼閑傢俱。一日普說罷。師曰。諸子未要散去。更聽一頌。乃曰。四十九年。一場熱閧。八十七春。老漢獨弄。誰少誰多。一般作夢。歸去來兮。梅梢雪重。言訖下座。倚杖而逝。

He mounted the hall: 'The ancients said: if you recognize the stool, all around is more than enough. They also said: if you recognize the stool, heaven and earth are far apart. This mountain monk is not so at all: if you recognize the stool, what idle furniture is it?' One day, after the general address, the Master said: 'Sons, do not disperse yet; hear one more verse.' Then he said: 'Forty-nine years, one great hubbub; eighty-seven springs, the old man played alone. Who has less, who has more? All alike dreaming. Let me go home — the plum tips are heavy with snow.' When the words were done he descended from the seat, leaned on his staff and passed away.

昭覺白禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhaojue Bai

成都府信相宗顯正覺禪師

Chan Master Zhengjue, Zongxian of Xinxiang, Chengdu Prefecture

潼川王氏子。少為進士。有聲。甞晝掬溪水為戲。至夜思之。遂見水泠然盈室欲汲之不可。而塵境自空。曰。吾世網裂矣。往依昭覺得度。具滿分戒。後隨眾諮參。覺一日問師。高高峰頂立。深深海底行。汝作麼生會。師於言下頓悟。曰。釘殺腳跟也。覺拈起拂子曰。這箇又作麼生。師一笑而出。服勤七祀。南遊至京師。歷淮淛。晚見五祖演和尚於海會。出問。未知關棙子。難過趙州橋。趙州橋即不問。如何是關棙子。祖曰。汝且在門外立。師進步。一踏而退。祖曰。許多時茶飯。元來也有人知滋味。明日入室。祖雲。你便是昨日問話底僧否。我固知你見處。祇是未過得白雲關在。師珍重。便出。時圓悟為侍者。師以白雲關意扣之。悟曰。你但直下會取。師笑曰。我不是不會。祇是未諳。待見這老漢。共伊理會一上。明日。祖往舒城。師與悟繼往。適會於興化。祖問師。記得曾在郡裡相見來。師曰。全火祗候。祖顧悟曰。這漢饒舌。自是機緣相契。遊廬阜回。師以高高峰頂立深深海底行所得之語告五祖。祖曰。吾甞以此事詰先師。先師雲。我曾問遠和尚。遠曰。貓有飲血之功。虎有起屍之德。非素達本源。不能到也。師給侍之久。祖鍾愛之。後辭西歸。為小參。復以頌送曰。離鄉四十餘年。一時忘卻蜀語。禪人回到成都。切須記取魯語。時覺尚無恙。師再侍之。名聲藹著。遂出住長松。遷保福信相。僧問。三世諸佛。六代祖師。總出這圈䙡不得。如何是這圈。䙡師曰。井欄唇。上堂。舉。仰山問中邑。如何是佛性義。邑曰。我與你說箇譬喻。汝便會也。譬如一室有六窻。內有一獼猴。外有獼猴從東邊喚狌狌。獼猴即應。如是六窻。俱喚俱應。仰乃禮拜。適蒙和尚指示。某有箇疑處。邑曰。你有甚麼疑。仰曰。祇如內獼猴睡時。外獼猴欲與相見。又作麼生。邑下禪床。執仰山手曰。狌狌與你相見了。師曰。

He was a son of the Wang family of Tongchuan. As a youth he was a presented scholar and had a name. Once by day he scooped up stream water in play; by night, thinking of it, he saw the water clear and cool filling the room, and though he wished to ladle it up he could not, and the dust-realm of itself became empty. He said: 'My net of the world is torn.' He went and received ordination under Zhaojue, taking the full and perfect precepts. Afterward he followed the assembly in inquiry and study. One day Jue asked the Master: 'Standing on the high peak's summit, walking in the deep sea's depths — how do you understand it?' At these words the Master was instantly awakened and said: 'The heel is nailed fast.' Jue picked up his fly whisk and said: 'And what about this?' The Master gave a laugh and went out. He served diligently for seven years, then wandered south to the capital, passing through Huai and Zhe, and in his later years saw Elder Wuzu Yan at Haihui. He came forward and asked: 'Not yet knowing the pivot, it is hard to cross Zhaozhou Bridge. Of Zhaozhou Bridge I do not ask — what is the pivot?' Zu said: 'You stand outside the gate for now.' The Master stepped forward, took one step and retreated. Zu said: 'After all this time of tea and rice, it turns out there is someone who knows the flavor.' The next day he entered the room. Zu said: 'Are you the monk who asked the question yesterday? I certainly know your insight; it is only that you have not yet passed the Baiyun Gate.' The Master said 'Take care' and went out. At that time Yuanwu was the attendant. The Master asked him about the meaning of the Baiyun Gate. Wu said: 'Just understand it directly.' The Master laughed and said: 'It is not that I do not understand; it is only that I am not familiar with it. Let me see that old fellow and settle it with him.' The next day Zu went to Shucheng, and the Master and Wu followed. They happened to meet at Xinghua. Zu asked the Master: 'I remember we met at the prefecture.' The Master said: 'The whole fire only awaits.' Zu turned to Wu and said: 'This fellow is talkative.' Then of himself the working accorded, and he returned from touring Mount Lu. The Master told Wuzu the words he had gained from standing on the high peak's summit and walking in the deep sea's depths. Zu said: 'I once pressed my late master on this matter, and my late master said: I asked Elder Yuan. Yuan said: The cat has the merit of drinking blood; the tiger has the virtue of raising the dead. Unless one has long penetrated the original source, one cannot reach it.' The Master attended him for a long time, and Zu cherished him. Later he took leave to return west, and held a minor assembly for him. Again he made a verse to send him off: 'Away from home more than forty years, one has forgotten the Shu speech; when the Chan man returns to Chengdu, by all means remember the Lu speech.' At that time Jue was still in good health. The Master attended him again, and his fame grew widespread. Then he came forth to reside at Changsong and moved to Baofu Xinxiang. A monk asked: 'The buddhas of the three ages and the patriarchs of six generations cannot get out of this loop — what is this loop?' The Master said: 'The rim of the well curb.' He mounted the hall: 'Bring it up: Yangshan asked Zhongyi, what is the meaning of the buddha-nature? Yi said: I will give you a parable and you will understand. Suppose a room has six windows, and inside is a macaque; outside a macaque calls to it from the east, and the macaque answers. Thus at all six windows, whenever one calls, it answers. Yang then bowed and said: I have been instructed by the Master's teaching, but I have a doubt. Yi said: What doubt have you? Yang said: Suppose the inner macaque is asleep and the outer macaque wishes to see it — what then? Yi came down from the meditation seat, took Yangshan's hand and said: The macaque has seen you. The Master said:

諸人要見二老麼。我也與你說箇譬喻。中邑大似箇金師。仰山將一塊金來。使金師酬價。金師亦盡價相酬。臨成交易。賣金底更與貼秤。金師雖然闇喜。心中未免偷疑。何故。若非細作。定是賊贓。便下座。

'Do you people want to see these two elders? I too will give you a parable. Zhongyi is very much like a goldsmith; Yangshan brought a lump of gold and had the goldsmith appraise its price. The goldsmith also paid the full price. As the deal was about to be closed, the seller of the gold threw in something extra to the scale. Though the goldsmith was secretly pleased, in his heart he could not help but secretly doubt. Why? If it is not a spy, it must be stolen goods.' Then he descended from the seat.

道林一禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Daolin Yi

潭州大溈大圓智禪師

Chan Master Dayuan Zhi of Dawei, Tanzhou

四明人也。上堂。舉南泉道。三世諸佛不知有。狸奴白牯卻知有。師曰。三世諸佛既不知有。狸奴白牯又何曾夢見。灼然。須知向上有知有底人始得。且作麼生是知有底人。吃官酒。臥官街。當處死。當處埋。沙場無限英靈漢。堆山積嶽露屍骸。

He was a man of Siming. He mounted the hall: 'Bring up Nanquan's words: the buddhas of the three ages do not know it; the cats and white oxen do know it. The Master said: Since the buddhas of the three ages do not know it, how could the cats and white oxen have ever dreamed of it? Plainly one must know that going beyond there is a person who knows it. And what is the person who knows it? Drinking official wine, lying in the official street; die where you are, be buried where you are. On the battlefield, countless fine spirits pile up mountains and heap up peaks, exposing their corpses.'

南嶽下十五世

The fifteenth generation below Nanyue

上封秀禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shangfeng Xiu

文定公胡安國草菴居士

The Layman of the Straw Hut, Lord Hu Anguo, Duke of Wen Ding

字康侯。久依上封。得言外之旨。崇寧中過藥山。有禪人舉南泉斬貓話問公。公以偈答曰。手握乾坤殺活機。縱橫施設在臨時。玉堂兔馬非龍象。大用堂堂總不知。又寄上封。有曰。祝融峰似杜城天。萬古江山在目前。須信死心元不死。夜來秋月又同圓。

His courtesy name was Kanghou. He long relied on Shangfeng and gained the purport beyond words. In the Chongning era, passing Yaoshan, a Chan man brought up the story of Nanquan's cat and asked him. The gentleman answered with a verse: 'The hand grasps the killing and giving life working of heaven and earth; the setting forth, vertical and horizontal, lies in the moment. The jade hall's hare and horse are no dragon elephant; the great function, magnificent, they altogether do not know.' And again he sent to Shangfeng: 'The Zhurong Peak is like the sky over Du City; the rivers and mountains of ten thousand ages are before the eyes. You must believe that the dead mind was never dead; last night the autumn moon was round again with it.'

上封才禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shangfeng Cai