Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Fifteen

成都府金繩文禪師

Chan Master Wen of Jinsheng in Chengdu Prefecture

僧問如何是大道之源。師曰黃河九曲。曰。如何是不犯之令。師曰鐵蛇鑽不入。僧擬議。師便打。

A monk asked, 'What is the source of the great Way?' The Master said, 'The Yellow River's nine bends.' He said, 'What is the command that is never transgressed?' The Master said, 'An iron snake cannot drill into it.' As the monk began to deliberate, the Master struck him.

南嶽下十六世

Sixteenth Generation below Nanyue

育王諶禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Chen of Yuwang

台州萬年心聞曇賁禪師

Chan Master Xinwen Tanben of Wannian in Taizhou

永嘉人。住江心。病起上堂。維摩病說盡道理。龍翔病咳嗽不已。咳嗽不已。說盡道理。說盡道理。咳嗽不已。汝等諸人還識得其中意旨也未。本是長江湊風冷。卻教露柱患頭風。上堂。一見便見。八角磨盤空裡轉。一得永得。辰錦硃砂如墨黑。秋風吹渭水。已落雲門三句裡。落葉滿長安。幾箇而今被眼瞞。竪拂子曰。瞞得瞞不得。總在萬年手裡。還見麼。華頂月籠招手石。斷橋水落捨身巖。僧問。百丈卷席。意旨如何。師曰。賊過後張弓。四明太守以雪竇命師主之。師辭以偈曰。閙籃方喜得抽頭。退皷而今打未休。莫把乳峰千丈雪。重來換我一雙眸。

He was a man of Yongjia. He lived at Jiangxin. On rising from illness he ascended the hall: 'Vimalakirti's illness expounded all principles; Longxiang's illness coughed without cease. Coughing without cease — expounding all principles. Expounding all principles — coughing without cease. Assembly, do you understand the purport in this? The long river was cold where the wind gathered, and it made the exposed pillar suffer a headache.' Ascending the hall: 'See it at a single glance and you have seen it — the eight-cornered millstone turns in the sky. Gain it once and you have gained it forever — the cinnabar of Chen and Jin is black as ink. The autumn wind blows over the Wei River; it has already fallen into Yunmen's three phrases. Fallen leaves fill Chang'an; how many today are deceived by their eyes?' He raised his whisk and said, 'Deceived or not deceived, it all lies in Wannian's hand. Do you see it? The moon over Huading Peak halts at the beckoning stone; the broken bridge's water falls at the body-offering cliff.' A monk asked, 'What is the purport of Baizhang rolling up the mat?' The Master said, 'Drawing the bow after the thief has passed.' The prefect of Siming offered him the abbacy of Xuedou. He declined with a verse: 'Glad to have drawn my head out of the noisy basket, yet the retreat drum is still being beaten. Do not take the thousand-fathom snow of Rufeng Peak and come again to trade for these two eyes of mine.'

慶元府天童慈航了樸禪師

Chan Master Cihang Liaopu of Tiantong in Qingyuan Prefecture

福州人。上堂。酷暑如焚不易禁。炎炎赫赫欲流金。夜明簾外無人到。靈木迢然轉綠陰。上堂。久雨不晴。半睡半醒。可謂天地合其德。日月合其明。四時合其序。鬼神合其吉凶。遂喝曰。住。住。內卦已成。更求外象。卓拄杖曰。適來擲得雷天大壯。如今變作地火明夷。上堂。牛皮鞔露柱。露柱啾啾叫。燈籠佯不知。虗明還自照。殿脊老蚩吻。聞得呵呵笑。三門側耳聽。就上打之遶。譬如十日菊。開徹阿誰要。阿呵呵。未必秋香一夜衰。熨斗煎茶不同銚。室中問僧。賊來須打。客來須看。祇如三更夜半。人面似賊。賊面似人。作麼生辨。上堂。觀音巖玲玲瓏瓏。太白石丁丁東東。西園菜蟥。似不堪食。東谷華發。卻無賴紅。且道是祖意教意。途中受用。世諦流佈。若辨不出。雪峰覆卻飯桶。若辨得出。甘贄禮拜蒸籠。參。上堂。德山入門便棒。臨濟入門便喝。臨濟喝處。德山棒頭耳聾。德山棒時。臨濟喝下眼瞎。雖然一搦一擡。就中全生全殺。遂喝一喝。卓拄杖一下雲。敢問諸人是生是殺。良久雲。君子可八。

He was a man of Fuzhou. Ascending the hall: 'Blazing heat like fire is hard to endure; fiercely, blazingly, it would melt metal. Beyond the night-shining curtain no one arrives; the sacred tree, far off, turns to green shade.' Ascending the hall: 'Long rain does not clear; half asleep, half awake. You may say heaven and earth match their virtue, sun and moon match their brightness, the four seasons match their order, the ghosts and spirits match their fortune and misfortune.' Then he shouted and said, 'Enough, enough. The inner trigram is already formed; do you still seek the outer image?' He planted his staff and said, 'Just now I cast Thunder over Heaven, Great Vigor; now it has changed into Fire over Earth, Darkening of the Light.' Ascending the hall: 'An oxhide covers the exposed pillar; the exposed pillar chirps and squeaks. The lantern pretends not to know; empty brightness still shines by itself. The old owl-beast on the roof ridge hears it and laughs heartily. The three gates listen with ears cocked, then go round and round on top of it. It is like a ten-day chrysanthemum — when it is fully open, who wants it? Ha ha ha. Autumn fragrance does not necessarily fade in one night; frying tea in a flatiron is not the same as in a kettle.' In his room he asked a monk, 'When a thief comes you must strike; when a guest comes you must look. But at the third watch of the night, when a man's face looks like a thief's and a thief's face looks like a man's, how do you tell them apart?' Ascending the hall: 'Guanyin Rock is tinkling and chiming; Taibai Stone is clinking and clanking. The vegetable grubs of the west garden seem unfit to eat; the flowers of the east valley are wantonly red. Tell me, is this the Ancestor's meaning or the teaching's meaning? It is use on the road, the spreading of worldly truth. If you cannot tell it apart, Xuefeng overturns the rice bucket. If you can tell it apart, Gan Zhi bows to the steaming basket. Take heed.' Ascending the hall: 'Deshan strikes as soon as you enter the gate; Linji shouts as soon as you enter the gate. Where Linji shouts, Deshan's staff goes deaf; when Deshan strikes, Linji's shout goes blind. Though one grabs and one lifts, in the midst there is complete life and complete death.' Then he gave a shout, planted his staff once and said, 'May I ask you all, is this life or death?' After a long while he said, 'A gentleman may be eight.'

南劍州西巖宗回禪師

Chan Master Zonghui of West Rock in Nanjian Prefecture

婺州人也。久依無示。深得法忍。因寺僧以茶禁聞有司。吏捕知事。師謂眾曰。此事不直之。則罪坐於我。若自直。彼復得罪。不忍為也。令擊皷陞座。說偈曰。縣吏追呼不暫停。爭如長往事分明。從前有箇無生曲。且喜今朝調已成。言訖而逝。

He was a man of Wuzhou. He long relied on Wushi and deeply attained the patient acceptance of dharma. Because the monks of the monastery had reported the tea prohibition to the authorities, the officials arrested the prior. The Master said to the assembly, 'If I do not put this matter right, the guilt will fall on me. If I clear myself, the other will be found guilty. I cannot bear to do it.' He had the drum struck and mounted the seat, and spoke a verse: 'The county clerk's summons never pauses; how much better to have long let matters be clear. From of old there is a song of the unborn, and I am glad that today its tune is done.' When the words were finished he passed away.

高麗國坦然國師

National Master Tanran of Koryo

少嗣王位。欽鄉宗乘。因海商方景仁抵四明錄無示語歸。師閱之啟悟。即棄位圓顱。作書以語要及四威儀偈。令景仁呈無示。示答曰。佛祖出興於世。無一法與人。實使其自信．自悟．自證．自到。具大知見。如所見而說。如所說而行。山河大地．草木叢林相與證明。其來久矣。後復通嗣法。其書略曰。生死海廣。劫殫同通。得遇本分宗師。以三要印子。驗定其法。實謂盲龜值浮木孔耳。

While young he inherited the throne. He revered the Chan school. Because the sea merchant Fang Jingren reached Siming and brought back Wushi's words, the Master read them and was awakened. He at once gave up the throne and shaved his head, and wrote a letter with the essentials of the words and a verse on the four dignified deportments, and had Jingren present them to Wushi. Wushi answered, 'The Buddhas and Ancestors have appeared in the world and have not given a single dharma to anyone. They truly cause them to believe for themselves, awaken for themselves, realize for themselves, arrive for themselves — to possess the great knowledge and vision, to speak as they have seen, and to practice as they have spoken. The mountains, rivers and great earth, the grasses, trees and forests all bear witness together. This has been so for a long time.' Later he again communicated his inheritance of the Dharma. His letter said in brief, 'The sea of birth and death is vast; when the kalpa is exhausted it will be cleared at once. Having met a master of the original portion and tested and settled the Dharma with the seal of the three essentials, it is truly a blind turtle meeting the hole in the floating log.'

臨安府龍華無住本禪師

Chan Master Wuzhu Ben of Longhua in Lin'an Prefecture

廣德人也。上堂。舉。雲門大師拈起胡餅曰。我祇供養兩淛人。不供養向北人。眾無語。門自代曰。天寒日短。兩人共一椀。師曰。韶陽老漢。言中有響。痛處著錐。檢點將來。飜成毒藥。諸人要會麼。半在河南半河北。一片虗凝似墨黑。冷地思量愁殺人。叵耐雲門這老賊。賊。賊。下座。更不巡堂。

He was a man of Guangde. Ascending the hall: 'Yunmen the Great Master picked up a sesame cake and said, "I only make offerings to the men of the two Zhe; I do not make offerings to men from the north." The assembly was silent. Men himself answered in their place, "The day is cold and the daylight short; two men share one bowl." The Master said, "Old man Shaoyang's words have an echo in them; he sticks the awl into the painful spot. But on examination it turns into poison. Assembly, do you want to understand? Half in Henan, half in Hebei; one patch of empty congelation black as ink. Thinking it over in a cold place kills a man with grief. How I hate that old thief Yunmen — thief, thief!"' He descended from the seat and did not make the circuit of the hall.

道場琳禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Lin of Daochang

臨江軍東山吉禪師

Chan Master Ji of Dongshan in Linjiang Jun

因李朝請與甥薌林居士向公子諲謁之。遂問。家賊惱人時如何。師曰。誰是家賊。李竪起拳。師曰。賊身已露。李曰。莫茶糊人好。師曰。贓證見在。李無語。師示以偈曰。家賊惱人孰奈何。千聖回機祇為他。徧界徧空無影跡。無依無住絕籠羅。賊。賊。猛將雄兵收不得。疑殺天下老禪和。笑倒閙市古彌勒。休。休。不用將心向外求。回頭瞥爾賊身露。和贓捉獲世無儔。世無儔。真可仰。從茲不復誇伎倆。怗怗安家樂業時。萬象森羅齊拊掌。

Because Li Chaoqing and his nephew the layman Xianglin, Master Xiang, came to call on him, he asked, 'What when the thief within troubles a man?' The Master said, 'Who is the thief within?' Li raised his fist. The Master said, 'The thief's body is already exposed.' Li said, 'Best not to muddle people with tea.' The Master said, 'The evidence of the stolen goods is before us.' Li was silent. The Master showed him a verse: 'When the thief within troubles a man, who can do anything about it? A thousand sages turn their mechanism for his sake alone. Throughout the world and all of space he leaves no shadow or trace; without reliance and without abiding, cut off from every net and snare. Thief, thief! Fierce generals and valiant soldiers cannot capture him. He puzzles to death the old meditators of the world; he makes the ancient Maitreya of the busy market laugh till he falls. Rest, rest! No need to seek with the mind outside. Turn your head and in a flash the thief's body is exposed; caught together with the goods, he has no peer in the world. No peer in the world — truly to be looked up to. From this time on he no longer brags of his tricks. When one keeps a peaceful home and enjoys one's work, the ten thousand images and the dense array all clap their hands.'

道場慧禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Hui of Daochang

臨安府靈隱懶庵道樞禪師

Chan Master Daoqu of the Lazy Hermitage at Lingyin in Lin'an Prefecture

吳興四安徐氏子。初住何山。次移華藏。隆興初。詔居靈隱。孝宗皇帝召至內殿。問禪道之要。師答以此事在陛下堂堂日用應機處。本無知見起滅之棼．聖凡迷悟之別。第護正念。則與道相應。情卻物。則業不能繫。盡去沉掉之病。自忘問答之意。矧今補處。見在佛般若光明中。何事不成見耶。上為之首肯數四。師示眾曰。仙人張果老。騎驢穿市過。但聞蹄撥剌。誰知是紙做。後退居明教永安蘭若。逍遙自適。有偈題於壁曰。雪裡梅華春信息。池中月色夜精神。年來可是無佳趣。莫把家風舉似人。淳熙丙申八月。示微疾。書偈而逝。塔於永安。

He was a son of the Xu family of Si'an in Wuxing. He first lived at He Mountain, then moved to Huazang. At the beginning of Longxing he was summoned to reside at Lingyin. Emperor Xiaozong summoned him to the inner hall and asked about the essentials of Chan and the Way. The Master answered that this matter lies in Your Majesty's dignified daily responses to circumstances, and is originally without the tangle of knowledge and vision arising and perishing, or the distinction between sage and ordinary, deluded and awakened. If only one protects right mindfulness, then one accords with the Way. When feeling is set aside and things are relinquished, then karma cannot bind one. Wholly removing the faults of sinking and scattering, one naturally forgets the sense of question and answer. Moreover, in your present position as successor, in the prajna radiance of the present Buddha, what matter will not be accomplished and seen? The emperor nodded several times. The Master showed the assembly: 'The immortal Zhang Guolao rode his donkey through the market; one only heard the clip-clop of hooves — who knew it was made of paper?' Later he withdrew to the Yongan Aranya at Mingjiao and lived at ease. He wrote a verse on the wall: 'Plum blossoms in the snow are spring's message; moonlight in the pond is the night's spirit. These years there may be no fine delight — do not raise the family style before others.' In the eighth month of the bing-shen year of Chunxi he showed slight illness, wrote a verse and passed away. His stupa is at Yongan.

光孝慜禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Min of Guangxiao

廣德軍光孝悟初首座

Head Seat Wuchu of Guangxiao in Guangde Jun

分座日示眾。舉風幡話。至仁者心動處。乃曰。祖師恁麼道。賺殺一船人。今時衲僧。也不可恁麼會。既不恁麼會。畢竟作麼生。良久曰。六月好合醬。切忌著鹽多。

When he shared the seat he showed the assembly. He brought up the wind and banner story, and when he came to the place where the benevolent one's mind moves, he said, 'The Ancestor speaking that way cheated a whole boatload of people. Patch-robed monks today should not understand it that way either. But since you do not understand it that way, after all how is it?' After a long while he said, 'The sixth month is a good time to make sauce; above all do not put in too much salt.'

南嶽下十七世

Seventeenth Generation below Nanyue

萬年賁禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ben of Wannian

溫州龍鳴在庵賢禪師

Chan Master Xian of the Zaian Hermitage at Longming in Wenzhou

上堂。舉。崇壽示眾曰。識得凳子。周帀有餘。雲門道。識得凳子。天地懸殊。師曰。崇壽老漢。坐殺天下人。雲門大師。走殺天下人。龍鳴則不然。識得凳子。四腳著地。要坐便坐。要起便起。上堂。舉趙州勘婆話頌曰。冰雪佳人貌最奇。常將玉笛向人吹。曲中無限華心動。獨許東君第一枝。

Ascending the hall: 'Chongshou showed the assembly: "Know the stool and the whole of it is more than enough." Yunmen said, "Know the stool and heaven and earth are far apart." The Master said, "Old man Chongshou sits to death the people of the world. The Great Master Yunmen walks to death the people of the world. Longming is not like that: know the stool — its four legs on the ground; if you want to sit, sit; if you want to rise, rise."' Ascending the hall: he brought up Zhaozhou's testing the old woman and praised it in verse: 'The lady of ice and snow has the strangest looks of all; she always raises a jade flute and blows it toward people. In the tune are countless flower-hearts stirred — but the eastern lord is allowed only the first branch.'

潭州大溈咦庵鑑禪師

Chan Master Jian of the Yi Hermitage at Dawei in Tanzhou

會稽人也。上堂。木落霜空。天寒水冷。釋迦老子。無處藏身。拆東籬。補西壁。撞著不空見菩薩。請示念佛三昧。也甚奇怪。卻向道。金色光明雲。參退吃茶去。上堂。老胡開一條路。甚生徑直。祇雲。歇即菩提。性淨明心。不從人得。後人不得其門。一向奔馳南北。往復東西。極歲窮年。無箇歇處。諸人還歇得麼。休。休。上堂。舉。晦堂和尚一日問僧。甚處來。曰。南雄州。堂曰。出來作甚麼。曰。尋訪尊宿。堂曰。不如歸鄉好。曰。未審和尚令某歸鄉。意旨如何。堂曰。鄉裡三錢買一片魚鮓。如手掌大。師曰。寧可碎身如微塵。終不瞎箇師僧眼。晦堂較些子。有般漢便道。熟處難忘。有甚共語處。上堂。舉罽賓國王問師子尊者蘊空公案。師頌曰。尊者何曾得蘊空。罽賓徒自斬春風。桃華雨後已零落。染得一溪流水紅。

He was a man of Kuaiji. Ascending the hall: 'The trees have shed and the frost sky is bare; the day is cold and the water chill. Old Sakyamuni has nowhere to hide. Tear down the eastern fence and patch up the western wall. Bumping into the Bodhisattva Seeing the Empty, he asks for instruction on the samadhi of Buddha-recollection. Very strange indeed. Yet the answer came back: "Golden radiance clouds; disperse, and go drink tea."' Ascending the hall: 'The old barbarian opened one road, and very straight it is. He only said, "Rest itself is bodhi; the pure and luminous mind is not obtained from another." Later men could not find the gate, and all their lives rushed north and south, back and forth east and west, to the end of their years without a place to rest. Assembly, can you rest or not? Rest, rest!' Ascending the hall: 'The venerable elder Huitang one day asked a monk, "Where do you come from?" He said, "Nanxiong Prefecture." Tang said, "What did you come out to do?" He said, "To seek out venerable masters." Tang said, "You would do better to go back to your home village." He said, "May I ask why the Master tells me to go home?" Tang said, "In my home village three coppers buy a slice of pickled fish as big as your palm." The Master said, "I would rather shatter this body into dust than blind a single monk's eye. Huitang was a bit better. There are fellows who then say, 'Hard to forget the familiar places.' What is there to talk about with them?' Ascending the hall: he brought up the case of the King of Kasmira asking the Venerable Simha about the emptiness of the aggregates. The Master praised it in verse: 'How could the Venerable ever have attained the emptiness of the aggregates? The King of Kasmira in vain cut the spring wind. After the rain the peach blossoms have already fallen; they dyed a whole stream's flowing water red.'