Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

期初七示寂。至日酉時。跏趺而逝。闍維獲設利五色。歸藏於塔。

He had foretold that he would pass away on the seventh of the month. On that day, at the hour of the rooster, he sat cross-legged and passed away. After cremation five-coloured relics were obtained, and they were brought back and enshrined in a stupa.

彭州大隨南堂元靜禪師(後名道興)

Chan Master Yuanjing of the Southern Hall of Dasui in Pengzhou (afterwards named Daoxing)

閬之玉山大儒趙公約仲之子也。十歲病甚。母禱之。感異夢。捨令出家。師成都大慈寶生院宗裔。元祐三年。通經得度。留講聚有年。而南下首參永安恩禪師。於臨濟三頓棒話發明。次依諸名宿。無有當意者。聞五祖機峻。欲抑之。遂謁祖。祖乃曰。我此間不比諸方。凡於室中。不要汝進前退後。竪指擎拳。繞禪床作女人拜。提起坐具。千般伎倆。祇要你一言下諦當。便是汝見處。師茫然退。參三載。一日入室罷。祖謂曰。子所下語。已得十分。試更與我說看。師即剖而陳之。祖曰。說亦說得十分。更與我斷看。師隨所問而判之。祖曰。好即好。祇是未曾得老僧說話在。齋後可來祖師塔所。與汝一一按過始得。及至彼。祖便以即心即佛。非心非佛。睦州擔板漢。南泉斬貓兒。趙州狗子無佛性．有佛性。之語編闢之。其所對了無凝滯。至子胡狗話。祖遽轉面曰。不是。師曰。不是卻如何。祖曰。此不是。則和前面皆不是。師曰。望和尚慈悲指示。祖曰。看他道。子胡有一狗。上取人頭。中取人腰。下取人腳。入門者好看。才見僧入門。便道。看狗。向子胡道看狗處下一轉語。教子胡結舌。老僧鈐口。便是你了當處。次日入室。師默啟其說。祖笑曰。不道你不是千了百當底人。此語祇似先師下底語。師曰。某何人。得似端和尚。祖曰。不然。老僧雖承嗣他。謂他語拙。蓋祇用遠錄公手段接人故也。如老僧共遠錄公。便與百丈．黃檗．南泉．趙州輩把手共行。才見語拙即不堪。師以為不然。乃曳杖渡江。適大水泛漲。因留。四祖儕輩挽其歸。又二年。祖方許可。甞商略古今次。執師手曰。得汝說須是吾舉。得汝舉須是吾說。而今而後。佛祖秘要。諸方關鍵。無逃子掌握矣。遂創南堂以居之。於是名冠寰海。成都帥席公旦請開法嘉祐。未幾徙昭覺。遷能仁及大隨。上堂。君王了了。將帥惺惺。一回得勝。六國平寧。

He was a son of the great Confucian Zhao Yuezhong of Yushan in Langzhou. At ten he fell gravely ill; his mother prayed for him and was answered with a strange dream, and he was given up to leave home. The master was of the Zong lineage of Baosheng Monastery of Daci in Chengdu. In the third year of Yuan You he mastered the scriptures and received ordination. He remained expounding and lecturing for several years, then went south and first paid homage to Chan Master En of Yongan, where he had an awakening on the words of Linji's three blows. He then relied on various famous elders, but none satisfied him. Hearing that the Fifth Patriarch's mechanism was steep, he wished to test and check him, and so paid homage to the patriarch. The patriarch said: 'This place of mine is not like other quarters. In the room I do not want you to step forward and back, raise a finger or lift a fist, walk around the Chan bed, bow like a woman, or lift up your sitting cloth — a thousand kinds of trickery. I only want one word from you that hits the mark, and that is your place of seeing.' The master withdrew bewildered. He practised for three years. One day after leaving the room the patriarch said to him: 'The words you have set down have already reached ten tenths. Try and speak them to me again.' The master at once opened them out and set them forth. The patriarch said: 'You speak them to ten tenths too. Now judge them for me.' The master judged them according to each question. The patriarch said: 'Good as they are, it is only that you have not yet got the old monk's way of speaking. After the meal come to the patriarchs' stupa, and I will check you over one by one.' When he got there, the patriarch used the words 'mind itself is Buddha', 'no-mind, no-Buddha', 'Muzhou the plank-carrying fellow', 'Nanquan cutting the cat', and 'Zhaozhou's dog lacking Buddha-nature and having Buddha-nature' to press him, and his replies were wholly without obstruction. When they came to the case of Zihu's dog, the patriarch suddenly turned his face and said: 'Not so.' The master said: 'If not so, then what?' The patriarch said: 'This is not so, and all that went before is not so too.' The master said: 'I beg the master in his compassion to point it out.' The patriarch said: 'Look at what he says: Zihu has a dog; above it takes a man's head, in the middle it takes a man's waist, below it takes a man's feet. Let those who come to the gate look out. As soon as he saw a monk come to the gate he would say, Look at the dog. Put a turning phrase at the point where Zihu says look at the dog, so that Zihu's tongue is tied and the old monk's mouth is sealed; that is your place of finishing.' The next day the master entered the room and silently offered his saying. The patriarch laughed and said: 'I do not say you are not a man who has settled it a thousand times over. These words are only like the words my late teacher set down.' The master said: 'What sort of man am I, to be like Master Duan?' The patriarch said: 'Not so. Though I inherited from him, I say his words were clumsy; it is only that he used Elder Lu's hand to receive people. If the old monk were with Elder Lu, we would walk hand in hand with Baizhang, Huangbo, Nanquan, Zhaozhou and the rest. But as soon as one sees clumsy words, one cannot bear it.' The master did not think so, and so dragged his staff and crossed the river. It happened that a great flood had risen, so he stayed. His companions of the Fourth Patriarch's place pulled him back, and after another two years the patriarch at last gave his approval. Once when they were discussing past and present, the patriarch took the master's hand and said: 'When you have it to say, it must be I who raise it; when you have it to raise, it must be I who say it. From now on, the secret essentials of buddhas and patriarchs and the vital keys of all quarters will not escape your grasp.' He then built the Southern Hall for him to live in, and from this his fame covered the seas. The Chengdu commander Xi Dan invited him to open the teaching at Jiayou, and before long he moved to Zhaojue, then to Nengren and to Dasui. He ascended the hall: 'When the sovereign is clear, the generals are alert; one turn brings victory, and the six states are at peace.'

上堂。舉。臨濟參黃檗之語。白雲端和尚頌雲。一拳拳倒黃鶴樓。一趯趯飜鸚鵡洲。有意氣時添意氣。不風流處也風流。師曰。大隨即不然。行年七十老躘踵。眼目精明耳不聾。忽地有人欺負我。一拳打倒過關東。上堂。問答已。乃曰。有祖已來。時人錯會。祇將言句以為禪道。殊不知道本無體。因體而得名。道本無名。因名而立號。祇如適來上座。才恁麼出來。便恁麼歸眾。且道具眼不具眼。若道具眼。才恁麼出來。眼在甚麼處。若道不具眼。爭合便恁麼去。諸仁者。於此見得倜儻分明。則知二祖禮拜。依位而立。真得其髓。祇這些子是三世諸佛命根。六代祖師命脈。天下老和尚安身立命處。雖然如是。須是親到始得。上堂。自己田園任運耕。祖宗基業力須爭。悟須千聖頭邊坐。用向三塗底下行。僧問。祖師心印。請師直指。師曰。你聞熱麼。曰。聞。師曰。且不聞寒。曰。和尚還聞熱否。師曰。不聞。曰。為甚麼不聞。師搖扇曰。為我有這箇。問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。活捉魔王鼻孔穿。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。中心樹子屬吾曹。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。一釣三山連六鼇。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。白日騎牛穿市過。問。蓮華未出水時如何。師曰。好。曰。出水後如何。師曰。好。曰。如何是蓮華。師曰。好。僧禮拜。師曰。與他三箇好。萬事一時休。問。藏天下於天下即不問。乃舉拳曰。祇如這箇作麼生藏。師曰。有甚麼難。曰。且作麼生藏。師曰。衫袖裡。曰。未審如何是紀綱佛法底人。師曰。不可是鬼。曰。忽遇殺佛殺祖底來。又作麼生支遣。師曰。老僧有眼不曾見。問。學人乍入叢林。乞師指示。師曰。吃粥吃飯。莫教放在腦後。曰。終日吃時未甞吃。師曰。負心衲子。不識好惡。問。劫火洞然。大千俱壞。未審這箇壞也無。師曰。阿誰教你恁麼問。僧進前。鞠躬曰。

He ascended the hall: he brought up Linji's words on visiting Huangbo. Chan Master Duan of Baiyun's verse said: 'One fist knocks down the Yellow Crane Tower; one kick overturns Parrot Island. Where there is spirit, add spirit; where there is no romance, there is still romance.' The master said: 'Dasui is not so. Seventy years old and still shuffling along, eyes bright and ears not deaf; if someone suddenly bullies me, one fist knocks him down beyond the pass.' He ascended the hall: after the question and answer he said: 'Since the patriarchs there have been those who misunderstood the people of the time, taking phrases alone as the way of Chan. They do not know that the Way originally has no substance, and takes its name from substance; the Way originally has no name, and its title is set up from names. Just now the elder came out like that and went back to the assembly like that — tell me, does he have eyes or not? If you say he has eyes, just as he came out like that, where were his eyes? If you say he has no eyes, how could he go off like that? Good people, if you see this clear and free, then you will know that the Second Patriarch's bow and his standing in his place truly got the marrow. This little bit is the life-root of the Buddhas of the three ages, the life-vein of the patriarchs of six generations, the place where the old monks under heaven settle their bodies and establish their lives. Even so, you must arrive there yourself before you have it.' He ascended the hall: 'Your own fields and gardens — plough them as it comes; the ancestral estate — you must fight for it with strength. Awakening, you must sit at the head of a thousand sages; in function, you must walk at the bottom of the three evil paths.' A monk asked: 'The ancestral teacher's mind seal — I beg the master to point it out directly.' The master said: 'Do you feel the heat?' [The monk] said: 'I feel it.' The master said: 'You do not feel the cold.' [The monk] said: 'Does the master feel the heat or not?' The master said: 'I do not feel it.' [The monk] said: 'Why do you not feel it?' The master waved his fan and said: 'Because I have this.' [A monk] asked: 'What is snatching the man but not the surroundings?' The master said: 'Catch the demon king alive and pierce his nostrils.' [The monk] said: 'What is snatching the surroundings but not the man?' The master said: 'The tree at the centre belongs to us.' [The monk] said: 'What is snatching both man and surroundings?' The master said: 'One hook takes three mountains and six sea-turtles.' [The monk] said: 'What is snatching neither man nor surroundings?' The master said: 'In broad daylight riding an ox through the market.' [A monk] asked: 'What was it like before the lotus came out of the water?' The master said: 'Good.' [The monk] said: 'And after it comes out of the water?' The master said: 'Good.' [The monk] said: 'What is the lotus?' The master said: 'Good.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'Three goods for him, and all matters rest at once.' [A monk] asked: 'Hiding the world in the world I do not ask about.' He then raised his fist and said: 'How does one hide just this?' The master said: 'What difficulty is there?' [The monk] said: 'Then how does one hide it?' The master said: 'In the sleeve of my robe.' [The monk] said: 'I wonder what sort of man it is who maintains the dharma?' The master said: 'It cannot be a ghost.' [The monk] said: 'Suppose one comes who kills buddhas and kills patriarchs — how will you deal with him?' The master said: 'The old monk has eyes but has never seen one.' [A monk] asked: 'A student has just entered the monasteries; I beg the master to point the way.' The master said: 'Eat your gruel and eat your rice; do not let it be put behind your head.' [The monk] said: 'Eating all day, I have never eaten.' The master said: 'A thankless patch-robed monk, who does not know good from bad.' [A monk] asked: 'When the fire of the kalpa burns, the great chiliocosm is destroyed. I wonder whether this is destroyed or not?' The master said: 'Who taught you to ask like that?' The monk stepped forward, bowed, and said:

不審。師曰。是壞不壞。僧無語。問。如何是山裡禪。師曰。庭前嫩竹先生筍。㵎下枯松長老枝。曰。如何是市裡禪。師曰。六街鐘皷韻𭽸𭽸。即處鋪金世界中。曰。如何是村裡禪。師曰。賊盜消亡蠶麥熟。謳歌鼓舞樂昇平。問。如何是諸佛出身處。師曰。問得甚當。曰。便恁麼去時如何。師曰。答得更奇。問。因山見水。見水忘山。山水俱忘。理歸何所。師曰。山僧坐卻舌頭。天地黯黑。有一老宿垂語云。十字街頭起一間茅廝。祇是不許人屙。僧舉以扣師。師曰。是你先屙了。更教甚麼人屙。宿聞。焚香遙望大隨。再拜謝之。紹興乙卯秋七月。大雨雪。山中有異象。師曰。吾期至矣。十七日別郡守以次。越三日示少恙於天彭。二十四夜謂侍僧曰。天曉無月時如何。僧無對。師曰。倒教我與汝下火始得。翌日還堋口廨院。留遺誡。蛻然示寂。門弟子奉全身歸。煙霧四合。猿鳥悲鳴。茶毗異香徧野。舌本如故。設利五色者不可計。瘞於定光塔之西。後住天童．天目．文禮作師畫像贊。可補行實之缺。因併錄此贊曰。東山一會人。唯他不唧𠺕。別處著閑房。叢林難講究。邡水潭虵出驚人。鈍鐵鍋雞啼白晝。雜劇打來。全火祇候。晚歲放疎慵。卻與俗和同。勤巴子使人勘驗。擲香貼便顯家風。定光無佛。枉費羅籠。臨行搖鐸向虗空。那知喪盡白雲宗。

(The master continued:) 'How are you?' The master said: 'It is destroyed or not destroyed.' The monk had no words. [A monk] asked: 'What is the Chan of the mountains?' The master said: 'The tender bamboo before the courtyard puts out shoots first; the withered pine by the ravine grows old branches.' [The monk] said: 'What is the Chan of the market?' The master said: 'In the six streets the bells and drums ring out; right where you are is the world paved with gold.' [The monk] said: 'What is the Chan of the village?' The master said: 'Robbers and thieves have vanished, silkworms and wheat are ripe; singing and dancing, they rejoice in the peaceful age.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the place the Buddhas come from?' The master said: 'You asked very well.' [The monk] said: 'What if one goes off just like that?' The master said: 'Your answer is even more extraordinary.' [A monk] asked: 'Because of the mountain one sees the water; seeing the water one forgets the mountain. When both mountain and water are forgotten, where does the principle return?' The master said: 'The mountain monk sits on his tongue; heaven and earth are dark.' There was an old worthy who let fall the words: 'At the crossroads put up a latrine, only no one is allowed to relieve himself there.' A monk brought this to the master to test him. The master said: 'You relieved yourself first; who else would you have relieve himself?' When the old worthy heard, he burned incense, looked toward Dasui from afar, bowed twice, and thanked him. In the autumn, the seventh month of the yimao year of Shaoxing, there was great rain and snow, and strange signs appeared in the mountains. The master said: 'My time has come.' On the seventeenth he took leave of the prefect and others in order. Three days later he showed slight illness at Tianpeng. On the night of the twenty-fourth he said to his attendant monk: 'What is it like when dawn comes and there is no moon?' The monk had no reply. The master said: 'I will have to light the fire for you myself after all.' The next day he returned to the Pengkou official residence, left a final admonition, and shed his body in quiescence. His disciples carried his whole body back; mist and smoke closed in on every side and apes and birds cried mournfully. At cremation a strange fragrance spread over the fields; his tongue was as before, and five-coloured relics were beyond counting. He was interred west of the Dingguang stupa. Later, when he resided at Tiantong and Tianmu, Wenli made a portrait eulogy for the master, which can supply what is missing from his record of conduct. I therefore also record this eulogy: 'Among the men of the Dongshan gathering, only he did not gabble. Elsewhere he took an idle room; in the monasteries it was hard to discuss him. The snake of the Fang river pool came out and startled people; the cock of the blunt iron pot crowed in broad daylight. When the variety show began he was the whole crew waiting on cue. In his late years he let himself be slack and was one with the common. The diligent man of Ba sent someone to test him; throwing down the incense note he showed his family style. At Dingguang there is no Buddha, and the net was spread in vain. At the end he shook his bell toward empty space; who knew that he would exhaust the whole Baiyun line?'

漢州無為宗泰禪師

Chan Master Zongtai of Wuwei in Hanzhou

涪城人。自出關。徧遊叢社。至五祖告香日。祖舉趙州洗缽盂話俾參。洎入室。舉此話問師。你道趙州向伊道甚麼。這僧便悟去。師曰。洗缽盂去。聻。祖曰。你祇知路上事。不知路上滋味。師曰。既知路上事。路上有甚滋味。祖曰。你不知耶。又問。你曾遊淛否。師曰。未也。祖曰。你未悟在。師自此凡五年。不能對。祖一日陞堂。顧眾曰。八十翁翁輥繡毬。便下座。師欣然出眾曰。和尚試輥一輥看。祖以手作打仗皷勢。操蜀音唱綿州巴歌曰。豆子山。打瓦皷。楊平山。撒白雨。白雨下。取龍女。織得絹。二丈五。一半屬羅江。一半屬玄武。師聞大悟。掩祖口曰。祇消唱到這裡。祖大笑而歸。師後還蜀。四眾請開法無為。遷正法。上堂。此一大事因緣。自從世尊拈華。迦葉微笑。世尊曰。吾有正法眼藏。分付摩訶大迦葉。以後燈燈相續。祖祖相傳。迄至於今。綿綿不墜。直得徧地生華。故號涅槃妙心。亦曰本心。亦曰本性。亦曰本來面目。亦曰第一義諦。亦曰爍迦羅眼。亦曰摩訶大般若。在男曰男。在女曰女。汝等諸人。但自悟去。這般盡是閑言語。遂拈起拂子曰。會了喚作禪。未悟果然難。難難。目前隔箇須彌山。悟了易。易易。信口道來無不是。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。阿誰教你恁麼問。僧擬議。師曰。了。

A man of Fucheng. After leaving the pass he travelled through all the monasteries. On the day of the Fifth Patriarch's incense-announcement, the patriarch brought up Zhaozhou's case of washing the bowl and had him investigate it. When he entered the room, the patriarch brought up this case and asked the master: 'What do you say Zhaozhou told him, such that this monk at once awakened?' The master said: 'Wash the bowl — well?' The patriarch said: 'You only know the matter on the road; you do not know the flavour on the road.' The master said: 'Since I know the matter on the road, what flavour is there on the road?' The patriarch said: 'You do not know, do you?' He also asked: 'Have you ever travelled in Zhejiang?' The master said: 'Not yet.' The patriarch said: 'You are not yet awakened.' From this the master could not answer for five full years. One day the patriarch ascended the hall and, looking at the assembly, said: 'An eighty-year-old old man rolls an embroidered ball.' He then descended from the seat. The master joyfully came out from the assembly and said: 'Master, try rolling it once.' The patriarch made the gesture of beating a war drum and sang in Sichuan accents the Ba song of Mianzhou: 'On Douzi Mountain they beat the tile drum; on Yangping Mountain they scatter white rain. The white rain falls; take the dragon girl. The silk woven is two zhang five; half belongs to Luojiang, half belongs to Xuanwu.' At hearing this the master was greatly enlightened. He covered the patriarch's mouth and said: 'You need only sing as far as here.' The patriarch laughed heartily and went back. Later the master returned to Shu, and the four assemblies invited him to open the teaching at Wuwei, and he moved to Zhengfa. He ascended the hall: 'This one great matter: from the time the World-Honoured One held up the flower and Kashyapa smiled, the World-Honoured One said, I have the treasury of the true dharma eye, and I entrust it to Mahakashyapa. After that lamp continued to lamp and patriarch to patriarch, down to the present, unbroken and never falling. It reaches the point where flowers grow all over the ground, and so it is called the wondrous mind of nirvana. It is also called the original mind, the original nature, the original face, the ultimate truth, the cakra eye, the great prajna. With a man it speaks as a man, with a woman it speaks as a woman. You people, just awaken for yourselves; all this is idle talk.' He then picked up his whisk and said: 'Understand it and it is called Chan; not yet awakened, it is truly hard. Hard, hard — before your eyes lies Mount Sumeru. Awakened, it is easy. Easy, easy — whatever you say off the top of your head is not wrong.' A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Who taught you to ask like that?' The monk hesitated. The master said: 'Done.'

蘄州五祖表自禪師

Chan Master Biaozi of the Fifth Patriarch in Qizhou

懷安人也。初依祖最久。未有省。時圓悟為座元。師往請益。悟曰。兄有疑處試語我。師遂舉。德山小參。不答話。問話者三十棒。悟曰。禮拜著。我作得你師。舉話尚不會。師作禮竟。悟令再舉前話。師曰。德山小參。不答話。悟掩其口曰。但恁麼看。師出。揚聲曰。屈。屈。豈有公案祇教人看一句底道理。有僧謂師曰。兄不可如此說。首座須有方便。因靜坐體究。及旬頓釋所疑。詣悟禮謝。悟曰。兄始知吾不汝欺。又詣方丈。祖迎笑。自爾日深玄奧。祖將歸寂。遺言郡守。守命嗣其席。衲子四至不可遏。師榜侍者門曰。東山有三句。若人道得。即掛搭。衲子皆披靡。一日。有僧𢹂坐具。徑造丈室。謂師曰。某甲道不得。祇要掛搭。師大喜。呼維那於明窻下安排。上堂。世尊拈華。迦葉微笑時。人祇知拈華微笑。要且不識世尊。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。荊棘林中舞柘枝。曰。如何是佛。師曰。新生孩子擲金盆。

A man of Huai'an. At first he relied on the patriarch the longest, but had no awakening. At that time Yuanwu was the head seat. The master went to him for instruction. Wu said: 'If you have a point of doubt, brother, try telling me.' The master then brought it up: at Deshan's minor gathering he did not answer questions, and whoever asked a question got thirty blows. Wu said: 'Bow to me. I can be your teacher. You cannot even raise a case.' After the master had bowed, Wu had him bring up the earlier words again. The master said: 'At Deshan's minor gathering he did not answer questions.' Wu covered his mouth and said: 'Just look at it like that.' The master went out and said in a loud voice: 'Wronged, wronged! How can there be a case whose whole principle is just to make a man look at one phrase?' A monk said to the master: 'You cannot say that, brother. The head seat must have his device.' So he sat quietly and investigated, and within ten days his doubt was suddenly released. He went to Wu, bowed, and thanked him. Wu said: 'Now you know I did not deceive you, brother.' He also went to the abbot's quarters; the patriarch welcomed him with a smile, and from this his grasp of the profound mystery deepened daily. When the patriarch was about to pass into quiescence, he left word with the prefect, and the prefect appointed him to succeed to the seat. Patch-robed monks came from all four directions and could not be held back. The master posted a notice on the attendant's door: 'Dongshan has three phrases. Whoever can speak them may put up his staff.' The patch-robed monks all fell back. One day a monk took his sitting cloth and went straight to the abbot's room and said to the master: 'I cannot speak them; I only want to put up my staff.' The master was delighted, called the disciplinarian, and had him settled under the bright window. He ascended the hall: 'When the World-Honoured One held up the flower and Kashyapa smiled, the people of the time only knew the holding up of the flower and the smiling; they did not know the World-Honoured One.' A monk asked: 'What is the ancestral teacher's meaning coming from the west?' The master said: 'Dancing the zhe-zhi dance in a thicket of thorns.' [The monk] said: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A newborn child tossed into a golden basin.'

蘄州龍華道初禪師

Chan Master Daochu of Longhua in Qizhou

梓之馬氏子。為祖侍者有年。住龍華日。上堂曰。雞見便鬬。犬見便齩。殿上鴟吻。終日相對。為甚麼卻不瞋。便下座。師機辯峻捷。門人罔知造詣。一日謂眾曰。昨日離城市。白雲空往還。松風清耳目。端的勝人間。召眾曰。此是先師末後句。有頃。脫然而逝。

A son of the Ma family of Zizhou. He was the patriarch's attendant for years. On the day he resided at Longhua he ascended the hall and said: 'Cocks fight as soon as they see each other; dogs bite as soon as they see each other. The owl-beaks on the hall face each other all day — why are they not angry?' He then descended from the seat. The master's mechanism was sharp and swift, and his disciples could not know his attainment. One day he said to the assembly: 'Yesterday I left the city; the white clouds come and go in vain. The pine wind clears ear and eye; truly it surpasses the human world.' He called the assembly and said: 'These are my late teacher's final words.' After a short while he shed his body and passed away.

嘉州九頂清素禪師

Chan Master Qingsu of Jiuding in Jiazhou

本郡郭氏子。於乾明寺剃染。徧扣禪扄。晚謁五祖。聞舉首山答西來意語。倐然契悟。述偈曰。顛倒顛。顛倒顛。新婦騎驢阿家牽。便恁麼。太無端。回頭不覺布衫穿。祖見。乃問。百丈野狐話。又作麼生。師曰。來說是非者。便是是非人。祖大悅。久之辭歸。住清溪。次遷九頂。太守呂公來瞻大像。問曰。既是大像。因甚麼肩負兩楹。師曰。船上無散工。至閣下。覩觀音像又問。彌勒化境。觀音何來。師曰。家富小兒嬌。守乃禮敬。勤老宿至。師問。舞劍當咽時如何。曰。伏惟尚饗。師詬曰。老賊死去。你問我。勤理前語問之。師叉手揖曰。拽破。紹興乙卯四月二十四日。得微疾。書偈遺眾曰。木人備舟。鐵人備馬。丙丁童子穩穩登。喝散白雲歸去也。竟爾趨寂。

A son of the Guo family of this prefecture. He was shaved and dyed at Qianming Monastery and knocked at the gate of Chan everywhere. Late in life he paid homage to the Fifth Patriarch and heard him bring up Shoushan's answer on the meaning coming from the west, and was suddenly in accord and awakened. He set forth a verse: 'Upside down, upside down; the new bride rides the donkey, the mother-in-law leads. Just like that, too arbitrary; turning the head, unaware the cloth robe is worn through.' The patriarch saw it and asked: 'And what of Baizhang's wild fox case?' The master said: 'One who comes to talk of right and wrong is himself a man of right and wrong.' The patriarch was greatly pleased. After a long time he took his leave and returned. He resided at Qingxi, and then moved to Jiuding. The prefect Lu came to view the great image and asked: 'Since it is a great image, why does it carry two pillars on its shoulders?' The master said: 'There are no idle workers aboard a ship.' When he reached the pavilion and saw the Guanyin image, he asked again: 'This is Maitreya's realm of transformation — where does Guanyin come from?' The master said: 'When the house is rich the child is spoiled.' The prefect then paid him reverence. When the old worthy Qin arrived, the master asked: 'What is it like when the sword dance reaches the throat?' [Qin] said: 'Reverently we make offering.' The master scolded him: 'Old thief, you are dead. Ask me.' Qin brought up the earlier words and asked them. The master joined his hands in salute and said: 'Torn apart.' On the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month of the yimao year of Shaoxing he fell slightly ill. He wrote a verse and left it for the assembly: 'The wooden man prepares the boat; the iron man prepares the horse. The fire boy steadily boards; one shout scatters the white clouds and he is gone.' And so he passed into quiescence.

元禮首座

Head Seat Yuanli

閩人也。受業焦山。初參演和尚於白雲。凡入室。必謂曰。衲僧家。明取緇素好。師疑之不已。一日演陞堂。舉首山新婦騎驢阿家牽語。乃曰。諸人要會麼。莫問新婦阿家。免煩路上波吒。遇飯即飯。遇茶即茶。同門出入。宿世冤家。師於言下豁如。且曰。今日緇素明矣。二年。演遷席祖山。命分座。不就。演歸寂。即他往。崇寧間。再到五祖。僧問。五祖遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。有眼無耳朵。六月火邊坐。曰。意旨如何。師曰。家貧猶自可。路貧愁殺人。或問。金剛經云。一切善法。如何是法。師曰。上是天。下是地。中間坐底坐。立底立。喚甚麼作善法。僧無對。師便打。後終於四明之瑞巖。

A man of Min. He received his training at Jiaoshan. He first called on Master Yan at Baiyun. Whenever he entered the room, [Yan] would always say: 'A patch-robed monk had better make clear what is black and what is white.' The master doubted this without end. One day Yan ascended the hall and brought up Shoushan's words about the new bride riding the donkey and the mother-in-law leading it. He then said: 'Do you all want to understand? Do not ask about the bride and the mother-in-law; do not trouble yourself with the toil on the road. When you meet rice, eat rice; when you meet tea, drink tea. Entering and leaving by the same gate, you are enemies from a past life.' The master was instantly clear at these words and said: 'Today black and white are clear.' Two years later Yan moved his seat to the ancestral mountain and ordered him to share the seat; he did not accept. When Yan passed into quiescence he went elsewhere. In the Chong Ning period he came again to the Fifth Patriarch. A monk asked: 'Where did the Fifth Patriarch go when he passed away?' The master said: 'Eyes but no ears; in the sixth month he sits by the fire.' [The monk] said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'Poverty at home can still be borne; poverty on the road kills a man with worry.' Someone asked: 'The Diamond Sutra says, all good dharmas. What is dharma?' The master said: 'Above is heaven, below is earth; those in the middle sit or stand. What would you call good dharma?' The monk had no reply, and the master struck him. He finally passed away at Ruiyan in Siming.

普融知藏

Storekeeper of the Canon, Purong

福州人也。至五祖。入室次。祖舉倩女離魂話問之。有契。呈偈曰。二女合為一媳婦。機輪截斷難回互。從來往返絕蹤由。行人莫問來時路。凡有鄉僧來謁。則發閩音誦俚語曰。書頭教娘勤作息。書尾教娘莫瞌睡。且道中間說箇甚麼。僧擬對。師即推出。

A man of Fuzhou. When he came to the Fifth Patriarch and entered the room, the patriarch brought up the case of the fair maiden's departing soul and asked him about it. He was in accord, and presented a verse: 'Two girls joined into one daughter-in-law; the wheel of mechanism is cut off and hard to turn back on. Coming and going, from the first there is no trace or cause; let the traveller not ask the road he came by.' Whenever a monk from his home region came to visit, he would recite in Min accents a rustic saying: 'At the head of the letter he tells mother to work diligently; at the end of the letter he tells mother not to doze off. Tell me, what does he say in the middle?' If the monk tried to answer, the master at once pushed him out.

法閦上座

Elder Fa Chu

久依五祖。未有所入。一日造室。祖問。不與萬法為侶者是甚麼人。曰。法閦即不然。祖以手指曰。住。住。法閦即不然。作麼生。師於是啟悟。後至東林宣密度禪師席下。見其得平實之旨。一日拈華繞度禪床一帀。背手插香爐中。曰。和尚且道。意作麼生。度屢下語。皆不契。踰兩月。遂問師。令試說之。師曰。某祇將華插香爐中。和尚自疑有甚麼事來。

He relied on the Fifth Patriarch for a long time without entering into anything. One day he went to the room. The patriarch asked: 'What sort of man is he who is not companion to the ten thousand dharmas?' [The master] said: 'Fa Chu is not so.' The patriarch pointed with his finger and said: 'Stop, stop. Fa Chu is not so — what then?' At this the master was awakened. Later he came under the seat of Chan Master Xuanmi Du at Donglin and saw that he had attained the meaning of plain reality. One day he picked up a flower, walked once around Du's Chan bed, and with his hand behind his back put it into the incense burner. He said: 'Master, tell me, what does this mean?' Du offered several phrases, none of which matched. Two months later he asked the master and had him try to explain it. The master said: 'I only put the flower into the incense burner; the master himself wondered whether there was any matter in it.'

雲蓋本禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Ben of Yungai

潭州南嶽承天院自賢禪師

Chan Master Zixian of Chengtian Monastery on Mount Nanyue in Tanzhou

僧問。大眾已集。仰聽雷音。猊座既登。請師剖露。師曰。剎竿頭上飜筋斗。曰。恁麼則嶽麓山前祥霧起。祝融峰下瑞雲生。師曰。紫羅帳裡璨真珠。上堂。拈拄杖曰。不是心。不是佛。不是物。擊禪床一下曰。與君打破精靈窟。簸土揚塵無處尋。千山萬山空突兀。復擊一下曰。歸堂去參。上堂。一身高隱惟南嶽。自笑孤雲未是閑。松下水邊端坐者。也應隨例說居山。咄。上堂。五更殘月落。天曉白雲飛。分明目前事。不是目前機。既是目前事。為甚麼不是目前機。良久曰。欲言言不及。林下卻商量。

A monk asked: 'The great assembly has gathered and looks up to hear the thunder voice; now that the lion seat is mounted, we beg the master to disclose it.' The master said: 'Turning somersaults on the top of the banner pole.' [The monk] said: 'Then auspicious mist rises before Yuelu Mountain, and lucky clouds are born below Mount Zhurong.' The master said: 'A bright pearl in a purple gauze tent.' He ascended the hall: he picked up his staff and said: 'It is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing.' He struck the Chan bed once and said: 'For you I break open the cave of spirits. Winnow earth and raise dust and there is nowhere to seek it; a thousand mountains, ten thousand mountains, stand empty and towering.' He struck once more and said: 'Return to the hall and investigate.' He ascended the hall: 'One body, high and hidden — only Mount Nanyue; I laugh at myself that the lone cloud is not yet at leisure. One who sits upright by the water under the pines should also say, following the rule, that he lives in the mountains. Bah!' He ascended the hall: 'At the fifth watch the waning moon sets; at dawn the white clouds fly. Clearly it is the affair before the eyes, yet it is not the working before the eyes. Since it is the affair before the eyes, why is it not the working before the eyes?' After a long pause he said: 'To want to speak and not reach it in speech; in the groves, then, discuss it.'

琅邪起禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qi of Langya

俞道婆

Laywoman Yu Daopo

金陵人也。市油餈為業。常隨眾參問琅邪。邪以臨濟無位真人話示之。一日。聞丐者唱蓮華樂雲。不因柳毅傳書信。何緣得到洞庭湖。忽大悟。以餈盤投地。夫傍睨曰。你顛邪。婆掌曰。非汝境界。往見琅邪。邪望之。知其造詣。問。那箇是無位真人。婆應聲曰。有一無位人。六臂三頭努力瞋。一擘華山分兩路。萬年流水不知春。由是聲名藹著。凡有僧至。則曰。兒。兒。僧擬議。即掩門。佛燈珣禪師往勘之。婆見如前所問。珣曰。爺在甚麼處。婆轉身拜露柱。珣即踏倒曰。將謂有多少奇特。便出。婆蹶起曰。兒兒來。惜你則箇。珣竟不顧。安首座至。婆問。甚處來。安曰。德山。婆曰。德山泰乃老婆兒子。安曰。婆是甚人兒子。婆曰。被上座一問。直得立地放尿。婆甞頌馬祖不安因緣曰。日面月面。虗空閃電。雖然截斷天下衲僧舌頭。分明祇道得一半。

A woman of Jinling. She made her living selling fried dough cakes. She often followed the assembly to question Langya, and Ya showed her Linji's case of the true man of no rank. One day she heard a beggar singing the Lotus Joy song: 'Had Liu Yi not carried the letter, how could one ever reach Lake Dongting?' She was suddenly greatly enlightened and threw her cake tray to the ground. Her husband looked askance and said: 'Are you mad?' The old woman slapped him and said: 'That is not your realm.' She went to see Langya. Ya looked at her and knew her attainment, and asked: 'Which is the true man of no rank?' The old woman answered on the spot: 'There is one man of no rank; with six arms and three heads he strives in anger. One split severs Mount Hua into two roads; ten thousand years the flowing water knows no spring.' From this her fame spread widely. Whenever a monk came she would say: 'Child, child.' If the monk hesitated she at once shut the door. Chan Master Fodeng Xun went to test her. The old woman saw him and questioned him as before. Xun said: 'Where is your father?' The old woman turned and bowed to the exposed pillar. Xun at once kicked her over and said: 'I thought there was something extraordinary here.' And he went out. The old woman scrambled up and said: 'Child, child, come back; I am fond of you.' Xun paid her no heed at all. When Head Seat An arrived, the old woman asked: 'Where do you come from?' An said: 'Deshan.' The old woman said: 'Deshan Tai is an old woman's son.' An said: 'Whose son is the old woman?' The old woman said: 'At one question from the elder, one straightway wets oneself standing up.' The old woman once wrote a verse on Mazu's case of his illness: 'Sun face, moon face; empty space, lightning. Though it cuts off the tongue of every patch-robed monk under heaven, clearly it only speaks half.'

南嶽下十五世上

Fifteenth generation below Nanyue, part one

昭覺勤禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qin of Zhaojue

臨安府徑山宗杲大慧普覺禪師

Chan Master Zonggao Dahui Pujue of Jingshan in Lin'an Prefecture

宣城奚氏子。夙有英氣。年十二入鄉校。一日因與同窻戲。以硯投之。悞中先生帽。償金而歸。曰。大丈夫讀世間書。曷若究出世法。即詣東山慧雲院事慧齊。年十七。薙髮具毗尼。偶閱古雲門錄。恍若舊習。往依廣教珵禪師。棄遊四方。從曹洞諸老宿。既得其說。去登寶峰。謁湛堂準禪師。堂一見異之。俾侍巾裓。指以入道捷徑。師橫機無所讓。堂訶曰。汝曾未悟。病在意識領解。則為所知障。堂疾革。囑師曰。吾去後。當見川勤。必能盡子機用(勤即圓悟)。堂卒。師趨謁無盡居士。求堂塔銘。無盡門庭高。少許可。與師一言相契。下榻延之。名師庵曰妙喜。洎後再謁。且囑令見圓悟。師至天寧。一日聞悟陞堂。舉。僧問雲門。如何是諸佛出身處。門曰。東山水上行。若是天寧即不然。忽有人問。如何是諸佛出身處。只向他道。燻風自南來。殿閣生微涼。師於言下。忽然前後際斷。雖然動相不生。卻坐在淨躶躶處。悟謂曰。也不易。你得到這田地。可惜死了不能得活。不疑言句。是為大病。不見道。懸崖撒手。自肯承當。絕後再蘇。欺君不得。須信有這箇道理。遂令居擇木堂。為不𨤲務侍者。日同士大夫入室(擇木乃朝士止息處)。悟每舉有句無句。如藤倚樹問之。師才開口。悟便曰。不是。不是。經半載。遂問悟曰。聞和尚當時在五祖曾問這話。不知五祖道甚麼。悟笑而不答。師曰。和尚當時須對眾問。如今說亦何妨。悟不得已。謂曰。我問有句無句。如藤倚樹。意旨如何。祖曰。描也描不成。畫也畫不就。又問樹倒藤枯時如何。祖曰。相隨來也。師當下釋然。曰。我會也。悟遂舉數因緣詰之。師酧對無滯。悟曰。始知吾不汝欺。遂著臨濟正宗記付之。俾掌記室。未幾。令分座。室中握竹篦以驗學者。叢林浩然歸重。名振京師。右丞相呂公舜徒奏賜紫衣．佛日之號。會女真之變。

A son of the Xi family of Xuancheng. He had a heroic spirit from youth. At twelve he entered the village school. One day while playing with a classmate he threw an inkstone at him and mistakenly hit the teacher's cap; he paid compensation and went home, saying: 'A great man reading worldly books — how much better to investigate the supramundane dharma.' He at once went to Huiyun Cloister on Dongshan and served Huiqi. At seventeen he shaved his head and undertook the Vinaya. By chance he read the old Yunmen record, and it was as if he had studied it before. He went to rely on Chan Master Guangjiao Cheng, then abandoned that and travelled the four quarters, following the Cao-Dong elders. After he had got their teaching he left and climbed Baofeng, paying homage to Chan Master Zhantang Zhun. Zhun saw him once and found him extraordinary; he had him attend to his towel and robe and pointed out to him the shortcut to entering the Way. The master set forth his mechanism without yielding anything. Zhun rebuked him: 'You have never yet awakened. Your illness lies in understanding through consciousness; that is the obstruction of the known.' When Zhun's illness became critical he charged the master: 'After I am gone, you should see Chuan Qin; he will surely exhaust your mechanism and function.' (Qin is Yuanwu.) When Zhun died the master hurried to pay homage to the layman Wujin and asked him for a stupa inscription for Zhun. Wujin's gate was high and he rarely gave approval, but he and the master were in accord at one word; he had a couch set for him and invited him to stay, and named his hut Miao Xi. When he paid homage again later, he charged him to see Yuanwu. The master arrived at Tianning. One day he heard Wu ascend the hall and bring up: A monk asked Yunmen, 'What is the place the Buddhas come from?' Men said, 'East Mountain walks on water.' But Tianning is not so. If someone suddenly asks me, 'What is the place the Buddhas come from?' I will simply tell him: 'The warm wind comes from the south; the hall and pavilions grow slightly cool.' At these words the master suddenly had the before and after cut off. Though the movements of mind did not arise, he sat in a bare, naked place. Wu said to him: 'It is not easy either, that you have reached this field. Unfortunately, being dead you cannot come alive. Not doubting words and phrases — that is the great illness. Do you not see it said: let go at the cliff's edge, take it up yourself; revive after extinction, and you cannot deceive the lord. You must believe there is this principle.' He then had him reside in the Zemu Hall as an attendant with no duties, and daily he entered the room together with officials and scholars (Zemu is where court scholars rest). Whenever Wu brought up 'with phrases and without phrases, like a vine leaning on a tree' and questioned him, as soon as the master opened his mouth Wu would say: 'Not so, not so.' After half a year the master asked Wu: 'I hear that when the master was at the Fifth Patriarch's he once asked this question. What did the Fifth Patriarch say?' Wu laughed and did not answer. The master said: 'At that time the master must have asked in front of the assembly; what harm is there in telling it now?' Wu could not help it and said: 'I asked: with phrases and without phrases, like a vine leaning on a tree — what is the meaning? The patriarch said: You cannot trace it, you cannot paint it. I asked again: What about when the tree falls and the vine withers? The patriarch said: It comes along with you.' The master was instantly released and said: 'I understand.' Wu then brought up several cases to press him, and the master answered without obstruction. Wu said: 'Now I know that I did not deceive you.' He then wrote out the Record of the Orthodox Linji Line and gave it to him, and had him take charge of the secretariat. Before long he had him share the seat, and in the room he held a bamboo comb to test students. The monasteries greatly honoured him and his fame shook the capital. The right chancellor Lu Shuntu memorialized and had a purple robe and the title Buddha Sun conferred on him. It happened at the time of the Jurchen upheaval

其酋欲取禪僧十數人。師在選得免。趨吳虎丘度夏。因閱華嚴至菩薩登第七地。證無生法忍。洞曉向所請問湛堂殃崛摩羅持缽至產婦家因緣。時圓悟詔住雲居。師往省覲。至山次日。即請為第一座。時會中多龍象。以圜悟久虗座元。俟師之來。頗有不平之心。及冬至。秉拂昭覺元禪師出眾問雲。眉間掛劒時如何。師曰。血濺梵天。圜悟於座下。以手約雲。住。住。問得極好。答得更奇。元乃歸眾。叢林由是改觀。圜悟歸蜀。師於雲居山後古雲門舊址。創庵以居。學者雲集。久之入閩。結茅於長樂洋嶼。從之得法者。十有三人。又徙小溪雲門庵。後應張丞相魏公浚徑山之命。開堂日。僧問。人天普集。選佛場開。祖令當行。如何舉唱。師雲。鈍鳥逆風飛。曰。徧界且無尋覓處。分明一點座中圓。師曰。人間無水不朝東。復有僧競出。師約住雲。假使大地盡末為塵。一一塵有一一口。一一口具無礙廣長舌相。一一舌相出無量差別音聲。一一音聲發無量差別言詞。一一言詞有無量差別妙義。如上塵數。衲僧各各具如是口。如是舌。如是音聲。如是言詞。如是妙義。同時致百千問難。問問各別。不消長老咳𠻳一聲。一時答了。乘時於其中間。作無量無邊廣大佛事。一一佛事周徧法界。所謂一毛現神變。一切佛同說經於無量劫。不得其邊際。便恁麼去閙熱門庭即得。正眼觀來。正是業識茫茫。無本可據。祖師門下一點也用不著。況復勾章棘句。展弄詞鋒。非唯埋沒從上宗乘。亦乃笑破衲僧鼻孔。所以道。毫𨤲繫念。三塗業因。瞥爾情生。萬劫覊鎻。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。看他先聖恁麼告報。如國家兵器。豈得已而用之。本分事上。亦無這箇消息。山僧今日。如斯舉唱。大似無夢說夢。好肉剜瘡。檢點將來。合吃拄杖。只今莫有下得毒手者麼。

'their chief wanted to take a dozen or so Chan monks. The master was among those selected and escaped. He went to Huqiu in Wu for the summer retreat. Because he read the Huayan and came to the Bodhisattva's ascending the seventh ground and realizing the patient acceptance of non-arising, he thoroughly understood the case he had earlier put to Zhantang: Angulimala carrying his bowl to the house of a woman in labour. At that time Yuanwu had been summoned to reside at Yunju. The master went to pay his respects. On the second day after reaching the mountain he was at once invited to be first seat. At the time there were many dragons and elephants in the assembly, and because Yuanwu had long left the seat of the head seat vacant, waiting for the master to come, quite a few harboured resentment. When the winter solstice came, holding the whisk, Chan Master Yuan of Zhaojue came out from the assembly and asked: 'What is it like when a sword hangs between the eyebrows?' The master said: 'Blood splashes to the Brahma heaven.' Yuanwu, down in the seat, checked him with his hand and said: 'Stop, stop. The question was very good; the answer is even more extraordinary.' Yuan then returned to the assembly. From this the monasteries changed their view. When Yuanwu returned to Shu, the master built a hut and lived at the old site of ancient Yunmen behind Yunju Mountain, and students gathered like clouds. After a long time he entered Min and built a thatched hut at Yangyu in Changle; those who attained the dharma under him numbered thirteen. He again moved to the Yunmen hut at Xiaoxi. Later he answered the command of Chancellor Zhang Wei of Jun to go to Jingshan. On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked: 'Gods and men have all gathered, the ground for selecting Buddhas is opened; the ancestral command should now be carried out — how will you raise and sing it?' The master said: 'A dull bird flies against the wind.' [The monk] said: 'Throughout the whole realm there is nowhere to seek it; clear and distinct, one point is round within the seat.' The master said: 'In the human world there is no water that does not flow east.' Again monks vied to come out. The master checked them and said: 'Suppose the whole great earth were reduced to dust, and each mote of dust had a mouth, and each mouth possessed the unobstructed, broad and long tongue mark, and each tongue mark gave forth immeasurable and different sounds, and each sound gave forth immeasurable and different words, and each word had immeasurable and different wondrous meanings — with as many patch-robed monks as there are motes, each possessing such a mouth, such a tongue, such sounds, such words, such wondrous meanings, all at the same time putting a hundred thousand questions, each question different — it would not take so much as a single cough from the elder to answer them all at once, and in the midst of it to perform immeasurable, boundless, vast buddha work, each piece of buddha work pervading the dharma realm. As it is said: in one hair a spiritual transformation appears; all Buddhas together expound the sutra for immeasurable kalpas and cannot reach its limit. To go off just like that may get you a lively gate and courtyard, but seen with the right eye it is precisely a vast mass of karmic consciousness with no root to rely on, and in the ancestral teacher's gate it is of no use at all. How much less hooked phrases and thorny sentences, displaying and playing with the spearhead of words. This not only buries the ancestral vehicle from above; it also makes patch-robed monks laugh their nostrils off. Therefore it is said: a hair's breadth of clinging thought is the karmic cause of the three evil paths; a blink of emotion arising is a fetter for ten thousand kalpas. The names of sage and commoner are all empty sounds; outstanding marks and inferior forms are all illusory colours. If you seek them, will you not be burdened? And when you tire of them, that again becomes a great calamity. See how the former sages gave such a report — like a state's weapons, used only when there is no alternative. In the matter of one's original portion there is no such news. The mountain monk today, raising and singing like this, is much like telling a dream without having dreamt, cutting a sore out of good flesh. Looking at it afterwards, I deserve a beating with the staff. Is there anyone today who can deal the poisonous hand? If there is.'

若有。堪報不報之恩。共助無為之化。如無。倒行此令去也。驀拈拄杖雲。橫按鏌鎁全正令。太平寰宇斬痴頑。卓拄杖。喝一喝。便下座。道法之盛。冠於一時。眾二千餘。皆諸方俊乂。侍郎張公九成。亦從之遊。灑然契悟。一日。因議及朝政。與師連禍。紹興辛酉五月。毀衣牒。屏居衡陽。乃裒先德機語。間與拈提。離為三帙。目曰正法眼藏。凡十年。移居梅陽。又五年。高宗皇帝特恩放還。明年春。復僧伽棃。四方虗席以邀。率不就。後奉朝命。居育王。逾年有旨。改徑山。道俗歆慕如初。孝宗皇帝為普安郡王時。遣內都監入山謁師。師作偈為獻。及在建邸。復遣內知客詣山。供五百應真。請師說法。祝延聖壽。親書妙喜庵三字。並製贊寵寄之。上堂。欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。時節若至。其理自彰。舉起拂子曰。還見麼。擊禪床曰。還聞麼。聞見分明。是箇甚麼。若向這裡提得去。皇恩佛恩一時報足。其或未然。徑山打葛藤去也。復舉起拂子曰。看。看。無量壽世尊在徑山拂子頭上放大光明照。不可說。不可說。又不可說。佛剎微塵數世界中。轉大法輪。作無量無邊廣大佛事。其中若凡若聖。若正若邪。若草若木。有情無情。遇斯光者。皆獲無上正等菩提。所以諸佛於此得之。具一切種智。諸大菩薩於此得之。成就諸波羅蜜。闢支獨覺於此得之。出無佛世。現神通光明。諸聲聞眾洎夜來迎請五百阿羅漢。於此得之。得八解脫。具六神通。天人於此得之。增長十善。脩羅於此得之。除其憍慢。地獄於此得之。頓超十地。餓鬼傍生及四生九類一切有情。於此得之。隨其根性。各得受用。無量壽世尊放大光明。作諸佛事已竟。然後以四大海水灌彌勒世尊頂。與授阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。當於補處作大佛事。無量壽世尊有如是神通。有如是自在。有如是威神。到這裡還有知恩報恩者麼。若有。

'If there is, he is fit to repay the kindness that cannot be repaid, and together we aid the non-doing transformation. If there is none, I will carry out this command in reverse.' Suddenly he picked up his staff and said: 'Holding Moye crosswise, the whole orthodox command; in a peaceful world, cut down the foolish and stubborn.' He planted his staff, gave a shout, and descended from the seat. The flourishing of his dharma way was foremost of the age; his assembly numbered over two thousand, all outstanding men of every quarter. The vice minister Zhang Jiucheng also followed him, and was cleanly in accord and awakened. One day, because he discussed court politics, disaster fell on the master as well. In the fifth month of the xinyou year of Shaoxing his robe and ordination certificate were destroyed and he was banished to live in Hengyang. He then collected the mechanism words of former worthies, with his own comments interspersed, and divided them into three volumes, entitling them the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. After ten years he moved to Meiyang, and five years later the emperor Gaozong by special grace released him. The next spring his monk's robe was restored. Vacant seats in every quarter invited him, and he accepted none. Later, by court order, he resided at Yuwang; after a year an edict moved him to Jingshan, and monks and laity admired him as before. When Emperor Xiaozong was the prince of Pu'an he sent the inner overseer into the mountains to visit the master, and the master made a verse to present. When he was established in the princely residence he again sent the inner guestmaster to the mountain to make offering to the five hundred arhats and ask the master to expound the dharma and pray for the prolonging of the imperial longevity; he wrote in his own hand the three characters Miao Xi Hut and composed a eulogy, sending it to him with favour. He ascended the hall: 'If you would know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should observe the season and its causes and conditions. When the season arrives, the principle shows itself.' He raised his whisk and said: 'Do you see?' He struck the Chan bed and said: 'Do you hear? Hearing and seeing are distinct — what is it? If you can take it up here, then imperial kindness and Buddha kindness are at once fully repaid. If not, Jingshan will go and pull up the kudzu vines.' He raised his whisk again and said: 'Look, look. The World-Honoured One of Immeasurable Life on the tip of Jingshan's whisk sends forth a great radiance, illuminating inexpressible, inexpressible, again inexpressible buddha-lands as many as motes of dust in worlds, turning the great dharma wheel and performing immeasurable, boundless, vast buddha work. In it, whether ordinary or sage, whether orthodox or heterodox, whether grass or tree, sentient or insentient, all who meet this light obtain supreme perfect enlightenment. Therefore all Buddhas obtain it here and possess all-seed wisdom; the great bodhisattvas obtain it here and perfect all the paramitas; the pratyekabuddhas obtain it here and, appearing in a world without Buddha, manifest spiritual powers and radiance; the shravakas together with the five hundred arhats invited in the night obtain it here and gain the eight liberations and possess the six spiritual powers; gods and men obtain it here and increase the ten good deeds; the asuras obtain it here and put away their pride; hell-beings obtain it here and leap straight over the ten grounds; hungry ghosts, animals, and all sentient beings of the four births and nine kinds obtain it here, each according to his faculties receiving its use. When the World-Honoured One of Immeasurable Life has finished performing these buddha works with his great radiance, he then pours the waters of the four great seas over the crown of the World-Honoured One Maitreya and gives him the prediction of supreme perfect enlightenment; he will perform great buddha work at the position of the anointed successor. The World-Honoured One of Immeasurable Life has such spiritual powers, such freedom, such majestic might. When you get here, is there anyone who knows the kindness and repays it? If there is.'

出來與徑山相見。為汝證明。如無。聽取一頌。十方法界至人口。法界所有即其舌。祗憑此口與舌頭。祝吾君壽無間歇。億萬斯年注福源。如海滉漾永不竭。師子窟內產狻猊。鸑鷟定出丹山穴。為瑞為祥徧九垓。草木昆蟲盡歡悅。稽首不可思議事。喻若眾星拱明月。故今宣暢妙伽陀。第一義中真實說。上堂。祖師道。一心不生。萬法無咎。無咎無法。不生不心。能隨境滅。境逐能沈。境由能境。能由境能。大小祖師。卻作座主見解。徑山即不然。眼不自見。刀不自割。吃飯濟饑。飲水定渴。臨濟德山特地迷。枉費精神施棒喝。除卻棒。拈卻喝。孟八郎漢。如何止遏。上堂。拈拄杖卓一下。喝一喝曰。德山棒。臨濟喝。今日為君重拈掇。天何高。地何闊。休向糞掃堆上更添搕𢶍。換卻骨。洗卻腸。徑山退身三步。許你諸人商量。且道作麼生商量。擲下拄杖。喝一喝曰。紅粉易成端正女。無錢難作好兒郎。上堂。正月十四十五。雙徑椎鑼打皷。要識祖意西來。看取村歌社舞。上堂。久雨不曾晴。豁開天地清。祖師門下事。何用更施呈。上堂。舉圓通秀禪師示眾曰。少林九年冷坐。剛被神光覷破。如今玉石難分。祇得麻纏紙裹。這一箇。那一箇。更一箇。若是明眼人。何須重說破。徑山今日不免狗尾續貂。也有些子。老胡九年話墮。可惜當時放過。致令默照之徒。鬼窟長年打坐。這一箇。那一箇。更一箇。雖然苦口叮嚀。卻似樹頭風過。結夏。上堂。文殊三處安居。誌公不是閑和尚。迦葉欲行正令。未免眼前見鬼。且道徑山門下。今日事作麼生。下座後。大家觸禮三拜。上堂。僧問。有麼有麼。庵主竪起拳頭。還端的也無。師便下座。歸方丈。上堂。水底泥牛嚼生鐵。憍梵缽提咬著舌。海神怒把珊瑚鞭。須彌燈王痛不徹。上堂。才方八月中秋。又是九月十五。卓拄杖曰。唯有這箇不遷。擲拄杖曰。

'Come out and meet Jingshan and I will bear witness for you. If there is none, listen to a verse: The supremely eloquent man of the ten directions' dharma realms; all that the dharma realm contains is his tongue. Relying only on this mouth and tongue, I pray for my lord's longevity without pause. For millions of years pour out the source of blessing, like the sea surging and never exhausted. In the lion's cave a lion cub is born; the phoenix and the simurgh will surely come from the cinnabar mountain cave. As auspicious omens and signs they fill the nine heavens; grass, trees, and insects all rejoice. I bow to the inconceivable matter, likened to the stars surrounding the bright moon. Therefore I now proclaim this wondrous gatha, truly speaking within the ultimate truth.' He ascended the hall: 'The ancestral teacher said: when one mind does not arise, the ten thousand dharmas are without fault. Without fault there is no dharma; not arising there is no mind. Ability perishes following circumstance; circumstance sinks following ability. Circumstance is circumstance by ability; ability is ability by circumstance. What a great ancestral teacher, to fall into the view of a lecturer. Jingshan is not so. The eye does not see itself; the knife does not cut itself. Eating rice relieves hunger; drinking water settles thirst. Linji and Deshan are especially deluded, wasting their spirit in giving blows and shouts. Take away the blows and remove the shouts — how will you stop a wild fellow like Meng the Eighth?' He ascended the hall: he picked up his staff, planted it once, gave a shout, and said: 'Deshan's blow, Linji's shout — today I take them up again for you. How high is heaven? How broad is earth? Stop adding rubbish to the dung heap. Change your bones, wash out your guts; Jingshan steps back three paces and lets you people discuss. Tell me, how will you discuss it?' He threw down his staff, gave a shout, and said: 'With rouge it is easy to make a proper woman; with no money it is hard to make a fine young man.' He ascended the hall: 'On the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first month, Shuangjing beats gongs and drums. If you want to know the ancestral meaning's coming from the west, look at the village songs and village dances.' He ascended the hall: 'Long rain has not yet cleared; when it opens up, heaven and earth are clear. The matter of the ancestral teacher's gate — what need is there to display it further?' He ascended the hall: he brought up Chan Master Yuantong Xiu's address to the assembly: 'Nine years of cold sitting at Shaolin; it was just seen through by Shenguang. Now jade and stone are hard to tell apart, and one can only wrap it in hemp and paper. This one, that one, and another one. If one has clear eyes, what need to expose it again?' Jingshan today cannot avoid adding a dog's tail to the sable. He has a little something: the old barbarian's nine years of talk fell away; it is a pity that at the time it was let pass. It has caused the followers of silent illumination to sit in meditation in ghost caves for years on end. This one, that one, and another one. Though he admonishes with a bitter mouth, it is like wind passing the treetops. At the summer retreat he ascended the hall: 'Manjushri kept the summer retreat in three places; Master Zhi was not an idle monk. Kashyapa wished to carry out the orthodox command but could not avoid seeing ghosts before his eyes. Tell me, at Jingshan's gate, what is the matter today? After descending from the seat, everyone will bow three times in greeting.' He ascended the hall: a monk asked: 'Is there? Is there?' The hut master held up his fist. 'Is it reliable or not?' The master at once descended from the seat and returned to the abbot's quarters. He ascended the hall: 'The mud ox at the bottom of the water chews raw iron; Gavampati bites his tongue. The sea god angrily grasps his coral whip; the Sumeru Lamp King's pain does not end.' He ascended the hall: 'It is only the mid-autumn of the eighth month, and now it is the fifteenth of the ninth.' He planted his staff and said: 'Only this does not move.' He threw down his staff and said:

一眾耳聞目覩。圓悟禪師忌。師拈香曰。這箇尊慈。平昔強項。氣壓諸方。逞過頭底顢頇。用格外底儱侗。自言我以木槵子換天下人眼睛。殊不知被不孝之子將斷貫索穿卻鼻孔。索頭既在徑山手裡。要教伊生也由徑山。要教伊死也由徑山。且道以何為驗。遂燒香曰。以此為驗。僧問。達磨西來。將何傳授。師曰。不可總作野狐精見解。曰。如何是麤入細。師曰。香水海裡一毛孔。曰。如何是細入麤。師曰。一毛孔裡香水海。問。古鏡未磨時如何。師曰。火不待日而熱。曰。磨後如何。師曰。風不待月而涼。曰。磨與未磨時如何。師曰。交。問。不與萬法為侶者。是甚麼人。待汝一口吸盡西江水。即向汝道。意作麼生。師曰。釘釘膠黏。問。一法若有。毗盧墮在凡夫。萬法若無。普賢失其境界。去此二途。請師速道。師曰。脫殻烏龜飛上天。問。高揖釋迦。不拜彌勒時如何。師曰。夢裡惺惺。問。大修行底人。還落因果也無。前百丈曰。不落因果。為甚麼墮野狐身。師曰。逢人但恁麼舉。曰。祇如後百丈道。不昧因果。為甚麼脫野狐身。師曰。逢人但恁麼舉。曰。或有人問徑山。大修行底人。還落因果也無。未審和尚向他道甚麼。師曰。向你道。逢人但恁麼舉。問。明頭來時如何。師曰。頭大尾顛纖。曰。暗頭來時如何。師曰。野馬嘶風蹄撥剌。曰。明日大悲院裡有齋。又作麼生。師曰。雪峰道底。問。過去心不可得。現在心不可得。未來心不可得時如何。師曰。親言出親口。曰。未審如何受持。師曰。但恁麼受持。決不相賺。問。我宗無語句。實無一法與人時如何。師曰。五味饡秤鎚。問。心佛俱忘時如何。師曰。賣扇老婆手遮日。問。教中道。塵塵說。剎剎說。無間歇。未審以何為舌。師拍禪床右角一下。僧曰。世尊不說說。迦葉不聞聞也。師拍禪床左角一下。僧曰。也知今日。令不虗行。師曰。

(The master continued:) 'The whole assembly hears and sees it.' On the anniversary of Chan Master Yuanwu's death, the master picked up incense and said: 'This venerable one was stubborn all his life and his spirit pressed down all quarters. He showed off a head-surpassing muddle and used an extraordinary sloppiness. He said himself: I will exchange a wooden bead for the eyes of everyone under heaven. He little knew that he would be strung through the nostrils by an unfilial son with a broken rope. Since the rope's end is in Jingshan's hand, if I want him to live, it is up to Jingshan; if I want him to die, it is up to Jingshan. Tell me, by what is it verified?' He then burned the incense and said: 'By this it is verified.' A monk asked: 'When Bodhidharma came from the west, what did he transmit?' The master said: 'You cannot always hold the view of a wild fox spirit.' [The monk] said: 'What is the coarse entering the fine?' The master said: 'One pore in the ocean of fragrant water.' [The monk] said: 'What is the fine entering the coarse?' The master said: 'The ocean of fragrant water in one pore.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the ancient mirror is not yet polished?' The master said: 'Fire does not wait for the sun to be hot.' [The monk] said: 'And after polishing?' The master said: 'Wind does not wait for the moon to be cool.' [The monk] said: 'What about polishing and not polishing?' The master said: 'Cross.' [A monk] asked: 'He who is not companion to the ten thousand dharmas — what sort of man is he? When you can swallow the West River in one gulp, then I will tell you. What does it mean?' The master said: 'Nailed and glued.' [A monk] asked: 'If one dharma exists, Vairocana falls among ordinary beings; if the ten thousand dharmas do not exist, Samantabhadra loses his realm. Setting aside these two roads, I beg the master to speak quickly.' The master said: 'A turtle out of its shell flies up to heaven.' [A monk] asked: 'What about bowing high to Shakyamuni and not bowing to Maitreya?' The master said: 'Awake within a dream.' [A monk] asked: 'Does a man of great practice still fall under cause and effect? The earlier Baizhang said, not falling under cause and effect — why did he fall into a wild fox body?' The master said: 'Whenever you meet someone, just raise it like that.' [The monk] said: 'And when the later Baizhang said, not obscuring cause and effect — why did he escape the wild fox body?' The master said: 'Whenever you meet someone, just raise it like that.' [The monk] said: 'Suppose someone asks Jingshan, does a man of great practice fall under cause and effect or not — I wonder what the master would tell him.' The master said: 'I tell you: whenever you meet someone, just raise it like that.' [A monk] asked: 'What about when the bright head comes?' The master said: 'Head big, tail hanging fine.' [The monk] said: 'And when the dark head comes?' The master said: 'A wild horse neighs at the wind, its hooves kicking.' [The monk] said: 'Tomorrow there is a vegetarian feast at Great Compassion Cloister — what then?' The master said: 'What Xuefeng said.' [A monk] asked: 'When the past mind cannot be got, the present mind cannot be got, the future mind cannot be got — what then?' The master said: 'A personal word from a personal mouth.' [The monk] said: 'I wonder how one should uphold it.' The master said: 'Just uphold it like that, and you will certainly not be cheated.' [A monk] asked: 'When our school has no phrases and truly not a single dharma to give to anyone — what then?' The master said: 'A five-flavour stew of steelyard weights.' [A monk] asked: 'When mind and Buddha are both forgotten, what then?' The master said: 'The old woman selling fans shades the sun with her hand.' [A monk] asked: 'The teachings say: every mote speaks, every land speaks, without pause. I wonder what serves as the tongue?' The master slapped the right corner of the Chan bed once. The monk said: 'The World-Honoured One does not speak the spoken; Kashyapa does not hear the heard.' The master slapped the left corner once. The monk said: 'I also know that today the command has not been carried out in vain.' The master said:

識甚好惡。師室中問僧。不是心。不是佛。不是物。你作麼生會。僧曰。領。師曰。領你屋裡七代先靈。僧便喝。師曰。適來領。而今喝。幹他不是心。不是佛。不是物甚麼事。僧無語。師打出。僧請益夾山境。話聲未絕。師便喝。僧茫然。師曰。你問甚麼。僧擬舉。師連打。喝出。師才見僧入。便曰。不是。出去。僧便出。師曰。沒量大人。被語脈裡轉卻。次一僧入。師亦曰。不是。出去。僧卻近前。師曰。向你道不是。更近前覓箇甚麼。便打出。復一僧入曰。適來兩僧不會和尚意。師低頭噓一聲。僧罔措。師打曰。卻是你會老僧意。問僧。我前日有一問在你處。你先前日答我了也。即今因甚麼瞌睡。僧曰。如是。如是。師曰。道甚麼。僧曰。不是。不是。師連打兩棒。曰。一棒打你如是。一棒打你不是。舉竹篦問僧曰。喚作竹篦則觸。不喚作竹篦則背。不得下語。不得無語。速道。速道。僧曰。請和尚放下竹篦。即與和尚道。師放下竹篦。僧拂袖便出。師曰。侍者認取這僧著。又舉問僧。僧曰。甕裡怕走卻鼈那。師下禪床擒住。曰。此是誰語。速道。僧曰。實不敢謾昧老師。此是竹庵和尚教某恁麼道。師連打數棒。曰。分明舉似諸方。師年邁求解。辛巳春。得旨退居明月堂。隆興改元。一夕星殞於寺西。流光赫然。尋示微恙。八月九日。學徒問安。師勉以弘道。徐曰。吾翌日始行。至五皷。親書遺奏。又貽書辭紫巖居士。侍僧了賢請偈。復大書曰。生也祇恁麼。死也祇恁麼。有偈與無偈。是甚麼熱大。擲筆委然而逝。平明有虵尺許。腰首白色。伏於龍王井欄。如義服者。乃龍王示現也。四眾哀號。皇帝聞而歎惜。上製師真贊曰。生滅不滅。常住不住。圓覺空明。隨物現處。丞相以次。致祭者沓來。門弟子塔全身於明月堂之側。壽七十有五。夏五十有八。詔以明月堂為妙喜庵。諡曰普覺。塔名寶光。

(The master continued:) 'What do you know of good and bad?' In the room the master asked a monk: 'Not mind, not Buddha, not a thing — how do you understand it?' The monk said: 'I get it.' The master said: 'Take your household's seven generations of ancestral spirits.' The monk gave a shout. The master said: 'A moment ago you got it, now you shout — what has that to do with not mind, not Buddha, not a thing?' The monk had no words, and the master drove him out. A monk asked for instruction on Jiashan's realm. Before the sound of his words had died away the master shouted. The monk was blank. The master said: 'What are you asking?' The monk tried to bring it up; the master struck him repeatedly and shouted him out. As soon as the master saw a monk enter he would say: 'Not so. Get out.' The monk would go out. The master said: 'A man of immeasurable capacity turned around by the vein of words.' Then another monk entered; the master likewise said: 'Not so. Get out.' The monk instead came closer. The master said: 'I told you it is not so; what are you coming closer to seek?' He drove him out. Again a monk entered and said: 'Those two monks just now did not understand the master's meaning.' The master lowered his head and sighed. The monk was at a loss. The master struck him and said: 'So it is you who understand the old monk's meaning.' He asked a monk: 'The day before yesterday I had a question with you; you answered me earlier that day. Why are you dozing now?' The monk said: 'So it is, so it is.' The master said: 'What are you saying?' The monk said: 'Not so, not so.' The master struck him twice with his staff and said: 'One blow for your so it is, one blow for your not so.' He raised his bamboo comb and asked a monk: 'Call it a bamboo comb and you touch; do not call it a bamboo comb and you turn away. You may not set down words; you may not be without words. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' The monk said: 'Please, master, put down the bamboo comb and I will tell you.' The master put down the bamboo comb; the monk flicked his sleeve and went out. The master said: 'Attendant, take note of this monk.' He raised it again and asked a monk. The monk said: 'Are you afraid the soft-shelled turtle will get out of the jar?' The master got down from the Chan bed, seized him, and said: 'Whose words are these? Speak quickly.' The monk said: 'I truly dare not deceive the master. This is what Chan Master Zhu'an taught me to say.' The master struck him several times and said: 'Raise this clearly before all quarters.' As the master grew old he asked to be released. In the spring of the xinsi year he received the order to retire and reside in the Bright Moon Hall. In the first year of Longxing, one night a star fell west of the monastery, its streaming light blazing. Soon he showed slight illness. On the ninth day of the eighth month his students came to ask after him; the master urged them to spread the Way, and slowly said: 'I will set out tomorrow.' At the fifth watch he wrote out his final memorial in his own hand, and also sent a letter taking leave of the layman Ziyan. His attendant monk Liaoxian asked for a verse, and he wrote in large characters: 'Living is just like this; dying is just like this. With a verse or without a verse — what great heat is this?' He threw down the brush and passed away peacefully. At dawn there was a snake about a foot long, white at waist and head, lying on the railing of the Dragon King's well, like one wearing mourning; it was the Dragon King's manifestation. The four assemblies wailed. When the emperor heard he sighed in regret, and composed a eulogy for the master's portrait: 'Birth and death are not extinguished; the permanently abiding does not abide. Perfect enlightenment, empty and bright, manifests wherever things are.' Ministers and others came in crowds to make offerings. His disciples enshrined his whole body in a stupa beside the Bright Moon Hall. He was seventy-five years old and had spent fifty-eight summers as a monk. An edict made the Bright Moon Hall the Miao Xi Hut; his posthumous title was Pujue, and his stupa was named Baoguang.

淳熈初。賜其全錄八十卷。隨大藏流行。

In the early Chun Xi period his complete record in eighty fascicles was bestowed and circulated with the great canon.

平江府虎丘紹隆禪師

Chan Master Shaolong of Huqiu in Pingjiang Prefecture