Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

平江府西山明因曇玩禪師

Chan Master Tanyuan of Mingyin at Xishan in Pingjiang Prefecture

溫州黃氏子。徧參叢席。宣和庚子。回抵鍾阜。適朝廷改僧為德士。師與同志數人。入頭陀巖食松自處。久之。圓悟被旨居是山。親至巖所。令去鬚髮。及悟詔補京師天寧。與師俱往。命掌香水海。未幾。因舉枹擊皷。頓明大法。凡有所問。皆對曰。莫理會。故流輩鹹以莫理會稱之。住後。上堂。汝有一對眼。我也有一對眼。汝若瞞還自瞞。汝若成佛作祖。老僧無汝底分。汝若做驢做馬。老僧救汝不得。眾檀越入山。請上堂。說偈曰。我無長處名虗出。謝汝殷勤特地來。明因無法堪分付。謾把山門為汝開。

A son of the Huang family of Wenzhou. He paid homage at every seat in the monasteries. In the gengzi year of Xuan He he came back to Zhongfu. It happened that the court changed monks into Virtuous Scholars, and the master together with several like-minded men entered the Dhuta Cave and lived on pine nuts. After a long time Yuanwu was by decree made to reside on this mountain; he came in person to the cave and had them remove their beards and hair. When Wu was summoned by edict to fill the post at Tianning in the capital, he went together with the master and had him take charge of the Fragrant Water Sea. Before long, because he raised the drumstick and struck the drum, he suddenly understood the great dharma. Whatever he was asked, he answered: 'Do not bother about it.' So his fellows all called him Do-Not-Bother. After he became abbot he ascended the hall: 'You have one pair of eyes, I also have one pair of eyes. If you deceive, you deceive yourself. If you become a Buddha and a patriarch, the old monk has no share in it. If you become a donkey or a horse, the old monk cannot save you.' When the donors came into the mountain and asked him to ascend the hall, he spoke a verse: 'I have no strong point; my name goes out in vain. Thank you for your diligence in coming specially. Mingyin has no dharma to hand over; I open the mountain gate for you in vain.'

平江府虎丘雪庭元淨禪師

Chan Master Yuanjing of the Snow Courtyard at Huqiu in Pingjiang Prefecture

雙溪人也。上堂。知有底人。過萬年如同一日。不知有者。過一日如同萬年。不見死心和尚道。山僧行腳三十餘年。以九十日為一夏。增一日也不得。減一日也不得。取不得。捨不得。不可得中祇麼得。翠雲見處又且不然。山僧行腳三十來年。誰管他一日九十日。也無得。也無不得。處處當來見彌勒。且道彌勒在甚麼處。金風吹渭水。落葉滿長安。上堂。說得須是見得。見得又須說得。見得說不得。落在陰界。見解偏枯。說得見不得。落在時機。墮在毒海。若是翠雲門下。直饒說得見得。好與三十棒。說不得見不得。也好與三十棒。翠雲恁麼道。也好與三十棒。遂高聲召大眾曰。嶮。上堂。日日日東出。日日日西沒。是時人知有。自古自今。如麻似粟。忽然捩轉話頭。亦不從東出。亦不從西沒。且道從甚處出沒。若是透關底人。聞恁麼道。定知五里牌在郭門外。若是透不過者。往往道半山熱瞞人。僧問。如何是到家一句。師曰。坐觀成敗。問。不與萬法為侶者是甚麼人。師曰。遠親不如近隣。曰。待汝一口吸盡西江水。即向汝道。又作麼生。師曰。近隣不如遠親。問。亡僧遷化向甚麼處去。師曰。糞堆頭。曰。意旨如何。師曰。築著磕著。

A man of Shuangxi. He ascended the hall: 'One who knows there is, passes ten thousand years as a single day. One who does not know there is, passes a single day as ten thousand years. Do you not see what Chan Master Sixin said: the mountain monk travelled on foot for over thirty years, taking ninety days as one summer retreat. Not one day could be added, not one day could be taken away. You cannot take it, you cannot discard it; in the ungraspable you just get it. Cuiyun's understanding is not so. The mountain monk travelled for some thirty years; who cares about one day or ninety days? There is no getting and no not getting. Everywhere I shall meet Maitreya. Tell me, where is Maitreya? The golden wind blows on the Wei River; fallen leaves fill Chang'an.' He ascended the hall: 'What you can speak you must see; what you see you must again speak. Seeing but unable to speak, you fall into the realm of form; your view is lopsided. Speaking but unable to see, you fall into the times and conditions and drop into the sea of poison. At Cuiyun's gate, even if you can speak and see, you deserve thirty blows. If you can neither speak nor see, you also deserve thirty blows. Cuiyun speaking like this also deserves thirty blows.' He then called the assembly in a loud voice and said: 'Danger!' He ascended the hall: 'Day by day the sun comes out in the east; day by day the sun sets in the west. This people of the age know. From ancient times to now they are like hemp and millet. Suddenly turning the head of the conversation, it neither comes out in the east nor sets in the west. Tell me, from where does it come out and set? If you are a man who has passed through the barrier, hearing this you will surely know that the Five-Li Marker is outside the city gate. If you cannot pass through, you will probably say Half Mountain is cheating people.' A monk asked: 'What is the one phrase of arriving home?' The master said: 'Sit and watch the success or failure.' [A monk] asked: 'He who is not companion to the ten thousand dharmas — what sort of man is he?' The master said: 'A distant relative is not as good as a near neighbour.' [The monk] said: 'When you can swallow the West River in one gulp, then I will tell you — what then?' The master said: 'A near neighbour is not as good as a distant relative.' [A monk] asked: 'Where does a dead monk go when he passes away?' The master said: 'The top of the dung heap.' [The monk] said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'Bumping and knocking.'

衢州天寧訥堂梵思禪師

Chan Master Fansi of the Ne Hall at Tianning in Quzhou

蘇臺朱氏子。上堂。趯飜生死海。踏倒涅槃岸。世上無活人。黃泉無死漢。遂拈拄杖曰。訥堂今日拄杖子有分付處。也還有承當得者麼。試出來擔荷看。有麼有麼。良久。擲拄杖。下座。上堂。知有底。也吃粥吃飯。不知有底。也吃粥吃飯。如何直下驗得他有之與無。是之與非。邪之與正。若驗不出。參學事大遠在。喝一喝。下座。上堂。山僧是楊歧四世孫。這老漢有箇三腳驢子弄蹄行公案。雖人人舉得。祇是不知落處。山僧不惜眉毛。為諸人下箇註腳。乃曰。八角磨盤空裡走。

A son of the Zhu family of Sutai. He ascended the hall: 'Kick over the sea of birth and death; trample down the shore of nirvana. In the world there are no living men; in the yellow springs there are no dead fellows.' He then picked up his staff and said: 'Today the Ne Hall's staff has something to hand over. Is there anyone who can take it up? Try coming out and shoulder it. Is there? Is there?' After a long pause he threw down the staff and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'Those who know there is, also eat gruel and rice. Those who do not know there is, also eat gruel and rice. How will you directly test whether they have it or not, whether they are right or wrong, whether they are crooked or straight? If you cannot test it, the matter of study is very far off.' He gave a shout and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'The mountain monk is a fourth-generation descendant of Yangqi. This old fellow has a case about a three-legged donkey walking on its hooves. Though everyone can raise it, they just do not know where it lands. The mountain monk will not begrudge his eyebrows and will set down a footnote for you all.' He then said: 'An eight-cornered millstone walks in the sky.'

嶽州君山佛照覺禪師

Chan Master Fozhao Jue of Junshan in Yuezhou

上堂。舉。古者道。仰之彌高。鑽之彌堅。瞻之在前。忽焉在後。諸人還識得麼。若也不識。為你註破。仰之彌高。不隔絲毫。要津把斷。佛祖難逃。鑽之彌堅。真體自然。鳥啼華笑。在碧巖前。瞻之在前。非正非偏。十方坐斷。威鎮大千。忽焉在後。一場漏逗。堪笑雲門。藏身北斗。咄。

He ascended the hall: he brought up: The ancients said, 'Looking up to it, it is higher still; boring into it, it is harder still. Looking, it is before you; suddenly it is behind.' Do you all recognize it? If you do not, I will break it open for you. 'Looking up to it, it is higher still': not separated by a hair; the vital ford is cut off, and buddhas and patriarchs cannot escape. 'Boring into it, it is harder still': the true body is natural; birds cry and flowers smile before the green cliff. 'Looking, it is before you': neither right nor slanted; sitting and cutting off the ten directions, its majesty shakes the great thousand. 'Suddenly it is behind': one scene of leakage; laughable is Yunmen hiding his body in the northern dipper. Bah.

平江府寶華顯禪師

Chan Master Xian of Baohua in Pingjiang Prefecture

本郡人也。上堂曰。吃粥了也。頭上安頭。洗缽盂去。為虵畫足。更問如何。自納敗闕。良久。高聲召大眾。眾舉首。師曰。歸堂吃茶。上堂。禪莫參。道休學。歇意忘機常廓落。現成公案早周遮。祇箇無心已穿鑿。直饒坐斷未生前。難透山僧錯錯錯。

A man of this prefecture. He ascended the hall and said: 'You have eaten the gruel — a head on top of a head. Wash the bowl — drawing feet on a snake. Ask further how it is — you bring defeat on yourself.' After a long pause he called the assembly in a loud voice. The assembly raised their heads. The master said: 'Return to the hall and drink tea.' He ascended the hall: 'Do not investigate Chan; do not study the Way. Rest the mind and forget the mechanism, always vast and open. The ready-made case is already wrapped up; this very no-mind is already drilled through. Even if you sit and cut off before birth, it is hard to get through — the mountain monk: wrong, wrong, wrong.'

紹興府東山覺禪師

Chan Master Jue of Dongshan in Shaoxing Prefecture

後住因聖。上堂。三通皷罷。諸人各各上來。擬待理會祖師西來意。還知劒去久矣麼。設使直下悟去。也是斬頭覓活。東山事不獲已。且向第二頭鞠拶看。以手拍禪床。下座。上堂。花爛熳。景暄研。休說壺中別有天。百草頭邊如薦得。東高三丈。西闊八寸。上堂。舉。昔廣額屠兒。一日至佛所。颺下屠刀。曰。我是千佛一數。世尊曰。如是如是。今時叢林。將謂廣額過去是一佛。權現屠兒。如此見廣額。且喜沒交涉。又曰。廣額正是箇殺人不眨眼底漢。颺下屠刀。立地成佛。且喜沒交涉。又道。廣額颺下屠刀。曰我道千佛一數。涉一佛多少分明。且喜沒交涉。要識廣額麼。夾路桃華風雨後。馬蹄何處避殘紅。

Later he resided at Yinsheng. He ascended the hall: 'The three rounds of the drum are finished; you all come up one by one, intending to understand the ancestral teacher's meaning coming from the west. Do you know that the sword went long ago? Even if you awaken directly, it is also beheading to seek life. Dongshan, since the matter cannot be helped, will press you on the second head.' He clapped the Chan bed with his hand and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'Flowers in full bloom, the scenery warm and bright; do not speak of another heaven within the pot. If you can see it at the tip of a blade of grass, the east is three zhang high and the west eight inches wide.' He ascended the hall: he brought up: Formerly the butcher Guang'e came one day into the Buddha's presence, threw down his cleaver, and said: 'I am one of the thousand Buddhas.' The World-Honoured One said: 'So it is, so it is.' The monasteries of today think that Guang'e was a Buddha in the past who manifested as a butcher. In seeing Guang'e thus, I am glad there is no connection. They also say: Guang'e was precisely a fellow who killed without blinking; he threw down his cleaver and at once became a Buddha. I am glad there is no connection. They also say: Guang'e threw down his cleaver and said, 'I am one of the thousand Buddhas' — how clearly that touches on one Buddha. I am glad there is no connection. Do you want to know Guang'e? Peach blossoms line the road after wind and rain; where can the horse's hooves avoid the fallen red?'

台州天封覺禪師

Chan Master Jue of Tianfeng in Taizhou

上堂。無生國裡。未是安居。萬仞崖頭。豈容駐足。且望空撒手。直下飜身一句作麼生道。人逢好事精神爽。入火真金色轉鮮。

He ascended the hall: 'In the land of non-birth it is not yet a peaceful dwelling; at the top of a ten-thousand-fathom cliff, how can one stay? Tell me, how will you speak the one phrase of letting go over the void and turning over directly below? A man meeting a good thing has a lively spirit; true gold entering fire grows brighter.'

成都府昭覺道祖首座

Head Seat Daozu of Zhaojue in Chengdu Prefecture

初見圓悟。於即心是佛語下發明。久之。悟命分座。一日為眾入室。餘二十許人。師忽問曰。生死到來。如何迴避。僧無對。師擲下拂子。奄然而逝。眾皆愕眙。亟以聞悟。悟至。召曰。祖首座。師張目眎之。悟曰。抖擻精神透關去。師點頭。竟爾趨寂。

When he first saw Yuanwu he had his awakening at the words 'mind itself is Buddha'. After a long time Wu had him share the seat. One day he was receiving the assembly into the room for some twenty people. The master suddenly asked: 'When birth and death arrive, how do you avoid them?' The monk had no reply. The master threw down his whisk and suddenly passed away. The assembly was all astonished. They hurried to tell Wu. Wu arrived and called: 'Head Seat Zu.' The master opened his eyes and looked at him. Wu said: 'Rouse your spirit and pass through the barrier.' The master nodded, and so passed into quiescence.

南康軍雲居宗振首座

Head Seat Zongzhen of Yunju in Nankang Commandery

丹丘人也。依圜悟於雲居。一日。仰瞻鐘閣。倐然契證。有詰之者。座酧以三偈。其後曰。我有一機。直下示伊。青天霹靂。電卷星馳。德山臨濟。棒喝徒施。不傳之妙。於汝何虧。悟見大悅。竟以節操自高。道望愈重。甞書壁曰。住在千峰最上層。年將耳順任騰騰。免教名字掛人齒。甘作今朝百拙僧。

A man of Danqiu. He relied on Yuanwu at Yunju. One day, looking up at the bell tower, he was suddenly in accord and certified. When someone questioned him, the seat answered with three verses. Afterward he said: 'I have a mechanism; I show it to you directly. A clear-sky thunderbolt, lightning rolling, stars racing. Deshan and Linji wasted their blows and shouts. The untransmitted wonder — how is it diminished in you?' Wu saw it and was delighted. In the end he was lofty in his integrity, and his reputation for the Way grew heavier. He once wrote on the wall: 'Dwelling on the topmost storey of a thousand peaks, nearing my sixtieth year I let myself drift. To spare my name from hanging on people's teeth, I willingly become today's monk of a hundred clumsinesses.'

樞密徐俯

The privy councillor Xu Fu

字師川。號東湖居士。每侍先龍圖謁法昌及靈源。語論終日。公聞之。藐如也。及法昌歸寂在笑談間。公異之。始篤信此道。後丁父憂。念無以報罔極。命靈源歸孝址說法。源登座。問答已。乃曰。諸仁者。祇如龍圖平日讀萬卷書。如水傳器。涓滴不遺。且道尋常著在甚麼處。而今捨識之後。這著萬卷書底。又卻向甚麼處著。公聞。灑然有得。遂曰。吾無憾矣。源下座。問曰。學士適來見箇甚麼。便恁麼道。公曰。若有所見。則鈍置和尚去也。源曰。恁麼則老僧不如。公曰。和尚是何心行。源大笑。靖康初。為尚書外郎。與朝士同志者掛缽於天寧寺之擇木堂。力參圓悟。悟亦喜其見地超邁。一日至書記寮。指悟項相曰。這老漢腳跟猶未點地在。悟䫌面曰。甕裡何曾走卻鼈。公曰。且喜老漢腳跟點地。悟曰。莫謗他好。公休去。

His courtesy name was Shichuan; his style name was Layman Donghu. Whenever he accompanied his late father the Longtu to visit Fachang and Lingyuan, they would talk all day, and the lord listened as if it were nothing. When Fachang passed into quiescence amid laughter and talk, the lord found it extraordinary and began to believe firmly in this Way. Later, in mourning for his father, he thought he had nothing with which to repay the boundless debt, and had Lingyuan come to the mourning site to expound the dharma. Yuan mounted the seat; after the question and answer he said: 'Good people, just so, the Longtu read ten thousand books in his ordinary days, like water poured from vessel to vessel without losing a drop. Tell me, where did he ordinarily put them? And now, after he has discarded consciousness, where does this reader of ten thousand books put them?' The lord heard and was cleanly attained, and said: 'I have no regret.' Yuan descended from the seat and asked: 'What did the scholar just now see, that he speaks like this?' The lord said: 'If I had seen something, I would have dumped it on the master.' Yuan said: 'Then the old monk is not as good.' The lord said: 'What is the master's mind doing?' Yuan laughed heartily. In the early Jing Kang period he was a vice-minister of the Shangshu and, with like-minded court gentlemen, hung up his bowl in the Zemu Hall of Tianning Monastery, exerting himself to study under Yuanwu. Wu was also pleased at his transcendent view. One day he came to the secretariat quarters and, pointing at Wu's neck, said: 'This old fellow's heels have not yet touched the ground.' Wu turned his face and said: 'How could the soft-shelled turtle have got out of the jar?' The lord said: 'I am glad the old fellow's heels touch the ground.' Wu said: 'Do not slander him.' The lord desisted.

郡王趙令衿

The prince Zhao Lingjin

字表之。號超然居士。任南康。政成事簡。多與禪衲遊。公堂間為摩詰丈室。適圓悟居甌阜。公欣然就其鑪錘。悟不少假。公固請。悟曰。此事要得相應。直須是死一回始得。公默契。甞自疏之。其略曰。家貧遭劫。誰知盡底不存。空屋無人。幾度賊來亦打。悟見。囑令加護。紹興庚申冬。公與汪內翰藻．李參政邴．曾侍郎開詣徑山。謁大慧。慧聞至。乃令擊皷入室。公欣然袖香趨之。慧曰。趙州洗缽盂話。居士作麼生會。公曰。討甚麼碗。拂袖便出。慧起搊住曰。古人向這裡悟去。你因甚麼卻不悟。公擬對。慧𢮁之曰。討甚麼碗。公曰。還這老漢始得。

His courtesy name was Biaozhi; his style name was Layman Chaoran. When he governed Nankang, his administration was accomplished and his affairs simple, and he often consorted with Chan monks. In his official hall he made a Vimalakirti room. It happened that Yuanwu was residing at Oufu, and the lord gladly went to his tongs and hammer. Wu gave him no quarter. The lord pressed him, and Wu said: 'For this matter to correspond, you must die once.' The lord silently agreed. He once wrote out his own exposition, its gist being: 'When a poor family meets a robbery, who would have known that nothing at all remains? An empty house with no one in it — how many times the thief came and still was beaten.' Wu saw it and charged him to guard it well. In the winter of the gengshen year of Shaoxing the lord, together with the Hanlin scholar Wang Zao, the vice-minister Li Bing, and the vice-minister Zeng Kai, went to Jingshan to pay homage to Dahui. When Hui heard they had come he had the drum struck and entered the room. The lord gladly put incense in his sleeve and hurried in. Hui said: 'The case of Zhaozhou washing the bowl — how does the layman understand it?' The lord said: 'What bowl are you asking for?' He flicked his sleeve and went out. Hui rose, seized him, and said: 'The ancients awakened here; why do you not awaken?' As the lord tried to answer, Hui shoved him and said: 'What bowl are you asking for?' The lord said: 'One must give this old fellow his due.'

侍郎李彌遜

The vice-minister Li Mixun

號普現居士。少時讀書。五行俱下。年十八。中鄉舉。登第京師。旋歷華要。至二十八歲。為中書舍人。常入圓悟室。一日早朝回。至天津橋馬躍。忽有省。通身汗流。直造天寧。適悟出門。遙見便喚曰。居士且喜大事了畢。公厲聲曰。和尚眼華作甚麼。悟便喝。公亦喝。於是機鋒迅捷。凡與悟問答。當機不讓。公後遷吏部。乞祠祿歸閩連江。築庵自娛。忽一日示微恙。遽索湯。沐浴畢。遂趺坐。作偈曰。謾說從來牧護。今日分明呈露。虗空拶倒須彌。說甚向上一路。擲筆而逝。

His style name was Layman Puxian. As a youth he read books, taking in five lines at a glance. At eighteen he passed the provincial examination and took his degree in the capital. He soon passed through the high and important offices, and by twenty-eight was a Secretariat Drafter. He often entered Yuanwu's room. One day, returning from morning audience, his horse shied at the Tianjin Bridge and he suddenly had an awakening; sweat poured over his whole body. He went straight to Tianning. Wu happened to be coming out of the gate, and seeing him from afar called: 'Layman, I am glad the great matter is finished.' The lord said in a stern voice: 'What are you doing with blurred eyes, master?' Wu shouted; the lord also shouted. From this his mechanism and sharpness were swift, and in all his question and answer with Wu he gave no ground at the moment. The lord later moved to the Ministry of Personnel and begged for a temple stipend, returning to Lianjiang in Min. He built a hut for his own amusement. One day he suddenly showed slight illness; he at once asked for hot water, bathed, and sat cross-legged. He made a verse: 'Do not speak of the shepherd of old; today it is clearly exposed. Empty space presses down Sumeru — what of the one road above?' He threw down the brush and passed away.

覺庵道人祖氏

The Daoist adept of the Jue Hut, of the Zu family

建寧遊察院之姪女也。幼志不出適。留心祖道。於圓悟示眾語下。瞭然明白。悟曰。更須颺卻所見。始得自由。祖答偈曰。露柱抽橫骨。虗空弄爪牙。直饒玄會得。猶是眼中沙。

She was the niece of the censor You of Jianning. From youth she resolved not to marry and set her mind on the ancestral Way. At Yuanwu's address to the assembly she was clear and distinct. Wu said: 'You must further throw away what you have seen before you can be free.' Zu answered with a verse: 'The exposed pillar draws out a crosswise bone; empty space bares claw and fang. Even if you understand the mystery, it is still sand in the eye.'

令人本明

The lady attendant Benming

號明室。自機契圓悟。徧參名宿。皆蒙印可。紹興庚申二月望。親書三偈寄呈草堂清。微露謝世之意。至旬末。別親裡而終。草堂䟦其偈。後為刊行。大慧亦甞垂語發揚。偈曰。不識煩惱是菩提。若隨煩惱是愚痴。起滅之時須要會。鷂過新羅人不知。不識煩惱是菩提。淨華生淤泥。人來問我若何為。吃粥吃飯了洗缽盂。莫管他。莫管他。終日痴憨弄海沙。要識本來真面目。便是祖師一木叉。道不得底叉下死。道得底也叉下死。畢竟如何。不許夜行。投明須到。

Her style name was Bright Chamber. Once her mechanism was in accord with Yuanwu, she paid homage to famous elders everywhere, and all approved her. On the fifteenth of the second month of the gengshen year of Shaoxing she wrote out three verses in her own hand and sent them to Caotang Qing, slightly revealing her intention to leave the world. At the end of the ten days she took leave of kin and neighbours and passed away. Caotang wrote a postscript to her verses, and they were later printed. Dahui also once raised words to praise them. The verses say: 'Not knowing that affliction is bodhi — if you follow affliction you are foolish. At the moment of arising and ceasing you must understand; the sparrowhawk passes Silla and no one knows. Not knowing that affliction is bodhi: a pure flower grows from muddy silt. If someone comes and asks me what I do — eat gruel and rice, then wash the bowl. Do not bother about him, do not bother about him; all day foolish and simple, playing with sea sand. If you would know the original true face, it is the ancestral teacher's one wooden fork. One who cannot speak it dies under the fork; one who can speak it also dies under the fork. After all, what is it? No night walking allowed; by first light you must arrive.'

成都府範縣君者

The lady of the Fan family of Fan County, Chengdu Prefecture

嫠居歲久。常坐而不臥。聞圓悟住昭覺。往禮拜。請示入道因緣。悟令看不是心。不是佛。不是物。是箇甚麼。久無所契。範泣告悟曰。和尚有何方便。令某易會。悟曰。卻有箇方便。遂令祇看是箇甚麼。後有省曰。元來恁麼地近那。

She had been widowed many years and always sat, never lying down. Hearing that Yuanwu was residing at Zhaojue she went to pay homage and asked for the causes and conditions for entering the Way. Wu had her look at 'not mind, not Buddha, not a thing — what is it?' For a long time she had no accord. Fan wept and told Wu: 'Has the master some device to make it easy for me to understand?' Wu said: 'There is a device.' He then had her look only at 'what is it?' Later she had an awakening and said: 'So it was that close all along.'

太平懃禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qin of Taiping

常德府文殊心道禪師

Chan Master Xindao of Wenshu in Changde Prefecture

眉州徐氏子。年三十得度。詣成都習唯識。自以為至。同舍詰之曰。三界唯心。萬法唯識。今目前萬象摐然。心識安在。師茫然不知對。遂出關。周流江淮。既抵舒之太平。聞佛鑑禪師夜參。舉趙州栢樹子話。至覺鐵觜雲。先師無此語。莫謗先師好。因大疑。提撕既久。一夕豁然。即趨丈室。擬敘所悟。鑑見來便閉門。師曰。和尚莫謾某甲。鑑雲。十方無壁落。何不入門來。師以拳擉破窻紙。鑑即開門搊住雲。道。道。師以兩手捧鑑頭。作口啐而出。遂呈偈曰。趙州有箇栢樹話。禪客相傳徧天下。多是摘葉與尋枝。不能直向根源會。覺公說道無此語。正是惡言當面罵。禪人若具通方眼。好向此中辨真假。鑑深然之。每對客稱賞。後命分座。襄守請開法天寧。未幾擢大別文殊。上堂曰。師子嚬呻。象王哮吼。雲門北斗裡藏身。白雲因何喚作手。三世諸佛不能知。狸奴白牯卻知有。且道。作麼生是他知有底事。雨打棃華峽蝶飛。風吹柳絮毛毬走。上堂。拈拄杖直上指曰。恁麼時。刺破憍屍迦腳跟。卓一下曰。恁麼時。卓碎閻羅王頂骨。乃指東畔曰。恁麼時。穿過東海鯉魚眼睛。指西畔曰。恁麼時。塞卻西王母鼻孔。且道總不恁麼時如何。今年雨水多。各宜頻曬㫰。宣和改元。下詔改僧為德士。上堂。祖意西來事。今朝特地新。昔為比丘相。今作老君形。鶴氅披銀褐。頭包蕉葉巾。林泉無事客。兩度受君恩。所以道。欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。且道即今是甚麼時節。毗盧遮那。頂戴寶冠。為顯真中有俗。文殊老叟。身披鶴氅。且要俯順時宜。一人既爾。眾人亦然。大家成立叢林。喜得群僊聚會。共酌迷僊酎。同唱步虗詞。或看靈寶度人經。或說長生不死藥。琴彈月下。指端發太古之音。棊布軒前。妙著出神機之外。進一步便到大羅天上。退一步卻入九幽城中。祇如不進不退一句。又作麼生道。直饒羽化三清路。

A son of the Xu family of Meizhou. He received ordination at thirty and went to Chengdu to study Consciousness-Only, thinking he had reached the limit. A fellow student pressed him: 'The three realms are mind only, the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only. Yet before your eyes the ten thousand things are in confusion — where is the mind and consciousness?' The master was blank and could not answer. He then left the pass and wandered through the Jiang and Huai. Arriving at Taiping in Shu, he heard Chan Master Fojian's night gathering in which he brought up Zhaozhou's case of the cypress tree, and came to Jue Tiezui's words: 'My late teacher did not say this; do not slander my late teacher.' He was greatly doubtful. He kept it before him for a long time, and one night was suddenly clear. He went at once to the abbot's room intending to describe his awakening. Jian saw him coming and shut the door. The master said: 'Master, do not deceive me.' Jian said: 'The ten directions have no walls or fences; why do you not come in by the gate?' The master broke the window paper with his fist. Jian at once opened the door, seized him, and said: 'Speak, speak.' The master took Jian's head in both hands, made a spitting sound, and went out. He then presented a verse: 'Zhaozhou has a cypress tree case; Chan guests pass it around the whole world. Most pluck leaves and seek branches and cannot directly understand the source. Master Jue said there were no such words — precisely coarse speech cursing to the face. If a Chan man has an all-round eye, he will do well to tell true from false in this.' Jian deeply agreed, and often praised him before guests. Later he had him share the seat. The Xiangyang prefect invited him to open the teaching at Tianning, and before long he was promoted to Wen Shu at Dabie. He ascended the hall and said: 'The lion snorts, the elephant king roars. Yunmen hides his body in the northern dipper; why does Baiyun call it a hand? The Buddhas of the three ages cannot know it, yet the cat and the white ox do know there is. Tell me, what is the matter they know there is? Rain beats the pear blossoms, the butterfly flies; wind blows the willow catkins, the hairball rolls.' He ascended the hall: he picked up his staff and pointed straight up, saying: 'At such a time it pierces Kaushika's heel.' He planted it once and said: 'At such a time it smashes Yama's skull.' He then pointed to the east side and said: 'At such a time it passes through the eyes of the Eastern Sea carp.' He pointed to the west side and said: 'At such a time it blocks the nostrils of the Queen Mother of the West. Tell me, what about when it is not like that at all? This year there is much rain; each of you should air things out often.' In the first year of Xuan He an edict changed monks into Virtuous Scholars. He ascended the hall: 'The ancestral meaning's coming from the west — today it is especially new. Formerly I had a monk's appearance; now I take the form of Laozi. A crane cloak over silver-brown, the head wrapped in a banana-leaf kerchief. An idler of the woods and springs, twice receiving my lord's grace. Therefore it is said: if you would know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should observe the season and its causes and conditions. Tell me, what season is it just now? Vairocana wears a jewelled crown, to show the common within the true. The old man Manjushri wears a crane cloak, for he must bow to the times. If one man is so, the many are likewise. Let us all build up the monasteries and be glad that the immortals gather. Together we drink the wine of deluded immortals and sing the Song of Pacing the Void. Some read the Numinous Treasure Scripture of Saving Beings; some speak of the medicine of deathlessness. The zither plays below the moon, and on the fingertips rises the music of high antiquity. The chessboard is set before the pavilion, and marvellous moves come forth beyond divine mechanism. Step forward and you reach the heaven of the Great Canopy; step back and you enter the city of the nine darknesses. Tell me, how will you speak the one phrase of neither advancing nor retreating? Even if you take the road of feathered transformation to the Three Pure Ones,'

終是輪迴一幻身。二年九月。復僧。上堂。不掛田衣著羽衣。老君形相頗相宜。一年半內閑思想。大底興衰各有時。我佛如來預讖法之有難。教中明載。無不委知。較量年代。正在於茲。魔得其便。惑亂正宗。僧改俗形。佛更名字。妄生邪解。刪削經文。鐃鈸停音。缽盂添足。多般矯詐。欺罔聖君。賴我皇帝陛下。聖德聖明。不忘付囑。不廢其教。特賜宸章。頒行天下。仍許僧尼。重新披削。實謂寒灰再焰。枯木重榮。不離俗形而作僧形。不出魔界而入佛界。重鳴法皷。再整頹綱。迷僊酎變為甘露瓊漿。步虗詞飜作還鄉曲子。放下銀木簡。拈起尼師壇。昨朝稽首擎拳。今日和南不審。祇改舊時相。不改舊時人。敢問大眾。舊時人是一箇。是兩箇。良久曰。秋風也解嫌狼籍。吹盡當年道教灰。建炎三年春。示眾。舉臨濟入滅囑三聖因緣。師曰。正法眼藏瞎驢滅。臨濟何曾有是說。今古時人皆妄傳。不信但看後三月。至閏三月。賊鍾相叛。其徒欲舉師南奔者。師曰。學道所以了生死。何避之有。賊至。師曰。速見殺。以快汝心。賊即舉槊殘之。血皆白乳。賊駭。引席覆之而去。

'in the end it is still one illusory body in the cycle of rebirth.' In the ninth month of the second year the monk's order was restored. He ascended the hall: 'Not wearing the field robe but the feathered robe; the form of Laozi suits me well. Within a year and a half of idle thinking, on the whole rise and fall have their seasons. Our Buddha Tathagata foretold that the dharma would meet with hardship; it is clearly recorded in the teachings, and no one is unaware. Comparing the ages, it is exactly now. Mara found his opportunity and deluded the orthodox school: monks changed to lay form, the Buddha was given another name, false interpretations sprang up, the scriptures were cut and trimmed, cymbals and gongs stopped their sound, the bowl grew feet — many kinds of deceit, cheating the sage lord. Thanks to our emperor's majesty and sagely wisdom, he did not forget the charge and did not abolish the teaching, but specially bestowed an imperial writing and promulgated it through the world, still permitting monks and nuns to shave and dye again. Truly it is cold ashes flaring up again and a withered tree blooming anew. Without leaving the lay form one takes the monk's form; without leaving the realm of Mara one enters the realm of Buddha. Again the dharma drum sounds; again the fallen order is set right. The wine of deluded immortals becomes sweet dew and jade nectar; the Song of Pacing the Void turns into a song of returning home. Put down the silver tablet and take up the monk's mat. Yesterday I bowed with raised fist; today I greet you with joined palms. Only the old appearance is changed, not the old man. I venture to ask the assembly: is the old man one or two?' After a long pause he said: 'The autumn wind too knows how to dislike disorder; it blows away all the ashes of Daoism from those years.' In the spring of the third year of Jian Yan he addressed the assembly, bringing up the case of Linji's entering quiescence and his charge to Sansheng. The master said: 'The treasury of the true dharma eye was extinguished at the side of a blind donkey — did Linji ever say such a thing? People of past and present all falsely transmit it; if you do not believe, just watch the third month after.' In the intercalary third month the rebel Zhong Xiang rose. His followers wanted to carry the master south in flight. The master said: 'Studying the Way is for settling birth and death; what is there to flee?' When the rebels came the master said: 'Kill me quickly, to gladden your hearts.' The rebels at once raised their spears and cut him down. His blood was all white milk. The rebels were terrified, spread a mat over him, and left.

韶州南華知昺禪師

Chan Master Zhibing of Nanhua in Shaozhou

蜀之永康人也。上堂。此事最希奇。不礙當頭說。東鄰田舍翁。隨例得一橛。非唯貫聲色。亦乃應時節。若問是何宗。八字不著人。擊禪床。下座。上堂。日日說。時時舉。似地擎山爭幾許。隴西鸚鵡得人憐。大都祇為能言語。休思惟。帶伴侶。智者聊聞猛提取。更有一般也大奇。貓兒偏解捉老鼠。上堂。以拄杖向空中攪曰。攪長河為酥酪。鰕蟹猶自眼搭眵。卓一下曰。變大地作黃金。窮漢依前赤骨力。為復自家無分。為復不肯承當。可中有箇漢荷負得行。多少人失錢遭罪。再卓一下曰。還會麼。寶山到也須開眼。勿使忙忙空手回。上堂。春光爛熳華爭發。子規啼落西山月。僑梵缽提長吐舌。底事分明向誰說。嗄。上堂。迷不自迷。對悟立迷。悟不自悟。因迷說悟。所以悟為迷之體。迷為悟之用。迷悟兩無從。箇中無別共。無別共。撥不動。祖師不將來。鼻孔千斤重。

A man of Yongkang in Shu. He ascended the hall: 'This matter is most extraordinary; it does not hinder speaking it face to face. The old farmer next door to the east got one stub by the general rule. It not only runs through sound and form; it also accords with the season. If you ask what school it is, the eight characters do not stick to a man.' He struck the Chan bed and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'Day by day he speaks, hour by hour he raises it; like the earth upholding a mountain, how far apart are they? The Longxi parrot wins people's affection chiefly because it can speak. Stop thinking; bring a companion. The wise man hears it and at once seizes it fiercely. There is another kind that is also very strange: the cat knows well how to catch mice.' He ascended the hall: he stirred his staff in the air and said: 'Churn the long river into cream — the shrimp and crabs still have gum in their eyes.' He planted it once and said: 'Turn the great earth into gold — the poor man is still bare-boned as before. Is it that he has no share, or that he will not take it up? Yet if there is a fellow who can shoulder it and go, how many people lose money and suffer punishment.' He planted it once more and said: 'Do you understand? Even when you reach the jewel mountain you must open your eyes; do not go back empty-handed in a fluster.' He ascended the hall: 'Spring light is in full bloom and flowers vie to open; the cuckoo cries down the moon over the western hills. Gavampati keeps putting out his tongue. To whom is the matter clearly told? Aha.' He ascended the hall: 'Delusion does not delude itself; it sets up delusion against awakening. Awakening does not awaken itself; because of delusion it speaks of awakening. Therefore awakening is the substance of delusion and delusion is the function of awakening. Delusion and awakening both have no following; in this there is no other and no shared. No other, no shared — it cannot be moved. The ancestral teacher does not bring it; the nostrils weigh a thousand catties.'