Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

潭州龍牙智才禪師

Chan Master Zhicai of Longya in Tanzhou

舒州施氏子。早服勤於佛鑑法席。而局務不辭難。名已聞於叢林。及遊方迫暮。至黃龍。適死心在三門。問其所從來。既稱名。則知為舒州太平才莊主矣。翌日入室。死心問曰。會得最初句。便會末後句。會得末後句。便會最初句。最初末後。拈放一邊。百丈野狐話作麼生會。師曰。入戶已知來見解。何須更舉轢中泥。心曰。新長老死在上座手裡也。師曰。語言雖有異。至理且無差。心曰。如何是無差底事。師曰。不扣黃龍角。焉知頷下珠。心便打。初住嶽麓。開堂日。僧問。德山棒。臨濟喝。今日請師為拈掇。師曰。蘇嚕蘇嚕。曰。蘇嚕蘇嚕。還有西來意也無。師曰。蘇嚕蘇嚕。由是叢林呼為才蘇嚕。後遷龍牙。因欽宗皇帝登位。眾官請上堂。祝聖已。就座。拈拄杖卓一下曰。朝奉疏中道。本來奧境。諸佛妙場。適來拄杖子已為諸人說了也。於斯悟去。理無不顯。事無不周。如或未然。不免別通箇消息。舜日重明四海清。滿天和氣樂昇平。延祥拄杖生歡喜。擲地山呼萬歲聲。擲拄杖。下座。上堂。彈指一下曰。彈指圓成八萬門。剎那滅卻三祇劫。若也見得行得。健即經行困即歇。若也不會。兩箇鸕鷀扛箇鼈。上堂。舉死心和尚小參曰。若論此事。如人家有三子。第一子聰明智慧。孝養父母。接待往來。主掌家業。第二子兇頑狡猾。貪婬嗜酒。倒街臥巷。破壞家業。第三子盲聾瘖瘂。菽麥不分。是事不能。祇會吃飯。三人中黃龍要選一人用。更有四句。死中有活。活中有死。死中常死。活中常活。將此四句。驗天下衲僧。師曰。喚甚麼作四句。三人姓甚名誰。若也識得。與黃龍把手並行。更無纖毫間隔。如或未然。不免借水獻華去也。三人共體用非用。四句同音空不空。欲識三人並四句。金烏初出一團紅。師居龍牙十三載。以清苦蒞眾。衲子敬畏。大帥席公震遷住雲溪。經四稔。紹興戊午八月望。

A son of the Shi family of Shuzhou. In his early years he served diligently at Fojian's dharma seat and did not shrink from the difficulty of duties; his name was already known in the monasteries. When he was travelling on foot and dusk came on, he reached Huanglong. It happened that Sixin was at the third gate; he asked where he had come from. When he gave his name, he knew him at once as the estate manager Cai of Taiping in Shuzhou. The next day he entered the room. Sixin asked: 'If you understand the first phrase, you will understand the last phrase. If you understand the last phrase, you will understand the first phrase. First and last set aside — how do you understand Baizhang's wild fox case?' The master said: 'Entering the door I already know your understanding; what need to raise the mud in the rut again?' Xin said: 'The new elder dies at the elder's hand.' The master said: 'Though the words differ, the ultimate principle is without difference.' Xin said: 'What is the matter that is without difference?' The master said: 'Without knocking at the yellow dragon's horn, how would one know the pearl under its chin?' Xin at once struck him. He first resided at Yuelu. On the day he opened the hall a monk asked: 'Deshan's blow, Linji's shout — today we beg the master to comment.' The master said: 'Su-lu su-lu.' [The monk] said: 'Su-lu su-lu — is there still the meaning coming from the west in it?' The master said: 'Su-lu su-lu.' From this the monasteries called him Cai Su-lu. Later he moved to Longya. When Emperor Qinzong ascended the throne, the officials asked him to ascend the hall: after the invocation for the emperor he took his seat. He picked up his staff, planted it once, and said: 'The memorial says: the original profound realm, the wondrous ground of all Buddhas. Just now the staff has already spoken it for you all. If you awaken here, no principle is unmanifest and no matter is incomplete. If not, I cannot avoid sending another message: the sun of Shun shines again and the four seas are clear; the whole sky is harmonious and all rejoice in the peaceful age. Yanxiang's staff is delighted; thrown to the ground it gives the cry of ten thousand years.' He threw down the staff and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: he snapped his fingers once and said: 'A snap of the fingers perfects the eighty thousand gates; in a single instant the three asamkhya kalpas are extinguished. If you can see it and walk it, when strong walk, when tired rest. If you cannot, two cormorants carry a soft-shelled turtle.' He ascended the hall: he brought up Chan Master Sixin's minor gathering: 'If we discuss this matter, it is like a family with three sons. The first son is clever and wise, supports his parents, receives guests, and manages the family estate. The second son is fierce, stubborn, and cunning, greedy for lust and fond of wine, lying drunk in the streets and lanes, ruining the family estate. The third son is blind, deaf, and mute, cannot tell beans from wheat, can do nothing but eat. Among the three, Huanglong wants to choose one to use. There are also four phrases: life within death, death within life, always dying within death, always living within life. With these four phrases I test the patch-robed monks under heaven.' The master said: 'What do you call the four phrases? What are the three men's surnames and names? If you recognize them, you walk hand in hand with Huanglong with not the slightest gap between. If not, I cannot avoid borrowing water to offer flowers. The three men share one body; function is not function. The four phrases are one sound; empty is not empty. If you would know the three men and the four phrases: the golden crow has just risen, one ball of red.' The master resided at Longya thirteen years, governing the assembly with plainness and hardship, and the patch-robed monks revered and feared him. The great commander Xi Zhen moved him to reside at Yunxi, where he spent four years. On the fifteenth of the eighth month of the wuwu year of Shaoxing'

俄集眾付寺事。仍書偈曰。戊午中秋之日。出家住持事畢。臨行自己尚無。有甚虗空可覓。其垂訓如常。二十三日。再集眾。示問曰。涅槃生死。盡是空華。佛及眾生。並為增語。汝等諸人。合作麼生。眾皆下語不契。師喝曰。苦。苦。復曰。白雲湧地。明月當天。言訖囅然而逝。火浴獲設利五色。併靈骨塔於寺之西北隅。

'he suddenly gathered the assembly and entrusted the affairs of the monastery. He also wrote a verse: 'On the mid-autumn day of the wuwu year, the matter of leaving home and being abbot is finished. At the point of departure even oneself is not there; what empty space is there to seek?' His admonitions were as usual. On the twenty-third he gathered the assembly again and gave them the question: 'Nirvana and birth and death are all empty flowers; Buddha and living beings are alike added words. What will you all do?' The assembly all offered phrases that did not match. The master shouted: 'Suffering, suffering.' He also said: 'White clouds surge from the earth; the bright moon is in the sky.' His words ended and he smiled and passed away. After the fire bath five-coloured relics were obtained, and his remains were enshrined in a stupa at the northwest corner of the monastery.

明州蓬萊卿禪師

Chan Master Qing of Penglai in Mingzhou

上堂。有句無句。如藤倚樹。且任諸方點頭。及乎樹倒藤枯。上無沖天之計。下無入地之謀。靈利漢這裡著得一隻眼。便見七縱八橫。舉拂子曰。看。看。一曲兩曲無人會。雨過夜塘秋水深。上堂。杜䳌聲裡春光暮。滿地落華留不住。瑠璃殿上絕行蹤。誰人解插無根樹。舉拄杖曰。這箇是無根底。且道解開華也無。良久曰。祇因連夜雨。又過一年春。上堂。舉法眼道。識得凳子。周帀有餘。雲門道。識得凳子。天地懸殊。師曰。此二老人。一人向高高山頂立。一人向深深海底行。然雖如是。一不是。二不成。落華流水裡啼鸎。閑亭雨歇夜將半。片月還從海底生。

He ascended the hall: 'With phrases and without phrases, like a vine leaning on a tree — let all quarters nod for now. But when the tree falls and the vine withers, above there is no plan to pierce the sky, below no scheme to enter the earth. A sharp fellow who can place one eye here will see it seven across and eight down.' He raised his whisk and said: 'Look, look. One tune, two tunes, no one understands; after the rain the night pond's autumn water is deep.' He ascended the hall: 'In the cuckoo's cry the spring light is late; fallen blossoms cover the ground and cannot be kept. On the lapis lazuli hall the tracks of walking are cut off; who can plant a rootless tree?' He raised his staff and said: 'This is the rootless one. Tell me, does it open flowers?' After a long pause he said: 'Only because of the rain all night, another year of spring has passed.' He ascended the hall: he brought up Fayan's words: 'If you recognize the stool, you have a circumference to spare.' Yunmen's words: 'If you recognize the stool, heaven and earth are far apart.' The master said: 'These two old men: one stands on the summit of a high mountain, one walks at the bottom of a deep sea. Yet even so, one is not it, two is not it. In fallen blossoms and flowing water the oriole cries; in the idle pavilion the rain stops and the night is half over; a slice of moon rises again from the bottom of the sea.'

安吉州何山佛燈守珣禪師

Chan Master Shouxun, the Buddha Lamp, of He Mountain in Anji Zhou

郡之施氏子。參廣鑑瑛禪師。不契。遂造太平。隨眾諮請。邈無所入。乃封其衾曰。此生若不徹去。誓不展此。於是晝坐宵立。如喪考妣。逾七七日。忽佛鑑上堂曰。森羅及萬象。一法之所印。師聞頓悟。往見鑑。鑑曰。可惜一顆明珠。被這風顛漢拾得。乃詰之曰。靈雲道。自從一見桃華後。直至如今更不疑。如何是他不疑處。師曰。莫道靈雲不疑。只今覓箇疑處了不可得。鑑曰。玄沙道。諦當甚諦當。敢保老兄未徹在。那裡是他未徹處。師曰。深知和尚老婆心切。鑑然之。師拜起。呈偈曰。終日看天不舉頭。桃華爛熳始擡眸。饒君更有遮天網。透得牢關即便休。鑑屬令護持。是夕。厲聲謂眾曰。這回珣上座穩睡去也。圓悟聞得。疑其未然。乃曰。我須勘過始得。遂令人召至。因與遊山。偶到一水潭。悟推師入水。遽問曰。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。潭深魚聚。悟曰。見後如何。師曰。樹高招風。悟曰。見與未見時如何。師曰。伸腳在縮腳裡。悟大稱之。鑑移蔣山。命分座說法。出住廬陵之禾山。退藏故里。道俗迎居天聖。後徙何山及天寧。上堂。𨍏轢鑽住山斧。佛祖出頭未輕與。縱使醍醐滿世間。你無寶器如何取。阿呵呵。神山打羅。道吾作舞。甜瓜徹蔕甜。苦瓠連根苦。上堂。舉婆子燒庵話。師曰。大凡扶宗立教。須是其人。你看他婆子。雖是箇女人。宛有丈夫作略。二十年簁油費醬。固是可知。一日向百尺竿頭做箇失落。直得用盡平生腕頭氣力。自非箇俗漢知機。洎乎巧盡拙出。然雖如是。諸人要會麼。雪後始知松柏操。事難方見丈夫心。上堂。如來禪。祖師道。切忌將心外邊討。從門所得即非珍。特地埋藏衣裡寶。禪家流。須及早。撥動祖師關棙。抖擻多年布襖。是非毀譽付之空。竪闊橫長渾恰好。君不見寒山老。終日嬉嬉。長年把掃。人問其中事若何。入荒田不揀。信手拈來草。參。僧問。

A son of the Shi family of this prefecture. He studied under Chan Master Guangjian Ying without accord, and so went to Taiping, following the assembly in asking and requesting, but got nothing at all. He then sealed up his quilt and said: 'If in this life I do not get through, I swear never to open this.' Thereupon he sat by day and stood by night, like one mourning a parent. After forty-nine days, Fojian suddenly ascended the hall and said: 'The myriads of phenomena and all things are sealed by one dharma.' The master heard and was at once enlightened. He went to see Jian. Jian said: 'What a pity — a bright pearl picked up by this mad fellow.' He then pressed him: 'Lingyun said: since first I saw the peach blossom, until now I have never doubted. What is the place where he does not doubt?' The master said: 'Do not say Lingyun did not doubt; even now if I seek a place of doubt I cannot find one at all.' Jian said: 'Xuansha said: it is very much to the point, very much to the point, but I dare warrant that you have not seen through. Where is the place where he has not seen through?' The master said: 'I know well that the master's old-womanly heart is urgent.' Jian agreed. The master bowed and rose, and presented a verse: 'All day I watch the sky without raising my head; only when the peach blossoms were in full bloom did I lift my eyes. Even if you have a net that can cover the sky, once through the firm barrier you simply stop.' Jian charged him to guard it. That evening he said in a stern voice to the assembly: 'This time Elder Xun is going to sleep soundly.' When Yuanwu heard this he doubted whether it was so, and said: 'I must test him.' He had someone summon him. Then, walking with him in the mountains, they happened to come to a pool. Wu pushed the master into the water and at once asked: 'What was it like before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch?' The master said: 'The pool is deep and fish gather.' Wu said: 'And after meeting?' The master said: 'The tree is tall and invites the wind.' Wu said: 'What about meeting and not meeting?' The master said: 'The stretched foot is inside the drawn-back foot.' Wu greatly praised him. When Jian moved to Jiangshan he had him share the seat and expound the dharma. He went out to reside at He Mountain in Luling and retired to hide in his home district; monks and laity welcomed him to reside at Tiansheng, and later he moved to He Mountain and to Tianning. He ascended the hall: 'The drill and the mountain-keeping axe are not lightly given even to a buddha or patriarch who appears. Even if sweet cream filled the world, without a jewel vessel how would you take it? Ah, ha ha! The spirit mountain beats the gong, Daowu dances. A sweet melon is sweet to the stem; a bitter gourd is bitter to the root.' He ascended the hall: he brought up the case of the old woman burning the hut. The master said: 'In general, to uphold the school and establish the teaching requires the right man. Look at that old woman: though she was a woman, she had a man's style. Twenty years of straining oil and wasting sauce — that much is clear. One day she made a slip at the top of a hundred-foot pole and used up all the strength of her wrists in a lifetime. Had it not been for a worldly fellow who knew the moment, she would have come to the point where her cleverness was exhausted and her clumsiness showed. Yet even so, do you want to understand? Only after the snow do you know the pine and cypress's constancy; only when the matter is hard do you see a man's heart.' He ascended the hall: 'The Tathagata's Chan, the ancestral teachers' Way — above all do not seek it outside the mind. What is got through the gate is not a treasure; one specially buries the jewel in the robe. Followers of Chan, you must be early; turn the ancestral teacher's latch, shake out the cloth jacket of many years. Right and wrong, praise and blame — hand them to emptiness; vertical breadth and horizontal length are all just right. Do you not see old Hanshan? All day merry, all year sweeping. If someone asks what the matter is in it: entering the wild field without picking, plucking grass at random. Investigate.' A monk asked:

如何是賓中賓。師曰。客路如天遠。侯門似海深。曰。如何是賓中主。師曰。長因送客處。憶得別家時。曰。如何是主中賓。師曰。相逢不必問前程。曰。如何是主中主。師曰。一朝權祖令。誰是出頭人。曰。賓主已蒙師指示。向上宗乘事若何。師曰。向上問將來。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。大海若知足。百川應倒流。僧禮拜。師曰。珣上座三十年學得底。師嘗謂眾曰。兄弟如有省悟處。不拘時節。請來露箇消息。雪夜。有僧扣方丈門。師起秉燭。震威喝曰。雪深夜半。求決疑情。因甚麼威儀不具。僧顧眎衣裓。師逐出院。每曰。先師祇年五十九。吾年五十六矣。來日無多。紹興甲寅。解制退天寧之席。謂雙槐居士鄭績曰。十月八日是佛鑑忌。則吾時至矣。乞還鄣南。十月四日。鄭公遣弟僧道如訊之。師曰。汝來正其時也。先一日不著便。後一日蹉過了。吾雖與佛鑑同條生。終不同條死。明早可為我尋一隻小船子來。如曰。要長者。要高者。師曰。高五尺許。越三日。鷄鳴。端坐如平時。侍者請遺偈。師曰。不曾作得。言訖而逝。闍維舌根不壞。郡人陳師顏以寶函藏其家。門弟子奉靈骨。塔於普應院之側。

(The master continued:) 'What is the guest within the guest?' The master said: 'The traveller's road is as far as heaven; a noble gate is as deep as the sea.' [The monk] said: 'What is the host within the guest?' The master said: 'Often, in seeing a guest off, I remember the time I left home.' [The monk] said: 'What is the guest within the host?' The master said: 'Meeting, there is no need to ask the road ahead.' [The monk] said: 'What is the host within the host?' The master said: 'Once he holds the ancestral command, who is the man who puts out his head?' [The monk] said: 'Guest and host have been pointed out by the master; what of the matter of the upward ancestral vehicle?' The master said: 'Ask it as the upward one.' [The monk] said: 'What is the upward matter?' The master said: 'If the great sea knew contentment, the hundred rivers would flow backwards.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'What Elder Xun learned in thirty years.' The master once said to the assembly: 'Brothers, if you have an awakening, at whatever hour, come and reveal a bit of news.' On a snowy night a monk knocked at the abbot's door. The master rose, took up a candle, and shouted in a shaking voice: 'It is deep night and midnight snow. To seek resolution of your doubt, why is your deportment incomplete?' The monk looked at his robe. The master drove him out of the courtyard. He often said: 'My late teacher was only fifty-nine. I am fifty-six; my days left are few.' In the jiayin year of Shaoxing he finished the summer retreat and resigned the seat at Tianning. He said to the layman Zheng Ji of Shuanghuai: 'The eighth of the tenth month is Fojian's death anniversary; then my time will have come. I beg to return to Zhangnan.' On the fourth of the tenth month Zheng sent his brother, the monk Daoru, to inquire after him. The master said: 'Your coming is just in time. A day earlier would not have done; a day later would have missed it. Though I was born on the same branch as Fojian, in the end I will not die on the same branch. Tomorrow morning find me a small boat.' Ru said: 'Do you want a long one or a tall one?' The master said: 'About five feet tall.' Three days later, at cockcrow, he sat upright as usual. His attendant asked for a farewell verse. The master said: 'I have not made one.' His words ended and he passed away. After cremation his tongue root did not decay. The prefectural man Chen Shiyan kept it in a jewelled box at his home. His disciples received the remaining bones and raised a stupa beside Puying Cloister.

隆興府泐潭擇明禪師

Chan Master Zeming of Letan in Longxing Prefecture

上堂。舉趙州訪茱萸探水因緣。師曰。趙老雲收山嶽露。茱萸雨過竹風清。誰家別舘池塘裡。一對鴛鴦畫不成。又舉德山托缽話。師曰。從來家富小兒嬌。偏向江頭弄畫橈。引得老爺把不住。又來船上助歌謠。上堂。永嘉道。一月普現一切水。一切水月一月攝。竪起拂子云。看。看。千江競注。萬派爭流。若也素善行舟。便諳水脈。可以優遊性海。笑傲煙波。其或未然。且歸林下坐。更待月明時。

He ascended the hall: he brought up the case of Zhaozhou visiting Zhuyu and testing the water. The master said: 'Old Zhao's clouds gather and the mountain peaks show; at Zhuyu the rain has passed and the bamboo wind is clear. In whose other villa by the pond is a pair of mandarin ducks that cannot be painted?' He also brought up the case of Deshan holding his bowl. The master said: 'From the first, when the house is rich the child is spoiled; he leans over the river's head to play with the painted oar. He draws the old man so that he cannot hold back, and comes again to the boat to help the song along.' He ascended the hall: 'Yongjia said: one moon universally appears in all waters; all the water-moons are taken in by the one moon.' He raised his whisk and said: 'Look, look. A thousand rivers race and pour; ten thousand streams contend to flow. If you are from the first good at piloting a boat you will know the water's veins, and you can roam at ease in the sea of nature and laugh proudly at the misty waves. If not, then go back and sit in the groves, and wait until the moon is bright.'

台州寶藏本禪師

Chan Master Ben of Baozang in Taizhou

上堂。清明已過十餘日。華雨闌珊方寸深。春色惱人眠不得。黃鸝飛過綠楊陰。遂大笑。下座。

He ascended the hall: 'More than ten days have passed since Clear Bright; the flower rain is fading and the heart is deep. Spring's colours vex a man so he cannot sleep; the oriole flies past the shade of the green willows.' He then laughed heartily and descended from the seat.

吉州大中祥符清海禪師

Chan Master Qinghai of Dazhong Xiangfu in Jizhou

初見佛鑑。鑑問。三世諸佛。一口吞盡。何處更有眾生可教化。此理如何。師擬進語。鑑喝之。師忽領旨。述偈曰。實際從來不受塵。箇中無舊亦無新。青山況是吾家物。不用尋家別問津。鑑曰。放下著。師禮拜而出。

When he first saw Fojian, Jian asked: 'The Buddhas of the three ages are swallowed in one gulp — where then are there living beings to be taught? What is this principle?' As the master tried to offer words, Jian shouted at him, and the master suddenly grasped the purport. He set forth a verse: 'The ultimate has never received dust; in it there is neither old nor new. Moreover the green mountains are my family's possession; no need to seek home or ask the ford elsewhere.' Jian said: 'Put it down.' The master bowed and went out.

漳州淨眾佛真了燦禪師

Chan Master Liaocan, the Buddha's Truth, of Jingzhong in Zhangzhou

泉南羅氏子。上堂。重陽九日菊華新。一句明明亙古今。楊廣橐駝無覓處。夜來足跡在松陰。

A son of the Luo family of Quannan. He ascended the hall: 'On the ninth day of the Double Ninth the chrysanthemum is new; one phrase clearly spans past and present. Yang Guang's camel is nowhere to be found; last night its tracks were in the pine shade.'

隆興府谷山海禪師

Chan Master Hai of Gushan in Longxing Prefecture

上堂。一舉不再說。已落二三。相見不揚眉。飜成造作。設使動絃別曲。告往知來。見鞭影便行。望剎竿回去。腳跟下好與三十棒。那堪更向這裡。撮摩石火。收捉電光。工夫枉用渾閑事。笑倒西來碧眼胡。卓拄杖。下座。

He ascended the hall: 'To raise it once and not speak again has already fallen to two or three. Meeting without raising the eyebrows turns instead into fabrication. Even if you move the string to another tune and know the future from the past, see the whip's shadow and go at once, look at the banner pole and turn back — at the base of your heel you deserve thirty blows. How much less to come here and rub the flint spark, catch the lightning flash. Wasted effort and idle matters all; the blue-eyed barbarian who came from the west laughs himself down.' He planted his staff and descended from the seat.

南嶽下十五世下

Fifteenth generation below Nanyue, part two

龍門遠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Longmen

溫州龍翔竹庵士珪禪師

Chan Master Shigui of the Bamboo Hut at Longxiang in Wenzhou

成都史氏子。初依大慈宗雅。心醉楞嚴。逾五秋。南遊謁諸尊宿。始登龍門。即以平時所得白佛眼。眼曰。汝解心已極。但欠著力開眼耳。遂俾職堂司。一日侍立次。問雲。絕對待時如何。眼曰。如汝僧堂中白椎相似。師罔措。眼至晚抵堂司。師理前話。眼曰。閑言語。師於言下大悟。政和末。出世和之天寧。屢遷名剎。紹興間奉詔。開山鴈蕩能仁。時真歇居江心。聞師至。恐緣法未熟。特過江迎歸方丈。大展九拜。以誘溫人。由是翕然歸敬。未視篆。其徒懼行規法。深夜放火。鞠為瓦礫之墟。師竟就樹縛屋。陞座示眾雲。愛閑不打皷山皷。投老來看鴈蕩山。[彳*桀]閣危樓渾不見。谿邊茆屋兩三間。還有共相出手者麼。喝一喝。下座。聽法檀施。併力營建。未幾復成寶坊。次補江心。上堂曰。萬年一念。一念萬年。和衣泥裡輥。洗腳上床眠。歷劫來事。祇在如今。大海波濤湧。小人方寸深。拈起拄杖曰。汝等諸人。未得箇入頭。須得箇入頭。既得箇入頭。須有出身一路始得。大眾。且作麼生是出身一路。良久曰。雪壓難摧㵎底松。風吹不動天邊月。卓拄杖。下座。上堂。萬機不到。眼見色。耳聞聲。一句當堂。頭戴天。腳踏地。你諸人祇知今日是五月初一。殊不知金烏半夜忙忙去。玉兔天明上海東。以拂子擊禪床。下座。上堂。明明無悟。有法即迷。諸人向這裡立不得。諸人向這裡住不得。若立則危。若住則瞎。直須意不停玄。句不停意。用不停機。此三者既明。一切處不須管帶。自然現前。不須照顧。自然明白。雖然如是。更須知有向上事。久雨不晴。咄。上堂。一葉落。天下秋。欲窮千里目。更上一層樓。一塵起。大地收。嘉州打大像。陝府灌鐵牛。明眼漢合作麼生。良久曰。久旱簷頭句。橋流水不流。卓拄杖。下座。上堂。見見之時。見非是見。見猶離見。見不能及。落華有意隨流水。

A son of the Shi family of Chengdu. He first relied on Zongya of Daci, his mind drunk on the Surangama. After five autumns he travelled south, paying homage to the venerable elders. He first climbed Longmen, and at once reported to Foyan what he had ordinarily attained. Yan said: 'Your understanding of mind is already at its limit; what you lack is only the effort of opening the eye.' He then had him take the post of hall administrator. One day, as he stood in attendance, he asked: 'What about when absoluteness awaits?' Yan said: 'It is like the white mallet in your monks' hall.' The master was at a loss. That evening Yan came to the hall office, and the master took up the earlier words. Yan said: 'Idle words.' At these words the master was greatly enlightened. At the end of the Zheng He period he came into the world at Tianning in Hezhou and moved through famous monasteries. In the Shaoxing period he received the edict to open the mountain at Nengren in Yandang. At that time Zhenxie was residing at Jiangxin; hearing the master had come, and fearing the conditions of the dharma were not yet ripe, he crossed the river specially to welcome him back to the abbot's quarters, making nine full bows in order to draw the people of Wenzhou. From this they all turned to revere him. Before he had taken up the seal, his followers, fearing he would enforce the rules, set fire in the deep night and reduced it to a heap of tiles and rubble. The master simply bound a hut against a tree and ascended the seat to address the assembly: 'Loving leisure, I do not beat the mountain drum; growing old, I have come to look at Yandang Mountain. The high pavilions and perilous towers are wholly gone; by the stream two or three thatched rooms. Is there anyone to put out a hand together with me?' He gave a shout and descended from the seat. Those who heard the dharma gave alms, and with joined strength they built it up, and before long it was again a jewelled monastery. He next filled the post at Jiangxin. He ascended the hall and said: 'Ten thousand years in one thought; one thought in ten thousand years. Rolling in the mud with your clothes on; washing your feet and going to bed. The matter of kalpas past is only in the present. The great sea's waves surge; the petty man's heart is deep.' He picked up his staff and said: 'You people, if you have not got an entry, you must get an entry. Once you have got an entry, you must have a road of getting out before you have it. Great assembly, what then is the road of getting out?' After a long pause he said: 'Snow presses but cannot break the pine in the ravine; the wind blows but cannot move the moon at the sky's edge.' He planted his staff and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'When the ten thousand mechanisms do not reach it, the eye sees form and the ear hears sound. When one phrase is on the seat, the head wears heaven and the feet tread earth. You people only know that today is the first day of the fifth month; you little know that the golden crow hurries off at midnight and the jade hare comes up in the east at dawn.' He struck the Chan bed with his whisk and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'Clearly there is no awakening; where there is a dharma there is delusion. You people cannot stand here; you people cannot stay here. If you stand you are in danger; if you stay you go blind. You must not let the intent halt in the mystery, nor the phrase halt in the intent, nor the function halt in the mechanism. Once these three are clear, in every place you need no managing and it naturally appears; you need no tending and it is naturally clear. Even so, you must further know that there is the upward matter. Long rain and no clearing. Bah.' He ascended the hall: 'One leaf falls and the world is autumn. If you would exhaust a thousand li of sight, go up one more storey. One mote rises and the great earth is gathered in. Jiazhou strikes the great image; Shaanfu irrigates the iron ox. What should a clear-eyed man do?' After a long pause he said: 'The long-drought eaves' phrase; the bridge flows and the water does not flow.' He planted his staff and descended from the seat. He ascended the hall: 'When seeing is seeing, the seeing is not the seeing; the seeing still departs from seeing and the seeing cannot reach it. Fallen blossoms have the will to follow the flowing water'

流水無情戀落華。諸可還者。自然非汝。不汝還者。非汝而誰。長恨春歸無覓處。不知轉入此中來。喝一喝曰。三十年後。莫道能仁教壞人家男女。上堂。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。東家點燈。西家暗坐。曰。未審意旨如何。師曰。馬便搭鞍。驢便推磨。僧禮拜。師曰。靈利衲僧。祇消一箇。遂曰。馬搭鞍。驢推磨。靈利衲僧。祇消一箇。縱使東家明點燈。未必西家暗中坐。西來意旨問如何。多口阿師自招禍。僧問。如何是第一義。師曰。你問底是第二義。問。狗子還有佛性也無。趙州道無。意旨如何。師曰。一度著虵齩。怕見斷井索。問。鷰子深談實相。善說法要。此理如何。師曰。不及鴈銜蘆。問。如何是佛。師曰。華陽洞口石烏龜。問。魯祖面壁。意旨如何。師曰。金木水火土。羅睺計都星。問。有句無句。如藤倚樹時如何。師曰。作賊人心虗。曰。國師三喚侍者。又作麼生。師曰。打皷弄猢猻。皷破猢猻走。丙寅七月十八日。召法屬．長老．宗範付後事。次日沐浴。聲鐘集眾。就座。泊然而逝。茶毗日。送者均獲設利。奉靈骨塔於皷山。

'but the flowing water has no heart to long for the fallen blossoms. All that can be returned is naturally not you; what cannot be returned to you, if not you then who? I have always grieved that spring goes with nowhere to be found, not knowing it turns and enters here.' He gave a shout and said: 'Thirty years from now, do not say Nengren ruined other people's sons and daughters.' He ascended the hall: a monk asked: 'What is the ancestral teacher's meaning coming from the west?' The master said: 'The eastern house lights a lamp; the western house sits in the dark.' [The monk] said: 'I wonder what the meaning is.' The master said: 'The horse gets the saddle; the donkey turns the mill.' The monk bowed. The master said: 'A sharp patch-robed monk needs only one.' He then said: 'The horse gets the saddle, the donkey turns the mill; a sharp patch-robed monk needs only one. Even if the eastern house lights its lamp brightly, the western house need not sit in the dark. If you ask about the meaning of the coming from the west — the garrulous master brings trouble on himself.' A monk asked: 'What is the ultimate truth?' The master said: 'What you are asking is the second truth.' [A monk] asked: 'Does the dog have Buddha-nature or not? Zhaozhou said no — what is the meaning?' The master said: 'Once bitten by a snake, one fears even a broken well rope.' [A monk] asked: 'The swallow deeply discusses reality and well expounds the essentials of the dharma — what is this principle?' The master said: 'It does not come up to the goose carrying reeds.' [A monk] asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The stone turtle at the mouth of the Huayang cave.' [A monk] asked: 'Luzu faced the wall — what is the meaning?' The master said: 'Metal, wood, water, fire, earth; Rahu and Ketu.' [A monk] asked: 'With phrases and without phrases, like a vine leaning on a tree — what then?' The master said: 'A thief's heart is empty.' [The monk] said: 'The National Teacher called his attendant three times — what then?' The master said: 'Beating the drum to make the monkey dance; when the drum breaks the monkey runs.' On the eighteenth day of the seventh month of the bingyin year he summoned his dharma kin, the elder Zongfan, and entrusted the affairs after his death. The next day he bathed, had the bell sounded to gather the assembly, took his seat, and peacefully passed away. On the day of cremation all who attended obtained relics. His remains were enshrined in a stupa at Gushan.

南康軍雲居高庵善悟禪師

Chan Master Shanwu of the High Hut at Yunju in Nankang Commandery

洋州李氏子。年十一去家。業經得度。有夙慧。聞沖禪師舉武帝問達磨因緣。如獲舊物。遽曰。我既廓然。何聖之有。沖異其語。勉之南詢。蒙授記於龍門。一日。有僧被虵傷足。佛眼問曰。既是龍門。為甚麼卻被虵齩。師即應曰。果然現大人相。眼益器之。後傳此語到昭覺。圓悟雲。龍門有此僧耶。東山法道未寂寥爾。住後。上堂。少林面壁。懷藏東土西天。歐阜陞堂。充塞四維上下。致使山巍巍而砥掌平。水昏昏而常自清。華非豔而結空果。風不搖而片葉零。人無法而得諮問。佛無心而更可成。野蔬淡飯延時日。任運隨緣道自靈。畢竟如何。日午打三更。

A son of the Li family of Yangzhou. At eleven he left home and was ordained after studying the scriptures. He had innate intelligence; hearing Chan Master Chong bring up the case of Emperor Wu asking Bodhidharma, it was like recovering an old possession. He at once said: 'Since I am vast and open, what holiness is there?' Chong found his words extraordinary and urged him to inquire in the south. He received a prediction at Longmen. One day a monk was bitten on the foot by a snake. Foyan asked: 'Since this is Longmen, why was he bitten by a snake?' The master at once answered: 'Indeed he manifests the marks of a great man.' Yan esteemed him the more. Later these words reached Zhaojue, and Yuanwu said: 'Is there such a monk at Longmen? The Dongshan dharma way is not yet desolate.' After he became abbot he ascended the hall: 'Shaolin's facing the wall concealed the Eastern Land and the Western Heaven; Oufu's ascending the hall filled the four quarters and above and below. It causes the mountain to tower while the whetstone lies flat; the water to be murky while always clear of itself; the flower to be without brilliance yet bear empty fruit; the wind not to blow yet a single leaf to fall. A man has no dharma yet can ask questions; the Buddha has no mind yet can be accomplished. Wild vegetables and plain rice prolong the days; following conditions as they come, the Way is naturally numinous. After all, what is it? At noon strike the third watch.'

遂寧府西禪文璉禪師

Chan Master Wenlian of Xichan in Suining Prefecture

郡之張氏子。上堂。一向恁麼去。直得凡聖路絕。水洩不通。鐵虵鑽不入。鐵鎚打不破。至於千里萬裡。鳥飛不度。一向恁麼來。未免灰頭土面。帶水拖泥。唱九作十。指鹿為馬。非唯孤負先聖。亦乃埋沒己靈。敢問大眾。且道恁麼去底是。恁麼來底是。芍藥華開菩薩面。椶櫚葉散夜叉頭。上堂。諸方浩浩談玄。每日撞鐘打皷。西禪無法可說。勘破燈籠露柱。門前不置下馬臺。免被傍人來借路。若借路。須照顧。腳下若參差。邯鄲學唐步。上堂。心生種種法生。森羅萬像縱橫。信手拈來便用。日輪午後三更。心滅種種法滅。四句百非路絕。直饒達磨出頭。也是眼中著屑。心生心滅是誰。木人𢹂手同歸。歸到故鄉田地。猶遭頂上一鎚。上堂。正月孟春猶寒。直下言端語端。拈起衲僧鼻孔。穿開祖佛心肝。知有者。達磨不來東土。二祖不往西天。不知有者。誰知當面蹉過。迢迢十萬八千。山僧為你重說偈言。大眾。莫教孤負。孟春猶寒。僧問。師子未出窟時如何。師曰。爪牙已露。曰。出窟後如何。師曰。龍頭虵尾。曰。出與未出時如何。師曰。正好吃棒。問。以一重去一重即不問。不以一重去一重時如何。師曰。闍黎有許多工夫。

A son of the Zhang family of this prefecture. He ascended the hall: 'Going on like that all the way, the roads of ordinary and sage are cut off, not a drop of water leaks through, an iron snake cannot bore in, an iron hammer cannot break it; it reaches the point where for a thousand li, ten thousand li, a bird cannot fly across. Coming on like this all the way, one cannot avoid an ashen head and earthen face, dragging water and mud, singing nine and making it ten, pointing at a deer and calling it a horse. This not only fails the former sages; it also buries one's own spirit. I venture to ask the assembly: which is right, the going on like that or the coming on like this? The peony opens the bodhisattva's face; the palm leaves scatter the yaksha's head.' He ascended the hall: 'All quarters talk vastly of the mystery and beat the bell and drum every day. Xichan has no dharma to speak; it has seen through the lantern and the exposed pillar. No mounting block is set before the gate, to spare passers-by from borrowing the road. If they borrow the road, they must take care; if their feet are uneven, they will learn the Handan walk as the Tang walk.' He ascended the hall: 'When the mind arises, various dharmas arise; the ten thousand things are dense in array. Picked up at random and used at once, the sun's wheel is at noon and it is the third watch. When the mind ceases, various dharmas cease; the four phrases and hundred negations cut off the road. Even if Bodhidharma put out his head, it would be a speck in the eye. Who is it that arises and ceases? The wooden man leads him by the hand and returns. Returning to the fields of his old home, he still takes a blow on the crown.' He ascended the hall: 'In the first month of spring it is still cold; directly below, the words are upright and the speech is upright. Pick up the patch-robed monk's nostrils and pierce open the ancestral buddhas' heart and liver. For one who knows there is, Bodhidharma did not come to the Eastern Land and the Second Patriarch did not go to the Western Heaven. For one who does not know there is, who knows he has stumbled past it face to face, a long long hundred thousand and eight thousand li away. The mountain monk will speak another verse for you. Great assembly, do not fail it. In the first month of spring it is still cold.' A monk asked: 'What about when the lion has not come out of its cave?' The master said: 'Claw and fang are already exposed.' [The monk] said: 'And after it comes out of the cave?' The master said: 'Dragon head, snake tail.' [The monk] said: 'What about coming out and not coming out?' The master said: 'Just right for a beating.' [A monk] asked: 'Removing one layer by one layer I do not ask about; what about not removing one layer by one layer?' The master said: 'The acarya has that much leisure.'

隆興府黃龍牧庵法忠禪師

Chan Master Fazhong of the Mu Hut at Huanglong in Longxing Prefecture

四明姚氏子。十九試經得度。習臺教。悟一心三觀之旨。未能泯跡。徧參名宿。至龍門觀水磨旋轉。發明心要。乃述偈曰。轉大法輪。目前包裹。更問如何。水推石磨。呈佛眼。眼曰。其中事作麼生。師曰。㵎下水長流。眼曰。我有末後一句。待分付汝。師即掩耳而去。後至廬山。於同安枯樹中。絕食清坐。宣和間湘潭大旱。禱而不應。師躍入龍淵。呼曰。業畜。當雨一尺。雨隨至。居南嶽。每跨虎出遊。儒釋望塵而拜。住後。上堂。張公吃酒李公醉。子細思量不思議。李公醉醒問張公。恰使張公無好氣。無好氣。不如歸家且打睡。上堂。今朝正月半。有事為君斷。切忌兩眼睛。被他燈火換。上堂。我有一句子。不借諸聖口。不動自己舌。非聲氣呼吸。非情識分別。假使淨名杜口於毗耶。釋迦掩室於摩竭。大似掩耳偷鈴。未免天機漏洩。直饒德山入門便棒。臨濟入門便喝。若向牧庵門下檢點將來。祇得一橛。千種言。萬般說。祇要教君自家歇。一任大地虗空。七凹八凸。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。莫向外邊覓。曰。如何是心。師曰。莫向外邊尋。曰。如何是道。師曰。莫向外邊討。曰。如何是禪。師曰。莫向外邊傳。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。靜處薩婆訶。問。大眾臨筵。請師舉唱。師竪起拂子。僧曰。乞師再垂方便。師擊禪床一下。後示寂。塔於香原洞。

A son of the Yao family of Siming. At nineteen he was ordained after examination and studied the Tiantai teaching, awakening to the purport of one mind and three contemplations, but he could not obliterate the traces. He paid homage to famous elders everywhere, and at Longmen, watching the water mill turn, he made clear the essentials of mind. He then set forth a verse: 'Turning the great dharma wheel, it is wrapped up before the eyes. Ask further how it is: water pushes the stone mill.' He presented it to Foyan. Yan said: 'What is the matter in it?' The master said: 'The water in the ravine flows on forever.' Yan said: 'I have a final phrase; I will hand it to you.' The master at once covered his ears and left. Later he went to Mount Lu and sat in fasting and silence in a withered tree at Tongan. During the Xuan He period there was a great drought in Xiangtan; prayers were unanswered. The master leaped into the dragon pool and called out: 'You karma-beast, you should rain a foot.' Rain came at once. He lived at Nanyue and would often ride a tiger when he went out; Confucians and Buddhists bowed at the sight of his dust. After he became abbot he ascended the hall: 'Lord Zhang drinks wine and Lord Li gets drunk; think it over carefully — it is inconceivable. Lord Li, sober, asks Lord Zhang, which just leaves Lord Zhang in a bad temper. A bad temper — better to go home and sleep.' He ascended the hall: 'Tonight is the fifteenth of the first month; there is a matter I will decide for you. Above all guard your two eyes; do not let the lanterns change them.' He ascended the hall: 'I have one phrase that does not borrow the mouths of the sages and does not move my own tongue. It is not sound, breath, or breathing; it is not thought or discrimination. Even if Vimalakirti sealed his mouth at Vaishali and Shakyamuni shut his room in Magadha, it is much like covering the ears to steal a bell, and the heavenly mechanism will leak out. Even if Deshan strikes as soon as one enters the gate and Linji shouts as soon as one enters the gate, checked from the Mu Hut's gate they get only one stub. A thousand kinds of words, ten thousand sorts of talk — they only want to make you rest yourself. Let the great earth and empty space be seven hollows and eight bumps.' A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Do not seek it outside.' [The monk] said: 'What is the mind?' The master said: 'Do not seek it outside.' [The monk] said: 'What is the Way?' The master said: 'Do not seek it outside.' [The monk] said: 'What is Chan?' The master said: 'Do not transmit it outside.' [The monk] said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'In the quiet place, svaha.' [A monk] asked: 'The assembly is at the feast; we beg the master to raise and sing.' The master raised his whisk. The monk said: 'We beg the master to extend his device again.' The master struck the Chan bed once. Later he passed into quiescence; a stupa was raised at Xiangyuan Cave.

衢州烏巨雪堂道行禪師

Chan Master Daoxing of the Snow Hall at Wuju in Quzhou

處州葉氏子。依泗州普照英禪師得度。去參佛眼。一日。聞舉玄沙築著腳指話。遂大悟。住後。上堂。會即便會。玉本無瑕。若言不會。碓觜生華。試問九年面壁。何如大會拈華。南明恁麼商確。也是順風撒沙。參。上堂。雲籠嶽頂。百鳥無聲。月隱寒潭。龍珠自耀。正當恁麼時。直得石梁忽然大悟。石洞頓爾心休。虗空開口作證。溪北石僧點頭。諸人總在這裡瞌睡。笑殺陝府鐵牛。上堂。佛說三乘十二分。頓漸偏圓。痴人面前。不得說夢。祖師西來。直指人心。見性成佛。痴人面前。不得說夢。臨濟三玄。雲門三句。洞山五位。痴人面前。不得說夢。南明恁麼道。還免得遭人檢責也無。所以古人道。石人機似汝。也解唱巴歌。汝若似石人。雪曲也應和。還有和雪曲底麼。若有。喚來與老僧洗腳。上堂。通身是口。說得一半。通身是眼。用得一橛。用不到處說有餘。說不到處用無盡。所以道。當用無說。當說無用。用說同時。用說不同時。諸人若也擬議。西峰在你腳底。到國清。眾請上堂。句亦剗。意亦剗。絕毫絕𣯛處。如山如嶽。句亦到。意亦到。如山如嶽處。絕毫絕𣯛。忽若拶通一線。意句俱到俱不到。俱剗俱不剗。直得三句外絕牢籠。六句外無標的。正當恁麼時。一句作麼生道。傾蓋同途不同轍。相將𢹂手上高臺。上堂。舉。趙州示眾雲。老僧除卻二時齋粥。是雜用心處。師曰。今朝六月旦。行者擊皷。長老陞堂。你諸人總來這裡雜用心。上堂。舉。僧問雲門。如何是驚人句。門曰。響。師曰。雲門答這僧話。不得便休。卻皷粥飯氣。以當平生。上堂。黃梅雨。麥秋寒。恁麼會。太無端。時節因緣佛性義。大都須是髑髏乾。示眾。舉。璣和尚問僧。禪以何為義。眾下語皆不契理。僧請益璣。璣代雲。以謗為義。師曰。三世諸佛是謗。西天二十八祖是謗。唐土六祖是謗。天下老和尚是謗。

A son of the Ye family of Chuzhou. He was ordained under Chan Master Ying of Puzhao in Sizhou and left to call on Foyan. One day, hearing the case of Xuansha stubbing his toe brought up, he was greatly enlightened. After he became abbot he ascended the hall: 'If you understand, then understand: the jade is originally without flaw. If you say you do not understand: a flower grows on the pestle's mouth. Let me ask, how does nine years of facing the wall compare with holding up a flower at the great assembly? Nanming's reckoning thus is also scattering sand with the wind. Investigate.' He ascended the hall: 'Clouds shroud the peak and a hundred birds are silent; the moon hides in the cold pool and the dragon pearl shines of itself. Just at such a time, the stone bridge suddenly greatly awakens and the stone cave at once rests its mind. Empty space opens its mouth to bear witness and the stone monk north of the stream nods. You people are all dozing here — the iron ox of Shaanfu laughs itself to death.' He ascended the hall: 'The Buddha spoke of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions, sudden and gradual, partial and complete — before a fool you must not speak of dreams. The ancestral teacher came from the west, pointing directly at the human mind, seeing the nature and becoming Buddha — before a fool you must not speak of dreams. Linji's three mysteries, Yunmen's three phrases, Dongshan's five ranks — before a fool you must not speak of dreams. Nanming speaking like this, can he still escape being checked by others? Therefore the ancients said: the stone man's mechanism is like yours, and he too can sing the Ba song. If you are like the stone man, you should also join the snow song. Is there anyone who can join the snow song? If there is, call him here to wash the old monk's feet.' He ascended the hall: 'The whole body is a mouth and speaks half of it. The whole body is an eye and uses one stub of it. Where use does not reach, speech has a surplus; where speech does not reach, use is inexhaustible. Therefore it is said: when it is time to use, there is no speaking; when it is time to speak, there is no using. Use and speech at the same time; use and speech at different times. If you people hesitate, West Peak is under your feet.' When he arrived at Guoqing the assembly asked him to ascend the hall: 'The phrase is shaved and the meaning is shaved; where the least hair and down are cut off, it is like a mountain, like a peak. The phrase arrives and the meaning arrives; where it is like a mountain, like a peak, the least hair and down are cut off. Suppose suddenly a single line is pressed through: meaning and phrase both arrive and both do not arrive, both shaved and both not shaved. It reaches the point where outside the three phrases the cage is cut off and beyond the six phrases there is no target. Just at such a time, how will you speak the one phrase? Overturning the canopy on the same road, not the same ruts; together, hand in hand, go up to the high terrace.' He ascended the hall: he brought up Zhaozhou's address to the assembly: 'Apart from the two mealtimes, the old monk is in a place of mixed mind.' The master said: 'Tonight is the first of the sixth month; the postulant beats the drum and the elder ascends the hall. You people are all here mixing your minds.' He ascended the hall: he brought up: A monk asked Yunmen, 'What is the astounding phrase?' Men said, 'Rang.' The master said: 'Yunmen's answer to this monk could not simply stop there; instead he roused the breath of gruel and rice and made it his whole life.' He ascended the hall: 'The yellow plum rain; the cold of wheat harvest. To understand thus is too arbitrary. The season and its causes and conditions and the meaning of Buddha-nature — on the whole one must have the skull dry.' He addressed the assembly: he brought up: The venerable Ji asked a monk, 'What is Chan's meaning?' The assembly all offered phrases that did not match the principle. The monk asked Ji for help, and Ji answered in his place: 'Its meaning is slander.' The master said: 'The Buddhas of the three ages are slander. The twenty-eight patriarchs of the Western Heaven are slander. The six patriarchs of the Tang land are slander. The old monks under heaven are slander.'

諸人是謗。山僧是謗。於中還有不謗者也無。談玄說妙河沙數。爭似雙峰謗得親。師示疾。門弟子教授汪公喬年至。省候。師以後事委之。示以偈曰。識則識自本心。見則見自本性。識得本心本性。正是宗門大病。註曰。爛泥中有刺。莫道不疑好。黎明沐浴更服。加趺而逝。闍維五色設利。煙所至處纍然。齒舌不壞。塔於寺之西。

'You people are slander. The mountain monk is slander. Among them is there anyone who does not slander? Talking of the mystery and speaking of the wonder is as many as the sands of the Ganges; how much better the Twin Peaks' slander that comes close.' The master showed illness. His disciple the instructor Wang Qiaonian arrived to inquire after him. The master entrusted the affairs after his death to him and gave him a verse: 'To know is to know one's own mind; to see is to see one's own nature. To have known the own mind and own nature is precisely the great illness of the school.' He added a note: 'There are thorns in the mud; do not say it is good not to doubt.' At dawn he bathed and changed clothes, sat cross-legged, and passed away. After cremation there were five-coloured relics, heaped wherever the smoke reached. His teeth and tongue did not decay. A stupa was raised west of the monastery.

撫州白楊法順禪師

Chan Master Fashun of Baiyang in Fuzhou

綿州文氏子。依止佛眼。聞普說。舉。傅大士心王銘雲。水中鹽味。色裡膠青。決定是有。不見其形。師於言下有省。後觀寶藏迅轉。頓明大法。趨丈室作禮。呈偈曰。頂有異峰雲冉冉。源無別派水泠泠。遊山未到山窮處。終被青山礙眼睛。眼笑而可之。住後。上堂。好事堆堆疊疊來。不須造作與安排。落林黃葉水推去。橫谷白雲風捲回。寒鴈一聲情念斷。霜鐘才動我山摧。白楊更有過人處。盡夜寒爐撥死灰。忽有箇衲僧出來道。長老少賣弄。得恁麼窮乞相。山僧祇向他道。卻被你道著。上堂。我手何似佛手。天上南星北斗。我腳何似驢腳。往事都來忘卻。人人盡有生緣。箇箇足方頂圓。大愚灘頭立處。孤月影射深灣。會不得。見還難。一曲漁歌過遠灘。示眾。染緣易就。道業難成。不了目前。萬緣差別。祇見境風浩浩。凋殘功德之林。心火炎炎。燒盡菩提之樹。道念若同情念。成佛多時。為眾一似為己。彼此事辦。不見他非我是。自然上敬下恭。佛法時時現前。煩惱塵塵解脫。上堂。鷄啼曉月。狗吠枯樁。只可默會。難入思量。看不見處。動地放光。說不到處。天地玄黃。撫城尺六狀紙。元來出在清江。大眾。分明話出人難見。昨夜三更月到窻。上堂。風吹茆茨屋脊漏。雨打闍黎眼睛濕。恁麼分明卻不知。卻來這裡低頭立(時紹燈上座聞之。有省。後住婺之廣教)。因病示眾。久病未甞推木枕。人來多是問如何。山僧據問隨緣對。窻外黃鸝口更多。只如七尺之軀甚處受病。眾中具眼者。試為山僧指出病源。眾下語。皆不契。師自拊掌一下。作嘔吐聲。又云。好箇木枕子。師律身清苦。出入唯杖笠獨行。後示寂。闍維收舍利。目睛齒舌數珠。同靈骨塔於寺西。

He was a son of the Wen family of Mianzhou. He relied on Foyan. Hearing a general address that brought up the layman Fu's Inscription on the King of Mind — 'the taste of salt in water, the blue glue in color: it decidedly exists, yet its form is not seen' — the Master had an awakening at these words. Later, watching the treasure storehouse turn swiftly, he suddenly understood the great dharma. He went to the abbot's room, bowed, and presented a verse: 'On the summit a strange peak, clouds drifting; at the source no other branch, water clear and cool. In touring the mountains one has not reached where the mountain ends; in the end the blue mountains block one's eyes.' Yan laughed and approved. After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'Good things come piled and stacked; no need to contrive or arrange. Yellow leaves in the falling grove are pushed away by the water; white clouds across the valley are rolled back by the wind. One cry of the cold wild goose cuts off feeling and thought; the frost bell has only to move and my mountain crumbles. The white poplar has still more that surpasses; all night at the cold stove one pokes the dead ashes.' Suddenly a patch-robed monk came forward and said: 'Elder, stop showing off — why such a beggarly look?' This mountain monk only said to him: 'You have hit it.' He mounted the hall: 'How is my hand like the buddha's hand? In heaven the southern star, the northern dipper. How is my foot like a donkey's foot? Past things are all forgotten. Each person has his own birth-conditions; each one is square-footed and round-crowned. Where he stands at the shoal of Dayu, a lone moon casts its shadow into the deep bay. Not to be understood; hard even to see. One fisherman's song crosses the distant shoal.' Addressing the assembly: 'Conditions of defilement are easy to accomplish; the work of the Way is hard to complete. Not understanding what is before you, the ten thousand conditions differ. One only sees the wind of conditions vast, withering the grove of merit; the fire of the mind blazing, burning up the tree of bodhi. If the thought of the Way were like the thought of feeling, one would long ago have become a buddha. Working for the assembly as for oneself, both matters are done. Not seeing others' faults or one's own right, naturally the high are revered and the low are respectful. The buddhadharma appears at every moment; affliction is liberated in every mote.' He mounted the hall: 'The cock crows at the dawn moon, the dog barks at the withered post — one can only understand it in silence; it is hard to bring into thought. Where one cannot see, it shakes the earth and radiates light. Where words cannot reach, heaven is dark and earth yellow. The foot-and-six contract paper of Fucheng turns out to come from Qingjiang. Great assembly, a matter spoken plainly is hard for people to see; last night at the third watch the moon came to the window.' He mounted the hall: 'The wind blows the thatch roof and it leaks; the rain beats the Reverend's eyes wet. So plainly, yet you do not know it; instead you come here and stand with lowered head.' (At that time the prior Shaodeng heard it and had an awakening; later he resided at Guangjiao in Wu.) Falling ill, he addressed the assembly: 'Long ill, I have never pushed away the wooden pillow; when people come they mostly ask how I am. This mountain monk answers according to the question as conditions allow; outside the window the oriole's mouth is even busier. But as for this seven-foot body, where does it receive illness? Let those of you with eyes in the assembly try to point out the source of the illness for this mountain monk.' The assembly offered words and none accorded. The Master clapped his hands once and made a sound of vomiting. And he said: 'A fine wooden pillow.' The Master disciplined himself austerely; going out and coming in he walked alone with only staff and hat. Later he passed away. After cremation his relics were gathered, and his eyes, teeth, tongue and rosary were enshrined with his remains in a stupa west of the monastery.

南康軍雲居法如禪師

Chan Master Faru of Yunju, Nankang Jun

丹丘胡氏子。依護國瑞禪師。祝髮登具。徧參淛右諸宗匠。晚至龍門。以平日所證白佛眼。眼曰。此皆學解。非究竟事。欲了生死。當求妙悟。師駭然諦信。一日。命主香積。以道業未辦。固辭。眼勉曰。姑就職其中。大有人為汝說法。未幾。晨興開廚門。望見聖僧。契所未證。即白佛眼。眼曰。這裡還見聖僧麼。師詣前問訊。叉手而立。眼曰。向汝道大有人為汝說法。住後。上堂。一法若有。毗盧墮在凡夫。萬法若無。普賢失其境界。向這裡有無俱遣。得失兩亡。直得十方諸佛不見。諸人且道。十二時中向甚麼處安身立命。披蓑側立千峰外。引水澆蔬五老前。上堂。乾坤之內。宇宙之間。中有一寶。秘在形山。雲居又且不然。乾坤之內。宇宙之間。中有一寶。擲下拄杖雲。大眾也須識取。

He was a son of the Hu family of Danqiu. He relied on Chan Master Huguo Rui, was shaved and took the precepts. He studied everywhere under the master craftsmen of eastern Zhe, and in his later years came to Longmen and told Foyan of his usual attainments. Yan said: 'These are all learning and understanding, not the ultimate matter. If you would finish birth and death, you must seek a wondrous awakening.' The Master was startled and sincerely believed. One day he was appointed to head the incense store, and because his work of the Way was not yet done he firmly declined. Yan urged him: 'Take the post for now; there are many there who will preach the dharma for you.' Before long, rising at dawn and opening the kitchen door, he looked up and saw the holy monk, and thereby accorded with what he had not yet realized. He at once told Foyan. Yan said: 'Do you still see the holy monk here?' The Master went forward, greeted him with joined palms and stood with hands crossed. Yan said: 'Did I not tell you there are many who will preach the dharma for you?' After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'If one dharma exists, Vairochana falls among ordinary men; if the ten thousand dharmas do not exist, Samantabhadra loses his realm. If here you let go both existence and nonexistence and lose both gain and loss, then indeed the buddhas of the ten directions do not appear. And tell me, you people, through the twelve hours where do you settle your body and establish your life? Wearing a straw cloak, standing sideways beyond a thousand peaks; leading water to the vegetables before the Five Elders.' He mounted the hall: 'Within heaven and earth, between the cosmos, there is one treasure hidden in the mountain of form. Yunju is not so. Within heaven and earth, between the cosmos, there is one treasure.' He threw down his staff and said: 'Great assembly, you must recognize it.'