Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

五祖自禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Wuzu Zi

蘄州龍華高禪師

Chan Master Gao of Longhua, Qizhou

上堂。象王行。師子住。赤腳崑崙眉卓竪。寒山拾得笑呵呵。指點門前老松樹。且道他指點箇甚麼。忽然風吹倒時。好一堆柴。

He mounted the hall: 'The elephant king walks, the lion dwells; the barefoot Kunlun's brows stand upright. Hanshan and Shide laugh ha-ha, pointing at the old pine tree before the gate. And tell me, what are they pointing at? When the wind suddenly blows it down, a fine pile of firewood.'

南嶽下十六世

The sixteenth generation below Nanyue

徑山杲禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Gao of Jingshan

泉州教忠晦庵彌光禪師

Chan Master Miguang of Hui'an, Jiaozhong, Quanzhou

閩之李氏子。兒時寡言笑。聞梵唄則喜。十五。依幽巖文慧禪師圓頂。猶喜閱群書。一日曰。既剃髮染衣。當期悟徹。豈醉於俗典邪。遂出嶺。謁圓悟禪師於雲居。次參黃檗祥高庵悟。機語皆契。以淮楚盜起。歸謁佛心。會大慧寓廣。因往從之。慧謂曰。汝在佛心處所得者。試舉一二看。師舉佛心上堂拈普化公案曰。佛心即不然。總不恁麼來時。如何劈脊便打。從教徧界分身。慧曰。汝意如何。師曰。某不肯他後頭下箇註腳。慧曰。此正是以病為法。師毅然無信可意。慧曰。汝但揣摩看。師竟以為不然。經旬。因記海印信禪師拈曰。雷聲浩大。雨點全無。始無滯。趨告慧。慧以舉道者見琅邪並玄沙未徹語詰之。師對已。慧笑曰。雖進得一步。祇是不著所在。如人斫樹。根下一刀。則命根斷矣。汝向枝上斫。其能斷命根乎。今諸方浩浩說禪者。見處總如此。何益於事。其楊岐正傳。三四人而已。師慍而去。翌日。慧問。汝還疑否。師曰。無可疑者。慧曰。祇如古人相見。未開口時已知虗實。或聞其語。便識淺深。此理如何。師悚然汗下。莫知所詣。慧令究有句無句。慧過雲門庵。師侍行。一日問曰。某到這裡。不能得徹。病在甚處。慧曰。汝病最癖。世醫拱手。何也。別人死了活不得。汝今活了未曾死。要到大安樂田地。須是死一回始得。師疑情愈深。後入室。慧問。吃粥了也。洗缽盂了也。去卻藥忌。道將一句來。師曰。裂破。慧震威喝曰。你又說禪也。師即大悟。慧撾皷告眾曰。龜毛拈得笑咍咍。一擊萬重關鏁開。慶快平生在今日。孰雲千堂賺吾來。師亦以頌呈之曰。一拶當機怒雷吼。驚起須彌藏北斗。洪波浩渺浪滔天。拈得鼻孔失卻口。住後。上堂。有句無句。如藤倚樹。放憨作麼。及乎樹倒藤枯。句歸何處。情知汝等諸人。卒討頭鼻不著。為甚如此。祇為分明極。飜令所得遲。上堂。夢幻空華。

He was a son of the Li family of Min. As a child he spoke and laughed little, but was delighted to hear Buddhist chanting. At fifteen he was shaved under Chan Master Wenhui of Youyan. He still loved to read many books. One day he said: 'Since I have shaved my head and dyed my robes, I should aim at thorough awakening — why should I be drunk on worldly texts?' So he went out beyond the ranges and called on Chan Master Yuanwu at Yunju. Next he studied under Huangbo Xiang and Gao'an Wu, and his workings and words all accorded. Because bandits had risen in Huai and Chu, he returned and called on Foxin. It happened that Dahui was lodging in Guang, so he went to follow him. Hui said to him: 'What you gained in Foxin's place — try bringing up one or two things.' The Master brought up how Foxin, mounting the hall, had picked up the case of Puhua, and said: 'Foxin is not so: when one comes who is altogether not thus, what then? Would you split his spine and strike? Let him manifest his body throughout the realm.' Hui said: 'What is your meaning?' The Master said: 'I do not accept his adding a footnote at the end.' Hui said: 'This is precisely taking illness as dharma.' The Master was firm and had no believing assent. Hui said: 'Just try to fathom it.' The Master in the end thought it was not so. After ten days, remembering how Chan Master Haiyin Xin had commented, 'The thunder is vast, the raindrops are wholly absent,' he first became unstuck, and hurried to tell Hui. Hui pressed him with the story of the man of the Way seeing Langya and Xuansha's words about not yet penetrating. When the Master had answered, Hui laughed and said: 'Though you have advanced a step, you still have not landed where it is. It is like a man felling a tree: one stroke at the root and the root of life is cut. If you hack at the branches, can you cut the root of life? Nowadays the many who talk of Chan everywhere in the regions all have insight like this. What good does it do? Of the true transmission of Yangqi there are only three or four men.' The Master left in anger. The next day Hui asked: 'Do you still doubt?' The Master said: 'There is nothing to doubt.' Hui said: 'Take how the ancients met: before a word was spoken they already knew the true from the false; or hearing their words, they at once knew the shallow from the deep. What is this principle?' The Master was startled and broke into sweat, not knowing where to go. Hui had him investigate the matter of having phrases and having no phrases. When Hui passed by Yunmen Hut, the Master attended him. One day he asked: 'I have come to this and cannot get through. Where is the illness?' Hui said: 'Your illness is the most obstinate; the physicians of the world fold their hands. Why? Others die and cannot live; you now live but have never died. To reach the field of great peace and joy, you must die once.' The Master's mass of doubt grew deeper. Later, entering the room, Hui asked: 'The gruel has been eaten, the bowl has been washed. Put aside the medicine taboos and speak one phrase.' The Master said: 'Split open.' Hui let out an awesome shout and said: 'You are talking Chan again!' Thereupon the Master was greatly awakened. Hui beat the drum and told the assembly: 'Grasping a rabbit's horn, one laughs ha-ha; one blow and the locks of ten thousand gates open. How joyful that in this life it is today — who says a thousand halls cheated me into coming?' The Master also presented a verse: 'One squeeze at the working, an angry thunder roars; it startles Sumeru and hides the North Dipper. Vast and boundless the flood, waves flooding the sky; one grasps the nostrils but loses the mouth.' After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'Having phrases and having no phrases is like a vine leaning on a tree. Why play the fool? And when the tree falls and the vine withers, where does the phrase return to? I know well that you people cannot lay hand on head or nose even so. Why is this so? Just because it is so very clear, one's attainment is thereby slowed.' He mounted the hall: 'Dream, illusion, empty flower —

何勞把捉。得失是非。一時放卻。擲拂子曰。山僧今日已是放下了也。汝等諸人。又作麼生。復曰。侍者收取拂子。僧問。文殊為甚麼出女子定不得。師曰。山僧今日困。曰。罔明為甚麼卻出得。師曰。令人疑著。曰。恁麼則擘開華嶽千峰秀。放出黃河一派清。師曰。一任卜度。

'why trouble to grasp them? Gain and loss, right and wrong — let them all go at once.' He threw down his fly whisk and said: 'This mountain monk today has already let it go. And what will you people do?' Then he said: 'Attendant, take up the fly whisk.' A monk asked: 'Why could Manjushri not bring the woman out of samadhi?' The Master said: 'This mountain monk is tired today.' He said: 'Why could Wangming bring her out?' The Master said: 'It makes one wonder.' He said: 'Then splitting open the thousand peaks' beauty of Mount Hua and releasing the clear flow of the Yellow River — ' The Master said: 'Deliberate as you please.'

江州東林卍庵道顏禪師

Chan Master Daoyan of Wan'an, Donglin, Jiangzhou

潼川人。族鮮於氏。久參圓悟。微有省發。洎悟還蜀。囑依妙喜。仍以書致喜曰。顏用彩繪已畢。但欠點眼耳。他日嗣其後。未可量也。喜居雲門及洋嶼。師皆在焉。朝夕質疑。方大悟。住後。上堂。一葉落。天下秋。一塵起。大地收。鳥窠吹布毛。便有人悟去。今時學者。為甚麼卻不識自己。良久曰。莫錯怪人好。上堂。欲識諸佛心。但向眾生心行中識取。欲識常住不凋性。但向萬物遷變處會取。還識得麼。欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。上堂。諸人知處。良遂總知。良遂知處。諸人不知。作麼生是良遂知處。乃曰。鸕鷀語鶴。上堂。仲冬嚴寒。三界無安。富者快樂。貧者饑寒。不識玄旨。錯認定盤。何也。牛頭安尾上。北斗面南看。上堂。一滴滴水。一滴滴凍。天寒人寒。風動幡動。雲門扇子。𨁝跳上三十三天。築著帝釋鼻孔。東海鯉魚。打一棒雨似盆傾。不出諸人十二時中尋常受用。上堂雲。圓通門戶。八字打開。若是從門入得。不堪共語。須是入得無門之門。方可坐登堂奧。所以道。過去諸如來。斯門已成就。現在諸菩薩。今各入圓明。未來參學人。當依如是法。從上諸聖。幸有如此廣大門風。不能繼紹。甘自鄙棄。穿窬墻壁。好不丈夫。敢問大眾。無門之門作麼生入。良久雲。非唯觀世音。我亦從中證。上堂。元宵已過。化主出門。六群比丘。各從其類。此眾無復枝葉。純有貞實。如是增上慢人。退亦佳矣。麒麟不為瑞。鸑鷟不為榮。麥秀兩岐。禾登九穗。總不消得。但願官中無事。林下棲禪。水牯牛飽臥斜陽。擔板漢清貧長樂。粥足飯足。俯仰隨時。箸籠不亂攙匙。老鼠不咬甑箄。山家活計。淡薄長情。不敬功德天。誰嫌黑暗女。有智主人。二俱不受。良久曰。君子愛財。取之以道。上堂。去年寒食後。今年寒食前。日日是好日。不是正中偏。上堂。客舍久留連。家鄉夕照邊。

He was a man of Tongchuan, of the Xianyu clan. He long studied under Yuanwu and had a slight awakening. When Wu returned to Shu, he instructed him to rely on Miaoxi, and also sent a letter to Xi saying: 'Yan's colored painting is finished; he lacks only the dotting of the eyes. If one day he succeeds to the transmission, his future cannot be measured.' When Xi lived at Yunmen and Yangyu, the Master was with him both times, questioning and resolving morning and evening, and only then was he greatly awakened. After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'One leaf falls and the world is autumn; one mote rises and the great earth is gathered in. Niaoke blew the cotton wadding and someone awakened. Why is it that students today do not recognize themselves?' After a long while he said: 'Do not wrongly blame people.' He mounted the hall: 'If you would know the mind of the buddhas, seek it in the workings of sentient beings' minds. If you would know the unchanging, unfading nature, understand it where the ten thousand things shift and change. Do you recognize it? If you would not invite the karma of uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathagata's true dharma wheel.' He mounted the hall: 'What you people know, Liangsu knows altogether; where Liangsu knows, you people do not know. What is where Liangsu knows?' Then he said: 'The cormorant speaks to the crane.' He mounted the hall: 'Deep winter's bitter cold; the three realms are without peace. The rich are happy, the poor are hungry and cold. Not knowing the mysterious purport, one mistakes the pole star. Why so? The ox's head is on its tail; the North Dipper faces south.' He mounted the hall: 'Drop by drop the water, drop by drop it freezes. Heaven is cold, man is cold; the wind moves, the banner moves. Yunmen's fan jumps up to the Trayastrimsha heaven and butts against Indra's nostrils. A blow for the East Sea carp and the rain pours like basins — it does not go beyond what you people ordinarily use through the twelve hours.' He mounted the hall: 'The gate of perfect penetration is opened wide in the character eight. If one can enter by the gate, one is not fit to talk with; one must enter the gateless gate before one can sit in the inner hall. Therefore it is said: the Tathagatas of the past have already accomplished this gate; the bodhisattvas of the present each now enter perfect clarity; students of the future should rely on this dharma. The sages from of old — fortunately there is such a broad and great style of the gate, yet one cannot continue and inherit it and is content to despise and cast off oneself, to crawl through walls and cracks. What a poor-spirited man! May I ask the assembly, how does one enter the gateless gate?' After a long while he said: 'Not only Avalokiteshvara — I too certify it within.' He mounted the hall: 'The lantern festival is past and the fund-raiser has gone out. The six groups of monks each follow their kind. This assembly has no more branches and leaves; it is purely the firm and true. Such arrogant ones — it is also well that they withdraw. The qilin is no omen; the phoenix no glory. Wheat with two heads, grain with nine ears — none of it is wanted. I only wish there were no trouble in the offices and that one could sit in Chan under the trees. The water buffalo lies full in the slanting sun; the plank-carrying fellow is poor and content. Gruel enough, rice enough; bowing and raising the head, one accords with the times. The chopstick basket is not confused in jabbing spoons; the rat does not gnaw the steamer mat. The mountain home's livelihood is plain and its feeling long. I do not revere the goddess of merit; who begrudges the dark woman? A wise host accepts neither.' After a long while he said: 'The gentleman loves wealth and takes it by the Way.' He mounted the hall: 'Last year after the Cold Food Festival, this year before the Cold Food Festival. Every day is a good day; it is not the middle of the true within the partial.' He mounted the hall: 'Long lingering at the traveler's inn, one's home is at the edge of the evening light.'

簷懸三月雨。水沒兩湖蓮。鑊漏燒燈盞。柴生滿灶煙。已忘南北念。入望盡平川。上堂。旃檀林。無雜樹。鬱密深沉師子住。所以旃檀叢林。旃檀圍繞。荊棘叢林。荊棘圍繞。一人為主。兩人為伴。成就萬億國土。士農工商。若夜叉。若羅剎。見行魔業。優哉遊哉。聊以卒歲。僧問。香嚴上樹話。意旨如何。師曰。描不成。畫不就。曰。李陵雖好手。爭奈陷番何。師曰。甚麼處去來。問。如何是佛。師曰。汝是元固。僧近前曰。喏。喏。師曰。裩無襠。袴無口。問。如何是佛。師曰。誌公和尚。曰。學人問佛。何故答誌公和尚。師曰。誌公不是閑和尚。曰。如何是法。師曰。黃絹幼婦。外孫韲臼。曰。是甚麼章句。師曰。絕妙好辭。曰。如何是僧。師曰。釣魚船上謝三郎。曰。何不直說。師曰。玄沙和尚。曰。三寶已蒙師指示。向上宗乘事若何。師曰。王喬詐仙得仙。僧呵呵大笑。師乃叩齒。

'The eaves hang with three months of rain; the water drowns the lotuses of two lakes. The cauldron leaks and burns the lamp; the firewood smoke fills the stove. Already forgetting thoughts of north and south, all that enters the eye is level plain.' He mounted the hall: 'In a sandalwood grove there are no other trees; dense and deep the lion dwells. Therefore a sandalwood grove is surrounded by sandalwood, a thorn grove surrounded by thorns. One man is master, two men are companions, and they accomplish a trillion lands. Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants — whether yaksha or rakshasa — seeing one who does the demon's work, how free and easy he is, and so passes the year.' A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Xiangyan's story of going up the tree?' The Master said: 'It cannot be described, it cannot be painted.' He said: 'Though Li Ling was a fine hand, what could he do about being trapped among the barbarians?' The Master said: 'Where have you been?' He asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said: 'You are Yuangu.' The monk came forward and said: 'Yes, yes.' The Master said: 'Trousers without a crotch, breeches without an opening.' He asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said: 'Monk Zhi.' He said: 'The student asks about the buddha — why answer Monk Zhi?' The Master said: 'Master Zhi was no idle monk.' He said: 'What is the dharma?' The Master said: 'Yellow silk, young woman; grandchild, minced ginger.' He said: 'What chapter and verse is that?' The Master said: 'Absolutely wonderful phrasing.' He said: 'What is the sangha?' The Master said: 'Xie the Third on the fishing boat.' He said: 'Why not say it directly?' The Master said: 'Chan Master Xuansha.' He said: 'The three treasures have been pointed out by the Master; what of the ancestral vehicle beyond?' The Master said: 'Wang Qiao pretended at immortality and got immortality.' The monk laughed ha-ha. The Master clicked his teeth.

福州西禪懶庵鼎需禪師

Chan Master Dingxu of Lan'an, Xichan, Fuzhou

本郡林氏子。幼舉進士有聲。年二十五。因讀遺教經。忽曰。幾為儒冠誤。欲去家。母難之。以親迎在期。師乃絕之曰。夭桃紅杏。一時分付春風。翠竹黃華。此去永為道伴。竟依保壽樂禪師為比丘。一錫湖湘。徧參名宿。法無異味。歸裡結庵。於羗峰絕頂。不下山者三年。佛心才禪師挽出。首眾於大乘。甞問學者即心即佛因緣。時妙喜庵於洋嶼。師之友彌光與師書云。庵主手段。與諸方別。可來少欵。如何。師不答。光以計邀師飯。師往赴之。會妙喜為諸徒入室。師隨喜焉。妙喜舉。僧問馬祖。如何是佛。祖雲。即心是佛。作麼生。師下語。妙喜詬之曰。你見解如此。敢妄為人師耶。鳴皷普說。訐其平生珍重得力處。排為邪解。師淚交頤。不敢仰視。默計曰。我之所得。既為所排。西來不傳之旨。豈止此耶。遂歸心弟子之列。一日。喜問曰。內不放出。外不放入。正恁麼時如何。師擬開口。喜拈竹篦。劈脊連打三下。師於此大悟。厲聲曰。和尚已多了也。喜又打一下。師禮拜。喜笑雲。今日方知吾不汝欺也。遂印以偈雲。頂門竪亞摩醯眼。肘後斜懸奪命符。瞎卻眼。卸卻符。趙州東壁掛葫蘆。於是聲名喧動叢林。住後。上堂曰。句中意。意中句。須彌聳於巨川。句剗意。意剗句。烈士發乎狂矢。任待牙如劍樹。口似血盆。徒逞詞鋒。虗張意氣。所以淨名杜口。早涉繁詞。摩竭掩關。已揚家醜。自餘瓦棺老漢．巖頭大師。向羗峰頂上。拏風鼓浪。翫弄神變。腳跟下好與三十。且道過在甚麼處。良久雲。機關不是韓光作。莫把𮌎襟當等閑。至節。上堂雲。二十五日已前。群陰消伏。泥龍閉戶。二十五日已後。一陽來復。鐵樹開華。正當二十五日。塵中醉客。騎驢騎馬。前街後街。𮞏相慶賀。物外閑人。衲帔蒙頭。圍爐打坐。風蕭蕭。雨蕭蕭。冷湫湫。誰管你張先生。李道士。胡達磨。上堂。懶翁懶中懶。

He was a son of the Lin family of the prefecture. In youth he sat for the metropolitan examination and had some reputation. At twenty-five, reading the Sutra of the Bequeathed Teaching, he suddenly said, 'I have nearly been ruined by the scholar's cap.' He wanted to leave home; his mother made it difficult for him, since a marriage was already arranged. The Master then cut it off, saying, 'The pink peach and the red apricot—entrust them all at once to the spring wind. The green bamboo and the yellow flowers—from now on they will be my companions on the Way forever.' In the end he became a monk under Chan Master Bao of Baoshou. With one staff he traveled the lakes and rivers of Hu and Xiang, calling on famous elders everywhere; the dharma had no other flavor. He returned to his village and built a hut on the very summit of Qiang Peak, and for three years did not come down the mountain. Chan Master Cai of Foxin pulled him out, and he led the assembly at Dacheng. He once asked students about the case 'mind itself is Buddha.' At that time Miaoxi had a hermitage at Yangyu. The Master's friend Miguang wrote to him: 'The hermitage master's methods differ from everyone else's. Come and stay a while—how about it?' The Master did not answer. Guang tricked him into coming to a meal. The Master went to it. It happened that Miaoxi was taking his followers into his room for private instruction; the Master came along to share in it. Miaoxi brought up: 'A monk asked Mazu, 'What is the Buddha?' Zu said, 'Mind itself is Buddha.' How is it?' The Master offered a word. Miaoxi reviled him, saying, 'With such views as yours, you dare to set yourself up as a teacher of men?' He had the drum beaten and spoke publicly, exposing the points in which he had taken pride and relied on all his life, and ranked them as deviant interpretations. The Master's tears ran down his cheeks and he did not dare look up. He thought silently: 'What I have attained has been ranked as deviant. Can the purport the Western Patriarch did not transmit be only this?' So he submitted his mind and joined the rank of his disciples. One day Xi asked, 'Not letting out what is inside, not letting in what is outside—just at such a time, how is it?' The Master was about to open his mouth when Xi picked up his bamboo clapper and struck him three times across the back. At this the Master had a great awakening. He cried out in a stern voice, 'The Reverend has already gone too far.' Xi struck him once more. The Master bowed. Xi laughed and said, 'Today you know at last that I have not deceived you.' He then sealed him with a verse: 'Above the crown stands the eye of Maheshvara; behind the elbow hangs askew the talisman that takes life. Put out the eye, take down the talisman—Zhaozhou hangs a gourd on the east wall.' From this his fame resounded through the monasteries. After he took up residence, he ascended the hall and said, 'The meaning within the phrase, the phrase within the meaning: Sumeru towers over the great river. The phrase cutting off the meaning, the meaning cutting off the phrase: the stout-hearted man looses the mad arrow. Let a man have teeth like a forest of swords and a mouth like a basin of blood—he only shows off the edge of his words and vainly puts on airs. Therefore Vimalakirti sealed his lips, and already he had trafficked in a profusion of words; Magadha shut his room, and already he had aired his family's shame. As for the rest—old Waguan and Great Master Yantou, on the summit of Qiang Peak they grasp the wind and beat up waves, sporting with divine transformations. They deserve thirty blows on the heels. Tell me, where is the fault?' After a long while he said, 'The mechanism is not Han Guang's doing; do not treat your breast lightly.' On the winter solstice he ascended the hall: 'Before the twenty-fifth, the yin host subsides and hides; the mud dragon shuts his door. After the twenty-fifth, one yang returns, and the iron tree puts forth flowers. On the very day of the twenty-fifth, the drunken guest amid the dust rides his donkey or his horse, from street to street, congratulating one another; the idle man beyond things, his monk's cape over his head, sits by the stove. The wind whistles, the rain whistles, cold and chill. Who cares about your Mr. Zhang, your Daoist Li, your barbarian Bodhidharma?' Ascending the hall: 'The lazy old man is lazy among the lazy—'

是懶懶說禪。亦不重自己。亦不重先賢。又誰管你地。又誰管你天。物外翛然無箇事。日上三竿猶更眠。上堂。舉。僧問趙州。如何是古人言。州雲。諦聽諦聽。師曰。諦聽即不無。切忌喚鐘作甕。室中問僧。萬法歸一。一歸何處。曰。新羅國裡。師曰。我在青州作一領布衫。重七斤。聻。曰。今日親見趙州。師曰。前頭見。後頭見。僧乃作斫額勢。師曰。上座甚處人。曰。江西。師曰。因甚麼卻來這裡納敗缺。僧擬議。師便打。

'—it is the lazy one who speaks Chan. He does not value himself, nor does he value the sages of old. And who cares about your earth, who cares about your heaven? Beyond things he is carefree, with nothing to do; the sun is three poles high and he is still asleep.' Ascending the hall: 'I bring up: a monk asked Zhaozhou, 'What are the words of the ancients?' Zhou said, 'Listen carefully, listen carefully.'' The Master said, 'Listening carefully is not absent, but by no means call a bell a jar.' In his room he asked a monk, 'The ten thousand dharmas return to the one; where does the one return?' The monk said, 'In the country of Silla.' The Master said, 'I made a cloth shirt in Qingzhou weighing seven catties. What of it?' The monk said, 'Today I have seen Zhaozhou with my own eyes.' The Master said, 'You saw him in front, you saw him behind.' The monk then made the gesture of shading his brow. The Master said, 'Where are you from, Reverend?' He said, 'Jiangxi.' The Master said, 'Then why have you come here to take a beating?' The monk was about to deliberate, and the Master struck him.

福州東禪蒙庵思嶽禪師

Chan Master Siyue of Meng'an, Dongchan, Fuzhou

上堂。蛾羊蟻子說一切法。墻壁瓦礫現無邊身。見處既精明。聞中必透脫。所以雪峰和尚凡見僧來。輥出三箇木毬。如弄雜劇相似。玄沙便作斫牌勢。卑末謾道將來。普賢今日謗古人。千佛出世。不通懺悔。這裡有人謗普賢。定入㧞舌地獄。且道謗與不謗者是誰。心不負人。面無慚色。上堂。達磨來時。此土皆知梵語。及乎去後。西天悉會唐言。若論直指人心。見性成佛。大似羚羊掛角。獵犬尋蹤。一意乖疎。萬言無用。可謂來時他笑我。不知去後我笑他。唐言梵語親分付。自古齋僧怕夜茶。上堂。臘月初。歲雲徂。黃河凍已合。深處有嘉魚。活鱍鱍。跳不脫。又不能相煦以濕。相濡以沫。慚愧菩薩摩訶薩。春風幾時來。解此黃河凍。令魚化作龍。直透桃華浪。會即便會。痴人面前且莫說夢。上堂。僧問。如何是初日分。以恆河沙等身佈施。師曰。從苗辨地。因語識人。曰。如何是中日分。復以恆河沙等身佈施。師曰。築著磕著。曰。如何是後日分。亦以恆河沙等身佈施。師曰。向下文長。付在來日。復曰。一轉語如天普蓋。似地普擎。一轉語。舌頭不出口。一轉語。且喜沒交涉。要會麼。慚愧。世尊面赤。不如語直。大小嶽上座。口似磉盤。今日為這問話僧講經。不覺和註腳一時說破。便下座。上堂。啞卻我口。直須要道。塞卻你耳。切忌蹉過。昨日有人從天台來。卻道泗洲大聖在洪州打坐。十字街頭賣行貨。是甚麼。斷跟草鞋。尖簷席帽。

Ascending the hall: 'Moths, sheep, and ants preach all dharmas; walls and tiles manifest the boundless body. When what is seen is keen and clear, then in what is heard one must be free. Therefore when Chan Master Xuefeng saw any monk come, he would roll out three wooden balls, like a vaudeville turn. Xuanzha then made the gesture of chopping a board. The lowly one babbles of bringing it here. Puxian today slanders the ancients. Even if a thousand Buddhas appear in the world, there is no confession for it. If anyone here slanders Puxian, he will surely fall into the hell of the pulled-out tongue. Tell me, who is it that slanders and who does not? One who does not betray his own heart has no shame on his face.' Ascending the hall: 'When Bodhidharma came, everyone in this land knew Sanskrit; after he left, all in the Western Heaven understood Chinese. But as for pointing directly at the human mind and seeing one's nature to become Buddha, it is very much like an antelope hanging by its horns, or a hunting dog tracking a scent: one thought goes astray, and ten thousand words are useless. You could say: when he came, he laughed at me; little do I know that after he left, I laugh at him. Chinese and Sanskrit are handed over in person; since ancient times those who feed monks fear the evening tea.' Ascending the hall: 'At the start of the twelfth month, the year is passing. The Yellow River's ice has already closed; in the depths there is a fine fish, lively and leaping, yet it cannot jump out, and cannot moisten one another with wetness or soak one another with foam. How ashamed I am, Bodhisattva Mahasattva. When will the spring wind come to break this Yellow River ice and let the fish turn into dragons, shooting straight through the peach-blossom waves? If you understand, understand at once; before a fool, do not speak of dreams.' Ascending the hall: a monk asked, 'What is the first watch of the day, giving away bodies equal in number to the sands of the Ganges?' The Master said, 'From the sprout discern the ground; from the speech know the man.' He said, 'What is the middle watch of the day, again giving away bodies equal in number to the sands of the Ganges?' The Master said, 'Bumping and knocking.' He said, 'What is the last watch of the day, also giving away bodies equal in number to the sands of the Ganges?' The Master said, 'The text below is long; leave it for another day.' He also said, 'One turning phrase covers all like heaven, holds all up like earth. One turning phrase never lets the tongue out of the mouth. One turning phrase—I am glad to say it has no connection at all. Do you want to understand? How ashamed—the World-Honored One's face turns red; better to speak straight. Great Reverend Yue's mouth is like a millstone. Today for the sake of this questioning monk I preach the sutra, and without noticing I have broken through the commentary as well.' He then left the seat. Ascending the hall: 'Mute my mouth—still you must speak. Stop up your ears—by no means miss it. Yesterday someone came from Mount Tiantai and said the Great Sage of Sizhou is sitting in meditation in Hongzhou, selling wares at the crossroads. What is it? Straw sandals with broken heels, a peaked bamboo hat.'

福州西禪此庵守淨禪師

Chan Master Shoujing of Ci'an, Xichan, Fuzhou

上堂。談玄說妙。撒屎撒尿。行棒行喝。將鹽止渴。立主立賓。華擘宗乘。設或總不恁麼。又是鬼窟裡坐。到這裡。山僧已是打退皷。且道諸人。尋常心憤憤。口悱悱。合作麼生。莫將閑學解。埋沒祖師心。上堂。若也單明自己。不悟目前。此人有眼無足。若也祇悟目前。不明自己。此人有足無眼。直得眼足相資。如車二輪。如鳥二翼。正好勘過了打。上堂。九夏炎炎大熱。木人汗流不輟。夜來一雨便涼。莫道山僧不說。以拂子擊禪床。下座。上堂。若欲正提綱。直須大地荒。欲來沖雪刃。未免露鋒鋩。當恁麼時。釋迦老子出頭不得即不問。你諸人祇如馬鐙裡藏身。又作麼生話會。上堂。道是常道。心是常心。汝等諸人。聞山僧恁麼道。便道我會也。大盡三十日。小盡二十九。頭上是天。腳下是地。耳裡聞聲。鼻裡出氣。忽若四大海水在汝頭上。毒虵穿你眼睛。蝦蟆入你鼻孔。又作麼生。上堂。文殊普賢談理事。臨濟德山行棒喝。東禪一覺到天明。偏愛風從涼處發。咄。上堂。善鬬者不顧其首。善戰者必獲其功。其功既獲。坐致太平。太平既致。高枕無憂。罷拈三尺劍。休弄一張弓。歸馬於華山之陽。放牛於桃林之野。風以時而雨以時。漁父歌而樵人舞。雖然如是。堯舜之君。猶有化在。爭似乾坤收不得。堯舜不知名。渾家不管興亡事。偏愛和雲占洞庭。上堂。閉卻口。時時說。截卻舌。無間歇。無間歇。最奇絕。最奇絕。眼中屑。既是奇絕。為甚麼卻成眼中屑。了了了時無可了。玄玄玄處亦須呵。上堂。祖佛頂𩕳上。有潑天大路。未透生死關。如何敢進步。不進步。大千沒遮護。一句絕言詮。那吒擎鐵柱。開堂。拈香罷。就座。南堂和尚白槌曰。法筵龍象眾。當觀第一義。師隨聲便喝曰。此是第幾義。久參先德。已辨來端。後學有疑。不妨請問。僧問。阿難問迦葉。世尊傳金襴外。別傳何物。

Ascending the hall: 'Discussing the mystery and speaking of the wondrous is shitting and pissing. Wielding the staff and giving shouts is using salt to stop thirst. Setting up host and setting up guest, splitting open the school's teaching—if you do none of this either, then you are sitting in a den of ghosts. At this point this mountain monk has already beaten the retreat drum. Tell me, you people—ordinarily your hearts are indignant and your mouths cannot speak—what will you do? Do not let idle learning and understanding bury the Patriarch's mind.' Ascending the hall: 'If you only make yourself clear and do not awaken to what is before your eyes, such a person has eyes but no feet. If you only awaken to what is before your eyes and do not make yourself clear, such a person has feet but no eyes. When eyes and feet support each other, like the two wheels of a cart or the two wings of a bird—then you are just right for a beating.' Ascending the hall: 'The nine summer months blaze with great heat; the wooden man sweats without cease. Last night a rain came and it was cool. Do not say this mountain monk does not speak.' He struck the Chan bed with his fly whisk and left the seat. Ascending the hall: 'If you want to set up the school's teaching rightly, the great earth must be laid waste. If you want to charge the snow-blade, you cannot avoid showing the point. At such a time, whether Shakyamuni can come forth—we set that aside. You people, hiding your bodies in the stirrup—how will you understand that?' Ascending the hall: 'The Way is the constant Way; the mind is the constant mind. When you people hear this mountain monk speak thus, you say, 'I understand.' The great month has thirty days, the small month twenty-nine. Above the head is heaven, below the feet is earth; in the ear one hears sounds, in the nose breath comes out. Suppose the waters of the four great seas were on your head, a poisonous snake pierced your eye, a toad entered your nostril—what then?' Ascending the hall: 'Manjushri and Samantabhadra discuss principle and fact; Linji and Deshan wield staff and shout. Dongchan sleeps through to dawn, and especially loves the wind that rises from the cool place. Tut.' Ascending the hall: 'The good fighter does not look back at his head; the good warrior surely gains his merit. Once the merit is gained, he sits and brings about great peace. Once great peace is brought about, he sleeps on a high pillow without care. He puts down the three-foot sword, he stops playing with a bow. He returns horses to the south of Mount Hua and lets oxen loose in the wilds of Taolin. Wind comes in season and rain comes in season; the fisherman sings and the woodcutter dances. Even so, the ruler of Yao and Shun still has transformation to perform. How much better: what heaven and earth cannot gather up, Yao and Shun do not know its name. The whole family pays no heed to rise and fall; it especially loves to take the clouds and hold Dongting Lake.' Ascending the hall: 'Close the mouth—yet it speaks at all times. Cut out the tongue—yet there is no interval. No interval, most rare and wonderful; most rare and wonderful—a speck in the eye. Since it is most rare and wonderful, why does it become a speck in the eye? When clear, clear, there is nothing to be made clear; where profound, profound, one must also scold.' Ascending the hall: 'Above the crown of the Buddha and Patriarch there is a heaven-soaking great road. If you have not yet pierced the barrier of birth and death, how dare you advance? Do not advance, and the great chiliocosm has no shelter. One phrase cuts off all words: Nata holds up the iron pillar.' When he opened the hall, after offering incense, he took the seat. The Reverend of Nantang announced with the mallet: 'The dragons and elephants of the dharma feast should contemplate the supreme meaning.' The Master at the sound at once gave a shout and said, 'Which meaning is this?' Those long in study and elders of former virtue have already discerned the approach; later students with doubts may ask. A monk asked, 'Ananda asked Kashyapa, 'Beyond the golden robe the World-Honored One transmitted, what else was transmitted separately?''

迦葉喚阿難。阿難應諾。未審此意如何。師曰。切忌動著。曰。祇如迦葉道倒卻門前剎竿著。又作麼生。師曰。石牛橫古路。曰。祇如和尚於佛日處。還有這箇消息也無。師曰。無這箇消息。曰。爭奈定光金地遙招手。智者江陵暗點頭。師曰。莫將庭際柏。輕比路傍蒿。僧禮拜。師乃曰。定光金地遙招手。智者江陵暗點頭。已是白雲千萬裡。那堪於此未知休。設或於此便休去。一場狼籍不少。還有檢點得出者麼。如無。山僧今日失利。僧問。佛佛授手。祖祖相傳。未審傳箇甚麼。師曰。速禮三拜。問。不施寸刃。請師相見。師曰。逢強即弱。曰。何得埋兵掉鬬。師曰。祇為闍黎寸刃不施。曰。未審向上還有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。敗將不斬。問。古佛堂前。甚麼人先到。師曰。無眼村翁。曰。未審如何趣向。師曰。楖栗橫擔。

'Kashyapa called Ananda; Ananda answered. What does this mean?' The Master said, 'By no means move.' He said, 'And when Kashyapa said, 'Knock down the flagpole in front of the gate,' then what?' The Master said, 'A stone ox across the ancient road.' He said, 'And does the Reverend, in the place of Fori, still have this message or not?' The Master said, 'There is no such message.' He said, 'But Dipankara beckons from the golden ground; the wise man of Jiangling nods in secret.' The Master said, 'Do not lightly liken the cypress by the courtyard to the wormwood by the road.' The monk bowed. The Master then said, 'Dipankara beckons from the golden ground; the wise man of Jiangling nods in secret. Already the white clouds are ten thousand leagues away—how can you bear not to stop here? And if you do stop here, the mess is no small one. Is there anyone who can examine it? If not, this mountain monk has lost today.' A monk asked, 'Buddha hands on to Buddha, Patriarch transmits to Patriarch—what is it that is transmitted?' The Master said, 'Bow three times quickly.' He asked, 'Without wielding a blade, I beg the Master to meet me.' The Master said, 'Meeting the strong, one is weak.' He said, 'Why bury soldiers and provoke battle?' The Master said, 'Only because the Acarya has not wielded his inch of blade.' He said, 'Is there still anything further above or not?' The Master said, 'There is.' He said, 'What is the matter above?' The Master said, 'The defeated general is not beheaded.' He asked, 'Before the hall of the ancient Buddhas, who arrives first?' The Master said, 'The eyeless village elder.' He said, 'How should one approach it?' The Master said, 'Shoulder the staff crosswise.'

建寧府開善道謙禪師

Chan Master Daoqian of Kaishan, Jianningfu

本郡人。初之京師依圓悟。無所省發。後隨妙喜庵居泉南。及喜領徑山。師亦侍行。未幾。令師往長沙通紫巖居士張公書。師自謂。我參禪二十年。無入頭處。更作此行。決定荒廢。意欲無行。友人宗元者叱曰。不可在路便參禪不得也。去。吾與汝俱往。師不得已而行。在路泣語元曰。我一生參禪。殊無得力處。今又途路奔波。如何得相應去。元告之曰。你但將諸方參得底。悟得底。圓悟妙喜為你說得底。都不要理會。途中可替底事。我盡替你。只有五件事替你不得。你須自家支當。師曰。五件者何事。願聞其要。元曰。著衣吃飯。屙屎放尿。䭾箇死屍路上行。師於言下領旨。不覺手舞足蹈。元曰。你此回方可通書。宜前進。吾先歸矣。元即回徑山。師半載方返。妙喜一見而喜曰。建州子。你這回別也。住後。上堂。竺土大僊心。東西密相付。如何是密付底心。良久雲。八月秋。何處熱。上堂。壁立千仞。三世諸佛。措足無門。是則是。太殺不近人情。放一線道。十方剎海。放光動地。是則是。爭奈和泥合水。須知通一線道處壁立千仞。壁立千仞處通一線道。橫拈倒用。正按傍提。電激雷奔。崖頹石裂。是則是。猶落化門到這裡。壁立千仞也沒交涉。通一線道也沒交涉。不近人情。和泥合水。總沒交涉。只這沒交涉。也則沒交涉。是則是。又無佛法道理。若也出得這四路頭。管取乾坤獨步。且獨步一句作麼生道。莫怪從前多意氣。他家曾踏上頭關。上堂。去年也有箇六月十五。今年也有箇六月十五。去年六月十五。少卻今年六月十五。今年六月十五。多卻去年六月十五。多處不用減。少處不用添。既不用添。又不用減。則多處多用。少處少用。乃喝一喝曰。是多是少。良久曰。箇中消息子。能有幾人知。上堂。洞山麻三斤。將去無星秤子上定過。每一斤恰有一十六兩。二百錢重。更不少一氂。

He was a man of the prefecture. At first he went to the capital to rely on Yuanwu, but awakened to nothing. Later he followed Miaoxi to a hermitage south of the springs. When Xi took charge of Jingshan, the Master attended him as well. Before long he sent the Master to Changsha to deliver a letter to the layman Zhang Ziyan. The Master said to himself, 'I have studied Chan for twenty years with no place to enter. To make this journey besides, I will surely waste it all.' He meant not to go. His friend Zongyuan scolded him, saying, 'You cannot mean that on the road one cannot study Chan. Go! I will go with you.' The Master had no choice but to go. On the road he wept and said to Yuan, 'All my life I have studied Chan and gotten no place of strength from it. Now I am running about on the highways—how will I ever accord?' Yuan told him, 'Just take everything you have studied everywhere, everything you have awakened to, everything Yuanwu and Miaoxi have spoken to you—and pay no attention to any of it. Of the things on the journey that can be done for you, I will do them all for you. Only five things I cannot do for you; you must manage those yourself.' The Master said, 'What five things? I want to hear the essentials.' Yuan said, 'Putting on clothes and eating, shitting and pissing, and carrying a dead body along the road.' At these words the Master caught the meaning, and without noticing he danced with his hands and feet. Yuan said, 'Only now can you deliver the letter. You should go on ahead; I will return first.' Yuan went back to Jingshan at once. The Master returned only after half a year. Miaoxi saw him and was delighted, saying, 'You son of Jianzhou—this time you are different.' After he took up residence, he ascended the hall: 'The mind of the great immortal of the land of India was secretly handed over, east and west. What is the mind that was secretly handed over?' After a long while he said, 'The eighth month, autumn—where is it hot?' Ascending the hall: 'A wall standing a thousand fathoms: the Buddhas of the three ages have no gate to set foot in. So it is, but it is far too unapproachable. Open one line of road: the seas of the ten directions' lands emit light and shake the earth. So it is, but alas, it mixes mud with water. You must know that where one line of road is opened there is a wall a thousand fathoms; where the wall stands a thousand fathoms, one line of road is opened. Held crosswise and used upside down, pressed straight and lifted sideways; lightning flashes and thunder runs, the cliff crumbles and the stone splits. So it is, but it still falls within transformation. Arriving here, the wall a thousand fathoms has no connection either; opening one line of road has no connection either; being unapproachable, mixing mud with water—all have no connection. This very no-connection also has no connection. So it is, and yet there is no principle of Buddha dharma either. If you can get out of these four roads, you may take sole possession of heaven and earth. Tell me, how will you speak the phrase of walking alone? Do not wonder that he was full of spirit before; he has already trodden the gate at the top.' Ascending the hall: 'Last year there was also a fifteenth of the sixth month; this year there is also a fifteenth of the sixth month. Last year's fifteenth of the sixth month is short of this year's fifteenth of the sixth month; this year's fifteenth of the sixth month exceeds last year's fifteenth of the sixth month. Where there is excess, no need to subtract; where there is lack, no need to add. Since there is no need to add and no need to subtract, then where there is excess use more, where there is lack use less.' Then he gave a shout and said, 'Is it more or is it less?' After a long while he said, 'The message within this—how many people can know it?' Ascending the hall: 'Dongshan's three catties of hemp—weigh it on a scale without gradations, and each catty is exactly sixteen ounces, two hundred cash in weight, not a hair short—'

正與趙州殿裡底一般。祇不合被大愚鋸解秤鎚。卻教人理會不得。如今若要理會得。但問取雲門乾屎橛。上堂。有句無句。如藤倚樹。撞倒燈籠。打破露柱。佛殿奔忙。僧堂回顧。子細看來。是甚傢俱。咄。祇堪打老鼠。上堂。諸人從僧堂裡恁麼上來。少間。從法堂頭恁麼下去。並不曾差了一步。因甚麼卻不會。良久曰。祇為分明極。飜令所得遲。

'—it is exactly the same as the one in Zhaozhou's hall. The only trouble is that it was sawed apart by Dayu's scale weight, which leaves people unable to understand it. If you want to understand it now, just ask Yunmen's dried shit-stick.' Ascending the hall: 'With a phrase, without a phrase, like a vine leaning on a tree. Knock down the lantern, break the pillar. The Buddha hall runs about in confusion; the monks' hall looks back. Look closely—what kind of furniture is this? Tut. Only good for beating mice.' Ascending the hall: 'You people come up from the monks' hall like that, and after a while go down from the dharma hall like that, never missing a step. Why is it that you do not understand?' After a long while he said, 'Only because it is utterly plain does what is gained come slowly.'

慶元府育王佛照德光禪師

Chan Master Deguang Fozhao of Yuwang, Qingyuanfu

臨江軍彭氏子。志學之年。依本郡東山光化寺吉禪師落髮。一日入室。吉問。不是心。不是佛。不是物。是甚麼。師罔措。遂致疑。通夕不寐。次日。詣方丈請益。昨日蒙和尚垂問。既不是心。又不是佛。又不是物。畢竟是甚麼。望和尚慈悲指示。吉震威一喝曰。這沙彌。更要我與你下注腳在。拈棒劈脊打出。師於是有省。後謁月庵杲．應庵華．百丈震。終不自肯。適大慧領育王。四海英材鱗集。師亦與焉。大慧室中問師。喚作竹篦則觸。不喚作竹篦則背。不得下語。不得無語。師擬對。慧便棒。師豁然大悟。從前所得。瓦解冰消。初住臺之光孝。僧問。浩浩塵中。如何辨主。師曰。中峰頂上塔心尖。上堂。臨濟三遭痛棒。大愚言下知歸。興化於大覺棒頭。明得黃檗意旨。若作棒會。入地獄如箭射。若不作棒會。入地獄如箭射。眾中商量。盡道赤心片片。恩大難酧。總是識情卜度。未出陰界。且如臨濟悟去。是得黃檗力。是得大愚力。若也見得。許你頂門眼正。肘後符靈。其或未然。鴻福更為諸人通箇消息。丈夫氣宇沖牛鬥。一踏鴻門兩扇開。上堂。七手八腳。三頭兩面。耳聽不聞。眼覷不見。苦樂逆順。打成一片。且道是甚麼。路逢死虵莫打殺。無底籃子盛將歸。上堂。聞聲悟道。落二落三。見色明心。錯七錯八。生機一路。猶在半途。且道透金剛圈．吞栗棘蓬底是甚麼人。披蓑側立千峰外。引水澆蔬五老前。師住靈隱日。孝宗皇帝甞詔問道。留宿內觀堂。奏對機緣。備於本錄。後示寂。塔全身於鄮峰東庵。

He was a son of the Peng family of Linjiangjun. In his fifteenth year he was shaved under Chan Master Ji of Guanghua Monastery on Mount Dong in the prefecture. One day he entered Ji's room. Ji asked, 'Not mind, not Buddha, not a thing—what is it?' The Master was at a loss. Doubt arose in him, and he did not sleep all night. The next day he went to the abbot's quarters for further instruction: 'Yesterday, thanks to the Reverend's question—since it is not mind, and not Buddha, and not a thing, what after all is it? I beg the Reverend in his compassion to point it out.' Ji gave a thunderous shout and said, 'You novice! Do you want me to write a commentary for you too?' He picked up his staff and struck him across the back and drove him out. At this the Master had an awakening. Later he called on Yue'an Gao, Ying'an Hua, and Baizhang Zhen, but in the end he did not give his own assent. It happened that Dahui took charge of Yuwang, and the finest talents of the four seas gathered like scales. The Master too was among them. Dahui asked him in his room, 'Call it a bamboo clapper and you touch; do not call it a bamboo clapper and you turn away. You may not speak; you may not be silent.' The Master was about to answer and Hui struck him. The Master was suddenly greatly awakened, and all he had attained before melted like ice. He first dwelt at Guangxiao in Tai. A monk asked, 'In the vast dust, how does one discern the host?' The Master said, 'The tip of the pagoda's spire on the summit of Zhongfeng.' Ascending the hall: 'Linji took three painful blows; at Dayu's words he knew where to return. Xinghua, under the blows of Dajue's staff, understood Huangbo's purport. If you take it as a staff, you fall into hell like an arrow shot. If you do not take it as a staff, you fall into hell like an arrow shot. In the assembly they deliberate and all say it is a slice of red heart, and that the kindness is great and hard to repay—but all of that is the reckoning of knowing and feeling, and has not left the realm of the aggregates. Just so, when Linji awakened, was it by Huangbo's power or by Dayu's power? If you can see it, I grant that your crown eye is true and your elbow talisman is numinous. If not, Hongfu will further pass on a message for you all. A great man's spirit soars to the Dipper; one step opens the two doors of the Hong gate.' Ascending the hall: 'Seven hands and eight feet, three heads and two faces. The ear hears it not; the eye sees it not. Pain and pleasure, adverse and favorable, beaten into a single piece. Tell me, what is it? Meeting a dead snake on the road, do not kill it; carry it home in a bottomless basket.' Ascending the hall: 'Hearing sound and awakening to the Way falls into two or three; seeing form and clarifying the mind is wrong by seven or eight. The road of living mechanism is still halfway. Tell me, what sort of person is it who passes through the vajra circle and swallows the chestnut burr? Standing sideways in his straw cape beyond a thousand peaks, leading water to the vegetables before the Five Elders.' In the days when the Master dwelt at Lingyin, Emperor Xiaozong once summoned him to ask about the Way and had him stay overnight in the Inner Contemplation Hall; his memorial replies and dialogues are fully recorded in his own record. Later he passed away, and his whole body was enshrined in a stupa at the Eastern Hermitage of Mao Peak.

常州華藏遯庵宗演禪師

Chan Master Zongyan of Dun'an, Huazang, Changzhou

福州鄭氏子。上堂。拈起拄杖曰。識得這箇。一生參學事畢。古人恁麼道。華藏則不然。識得這箇。更須買草鞋行腳。何也。到江吳地盡。隔岸越山多。臘旦。上堂。一九與二九。相逢不出手。世間出世間。無剩亦無少。遂出手曰。華藏不惜性命。為諸人出手去也。劈面三拳。攔腮一掌。靈利衲僧。自知痛癢。且轉身一句作麼生道。巡堂吃茶去。上堂。舉。南泉和尚道。我十八上便解作活計。趙州和尚道。我十八上便解破家散宅。師雲。南泉趙州也是徐六擔板。祇見一邊。華藏也無活計可作。亦無家宅可破。逢人突出老拳。要伊直下便到。且道到後如何。三十六峰觀不足。卻來平地倒騎驢。

He was a son of the Zheng family of Fuzhou. Ascending the hall, he picked up his staff and said, 'Understand this, and a lifetime of study is finished.' The ancients spoke thus; Huazang is not so. 'Understand this, and you must still buy straw sandals and go on pilgrimage. Why? Where the river reaches, the land of Wu ends; across the bank the mountains of Yue are many.' On the first of the twelfth month he ascended the hall: 'The first nine and the second nine meet, and the hands do not come out. In the world and beyond the world, nothing remains and nothing is lacking.' Then he put out his hands and said, 'Huazang does not spare his life; he puts out his hands for you all.' Three blows straight at the face, one palm across the cheek. A sharp monk knows for himself where it hurts. Tell me, how will you speak the phrase of turning the body? Go around the hall and drink tea.' Ascending the hall: 'I bring up: Chan Master Nanquan said, 'From eighteen I already knew how to make a living.' Chan Master Zhaozhou said, 'From eighteen I already knew how to break up the household and scatter the estate.'' The Master said, 'Nanquan and Zhaozhou are Xu Six carrying a plank—they see only one side. Huazang has no living to make, nor any household to break up. Meeting people, he thrusts out an old fist, wanting them to arrive at once. Tell me, what then after arriving? Thirty-six peaks are not enough to view; then he comes to level ground and rides the donkey backward.'

慶元府天童無用淨全禪師

Chan Master Jingquan Wuyong of Tiantong, Qingyuanfu

越州翁氏子。上堂。學佛止言真不立。參禪多與道相違。忘機忘境急回首。無地無錐轉步歸。佛不是。心亦非。覿體承當絕所依。萬古碧潭空界月。再三撈摝始應知。上堂。良久召眾曰。還知麼。復曰。敗缺不少。上堂。舉。長沙示眾曰。百尺竿頭坐底人。雖然得入未為真。百尺竿頭須進步。十方世界現全身。大慧先師道。要見長沙麼。更進一步。保寧則不然。要見長沙麼。更退一步。畢竟如何。換骨洗腸重整頓。通身是眼更須參。師到靈隱。請上堂。靈山正派。達者猶迷。明來暗來。誰當辨的。雙收雙放。孰辨端倪。直饒千聖出來。也祇結舌有分。何故。人歸大國方為貴。水到瀟湘始是清。復曰。適來松源和尚舉竹篦話。令天童納敗缺。諸人要知麼。聽取一頌。黑漆竹篦握起。迅雷不及掩耳。德山臨濟茫然。懵底如何插觜。大慧甞舉靈雲悟桃華問師。師曰。靈雲一見兩眉橫。引得漁翁良計生。白浪起時拋一釣。任教魚鼈競頭爭。師自贊曰。匙挑不上箇村夫。文墨𮌎中一點無。曾把虗空揣出骨。惡聲嬴得滿江湖。後示寂。塔於本山。

He was a son of the Weng family of Yuezhou. Ascending the hall: 'Studying Buddha, one only says the true is not established; studying Chan, one mostly goes against the Way. Forget mechanism and forget objects, and turn the head quickly; with no ground and no point, turn the step and return. Buddha is not it; mind is not either. Facing it directly and taking it up cuts off all reliance. The moon of the empty realm on the ancient jade pool—only after netting it again and again will you know.' Ascending the hall: after a long while he called the assembly and said, 'Do you know?' Then he said, 'Many are the flaws.' Ascending the hall, he brought up Changsha's address to the assembly: 'The man sitting at the top of a hundred-foot pole has entered, but it is not yet true. At the top of a hundred-foot pole he must step forward, and the worlds of the ten directions will show the whole body.' Dahui, my late master, said, 'Do you want to see Changsha? Step forward one more step.' Baoning is not so. 'Do you want to see Changsha? Step back one step.' After all, how is it? Change your bones and wash your bowels and be thoroughly set in order; with the whole body an eye, you must still study.' When the Master arrived at Lingyin and was asked to ascend the hall: 'The true lineage of Vulture Peak—even the clear-minded are still deluded. Coming in brightness, coming in darkness, who can discern the truth? Doubly gathering, doubly releasing, who can tell the beginning? Even if a thousand sages come forth, they can only be tongue-tied. Why? Only when a man returns to the great country is he noble; only when water reaches the Xiao and Xiang is it clear.' He also said, 'Just now the Reverend of Songyuan brought up the bamboo-clapper case, which made Tiantong admit his flaws. Do you want to know? Listen to a verse: Grasping the black-lacquered bamboo clapper, the swift thunder does not reach the ear in time. Deshan and Linji are at a loss; how can the muddled one stick in his beak?' Dahui once brought up Lingyun's awakening at the peach blossom and asked the Master. The Master said, 'Lingyun at one glance drew his two brows across; it drew the fisherman into a good scheme. When the white waves rise, he casts a single hook, and lets fish and turtles race to the head to contend.' The Master's self-eulogy said: 'A village lout no spoon can lift, not a speck of ink in his breast. He has once squeezed the bones out of empty space; his ill fame has won him the whole rivers and lakes.' Later he passed away, and his stupa is on this mountain.

大溈法寶禪師

Chan Master Fabao of Dawei

福州人也。上堂。喚作竹篦則觸。不喚作竹篦則背。直須師子咬人。莫學韓獹逐塊。阿呵呵。會不會。金剛腳下鐵崑崙。捉得明州憨布袋。上堂。千般言。萬種喻。祇要教君早回去。夜來一片黑雲生。莫教錯卻山前路。咄。

He was a man of Fuzhou. Ascending the hall: 'Call it a bamboo clapper and you touch; do not call it a bamboo clapper and you turn away. You must be like a lion biting a man, not like Han Lu chasing a clod. Ah ha ha! Do you understand or not? Under the vajra's feet an iron Kunlun, catching the foolish cloth-bag of Mingzhou.' Ascending the hall: 'A thousand kinds of speech, ten thousand sorts of parable—all just to teach you to go home early. Last night a black cloud arose; do not let it bring you to the wrong road before the mountain. Tut.'

福州玉泉曇懿禪師

Chan Master Tanyi of Yuquan, Fuzhou

久依圓悟。自謂不疑。紹興初。出住興化祥雲。法席頗盛。大慧入閩。知其所見未諦。致書令來。師遲遲。慧小參。且痛斥。仍榜告四眾。師不得已。破夏謁之。慧鞫其所證。既而曰。汝恁麼見解。敢嗣圓悟老人邪。師退院親之。一日入室。慧問。我要箇不會禪底做國師。師曰。我做得國師去也。慧喝出。居無何。語之曰。香嚴悟處不在擊竹邊。俱胝得處不在指頭上。師乃頓明。後住玉泉。為慧拈香。繼省慧於小溪。慧陞座。舉。雲門一日拈拄杖示眾曰。凡夫實謂之有。二乘析謂之無。緣覺謂之幻有。菩薩當體即空。衲僧見拄杖子但喚作拄杖子。行但行。坐但坐。總不得動著。慧曰。我不似雲門老人。將虗空剜窟竉。驀拈拄杖曰。拄杖子不屬有。不屬無。不屬幻。不屬空。卓一下曰。凡夫．二乘．緣覺．菩薩。盡向這裡。各隨根性。悉得受用。唯於衲僧分上。為害為冤。要行不得行。要坐不得坐。進一步。則被拄杖子迷卻路頭。退一步。則被拄杖子穿卻鼻孔。即今莫有不甘底麼。試出來與拄杖子相見。如無。來年更有新條在。惱亂春風卒未休。正恁麼時合作麼生。下座。煩玉泉為眾拈出。師登座。敘謝畢。遂舉前話。曰。適來堂頭和尚恁麼批判。大似困魚止濼。病鳥棲蘆。若是玉泉則不然。拈拄杖曰。拄杖子能有．能無．能幻．能空。凡夫．二乘．緣覺．菩薩。卓一下曰。向這裡百雜碎。唯於衲僧分上。如龍得水。似虎靠山。要行便行。要坐便坐。進一步則乾坤震動。退一步則草偃風行。且道不進不退一句作麼生道。良久曰。閑持經卷倚松立。笑問客從何處來。

He long relied on Yuanwu and said of himself that he had no doubt. At the beginning of the Shaoxing era he went out to dwell at Xiangyun in Xinghua, and his dharma seat was quite prosperous. When Dahui entered Fujian he knew that the Master's view was not yet true, and sent a letter summoning him. The Master delayed. Hui, at the minor convocation, sharply denounced him, and had a notice posted to the four assemblies. The Master had no choice but to break the summer retreat and go to call on him. Hui interrogated him on what he had realized, and then said, 'With such a view as yours, do you dare to succeed old man Yuanwu?' The Master resigned his abbacy and attended him closely. One day he entered the room. Hui asked, 'I want one who does not understand Chan to be the National Teacher.' The Master said, 'I can be the National Teacher.' Hui shouted him out. Before long he told him, 'Xiangyan's awakening was not at the striking of the bamboo; Juzhi's attainment was not at the tip of the finger.' The Master was suddenly clear. Later he dwelt at Yuquan and offered incense for Hui. Afterwards he visited Hui at Xiaoxi. Hui ascended the seat and brought up: 'One day Yunmen picked up his staff and addressed the assembly: 'Ordinary people call it being; the two vehicles analyze it as non-being; the pratyekabuddhas call it illusory being; Bodhisattvas see it as empty in its very substance. A patch-robed monk, seeing the staff, simply calls it a staff. Walking, he just walks; sitting, he just sits. In no case may it be moved.'' Hui said, 'I am not like old man Yunmen, gouging a hole in empty space.' Suddenly he picked up the staff and said, 'The staff is not being, not non-being, not illusory, not empty.' He set it down once and said, 'Ordinary people, the two vehicles, the pratyekabuddhas, the Bodhisattvas—all of them here, each according to his faculties, all get their use. Only for a patch-robed monk is it a harm and an enemy. Wanting to walk, he cannot walk; wanting to sit, he cannot sit. Step forward, and the staff confuses the road for him; step back, and the staff pierces through his nostrils. Is there anyone here now who is unwilling? Come out and meet the staff. If not, next year there will be new twigs, and the vexing spring wind will never cease. Just at such a time, what will you do?' He left the seat, asking Yuquan to bring it out for the assembly. The Master took the seat, finished his words of thanks, and then brought up the preceding words, saying, 'Just now the Reverend of the hall made such a judgment—very much like a trapped fish stopping in a puddle, or a sick bird perching in the reeds. Yuquan is not so.' He picked up the staff and said, 'The staff can be being, can be non-being, can be illusory, can be empty. Ordinary people, the two vehicles, the pratyekabuddhas, the Bodhisattvas—' he set it down once and said, 'here they are smashed to bits. Only for a patch-robed monk is it like a dragon getting water, like a tiger leaning on a mountain. Wanting to walk, he walks; wanting to sit, he sits. Step forward, and heaven and earth shake; step back, and the grass bends and the wind blows. Tell me, how will you speak the phrase of neither advancing nor retreating?' After a long while he said, 'Idly holding a scripture, leaning on a pine he stands; smiling, he asks the guest where he comes from.'

饒州薦福悟本禪師

Chan Master Wuben of Jianfu, Raozhou

江州人也。自江西雲門參侍妙喜。至泉南小谿。於時英俊畢集。受印可者多矣。師私謂其棄已。且欲發去。妙喜知而語之曰。汝但專意參究。如有所得。不待開口。吾已識也。既而有聞師入室者。故謂師曰。本侍者參禪許多年。逐日只道得箇不會。師詬之曰。這小鬼你未生時。我已三度霍山廟裡退牙了。好教你知。由是益銳志。以狗子無佛性話。舉無字而提撕。一夕將三皷。倚殿柱昏寐間。不覺無字出口吻。忽爾頓悟。後三日。妙喜歸自郡城。師趨丈室。足才越閫。未及吐詞。妙喜曰。本鬍子這回方是徹頭也。住後。上堂。高揖釋迦．不拜彌勒者。與三十拄杖。何故。為他祇會步步登高。不會從空放下。東家牽犂．西家拽耙者。與三十拄杖。何故。為他祇會從空放下。不會步步登高。山僧恁麼道。還有過也無。眾中莫有點檢得出者麼。若點檢得出。須彌南畔。把手共行。若點檢不出。布袋裡老鵶。雖活如死。上堂。釋迦掩室於摩竭。淨名杜口於毗耶。須菩提唱無說而顯道。釋梵絕眎聽而雨華。大眾。這一隊不唧𠺕漢。無端將祖父田園私地結契。各據四至界分。方圓長短。一時花擘了也。致令後代兒孫。千載之下。上無片瓦蓋頭。下無卓錐之地。博山當時若見。十字路頭掘箇無底深坑。喚來一時埋卻。免見𮞏相鈍置。何謂如此。不見道。家肥生孝子。國霸有謀臣。上堂。乾闥婆王曾奏樂。山河大地皆作舞。爭如跛腳老雲門。解道臘月二十五。博山今日有條攀條。無條攀例。也要應箇時節。驀拈拄杖。橫按膝上。作撫琴勢雲。還有聞絃賞音者麼。良久雲。直饒便作鳳凰鳴。畢竟有誰知指法。卓一下。下座。

He was a man of Jiangzhou. From Yunmen in Jiangxi he attended Miaoxi, and came to Xiaoxi south of the springs. At that time the finest talents were all gathered, and many received his seal. The Master privately thought that he had been abandoned, and was about to leave. Miaoxi knew it and told him, 'Just apply your mind single-mindedly to your study. If you gain something, you need not wait to open your mouth—I will have known it.' Afterwards, hearing that the Master had entered the room, someone said to him on purpose, 'Attendant Ben has studied Chan for so many years and every day can only say he does not understand.' The Master reviled him, saying, 'You little devil! Before you were born I had already had my teeth pulled three times in the Huoshan shrine. Let me make you know it.' From this he sharpened his resolve the more. Taking the case of the dog and Buddha-nature, he raised the word no and kept it before him. One evening near the third watch, as he leaned against a pillar of the hall in drowsiness, without noticing the word no came out of his lips, and he was suddenly awakened. Three days later Miaoxi returned from the prefectural city. The Master hurried to the abbot's quarters. His foot had barely crossed the threshold and he had not yet uttered a word when Miaoxi said, 'Bearded Ben! Only now have you gone through to the end.' After he took up residence he ascended the hall: 'Those who bow high to Shakyamuni and do not bow to Maitreya get thirty blows of the staff. Why? Because they only know how to climb higher step by step and do not know how to let go from the void. Those who pull the plow in the east house and drag the harrow in the west house get thirty blows of the staff. Why? Because they only know how to let go from the void and do not know how to climb higher step by step. When this mountain monk speaks thus, is there any fault in it? Is there anyone in the assembly who can check it? If you can check it, then south of Sumeru we will walk hand in hand. If you cannot check it, then you are an old crow in a cloth bag—alive, yet as if dead.' Ascending the hall: 'Shakyamuni shut his room in Magadha; Vimalakirti sealed his lips in Vaishali; Subhuti proclaimed the unspoken and revealed the Way; Indra and Brahma cut off seeing and hearing and rained flowers. Great assembly, this crew of good-for-nothings without any cause took the ancestral fields and privately drew up deeds, each claiming its four boundaries, its square and round, its long and short, and split them all up at once. This has left the descendants of later generations, a thousand years on, with no tile above the head and no ground to plant an awl below. Had Boshan seen it then, he would have dug a bottomless pit at the crossroads and called them all there and buried them together, sparing them from dragging one another down. Why is it so? Do you not know the saying: when the family is rich, filial sons are born; when the state is strong, there are counselors.' Ascending the hall: 'The king of the gandharvas once played music, and mountains, rivers, and the great earth all danced. How much better the lame old Yunmen, who could say, 'The twenty-fifth of the twelfth month.' Boshan today, having a branch, climbs along the branch; having no branch, climbs along precedent—and still must answer the season.' Suddenly he picked up his staff, laid it crosswise on his knee, and made the gesture of playing a zither, saying, 'Is there anyone who hears the strings and appreciates the music?' After a long while he said, 'Even if it gives the cry of a phoenix, after all who knows the fingering?' He set down the staff and left the seat.

慶元府育王大圓遵璞禪師

Chan Master Zunpu Dayuan of Yuwang, Qingyuanfu

福州人。幼同玉泉懿問道圓悟。數載後還裡。佐懿於莆中祥雲。紹興甲寅。大慧居洋嶼。師往訊之。入室次。慧問三聖興化出不出．為人不為人話。你道這兩箇老漢。還有出身處也無。師於慧膝上打一拳。慧曰。祇你這一拳。為三聖出氣。為興化出氣。速道。速道。師擬議。慧便打。復謂曰。你第一不得忘了這一棒。後因慧室中問僧曰。德山見僧入門便棒。臨濟見僧入門便喝。雪峰見僧入門便道是甚麼。睦州見僧便道現成公案。放你三十棒。你道這四箇老漢。還有為人處也無。僧曰。有。慧曰。劄。僧擬議。慧便喝。師聞遽領微旨。大慧欣然許之。

He was a man of Fuzhou. In youth he sought the Way with Yi of Yuquan under Yuanwu. Some years later he returned to his village and assisted Yi at Xiangyun in Putian. In the jiayin year of Shaoxing, Dahui was dwelling at Yangyu. The Master went to visit him. As he entered the room, Hui asked about Sansheng's and Xinghua's case—coming out or not coming out, dealing with people or not dealing with people. 'What do you say—do these two old men have a place to come out from?' The Master struck Hui once on the knee. Hui said, 'By this one blow of yours, is it for Sansheng that you vent your anger, or for Xinghua? Speak quickly, speak quickly.' The Master was about to deliberate, and Hui struck him. He added, 'Above all, you must not forget this blow.' Later, because Hui in his room asked a monk, 'Deshan saw monks enter the gate and at once struck; Linji saw monks enter the gate and at once shouted; Xuefeng saw monks enter the gate and at once said, 'What is it?'; Muzhou saw a monk and at once said, 'An accomplished case—I let you off thirty blows.' Tell me, do these four old men have a way of dealing with people or not?' The monk said, 'They have.' Hui said, 'Quick!' The monk was about to deliberate, and Hui shouted. When the Master heard this he at once caught the subtle purport, and Dahui gladly approved him.