Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

溫州鴈山能仁枯木祖元禪師

Chan Master Zuyuan Kumu of Nengren, Yanshan, Wenzhou

七閩林氏子。初謁雪峰預。次依佛心才。皆已機契。及依大慧於雲門庵。夜坐次。睹僧剔燈。始徹證。有偈曰。剔起燈來是火。歷劫無明照破。歸堂撞見聖僧。幾乎當面蹉過。不蹉過是甚麼。十五年前奇特。依前祇是這箇。慧以偈贈之曰。萬仞崖頭解放身。起來依舊卻惺惺。饑餐渴飲渾無事。那論昔人非昔人。紹興乙巳春。出住能仁。上堂。有佛處不得住。踏著秤鎚硬似鐵。無佛處急走過。腳下草深三尺。三千里外。逢人不得錯舉。北斗掛須彌。恁麼則不去也。棒頭挑日月。摘楊華。摘楊華。眼裡瞳人著繡鞋。卓拄杖。下座。上堂。鴈山枯木實頭禪。不在尖新語句邊。背手忽然摸得著。長鯨吞月浪滔天。

He was a son of the Lin family of the seven Min. He first called on Yu of Xuefeng, then relied on Cai of Foxin; with both the mechanism already accorded. When he relied on Dahui at the Yunmen hermitage, one night as he sat he saw a monk trimming the lamp wick, and only then was his realization complete. He had a verse: 'Trim the lamp and it is fire; the beginningless ignorance of kalpas is illumined through. Returning to the hall I bump into the holy monk—I nearly missed him face to face. Not missing him—what is it? Fifteen years ago it was strange; as before it is only this.' Hui gave him a verse in farewell: 'At the top of a ten-thousand-fathom cliff, release your body; when you rise you are as before clear and alert. Eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty, wholly without business—why discuss whether the men of old were the men of old?' In the spring of the yisi year of Shaoxing he went out to dwell at Nengren. Ascending the hall: 'Where there is Buddha you may not dwell—step on the scale weight and it is hard as iron. Where there is no Buddha, pass by quickly—the grass underfoot is three feet deep. Three thousand leagues away, meeting people do not raise it wrongly. The Dipper hangs on Sumeru—then do not go. The staff head carries the sun and moon. Pluck the willow flowers, pluck the willow flowers; the pupil of the eye wears embroidered shoes.' He set down his staff and left the seat. Ascending the hall: 'The withered tree of Mount Yan is the Chan of the real; it is not at the edge of clever new phrases. Behind the back, if you suddenly touch it, the great whale swallows the moon and the waves flood the sky.'

真州靈巖東庵了性禪師

Chan Master Liaoxing of Dong'an, Lingyan, Zhenzhou

上堂。勘破了也。放過一著。是衲僧破草鞋。現修羅相。作女人拜。是野狐精魅。打箇圓相。虗空裡下一點。是小兒伎倆。攔腮贈掌。拂袖便行。正是業識茫茫。無本可據。直饒向黑豆未生已前。一時坐斷。未有吃靈巖拄杖分。敢問大眾。且道為人節文在甚麼處。還相委悉麼。自從春色來嵩少。三十六峰青至今。上堂。一葦江頭楊柳春。波心不見昔時人。雪庭要識安心土。鼻孔依然搭上唇。竪起拂子曰。祖師來也。還見麼。若也見得。即今薦取。其或未然。此去西天路。迢迢十萬餘。僧問。人天交接。如何開示。師曰。金剛手裡八稜棒。曰。忽被學人橫穿凡聖。擊透玄關時。又作麼生。師曰。海門橫鐵柱。問。如何是獨露身。師曰。牡丹華下睡貓兒。

Ascending the hall: 'It is examined through. Letting one move pass is the patch-robed monk's broken straw sandal. Manifesting the form of an asura, making a woman's bow—that is a wild fox spirit. Drawing a circle and putting a dot in empty space is a child's trick. Slapping the cheek and giving a palm, then shaking the sleeve and going—that is exactly the vastness of karmic consciousness with no root to rely on. Even if you cut it all off before the black bean is born, you still have no share in eating Lingyan's staff. May I ask the assembly: where is the protocol of dealing with people? Do you fully understand it? Since spring came to Song and Shao, the thirty-six peaks are green to this day.' Ascending the hall: 'On a single reed at the river's head, the willows of spring; in the heart of the waves one does not see the man of former times. In the snow courtyard, if you want to know the ground of the pacified mind, the nostrils still rest upon the upper lip.' He raised his fly whisk and said, 'The Patriarch has come. Do you see him? If you see him, take it up right now. If not, the road from here to the Western Heaven is a long ten myriad leagues.' A monk asked, 'Heaven and men meet—how do you instruct?' The Master said, 'The eight-cornered club in the vajra's hand.' He said, 'Suppose a student cuts across ordinary and sage, and pierces through the mysterious gate—what then?' The Master said, 'An iron pillar across the sea gate.' He asked, 'What is the body revealed alone?' The Master said, 'A sleeping cat beneath the peony.'

建康府蔣山一庵善直禪師

Chan Master Shanzhi Yian of Jingshan, Jiankangfu

德安雲夢人。初參妙喜於回鴈峰下。一日。喜問之曰。上座甚處人。師曰。安州人。喜曰。我聞你安州人會廝撲。是否。師便作相撲勢。喜曰。湖南人吃魚。因甚湖北人著鯁。師打筋斗而出。喜曰。誰知冷灰裡。有粒豆𪹼出。住保寧。上堂。諸佛不曾出世。人人鼻孔遼天。祖師不曾西來。箇箇壁立千仞。高揖釋迦。不拜彌勒。理合如斯。坐斷千聖路頭。獨步大千沙界。不為分外。若向諸佛出世處會得。祖師西來處承當。自救不了。一生受屈。莫有大丈夫承當大丈夫事者麼。出來與保寧爭交。其或未然。不如拽破好。便下座。一日。留守陣丞相俊卿會諸山茶話次。舉有句無句。如藤倚樹公案。令諸山批判。皆以奇語取奉。師最後曰。張打油。李打油。不打渾身只打頭。陳大喜。

He was a man of Yunmeng in De'an. He first consulted Miaoxi beneath Huiyan Peak. One day Xi asked him, 'Where are you from, Reverend?' The Master said, 'Anzhou.' Xi said, 'I hear the men of Anzhou know how to wrestle. Is it so?' The Master at once made the posture of wrestling. Xi said, 'When Hunan people eat fish, why does the Hubei man get a bone in his throat?' The Master turned a somersault and went out. Xi said, 'Who would have known that in the cold ashes a bean would pop?' He dwelt at Baoning. Ascending the hall: 'The Buddhas never appeared in the world, yet everyone's nostrils reach the sky. The Patriarch never came from the West, yet each one is a wall standing a thousand fathoms. To bow high to Shakyamuni and not bow to Maitreya accords with principle. To cut off the road of a thousand sages and walk alone through the great chiliocosm of lands is no excess. But if you understand it at the place where the Buddhas appear in the world, and take it up at the place where the Patriarch came from the West, you cannot save yourself and will be wronged all your life. Is there any great man here who can take up a great man's business? Come out and wrestle with Baoning. If not, it is better to tear it up.' He then left the seat. One day, when the Retained Official Chancellor Chen Junqing held a tea gathering of the various mountains, he brought up the case 'with a phrase, without a phrase, like a vine leaning on a tree' and asked the mountains to judge it. All offered clever phrases to flatter him. The Master spoke last: 'Zhang presses oil, Li presses oil; they do not press the whole body, only the head.' Chen was greatly pleased.

劒州萬壽自護禪師

Chan Master Zihu of Wanshou, Jianzhou

上堂。古者道。若人識得心。大地無寸土。萬壽即不然。若人識得心。未是究竟處。且那裡是究竟處。拈拄杖卓一下。曰。甜瓜徹蔕甜。苦瓠連根苦。

Ascending the hall: 'The ancients said, 'If a man knows the mind, the great earth holds not an inch of soil.' Wanshou is not so. If a man knows the mind, that is not yet the ultimate place. And where is the ultimate place?' He picked up his staff, set it down once, and said, 'The sweet melon is sweet through to the stem; the bitter gourd is bitter down to the root.'

潭州大溈了庵景暈禪師

Chan Master Jingyun Liaoyan of Dawei, Tanzhou

上堂。雲門一曲。臘月二十五。瑞雪飄空。積滿江山塢。峻嶺寒梅華正吐。手把須彌槌。笑打虗空皷。驚起憍梵缽提。冷汗透身如雨。忿怒阿脩羅王。握拳當𮌎問雲。畢竟是何宗旨。咄。少室峰前。亦曾錯舉。

Ascending the hall: 'A tune of Yunmen: the twenty-fifth of the twelfth month. Auspicious snow drifts through the sky and fills the valleys of rivers and mountains. On the steep ridge the cold plum puts forth blossom. Holding Mount Sumeru as a mallet, laughing, he beats the drum of empty space. It startles Gavampati, whose cold sweat soaks him like rain; the wrathful king of the asuras clenches his fist at his breast and asks, 'After all, what is the purport?' Tut. Before Shaoshi Peak it was once raised wrongly too.'

臨安府靈隱誰庵了演禪師

Chan Master Liaoyan of Shuian, Lingyin, Lin'anfu

上堂。面門拶破。天地懸殊。打透牢關。白雲萬裡。饒伊兩頭坐斷。別有轉身。三生六十劫。也未夢見在。喝一喝。下座。

Ascending the hall: 'Press through the face-gate and heaven and earth are far apart. Smash through the firm barrier and the white clouds are ten thousand leagues. Even if you cut off both ends and have another turn of the body, in three lives and sixty kalpas you have not even dreamed of it.' He gave a shout and left the seat.

泰州光孝寺致遠禪師

Chan Master Zhiyuan of Guangxiao Monastery, Taizhou

上堂。舉女子出定話。乃曰。從來打皷弄琵琶。須是相逢兩會家。佩玉鳴鸞歌舞罷。門前依舊夕陽斜。

Ascending the hall, he brought up the case of the woman emerging from samadhi, and then said, 'From of old, beating the drum and playing the pipa requires two who meet and both understand. When the jade pendants and phoenix bells have finished their song and dance, before the gate the setting sun still slants as before.'

福州雪峰崇聖普慈蘊聞禪師

Chan Master Yunwen Puci of Chongsheng, Xuefeng, Fuzhou

洪州沈氏子。示眾雲。旃檀叢林。旃檀圍繞。師子叢林。師子圍繞。虎狼叢林。虎狼圍繞。荊棘叢林。荊棘圍繞。大眾。四種叢林。合向那一種叢林安居好。若也明得。九十日內。管取箇箇成佛作祖。其或未然。般若叢林歲歲凋。無明荒草年年長。

He was a son of the Shen family of Hongzhou. Addressing the assembly: 'A sandalwood grove is surrounded by sandalwood; a lion grove is surrounded by lions; a grove of tigers and wolves is surrounded by tigers and wolves; a grove of thorns is surrounded by thorns. Great assembly, among these four groves, in which one is it good to keep the summer retreat? If you understand clearly, then within ninety days I guarantee that each of you will become a Buddha or a Patriarch. If not, the grove of prajna withers year by year, and the wild grass of ignorance grows year by year.'

處州連雲道能禪師

Chan Master Daoneng of Lianyun, Chuzhou

漢州人。姓何氏。僧問。鏡清六刮。意旨如何。師曰。穿卻你鼻孔。曰。學人有鼻孔即穿。無鼻孔又穿箇甚麼。師曰。抱贓叫屈。曰。如何是就毛刮塵。師曰。筠袁䖍吉。頭上插筆。曰。如何是就皮刮毛。師曰。石城虔化。說話廝罵。曰。如何是就肉刮皮。師曰。嘉眉果閬。懷裡有狀。曰。如何是就骨刮肉。師曰。漳泉福建。頭匾如扇。曰。如何是就髓刮骨。師曰。洋瀾左蠡。無風浪起。曰。髓又如何刮。師曰。十八十九。痴人夜走。曰。六刮已蒙師指示。一言直截意如何。師曰。結舌有分。

He was a man of Hanzhou, of the He family. A monk asked, 'What is the purport of Jingqing's six scrapings?' The Master said, 'It pierces through your nostrils.' He said, 'If the student has nostrils, then pierce them; if he has no nostrils, what do you pierce?' The Master said, 'Hugging the stolen goods and crying out that you are wronged.' He said, 'What is scraping the dust off the hair?' The Master said, 'Yun, Yuan, Qian, and Ji—a brush stuck in the head.' He said, 'What is scraping the hair off the skin?' The Master said, 'Shicheng and Qianhua—talking and trading curses.' He said, 'What is scraping the skin off the flesh?' The Master said, 'Jia, Mei, Guo, and Lang—a writ in the bosom.' He said, 'What is scraping the flesh off the bones?' The Master said, 'Zhang, Quan, Fu, and Jian—heads flat as fans.' He said, 'What is scraping the bones off the marrow?' The Master said, 'Yanglan and Zuoli—waves rise without wind.' He said, 'And how is the marrow scraped?' The Master said, 'Eighteen, nineteen—the fool walks at night.' He said, 'The six scrapings have been pointed out by the Master; what is the one phrase that goes straight to the point?' The Master said, 'You will be tongue-tied.'

臨安府靈隱最庵道印禪師

Chan Master Daoyin of Zui'an, Lingyin, Lin'anfu

漢州人。上堂。大雄山下虎。南山鼈鼻虵。等閑撞著。抱賞歸家。若也不惜好手。便與拔出重牙。有麼有麼。上堂。五五二十五。擊碎虗空皷。大地不容針。十方無寸土。春生夏長復何雲。甜者甜兮苦者苦。中秋。上堂。舉馬大師與西堂百丈南泉翫月公案。師雲。馬大師垂絲千尺。意在深潭。西堂振𩮻。百丈擺尾。雖則沖波激浪。未免上他鉤線。南泉自謂躍過禹門。誰知依前落在巨網。即今莫有絕羅籠．出窠臼底麼。也好出來露箇消息。貴知華藏門下。不致寂寥。其或未然。此夜一輪滿。清光何處無。

He was a man of Hanzhou. Ascending the hall: 'The tiger below Mount Daxiong, the snake with a turtle's nose on the southern mountain—meeting them offhand, one carries the prize home. If you do not begrudge a good hand, then pull out the double fangs. Is there anyone? Is there anyone?' Ascending the hall: 'Five fives are twenty-five; smash the drum of empty space. The great earth cannot hold a needle; the ten directions have not an inch of soil. What is there to say of spring's birth and summer's growth? The sweet is sweet, the bitter is bitter.' At Mid-Autumn he ascended the hall and brought up the case of Great Master Ma and Xitang, Baizhang, and Nanquan viewing the moon. The Master said, 'Great Master Ma let down a thousand feet of line, his mind on the deep pool. Xitang bristled his mane; Baizhang wagged his tail. Though they dashed through waves and stirred up breakers, they could not avoid taking his hook and line. Nanquan claimed he had leaped over the Dragon Gate; who would have known that as before he fell into the great net. Is there anyone now who has cut through the net and cage and got out of the old nest? You may as well come out and show a sign, so that we may know the gate of Huazang is not desolate. If not—tonight one wheel is full; where is there no clear light?'

建寧府竹原宗元庵主

The Hermitage Master Zongyuan of Zhuyuan, Jianningfu

本郡連氏子。久依大慧。分座西禪。丞相張公浚帥三山。以數院迎之。不就。歸舊裡。結茆號眾妙園。宿衲士夫。交請開法。示眾曰。若究此事。如失卻鏁匙相似。祇管尋來尋去。忽然撞著。噁。在這裡。開箇鏁了。便見自家庫藏。一切受用。無不具足。不假他求。別有甚麼事。示眾曰。諸方為人抽釘㧞楔。解黏去縛。我這裡為人添釘著楔。加繩加縛了。送向深潭裡。待他自去理會。示眾曰。主法之人。氣吞宇宙。為大法王。若是釋迦老子．達磨大師出來。也教伊叉手。向我背後立地。直得寒毛卓竪。亦未為分外。一日。舉。世尊生下。一手指天。一手指地。雲。天上天下。唯我獨尊。師乃曰。見怪不怪。其怪自壞。垂語云。這一些子。恰如撞著殺人漢相似。你若不殺了他。他便殺了你。

He was a son of the Lian family of the prefecture. He long relied on Dahui and shared the seat at Xichan. When Chancellor Duke Zhang Jun was in command of Sanshan, he invited him to several monasteries, but he would not go. He returned to his old village and built a thatched hut called the Garden of Many Wonders. Veteran monks and gentlemen of office alike asked him to begin teaching. Addressing the assembly: 'If you investigate this matter, it is like losing the key to a lock. You just search and search, and suddenly you bump into it. Ah! Here it is. Open the lock, and you see your own storehouse; every enjoyment is complete without seeking elsewhere. What other business is there?' Addressing the assembly: 'Everywhere else they draw out nails and pull out wedges for people, untie the sticky and remove the bonds. Here I add nails and drive in wedges for people, add rope and add bonds, and send them into the deep pool, to let them figure it out themselves.' Addressing the assembly: 'The man who holds the dharma has a spirit that swallows the universe and is a great dharma king. If Shakyamuni himself or Great Master Bodhidharma came out, I would have them fold their hands and stand behind my back; even if their hair stood on end, that would be no excess.' One day he brought up: 'When the World-Honored One was born, he pointed one hand at heaven and one at earth, and said, 'Above heaven and below heaven, I alone am honored.'' The Master then said, 'See the strange and it is not strange; the strangeness destroys itself.' He gave the teaching: 'This little bit is just like meeting a killer. If you do not kill him, he will kill you.'

近禮侍者

Attendant Jinli

三山人。久侍大慧。甞默究竹篦話。無所入。一日。入室罷。求指示。慧曰。你是福州人。我說箇喻向你。如將名品茘枝。和皮殻一時剝了。以手送在你口裡。祇是你不解吞。師不覺失笑曰。和尚。吞卻即禍事。慧後問師曰。前日吞了底茘枝。祇是你不知滋味。師曰。若知滋味。轉見禍事。

He was a man of Sanshan. He long attended Dahui, and once silently investigated the bamboo-clapper case without entering it. One day, after leaving the room, he asked for instruction. Hui said, 'You are a man of Fuzhou, so I will give you a parable. It is like taking a famous lychee, peeling off the skin and shell all at once, and putting it into your mouth with my own hand—only you do not know how to swallow.' The Master could not help laughing, and said, 'Reverend, to swallow it would be a disaster.' Later Hui asked the Master, 'The lychee you swallowed the other day—you simply do not know its flavor.' The Master said, 'If I knew its flavor, the disaster would be even greater.'

溫州淨居尼妙道禪師

Chan Master Miaodao, nun of Jingju, Wenzhou

延平尚書黃公裳之女。開堂日。乃曰。問話且止。直饒有傾湫之辯．倒嶽之機。衲僧門下一點用不著。且佛未出世時。一事全無。我祖西來。便有許多建立。列剎相望。星分派列。以至今日。累及兒孫。遂使山僧於人天大眾前無風起浪。向第二義門通箇消息。語默該不盡底。彌亙大方。言詮說不及處。徧周沙界。通身是眼。覿面當機。電卷星馳。如何湊泊。有時一喝。生殺全威。有時一喝。佛祖莫辨。有時一喝。八面受敵。有時一喝。自救不了。且道那一喝是生殺全威。那一喝是佛祖莫辨。那一喝是八面受敵。那一喝是自救不了。若向這裡薦得。堪報不報之恩。脫或未然。山僧無夢說夢去也。拈起拂子曰。還見麼。若見。被見刺所障。擊禪床曰。還聞麼。若聞。被聲塵所惑。直饒離見絕聞。正是二乘小果。跳出一步。蓋色騎聲。全放全收。主賓互換。所以道。欲知佛性義。當觀時節因緣。敢問諸人。即今是甚麼時節。蕩蕩仁風扶聖化。熈熈和氣助昇平。擲拂子。下座。尼問。如何是佛。師曰。非佛。曰。如何是佛法大意。師曰。骨底骨董。問。言無展事。語不投機時如何。師曰。未屙已前。墮坑落壍。

She was a daughter of Duke Huang Shang, Minister of the Board of Rites of Yanping. On the day she opened the hall she said, 'Let questions cease. Even if you have the eloquence to overturn a waterfall and the mechanism to topple a mountain, in the gate of a patch-robed monk they are of no use whatever. Moreover, before the Buddha appeared in the world there was not a single thing; when our Patriarch came from the West, then there were many establishments, rows of monasteries facing one another, divided like stars and ranked like branches, down to today, involving the descendants. So it has brought this mountain monk before the assembly of gods and men to raise waves without wind, and to pass on a message at the gate of the second meaning. What words and silence cannot contain extends through the great quarter; where speech and explanation cannot reach, it pervades the sands of the Ganges. The whole body is an eye, facing the situation directly; lightning rolls, stars race—how will you keep up? Sometimes a shout has the full authority of life and death; sometimes a shout leaves Buddha and Patriarch unable to discern; sometimes a shout is attacked on eight sides; sometimes a shout cannot save itself. Tell me, which shout has the full authority of life and death, which shout leaves Buddha and Patriarch unable to discern, which shout is attacked on eight sides, which shout cannot save itself? If you can take it up here, you are fit to repay the unrepayable kindness. If not, this mountain monk, having no dream, will speak of a dream.' She raised her fly whisk and said, 'Do you see it? If you see it, you are obstructed by the thorn of seeing.' She struck the Chan bed and said, 'Do you hear it? If you hear it, you are deluded by the dust of sound. Even if you are free of seeing and cut off from hearing, that is exactly the small fruit of the two vehicles. Step out one step: covering form and riding sound, wholly releasing and wholly gathering, host and guest exchanging. Therefore it is said: if you want to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should contemplate the season and conditions. May I ask you all: what season is it right now? Broad and vast, the benevolent wind supports the sacred transformation; bright and harmonious, the gentle air aids the rising peace.' She threw down the fly whisk and left the seat. A nun asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Not Buddha.' She said, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha dharma?' The Master said, 'A curio at the bottom of a bone.' She asked, 'What of when words accomplish nothing and speech does not accord?' The Master said, 'Before you have shat, you fall into a pit and over a ledge.'

平江府資壽尼無著妙總禪師

Chan Master Wuzhuo Miaozong, nun of Zishou, Pingjiangfu

丞相蘇公頌之孫女也。年三十許。厭世浮休。脫去緣飾。諮參諸老。已入正信。作夏徑山。大慧陞堂。舉藥山初參石頭。後見馬祖因緣。師聞豁然省悟。慧下座。不動居士馮公檝隨至方丈。曰。某理會得和尚適來所舉公案。慧曰。居士如何。曰。恁麼也不得囌嚧娑婆訶。不恁麼也不得㗭哩娑婆訶。恁麼不恁麼。總不得囌嚧㗭哩娑婆訶。慧舉似師。師曰。曾見郭象註莊子。識者曰。卻是莊子註郭象。慧見其語異。復舉巖頭婆子話問之。師答偈曰。一葉扁舟泛渺茫。呈橈舞棹別宮商。雲山海月都拋卻。贏得莊周蝶夢長。慧休去。馮公疑其所悟不根。後過無錫。招至舟中。問曰。婆生七子。六箇不遇知音。祇這一箇。也不消得。便棄水中。大慧老師言。道人理會得。且如何會。師曰。已上供通。並是詣實。馮公大驚。慧掛牌次。師入室。慧問。古人不出方丈。為甚麼卻去莊上吃油餈。師曰。和尚放妙總過。妙總方敢通箇消息。慧曰。我放你過。你試道看。師曰。妙總亦放和尚過。慧曰。爭奈油餈何。師喝一喝而出。於是聲聞四方。隆興改元。舍人張公孝祥來守是郡。以資壽挽開法。入院。上堂。宗乘一唱。三藏絕詮。祖令當行。十方坐斷。二乘聞之怖走。十地到此猶疑。若是俊流。未言而諭。設使用移星換鬥底手段。施攙旗奪皷底機關。猶是空拳。豈有實義。向上一路。千聖不傳。學者勞形。如猿捉影。靈山付囑。俯狥時機。演唱三乘。各隨根器。始於鹿野苑轉四諦法輪。度百千萬眾。山僧今日。與此界他方。乃佛乃祖。山河大地。草木叢林。現前四眾。各轉大法輪。交光相羅。如寶絲網。若一草一木。不轉法輪。則不得名為轉大法輪。所以道。於一毫端現寶王剎。坐微塵裡轉大法輪。乘時於其中間。作無量無邊廣大佛事。周徧法界。一為無量。無量為一。小中現大。大中現小。不動步遊彌勒樓閣。

She was a granddaughter of Duke Su Song, Chancellor. At about thirty she grew weary of the floating world and put off her ornaments. She consulted the elders everywhere and had already entered right faith. She kept the summer retreat at Jingshan. Dahui ascended the hall and brought up the case of Yaoshan first consulting Shitou and later meeting Mazu. Hearing it, she was suddenly awakened. Hui left the seat; the layman Budong, Duke Feng Ji, followed him to the abbot's quarters and said, 'I understand the case the Reverend just brought up.' Hui said, 'How do you, layman, understand it?' He said, 'Thus, and it is not su-lu svaha; not thus, and it is not zhi-li svaha; thus and not thus, and altogether it is not su-lu zhi-li svaha.' Hui told this to the Master. The Master said, 'I have seen Guo Xiang comment on Zhuangzi; a person of discernment said it was rather Zhuangzi commenting on Guo Xiang.' Hui saw that her words were out of the ordinary, and brought up the case of Yantou and the old woman and asked her. The Master answered with a verse: 'A single leaf of a boat drifts on the vastness; plying the oar and dancing the pole, a different mode. Cloud, mountain, sea, moon—all thrown away; one wins instead Zhuang Zhou's long butterfly dream.' Hui let the matter rest. Duke Feng doubted that her awakening was rooted. Later, passing Wuxi, he had her brought to his boat and asked, 'The old woman bore seven sons; six met no one who knew her, and this one too was of no use, so she threw it into the water. Teacher Dahui said the woman of the Way understood. How did she understand?' The Master said, 'The testimony above is all in accord with the facts.' Duke Feng was greatly astonished. When Hui was posting the notice, the Master entered the room. Hui asked, 'The ancients did not leave the abbot's quarters—why then did they go to the village to eat fried glutinous cakes?' The Master said, 'If the Reverend lets Miaozong pass, Miaozong will dare to pass on a message.' Hui said, 'I let you pass. Just try to speak.' The Master said, 'Miaozong also lets the Reverend pass.' Hui said, 'What about the fried cakes?' The Master gave a shout and went out. From this her fame was heard on all sides. In the first year of Longxing, the Secretary Duke Zhang Xiaoxiang came to govern this prefecture and, through Zishou, invited her to begin teaching. Entering the monastery, she ascended the hall: 'When the school's vehicle is once sung, the three baskets are cut off from explanation. When the Patriarch's command is carried out, the ten directions are cut off. The two vehicles hear it and flee in terror; the ten grounds are still in doubt when they reach this. If one is a sharp one, he understands before words. Even if one uses the device of moving the stars and shifting the Dipper, and sets the mechanism of snatching the flag and seizing the drum, it is still an empty fist—how can there be real meaning? The road above has never been transmitted by a thousand sages; the student wearies his form like a monkey grabbing at a shadow. The entrustment at Vulture Peak was made, bending down to accommodate the time; he sang forth the three vehicles, each according to its vessel. He began at the Deer Park by turning the wheel of the four truths and saved hundreds of thousands of millions of beings. This mountain monk today, with these realms and those of others, with Buddhas and Patriarchs, mountains and rivers and the great earth, grass and trees and thickets, and the four assemblies before me, each turns the great dharma wheel; their lights interweave and interlace like a net of jeweled strands. If a single blade of grass or a single tree does not turn the dharma wheel, then it cannot be called turning the great dharma wheel. Therefore it is said: in the tip of a single hair a jeweled king's realm appears; sitting within a fine mote she turns the great dharma wheel. Seizing the moment in the midst of it, she performs immeasurable, boundless, vast Buddha work, pervading the dharma realm. One is the immeasurable, the immeasurable is one; the great appears in the small, the small appears in the great. Without moving a step she roams the tower of Maitreya—'

不返聞入觀音普門。情與無情。性相平等。不是神通妙用。亦非法爾如然。於此倜儻分明。皇恩佛恩。一時報足。且道如何是報恩一句。天高群象正。海闊百川朝。上堂。舉。雲門示眾雲。十五日已前則不問。十五日已後。道將一句來。自代雲。日日是好日。師曰。日日是好日。佛法世法盡周畢。不須特地覓幽玄。祇管缽盂兩度濕。上堂。黃面老人。橫說竪說。權說實說。法說喻說。建法幢。立宗旨。與後人作榜樣。為甚麼卻道始從鹿野苑。終至跋提河。於是二中間。未甞說一字。點檢將來。大似抱贓叫屈。山僧今日人事忙冗。且放過一著。便下座。尼問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。野華開滿路。徧地是清香。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。茫茫宇宙人無數。幾箇男兒是丈夫。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。處處綠楊堪繫馬。家家門首透長安。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。雪覆蘆華。舟橫斷岸。曰。人境已蒙師指示。向上宗乘事若何。師便打。

'...one does not turn back to hear and enter Avalokiteshvara's universal gate. Sentient and insentient, nature and mark are equal. It is not a spiritual wonder-working, nor is it simply so of itself. If you are free and clear here, the emperor's kindness and the buddha's kindness are both at once repaid. And tell me, what is the one phrase of repaying kindness? The sky is high and the host of forms is upright; the sea is broad and a hundred rivers pay court.' He mounted the hall: 'Bring it up. Yunmen addressed the assembly: Before the fifteenth day I do not ask; after the fifteenth day, speak one phrase. He answered for them: Every day is a good day. The Master said: Every day is a good day; the buddhadharma and the world's dharma are both fully complete. No need to go out of your way to seek the hidden and mysterious — only let the bowl be wetted twice a day.' He mounted the hall: 'The yellow-faced old man spoke horizontally and vertically, spoke the provisional and the real, spoke the dharma and spoke parables; he set up the dharma banner and established the purport as a model for later men. Why then did he say: from the Deer Park at the beginning to the Ajitavati River at the end, in between he never spoke a single word? Examined closely, it is very much like embracing the stolen goods and crying out that one is wronged. This mountain monk is busy with affairs today, so I let it pass for now.' Then he descended. A nun asked: 'What is taking away the man but not the realm?' The Master said: 'Wild flowers open all along the road; everywhere is clear fragrance.' She said: 'What is taking away the realm but not the man?' The Master said: 'Vast and boundless, the cosmos has countless people; how many are true men?' She said: 'What is taking away neither man nor realm?' The Master said: 'Everywhere green willows can tether a horse; every household's gate opens onto Chang'an.' She said: 'What is taking away both man and realm?' The Master said: 'Snow covers the reed flowers; the boat lies across the cut-off bank.' She said: 'Man and realm have been pointed out by the Master; what of the ancestral vehicle beyond?' The Master struck her.

侍郎無垢居士張九成

The Layman Wugou, Vice Minister Zhang Jiucheng

未第時。因客談楊文公．呂微仲諸名儒。所造精妙。皆由禪學而至也。於是心慕之。聞寶印楚明禪師道傳大通。居淨慈。即之。請問入道之要。明曰。此事唯念念不捨。久久純熟。時節到來。自然證入。復舉趙州栢樹子話。令時時提撕。公久之無省。辭謁善權清禪師。公問。此事人人有分。箇箇圓成。是否。清曰。然。公曰。為甚麼某無箇入處。清於袖中出數珠。示之曰。此是誰底。公俛仰無對。清復袖之曰。是汝底。則拈取去。才涉思惟。即不是汝底。公悚然。未幾。留蘇氏館。一夕如廁。以栢樹子話究之。聞蛙鳴。釋然契入。有偈曰。春天月夜一聲蛙。撞破乾坤共一家。正恁麼時誰會得。嶺頭腳痛有玄沙。屆明。謁法印一禪師。機語頗契。適私忌。就明靜庵供雲水主僧惟尚禪師。才見乃展手。公便喝。尚批公頰。公趨前。尚曰。張學錄何得謗大般若。公曰。某見處祇如此。和尚又作麼生。尚舉馬祖陞堂。百丈卷席話詰之。敘語未終。公推倒卓子。尚大呼。張學錄殺人。公躍起。問傍僧曰。汝又作麼生。僧罔措。公毆之。顧尚曰。祖禰不了。殃及兒孫。尚大笑。公獻偈曰。卷席因緣也大奇。諸方聞舉盡攢眉。臺盤趯倒人星散。直漢從來不受欺。尚答曰。從來高價不饒伊。百戰場中奮兩眉。奪角沖關君會也。叢林誰敢更相欺。紹興癸丑。魁多士。復謁尚於東庵。尚曰。浮山圓鑑雲。饒你入得汾陽室。始到浮山門。亦未見老僧在。公作麼生。公叱侍僧曰。何不祇對。僧罔措。公打僧一掌曰。蝦蟆窟裡。果沒蛟龍。丁巳秋。大慧禪師董徑山。學者仰如星斗。公閱其語要。歎曰。是知宗門有人。持以語尚。恨未一見。及為禮部侍郎。偶參政劉公請慧說法於天竺。公三往不值。暨慧報謁。公見但寒暄而已。慧亦默識之。尋奉祠還裡。至徑山。與馮給事諸公議格物。慧曰。公祇知有格物。而不知有物格。公茫然。

Before he passed the examinations, hearing a guest speak of Yang Wengong, Lu Weizhong and other noted scholars whose attainments were subtle and wondrous and all reached through the study of Chan, he admired it in his heart. He heard that Chan Master Chuming of Baoyin had received the transmission of Datong and lived at Jingci, and went to him, asking the essentials of entering the Way. Ming said: 'In this matter one must be unremitting in every thought; when it is long and well ripened and the season comes, one naturally realizes and enters.' He also brought up Zhaozhou's cypress tree story and told him to keep raising it always. The gentleman had no awakening for a long time. Taking leave, he called on Chan Master Qing of Shanquan. The gentleman asked: 'This matter — everyone has a share, everyone is complete. Is that so?' Qing said: 'It is.' The gentleman said: 'Why have I no way in?' Qing took a rosary from his sleeve, showed it to him and said: 'Whose is this?' The gentleman looked up and down and had no reply. Qing put it back in his sleeve and said: 'If it is yours, take it and go. As soon as deliberation enters, it is not yours.' The gentleman was startled. Before long he was lodging at the Su family's house. One evening, in the privy, he investigated the cypress tree story and heard a frog croak, and was released into accord. He had a verse: 'A spring night's moonlit hour, one croak of a frog smashes open heaven and earth to make one house. At just such a time, who understands? At the ridge's head, the one whose foot aches is Xuansha.' At dawn he called on Chan Master Fayin Yi, and their workings and words accorded well. It happened to be his private memorial day, and he went to the Mingjing Hut to make an offering to the master of cloud and water, Chan Master Weishang. As soon as Shang saw him he spread out his hand. The gentleman shouted. Shang slapped him on the cheek. The gentleman came forward. Shang said: 'How does Registrar Zhang come to slander the great prajna?' The gentleman said: 'My insight is only this. What does the Master say?' Shang brought up how Mazu ascended the seat and Baizhang rolled up the mat, and pressed him. Before the account was finished, the gentleman pushed over the table. Shang cried out: 'Registrar Zhang is killing a man!' The gentleman jumped up and asked a monk nearby: 'What will you do?' The monk was bewildered. The gentleman beat him, turned to Shang and said: 'The ancestors did not finish it, and the calamity reaches the sons and grandsons.' Shang laughed loudly. The gentleman presented a verse: 'The rolling-up-the-mat story is very strange; everywhere people who hear it knit their brows. The table pushed over, the men scatter like stars — the straightforward man never suffers deceit.' Shang answered: 'Never has a high price spared him; in a hundred battlefields he lifts his two brows. Taking the corner and rushing the pass, you understand it. In the monasteries, who dares deceive you further?' In the gui-chou year of Shaoxing he came first among the many scholars. He called on Shang again at Dong'an. Shang said: 'Fushan Yuanjian said: Even if you enter Fenyang's room and reach Fushan's gate, you still have not seen this old monk. What do you say?' The gentleman rebuked the attendant monk: 'Why do you not answer?' The monk was bewildered. The gentleman struck him a slap and said: 'In a frog's hole there is indeed no dragon.' In the autumn of the ding si year Chan Master Dahui was abbot of Jingshan, and students looked up to him as to the stars. The gentleman read his essential sayings and sighed: 'Now I know there are men in the school.' He brought it up to Shang, wishing he could meet him once. When he became Vice Minister of Rites, it happened that the Assistant Administrator Lord Liu invited Hui to preach at Tianzhu. Three times the gentleman went and did not meet him. When Hui returned the call, the gentleman only exchanged pleasantries; Hui too silently noted it. Soon after, the gentleman was given a temple post and returned home. Reaching Jingshan, he discussed the investigation of things with the Supervising Secretary Feng and others. Hui said: 'You only know there is the investigation of things, and do not know there is the things being investigated.' The gentleman was blank.

慧大笑。公曰。師能開諭乎。慧曰。不見小說載唐人有與安祿山謀叛者。其人先為閬守。有畫像在焉。明皇幸蜀。見之怒。令侍臣以劒擊其像首。時閬守居陝西。首忽墮地。公聞頓領深旨。題不動軒壁曰。子韶格物。妙喜物格。欲識一貫。兩箇五百。慧始許可。後守邵陽。丁父難。過徑山飯僧。秉鈞者意慧議及朝政。遂竄慧於衡陽。令公居家守服。服除。安置南安。丙子春。蒙恩北還。道次新淦而慧適至。與聯舟劇談宗要。未甞語往事。於氏心傳錄曰。憲自嶺下侍舅氏歸新淦。因會大慧。舅氏令拜之。憲曰。素不拜僧。舅氏曰。汝姑扣之。憲知其甞執卷。遂舉子思中庸天命之謂性。率性之謂道。修道之謂教三句。以問。慧曰。凡人既不知本命元辰下落處。又要牽好人入火坑。如何聖賢於打頭一著不鑿破。憲曰。吾師能為聖賢鑿破否。慧曰。天命之謂性。便是清淨法身。率性之謂道。便是圓滿報身。修道之謂教。便是千百億化身。憲得以告。舅氏曰。子拜何辭。繼鎮永嘉。丁丑秋丐祠。枉道訪慧於育王。越明年。慧得旨復領徑山。謁公於慶善院。曰。某每於夢中必誦語孟。何如。慧舉圓覺曰。由寂靜故。十方世界諸如來心。於中顯現。如鏡中像。公曰。非老師莫聞此論也。其頌黃龍三關曰。我手何似佛手。天下衲僧無口。縱饒撩起便行。也是鬼窟裡走(諱不得)。我腳何似驢腳。又被黐膠粘著。飜身直上兜率天。已是遭他老鼠藥(吐不出)。人人有箇生緣處。鐵圍山下幾千年。三災直到四禪天。這驢猶自在旁邊(煞得工夫)。公設心六度。不為子孫計。因取華嚴善知識。日供其二回食。以飯緇流。又甞供十六大天。而諸位茶杯悉變為乳。書偈曰。稽首十方佛法僧。稽首一切護法天。我今供養三寶天。如海一滴牛一毛。有何妙術能感格。試借意識為汝說。我心與佛天無異。一塵才起大地隔。儻或塵銷覺圓淨。

Hui laughed loudly. The gentleman said: 'Can the Master open and instruct me?' Hui said: 'Have you not seen it in a minor work: a man of Tang who plotted rebellion with An Lushan had first been prefect of Lang, and his portrait was there. When Emperor Ming took refuge in Shu he saw it and was angry, and ordered an attending minister to strike the portrait's head with a sword. At that time the prefect of Lang was living in Shaanxi, and his head suddenly fell to the ground.' At these words the gentleman at once grasped the profound purport. He wrote on the wall of the Immovable Pavilion: 'Zishao investigates things; Miaoxi's things are investigated. If you would know the one thread, two five-hundreds.' Only then did Hui give his approval. Later he was prefect of Shaoyang. When his father died he passed through Jingshan to feed the monks. The man in power thought Hui's discussions touched on court politics, and so exiled Hui to Hengyang and had the gentleman remain at home in mourning. When the mourning ended he was settled at Nan'an. In the spring of the bing zi year he was graced with a return north. On the way, at Xingan, Hui happened to arrive, and they joined boats and talked at length of the essentials of the school, never speaking of past affairs. In the Yu family's Record of the Mind's Transmission it says: Xian accompanied his uncle home from Ling to Xingan, and there met Dahui. His uncle told him to bow. Xian said: 'I never bow to monks.' His uncle said: 'Just try questioning him.' Xian knew he had once held office, and so brought up the three lines of Zisi's Doctrine of the Mean — what heaven decrees is called the nature, following the nature is called the Way, cultivating the Way is called the teaching — and asked about them. Hui said: 'Ordinary people do not know where their own fundamental destiny lies, and then they drag good people into the fire pit. Why did the sages not break open the first move?' Xian said: 'Can my teacher break it open for the sages?' Hui said: 'What heaven decrees is called the nature — that is the pure dharma body. Following the nature is called the Way — that is the perfect reward body. Cultivating the Way is called the teaching — that is the hundred thousand million transformation bodies.' Xian was able to report this. His uncle said: 'Why do you decline to bow?' Later he governed Yongjia. In the autumn of the ding chou year he begged a temple post and went out of his way to visit Hui at Yuwang. The next year Hui received the order to again head Jingshan and called on the gentleman at Qingshan Monastery. He said: 'In my dreams I always recite the Analects and Mencius. How is that?' Hui brought up the Perfect Enlightenment Sutra: 'Because of stillness, the minds of the Tathagatas of the ten directions appear within it, like images in a mirror.' The gentleman said: 'But for the Master, one would not hear this discourse.' His verses on Huanglong's three passes: 'How is my hand like the buddha's hand? The patch-robed monks of the world have no mouth. Even if one lifts it and goes at once, one is walking in a ghost cave (it cannot be concealed). How is my foot like a donkey's foot? It is stuck fast with glue. Turning the body straight up to the Tushita heaven, one has already taken his rat poison (cannot spit it out). Every person has a place of birth-condition. Beneath the Iron Ring Mountain for several thousand years, the three calamities reach even the fourth dhyana heaven — and this donkey is still off to the side (a great waste of effort).' The gentleman set his mind on the six perfections and did not scheme for sons and grandsons. Taking the good friends of the Avatamsaka, he offered them two meals a day to feed the black-robed ones. He also once made offerings to the sixteen great devas, and every teacup of the assembled seats turned to milk. He wrote a verse: 'I bow to the buddha, dharma and sangha of the ten directions; I bow to all the dharma-protecting devas. I now make offerings to the three treasures and the devas — like one drop of the sea, one hair of an ox. What wondrous art can move them? Let me try to tell you by borrowing consciousness. My mind is not different from the buddha's and the devas'; as soon as a mote rises, the great earth is separated. If the mote is dissolved and enlightenment is perfect and pure,

是故佛天來降臨。我欲供佛佛即現。我欲供天天亦現。佛子若或生狐疑。試問此乳何處來。狐疑即塵塵即疑。終與佛天不相似。我今為汝掃狐疑。如湯沃雪火銷冰。汝今微有疑與惑。鷂子便到新羅國。

'therefore the buddha and devas come down. When I would offer to the buddha, the buddha appears; when I would offer to the devas, the devas also appear. If a buddha-son should give rise to doubt, then ask where this milk came from. Doubt is a mote, and a mote is doubt; in the end one is not like the buddha and devas. I now sweep away your doubt for you, like hot water on snow, fire melting ice. If you now have the slightest doubt or confusion, the sparrowhawk has already reached the land of Silla.'

參政李邴居士

The Layman Li Bing, Assistant Administrator

字漢老。醉心祖道有年。聞大慧排默照為邪禪。疑怒相半。及見慧示眾。舉趙州庭栢。垂語曰。庭前栢樹子。今日重新舉。打破趙州關。特地尋言語。敢問大眾。既是打破趙州關。為甚麼卻特地尋言語。良久曰。當初祇道茆長短。燒了方知地不平。公領悟。謂慧曰。無老師後語。幾蹉過。後以書諮決曰。某近扣籌室。承擊發蒙滯。忽有省入。顧惟根識暗鈍。平生學解。盡落情見。一取一捨。如衣壞絮行草棘中。適自纏繞。今一笑頓釋所疑。欣幸可量。非大宗匠委曲垂慈。何以致此。自到城中。著衣吃飯。抱子弄孫。色色仍舊。既無拘執之情。亦不作奇特之想。其餘夙習舊障。亦稍輕微。臨行叮嚀之語。不敢忘也。重念始得入門。而大法未明。應機接物。觸事未能無礙。更望有以提誨。使卒有所至。庶無玷於法席矣。又書曰。某比蒙誨答。備悉深旨。某自驗者三。一．事無逆順。隨緣即應。不留𮌎中。二．宿習濃厚。不加排遣。自爾輕微。三．古人公案。舊所茫然。時復瞥地。此非自昧者。前書大法未明之語。蓋恐得少為足。當擴而充之。豈別求勝解耶。淨勝現流。理則不無。敢不銘佩。

His courtesy name was Hanlao. He had been steeped in the ancestral Way for years. Hearing that Dahui denounced silent illumination as a heterodox Chan, he was half doubtful and half angry. When he saw Hui address the assembly and bring up Zhaozhou's court cypress, letting fall the words: 'The cypress tree before the court — today I raise it again. Smashing open Zhaozhou's pass, one deliberately goes seeking words. May I ask the assembly: since the pass of Zhaozhou is already smashed open, why does one deliberately go seeking words?' After a long while he said: 'At first I only said the thatch was long or short; only after burning it did I know the ground was uneven.' The gentleman understood and awakened, and said to Hui: 'But for the Master's later words, I would nearly have missed it.' Later he consulted him by letter: 'I lately knocked at the counting room and received your prodding that opened my stagnation, and I suddenly had an awakening. Considering that my faculties are dull and dark, all my life's learning and understanding has fallen into the views of feeling; taking one and rejecting one, I was like one wearing a torn padded coat walking among thorns and brambles, ensnared at every turn. Now with one laugh I have suddenly released all my doubts — how can my joy be measured? Had not the great master craftsman bent his compassion in such detail, how would this have come about? Since coming to the city I wear clothes and eat food, hold my children and dandle my grandchildren, and everything is as before. I have no clinging feelings, nor do I make extraordinary thoughts. The rest of my old habits and old obstructions have also grown somewhat lighter. Your parting words of warning I dare not forget. But considering that I have only just entered the gate and the great dharma is not yet clear, and that in meeting workings and receiving things I am not yet always unobstructed, I hope for something to lift and instruct me, so that I may finally arrive somewhere and not disgrace the dharma seat.' And another letter: 'I have received your instructive reply and fully understand the profound purport. I have verified three things in myself. First, in matters there is no adverse or favorable; responding as conditions allow, nothing is left in the breast. Second, old habits are thick, but without pushing them away they have of themselves grown lighter. Third, the ancients' cases, once wholly blank to me, now and then flash clear. This is not self-deception. The earlier letter's words about the great dharma not being clear were only a fear of being satisfied with little; one should expand and fill it out — how could one seek a separate superior understanding? The outflow of pure superiority — in principle it is not absent. I dare not fail to engrave it on my heart.'

寶學劉彥脩居士

The Layman Liu Yanxiu, Baoxue