Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen
字子羽。出知永嘉。問道於大慧禪師。慧曰。僧問趙州。狗子還有佛性也無。趙州道。無。但恁麼看。公後乃於栢樹子上發明。有頌曰。趙州栢樹太無端。境上追尋也太難。處處綠楊堪繫馬。家家門底透長安。
His courtesy name was Ziyu. He went out as prefect of Yongjia and asked Chan Master Dahui about the Way. Hui said: 'A monk asked Zhaozhou: has the dog the buddha-nature or not? Zhaozhou said: No. Just look at it thus.' The gentleman later became clear through the cypress tree story. He had a verse: 'Zhaozhou's cypress is too perverse; to seek it in the realm is also too hard. Everywhere green willows can tether a horse; every household's gate opens onto Chang'an.'
提刑吳偉明居士
The Layman Wu Weiming, Judicial Commissioner
字元昭。久參真歇了禪師。得自受用三昧。為極致。後訪大慧於洋嶼庵。隨眾入室。慧舉狗子無佛性話問之。公擬答。慧以竹篦便打。公無對。遂留諮參。一日慧謂曰。不須呈伎倆。直須啐地折．嚗地斷。方敵得生死。若祇呈伎倆。有甚了期。即辭去。道次延平。倐然契悟。連書數頌寄慧。皆室中所問者。有曰。不是心。不是佛。不是物。通身一具金鎻骨。趙州親見老南泉。解道鎮州出蘿蔔。慧即說偈證之曰。通身一具金鎻骨。堪與人天為軌則。要識臨濟小廝兒。便是當年白拈賊。
His courtesy name was Yuanzhao. He long studied under Chan Master Zhenxie Liao and took his own self-enjoyment samadhi as the ultimate. Later he called on Dahui at Yangyu Hut and entered the room with the assembly. Hui brought up the story of the dog having no buddha-nature and asked him. The gentleman was about to answer, and Hui struck him with the bamboo staff. The gentleman had no reply. So he stayed to inquire and study. One day Hui said to him: 'You need not display your tricks; you must crack and break outright, and only then can you stand against birth and death. If you only display your tricks, when is there an end?' He at once took his leave. On the way, at Yanping, he suddenly entered into accord and awakening. He wrote several verses in succession and sent them to Hui, all on what had been asked in the room. One said: 'It is not mind, not buddha, not a thing; the whole body is one set of golden chain bones. Zhaozhou saw old Nanquan in person and could say that Zhenzhou produces radishes.' Hui at once made a verse to certify him: 'The whole body is one set of golden chain bones, fit to be the standard for gods and men. If you would know Linji, the little brat, he is the white-handed thief of those years.'
門司黃彥節居士
The Layman Huang Yanjie, Gate Officer
字節夫。號妙德。於大慧一喝下。疑情頓脫。慧以衣付之。甞舉首山竹篦話。至葉縣。近前奪得拗折。擲向堦下曰。是甚麼。山曰。瞎。公曰。妙德到這裡。百色無能。但記得曾作蠟梅絕句曰。擬嚼枝頭蠟。驚香卻肖蘭。前村深雪裡。莫作嶺梅看。
His courtesy name was Jiefu, his sobriquet Miaode. At one shout from Dahui his mass of doubt suddenly fell away, and Hui gave him the robe. He once brought up the story of Shoushan's bamboo staff; when it came to the Ye County part, he came forward, snatched it away, snapped it, threw it down the steps and said: 'What is this?' Shan said: 'Blind!' The gentleman said: 'Miaode has come to this and is capable of nothing; I only remember I once wrote a quatrain on the wintersweet: I would chew the wax on the branch tip, but the startling fragrance rather resembles the orchid. In the deep snow of the village ahead, do not take it for a plum of the ridge.'
秦國夫人計氏法真
The Lady of Qin, the Lady Ji Fazhen
自寡處屏去紛華。常蔬食。習有為法。因大慧遣謙禪者致問其子魏公。公留。謙以祖道誘之。真一日問謙曰。徑山和尚尋常如何為人。謙曰。和尚祇教人看狗子無佛性及竹篦子話。祇是不得下語。不得思量。不得向舉起處會。不得向開口處承當。狗子還有佛性也無。無。祇恁麼教人看。真遂諦信。於是夜坐。力究前話。忽爾洞然無滯。謙辭歸。真親書入道槩略。作數偈呈慧。其後曰。逐日看經文。如逢舊識人。莫言頻有礙。一舉一回新。
Widowed, she put aside all splendor and ate only vegetables, practicing conditioned dharmas. When Dahui sent the Chan man Qian to inquire after her son Lord Wei, the lord detained him, and Qian drew him on with the ancestral Way. One day Zhen asked Qian: 'How does the Master of Jingshan ordinarily work for people?' Qian said: 'The Master only teaches people to look at the dog having no buddha-nature and the bamboo staff story. But one may not set down words, may not deliberate, may not understand it where it is raised, may not take it on where the mouth opens. Has the dog the buddha-nature or not? No. He only teaches people to look at it thus.' Zhen then sincerely believed. So she sat at night and strove at the former words, and suddenly it was thoroughly clear and unobstructed. Qian took his leave to return. Zhen wrote out with her own hand an outline of her entry into the Way and made several verses to present to Hui. One of them said: 'Day by day I read the sutra texts, as if meeting an old acquaintance. Do not say there are frequent obstructions; each raising is new once more.'
虎丘隆禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huqiu Long
明州天童應庵曇華禪師
Chan Master Ying'an Tanhua of Tiantong, Mingzhou
蘄州江氏子。生而奇傑。年十七。於東禪去髮。首依水南遂禪師。染指法味。因徧歷江湖。與諸老激揚。無不契者。至雲居禮圓悟禪師。悟一見痛與提䇿。及入蜀。指見彰教。教移虎丘。師侍行。未半載。頓明大事。去謁此庵。分座連雲。開法妙嚴。後遷諸巨剎。住歸宗日。大慧在梅陽。有僧傳師垂示語句。慧見之。極口稱歎。後以偈寄曰。坐斷金輪第一峰。千妖百怪盡潛蹤。年來又得真消息。報道楊岐正脈通。其歸重如此。上堂。九年面壁。壞卻東土兒孫。隻履西歸。鈍置黃面老子。以拄杖畫一畫曰。石牛攔古路。一馬生三寅。上堂。德章老瞎禿。從來沒滋味。拈得口。失卻鼻。三更二點唱巴歌。無端驚起梵王睡。喝一喝。曰。我行荒草裡。汝又入深村。上堂。臨濟在黃檗處三度吃棒底意旨。你諸人還覷得透也未。直饒一咬便斷。也未是大丈夫漢。三世諸佛。口掛壁上。天下老和尚。將甚麼吃飯。上堂。十五日已前。水長船高。十五日已後。泥多佛大。正當十五日。東海鯉魚。打一棒雨似盆傾。直得三千大千世界。一切眾生。悉皆歡喜。謂言打這一棒。不妨應時應節報恩。不覺通身踴躍。遂作詩一首。舉似大眾。蜻蜓許是好蜻蜓。飛來飛去不曾停。被我捉來摘卻兩邊翼。恰似一枚大鐵釘。上堂。若作一句商量。吃粥飯阿誰不會。不作一句商量。屎坑裡蟲子笑殺闍黎。拈拄杖曰。拄杖子罪犯彌天。貶向二鐵圍山。且道薦福還有過也無。卓拄杖曰。遲一刻。上堂。明不見暗。暗不見明。明暗雙忘。無異流俗阿師。野幹鳴。師子吼。師子吼。野幹鳴。三家村裡臭猢猻。價增十倍。驪龍頷下明月珠。分文不直。若作衲僧巴鼻。甚處得來。三十年後。換手搥胷。未是苦在。上堂。飯籮邊．漆桶裡。相唾饒你潑水。相罵饒你接觜。黃河三千年一度清。蟠桃五百年一次開華。鶴勒那咬定牙關。朱頂王呵呵大笑。
He was a son of the Jiang family of Qizhou. He was born extraordinary. At seventeen he had his head shaved at Dongchan. He first relied on Chan Master Sui of Shuinan and dipped a finger in the flavor of dharma. Then he traveled through the rivers and lakes, spurring on the various elders, and with none did he fail to accord. Reaching Yunju he bowed to Chan Master Yuanwu. Wu saw him and sharply prodded and urged him at once (the character ce is probably to be read ce, to spur). When Wu was about to enter Shu he pointed him to Zhangjiao. Jiao moved to Huqiu and the Master attended him. In less than half a year he suddenly understood the great matter. He went to call on Ci'an and was given a seat at Lianyun. He opened the teaching at Miaoyan, and later moved to the great monasteries. When he resided at Guizong, Dahui was at Meiyang. A monk brought him the Master's words to the assembly, and when Hui saw them he praised him to the skies. Later he sent a verse: 'Sitting firm on the first peak of the golden wheel, a thousand demons and a hundred monsters all hide their tracks. This year I have again received true news, reporting that the true vein of Yangqi runs through.' Such was the esteem in which he held him. He mounted the hall: 'Nine years facing the wall ruined the sons and grandsons of the Eastern Land. Returning west with one shoe dulled the yellow-faced old man to death.' He drew a line with his staff and said: 'The stone ox blocks the ancient road; one horse gives birth to three yin.' He mounted the hall: 'Dezhang, the old blind bald one, has never had any flavor. He grasped the mouth and lost the nose. At the third watch and second point he sang a Ba song, and for no reason startled Brahma from sleep.' He shouted once and said: 'I walk in the wild grass; you again enter the deep village.' He mounted the hall: 'The purport of Linji's three blows at Huangbo's place — have you people seen through it or not? Even if you bite and break at once, you are still not a true man. The buddhas of the three ages have their mouths hung on the wall. What do the old monks of the world eat with?' He mounted the hall: 'Before the fifteenth day, the water rises and the boat is high. After the fifteenth day, the mud is much and the buddha is great. On the fifteenth day itself, a blow for the East Sea carp and the rain pours like basins. It makes all beings in the three thousand great thousand worlds wholly joyful, saying that this one blow accords with the season and repays kindness in due time, and before they know it they leap up body and all. Then he wrote a poem and showed it to the assembly: The dragonfly may be a good dragonfly; it flies back and forth without ever stopping. If I catch it and pluck off both wings, it is just like a big iron nail.' He mounted the hall: 'If you make one phrase of it, who does not know how to eat gruel and rice? If you do not make one phrase of it, the bugs in the shit pit will laugh the Reverend to death.' He picked up his staff and said: 'The staff's crime reaches the sky; it is banished to the two Iron Ring Mountains. And tell me, has Jianfu any fault?' He planted his staff and said: 'A moment late.' He mounted the hall: 'The bright does not see the dark; the dark does not see the bright. Bright and dark both forgotten is no different from a common teacher. The jackal howls, the lion roars. The lion roars, the jackal howls. The stinking monkey of the three-household village increases tenfold in price. The bright moon pearl under the black dragon's chin is not worth a copper. If it is to be a patch-robed monk's nostrils, where did it come from? Thirty years from now, changing hands and beating the breast will not yet be the bitter part.' He mounted the hall: 'By the rice basket, in the black lacquer bucket. Spit at you and let you splash water; curse at you and let you answer back. The Yellow River clears once in three thousand years; the flat peach opens once in five hundred. Helena clenches his teeth; the red-crowned king laughs ha-ha.'
歸宗五十年前有一則公案。今日舉似諸人。且道是甚麼公案。王節級。失卻帖。上堂。三十二相。八十種好。從朝至暮。啾啾唧唧。說黃道黑。不知那裡是二時。上堂。吃粥吃飯。不覺嚼破舌頭。血濺梵天。四天之下。霈然有餘。玉皇大帝發。追東海龍王。向金輪峰頂鞫勘。頃刻之間。追汝諸人作證見也。且各請依實供通。切忌迴避。儻若不實。喪汝性命。上堂。趙州吃茶。我也怕他。若非債主。便是冤家。倚牆靠壁成群隊。不知誰解辨龍虵。上堂。五百力士揭石義。萬仞崖頭撒手行。十方世界一團鐵。虗空背上白毛生。直饒拈卻膱脂帽子。脫卻鶻臭布衫。向報恩門下。正好吃棒。何故。半夜起來屈膝坐。毛頭星現衲僧前。上堂。三世諸佛。眼裡無筋。六代祖師。皮下無血。明果咬定牙關𨁝跳。也出他圈䙡不得。何故。南泉斬貓兒。上堂雲。參禪人切忌錯用心。悟明見性是錯用心。成佛作祖是錯用心。看經講教是錯用心。行住坐臥是錯用心。吃粥吃飯是錯用心。屙屎送尿是錯用心。一動一靜。一往一來。是錯用心。更有一處錯用心。歸宗不敢與諸人說破。何故。一字入公門。九牛車不出。上堂雲。良工未出。玉石不分。巧冶無人。金沙混雜。縱使無師自悟。向天童門下。正好朝打三千。暮打八百。驀拈拄杖雲。喚作拄杖。玉石不分。不喚作拄杖。金沙混雜。其間一箇半箇。善別端由。管取平步丹霄。苟或未然。卓拄杖雲。急著眼看。僧問。婆子問巖頭。呈橈舞棹則不問。且道婆手中兒子甚處得來。巖頭扣船舷三下。意旨如何。師曰。燋磚打著連底凍。曰。當時若問和尚。如何對他。師曰。一棒打殺。曰。這老和尚大似買帽相頭。師曰。你向甚處見巖頭。曰。劄。師曰。杜撰禪和。曰。婆生七子。六箇不遇知音。祗這一箇也不消得。擲向水中。又且如何。師曰。少賣弄。曰。巖頭當時不覺吐舌。意作麼生。
'Guizong has a case from fifty years ago; today I bring it before you people. And tell me, what case is it? The section chief Wang has lost his warrant.' He mounted the hall: 'The thirty-two marks, the eighty excellences, from morning to dusk chirping and chattering, calling yellow black and black yellow, not knowing where the two times are.' He mounted the hall: 'Eating gruel and eating rice, before one knows it one has bitten through one's tongue, and the blood splashes to the Brahma heaven and all under the four heavens is soaked and more than enough. The Jade Emperor is enraged and summons the Dragon King of the East Sea to be interrogated at the summit of the Golden Wheel Peak. In a moment he will summon you people as witnesses. Each of you, please give your testimony truthfully, and by all means do not evade. If you are not truthful, your lives are forfeit.' He mounted the hall: 'Zhaozhou drank tea — I too am afraid of him. If he is not a creditor, he is an enemy. Leaning on walls and against pillars in crowds — who can tell dragon from snake?' He mounted the hall: 'The five hundred strong men lifting the stone — at the ten-thousand-fathom cliff edge, letting go and walking. The ten directions are one ball of iron; white hair grows on emptiness's back. Even if you pick away the greasy hat and take off the stinking falcon shirt, at the gate of Baoen you still deserve a blow. Why? Rising at midnight and sitting on bended knees, the star of the hair-tip appears before the patch-robed monk.' He mounted the hall: 'The buddhas of the three ages have no sinew in their eyes; the patriarchs of six generations have no blood under their skin. Mingguo clenches his teeth and jumps, and still cannot get out of their loop. Why? Nanquan beheaded the cat.' He mounted the hall: 'Students of Chan must by all means not use the mind wrongly. Awakening clearly and seeing the nature is using the mind wrongly. Becoming a buddha and a patriarch is using the mind wrongly. Reading sutras and lecturing on the teachings is using the mind wrongly. Walking, standing, sitting, lying is using the mind wrongly. Eating gruel and eating rice is using the mind wrongly. Defecating and urinating is using the mind wrongly. One movement and one stillness, one going and one coming, is using the mind wrongly. There is one more place of using the mind wrongly; Guizong does not dare break it open for you people. Why? Once a character enters the government gate, nine oxen cannot pull it out.' He mounted the hall: 'While the fine craftsman has not come forth, jade and stone are not distinguished. With no skilled smelter, gold and sand are mixed. Even if one awakens without a teacher, at the gate of Tiantong one still deserves three thousand blows in the morning and eight hundred in the evening.' Suddenly he picked up his staff and said: 'Call it a staff: jade and stone are not distinguished. Do not call it a staff: gold and sand are mixed. Among them one or two who are good at distinguishing the cause will surely walk the level road to the crimson sky. If not,' he planted his staff and said, 'look sharply.' A monk asked: 'The old woman asked Yantou: Of presenting the oar and dancing the pole I do not ask, but tell me, where did the old woman get the child in her hands? Yantou tapped the boat's side three times. What is the meaning?' The Master said: 'A scorched brick strikes the frozen bottom.' He said: 'If at that time someone had asked the Master, how would you have answered him?' The Master said: 'One blow and kill him.' He said: 'This old monk is very much like buying a hat to fit the head.' The Master said: 'Where do you see Yantou?' He said: 'A memo.' The Master said: 'A fabricated Chan monk.' He said: 'The old woman bore seven children; six did not meet a kindred spirit, and this one alone was of no use either. She threw it into the water. What then?' The Master said: 'Stop showing off.' He said: 'Yantou at that time unwittingly stuck out his tongue. What is the meaning?'
師曰。樂則同歡。曰。僧問雲門。如何是清淨法身。雲門曰。華藥欄。此意如何。師曰。深沙努眼睛。問。祇這是埋沒自己。祇這不是孤負先聖。去此二途。和泥合水處。請師道。師曰。玉箸撐虎口。曰。一言金石談來重。萬事鴻毛脫去輕。師曰。莫謾老僧好。問。人皆畏炎熱。我愛夏日長。燻風自南來。殿閣生微涼時如何。師曰。倒戈卸甲。虎丘忌日。拈香曰。平生沒興。撞著這無意智老和尚。做盡伎倆。湊泊不得。從此卸卻干戈。隨分著衣吃飯。二十年來坐曲彔木。懸羊頭賣狗肉。知他有甚憑據。雖然。一年一度燒香日。千古令人恨轉深。師於室中能鍛鍊耆艾。故世稱大慧與師居處為二甘露門。甞誡徒曰。衲僧家著草鞋住院。何啻如蚖虵戀窟乎。隆興改元。六月十三日。奄然而化。塔全身於本山。
The Master said: 'When happy, rejoice together.' He said: 'A monk asked Yunmen: what is the pure dharma body? Yunmen said: The flower and herb railing. What does this mean?' The Master said: 'The deep sand god strains his eyes.' He asked: 'Taking just this is burying oneself; taking just this is failing the former sages. Setting aside these two paths, in the place where mud and water mix, I beg the Master to speak.' The Master said: 'Jade chopsticks prop open the tiger's mouth.' He said: 'One word of gold and stone weighs heavily when spoken; ten thousand matters of goose down grow light when shed.' The Master said: 'Do not cheat this old monk.' He asked: 'All men fear the heat; I love the long summer day. When the warm wind comes from the south and the halls and pavilions grow slightly cool — what then?' The Master said: 'Ground the weapons and take off the armor.' On Huqiu's memorial day he picked up incense and said: 'All my life I have had no luck, and I ran into this senseless old monk. I exhausted every trick and could not get at it. From then on I grounded my weapons and simply wore clothes and ate food as it came. For twenty years I have sat on the crooked couch, hanging a sheep's head and selling dog meat. Who knows what evidence he has? Even so, once a year on the incense day, the hatred of a thousand ages only deepens.' The Master could temper even the aged in his room, so the world called the places of Dahui and the Master the two gates of sweet dew. He once warned his disciples: 'That a patch-robed monk should put on straw sandals and dwell in a monastery — how is that any better than a lizard clinging to its hole?' In the first year of Longxing, on the thirteenth day of the sixth month, he passed away peacefully. His whole body was enshrined in a stupa on his own mountain.
育王裕禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yuwang Yu
福州清涼坦禪師
Chan Master Tan of Qingliang, Fuzhou
有僧舉大慧竹篦話請益。師示以偈曰。徑山有箇竹篦。直下別無道理。佛殿廚庫三門。穿過衲僧眼耳。其僧言下有省。
A monk brought up Dahui's bamboo staff story and asked for instruction. The Master showed him a verse: 'Jingshan has a bamboo staff; directly beneath it there is no other principle. The buddha hall, the kitchen, the storehouse, the three gates — they pass through the patch-robed monk's eyes and ears.' The monk had an awakening at these words.
臨安府淨慈水庵師一禪師
Chan Master Shui'an Shiyi of Jingci, Lin'an Prefecture
婺州馬氏子。十六披削。首參雪峰慧照禪師。照舉藏身無跡話問之。師數日方明。呈偈曰。藏身無跡更無藏。脫體無依便廝當。古鏡不勞還自照。淡煙和霧濕秋光。照質之曰。畢竟那裡是藏身無跡處。師曰。嗄。照曰。無蹤跡處因甚麼莫藏身。師曰。石虎吞卻木羊兒。照深肯之。住後。上堂。舉。圓悟師翁道。參禪參到無參處。參到無參始徹頭。水庵則不然。參禪參到無參處。參到無參未徹頭。若也欲窮千里目。直須更上一層樓。上堂。凍雲欲雪未雪。普賢象駕崢嶸。嶺梅半合半開。少室風光漏洩。便恁麼去猶是半提。作麼生是全提底事。無智人前莫說。打你頭破額裂。上堂。舉。法眼示眾曰。盡十方世界明皎皎地。若有一絲頭。即是一絲頭。師竪起拂子曰。還見麼。穿過髑髏猶未覺。法燈雲。盡十方世界自然明皎皎地。若有一絲頭。不是一絲頭。師曰。夜來月色十分好。今日秋山無限清。上堂。寂然不動。感而遂通古人恁麼說話。大似預搔待癢。若教渠踏著衲僧關捩。管取別有生涯。喝一喝。卓拄杖下座。
He was a son of the Ma family of Wuzhou. He was shaved at sixteen. He first studied under Chan Master Huizhao of Xuefeng. Zhao brought up the story of 'hiding the body without trace' and asked him. It was several days before the Master understood. He presented a verse: 'Hiding the body without trace, and no hiding either; shedding the body without reliance, one is just so. The ancient mirror need not be turned to shine on itself; thin mist and fog wet the autumn light.' Zhao pressed him: 'After all, where is the place of hiding the body without trace?' The Master said: 'Ha!' Zhao said: 'Where there is no trace, why not hide the body?' The Master said: 'The stone tiger swallows the wooden lamb.' Zhao deeply approved him. After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'Bring it up. My late master's master, Yuanwu, said: Studying Chan until you reach the place of no studying — only when you reach no studying are you through to the top. Shui'an is not so. Studying Chan until you reach the place of no studying — reaching no studying, you are not yet through to the top. If you would exhaust the view of a thousand li, you must climb one more storey.' He mounted the hall: 'The frozen clouds would snow and do not snow; Samantabhadra's elephant carriage is towering. The ridge plum is half closed and half open; Shaoshi's scenery leaks out. Going along just so is still the half-raised. What is the wholly raised matter? Do not speak it before a man without wisdom — I will break your head and split your forehead.' He mounted the hall: 'Bring it up. Fayan addressed the assembly: The whole ten directions are bright and clear. If there is a single thread's head, then it is a single thread's head. The Master held up his fly whisk and said: Do you see it? It goes through the skull and one still does not notice. Fadeng said: The whole ten directions are of themselves bright and clear; if there is a single thread's head, it is not a single thread's head. The Master said: Last night the moonlight was very good, and today the autumn mountains are infinitely clear.' He mounted the hall: 'Still and unmoving, yet moved and thereby penetrating — the ancients spoke thus, and it is very much like scratching before the itch comes. If you let him tread on a patch-robed monk's pivot, surely he will have another livelihood.' He shouted once, planted his staff and descended.
安吉州道場無庵法全禪師
Chan Master Wu'an Faquan of Daochang, Anji Prefecture
姑蘇陳氏子。東齋川和尚為落髮。師久依佛智。每入室。智以狗子無佛性話問之。師罔對。一日。聞僧舉五祖頌雲趙州露刃劒。忽大悟。有偈曰。皷吹轟轟袒半肩。龍樓香噴益州船。有時赤腳弄明月。踏破五湖波底天。住後。上堂。欲得現前。莫存順逆。卓拄杖雲。三祖大師變作馬面夜叉。向東弗於逮．西瞿耶尼．南贍部洲．北鬱單越。卻來山僧手裡。首身元來只是一條黑漆拄杖。還見麼。直饒見得。入地獄如箭射。卓拄杖。下座。上堂。拈拄杖曰。汝等諸人。箇箇頂天立地。肩橫楖栗。到處行腳。勘驗諸方。更來這裡覓箇甚麼。才輕輕拶著。便言天台普請。南嶽遊山。我且問你。還曾收得大食國裡寶刀麼。卓拄杖曰。切忌口衘羊角。僧問。牛頭未見四祖時如何。師曰。天下無貧人。曰。見後如何。師曰。四海無富漢。乾道己丑七月二十五日。將入寂。眾求偈。師瞪目下視。眾請益堅。遂書無無二字。棄筆而逝。火後設利五色。塔於金斗峰。
He was a son of the Chen family of Gusu. Monk Shang of Dongzhai shaved him. The Master long relied on Fozhi. Each time he entered the room, Zhi asked him the story of the dog having no buddha-nature, and the Master had no reply. One day, hearing a monk bring up Wuzu's verse about Zhaozhou's drawn sword, he suddenly was greatly awakened. He had a verse: 'Drums and horns blare, the shoulder half bared; the dragon tower's incense sprays toward the boat of Yizhou. Sometimes barefoot he plays with the bright moon and treads through the sky at the bottom of the five lakes.' After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'If you would have it appear before you, do not harbor favorable or adverse. He planted his staff and said: The Third Patriarch became a horse-faced yaksha and went to Purvavideha, Aparagodaniya, Jambudvipa and Uttarakuru, then came back into this mountain monk's hand. Head and body are originally only a single black-lacquered staff. Do you see it? Even if you see it, entering hell is like an arrow's flight.' He planted his staff and descended. He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'You people each stand with head to heaven and foot to earth, your shoulder bearing the jujube staff, on pilgrimage everywhere, testing and examining the regions. What more do you come here to seek? The moment one presses you lightly, you say the general call is at Tiantai and the mountain tour at Nanyue. Now I ask you: have you ever obtained the precious sword of the land of Tashi? He planted his staff and said: 'By all means do not carry a sheep's horn in your mouth.' A monk asked: 'What about before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch?' The Master said: 'In the whole world there are no poor men.' He said: 'And after meeting?' The Master said: 'In the four seas there are no rich fellows.' On the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of the ji-chou year of Qiandao, when he was about to enter quiescence, the assembly asked for a verse. The Master glared and looked down. The assembly pressed more firmly. So he wrote the two characters 'no no,' threw down the brush and passed away. After the fire the relics were five-colored. A stupa was built at Jindou Peak.
泉州延福寒巖慧升禪師
Chan Master Huisheng of Hanyan, Yanfu, Quanzhou
建寧人也。上堂。喝一喝曰。盡十方世界。會十世古今。都盧在裡許。畐畐塞塞了也。若乃放開一針鋒許。則大海西流。巨嶽倒卓。黿鼉魚龍。鰕蟹蚯蚓。盡向平地上湧出波瀾。游泳鼓舞。然雖如是。更須向百尺竿頭自進一步。則步步踏轉無盡藏輪。方知道鼻孔搭在上唇。眉毛不在眼下。還相委悉麼。復喝一喝曰。切忌轉喉觸諱。
He was a man of Jianning. He mounted the hall, shouted once and said: 'The whole ten directions and the ten ages, ancient and modern, are all in here, crammed and stuffed full. But if one lets go even a needle's point, then the great sea flows west, the great mountains stand upside down, and the turtles, alligators, fish and dragons, the shrimps, crabs and earthworms all well up in waves on level ground and swim and dance. Even so, one must still take one step forward from the top of a hundred-foot pole, and then every step turns the wheel of the inexhaustible storehouse. Only then does one know that the nostrils rest on the upper lip and the eyebrows are not under the eyes. Do you understand thoroughly?' He shouted once more and said: 'By all means do not turn your throat and tread on taboos.'
大溈泰禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dawei Tai
潭州慧通清旦禪師
Chan Master Qingdan of Huitong, Tanzhou
蓬州嚴氏子。初出關至德山。值泰上堂。舉。趙州曰。臺山婆子已為汝勘破了也。且道意在甚麼處。良久曰。就地撮將黃葉去。入山推出白雲來。師聞釋然。翌日入室。山問。前百丈不落因果。因甚麼墮野狐。後百丈不昧因果。因甚麼脫野狐。師曰。好與一坑埋卻。住後。上堂。說佛說祖。正如好肉剜瘡。舉古舉今。猶若殘羹餿飯。一聞便悟。已落第二頭。一舉便行。早是不著便。須知箇事。如天普蓋。似地普擎。師子遊行。不求伴侶。壯士展臂。不借他力。佛祖拈掇不起。衲僧願見無門。迷悟雙忘。聖凡路絕。且道從上諸聖以何法示人。喝一喝曰。莫妄想。佛性和尚忌日。上堂。三腳驢子弄蹄行。步步相隨不相到。樹頭驚起雙雙魚。拈來一老一不老。為憐松竹引清風。其奈出門便是草。因喚檀郎識得渠。大機大用都推倒。燒香勘證見根源。糞埽堆頭拾得寶。叢林浩浩謾商量。勸君莫謗先師好。
He was a son of the Yan family of Pengzhou. He first went out through the pass to Deshan, and there met Tai mounting the hall and bringing up Zhaozhou's words: The old woman of Mount Tai has already been tested and seen through by you. And tell me, where is the meaning? After a long while he said: Taking up the yellow leaves from the ground, and pushing out the white clouds when entering the mountain. The Master heard it and was released. The next day he entered the room. Shan asked: 'The former Baizhang did not fall into cause and effect, so why did he fall into the wild fox? The later Baizhang did not obscure cause and effect, so why did he escape the wild fox?' The Master said: 'Good to bury him in one pit.' After he took up residence he mounted the hall: 'To speak of buddha and speak of patriarch is just like gouging a sore out of good flesh. To bring up the ancients and bring up the moderns is like leftover soup and sour rice. To understand as soon as one hears is already to fall into the second. To act as soon as one raises it is already not to have got it. You must know that this matter is like heaven covering all and earth upholding all. The lion walks and does not seek companions; the strong man stretches his arm and does not borrow another's strength. The buddhas and patriarchs cannot lift it up; the patch-robed monk has no gate to see it. Delusion and awakening both forgotten, the road of sage and ordinary is cut off. And tell me, by what dharma did the sages from of old show it to people?' He shouted once and said: 'Do not indulge in deluded thinking.' On the memorial day of the buddha-nature elder he mounted the hall: 'The three-legged donkey walks on its hooves; step by step they follow each other yet do not arrive. In the treetop two fishes are startled up; picking them up, one is old and one is not. Out of pity for the pines and bamboo one draws the clear wind, but alas, going out the gate one is in grass. Because he called and the donor's son recognized him, the great working and great function are all pushed over. Burning incense to test and prove and see the source, one finds a treasure at the top of the dung heap. The monasteries in their vastness idly deliberate — I urge you not to slander the late master.'
澧州靈巖仲安禪師
Chan Master Zhong'an of Lingyan, Lizhou
幼為比丘。壯遊講肆。後謁圓悟於蔣山。時佛性為座元。師扣之。即領旨。逮性住德山。遣師至鍾阜通嗣書。圓悟問曰。千里馳來。不辱宗風。公案現成。如何通信。師曰。覿面相呈。更無回互。曰。此是德山底。那箇是上座底。師曰。豈有第二人。曰。背後底。聻。師投書。悟笑曰。作家禪客。天然有在。師曰。付與蔣山。次至僧堂前。師捧書問訊首座。座曰。玄沙白紙。此自何來。師曰。久默斯要。不務速說。今日拜呈。幸希一覧。座便喝。師曰。作家首座。座又喝。師以書便打。座擬議。師曰。未明三八九。不免自沈吟。師以書復打一下。曰。接時。圓悟與佛眼見。悟曰。打我首座死了也。佛眼曰。官馬廝踢。有甚憑據。師曰。說甚官馬廝踢。正是龍象蹴踏。悟喚師至。曰。我五百人首座。你為甚麼打他。曰。和尚也須吃一頓始得。悟顧佛眼吐舌。眼曰。未在。卻顧師。問曰。空手把鉏頭。步行騎水牛。人從橋上過。橋流水不流。意作麼生。師鞠躬曰。所供並是詣實。眼笑曰。元來是屋裡人。又往見五祖自和尚。通法眷書。祖曰。書裡說箇甚麼。師曰。文彩已彰。曰。畢竟說箇甚麼。師曰。當陽揮寶劒。曰。近前來。這裡不識幾箇字。師曰。莫詐敗。祖顧侍者曰。是那裡僧。曰。此上座向曾在和尚會下去。祖曰。怪得恁麼滑頭。師曰。被和尚鈍置來。祖乃將書於香爐上燻。曰。南無三曼多沒陀南。師近前。彈指而已。祖便開書。回德山日。佛果佛眼皆有偈送之。未幾。靈巖虗席。衲子投牒。乞師住持。遂師法焉。上堂。參禪不究淵源。觸途盡為留礙。所以守其靜默。澄寂虗閑。墮在毒海。以弱勝強。自是非他。立人我量。見處偏枯。遂致優劣不分。照不構用。用不離窠。此乃學處不玄。盡為流俗。到這裡。須知有殺中透脫。活處藏機。佛不可知。祖莫能測。所以古人道。有時先照後用。
As a youth he was a monk, and in his prime he traveled among the lecture halls. Later he called on Yuanwu at Jiangshan. At that time Foxing was the head seat. The Master questioned him and at once grasped the purport. When Xing took up residence at Deshan, he sent the Master to Zhongfu to deliver a letter of succession. Yuanwu asked: 'Having sped a thousand li without disgracing the school's style, and with the case already complete before you, how do you communicate it?' The Master said: 'Presenting it face to face, with no mutual turning.' He asked: 'This is Deshan's — which is the Reverend's?' The Master said: 'How could there be a second man?' He asked: 'And the one behind?' The Master delivered the letter. Wu laughed and said: 'A master craftsman Chan guest, naturally so.' The Master said: 'I hand it to Jiangshan.' Next, before the monks' hall, the Master held the letter and greeted the prior with joined palms. The prior said: 'Xuansha's blank paper — where did this come from?' The Master said: 'Long silent on this essential matter, one does not strive to speak it quickly. Today I bow and present it; may you deign to glance at it.' The prior at once shouted. The Master said: 'A master craftsman prior.' The prior shouted again. The Master struck him with the letter. The prior was about to deliberate. The Master said: 'Not yet clear on three-eight-nine, one cannot but ponder for oneself.' He struck once more with the letter and said: 'Take it.' Yuanwu and Foyan saw it. Wu said: 'You have beaten my prior to death.' Foyan said: 'A government horse kicks and stales — what evidence is there?' The Master said: 'What government horse kicking and staling? This is precisely a dragon elephant's trampling.' Wu called the Master over and said: 'My prior over five hundred men — why did you beat him?' He said: 'The Master too must take a beating.' Wu turned to Foyan and stuck out his tongue. Yan said: 'Not yet.' Then he turned to the Master and asked: 'Empty-handed holding a hoe, walking on foot riding a water buffalo; a man crosses the bridge, the bridge flows and the water does not. What is the meaning?' The Master bowed and said: 'What I have offered is altogether truthful.' Yan laughed and said: 'So you are a man of the house.' He also went to see Elder Wuzu Zi and delivered a letter to a dharma relative. Zu said: 'What does the letter say?' The Master said: 'The literary coloring is already manifest.' He asked: 'After all, what does it say?' The Master said: 'Wielding the precious sword in broad daylight.' He said: 'Come closer. I do not know many characters here.' The Master said: 'Do not feign defeat.' Zu turned to his attendant and said: 'A monk from where?' He said: 'This Reverend once studied under the Master's assembly.' Zu said: 'No wonder he is so slippery.' The Master said: 'I have been dulled to death by the Master.' Zu then held the letter over the incense burner and said: 'Namo samanta buddhanam.' The Master came forward and only snapped his fingers. Zu then opened the letter. On the day he returned to Deshan, Foguo and Foyan each had a verse to send him off. Before long Lingyan fell vacant, and the patch-robed monks submitted a petition begging the Master to be abbot, and so he took charge of the dharma there. He mounted the hall: 'If one studies Chan without investigating the source, whatever one meets becomes an obstruction. So one keeps to silence and stillness, to emptiness and idleness, and falls into the sea of poison. Using the weak to overcome the strong, taking oneself as right and others as wrong, one sets up a measure of self and other. One's insight is withered and partial, so that better and worse are not distinguished. Illumination does not construct function; function does not leave its nest. This is because one's place of study is not mysterious and is altogether common. Having come here, you must know there is a breaking free within killing and a hidden working within living. The buddhas cannot know it, the patriarchs cannot fathom it. Therefore the ancients said: Sometimes illuminate first and function after,'
且要共你商量。有時先用後照。你須是箇漢始得。有時照用同時。你又作麼生抵當。有時照用不同時。你又向甚麼處湊泊。還知麼。穿楊箭與驚人句。不是臨時學得來。
'and one wants only to deliberate it with you. Sometimes function first and illuminate after — you must be a real man to do it. Sometimes illumination and function are simultaneous — how will you withstand it? Sometimes illumination and function are not simultaneous — where will you settle? Do you understand? The arrow that pierces the willow and the line that startles people are not learned on the spot.'
成都府正法灝禪師
Chan Master Hao of Zhengfa, Chengdu Prefecture
上堂。舉永嘉到曹谿因緣。乃曰。要識永嘉麼。掀飜海嶽求知己。要識祖師麼。撥動乾坤建太平。二老不知何處去。卓拄杖曰。宗風千古播嘉聲。
He mounted the hall and brought up the story of Yongjia's arrival at Caoxi. Then he said: 'Do you want to know Yongjia? Overturning the seas and mountains, he sought a kindred spirit. Do you want to know the patriarch? Stirring heaven and earth, he established peace. Where the two elders have gone, no one knows.' He planted his staff and said: 'The school's style for a thousand ages spreads its fine sound.'
成都府昭覺辯禪師
Chan Master Bian of Zhaojue, Chengdu Prefecture
上堂。毫𨤲有差。天地懸隔。隔江人唱鷓鴣詞。錯認胡笳十八拍。要會麼。欲得現前。莫存順逆。五湖煙浪有誰爭。自是不歸歸便得。
He mounted the hall: 'A hair's breadth of difference and heaven and earth are far apart. Across the river someone sings a partridge song, and one mistakes it for the Eighteen Beats of the Barbarian Reed Pipe. Do you want to understand? If you would have it appear before you, do not harbor favorable or adverse. In the misty waves of the five lakes, who contends? It is only that one does not return; returning, one has it.'
護國元禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huguo Yuan
台州國清簡堂行機禪師
Chan Master Xingji of Jiantang, Guoqing, Taizhou
本郡人。姓楊氏。風姿挺異。才壓儒林。年二十五。棄妻孥。學出世法。晚見此庵。密有契證。出應莞山。刀耕火種。單丁者一十七年。甞有偈雲。地爐無火客囊空。雪似楊華落歲窮。拾得斷麻穿壞衲。不知身在寂寥中。每謂人曰。某猶未穩在。豈以住山樂吾事邪。一日偶看斫樹倒地。忽然大悟。平昔礙膺之物。泮然冰釋。未幾。有江州圓通之命。乃曰。吾道將行。即欣然曳杖而去。登座說法雲。圓通不開生藥鋪。單單只賣死貓頭。不知那箇無思算。吃著通身冷汗流。上堂。單明自已。樂是苦因。趣向宗乘。地獄劫住。五日一參。三八普說。自揚家醜。更若問理問事。問心問性。克由叵耐。若是英靈漢。窺藩不入。據鼎不甞。便於未有生佛已前轉得身。卻於今時大官路上捷行闊步。終不向老鼠窟．草窠裡頭出頭沒。若也根性陋劣。要去有滋味處咬嚼。遇著義學阿師。遞相錮鏴。直饒說得雲興雨現。也是蝦蟇化龍。下梢依舊。吃泥吃土。堪作甚麼。上堂。仲秋八月旦。庭戶入新涼。不露風骨句。愁人知夜長。上堂。無隔宿恩。可參臨濟禪。有肯諾意。難續楊岐派。窮廝煎。餓廝炒。大海祇將折箸攪。你死我活。猛火然鐺煑佛喋。恁麼作用。方可撐門拄戶。更說聲和響順。形直影端。驢年也未夢見。僧問。三聖問雪峰。透網金鱗。未審以何為食。峰雲。待汝出網來。即向汝道。意旨如何。師曰。同途不同轍。曰。三聖道。一千五百人善知識。話頭也不識。峰雲。老僧住持事繁。又作麼生。師曰。前箭猶輕後箭深。曰。祇如雪竇道。可惜放過。好與三十棒。這棒一棒也較不得。直是罕遇作家。意又作麼生。師曰。陣敗說兵書。曰。這棒是三聖合吃。雪峰合吃。師以拂子擊禪床曰。這裡薦取。示眾雲。衲僧拄杖子。不用則已。用則如鴆鳥落水。魚鼈皆死。正按傍提。風颯颯地。獨步大方。殺活在我。所以道。
He was a man of this prefecture, of the Yang family. His bearing was outstanding and his talent overtopped the scholars. At twenty-five he abandoned wife and children to study the world-transcending dharma. In his later years he met Ci'an and secretly had an accord and realization. He came forth to answer the call at Wanshan, practicing slash-and-burn farming, a lone man for seventeen years. He once had a verse: 'The earth stove has no fire and the traveler's bag is empty; the snow falls like willow catkins as the year ends. Picking up broken hemp to mend the worn robe, one does not know one is in solitude.' He often told people: 'I am still not settled. How could dwelling on a mountain be my pleasure?' One day, happening to watch a tree being felled and fall to the ground, he suddenly was greatly awakened, and the thing that had blocked his breast for years melted away like ice. Before long there came the appointment to Yuantong in Jiangzhou, and he said: 'My way is about to go forth.' And he cheerfully dragged his staff and left. Ascending the seat, he preached: 'Yuantong does not open a shop of raw medicines; it sells only dead cat heads. Who knows which one, without a thought or reckoning, eats it and breaks into a cold sweat all over?' He mounted the hall: 'To make clear only oneself — joy is the cause of suffering. To head for the school's vehicle — one dwells in the kalpa of hell. Assemblies every five days and general addresses on the three-eight days — one parades one's own family's shame. And if you further ask about principle and ask about matters, ask about mind and ask about nature, it is utterly unbearable. If you are a spirited man, you peer over the fence and do not enter, you set up the cauldron and do not taste, and you turn your body before the buddha was born; then on today's high road of the great officials you walk briskly with long strides, and never do you bob up and down in a rat hole or a grass nest. But if your faculties are mean and inferior and you must go bite and chew where there is flavor, then you will meet a doctrinal master and lock each other up. Even if you speak until clouds rise and rain appears, you are still a frog turning into a dragon, and in the end you still eat mud and dirt — what use is that?' He mounted the hall: 'The first of mid-autumn's eighth month, a new cool enters the courtyard. A phrase that does not reveal wind and bone — the sorrowful man knows the night is long.' He mounted the hall: 'Without a night's-old grudge, one can study Linji's Chan. With a mind of assent, it is hard to continue the Yangqi line. Simmer the poor, fry the hungry; with a broken chopstick one stirs the great sea. You die and I live; on a fierce fire the pan boils the buddha's dishes. Only with such a working can one prop up the gate and hold up the house. To speak further of voice harmonizing with echo and form straight with shadow upright — in the year of the donkey one has not dreamed of it.' A monk asked: 'Sansheng asked Xuefeng: the golden-scaled fish that has passed through the net — what does it eat? Feng said: When you come out of the net, then I will tell you. What is the meaning?' The Master said: 'Same road, different ruts.' He asked: 'Sansheng said: A teacher of fifteen hundred men does not even know a topic. Feng said: This old monk's abbatial affairs are many. What then?' The Master said: 'The first arrow is still light; the second arrow is deep.' He asked: 'Take Xuedou's words: It is a pity to let it pass; he well deserves thirty blows. This blow cannot be matched — it is truly rare to meet a master craftsman. What is the meaning?' The Master said: 'Defeated in battle, one speaks of the art of war.' He asked: 'Should Sansheng take this blow, or Xuefeng?' The Master struck the meditation seat with his fly whisk and said: 'Grasp it here.' Addressing the assembly he said: 'A patch-robed monk's staff — if he does not use it, well and good; if he uses it, it is like a poisonous bird falling into water and all the fish and turtles die. Pressing straight and lifting sideways, it goes soughing. Walking alone in the great square, killing and giving life are mine. Therefore it is said:
千人排門。不如一人拔關。若一人拔關。千人萬人得到安樂田地。還知麼。鴛鴦繡出從君看。不把金針度與人。示眾雲。觀色即空成大智。故不住生死。觀空即色成大悲。故不證涅槃。生死不住。涅槃不證。漢地不收。秦地不管。且道在甚麼處安身立命。莫是昭昭於心目之間。而相不可覩。晃晃於色塵之內。而理不可分麼。莫是起坐鎮相隨。語默同居止麼。若恁麼。總是髑髏前敲磕。須知過量人自有過量用。且作麼生是過量用。北斗藏身雖有語。出群消息少人知。
'A thousand men pushing at the gate is not as good as one man drawing the bolt. If one man draws the bolt, a thousand and ten thousand men reach the field of peace and joy. Do you understand? The mandarin duck embroidered — you may look at it as you please; the golden needle is not passed on to others.' Addressing the assembly he said: 'To contemplate form as emptiness and accomplish great wisdom, and so not dwell in birth and death. To contemplate emptiness as form and accomplish great compassion, and so not realize nirvana. Not dwelling in birth and death, not realizing nirvana, neither Han nor Qin receives one. And tell me, where does one settle the body and establish life? Is it that it is bright and clear between mind and eye, yet its mark cannot be seen, and shining within the dust of form, yet its principle cannot be divided? Is it that rising and sitting it always follows, and speaking and silent it dwells as one? If so, it is altogether knocking at the skull. You must know that a man of surpassing measure has of himself a surpassing use. And what is the surpassing use? Though there are words for hiding the body in the North Dipper, few know the message of rising above the crowd.'
鎮江府焦山或庵師體禪師
Chan Master Shiti of Huo'an, Jiaoshan, Zhenjiang Prefecture