Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

台州羅氏子。上堂。舉臨濟示眾四喝公案。乃召眾曰。這箇公案。天下老宿拈掇甚多。第恐皆未盡善。焦山不免四稜著地。與諸人分明註解一徧。如何是踞地師子。咄。如何是金剛王寶劒。咄。如何是探竿影草。咄。如何是一喝不作一喝用。咄。若也未會。拄杖子與焦山吐露看。卓一下曰。笑裡有刀。又卓一下曰。毒虵無眼。又卓一下曰。忍俊不禁。又卓一下曰。出門是路。更有一機。舉話長老也理會不得。上堂。年年浴佛在今朝。目擊迦維路不遙。果是當時曾示現。宜乎惡水驀頭澆。上堂。熱月須搖扇。寒來旋著衣。若言空過日。大似不知時。上堂。道生一。無角鐵牛眠少室。一生二。祖父開田說大義。二生三。梁間紫燕語呢喃。三生萬物。男兒活計離窠窟。多處添。少處減。大蟲怕吃生人膽。有若無。實若虗。爭掩驪龍明月珠。是則是。祇如焦山坐斷諸方舌頭一句。作麼生道。肚無偏僻病。不怕冷油韲。拍禪床。下座。僧問。如何是即心即佛。師曰。鼎州出獰爭神。曰。如何是非心非佛。師曰。閩蜀同風。曰。如何是不是心．不是佛．不是物。師曰。窮坑難滿。問。起滅不停時如何。師曰。謝供養。問。我有沒絃琴。久居在曠野。不是不會彈。未遇知音者。知音既遇。未審如何品弄。師曰。鐘作鐘鳴。皷作皷響。曰。雲門放洞山三頓棒。意旨如何。師曰。和身倒。和身攂。曰。飯袋子。江西湖南便恁麼去。又作麼生。師曰。淚出痛腸。曰。真金須是紅爐煅。白玉還他妙手磨。師曰。添一點。也難為。室中常舉苕帚柄。問學者曰。依俙苕帚柄。髣髴赤斑虵。眾皆下語不契。有僧請益。師示以頌曰。依俙苕帚柄。髣髴赤斑虵。棒下無生忍。臨機不識爺。淳熈己亥八月朔示微疾。染翰別郡守曾公。逮夜半。書偈辭眾曰。鐵樹開華。雄雞生卵。七十二年。搖籃繩斷。擲筆示寂。

He was a son of the Luo family of Taizhou. He mounted the hall and brought up the case of Linji's four shouts to the assembly. Then he called the assembly and said: 'This case has been lifted up by many of the old worthies of the world, but I fear none has done it perfectly. Jiaoshan cannot but land on all four corners and annotate it clearly for you people. What is the lion crouching on the ground? Ha! What is the vajra king's precious sword? Ha! What is the probing pole and shadow grass? Ha! What is one shout that is not used as a shout? Ha! If you still do not understand, the staff will reveal it for Jiaoshan.' He planted it once and said: 'In the laugh there is a knife.' He planted it again and said: 'The poisonous snake has no eyes.' He planted it again and said: 'Cannot hold back the laughter.' He planted it again and said: 'Going out the gate is the road.' There is one more working that even the elders who bring up the words cannot grasp. He mounted the hall: 'Year after year the buddha is bathed on this day; seeing it, the road to Kapilavastu is not far. If he truly showed himself then, it is fitting that dirty water be poured over his head.' He mounted the hall: 'In the hot months one must wave a fan; when the cold comes one at once puts on clothes. To say one has passed the day in vain is very much like not knowing the season.' He mounted the hall: 'The Way gave birth to one: the hornless iron ox sleeps at Shaoshi. One gave birth to two: grandfather opened the fields and spoke of the great meaning. Two gave birth to three: the purple swallows under the beam twitter and chatter. Three gave birth to the ten thousand things: a man's livelihood leaves its nest. Where there is much, add; where there is little, take away — the great tiger fears eating a living man's gall. Having as if not having, full as if empty — how would one hide the black dragon's bright moon pearl? True, true — but take Jiaoshan's one phrase that sits firm and cuts off the tongues of the regions: how do you say it? A belly without a partial illness does not fear cold pickled oil.' He struck the meditation seat and descended. A monk asked: 'What is mind itself is buddha?' The Master said: 'Dingzhou produces fierce wrangling gods.' He asked: 'What is not mind, not buddha?' The Master said: 'Min and Shu have the same customs.' He asked: 'What is not mind, not buddha, not a thing?' The Master said: 'A bottomless pit is hard to fill.' He asked: 'What about when arising and ceasing do not stop?' The Master said: 'Thank you for the offering.' He asked: 'I have a stringless lute, long kept in the wilderness. It is not that I cannot play it; I have not met one who knows the tone. Now that I have met one who knows the tone, how should it be played?' The Master said: 'The bell makes a bell sound, the drum makes a drum sound.' He asked: 'Yunmen gave Dongshan three blows — what is the meaning?' The Master said: 'Fall body and all, pound body and all.' He asked: 'Rice bag, going on thus through Jiangxi and Hunan — what then?' The Master said: 'Tears come from a painful heart.' He said: 'True gold must be forged in the red furnace; white jade must be returned to a fine hand to polish.' The Master said: 'Add one dot and it is still hard to do.' In his room he often held up the handle of a broom and asked the students: 'Vaguely a broom handle, as if a red-spotted snake.' The assembly all offered words and none accorded. A monk asked for instruction, and the Master showed him a verse: 'Vaguely a broom handle, as if a red-spotted snake. Under the blow, the unborn patience — facing the working, one does not know one's father.' On the first day of the eighth month of the ji-hai year of Chunxi he showed a slight illness and wrote in ink a farewell to the prefect Lord Zeng. At midnight he wrote a verse and took leave of the assembly: 'The iron tree blooms; the rooster lays an egg. Seventy-two years; the cradle rope snaps.' He threw down the brush and passed away.

常州華藏湛堂智深禪師

Chan Master Zhishen of Zhan Tang, Huazang, Changzhou

武林人也。佛涅槃日。上堂。兜率降生。雙林示滅。掘地討天。虗空釘橛。四十九年。播土揚塵。三百餘會。納盡敗缺。盡力布網張羅。未免喚龜作鼈。末後拘屍城畔。槨示雙趺。旁人冷眼。看來大似弄巧成拙。卓拄杖曰。若無這箇道理。千古之下。誰把口說。且道是甚麼道理。痴人面前切忌漏洩。

He was a man of Wulin. On the day of the buddha's nirvana he mounted the hall: 'Born down from Tushita, shown extinct at Twin Trees. Digging earth and seeking heaven, driving a peg into the void. Forty-nine years scattering soil and raising dust; more than three hundred assemblies taking in every defeat. Exhausting every effort to spread nets and snares, one cannot avoid calling a turtle a soft-shelled turtle. At the last, beside the city of Kushinagara, the coffin showed the two feet. To a bystander's cool eye it is very much like being too clever and making a fool of oneself.' He planted his staff and said: 'But for this principle, for a thousand ages who would put it to the mouth? And tell me, what principle is it? Before a fool, by all means do not leak it.'

參政錢端禮居士

The Layman Qian Duanli, Assistant Administrator

字處和。號松窻。從此庵發明己事。後於宗門旨趣一一極之。淳熈丙申冬。簡堂歸住平田。遂與往來。丁酉秋微恙。修書召堂及國清瑞巖主僧。有訣別之語。堂與二禪詣榻次。公起趺坐。言笑移時。即書曰。浮世虗幻。本無去來。四大五蘊。必歸終盡。雖佛祖具大威德力。亦不能免。這一著子。天下老和尚．一切善知識還有跳得過者無。蓋為地水火風。因緣和合。暫時湊泊。不可錯認為己有。大丈夫磊磊落落。當用處把定。立處皆真。順風使帆。上下水皆可。因齋慶贊。去留自在。此是上來諸聖。開大解脫。一路涅槃門。本來清淨空寂境界。無為之大道也。今吾如是。豈不快哉。塵勞外緣。一時掃盡。荷諸山垂顧。鹹願證明。伏惟珍重。置筆顧簡堂曰。某坐去好。臥去好。堂曰。相公去便了。理會甚坐與臥耶。公笑曰。法兄當為祖道自愛。遂斂目而逝。

His courtesy name was Chuhe, his sobriquet Pine Window. He made his own matter clear through Ci'an, and afterward exhausted the purport of the school one by one. In the winter of the bing shen year of Chunxi, Jiantang returned to reside at Pingtian, and so they associated. In the autumn of the ding you year he had a slight illness, and wrote a letter summoning Tang and the abbots of Guoqing and Ruiyan, with words of final parting. Tang and the two Chan masters came to his couch. The gentleman sat up cross-legged and talked and laughed for a while, then wrote: 'The floating world is illusion; originally there is no going or coming. The four elements and five aggregates must in the end return to extinction. Even the buddhas and patriarchs with their great majestic power cannot escape it. This one move — is there any old monk of the world, any good friend, who can leap over it? For earth, water, fire and wind come together by conditions and are temporarily assembled; one must not mistake them for one's own. A true man is open and upright; where he applies it he holds firm, and wherever he stands is true. With a favorable wind he sets sail; upstream and downstream are both possible. Because of the offering he gives praise — going and staying are free. This is the great liberation opened by the sages from of old, the one road, the gate of nirvana, the original pure, empty and still realm, the great Way of non-doing. That I am now thus — is it not joyful? The dust of toil and outer conditions are swept away at once. I am grateful that the various mountains have looked down on me, and I wish you all to certify it. I respectfully wish you to take care.' He put down the brush, turned to Jiantang and said: 'Would it be better for me to die sitting or lying?' Tang said: 'The Commissioner has only to go; what does sitting or lying matter?' The gentleman laughed and said: 'Dharma brother, for the ancestral Way, take care of yourself.' Then he closed his eyes and passed away.

靈隱遠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Lingyin Yuan

慶元府東山全庵齊己禪師

Chan Master Quan'an Qiji of Dongshan, Qingyuan Prefecture

卭州謝氏子。上堂。舉。修山主偈曰。是柱不見柱。非柱不見柱。是非已去了。是非裡薦取。召大眾曰。薦得是。移華兼蝶至。薦得非。擔泉帶月歸。是也好。鄭州棃勝青州棗。非也好。象山路入蓬萊島。是亦沒交涉。踏著秤錘硬似鐵。非亦沒交涉。金剛寶劒當頭截。阿呵呵。會也麼。知事少時煩惱少。識人多處是非多。蓮社會道友。請上堂。漸漸雞皮鶴髮。父少而子老。看看行步躘蹱。疑殺木上座。直饒金玉滿堂。照顧白拈賊。豈免衰殘老病。正好著精彩。任汝千般快樂。渠儂合自由。無常終是到來。歸堂吃茶去。唯有徑路修行。依舊打之遶。但念阿彌陀佛。念得不濟事。復曰。噁。這條活路。已被善導和尚直截指出了。也是你諸人。朝夕在徑路中往來。因甚麼當面蹉過阿彌陀佛。這裡薦得。便可除迷倒障。㧞猶豫箭。截疑惑網。斷痴愛河。伐心稠林。浣心垢濁。正心諂曲。絕心生死。然後轉入那邊。擡起腳。向佛祖履踐不到處進一步。開卻口。向佛祖言詮不到處說一句。喚回善導和尚。別求徑路修行。其或準前。捨父逃走。流落他鄉。撞東磕西。苦哉。阿彌陀佛。

He was a son of the Xie family of Qiongzhou. He mounted the hall and brought up the verse of the study master Xiu: 'It is a pillar, and one does not see the pillar; it is not a pillar, and one does not see the pillar. Right and wrong are already gone — grasp it within right and wrong.' He called the assembly and said: 'If you grasp the right, the flowers move and the butterflies come with them. If you grasp the wrong, you carry the spring and bring the moon home. Right is also good — the pears of Zhengzhou beat the dates of Qingzhou. Wrong is also good — the road to Xiangshan leads into the isle of Penglai. Right is also no connection — treading on a steelyard weight, it is hard as iron. Wrong is also no connection — the vajra precious sword cuts at the head. Ah ha-ha, do you understand? When one knows few affairs, one has few troubles; where one knows many people, there is much right and wrong.' On the occasion of the Lotus Society's fellow students requesting him to mount the hall: 'Gradually the chicken skin and crane hair; the father is young and the son old. See how the steps falter — it would kill the wooden seat to death with doubt. Even if gold and jade fill the hall, watch out for the white-handed thief. How can one escape decline, decrepitude, old age and illness? It is exactly the time to put in spirit. Let you have a thousand kinds of happiness — that fellow should be free. Impermanence in the end arrives — return to the hall and drink tea. There is only the path of cultivation, which one still circles around. Just invoke Amitabha — invoking him does not get the job done.' Then he said: 'Bah! This living road has already been pointed out directly by Master Shandao. And you people, coming and going on the path morning and evening, why do you miss Amitabha before your face? If you grasp it here, you can remove the obstruction of delusion and inversion, pull out the arrow of hesitation, cut the net of doubt and confusion, sever the river of foolish love, fell the dense forest of the mind, wash away the turbidity of the mind, straighten the flattery of the mind, and cut off the birth and death of the mind. Then turn to that side, lift your foot and take a step forward where the buddhas and patriarchs have not trodden; open your mouth and speak a phrase where the buddhas' and patriarchs' words and explanations do not reach. Call Master Shandao back and seek another path of cultivation. If you are as before and abandon your father and flee, wandering in a strange land, bumping east and knocking west — how bitter! Amitabha.'

撫州疎山歸雲如本禪師

Chan Master Ruhben of Guiyun, Shushan, Fuzhou

臺城人也。上堂。久雨不晴。戊在丙丁。通身泥水。露出眼睛。且道是甚麼眼睛。卓拄杖曰。林間泥滑滑。時叫兩三聲。

He was a man of Taicheng. He mounted the hall: 'Long rain and no clearing; wu is within bing and ding. The whole body is mud and water; only the eyes are exposed. And tell me, what eyes are these?' He planted his staff and said: 'In the woods the mud is slippery; now and then it cries two or three times.'

覺阿上人

The Reverend Jue'e

日本國藤氏子也。十四得度受具。習大小乘有聲。二十九。屬商者自中都回。言禪宗之盛。阿奮然拉法弟金慶航海而來。袖香拜靈隱佛海禪師。海問其來。阿輒書而對。復書曰。我國無禪宗。唯講五宗經論。國主無姓氏。號金輪王。以嘉應改元。捨位出家。名行真。年四十四。王子七歲。令受位。今已五載。度僧無進納。而講義高者賜之。某等仰服聖朝遠公禪師之名。特詣丈室禮拜。願傳心印。以度迷津。且如心佛及眾生。是三無差別。離相離言。假言顯之。禪師如何開示。海曰。眾生虗妄見。見佛見世界。阿書曰。無明因何而有。海便打。阿即命海陞座決疑。明年秋。辭遊金陵。抵長蘆江岸。聞皷聲忽大悟。始知佛海垂手旨趣。旋靈隱。述五偈敘所見。辭海東歸。偈曰。航海來探教外傳。要離知見脫蹄筌。諸方參徧草鞋破。水在澄潭月在天(其一)。掃盡葛藤與知見。信手拈來全體現。腦後圓光徹大虗。千機萬機一時轉(其二)。妙處如何說向人。倒地便起自分明。驀然踏著故田地。倒裹幞頭孤路行(其三)。求真滅妄元非妙。即妄明真都是錯。堪笑靈山老古錐。當陽拋下破木杓(其四)。竪拳下喝少賣弄。說是說非入泥水。截斷千差休指注。一聲歸笛囉囉哩(其五)。海稱善。書偈贈行。歸本國。住叡山寺。洎通嗣法書。海已入寂矣。

He was a son of the Fujiwara family of Japan. At fourteen he was ordained and received full precepts, and he studied the Mahayana and Hinayana with some renown. At twenty-nine, when a merchant returned from the central capital and spoke of the flourishing of the Chan school, A was stirred and, drawing along his Dharma brother Jinqing, crossed the sea and came. With incense in his sleeve he bowed to Chan Master Fohai of Lingyin. When Hai asked where he had come from, A wrote his answer. He wrote further: 'In our country there is no Chan school; we only expound the sutras and treatises of the five schools. Our ruler has no surname and is titled the Golden Wheel King. In the first year of Jiaying he gave up the throne and left home, taking the name Xingzhen, at the age of forty-four. His son, the prince, was seven, and was made to receive the throne; it is now five years. Monks are ordained without contributions, and those whose exposition is excellent are given the title. We have long admired the name of Chan Master Yuan of the holy court, and have come specially to your room to bow, wishing to receive the mind seal in order to ferry across the ford of delusion. Since mind, Buddha and living beings are three without distinction, beyond marks and beyond words, and are shown by provisional words — how does the Chan Master instruct?' Hai said, 'Living beings see falsely, and see the Buddha and see the world.' A wrote, 'From what cause does ignorance arise?' Hai at once struck him. A then asked Hai to mount the seat and settle his doubt. The next autumn he took leave to wander to Jinling. Reaching the bank of the Yangtze at Changlu, he heard the sound of the drum and was suddenly greatly awakened; only then did he understand the purport of Fohai's extending his hand. He returned to Lingyin, set out five verses describing what he had seen, and took leave of Hai to return east. The verses said: 'Crossing the sea I came to explore the transmission outside the teachings, wishing to leave knowledge and vision and escape the trap and snare. I have consulted everywhere till my straw sandals are worn through — the water is in the clear pool and the moon is in the sky. (One) Sweeping away all vines and knowledge and vision, whatever the hand casually picks up shows itself in full. The round halo behind the head pierces the great void; a thousand mechanisms and ten thousand mechanisms turn at once. (Two) The wondrous place — how shall I tell it to others? Falling down, one rises of oneself and it is clear. Suddenly treading the old field, one wraps the cap awry and walks the lone road. (Three) Seeking the true and destroying the false is originally not wondrous; taking the false as true and illumining the true are both wrong. How laughable, old ancient awl of Vulture Peak, throwing down the broken wooden ladle in broad daylight. (Four) Raising the fist, shouting down — stop your showing off; saying "it is" and "it is not" is to enter mud and water. Cutting off the thousand differences, stop pointing and annotating; one note of the returning flute — lo lo li. (Five)' Hai praised them and wrote a verse to send him off. He returned to his own country and lived at Mount Hiei. By the time his letter of Dharma inheritance arrived, Hai had already entered quiescence.

內翰曾開居士

The layman Zeng Kai, Hanlin Academician

字天遊。久參圓悟。暨往來大慧之門有日矣。紹興辛未。佛海補三衢光孝。公與超然居士趙公訪之。問曰。如何是善知識。海曰。燈籠露柱。貓兒狗子。公曰。為甚麼贊即歡喜。毀即煩惱。海曰。侍郎曾見善知識否。公曰。某三十年參問。何言不見。海曰。向歡喜處見。煩惱處見。公擬議。海震聲便喝。公擬對。海曰。開口底不是。公罔然。海召曰。侍郎向甚麼處去也。公猛省。遂點頭。說偈曰。咄哉瞎驢。叢林妖孽。震地一聲。天機漏洩。有人更問意如何。拈起拂子劈口截。海曰。也祇得一橛。

His courtesy name was Tianyou. He had long consulted Yuanwu, and had been going to and fro at Dahui's gate for some time. In the xin-wei year of Shaoxing, when Fohai was appointed to Guangxiao in Sanqu, the lord and the layman Zhao Chaoran went to call on him and asked, 'What is a good teacher?' Hai said, 'A lantern and an exposed pillar, a cat and a dog.' The lord said, 'Why is it that when praised one is delighted and when blamed one is afflicted?' Hai said, 'Has the vice director ever seen a good teacher?' The lord said, 'I have consulted and questioned for thirty years — how can you say I have not seen?' Hai said, 'You see in the place of delight and see in the place of affliction.' As the lord began to deliberate, Hai shouted in a thundering voice. As the lord began to reply, Hai said, 'The one who opens his mouth is not it.' The lord was bewildered. Hai called to him, saying, 'Where has the vice director gone?' The lord suddenly came to himself and nodded, and spoke a verse: 'Ho, blind donkey, you pest of the monasteries. One thunderous crash, and the heavenly mechanism leaks out. If someone asks again what the meaning is, pick up the whisk and cut him off at the mouth.' Hai said, 'That is only one stub.'

知府葛郯居士

The layman Ge Tan, Prefect

字謙問。號信齋。少擢上第。玩意禪悅。首謁無庵全禪師。求指南。庵令究即心即佛。久無所契。請曰。師有何方便。使其得入。庵曰。居士太無厭生。已而佛海來居劒池。公因從遊。乃舉無庵所示之語。請為眾普說。海發揮之曰。即心即佛眉拖地。非心非佛雙眼橫。蝴蝶夢中家萬裡。子規枝上月三更。留旬日而後返。一日。舉不是心。不是佛。不是物。豁然頓明。頌曰。非心非佛亦非物。五鳳樓前山突兀。艶陽影裡倒飜身。野狐跳入金毛窟。無庵肯之。即遣書頌呈佛海。海報曰。此事非紙筆可既。居士能過我。當有所聞矣。遂復至虎丘。海迎之曰。居士見處。止可入佛境界。入魔境界。猶未得在。公加禮不已。海正容曰。何不道金毛跳入野狐窟。公乃痛領。甞問諸禪曰。夫婦二人相打。通兒子作證。且道證父即是。證母即是。或庵體禪師著語曰。小出大遇。淳熈六年。守臨川。八年感疾。一夕忽索筆書偈曰。大洋海裡打皷。須彌山上聞鐘。業鏡忽然撲破。飜身透出虗空。召僚屬示之曰。生之與死。如晝與夜。無足怪者。若以道論。安得生死。若作生死會。則去道遠矣。語畢。端坐而化。

His courtesy name was Qianwen; his sobriquet was Xinzhai. While young he passed the highest examination, and he took his delight in the joy of Chan. He first called on Chan Master Quan of Wuan and sought guidance. The hermit had him investigate 'this very mind is Buddha,' and for a long time he had no accord, so he asked, 'What skillful means has the Master to enable me to enter?' The hermit said, 'The layman is truly insatiable.' Later Fohai came to reside at Jianchi, and the lord went along with him in his wanderings. He then brought up what Wuan had shown him and asked him to expound it for the assembly. Hai developed it, saying: 'This very mind is Buddha — the eyebrows trail on the ground. Not mind, not Buddha — both eyes are horizontal. In a butterfly dream the home is ten thousand miles away; on the cuckoo's branch the moon is at the third watch.' He stayed ten days and then returned. One day, when he brought up 'not mind, not Buddha, not a thing,' he was suddenly and thoroughly awakened. His praise: 'Not mind, not Buddha, and also not a thing; before the five-phoenix tower the mountain stands towering. In the shadow of the bright sun he turns over; the wild fox leaps into the golden-haired lion's den.' Wuan approved it. He at once sent the verse to Fohai. Hai replied, 'This matter cannot be exhausted with paper and brush. If the layman can come to me, he will hear something.' So he came again to Tiger Hill. Hai welcomed him and said, 'The layman's view can only enter the Buddha's realm; he has not yet attained entry into Mara's realm.' The lord bowed without ceasing. Hai, with a solemn face, said, 'Why not say, "The golden-haired lion leaps into the wild fox's den"?' The lord then deeply received it. He once asked the Chan worthies, 'A husband and wife fight, and call their son to bear witness. Tell me, is bearing witness for the father right, or for the mother right?' Chan Master Ti of Huoan added a comment: 'A small outlay, a great gain.' In the sixth year of Chunxi he governed Linchuan. In the eighth year he fell ill. One evening he suddenly asked for a brush and wrote a verse: 'In the great ocean a drum is beaten; on Mount Sumeru a bell is heard. The mirror of karma suddenly shatters, and turning over one passes out through empty space.' He summoned his subordinates and showed it to them, saying, 'Life and death are like day and night; there is nothing strange in them. If you discuss it in terms of the Way, how can there be birth and death? If you understand it as birth and death, then you are far from the Way.' When the words were finished he sat upright and passed away.

華藏民禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Min of Huazang

臨安府徑山別峰寶印禪師

Chan Master Biefeng Baoyin of Jingshan in Lin'an Prefecture

嘉州李氏子。自幼通六經。而厭俗務。乃從德山清素得度具戒。後聽華嚴．起信。既盡其說。棄依密印於中峰。一日。印舉。僧問巖頭。起滅不停時如何。巖叱曰。是誰起滅。師啟悟。即首肯。會圓悟歸昭覺。印遣師往省。因隨眾入室。悟問。從上諸聖。以何接人。師竪拳。悟曰。此是老僧用底。作麼生是從上諸聖用底。師以拳揮之。悟亦舉拳相交。大笑而止。後至徑山謁大慧。慧問。甚處來。師曰。西川。慧曰。未出劒門關。與汝三十棒了也。師曰。不合起動和尚。慧忻然。掃室延之。慧南遷。師乃西還。連主數剎。後再出峽。住保寧．金山．雪竇．徑山。開堂陞座。曰。世尊初成正覺於鹿野苑中。轉四諦法輪。憍陳如比丘最初悟道。後來真淨禪師初住洞山。拈雲。今日新豐洞裡。祇轉箇拄杖子。遂拈拄杖著左邊。雲。還有最初悟道者麼。若無。丈夫自有沖天志。莫向如來行處行。遂喝一喝。下座。若是印上座則不然。今日向鳳凰山裡。初無工夫轉四諦法輪。亦無氣力轉拄杖子。祇教諸人行須緩步。語要低聲。何故。欲得不招無間業。莫謗如來正法輪。上堂。三世諸佛。以一句演百千萬億句。收百千萬億句祇在一句。祖師門下。半句也無。祇恁麼。合吃多少痛棒。諸仁者。且諸佛是。祖師是。若道佛是祖不是。祖是佛不是。取捨未忘。若道佛祖一時是。佛祖一時不是。顢頇不少。且截斷葛藤一句作麼生道。大蟲褁紙帽。好笑又驚人。復舉。僧問巖頭。浩浩塵中。如何辨主。頭雲。銅沙鑼裡滿盛油。師曰。大小巖頭打失鼻孔。忽有人問保寧。浩浩塵中如何辨主。祇對他道。天寒不及卸帽。上堂。六月初一。燒空赤日。十字街頭。雪深一尺。掃除不暇。迴避不及。凍得東村廖鬍子。半夜著靴水上立。上堂。將心除妄妄難除。即妄明心道轉迂。桶底趯穿無忌諱。等閑一步一芙蕖。師至徑山。彌浹。

He was a son of the Li family of Jiazhou. From childhood he mastered the Six Classics, but he wearied of worldly affairs and was ordained and fully precepted under Qingsu of Deshan. Later he listened to the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Awakening of Faith, and when he had exhausted their teachings he abandoned them and relied on Miyin at Zhongfeng. One day Yin brought up the case of a monk asking Yantou, 'When arising and perishing do not cease, what then?' Yantou shouted, 'Who is it that arises and perishes?' The Master was awakened and at once nodded. When Yuanwu returned to Zhaojue, Yin sent the Master to visit him, and he entered the room with the assembly. Wu asked, 'How did the sages from of old receive people?' The Master raised his fist. Wu said, 'That is what this old monk uses. What did the sages from of old use?' The Master waved his fist at him. Wu also raised his fist and they met each other's, and Wu laughed heartily and stopped. Later he reached Jingshan and called on Dahui. Hui asked, 'Where do you come from?' The Master said, 'West Sichuan.' Hui said, 'Before you got out of the Sword Gate Pass, you had already earned thirty blows.' The Master said, 'I should not have put the Master to the trouble.' Hui was delighted and swept out a room for him. When Hui was banished to the south, the Master returned west and successively headed several monasteries. Later he came out of the gorge again and resided at Baoning, Jinshan, Xuedou and Jingshan. On opening the hall and mounting the seat, he said: 'When the World-Honored One first attained perfect enlightenment in the Deer Park, he turned the wheel of the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, and the monk Kaundinya was the first to awaken to the Way. Later Chan Master Zhenjing, when he first resided at Dongshan, picked up his staff and said, "Today in the Xinfeng cave I only turn this staff." He then picked up his staff and placed it on the left and said, "Is there anyone else who has awakened to the Way first? If not, a great man has his own aspiration to pierce the heavens — do not walk where the Tathagata walked." He then gave a shout and descended from the seat. But if it is Yin the senior seat, it is not so. Today, in the Phoenix Mountain, I have from the first no leisure to turn the wheel of the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths, nor any strength to turn a staff. I only teach you all to walk with slow steps and speak in low voices. Why? If you would not incur the karma of the uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathagata's wheel of the true Dharma.' Ascending the hall: 'The Buddhas of the three ages, with one phrase, expound a hundred thousand million phrases, and gather a hundred thousand million phrases into one phrase. Under the Ancestor's gate there is not even half a phrase. Just this alone deserves many painful blows. Good people, tell me, are the Buddhas right, or is the Ancestor right? If you say the Buddha is right and the Ancestor is not, the Ancestor right and the Buddha not, then your picking and choosing is not yet forgotten. If you say the Buddha and Ancestor are at once right, and the Buddha and Ancestor are at once not right, then your muddleheadedness is no small matter. Tell me, how will you speak the one phrase that cuts off the vines and creepers? A tiger wearing a paper hat — laughable and startling.' He then brought up the case of a monk asking Yantou, 'In the vast dust, how does one distinguish the host?' Yantou said, 'A copper gong filled with oil.' The Master said, 'Big or small, Yantou has lost his nostrils. If someone suddenly asked Baoning, "In the vast dust, how does one distinguish the host?" I would only say to him, "The day is cold; there is no time to take off my hat."' Ascending the hall: 'On the first of the sixth month, the red sun burns the sky; at the crossroads the snow lies a foot deep. No time to sweep it away, no time to avoid it. It freezes old Liao the Bearded of the east village, who stands on the water at midnight in his boots.' Ascending the hall: 'Using the mind to remove delusion, delusion is hard to remove; taking delusion to illumine the mind, the Way turns more roundabout. Kick through the bottom of the bucket without scruple, and at ease a single step is a single lotus.' When the Master reached Jingshan, he stayed a full ten days.

孝宗皇帝召對選德殿稱旨。入對曰。賜肩輿於東華門內。十年二月。上注圓覺經。遣使馳賜。命作序。師年邁。益厭住持。十五年冬。奏乞庵居。得請。紹熈元年十一月往見交承智䇿禪師。與之言別。䇿問行日。師曰。水到渠成。歸。索紙書十二月初七夜鷄鳴時九字。如期而化。奉蛻質返寺之法堂。留七日。顏色明潤。髮長頂溫。越七日。葬於庵之西岡。諡慈辯禪師。塔曰智光。

Emperor Xiaozong summoned him to audience at Xuande Hall and was pleased with him. On entering audience he was granted a sedan chair within the Donghua Gate. In the second month of the tenth year, the emperor annotated the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, sent an envoy to deliver it at speed, and commanded him to write a preface. The Master was advanced in years and wearied the more of being abbot. In the winter of the fifteenth year he memorialized for permission to dwell in a hermitage, and obtained it. In the eleventh month of the first year of Shaoxi he went to see his successor Chan Master Zhiche (Che, probably to be read 'Ce') to take leave of him. Che asked the day of his departure. The Master said, 'When the water arrives, the channel is formed.' He returned, asked for paper, and wrote the nine characters 'at the cockcrow of the seventh night of the twelfth month,' and passed away on schedule. His remains were brought back to the Dharma hall of the monastery and kept seven days; his complexion was bright and moist, his hair had grown, and the crown of his head was warm. Seven days later he was buried on the western ridge of the hermitage. He was posthumously titled Chan Master Cibian, and his stupa was called Zhiguang.

昭覺元禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Zhaojue

鳳棲慧觀禪師

Chan Master Huiguan of Fengqi

上堂。前村落葉盡。深院桂華殘。此夜初冬節。從茲特地寒。所以道。欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。時節若至。其理自彰。喝一喝。恁麼說話。成人者少。敗人者多。

Ascending the hall: 'In the front village the fallen leaves are all gone; in the deep courtyard the osmanthus blooms are fading. This night is the first of early winter; from now on it is especially cold. Therefore it is said: if you would know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should observe the season and its causes and conditions. When the season arrives, the principle shows itself.' He gave a shout. 'Speaking like this, those it completes are few, and those it ruins are many.'

文殊道禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dao of Manjushri

潭州楚安慧方禪師

Chan Master Huifang of Chu'an in Tanzhou

本郡許氏子。參道禪師於大別。未幾改寺為神霄宮。附商舟過湘南。舟中聞岸人操鄉音。厲聲雲。叫那。由是有省。即說偈曰。沔水江心喚一聲。此時方得契平生。多年相別重相見。千聖同歸一路行。住後。上堂。臨老方稱住持。全無些子玄機。開口十字九乖。問東便乃答西。如斯出世。討甚玄微。有時拈三放兩。有時就令而施。雖然如是。同道方知。且道知底事作麼生。直須打飜鼻孔始得。上堂。達磨祖師在腳底。踏不著兮提不起。子細當頭放下看。病在當時誰手裡。張公會看脈。李公會使藥。兩箇競頭醫。一時用不著。藥不相投。錯錯。吃茶去。

He was a son of the Xu family of the prefecture. He consulted Chan Master Dao at Dabie. Before long the monastery was changed into a Shenxiao Palace. He took a merchant boat past Xiangnan. In the boat he heard a person on the bank speaking in his home dialect and shouting harshly, 'Call that one!' From this he had an awakening. He at once spoke a verse: 'One call from the heart of the Mian River, and only then did I accord with my whole life. After many years of parting we meet again; a thousand sages return together on one road.' After he took up residence, he ascended the hall: 'Only in old age am I called an abbot, and I have not a scrap of mysterious mechanism. When I open my mouth, nine times out of ten I go wrong; asked about the east, I answer about the west. Coming forth into the world like this, what mystery is there to seek? Sometimes I pick up three and put down two; sometimes I follow the command and grant it. Yet even so, only a fellow of the Way knows. Tell me, what is the matter of knowing?' One must overturn one's nostrils first. Ascending the hall: 'Bodhidharma the Ancestor is at the soles of your feet; you can neither tread on him nor pick him up. Look carefully as you set it down before you — the illness was in whose hands at the time? Old Zhang knows how to read the pulse; old Li knows how to use medicine. The two of them race to heal, and at once they have no use. When the medicine does not agree, wrong, wrong. Go drink tea.'

常德府文殊思業禪師

Chan Master Wenshu Siye of Changde Prefecture

世為屠宰。一日戮豬次。忽洞徹心源。即棄業為比丘。述偈曰。昨日夜叉心。今朝菩薩面。菩薩與夜叉。不隔一條線。往見文殊。殊曰。你正殺豬時見箇甚麼。便乃剃頭行腳。師遂作鼓刀勢。殊喝曰。這屠兒參堂去。師便下參堂。住文殊日。上堂舉趙州勘婆話。乃曰。勘破婆子。面青眼黑。趙州老漢。瞞我不得。

For generations his family had been butchers. One day, while slaughtering a pig, he suddenly penetrated the source of mind, and at once gave up the trade and became a monk. He spoke a verse: 'Yesterday the heart of a yaksha, this morning the face of a bodhisattva. The bodhisattva and the yaksha are not separated by a single thread.' He went to see Manjushri. Shu said, 'What did you see while you were slaughtering the pig, that you shaved your head and went wandering?' The Master then made the gesture of wielding a butcher's knife. Shu shouted, 'This butcher — go to the assembly hall!' The Master then entered the assembly hall. On the day he resided at Manjushri, he ascended the hall and brought up Zhaozhou's testing of the old woman, and said, 'He saw through the old woman: her face blue, her eyes black. Old man Zhaozhou could not fool me.'

何山珣禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Xun of He Mountain

婺州義烏稠巖了贇禪師

Chan Master Liaoyun of Chouyan in Yiwu, Wuzhou

上堂。舉趙州狗子無佛性話。乃曰。趙州狗子無佛性。萬疊青山藏古鏡。赤腳波斯入大唐。八臂那吒行正令。咄。

Ascending the hall, he brought up Zhaozhou's case of the dog having no Buddha-nature and said, 'Zhaozhou's dog has no Buddha-nature; ten thousand folds of green mountains hide an ancient mirror. The barefoot Persian enters Tang; the eight-armed Nata carries out the true command. Ho!'

待制潘良貴居士

The layman Pan Lianggui, Auxiliary Director

字義榮。年四十。迴心祖闈。所至掛缽。隨眾參扣。後依佛燈。久之不契。因訴曰。某祇欲死去時如何。燈曰。好箇封皮。且留著使用。而今不了不當。後去忽被他換卻封皮。卒無整理處。公又以南泉斬貓兒話問曰。某看此甚久。終未透徹。告和尚慈悲。燈曰。你祇管理會別人家貓兒。不知走卻自家狗子。公於言下如醉醒。燈復曰。不易。公進此一步。更須知有向上事始得。如今士大夫說禪說道。祇依著義理便快活。大率似將錢買油餈。吃了便不饑。其餘便道是瞞他。亦可笑也。公唯唯。

His courtesy name was Yirong. At the age of forty he turned his mind to the Ancestors' gate. Wherever he went he hung up his bowl and consulted and questioned with the assembly. Later he relied on Fodeng, and for a long time had no accord. So he said, 'I only want to know what it is like when one is about to die.' Deng said, 'A fine wrapper — keep it for use. But now, having neither understood nor been proper, later when it is suddenly changed for another wrapper, there will be no place to put things in order.' The lord then asked about Nanquan's cutting the cat with a question: 'I have looked at this for a long time and have never seen through it. I beg the Master's compassion.' Deng said, 'You only keep working out other people's cat, not knowing you have lost your own dog.' At these words the lord was as one roused from drunkenness. Deng said again, 'Not easy. The lord has advanced one step here. You must further know that there is a matter beyond before you are done. Nowadays the literati who talk of Chan and talk of the Way just rely on principle and are content — much like buying fried dough cakes with money and not being hungry after eating. As for the rest, they say it is deceiving them. That too is laughable.' The lord assented.

泐潭明禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ming of Letan

漢州無為隨庵守緣禪師

Chan Master Shouyuan of the Sui Hermitage at Wuwei in Hanzhou

本郡人。姓史氏。年十三病目。去依棲禪慧目能禪師。圓具。出峽至寶峰。值峰上堂。舉永嘉曰。一月普現一切水。一切水月一月攝。師聞釋然領悟。住後。上堂曰。以一統萬。一月普現一切水。會萬歸一。一切水月一月攝。展則彌綸法界。收來毫髮不存。雖然收展殊途。此事本無異致。但能於根本上著得一隻眼去。方見三世諸佛．歷代祖師。盡從此中示現。三藏十二部．一切脩多羅。盡從此中流出。天地日月。萬象森羅。盡從此中建立。三界九地。七趣四生。盡從此中出沒。百千法門。無量妙義。乃至世間工巧諸伎藝。盡現行此事。所以世尊拈華。迦葉便乃微笑。達磨面壁。二祖於是安心。桃華盛開。靈雲疑情盡淨。擊竹作響。香嚴頓忘所知。以至盤山於肉案頭悟道。彌勒向魚市裡接人。誠謂造次顛沛必於是。經行坐臥在其中。既有如是奇特。更有如是光輝。既有如是廣大。又有如是周徧。你輩諸人。因甚麼卻有迷有悟。要知麼。幸無偏照處。剛有不明時。

He was a man of the prefecture, of the Shi family. At thirteen, afflicted with eye disease, he went to rely on Chan Master Hui of Qichan, the Eye of Wisdom, and received full ordination. He came out of the gorge and reached Baofeng. It happened that Feng was ascending the hall and brought up Yongjia's words: 'One moon universally appears in all waters; all the water-moons are held in the one moon.' When the Master heard this he was suddenly released and awakened. After he took up residence, he ascended the hall and said: 'Using the one to govern the ten thousand — one moon universally appears in all waters. Gathering the ten thousand into the one — all the water-moons are held in the one moon. Unfolded, it fills the dharma realm; gathered up, not a hair remains. Though gathering and unfolding are different roads, this matter is originally without difference. If one can only fix one eye on the fundamental, then one sees that the Buddhas of the three ages and the Ancestors of the generations all appear from within this; that the three baskets and twelve divisions and all the sutras all flow out from within this; that heaven and earth, sun and moon, and the dense array of ten thousand images are all established from within this; that the three realms and nine grounds, the seven destinies and four births all come forth and vanish from within this; that a hundred thousand Dharma gates, measureless wondrous meanings, and even all the crafts and arts of the world all manifest this matter. Therefore when the World-Honored One held up a flower, Kasyapa at once smiled faintly; when Bodhidharma faced the wall, the Second Ancestor then pacified his mind; when the peach blossoms bloomed in full, Lingyun's doubt was wholly cleansed; when the bamboo was struck and sounded, Xiangyan suddenly forgot what he knew. It reaches the point where Panshan awakened to the Way at the meat block, and Maitreya receives people in the fish market. (The base text writes the character for 'market' with the 'net' radical; it should be 'market.') Truly it is said that in haste and in adversity one must be in this; walking, standing, sitting and lying down, one is within it. Since there is such wonder, and such radiance; since there is such vastness, and such universality — why is it that you all have delusion and awakening? Do you want to know? It is only that where there is no partial illumination, there is just an unlit time.'