Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Eighteen

上堂。舉馬祖不安公案。乃曰。兩輪舉處煙塵起。電急星馳擬何止。目前不礙往來機。正令全施無表裡。丈夫意氣自沖天。我是我兮你是你。

Ascending the hall, he brought up the case of Mazu's illness and said, 'Where the two wheels are raised, smoke and dust arise; lightning swift and stars racing, how will you stop them? Before your eyes the coming-and-going mechanism is no hindrance; the true command is fully carried out with no inside or outside. A great man's spirit soars to the heavens of itself; I am I and you are you.'

西禪璉禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Lian of Xichan

遂寧府西禪第二代希秀禪師

Chan Master Xixiu, Second Generation of Xichan in Suining Prefecture

上堂曰。秋光將半。暑氣漸消。鴻鴈橫空。點破碧天似水。猿猱掛樹。撼飜玉露如珠。直饒對此明機。未免認龜作鼈。且道應時應節一句作麼生道。野色併來三島月。溪光分破五湖秋。

Ascending the hall he said: 'The autumn light is half past; the summer heat gradually fades. Wild geese cross the sky and break open the blue heaven like water. Monkeys hang from the trees and shake the jade dew like pearls. Even if you illuminate the mechanism before this, you cannot avoid mistaking a turtle for a soft-shelled terrapin. Tell me, how will you speak the one phrase that answers the season and the moment? The wild colors come together with the moon of the three isles; the stream's light divides and breaks the autumn of the five lakes.'

淨居尼溫禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the Nun Wen of Jingju

溫州淨居尼無相法燈禪師

Chan Master Faxeng, the Nun Wuxiang of Jingju in Wenzhou

上堂。拈拄杖卓曰。觀音出。普賢入。文殊水上穿靴立。擡頭鷂子過新羅。石火電光追不及。咄。

Ascending the hall, she picked up her staff, planted it and said, 'Guanyin comes forth; Samantabhadra enters; Manjushri stands in boots on the water. Raise your head — the sparrowhawk has passed to Xinluo; stone-fire and lightning cannot catch it. Ho!'

大溈果禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Guo of Dawei

荊門軍玉泉窮谷宗璉禪師

Chan Master Zonglian of the Qionggu Hermitage at Yuquan in Jingmen Jun

合州董氏子。開堂日。問答已。乃曰。衲僧向人天眾前一問一答。一擒一縱。一卷一舒。一挨一拶。須是具金剛睛眼始得。若是念話之流。君向西秦。我之東魯。於宗門中殊無所益。這一段事。不在有言。不在無言。不礙有言。不礙無言。古人垂一言半句。正如國家兵器。不得已而用之。橫說竪說。祇要控人入處。其實不在言句上。今時人不能一徑徹證根源。祇以語言文字而為至道。一句來。一句去。喚作禪道。喚作向上向下。謂之菩提涅槃。謂之祖師巴鼻。正似鄭州出曹門。從上宗師會中。往往真箇以行腳為事底。才有疑處。便對眾決擇。祇一句下見諦明白。造佛祖直指不傳之宗。與諸有情盡未來際。同得同證。猶未是泊頭處。豈是空開唇皮。胡言漢語來。所以南院示眾雲。諸方祇具啐啄同時眼。不具啐啄同時用。時有僧問。如何是啐啄同時用。院曰。作家不啐啄。啐啄同時失。僧曰。猶是學人問處。院曰。如何是你問處。僧曰。失。院便打。其僧不契。後至雲門會中。因二僧舉此話。一僧曰。當時南院棒折那。其僧忽悟。即回南院。院已遷化。時風穴作維那。問曰。你是問先師啐啄同時話底僧那。僧曰。是。穴曰。你當時如何。曰。我當時如在燈影裡行。穴曰。你會也。師乃召大眾曰。暗穿玉線。密度金針。如水入水。似金博金。敢問大眾。啐啄同時是親切處。因甚卻失。若也會得。堪報不報之恩。共助無為之化。便可橫身宇宙。獨步大方。若跳不出。依前祇在架子下。上堂。拈拄杖曰。破無明暗。截生死流。度三有城。泛無為海。須是識這箇始得。乃召大眾曰。喚作拄杖則觸。不喚作拄杖則背。若也識得。荊棘林中撒手。是非海裡橫身。脫或未然。普賢乘白象。土宿跨泥牛。參。上堂。一切數句非數句。與吾靈覺何交涉。師曰。永嘉恁麼道。大似含元殿上更覓長安。殊不知有水皆含月。無山不帶雲。

He was a son of the Dong family of Hezhou. On the day he opened the hall, after the questions and answers were done, he said: 'When a patch-robed monk before the assembly of gods and men gives one question and one answer, one seizure and one release, one rolling up and one spreading out, one pressing and one squeezing, he must have the diamond eye before he can. If he is the sort who recites words, then it is "you go to western Qin, I go to eastern Lu" — of no benefit at all in the school of the Ancestors. This one matter does not lie in having words, nor in having no words; it is not obstructed by having words, nor obstructed by having no words. When the ancients let fall a word or half a phrase, it was exactly like a nation's weapons, to be used only when there was no choice. Speaking horizontally or vertically, they only wanted to control people's place of entry. In truth it does not lie in the words and phrases. People today cannot directly and thoroughly realize the root and source, and take only words and language as the ultimate Way. One phrase comes, one phrase goes; they call it Chan and the Way, call it above and below, call it bodhi and nirvana, call it the Ancestor's nose. It is exactly like going out of the Cao Gate of Zhengzhou. Among the assemblies of the ancestral masters, there were always those who truly took wandering on foot as their business. As soon as they had a place of doubt they would decide it before the assembly. Only seeing the truth clearly under a single phrase and entering the Ancestor's and Buddha's directly pointed, not-transmitted school, so that with all sentient beings to the end of the future they attain and realize together — this is still not the place to moor. How could it be merely opening the lips and talking nonsense in barbarian and Chinese tongues? Therefore Nanyuan showed the assembly: "The various quarters have only the eye of pecking and tapping at the same moment; they do not have the function of pecking and tapping at the same moment." At that time a monk asked, "What is the function of pecking and tapping at the same moment?" Yuan said, "An adept does not peck and tap; pecking and tapping at the same moment is to lose it." The monk said, "That is still the student's place of questioning." Yuan said, "What is your place of questioning?" The monk said, "Lose it." Yuan at once struck him. That monk did not accord. Later he came to Yunmen's assembly, and because two monks brought this story up — one monk said, "At that time Nanyuan's staff broke" — that monk suddenly awakened and at once returned to Nanyuan. Yuan had already passed away. At that time Fengxue was the disciplinarian, and asked, "Are you the monk who asked the late teacher about pecking and tapping at the same moment?" The monk said, "Yes." Xue said, "What was your state at that time?" He said, "At that time I was as if walking in the shadow of a lamp." Xue said, "You have understood."' The Master then called to the assembly and said, 'Secretly threading the jade line, closely stitching the golden needle; like water entering water, like gold exchanging for gold. May I ask the assembly: pecking and tapping at the same moment is the intimate place — why then is it lost? If you can understand, you can repay the grace that cannot be repaid and together aid the transformation that does nothing. Then you may stretch your body across the cosmos and walk alone in the great square. If you cannot leap out, you remain as before under the frame.' Ascending the hall, he picked up his staff and said, 'Breaking the darkness of ignorance, cutting off the stream of birth and death, ferrying across the city of the three existences, floating on the sea of non-doing — you must know this before you can.' Then he called to the assembly and said, 'Call it a staff and you touch; do not call it a staff and you turn your back. If you can know it, then in the grove of thorns you let go your hands; in the sea of right and wrong you stretch out your body. If not, then Samantabhadra rides the white elephant and the earth-deity straddles the mud ox. Take heed.' Ascending the hall: 'All the numbered phrases are not numbered phrases; what have they to do with my spiritual awareness?' The Master said, 'Yongjia speaking thus is very like seeking Chang'an while on the Hanyuan Hall. He did not realize that wherever there is water it holds the moon, and no mountain is without clouds.'

雖然如是。三十年後趙婆酤醋。上堂。宗乘一唱殊途絕。萬別千差俱泯滅。通身是口難分雪。金剛腦後三斤鐵。好大哥。僧問。保壽開堂。三聖推出一僧。保壽便打。意旨如何。師曰。利動君子。曰。為復棒頭有眼。為復見機而作。師曰。獼猴繫露柱。曰。祇如三聖道。你恁麼為人。瞎卻鎮州一城人眼。又作麼生。師曰。錦上鋪華又一重。問。行腳逢人時如何。師曰。一不成。二不是。曰。行腳不逢人時如何。師曰。虎咬大蟲。曰。祇如慈明道。釣絲絞水。意作麼生。師曰。水浸鋼石卵。問。三聖道。我逢人即出。出則不為人。意旨如何。師曰。兵行詭道。曰。興化道。我逢人則不出。出則便為人。又作麼生。師曰。綿裹秤鎚。問。不落因果。為甚麼墮野狐身。師曰。廬山五老峰。曰。不昧因果。為甚麼脫野狐身。師曰。南嶽三生藏。曰。祇如不落不昧。未審是同是別。師曰。倚天長劒逼人寒。問。初生孩子還具六識也無。趙州道。急水上打毬子。意旨如何。師曰。兩手扶犂水過膝。曰。祇如僧又問投子急水上打毬子。意旨如何。曰。念念不停流。又作麼生。師曰。水晶甕裡浸波斯。問。楊岐道。三腳驢子弄蹄行。意旨如何。師曰。過蓬州了。便到巴州。

(The Master continued:) 'Yet even so, thirty years from now old woman Zhao will sell vinegar.' Ascending the hall: 'When the school of the Ancestors is once sung, the different roads are cut off; ten thousand differences and a thousand distinctions are all extinguished. The whole body is mouth, yet it is hard to divide and explain; behind the Vajra's head there are three catties of iron. Good elder brother.' A monk asked, 'When Baoshou opened the hall, Sansheng pushed out a monk, and Baoshou at once struck him. What is the meaning?' The Master said, 'Profit moves the gentleman.' He asked, 'Is it that the staff's head has an eye, or that he acted on seeing the mechanism?' The Master said, 'A macaque tied to an exposed pillar.' He asked, 'What about Sansheng's words, "If you work for others like that, you blind the eyes of a whole city of Zhenzhou"?' The Master said, 'Adding brocade on brocade, another layer.' He asked, 'What when one meets a person while wandering on foot?' The Master said, 'One is not; two is not.' He asked, 'What when one meets no one while wandering on foot?' The Master said, 'A tiger bites a great beast.' He asked, 'What is the meaning of Ciming's words, "The fishing line twists the water"?' The Master said, 'A steel egg steeped in water.' He asked, 'What is the meaning of Sansheng's words, "When I meet a person I come forth; coming forth, I do not work for him"?' The Master said, 'Troops move by deceptive roads.' He asked, 'And Xinghua's words, "When I meet a person I do not come forth; coming forth, I do work for him"?' The Master said, 'A steelyard weight wrapped in silk.' He asked, 'Why did he fall into a wild fox's body for not falling into cause and effect?' The Master said, 'The Five Elders Peak of Mount Lu.' He asked, 'Why did he escape the wild fox's body for not being blind to cause and effect?' The Master said, 'The Three Births Treasury of Nanyue.' He asked, 'Are not falling into and not being blind to the same or different?' The Master said, 'A long sword leaning on heaven chills a man.' He asked, 'Does a newborn child have the six consciousnesses? Zhaozhou said, "Striking a ball on swift water." What is the meaning?' The Master said, 'Both hands on the plow, the water past the knees.' He asked, 'And when the monk asked Touzi about striking a ball on swift water, and he said, "Thought after thought does not cease flowing" — what then?' The Master said, 'A Persian steeped in a crystal jar.' He asked, 'What is the meaning of Yangqi's words, "A three-legged donkey kicks up its hooves and walks"?' The Master said, 'Having passed Pengzhou, one arrives at Bazhou.'

潭州大溈行禪師

Chan Master Xing of Dawei in Tanzhou

上堂橫拄杖曰。你等諸人。若向這裡會去。如紀信登九龍之輦。不向這裡會去。似項羽失千里烏騅。饒你總不恁麼。落在無事甲裡。若向這裡撥得一路。轉得身。吐得氣。山僧與你拄杖子。遂靠拄杖。下座。上堂。不是心。不是佛。不是物。且道是箇甚麼。不在內。不在外。不在中間。畢竟在甚麼處。苦。苦。有口說不得。無家何處歸。

Ascending the hall he held his staff crosswise and said, 'If you all can understand here, it is like Ji Xin mounting the nine-dragon carriage. If you cannot understand here, it is like Xiang Yu losing his thousand-mile black steed. Even if you avoid all that, you fall into the armor of no-affairs. If here you can open up a road, turn your body, and give out a breath, I will give you the staff.' Then he leaned on his staff and descended from the seat. Ascending the hall: 'Not mind, not Buddha, not a thing — tell me, what is it? Not inside, not outside, not in between — after all, where is it? Misery, misery. There is a mouth and it cannot speak; there is no home, and where will you return?'

潭州道林淵禪師

Chan Master Yuan of Daolin in Tanzhou

僧問。鐘未鳴。皷未響。拓缽向甚麼處去。德山便低頭歸方丈。意旨如何。師曰。奔電迸火。曰。巖頭道。這老漢未會末後句在。又作麼生。師曰。相隨來也。曰。巖頭密啟其意。未審那裡是他密啟處。師曰。萬年松在祝融峰。曰。雖然如是。祇得三年。三年後果遷化。還端的也無。師曰。嚤呢噠啝吽㗶吒。臨示寂。上堂拈拄杖示眾曰。離卻色聲言語。道將一句來。眾無對。師曰。動靜聲色外。時人不肯對。世間出世間。畢竟使誰會。言訖。倚杖而逝。

A monk asked, 'Before the bell has sounded and the drum has been beaten, where does one go with the bowl?' Deshan at once lowered his head and returned to the abbot's quarters. What is the meaning?' The Master said, 'A racing flash, a bursting fire.' He asked, 'Yantou said, "This old man has not understood the last phrase." What then?' The Master said, 'He comes along with you.' He asked, 'Yantou secretly revealed its meaning — where is his secret revealing?' The Master said, 'The ten-thousand-year pine is on Zhurong Peak.' He asked, 'Even so, he got only three years. Three years later he indeed passed away. Is this certain?' The Master said, 'Mo ni da he hum chat.' As he was about to enter quiescence he ascended the hall, picked up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying, 'Apart from form, sound and speech, speak one phrase.' The assembly had no reply. The Master said, 'Beyond movement and stillness, sound and form, people of the time will not answer. In the world and beyond the world, after all who will understand?' When the words were finished he leaned on his staff and passed away.

隨州大洪老衲祖證禪師

Chan Master Zuzheng, Old Robe of Dahong in Suizhou

潭州潘氏子。上堂。萬象之中獨露身。如何說箇獨露底道理。竪起拂子曰。到江吳地盡。隔岸越山多。僧問。雲門問僧。光明寂照徧河沙。豈不是張拙秀才語。僧雲是。門雲。話墮也。未審那裡是這僧話墮處。師曰。鯰魚上竹竿。問。離卻言句。請師直指。師竪拂子。僧曰。還有向上事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。速禮三拜。

He was a son of the Pan family of Tanzhou. Ascending the hall: 'In the midst of the ten thousand images, one body alone is exposed. How will you speak the principle of being alone exposed?' He raised his whisk and said, 'Where the river reaches, the Wu land ends; across the bank the Yue mountains are many.' A monk asked, 'Yunmen asked a monk, "Light and radiance, still and shining, pervade the river sands — is this not the words of the scholar Zhang Zhuo?" The monk said it was. Men said, "Your words have fallen." Where did this monk's words fall?' The Master said, 'A catfish climbing a bamboo pole.' He asked, 'Apart from words and phrases, I beg the Master to point directly.' The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'Is there still a matter beyond?' The Master said, 'There is.' He asked, 'What is the matter beyond?' The Master said, 'Bow three times quickly.'

隆興府泐潭山堂德淳禪師

Chan Master Dechun of the Mountain Hall at Letan in Longxing Prefecture

上堂。俱胝一指頭。一毛㧞九牛。華嶽連天碧。黃河徹底流。截卻指急回眸。青箬笠前無限事。綠蓑衣底一時休。

Ascending the hall: 'Juzhi's one finger; one hair pulls out nine oxen. (The base text writes this character with the hand radical; it should be "to pull out.") The Hua mountain is blue joining the sky; the Yellow River flows to its bottom. Cut off the finger and quickly turn your eyes back. Before the blue bamboo hat there are boundless matters; beneath the green straw cape they all rest at once.'

常州宜興保安復庵可封禪師

Chan Master Kefeng of the Fu Hermitage at Bao'an in Yixing, Changzhou

福州林氏子。上堂。天寬地大。風清月白。此是海宇清平底時節。衲僧家等閑問著。十箇有五雙知有。祇如夜半華嚴池吞卻楊子江。開明橋撞倒平山塔。是汝諸人還知麼。若也知去。試向非非想天道將一句來。其或未知。擲下拂子曰。須是山僧拂子始得。

He was a son of the Lin family of Fuzhou. Ascending the hall: 'Heaven is broad and earth is great; the wind is clear and the moon is white. This is the season when the seas and the world are at peace. When a patch-robed monk is casually asked, ten out of ten know it. But take the case of the Huayan Pond at midnight swallowing the Yangzi River, or the Kaiming Bridge knocking down the Pingshan Pagoda — do you all know it? If you know it, try speaking one phrase from the heaven of neither perception nor non-perception. If you do not know it —' he threw down his whisk and said, 'you must be this mountain monk's whisk before you can.'

隆興府石亭野庵祖璿禪師

Chan Master Zuxuan of the Ye Hermitage at Shiting in Longxing Prefecture

上堂曰。吃粥了也未。趙州無忌諱。更令洗缽盂。太煞沒巴鼻。悟去由來不丈夫。這僧那免受塗糊。有指示。無指示。韶石四楞渾塌地。入地獄。如箭射。雲岫清風生大廈。相逢𢹂手上高山。作者應須辨真假。真假分。若為論。午夜寒蟾出海門。

Ascending the hall he said: 'Have you eaten the gruel or not? Zhaozhou had no scruples. He further had the bowl washed — far too much with no handle or nose. To awaken and go is from the first no great man; how could that monk escape being plastered over? There is pointing out and there is no pointing out. The Shaozhou stone with four corners is all collapsed on the ground. To enter hell is swift as an arrow; the clear wind of Yunxiu arises in the great mansion. Meeting, we join hands and climb the high mountain. (This character is written with the hand radical and is probably to be read "to lead by the hand"; the reading is doubtful.) An adept must distinguish true from false. When true and false are distinguished, how will you discuss it? At midnight the cold toad comes out of the sea gate.'

潭州石霜宗鑒禪師

Chan Master Zongjian of Shishuang in Tanzhou

上堂曰。送舊年。迎新歲。動用不離光影內。澄輝湛湛夜堂寒。借問諸人會不會。若也會。增瑕纇。若不會。依前昧。與君指箇截流機。白雲更在青山外。

Ascending the hall he said: 'Sending off the old year, welcoming the new — movement and function never leave the light and shadow. The clear radiance is deep and still, and the night hall is cold. May I ask whether you all understand or not? If you understand, you add to the blemishes; if you do not understand, you are as blind as before. Let me point out for you the mechanism that cuts off the stream: the white clouds are still beyond the green mountains.'

石頭回禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Hui of Shitou

南康軍雲居蓬庵德會禪師

Chan Master Dehui of the Peng Hermitage at Yunju in Nankang Jun

重慶府何氏子。上堂。舉。教中道。若見諸相非相。即見如來。作麼生是非相底道理。佯走詐羞偷眼覷。竹門斜掩半枝華。

He was a son of the He family of Chongqing Prefecture. Ascending the hall, he brought up: 'The teaching says, "If you see all marks as no-marks, you see the Tathagata." How will you speak the principle of no-marks? Falsely running, feigning shame, peeping sidelong; the bamboo gate half closed on a half-branch of flowers.'

南嶽下十七世

Seventeenth Generation below Nanyue

教忠光禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Guang of Jiaozhong

泉州法石中庵慧空禪師

Chan Master Huikong of the Zhong Hermitage at Fashi in Quanzhou

贛州蔡氏子。春日上堂。拈拄杖卓一下曰。先打春牛頭。又卓一下曰。後打春牛尾。驚起虗空入藕絲裡。釋迦無路潛蹤。彌勒急走千里。文殊卻知落處。拊掌大笑歡喜。且道歡喜箇甚麼。春風昨夜入門來。便見千華生碓觜。上堂。千家樓閣。一霎秋風。祇知襟袖涼生。不覺園林落葉。於斯薦得。觸處全真。其或未然。且作寒溫相見。上堂。舉金剛經云。佛告須菩提。爾所國土中。所有眾生若干種心。如來悉知。何以故。如來說。諸心皆為非心。是名為心。要會麼。春風得意馬蹄疾。一日看盡長安華。僧問。先佛垂範。禁足安居。未審是何宗旨。曰。瑠璃缽內拓須彌。僧便喝。師便打。

He was a son of the Cai family of Ganzhou. On a spring day he ascended the hall, picked up his staff, planted it once and said, 'First I strike the head of the spring ox.' He planted it again and said, 'Then I strike the tail of the spring ox. It startles empty space into a thread of lotus fiber. Sakyamuni has no road to hide his traces; Maitreya hurries away a thousand miles. Manjushri alone knows where it has landed and claps his hands and laughs with delight. Tell me, what is he delighted about? The spring wind came in at the gate last night, and at once a thousand flowers grow on the mortar's mouth.' Ascending the hall: 'A thousand houses and towers — in a flash the autumn wind. One only knows that the bosom and sleeves grow cool, and does not notice the fallen leaves in the garden. If you can take it up here, wherever you touch all is true; if not, then let us meet with inquiries after your health.' Ascending the hall, he brought up the Diamond Sutra and said: 'The Buddha told Subhuti, "In your land, all the various minds of living beings the Tathagata fully knows." Why? The Tathagata says, "All minds are no-mind; therefore they are called mind." Do you want to understand? 'The spring wind favors the proud, the horse's hooves fly; in one day one sees all the flowers of Chang'an.'' A monk asked, 'The former Buddhas set the model of restricting the feet in the summer retreat. What is the purport?' He said, 'A lapis lazuli bowl holds Sumeru.' The monk at once shouted, and the Master at once struck him.

臨安府淨慈混源曇密禪師

Chan Master Hunyuan Tanmi of Jingci in Lin'an Prefecture

天台盧氏子。依資福道榮出家。十六圓具。習臺教。棄參大慧於徑山。謁雪巢一此庵元。入閩。留東．西禪。無省發。之泉南。教忠俾悅眾。解職歸前資。偶舉香嚴擊竹因緣。豁然契悟。述偈呈忠。忠舉玄沙未徹語詰之。無滯。忠曰。子方可見妙喜。即辭往梅陽。服勤四載。住後。上堂。諸佛出世。打劫殺人。祖師西來。吹風放火。古今善知識。佛口虵心。天下衲僧。自投籠檻。莫有天然氣槩。特達丈夫。為宗門出一隻手。主張佛法者麼。良久曰。設有。也須斬為三段。上堂。德山小參不答話。千古叢林成話霸。問話者三十棒。慣能說訶說夯。時有僧出。的能破的。德山便打風流儒雅。某甲話也未問。頭上著枷。腳下著匣。你是那裡人。一回相見一傷神。新羅人把手笑欣欣。未跨船舷。好與三十棒。依前相廝誑。混源今日恁麼批判責情。好與三十棒。且道是賞是罰。具參學眼者試辨看。上堂。舉雲門問僧光明寂照徧河沙因緣。師曰。平地摝魚鰕。遼天射飛鶚。跛腳老雲門。千錯與萬錯。後示寂。塔於本山。

He was a son of the Lu family of Tiantai. He left home under Daoirong of Zifu. At sixteen he received full ordination. He studied the Tiantai teaching, then abandoned it and went to Jingshan to consult Dahui. He called on Xuechao Yi and Ci'an Yuan. He entered Fujian and stayed at Dongchan and Xichan, but had no awakening. He reached Quannan. Jiaozhong yielded to him the office of Joyful Multitude. He resigned the post and returned to his former rank. By chance he brought up the cause and condition of Xiangyan's striking the bamboo, and was suddenly awakened. He set out a verse and presented it to Zhong. Zhong questioned him with Xuansha's words about not having seen through, and he was without obstruction. Zhong said, 'Only now can you go to see Miaoxi.' So he took leave and went to Meiyang, where he served diligently for four years. After he took up residence, he ascended the hall: 'The Buddhas come into the world to rob and kill people. The Ancestor came from the West to blow wind and set fire. The good teachers of past and present have Buddha's mouth and a snake's heart. The patch-robed monks of the world throw themselves into the cage and trap. Is there any natural-spirited, outstanding great man who will put out a hand for the school of the Ancestors and take charge of the Buddha Dharma?' After a long while he said, 'Even if there were, he would have to be cut into three pieces.' Ascending the hall: 'Deshan at the minor consultation did not answer questions; for a thousand years in the monasteries he has become the champion of talk. He gave thirty blows to the questioner. He was used to speaking of scolding and of pounding. At that time a monk came forward, and truly could break what was to be broken; Deshan at once struck him with elegant bearing. Before I had even asked a question, I had a cangue on my head and a box on my feet. Where are you from? Each time we meet it wounds the spirit. The man of Xinluo claps hands and smiles gladly — before he has stepped over the boat's rail, he deserves thirty blows. As before, we cheat each other. Hunyuan today, criticizing and reproving like this, deserves thirty blows. Tell me, is this reward or punishment? Those with the eye of study, try to tell.' Ascending the hall, he brought up the cause and condition of Yunmen asking a monk about light and radiance pervading the river sands. The Master said, 'Groping for fish and shrimp on level ground, shooting a flying osprey in the vast sky — the lame old Yunmen, a thousand errors and ten thousand errors.' Later, when he was about to enter quiescence, his stupa was made on this mountain.

東林顏禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yan of Donglin

荊南府公安遯庵祖珠禪師

Chan Master Zuzhu of the Dun Hermitage at Gong'an in Jingnan Prefecture