The Five Lamps Meeting at the Source, Scroll One

高安大愚禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dayu of Gao'an

瑞州末山尼瞭然禪師

Chan Master Liaoran, a nun of Mount Moshan in Ruizhou

因灌谿閑和尚到。曰。若相當即住。不然即推倒禪床。便入堂內。師遣侍者問。上座遊山來。為佛法來。谿曰。為佛法來。師乃升座。谿上參。師問。上座今日離何處。曰。路口。師曰。何不葢卻。溪無對(末山代雲。爭得到這裡)。始拜禮。問。如何是末山。師曰。不露頂。曰。如何是末山主。師曰。非男女相。溪乃喝曰。何不變去。師曰。不是神。不是鬼。變箇甚麼。溪於是伏膺。作園頭三載。僧到參。師曰。太繿縷生。曰。雖然如此。且是師子兒。師曰。既是師子兒。為甚麼被文殊騎。僧無對。問。如何是古佛心。師曰。世界傾壞。曰。世界為甚麼傾壞。師曰。寧無我身。

Once, when the Reverend Xian of Guanxi arrived, he said, 'If it matches, I stay; if not, I overturn the meditation seat.' And he went into the hall. The Master sent her attendant to ask, 'Has the elder come to visit the mountain, or has he come for the Buddha Dharma?' Xi said, 'I have come for the Buddha Dharma.' The Master then ascended the seat. Xi came forward to study. The Master asked, 'Where has the elder come from today?' He said, 'The crossroads.' The Master said, 'Why did you not cover it over?' Xi had no reply. (Moshan answered on his behalf, 'How could he get here?') He then bowed. He asked, 'What is Moshan?' The Master said, 'It does not show its summit.' He said, 'What is the master of Moshan?' The Master said, 'Neither male nor female form.' Xi then shouted, 'Why do you not change?' The Master said, 'I am not a god, not a ghost — what should I change into?' Xi then submitted to her, and served as garden head for three years. A monk came to study. The Master said, 'How ragged you are.' He said, 'Even so, I am a lion's cub.' The Master said, 'Since you are a lion's cub, why is Manjushri riding you?' The monk had no reply. Someone asked, 'What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?' The Master said, 'The world topples and breaks.' He said, 'Why does the world topple and break?' The Master said, 'How could there be no self of mine?'

杭州天龍和尚法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Tianlong of Hangzhou

婺州金華山俱胝和尚

The Reverend Juzhi of Mount Jinhua in Wuzhou

初住庵時。有尼名實際來。戴笠子執錫遶師三匝。曰。道得即下笠子。如是三問。師皆無對。尼便去。師曰。日勢稍晚。何不且住。尼曰。道得即住。師又無對。尼去後。師歎曰。我雖處丈夫之形。而無丈夫之氣。不如棄庵。往諸方參尋知識去。其夜山神告曰。不須離此。將有肉身菩薩來為和尚說法也。逾旬。果天龍和尚到庵。師乃迎禮。具陳前事。龍竪一指示之。師當下大悟。自此凡有學者參問。師唯舉一指。無別提唱。有一供過童子。每見人問事。亦竪指祇對。人謂師曰。和尚。童子亦會佛法。凡有問皆如和尚竪指。師一日潛袖刀子。問童曰。聞你會佛法。是否。童曰。是。師曰。如何是佛。童竪起指頭。師以刀斷其指。童呌喚走出。師召童子。童回首。師曰。如何是佛。童舉手不見指頭。豁然大悟。師將順世。謂眾曰。吾得天龍一指頭禪。一生用不盡。言訖。示滅(長慶代眾雲。美食不中飽人吃。玄沙雲。我當時若見拗折指頭。玄覺雲。且道玄沙恁麼道。意作麼生。雲居錫雲。祇如玄沙恁麼道。肯伊不肯伊。若肯。何言拗折指頭。若不肯。俱胝過在甚麼處。先曹山雲。俱胝承當處鹵莽。祇認得一機一境。一等是拍手拊掌。是他西園奇怪。玄覺又云。且道俱胝還悟也無。若悟。為甚麼道承當處鹵莾。若不悟。又道用一指頭禪不盡。且道曹山意在甚麼處)。

When he first lived in a hermitage, a nun named Shiji came. Wearing a straw hat and holding a ringed staff, she walked three times around the Master and said, 'If you can speak, I will take off my hat.' Thus she asked three times, and the Master had no reply each time. The nun then left. The Master said, 'The sun is getting low; why not stay a while?' The nun said, 'If you can speak, I will stay.' The Master again had no reply. After the nun had gone, the Master sighed and said, 'Though I have the form of a man, I lack a man's spirit. Better to abandon this hermitage and go to all quarters to seek out good friends.' That night the mountain spirit told him, 'You need not leave here. A bodhisattva in the flesh will come and preach the Dharma for you.' More than ten days later, sure enough, Chan Master Tianlong arrived at the hermitage. The Master welcomed and bowed to him, and set out the whole matter. Long held up one finger and showed it to him. The Master was at once greatly awakened. From then on, whenever a student came to ask, the Master simply raised one finger and gave no other teaching. There was a boy who served him, and whenever he saw someone ask about a matter, he too would raise a finger in reply. Someone said to the Master, 'Reverend, the boy understands the Buddha Dharma too. Whenever anyone asks, he raises a finger just like the Reverend.' One day the Master secretly hid a knife in his sleeve and asked the boy, 'I hear you understand the Buddha Dharma — is that so?' The boy said, 'Yes.' The Master said, 'What is the Buddha?' The boy raised his finger. The Master cut it off with the knife. The boy cried out and ran away. The Master called the boy. The boy turned his head. The Master said, 'What is the Buddha?' The boy raised his hand and saw no finger, and was suddenly greatly awakened. When the Master was about to pass away, he said to the assembly, 'I got Tianlong's one-finger Chan, and it has lasted me a lifetime without being used up.' Having said this, he passed into extinction. (Changqing said on behalf of the assembly, 'Fine food is not for a full man to eat.' Xuansha said, 'If I had been there, I would have twisted off his finger.' Xuanjue said, 'Just say, what was Xuansha's meaning in speaking like that?' Yunju Xi said, 'Just as Xuansha spoke like that, was he approving him or not? If he approved, why say twist off his finger? If he did not approve, where was Juzhi at fault?' The late Caoshan said, 'Juzhi was reckless in the place where he took it on, recognizing only one mechanism and one object. The same clapping of hands — his was strange to the Western Garden.' Xuanjue also said, 'Just say, did Juzhi awaken or not? If he awakened, why say he was reckless where he took it on? If he did not awaken, why say the one-finger Chan was not used up? Just say, what was Caoshan's meaning?')

南嶽下五世

The Fifth Generation under Nanyue

睦州陳尊宿法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the Venerable Chen of Muzhou

睦州刺史陳操尚書

The Minister Chen Cao, Prefect of Muzhou

齋次。拈起餬餅。問僧。江西．湖南還有這箇麼。曰。尚書適來吃箇甚麼。公曰。敲鐘謝響。又齋僧次。躬自行餅。一僧展手擬接。公卻縮手。僧無語。公曰。果然。果然。問僧。有箇事與上座商量。得麼。曰。合取狗口。公自摑口曰。某甲罪過。曰。知過必改。公曰。恁麼則乞上座口吃飯。得麼。又齋僧自行食次。乃曰。上座施食。僧曰。三德六味。公曰。錯。僧無對。又與僚屬登樓次。見數僧行來。有一官人曰。來者總是行腳僧。公曰。不是。曰。焉知不是。公曰。待來勘過。須臾僧至樓前。公驀喚上座。僧皆舉首。公謂諸官曰。不信道。又與禪者頌曰。禪者有玄機。機玄是復非。欲了機前旨。鹹於句下違。

Once at a meal, he picked up a cake and asked a monk, 'Are there such things in Jiangxi and Hunan?' The monk said, 'What did the Minister just eat?' The Minister said, 'Strike the bell and thank the echo.' Once again, at a monks' meal, he went around serving cakes himself. A monk stretched out his hand to take one. The Minister withdrew his hand. The monk said nothing. The Minister said, 'Just so, just so.' He asked a monk, 'There is a matter I would discuss with the elder — may I?' The monk said, 'Shut your dog's mouth.' The Minister slapped his own mouth and said, 'I am at fault.' The monk said, 'Knowing your fault, you must mend it.' The Minister said, 'If so, then may I eat from the elder's mouth?' Once again, at a monks' meal, as he went around serving food he said, 'The elder is giving food.' The monk said, 'Three virtues and six flavors.' The Minister said, 'Wrong.' The monk had no reply. Once, when he was on a tower with his subordinates, he saw several monks coming. One official said, 'Those who come are all wandering monks.' The Minister said, 'They are not.' He said, 'How do you know they are not?' The Minister said, 'Wait until they come and I will test them.' After a while the monks reached the foot of the tower. The Minister suddenly called out, 'Elders!' All the monks raised their heads. The Minister said to the officials, 'Do you believe me now?' He also gave a verse to a Chan man: 'The Chan man has a mysterious mechanism; the mechanism's mystery is again not so. To understand the purport before the mechanism, one must go against it in every phrase.'

光孝覺禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Jue of Guangxiao

昇州長慶道巘禪師

Chan Master Daojun of Changqing in Shengzhou

廬州人也。初侍光孝便領悟微言。即於湖南大光山剃度。既化緣彌盛。出住長慶。上堂。彌勒朝入伽藍。暮成正覺。說偈曰。三界上下法。我說皆是心。離於諸心法。更無有可得。看他恁麼道。也太殺惺惺。若比吾徒。猶是鈍漢。所以一念見道。三世情盡。如印印泥。更無前後。諸子生死事大。快須薦取。莫為等閑。業識茫茫。葢為迷己逐物。世尊臨入涅槃。文殊請再轉法輪。世尊咄曰。吾四十九年住世。不曾說一字。汝請吾再轉法輪。是吾曾轉法輪邪。然今時眾中。建立箇賓主問答。事不獲已。葢為初心耳。僧問。如何是長慶境。師曰。闍黎履踐看。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。今日三月三。曰。學人不會。師曰。止。止。不須說。我法妙難思。便下座。咸平二年示寂。

was a man of Luzhou. He first attended Guangxiao and at once grasped the subtle words, and was then ordained at Mount Daguang in Hunan. When his karmic connections grew abundant, he went out to live at Changqing. Ascending the hall: 'Maitreya enters the monastery in the morning and attains perfect enlightenment in the evening. He spoke a verse: the dharmas above and below in the three realms, I say are all mind. Apart from the dharmas of mind, there is nothing further to be attained. Look how he spoke — that is far too clever. Compared with us, he is still a dull fellow. Therefore one thought seeing the Way, and the feelings of the three ages are exhausted. It is like a seal stamped in clay, with no before or after. You gentlemen, birth and death is a great matter; make haste to take it up, do not treat it as a trifle. Karmic consciousness is vast and blind, all because one is deluded about oneself and chases things. When the World-Honored One was about to enter nirvana, Manjushri asked him to turn the dharma wheel again. The World-Honored One shouted: in forty-nine years of dwelling in the world, I have not spoken a single word. You ask me to turn the dharma wheel again — does that mean I ever turned the dharma wheel? But here among you now, setting up host and guest, question and answer, is done because there is no other way — it is for beginners.' A monk asked, 'What is the realm of Changqing?' The Master said, 'Acharya, walk it and see.' Someone asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'Today is the third of the third month.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The Master said, 'Stop, stop, there is no need to speak. My Dharma is wonderful and hard to conceive.' Then he stepped down from the seat. He passed into quiescence in the second year of Xianping.

六祖大鑒禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dajian, the Sixth Ancestor

吉州青原山靜居寺行思禪師

Chan Master Xingsi of Jingju Monastery on Mount Qingyuan in Jizhou

本州安城劉氏子。幼歲出家。每群居論道。師唯默然。聞曹谿法席。乃往參禮。問曰。當何所務。即不落階級。祖曰。汝曾作甚麼來。師曰。聖諦亦不為。祖曰。落何階級。師曰。聖諦尚不為。何階級之有。祖深器之。會下學徒雖眾。師居首焉。亦猶二祖不言。少林謂之得髓矣。一日。祖謂師曰。從上衣法雙行。師資遞授。衣以表信。法乃印心。吾今得人。何患不信。吾受衣以來。遭此多難。況乎後代。爭競必多。衣即留鎮山門。汝當分化一方。無令斷絕。師既得法。歸住青原。六祖將示滅。有沙彌希遷(即石頭和尚)。問曰。和尚百年後。希遷未審當依附何人。祖曰。尋思去。及祖順世。遷每於靜處端坐。寂若忘生。第一座問曰。汝師已逝。空坐奚為。遷曰。我稟遺誡。故尋思爾。座曰。汝有師兄思和尚。今住吉州。汝因緣在彼。師言甚直。汝自迷耳。遷聞語。便禮辭祖龕。直詣靜居參禮。師曰。子何方來。遷曰。曹谿。師曰。將得甚麼來。曰。未到曹谿亦不失。師曰。若恁麼。用去曹谿作甚麼。曰。若不到曹谿。爭知不失。遷又曰。曹谿大師還識和尚否。師曰。汝今識吾否。曰。識。又爭能識得。師曰。眾角雖多。一麟足矣。遷又問。和尚自離曹谿。甚麼時至此間。師曰。我卻知汝早晚離曹谿。曰。希遷不從曹谿來。師曰。我亦知汝去處也。曰。和尚幸是大人。莫造次。他日。師復問遷。汝甚麼處來。曰。曹谿。師乃舉拂子曰。曹谿還有這箇麼。曰。非但曹谿。西天亦無。師曰。子莫曾到西天否。曰。若到即有也。師曰。未在。更道。曰。和尚也須道取一半。莫全靠學人。師曰。不辭向汝道。恐已後無人承當。師令遷持書與南嶽讓和尚曰。汝達書了。速回。吾有箇鈯斧子。與汝住山。遷至彼。未呈書便問。不慕諸聖不重己靈時如何。嶽曰。子問太高生。何不向下問。遷曰。寧可永劫受沉淪。

was a son of the Liu family of Ancheng in that prefecture. He left home in childhood. Whenever the community gathered to discuss the Way, the Master was simply silent. Hearing of the Dharma seat at Caoxi, he went there to study and pay respects. He asked, 'What should one attend to, so as not to fall into stages?' The Ancestor said, 'What have you been doing?' The Master said, 'I do not even practice the noble truth.' The Ancestor said, 'Into what stage do you fall?' The Master said, 'Since I do not even practice the noble truth, what stage is there?' The Ancestor greatly valued him. Though the students in his assembly were many, the Master stood at their head. It was like the Second Ancestor's silence, which Shaolin called getting the marrow. One day the Ancestor said to the Master, 'From the first, robe and Dharma have gone together, teacher passing to disciple. The robe is the token of faith, the Dharma is the seal of mind. Now that I have found the man, why worry about faith? Since I received the robe I have met with many hardships. How much more will later generations compete and contend. Let the robe remain to guard the mountain gate. You should go and transform a region, and not let it be cut off.' After the Master had got the Dharma, he returned to live at Qingyuan. When the Sixth Ancestor was about to pass into extinction, a novice, Xiqian (that is, the Reverend Shitou), asked, 'After the Reverend's hundred years, I wonder whom Xiqian should rely on?' The Ancestor said, 'Seek and think.' When the Ancestor had passed away, Qian would sit upright in quiet places, still as if he had forgotten life. The head seat asked, 'Your teacher has passed away; what use is sitting empty?' Qian said, 'I received his parting command, and so I seek and think.' The seat said, 'You have a senior fellow disciple, the Reverend Si, who now lives in Jizhou. Your karmic connection lies there. The teacher's words were very plain; you are the one who is deluded.' Hearing this, Qian bowed and took leave of the Ancestor's niche, and went straight to Jingju to study and pay respects. The Master said, 'Where have you come from?' Qian said, 'Caoxi.' The Master said, 'What did you bring with you?' He said, 'I did not lose it even before reaching Caoxi.' The Master said, 'If so, what is the use of going to Caoxi?' He said, 'Had I not gone to Caoxi, how would I know it was not lost?' Qian also said, 'Did the Great Master of Caoxi know the Reverend?' The Master said, 'Do you know me now?' He said, 'I know you. And how could I be able to know you?' The Master said, 'Though there are many horns in the herd, one unicorn is enough.' Qian also asked, 'Since the Reverend left Caoxi, when did you arrive here?' The Master said, 'I do know when you left Caoxi.' He said, 'Xiqian did not come from Caoxi.' The Master said, 'I also know where you are going.' He said, 'The Reverend is a great man; do not be rash.' Another day the Master asked Qian again, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Caoxi.' The Master then raised his fly whisk and said, 'Does Caoxi still have this?' He said, 'Not only Caoxi — the Western Heaven does not have it either.' The Master said, 'Have you ever been to the Western Heaven?' He said, 'If I had been there, then there would be.' The Master said, 'Not yet. Say more.' He said, 'The Reverend must speak half of it; do not rely wholly on the student.' The Master said, 'I would not refuse to tell you, but I fear that afterwards there will be no one to take it on.' The Master told Qian to carry a letter to the Reverend Rang of Nanyue, saying, 'When you have delivered the letter, come back quickly. I have a blunt axe to give you for living on the mountain.' When Qian arrived there, before presenting the letter he asked, 'What about when one does not admire the sages and does not prize one's own spirit?' Yue said, 'Your question is too high. Why not ask lower down?' Qian said, 'I would rather suffer sinking for endless kalpas

不從諸聖求解脫。嶽便休(玄沙曰。大小石頭被南嶽推倒。直至如今起不得)。遷便回。師問。子返何速。書信達否。遷曰。書亦不通。信亦不達。去日蒙和尚許箇鈯斧子。祇今便請。師垂一足。遷便禮拜。尋辭往南嶽。荷澤神會來參。師問。甚處來。曰。曹谿。師曰。曹谿意旨如何。會振身而立。師曰。猶帶瓦礫在。曰。和尚此間莫有真金與人麼。師曰。設有。汝向甚麼處著(玄沙雲。果然。雲居錫雲。秖如玄沙道。果然是真金。是瓦礫)。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。廬陵米作麼價。師既付法石頭。唐開元二十八年十一月十三日。陞堂告眾。跏趺而逝。僖宗諡弘濟禪師．歸真之塔。

(Xiqian continued:) 'than seek liberation from the sages.' Yue then let it be. (Xuansha said, 'Big or small, Shitou was pushed over by Nanyue, and to this day he cannot get up.') Qian then returned. The Master asked, 'Why have you come back so quickly? Was the letter delivered?' Qian said, 'Neither the letter got through nor the message was delivered. When I left, the Reverend promised me a blunt axe; please give it to me now.' The Master held out one foot. Qian then bowed. Soon afterwards he took leave and went to Nanyue. Heze Shenhui came to study. The Master asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'Caoxi.' The Master said, 'What is the purport of Caoxi?' Hui shook his body and stood. The Master said, 'You still carry tiles and pebbles.' He said, 'Has the Reverend no true gold to give to people here?' The Master said, 'Even if there were, where would you put it?' (Xuansha said, 'Just so.' Yunju Xi said, 'Just as Xuansha said just so — is it true gold or tiles and pebbles?') A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The Master said, 'What is the price of rice in Luling?' After the Master had entrusted the Dharma to Shitou, on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month of the twenty-eighth year of Kaiyuan of the Tang he ascended the hall, told the assembly, and sitting cross-legged passed away. Emperor Xizong gave him the posthumous title Chan Master Hongji, and his stupa was called Returning to the True.

青原思禪師法嗣(第一世)

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Si of Qingyuan (first generation)

南嶽石頭希遷禪師

Chan Master Xiqian of Shitou in Nanyue

端州高要陳氏子。母初懷娠。不喜葷茹。師雖在孩提。不煩保母。既冠。然諾自許。鄉洞獠民畏鬼神。多淫祀。殺牛釃酒。習以為常。師輒往毀叢祠。奪牛而歸。歲盈數十。鄉老不能禁。後直造曹谿。得度未具戒。屬祖圓寂。稟遺命謁青原。乃攝衣從之(緣會語句。青原章敘之)。一日。原問師曰。有人道嶺南有消息。師曰。有人不道嶺南有消息。曰。若恁麼。大藏小藏從何而來。師曰。盡從這裡去。原然之。師於唐天寶初。薦之衡山南寺。寺之東有石。狀如臺。乃結庵其上。時號石頭和尚。師因看肇論至會萬物為己者。其唯聖人乎。師乃拊幾曰。聖人無己。靡所不己。法身無象。誰雲自他。圓鑑靈照於其間。萬象體玄而自現。境智非一。孰雲去來。至哉斯語也。遂掩卷。不覺寢夢。自身與六祖同乘一龜。游泳深池之內。覺而詳之。靈龜者。智也。池者。性海也。吾與祖師同乘靈智遊性海矣。遂著參同契曰。竺土大仙心。東西密相付。人根有利鈍。道無南北祖。靈源明皎潔。枝派暗流注。執事元是迷。契理亦非悟。門門一切境。回互不回互。回而更相涉。不爾依位住。色本殊質象。聲元異樂苦。暗合上中言。明明清濁句。四大性自復。如子得其母。火熱風動搖。水濕地堅固。眼色耳音聲。鼻香舌鹹醋。然依一一法。依根葉分佈。本末須歸宗。尊卑用其語。當明中有暗。勿以暗相遇。當暗中有明。勿以明相覩。明暗各相對。比如前後步。萬物自有功。當言用及處。事存函蓋合。理應箭鋒拄。承言須會宗。勿自立規矩。觸目不會道。運足焉知路。進步非近遠。迷隔山河固。謹白參玄人。光陰莫虗度。上堂。吾之法門。先佛傳受。不論禪定精進。唯達佛之知見。即心即佛。心佛眾生。菩提煩惱。名異體一。汝等當知。自己心靈。體離斷常。性非垢淨。湛然圓滿。凡聖齊同。應用無方。離心意識。三界六道。

He was a son of the Chen family of Gaoyao in Duanzhou. When his mother first conceived, she lost her taste for meat. Even as an infant in arms he gave his nurse no trouble. On coming of age he was a man of his word and trusted his own promises. The aboriginal people of the valleys there feared ghosts and spirits and practiced many licentious sacrifices, slaughtering cattle and pouring wine as a matter of course. The master would go and destroy the crowded shrines, seize the cattle, and bring them back, amounting to several dozen a year, and the village elders could not stop him. Later he went straight to Caoxi and received ordination, though not yet the full precepts. It happened that the Patriarch passed into quiescence, and having received his dying command he went to call on Qingyuan, taking up his robe to follow him (the words of their meeting are narrated in the chapter on Qingyuan). One day Yuan asked the master, 'Someone says there is news in Lingnan.' The master said, 'Someone does not say there is news in Lingnan.' Yuan said, 'If so, where do the greater and lesser treasuries of the canon come from?' The master said, 'They all go out from here.' Yuan agreed with him. In the early Tianbao era of Tang he was recommended to the Southern Monastery on Mount Heng. East of the monastery there was a rock shaped like a platform, so he built a hut on it, and he was called at the time the Monk of the Rock. Once, reading the Zhao Lun and reaching the line 'He who merges the ten thousand things into himself, is he not the sage?', the master stroked the table and said, 'The sage has no self, and so there is nothing that is not himself. The Dharma body has no form; who can speak of self and other? The perfect mirror shines numinously within it, and the ten thousand images, their essence mysterious, appear of themselves. Object and knowing are not two; who can speak of coming and going? How profound these words are.' Then he closed the scroll, and without noticing fell asleep and dreamed that he and the Sixth Patriarch were riding on one turtle, swimming in a deep pool. On waking he examined it: the numinous turtle is wisdom; the pool is the sea of the nature. He and the Patriarch were riding the numinous wisdom and swimming in the sea of the nature. So he composed the Cantong Qi, saying: 'The mind of the great sage of India was intimately transmitted from West to East. People's capacities are sharp or dull, but the Way has no northern or southern patriarch. The numinous source is bright and clear; its branching streams flow on in darkness. Clinging to things is delusion; according with principle is not yet enlightenment. Each gate and every object: they interrelate and do not interrelate. Interrelating, they involve one another; otherwise each stays in its own position. Forms differ in substance and appearance; sounds are originally different as pleasure or pain. In darkness they accord with high, middle, and low speech; in brightness, with clear and turbid phrases. The four elements return to their own nature, as a child finds its mother. Fire is hot, wind moves, water is wet, earth is solid. Eye and form, ear and sound, nose and scent, tongue and salt and sour. Yet depending on each dharma, they spread out as root and leaf. Root and branch must return to the source; noble and lowly each use their own words. When there is brightness within darkness, do not meet one another in darkness. When there is darkness within brightness, do not see one another in brightness. Brightness and darkness face each other, like the steps of front and back. The ten thousand things each have their own function; speak of their use and their place. Phenomena exist and fit like a box and its lid; principle should meet like an arrow point to point. Accepting words, one must understand the source; do not set up your own rules. Not understanding the Way at what meets the eye, how can the foot know the road? Advancing is neither near nor far; delusion puts up mountains and rivers. I respectfully tell those who study the mystery: do not pass your days in vain.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'My Dharma gate was transmitted and received by the Buddhas of old. It does not discuss meditation or diligence, only the attainment of the Buddha's knowledge and vision. This very mind is Buddha. Mind, Buddha, and living beings, bodhi and affliction, differ in name but are one in substance. You should know that your own mind and spirit in essence transcend annihilation and permanence; its nature is neither defiled nor pure; it is serene and complete, and ordinary and sage are equal in it. Its function has no fixed direction, and it is apart from mind, intellect, and consciousness. The three realms and six paths,

唯自心現。水月鏡像。豈有生滅。汝能知之。無所不備。時門人道悟問。曹谿意旨誰人得。師曰。會佛法人得。曰。師還得否。師曰。不得。曰。為甚麼不得。師曰。我不會佛法。僧問。如何是解脫。師曰。誰縛汝。問。如何是淨土。師曰。誰垢汝。問。如何是涅槃。師曰。誰將生死與汝。師問新到。從甚麼處來。曰。江西來。師曰。見馬大師否。曰。見。師乃指一橛柴曰。馬師何似這箇。僧無對(卻回舉似馬祖。祖曰。汝見橛柴大小。曰。沒量大。祖曰。汝甚有力。僧曰。何也。祖曰。汝從南嶽負一橛柴來。豈不是有力)。問。如何是西來意。師曰。問取露柱。曰。學人不會。師曰。我更不會。大顛問。古人云。道有道無俱是謗。請師除。師曰。一物亦無。除箇甚麼。師卻問。併卻咽喉唇吻。道將來。顛曰。無這箇。師曰。若恁麼。汝即得入門。道悟問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。不得不知。悟曰。向上更有轉處也無。師曰。長空不礙白雲飛。問。如何是禪。師曰。碌甎。問。如何是道。師曰。木頭。自餘門屬領旨所有問答。各於本章出焉。南嶽鬼神多顯跡聽法。師皆與授戒。廣德二年。門人請下於梁端。廣闡玄化。貞元六年順寂。塔於東嶺。德宗諡無際大師。塔曰見相。

(The master continued:) 'appear only from one's own mind. Water moon and mirror image, how could there be birth and death? If you can know this, there is nothing not fully provided.' At that time his disciple Daowu asked, 'Who has attained the meaning of Caoxi?' The master said, 'The one who understands the Buddha Dharma has attained it.' He said, 'Has the master attained it?' The master said, 'No.' He said, 'Why not?' The master said, 'I do not understand the Buddha Dharma.' A monk asked, 'What is liberation?' The master said, 'Who has bound you?' He asked, 'What is the pure land?' The master said, 'Who has defiled you?' He asked, 'What is nirvana?' The master said, 'Who has given you birth and death?' The master asked a newly arrived monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Jiangxi.' The master said, 'Have you seen the great master Ma?' He said, 'I have.' The master then pointed to a stump of firewood and said, 'What does master Ma resemble this?' The monk had no reply. (He went back and reported it to Mazu. Zu said, 'Did you see how big the stump of firewood is?' He said, 'Immeasurably big.' Zu said, 'You are very strong.' The monk said, 'Why?' Zu said, 'You carried a stump of firewood all the way from Nanyue on your back, are you not strong?') A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said, 'Ask the exposed pillar.' He said, 'The student does not understand.' The master said, 'I understand even less.' Dadian asked, 'The ancients said: to say the Way exists or does not exist is equally slander. Please, master, remove it.' The master said, 'There is not a single thing, so what is there to remove?' The master asked in turn, 'Closing your throat and lips, say it.' Dian said, 'There is no such thing.' The master said, 'If so, you may enter the gate.' Daowu asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' The master said, 'One cannot but know it.' Wu said, 'Is there any further turning above that?' The master said, 'The vast sky does not hinder the white clouds from flying.' A monk asked, 'What is Chan?' The master said, 'A brick.' He asked, 'What is the Way?' The master said, 'A piece of wood.' As for his remaining disciples who received the meaning, all their questions and answers appear in their own chapters. The ghosts and spirits of Nanyue often manifested traces to hear the Dharma, and the master gave them all the precepts. In the second year of Guangde his disciples asked him to come down to Liangduan, where he widely unfolded the mysterious teaching. He passed into quiescence in the sixth year of Zhenyuan, and his stupa was on the Eastern Ridge. Emperor Dezong gave him the posthumous title Great Master Wuji, and the stupa was named Jianxiang.

青原下二世

The Second Generation below Qingyuan

石頭遷禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Shitou Qian

澧州藥山惟儼禪師

Chan Master Weiyan of Yaoshan in Lizhou

絳州韓氏子。年十七。依朝陽西山慧照禪師出家。納戒于衡嶽希操律師。博通經論。嚴持戒律。一日。自歎曰。大丈夫當離法自淨。誰能屑屑事細行於布巾邪。首造石頭之室。便問。三乘十二分教某甲粗知。甞聞南方直指人心。見性成佛。實未明瞭。伏望和尚慈悲指示。頭曰。恁麼也不得。不恁麼也不得。恁麼不恁麼總不得。子作麼生。師罔措。頭曰。子因緣不在此。且往馬大師處去。師稟命恭禮馬祖。仍伸前問。祖曰。我有時教伊揚眉瞬目。有時不教伊揚眉瞬目。有時揚眉瞬目者是。有時揚眉瞬目者不是。子作麼生。師於言下契悟。便禮拜。祖曰。你見甚麼道理便禮拜。師曰。某甲在石頭處。如蚊子上鐵牛。祖曰。汝既如是。善自護持。侍奉三年。一日。祖問。子近日見處作麼生。師曰。皮膚脫落盡。唯有一真實。祖曰。子之所得。可謂協於心體。布於四肢。既然如是。將三條篾束取肚皮。隨處住山去。師曰。某甲又是何人。敢言住山。祖曰。不然。未有常行而不住。未有常住而不行。欲益無所益。欲為無所為。宜作舟航。無久住此。師乃辭祖返石頭。一日在石上坐次。石頭問曰。汝在這裡作麼。曰。一物不為。頭曰。恁麼即閑坐也。曰。若閑坐即為也。頭曰。汝道不為。不為箇甚麼。曰。千聖亦不識。頭以偈讚曰。從來共住不知名。任運相將祇麼行。自古上賢猶不識。造次凡流豈可明。後石頭垂語曰。言語動用沒交涉。師曰。非言語動用亦沒交涉。頭曰。我這裡針劄不入。師曰。我這裡如石上栽華。頭然之。後居澧州藥山。海眾雲會。師與道吾說茗谿上世為節察來。吾曰。和尚上世曾為甚麼。師曰。我痿痿羸羸。且恁麼過時。吾曰。憑何如此。師曰。我不曾展他書卷(石霜別雲。書卷不曾展)。院主報。打鐘也。請和尚上堂。師曰。汝與我擎缽盂去。曰。和尚無手來多少時。師曰。汝祇是枉披袈裟。

He was a son of the Han family of Jiangzhou. At seventeen he left home under Chan Master Huizhao of Xishan in Zhaoyang, and received the precepts from Vinaya Master Xicao of Mount Heng. He was broadly versed in the sutras and treatises and strictly kept the precepts. One day he sighed to himself: 'A great man should depart from dharmas and purify himself; who can bother with petty details over a cloth cap?' He first went to Shitou's chamber and asked, 'I have a rough knowledge of the three vehicles and the twelve divisions of the teachings. I have heard that in the South they point directly at the human mind, see the nature, and become Buddha, but I have not truly understood it. I beg the reverend master in his compassion to instruct me.' Tou said, 'Thus you cannot, not thus you cannot, both thus and not thus you cannot. What will you do?' The master was at a loss. Tou said, 'Your karmic conditions are not here. Go to the great master Ma.' The master obeyed, reverently paid his respects to Mazu, and put his former question. Zu said, 'Sometimes I have him raise his eyebrows and blink; sometimes I do not have him raise his eyebrows and blink. Sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is right; sometimes raising the eyebrows and blinking is not right. What will you do?' At these words the master was enlightened and bowed. Zu said, 'What principle have you seen, that you bow?' The master said, 'When I was with Shitou, I was like a mosquito on an iron ox.' Zu said, 'Since that is so, guard it well yourself.' He served him for three years. One day Zu asked, 'What is your understanding these days?' The master said, 'The skin has all fallen away; there remains only one true thing.' Zu said, 'What you have attained may be said to accord with the substance of mind and to spread through the four limbs. Since that is so, take three strips of bamboo, tie up your belly, and go dwell on a mountain wherever you please.' The master said, 'Who am I, that I should dare speak of dwelling on a mountain?' Zu said, 'Not so. There has never been one who always walks and does not dwell, nor one who always dwells and does not walk. Wishing to benefit where there is nothing to benefit, wishing to act where there is nothing to act, you should be a boat and ferry; do not stay here long.' So the master took leave of Zu and returned to Shitou. One day, as he sat on a rock, Shitou asked him, 'What are you doing here?' He said, 'Not doing a single thing.' Tou said, 'Then you are sitting idly.' He said, 'If sitting idly, then I am doing something.' Tou said, 'You say not doing, what is it you are not doing?' He said, 'Even a thousand sages do not know it.' Tou praised him with a verse: 'Always we dwell together yet do not know its name; freely we go along, just thus we walk. Even the sages of old did not know it; how could the common run, in their haste, make it clear?' Later Shitou let fall a saying: 'Speech and movement have no connection with it.' The master said, 'Not speaking and not moving have no connection with it either.' Tou said, 'Here, a needle cannot enter.' The master said, 'Here, it is like planting flowers on a rock.' Tou agreed. Afterward he dwelt at Yaoshan in Lizhou, and the assembly of monks gathered like clouds. The master said to Daowu that in a former life on Ming Creek he had been a provincial governor. Wu said, 'What was the reverend master in a former life?' The master said, 'I was withered and feeble, and just passed the time like this.' Wu said, 'On what do you base that?' The master said, 'I never unrolled his scrolls.' (Shishuang gave another answer: 'The scrolls were never unrolled.') The prior reported, 'The bell has been struck; please, reverend master, ascend the hall.' The master said, 'You carry my bowl for me and go.' He said, 'How long has it been since the reverend master had no hands?' The master said, 'You are only wearing your robe to no purpose.'

曰。某甲祇恁麼。和尚如何。師曰。我無這箇眷屬。謂雲巖曰。與我喚沙彌來。巖曰。喚他來作甚麼。師曰。我有箇折腳鐺子。要他提上挈下。巖曰。恁麼則與和尚出一隻手去也。師便休。園頭栽菜次。師曰。栽即不障汝栽。莫教根生。曰。既不教根生。大眾吃甚麼。師曰。汝還有口麼。頭無對。道吾．雲巖侍立次。師指按山上枯榮二樹。問道吾曰。枯者是。榮者是。吾曰。榮者是。師曰。灼然一切處。光明燦爛去。又問雲巖。枯者是。榮者是。巖曰。枯者是。師曰。灼然一切處。放教枯淡去。高沙彌忽至。師曰。枯者是。榮者是。彌曰。枯者從他枯。榮者從他榮。師顧道吾．雲巖曰。不是。不是。問。如何得不被諸境惑。師曰。聽他何礙汝。曰。不會。師曰。何境惑汝。問。如何是道中至寶。師曰。莫諂曲。曰。不諂曲時如何。師曰。傾國不換。有僧再來依附。師問。阿誰。曰。常坦。師呵曰。前也是常坦。後也是常坦。師久不陞堂。院主白曰。大眾久思和尚示誨。師曰。打鐘著。眾才集。師便下座。歸方丈。院主隨後問曰。和尚既許為大眾說話。為甚麼一言不措。師曰。經有經師。論有論師。爭怪得老僧。師問雲巖。作甚麼。巖曰。擔屎。師曰。那箇聻。巖曰。在。師曰。汝來去為誰。曰。替他東西。師曰。何不教並行。曰。和尚莫謗他。師曰。不合恁麼道。曰。如何道。師曰。還曾擔麼。師坐次。僧問。兀兀地思量甚麼。師曰。思量箇不思量底。曰。不思量底如何思量。師曰。非思量。問。學人擬歸鄉時如何。師曰。汝父母徧身紅爛。臥在荊棘林中。汝歸何所。曰。恁麼則不歸去也。師曰。汝卻須歸去。汝若歸鄉。我示汝箇休糧方子。曰。便請。師曰。二時上堂。不得齩破一粒米。問。如何是涅槃。師曰。汝未開口時喚作甚麼。問僧。甚處來。曰。湖南來。師曰。洞庭湖水滿也未。曰。未。師曰。

(The prior continued:) 'I am just like this. What about the reverend master?' The master said, 'I have no such dependents.' He said to Yunyaan, 'Call the novice for me.' Yan said, 'What do you want him for?' The master said, 'I have a broken-legged pot, and I want him to lift it up and put it down.' Yan said, 'Then I will lend the reverend master a hand.' The master let it drop. Once, as the garden keeper was planting vegetables, the master said, 'Planting does not hinder you from planting, but do not let roots grow.' He said, 'If roots are not to grow, what will the assembly eat?' The master said, 'Do you still have a mouth?' The keeper had no reply. As Daowu and Yunyaan stood in attendance, the master pointed to two trees on the mountain, one withered and one flourishing, and asked Daowu, 'Which is right, the withered one or the flourishing one?' Wu said, 'The flourishing one is right.' The master said, 'Bright and brilliant, it goes everywhere.' He asked Yunyaan again, 'Which is right, the withered one or the flourishing one?' Yan said, 'The withered one is right.' The master said, 'Let it go everywhere, withered and pale.' The novice Gao suddenly arrived. The master said, 'Which is right, the withered one or the flourishing one?' The novice said, 'Let the withered one wither on its own; let the flourishing one flourish on its own.' The master turned to Daowu and Yunyaan and said, 'No, no.' A monk asked, 'How can one avoid being deluded by objects?' The master said, 'Let them be; how do they hinder you?' He said, 'I do not understand.' The master said, 'What object deludes you?' A monk asked, 'What is the supreme treasure in the Way?' The master said, 'Do not flatter or bend.' He said, 'What about when one neither flatters nor bends?' The master said, 'Not for a kingdom would I exchange it.' There was a monk who came again to attach himself. The master asked, 'Who is it?' He said, 'Changtan.' The master scolded him: 'Before it was Changtan too, and after it is Changtan too.' The master had long not ascended the hall. The prior said to him, 'The assembly has long yearned for the reverend master's instruction.' The master said, 'Strike the bell.' When the assembly had just gathered, the master came down from the seat and returned to the abbot's quarters. The prior followed and asked, 'Since the reverend master consented to speak to the assembly, why did he not utter a single word?' The master said, 'There are sutra masters for the sutras and treatise masters for the treatises; how can you blame this old monk?' The master asked Yunyaan, 'What are you doing?' Yan said, 'Carrying dung.' The master said, 'And that one?' Yan said, 'He is here.' The master said, 'For whom do you come and go?' He said, 'I carry things for him.' The master said, 'Why not have him walk alongside?' He said, 'Reverend master, do not slander him.' The master said, 'You should not say that.' He said, 'How should one say it?' The master said, 'Have you ever carried it?' Once, as the master sat, a monk asked, 'What are you thinking about so fixedly?' The master said, 'I am thinking of that which is not thought.' He said, 'How does one think of that which is not thought?' The master said, 'Not thinking.' A monk asked, 'What about when a student intends to return to his home village?' The master said, 'Your father and mother are covered with red sores and lie in a thicket of thorns. Where will you return to?' He said, 'Then I will not return.' The master said, 'You must return. If you return home, I will show you a formula for refraining from grain.' He said, 'Please do.' The master said, 'At the two mealtimes, ascend the hall, but do not bite off a single grain of rice.' A monk asked, 'What is nirvana?' The master said, 'What do you call it before you open your mouth?' He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Hunan.' The master said, 'Is Lake Dongting full of water?' He said, 'Not yet.' The master said:

許多時雨水。為甚麼未滿。僧無語(道吾雲。滿也。雲巖雲。湛湛地。洞山雲。甚麼劫中曾增減來。雲門雲。祇在這裡)。師問僧。甚處來。曰。江西來。師以拄杖敲禪床三下。僧曰。某甲粗知去處。師拋下拄杖。僧無語。師召侍者。點茶與這僧。踏州縣困。師問龐居士。一乘中還著得這箇事麼。士曰。某甲祇管日求升合。不知還著得麼。師曰。道居士不見石頭。得麼。士曰。拈一放一。未為好手。師曰。老僧住持事繁。士珍重便出。師曰。拈一放一。的是好手。士曰。好箇一乘問宗。今日失卻也。師曰。是。是。上堂。祖師祇教保護。若貪嗔痴起來。切須防禁。莫教掁觸。是你欲知枯木。石頭卻須擔荷。實無枝葉可得。雖然如此。更宜自看。不得絕言語。我今為你說。這箇語顯無語底。他那箇本來無耳目等貌。師與雲巖遊山。腰間刀響。巖問。甚麼物作聲。師抽刀驀口作斫勢(洞山舉示眾雲。看他藥山橫身。為這箇事。今時人慾明向上事。須體此意始得)。遵布衲浴佛。師曰。這箇從汝浴。還浴得那箇麼。遵曰。把將那箇來。師乃休(長慶雲。邪法難扶。玄覺雲。且道長慶恁麼道。在賓在主。眾中喚作浴佛語。亦曰兼帶語。且道盡善不盡善)。問。學人有疑。請師決。師曰。待上堂時來。與闍黎決疑。至晚。上堂眾集。師曰。今日請決疑上座在甚麼處。其僧出眾而立。師下禪床。把住曰。大眾。這僧有疑。便與一推。卻歸方丈(玄覺曰。且道與伊決疑否。若決疑。甚麼處是決疑。若不與決疑。又道待上堂時與汝決疑)。師問飯頭。汝在此多少時也。曰。三年。師曰。我總不識汝。飯頭罔測。發憤而去。問。身命急處如何。師曰。莫種雜種。曰。將何供養。師曰。無物者。師令供養主抄化。甘行者問。甚處來。曰。藥山來。甘曰。來作麼。曰。教化。甘曰。將得藥來麼。曰。行者有甚麼病。甘便捨銀兩鋌。

(The master continued:) 'With so much rain, why is it not full?' The monk had nothing to say. (Daowu said, 'It is full.' Yunyaan said, 'Deep and clear.' Dongshan said, 'In what kalpa has it ever increased or decreased?' Yunmen said, 'It is right here.') The master asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Jiangxi.' The master rapped the meditation platform three times with his staff. The monk said, 'I have a rough idea of where to go.' The master threw down the staff. The monk had nothing to say. The master called the attendant: 'Serve this monk tea; he is worn out from treading the prefectures and counties.' The master asked the layman Pang, 'Can this matter be put into the One Vehicle?' The layman said, 'I only go about seeking a pint and a peck each day; I do not know whether it can be put in.' The master said, 'A layman who does not see Shitou, is that acceptable?' The layman said, 'Picking up one and putting down one is not the work of a good hand.' The master said, 'This old monk has many affairs as abbot.' The layman said, 'Take care,' and went out. The master said, 'Picking up one and putting down one, that is truly a good hand.' The layman said, 'A fine question about the source of the One Vehicle; today it has been lost.' The master said, 'Yes, yes.' Ascending the hall, he said: 'The Patriarch only taught protection. When greed, anger, and delusion arise, you must guard against them and not let them be provoked. If you wish to know the withered tree, Shitou must bear it on his shoulders; in truth there are no branches or leaves to be had. Even so, you had better look into it yourself. Do not cut off words and speech. I now speak these words for you in order to reveal that which has no words. That one originally has no appearance of ears, eyes, and the rest.' Once, as the master walked in the mountains with Yunyaan, the knife at his waist rattled. Yan asked, 'What is that making a sound?' The master drew the knife and made a chopping motion at his mouth. (Dongshan told the assembly, 'See how Yaoshan throws his whole body into this matter. People today who wish to understand the matter above must realize this meaning before they can.') Zun Bunai was bathing the Buddha. The master said, 'This one you may bathe, but can you bathe that one?' Zun said, 'Bring that one here.' The master let it drop. (Changqing said, 'Heretical dharma is hard to support.' Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, speaking as Changqing did, is he host or guest? In the assembly this is called the word of bathing the Buddha, and also called the word of both together. Tell me, is it perfectly good or not?') A monk asked, 'The student has a doubt; please, master, resolve it.' The master said, 'Come at the time of ascending the hall, and I will resolve your doubt, reverend.' That evening the master ascended the hall and the assembly gathered. The master said, 'Where is the senior who asked to have his doubt resolved today?' That monk came forward from the assembly and stood. The master came down from the platform, grabbed hold of him, and said, 'Assembly, this monk has a doubt.' Then he gave him a push and returned to the abbot's quarters. (Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, did he resolve his doubt or not? If he resolved it, where is the resolution? If he did not, he still said he would resolve it when he ascended the hall.') The master asked the rice cook, 'How long have you been here?' He said, 'Three years.' The master said, 'I have never known you.' The cook was bewildered, and left in indignation. A monk asked, 'What about the urgent point of life and body?' The master said, 'Do not plant mixed seeds.' He said, 'With what shall I make offerings?' The master said, 'With the thing that has nothing.' The master sent the offering-master out to beg. The postulant Gan asked, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Yaoshan.' Gan said, 'What have you come for?' He said, 'To convert.' Gan said, 'Have you brought the medicine?' He said, 'What illness does the postulant have?' Gan then donated two ingots of silver.

意山中有人。此物卻回。無人即休。主便歸納疏。師問曰。子歸何速。主曰。問佛法相當得銀兩鋌。師令舉其語。主舉已。師曰。速送還他。子著賊了也。主便送還。甘曰。由來有人。遂添銀施之(同安顯雲。早知行者恁麼問。終不道藥山來)。問僧。見說汝解算。是否。曰。不敢。師曰。汝試算老僧看。僧無對(雲巖舉問洞山。汝作麼生。山曰。請和尚生月)。師書佛字。問道吾。是甚麼字。吾曰。佛字。師曰。多口阿師。問。己事未明。乞和尚指示。師良久曰。吾今為汝道一句亦不難。祇宜汝於言下便見去。猶較些子。若更入思量。卻成吾罪過。不如且各合口。免相累及。大眾夜參。不點燈。師垂語曰。我有一句子。待特牛生兒。即向你道。有僧曰。特牛生兒。也祇是和尚不道。師曰。侍者把燈來。其僧抽身入眾(雲巖舉似洞山。山曰。這僧卻會。秖是不肯禮拜)。問僧。甚處來。曰。南泉來。師曰。在彼多少時。曰。粗經冬夏。師曰。恁麼。則成一頭水牯牛去也。曰。雖在彼中。且不曾上他食堂。師曰。口欱東南風那。曰。和尚莫錯。自有拈匙把筯人在。問。達磨未來時。此土還有祖師意否。師曰。有。曰。既有。祖師又來作甚麼。師曰。祇為有。所以來。看經次。僧問。和尚尋常不許人看經。為甚麼卻自看。師曰。我祇圖遮眼。曰。某甲學和尚還得也無。師曰。汝若看。牛皮也須穿(長慶雲。眼有何過。玄覺雲。且道長慶會藥山意不會藥山意)。問。平田淺草。麈鹿成群。如何射得麈中主。師曰。看箭。僧放身便倒。師曰。侍者。拖出這死漢。僧便走。師曰。弄泥團漢有甚麼限。朗州刺史李翱問。師何姓。師曰。正是時。李不委。卻問院主。某甲適來問和尚姓。和尚曰。正是時。未審姓甚麼。主曰。恁麼則姓韓也。師聞乃曰。得恁麼不識好惡。若是夏時對他。便是姓熱。師一夜登山經行。

(The postulant Gan continued:) 'I take it there is someone on the mountain. Then this thing goes back; if there is no one, let it be.' The begging master went back and handed in his donation register. The master asked, 'Why have you returned so quickly?' The begging master said, 'When I asked about the Buddha Dharma, he gave me two ingots of silver.' The master had him repeat the words. When he had, the master said, 'Take it back to him quickly. You have been robbed.' The begging master took it back. Gan said, 'There has been someone there all along.' Then he added more silver and gave it. (Tong'an Xian said, 'Had I known the postulant would ask that, I would never have said I came from Yaoshan.') The master asked a monk, 'I hear you understand calculation. Is that so?' He said, 'I would not presume.' The master said, 'Try calculating this old monk.' The monk had no reply. (Yunyaan asked Dongshan about this: 'What would you do?' Shan said, 'Please, reverend master, tell me the month of your birth.') The master wrote the character for Buddha and asked Daowu, 'What character is this?' Wu said, 'The character Buddha.' The master said, 'A talkative reverend.' A monk said, 'My own matter is not yet clear; I beg the reverend master to instruct me.' After a long pause the master said, 'It is not hard for me to say a phrase for you now; it would be better if you saw it right at the words, which would be a little better. If you go on into thinking, it becomes my fault. Better that we each keep our mouths shut and avoid implicating one another.' At the night gathering of the assembly, no lamp was lit. The master let fall a saying: 'I have one phrase, but I will tell it to you when a bull bears a calf.' A monk said, 'Even if a bull bears a calf, the reverend master still will not say it.' The master said, 'Attendant, bring the lamp.' That monk drew himself back into the assembly. (Yunyaan reported this to Dongshan. Shan said, 'This monk does understand; he simply refuses to bow.') He asked a monk, 'Where do you come from?' He said, 'From Nanquan.' The master said, 'How long were you there?' He said, 'About a winter and a summer.' The master said, 'Then you have become a water buffalo.' He said, 'Though I was there, I never went to his refectory.' The master said, 'Then you drank the southeast wind.' He said, 'Reverend master, do not be mistaken; there was one there who picked up the spoon and held the chopsticks.' A monk asked, 'Before Bodhidharma came, was there the meaning of the Patriarch in this land?' The master said, 'There was.' He said, 'Since there was, why did the Patriarch come?' The master said, 'Just because there was, therefore he came.' Once, as the master was reading a sutra, a monk asked, 'The reverend master ordinarily does not allow people to read sutras; why does he read them himself?' The master said, 'I only want to cover my eyes.' He said, 'If a student were to read as the reverend master does, would that do?' The master said, 'If you read, you will wear through even cowhide.' (Changqing said, 'What fault do the eyes have?' Xuanjue said, 'Tell me, did Changqing understand Yaoshan's meaning or not?') A monk asked, 'On level fields and in shallow grass the deer gather in herds; how does one shoot the leader of the herd?' The master said, 'Watch the arrow.' The monk threw himself down. The master said, 'Attendant, drag out this dead man.' The monk got up and left. The master said, 'What limit is there to a fellow playing with a lump of mud?' Li Ao, prefect of Langzhou, asked, 'What is the master's surname?' The master said, 'It is exactly the time.' Li did not understand, and asked the prior, 'A moment ago I asked the reverend master his surname, and he said, It is exactly the time. What surname is that?' The prior said, 'Then it is Han.' When the master heard this he said, 'He has no sense of good and bad. If it had been summer when he asked, it would have been Hot.' One night the master was walking in meditation on the mountain.

忽雲開見月。大嘯一聲。應澧陽東九十里許。居民盡謂東家。明晨迭相推問。直至藥山。徒眾曰。昨夜和尚山頂大嘯。李贈詩曰。選得幽居愜野情。終年無送亦無迎。有時直上孤峰頂。月下披雲嘯一聲。太和八年十一月六日臨順世。呌曰。法堂倒。法堂倒。眾皆持柱撐之。師舉手曰。子不會我意。乃告寂。塔於院東隅。唐文宗諡弘道大師。塔曰化城。

Suddenly the clouds opened and he saw the moon, and he gave a great shout that was heard some ninety li east of Liyang. The residents all thought it came from their neighbor's house. The next morning they questioned one another in turn, and it went all the way to Yaoshan. His disciples said, 'Last night the reverend master gave a great shout on the mountain top.' Li presented him a poem: 'I have chosen a secluded dwelling that suits my rustic temper; all year there is no one to see off and no one to welcome. Sometimes I go straight up to the summit of the lonely peak, and beneath the moon, parting the clouds, give one shout.' On the sixth day of the eleventh month of the eighth year of Taihe, as his end approached, he called out, 'The Dharma hall is falling, the Dharma hall is falling.' The assembly all held up pillars to prop it. The master raised his hand and said, 'You do not understand my meaning.' Then he passed away. His stupa was in the eastern corner of the monastery. Emperor Wenzong of Tang gave him the posthumous title Great Master Hongdao, and the stupa was named Huacheng.

鄧州丹霞天然禪師

Chan Master Tianran of Danxia in Dengzhou

本習儒業。將入長安應舉。方宿於逆旅。忽夢白光滿室。占者曰。解空之祥也。偶禪者問曰。仁者何往。曰。選官去。禪者曰。選官何如選佛。曰。選佛當往何所。禪者曰。今江西馬大師出世。是選佛之場。仁者可往。遂直造江西。才見祖。師以手拓幞頭額。祖顧視良久。曰。南嶽石頭是汝師也。遽抵石頭。還以前意投之。頭曰。著槽廠去。師禮謝。入行者房。隨次執㸑役。凡三年。忽一日。石頭告眾曰。來日剗佛殿前草。至來日。大眾諸童行各備鍬钁剗草。獨師以盆盛水。沐頭於石頭前。胡跪。頭見而笑之。便與剃髮。又為說戒。師乃掩耳而出。再往江西謁馬祖。未參禮。便入僧堂內。騎聖僧頸而坐。時大眾驚愕。遽報馬祖。祖躬入堂。視之曰。我子天然。師即下地禮拜曰。謝師賜法號。因名天然。祖問。從甚處來。師曰。石頭。祖曰。石頭路滑。還躂倒汝麼。師曰。若躂倒即不來也。乃杖錫觀方。居天台華頂峰三年。往餘杭徑山禮國一禪師。唐元和中至洛京龍門香山。與伏牛和尚為友。後於慧林寺遇天大寒。取木佛燒火向。院主訶曰。何得燒我木佛。師以杖子撥灰曰。吾燒取捨利。主曰。木佛何有舍利。師曰。既無舍利。更取兩尊燒。主自後眉鬚墮落。後謁忠國師。問侍者。國師在否。曰。在即在。不見客。師曰。太深遠生。曰。佛眼亦覷不見。師曰。龍生龍子。鳳生鳳兒。國師睡起。侍者以告。國師乃打侍者三十棒。遣出。師聞曰。不謬為南陽國師。明日再往禮拜。見國師便展坐具。國師曰。不用。不用。師退後。國師曰。如是。如是。師卻進前。國師曰。不是。不是。師遶國師一匝便出。國師曰。去聖時遙。人多懈怠。三十年後。覓此漢也難得。訪龐居士。見女子靈照洗菜次。師曰。居士在否。女子放下菜籃。斂手而立。師又問。居士在否。女子提籃便行。師遂回。須臾居士歸。女子乃舉前話。

He originally studied the Confucian classics and was about to go to Chang'an to sit the examinations. As he was lodging at an inn, he suddenly dreamed that white light filled the room. A diviner said, 'This is an auspicious sign of understanding emptiness.' A Chan monk happened to ask him, 'Where are you going, sir?' He said, 'To take office.' The Chan monk said, 'How does taking office compare with choosing Buddhahood?' He said, 'Where should one go to choose Buddhahood?' The Chan monk said, 'The great master Ma has appeared in Jiangxi; that is the place for choosing Buddhahood. You may go there, sir.' So he went straight to Jiangxi. As soon as he saw the Patriarch, he pushed back his headcloth with his hand, baring his forehead. The Patriarch looked at him for a long time and said, 'Shitou of Nanyue is your teacher.' He hurried to Shitou and again put his former idea to him. Tou said, 'Go to the mill.' The master bowed in thanks, entered the postulants' quarters, and took his turn at the kitchen chores for three years. Suddenly one day Shitou told the assembly, 'Tomorrow we will cut the grass in front of the Buddha hall.' The next day the assembly and all the postulants each prepared hoes and spades to cut the grass. Only the master brought a basin of water, washed his head in front of Shitou, and knelt. Tou saw it and laughed, then shaved his head and gave him the precepts. The master covered his ears and went out. He went again to Jiangxi to call on Mazu. Without paying his respects, he entered the monks' hall and sat on the neck of the statue of the sage monk. The assembly was astonished and hastily reported it to Mazu. Zu came into the hall himself, looked at him, and said, 'My son is so-of-itself.' The master then got down, bowed, and said, 'Thank you, master, for bestowing my Dharma name.' Hence he was named Tianran. Zu asked, 'Where do you come from?' The master said, 'Shitou.' Zu said, 'The road to Shitou is slippery; did you fall down?' The master said, 'If I had fallen, I would not have come.' Then he wandered with his staff to see the regions. He dwelt on Huading Peak of Tiantai for three years, and went to Jingshan in Yuhang to pay his respects to National Teacher Guoyi. In the Yuanhe era of Tang he reached Xiangshan at Longmen in Luojing, and became friends with the monk Funiu. Later, at Huilin Monastery, when the weather was very cold, he took a wooden Buddha and lit a fire with it to warm himself. The prior scolded him: 'How can you burn my wooden Buddha?' The master poked the ashes with his staff and said, 'I am burning it to get the relics.' The prior said, 'How could a wooden Buddha have relics?' The master said, 'Since it has no relics, bring two more and burn them.' Afterward the prior's eyebrows and beard fell out. Later he called on National Teacher Zhong and asked the attendant, 'Is the national teacher in?' The attendant said, 'He is in, but he does not see guests.' The master said, 'How profound.' The attendant said, 'Even the Buddha-eye cannot see him.' The master said, 'A dragon bears a dragon's child, a phoenix bears a phoenix's chick.' When the national teacher woke from sleep, the attendant told him. The national teacher gave the attendant thirty blows and sent him out. When the master heard of it he said, 'Not for nothing is he the national teacher of Nanyang.' The next day he went again to pay his respects. Seeing the national teacher, he spread his sitting cloth. The national teacher said, 'No need, no need.' The master stepped back. The national teacher said, 'So, so.' The master stepped forward. The national teacher said, 'Not so, not so.' The master circled the national teacher once and went out. The national teacher said, 'Far from the sages, people are mostly lazy. Thirty years from now, this fellow will be hard to find.' He visited the layman Pang and saw the daughter Lingzhao washing vegetables. The master said, 'Is the layman in?' The girl put down the vegetable basket, folded her hands, and stood. The master asked again, 'Is the layman in?' The girl picked up the basket and walked off. The master then went back. Shortly afterward the layman returned home, and the girl told him what had happened.

士曰。丹霞在麼。女曰。去也。士曰。赤土塗牛嬭。又一日訪龐居士。至門首相見。師乃問。居士在否。士曰。饑不擇食。師曰。龐老在否。士曰。蒼天。蒼天。便入宅去。師曰。蒼天。蒼天。便回。師因去馬祖處。路逢一老人與一童子。師問。公住何處。老人曰。上是天。下是地。師曰。忽遇天崩地陷。又作麼生。老人曰。蒼天。蒼天。童子噓一聲。師曰。非父不生其子。老人便與童子入山去。師問龐居士。昨日相見。何似今日。士曰。如法舉昨日事來作箇宗眼。師曰。祇如宗眼。還著得龐公麼。士曰。我在你眼裡。師曰。某甲眼窄。何處安身。士曰。是眼何窄。是身何安。師休去。士曰。更道取一句。便得此話圓。師亦不對。士曰。就中這一句無人道得。師與龐居士行次。見一泓水。士以手指曰。便與麼也還辨不出。師曰。灼然是辨不出。士乃戽水。潑師二掬。師曰。莫與麼。莫與麼。士曰。須與麼。須與麼。師卻戽水潑士三掬。師曰。正與麼時。堪作甚麼。士曰。無外物。師曰。得便宜者少。士曰。誰是落便宜者。元和三年。於天津橋橫臥。會留守鄭公出。呵之不起。吏問其故。師徐曰。無事僧。留守異之。奉束素及衣兩襲。日給米麫。洛下翕然歸信。至十五年春。告門人曰。吾思林泉終老之所。時門人齊靜卜南陽丹霞山結庵。三年間玄學者至盈三百眾。建成大院。上堂。阿你渾家。切須保護。一靈之物。不是你造作名邈得。更說甚薦與不薦。吾往日見石頭。亦祇教切須自保護。此事不是你談話得。阿你渾家。各有一坐具地。更疑甚麼。禪可是你解底物。豈有佛可成。佛之一字。永不喜聞。阿你自看。善巧方便。慈悲喜捨。不從外得。不著方寸。善巧是文殊。方便是普賢。你更擬趁逐甚麼物。不用經求落空去。今時學者。紛紛擾擾。皆是參禪問道。吾此間無道可修。無法可證。一飲一啄。各自有分。

The layman said, 'Is Danxia there?' The girl said, 'He has gone.' The layman said, 'Red earth smeared on milk.' Another day he visited the layman Pang, and they met at the gate. The master then asked, 'Is the layman in?' The layman said, 'When hungry, one does not choose one's food.' The master said, 'Is old Pang in?' The layman said, 'Heaven above, heaven above.' Then he went into the house. The master said, 'Heaven above, heaven above.' Then he went back. Once the master was going to Mazu's place when on the road he met an old man and a boy. The master asked, 'Where do you live, sir?' The old man said, 'Above is heaven, below is earth.' The master said, 'Suppose heaven collapsed and earth sank, what then?' The old man said, 'Heaven above, heaven above.' The boy gave a hiss. The master said, 'Were he not the father, the child would not be born.' The old man and the boy went into the mountains. The master asked the layman Pang, 'Yesterday's meeting, how does it compare with today's?' The layman said, 'Bring up yesterday's matter as a school eye.' The master said, 'As for the school eye, can it hold Master Pang?' The layman said, 'I am in your eye.' The master said, 'My eye is narrow; where shall I put myself?' The layman said, 'If it is the eye, how is it narrow? If it is the body, what is placed?' The master desisted. The layman said, 'Say one more phrase and this saying will be complete.' The master again did not answer. The layman said, 'Of these, this one phrase no one can say.' Once, as the master was walking with the layman Pang, they saw a pool of water. The layman pointed with his hand and said, 'Even so, one still cannot make it out.' The master said, 'Truly one cannot make it out.' The layman then scooped up water and splashed two handfuls at the master. The master said, 'Do not do that, do not do that.' The layman said, 'It must be done, it must be done.' The master then scooped up water and splashed three handfuls at the layman. The master said, 'Right at such a time, what is it good for?' The layman said, 'There is nothing outside.' The master said, 'Few get the advantage.' The layman said, 'Who is it that loses the advantage?' In the third year of Yuanhe he lay crosswise on the Tianjin Bridge. It happened that the regent Lord Zheng was going out, and he shouted at him, but the master did not get up. The clerk asked him why. The master said slowly, 'A monk with nothing to do.' The regent thought him extraordinary, and presented him a bundle of white silk and two robes, and supplied him with rice and flour daily. Luoyang turned to him in faith as one. In the spring of the fifteenth year he told his disciples, 'I am thinking of a place in the woods and springs to end my years.' At that time his disciple Qijing divined a site on Danxia Mountain in Nanyang and built a hut there. Within three years students of the mystery came to three hundred, and a great monastery was built. Ascending the hall, he said: 'You people, all of you, must protect it well. That one numinous thing is not something you can name by your own contrivance. What use is there in talking about whether it is pointed out or not? In former days when I saw Shitou, he too only taught me to protect myself well. This matter is not something you can talk about. You people, each of you has the ground for a sitting cloth; what more do you doubt? Can Chan be something you understand? How could there be a Buddha to attain? The single word Buddha I never want to hear. You people, look into yourselves. Skillful means, compassion, joy, and equanimity are not obtained from outside and do not abide in a square inch. Skillful means is Manjushri; expedient means is Samantabhadra. What thing would you chase after? Do not seek the teachings and fall into emptiness. Students today are in a great flurry, all studying Chan and asking about the Way. Here I have no Way to cultivate and no Dharma to certify. Each drink and each bite has its own portion.

不用疑慮。在在處處有恁麼底。若識得釋迦即老凡夫是。阿你須自看取。莫一盲引眾盲。相將入火坑。夜裡暗雙陸。賽彩若為生。無事珍重。有僧到參。於山下見師。便問。丹霞山向甚麼處去。師指山曰。青黯黯處。曰。莫秖這箇便是麼。師曰。真師子兒。一撥便轉。問僧。甚麼處宿。曰。山下宿。師曰。甚麼處吃飯。曰。山下吃飯。師曰。將飯與闍黎吃底人。還具眼也無。僧無對(長慶問保福。將飯與人吃。感恩有分。為甚麼不具眼。福雲。施者受者。二俱瞎漢。慶雲。盡其機來還成瞎不。福雲。道某甲瞎得麼。玄覺徵雲。且道長慶明丹霞意。為復自用家財)。長慶四年六月。告門人曰。備湯沐浴。吾欲行矣。乃戴笠䇿杖受屨。垂一足未及地而化。門人建塔。諡智通禪師。塔曰妙覺。

(The master continued:) 'Do not doubt. Everywhere there is such a one. If you recognize Shakyamuni, then the old common fellow is he. You must look into it yourselves. Do not let one blind man lead a crowd of blind men, all together falling into a pit of fire. Playing backgammon in the dark of night, how will you win the stake? Take care of yourselves, with nothing to do.' A monk came to call and, seeing the master below the mountain, asked, 'Which way is Danxia Mountain?' The master pointed at the mountain and said, 'Where it is dark and blue.' He said, 'Is that not just it?' The master said, 'A true lion's cub, turned by a single touch.' He asked a monk, 'Where did you sleep?' He said, 'Below the mountain.' The master said, 'Where did you eat?' He said, 'Below the mountain.' The master said, 'Does the one who gave you food to eat have eyes or not?' The monk had no reply. (Changqing asked Baofu, 'Giving food to others to eat, gratitude is due; why does he not have eyes?' Fu said, 'Giver and receiver are both blind men.' Qing said, 'If he comes with all his workings, is he still blind?' Fu said, 'Do you say I am blind?' Xuanjue challenged: 'Tell me, did Changqing understand Danxia's meaning, or was he using his own family wealth?') In the sixth month of the fourth year of Changqing he told his disciples, 'Prepare hot water for my bath; I wish to go.' Then he put on his bamboo hat, took up his staff and put on his sandals, let one foot hang down before it touched the ground, and passed away. His disciples built a stupa. His posthumous title was Chan Master Zhitong, and the stupa was named Miaojue.

潭州大川禪師(亦曰大湖)

Chan Master Dachuan of Tanzhou (also called Dahu)

江陵僧參。師問。幾時發足江陵。僧提起坐具。師曰。謝子遠來。下去。僧繞禪床一帀。便出。師曰。若不恁麼。爭知眼目端的。僧拊掌曰。苦殺人。洎合錯判諸方。師曰。甚得禪宗道理(僧舉似丹霞。霞曰。於大川法道即得。我這裡不然。曰。未審此間作麼生。霞曰。猶較大川三步在。僧禮拜。霞曰。錯判諸方者多。洞山雲。不是丹霞。難分玉石)。

A monk from Jiangling came to call. The master asked, 'When did you set out from Jiangling?' The monk lifted up his sitting cloth. The master said, 'Thank you for coming from afar. Go on down.' The monk circled the meditation platform once and went out. The master said, 'If not for this, how would one know the eye is precise?' The monk clapped his hands and said, 'How bitter; I nearly misjudged the various regions.' The master said, 'You have got the principle of the Chan school well.' (The monk reported this to Danxia. Xia said, 'By Dachuan's Dharma Way, that is fine; here it is not so.' He said, 'I do not know how it is here.' Xia said, 'Still three steps better than Dachuan.' The monk bowed. Xia said, 'Many are those who misjudge the various regions.' Dongshan said, 'Were it not for Danxia, jade and stone would be hard to tell apart.')

潮州靈山大顛寶通禪師

Chan Master Baotong Dadian of Lingshan in Chaozhou