Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Ten

到琅邪。邪問。埋兵掉鬬。未是作家。匹馬單鎗。便請相見。師指邪曰。將頭不猛。帶累三軍。邪打師一坐具。師亦打邪一坐具。邪接住曰。適來一坐具。是山僧令行。上座一坐具。落在甚麼處。師曰。伏惟尚饗。邪拓開曰。五更侵早起。更有夜行人。師曰。賊過後張弓。邪曰。且坐吃茶。住後。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。黑漆聖僧。曰。如何是佛法大意。師曰。看墻似土色。

He came to Langye. Langye said: 'Burying soldiers and shifting the battle line is not the mark of an adept. With a single horse and a single spear, then please meet me.' The master pointed at Langye and said: 'If the general's head is not fierce, it drags down the whole army.' Langye struck the master with his sitting cloth. The master also struck Langye with his sitting cloth. Langye caught it and said: 'The sitting cloth just now was this mountain monk's execution of the command. Where did your sitting cloth land, Venerable One?' The master said: 'Reverently I invite you to partake.' Langye pushed him away and said: 'At the fifth watch one rises early, and still there is a night traveler.' The master said: 'Drawing the bow after the thief has passed.' Langye said: 'Sit down and have tea.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A black-lacquered holy monk.' The monk asked: 'What is the great meaning of the buddhadharma?' The master said: 'Look at the wall — it is like the color of earth.'

唐州龍潭智圓禪師

Chan Master Longtan Zhiyuan of Tangzhou

辭汾陽。陽曰。別無送路。與子一枝拄杖。一條手巾。師曰。手巾和尚受用。拄杖即不消得。陽曰。汝但將去。有用處在。師便収。陽曰。又道不用。師便喝。陽曰。已後不讓臨濟。師曰。正令已行。陽來日送出三門。乃問。汝介山逢尉遲時如何。師曰。一刀兩段。陽曰。彼現那叱。又作麼生。師便拽拄杖。陽喝曰。這回全體分付。住後。僧問。承教有言。是真精進。是名真法。供養如來。如何是真法。師曰。夜聚曉散。問。如何是龍潭劒。師曰。觸不得。曰。用者如何。師曰。白骨連山。問。昔日窮經。今日參禪。此理如何。師曰。兩彩一賽。曰。作麼生領會。師曰。去後不留蹤。曰。如何是佛。師曰。火燒不燃。問。古殿無佛時如何。師曰。三門前合掌。

He took leave of Fenyang. Fenyang said: 'I have nothing else to see you off with; here are a staff and a towel for you.' The master said: 'Let the Master use the towel; as for the staff, it is not needed.' Fenyang said: 'Just take it with you; there will be a place where it is useful.' The master then accepted it. Fenyang said: 'Yet you said it was not needed.' The master at once shouted. Fenyang said: 'Henceforth you will not yield to Linji.' The master said: 'The true command has already been carried out.' The next day Fenyang escorted him out to the three gates and asked: 'What of when you meet Yuchi on Mount Jie?' The master said: 'One cut, two pieces.' Fenyang said: 'If he manifests as Nata, what then?' The master at once dragged out his staff. Fenyang shouted: 'This time I hand over the whole body to you.' After he became abbot, a monk asked: 'The teaching says: this is true diligence, this is called the true dharma, offering to the Tathagata. What is the true dharma?' The master said: 'Gathering at night, scattering at dawn.' The monk asked: 'What is the Longtan sword?' The master said: 'It cannot be touched.' The monk said: 'What of the one who uses it?' The master said: 'White bones in mountain ranges.' The monk asked: 'Formerly I exhausted the scriptures; now I study Chan. What is this principle?' The master said: 'Two colors, one contest.' The monk said: 'How is one to understand it?' The master said: 'After going, no trace is left.' The monk said: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Fire will not burn it.' The monk asked: 'What of when the ancient hall has no buddha?' The master said: 'Join your palms before the three gates.'

舒州投子圓修禪師

Chan Master Touzi Yuanxiu of Shuzhou

僧問。達磨未來時如何。師曰。出口入耳。曰。來後如何。師曰。叉手並足。

A monk asked: 'What of the time before Bodhidharma came?' The master said: 'Out of the mouth, into the ear.' The monk said: 'What of after he came?' The master said: 'Folded hands, feet together.'

汾州太子院道一禪師

Chan Master Taizi Yuan Daoyi of Fenzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。賣扇老婆手遮日。問。紅輪未出時如何。師曰。照燭分明。曰。出後如何。師曰。撈天摸地。問。如何是學人親切處。師曰。慈母抱嬰兒。曰。如何是學人轉身處。師曰。街頭巷尾。曰。如何是學人著力處。師曰。千斤擔子兩頭搖。問。古曲無音韻。如何和得齊。師曰。三九二十七。籬頭吹觱栗。曰。宮商角徵非關妙。石人拊掌笑呵呵。師曰。同道方知。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The old woman selling fans shades the sun with her hand.' The monk asked: 'What of before the red wheel has come out?' The master said: 'Illuminating and clear.' The monk said: 'What of after it comes out?' The master said: 'Groping heaven and feeling earth.' The monk asked: 'Where is the student's intimate place?' The master said: 'A loving mother holds her infant.' The monk said: 'Where does a student turn around?' The master said: 'At the head of the street, the end of the lane.' The monk said: 'Where should a student apply his strength?' The master said: 'A thousand-catty load sways on both ends of the pole.' The monk asked: 'The ancient tune has no notes; how is one to match it in tune?' The master said: 'Three nines are twenty-seven; at the fence's edge one blows the bili pipe.' The monk said: 'The pentatonic modes are not the wonder; a stone man claps and laughs ha, ha.' The master said: 'Only one of the same way knows.'

葉縣省禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yexian Sheng

舒州浮山法遠圓鑒禪師

Chan Master Fushan Fayuan Yuanjian of Shuzhou

鄭州人也。投三交嵩和尚出家。幼為沙彌。見僧入室請問趙州庭栢因緣。嵩詰其僧。師傍有省。進具後。謁汾陽．葉縣。皆蒙印可。嘗與達觀頴薛大頭七八輩遊蜀。幾遭橫逆。師以智脫之。眾以師曉吏事。故號遠錄公。開堂拈香曰。汝海枯木上生花。別迎春色。僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。八十翁翁輥繡毬。曰。恁麼則一句迥然開祖胄。三玄戈甲振叢林。師曰。李陵元是漢朝臣。問。如何是佛。師曰。大者如兄。小者如弟。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。平地起骨堆。問。祖師門下。壁立千仞。正令當行。十方坐斷。和尚將何表示。師曰。寒貓不捉鼠。曰。莫便是為人處也無。師曰。波斯不繫腰。問。新歲已臨。舊歲何往。師曰。目前無異怪。不用貼鍾馗。曰。畢竟如何。師曰。將謂目前無。僧以手畫曰。爭奈這箇何。師便打。師與王質待制論道。畫一圓相。問曰。一不得匹馬單鎗。二不得衣錦還鄉。鵲不得喜。鴉不得殃。速道。速道王罔措。師曰。勘破了也。上堂。更莫論古話今。祇據目前事與你諸人定奪區分。僧便問。如何是目前事。師曰。鼻孔。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。眼睛。歐陽文忠公聞師奇逸。造其室。未有以異之。與客碁。師坐其旁。文忠遽收局。請因碁說法。師即令撾鼓陞座。曰。若論此事。如兩家著碁相似。何謂也。敵手知音。當機不讓。若是綴五饒三。又通一路始得。有一般底。祇解閉門作活。不會奪角沖關。硬節與虎口齊彰。局破後徒勞綽斡。所以道。肥邊易得。瘦肚難求。思行則往往失粘。心麤而時時頭撞。休誇國手。謾說神仙。贏局輸籌即不問。且道黑白未分時。一著落在甚麼處。良久曰。從來十九路。迷悟幾多人。文忠嘉歎。從容謂同僚曰。脩初疑禪語為虗誕。今日見此老機緣。所得所造。非悟明於心地。安能有此妙旨哉。上堂。天得一以清。地得一以寧。

He was a man of Zhengzhou. He left home under the Elder Sanjiao Song. As a young novice he saw a monk enter the room to ask about the cause of Zhaozhou's cypress in the courtyard. Song pressed that monk with questions, and the master, standing nearby, had a realization. After receiving full ordination he paid his respects to Fenyang and Yexian, and from both received the seal of approval. He once traveled in Shu with Daguan Ying, Xue Datou and seven or eight others, and they nearly met with disaster, but the master used his wits to get them free. Because the master understood official affairs, the others called him Elder Lu, the Registrar. When he opened the hall he raised incense and said: 'On the withered tree of your sea, flowers grow; a spring color is welcomed apart.' A monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'An eighty-year-old man rolls a brocade ball.' The monk said: 'Then one phrase opens the lineage of the ancestors, and the armor of the three profundities shakes the monasteries.' The master said: 'Li Ling was originally a subject of the Han.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'The big ones are like elder brothers, the small ones like younger brothers.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'A heap of bones rising from level ground.' The monk asked: 'Within the patriarch's gate it stands a thousand fathoms sheer. When the true command is in force, the ten directions are cut off. How does the Master show it?' The master said: 'A cold cat does not catch mice.' The monk said: 'Is that not the place of acting for others?' The master said: 'A Persian does not tie his waist.' The monk asked: 'The new year has arrived; where has the old year gone?' The master said: 'Before your eyes there is nothing strange; no need to paste up Zhong Kui.' The monk said: 'After all, what is it?' The master said: 'I thought there was nothing before your eyes.' The monk drew with his hand and said: 'What is to be done about this?' The master at once struck him. The master was discussing the way with the expectant official Wang Zhi. He drew a circle and asked: 'First, you may not ride a single horse with a single spear; second, you may not return home in brocade. The magpie may not be glad, the crow may not be harmed. Speak quickly, speak quickly.' Wang was blank and did not know what to do. The master said: 'I have seen through him.' He mounted the hall: 'Say no more of ancient words and modern words; I will settle and distinguish for you people only according to the matter before your eyes.' A monk then asked: 'What is the matter before your eyes?' The master said: 'The nostrils.' The monk said: 'What is the matter of going beyond?' The master said: 'The eyes.' When Lord Ouyang Wenzhong heard that the master was extraordinary and free, he came to his room, but had nothing to distinguish him by. He was playing chess with a guest, and the master sat beside them. Wenzhong suddenly put up the pieces and asked him to speak the dharma on the chessboard. The master at once had the drum struck and mounted the seat, saying: 'If you speak of this matter, it is like two players at chess. What does that mean? When they are matched opponents and true intimates, they do not yield at the critical moment. Only when one gives five and cedes three, and lets a road through, can it be got. There are some who only know how to shut the door and make a living, and do not know how to seize a corner and break through the pass. The firm joint and the tiger's mouth are both displayed; after the board is broken, one works the pieces in vain. Therefore it is said: the fat edge is easy to get, the lean belly is hard to seek. Thinking before moving, one often loses the grip; with a coarse mind, one knocks the head from time to time. Do not boast of being a national champion, do not idly speak of immortals. Winning the game or losing the tally — I will not ask. Tell me, before black and white are divided, where does the first move land?' After a long while he said: 'From of old, on the nineteen lines, how many people have been deluded or awakened?' Wenzhong praised him with admiration, and calmly said to his colleagues: 'At first I suspected that Chan words were empty and false. Today, seeing this old man's working and what he has attained and produced, had he not awakened and clarified his mind-ground, how could he have such a wondrous purport?' He mounted the hall: 'Heaven obtains the one and so is clear; earth obtains the one and so is at peace;

君王得一以治天下。衲僧得一。禍患臨身。擊禪床。下座。上堂。諸佛出世。建立化門。不離三身智眼。亦如摩醯首羅三目。何故。一隻水洩不通。緇素難辯。一隻大地全開。十方通暢。一隻高低一顧。萬類齊瞻。雖然若是。本分衲僧陌路相逢。別具通天正眼始得。所以道。三世諸佛不知有。狸奴白牯卻知有。且道狸奴白牯知有箇甚麼事。要會麼。深秋簾幙千家雨。落日樓臺一笛風。師暮年休於會聖嚴。敘佛祖奧義。作九帶曰。佛正法眼帶。佛法藏帶。理貫帶。事貫帶。理事縱橫帶。屈曲垂帶。妙葉兼帶。金針雙鎻帶。平懷常實帶。學者既已傳誦。師曰。若據圓極法門。本具十數。今此九帶。已為諸人說了。更有一帶。還見得麼。若也見得親切分明。卻請出來。對眾說看。說得分明。許汝通前九帶圓明道眼。若見不親切。說不相應。唯依吾語而為已解。則名謗法。諸人到此如何。眾無語。師叱之而去。

(The master continued:) 'kings obtain the one and so govern the world. A patch-robed monk obtains the one, and disaster comes upon his body.' He struck the meditation seat and descended from the seat. He mounted the hall: 'When the buddhas appear in the world and establish their gates of transformation, they do not depart from the wisdom eye of the three bodies, just as Maheshvara has three eyes. Why? One eye lets not a drop of water through, and black and white are hard to distinguish. One eye opens the whole earth, and the ten directions are unobstructed. One eye looks down and up, and the ten thousand kinds are all seen. Even so, when a patch-robed monk of the proper sort meets a stranger on the road, he must have a separate, heaven-piercing true eye to do it. Therefore it is said: the buddhas of the three ages do not know that it is; the wildcat and the white ox do know that it is. Tell me, what is the matter that the wildcat and the white ox know? Do you want to understand? Late autumn, curtains of rain over a thousand houses; the setting sun, a flute's wind on the tower.' In his late years the master rested at Huisheng Rock, expounded the profound meaning of the buddhas and patriarchs, and composed the Nine Belts, saying: 'The belt of the buddha's true dharma eye. The belt of the buddhadharma treasury. The belt of principle penetrating. The belt of fact penetrating. The belt of principle and fact vertical and horizontal. The belt of bending and hanging down. The belt of wondrous leaves and concurrent carrying. The belt of the golden needle and double lock. The belt of level mind and constant reality.' When the students had already recited and spread them, the master said: 'Judged by the perfectly complete dharma gate, there are originally ten in number. Now I have spoken these nine belts for you people. There is still one more belt — do you see it? If you see it intimately and clearly, then please come out and speak it before the assembly. If you speak it clearly, I will allow that you have opened the eye of the way through the former nine belts. If you do not see it intimately and your speech does not match, and you merely take my words as your own understanding, then it is called slandering the dharma. How do you people manage here?' The assembly was speechless. The master scolded them and left.

汝州寶應院法昭演教禪師

Chan Master Baoying Yuan Fazhao Yanjiao of Ruzhou

僧問。一言合道時如何。師曰。七顛八倒。曰。學人禮拜。師曰。教休不肯休。直待雨淋頭。問。大通智勝佛。十劫坐道場。佛法不現前。不得成佛道。為甚麼不得成佛道。師曰。赤腳騎鐵驢。直至海南居。上堂。十二時中。許你一時絕學。即是學佛法。不見阿難多聞第一。卻被迦葉擯出。不得結集。方知聰明博學。記持憶想。向外馳求。與靈覺心轉沒交涉。五蘊殻中透脫不過。順情生喜。違情生怒。蓋覆深厚。自纏自縛。無有解脫。流浪生死。六根為患。眾苦所逼。無自由分。而被妄心於中主宰。大丈夫兒早搆取好。喝一喝。曰。參。上堂。寶應門風險。入者喪全身。作麼生是出身一句。若道不得。三十年後。

A monk asked: 'What of when one phrase accords with the way?' The master said: 'Topsy-turvy.' The monk said: 'This student bows.' The master said: 'Told to stop he will not stop, until the rain pours on his head.' The monk asked: 'The Buddha Mahabhisheka, Great Penetrating Wisdom Victory, sat in the place of practice for ten kalpas, yet the buddhadharma did not appear before him and he could not attain the way to buddhahood. Why could he not attain the way to buddhahood?' The master said: 'Riding a barefoot iron donkey and dwelling all the way to Hainan.' He mounted the hall: 'Through the twelve hours, if you allow yourself one hour of cutting off study, that is studying the buddhadharma. Have you not seen how Ananda was foremost in wide learning, and yet was expelled by Kashyapa and not allowed to compile the scriptures? Only then do you know that cleverness and broad learning, memory and recollection, and seeking outward have nothing whatever to do with the numinous awakened mind. If you cannot break through the shell of the five aggregates, then you are glad when things accord with your feelings and angry when they go against them; the covering is thick and deep, and you bind yourself and tie yourself with no liberation. You wander through birth and death, with the six sense bases as the affliction, pressed by a multitude of sufferings, with no share of freedom, while the deluded mind holds mastery within. A great man should settle it early.' He shouted once and said: 'Study!' He mounted the hall: 'The gate of Baoying is steep and perilous; whoever enters loses his whole body. What is the one phrase of coming forth? If you cannot speak it, thirty years from now.'

唐州大乘山慧果禪師

Chan Master Dacheng Shan Huiguo of Tangzhou

僧問。如何是從上來傳底意。師曰。金盤拓出眾人看。問。撥塵見佛時如何。師曰。撥塵即乖。見佛即錯。曰。總不如是時如何。師曰。錯。問。如何是道。師曰。寬處寬。窄處窄。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。苦處苦。樂處樂。曰。道與道中人相去多少。師曰。十萬八千。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。天晴日出。曰。學人不會。師曰。雨下泥生。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning transmitted from the first?' The master said: 'Taken out on a golden tray for everyone to see.' The monk asked: 'What of when one brushes away the dust and sees the buddha?' The master said: 'To brush away the dust is to go astray; to see the buddha is to err.' The monk said: 'What of when it is none of these?' The master said: 'Wrong.' The monk asked: 'What is the way?' The master said: 'Broad where it is broad, narrow where it is narrow.' The monk said: 'What is the person within the way?' The master said: 'Bitter where it is bitter, joyful where it is joyful.' The monk said: 'How far apart are the way and the person within the way?' The master said: 'A hundred and eight thousand.' The monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'The sky clears and the sun comes out.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'The rain falls and mud forms.'

神鼎諲禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shending Yin

荊南府開聖寶情山主

The mountain chief Kaisheng Baoqing of Jingnan Prefecture

僧問。如何是開聖境。師曰。三烏引路。曰。如何是境中人。師曰。二虎巡山。

A monk asked: 'What is the realm of Kaisheng?' The master said: 'Three crows lead the way.' The monk said: 'What of the person within the realm?' The master said: 'Two tigers patrol the mountain.'

天台山妙智寺光雲禪師

Chan Master Guangyun of Miaozhi Monastery, Mount Tiantai

僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。東籬黃菊。曰。意旨如何。師曰。九日重陽。

A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of the patriarch's coming from the west?' The master said: 'Yellow chrysanthemums at the eastern fence.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'The ninth day, Double Ninth.'

谷隱聰禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Guyin Cong

潤州金山曇穎達觀禪師

Chan Master Jinshan Tanying Daguan of Runzhou

首謁大陽玄禪師。遂問。洞山特設偏正君臣。意明何事。陽曰。父母未生時事。師曰。如何體會。陽曰。夜半正明。天曉不露。師罔然。遂謁谷隱。舉前話。隱曰。大陽不道不是。祇是口門窄。滿口說未盡。老僧即不然。師問。如何是父母未生時事。隱曰。糞墼子。師曰。如何是夜半正明。天曉不露。隱曰。牡丹花下睡貓兒。師愈疑駭。一日普請。隱問。今日運薪邪。師曰。然。隱曰。雲門問。僧人般柴柴般人。如何會。師無對。隱曰。此事如人學書。點畫可効者工。否者拙。葢未能忘法耳。當筆忘手。手忘心。乃可也。師於是默契。良久曰。如石頭雲。執事元是迷。契理亦非悟。隱曰。汝以為藥語。為病語。師曰。是藥語。隱呵曰。汝以病為藥。又安可哉。師曰。事如函得葢。理如箭直鋒妙。寧有加者。而猶以為病。實未喻旨。隱曰。妙至是。亦祇名理事。祖師意旨。智識所不能到。矧事理能盡乎。故世尊雲。理障礙正見知。事障續諸生死。師恍如夢覺。曰。如何受用。隱曰。語不離窠臼。安能出葢纏。師歎曰。才涉唇吻。便落意思。盡是死門。終非活路。住後。示眾曰。才涉唇吻。便落意思。盡是死門。俱非活路。直饒透脫。猶在沉淪。莫教孤負平生。虗度此世。要得不孤負平生麼。拈拄杖卓一下。曰。須是莫被拄杖瞞始得。看看拄杖子。穿過你諸人髑髏。𨁝跳入你鼻孔裡去也。又卓一下。僧問。經文最初兩字是甚麼字。師曰。以字。曰。有甚麼交涉。師曰。八字。曰。好賺人。師曰。謗此經。故獲罪如是。問。一百二十斤鐵枷。教阿誰擔。師曰。老僧。曰。自作自受。師曰。苦。苦。問。和尚還曾念佛也無。師曰。不曾念佛。曰。為甚麼不念佛。師曰。怕汙人口。上堂。眾集定。首座出禮拜。師曰。好好問著。座低頭。問話次。師曰。今日不答話。便歸方丈。上堂。山僧門庭別。已改諸方轍。

He first paid a visit to Chan Master Xu of Dayang and asked: ‘Why did Dongshan establish the Five Ranks of the Correct and the Partial, ruler and minister?’ Dayang said: ‘It concerns what was before your parents were born.’ ‘How should I understand it?’ ‘At midnight it is perfectly bright; at dawn it does not show.’ The master was bewildered. He then visited Guyin and raised the earlier exchange. Guyin said: ‘It is not that Dayang was wrong; his doorway is simply narrow, and he did not say all that could be said. I am different.’ The master asked: ‘What is the matter before one’s parents were born?’ Guyin replied: ‘A lump of dung.’ ‘What is “perfectly bright at midnight, yet unseen at dawn”?’ ‘A sleeping cat beneath a peony.’ The master’s doubt only deepened. One day, while the community was doing a shared work detail, Guyin asked: ‘Are you carrying firewood today?’ ‘Yes.’ Guyin said: ‘Yunmen once asked a monk, “A person carries firewood, or firewood carries a person. How do you understand it?”’ The master had no answer. Guyin said: ‘This is like learning to write. In the strokes, some work is skillful and some clumsy; that is because one has not yet forgotten the method. Only when the brush forgets the hand, and the hand forgets the mind, can one do it.’ The master silently understood. After a long while he said: ‘As Shitou said, “To cling to things is delusion; to accord with principle is still not awakening.”’ Guyin asked: ‘Do you take that as medicine or as illness?’ ‘As medicine.’ Guyin scolded him: ‘If you mistake illness for medicine, what good is that?’ The master said: ‘Things fit together like a box and its lid; principle is straight and sharp like an arrow. What could surpass this? Yet you still call it illness. I have not truly understood your meaning.’ Guyin said: ‘Even reaching this subtle point is only called principle and phenomena. The Patriarch’s meaning is beyond the reach of knowledge and intellect; how could principle and phenomena exhaust it? Thus the World-Honored One said that obstruction by principle hinders right view, while obstruction by phenomena perpetuates birth and death.’ The master felt as if waking from a dream and asked: ‘How is it to be lived?’ Guyin replied: ‘If your words never leave their old grooves, how can you escape the coverings?’ The master sighed: ‘The moment words cross the lips, they fall into thought. All of it is a gate of death, never a living road.’ After taking up residence, he told the assembly: ‘The moment words cross the lips, they fall into thought. All of it is a gate of death, never a living road. Even if you break through, you are still sinking. Do not betray your whole life and let this world pass in vain. Do you want not to betray your life?’ He raised his staff and struck once: ‘You must not be deceived by this staff. Look carefully: it will pass through your skulls and leap into your nostrils.’ He struck again. A monk asked: ‘What are the first two characters of the sutra?’ ‘The character “by.”’ ‘What has that to do with it?’ ‘Eight characters.’ ‘You are making fools of people.’ ‘For slandering this sutra, you incur just such a crime.’ Asked: ‘Who should bear a 120-pound iron cangue?’ he said: ‘This old monk.’ ‘You make it and bear it yourself.’ ‘Alas, alas!’ Asked whether he had ever recited the Buddha’s name, he said: ‘I have not.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘I fear contaminating people’s mouths.’ At an assembly, after everyone had gathered, the head monk bowed. The master said: ‘Ask properly.’ The head monk lowered his head. When he tried to ask, the master said: ‘I will not answer today,’ and returned to his room. On another occasion he said: ‘My school is different; I have changed the tracks of the other places…’

為文殊㧞出眼裡楔。教普賢休嚼口中鐵。勸人放開髂蛇手。與汝斫卻繫驢橛。駐意擬思量。喝曰。揑揑參。上堂。山僧平生。意好相撲。祇是無人搭對。今日且共首座搭對。捲起袈裟。下座索首座相撲。座才出。師曰。平地上吃交。便歸方丈。上堂。三世諸佛是奴婢。一大藏教是涕唾。良久曰。且道三世諸佛是誰奴婢。乃將拂子畫一畫曰。三世諸佛過這邊。且道一大藏教是誰涕唾。師乃自唾一唾。上堂。秤錘井底忽然浮。老鼠多年變作牛。慧空見了拍手笑。三腳猢猻差異猴。上堂。五千教典。諸佛常談。八萬塵勞。眾生妙用。猶未是金剛眼睛在。如何是金剛眼睛。良久曰。瞎。上堂。大眾集定。有僧才出禮拜。師曰。欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。僧便問。如何是時節因緣。師便下座。問。如何是向去底人。師曰。從歸青嶂裡。不出白雲來。曰。如何是卻來底人。師曰。自從遊紫陌。誰肯隱青山。問。如何是奪人不奪境。師曰。家裡已無回日信。路邊空有望鄉牌。曰。如何是奪境不奪人。師曰。滄海盡教枯到底。青山直得碾為塵。曰。如何是人境兩俱奪。師曰。天地尚空秦日月。山河不見漢君臣。曰。如何是人境俱不奪。師曰。鶯囀千林華滿地。客遊三月草侵天。問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。伸手不見掌。曰。忽遇仙陀客來。又作麼生。師曰。對面千里。問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。臨濟。曰。恁麼則谷隱的子也。師曰。德山。問。如何是長法身。師曰。拄杖六尺。曰。如何是短法身。師曰。筭子三寸。曰。恁麼則法身有二也。師曰。更有方圓在。上堂。諸方鉤又曲。餌又香。奔湊猶如蜂抱王。因聖這裡。鉤又直。餌又無。猶如水底捺葫蘆。舉拄杖作釣魚勢。曰。深水取魚長信命。不曾將酒祭江神。擲拄杖。下座。

(The master continued:) ‘…to pull the wedge from Manjushri’s eye and make Samantabhadra stop chewing the iron in his mouth. I urge people to release the snake-catching hand and cut away the stake that tethers the donkey. If you linger in thought and speculation—’ He shouted: ‘Poke and probe; come practice!’ At another assembly he said: ‘All my life I have enjoyed wrestling, but no one has matched me. Today I will have a bout with the head monk.’ He rolled up his robe and came down to wrestle. As the head monk stepped forward, the master said: ‘You have taken a fall on level ground,’ and returned to his room. He said: ‘The Buddhas of the three times are servants; the entire Tripitaka is spittle.’ After a long pause he asked: ‘Tell me, whose servants are the Buddhas of the three times?’ He drew a circle with his whisk: ‘The Buddhas of the three times have crossed over to this side. Whose spittle is the entire Tripitaka?’ He spat. At another assembly he said: ‘A scale weight suddenly floats up from the bottom of a well; a mouse after many years turns into an ox. Huikong sees it and claps with laughter: a three-legged monkey differs from an ape.’ He said: ‘The five thousand teachings are the Buddhas’ constant discourse; the eighty-four thousand afflictions are the wondrous activity of sentient beings. Yet these are still not the Diamond Eye. What is the Diamond Eye?’ After a long pause: ‘Blind!’ At another gathering, a monk had just come forward to bow. The master said: ‘If you wish to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, observe the causes and conditions of the moment,’ and descended. Asked: ‘Who is the person going onward?’ he said: ‘He returns among the green peaks and does not emerge from the white clouds.’ ‘Who is the one coming back?’ ‘Since roaming the purple thoroughfare, who would care to hide in the green hills?’ Asked about ‘taking away the person, not the setting,’ he said: ‘No letter comes home from within; by the roadside only a signboard points toward home.’ Asked about ‘taking away the setting, not the person,’ he said: ‘Let the ocean dry to its bottom; let the green mountains be ground to dust.’ Asked about both person and setting being taken away, he said: ‘Heaven and earth are empty of Qin’s sun and moon; mountains and rivers show no Han ruler or ministers.’ Asked about neither being taken away, he said: ‘Orioles sing in a thousand woods and flowers cover the earth; in the third month a traveler sees grass reach the sky.’ Asked about his house style, he said: ‘Stretch out your hand and you cannot see your palm.’ ‘If a guest from India suddenly arrives, what then?’ ‘A thousand miles face to face.’ Asked whose song he sang and whose lineage he continued, he said: ‘Linji.’ ‘Then you are Guyin’s heir.’ ‘Deshan.’ Asked about the long Dharma-body, he said: ‘A six-foot staff.’ About the short Dharma-body: ‘A three-inch counting rod.’ ‘Then are there two Dharma-bodies?’ ‘There is also square and round.’ He said: ‘Everywhere else the hook is curved and the bait fragrant, so they crowd around like bees gathering to their queen. Here the hook is straight and there is no bait, like pressing a gourd beneath the water.’ He held his staff as if fishing: ‘To take fish in deep water, one must trust one’s life; I have never offered wine to the river spirit.’ He threw down the staff and descended.

蘇州洞庭翠峰慧月禪師

Chan Master Huiyue of Cuifeng, Dongting, Suzhou.

僧問。一花開五葉。結果自然成時如何。師曰。脫卻籠頭。卸卻角䭾。曰。拶出虗空去。處處盡聞香。師曰。雲愁聞鬼哭。雪壓髑髏吟。問。和尚未見谷隱時一句作麼生道。師曰。步步登山遠。曰。見後如何。師曰。驅驅信馬蹄。

A monk asked: ‘When one flower opens into five petals and the fruit naturally forms, what then?’ The master said: ‘Throw off the bridle and unload the burden from your horns.’ The monk said: ‘When it breaks through empty space, its fragrance is heard everywhere.’ The master replied: ‘Clouds mourn as ghosts cry; snow presses down while skulls chant.’ Asked: ‘What would you have said before meeting Guyin?’ he said: ‘With every step the mountain grows farther.’ ‘And after meeting him?’ ‘I urged my horse onward, trusting its pace.’

明州仗錫山修己禪師

Chan Master Xiuxi of Zhangxi Mountain, Mingzhou.

與浮山遠公遊。嘗卓庵廬山佛手巖。後至四明山心。獨居十餘載。虎豹為隣。嘗曰。羊腸鳥道無人到。寂寞雲中一箇人。爾後道俗聞風而至。遂成禪林。僧問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。四稜著地。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。高枕無憂。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。舶船過海。赤腳回鄉。

He traveled with Master Yuan of Fushan and once built a hermitage at Foshou Cliff on Mount Lu. Later he went to the heart of Siming Mountain and lived alone for more than ten years, with tigers and leopards for neighbors. He once said: ‘Along a winding sheep-path and bird trail no one comes; alone in the clouds is one solitary man.’ Later, laypeople and monastics came in response to his reputation, and a Chan community formed. A monk asked: ‘What is a seamless stupa?’ The master said: ‘It rests on four corners.’ ‘Who is the person inside?’ ‘He sleeps soundly without worry.’ Asked the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West, he said: ‘A merchant ship crossed the sea; I returned barefoot to my native village.’

唐州大乘山德遵禪師

Chan Master Dezun of Mount Dacheng, Tangzhou.

問谷隱曰。古人索火。意旨如何。曰。任他滅。師曰。滅後如何。曰。初三十一。師曰。恁麼則好時節也。曰。汝見甚麼道理。師曰。今日一場困。隱便打。師乃有頌曰。索火之機實快哉。藏鋒妙用少人猜。要會我師親的旨。紅爐火盡不添柴。僧問。世界圓融一句。請師道。師曰。團團七尺餘。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。鼻大眼深。上堂。上來又不問。下去又不疑。不知是不是。是即也大奇。便下座。

He asked Guyin: ‘What did the ancients mean when they asked for fire?’ Guyin said: ‘Let it go out.’ ‘What after it goes out?’ ‘The third day of the first month is the thirty-first.’ The master said: ‘Then it is an auspicious time.’ Guyin asked: ‘What principle do you see?’ The master said: ‘A day of weariness.’ Guyin struck him. The master composed a verse: ‘The request for fire is swift and keen; few discern the hidden use of its edge. To understand my teacher’s intimate intent: when the furnace fire dies, add no more wood.’ A monk asked: ‘Please state the phrase in which the world is perfectly interpenetrating.’ ‘A round ball, more than seven feet across.’ Asked the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West, he said: ‘A large nose and deep-set eyes.’ At an assembly he said: ‘You ask nothing when you come, and have no doubts when you leave. I do not know whether this is right, but it is quite remarkable.’ Then he descended.

荊南府竹園法顯禪師

Chan Master Faxian of Zhuyuan, Jingnan Prefecture.

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。好手畫不成。問。如何是道。師曰。交橫十字。曰。如何是道中人。師曰。往往不相識。

A monk asked: ‘What is Buddha?’ The master said: ‘Even a skilled artist cannot paint it.’ ‘What is the Way?’ ‘A crossroad running in every direction.’ ‘Who is the person on the Way?’ ‘Often, one does not recognize him.’

彭州永福院延照禪師

Chan Master Yanzhao of Yongfu Monastery, Pengzhou.

僧問。如何是彭州境。師曰。人馬合雜。僧以手作拽弓勢。師拈棒。僧擬議。師便打。

A monk asked: ‘What is the landscape of Pengzhou?’ The master said: ‘People and horses all mixed together.’ The monk made a gesture as if drawing a bow. The master picked up a staff. As the monk hesitated, the master struck him.

安吉州景清院居素禪師

Chan Master Jusu of Jingqing Monastery, Anjizhou.

僧問。即此見聞非見聞。為甚麼法身有三種病。二種光。師曰。填凹就缺。問。承和尚有言。寰中天子勑。塞外將軍令。如何是塞外將軍令。師曰。揭。曰。其中事如何。師曰。蹴。曰。莫便是和尚為人處也無。師彈指一下。問。遠遠投師。乞師一接。師曰。新羅人打鼓。曰。如何領會。師曰。舶主未曾逢。問。如何是末上一句。師曰。金剛樹下。曰。如何是末後一句。師曰。拘屍城邊。曰。向上更有事也無。師曰。有。曰。如何是向上事。師曰。波旬拊掌呵呵笑。迦葉頭擡不識人。

A monk asked: ‘If what is seen and heard here is not seeing and hearing, why does the Dharma-body have three kinds of illness and two kinds of light?’ The master said: ‘Fill the hollows and patch the gaps.’ Asked: ‘You have said, “Within the realm, the emperor’s decree; beyond the frontier, the general’s command.” What is the general’s command beyond the frontier?’ He said: ‘Lift it.’ ‘What is the matter there?’ ‘Kick it.’ ‘Is this how you guide people?’ The master snapped his fingers. Asked: ‘I have come from far away to study with you; please receive me.’ He said: ‘A man from Silla beats a drum.’ ‘How should I understand?’ ‘The ship’s master has never met him.’ Asked about the final phrase, he said: ‘Beneath the Bodhi tree.’ Asked about the very last phrase, he said: ‘At Kushinagar.’ ‘Is there anything further above?’ ‘There is.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘Mara claps and laughs aloud; Mahakashyapa raises his head and does not recognize anyone.’