The Five Lamps Meeting at the Source, Scroll One
溫州淨居尼玄機。唐景雲中得度。常習定於大日山石窟中。一日忽唸曰。法性湛然。本無去住。厭喧趍寂。豈為達邪。乃往參雪峰。峰問。甚處來。曰。大日山來。峰曰。日出也未。師曰。若出則鎔卻雪峰峰曰。汝名甚麼。師曰。玄機。峰曰。日織多少。師曰。寸絲不掛。遂禮拜退。才行三五步。峰召曰。袈裟角拖地也。師回首。峰曰。大好寸絲不掛(世傳玄機乃永嘉大師女弟。甞同遊方。以景雲歲日考之。是矣．第所見雪峰。非真覺存也。永嘉既到曹谿。必嶺下雪峰也。未詳法嗣。故附於此)。
Nun Xuanji of Jingju in Wenzhou received ordination during the Jingyun era and often practiced concentration in a cave on Mount Dairi. One day she thought: ‘Dharma-nature is clear and still, originally neither going nor abiding. To hate noise and seek quiet—is that understanding?’ She went to study with Xuefeng. He asked: ‘Where have you come from?’ She said: ‘From Mount Dairi.’ He asked: ‘Has the sun risen yet?’ She replied: ‘If it had risen, it would have melted Xuefeng.’ He asked her name. She said: ‘Xuanji.’ He asked: ‘How much does the sun weave?’ She replied: ‘Not a thread of silk hangs.’ She bowed and withdrew. After walking three or five steps, Xuefeng called: ‘The corner of your robe drags on the ground.’ She looked back. He said: ‘So much for “not a thread hangs.”’ Tradition says Xuanji was a younger fellow student of Master Zhenjue of Yongjia. The dates show that this encounter with Xuefeng was not with Zhenjue himself, who had already gone to Cao Creek; it must have been the Xuefeng below the mountain. Her lineage is unknown, so she is appended here.
司空山本淨禪師者
Chan Master Benjing of Sikong Mountain,
絳州人也。姓張氏。幼歲披緇於曹谿之室。受記𨽻司空山無相寺。唐天寶三年玄宗遣中使楊光庭入山。採常春藤。因造丈室。禮問曰。弟子慕道斯久。願和尚慈悲。略垂開示。師曰。天下禪宗碩學。鹹會京師。天使歸朝。足可諮決。貧道隈山傍水。無所用心。光庭泣拜。師曰。休禮貧道。天使為求佛邪。問道邪。曰。弟子智識昏昧。未審佛之與道。其義云何。師曰。若欲求佛。即心是佛。若欲會道。無心是道。曰。云何即心是佛。師曰。佛因心悟。心以佛彰。若悟無心。佛亦不有。曰。云何無心是道。師曰。道本無心。無心名道。若了無心。無心即道。光庭作禮。信受。既回闕庭。具以山中所遇奏聞。即勑光庭詔師到京。勑住白蓮亭。越明年正月十五日。召兩街名僧碩學赴內道場。與師闡揚佛理。時有遠禪師者。抗聲謂師曰。今對聖上。較量宗旨。應須直問直答。不假繁辭。只如禪師所見。以何為道。師曰。無心是道。遠曰。道因心有。何得言無心是道。師曰。道本無名。因心名道。心名若有。道不虗然。窮心既無。道憑何立。二俱虗妄。總是假名。遠曰。禪師見有身心。是道已否。師曰。山僧身心本來是道。遠曰。適言無心是道。今又言身心本來是道。豈不相違。師曰。無心是道。心泯道無。心道一如。故言無心是道。身心本來是道。道亦本是身心。身心本既是空。道亦窮源無有。遠曰。觀禪師形質甚小。卻會此理。師曰。大德只見山僧相。不見山僧無相。見相者是大德所見。經云。凡所有相。皆是虗妄。若見諸相非相。即見其道。若以相為實。窮劫不能見道。遠曰。今請禪師於相上說於無相。師曰。淨名經云。四大無主。身亦無我。無我所見。與道相應。大德若以四大有主是我。若有我見。窮劫不可會道也。遠聞語失色。逡巡避席。師有偈曰。四大無主復如水。遇曲逢直無彼此。淨穢兩處不生心。
was a native of Jiangzhou, surnamed Zhang. He donned monastic robes when young and received the prediction of awakening in Cao Creek’s chamber. He belonged to Wuxiang Monastery on Sikong Mountain. In the third year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong sent the palace envoy Yang Guangting into the mountain to gather evergreen vines. He therefore built a small chamber and asked: ‘Your disciple has admired the Way for a long time. I beg the Master’s compassion and a brief instruction.’ The Master said: ‘The eminent students of Chan throughout the empire are gathered in the capital. When you return to court, you can consult them fully. I am only a poor monk beside a mountain stream, with no matter on which to spend the mind.’ Guangting bowed in tears. The Master said: ‘Do not bow to a poor monk. Do you seek the Buddha, or are you asking about the Way?’ He said he did not know the distinction. The Master said: ‘If you seek the Buddha, mind itself is Buddha. If you would understand the Way, no-mind is the Way.’ Asked how mind itself is Buddha, he said: ‘The Buddha is awakened through mind, and mind is revealed by Buddha. If no-mind is realized, Buddha too is not.’ Asked how no-mind is the Way, he said: ‘The Way is originally no-mind; “no-mind” is its name. If no-mind is understood, no-mind is the Way.’ Guangting accepted this. Returning to court, he reported everything. The emperor summoned the Master to the capital and lodged him at White Lotus Pavilion. The following year, on the fifteenth day of the first month, eminent monks from both streets were called to the inner hall to debate Buddhist doctrine with him. A monk named Yuan challenged him: ‘Before the emperor, answer directly and do not hide behind elaborate words. What do you regard as the Way?’ The Master said: ‘No-mind is the Way.’ Yuan said: ‘The Way exists because of mind; how can no-mind be the Way?’ The Master replied: ‘The Way has no original name; because of mind it is named the Way. If the name of mind existed, the Way would be empty. When mind is examined to its end and found absent, on what could the Way stand? Both are empty fabrications and merely provisional names.’ Yuan asked whether body and mind were the Way. The Master said: ‘This monk’s body and mind are originally the Way.’ Yuan pointed out the apparent contradiction. The Master explained: ‘When mind is extinguished, the Way is not separate; mind and Way are one. Body and mind are originally the Way, and because their source is empty, the Way is empty too. You see only my form and not my formlessness. All forms are false; to see forms as not forms is to see the Way. If forms are taken as real, even endless kalpas cannot reveal the Way.’ Yuan asked him to speak of formlessness through form. The Master cited the Vimalakirti teaching that the four elements have no master and the body has no self. Yuan lost color and withdrew. The Master’s verse says: ‘The four elements have no master, like water; meeting bends or straight places, they have no “this” or “that.” In purity and impurity no mind is born; blocked or released, there has never been two intentions. Touching an object, be like water without mind; amid the world, move freely—what trouble is there?’
壅決何曾有二意。觸境但似水無心。在世縱橫有何事。復雲。一大如是。四大亦然。若明四大無主。即悟無心。若了無心。自然契道。志明禪師問。若言無心是道。瓦礫無心亦應是道。又曰。身心本來是道。四生十類皆有身心。亦應是道。師曰。大德若作見聞覺知解會。與道懸殊。即是求見聞覺知之者。非是求道之人。經云。無眼．耳．鼻．舌．身．意。六根尚無。見聞覺知憑何而立。窮本不有。何處存心。焉得不同草木瓦礫。明杜口而退。師有偈曰。見聞覺知無障礙。聲香味觸常三昧。如鳥空中只麼飛。無取無捨無憎愛。若會應處本無心。始得名為觀自在。真禪師問。道既無心。佛有心否。佛之與道。是一是二。師曰。不一不二。曰。佛度眾生。為有心故。道不度人。為無心故。一度一不度。何得無二。師曰。若言佛度眾生．道無度者。此是大德妄生二見。如山僧即不然。佛是虗名。道亦妄立。二俱不實。總是假名。一假之中。如何分二。曰。佛之與道。總是假名。當立名時。是誰為立。若有立者。何得言無。師曰。佛之與道。因心而立。推窮立心。心亦是無。心既是無。即悟二俱不實。知如夢幻。即悟本空。彊立佛道二名。此是二乘人見解。師乃說無修無作偈曰。見道方修道。不見復何修。道性如虗空。虗空何所修。徧觀修道者。撥火覔浮漚。但看弄傀儡。線斷一時休。法空禪師問。佛之與道。俱是假名。十二分教。亦應不實。何以從前尊宿皆言修道。師曰。大德錯會經意。道本無修。大德彊修。道本無作。大德彊作。道本無事。彊生多事。道本無知。於中強知。如此見解。與道相違。從前尊宿不應如是。自是大德不會。請思之。師有偈曰。道體本無修。不修自合道。若起修道心。此人不會道。棄卻一真性。卻入閙浩浩。忽逢修道人。第一莫向道。安禪師問。道既假名。佛雲妄立。
He added: ‘As with one element, so with all four. If you understand that the four elements have no master, you awaken to no-mind; when no-mind is understood, you naturally accord with the Way.’ Chan Master Zhiming asked: ‘If no-mind is the Way, then tiles and stones, which have no mind, should also be the Way. If body and mind are originally the Way, then beings of the four births and ten classes all have body and mind and should also be the Way.’ The Master replied: ‘If you interpret through seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, you are far from the Way. The sutra says there are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind. If the six faculties are absent, on what can seeing and hearing stand? When the root is empty, where can mind remain? Why should this differ from grass, trees, tiles, and stones?’ Zhiming fell silent. The Master’s verse says: ‘Seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing have no obstruction; sound, scent, taste, and touch are always samadhi. Like a bird flying through space, there is no grasping, rejecting, hatred, or love. When one realizes that response is originally no-mind, one is called Guanyin自在, the freely observing one.’ Another master asked whether Buddha had mind and whether Buddha and the Way were one or two. The Master said: ‘Neither one nor two.’ He explained that Buddha and Way are both empty names, and dividing one as saving beings and the other as not saving them is merely creating two views. Asked who establishes the names, he said: ‘They are established through mind; when the mind that establishes them is examined, it too is absent. Knowing them as dream and illusion is awakening to original emptiness. Forcibly establishing two names is the view of the two vehicles.’ He then gave a verse on non-practice and non-making: ‘Only after seeing the Way does one practice; if one has not seen it, what is there to practice? The nature of the Way is like space; what can space cultivate? Everywhere one who practices pokes the fire seeking bubbles. Watch only a puppet being played; when the strings are cut, it stops at once.’
十二分教亦是接物度生。一切是妄。以何為真。師曰。為有妄故。將真對妄。推窮妄性本空。真亦何曾有故。故知真妄總是假名。二事對治。都無實體。窮其根本。一切皆空。曰。既言一切是妄。妄亦同真。真妄無殊。復是何物。師曰。若言何物。何物亦妄。經云。無相似。無比況。言語道斷。如鳥飛空。安慙伏不知所措。師有偈曰。推真真無相。窮妄妄無形。返觀推窮心。知心亦假名。會道亦如此。到頭亦只寧。達性禪師問。禪師至妙至微。真妄雙泯。佛道兩亡。修行性空。名相不實。世界如幻。一切假名。作此解時。不可斷絕眾生善惡二根。師曰。善惡二根。皆因心有。窮心若有。根亦非虗。推心既無。根因何立。經云。善不善法。從心化生。善惡業緣。本無有實。師有偈曰。善既從心生。惡豈離心有。善惡是外緣。於心實不有。捨惡歸何處。取善令誰守。傷嗟二見人。攀緣兩頭走。若悟本無心。始悔從前咎。又有近臣問曰。此身從何而來。百年之後復歸何處。師曰。如人夢時。從何而來。睡覺時。從何而去。曰。夢時不可言無。既覺不可言有。雖有有無。來往無所。師曰。貧道此身。亦如其夢。師有偈曰。視生如在夢。夢裡實是閙。忽覺萬事休。還同睡時悟。智者會悟夢。迷人信夢閙。會夢如兩般。一悟無別悟。富貴與貧賤。更無分別路。上元二年歸寂。諡大曉禪師。
When asked why the twelve divisions of scripture should not also be called unreal, he answered: ‘The Way is originally without cultivation, yet you force cultivation; originally without making, yet you force making; originally without affairs, yet you create affairs; originally without knowing, yet you force knowledge. These views oppose the Way. Earlier teachers did not err; you simply have not understood.’ His verse says: ‘The substance of the Way has no cultivation; without cultivation one accords with it. If a mind to cultivate the Way arises, that person does not know the Way. Abandoning the one true nature, one enters noisy confusion. If you meet a person who practices the Way, first of all do not point him toward the Way.’ Another asked how, if Buddha and Way are provisional names and the teachings are all false, one can know what is true. The Master said: ‘Because falsehood appears, truth is set against it. When falsehood is examined, it is empty; truth has never existed independently. Truth and falsehood are both provisional names and neither has substance. When their root is exhausted, all is empty.’ Asked what remains if both truth and falsehood are the same, he said: ‘If you say “what thing,” that thing too is false. The sutra says there is nothing comparable and no analogy; the path of words is cut off like a bird flying through space.’ His verse says: ‘Pursue truth and truth has no mark; exhaust falsehood and falsehood has no form. Turn back and examine the mind that pursues and exhausts; know that mind too is a provisional name. Understanding the Way is the same; at the end there is only quiet.’ Asked whether good and evil roots should be denied, he said they both arise through mind; when mind is empty, on what can their roots stand? His verse says: ‘Good arises from mind, and how could evil arise apart from mind? Good and evil are external conditions, in mind they truly do not exist. Abandon evil—where does it go? Take up good—who preserves it? Pity those caught in two views, clinging and reaching at both ends. When they awaken to original no-mind, they first regret their former faults.’ A court official asked where the body comes from and where it goes after a hundred years. The Master replied: ‘When a person dreams, where does he come from? When he wakes, where does he go? My body is likewise a dream.’ His verse says: ‘Regard birth as being in a dream; within the dream affairs are turbulent. Suddenly awakened, all things cease, just as awakening occurs during sleep. The wise awaken from the dream; the deluded trust its turmoil. To understand the dream is like understanding two things: one awakening has no separate awakening. Rich and poor then have no different road.’ He entered quiescence in the second year of Shangyuan and was posthumously named Master Daxiao.
玄䇿禪師者
Chan Master Xuance,
婺州金華人也。遊方時屆於河朔。有隍禪師者。曾謁黃梅。自謂正受。師知隍所得未真。往問曰。汝坐於此作麼。隍曰。入定。師曰。汝言入定。有心邪。無心邪。若有心者。一切蠢動之類。皆應得定。若無心者。一切草木之流。亦合得定。曰。我正入定時。則不見有有無之心。師曰。既不見有有無之心。即是常定。何有出入。若有出入。則非大定。隍無語。良久問。師嗣誰。師曰。我師曹谿六祖。曰。六祖以何為禪定。師曰。我師雲。夫妙湛圓寂。體用如如。五陰本空。六塵非有。不出不入。不定不亂。禪性無住。離住禪寂。禪性無生。離生禪想。心如虗空。亦無虗空之量。隍聞此說。遂造於曹谿。請決疑翳。而祖意與師冥符。隍始開悟。師後卻歸金華。大開法席。
He was from Jinhua, Wuzhou. While traveling, he came to Hebei. Chan Master Huang once visited Huangmei and believed he had attained right samadhi. The master knew Huang’s attainment was not genuine, so he asked him, ‘Why are you sitting here?’ Huang said, ‘Entering concentration.’ The master asked, ‘When you say you enter concentration, is there a mind or no mind? If there is a mind, then every wriggling creature should be able to enter concentration. If there is no mind, then plants and trees should be able to enter it too.’ Huang said, ‘When I am truly in concentration, I do not see a mind that is either present or absent.’ The master said, ‘If you see neither presence nor absence of mind, then this is constant concentration. Why speak of entering or leaving it? If there is entering and leaving, it is not great concentration.’ Huang had no answer. After a long while he asked, ‘Whose successor are you?’ The master said, ‘My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi.’ Huang asked, ‘What did the Sixth Patriarch teach about meditation?’ The master said, ‘My teacher said: “The wondrously clear, perfectly quiescent is suchness in both substance and function. The five aggregates are originally empty; the six sense-objects do not exist. There is no entering or leaving, neither concentration nor confusion. The nature of meditation does not abide; it is apart from abiding in meditative stillness. The nature of meditation is unborn; it is apart from giving rise to thoughts of meditation. The mind is like empty space, yet it does not even measure itself as empty space.”’ Hearing this, Huang went to Caoxi to resolve his doubts. The Patriarch’s intent and the master’s words matched perfectly, and Huang awakened at once. The master later returned to Jinhua and established a great teaching seat.
河北智隍禪師者
Chan Master Zhihuang of Hebei,
始參五祖。雖甞諮決而循乎漸行。乃往河北結庵長坐。積二十餘載。不見惰容。後遇䇿禪師激勵。遂往參六祖。祖愍其遠來。便垂開決。師於言下豁然契悟。前二十年所得心都無影響。其夜。河北檀越士庶。忽聞空中有聲曰。隍禪師今日得道也。後回河北。開化四眾。
At first he studied with the Fifth Patriarch. Though he had consulted him and received instruction, he followed the gradual path, went to Hebei, built a hut, and sat for more than twenty years, never showing the slightest laziness. Later, Chan Master Ce encouraged him to visit the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch took pity on him for traveling so far and opened up the matter for him. At the words, the master suddenly awakened. Everything he had gained in the previous twenty years left no trace. That night, benefactors and common people in Hebei suddenly heard a voice in the air saying, ‘Chan Master Huang attained the Way today.’ He later returned to Hebei and taught the fourfold assembly.
南陽慧忠國師者
National Teacher Huizhong of Nanyang,
越州諸暨人也。姓冉氏。自受心印。居南陽白崖山黨子谷。四十餘祀不下山。道行聞於帝裡。唐肅宗上元二年。勑中使孫朝進賷詔徵赴京。待以師禮。初居千福寺西禪院。及代宗臨御。復迎止光宅精藍十有六載。隨機說法。時有西天大耳三藏到京。雲得他心通。肅宗命國師試驗。三藏才見師便禮拜。立於右邊。師問曰。汝得他心通那。對曰。不敢。師曰。汝道老僧即今在甚麼處。曰。和尚是一國之師。何得卻去西川看競渡。良久。再問。汝道老僧即今在甚麼處。曰。和尚是一國之師。何得卻在天津橋上看弄猢猻。師良久。復問。汝道老僧只今在甚麼處。藏罔測。師叱曰。這野狐精。他心通在甚麼處。藏無對(僧問仰山曰。大耳三藏第三度為甚麼不見國師。山曰。前兩度是涉境心。後入自受用三昧。所以不見。又有僧問玄沙。沙曰。汝道前兩度還見麼。玄覺雲。前兩度見。後來為甚麼不見。且道利害在甚麼處。僧問趙州。大耳三藏第三度不見國師。未審國師在甚麼處。州雲。在三藏鼻孔上。僧後問玄沙。既在鼻孔上。為甚麼不見。沙雲。只為太近)。一日喚侍者。者應諾。如是三召三應。師曰。將謂吾孤負汝。卻是汝孤負吾(僧問玄沙。國師喚侍者。意作麼生。沙雲。卻是侍者會。雲居錫雲。且道侍者會不會。若道會。國師又道汝孤負吾。若道不會。玄沙又道卻是侍者會。且作麼生商量。玄覺徵問僧。甚麼處是侍者會處。僧雲。若不會。爭解恁麼應。玄覺雲。汝少會在。又云。若於這裡商量得去。便識玄沙。僧問法眼。國師喚侍者意作麼生。眼雲。且去。別時來。雲居錫雲。法眼恁麼道。為復明國師意。不明國師意。僧問趙州。國師喚侍者。意作麼生。趙州雲。如人暗裡書字。字雖不成。文彩已彰)。南泉到參。師問。甚麼處來。曰。江西來。師曰。還將得馬師真來否。曰。只這是。師曰。背後底聻。
He was from Zhuji, Yuezhou, and belonged to the Ran clan. After receiving the mind-seal, he lived in Dangzi Valley on White Cliff Mountain at Nanyang for more than forty years, never traveling down the western slope. His conduct in the Way became known in the imperial capital. In the second year of Shangyuan under Emperor Suzong of Tang, the emperor sent the palace eunuch Sun Chaojin with an edict summoning him to the capital and received him with the rites due a teacher. At first he stayed in the western Chan courtyard of Qianfu Monastery. When Emperor Daizong ascended the throne, he was again welcomed to Guangzhai Monastery, where he taught according to circumstances for sixteen years. At that time the Great-Ear Tripitaka Master from India came to the capital, claiming to possess the supernatural ability to know others’ thoughts. Suzong ordered the National Teacher to test him. As soon as the Tripitaka Master saw the teacher, he bowed and stood to his right. The teacher asked, ‘Do you possess the ability to know others’ thoughts?’ He replied, ‘I would not presume to say so.’ The teacher said, ‘Tell me, where am I right now?’ He replied, ‘You are the teacher of a whole nation. How could you have gone to Sichuan to watch the boat races?’ After a long while the teacher asked again, ‘Tell me, where am I now?’ He replied, ‘You are the teacher of a whole nation. How could you be on Tianjin Bridge watching a monkey show?’ After a long while the teacher asked a third time, ‘Tell me, where am I now?’ The Tripitaka Master could not tell. The teacher scolded him: ‘You wild fox spirit! Where is your ability to know others’ thoughts?’ The Tripitaka Master had no answer. (A monk asked Yangshan, ‘Why could the Great-Ear Tripitaka Master not see the National Teacher the third time?’ Yangshan said, ‘The first two times, his mind entered the realm; the third time, the teacher entered the samadhi of his own enjoyment, so he could not see him.’ Another monk asked Xuansha. Xuansha said, ‘Do you say he saw him the first two times?’ Xuanjue said, ‘He saw him the first two times, so why could he not see him later? Tell me, where is the crucial point?’ A monk asked Zhaozhou, ‘The Great-Ear Tripitaka Master failed to see the National Teacher the third time. Where was the National Teacher?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘On the Tripitaka Master’s nostrils.’ The monk later asked Xuansha, ‘If he was on his nostrils, why could he not see him?’ Xuansha said, ‘Because he was too close.’) One day the teacher called his attendant. The attendant answered, ‘Yes?’ The teacher called three times, and each time the attendant answered. The teacher said, ‘I thought I had let you down, but it is you who have let me down.’ (A monk asked Xuansha, ‘What did the National Teacher mean when he called his attendant?’ Xuansha said, ‘The attendant understood.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘Tell me, did the attendant understand or not? If he did, why did the National Teacher say, “You have let me down”? If he did not, why did Xuansha say he understood? How should we assess this?’ Xuanjue asked a monk, ‘Where did the attendant understand?’ The monk said, ‘If he did not understand, how could he answer like that?’ Xuanjue said, ‘You have understood only a little.’ He added, ‘If you can assess this matter, you will recognize Xuansha.’ A monk asked Fayan, ‘What did the National Teacher mean by calling the attendant?’ Fayan said, ‘Go away for now; come another time.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘When Fayan said this, did he understand the National Teacher’s meaning or not?’ A monk asked Zhaozhou the same question. Zhaozhou said, ‘It is like someone writing characters in the dark: though the characters are not formed, their pattern is already evident.’) Nanquan came to visit. The teacher asked, ‘Where have you come from?’ Nanquan said, ‘From Jiangxi.’ The teacher asked, ‘Did you bring Master Mazu’s likeness?’ Nanquan said, ‘This is it.’ The teacher said, ‘What about what is behind you?’
南泉便休(長慶稜雲。大似不知。保福展雲。幾不到和尚此間。雲居錫雲。此二尊宿。盡扶背後。只如南泉休去。為當扶面前。扶背後)。麻谷到參。繞禪床三匝。振錫而立。師曰。汝既如是。吾亦如是。谷又振錫。師叱曰。這野狐精出去。上堂。禪宗學者。應遵佛語。一乘了義。契自心源。不了義者。互不相許。如師子身中蟲。夫為人師。若涉名利。別開異端。則自他何益。如世大匠。斤斧不傷其手。香象所負。非驢能堪。僧問。若為得成佛去。師曰。佛與眾生。一時放卻。當處解脫。曰。作麼生得相應去。師曰。善惡不思。自見佛性。曰。若為得證法身。師曰。越毗盧之境界。曰。清淨法身作麼生得。師曰。不著佛求耳。曰。阿那箇是佛。師曰。即心是佛。曰。心有煩惱否。師曰。煩惱性自離。曰。豈不斷邪。師曰。斷煩惱者。即名二乘。煩惱不生。名大涅槃。曰。坐禪看靜。此復若為。師曰。不垢不淨。寧用起心而看淨相。問。禪師見十方虗空。是法身否。師曰。以想心取之。是顛倒見。問。即心是佛。可更修萬行否。師曰。諸聖皆具二嚴。豈撥無因果邪。又曰。我今答汝。窮劫不盡。言多去道遠矣。所以道。說法有所得。斯則野幹鳴。說法無所得。是名師子吼。上堂。青蘿夤緣。直上寒松之頂。白雲淡濘。出沒太虗之中。萬法本閑而人自閙。師問僧。近離甚處。曰。南方。師曰。南方知識以何法示人。曰。南方知識。秖道一朝風火散後。如蛇退皮。如龍換骨。本爾真性。宛然無壞。師曰。苦哉。苦哉。南方知識說法。半生半滅。曰。南方知識即如是。未審和尚此間說何法。師曰。我此間身心一如。身外無餘。曰。和尚何得將泡幻之身同於法體。師曰。你為甚麼入於邪道。曰。甚麼處是某甲入於邪道處。師曰。不見教中道。若以色見我。以音聲求我。是人行邪道。不能見如來。南陽張濆行者問。
Nanquan then stopped. (Changqing Leng said, ‘It seems he did not know.’ Baofu Zhan said, ‘He nearly failed to reach the master here.’ Yunju Xi said, ‘These two venerables both support from behind. When Nanquan stopped, did they support him from the front or the back?’) Magu came to visit, circled the Chan seat three times, shook his staff, and stood there. The teacher said, ‘Since you are like this, I am like this too.’ Magu shook his staff again. The teacher scolded him, ‘You wild fox spirit! Get out!’ At a formal teaching he said, ‘Students of the Chan school should follow the Buddha’s words. The definitive teaching of the One Vehicle accords with the source of one’s own mind. Those who do not understand the definitive teaching should not accept one another’s claims, like worms inside a lion’s body. A teacher of others who gets involved in fame and gain and opens up deviant doctrines—what good does that do for himself or others? A great artisan in the world does not injure his hands with his own axe and chisel. What an elephant carries is not something a donkey can bear.’ A monk asked, ‘How can one become Buddha?’ The teacher said, ‘Let go of Buddha and sentient beings all at once; liberation is right here.’ Asked, ‘How can one accord with it?’ he said, ‘Do not think of good or evil, and you will see Buddha-nature for yourself.’ Asked, ‘How can one realize the Dharma body?’ he said, ‘Transcend the realm of Vairocana.’ Asked, ‘How does one attain the pure Dharma body?’ he said, ‘Do not cling to seeking Buddha.’ Asked, ‘Which one is Buddha?’ he said, ‘Mind itself is Buddha.’ Asked, ‘Does the mind have afflictions?’ he said, ‘The nature of affliction is self-released.’ Asked, ‘Does one not cut them off?’ he said, ‘One who cuts off afflictions is called a follower of the Two Vehicles. When afflictions do not arise, that is great nirvana.’ Asked, ‘What about sitting in meditation and watching for stillness?’ he said, ‘Neither defiled nor pure—why stir the mind to watch for a pure appearance?’ Asked, ‘When a Chan master sees the empty space in all ten directions, is that the Dharma body?’ he said, ‘To grasp it with the thinking mind is a mistaken view.’ Asked, ‘If mind itself is Buddha, may one still cultivate the myriad practices?’ he said, ‘All sages possess the two adornments. How could one deny cause and effect?’ He added, ‘Even if I answered you for kalpas, I would never finish. Too many words take you far from the Way. Thus it is said: “A teaching that grasps at something is the cry of a jackal; a teaching that grasps at nothing is called the lion’s roar.”’ At another teaching he said, ‘The green vines climb straight to the top of the cold pine; pale clouds drift in and out of the vast sky. The ten thousand things are originally at rest, but people themselves make a commotion.’ The teacher asked a monk, ‘Where have you recently come from?’ He said, ‘The south.’ The teacher asked, ‘What Dharma do teachers in the south teach?’ The monk said, ‘They say that once the elements of wind and fire disperse at death, one sheds the skin like a snake and changes bones like a dragon, while one’s original true nature remains unchanged.’ The teacher said, ‘How pitiful! The teachers in the south teach a doctrine that is half birth and half extinction.’ The monk said, ‘The southern teachers teach that way. What Dharma do you teach here?’ The teacher said, ‘Here, body and mind are one; outside the body there is nothing else.’ The monk said, ‘How can you equate this bubble-like illusory body with the Dharma substance?’ The teacher said, ‘Why have you entered a deviant path?’ The monk asked, ‘Where have I entered a deviant path?’ The teacher said, ‘Have you not read in the teachings: “If you see me through form or seek me through sound, you are walking a deviant path and cannot see the Tathagata”?’ Lay practitioner Zhang Fen of Nanyang asked…’
承和尚說無情說法。某甲未體其事。乞和尚垂示。師曰。汝若問無情說法。解他無情。方得聞我說法。汝但聞取無情說法去。濆曰。只約如今有情方便之中。如何是無情因緣。師曰。如今一切動用之中。但凡聖兩流都無少分起滅便是出。識不屬有無。熾然見覺。只聞無其情識繫執。所以六祖雲。六根對境。分別非識。有僧到參禮。師問。蘊何事業。曰。講金剛經。師曰。最初兩字是甚麼。曰。如是。師曰。是甚麼。僧無對。有人問。如何是解脫。師曰。諸法不相到。當處解脫。曰。恁麼即斷去也。師曰。向汝道諸法不相到。斷甚麼。師見僧來。以手作圓相。相中書日字。僧無對。師問本淨禪師。汝已後見奇特言語如何淨。曰。無一念心愛。師曰。是汝屋裡事。肅宗問。師在曹谿得何法。師曰。陛下還見空中一片雲麼。帝曰。見。師曰。釘釘著。懸掛著。帝又問。如何是十身調御。師乃起立曰。會麼。帝曰。不會。師曰。與老僧過淨瓶來。帝又曰。如何是無諍三昧。師曰。檀越蹋毗盧頂上行。帝曰。此意如何。師曰。莫認自己清淨法身。帝又問。師都不視之。曰。朕是大唐天子。師何以殊不顧視。師曰。還見虗空麼。帝曰。見。師曰。他還眨目視陛下否。魚軍容問。師住白崖山。十二時中如何修道。師喚童子來。摩頂曰。惺惺直言惺惺。歷歷直言歷歷。已後莫受人謾。師與紫璘供奉論議。師陞座。奉曰。請師立義。某甲破。師曰。立義竟。奉曰。是甚麼義。師曰。果然不見。非公境界。便下座。一日。師問紫璘供奉。佛是甚麼義。曰。是覺義。師曰。佛曾迷否。曰。不曾迷。師曰。用覺作麼。奉無對。奉問如何是實相。師曰。把將虗底來。曰。虗底不可得。師曰。虗底尚不可得。問實相作麼。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。文殊堂裡萬菩薩。曰。學人不會。師曰。大悲千手眼。師以化緣將畢。涅槃時至。
‘I have heard you say that insentient things teach the Dharma, but I do not understand it. I beg you to explain.’ The teacher said, ‘If you ask about insentient things teaching the Dharma, understand the insentient, and then you can hear my teaching. Just listen to the insentient things teaching the Dharma.’ Zhang Fen said, ‘Taking the expedient means of sentient beings as they are now, what are the conditions for the insentient to teach?’ The teacher said, ‘In all activities now, when neither the ordinary nor the holy has the slightest arising or ceasing, that is going beyond. Awareness belongs neither to existence nor nonexistence; it sees vividly, and yet hears without the bonds of discriminating consciousness. Thus the Sixth Patriarch said: “When the six faculties meet their objects, discrimination is not consciousness.”’ A monk came to pay his respects. The teacher asked, ‘What are you occupied with?’ He said, ‘I lecture on the Diamond Sutra.’ The teacher asked, ‘What are its first two words?’ He said, ‘Thus have I heard.’ The teacher asked, ‘What does “thus” mean?’ The monk had no answer. Someone asked, ‘What is liberation?’ The teacher said, ‘When phenomena do not interfere with one another, you are liberated right where you stand.’ The questioner said, ‘Then this means cutting everything off.’ The teacher said, ‘I told you that phenomena do not interfere with one another. What is there to cut off?’ When a monk came, the teacher made a circle with his hand and wrote the character for “sun” inside it. The monk had no answer. The teacher asked Chan Master Benjing, ‘What will you do when you encounter extraordinary words in the future?’ Benjing said, ‘I will not have the slightest attachment to them.’ The teacher said, ‘That is a matter within your own house.’ Emperor Suzong asked, ‘What Dharma did you receive at Caoxi?’ The teacher said, ‘Does Your Majesty see a cloud in the sky?’ The emperor said, ‘I do.’ The teacher said, ‘Nail it there and hang it up.’ The emperor asked, ‘What is the samadhi of the tenfold sovereign?’ The teacher rose and asked, ‘Do you understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ The teacher said, ‘Bring this old monk a clean vase.’ The emperor asked, ‘What is the samadhi of non-contention?’ The teacher said, ‘Benefactor, walk on Vairocana’s crown.’ The emperor asked, ‘What does this mean?’ The teacher said, ‘Do not mistake your own pure Dharma body for something to grasp.’ The emperor asked another question, but the teacher did not look at him. The emperor said, ‘I am the Son of Heaven of Great Tang. Why do you not even look at me?’ The teacher said, ‘Do you see empty space?’ The emperor said, ‘I do.’ The teacher said, ‘Does it blink at Your Majesty?’ The palace attendant Yu asked, ‘When you lived on White Cliff Mountain, how did you cultivate the Way throughout the twelve periods of the day?’ The teacher called a young attendant, stroked his head, and said, ‘When you are alert, simply say you are alert; when you are clear, simply say you are clear. Do not let others deceive you in the future.’ The teacher debated with the court official Zilin. He took the seat, and the official said, ‘Please state your thesis, and I will refute it.’ The teacher said, ‘I have finished stating it.’ The official asked, ‘What thesis was it?’ The teacher said, ‘Indeed, you did not see it; it is beyond your understanding.’ Then he descended. Another day the teacher asked Zilin, ‘What does “Buddha” mean?’ He said, ‘It means awakening.’ The teacher asked, ‘Was Buddha ever deluded?’ The official said, ‘Never.’ The teacher asked, ‘Then what use is awakening?’ The official had no answer. The official asked, ‘What is the real mark?’ The teacher said, ‘Bring me what is empty.’ The official said, ‘The empty cannot be obtained.’ The teacher said, ‘If even the empty cannot be obtained, why ask about the real mark?’ A monk asked, ‘What is the essential meaning of Buddhadharma?’ The teacher said, ‘In Manjushri Hall are ten thousand Bodhisattvas.’ The monk said, ‘I do not understand.’ The teacher said, ‘Great Compassion has a thousand hands and eyes.’ As the teacher’s work of teaching others was nearing its end and the time for nirvana had come…’
乃辭代宗。代宗曰。師滅度後。弟子將何所記。師曰。告檀越造取一所無縫塔。帝曰。就師請取塔樣。師良久。曰。會麼。帝曰。不會。師曰。貧道去後。有侍者應真卻知此事。乞詔問之。大曆十年十二月十九日。右脇長往。塔於黨子谷。諡大證禪師。代宗後詔應真問前語。真良久。曰。聖上會麼。帝曰。不會。真述偈曰。湘之南。潭之北。中有黃金充一國。無影樹下合同船。瑠璃殿上無知識。
…he took leave of Emperor Daizong. The emperor said, ‘After you enter nirvana, what should I remember?’ The teacher said, ‘Tell the benefactor to build a seamless stupa.’ The emperor said, ‘Please give me a design for the stupa.’ The teacher was silent for a long time, then asked, ‘Do you understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ The teacher said, ‘After I am gone, my attendant Yingzhen will know. Issue an edict and ask him.’ On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month in the tenth year of Dali, he passed away lying on his right side. His stupa is in Dangzi Valley, and he was posthumously titled Chan Master Dazheng. Later, Daizong issued an edict asking Yingzhen about the earlier words. Yingzhen was silent for a long time, then asked, ‘Does Your Majesty understand?’ The emperor said, ‘I do not.’ Yingzhen recited this verse: ‘South of the Xiang, north of the Tan, within lies enough gold to fill a whole country. Beneath the shadowless tree we board the same boat; in the crystal palace there is no one who knows.’
西京荷澤神會禪師者
Chan Master Shenhui of Heze, Western Capital,
襄陽人也。姓高氏。年十四為沙彌。謁六祖。祖曰。知識遠來大艱辛。將本來否。若有本則合識主。試說看。師曰。以無住為本。見即是主。祖曰。這沙彌爭合取次語。便打。師於杖下思惟。曰。大善知識。歷劫難逢。今既得遇。豈惜身命。自此給侍。他日。祖告眾曰。吾有一物。無頭無尾。無名無字。無背無面。諸人還識否。師乃出曰。是諸法之本源。乃神會之佛性。祖曰。向汝道無名無字。汝便喚作本源佛性。師禮拜而退。祖曰。此子向後。設有把茆葢頭。也只成得箇知解宗徒(法眼雲。古人授記人終不錯。如今立知解為宗。即荷澤也)。師尋往西京受戒。唐景龍年中。卻歸曹谿。閱大藏經於內。六處有疑。問於六祖。第一問戒定慧曰。所用戒何物。定從何處修。慧因何處起。所見不通流。祖曰。定即定其心。將戒戒其行。性中常慧照。自見自知深。第二問。本無今有有何物。本有今無無何物。誦經不見有無義。真似騎驢更覔驢。祖曰。前念惡業本無。後念善生今有。念念常行善行。後代人天不久。汝今正聽吾言。吾即本無今有。第三問。將生滅卻滅。將滅滅卻生。不了生滅義。所見似聾盲。祖曰。將生滅卻滅。令人不執性。將滅滅卻生。令人心離境。未即離二邊。自除生滅病。第四問。先頓而後漸。先漸而後頓。不悟頓漸人。心裡常迷悶。祖曰。聽法頓中漸。悟法漸中頓。修行頓中漸。證果漸中頓。頓漸是常因。悟中不迷悶。第五問。先定後慧。先慧後定。定慧後初。何生為正。祖曰。常生清淨心。定中而有慧。於境上無心。慧中而有定。定慧等無先。雙修自心正。第六問。先佛而後法。先法而後佛。佛法本根源。起從何處出。祖曰。說即先佛而後法。聽即先法而後佛。若論佛法本根源。一切眾生心裡出。祖滅後二十年間。曹谿頓旨沈廢於荊吳嵩嶽。漸門盛行於秦洛。師入京。
He was from Xiangyang and belonged to the Gao clan. At fourteen he became a novice and paid a visit to the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch said, ‘You have traveled a long way, good friend. Did you bring the original with you? If you have the original, you must know its master. Tell me.’ The master said, ‘Non-abiding is the basis; seeing is the master.’ The Patriarch said, ‘How can this novice speak so carelessly?’ and struck him. Under the blows, the master reflected: ‘A great spiritual friend is hard to encounter even in kalpas. Now that I have met one, how could I begrudge my life?’ From then on, he served the Patriarch. Another day the Patriarch told the assembly, ‘I have one thing: it has no head or tail, no name or word, no back or face. Do you recognize it?’ The master stepped forward and said, ‘It is the source of all phenomena, and it is Shenhui’s Buddha-nature.’ The Patriarch said, ‘I told you it has no name or word, yet you call it the source and Buddha-nature.’ The master bowed and withdrew. The Patriarch said, ‘In the future, even if this fellow puts up a thatched hut, he will only become a doctrinal scholar who takes understanding as the school.’ (Fayan said, ‘The ancients’ predictions about people never went wrong. To establish intellectual understanding as one’s school—that is Heze.’) The master later went to the Western Capital to receive the precepts. In the Jinglong era of Tang, he returned to Caoxi. While reading the entire Buddhist canon, he found six points of doubt and asked the Sixth Patriarch. First he asked about precepts, concentration, and wisdom: ‘What do precepts use? From where should concentration be cultivated? From where does wisdom arise? What I see does not flow through.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Concentration settles the mind; precepts discipline one’s conduct. In one’s nature, wisdom is always shining; one sees and knows deeply for oneself.’ Second he asked: ‘What was originally nonexistent but now exists? What originally existed but now does not? Reciting sutras without seeing the meaning of being and nonbeing is like riding a donkey while searching for the donkey.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Formerly there was no evil karma in your thoughts; now goodness has arisen. Constantly practice wholesome deeds in every thought, and in the future you will not be far from the human and heavenly realms. You are listening to my words now; I am what was originally nonexistent but now exists.’ Third he asked: ‘Use arising to extinguish ceasing; use ceasing to extinguish arising. If one does not understand arising and ceasing, one seems deaf and blind.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Using arising to extinguish ceasing keeps people from clinging to their nature. Using ceasing to extinguish arising lets the mind leave its objects. Until one leaves both extremes, the sickness of arising and ceasing will not be cured.’ Fourth he asked: ‘First sudden, then gradual; first gradual, then sudden. Those who do not understand sudden and gradual are constantly confused.’ The Patriarch said, ‘Hearing the Dharma is gradual within the sudden; awakening to the Dharma is sudden within the gradual. Practice is gradual within the sudden; realization is sudden within the gradual. Sudden and gradual are constant causes; in awakening there is no confusion.’ Fifth he asked: ‘Concentration first, then wisdom; wisdom first, then concentration. After concentration and wisdom, or before them, which is right?’ The Patriarch said, ‘Always give rise to a pure mind; within concentration there is wisdom. Be without mind toward objects; within wisdom there is concentration. Concentration and wisdom are equal, neither comes first; cultivating both corrects the mind.’ Sixth he asked: ‘Buddha first, then Dharma; Dharma first, then Buddha. What is the root source of Buddha and Dharma, and where do they arise?’ The Patriarch said, ‘In speaking, Buddha comes first and Dharma follows; in listening, Dharma comes first and Buddha follows. As for the root source of Buddha and Dharma, they arise in the minds of all sentient beings.’ For twenty years after the Patriarch’s passing, the sudden teaching of Caoxi declined in Jing, Wu, and at Mount Song, while the gradual school flourished in Qin and Luo. The master went to the capital.
天寶四年方定兩宗(南能頓宗。北秀漸教)。乃著顯宗記。盛行於世。一日鄉信至。報二親亡。師入堂白槌曰。父母俱喪。請大眾念摩訶般若。眾才集。師便打槌曰。勞煩大眾。師於上元元年奄然而化。塔於龍門。
In the fourth year of Tianbao, the two schools were finally distinguished (the Southern School of Huineng’s sudden teaching and the Northern School of Shenxiu’s gradual teaching). The master then wrote the Record of Revealing the School, which became widely circulated. One day, a letter from his hometown arrived, reporting that both his parents had died. The master entered the hall, struck the wooden sounding block, and said, ‘Both my parents have died. I ask the assembly to recite the Great Prajnaparamita.’ As soon as the assembly gathered, he struck the block again and said, ‘Thank you for your trouble, everyone.’ In the first year of Shangyuan, the master quietly passed away. His stupa is at Longmen.
六祖下二世(旁出)
The Second Generation under the Sixth Patriarch (Collateral Lineage)
南陽忠國師法嗣
Dharma Heirs of the National Teacher Zhong of Nanyang
吉州耽源山應真禪師
Chan Master Yingzhen of Mount Dangyuan, Jizhou
為國師侍者時。一日國師在法堂中。師入來。國師乃放下一足。師見便出。良久卻回。國師曰。適來意作麼生。師曰。向阿誰說即得。國師曰。我問你。師曰。甚麼處見某甲。師又問。百年後有人問。極則事如何。國師曰。幸自可憐生。須要覔箇護身符子作麼。異日。師擕籃子歸方丈。國師問。籃裡甚麼物。師曰。青梅。國師曰。將來何用。師曰。供養。國師曰。青在爭堪供養。師曰。以此表獻。國師曰。佛不受供養。師曰。某甲只恁麼。和尚如何。國師曰。我不供養。師曰。為甚麼不供養。國師曰。我無果子。百丈海和尚在泐潭山牽車次。師曰。車在這裡。牛在甚麼處。丈斫額。師乃拭目。麻谷問。十二面觀音豈不是聖。師曰。是。麻谷與師一摑。師曰。想汝未到此境。國師諱日設齋。有僧問曰。國師還來否。師曰。未具他心。曰。又用設齋作麼。師曰。不斷世諦。
When he served as the National Teacher’s attendant, one day the National Teacher was in the Dharma Hall. The master entered, and the National Teacher lowered one leg. The master saw this and left. After a long while he returned. The National Teacher asked, ‘What did you mean just now?’ The master said, ‘Who could I have said it to?’ The National Teacher said, ‘I am asking you.’ The master said, ‘Where do you see me?’ Another day the National Teacher asked, ‘After a hundred years, if someone asks about the ultimate matter, what should I say?’ The master said, ‘You are already so pitiable as you are. Why must you seek a talisman to protect yourself?’ On another day the master carried a basket back to the abbot’s quarters. The National Teacher asked, ‘What is in the basket?’ The master said, ‘Green plums.’ The National Teacher asked, ‘What use are they?’ The master said, ‘For an offering.’ The National Teacher said, ‘How can something green be fit for an offering?’ The master said, ‘I offer them as a token.’ The National Teacher said, ‘Buddha does not accept offerings.’ The master said, ‘That is how I am. What about you, Master?’ The National Teacher said, ‘I do not make offerings.’ The master asked, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘I have no fruit.’ When Master Hai of Baizhang was pulling a cart at Mount Leitan, the master asked, ‘The cart is here; where is the ox?’ Baizhang raised his hand to his forehead. The master wiped his eyes. Magu asked, ‘Isn’t the eleven-faced Guanyin a sage?’ The master said, ‘Yes.’ Magu slapped him. The master said, ‘I thought you had not reached this state.’ On the National Teacher’s memorial day, a monk asked, ‘Will the National Teacher return?’ The master said, ‘I do not possess the ability to know his thoughts.’ The monk asked, ‘Then why hold a memorial offering?’ The master said, ‘I do not abandon conventional truth.’
荷澤會禪師法嗣
Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Hui of Heze
沂水蒙山光寶禪師
Chan Master Guangbao of Mount Meng, Yishui
幷州人也．姓周氏。初謁荷澤。澤謂之曰。汝名光寶。名以定體。寶即己有。光非外來。縱汝意用而無少乏。長夜蒙照而無間歇。汝還信否。師曰。信則信矣。未審光之與寶。同邪異邪。澤曰。光即寶。寶即光。何有同異之名乎。師曰。眼耳緣聲色時。為復抗行。為有回互。澤曰。抗互且置。汝指何法為聲色之體乎。師曰。如師所說。即無有聲色可得。澤曰。汝若了聲色體空。亦信眼耳諸根。及與凡與聖。平等如幻。抗行回互。其理昭然。師由是領悟。禮辭而去。初隱沂水蒙山。於唐元和二年圓寂。
He was from Bingzhou and belonged to the Zhou clan. At first he visited Heze. Heze said to him, ‘Your name is Guangbao—“light” and “treasure” define their substance. The treasure is already your own; the light does not come from outside. Though you use your mind freely, nothing is lacking; through the long night, the illumination shines without interruption. Do you believe this?’ The master said, ‘I believe it. But I do not know whether light and treasure are the same or different.’ Heze said, ‘Light is treasure, and treasure is light. What could the words same or different mean?’ The master asked, ‘When the eyes and ears encounter forms and sounds, do they act independently, or do they interact?’ Heze said, ‘Set aside independence and interaction for now. What do you take as the substance of sound and form?’ The master said, ‘As you have said, no sound or form can be obtained.’ Heze said, ‘If you understand that the substance of sound and form is empty, then trust that the eye and ear faculties, along with ordinary and holy, are equal and like illusions. Their independence and interaction are then clear in principle.’ The master understood and took leave. At first he lived in seclusion on Mount Meng in Yishui. He passed away in the second year of Yuanhe under Tang.
六祖下三世四世(旁出)(不列章次)
The Third and Fourth Generations under the Sixth Patriarch (Collateral Lineage; not arranged by chapter),
六祖下五世(旁出)
The Fifth Generation under the Sixth Patriarch (Collateral Lineage)
遂州圓禪師法嗣
Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Suizhou
終南山圭峰宗密禪師者
Chan Master Zongmi of Guifeng, Mount Zhongnan,
果州西充人也。姓何氏。家本豪盛。髫齓通儒書。冠歲探釋典。唐元和二年將赴貢舉。偶造圓和尚法席。欣然契會。遂求披剃。當年進具。一日。隨眾僧齋於府吏任灌家。居下位以次受經。得圓覺十二章。覧未終軸。感悟流涕。歸以所悟之旨告於圓。圓撫之曰。汝當大弘圓頓之教。此諸佛授汝耳。行矣。無自滯於一隅也。師涕泣奉命。禮辭而去。因謁荊南忠禪師(南印)。忠曰。傳教人也。當宣導於帝都。復見洛陽照禪師(奉國神照)。照曰。菩薩人也。誰能識之。尋抵襄漢。因病。僧付華嚴疏。即上都澄觀大師之所撰也。師未甞聽習。一覧而講。自欣所遇。曰。曏者諸師述作。罕窮厥旨。未若此疏。辭源流暢。幽賾煥然。吾禪遇南宗。教逢圓覺。一言之下。心地開通。一軸之中。義天朗耀。今復偶茲絕筆。罄竭於懷。暨講終。思見疏主。時屬門人泰恭斷臂醻恩。師先齎書上疏主。遙敘師資。往復慶慰。尋泰恭痊損。方隨侍至上都。執弟子之禮。觀曰。毗盧華藏。能隨我遊者。其汝乎。師預觀之室。惟日新其德。而認筌執象之患永亡矣。北遊清涼山。回住鄠縣草堂寺。未幾。復入終南圭峰蘭若。大和中徵入內。賜紫衣。帝累問法要。朝士歸慕。唯相國裴公休。深入堂奧。受教為外護。師以禪教學者互相非毀。遂著禪源諸詮。寫錄諸家所述。詮表禪門根源道理。文字句偈。集為一藏(或雲一百卷)。以貽後代。其都序略雲。禪是天竺之語。具雲禪那。此雲思惟修。亦云靜慮。皆定慧之通稱也。源者。是一切眾生本覺真性。亦名佛性。亦名心地。悟之名慧。修之名定。定慧通名為禪。此性是禪之本源。故云禪源。亦名禪那。理行者。此之本源是禪理。忘情契之是禪行。故云理行。然今所集諸家述作。多譚禪理。少說禪行。故且以禪源題之。今時有人但目真性為禪者。是不達理行之旨。又不辨華竺之音也。
He was from Xichong in Guozhou and belonged to the He clan, whose family had long been wealthy. As a child he mastered the Confucian classics; after reaching adulthood he studied Buddhist scriptures. In the second year of Yuanhe, he was about to sit for the examination when he happened to visit the teaching seat of Chan Master Yuan. He joyfully understood the teaching and immediately asked to leave home. That year he received full ordination. One day he joined the monks at a vegetarian feast in the household of the prefectural clerk Ren Guan. Sitting in a low place and receiving the scriptures in order, he obtained the twelve-chapter Yuanjue Sutra. Before finishing the scroll, he was moved to tears by awakening. He returned and told Yuan what he had realized. Yuan stroked him and said, ‘You should greatly propagate the teaching of perfect and sudden awakening. This is what all Buddhas have entrusted to you. Go; do not confine yourself in one corner.’ Weeping, the master accepted the command, bowed, and departed. He then visited Chan Master Zhong of Jingnan, Nanyin, who said, ‘One who transmits the teaching should proclaim it in the imperial capital.’ He also met Chan Master Zhao of Luoyang, the Imperial Protector Shenzhao, who said, ‘He is a person of the Bodhisattva path; who can recognize him?’ He later reached Xianghan and fell ill. A monk gave him the Huayan Commentary written by Master Chengguan of the Upper Capital. Though he had never studied it, he read it once and lectured on it. Delighted, he said, ‘The writings of former masters rarely exhaust the meaning. This commentary is different: its language flows and its hidden depths shine. In Chan I encountered the Southern School; in teaching I encountered the Yuanjue. With one phrase, the mind-ground opened; within one scroll, the sky of meaning became clear. Now I have happened upon this final work, and it has emptied my heart.’ When he finished lecturing, he wished to meet the author. At that time Chengguan’s disciple Taigong had cut off his arm in repayment of his teacher’s kindness. The master first sent a letter and the commentary to Chengguan, describing their teacher-disciple connection from afar and exchanging congratulations. After Taigong recovered, the master accompanied him to the Upper Capital and performed the rites of a disciple. Chengguan said, ‘In Vairocana’s Flower Treasury, you are probably the one who can travel with me.’ The master entered Chengguan’s room and daily increased his virtue; he also permanently escaped the danger of grasping at words and images. He traveled north to Clear Cool Mountain, then returned to Caotang Monastery in Hu County. Soon he entered the Guifeng hermitage on Mount Zhongnan. During the Taihe era he was summoned into the palace and given purple robes. The emperor repeatedly asked about the essentials of Dharma, and many court officials came to admire him. Only Chancellor Pei Xiu entered deeply into the teaching and became his lay protector. Because Chan and the doctrinal schools condemned one another, the master wrote the Chan Source: Collected Explanations, recording the teachings of the various schools and clarifying the source and principles of Chan, as well as its words, phrases, and verses, gathering them into one canon (some say one hundred fascicles) for later generations. Its general preface says: ‘Chan is a word from India, short for dhyana. In this land it is called cultivating through contemplation and also tranquil reflection; both are general names for concentration and wisdom. The source is the originally awakened true nature of all sentient beings, also called Buddha-nature and the mind-ground. Awakening to it is wisdom; cultivating it is concentration. Concentration and wisdom together are called Chan. Since this nature is Chan’s source, it is called the Chan Source. The root is also called dhyana. In principle and practice, this source is Chan principle, while forgetting emotion and accord with it is Chan practice. Today’s collected writings mostly discuss Chan principle and say little about Chan practice, so the title Chan Source is used for the time being. People now who regard only true nature as Chan have not understood the meaning of principle and practice, nor distinguished the pronunciations of China and India.’
然非離真性。別有禪體。但眾生迷真合塵。即名散亂。背塵合真。方名禪定。若直論本性。即非真非妄。無背無合。無定無亂。誰言禪乎。況此真性。非唯是禪門之源。亦是萬法之源。故名法性。亦是眾生迷悟之源。故名如來藏藏識(出楞伽經)。亦是諸佛萬德之源。故名佛性(涅槃等經)。亦是菩薩萬行之源。故名心地(梵網經云。是諸佛之本源。行菩薩道之根本。是大眾諸佛子之根本也)。萬行不出六波羅蜜。禪者。但是六中之一。當其第五。豈可都目真性為一禪行哉。然禪定一行最為神妙。能發起性上無漏智慧。一切妙用。萬行萬德。乃至神通光明。皆從定發。故三乘人慾求聖道。必須修禪。離此無門。離此無路。至於念佛求生淨土。亦修十六觀禪。及念佛三昧．般舟三昧等也。又真性即不垢不淨。凡聖無差。禪門則有淺有深。階級殊等。謂帶異計．欣上厭下而修者。是外道禪。正信因果。亦以欣厭而修者。是凡夫禪。悟我空偏真之理而修者。是小乘禪。悟我法二空所顯真理而修者。是大乘禪(上四類。皆有四色四空之異也)。若頓悟自心本來清淨。元無煩惱。無漏智性本自具足。此心即佛。畢竟無異。依此而修者。是最上乘禪。亦名如來清淨禪。亦名一行三昧。亦名真如三昧。此是一切三昧根本。若能念念修習。自然漸得百千三昧。達磨門下展轉相傳者。是此禪也。達磨未到。古來諸家所解。皆是前四禪八定。諸高僧修之。皆得功用。南嶽天台令依三諦之理修三止三觀。教義雖最圓妙。然其趣入門戶次第。亦只是前之諸禪行相。唯達磨所傳者。頓同佛體。迥異諸門。故宗習者難得其旨。得即成聖。疾證菩提。失即成邪。速入塗炭。先祖革昧防失。故且人傳一人。後代已有所憑。故任千燈千照。洎乎法久成弊。錯謬者多。故經論學人疑謗亦眾。原夫佛說頓教漸教。禪開頓門漸門。二教二門。
Yet Chan is not a separate substance apart from true nature. When sentient beings lose touch with the true and unite with dust, this is called scattered disorder; when they turn away from dust and unite with the true, this is called meditative concentration. Speaking directly of the original nature, it is neither true nor false, neither turned away nor united, neither concentrated nor disturbed—who could call it Chan? Moreover, this true nature is not only the source of the Chan gate; it is the source of all phenomena and is therefore called Dharma-nature. It is the source of delusion and awakening in sentient beings and is called the Tathagata-garbha and store consciousness. It is the source of all virtues of the Buddhas and is called Buddha-nature; it is the source of all Bodhisattva practices and is called the mind-ground. The myriad practices do not go beyond the six paramitas; Chan is only one of the six, the fifth. How could one make true nature itself into a single Chan practice? Yet meditation is the most wondrous of the practices, because it gives rise to the undefiled wisdom inherent in one’s nature. All wondrous functions, all practices and virtues, even supernatural powers and radiance, arise from concentration. Therefore those of the Three Vehicles who seek the holy path must cultivate Chan; apart from it there is no gate or road. Even those who recite the Buddha’s name to seek birth in the Pure Land cultivate the sixteen contemplations, Buddha-recitation samadhi, Pratyutpanna samadhi, and so forth. True nature itself is neither defiled nor pure, and ordinary and holy are not different. In the Chan gate, however, there are shallow and deep levels. Chan practiced with heterodox views, delighting in higher states and rejecting lower ones, is outsider Chan. Chan practiced with right faith in cause and effect but still through attraction and aversion is ordinary-person Chan. Chan practiced by awakening to the one-sided truth of emptiness of self is Small Vehicle Chan. Chan practiced by awakening to the truth revealed by emptiness of both self and phenomena is Great Vehicle Chan. (The four kinds above have their own distinctions of the four forms and four formless concentrations.) When one suddenly awakens to the original purity of one’s own mind, originally free of affliction, with undefiled wisdom already complete, and realizes that this mind is Buddha and ultimately no different from Buddha, the Chan cultivated on that basis is the highest-vehicle Chan. It is also called the Tathagata’s pure Chan, the one-practice samadhi, and the suchness samadhi. It is the root of all samadhis; if practiced thought after thought, one naturally and gradually attains hundreds and thousands of samadhis. What was transmitted through the successive generations of Bodhidharma’s gate is this Chan. Before Bodhidharma arrived, the interpretations of the ancient schools were all the four Chan levels and eight concentrations. Eminent monks who cultivated them obtained their powers. Nanyue and Tiantai taught cultivation of the three stoppings and three contemplations according to the principle of the three truths. Their doctrine was extremely complete and wondrous, but their gateways and stages of entry still followed the characteristics of the earlier Chan practices. What Bodhidharma transmitted suddenly accords with the Buddha’s body and is far different from the other gates. That is why those who study the lineage rarely grasp its purport. If they grasp it, they become sages and swiftly realize awakening; if they lose it, they become heretics and quickly enter misery. The ancient patriarchs feared that ignorance would lead to its loss, so for a time it was transmitted from one person to one person. Later generations had reliable support, so they allowed a thousand lamps to illuminate a thousand places. When the Dharma had lasted long enough to become corrupt, errors multiplied, and scholars of scriptures and treatises produced many doubts and slanders. The Buddha taught sudden and gradual teachings, and Chan has sudden and gradual gates. The two teachings and two gates accord with each other.
各相符契。今講者偏彰漸義。禪者偏播頓宗。禪講相逢。胡越之隔。宗密不知。宿生何作。燻得此心。自未解脫。欲解他縛。為法亡於軀命。愍人切於神情(亦如淨名經云。若自有縛。能解他縛。無有是處。然欲罷不能。驗是宿習難改故)。每歎人與法差。法為人病。故別撰經律論疏。大開戒定慧門。顯頓悟資於漸修。證師說符於佛意。意既本末而委示。文乃浩博而難尋。汎學雖多。秉志者少。況跡涉名相。誰辨金鍮。徒自疲勞。未見機感。雖佛說悲增是行。而自慮愛見難防。遂捨眾入山。習定均慧。前後息慮。相繼十年。微細習情。起滅彰於靜慮。差別法義。羅列現於空心。虗隙日光。纖埃擾擾。清潭水底。影像昭昭。豈比夫空守默之痴禪。但尋文之狂慧者也。然本因了自心而辨諸教。故懇情於心宗。又因辨諸教而解修心。故虔誠於教義。教也者。諸佛菩薩所留經論也。禪也者。諸善知識所述句偈也。但佛經開張。羅大千八部之眾。禪偈撮略。就此方一類之機。羅眾則莾蕩難依。就機則指的易用。今之纂集。意在斯焉。裴休為之序曰。諸宗門下。皆有達人。然各安所習。通少局多。故數十年來。師法益壞。以承稟為戶牖。各自開張。以經論為干戈。互相攻擊。情隨函矢而遷變(周禮曰。函人為甲。孟子曰。矢人豈不仁於函人哉。函人唯恐傷人。矢人唯恐不傷人。葢所習之術使然也。今學者但隨宗徒。彼此相非耳)。法逐人我以高低。是非紛拏。莫能辨析。則曏者世尊菩薩諸方教宗。適足以起諍後人。增煩惱病。何利益之有。我圭峰大師久而歎曰。吾丁此時。不可以默矣。於是以如來三種教義。印禪宗三種法門。鎔缾盤釵釧為一金。攪酥酪醍醐為一味。振綱領而舉者皆順(荀子云。如振裘領。屈五指而頓之。順者不可勝數)。據會要而來者同趣(周易略例雲。據會要以觀方來。則六合輻湊。未足多也。
Today, lectures emphasize the gradual meaning while Chan broadcasts chiefly the sudden school, so when Chan and doctrine meet they are separated like the Hu and Yue peoples. I, Zongmi, do not know what I did in previous lives to cultivate this mind. I am not yet liberated, yet wish to free others from their bonds; I would give my life for the Dharma and pity people with all my heart. (As the Vimalakirti Sutra says, if one is bound oneself, one cannot free another. Yet one cannot stop, which proves that former habits are difficult to change.) Again and again I lament that people and Dharma have diverged, and that Dharma has become an illness in people. Therefore I separately composed commentaries on the sutras, vinaya, and treatises, opening the gates of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, showing that sudden awakening depends on gradual cultivation and that the teachings of the masters accord with the Buddha’s intent. The meaning is displayed from beginning to end, but the writings are vast and difficult to search. Many study broadly, few hold a firm resolve. Since the traces involve names and marks, who can distinguish gold from brass? People merely exhaust themselves and never encounter the responsive point. Although the Buddha taught that compassion should increase through practice, I feared that love and views would be hard to guard against, so I left the community and entered the mountains, practicing concentration and equalizing wisdom. I stopped my thoughts again and again for ten years. Subtle habitual emotions rose and ceased clearly in quiet contemplation; differentiated meanings of Dharma appeared in ordered ranks within the empty mind. Sunlight through a crack revealed every mote; the bottom of a clear pond showed every reflection. This was not the foolish Chan that merely guards silence, nor the mad wisdom that only searches texts. Because I first understood my own mind and then discerned the teachings, I became earnest about the mind school. Because I discerned the teachings and then understood cultivation of mind, I became reverent toward doctrine. Doctrine consists of the scriptures and treatises left by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Chan consists of the phrases and verses spoken by good spiritual friends. The Buddhist scriptures spread across the multitude of beings in the eight classes, while Chan verses summarize what suits one type of person here. Spreading among multitudes is broad and difficult to follow; addressing a particular capacity gives direct practical guidance. This compilation aims at that. Pei Xiu wrote its preface: ‘Among all the schools there are accomplished people, but each rests in its own practice; those who understand broadly are few, and those who are partial are many. For decades, the teachers’ Dharma has declined. Each school treats its inherited transmission as a doorway and expands on its own; it takes sutras and treatises as weapons and attacks the others. Feelings shift with the case and the arrow: the maker of armor fears injuring people, while the maker of arrows fears failing to injure them—their crafts make them so. Today students merely follow their sectarian disciples and oppose one another. Dharma follows the distinction between self and other and is ranked high or low. Disputes are tangled and impossible to analyze. The teachings of the World-Honored One, the Bodhisattvas, and the various regions then merely stir later quarrels and increase the sickness of affliction. What benefit is there? Our Master of Guifeng sighed for a long time: “Born in this age, I cannot remain silent.”’
都序據圓教以印諸宗。雖百家亦無所不統也)。尚恐學者之難明也。又復直示宗源之本末。真妄之和合。空性之隱顯。法義之差殊。頓漸之異同。遮表之回互。權實之深淺。通局之是非。若吾師者。捧佛日而委曲回照。疑曀盡除。順佛心而橫亙大悲。窮劫蒙益。則世尊為闡教之主。吾師為會教之人。本末相符。遠近相照。可謂畢一代時教之能事矣。或曰。自如來未甞大都而通之。今一旦違宗趣而不守。廢關防而不據。無乃乖秘藏密契之道乎。答曰。如來初雖別說三乘。後乃通為一道。(三十年前。或說小乘。或說空教。或說相教。或說性教。聞者各隨機證悟。不相通知也。四十年後。坐靈鷲而會三乘。詣拘屍而顯一性。前後之軌則也)。故涅槃經迦葉菩薩曰。諸佛有密語。無密藏。世尊讚之曰。如來之言開發顯露。清淨無翳。愚人不解。謂之秘藏。智者了達。則不名藏。此其證也。故王道興則外戶不閉。而守在戎夷。佛道備則諸法總持。而防在魔外(涅槃圓教和會諸法。唯揀別魔說及外道邪宗)。不當復執情攘臂於其間也(師又著圓覺大小二疏鈔。法界觀門．原人等論。皆裴休為之序引。盛行於世)。蕭俛相公呈己見解。請禪師注釋。荷澤雲。見清淨體於諸三昧。八萬四千諸波羅蜜門。皆於見上一時起用。名為慧眼。若當真知相應之時萬化寂滅(善惡不思。空有不念。萬法俱從思想緣念而生。皆是虗空。故云化也。既一念不生。則萬法不起。故不待泯之。自然寂滅也)。此時更無所見(照體獨立。夢智亡階)。三昧諸波羅蜜門。亦一時空寂。更無所得(散亂與三昧。此岸與彼岸。是相待對治之說。若知心無念。見性無生。則定亂真妄。一時空寂。故無所得也)。不審此是見上一時起用否(然見性圓明。理絕相累。即絕相為妙用。住相為執情。於八萬法門。一一皆爾。一法有為一塵。一法空為一用。故云。
‘Therefore he used the Tathagata’s three kinds of teaching to seal the three Chan gates. He melted bottles, plates, hairpins, and bracelets into one gold; he mixed curds, cream, and clarified butter into one flavor. When the main thread is lifted, everything follows; when the essential point is grasped, all approaches converge. The Preface to the Collected Explanations relies on the Perfect Teaching to seal all the schools; even a hundred schools are all included. Fearing that students would still find it difficult to understand, the master directly revealed the source from beginning to end, the union of true and false, the hidden and manifest aspects of emptiness, differences in Dharma meaning, the identity and difference of sudden and gradual, the mutual relation of concealment and revelation, the depth of provisional and real, and what is universal or limited. If our teacher upholds the sun of the Buddha and turns its light carefully in every direction, the veil of doubt is entirely removed. If he follows the Buddha’s mind and extends great compassion across the world, beings benefit for kalpas. The World-Honored One is the lord who unfolds the teaching; our master is the one who brings the teachings together. Their root and branch accord, and their distant and near aspects illuminate each other; one may say that the work of the whole Buddha-age teaching is complete. Some ask: Has the Tathagata not always kept the great teachings separate? If one now violates their purposes and abandons their boundaries, does this not go against the secret treasury and hidden accord? The answer is: though the Tathagata first taught the Three Vehicles separately, later he opened them into one path. Before thirty years he taught at times the Small Vehicle, emptiness, marks, or nature; listeners awakened according to their capacities without knowing one another. After forty years he sat on Vulture Peak and brought the Three Vehicles together, then went to Kushinagara and revealed one nature. Thus the Nirvana Sutra has Kashyapa say: “The Buddhas have secret words but no secret treasury.” The World-Honored One praised him: “The Tathagata’s words are opened and revealed, pure and without obscurity. Fools who do not understand call them a secret treasury; the wise who understand do not call them a treasury.” This is the proof. When the kingly way flourishes, outer doors need not be closed, yet defense remains against the Rong; when the Buddha-way is complete, all phenomena are held together, yet one guards against demons and outsiders. One should not again raise the arm of attachment and dispute among them. (The master also wrote large and small commentaries on the Yuanjue, the Gate of Contemplating the Dharma Realm, and the Treatise on the Origin of Humanity; Pei Xiu wrote prefaces for them, and they circulated widely.) Chancellor Xiao Mian submitted his own understanding and asked the Chan master to annotate it. Heze said: When the pure substance is seen, all eighty-four thousand paramita gates function at once; this is called the wisdom eye. When true knowledge accords with it, the ten thousand transformations are quiescent: good and evil are not thought, emptiness and existence are not remembered. All phenomena arise from thought and conditions and are therefore empty; when a thought does not arise, no phenomenon arises, so they naturally become quiescent. At that time nothing is seen; the illuminating substance stands alone, and even the ladder of dream-wisdom disappears. The samadhis and paramita gates are also empty and quiescent at once, with nothing attained. Scattered disorder and samadhi, this shore and the other shore, are merely relative means of correction. If one knows that mind has no thought and sees that nature is unborn, concentration and disorder, true and false, are all empty and quiescent at once, so there is nothing to attain. Does this mean that all functions arise at once upon seeing the pure substance?’
見清淨體。則一時起用矣)。望於此後示及俛狀。答史山人十問。一問。如何是道。何以修之。為復必須修成。為復不假功用。答。無礙是道。覺妄是修。道雖本圓。妄起為累。妄念都盡。即是修成。二問。道若因修而成。即是造作。便同世間法。虗偽不實。成而復壞。何名出世。答。造作是結業。名虗偽世間。無作是修行。即真實出世。三問。其所修者。為頓為漸。漸則忘前失後。何以集合而成。頓則萬行多方。豈得一時圓滿。答。真理即悟而頓圓。妄情息之而漸盡。頓圓如初生孩子。一日而肢體已全。漸修如長養成人。多年而志氣方立。四問。凡修心地之法。為當悟心即了。為當別有行門。若別有行門。何名南宗頓旨。若悟即同諸佛。何不發神通光明。答。識冰池而全水。藉陽氣而鎔消。悟凡夫而即真。資法力而修習。冰消則水流潤。方呈溉滌之功。妄盡則心靈通。始發通光之應。修心之外。無別行門。五問。若但修心而得佛者。何故諸經復說必須莊嚴佛土。教化眾生。方名成道。答。鏡明而影像千差。心淨而神通萬應。影像類莊嚴佛國。神通則教化眾生。莊嚴而即非莊嚴。影像而亦色非色。六問。諸經皆說度脫眾生。且眾生即非眾生。何故更勞度脫。答。眾生若是實。度之則為勞。既自雲即非眾生。何不例度而無度。七問。諸經說佛常住。或即說佛滅度。常即不滅。滅即非常。豈不相違。答。離一切相。即名諸佛。何有出世入滅之實乎。見出沒者在乎機緣。機緣應則菩提樹下而出現。機緣盡則娑羅林間而涅槃。其猶淨水無心。無像不現。像非我有。葢外質之去來。相非佛身。豈如來之出沒。八問。云何佛化所生。吾如彼生。佛既無生。生是何義。若言心生法生。心滅法滅。何以得無生法忍邪。答。既雲如化。化即是空。空即無生。何詰生義。生滅滅已。寂滅為真。忍可此法無生。名曰無生法忍。
‘Once the pure substance is seen, all functions arise at once.’ He then answered Scholar Shi’s ten questions. First: What is the Way, and how should it be cultivated? Must it be completed through cultivation, or is no effort needed? Answer: Freedom from obstruction is the Way; awakening to delusion is cultivation. The Way is originally complete, but delusion arising becomes a burden. When deluded thoughts are completely exhausted, cultivation is complete. Second: If the Way is made through cultivation, that is fabrication like worldly dharmas—false, unreal, and subject to decay. How can it be transcendence? Answer: Fabrication binds one to karma and is the false worldly way. Non-fabrication is practice and is truly beyond the world. Third: Is cultivation sudden or gradual? If gradual, how can what is lost before and after gather into completion? If sudden, how can the many practices be perfected all at once? Answer: Truth is suddenly complete at awakening; deluded feelings cease gradually. Sudden completeness is like a newborn child whose limbs are complete in one day; gradual cultivation is like raising an adult, whose character takes many years to establish. Fourth: When cultivating the mind-ground, is awakening itself enough, or is another practice required? If another practice is required, how is this the Southern School’s sudden teaching? If awakening makes one equal to Buddha, why do supernatural powers and radiance not appear? Answer: Recognize that the ice in a pond is all water and rely on the sun’s warmth to melt it. Awaken that an ordinary person is the real, then rely on the power of Dharma to cultivate. When ice melts, water flows and moistens, and only then does the work of irrigation and cleansing appear; when delusion is exhausted, the mind becomes spiritually open and the responses of radiance and powers begin. Outside cultivating the mind there is no separate practice. Fifth: If cultivating only the mind makes one Buddha, why do scriptures say one must adorn Buddha-lands and teach beings to complete the Way? Answer: When a mirror is bright, countless images appear; when the mind is pure, countless spiritual responses arise. The images are like adorning Buddha-lands, and the powers are like teaching beings. Adornment is precisely not adornment, and images are form yet not form. Sixth: Scriptures all speak of liberating beings, yet beings are said not to be beings. Why labor to liberate them? Answer: If beings were real, liberating them would be labor. Since you yourself say they are not beings, why not liberate without a concept of liberation? Seventh: Scriptures say Buddhas abide forever, and also say that Buddhas enter nirvana. Permanent means no extinction; extinction means not permanent. Is this not contradictory? Answer: Being apart from every mark is called Buddha. There is no real coming into the world or entering extinction. What appears or disappears depends on conditions. When conditions respond, Buddha appears beneath the Bodhi tree; when conditions end, he enters nirvana between the sala trees. It is like clear water: without a mind of its own, it shows no image unless one appears. The image is not mine; it is the coming and going of an external object. A mark is not the Buddha’s body—how could it be the Tathagata’s coming and going? Eighth: How does a Buddha’s transformation arise, and how do I arise like that? If Buddha is unborn, what does arising mean? If mind arising makes phenomena arise and mind ceasing makes phenomena cease, how can one attain the patience that realizes the unborn? Answer: Since phenomena are said to be like transformations, a transformation is empty. Emptiness is unborn; why question the meaning of arising? When arising and ceasing have both ceased, quiescent extinction is the truth. Endorse this Dharma as unborn, and it is called the patience that realizes the unborn.’
九問。諸佛成道說法。秖為度脫眾生。眾生既有六道。佛何但住在人中現化。又。佛滅後付法於迦葉。以心傳心。乃至此方六祖。每代秖傳一人。既雲。於一切眾生皆得一子之地。何以傳授不普。答。日月麗天。六合俱照。而盲者不見。盆下不知。非日月不普。是障隔之咎也。度與不度。義類如斯。非局人天。揀於鬼畜。但人道能結集。傳授不絕。故秖知佛現人中也。滅度後委付迦葉。展轉相承。一人者。此亦槩論。當代為宗教主。如土無二王。非得度者唯爾數也。十問。和尚因何發心。慕何法而出家。今如何修行。得何法味。所行得至何處地位。今住心邪。修心邪。若住心妨修心。若修心則動念不安。云何名為學道。若安心一定。則何異定性之徒。伏願大德。運大慈悲。如理如如。次第為說。答。覺四大如壞幻。達六塵如空華。悟自心為佛心。見本性為法性。是發心也。知心無住。即是修行。無住而知。即為法味。住著於法。斯為動念。故如人入闇。則無所見。今無所住。不染不著。故如人有目。及日光明。見種種法。豈為定性之徒。既無所住著。何論處所。又山南溫造尚書問。悟理息妄之人。不結業一期壽終之後。靈性何依。師曰。一切眾生。無不具有覺性。靈明空寂。與佛無殊。但以無始劫來。未曾了悟。妄執身為我相。故生愛惡等情。隨情造業。隨業受報。生老病死。長劫輪回。然身中覺性。未曾生死。如夢被驅役。而身本安閑。如水作冰。而濕性不易。若能悟此性。即是法身。本自無生。何有依託。靈靈不昧。了了常知。無所從來。亦無所去。然多生妄執。習以性成。喜怒哀樂。微細流注。真理雖然頓達。此情難以卒除。須長覺察。損之又損。如風頓止。波浪漸停。豈可一生所修。便同諸佛力用。但可以空寂為自體。勿認色身。以靈知為自心。勿認妄念。妄念若起。都不隨之。即臨命終時。
‘Ninth: The Buddhas attain the Way and teach only to liberate beings. Since beings have the six destinies, why does a Buddha appear and transform only among humans? After the Buddha’s extinction, Dharma was entrusted to Kashyapa and transmitted mind to mind, down to the Sixth Patriarch in this land, one person in each generation. Since all beings are said to attain the stage of one child, why is the transmission not universal? Answer: The sun and moon shine in the sky and illuminate the six directions, yet the blind do not see, and those beneath a basin do not know. The fault is obstruction, not lack of universality. Liberation and non-liberation are of this kind. It is not limited to humans and gods or excluded from animals and ghosts. Only the human realm can compile teachings and preserve transmission without interruption; therefore we know only of the Buddha’s appearance among humans. After extinction, entrusting the Dharma to Kashyapa and transmitting it successively to one person is a general account of the teacher of a school and teaching in each age, like there being no two kings in one land. It does not mean that only those few can be liberated. Tenth: Why did the master give rise to the aspiration, what Dharma did he seek when leaving home, how does he practice now, what taste of Dharma has he gained, and what stage has he reached? If he settles the mind, is that cultivating it? If settling obstructs cultivation, and cultivating moves the mind so that it is not at rest, how can this be called studying the Way? If the mind is fixed in peace, how is this different from one of fixed nature? I beg you, great master, with great compassion, explain step by step according to suchness. Answer: Seeing the four elements as decaying illusions, understanding the six sense-objects as empty flowers, realizing one’s own mind as Buddha-mind, and seeing one’s original nature as Dharma-nature—this is giving rise to the aspiration. Knowing that mind does not abide is practice; knowing without abiding is the taste of Dharma. Abiding in a Dharma is stirring thought. It is like entering darkness and seeing nothing. Now, because there is no abiding, no defilement or attachment, it is like having eyes in sunlight and seeing the many phenomena. How could this be a person of fixed nature? Since there is no place of abiding, what place could be discussed? Minister Wen Zao of Shannan also asked: When one who has awakened to principle and ceased delusion creates no karma, where does the spiritual nature rely after this lifetime ends? The master said: All sentient beings possess awakening-nature, clear and empty, no different from Buddha. But from beginningless kalpas they have not awakened and falsely grasped the body as self, giving rise to love and hatred, creating karma according to feeling, receiving results according to karma, and undergoing birth, aging, illness, and death through long cycles. The awakening-nature within the body has never been born or died. It is like a dream in which one is driven about while the body itself rests at ease, or water becoming ice while its wetness does not change. If one awakens to this nature, it is the Dharma body, originally unborn; what could it depend upon? It is vivid and never obscured, clearly knowing always, coming from nowhere and going nowhere. Yet deluded grasping over many lives has become habitual nature, with subtle streams of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight. Truth may be suddenly understood, but these feelings are not quickly removed; one must remain constantly aware and reduce them again and again, like wind suddenly stopping while waves gradually settle. How could one lifetime of practice have the powers of all Buddhas? Take empty quiescence as one’s substance, and do not mistake the physical body for it. Take numinous knowing as one’s mind, and do not mistake deluded thoughts for it. When deluded thoughts arise, do not follow them. Then, at the time of death…’
自然業不能繫。雖有中陰。所向自由。天上人間。隨意寄託。若愛惡之念已泯。即不受分段之身。自能易短為長。易麤為妙。若微細流注。一切寂滅。唯圓覺大智朗然獨存。即隨機應現千百億化身。度有緣眾生。名之為佛。謹對。釋曰。馬鳴菩薩撮略百本大乘經宗旨。以造大乘起信論。論中立宗。說一切眾生心。有覺義不覺義。覺中復有本覺義．始覺義。上所述者。雖但約照理觀心處言之。而法義亦同。彼論謂從初至與佛無殊。是本覺也。從但以無始下。是不覺也。從若能悟此下。是始覺也。始覺中復有頓悟漸修。從若能至亦無所去。是頓悟也。從然多生妄執下。是漸修也。漸修中從初發心乃至成佛。有三位自在。從初至隨意寄託者。是受生自在也。從若愛惡之念下。是變易自在也。從若微細流注下至末。是究竟自在也。又從但可以空寂為自體至自然業不能繫。正是悟理之人朝暮行心修習止觀之要節也。宗密先有八句之偈。顯示此意。曾於尚書處誦之。奉命解釋。偈曰。作有義事。是惺悟心。作無義事。是狂亂心。狂亂隨情念。臨終被業牽。惺悟不由情。臨終能轉業。師會昌元年正月六日。於興福院誡門人。令舁屍施鳥獸。焚其骨而散之。勿得悲慕以亂禪觀。每清明上山講道七日。其餘住持儀則當合律科。違者非吾弟子。言訖坐滅。道俗等奉全身於圭峰。茶毗得舍利。明白潤大。後門人泣而求之。皆得於煨燼。乃藏之石室。暨宣宗再闢真教。追諡定慧禪師。塔曰青蓮。
‘…karma will naturally be unable to bind you. Even if there is an intermediate state, you will go freely wherever you wish, taking birth among gods or humans as you choose. When love and hatred have been extinguished, you no longer receive a body subject to fixed divisions; you can change the short into the long and the coarse into the wondrous. When the subtle stream of consciousness is entirely quiescent and only perfect awakening-wisdom remains bright, you manifest hundreds and thousands of transformation bodies according to circumstances and liberate beings with whom you have affinities; this is called a Buddha.’ Respectfully answered. The explanation says: Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha gathered the essential meaning of a hundred Mahayana sutras and composed the Awakening of Faith. Its doctrine establishes that the mind of every sentient being has the meaning of awakening and the meaning of non-awakening. Within awakening there are original awakening and initial awakening. The passage above speaks only in terms of illuminating principle and contemplating mind, but its Dharma meaning is the same. From the beginning through ‘no different from Buddha’ is original awakening. From ‘but from beginningless kalpas’ is non-awakening. From ‘if one can awaken to this’ is initial awakening. Initial awakening includes sudden awakening and gradual cultivation. From ‘if one can’ through ‘going nowhere’ is sudden awakening. From ‘yet deluded grasping over many lives’ onward is gradual cultivation. In gradual cultivation, from first giving rise to the aspiration until Buddhahood there are three kinds of freedom. From the beginning through ‘taking birth wherever one wishes’ is freedom in taking birth. From ‘when love and hatred’ onward is freedom in transformation. From ‘when the subtle stream’ to the end is ultimate freedom. The passage from ‘take empty quiescence as one’s substance’ through ‘karma cannot bind you’ is precisely the essential daily practice of stopping and contemplation for one who has awakened to principle. Zongmi had previously composed an eight-line verse expressing this and recited it for the minister; he was now ordered to explain it. The verse says: ‘Doing meaningful deeds is the awakened mind; doing meaningless deeds is the frantic mind. The frantic mind follows feelings and is dragged by karma at death. The awakened mind does not follow feelings and can transform karma at death.’ In the first month of the first year of Huichang, on the sixth day, the master admonished his disciples at Xingfu Monastery: after his death they were to carry his body out for birds and beasts, burn the bones, and scatter them, and must not grieve or admire him in a way that disturbed meditation. Every Qingming he would go up the mountain and teach for seven days. All other rules for holding the monastery should accord with the Vinaya; anyone who violated them was not his disciple. Having finished speaking, he passed away seated. Monastics and laypeople preserved his whole body at Guifeng. After cremation they found bright, lustrous relics. Later disciples wept and asked for them, and all obtained relics among the ashes, which they placed in a stone chamber. When Emperor Xuanzong again opened the true teaching, he posthumously bestowed the title Chan Master Dinghui. His stupa was called Blue Lotus.
西天東土應化聖賢
Holy sages who manifested in India and China