Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Ten

開堂日。僧問。世尊出世。梵王前引。帝釋後隨。和尚出世。有何祥瑞。師曰。任是百千諸佛。一時趕向水牯欄裡。曰。有何祥瑞。師曰。山僧不曾眼花。

On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked: 'When the World-Honored One appeared in the world, Brahma king led the way and Indra followed behind. When the Master appears in the world, what auspicious sign is there?' The master said: 'Even a hundred thousand buddhas would all be driven into the water-buffalo pen at once.' The monk said: 'What auspicious sign is there?' The master said: 'This mountain monk's eyes have never gone blurry.'

泗州普照曉欽明悟禪師

Chan Master Puzhao Xiaoqin Mingwu of Sizhou

僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。東邊更近東。曰。溈山的子．智海親孫也。師曰。卻笑傍人把釣竿。上堂。引手撮空。展轉莫及。翻身擲影。徒自勞形。當面拈來。卻成蹉過。畢竟如何。拍禪床曰。洎合錯商量。

A monk asked: 'Whose song does the Master sing? Whose school does he succeed?' The master said: 'East, and still nearer east.' The monk said: 'Then he is a son of Weishan and a true grandson of Zhihai.' The master said: 'Yet he laughs at the bystander holding the fishing pole.' He mounted the hall: 'Putting out a hand to pinch emptiness, one turns and turns and cannot reach it. Turning the body and throwing a shadow, one only wears out the form. Picking it up face to face, one has missed it instead. After all, what is it?' He struck the meditation seat and said: 'I nearly misjudged it.'

廬山東林自遵正覺禪師

Chan Master Donglin Zizun Zhengjue of Mount Lu

上堂。十五日已前放過一著。十五日已後未可商量。正當十五日。試道一句看。良久曰。山色翠穠春雨歇。栢庭香擁木蘭開。

He mounted the hall: 'Before the fifteenth day, let one move go. After the fifteenth day, it cannot be discussed. On the fifteenth day itself, try to speak one phrase.' After a long while he said: 'The mountain color is thick green as the spring rain ceases; the cypress court is wrapped in fragrance as the magnolias open.'

潭州福嚴寘禪師

Chan Master Fuyan Zhi of Tanzhou

上堂。福嚴山上雲。舒捲任朝昏。忽爾落平地。客來難討門。

He mounted the hall: 'The clouds on Fuyan Mountain unfurl and roll as they please, morning and dusk. Suddenly they fall to level ground, and a guest who comes finds no gate to seek.'

潭州東明遷禪師

Chan Master Dongming Qian of Tanzhou

久侍真如。晚居溈山。真如菴忠道者高其風。每叩之。一日閱首楞嚴次。忠問。如我按指。海印發光。佛意如何。師曰。釋迦老子好與二十棒。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。用按指作麼。曰。汝暫舉心。塵勞先起又作麼生。師曰。亦是海印發光。

He long attended Zhenru and in his late years resided at Mount Wei. The Man of the Way Zhong of the Zhenru Hermitage esteemed his style and questioned him often. One day, as he was reading the Shurangama Sutra, Zhong asked: 'If I press my finger, the sea seal emits light — what is the buddha's meaning?' The master said: 'Old man Shakyamuni deserves twenty blows.' Zhong said: 'Why is it so?' The master said: 'What is the use of pressing the finger?' Zhong said: 'As soon as you raise the mind, the dust of toil arises first — what about that?' The master said: 'That too is the sea seal emitting light.'

雪竇雅禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Xuedou Ya

衢州光孝普印慈覺禪師

Chan Master Guangxiao Puyin Cijue of Quzhou

泉州許子氏。室中問僧。父母未生已前。在甚麼處行履。僧擬對。即打出。或曰。達磨在你腳下。僧擬看。亦打出。或曰。道。道。僧擬開口。復打出。

He was of the Xu family of Quanzhou. In his room he asked a monk: 'Before your parents were born, where did you walk?' The monk was about to answer, and he at once drove him out with blows. Sometimes he said: 'Bodhidharma is beneath your feet.' The monk was about to look, and he drove him out with blows again. Sometimes he said: 'Speak. Speak.' The monk was about to open his mouth, and again he drove him out with blows.

慶善震禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qingshan Zhen

杭州慶善院普能禪師

Chan Master Qingshan Yuan Puneng of Hangzhou

上堂。事不獲已。與諸人葛藤。一切眾生。祇為心塵未脫。情量不除。見色聞聲。隨波逐浪。流轉三界。汩沒四生。致使正見不明。觸途成滯。若也是非齊泯。善惡都忘。坐斷報化佛頭。截卻聖凡途路。到這裡方有少許相應。直饒如是。衲僧分上未為奇特。何故如此。才有是非。紛然失心。咄。上堂。拈拄杖曰。未入山僧手中。萬法宛然。既入山僧手中。復有何事。良久曰。有意氣時添意氣。不風流處也風流。卓拄杖一下。

He mounted the hall: 'Since matters cannot be helped, I will tangle with you people. All sentient beings, only because the dust of the mind is not yet shed and the measure of feeling is not yet removed, see forms and hear sounds and follow the waves and chase the billows; they turn in the three realms and sink in the four kinds of birth, so that right view is not clear and everything they touch becomes obstructed. If right and wrong are both effaced and good and evil are both forgotten, if you cut off the heads of the reward-body and transformation-body buddhas and sever the road of holy and ordinary, only here is there a little accord. Even so, for a patch-robed monk it is nothing remarkable. Why? As soon as there is right and wrong, one is in a flurry and loses the mind.' Tsk! He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'Before it entered this mountain monk's hand, the ten thousand dharmas were distinct. Now that it has entered this mountain monk's hand, what business is left?' After a long while he said: 'When there is spirit, add spirit; where there is no elegance, there is elegance too.' He planted the staff once.

淨土思禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jingtu Si

杭州靈鳳山萬壽法詮禪師

Chan Master Lingfeng Shan Wanshou Faquan of Hangzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。抱樁打拍浮。曰。如何是法。師曰。黃泥彈子。曰。如何是僧。師曰。剃除鬚髮。曰。三寶外。還別有為人處也無。師舉起一指。僧曰。不會。師曰。指在唯觀月。風來不動幡。上堂。德山棒。臨濟喝。盡是無風波帀帀。燈籠𨁝跳過青天。露柱魂驚頭腦裂。雖然如是。大似食鹽加得渴。喝一喝。

A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'Hugging a post and flailing in the water.' The monk said: 'What is the dharma?' The master said: 'A yellow clay pellet.' The monk said: 'What is the sangha?' The master said: 'Shaving off beard and hair.' The monk said: 'Beyond the three treasures, is there another place of acting for others?' The master raised one finger. The monk said: 'I do not understand.' The master said: 'The finger is only for viewing the moon; the wind comes and the banner does not move.' He mounted the hall: 'Deshan's blow, Linji's shout — all are the dense lapping of a windless wave. The lantern leaps over the blue sky; the pillar's soul is startled and its head splits. Even so, it is very much like adding salt to salt and getting thirstier.' He shouted once.

杭州慶善守隆禪師

Chan Master Qingshan Shoulong of Hangzhou

開堂日。僧問。知師久蘊囊中寶。今日當筵略借看。師曰。多少分明。曰。師子吼時全露現。文殊仗劒又如何。師曰。驚殺老僧。問。千佛出世。各有奇祥。和尚今日。以何為驗。師曰。木人把板雲中拍。曰。意旨如何。師曰。石女拈笙水底吹。上堂。花簇簇。錦簇簇。鹽醬年來事事足。留得南泉打破鍋。分付沙彌煑晨粥。晨粥一任諸人吃。洗缽盂一句作麼生會。多少人疑著。

On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked: 'I know the Master has long kept a treasure in his bag; today at the feast, may I borrow a look?' The master said: 'How very clear.' The monk said: 'When the lion roars, all is revealed; what of Manjushri wielding the sword?' The master said: 'You startle this old monk to death.' The monk asked: 'A thousand buddhas appear in the world, each with its own wondrous omen. What does the Master use today as proof?' The master said: 'A wooden man claps the clappers in the clouds.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'A stone woman holds a reed pipe and blows at the bottom of the water.' He mounted the hall: 'Flowers in clusters, brocade in clusters; salt and sauce and all things are plentiful year after year. Keep the pot Nanquan broke, and hand it to the novice to cook the morning gruel. The morning gruel is for everyone to eat as they please. The phrase of washing the bowl — how do you understand it? Many people are in doubt about it.'

護國月禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Huguo Yue

江陵府護國慧本禪師

Chan Master Huguo Huiben of Jiangling Prefecture

僧問。有物先天地。無形本寂寥。未審是甚麼物。師曰。一鋌墨。曰。恁麼則耀古照今去也。師曰。作麼生是耀古照今底。僧便喝。師便打。上堂。好箇時節。誰肯承當。苟或無人。不如惜取。良久曰。彈雀夜明珠。

A monk asked: 'There is a thing prior to heaven and earth, formless and originally still. I wonder what thing it is?' The master said: 'A stick of ink.' The monk said: 'Then it illumines the ancient and shines on the present.' The master said: 'What is it that illumines the ancient and shines on the present?' The monk at once shouted. The master at once struck him. He mounted the hall: 'What a fine season — who is willing to take it on? If there is no one, better to keep it.' After a long while he said: 'A night-glowing pearl for shooting sparrows.'

南嶽下十四世

The fourteenth generation below Nanyue

智海平禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhihai Ping

東京淨因蹣菴繼成禪師

Chan Master Dongjing Jingyin Manan Jicheng

袁之宜春劉氏子。上堂。拈拄杖曰。清淨本然。云何忽生山河大地。看看富樓那穿過釋迦老子鼻孔。釋迦老子鑽破虗空肚皮。且道山河大地在甚麼處。擲下拄杖。召大眾曰。虗空翻筋斗。向新羅國裡去也。是你諸人。切忌認葉止啼。刻舟尋劒。上堂。茫茫盡是覓佛漢。舉世難尋閑道人。棒喝交馳成藥忌。了亡藥忌未天真。上堂。崑崙奴著鐵袴。打一棒行一步。爭似火中釣鼈。日裡藏冰。陰影問翻魍魎。虗空縛殺麻繩。上堂。狹路相逢且莫疑。電光石火已遲遲。若教直下三心徹。祇在如今一餉時。到這裡。直使問來答去。火迸星飛。互換主賓。照用得失。波翻嶽立。玉轉珠回。衲僧面前了無交涉。豈不見拈花鷲嶺。獨許飲光。問疾毗耶。誰當金粟。那知微笑已成途轍。縱使默然。未免風波。要須格外相逢。始解就中頴契。還會麼。一曲寥寥動今古。洛陽三十六峰西。上堂。舉不顧。即差互。擬思量。何劫悟。大眾。枯桑知天風。是顧不顧。海水知天寒。是思不思。且喚甚麼作悟底道理。兔角杖頭挑法界。龜毛拂子舞三臺。上堂。鼻裡音聲耳裡香。眼中鹹淡舌玄黃。意能覺觸身分別。冰室如春九夏涼。如斯見得。方知男子身中入定時。女子身中從定出。葵花隨日轉。犀紋翫月生。香楓化老人。螟𧕅成蜾[蟲*嬴]。若也不知。苦哉。佛陀耶許你具隻眼。上堂。一念心清淨。佛居魔王殿。一念惡心生。魔王居佛殿。懷禪師曰。但恁麼信去。喚作腳踏實地而行。終無別法。亦無別道理。老僧恁麼舉了。祇恐你諸人見兔放鷹。刻舟求劒。何故。功德天．黑暗女。有智主人。二俱不受。上堂。舉汾陽拈拄杖示眾曰。三世諸佛在這裡。為汝諸人無孔竅。遂走向山僧拄杖裡去。強生節目。師曰。汾陽與麼示徒。大似擔雪填井。傍若無人。山僧今日為汝諸人出氣。拈起拄杖曰。三世諸佛不敢強生節目。卻從山僧拄杖裡走出。

He was a son of the Liu family of Yichun in Yuan. He mounted the hall, picked up his staff and said: 'Purity is originally so; how is it that the mountains, rivers and great earth suddenly arise? Look, look: Purna has pierced old man Shakyamuni's nostrils, and old man Shakyamuni has bored through the void's belly. Tell me, where are the mountains, rivers and great earth?' He threw down the staff, called to the assembly and said: 'The void has turned a somersault and gone off to the kingdom of Silla. You people, above all, do not take the leaf for stopping a child's crying, nor mark the boat to seek the sword.' He mounted the hall: 'Vast and endless, all are men seeking the buddha; in the whole world it is hard to find a person of the way at leisure. Blows and shouts fly back and forth and become a forbidden medicine; when even the forbidden medicine is gone, one is not yet heavenly true.' He mounted the hall: 'A Kunlun slave wearing iron trousers: strike him once and he takes a step. How much better to fish for turtles in fire, or hide ice in the sun. In the shadows, sprites flit about; the void is bound to death with a hemp rope.' He mounted the hall: 'Meeting on a narrow road, do not doubt; the flint spark and lightning flash are already slow. If you would have the three minds pierced straight through, it is only a moment such as now. Reaching this point, even if question comes and answer goes, fire spurts and sparks fly, host and guest exchange places, illumination and function gain and lose, waves surge and mountains stand, jade turns and pearls return — before a patch-robed monk it is utterly without connection. Have you not seen how at Vulture Peak, holding up the flower, only Kashyapa was singled out? And at Vaishali, inquiring into illness, who took on the golden grain? How would you know that the smile has already become a rutted track, and that even keeping silent cannot avoid wind and wave? One must meet beyond the ordinary, and only then understand the accord within. Do you understand? One tune, faint and far, stirs the ancient and the present; west of the thirty-six peaks of Luoyang.' He mounted the hall: 'Raise it and do not look — at once you miss it. Deliberate and think — in what kalpa will you awaken? Great assembly, the withered mulberry knows the wind of heaven: that is looking and not looking. The sea water knows the cold of heaven: that is thinking and not thinking. And what do you call the principle of awakening? On the tip of a rabbit-horn staff one carries the dharma realm; a tortoise-hair fly whisk dances the three terraces.' He mounted the hall: 'Sound in the nose, fragrance in the ear; salt and bland on the eye, dark and yellow on the tongue. The mind can feel contact, the body distinguishes; an ice chamber is like spring, cool through the nine summers. If you see it thus, only then do you know that while one enters samadhi in a man's body, one comes out of samadhi in a woman's body. The sunflower turns with the sun; the rhino's markings take shape as it plays with the moon. The fragrant maple turns into an old man; the solitary wasp becomes a sphex. If you do not know this either, how bitter! Buddha be praised, I allow that you have one eye.' He mounted the hall: 'With one thought the mind is pure, and the buddha dwells in the demon king's hall. With one evil thought arising, the demon king dwells in the buddha hall. Chan Master Huai said: just believe like this, and it is called walking with your feet on solid ground; in the end there is no other dharma and no other principle. This old monk has raised it like this, only fearing that you people will release the hawk at the sight of a hare and mark the boat to seek the sword. Why? The goddess of merit and the dark woman: a wise host accepts neither.' He mounted the hall and brought up how Fenyang picked up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying: 'The buddhas of the three ages are right here, but because you people have no holes, they have gone off into this mountain monk's staff and forcibly produced knots.' The master said: 'Fenyang showing his students like this is very much like carrying snow to fill a well, as if no one were beside him. This mountain monk today will vent his breath for you people.' He picked up his staff and said: 'The buddhas of the three ages did not dare to forcibly produce knots, and so they walked out of this mountain monk's staff.'

向諸人道。我不敢輕於汝等。汝等皆當作佛。說是語已。翻筋斗向拘屍羅城裡去也。擲下拄杖曰。若到諸方。分明舉似。師同圓悟．法真．慈受並十大法師．禪講千僧。赴太尉陳公良弼府齋。時徽宗皇帝私幸觀之。太師魯國公亦與焉。有善華嚴者。乃賢首宗之義虎也。對眾問諸禪曰。吾佛設教。自小乘至於圓頓。掃除空有。獨證真常。然後萬德莊嚴。方名為佛。常聞禪宗一喝。能轉凡成聖。則與諸經論似相違背。今一喝若能入吾宗五教。是為正說。若不能入。是為邪說。諸禪視師。師曰。如法師所問。不足三大禪師之酬。淨因小長老可以使法師無惑也。師召善。善應諾。師曰。法師所謂愚法小乘教者。乃有義也。大乘始教者。乃空義也。大乘終教者。乃不有不空義也。大乘頓教者。乃即有即空義也。一乘圓教者。乃不有而有。不空而空(或作空而不有。有而不空)。義也。如我一喝。非唯能入五教。至於工巧技藝。諸子百家悉皆能入。師震聲喝一喝。問善曰。聞麼。曰。聞。師曰。汝既聞。此一喝是有。能入小乘教。須臾。又問善曰。聞麼。曰。不聞。師曰。汝既不聞。適來一喝是無。能入始教。遂顧善曰。我初一喝。汝既道有。喝久聲銷。汝復道無。道無則元初實有。道有則而今實無。不有不無。能入終教。我有一喝之時。有非是有。因無故有。無一喝之時。無非是無。因有故無。即有即無。能入頓教。須知我此一喝。不作一喝用。有無不及。情解俱忘。道有之時。纖塵不立。道無之時。橫徧虗空。即此一喝入百千萬億喝。百千萬億喝入此一喝。是故能入圓教。善乃起再拜。師復謂曰。非唯一喝為然。乃至一語一默。一動一靜。從古至今。十方虗空。萬象森羅。六趣四生。三世諸佛。一切聖賢。八萬四千法門。百千三昧無量妙義。契理契機。與天地萬物一體。謂之法身。三界唯心。萬法唯識。四時八節。

He said to the assembly: 'I do not dare belittle you, Venerable Ones; you shall all become buddhas.' Having said these words, he turned a somersault and went off toward the city of Kushinagara. He threw down the staff and said: 'If you go to other quarters, bring it up clearly.' The master, together with Yuanwu, Fazhen and Cishou and ten great dharma masters and a thousand Chan and lecture monks, attended a feast at the residence of the Grand Commandant Lord Chen Liangbi. At that time Emperor Huizong privately favored watching it, and the Grand Preceptor, the Duke of Lu, was also present. There was one skilled in the Huayan, a tiger of eloquence of the Xianshou school, who asked the Chan monks before the assembly: 'Our buddha established the teachings, from the small vehicle up to the perfect and sudden, sweeping away both emptiness and existence and alone realizing the true and constant, and only then, with the ten thousand virtues adorned, is one called a buddha. I have often heard that a single shout in the Chan school can turn the ordinary into the holy, and this seems to contradict the scriptures and treatises. Now, if a single shout can enter the five teachings of our school, it is a correct statement. If it cannot enter, it is a false statement.' The Chan monks looked at the master. The master said: 'What the Dharma Master has asked is not worth the reply of three great Chan masters; this little elder of Jingyin can relieve the Dharma Master of his doubt.' The master called Shan, and Shan answered. The master said: 'What the Dharma Master calls the teaching of the deluded small vehicle is the meaning of existence. The initial teaching of the great vehicle is the meaning of emptiness. The final teaching of the great vehicle is the meaning of neither existing nor empty. The sudden teaching of the great vehicle is the meaning of immediately existing and immediately empty. The perfect teaching of the one vehicle is the meaning of not existing yet existing, not empty yet empty. As for my single shout, it can enter not only the five teachings but also the crafts and arts and the hundred schools of the various masters.' The master let out a shout in a shaking voice and asked Shan: 'Did you hear it?' Shan said: 'I heard it.' The master said: 'Since you heard it, this shout exists, and it can enter the small vehicle teaching.' After a moment he asked Shan again: 'Did you hear it?' Shan said: 'I did not hear it.' The master said: 'Since you did not hear it, the shout just now is nonexistent, and it can enter the initial teaching.' Then he turned to Shan and said: 'My first shout you called existent; when the shout has long passed and the sound has vanished, you again called it nonexistent. If you say nonexistent, then at the first it was truly existent; if you say existent, then now it is truly nonexistent. Neither existing nor nonexistent: it can enter the final teaching. When I have a shout, existence is not existence, for it exists because of non-existence; when I have no shout, non-existence is not non-existence, for it is nonexistent because of existence. Immediately existing and immediately nonexistent: it can enter the sudden teaching. You must know that this one shout of mine is not used as a shout. Existence and non-existence do not reach it, and both feeling and understanding are forgotten. When you say it exists, not a mote stands; when you say it does not exist, it spreads throughout the void. Just this one shout enters a hundred thousand million million shouts, and a hundred thousand million million shouts enter this one shout. Therefore it can enter the perfect teaching.' Shan rose and bowed twice. The master further said to him: 'It is not only the shout that is so. Indeed, one word and one silence, one movement and one stillness, from ancient times to the present, the void of the ten directions, the myriad forms, the six destinies and four kinds of birth, the buddhas of the three ages, all sages and worthies, the eighty-four thousand dharma gates, a hundred thousand samadhis and measureless wondrous meanings, matching principle and matching capacity, one body with heaven, earth and the ten thousand things, is called the dharma body. The three realms are mind only, the ten thousand dharmas are consciousness only. The four seasons and eight nodes,

陰陽一致。謂之法性。是故華嚴經云。法性徧在一切處。有相無相。一聲一色。全在一塵中含四義。事理無邊。周徧無餘。參而不雜。混而不一。於此一喝中。皆悉具足。猶是建化門庭。隨機方便。謂之小歇場。未至寶所。殊不知吾祖師門下。以心傳心。以法印法。不立文字。見性成佛。有千聖不傳底向上一路在。善又問曰。如何是向上一路。師曰。汝且向下會取。善曰。如何是寶所。師曰。非汝境界。善曰。望禪師慈悲。師曰。任從滄海變。終不為君通。善膠口而退。聞者靡不歎仰。皇帝顧謂近臣曰。禪宗玄妙深極如此。淨因才辯亦罕有也。近臣奏曰。此宗師之緒餘也。

(The master continued:) 'yin and yang as one — this is called the dharma nature. Therefore the Huayan Sutra says: the dharma nature is everywhere in all places. With marks and without marks, one sound and one color, all are contained within a single mote as its four meanings. Fact and principle are boundless, pervading everything without remainder. They meet without mixing, blend without becoming one. Within this single shout all are completely present. Yet this is still the gate of establishing transformation, the skillful means that follow capacities; it is called a small resting place, not yet the jeweled city. You do not realize that within the gate of our ancestral master, mind is transmitted to mind and dharma seals dharma, not establishing words, seeing the nature and becoming a buddha, and there is a one road upward that a thousand sages do not transmit.' Shan asked again: 'What is the one road upward?' The master said: 'You should understand it by going downward first.' Shan said: 'What is the jeweled city?' The master said: 'Not your realm.' Shan said: 'I hope the Chan master will be compassionate.' The master said: 'Though the vast sea may change, I will never make it clear for you.' Shan's mouth was glued shut and he withdrew. All who heard sighed in admiration. The emperor turned to his attending ministers and said: 'The profundity and wonder of the Chan school reaches such a point, and the eloquence of Jingyin is also rare.' The attending ministers reported: 'This is only the leftover of a master of the school.'

南嶽法輪彥孜禪師

Chan Master Nanyue Falun Yanzi

處之龍泉陳氏子。上堂。若是諦當漢。通身無隔礙。舉措絕毫𨤲。把手出紅塵。撥開向上竅。當頭劄定。不犯鋒稜。轉握將來。應用恰好。絲毫不漏。函葢相應。任是諸佛諸祖。覷著寒毛卓竪。會麼。吃茶去。僧問。如何是不涉煙波底句。師曰。皎皎寒松月。飄飄谷口風。曰。萬差俱掃蕩。一句截流機。師曰。點。僧曰。到。師曰。借人面具舞三臺。問。如何是佛。師曰。白額大蟲。曰。祇如洞山道。麻三斤。又作麼生。師曰。毒虵鑽露柱。曰。學人不曉。師曰。踏著始驚人。

He was a son of the Chen family of Longquan in Chu. He mounted the hall: 'If you are a man who has hit the mark, your whole body has no obstruction. In every movement not a hair's breadth is off; taking a hand, you come out of the red dust. Pushing open the aperture upward, you pin it fast on the spot without touching the point of the blade. Turning and gripping it, you apply it just right. Not a hair leaks; the box and its lid match. Even the buddhas and patriarchs, looking at it, have their body hair stand on end. Do you understand? Go drink tea.' A monk asked: 'What is a phrase that does not touch the mist and waves?' The master said: 'The bright moon on the cold pine, the wind at the valley mouth drifting.' The monk said: 'The ten thousand differences are all swept away; one phrase cuts off the stream's working.' The master said: 'A dot.' The monk said: 'Arrived.' The master said: 'Borrowing another's mask to dance the three terraces.' The monk asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The master said: 'A white-browed great tiger.' The monk said: 'What about Dongshan saying "three catties of hemp"?' The master said: 'A poisonous snake drills into the pillar.' The monk said: 'This student does not understand.' The master said: 'Only when you tread on it are you startled.'

衡州開福崇哲禪師

Chan Master Hengzhou Kaifu Chongzhe

邵州劉氏子。上堂。妙體堂堂觸處彰。快須回首便承當。今朝對眾全分付。莫道儂家有覆藏。擲拂子。召侍者曰。因甚打下老僧拂子。問。一水吞空遠。三峰峭壁危。猊臺重拂拭。共喜主人歸。未審到家如何施設。師曰。空手捻雙拳。曰。意旨如何。師曰。突出難辯。上堂。山僧有三印。更無增減剩。覿面便相呈。能轉凡成聖。諸人還知麼。若也未知。不免重重註破。一印印空。日月星辰列下風。一印印泥。頭頭物物顯真機。一印印水。捩轉魚龍頭作尾。三印分明體一同。看來非赤又非紅。互換高低如不薦。青山依舊白雲中。

He was a son of the Liu family of Shaozhou. He mounted the hall: 'The wondrous body, dignified, is revealed wherever it touches; quickly you must turn your head and take it on. Today before the assembly I hand it over entirely; do not say that I have anything concealed.' He threw down his fly whisk, called the attendant and said: 'Why did you knock down this old monk's fly whisk?' The monk asked: 'One water swallows the void into the distance; three peaks stand sheer on the cliff. The lion terrace is wiped clean again; together we rejoice that the host has returned. I wonder how he sets things up once home?' The master said: 'Grasping two fists with empty hands.' The monk said: 'What is the meaning?' The master said: 'Looming out, hard to distinguish.' He mounted the hall: 'This mountain monk has three seals, with nothing added or subtracted. Meeting you face to face, he presents them; they can turn the ordinary into the holy. Do you people also know? If you do not yet know, I cannot help but break them open layer upon layer. One seal seals the void: sun, moon and stars line up downwind. One seal seals the mud: every head, every thing reveals the true working. One seal seals the water: turning the fish and dragon head to tail. The three seals are distinct, their substance is one; looking at them, they are neither red nor crimson. If you do not recognize the exchange of high and low, the green mountains are as before amid the white clouds.'

泐潭祥禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Letan Xiang

台州鴻福德昇禪師

Chan Master Taizhou Hongfu Desheng

衡陽人也。上堂。諸人恁麼上來。墮在見聞覺知。恁麼下去。落在動靜施為。若也不去不來。正是鬼窟活計。如何道得出身底句。若也道得。則分付拄杖子。若道不得。依而行之。卓拄杖。下座。

He was a man of Hengyang. He mounted the hall: 'When you people come up like this, you fall into seeing, hearing, knowing and awareness. When you go down like this, you fall into movement, stillness, action and doing. If you neither go nor come, that is precisely the living of a ghost cave. How do you speak the phrase of coming forth? If you can speak it, then I hand over the staff. If you cannot speak it, follow it and practice.' He planted the staff and descended from the seat.