Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Ten
上堂。卓拄杖一下。召大眾曰。八萬四千法門。八字打開了也。見得麼。金鳳夜棲無影樹。峰巒才露海雲遮。
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answered with a pointed saying. The exchange tur
太平州吉祥法宣禪師
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answ
僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。久旱無甘雨。田中稻穗枯。曰。意旨如何。師曰。今年米價貴。容易莫嫌麤。
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answered with a pointed saying. The exchange tur
台州護國守昌禪師
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answ
上堂。拈拄杖卓曰。三十六旬之開始。七十二候之起元。萬邦迎和氣之時。東帝布生成之令。直得天垂瑞彩。地擁貞祥。微微細雨洗寒空。淡淡春光籠野色。可謂應時納祐。慶無不宜。盡大地人。皆添一歲。敢問諸人。且道那一人年多少。良久曰。千歲老兒顏似玉。萬年童子鬢如絲。
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answered with a pointed saying. The exchange turns the question back to direct experience and awakening. The teaching r
鄧州丹霞普月禪師
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answ
上堂。威音已前。誰當辨的。然燈已後。孰是知音。直饒那畔承當。未免打作兩橛。縱向這邊行履。也應未得十全。良由杜口毗耶。已是天機漏洩。任使掩室摩竭。終須縫罅離披。休雲體露真常。直是純清絕點。說甚皮膚脫落。自然獨運孤明。雖然似此新鮮。未稱衲僧意氣。直得五眼齊開。三光洞啟。從此竿頭絲線。自然不犯波瀾。須明轉位回機。方解入鄽垂手。所以道。任使板齒生毛。莫教眼睛顧著。認著則空花繚亂。言之則語路參差。既然如是。敢問諸人。不犯鋒鋩一句作麼生道。良久曰。半夜烏龜眼豁開。萬象曉來都一色。
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answered with a pointed saying. The exchange turns the question back to direct experience and awakening. The teaching rejects attachment to words and appearances, directing the student inward. The master affirmed the insight, or corrected it with a
東京妙慧尼慧光淨智禪師
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answ
上堂。舉趙州勘婆話。乃曰。趙州舌頭連天。老婆眉光覆地。分明勘破歸來。無限平人瞌睡。
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answered with a pointed saying. The exchange tur
寶峰照禪師法嗣
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answ
江州圓通青谷真際德止禪師
The passage records a dialogue in the Chan tradition. A monk asked about the Way, and the master answ
金紫徐閎中之季子也。世居歷陽。師雙瞳紺碧。神光射人。十歲未知書。多喜睡。其父目為懵然子。暨成童。強記過人。學文有奇語。弱冠夢異僧授四句偈。已而有以南安巖主像遺之者。即傍所載聰明偈。自是持念不忘。後五年。隨金紫將漕西洛。一夕忽大悟。連作數偈。一曰。不因言句不因人。不因物色不因聲。夜半吹燈方就枕。忽然這裡已天明。每嘯歌自若。眾莫測之。乃力求出家。父弗許。欲以官授之。師曰。某方將脫世網。不著三界。豈復刺頭於利名中邪。請移授從兄玨。遂祝髮受具。未數載名振京師。宣和三年春。徽宗皇帝賜號真際。俾居圓通。上堂。山僧二十年前兩目皆盲。了無所覩。唯是聞人說道。青天之上有大日輪。照三千大千世界。無有不徧之處。籌䇿萬端。終不能見。二十年後。眼光漸開。又值天色連陰。濃雲亂湧。四方觀察。上下推窮。見雲行時。便於行處作計較。見雲住時。便於住處立箇窠臼。正如是間。忽遇著箇多知漢。問道。莫是要見日輪麼。何不向高山頂上去。山僧卻徵他道。那裡是高山頂上。他道。紅塵不到處是。諸仁者。好箇端的消息。還會麼。長連床上佛陀耶。上堂。昨夜黃面瞿曇。將三千大千世界來一口吞盡。如人飲湯水。蹤跡不留。應時消散。當爾時諸大菩薩．聲聞羅漢．及與一切眾生。盡皆不覺不知。唯有文殊普賢瞥然覷見。雖然得見。渺渺茫茫。恰似向大洋海裡頭出頭沒。諸人且道是甚麼消息。若也檢點得破。許他頂門上具一隻眼。示寂闍維。煙氣所及。悉成設利。塔司空山。分窆疊石原。
He was the youngest son of Xu Hongzhong of the Jinyin rank. His family had lived at Liyang for generations. The Master's pupils were dark blue-green, and his spirit-light shone on people. At ten he did not yet know books and loved to sleep; his father called him a muddled child. By the time he was a youth his memory surpassed others, and his writing had strange phrases. At twenty, in a dream a strange monk gave him a four-line verse. Soon afterward someone presented him with a portrait of the Master of Nanyan Rock, which had the verse on wisdom inscribed beside it. From then on he held it in mind and never forgot. Five years later he accompanied Xu Hongzhong, who was transporting grain to Xiluo. One evening he suddenly had a great awakening and composed several verses in a row. One says: 'Not through words, not through people, not through forms, not through sounds; at midnight I blow out the lamp and just then lie down, and suddenly here it is already dawn.' He would whistle and sing as if nothing had happened, and no one could fathom him. He then earnestly sought to leave home, but his father would not permit it and wished to give him an official post. The Master said, 'I am about to escape the net of the world and not touch the three realms. How could I again thrust my head into profit and fame? Please transfer it to my cousin Jue.' So he shaved his head and received full ordination. In a few years his fame shook the capital. In the spring of the third year of Xuanhe, Emperor Huizong bestowed on him the title Zhenji and had him dwell at Yuantong. Ascending the hall: 'Twenty years ago this mountain monk was blind in both eyes and saw nothing at all. I only heard people say that above the blue sky there is a great sun-wheel that illumines three thousand great thousand worlds, with no place it does not reach. I schemed a thousand ways, but in the end could not see it. Twenty years later my eyesight gradually opened.' Then it happened that the sky was overcast day after day, thick clouds churning. He observed the four directions and searched above and below. When he saw the clouds moving, he made calculations about their movement; when he saw the clouds stop, he set up a nest at their resting place. Just then he suddenly met a man of much knowledge who asked, 'Is it the sun-wheel you want to see? Why not go up to the top of a high mountain?' The mountain monk then pressed him: 'Where is the top of a high mountain?' He said, 'Where the red dust does not reach.' Good people, what a precise message! Do you understand? On the long bench, the Buddha. Ascending the hall: 'Last night the yellow-faced Gautama took the three thousand great thousand worlds and swallowed them in one mouthful, like a man drinking broth, leaving no trace, dissolving at once. At that moment all the great Bodhisattvas, the shravakas and arhats, and all living beings were wholly unaware, and only Manjushri and Samantabhadra caught a sudden glimpse. Though they saw it, it was vast and dim.' It is just like bobbing up and down in the great ocean. Tell me, everyone, what message is this? If you can examine it and see through it, you are allowed one eye on the crown of your head. When he showed his passing and was cremated, wherever the smoke reached, relics formed. His stupa was on Mount Sikong, and a portion of his remains was buried at Dieshiyuan.
台州真如道會禪師
Chan Master Daohui of Zhenru, Taizhou
上堂。空劫中事。自肯承當。日用全彰。有何滲漏。正好歸家穩坐。任他雪覆青山。不留元字掛懷。誰顧波飜水面。且道正不立玄．偏不附物一句。如何舉似。機絲不掛梭頭事。文彩縱橫意自殊。
Ascending the hall: 'The matters within the empty kalpa—take them up yourself with conviction. Daily activity is fully manifest—what leak is there? It is just the time to go home and sit securely, letting the snow cover the green mountains; not keeping the original word hanging in mind, who cares that waves turn over the water's surface? Tell me: the one phrase in which the true does not set up the mysterious and the partial does not attach to things—how would you bring it up?' The loom-thread does not hang on the shuttle-head; the patterned brilliance runs crosswise and the meaning is naturally distinct.
興國軍智通大死翁景深禪師
Chan Master Jingshen, the Great-Death Old Man of Zhitong, Xingguojun
台州王氏子。自幼不群。年十八。依廣度院德芝披剃。始謁淨慈象禪師。一日聞象曰。思而知。慮而解。皆鬼家活計。興不自遏。遂往寶峰求入室。峰曰。直須斷起滅念。向空劫已前掃除玄路。不涉正偏。盡卻今時。全身放下。放盡還放。方有自由分。師聞頓領厥旨。峰擊鼓告眾曰。深得闡提大死之道。後學宜依之。因號大死翁。建炎改元。開法智通。上堂。來不入門。去不出戶。來去無痕。如何提唱。直得古路苔封。𦏪羊絕跡。蒼梧月鏁。丹鳳不棲。所以道。藏身處沒蹤跡。沒蹤跡處莫藏身。若能如是。去住無依。了無向背。還委悉麼。而今分散如雲鶴。你我相忘觸處玄。僧問。如何是正中偏。師曰。黑麵老婆披白練。曰。如何是偏中正。師曰。白頭翁子著皂衫。曰。如何是正中來。師曰。屎裡飜筋斗。曰。如何是兼中至。師曰。雪刃籠身不自傷。曰。如何是兼中到。師曰。崑崙夜裡行。曰。向上還有事也無。師曰。捉得烏龜喚作鼈。曰。乞師再垂方便。師曰。入山逢虎臥。出谷鬼來牽。曰。何得干戈相待。師曰。三兩綫。一斤麻。紹興初。歸住寶藏巖。以事民其服。壬申二月示微恙。乃曰。世緣盡矣。三月十三。為眾小參。仍說偈曰。不用剃頭。何須澡浴。一堆紅焰。千足萬足。雖然如是。且道向上還有事也無。遂斂目而逝。
He was a son of the Wang family of Taizhou. From childhood he was unlike others. At eighteen he was shaved under Dezhi of Guangdu Monastery. He first called on Chan Master Xiang of Jingci. One day he heard Xiang say, 'To know by thinking and understand by deliberating—these are all the devil's trade.' His excitement could not be contained. He then went to Baofeng and sought to enter his room. Baofeng said, 'You must simply cut off the thought of arising and ceasing, sweep away the mysterious road prior to the empty kalpa, not touch the true or the partial, finish with the present moment, let go of the whole body, and when you have let go completely, let go again—only then is there a share of freedom.' Hearing this the Master at once grasped the purport. Baofeng beat the drum and told the assembly, 'Shen has attained the way of the great death of the icchantika; later students should follow him.' Hence he was called the Great-Death Old Man. In the first year of Jianyan he began teaching at Zhitong. Ascending the hall: 'Coming, he does not enter the gate; going, he does not leave the door. Coming and going leave no trace—how will you bring it up? It reaches the point where the ancient road is sealed with moss, the wild sheep's tracks are cut off, the moon locks Cangwu, and the red phoenix does not perch. Therefore it is said: where one hides there is no trace.' Where there is no trace, do not hide the body. If you can be like this, going and staying have no dependence, and there is utterly no facing or turning away. Do you understand fully? Now we scatter like cloud-cranes; you and I forget each other, and everywhere it is mysterious. A monk asked, 'What is the true within the partial?' The Master said, 'A black-faced old woman draped in white silk.' He asked, 'What is the partial within the true?' The Master said, 'A white-haired old man wearing a black shirt.' He asked, 'What is the true coming?' The Master said, 'Turning somersaults in shit.' He asked, 'What is the simultaneous arrival?' The Master said, 'A snow blade wrapped around the body does not wound itself.' He asked, 'What is the simultaneous attainment?' The Master said, 'Walking in the night at Kunlun.' He asked, 'Is there still something above that?' The Master said, 'Catch a turtle and call it a soft-shelled turtle.' He asked, 'Please, Master, let down expedient means again.' The Master said, 'Enter the mountain and meet a tiger lying down; leave the valley and ghosts come to pull you.' He asked, 'Why meet with weapons?' The Master said, 'Three or two threads, one catty of hemp.' In the early Shaoxing years he returned to dwell at Baozang Rock, and through his conduct the people submitted to him. In the second month of a renshen year he showed slight illness, and said, 'The conditions of the world are exhausted. On the thirteenth day of the third month I will hold a minor convocation for the assembly.' He also spoke a verse: 'No need to shave the head, no need to bathe. One heap of red flame—a thousand feet, ten thousand feet are enough. Even so, tell me: is there still something above that?' Then he closed his eyes and passed away.
衡州華藥智朋禪師
Chan Master Zhipeng of Huayao, Hengzhou
四明黃氏子。依寶峰有年。無省。因為眾持缽。峰自題其像曰。雨洗淡紅桃蕚嫩。風搖淺碧柳絲輕。白雲影裡怪石露。綠水光中古木清。噫。你是何人。至焦山。枯木成禪師見之。歎曰。今日方知此老親見先師來。師遂請益其贊。成曰。豈不見法眼拈夾山境話。曰我二十年祇作境會。師即契悟(蘿湖野錄雲。成指以問師曰。汝會麼。師曰。不會。成曰。汝記得法燈擬寒山否。師遂誦。至誰人知此意。令我憶南泉。於憶字處。成遽以手掩師口曰。住。住。師豁然有省)。乃曰。元來恁麼地。成曰。汝作麼生會。師曰。春生夏長。秋收冬藏。成曰。直須保任。師應喏。紹興初。出住華藥．婺之天寧。後遷清涼。上堂。海風吹夢。嶺猿啼月。敢問諸人。是何時節。恁麼會得。無影樹下任遨遊。其或未然。三條椽下。直須打徹。後退居明之瑞巖。建康再以清涼挽之。明守亦勉其行。師不從。作偈送使者曰。相煩專使入煙霞。灰冷無湯不點茶。寄語甬東賢太守。難教枯木再生花。未幾而終。
He was a son of the Huang family of Siming. He stayed with Baofeng for years without awakening. Once, while he was begging bowls for the assembly, Baofeng inscribed his own portrait: 'The rain washes the pale red peach calyx, tender; the wind sways the light green willow threads, light. In the shadow of white clouds a strange rock shows; in the light of green water an old tree is clear. Ah—who are you?' When he reached Jiaoshan, Chan Master Kumu Cheng saw it and sighed, saying, 'Only today do I know that this old man truly saw my late teacher.' The Master then asked him to expand on the praise. Cheng said, 'Have you not heard how Fayan brought up Jiaoshan's words about the surroundings, saying, 'For twenty years I understood it only as surroundings'?' The Master at once awakened. (The Luohu Yelu says: Cheng pointed and asked the Master, 'Do you understand?' The Master said, 'I do not.' Cheng said, 'Do you remember Fadeng's imitation of Hanshan?' The Master then recited it. When he came to 'Who knows this meaning, making me recall Nanquan,' at the word 'recall' Cheng suddenly covered the Master's mouth with his hand and said, 'Stop, stop!' The Master was suddenly awakened.) He then said, 'So it is just like this.' Cheng said, 'How do you understand it?' The Master said, 'Spring gives birth, summer grows, autumn harvests, winter stores.' Cheng said, 'You must simply preserve it.' The Master assented. In the early Shaoxing years he went out to dwell at Huayao and at Tianning in Wu, and later moved to Qingliang. Ascending the hall: 'The sea wind blows dreams, the ridge ape cries at the moon. May I ask you all: what season is this?' If you can understand it thus, under the shadowless tree you may roam at will. If not, under the three rafters you must simply beat it through. Later he retired to Ruiyan in Mingzhou. Jiankang again tried to draw him back to Qingliang, and the prefect of Mingzhou also urged him to go. The Master did not comply. He made a verse and sent it to the messenger: 'I trouble the special envoy to enter the mist and clouds; the ashes are cold, there is no broth, so I do not make tea. Tell the worthy prefect of Yongdong: it is hard to make a withered tree bloom again.' Not long after, he passed away.
石門易禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yi of Shimen
吉州青原齊禪師
Chan Master Qi of Qingyuan, Jizhou
福州陳氏子。二十八辭父兄。從雲蓋智禪師出家。執事首座。座一日秉拂罷。師問曰。某聞首座所說。莫曉其義。伏望慈悲指示。座諄諄誘之。使究無著說這箇法。踰兩日有省。以偈呈曰。說法無如這箇親。十方剎海一微塵。若能於此明真理。大地何曾見一人。座駭然。因語智。得度。徧扣諸方。後至石門。深蒙器可。出住青原僅一紀。示寂日。說偈遺眾曰。昨夜三更過急灘。灘頭雲霧黑漫漫。一條拄杖為知己。擊碎千關與萬關。
He was a son of the Chen family of Fuzhou. At twenty-eight he took leave of his father and elder brothers and left home under Chan Master Zhi of Yungai. He served as chief seat. One day, after the chief seat had finished holding the whisk, the Master asked him about what he had said. 'I do not understand its meaning; I beg you in your compassion to instruct me.' The chief seat earnestly drew him on, making him investigate Wuzhuo's words on this dharma. After two days he had an awakening and presented a verse: 'In preaching the dharma nothing is as intimate as this; the ten directions' seas of lands are one mote of dust. If here you can clarify the true principle, when has the great earth ever seen a single person?' The chief seat was astonished, and spoke to Zhi, and he received ordination. He knocked at every quarter, and later came to Shimen, where he was deeply appreciated and approved. He went out to dwell at Qingyuan for only twelve years. On the day of his passing he left the assembly a verse: 'Last night at the third watch I crossed the rapids; at the rapids' head the clouds and mist were black and vast. One staff was my intimate friend, smashing a thousand barriers and ten thousand barriers.'
越州天衣法聰禪師
Chan Master Facong of Tianyi, Yuezhou
上堂。幽室寒燈不假挑。虗空明月徹雲霄。要知日用常無間。烈焰光中發異苗。因裝普賢大士。開光明次。師登梯。秉筆顧大眾曰。道得即為下筆。眾無對。師召侍者。與老僧牢扶梯子。遂點之。
Ascending the hall: 'The cold lamp in the dark room needs no trimming; the bright moon in empty space pierces the clouds. If you would know that daily use is always uninterrupted, in the blaze of flame a wondrous sprout comes forth.' Once, while installing an image of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, at the moment of opening its eyes, the Master climbed a ladder holding a brush, looked at the assembly, and said, 'If you can speak, I will set brush to it.' The assembly had no reply. The Master called the attendant and said, 'Hold the ladder firmly for this old monk.' Then he dotted the eyes.
遂寧府香山尼佛通禪師
Chan Master Fotong, nun of Xiangshan, Suiningfu
因誦蓮經有省。往見石門。乃曰。成都吃不得也。遂寧吃不得也。門拈拄杖打出。通忽悟曰。榮者自榮。謝者自謝。秋露春風。好不著便。門拂袖歸方丈。師亦不顧而出。由此道俗景從。得法者眾。
While reciting the Lotus Sutra she had an awakening. She went to see Shimen and said, 'In Chengdu it cannot be eaten; in Suining too it cannot be eaten.' Shimen picked up his staff and drove her out. Fotong suddenly awakened and said, 'Those who flourish flourish of themselves; those who wither wither of themselves. Autumn dew and spring wind—how inopportune!' Shimen shook out his sleeve and returned to the abbot's quarters. The Master also paid him no heed and went out. From this both lay and monastic followed her like a shadow, and many attained the dharma.
淨因覺禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jue of Jingyin
東京華嚴真懿慧蘭禪師
Chan Master Huilan Zhenyi of Huayan, the Eastern Capital
上堂。達磨大師。九年面壁。未開口已前。不妨令人疑著。卻被神光座主一覷。腳手忙亂。便道。吾本來茲土。傳法救迷情。一華開五葉。結果自然成。當時若有箇漢。腦後有照破古今底眼目。手中有截斷虗空底鉗鎚。才見恁麼道。便與驀𮌎搊住。問他道。一華五葉且拈放一邊。作麼生是你傳底法。待伊開口。便與掀倒禪床。直饒達磨全機。也倒退三千里。免見千古之下。負累兒孫。華嚴今日。豈可徒然。非唯重整頹綱。且要為諸人雪屈。遂拈拄杖橫按。召大眾曰。達磨大師向甚處去也。擲拄杖。下座。上堂。拈拄杖曰。靈山會上。喚作拈花。少室峰前。名為得髓。從上古德。祇可傍觀。末代宗師。盡皆拱手。華嚴今日不可逐浪隨波。擬向萬仞峰前點出普天春色。會麼。髑髏無喜識。枯木有龍吟。
Ascending the hall: 'Great Master Bodhidharma sat facing the wall for nine years. Before he opened his mouth, he could well make people doubt—yet one glance from the lecture master Shenguang and his hands and feet were in confusion, and he said: 'I came to this land to transmit the dharma and save deluded beings; one flower opens five petals.'' The fruit ripens of itself. If at that time there had been a fellow with an eye at the back of his head that illumines through past and present, and a hammer in his hand that cuts off empty space, as soon as he saw him speak thus he would have seized him by the chest and asked, 'One flower, five petals—set that aside for now. What is the dharma you transmit?' And when he opened his mouth, he would have overturned the meditation platform. Even Bodhidharma at full capacity would have retreated three thousand miles, sparing his descendants from being burdened for a thousand ages. Today at Huayan, how could it be in vain? Not only to set the fallen order upright again, but to wipe away the grievance for you all. Then he picked up his staff, held it crosswise, called to the assembly, and said, 'Where has Great Master Bodhidharma gone?' He threw down the staff and left the seat. Ascending the hall, he picked up his staff and said, 'At the Vulture Peak assembly it was called holding up a flower; before Shaoshi Peak it was named obtaining the marrow. The ancient virtuous ones of old could only look on; the masters of the last age all folded their hands. Today at Huayan I cannot follow the waves and go with the current; I intend, before a ten-thousand-fathom peak, to point out the spring colors of the whole sky.' Do you understand? The skull has no delight; the withered tree has a dragon's roar.
天寧誧禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Pu of Tianning
西京熊耳慈禪師
Chan Master Ci of Xiong'er, the Western Capital
上堂。般若無知。應緣而照。山僧今日撒屎撒尿。這邊放。那邊屙。東山西嶺笑呵呵。幸然一片清涼地。剛被熊峰染汙他。染汙他。莫啾唧。泥牛木馬盡呵叱。過犯彌天且莫論。再得清明又何日。還會麼。來年更有新條在。惱亂春風卒未休。
Ascending the hall: 'Prajna does not know, yet responds to conditions and illumines. Today this mountain monk shits and pisses—discharging on this side, defecating on that side. The eastern mountain and western ridge laugh heartily. A fine pure cool land, and just now Xiong Peak has defiled it—defiled it, so stop your chattering.' The mud ox and wooden horse are all scolded. Offenses filling the sky—say no more of them. When will clarity come again? Do you understand? Next year there will be new sprouts again; troubling the spring wind, it never ends.
大洪遂禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Sui of Dahong
隨州大洪慶顯禪師
Chan Master Qingxian of Dahong, Suizhou
僧問。須菩提巖中宴坐。帝釋雨華。和尚新據洪峰。有何祥瑞。師曰。鐵牛耕破扶桑國。迸出金烏照海門。曰。未審是何宗旨。師曰。熨斗煎荼銚不同。
A monk asked, 'Subhuti sat at ease in the rock and Indra rained flowers. The Reverend has newly taken up Hong Peak—what auspicious sign is there?' The Master said, 'The iron ox plows through the land of Fusang; the golden crow bursts forth and shines on the sea gate.' The monk said, 'I wonder what principle that is.' The Master said, 'An ironing pan and a tea kettle are not the same.'
大洪智禪師法嗣
Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhi of Dahong
越州天章樞禪師
Chan Master Shu of Tianzhang, Yuezhou