Records of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Ten

僧問。昔日先師語。如何透法身。師曰。萬仞峰前句。不與白雲齊。問。如何是動乾坤句。師曰。透出龍宮飜大海。掌開日月倒須彌。問。如何是出家人。師曰。深。曰。如何是出家法。師曰。苦。

A monk asked, 'What is my late teacher's phrase from days gone by—how does it penetrate the dharma-body?' The Master said, 'The phrase before the ten-thousand-fathom peak does not rank with the white clouds.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that shakes heaven and earth?' The Master said, 'Piercing out of the dragon palace and overturning the great sea, opening the palm and turning Sumeru upside down.' A monk asked, 'What is a person who has left home?' The Master said, 'Deep.' He said, 'What is the dharma of leaving home?' The Master said, 'Bitter.'

自巖上座

Upadhyaya Ziyan

僧問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。甎瓦泥土。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。含齒戴髮。問。如何是大人相。師曰。不曾作模樣。曰。如何是老人相。師曰。無力把拄杖。問。洞山麻三斤。意旨如何。師曰。八十婆婆不粧梳。

A monk asked, 'What is the seamless stupa?' The Master said, 'Bricks, tiles, mud, earth.' He said, 'Who is the person in the stupa?' The Master said, 'One who keeps his teeth and wears his hair.' A monk asked, 'What is the mark of a great man?' The Master said, 'I have never put on an appearance.' He said, 'What is the mark of an old man?' The Master said, 'No strength to hold the staff.' A monk asked, 'Dongshan's three catties of hemp—what is the purport?' The Master said, 'An eighty-year-old granny does not dress her hair.'

香林遠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yuan of Xianglin

隨州智門光祚禪師(先住北塔)

Chan Master Guangzuo of Zhimen, Suizhou (he first dwelt at Beita)

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。踏破草鞋赤腳走。曰。如何是佛向上事。師曰。拄杖頭上挑日月。問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。眼不見鼻。曰。便恁麼領會時如何。師曰。鼻孔裡呷羹。問。曹谿路上還有俗談也無。師曰。六祖是盧行者。問。一切智智清淨。還有地獄也無。師曰。閻羅王是鬼做。上堂。一法若有。毗盧墮在凡夫。萬法若無。普賢失其境界。正當恁麼時。文殊向甚麼處出頭。若也出頭不得。金毛師子腰折。幸好一盤飯。莫待糝椒薑。上堂。山僧記得。在母胎中有一則語。今日舉似大眾。諸人不得作道理商量。還有人商量得麼。若商量不得。三十年後不得錯舉。問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。滿眼是埃塵。問。古鏡未磨時如何。師曰。也祇是箇銅片。曰。磨後如何。師曰。且收取。問。如何是般若體。師曰。蚌含明月。曰。如何是般若用。師曰。兔子懷胎。問。金剛眼中著得箇甚麼。師曰。一把沙。曰。為甚麼如此。師曰。非公境界。問。如何是無縫塔。師曰。四稜著地。曰。如何是塔中人。師曰。鼻孔三斤秤不起。問。蓮花未出水時如何。師曰。蓮花。曰。出水後如何。師曰。荷葉。上堂。汝等諸人橫擔拄杖。出一叢林。入一叢林。你道叢林有幾種。或有旃檀叢林。旃檀圍繞。或有荊棘叢林。荊棘圍繞。或有荊棘叢林。旃檀圍繞。或有旃檀叢林。荊棘圍繞。祇如四種叢林。是汝諸人在阿那箇叢林裡安身立命。若無安身立命處。虗踏破草鞋。閻羅王徵你草鞋錢有日在。上堂。雪峰輥毬。羅漢書字。歸宗斬蛇。大隨燒畬。且道明甚麼邊事。還有人明得麼。試道看。若明不得。所以道。斬蛇須是斬蛇手。燒畬須是燒畬人。瞥起情塵生妄見。眼裡無筋一世貧。上堂。赫日裡我人。雲霧裡慈悲。霜雪裡假褐。雹子裡藏身。還藏得身麼。若藏不得。卻被雹子打破髑髏。上堂。東家李四婆。西家來乞火。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Treading through straw sandals, walking barefoot.' He said, 'What is the matter above the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Picking up sun and moon on the tip of the staff.' A monk asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Master said, 'The eye does not see the nose.' He said, 'What of one who understands it just like that?' The Master said, 'Sipping soup through the nostril.' A monk asked, 'On the Caoxi road is there still worldly talk?' The Master said, 'The Sixth Patriarch was the wayfarer Lu.' A monk asked, 'The wisdom of all wisdom is pure—is there still hell?' The Master said, 'King Yama is made by ghosts.' Ascending the hall: 'If one dharma exists, Vairocana falls into the state of an ordinary man; if the ten thousand dharmas are absent, Samantabhadra loses his realm. Just at such a time, where does Manjushri come forth? If he cannot come forth, the golden-haired lion's waist is broken. There is a good plate of rice—do not wait to sprinkle pepper and ginger.' Ascending the hall: 'This mountain monk remembers that in his mother's womb he had one phrase. Today I bring it up before the assembly; you people must not deliberate it as principle. Is there anyone who can deliberate it? If you cannot deliberate it, thirty years from now do not bring it up wrongly.' A monk asked, 'What is the pure dharma-body?' The Master said, 'The eyes are full of dust.' A monk asked, 'What of when the ancient mirror has not been polished?' The Master said, 'It is only a piece of copper.' He said, 'And after polishing?' The Master said, 'Put it away for now.' A monk asked, 'What is the essence of prajna?' The Master said, 'The oyster holds the bright moon.' He said, 'What is the function of prajna?' The Master said, 'The hare is pregnant.' A monk asked, 'What can be put in a diamond eye?' The Master said, 'A handful of sand.' He said, 'Why is it so?' The Master said, 'Not your province.' A monk asked, 'What is the seamless stupa?' The Master said, 'Four corners on the ground.' He said, 'Who is the person in the stupa?' The Master said, 'His nostril cannot be weighed with a three-catty scale.' A monk asked, 'What of when the lotus has not yet come out of the water?' The Master said, 'Lotus.' He said, 'And after it comes out of the water?' The Master said, 'Lotus leaf.' Ascending the hall: 'You people shoulder your staffs crosswise and leave one monastery, enter another monastery. Tell me, how many kinds of monasteries are there? There are sandalwood monasteries surrounded by sandalwood; there are thorny monasteries surrounded by thorns; there are thorny monasteries surrounded by sandalwood.' Or sandalwood monasteries surrounded by thorns. Just these four kinds of monasteries—in which monastery do you people settle your body and establish your life? If you have no place to settle your body and establish your life, you tread your straw sandals in vain. The day will come when King Yama will dun you for the price of your straw sandals. Ascending the hall. Xuefeng rolls the ball; Luohan writes characters; Guizong beheads the snake; Dasui burns the fields. Tell me, what matter do they illuminate? Is there anyone who understands it? Try and speak. If you cannot understand it, therefore it is said: to behead a snake you must be a snake-beheading hand; to burn fields you must be a field-burning man. When the dust of feeling suddenly arises, deluded views are born; with no sinew in the eye, a whole life of poverty.' Ascending the hall: 'In the blazing sun, I and others; in cloud and mist, compassion; in frost and snow, a borrowed robe; in hail, hiding the body. Can you hide the body? If you cannot hide it, the hail will break open your skull.' Ascending the hall: 'Old Mother Li of the eastern house.'

門外立少時。嗔他停滯我。惡發走歸家。虗心屋裡坐。可憐群小兒。終日受饑餓。有眼不點睛。空鏁髑髏破。

She stood outside the door a while, angry that he had delayed her. In a fury she ran back home and sat in the house with an empty heart. Pity the crowd of little children who suffer hunger all day. Having eyes but not dotting the pupils, they lock up the skull in vain and break it.

灌州羅漢和尚

The Reverend of Luohan, Guanzhou

僧問。如何是佛。師曰。牛頭阿旁。曰。如何是法。師曰。劒樹刀山。問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。井中紅燄。日裡浮漚。曰。如何領會。師曰。遙指扶桑日那邊。問。如何是本來心。師曰。蹉過了也。

A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Ox-Head and Horse-Face.' He said, 'What is the dharma?' The Master said, 'The sword-tree and the blade-mountain.' A monk asked, 'What is the great meaning of the Buddha dharma?' The Master said, 'Red flame in a well, a floating bubble in the sun.' He said, 'How shall I understand it?' The Master said, 'Pointing far off at the sun beyond Fusang.' A monk asked, 'What is the original mind?' The Master said, 'You have already stumbled past it.'

灌州青城香林信禪師

Chan Master Xin of Qingcheng Xianglin, Guanzhou

僧問。覿面相呈時如何。師曰。築著孔鼻。

A monk asked, 'What of when face to face it is presented?' The Master said, 'It bumps against the nostrils.'

洞山初禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Chu of Dongshan

潭州福嚴良雅禪師

Chan Master Liangya of Fuyan, Tanzhou

居洞山第一座。山參次。僧出問。如何是佛。山答曰。麻三斤。參罷。山至寮謂師曰。我今日答這僧話。得麼。曰。恰值某淨髮。山曰。你元來作這去就。拂袖便出。師曰。這老漢將謂我明他這話頭不得。因作偈呈曰。五彩畫牛頭。黃金為點額。春晴二月初。農人皆取則。寒食賀新正。鐵錢三五百。山見。深肯之。住福嚴日。僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。入門便見。

He held the position of first seat at Dongshan. When Shan was calling, a monk came forward and asked, 'What is the Buddha?' Shan answered, 'Three catties of hemp.' When the calling was over, Shan came to the quarters and said to the Master, 'Was my answer to that monk today acceptable?' He said, 'It happened that I was having my head shaved.' Shan said, 'So that is how you carry on.' He shook out his sleeve and left. The Master said, 'This old fellow thinks I cannot understand this topic of his.' So he made a verse and presented it: 'A five-colored painting of an ox's head, with gold for the dot on its brow. On a clear spring day in the second month, the farmers all take it as their rule. At the Cold Food Festival they congratulate the new year, with three or five hundred iron coins.' Shan saw it and deeply approved of him. On the day he dwelt at Fuyan, a monk asked, 'What is the Reverend's family style?' The Master said, 'You see it as soon as you enter the gate.'

荊南府開福德賢禪師

Chan Master Dexian of Kaifu, Jingnanfu

僧問。去離不得時如何。師曰。子承父業。問。如何是衲僧活計。師曰。耳裡種田。上堂。不用思而知。不用慮而解。知解俱泯。合談何事。良久曰。一葉落。天下秋。問。承和尚有言。隔江招手。意旨如何。師曰。被裡張帆。曰。恁麼則南山起雲。北山下雨去也。師曰。踏不著。

A monk asked, 'What of when one can neither leave nor stay?' The Master said, 'The son inherits the father's trade.' A monk asked, 'What is the patch-robed monk's livelihood?' The Master said, 'Planting fields in the ear.' Ascending the hall: 'No need to know by thinking, no need to understand by deliberating. When knowing and understanding are both extinguished, what matter should be discussed?' After a long while he said, 'One leaf falls and the whole world is autumn.' A monk asked, 'The Reverend has said, 'Beckoning across the river'—what is the purport?' The Master said, 'Hoisting sail under the quilt.' He said, 'Then the southern mountain raises clouds and the northern mountain rains.' The Master said, 'You have not trodden on it.'

潭州報慈嵩禪師

Chan Master Song of Baoci, Tanzhou

僧問。北斗藏身。意旨如何。師曰。百歲老人入漆甕。

A monk asked, 'The Northern Dipper hides the body—what is the purport?' The Master said, 'A hundred-year-old man entering a lacquer jar.'

嶽州乾明睦禪師

Chan Master Mu of Qianming, Yuezhou

問洞山。停機罷賞時如何。山曰。水底弄傀儡。師曰。誰是看翫者。山曰。停機罷賞者。師曰。恁麼則知音不和也。山曰。知音底事作麼生。師曰。大盡三十日。山曰。未在更道。師曰。某甲合吃和尚手中痛棒。山休去。問。昔日靈山記。今朝嗣阿誰。師曰。楚山突兀。漢水東流。曰。恁麼則洞山的嗣也。師曰。聽事不真。喚鐘作甕。

He asked Dongshan, 'What of when one stops the loom and ends the revels?' Shan said, 'Working puppets at the bottom of the water.' The Master said, 'Who is the one who watches the play?' Shan said, 'The one who stops the loom and ends the revels.' The Master said, 'Then one who knows the tune is not in harmony.' Shan said, 'What of the matter of one who knows the tune?' The Master said, 'The great month has thirty days.' Shan said, 'Not yet—speak further.' The Master said, 'I deserve a sharp blow from the Reverend's hand.' Shan dropped the matter. A monk asked, 'The ancient prophecy of Vulture Peak—who inherits it today?' The Master said, 'Mount Chu juts up, the Han River flows east.' He said, 'Then he is Dongshan's heir.' The Master said, 'You hear the matter imperfectly, calling a bell a jar.'

鄧州廣濟院同禪師

Chan Master Tong of Guangji Monastery, Dengzhou

僧問。萬緣息盡時如何。師曰。三腳蝦蟇飛上天。問。如何是透法身句。師曰。華嶽三峰小。曰。此意如何。師曰。黃河輥底流。

A monk asked, 'What of when the ten thousand conditions are all extinguished?' The Master said, 'A three-legged toad flies up to heaven.' A monk asked, 'What is the phrase that penetrates the dharma-body?' The Master said, 'The three peaks of Mount Hua are small.' He said, 'What does this mean?' The Master said, 'The Yellow River rolls and flows at the bottom.'

韶州東平山洪教禪師

Chan Master Hongjiao of Mount Dongping, Shaozhou

僧問。如何是向上關。師竪起拂子。僧曰。學人未曉。乞師再指。師曰。非公境界。曰。和尚豈無方便。師曰。再犯不容。

A monk asked, 'What is the gate above?' The Master raised his whisk. The monk said, 'This student does not yet understand; I beg the Master to point again.' The Master said, 'Not your province.' He said, 'Has the Reverend no expedient means?' The Master said, 'A second offense will not be forgiven.'

泐潭謙禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Qian of Letan

䖍州丫山宗盛禪師

Chan Master Zongsheng of Mount Ya, Qianzhou

上堂。鐘聲清。鼓聲響。早晚相聞休妄想。薦得徒勞別問津。莫道山僧無伎倆。咄。

Ascending the hall: 'The bell sound is clear, the drum sound is loud; hearing them morning and evening, put an end to delusive thinking. Having understood it, it is labor in vain to ask the ford elsewhere. Do not say this mountain monk has no tricks. Ho!'

奉先深禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shen of Fengxian

天台蓮華峰祥菴主

The Hermitage Master of Xiang Hermitage, Lotus Peak, Mount Tiantai

僧問。如何是雪嶺泥牛吼。師曰。聽。曰。如何是雲門木馬嘶。師曰。響。示寂曰。拈拄杖示眾曰。古人到這裡。為甚麼不肯住。眾無對。師乃曰。為他途路不得力。復曰。畢竟如何。以杖橫肩曰。楖栗橫擔不顧人。直入千峰萬峰去。言畢而逝。

A monk asked, 'What is the snow-ridge mud ox's roar?' The Master said, 'Listen.' He said, 'What is Yunmen's wooden horse's neigh?' The Master said, 'Resounding.' When he was about to pass away he said, 'Here the ancients arrived—why would they not stay?' The assembly had no reply. The Master then said, 'Because the road is of no strength.' He said again, 'After all, how is it?' He put his staff across his shoulder and said, 'Pilicha carried crosswise, heedless of others, going straight into a thousand peaks and ten thousand peaks.' When the words were finished he passed away.

江州崇聖御禪師

Chan Master Yu of Chongsheng, Jiangzhou

僧問。如何是學人受用三昧。師曰。橫擔拄杖。曰。意旨如何。師曰。步步踏實。

A monk asked, 'What is the samadhi that the student enjoys?' The Master said, 'Carrying the staff across the shoulder.' He said, 'What does it mean?' The Master said, 'Every step lands solidly.'

雙泉鬱禪師法嗣

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yu of Shuangquan

鼎州德山慧遠禪師

Chan Master Huiyuan of Deshan in Dingzhou

開堂示眾曰。無量法門悉已具足。然雖如是。且須委悉。始得其餘方便。昔時聖人互出。乃曰。傳燈。爾後賢者差肩。故云繼祖。是以心心相傳。法法相印。且作麼生傳。作麼生印。舉起拂子曰。此乃人天同證。若如是也遞相證明。其或未曉之徒。請垂下問。僧問。如何是祖師西來意。師曰。鐵門路險。解夏上堂。僧問。九旬禁足今已滿。自恣之儀事若何。師曰。猢猻趂蛺蝶。九步作一歇。曰。意旨如何。師示頌曰。兩箇童兒舁木鼓。左邊打了右邊舞。剎那變現百千般。分明示君君記取。問。亡僧遷化。向甚麼處去。師曰。烏龜鑽破壁。上堂。枕石潄流。任運天真。不見古者道。撥霞掃雪和雲母。掘石移松得茯苓。當恁麼時復何言哉。諸禪德要會麼。聽取一頌。雪霽長空。迥野飛鴻。段雲片片。向西向東。

When he opened the hall he addressed the assembly: 'The immeasurable Dharma gates are all already complete. Yet though it is so, one must first be thorough, and only then do the remaining expedient means come. In former times the sages appeared one after another,' and he said, 'and transmitted the lamp; afterwards the worthy ones came shoulder to shoulder, and so it is called succeeding the Ancestors. Thus mind is transmitted to mind, and dharma is sealed by dharma. But how do you transmit, and how do you seal?' He raised his whisk and said, 'This is what men and gods alike certify. If it is so, then you certify one another in turn. If there are those who have not yet understood,' he asked them to come forward and ask. A monk asked, 'What is the Ancestor's meaning of the coming from the West?' The Master said, 'The iron gate's road is perilous.' At the end of the summer retreat he ascended the hall. A monk asked, 'The ninety days of confinement are now full; what of the ceremony of free confession?' The Master said, 'A monkey chases a butterfly, and every nine steps takes one rest.' He said, 'What does it mean?' The Master showed a verse: 'Two boys carry a wooden drum; the left one strikes and the right one dances. In an instant it changes into a hundred thousand forms. Clearly I show it to you — you, remember it.' He asked, 'Where does a dead monk go when he passes away?' The Master said, 'A turtle drills through a wall.' Ascending the hall: 'Pillowing on stone and rinsing in the stream, one follows the turns of heaven's truth. Have you not heard the ancients say: parting the mist and sweeping the snow, one gathers mica; digging the rock and moving the pine, one gets fu-ling. At such a time, what more is there to say? Chan worthies, do you want to understand? Hear one verse: the snow clears and the long sky is vast; in the far wilds a wild goose flies; a patch of cloud, piece by piece, goes west and goes east.'

襄州含珠山彬禪師

Chan Master Bin of Hanzhu Mountain in Xiangzhou