Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Volume Twenty-Seven

塵異

Dust and Difference

濁者自濁清者清。菩提煩惱等空平。誰言卞璧無人鑒。我道驪珠到處晶。萬法泯時全體現。三乘分別強安名。丈夫皆有沖天志。莫向如來行處行。

The turbid are naturally turbid, the pure naturally pure. Bodhi and affliction are equal and empty. Who says the Bian jade has no one to appraise it? I say the Li pearl is bright everywhere. When the myriad dharmas are extinguished, the whole substance appears. The distinctions of the Three Vehicles are forcibly given names. All great men have aspirations to pierce the heavens. Do not walk where the Tathagata has walked.

演教

Expounding the Teaching

三乘次第演金言。三世如來亦共宣。初說有空人盡執。後非空有眾皆緣。龍宮滿藏醫方義。鶴樹終談理未玄。真淨界中才一念。閻浮早已八千年。

The Three Vehicles expound the golden words in sequence. The Tathagatas of the three times also proclaim them together. At first, when existence and emptiness are taught, people all grasp at them. Later, neither emptiness nor existence, and the multitude all condition themselves. The dragon palace is full of the meaning of the medical prescriptions. The crane tree finally speaks, but the principle is not yet profound. In the true pure realm, only one thought has arisen, and Jambudvipa has already been eight thousand years.

達本

Reaching the Root

勿於中路事空王。策杖還須達本鄉。雲水隔時君莫住。雪山深處我非忘。尋思去日顏如玉。嗟歎迴來鬢似霜。撒手到家人不識。更無一物獻尊堂。

Do not serve the empty king midway. Leaning on your staff, you must still reach your native village. When clouds and waters separate you, do not dwell there. In the depths of the snow mountain, I have not forgotten. Thinking of the day of departure, the face was like jade. Alas, on returning, the temples are like frost. Letting go and arriving home, the family does not recognize you. There is not a single thing to offer to the honored hall.

還源

Returning to the Source

返本還源事已差。本來無住不名家。萬年松逕雪深覆。一帶峰巒雲更遮。賓主穆時全是妄。君臣合處正中邪。還鄉曲調如何唱。明月堂前枯樹華。

Returning to the root and going back to the source—the matter is already mistaken. Originally without dwelling, it is not named a family. The ten-thousand-year pine path is deeply covered by snow. A belt of peaks is further veiled by clouds. When host and guest are harmonious, it is entirely false. Where ruler and minister unite, there is precisely deviation. How shall the tune of returning home be sung? In the bright moon hall, a withered tree blooms.

迴機

Turning the Mechanism

涅槃城裡尚猶危。陌路相逢沒定期。權掛垢衣雲是佛。卻裝珍御復名誰。木人夜半穿靴去。石女天明戴帽歸。萬古碧潭空界月。再三撈漉始應知。

In the city of Nirvana, there is still danger. Meeting on a strange road has no fixed time. Provisionally hanging a soiled robe, one says it is the Buddha. But then adorned with precious robes, who is it again? The wooden man puts on boots at midnight and leaves. The stone woman returns at dawn wearing a hat. The ancient emerald pool and the moon in the empty realm—only after repeated dredging should one know.

轉位

Turning the Position

披毛戴角入𮠔來。優缽羅華火裡開。煩惱海中為雨露。無明山上作雲雷。鑊湯爐炭吹教滅。劍樹刀山喝使摧。金鎖玄關留不住。行於異類且輪迴。

Wearing fur and horns, he enters the marketplace. (In the base text, the character "shi" follows the net radical; it should be "market.") The utpala flower opens in fire. In the sea of affliction, he becomes rain and dew. On the mountain of ignorance, he becomes cloud and thunder. The cauldron of boiling water and furnace coals—he blows and makes them extinguish. The sword trees and blade mountains—he shouts and makes them shatter. The golden lock and mysterious barrier cannot hold him. He walks among different kinds and still undergoes轮回.

一色

One Color

枯木巖前差路多。行人到此盡蹉跎。鷺鸞立雪非同色。明月蘆華不似他。了了了時無可了。玄玄玄處亦須訶。殷勤為唱玄中曲。空裡蟾光撮得麼。

Before the withered tree rock, there are many wrong paths. Travelers who reach here all stumble. The egret and heron standing in snow are not the same color. The bright moon and reed flowers are not like him. When thoroughly understood, there is nothing to be thoroughly understood. Even in the profoundest profundity, one must still scold. Earnestly I sing the song within the profound. Can you grasp the toad light in the sky?

雲頂山僧德敷詩十首

Ten Poems by the Monk Defu of Yunding Mountain

語默難測

Speech and Silence Are Hard to Fathom

閑坐冥然聖莫知。縱言無物比方伊。石人把板雲中拍。木女含笙水底吹。若道不聞渠未曉。欲尋其響爾還疑。教君唱和仍須和。休問宮商竹與絲。

Sitting idly in dark stillness, the sage knows it not. Even speaking of there being nothing, how can one compare it? The stone man claps the clappers in the clouds. The wooden woman holds a sheng and blows at the bottom of the water. If you say you do not hear it, you yourself do not understand. If you wish to seek its sound, you will still doubt. I teach you to sing in response and still you must respond. Do not ask about gong and shang, bamboo and silk.

祖教逈異

The ancestral teaching is utterly different.

祖意逈然傳一句。教中廣布引三乘。淨名倒嶽雷聲吼。鶖子孤潭月影澄。𮠔市賣魚忘進趣。巖林飼虎望超升。雖知同體權方便。也似炎天日裡燈。

The ancestral meaning is utterly distinct, transmitting one phrase. Within the teaching it is widely spread, drawing in the Three Vehicles. Vimalakirti topples Mount Sumeru, the thunder roars. Shariputra's lone pool is clear with the moon's reflection. In the marketplace selling fish, one forgets to advance. (The base text's character “shi” follows the net radical; it should be “shi” [market].) In the mountain forest feeding tigers, one hopes for transcendence and ascent. Though one knows it is the same substance and expedient means, it is also like a lamp in the blazing sun.

學雖得妙

Though in learning one attains the wondrous.

棲心學道數如塵。認得曹谿有幾人。若使聖凡無罣礙。便應甎瓦是修真。瞥然一念邪思起。已屬多生放逸因。不遇祖師親指的。臨機開口卒難陳。

Those who settle the mind in learning the Way are as numerous as dust. How many recognize Caoxi? If one could make sage and ordinary without obstruction, then bricks and tiles would be true cultivation. In a flash, when a single thought of false thinking arises, it already belongs to the cause of heedlessness over many lives. Without encountering the ancestral teacher's personal pointing, when facing the moment and opening the mouth, in the end it is hard to state.

問來祇對不得

When asked, one only responds, but cannot.

莫誇祇對句分明。執句尋言誤殺卿。只合文殊便是道。虧他居士杳無聲。見人須棄敲門物。知路仍忘堠子名。儻若不疑言會盡。何妨默默默浮生。

Do not boast that your responsive phrases are clear. Clinging to phrases and seeking words kills you by mistake. It is only fitting that Manjushri is precisely the Way. How much less the layman, silent and soundless. When seeing people, one must discard the thing that knocks on the door. Knowing the road, one still forgets the name of the milestone. If one does not doubt and speech is exhausted, what harm is there in silently, silently passing this floating life?

無指的

Without pointing.

不居南北與東西。上下虛空豈可齊。現小毛頭猶道廣。變長天外尚嫌低。頓乾四海紅塵起。能竭三塗黑業迷。如此萬般皆屬壞。更須前進問曹谿。

Not dwelling in north or south, east or west. Above and below, empty space—how could it be equaled? Manifesting small at the tip of a hair, one still says it is broad. Transforming long beyond the heavens, one still dislikes it as low. Instantly drying up the four seas, red dust arises. Able to exhaust the three evil paths, black karma deludes. Thus the myriad kinds all belong to ruin. Further, one must advance and ask Caoxi.

自樂僻執

Taking pleasure in one's own biased attachment.

雖然僻執不風流。懶出松門數十秋。合掌有時慵問佛。折腰誰肯見王侯。電光夢世非堅久。慾火蒼生早晚休。自蘊本來靈覺性。不能暫使掛心頭。

Though biased and attached, not elegant. Lazy to leave the pine gate for several tens of autumns. Sometimes when joining palms, too indolent to ask the Buddha. Who is willing to bow the waist to see princes and lords? The lightning-like dream world is not firm or long. The fire of desire for living beings—sooner or later it ceases. One naturally contains the original spiritual awakened nature, yet cannot for a moment hang it in the mind.

問答須知起倒

In question and answer, one must know rising and falling.

問答須教知起倒。龍頭蛇尾自欺謾。如王秉劍猶王意。似鏡當臺待鏡觀。眨眼參差千里莽。低頭思慮萬重灘。各於此道爭深見。何啻前程作野幹。

In question and answer, one must be taught to know rising and falling. A dragon's head and snake's tail are self-deception. Like a king holding a sword, still the king's intent. Like a mirror set on a stand, waiting for the mirror to reflect. In the blink of an eye, uneven, a thousand li of wilds. Lowering the head in thought, ten thousand layered rapids. Each in this Way contends for deep insight. How much less than a wild jackal on the road ahead?

言行相扶

Speech and action support each other.

言語行時不易行。如烏如兔兩光明。寧關晝夜精勤得。非是貪瞋懈怠生。菩薩尚猶難說到。聲聞焉敢擬論評。然無地位長閑坐。誰料龍神來捧迎。

When speech and action are practiced, it is not easy to practice. Like the crow and the hare, two lights. How could it depend on day and night, diligence and effort to attain? It is not born from greed, anger, or sloth. Even bodhisattvas still find it hard to speak of. How dare shravakas presume to discuss and judge it? Yet without rank or station, long sitting at leisure, who would expect dragons and spirits to come and welcome one?

一句子

A single phrase.

一句子玄不可盡。颯然會了奈渠何。非幹世事成無事。祖教心魔是佛魔。貧子喻中明此道。獻珠偈裡顯張羅。空門有路平兼廣。痛切相招誰肯過。

A single phrase's profundity cannot be exhausted. Suddenly comprehending it—what can be done about it? It does not concern worldly affairs yet becomes no affair. The ancestral teaching's mind-demon is the Buddha-demon. In the parable of the poor son, this Way is made clear. In the verse of presenting the pearl, the net is revealed. The gate of emptiness has a road both level and broad. Earnestly calling people—who is willing to pass through?

古今大意

The great meaning of ancient and modern.

古今以拂示東南。大意幽微肯易參。動指掩頭元是一。斜眸拊掌固非三。道吾無笏同人會。石鞏彎弓作者諳。此理若無師印授。欲將何見語玄談。

Ancient and modern point southeast with the whisk. The great meaning is hidden and subtle—who would readily investigate it? Moving a finger and covering the head are originally one. Slanting the eyes and clapping the hands are certainly not three. Daowu without the tablet, companions in the assembly. Shigong bending the bow—the adept understands. If this principle lacks a teacher's seal and transmission, with what view would one speak of profound discussion?

僧潤詩三首

Three poems by Monk Run.