Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3

京兆府崇禪師

Chan Master Chong of Jingzhao Prefecture

南嶽智周禪師

Chan Master Zhizhou of Nanyue

白虎法宣禪師

Chan Master Faxuan of Baihu

金窟惟直禪師

Chan Master Weizhi of Jinku

台州柏巖常徹禪師

Chan Master Changche of Baiyan in Taizhou

乾元暉禪師

Chan Master Hui of Qianyuan

齊州道巖禪師

Chan Master Daoyan of Qizhou

襄州常堅禪師

Chan Master Changjian of Xiangzhou

荊南寶貞禪師

Chan Master Baozhen of Jingnan

雲水靖宗禪師

Chan Master Jingzong of Yunshui

荊州永泰寺靈湍禪師

Chan Master Lingtuan of Yongtai Temple in Jingzhou

潭州龍牙山圓暢禪師

Chan Master Yuanchang of Mount Longya in Tanzhou

洪州雙嶺道方禪師

Chan Master Daofang of Shuangling in Hongzhou

羅浮山修廣禪師

Chan Master Xiuguang of Mount Luofu

峴山定慶禪師

Chan Master Dingqing of Mount Xian

越州洞泉惟獻禪師

Chan Master Weixian of Dongquan in Yuezhou

光明普滿禪師(已上二十七人無機緣語句不錄)

Chan Master Puman of Guangming (the above twenty-seven have no recorded encounter sayings and are not recorded)

懷讓禪師第二世法嗣

Dharma Heirs of the Second Generation of Chan Master Huairang

潭州三角山總印禪師。僧問。如何是三寶。師曰。禾麥豆。曰學人不會。師曰。大眾欣然奉持。師上堂曰。若論此事眨上眉毛早已蹉過也。麻谷便問。眨上眉毛即不問。如何是此事。師曰。蹉過也。麻谷乃掀禪床。師打之。麻谷無語(長慶代雲。悄然)。

Chan Master Zongyin of Mount Sanjiao in Tanzhou. A monk asked: "What are the Three Jewels?" The Master said: "Rice, wheat, and beans." He said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "The assembly gladly receive and uphold them." The Master ascended the hall and said: "If we speak of this matter, to blink the eyebrows is already to miss it." Magu then asked: "I do not ask about blinking the eyebrows; what is this matter?" The Master said: "You have missed it." Magu then overturned the meditation seat. The Master struck him. Magu had no words. (Changqing replaced it with: "Silence.")

池州魯祖山寶雲禪師。問如何是諸佛師。師雲。頭上有寶冠者不是。僧雲。如何即是。師雲。頭上無寶冠。洞山來參禮拜後侍立少頃而出。卻再入來。師雲。只恁麼只恁麼所以如此。洞山雲。大有人不肯。師雲。作麼取汝口辨。洞山乃侍奉數月。僧問。如何是言不言。師雲。汝口在什麼處。僧雲。無口。師雲。將什麼吃飯。僧無對(洞山代雲。他不飢吃什麼飯)師尋常見僧來便面壁。南泉聞雲。我尋常向僧道。向佛未出世時會取。尚不得一箇半箇。他恁麼地驢年去(玄覺雲。為復唱和語不肯語。保福問長慶。只如魯祖節文在什麼處被南泉恁麼道。長慶雲。退己讓於人。萬中無一箇。羅山雲。陳老師當時若見。背上與五火抄。何故如此。為伊解放不解收。玄沙雲。我當時若見也與五火抄。雲居錫雲。羅山玄沙總恁麼道。為復一般別有道理若擇得出。許上坐佛法有去處。玄覺雲。且道。玄沙五火抄。打伊著不著)。

Chan Master Baoyun of Mount Luzu in Chizhou. A monk asked: "What is the teacher of all Buddhas?" The Master said: "One with a jeweled crown on his head is not." The monk said: "Then what is?" The Master said: "One with no jeweled crown on his head." Dongshan came to visit, bowed, stood in attendance for a short while and left, then came in again. The Master said: "Just so, just so; that is why it is so." Dongshan said: "There are many who would not agree." The Master said: "What use is it to take your word for it?" Dongshan then served him for several months. A monk asked: "What is speaking without speaking?" The Master said: "Where is your mouth?" The monk said: "I have no mouth." The Master said: "What do you use to eat?" The monk had no reply. (Dongshan answered for him: "He is not hungry, so why would he eat?") The Master, whenever he saw a monk come, would usually face the wall. Nanquan, hearing of it, said: "I usually tell monks: understand it before the Buddha appeared in the world, and still you will not get even one or half of them. If he is like this, it will be the year of the donkey." (Xuanjue said: "Was this an echoing remark, or one of disapproval?" Baofu asked Changqing: "Where was the point of Luzu's conduct, that Nanquan spoke of it this way?" Changqing said: "Retreating oneself and yielding to others, not one in ten thousand does so." Luoshan said: "If Old Chen had seen it then, he would have given him five blows of fire on his back. Why so? Because he knew how to let go but did not know how to gather in." Xuansha said: "If I had seen it then, I would also have given him five blows of fire." Yunju Xi said: "Luoshan and Xuansha both say this; is it the same, or is there another principle? If you can pick it out, I will allow that you have a place for the Buddha-dharma." Xuanjue said: "Tell me, would Xuansha's five blows of fire hit him or not?")

洪州泐潭常興禪師。僧問。如何是曹谿門下客。師雲。南來燕。僧雲。學人不會。師雲。養羽候秋風。僧問。如何是宗乘極則事。師雲。秋雨草離披。又南泉躬至見師面壁乃拊師背。問汝是阿誰。曰普願。師曰。如何。曰也尋常。師曰。汝何多事。

Chan Master Changxing of Letan in Hongzhou. A monk asked: "What is a guest at the gate of Caoxi?" The Master said: "A swallow coming from the south." The monk said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "It nurtures its feathers and waits for the autumn wind." A monk asked: "What is the ultimate matter of the lineage?" The Master said: "Autumn rain, the grass scattered and sprawling." Also, Nanquan came in person and saw the Master facing the wall, and patted the Master on the back, asking: "Who are you?" He said: "Puyuan." The Master said: "How so?" He said: "It is just ordinary." The Master said: "Why are you so meddlesome?"

虔州西堂智藏禪師者。虔化人也。姓廖氏。八歲從師。二十五具戒。有相者覩其殊表。謂之曰。師骨氣非凡。當為法王之輔佐也。師遂往佛跡巖參禮大寂。與百丈海禪師同為入室。皆承印記。一日大寂遣師詣長安。奉書於忠國師。國師問曰。汝師說什麼法。師從東過西而立。國師曰。只遮箇更別有。師卻過東邊立。國師曰。遮箇是馬師底。仁者作麼生。師曰。早箇呈似和尚了。尋又送書往徑山與國一禪師(語在國一章)屬連帥路嗣恭延請大寂居府應期盛化。師迴郡得大寂付授納袈裟令學者親近。僧問馬祖。請和尚離四句絕百非。直指某甲西來意。祖雲。我今日無心情。汝去問取智藏。其僧乃來問師。師雲。汝何不問和尚。僧雲。和尚令某甲來問上坐。師以手摩頭雲。今日頭疼。汝去問海師兄。其僧又去問海(百丈和尚)海雲。我到遮裡卻不會。僧乃舉似馬祖。祖雲。藏頭白海頭黑。馬祖一日問師雲。子何不看經。師雲。經豈異邪。祖雲。然雖如此。汝向後為人也須得。曰智藏病思自養。敢言為人。祖雲。子末年必興於世也。馬祖滅後。師唐貞元七年眾請開堂。李尚書翱嘗問僧。馬大師有什麼言教。僧雲。大師或說即心即佛。或說非心非佛。李雲。總過遮邊。李卻問師。馬大師有什麼言教。師呼李翱。翱應諾。師雲。鼓角動也。制空禪師謂師曰。日出太早生。師曰。正是時。師住西堂。後有一俗士問。有天堂地獄否。師曰有。曰有佛法僧寶否。師曰有。更有多問盡答言有。曰和尚恁麼道莫錯否。師曰。汝曾見尊宿來耶。曰某甲曾參徑山和尚來。師曰。徑山向汝作麼生道。曰他道一切總無。師曰。汝有妻否。曰有。師曰。徑山和尚有妻否。曰無。師曰。徑山和尚道無即得俗士禮謝而去。師元和九年四月八日歸寂。壽八十臘五十五。憲宗諡大宣教禪師。塔曰元和證真。至穆宗重諡大覺禪師。

Chan Master Zhizang of Xitang in Qianzhou was a man of Qianhua, surnamed Liao. He followed a teacher at eight and received full ordination at twenty-five. A physiognomist, seeing his unusual appearance, said to him: "Master, your bearing is extraordinary; you are destined to be an assistant to the King of the Dharma." The Master then went to Foji Cliff to pay respects to Dazhi (Mazu), and together with Chan Master Hai of Baizhang entered his inner room, and both received his seal of confirmation. One day Dazhi sent the Master to Chang'an to deliver a letter to National Teacher Zhong. The National Teacher asked: "What Dharma does your teacher teach?" The Master walked from east to west and stood. The National Teacher said: "Just this, or is there something more?" The Master walked back to the east and stood. The National Teacher said: "This is Master Ma's; what about you, virtuous one?" The Master said: "I already presented it to the Reverend earlier." Soon he also delivered a letter to Chan Master Guoyi at Jingshan (the words are in the section on Guoyi). When the provincial governor Lu Sigong invited Dazhi to reside in the prefecture, he taught widely as the time required. The Master returned to his district and received from Dazhi the patched kasaya he had been entrusted with, to have students draw near to him. A monk asked Mazu: "Please, Reverend, leave aside the four propositions and cut off the hundred negations, and directly point out to me the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West." Mazu said: "I am not in the mood today; go and ask Zhizang." The monk then came and asked the Master. The Master said: "Why do you not ask the Reverend?" The monk said: "The Reverend told me to ask you." The Master rubbed his head with his hand and said: "I have a headache today; go and ask Elder Brother Hai." The monk went again to ask Hai (Reverend Baizhang). Hai said: "When I get here I do not understand." The monk then reported it to Mazu. Mazu said: "Zang's head is white, Hai's head is black." One day Mazu asked the Master: "Why do you not read the sutras?" The Master said: "Are the sutras different from this?" Mazu said: "Even so, in the future you will need it to teach people." He said: "Zhizang is ill and thinks of nursing himself; how dare I speak of teaching others?" Mazu said: "In your later years you will surely flourish in the world." After Mazu passed away, in the seventh year of Zhenyuan of the Tang, the assembly requested the Master to open the hall. The Minister Li Ao once asked a monk: "What teaching did Great Master Ma give?" The monk said: "The Great Master sometimes said that the mind is Buddha, and sometimes said no mind, no Buddha." Li said: "All of it passes over to this side." Li then asked the Master: "What teaching did Great Master Ma give?" The Master called out to Li Ao. Ao answered. The Master said: "The drums and horns have sounded." Chan Master Zhikong said to the Master: "The sun has come out too early." The Master said: "It is just the time." The Master lived at Xitang. Later a layman asked: "Are there a heaven and a hell?" The Master said: "There are." He said: "Are there the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha?" The Master said: "There are." He asked many more, and the Master answered that there are in every case. He said: "Reverend, in saying this, are you not mistaken?" The Master said: "Have you ever seen an eminent teacher?" He said: "I have visited the Reverend of Jingshan." The Master said: "What did the Reverend of Jingshan say to you?" He said: "He says that nothing exists at all." The Master said: "Do you have a wife?" He said: "I do." The Master said: "Does the Reverend of Jingshan have a wife?" He said: "No." The Master said: "It is fine for the Reverend of Jingshan to say there is nothing." The layman bowed in thanks and left. The Master passed into stillness on the eighth day of the fourth month of the ninth year of Yuanhe, at eighty years of age with fifty-five years as a monk. Emperor Xianzong gave him the posthumous title Chan Master Daxuanjiao, and his stupa was called Yuanhe Zhengzhen. Under Emperor Muzong he was given the further title Chan Master Dajue.

京兆府章敬寺懷惲禪師。泉州同安人也。姓謝氏。受大寂心印。初住定州柏巖。次止中條山。唐元和初憲宗詔居上寺玄學者奔湊。師上堂示徒曰。至理忘言時人不悉。彊習他事以為功能。不知自性元非塵境。是箇微妙大解脫門。所有鑒覺不染不礙。如是光明未曾休廢。曩劫至今固無變易。猶如日輪遠近斯照。雖及眾色不與一切和合。靈燭妙明非假鍛鍊。為不了故取於物象。但如揑目妄起空華。徒自疲勞枉經劫數。若能返照無第二人。舉措施為不虧實相。僧問心法雙亡指歸何所。師曰。郢人無汙徒勞運斤。曰請師不返之言。師曰。即無返句(後人舉之於洞山。洞山雲。道即甚易。罕遇作家)百丈和尚令一僧來伺候。師上堂次。展坐具禮拜了。起來拈師一隻靸鞋。以衫袖拂卻塵了。倒覆向下。師曰。老僧罪過。或問。祖師傳心地法門。為是真如心。妄想心。非真非妄心。為是三乘教外別立心。師曰。汝見目前虛空麼。曰信知常在目前人自不見。師曰。汝莫認影像。曰和尚作麼生。師以手撥空三下曰。作麼生即是。師曰。汝向後會去在。有一僧來繞師三匝振錫而立。師曰。是是(長慶代雲。和尚佛法身心何在)其僧又到南泉。亦繞南泉三匝振錫而立。南泉雲。不是不是。此是風力所轉始終成壞。僧雲。章敬道是。和尚為什麼道不是。南泉雲。章敬即是是汝不是(長慶代雲。和尚是什麼心行。雲居錫雲。章敬未必道是。南泉未必道不是。又云。遮僧當初但持錫出去恰好)師有小師行腳迴。師問曰。汝離此間多少年耶。曰離和尚左右將及八年。師曰。辦得箇什麼。小師於地畫一圓相。師曰。只遮箇更別有。小師乃畫破圓相後禮拜。僧問。四大五蘊身中。阿那箇是本來佛性。師乃呼僧名。僧應諾。師良久曰。汝無佛性。唐元和十三年十二月二十二日示滅。建塔於㶚水。勅諡大覺禪師大寶相之塔。

Chan Master Huaiyun of Zhangjing Monastery in Jingzhao Prefecture was a man of Tong'an in Quanzhou, surnamed Xie. He received the mind-seal from Dazhi. At first he lived at Baiyan in Dingzhou, and then stayed at Mount Zhongtiao. In the early Yuanhe period of the Tang, Emperor Xianzong summoned him to reside at the upper monastery, and students of the profound teaching flocked to him. The Master ascended the hall and instructed his disciples, saying: "The supreme principle forgets words, and the people of the time do not understand. They force themselves to practise other things and take them as ability, not knowing that their own nature was never a dusty realm but is a gate of subtle and wondrous great liberation. All that illuminates and perceives is neither stained nor obstructed. Such brightness has never ceased. From past kalpas until now it has never changed. It is like the disk of the sun, shining on far and near alike. Though it reaches all the colors, it does not unite with anything. The spiritual lamp, wondrously bright, does not depend on refining. Because they do not understand this, people take images of things, like pressing on the eye and falsely raising flowers in the sky, merely wearing themselves out and spending kalpas in vain. If one can turn the light around, there is no second person, and all one does and carries out does not fall short of true reality." A monk asked: "When mind and Dharma are both forgotten, where does it point?" The Master said: "The man of Ying had no stain, and it was in vain that the carpenter swung his axe." He said: "Please give me a word that does not turn back." The Master said: "There is no turning-back phrase." (Later someone brought this up to Dongshan. Dongshan said: "To say it is easy, but one seldom meets a master.") Reverend Baizhang sent a monk to attend him. When the Master ascended the hall, the monk spread his sitting cloth, bowed, rose and picked up one of the Master's straw sandals, brushed the dust off with his sleeve and turned it upside down. The Master said: "This old monk is at fault." Someone asked: "The mind-ground Dharma gate transmitted by the Patriarch: is it the true-suchness mind, the deluded-thought mind, the mind that is neither true nor deluded, or a mind separately established outside the teaching of the Three Vehicles?" The Master said: "Do you see the empty space before your eyes?" He said: "I truly believe it is always right before our eyes, but people do not see it themselves." The Master said: "Do not mistake the image." He said: "What does the Reverend do?" The Master swept the empty air three times with his hand and said: "What would be right?" The Master said: "You will understand it later." A monk came, circled the Master three times, shook his staff and stood. The Master said: "Right, right." (Changqing answered for him: "Reverend, where are the Buddha-dharma, body and mind?") The monk then went to Nanquan, circled Nanquan three times as well, shook his staff and stood. Nanquan said: "Wrong, wrong. This is turned by the force of the wind, and from start to end it forms and decays." The monk said: "Zhangjing said it was right; why does the Reverend say it is wrong?" Nanquan said: "Zhangjing is right, it is you who are wrong." (Changqing answered for him: "What kind of mind and conduct does the Reverend have?" Yunju Xi said: "Zhangjing did not necessarily say it was right, and Nanquan did not necessarily say it was wrong." He added: "This monk would have done well just to take his staff and go out.") The Master had a young disciple who returned from traveling. The Master asked: "How many years have you been away from here?" He said: "It will be eight years since I left the Reverend's side." The Master said: "What have you gained?" The disciple drew a circle on the ground. The Master said: "Just this, or is there something more?" The disciple then broke the circle and bowed. A monk asked: "Among the four elements and five aggregates of the body, which one is the original Buddha-nature?" The Master called the monk's name. The monk answered. After a long while the Master said: "You have no Buddha-nature." On the twenty-second day of the twelfth month of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe of the Tang, he showed extinction. A stupa was built at the Ba River. By imperial decree he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Dajue and the stupa name Dabaoxiang.

定州柏巖明哲禪師。甞見藥山和尚看經。因語之曰。和尚莫猱人好。藥山置經云。日頭早晚也。師雲。正當午也。藥山雲。猶有文采在。師雲。某甲無亦無。藥山雲。老兄好聰明。師雲。某甲只恁麼和尚作麼生。藥山雲。跛跛挈挈百醜千拙。且恁麼過時。

Chan Master Mingzhe of Baiyan in Dingzhou once saw Reverend Yaoshan reading a sutra and said to him: "Reverend, don't you find it tiresome to scratch at people?" Yaoshan put down the sutra and said: "The sun is getting late." The Master said: "It is just noon." Yaoshan said: "There is still some embellishment." The Master said: "I have none, and no non-embellishment." Yaoshan said: "Elder brother is very clever." The Master said: "I am just like this; what about the Reverend?" Yaoshan said: "Limping and staggering, a hundred uglinesses and a thousand clumsinesses, just getting through the time this way."

信州鵝湖大義禪師者。衢州須江人也。姓徐氏。李翱甞問師。大悲用千手眼作麼。師雲。今上用公作麼。有一僧乞置塔。李尚書問雲。教中不許將屍塔下過。又作麼生。無對。僧卻來問師。師雲。他得大闡提。唐憲宗甞詔入內。於麟德殿論議。有一法師問。如何是四諦。師雲。聖上一帝三帝何在。又問。欲界無禪禪居色界。此土憑何而立禪。師雲。法師只知欲界無禪。不知禪界無欲。法師雲。如何是禪。師以手點空。法師無對。帝雲。法師講無窮經論。只遮一點尚不奈何。師卻問諸碩德曰。行住坐臥畢竟以何為道。有對曰。知者是道。師曰。不可以智知。不可以識識。安得知者是道乎。有對無分別是道。師曰。善能分別諸法相。於第一義而不動安得無分別是道乎。有對。四禪八定是道。師曰。佛身無為不墮諸數。安在四禪八定耶。眾皆杜口。師又舉。順宗問尸利禪師。大地眾生如何得見性成佛。尸利雲。佛性猶如水中月。可見不可取。因謂帝曰。佛性非見心見。水中月如何攖取。帝乃問。何者是佛性。師對曰。不離陛下所問。帝默契真宗益加欽重。師於元和十三年正月七日歸寂。壽七十四。勅諡慧覺禪師見性之塔。

Chan Master Dayi of Ehu in Xinzhou was a man of Xujiang in Quzhou, surnamed Xu. Li Ao once asked the Master: "What is the use of the thousand hands and eyes of Great Compassion?" The Master said: "What use does the present emperor have for you?" A monk asked to build a stupa. Minister Li asked: "The teaching does not permit a corpse to pass under a stupa; what then?" There was no answer. The monk came and asked the Master. The Master said: "He has obtained great icchantika." Emperor Xianzong of the Tang once summoned him into the palace to discuss at the Linde Hall. A Dharma master asked: "What are the Four Noble Truths?" The Master said: "There is one emperor, His Majesty; where are the other three?" He asked again: "The desire realm has no dhyana, and dhyana resides in the form realm. On what basis is dhyana established in this land?" The Master said: "The Dharma master only knows that the desire realm has no dhyana, but does not know that the dhyana realm has no desire." The Dharma master said: "What is dhyana?" The Master pointed at empty space with his hand. The Dharma master had no reply. The Emperor said: "The Dharma master lectures on endless sutras and treatises, yet cannot manage even this one point." The Master then asked the eminent monks: "In walking, standing, sitting and lying down, what in the end is taken as the Way?" One replied: "Knowing is the Way." The Master said: "It cannot be known by wisdom or recognized by consciousness; how can knowing be the Way?" One replied: "No discrimination is the Way." The Master said: "Skillfully discriminating the marks of all dharmas without moving from the first principle; how can no discrimination be the Way?" One replied: "The four dhyanas and eight absorptions are the Way." The Master said: "The Buddha's body is unconditioned and does not fall into any count; how can it lie in the four dhyanas and eight absorptions?" The assembly all fell silent. The Master further cited: Emperor Shunzong asked Chan Master Shili: "How can the beings of the great earth see their nature and become Buddhas?" Shili said: "Buddha-nature is like the moon in the water: it can be seen but cannot be grasped." He therefore said to the emperor: "Buddha-nature is not seen by the seeing mind; how can the moon in the water be grasped?" The Emperor then asked: "What is Buddha-nature?" The Master replied: "It is not apart from what Your Majesty is asking." The Emperor silently agreed with the true teaching and respected him all the more. The Master passed into stillness on the seventh day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe, at seventy-four. By imperial decree he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Huijue and the stupa name Jianxing.

伊闕伏牛山自在禪師者。吳興人也。姓李氏。初依徑山國一禪師受具。後於南康見大寂發明心地。因為大寂送書於忠國師。國師問曰。馬大師以何示徒。對曰。即心即佛。國師曰。是甚麼語話。良久又問曰。此外更有什麼言教。師曰。非心非佛。或雲不是心不是佛。不是物。國師曰。猶較些子。師曰。馬大師即恁麼。未審和尚此間如何。國師曰。三點如流水。曲似刈禾鎌。師後隱於伏牛山。一日謂眾曰。即心即佛。是無病求病句。非心非佛。是藥病對治句。僧問。如何是脫灑底句。師曰。伏牛山下古今傳。師後於隨州開元寺示滅。壽八十一。

Chan Master Zizai of Mount Funiu in Yique was a man of Wuxing, surnamed Li. At first he relied on Chan Master Guoyi of Jingshan and received full ordination, and later at Nankang he saw Dazhi and awakened to the mind-ground. When he took a letter from Dazhi to National Teacher Zhong, the National Teacher asked: "What does Great Master Ma use to instruct his disciples?" He replied: "The mind is Buddha." The National Teacher said: "What kind of words are these?" After a long while he asked again: "Besides this, what other teaching is there?" The Master said: "No mind, no Buddha. Or he says: not mind, not Buddha, not a thing." The National Teacher said: "That is somewhat better." The Master said: "Great Master Ma says it that way; I do not know how the Reverend does it here." The National Teacher said: "Three dots like flowing water, curved like a sickle for cutting grain." The Master later lived in seclusion on Mount Funiu. One day he said to the assembly: "The mind is Buddha is a phrase for seeking illness where there is none. No mind, no Buddha is a phrase for treating illness with its remedy." A monk asked: "What is the phrase of liberation and freedom?" The Master said: "It has been handed down from ancient times to the present at the foot of Mount Funiu." Later the Master showed extinction at Kaiyuan Monastery in Suizhou, at eighty-one.

幽州盤山寶積禪師。僧問。如何是道。師曰出。僧曰。學人未領旨在。師曰去。師上堂示眾曰。心若無事萬象不生。意絕玄機纖塵何立。道本無體因道而立名。道本無名因名而得號。若言即心即佛。今時未入玄微。若言非心非佛。猶是指蹤之極則。向上一路千聖不傳。學者勞形如猿捉影。夫大道無中復誰先後。長空絕際何用稱量。空既如斯道復何說。夫心月孤圓光吞萬象。光非照境境亦非存。光境俱亡復是何物。禪德。譬如擲劍揮空。莫論及之不及。斯乃空輪無跡劍刃無虧。若能如是心心無知。全心即佛全佛即人。人佛無異始為道矣。禪德。可中學道。似地擎山不知山之孤峻。如石含玉不知玉之無瑕。若如此者是名出家。故導師雲。法本不相礙。三際亦復然。無為無事人。猶是金鎖難。所以靈源獨耀道絕無生。大智非明真空無跡。真如凡聖皆是夢言。佛及涅槃並為增語禪德。且須自看無人替代。三界無法何處求心。四大本空佛依何住。璿機不動寂爾無言。覿面相呈更無餘事。珍重。師將順世。告眾曰。有人貌得吾真否。眾皆將寫得真呈師。師皆打之。弟子普化出曰。某甲貌得。師曰。何不呈似老僧。普化乃打筋斗而出。師曰。遮漢向後如風狂接人去在。師既奄化。勅諡凝寂大師真際之塔。

Chan Master Baoji of Mount Pan in Youzhou. A monk asked: "What is the Way?" The Master said: "Go out." The monk said: "I have not grasped the point." The Master said: "Go." The Master ascended the hall and instructed the assembly, saying: "If the mind has nothing going on, the ten thousand phenomena do not arise. When thought cuts off the profound mechanism, what speck of dust can stand? The Way originally has no substance; it is named because of the Way. The Way originally has no name; it takes a title because of a name. If one says the mind is Buddha, one has not yet entered the subtle depths today. If one says no mind, no Buddha, it is still the limit of pointing out a trail. The one road upward is not transmitted by a thousand sages. Students toil in body, like monkeys grasping at shadows. The Great Way has no center, so who is before and who after? The vast sky has no boundary, so what use is there in measuring? Since empty space is thus, what is there to say of the Way? The solitary round moon of the mind swallows the ten thousand images in its light. The light does not illuminate objects, and objects do not exist either. When light and objects are both forgotten, what is this thing again? Chan worthies, it is like throwing a sword into space; do not discuss whether it reaches or not. This is the wheel of emptiness without a trace, and the blade of the sword without a flaw. If one can be like this, each thought has no knowing. The whole mind is Buddha and the whole Buddha is man. When man and Buddha are not different, one begins to be on the Way. Chan worthies, studying the Way within this is like the earth bearing a mountain, not knowing the mountain's solitary height; like a stone containing jade, not knowing the jade's flawlessness. One who is like this is called one who has left home. Therefore the Guide said: Dharma originally does not obstruct, and the three times are also so. A person of non-action and no affairs is still in a golden lock. Therefore the spiritual source shines alone and the Way is cut off from birth. Great wisdom is not brightness, and true emptiness has no trace. True suchness, ordinary and holy, are all dream words. Buddha and nirvana are both superfluous terms. Chan worthies, you must look for yourselves, for no one can take your place. If the three realms have no dharma, where will you seek the mind? If the four elements are originally empty, where does the Buddha abide? The jeweled pivot does not move and is silent without words. Presenting face to face, there is nothing more. Take care." When the Master was about to pass away, he told the assembly: "Is there anyone who can portray my true likeness?" The assembly all brought their painted portraits to present to the Master. The Master struck all of them. The disciple Puhua came out and said: "I can portray it." The Master said: "Why do you not show it to this old monk?" Puhua then turned a somersault and went out. The Master said: "In the future this fellow will go around receiving people like a madman in the wind." When the Master had passed away, he was given by imperial decree the posthumous title Great Master Ningji and the stupa name Zhenji.

毘陵芙蓉山太毓禪師者。金陵人也。姓范氏。年十二禮牛頭山第六世忠禪師落髮。二十三於京兆安國寺受具。後遇大寂密傳祖意。唐元和十三年止毘陵義興芙蓉山。一日因行食與龐居士。居士接食次。師雲。生心受施淨名早訶。去此一機居士還甘否。居士雲。當時善現豈不作家。師雲。非關他事。居士雲。食到口邊被他奪卻。師乃下食。居士雲。不消一句。居士又問師。馬大師著實為人處。還分付吾師否。師雲。某甲尚未見他。作麼知他著實處。居士雲。只此見知也無討處。師雲。居士也不得一向言說。居士雲。一向言說師又失宗。若作兩向三向。師還開得口否。師雲。直似開口不得可謂實也。居士撫掌而出。寶曆中歸齊雲入滅。壽八十。臘五十八。大和二年追諡大寶禪師楞伽之塔。

Chan Master Taiyu of Mount Furong in Piling was a man of Jinling, surnamed Fan. At twelve he bowed to the Sixth-generation Master Zhong of Mount Niutou and had his head shaved, and at twenty-three he received full ordination at Anguo Monastery in Jingzhao. Later he met Dazhi and received the secret transmission of the Patriarchs' intent. In the thirteenth year of Yuanhe of the Tang he settled at Mount Furong in Yixing, Piling. One day he was serving food to Layman Pang. As the layman was receiving the food, the Master said: "To give rise to a mind to receive offerings, Vimalakirti long ago rebuked it. Apart from this one opportunity, would the layman still be willing?" The layman said: "Was Subhuti then not a master?" The Master said: "It has nothing to do with him." The layman said: "The food reaches the mouth and is snatched away by him." The Master then put down the food. The layman said: "Not a single word is needed." The layman asked the Master again: "Has Great Master Ma entrusted to my teacher the true way of dealing with people?" The Master said: "I have not yet seen him; how would I know his true way?" The layman said: "Even this seeing and knowing has nowhere to be sought." The Master said: "The layman should not speak in only one direction." The layman said: "If I speak in one direction, the Master loses the principle. If I make it two or three directions, can the Master open his mouth?" The Master said: "Just as if I could not open my mouth, one might say it is real." The layman clapped his hands and went out. During the Baoli period he returned to Qiyun and passed into extinction, at eighty with fifty-eight years as a monk. In the second year of Dahe he was posthumously named Chan Master Dabao and the stupa was called Lankavatara.

蒲州麻谷山寶徹禪師。一日隨馬祖行次問。如何是大涅槃。祖雲急。師雲。急箇什麼。祖雲。看水。師與丹霞遊山次。見水中魚以手指之。丹霞雲。天然天然。師至來日又問丹霞。昨日意作麼生。丹霞乃放身作臥勢。師雲。蒼天。又與丹霞行至麻谷山。師雲。某甲向遮裡住也。丹霞雲。住即且從還。有那箇也無。師雲。珍重。有僧問雲。十二分教某甲不疑。如何是祖師西來意。師乃起立以杖繞身一轉翹一足雲。會麼。僧無對。師打之。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師默然(其僧又問石霜此意如何。石霜雲。主人勤拳帶累闍梨拖泥涉水)耽源問。十二面觀音是凡是聖。師雲。是聖。耽源乃打師一摑。師雲。知汝不到遮箇境界。

Chan Master Baoche of Mount Magu in Puzhou. One day, walking with Mazu, he asked: "What is the Great Nirvana?" Mazu said: "Hurry." The Master said: "Hurry to what?" Mazu said: "Look at the water." The Master was traveling in the mountains with Danxia and, seeing fish in the water, pointed at them with his hand. Danxia said: "Natural, natural." The next day the Master asked Danxia: "What was your meaning yesterday?" Danxia then flung himself down in a lying posture. The Master said: "Blue Heaven." He also went with Danxia to Mount Magu. The Master said: "I shall live here." Danxia said: "Living here is for the moment fine, but is there that one or not?" The Master said: "Take care." A monk asked: "I have no doubts about the twelve divisions of the teachings; what is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" The Master stood up, went around himself once with his staff, lifted one foot and said: "Do you understand?" The monk had no reply. The Master struck him. A monk asked: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma?" The Master was silent (the monk further asked Shishuang what this meant. Shishuang said: "The host was diligent with his fist, and he burdened you, Acarya, to drag through mud and wade through water.") Danyuan asked: "The twelve-faced Avalokitesvara, is it ordinary or holy?" The Master said: "Holy." Danyuan then slapped the Master. The Master said: "I know you have not reached this realm."

杭州鹽官鎮國海昌院齊安禪師者。海門郡人也。姓李氏。生時神光照室。復有異僧謂之曰。建無勝幢使佛日迴照者。豈非汝乎。遂依本郡雲琮禪師落髮受具。後聞大寂行化於龔公山。乃振錫而造焉。師有奇相。大寂一見深器異之。乃命入室密示正法。僧問。如何是本身盧舍那佛。師雲。與我將那箇銅缾來。僧即取淨缾來。師雲。卻送本處安置。其僧送缾本處了。卻來再徵前語。師雲。古佛也過去久矣。有講僧來參。師問雲。坐主蘊何事業。對雲。講華嚴經。師雲。有幾種法界。對雲。廣說則重重無盡。略說有四種法界。師豎起拂子云。遮箇是第幾種法界。坐主沈吟徐思其對。師雲。思而知慮而解。是鬼家活計日下孤燈。果然失照(保福聞雲。若禮拜即吃和尚棒。禾山代雲。某甲不煩和尚莫怪。法眼代撫掌三下)僧問大梅。如何是西來意。大梅雲。西來無意。師聞乃雲。一箇棺材兩箇死屍(玄沙雲。鹽官是作家)師喚侍者雲。將犀牛扇子來。侍者雲。破也。師雲。扇子破還我犀牛來。侍者無對(投子代雲。不辭將出恐頭角不全。資福代作圓相心中書牛字。石霜代雲。若還和尚即無也。保福雲。和尚年尊別請人好)師一日謂眾曰。虛空為鼓須彌為椎。什麼人打得。眾無對(有人舉似南泉。南泉雲。王老師不打遮破鼓。法眼別雲。王老師不打)有法空禪師到請問經中諸義。師一一答了卻雲。自禪師到來貧道總未得作主人。法空雲。請和尚更作主人。師雲。今日夜也。且歸本位安置明日卻來。法空下去。至明旦師令沙彌屈法空禪師。法空至。師顧沙彌曰。咄遮沙彌不了事。教屈法空禪師。卻屈得箇守堂家人來。法空無語。法昕院主來參。師問。汝是誰。對雲法昕。師雲。我不識汝。昕無語。師後不疾宴坐示滅。勅諡悟空禪師。

Chan Master Qi'an of Zhenguo Haichang Monastery at Yanguan in Hangzhou was a man of Haimen Commandery, surnamed Li. When he was born, a divine light filled the room. An unusual monk also said to him: "One who will set up the banner of the unsurpassed and make the sun of the Buddha shine back, is that not you?" He then had his head shaved and received full ordination under Chan Master Yuncong of his own commandery. Later he heard that Dazhi was teaching at Mount Gong, and so shook his staff and went to him. The Master had a remarkable appearance, and Dazhi at first sight deeply valued and marveled at him, and had him enter the inner room and secretly showed him the true Dharma. A monk asked: "What is the original body, Vairocana Buddha?" The Master said: "Bring me that bronze vase." The monk fetched the clean water vase. The Master said: "Return it to where it was." The monk returned the vase to its place, then came back and asked again about the earlier words. The Master said: "The ancient Buddha passed away long ago." A lecturing monk came to visit. The Master asked: "What work does the Lecturer practise?" He replied: "I lecture on the Avatamsaka Sutra." The Master said: "How many kinds of Dharma realms are there?" He replied: "Broadly speaking they are layer upon layer without end; briefly speaking there are four kinds of Dharma realm." The Master held up his whisk and said: "Which kind of Dharma realm is this?" The Lecturer pondered and slowly thought of his answer. The Master said: "To know by thinking and understand by pondering is a ghost's livelihood, a lone lamp under the sun, which truly gives no light." (Baofu, hearing of it, said: "If he bowed he would get a blow from the Reverend." Hehan answered for him: "I would not trouble the Reverend, please do not blame me." Fayan answered by clapping his hands three times.) A monk asked Damei: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" Damei said: "The Patriarch's coming from the West has no meaning." The Master, hearing this, said: "One coffin, two corpses." (Xuansha said: "Yanguan is a master.") The Master called his attendant and said: "Bring me the rhinoceros fan." The attendant said: "It is broken." The Master said: "If the fan is broken, give me back the rhinoceros." The attendant had no reply (Touzi answered for him: "I would not refuse to bring it out, but I fear its head and horns are not complete." Zifu answered by drawing a circle and writing the character for ox in the middle. Shishuang answered for him: "If I returned it to the Reverend, there would be nothing." Baofu said: "The Reverend is old; it would be better to ask someone else."). One day the Master said to the assembly: "Empty space is the drum and Mount Sumeru is the mallet; who can strike it?" The assembly had no reply (someone brought this up to Nanquan. Nanquan said: "Old Teacher Wang does not strike this broken drum." Fayan said differently: "Old Teacher Wang does not strike.") Chan Master Fakong arrived and asked about various points of meaning in the sutras. The Master answered each in turn, then said: "Since the Chan Master arrived, this poor monk has not yet been able to be the host." Fakong said: "Please, Reverend, be the host now." The Master said: "It is night today; go back to your own place and rest, and come back tomorrow." Fakong went down. At dawn the next day, the Master had a novice invite Chan Master Fakong. Fakong arrived. The Master turned to the novice and said: "Hey, this novice does not understand things. I told you to invite Chan Master Fakong, and you invited a hall-keeper instead." Fakong said nothing. The temple steward Faxin came to visit. The Master asked: "Who are you?" He replied: "Faxin." The Master said: "I do not know you." Xin said nothing. Later the Master, without illness, sat in meditation and showed extinction. By imperial decree he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Wukong.

婺州五洩山靈默禪師者。毘陵人也。姓宣氏。初謁豫章馬大師。馬接之因披剃受具。後謁石頭遷和尚。先自約曰。若一言相契我即住。不然便去。石頭知是法器即垂開示。師不領其旨告辭而去至門。石頭呼之雲。闍梨師迴顧石頭雲。從生至老只是遮箇漢更莫別求。師言下大悟乃踏折拄杖。棲止焉(洞山雲。當時若不是五洩先師。大難承當。然雖如此。猶涉在途。長慶雲險。玄覺雲。那箇是涉在途處。有僧雲。為伊三寸途中薦得所以在途。玄覺雲。為復薦得自己。為復薦得三寸。若是自己為什麼成三寸。若是三寸為什麼悟去。且道。洞山意旨作麼生。莫亂說子細好)唐貞元初入天台山住白沙道場。復居五洩。僧問。何物大於天地。師雲。無人識得伊。僧雲。還可雕琢也無。師雲。汝試下手看。僧問。此箇門中始終事如何。師雲。汝道目前底成來得多少時也。僧雲。學人不會。師雲。我此間無汝問底。僧雲。豈無和尚接人處。師雲。待汝求接我即接。僧雲。便請和尚接。師雲。汝欠少箇什麼。問如何得無心。師雲。傾山覆海晏然靜。地動安眠豈採伊。師元和十三年三月二十三日沐浴焚香端坐告眾雲。法身圓寂示有去來。千聖同源萬靈歸一。吾今漚散胡假興哀。無自勞神須存正念。若遵此命真報吾恩。儻固違言非吾之子。時有僧問。和尚向什麼處去。師曰。無處去。曰某甲何不見。師曰。非眼所覩(洞山雲作家)言畢奄然順化。壽七十有二。臘四十一。

Chan Master Lingmo of Mount Wuxie in Wuzhou was a man of Piling, surnamed Xuan. At first he visited Great Master Ma at Yuzhang. Ma received him, and so he had his head shaved and received full ordination. Later he visited Reverend Shitou Qian. He first set a condition for himself: "If we agree at one word I will stay; otherwise I will leave." Shitou knew he was a vessel of the Dharma and immediately offered instruction. The Master did not grasp the point, took leave and left, and reached the door. Shitou called out to him: "Acarya." The Master turned his head. Shitou said: "From birth to old age it is just this fellow; do not seek anything else." At these words the Master was greatly awakened, broke his staff in two, and settled there. (Dongshan said: "If it had not been the late teacher Wuxie, it would have been very hard to bear. Even so, he was still on the road." Changqing said: "Dangerous." Xuanjue said: "Which was the part that was still on the road?" A monk said: "It was because he grasped it within three inches of the tongue, so he was still on the road." Xuanjue said: "Was it grasping himself, or grasping the three inches? If it was himself, why did it become three inches? If it was the three inches, why was he awakened? Tell me, what was Dongshan's intent? Do not speak carelessly; be careful.") In the early Zhenyuan period of the Tang he entered Mount Tiantai, lived at the Baisha monastery, and then lived at Wuxie. A monk asked: "What thing is greater than heaven and earth?" The Master said: "No one recognizes it." The monk said: "Can it be carved and polished?" The Master said: "Try laying a hand on it." A monk asked: "What of the beginning and end of this matter in this gate?" The Master said: "Tell me how long what is before your eyes has been formed." The monk said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "Here there is nothing like what you ask." The monk said: "Does the Reverend not have a way of receiving people?" The Master said: "I will receive you when you ask to receive me." The monk said: "Then please receive me, Reverend." The Master said: "What are you lacking?" He asked: "How can one attain no-mind?" The Master said: "Though mountains topple and seas overturn, it is calm and still; though the earth quakes, one sleeps peacefully; why mind them?" On the twenty-third day of the third month of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe, the Master bathed, burned incense, sat upright and told the assembly: "The Dharma body is perfectly still, showing coming and going. A thousand sages have the same source, and ten thousand spirits return to the one. I am now like a bubble dispersing; why should I borrow sorrow? Do not trouble your spirits in vain, but keep right mindfulness. If you follow this command, you truly repay my kindness. If you stubbornly go against my words, you are not my sons." At that time a monk asked: "Where is the Reverend going?" The Master said: "Nowhere." He said: "Why can I not see it?" The Master said: "It cannot be seen by the eyes." (Dongshan said: "A master.") When he finished speaking, he quietly passed away, at seventy-two years of age with forty-one years as a monk.

明州大梅山法常禪師者。襄陽人也。姓鄭氏。幼歲從師於荊州玉泉寺。初參大寂。問如何是佛。大寂雲。即心是佛。師即大悟。唐貞元中居於天台山餘姚南七十里。梅子真舊隱。時鹽官會下一僧入山採拄杖。迷路至庵所。問曰。和尚在此山來多少時也。師曰。只見四山青又黃。又問。出山路向什麼處去。師曰。隨流去。僧歸說似鹽官。鹽官曰。我在江西時曾見一僧。自後不知消息。莫是此僧否。遂令僧去請出師。師有偈曰。

Chan Master Fachang of Mount Damei in Mingzhou was a man of Xiangyang, surnamed Zheng. In his youth he followed a teacher at Yuquan Monastery in Jingzhou. At first he visited Dazhi and asked: "What is Buddha?" Dazhi said: "This very mind is Buddha." The Master was greatly awakened at once. In the Zhenyuan period of the Tang he lived seventy li south of Yuyao on Mount Tiantai, the old retreat of Mei Zizhen. At that time a monk from the assembly at Yanguan went into the mountain to gather a staff, lost his way and reached the Master's hermitage. He asked: "Reverend, how long have you been on this mountain?" The Master said: "I have only seen the four mountains turn green and then yellow." He asked again: "Which way is the road out of the mountain?" The Master said: "Follow the stream." The monk returned and told Yanguan. Yanguan said: "When I was in Jiangxi I saw a monk and have heard no news of him since; could it be this monk?" He then sent a monk to invite the Master out. The Master had a verse:

摧殘枯木倚寒林幾度逢春不變心

A broken, withered tree leaning in a cold forest; through how many springs has its heart not changed.

樵客遇之猶不顧郢人那得苦追尋

Even a woodcutter who meets it does not look back; why should the man of Ying seek it so painfully?

大寂聞師住山。乃令一僧到問雲。和尚見馬師得箇什麼便住此山。師雲。馬師向我道即心是佛。我便向遮裡住。僧雲。馬師近日佛法又別。師雲。作麼生別。僧雲。近日又道非心非佛。師雲。遮老漢惑亂人未有了日。任汝非心非佛。我只管即心即佛。其僧迴舉似馬祖。祖雲。大眾。梅子熟也(僧問禾山。大梅恁麼道。意作麼生。禾山雲。真師子兒)自此學者漸臻。師道彌著。師上堂示眾曰。汝等諸人。各自迴心達本莫逐其末。但得其本其末自至。若欲識本唯了自心。此心元是一切世間出世間法根本故。心生種種法生。心滅種種法滅。心且不附一切善惡。而生萬法本自如如。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師雲。蒲華柳絮竹針麻線。夾山與定山同行言話次。定山雲。生死中無佛即非生死。夾山雲。生死中有佛即不迷生死。二人上山參禮。夾山便舉問師。未審二人見處那箇較親。師雲。一親一疎。夾山雲。那箇親。師雲。且去明日來。夾山明日再上問師。師雲。親者不問。問者不親(夾山住後自雲。當時失一隻眼)忽一日謂其徒曰。來莫可抑往莫可追。從容間復聞鼯鼠聲。師雲。即此物非他物。汝等諸人善護持之。吾今逝矣。言訖示滅。壽八十八。臘六十有九。智覺禪師延壽讚曰。

When Dazhi heard that the Master was living in the mountains, he sent a monk to ask: "What did the Reverend obtain from Master Ma that made you live on this mountain?" The Master said: "Master Ma told me that the mind is Buddha, so I have lived here." The monk said: "Master Ma's Buddha-dharma has changed recently." The Master said: "How has it changed?" The monk said: "Recently he says no mind, no Buddha." The Master said: "This old fellow will confuse people without end. Let him say no mind, no Buddha as he likes; I will simply say this very mind is Buddha." The monk returned and reported it to Mazu. Mazu said: "Great assembly, the plums are ripe." (A monk asked Hehan: "What was the meaning of what Damei said?" Hehan said: "A true lion cub.") From then on students gradually came, and the Master's way grew ever more renowned. The Master ascended the hall and instructed the assembly, saying: "All of you, each turn your minds back to the root, and do not chase its branches. If you obtain the root, the branches come by themselves. If you wish to know the root, only understand your own mind. This mind is originally the root of all worldly and supramundane dharmas. When the mind arises, all kinds of dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, all kinds of dharmas cease. The mind does not attach to any good or evil, and yet gives rise to the ten thousand dharmas, and is originally just as it is." A monk asked: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma?" The Master said: "Cattail flowers and willow catkins, bamboo needles and hemp thread." Jiashan and Dingshan were walking together and talking. Dingshan said: "If there is no Buddha in birth and death, then there is no birth and death." Jiashan said: "If there is a Buddha in birth and death, one is not deluded by birth and death." The two went up the mountain to pay respects. Jiashan raised the question to the Master: "I do not know which of the two views is closer." The Master said: "One close, one distant." Jiashan said: "Which is the close one?" The Master said: "Go for now, and come tomorrow." Jiashan went up the next day and asked the Master again. The Master said: "The close one does not ask, and the one who asks is not close." (After Jiashan settled, he said of himself: "At that time I lost one eye.") One day he said to his disciples: "What comes cannot be held back, and what goes cannot be chased." At leisure he again heard the cry of a flying squirrel. The Master said: "It is this thing and not another. All of you, take good care of it. I am leaving now." When he finished speaking he showed extinction, at eighty-eight with sixty-nine years as a monk. Chan Master Zhijue Yanshou praised him, saying:

師初得道即心是佛最後示徒

When the Master first attained the Way: this very mind is Buddha. In his last teaching of his disciples,