Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3
古寺和尚。丹霞參師經宿至明。旦煮粥熟。行者只盛一缽與師。又盛一碗自吃。殊不顧丹霞。丹霞即自盛粥吃行者雲。五更侵早起。更有夜行人。丹霞問師。何不教訓行者。得恁麼無禮。師雲。淨地上不要點汙人家男女。丹霞雲。幾不問過遮老漢。
Monk Gusi. Danxia visited the master and stayed the night. In the morning the congee was cooked. The attendant served only a bowl for the master and another bowl for himself to eat, not looking at Danxia at all. Danxia then served congee for himself. The attendant said: "Rising at the fifth watch before dawn, and there are still night travelers." Danxia asked the master: "Why do you not teach the attendant, who is so impolite?" The master said: "On pure ground one should not stain other people's sons and daughters." Danxia said: "I almost failed to question this old fellow."
江西椑樹和尚因臥次。道吾近前牽被覆之。師雲。作麼。道吾雲。蓋覆。師雲。臥底是坐底是。道吾雲。不在遮兩處。師雲。爭奈蓋覆何。道吾雲。莫亂道。師向火次。道吾問。作什麼。師雲。和合。道吾雲。恁麼即當頭脫去也。師雲。隔闊來多少時耶。道吾便拂袖而去。道吾一日從外歸。師問。什麼處去來。道吾雲。親近來。師雲。用簸遮兩片皮作什麼。道吾雲借。師雲。他有從汝借無作麼生。道吾雲。只為有所以借。
Monk Beishu of Jiangxi was lying down when Daowu came forward and pulled the quilt over him. The master said: "What are you doing?" Daowu said: "Covering you." The master said: "Is the one lying down right, or the one sitting?" Daowu said: "It is in neither of these places." The master said: "What about the covering?" Daowu said: "Don't talk nonsense." The master was warming himself at the fire. Daowu asked: "What are you doing?" The master said: "Harmonizing." Daowu said: "In that case you have taken it off at the very beginning." The master said: "How long have we been apart?" Daowu flicked his sleeve and left. One day Daowu came back from outside. The master asked: "Where have you been?" Daowu said: "Visiting someone." The master said: "What are you using these two pieces of skin for?" Daowu said: "Borrowing." The master said: "If he has it, he lends it to you; what if he does not?" Daowu said: "It is just because he has that I borrow."
京兆草堂和尚。自罷參大寂。遊至海昌。海昌和尚問。什麼處來。師雲。道場來。昌雲遮裡什麼處。師雲。賊不打貧人家。問未有一法時。此身在什麼處。師乃作一圓相於中書身字。
Monk Caotang of Jingzhao. After he stopped studying with Daji, he traveled to Haichang. Monk Haichang asked: "Where do you come from?" The master said: "From the place of the Way." Chang said: "What place is this?" The master said: "Thieves do not rob poor households." He asked: "When there is not a single dharma, where is this body?" The master then drew a circle and wrote the character for "body" in the middle.
袁州陽岐山甄叔禪師。上堂示眾曰。群靈一源假名為佛。體竭形消而不滅。金流樸散而常存。性海無風金波自湧。心靈絕兆萬象齊昭。體斯理者。不言而遍歷沙界。不用而功益玄化。如何背覺反合塵勞。於陰界中妄自囚執。師始登此山宴處。以至成院。聚徒演法四十餘年。唐元和十五年正月十三日歸寂。荼毘獲舍利七百粒。於東峰下建塔。
Chan Master Zhenshu of Mount Yangqi in Yuanzhou. He addressed the assembly in the hall, saying: "The multitude of spirits has one source, provisionally called Buddha. The substance is exhausted and the form dissolves, yet it is not extinguished; gold flows and the raw material scatters, yet it always remains. The sea of nature has no wind, and golden waves surge of themselves. When the mind's spirit is without omen, the myriad phenomena are all illuminated. One who embodies this principle travels through the realms of sand without speaking and benefits transformation profoundly without effort. Why turn from awakening and instead merge with the dust of toil, falsely imprisoning oneself in the realms of the aggregates?" The master first climbed this mountain and rested there, and later it became a monastery. He gathered disciples and taught the Dharma for more than forty years. On the thirteenth day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Yuanhe in the Tang he entered stillness. At cremation, seven hundred relics were obtained, and a stupa was built below the east peak.
濛谿和尚。僧問一念不生時如何。師良久。僧便禮拜。師雲。汝且作麼生會。僧雲。某甲終不無慚愧。師雲。汝卻信得及。問本分事如何體悉。師雲。爾何不問。僧雲。請師答話。師雲。爾卻問得好。其僧大笑而出。師雲。只有遮師僧靈利。有僧從外來。師便喝。僧雲。好箇來由。師雲。猶要棒在。僧雲。珍重。便出。師雲。得能自在。
Monk Mengxi. A monk asked: "What about when not a single thought arises?" The master was silent for a long time. The monk bowed. The master said: "How do you understand it?" The monk said: "I am not without shame." The master said: "You can still believe." He asked: "How should I realize my own fundamental matter?" The master said: "Why do you not ask?" The monk said: "Please answer, master." The master said: "You ask well." The monk laughed loudly and went out. The master said: "Only this monk is sharp." A monk came from outside. The master shouted. The monk said: "What a good opening." The master said: "Still wanting the stick." The monk said: "Take care," and went out. The master said: "He can be free."
洛京黑㵎和尚。僧問。如何是密室。師雲。截耳臥街。僧雲。如何是密室中人。師乃換手搥胸。
Monk Heijian of Luoyang. A monk asked: "What is the secret room?" The master said: "Cutting off the ear and lying in the street." The monk said: "What is the person in the secret room?" The master switched hands and beat his chest.
京兆興平和尚。洞山來禮拜。師雲。莫禮老朽。洞山雲。禮非老朽。師雲。非老朽者不受禮。洞山雲。他亦不止。洞山問。如何是古佛心。師雲。即汝心是。洞山雲。雖然如此。猶是某甲疑處。師雲。若恁麼即問取木人去。洞山雲。某甲有一句子。不借諸聖口。師雲。汝試道看。洞山雲。不是某甲。洞山辭。師雲。什麼處去。洞山雲。沿流無定止。師雲。法身沿流報身沿流。洞山雲。總不作此解。師乃撫掌(保福雲。洞山自是一家。乃別雲。覓得幾人)。
Monk Xingping of Jingzhao. Dongshan came to pay respects. The master said: "Do not bow to this decrepit old man." Dongshan said: "What I bow to is not the decrepit one." The master said: "One who is not decrepit does not receive bows." Dongshan said: "He too does not stop there." Dongshan asked: "What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?" The master said: "Your mind is it." Dongshan said: "Even so, this is exactly my doubt." The master said: "If so, ask the wooden man." Dongshan said: "I have a phrase that does not borrow the mouths of the sages." The master said: "Try saying it." Dongshan said: "It is not me." Dongshan took his leave. The master said: "Where are you going?" Dongshan said: "Following the stream with no fixed stopping place." The master said: "Does the Dharma body follow the stream, or the reward body?" Dongshan said: "I do not understand it in that way at all." The master clapped his hands (Baofu said: "Dongshan is simply a school of his own." and added: "How many can be found?").
逍遙和尚。一日師在禪床上坐。有僧鹿西問雲。念念攀緣心心永寂。師雲。昨日晚間也有人恁麼道。西雲。道箇什麼。師雲。不知。西雲。請師說。師以拂子驀口打。西便出。師告大眾雲。頂門上著一隻眼。
Monk Xiaoyao. One day the master was sitting on his Chan seat. A monk, Luxi, asked: "In every thought clinging to conditions, in every mind eternally still." The master said: "Last evening someone said the same." Xi said: "What did he say?" The master said: "I don't know." Xi said: "Please speak, master." The master suddenly struck his mouth with the whisk. Xi went out. The master told the assembly: "Put an eye on the crown of your head."
福谿和尚。僧問。古鏡無瑕時如何。師良久。僧雲。師意如何。師雲。山僧耳背僧又舉前問。師雲。猶較些子。僧問。如何是自己。師雲。爾問什麼。僧雲。豈無方便去也。師雲。爾適來問什麼。僧雲。得恁麼顛倒。師雲。今日合吃山僧手裡棒。僧問。緣散歸空空歸何所。師雲。某甲。僧雲喏。師雲。空在何處。僧雲。卻請師道。師雲。波斯吃胡椒。
Monk Fuxi. A monk asked: "What about when the ancient mirror has no flaw?" The master was silent for a long time. The monk said: "What is the master's meaning?" The master said: "This mountain monk is hard of hearing." The monk asked the same question again. The master said: "A little closer." The monk asked: "What is the self?" The master said: "What are you asking?" The monk said: "Is there no expedient means at all?" The master said: "What did you ask just now?" The monk said: "How topsy-turvy!" The master said: "Today you deserve a stick from this mountain monk." The monk asked: "When conditions disperse and return to emptiness, where does emptiness return?" The master said: "Hey, you." The monk said: "Yes." The master said: "Where is emptiness?" The monk said: "Then please, master, say." The master said: "A Persian eating pepper."
洪州水老和尚。初問馬祖。如何是西來的的意。祖乃當胸蹋倒。師大悟。起來撫掌呵呵大笑雲。大奇百千三昧無量妙義。只向一毛頭上便識得根原去。便禮拜而退。師住後告眾雲。自從一吃馬師蹋。直至如今笑不休。有僧作一圓相。以手撮向師身上師乃三撥。亦作一圓相卻指其僧。僧便禮拜師打雲。遮虛頭漢。問如何是沙門行師雲。動則影現覺則氷生。問如何是佛法大意。師乃拊掌呵呵大笑。凡接機大約如此。
Old Monk Shui of Hongzhou. At first he asked Mazu: "What is the clear intent of the Patriarch coming from the West?" Mazu kicked him squarely in the chest and knocked him down. The master awakened greatly, got up, clapped his hands and laughed heartily, saying: "How marvelous! Hundreds of thousands of samadhis and immeasurable wondrous meanings can all be recognized at their root on the tip of a single hair." He bowed and withdrew. After he became abbot, he told the assembly: "Ever since I was kicked by Master Ma, I have not stopped laughing." A monk drew a circle and gathered it toward the master with his hand. The master brushed it away three times, drew a circle too, and pointed at the monk. The monk bowed. The master struck him and said: "This empty-headed fellow." He was asked: "What is the practice of a sramana?" The master said: "When it moves, a shadow appears; when it is aware, ice forms." He was asked: "What is the main idea of the Buddha-dharma?" The master clapped his hands and laughed heartily. This was roughly how he dealt with occasions.
浮盃和尚。有凌行婆來禮拜師師與坐吃茶。行婆乃問雲。盡力道不得底句。還分付阿誰。師雲浮杯無剩語。婆雲。某甲不恁麼道。師遂舉前語問婆。婆斂手哭雲。蒼天中間更有冤苦。師無語。婆雲。語不知偏正。理不識倒邪。為人即禍生也。後有僧舉似南泉。南泉雲。苦哉浮盃。被老婆摧折。婆後聞南泉恁道。笑雲王老師猶少機關在。有幽州澄一禪客。逢見行婆乃問雲。怎生南泉恁道猶少機關在。婆乃哭雲。可悲可痛。禪客罔措。婆乃問雲會麼禪客合掌而退。婆雲。徛死禪和如麻似粟。後澄一禪客舉似趙州。趙州雲。我若見遮臭老婆問教口啞卻。澄一問趙州雲。未審和尚怎生問他。趙州以棒打雲。似遮箇徛死漢。不打待幾時。連打數棒。婆又聞趙州恁道雲。趙州自合吃婆手裡棒。後僧舉似趙州。趙州哭雲。可悲可痛。婆聞趙州此語。合掌歎雲。趙州眼放光明照破四天下也。後趙州教僧去問婆雲。怎生是趙州眼。婆乃竪起拳頭。趙州聞乃作一頌。送凌行婆雲。
Monk Fubei. Old Woman Ling came to pay respects to the master. The master sat with her and had tea. The old woman asked: "The phrase that cannot be said no matter how hard one tries, to whom will you entrust it?" The master said: "Fubei has no leftover words." The old woman said: "I would not say it that way." The master then put the previous words to her as a question. The old woman folded her hands and wept, saying: "In the blue sky there is still bitterness and injustice." The master had nothing to say. The old woman said: "One who does not know the bias and correctness of words, nor recognize reversal and deviance, brings disaster by teaching others." Later a monk told this to Nanquan. Nanquan said: "Poor Fubei, broken by an old woman." The old woman later heard what Nanquan said and laughed: "Teacher Wang still lacks some craft." A Chan traveler named Chengyi from Youzhou met the old woman and asked: "How is it that Nanquan said he still lacks some craft?" The old woman wept and said: "How sad, how painful." The Chan traveler was at a loss. The old woman asked: "Do you understand?" The Chan traveler put his palms together and withdrew. The old woman said: "Chan monks leaning on death are as many as hemp and millet." Later the traveler Chengyi told this to Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou said: "If I met this stinking old woman, I would question her until she was mute." Chengyi asked Zhaozhou: "How would you question her?" Zhaozhou struck him with a staff and said: "A fellow leaning on death like you, if I do not hit you now, when?" He hit him several times in a row. The old woman heard what Zhaozhou had said and said: "Zhaozhou should himself eat the staff from the old woman's hand." Later a monk told this to Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou wept and said: "How sad, how painful." Hearing these words of Zhaozhou, the old woman put her palms together and sighed: "Zhaozhou's eyes give off light and shine through the four continents." Later Zhaozhou had a monk go to ask the old woman: "What are Zhaozhou's eyes?" The old woman then raised her fist. Hearing this, Zhaozhou composed a verse and sent it to Old Woman Ling:
當機直面提直面當機疾
Meeting the occasion, raise it face to face; face to face, meet the occasion swiftly.
報爾凌行婆哭聲何得失
I inform you, Old Woman Ling: what gain or loss is there in the sound of weeping?
婆以頌答趙州雲。
The old woman answered Zhaozhou with a verse:
哭聲師已曉已曉復誰知
The master already understands the sound of weeping; having understood, who else would know?
當時摩竭國幾喪目前機
At that time in the country of Magadha, the present opportunity almost perished.
潭州龍山和尚(亦云隱山)問僧。什麼處來。僧雲。老宿處來。師雲。老宿有何言句。僧雲。說即千句萬句。不說即一字也無。師雲。恁麼即蠅子放卵。其僧禮拜。師便打之。洞山價和尚行腳時。迷路到山因參禮次。師問。此山無路闍梨向什麼處來。洞山雲。無路且置。和尚從何而入。師雲。我不曾雲水。洞山雲。和尚住此山多少時邪師雲。春秋不涉。洞山雲。此山先住和尚先住。師雲。不知。洞山雲。為什麼不知。師雲。我不為人天來。洞山卻問。如何是賓中主。師雲。長年不出戶洞山雲。如何是主中賓。師雲。青天覆白雲。洞山雲。賓主相去幾何。師雲。長江水上波。洞山雲。賓主相見有何言說。師雲。清風拂白月。洞山又問。和尚見箇什麼道理便住此山。師雲。我見兩箇泥牛鬪入海直至如今無消息。師因有頌雲。
Monk Longshan of Tanzhou (also called Yinshan). He asked a monk: "Where do you come from?" The monk said: "From an old master's place." The master said: "What words did the old master have?" The monk said: "If he speaks, it is a thousand sentences and ten thousand; if he does not speak, not a single word." The master said: "In that case it is a fly laying eggs." The monk bowed. The master struck him. When Monk Dongshan Jie was traveling, he lost his way and arrived at the mountain and visited him. The master asked: "This mountain has no road; where did you come from?" Dongshan said: "Leaving aside no road, from where did the master enter?" The master said: "I have never been a wandering monk." Dongshan said: "How long has the master lived on this mountain?" The master said: "I do not cross spring and autumn." Dongshan said: "Did the mountain live here first, or the master?" The master said: "I don't know." Dongshan said: "Why don't you know?" The master said: "I did not come for the sake of humans or gods." Dongshan asked in return: "What is the host within the guest?" The master said: "Not going out of the door all year." Dongshan said: "What is the guest within the host?" The master said: "Blue sky covering white clouds." Dongshan said: "How far apart are guest and host?" The master said: "Waves on the Yangtze River." Dongshan said: "When guest and host meet, what is said?" The master said: "Clear breeze brushing the white moon." Dongshan asked again: "What principle did the master see that made him live on this mountain?" The master said: "I saw two mud oxen fighting and entering the sea, and until now there has been no news." The master composed a verse:
三間茅屋從來住一道神光萬境閑
Three thatched rooms I have always lived in; one path of spiritual light, and the myriad scenes are at ease.
莫作是非來辨我浮生穿鑿不相關
Do not come to argue right and wrong with me; the floating life's far-fetched chiseling has nothing to do with it.
襄州居士龐蘊者。沖州衡陽縣人也。字道玄。世以儒為業。而居士少悟塵勞志求真諦。唐貞元初謁石頭和尚忘言會旨。復與丹霞禪師為友。一日石頭問曰。子自見老僧已來日用事作麼生。對曰。若問日用事即無開口處。復呈一偈雲。
The layman Pang Yun was a native of Hengyang County in Hengzhou (the base text has "Chongzhou," where "Chong" is an error for "Heng"), with the style name Daoxuan. His family followed Confucianism for generations, but the Layman awakened early to the toil of the dust and set his will on seeking the true principle. In the early Zhenyuan era of the Tang he visited Monk Shitou and understood the point beyond words. He also became friends with Chan Master Danxia. One day Shitou asked: "Since you have met this old monk, how do you handle daily affairs?" He answered: "If you ask about daily affairs, there is no place to open my mouth." He also presented a verse:
日用事無別唯吾自偶諧
Daily affairs are nothing different; only I myself am in accord.
頭頭非取捨處處勿張乖
In each thing no taking or rejecting; in each place no stirring up contradiction.
朱紫誰為號丘山絕點埃
Who gives names to vermilion and purple? Hills and mountains are free of a speck of dust.
神通並妙用運水及般柴
Spiritual powers and wondrous function: carrying water and hauling firewood.
石頭然之曰。子以緇耶素耶。居士曰。願從所慕遂不剃染。後之江西參問馬祖雲。不與萬法為侶者是什麼人。祖雲。待汝一口吸盡西江水即向汝道。居士言下頓領玄要。乃留駐參承經涉二載。有偈曰。
Shitou approved and said: "Do you take the black robe or the plain?" The Layman said: "I wish to follow what I admire." So he did not shave or dye. Later he went to Jiangxi and asked Mazu: "Who is one who is not a companion of the myriad dharmas?" Mazu said: "When you have drunk up all the West River in one gulp, I will tell you." At these words the Layman suddenly grasped the profound essentials, and stayed on to study and serve for two years. He had a verse:
有男不婚有女不嫁大家團欒頭
Having a son who does not marry, having a daughter who does not wed, the whole family gathers in a ring,
共說無生話
all talking the language of no-birth.
自爾機辯迅捷諸方嚮之。嘗遊講肆隨喜金剛經。至無我無人處。致問曰。座主既無我無人。是誰講誰聽。座主無對。居士曰。某甲雖是俗人麁知信向。座主曰只如居士意作麼生。居士乃示一偈雲。
From then on his repartee was swift and keen, and all quarters looked to him. Once he went to a lecture hall and took part joyfully in a lecture on the Diamond Sutra. When it reached the passage of "no self, no person," he asked: "Since the lecturer says there is no self and no person, who is lecturing and who is listening?" The lecturer had no answer. The Layman said: "Although I am a layman, I know roughly how to have faith." The lecturer said: "What is the Layman's meaning?" The Layman then showed a verse:
無我復無人作麼有疎親
No self and no person; how can there be distant or close?
勸君休歷坐不似直求真
I urge you to stop sitting in every seat; it is not like seeking the truth directly.
金剛般若性外絕一纖塵
The nature of Diamond Prajna is outside, cut off from a single fine speck of dust.
我聞並信受總是假名陳
"I have heard, believe and accept" are all provisionally stated names.
座主聞偈欣然仰歎。居士所至之處老宿多往。復問醻皆隨機應響。非格量軌轍之可拘也。元和中北遊襄漢隨處而居或鳳嶺鹿門。或𮠔肆閭巷。初住東巖後居郭西小舍。一女名靈照。常隨製竹漉籬令鬻之以供朝夕。有偈曰。
The lecturer, hearing the verse, joyfully looked up and sighed with admiration. Wherever the Layman went, old masters often came to exchange and reply, and all responded to the occasion like an echo, not bound by rules or tracks. During the Yuanhe era he traveled north to Xiangyang and Hanshui and lived wherever he happened to be, sometimes at Phoenix Ridge or Deer Gate, sometimes in market shops and village lanes. At first he lived at the East Cliff and later in a small house west of the city wall. His daughter, named Lingzhao, often followed him in making bamboo strainers and baskets, which they sold to provide for their daily needs. He had a verse:
心如境亦如無實亦無虛
Mind is thus, and the realm is thus; neither real nor empty.
有亦不管無亦不居不是賢聖
I do not care about existence, nor do I dwell in non-existence; I am neither a worthy nor a sage,
了事凡夫易復易即此五蘊有真智
an ordinary man who has finished his task, easy and again easy; in these very five aggregates there is true wisdom.