Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3

金州操禪師一日請米和尚齋。不排坐位。米到展坐具禮拜。師下禪床。米乃就師位而坐。師卻席地而坐。齋訖米便去。侍者曰。和尚受一切人欽仰。今日坐位。被人奪卻。師曰。三日若來即受救在。米果三日後來雲。前日遭賊(僧問鏡清。古人遭賊意如何。清雲。只見錐頭利。不見鑿頭方)。

Chan Master Cao of Jinzhou one day invited Reverend Mi to a feast and did not set out a seat. When Mi arrived, he spread his sitting cloth and bowed. The master got down from the meditation seat. Mi then sat in the master's seat. The master sat on the floor. When the meal was done, Mi left. The attendant said: "The Reverend is revered by everyone, and today his seat was taken." The master said: "If he comes after three days, he will be rescued." Mi indeed came three days later and said: "The other day I was robbed." (A monk asked Jingqing: "What did the ancient one mean by being robbed?" Qing said: "One only sees the sharp awl-point and does not see the square chisel-head.")

朗州古堤和尚尋常見僧來每雲。去汝無佛性。僧無對。或有對者。莫契其旨。一日仰山慧寂到參。師雲。去汝無佛性。寂叉手近前應諾。師笑曰。子什麼處得此三昧。寂曰。我從溈山得。寂問曰。和尚從誰得。師曰。我從章敬得。

Reverend Guti of Langzhou, whenever a monk came, would usually say: "Go away, you have no Buddha-nature." The monk had no reply. If someone did reply, it did not accord with the master's intent. One day Huiji of Yangshan came to visit. The master said: "Go away, you have no Buddha-nature." Ji folded his hands, came forward, and answered "Yes." The master laughed and said: "Where did you get this samadhi?" Ji said: "I got it from Weishan." Ji asked: "From whom did the Reverend get it?" The master said: "I got it from Zhangjing."

河中公畿和尚。僧問。如何是道如何是禪。師雲。有名非大道。是非俱不禪。欲識此中意。黃葉止啼錢。

Reverend Gongji of Hezhong. A monk asked: "What is the Way and what is Chan?" The master said: "What has a name is not the great Way; right and wrong are both not Chan. If you want to know the meaning here, yellow leaves are money to stop a child's crying."

河東裴休集

Compiled by Pei Xiu of Hedong

有大禪師號希運。住洪州高安縣黃蘗山鷲峰下。乃曹溪六祖之嫡孫。百丈之子西堂之姪。獨佩最上乘。離文字之印。唯傳一心更無別法。心體亦空萬緣俱寂。如大日輪升於虛空中照耀。靜無纖埃。證之者無新舊無淺深。說之者不立義解。不立宗主。不開戶牖。直下便是。動念則乖。然後為本佛。故其言簡其理直其道峻其行孤。四方學徒望山而趨。覩相而悟。往來海眾常千餘人。予會昌二年廉於鍾陵。自山迎至州憩龍興寺。旦夕問道。大中二年廉於宛陵。復禮迎至所部寓開元寺。旦夕受法。退而紀之十得一二。佩為心印不敢發揚。今恐入神精義不聞於未來。遂出之授門下。僧太舟法建歸舊山之廣唐寺。請長老法眾問與往日常所親聞同異何如也。時大唐大中十一年十月八日謹記(自後每段各紀歲月。今刪繁爾)。

There was a great Chan master named Xiyun, who lived at the foot of Jiufeng Peak on Mount Huangbo in Gao'an county, Hongzhou, a direct grandson of the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi, a son of Baizhang, and a nephew of Xitang. He alone bore the supreme vehicle, the seal that leaves writing behind, transmitting only the one mind, with no other dharma. The substance of mind is also empty, and the ten thousand conditions are all still. Like the great sun wheel rising in space and shining, it is quiet without a speck of dust. Those who realize it have no new or old, no shallow or deep. Those who speak of it do not set up doctrinal explanations, do not set up a master of the school, and do not open doors or windows. It is right here; stirring a thought is already off, and only then is it the original Buddha. So his words were simple, his principle direct, his Way steep, and his practice solitary. Students from the four quarters looked to the mountain and hurried there, and awakened on seeing his form. The congregation that came and went numbered often more than a thousand. In the second year of Huichang, when I was inspector at Zhongling, I welcomed him from the mountain to the prefecture, where he rested at Longxing Temple, and I asked about the Way morning and evening. In the second year of Dazhong, when I was inspector at Wanling, I again welcomed him with ceremony to my jurisdiction, where he lodged at Kaiyuan Temple, and I received the Dharma morning and evening. I withdrew and recorded it, getting one or two parts in ten, and wore it as a mind seal, not daring to promulgate it. Now I fear that its spiritually penetrating essential meaning will not be heard in the future, and so I have brought it forth and given it to his disciple, the monk Taizhou Fajian, to return to the old mountain's Guangtang Temple and ask the elders and assembly: how does it compare with what they used to hear in person in the past? Respectfully recorded on the eighth day of the tenth month of the eleventh year of the Dazhong era of the Great Tang. (From here on each section records a date; it is now deleted as redundant.)

諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心更無別法。此心無始已來不曾生不曾滅。不青不黃無形無相。不屬有無。不計新舊。非長非短非大非小。超過一切限量名言蹤跡對待。當體便是。動念即差。猶如虛空無有邊際不可測度。惟此一心即是佛。佛與眾生更無差異。但是眾生著相外求轉失。使佛覓佛。將心捉心。窮劫盡形終不能得。不知息念忘慮佛自現前○此心即是佛。佛即是眾生。眾生即是佛。佛即是心。為眾生時此心不減。為諸佛時此心不添。乃至六度萬行河沙功德。本自具足不假修添。遇緣則施。緣息則寂。若不決定信此。而欲著相修行以求功用。皆是妄想與道相乖。此心即是佛。更無別佛。亦無別心。此心淨明猶如虛空。無一點相貌。舉心動念即乖法體。即為著相。無始來無著相。佛修六度萬行欲求成佛。即是次第無始來無次第佛。但悟一心更無少法可得。此則真佛。佛與眾生一心無異。猶如虛空無雜無壞。如大日輪照四天下。日照之時明遍天下。虛空不曾明。日沒之後暗遍天下。虛空不曾暗。明暗之景自相凌奪。虛空之性廓然不變。佛與眾生心亦如此。若觀佛作清淨光明解脫之相。觀眾生作垢濁闇昧生死之相。此人作此解。歷河沙劫終不得菩提。即是著相之故。唯此一心。更無微塵許少法可得。即是佛。今學道人不悟此心體。便於心上生心。向外求佛著相修行。皆是惡法非菩提道○供養十方諸佛。不如供養一無心人不可得。無心者無一切心也。如如之體。內外如木石不動不轉。內外如虛空不塞不礙。無能無所。無方所。無相貌無得失。趣者不敢入。此法恐落空。無棲泊處故望涯而退。文殊當理。普賢當行。理者真空無礙之理。行者離相無盡之行。觀音當大慈。勢至當大智。維摩淨名也。淨者性也。名者相也。性相不異號為淨名。諸大菩薩所表者。人皆有之不離一心。悟之即是。今學道人不向自心中悟。

All Buddhas and all sentient beings are only the one mind, with no other dharma. This mind has since beginningless time never been born and never perished; it is not blue or yellow, has no shape or form, does not belong to existence or non-existence, does not count as new or old, is neither long nor short, neither large nor small, and surpasses all limits, names, traces, and oppositions. It is right here; to stir a thought is to err. It is like space, without boundary, immeasurable. Only this one mind is Buddha. There is no difference between Buddha and sentient beings. But sentient beings cling to characteristics and seek outward, and so they lose it more. Using Buddha to seek Buddha, using mind to grasp mind, through all kalpas to the end of their forms they can never attain it. They do not know that when thoughts cease and concerns are forgotten, Buddha appears of himself. This mind is Buddha, Buddha is sentient beings, sentient beings are Buddha, and Buddha is mind. When a sentient being, this mind is not diminished; when a Buddha, this mind is not increased. Even the six perfections and ten thousand practices, and merit as numerous as the Ganges sands, are originally complete and need no cultivation to add. Meeting conditions, one gives; when conditions end, it is still. If one does not firmly believe this and wishes to cling to characteristics, practice, and seek effects, it is all delusion and contrary to the Way. This mind is Buddha; there is no other Buddha, and no other mind. This mind, pure and bright like space, has not a single mark or appearance. To stir the mind and raise a thought is to deviate from the Dharma body, and is clinging to characteristics. From beginningless time there has been no Buddha who clung to characteristics. Cultivating the six perfections and ten thousand practices in hope of becoming a Buddha is a sequence. From beginningless time there has been no Buddha of sequence. Only awaken to the one mind, with not the slightest dharma to be attained, and this is the true Buddha. Buddha and sentient beings are of one mind without difference, like space, without mixture or destruction. It is like the great sun wheel illuminating the four continents: when the sun shines, brightness fills the world, yet space has never been bright; after the sun sets, darkness fills the world, yet space has never been dark. The scenes of brightness and darkness displace one another, but the nature of space is vast and unchanging. The minds of Buddha and sentient beings are like this too. If one regards Buddha as having the appearance of pure bright liberation and sentient beings as having the appearance of defiled, murky, dim birth and death, then a person with this understanding will pass through kalpas as numerous as the Ganges sands and never attain bodhi, because of clinging to characteristics. Only this one mind, with not even a speck of dust's worth of dharma to be attained, is Buddha. Now those who study the Way do not awaken to this substance of mind, and so give rise to mind on top of mind, seek Buddha outside, cling to characteristics, and practice; all this is evil dharma and not the path of bodhi. To make offerings to the Buddhas of the ten directions is not as good as making offerings to one person of no mind. It cannot be attained. No-mind means being without any mind. The substance of suchness is like wood and stone inside and out, unmoving and unturning; inside and out it is like space, unblocked and unobstructed. There is no one able and nothing acted upon, no direction or place, no appearance, no gain or loss. Those who set out do not dare enter this dharma, fearing they will fall into emptiness without a place to rest, and so they look to the shore and retreat. Manjushri stands for principle and Samantabhadra for practice. Principle is the principle of true emptiness without obstruction. Practice is the inexhaustible practice free of characteristics. Avalokitesvara stands for great compassion and Mahasthamaprapta for great wisdom. Vimalakirti is Pure Name. Pure is nature, name is characteristic. Nature and characteristic are not different, and so he is called Pure Name. What the great bodhisattvas represent, everyone has, not apart from the one mind. To awaken to it is it. Now those who study the Way do not awaken in their own minds,

乃於心外求著相取境。皆與道背。恆河沙者佛說是沙。此沙諸佛菩薩釋梵諸天步履而過。沙亦不喜。牛羊蟲蟻蹈踐而行。沙亦不怒。珍寶馨香沙亦不貪。糞溺臭穢沙亦不惡○此心即無心之心。離一切相。眾生諸佛更無差殊。但能無心便是究竟。學道人。若不直下無心累劫修行終不成道。被三乘功行拘繫不得解脫。然證此心有遲疾。有聞法一念便得無心者。有至十信十住十行十迴向乃得無心者。有至十地乃得無心者。長短得無心即住更無可修。更無可證。實無所得真實不虛。一念而得與十地而得者。功用恰齊更無深淺。只是歷劫枉受辛勤耳。造惡造善皆是著相。著相造惡枉受輪迴。著相造善枉受勞苦。總不如言下自認取本法。此法即心心外無法。此心即法法內無心。心自無心。亦無無心者。將心無心心即成有。默契而已。絕諸思量。故曰。言語道斷心行處滅。此心是本源清淨佛。人皆有之。蠢動畜生與諸佛菩薩一體不異。只為妄想分別造種種業。果本佛上實無一物。虛通寂靜明妙安樂而已。深自悟認。直下便是圓滿具足更無所欠。縱三僧祇精進修行歷諸地位。及一念證時。只證元來自佛。向上更不添得一物。卻觀歷劫功用總是夢中妄為。故如來雲。我於阿耨菩提實無所得。若妄有所得。然燈即不與授記。又云。是法平等無有高下。是名菩提。即此本源清淨心。與眾生諸佛世界山河有相無相遍十方界。一切平等無彼我相。此本源清淨心。常自圓明遍照。世人不悟只認見聞覺知為心。為見聞覺知所覆。所以不覩精明本體。但直下無心本體自現。如大日輪升於虛空遍照十方更無障礙。故學道人惟認見聞覺知為動作。空卻見聞覺知。即心路絕無入處。但於見聞覺知處認本心。然本心不屬見聞覺知。亦不離見聞覺知。但莫於見聞覺知上起見解。莫於見聞覺知上動念。亦莫離見聞覺知覓心。亦莫捨見聞覺知取法。

...then seeking outside the mind, clinging to forms and grasping at objects, all go against the Way. As for the sands of the Ganges, the Buddha spoke of these sands. Buddhas, bodhisattvas, Indra, Brahma and the gods walk over this sand, and the sand is not pleased; cattle, sheep, insects and ants trample it, and the sand is not angered; it does not covet treasures and fragrances, nor loathe dung, urine and foulness. ○ This mind is the mind of no-mind, apart from all forms. Sentient beings and Buddhas are no different at all. If one can only have no mind, that is the ultimate. If a student of the Way does not directly have no mind, though he practices for countless eons he will never accomplish the Way, bound by the efforts and practices of the Three Vehicles, unable to be liberated. Yet there is fast and slow in realizing this mind: some hear the Dharma and at a single thought attain no-mind; some reach no-mind only at the ten faiths, ten abidings, ten practices and ten dedications; some reach no-mind only at the ten grounds. However long it takes, once one attains no-mind one abides there, with nothing further to cultivate, nothing further to realize, truly nothing attained, real and not false. One who attains it in a single thought and one who attains it at the ten grounds are exactly equal in effort, with no deeper or shallower, only that one has wasted toil through the eons. Doing evil and doing good are both clinging to forms. Doing evil while clinging to forms, one wastes rebirths; doing good while clinging to forms, one wastes toil. None of it compares with recognizing one's own original Dharma at the very words. This Dharma is the mind, and outside the mind there is no Dharma. This mind is the Dharma, and within the Dharma there is no mind. The mind itself is no-mind, and there is also no one who has no-mind. To take the mind as no-mind makes the mind into something existing. It is only a silent accord, cutting off all thinking. Therefore it is said: the path of words is cut off, and the place of mental activity is extinguished. This mind is the originally pure Buddha, and everyone has it. Wriggling creatures and animals are one body with Buddhas and bodhisattvas, not different; only through deluded discrimination do they make all kinds of karmic fruits. On the original Buddha there is truly not a single thing; it is empty, penetrating, still, bright, wonderful and blissful, that is all. If one deeply awakens and recognizes it, it is right here, complete and sufficient, lacking nothing. Even if one practices diligently through three asamkhyeya eons, passing through all the grounds, when one realizes it in a single thought, one only realizes the original Buddha oneself, and adds not a single thing above it. Looking back on the efforts of the eons, they are all deluded actions in a dream. So the Tathagata said: I truly attained nothing in anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. If one falsely had something attained, Dipamkara would not have given a prediction. He also said: this dharma is equal, without high or low, and this is called bodhi. This very originally pure mind, together with sentient beings, Buddhas, worlds, mountains and rivers, form and formlessness, pervades the ten directions, all equal, without the marks of self and other. This originally pure mind is always perfectly bright and illuminating everywhere. Worldly people do not awaken, and only take seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing as the mind, covered by seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, so they do not see the essential bright original substance. If one simply has no mind directly, the original substance appears of itself, like the great sun rising in the sky and illuminating the ten directions without any obstruction. So students of the Way only take seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing as movement. If one empties seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, then the paths of mind are cut off and there is nowhere to enter. One should simply recognize the original mind at the place of seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing. Yet the original mind does not belong to seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, nor is it apart from them. Just do not give rise to views about seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, do not stir thoughts about seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, do not seek the mind apart from seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, and do not give up seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing to grasp the Dharma.

不即不離不住不著。縱橫自在無非道場○世人聞道。諸佛皆傳心法。將謂心上別有一法可證可取。遂將心覓法。不知心即是法法即是心。不可將心更求於心。歷千萬劫終無得日。不如當下無心便是本法。如力士額珠隱於額內。向外求覓周行十方。終不能得。智者指之。當時自見本珠如故。學道人迷自本心不認為佛。遂向外求覓起功用行。依次第證果位。歷劫勤求元不成道。不如當下無心。決定知一切法本無所有亦無所得。無住無依無能無所。不動妄念便證菩提。及證道時只證本心佛。歷劫功用並是虛修。如力士得珠時。只得本額珠。不關向外尋求之力故。佛言。我於阿耨菩提實無所得。恐人不信故。引五眼所見五語。所言真實不虛是第一義諦○學道人勿疑。四大為身。四大無我。我亦無主。故知此身無我亦無主。五陰無我亦無主。故知此心無我亦無主。六根六塵六識和合生滅亦復如是。十八界既空一切皆空。唯有本心蕩然清淨。有識食有智食。四大之身飢瘡為患。隨事給養不生貪著。謂之智食。恣情取味妄生分別。唯求適口不生厭離。謂之識食。聲聞者。因聲得悟謂之聲聞。但不了自心。於聲教上起解。或因神通。或因瑞相語言運動。聞有菩提涅槃三阿僧祇劫修成佛道。皆屬聲聞道。謂之聲聞佛。惟直下頓了自心本來是佛。無一法可得。無一行可修。此是無上道。此是真如佛。學道人只怕一念有即與道隔矣。念念無相念念無為。即是佛。學道人若欲得成佛。一切佛法總不用學。惟學無求無著。無求則心不生。無著則心不染。不生不染即是佛。八萬四千法門對八萬四千煩惱。是教化接引門。本無一法。離即是法。知離者是佛。但離一切煩惱是無法可得○學道人慾得知要訣。但莫於心上著一物。言佛法身猶如虛空。此是喻法身即虛空。虛空即法身。常人將謂法身遍於虛空處。虛空中含容法身。不知虛空即法身。

Neither identical nor apart, neither dwelling nor clinging, free to move vertically and horizontally, nothing is not the place of the Way. ○ Worldly people hear that all the Buddhas transmit the Dharma of mind, and suppose that there is another dharma on the mind that can be realized and grasped, and so use the mind to seek the Dharma. They do not know that the mind is the Dharma and the Dharma is the mind. One cannot use the mind to seek the mind again; through ten thousand million eons there will never be a day of attaining it. It is better to have no mind right now, and that is the original Dharma. It is like the strongman's forehead jewel hidden within his forehead; he sought it outside and traveled through the ten directions but never found it. A wise man pointed it out, and at that moment he saw the original jewel as before. The student of the Way, deluded about his own original mind, does not recognize it as Buddha, and so seeks outside, begins efforts and practices, realizes the fruit stages in sequence, and seeks diligently through the eons but in the end does not attain the Way. It is better to have no mind right now, and know decisively that all dharmas originally have nothing, nothing to be attained, no abiding and no reliance, no subject and no object. If one does not stir deluded thoughts, one realizes bodhi. When one realizes the Way, one only realizes the original-mind Buddha. The efforts of the eons were all vain cultivation. Just as when the strongman found the jewel, he only found his original forehead jewel and it had nothing to do with the effort of seeking outside. So the Buddha said: I truly attained nothing in anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. For fear that people would not believe, he cited what is seen by the five eyes and spoken by the five kinds of speech, as real and not false, the first-meaning truth. ○ Students of the Way, do not doubt the four elements as the body. The four elements have no self and the self has no master, so know that this body has no self and no master. The five aggregates have no self and no master, so know that this mind has no self and no master. The arising and ceasing of the six faculties, six objects and six consciousnesses in combination is also so. Since the eighteen realms are empty, everything is empty. Only the original mind remains, vast and pure. There is food of consciousness and food of wisdom. For the body of the four elements, hunger is an affliction like a sore; supplying it as the situation requires without giving rise to greed is called food of wisdom. To indulge one's feelings in taking flavors, falsely generating discrimination, seeking only what suits the mouth and giving rise to no aversion, is called food of consciousness. A hearer is one who gains awakening through sound and is called a hearer. But he does not understand his own mind and gives rise to interpretation upon sound teaching. Or through supernormal powers, auspicious signs, speech or movement, hearing that there is bodhi and nirvana and that one becomes a Buddha after three asamkhyeya eons of cultivation, all belongs to the path of hearers and is called the hearer's Buddha. Only to understand directly and suddenly that one's own mind is originally Buddha, with not a single dharma to be attained and not a single practice to cultivate, this is the unsurpassed Way, this is the Thusness Buddha. The student of the Way fears only a single thought of existence, which separates him from the Way. Thought after thought without form, thought after thought without action, that is Buddha. If a student of the Way wishes to become a Buddha, he need not study any Buddhist teachings at all, only learn not to seek and not to cling. Without seeking, the mind does not arise; without clinging, the mind is not defiled. Not arising and not defiled is Buddha. The eighty-four thousand Dharma gates answer the eighty-four thousand afflictions; they are gates of teaching and guidance. Originally there is not a single dharma. Separation is itself the Dharma. One who knows separation is Buddha. Simply to be separate from all afflictions is to have no dharma that can be attained. ○ A student of the Way who wishes to know the key need only not put a single thing on the mind. It is said that the Buddha's Dharma body is like empty space; this is a metaphor that the Dharma body is empty space and empty space is the Dharma body. Ordinary people suppose that the Dharma body pervades empty space and that empty space contains the Dharma body, not knowing that empty space is the Dharma body,

法身即虛空也。若定言有虛空。即虛空不是法身。定言有法身。即法身不是虛空。但不作虛空解。虛空即法身。不作法身解。法身即虛空。虛空與法身無異相。佛與眾生無異相。生死涅槃無異相。煩惱菩提無異相。離一切相即是佛。凡夫取境。道人取心。心境雙忘乃是真法。忘境猶易忘心至難。人不敢忘心。是恐落空無撈摸處。不知空本無空唯一真界耳○此靈覺性無始以來與空虛同壽。未曾生未曾滅。未曾有未曾無。未曾穢未曾淨。未曾喧未曾寂。未曾少未曾老。無方所無內外。無數量無形相。無色像無音聲。不可覓不可求。不可以智識解。不可以言語取。不可以景物會。不可以功用到。諸佛菩薩與一切蠢動眾生同大涅槃性。性即是心。心即是佛。佛即是法。一念離真皆為妄想。不可以心更求於心。不可以佛更求於佛。不可以法更求於法。故修道人直下無心默契。擬心即差。以心傳心此為正見。慎勿向外逐境為心。是認賊為子。為有貪瞋痴即立戒定慧。本無煩惱焉有菩提。故祖師雲。佛說一切法。為除一切心。我無一切心。何用一切法。本源清淨佛上更不得著一物。譬如虛空。雖以無量珍寶莊嚴。終不能住。佛性同虛空。雖以無量智慧功德莊嚴。終不能住。但迷本性轉不見耳○所謂心地法門。萬法皆依此心建立。遇境即有。無境即無。不可於淨性上專作境解。所言定慧鑑用歷歷寂寂惺惺。見聞覺知皆境上作解。暫為中下人說即得。若欲親證。皆不可作如此解。盡是境縛。法有沒處沒於有地。但於一切法不作有見。即見法○自達磨大師到中國。唯說一性。唯傳一法。以佛傳佛不說餘佛。以法傳法不說餘法。法即不可說之法。佛即不可取之佛。乃是本源清淨心也。唯此一事實餘二則非真。般若為慧。此慧即無相之本也○凡夫不趣道。唯恣六情乃行六道。即學道後。一念計生死。即落諸魔道。一念起諸見。

and the Dharma body is empty space. If one insists that there is empty space, then empty space is not the Dharma body. If one insists that there is a Dharma body, then the Dharma body is not empty space. If one does not interpret it as empty space, empty space is the Dharma body. If one does not interpret it as the Dharma body, the Dharma body is empty space. Empty space and the Dharma body have no different mark, Buddhas and sentient beings have no different mark, birth-and-death and nirvana have no different mark, affliction and bodhi have no different mark. To be apart from all marks is Buddha. Ordinary people grasp objects, and people of the Way grasp the mind. When both mind and object are forgotten, that is the true Dharma. To forget objects is still easy; to forget the mind is extremely hard. People dare not forget the mind because they fear falling into emptiness with nothing to hold on to. They do not know that emptiness is originally not empty, and is only the one true realm. ○ This spiritual awareness-nature has lived as long as empty space since beginningless time; it has never been born and never extinguished, never existed and never been non-existent, never defiled and never pure, never noisy and never still, never young and never old. It has no place, no inside and outside, no number or measure, no shape, no color or image, no sound. It cannot be sought, cannot be pursued, cannot be understood by knowledge, cannot be taken by words, cannot be grasped by scenery, cannot be reached by effort. Buddhas and bodhisattvas and all wriggling sentient beings share the same great nirvana-nature. Nature is mind, mind is Buddha, and Buddha is Dharma. A single thought apart from the true is all delusion. One cannot use the mind to seek the mind again, use Buddha to seek Buddha again, or use Dharma to seek Dharma again. So a practitioner of the Way directly has no mind and silently accords; to intend with the mind is to err. Transmitting mind with mind is the right view. Be careful not to chase objects outward and take them as the mind; this is taking a thief for one's son. Because there are greed, hatred and delusion, discipline, concentration and wisdom are set up. If there were originally no affliction, where would bodhi be? So the Patriarch said: The Buddha spoke all dharmas in order to remove all minds. I have no minds at all; what use are all dharmas? On the originally pure Buddha one cannot place a single thing. For example, empty space, although adorned with immeasurable treasures, can never hold them. Buddha-nature is the same as empty space; although adorned with immeasurable wisdom and merit, it can never hold them. One is only deluded about one's original nature and so turns away and does not see it. ○ What is called the Dharma gate of the mind-ground is that all dharmas are founded on this mind. When objects are met, they exist; when there are no objects, they do not. One must not take the pure nature purely as an object. What is spoken of as the function of concentration and wisdom illuminating, clear, quiet and alert, seeing, hearing, feeling and knowing, are all interpretations made on objects. It may be provisionally said for those of middling or lower capacity. If you wish to realize it personally, none of these interpretations may be made; all are bondage to objects. There is a place where the Dharma sinks, sinking into the ground of existence. If only toward all dharmas one makes no view of existence, then one sees the Dharma. ○ Since Great Master Bodhidharma came to China, he has spoken only of one nature and transmitted only one Dharma. Buddha transmits Buddha without speaking of other Buddhas. Dharma transmits Dharma without speaking of other Dharmas. The Dharma is the Dharma that cannot be spoken, and the Buddha is the Buddha that cannot be grasped, namely the originally pure mind. Only this one thing is real; the other two are not true. Prajna is wisdom, and this wisdom is the root of no-form. ○ Ordinary people do not head toward the Way; they only indulge the six emotions and so go through the six destinies. Even after studying the Way, one who in a single thought calculates birth and death falls into the paths of the demons. One who gives rise in a single thought to views,

即落外道。見有生趣其滅。即落聲聞道。不見有生唯見有滅。即緣覺道。法本不生今亦不滅。不起二見不厭不忻。一切諸法唯一心是。然後乃為佛乘也○凡人皆逐境生心。心隨欣厭。若欲無境當忘其心。心忘則境空。境空則心滅。不忘心而除境。境不可除。只益紛擾耳。故萬法唯心心亦不可得。復何求哉○學般若法人。不見一法可得。絕意三乘。唯一真實。不可證得。謂我能證能得。皆增上慢人也。法華會下拂衣而去者。皆斯徒也。故佛言。我於菩提實無所得。默契而已○凡人慾修證。但觀五蘊皆空四大無我。真心無相不去不來。生時性亦不來。死時性亦不去。湛然圓寂心境一如。但能如此直下頓了。不為三世所拘繫。便出世人也。切不得有分毫趣向。若見善相諸佛來迎。及種種現前亦無心隨去。若見惡相種種現前亦無畏心。但自忘心同於法界。便得自在○凡言化城者。二乘及十地乃至等覺妙覺。皆是權立接引之教。並為化城也。言寶所者。乃真心本佛自性之寶。此寶不屬情量。不可建立。無佛無眾生。無能無所。何處有城。若問此既是化城何處為寶所。寶所不可指。指即有寶所。非真實所也。故云在近而已。在近者。不可定量言之。但當體會契之即是。闡提者信不具也。一切六道眾生。及至二乘不信有佛果。皆謂之斷善根闡提。菩薩深信佛法。不見有大乘小乘佛與眾生同一法性。乃謂之善根闡提。大抵因聲教而悟者名聲聞。觀因緣而悟者名緣覺。若不向自心中悟。雖至成佛亦謂之聲聞佛。學道人於法上悟不於心上悟。雖歷劫修行。終不是本佛。若不心悟乃於法悟。即是輕心重法。遂成逐塊。忘於本心故。但契本心不用求法。心即法也○凡人多謂境礙心。謂事礙理。常欲逃境以安心屏事以存理。不知乃是心礙境理礙事。但令心空境自空。但令理寂事自寂。勿倒用心也○凡人多不肯空心恐落空。

falls into the outside paths. One who sees birth and heads toward extinction falls into the way of the hearers. One who does not see birth and sees only extinction is on the path of the solitary realizers. The Dharma is originally unborn and now is also not extinguished. Not giving rise to two views, neither disliking nor delighting, all dharmas are only this one mind, and only then is it the Buddha vehicle. ○ Ordinary people all give rise to mind by chasing objects, and the mind follows delight and aversion. If you wish to have no objects, you must forget your mind. When the mind is forgotten the objects are empty, and when objects are empty the mind is extinguished. If you do not forget the mind but remove objects, the objects cannot be removed and it only increases confusion. So the ten thousand dharmas are only mind, and the mind also cannot be found; what is there further to seek? ○ One who studies the prajna Dharma sees no dharma that can be attained. He cuts off the intention for the Three Vehicles; there is only the one reality, which cannot be realized or attained. To say one can realize or attain is the arrogance of the overweening. Those who flicked their sleeves and left the assembly of the Lotus were of this kind. So the Buddha said: I truly attained nothing in bodhi; it is only silent accord. ○ Ordinary people who wish to cultivate and realize need only observe that the five aggregates are all empty and the four elements have no self. The true mind has no form, no going and no coming. At birth the nature does not come, and at death the nature does not go. Serenely perfect and still, mind and object are one. If one can directly and suddenly understand in this way, not bound by the three times, one is a person who has left the world. One must not have even a hair's breadth of inclination. If one sees good signs, Buddhas coming to receive one, and all kinds of things appearing, one should also have no mind to follow them. If one sees bad signs of all kinds appearing, one should also have no mind of fear. Simply forget the mind oneself, be one with the Dharma realm, and one will gain freedom. ○ All that is called the conjured city, the Two Vehicles and the ten grounds up to equal enlightenment and wonderful enlightenment, are all expedient teachings set up for guidance, and all are conjured cities. What is called the treasure place is the treasure of the true mind, the original Buddha's own nature. This treasure does not belong to emotions and measurement and cannot be established. There is no Buddha and no sentient being, no subject and no object; where would there be a city? If one asks: since this is the conjured city, where is the treasure place? The treasure place cannot be pointed to. If it is pointed to, there is a treasure place, which is not the real place. So it is said only to be near. As for being near, it cannot be measured by words; one need only experience it and accord with it. An icchantika is one whose faith is incomplete. All sentient beings of the six destinies, and even those of the Two Vehicles who do not believe in the Buddha fruit, are called icchantikas who have cut off their roots of goodness. A bodhisattva deeply believes the Buddha Dharma and sees no Great Vehicle or Small Vehicle, with Buddha and sentient beings of one Dharma nature, and is called an icchantika of good roots. Generally those who awaken through the teaching of sound are called hearers, and those who awaken by observing causes and conditions are called solitary realizers. If one does not awaken in one's own mind, even if one becomes a Buddha, he is called a hearer's Buddha. One who awakens on the Dharma and not on the mind, though he practices through the eons, will never be the original Buddha. If one does not awaken in mind but awakens in dharma, this is making light of mind and heavy of the Dharma, and thus becomes chasing a clod, forgetting the original mind. Simply accord with the original mind and do not seek the Dharma. The mind is the Dharma. ○ Ordinary people often say that objects obstruct the mind and that affairs obstruct principle, and so always want to flee objects to give peace to the mind and shun affairs to preserve principle, not knowing that it is the mind that obstructs objects and principle that obstructs affairs. Just make the mind empty and objects are empty of themselves. Just make principle still and affairs are still of themselves. Do not use the mind upside down. ○ Ordinary people often are unwilling to empty the mind, fearing to fall into emptiness.

不知自心本空。愚人除事不除心。智者除心不除事。菩薩心如虛空一切俱捨。所作福德皆不貪著。然捨有三等。內外身心一切俱捨。猶如虛空無所取著。然後隨方應物能所皆忘。是謂大捨。若一邊行道佈德。一邊旋捨無希望。心是謂中捨。若廣修眾善有所希望。聞法知空。遂乃不著是謂小捨。大捨如火燭在前更無迷悟。中捨如火燭在旁。或明或暗。小捨如火燭在後不見坑阱故。菩薩心如虛空。一切俱捨。過去心不可得。是過去捨。現在心不可得。是現在捨。未來心不可得。是未來捨。所謂三世俱捨。自如來付法迦葉以來。以心印心。心心不異。印著空則印不成文。印著物則印不成法。故以心印心心心不異。能印所印俱難契會。故得者少。然心即無心得即無得○佛有三身。法身說自性靈通法。報身說一切清淨法。化身說六度萬行法。法身說法不以語言音聲形相文字。無所說無所證。自性靈通而已。故曰。無法可說是名說法。報身化身皆隨機感現所說法。亦隨事應根以為攝化。皆非真法。故曰報化非真佛。亦非說法者○所言同是一精明分為六和合者。一精明者一心也。六和合者六根各與塵合。眼與色合。耳與聲合。鼻與香合。舌與味合。身與觸合。意與法合。中間生六識為十八界。若了知十八界空無所有。束六和合為一精明。一精明者即心也。學道人皆知此。但不能免作一精明六和合解。遂為法縛不契本心。如來現世欲說一乘真法。則眾生不信興謗沒於苦海。若都不說則佛墮慳貪。不為眾生普捨妙道。遂方便說三乘。乘有大小得有深淺。皆非本法。故云。惟此一乘道餘二即非真。然終未能顯一心法。故召迦葉同法座坐。別付一心離言說法。此一枝法今別行。若能契悟者。便至佛地。

They do not know that their own mind is originally empty. The foolish remove affairs but not the mind; the wise remove the mind but not affairs. A bodhisattva's mind is like empty space, giving up everything. He does not cling to any merit he has made. Yet there are three grades of giving up. To give up all, inner and outer, body and mind, like empty space with nothing to cling to, and then respond to things as they come, forgetting both subject and object, is called great giving up. To practice the Way and spread virtue on one side while giving up on the other, without a mind of hope, is called middling giving up. To cultivate many good deeds with some hope, and then hearing the Dharma and knowing emptiness, to not cling, is called small giving up. Great giving up is like a lamp or torch in front, with no more delusion or awakening. Middling giving up is like a torch at the side, sometimes bright and sometimes dark. Small giving up is like a torch behind, where one does not see the pits and snares. So a bodhisattva's mind is like empty space and gives up everything. The past mind cannot be found, which is giving up the past. The present mind cannot be found, which is giving up the present. The future mind cannot be found, which is giving up the future. This is called giving up the three times together. Since the Tathagata entrusted the Dharma to Kasyapa, mind has sealed mind, and mind after mind has not differed. If the seal is placed on emptiness, the seal does not form a pattern; if the seal is placed on a thing, the seal does not form a Dharma. So mind seals mind, and mind after mind is not different. Both the sealer and the sealed are hard to accord with, so few attain it. Yet the mind is no-mind, and attainment is non-attainment. ○ The Buddha has three bodies. The Dharma body teaches the Dharma of self-nature's spiritual penetration; the reward body teaches the Dharma of all purity; the transformation body teaches the Dharma of the six perfections and myriad practices. The Dharma body's teaching does not use language, sound, form or letters; nothing is said and nothing is realized, only the self-nature's spiritual penetration. So it is said: there is no Dharma to speak, and this is called speaking the Dharma. The reward body and transformation body appear according to the response to capacities, and what they speak is also adapted to circumstances and faculties for gathering and teaching; all are not the true Dharma. So it is said: the reward and transformation bodies are not the true Buddha, nor are they the speaker of the Dharma. ○ What is said about it being one bright essence divided into six unions: the one bright essence is the one mind. The six unions are each of the six faculties joining with its object. The eye joins with form, the ear with sound, the nose with smell, the tongue with taste, the body with touch, and the mind with dharmas. In between arise the six consciousnesses, making the eighteen realms. If one clearly knows that the eighteen realms are empty and have nothing, one binds the six unions into one bright essence. The one bright essence is the mind. Students of the Way all know this, but they cannot avoid interpreting it as one bright essence and six unions, and so are bound by the Dharma and do not accord with the original mind. When the Tathagata appeared in the world and wished to speak the true Dharma of the One Vehicle, sentient beings did not believe, and raised slander and sank into the sea of suffering. If he said nothing at all, the Buddha would fall into stinginess and not universally give away the wonderful Way to sentient beings. So he expediently taught the Three Vehicles. Vehicles are large and small and attainments are deep and shallow, and none is the original Dharma. So it is said: only this One Vehicle Way is true, and the other two are not. Yet in the end he could not reveal the Dharma of the one mind, so he called Kasyapa to sit together on the Dharma seat and separately entrusted the Dharma of the one mind apart from words. This branch of the Dharma now goes its own way. If one can accord and awaken to it, one reaches the Buddha ground.

裴休相國傳心偈

Verse of Transmitting the Mind by Chancellor Pei Xiu

予於宛陵鐘陵皆得親黃蘗希運禪師。盡傳心要。乃作傳心偈爾。

At Wanling and Zhongling I personally attended Chan Master Huangbo Xiyun and received the whole essence of mind transmission, and so composed this verse of transmitting the mind.

心不可傳。以契為傳。心不可見。以無為見。契亦無契。

The mind cannot be transmitted, so accord is taken as transmission. The mind cannot be seen, so non-seeing is taken as seeing. Accord too has no accord,

無亦無無。化城不住。迷額有珠。珠是強名。

And non-existence too is not non-existent. Do not dwell in the conjured city; the deluded have a jewel on their forehead. The jewel is a forced name,

城豈有形。即心即佛。佛即無生。直下便是。

How could the city have a form? This mind is Buddha, and Buddha is unborn. Right here is it,

勿求勿營。使佛覓佛。倍費功程。隨法生解。

Do not seek and do not strive. To make Buddha seek Buddha only multiplies the toil. If one gives rise to interpretation following the Dharma,

即落魔界。凡聖不分。乃離見聞。無心似鏡。

One falls into the realm of demons. Without dividing the ordinary and holy, one leaves seeing and hearing. No-mind is like a mirror,

與物無競。無念似空。無物不容。三乘外法。

Not contending with things. No-thought is like space, containing everything. The Dharma beyond the Three Vehicles,

歷劫希逢。若能如是。是出世雄。

Is hoped for only after eons. If one can be like this, one is a hero who leaves the world.

甞聞。河東大士親見高安導師傳心要。於當年著偈章而示後。頓開聾瞽。煥若丹青。予惜其所遺。綴於本錄雲爾。

I once heard that the Great Gentleman of Hedong personally saw the Master of Gao'an, received the essence of mind transmission that year, wrote verses to show later generations, suddenly opening the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind, as bright as cinnabar and blue. I cherished what he left behind and have appended it to this record.

慶曆戊子歲南宗字天真者題

In the wuzi year of Qingli, written by Tianzhen of the Southern School.

(傳心法要內改十一處。除落三字添入九字。並按四家錄並別錄為據也)

(In the Essentials of Transmitting the Mind, eleven places have been changed, three characters removed and nine characters added, all on the basis of the Records of Four Masters and the separate record.)

懷讓禪師第三世下六十一人

Sixty-one people of the third generation below Chan Master Huairang

池州南泉普願禪師法嗣一十七人湖南長沙景岑禪師

Seventeen Dharma heirs of Chan Master Puyuan of Nanquan in Chizhou. Chan Master Jingcen of Changsha in Hunan

荊南白馬曇照禪師

Chan Master Tanzhao of Baima in Jingnan

終南山雲際師祖禪師

Chan Master Shizu of Yunji on Zhongnan Mountain

鄧州香嚴下堂義端禪師

Chan Master Yiduan of Xiayantang, Xiangyan in Dengzhou

趙州東院從諗禪師

Chan Master Congshen of Dongyuan in Zhaozhou

池州靈鷲閑禪師

Chan Master Xian of Lingjiu in Chizhou

鄂州茱萸山和尚

Venerable of Zhuyu Mountain in Ezhou

衢州子湖利蹤禪師

Chan Master Lizong of Zihu in Quzhou

洛京嵩山和尚

Venerable of Mount Song in Luojing

日子和尚

Venerable Rizi

蘇州西禪和尚

Venerable of Xichan in Suzhou

宣州刺史陸亙池州行者甘贄(已上一十三人見錄)

Lu Gen, prefect of Xuanzhou. Gan Zhi, a lay practitioner of Chizhou (the above thirteen are recorded)