Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3

僧問。如何是平常心。師雲。要眠即眠要坐即坐。僧雲。學人不會。師雲。熱即取涼寒即向火。僧問。向上一路請師道。師雲。一口針三尺線。僧雲。如何領會。師雲。益州布揚州絹。僧問。動是法王苗。寂是法王根。如何是法王。師指露柱曰。何不問大士。因庭前向日。仰山雲。人人盡有遮箇事。只是用不得。師雲。恰是請汝用。仰山雲。作麼生用。師乃蹋倒仰山。仰山雲。直下似箇大蟲(長慶雲。前彼此作家。後彼此不作家。乃別雲。邪法難扶)自此諸方謂為岑大蟲。僧問。本來人還成佛也無。師雲。汝見大唐天子還自種田割稻否。僧雲未審是何人成佛。師雲。是汝成佛。僧無語。師雲。會麼。僧雲。不會。師雲。如人因地而倒依地而起。地道什麼。三聖令秀上座問雲。南泉遷化向什麼處去。師雲。石頭作沙彌時參見六祖。秀雲。不問石頭見六祖。南泉遷化向什麼處去。師雲。教伊尋思去。秀雲。和尚雖有千尺寒松。且無抽條石筍。師默然。秀雲。謝和尚答話。師亦默然。秀上坐舉似三聖。三聖雲。若實恁麼猶勝臨濟七步。然雖如此待我更驗看。至明日三聖上問雲。承聞和尚昨日答南泉遷化一則語。可謂光前絕後今古罕聞。師亦默然。僧問。如何是文殊。師雲。牆壁瓦礫是。又問。如何是觀音。師雲。音聲語言是。又問。如何普賢。師雲。眾生心是。又問。如何是佛。師雲。眾生色身是。僧曰。河沙諸佛體皆同。何故有種種名字。師雲。從眼根返源名為文殊。耳根返源名為觀音。從心返源名為普賢。文殊是佛妙觀察智。觀音是佛無緣大慈。普賢是佛無為妙行。三聖是佛之妙用。佛是三聖之真體。用則有河沙假名。體則總名一薄伽梵。僧問色即是空空即是色。此理如何。師偈曰。

A monk asked: "What is the ordinary mind?" The Master said: "When you want to sleep, sleep; when you want to sit, sit." The monk said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "When hot, take coolness; when cold, go to the fire." A monk asked: "Please speak, Master, of the upward path." The Master said: "One needle, three feet of thread." The monk said: "How should I understand?" The Master said: "Cloth from Yizhou, silk from Yangzhou." A monk asked: "Movement is the sprout of the Dharma King, stillness is the root of the Dharma King. What is the Dharma King?" The Master pointed to a pillar and said: "Why not ask the Great Gentleman?" Once, facing the sun in the courtyard, Yangshan said: "Everyone has this matter, but cannot use it." The Master said: "Precisely, I invite you to use it." Yangshan said: "How do I use it?" The Master then kicked Yangshan over. Yangshan said: "Right now you are like a tiger." (Changqing said: "First, they were both masters; later, neither was a master." He also said separately: "Wrong dharma is hard to prop up.") From then on people everywhere called him Tiger Cen. A monk asked: "Will the original person become a Buddha?" The Master said: "Have you ever seen the Son of Heaven of the great Tang plant his own fields and cut the rice himself?" The monk said: "I do not know who becomes a Buddha." The Master said: "You become a Buddha." The monk had no words. The Master said: "Do you understand?" The monk said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "It is like a person who falls because of the ground and rises by relying on the ground. What does the ground say?" Sansheng had the head monk Xiu ask: "Where did Nanquan go when he passed away?" The Master said: "When Shitou was a novice, he visited the Sixth Patriarch." Xiu said: "I am not asking about Shitou visiting the Sixth Patriarch. Where did Nanquan go when he passed away?" The Master said: "Make him think about it." Xiu said: "Though the Venerable has a thousand-foot cold pine, there is no sprouting stalagmite." The Master was silent. Xiu said: "Thank you, Venerable, for the answer." The Master was again silent. The head monk Xiu reported this to Sansheng. Sansheng said: "If it is really so, he surpasses Linji's seven steps. Even so, let me test it further." The next day Sansheng went up and asked: "I hear that the Venerable's reply yesterday about Nanquan's passing was unmatched before and after, rare in ancient and modern times." The Master was also silent. A monk asked: "What is Manjusri?" The Master said: "Walls and tiles and pebbles." He asked again: "What is Avalokitesvara?" The Master said: "Sounds and speech." He asked again: "What is Samantabhadra?" The Master said: "The minds of sentient beings." He asked again: "What is Buddha?" The Master said: "The physical bodies of sentient beings." The monk said: "The bodies of the Buddhas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, are all the same; why are there various names?" The Master said: "Returning to the source from the eye-root is called Manjusri, returning to the source from the ear-root is called Avalokitesvara, returning to the source from the mind is called Samantabhadra. Manjusri is the Buddha's wondrous observing wisdom, Avalokitesvara is the Buddha's unconditioned great compassion, Samantabhadra is the Buddha's unconditioned wondrous practice. The three sages are the wondrous function of the Buddha, and the Buddha is the true substance of the three sages. In function there are provisional names numerous as the sands of the Ganges; in substance they are altogether named one Bhagavan." A monk asked: "Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. What is the principle?" The Master spoke a verse:

礙處非牆壁通處勿虛空

Where it obstructs it is not a wall; where it penetrates it is not empty space.

若人如是解心色本來同

If a person understands in this way, mind and form are originally the same.

又偈曰。

Another verse says:

佛性堂堂顯現住性有情難見

Buddha-nature is magnificently manifest, but sentient beings who dwell in nature find it hard to see.

若悟眾生無我我面何殊佛面

If one awakens that sentient beings have no self, how does my face differ from the Buddha's face?

僧問。第六第七識及第八識畢竟無體。云何得名轉。第八為大圓鏡智。師有偈曰。

A monk asked: "The sixth, seventh and eighth consciousnesses ultimately have no substance; why is it called transforming the eighth consciousness into the great perfect mirror wisdom?" The Master had a verse saying:

七生依一滅一滅持七生

Seven arise relying on one that ceases, and the one that ceases upholds the seven that arise.

一滅滅亦滅六七永無遷

When the one that ceases is itself extinguished, the sixth and seventh never shift.

又有僧問。蚯蚓斷為兩段兩頭俱動未審佛性在阿那頭。師雲。妄想作麼。僧雲其如動何。師雲。汝豈不知火風未散。僧問。如何轉得山河國土歸自己去。師雲。如何轉得自己成山河國土去。僧雲。不會。師雲。湖南城下好養民。米賤柴多足四隣。其僧無語。師有偈曰。

Another monk asked: "A worm is cut into two pieces and both ends move; I do not know in which end Buddha-nature lies?" The Master said: "What are you doing with deluded thoughts?" The monk said: "What about the movement?" The Master said: "Do you not know that fire and wind have not yet dispersed?" A monk asked: "How does one turn mountains, rivers and lands back into oneself?" The Master said: "How does one turn oneself into mountains, rivers and lands?" The monk said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "Beneath the city of Hunan it is good to nurture the people; rice is cheap, firewood is plentiful, enough for the four neighbors." The monk had no words. The Master had a verse saying:

誰問山河轉山河轉向誰

Who asks about mountains and rivers turning? Toward whom do they turn?

圓通無兩畔法性本無歸

Perfect penetration has no two sides; Dharma-nature originally has no return.

講華嚴大德問。虛空為是定有為是定無。師曰。言有亦得言無亦得。虛空有時但有假有。虛空無時但無假無。雲如和尚所說有何教文。師曰。大德豈不聞。首楞嚴經云。十方虛空生汝心內。猶片雲點太清裡。豈不是虛空生時但生假名。又云。汝等一人發真歸元。十方虛空皆悉消殞。豈不是虛空滅時但滅假名。老僧所以道。有是假有無是假無。又問經云。如淨琉璃中內現真金像此意如何。師曰。以淨琉璃為法界體。以真金像為無漏智體。體能生智智能達體。故云如淨瑠璃中內現真金像。問如何是上上人行處。師曰。如死人眼。雲上上人相見時如何。師曰。如死人手。問善財為什麼無量劫遊普賢身中世界不遍。師曰。爾從無量劫來還遊得遍否。雲如何是普賢身。師曰。含元殿裡更覓長安。問如何是學人心。師曰。盡十方世界是爾心。雲恁麼則學人無著身處也。師曰。是爾著身處。雲如何是著身處。師曰。大海水深又深。雲學人不會。師曰。魚龍出入任升沈。問有人問和尚即隨因緣答。總無人問和尚如何。師曰。困即睡健即起。雲教學人向什麼處會。師曰。夏天赤骨力。冬寒須得被。問亡僧什麼處去也。師有偈雲。

A Great Virtue who lectured on the Avatamsaka asked: "Is empty space definitely existent or definitely nonexistent?" The Master said: "It may be said to exist, and it may be said not to exist. When space exists, it is only a provisional existence; when space does not exist, it is only a provisional nonexistence." He said: "Is there a scriptural text for what the Venerable says?" The Master said: "Great Virtue, have you not heard the Surangama Sutra say: the empty space of the ten directions arises within your mind, like a wisp of cloud dotting the clear sky. Is it not that when space arises it only arises as a provisional name? It also says: when one of you gives rise to the true and returns to the source, the empty space of the ten directions will all vanish. Is it not that when space is extinguished it only extinguishes a provisional name? That is why this old monk says: existence is provisional existence, and nonexistence is provisional nonexistence." He asked again: "The sutra says it is like a true golden image appearing within pure lapis lazuli; what is the meaning?" The Master said: "Pure lapis lazuli is the substance of the Dharma realm, and the true golden image is the substance of undefiled wisdom. Substance can give rise to wisdom, and wisdom can penetrate substance. So it is said to be like a true golden image appearing within pure lapis lazuli." A monk asked: "What is the conduct of the highest of the high?" The Master said: "Like a dead man's eyes." He said: "What is it like when the highest of the high meet?" The Master said: "Like a dead man's hands." A monk asked: "Why did Sudhana, in countless eons, wander in the world within Samantabhadra's body without covering all of it?" The Master said: "Have you, in countless eons, wandered through all of it?" He said: "What is Samantabhadra's body?" The Master said: "Seeking Chang'an again within the Hanyuan Hall." A monk asked: "What is the student's mind?" The Master said: "The whole world of the ten directions is your mind." He said: "In that case the student has nowhere to place his body." The Master said: "That is where you place your body." He said: "What is the place to place the body?" The Master said: "The sea water is deep and deeper." He said: "I do not understand." The Master said: "Fish and dragons come and go, rising and sinking as they wish." A monk asked: "When someone asks the Venerable, you answer according to circumstances. What are you like when no one asks?" The Master said: "When tired, sleep; when strong, rise." He said: "Where should I understand it?" The Master said: "In summer, bare bones; in the cold of winter, one must have a quilt." A monk asked: "Where does a deceased monk go?" The Master had a verse saying:

不識金剛體卻喚作緣生

Not recognizing the diamond substance, one calls it arising by conditions.

十方真寂滅誰在復誰行

The ten directions are truly still and extinct; who is there, and who goes?

南泉有真讚雲。

Nanquan had a portrait eulogy saying:

堂堂南泉三世之源金剛常住

Majestic Nanquan, the source of the three times. The diamond is ever-abiding,

十方無邊生佛無盡現已卻還

The ten directions boundless. Sentient beings and Buddhas are inexhaustible; now appearing, he returns again.

南泉久住投機偈。

Nanquan's verse of accord after long residence.

今日還鄉入大門南泉親道遍乾坤

Today I return home and enter the great gate; Nanquan himself says it fills heaven and earth.

法法分明皆祖父迴頭慚愧好兒孫

Each dharma is clear, all of them ancestors; turning my head, I am ashamed before good descendants.

師答曰。

The Master replied:

今日投機事莫論南泉不道遍乾坤

Do not speak of today's accord; Nanquan does not say it fills heaven and earth.

還鄉盡是兒孫事祖父從來不入門

Returning home is all the matter of descendants; the ancestors have never entered the gate.

師又有勸學偈雲。

The Master also had an exhortation verse to students, saying:

萬丈竿頭未得休堂堂有路少人遊

On top of a ten-thousand-foot pole there is still no rest; the majestic road is there, but few travel it.

禪師願達南泉去滿目青山萬萬秋

Chan masters, if you wish to reach Nanquan, the green mountains fill the eye through ten thousand autumns.

因臨濟和尚雲。赤肉團上有無位真人。師乃有偈雲。

When Venerable Linji said that on the lump of red flesh there is a true person of no rank, the Master composed a verse:

萬法一如不用揀一如誰揀誰不揀

The ten thousand dharmas are one suchness and need not be picked; in one suchness, who picks and who does not?

即今生死本菩提三世如來同箇眼

Right now birth and death are originally bodhi; the Tathagatas of the three times share the same eye.

師誡人斫松竹。偈雲。

The Master admonished someone who was cutting pines and bamboo, with a verse saying:

千年竹萬年松枝枝葉葉盡皆同

Thousand-year bamboo, ten-thousand-year pine, every branch and leaf all the same.

為報四方玄學者動手無非觸祖公

I tell the students of the mysterious in the four quarters: every move you make touches the ancestors.

荊南白馬曇照禪師常雲。快活快活。及臨終時叫苦苦。又云。閻羅王來取我也。院主問曰。和尚當時被節度使拋向水中神色不動。如今何得恁麼地。師舉枕子云。汝道當時是如今是。院主無對(法眼代雲。此時但掩耳出去)。

Chan Master Tanzhao of Baima in Jingnan always said: "Happy, happy." When he was dying he cried: "Bitter, bitter." He also said: "King Yama has come to take me." The temple steward asked: "Venerable, when you were thrown into the water by the military governor, your expression did not change; why is it like this now?" The Master held up his pillow and said: "Do you say it was right then, or right now?" The steward had no reply (Fayan answered in his place: "At this moment, just cover your ears and go out.").

終南山雲際師祖禪師。初在南泉時。問雲。摩尼珠人不識。如來藏裡親收得。如何是藏。南泉雲。與汝來往者是藏。師雲。不來往者如何。南泉雲。亦是藏。又問。如何是珠。南泉召雲師祖。師應諾。南泉雲。去汝不會我語。師從此信入。

Chan Master Shizu of Yunji on Zhongnan Mountain. When he first was with Nanquan he asked: "The mani jewel is not recognized by people; it is personally held within the Tathagata-garbha. What is the garbha?" Nanquan said: "What comes and goes with you is the garbha." The Master said: "What about what does not come and go?" Nanquan said: "That too is the garbha." He asked again: "What is the jewel?" Nanquan called: "Shizu." The Master answered. Nanquan said: "Go, you do not understand my words." From this the Master entered by faith.

鄧州香嚴下堂義端禪師示眾雲。兄弟彼此未了有。什麼事相共商量。我三五日即發去也。如今學者須了卻今時。莫愛他向上人無事。兄弟縱學得種種差別義路。終不代得自己見解。畢竟著力始得。空記持他巧妙章句。即轉加煩亂去。汝若欲相應。但恭恭盡莫停留纖豪直似虛空方有少分。以虛空無鎖無壁落無形無心眼。有僧問。古人相見時如何。師雲。老僧不曾見他古人。僧雲。今時血脈不斷處如何仰羨。師雲。有什麼仰羨處。僧問雲。某甲不問閑事。請和尚答話。師雲。更從我覓什麼。僧雲。不為閑事。師雲。汝教我道。師又云。兄弟佛是塵法亦是塵。終日馳求有什麼休歇。但時中不用掛情。情不掛物。無善可取無惡可棄。莫教被他籠罩著。始是學處。有僧雲。曾辭一老宿示某甲雲。去則親良朋附道友。未審老宿意旨如何。才禮拜次師雲。禮拜一任不得認奴作郎。僧問。如何是直截根源。師乃擲下拄杖入方丈。一日師謂眾曰。語是謗寂是誑。寂語向上有路在。老僧口門窄。不能與汝說得。便下堂。僧問。一句子如何。師雲。此間一句亦無。僧問。正因為什麼無事。師雲。我不曾停留。又云。假饒重重剝得淨盡無停留。權時施設亦是方便接人。若是那邊事無有是處。

Chan Master Yiduan of Xiayantang, Xiangyan in Dengzhou, instructed the assembly saying: "Brothers, we have not yet finished with each other; what business is there to discuss together? I will set off in three or five days. Students now must finish the present matter and not love the idleness of those above. Brothers, even if you learn all kinds of differentiated paths of meaning, in the end they cannot replace your own view. In the end you must put forth effort. If you vainly memorize his clever phrases, you only increase your confusion. If you wish to accord, just be respectful to the utmost, leave not the slightest thing remaining, straight like empty space, and only then will you have a little. For empty space has no lock, no wall, no form, no mind or eye." A monk asked: "What was it like when the ancients met each other?" The Master said: "This old monk never saw those ancients." The monk said: "Where the bloodline of today does not end, how should one admire it?" The Master said: "What is there to admire?" The monk asked: "I am not asking about idle matters; please answer, Venerable." The Master said: "What more do you seek from me?" The monk said: "It is not an idle matter." The Master said: "You tell me." The Master also said: "Brothers, Buddha is dust, and Dharma is also dust. Chasing and seeking all day, when is there rest? Just do not hang your feelings on anything at any time. When feelings do not hang on things, there is no good to take and no evil to discard. Do not let yourself be enclosed by them, and only then is it study." A monk said: "Once, when I took leave of an old master, he told me: 'Going, you should be close to good friends and attach yourself to companions in the Way.' I do not know the old master's intent." As soon as he bowed, the Master said: "Bow if you like, but do not take a slave for a master." A monk asked: "What is the direct cutting to the root?" The Master threw down his staff and entered the abbot's room. One day the Master said to the assembly: "Speech is slander, silence is deception. Above silence and speech there is a path. This old monk's mouth is narrow and cannot explain it to you." He then left the hall. A monk asked: "What is the single phrase?" The Master said: "Here there is not even a single phrase." A monk asked: "Since the true cause is as it is, why is there nothing to do?" The Master said: "I have never stopped." He also said: "Even if you strip it away layer upon layer until it is utterly clean with no remainder, provisional arrangements are also expedient means for receiving people. If it concerns that side, there is no place where it holds."