Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3

前溈山靈祐禪師法嗣(懷讓禪師第四世)

Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Lingyou of Weishan (fourth generation from Chan Master Huairang)

袁州仰山慧寂禪師韶州懷化人也。姓葉氏。年十五欲出家父母不許。後二載師斷手二指跪致父母前。誓求正法以答劬勞。遂依南華寺通禪師落髮。未登具即遊方。初謁耽源已悟玄旨。後參溈山遂升堂奧。祐問曰汝是有主沙彌無主沙彌。師曰。有主。曰在什麼處。師從西過東立。祐知是異人便垂開示。師問。如何是真佛住處。祐曰。以思無思之妙。返思靈焰之無窮。思盡還源性。相常住。事理不二真佛如如。師於言下頓悟。自此執侍。尋往江陵受戒住夏探律藏。後參巖頭。巖頭舉起拂子。師展坐具。巖拈拂子置背後。師將坐具搭肩上而出。巖雲。我不肯汝放。只肯汝收。又問石室。佛之與道相去幾何。石室雲。道如展手佛似握拳。乃辭石室。石室門送召雲。子莫一向去。已後卻來我邊(雲居錫雲。要會麼。如今歸堂去。明日卻上來。)韋宙就溈山請一伽陀。溈山曰。覿面相呈猶是鈍漢。豈況形於紙筆。乃就師請。師於紙上畫一圓相。注云。思而知之落第二頭。不思而知落第三首。一日隨溈山開田。師問曰。遮頭得恁麼低。那頭得恁麼高。祐曰。水能平物但以水平。師曰。水也無憑。和尚但高處高平低處低平。祐然之。有施主送絹。師問。和尚受施主如是供養將何報答。祐敲禪床示之師曰。和尚何得將眾人物作自己用。祐忽問師什麼處去來。師曰田中來。祐曰。田中多少人。師插鍬而立。祐曰。今日南山大有人刈茅在。師舉鍬而去(玄沙雲。我若見即蹋倒鍬子。僧問鏡清。仰山插鍬意旨如何。清雲。狗銜赦書諸侯避道。又問。只如玄沙蹋鍬其意如何。清雲。勿奈船何打破𡰷。鬥又問。南山刈茅意旨如何。清雲。李靖三兄久經行陣。雲居錫雲。且道。鏡清下此一判著不著。又僧問禾山雲。仰山插鍬意旨如何。禾山雲。汝問我。僧雲。玄沙蹋鍬意旨如何。禾山雲。我問汝)師在溈山牧牛時。第一座曰。

Chan Master Huiji of Yangshan in Yuanzhou, a native of Huaihua in Shaozhou, surnamed Ye. At fifteen he wanted to leave home, but his parents would not permit it. Two years later, the master cut off two fingers and knelt before his parents, vowing to seek the true Dharma in order to repay their toil. He then took Chan Master Tong of Nanhua Temple as his teacher and had his head shaved. Before receiving full ordination he went traveling. When he first saw Danyuan, he had already awakened to the profound meaning; later he studied at Weishan and entered the inner chamber. You asked: "Are you a novice with a master, or a novice without a master?" The master said: "With a master." He asked: "Where is he?" The master walked from west to east and stood still. You knew he was an extraordinary person and then gave him instruction. The master asked: "What is the dwelling place of the true Buddha?" You said: "With the wonder of thinking of no-thinking, turn back and reflect on the inexhaustible spiritual flame. When thinking is exhausted and returns to the source, nature and appearance abide constantly. Phenomena and principle are not two; the true Buddha is suchness." The master suddenly awakened at these words. From then on he served as attendant. Before long he went to Jiangling to receive ordination, spent the summer retreat and studied the Vinaya. Later he visited Yantou. Yantou raised his whisk, and the master spread out his sitting cloth. Yan put the whisk behind his back, and the master put the sitting cloth over his shoulder and went out. Yan said: "I do not approve of your putting it down; I only approve of your taking it up." He also asked Shishi: "How far apart are the Buddha and the Way?" Shishi said: "The Way is like an open hand; the Buddha is like a clenched fist." Then he took leave of Shishi. Shishi saw him to the door and called out: "Do not just keep going; come back to me afterward." (Yunju Xi said: "Do you want to understand? Go back to the hall now and come up again tomorrow.") Wei Zhou asked Weishan for a gatha. Weishan said: "Even presenting it face to face is still being dull; how much more putting it in paper and brush." So he asked the master. The master drew a circle on the paper and annotated it: "To know by thinking falls to the second head. To know without thinking falls to the third head." One day he went with Weishan to open a field. The master asked: "This end is so low and that end so high?" You said: "Water can level things; just use water to level it." The master said: "Water also has nothing to rely on. Master, simply level high places high and low places low." You agreed. A donor sent silk. The master asked: "The master accepts such offerings from donors; how will you repay them?" You rapped on his meditation bed to show him. The master said: "How can the master take what belongs to the assembly and use it as your own?" You suddenly asked the master: "Where have you been?" The master said: "In the fields." You said: "How many people are in the fields?" The master planted his spade and stood. You said: "Today on the South Mountain many people are cutting thatch." The master raised his spade and left. (Xuansha said: "If I had seen it, I would have kicked the spade over." A monk asked Jingqing: "What is the meaning of Yangshan planting his spade?" Qing said: "A dog carries a pardon in its mouth, and the lords make way for it." He asked again: "What about Xuansha kicking the spade?" Qing said: "Nothing can be done about the boat; smash the bailing bucket." He asked again: "What is the meaning of cutting thatch on South Mountain?" Qing said: "Li Jing's third brother has long experience in battle lines." Yunju Xi said: "Tell me, does Jingqing's judgment hit the mark or not?" Another monk asked Heshan: "What is the meaning of Yangshan planting his spade?" Heshan said: "You ask me." The monk said: "What about Xuansha kicking the spade?" Heshan said: "I ask you.") When the master was herding oxen at Weishan, the head monk said:

百億毛頭百億師子現。師不答。歸侍立。第一座上問訊。師舉前語問雲。適來道百億毛頭百億師子現。豈不是。上座曰是。師曰正當現時毛前現。毛後現上座曰。現時不說前後。師乃出。祐曰。師子腰折也。溈山上座舉起拂子曰。若人作得道理即與之。師曰。某甲作得道理。還得否。上座曰。但作得道理便得。師乃掣拂子將去(雲居錫雲。什麼處是仰山道理)一日雨下。上座曰。好雨寂闍梨。師曰。好在什麼處。上座無語。師曰。某甲卻道得。上座曰。好在什麼處。師指雨。溈山與師遊行次。烏銜一紅柿落前。祐將與師。師接得以水。洗了卻與祐。祐曰子什麼處得來。師曰此是和尚道德所感。祐曰汝也不得空然即分半與師(玄沙雲。大小溈山被仰山一坐至今起不得)師浣衲衣次。耽源曰正恁麼時作。麼生。師曰正恁麼時。向什麼處見。師盤桓溈。山前後十五載。凡有語句學眾無不弭伏。暨受溈山密印。領眾住王莽山。化緣未契遷止仰山學徒臻萃。師上堂示眾雲。汝等諸人各自回光返顧莫記吾言。汝無始劫來背明投暗。妄想根深卒難頓拔。所以假設方便奪汝麁識。如將黃葉止啼。有什麼是處。亦如人將百種貨物與金寶作一鋪。貨賣祇擬輕重來機。所以道。石頭是真金鋪。我遮裡是雜貨鋪。有人來覓鼠糞我亦拈與。他來覓真金我亦拈與。他時有僧問。鼠糞即不要。請和尚真金。師雲。齧鏃擬開口。驢年亦不會。僧無對。師雲。索喚則有交易。不索喚則無我。若說禪宗身邊要一人相伴亦無。豈況有五百七百眾耶。我若東說西說。則爭頭向前採拾。如將空拳誑小兒都無實處。我今分明向汝說聖邊事且莫將心湊泊。但向自己性海如實而修。不要三明六通。何以故。此是聖末邊事。如今且要識心達本。但得其本不愁其末。他時後日自具去在。若未得本縱饒將情學他亦不得。汝豈不見。溈山和尚雲。

"A hundred billion hair tips show a hundred billion lions." The master did not answer. He came back and stood in attendance. The head monk came up and greeted him. The master raised the earlier words and asked: "Just now you said a hundred billion hair tips show a hundred billion lions; is that not so?" The head monk said: "Yes." The master said: "At the very moment of appearing, do they appear before the hair or after the hair?" The head monk said: "At the moment of appearing there is no talk of before or after." The master then went out. You said: "The lion's back is broken." The head monk of Weishan raised his whisk and said: "If someone can make sense of it, I will give it to him." The master said: "If I can make sense of it, may I have it?" The head monk said: "If you can make sense of it, you may." The master then snatched the whisk and took it away. (Yunju Xi said: "Where is Yangshan's sense?") One day it rained. The head monk said: "Good rain, Acolyte Ji." The master said: "Where is the good?" The head monk had no words. The master said: "I can say it." The head monk said: "Where is the good?" The master pointed at the rain. Once Weishan was walking with the master when a crow dropped a red persimmon in front of them. You picked it up and gave it to the master. The master took it, washed it with water and gave it back to You. You said: "Where did you get this?" The master said: "This is what the master's virtue has called forth." You said: "You also have not come empty-handed." He then divided half and gave it to the master. (Xuansha said: "Great Weishan was sat on by Yangshan and still cannot get up.") Once the master was washing his patched robe, and Danyuan said: "What about just at this moment?" The master said: "Just at this moment, where do you see it?" The master stayed with Weishan for fifteen years before and after, and whenever he spoke, none of the students failed to be silenced. After he received Weishan's secret seal, he led an assembly at Wangmang Mountain. His teaching did not yet accord with conditions, so he moved to Yangshan, where students gathered. The master ascended the hall and addressed the assembly: "Each of you turn the light around and look back; do not remember my words. From beginningless kalpas you have turned your backs on brightness and gone toward darkness, your delusive thoughts are deeply rooted, and they are hard to pull out suddenly. Therefore I set up expedient means to take away your coarse consciousness. It is like using yellow leaves to stop a child's crying; what use is it? It is also like someone putting a hundred kinds of goods together with gold and jewels in one shop and selling them, only intending to weigh things according to the customer. Therefore it is said: Shitou's is a shop of true gold, and mine is a general store. If someone comes looking for mouse droppings, I pick them out for him too; if someone comes looking for true gold, I pick that out for him too." Then a monk asked: "I do not want mouse droppings; please give me true gold, master." The master said: "Biting an arrowhead and meaning to open your mouth, in the year of the donkey you will not understand." The monk had no answer. The master said: "If you ask for it, there is a transaction; if you do not ask for it, there is none. If I were to speak of the Chan school, I would not even have one companion at my side, much less five hundred or seven hundred in the assembly. If I speak east and west, you will scramble ahead to pick things up, like cheating a small child with an empty fist, with nothing real in it. Now I clearly tell you about the matter of the sages' side; do not try to fit it with your mind, but cultivate truthfully in your own sea of nature. You do not need the three insights or six spiritual powers. Why? These are matters of the sages' tail end. Now you need to know the mind and reach the root. If you obtain the root, you need not worry about the branches; in due time you will have them yourself. If you have not obtained the root, even if you study them with feeling, you will not get them. Have you not seen what Master Weishan said:

凡聖情盡體露真常事理不二即如如佛。問如何是祖師意。師以手於空作圓相。相中書佛字。僧無語。師謂第一坐曰。不思善不思惡正恁麼時作麼生。對曰。正恁麼時是某甲放身命處。師曰。何不問老僧。對曰。正恁麼時不見有和尚。師曰。扶吾教不起。師因歸溈山省覲。祐問。子既稱善知識。爭辨得諸方來者。知有不知有。有師承無師承。是義學是玄學。子試說看。師曰。慧寂有驗處。但見諸方僧來便竪起拂子。問伊。諸方還說遮箇不說。又云。遮箇且置。諸方老宿意作麼生。祐歎曰。此是從上宗門中牙爪。祐問。大地眾生業識茫茫無本可據。子作麼生知他有之與無。師曰。慧寂有驗處。時有一僧從面前過。師召雲。闍梨其僧回頭。師曰。和尚遮箇便是業識茫茫無本可據。祐曰。此是師子一滴乳。迸散六斛驢乳。鄭愚相公問。不斷煩惱而入涅槃時如何。師竪起拂子。公曰。入之一字不要亦得。師曰。入之一字不為相公(法燈別雲。相公不用煩惱)師問僧。什麼處來。曰幽州。師曰。我恰要箇幽州信米作麼價。曰某甲來時無端從市中過。蹋折他橋梁。師便休。師見僧來竪起拂子。其僧便喝。師曰。喝即不無。且道老僧過在什麼處。僧曰。和尚不合將境示人。師乃打之。師問香嚴。師弟近日見處如何。嚴曰。某甲卒說不得。乃有偈曰。去年貧未是貧。今年貧始是貧。去年無卓錐之地。今年錐也無。師曰。汝只得如來禪。未得祖師禪(玄覺雲。且道如來禪與祖師禪分不分。長慶稜雲。一時坐卻)溈山封一面鏡寄師。師上堂提起雲。且道。是溈山鏡仰山鏡。有人道得即不撲破。眾無對。師乃撲破。師問。雙峰師弟近日見處如何對曰。據某甲見處。實無一法可當情。師曰。汝解猶在境。雙峰曰。某甲只如此。師兄如何。師曰。汝豈無能知無一法可當情者。溈山聞雲。寂子一句疑殺天下人(玄覺雲。金剛經道。

'When feelings of ordinary and holy are exhausted, the substance is revealed as true constancy; phenomena and principle are not two, which is the Buddha of suchness.'" A monk asked: "What is the Patriarch's intention?" The master drew a circle in the air with his hand and wrote the character for Buddha in the circle. The monk had no words. The master said to the head monk: "Not thinking of good, not thinking of evil, what about just at this moment?" He answered: "Just at this moment is where I place my body and life." The master said: "Why do you not ask this old monk?" He answered: "Just at this moment I do not see there is a master." The master said: "I cannot teach you to get up." The master once returned to Weishan to pay his respects. You asked: "Since you are called a spiritual teacher, how do you distinguish those who come from various quarters, whether they know or not, whether they have a lineage or not, whether they study doctrine or the mysterious? Try saying it." The master said: "Huiji has a test. Whenever I see monks from various quarters come, I raise my whisk and ask them: Do the various quarters teach this or not? And then I say: Leave this aside; what is the meaning of the old masters of the various quarters?" You sighed and said: "These are the teeth and claws of the lineage from the past." You asked: "The karmic consciousness of beings on the great earth is vast and without a root to rely on. How do you know whether they have it or not?" The master said: "Huiji has a test." Just then a monk passed in front of them. The master called: "Acolyte." The monk turned his head. The master said: "Master, this is the vast karmic consciousness without a root to rely on." You said: "This is one drop of lion's milk scattering six hu of donkey's milk." The minister Zheng Yu asked: "What about entering nirvana without cutting off afflictions?" The master raised his whisk. The minister said: "The word 'entering' is not needed." The master said: "The word 'entering' is not for the minister." (Fadeng said separately: "The minister does not need afflictions.") The master asked a monk: "Where do you come from?" He said: "Youzhou." The master said: "I just wanted news of Youzhou. What is the price of rice?" He said: "When I came, I happened to pass through the market and trampled down their bridge." The master then stopped. The master saw a monk come and raised his whisk. The monk then shouted. The master said: "A shout is not lacking, but tell me, where is this old monk's fault?" The monk said: "The master should not have shown a realm to people." The master then hit him. The master asked Xiangyan: "Junior brother, what is your view recently?" Yan said: "I really cannot say." Then he composed a verse: "Last year's poverty was not yet poverty; this year's poverty is true poverty. Last year there was no ground to plant an awl; this year there is not even an awl." The master said: "You have only obtained the Tathagata Chan, not yet the Patriarch Chan." (Xuanjue said: "Tell me, are Tathagata Chan and Patriarch Chan separate or not?" Changqing Leng said: "Sit them both down at once.") Weishan sealed up a mirror and sent it to the master. The master ascended the hall, raised it and said: "Tell me, is this Weishan's mirror or Yangshan's mirror? If someone can say it, I will not smash it." The assembly had no answer. The master then smashed it. The master asked: "Junior brother of Shuangfeng, what is your view recently?" He answered: "According to my view, there is truly not a single dharma that can match the feelings." The master said: "Your understanding is still in the realm." Shuangfeng said: "I am just like this. What about you, elder brother?" The master said: "Is there not one who can know that there is not a single dharma to match the feelings?" Weishan heard of this and said: "One sentence from Ji has killed all the world with doubt." (Xuanjue said: "The Diamond Sutra says:

實無一法然燈佛與我受記。他道實無一法可當情。為什麼道。解猶在境。且道利害在什麼處)僧問。法身還解說法也無。師曰。我說不得。別有一人說得。曰說得底人在什麼處。師推出枕子溈山聞雲。寂子用劍刃上事。師閉目坐次。有僧潛來身邊立師開目於地上作一圓相。相中書水字顧視其僧。僧無語。師攜一杖子。僧問什麼處得。師便拈向背後。僧無語。師問一僧。汝會什麼。僧曰。會卜。師提起拂子曰。遮箇六十四卦中阿那卦收。無對。師自代雲。適來是雷天大壯。如今變為地火明夷。師問僧。名什麼。曰靈通。師曰。便請入燈籠。曰早箇入了也(法眼別雲。喚什麼作燈籠)僧問。古人道。見色便見心禪床是色。請和尚離色指學人心。師雲。那箇是禪床指出來。僧無語(玄覺雲。忽然被伊卻指禪床。作麼生對伊好。有僧雲。卻請和尚道。玄覺代拊掌三下)僧問。如何是毘盧師。師乃叱之。又問。如何是和尚師。師曰。莫無禮。師共一僧語。傍有僧曰。語底是文殊默底是維摩。師曰。不語不默底莫是汝否。僧默之師曰。何不現神通。僧曰。不辭現神通。只恐和尚收入教。師曰。鑒汝來處。未有教外底眼。問天堂地獄相去幾何。師將拄杖畫地一畫。師住觀音時出牓雲。看經次不得問事。後有僧來問訊。見師看經傍立而待。師卷卻經問。會麼。僧曰。某甲不看經爭得會。師曰。汝已後會去在(其僧到巖頭。巖頭問。什麼處來。僧雲。江西觀音來。巖頭雲。和尚有何言句。其僧舉前語。巖頭雲。遮箇老師。我將謂被故紙埋卻。元來猶在)僧問。禪宗頓悟畢竟入門的意如何。師曰。此意極難。若是祖宗門下上根上智。一聞千悟得大總持。此根人難得。其有根微智劣。所以古德道。若不安禪靜慮到遮裡總須茫然。僧曰。除此格外。還別有方便令學人得入也無。師曰。別有別無令汝心不安。汝是什麼處人。曰幽州人。

'In truth there is not a single dharma; yet Dipamkara Buddha gave me a prediction.' He says there is truly not a single dharma to match the feelings; why then does he say the understanding is still in the realm? Tell me, where does the point lie?") A monk asked: "Does the Dharma body also know how to preach the Dharma?" The master said: "I cannot say it; there is another who can." He asked: "Where is the one who can say it?" The master pushed out his pillow. Weishan heard of this and said: "Ji is working on the edge of a sword." Once as the master sat with eyes closed, a monk quietly came and stood at his side. The master opened his eyes, drew a circle on the ground, wrote the character for water in the circle, and looked at the monk. The monk had no words. The master was carrying a staff. A monk asked: "Where did you get it?" The master then put it behind his back. The monk had no words. The master asked a monk: "What do you know?" The monk said: "I know divination." The master raised his whisk and said: "In which of the sixty-four hexagrams is this contained?" There was no answer. The master answered for him: "Just now it was Thunder over Heaven, Great Strength; now it has changed to Earth over Fire, Brightness Wounded." The master asked a monk: "What is your name?" He said: "Lingtong." The master said: "Then please enter the lantern." He said: "I have already entered." (Fayan said separately: "What do you call a lantern?") A monk asked: "The ancients said that seeing form is seeing mind. The meditation bed is form; please, master, point to the mind of a student apart from form." The master said: "Which one is the meditation bed? Point it out." The monk had no words. (Xuanjue said: "If he suddenly pointed at the meditation bed in return, how should one answer him?" A monk said: "Then please, master, say it." Xuanjue clapped his hands three times in his place.) A monk asked: "What is the master Vairocana?" The master then shouted at him. He asked again: "What is the master of the Chan master?" The master said: "Do not be impolite." The master was talking with a monk. A monk at the side said: "The one speaking is Manjushri; the one silent is Vimalakirti." The master said: "Might the one who neither speaks nor is silent be you?" The monk was silent. The master said: "Why do you not manifest spiritual powers?" The monk said: "I do not refuse to manifest spiritual powers, but I fear the master would take me into the teachings." The master said: "Judging from where you come from, you do not yet have an eye outside the teachings." A monk asked: "How far apart are heaven and hell?" The master drew a line on the ground with his staff. When the master lived at Guanyin he posted a notice saying: "While reading scriptures, do not ask questions." Later a monk came to greet him, saw the master reading scriptures, and stood to the side to wait. The master rolled up the scripture and asked: "Do you understand?" The monk said: "I do not read scriptures; how could I understand?" The master said: "You will understand later." (The monk went to Yantou. Yantou asked: "Where do you come from?" The monk said: "From Guanyin in Jiangxi." Yantou said: "What did the master say?" The monk repeated the earlier words. Yantou said: "I thought this old master had been buried by old paper, but he is still here.") A monk asked: "In the Chan school's sudden awakening, what is the ultimate meaning of entering the gate?" The master said: "This meaning is extremely difficult. If it is someone of the highest capacity and wisdom in the Patriarchs' school, one hearing awakens a thousand and he obtains great dharani. Such people are hard to find. There are those of slight capacity and inferior wisdom; hence an ancient worthy said: Unless one sits in meditation and calms thought, when one comes to this point one will be at a complete loss." The monk said: "Apart from this standard, is there any other expedient to let students enter?" The master said: "Whether there is or there is not will disturb your mind. Where are you from?" He said: "I am from Youzhou."

師曰。汝還思彼處否。曰常思。師曰。彼處樓臺林苑人馬駢闐。汝返思底還有許多般也無。僧曰。某甲到遮裡一切不見有。師曰。汝解猶在境。信位即是。人位即不是。據汝所解只得一玄。得坐披衣向後自看。其僧禮謝而去。師始自仰山後遷觀音。接機利物為禪宗標準。遷化前數年有偈曰。

The master said: "Do you still think of that place?" He said: "I always do." The master said: "In that place there are towers, gardens and woods, and people and horses crowd together. Does what you think back on have all these varieties?" The monk said: "When I come here, I see nothing at all." The master said: "Your understanding is still in the realm. The stage of faith is right, but the stage of the person is not. By your understanding you only get one profundity. Sit and put on your robe, and look at it yourself later." The monk bowed in thanks and left. The master began at Yangshan and later moved to Guanyin, receiving students and benefiting beings, and was a standard of the Chan school. A few years before his passing he composed a verse:

年滿七十七老去是今日

My years are full at seventy-seven; growing old is today.

任性自浮沈兩手攀屈膝

Floating and sinking as I please, both hands clasping my bent knees.

於韶州東平山示滅。年七十七。抱膝而逝。勅諡智通大師妙光之塔。後遷塔於仰山。

He showed extinction at Dongping Mountain in Shaozhou. He died at seventy-seven, embracing his knees. By imperial decree he was given the posthumous title Great Master Zhitong, and the stupa was called the Stupa of Wondrous Light. Later the stupa was moved to Yangshan.

鄧州香嚴智閑禪師青州人也。厭俗辭親觀方慕道。依溈山禪會。祐和尚知其法器。欲激發智光。一日謂之曰。吾不問汝平生學解及經卷冊子上記得者。汝未出胞胎未辨東西時。本分事試道一句來。吾要記汝。師懵然無對。沈吟久之。進數語陳其所解。祐皆不許。師曰。卻請和尚為說。祐曰。吾說得是吾之見解。於汝眼目何有益乎。師遂歸堂。遍檢所集諸方語句無一言可將酬對。乃自歎曰。畫餅不可充飢。於是盡焚之曰。此生不學佛法也。且作箇長行粥飯僧免役心神。遂泣辭溈山而去。抵南陽覩忠國師遺跡遂憩止焉。一日因山中芟除草木。以瓦礫擊竹作聲。俄失笑間廓然惺悟。遽歸沐浴焚香遙禮溈山。贊雲。和尚大悲恩逾父母。當時若為我說卻。何有今日事也。仍述一偈雲。

Chan Master Zhixian of Xiangyan in Dengzhou, a native of Qingzhou. Weary of the secular world, he left his parents, traveled and admired the Way, and relied on the Chan assembly at Weishan. The Master You knew he was a vessel of the Dharma and wished to stimulate the light of his wisdom. One day he said to him: "I am not asking about what you have studied and understood in your life, nor what you remember from scripture rolls and booklets. Tell me one sentence about your original business before you left the womb, before you could tell east from west, and I will record you." The master was blank and had no answer. After long reflection he offered a few sentences stating his understanding, and You did not approve any of them. The master said: "Then please, master, tell me." You said: "What I say is my own view; what benefit would it be to your eyes?" The master then returned to the hall and searched through all the sayings he had collected from various places, and there was not a single phrase he could take up in reply. Then he sighed to himself and said: "A painted cake cannot satisfy hunger." So he burned them all and said: "In this life I will not study the Buddha Dharma. I will just be a long-term gruel-and-rice monk, to spare my mind from toil." He then tearfully took leave of Weishan and left. Arriving at Nanyang, he saw the remains of National Teacher Zhong and stayed there. One day, while clearing grass and trees on the mountain, he struck a bamboo with a tile fragment and made a sound, and in a flash of laughter he was suddenly awakened. He hurried back, bathed, burned incense, bowed toward Weishan in the distance, and praised him, saying: "Master, your great compassion exceeds that of my parents. If you had told it to me then, how could today have happened?" He then composed a verse:

一擊忘所知更不假修治

With one strike I forgot all I knew, and need no further cultivation.

動容揚古路不墮悄然機

Moving my countenance I raise the ancient road, not falling into the quiet device.

(動容揚古路不墮悄然機。此句舊本並福邵本並無。今以通明集為據)。

(The line "Moving my countenance I raise the ancient road, not falling into the quiet device" is absent from the old text and the Fushao text. It is now taken from the Tongming collection.)

處處無蹤跡聲色外威儀

Everywhere without trace, majesty beyond sound and form.

諸方達道者鹹言上上機

Those who attain the Way in every quarter all call it the highest capacity.

師上堂雲。道由悟達不在語言。況見密密堂堂。曾無間隔不勞心意。暫借回光日用全功。迷徒自背。問如何是香嚴境。師曰。花木不滋。問如何是仙陀婆。師敲禪床曰。過遮裡來。問如何是見在學。師以扇子旋轉示曰。見麼。僧無語。問如何是正命食。師以手撮而示之。問如何是無表戒。師曰。待闍梨作俗即說。問如何是聲色外相見一句。師曰。如某甲未住香嚴時道在什麼處。僧曰。恁麼時亦不敢道有所在。師曰。如幻人心心所法。僧問。不慕諸聖不重己靈時如何。師曰。萬機休罷千聖不攜。此時疎山在眾作嘔聲曰。是何言歟。師問阿誰。眾曰。師叔。師曰。不諾老僧耶。疎山出曰是。師曰。汝莫道得麼。曰道得。師曰。汝試道看。曰若教某甲道須還師資禮始得。師乃下坐禮拜躡前語問之。疎山曰。何不道肯重不得全。師曰。饒汝恁麼也須三十年倒屙。設住山無柴燒。近水無水吃。分明記取。後住疎山果。如師記。至二十七年病癒。自雲。香嚴師兄記我。三十年倒屙。今少三年在。每至食畢以手抉而吐之。以應前記(疎山後問道怤長老。肯重不得全。汝作麼生會。怤雲。全歸肯重。疎山雲。不得全又作麼生。怤雲。箇中無肯路疎山雲。始愜病僧意)問如何是聲前句。師曰。大德未問時即答。僧曰。即時如何。師曰。即時問也。問如何是直截根源佛所印。師拋下。拄杖散手而去。問如何是師法大意。師曰。今年霜降早喬麥總不收。問如何是西來意。師以手入懷出拳展開與之。僧乃跪膝以兩手作受勢。師曰。是什麼。僧無對。問如何是道。師曰。枯木龍吟。僧曰。學人不會。師曰。髑髏裡眼睛(玄沙別雲。龍藏枯木)問離四句絕百非。請和尚道。師曰。獵師前不得說本師戒。一日謂眾曰。如人在千尺懸崖。口銜樹枝。腳無所蹋。手無所攀。忽有人問如何是西來意。若開口答即喪身失命。若不答又違他所問。

The master ascended the hall and said: "The Way is reached through awakening and does not lie in words. Moreover, seeing it is intimate and manifest, without any gap, requiring no labor of the mind; for a moment borrow the returning light, and its full effect is in daily use, but deluded followers turn their backs on it themselves." A monk asked: "What is the realm of Xiangyan?" The master said: "Flowers and trees do not flourish." He asked: "What is saindhava?" The master rapped on his meditation bed and said: "Come over here." He asked: "What is present study?" The master twirled his fan to show him and said: "Do you see?" The monk had no words. He asked: "What is right livelihood food?" The master took a pinch with his hand and showed it. He asked: "What is the unmanifested precept?" The master said: "I will tell you when you become a layman, acolyte." He asked: "What is the one phrase of meeting beyond sound and form?" The master said: "Before I lived at Xiangyan, where was the Way?" The monk said: "Even at that time, I would not dare to say it had a place." The master said: "Like the mind and mental functions of an illusory person." A monk asked: "What about not admiring the sages and not valuing one's own spirit?" The master said: "All devices cease, and a thousand sages do not lead you." At this time Shushan was in the assembly and made a retching sound, saying: "What is this speech?" The master asked: "Who is that?" The assembly said: "Your junior uncle." The master said: "Do you not agree with this old monk?" Shushan came out and said: "Yes." The master said: "Can you say it?" He said: "I can." The master said: "Try saying it." He said: "If you want me to say it, you must return the ritual between teacher and student." The master then came down from his seat and bowed, and asked him as before. Shushan said: "Why not say: approving the heavy, one cannot be complete?" The master said: "Even so, you will still have thirty years of vomiting backward. Though you live in the mountains with no firewood to burn, near water you will have no water to drink. Remember this clearly." Later he lived at Shushan, and it turned out as the master had predicted. In the twenty-seventh year his illness was cured, and he said: "Elder brother Xiangyan predicted thirty years of vomiting backward for me; now there are three years short." Each time after meals he would put his hand down his throat and vomit, to fulfill the earlier prediction. (Later Shushan asked the elder Daofu: "Approving the heavy, one cannot be complete; how do you understand it?" Fu said: "Completely returning to approving the heavy." Shushan said: "What of not being complete?" Fu said: "In this there is no road of approval." Shushan said: "Only now do you satisfy the sick monk's mind.") A monk asked: "What is the phrase before sound?" The master said: "I answer before the virtuous one asks." The monk said: "What about at the moment?" The master said: "At the moment is asking." He asked: "What is the direct cutting to the source that the Buddhas have sealed?" The master threw down his staff and left with loose hands. He asked: "What is the great meaning of the master's Dharma?" The master said: "This year the frost came early; the buckwheat will not be harvested at all." He asked: "What is the meaning of the coming from the West?" The master put his hand into his robe, took out a fist and opened it for him. The monk then knelt and made a gesture of receiving with both hands. The master said: "What is it?" The monk had no answer. He asked: "What is the Way?" The master said: "A dragon roars in a withered tree." The monk said: "I do not understand." The master said: "The eyes in a skull." (Xuansha said separately: "A dragon hidden in a withered tree.") He asked: "Apart from the four phrases and cut off from the hundred negations, please say it, master." The master said: "In front of a hunter one cannot speak of the original teacher's precepts." One day he said to the assembly: "It is like a person on a thousand-foot cliff, holding a tree branch in his mouth, with no foothold below and nothing to grasp with his hands. Suddenly someone asks: what is the meaning of the coming from the West? If he opens his mouth to answer, he loses his life; if he does not answer, he goes against the question.

當恁麼時作麼生。時有招上座出曰。上樹時即不問。未上樹時如何。師笑而已。師問僧。什麼處來。僧曰。溈山來。師曰。和尚近日有何言句。僧曰。人問如何是西來意。和尚竪起拂子。師聞舉乃曰。彼中兄弟作麼會和尚意旨。僧曰。彼中商量道。即色明心附物顯理。師曰。會即便會。不會著什麼死急。僧卻問。師意如何。師還舉拂子(玄沙雲。只遮香嚴腳跟猶未點地。雲居錫雲。什麼是香嚴腳跟未點地處)師凡示學徒語多簡直。有偈頌二百餘篇。隨緣對機不拘聲律。諸方盛行。後諡襲燈大師。

What would you do at such a moment?" Then Head Monk Zhao came out and said: "I do not ask about when one is up the tree; what about when one is not yet up the tree?" The master only laughed. The master asked a monk: "Where do you come from?" The monk said: "From Weishan." The master said: "What has the master said recently?" The monk said: "When people asked what is the meaning of the coming from the West, the master raised his whisk." The master, hearing this, said: "How do the brothers there understand the master's meaning?" The monk said: "They discuss it there and say: through form illuminate mind, relying on things to show principle." The master said: "If you understand, then you understand. If you do not, why be in such a desperate hurry?" The monk asked in return: "What is your meaning, master?" The master also raised his whisk. (Xuansha said: "This Xiangyan's heels have still not touched the ground." Yunju Xi said: "What is the place where Xiangyan's heels have not touched the ground?") In all that the master showed to students, his words were mostly brief and direct. He left over two hundred verses and songs, made in response to occasions and capacities, not bound by tonal rules, and widely circulated in all quarters. He was later given the posthumous title Great Master Xideng.

襄州延慶山法端大師。有人問。蚯蚓斬為兩段兩頭俱動。佛性在阿那頭。師展兩手(洞山別雲。問底在阿那頭)師滅後勅諡紹真大師。塔曰明金。

Great Master Faduan of Yanqing Mountain in Xiangzhou. Someone asked: "If an earthworm is cut into two pieces, both ends move; in which end is the Buddha-nature?" The master spread out both hands. (Dongshan said separately: "Where is the one who asks?") After his death he was given by imperial decree the title Great Master Shaozhen, and his stupa was called Mingjin.

杭州徑山洪諲禪師吳興人也。姓吳氏。年十九禮開元寺無上大師落髮(無上大師嗣鹽官。後住徑山為第二世也)二十二往嵩嶽受滿足律儀。歸禮本師。師問曰。汝於時中將何報四恩耶。諲不能對。三日忘食。乃辭行腳。往謁雲巖機緣未契。後造溈山蒙滯頓除。遭唐會昌沙汰眾皆悲惋。諲曰。大丈夫鍾此厄會豈非命也。何乃效兒女子乎。大中初復沙門相還故鄉西峰院。咸通六年上徑山。明年本師遷神。眾請繼躅為徑山第三世。於法即溈山之嗣。僧問。掩息如灰時如何。師曰。猶是時人功幹。僧曰。幹後如何。師曰。耕人田不種。僧曰。畢竟如何。師曰。禾熟不臨場。僧問。龍門不假風雷勢便透得者如何。師曰。猶是一品二品。僧曰。此既是階級。向上事如何。師曰。吾不知有汝龍門。僧問如霜如雪時如何。師曰。猶是汙染。曰不汙染時如何。師曰。不同色。許州全明上坐先問石霜。一毫穿眾穴時如何。石霜雲。直須萬年後。雲萬年後如何。石霜雲。登科任汝登科。拔萃。任汝拔萃。後問師雲。一毫穿眾穴時如何。師曰。光靴任汝光靴。結果任汝結果。僧問。如何是長。師曰。千聖不能量。曰如何是短。師曰。蟭螟眼裡著不滿。其僧不肯便去舉似石霜。石霜雲。只為太近實頭。僧問。如何是長。石霜雲。不屈曲。曰如何是短。石霜雲。雙陸盤中不喝彩。佛日長老訪師師問曰。伏承長老獨化一方。何以薦遊峰頂。佛日曰。朗月當空掛氷霜不自寒師曰。莫即是長老家風否。佛日曰。峭峙萬重關。於中含寶月。師曰。此猶是文言。作麼生是長老家風。曰今日賴遇佛日。佛日卻問雲。隱密全真時人知有道不得。大省無辜時人知有道得。於此二途猶是時人升降處。未審長老親道自道如何道。師曰。我家道處無箇道。佛日曰。如來路上無私曲。便請玄音和一場。師曰。任汝二輪更互照。碧潭雲外不相關。佛日曰。

Chan Master Hongyin of Jingshan in Hangzhou, a native of Wuxing, surnamed Wu. At nineteen he had his head shaved by the Great Master Wushang of Kaiyuan Temple. (Great Master Wushang was an heir of Yanguan and later lived at Jingshan as the second generation.) At twenty-two he went to Mount Song to receive full ordination. He returned to pay respects to his original teacher. The teacher asked: "During the day, how will you repay the four kinds of kindness?" Yin could not answer and forgot to eat for three days. He then took leave and set out to travel. He visited Yunyan, but their capacities did not match. Later he went to Weishan, and his blockage was removed at once. He met the Huichang suppression of Buddhism of the Tang, and everyone grieved and lamented. Yin said: "A great man who meets this calamity, is it not fate? Why imitate women and children?" In the early Dazhong era he resumed the monk's appearance and returned to his old home at Xifeng Cloister. In the sixth year of Xiantong he went up to Jingshan. The next year his original teacher passed away, and the assembly asked him to follow in his steps, and he became the third generation of Jingshan. In Dharma lineage he was an heir of Weishan. A monk asked: "What about when breath is held back like ashes?" The master said: "Still the work of people of the time." The monk said: "What about after it is dry?" The master said: "Tilling others' fields without planting." The monk said: "What in the end?" The master said: "When the grain is ripe, one does not go to the threshing ground." A monk asked: "What about one who passes through the Dragon Gate without relying on the force of wind and thunder?" The master said: "Still first or second rank." The monk said: "Since these are ranks, what is the matter above?" The master said: "I do not know your Dragon Gate." A monk asked: "What about like frost, like snow?" The master said: "Still stained." He asked: "What about when not stained?" The master said: "Not the same color." Head Monk Quanming of Xuzhou first asked Shishuang: "What about when a single hair pierces many holes?" Shishuang said: "You must wait ten thousand years." He said: "What about after ten thousand years?" Shishuang said: "Pass the examination as you like, excel as you like." Later he asked the master: "What about when a single hair pierces many holes?" The master said: "Polish your boots as you like, bear fruit as you like." A monk asked: "What is long?" The master said: "A thousand sages cannot measure it." He asked: "What is short?" The master said: "It does not fill the eye of a mosquito's eyelash-dweller." The monk did not approve and went to repeat it to Shishuang. Shishuang said: "Only because it is too close to solid." The monk asked: "What is long?" Shishuang said: "Not bent." He asked: "What is short?" Shishuang said: "No cheering on the backgammon board." The elder Furi visited the master. The master asked: "I hear that the elder alone transforms a region; why do you come to visit the mountain summit?" Furi said: "A bright moon hangs in the sky; ice and frost are not cold of themselves." The master said: "Is this not the elder's family style?" Furi said: "Steep and towering through ten thousand passes, within it holds a precious moon." The master said: "This is still literary language. What is the elder's family style?" He said: "Today I am fortunate to meet Furi." Furi asked in return: "To hide in secrecy and be completely true: people of the time know there is a Way but cannot say it; to awaken greatly with no fault: people of the time know there is a Way and can say it. In these two paths is still where people of the time rise and fall. May I ask how the elder personally speaks his own Way?" The master said: "In my house, where the Way is spoken, there is no Way." Furi said: "On the Tathagata's road there is no private crookedness; please give a mysterious sound to accompany this occasion." The master said: "Let the two wheels shine on each other as they will; the green pool beyond the clouds has no connection." Furi said:

為報白頭無限眾。此回年少莫歸鄉。師曰。老少同輪無向背。我家玄路勿參差。佛日曰。一言定天下四句為誰留。師曰。汝言有三四。我道其中一也無。師因有偈曰。

"To tell the countless white-haired ones: this time, the young should not go home." The master said: "Old and young turn on the same wheel with no facing or backing; in my house the mysterious road is not uneven." Furi said: "One word settles the world; for whom are the four phrases kept?" The master said: "You speak of three or four; I say there is not even one in it." The master then composed a verse:

東西不相顧南北與誰留

East and west do not look at each other; whom do north and south keep?

汝即言三四我即一也無

You say three or four; I say there is not even one.

光化四年九月二十八日白眾而化。

On the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Guanghua, he told the assembly and passed away.

福州靈雲志勤禪師本州長溪人也。初在溈山因桃華悟道。有偈曰。

Chan Master Zhiqin of Lingyun in Fuzhou, a native of Changxi in the same prefecture. At first he awakened to the Way at Weishan upon seeing peach blossoms. He composed a verse:

三十來年尋劍客幾逢落葉幾抽枝

For thirty years I sought the sword-bearer; how many times the leaves fell and the branches sprouted.

自從一見桃華後直至如今更不疑

Since the moment I saw the peach blossoms, until now I have had no further doubt.

祐師覽偈詰其所悟與之符契。祐曰。從緣悟達永無退失。善自護持(有僧舉似玄沙。玄沙雲。諦當甚諦當。敢保老兄猶未徹。眾疑此語。玄沙問地藏。我恁麼道汝作麼生會。地藏雲。不是桂琛。即走殺天下人)乃返閩川。玄徒臻集。上堂謂眾曰。諸仁者。所有長短盡至不常。且觀四時草木葉落花開。何況塵劫來天人七趣。地水火風成壞輪轉。因果將盡三惡道苦毛髮不添減。唯根蔕神識常存。上根者遇善友申明。當處解脫便是道場。中下痴愚不能覺照。沈迷三界流轉生死。釋尊為伊天上人間設教證明顯發智道。汝等還會麼。時有僧問。如何得出離生老病死師曰。青山元不動。浮雲飛去來。僧問君王出陣時如何。師曰。春明門外不問長安。僧曰。如何得覲天子。師曰。盲鶴下清池。魚從腳底過。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。驢事未去馬事到來。僧未喻旨曰。再請垂示。師曰。彩氣夜常動。精靈日少逢。雪峰有偈。送雙峰出嶺。末句雲。雷罷不停聲。師更之雲。雷震不聞聲。雪峰聞之乃曰。靈雲山頭古月現。雪峰問雲。古人道前三三後三三。意旨如何。師雲。水中魚山上鳥。峰雲。意旨作麼生。師雲。高可射兮深可釣。問諸方悉皆雜食。未審和尚如何。師雲。獨有閩中異雄雄鎮海涯。問久戰砂場。為什麼功名不就。師曰。君王有道三邊靜。何勞萬裡築長城。又云。罷息干戈束手歸朝時如何。師雲。慈雲普潤無邊剎。枯樹無花爭奈何長生。問混沌未分時含生何來。師曰。如露柱懷兒(一作胎)曰分後如何。師曰。如片雲點太清。曰未審太清還受點也無。師不答曰。恁麼即含生不來也。師亦不答。曰直得純清絕點時如何。師曰。猶是真常流注。曰如何是真常流注。師曰。如鏡長明。曰向上更有事否。師曰有。曰如何是向上事。師曰。打破鏡來相見。問如何是西來意。師曰。井底種林檎。曰學人不會。師曰。

Master You read the verse and questioned him about his awakening, and it matched. You said: "One who awakens through conditions will never regress or lose it. Guard it well." (A monk repeated it to Xuansha. Xuansha said: "Truly true; I dare guarantee that the old brother has still not penetrated it." The assembly doubted these words. Xuansha asked Dizang: "I say it this way; how do you understand it?" Dizang said: "If it were not Guichen, he would have driven everyone in the world away.") He then returned to the Min region, where disciples gathered. He ascended the hall and said to the assembly: "Virtuous ones, all long and short end in impermanence. Observe the four seasons, grasses and trees, leaves falling and flowers opening; how much more so the gods, humans and seven destinies from dust kalpas, and the turning wheel of earth, water, fire and wind forming and decaying. When cause and effect are about to end, the suffering of the three evil paths does not add or subtract a hair; only the root and spirit consciousness remain constantly. Those of the highest capacity, meeting a good friend who explains it, are liberated on the spot, and that is the site of the Way. Those of middle and lower capacity, foolish and unable to be aware and illuminate, sink into the three realms, drifting through birth and death. Sakyamuni set up teachings for them among gods and humans, proving and revealing the path of wisdom. Do you understand?" Then a monk asked: "How can one get out of birth, old age, sickness and death?" The master said: "The green mountains originally do not move; floating clouds fly back and forth." A monk asked: "What about when the king goes out to battle?" The master said: "Outside the Chunming Gate one does not ask about Chang'an." The monk said: "How can one have an audience with the Son of Heaven?" The master said: "A blind crane descends to a clear pond, and the fish pass beneath its feet." A monk asked: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" The master said: "The donkey's business has not left, and the horse's business arrives." The monk did not grasp the point and said: "Please instruct me again." The master said: "Colorful vapors constantly stir at night; spirits are seldom met in the day." Xuefeng wrote a verse to see off Shuangfeng from the ridge, whose last line said: "After the thunder, the sound does not stop." The master changed it to: "When thunder shakes, no sound is heard." Xuefeng heard it and said: "The ancient moon appears on Lingyun Mountain." Xuefeng asked: "The ancients said: 'Before, three and three; after, three and three.' What is the meaning?" The master said: "Fish in the water, birds on the mountain." Feng said: "What is the meaning?" The master said: "One can shoot the high and fish the deep." A monk asked: "All other quarters eat a mixed diet; what about the master?" The master said: "Only the Min region is different, mighty and guarding the sea's edge." A monk asked: "After long battle on the field, why is merit and fame not achieved?" The master said: "When the king has the Way, the three borders are calm; why toil to build a long wall of ten thousand li?" He said again: "What about ceasing the shields and spears, and returning to court with hands bound?" The master said: "Compassionate clouds moisten boundless lands; but a withered tree has no flowers, so what of long life?" A monk asked: "Before the primal chaos divided, where did beings come from?" The master said: "Like a pillar carrying a child (one version: in the womb)." He asked: "After it divided?" The master said: "Like a piece of cloud dotting the great clarity." He asked: "May I ask whether the great clarity accepts the dot or not?" The master did not answer. He said: "Then beings did not come." The master again did not answer. He asked: "What about when it is purely clear without a single dot?" The master said: "Still the flow of true constancy." He asked: "What is the flow of true constancy?" The master said: "Like a mirror always bright." He asked: "Is there anything beyond?" The master said: "There is." He asked: "What is the matter beyond?" The master said: "Smash the mirror and then we shall meet." He asked: "What is the meaning of the coming from the West?" The master said: "Planting crab apples at the bottom of a well." He asked: "I do not understand." The master said:

今年桃李貴。一顆直千金。問摩尼珠不隨眾色。未審作什麼色。師曰。白色。僧曰。恁麼即隨眾色也。師曰。趙璧本無瑕。相如誑秦主。問君王出陣時如何。師曰。呂才葬虎耳。曰其事如何。師曰。坐見白衣天。僧曰。王今何在。師曰。莫觸龍顏。

"This year peaches and plums are expensive; one fruit is worth a thousand in gold." A monk asked: "The mani jewel does not follow the many colors; what color is it?" The master said: "White." The monk said: "Then it follows the many colors." The master said: "The jade of Zhao was originally flawless; Xiang Ru deceived the ruler of Qin." A monk asked: "What about when the king goes out to battle?" The master said: "Lü Cai buried the tiger's ear." He asked: "How is the matter?" The master said: "Sit and see the heaven of white clothes." The monk said: "Where is the king now?" The master said: "Do not touch the dragon's face."

益州應天和尚。僧問。人人有佛性如何是和尚佛性。師曰。汝喚什麼作佛性。僧曰。恁麼即和尚無佛性也。師乃叫快活快活。

The Monk Yingtian of Yizhou. A monk asked: "Everyone has Buddha-nature; what is the master's Buddha-nature?" The master said: "What do you call Buddha-nature?" The monk said: "Then the master has no Buddha-nature." The master then cried out: "How happy, how happy."

福州九峰慈慧禪師。初在溈山遇祐師上堂雲。汝等諸人只得大體不得大用。師抽身出去。溈山召之。師更不迴顧。溈山雲。此子堪為法器。師一日辭溈山入嶺雲。某甲辭違和尚。千里之外不離左右。溈山動容曰。善為。

Chan Master Cihui of Jiufeng in Fuzhou. At first he was at Weishan, and met Master You ascend the hall and say: "You have only obtained the great substance, not the great function." The master turned and went out. Weishan called him, but the master did not look back. Weishan said: "This one is fit to be a vessel of the Dharma." One day the master took leave of Weishan to enter the mountains and said: "I take leave of you, master; a thousand li away, I will not leave your side." Weishan was moved and said: "Do well."

京兆米和尚(亦謂米七師)初參學歸受業寺。有老宿問。月中斷井索時人喚作蛇。未審七師見佛喚作什麼。師曰。若有佛見即同眾生(法眼別雲。此是什麼時節問。法燈別雲。喚底不是)老宿曰。千年桃核。師令僧去問仰山雲。今時還假悟也無。仰山雲。悟即不無。爭奈落在第二頭。師深肯之。又令僧去問洞山雲。那箇究竟作麼生。洞山雲。卻須問他始得。師亦肯之。僧問。如何是衲衣下事。師雲。醜陋任君嫌。不掛雲霞色。

The Monk Mi of Jingzhao (also called Master Mi the Seventh). When he first studied and returned to the temple of his ordination, an old monk asked: "A broken well rope in the moonlight is called a snake by people of the time. May I ask what Master Seventh calls it when he sees the Buddha?" The master said: "If there is a Buddha view, it is the same as sentient beings." (Fayan said separately: "At what time is this asked?" Fadeng said separately: "What is called is not it.") The old monk said: "A thousand-year-old peach pit." The master sent a monk to ask Yangshan: "At present, does one still need awakening?" Yangshan said: "Awakening is not lacking, but unfortunately it falls to the second head." The master deeply approved. He also sent a monk to ask Dongshan: "What of that ultimately?" Dongshan said: "You must ask him." The master also approved. A monk asked: "What is the matter beneath the patched robe?" The master said: "Ugly as you like, it does not hang with colors of clouds and mist."

晉州霍山和尚。仰山一僧到自稱。集雲峰下四藤條。天下大禪佛參(大禪佛即十二卷。晉州霍山景通和尚也)師乃喚維那搬柴著(一作打鍾著)大禪佛驟步而去。師聞秘魔巖和尚凡有僧到禮拜以木叉叉著。師一日遂往訪之。才見不禮拜。便入秘魔懷裡。秘魔拊師背三下。師起拍手雲。師兄我一千里地來便回(一作師兄三千里外賺我來)。

The Monk of Huoshan in Jinzhou. A monk came from Yangshan and called himself: "The great Chan Buddha of four rattans under Jiyun Peak who visits the world." (The great Chan Buddha is Monk Jingtong of Huoshan in Jinzhou in fascicle twelve.) The master then called the supervisor: "Fetch firewood." (One version: strike the bell.) The great Chan Buddha hurried away. The master heard that the Monk of Mimo Rock would fork any monk who came to pay respects with a wooden fork. One day the master went to visit him. As soon as he saw him he did not bow but entered Mimo's chest. Mimo patted the master's back three times. The master rose, clapped and said: "Elder brother, I came a thousand li and am going back now." (One version: Elder brother, you tricked me into coming from three thousand li away.)

襄州王敬初常侍視事次。米和尚至。王公乃舉筆。米曰。還判得虛空否。公擲筆入廳更不復出。米致疑。至明日憑鼓山供養主入探其意。米亦隨至潛在屏蔽間偵伺。供養主才坐問雲。昨日米和尚有什麼言句便不得見。王公曰。師子齩人韓獹逐塊。米師竊聞此語。即省前謬。遽出朗笑曰。我會也我會也。嘗問一僧。一切眾生還有佛性也無。僧雲。盡有。公指壁畫狗子云。遮箇還有也無。僧無對。公自代雲。看齩著。

The Attendant Wang Jingchu of Xiangzhou was handling affairs when the Monk Mi arrived. Wang then raised his brush. Mi said: "Can you pass judgment on empty space?" Wang threw down the brush, entered the hall, and did not come out again. Mi was puzzled. The next day he relied on the donor of Gushan to go in and probe his meaning, and Mi also followed and secretly spied from behind a screen. As soon as the donor sat down, he asked: "Yesterday what did Monk Mi say that you could not see him?" Wang said: "The lion bites people; Han Lu chases the clod." Master Mi overheard these words and realized his earlier mistake, and hurried out laughing loudly and saying: "I understand, I understand." Once he asked a monk: "Do all sentient beings have Buddha-nature?" The monk said: "All have it." Wang pointed at a picture of a dog on the wall and said: "Does this have it?" The monk had no answer. Wang answered for him: "Watch it bite."

前福州大安禪師(亦稱大溈和尚)法嗣(除落長慶院三字。蓋師雖曾居長樂府之西院。沒後二十餘年閩帥移招慶。稜和尚來住西院。方奏長慶之額)

Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Da'an of Fuzhou (also called the Monk of Dawei) (the three characters for "Changqing Cloister" are removed. Although the master once lived at the West Cloister in Changle Prefecture, more than twenty years after his death the Min commander invited the Monk Leng of Zhaoqing to live at the West Cloister, and only then was the plaque of Changqing memorialized.)

益州大隋法真禪師。僧問。劫火洞然大千俱壞。未審此箇還壞也無。師雲壞。僧雲。恁麼即隨他去也。師雲。隨他去也。問如何是大人相。師雲。肚上不帖牓。師問僧。什麼處去。僧雲。西山住庵去。師雲。我向東山頭喚汝。汝還來得麼。僧雲。即不然。師雲。汝住庵未得。問生死到來時如何。師雲。遇茶吃茶遇飯吃飯。僧雲。可誰受供養。師雲。合取缽盂。師庵側有一龜。僧問。一切眾生皮裡骨。遮箇眾生骨裹皮如何。師拈草履於龜邊著。僧無語。問如何是諸佛法要。師舉拂子云。會麼。僧雲。不會。師雲。麈尾拂子。問如何是學人自己。師曰。是我自己。僧雲。為什麼卻是和尚自己。師雲。是汝自己。問如何是無縫塔。師雲。高五尺。僧雲。學人不會。師雲。鶻崙塼。問和尚百年後法付何人師雲。露柱火爐。僧雲。還受也無。師雲。火爐露柱。有行者領眾到。師問。參得底人喚東作什麼。對曰。不可喚作東。師咄曰。臭驢漢。不喚作東。喚作什麼。行者無語。眾遂散。問如何是和尚家風。師雲。赤土畫簸箕。僧雲。如何是赤土畫簸箕。師雲。簸箕有唇米不跳去。師問一僧。講什麼教法。僧雲。百法論。師拈杖子云。從何而起。對雲。從緣而起。師雲。苦哉苦哉。師問僧。什麼處去。雲禮普賢去。師舉拂子云。文殊普賢總在遮裡。僧作圓相。拋向後乃禮拜師雲。侍者取一帖茶與遮僧。一日眾僧參次。師口作患風勢雲。還有人醫得吾口麼。時眾僧競送藥以至。俗士聞之亦多送藥。師並不受。七日後師自摑口令正乃雲。如許多時鼓遮兩片皮。至今無人醫得吾口。蜀主欽尚遣使屢徵。師皆辭以老病。署神照大師。

Chan Master Fazhen of Dasui in Yizhou. A monk asked: "When the kalpa fire burns fiercely and the great chiliocosm is all destroyed, is this also destroyed?" The master said: "Destroyed." The monk said: "Then it goes along with it." The master said: "It goes along with it." He asked: "What are the marks of a great person?" The master said: "He does not post a notice on his belly." The master asked a monk: "Where are you going?" The monk said: "To live in a hermitage on West Mountain." The master said: "If I called you from the East Mountain peak, could you come?" The monk said: "No." The master said: "You cannot live in a hermitage yet." He asked: "What about when birth and death arrive?" The master said: "When you meet tea, drink tea; when you meet rice, eat rice." The monk said: "Then who receives the offering?" The master said: "Close your alms bowl." There was a turtle beside the master's hermitage. A monk asked: "For all beings the bones are inside the skin; what about this being whose bones wrap its skin?" The master picked up a straw sandal and put it beside the turtle. The monk had no words. He asked: "What is the essential of all the Buddhas' Dharma?" The master raised his whisk and said: "Do you understand?" The monk said: "I do not understand." The master said: "A deer-tail whisk." He asked: "What is the student's own self?" The master said: "It is my own self." The monk said: "Why then is it the master's own self?" The master said: "It is your own self." He asked: "What is the seamless pagoda?" The master said: "Five feet high." The monk said: "I do not understand." The master said: "A whole brick." He asked: "After the master's hundred years, to whom will the Dharma be entrusted?" The master said: "The pillar and the stove." The monk said: "Will they receive it?" The master said: "The stove and the pillar." A lay practitioner led an assembly there. The master asked: "The one who has studied, what do you call east?" He answered: "It cannot be called east." The master scolded: "Stinking donkey. If you do not call it east, what do you call it?" The lay practitioner had no words. The assembly then dispersed. A monk asked: "What is the master's family style?" The master said: "Drawing a winnowing basket with red earth." The monk said: "What is drawing a winnowing basket with red earth?" The master said: "The winnowing basket has a lip, so the rice does not jump out." The master asked a monk: "What teaching do you lecture on?" The monk said: "The Treatise on the Hundred Dharmas." The master picked up his staff and said: "From where does it arise?" He answered: "It arises from conditions." The master said: "Alas, alas." The master asked a monk: "Where are you going?" He said: "To pay respects to Samantabhadra." The master raised his whisk and said: "Manjushri and Samantabhadra are both here." The monk drew a circle, threw it behind him and then bowed. The master said: "Attendant, take a packet of tea and give it to this monk." One day while the monks were attending an assembly, the master made a gesture with his mouth as if afflicted by wind and said: "Is there anyone who can heal my mouth?" Then the monks competed to send medicine, and laypeople who heard also sent much medicine. The master accepted none of it. Seven days later the master slapped his own mouth to set it right, and said: "For all this time I have drummed these two pieces of skin, and still no one has been able to heal my mouth." The ruler of Shu admired him and sent envoys to summon him many times, but the master declined each time on account of age and illness. He was given the title Great Master Shenzhao.

韶州靈樹如敏禪師閩川人也。廣主劉氏奕世欽重。署知聖大師。有僧問。佛法至理如何。師展手而已。問如何是和尚家風。師雲。千年田八百主。僧雲如何是千年田八百主。師雲。郎當屋舍沒人修。問如何是西來意。師雲。童子莫傜兒。僧雲。乞師指示。師雲。汝從虔州來。問是什麼得恁麼難會。師雲。火官頭上風車子。有尼送瓷缽與師。師托起問雲。遮箇出在什麼處。尼雲。出在定州(法燈別雲不遠此間)師乃撲破。尼無對(保福代雲。欺敵者亡)人問和尚年多少。師雲。今日生來日死。又問。和尚生緣什麼處。師雲。日出東月落西。師四十餘年化被嶺表。頗有異跡。廣主將興兵。躬入院請師決臧否。師已先知怡然坐化。主怒知事雲。和尚何時得疾。對曰。師不曾有疾。適封一函子令俟王來呈之。主開函得一帖子。書云。人天眼目堂中上座。主悟師旨遂寢兵。乃召第一坐開堂說法(即雲門偃和尚法嗣雪峰是也)師全不身散。其葬具龕塔並廣主具辦。今號靈樹真身塔焉。

Chan Master Rumin of Lingshu in Shaozhou, a native of Minchuan. The Liu family, rulers of Guang, revered him for generations and gave him the title Great Master Zhisheng. A monk asked: "What is the ultimate principle of the Buddha Dharma?" The master only spread out his hand. He asked: "What is the master's family style?" The master said: "A thousand-year field, eight hundred owners." The monk said: "What is a thousand-year field and eight hundred owners?" The master said: "Ramshackle houses that no one repairs." He asked: "What is the meaning of the coming from the West?" The master said: "Do not be a mischievous child." The monk said: "Please instruct me." The master said: "You come from Qianzhou." He asked: "Why is it so hard to understand?" The master said: "A pinwheel on the head of the fire official." A nun gave the master a porcelain bowl. The master held it up and asked: "Where does this come from?" The nun said: "It comes from Dingzhou." (Fadeng said separately: "Not far from here.") The master then smashed it. The nun had no answer. (Baofu said in her place: "One who deceives the enemy perishes.") Someone asked: "How old is the master?" The master said: "Born today, dying tomorrow." He asked again: "Where was the master born?" The master said: "The sun rises in the east, the moon sets in the west." For more than forty years the master's teaching covered the Lingbiao region, and he had many marvels. The ruler of Guang was about to raise troops and personally entered the cloister to ask the master to decide whether it was auspicious. The master already knew it beforehand and passed away peacefully sitting. The ruler was angry and asked the steward: "When did the master become ill?" He answered: "The master was never ill. He just sealed a box and ordered that it be presented when the king came." The ruler opened the box and found a note which said: "The eye of humans and gods is the head monk in the hall." The ruler understood the master's intention and so ended the military plan. He then summoned the head monk to open the hall and preach the Dharma. (This was the Monk Yanyan of Yunmen, the Dharma heir of Xuefeng.) The master's whole body did not decay. The burial equipment, shrine and stupa were all provided by the ruler of Guang. It is now called the True Body Stupa of Lingshu. (The base text has a transposition of characters in the phrase "whole body did not decay," corrected here.)