Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle Twelve

師於大宋開寶六年癸酉八月旦日。昇座說偈。至十五日跏趺而化。前一日手書別檀越。壽八十七。臘五十九。

In the first day of the eighth month of the year guiyou, the sixth year of Kaibao of the Great Song, the Master ascended the seat and spoke a verse. On the fifteenth day he sat in the lotus position and passed away. The day before, he wrote farewell letters in his own hand to the donors. He was eighty-seven, with fifty-nine years as a monk.

前汝州西院思明禪師法嗣

Successor of the former Chan Master Siming of Xiyuan in Ruzhou

郢州興陽歸靜禪師。初參西院乃問曰。擬問不問時如何。西院便打。師良久。西院雲。若喚作棒眉鬚墮落。師言下大悟。僧問。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。少室山前無異路。

Chan Master Guijing of Xingyang in Yingzhou. When he first visited Xiyuan, he asked: "What if I intend to ask but do not ask?" Xiyuan struck him at once. The Master was silent for a long while. Xiyuan said: "If you call it a staff, your eyebrows and beard will fall out." At these words the Master was greatly awakened. A monk asked: "Whose tune does the Master sing, and whose lineage does your style continue?" The Master said: "There is no different road before Mount Shaoshi."

前韶州慧林鴻究禪師法嗣

Successor of the former Chan Master Hongjiu of Huilin in Shaozhou

韶州靈瑞和尚有人問如何是佛。師喝雲。汝是村裡人。問如何是西來意。師曰。十萬八千里。問如何是本來心。師曰。坐卻毘盧頂。出沒太虛中。

Reverend Lingrui of Shaozhou. Someone asked: "What is Buddha?" The Master shouted: "You are a villager." He asked: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" The Master said: "A hundred and eight thousand li." He asked: "What is the original mind?" The Master said: "Sitting on top of Vairocana's head, emerging and vanishing in the great void."

前風穴延沼禪師法嗣

Successor of the former Chan Master Yanzhao of Fengxue

汝州廣慧真禪師。僧問。如何是廣慧境。師曰。小寺前頭資慶後。問如何是和尚家風。師曰。杴爬钁子。

Chan Master Zhen of Guanghui in Ruzhou. A monk asked: "What is the realm of Guanghui?" The Master said: "In front of the small monastery and behind the Zi Qing." He asked: "What is the Reverend's house style?" The Master said: "A shovel, a rake and a mattock."

汝州首山省念禪師。萊州人也。姓狄氏。受業於本部南禪院。得法於風穴。初住首山為第一世。開堂日有僧問曰。師唱誰家曲。宗風嗣阿誰。師曰。少室巖前親掌視。僧曰。更請洪音和一聲。師曰。如今也要大家知。師謂眾曰。佛法付與國王大臣有力檀越。令燈燈相然相續不斷至於今日。大眾且道。相續箇什麼。師良久又曰。今日須是迦葉師兄始得。僧問如何是和尚家風。師曰。一言截斷千江口。萬仞峰前始得玄。問如何是首山境。師曰。一任眾人看。僧曰。如何是境中人。師曰。吃棒得也未。僧禮拜。師曰。且待別時。問如何是祖師西來意。師曰。風吹日炙。問從上諸聖向什麼處行履。師曰。牽犁拽杷。問古人拈槌竪拂意旨如何。師曰。孤峰無宿客。僧曰。未審意旨如何。師曰。不是守株人。問如何是菩提路。師曰此去襄縣五里。僧曰。向上事如何。師曰。往來不易。問諸聖說不盡處請師舉唱。師曰。萬裡神光都一照。誰人敢並日輪齊。問一樹還開華也無。師曰。開來久矣。僧曰。未審還結子也無。師曰。昨夜遭霜了。問臨濟喝德山棒。未審明得什麼邊事。師曰。汝試道看。僧喝。師曰瞎。僧再喝。師曰。遮瞎漢只麼亂喝作麼。僧禮拜。師便打。問四眾圍繞師說何法。師曰。打草蛇驚。僧曰。未審怎麼生下手。師曰。適來幾合喪身失命。問二龍爭珠誰是得者。師曰。得者失。僧曰。不得者又如何。師曰。珠在什麼處。問維摩默然文殊贊善。未審此意如何。師曰。當時聽眾必不如是。僧曰。未審維摩默然意旨如何。師曰。知恩者少負恩者多。問一切諸佛皆從此經出。如何是此經。師曰。低聲低聲。僧曰。如何受持。師曰。切不得汙染。問世尊滅後法付何人。師曰。好箇問頭無人答得。問見色便見心。諸法無形將何所見。師曰。一家有事百家忙。僧曰。學人不會。乞師再指。師曰。三日看取。

Chan Master Xingnian of Mount Shou in Ruzhou was a man of Laizhou, surnamed Di. He studied under the Nanchan Hall of his home district and attained the Dharma from Fengxue. He first lived at Shoushan as its first-generation abbot. On the day he opened the hall, a monk asked: "Whose tune does the Master sing, and whose lineage does your style continue?" The Master said: "Below the cliff of Shaoshi I looked on it with my own palm." The monk said: "Please let a resounding voice answer once more." The Master said: "Now I want everyone to know." The Master said to the assembly: "The Buddha-dharma was entrusted to kings, great ministers and powerful donors, so that lamp lights lamp in succession without break, down to today. Great assembly, tell me, what is it that continues?" After a long silence, the Master said: "Today it must be Elder Brother Kasyapa to get it." A monk asked: "What is the Reverend's house style?" The Master said: "One word cuts off the mouths of a thousand rivers, and only before the peak of ten thousand ren does one obtain the profound." A monk asked: "What is the realm of Shoushan?" The Master said: "Let everyone look as they will." The monk said: "What is the person within the realm?" The Master said: "Have you got your beating yet?" The monk bowed. The Master said: "Wait for another time." A monk asked: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" The Master said: "Blown by the wind and scorched by the sun." A monk asked: "Where do all the sages of the past walk?" The Master said: "Pulling the plow and dragging the harrow." A monk asked: "What is the meaning of the ancients taking up the mallet and raising the whisk?" The Master said: "On a lone peak there is no lodging guest." The monk said: "What is the meaning?" The Master said: "Not a man who guards a tree stump." A monk asked: "What is the road to bodhi?" The Master said: "Five li from here to Xiang County." The monk said: "What of the matter beyond?" The Master said: "Coming and going is not easy." A monk asked: "Please sing of what the sages could not finish speaking." The Master said: "Ten thousand li of divine light shine all at once; who dares to be level with the disk of the sun?" A monk asked: "Does a tree blossom?" The Master said: "It bloomed long ago." The monk said: "Does it bear fruit?" The Master said: "Last night it was frosted." A monk asked: "Linji's shout and Deshan's staff; what matter do they clarify?" The Master said: "Try telling me." The monk shouted. The Master said: "Blind." The monk shouted again. The Master said: "This blind fellow, what is he shouting at random for?" The monk bowed. The Master struck him. A monk asked: "With the four assemblies gathered around, what Dharma does the Master teach?" The Master said: "Beat the grass and the snake is startled." The monk said: "How does one set to work?" The Master said: "Just now you nearly lost your body and life." A monk asked: "Two dragons contend for a pearl; who gets it?" The Master said: "The one who gets it loses." The monk said: "What of the one who does not get it?" The Master said: "Where is the pearl?" A monk asked: "Vimalakirti was silent and Manjusri praised him; what is this meaning?" The Master said: "The audience at the time would surely not have done so." The monk said: "What is the meaning of Vimalakirti's silence?" The Master said: "Few know gratitude and many betray it." A monk asked: "All Buddhas come forth from this sutra. What is this sutra?" The Master said: "Softly, softly." The monk said: "How does one receive and uphold it?" The Master said: "Above all, do not stain it." A monk asked: "After the World-Honored One passed away, to whom was the Dharma entrusted?" The Master said: "A fine question; no one can answer it." A monk asked: "Seeing form is seeing mind. If all dharmas are formless, what does one see?" The Master said: "When one household has a matter, a hundred households are busy." The monk said: "I do not understand; please point again." The Master said: "Look at it for three days."

問如人入京朝聖主。只到潼關便卻迴時如何。師曰。猶是鈍漢。問路逢達道人不將語默對。未審將什麼對。師曰。瞥爾三千界。問一句瞭然超百億。如何是一句。師曰。到處舉似人。僧曰。畢竟事如何。師曰。但知恁麼道。問如何是古佛心。師曰。鎮州蘿蔔重三斤。問虛空以何為體。師曰。老僧在汝腳底。僧曰。和尚為什麼在學人腳底。師曰。知汝是箇瞎漢。問如何是玄中的。師曰。有言須道卻。僧曰。此意如何。師曰。無言鬼也瞋。問如何是衲僧眼。師曰。此問猶不當。僧曰。當後如何。師曰。堪作麼。問如何得離眾緣去。師曰。千年一遇。僧曰。不離時如何。師曰。立在眾人前。問如何是大安樂人。師曰。不見有一法。僧曰。將何為人。師曰。謝闍梨領話。問如何是常在底人。師曰。亂走作麼。問一毫未發時如何。師曰路逢穿耳客。僧曰。發後如何。師曰。不用更遲疑。問無絃琴請師音韻。師良久曰。還聞麼。僧曰。不聞。師曰。何不高聲聞著。問學人久處沈迷請師一接。師曰。老僧無恁麼閑功夫。僧曰。和尚為什麼如此。師曰。要行即行要坐即坐。問如何是離凡聖底句。師曰。嵩山安和尚。僧曰。莫便是和尚極則處否。師曰。南嶽讓禪師。問學人乍入叢林乞師指示。師曰。闍梨到此多少時也。僧曰。已經冬夏。師曰。莫錯舉似人。問有一人蕩盡來時師還接否。師曰。蕩盡即不無。那箇是誰。僧曰。今日風高月冷。師曰。僧堂內幾人坐臥。僧無對。師曰。賺殺老僧。問如何是梵音相。師曰。驢鳴狗吠。問如何是徑截一路。師曰。或在山間或在樹下。問曹谿一句天下人聞。未審和尚一句什麼人得聞。師曰。不出三門外。僧曰。為什麼不出三門外。師曰。舉似天下人。僧問。如何是和尚不欺人眼。師曰。看看冬到來。僧曰。究竟如何。師曰。即便春風至。問遠聞和尚寸絲不掛。及至到來為什麼有山可守。

A monk asked: "Suppose someone goes to the capital to have an audience with the sage ruler, and turns back on reaching Tongguan; what then?" The Master said: "Still a dull fellow." A monk asked: "Meeting a man who has penetrated the Way on the road, one does not answer with speech or silence; what does one answer with?" The Master said: "At a glance, three thousand worlds." A monk asked: "One phrase clearly surpasses a hundred billion. What is the phrase?" The Master said: "Bring it up to people everywhere." The monk said: "What is the ultimate matter?" The Master said: "Just know to say it so." A monk asked: "What is the mind of the ancient Buddha?" The Master said: "The radish of Zhenzhou weighs three jin." A monk asked: "What does empty space take as its substance?" The Master said: "This old monk is under your feet." The monk said: "Why is the Reverend under my feet?" The Master said: "I know you are a blind man." A monk asked: "What is the target within the profound?" The Master said: "If you have a word, say it out." The monk said: "What is the meaning?" The Master said: "Without words even ghosts are angry." A monk asked: "What is the eye of a patched-robe monk?" The Master said: "This question still does not hit it." The monk said: "What after it hits?" The Master said: "What use is it?" A monk asked: "How can one leave the many conditions?" The Master said: "One meets it once in a thousand years." The monk said: "What if one does not leave?" The Master said: "Standing before the people." A monk asked: "Who is a person of great peace and joy?" The Master said: "He sees not a single dharma." The monk said: "What does he use to deal with people?" The Master said: "Thank you, Acarya, for taking the words." A monk asked: "Who is the person who is always present?" The Master said: "What are you running around for?" A monk asked: "What when not a hair has yet arisen?" The Master said: "Meeting a guest with pierced ears on the road." The monk said: "What after it has arisen?" The Master said: "No need to hesitate further." A monk asked: "Please give the sound of the stringless zither, Master." The Master was silent for a long while and said: "Do you hear it?" The monk said: "I do not." The Master said: "Why do you not listen aloud?" A monk asked: "I have been long immersed in confusion; please give me a hand, Master." The Master said: "This old monk has no such idle time." The monk said: "Why is the Reverend like this?" The Master said: "Walk if you want to walk, sit if you want to sit." A monk asked: "What is the phrase that leaves ordinary and holy?" The Master said: "Reverend An of Mount Song." The monk said: "Is that perhaps the Reverend's ultimate?" The Master said: "Chan Master Rang of Nanyue." A monk asked: "I have just entered the monastery; please give me instruction." The Master said: "How long have you been here, Acarya?" The monk said: "Already a winter and a summer." The Master said: "Do not misreport it to others." A monk asked: "If someone who has swept everything away comes, does the Master still receive him?" The Master said: "Sweeping away is not absent. Who is that one?" The monk said: "Today the wind is high and the moon is cold." The Master said: "How many are sitting or lying in the monks' hall?" The monk had no reply. The Master said: "You have cheated this old monk to death." A monk asked: "What is the mark of the Brahma voice?" The Master said: "The donkey brays and the dog barks." A monk asked: "What is the direct and shortcut road?" The Master said: "Perhaps in the mountains, perhaps under a tree." A monk asked: "A phrase from Caoxi is heard by everyone in the world. Who hears the Reverend's phrase?" The Master said: "It does not go outside the three gates." The monk said: "Why does it not go outside the three gates?" The Master said: "It is brought up to everyone in the world." A monk asked: "What is the Reverend's eye that does not deceive people?" The Master said: "Look, winter is arriving." The monk said: "What in the end?" The Master said: "Then the spring wind will come." A monk asked: "I heard from afar that the Reverend does not hang a single thread, but now that I have come, why is there a mountain to guard?"

師曰。道什麼。僧喝。師亦喝。僧禮拜。師曰。放汝二十棒。師次住寶安山廣教院亦第一世。後徇眾請入城下寶應院(即南院第三世)三處法席海眾常臻。淳化三年十二月四日午時上堂說偈示眾曰。

The Master said: "What are you saying?" The monk shouted. The Master also shouted. The monk bowed. The Master said: "I will let you off twenty blows." The Master next lived at the Guangjiao Monastery at Mount Bao'an, again as first-generation abbot. Later, yielding to the assembly's request, he entered the city to Baoying Monastery (the third-generation abbacy of Nanyuan). In the three places the Dharma seat was always crowded with the assembly. At noon on the fourth day of the twelfth month of the third year of Chunhua, he ascended the hall and spoke a verse to the assembly:

今年六十七老病隨緣且遣日今年記卻來年事

This year I am sixty-seven, old and ill, following conditions and passing the days. This year I record next year's matter,

來年記著今朝日

and next year I will remember today's date.

至四年月日與時無爽前記。上堂辭眾。仍說偈曰。

In the fourth year, the month, day and hour did not differ from what he had recorded before. He ascended the hall to bid the assembly farewell, and spoke a verse again, saying:

白銀世界金色身情與非情共一真

In a world of white silver, a body of golden hue; the sentient and the insentient share a single truth.

明暗盡時俱不照日輪午後見全身

When light and dark are both exhausted, neither one shines; after noon the sun's disc reveals its whole body.

言訖安坐。日將昳而逝。壽六十有八。茶毘收舍利。

When he finished speaking he sat at ease, and passed away as the sun was slanting west. He was sixty-eight years old. After the cremation the relics were collected.

前潭州報慈歸真大師德韶法嗣

Dharma Heir of the former Great Master Guizhen Deshao of Baoci in Tanzhou

蘄州三角山志謙禪師。僧問如何是佛。師曰。速禮三拜。

Chan Master Zhiqian of Mount Sanjiao in Qizhou. A monk asked: “What is Buddha?” The Master said: “Quickly make three bows.”

郢州興陽詞鐸禪師(第三世住)僧問。佛界與眾生界相去多少。師曰。道不得。僧曰。真箇那。師曰。有些子。問傘蓋忽臨於寶坐。師今何異鵲巢時。師曰。道不得。僧曰。即今底。師曰。輸汝一佛法。

Chan Master Ciduo of Xingyang in Yingzhou (third-generation abbot). A monk asked: “How far apart are the realm of buddhas and the realm of sentient beings?” The Master said: “It cannot be said.” The monk said: “Really?” The Master said: “There is a little something.” He asked: “When the parasol canopy suddenly descends upon the jeweled seat, how do you now differ from the days of the magpie's nest?” The Master said: “It cannot be said.” The monk said: “And right now?” The Master said: “I concede to you one buddha-dharma.”

前汝州首山省念禪師法嗣

Dharma Heir of the former Chan Master Xingnian of Shoushan in Ruzhou

汾州善昭禪師上堂謂眾曰。凡一句語須具三玄門。每一玄門須具三要。有照有用。或先照後用。或先用後照。或照用同時。或照用不同時。先照後用且要共爾商量。先用後照爾也須是箇人始得。照用同時爾作麼生當抵。照用不同時爾又作麼生湊泊。僧問。如何是大道之源。師曰。掘地覓青天。曰何得如此。師曰。識取幽玄。問如何是賓中賓。師曰。合掌庵前問世尊。曰如何是賓中主。師曰。對面無儔侶。曰如何是主中賓。師曰。陣雲橫海上。拔劍攪龍門。曰如何是主中主。師曰。三頭六臂驚天地。忿怒那吒撲帝鍾。

Chan Master Shanzhao of Fenzhou ascended the hall and addressed the assembly: “Every phrase must contain the three mysterious gates, and each mysterious gate must contain the three essentials. There is illumination and there is function. Sometimes illumination precedes function, sometimes function precedes illumination, sometimes illumination and function are simultaneous, sometimes they are not simultaneous. Illumination first and function afterward—for that I must still confer with you. Function first and illumination afterward—you too must first be a real person. When illumination and function are simultaneous, how will you meet it? When they are not simultaneous, how will you piece it together?” A monk asked: “What is the source of the great Way?” The Master said: “Dig into the earth to seek the blue sky.” He asked: “Why is it so?” The Master said: “Discern the hidden mystery.” He asked: “What is the guest within the guest?” The Master said: “Joining palms before the shrine, asking the World-Honored One.” He asked: “What is the host within the guest?” The Master said: “Face to face, with no companion.” He asked: “What is the guest within the host?” The Master said: “Battle clouds stretch across the sea; drawing the sword, he stirs the Dragon Gate.” He asked: “What is the host within the host?” The Master said: “Three heads and six arms startle heaven and earth; wrathful Nezha hurls himself at the imperial bell.”

曹谿別出第二世

Second Generation of the Separate Branch from Caoxi

前南陽慧忠國師法嗣

Dharma Heir of the former National Teacher Huizhong of Nanyang

吉州耽源山真應禪師。為國師侍者時。一日國師在法堂中。師入來。國師乃放下一足。師見便出。良久卻回。國師曰。適來意怎麼生。師雲。向阿誰說即得。國師曰。我問爾。師雲什麼處見某甲。師又問。百年後有人問極則事如何。國師曰。幸自可憐生。須要覓箇護身符子作麼。異日師攜籃子歸方丈。國師問。籃裡什麼物。師曰。青梅。國師曰。將來何用。師曰。供養。國師曰。青在爭堪供養。師曰。以此表獻。國師曰。佛不受供養。師曰。某甲只恁麼。和尚如何。國師曰。我不供養。師曰。為什麼不供養。國師曰。我無果子。百丈海和尚在泐潭山牽車次。師曰。車在遮裡牛在什麼處。海斫額。師乃拭目。麻谷問。十二面觀音豈不是聖。師曰是。麻谷與師一摑。師曰。想汝未到此境。國師諱日設齋。有僧問曰。國師還來否。師曰。未具他心。曰又用設齋作麼。師曰。不斷世諦。

Chan Master Zhenying of Mount Danyuan in Jizhou. While he was serving as the National Teacher's attendant, one day the National Teacher was in the Dharma hall. The Master came in, and the National Teacher put down one foot. Seeing this, the Master went out. After a long while he came back. The National Teacher said: “What did you mean just now?” The Master said: “To whom should I tell it?” The National Teacher said: “I am asking you.” The Master said: “Where did you see me?” The Master also asked: “If a hundred years from now someone asks about the ultimate matter, what then?” The National Teacher said: “Be kind to yourself for once—why must you find a talisman to guard your body?” Another day the Master carried a basket back to the abbot's room. The National Teacher asked: “What is in the basket?” The Master said: “Green plums.” The National Teacher said: “What will you use them for?” The Master said: “To make an offering.” The National Teacher said: “They are still green; how can they serve as an offering?” The Master said: “I present them just to show it.” The National Teacher said: “The Buddha does not accept offerings.” The Master said: “That is how I am; and how is it with you, Reverend?” The National Teacher said: “I make no offering.” The Master said: “Why do you make no offering?” The National Teacher said: “I have no fruit.” While the Reverend Baizhang Hai was pulling a cart at Mount Letan, the Master said: “The cart is here; where is the ox?” Hai chopped him on the forehead. The Master then wiped his eyes. Magu asked: “Is the twelve-faced Guanyin not sacred?” The Master said: “She is.” Magu gave the Master a slap. The Master said: “I fancy you have not reached this realm.” On the National Teacher's memorial day a vegetarian feast was held. A monk asked: “Will the National Teacher still come?” The Master said: “I do not possess the knowledge of others' minds.” He asked: “Then why hold a feast?” The Master said: “So as not to cut off worldly truth.”

洛陽荷澤神會大師法嗣

Dharma Heir of Great Master Shenhui of Heze in Luoyang

黃州大石山福琳禪師荊州人也。姓元氏。木儒家子。幼歸釋氏。就玄靜寺謙著禪師剃度登戒。遊方遇荷澤師。示無念靈知不從緣有。即煥然見諦。後抵黃州大石山結庵而居。四方禪侶依之甚眾。唐興元二年入滅。壽八十有二。

Chan Master Fulin of Mount Dashi in Huangzhou was a man of Jingzhou, surnamed Yuan. He was originally a Confucian's son. In youth he turned to the Buddhists and was tonsured and took the precepts under Chan Master Qianzhu of Xuanjing Temple. Traveling about, he met the master of Heze, who showed him that the spiritual knowing of no-thought does not arise from conditions, whereupon he was suddenly illumined and saw the truth. Later he reached Mount Dashi in Huangzhou, built a hermitage, and dwelt there. Chan companions from the four quarters relied on him in great numbers. He entered extinction in the second year of Xingyuan of the Tang. His years were eighty-two.

沂水蒙山光寶禪師幷州人也。姓周氏。初謁荷澤和尚服勤左右。荷澤一日謂之曰。汝名光寶。名以定體。寶即己有光非外求。縱汝意用而無少乏。長夜蒙照而無間歇。汝還信否。師曰。信則信矣。未審光之與寶同耶異耶。荷澤曰。光即寶寶即光。何有同異之名乎。師曰。眼耳緣聲色時為復抗行為有迴互。荷澤曰。抗互且置。汝指何法為聲色之體乎。師曰。如師所說。即無有聲色可得。荷澤曰。汝若了聲色體空。亦信眼耳諸根及與凡聖平等如幻。抗行迴互其理昭然。師由是領悟禮辭而去。初隱沂水蒙山。唐元和二年圓寂。壽年九十。

Chan Master Guangbao of Mount Meng in Yishui was a man of Bingzhou, surnamed Zhou. He first called on the Reverend Heze and served diligently at his side. One day Heze said to him: “Your name is Guangbao—Radiant Jewel. A name settles the substance. The jewel is already yours; the radiance is not sought outside. Even if you use it freely there is no lack; through the long night it shines on without pause. Do you believe it?” The Master said: “I believe, I believe; but I am not sure—are the radiance and the jewel the same or different?” Heze said: “The radiance is the jewel, the jewel is the radiance. How could there be a name of same or different?” The Master said: “When eye and ear contact sound and form, do they stand opposed, or do they interpenetrate?” Heze said: “Opposition and interpenetration—set them aside for now. What dharma do you point to as the substance of sound and form?” The Master said: “As the Master says, then no sound or form can be obtained.” Heze said: “If you understand that the substance of sound and form is empty, you will also believe that the faculties of eye and ear, and the ordinary and the sage, are all equal like illusions. Whether they oppose or interpenetrate, the principle is then clear.” At this the Master was awakened, bowed, and took leave. At first he lived in seclusion on Mount Meng in Yishui. He entered perfect rest in the second year of Yuanhe of the Tang, at the age of ninety.

曹谿別出第五世

Fifth Generation of the Separate Branch from Caoxi

前遂州道圓禪師法嗣

Dharma Heir of the former Chan Master Daoyuan of Suizhou

終南山圭峰宗密禪師果州西充人也。姓何氏。家本豪盛髫齓通儒書。冠歲探釋典。唐元和二年將赴貢舉。遇造圓和尚法席欣然契會遂求披削。當年進具。一日隨眾僧齋於府吏任灌家居下位。以次受經。得圓覺十二章。覽未終軸感悟流涕。歸以所悟之旨告於圓。圓撫之曰。汝當大弘圓頓之教。此諸佛授汝耳。行矣無自滯於一隅也。師涕泣奉命禮辭而去。因謁荊南張禪師(南印)張曰。傳教人也。當宣導於帝都。復見洛陽照禪師(奉國神照)照曰。菩薩人也誰能識之。尋抵襄漢。因病僧付華嚴疏。即上都澄觀大師之所撰也。師未嘗聽習一覽而講。自欣所遇曰。曏者諸師述作罕窮厥旨。未若此疏辭源流暢幽賾煥然。吾禪遇南宗教逢圓覺。一言之下心地開通。一軸之中義天朗耀。今復偶茲絕筆罄竭於懷。暨講終思見疏主。時屬門人太恭斷臂醻恩。師先齎書上疏主。遙敘師資往復慶慰。尋太恭痊損。方隨侍至上都執弟子之禮。觀曰。毘盧華藏能隨我遊者其汝乎。師預觀之室雖日新其德。而認筌執象之患永亡矣。北遊清涼山迴住鄠縣草堂寺。未幾復入寺南圭峰蘭若。大和中微入內賜紫衣。帝累問法要。朝士歸慕。惟相國裴公休深入堂奧。受教為外護。師以禪教學者互相非毀。遂著禪源諸詮。寫錄諸家所述。詮表禪門根源道理。文字句偈集為一藏(或雲。一百卷)以貽後代。其都序略曰。禪是天竺之語。具雲禪那。翻雲思惟修。亦云靜慮。皆是定慧之通稱也。源者。是一切眾生本覺真性。亦名佛性。亦名心地。悟之名慧。修之名定。定慧通名為禪。此性是禪之本源。故云禪源。亦名禪那。理行者。此之本源是禪理。忘情契之是禪行。故云理行。然今所集諸家述作。多譚禪理少說禪行。故且以禪源題之。今時有但目真性為禪者。是不達理行之旨。又不辨華竺之音也。然非離真性別有禪體。但眾生迷真合塵即名散亂。

Chan Master Zongmi of Guifeng on Mount Zhongnan was a man of Xichong in Guozhou, surnamed He. His family was originally wealthy and eminent; in childhood he mastered the Confucian books, and at the capping age he explored the Buddhist canon. In the second year of Yuanhe of the Tang, about to go up for the examinations, he encountered the Dharma seat of the Reverend Daoyuan (the base text writes “Zaoyuan,” that is, Daoyuan of Suizhou), was joyfully awakened in accord, and asked to be tonsured. That same year he received the full precepts. One day he followed the monks to a feast at the house of the prefectural clerk Ren Guan, sat in a lower seat, and in turn received a sutra: the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment in twelve chapters. Before he had finished the scroll, he was moved to tears of awakening. He returned and told Yuan the meaning of what he had realized. Yuan patted him and said: “You shall greatly propagate the perfect and sudden teaching. This is what the buddhas have bestowed on you. Go, and do not stagnate in one corner.” The Master wept as he received the charge, bowed, and left. He then called on Chan Master Zhang of Jingnan (Nanyin). Zhang said: “You are a man to transmit the teaching; you should proclaim it in the imperial capital.” He next saw Chan Master Zhao of Luoyang (Shenzhao of Fengguo). Zhao said: “A bodhisattva among men—who could recognize him?” Soon he reached the Xiang-Han region. On account of a sick monk he was entrusted with the Commentary on the Huayan Sutra, the work of Great Master Chengguan of the capital. The Master had never studied it, yet at a single reading he could expound it. Rejoicing at what he had found, he said: “The works of the earlier teachers rarely fathomed its purport; none matches this commentary's welling source of style, its hidden depths shining clear. In Chan I have met the Southern school; in doctrine, the Perfect Enlightenment. At one word the mind-ground opens; within one scroll the heaven of meaning is bright. Now by chance I have met this matchless brush, and it pours out all that is in my breast.” When the lecture ended he wished to see the commentator. At that time his disciple Taigong had cut off an arm to repay kindness. The Master first sent a letter to the commentator, recounting the teacher-pupil bond from afar, and letters of congratulation and comfort went back and forth. When Taigong's wound healed, the Master went with him in attendance to the capital and performed the rites of a disciple. Guan said: “For the Vairocana Flower-Treasury to travel with me—it must be you.” The Master entered Guan's room; though daily renewed in virtue, the sickness of mistaking trap and image for the thing itself was forever gone. He journeyed north to Mount Qingliang, and on returning lived at Caotang Temple in Hu County. Before long he again entered the Guifeng retreat south of the temple. In the Taihe era he was summoned into the palace and granted the purple robe. The emperor repeatedly asked about the essentials of the Dharma. The court officers turned to him in admiration; only the chancellor Pei Xiu entered deep into the hall's innermost and received his teaching as an outer protector. Because the scholars of Chan and of doctrine maligned one another, the Master wrote the Various Explanations of the Source of Chan, transcribing what each school had stated, explicating the Chan gate's root principles, words and verses, and gathered them into one canon (some say a hundred scrolls) to leave to later generations. Its General Preface briefly says: Chan is a word of India; in full it is dhyana, translated as cultivation of thought, and also as quiet contemplation; both are general names for concentration and wisdom. The Source is the originally enlightened true nature of all beings, also called Buddha-nature, also called mind-ground. Awakening to it is called wisdom; cultivating it is called concentration. Concentration and wisdom together are named Chan. This nature is Chan's own source, hence the Source of Chan; it is also named dhyana. As for principle and practice—this source is the principle of Chan; forgetting the passions and tallying with it is the practice of Chan; hence principle and practice. Now the various works collected here mostly discuss the principle of Chan and seldom speak of its practice, so for now I title it with the Source of Chan. At present there are those who merely regard the true nature as Chan; they do not grasp the purport of principle and practice, and they also cannot distinguish the sounds of Sanskrit and Chinese. Yet the substance of Chan is not apart from the true nature. But when beings, deluded in the true, merge with the dusts, it is called dispersion;

背塵合真名為禪定。若直論本性。即非真非妄無背無合無定無亂。誰言禪乎。況此真性非唯是禪門之源。亦是萬法之源。故名法性。亦是眾生迷悟之源。故名如來藏藏識(出楞伽經)亦是諸佛萬德之源。故名佛性(涅槃等經)亦是菩薩萬行之源。故名心地(梵網經心地法門品雲。是諸佛之本源。行菩薩道之根本。是大眾諸佛子之根本也)萬行不出六波羅蜜。禪門但是六中之一。當其第五。豈可都目真性為一禪行哉。然禪定一行最為神妙。能發起性上無漏智慧。一切妙用萬行萬德。乃至神通光明皆從定發故。三乘學人慾求聖道必須修禪。離此無門離此無路。至於念佛求生淨土。亦修十六觀禪及念佛三昧般舟三昧。又真性即不垢不淨凡聖無差。禪則有淺有深階級殊等。謂帶異計欣上厭下而修者。是外道禪。正信因果亦以欣厭而修者是凡夫禪。悟我空偏真之理而修者。是小乘禪。悟我法二空所顯真理而修者。是大乘禪(上四類皆有四色四空之異也)若頓悟自心。本來清淨元無煩惱。無漏智性本自具足。此心即佛畢竟無異。依此而修者。是最上乘禪。亦名如來清淨禪。亦名一行三昧。亦名真如三昧。此是一切三昧根本。若能念念修習。自然漸得百千三昧。達磨門下展轉相傳者。是此禪也。達磨未到。古來諸家所解。皆是前四禪八定。諸高僧修之皆得功用。南嶽天台令依三諦之理修三止三觀。教義雖最圓妙。然其趣入門戶次第。亦只是前之諸禪行相。唯達磨所傳者。頓同佛體逈異諸門。故宗習者難得其旨。得即成聖疾證菩提。失則成邪速入塗炭。先祖革昧防失故。且人傳一人。後代已有所憑故。任千燈千照。洎乎法久成弊。錯謬者多故。經論學人疑謗亦眾。原夫佛說頓教漸教。禪開頓門漸門。二教二門各相符契。今講者偏彰漸義。禪者偏播頓宗。禪講相逢胡越之隔。宗密不知宿生何作薰得此心。自未解脫欲解他縛。

When they turn their backs on the dusts and join with the true, it is called Chan concentration. If we directly discuss the original nature, it is neither true nor false, with no turning from and no joining, no concentration and no distraction—who then speaks of Chan? Moreover, this true nature is not only the source of the Chan gate; it is also the source of the myriad dharmas, hence it is called the Dharma-nature. It is also the source of beings' delusion and awakening, hence it is called the Tathagatagarbha store-consciousness (from the Lankavatara Sutra). It is also the source of the buddhas' myriad virtues, hence Buddha-nature (the Nirvana and other sutras). It is also the source of the bodhisattvas' myriad practices, hence the mind-ground (the Brahmajala Sutra's chapter on the Dharma gate of the mind-ground says: it is the source of all buddhas, the root of practicing the bodhisattva path, the root of all the multitudes of buddha-children). The myriad practices do not go beyond the six paramitas. The Chan gate is but one of the six, namely the fifth—how can the true nature be wholly equated with a single Chan practice? Yet the one practice of Chan concentration is the most sublime and wondrous, able to give rise to the undefiled wisdom upon the nature. All wondrous functions, myriad practices and myriad virtues, even spiritual powers and radiance, all issue from concentration. So students of the three vehicles who seek the noble path must cultivate Chan; apart from this there is no gate, no road. Even those who recite the Buddha's name seeking birth in the Pure Land also cultivate the sixteen contemplations, the Buddha-name samadhi, and the pratyutpanna samadhi. Again, the true nature is neither defiled nor pure, with no difference between ordinary and sage. Chan, however, has shallow and deep, with unequal grades. To cultivate while holding heterodox views, delighting in the above and loathing the below, is the Chan of outsiders. To hold right faith in cause and effect yet also cultivate with delight and loathing is the Chan of ordinary men. To cultivate on awakening to the partial truth of the emptiness of the self is the Chan of the small vehicle. To cultivate on awakening to the true principle revealed by the twin emptiness of self and dharmas is the Chan of the great vehicle. (The above four kinds all have the distinctions of the four form-spheres and four formless attainments.) If one at once awakens to one's own mind as originally pure, originally without afflictions, its undefiled wisdom-nature originally complete—this very mind is Buddha, ultimately without difference—and cultivates accordingly, that is the Chan of the supreme vehicle. It is also called the Tathagata's pure Chan, also the samadhi of single practice, also the samadhi of thusness. This is the root of all samadhis. If one can cultivate it in every thought, one naturally and gradually attains the hundred thousand samadhis. What has been handed down through the line of Bodhidharma's school is this Chan. Before Bodhidharma came, what the various schools of old explained were all the former four dhyanas and eight concentrations. The eminent monks who cultivated them all gained their benefit. Nanyue and Tiantai had people cultivate the three cessations and three contemplations according to the principle of the three truths; though that teaching was most perfect and wondrous, the sequence of its entry-gates was still only the marks of the foregoing Chan practices. Only what Bodhidharma transmitted is at once identical with the Buddha's substance, utterly different from all the gates. Hence those who take it up rarely grasp its purport. Gained, it makes a sage and quickly attains bodhi; missed, it makes a heresy and rushes into the mire. The early patriarchs, wary of error, transmitted it person to person. Later generations already had something to rely on, so they let a thousand lamps shine in a thousand ways. When the Dharma had long decayed into abuse and the erring were many, students of sutra and sastra doubted and slandered it likewise. In origin the Buddha preached the sudden and the gradual teachings, and Chan opened the sudden and the gradual gates; the two teachings and two gates each tally with one another. Now lecturers one-sidedly magnify the gradual doctrine, and Chan followers one-sidedly spread the sudden school. When Chan and lectures meet, the gulf is of Hu and Yue. Zongmi does not know what he did in a past life to imbue this heart. Himself not yet freed, he wishes to loose the bonds of others;

為法亡於軀命。愍人切於神情(亦如淨名雲。若自有縛能解他縛無有是處。然欲罷不能。驗是宿習難改故)每歎人與法差法為人病。故別撰經律論疏。大開戒定慧門。顯頓悟資於漸修。證師說符於佛意。意既本末而委示。文乃浩博而難尋。汎學雖多乘志者少。況跡涉名相誰辨金鍮。徒自疲勞未見機感。雖佛說悲增是行。而自慮愛見難防。遂捨眾入山習定均慧。前後息慮相繼十年(雲前後者。中間被勅追入內住城二年。方卻表請歸山也)微細習情起滅彰於靜慧。差別法義羅列現於空心。虛隙日光纖埃擾擾。清潭水底影像昭昭。豈比夫空守默之痴禪。但尋文之狂慧者也。然本因了自心而辨諸教故。懇情於心宗。又因辨諸教而解修心故。虔誠於教義。教也者諸佛菩薩所留經論也。禪也者諸善知識所述句偈也。但佛經開張羅大千八部之眾。禪偈撮略就此方一類之機。羅眾則莽蕩難依。就機則指的易用。今之纂集意在斯焉。裴休為之序曰。諸宗門下皆有達人。然各安所習通少局多。數十年中師法益壞。以承稟為戶牖各自開張。以經論為干戈互相攻擊。情隨函(音含)矢而遷變(周禮曰。函人為甲。孟子曰。矢人豈不仁於函人哉。函人唯恐傷人。矢人唯恐不傷人。蓋所習之術使然也。今學者但隨宗徒彼此相非耳)法逐人我以高低。是非紛拏莫能辨析。則曏者世尊菩薩諸方教宗。適足以起諍。後人增煩惱病。何利益之有哉。圭山大師久而歎曰。吾丁此時不可以默矣。於是以如來三種教義。印禪宗三種法門。融瓶盤釵釧為一金。攪酥酪醍醐為一味。振綱領而舉者皆順(荀子云。如振裘領屈五指。而頓之順者不可勝數)據會要而來者同趣(周易略例雲。處會要以觀方來。則六合輻輳未足多也。都序據圓教以印諸宗。雖百家亦無所不統)尚恐學者之難明也。又復直示宗源之本末。真妄之和合。空性之隱顯。法義之差殊。

For the Dharma he would perish in body and life; pitying people, he was earnest in feeling. (As Vimalakirti also says: if one is oneself bound, to be able to loose others' bonds is impossible. Yet unable to stop even if he wished—this proves how hard old habits are to change.) He always sighed that men fall short of the Dharma, and the Dharma becomes men's sickness. So he separately composed commentaries on sutras, vinaya, and sastras, opening wide the gates of morality, concentration, and wisdom, showing that sudden awakening is aided by gradual cultivation, attesting that the teacher's words match the Buddha's intent. Since the purport was shown both root and branch, the writing grew vast and hard to search. There were many who dabbled, few who rode their resolve. Moreover, his traces were tangled in names and forms—who distinguishes gold from brass? Men wearied themselves in vain, and he saw no response of capacity. Though the Buddha calls the increase of compassion the practice, he feared that attachments and views are hard to guard against. So he left the assembly and entered the mountains, cultivating concentration in balance with wisdom. In all he quieted his thoughts for ten years running. (I say “in all” because midway he was summoned by decree into the palace and lived in the city two years, and only then petitioned to return to the mountain.) Minute habitual feelings arose and ceased, revealed in still wisdom; the meanings of different dharmas arrayed and appeared in the empty mind. A sunbeam through a crack, and fine motes swirl; beneath a clear pool, and images shine bright. How could this compare with the foolish Chan that merely keeps blank silence, or the mad wisdom that only chases after words? Yet because he first understood his own mind and then discerned the teachings, he was devoted in heart to the mind-school; and because discerning the teachings loosed the cultivation of mind, he was reverent toward the doctrines. The teachings are the sutras and sastras left by buddhas and bodhisattvas; Chan is the phrases and verses stated by good knowing friends. But the Buddha's sutras spread wide, gathering the eightfold hosts of the great-thousand worlds; Chan verses gather the essence, suited to one kind of capacity in this land. Gathering the hosts is vast and hard to lean on; suiting the capacity points at the mark and is easy to use. The intent of the present compilation lies here. Pei Xiu wrote a preface for it saying: Under every school there are accomplished men. Yet each rests in what he has practiced; the comprehensive are few and the confined many. Within these decades the teachers' Dharma has worsened. Taking their lineages as doorways, each opens his own; taking sutra and sastra as weapons, they attack one another. Feelings shift with armorers and arrow-makers (the Zhouli says: “the armorer makes armor.” Mencius says: “Is the arrow-maker less humane than the armorer? The armorer fears only lest he wound a man; the arrow-maker fears only lest he fail to wound. It is the craft they practice that makes them so.” Today's scholars merely follow their school-followers in decrying one another). The Dharma rises and falls with self and other. Right and wrong tangle, and none can untangle them. Thus the teaching-schools of the World-Honored and the bodhisattvas in all quarters serve only to raise dispute, and later men add the sickness of afflictions—what profit is there in it? Great Master Guishan sighed long and said: “Born into such a time, I cannot keep silent.” Thereupon he sealed the Chan school's three Dharma gates with the Tathagata's three kinds of teaching, fused flask, plate, hairpin, and bracelet into one gold, and blended butter, curds, and ghee into one flavor. Lift the collar and all the hairs fall in line (Xunzi says: like shaking out a fur coat by the collar—bend the five fingers and shake it, and the obedient are past counting). Grasp the confluence and all who come share the course (the Zhouyi Lueli says: stand at the confluence to watch what comes, and even the six directions converging like spokes are nothing much. The General Preface takes the perfect teaching to seal all the schools; though there be a hundred houses, none is outside its rule). Still fearing that students would find it hard to see, he further showed directly the school's root and branch, the union of true and false, the hidden and manifest of the empty nature, the distinctions of Dharma meanings,

頓漸之異同。遮表之迴互。權實之深淺。通同之是非。若吾師者。捧佛日而委曲迴照疑噎盡除。順佛心而橫亙大悲窮劫蒙益。則世尊為闡教之主。吾師為會教之人。本末相符道近相照。可謂畢一代時教之能事矣(自世尊演教至今日會而通之。能事方畢)或曰。自如來未嘗大都而通之。今一旦違宗趣而不守。廢關防而不據。無乃乖秘藏密契之道乎。答曰。如來初雖別說三乘。後乃通為一道(三十年前或說小乘。或說空教。或說相教。或說性教。聞者各隨機證悟不相通知也。四十年後坐靈鷲而會三乘。詣拘屍而顯一性。前後之軌則也)故涅槃經。迦葉菩薩曰。諸佛有密語無密藏。世尊讚之曰。如來之言開發顯露清淨無翳。愚人不解謂之秘藏。智者達了則不名藏。此其證也。故王道興則外戶不閉。而守在戎夷。佛道備則諸法總持。而防在魔外(涅槃圓教和會諸法。唯簡別魔說及外道邪宗耳)不當復執情攘臂於其間也(師又著圓覺大小二疏鈔。法界觀門。原人等論。皆裴休為之序引。盛行於世)師會昌元年正月六日於興福塔院坐滅二十二日道俗等奉全身於圭峰。二月十二日荼毘得舍利明白潤大。後門人泣而求之。皆得於煨燼乃藏之石室。壽六十有二。臘三十四。遺誡令舁屍施鳥獸焚其骨而散之。勿得悲慕以亂禪觀。每清明上山必講道七日。其餘住持儀則當合律科。違者非吾弟子。持服四眾數千百人哀泣喧野。暨宣宗再闢真教。追諡定慧禪師。塔曰青蓮。蕭俛相公呈己見解請禪師注釋曰。荷澤雲。見清淨體於諸三昧八萬四千諸波羅蜜門。皆於見上一時起用。名為慧眼。右當真如相應之時(善惡不思。空有不念)萬化寂滅(萬法俱從思想緣念而生。皆是虛空。故云化也。既一念不生則萬法不起。故不待泯之自然寂滅也)此時更無所見(照體獨立夢智亡階)三昧諸波羅蜜門亦一時空寂。更無所得(散亂與三昧。

The sameness and difference of sudden and gradual, the mutual interplay of negation and affirmation, the shallow and deep of provisional and real, the right and wrong of the common and distinct. My teacher, holding up the Buddha's sun, bends it to shine back in all directions, and every doubt and blockage is dispelled; following the Buddha's heart, he stretches his great compassion across it, and through endless kalpas all receive its benefit. Thus the World-Honored is the lord who expounded the teachings, and my teacher is the man who gathered them. Root and branch tally, and the way shines near at hand—one may say the work of a whole age of teaching is complete. (From the World-Honored's preaching of the teaching until its gathering and uniting today, the work is now complete.) Someone says: since the Tathagata never greatly united and penetrated it, to depart in one day from the school's drift and not keep it, to abandon the barriers and not hold them—is this not to betray the way of the secret storehouse, the hidden accord? The answer: the Tathagata at first spoke the three vehicles separately, but afterward united them as one path. (For the first thirty years he sometimes preached the small vehicle, sometimes the emptiness teaching, sometimes the marks teaching, sometimes the nature teaching; hearers each awakened in accord with their capacity, not communicating with one another. After forty years he sat on Vulture Peak and united the three vehicles, and went to Kusinagara and revealed the one nature. Such is the pattern of before and after.) So in the Nirvana Sutra the bodhisattva Kasyapa says: the buddhas have secret words but no secret storehouse. The World-Honored praised him saying: the Tathagata's words open and reveal, pure and unclouded. Fools who do not understand call it a secret store; the wise who reach it do not call it a store. This is the proof. So when the kingly way flourishes, the outer doors are not shut and the watch is against the tribes without; when the Buddha's way is complete, all dharmas are held together and the defense is only against demons and outsiders. (The Nirvana's perfect teaching harmonizes all dharmas; it only excludes demonic preachings and the false schools of outsiders.) One must not again roll up one's sleeves in partisan passion among them. (The Master also wrote the greater and lesser commentaries and notes on the Perfect Enlightenment, the Gate of Contemplation on the Dharmadhatu, the Discourse on the Original Person, and other treatises, all with prefaces by Pei Xiu, and all widely current in the world.) On the sixth day of the first month of the first year of Huichang, the Master sat into extinction at the stupa cloister of Xingfu. On the twenty-second, monks and laity enshrined his whole body on Guifeng. On the twelfth day of the second month he was cremated, and the relics obtained were bright, lustrous, and large. Later his disciples sought them weeping, and all found them among the ashes and embers, and kept them in a stone chamber. His years were sixty-two, his precept-age thirty-four. His last injunction ordered that his corpse be carried out and given to the birds and beasts, his bones burned and scattered, and that none should grieve and long for him so as to disturb their Chan contemplation. Every Qingming, those who went up the mountain had to preach the Way for seven days. His other monastic rules were to accord with the Vinaya; whoever violated them was not his disciple. The fourfold assembly in mourning numbered in the thousands, weeping across the fields. When Emperor Xuanzong restored the true teaching, he was posthumously titled Chan Master Dinghui, and his stupa was called Qinglian. Lord Xiao Mian submitted his own view and asked the Chan Master to annotate it, saying: Heze says: seeing the pure substance, in all the samadhis and the eighty-four thousand paramita-gates, all functions arise at once upon that seeing—this is called the wisdom-eye. The above, when one tallies with true thusness (thinking neither good nor evil, being mindful neither of emptiness nor existence), all transformations are stilled (all dharmas are born of thought and conditioning, and all are empty space, hence “transformations.” When not a single thought arises, the myriad dharmas do not arise; so one need not obliterate them—they are still of themselves). At that time there is nothing more to be seen (the illumining substance stands alone; dream-wisdom has no steps). The samadhis and paramita-gates are likewise all at once empty and still, with nothing further to be attained. (Dispersion and samadhi,

此岸與彼岸。是相待對治之說。若知心無念見性無生。則定亂真妄一時空寂。故無所得也)不審此是見上一時起用否(然見性圓明理絕相累。即絕相為妙用。住相為執情。於八萬法門一一皆爾。一法有為一塵。一法空為一用。故云。見清淨體則一時起用矣)望於此後示及俛狀答史山人十問(問答各是一本。今參而寫之)一問。云何是道。何以修之。為復必須修成。為復不假功用。答無礙是道。覺妄是修。道雖本圓妄起為累。妄念都盡即是修成。二問。道若因修而成即是造作。便同世間法虛偽不實。成而復壞何名出世。答造作是結業名虛偽世間。無作是修行即真實出世。三問。其所修者為頓為漸。漸則忘前失後。何以集合而成。頓則萬行多方。豈得一時圓滿。答真理即悟而頓圓。妄情息之而漸盡。頓圓如初生孩子。一日而肢體已全。漸修如長養成人。多年而志氣方立。四問。凡修心地之法。為當悟心即了。為當別有行門。若別有行門何名南宗頓旨。若悟即同諸佛何不發神通光明。答識氷池而全水。籍陽氣而鎔消。悟凡夫而即真。資法力而修習。氷消則水流潤。方呈溉滌之功。妄盡則心靈通。始發通光之應。修心之外無別行門。五問。若但修心而得佛者。何故諸經復說。必須莊嚴佛土教化眾生方名成道。答鏡明而影像千差。心淨而神通萬應。影像類莊嚴佛國。神通則教化眾生。莊嚴而即非莊嚴。影像而亦色非色。六問。諸經皆說度脫眾生。眾生且即非眾生。何故更勞度脫。答眾生若是實度之則為勞。既自雲。即非眾生。何不例度而無度。七問。諸經說佛常住。或即說佛滅度。常即不滅。滅即非常。豈不相違。答離一切相即名諸佛。何有出世入滅之實乎。見出沒者在乎機緣。機緣應則菩提樹下而出現。機緣盡則娑羅林間而涅槃。其猶淨水無心無像。不現像非我有。蓋外質之去來相非佛身。豈如來之出沒。八問。

This shore and that shore are said in relation to each other as antidotes. If one knows that the mind has no thought and sees that the nature has no birth, then concentration and confusion, true and false, are all empty and still at once, and so there is nothing to be attained.) I do not know whether this is seeing, and whether function arises all at once? (Yet when seeing the nature is perfectly bright, in principle it is free from entanglement with characteristics. To be free of characteristics is wondrous function, and to dwell in characteristics is clinging feeling. This is so for each of the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates. One dharma as conditioned is a single dust mote, one dharma as empty is a single function. So it is said: Seeing the pure substance, function arises all at once.) I hope you will instruct me further on this. Answers of Fu to the Ten Questions of the Mountain Man Shi (the questions and answers each are in a separate version, and are now written here by combining them). First question: What is the Way? How is it cultivated? Must it be cultivated to be accomplished, or does it not depend on effort? Answer: Unobstructed is the Way; awakening to delusion is cultivation. Although the Way is originally perfect, the arising of delusion causes entanglement. When all deluded thoughts are exhausted, that is the completion of cultivation. Second question: If the Way is accomplished through cultivation, then it is fabricated and is the same as worldly dharmas, false and unreal, accomplished and then destroyed; how can this be called leaving the world? Answer: Fabrication is the binding of karma and is called false worldliness. Non-fabrication is practice, which is real leaving of the world. Third question: Is what is cultivated sudden or gradual? If gradual, one forgets the earlier and loses the later, so how can it be gathered into completion? If sudden, then the myriad practices have many paths; how can they be perfected at once? Answer: The true principle is awakened and perfected suddenly, while deluded feelings are quieted and exhausted gradually. Sudden perfection is like a newborn child, who in one day already has all the limbs. Gradual cultivation is like growing to adulthood, where after many years the will and spirit are established. Fourth question: In the Dharma for cultivating the mind ground, should one be done on awakening to the mind, or is there a separate gate of practice? If there is a separate gate of practice, how can it be called the sudden teaching of the Southern school? If awakening is the same as the Buddhas, why does it not emit supernormal powers and light? Answer: One recognizes that the ice in the pond is entirely water, but relies on the warmth of the sun to melt it. One awakens that the ordinary person is the real, but relies on the power of the Dharma to practice. When the ice melts, the water flows and moistens, and only then shows the merit of irrigating and washing. When delusion is exhausted, the mind becomes spiritually penetrating, and only then does the response of penetrating light begin. Apart from cultivating the mind there is no separate gate of practice. Fifth question: If one attains Buddhahood simply by cultivating the mind, why do the sutras also say that one must adorn Buddha lands and teach sentient beings before it can be called accomplishing the Way? Answer: When a mirror is bright, reflections differ by the thousand; when the mind is pure, the spiritual powers respond in ten thousand ways. Reflections are like adorning Buddha lands, and spiritual powers are teaching sentient beings. Adorning is not adorning, and the reflection is form that is not form. Sixth question: All the sutras speak of liberating sentient beings. Yet sentient beings are not sentient beings, so why take further trouble to liberate them? Answer: If sentient beings were real, liberating them would be toil. Since you yourself say they are not sentient beings, why not liberate them as a matter of course, with nothing liberated? Seventh question: The sutras say that the Buddha is constantly abiding, and also that the Buddha enters extinction. If constant, he does not perish; if he perishes, he is not constant; are these not contradictory? Answer: One who is free of all characteristics is called a Buddha; where is there a reality of appearing in the world and entering extinction? Those who see appearing and vanishing do so according to conditions. When conditions respond, he appears beneath the Bodhi tree; when conditions are exhausted, he enters nirvana in the sala grove. It is like clear water that has no intention and shows every image. The images are not mine, but only the coming and going of outer substance. The characteristics are not the Buddha's body; how could they be the appearing and vanishing of the Tathagata? Eighth question:

云何佛化所生吾如彼生。佛既無生生是何義。若言心生法生心滅法滅。何以得無生法忍耶。答既雲。如化化即是空。空即無生。何詰生義。生滅滅已寂滅為真。忍可此法無生。名曰無生法忍。九問。諸佛成道說法秖為度脫眾生。眾生既有六道。佛何但住在人中現化。又佛滅後付法於迦葉以心傳心。乃至此方七祖每代秖傳一人。既雲於一切眾生皆得一子之地。何以傳授不普。答日月麗天六合俱照。而盲者不見。盆下不知。非日月不普。是障隔之咎也。度與不度義類如斯。非局人天揀於鬼畜。但人道能結集傳授不絕故。秖知佛現人中也。滅度後委付迦葉。展轉相承一人者。此亦蓋論當代為宗教主。如土無二王。非得度者唯爾數也。十問。和尚因何發心。慕何法而出家。今如何修行得何法味。所行得至何處地位。令住心耶修心耶。若住心妨修心。若修心則動念不安。云何名為學道。若安心一定。則何異定性之徒。伏願大德。運大慈悲如理如如次第為說。答覺四大如壞幻。達六塵如空華。悟自心為佛心。見本性為法性。是發心也。知心無住即是修行。無住而知即為法味。住著於法斯為動念。故如人入闇則無所見。今無所住。不染不著。故如人有目及日光明見種種法。豈為定性之徒。既無所住著何論處所。又山南溫造尚書問。悟理息妄之人不結業。一期壽終之後靈性何依者。答一切眾生無不具有覺性。靈明空寂與佛無殊。但以無始劫來未曾了悟。妄執身為我相。故生愛惡等情。隨情造業。隨業報。生老病死長劫輪迴。然身中覺性未曾生死。如夢被驅役而身本安閑。如水作氷而濕性不易。若能悟此性即是法身。本自無生何有依託。靈靈不昧了了常知。無所從來亦無所去。然多生妄執習以性成喜怒哀樂微細流注。真理雖然頓達。此情難以卒除。須長覺察損之又損。如風頓止波浪漸停。豈可一生所修便同諸佛力用。

“How is it that the Buddha's arising by transformation, and I arise like that? Since the Buddha has no birth, what is the meaning of birth? If you say that when the mind arises, dharmas arise, and when the mind ceases, dharmas cease, how can one attain the forbearance of non-arising of dharmas?” Answer: Since it is said to be like transformation, transformation is emptiness. Emptiness is non-arising, so why question the meaning of birth? When arising and ceasing have ceased, quiescent extinction is true. To accept that this dharma has no arising is called the forbearance of non-arising of dharmas. Ninth question: The Buddhas, attaining the Way and teaching the Dharma, do so only to liberate sentient beings. Since sentient beings have six destinies, why does the Buddha dwell and manifest only among humans? And after the Buddha's extinction he entrusted the Dharma to Kasyapa, transmitting mind to mind, down to the seven patriarchs in this land, each generation passing it to one person only. If it is said that to all sentient beings one has the ground of an only child, why is the transmission not universal? Answer: The sun and moon hang in the sky and illuminate the six directions, yet the blind do not see them and those beneath a basin do not know them. It is not that the sun and moon are not universal, but the fault of obstruction. Liberating and not liberating are like this in principle. It is not that he limits himself to humans and gods and rejects ghosts and animals, but only the human path can gather and transmit without interruption, and so people only know that the Buddha appears among humans. After his extinction he entrusted it to Kasyapa, passing it on and receiving it by one person at a time; this too is only speaking of who serves as head of the teaching for his generation, as a land does not have two kings, and does not mean that those who attained liberation were only that few. Tenth question: What made the Venerable set his mind on the Way, and which Dharma did he admire in leaving home? How does he practice now, what taste of the Dharma has he obtained, and what stage has his practice reached? Does he make the mind abide, or cultivate the mind? If abiding hinders cultivating, and if cultivating makes thoughts stir and is not at peace, how can it be called studying the Way? If the mind is settled in peace, how does it differ from those of fixed nature? I hope the Great Virtue will use great compassion and explain in order, according to principle and suchness. Answer: To realize that the four great elements are like a destroyed illusion, to understand that the six dusts are like sky flowers, to awaken that one's own mind is the Buddha mind, and to see that the original nature is the Dharma nature: this is setting the mind on the Way. To know that the mind has no abiding is practice. To know without abiding is the taste of the Dharma. To abide and cling to the Dharma is to stir thoughts. So it is like a person entering darkness who sees nothing. Now, having no abiding, not stained and not attached, it is like a person with eyes and in sunlight who sees all kinds of things. How could this be those of fixed nature? Since there is no abiding or clinging, why discuss a place? Also, Minister Wen Zao of Shannan asked: For one who has awakened to the principle and quieted delusion, who does not create karma, after the end of his lifespan, on what does the spiritual nature rely? Answer: All sentient beings possess the nature of awareness, which is spiritually bright, empty and still, no different from the Buddha. It is only because from beginningless eons they have never awakened, and delusively hold the body as the characteristic of self, that feelings such as love and hate arise; following feelings they create karma, following karma they receive retribution, undergoing birth, aging, sickness and death, and revolve in samsara for long eons. Yet the nature of awareness in the body has never been born or died. It is like being driven about in a dream while the body is at rest, or like water making ice while the nature of wetness does not change. If one can awaken that this nature is the Dharma body, which is originally without birth, how could there be any reliance? Spiritually bright and unobscured, clearly and constantly knowing, it comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. However, delusive attachments from many lives have become habit and then nature, and joy, anger, sorrow and delight flow subtly. Although the true principle may be suddenly attained, such feelings are hard to remove all at once. One must constantly observe and reduce them again and again, as when the wind suddenly stops, the waves subside gradually. How could the cultivation of one lifetime suddenly equal the power and function of the Buddhas?

但可以空寂為自體。勿認色身。以靈知為自心。勿認妄念。妄念若起都不隨之。即臨命終時自然業不能繫。雖有中陰所向自由。天上人間隨意寄託。若愛惡之念已泯。即不受分段之身。自能易短為長易麁為妙。若微細流注一切寂滅。唯圓覺大智朗然獨存。即隨機應現千百億身度有緣眾生。名之為佛。謹對釋曰。馬鳴菩薩撮略百本大乘經宗旨。以造大乘起信論。論中立宗。說一切眾生心有覺義不覺義。覺中復有本覺義始覺義。上所述者。雖但約照理觀心處言之。而法義亦同彼論。謂從初至與佛無殊。是本覺也。從但以無始下。是不覺也。從若能悟此下。是始覺也。始覺中復有頓悟漸修。從此次至亦無所去。是頓悟也。從然多生妄執下。是漸修也。漸修中從初發心乃至成佛有三位自在。從此至隨意寄託者。是受生自在也。從若愛惡之念下。是變易自在。從若微細流注下至末。是究竟自在也。又從但可以空寂為自體至自然業不能繫。正是悟理之人朝暮行心。修習止觀之要節也。宗密先有八句之偈顯雲此意。曾於尚書處誦之。奉命解釋。今謹注釋。如後偈曰。

(Zongmi continued:) One can only take emptiness and stillness as one's own substance and not mistake the form body for it. Take spiritual knowing as one's own mind and not mistake deluded thoughts for it. If deluded thoughts arise, do not follow any of them. Then at the time of death, karma naturally cannot bind. Although there is an intermediate existence, one goes where one pleases and entrusts oneself at will to heaven or the human world. If thoughts of love and hate have been extinguished, one does not receive a segmented body, and can change short to long and coarse to wondrous. If subtle flowing is all extinguished and only the great wisdom of perfect awakening shines alone, one then manifests hundreds of billions of bodies according to occasion and liberates sentient beings with whom one has affinity, and this is called a Buddha. Respectfully explained in reply: The Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha summarized the essential teachings of a hundred Mahayana sutras to compose the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. In establishing the doctrine in that treatise, it says that the mind of all sentient beings has the meaning of awakening and the meaning of non-awakening. Within awakening there is again the meaning of original awakening and the meaning of initial awakening. What was said above, although spoken of only in terms of contemplating the mind in reflection on principle, corresponds in meaning to that treatise. From the beginning to “no different from the Buddha” is original awakening. From “It is only because from beginningless” onward is non-awakening. From “If one can awaken that this” onward is initial awakening. Within initial awakening there is again sudden awakening and gradual cultivation. From there to “goes nowhere” is sudden awakening. From “However, delusive attachments from many lives” onward is gradual cultivation. Within gradual cultivation, from the first arousal of the mind until Buddhahood, there are three kinds of mastery. From here to “entrusts oneself at will” is mastery in taking birth. From “If thoughts of love and hate” onward is mastery in transformation. From “If subtle flowing” to the end is ultimate mastery. Also from “One can only take emptiness and stillness as one's own substance” to “karma naturally cannot bind” is precisely the essential point of the daily practice of one who has awakened to the principle, in cultivating cessation and contemplation. Zongmi earlier composed an eight-line verse to express this meaning, which was once recited at the Minister's place, and by order is now explained. I now respectfully annotate it. As in the verse that follows: