Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle Twelve

前華亭船子德誠禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Decheng of Chuanzi in Huating

澧州夾山善會禪師廣州峴亭人也。姓廖氏。九歲於潭州龍牙山出家。依年受戒。往江陵聽習經論該練三學。遂參禪會勵力參承。初住京口。一夕道吾策杖而至。遇師上堂。僧問。如何是法身。師曰。法身無相。曰如何是法眼。師曰。法眼無瑕。師又曰。目前無法意在目前。不是目前法非耳目所到。道吾乃笑。師乃生疑問吾。何笑。吾曰。和尚一等出世未有師。可往淛中華亭縣參船子和尚去。師曰。訪得獲否。道吾曰。彼師上無片瓦遮頭。下無卓錐之地。師遂易服直詣華亭。會船子鼓櫂而至。師資道契微眹不留(語見船子章)師比遁世忘機。尋以學者交湊廬室星布曉夕參依。唐咸通十一年庚寅海眾卜於夾山遽成院宇。師上堂示眾曰。夫有祖以來時人錯會。相承至今以佛祖句為人師範。如此卻成狂人無智人去。他只指示汝。無法本是道。道無一法。無佛可成。無道可得。無法可捨。故云目前無法意在目前。他不是目前法。若向佛祖邊學。此人未有眼目。皆屬所依之法不得自在。本只為生死茫茫識性無自由分。千里萬裡求善知識。須有正眼永脫虛謬之見。定取目前生死。為復實有。為復實無。若有人定得許汝出頭。上根之人言下明道。中下根器波波浪走。何不向生死中定。當取何處更疑佛疑祖替汝生死。有智人笑汝偈曰。

Chan Master Shanhui of Jiashan in Lizhou was a man of Xianting in Guangzhou, surnamed Liao. At nine he left home on Mount Longya in Tanzhou. He received the precepts in due order. He went to Jiangling to hear and study the sutras and treatises, and became thoroughly versed in the three studies. Then he joined a Chan assembly and attended diligently. At first he dwelt at Jingkou. One evening Daowu came leaning on his staff and happened upon the master going up to the hall. A monk asked: "What is the Dharma body?" The master said: "The Dharma body has no marks." He asked: "What is the Dharma eye?" The master said: "The Dharma eye has no flaw." The master also said: "Before your eyes there is no dharma; the mind is before your eyes. It is not the dharma before your eyes, and it is not reached by ears or eyes." Daowu then laughed. The master was seized by doubt and asked Wu why he laughed. Wu said: "You are a reverend of the first rank in appearing in the world, yet you have no teacher. You should go to Huating County in Zhe and call on the Boat Monk." The master said: "If I seek him out, will I find him?" Daowu said: "That teacher has not a tile to cover his head above, nor ground to set an awl below." The master then changed into lay clothes and went straight to Huating. He met Chuanzi just as he poled in; the master's endowment tallied with the Way, and not even a faint trace remained. (The words are in the Chuanzi chapter.) The master thereupon hid from the world and forgot contrivance. Soon, as students gathered from all sides and huts spread out like stars, they attended him morning and evening. In the eleventh year of Xiantong of the Tang, the gengyin year, the great assembly chose Jiashan, and a monastery quickly took shape. The master went up to the hall and told the assembly: "Ever since there have been patriarchs, people of the time have misunderstood. Handed down to this day, they take the sayings of Buddhas and patriarchs as their model. In this way they become madmen, people without wisdom. The patriarchs only point out to you: having no dharma is itself the Way. The Way has not a single dharma. There is no Buddha to become, no Way to attain, no dharma to cast off. Therefore it is said: before the eyes there is no dharma; the mind is before the eyes. It is not the dharma before the eyes. If you learn at the side of Buddhas and patriarchs, such a person still has no eyes; it all belongs to dharmas one depends on, and you cannot be free. It is only because birth and death are vast and hazy, and the knowing nature has no share of freedom, that you travel a thousand or ten thousand li seeking a good friend. You must have the true eye and forever cast off empty and false views. Settle the birth and death right before your eyes: is it truly existent, or truly nonexistent? If anyone can settle it, I grant that you have emerged. A person of superior faculties understands the Way right at the words. Those of middling and lesser capacity are swept along by wave after wave. Why not settle it right amid birth and death? Where else would you doubt Buddha and doubt the patriarchs to manage birth and death for you? A wise person laughs at you." A verse:

勞持生死法唯向佛邊求

Toiling to uphold the dharma of birth and death, seeking only at the Buddha's side,

目前迷正理撥火覓浮漚

before your eyes you miss the true principle, poking the fire to hunt for bubbles.

僧問。從上立祖意教意。和尚此間為什麼言無。師曰。三年不食飯目前無饑人。曰既無饑人。某甲為什麼不悟。師曰。只為悟迷卻闍梨。師說頌曰。

A monk asked: "From the beginning they established the patriarchs' meaning and the teachings' meaning. Why does the Reverend here say there is none?" The master said: "After three years without rice, there is no hungry man before your eyes." He said: "If there is no hungry man, why do I not awaken?" The master said: "It is just that awakening deludes you, Ajari." The master spoke a verse:

明明無悟法悟法卻迷人

Clearly there is no dharma of awakening, yet the dharma of awakening deludes people,

長舒兩腳睡無偽亦無真

stretch out your two legs and sleep; there is no false and no true.

僧問。如何是道。師曰。太陽溢目萬裡不掛片雲。曰如何得會。師曰。清淨之水遊魚自迷。問如何是本。師曰。飲水不迷源。問古人布髮掩泥當為何事。師曰。九烏射盡一翳猶存。一箭墮地天下不黑。問祖意與教意同別。師曰。風吹荷葉滿池青。十里行人較一程。師有小師隨侍日久。師住後遣令行腳。遊歷禪肆無所用心。聞師聚眾道播他室。迴歸省覲而問曰。和尚有如是奇特事。何不早向某甲說。師曰。汝蒸飯吾著火。汝行益吾展缽。什麼處是孤負汝處。小師從此悟入。師一日吃茶了。自烹一椀過與侍者。侍者擬接。師乃縮手曰。是什麼。侍者無對。有一大德來問師。若是教意某甲即不疑。只如禪門中事如何。師曰。老僧也只解變生為熟。問如何是實際之理。師曰。石上無根樹山含不動雲。問如何是出窟師子。師曰。虛空無影象足下野雲生。西川首座遊方至白馬。舉華嚴教語問曰。一塵含法界無邊時如何。白馬曰。如鳥二翼。如車二輪。首座曰。將謂禪門別有奇特事。元來不出教乘。乃迴本地。尋嚮夾山盛化。遣小師持前語而問師。師曰雕沙無鏤玉之譚。結草乖道人之思。小師迴舉似首座。首座乃讚。將謂禪門與教意不殊。元來有奇特之事。問如何是夾山境。師曰。猿抱子歸青嶂裡。鳥銜華落碧巖前。師再闢玄樞逮於一紀。唐中和元年辛丑十一月七日召主事曰。吾與眾僧話道累歲。佛法深旨各應自知。吾今幻質時盡即去。汝等善保護如吾在日。勿得雷同世人輒生惆悵。言訖至於夜奄然而逝。其月二十九日塔於本山。壽七十七臘五十七勅諡傳明大師。塔曰永濟。

A monk asked: "What is the Way?" The master said: "The sun brims the eyes; for ten thousand li not a scrap of cloud hangs." He said: "How can I understand it?" The master said: "In clear, pure water, the swimming fish delude themselves." He asked: "What is the root?" The master said: "Drink water without losing the source." He asked: "For what matter did the ancients spread their hair over the mud?" The master said: "Nine crows shot down, one film still remains. When one arrow falls to the ground, the world is not dark." He asked: "Are the patriarch's meaning and the teachings' meaning the same or different?" The master said: "The wind blows the lotus leaves, the whole pond turns green; for ten li the traveler counts it as one stage." The master had a young monk who had attended him for a long time. After the master took up residence he sent him off to wander. He wandered through the Chan houses without putting his mind to anything. Hearing that the master had gathered an assembly and that his Way was spreading to other quarters, he returned to pay respects and asked: "The Reverend has such an extraordinary matter; why did you not tell me earlier?" The master said: "You steamed the rice, I lit the fire; you walked, I spread out your bowl. Where have I ever failed you?" The young monk thereby awakened. One day, after drinking tea, the master brewed a bowl himself and passed it to the attendant. The attendant was about to take it. The master drew back his hand and said: "What is it?" The attendant had no reply. A great elder came and asked the master: "As to the meaning of the teachings, I have no doubt. But what of the matter within the Chan gate?" The master said: "This old monk only knows how to turn the raw into the cooked." He asked: "What is the principle of reality?" The master said: "A rootless tree on the rock; the mountain holds a motionless cloud." He asked: "What is the lion leaving its den?" The master said: "Empty space has no image; wild clouds arise beneath your feet." A head monk of Xichuan wandered to Baima and asked, citing a saying of the Huayan teaching: "When a single mote of dust contains the boundless dharma realm, what then?" Baima said: "Like a bird's two wings, like a cart's two wheels." The head monk said: "I thought the Chan gate had something special; it turns out not to go beyond the vehicle of the teachings." He then returned to his home district. When the master's flourishing teaching reached Jiashan, the head monk sent a young monk carrying the earlier words to ask the master. The master said: "Carved sand holds no talk of cut jade; knotted grass belies the thoughts of a man of the Way." The young monk returned and related this to the head monk. The head monk then praised it: "I thought the Chan gate was no different from the teachings' meaning; it turns out there is something special." He asked: "What is the realm of Jiashan?" The master said: "Apes carrying their young return into the green peaks; birds with flowers in their beaks drop them before the blue cliff." The master again opened the mysterious pivot for a cycle of years. On the seventh day of the eleventh month of the first year of Zhonghe of the Tang, the xinchou year, he summoned the steward and said: "I have spoken of the Way with the assembly of monks for many years. The deep purport of the Buddha-dharma each of you should know for yourselves. Now my illusory body's time is ended and I am going. Take good care of yourselves, as if I were still present. Do not be like worldly people and fall into grief." When he finished speaking, that very night he suddenly passed away. On the twenty-ninth day of that month a stupa was built for him on the mountain itself. His age was seventy-seven, his monastic age fifty-seven. By imperial decree he was given the posthumous title Great Master Chuanming, and his stupa was named Yongji.

行思禪師第五世

The fifth generation of Chan Master Xingsi's line

前舒州投子山大同禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Datong of Mount Touzi in Shuzhou

投子感溫禪師(第二世住)僧問。師登寶座接示何人。師曰。如月覆千谿。僧曰。恁麼即滿地不虧也。師曰。莫恁麼道。僧問。父不投為什麼卻投子。師曰。豈是別人屋裡事。僧曰。父與子還屬功也無。師曰。不屬。曰不屬功底如何。師曰。父子各自脫。曰為什麼如此。師曰。汝與我會。師遊山見蟬蛻殼。侍者問曰。殼在遮裡蟬子向什麼處去也。師拈殼就耳畔。搖三五下作蟬響聲。其僧於是開悟。

Chan Master Ganwen of Touzi (second-generation abbot). A monk asked: "The master has ascended the precious seat; whom do you receive and instruct?" The master said: "Like the moon covering a thousand streams." The monk said: "Then the whole earth is not diminished." The master said: "Do not say such a thing." A monk asked: "Since the father did not throw himself in, why throw in the son?" The master said: "Is that a matter in someone else's house?" The monk said: "Do father and son still belong to merit?" The master said: "They do not." He said: "What about when they do not belong to merit?" The master said: "Father and son each get free." He said: "Why is it so?" The master said: "You will understand it yourself." The master was roaming in the mountains and saw a cicada's shed shell. An attendant asked: "The shell is here; where has the cicada gone?" The master picked up the shell, held it to his ear, shook it three or five times, and made a cicada's sound. At this the monk awakened.

福州牛頭微禪師。師上堂示眾曰。三世諸佛用一點伎倆不得。天下老師口似匾擔。諸人作麼生大不容易。除非知有莫能知之。僧問。如何是和尚家風。師曰。山畬粟米飯野菜澹黃韲。僧曰。忽遇上客來又作麼生。師曰。吃即從君吃不吃任東西。問不問驪龍頷下珠。如何識得家中寶。師曰。忙中爭得作閑人。

Chan Master Wei of Niutou in Fuzhou. The master went up to the hall and told the assembly: "The Buddhas of the three ages cannot use even a little skill. The old teachers of the world have mouths like carrying poles. What will all of you do? It is most difficult. Unless you know there is something, you cannot know it." A monk asked: "What is the Reverend's house style?" The master said: "Rice of hillside millet, a plain yellow pickle of wild greens." The monk said: "If an honored guest suddenly arrives, what then?" The master said: "If he eats, let him eat as he pleases; if he does not eat, let him go east or west." He asked: "Not asking about the pearl beneath the black dragon's chin — how may I recognize the treasure in my own house?" The master said: "Amid busyness, how can you become an idle man?"

西川青城香山澄照大師。僧問。諸佛有難向火焰裡藏身。未審衲僧有難向什麼處藏身。師曰。水精甕裡著波斯。問如何是初生月。師曰。太半人不見。

Great Master Chengzhao of Xiangshan in Qingcheng, Xichuan. A monk asked: "When the Buddhas are in difficulty, they hide in the flames. When a patched-robe monk is in difficulty, where should he hide?" The master said: "Put a Persian into a crystal jar." He asked: "What is the newborn moon?" The master said: "More than half the people do not see it."

陝府天福和尚。僧問。如何是佛法大意。師曰。黃河無滴水華嶽總平治。

Monk Tianfu of Shan Prefecture. A monk asked: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha-dharma?" The master said: "The Yellow River has not a drop of water; the Flowery Peak is all leveled flat."

濠州思明和尚在投子眾時。有僧問。如何是上座沙彌童行。師曰諾。僧問。如何是清淨法身。師曰。屎裡蛆兒頭出頭沒。

Monk Siming of Haozhou, when he was in Touzi's assembly. A monk asked: "What is a senior seat, a novice, a young postulant?" The master said: "Yes." The monk asked: "What is the pure Dharma body?" The master said: "Maggots in the dung, bobbing out and in."

鳳翔府招福和尚。僧問。東牙烏牙皆出隊。和尚為什麼不出隊。師曰。住持各不同。闍梨爭得怪。

Monk Zhaofu of Fengxiang Prefecture. A monk asked: "Dongya and Wuya have both come out of the ranks. Why has the Reverend not come out?" The master said: "Each abbacy is different. How can you find fault, Ajari?"

興元府中梁山遵古禪師。問空劫無人能問法。即今有問法何安。師曰。大悲菩薩甕裡坐。問如何是祖師西來意。師曰。道士擔漏巵。

Chan Master Zungu of Mount Zhongliang in Xingyuan Prefecture. He asked: "In the empty eon there was no one who could ask about the dharma. Now that there is one who asks about the dharma, how is it settled?" The master said: "The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion sits inside a jar." He asked: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the west?" The master said: "A Daoist priest carrying a leaky goblet."

襄州谷隱和尚。僧問。如何是不觸白雲機。師曰。鶴帶鵶顏浮生不棄。

Monk Guyin of Xiangzhou. A monk asked: "What is the device that does not touch the white clouds?" The master said: "A crane wearing a crow's face; floating life does not abandon it."

安州九𡽀山和尚。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。即汝是。問遠聞九𡽀及至到來只見一𡽀。師曰。闍梨只見一𡽀不見九𡽀。曰如何是九𡽀。師曰。水急浪華麁。

The Monk of Mount Jiuzong in Anzhou. A monk asked: "What is the Buddha?" The master said: "It is you." He asked: "I had long heard of Jiuzong, the Nine Peaks, but having arrived I see only one peak." The master said: "You, Ajari, see only one peak; you do not see the nine peaks." He said: "What are the nine peaks?" The master said: "The water is swift and the spray is rough."

盤山和尚(幽州第二世住)僧問。如何出得三界。師曰。在裡頭來多少時耶。曰如何出得。師曰。青山不礙白雲飛。問承教有言。如化人煩惱如石女兒。此理如何。師曰。闍梨直如石女兒去。

Monk Panshan (second-generation abbot at Youzhou). A monk asked: "How can one get out of the three realms?" The master said: "How long have you been inside them?" He said: "How can one get out?" The master said: "The green mountains do not hinder the white clouds in flight." He asked: "The teachings say: vexations are like phantom persons, like the child of a stone woman. What is this principle?" The master said: "You, Ajari, may go straight off as a stone woman's child."

安州九𡽀敬慧禪師(第二世住)僧問。解脫深坑如何過得。師曰。不求過。僧曰。如何過得。師曰。求過亦非。

Chan Master Jinghui of Jiuzong in Anzhou (second-generation abbot). A monk asked: "How does one cross the deep pit of liberation?" The master said: "Do not seek to cross." The monk said: "How does one get across?" The master said: "Seeking to cross is also wrong."

東京觀音院巖俊禪師邢臺人也。姓廉氏。初參祖席遍歷衡廬岷蜀。嘗經鳳林深谷。歘覩珍寶發現。同侶相顧意將取之。師曰。古人鋤園觸黃金若瓦礫。待吾菅茆覆頂。須此供四方僧。言訖捨去。造謁投子。投子問曰。子昨宿何處。師曰。在不動道場。曰既言不動曷由至此。師曰。至此豈是動耶。曰元來宿不著處然。投子默認許之。尋抵東京。會有梁少保李鄑。即河陽節度使罕之兄也。雅信內典尤重於師。因捨宅建院曰觀音明聖。請師居之。周高祖世宗二帝潛隱時。每登方丈必施跪禮。及即位特賜紫。號淨戒大師。眾常數百。乾德丙寅三月示疾垂誡門人訖。怡顏合掌而滅。壽八十五。臘六十五。其年四月八日塔於東郊豐臺村。

Chan Master Yanjun of Guanyin Monastery in the Eastern Capital was a man of Xingtai, surnamed Lian. At first he visited the patriarchal seats, going all through Heng, Lu, Min, and Shu. Once, passing through a deep valley at Fenglin, he suddenly saw precious treasures shining. His companions looked at one another, meaning to take them. The master said: "When the ancients hoeing their garden struck gold, they treated it as tile or rubble. Wait until I have thatched a roof over my head; then I will need this to provide for the monks of the four quarters." Having spoken, he left it and went away. He went to call on Touzi. Touzi asked: "Where did you stay last night?" The master said: "At the unmoving site of the Way." He said: "Since you say unmoving, how did you get here?" The master said: "Is arriving here movement, then?" Touzi said: "So you stayed where there is no staying." Touzi silently approved him. Soon he reached the Eastern Capital. It happened that the Junior Guardian Li Jin of Liang, elder brother of the Heyang military governor Hanzhi, deeply believed in the inner canon and especially revered the master. He donated his residence to build a monastery, called Guanyin Mingsheng, and invited the master to dwell there. When the two emperors of Zhou, Gaozu and Shizong, were still in obscurity, each time they climbed to the abbot's room they performed the kneeling rite. When they came to the throne, they specially bestowed the purple robe and the title Great Master Jingjie. His assembly was regularly several hundred. In the bingyin year of Qiande, in the third month, he showed illness; after admonishing his disciples, with a cheerful face and joined palms he passed away. His age was eighty-five, his monastic age sixty-five. On the eighth day of the fourth month of that year a stupa was built for him at Fengtai Village in the eastern suburbs.

前鄂州清平山令遵禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of the former Chan Master Lingzun of Mount Qingping in Ezhou

蘄州三角山令珪禪師初參清平。清平問曰。來作麼。師曰。來禮拜。曰禮拜阿誰。師曰。特來禮拜和尚。清平咄曰。遮鈍根阿師。師乃禮拜。清平於師頸上以手斫一下。師從此摳衣密領宗旨。住後僧問。如何是佛。師曰。明日來向汝道。如今道不得。

Chan Master Linggui of Mount Sanjiao in Qizhou first visited Qingping. Qingping asked: "What have you come for?" The master said: "To bow in homage." He said: "Whom do you bow to?" The master said: "I have come especially to bow to the Reverend." Qingping barked: "This dull-rooted monk!" The master then bowed. Qingping gave him a chop on the neck with his hand. From then on the master held fast to his robe and secretly received the tenet. After he took up residence, a monk asked: "What is the Buddha?" The master said: "Come tomorrow and I will tell you; today it cannot be said."