Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 15

大光山玄禪師

Chan Master Xuan of Mount Daguang

漳州藤霞和尚

The monk Tengxia of Zhangzhou

宋州淨覺和尚

The monk Jingjue of Songzhou

華州崇勝證和尚

The monk Zheng of Chongsheng in Huazhou

鄂州永壽和尚

The monk Yongshou of Ezhou

鄂州靈竹和尚(已上六人無機緣語句不錄)

The monk Lingzhu of Ezhou (the above six have no recorded encounter dialogues and are not included)

筠州九峰道虔禪師法嗣一十人

Ten Dharma heirs of Chan Master Daoqian of Mount Jiufeng in Yunzhou

新羅清院和尚

The monk Qingyuan of Silla

洪州泐潭神黨禪師

Chan Master Shendang of Letan in Hongzhou

吉州南源山行修禪師

Chan Master Xingxiu of Mount Nanyuan in Jizhou

洪州泐潭明禪師

Chan Master Ming of Letan in Hongzhou

吉州秋山和尚

The monk Qiushan of Jizhou

洪州泐潭延茂禪師

Chan Master Yanmao of Letan in Hongzhou

洪州同安常察禪師

Chan Master Changcha of Tong'an in Hongzhou

洪州泐潭悟禪師

Chan Master Wu of Letan in Hongzhou

吉州禾山無殷禪師

Chan Master Wuyin of Mount He in Jizhou

洪州泐潭牟和尚(已上十人見錄)

The monk Mou of Letan in Hongzhou (the above ten are recorded)

台州湧泉景欣禪師法嗣一人

One Dharma heir of Chan Master Jingxin of Yongquan in Taizhou

台州六通院紹禪師(一人見錄)

Chan Master Shao of Liutong Cloister in Taizhou (one is recorded)

潭州雲蓋山志元禪師法嗣三人

Three Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhiyuan of Mount Yungai in Tanzhou

雲蓋山志罕禪師

Chan Master Zhihan of Mount Yungai

新羅臥龍和尚

The monk Wolong of Silla

彭州天台和尚(已上三人見錄)

The monk Tiantai of Pengzhou (the above three are recorded)

潭州谷山藏禪師法嗣三人

Three Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zang of Mount Gu in Tanzhou

新羅瑞巖和尚

The monk Ruiyan of Silla

新羅泊嚴和尚

The monk Boyan of Silla

新羅大嶺和尚(已上三人見錄)

The monk Daling of Silla (the above three are recorded)

潭州中雲蓋山和尚法嗣一人

One Dharma heir of the monk of Middle Yungai Mountain in Tanzhou

雲蓋山景和尚(一人見錄)

The monk Jing of Mount Yungai (one is recorded)

河中府棲巖存壽禪師法嗣一人

One Dharma heir of Chan Master Cunshou of Qiyan in Hezhong Prefecture

道德禪師(一人無機緣語句不錄)

Chan Master Daode (this one has no recorded encounter dialogues and is not included)

吉州青原行思禪師第五世

The fifth generation of Chan Master Qingyuan Xingsi of Jizhou

袁州洞山良价禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Liangjie of Mount Dong in Yuanzhou

洪州雲居道膺禪師幽州玉田人也。姓王氏。童丱依師稟教。二十五受具於範陽延壽寺。本師令習聲聞篇聚。乃歎曰。大丈夫豈可桎梏於律儀耶。乃去詣翠微山問道。經三載有雲遊僧自豫章來。盛稱洞山價禪師法席。師遂造焉。洞山問曰闍梨名什麼。曰道膺。洞山雲。向上更道。師雲。向上道即不名道膺。洞山曰。與吾在雲巖時秖對無異也。後師問。如何是祖師意。洞山曰。闍梨他後有一把茅蓋頭。忽有人問闍梨如何秖對。曰道膺罪過。洞山有時謂師曰。吾聞思大和尚生倭國作王虛實。曰若是思大佛亦不作。況乎國王。洞山然之。一日洞山問。什麼處去來。師曰。蹋山來。洞山曰。阿那箇山堪住。曰阿那箇山不堪住。洞山曰。恁麼即國內總被闍梨占卻也。曰不然。洞山曰。恁麼即子得箇入路。曰無路。洞山曰。若無路爭得與老僧相見。曰若有路即與和尚隔生去也。洞山曰。此子已後千人萬人把不住。師隨洞山渡水。洞山問水深淺。曰不濕。洞山曰。麁人。曰請師道。洞山曰。不乾。洞山謂師曰。昔南泉問講彌勒下生經僧曰。彌勒什麼時下生。曰見在天宮當來下生。南泉曰。天上無彌勒地下無彌勒。師隨舉而問曰。只如天上無彌勒地下無彌勒。未審誰與安字。洞山直得禪床震動乃曰。膺闍梨。師合醬次洞山問。作什麼。師曰。合醬。洞山曰。用多少鹽。曰旋入。洞山曰。作何滋味。師曰得。洞山問。大闡提人殺父害母出佛身血破和合僧。如是種種孝養何在。師曰。始得孝養。自爾洞山許之為室中領袖。初止三峰其化未廣。後開雲居山四眾臻萃。一日上堂。因舉古人云。地獄未是苦。向此衣服下不明大事失卻。最苦。師乃謂眾曰。汝等既在遮箇行。流十分去。九不較多也。更著些力便是上坐不屈平生。行腳不孤負叢林。古人道。欲得保任此事。須向高高山頂立深深水底行。方有些子氣力。汝若大事未辦。

Chan Master Daoying of Mount Yunju in Hongzhou was a native of Yutian in Youzhou, with the surname Wang. As a young boy he followed a teacher and received instruction. At twenty-five he received the full precepts at Yanshou Temple in Fanyang. His teacher had him study the sravaka scriptures and precepts, and he sighed: "How can a great man let himself be shackled by the rules of discipline?" So he left and went to Mount Cuiwei to ask about the Way. After three years a wandering monk came from Yuzhang, who praised highly the Dharma seat of Chan Master Jia of Dongshan. The master thereupon went to visit him. Dongshan asked: "What is the Teacher's name?" He said: "Daoying." Dongshan said: "Speak further upward." The master said: "If I spoke further upward, I would not be named Daoying." Dongshan said: "That is no different from the answer I gave when I was at Yunyan." Later the master asked: "What is the patriarchs' meaning?" Dongshan said: "Teacher, in days to come you will have a wisp of thatch over your head. If someone suddenly asks you, how will you answer?" He said: "Daoying is at fault." At one time Dongshan said to the master: "I hear that Great Master Si was reborn as a king in the land of Wa. True or false?" He said: "If it is the Great Master Si, he would not even become a Buddha, let alone a king." Dongshan approved of him. One day Dongshan asked: "Where have you been?" The master said: "Treading the mountains." Dongshan said: "Which mountain can be lived on?" He said: "Which mountain cannot be lived on?" Dongshan said: "Then the whole country has been occupied by the Teacher." He said: "Not so." Dongshan said: "Then you have found a way in." He said: "There is no way." Dongshan said: "If there is no way, how did you manage to see this old monk?" He said: "If there were a way, I would be separated from the Reverend by a whole life." Dongshan said: "After this, a thousand men or ten thousand men will not be able to hold this fellow down." The master accompanied Dongshan in crossing the water. Dongshan asked how deep the water was. He said: "Not wet." Dongshan said: "A coarse fellow." He said: "Please, master, say it." Dongshan said: "Not dry." Dongshan said to the master: "In the past Nanquan asked a monk who was lecturing on the Sutra of Maitreya's Descent: 'When will Maitreya come down to be born?' He said: 'He is presently in the heavenly palace and will descend to be born in the time to come.' Nanquan said: 'In heaven there is no Maitreya; on earth there is no Maitreya.'" Following this up, the master asked: "As for there being no Maitreya in heaven and no Maitreya on earth, may I ask, who gave him the name?" Dongshan fairly shook the meditation platform and said: "Teacher Ying." When the master was blending the sauce, Dongshan asked: "What are you doing?" The master said: "Blending the sauce." Dongshan said: "How much salt do you use?" He said: "I add it as I go." Dongshan said: "What flavor does it make?" The master said: "It will do." Dongshan asked: "A great icchantika kills his father and mother, sheds blood from the Buddha's body, breaks the harmony of the Sangha. In all these things, where is the filial support?" The master said: "Only then is there filial support." From then on Dongshan authorized him as the leader of the inner chamber. At first he stayed at Sanfeng, where his teaching was not yet widespread. Later he opened Mount Yunju, and the four assemblies thronged. One day he ascended the hall and, citing the ancients' saying—"Hell is not yet suffering. To fail to understand the great matter beneath this very robe, and to lose it, is the bitterest suffering"—the master then said to the assembly: "Since you are in this stream, you are already nine parts out of ten, not much short. Exert a little more strength, and you, Venerable, will not have wasted your life; your wandering will not have betrayed the community. The ancients said: if you wish to preserve this matter, you must stand on the summit of the highest mountain and walk on the floor of the deepest water; only then do you gain a bit of strength. If your great matter is not yet finished,

且須履踐玄途。問如何是沙門所重。師曰。心識不到處。問佛與祖有何階級。師曰。俱是階級。問如何是西來意。師曰。古路不逢人。可觀上座問。的罷標指請師速接。師曰。即今作麼生。觀曰。道即不無莫領話好。師曰。何必闍梨問如何是口訣。師曰。近前來向汝道。僧近前曰。請師道。師曰也知也知。師擲癢和問。眾還會麼。眾曰。不會。師曰。趁雀兒也不會。問如何得不惱亂和尚。師曰與我喚處德來。僧遂去喚來。師曰。與我閉卻門。問馬祖出八十八人善知識。未審和尚出多少人。師展手示之。問如何是向上人行履處。師曰。天下太平。問遊子歸家時如何。師曰。且喜歸來。曰將何奉獻。師曰。朝打三千暮打八百。師謂眾曰。如好獵狗。只解尋得有縱跡底。忽遇羚羊掛角。莫道跡氣亦不識。僧問。羚羊掛角時如何。師曰。六六三十六。又曰。會麼。僧曰。不會。師曰。不見道無蹤跡(有僧舉似趙州。趙州雲。雲居師兄猶在。僧乃問。羚羊掛角時如何。趙州雲。六六三十六)眾僧夜參侍者持燈來。見影在壁上有僧便問。兩箇相似時如何。師曰。一箇是影。問學人擬欲歸鄉時如何。師曰。只遮是。新羅僧問。佛陀波利見文殊。為什麼卻迴去。師曰。只為不將來所以卻迴去。師謂眾曰。學佛法底人如斬釘截鐵始得。時一僧出曰。便請和尚釘鐵。師曰。口裡底是什麼。僧問。承教有言。是人先世罪業應墮惡道以今世人輕賤。此意如何。師曰動即應墮惡道。靜即為人輕賤(崇壽稠答雲。心外有法應墮惡道。守住自己為人輕賤)僧問。香積之飯什麼人得吃。師曰。須知得吃底人。入口也須抉出。有一僧在房內念經。師隔窓問。闍梨念者是什麼經。對曰。維摩經。師曰。不問維摩經。念者是什麼經。其僧從此得入。問孤逈峭巍巍時如何。師曰。孤逈峭巍巍。僧曰。不會。師曰。面前案山子也不會。新羅僧問。

(The master continued:) "you must still tread the mysterious path." He was asked: "What does a sramana prize?" The master said: "Where mind and consciousness do not reach." He was asked: "What ranks lie between Buddha and patriarch?" The master said: "Both are ranks." He was asked: "What is the meaning of the coming from the West?" The master said: "On the old road no one is met." The senior monk Keguan asked: "Truly dismissing signs and pointers, please receive me at once." The master said: "What about right now?" Guan said: "It is not that there is nothing to say; better not to take up the words." The master said: "Why must it be you, Teacher?" He was asked: "What is the oral formula?" The master said: "Come close and I will tell you." The monk came close and said: "Please, master, say it." The master said: "I know, I know." The master threw down his backscratcher and asked: "Does the assembly understand?" The assembly said: "We do not." The master said: "You cannot even catch a sparrow." He was asked: "How can I avoid troubling the Reverend?" The master said: "Call Chude here for me." The monk went and called him. The master said: "Shut the door for me." He was asked: "Mazu produced eighty-eight good knowing friends; may I ask, how many has the Reverend produced?" The master spread his hands to show it. He was asked: "What is the place where the person of the heights walks?" The master said: "The realm is at peace." He was asked: "When the wandering son returns home, how is it?" The master said: "How glad I am you have returned." He said: "What shall I offer?" The master said: "Three thousand blows in the morning, eight hundred at dusk." The master said to the assembly: "Like a good hunting dog that only knows how to track what has left a trail. If it suddenly meets an antelope hung by its horns, say nothing of finding the track—it does not even recognize the scent." A monk asked: "When the antelope hangs by its horns, how is it?" The master said: "Six sixes are thirty-six." He went on: "Do you understand?" The monk said: "No." The master said: "Have you not heard that there is no track?" (A monk raised this with Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou said: "The elder brother of Yunju is still around." The monk then asked: "When the antelope hangs by its horns, how is it?" Zhaozhou said: "Six sixes are thirty-six.") The monks were holding an evening interview when the attendant came with a lamp. Seeing the shadow on the wall, a monk asked: "When the two are alike, how is it?" The master said: "One is a shadow." He was asked: "When this student wishes to return to his village, how is it?" The master said: "This very thing." A Silla monk asked: "Buddhapali saw Manjusri; why did he go back?" The master said: "Just because he did not bring it with him; therefore he went back." The master said to the assembly: "One who studies the Buddha Dharma must be like cutting through a nail, shearing iron." At that a monk came forward and said: "Then please, Reverend, shear the iron." The master said: "What is that in your mouth?" A monk asked: "The teaching says: this person's evil deeds in past lives should make him fall into evil destinies; in the present life people scorn him. What is the meaning of this?" The master said: "In motion you should fall into evil destinies; in stillness you are scorned by people." (Chou of Chongshou answered: "If there are dharmas outside the mind, one should fall into evil destinies. Guarding oneself, one is scorned by people.") A monk asked: "Who gets to eat the rice of the Fragrant Land?" The master said: "You must know the person who gets to eat it. Whatever enters his mouth must be picked out again." A monk was in his room reciting a sutra. Across the window the master asked: "Teacher, what sutra are you reciting?" He replied: "The Vimalakirti Sutra." The master said: "I am not asking about the Vimalakirti Sutra. What is the sutra that does the reciting?" From this the monk gained entry. He was asked: "When it is solitary, sheer and towering, how is it?" The master said: "Solitary, sheer and towering." The monk said: "I do not understand." The master said: "You do not even know the table-shaped hill before your face." A Silla monk asked:

是什麼得恁麼難道。師曰。有什麼難道。曰便請和尚道。師曰。新羅新羅。問明眼人為什麼黑如漆。師曰。何怪。荊南節度使成汭遣大將入山送供。問曰。世尊有密語迦葉不覆藏。如何是世尊密語。師召曰。尚書。其人應諾。師曰。會麼。曰不會。師曰。汝若不會世尊密語。汝若會迦葉不覆藏。僧問。才生為什麼不知有。師曰。不同生。曰未生時如何。師曰。不曾滅。曰未生時在什麼處。師曰。有處不收。曰什麼人受滅。師曰。是滅不得者。師謂眾曰。汝等師僧家。發言吐氣須有來由。凡問事須識好惡。尊卑良賤信口無益。傍家到處覓相似語。所以尋常向兄弟道。莫怪不相似。恐同學太多去。第一莫將來。將來不相似。八十老人出場屋。不是小兒戲。一言參差千里萬裡難為收攝。直至敲骨打髓須有來由。言語如鉗夾鉤鎖相續不斷。始得頭頭上具物物上新。可不是精得妙底事。道汝。知有底人終不取次。十度擬發言九度卻休去。為什麼如此。恐怕無利益。體得底人心如臘月扇。口邊直得醭出。不是汝彊為任運如此。欲得恁麼事須是恁麼人。既是恁麼人何愁恁麼事。學佛邊事是錯用心。假饒解千經萬論。講得天華落石點頭。亦不幹自己事。況乎其餘有何用處。若將有限心識。作無限中用。如將方木逗圓孔多少差訛。設使攢花簇錦。事事及得及盡一切事。亦只喚作了事人無過人。終不喚作尊貴。將知尊貴邊。著得什麼物。不見從門入者非寶。棒上不成龍知麼。師如是三十年開發玄楗。徒眾常及千五百之數。南昌周氏尤所欽風。唐天復元年秋示微疾。十二月二十八日為大眾開最後方便。敘出世始卒之意。眾皆愴然。越明年正月三日跏趺長往。今本山影堂存焉。勅諡弘覺大師。塔曰圓寂。

(The monk continued:) "What is it that is so hard to say?" The master said: "What is hard to say?" He said: "Then please, Reverend, say it." The master said: "Silla, Silla." He was asked: "Why is the clear-eyed person black as lacquer?" The master said: "What is strange about that?" Cheng Rui, the military governor of Jingnan, sent a general into the mountains to bring offerings. The man asked: "The World-Honored One had a secret word; Kasyapa did not hide it away. What is the World-Honored One's secret word?" The master called out: "Minister." The man answered. The master said: "Do you understand?" He said: "No." The master said: "If you do not understand, that is the World-Honored One's secret word. If you do understand, Kasyapa did not hide it away." A monk asked: "Just born, why does one not know that it is?" The master said: "It is not the same as birth." He said: "What about before birth?" The master said: "It has never been extinguished." He said: "Before birth, where is it?" The master said: "There is a place where it is not kept." He said: "What person undergoes extinction?" The master said: "The one who cannot be extinguished." The master said to the assembly: "You monkish folk, whenever you give voice to a phrase it must have a basis. In all questioning you must know good and bad. Noble and low, fine and base—loose talk is of no use. From house to house you hunt about for similar phrases. That is why I constantly tell you brothers: do not blame it for not matching; I fear you have too many fellow students as it is. Above all, do not bring it out. Whatever is brought out does not match. An eighty-year-old man showing up at the examination halls is no child's play. One word off, and a thousand miles, ten thousand miles can hardly be gathered back. Clear through to knocking bone and pounding marrow, it must have a basis. Speech like pincers, hooks and locks, linked without break—only then is every point complete and every thing fresh. Is that not a fine and wondrous matter? I tell you. One who knows never acts carelessly. Ten times about to speak, nine times he refrains. Why is this so? For fear it would be of no benefit. One who has realized it has a heart like a fan in the twelfth month; mold all but grows at the edge of his mouth. It is not that you force it; it happens of itself. If you want such a matter, you must be such a person. Being such a person, why fret over such a matter? Studying the side of the Buddha is using the mind wrongly. Even if you understand a thousand sutras and ten thousand treatises, and lecture till heavenly flowers fall and stones nod, it is none of your own concern. Still less is any of the rest of use. If you take a finite mind and consciousness and put it to infinite use, it is like fitting a square beam into a round hole—how much error there is. Suppose you piled up flowers and clustered brocade, reached into every affair and exhausted every affair—you would only be called a man who finishes tasks, a man without fault. You would never be called noble. Let it be known that on the side of nobility, what can you lodge there? Have you not seen that what comes in through the gate is not the treasure? On the staff no dragon can be made—do you understand?" For thirty years the master opened the mysterious bar like this. His disciples regularly numbered fifteen hundred. The Zhou family of Nanchang especially admired his manner. In autumn of the first year of Tianfu of the Tang he showed a slight illness. On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month he opened a last expedient for the great assembly, recounting the sense of his sojourn in the world from beginning to end. The whole assembly was sorrowful. On the third day of the first month of the following year he sat cross-legged and departed for good. On the mountain of the original temple the portrait hall still stands. By imperial decree he was given the posthumous title Great Master Hongjue; his stupa was called Yuanji.