Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 15

新羅大嶺和尚。僧問。只到潼關便卻休時如何。師曰。只是途中活計。曰其中活計如何。師曰。體即得當即不得。曰體得為什麼當不得。師曰。體是什麼人分上事。曰其中事如何。師曰。不作尊貴。

The monk of Daling in Silla. A monk asked: “How about getting only as far as Tong Pass and there stopping?” The master said: “That is just the work of the road.” The monk said: “What is the work within it?” The master said: “Embodying it will do; standing for it will not.” The monk said: “Why does embodying it not count?” The master said: “Embodiment—on what sort of person's part is that a matter?” The monk said: “What of the matter within it?” The master said: “It makes nothing honorable.”

前潭州中雲蓋和尚法嗣

Dharma heirs of the late monk of Zhongyungai in Tanzhou

潭州雲蓋山景和尚號證覺禪師。僧問。國土晏清功歸何處。師曰。銀臺門下不賀。曰轉為無功時如何。師曰。王家事可然。

Monk Jing of Yungai Mountain in Tanzhou, titled Chan Master Zhengjue. A monk asked: “When the land is calm and clear, to where does the merit return?” The master said: “No congratulations beneath the silver gate.” The monk said: “When it turns so that there is no merit, what then?” The master said: “For the royal house it may well be so.”

吉州青原山行思禪師第六世之二一十四人

Twenty-four men of the sixth generation of Chan Master Xingsi of Qingyuan Mountain in Jizhou, part two

福州雪峰義存禪師法嗣上一十四人福州玄沙師備禪師

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yicun of Xuefeng in Fuzhou, first part, fourteen men: Chan Master Shibei of Xuansha in Fuzhou

福州長慶慧稜禪師

Chan Master Huileng of Changqing in Fuzhou

福州大普山玄通禪師

Chan Master Xuantong of Dapu Mountain in Fuzhou

杭州龍冊寺道怤禪師

Chan Master Daofu of Longce Temple in Hangzhou

福州長生山皎然禪師

Chan Master Jiaoran of Changsheng Mountain in Fuzhou

信州鵝湖山智孚禪師

Chan Master Zhifu of Ehu Mountain in Xinzhou

漳州報恩懷嶽禪師

Chan Master Huaiyue of Bao'en in Zhangzhou

杭州西興化度師鬱禪師

Chan Master Shiyu of Xixinghuadu in Hangzhou

福州鼓山神晏國師

National Teacher Shenyan of Gushan in Fuzhou

漳州隆壽紹卿禪師

Chan Master Shaoqing of Longshou in Zhangzhou

福州僊宗行𤦆禪師

Chan Master Xingcong of Xianzong in Fuzhou

福州蓮華山永福從弇禪師

Chan Master Yongfu Congyan of Lianhua Mountain in Fuzhou

杭州龍華寺靈照禪師

Chan Master Lingzhao of Longhua Temple in Hangzhou

明州翠巖令參禪師(已上一十四人見錄)

Chan Master Lingcan of Cuiyan in Mingzhou (the above fourteen men are on record)

福州雪峰義存禪師法嗣

Dharma heirs of Chan Master Yicun of Xuefeng in Fuzhou

福州玄沙宗一大師法名師備。福州閩縣人也。姓謝氏。幼好垂釣。泛小艇於南臺江狎諸漁者。唐咸通初年甫三十。忽慕出塵乃棄釣舟。投芙蓉山靈訓禪師落髮。往豫章開元寺道玄律師受具。布衲芒屨食才接氣。常終日宴坐眾皆異之。與雪峰義存本法門昆仲而親近若師資。雪峰以其苦行呼為頭陀。一日雪峰問曰。阿那箇是備頭陀。對曰。終不敢誑於人。異日雪峰召曰。備頭陀何不遍參去。師曰。達磨不來東土二祖不往西天。雪峰然之。暨登象骨山乃與師同力締構。玄徒臻萃。師入室諮決罔替晨昏。又閱楞嚴經發明心地。由是應機敏捷與修多羅冥契。諸方玄學有所未決必從之請益。至若與雪峰和尚徵詰亦當仁不讓。雪峰曰。備頭陀其再來人也。一日雪峰上堂曰。要會此事猶如古鏡當臺胡來胡現漢來漢現。師曰。忽遇明鏡來時如何。雪峰曰。胡漢俱隱。師曰。老和尚腳跟猶未點地。師上堂時久。大眾盡謂不說法。一時各歸。師乃呵雲。看總是一樣底。無一箇有智慧。但見我開遮兩片皮。盡來簇著覓言語意度。是我真實。為他卻總不知。看恁麼大難大難。師有時雲。諸禪德汝諸人盡巡方行腳來。稱我參禪學道。為有奇特去處。為當只恁麼東問西問。若有試通來我為汝證明是非。我盡識得還有麼。若無當知只是趁謴(古困切)是汝既到遮裡來。我今問汝。汝諸人還有眼麼。若有即今便合識得。還識得麼。若不識便被我喚作生盲生聾底人還是麼。肯恁麼道麼。禪德亦莫自屈。是汝真實何曾是恁麼人。十方諸佛把汝向頂上著。不敢錯誤著一分子。只道此事唯我能知。會麼。如今相紹繼盡道承他釋迦。我道釋迦與我同參。汝道參阿誰會麼。大不容易。知莫非大悟始解得知。若是限劑所悟亦莫能覯。汝還識大悟麼。不可是汝向髑髏前認他鑒照。不可是汝說空說無說。遮邊那邊有世間法。有一箇不是世間法。

Great Master Zongyi of Xuansha in Fuzhou, whose Dharma name was Shibei, was a man of Min County in Fuzhou, surnamed Xie. In his youth he loved angling; he would float a small boat on the Nantai River and keep company with the fishermen. In the early Xiantong years of the Tang he had just turned thirty. Suddenly he aspired to rise above the dust, so he abandoned his fishing boat, went to Chan Master Lingxun of Furong Mountain to have his hair shaved off, and then to Kaiyuan Temple in Yuzhang, where he received the full precepts from Vinaya Master Daoxuan. He wore a cloth robe and straw sandals and ate barely enough to keep breath going; he often sat in meditation the whole day through, and everyone thought him extraordinary. He and Yicun of Xuefeng were originally brothers in the Dharma gate, yet he drew near to Xuefeng like a pupil to a teacher. For his austere practice Xuefeng called him the dhuta. One day Xuefeng asked: "Which one is Bei the dhuta?" He answered: "I would never dare deceive a person." Another day Xuefeng summoned him and said: "Bei the dhuta, why do you not go make the round of visits?" The master said: "Bodhidharma did not come east, and the Second Patriarch did not go to the Western Heavens." Xuefeng approved. When Xuefeng climbed Mount Xianggu, the master joined efforts with him to found the monastery, and students of the profound gathered like clouds. The master entered the abbot's room to consult and resolve doubts morning and night without fail. He also read the Surangama Sutra and awakened to the ground of mind; from then on his responses to occasions were swift and keen, in silent accord with the sutras. Whenever students of the profound from all quarters had something unresolved, they always came to him for further instruction; and when he crossed swords with the venerable Xuefeng he likewise would not yield what was right. Xuefeng said: "Bei the dhuta must be a man come again." One day Xuefeng ascended the hall and said: "To understand this matter is like an ancient mirror facing the stand: when a barbarian comes a barbarian appears; when a Han comes a Han appears." The master said: "Suppose you suddenly meet a bright mirror coming—what then?" Xuefeng said: "Barbarian and Han both vanish." The master said: "The old monk's heels have not yet touched the ground." Once the master stayed on the hall for a long while; the whole assembly concluded he would not preach, and all at once they went back. The master scolded them: "Look—they are all the same, not one has wisdom. As soon as they see me open these two flaps of skin, they all come crowding to hunt for words and phrases and guess at meanings. That is my real self, yet for them it is always unknown. See what a great difficulty, a great difficulty." Sometimes the master said: "Zen worthies, all of you have come wandering on pilgrimage. You claim: 'I am a Zen student studying the Way.' Is there some marvelous place to go to, or is it just asking east and west like this? If there is, try to state it, and I will certify right and wrong for you—I can recognize them all; is there any more? If not, you should know it is merely babbling along (pronounced gu-kun). Since you have come this far, I now ask you: do you people still have eyes? If you have, right now you ought to recognize it—do you? If you do not, I will call you people born blind and born deaf. Is that so? Will you grant it? Zen worthies, do not wrong yourselves either. Your real self was never such a person. The Buddhas of the ten directions set you atop their heads, not daring to misplace a single fraction, saying only: this matter I alone can know. Do you understand? Nowadays those in the line of succession all say they inherit from Shakyamuni. I say Shakyamuni is my fellow student. Whom do you say he studied under? Do you understand? This is most difficult. As for knowing, only after great awakening can you understand knowing; an awakening within measured limits still cannot see it. Do you still recognize great awakening? You must not take the perception before your skull as it, nor your talk of emptiness and nothingness either. On this side and that there are worldly dharmas; there is one that is not a worldly dharma."

和尚子虛空猶從迷妄幻生。如今若是大肯去何處有遮箇稱說。尚無虛空消息。何處有三界。業次父母緣生與汝樁立前後。如今道無尚是誑語。豈況是有知麼。是汝多時行腳和尚子。稱道有覺悟底事。我今問汝。只如巔山巖崖逈絕人處。還有佛法麼。還裁辨得麼。若辨不得卒未在。我尋常道。亡僧面前正是觸目菩提。萬裡神光頂後相。若人覯得。不妨出。得陰界。脫汝髑髏前意想。都來只是汝真實人體。何處更別有一法解蓋覆。汝知麼。還信得麼。解承當得麼。大須努力。師又云。我今問汝諸人。且承得箇什麼事。在何世界安身立命。還辨得麼。若辨不得恰似揑目生華。見事便差。知麼。如今現前見有山河大地色空明暗種種諸物。皆是狂勞華相。喚作顛倒知見。夫出家人識心達本。故號沙門。汝今既已剃髮披衣為沙門相。即合有自利利他分。如今看著盡黑漫漫地。如黑汁相似。自救尚不得。爭解為得他人。仁者佛法因緣事大。莫當等閑相聚頭亂說雜話趁謴過時。光陰難得。可惜許大丈夫兒。何不自省察看是什麼事。只如從上宗風。是諸佛頂族。汝既承當不得。所以我方便勸汝。但從迦葉門接續頓超去。此一門超汝凡聖因果。超他毘盧妙莊嚴世界海。超他釋迦方便門。直下永劫不教有一物與汝作眼見。何不急急究取。未必道我且待三生兩生久積淨業。仁者。汝宗乘是什麼事。不可由汝身心用工莊嚴便得去。不可他心宿命便得法。會麼。只如釋迦出頭來。作如許多變弄說十二分教。如瓶灌水。大作一場佛事向汝。此門中用一點不得。用一毛頭伎倆不得。知麼如同夢事。亦如寱語。沙門不應得出頭來。蓋為識得知麼。識得即是大出脫大出頭。所以道超。凡越聖出生離死離因離果超。毘盧越釋迦。不被凡聖因果所謾。一切處無人識得汝。知麼莫只長戀生死愛網。被善惡業拘將去無自由分。饒汝鍊得身心同空去。

(The master continued:) Monk children, empty space itself arises from deluded illusion. Now if you are truly willing to let go, where is there such talk? When there is not even news of empty space, where are the three realms? The sequence of karma, conditioned birth through father and mother, sets up before and after for you. Now even to say 'nothing' is still a lie—how much more to say there is something. Do you know? You monks who have wandered long on pilgrimage claim to have awakened to something. I ask you now: take a cliff top, a sheer precipice, a place utterly cut off from people—is there Buddha Dharma there? Can you still discern it? If you cannot, you are finally not there yet. I have always said: right before the departed monk is exactly bodhi in plain sight, the divine light's mark behind the crown reaching ten thousand miles. If a person sees it, he may well escape the realm of the skandhas. Strip off the notions before your skull; taken all together it is only your real human body. Where else is there a separate dharma that could cover it? Do you know? Can you believe it? Can you undertake it? You must exert yourselves greatly." The master also said: "I ask you people now: what thing do you hold to? In what world do you settle your body and establish your life? Can you still distinguish it? If you cannot, it is just like squeezing your eyes to make flowers appear—you see a thing and you are wrong. Do you know? What you now see before you—mountains, rivers, the great earth, form, emptiness, light, darkness, all such things—are all flower-images of mad toil, called inverted knowledge and views. One who leaves home recognizes mind and reaches the root, and so is called a sramana. Since you have now shaved your head and donned the robe, bearing the marks of a sramana, you ought to have your share of benefiting self and benefiting others. Now look at it—all is pitch-dark, like black ink. You cannot even save yourself; how could you know how to save others? Good people, the matter of the Buddha Dharma's causes and conditions is great. Do not take it lightly, gathering to chatter nonsense and babble away the time. Time is hard to gain. What a pity for fine stout fellows. Why not look within and examine what the matter is? Now the tradition handed down from above is the crown clan of all Buddhas. Since you cannot undertake it, I use expedient means to urge you: just continue on through the gate of Kasyapa and leap beyond in a sudden. This one gate surpasses your cause and effect of ordinary and sage, surpasses Vairocana's wonderfully adorned sea of worlds, surpasses Shakyamuni's gate of expedient means. Straight down through eternal kalpas it will not let a single thing become what your eyes see. Why not hasten to probe it? Surely you should not say: let me wait three lifetimes or two to accumulate pure deeds over long ages. Good people, what is the vehicle of your school? You cannot get there by adorning your body and mind with effort, and you cannot obtain the Dharma by knowing others' minds or past lives. Do you understand? Take when Shakyamuni came forward: he made all those displays, preached the twelve divisions of the teaching like pouring water from a bottle, and performed one great Buddha-event. In this gate of yours not a single point of it can be used, not a hair-tip of a trick can be used. Do you know? It is like a thing in a dream, and like words spoken in sleep. A sramana should not come forward; it is just for the sake of recognizing it. Do you know? To recognize it is the great escape, the great emergence. That is why it is said: surpass the ordinary and overstep the sage, come out of birth and leave death, free of cause and free of effect, surpass Vairocana, overstep Shakyamuni, not fooled by the cause and effect of ordinary and sage. In all places no one recognizes you. Do you know? Do not keep clinging to the love-net of birth and death and get hauled away bound by good and bad karma, with no share of freedom. Even if you could refine body and mind until they were one with emptiness,"

饒汝得到精明湛不搖處。不出他識陰。古人喚作如急流水。流急不覺妄為澹淨。恁麼修行盡不出他輪迴際。依前被輪轉去。所以道。諸行無常。直是三乘功果。如是可畏若無道眼亦不為究竟。何如從今日博地凡夫。不用一毫工夫。便頓超去。解省心力麼。還願樂麼。勸汝我如今立地待汝覯去。不用汝加功練行。如今不恁麼更待何時還肯麼。還肯麼。師有時上堂謂眾曰。是汝真實如是。又有時雲。達磨如今現在。汝諸人還見麼。師雲。是諸人見有險惡。見有大蟲刀劍諸事逼汝身命。便生無限怕怖。如似什麼。恰如世間畫師。一般自畫作地獄變相。作大蟲刀劍了。好好地看了。卻自生怕怖。汝今諸人亦復如是。百般見有。是汝自幻出自生怕怖。亦不是別人與汝為過。汝今欲覺此幻惑麼。但識取汝金剛眼睛。若識得不曾教汝有纖塵可得露現。何處更有虎狼刀劍解愶嚇得汝。直至釋迦如是伎倆。亦覓出頭處不得。所以我向汝道。沙門眼把定世界函蓋乾坤不漏絲髮。何處更有一物為汝知見知麼。如是出脫。如是奇特。何不究取。師雲。汝諸人如似在大海裡坐。沒頭水浸卻了。更展手問人乞水吃。還會麼。夫學般若菩薩是大根器有大智慧始得。若有智慧即今便得出脫。若是根機遲鈍。直須勤苦忍耐日夜忘疲失食如喪考妣相似。恁麼急切盡一生去。更得人荷挾剋骨究實。不妨亦得覯去。且況如今誰是堪任受學底人。仁者莫只是記言記語恰似念陀羅尼相似。蹋步向前來。口裡哆哆啝啝地。被人把住詰問。著沒去處便瞋道。和尚不為我答話。恁麼學事大苦。知麼。有一般坐繩床和尚。稱為善知識。問著便動身動手點眼吐舌瞪視。更有一般便說。昭昭靈靈靈臺智性能見能聞。向五蘊身田裡作主宰恁麼為善知識大賺人。知麼我今問汝。汝若認昭昭靈靈。是汝真實為什麼。瞌睡時又不成昭昭靈靈。若瞌睡時不是為什麼有昭昭時。

(The master continued:) Even if you reach a state refined, clear, and unmoving, you still do not get beyond the skandha of consciousness. The ancients called it like a racing current: the flow races on unperceived, and you wrongly fancy it calm and pure. Practicing like that, you never escape the bounds of the wheel, and as before you are turned around by it. That is why it is said: all conditioned things are impermanent. Indeed the fruits of the three vehicles' merit are fearsome like this; without the eye of the Way even they are not ultimate. How much better, from today, as a common man on the ground, without a speck of effort, to leap beyond in a sudden. Do you know how to save heart-strength? Are you willing and glad? I urge you: I stand here now waiting for you to see; you need not add effort or drill in practice. If not now, then when? Are you willing? Are you willing?" Sometimes the master ascended the hall and told the assembly: "Your real self is just so." And sometimes he said: "Bodhidharma is here right now. Do you people still see him?" The master said: "When you people see danger, see tigers and swords and such things pressing on your body's life, you give rise to boundless fear. What is it like? Just like a painter in the world: he paints for himself a hell-transformation scene, paints the tigers and swords, looks at them well and calmly, then grows afraid of them himself. You people today are just the same. The hundred kinds of things you see are conjured up by yourselves, and you fear them yourselves; it is not someone else making trouble for you. Do you now want to wake from this delusion? Just recognize your diamond eye. If you recognize it, not a mote of dust has ever been allowed to show itself. Where could tigers, wolves, or swords possibly frighten you? Even Shakyamuni, with all such tricks, can find no place to come forward. That is why I tell you: a sramana's eye holds the world fast, covers heaven and earth, and does not leak a single hair. Where else is there a thing to be your knowledge and views? Do you know? Such is the escape, such is the marvel. Why not probe it?" The master said: "You people are like someone sitting in the middle of the ocean, head under water, who then stretches out a hand to beg others for a drink of water. Do you understand? A bodhisattva who studies prajna is a great capacity and must have great wisdom. If you have wisdom, right now you get out. If your capacity is dull, you must toil bitterly and endure, day and night forgetting fatigue and missing meals, as though you had lost your father and mother. Press on urgently like this your whole life. Moreover, with someone to help carry you along, probing to the bone in earnest, you may well see it too. But now, who is a person fit to receive the teaching? Good people, do not just memorize words and phrases as if chanting a dharani, stepping forward with mouths chattering and mumbling, so that when someone seizes you with questions and you have nowhere to go, you grow angry and say: the monk will not answer me. To study like this is a great bitterness. Do you know? There is a kind of monk sitting on a rope chair who is called a good teacher: asked a question, he moves his body and hands, rolls his eyes, sticks out his tongue, and stares. And there is a kind who says: bright and numinous, the knowing nature of the numinous platform, able to see and hear, acts as lord within the field of the five-skandha body. To be a good teacher like that is a great cheat on people. Do you know? I ask you now: if you take the bright and numinous as your real self, why is it not bright and numinous when you are asleep? If it is not so in sleep, why is there a time of brightness?"

汝還會麼。遮箇喚作認賊為子。是生死根本妄想緣氣。汝欲識此根由麼。我向汝道。汝昭昭靈靈。只因前塵色聲香等法而有分別。便道此是昭昭靈靈。若無前塵汝此昭昭靈靈同於龜毛兔角。仁者。真實在什麼處。汝今欲得出他五蘊身田主宰。但識取汝秘密金剛體。古人向汝道。圓成正遍遍周沙界。我今少分為汝智者。可以譬喻得解。汝見此南閻浮提日麼。世間人所作興營養身活命種種心行作業。莫非承他日光成立。只如日體還有多般及心行麼。還有不周遍處麼。欲識此金剛體亦如是。只如今山河大地十方國土色空明暗及汝身心。莫非盡承汝圓成威光所現。直是天人群生類所作業次受生果報有性無情。莫非承汝威光。乃至諸佛成道成果接物利生。莫非盡承汝威光。只如金剛體還有凡夫諸佛麼。有汝心行麼。不可道無便得當去也。知麼汝既有如是奇特。當陽出身處何不發明取。便隨他向五蘊身田中鬼趣裡作活計。直下自謾卻去。忽然無常殺境到來。眼目譸張。身見命見恁麼時大難枝荷。如生脫龜箇相似大苦。仁者莫把瞌睡見解便當卻去。未解蓋覆得毛頭許。汝還知麼。三界無安猶如火宅。且汝未是得安樂底人。只大作群隊幹他人世。遮邊那邊飛走野鹿相似。但知求衣為食。若恁麼爭行他王道知麼國王大臣不拘汝。父母放汝出家。十方施主供汝衣食。土地龍神護汝。也須具慚愧知恩始得。莫孤負人好。長連床上排行著地銷將去。道是安樂。未在皆是粥飯將養得。汝爛冬瓜相似變將去。土裡埋將去。業識茫茫無本可據。沙門因什麼到恁麼地。只如大地上蠢蠢者。我喚作地獄劫住。如今若不了。明朝後日看變入驢胎馬肚裡。牽犁拽杷銜鐵負鞍。碓擣磨磨水火裡燒煮。去大不容易。受大須恐懼。好是汝自累知麼。若是了去直下永劫不曾教汝有遮箇消息。若不了此煩惱惡業因緣。未是一劫兩劫得休。直與汝金剛齊壽知麼。

(The master continued:) Do you understand? This is called taking a thief for your son. It is the root of birth and death, the breath of deluded conditions. Do you want to recognize this root? Let me tell you. Your brightness and numinosity only discriminates because of prior objects—sights, sounds, smells, and such dharmas—and you then call this the bright and numinous. Without prior objects, that brightness of yours is the same as turtle hair and rabbit horns. Good people, where is the real? If you now want to get beyond the lord of the five-skandha body-field, just recognize your secret diamond body. The ancients told you: perfectly complete and rightly pervasive, reaching through the worlds of the sands. Now, for the wise among you, I will give a small part that can be grasped by metaphor. Do you see the sun of this southern Jambudvipa? All that people in the world do—their undertakings, their nourishing of body and sustaining of life, all their mental acts and deeds—do they not all come to be by relying on its sunlight? Does the sun's body itself have all those varieties and mental acts? Is there anywhere it does not pervade? To recognize this diamond body is just so. Right now mountains, rivers, the great earth, the lands of the ten directions, form, emptiness, light, darkness, and your body and mind—all are manifested by relying on your perfectly complete majestic light. Even the karmic succession of devas, humans, and all living kinds, the fruit-recompense of their births, the sentient and the insentient—all rely on your majestic light. Even the Buddhas' accomplishment of the Way and its fruits, their receiving beings and benefiting the living—all rely on your majestic light. Does this diamond body still have ordinary folk and Buddhas? Does it have your mental acts? You cannot just say 'there is none' and take that as attainment. Do you know? Since you have such a marvelous place to emerge from facing the light, why do you not bring it forth? Instead you follow along into the ghost-path within the field of the five-skandha body to make your livelihood, straight on deceiving yourself. Then suddenly the killing state of impermanence arrives; your eyes dart about in confusion. Views of body, views of life—at that time it is a great difficulty to bear, like being stripped alive from a tortoise shell—great suffering." (The base text has 'tortoise ge'; the ge is surely an error for ke, 'shell.') "Good people, do not take a drowsy view and settle the matter that way; you cannot cover even a hair's worth. Do you still know? The three realms have no peace; they are like a burning house. And you are not yet a person who has found peace. You just make a big herd and meddle in others' affairs, darting this way and that like a wild deer, knowing only how to beg for clothing and food. How can such conduct be the kingly way? Do you know? Kings and ministers do not restrain you. Your parents let you leave home. Donors of the ten directions supply your clothing and food. The gods of earth and the dragon spirits protect you. You ought to have a sense of shame and know gratitude. Do not fail people's kindness. To lie in rows on the long platform and let life melt away, calling it ease—it is not so; it is all just being nourished on gruel and rice. You will change into a rotten winter melon and be buried in the earth. Karmic consciousness boundless, with no root to rely on. Why does a sramana come to such a state? Those wriggling on the great earth I call hell-dwellers for a kalpa. If you do not finish it now, tomorrow or the day after you will see yourself changed into a donkey's womb or a horse's belly, dragging plows and harrows, bit in mouth and saddle on back, pounded in the pestle, turned in the mill, boiled and burned in water and fire—most difficult to bear. You must be greatly afraid. It is your own doing. Do you know? If you finish it, straight down through eternal kalpas this news will never visit you. If you do not finish these causes and conditions of affliction and bad karma, it will not rest for a kalpa or two; it will last as long as your diamond life. Do you know?"

南際長老到雪峰。雪峰令訪於師。師問曰。古人道。此事唯我能知長老作麼生。南際曰。須知有不求知者(歸宗柔別拊掌三下)師曰。山頭和尚吃許多辛苦作麼。雪峰因普請畬田。見一蛇以杖挑起召眾曰。看看以刀芟為兩段。師以杖拋於背後更不顧視。眾愕然。雪峰曰俊哉。師一日隨侍雪峰遊山。雪峰指一片地曰。此處造得一所無縫塔。師曰。高多少雪峰乃顧視上下。師曰。人天依報即不如和尚。若是靈山受記大遠在。雪峰曰。世界闊一尺古鏡闊一尺。世界闊一丈古鏡闊一丈。師指火鑪曰。火鑪闊多少。雪峰曰。如古鏡闊。師曰。老和尚腳跟未點地。師初受請住梅谿場普應院。中間遷止玄沙山。自是天下叢林海眾皆望風而賓之。閩帥王公請演無上乘。待以師禮。學徒餘八百室戶不閉。師上堂良久謂眾曰。我為汝得徹困也還會麼。僧問。寂寂無言時如何師曰。寱語作麼。曰本分事請師道。師曰。𥋙睡作麼。曰學人即𥋙睡和尚如何。師曰。爭得恁麼不識痛癢。又曰。可惜如許大師僧。千道萬裡行腳到遮裡。不消箇𥋙睡寱語便屈卻去。問如何是學人自己。師曰。用自己作麼。僧問。從上宗門中事。師此間如何言論。師曰。少人聽。僧曰請和尚直道。師曰。患聾作麼又曰。仁者。如今事不獲已。教我抑下如是威光。苦口相勸。百千方便道如此如彼。共汝相知聞盡成顛倒知見。將此咽喉唇吻。只成得箇野狐精業謾汝我。還肯麼。只如有過無過唯我自知。汝爭得會。若是恁麼人出頭來甘伏呵責。夫為人師匠大不易。須是善知識始得知。我如今恁麼方便助汝。猶尚不能覯得。可中純舉宗乘。是汝向什麼處措。還會麼。四十九年是方便。只如靈山會有百萬眾。唯有迦葉一人親聞。餘盡不聞。汝道迦葉親聞事作麼生。不可道如來無說說迦葉不聞聞。便得當。不可是汝修因成果。福智莊嚴底事。知麼且如道。

Elder Nanji came to Xuefeng. Xuefeng had him visit the master. The master asked: "The ancients said: this matter I alone can know. Elder, what do you say?" Nanji said: "You should know there is one who does not seek to know." (Guizong Rou, in his place, clapped three times.) The master said: "Why does the mountain-top monk take so much trouble?" Once, on a communal work call to burn off a field, Xuefeng saw a snake; he lifted it on his staff and called to the assembly: "Look, look," then cut it in two with a knife. The master tossed his staff behind his back and did not look again. The assembly was stunned. Xuefeng said: "Splendid." One day the master attended Xuefeng roaming the mountain. Xuefeng pointed to a patch of ground and said: "Here one could build a seamless pagoda." The master said: "How high?" Xuefeng glanced up and down. The master said: "As a reward-body for devas and humans you are no match for the venerable; but as for the prophecy on Vulture Peak, that is far, far off." Xuefeng said: "If the world is a foot wide, the ancient mirror is a foot wide; if the world is ten feet wide, the ancient mirror is ten feet wide." The master pointed to the brazier and said: "How wide is the brazier?" Xuefeng said: "As wide as the ancient mirror." The master said: "The old monk's heels have not touched the ground." The master first accepted an invitation to reside at Puying Cloister at Meixi Landing; in between he moved and settled on Mount Xuansha. From then on the monasteries and ocean-assembly of the whole land looked to his wind and came as guests. Prince Wang, ruler of Min, asked him to expound the supreme vehicle and treated him with the rites due a teacher. His students exceeded eight hundred, and the doors of his quarters were never closed. Once the master was long on the hall and told the assembly: "I have been worn right through for you. Do you understand?" A monk asked: "In silence without words, what then?" The master said: "Why are you sleep-talking?" The monk said: "My original matter—please tell me, master." The master said: "Why so sleepy?" (The base text writes this character differently.) The monk said: "If the student is sleepy, what about the venerable?" The master said: "How can you be so numb to pain and itch?" He also said: "What a pity for such great monks: you wander a thousand roads, ten thousand miles to get here, and it takes no more than a bit of drowsiness and dream-talk to be turned away defeated." A monk asked: "What is the student's own self?" The master said: "What are you doing using a self?" A monk asked: "The matter of the school handed down from above—how do you speak of it here?" The master said: "Few listen." The monk said: "Please speak directly, venerable." The master said: "Why be deaf?" He also said: "Good people, today the matter cannot be helped; it makes me press down such majestic light and exhort you bitterly, with a hundred thousand expedients saying it is this way or that. All the knowing and hearing I share with you turns into inverted knowledge and views. This throat and mouth of mine only accomplish the karma of a wild-fox spirit, deceiving you and me. Are you willing? Whether there is fault or no fault, only I know it myself—how could you understand? If a man comes forward like this, he willingly submits to rebuke. To be a teacher and smith of men is greatly difficult; only a good teacher can know it. I aid you with expedients like this, and still you cannot see. If I were to hold up the vehicle of the school purely, where would you put your feet? Do you understand? Forty-nine years were all expedient means. Take the assembly on Vulture Peak with its million: only Kasyapa alone heard it in person; all the rest did not hear. What do you make of Kasyapa's hearing it in person? You cannot say the Tathagata preached no preaching and Kasyapa heard no hearing and let that pass for attainment. It cannot be the thing of your cultivating cause to accomplish fruit, your adornment with merit and wisdom. Do you know? And as it is said:"

吾有正法眼付囑大迦葉。我道猶如話月。曹谿豎拂子如還指月。所以道。大唐國內宗乘中事。未曾見有一人舉唱。設有人舉唱。盡大地人失卻性命。如無孔鐵槌相似。一時亡鋒結舌去。汝諸人賴遇我。不惜身命。共汝顛倒知見。隨汝狂意。方有申問處。我若不共汝恁麼有聞去。汝向什麼處得見我。會麼大難。努力珍重。乃有偈曰。

(The master continued:) 'I have the eye of the true Dharma; I entrust it to Mahakasyapa.' I say this is like talking about the moon, and Caoxi's raising the fly-whisk is still like pointing at the moon. That is why it is said: in the matter of the school-vehicle within the great land of Tang, never yet has one person raised it and proclaimed it. If anyone did raise and proclaim it, all the people of the great earth would lose their lives, like iron hammers without a hole—all at once losing their edge and freezing their tongues. You people have luckily met me; I do not spare body or life but share in your inverted knowledge and views, following your wild fancy, and only thus is there a place for you to ask. If I did not come within your hearing like this, where would you get to see me? Do you understand? A great difficulty. Strive, take care." Then he spoke a verse:

萬裡神光頂後相沒頂之時何處望

Ten thousand miles, the divine light's mark behind the crown; when it sinks below the crown, where will you look?

事已成意亦休此箇來蹤觸處周

The matter accomplished, thought too is at rest; this one's coming trace is complete wherever touched.

智者撩著便提取莫待須臾失卻頭

The wise one, when it grazes him, takes hold at once; do not wait till in a moment he loses his head.

又偈曰。

Again a verse:

玄沙遊徑別時人切須知

Xuansha's wandering path is different; people of the time must surely know.

三冬陽氣盛六月降霜時

When the yang breath waxes in midwinter, in the sixth month frost descends.

有語非關舌無言切要詞

Having words, it does not concern the tongue; wordless is just the essential phrase.

會我最後句出世少人知

Who meets my final phrase—for one to emerge in the world, few have known it.

問四威儀外如何奉王。師曰。汝是王法罪人爭會問事。問古人拈槌豎拂。還當宗乘中事也無。師曰。不當。曰古人意作麼生。師舉拂子。僧曰。宗乘中事如何。師曰。待汝悟始得。問如何是金剛力士。師乃吹之。文桶頭下山。師問。桶頭下山幾時歸。曰三五日。師曰。歸時有無底桶子將一擔歸。文無對(歸宗柔代雲。和尚用作什麼)師有時垂語曰。諸方老宿盡道接物利生。且問汝。只如盲聾瘂三種病人。汝作麼生接。若拈槌豎拂他眼且不見。共他說話耳又不聞口復瘂。若接不得佛法盡無靈驗。時有僧出曰。三種病人和尚還許人商量否。師曰。許汝作麼生商量。其僧珍重出。師曰。不是不是(法眼雲。我當時見羅漢和尚舉此僧語。我便會三種病人。雲居錫雲。只如此僧會不會。若道會玄沙又道不是。若道不會法眼為什麼道。我因此僧語便會三種病人。上座無事上來商量大家要知)羅漢雲。桂琛見有眼耳和尚作麼生接。中塔雲。三種病人即今在什麼處。又一僧雲。非唯謾他兼亦自謾長慶稜來。師問。除卻藥忌作麼生道。稜曰。憨作麼。師曰。雪峰山橡子恰食來遮裡雀兒放糞。師見僧來禮拜乃曰。禮拜著因我得禮拜汝。一日普請往海坑斫柴。見一虎。師曰。和尚虎。師曰。是汝虎。歸院後僧問。適來見虎雲是汝。未審尊意如何。師曰。娑婆世界有四重障。若人透得許汝出陰界(東禪齊雲。上座古人見了道。我身心如大地虛空。如今人還透得麼)師問長生然和尚。維摩觀佛前際不來後際不去今則無住。汝作麼生觀。對曰。放皎然過有商量。師曰。放汝過作麼生。長生良久。師曰。教阿誰委。曰徒勞側耳。師曰。情知汝向山鬼窟裡作活計(崇壽稠別長生雲。喚什麼作如來)僧問師。學人為什麼道不得。師曰。畐塞汝口爭解道得(法眼雲。古人恁麼道甚奇特。且問上座口是什麼)問凡有言句盡落捲樻。

A monk asked: "Beyond the four dignified postures, how does one serve the king?" The master said: "You are a criminal under the king's law—how could you understand serving a king?" A monk asked: "When the ancients raised the gavel and held up the whisk, did that count as the matter of the school-vehicle?" The master said: "It did not." The monk said: "What was the ancients' meaning?" The master held up the fly-whisk. The monk said: "What is the matter of the school-vehicle?" The master said: "When you awaken, then you will get it." A monk asked: "What is the diamond strongman?" The master blew at him. Wen the bucket-head went down the mountain. The master asked: "Bucket-head, going down the mountain—when will you return?" He said: "In three or five days." The master said: "When you come back, bring a load of bottomless buckets." Wen had no reply. (Guizong Rou answered in his place: "What would the venerable use them for?") Sometimes the master let fall a saying: "The old worthies everywhere all speak of receiving beings and benefiting the living. Let me ask you: take three kinds of sick persons—the blind, the deaf, and the mute—how do you receive them? If you raise the gavel and hold up the whisk, their eyes cannot see it. If you speak with them, their ears cannot hear, and their mouths are mute besides. If you cannot receive them, the Buddha Dharma has no efficacious power at all." Then a monk came forward and said: "Does the venerable permit people to discuss the three kinds of sick persons?" The master said: "I permit it. How do you discuss them?" The monk bowed deeply and went out. The master said: "Not it, not it." (Fayan said: "At that time I saw the monk of Luohan raise this monk's words, and right then I understood the three kinds of sick persons." Yunju Xi said: "Just consider whether this monk understood or not. If you say he understood, why did Xuansha say 'not it'? If you say he did not understand, why did Fayan say 'because of this monk's words I understood the three kinds of sick persons'? If seniors come up to discuss when there is no occasion, everyone should know.") Luohan said: "Guichen had eyes and ears—how will the venerable receive him?" Zhongta said: "Where are the three kinds of sick persons right now?" Another monk said: "Not only did he deceive him; he also deceived himself." Changqing Leng came. The master asked: "Setting aside the taboo on medicine, how do you speak?" Leng said: "Why play the fool?" The master said: "You have just come from eating acorns on Mount Xuefeng; here the sparrow lets fall its droppings." Once, seeing a monk come to pay homage, the master said: "Bow away. It is thanks to me that you get to bow to me." One day, on a communal call to cut firewood at Haikeng, they saw a tiger. A monk said: "Venerable, a tiger." The master said: "It is your tiger." After they returned to the cloister the monk asked: "Just now at the tiger you said 'it is yours.' I do not understand your meaning." The master said: "The saha world has four heavy barriers. If a person can pass through them, I grant that you have escaped the realm of the skandhas." (Dongchan Qi said: "The ancients saw this and said: my body and mind are like the great earth and empty space. Can people today still pass through?") The master asked Venerable Changsheng Ran: "Vimalakirti viewed the Buddha thus: the prior limit does not come, the latter limit does not go, and now there is no abiding. How do you view it?" Ran answered: "To let it pass, bright and clear, there is still something to discuss." The master said: "Letting you pass—what then?" Changsheng was silent for a long while. The master said: "Whom shall I have confirm it?" He said: "To strain your ears is wasted effort." The master said: "I know full well you are making your livelihood in a mountain sprite's cave." (Chongshou Chou answered in Changsheng's place: "What are you calling the Tathagata?") A monk asked the master: "Why can the student not speak?" The master said: "It blocks up your mouth—how could you know how to speak?" (The base text writes the characters differently.) (Fayan said: "That the ancients spoke like this is most extraordinary. But let me ask the senior: what is a mouth?") A monk asked: "All words and phrases, whenever uttered, fall into the scroll-case."

不落捲樻請和尚商量。師曰。抝折秤衡來與汝商量。問古人瞬視接人。和尚如何接人。師曰。我不瞬視接人。僧問。是什麼得恁麼難見。師曰。只為太近(法眼雲。也無可得近直下是上座)師在雪峰時光侍者謂師曰。師叔若學得禪。某甲打鐵船下海去。師住後問曰。光侍者打得鐵船也未。光無對(法眼代雲。和尚終不恁麼。法燈代雲。請和尚下船。玄覺代雲。貧兒思舊債)師一日遣僧送書上雪峰和尚。雪峰開緘唯白紙三幅。問僧會麼。曰不會。雪峰曰。不見道。君子千里同風。其僧迴舉似於師。師曰。遮老和尚蹉過也不知(東禪齊雲。什麼處蹉過。若的蹉過師豈不會弟子意。若不恁麼會。只如玄沙意作麼生。若會便參取玄沙)師問鏡清。教中道。菩薩摩訶薩不見一法為大過失。且道不見什麼法。鏡清指露柱雲。莫是不見遮箇法麼(同安顯別雲。也知和尚不造次)師曰。浙中清水白米從汝吃。佛法未會在(玄覺雲。且道玄沙恁麼道意在什麼處。不見僧問洞山雲。不見一法為大過失。此意如何。洞山雲。不見一法好言語上座。一宿覺雲。不見一法即如來方得名為觀自在普賢菩薩。又云。不見一法為大過失。是一箇是兩箇試斷看)僧問。承和尚有言。盡十方世界是一顆明珠。學人如何得會。師曰。盡十方世界是一顆明珠用會作麼。師來日卻問其僧。盡十方世界是一顆明珠汝作麼生會。對曰。盡十方世界是一顆明珠用會作麼。師曰。知汝向山鬼窟裡作活計(玄覺雲。一般恁麼道。為什麼卻成山鬼窟去)問如何是無縫塔。師曰。遮一縫大小(玄覺雲。叢林中道恁麼來。何處得無縫。還會得著不著)韋監軍來謁舉。曹山和尚甚奇怪。師乃問。撫州取曹山多少。韋指傍僧雲。上座曾到曹山否。曰曾到。韋曰。撫州取曹山多少。曰一百二十里。韋曰。恁麼即上座不到曹山。韋卻起禮拜師。師曰。監軍卻須禮此僧。

(The monk continued:) ...that do not fall into the scroll-case—please discuss them, venerable." The master said: "Break the steelyard in two and I will discuss with you." A monk asked: "The ancients received people with a glance. How does the venerable receive people?" The master said: "I do not receive people with a glance." The monk asked: "What is it that is so hard to see?" The master said: "It is only because it is too near." (Fayan said: "There is also nothing that can be near; straight down it is the senior himself.") When the master was at Xuefeng, the attendant Guang said to him: "If the Dharma-uncle learns Chan, I will forge an iron boat and go to sea in it." After the master had his own abbacy, he asked: "Attendant Guang, have you forged that iron boat yet?" Guang had no reply. (Fayan answered in his place: "The venerable finally would not do so." Faleng answered in his place: "Please come off the boat, venerable." Xuanjue answered in his place: "A poor boy remembers old debts.") One day the master sent a monk to deliver a letter to the venerable Xuefeng. Xuefeng opened the seal and found only three sheets of blank paper. He asked the monk: "Do you understand?" The monk said: "I do not." Xuefeng said: "Have you not heard: a gentleman a thousand miles away shares the same wind?" The monk returned and related it to the master. The master said: "That old monk stumbled right past it and did not even know." (Dongchan Qi said: "Where did he stumble past? If he really stumbled past, how could the master fail to understand his disciple's meaning? If he did not understand in that way, what then was Xuansha's meaning? If you can understand, go study Xuansha.") The master asked Jingqing: "The teachings say: a bodhisattva-mahasattva's great fault is not seeing a single dharma. Tell me: what dharma is not seen?" Jingqing pointed at the exposed pillar and said: "Could it be not seeing this dharma?" (Tong'an Xian said in his place: "He also knows the venerable is not rash.") The master said: "The clear water and white rice of Zhezhong are yours to eat; in the Buddha Dharma you have not yet understood." (Xuanjue said: "Tell me: where was Xuansha's meaning in speaking thus? Have you not seen the monk who asked Dongshan: 'Not seeing a single dharma is the great fault—what does this mean?' Dongshan said: 'Not seeing a single dharma—fine words, senior.' Yisu Jue said: 'Not seeing a single dharma is the Tathagata, and only then may one be called Guanzizai.' The bodhisattva Samantabhadra also said: 'Not seeing a single dharma is the great fault.' Is it one or two? Try to judge.") A monk asked: "I have heard the venerable say: the whole world of the ten directions is a single bright pearl. How can the student come to understand it?" The master said: "The whole world of the ten directions is a single bright pearl—what use is understanding?" The next day the master asked that monk in turn: "The whole world of the ten directions is a single bright pearl—how do you understand it?" He answered: "The whole world of the ten directions is a single bright pearl—what use is understanding?" The master said: "I knew you were making your livelihood in a mountain sprite's cave." (Xuanjue said: "He said just the same—why did it become a mountain sprite's cave?") A monk asked: "What is the seamless pagoda?" The master said: "How big is this seam?" (Xuanjue said: "The monasteries have been saying this all along—where would you get 'seamless'? Do you understand whether you hit it or not?") Wei the army supervisor came to call and spoke of the venerable Caoshan as most extraordinary. The master asked: "From Fuzhou, how far is it to Caoshan?" Wei pointed at the monk beside him and said: "Has the senior been to Caoshan?" The monk said: "I have." Wei said: "From Fuzhou, how far is it to Caoshan?" He said: "A hundred and twenty li." Wei said: "Then the senior has not been to Caoshan." Wei then rose and bowed to the master. The master said: "The supervisor ought rather to bow to this monk.

此僧卻具慚愧(雲居錫雲。什麼處是此僧具慚愧。若檢得出許上座有行腳眼)西天有聲明三藏到。閩帥令與師相見。師以火筯敲銅鑪問。是什麼聲。三藏對曰。銅鐵聲(法眼別雲。請大師為大王。法燈別雲。聽和尚問)師曰。大王莫受外國人謾。三藏無對(法眼代雲。大師久受大王供養。法燈代雲。卻是和尚謾大王)師南遊莆田縣排百戲迎接。來日師問小塘長老。昨日許多喧鬧向什麼處去也。小塘提起衲衣角。師曰。料掉勿交涉(法眼別雲。昨日有多少喧鬧。法燈別雲。今日更好笑)師問僧。乾闥婆城汝作麼生會。僧曰。如夢如幻(法眼別敲物示之)師與地藏琛在方丈內說話夜深。侍者閉卻門。師曰。門總閉了。汝作麼生得出去。琛曰。喚什麼作門(法燈別雲。和尚莫欲歇去)師一日以杖拄地問長生曰。僧見俗見男見女見。汝作麼生見。長生曰。和尚還見皎然見處麼。師曰。相識滿天下。問承和尚有言。聞性遍周法界。雪峰打鼓遮裡為什麼不聞。師曰。誰知不聞。問險惡道中以何為津梁。師曰。以汝眼為津梁。曰未得者如何。師曰。快救取。師與韋監軍吃果子。韋問。如何是日用而不知。師拈起果子曰吃。韋吃果子了。再問之。師曰。只者是日用而不知。普請般柴。師曰。汝諸人盡承吾力。一僧曰。既承師力何用普請。師叱之曰。不普請爭得柴歸。師問明真大師。善財參彌勒。彌勒指歸文殊。文殊指歸佛處。汝道佛指歸什麼處。對曰。不知。師曰。情知汝不知(法眼別雲喚什麼作佛)大普玄通到禮覲。師謂曰。汝在彼住莫誑惑人家男女。對曰。玄通只是開箇供養門。晚來朝去爭敢作恁麼事。師曰。事難。曰其情是難。師曰。什麼處是難處。曰為伊不肯承當。師便入方丈拄卻門。問學人乍入叢林乞師指箇入路。師曰。還聞偃溪水聲否。曰聞。師曰。是汝入處。泉守王公請師登樓。先語客司曰。

(The master continued:) But this monk has a sense of shame." (Yunju Xi said: "Where is it that this monk has shame? If you can find it, I grant that the senior has the pilgrim's eye.") From the Western Heavens a Tripitaka master of the teaching of sounds arrived. The ruler of Min had him meet the master. The master tapped the bronze stove with fire tongs and asked: "What sound is that?" The Tripitaka master answered: "The sound of bronze and iron." (Fayan said in his place: "The great master asks on behalf of the prince." Faleng said in his place: "Listen to the venerable's question.") The master said: "The prince must not let himself be deceived by a foreigner." The Tripitaka master had no reply. (Fayan answered in his place: "The great master has long received the prince's offerings." Faleng answered in his place: "It is rather the venerable deceiving the prince.") The master traveled south to Putian County, where a hundred entertainments were staged to welcome him. The next day the master asked Elder Xiaotang: "Where did all that clamor of yesterday go?" Xiaotang raised a corner of his robe. The master said: "You miss it by a mile; it is beside the point." (Fayan said in his place: "How much clamor there was yesterday." Faleng said in his place: "Today is even funnier.") The master asked a monk: "The gandharva city—how do you understand it?" The monk said: "Like a dream, like an illusion." (Fayan, in his place, rapped on something to show him.) The master was talking late into the night with Dizang Chen in the abbot's quarters when an attendant closed the door. The master said: "The door is all shut. How do you get out?" Chen said: "What are you calling a door?" (Faleng said in his place: "Is the venerable thinking of retiring?") One day the master planted his staff on the ground and asked Changsheng: "There is seeing as a monk, seeing as a layman, seeing as a man, seeing as a woman. How do you see?" Changsheng said: "Does the venerable still see plainly where he sees?" The master said: "Acquaintances fill the land." A monk asked: "I have heard the venerable say: the nature of hearing pervades the whole Dharma-realm. When Xuefeng beats his drum, why do we not hear it here?" The master said: "Who knows it is not heard?" A monk asked: "On the road of danger, what serves as ford and bridge?" The master said: "Your eye serves as ford and bridge." The monk said: "What of one who has not attained it?" The master said: "Quickly rescue him." The master was eating fruit with Wei the supervisor. Wei asked: "What is 'using it daily without knowing'?" The master picked up a fruit and said: "Eat." Wei ate the fruit, then asked again. The master said: "This very thing is using it daily without knowing." At a communal call to carry firewood, the master said: "All of you rely on my strength." A monk said: "Since we rely on the master's strength, why the communal call?" The master rebuked him: "Without the communal call, how would the firewood get home?" The master asked Great Master Mingzhen: "Sudhana called on Maitreya; Maitreya directed him back to Manjusri; Manjusri directed him back to the Buddha. Where do you say the Buddha directs him back to?" He answered: "I do not know." The master said: "I know full well you do not know." (Fayan said in his place: "What are you calling the Buddha?") Xuantong of Dapu came to pay respects. The master told him: "You live over there—do not deceive other people's men and women." He answered: "Xuantong merely opens a gate of offerings; they come in the evening and leave at dawn—how would I dare do such a thing?" The master said: "The matter is hard." He said: "Truly it is hard." The master said: "Where is the hard part?" He said: "That they will not undertake it." The master then went into the abbot's quarters and barred the door. A monk asked: "The student has just entered the monastery; I beg the master to point out a way in." The master said: "Do you hear the sound of Yan Creek?" He said: "I hear it." The master said: "That is your way in." Prince Wang, prefect of Quanzhou, invited the master to climb a tower. First he told the guest steward: