鎮州臨濟慧照禪師語錄 1
English (machine translation) 1
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1.1
Preface to the Recorded Sayings of Great Chan Master Linji Huizhao Xuan
1.2
The branches of Caoxi spread out, surging and flowing without end; the forks of Nanyue divide, standing towering and continuously linked without exhaustion. As descendants proliferate and branches and foliage flourish, they not only give shelter to gods and humans, but also illuminate and glorify the ancestral way. In speech that is no-speech, one must understand that the intention does not lie in words; in hearing that is no-hearing, truly believe that words hold no deliberate intent. These are all of the path beyond analogies at the utmost limit of principle, its residual traces and reverberations. Thus the ancestral teacher Linji clarified the mind of nirvāṇa with the eye of true Dharma, aroused great wisdom and great compassion, operated great dynamic functioning and great application, and beneath his stick and within his shout eradicated worldly sentiments; striking like lightning and galloping like shooting stars, he was difficult to match in an instant. How could hesitation be permitted? How could pondering be allowed! It is not merely that 'the rooster crossed to Silla'—he wished to cause the phoenix to soar into the high heavens, leaving behind no omen or trace, breaking through the mysterious barrier, and causing the deluded multitudes of the three realms to return to the single true reality. The heroes of the realm all look up to him with reverence; that he stands as the founder of a school is only natural. Now, Chief Abbot Chan Master Xuetang is an eighteenth-generation descendant of Linji. Searching everywhere for this record north of the river and south of the Yangtze, he happened upon reaching Yuhang to obtain this text. Like a pauper finding a jewel or someone in the dark gaining a lamp, he leaped and shouted with joy, overcome with gratitude. Thereupon he gave away surplus wealth to have it carved onto printing blocks and circulated, distributing it to all monasteries. This remarkable event is truly rare to encounter in a thousand years. Ah! The golden sound cast to the ground is heard across the four seas; one surely knows the price of pearls and jade is hard to match. In the second year of Yuanzhen, the year Dingwei, Conglun, the Elder of Linquan, abbot and lineage heir of the ancestral monastery Bao'en Chan Temple in Dadu, washed his hands, burned incense, and respectfully composed this preface.
1.3
Preface to the Recorded Sayings of Great Chan Master Linji Huizhao Xuan
1.4
The Bhagavat entrusted the 'treasury of the true Dharma eye, the sublime mind of nirvāṇa' to Mahākāśyapa, who became the first patriarch. Reaching the twenty-eighth patriarch Bodhidharma, he brought the esoteric seal of all Buddhas throughout the ten directions and the three times and came to Cīnasthāna; only then did China first know that the Buddha Dharma contains a special transmission outside the teachings, not establishing words and letters, directly pointing to the human mind, and seeing into one's nature and attaining Buddhahood. After that, the utpala flower appeared in its season, rich with fragrance, one flower with five petals, its fragrant wind encircling the earth and its precious light illuminating heaven, each radiating immeasurable brilliance to illuminate the great trichiliocosm.
1.5
Among them was a great bhikṣu who, for the sake of the one great causal matter, resided on Mount Huangbo. Three times he approached with inquiries, and three times he was beaten. Later, at the shore of the Gao'an rapids under Old Master Dayu, he first received complete confirmation. Throughout his life he wielded the vajra-king jewel sword, slaying mortals when meeting mortals and slaying sages when meeting sages. As wind bends grass, his command extended to the eight quarters, like a snow-white elephant king, or like a golden-haired lion crouching on the ground and roaring, causing the hearts and brains of foxes and jackals to burst, and all beasts upon seeing him to tremble in their flanks. Like alarming billows and perilous crags standing sheer at ten thousand cubits, he made travellers on the path hesitate and dare not raise or lower their feet, fearing only the loss of body and life; even those seasoned in wielding tongs and hammer broke into a sweat at the sight of him.
1.6
As for the three mysteries and three essentials, snatching away the environment and snatching away the person, his golden phrases and jade lines were like sails before the wind and horses in battle array, like swift thunder and rushing lightning, crashing through waves, penetrating precipitous fortresses, shattering enemy lines, turning heaven and revolving earth, free in all directions, practically cutting off the myriad streams, so that students of the four seas invariably bowed before his wind. Therefore his house style was steep and unyielding, solitary, stern, and hard to enter; for the wondrous application and mastery reside neither in words nor apart from words—only one who turns the entire great earth into a single eye can recognize it. At the very end, he let the treasury of the true Dharma eye be extinguished by that blind donkey.
1.7
The Master's origins and deeds are fully recorded in records such as the *Transmission of the Lamp*, so they will not be repeated here. From Master Xinghua Jiang downward, his descendants have been the most flourishing and grand, with many persons of great capacity who outshine rivers and mountains and shed luster on both ancient and modern times. Everywhere in Dharma assemblies and chan groves, converting the secular and expounding the real, setting standards again and again, extending the broad and long tongue mark to open halls and expound the Dharma for others—such as Master Ciming Yuan and Master Langye Jue were both great Dharma kings and teachers of gods and humans.
1.8
Now, the Great Chan Master Xuetang is an eighteenth-generation direct descendant of Linji and the tenth-generation direct lineage of Langye; honored by princes and ministers, admired by both monastic and lay, he is indeed a dragon-elephant among the saṅgha. Not forgetting the ancestral master's kindness and virtue, he constantly regretted that Linji's single words and single phrases, single sticks and single shouts, inquiries and resolutions, and the recorded sayings from entering the room and ascending the hall had not been widely illuminated; so he carved them onto blocks to circulate them and broaden the sight and hearing of the chan grove, further requesting the North Mountain Layman Guo Tianxi to write a preface.
1.9
Alas! Master Xuetang carries out that which is difficult for past ancestral masters to perform; being mindful of the end and pursuing what is distant, he is indeed not without the knowledge of repaying kindness. Bringing forth anew the spittle spat out by that mad old fellow of five hundred years ago, he offers it up. Will today's patch-robed monks still be willing to chew on it? The return of the pearl to Hepu is certainly extraordinary, but popping beans in cold ashes does no harm either.
1.10
In the eighth month of the second year of Dade, former Investigating Censor Guo Tianxi burned incense, made nine prostrations, and wrote this.
1.11
Preface to the Recorded Sayings of Great Chan Master Linji Huizhao Xuan
1.12
I venture that though Mount Huangbo was high, he dared directly to stroke the tiger's whiskers; though the bank of the Hutuo was distant, he could steer a boat along with the current. Having revealed his poisonous claws and fangs, he still displayed compassionate means: a slap across the cheek saved the trouble of catching on teeth and sticking to lips; three blows to the ribs truly poured out heart and guts. With the three mysteries in hand and the seven items about his person, if touched he shattered rocks and collapsed cliffs; if deliberated he struck like crashing thunder and flashing lightning. His house style was solitary and steep, its inner chambers vast and profound; one could only gaze at the precipice, not approach it.
1.13
Now, Chief Abbot Venerable Xuetang, lamenting that the rustic songs found few to harmonize and sighing that the snow melodies played found rare response, saw that this recorded sayings lacked text and was seldom seen in chan groves. Thereupon he sought widely among Buddhist disciples to revive these writings, wishing to engrave the blocks for broad circulation, so that those investigating the mysterious might derive benefit, propagating the ancestral way and extending abundance to later generations. Beneath the stick and within the shout, one must be clear as flint-sparks and lightning-flash; in raising the main case from the side, one must look out for eyebrows and nostrils. Other encounter occasions are fully recorded in previous records and need not be brought up again.
1.14
Ah! The ancestral master Linji transmitted it across six generations down to the Great Master of Fenyang; beneath Fenyang there were six outstanding great venerables, called Ciming Yuan and Langye Jue. Yuan transmitted to Yangqi Hui; Hui transmitted to Baiyun Duan; Duan transmitted to Wuzu Yan; Yan transmitted to Foguo Qin, Fojian, and Tianmu Qi. Foguo transmitted to Huqiu Long and Dahui Gao; Huqiu Long transmitted to Ying'an Hua; Hua transmitted to Mi'an Jie; Jie transmitted to Songyuan Yue; Yue transmitted to Wude Tong; Tong transmitted to Xuzhou Du; Du transmitted to Jingshan Huyan Fu. Tianmu Qi transmitted to He of Ruzhou; He transmitted to Bao of Zhulin; Bao transmitted to An of Zhulin; An transmitted to Hai of Zhulin; Hai transmitted to Zhang of Qingshou. Baijian Yi transmitted to Guiyun Xuan; Xuan transmitted to Pingshan Liang; Baijian Yi also transmitted to Chongxu Fang and Lanmu Gui. Zhang of Qingshou transmitted to the Great Master Haiyun, Yi of Zhulin; Yi transmitted to Hui of Longhua. Haiyun transmitted to Ke'an Lang, Longgong Yu, and Yi'an Xuan; Ke'an transmitted to Grand Tutor Duke Liu Wenzhen and Man of Qingshou; Longgong Yu transmitted to Hai of Daming; Yi'an transmitted to An of Qingshou.
1.15
Langye Jue transmitted to Letan Yue; Yue transmitted to Zhen of Piling; Zhen transmitted to Bai of Baishui; Bai transmitted to Dang of Tianning; Dang transmitted to Chun of Cizhao; Chun transmitted to Bao of Zhengzhou; Bao transmitted to Zang of Zhulin, Heng of Qingshou, and Jian of Shaolin. Heng of Qingshou transmitted to Bian of Dongping and Zhao of Taiyuan; Jian of Shaolin transmitted to Tong of Fawag; Tong transmitted to Jue of Anxian; Jue transmitted to Zhi of Nanjing and Yun of Xi'an; Zhi of Nanjing transmitted to Zhan of Shoufeng; Yun of Xi'an transmitted to Xuetang Ren—Xuetang being the eighteenth-generation descendant of Linji. There was none whose house style was not solitary and steep, their dynamic eloquence unrestrained, all being worthy descendants of the family, lamp passing flame to lamp straight down to the present; it can truly be said that the source is clear and the stream runs long—this is what it means.
1.16
Chan Master Xuetang is my ancestral teacher three generations prior; having entrusted me to compose a preface, I rashly wrote this. May those whose cheeks can be seen from behind their heads and who possess an eye atop their crown burst into a great laugh! The twentieth-generation descendant inheriting the ancestors, Puxiu of Wufeng, retired from Kaitai, purified himself, burned incense, made prostrations, and wrote this.
1.17
Preface to the Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Linji Huizhao of Zhenzhou
1.18
Composed by Ma Fang, Scholar of Yan Kang Hall, Grand Master for Golden and Purple Radiance with the Dignity of Silver and Blue, Pacification Commissioner of the Zhending Superior Prefecture Circuit, Concurrent Chief Controller of Horse and Foot Troops, and Concurrent Governor of Chengde Military Prefecture.
1.19
At the summit of Mount Huangbo he suffered painful sticks; beneath the ribs of Dayu he first learned to strike with his fist. That talkative old woman and bed-wetting imp—this mad fellow stroking the tiger's whiskers once again! Planting pines in the craggy valley, he set an example for later people; digging the ground with a mattock, he was nearly buried alive. Approving that junior, he slapped his own mouth; bidding farewell to burning the desk, he cut off the tongue. If not south of the Yellow River, then returning north of it, the courtyard faced an ancient crossing, ferrying people to and fro. Holding firm the vital ford, standing sheer at ten thousand cubits, snatching away the person and snatching away the environment, he forged and molded the fine steed. With the three essentials and three mysteries, tongs and hammer for patch-robed monks, always in the home yet never leaving the path. The true person without rank coming and going through the facial gates; both halls shouting in unison, guest and host clearly distinct. Illumination and function occur simultaneously, fundamentally without before and after, like a water-chestnut mirror facing an image or an empty valley echoing sound. Responding wondrously without fixed direction, leaving no trace behind, shaking his sleeves he marched south and arrived at Daming. Xinghua received his lineage, welcoming and attending him in the eastern hall; with bronze pitcher and iron bowl, closing his room and cutting off speech, old pines and idle clouds, he was vast and self-possessed. Not long after facing the wall, the secret entrustment neared its end: to whom was the true Dharma transmitted? Extinguished beside that blind donkey. Old Yan of Yuanjue now circulates it; checking it over, there are no errors, only that one shout remains to be discussed. May chan followers with the eye not cite it in vain. Respectfully prefaced on the Mid-Autumn Day of the year Gengzi of the Xuanhe era.
1.20
Compiled by the lineage heir and junior disciple Huiran, resident of Sansheng.
1.21
The prefectural governor, Attendant Wang, together with various officials, invited the Master to ascend the seat. The Master entered the hall and said, "Today this mountain monk had no choice; only out of accommodating human sentiments did I mount this seat. If it were in accordance with proclaiming the great matter under the gate of the ancestral school, one simply could not open one's mouth, and there would be nowhere for you to plant your feet. Today, however, because of the Attendant's earnest request, how could I conceal the essential principle of our school? Are there any adept battle commanders right here to unfurl their battle lines and unfurl their flags? Step forward before the assembly to bear witness!"
A monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?"
The Master gave a shout. The monk bowed. The Master said, "This monk is indeed capable of holding a discussion."
[A monk] asked the Master, "Whose family tune do you sing? Whose ancestral style do you inherit?"
The Master said, "When I was at Huangbo's place, three times I questioned him, and three times I was beaten."
The monk hesitated, and the Master gave a shout, followed by a blow, saying, "One must not drive a peg into empty space!"
A lecturing master asked, "Do not the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teachings clarify the Buddha-nature?"
The Master said, "The wild grass has never been weeded."
The lecturer said, "Could the Buddha have deceived people?"
The Master said, "Where is the Buddha?"
The lecturer was speechless. The Master said, "In front of the Attendant, you intended to deceive this old monk! Step back at once! Step back at once! You are obstructing others from asking questions."
He further said, "Today's Dharma assembly is for the sake of the one great matter. Are there any more questioners? Step forward quickly and put your questions! Yet the moment you open your mouths, there is already no connection. Why is this so? Have you not seen the Śākya Honoured One say: 'The Dharma is free from words and letters, because it does not pertain to causes and is not within conditions'? It is because your faith does not reach, that today there are entanglements. Fearing to detain the Attendant and the officials and obscure their Buddha-nature, it is better to withdraw for now."
He gave a shout and said, "People with little root of faith will never have a day of completion. You have been standing long. Take care."
1.22
One day the Master went to the prefectural capital of Hebei. The prefectural governor, Attendant Wang, invited the Master to ascend the seat. At that time Magu came forward and asked, "Of the thousand hands and eyes of the Great Compassionate One, which is the true eye?"
The Master said, "Of the thousand hands and eyes of the Great Compassionate One, which is the true eye? Speak quickly! Speak quickly!"
Magu pulled the Master down from the seat and sat on it himself. The Master approached him and said, "Peace be with you?"
Magu hesitated. The Master also pulled Magu down from the seat and sat on it himself. Magu then walked out, and the Master stepped down from the seat.
1.23
Ascending the hall, [the Master] said, "On the lump of red flesh there is a true person of no rank, constantly entering and exiting through the face-gates of each of you. Those who have not yet verified it, look, look!"
At that time a monk came forward and asked, "What is the true person of no rank?"
The Master stepped down from the meditation seat, seized him, and said, "Speak! Speak!"
The monk hesitated. The Master pushed him away and said, "What dry lump of shit is the true person of no rank?" He then returned to the abbot's quarters.
1.24
Ascending the hall, a monk came forward and bowed. The Master gave a shout.
The monk said, "It would be better if the Venerable Abbot did not test me."
The Master said, "Where do you say it has fallen?"
The monk gave a shout. Another monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?"
The Master gave a shout. The monk bowed. The Master said, "Do you say that was a good shout or not?"
The monk said, "The grass-bandit has suffered a great defeat."
The Master said, "Where was the fault?"
The monk said, "A second offense is not permitted."
The Master gave a shout.
On that day, the head monks of the two halls met each other and shouted simultaneously. A monk asked the Master, "Was there a guest and host, or not?"
The Master said, "Guest and host were distinct."
The Master said, "Assembly, if you wish to understand Linji's phrases of guest and host, ask the two head monks in the halls." He then stepped down from the seat.
1.25
Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?"
The Master held up his fly-whisk. The monk gave a shout, and the Master struck him.
Again, a monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?"
The Master also held up his fly-whisk. The monk gave a shout, and the Master also shouted. The monk hesitated, and the Master struck him.
The Master then said, "Assembly! Those who act for the Dharma do not shrink from losing body and life. For twenty years at my late master Huangbo's place, three times I asked about the real, great meaning of the Buddha Dharma, and three times I received his staff, as if brushed by mugwort stalks. Today I again think of getting a beating; who can administer it to me?"
At that time a monk stepped out from the assembly and said, "I can administer it."
The Master took up the stick and handed it to him. As the monk moved to take it, the Master struck him.
1.26
Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "What is the matter on the blade of a sword?"
The Master said, "Calamity! Calamity!"
The monk hesitated, and the Master struck him.
[A monk] asked, "Just as when the lay practitioner of the stone chamber treaded the pestle and forgot to move his feet, where did he go?"
The Master said, "Drowned in the deep spring."
The Master then said, "Whenever anyone comes, I do not fail him; I always recognize where he comes from. If he comes like this, it is just as if he were lost; if he does not come like this, he binds himself without a rope. At all times do not deliberate recklessly; whether you understand or do not understand, it is all completely wrong. I speak clearly like this; let everyone in the world criticize and dissect it as they will. You have been standing long. Take care."
1.27
Ascending the hall, [the Master] said, "One person is on top of a solitary peak with no path to emerge; one person is at the crossroads with neither front nor back. Which one is in front? Which one is behind? Do not act like Vimalakīrti; do not act like Mahāsattva Fu. Take care."
1.28
Ascending the hall, [the Master] said, "There is one person who for kalpas has been on the way without leaving home; there is one person who has left home and is not on the way. Which one deserves to receive the offerings of humans and devas?" He then stepped down from the seat.
1.29
Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "What is the first phrase?"
The Master said, "The seal of the three essentials opened, the vermilion dot is imprinted; / Before any deliberation is permitted, host and guest are divided."
[The monk] asked, "What is the second phrase?"
The Master said, "How could wondrous understanding permit Asanga's questioning? / How could skillful means fall short of the dynamic that cuts off the flow?"
[The monk] asked, "What is the third phrase?"
The Master said, "Look at the puppets manipulated on the stage: / All the pulling of strings comes from the man inside."
The Master also said, "A single phrase must possess the three mysterious gates; a single mysterious gate must possess the three essentials. There is the provisional and there is the functioning. How do all of you understand this?" He stepped down from the seat.
1.30
The master gave an evening address to the assembly, saying: "Sometimes [I] snatch away the person but do not snatch away the environment; sometimes [I] snatch away the environment but do not snatch away the person; sometimes [I] snatch away both the person and the environment; sometimes [I] snatch away neither the person nor the environment." Then a monk asked: "What is snatching away the person but not snatching away the environment?" The master said: "The gentle sun comes forth, spreading a brocade over the earth; / The infant's drooping hair is white as silk." The monk asked: "What is snatching away the environment but not snatching away the person?" The master said: "The royal command is already carried out throughout the realm; / Beyond the frontier, the general puts an end to smoke and dust." The monk asked: "What is snatching away both the person and the environment?" The master said: "Bing and Fen cut off communication, / Remaining isolated in their own quarter." The monk asked: "What is snatching away neither the person nor the environment?" The master said: "The king ascends the jewel palace; / The rustic elders sing their songs." The master then said: "Nowadays, those who study the Buddha-Dharma must above all seek true and correct insight. If you obtain true and correct insight, birth and death will not defile you, and you will be free to go or stay. Do not seek the extraordinary, and the extraordinary will arrive on its own. Followers of the Way! The ancient masters of old all had ways of liberating people. Where this mountain monk instructs people, I only want you not to be deluded by others: use it when you need to use it, and hesitate no longer. Today's students fail to attain it—where is their ailment? The ailment lies in not trusting themselves. If you lack sufficient self-trust, then you are frantically swept along by all environments, transformed by all ten thousand environments, unable to attain freedom. If you can put to rest the mind that in every thought runs about seeking, you will be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Do you wish to know the patriarchs and Buddhas? It is none other than the one before you listening to the Dharma. It is because you students lack sufficient trust that you go running about outside seeking. Even if you obtain something through seeking, it will all be the glorious marks of words and phrases; in the end you will never obtain the living intention of the patriarchs. Make no mistake, Chan worthies! If you do not encounter it at this time, you will transmigrate through the three realms for myriad kalpas and thousands of lives, carried off by following pleasant environments to be born in the bellies of donkeys and oxen. Followers of the Way! In the view of this mountain monk, you are no different from Śākya[muni]. Amid today's manifold applications, what is lacking? The spiritual light of the six paths has never been interrupted. If you can see it like this, you will simply be a person who has nothing to do for an entire lifetime. Worthies! There is no peace in the three realms, just like a burning house; this is not a place where you can stay for long. In a single kṣaṇa the killer ghost of impermanence does not discriminate between noble, base, old, or young. If you wish to be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas, just do not seek outside. The pure light in a single thought of your mind is the dharmakāya Buddha in your own house; the non-discriminating light in a single thought of your mind is the sambhogakāya Buddha in your own house; the undifferentiated light in a single thought of your mind is the nirmāṇakāya Buddha in your own house. These three kinds of bodies are the very person before you right now listening to the Dharma; it is only because you do not run about outside seeking that you have these functions. According to the exegetes of the sūtras and treatises, the three kinds of bodies are taken as the ultimate principle. In the view of this mountain monk, it is not so: these three kinds of bodies are nominal designations and are also three kinds of dependencies. An ancient said: 'The bodies are established based on meaning; the lands are discussed based on substance.' The dharmatā body and dharmatā land are clearly known to be reflections of light. Worthies! You must recognize the person who manipulates the light and reflections—that is the fundamental source of all Buddhas, and everywhere is the place where followers of the Way return home. Your physical body of the four great elements cannot explain the Dharma or listen to the Dharma; your spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder cannot explain the Dharma or listen to the Dharma; empty space cannot explain the Dharma or listen to the Dharma. What is it that can explain the Dharma and listen to the Dharma? It is that which is distinct and clear before you, solitary and luminous without a physical form—this is what can explain the Dharma and listen to the Dharma. If you can see it like this, you are no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Just do not interrupt it at all times, and whatever meets your eyes will be it. Only because sentiments arise, intellect obstructs, and thoughts change does the substance become distinct; thus you transmigrate through the three realms and suffer all manner of pain. In the view of this mountain monk, there is nothing that is not profound, nothing that is not liberation. Followers of the Way! The mind-dharma is formless and penetrates the ten directions: in the eye it is called seeing, in the ear it is called hearing, in the nose it smells scents, in the mouth it converses, in the hand it grasps, and in the foot it runs. Originally it is a single pure brightness, divided into the six harmonies. Once the single mind is not, there is liberation everywhere. When this mountain monk speaks like this, where does my intention lie? It is only because followers of the Way run about seeking everything, unable to put their minds to rest, falling into the idle machinations and environments of those ancients. Followers of the Way, take the view of this mountain monk and cut off the heads of the sambhoga- and nirmāṇa-Buddhas; the fullness of the tenth stage is like a hired laborer; the two awakenings of equal and sublime [enlightenment] are fellows bearing cangues and locks; arhats and pratyekabuddhas are like privy filth; bodhi and nirvāṇa are like donkey-tethering stakes. Why is this so? It is only because followers of the Way do not understand that the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas are empty, and therefore have these obstacles. If you are a true person of the Way, in the end it is not like this: simply accord with conditions to dissolve past karma, wear your clothes according to circumstances, walk when you wish to walk, sit when you wish to sit, without a single thought of aspiring to the fruit of Buddhahood. Why is this so? An ancient said: 'If you wish to create karma to seek the Buddha, the Buddha is a great omen of birth and death.' Worthies! Time is precious. If you only intend to run from door to door in fluster to study Chan, study the Way, recognize names, recognize phrases, seek the Buddha, seek the patriarchs, seek kalyāṇamitras, do not make a mistaken calculation. Followers of the Way! You have only one set of parents; what else do you seek? Turn the light around and look within yourselves! An ancient said: 'Yajñadatta lost his head; when the seeking mind is put to rest, there is nothing to do.' Worthies! You must simply be ordinary and not put on appearances. There is a class of bald rascals who do not know good from bad: they immediately see spirits and ghosts, point east and mark west, and take pleasure in fine weather or rain. Those of this sort must repay their debts in full; the day will come when they must swallow hot iron pellets before Old Yama. When the sons and daughters of good families are possessed by this sort of wild fox goblin, they make a monstrous spectacle—blind donkeys! The day will come when the cost of your food is demanded back."
1.31
The master addressed the assembly, saying: "Followers of the Way! Above all you must seek true and correct insight and stride freely across the world, so that you avoid being deluded and confused by this sort of goblin. One who has nothing to do is a noble person; just do not engage in contrived action, but simply be ordinary. If you intend to look outside, going from door to door searching for maneuvers, you have made a mistake. If you just intend to seek the Buddha, 'Buddha' is a nominal phrase. Do you still recognize the one who runs about seeking? The Buddhas and patriarchs of the three times and ten directions appeared only to seek the Dharma; today's followers of the Way who practice and study are also only seeking the Dharma. Only when you obtain the Dharma are you finished; before you obtain it, you transmigrate as before through the five destinies. What is the Dharma? The Dharma is the mind-dharma. The mind-dharma is formless, penetrates the ten directions, and functions right before your eyes. Because people lack sufficient trust, they identify with names and phrases, seeking to fathom the Buddha-Dharma from written words—they are as far apart as heaven and earth! Followers of the Way! When this mountain monk explains the Dharma, what Dharma do I explain? I explain the mind-ground Dharma, which can enter the ordinary and the sacred, enter the pure and the defiled, enter the true and the conventional. Yet it is not your conventional, true, ordinary, or sacred that can assign names to all conventional, true, ordinary, and sacred—conventional, true, ordinary, and sacred cannot assign names to this person. Followers of the Way! Grasp it and immediately use it without attaching names; it is called the 'mysterious purport.' When this mountain monk explains the Dharma, it is different from everyone else in the world. Even if a Mañjuśrī or Samantabhadra were to appear, each manifesting a body before me to ask about the Dharma, as soon as they said 'May I ask, Reverend?', I would have already discerned them. When this old monk sits firmly and other followers of the Way come to meet me, I have discerned them completely. Why is this so? It is only because my view is different: externally I do not grasp the ordinary or sacred, and internally I do not abide in the root. Seeing through completely, I harbor no doubts or errors."
1.32
The master addressed the assembly, saying: "Followers of the Way! In the Buddha-Dharma there is no place to apply effort; it is simply ordinary and having nothing to do—defecating, urinating, putting on clothes, eating food, and lying down when tired... Fools laugh at me, but the wise understand. An ancient said: 'Making effort directed outward is entirely the work of a foolish, stubborn fellow.' Just be the master wherever you are, and wherever you stand will be real; environments cannot come and transform you. Even if there are habitual tendencies from the past or the karma of the five inexpiable offenses, they will spontaneously become the great ocean of liberation. Today's students do not recognize the Dharma at all; they are like sheep whose muzzles touch things and shove them into their mouths, not distinguishing master from servant, not separating guest from host. Those of this sort enter the Way with deviant minds, unable to enter where it is noisy; they are called true renunciants, but are actually true lay householders. Now, one who leaves home must be able to distinguish ordinary, true, and correct insight—distinguish Buddha from Māra, distinguish true from counterfeit, distinguish ordinary from sacred... If you can distinguish them like this, you are called a true renunciant. If you cannot distinguish Māra from Buddha, you are just leaving one house to enter another house; you are called a karma-creating sentient being and cannot yet be called a true renunciant. Just as right now there is a state where Buddha and Māra share the same body without distinction, like water and milk mixed together, the king of geese drinks only the milk. A follower of the Way with clear eyes strikes down both Māra and Buddha. If you love the sacred and hate the ordinary, you will sink and float in the sea of birth and death."
1.33
A monk asked: "What are Buddha and Māra?" The master said: "Where a single thought of doubt arises in your mind, that is Māra. If you understand that the ten thousand dharmas are without arising and that the mind is like an illusion, without a single dust mote or a single dharma, being everywhere pure—that is Buddha. Yet Buddha and Māra are two environments of defilement and purity. In the view of this mountain monk, there is no Buddha and no sentient beings, no antiquity and no present; those who attain it attain it right away without passing through periods of time, with no cultivation and no realization, no gain and no loss, and at all times there is no other dharma. Even if there were a dharma surpassing this, I would say it is like a dream, like an illusion. What this mountain monk speaks of is all this. Followers of the Way! The one who right now is solitary, luminous, and distinctly listening before your eyes—this person is unhindered everywhere, penetrates the ten directions, is at ease in the three realms, enters all differences of environments without being transformed, penetrates into the dharmadhātu in a single kṣaṇa, speaks of Buddha when meeting a Buddha, speaks of patriarchs when meeting a patriarch, speaks of arhats when meeting an arhat, speaks of hungry ghosts when meeting a hungry ghost, travels through lands everywhere to teach and transform sentient beings without ever departing from a single thought, is pure everywhere, shines light penetrating the ten directions, with the ten thousand dharmas as one suchness. Followers of the Way! A great man only today comes to know that originally there is nothing to do. It is only because you lack sufficient trust, running about seeking in every thought, abandoning your head to look for a head, unable to put it to rest on your own. Like the bodhisattvas of the complete and sudden [teachings] who manifest their bodies upon entering the dharmadhātu, loathing the ordinary and delighting in the sacred in the pure lands—those of this sort grasping and rejecting have not yet forgotten the mind of defilement and purity. As for the insight of the Chan school, it is not like this at all: it is directly right now, without any periods of time. Everything this mountain monk speaks of is just medicine to treat ailments for a time; there is no real dharma at all. If you can see it like this, you are a true renunciant, worthy of consuming ten thousand ounces of gold a day. Followers of the Way! Do not casually let the old teachers of various quarters brand your forehead, saying, 'I understand Chan, I understand the Way,' with eloquence flowing like a river—all this is creating hell karma. If you are a true person studying the Way, do not seek the faults of the world, but urgently seek true and correct insight. If you realize true and correct insight and become completely clear, only then are you finished."
1.34
A question was asked: "What is true and correct insight?"
The Master said: "You simply enter the mundane, enter the sacred, enter the defiled, enter the pure; you enter the lands of the buddhas, enter Maitreya's tower, enter the dharmadhātu of Vairocana. Everywhere, the formation, continuation, destruction, and voidness of lands appear; buddhas appear in the world, turn the great wheel of Dharma, and then enter nirvāṇa, yet one does not see marks of coming or going; seeking their birth and death, it is utterly unobtainable. You then enter the unborn dharmadhātu, everywhere roaming through lands, entering the world of the Flower Treasury. You see completely that the empty characteristics of all phenomena are without any real dharma. There is only the person of the Way who relies on nothing, listening to the Dharma, who is the mother of all buddhas; therefore, buddhas are born from reliance on nothing. If you awaken to reliance on nothing, the Buddha is also unobtainable. If one can see like this, this is true and correct insight. Students do not understand because they grasp at names and phrases, and are obstructed by the names 'mundane' and 'sacred'; therefore their Dharma eye is hindered from becoming distinct and clear. Just like the twelvefold canon—all are expressions that reveal. Students do not understand, and proceed to generate interpretations based on these revealing names and phrases; all these are dependencies that fall into cause and effect, failing to escape birth and death in the three realms. If you wish to be free in birth and death, in going and staying, in taking off and putting on, right now recognize the person who listens to the Dharma: formless, markless, rootless, basis-less, without a dwelling place. Brisk and lively, [they] respond to the myriad kinds of expedient arrangements, yet their place of functioning is simply no-place. Therefore, the more you seek them, the further away they are; the more you pursue them, the more contrary you become. This is called the 'secret.' Followers of the Way! Do not recognize a dream-like phantom companion; sooner or later, you will directly return to impermanence. What thing are you seeking in this world to make into liberation? Seek a mouthful of food to eat, patch your robes to pass the time, and you must visit and seek out a kalyāṇamitra; do not procrastinate and chase pleasures! Time is to be cherished; thought by thought, there is impermanence. Coarsely, one is pressed by earth, water, fire, and wind; subtly, one is oppressed by the four marks of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing. Followers of the Way! At present, you must recognize the four kinds of markless environments, so as to avoid being tossed about by environments."
1.35
A question was asked: "What are the four kinds of markless environments?"
The Master said: "If a single thought of doubt arises in your mind, you are obstructed by earth; if a single thought of love arises in your mind, you are drowned by water; if a single thought of anger arises in your mind, you are burned by fire; if a single thought of joy arises in your mind, you are swept away by wind. If you can discern in this way, you will not be turned by environments, but will use environments everywhere: surging in the east and sinking in the west, surging in the south and sinking in the north, surging in the middle and sinking at the edge, surging at the edge and sinking in the middle, treading on water as if on land, and treading on land as if on water. Why is it like this? Because one realizes that the four great elements are like a dream, like an illusion. Followers of the Way! You who are listening to the Dharma right now are not your four great elements; it is [the one who] can use your four great elements. If you can see like this, then you are free to go and stay. In the view of this mountain monk, there is no dharma to be disliked. If you love the sacred, 'sacred' is merely the name of the sacred. There is a sort of student who goes to Mount Wutai to seek Mañjuśrī—already they are mistaken! There is no Mañjuśrī on Mount Wutai. Do you wish to know Mañjuśrī? Simply your functioning right before your eyes, never different from beginning to end, having no doubts anywhere—this is the living Mañjuśrī. The non-differentiating light of your single thought-moment is everywhere the true Samantabhadra. Your single thought-moment that can untie bonds by itself, liberated everywhere—this is Avalokiteśvara. The dharmas of samādhi are mutually guest and host; when they emerge, they emerge simultaneously; one is three, three is one. Only when you understand like this are you fit to read the teachings."
1.36
The Master instructed the assembly, saying: "Nowadays, students of the Way must first have confidence in themselves; do not seek outside. You merely fall into extraneous dusty environments, not discerning between the heterodox and the correct at all. Even having patriarchs and having buddhas are all matters within the traces of the teachings. If someone brings up a phrase, emerging either from the hidden or the apparent, you immediately give rise to doubt, looking up to heaven and down to earth, asking around at every house—you are greatly bewildered! Great fellows, do not simply discuss host and thief, discuss right and wrong, discuss form and wealth, and pass the day making idle talk. Here with this mountain monk, without distinction between monastic and lay, whenever anyone comes, I know them completely. Wherever they may emerge from, if they have only names, words, and phrases, all are dreams and illusions. Instead, seeing the person who rides the environment is the profound purport of all buddhas. The buddha-environment cannot say of itself, 'I am the buddha-environment'; it is still this person of the Way who relies on nothing that rides the environment and comes forth. If someone comes forth and asks me seeking the Buddha, I respond by emerging from a pure environment; if someone asks me about a bodhisattva, I respond by emerging from a compassionate environment; if someone asks me about bodhi, I respond by emerging from an exquisitely pure environment; if someone asks me about nirvāṇa, I respond by emerging from a tranquil environment. Environments have myriad differences, but the person is not different; therefore, responding to things, shapes appear, like the moon in water. Followers of the Way! If you wish to accord with the Dharma, you must be a great fellow before you can succeed. If you are weak and subservient, you will not succeed. A cracked vessel is not fit to hold clarified butter. Like a great vessel, you must firmly refuse to be deluded by others; wherever you are, be the master; where you stand, all is true; whatever comes, do not accept it. If you have a single thought of doubt, māras will enter your mind; just as when a bodhisattva doubts, the māra of birth and death finds an advantage. Merely be able to quiet your thoughts and seek nothing externally; when things come, then illuminate them. You need only have confidence in that which is functioning right now—there is not a single thing! A single thought of your mind gives rise to the three realms; according with conditions and driven by environments, it divides into the six dusts. What are you lacking right now in your functioning? In a single kṣaṇa you enter the pure, enter the defiled, enter Maitreya's tower, enter the land of the three eyes; roaming everywhere, you see only empty names."
1.37
A question was asked: "What is the land of the three eyes?"
The Master said: "You and I enter into the exquisitely pure land, wear the pure robe, and speak of the dharmakāya Buddha; again we enter into the non-differentiating land, wear the non-differentiating robe, and speak of the saṃbhogakāya Buddha; again we enter into the liberation land, wear the radiant robe, and speak of the nirmāṇakāya Buddha. These lands of the three eyes are all dependent transformations. According to the masters of the sūtras and treatises, the dharmakāya is taken as the root, and the saṃbhoga- and nirmāṇakāyas as the function. In the view of this mountain monk, the dharmakāya does not understand how to preach the Dharma. Therefore an ancient said: 'The body is established in dependence upon meaning; the land is discussed according to the substance.' The nature-of-dharma body and the nature-of-dharma land are clearly known to be established dharmas, lands dependent on supernormal transformations, like an empty fist or yellow leaves used to deceive small children; on caltrops, water chestnuts, thorns, and dry bones, what juice are you looking for? Outside the mind there is no dharma; internally it is also unobtainable—what thing are you seeking? You [monks] in various quarters say, 'The Way has cultivation and realization.' Do not be mistaken! Even if there is something cultivated and attained, it is all the karma of birth and death. You say that you practice the six perfections and the myriad practices together; in my view, this is all creating karma. Seeking the Buddha and seeking the Dharma is simply creating the karma of the hells; seeking the bodhisattva is also creating karma; reading sūtras and reading teachings is also creating karma. Buddhas and patriarchs are people who have nothing to do; therefore, whether with outflows and conditioned, or without outflows and unconditioned, it is all pure karma. There is a sort of blind baldhead who, having eaten their fill, sits in chan and practices contemplation, holding back thought-outflows and not letting them arise, hating clamor and seeking quiet—this is the method of non-Buddhists. A patriarch said: 'If you fix the mind to look at quiet, raise the mind to shine externally, gather the mind to clarify internally, or freeze the mind to enter samādhi—all such sorts are contrived activity.' As for you who are listening to the Dharma like this right now, how do you propose to cultivate it, realize it, or adorn it? It is not a thing to be cultivated; it is not a thing that can be adorned. If you could make it be adorned, all things could be adorned; you must not be mistaken! Followers of the Way! You take the words from the mouths of these various old masters to be the true Way, [thinking] they are kalyāṇamitras beyond conception: 'I have the mind of an ordinary person; I dare not fathom that senior master.' Blind bastards! Throughout your life you only maintain this view, turning your back on this pair of eyes, shivering in fear like a donkey foal on frozen ice: 'I dare not disparage a kalyāṇamitra, fearing it will give rise to vocal karma.' Followers of the Way! Only a great kalyāṇamitra dares to disparage the buddhas and patriarchs, evaluate the whole world, reject the teachings of the Tripiṭaka, scold all small children, and look for people amid adversity and favor. Therefore, for twelve years I sought an intrinsic nature of karma even as small as a mustard seed, but it was unobtainable. If one is like a new daughter-in-law chan master, one directly fears being driven out of the monastery, not being given food to eat, and being unsettled and unhappy. From ancient times, wherever the seniors went, people did not believe in them; only after being expelled was it known that they were precious. If wherever one went people all approved, what would that be good for? Therefore, when the lion roars, the jackal's brain splits. Followers of the Way! Various quarters say there is a Way to be cultivated and a Dharma to be realized. Tell me, what Dharma is realized? What Way is cultivated? In your current functioning, what thing is lacking? Where would you repair it? Later-born junior acaryas do not understand, and immediately believe these sorts of wild-fox spirits, allowing them to explain matters that bind people, saying that only when principles and practices accord and one guards the three karmas can one attain Buddhahood; those who speak like this are like spring drizzle. An ancient said: 'If on the road you meet a person who has attained the Way, above all do not speak to them of the Way.' Therefore it is said: 'If someone cultivates the Way and the Way does not proceed, myriad kinds of heterodox environments compete to arise. When the sword of wisdom comes forth, there is not a single thing; before the bright side is manifested, the dark side is bright.' Therefore an ancient said: 'The ordinary mind is the Way.' Great Virtues! What thing are you seeking? Right now, before your eyes, the person of the Way who relies on nothing and listens to the Dharma is distinctly clear, never having been deficient. If you wish to be no different from the patriarchs and buddhas, simply see in this way; you need not doubt or hesitate. When your mind from thought to thought does not differ, it is called the living patriarch. If there is difference in your mind, then nature and characteristics are separated; because the mind does not differ, nature and characteristics are not separated."
1.38
A question was asked: "What is the place where mind from thought to thought does not differ?"
The Master said: "When you intend to ask, it has already differed; nature and characteristics are divided. Followers of the Way, do not be mistaken! All worldly and world-transcending dharmas have no self-nature, nor do they have a nature of arising; they are merely empty names, and the names are also empty. You merely recognize these idle names as real—a great mistake! Even if they exist, they are all environments of dependent transformation. There is a bodhi-dependency, a nirvāṇa-dependency, a liberation-dependency, a three-bodies-dependency, an environment-and-wisdom-dependency, a bodhisattva-dependency, a buddha-dependency. What thing are you seeking in lands of dependent transformation? Even the three vehicles and the twelvefold canon are all waste paper for wiping filth. The Buddha is an illusory transformation body; the patriarchs are old bhikṣus. Were you yourself born from your mother or not? If you seek the Buddha, you will be seized by the buddha-māra; if you seek the patriarchs, you will be bound by the patriarch-māra; if you have seeking, all is suffering. It is not as good as having nothing to do. There is a sort of bald bhikṣu who says to students: 'The Buddha is ultimate; only after practicing through three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas and bringing the fruit to fullness does he finally realize the Way.' Followers of the Way! If you say the Buddha is ultimate, why after eighty years did he lie on his side between the twin trees in the city of Kuśinagara and die? Where is the Buddha now? Clearly known, he is no different from our birth and death. You say the thirty-two marks and eighty minor signs are the Buddha; then a wheel-turning sage king must be a Tathāgata! Clearly known, it is an illusory transformation. An ancient said: 'The Tathāgata exhibited bodily marks to comply with worldly sentiments; fearing people would give rise to annihilationist views, he provisionally set up empty names.' We provisionally speak of the thirty-two and the eighty; these are empty sounds. Having a body is not the awakened substance; formlessness is the true form."
First 38 of 109 passages. Read on
Linked texts (1)
- 鎮州臨濟慧照禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese