鎮州臨濟慧照禪師語錄 1.2

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.