撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄 1.6

1.6

古人有言曰：「意不在言。」又曰：「得意忘言。」意者旨也，言者標也，旨乎不易得之，標乎不難得之，所以假易得之標，得難得之旨。苟得其旨，忘標可也；若失其旨，標其安用？故古人為唯執其標者，謂之葛藤也，又謂之敲門瓦子也。雲州禪者契宜默，得荷玉大師語於郭正中之《五宗錄》，又得慧霞、廣暉、晦然等所著陳編，校讎同異，辨驗真譌，題曰「曹山語錄」，附向者所刊《洞山語錄》，以廣其傳。大哉志于，其自隗始然，予未嘗知之，果其得意者乎？抑又執言者乎？將以為敲門瓦子者乎？請質之禪者。是歲寬保辛酉之春，鷹峯源光主人請詢和南拜稽首譔焉。

The ancients had a saying: 'The intent does not lie in the words.' They also said, 'Grasp the intent and forget the words.' 'Intent' is the purport; 'words' are the pointer. The purport is not easy to attain, while the pointer is not difficult to attain. Thus one relies on the easily attained pointer to attain the difficult-to-attain purport. If you grasp its purport, it is right to forget the pointer; if you lose its purport, what use is the pointer? Therefore, when the ancients spoke of those who merely cling to the pointer, they called it 'entangling vines', and they also called it a 'tile for knocking at the gate'. Zen monk Qi Gimoku of Unshū obtained the words of Great Master Heyu from Guo Zhengzhong's Wuzong lu, and also acquired the old volumes written by Huixia, Guanghui, Huiran, and others. He collated their agreements and differences, examined and verified the authentic and the spurious, titled it Recorded Sayings of Caoshan, and appended it to the previously published Recorded Sayings of Dongshan, so as to broaden its circulation. Great indeed is this aspiration! He himself began it. Yet I have never known: has he truly grasped the intent, or is he one who clings to words, or does he take it as a tile for knocking at the gate? Please inquire of the Zen monk. In the spring of this year, Kanpō, cyclical year kanoto-tori, Seijun, Master of Genkō on Mount Takagamine, made this inquiry and respectfully composed this with bows and prostrations.