汾陽無德禪師語錄 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

2.1

Compiled by his disciple Chuyuan, Great Master Ciming, residing at Mount Shishuang

The Second Patriarch asked Bodhidharma: "Please, Master, pacify my mind." Bodhidharma said: "Bring your mind here, and I will pacify it for you." The Patriarch said: "Having searched for my mind, it is completely unobtainable." Bodhidharma said: "I have finished pacifying your mind for you."

2.3

"Nine years facing the wall waiting for the one suited to the occasion, / Standing in snow up to his waist, not yet relaxing his brow. / With reverence he wished for the method of pacifying the mind-ground; / Searching for the mind and finding nothing, he was first without doubt."

2.4

The Sixth Patriarch asked Venerable Rang: "Where have you come from?" "I have come from Venerable An of Mount Song." The Patriarch said: "What thing comes thus?" "To explain it as resembling a single thing would not hit the mark." The Patriarch said: "Does it still rely on cultivation and realization, or not?" "Cultivation and realization are not absent, but defilement cannot be had." The Patriarch said: "Just this non-defilement is what all Buddhas protect and keep in mind; you should preserve it well."

2.5

"Because the master turned to ask from where he came, / He reported Mount Song with a mind that did not turn back. / Cultivation and realization are not absent, yet without defilement; / Pushing aside the clouds to see the sun, his mind opened at once."

2.6

When Mazu was staying in a hermitage, he often sat in meditation. Venerable Rang took a brick and polished it in front of the hermitage. The Patriarch said: "What are you polishing a brick for?" Rang said: "To make a mirror." The Patriarch said: "How can polishing a brick make a mirror?" Rang said: "If polishing a brick cannot make a mirror, how can sitting in meditation make a Buddha?" [Mazu] said: "What then is correct?" Rang said: "Take, for example, driving a cart: if the ox does not move, is it right to hit the cart, or is it right to hit the ox?"

2.7

"Polishing a brick to make a mirror, yearning for a kindred sound, / Coming to ask, he clearly showed the original mind. / Just calling the plowman to turn his face and point, / The plow ox broke through the ancient sovereign's gold."

2.8

Baizhang visited Mazu a second time. The Patriarch pointed with his finger to the whisk on the corner of the rope seat. Baizhang said: "Immediately this function, apart from this function." The Patriarch said: "In the future when you open your two lips, what will you use for people?" Baizhang took the whisk and held it upright. The Patriarch said: "Immediately this function, apart from this function." Baizhang hung the whisk in its former place. The Patriarch then shouted; Baizhang was thereby greatly awakened, and was directly deafened for three days.

2.9

"Often, having nothing to do, he attended before the master; / The master pointed to what hung on the corner of the rope seat. / Raising it and setting it down, he returned to stand in his original place; / Clearly a single shout is transmitted down to the present."

2.10

Changqing asked Lingyun: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" Lingyun said: "Before the donkey courier has left, the horse courier arrives."

2.11

"Lingyun, due to an inquiry, showed the talent of one who left household life: / 'The donkey courier goes ahead, the horse courier comes.' / Changqing did not understand the true and real ground; / Recognizing shadows within the words, the shadows were hard to dispel. / I now report to all you companions of Chan: / On the nine crossroads, the bright sun shines upon the fragrant street."

2.12

A monk asked Yunmen: "What is the phrase that penetrates the Dharma body?" Yunmen said: "Hiding one's body within the Northern Dipper."

2.13

"Hiding one's body within the Northern Dipper is most clear, / Only because many people's vision is not precise. / Skillfully and falsely setting forth understanding through mental thoughts, / They instead make a deep pit on level ground. / When have a dim lamp and daytime ever been easily exchanged? / Green bamboo and yellow flowers grow all over the earth."

2.14

Guishan instructed the assembly, saying: "After this old monk passes away, I will go down the mountain to a patron's house and become a water buffalo, with a line of words written on my left flank saying: 'Venerable So-and-so of Guishan.' If you call it a monk of Guishan, yet it is a water buffalo; if you call it a water buffalo, yet it is a monk of Guishan. At such a time, what do you call it?"

2.15

"The ancient worthy showed compassion, his work not yet repaid; / As soon as they heard of the different form, they fought over the ox. / Clarifying the mysterious purport before sound and after phrases, / They lost Guishan, their vision not comprehensive. / For now, I open a single thread with my fellow robes: / Reed flowers are covered in snow, chrysanthemums facing autumn."

2.16

Magu, holding his staff, arrived at Zhangjing. He circled the meditation seat three times, shook his staff, and stood there. Zhangjing said: "Right, right." He also arrived at Nanquan and did likewise. Nanquan said: "Wrong, wrong." [Magu said:] "Zhangjing said 'right'; why does the Venerable say 'wrong'?" Nanquan said: "Zhangjing is right; it is you who are wrong. This is turned by the power of the wind and will ultimately come to destruction."

2.17

"The paths of Zhangjing and Nanquan seem distinct, / Clearly the principle speaks of intimacy and estrangement. / Many people have no need to polish the golden mirror; / The Han is of itself Han, and the Hu of itself Hu. / Pointing at the moon for the lost crossing, the lost point to themselves; / Showing you holding the staff, yet it is as if nothing."

2.18

Mazu ascended the hall. Just as the assembly had gathered, Baizhang came forward and rolled up the mat; Mazu then stepped down from his seat.

2.19

"Baizhang originally attended Master Ma; / Facing the master, rolling up the mat, he was utterly selfless. / Humans and devas could not fathom it, taking it as extraordinary, / Just like crows clustering to catch a young phoenix. / The superior person in a flash appears with his entire body; / The sun comes forth and shines, and the mountain peaks are low."

2.20

When Wuzhuo was drinking tea, Mañjuśrī held up a glass cup and asked Wuzhuo: "Is there still this in the south?" Wuzhuo said: "No." Mañjuśrī said: "With what do you drink tea?" Wuzhuo had no reply.

2.21

"The Great Being Mañjuśrī held up the glass cup, / And then asked if the south had this wondrous thing. / Wuzhuo suddenly said there was no such thing, / Misleading how many old ācāryas! / Down to today they still do not know the exact point; / Raising the hand to take the tea, have no doubt."

2.22

Venerable Mimoyan, whenever he saw a monk coming, would raise a pitchfork and say: "What demonic phantom made you leave the household? What demonic phantom made you go on pilgrimage? If you can speak, you die under the pitchfork; if you cannot speak, you also die under the pitchfork. Speak quickly! Speak quickly!"

2.23

"Sitting below Secret Demon Cliff, he held aloft the pitchfork, / Teaching those who came to recognize their original home. / Painfully earnest for your sake, yet none recognized it; / Losing the true pitchfork, they grasped at a false pitchfork."

2.24

A monk asked Dasui: "When the kalpa fire burns intensely and the great thousandfold world is entirely destroyed, I wonder if this one is destroyed or not?" Dasui said: "Destroyed." He said: "In that case, it goes along with it." Dasui said: "It goes along with it."

2.25

"Lan'an's true heir was Master Dasui; / When someone asked 'does it go along with it?', the master also went along. / Looking back, unable to halt the dwelling mind, / They further produced divergent views and turned to doubt. / Fenyang opens the heavenly road for you: / The myriad distinctions and thousand differences return to a single path."

2.26

Shigong constantly drew his bow and fitted an arrow. Whenever he saw a monk coming, he would say: "Watch the arrow!" As soon as Sanping saw him, he tore open his chest. Shigong said: "For thirty years with one bow and two arrows, I have only shot half a sage." Then he snapped [the bow] in two.

2.27

"Drawing the bow and fitting the arrow, he called you to turn back; / Not awakening to the ancestral master's special intention in coming. / Every one of them runs along following their drunken confusion; / Recognizing shadows within words, the shadows are hard to dispel. / Sanping had still not brought it forth entirely; / The crashing thunderclaps resound through the nine regions."

2.28

Whenever Chan Master Wuye was asked a question, he would always say: "Do not have deluded thoughts."

2.29

The old fellow of Fenzhou sits in peaceful slumber; / Inquirers come in a thousand, ten thousand ways. / With one correct, a hundred perversities are all at a loss; / He tells them: 'Do not have delusive thoughts,' returning directly to the source. / The three vehicles and five natures are dreams of sky-flowers; / A single monarch approaching his edict is just as if at ease.

2.30

A monk asked Muping, "What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher coming from the west?"
Muping said, "The head of a stone sheep looks to the east."

2.31

Muping's lofty Way is most difficult to surpass; / Someone asks what the meaning of coming from the west is like: / The head of a stone sheep looks eastward, / Just as the bright moon rises all over the mountain slope. / Direct words require no manifold doubts and worries; / When the ocean is clear and waves subside, the myriad phenomena appear.

2.32

Xuansha instructed the assembly, saying: "Before a deceased monk, this is precisely bodhi meeting the eye."

2.33

Among them, the most direct is Xuansha; / Bodhi meeting the eye is entirely real, his words not on credit. / Directly and truly verified right before the deceased, / With no bias or party, cutting off all circumlocution. / The monastic groves churn in turmoil, vying with lips and mouths, / Just like grasping illusory flowers in the empty sky.

2.34

Whenever Luzu saw a monk coming, he would face the wall.

2.35

When someone comes, he sits facing the wall, dignified and solemn; / He does not speak manifold words explaining differences and sameness. / So intimate, he does not let them seek outside the mind, / Avoiding scaring the blind and deaf with light and dark. / Autumn frost covers the ground, generating cold and heat; / Luzu bestows compassion without exerting effort.

2.36

A monk asked Yunju, "When the water is dammed and the wheel stops, how is it?"
Yunju said, "The millstone does not turn."

2.37

Yunju has words where the dynamic function is cut off; / 'It does not turn' makes you turn your light around and look. / Dam the stream, close the gate, and stop delusive interpretations; / A hundred flowers all bloom in a single garden. / Blooming flowers and bearing fruit—from where do they come? / Dependent on the ground, branches sprout and grow up to the blue sky.

2.38

Yaoshan wrote the character 'Buddha' in his hand and asked Daowu, "What character is this?"
Daowu said, "The character 'Buddha.'"
Yaoshan said, "This talkative fellow!"

2.39

Daowu suddenly met his late master; / Asking of the character, opening his fist, revealing the subtle dynamic. / Replying 'Buddha' is real, and the real is Buddha; / Yaoshan shatters the doubt within the phrase. / Just as the fierce wind arises, the fragrant grove stirs; / This is precisely the time to pick up pebbles in the waves.

2.40

Qinshan asked Deshan, "Tianhuang spoke thus, and Longtan also spoke thus; I wonder, how does Deshan speak?"
Deshan said, "Try quoting what Tianhuang and Longtan said, and let us see."
Qinshan hesitated, and Deshan struck him.

2.41

Old and feeble, oblivious to mechanisms, a great master; / Celebrated past and present, free from the slightest flaw. / Tianhuang's single lineage appears in Longtan, / Gushing forth a numinous source where myriad paths diverge. / Earnestly instructing Qinshan, who was still wavering; / Having attained wordlessness, it is praised down to this day.

2.42

Whenever Zhaozhou saw a monk arrive, he would ask, "Have you been here before?"
The monk said, "I have not been here."
Zhaozhou said, "Go drink tea."
Another said, "I have been here."
Zhaozhou also said, "Go drink tea."
The monastery director asked, "To one who has not been here, you say 'Go drink tea'; why also say 'Go drink tea' to one who has been here?"
Zhaozhou called out, "Director!"
The director answered.
Zhaozhou said, "Go drink tea."

2.43

Zhaozhou had the words 'Go drink tea'; / Barbarian monks throughout the world all came. / Were it not that the base of the stone bridge was originally slippery, / How many patched-robed monks would he have called to turn back?

2.44

A monk asked Venerable Nian of Baoying, "What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher coming from the west?"
Nian said, "Wind blows, sun scorches."

2.45

Sun scorching, wind blowing, uncounted years; / On the dusty road of travelers, discernment is surely hard. / Deliberating in mind is already three feet deep; / Who else will be made to ask of the mystery within?

2.46

Lingyun attained enlightenment upon seeing peach blossoms and had a verse:
'For thirty years I have sought a swordsman; / How many times have leaves fallen and branches sprouted again?
Ever since seeing the peach blossoms once, / Right down to the present, I doubt no more.'
He brought it to Xuansha, who said, "Thoroughly accurate, exceedingly accurate; but I dare guarantee that you, elder brother, have not yet penetrated through."

2.47

In former days Lingyun naturally had his own knowing; / The peach blossoms had already fallen, spreading through Chinese and barbarians. / One who draws a sword in the realm, meeting the sharp blade— / Not having penetrated through, throws his body horizontally to cut down myriad functions.

2.48

Whenever Venerable Juzhi had an inquiry, he only raised one finger.

2.49

Tianlong's one finger enlightened Juzhi; / In the immediate moment, unselfish, things are not disparate. / In the midst of myriad intersections and thousands of differences, why speak otherwise? / Directly causing past and present to require no needle or awl.

2.50

Guishan ordered a monk to carry a letter and a mirror to Yangshan. Yangshan took it, held it up, and said, "If you say it is Guishan's mirror, it is in Yangshan's hands; if you say it is Yangshan's mirror, it was sent by Guishan. Can anyone settle this?" The assembly had no words. He then threw it down and broke it, and turned to the monk envoy, saying, "When you reach the Venerable's place, just recount it like this."

2.51

Yangshan received Guishan's mirror; / He addressed the assembly, held it up, and executed the true command. / Muddled followers of Chan do not open their eyes; / Yangshan strikes directly right at their heads.

2.52

When Longtan was still a layman, he regularly offered ten cakes to Tianhuang. Whenever Tianhuang finished eating, he would leave one cake and give it back to him, saying, "I bestow this upon you to shade your sons and grandsons." The Master suddenly wondered at this and asked, "The cake was brought by me; why do you turn around and say you bestow it upon me?" Tianhuang said, "It was brought by you; what fault is there in returning it to you?" The Master was enlightened because of this and subsequently left home [to become a monk].

2.53

Taking away and bringing back, the matter is not amiss; / Longtan deliberately asked so that things would not be entangled. / How many later followers vie with lips and mouths, / Like spring birds twittering and cursing the falling flowers!

2.54

Mazu was walking with Baizhang when they saw wild ducks flying past. Mazu said, "What is that?"
Baizhang said, "Wild ducks."
Mazu said, "Where did they go?"
Baizhang said, "They flew away."
Mazu thereupon twisted Baizhang's nose. Baizhang cried out in pain. Mazu said, "When did they ever fly away?"

2.55

Wild ducks flew in the sky, yet he questioned the monk, / Wanting to transmit the patriarchal seal and entrust the mind-lamp. / Though he responded to the moment, there was no movement; / Only when the nose was twisted could the vehicle's ancestral truth expand.

2.56

Chief Minister Pei held up a statue of the Buddha, knelt before Huangbo, and said, "I ask the Master to give it a name." Huangbo called out, "Pei Xiu!" Pei responded. Huangbo said, "I have finished naming it for you." Pei then bowed.

2.57

Kneeling before the Master, holding it up, asking for a name; / Suddenly facing the point, he called out a single name. / Were it not Lord Pei, who would dare answer? / Directly making even the deaf and blind hear and listen.

2.58

Dachanfo shouted one night in the monks' hall, "I am enlightened! I am enlightened!"
A monk asked, "What are you enlightened about?"
Dachan said, "Nuns are originally made of women!"

2.59

Enlightenment does not consist in manifold bitterness; / Complete understanding all stems from a fleeting instant. / Decisively stating that nuns are made of women, / While foolish people pile up snow to make silver mountains.

2.60

Puhua was eating raw vegetables. Linji said, "Puhua looks very much like a donkey."
Puhua then got down on the ground and brayed like a donkey.
Linji said, "Director of affairs, provide him with finely chopped fodder."
Puhua said: "The man of Shaoshi is not recognized; / To Jinling he comes again. / Linji has a single eye, / Opening it everywhere for people."

2.61

Old and feeble, clearly diverging into two paths, / Arrow points meeting head-on without deviation. / Dragons and snakes intermingled, difficult for people to discern; / In the bright sun and broad sky, snowflakes fall.

2.62

Baoshou opened the hall. Sansheng pushed forward a monk. Baoshou struck him. Sansheng said, "Acting for people like this, you will blind the eyes of everyone in the whole city of Zhenzhou!" Baoshou threw down his staff and returned to the abbot's quarters.

2.63

Sansheng shouldered Baoshou's spear, / Pushing a monk out of the assembly intending to confer. / A general beyond the frontier executes the true command, / Directly causing blind people to fill the Great Tang.

2.64

Puhua saw a cavalry-infantry commissioner clearing the street with loud shouts. Puhua raised his hands in the middle of the street and said, "Postulant Teng, let's have a wrestling match!" The official shouted angrily, "You make a fool of people!" He then summoned the attendant to strike him with five blows of the staff. Puhua said, "This country bumpkin! It looks like it, but it is not it." The official said, "What do you mean 'is or is not'? Beating you settles it."

2.65

Mingling with the dust and dimming the light is most difficult to apply; / Meeting each other, they are precisely two lunatics. / Although the great transformation has no fixed location, / A secular official, after all, is not a monastic officer.

2.66

A monk asked Fayan, "Huichao asks the Venerable: What is the Buddha?"
Fayan said, "You are Huichao."

2.67

From the beginning, question and answer do not violate principle; / Do not vie with sharp wits and clever mechanisms. / If true gold is not forged in the furnace, / How can one avoid calling gold mud?

2.68

When Xiangyan first opened his hall, Guishan sent a monk with a letter and a staff. Xiangyan received them and wept. The monk asked, "Why are you crying, Venerable?" Xiangyan said, "I am not crying; it is just that spring is carrying out autumn's command."

2.69

When the staff was brought, it penetrated directly to the heart; / Tears flowed unawares in deep pondering. / Spring carrying out autumn's command makes people marvel; / Extinguishing the past and illuminating the future, surpassing ancient and modern.

2.70

A monk asked Venerable An of Yongxing, "What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher coming from the west?"
The Master said, "A withered pine painted on a wall; bees come competing to gather pollen."

2.71

Arousing the resolve, forgetting fatigue, emulating superior capacity, / He straightaway makes an inquiry wishing to eliminate doubt. / The lineage master directly points out the sky-flower tree, / Sparing him from adding mud on top of dirt.

2.72

Vice Minister Han Yu asked Dadian, "What is the Venerable's age?"
Dadian held up his rosary and said, "Do you understand?"
The Vice Minister said, "I do not understand."
Dadian said, "Day and night, one hundred and eight."
The next day he came again, met the head monk at the gate, and asked, "The Venerable said, 'Day and night, one hundred and eight.' What was his meaning?"
The head monk clicked his teeth three times.
The Vice Minister went to the abbot's quarters and asked again, "What is the meaning of 'Day and night, one hundred and eight'?"
Dadian clicked his teeth three times.
The Vice Minister said, "Originally the Buddhadharma is not different."
Dadian said, "What principle does the Vice Minister see?"
The Vice Minister said, "Just now when I asked the head monk, he also answered like this."
Dadian summoned the head monk and asked, "Did you just answer the Vice Minister like that?"
The head monk said, "Yes."
Dadian then beat him and expelled him from the monastery.

2.73

Knowing how to unfold dynamic sharp wit was Dadian; / Well knowing it was not for a trivial cause. / The same clicking of teeth, yet the monastic groves differ; / Only when expelled from the monastery did Lord Han find ease.

2.74

Mañjuśrī asked Wuzhuo, "How is the Dharma maintained in the south?"
Wuzhuo said, "In the age of the degenerate Dharma, monks rarely observe the precepts."
He asked, "How large is the assembly?"
Wuzhuo said, "Perhaps three hundred or five hundred."
Wuzhuo then asked, "How is the Dharma maintained here?"
Mañjuśrī said, "Ordinary mortals and sages dwell together; dragons and snakes are intermingled."
He asked, "How large is the assembly?"
Mañjuśrī said, "Three three in front, three three behind."
When evening came, Wuzhuo requested lodging. Mañjuśrī said, "Virtuous One, you still have attachment in mind."
"I have no attachment."
He said, "Have you ever received the precepts?"
He said, "I received the precepts long ago."
He said, "Since you have no attachment, what use is receiving precepts?"
Wuzhuo had no reply.
A youth escorted him out. When they reached the gate, Wuzhuo asked, "Just now the Great Sage said, 'Three three in front, three three behind.' How many is that?"
The youth called out, "Virtuous One!"
Wuzhuo turned his head. The youth said, "How many is that?"
He also asked, "What is the name of this monastery on the plaque?"
The youth pointed behind a vajra-warrior. Wuzhuo turned his head, and the conjured monastery disappeared.

2.75

He asked how they dwell in the south; / In reply, three or five hundred—the assembly is not large. / The Auspicious One himself describes dragons and snakes intermingling; / The saying of 'three three' was told in harmonious accord. / Wuzhuo, not yet understanding, conversed again; / Juntī pointed to the indomitable one. / Looking for the name behind the vajra-warrior, / A vista of desolate mountains—nothing could be done.

2.76

A woman entered the Dharma hall weeping. Baizhang asked, "What are you doing?"
She said, "Both my parents have died; please, Master, select an auspicious day."
Baizhang said, "Tomorrow bury them both at the same time."

2.77

Sitting on the peak of Mount Baizhang is not far; / The woman at the foot of the mountain weeps aloud. / Buried at the same time in the ground of pure coolness, / Supreme filial piety alone can surpass past and present.

2.78

A Tripiṭaka Master of Grammar from the Western Lands arrived in Min, and the king invited Xuansha to test and examine him. Xuansha, behind him, struck an iron brazier with bronze chopsticks and asked, "What sound is this?" The Tripiṭaka Master said, "The sound of bronze and iron." The Master [Xuansha] said, "Great King, do not be deceived by foreigners."

2.79

The Master asked his fellow regarding the mind of sound and form; / He reported in reply that bronze and iron resound with high notes. / Though worldly erudition is thoroughly clear, / What help is it if, holding gold, one fails to recognize gold?

2.80

The King of Min sealed one orange and one tangerine, ordering an envoy to deliver them up to Xuefeng, asking: "Since they are of the same color, why are their names different?" Xuefeng thereupon sealed them and sent them back, then dispatched an envoy to ask Xuansha. Xuansha took a sheet of paper and covered them over.

2.81

Orange and tangerine were sealed by the King of Min's own hand; / Brought forth, they directly interrogated the barbarian-beating style. / A tall person entering the water is plainly visible, / Yet asking Xuansha further, it is still blocked. / Fenyang opens the celestial path for you: / The jeweled region and golden realm are an empty blue sky.

2.82

A monk asked Dizang: "It does not form the character 'yi' (以), nor is it the character 'ba' (八); I do not know, what character is it?" Dizang said: "Look at the footnote below!"

2.83

Neither 'yi' nor 'ba' is formed—it is just right before you; / If not recognized in the scripture, look within the commentary. / Bestowing compassion is not for multiplying intellectual understanding; / It is vital to investigate the mystery and reach the fundamental source.

2.84

A monk asked Deshan: "What is the white ox on open ground?" Deshan said: "Chi! Chi!" The monk said: "What does it drink and eat?" Deshan said: "Eat! Eat!"

2.85

The white ox on open ground is unobstructed; / Wherever it lies horizontally, wherever it rests at ease. / Water and grass to its heart's content, sweet and delicious enough, / Pure ghee pours forth, moistening fertile fields.

2.86

Danyuan took leave of National Teacher Zhong and asked: "When I arrive in the South, if someone asks about the ultimate matter, what should I say to them?" The National Teacher said: "Fortunate to be naturally lovely as you are—why on earth do you insist on having a protective talisman?"

2.87

The protective talisman is the most efficacious; / Rising or sitting, the National Teacher brings it along wherever he goes. / Danyuan gained its use and went south; / Explaining it for others makes drowsy eyes awaken.

2.88

A monk asked Jingqing: "How does one sing the Patriarch's song?" Jingqing said: "Tossing and serving wine to a drunken person." The monk said: "If so, then I let the Venerable down." Jingqing said: "A fierce tiger does not eat meat from a prone carcass."

2.89

Facing the assembly, he stood sideways and asked about the Patriarch's song; / The Master said, 'Tossing and serving wine to a drunken, merry person.' / Still saying he refused to assent, he stubbornly stared wide-eyed; / The prone meat offers no occasion to eat any more.

2.90

The two halls of Nanquan were disputing over a cat. Seeing this, Nanquan held it up and said: "If you can speak, I will not cut it." The assembly had no answer, so Nanquan cut it in two. Later he brought this up to Zhaozhou. Zhaozhou took off his straw sandals, put them on his head, and walked out. Nanquan said: "Had you been there, you would have saved the cat."

2.91

The senior monks of the two halls had not yet opened their blind eyes; / Each claiming the cat, 'I must contend.' / Severed in two with a single blade by Nanquan's hand; / The straw sandals were left behind for later people to walk in.

2.92

On the road to Mount Tai there was an old woman. Whenever a monk asked, "Which way is the road to Mount Tai?" the old woman would say, "Go straight ahead." As soon as the monk took a step, she would say, "Such a fine master, off he goes like that too!" Zhaozhou heard of this and said: "I will go and see through this old woman for you." He thereupon went and asked, and the old woman responded the same way. Zhaozhou returned and told the assembly: "I have seen through the old woman for you."

2.93

The old woman's Chan on the road to Mount Tai: / From south, north, east, and west, tens of thousands came. / Zhaozhou saw through her, yet people find it hard to comprehend; / South and north, straw sandals were worn through to the very bottom.

2.94

Dongshan examined Senior Monk Tai, asking: "There is a thing, pitch black: it props up heaven above and supports earth below; it is always in motion and function, yet within motion and function it cannot be contained. Where does its fault lie?" Tai said: "The fault lies in motion and function." Dongshan immediately shouted him out.

2.95

Directly indicating to a colleague, he questioned his fellow monk; / Pointing out the fault clearly, he tested the exact mark. / Speaking of principle, he vainly set forth wild, raging waves; / Illusory flowers blinded his eyes, and he could not revive.

2.96

Sansheng asked Xuefeng: "What does the golden fish that has slipped through the net take as food?" Xuefeng said: "Wait until you come out of the net, and then I will tell you." Sansheng said: "A teacher of fifteen hundred people, yet you do not even recognize the turning word!" Xuefeng said: "This old monk has many administrative duties as abbot."

2.97

The fish that broke through the net does not recognize the hook; / Greedy to swim in the surging waves, it mistakes the floating head. / Sitting on the high shoal fishing, the one who bestows compassion / Turns the oar, reels in the line, and boards the boat instead.

2.98

A monk asked Yantou: "How is it when the ancient sail is not unfurled?" Yantou said: "The small fish swallows the big fish."

2.99

When the ancient sail is not unfurled, what doubt remains? / Scholarly study, as before, is once again delusion. / Big and small, the two fish share a single sea; / What can be done if the baits on the hook are not even?

2.100

Master of the Mountain Xiu attained awakening under Fayan. Traveling on foot, he arrived at Dizang. While warming by the fire and discussing teachings, Dizang came in and asked: "Are the mountains, rivers, and the great earth identical to or distinct from the Elder yourself?" Xiu said: "Not distinct." Dizang held up two fingers and walked out (and so forth).

2.101

Entering the monastery and looking at the thatched eaves, he had no doubt at all; / All because he had not yet reached the Patriarch's mechanism. / Vainly emptifying scholarship, contending over high and low; / Uselessly memorizing idle phrases to fill a whole belly. / 'The great earth, mountains, and rivers—can you distinguish them?' / When he replied, 'Not distinct,' he was just like a fool. / When one has calmed their wild delusion, / In plain view, holding up fingers does not imitate Yangqi.

2.102

A monk asked Venerable Si: "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" Si said: "What is the price of rice in Luling?"

2.103

Having left home to study the Way, his mind was not yet opened; / He asked about the great meaning of the ancestral vehicle. / But was asked back the price of rice in Luling; / At that moment, mind and objects turned completely to cold ash.

2.104

A monk asked Zhaozhou: "I have heard that the Venerable personally met Nanquan; is that so?" Zhaozhou said: "Zhenzhou produces large radishes."

2.105

When asked about the original conditions for attaining the Dharma, / He spoke neither of the Eastern Land nor of the Western Heavens. / Zhenzhou has a vegetable called radish; / It has relieved many tens of thousands of hungry boils. / A monk asked Zhaozhou: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" Zhaozhou said: "The cypress tree in the courtyard." The monk said: "Venerable, do not show people by means of an object!" Zhaozhou said: "I am not showing you by means of an object." The monk said: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" Zhaozhou said: "The cypress tree in the courtyard."

2.106

The cypress tree in the courtyard grows from the earth; / It does not depend on plow oxen tilling the ridge. / Directly revealing the thousand paths of coming from the West: / The dense, thick forest is the very eye.

2.107

A monk asked Dongshan: "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" Dongshan said: "Wait until the waters of the Dong stream flow backward, and then I will tell you."

2.108

Longya had not put to rest his wild mind, / Asking various masters everywhere, refusing to cease. / The former adept pitied his earnest aspiration, / And directly said that the Dong stream's water must flow backward.

2.109

The head monks of Linji's two halls met and shouted simultaneously. A monk asked Linji: "Is there still host and guest?" Linji said: "Host and guest are distinctly clear."

2.110

The senior monks of both halls are thoroughly masters; / The principle therein contains distinctions. / Host and guest are distinctly clear, bright as a mirror; / The ancestral master touches away the flowers before their eyes.

2.111

The King of Min sent an envoy with a folding chair for Xuefeng. A monk asked the Venerable: "Having received such an offering from the Great King, how will you repay it?" Xuefeng placed both hands on the ground and said: "Beat me lightly, beat me lightly."

2.112

Asked how to repay the lord's benevolence, / Having brought it up, he gathered all in and sat at the vital ford. / If there are wind and waves stirring at the bow of the boat, / One sees only shifting sands everywhere and no person at all.

2.113

Whenever Master Dadi saw a monk coming, he would strike the ground once.

2.114

Before the purple mansion on the mountain is a true gentleman; / The staff is constantly held in his hand. / An endless multitude from south and north asking for the ford; / He repays the blind and deaf solely by striking the ground.

2.115

Practitioner Ganzhi went to Nanquan to offer congee, saying: "Please, Venerable, recite the verses." Nanquan personally struck the mallet and said: "Please, Great Assembly, recite the Mahāprajñāpāramitā for the gibbon-slave and the white bullock." Ganzhi bowed and walked right out. Later, Nanquan asked the head cook: "Is the practitioner still here?" The head cook said: "He has left." Nanquan thereupon smashed the congee pot.

2.116

Such an offering of congee is rare in ancient or modern times; / The merits of the ten benefits are complete, their fruit is not low. / Pots and caldrons are completely pierced through, with no grain to cook; / Monasteries near and far should all know this.

2.117

As soon as Zhongyi saw a monk, he would clap his hands, smack his lips, and say: "Wuye, wuye!" When Yangshan arrived, he crossed from the east to the west and stood there. Zhongyi said: "Where did you obtain this samādhi?" Yangshan said: "I learned it by taking off the seal at Caoxi." Zhongyi said: "So it is." Yangshan then asked: "Where did the Venerable obtain this samādhi?" Zhongyi said: "I obtained it from Zhangjing."

2.118

Smacking his lips and clapping his hands, mouth crying 'wuye', / Directly drawing people forward to distinguish right from wrong. / Ten million comings and goings, yet none understood; / As soon as Yangshan saw it, they were instantly of one family.

2.119

The attendant of Master Niaoke was taking leave to depart. Niaoke asked: "Where are you going?" The attendant said: "To various quarters to study the Buddha Dharma." Niaoke said: "If it is the Buddha Dharma, I also have a little bit here." The attendant said: "What is the Venerable's Buddha Dharma?" Niaoke picked up a thread of cloth and blew on it; the attendant was awakened.

2.120

The attendant in his beginner's mind longed for sacred conditions; / Taking leave of the master, he wished to go and practice Chan. / Niaoke knew that his spiritual capacity had matured; / Blowing on the fluff, at that very moment his mind found peace.

2.121

Cuishan ascended the hall and said: "Come out and be struck! Come out and be struck!" A monk came out and said: "Where is Cuishan?" The Master threw down his staff and returned directly to the abbot's quarters.

2.122

Extensively unfolding the ancestral style, he reveals it to the assembly; / Lowering a hook into the sea to angle for a golden fish. / The swimming fish sports in the water, stirring up surging waves; / Tossing away both boat and oar, he steps beyond the great ferry.

2.123

While Changqing and Baofu were strolling in the mountains, Baofu said: "Is this right here the summit of Miaofeng?" Changqing said: "It is indeed, but what a pity!"

2.124

Having ascended the high crag to reach the summit, / The monk's question was already complete. / 'It is indeed, but what a pity'— / Fearing only that one of the same tune might wander elsewhere.

2.125

A monk asked Changsha: "Does the original person still become a buddha?" Changsha said: "The Son of Heaven of the Great Tang cannot go around cutting weeds and mowing grass."

2.126

Master Cen shook his sleeve and set into motion the great mechanism; / Many ask about the Buddha, but few become buddhas. / If the sovereign lord cuts weeds with his own hands, / That would be adding mud onto earth.

2.127

Caoshan heard the bell and said: "Ouch, ouch!" A monk said: "What is the Venerable doing?" Caoshan said: "It strikes my mind."

2.128

Hearing the bell, he immediately said it struck his mind; / The words are shallow and clear, but principle and phenomena are profound. / The one of complete penetration in the Śūraṅgama assembly / Is the King of Correct Dharma, Avalokiteśvara.

2.129

Muzhou called out to a monk: "Great Virtue!" When the monk turned his head, Muzhou said: "Plank-carrying fellow!"

2.130

Bestowing compassion solely aims for complete spiritual penetration; / It is not something the ancestral master fabricated in vain. / The carrying-plank must be directly set down, / To spare him from passing hundreds of thousands of lives in vain.

2.131

When Xichan arrived, Baoshou said: "Where have you come from?" Xichan said: "I have come from West Mountain." Baoshou said: "Did you see the monkey?" Xichan said: "I saw it." Baoshou said: "What kind of tricks could it do?" Xichan said: "Seeing me, it could not perform a single trick." Baoshou immediately struck him.

2.132

Old acquaintances meeting talk of what is in their hearts, / Inquiring whether the roads of West Mountain are shallow or deep. / Facing the assembly, he spoke straightforwardly to display his trick; / In the great furnace's smelting, true gold is required.

2.133

Bao'en had an attendant fetch water from the west bridge to water the lotus basin on the east side. When the attendant had watered it, Bao'en said: "Where did you water?" The attendant said: "The lotus basin on the east side." Bao'en then asked a monk nearby: "Is this real or false?"

2.134

Fetching water from the west to water the east, / The attendant personally walked back and forth. / Drawing and using it, there are no dharmas outside the mind; / Yet asking the monk nearby, he feared it was not complete.

2.135

A monk asked Yantou: "How does one distinguish the master amidst the dust?" Yantou said: "Filling a copper pan with oil."

2.136

To distinguish the host amidst the dust is hardest to make clear;
Among tens of thousands of people, rarely is one awake.
The oil in the bronze washbasin has been clean from past to present,
Plucking out for you the nail in your eye.

2.137

A monk asked Shitou, "What is liberation?"
The Master said, "Who binds you?"
He said, "No one binds me."
The Master said, "If no one binds you, then that is liberation; why seek liberation further?"

2.138

Before his fox-like doubts had ceased, he questioned the superior vehicle:
"How can one obtain liberation and set the mind at rest?"
Accepting that your unbinding arose from whom,
Directly speaking of the unborn is Shitou.

2.139

A monk asked Zhaozhou, "How was it before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch?"
Zhaozhou said, "Plenty of firewood, plenty of water."
He asked, "How was it after he met him?"
He said, "Plenty of firewood, plenty of water."

2.140

The man of old embraced his aspiration and sat on Mount Niutou;
Master Xin demonstrated the words, demonstrating them without end.
With plenty of firewood and plenty of water, the mind is tranquil;
Truly selfless is Zhaozhou.

2.141

Caoshan asked a monk, "Where have you come from?"
He said, "I have come from sweeping the ground."
[Caoshan] said, "Did you sweep in front of the Buddha, or sweep behind the Buddha?"
He said, "I swept in front and behind at the same time."
Caoshan said, "Bring this old monk his kāṣāya robe."

2.142

Recognizing him as a vessel square or round,
He questioned him about sweeping the ground to show compassion.
Sweeping away in front and behind all at once,
He too grasped the other's secondary momentum.

2.143

Gushan asked a monk, "What is the phrase that does not step across the stone gate?"
The monk was speechless.

2.144

Not stepping across the stone gate penetrates deeply into the principle;
Students need not sink further into contemplation.
Lord Yan sits upright atop Mount Gushan;
The great sea is without waves, and the surges do not intrude.

2.145

Xuansha instructed the assembly, saying, "The veteran elders of the various quarters all say they guide beings and benefit the living. If three kinds of sick persons suddenly come, how will you receive them? For one who suffers from blindness, if you pick up the mallet or raise the fly-whisk, he does not see it. For one who suffers from deafness, as for the samādhi of words and speech, he does not hear it. For one who suffers from muteness, if you have him speak, he cannot speak. How then will you receive them? If you cannot receive them, the Buddhadharma has no efficacious test."

2.146

Expediently giving rise to the deaf, blind, mute, paralyzed, and numb,
To reveal our school and test the master craftsmen:
Vajra cuts iron, shattering it like clay;
Piercing gold, no sooner does it move than one loses Xuansha.

2.147

Attendant Guo asked Deshan, "Where have all the sages from antiquity gone?"
Deshan said, "What? What?"
Guo said, "The imperial court ordered the selection of a flying-dragon steed; why has a lame turtle stuck its head out?"
Deshan let the matter rest. The next day, during bathing, Deshan hit Guo once with a wooden ladle and said, "How about yesterday's gong'an?"
Guo said, "Only today has this old fellow finally caught a glimpse."

2.148

A lame turtle and a flying dragon mount:
Their forms differ, but their principle does not.
If you wish to clarify the two Great Beings,
Recognize the true pearl beneath the stick.

2.149

While Yaoshan was reading a sūtra, a monk asked, "The Venerable usually does not permit people to read sūtras; why do you read them yourself?"
Yaoshan said, "I only want to shade my eyes."
He asked, "May I emulate the Venerable?"
Yaoshan said, "If you read it, even cowhide would surely be pierced through."

2.150

Reaching the bottom, what doubt remains?
Those who peer through and understand are rare.
Still giving earnest injunctions and entrustments,
Every phrase is a mystic mechanism.

2.151

A non-Buddhist asked the Buddha, "I do not ask about what has words; I do not ask about what is wordless."
The World-Honored One remained silent for a good while. The non-Buddhist praised him, saying, "The World-Honored One, in his great kindness and great compassion, has opened my clouds of delusion and enabled me to enter."
After the non-Buddhist departed, Ānanda asked the Buddha, "What did the non-Buddhist realize that he praised you and departed?"
The World-Honored One said, "Like a fine horse of the world, he moves upon seeing the shadow of the whip."

2.152

The shadow of the whip is clearly pointed out to you;
Those of broad learning catch a glimpse and refresh their spirits.
Fenyang announces to all of you companions of Chan:
Take it up freely at hand and do not despise the dust.

2.153

Yaoshan said to Yunyan, "Call the novice to come here for me."
Yan said, "Why call him?"
[Yaoshan] said, "I have a broken-legged cauldron and need him to lift it up and down."
[Yunyan] said, "In that case, I will lend a hand together with the Venerable."

2.154

When men of the Way meet, they call for the novice;
Coming and going must be diligent, without delay.
Always handling the broken-legged cauldron,
Each holds one handle, arms crossed.

2.155

Yaoshan instructed the assembly, saying, "Where wisdom does not reach, be sure to avoid speaking of it; if you speak of it, horns will sprout on your head."
Daowu immediately walked out.
Yunyan asked Yaoshan, "Why did Senior Brother Zhi not respond to the Venerable?"
Yaoshan said, "Rather, it is Zhi the ascetic who understands. Go and ask him."
[Yunyan] then went and asked Senior Brother Zhi, "Why did you not respond to the Venerable just now?"
He said, "I have a headache today. Go and ask the Venerable."
After Yunyan passed away, [Dao]wu said, "Yunyan did not know it exists. I regret not having told him at that time. Even though it was like this, after all he did not go against being a son of Yaoshan."

2.156

Where verbal explanations cannot reach are the fellow robes;
Flicking his sleeves, he returns to his seat, pulled at by the crowd's hands.
Between gravel and true gold there is originally a distinction;
There is no need for hesitation and further babbling.

2.157

When Guizong was hoeing weeds, he saw a snake and immediately cut it in two. A monk asked, "I had long looked up to Guizong, but arriving here, you are merely a coarse-behaving śramaṇa."
Zong said, "Are you coarse, or am I coarse?"
Later, Xuefeng asked Deshan, "What was the ancient's intention in cutting the snake?"
Deshan struck him immediately. Xuefeng ran off. Deshan called out, saying, "Patch-robed monk! Patch-robed monk!"
Xuefeng turned his head. Deshan said, "When you awaken in the future, only then will you know this old fellow's thorough grandmotherly heart."

2.158

The ancestral master of Mount Lu receives those of superior capacity;
In cutting the snake, he specially displayed compassion.
The lecturer on the high rushes became alarmed and fearful,
Yet said that with a coarse mind, he mistook right for wrong.

2.159

Yaoshan asked a monk, "How old are you?"
He said, "Seventy-two."
[Yaoshan] said, "Is it the age of seventy-two?"
The monk said, "Yes."
Yaoshan struck him immediately.
A monk brought these words and asked Caoshan, "What was the meaning of this?"
Caoshan said, "The first arrow was still tolerable; the second arrow shot the person deeply."
The monk asked, "How does one avoid the staff?"
Caoshan said, "When the king's decree is enacted, the feudal lords make way on the road."

2.160

Bestowing compassion to receive and guide, he asked the advanced age;
The reply accorded with the occasion, yet he did not grant it to him.
Only through re-examination did the real point become clear;
When the order is executed like thunder, there is no saindhava.

2.161

A monk took his leave. Zhaozhou asked, "Where are you going?"
The monk said, "Going to Minzhong."
Zhaozhou said, "The soldiers and horses there are in cramped tumult; you must avoid them directly."
The monk said, "Where should I go to successfully avoid them?"
Zhaozhou said, "Just right."

2.162

The monk going to Minzhong does not have a distant road;
He reported that the king's soldiers and horses were clamorous.
Asking the master where to dwell to avoid them:
Sleeping peacefully 'just right' when the sun is already high.

2.163

Xuefeng was carrying a bundle of rattan. Meeting a monk on the road, he threw it down. As the monk intended to pick it up, Xuefeng trampled him over. Upon returning, he brought it up to Changsheng and said, "Trampling that monk today was extremely pleasant!"
Sheng said, "The Venerable would have to enter the Nirvāṇa Hall on that monk's behalf for it to be right."
Xuefeng let the matter rest.

2.164

Xuefeng threw down the bundle to show the nearby monk;
As the monk picked it up, he met with the master's trampling foot.
Ignorant and uninspired, one knows what is 'just right';
Changsheng, however, knows how to trim the covered lantern.

2.165

Sansheng ordered Senior Monk Xiu to ask Changsha, "Where did Nanquan go after passing away?"
Changsha said, "When Shitou was a novice, he visited the Sixth Patriarch."
Xiu said, "I did not ask about Shitou visiting the Sixth Patriarch. Where did Nanquan go after passing away?"
Changsha said, "Have him ponder it."
Xiu said, "Though the Venerable has a thousand-foot cold pine, you have no bamboo shoots sprouting from the stones."
Changsha did not answer. Xiu said, "Thank you, Master, for answering my words."
Changsha also did not answer. Xiu related this to Sansheng. Sansheng said, "If it is truly like this, it still surpasses Linji by seven paces. Even though it is so, wait until I test him further."
When the next day came, Sansheng asked, "I have heard that the Venerable's answer yesterday to the phrase about Nanquan's passing away could be called outshining the past and surpassing the future, rarely heard of from ancient times to the present."
Changsha also did not answer. Sansheng said, "I have always suspected this fellow."

2.166

Sansheng ordered a monk to ask his peer;
Changsha gently pointed it out for him.
How many monks search under words,
Always suspicious, running like dust!

2.167

Yaoshan beat the drum. Novice Gao held his bowl and entered the hall dancing. Yaoshan threw down the drumsticks and said, "Which refrain is this?"
The novice said, "The second refrain."
"What is the first refrain?"
The novice went to the tub, scooped out a ladle of rice, and left.

2.168

Together beating the drum and dancing,
Differing from the affairs of your various houses.
Distinctly the correct sound beyond the clouds and Milky Way,
Not falling into numbers within the world.

2.169

A monk asked Shishuang, "Being just inches apart, why do I not behold the Master's face?"
Shishuang said, "I say that throughout the entire realm, it has never been hidden."
The monk again asked Xuefeng, "'Throughout the entire realm, it has never been hidden'—what is the meaning of this?"
Xuefeng said, "Where is it not Shishuang?"
Later, Xuansha said, "Old man Xuefeng missed Shishuang."

2.170

A thousand doubts and ten thousand worries knock at the Chan gate;
'Throughout the realm it is not hidden'—how could that be trivial talk?
Xianggu and Xuansha still wavered,
Misleading traveling seekers to lose the source of return.
Eminent worthies need not follow sound and form;
As enduring as heaven and earth, the eyes face the gate.

2.171

Fayan asked Mountain Master Xiu, "'An error by a hair's breadth makes heaven and earth hang far apart'—how do you understand this, elder brother?"
Xiu said, "'An error by a hair's breadth makes heaven and earth hang far apart.'"
Fayan said, "How can it do to understand it like that?"
Xiu said, "What is the Venerable's meaning?"
Fayan said, "'An error by a hair's breadth makes heaven and earth hang far apart.'"
Xiu then bowed.

2.172

The ancestral master intentionally asked his peer;
With one strike, a hair's breadth separates two paths.
Upon re-examination, one can then clarify the true aim;
Naturally, clear understanding does not come from hearing.

2.173

Baizhao cited: "Zihu had a dog: above, it seized people's heads; in the middle, it seized people's hearts; below, it seized people's waists."
A monk asked, "What is Baizhao's dog?"
The Master said, "It makes no sound."
The monk gave a shout. The Master struck him immediately, saying, "I told you it makes no sound!"

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汾陽無德禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese