汾陽無德禪師語錄 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

3.1

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

Now, the great beings who investigate the mystery are different from doctrinal scholars: they suddenly open the gate of the single nature and directly step forth onto the road of the ten thousand workings. Entering the groves and gardens of dhāraṇī, campaka flowers provide fragrance; fanning the auspicious plans of the ancient Buddhas, a clear mind is the Way. Harboring ice and frost, they are pure and white, true jade without blemish; holding metal and stone, they are steadfast and pure, the black dragon's pearl shining forth. Inheriting the orthodox lineage of Kāśyapa and transmitting the secret seal of Caoxi, for those who awaken within themselves, what matters seniority or youth? For those whose mystery is penetrated, how could worthiness or foolishness obstruct them? Thus monks and laypeople follow it alike, and both sages and worldlings converge in it. When the mind is clear, words offer instruction; when wisdom is penetrating, speech is sure to hit the mark. Understanding the ten thousand phenomena in a single word, cutting off the myriad streams across the four seas—when it is like this, what heaven is not bright, what earth is not level? Since there is the light of observation and seeing, how could there be no one capable of discerning? Nowadays, if one wishes to investigate this Way, one must immediately examine oneself like a lamp illuminating the dark room of many lifetimes; lofty and bright like the moon, shining upon the murky paths of accumulated kalpas. Cleanse the intention and clarify the spirit; forget the body for the sake of the Dharma. Learn the lion cub's roar—do not chase jackals; soar along with the phoenix's chick—cease following yellow sparrows. Take vigorous effort as your task, realizing that in many lifetimes one rarely encounters an extraordinary person; make valor your mind, rejoicing in this life to have met an intimate friend. One must open right view and urgently achieve mastery; high-minded wanderers beyond material things must not give rise to indolence. Faithful words grate on the ear and do not accord with human feelings; forthright speech is without bias—I earnestly hope you will examine and awaken to it.

3.4

Song of Traveling on Foot

3.5

Arousing the aspiration, one bids farewell to kin—what power could the mind desire?
Taking refuge in the Buddha and leaving the household, one is distinct from the worldly, single-minded.
Longing for the Dharma to become a monk,
once the śīla is fully possessed
and the Dharma robes drape the body,
one provides no delicacies for parents,
nor serves kings or lords as a subject.
Practicing purity, like ice and like jade,
seeking neither fame nor profit, casting off defilement and dust,
one receives the reverence and veneration of humans and devas,
and inherits the diligent respect of Śakra and Brahmā.
Pondering one's virtue and practice, weighing where [offerings] come from:
how will one repay them on behalf of the lineage?
Concentrating on what practice will one be able to consume them?
There is only seeking and investigating—no other path.
Afflicting body and mind, traversing mountains and rivers,
taking white-browed masters as companions for homage and study,
braving snow and pressing through frost without shunning the cold,
crossing waters and piercing clouds, subduing dragons and ghosts.
The iron staff flies, the copper bottle is filled;
one asks not about the lengths and shortcomings of the world.
Lineage companions in the monastic groves must deliberate,
cleaving away the four propositions and hundred negations all at once,
exploring the mysterious dynamic to clarify the eye of the Way.
Entering the room, needles are applied; one must undergo forging.
Expelling the heterodox and revealing the correct, one should naturally know;
do not let body and mind become distracted.
The Way is hard to walk; dust easily overtakes.
In each and every thing, one must see clearly.
Toiling and laboring, running east and west,
viewed from past to present, the busyness is limitless.
In my walking now, I diligently discern for myself;
do not lose the companion that came along at the start.
Lifting the foot and moving a step must be distinct and clear;
be utterly vigilant against being vainly ordered about by another.
Entering the monastic groves, walking the Great Way,
not clinging to the world's empty vastness,
firmly seeking the ultimate principle without sparing labor,
cutting away luxury and ceaseless contrivance.
A hundred-patch robe, a cloud-and-water jacket;
with no-mind toward the myriad affairs, one is free from affliction.
Of a thousand kinds of cleverness, none applies effort;
one steps straight out from the path of cyclic rebirth and death.
I urge my fellow wearers of robes to seek right view;
do not be like fools, frequently changing course.
Throwing oneself over cliffs or standing in the snow with a bold body and mind—
only then does the Dharma King constantly shine and appear.
Requesting instruction with diligence, paying respect with swiftness,
not avoiding cold or heat, ever feeling inadequate;
only because the ground of mind is not yet settled,
one envies not glory and fears not humiliation,
directly causing one to see into one's nature without following another,
oneself understanding how to sing the song of returning home.
Passing one's whole life in true peace and joy,
vast and unfettered, with nothing to rely upon;
meeting occasions and conditions in the four quarters and eight directions,
leaving the myriad phenomena entirely to broad vastness.
Repaying the four kindnesses, pulling out the three realms of existence,
asking and answering according to the capacity, it is easy to open the mouth.
Meeting by chance across the five lakes and four seas,
a single clash of thunderous sound, a lion's roar;
leisurely and self-at-ease, overflowing with joy,
throughout the great earth, heaven and earth, there is no fault.
Clearly I report to you, cloud-and-water monks:
remember to face south and look at the Northern Dipper.
In praise it is said:
Traversing the monastic groves across five lakes and four seas,
through myriad leagues and a thousand mountains, it is not easy to seek.
Face-to-face seeing the ancestral lineage, clarify seeing into your nature;
do not mistake the false ginseng for true ginseng.

3.6

A Brief Preface on the Sudden and Gradual Meanings of the Four Schools

3.7

As for the Vinaya master: the lineage is divided according to the Sarvāstivāda, with detailed conduct and deportment, broadly exemplifying the vinaya and strictly purifying the three realms. He investigates the depths of the seven categories and five divisions [of offenses], and exhausts the subtleties of the four pārājikas and two offenses. Keeping, violating, opening, and restricting are the true, constant norms; the three proclamations and one karma act, and the proclamation of the four forbearances are maintained. Were it not for the capability of expounding the Vinaya, how could one equally become a teacher and model?

3.8

As for the Dharma master: ascending the lion throne, he broadly unfurls the wondrous meaning and discusses the principle of the two kinds of emptiness; the principle accords with the perfect and constant. He opens the gates of the sudden and gradual, discriminates the wisdom of the noble and the ordinary, dispenses medicines according to the circumstance, measures the capacity of the vessel for duty, knows the ripe and knows the root, and sifts the heterodox from the orthodox. Radiant are subject and object; distinct and lucid are host and guest. Cause and effect are not obscured in the human realm; the transformation of the Way is not lost in the heavenly spheres. Striking the great Dharma drum, how could he abandon the bridge and ford? Were he not a superior figure of the four reliances and three virtues, how could he broadly propagate the Great Teaching? Unless one is an attained person, thoroughly gauging the shallow and the deep and fit to be the very person, only then is he called a guide and leader.

3.9

As for the Treatise master: striking the bell upon the tower, he establishes propositions within the arena; yielding and seizing according to the moment, he reproaches in the face of momentum. He raises the thunderous eloquence of the four unhindered knowledges, eclipsing the drumming sounds of tens of millions of kinds; heterodox and orthodox are both driven away, existence and non-existence mutually arise. Seizing the red banner from within the hand, whipping the white bones before the steps, he establishes high the Dharma banner and broadly smashes divergent views. Were it not for the majesty of Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna, who would dare to face his vanguard?

3.10

As for the Chan master: primordial and true in one single breath, firm in the three emptinesses; walking and staying with ease, speaking and silent in tranquil peace. Carrying the diamond seal of wisdom, transmitting the mind-lamp of all buddhas, he illuminates the dark road of accumulated kalpas and kindles the dark room of multiple lifetimes; he cuts off all currents across the four seas and understands the myriad dharmas in a single phrase. Pointing directly to the human mind: seeing into one's nature is buddhahood! Roaring like a lion, he broadly proclaims the mysterious sound; thundering the heavenly thunder of Nāgārjuna, he directly clarifies the wondrous purpose. All are preordained transmissions of the Buddha's prophecy. One must know that supreme causes were planted in past lives; were it not for thoroughly piercing the heavenly workings, how could one pacify dhyāna and quiet contemplation, recognize the mind and reach the source, secretly accord with all conditions, realize the nature of non-arising, and suddenly transcend both phenomenon and principle? He shall surely continue the flame and transmit the lamp, making the three realms radiant and keeping the Buddha-sun eternally bright.

3.11

Song of Not Leaving the Courtyard

3.12

With an aspiration calmed in peaceful dhyāna, I do not leave the courtyard;
the heavenly workings pierce through, identical throughout the ten directions.
The great unconditioned transformation is difficult for people to approach;
provisional expedients with deliberate activity are easily grasped by the world.
The sword of true wisdom needs no grinding or sharpening;
meeting doubt and shattering confusion, it cleanses the foolish and blind.
In right concentration, no false interpretations arise;
one must know that the myriad dharmas are originally empty.
The dust-sand realms are within a single thought;
a hundred thousand wondrous principles are exhausted in an instant.
In the snap of a finger, immeasurable meanings are fully gathered;
in crisscrossing, how could the coming and going wind be obstructed?
Broad and open, sitting upright and dignified,
in the quiet garden and deep courtyard facing the green pines.
With the spirit purified in a quiet place, the ground of mind is leisurely;
only eminent monks come to inquire into the ultimate lineage.
When illness arises, medicine appears to remove the false illness;
when the illness is removed, the medicine is discarded, and the Way is worthy of veneration.
Bian Que could apply needles, but his effort was spent in vain;
Jīvaka's wondrous arts applied their efficacy for nothing.
Broadening the sea of nature, it universally swallows and contains;
the capacity to tolerate others sets bounds and borders.
Modest, as if nurturing virtue, extending benevolence and righteousness;
wholesome, gentle, and yielding, compliant and reverent.
Perfecting one's own wisdom evokes extraordinary merit;
across the human and heavenly realms, prosperity expands broadly.
Simple and unadorned, the aspiration for the mountain wilds does not waver;
delighting in expounding non-arising, one attains noble sagacity.
Cease calculating, do not deliberate;
between the brows suddenly a ray of light is released,
illuminating and shattering the darkness of many kalpas of ignorance,
so that the ghost-thieves of the Three Mountains cannot hide.
Precepts, concentration, and wisdom—the fragrance of liberation;
knowledge and vision are distinct and clear, filling the ten directions.
I tell all the virtuous: you must protect it;
from the distant sky auspicious omens will surely descend.
In the Precious Radiance Hall, the prophecy was personally spoken;
the thunderous sound roars forth the King among Dharmas.
Subduing dragons and ghosts, transforming the stubborn and strong,
quiescent and unmoving, practicing gentleness.
A hundred blessings adorn and support the myriad chariots;
holding the transformation of the Way in dharani, one delights in the peace of the times.
Truly patient, delighting in deep concealment,
not speaking of spring or autumn, green or yellow;
steadfast as if dull, the mind is self-at-ease;
soaring as if intoxicated, the nature radiates light.
Clinging to neither the four propositions nor the hundred negations,
one sits leisurely and peacefully, the Dharma towering and grand.
A verse says:
When the moving mind has ceased, the body is tranquil and at peace;
severing delusion and conditioning, one is unbound by the world.
Without shifting a thread of hair, it penetrates the Dharma realm;
across river-sand buddha lands, a single hair unfolds.

3.13

Song of Self-Celebration

3.14

Celebration and joy, celebration and joy, with no one weeping;
sitting upright in peaceful dhyāna, ever knowing contentment.
Not greedy for worldly gain, seeking nothing more,
envying not glory and fearing not humiliation.
One meal at the hour of the dragon, one gruel at the hour of the tiger;
coarse or fine, leaving it to wheat and grain.
In tattered clothes and damaged patches, passing cold and heat,
planting abundant blessings universally for humans and devas.
The sword of wisdom, the candle of precepts and concentration,
illuminates and shatters the dark prison of ignorance.
Directly cutting to the root source, the words of all buddhas
are earnestly spoken and must be recorded.
The Dharma-nature penetrates, free from deceit and flattery;
asking and answering according to capacity, unbound.
With loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, one plants fertile fields;
generous, pure, and clear, bestowing gold and jade.
The nature is serene and mild, constantly solemn;
wishing to serve as eyes for devas and humans.
The five roots and five powers lead to the five supernatural knowledges;
the three liberations and three emptinesses destroy the three poisons.
With a pure mind free from mixed desires,
constantly taking shame and conscience as clothing,
adorned with necklaces of jewels upon the liberated body,
vowing not to perpetuate worldly afflictions.
Pervading the Dharma realm, leaving length and brevity to fate;
coming and going, heedless of monk or lay.
Free of arising and free of thought, wholly without doubt;
possessing virtue and possessing ability, leaving it to the axe and adze.
Now I celebrate myself and rejoice within myself;
may those of the same Way and the same mind constantly read this together.
A verse says:
Without virtue, without ability, and without understanding,
without mind and without thought, continuing the mysterious lamp;
without arising, without ceasing, without coming, without going—
free of right and free of wrong, a single monk.

3.15

Song of Virtue and Learning

3.16

Present times value learning, ancient times valued virtue;
when virtue and learning support each other, they can serve as a rule.
Striving day and night to study is a treasure upon the mat,
yet all are like Chao and You in tens of millions;
sleeping peacefully with a high pillow amidst green vines,
blue mist and white clouds accompany the worthy and virtuous.
One hides away in Wuling, Shun yields the kingdom;
the thatched hut of the Lotus Society could not summon [Tao Yuanming].
Eighteen multi-talented men were welcomed by the Five Old Men;
wearing rush-cloaks and tilting broad hats north of a thousand peaks.
The ear-piercing barbarian monk nevertheless recognized him;
together they sat, together they chanted, together they ate.
Carrying a zither and holding a staff atop the blue cliff,
tuning the zither and planting the staff, letting out a long sigh.
The five thousand words praise superior virtue;
accumulating learning to achieve success, one conversely loses virtue.
Quiescent and unmoving, with no further thought,
when stimulated, it immediately penetrates within a moment.
Like Master An seeing Maitreya,
when rightly asked about the three categories, he spoke in mysterious silence.
Few understand high discourse beyond material things;
worldly wisdom and eloquent intellect are not extraordinary.
People on the Way frequently seek each other out;
in the blink of an eye or the raise of an eyebrow, it is right there.
Qiu and Bo were only just close at that time;
besides them, who else could strike back and forth?
An ancient said: "A single unity of heaven and earth is hemmed in by right and wrong;
therefore Shaolin constantly faced the wall."
A verse says:
Cease the sūtras, discontinue treatises, and cut off literary compositions;
to emulate the ancestral lineage and continue the ancient sovereigns.
When the ground of mind opens through and clarifies the ultimate principle,
fully wielding its practical application, one obtains the mysterious guideline.
When the true lamp shines once, ignorance is shattered;
with the three provisional and illusory causes, material existence vanishes.
I tell the practitioners of the Way across the five lakes:
you must swiftly draw close to the King among Dharmas.

3.17

Composing the Song of Playing with the Pearl upon Seeing the Ancient Worthy's Poem on Playing with the Pearl

3.18

Vast and boundless, the divine pearl's body is immense;
spacious and completely empty, without obstruction.
The myriad phenomena crisscross and manifest as reflections within it;
red, white, blue, and yellow are constantly self-at-ease.
A vessel of nature, containing the Dharma realm,
not clinging to the noble, the ordinary, or ancient times.
Its spiritual power illuminates, its substance is flawless;
'this' and 'that', right and wrong, are shattered into a hundred fragments.
Possessing majestic spirit, free of arising and ceasing;
those who are destitute and impoverished must arouse it.
Relieving and providing within the three destinies and six paths,
benefiting living beings, it draws out the moon of heaven and earth.
Whether large or small, people do not distinguish;
hidden or manifest among humans and devas, it is free of waxing and waning.
When used, it is used immediately without deliberation;
to those who gather gravel, it is luminous and pure.
A priceless treasure, a wish-fulfilling jewel;
according with conditions and meeting things, its transformation is not empty.
In spring, warmth arises and completes the true appearance;
at the autumn equinox, the fruit ripens and fills the granaries.
The mind is like space, the intellect is like a mirror;
when defilement is exhausted and even emptiness is empty, there is no mirror either.
Thoroughly clear and transparent, it is simply this single pearl;
fools do not recognize the nature of all buddhas.
Vivid and lively, brilliant and white,
ancient sages and present worthies all play with it in their palms.
In the four quarters and eight directions it manifests spiritual light;
radiantly lofty, it transcends lightness and heaviness.
When good friends obtain it, it relieves hunger and stinginess;
stepping straight beyond Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja to the presence of the ultimate sage.
Clearly recognize this pure and true thing,
and for long kalpas you will avoid being dragged along by the hordes of Māra.
Real monks of our lineage, cast your eyes high;
a thatch knife will never cut it, though you wait until the year of the donkey.

3.19

Song on Dwelling in the Mountains, Given to Practitioner Chongyan

3.20

To dwell in the mountains, one must know the master within the mountains; / If you do not know him, in vain do you dwell in the mountains. / Blue mountains and green waters fly past before the eyes; / White clouds drift and scatter away over the mountain peaks. / The crags are high, the ridges steep; / Wandering around the winding folds, the body wears itself out. / Sitting upon the stone beside the precipice, lost in thought, / The true nature remains unclarified, and the mind is restless and vexed. / Looking toward the forested peaks, gazing at the rock walls, / The eyes are filled with firs and pines, and the dripping of hanging cataracts. / Not knowing which is the true mountain, / Deluded thoughts multiply in vain and originally never cease. / In my practice, on what power do I rely? / Before seeing into one's nature is clear, there is neither virtue nor the Way; / With what shall I repay the kindness of benefactors? / Even a single grain of rice [weighing] seven catties is hard to digest. / May I in this present life meet a good spiritual friend, / Who will resolve body and mind and clear away the brambles, / Ever holding the Dharma rain to moisten the mind-field, / So that adorned with a hundred blessings, all benefits are realized. / Suddenly breaking through, the mind is brightly enlightened; / This time, I recognize the master within the mountains. / Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, the body is light and at ease; / In questions and answers, adapting to conditions with skillful interpenetration. / The body is like the mountain, the nature like water; / Mountain and water are flowers in the sky, without outside or inside. / When looking facing sense-objects, there seems to be form; / Investigating minutely to the end: from whom did it arise? / Once it is distinct, the mind penetrates completely; / Sitting and lying down within the mountains, one is ever joyful. / No need to expend effort in seeking the true: / In the clear blue sky, one sees the bright moon. / It shines on mountains and forests, leaving nowhere unreached; / A single expanse of radiant light is like white silk. / Flying birds and running beasts wander about at will; / All are manifestations appearing within its reflection. / The lion king ever walks alone; / From a hundred anomalies and a thousand evils, he is free of fright. / Dragon gods, Śakra, and Brahmā all take refuge; / This is the true master of the Wonderful Peak. / The thousand streams and myriad ravines are entirely mind alone, / Leading straight to the road upon the mountain of nirvāṇa.

The verse says:
"Within the mountain there is a master: one dwells within the mountain; / Mountain rocks walk the path, mountain waters speak. / Sitting upright in mountain forests, mountain colors are the mind; / Outside the mind there is no mountain: the mountain is just life. / Knowing the deathless person within the mountain, / Awakened wisdom is completely bright: see it for yourself. / Heaven and earth, the great earth, and the rivers: / Are all entirely the baggage where this mountain monk travels."

3.21

Song of Vast Wisdom: The House Styles of Fifteen Houses

3.22

How could the Great Way be seen as having high or low? / How would the true emptiness consent to speak of distant or estranged? / Like the ocean swallowing streams, sharing increase and decrease; / Like the Wonderful Peak towering high, entirely upholding all. / The myriad branches and thousand torrents all enter the ocean; / The seven golden [mountains] and five sacred peaks are all Mount Sumeru. / After the transmission of the lamp of the jade curl and golden color, / The two-three and four-seven became widely heard and known. / When the robe of faith ceased, capacities were broadly opened; / Old worthies of all quarters acted as they pleased. / Knowing the mind is a tree, explained from the beginning; / Bewildered mind chases after things, yet gives rise to doubt. / Either pointing directly, or skillfully administering, / Understanding how to guide former principles and bring forth later potentials; / The essential purport is bright and clear like a mirror; / The blind without wisdom eyes cannot catch a glimpse. / A person with clear eyes sees the subtle and refined, / Not speaking of victory or defeat, sloth or folly. / Thing after thing converges into the flowing water of wisdom; / The house styles adapt to convenience, expounding the branches of the school. / Mind is the Buddha, neither mind nor Buddha: / Down through generations, clearly there is no other thing. / This very true mind is my mind; / My mind is still brought forth as an expedient capacity.
(The above is the lineage of Mazu.)

3.23

Either the five ranks, or the three paths; / Facilities adapt to capacities with skillful interpenetration. / Not understanding that right now is the fundamental school, / Extending the hands in dark penetration, Buddhas and patriarchs perish.
(The above is the lineage of Dongshan.)

3.24

Either ruler and minister, or father and son; / The measuring vessels, square or round, have no 'this' or 'that'. / Scholars, commoners, dukes, and marquises are equal on the one path; / Foolish and wise, worthy and heroic, clarify gradual stages.
(The above is the lineage of Shishuang.)

3.25

Sometimes tapping, sometimes chanting; / Answering questions according to capacity, speaking appropriately. / In reception, how could they ever miss the principle and decorum? / Yet those of shallow understanding give rise to slander. / Either expounding in pairs, or speaking singly, / Only aiming to sharpen Chan delight at the crucial juncture. / Opening the provisional is not for contending in cleverness; / Radiating light is only to distinguish the worthy and wise. / There are circular figures; there are silent discourses; / Carried from a thousand leagues, eyes gaze and blink. / Myriad marvelous subtleties are one circular emptiness; / The vajra eye penetrates the authentic message.
(The above is the lineage of Guiyang.)

3.26

Either holding forth entirely, or functioning entirely; / The myriad forms and dense array are truly not shared. / Green mountains do not obstruct the flying of white clouds; / Hidden or revealed on the stand, the golden phoenix penetrates.
(The above is the lineage of Shitou and Yaoshan.)

3.27

The mirror of Elephant Bone, the moon of Dizang; / Xuansha and Chongshou shine without lack. / Because the gentleman posed a question, they pointed home to the source; / The purport for those who come is bright and dazzling.
(The above is the lineage from Dizang to Xuefeng.)

3.28

Either putting forward, or picking up; / Genuine patched-robed monks are constantly stimulated. / The person clarified within the phrase is of the finest caliber; / A skilled hand is just like using a wedge to extract a wedge. / Either uplifting, or letting down hands; / The crucial point is that with mind empty, it is easy to open the mouth. / Not recognizing that the predecessors acted out of great compassion, / Those who carry candles run through the streets to shine light.
(The above is the lineage of Yunmen.)

3.29

Deshan's stick, Linji's shout, / Standing solitary above heaven and earth, knowing how to sweep across. / From the beginning, who dared make chaotic distinctions? / Even talkative masters could not explain it. / Releasing according to the moment, seizing according to the moment; / Swift and razor-sharp like a lightning flash. / Heaven and earth are held merely within the palm; / The brains of bamboo and tree spirits are split open. / Either host and guest, or selection and appraisal: / Grandly unfolding the Chan school, distinguishing the correct eye; / The three mysteries and three essentials are applied according to the capacity; / The four propositions and hundred negations are sheared away at once. / I urge my fellow robes not to force understanding; / Young and brisk ones, as before, meet with obstruction. / Not knowing the ancestral vein, do not be muddled and vague; / Forever sunken through endless kalpas in the realm of birth and death. / Hard to encounter, hard to meet, and hard to hear: / With a vigorous body and mind, swiftly attain open penetration.

3.30

Song of the Sutra of Definitive Meaning

3.31

The treasury of sūtras, the profound purport of all Buddhas, / Shows the gate of arising and ceasing, explains the principle of the unarisen, / Points directly to the mind-source, sets forth the supreme truth, / Cuts off the false and continues the true, confers predictions on humans and devas; / Its intention transcends existence and non-existence, its practice goes beyond calculation. / Words do not bind it, principles do not restrict it; / It directly reveals effortless action and extinguishes gradual stages. / The eighty-four thousand gates of all perfections / Are merely because deluded followers have many crafty deceits. / There are perverse truths, devoid of true wisdom; / Establishing the orthodox and destroying the perverse are both kept hidden. / The Great Sage is without effort and penetrates all; / When the three poisons do not arise, a Buddha appears in the world. / For this sūtra, how many believe in it? / The flower-garland verses within the Vairocana treasury— / This sūtra is ever present within a single dust mote; / People of great wisdom can universally save others with it. / Śakra and Brahmā protect it; devas and dragons rejoice; / Evil ghosts and asuras bow in respectful homage. / Moreover, when thousands of perversities and hundreds of anomalies come, / Hearing this sūtra preached, they all kneel on their haunches. / The true sūtra is free from written words; / Expounding the pāramitās, it is universally complete. / Manifested forms can open the gate of expedient means; / Subsuming the many varieties, they are all one single wisdom. / The eye ceases seeing; the ear ceases hearing; / The six functions are like space, not obstructing one another. / The myriad forms and dense array are dust within a dream; / Who would be willing to sleep within a dream? / The sūtras clearly have predictions; / The mātṛkās rely on the definitive meaning. / Pure and unarisen, the root of liberation; / Random thoughts all resist affliction. / Pure śīla fences off the worldly realm; / The vinaya-mokṣa was personally instituted [by the Buddha]. / Upāli did not know the origin of the monk; / Only Vimalakīrti clearly understood the accord with the mind-ground. / I inform you: you must examine minutely! / Although speaking on sūtras and clearly explaining their meaning / Through kalpas like river sands, passing through dust motes, / If you do not recognize this sūtra, you are drunk through the long day. / One who understands emptiness sits in the position of Buddhas and patriarchs, / Splitting open the fundamental wisdom of sentient beings; / Benefiting others and benefiting oneself, transforming without bound, / Delusion ceases, conditions are severed, and one becomes a Great Being. / I urge humans and devas to listen to the definitive meaning, / To go straight out of the bounds of saṃsāra and birth-and-death: / In this very place, mind is absent, and emptiness does not arise; / Forever abandoning the grounds of annihilation, permanence, subject, and object. / Dependent origination has no cause; do not force names upon it. / Just this single round voice surpasses all. / Clearly I announce to the people within the Way: / Diligently read this sūtra, and never discard it.
He further said: "How can one manage not to discard it?"

3.32

Formula of the Buddha Way

3.33

The Buddha Way is manifest; / Manifest, yet not so. / Not so, yet not unestablished; / The myriad forms all appear. / Sun and moon are empty and bright; / Things and self are both ice. / Ice and mirror are not real; / Far and severed are distant and close. / Mirages and flowers in the sky— / How could they remain from past to present? / Vain functioning dispels illusion; / Deludedly one points and states. / If pointing and stating are not ended, / All becomes a great omen. / Clarifying pointing loses the school; / Deludedly one recognizes west and east. / Reaching the origin and recognizing emptiness: / Even when kalpas end, one does not penetrate. / The two vehicles do not comprehend; / It is like stone pressing down grass. / If the grass roots are not removed, / The leaves cannot wither. / When grass and stone are both swept away, / What further affliction is there? / Our school is direct and cutting: / Great space arises and ceases; / Arising and ceasing are thoroughly discerned, / Turning according to capacities and conditions. / Do not use needle and awl; / You must see it swiftly. / Seeing swiftly without error: / That is my home. / In my home there is not a thing; / The host of māras does not yield. / The Tathāgatas of the three times / All emerge from this. / In daily use there is no injury; / Whatever meets the eye opens and reveals. / The mouth emits a ray of light, / Forever cutting off praise and proclamation. / Heaven and earth are vast and great; / Human king and Dharma king: / If this remains unresolved, / Hold up the guidelines as you will.

3.34

The Way of the Ancient Sovereign

3.35

The Way of the ancient sovereign is level and broad; / Level and broad, it is ever at ease. / Wisdom and foolishness, / Perverse and correct, become obstructions. / Traveling east, west, south, and north, / Not understanding, one makes deluded interpretations. / When the mind is clear, everything is clear; / When the mind is dark, everything is dark. / The six gates quiet the six supernatural powers; / The three poisons become the three realms. / All are produced from the mental faculty; / There is no need to give rise to deluded interpretations. / Earth, water, fire, and wind: / The four elements are the ancestral generations. / If the ancestral generations are not alert, / The descendants fabricate strange wonders in vain. / The eighty-four thousand gates / Form a tangle into a single mass. / The dense array, sun and moon, are divided, / Accorded with their ranks and not opposed to each other. / Han jade and Hu ice; / In the height of summer, water flows swiftly. / By no means point and state deludedly; / Pointing and stating blinds the eyes with cataracts. / If the blueness in the eye does not perish, / How could flowers in the sky recede? / Students from ancient times to the present / Are matched precisely against this. / If they do not pass through the Great Center Barrier, / The root of illness in the end will not be eradicated. / For you I brush aside the great void; / In liberation, observe at ease. / Now all penetrates; / Understand thoroughly the realms of the ten directions.

3.36

Song of Right and Wrong

3.37

To leave home and study the Way, you must know in all matters; / Being among the assembly in the monasteries, never fall short. / Honoring elders and youth from ancient times to the present interprets those of virtue; / Do not be like the foolish sort with their 'is' and 'is not'. / Hearing good spoken, the mind is pleased; / Hearing evil spoken, one resents not dying. / Good and evil both come only from one's own mind, / Yet obstinately one seeks reasons within them. / People of the world mostly lack wisdom, / Not knowing how to reflect on where right and wrong arise. / When a person of great wisdom observes them, / His own place to hide away enters nowhere. / Zilu was once rebuked by the fisherman; / The Master with ashamed face forgot to put on his shoes. / Śāri[putra], foremost in prediction, / Was also directly pointed out by a foolish fellow. / The Tathāgata with compassionate eyes regards sentient beings, / Thoroughly comprehending past and present, clarifying the fundamental limit. / Look at Zhou and Qin, as well as Han and Wei: / The ruin of states and destruction of clans were all like this. / Through kalpas, right and wrong are the cause of hell; / Hearing right and wrong spoken, you must examine minutely. / When I hear them spoken, mind does not arise; / Just this right and wrong is the immediate purport. / If you cannot even dissolve a few floating words, / What ask about the meaning of the Patriarch coming from the West? / You must be distinct, discerning the root and the stem, / Knowing that right and wrong truly have their place. / If someone else comes to speak of right and wrong, / Tell him: 'I now recognize you.'

3.38

Song of the Wooden Fish Drum

3.39

Between heaven and earth, at the bounds of space and time, / it follows not the four seasons; how could it be the same as the three times? / As a fish, it lies beyond the surging waves; / as wood, it dwells within the White Lotus Palace. / Head and tail are both complete; / scales and horns are both fully formed. / With wide heart and broad belly, it lives forever; / with straight body and empty nature, it knows no death. / At ease in empty leisure, it never offends; / far removed from the golden hook, it is beyond names and words; / may it ever present its jade verses! / All phenomena present no hindrance; dwelling in the precious monastery, it serves as an auspicious omen; / how could the myriad images be its equal? Existing between heaven and earth, it serves as a sign of good fortune. / Struck from time to time, the ocean-like assemblies of the ten directions arrive; / sending forth its tone time and again, the foreign monks of the five regions of India shake off slumber. / Above the fragrant kitchen, it spreads a thousand beams of light across the realm of space; / unmixed with humans and devas, it draws in the single breath of the Great Void. / Great beings with minds stilled in contemplation hear it and become bright and refreshed in spirit; / confused Chan practitioners hear it and nod off to sleep in the hall. / Unbound by the six pitch-pipes, how could it be obstructed by the eight tones? / The fame and gain of the four evils have already been dispelled; / the intermediate sounds of the five beauties do not reach it. / The pearl from its mouth is ever spat out, yet those who discern treasures are hard to meet; / its dragon horns are ever extended, yet those who recognize dragons are rarely encountered. / Hiding its form in the Golden Valley, it feared being taken as a precursor to bells and drums; / manifesting its substance in the monastery, it serves as an instrument for pure youths. / Far beyond rivers and lakes, how could it be a fish that merely strikes its forehead? / Keeping oceans and mountains beside itself, it naturally possesses the momentum to soar into the heavens. / Comrades in robes, incline your ears / and listen to the perfect voice of liberation; / when the gate of Samantabhadra's universal eye opens, / see the boundless expanse and subtle details of heaven and earth.

3.40

Song of the Staff

3.41

Eight nodes and nine bends, / mountains and rivers fully present, / head and feet distinct and clear, / opening people's eyes. / Coming neither from heaven nor from earth, / horizontal and vertical across the vast sky without blockage or snag, / it is constantly used to strike and awaken those of superior capacity, / while confused Chan practitioners just nod off to sleep. / Sometimes ascending mountains, sometimes crossing waters, / it is used to guide the way over the front ridge, serving as forearm and elbow; / free to soar across the nine regions and the four seas, / towering straight down to the boundary of the golden wheel. / Truly solid and unyielding, worthy to lean upon, / head and tail whirl about, pointing accurately; / it marks out the boundaries of liberating Mañjuśrī; / for a patch-robed monk of genuine color, it is a blow right across the back.

3.42

Another Song of the Staff

3.43

I have a crooked wooden staff, / its nodes clustered like snail spirals, shaped like mountain ranges; / carried horizontally across the shoulders of the world, brushing aside empty space, / wicked specters, seeing it, all lose their courage. / Truly solid and unyielding, hard as iron, / striking stone, mountains and rivers must burst apart; / sometimes stirring the ocean to subdue fierce dragons, / Gandhakhaḍga instantly ceases. / Distinguishing the stubborn and foolish, clarifying the essential aim of the lineage, / it is not Mañjuśrī idly putting forth effort; / do not trot out talk of mere semblance— / wallowing in dung, when will you ever get out? / This mountain monk sees it and cannot bear to plant [the staff]. / To spur them on, one must be vigorous and swift, / shaking the myriad images so they become suddenly distinct, / crushing Kusāgara into fine powder. / Showing humans and devas that they must know their place, / each hero adds to his brightness and gallantry; / in ancient times, the Golden-Hued One alone held it aloft, / today Fenyang personally holds the seal. / Sealing the minds of the multitude, bright as the sun, / before distinguishing the correct from the depraved, do not chirp in dispute; / prodding and picking, I bid you examine it closely: / who can recognize its whiskers, gills, and eyes? / He who recognizes it—what branch is it? / Speak no more of south, north, east, or west; / were it not personally entrusted by the Light-Drinker, / how could it become a dragon flying up into heaven? / A great man must be fierce and bold, / staunchly resolute, leaving no trace of sacred or profane; / with a direct word, a single flick sweeps away lingering dust, / picking up the staff and pulling it straight over their heads. / The verse says: / “A single staff, craggy and steep, / unbending and straight, its spiraled nodes bursting forth. / Ordinarily carried across the shoulder, / it lifts and turns the great earth, heaven and earth. / Piercing open the dull, obtuse, and stubbornly foolish, / shattering the clever, sharp, and cunning. / Now planted upright in Xihe— / how will those in other quarters take it up?”

3.44

Song of the Single Character

3.45

The Buddhas have no Dharma that can be spoken; / Fenyang briefly proclaims a single character. / It has nothing to do with paper, ink, or literary compositions; / how could it imitate Vimalakīrti burning the ground? / The three vehicles do not match our lineage, / nor are the myriad practices his intention. / Seeing into one's nature is found only in one's own mind; / if you recognize and cling to it, as before you are wrong. / In the midst of dust, worlds are boundless; / free and leisurely is the journey. / On a hair's tip, oceans and mountains are limitless; / vast and expansive, wandering mountains and enjoying waters. / A song of a single character, millions of verses, / precisely handed down, transmitted with great care; / phrase after phrase is profound and subtle, subtle and further mysterious, / only this mystery of mysteries is the original wisdom. / The Honored Light-Drinker, sharing the clear realization, / blinked his eyes, wishing to reverently carry out the correct command; / disciples of differing interpretations waste their efforts in vain, / confusedly recognizing the profane and sacred along the way. / No need to seek, originally never lost; / the moment a false thought arises, it is black as pitch. / Illusory floating clouds originally have no nature; / within the mind, confusing the real, one grasps at illusory objects. / Confused through kalpas past, never waking up, / conceptualizing like sands of the Ganges, the affliction of delusion entangles; / now having realized the original source, / spiritual wisdom is open and clear, free from depraved and correct. / Fenyang speaks directly: examine it carefully; / in a flash, following after dust, you cast away the Buddha-nature. / The eight seasonal nodes change, but the one mind is held firm; / dense and continuous, the nāga is constantly in samādhi. / The blue skies and azure heavens are our family tradition; / freely reaching out a hand, one responds skillfully; / casting a needle to enter the room requires deliberation; / in the song of a single character, it is clear as a mirror.

3.46

Praise of the Deity Shensha

3.47

With great compassion rescuing beings, his blessings equal the sands of the river; / manifesting form in the human world, he transformed into a white snake; / with fangs and claws sharp-tipped as keen swords, / fierce and wrathful in spirit, he acts as Shensha. / His high nose stands like hills and ranges; / his large ears turn like layered mountains and cliffs; / his dark, swarthy eyes hang like golden mirrors; / his bristling eyebrows stand like iron pitchforks. / He has snail-like sinews and clam-like knots; / furrowed and wrinkled, his body bursts with vigor; / his feet tread the surging waves, overturning the ocean billows; / his hands push aside heaven's gate, revealing the sun and moon. / Manifesting awesome spiritual power, appearing as if in wrath, / seen from afar, he strikes people with terror; / dried skulls strung into a necklace encircle his neck; / fierce tigers and poisonous snakes are draped over his body; / a lion shirt and an elephant-king pair of trousers, / with a poisonous dragon bound around his waist as an apron; / not only do humans who see him tremble in alarm, / but all evil demons are stricken with dread. / Truly a great sage, truly of compassionate strength, / manifesting forms in the human world that people do not recognize; / all because through kalpas in the dust they indulge their stubborn foolishness, / not believing in the guidelines laid down by great compassion. / Sometimes shocking heaven, sometimes shaking earth, / his roars and cries resound across the earth, / awakening the sleeping eyes of living beings, / striking the foolish and deluded to bring them close to the Buddha's wisdom. / I now know he possesses skillful means, / benefiting beings by observing their faculties through thousands and myriads of transformations; / now capturing, now releasing, now supporting, / solely wishing that they swiftly transcend the shore of birth and death. / Driving thunder and wind, flashing lightning, / his swift thunderbolt-like functioning is like a flying arrow; / rumbling and crashing, shaking with heavenly majesty, / crackling and blazing, one must be forged; / mounds, ravines, peaks, and cliffs are leveled all at once; / swords, halberds, spears, and blades are completely destroyed. / Transforming humans and devas, subduing spirits and ghosts, / the hard, stubborn, unyielding, and strong all look up in reverence; / emitting dazzling light, he calms heaven and earth; / exhaling surging breath, he clarifies the ocean waters. / I now praise your true spiritual penetration; / throughout past kalpas, the Tathāgatas personally gave you prophesy. / The verse says: / “His awesome spiritual power is unfathomable, transforming humans and devas; / manifesting form across the three thousand worlds, filling the great thousand. / A single thought embraces countless kalpas; / Buddhas numerous as river sands proclaim it with their own mouths.”

3.48

Song of the Folding Screen

3.49

I have a plain folding screen, / beautifully displaying traces of past and present; / its upright form is entirely gleaming white, / quite suited to be called a Chan temple treasure. / Without ornamentation, requiring no effort, / it can ward off the southern winds that blow when the kalpa is destroyed; / smoke, dust, clouds, and fog leave no trace upon it; / the myriad phenomena all appear within it. / The foolish do not recognize it; the wise penetrate it first; / accumulating snow as reality, it is unlike ordinary snow. / Dīpaṃkara once gave prophecy to the Capable and Benevolent One; / Śākyamuni through this transformed the blind and ignorant. / Square and upright in substance, serene and complete in appearance, / it abides solely among humans and devas, yet heaven cannot fathom it; / for scholars, commoners, dukes, and marquises, it is an exquisite sight. / The poor, lowly, foolish, and deluded are separated by a wall; / deaf to it, yet it is truly worthy of veneration and difficult to encounter; / through hundreds of thousands of myriads of kalpas, they lose its appearance; / now, though they do not recognize it, it remains ingenious; / how could anything compare to holding and enjoying the plain folding screen? / Possessing strength, leaving no trace, / it does not employ the slightest effort of a skilled artisan; / the cornelian moon long shines forth with the brightness of white jade silk, / illuminating heaven and earth, functioning without contrivance.

3.50

One day, while the Master was walking carrying his staff, a layman asked, “What is that in your hand?” / The Master said, “You are greatly ignorant of the season.” / The layman said, “This disciple is at fault.” / The Master said, “I will not strike you.” / Because of this, there was a song.

3.51

A single wooden staff held in my hand, / propping up earth and heaven, priceless beyond measure; / head and tail whirl about, striking with the lightning mechanism, / fit to serve as a rule for all quarters. / I announce to the followers of Chan: seize it with vigor! / When crossing waters and climbing mountains, lean on it for support; / carried horizontally across the world, reclining in the vast sky, / it points out heaven and earth, illuminating the Buddhas and Patriarchs. / Striking the foolish, subduing fierce tigers, / directly severing to the source, I entrust it to you; / causing them to use it freely, vertically and horizontally, / gauging vessels square and round, skillfully shifting and interchanging. / Rarely finding one who understands, do not speak falsely; / Huangbo and Gaoting were exceedingly reckless; / Deshan and Linji spread it out completely; / Heze clearly received it from the Sixth Patriarch. / Latter-day students lack the anvil and hammer; / holding it in their palms, they cannot split it open; / Shaoyang uniquely grasped the mind of Muzhou; / Baoshou opened his hall, surpassing past and present. / Showing comrades in robes, pointing out the path ahead: / carrying clothes on your shoulders is great bitterness and toil; / your bottle and bowl are already quite a lot, / yet you shoulder thousands and myriads more along the way; / now, in all your movements, it always accompanies you— / do nothing more than take a look at it yourself with your reed cutter.

3.52

Song of the Mountain Monk

First 52 of 292 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

汾陽無德禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese