[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [虛堂和尚語錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000) › 4.42 # 虛堂和尚語錄 4.42 虛堂和尚語錄 4.42 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [4.42](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000.4.42) 古之宗師，為人直截，凡有所問，只就問處與之破執，初無實義，後來垛生招箭，形於語言乃有普說。普說首出於真淨和尚，三佛以來皆有普說，無非怒罵呵咄鞭策誨勵，使其大心衲子勇於進工。近世宗師間有普說，尚多文體，不見古人直截為人處，大似場屋中論策一般，及攻其所從，乃藥貼上語，不能療人之病，徒使其末流紛紛傳集祕蓄，以當本參。殊不知，我王庫內，無如是刀。德山道：「亦無佛亦無祖，達磨元是老臊鬍，釋迦老子乾屎橛，十二分教是神鬼簿，四果三賢是守古塚，鬼盡皆自救不了。」是則一期方便，早是畫蛇添足。臨際道：「山僧往日曾向毘尼中留心，數十年之間披尋經論，後來方知是濟世表顯，遂乃一時拋却，發意參禪，遇善知識，方得道眼明白，辨得邪正，不是孃生下便會。」此亦古人不欺之語。今之學者不得其妙，病在自信不及處，病在得失是非處，病在我見偏執處，病在限量窠臼處，病在機境不脫處，病在得少為足處，病在一師一友處，病在旁宗別派處，病在位貌拘束處，病在自大了一生小不得處，此幾種病，障道之媒，人皆有之。要在當人退步揩磨淨盡，使其入作無門，向一條古路上蕩蕩地，無拘無檢、無障無礙，拈來便用、擦著便殺，臨機縱奪，無秋毫許凝滯，如轉圓石於千仞之上，他日祥光發現，垂範後昆，誠不為忝。苟有一念希求佛法，却被佛法二字籠罩，如油入麫，求脫不得。山僧自少有意參學，坐一二年，略無所入，但覺心眼俱清。後來江湖間，雖親近人，他見爾不是箇中蟲豸，誰肯淘汰爾，但臨風弔影，任之去留。後在金山，邂逅運庵先師招過霅上，得與入室，只是不得下語，纔開口便道：「爾且款款地，不要茅廣。」室中常示古帆未掛因緣，纔開口便罵。一日在侍者寮思之，古帆未掛，有甚難會，其實只是一漚未發已前事，一念未興已前事，者僧也是箇乖底，却教宗師倒來入他窠子，嵓頭見他來處分曉，便與他闌口一築，謂之得人一牛還人一馬，何得不教人下語。遂擔者一擔見解，去方丈呈。問聲未絕，先師道：「爾何不合取狗口，靜地裏密密體取去，每日只管來者裏，論量古人是非，有甚了期？」及歸到寮中，不覺躁悶，忽然會得古帆未掛話，清淨行者不入涅槃話，其他近淺話頭漸覺通曉。來日聞打鼓入室，先師見我氣貌稍自不同，却拋下古帆未掛話，問我南泉斬却猫兒，山僧便下一轉語道：「大地載不起。」先師低頭微笑。雖然如是，過得半年，心頭依舊鬧，被人拶著，依然去不得。後來看疎山壽塔話，三四年間，一日無心中，忽會得大嶺古佛放光底時節，方得自在，不被人謾却，將從前所看了底話頭，再把來打一看，大與日前所見不同，信知此事斷斷不在言語上。及遊山到漢上，夏在荊門玉泉，因閱覺範僧寶傳，見舉上座訪琅瑘因緣，琅瑘問：「近離甚處？」舉云：「浙江。」瑘云：「舡來陸來？」舉云：「舡來。」瑘云：「舡在甚處？」舉云：「步下。」瑘云：「不涉程途，一句作麼生？」舉以坐具一摵云：「杜撰長老如麻似粟。」便走將出去。琅瑘親到旦過問：「莫是舉上座麼？適來不合相觸忤。」舉便喝云：「長老何年到汾陽，我在浙江，早聞爾名，見解止如此，何得名播宇宙？」琅瑘云：「某甲罪過。」便禮拜。相見處如此，分曉覺範傳中。却來下面，添幾句道，琅瑘曾以此舉似慈明，明笑云：「舉見處纔能自了，而汝負墮，何以為人？」山僧到此，不覺掩卷長歎，若果然，有甚緇素？二大士相見，如蒼龍玩珠、飢鷹摶食，有甚麼狼藉底？若如是，討甚好慈明？覺範知見廣大，甞箋釋《楞嚴》，其扶宗樹教之文遍叢林，豈肯以無益之詞，瞎後世學者眼？在南嶽二年，欲討一箇同人決此狐疑，而不可得。及到雲居，寮中有《大慧廣錄》一部，弊甚。人言：「有禪者，梅陽謫居之時寫得，捨在寮中。」借來看，纔三兩卷，恰好撞著者箇話頭。大慧道：「我每笑洪覺範偏要胡亂穿鑿。當時舉上座道：『箇杜撰長老如麻似粟。』已是將琅瑘托上梵天。」山僧見此，如暑中沃氷雪，又證得鄙者之所執，大慧真絕世宗眼。後面幾句，又道：「此是文殊普賢大人境界，非凡情可測。」又道：「覺範在真淨處，發明不多。時因事出院，離師太早，所以有到處、有不到處。且如編龍牙參翠微因緣，牙問：『如何是祖師西來意？』微云：『與我過禪板來。』牙過禪板與翠微，微接得便打，牙云：『打即任打，要且無祖師西來意。』又問臨際：『如何是祖師西來意？』際云：『與我過蒲團來。』牙過蒲團與臨際，際接得便打。牙云：『打即任打，要且無祖師西來意。』又問洞山：『如何是祖師西來意？』山云：『待洞水逆流，却向汝道。』他到者裏，心路絕、伎倆盡，只得禮拜。」後之學者，已眼不明，見他承嗣洞山，便道：當時見翠微、臨際之時，未透一犬吠虛、千猱啀實。雲門見睦州發明，却嗣雪峯，惟有雪竇見徹他骨髓。頌古裡面劈頭便道：「龍牙山裡龍無眼。」此語辛辣難近傍，蓋他用處多類此。只如頌楞嚴辨見處，「吾不見時，何不見吾不見之處？若見不見，自然非彼不見之相。若不見吾不見之地，自然非物，云何非汝？」釋迦老子脫白露淨，說得多少分曉，他却頌道：「全象全牛翳不殊，從來作者共名摸，如今要見黃頭老，剎剎塵塵在半途。」譬如眾盲摸象，雖知其象，而不見其全象；如庖丁解牛，雖解其牛，而未得其全牛。若到全象全牛之地，謂之理極情忘，雪竇却道：「爾直饒得到全象全牛，與他幻翳何殊？」却把釋迦老子指出似人底，一時潑撒了也。此老用處，動著便是砒霜狼毒，覺範却道：「雪竇以死水瞎龍罪之。」分明是活祖師意，却作死法會了。他分明道：「龍牙山裏龍無眼，死水何曾振古風？禪板蒲團不能用，只應分付與盧公。」者箇便與杜撰長老如麻似粟，伯仲間也。雪竇恐人不曉，復成一頌：「盧公付了亦何憑，坐倚休將繼祖燈，堪對暮雲歸未合，遠山無限碧層層。」者裏千門萬戶一時打透，不是覺範不知雪竇頓放處，蓋用在一時，失在千古。學道人若不得一番胡孫子死，如何辨得邪正？若不得一番胡孫子活，如何脫得生死？適來如許多家具子，衲僧九十日內暫掛瓶盂，若挨拶不透，則孤負行脚大事；若挨拶得透，如白衣拜相，慶快平生。其如未然，更待彌勒生下化緣，劫空復入涅槃，再出頭來垂接未盡也未得了當在。何故？擊拂子，勸君得處披衣坐，莫折松枝拂蘚痕，久立。 > The ancestral masters of antiquity were straightforward when guiding people: whenever there was a question, they simply broke attachments right where the question arose, with no substantial doctrine at first. Later on, \[their words\] set up targets that invited arrows, taking shape in verbal expressions, which led to general discourses. General discourses first originated with Venerable Zhenjing; since the Three Buddhas, all have given general discourses, which were nothing other than angry scoldings, rebukes, spurnings, proddings, instructions, and encouragements to make patch-robed monks of great resolve strive vigorously in their work. The general discourses of masters in recent times occasionally given are still largely in literary styles; they do not show how the ancients straightforwardly guided people, but greatly resemble essays and policy discourses in the examination halls. When one examines where they come from, they are merely words on medicine labels, unable to cure people's sicknesses, merely causing the later degenerates to copy, collect, and secretly treasure them in confusion to serve as their fundamental investigation. Little do they know that in our King's treasury there is no such sword. Deshan said: 'There are neither buddhas nor patriarchs; Bodhidharma was originally an old, stinking bearded barbarian; old Śākyamuni is a dry piece of shit; the twelve-division teachings are ghost-and-spirit registers; the four fruits and three worthies are ghosts guarding old tombs—all of them cannot even save themselves.' Though this was an expedient for a time, it was already painting a snake and adding legs. Linji said: 'In former days, this mountain monk paid attention to the Vinaya, and for decades I opened and searched the sūtras and treatises; only later did I realize they were worldly remedies and outward displays. Thereupon I threw them all away at once, gave rise to the intention to investigate Chan, and met good spiritual friends; only then did my eye of the Way become clear and distinguish the corrupt from the upright. It was not that I understood this at birth from my mother.' These too are words with which the ancients did not deceive people. Practitioners today do not attain the marvel; their sickness lies in lacking sufficient self-confidence; their sickness lies in gain and loss, right and wrong; their sickness lies in self-view and stubborn clinging; their sickness lies in limited ruts; their sickness lies in not being free from dynamic circumstances; their sickness lies in taking a little to be sufficient; their sickness lies in \[attachment to\] a single teacher or single friend; their sickness lies in collateral lineages and separate factions; their sickness lies in constraints of status and appearance; their sickness lies in having grown arrogant so that all their life they cannot be humble. These several kinds of sicknesses are the catalysts that obstruct the Way; everyone has them. What is essential is for each person to take a step back and wipe them completely clean, making it so there is no entrance through which to operate, and proceed along an ancient road grand and open—without constraint or check, without hindrance or obstruction; picking it up and using it immediately, touching it and killing immediately; releasing and taking away according to the moment, without the slightest particle of stagnation—like rolling a round boulder from atop a thousand-fathom cliff. When auspicious light appears in days to come, setting a model for later generations, it truly will not be a disgrace. If there is a single thought of seeking the Buddhadharma, one will instead be covered by the two words 'Buddhadharma', like oil entering flour, seeking escape in vain. From my youth, this mountain monk was inclined to investigate and study; I sat for one or two years with scarcely any entry, only feeling that my mind and eye were both clear. Later, wandering among the rivers and lakes, although I drew near to others, when they saw that you were not a creature of this kind, who would be willing to refine you? One could only lament to one's own shadow in the wind, leaving it to going and staying. Later at Jinshan, I happened to meet my late master Yun'an, who invited me to Zhashang and allowed me to enter his room. Yet I was simply not allowed to utter a turning phrase; as soon as I opened my mouth he would say: 'Take it slowly, do not be rash.' In the room he constantly brought forward the case of 'the ancient sail is not yet hoisted'; as soon as I opened my mouth, he would scold me. One day in the attendants' quarters I thought about it: What is so difficult to understand about 'the ancient sail is not yet hoisted'? In truth, it is merely the matter before a single bubble has arisen, the matter before a single thought has stirred. That monk was also clever, making the ancestral master turn around and enter his rut. Seeing clearly where he came from, Yantou gave him a thrust right across his mouth, which is called 'receiving a cow from someone and returning a horse to him'; why would he not let someone utter a turning phrase? Thereupon, shouldering this load of understanding, I went to the abbot's quarters to present it. Before my voice had ceased, the late master said: 'Why don't you shut your dog mouth, go to a quiet place and intimately embody it? Every day you just come here arguing over the rights and wrongs of the ancients; when will there ever be an end?' When I returned to the quarters, I felt anxious and restless; suddenly I understood the talk of 'the ancient sail is not yet hoisted', the talk of 'the pure practitioner does not enter nirvāṇa', and the other nearby and shallow phrases gradually became clear to me. The next day, hearing the drum beaten for entering the room, the late master saw that my demeanor was somewhat different; putting aside the talk of 'the ancient sail is not yet hoisted', he asked me about 'Nanquan cuts the cat'. This mountain monk immediately offered a turning phrase: 'The great earth cannot bear it.' The late master lowered his head and smiled. Even though it was like this, after half a year my mind was as noisy as before; when pressed by others, I still could not make a move. Later, I looked at the talk of Shushan's memorial tower; for three or four years, one day without mind, I suddenly understood the occasion of the ancient buddha of Daling emitting light; only then did I attain ease, no longer deceived by others. Taking up the phrases I had examined before and giving them another look, they were vastly different from what I had seen previously; I truly knew that this matter definitively does not lie in words. When on pilgrimage I reached Hanshang, I spent the summer at Yuquan in Jingmen. Because of reading Juefan's \*Biographies of the Saṃgha's Jewels\*, I saw the case of Senior Monk Ju visiting Langye. Langye asked: 'Where have you recently left?' Ju said: 'Zhejiang.' Ye said: 'Did you come by boat or by land?' Ju said: 'By boat.' Ye said: 'Where is the boat?' Ju said: 'Under foot.' Ye said: 'Without walking the journey, what is the single phrase?' Ju struck him once with his sitting cloth and said: 'Fabricating elders are as plentiful as hemp and millet.' And he walked right out. Langye went in person to the travelers' quarters and asked: 'Could you be Senior Monk Ju? Just now it was improper for me to offend you.' Ju immediately shouted and said: 'In what year did the elder reach Fenyang? When I was in Zhejiang, I had already heard your name, but your understanding is only like this; how did your name spread throughout the universe?' Langye said: 'This one's fault,' and made prostrations. Such was their meeting, so clearly shown; yet further down in Juefan's biography, he added a few sentences, saying that Langye once brought this up to Ciming, and Ming laughed and said: 'Ju's view can barely save himself, but you were defeated and fell; how can you guide people?' Reaching this point, this mountain monk could not help but close the volume and heave a long sigh: If that were really so, what distinction between black and white would there be? When the two great beings met, it was like a dark dragon playing with a pearl, a hungry hawk snatching food—what mess was there? If it were like this, what good Ciming would one seek? Juefan's knowledge and views were vast; he had annotated the \*Śūraṅgama-sūtra\*, and his writings upholding the school and establishing the teachings pervaded the monasteries; how would he be willing to blind the eyes of later students with useless words? For two years at Nanyue, I wished to find a fellow traveler to resolve this suspicion, but could not find one. When I reached Yunju, in the quarters there was a copy of the \*Extensive Records of Dahui\*, very worn. People said: 'There was a Chan practitioner who copied it when exiled in Meiyang and left it in the quarters.' I borrowed it to read; after only two or three fascicles, I happened upon this very case. Dahui said: 'I always laugh at Hong Juefan's insistence on randomly making far-fetched interpretations. When Senior Monk Ju said: "Fabricating elders are as plentiful as hemp and millet," he had already lifted Langye up to the Brahmā heaven.' Seeing this, this mountain monk felt as if doused with ice and snow in the summer heat, and it again verified what this humble one had held; Dahui truly had the peerless eye of the school! In the sentences following, he also said: 'This is the realm of the great beings Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra, not to be measured by ordinary feelings.' He also said: 'While at Zhenjing's place, Juefan did not experience much breakthrough. Because of circumstances he left the monastery and parted from the master too early; therefore he had places where he arrived and places where he did not arrive. For example, when he compiled the case of Longya visiting Cuiwei: Ya asked, "What is the intention of the ancestral master coming from the West?" Wei said, "Pass me the meditation board." Ya passed the meditation board to Cuiwei; Wei took it and immediately struck him. Ya said, "Strike if you will, but there still is no intention of the ancestral master coming from the West." He also asked Linji, "What is the intention of the ancestral master coming from the West?" Ji said, "Pass me the cushion." Ya passed the cushion to Linji; Ji took it and immediately struck him. Ya said, "Strike if you will, but there still is no intention of the ancestral master coming from the West." He also asked Dongshan, "What is the intention of the ancestral master coming from the West?" Shan said, "Wait until the Dong river flows backward, then I will tell you." Arriving here, his mental paths were severed and his contrivances exhausted; he could only bow.' Later students, their eyes already unclear, seeing that he succeeded Dongshan, say that when he saw Cuiwei and Linji back then, he had not penetrated—one dog barks at an illusion, and a thousand monkeys snarling take it for real. Yunmen had his breakthrough seeing Muzhou, yet succeeded Xuefeng; only Xuedou saw through to his marrow. In his verses on antiquity, right at the start he says: 'In the Longya Mountains, the dragon has no eyes.' These words are pungent and hard to approach, for his functions were mostly like this. Just as when versifying the passage distinguishing vision in the \*Śūraṅgama\*: 'When I do not see, why do you not see where I do not see? If you see my not seeing, it is naturally not the characteristic of not seeing. If you do not see where I do not see, it is naturally not an object; how is it not you?' Old Śākyamuni bared it completely and exposed it cleanly, speaking so clearly; yet he versified: 'The whole elephant and whole ox are no different from cataracts; / From the beginning, adept masters shared the name of groping. / If you now wish to see the Yellow-Headed Old Man, / In kṣetra after kṣetra and dust after dust, you are halfway on the road.' For instance, like the blind men groping the elephant: though they know the elephant, they do not see the whole elephant; like Cook Ding carving the ox: though he carves the ox, he has not grasped the whole ox. If one reaches the stage of the whole elephant and whole ox, it is called the extremity of principle where sentiment is forgotten; yet Xuedou says: 'Even if you reach the whole elephant and whole ox, how are they different from illusory cataracts?' He simply took what old Śākyamuni pointed out to show people and overturned it all at once. Whenever this old fellow operated, every move was arsenic and wolfsbane, yet Juefan said: 'Xuedou blamed him as a blind dragon in dead water.' Clearly it was the living intention of the patriarchs, yet he understood it as a dead doctrine! He clearly said: 'In the Longya Mountains, the dragon has no eyes; / How could dead water stir the ancient style? / Meditation boards and cushions cannot be used; / They should only be entrusted to Master Lu.' This is on par with 'fabricating elders are as plentiful as hemp and millet.' Fearing people would not understand, Xuedou further composed a verse: 'Once entrusted to Master Lu, what is to be relied upon? / Do not, while sitting and leaning, continue the lamp of the patriarchs. / Worthy of facing the evening clouds that return without merging, / The distant mountains stretch boundlessly in green layer upon layer.' Here, thousands of gates and tens of thousands of doors are broken through at once. It was not that Juefan did not know where Xuedou settled things, but because his function was of a single moment, his error was for a thousand ages. If a practitioner of the Way does not experience the monkey dying once, how can they distinguish the corrupt from the upright? If they do not experience the monkey reviving once, how can they escape birth and death? Just now there were so many tools and fixtures; patch-robed monks temporarily hang up their bottles and bowls for ninety days—if they do not push through, they fail the great matter of itinerant pilgrimage; if they push through, it is like a commoner being appointed prime minister, the joy of a lifetime. If this is not yet so, even waiting until Maitreya descends to transform beings, and the kalpa of emptiness enters nirvāṇa again, coming forth again to guide without end, one still will not have settled the matter. Why is this?" Striking with the whisk: "I advise you to put on your robe and sit where you have attained it; do not snap pine branches to brush away moss traces. You have been standing long. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 4.41](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000.4.41) - [Next: 4.43](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000.4.43) - [Up: 4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000.4) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000~en-mt.4.42) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [宏智禪師廣錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2001.2.165) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000.4.42](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2000.4.42) · Pramāṇa