虛堂和尚語錄 7

English (machine translation) 7

Language: English

7.2

Expounding on Xuedou's 'Changing the Ruts' Two Gates

7.3

Kāśyapa heard the zither and started dancing; / Yuanming heard the bell and knitted his brows. / Xigeng sits upright in his cramped room; / On half the window, the frozen sun is genial and bright.

At the head of Jasper Creek lies Yellow Leaf Village; / Neither flowers nor birds are heard reaching the hedge gate. / At the time when sound asleep seems to awaken, / The half-disc of the mountain moon shows its freshly revealed curve.

7.6

Skillful Response Has No Fixed Form

7.7

Rain falls stumbling and clumsy, forest leaves grow sparse; / Coming and going never involved separating from the subtle. / Before the wondrous working turns, already it shines ahead; / From where are footprints expected to return?

7.8

Facing Conditions

7.9

On the stone bed the crescent moon leaves dream-souls cold; / The stream water mirrors the portrait, the gaunt shadow clear. / All my life, toiling and moiling, I have forgotten my self; / Beyond the world, who knows with whom I could form an alliance?

7.10

The Noble Person Has Thoughts

7.11

A lone boat for a hundred thousand leagues, / Entrusting life to perilous currents; / After the five leaves shed their fragrance, / In the Divine Land the Dharma has already entered autumn.

7.12

Reading the Zongjing lu

7.13

A hundred fascicles are not mere letters; / Penetrating deeply into the ocean treasury. / The old barbarian's three-inch tongue; / How many lifetimes of mind for the Master of the Mirror? / Powerfully breaking the nets of defiling toil, / Able to melt the gold of vast kalpas. / What is it like to return to the source? / Beneath the blossoms chirps a numinous bird.

7.14

Casting the Seal

7.15

Wearing a robe of gold brocade, curbing a small piebald horse, / Raising the whip repeatedly beneath the bright moon. / Coming and going in vain along the borders of the Yellow River, / Up to this very day, no merit has been established.

7.16

Melting the Seal

7.17

Bottomless iron shoes have had their fill of wind and frost; / Late in the year returning to lie on the stone bed. / A pair of eyes, pitch-black and gleaming, / Half hung with the cold hall amidst the shadows of clouds.

7.18

Evening View from Huiyan Peak

7.19

The shadow of a solitary cane falls beyond the clear Xiang River; / Watching returning clouds gather and soar again to the end. / Life in the world wanders distantly, yet the mind pledges itself; / How many times have I come here to stand in the setting sun?

7.20

Layman Pang's Hermitage in Hengyang

7.21

The layman that year misapplied his mind; / His whole household has been in discord down to the present day. / The bamboo strainer's handle is short, with no one to buy it; / In vain, rustling desolately, wind fills the woods.

7.22

Ascending Zhurong Peak

7.23

Of the seventy-two peaks of the Southern Marchmount, / Zhurong Peak alone stands the highest: / Nine thousand seven hundred and thirty zhang tall, / Looking down upon the world's oceans like autumn down. / Min, Emei, and Huading bow down in the distance; / Jiuhua and Wulao come to pay morning audience. / The old monk of Shangfeng has nothing to do all day; / When inspiration strikes, he strokes the cloudy skies with his hand.

7.24

Fangguang Monastery

7.25

In the clouds, a jade chime rings at no set time; / At tree-tops, golden lamps shine through the eternal night. / A sacred site precisely because few people ever reach it; / From ancient times to the present, its gates have never been barred.

7.26

Visiting Zhao Yeyun without Finding Him In

7.27

For long I wished to sit leisurely opposite old Vimalakīrti, / Wanting to speak of the many ailments of sentient beings. / For no reason, an iron doorsill guards the ten-foot room; / It should not be easy for a rustic to pass through.

7.28

Scribe Yuan Departing for Qiantang

7.29

Who cares about the catfish climbing up a bamboo pole? / Risking his life, he has endured until his skull is parched. / This time, returning to the West Lake, / Do not carelessly gaze upon the calves' pasture and the gulls' waves.

7.30

Canon Warden Mi Returning to Chaoyang

7.31

Solemn and dignified in the monasteries, his maturity is evident; / River and lakes bind us together in common alliance. / In the land of crocodiles, before foul winds are mentioned, / As the spring snow begins to melt, it is good to ask the way.

7.32

Broken Bridge

7.33

The blind donkey steps once and both ends are emptied; / Thereupon it differs from ordinary roads. / An inch of a step turns out to be separated by a thousand leagues; / In confusion, most are stranded midway on the path.

7.34

Visiting Lecturer Huiyan of Nanhu

7.35

The lecture hall bewildered the one who scattered flowers; / Myriads of people in their vast confusion suffered toil in vain. / At the dead end, finding life, the functional path becomes vivid; / Surely the venerable one must be your previous incarnation.

7.36

Thanking Dai Wu'an

7.37

Deeply indebted to old Vimalakīrti east of the city, / Who gave up his vegetable garden and offered a meal to the monks. / The whetstone is watched as it wears completely away; / The layman's liver and heart are cast of solid iron.

7.38

Viewing a Landscape Painting and Detaining Chan Practitioner Xiu

7.39

Near and far, what abundance of delight! / Hard to seek by mere inches and feet. / Formerly scaling the peak of the marchmount, / Now having traversed all the Divine Land. / Water hushed, the gray woods at dusk; / Cold arises in the autumn of the Jade Well. / Round rush mats facing each other in the chill, / From time to time conversing about the mountain peak.

7.40

Requesting a Kitten

7.41

Newly born in the hall, a tiger-faced wildcat; / Promised to me for a thousand pieces of gold, it should not be altered. / The house is poor, so indeed there are no thieving mice; / I just want to see it flip over and climb a tree.

7.42

Chan Guest Tong Brings Offerings

7.43

The patch-robed monk has a numinous talisman behind his elbow; / Who cares whether it existed before or not? / Unable to shoulder a single board to the very end, / He comes again to draw the gourd according to the model.

7.44

Seeing Off a Monk Going to See Bu'an of Longquan

7.45

The Tai'e sword lies across the table, dripping with blood; / Even a heart and liver made of iron would knit its brows. / Having stepped inside the gate, if you overturn the dead confession, / Bu'an will not necessarily be willing to spare you.

7.46

Drawing Lots for Guanyin with the Water and Land Ritual Scroll on the Back

7.47

The Auspicious Great Being relinquishes her entire body, / Wishing to deliver those on lost paths from the wheel of suffering. / Helplessly, sentient beings are hard to transform; / Heaven and hell are renewed all over again.

7.48

Clear Night at Xiagu

7.49

Holding to the day, hills and valleys are harbored within; / With dark functioning, merit is not yet recorded. / An earthenware basin consumes the ancient seal incense; / A stone couch keeps company with returning clouds. / Wonder-filled events are known to be just like this; / For the remainder of life, nothing is heard. / Lamp-snuffs smile coldly upon each other; / How could they make up for even the slightest fraction?

7.50

Seeing Off Attendant Xian

7.51

Half-fearing the spring cold, the illness has not yet recovered; / Leaving the gate, there is no strength to make the three shouts. / If the stinging hands of all quarters prove effective, / In late autumn you should return to pluck the tiger's whiskers.

7.52

Seeing Off Wen, 'Lean Ox'

7.53

Pure chill alone, with skin propped up by bones; / And without the strength of mind to hold the plow. / Rivers and lakes have vast, idle fields in abundance, / Especially now when the spring wind makes the grasses grow.

7.54

Black and Yellow Are Not Real

7.55

All things are of themselves complete jade discs; / How could Master Zhuang make them equal? / The moon is high, pine shadows are slender; / The wind is swift, wild goose ranks fly low. / Who can capture this in vermilion and blue pigments? / Difficult to record it on bamboo and silk. / Hanshan must surely laugh at me: / Hand in hand, separated as cloud and mud.

7.56

What Fault Is There in Black and White?

7.57

Worldly affairs are tangled like hemp; / The beloved has not yet arrived home. / Continuous rain in the deep courtyard / Splatters and breaks the flowers behind the hall. / When did we part from old conversations? / Letters and messages have no limit. / Dusk mist is about to close in from all four sides; / From where does the nomad flute arise?

7.58

Thanking Zhifeng Jiaocheng for Gifting Tea

7.59

Selected bud sprouts with fragrant marks emerge from south of the mountain; / How can their true flavor be approached in a casual manner? / Once brewed beside pine roots with cascade snow, / Even now, residual sweetness lingers on my teeth and cheeks.

7.60

Bramble Forest

7.61

The ocean phoenix flies here but dares not roost; / Old boughs and new thorns are sharp as awls. / In the vast wilderness, whether able to get out or unable to get out, / It is only known to one who risks his life to arrive here.

7.62

Area Commander Zhao Visits Xiagu; Written in Accordance with His Rhymes in Gratitude

7.63

Banners and pennants appear beyond the heavens, / Coming hazily into the valley. / High in renown, the grasses bend before him; / The mountain spirits cause the clouds to part on their own. / In Chan robes sitting upon secluded stones, / A palm-fiber handle whisks away the clear dust. / With meritorious achievements fit for the Lingyan Pavilion, / How could he be made to hide away at the Fishing Terrace?

7.64

Sending Tea to Commander Lou

7.65

A warm breeze: 'sparrow tongues' crowd the fragrant thickets; / Fresh from the roasting oven, sealed and inscribed to present to the Minister. / At the Plum Foot, your hand is accustomed to seasoning the cauldron; / For a moment with a ladle of water, listen to the wind in the pines.

7.66

Seeing Off Lecturer Jian

7.67

Blowing out the paper lamp, you were still hesitant and circuitous; / Up to this very day, your heart has not grown cold. / Moss blossoms on the terrace stone are nearly half eaten away; / I wonder who will come again having burned their commentaries.

7.68

A Monk Worships at Potalaka

7.69

A solitary figure sweeps past the east of Haimen, / Through the streams and mountains of Wu and Yue, tens of thousands of folds. / Rising from one prostration only to make another, / Not knowing where to see the Perfect Penetration.

7.70

Sending Off Chan Practitioner Teng

7.71

Parting from my old abbot's affection at Zhiyan, / The pines in the hall are cold with moon, the dew's blossoms clear. / High-hung with the ancient paulownia lute, who knows where you will go? / You will hear the sound of flowing water over a hundred shoals.

7.72

Visiting Qixia Daoist Abbey

7.73

On the sea are many secluded traces; / Only upon seeking the stele did I find its name. / The immortal perfected, the cinnabar crucible is cold; / Warm mist glows as ground flowers bloom. / There is a crane that long does not die; / Seeing a person, it ever wishes to cry. / The feathered-robe Daoist west of the altar / Knows my journey was not in vain.

7.74

A Monk Going to Jinling

7.75

A fine night, the cassia moon gleams in the courtyard; / Crickets chirp beneath the leaves of green sedge. / Parting from me, your square inch of mind is like an inch of iron; / I wonder how many leagues your journey through the southern lands will be.

7.76

Sent to Dharma Master Foguang of Huiyan

7.77

Facing the text, annotating and explaining, the thorough person arrives; / Breaking clauses and dividing sections, it is hard for even a master. / Have you not seen the one who burned his commentaries at Liyang? / When held up on the staff's tip, it is still utterly wretched.

7.78

Elder Chang, Styled Zhuxi (Bamboo Stream)

7.79

Sparse green shadows brew a cold clarity; / High virtue and an open mind have long earned renown. / Have you not seen where the moon shines on flowing water? / A good wind at times draws forth the cry of a young phoenix.

7.80

Elder Tan, Styled Guyuan (Ancient Abyss)

7.81

The kraken's dwelling is fundamentally bottomless; / Even divine Yu could hardly fathom its shallows and depths. / Take well the news of the congealed current / And let it pour as rain to bring life to the monasteries.

7.82

Chan Practitioner Pu Returns West

7.83

Plum shadows are sparse, orchid leaves fragrant; / Amidst the waters and grasses of Wu, you journey through Yue. / Fallow fields meet the eye, with no one to claim them; / Leisurely returning, you plough under the moon.

7.84

A Monk Styled Zhizhong (Abiding in the Center)

7.85

Eating only after refining the fruit, roosting only after selecting the tree; / Luminous, yet keeping oneself obscure; myriad things are hard to make equal. / Autumn gathers in: the nest is empty, sleep is sound; / The dream broken, the moon prints upon the clear stream.

7.86

Attendant Yue's Mirror Pool

7.87

The rain passes, the sky's wind is still; / The wave's gleam is as if cast [in bronze]. / There is no need for frequent self-reflection; / Beauty and ugliness are naturally distinct.

7.88

The Herdboy

7.89

The mist is warm at the stream's head, the grass is truly lush; / He lets the ox eat its fill and lie in the clear sunlight. / Rolling up a leaf, he enters deep into the ravine, / Blowing through the spring wind, completely unaware of himself.

7.90

The Fisherman

7.91

Cold are the leaves of wild rice and rushes, the evening sky hangs low; / Beside the broken bank, a boat lies athwart, water on all sides. / With only a single pole of Xiangchu bamboo, / He never lightly comes down to the fishing ledge.

7.92

Chan Practitioner Zeng, Styled Weizhi

7.93

A direct nod of assent is not yet true intimacy; / The Great Way cannot be divided by speech and silence. / Have you not heard the flute on the river in the evening wind? / A single note pierces the clouds of the azure sky.

7.94

Chan Practitioner Ji Goes to Mount Taibai

7.95

Luminous and clear, it cannot be inscribed; / Interrupted and continuing, who will listen again? / On the sea is an utterly foolish one; / In the mountains there are no commoners. / The wind from the heavens generates silent pipes; / The frosted moon descends upon the cold sandbar. / When you go, forget secluded exploration; / The layered crags are not yet bolted shut.

7.96

At Mount Wansong, Presented to Top Scholar Zhang

7.97

Boring into it and gazing up, there is no gate, yet nothing is not penetrated; / Still as an ancient well reflecting autumn's face. / Bai Letian naturally attained the art within the Way, / From time to time drawing a pure breeze to blow through the ten thousand pines.

7.98

A Monk Traveling to Mount Tiantai and Mount Yandang

7.99

Both sound and meaning are extinguished, impossible to hear; / Rolling up your robes and heading south, with whom will you discuss it? / At Longqiu the water is astringent, the Stone Bridge is slippery; / Having found the path, you should knock on the Venerable One's door.

7.100

A Bizarre Pine on a Bed Screen

7.101

Flood-dragon trunk and horned-dragon branches ingeniously coil; / Scaly and bristling, it naturally generates a chill. / Lying beside it, do not let it turn into a monster and depart; / Just look towards where the sound of the billows arises.

7.102

A Monk Returning to Yue

7.103

Dew stirs, wind whips, shore grass turns to autumn; / Gathering your robes, where will you board the orchid boat? / Being directionless is truly knowing the direction; / Do not imitate Master Zhi Dun getting bogged down at Wochou.

7.104

Yuanchen Porch (Distant from Dust)

7.105

Opening the window to plant tall bamboos, / Chiseling the rock to construct a square pond. / On a fine night the moon comes here; / How many of those who toil through life know this?

7.106

Visiting Jinhua Grotto-Heaven

7.107

Whistling, the cliff torrent is heard in the stillness; / Arriving here, the immortal and the mundane are separated by an inch. / On what day will the crane carriage return from paying homage to the Perfected? / The grotto gate all day long locks in cold clouds.

7.108

Sent to Prefect Zhao Yutang of Wuzhou

7.109

Those who reach the same rank in Confucianism and Buddhism are few; / The Way harmonises like water and snow, reflecting subtleties. / Sitting at leisure in the Hall of Harmonious Peace, / You quietly watch the cold clouds drifting back piece by piece.

7.110

Inscribed After a Collection of Calligraphy and Painting

7.111

Expressing much of the ancients' traces, / Excelling the words woven of coloured silk: / The place where Wang Yishao observed geese, / The moment Mi Yuanhui gave rein to his ink. / The room being empty, the kraken bumps [its horns] on its own; / With spirit lasting long, the trees bring forth sorrow. / What trigger and response brought about this attainment? / As you unroll and search through it, you should ponder this.

7.112

Shown to Attendant Jun on a Winter Night

7.113

Guarding the black charcoal, warmth returns; / Late in the night, the cold heavy, it easily turns to ash. / I recall Baizhang poking the embers once more, / Which instead made Guishan unable to open his eyes.

7.114

Quanheng of Lingzhu Visits the Prefect of Wuzhou and Meets at Shuanglin

7.115

Not using a single word to manifest the present lineage, / Streams and mountains everywhere fill this old man's eyes. / Envisioning the old friend from Jinhua, / He will not let the bright moon shine on the returning awning.

7.116

Daoist Priest Yan of Western Shu once spent a summer with me on Mount Yue; thirty years later, wearing the saṅghāṭī robe, he met me again at Shuanglin.

7.117

Neither worshipping at the astral altar nor pacing the void, / Tearing off your cap, you came to do the work of death. / Deep in the earth-hearth burning red leaves, / Do you remember the old talks from three lifetimes ago, or not?

7.118

Expounding the Buddhist Histories: Qian Yuelin

7.119

Profoundly bringing forth spiritual dynamism at the corner of the mouth, / Like a cascading torrent on a sheer cliff confronting one with cold. / If one says the line of patriarchs had something to transmit and receive, / There would have been no cause for Kāśyapa to knock down the flagpole.

7.120

Chan Practitioner Yuan Goes to Ru Peak

7.121

Deeply silent as thunder, skillfully releasing the trigger; / A mallet on the crown cannot be brought down on dull roots. / Blue frost and yellow leaves weigh upon the barren wilderness; / Hasten back quickly to see Master Yinzhi.

7.122

The Arhat Tree

7.123

Bowing to the seed of the Tathāgatas, / Arising out of compassion in the degenerate age: / Branch by branch, small fruits form; / Leaf by leaf, supernormal powers manifest. / The sea moon shares its pure reflection; / Heavenly fragrance follows the morning breeze. / May only those who are confused about themselves / Behold this and escape the cage.

7.124

Presented to Vice Minister Huang, Prefect of Siming, Declining [the Abbacy of] Yanfu

7.125

Rain transforms and benevolence moulds, your virtue ever more fragrant; / Like spring, myriad things naturally generate and complete. / In former years you observed the governance at Xiushui; / It was just as pure as the Yin River.

7.126

On the stone bed, I have long reclined in the cloudy forest; / Sixty years old, silver strands invade both temples. / The mind of floating a cup upon the sea has already ceased; / Cupping the stream water, permit me to steal the shade of the pear tree.

7.127

Sent to the Master of Jizhao Hermitage

7.128

Withdrawing afar, following lofty tracks to succeed the overturned bowl,
A single shrine of withered stillness was your former body.
In the shadow of the graceful peak, casually rubbing your eyes,
You see through the deep clouds where no person has yet arrived.

7.129

Instruction for Chan Practitioner Zugong

7.130

The patriarch's intention is brightly clear right in your own body;
Looking for it, it is not seen, yet its functioning is inexhaustible.
If you intend in your mind to bring it up again,
A startled autumn leaf falls through the empty sky.

7.131

Lecturer An Changes Robes

7.132

Liangsui once knocked at Magu's gate;
Where there was no deception, host and guest were distinguished.
You come in person to see the old man of Xutang,
With two ears hanging to his shoulders, sitting in the white clouds.

7.133

At Tianzhu, Seeing Off a Monk Going to Changyi

7.134

Solemnly fixing your eyes, drawing in the autumn light,
A sail passes over the Eastern Sea as white birds fly.
Neither conjoined nor separated, though you approve of yourself,
Among the ocean mountains, who will expound the King of Sūtras for you?

7.135

Movement and Stillness Doubly Illuminated

7.136

Raising the breath, dark to direction or place,
In vain I am called a monk of the Song land.
A hundred years ought to be thrown away by itself;
How can one rely upon a single meal?
The warm wind sets mountain magpies to fight;
As the mist dissolves, the sharp edges of stones are revealed.
Sharing sweetness with the clouds and waters,
All day long, I let myself be carefree and untrammeled.

7.137

Objects and Self Both Forgotten

7.138

In daily life, I am mostly useless as an implement;
Only when feelings and views are exhausted is it known.
Having eyes, they hang on the empty wall;
Having no mind, it tallies with the ancestral masters.
When the patch-robe is torn, my hand mends it as it goes;
When a guest arrives, I am slow to descend the steps.
If someone asks about the old man of Xutang,
Tell him earnestly with full care.

7.139

Chan Practitioner Hui Going to Wannian

7.140

A rat entering a bamboo coin-tube has exhausted its tricks;
Ten years of footsteps, and before the eyes it is empty.
Now you ask again about the road across the flat fields;
At the mountain cottage, the wind half-blows yellow leaves.

7.141

Instruction for Chan Practitioner Ming

7.142

The style of facing the wall has long been desolate;
Descendants step by step set up new rules.
Not knowing for what matter the arm was severed,
Blood splattered in the empty courtyard before the snow had melted.

7.143

Chan Practitioner Qi's Bodhimaṇḍa

7.144

The peak rises solitarily from a precipitous place;
The rock reaches the tiger's side where a chill spring flies.
Since the gate is difficult, it is right for you to go;
Do not shrink from standing before the courtyard in deep snow.

7.145

Daoist Li, Style-Named Fuyun

7.146

The body falls into empty space as if awakening from a dream;
Cutting off ten thousand machinations, leaving it to the heavenly authentic.
Solely retaining the mouth born of one's mother,
How can this matter be spoken of to others?

7.147

At Gṛdhrakūṭa, Listening to Apes: Head Monk Zuzhai, Style-Named Wuchuan

7.148

Nāgārjuna's karmic conditions met at Beizhai;
Resounding thunder from Nanyue reached Jingxi.
If one says no one lifts up the grand net,
Who listens to the solitary ape crying beneath the moon?

7.149

Replying to Layman Jueru

7.150

When the awakened essence is thus, thus, and does not change,
It can drive the ten thousand phenomena into a single hair.
Inside the city of Vaiśālī, no one recognizes it;
A single silence strikes like thunder, known only to oneself.

7.151

Dwelling in a Hermitage at Beishan

7.152

The patriarchs' burden is ultimately hard to shoulder;
Perching on the cliff is entirely reachable.
Loving leisure, I begrudge the short days;
Meeting inspiration, I do not know how to return.
The valley roars as wind battles the tiger;
The window brightens as the moon opens the barrier.
For the rest of my life there are no other thoughts;
What I have gained is to be left slack and clumsy.

7.153

The Two Chan Practitioners Gong and Qin Going to Changgeng

7.154

Elder brother and younger brother are not yet fully understood;
Their poisonous seed has always worn eyebrows over eyes.
If you reach the cloudy places of the Yin River,
Nine peaks in cold emerald lock the clear pond.

7.155

Visiting Superior Yue's Secluded Room

7.156

Amid the bamboo the pond is clear, the clouded room deep;
Ten thousand machinations darkly tally with the person of the Way's mind.
There is a door, yet it is not that no one arrives;
It is simply that the numinous traces cannot be sought.

7.157

Sent to Attendant Pu of Donghu

7.158

Before a sound was raised, it was already known beforehand;
Once using a losing move to trap the National Teacher.
At the hazardous place, with whom do you contest victory and defeat?
Duckweed blossoms and sandbank grasses are quietly fitting.

7.159

Seeing Off Ācārya Tai

7.160

When the wellside wutong leaves first fell, you took leave of Zhiyuan;
In a palm-bark hat, walking through autumn, you pass the seashore.
On the sand someone wrestles with the Vinaya tiger,
Saying that the commentaries to the sūtras have never explained it.

7.161

Seeing Off Chan Practitioner Jing

7.162

Beside the brightness of the white birds, autumn thoughts are distant;
Meeting people, before speaking, the teeth first run cold.
In later years, contending for horns in the ancestral room,
Returning from beyond the clouds, let me have a glance.

7.163

Chan Practitioner Pu Returning to Shushan

7.164

Your native mountains overlook Ru, dreaming of the autumn river;
Even more so as crickets chirp and the moon reaches the window.
Do not stay at the Southern Dang Temple of the capital;
May the Dharmakāya return and inquire of the withered stump.

7.165

Chan Practitioner Li Going to Pingshan

7.166

Trailing gently, the distant contours join the root of clouds;
There is a path—how could it ever leave one out of breath?
Since you know the vast marsh cannot hide it,
Extraordinary flowers and numinous herbs naturally bring forth spring.

7.167

Guest Prefect Xuan Returning to Jiangxin

7.168

Wind hat and cloud kerchief, passing the destined bounds;
How does asking for the ferry compare to the time of arriving home?
Half-leaning against the curved balustrade beyond the weeping willows,
The falling and rising of the tide is known only to oneself.

7.169

Sent to Karmadāna Jie

7.170

How many times, forgetting words, did we speak of Kebin?
To whom are the sounds of the monasteries permitted to be heard?
On an autumn night by the ocean mountain, facing the solitary moon,
You should remember the clouds atop the Northern High Peak.

7.171

Replying to Li Xin'en's Gift of a Bamboo Staff

7.172

A single branch of verdant jade sent to an obscure man,
Far surpassing Qiongzhou's nine-jointed grain.
It adds to my aging interest in mountains and waters,
Pointing at empty space and knocking on rocks to watch the flying clouds.

7.173

Librarian Yuan Travelling on Pilgrimage

7.174

Scolding Gautama for speaking empty falsehoods,
In recent years, an extraordinarily vicious frame of mind!
When meeting in the mountains of Wu and the waters of Yue,
Release the midge to bite the tiger.

7.175

Finding Nourishment

7.176

The earth is narrow and the sky is wide, as heard of old;
Cutting thatch, I obtain half a stream's clouds.
Sometimes awakening from dreams beneath the vine-clad window,
I am too lazy to listen to the deer calling their herd on the peak ahead.

7.177

At Lengquan, Seeing Off Chan Practitioner Wen Going to Tiantai

7.178

The day Huili called the apes,
The time Immortal Ge attained the Way:
The site is exquisite, hard for people to reach;
Who knows of your coming and going?

7.179

Seeing Off Chan Practitioner Xin

7.180

Sincere and trustworthy words are the root of the Way;
The phrases for stepping out the gate must be clearly distinguished.
When streams and mountains meet your eyes, know shame;
Do not imitate the monasteries' gluttony for seeing and hearing.

7.181

Chan Practitioner Zheng Returning to His Hermitage

7.182

Fangguang's numinous traces are an unmatched scene;
Those arriving in droves entirely fail to understand.
In the depths of chaotic clouds a Chan hermitage is set;
Foxes and apes cry outside the vine-clad window.

7.183

Chan Practitioner Wen Mourning at the Northern Hall

7.184

Rolling up your robes and going east, tears moisten the kerchief;
The orchid valley carries fragrant wind in the spring of the second month.
Heaven and earth open wide to empty space, spreading laughing eyes;
Who knows who is the person repaying parents?

7.185

Sent to Head Monk Zu of Xuedou

7.186

The sharp blade has never caught a speck of dust;
Through wiping, polishing, and grinding, the mind is already like cold ashes.
On an autumn night, unable to endure the ape howling at the moon,
With whom will you ascend the Terrace of Wonderful Heights?

7.187

The Three Chan Worthies Yan, Gong, and Hong Going to Guoqing

7.188

Who knew that amidst the quiet stillness of the Three Hermits,
Due to our discourse we sought an alliance, parting from Vulture Peak?
Seeing you off, tall bamboos stand right before the gate;
For you, leaf by leaf, they stir up a pure breeze.

7.189

Seeing off a Monk Going to Yan

7.190

Facing the rushes, we just spoke beneath the wisteria window;
Again you grasp your mountain vine, breaking through the morning mist.
Take in the line about arriving home at the Tong River:
The cuckoo calls before the moon is bright.

7.191

Seeing off Attendant Feng

7.192

Having smelted down the subtle and minute, you meet others again,
Your blue straw sandals treading through several layers of clouds.
Coming to bid me farewell at the solitary summit of Vulture Peak,
There is only the autumn light that we can share.

7.193

Chan Practitioner Ben's Rotten Firewood

7.194

Simply because in the end it is never completely dry,
Even if it meets fire, it is still hard to kindle.
As months and years go by, it wears away to nothing;
The spring breeze is not allowed to attend to it.

7.195

The Cliff Spring Echoes in the Empty Room

7.196

Heaven's pipes arise from inner stillness,
The peak is high, reaching far above the clouds.
What comes is not heard by the eyes;
Where there is nothing suffices for the mind to hear.
Rushes are cold, the Chan robe worn out;
The window is empty, moonlight divides in shadows.
The great achievement in the end does not rule;
Let it speak on for itself.

Linked texts (1)

虛堂和尚語錄 — Classical Chinese