宏智禪師廣錄 7

English (machine translation) 7

Language: English

7.1

Portrait Eulogies and Cremation Verses of Venerable Zhengjue of Mount Tiantong in Mingzhou

7.2

Compiled by Attendants Qingcui and Fagong

Court Gentleman Wu Fupeng wrote a letter, having once acquired a portrait of the First Patriarch of China Returning to the West painted by Li Boshi, requesting an accompanying eulogy. I composed a verse and sent it to him:

7.4

In his coming, what did he seek? In his going, nothing was attained. / Desolate, crossing the ridges, ten thousand miles walking alone; / Pure and white, transmitting the family tradition, nine years of a single silence. / Needle and mustard seed meeting, the wonder cannot be named; / Differing by a hair's breadth, the ruin cannot be blocked. / Knowing the fault, he corrected it; seeing the difficulty, he withdrew. / Who goes and who comes? / Buying for oneself and selling for oneself. / Concealed right before one's face, the eyes are filled with dark blossoms; / Praising him from afar across the shore, separated by a sea of whales.

7.5

Senior Monk Bian of Wuxing Requested a Eulogy for a Portrait of Bodhidharma

7.6

Riding the waves on a single reed, / Returning to the West with a single sandal. / Seeking a vessel of Dharma in China, / He bestowed the patched cotton robe. / Spending nine years in sealed silence, / He sealed the second patriarch's numinous knowing. / The marine rhinoceros drunk on the moon develops markings; / The cold crow carrying snow takes flight. / Attained of itself before the spark: the eye atop the crown illuminates all four quarters; / Encountered amidst delusion: the nose hangs down low. / Water taking on autumn grows clear, the lake's radiance limpid; / Mountains holding the setting sun, cloud brocades glowing bright.

7.7

Portrait Eulogy for Venerable Zhaozhou of Baofeng

7.8

Mountains hold the lushness of clouds; / Waters embrace the daytime moon. / Illuminating completely prior to the substance, / Serenely enduring behind the body. / At the loom, the path of the shuttle slightly divides; / At the needle's eye, the tip of the thread begins to pierce through. / Numinously containing the myriad forms, that side leaves nothing behind; / Sitting and cutting off the ten directions, our side has no leaks.

7.9

The Disciple Bo Jianren, Having Had Painted on a Roll of Fine Silk

7.10

the portrait of Chan Master Yuanwu, with his two eminent disciples, Yu of Jingshan and Long of Huqiu, attending upon him. On the eighth day of the second month in the bingchen year of the Shaoxing era, when I was begging for food in Sutai, I passed by his home. He brought it out to show me, repeatedly making requests, so I joyfully composed a eulogy:

7.11

Upholding the buddha school in this world, / The mind transmitted to our master. / The livelihood of a single fist, / The family style of a single shout. / Revealing the dynamic trigger in the shadow grass, / Sansheng turns blind; / Fine gold emerging from the smelting furnace, / Baizhang goes deaf again. / Ample and having room to spare, / Vast and elevated. / The extensive learning of Ānanda and the dhūta practice of Kāśyapa; / The wisdom of Śāriputra and the supernormal powers of Maudgalyāyana. / Truly attaining an unborrowed response, / Greatly sharing the work of the non-governing ruler. / The hundred rivers meander, naturally reaching the sea; / The myriad dense forms cannot escape emptiness.

7.12

Superior Person Facheng Produced a Portrait of Senior Brother Liaoyuan of Changlu and Requested a Eulogy

7.13

The solitary pine braves the snow; / The emaciated rock holds clouds. / Wondrously present, its existence is not existence; / Illuminating alone, its nonexistence is not nonexistence. / The myriad forms cannot escape the seal of the King of Emptiness; / The multitude of colors cannot taint the jewel of the numinous serpent. / The golden rooster crows in the cold, dawn breaking at the night gate; / The jade hare sports its glow, gleaming through the ice vase.

7.14

Head Monk Cong, Having Painted Me Among Pines and Rocks, Requested a Eulogy

7.15

Sitting alone in silence, / Leaning on my staff in profound stillness. / The rock embraces clouds without image; / The pine whistles in the wind with sound. / Responding, like a jade plate spinning of itself without being nudged; / Serene, like a jade well growing deeper the more it is drawn from. / Untouched by the dusts: ten-tenths pure air; / Nowhere to lodge across the three periods of time: a single stretch of leisure mind.

7.16

A Chan Practitioner, Having Painted a Portrait, Requested a Eulogy

7.17

Silently transmitting the true likeness, / How can it be pointed out or stated? / The moon of nature knows no night; / The flower of the mind enjoys eternal spring. / Pure and accommodating, like the oceanic reflection; / Responding without error, like the valley spirit. / Presented face to face, it cannot be concealed; / I trouble you to wash clean my poverty for me.

7.18

From the ancient ravine torrential waters recede; / The cold grove takes on autumn. / The mountain is empty, clouds move at ease; / The water is pure, the moon meets its reflection. / The mind turned toward the Way is not for worldly use; / Where could it ever dislike being free and refined?

7.19

Who is this fellow? / Accompanying me exactly. / Eyebrows drooping to the corners of the eyes; / Nostrils pressing against the skin of the lips. / Where does the silent dynamic wheel turn? / The jade figure steps through and shatters lapis lazuli.

7.20

Feelings at leisure, speech brisk; / Eyes sunken, nose prominent. / At times facing clouds and water, / There is nothing to display of the family style. / The dreaming crane roosts in the cold, its lunar soul weeping dew; / The distant wild goose flies out of sight, autumn colors brushing the sky.

7.21

Sallow and thin, frail and quiet, / Demeanor cold and austere. / Amidst myriad activities, at total leisure; / A single flavor of pure calmness. / Upholding brevity and silence in the mind school, / Sweeping away pettiness in one's methods. / Unchanging through the winter cold, an empty heart like bamboo; / The marvel of the Way difficult to transmit, a mouth held shut like pincers.

7.22

Withered and cold, at first displaying no family style, / Silently the spirit roams, penetrating the kalpa of emptiness. / Stirring up teaching activities at the tips of the hundred grasses, / Naturally autumn colors make water and sky one.

7.23

Resembling and not resembling: / A hair's breadth off is a thousand miles away. / True and not true: / In the great realm, merely a speck of dust. / Principle is unarisen, like events in a dream; / Wondrously deathless, like the spirit of the valley. / Only when thoroughly discerning the source am I myself; / Fully knowing transformations, there is no other person.

7.24

Body and mind are vast and open; / Hands and means roll up and unroll: / Like flowers making honey, / Like peeping at a donkey down a well. / Externally without a mark, the empty seal universally responds; / Internally without images, the ring of the Way is ever vacuous. / Forgetting contrivance, sitting solitary, of itself creates no hindrance; / Arm in arm walking together, who would dare be distant?

7.25

Leaning against the chair with a goosefoot staff, / Provisionally named an abbot. / Long silent with mouth clamped shut, / With a single smile the brows stretch out. / Who among the clouds and waters comes to inquire? / The family tradition is not even known to oneself. / Bright and distinct, resting in serenity, the moon turns across the empty river; / Desolate and without image, rain clears and the sky hangs down.

7.26

Features archaic, bones emaciated, / The moon solitary amid the clouds. / Following along, it seems to exist; / Trying to recognize it, it turns out to be nothing. / Within the three thousand realms, who treats another as an outsider? / On the board of double-sixes, it never ends in defeat.

7.27

Sitting coldly on the rope-bottom chair, / Prominent, just this one. / Empty space sings, and the myriad forms harmonize; / The Way tallies with the ring's center, where wisdom roams; / Words fill the realm under heaven, yet without verbal faults.

7.28

The family tradition of silent serenity / Rubs against the cleared sky like clouds. / The exposed moon makes the night crisp; / Sky and water share the same autumn. / People say the eyebrows and eyes are fine; / I say the bones are thoroughly impoverished. / Flower filaments congeal pollen into honeycomb honey; / Hanging the axle, the soul courses through, open as a rhinoceros horn.

7.29

Who says all things are equal? / Both completely abandon appraisal. / Overhanging the lips, a single nose stands straight; / Hooding the eyes, two eyebrows droop low. / The great chiliocosm enters the seal together; / The three times have not yet divided their boundaries. / Shading the brow and gazing toward it, one cannot reach it; / Bringing mind to deliberate it, one is further bewildered.

7.30

Sitting withered in pure austerity, / In deep discourse on the true tradition: / The one clarity has no distinct characteristics; / The myriad transformations are all fellow practitioners. / Niutou turned out more indolent from illness; / The bird's beak had no need to hold flowers. / Willingly content to dwell in the mountain with three bands of bamboo strips; / Casually facing guests in a seven-pound robe.

7.31

Whom does the painted likeness resemble? / On a rope-bottom chair in dark hemp robe. / Silently roaming as an indistinct presence, / Departing and approaching in vague semblance. / Dongshan's brocade reveals its seam; / Yunyan's silk comes off the loom. / Function forgotten and wonder exhausted, observe the news: / Across wild waters polished by autumn, white birds fly.

7.32

The face is thin, the cheekbones project; / The brow ridges are high, the eyes deep. / In silence, there is no abiding; / The marvelous lies in the right-now. / Scales submerge in the cold water; / A crane dreams in the moonlit forest. / Responding to sounds and colors, multiplying the body: / Clapping hands, every household is Avalokiteśvara.

7.33

Painting the body within a dream: / Do you say it is real or unreal? / Withered and cold, autumn is in the eyes; / Profoundly silent, mold grows on the lips. / Who says the ring of the Way has no image? / From the beginning, the empty valley has its spirit. / Father and son do not transmit the slightest marvel: / This white-headed fellow is just an old wheelwright.

7.34

The painter's hand does not yet know me; / Who can share knowledge of the silent mind? / A thousand peaks pull in the feet of the clouds; / A single moon washes the windblown ripples. / Facing the wall, tucking both hands in the sleeves; / Confronting conditions, crossing the two eyebrows. / The startled turtle drawing back—ashamed to leave a omen; / The free bird soaring—in its feelings without restraint.

7.35

Emaciated and yellow, / Accustomed to poverty, never in haste. / Leisurely moods allowed to be bland, / The silent flavor can endure long. / The open center of the luminous rhinoceros, a single speck of halo; / The gestation of the old oyster, a thousand years of light. / Now going everywhere in mutual accompaniment: / In every detail and clearly distinct, manifest in plain view.

7.36

The great unity has nothing outside; / The small unity has nothing inside. / One, oh one! / Nowhere is it not present. / The mind-ground is pure, devoid of dust; / The mountain of flesh is at ease, free from hindrance. / In the ring of the Way, all clues are cut off; / Within the empty seal, what decorative pattern is there? / The wind chills as autumn falls on distant mountains; / The waves sparkle as the moon floats on the vast ocean.

7.37

Silently seated on the rush mat in Chan; / Empty and void, worldly conditions fade. / Who will harmonize with the 'White Snow'? / I have retained the blue felt. / The mechanism of the myriad dharmas opens two fists; / The shoulder pole of a thousand monks rests on a single shoulder. / Flitting butterflies flutter—things are equalized in a spring dream; / The flying wild goose vanishes into the distance—its character dissolves in autumn mist.

7.38

It is not a form like this, / Yet they insist on establishing a model and painting a likeness. / From the beginning, the myriad dharmas share the same root; / Ultimately, they have the same measure as empty space. / If in the Two Zhes one expounds Chan, / All the more in the Three Rivers are mouths stubborn. / Where is it deeply hidden? / In a misty coir raincoat, lying on the clouds. / Where is the great function manifest? / A wind-driven boat riding the waves.

7.39

How much has the painting achieved? / The spirit is quite pure. / Autumn is high, the moon turns; / The sky is pale, the River lies across. / Leaving home, as though possessing purpose; / Living in the world, seemingly devoid of sentiment. / Now amid the bustle walking together: / Stroking the eyebrows, the eyes become still brighter.

7.40

Tall and stately, / Rules and regulations of the monastic grove; / Withered and frail, / The demeanour of a dry tree. / The sectarian vehicle hangs on the wall like a mouth; / Teachers and companions have snow sprouting on their brows. / Dwelling in the mountain, clumsy in affairs, bound by three strips of bamboo; / Facing the moon, the loom rattles, passing a single thread.

7.41

White hairs mingle at the crown; / Blue pupils are framed by brows and lashes. / Forefinger and single shoulder bear the weight; / The family style leaves the four walls bare. / All sense faculties lose their counterparts—the marvel of the ancestral house; / Ten thousand deliberations do not stir—the craftsmanship of the mind-artisan.

7.42

Wild waters naturally thin in autumn; / Withered mountains grow plump again in spring. / The rope-bottom chair is set down steadily; / Sitting in silence, contrivance is forgotten. / Lightning streams through the handle of the whisk; / Clouds enter the patch-robed garment. / Positions are distinguished into bias and upright; / The Way transcends the subtle and minute.

7.43

The bone and vigor can be plain; / The spirit is ever more ingenuous. / The idle body has nothing binding it; / The cool eye cannot be deceived. / Distant clearing rubs against autumn: / The Heavenly River and the Dipper turn; / Pure frost congeals the night: / In the moon cave, the toad is cold.

7.44

Both raised fists are empty; / A single shoulder load is heavy. / The timber was originally unusable; / The mind was fundamentally without purpose. / In the oriole's courtyard, flowers are fragrant; / In the honeycomb, honey is congealed. / When he gave the shout, the ears were deaf for three days; / Where it was twisted, the nose ached for years.

7.45

Mouth square, nose straight; / Brow ridges high, eyes deep. / Not yet filling the gullies, / Still in the way within the monastic grove. / Among the myriad forms, not an excess dharma can be found; / Across the three times, no gap between thoughts is seen. / Vanished like a wild goose formation, cold mist is pale; / Submerged like flowering fish scales, autumn waters run deep.

7.46

Only this family tradition: / In poverty, yet thoroughly open. / Herein inheriting within and inheriting without, / Inside it turning function and borrowing function. / Supreme roaming yet silent; / Wondrous functioning yet tranquil. / The breath is gentle and spring comes alive; / The mind is limpid and autumn is void. / Following along, / In every detail tallies in accord.

7.47

Hair long, carrying snow; / Bones emaciated, lying like mountains. / Body and mind cold and bland; / Clouds and moon high and leisure-filled. / Bound by three strips of bamboo, / The mood of the Way is naturally withered; / The five-petaled flower blooms, / How could the news of spring be withheld?

7.48

At the head of the curved wood chair, / Mind empty, silently roaming. / Sand cold, yellow reeds in snow; / Wind gentle, white duckweed in autumn. / Stillness can endure long: / Mountains barren, trees old; / Movement has no tether: / Clouds drift, water flows.

7.49

Both eyebrows droop low; / Both eyes are clear and cool. / Touching the myriad forms in array, / Not a single hair is missing or superfluous. / In autumn frost, an old crane dreams coldly; / In the cleared moon, night polishes the pine tops.

7.50

Empty space is borrowed to serve as the body; / The myriad forms follow along as companions. / Horizontally and vertically, people say it is fully ten tenths; / Checking and examining, who knows it is only half? / Look, look! / Blue mountains are towering and steep; / White clouds are scattered and disordered. / Inside there, has the oxherd returned or not? / With a single tug on the iron ox, the golden rope snaps.

7.51

Autumn arises, trees grow old; / Waters recede, sands rise high. / The brow bones weigh the light and heavy of overcast and clear; / The nostrils channel the passage from zi to chou. / Body and mind are like the cleared moon; / Traces like drifting tumbleweeds. / Silently sitting on the rope-bottom chair, / Not wishing to speak of black and white; / Idly leaning on the walking staff, / Who can paint west and point east?

7.52

Hair turning snowy white; / Face turning tea-leaf yellow. / When stirred, the eyes turn triangular; / Forgetting words, the mouth is four-square. / Bright moon atop pines—a crane's dream; / Fragrant breeze beneath lotuses—a turtle's hiding place. / Utterly pure, it emits light, the light illuminating itself; / The imprint of a bird in empty space forms no pattern.

7.53

Serenely in right contemplation: / Mountains empty, water cold. / The River of Heaven lies across and the Dipper is moist; / Clouds and mist draw back and autumn is broad. / Like an enemy to students: / Furious triangular eyes; / The True Person of No Rank: / A single lump of red flesh.

7.54

Old age feels snow entering the temples; / Purity is like autumn rubbing against the mind. / Cold and withered, sitting on the curved wood [chair]; / Kept in silence, nourishing the monastic grove. / The atmosphere is utterly desolate: / Wind pure, mountains barren; / The spiritual nature is deep and limpid: / Moon sinks, the pool is deep.

7.55

The mind of great vacuity; / The body of the myriad forms. / Limpid, the moon in the water; / Brilliant, spring upon the flowers. / Now meeting everywhere: / Without sinews in the eyes, poor for a lifetime.

7.56

The attainment of profound silence / Cannot be recorded in writing. / The function of flowing response / Cannot be depicted in form. / Autumn enters the wild waters; / The moon moves through the cleared sky. / Shadow-image and name— / For now, call him Tiantong.

7.57

Face of wind and sun; / Eyebrows and eyes of autumn mountains. / Leisurely feelings resemble waters and clouds; / Wild nature follows the elks and deer. / Resolute at Shaoshi for nine years; / Hasty at Caoxi for a single night. / Exhausting the root and penetrating the source, / Extracting the marrow and cracking the bone. / Brightness returns to the old rabbit's palace; / Cold drops into the green dragon's lair. / When people try to paint his likeness, they wave their hands in negation; / The myriad forms in array nod their heads in complete fulfillment.

7.58

Skill and tricks are entirely absent; / Body and mind are bland and plain. / The cleared moon of itself reflects; / The leisurely clouds are left to roll and unroll. / To match the superior, not enough; / To match the inferior, more than plenty. / Shaoshi vainly transmitted the robe and bowl; / Caoxi did not know written words.

7.59

With the function of the single color turned around, / Thunderclouds break the freeze. / The myriad contrivances are all laid down; / Wind and moon turn the night. / The empty, empty valley has its spirit; / The flourishing, flourishing trees have their spring. / Now, where does he not multiply his body?

7.60

When speaking, not borrowing a mouth; / When functioning, not relying on a body. / The sky is cold, flying birds vanish; / The pool is pure, no swimming scales. / Dot the living eyes to endow them with spirit: / Wild grass and idle flowers are spring unto themselves.

7.61

Rain clears, clouds withdraw; / Mountains are cold, waters autumnal. / Mind and eyes illuminate themselves; / Words and images both cease. / Filling the ten directions, wisdom responds; / Vast through the three times, the spirit roams. / How could empty space be hindered by east and west walls? / The bright moon knows how to follow boats heading north and south.

7.62

A face of windblown dust; / Body and mind like cold ashes. / The whale drinks the sea dry, / And coral is exposed. / The turtle hides in warm mud, / And lotus blossoms open. / Going toward and then turning back, in between, / The transformations are flashing lightning and rumbling thunder.

7.63

Excessively so, Old Zhengjue— / Cold and withered! / On the ancient crag, spring is late; / In the clear pool, autumn is early. / The mind has no image: / The moon's reflection has not yet returned; / Things do not contend: / Blown by the wind, he simply falls over.

7.64

Just this single lump of red flesh: / What talk of rare, quaint, archaic, or bizarre? / All his life, indolent like Niutou; / Moving through the world, ingenuous like Budai. / Non-empty yet empty; / Nowhere present yet present everywhere. / Dharma after dharma, mind alone; / Dust after dust, samādhi. / Ask him whether he is false or real: / Two dice now rolled in a single match.

7.65

Eyebrows low, not sorrowful; / Eyes deep, not wicked. / Nostrils hanging down; / Lips unkempt. / The bright moon breaks the night; / Wild waters harbor autumn. / The cleared color rubs against the frost; / Idle clouds throw themselves into the ravine. / Able to intertwine; / Crisscrossing in all directions, / Wondrously advancing a single move.

7.66

Who can blink eyes and raise eyebrows? / He always laughs at frantic hands and busy feet. / Guarding Luzu's concise silence; / Attaining Nanquan's ordinary way. / Clarifying the mind—autumn moon; / Bringing life to things—spring sun. / Casting vessels, the mold sets the large and small; / Commanding the monastic grove, the compass and square set round and square.

7.67

The painter has caught his likeness; / His spirit is captured rather well. / Where grass does not sprout hides the fragrant elephant; / From the seamless scabbard roars the green snake. / Spring thunder wakes the hibernating creatures; / Warm pitch-pipes bring forth a thousand flowers. / Surely the people of Pingjiang will laugh: / 'Having just left last year, has he come back again?'

7.68

Cloud-clad trees are dark and verdant; / Springs and rocks are crisp and resonant. / Leaning on a staff, sitting among them, / This mind of itself is empty and vast. / The autumn moon washes the dark ocean; / The spring breeze lingers in the forest thickets. / Swimming fish descend beneath duckweed—the Jade Brook is cold; / Wild geese disappear into mist—the vault of heaven is wide.

7.69

When the eye is empty, not a speck of dust can stand; / When the mind is empty, the seas and peaks can be contained. / Even if beaten into a single piece with it, / He still laughs, calling it a tenuous trace. / How could empty space hang a sword? / Dead water does not harbor dragons. / Turning colors and turning functions, the scion of the house tradition / Meets you later amid reed flowers under the bright moon.

7.70

Wrathful brows and glaring eyes; / Withered intestines and empty belly. / The face is cold—do not touch it; / The air is clear—it can be gathered by the handful. / Riding the immortal's raft to paddle the River of Stars; / Wielding the jade axe to repair the moon's disc. / Truly seeing that dharmas are mind alone; / Wondrously tallying the spirit directly with things.

7.71

Nostrils long and straight; / Eyebrows drooping low. / At leisure, entering a single silence, / Cleanly sweeping away remaining thoughts. / Autumn waters merge with the sky, rubbing the cleared color; / The spring breeze touches the trees, revealing gossamer threads. / Casting open and clenching shut— / It is only this bit.

7.72

Head snowy and old, / facial flesh slightly plump. / Bones cold, a poor ghost; / feelings bland, a person of the Way. / Slandering the buddhas, slandering the patriarchs, / scattering earth, scattering sand. / When playing with the bright moon rhinoceros, a halo passes through its horn; / when the swift-thunder elephant is startled, patterns form on its tusk. / Has he not, without care, transmitted the family tradition?

7.73

His style and bearing are pure; / his brows and eyes seem to smile. / Deeply entering the ring of the Great Way, / silently guarding the pivot of manifold potentials. / Following conditions amidst clamour, / distinguishing illumination within emptiness. / Employing the tongs and hammer of an adept master, / giving out the fundamental fodder: / thousands in patchwork robes follow him, all seeking to attain full nourishment.

7.74

A small body on the rope-chair, / holding the fly-whisk, silent yet spiritual. / Awakening from the dream of vast kalpas, / draining dry the ford of the great ocean. / The cleared sky polishes away dust; / wind and moon double their disks. / The manifold potentials are lively—an eye within things; / a single point of radiance—spring atop flowers.

7.75

Subtle awakening / leaves no trace or omen, / penetrating the source of creation and change, / holding the pivot of giving life and slaying. / Utterly empty, yet alone it remains; / facing brightness, yet secretly illuminating. / Bumping and knocking—the nostrils hang down; / chattering and murmuring—the barbarian's tongue.

7.76

Brows prominent, eyes bright. / Cherishing idleness himself, / others dislike his cold face. / The mind of a wisp of cloud emerging from the mountain peaks; / the reflection of the solitary moon washed in a deep pool. / Highly fond of the hundred billion transformation bodies, / perfectly filling the three thousand realms of transformation.

7.77

Red flesh pierced with many holes, / foul bones wrapped in idle skin. / Already this is inconvenient— / why paint a picture of him besides? / A single fly-whisk serves as a companion; / before the buddhas of the three periods, who would dare claim to be master? / In rage, the whale drinks dry the ocean waters; / under the bright moon, coral branches glow intensely.

7.78

His capacity is profound; / his style and bone are craggy. / His vigour of Yunmeng swallows eight or nine; / his Way of Song and Sha leaves behind two or three. / Guarding the single line, the pivotal trigger of life and growth; / wielding the hammer and tongs forged by the patriarchs. / Gathering in or letting go, / he stores like a mountain and embraces like a sea.

7.79

Leisurely, with nothing to rely on; / functioning without a trace. / Though the moon can display its reflection, / clouds naturally have no roots. / Lively and alert, manifold dusts cannot confound him; / distinct and clear, he endures through vast kalpas. / Going along into the midst of the bustling market, / the samādhi of universal illumination bursts forth at every gate.

7.80

Not restrained by the vinaya, / not bound by Chan. / When expounding the Dharma, the mouth is narrow; / when roaming in silence, the strides are wide. / To plants and trees, genial spring comes; / into the pond, the bright moon falls. / What harm is there in resting at ease everywhere?

7.81

Bhikṣu of Tiantong, / do you still recognise him or not? / White hair: snow on a cold cliff; / clear pupils: autumn by an ancient stream. / Manifesting a body, he does not fall into categories; / dividing his reflection, he goes along with the stream. / If on another day you can truly catch sight of his uṣṇīṣa, / the clear clouds seem to be released toward the mountain crest.

7.82

A body of white clouds, / a mind of the cold moon. / In nature, spiritual as elk and deer; / in bearing, like mountain forests. / Not falling into the two extremes— / neither bright nor dark; / entirely transcending the three times— / what is ancient and what is modern?

7.83

Explaining cannot exhaust it; / painting cannot complete it. / Resolute, the breath of the nostrils flows freely; / pure and idle, the ridge of the brows feels light. / In stillness, no image can be grasped; / in motion, feelings do not flow. / In the ten directions and three periods, there is no place to rest; / clearly he walks atop manifold conditions.

7.84

Round pate and square robe, / a still pivot and lively functioning. / The sky is vast, clouds are light; / the pool is clear, the moon clings closely. / Fully transforming affairs, he brings blossoming trees to fruition; / silently within the ice vase, news of spring returns.

7.85

The portrait holding a bamboo staff, / the body facing the potential. / The six sense faculties gathered in one place; / samādhi arising from the manifold dusts. / The clam's belly conceives on a moonlit night; / the burrowed insects emerge in thunderous spring. / This kind of technique / is entrusted to one who responds well.

7.86

Look, look! In stillness its beginning is seen. / In the River of Stars, the Dipper is soaked; / inside the moon's cavern, the toad is cold. / The substance has no seam or edge; / the function leaves no scar or mark. / No need to cheer to win again— / already a pair of sixes is seen on the board.

7.87

The spring mountain seems plump; / the spring snow has just dried. / Within silence there is a phrase; / in functioning there is no contrivance. / Not coming, yet coming— / not snared by the three realms; / non-abiding, yet abiding— / encompassing the two polarities.

7.88

The curved-wood chair is stable; / the prickly-pear cane lies across. / Taking hold of the family traditions of the five lineages, / holding the leadership over all phenomena. / Mid-autumn, the wind is fresh; / the cleared sky, the moon is bright. / A model for clouds and water—no Chan can be spoken; / regulations for the monastic grove—implemented without command.

7.89

Ridge-like brows, eyes naturally deep; / wide mouth, laughing and chanting. / Loftily towering, a single sheet of gall; / spacious and open, a mind spanning the ten directions. / Silently, spring returns to all phenomena; / speckled, snow flecks the solitary peak. / Coming like this, / there is no need to search for one another.

7.90

Sitting on the curved-wood chair, / grasping the black rattan staff. / Casting the mold of buddhas and patriarchs, / enlivening the atmosphere of the monastic grove. / Do not come poking the whiskers in the tiger's mouth; / who else would dare scratch an itch on the serpent's head?

7.91

The kāṣāya on his shoulder, / the staff held in his grip. / Before the six lines move, / fully putting forth the single move. / Dividing his body, he follows along everywhere; / face to face, there is no need to conceal it.

7.92

A smile playing on the corners of his mouth; / joy resting on the ridge of his brows. / A single silence illuminates the bottom of the source; / the three vehicles empty of tangled vines. / Clear and pure, the moon washed in autumn; / bright and shining, the lamp piercing the night. / Sometimes the staff lies across his knees; / such a face and mouth incur people's dislike. / Moving yet still, / empty yet responding. / Focusing the breath to achieve softness, / the settled spirit is like congealed ice. / Living once at Tiantong, / entirely without zest.

7.93

The price of rice in Luling is a hundred-twenty cash per sheng; / the radish of Zhaozhou weighs half a thousand pounds. / Just such a slovenly abbot / was on the verge of bringing ruin to life and limb. / Do you understand or not? / Behind your head another wedge is driven! (Alas!)

7.94

Idle clouds roll up the rain; / wild waters harbour autumn. / The single mind transcends duality; / the six faculties do not take it in. / Do you still recognise this face and mouth, or not?

7.95

Affairs in the breast are simple; / the air on the face is harmonious. / White hair follows my aging; / blue eyes have met many people. / For one body, fortunate yet bashful; / what can be done about the thousands of bowls following behind? / Sitting without speaking at the head of the curved-wood chair, / the jade toad pushes the moon across the River of Stars.

7.96

Hair white and speckled; / mind-mirror spiritual and bright. / Expounding the Dharma according with the potential; / manifesting form in response to things. / Heaven grants it clarity; / earth grants it tranquillity. / Wild clouds drift along; / the mountain moon stands graceful.

7.97

Ashamed of the poverty of my family tradition; / my ugly face is disliked by others. / Eyes dotted with lacquer have corners; / a nose cut like a bamboo tube has no tip. / Top hair coldly covered in snow; / a goitre on the neck quietly dissolves salt. / Speaking of the subtle and discussing the profound—sluggish mouth and lips; / scolding buddhas and reviling patriarchs—deceiving and alarming the common crowd.

7.98

On the meditation bench, silent; / attaining what is without attainment. / Cold and bland, nature's disposition; / pure poverty entering the marrow. / Autumn penetrates the shark-people's home; / frost polishes the old hare's burrow. / Amid the reflections of myriad phenomena, / he moves freely, horizontally and vertically; / atop hundreds of grasses, / he emerges and vanishes at will.

7.99

Eyes lowered, brow-ridges prominent; / bones cold, shoulders hunched. / Sentiments of the Way are idle and unfettered; / the Chan guts are old yet bold. / Flowing water is clear and the moon follows; / blue mountains are lean and clouds crowd around. / When manifold conditions are thoroughly cleared, strip off the scalp; / the single phrase is wondrously round—look well at the nostrils!

7.100

Tell me, what kind of face and mouth is this? / Unprovoked, where there is no wind, waves arise. / Silently and idly illuminating the mind itself; / clearly and distinctly, relying on whom to transmit the marrow? / White gulls descend at dusk onto the misty autumn sand; / sleeping coldly amidst reed flowers beneath the bright moon.

7.101

Dividing the body everywhere, / like the spirit of the valley. / The responding moon, the impartial spring. / Striding forward on the five paths with open hands, / at every single gate, there is only this person.

7.102

Empty yet penetrating, functioning yet harmonious. / Silently roaming beyond measure, / directly illuminating the center of the ring. / Clouds and water: a body gaunt; / family tradition: the four walls bare. / When meeting an intimate friend, / a point of the finger recognises who it is.

7.103

Both eyes are cold and blue, / like the autumn waters, clear and chilly. / Half the crown is withered and white, / like spring snow, speckled. / Mountain mists drift as the patterned leopard transforms; / the pine moon is lovely as the dreaming crane awakes. / Wondrously responding to the square and round, there is entirely no Dharma outside; / bowing and looking up amid worldly dusts, none of it ever passed through me.

7.104

The crane is old, the pine solitary; / the spring is cold, the stone emaciated. / The mirror confronting the image; / the valley answering the call. / The medley of manifold conditions is not existence; / the single point of spiritual brightness is not non-existence. / Settled in abiding, wondrous in responding: / the wheel of potential, the lively pivot.

7.105

Court Gentleman for Instruction Feng (Huiren) Had a Portrait Painted and Requested an Eulogy

7.106

The countenance of mountain forests, / the image of water and moon. / Thunder lurks within the nine depths of the earth; / spring rests atop the hundred flowers. / According with conditions, half closed and half opened; / entrusting the matter, totally gathering and totally releasing. / The family tradition of profound silence; / freely unfolding skill. / The Way transcends sentiment: / the ten thousand dharmas are level and equal. / The mind escapes obstruction: / the ten directions are unimpeded and free.

7.107

Defender Bo Liaogu Had My Portrait Painted and Requested an Eulogy

7.108

Spirit-like and real; / silent and divine. / Eyebrows hang low, covering the eyes; / nostrils straight, mocking the lips. / Atop a thousand petals, what need to ask after the Buddha? / At the tips of a hundred grasses, spring naturally resides. / Within a single speck of dust, he also comes to expound the Dharma; / throughout the three thousand realms, he divides his body without hindrance.

7.109

Eulogy for the Portrait of Master of the Seal of the Esoteric Tradition Ren of Wudun

7.110

Lips and mouth can stay shut; / eyebrows and eyes seem to smile. / Responding outward yet harmonious, / empty within yet illuminating. / Letting go of the entire body is the entire body; / a single point of solitary spirit is constantly clear.

7.111

Good Friend Lu Quan Had a Portrait Painted and Requested an Eulogy

7.112

Wild clouds, demeanor leisurely; / autumn mountains, style and bone lean. / True illumination is silent yet spiritual; / settled abiding is continuous and enduring. / Round rush cushion and curved-wood chair: purity transmitted in the family; / old crane and green pine: demeanor in the cold of the year.

7.113

Eulogy for Vinaya Master Sheng of Fayun

7.114

The cloud-form is idle and not drawn back; / the moon's soul is settled and does not flow. / Solemnly purifying the bodily vessel, he abides according to the vinaya; / empty and bright in his spiritual temple, he roams only in the Way. / Stern, pure countenance—head hair covered in snow; / vast, cleared sky—mind-mirror harbouring autumn.

7.115

Elder Zhangxi Had a Portrait Painted and Requested an Eulogy

7.116

The tree is old, spring is late; / the mountain is cold, snow comes early. / The tide recedes in the coral forest; / the sky clears, the bright moon dawns. / Keeping silence as is; / confronting conditions just right. / Gaining going and gaining coming; / rising at will and falling at will. / Longtan saw through Tianhuang; / Mazu trampled Shuilao.

7.117

Rector Xiang Had a Portrait Painted of This Old, Sick Ācārya and Requested an Eulogy

7.118

A branch of Furong; / a child of Danshan. / A single thread joins mutual trust; / who knows the restraint of samādhi? / On coral, the cold moon casts its shadow; / in amber, the old pine flows with resin. / Manifold conditions cleared away—the mountain is empty, autumn vigorous; / myriad forms transformed and pervaded—flowers are magnificent, spring oily and rich.

7.119

Applying the Fire

7.120

Applying the fire for Superior Dun, he said:

7.121

Blue sky, bright sun, New Year’s Day morning; / a gentle breeze whispers in the willow boughs. / Take care, Chan practitioner Dun, as you return! / Board the boat at the ferry and watch the returning tide. / Bright and distinct, quiet and solitary; / in a single thought surpassing ten thousand kalpas and a thousand births. / Sitting cross-legged, cutting off the ten directions without front or back: / at what moment will you see your solitary, lofty peak? / If it be not yet so, we bow and offer our respect.

7.122

Applying the fire for Senior Liaochen, he said:

7.123

Understand where there is nothing to understand: how can dust exist? / Dust does not become dust of itself: why need an understanding? / Once dust is eliminated, understanding is also empty; / at this moment, you wondrously unite with the round and constant Way. / Assembly, never be like the trapped fish stranded in a pond, or the sick bird perched in reeds! / Where the faintest traces are cut off, quickly turn your head: / every dust and every land is boundless and edge-free.

7.124

Applying the fire for Senior Cheng, he said:

7.125

Chan practitioner Zongcheng, / when the tally arrives, carry it out: / cast aside the six harmonies, / and return once more to the single pure brightness! / Now, where has the director gone? / Deserted is his puppet stage. / Just at such a moment, tell me: where does Senior Cheng fall? / Do you all understand? / The dreaming crane is not startled by the cold of the bright moon; / the reclining dragon always dreads the clarity of the emerald pool.

7.126

Applying the fire for Senior Liaozhi, he said:

7.127

Spiritual, luminous, and unobscured; / clear, distinct, and ever aware. / The ancestral master confirmed that suited capacity. / Today, do you know the reality or not? / Do not resent burning away your traveling clothes.

7.128

Applying the fire for three monks, he said:

7.129

Right within birth-and-death, there is no birth-and-death; / take away the table mountain in front of your face! / From within no-birth-and-death, birth-and-death is manifested; / in front of every house's door is a torch! / A torch! / Fundamentally like this? Not yet like this? / Dequan, Zuguang, Huizhen: / today there is no need to evade.

7.130

Applying the fire for Senior Daozhi, he said:

7.131

Going like this! The ancients said: 'Where wisdom cannot reach, / take absolute care not to speak of it.' Senior monk Jue does not know good from bad: facing this monk's track of the unarisen, I have given a guiding pointer.
Having arising and having cessation belongs to causes and conditions; / having wept its fill on the cold branch, the cicada sheds its shell.
Do you still know the single path of turning the body? / Emerging from the grass, the golden snake's horn points to the sky.

7.132

Setting fire [to the pyre] for two monks, he said:

7.133

Yifang and Zuru, today by chance share the same road.
Departing is like the waning moon sinking beneath tiered peaks; / arriving is like white clouds emerging in the great void.
Sheep's horns have never been existent; / rabbit's horns have never been non-existent.
When dusty objects dissolve away, it is an affair of the kalpa of emptiness; / the wooden figure holds in hand the tally that illumines the night.

7.134

Setting fire [to the pyre] for two monks, he said:

7.135

For Zongjing and Yizhe, tracks through the six gates are cut off; / it is the season for retreading the old road.
Ape mourns in the maple tree's frost; / crane dreams in the reed flowers' snow.
With a single oar in the clear breeze, they return home; / the iron boat is loaded full with the ocean moon.

7.136

Setting fire [to the pyre] for two monks, he said:

7.137

Senior monk Zongyin and Chan master Qingji: in life, they received their training under the same gate; / in death, they share the single road of cremation.
Causes and conditions of birth and death seem to have their term; / the sky and water are cold and clear, merged into a single color,
Joining to row a boat upon blue lapis lazuli.
Noble friends, right at such a moment, / how will you understand it?
Crane and egret, heads together, tread the snow and sleep; / the bright moon startles them awake, both hesitant.

7.138

Setting fire [to the pyre] for two monks, he said:

7.139

Daobian and Wenjun, now you bid farewell to worldly conditions.
Unable to share New Year's Eve in the cloud hall, / where will you go together to make the new year?
When leaving, if you wish to recognize the paths of the upright and the biased, / on the day of return, discuss once more the plain and solid Chan.
A single phrase when the year is exhausted and the months have run out: / Old Man Wang of the eastern village burns paper money in the night.

7.140

Senior monk Yi was in too much of a hurry! Urged on by the season, he went at once.
Having come from the original ground, there is fundamentally a seed; / returning to the old mountain, can there be a fixed journey?
The nature of fire is true emptiness; the nature of emptiness is fire.
Blazing wide open, the entire body is light.

7.141

Chan person Feng'ao: his number [of years] ran out and could not be escaped; in the six places there are utterly no shadows or tracks; across the ten directions not an autumn down is set up.
Look well at the rugged spots on the road ahead: / they are harder than crossing the stone bridge of Tiantai.
Right at such a moment, how is it? / The mud ox treads to pieces the moon in the clear pool; / its head and horns are towering, its nostrils held high.

7.142

Shouhe has passed away and is about to be cremated, / right at the time when the human world prohibits fire.
Unwilling to observe Cold Food amidst lakes and mountains, / where will he put on his robes of birth?
Just as this skandha has ceased and that skandha has not yet formed, / where does that one move land?
Safely driving the mud ox to plow the great ocean; / riding the iron horse backward up Mount Sumeru.

7.143

River clouds drift softly, grass grows lush and thick; / when blossoms fall and spring wanes, it is the time the guest departs.
At the ancient ferry the boat lies crosswise, no person in sight; / one must surely remember the appointed time of return.
Senior monk Ning, do you know or not?
The water is deep and sunken, the mud ox sleeps securely; / the mist is dense and curtained, the jade phoenix comes in stately grace.
Beating the drums, turning the boat, the sky is about to dawn; / a single sail hung high is blown by a favorable wind.

7.144

The stone calf below Qian Mountain: / discrimination utterly forgotten, its steps are level and easy.
Its head and horns turn low back toward the road from which it came; / the cave gate is secluded and deep, white clouds fly.
Practicing like this is still the matter of Director of Affairs Yuanjun's going forth.
And tell me, what about the single path of turning the body?
In the kalpa of emptiness there is no place to rest; / the uḍumbara blooms amidst the fire.

7.145

Cessation yet not cessation, birth yet not birth— / beneath the skull's brow are clusters of grapes.
The wooden figure waves its hand in the warm spring breeze; / the stone woman shakes her head in the cool night air.
Noble friends, there has never been traveling forever without stopping; / there has never been stopping forever without traveling.
The nature of fire is true emptiness; the nature of emptiness is fire.
Throughout the body, a single stretch of pure radiance.
Right at such a moment, simply go like this!

7.146

At the crossroads when the bright moon was full, you once came casting off rags and shedding jewels; / where the white clouds broke on the home mountain, you returned taking the sky as curtain and the earth as mat.
Seventy years, a single dream; / one thousand monks, the conditions in this place.
Do not inquire into good or bad regarding today's affair; / what can birth and death do to that person?

7.147

Whether it is birth or death, do not speak of it, do not speak of it! / This matter is round and whole, without holes or apertures.
When thoughts are exhausted, it is a fish off the hook; / when feelings arise, it is a bird flying into the net.
Senior monk Xi, have you settled it or not? / Do not ask of right and wrong—sweep them all away.
Having reached home and approached the father, then turn your head back: / the cold moon is faint above the misty treetops.

7.148

The three realms exist from conceptual thought; / a hundred years become a dream-roaming.
Suddenly the wind of thieves blows the kalpa fire; / turning over, the great ocean extinguishes the floating foam.
Senior monk Gao has composed his return to rest, / penetrating and casting off the six places, / letting go of both ends.
The road in the cloudy mountains is flat as a whetstone; / the moonlit doorway has no person, cold as autumn.

7.149

The four great elements disperse, the six gates are empty and serene; / the authentic person neither exits nor enters.
Clearly, after the fire, a single stalk of thatch; / take absolute care not to meet and fail to recognize each other.

7.150

The oar of bodhi, the boat of prajñā: / let them drift freely across the ocean of birth and death.
Since you have already attained the subtle before the wind, / what harm is there in thrusting your head into the midst of the bustle?
If you have the skillful means, go whenever you wish to go; / following high or low, act as horse or act as ox.
Have you not heard it said: 'In all circumstances able to hold a single stalk of grass in the mouth, / right there drawing close has its reason'?
If that is not yet so: looking at the tiger's eyes over the precipice / is specially a matter of sorrow.

7.151

Manner and character are not revealed, not a drop of water leaks through; / the patch-robed monk's conduct is subtly trackless.
The gate shuts on three months of autumn—where has the person gone? / The sky has no four walls—the moon rises over the central peak.

7.152

The light of the eyes falls, the breath of grain subsides; / in the six windows the leaping monkey is seen no more.
Empty and desolate, utterly lonely; / let the wild fire burn the broken house as it will.
The departing guest laughs and shakes his head; / the blue falcon snaps the purple silk tether.
Right at such a moment, how should one conduct oneself?
After a long pause, he said: Sitting and cutting off both ends, / at the ancient ferry the wind is calm; when the boat reaches shore, take a careful step forward; / in clear autumn the moon is cold, the crane moves its nest.

7.153

Birth without being born, cessation without ceasing.
Return home! A flake of snow on the red-hot stove.

7.154

Great assembly, the casket of the four snakes is broken, / the house of the six thieves is ruined.
In the place of empty, empty, empty, stripped stark naked.
Just take this and investigate it for a lifetime; / moreover, use a lifetime to investigate this.
Just what is this?
After a long pause, he said: Throughout the body the flame of wisdom emits light: / the nature of fire is true emptiness; the nature of emptiness is fire.

7.155

The snake sheds its skin, the cicada casts off its shell; / what can bind or liberate the single point of spiritual brightness?
Senior monk Zusui, a patch-robed monk's family: / before black and white are distinguished, he presents a single move.
The spring breeze blows dreams back to the native village; / on the Great Way free of dust, his footing is secure.
Tonight, solitary and cold under the pine and moon, / in the old nest, the thousand-year-old crane is nowhere to be seen.

7.156

Do not speak of birth, do not speak of death; / profound, firm, hidden, and distant, no one can reach it.
Today, for senior monk Liaozong, / I point out the junctions of the five paths / and open up a thread of a road.
Arriving upright and departing biased: the rabbit bathes in the starry river; / emerging from detachment and entering subtlety: the ape cries on the moonlit ridge.

7.157

The branching road of death and life is not a different path; / empty and spiritual, vacant and marvelous.
Zhaozhou once asked the old man selling oil, / 'Traveling by night is not permitted; arrive at dawn.'
Noble Chan practitioners, if you understand right here, / being born before heaven and earth is not considered early, / and being born after heaven and earth is not considered late.
Recognize the man holding the broom on Mount Tiantai: / the cold cliff has snow, but no one sweeps it.

First 157 of 176 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

宏智禪師廣錄 — Classical Chinese