宏智禪師廣錄 8

English (machine translation) 8

Language: English

8.1

Verses, Admonitions, and Inscriptions of Venerable Jue of Mount Tiantong in Mingzhou

8.2

Compiled by the attendants Daojing and Jingjue

8.3

Fourteen Verses on the Sūtra of Perfect Awakening, Matching the Rhymes of Venerable Zhenxie

A patch-robed monk turns the mechanism of the iron ox; / who is it that shines silently with spiritual penetration?
The moon rabbit's reflection sinks into the mica ground; / the ocean bird sleeps dreaming upon the coral branch.
Shaoyang's Buddhadharma disliked being talkative; / Luzu's family style knew how to spare his eyebrows.
Sitting upright in the center of the ring, in the empty and white place: / even passing through kalpas of dust, this is hard to displace.

8.6

Chapter on Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva

8.7

The Great Being Mañjuśrī rouses the true style; / wisdom washes away avidyā, removing former ignorance.
As soon as the eye-film dissolves, the flowers naturally perish; / spiritual light shining alone, delusion is melted away.
The wooden figure turns its steps, at first returning to the position; / the jade maiden's mechanism revolves, borrowing function again.
Holding up the guiding principles, see the skillful hands: / gate upon gate, changing manifestations are all supernatural penetrations.

8.8

Chapter on Samantabhadra Bodhisattva

8.9

Our household livelihood is fundamentally natural; / in every kṣetra and every dust mote, Samantabhadra is seen.
A single speck on the rhinoceros horn penetrates the toad's shadow; / through the divine pearl's nine windings, an ant threads the silk.
Awakening is not gradual, seams and ridges vanish; / illusion naturally melts away, attaining round wholeness.
Wonderfully responding throughout the body, without front or back; / the ancient water-chestnut mirror is unstained by ugliness or beauty.

8.10

Chapter on Samantacakṣus Bodhisattva

8.11

Who has come from Samantacakṣus's bodhimanda? / Before the hall of the Lord of Devas, the jeweled net opens.
Thoroughly luminous throughout, forming a single span; / inside, pure and clean, utterly free of fine dust.
Interweaving principle and phenomena, the contemplation of true emptiness; / shining through sense faculties and dust, the terrace of perpetual night.
Exactly corresponding at just such a time: / upon Tao's wall, the shuttle rouses thunder.

8.12

Chapter on Vajragarbha Bodhisattva

8.13

When gold emerges from ore, former doubts are severed; / when the shore moves and the boat stays still, one realizes how one was deceived.
Moving the eyes is oneself disturbing the clear water; / gathering fireflies cannot burn Mount Sumeru without an ego.
When the film dissolves, one readily sees that flying flowers are gone; / when the mechanism is swift, one soon knows that striking lightning is slow.
Recognize the master within the stolid hermitage; / how could external māras reach the fence?

8.14

Chapter on Maitreya Bodhisattva

8.15

The roots of ignorance and seeds of craving are vigorously hoed away; / A patch of numinous brightness is the old foundation. / The devas who inserted a blade of grass deeply grasped the point; / The Venerable who held up a flower smiled, brows parting. / Fish-walking Great Being, please take care! / Cloth-bag foolish monk, for now pay humble homage. / Everywhere, noses bump into one another; / Realm of mind-only, whom are you deceiving?

8.16

Chapter on Śuddhaprabha Bodhisattva

8.17

Awakening to the previous wrongs is no longer difficult; / Now step by step one reaches Chang'an. / Form and mind merge completely without a trace; / Dharma-nature is harmoniously round without any of this and that. / This matter from the start was originally unconstrained; / How many, arriving here, escape muddle-headedness? / Delusion vanished and arising-extinction ceased, the work is done; / One should laugh at the wind and banner moving the monastery flagpole.

8.18

Chapter on Tejorāśirāja Bodhisattva

8.19

The gate opens the three contemplations—do not linger; / Having found the path, walk and walk until you arrive, only then resting. / The mirror reflects forms, the mind illumines without dwelling; / The tower's bell sounds without obstruction, having a true source. / In the crown of the head an eye is complete like the Lord of Heaven; / Behind the elbow tallies are distributed like a marquis of the realm. / Responding to the world to save living beings, wandering the illusory sea; / A moon-boat with wind-oars rides the crest of the waves.

8.20

Chapter on Ghoṣamati Bodhisattva

8.21

Wonderfully complete, single and combined, severed from middle and extremes; / The five-and-five dynamic workings interchange with difficulty. / Strings and pipes tuned, their notes and rhythms harmonize; / Shuttles and threads weave out brocade patterns to behold. / Body and mind, each and every one can respond in division; / Hands and eyes by the thousands cannot be deceived. / Like entrusting salt and plums to the old hermit of the crags to use: / Blending the soup, no more is saltiness or sourness perceived.

8.22

Chapter on Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin Bodhisattva

8.23

Realization and awakening have always held the long handle; / In layer upon layer of shedding, snow is added on frost. / When the notion of living beings remains, one still drifts; / When the root of a lifespan is eradicated, madness ceases on its own. / Shedding its bones, the dragon can carry the rain away; / Molting its scales, the kun-fish again gains the wind to soar. / Once the man of Ying has chopped away all the fly-mud, / Only then is the radiance of the original nostrils seen.

8.24

Chapter on Samantaprabha Bodhisattva

8.25

Medicine and illness attacking each other, both are hard to discard; / The mind-flower blossoming is one's own Chan. / Natural reality, clearly evident, is not cultivation and realization; / Daily function, grand and manifest, how could it be transmitted? / Striding high in the crimson skies, one knows the plan is gained; / Yellow leaves stopping tears—trust that it is an expedient. / At what time, pettily walking in mud and grime? / Laughable is the snail soiling itself with its own slime.

8.26

Chapter on Pūrṇabuddha Bodhisattva

8.27

In the examination arena, with a casual gesture, one seizes the target ball; / During the long and short retreats, one enters the assembly's stream. / After awakening, continuous and unbroken, the dynamic functioning frees itself; / Arriving at realization, close and compact, its kind is hard to encompass. / Fully satiated with the grass of the Snowy Mountains; / Of one color completely formed: the ox on the open ground. / Wind sweeps the water and sky, the dust and haze entirely gone; / Reed flowers illuminate each other in the moonlit autumn.

8.28

Chapter on Bhadramukha Bodhisattva

8.29

The phrases of the dhāraṇī were proclaimed by the King of Awakening; / Hearing the name even briefly surpasses causes of giving. / Directly see the marrow and mind entrusted to each other; / Do not use ear and mouth to make a transmission. / Where the sudden faculty acts, lightning flashes in the sky; / When the great vessel shoulders it, the sea swallows the rivers. / Were it not for an old grandmother's deep feelings, / Would she ever leave behind letters to refute the Nirgranthas?

8.30

General Verse

8.31

Where the wooden child chants, the withered returns to spring; / Right here is adorned the forest of merit and virtue. / Lowering the hands down the sheer cliff, one knows the path is alive; / Hiding the body in the kalpa of emptiness, one fears the dynamic sinks. / When consciousness-waves have not yet churned, there is not much to it; / Not hanging on lips and skin, there is a single sound. / Buddhas and ancestors accord with mind beyond words and traces; / Lighting incense and sitting purely, search it out together.

8.32

Parting from Upādhyāya Yu of Hongshan

8.33

Thoughts of wandering are not yet settled; / Again I part from the mountain dweller. / Wild geese's shadows are characters in the water; / The cloud's heart is a guest upon the river. / Dwelling together thus on the same branch, / A thousand leagues apart we still become neighbors. / Deep azure: an imperial seal of a single sprig; / Decayed red: five-tenths of a peck of old grain. / On the return route, ascend the bird's path; / Flowers and trees in the old garden's spring.

8.34

Parting from Head Monk Man

8.35

In the Cinnabar Mountain phoenix cavern, we coldly relied on each other; / How gratifying that now your plumage and wings are complete! / Soaring and calling beyond the clouds, fluttering together; / Pecking and walking among the trees, we briefly part. / Where jade blossoms are held in the beak, the sky opens into dawn; / When perching on pearl trees, the moon's shadow sinks low. / Stretching beaks at the sweet spring, looking forward to a later meeting, / We will wash away the dust and mud with fresh words.

8.36

Parting from Head Monk Huan

8.37

Standing in snow in the empty courtyard, who fell into host and guest? / Shaking hands at Cinnabar Mountain, treading the fragrant dust. / The stone figure at dawn first shifts position; / The jade maiden, bashful of the light, turns her body around. / Intent on departing for rivers and lakes, frequently hung in dreams; / Looking back at the cherry blossoms, all at once it is spring. / The monastic grove's withered look awaits nourishing moisture; / Pricking up ears at wind and thunder, the hibernating dragon stirs.

8.38

For Granary Master Kai

8.39

The capable one in the rice mill was slightly distinct; / Among seven hundred monks, he alone made a household. / Transmitted at midnight, the robe has proof; / Collected before the dynamic, the mirror has no flaw. / The Patriarch merely husked grain idly at the pestle; / A person like you nowadays must not scatter sand. / In the ancient well before autumn, thoughts are withered and cold; / A golden cord fishes out a jade toad.

8.40

For Head Cook Yin

8.41

The matter of pilgrimage in your breast is clear; / You personally saw the lotus blossom adorned with late blooms. / The black horse treading on frost leaves no trace from the start; / The white fish blowing water makes no sound whatsoever. / Hitting the mark, you once manipulated the beardless lock; / Reaching out a hand, you supported each other with the broken-legged pot. / Removing rice and removing sand is not yet enough; / You must have bias and upright walk shoulder to shoulder.

8.42

For Assembly Reciter Bai

8.43

In the secret chamber dividing the lamp, the flames blaze; / In the empty jar holding the moon, the reflection sinks deep. / Who says that in the ancient hall today there is no Buddha? / It is just at that moment that the sacred sound arrives.

8.44

On the First of the Tenth Month, Walking in the Southern Valley with Senior Monk Fa

8.45

Trailing a staff through the sounding forest, the urge to wander is rich; / Wanting to intoxicate blue eyes with hills and ravines. / Yellow flowers still charm the remaining days of autumn; / How can brocade trees withstand the wind after frost? / Winding peaks snake along, branches bending and curling; / Across sheer cliffs a rainbow lies, water tinkling ding-dong. / Who would begrudge the intense flavor of a lifelong affair? / It is entrusted to drinking tea amid laughter and talk.

8.46

A single staff and pair of sandals—traveling gear is simple; / Seeking the secluded with an excellent friend, the guest roosts deep. / Talking with you at midnight of hills and ravines / Comforts the lifelong deer-like heart in me. / Overturning the couch graciously fulfills the dream of mountains and waters; / Falling springs coldly make the sound of silk strings and paulownia wood. / Returning to the city monastery, Chan flesh gets goosebumps; / Surely lingering thoughts have reached our home forest.

8.47

Parting from Sūtra-Keeper Jue

8.48

Ever since a single bean burst in the cold ashes, / Horns towered lofty and the crown eye opened. / On the jasper plate, pearls roll smoothly; / Upon the lapis lazuli palace, the moon lingers. / The wooden figure observing its shadow departs towards the light; / The stone woman clad in clouds arrives at midnight. / When the function of bias and upright is complete, you must shift position; / Entering the marketplace with open hands, your kind is hard to encompass.

8.49

For Attendant Nuo

8.50

Waking from a dream, hands personally lift the teacup; / The refined intention of Guishan turns the pivot of the Way. / Calling oneself the master to answer with a single assent: / Who went against the Venerable answering three calls? / When life and death arrive, can you still do so or not? / Failing those bygone years, is it presence or absence? / Wondrously attaining the ancient ones' realm of conduct, / There is entirely no slight matter to make into effort.

8.51

For Attendant Gao

8.52

Daowu back then was unwilling to speak; / Jianyuan halfway along had no discussion. / The former teacher's numinous bones are still here today; / There is no need to lean on a shovel and go up to the Dharma hall.

8.53

Seeing Off Chan Practitioner Tong Going to Xiangyang

8.54

In a sparse nest, desolate and cold, resting on a western bough; / Waking from a dream, thoughts of return suddenly surge. / Wind and rain at the river's edge scatter the wild geese's formation; / Beyond the island of the home mountain hangs a fisherman's straw cloak. / In the village of white poplars: Layman Pang; / By the blue stone pagoda: Elder Brother Yun. / Wearily leaning on green pines, sitting in the cool evening, / The hare pushes the bright moon down the Starry River.

8.55

Guest Master Zong

8.56

In empty luminosity, a single thought washes away the bustling dust; / The eye opens beneath the brow within the skull. / The jade phoenix holding a blossom, spring does not age; / The golden rooster calling to the moon, the dream has just begun to clear. / The ancient sword in the scabbard, its radiance touches the Dipper; / The cold shuttle on the wall hibernates, shattering thunder. / The Buddhas and ancestors entering the marketplace accomplish teaching affairs; / How could they mind wine jugs and wine vessels piled before their noses?

8.57

For Chan Practitioner Chu

8.58

The Dongshan lineage style is empty in a single move; / The white ox plows through the foot of the green mountain. / Nowadays, where does one not meet him? / Nostrils hanging down bump into one another. / Oh! Only now do I believe there has never been binding or release.

8.59

For Karmadāna Chong

8.60

Before the loom's shuttle moves, what is its countenance? / A dot of empty numinous awareness enters the circle of the Way. / In the bright moonlight, peer at oneself; / Beyond the shadows of white clouds, arrive at the home mountain. / The golden turtle turns over as the night tide recedes; / The jade horse neighs as spring's message returns. / When hand meets mind, nothing is unacceptable; / Completely unburdened, how could worldly affairs concern you?

8.61

Seeing Off a Monk Returning to Yuzhang to Visit His Parents

8.62

A guest's cocoon on a windblown branch, dreams are not at peace; / In the night hall, thinking of facing the Canopus star. / With one mind going back to serve the daylily mother; / Seeking each other across a thousand leagues, the wagtails cry. / Tree after tree of crimson maples, golden leaves fall; / Cluster after cluster of yellow reeds, snow floats on the sandbank. / The elegant bones of the Western Hills washed by autumn rain; / As windows and rolling blinds part, the distant green appears.

8.63

For Chan Practitioner Jian

8.64

The empty and luminous Way washes the robust heart of autumn; / In patchwork robes covering the head, stepping down from the platform. / Arising from samādhi, one must watch the hare of the Starry River; / Turning the dynamic, one loses the ox of the Snowy Mountains.

8.65

For Attendant Yan

8.66

The white gull surely wonders why the pledge has grown cold; / Leaning on a goosefoot staff and joining the society is not difficult. / Reed-wind and flower-snow, autumn touches the shore; / Boat-moon and canopy-frost, night turns at the rapids. / The mind and body of hills and ravines serve only dreams; / Sharing tastes of rivers and lakes, composing verses of roaming. / At another time, the object transmitted beyond the robe / Calls him to turn his head and knock down the monastery flagpole.

8.67

Chan Practitioner Xian Requesting a Verse

8.68

Where it is manifest, the dynamic must be hidden; / When busy, wisdom is naturally at leisure. / The mud ox first emerges from the sea; / The jade horse again arrives at the pass. / Cold water clearly contains the moon; / Drifting clouds quietly lean on the mountain. / On the return path, wielding the handle of teaching, / Do not act with the stinginess of the old home.

8.69

Chan Practitioner Meng Begging for Wheat and Requesting a Verse

8.70

With bowl hung on the staff-tip, begging in Danqiu; / Powerfully breaking through pure poverty, a single spot of sorrow. / After several bouts of red rain, the flower-affairs grow old; / Across ten thousand acres of yellow clouds, it is autumn for the wheat farmers. / Facing conditions, hands and eyes cover the entire body; / Responding to things, the dynamic wheel turns in subtlety. / Returning to take up Shaoyang's talk of the sesame cake: / The belly bound with bamboo strips, snoring in full satisfaction.

8.71

Seeing Off Senior Monk Yuan Holding the Bowl

8.72

Begging for conditions in the human world, a single staff flies; / Smoke thick on green crags, the snow begins to dry. / Wind-threads are not permitted to disturb Chan eyes; / Cloud-brocade is about to be seen falling from the teaching loom. / Strive to provide the monastic grove with bowls of food; / Who minds the dust soiling the traveler's robe? / Returning when monks are sated with food from the upper realm, / Accompany the spring mountains in singing of gathering ferns.

8.73

Visiting the Huang Residence in Southern Valley with Senior Monk Fa

8.74

In pale mist and dark green trees, the water splatters and splashes; / Huang Chuping has already attained immortality. / All over the ground, foolish sheep are left ungathered; / In the evening sun, wandering scattered, they sleep along the hedge.

8.75

Amid scattered rocks and deep clouds I seek a wild spring; / An old countryman mistakes me for an earth-bound immortal. / My love for mountains and waters is richer than wine; / Tonight on a bamboo couch I sink into a drunken sleep.

8.76

For Chan Man Fu

8.77

Everywhere wandering, you stroke the tiger's whiskers all over; / In the flask of the kalpa of emptiness you probe existence and non-existence. / With wind and moon full upon your head, function is not yet shifted; / Mountains and rivers penetrating your bones, the ailment is hard to relieve. / A needle meeting a mustard seed, the dynamic is not amiss; / A string rejoined with simurgh-glue, the Way does not wither. / Return to the monastic grove and behold your plumage: / Emerging from the Vermilion Mountain, a chick endowed with the nine markings.

8.78

For Chan Man Song

8.79

Meeting atop Black Rock Ridge, / We often cross paths on the road of long life. / Just the season for roaming the mountains, / Falling blossoms and fragrant herbs lush and soft.

8.80

Matching the Rhyme of Master of the Laṅkāvatāra Duan for Head Monk Sheng

8.81

Thatching a hut, sitting withered east of Jiujiang; / Mirror images merge emptily within the square inch of the heart. / The body of Śūnyatā observed on a night of Chan; / The arms of Mudrā unobstructed when functioning. / Born of conditions, who portends existence that is non-existence? / Silent and shining, knowing for oneself that emptiness is not empty. / When the Way tallies with Avalokiteśvara, this is wondrous response: / Soughing bamboo rain mingling with pine wind.

8.82

Walking in the Mountains on a Day of Leisure

8.83

All my life, peaks beyond clouds have filled my breast; / Whenever I have leisure, I lean on my slender bamboo staff. / Knowing only the lifelong flavor of hills and vales, / I imagine being fully followed by apes and birds. / Clearly visible, the autumn scene of mountains washed by rain; / Pure and pleasing to the heart, the wind chanting through pines. / Returning, my wanderlust is not yet spent; / Whose pestle summons the moon with the twilight bell?

8.84

Parting from Minister Lu

8.85

A thousand miles in common accord, virtue is not left alone; / The heart-autumn awakened moon shines in the empty flask. / Sitting and severing both ends, what birth and death remain? / A single point of perfect brightness differs from being and non-being. / A wooden horse neighs in the cold by the green-grass knoll; / A mud ox ploughs in spring amid the white-cloud domain. / Hearing and seeing the Buddha's affairs, who turns toward or against them? / Where function displays full dynamic, the Way turns the pivot.

8.86

Layman Chaoran specially went to ask about the Way from Chan Master Xiang of Baofeng, and wishing to return, composed a long verse to thank me for accompanying him on his journey. Arresting my brush to harmonize with his rhyme, I uttered these lines to follow it:

8.87

Gate after gate opens through to the Chang'an road; / Reaching out a hand to pick it up, it is just right. / One's heel steps onto Zhaozhou's barrier; / The sixteen-foot golden body is a single stalk of grass. / When I first met this person of the way, / All phenomena were completely penetrated, revealing what was in his breast. / Following with staff and sandals, we came to the place of the Way, / Not learning foolish Chan that attends to gating and sweeping. / Green mountains and white clouds, a single pathway through; / Walking, walking along the bird-path, who searches for it? / Master Baofeng is a descendant of Mazu; / Finding each other now, he regrets it was not sooner. / Layman Pang swallowed all the West River; / He called back Old Juzhi who raised his single finger. / The mud ox ploughs with effort the spring of the kalpa of emptiness; / The wooden figure brings forth the treasure of the mountain of form. / Cease stroking the tiger's whiskers and return home; / Let yourself rise and fall amid the thorn thicket. / The midday sun adorns the sky, its light shining brilliantly.

8.88

Passing by Wang Yanyu's Suburban Dwelling

8.89

When morning dew dries, the mulberries and wild silkworm oaks; / Where evening clouds disperse, the creeks and mountains. / Wang Wei's painting has not yet been rolled up; / Tao Qian's farm chores have just found leisure.

8.90

For Chan Man Man of Fuzhou

8.91

Now after parting, remember these earnest instructions: / In the Caodong family tradition, words are not yet formed. / The moon fills the Phoenix Grove, cold and beyond dreaming; / Aged turtle shells, though scorched, are ever divine. / In the deep quiet, do not touch the poison of the serpent's head; / With precision, you must perceive the star on the rhinoceros horn. / Then let go and casually stretch out your hand; / At that moment we shall meet at the Pavilion for Gazing upon the Prefecture.

8.92

Begging for Food at a Mountain Home

8.93

On a frosty morning with a pigweed staff, solitary Chan rises; / Begging food at a mountain home to reduce entanglement with conditions. / A slant path in the favorable wind crackles with bamboo fires; / Flying eaves confound the eyes, reflected against pine smoke. / Autumn soup of cock's head seeds holds true savor; / The midday meal of wood ears has no vulgar mutton smell. / Who says a guest bed cannot be slept on soundly? / I have no money like Zhi Dun to purchase a mountain.

8.94

Gaining Verses on the Road While Paying Homage to the Stūpa of Dayang Ming'an

8.95

Fine scenes stir wandering thoughts; / Straw sandals and bamboo staff together. / Over the cold stream lies a starving rainbow; / On the dim road hang fertile clouds. / Ridge-trees have doves calling for rain; / Farmsteads have roosters announcing the afternoon meal. / To whom can this true heart speak? / Three times circling the stone stūpa.

8.96

Chan Man Jiao Goes out to Beg Alms and Requests a Verse

8.97

Distinctly from the pivot, the transforming dynamic turns; / Stepping outside, the atmosphere treads upon the fragrant season. / Brook light splendidly washes red brocade lengths; / The wind finely twists willow threads of yellow gold. / Utter emptiness causes no obstruction, wholly forgetting self; / Encountered everywhere, yet who is it after all? / If you understand Piṇḍola meeting the Buddha, / He flaunts his long eyebrows before people.

8.98

Chan Man Miao Goes out to Beg Alms and Requests a Verse

8.99

The kalpa flask is vast and billowing, washing away demonic conditions; / At the wondrous point, true contemplation manifests of itself. / Distinctly, before anything sprouts, the ultimate reality is clear; / Numinously, having attained nothing, one enters deep Chan. / The wind beats and the ocean moves as the leviathan is about to transform; / The moon is bright and the sand cold, the egret does not sleep. / Encountering affairs and harmonizing with them, one can effect transformations; / What harm is there in steering an empty boat across great waves?

8.100

Head Monk Zhezhang Having Recently Come from Shuangquan, I Compose Lines for Him

8.101

In the family grove, soundly sleeping in a single nest of clouds; / Weary of serving as a guest under the hermit hut of Master Liang. / Stretching out the laurel-plucking hand, cold touches the moon; / Closing pearl-holding eyes, one dreams of roaming in spring. / In the courtyard, one sees no birds raining down blossoms; / Elks and deer can come to summon the spirit of the valley. / Returning to pay regards to the fragrant neighbors of the Five Old Peaks; / Facing each other in laughter and talk, white hair freshly shown.

8.102

On the tenth day of the start of the jiachen year of Xuanhe, I was about to bundle my robes and follow the Huai River east to Jinguan. Chan Man Chang folded his hands and asked for words, so I left behind three quatrains:

8.103

At the foot of the hill, cluster buds burst into spring red; / Ashamed before the selfless work of creation. / Who fears years and months piled upon one's head? / I only wish to hear the crying birds expound the family tradition.

8.104

How could a vegetarian stomach harbor a single speck of sorrow? / I only feel that spring sleep makes gruel seem thick. / Outside of dreams, where does one seek an alliance? / On the reed islet, the tender shoots line up in green.

8.105

Tranquilly, who makes a mind of leaving or staying? / Beneath the moon, blue waves; wind passes through the woods. / Parting or meeting—where is it fixed? / Plainly, I tell you: it is just right now.

8.106

Seeing off Lecturer Tong Returning to Shangdang

8.107

The moon hare holds purity, about to spew forth frost; / A traveler's breast clings to old habits, taking flight for home. / Who says the defilements of names and words are swept clean away? / I smile at having perfumed them into the incense of views. / Gathering stones as disciples, their heads readily nod; / Awakening to emptiness and able to expound, the meaning is hard to measure. / Arriving home, hold the fly-whisk and preach according to the occasion; / Do not brandish the rule against other faculties.

8.108

The great whale of the ocean of awakening takes flight in metamorphosis; / Its back directly polishes bright the blue sky. / In its breast, vast and billowing, it swallows the Yunmeng Marsh; / Between its brows, moist and glistening, towers Mount Taihang. / Often coming to the quiet couch to talk as a friend; / Departing with a solitary bamboo staff chokes one with sorrow. / When you visit me in the future, first send a wild goose; / To clear for you the three paths overgrown since our parting.

8.109

Beyond the night-bright screen, the sky is cold with frost; / The patch-robed monk returning home forgets all scheming. / When the withered wood sings to the clouds, one must reflect inward; / When the dead snake harbors venom, guard against it even more. / Hearing the zither and rising to dance was Mahākāśyapa's habit; / Letting go of the mirror and losing his head was Yajñadatta's madness. / How fine it is to return and carve the fly's wing again; / The ancestral teacher's nostrils must shine with light.

8.110

Gāthā Left at Daming Hermitage

8.111

A single-log bridge crosses the gate, water flowing beneath; / The mountain hanging in the window rests right at the eaves. / The ancient intent of Great Brightness is this very time; / On a frosty night in the moonlit hall, the screen is hooked up.

8.112

Xinzhi Farm Requests a Verse

8.113

Ploughing clouds and sowing the moon, a person of complete freedom; / The field is distinct, the deed authentic. / Yellow earth-nuts will soon be seen steamed into meals; / The white ox has now been herded to docility. / The hoeing livelihood is used at all times; / The family tradition beyond worldly things is close at hand everywhere. / Millet and grain are plentiful, autumn can be expected; / Fill the fellows of the monastic grove, giving them vigor.

8.114

For Chan Man Jian

8.115

White duckweed wind stirs autumn by the river's shore; / The blue bird's dream drifts with the sand and water's flow. / Pure delight is full under the moon upon the boat's awning; / A boatload carried into the reed-flower islet. / This suits the mind: coming and going cease. / The six turtles should bear you back; / Amid misty waves and overturned snow, reel in the fishhook.

8.116

Chan Man Chunbai Requests a Verse

8.117

Bright moon and reed blossoms are not yet identical; / Pure light shines of itself, fundamentally empty. / Sitting and severing the ten directions, you must doff your hat; / When function in the one color is perfected, you must put down your hoe. / Turning its back, the stone figure returns to its position; / Raising its head, the jade horse passes beyond the barrier. / Beholding the physical marks in every dust mote and every world, / Only then do you trust Caoshan's donkey peering into the well.

8.118

Casual Composition at Letan Cloud Hermitage

8.119

Sunlight paints half the wall of the Cloud Hermitage red; / The frosty woods are first warm as birds sing in the wind. / Unaware that someone sits inside the vine-hung window; / Closing the eyes by the incense burner, all hundred cares are empty.

8.120

Matching the Rhyme of Chaoran for Great Master Zhezhang Jue, also Sent to the Elder of the Abbot's Quarters

8.121

Binding the belly with three strips of bamboo; / Tranquilly resting in the family grove. / In deep dynamic, Dayang's stillness; / In swift function, Changsha's height. / In the empty ravine, the creek chimes like jade; / Through sparse bamboo, the moon filters gold. / With our uncle master of Dongshan present; / This Way has not sunk into oblivion.

8.122

Borrowing Xuedou's Rhyme to See off Layman Chaoran Zhao Biaozhi, Then at Letan

8.123

In one gulp, swallowing all the water of the West River, / Master Ma's family tradition soared forth distinctly. / Old Pang prostrated himself, inheriting the fragrant dust; / In antiquity and today, who has been like this? / Chaoran's Way communes with such a man; / His vast resolve in traveling south shows no relent. / With pure wind and refined bone, his eyes are cold and blue; / A jade well and ice pitcher whose freeze never melts. / Sitting solitary on the Qiang couch in the room of Vimalakīrti, / Unabiding and unattached, shedding vanity and excess. / Placidly profound, a single silence is the complete presentation; / The gate of non-duality opened wide, just like that very day. / When Buddha affairs are rounded off, thoughts turn to return; / Stepping out the door, the diverging paths are flat as one's palm. / Reaching home, with wife and children gathered round in harmony, / Facing each other in silence, finding true appreciation.

8.124

New Dwelling at the Southern Foothills

8.125

At the mountain's foot by the water's edge, shade of bamboo and trees; / Lazily nurturing myself, I dwell deep in quietude. / All my life content with the flavor of plainness; / How could the three times confine this leisurely heart? / Ravine clouds have not yet formed the wish to leave the peaks; / Pine wind can produce the sound of descending the rapids. / With whom can I share this full, pure delight? / I imagine there is Zhi Dun's grove on Mount Wojou.

8.126

Seeing off Venerable Song to Dwell in a Hermitage

8.127

Worldly defilements and entanglements grow goiters on people; / Return to recline in the vine hermitage in the frosty moon's shadow. / Right therein, leaving subtlety, subtly shifting function; / A jade pitcher at night draws from the lapis lazuli well. / The taste of our family's words is chewed dry and hard; / Returning from drunken satiety, both eyes are cold. / Clouds and water clearly attain freedom; / Beyond the affairs of the six senses, who shuts the screen?

8.128

The Chan belly must be wrapped with bamboo splits; / Look carefully at the water buffalo ploughing the field of itself. / A cloth wrapper is not sold for three thousand miles; / Who has doubted tree ears for twenty years? / One word fitting at the source meets the honored traveler; / Sitting and severing the ten directions, the biased and upright are complete. / When in later days I toss my staff to visit you, / Do not be desperately busy, emptily raising your fist.

8.129

Burnt slopes with shoots and ferns enrich the arrival of spring; / Who understands how to attend to the person within the hermitage? / Heavenly offerings of wondrous blossoms—effort is not yet exhausted; / The dragon humming in withered wood—the ailment is hard to eliminate. / Night Chan finally forms the winter cicada's molt; / Reclining by day, what harm if the weary bird stretches? / In days ahead when you return to question the ancestors, / Who is the red-tailed fish on the hook?

8.130

Venerable Rong Arouses the Mind to Manage the Arhat Hall and Tend to the Affairs of Tea and Oil, Requesting a Verse

8.131

This condition that awakens one from dreams: / The mind of all Buddhas is the same, obliterating before and after. / A single point of numinous brightness beyond the three times; / Completely wondrous and pure before the ten thousand functions. / Polishing and grinding, gained naturally under the monastic grove; / Disporting freely, what harm in the tips of the hundred grasses? / The dust-realms crisscrossing are all transformative affairs; / The person who establishes a family only brandishes an empty fist.

8.132

Venerable Xin Begs for Food and Requests a Verse

8.133

The person setting forth with the mind of begging food: / The spring wind vast and billowing washes the monastic grove. / Pine paths, rich with fragrance, are sprinkled with yellow pollen; / Bamboo mounds, pure and lean, wrap around jade hairpins. / The steaming basket divides pearls, filling the meal bowl; / The pure vase draws the moon, the night pond deep. / Returning, polish and wash it—the brightness remains; / Tell them that dust and mud do not defile gold.

8.134

Visiting Yang Caishu and Not Finding Him In, I Leave a Verse at His Study

8.135

I take up my bamboo staff, rising from stillness, and descend Yunju;
At the cold foothills, spring returns as I seek out a friend.
Mist dyes the shoots of grass; the three paths are dark;
Snow melts on the barley shoots; a single hoe is damp.
Wishing to seek true words to wash away worldly thoughts,
Why should I fear the sharp wind raising goosebumps on the skin?
Not meeting the poet gentleman, I return in dismay;
Lean and austere, I face the stone calamus at times.

8.136

Relieved of the Duty of Head Monk, the Scribe Invited Me; Firmly Declining with a Verse

8.137

The wagtail on the plains can make a call to return;
Evening wind brings down the leaves; autumn is in the forest.
The road is desert-vast; the waters rush along;
Night colors gently gather; the mountains turn gloomy and dark.
Sitting at the head of many scholars, I reflect on my own shortcomings;
Pulling my sleeve, this friend understands me deeply.
I beg to be granted aloof leisure to repay past debts,
To shut the door, lie down securely, and ease my weary heart.

8.138

Composed by Chance to Instruct the Assembly

8.139

In the slanting wind, willows are frail of strength;
Plantains struck by rain have a cold sound.
Do not treat seeing and hearing as an opposing object;
Who deceives one another with sound and form?

8.140

Attendant Cheng Requests a Eulogy

8.141

The true source is unruffled by wind;
The shadow of the moon-hare is clear in the water.
Withered passions remain simply tranquil;
In silence, one is sated with the taste of Chan.
The family style is utterly vast—
The supreme meaning from of old.
The function of the mechanism turns appropriately;
Ten thousand transformations emerge at a snap of the fingers.

8.142

On the twenty-eighth day of the winter of the gengzi year, the weather was clear and mild. Together with Senior Zhi, I walked along the southern foothills. Transverse ridges and winding streams made a lingering, clear sound. In the shaded ravine, the upright trees bore no withered countenance in the cold. We arrived at a home in the bamboo grove, drank tea, and returned.

8.143

The scenic spots of the cloudy foothills I had not reached before;
Keen on this pure excursion, I forgot the craggy heights.
Who lacks a lean staff to offer a little support?
Together with a recluse, we share this delightful mood.
The soft green of the ravine's ferry meanders on its own;
The ancient verdure of the bank trees remains darkly shaded.
West of the stream we beg for fire to boil tea;
From the house amidst the bamboos comes the sound of the meal-time chime.

8.144

Parting from the Assembly at Mount Wuzu

8.145

Gathering and scattering at East Mountain are also due to affinities;
Flowers burst into fragrant charms, willows locked in mist.
Where one accords, sense bases and sense objects are not separate;
When in use, hands and eyes are precisely a thousand.
In the stūpa, the Patriarch has affairs handed down;
The man from beyond the ranges originally did not understand Chan.
If in later days you can come and complete this talk,
I would not mind knocking on the pillow to awaken spring sleep.

8.146

Chan Man Jiang of Wuzu Requests a Eulogy

8.147

The east wind cuts off the rain that moistens the flowers;
Above the Huai, graceful peaks are green enough to count.
Tying up sandals, one wishes to seek the north and south mountains;
Rolling up the robes, one parts again from the east and west patriarchs.
Deep-pool fish and cattail birds noisily form one family;
Sandbar shoots and stream vegetables are sweet to both chopsticks.
Encountering each other everywhere, do you remember?
In the night's cold, the moon rests upon the coral tree.

8.148

Senior Yun Holds the Alms Bowl and Requests a Eulogy

8.149

In the cloudy forest, wind and snow at twilight are delicate and fine;
Dripping cold sounds at dawn cease beneath the eaves.
A single mind of begging aligns with staff and sandals;
Fully transformed affairs enter the hammer and tongs.
The cleared light is as if wiped clean; the moon meets no obstruction;
Brocade flowers fall from the loom; spring does not disfavor them.
Hundreds of billions of transformation bodies pervade the dust-like lands;
Seeing and hearing are crisp and free—who clings to another?

8.150

Senior Qing Holds the Alms Bowl and Requests a Eulogy

8.151

At the head of the Tiao and Zha streams, willow eyes turn green;
At mealtime, holding the alms bowl in the City of All Fragrances.
The neighbors must find it strange that the hair on your crown is white;
An enduring guest naturally pities the clarity of his own mind-realm.
Remembering once more the cold of snow, you draw close to worldly words;
Do not forget, when the water warms, to keep the alliance with the gulls.
A fellow sated with the monastic groves understands you deeply;
Shoots and bracken on the spring mountain sprout in succession.

8.152

Seeing Off Chan Man Guang

8.153

Warm breezes urge the guest down the cloudy ridges;
Everywhere without mind is roaming the Way.
Having taken a seat, one should properly understand the transformation of the leopard;
Passing out the gate, one must know how to ride the ox backward.
Piercing the mist, the staff enters the green creeper path;
Carrying the moon, the boat returns to the islet of white birds.
Within and without, wandering at ease, traces of effort are cut off;
Indistinguishably, heaven and water become one single autumn.

8.154

Great Master Qin Visited to Take Leave; Composed These Lines to Present to Him

8.155

Since you could come and pass through my gate,
I clearly know that, like Liangsuizhi, your resolve is all the more steadfast.
Where a fine speck of dust is broken open, the sutra scroll is found;
When the ten thousand phenomena are chaotic, the sense organ of sight is emptied.
Living in discord with the world, who holds ill intent?
They find it strange that his lean angles naturally bear autumn's marks.
Your impulse to return will surely reach the security of the home grove;
The mountain moon sheds its brilliance, washing away the gloom of night.

8.156

Seeing Off Senior Jin to Shuinan

8.157

Inside there, one is by nature lazy about shouldering a burden;
At the tips of the hundred grasses, what is so subtle and minute?
At midnight, facing the moon, laughing and clapping hands;
One does not see the frost-spitting three-legged toad.
In the kalpa of emptiness there is a phrase so wondrous;
With you gone, with whom shall I speak eye to eye?
When later you see the master in the hall of Taiping,
Dare I trouble you to bring it clearly to his notice for me?

8.158

Seeing Off Chan Man Jue

8.159

The Bright Moon Hall is empty; no guest is retained;
In the scenic beauty of Heng and Xiang, compose your pure excursion.
Returning along the path, once more wondrous, without leaving a shadow;
Heaven and water have always been the same autumn.

8.160

Seeing Off Senior Yuan Returning Home

8.161

At the stream's head, you hire a boat to return to the shores of E;
A single oar in the pure wind; the midnight moon stands at noon.
Traveling through the half-month journey of Mount Shao,
The white-cloud child approaches the green-mountain father.
As for old Yantou's final word,
When you arrive there, you will know to ask and receive no answer.
In front of the seamless stūpa, the wind's color is lofty;
Vastly open, not separated by the slightest hairsbreadth.
With earnest instructions on this departure, you must quickly return;
A child of our house needs complete talent.
Do not sit on the paths of light and dark at either end;
Go back within the bias; come forth within the upright.
Ah, haha! The elegance in your chest—who knows how much there is?

8.162

Descending from Mount Lu to the Zhegui Bannerpole Plain, Looking Toward Lake Pengli; Holding My Staff, I Passed a Monks' Hut on the Mountain Ahead and Spoke This Verse

8.163

Leaves fall and the mountain's bones are lean;
Waters recede and sand ridges rise high.
A fishing boat plays in the river's sun;
A single leaf floating in the soft red dust.
What is before the eyes is not vulgar;
The mind of a person of the Way is as if empty.
Stepping forward from the top of the bannerpole,
Clouds and waters unfold the family style.

8.164

Leaving Kanglu and Crossing the River to Mount Huai to Pay Homage to the Stūpas of Various Patriarchs; Composed on the Road

8.165

The boat grinds through sandy shallows; the riverbanks are craggy;
On the banks, spring mud deeply stains the rattan sandals.
Turning my head toward Mount Kang, I recall the assembled society;
With genuine affection in the patriarchal hall, they attend to transmitting the lamp.
Descendants are tireless, like Ke in the snowy courtyard;
Robes and bowls are continuously passed down, like Neng in the pestle shed.
Sitting and illuminating the intention of Shaolin's wall-facing,
The clear, bright ground of the mind is pristine as ice.

8.166

Presented to Daoist Chuan

8.167

Scraps of down woven into clothing wrap a withered form;
What matter in your chest alone stays fully awake?
Bereft of contrivance, functioning freely, wondrous when applied;
A living eye coldly peers into the numinous in the void.
Refined words are like brocade clouds, fragments of spring;
Pure breath is like plum snow, scattered stars at dawn.
Now that merit is exhausted, Niutou turns lazy;
Flowers and birds do not come; the wind sweeps the courtyard.

8.168

Inscribed for the Zhiyou Hermitage and Sent to Fellow Companions of the Way in the Hermitage

8.169

The dwelling of a true person pervades the ten directions;
The ultimate roaming is manifest everywhere, magnificent and clear.
The goose from the water vessel selects its milk;
The bee in the flower chambers gathers its fragrance.
In the illumination of the mind-mirror, there is no defiling film;
Within the emptiness of the circle of the Way, spiritual light appears.
Able to enter the bustling market and abide in samādhi;
A bird crossing the vast sky leaves no trace.

8.170

Matching the Rhyme of Daoist Chuan and Roaming to Luoxing Cloister

8.171

Wind rises from the base of the sands; goosebumps turn stiff on the skin;
Coldly immersing the star-stones, the waters curve in bays.
Boarding the boat wishing to cross beneath eaves and windows,
Leaning on the balustrade, one truly suspects oneself to be amidst a painting.
Clouds wipe the mountain face, a screen of blue jade;
The sun floats upon the river surface, a ring of purple gold.
Turning my head, the Five Elders beckon to me;
Forest friends, do not mind a knock at the gate at night.

8.172

Senior Huai Goes Out Begging and Requests a Eulogy

8.173

On the rope-seat wrapped in quilts, shrinking from the spring cold;
Senior Huai goes begging, walking through dry snow in the wilderness.
The wind's message enters the flowers, unveiling robes of brocade;
The moon's soul falls into the water, washing the golden platter.
Vimalakīrti takes food without exerting much strength;
Maitreya opens the door with just a snap of the fingers.
Wondrously attaining the Buddha's own enjoyment within it,
Everything is completely realized before you, without deceiving each other.

8.174

Hall-Director Yi Solicits Lamp Oil for the Buddha Hall and Monks' Hall and Requests a Eulogy

8.175

Who continues the illumination of the Buddha lamp for me?
It is truly as when the lotus opens, awakening from the great dream.
The fragrant grass has the intention to preserve purity and whiteness;
The orchid oil has no feet, yet settles in clear, cold green.
Quietly tilling beyond transformation, how could one know night?
True illumination inside the bottle is unaware of darkness.
What affair do the descendants of the lineage transmit?
Allowing its radiant brilliance to illuminate the gateway of our school.

8.176

Chan Man Liang Holds the Alms Bowl and Requests a Eulogy

8.177

A single staff flies from the home grove;
Where food is cooked, faint blue smoke rises.
In stern silence, rising from the meditation bench;
Empty and open, turning the mechanism of transformation.
The stream is cold; autumn dyes its color;
The moon is chilling; the night pours forth radiance.
Do not imitate Liang of the Western Mountain;
On this journey, you should return early.

8.178

Chan Man Chu Holds the Alms Bowl and Requests a Eulogy

8.179

Buddha-affairs secretly communicate with the Xinghua gate;
When put to use, the axe leaves no mark.
The complete mechanism transcends the bounds of transmigration;
A single phrase uproots the source of birth and death.
Cool breezes wash away the summer heat that torments the sleeves;
The pure moon drives away the gloom of the night-terrace.
The king of geese drinks and draws only the pure flavor;
Water and milk are thus separated, never confusing me.

8.180

Passing by the Prajñā Hermitage

8.181

Multi-storied eaves stand lean at the head of curved railings;
Islets are faintly green, chillingly pillowed on the stream.
Gazes know to turn along with the sand and water;
A delightful mood truly floats along with the bank's clouds.
Level fields divide the rustic hues connecting continuous cottages;
Dotted across the river's light, boats chase after one another.
Deeply attaining the meaning of the Prajñā Emptiness School:
All the forest of phenomena originally does not obstruct people from resting.

8.182

Ascending the Dengyun Hermitage

8.183

A thatched hut faces the blue stream;
Frosted grass reveals a secluded path.
Looking at myself, drunk on hills and ravines,
Who knows who is deluded by worldly dust?
Through the vine gate I peek into the secluded depths;
On the cloudy stone steps I tread high and low.
Apes and birds have not forsaken me;
They companion man, roosting amidst misty trees.

8.184

Seeing Off Daoist Chuan Returning to Visit His Mother

8.185

Night came with frost frightening the orange's navel into yellow;
Bestowed upon the returning traveler to embrace its cool fragrance.
On the day you arrive, as you step across the threshold, you must turn around;
The white-headed one is not your original mother.

8.186

Subtlety exhausted, merit complete, the place of turning is profound;
If a person truly understands riding the ox backward,
With rain straw-coat and wind-hat as old luggage,
Finding delight clearly at the tips of the hundred grasses.

8.187

Chan Practitioner Yuan Requests a Eulogy

8.188

With body and mind withered and rested, not thinking of a hundred things;
Clear and round, self-illuminating at the time of the kalpa of emptiness.
How could the mirror of wondrously clear wisdom retain any defilement?
The numinous mechanism, vast and empty, has not admitted a single thread.
Distinctly in the dry skull, see the living eye;
Magnificently in the dust-like lands, employ the space between the eyebrows.
You must accept and bear it in just this way,
And with nostrils hanging down, recognize the ancestral teacher.

8.189

Three Quatrains Looking at Mount Lu on the Xiechuan Road

8.190

Intoxicated at heart by the true taste, I lean on my lean staff;
Rustling, the wind whistles through a path of pines.
With no one to speak with of the realm of perfect penetration,
I laughingly watch clouds swallow the Peak of Stone Ears.

8.191

Green mountains release their feet where the stream bends its waist;
An old man in a straw coat tends the nets, his boy shaking the sculls.
The gentleman in former days rode off on a fish;
Among the houses on the bank, whose name is Tao?

8.192

The water turns before Black Stone Mountain;
A traveler walks along the bank of Xiechuan.
Deserted beneath the ancient shrine of Chaisang;
I have come with no wine to libate Yuanming.

8.193

Great Master Miaozhan Requests a Eulogy

8.194

Wondrous, it is not coarse;
Serene, it is not turbid.
Wondrous and serene, it illuminates;
Pure and bright, leaving no trace.
Cloudy mountains are the host;
Water and moon have no root.
Sitting lean in a single silence;
Emptily harmonizing the six gates.
Apertures make the pipes of the wind;
Flowers embrace the bounty of spring.
Successively inheriting this matter,
Sons and grandsons generation after generation.

8.195

Matching the Rhymes of Scribe Shaogu at Shengguo Cloister: A Quatrain

8.196

Sandy winds blow vast and dim, rolling up the misty lake; / In silence, the fishing boat seems both to exist and not. / Turning to gaze back at the Five Old Peaks, they seem even more utterly foolish; / They must surely wonder at me for having such leisure.

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宏智禪師廣錄 — Classical Chinese