宏智禪師廣錄 8.600

8.600

Now, the smile on Vulture Peak was warm; the sitting at Shaolin was cold. West and east, continuous and unbroken, through thirty-three transmissions.
Old Lu received the robe and bowl and fled; that matter is clearly known. Opening and closing, drawing in and expanding,
Billows, light, and blaze—speaking freely from the mouth, responding freely from the mind. The Way was transmitted and the vessels received it;
The source was deep and the stream flowed long. Nanyue and Qingyuan produced worthy successors generation after generation. Some silently held to the lineage,
Hiding in seclusion, fleeing afar, sweeping away their traces from the mundane world to investigate birth and death. Eating pine seeds, wearing lotus clothes,
Roosting in nests, sitting on grass, dim and not shining forth, nurturing and maturing themselves. There were those who admired their style,
Taking them as teachers and drawing close to them—hoeing, planting, pounding rice, cooking, fetching water, boiling and brewing, gathering creek herbs and dry-field millet, content with withered austerity, arriving from afar and gathering in great numbers.
Thereupon the Sangha Hall was established to accommodate them all. For dining and sleeping in plain simplicity,
Teachers and companions worked together, excising emotion and carving away calculation, casting aside scholarly study and dismissing thoughts, wondrously exhausting mind until it became empty,
Penetrating the lineage with living eyes, manifesting it in practical arrangements, so that their capabilities were truly fulfilled and prepared. At the end of the Jianyan era,
People suffered from chaos and displacement; across the Xiang, Han, Yangtze, and Huai rivers, the fires of war burned and looted the monastic groves of the venerable elders,
Eight or nine out of ten falling into ruin. Clothed in monk's robes, carrying begging bowls and tin staffs, they fled to take refuge in the Southeast. The Chan seat of Siming
Has long been known as the "Lesser Mount Lu." Sixty li east of the prefecture lies the Tiantong practice center;
The mountains wind and twist with secluded atmosphere; the pines are gnarled and their bark wrinkled; green cliffs are clad in creepers, the mist clears, and the emerald sheen glistens;
A solitary rainbow-bridge rests over the creek; washed of dust, it flows pure and bright. In the fourth year of my residence on this mountain,
Students came from the ten directions, rushing like clouds and surging like water, until the buildings could no longer contain them. The monk Xingshen
Hastily came to report, saying: "Our brothers in the cypress courtyard sit exposed outside and lodge under the eaves; there is scarcely a foot of space left to receive a seat and bowl.
May we appeal to pure believers to enlarge the hall?" I nodded in consent. Soon,
Carpenters advanced into the forest, and axes resounded in the valleys. In a little over a year, the plinths were laid and columns aligned;
Beams crossed, rafters clustered, purlins and roof frames spread like wings, ridge tiles laid like fish scales. Front and back, fourteen bays,
Twenty trusses, three covered corridors, two courtyards. The day-hall caught the rain, with no walls or obstructions underneath.
In length two hundred feet, in breadth one hundred and sixty feet. Windows, beds, and couches were deep, bright, dignified, and clean.
Ten thousand fingers dined and rested, comfortable and at ease. The planning began in the winter of the renzi year of Shaoxing [1132],
And the work was completed in the spring of the jiayin year [1134]. The total cost was over fifteen thousand strings of paper money.
Warm in winter and cool in summer, incense by day and lamps by night. Opening the bowl to eat, washing the feet to sit, tilling and herding in their midst,
Warning and guiding through stillness. In autumn harboring the ancient well, in spring entering the transformational impulse. Deep and silently accomplished,
Brilliant, radiating function. Water fills the depressions and flows; the valley responds with an echo to a call. Principle accords with equality,
Wisdom responds naturally. In movement and stillness, dignified comportment, they were needles and moxibustion mutually benefiting one another, checking and correcting leaks and seepage,
Polishing away stains and scars, tempering brilliance, grinding down sharp corners, aiming high and reaching far,
Following in the footsteps of the ancients, giving heart and offering strength, none failing to match one another. Alas, when capacity is inferior and study is degenerate,
People hope for ease and desire speed, using craftiness as a pathway and licentiousness as attainment; plowing in empty words,
They starve without harvest; battling in aggressive debate,
Victory leads nowhere. Drifting with the habit of sensory seeing and hearing,
Intellectual understanding muddles the mind. Rebuked by the Buddhas and patriarchs, seized upon by demons and outsiders, when such plagues and blemishes sprout,
Curing them cannot be delayed. Ascend the peak of Kunlun! Breach the waters of the Yellow River's source!
Wash clean the defilement of liver and gall; cleanse the cataracts of mind and eye! When the traces of birth and extinction perish, the wondrous persists;
When the tracks of existence and non-existence are obliterated, it transcends all measures. The dream of the long night is broken; the doubts of eternal kalpas are uprooted;
The aspiration of leaving home is fulfilled; the matter of traveling on foot is accomplished. For those companions who follow along, it is almost reached here.