如淨和尚語錄 2

English (machine translation) 2

Language: English

2.1

Recorded Sayings at Tiantong Jingde Monastery of Mingzhou

At the mountain gate: "Tiantong's great gate of liberation opens wide the patch-robed monk's own self, penetrating heaven and earth without exterior or interior. Although for ten thousand ages the pure breeze comes from eight directions, pavilions in front and towers behind rise exquisitely."

2.4

At the Buddha Hall: "The marvelous form of gold: donkey jowls and horse lips. Bah! A thief is a petty person whose cleverness exceeds that of a noble person."

2.5

At the abbot's quarters: "Ten feet across and ten feet high; Mañjuśrī and Vimalakīrti scratch their itches through the wall." Striking his staff, he said, "Without casting a hook, people of the entire great earth get caught of their own accord."

2.6

Arriving before the Dharma seat, he burned incense and offered thanks for imperial favor. Holding up the imperial yellow decree, he showed it to the assembly and said, "Clouds open across the nine heavens." Holding it up, he said, "Look! A colorful phoenix flies out. But tell me, how do you comprehend this? Swiftly, swiftly, according to the laws and ordinances!"

2.7

Pointing to the Dharma seat: "Burning coals make the bed; boiling water makes the seat. Spewing black smoke from the mouth: a sin filling the heavens."

2.8

Gathering his robes, he took his seat and said, "With questioning and answering, excrement and urine are strewn about in disarray. Without questioning and answering, thunderbolts and lightning crash. Thereupon the eyebrows are delighted and the nostrils held high, directly causing the great earth to sink flat and empty space to burst open. Right at such a time, let us meet with the ancient Buddha Hongzhi." Raising his whisk, he said, "Having already met, what should we discuss? / In the past, his sweat-drenched steed was recognized by none; / One need only speak anew of his era-covering achievements. / Even so, what about the phrase 'knowing kindness and repaying kindness'? / Waves across the four seas are calm, the dragon sleeps soundly; / Clouds across the nine heavens are clear, the crane grazes the sky."

2.9

He brought up again: "I remember: a monk asked Baizhang, 'What is the extraordinary thing?' Baizhang said, 'Sitting alone on Mount Daxiong.' Great assembly, do not stir! Let this fellow sit to death for now. Today, if someone suddenly asks Senior Monk Jing, 'What is the extraordinary thing?' I would only say to him, 'What is so extraordinary?' Ultimately, how is it? Moving the bowl of Jingci over to Tiantong to eat rice."

2.10

Ascending the hall: "Not letting anything enter from outside; not letting anything out from inside. Deliver a painful blow with the hammer, and all affairs are concluded. But tell me, how is it? Before Mount Dabai, the command is brand-new; the order within and without is thoroughly understood."

2.11

Ascending the hall when an old friend on the Way arrived: "Every grievance has its head, every debt its debtor. A single blade faces the vanguard, throwing wide the doorway. Dragging in ranks and gathering in crowds they come like this, setting fires, murdering people, banding together. But tell me, how is it? The crown of the old barbarian's head bestrides the dragon and tiger."

2.12

Ascending the hall: "When thoughts fly in confusion, how can you set your hands to them? Zhaozhou's 'A dog has no Buddha-nature' is just this iron broom of the word 'Wu'. Where you sweep, the confusion flies all the more; where the confusion flies thick, sweep it. The more you sweep, the more it scatters; where it cannot be swept, risk your life and sweep! Day and night erect your backbone, with heroic courage do not let it slump! Suddenly you sweep open great emptiness, and myriad distinctions and thousands of differences are all thoroughly opened up."

2.13

Ascending the hall for lighting the stove: / "With just this piece of firewood smoldering the embers, / Everywhere they vigorously vie to light the stove. / Where Tiantong directly transcends the lineage, / Both stove and firewood are gone to the very bottom! / Being like this, there is nevertheless warmth; / Just the right time to vigorously apply effort. / But tell me, how is it? / Suddenly thunderbolts roar with raging flames, / Letting the late night snow fall in dense confusion."

2.14

Ascending the hall to thank the incoming and outgoing monastic officers of the two ranks: "Opening the Avīci hell, King Yama appears; gathering a band of yakṣas, ox-headed demons line up in two rows. For those who advance: amid raging fires atop the forest of sword-trees they advance into action. For those who retreat: amid freezing ice within the mountain of blades they retreat into hiding. And tell me, what affair do they attend to with such forbearance? Full of food, fiddling with chopsticks to make judgments; pressed by feces, wetting the bed. If not yet so: spring breezes of flowers and willows enter the playhouse."

2.15

Ascending the hall: / "Tiantong's foul old iron fist / Knocks dead the water buffalo of the rivers and lakes. / In the deep of night, it suddenly lays an egg; / At dawn, it rolls out the great sun! / But tell me, how is it? / Air out everyone's damp, steamed spots, / To keep their steps from slipping like oil!"

2.16

Ascending the hall: "Where Lingyun saw, peach blossoms opened; where Tiantong sees, peach blossoms fall. Peach blossoms open, the spring wind urges them; peach blossoms fall, the spring wind is harsh. Setting Lingyun aside for now, is there anyone who meets with Tiantong? / Harsh spring wind and peach blossoms; / Leaping through the waves, horns emerge!"

2.17

Ascending the hall on the Shouqing Festival: "How supreme is Earth's receptivity, giving birth to the auspiciousness of Māyā in the Buddha-land; how grand are the palm-leaf scriptures, blessing the spring of the immortal peach and the Queen Mother of the West! Right at such a time, tell me: what serves as proof? / Guanyin's jeweled necklace is wondrously adorned; / Mahāsthāmaprāpta's garland of flowers is forever at ease."

2.18

Ascending the hall for entering the summer retreat: / "Tying up the neck of the patch-robed monk's cloth bag, / Tiantong picks it up and makes a football of it. / With the tip of his toe he kicks out countless Buddhas, / Handing them over to the monastery to serve as horses and cattle!"

2.19

Ascending the hall to thank the monastic officers for the meal and the head monk for wielding the whisk: "An iron sour-pastry, a vajra ring: choking the throat, tearing off the nostrils. Tiantong has his footing; patch-robed monks have no doorway to beg for their lives. But tell me, how is it? Capable of acting as descendants of Gautama."

2.20

Taking the seat for the newly built Miaoyan hall's celebratory repentance: / "Pushing over the old rat's nest of many years, / Sweeping clean the level ground, laughing ha-ha! / Framing it out of emptiness, horns sprout; / Covering donkeys and cattle, one never tires of how many. / Today a great causal condition is accomplished; / For a thousand ages the great matter is displayed. / But tell me, how is it? / Brow-shading guests outside the gate may do as they please; / Returning home, restore to me the person within!"

2.21

He also cited: Mañjuśrī asked Wuzhuo, "Where have you recently come from?"
Wuzhuo said, "The South."
Mañjuśrī said, "How is the Buddha-Dharma maintained in the South?"
Wuzhuo said, "Bhikṣus of the final age seldom keep the precepts and discipline."
Mañjuśrī said, "How large is the assembly?"
Wuzhuo said, "Sometimes three hundred, sometimes five hundred."
The Master said, "The spring breeze entices the partridge to cry."
Wuzhuo asked Mañjuśrī, "How is the Buddha-Dharma maintained around here?"
Mañjuśrī said, "Ordinary mortals and sages dwell together; dragons and snakes intermingle."
Wuzhuo said, "How large is the assembly?"
Mañjuśrī said, "The front three-three, the back three-three."
The Master said, "Billows upon level ground angle for an iron boat.
These two turning words aim to knot eyebrows together with those of all quarters.
There are yet two more turning words that aim to open the eyes of all quarters:
'Sometimes three hundred, sometimes five hundred'—
Copper coins and iron coins, short count or full hundred.
'The front three-three, the back three-three'—
Radishes and taro tubers, shallowly packed, fill the carrying pole.
If all quarters suddenly open their eyes, they will certainly clap their hands and roar with laughter.
Laughing at what? If not laughing at the man from Ba, then laughing at mere fabrication.
Though those who laugh are still rare,
if someone suddenly asks Tiantong how large the assembly is,
I will simply say to him: 'Newly built Miaoyan boasts of being foremost;
all together, they are right within the painted picture.'"

2.22

Requesting the overseer of stores, he ascended the hall:
"Dou the Eighth's cloth shirt is worn through;
everyone lend a hand.
Lay Mount Sumeru across as the level-measure;
measure the great ocean as the peck.
Therefore, killing and giving life are at the fore;
withdrawing and releasing come behind.
Credit goes to choking shut the mouth of empty space.
Do you still understand?
Tiantong would not dare betray you;
he gladly serves as the crowing cock and the barking dog."

2.23

Ascending the hall: "The young of the caterpillar, dead, encounters the solitary wasp,
which prays over it, saying: 'Be like me! Be like me!'
Under Tiantong's gate, is there anyone like me?
For ten thousand miles, not a wisp of cloud hangs;
heaven and earth are a single ball of raging fire."

2.24

Thanking the overseer of stores, he ascended the hall:
"The precious sword of the Vajra King is in its scabbard,
having the awe-inspiring power that one dare not offend upon merely feeling its wind.
With a shout from Tiantong, it flies out
and turns into an iron hammer without a hole,
rolling into waste fields and tangled grasses,
letting the sun scorch and the wind blow it.
Why is it like this?
Picking up the spoon and holding the chopsticks—who knows how many?
Unless one is an intimate friend, it is not easily known."

2.25

Thanking [those who] built the bridge, he ascended the hall:
"Going to that side, go;
coming to this side, come.
In between are precipitous ravines and severed cliffs.
Tell me, how do they connect?"
Using his whisk, he made the shape of an arched bridge and said:
"Look! Vaguely, the golden stone steps are wide;
faintly, the colorful rainbow curves.
People crossing over the bridge—what about that then?
Within the shadows of pine and vine, heavenly artistry unfolds;
amidst the sweaty, blackened gleam, enter the painting to look."

2.26

Ascending the hall: "The eye sees yellow leaves fall;
the ear hears a solitary wild goose cry.
Tell me, what thing can be so nimble?
Bah! Above the stream, autumn light is exceptionally clear."

2.27

Zheweng's posthumous letter arrived; he ascended the hall:
"On the eighteenth day of the eighth month, the Qiantang tide rises;
Zheweng's reputation towers sky-high.
Causing all the wave-taming hands of the four seas
to roll once through the bottom of the deepest abyss.
Re-examining and choosing, he did not shirk labor,
wishing to leap the Dragon Gate and carry on the phoenix lineage.
Suddenly, rolling up his scrolls, he returned to the source;
for ten thousand ages, at Caoxi the wind roars fiercely."

2.28

Ascending the hall: "Lu Xiujing, Tao Yuanming,
Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra."
Drawing a circle, he said: "Bah!
A single deposition is fully submitted.
Tell me, on whom does the judgment rely?
If it were Master Kong: 'I have concealed nothing from you.'"

2.29

Lighting the stove, he ascended the hall.
He summoned the great assembly, drew a circle, and said:
"This is Tiantong's fire stove.
Step close and you are burned to death;
step back and you are frozen to death.
If a fellow suddenly comes out and says, 'What should be done?'—
Ha! The fire stove moved!"

2.30

Ascending the hall: "Tiantong's first phrase of midwinter is craggy and jagged.
The old plum tree suddenly bursts into blossom:
one blossom, two blossoms, three, four, five blossoms, blossoms beyond count.
Their purity cannot be praised;
their fragrance cannot be praised.
Scattering into spring demeanor, they blow upon the grasses and trees;
patch-robed monks, each and every one has a bald crown.
Suddenly transforming into monstrosities—
raging winds and violent rains, even rolling across the great earth, snow drifts without bound.
The old plum tree is terribly unreasonable;
in the freezing cold, rubbing the nose leaves it aching."

2.31

Ascending the hall: "Past and present, heavy snow fills Chang'an;
Tiantong sells off this heart and liver.
A bodhisattva without supernormal powers
strikes fiercely with a single blow of the mallet;
the Great Compassionate One of a thousand hands and eyes
conjures oddities of manifold kinds.
Do you still understand?
A lion teaches its cub the formula for confusing the cub;
an old woman's grandmotherly mind does not conceal anything from you."

2.32

Ascending the hall: "The Bhagavat said: 'When one person discovers reality and returns to the source, empty space in all the ten directions utterly dissolves.'"
The Master raised this and said: "Since it was spoken by the Bhagavat, one cannot avoid treating it as extraordinary deliberation.
Tiantong is not like this:
When one person discovers reality and returns to the source,
a beggar smashes his rice bowl."

2.33

Ascending the hall, he cited: "Venerable Wuzu Yan said: 'If someone can write the five characters "the ancestral master's intention in coming from the west" into empty space, this old monk will spread his sitting cloth wide and bow to him.'"
The Master raised this and said: "Had Tiantong seen it at that time, he would only have said to him: 'The confession comes from the prisoner's mouth.'
Now, is there anyone with the same confession?
Since there is not: vaguely, the wild geese veer away diagonally, breaking the autumn at Haimen with shock."

2.34

Ascending the hall: "The frosty wind howls bleak and chill;
frost-bitten leaves fall whistling down."
Holding up his whisk, he said: "Look!
Only Linglong Cliff
towers lofty, gazing ever higher.
The so-called dead stock of Tiantong
is peddled on a short venture today.
Is there anyone who will bid a price?"
He stepped down from his seat and inspected the hall.

2.35

On the Buddha's attainment of the Way, he ascended the hall:
"On the eighth day of the twelfth month, Gautama
slipped out of the mountains in the middle of the night—a bandit!
The path is winding like sheep's intestines;
the thieving mind is dappled like a tiger's back.
He blunted and baffled humans and gods, this one time.
Tiantong points it out like this;
tell me, is it fitting or not?
Misleading his sons and grandsons until their heads are completely bald,
seeds of calabash vines entangle calabashes."

2.36

Retiring from the monastery, he ascended the hall:
"Entering the monastery, when able to stay, just stay;
retiring from the monastery, when wishing to go, just go.
Do you still thoroughly comprehend?
This single black staff—
do not blame it for being too fierce and untamed!"
He threw down his staff and stepped down from his seat.

2.37

Minor Convocations

2.38

Compiled by the attendant Yiyuan

2.39

Minor convocation on New Year's Eve: "The year is exhausted, the month is exhausted, the day is exhausted, the hour is exhausted."
Drawing a stroke with his whisk, he said: "Utterly stroke it off!"
Holding up the whisk, he said: "This one is inexhaustible!
Do you still see it?
Calling it Qingliang's whisk,
its functioning is inexhaustible.
Tonight, parting with the year together with all of you,
the preaching of the Dharma is inexhaustible.
Therefore, the spring waters filling the four marshes are inexhaustible;
the summer clouds forming many wondrous peaks are inexhaustible;
the autumn moon casting bright radiance is inexhaustible;
the winter ridges showing off solitary pines are inexhaustible.
One year is like this: the past is inexhaustible;
one year is like this: what arrives is inexhaustible.
If you can see it like this,
day by day your eyes move steadily,
hour by hour your nostrils flare high;
as of old, year, month, day, and hour are all inexhaustible.
Although it is so, exhausted and inexhaustible
have nothing whatsoever to do with this whisk.
Just at such a time, if a fellow should suddenly come out before the assembly
and snatch it away to avoid seeing inexhaustible entangling vines,
everyone would rejoice with inexhaustible joy.
If this is not yet so, prostrate yourselves and listen to the ruling."
Striking with the whisk, he said: "Look at the brand-new calendar tomorrow morning;
the Grand Year rides an ox upside down to heaven."
He cited: "A monk asked Xianglin, 'What is the matter beneath the patch-robe?'
Xianglin said, 'In the twelfth month, fire burns the mountain.'"
The Master made a verse:
"The matter beneath the patch-robe is fire burning the mountain;
in the twelfth month, the household is poor and bone-chillingly cold.
How laughable that the continuous flames have never ceased;
the eyebrows are singed red, the facial skin mottled."

2.40

Minor convocation for entering the summer retreat:
"Smashing the black lacquer bucket,
the ten directions are utterly empty.
Not receiving the prophecy of Gṛdhrakūṭa,
dwell in Great Perfect Enlightenment.
Eating gruel in the morning, eating rice at noon, sleeping at night, rising again at dawn.
Passing through kalpas manifest before us, ending and beginning again,
saṃsāra drifts on and on without fixity.
Penetrating thoroughly like this,
for the past Tathāgatas, this gate is already ruined and breached;
for the present bodhisattvas, now none have any compromise;
for future practitioners, by all means avoid running upside down!
If right in the midst of this there is a fellow who comes out and says, 'Not yet! You are still a tethered blind donkey guarding another's ghost cave'—
Ha! Angling for ninety days, just wanting [a fish] to take the hook.
Do you still know?
Three pounds of hemp, a dry shit stick,
fist and toe—furthermore, you must be enlightened to them before you attain it.
Tell me, what excellence is there?
Vipaśyin Buddha paid attention to it early on,
yet right down to the present, he has not attained its subtlety."

2.41

Minor convocation at Ruiyan for concluding the summer retreat:
"Gathered from the ten directions, fish swim into a net;
retreating for three months, birds enter a cage.
When life and death are exhausted, the silkworm spins a cocoon;
passing the examination with mind empty within the Black Mountain.
Great assembly! Even if you penetrate the barrier beyond phrases
and test your seniority before the dynamic opportunity,
though Mount Mi's staff has thorns
and beneath the shout thunders crash,
certainly I would not approve.
Why? Śākya originally did not appear in the world;
Bodhidharma decisively never came from the west.
How could what is naturally born accept arrangement?
Who would willingly comply with suppression?
Moreover, on that side of Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja,
prior to the empty kalpa, it had already turned into concealment.
Having arrived here today, what should be done?
Bah! Letting one move slip by three thousand miles away,
biting pigs and biting dogs, wild grass and entangling vines.
Is there still anyone borrowing a path?"
Striking his staff, he said: "Pluck the willow catkins, pluck the willow catkins!"
He cited: "A monk asked Dongshan, 'At the beginning of autumn and the end of summer, where should one go?'
Dongshan said, 'Go to the place where there is not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles.'
Great assembly! Dongshan answering like this,
although his grandmotherly mind was earnest,
could not avoid sinking into level ground.
Tonight, if someone suddenly asks Jing the Elder,
I will simply say to him:
'Following along, trample to silence the sound of flowing water;
gazing freely, sketch out the tracks of flying birds.'"

2.42

Minor convocation on a winter night:
"Drilling ice to obtain fire—on whom does one rely to believe it?
With effort that stakes one's life, enter the gate of death.
Shedding the body completely, one tumble turns around and comes alive;
the true flame of vajra penetrates heaven and earth.
Under Ruiyan's gate, by this we see the single yang returning and all things made entirely new.
Exposed pillars and lanterns joyfully speak a verse:
'On Mount Wutai, clouds steam rice;
in front of the Buddha hall steps, a dog urinates toward the sky.
At the tip of the flag pole, fry rice cakes;
three monkeys toss coins in the night.'
Bah! Talk of descending into the weeds welcomes timely blessings.
Right now in the assembly, is there anyone who penetrates the barrier beyond phrases?
Come forth, dot the eyes, and rejoice for a lifetime.
If not yet so:
The stone woman of Huangmei embroiders mandarin ducks;
each day newly adds a thread's length."

2.43

Entering the monastery at Jingci, a minor convocation:
"Great assembly! The water in West Lake;
the clouds on South Mountain."
Striking his staff, he said:
"Tiantai's staff meets with them, smiling joyfully.
As the seasonal conditions harmonize, what matter should be discussed?"
Striking his staff, he said:
"Call it a staff and you collide; do not call it a staff and you turn your back.
You must not have words; you must not lack words."
Striking his staff, he said:
"Before the sound of thunderclaps, the confession is broken;
upon the flash of lightning, the dynamic triggers.
Here and there, acting in accordance with the occasion.
Bah! Trailing preachments and entangling vines—by all means avoid chatter!
Do you still know?
Before getting close, already separated by the great chiliocosm;
bringing forth the ultimate reality upward, all the more without connection.
Right here, is there anyone who breaks out of the nest and penetrates the subtle and infinitesimal?
Come forth and bear witness with the staff!
Do not hesitate to stir up the waters of West Lake
and sweep up the clouds of South Mountain.
The staff leaps up to the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven."
Striking his staff, he said:
"Poking Śakra's nostrils,
venting steam for the patch-robed monks under heaven, making the monastery rejoice!
Just at such a time, as for the so-called seasonal conditions of the staff's meeting—
just what about before they met?"
Striking his staff, he said:
"Tonight's minor convocation gives no answer to questions;
the staff's tip vexes the spring breeze."

2.44

Minor convocation for entering the summer retreat:
“A mound of bones rises on level ground; a cavern is gouged out of empty space. Breaking abruptly through both checkpoints, cast away the black lacquer bucket!”
Drawing a circle, he said: “In the saṅghārāma of Perfect Enlightenment, assemblies gather from the ten directions. Bah! Under the gate of Jingci, bubbling babble is strictly forbidden. If you still linger in seeing and hearing, it is like tying a mangy horse to a hitching post—the so-called waving a fan to catch cool air, or eating rice, stretching out one's legs, and sleeping. What else is there? Even so, beware of mosquitoes, lice, and fleas residing there! What follows below is long; take care beforehand. Just at such a moment, you must know that there are those who do not enter this community. And furthermore, how is it?
Butterflies flutter lightly in the shade of flowers;
The mountain’s shadow silently pierces the clouds.”

2.45

Minor convocation for releasing the summer retreat:
“Slandering the Buddha, slandering the Dharma, not entering the tally of the assembly, falling into the three evil paths—under the gate of Jingci, what kind of mark does this display? Do you understand? The ninety-day tally is closed; today you are let go. Three thousand donkeys, eight hundred horses, playing flutes and beating drums, singing songs and quickening the beat, so that the clear breeze dare not be clear, and the white clouds dare not be white. Passing right through Gautama’s single move—even so, when meeting people, be strictly careful not to mistakenly quote it. Bah! Chaofu waters his oxen, and Xuyou washes his ears.”

2.46

Minor convocation on the autumn gathering for the Empress’s Hall:
“The Wonderful Sound, Avalokiteśvara, is fully endowed with spiritual power; in all the lands of the ten directions, there is no realm where she does not manifest her body. Thereupon, adorned in celestial, wondrous divine robes, she sits upright in the Kunning Treasure Hall, assisting the single ruler’s imperial transformation and serving as a maternal model for myriad states. Her moral virtue is pure and brilliant; her rain of gifts brings auspicious peace. It brings her radiance to equal the sun and moon, with spring breezes flourishing forever on the golden branches; her longevity matches the mountains and rivers, with auspicious vapors eternally fresh on the jade leaves. Circling the true realm of Vairocana, she radiates the wondrous flower of bodhi. Today, celebrating the encounter with clear autumn and joyfully receiving this auspicious turn of fortune, she specially bestows great giving and establishes this minor convocation, poking open the eyes of Buddhas and Patriarchs, universally gathering the nostrils of gods and humans. One tap, one chant, exhausting the foolish sincerity under the forest; rejoicing and gazing up, fulfilling the vows of heaven. Vast as the Dharmadhātu, ultimate as empty space. Just at such a moment—”
Striking a circle with the whisk, he said: “The Wonderful Sound, Avalokiteśvara, preaches the Dharma just like this! And tell me, how is the phrase ‘the four assemblies joined their palms, faithfully received, and practiced it’?
In the heavens, all the stars bow toward the North;
Among humankind, no water fails to flow east.”

2.47

Minor convocation on entering the mountain at Tiantong:
“Leaping out of Jingci’s ox pen, barging into Taibai’s horse stable! A ball of sinful karma, pitch black; blown by the wind and scorched by the sun, stinking to high heaven! Seeing it like this, tonight’s minor convocation answers no questions, leading thieves into the realm. Is there anyone entering the realm? Teeth like a sword-tree, mouth like a blood bowl! Lightning and thunderbolts—how exceedingly difficult to continue the lineage! And tell me, how to continue the lineage? Digging a latrine in the Buddha hall, joyfully entering hell! If it is not yet so:
A mangy dog has no wish to be born in heaven,
Instead laughing at the white crane amid the clouds.
To cite: A monk asked Master Qi of this mountain, ‘This student comes towering upright; I request the Master to be clear and precise.’ Qi said, ‘Here I just defecate and finish; what is all this towering and precision?’
Assembly! ‘Just defecate and finish’ is very fine, but the thunder is mighty while there are no raindrops at all. And how should it be?
One blow of the staff overturns it, stripping off the very bottom;
In the great peace without form, singing mountain songs.”

2.48

Minor convocation on the winter solstice night:
“The winter solstice welcomes the new; how to speak of it? I remember the yellow-faced bhikṣu saying, ‘Like the Pojing bird, which embraces the fruit of a poisonous tree as its child; when the child is grown, the parents are both devoured by it.’ Fine news! Tonight Tiantong begs for food and sees small gain; inevitably risking his body and giving up his life, he takes the present assembly as fruits of the poisonous tree. Chanting a spell, he embraces and captures them: ‘Resemble me! Resemble me! Come out, come out!’”
Raising the whisk, he said: “Look! They have come out! Is there anyone who can devour their parents? Such a one can be said to know kindness and repay kindness, only then worthy of being transmitted the teaching. If not yet so, we shall meet at the second level:
An extraordinary seed of wondrous sprout is planted in the fire;
Iron flowers without shadow bloom on the treetop.
Suddenly bearing a whole, round fruit,
I present it to the people of the times, who can gather it in.
Thereupon it turns into longans, lychees, sugarcanes, and grapes, originally belonging to one’s own garden. I invite you all to chew on it yourselves. Swallowing is fine, spitting out is fine; making it whole and round is fine, breaking it into a hundred pieces is fine; existence is fine, non-existence is fine; being like this is fine, not being like this is fine; both being like this and not being like this are altogether fine; none of it being fine is also fine! Bah! Scattered all over the ground, laughing onlookers to death! And tell me, how to gather it up?
Who is at the painted tower where wine is bought,
Inviting each other to come drink Zhaozhou’s tea?”

2.49

General Address

2.50

Giving a shout, he said: “Assembly! This single shout—before Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja appeared, it was already missed! How much more so coming here again today, shouting wildly and recklessly—what kind of bubbling babble and clattering bowl sounds are these? If there is someone in the assembly who bravely comes forward, cleaves open the shit-mouth, knocks out the teeth, and shoves him into the shit pit, avoiding seeing such a mess and casually cheating people! Even granting it were so, that too would be clenching a fist behind the back, raising the voice to stop an echo. Yet through skillful means many gates are set up, opening up a path. Is there anyone coming forward?”
After a long pause, he said: “Since there is no one, I shall temporarily borrow this shout to pile up the mess and cheat people!”
He gave a shout: “There is host and there is guest; there is illumination and there is function. Do you know where it lands? If you know where it lands, you know where it arises. If you know where it arises, you know where it ceases. If you know where it ceases, you know that arising and ceasing are both extinguished, and silent extinction becomes manifest. In daily activities, it appears in six places: in the eye it is called seeing—you must gouge out your eyeballs, completely seeing nothing, and only then see everything; only then can it be called seeing. In the ear it is called hearing—you must stop up the ear root, completely hearing nothing, and only then hear everything; only then can it be called hearing. In the nose it is called smelling—you must knock off the nostrils, distinguishing neither fragrant nor foul, and only then distinguish everything; only then can it be called smelling. On the tongue it is discussing—you must pull out the tongue, heaven and earth sealed in silence, and only then blazingly discuss without interruption; only then can it be called discussing. In the body it is called the person—you must cast off the four great elements, entirely without reliance, and only then manifest forms according to their kinds; only then can it be called a person. In the mind it is called consciousness—you must cut off conditioned grasping forever, emptying the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, and only then arise and cease without stopping; only then can it be called consciousness. The six places manifest as above without interruption. As mentioned earlier, there is host and there is guest, there is illumination and there is function, bringing host and guest to interchange, illumination and function to interpenetrate. Up to the Buddhas of the three periods and the six generations of Patriarchs, down to animals, different species, grasses, trees, and insects—all are this single shout, without exception. Then you see that before Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja appeared is simply now, and now is simply before Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja appeared—without duality, without division, without difference, and without interruption! If judged by this mountain monk’s view, what shout is there? What discussion is there? Originally there were not so many varieties; all must take the stick! What is missed? What is not missed? Furthermore, there are Linji’s four shouts; while walking, there is no harm in swinging one’s arms—I will pierce the nostrils of each one:
Bah! ‘A shout like the jeweled sword of the Vajra King’—a shit-wiper stick!
‘A shout like a crouching lion’—a rat in a hole!
‘A shout like a probing pole and shadowing grass’—a fellow angling for frogs!
‘A shout not functioning as a shout’—a ghoul before a skull!
Tonight Qingliang speaks like this, which is called treating a dead horse. Even if this shout revives it, how can it escape being a sound of bubbling babble and clattering bowls? Even so, tell me: before Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja appeared, where did it come from? Can you settle it? If you can settle it, what fault is there in shouting wildly and recklessly? It saves searching with folded hands beside the meditation chair. If not yet so, beware of fists and toes flying in anger! Bah!”

2.51

Dharma Words

2.52

Shown to Zen Man Zuqing

2.53

When this old monk was young, I lay on the back of an ox playing a black-salt horn, the melody slipping into ‘Plum Blossoms Preludes.’ Suddenly it turned into sobbing, I knew not why; it was that the horn had split and the breath ceased. Heaven and earth opened into vast emptiness, and my mind was forgotten. After a long while I returned: my mind is the primordial ancestor of heaven and earth! Alas, the cliff flowers bloom, the pine winds howl, and up to the myriad phenomena doing without doing—all are the function of my mind, yet never originally used. Thereupon, riding the ox home, I still remember the resemblance. Senior monk Zuqing seeks words to practice Zen. Of Zen I certainly know nothing; thus with a brush I merely satisfy his coming intention.

2.54

Verses on Ancient Cases

2.55

Qingyuan’s Three Cups of Wine at the Bai Family

2.56

In pure poverty, three cups are lightly repaid;
Ten thousand miles away, the Cao gate emerges from Zhengzhou.
Chop down the moon's osmanthus with all one's might—
Vexing the spring breeze, it never ceases.

2.57

Ānanda asked Kāśyapa: “The World-Honored One transmitted the golden saṅghāṭī; besides this, what else did he transmit?” Kāśyapa called, “Ānanda!” Ānanda responded, “Yes.” Kāśyapa said, “Knock down the flagpole in front of the gate.”

2.58

One call, and one response;
Two clearly fine brothers!
‘Knock down the flagpole in front of the gate’—
Fragrant grasses fill the sky, and brambles grow.

2.59

Yunmen said: “The world is so broad and vast; why put on the seven-strip robe at the sound of the bell?”

2.60

At the sound of the bell, putting on the uttarāsaṅga;
Wondrous function and spiritual penetration have many transformations.
The thief is a family relative, one must sweep away the tracks;
Only when the great peace is without form does tranquility come.

2.61

The Black Old Woman

2.62

All things bow to the source, without comparing with others;
Brought forth directly, distinguishing truth from error.
The wandering dandy enjoying spring is exceedingly romantic,
Showing off a three-penny black old woman.

2.63

The Vajra Ring and Chestnut Burr

2.64

Behind the elbow, idle entanglements suddenly grow;
Before the wind, bustling forks suddenly spread out.
Nezha with eight arms grieves in vain;
At midnight, during the third watch, walking in broad daylight.

2.65

The Three Contemplations of Emptiness, Falsity, and the Middle

2.66

When Zhang comes, Zhang presses oil;
When Li comes, Li presses oil.
The whole body rolls around and turns,
Pressing oil in the most dashing manner.

2.67

Lingyun was enlightened upon seeing peach blossoms. Xuansha said: “Very accurate, indeed very accurate! Yet I dare say the elder brother has not yet thoroughly penetrated.”

2.68

A dark plum retains its original shape;
A spider spins a web to strike a dragonfly.
The dragonfly loses two wings;
Laughed at, the dark plum bites into an iron nail.

2.69

King Prasenajit asked Venerable Piṇḍola: “I have heard that the Venerable personally saw the Buddha; is that so or not?” The Venerable raised his eyebrows with his hand to show him.

2.70

Raising his eyebrows, he answered the question;
Having personally seen the Buddha, he did not conceal it.
To this day receiving offerings throughout the four continents,
Spring on the plum tip carries the snow's cold.

2.71

Eulogies for the Buddhas and Patriarchs

2.72

Compiled by Attendant De zhan

2.73

Avalokiteśvara

2.74

Sitting upright in the subtle, wondrous form of complete penetration,
Piling green peaks into the eyes of sentient beings.
At dawn outside the window, listening to crying birds—
The spring breeze is not on the flowering branches.

2.75

The jeweled crown on the head: an ox bearing horns;
The lotus under the feet: a horse treading hooves.
The body covered in necklaces: a debt of skin and fur;
Romantic through kalpas, wallowing in mud and water.

2.76

Dust of the mind cast off, opening the cliff cave;
Self-nature completely penetrating, solemn in purple-blue visage.
Honored by gods and respected by dragons, not counted as joy;
In peaceful calm—Bah!—further recommended: ocean waves churning black wind.

2.77

Image of Coming Down the Mountain

2.78

Not freezing to death, not starving to death;
From the deep mountains emerges this face and snout!
Bah!
Amid humankind and heaven, winds and waves arise.

2.79

Māyā was swindled into shitting him out;
He crashed into the briar patch and took a beating.
Who knew there was an injustice that could not be cried out?
Bringing disaster upon sons and grandsons, he became the chief culprit.

2.80

Vimalakīrti

2.81

A great sickness manifests before him;
Heaven and earth in a single silence.
Old and not dying—
This is called a thief!
Thief! Thief!
In the spring breeze, birds cry and flowers lie strewn about.

2.82

Bodhidharma

2.83

Vast and void, nothing holy—creating his own downfall!
Facing the wall, driving a stake, still daring to pull bizarre tricks!
Intolerable: Shenguang shat out a heap,
Drawing in that foul stench to suffer his ruin.
Bah!
Entangling vines and wild weeds cover heaven and earth;
Year after year, surplus debt owed to the spring breeze.

2.84

The golden crow flies up to the jade balustrade; / Viewing the lacquered Kunlun from behind. / In the end, these matters cannot be transmitted: / Fallen flowers and flowing water, utterly without cause.

2.85

Has the stalk of reed beneath your feet reached the shore yet? / Directly pointing to the human mind—donkey fart, dog fart! Dog! / For a thousand ages, monasteries have suffered through its blunting.

2.86

Budai Listening to the Wind in the Pines

2.87

The wind in the pines sounds, cocking his ear to listen; / Patting his belly with a laugh. / Cunning thief, cunning thief! / Yi! For a thousand ages and ten thousand eons, loathed by all.

2.88

Leaning against a cloth bag, dozing on the level ground. / A poisonous thorn suddenly juts out; someone gives it a kick, / Kicking over heaven and earth: / From under the heels, steam shoots out.

2.89

Painting of the Four Sleepers

2.90

Shide, Hanshan, the old tiger, and Fenggan, / Sleeping until the Year of the Donkey—so utterly without cause! / Yi! / Abruptly rising, they open their living eyes: / So many monsters deceiving one another!

2.91

Painting of Perfect Enlightenment

2.92

A pack of swine and dogs, / Circling the banner of karmic consciousness; / Doing nothing but talking about the faults of others, / Unaware that their own stolen loot is ruined and deficient. / Hua! / Striking once during a time of peaceful formlessness, / Shattering empty space, lightning flashes and flies.

2.93

Sudhana

2.94

Holding heaven and earth fast, a lump of flour; / Great men are just taken in by small men. / If one possessed the eye before the dynamic before the dynamic arose, / Even if worn out from running, let provocations arise.

2.95

Puhua

2.96

Where did this fellow come running from? / Colluding with Linji, that broad-daylight thief. / The ring of the bell shakes and moves the wind and thunder; / Even down to today, the great earth is in complete disarray.

2.97

Quan the Great Way

2.98

The staff tip shoulders a gourd; / In the hand, an alms-bowl is extended. / Guzzling wine and gobbling meat, a profligate pauper— / In heaven and among humans, a great hero.

2.99

Duan Lion

2.100

Bah! Old fox fabricating monstrosities, / Draping on the skin of a golden-haired lion. / Play your tricks all you will, off beyond the heavens, / The tail has been exposed for quite some time!

2.101

Yan the Lotus Sutra

2.102

Underfoot, constantly dragging broken wooden clogs; / In his mouth, who knows what he mutters. / Confounding the scenery, helpless to do otherwise; / South, north, east, west, with no fixed resting place.

2.103

Vinaya Master Nanshan (Daoxuan)

2.104

The later rebirth of Upāli, / General Wei holding his feet; / Plain-robed, a true virgin youth; / An earthenware bowl, food from the heavenly kitchen. / Yi! Through eons, the light of precepts shines bright as the autumn moon; / Nanshan quietly reflects the color of mist and frost.

2.105

Linji

2.106

Clenching an empty fist, scaring the world to death! / This sort of ancestral master: an animal, a donkey, a horse!

2.107

Ji the Madman

2.108

Five hundred oxen in Mount Tiantai; / Out leaped this one crazy head. / Outdoing all mist and flowers, deceiving all eyes; / His tail in disarray turns all the more stylish.

2.109

A Portrait of Uselessness

2.110

Beating to death the flowering quince of Xuanzhou; / Bursting open the old man Mukda of Yuezhou. / Blood dripping in drops, a wind-whirled sword-wheel; / Murky and pitch-black, a sin filling heaven. / Yi! / Painting this thief's head— / Who could endure it three thousand li away? / One's face grows hot, and sweat bursts forth.

2.111

Self-Eulogy

2.112

A tortoise shell, hollow and empty; / Bore into it once, it cracks with a pop. / It too is raising a fist to frighten wild foxes; / Painting it out only adds to the ugliness. / Even so, after thirty years, / People will do nothing but divine with it.

2.113

Sticking out into the Sahā world, / Truly a village bumpkin. / Wandering on pilgrimage has been utterly useless; / Knocked down, he is fit only to be an ox. / Nail on a pair of horns, stick in a tail, / In the spring breeze among green willows and fragrant grass! / Immensely powerful, he can plow the fields; / Sell him to King Yama to pay back his food money! / Otherwise, flash like lightning before the dynamic and take a painful punch!

2.114

The banner of ignorance and karmic consciousness / Stands erect, darkening the sky. / If one phrase does not accord, / A fist flies like a thunderbolt! Yi! / With an earnest grandmotherly heart, blood drips in drops.

2.115

Monastery Director Yuan Requesting a Eulogy on a Portrait

2.116

This is the hairy monk of Jingci; / His mouth speaks of fortune and misfortune with certainty. / Day by day, following conditions, he goes to attend feasts; / He is called a two-legged treasury of merit. / Carving and decorating a thousand Buddhas, laying out the flagstones of the two corridors, / Judging all mountain demons and water sprites, in charge of the hall of the five hundred arhats; / As for repairing bridges, building roads, / And dealing with the bathhouse master and neighborhood quarters: / Hearing of any good deed, he is like a fly smelling blood; / Hearing of any bad deed, he is like a crab dropped into boiling water. / Sometimes disorderly and unkempt, / Like the joyful old fellow Wanhui; / Sometimes stumbling and reckless, / Like the mad monk Budai. / When he gets a single coin, it never drops to the ground; / Folding his ten-clawed hands, he constantly thanks Heaven. / Plain and straightforward through and through, without a speck of dust. / Therefore, stirring good-hearted dānapatis, / They painted this kind of mug. / And tell me: how can it be compared? / In the middle of the eighth month, the cool of the night; / A single round moon shines on the waters of West Lake.

2.117

Minor Buddhist Rites

2.118

Compiled by the Attendant Qingmao

2.119

Cremation for Senior Monk Yi

2.120

The ten thousand dharmas return to the one: / Being born is just like putting on a robe. / Where does the one return? / Dying is also like taking off trousers. / Birth and death, taking off and putting on, have no bearing on it: / A single streak of divine light constantly stands out alone. / Yi! Swift flames outrun the wind, releasing the great dynamic; / In every dust mote and every world, there is no obstruction.

2.121

Cremation for a Physician

2.122

The fatal illnesses of the human world, you could cure; / Now that you are dead, on whom can you rely to be revived? / I have a single prescription: a handful of fire, / To burn up your medicine gourd for you. / So-and-so! Look! You have lived! You have revived! / And tell me: what is the proof? / Striking a circle with the torch, he said: / Yi! The original face has no birth or death; / Spring enters the plum blossoms, turning into a painting.

2.123

Cremation for Tenzo Zu

2.124

The eyes of the Buddhas and Patriarchs: a handleless wooden ladle; / Scooping east, scooping west, thunder rushes and lightning flashes. / Putting it down, abruptly the pivot turns: / Penetrating the move of jumping across the stove. / Yi! / Feeding donkeys, feeding horses, there is a reason for it; / Tested through and through, raw ginger does not lose its pungency. / Behind Jingci, he throws down a piece of firewood; / Confounding the spring breeze, noisily chattering.

2.125

Cremation for Senior Monk Zhenzheng

2.126

Truly investigating Chan does not retain Buddhas or Patriarchs; / Treading flat the monastery of Perfect Enlightenment, why talk of the fifteenth day of the seventh month? / Going on like this is true joy! / Hua! / Walking among different species, wearing fur and bearing horns; / Nanshan nods his head with a loud chortle: / Burning up the mother-born tattered direct robe.

2.127

Cremation for the Hall Master of the Patriarchs' Hall

2.128

The old donkey on the shadow-puppet stage / Suddenly leaps and bounds into the red furnace. / For him, I point out the true donkey face: / The snow has cleared; a thousand mountains unroll a painting.

2.129

Cremation for Senior Monk Zhijue

2.130

Great wisdom and great stupidity, great awakening and great delusion; / The stupid and deluded possess the great icchantika, / Roaming playfully in the Avīci hell. / So-and-so, under the words of Jingci, / Understanding thus: / Never born, never died. / Yi! / Towering to the sky, fierce flames and red winds arise!

2.131

Cremation for Senior Monk Zongtai

2.132

The ground of the mind opens wide, the vast void reflects purely; / When the reflection reaches its utmost, suddenly birth and death are forgotten in talk and laughter. / Yi! / Burning up the falcon-stinking shirt born of mother; / Above all, avoid brow-shading Silla falcons!

2.133

Cremation for the Newly Appointed Storehouse Director

2.134

Taking off the old robe, / Dancing up the melody of a new autumn. / Autumn waters dance with clear light; / Autumn mountains dance in emerald green. / The dance ended, in the autumn wind he returns home: / For ten thousand eons, the autumn toad glitters cold like jade. / So-and-so, tell me: / Taking off the old robe, / In what place do you put it? / Yi! / The fire boy Bingding seizes the stylish moment; / Borrowed to make a farewell song.

2.135

Cremation for Hall Master Huiyin

2.136

Holding the fire of wisdom to burn the patternless seal; / Fierce flames emit light, the crest of the wind stands steep and precipitous. / And tell me: why is it like this? / Transcending high above the Buddhas and Patriarchs, there is no birth or death.

2.137

Entering the Patriarchs' Hall for Zhe'weng

2.138

Formerly he went from Taibai to Lingxiao; / Today he comes from Lingxiao to Taibai. / Not falling into the paths of coming, going, birth, or death— / Unrolling the portrait, he said: / Look at his imposing face, laughing heartily! / And tell me: / At whom is he laughing? / Pointing with the portrait to the Patriarch, he said: / Everyone originally was the host among hosts, / Accustomed to entering donkey wombs and horse wombs.

2.139

Verses and Eulogies

2.140

Compiled by the Attendant Dexiang

2.141

Managing the Canon

2.142

The old thief Gautama defecated from his own mouth: / Donkey dung mixed together with plenty of horse dung. / Kneaded into a single lump, all tossed aside; / Sins rising to the sky confound the Sahā world.

2.143

Soliciting Charcoal

2.144

Cut in two with a single blade, no discussion;
Breaking through the great fire-pit of ignorance.
Entering cold ashes again, it is tempered alive;
In the cold of the year, its reputation rises ever more lofty.

2.145

Erecting the Abbot's Quarters of Jingci

2.146

A square of ten cubits, a pen for an ox;
Buddhas and patriarchs are driven here, needing to break through the barrier.
Merely borrowing eyebrows to frame each other,
Covering heaven and cloaking earth, pitch-black all around.

2.147

The Herdsman Old Man

2.148

His own nostrils pierced by his own hands;
His own tether pulled by his own hands.
Himself suddenly forgetting it all,
A single flute of clear wind is sent into the sky of Chu.

2.149

A Lecturer Changing Robes

2.150

The old barbarian's net of teachings spreads broad as heaven,
Yet what is it compared to spending years breaking bowls at the mound?
Discerning through the turning pivot beyond the thousand sages,
Setting out on another path, incurring enmity.

2.151

Wind Bell

2.152

The whole body is a mouth, hanging in empty space,
Paying no heed to winds from east, west, south, or north.
Equally expounding wisdom to all:
Ding-dong, and ding-dong again.

2.153

Verse on a Staff, Sent to Venerable Songyuan

2.154

Seven feet of dark vine hangs on the eastern wall;
A sudden spring breeze makes two wings sprout.
Whipping up a flying dragon, it cannot be chased;
Lake Dongting is churned to pieces, emerald like lapis lazuli.
Departing, departing, vividly clear;
Cease seeking each other amid the shadows of plum blossoms.
Becoming rain, becoming clouds, from antiquity to the present;
From antiquity to the present, so vast and desolate—what limit is there?

Linked texts (1)

如淨和尚語錄 — Classical Chinese