萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.85

2.85

師云。益州大隨法真禪師。或云福州西院。亦曰長慶。大安之子。百丈大智之孫。參見六十餘員尊宿。在溈山會中。作火頭。溈問。子在此數年。不解致箇問頭。隨云。教某甲問箇甚即得。山云。爾不解問道如何是佛。隨以手掩溈山口。山云。爾以後有片瓦蓋頭。覓箇掃地人也無。後於棚口路。煎茶接待往來三年。開山住大隨。僧問。劫火洞然大千俱壞。未審這箇壞不壞。此問本出仁王護國經。斑足王信外道羅陀語。取千王頭。淫祀塚間摩訶迦羅大黑天神。冀延國祚。普明王請一日假。依七佛法齋百法師。第一法師為王說偈。劫火洞然大千俱壞。此偈凡三十二句。王赴死轉為諸王說。斑足疑問。亦聞此偈心開悟解。以國付弟出家得忍。據教中說。三千大千世界同一成壞。漢武帝鑿昆明池。得灰問東方朔。朔曰。請問西域道人。至後漢明帝。摩騰竺法蘭來。問之曰劫灰也。雲庵問講師。火災起時世間虛空。許多灰燼將置何處。罕有答者。止觀。羅漢如炭。辟支如灰。菩薩如餘少灰。佛如劫火無炭無灰。此問這箇壞不壞。佛果道。這僧元來不知話頭落處。且道。這箇是甚麼。隨云。壞。此語反常合道。極難咬嚼。僧云。恁麼則隨他去也。這僧也好笑。不知執鞭墜鐙多少時也。隨云。隨他去。萬松道。僧隨大隨去。大隨隨僧去。雪竇與脩山主同時。未見脩山主答。後段不壞為同大千話。單頌大隨話云。劫火光中立問端。衲僧猶滯兩重關。這句人多錯會道。大隨道壞是一重關。脩山主道不壞。是兩重也。爾不看前話。單頌大隨。雪竇未見脩山主語錄。但以問頭這箇壞不壞已是兩重關也。可憐一句隨他語。萬里區區獨往還。此頌這僧不會大隨語直往舒州。問投子。子云。西川有古佛出世。汝速迴彼。僧迴隨已化。唐僧景遵題云。了然無別法。唯道印南能。一句隨他語。千山走衲僧。雪竇用此聯意。道頌後一聯也。寒蛩嗚砌葉。靜夜禮龕燈。吟罷孤窓月。徘徊恨不勝。天童頌古。更添脩山主話道不壞為同大千。有本道。為他不同大千。這話最好看。道同也得。不同也得。將錯就錯無可不可。脩山主又云。壞也礙塞殺人。不壞也礙塞殺人。萬松道。大隨道壞。也有出身處。脩山主道不壞。也有出身處。不是一向無意度。不可一向情識會。不見。江西志徹禪師。問六祖涅盤經中常無常義。祖曰。無常者佛性也。有常者善惡一切諸法分別心也。徹曰。經說佛性是常。和尚却言無常。善惡諸法乃至菩提心皆是無常。和尚却言是常。此即相違。令學人轉生疑惑。祖曰。佛性若常。更說甚善惡諸法。吾說無常。正是佛說真常之道也。又一切諸法若無常者。則物物皆有自性。容受生死。而真常性有不遍處。吾說常正是佛說真無常義也。今時初心。見大隨道壞隨他去。未免䁝惑。傍參六祖。可以無疑也。況大隨百丈親孫。脩山主地藏嫡子。超情離見。曲為今時。雪竇當時只頌一半。天童今日始得完全。頌云。

The Master said: Chan Master Fazhen of Dasui in Yizhou was sometimes said to be from Xiyuan in Fuzhou, and was also called Changqing. He was a son of Da'an, and a grandson of Baizhang Dazhi. He called upon more than sixty venerable elders. While in the assembly at Guishan, he served as the fire-tender. Guishan asked, "You have been here for several years and have not managed to pose a single question." Dasui said, "What would you have me ask?" Guishan said, "Could you not ask, 'What is the Buddha?'" Dasui covered Guishan's mouth with his hand. Guishan said, "In the future, even if you have a tile over your head to shelter you, you will not find a single person to sweep the floor for you." Later, by the Pengkou road, he boiled tea and received passersby for three years. Then he opened his mountain monastery and resided at Dasui. A monk asked, "When the kalpa-fire blazes fiercely and the great chiliocosm is entirely destroyed, I wonder, is this one destroyed or not?" This question originally comes from the *Benevolent Kings Protecting the Nation Sūtra*. King Kalmāṣapāda trusted the words of the non-Buddhist Rāddha and took the heads of a thousand kings to offer licentious sacrifices in the cemetery to the great black deity Mahākāla, hoping to prolong his nation's fortune. King Universal Light requested a day's leave, relying on the Dharma of the seven buddhas to feast a hundred Dharma masters. The foremost Dharma master spoke a verse for the king: "When the kalpa-fire blazes fiercely, the great chiliocosm is entirely destroyed..." This verse had thirty-two lines in total. The king went to his death and in turn recited it to the various kings. Kalmāṣapāda raised doubts, heard this verse as well, and his mind opened in enlightenment; he entrusted the realm to his younger brother, left home, and attained forbearance. According to the teachings, the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world undergoes formation and destruction together. When Emperor Wu of the Han dug the Kunming Pool, he found ashes and asked Dongfang Shuo about them. Shuo said, "Please ask a man of the Way from the Western Regions." In the Later Han, under Emperor Ming, Mātanga and Dharmaratna arrived, and when asked about it, they said they were kalpa-ashes. Yun'an asked a lecturer, "When the fire disaster arises, the worldly realm becomes empty space; where will such great quantities of ashes and cinders be placed?" Few could answer. The *Great Calming and Contemplation* says: "Arhats are like charcoal; pratyekabuddhas are like ashes; bodhisattvas are like a few remaining ashes; buddhas are like the kalpa-fire, without charcoal and without ashes." This question asks: "Is this one destroyed or not?" Foguo said: "This monk originally did not know where the critical phrase landed. Now tell me, what is 'this one'?" Dasui said, "Destroyed." These words go against common sense yet accord with the Way; they are extremely difficult to chew. The monk said, "Then it goes along with it!" This monk is quite laughable; who knows how long he had been holding the whip and dropping the stirrup. Dasui said, "It goes along with it." Wansong says: The monk goes along with Dasui; Dasui goes along with the monk. Xuedou was contemporary with Hermit Xiu, but had not seen Hermit Xiu's answer—the later case where it is "not destroyed, because it is identical to the great chiliocosm." He wrote a verse solely on Dasui's case, saying: "In the light of the kalpa-fire, the questioning point is raised; / The patch-robed monk still lingers at a double barrier." Most people mistakenly interpret this line, saying: "Dasui saying 'destroyed' is one barrier; Hermit Xiu saying 'not destroyed' makes two." Do you not see the preceding case? It verses Dasui alone. Xuedou had not seen Hermit Xiu's recorded sayings, but regarded the very phrasing of the question, "Is this one destroyed or not?", as already being a double barrier. "Pitiable is the single phrase, 'It goes along with it'; / For ten thousand miles, trudging alone, he came and went." This verses how this monk, not understanding Dasui's words, went straight to Shuzhou to ask Touzi. Touzi said, "In Xichuan an ancient buddha has appeared in the world; you must return there swiftly." When the monk returned, Dasui had already passed away. The Tang monk Jingzun inscribed: "Clearly there is no other Dharma; / Only the seal of the Way was given to Nanneng. / A single phrase, 'It goes along with it,' / Made a patch-robed monk run through a thousand mountains." Xuedou used the idea of this couplet to compose the latter couplet of his verse. "Chilly crickets chirp by the paved stairs and leaves; / In the quiet night he bows to the shrine lamp. / Having finished chanting, beneath the moon of a solitary window, / He paces back and forth with boundless regret." In Tiantong's verse on this ancient case, he also adds Hermit Xiu's remark, saying, "Not destroyed, because it is identical to the great chiliocosm." Another edition has, "Because it is not identical to the great chiliocosm." This remark is best to examine. Saying "identical" works; saying "not identical" also works. Taking error upon error, nothing is unacceptable. Hermit Xiu also said, "Being destroyed completely obstructs one; not being destroyed also completely obstructs one." Wansong says: Dasui saying "destroyed" has an avenue of emergence; Hermit Xiu saying "not destroyed" also has an avenue of emergence. It is not entirely devoid of intention, nor can it be understood entirely through emotional consciousness. Have you not seen? Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi asked the Sixth Patriarch about the meaning of permanence and impermanence in the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra*. The Patriarch said, "What is impermanent is the buddha-nature; what is permanent is the discriminating mind of all phenomena, good and evil." Che said, "The sūtra says the buddha-nature is permanent, yet the Venerable says it is impermanent. All phenomena, good and evil, up to the bodhicitta, are all impermanent, yet the Venerable says they are permanent. This contradicts it directly and causes this student to give rise to doubts all the more." The Patriarch said, "If the buddha-nature were permanent, what further need would there be to speak of phenomena, good and evil? My speaking of impermanence is precisely what the Buddha called the Path of true permanence. Furthermore, if all phenomena were impermanent, then each thing would possess an intrinsic nature and endure birth and death, and the true, permanent nature would have places it does not pervade. My speaking of permanence is precisely the meaning of true impermanence spoken by the Buddha." Beginners nowadays, seeing Dasui say "destroyed" and "goes along with it," inevitably become confused. If you consult the Sixth Patriarch alongside this, you can be free from doubt. What is more, Dasui was the direct grandson of Baizhang, and Hermit Xiu was the legitimate heir of Dizang; surpassing emotion and departing from views, they accommodated the capacities of today. Xuedou at that time only versified half of it; only with Tiantong today is it made complete. The verse says: