萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.67

5.67

師舉。慈覺勸孝文首篇頌云。父母未生前。凝然一相圓。釋迦猶不會。迦葉豈能傳。十四祖龍樹。於法座上隱身現○相。提婆曰。此尊者現佛體相。以示吾輩也。以此無相三昧形如滿月。佛性之義廓然虛明。譬此而已。圓相之作東土。始於忠國師。付侍者耽源。承讖記傳於仰山。今遂目為溈仰家風。明州五峯良和尚。甞製四十則。嵩明教為序稱之。良云。圓相總六名。一圓相。二義海。三暗機。四字學。五意語。六默論。溈仰宗派云。躭源謂仰山曰。國師傳六代祖師圓相九十七箇。吾滅後三十年。南方有一沙彌。到來大興此道。吾詳此讖事。在汝躬。仰山既得以火燔之。源一日又謂曰。向傳圓相宜深祕之。山曰。已燒却了也。源曰。於子即得。來者如何。仰曰。和尚若要重錄一本。山乃重錄呈似。一無差失。耽源一日上堂。仰出眾作○相。以手托呈。却叉手立。源以兩手。交拳示之。仰進前三步。作女人拜。源點頭。仰禮拜。九十七種圓相交拳。名羅剎三昧。女拜名女人三昧。此皆三昧。王三昧中流出普門示現也。又有一梵僧來參。仰於地上畫半月相。僧近前添作圓相。以脚抹却。仰展兩手。僧拂袖便出曰。我來東土禮文殊。却遇小釋迦。又僧禮拜了。仰不顧。僧問和尚。還識字否。仰曰。隨分。僧畫○相托呈。仰以衣袖拂之。僧又作半月相托呈。仰以兩手作背拋勢。僧以目視之。仰低頭。僧遶師一匝。仰便打。僧遂出。此仰山壁立千仞。與德山臨濟峻機不別。仰坐次。又有僧來作禮。仰不顧。僧問。師識字否。仰云。隨分。僧右旋一匝曰。是甚麼字。這般施設待教有識情。成何宗旨。若總無道理。西天東土凡聖同參。觀音會下一僧來參巖頭。以手左邊作一圓相。又右邊作一圓相。又中心作一圓相。欲成未成。頭以手一撥。僧無對。頭乃喝出。僧方跨門。頭却喚迴問。汝是洪州觀音來麼。僧云。是。頭問。只如適來左邊圓相作麼生。僧曰。是有句。頭曰。右邊圓相聻。僧曰。是無句。頭曰。中間圓相作麼生。僧曰。是不有不無句。頭曰。只如吾恁麼又如何。僧曰。如刀畫水。頭打趁出。這僧不得圓相宗旨。妄生穿鑿。若不是巖頭。幾被惑亂一上。據這僧見仰山問識字否。乃右旋一匝。伎倆已盡。仰山十字注也注了。說也說破。更要後面許多粥飯氣作麼。那裏待到如此。當初纔問師識字否。只道自來文寡。看他如何。不見。昔有一僧。居常閑過。一僧勸云。上座年雋。可惜虛擲寸陰。僧云。爾待教我作甚即得。勸云。何不看經。僧云。不識字。勸云。何不問人。僧云。是甚麼字。其勸者無語。可謂文不加點樂不加聲也。僧又左旋一匝曰。是甚麼字。此與尋常從東過西却從西過東。拍左邊膝此是教意。拍右邊膝此是祖意。是同是別。仰山星移斗轉。改十字作卍字。梵語修羅此云非天。梵語羅睺此云障蔽。以手障日月故。此僧畫圓相。如修羅掌日月勢。九十七種圓相。名為修羅三昧。梵語樓至此云啼泣。賢劫千佛。為千王子。末後得籌。最後成佛。遂啼泣云。我何薄祐。窮底得籌。忽復笑云。我當盡取九百九十九佛方便粧嚴。今護法神執杵者是。僧末後作樓至勢。其意可知。仰云。如是如是。此是諸佛護念。汝亦如是。吾亦如是。汝善護持。善哉善哉。好去。其僧禮謝了。騰空而去。時有一道者。曾見經五日來問。仰云。汝還見否。者云。某正見出門騰空而去。仰云。此是西天羅漢故來探吾。者云。某雖覩種種三昧。不辨其理。仰云。吾以義為汝解釋。此是八種三昧。是覺海變為義海。其體則同。然此義有因有果。即時異時。總別不離隱身三昧也。所以道。涅槃心易得。差別智難明。試看。天童如何下手。頌云。

The Master raised [the case]: Cijue's opening verse to the *Essay Encouraging Filial Piety* says:

'Before father and mother were born,
Utterly still, the one form was round.
Even Śākya did not understand it;
How could Kāśyapa transmit it?'

The fourteenth patriarch, Nāgārjuna, hid his body and manifested a circle [○] upon the Dharma seat. Kāṇadeva said, 'This Venerable One is manifesting the essence and form of the Buddha to show it to us. Because this formless samādhi has a shape like the full moon, the meaning of Buddha-nature is vast, empty, and bright—this is merely an illustration of it.' The practice of circular figures in the Eastern Land began with National Teacher Zhong. He entrusted them to his attendant Danyuan, who, following a prophetic record, transmitted them to Yangshan; today, this is consequently regarded as the house style of Guiyang. Master Liang of Wufeng in Mingzhou once composed forty cases [on them], which Mingjiao Song praised in a preface. Liang said, 'The circular figures have six names in all: first, Circular Figures; second, Ocean of Meaning; third, Hidden Dynamic; fourth, Study of Characters; fifth, Intentional Speech; sixth, Silent Discourse.'

The Guiyang Lineage says: Danyuan said to Yangshan, 'The National Teacher transmitted ninety-seven circular figures of the six generations of patriarchs. Thirty years after my passing, a novice will arrive from the south and greatly revitalize this Way. I have scrutinized this prophecy; it falls upon your person.'

Once Yangshan received them, he burned them with fire. One day Danyuan said to him again, 'The circular figures I transmitted to you earlier should be kept deeply secret.'

Yangshan said, 'I have already burned them.'

Danyuan said, 'That was fine for you, but what about those who come after?'

Yangshan said, 'If the Venerable One needs them, I will copy out another version.' Yangshan thereupon copied them out again and presented them, without a single error.

One day Danyuan ascended the hall. Yangshan stepped forward from the assembly, made a circle [○], presented it supported in both hands, and then stood with folded hands. Danyuan crossed his fists with both hands to show him. Yangshan took three steps forward and made a woman's bow. Danyuan nodded. Yangshan bowed down. Crossing the fists among the ninety-seven circular figures is called the Rākṣasa Samādhi. The woman's bow is called the Woman Samādhi. These are all samādhis flowing out from the King of Samādhis, manifesting through the Universal Gate.

Also, an Indian monk once came for an interview. Yangshan drew a half-moon shape on the ground. The monk stepped forward, completed it into a full circle, and wiped it out with his foot. Yangshan spread his two hands open. The monk shook his sleeves and walked right out, saying, 'I came to the Eastern Land to pay homage to Mañjuśrī, but instead encountered a minor Śākya!'

Another monk bowed, but Yangshan paid no attention. The monk asked the Venerable One, 'Do you still know characters?' Yangshan said, 'According to my capacity.' The monk drew a circle [○] and presented it supported in his hands. Yangshan brushed it away with his sleeve. The monk again made a half-moon shape and presented it supported in his hands. Yangshan made the gesture of tossing it behind his back with both hands. The monk looked at him with his eyes; Yangshan lowered his head. The monk circled the Master once; Yangshan immediately struck him. The monk thereupon left. This was Yangshan standing like a wall a thousand cubits high, no different from the sharp dynamics of Deshan and Linji.

While Yangshan was sitting, another monk came to bow. Yangshan paid no attention. The monk asked, 'Does the Master know characters?' Yangshan said, 'According to my capacity.' The monk circled once to the right and said, 'What character is this?' If this kind of arrangement is made to provoke conscious conceptualization, what sort of fundamental principle does it become? If there were no rationale whatsoever, why would ordinary beings and sages from the Western Heavens and the Eastern Land participate in it together?

A monk from the congregation of Guanyin came to visit Yantou. With his hand, he made a circular figure on the left side, made another circular figure on the right side, and made another circular figure in the center. Just as it was about to be completed, Yantou brushed it aside with his hand. The monk had no reply. Yantou shouted him out. Just as the monk crossed the threshold, Yantou called him back and asked, 'Did you come from Guanyin in Hongzhou?'

The monk said, 'Yes.'

Yantou asked, 'What about that circular figure on the left just now?'

The monk said, 'It is the phrase of existence.'

Yantou said, 'And the circular figure on the right?'

The monk said, 'It is the phrase of nonexistence.'

Yantou said, 'What about the circular figure in the middle?'

The monk said, 'It is the phrase of neither existence nor nonexistence.'

Yantou said, 'What about when I acted just so?'

The monk said, 'Like drawing a line in water with a knife.'

Yantou beat him and drove him out. This monk did not grasp the fundamental principle of the circular figures and gave rise to wild fabrications. Had it not been Yantou, he would almost have been confounded for a time.

Now consider this monk who saw Yangshan: when he asked whether he knew characters, he circled once to the right; his tricks were already exhausted. Yangshan annotated the cross [+] and explained it thoroughly—why would he still need all that porridge-and-rice stench that followed? How did it need to reach such a point? Right at the beginning, when he asked whether the Master knew characters, had he just said, 'All along my literacy has been meager,' let us see what the monk would have done! Have you not seen? Once there was a monk who usually idled away his time. Another monk exhorted him, saying, 'Senior, your years are prime; it is a pity to throw away the moments of time in vain.'

The monk said, 'What would you have me do, then?'

The exhorter said, 'Why don't you read the sūtras?'

The monk said, 'I don't know characters.'

The exhorter said, 'Why don't you ask someone?'

The monk said, 'What character is this?'

The exhorter had nothing to say. This can be called adding no dot to the writing, and adding no sound to the music.

The monk also circled once to the left and said, 'What character is this?' How is this different from the ordinary [practice of] crossing from east to west and then back from west to east, slapping the left knee to mean the doctrinal intent, and slapping the right knee to mean the patriarchal intent? Are they the same or different? Yangshan shifted the stars and turned the Dipper, changing the cross [+] into a swastika [卍].

In Sanskrit, *asura* means 'non-god' (feitian). In Sanskrit, *rāhu* means 'obscuring' (zhangbi), because with its hands it obscures the sun and moon. This monk drew a circular figure like an asura holding the sun and moon in its palms; among the ninety-seven circular figures, this is named the Asura Samādhi.

In Sanskrit, *ruci* means 'weeping' (tiqi). The thousand buddhas of the Fortunate Kalpa were a thousand princes; the last to draw a lot would become the final buddha. He thereupon wept, saying, 'How slight is my merit, drawing the lot at the very bottom!' Suddenly he laughed again and said, 'I shall completely take up the expedient adornments of the nine hundred and ninety-nine buddhas!' The Dharma-protecting deity holding the pestle today is he. The monk finally making the gesture of Ruci—his meaning can be known.

Yangshan said, 'Just so, just so. This is the mindful protection of all buddhas. You are also just so; I am also just so. Guard and uphold it well. Excellent, excellent! Go well.'

The monk bowed in thanks and ascended into the sky, departing. At that time there was a practitioner who had witnessed this; after five days had passed, he came and asked about it. Yangshan said, 'Did you still see it?'

The practitioner said, 'I distinctly saw him go out the door and ascend into the sky, departing.'

Yangshan said, 'This was an arhat from the Western Heavens who came specially to test me.'

The practitioner said, 'Although I beheld the various samādhis, I do not discern their principle.'

Yangshan said, 'I will explain it for you through meaning. These are the eight samādhis; this is the ocean of enlightenment turning into the ocean of meaning. Their essence is identical. However, this meaning has cause and has effect, is simultaneous and at different times, yet in general and in particular does not depart from the hidden-body samādhi.'

Therefore it is said: The mind of nirvāṇa is easy to attain; the discriminating wisdom is difficult to clarify. Let us see how Tiantong sets his hand to it. The verse says: