緇門警訓 10.16

10.16

唐則天延載元年五月十五日。始括天下僧尼。隷祠部。玄宗天寶六年制所度僧尼。令祠部給牒。肅宗至德元年祠部牒賜功臣賣始。以此論之。延載前為僧依天竺法。有行業堪任受道者。惟師攝受。如唐宮使會通謁鵲巢道林禪師曰。弟子不願為官志慕出家。願和尚攝受。道林曰。今時為僧行多浮濫。通曰。本淨非琢磨元明不隨照。道林曰。汝若了淨智妙圓體自空寂。即真出家。何假外相。通曰。願垂攝受誓遵師教。道林乃與剃落。後來行業既濫。檢制興焉。自然之理。所以黃面老子以法付之國王大臣。蓋以此也。今國朝聖澤洪霈。特使穹其價者。政所以重教尊僧貴尚其法也。明教嵩禪師曰。夫僧也者。其防身有戒。攝心有定。辨明有慧。有威可敬。有儀可則。天人望而儼然。近世多輕僧。固僧人自取。然披僧伽黎者。若數世願力之重。夙熏種智成熟。未易得也。如本朝王文正公。旦臨薨背時。悔當初錯了路頭不作僧。乃囑令諸子為削其鬚髮。衣以僧家三衣。然後入棺。要第二世出頭來使成僧。仍囑侍郎楊大年。主其治命。後楊以宰臣薨背。國家自有典故。雖不從所請。只以三衣剃刀置之棺中。楊亦自悔竟。參禪宗了悟自心。被旨詳定景德傳燈錄。流布西天此土。噫為僧之難有知此者。若是大丈夫漢興決烈之志。屏浮濫之行。從脚跟下一刀兩段。向佛祖外一覻便透。身心俱了亦不為難。亦不患護身符子不入手。所以道。高山流水深深意。自有知音笑點頭。法晦致身寶公道場有年。其為人謹愿朴厚。有決烈之志。無浮濫之行。今謀進納為僧。敬投敬信英偉特達。大賢揮金助成其志。以此軸求警策。因縷縷示之。亦欲世間賢士大夫。興重教尊僧之心知前輩雖為富貴所折困。末後亦有悔之者。歲在己未中秋住鍾山鐵牛。

On the fifteenth day of the fifth month in the first year of the Yanzai reign of Empress Wu of the Tang, monks and nuns throughout the realm were first registered and subordinated to the Bureau of Sacrifices. In the sixth year of the Tianbao reign of Xuanzong, it was instituted that when monks and nuns were ordained, the Bureau of Sacrifices was ordered to issue ordination certificates. In the first year of the Zhide reign of Suzong, ordination certificates from the Bureau of Sacrifices began to be conferred upon meritorious ministers to be sold. Judging from this, prior to the Yanzai reign, becoming a monk followed the method of Tianzhu: whenever one's conduct and practice were fit to receive the Way, the master alone accepted him.
For example, when the Tang palace commissioner Huitong visited Chan Master Daolin of Quechao (Bird's Nest), he said, “This disciple does not wish to be an official; my aspiration yearns for pravrajyā. I pray the upādhyāya will accept me.” Daolin said, “Nowadays those who become monks mostly engage in frivolous and lax conduct.” Tong said, “Original purity is not through polishing; primordial brightness does not follow reflection.” Daolin said, “If you comprehend that pure wisdom is wondrous and complete, its essence inherently empty and tranquil, then that is true pravrajyā; what need is there to borrow external appearances?” Tong said, “May you deign to accept me; I vow to follow the master’s teachings.” Daolin thereupon shaved his head. Later on, when conduct and practice had become lax, regulations and controls arose—this is a matter of natural principle. Therefore, that the yellow-faced old fellow entrusted the Dharma to kings and great ministers was precisely on this account.
Now our current dynasty's sagely beneficence pours down like a flood, especially causing its cost to be elevated, which is precisely the way to value the teaching, revere monks, and esteem its Dharma. Chan Master Mingjiao Song said, “As for a monk, his guarding of the body is through śīla; his collecting of the mind is through samādhi; his discerning clearly is through prajñā. He has majesty to be revered and deportment to be modeled; devas and humans look upon him with awe. In recent generations, many despise monks; this is surely brought upon themselves by the monks. Yet to don the saṅghāṭī robe: without the gravity of vow-power over several lifetimes and the mature ripening of the seeds of wisdom perfumed long ago, it is not easily attained.”
For example, in our dynasty, Duke Wang Wenzheng, Wang Dan, when on the brink of death, regretted that he had taken the wrong path in the beginning and had not become a monk. He thereupon instructed his sons to shave his beard and hair, clothe him in the three robes of a monk, and only then place him in the coffin, wanting in his second life to emerge and become a monk. He further entrusted Vice Minister Yang Danian to oversee his final testament. Later, Yang, because a prime minister had passed away and the state had its own precedents, although he did not comply with what had been requested, merely placed the three robes and a razor inside the coffin. Yang also came to regret this, and subsequently investigated the Chan school, awakened to his own mind, received an imperial decree to examine and settle the Records of the Transmission of the Lamp of the Jingde Era, and circulated it in the Western Heavens and this land.
Alas! Regarding the difficulty of being a monk, who knows this? If one is a great hero who arouses a resolute and fierce aspiration, abandons frivolous and lax conduct, cuts cleanly in two right beneath the heel, and glances through beyond the Buddhas and patriarchs, then body and mind will both be completely settled, and it will not be difficult; nor need one worry about not obtaining the protective talisman in hand. Therefore it is said: “In the high mountains and flowing waters there is deep meaning; naturally there will be an intimate knower who smiles and nods.”
Fahui has devoted himself to Master Bao's bodhimanda for years. As a person he is prudent, honest, and sincere, with a resolute and fierce aspiration and without frivolous and lax conduct. Now he plans to purchase an ordination certificate to become a monk, reverently presenting himself to the respectful, faithful, eminent, and outstanding great worthies to bestow funds to help fulfill his aspiration. Requesting an admonition through this scroll, I have accordingly set it forth in detail for him. I also wish that the worthy scholar-officials of the world may arouse the resolve to value the teaching and revere monks, and know that although our predecessors were constrained and worn down by wealth and rank, in the end there were those who regretted it.
In the jiewei year, mid-autumn; Tieniu, residing at Zhongshan.