緇門警訓 9

English (machine translation) 9

Language: English

9.1

Imperial Decree of Emperor Wen, High Ancestor of the Sui

The Emperor respectfully inquires of Chan Master Zhiyi of Guangzhai Temple: Our feelings of reverent faith in the Buddhist teaching are deep and grave. In the past, at the time of Emperor Wu of the Zhou when the Buddha Dharma was destroyed, We aroused the aspiration and made a vow that We would certainly protect and uphold it. When We received the Heavenly mandate, We immediately revived it, looking up and relying on divine power. The wheel of Dharma was turned once again, and sentient beings of the ten directions all obtained benefit. Recently, because the Chen dynasty was tyrannical, disorderly, cruel, and oppressive, the common people of the southeast suffered hardships and corvée labor beyond endurance; therefore, We commanded generals and dispatched armies to eliminate harm for the people. The lands of Wu and Yue are now decreed to be swept clean, and clergy and laity are at peace once more, greatly according with Our intentions. We revere the true Dharma and save the myriad living beings, wishing to cause the field of merit to endure forever and the ford and bridge to be boundless. Since you, Master, have already left behind the net of the world, having cultivated yourself and transformed others, We certainly hope you will encourage and advance them. Monks must firmly uphold the prohibitive precepts, causing those who see them to be filled with reverent submission and those who hear to immediately give rise to goodness; only then will they fulfill the intention of the Great Way—this is the vocation of leaving home. If your body wears the robe of the Way while your mind is defiled by worldly dust, not only will living beings have nothing to take refuge in, but We also fear that the gate of the wondrous Dharma will attract even more slander. You should encourage one another to share Our intention. As the spring days gradually grow warmer, may the state of your health in the Way be well. Sixteenth day of the first month, the tenth year of Kaihuang. Announced by Subject Li Delin, Duke of Anping and Director of the Chancellery; received by Subject Li Yuancao, Viscount of Wu'an and Vice Director of the Chancellery; executed by Pei Ju, Secretariat Drafter.

9.3

The Prince of Jin's Document on Receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts (namely, Emperor Yang of the Sui)

9.4

The disciple Yang Guang, Envoy with Credentials, Upper Pillar of the State, Grand Defender, Area Commander-in-chief of Yangzhou, and Regional Inspector of Yangzhou, the Prince of Jin, bows his head and respectfully invites the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three periods; our fundamental teacher Śākyamuni Tathāgata; Maitreya, who is to descend to this realm and succeed to the station [of buddhahood]; all the precious and light, immeasurable treasures of Dharma; the honored ones from the initial aspiration up to the vajra stage and downward; the great manifestation mahāsattvas; the pratyekabuddhas and solitary-enlightened ones who are independently liberated and clearly enlightened; the twenty-seven sages with knowledge of others' minds and the eye of the Way; extending to the summit of the three realms of existence, the eighteen Brahmā kings; the devaputras of the six desire realms and Śakra, the sovereign of devas; the four great heavenly kings; the devas, ṛṣis, nāgas, and spirits who soar through the air, conceal and reveal themselves, who uphold the world and bring about great benefit; who guard stupas, protect the Dharma, and defend the body and safeguard life; and the immeasurable good spirits that protect the pure precepts. I pray that in a single instant, relying on the Buddha's spiritual power, they may all assemble at the bodhimaṇḍa, testify to the disciple's vows, and receive the disciple's merits.

Privately I consider that when the sprout of consciousness arises in darkness, it is itself the Tathāgata nature; falling into ignorance, the originally existing nature has not yet been manifested. The principle and destiny come to this: when things reach their extreme, they must reverse. To manifest the future fruit, one must accumulate causes. For this reason, the Tamer and World Hero fully traversed births and deaths; counting them with grass and trees as tally-sticks, they could not be reckoned, and accumulating them like sands of the Ganges is indeed hard to conceive. Only by becoming deeply mired in worldly defilements can one give rise to revulsion and renunciation. When the Dharmarāja initiated his conversion, he originally transformed bodhisattvas; just as when the sun rises, it first shines upon the high mountains. Accommodating the capacities of their faculties, he provisionally set forth skillful means; just as those myriad streams all flow back to the great ocean.

The disciple has inherited an accumulation of goodness and was born into the imperial family. I early hurried across the courtyard to receive family instructions, and was imbued with ancestral teachings from of old. The blessings and principles being concentrated here, the wondrous dynamic must be awakened to. I am ashamed of the ruggedness of the small path and aspire to wander freely in the Mahāyāna; I laugh at resting in the conjured city and vow to board the ferryboat to the other shore. However, among the myriad practices of the great being, the goodness of the precepts comes first; the ten receptions of the bodhisattva are strictly upheld as supreme. Illustrating it by building a palace, one must rely on its foundation; merely building it in empty space will ultimately never stand. Not considering myself ignorant and dull, I have furthermore heard that Confucius, Laozi, and the Buddhist school all provide smelting and molding; without rules and models, upon whom could one rely? Truly, although Śākyamuni, the Capable and Benevolent, is fundamentally the upādhyāya, and Mañjuśrī secretly acts as the ācārya, one must rely on human teachers to visibly transmit the sacred ordination. Reaching far from what is near, when stimulated, one will penetrate. Sadāprarudita exhausted his marrow for Dharmodgata, and the youth Sudhana forgot his body for the dharmadhātu. There are clear passages in the sūtras—how could I dare speak from personal whim? Having deep faith in the Buddha's words, I respectfully follow the luminous guide.

Chan Master Zhiyi of Tiantai is a dragon and elephant of the Buddha Dharma. Having left home as a youth, his precept jewel is complete and pure. Approaching the age of sixty, his samādhi water is deep and clear. Developing wisdom from tranquility, he is at ease with unobstructed eloquence. Putting others first and himself last, he is modest and yielding, with a noble style. His fame is heard everywhere, known to all. For this reason, the disciple reverently focused my thoughts from afar and dispatched boats to invite him from a distance. Ever fearing that affinities might misalign and encounter hindrances, as soon as he arrived, the paths of my mind opened wide, and like parting the clouds and mists, defilements simply melted away.

Respectfully on this twenty-third day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of Kaihuang, the Area Commander-in-chief of Jincheng has provided a vegetarian meal for a thousand monks, reverently entreating the Chan Master to transmit the bodhisattva precepts. The precept is called 'filial piety' and is also called 'restraint.' With skillful means and the perfection of wisdom, returning to reverence and serving the ultimate, I dedicate this superior blessing to assist the Emperor and Empress, making a great adornment, to be identical with the Tathāgata's compassion and universalize the love of all Buddhas, regarding the four forms of birth equally as an only child. On this very day, the disciple plants the karmic seed of Rāhula, wishing to be reborn in the Buddha's house life after life, like the eight princes of Candrasūryapradīpa and the sixteen śrāmaṇeras of Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū. May our relatives and karmic connections become equal companions in the Dharma, jointly emerging from the stream of existence to reach the unconditioned stage, balancing the six perfections and pacifying the four immeasurables. Sentient beings being endless, my deliverances shall be inexhaustible. Binding the saṃnāha armor at the initial aspiration, let me culminate in great compassion to rescue from distress, broad and distant like the dharmadhātu, ultimate as empty space. Fully attaining and accomplishing all, may the ocean of vows be fulfilled. Yang Guang bows with folded hands. (The Prince offered the precept master fifty-eight articles of clothing and goods, and wrote in his own hand more than forty characters in various seal scripts including dragon-fish and feibai scripts.)

9.5

Letter of Chan Master Lang of Mount Zuoxi in Wuzhou Inviting Great Master Yongjia to Live in the Mountains

9.6

Since arriving at Lingxi, my mind has been calm and at ease. Shaking my staff, I often roam the high and low peaks; sweeping the stone chambers and cliffside niches, I sit in quiet contemplation. Green pines and emerald ponds naturally give rise to the bright moon; the wind sweeps away the white clouds, letting the eyes roam over a thousand li. Renowned flowers and fragrant fruits are carried by bees and birds; long howls of monkeys are heard near and far. The hoe serves as a pillow, and the fine grass as a mat. In the world, people contend loftily for self and other; it is only because their mind-ground is not yet realized that they act like this. If you have a moment of leisure, I hope you will deign to visit.

9.7

Yongjia's Reply Letter

9.8

Since we parted, several years have already passed. Longing for you from afar at times has brought fatigue. Suddenly receiving your letter, I immediately felt free of care. I do not know how your health and practice have been since this letter. The taste of the Dharma sustains the spirit, so you must surely enjoy pure serenity. I have managed to pass the days, singing praises of your virtuous tone, which is beyond what words can convey. I have learned that you maintain your integrity, living alone in secluded retreat, wiping away your tracks from the human world and concealing your form in mountain ravines. Relatives and friends have ceased visiting, while birds and beasts roam now and then. Throughout the long night it is continuous, and all through the morning, serene and quiet. Seeing and hearing are entirely stilled; worldly entanglements of the mind are completely quieted. Lodging alone on an isolated peak, uprightly dwelling beneath the trees—ceasing worldly clutter and feeding on the Way is indeed right to be like this! Yet the true Way is quiet and subtle: though cultivated, it is difficult to encounter. Heterodox followers are clamorous and bustling: without training, they are easily drawn close. Unless one's understanding tallies with the mysterious principle and one's conduct accords with the true inclination, one cannot simply dwell in seclusion embracing one's simplicity and claim to be accomplished for a lifetime. One ought to broadly question former teachers, bow with sincere heart, join palms, bend the knees, compose the mind and straighten one's countenance, forgetting fatigue dawn and night, venerating them from beginning to end, curbing body and speech, ridding oneself of pride and indolence without regard for bodily form, exclusively devoted to the utmost Way. Such can be called purifying the spirit within! Desiring to pluck the sublime and probe the mysterious is truly no easy task; the process of discerning and choosing is like treading on thin ice. One must incline one's ears and eyes to receive the mysterious tone, calm emotional defilements to appreciate the secluded beauty, forget words to feast on the essential purport, wash away burdens to ingest the subtle, vigilant at evening and inquiring at dawn, without the slightest deviation of a hair. Only in this way can one conceal one's form in mountain valleys, quiet all entanglements, and cut off the crowd! If one's mental path is not yet cleared, seeing things creates blockages, and if one desires to flee noise and seek quiet, in the entire world there is no method for it. How much more so amid dense, vast forests and towering, craggy peaks, where birds and beasts cry mournfully, pines and bamboos stand thick and rustling, streams and stones are rugged, wind-blown branches are desolate, creepers entangle, clouds and mists billow, seasonal things flourish and wither, and mornings and evenings dazzle and confuse—are not things of this sort clamorous and chaotic? Hence we know that if cognitive delusions are still entwined, obstructions are encountered on every path. Therefore, one must first recognize the Way, and only afterward dwell in the mountains. If one does not yet recognize the Way and dwells in the mountains first, seeing only the mountains, one will surely forget the Way. If one has not yet dwelt in the mountains but first recognizes the Way, seeing only the Way, one will surely forget the mountains. Forgetting the mountains, the nature of the Way gladdens the spirit; forgetting the Way, the mountain forms dazzle the eyes. Therefore, for one who sees the Way and forgets the mountains, the human world is also tranquil. For one who sees the mountains and forgets the Way, within the mountains it is indeed noisy! If one can thoroughly realize that the aggregates are selfless, with no self, who dwells in the human world? If one knows that the aggregates and sense-fields are like emptiness, how does an empty gathering differ from a mountain valley? If the three poisons have not yet been eliminated and the six sense-dusts still disturb, while body and mind contradict each other, what does that have to do with the noise or quiet of people or mountains? Moreover, the nature of the Way is vacuous and clear; ten thousand things are originally not its burden. True compassion is universally equal; how could sounds and sights not be the Way? It is merely because of inverted views that delusion arises, thereby causing the cycle of transmigration. If one can realize that objects do not exist, whatever meets the eye is nowhere not the place of practice. Knowing that realization is originally non-existent, it illuminates without relying on conditions. In the perfect interpenetration of the dharmadhātu, what difference is there between understanding and delusion? Through sentient beings, compassion is distinguished; through thoughts and concepts, wisdom is clarified. When wisdom arises, phenomena should be perfectly illuminated; apart from objects, how could one contemplate compassion? Compassion and wisdom by principle should be comprehensively embraced; departing from sentient beings, how could one deliver them? Delivering all beings, compassion is great; illuminating to the limits of objects, wisdom is perfect. When wisdom is perfect, noise and quiet are viewed as identical; when compassion is great, enemies and kin are universally saved. If so, why must one permanently dwell in mountain ravines, instead of according with conditions wherever one may be? Furthermore, phenomenon after phenomenon is empty and interfused; mind after mind is quiescent. Originally not existing, who could forcibly call it non-existent? What noise could be noisy? What quietude could be quiet? If one knows that objects and self are darkly united as one, and self and other are nowhere not the place of practice, why pursue noise in the human world, or dissipate solitude in mountain valleys? Therefore, those who abandon movement to seek stillness hate the cangue but love the fetters; those who leave enemies to seek loved ones loathe the pen but delight in the cage. If one can yearn for solitude amid bustle, the marketplace is nowhere not seated meditation. Testing adversity and welcoming compliance, debts of enmity have always been good friends. If so, how have robbery, insult, and disgrace ever not been our original teacher? Shouting and clamorous distress are nothing other than quiescence. Hence we know the subtle Way has no form, and the myriad phenomena do not conflict with its principle. True Suchness is quiescent, and the various sounds do not differ from its source. If one is deluded by it, inverted views and delusion arise; if one is awakened to it, adversity and compliance have no ground. Quiescence does not exist, yet gathering conditions can generate it; towering crags are not non-existent, yet dispersing conditions can extinguish them. Since cessation is not cessation, by what cessation could it cease? Since arising is not arising, by what arising could it arise? Since arising and cessation are empty, the true mark is constantly abiding. Therefore, the water of samādhi surges: what dust of thought does it not wash away? The lamp of wisdom is bright and clear: what mist of delusion does it not dispel? Opposing it, one cycles through the six destinies; uniting with it, one far transcends the three wretched paths. If so, why not board the ship of wisdom to roam the ocean of Dharma, instead of wishing to drive with a broken axle into mountain ravines? Hence we know that the various classes of things are multitudinous, but their nature is of itself one. The luminous source is tranquil and quiet, knowing without deliberate shining. The true mark is inherently authentic; luminous wisdom is not fabricated. When humans are deluded, they call it loss; when humans are awakened, they call it gain. Gain and loss lie with humans; what does it have to do with movement or stillness? This is like one who does not know how to steer a boat wishing to blame the bends of the river! If one can subtly recognize the mysterious principle, empty the mind, and merge with it, movement and stillness are always standard, speech and silence are constant rules. Quiescent, one has a refuge; serene, there is no separation. Only in this way can one wander leisurely in mountain ravines, roam freely through suburbs and marketplaces, sporting with an easy demeanor while keeping heart and organs in tranquil stillness. Calmness rests within; free detachment shines without. The body is as if restrained, yet the mind is at ease. Manifesting physical appearance across the universe, concealing the subtle spirit in the dharmadhātu. In this way, responding to capacities, resonance occurs, naturally without a fixed rule. Entrusting to this letter, I briefly state this; what other opportunity is there? Were you not an aspiring friend, how would I dare speak lightly? In the leisure of seated quiescence, contemplate this for a while. If my words are indeed false and inappropriate, after reading, turn them into paper ashes! I say no more. Your fellow companion Xuanjue pays homage.

9.9

Tiantai Master Yuan's Text of Repentance

9.10

I reflect that since beginningless kalpas, / having lost the perfectly luminous nature, I engaged in worldly dusts, / going out through birth and entering through death, undergoing saṃsāra, / in extraordinary shapes and distinctive forms suffering torment. / By modest virtues acquired in the past, I was born into the human realm; / encountering the bequeathed teaching, I was able to undergo pravrajyā. / Donning black robes and shaving my head, resembling a śramaṇa, / I broke the precepts and violated the fasts, with many faults and offences. / Destroying life and harming creatures without compassionate thought, / devouring meat and eating pungent vegetables to nourish an unclean body; / arbitrarily appropriating the wealth and food of the assembly; / misusing and interchanging the requisites of the triratna; / engaging in wrong livelihood and evil seeking without satiety; / indulging in lust and craving liquor, growing ever more wildly deluded; / conceited toward the Buddha, disdaining the saṅgha, and slandering the Mahāyāna; / betraying righteousness, abandoning parents, and reviling teachers and elders; / glossing over faults, adorning wrongdoing, and extolling my own virtues; / taking pleasure in disaster, delighting in misfortune, and concealing the abilities of others; / pursuing false deceit and fraudulent accusations, contending for profit and fame; / provoking disputes over right and wrong, contending over self and other; / evil thoughts and wrong reflections never pausing for an instant; / frivolous, agitated, and scattered, never once coming to rest; / courting social affairs ever more vigorously; / upholding and reciting Buddhist scriptures with only weariness and suffering; / externally displaying deportment to increase flattery and deceit; / internally harboring arrogance, growing ever more reckless and undisciplined; / lazy and indolent in cultivation, indulging in sleep; / stingy, jealous, and greedy, without shame or remorse. / Of what use is an impure stalk in a wild field? / A floating corpse does not remain long in the great ocean. / Since I have not a single virtue to sustain my person, / I will surely fall into the three wretched paths, afflicted with many sufferings. / I respectfully pray that our original teacher Amitāyus, / Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and the noble assembly of the saṅgha / together turn their majestic radiance, look down upon, and illuminate us; / jointly bestow unseen aid and rescue all. / May all the sinful obstacles of beginningless time and this present life, / the manifold faults and errors of the six sense faculties and three karmas, / in a single thought of perfect contemplation of the emptiness of the nature of sin, / become completely pure, identical with the dharmadhātu.

9.11

Text of Aspiration

9.12

May I, throughout this life, have no other thought; / may Amitābha Buddha alone accompany me. / In thought after thought, may I constantly fix upon the light of the white curl; / in moment after moment, never stray from the golden form. / If I should again eat the meat of sentient beings, / drink wine, engage in lust, or commit grave offenses, / may I sink alive in this present body into the Great Avīci, / for ten thousand kalpas swallowing molten copper and hot iron! / May I, at the end of my life, be free from pain and illness, / know the time of arrival in advance, and remain unconfused; / may roots of good and thoughts of wisdom turn ever clearer and brighter, / and may karmic debts and vengeful demons all be extinguished. / May rare fragrances and heavenly music fill the sky; / may jeweled palaces and golden daises arrive in response to my thought! / May I behold in person the Tathāgata of Immeasurable Light, / with all the holy and noble beings welcoming me together! / In the snap of a finger, having already mounted to the Land of Peace and Bliss, / may I immediately hear the subtle Dharma and awaken to non-arising! / Roaming throughout boundless Buddha lands, / may I make offerings, personally attend [the Buddhas], and receive prediction! / Dividing my body to reach everywhere across worlds numerous as the sands of the Ganges, / traversing dust-mote kalpas to deliver sentient beings, / I vow to enter the five turbidities of the Sahā world / and universally transform the confused multitude, accomplishing true awakening! / Even when sentient beings' karma is exhausted and space is exhausted, / may my vow ultimately remain unmoved and unchanged! / Even from this present life into future lives, / may I cultivate completely in every thought, without interruption! / Still, applying the goodness cultivated through the three karmas, / I dedicate it universally to the dharmadhātu of empty space, / so that those to whom we owe the four debts of gratitude, all beings of the three realms of existence, and all enemies and kin, / may together cast off the wheel of suffering and be born in the Pure Land.

9.13

Great Master Jingxi's Text for Universal Dedication of Merit from Reciting Sutras

9.14

May a single phrase imbuing the spirit entirely aid in reaching the other shore; may contemplating and cultivating it forever serve as a ship. May those who rejoice, see, or hear always become host and companion. Whether accepting or rejecting, once passing the ear, it creates a connection; whether agreeing or disagreeing, they will ultimately be liberated because of this. We pray that on the day of liberation, both dependent retribution and direct retribution will constantly proclaim the subtle sutra. Not a single land, not a single dust mote, will fail to benefit beings. We pray only that all Buddhas secretly perfume and assist us, that all bodhisattvas quietly lend their majestic spiritual power, that wherever [the Dharma] has not yet been spoken, all may invite it, and wherever it is spoken, beings personally offer and serve. May a single phrase and a single gāthā advance toward bodhi; may a single form and a single fragrance forever prevent regression.

9.15

Chan Master Bajiao Quan's Instruction to the Assembly

9.16

People of clouds and water do not rest for an instant. / I ask you, what misery brings you to this? / In a foreign land, both you and I are guests; / with nothing concerning you, just draw in your head. / Walking and standing, sitting and lying down, / two lips just keep babbling away. / Right and wrong—who is free of them? / You must also examine your own faults! / Children of the pravrajyā get a good bargain; / the kāṣāya is not worn lightly. / Mulberry fields you do not till, parents you do not support: / if you do not cultivate the Way's endeavor, what else will you do? / Old Yama will not let you off! / According to the causes you have made, / you will be repaid with the fruits you have made. / Crying 'Father!' inside the Nirvāṇa Hall, / wanting to walk, you cannot walk; / wanting to sit, you cannot sit. / Right at such a time, / is it you, or is it me?

9.17

Chan Master Longmen Foyan's Ten Feasible Practices: Ten Odes with Preface

9.18

The Avataṃsaka utilizes the ten dharmadhātus to comprehensively encompass multiple gates, illustrating the principle of inexhaustibility. The Chan school has the 'Ten Mysterious Talks' to clarify chanting the Way. Dongshan had the 'Ten Non-Returnings' to express transcendent realization. This mountain monk has composed the 'Ten Feasible Practices' to instruct future generations, hoping to assist their practice of the Way. It is like fleabane growing among hemp, becoming straight without support; or like a person scented with fragrance, who also comes to have fragrance. For those who may derive a small benefit, I write them down below.

9.19

Seated Meditation

9.20

The principle of pure emptiness ultimately has no body; / in a single thought returning to the root, the ten thousand dharmas are level. / Objects and self are suddenly forgotten, the complete body exposed; / in this very state, one keeps no record of stages or progress.

9.21

Entering the Room

9.22

Inquiring about the Way, hurrying to the teacher to seal one's own mind; / entering the gate, with genuine precision seeking an intimate friend. / If in this life one does not tread the road of Caoxi, / when old, by what means will one surpass past and present?

9.23

General Labor

9.24

Gathering firewood and sorting vegetables, modeling upon former masters; / advancing in work and cultivating the body, seeing the ancients. / If you travel to various regions, you must investigate the truth: / at Longmen, this practice is the open ferry.

9.25

Gruel and Rice

9.26

With three strikes of the sounding board, birth and death are cut off; / with ten recitations of the Buddha's name, past and present are penetrated. / Opening the mat and spreading the pātra, clearly comprehend it for yourself; / one must not, with a coarse mind, remain blind to suffering and emptiness.

9.27

Sweeping the Ground

9.28

When dust arises on the ground, sweep it away at once; / rooms and corridors are fresh and clean, living together at peace. / Burning incense and sweeping the ground, there is no other business; / silently shining, concealing one's light, revealing the jewel of wisdom.

9.29

Washing Clothes

9.30

Approaching the stream to wash and rinse, do not be slack and lazy; / entering the assembly, robes must not be soiled. / High and low, shoulders touching, perfumed and warmed for long; / will the stirrings of mind and body truly melt away?

9.31

Walking Meditation

9.32

Upon stones and amid the forest, the bird-path is level; / after the meal, free of business, walk for a brief while. / Returning, try asking companions of the same mind: / 'Today, how is it? What about it?'

9.33

Reciting Sutras

9.34

When the night is quiet and the watch deep, recite the scriptures to yourself;
With no afflictions in mind, awaken from the demon of sleep.
Although no one sees in the dark chamber,
Dragons and devas naturally incline their ears to listen.

9.35

Prostrations

9.36

Prostrating to the Buddha is to remove the defilement of pride;
From this, bodily karma obtains pure coolness.
Xuansha had words worthy of taking refuge in and revering:
'It is you, not another'—principles and phenomena are profound.

9.37

Discussing the Way

9.38

When meeting to discuss the Way, do not be hollow and deceptive;
Speaking grandly in a loud voice makes the noble laugh.
If right beneath the words you can exhaust the root and branch,
How could you ever join with friends of empty folly?

9.39

Essential Points of Mind Shown to Chan Practitioners

9.40

In recent times, many take question and answer to be the ancestral style of the Chan house. Not understanding the affairs of the ancients, they blindly pursue the branches without returning [to the root]. How strange! How strange! People of old asked because they were deluded; thus where they asked, they sought realization and entry. Obtaining a single word or half a phrase, they took it as their matter to investigate thoroughly and penetrate cleanly. They were not like people today who question haphazardly, answer glibly, and invite the ridicule of those who have attained.

9.41

Admonition on Asking Questions

9.42

Asking questions in recent times mostly attracts ridicule and slander. This is because they do not understand the intention behind raising a question, bringing forth doubt, and making an inquiry. The younger generation passes this down among themselves, mostly using words of felicitations and flattery conforming to the times; none of this is established within the ancestral vehicle. For example, ancients asked: 'How does one escape the traidhātuka?' They also asked: 'How does one penetrate sound and form?' And they asked: 'What are the upādhyāya's discourses regarding the ancestral vehicle here?' All of these were stepped forth from the assembly to resolve on the spot. Recently, brothers offer five or ten turns of words without handles, either flattering officials present in their seats or adorning and serving patrons and donors; none of this has the flavor of patch-robed monks. Moreover, they withdraw and step out from the assembly only to spout a few phrases, or at times say: 'I would not say so,' or say: 'Why does the upādhyāya not speak such and such?' Now, asking questions is meant to inspire and elevate the profound ultimate; it does not lie in advancing many words, but only two or three turns. What is prized is generating people's faith, not drifting into wantonness and inviting the laughter of worldly folks.

9.43

Chan Master Dasui Shenzhao Zhen Ascends the Hall

9.44

The Master said: 'This old monk did not come here for fame or gain; I must find a true person. I cannot indulge your rights and wrongs amidst the green mountains and white clouds. In a future life, after casting off this retribution body, you will not even have grass to eat! How many golden-haired lions, upon being asked, bray like donkeys and roar like horses? Everyone! When this old monk was on itinerant pilgrimage, arriving in various regions, the assembly was usually a thousand, or at least seven or five hundred. Living among them through winter and summer, I never realized I had spent the time in vain. I cooked rice in Guishan's assembly for seven years, and served as chief of firewood in Dongshan's assembly for three years. Wherever the heavy labor was, I went first. It was solely to resolve my own time; what did it have to do with others? Like all buddhas and bodhisattvas, they all endured toil and hardship, taking no account of kalpas, relinquishing the precious throne of a cakravartin king, as well as head, eyes, marrow, brain, and all beloved things, along with innumerable realms, cities, wives, and children. Only thus did they first gain the name of Buddha. What have you ācāryas ever relinquished? What toil and hardship have you ever accomplished? Yet you immediately say: "I understand the supramundane Dharma!" You do not even understand mundane phenomena; the slightest condition appears before you, and you immediately raise your eyebrows and glare, unable to stomach it—what liberation teachings are you talking about? Sitting upon the long benches without moving your ten fingers, you consume the donations of faithful donors, close your eyes and mouth, and immediately say: "I practice the discipline and cultivate the Way, evoking fruits; thus I deserve to consume this." You are merely deceiving yourselves! When Upādhyāya Baizhang established halls and dwellings, he only wanted people who could manage affairs. What affairs have you ācāryas managed? Among them, there are those who without moving body or hands consume ten thousand taels of gold a day. If one is truly able to consume it, how could one hold such views? Could you have emerged from your mother's womb like this? Only when you understand mundane phenomena is it called supramundane Dharma. If you do not even understand mundane phenomena, how much less the Buddhadharma! Take the entire great canon of teachings: it is all the secret of the Tathāgata proclaimed by the golden mouth; yet when recited from your mouths, it all turns into the words of demons. How could this be understanding? Why is it not understood? If it were understood, Bodhidharma would not have come from the West. But before Bodhidharma had come to this land, was there Buddhadharma or not? Yet how could you say there was none? For example, a person has a jewel that falls into the mud; through arduous kalpas of searching, he cannot find it. Then someone who well knows where the jewel lies points straight to the jewel in the mud to show the person who lost it. As soon as the person who lost the jewel sees it, he recognizes: "This is my original possession!" There is completely no gain or loss. Bodhidharma's coming from the West was also just like this. Could it be that only this old monk is a kalyāṇamitra? All sentient beings throughout the earth are kalyāṇamitras; it is only that their perception and awareness are not yet clear. You must not say they have none. If you say they have it, would you be willing to bow to the crawling creatures as Buddhas? For example, a bright pearl falls into the mud; without encountering that person, how could there be a time of emergence? Having such sentient beings, they are comparable to insentient things, just like inert objects. Now that you are beneath the three robes, you must intimately approach kalyāṇamitras. It already took cultivation over several lifetimes to attain this; being so, you must not fall back into the six destinies of saṃsāra! If one is a person who has attained mastery, what is there to discuss? Boiling cauldrons, fiery coals, mountains of knives, and forests of swords—in the midst of the four forms of birth and six destinies, it is like eating delicious food. But if you have not attained such facility, you will genuinely receive this retribution. Once the human body is lost, to seek to be like you are today is not one in ten thousand! Do not claim to have attained what you have not attained, claim to have realized what you have not realized, or claim to have heard what you have not heard, deceiving and fooling yourselves, losing time and dragging out the days in vain. In turn, this only weighs down your burden of ignorance. You might as well be a layperson, following conditions as you may to pass the time; then you would have no such karmic debt. Now, being śramaṇas, every day there is karmic debt. What karmic debt is there? What you tread upon is the king's land; what you wear is the faithful donors' clothing; what you eat is the faithful donors' food; and your flesh and bones are the bodies of your parents. If you do not understand, how will you repay them? Therefore I say there is karmic debt. Even with this old monk, it cannot be said I am one who has fully understood; casting off this retribution body, I will go according to karma—who can say for certain? Only a Buddha and a Buddha can know it.'
At the time, a monk asked: 'Without relying on words and phrases, how does one know?'
The Master said: 'Relying on words and phrases, you still do not know.'
The monk had no words and made prostrations.

9.45

Ascending the Hall

9.46

A śramaṇa, a disciple of the Śākya, must see existence as non-existence; only then, at all times, will he be equal with the ordinary and the sage, and equal with liberation; only then will he have a slight way out. If it is not so, it is greatly difficult, greatly difficult! Take care.

9.47

Upādhyāya Yunfeng Yue Cites the Ancients in His Chamber

9.48

He cited an ancient who said: 'Shaving the hair and wearing the kāṣāya, one should practice the noble path. All other idle, miscellaneous affairs are causes of birth and death.'
The Master said: 'All of you carry walking sticks across your shoulders, parting the weeds to look for the breeze, traveling on itinerant pilgrimage throughout the world. Tell me: have you ever stepped onto the ground?'
The monk made no response.
The Master said: 'You fellow who lives in vain and dies to no purpose!'

9.49

Chan Master Baoning Yong of Jinling Instructs the Assembly

9.50

The robes on the body are not easy to put on;
The food in the bowl must not be eaten lightly. Eaten lightly,
Often even a drop of water is hard to digest. Put on easily,
In the end, what was pravrajyā for?
A straight mind and true practice can maintain the order;
A single sphere of perfect light has neither exterior nor interior. Do not emulate the ordinary, frivolous sort,
Who browse through things all their lives and boast with their lips and mouth.
Indulging greed and anger without shame or remorse,
Good and evil are luminous and hard to evade.
The three bad paths and six destinies are truly vast and boundless;
You would do well to turn your head and take a glimpse for yourself.

9.51

Song of Thirst and Heat by an Ancient Virtuous One

9.52

The Golden Crow rages in fury, blazing as if in flight;
Fiery clouds emit scorching heat, billowing like steam.
Rivers and lakes compete in boiling; grasses and trees are half withered and yellow.
True gold melts away; great boulders are about to crack.
Fierce tigers pant for breath; flood dragons droop their saliva.
Hovels have doors of thatch; houses have not a single tile.
Sleeping without mats or curtains; weeping with many children.
Weeding the sprouts without wearying; baling water, forgetting exhaustion.
Faces smeared pitch-black; backs splitting like turtle shells.
Ah, you sons of Śākya!
You ought to examine this.
You eat without plowing; you wear clothes without raising silkworms.
Your houses have painted halls and airy chambers;
Your baths have pure streams and winding pools.
Curtains hang kingfisher feathers; mats spread lapis lazuli.
Idly seeking springs and stones, walking and sitting at will;
Quietly facing the wind and moon, singing and delighting in yourselves.
Turn your head to look back at the affairs of the human world;
Drinking water, you should know when the season can be crossed.
Do not harbor resentment toward the Wind Count,
Nor furiously rage against the Rain Master!

9.53

Preface on Seeing Off a Monk to Beg for Food by Chan Master Juefan Hong

9.54

When the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi first arrived at Huangmei in layman's clothes, he pounded rice at night with a stone tied to his waist. Niutou's assembly lacked grain; Fayong begged in Danyang, personally shouldering a peck and eight-tenths of rice, traveling eighty li, departing in the morning and returning at dusk, making it his constant rule. Wherever Huiman of Longhua went, he chopped firewood and made sandals. Baizhang Niepan opened fields and explained the teachings. The waist-weight stone still remains on East Mountain; the wood-chopping axe still exists in the town of Ye. West of Jiangling there is the Rice-Carrying Hamlet; beneath the chariot wheels lies the Great Meaning Stone. Patch-robed monks often treat them as sightseeing, but they cannot be falsely dismissed. The age is distant and the Way is decayed, while frivolous, mediocre, cold beggars have entered our Dharma, and their understanding is not even sufficient to uphold themselves; how could one wish for them to shoulder the great Dharma? Just now, they fold flowers and cut caps to match silk garments; could they pound rice at night? They cut robes of fine gauze to fit narrow sleeves; could they chop firewood? Climbing heights of nine fathoms, with servants sweating blood, they refuse to leave the palanquin; could they carry rice? Right now, they write large on their gates: 'This temple now ceases hosting traveling monks'; would they be willing to open fields and explain the teachings? I have often felt pain at heart, clutching my chest and sighing. Repeatedly bringing calamity upon myself due to propagating the Dharma, I ended up an incapacitated man. Just as I was fortunate to return alive and flee into mountain valleys, patch-robed monks still came to follow me because I had once personally served Yun'an. It was meaningless for me to gather them, yet impossible to turn them away; thus I closed the gate and lay down firmly. Someone knocked at the gate and said: 'Yun'an's gift of Dharma was like Zhijue's, and his love for the assembly like Xuefeng's. Those who emerge from his gate today are all otherwise: their Way is not revered yet they wish others to honor them; their fame is not shining yet they fear others crowding them. They look down upon Chan practitioners as enemies of a hundred lifetimes, and flatter the powerful and noble like kin of countless kalpas. You, Master, have laughed at and stepped past this filth to depart; you are almost Yun'an's claws and teeth!' Thereupon I leapt to my feet and said: 'If so, what can be done without food?' He said: 'You should beg from pure donors; this is also the bequeathed rule of our Great Master, the Tathāgata. If the old man is willing to come forth, it may cause the monasteries to know that Yun'an's model still survives.' I praised his words, and thus set forth the affairs of ancient virtuous ones in a preface to comfort his intention. Surely there will be someone who appreciates the tune.

9.55

Being a monk and not taking part in the ten categories, one serves the Buddha in vain for a hundred years (Biographies of Eminent Monks)

9.56

(Translating Scriptures)

9.57

Transforming Sanskrit into Chinese,
Connecting the ordinary to enter the noble.
Where the wheel of Dharma turns,
They are teachers to all Buddhas.

9.58

(Exegesis)

9.59

Tracing the text to see the meaning,
Capturing the idea and forgetting the words.
The three wisdoms completely perfected,
The two reliances constantly turn.

9.60

(Practicing Chan)

9.61

Cultivating to the point of non-thought,
Both good and evil are forgotten.
Forgetting that which is forgotten,
Constantly abiding in peace and joy.

9.62

(Elucidating Vinaya)

9.63

Strict and sparing of grace,
Upright and urgent in guarding.
Guarding the three karmas,
Like metal walls and boiling moats.

9.64

(Protecting the Dharma)

9.65

When a family has good officials,
What worry is there in guarding the treasury?
When the Dharma has clear masters,
They ward off insults from outside.

9.66

(Inspiring Resonances)

9.67

Running counter to ordinary principles,
Resonating and thereby penetrating.
Transforming in the world,
Inscrutable to observe.

9.68

(Abandoning the Body)

9.69

Hard to relinquish yet easily discarded,
Foremost among givings.
With a defiled, turbid body,
Transforming into a vajra body.

9.70

(Chanting and Recitation)

9.71

Among the ten kinds of Dharma masters,
This is lofty and grand.
Dyed with the citron flower,
When it fruits, the pulp is red.

9.72

(Promoting Merit)

9.73

For oneself and for others,
Merit arises and sins are extinguished.
The good of conditioned action—
How broad are its benefits!

9.74

(Miscellaneous Categories)

9.75

Synthesizing all categories,
Returning together to the sublime.
Masters of guidance and chanting,
Illuminating the Buddha vehicle.

9.76

Chan Master Hu'an Ti Ascends the Hall

9.77

How could a patch-robed monk's baggage be ordinary? / Drawn from its sheath, the hair-blowing sword is never concealed. / Snatching food and driving off the plow oxen fulfills the true command; / East and west, ghosts no longer divide the spoils.

9.78

Instruction to the Assembly

9.79

Secretly scattering black-dragon pearls turns them into rubble; / Freely pouring out deadly venom is itself sarpirmaṇḍa. / Repaying kindness with enmity wipes out the barbarian lineage; / Raising his eyes with none to rely on—such is a true hero.

9.80

Setting foot on the solitary precipice where no grass grows, / He strolls at ease where nothing dwells. / Facing the wind, he opens his empty gullet wide, / Sending his entire household into the fire pit.

9.81

Beyond learning and non-active, the secret signal is understood; / Preceding heaven and succeeding earth, living space itself. / Freely revealing the ancestral master's intent— / How could the whole household not beat their chests?

9.82

Tearing open the mother-born shirt that clings to the flesh, / Baring his shoulders and exposing his arms without shame. / Whether barbarians arrive or Chinese appear, it is neither difficult nor easy; / Who else can be made to shoulder this great matter?

9.83

Fierce and ferocious, it is another village altogether, / Evaluating the ancient sages and keeping register of later generations. / Cast aside atop the solitary peak, how can it be concluded? / An eye upon the tip of the staff covers heaven and earth.

9.84

In a peaceful and tranquil world, weapons of war are laid to rest; / Yet what can be done about the great clamor of young fellows? / Casting a straight hook into the rushing rapids— / If one meets no brocade-scaled fish, he vainly tangles his line.

9.85

A hero's feet penetrate directly to Chang'an; / Sitting down and putting on the robe, would he be willing to deceive himself? / Three feet of cold light gleams under the night moon; / A single span of autumn water bursts with piercing chill.

9.86

The blind ass's seedling grass needs no reliance; / Old towers and layered checkpoints are won with a spit on the palm. / The lakes and seas are peaceful and clear, yet he still walks alone; / The merit belongs to the inch-long blade that bloodied the giant whale.

9.87

Risking life and limb to settle the score with enemies, / Spurting hot blood against each other—how could he just desist? / Turning everyone upside down without an inch of ground, / Going with empty hands to claim the clouds above.

9.88

Bringing forth the great function in full—a bird plunges into the net; / Cutting off reflection and forgetting contrivance—a turtle carries the chart. / Once entering this gate, none of it applies; / How could the old smelly barbarian be elevated or degraded?

9.89

One's own daily activity fully reveals the true reality; / What does it matter whether it is drifting clouds or the spirit of the valley? / Where palms are joined, heads bowed, and hands crossed, / Coarse speech and subtle words rest with the person himself.

9.90

Free of characteristics and free of names, there is no real dharma; / Not mind, not Buddha—how could one guess? / Thoroughly knowing that the ultimate standard is difficult to bestow, / Unawares, along with his voice, he sends it forth.

9.91

When Zhi the monk joins in, the entanglements multiply; / Pinched by the throat, nothing can be done. / Just as he turns his body, his breath quickens; / How pitiful—the sparrow hawk has crossed into Silla!

9.92

Informal Instruction

9.93

Bone-bare and destitute, carrying a single board; / Mad, foolish, stubborn, and scabbed, raising both eyebrows. / Where it suddenly takes action is difficult to describe; / The buddhas and patriarchs directly before him heed his command.

9.94

Concluding the Seat

9.95

Even a single punch comes from striking one's father; / Before victory or defeat is determined, do not let go. / Forsaking blind, desperate life, / With crooked mouth and collapsed nose, his full capacity is seen.

9.96

Eulogy by Chan Master Zhenjing Wen

9.97

Shaving the hair, startled to see snow filling the razor, / Only then did I realize that months and years do not spare anyone. / Flee birth and escape death, diligently achieving buddhahood; / Do not wait for tomorrow or the day after.

9.98

Eulogy by Vinaya Master Lingzhi Zhao

9.99

Listening to teachings and doing Chan inquiry, seeking outwardly, / I never turned my head once to reflect deeply. / As the light of my eyes is about to fade and the path ahead turns dark, / Only then do I realize I misused my mind my entire life.

9.100

Admonition Handed Down by an Ancient Worthy

9.101

Being inside hell is not yet the greatest suffering; / Underneath the kāṣāya, to hear nothing of suffering is truly bitter. / Do you yet know the great matter of birth and death? / Do not lie amidst white clouds toward the green mountains.

9.102

Encouraging Sutra Reading

9.103

The sutra scrolls of the donors should be read early; / Though donations fall short, I feel uneasy. / I respectfully urge monks and nuns to diligently recite them; / Do not wait for the cold flash of lightning through the iron window.

9.104

Encouraging Engagement with Secular Circumstances

9.105

The undertakings of renouncing home are utterly reckless, / Gaining only a body and mind busy as ants. / Sutra chanting recorded on registers accumulates many debts; / The karmic hindrances before one's eyes must be borne by oneself. / The disciples' alms and gains are like water through fish gills; / The oil and salt they buy are like snow meeting hot broth. / Years go and years come—on what day will it end? / I wonder what you will hold when you meet King Yama.

9.106

Encouraging Abbots

9.107

Deeply lamenting the latter-day decline is truly sorrowful; / The Buddhadharma lacks anyone to uphold it. / Before understanding how to read texts, they first sit to lecture; / Having never undergone itinerant pilgrimage, they immediately ascend the hall. / Taking money to seek a monastery like mad dogs; / Empty-bellied and arrogant like dumb sheep. / I respectfully advise future worthies not to follow this path, / Lest the duration of suffering in hell be long.

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緇門警訓 — Classical Chinese