佛祖歷代通載 12.19

12.19

（十一）　金陵牛頭山法融禪師者。潤州廷陵人也。姓韋氏。年十九學通經史。尋閱大部般若曉達真空。忽一日歎曰。儒道世典非究竟法。般若正觀出世舟航。遂隱茅山投師落髮後入牛頭山幽棲寺北岩之石室。有百鳥銜花之異。唐貞觀中。四祖遙觀氣象。知彼山有奇異之人。乃躬自尋訪。問寺僧此間有道人否。曰出家兒那箇不是道人。祖曰。阿那箇是道人。僧無對。別僧云。此去山中十里許有一懶融。見人不起亦不合掌。莫是道人。祖遂入山。見師端坐自若曾無所顧。祖問曰。在此作什麼。師曰。觀心。祖曰。觀是何人。心是何物。師無對。起曰。師自何來。甞識道信大師否。曰即貧道是也融再拜請示心法。祖曰。夫百千法門同歸方寸。河沙妙德盡在心源。一切戒定慧門神通變化悉自具足不離汝心。一切煩惱業障本自空寂。一切因果皆如幻夢。無三界可出。無菩提可求。人與非人性相平等。大道虛曠絕思絕慮。如是之法汝今已得。更無欠少與佛何殊。汝但任心自在。莫作觀行。亦莫息心。莫起貪嗔。莫懷愁慮。蕩蕩無礙任意縱橫。不作諸善不造眾惡。行住坐臥觸目遇緣。皆是佛之妙用快樂無憂。故名為道。融曰。心既具足復誰是佛。又誰為心。祖曰。非心不問佛。問佛非不心。融曰。既不許作觀行。於境起時如何對治。祖曰。境緣無好醜。好醜起於心。心若不強名。妄情何由起。妄情既不起。真心任遍知。汝但隨心自在無復對治。即名常住法身無有變易。吾受璨大師頓宗法門。今以付汝。汝諦受吾言可止此山。當有五大士紹汝玄化。祖付法已歸于雙峯。師至顯慶二年閏正月二十三日。終於建初寺。壽六十四。臈四十一。窆于雞籠山。會送者萬餘人。廣如傳燈具載。

(11) Chan Master Farong of Mount Niutou in Jinling was a native of Yanling in Runzhou. His secular surname was Wei. At the age of nineteen, he had mastered the classics and histories. Soon after, he read through the great Prajñā collection and thoroughly comprehended true emptiness. One day, he suddenly sighed, saying: "The secular scriptures of Confucianism and Daoism are not the ultimate teaching. The correct contemplation of prajñā is the raft to transcend the world." Thereupon, he retired to Mount Mao, took a master, and had his hair shaved. Later, he entered a stone chamber at the northern crag of Youqi Temple on Mount Niutou. There was the wondrous sign of hundreds of birds holding flowers in their beaks. During the Zhenguan era of the Tang, the Fourth Patriarch observed the spiritual atmosphere from afar and knew that there was an extraordinary person in that mountain. He personally went to seek him out and asked the temple monks: "Is there a man of the Dao here?" They replied: "Which one of those who have left the household is not a man of the Dao?" The Patriarch said: "Which one is the man of the Dao?" The monks had no reply. Another monk said: "About ten li from here into the mountains, there is a Lazy Rong. When he sees someone, he neither rises nor joins his palms. Could he be the man of the Dao?" The Patriarch then went into the mountain and saw the Master sitting upright and composed, not paying any attention. The Patriarch asked, "What are you doing here?" The Master said, "Contemplating the mind." The Patriarch asked, "Who is the contemplator? What thing is the mind?" The Master had no reply. He rose and asked, "Where does the Master come from? Have you ever known Great Master Daoxin?" [The Patriarch] replied, "I am that poor monk." Farong bowed twice and requested the mind-dharma. The Patriarch said: "The hundreds of thousands of Dharma gates all return to the square-inch [of the heart]; wonderful virtues as numerous as the sands of the Ganges are all within the source of the mind. All the gates of precepts, meditation, and wisdom, as well as divine transformations, are fully complete of themselves and not separate from your mind. All defilements and karmic obstacles are fundamentally empty and quiet. All cause and effect are like illusions and dreams. There are no three realms to escape from, and no bodhi to be sought. The natures and characteristics of humans and non-humans are equal. The Great Dao is vast and empty, beyond thought and beyond reflection. You have already attained such a Dharma now; with nothing lacking, how are you different from a Buddha? You need only let your mind be free and spontaneous: do not engage in contemplative practice, nor quiet the mind. Do not give rise to greed or anger; do not harbor sorrow or worry. Vast and unobstructed, follow your will in every direction. Do not do various good deeds, nor commit various evil deeds. Walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, whatever meets the eye or encounters conditions is the wondrous function of the Buddha, joyful and carefree. Therefore it is called the Dao." Farong asked: "Since the mind is already complete, who is the Buddha, and who is the mind?" The Patriarch said: "Were it not for the mind, one would not ask about the Buddha; when asking about the Buddha, it is not not the mind." Farong asked: "Since contemplative practice is not permitted, when objects arise, how should they be countered?" The Patriarch said: "Objects and conditions have no good or bad; good and bad arise in the mind. If the mind does not forcefully attach names, whence could delusive feelings arise? Once delusive feelings do not arise, the true mind freely knows all. You need only follow the mind in spontaneity without any further countermeasures; this is called the permanently abiding Dharmakāya, without change. I received the sudden-teaching Dharma gate of Great Master Sengcan, and now I transmit it to you. You should faithfully accept my words and remain in this mountain. There will be five great masters who will succeed your profound transformation." Having transmitted the Dharma, the Patriarch returned to Shuangfeng. On the twenty-third day of the intercalary first month in the second year of the Xianqing era, the Master passed away at Jianchu Temple, at the age of sixty-four, with forty-one monastic years. He was buried at Mount Jilong. More than ten thousand people gathered for his funeral. This is fully recorded in the Transmission of the Lamp.