佛祖歷代通載 17.21

17.21

（十一）　澧州夾山善會禪師。廣州峴亭人也。姓廖氏。九歲於潭州龍牙山出家。依年受戒。往江陵聽習經論該練三學。遂參禪會勵力參承。初住京口。一夕道吾策杖而至。遇師上堂。僧問。如何是法身。師曰。法身無相。曰如何是法眼。師曰。法眼無瑕。師又曰。目前無法。意在目前。不是目前法非耳目所到。道吾乃笑。師乃生疑問吾何笑。吾曰。和上一等出世未有師。可往浙中華亭縣參船子和上去。師曰。訪得獲否道吾曰。彼師上無片瓦遮頭。下無卓錐之地。師遂易服直詣華亭。會船子鼓櫂而至。資師道契微眹不留（語見船子章）師比欲遁世忘機。尋以學者交湊。廬室星布曉夕參依。唐咸通十一年庚寅。海眾卜于夾山遽成院宇。師上堂示眾曰。夫有祖以來。時人錯會相承至今。以佛祖句為人師範。如此却成狂人無智人去。他只指示汝無法本是道。道無一法無佛可成。無道可得無法可捨。故云。目前無法意在目前。他不是目前法。若向佛祖邊學。此人未有眼目。皆屬所依之法。不得自在。本只為生死茫茫識性無自由分。千里萬里求善知識。須有正眼永脫虛謬之見定取目前生死。為復實有。為復實無。若有人定得許汝出頭。上根之人言下明道。中下根器波波浪走。何不向生死中定當取。何處更疑佛疑祖替汝生死。有智人笑汝。偈曰。勞持生死法。唯向佛邊求。目前迷正理。撥火覓浮漚。僧問。從上立祖意教意。和上此間為什麼言無。師曰。三年不食飯。目前無飢人。曰既無飢人。某甲為什麼不悟。師曰。只為悟迷却闍黎。師說頌曰明明無悟法。悟法却迷人。長舒兩脚睡。無偽亦無真。僧問。如何是夾山境。師曰。猿抱子歸青嶂裏。鳥衘花落碧岩前。師再闢玄樞迨于一紀。唐中和元年辛丑十一月七日。召主事曰。吾與眾僧話道累歲。佛法深旨各應自知。吾今幻質時盡即去。汝等善保護如吾在日。勿得雷同世人輒生惆悵。言訖至于夜奄然而逝。其月二十九日塔于本山。壽七十七。臘五十七。勅諡傳明大師。塔曰永濟。

(11) Chan Master Shanhui of Jiashan in Lizhou was a native of Xianting in Guangzhou. His lay surname was Liao. At the age of nine, he underwent pravrajyā at Longya Mountain in Tanzhou. Upon reaching the appropriate age, he received the precepts. He went to Jiangling to hear and study the sūtras and treatises, thoroughly training in the three trainings. Thereupon he practiced with the Chan assemblies, making strenuous efforts in attending upon and studying under them. At first he resided in Jingkou. One evening, Daowu arrived leaning on his staff and encountered the master ascending the hall. A monk asked, "What is the Dharma-body?" The master said, "The Dharma-body is without form." The monk said, "What is the Dharma-eye?" The master said, "The Dharma-eye is without blemish." The master also said, "Before one's eyes there are no phenomena; the meaning is before one's eyes. It is not the phenomena before one's eyes; it is not reached by ears and eyes." Daowu thereupon smiled. The master then became doubtful and asked Wu, "Why do you smile?" Wu said, "Your Reverence has come forth into the world at an equal rank, yet you have not had a master. You may go to Huating County in Zhe to call upon the Boatman monk (Chuanzi)." The master said, "If I visit him, will I gain anything?" Daowu said, "That master, above, does not have a single tile to cover his head; below, he does not have enough ground to stick an awl." The master thereupon changed his clothes and went straight to Huating. He met Chuanzi as he arrived rowing his oar. Under his guidance the master matched with the Way, leaving not the slightest trace behind (the words appear in the chapter on Chuanzi). The master originally wished to escape the world and forget worldly machinations, but soon students gathered in great numbers, their huts scattered like stars, attending upon and relying on him morning and evening. In the eleventh year of the Xiantong era of the Tang, a gengyin year [870], the oceanic assembly divined a site at Jiashan, and it quickly became a monastic compound. The master ascended the hall and instructed the assembly, saying: "Ever since there were patriarchs, people of the times have misunderstood their transmission down to the present day, taking the phrases of the Buddhas and Patriarchs as models for people. Doing so turns them into madmen and people without wisdom instead. They were merely pointing out to you that no-phenomena is originally the Way. In the Way there is not a single phenomenon, no Buddha that can be accomplished, no Way that can be attained, and no phenomenon that can be abandoned. Therefore it is said: 'Before one's eyes there are no phenomena; the meaning is before one's eyes. It is not the phenomena before one's eyes.' If one studies on the side of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, such a person has not yet gained eyes; they all pertain to the phenomena relied upon and do not attain freedom. Originally, it was only because saṃsāra is vast and boundless, and the conscious nature has no share of freedom, that one seeks good spiritual friends across thousands and myriads of miles. One must have the correct eye to be forever free from vain and erroneous views, and settle the saṃsāra before one's eyes: is it ultimately real, or is it ultimately non-existent? If someone can settle this, I grant that you come forward. People of superior faculties understand the Way upon hearing a single word; those of middling and lower faculties rush about in vain. Why not settle it amidst saṃsāra? Where else would you doubt the Buddhas and doubt the Patriarchs as replacing your own saṃsāra? Wise people will laugh at you." He spoke a verse: / "Toil and maintain the methods of saṃsāra, / Only seeking them toward the Buddha. / Before one's eyes one is deluded about the correct principle, / Poking at fire to search for floating bubbles." / A monk asked, "From of old, the intention of the patriarchs and the intention of the teachings have been established. Why does Your Reverence say here that there are none?" The master said, "Not having eaten rice for three years, there is no hungry person before my eyes." The monk said, "Since there is no hungry person, why has this one not awakened?" The master said, "It is precisely because of awakening that the ācārya has been deluded." The master spoke a verse: / "Clearly there is no phenomenon of awakening; / The phenomenon of awakening deludes people instead. / Stretching out both legs to sleep, / There is neither falsehood nor truth." / A monk asked, "What is the realm of Jiashan?" The master said, / "A gibbon holding its child returns into the green peaks; / A bird carrying a flower falls before the azure cliff." / The master once again opened the mysterious pivot for nearly a cycle of twelve years. On the seventh day of the eleventh month in the first year of the Zhonghe era of the Tang, a xinchou year [881], he summoned the duty-officer and said, "I have spoken of the Way with the monastic assembly for many years; each should personally understand the profound intent of the Buddha-Dharma. Now my illusory physical form has reached the end of its time, and I shall depart. You must guard it well just as when I was alive; do not follow worldly people in abruptly giving rise to grief." When he finished speaking, reaching the night, he passed away peacefully. On the twenty-ninth day of that month, a stūpa was erected on this mountain. His age was seventy-seven; his monastic age was fifty-seven. An imperial decree posthumously bestowed the title of Great Master Chuanming; his stūpa was named Yongji.