佛祖歷代通載 17.45

17.45

（十四）　是年仰山惠寂禪師示寂。韶州懷化人也。姓葉氏。年十五欲出家。父母不許。後二載師斷手二指。跪致父母前。誓求正法以答劬勞。遂依南華寺通禪師落髮。未登具即遊方。初謁耽源已悟玄旨。後參溈山遂升堂奧。祐問曰。汝是有主沙彌無主沙彌。曰有主。曰在什麼處。師從西過東立。溈知是異人。便垂開示。師問。如何是真佛住處。溈曰。以思無思之妙。返思靈焰之無窮。思盡還源性相常住。事理不二真佛如如。師於言下頓悟。自此執侍十有五載。凡有言句皆為後世宗範。一日師問溈山曰。和上浮漚識近來寧未。溈山云。我無來經五年也。仰曰。若恁麼和上如今身前應普超三昧頂。溈山云。未在。仰曰。性地浮漚尚寧。然燈身前何故未。溈山云。理則如是。我未敢保任仰曰。如何是未敢保任處。溈山云。汝莫口解脫。汝豈不聞安秀二師被則天試。入水始知有長人。到這裏鐵佛也須汗出。寂子汝大須修行。莫終日口密。及領眾住王莽山。一日禪床陷入地中。地神告以此山不任和上居止東南有大仰山乃人間福地。遂遷止仰山。示眾曰。汝等諸人各自回光返照。莫記吾言。汝無始劫來背明投暗。妄想根深卒難頓拔。所以假說方便奪汝粗識。如將黃葉止啼。有什麼是處。亦如人將百種貨物與金寶作一鋪貨。賣柢擬輕重來機。所以道石頭是真金鋪。我這裏是雜貨鋪。有人來覓鼠糞。我亦拈與他。來覓真金。我亦拈與他。時有僧問。鼠糞即不要。請和上真金。師云。齧鏃擬開口。驢年亦未會。師云。索喚則有交易。不索喚則無。我若說禪宗。身邊要一人相伴亦無。豈況五百七百眾耶。我若東說西說。則爭頭向前採拾。如將空拳誑小兒。都無實處。我今分明向汝說聖邊事。且莫將心湊泊。但向己性海如實而修。不要三明六通。何以故。此是聖末邊事。如今且要識心達本。但得其本不愁其末。他時後日自具去在。若未得本。縱饒將情學。他亦不得。豈不見溈山和上道。凡聖情盡體露真常。事理不二即如如佛。師因歸溈山省覲。祐問。子既稱善知識。爭辨得諸方來者知有不知有有師承無師承是義學是玄學。子試說看。師曰。惠寂有驗處。但見諸方僧來。便竪起拂子問伊。諸方還說這箇不說。又曰。這箇且置。諸方老宿意作麼生。祐嘆曰。此是從上宗門爪牙。祐問。大地眾生業識茫茫。無本可據。子作麼生知他有之與無。師曰。惠寂有驗處。時有一僧從面前過。師召云。闍黎。僧回首。師曰。和上這箇便是業識茫茫無本可據。祐曰。此是師子一滴乳。能散六斛驢乳。鄭愚相公問。不斷煩惱而入涅槃時如何。師竪起佛子。公云。入之一字不要亦得。師云。入之一字不為相公。師問雙峯。師弟近日見處如何。對曰。據某甲見處。實無一法可當情。師曰。汝解猶在境雙峯曰。某甲只如此。師兄如何。師曰。汝豈無能知無一法當情者。溈山聞云。寂子一句疑殺天下人。僧問。禪宗頓悟畢竟入門的意如何。師曰。此意極難。若是祖宗門下上根上智。一聞千悟得大總持此根人難得。其有根微智劣。所以古德道。若不安禪靜慮到這裏總須茫然。僧曰。除此格外。還別有方便令學人得入也無。師曰。別有別無令汝心不安。汝是什麼處人。曰幽州人。曰汝還思彼處不。曰常思。師曰。彼處樓臺林苑人馬駢闐。汝反思思底還有許多般也無。曰某甲到這裏一切不見有。師曰。汝解猶在境。信位即是。人位即未是。據汝所解只得一玄。得坐披衣向後自看。溈山一日復問師曰。汝向後記得人不。師曰。若記只記見解。溈曰。何以如此。師曰。西竺般若多羅讖二千年事。至時毫髮不移。曹溪亦讖身後有難。及至亦無爽。今時還得不。溈曰。此是行通。我是自宗通。亦是學禪未問六通。師曰。某謂見解宗通語絕滲漏屬語密。行解照用自辨清濁業屬意密。某未齊曹溪與般若多羅。不敢輒記。溈山深然之。先是師預示偈曰。吾年七十七老去是今日。任性自浮沈。兩手攀膝屈。至是兩手抱膝而逝。師之異迹及垂讖記。具存本山實錄。

([Year] 14) In this year, Chan Master Huiji of Mount Yang entered nirvāṇa. He was a man from Huaihua in Shaozhou whose lay surname was Ye. At the age of fifteen he wished to enter the monastic life, but his parents would not allow it. Two years later, the master cut off two of his fingers, knelt before his parents, and vowed to seek the correct Dharma in order to repay their toil and care. He then took tonsure under Chan Master Tong at Nanhua Monastery. Before receiving the full precepts he travelled on pilgrimage. First he visited Danyuan and was already enlightened to the profound purport; later he studied under Weishan and stepped into the inner sanctum. [Ling]you asked him, "Are you a novice with a master, or a novice without a master?" He replied, "One with a master." [Weishan] asked, "Where is he?" The master crossed from west to east and stood there. Wei recognized him as an extraordinary man and thereupon gave him instruction. The master asked, "What is the dwelling place of the true Buddha?" Wei said, "By the subtlety of thinking what is without thought, reflect back upon the boundlessness of the spiritual flame. When thoughts are exhausted and return to the source, nature and characteristic are ever-abiding, phenomena and principle are not two, and the true Buddha is thusness as it is." At these words the master was suddenly enlightened. From then on he served [Weishan] for fifteen years, and whatever words he uttered served as models for the school in later generations. One day the master asked Weishan, "Upādhyāya, has your floating-bubble consciousness been calmed of late, or not yet?" Weishan said, "It has been five years since I had any." Yang said, "If so, then right now in front of your body, Upādhyāya, you should universally transcend the peak of samādhi." Weishan said, "Not yet." Yang said, "Since the floating bubbles of the ground of nature have already calmed, why not yet in front of the body of Dīpaṃkara?" Weishan said, "The principle is indeed like this, but I do not yet dare to take full charge of it." Yang said, "What is this place that you do not yet dare to take full charge of?" Weishan said, "Do not engage in mouth-liberation. Have you not heard that Masters An and Xiu were tested by [Empress] Zetian: only when stepping into the water did they realize who was the taller man? When one comes to this place, even an iron Buddha must break into a sweat. Jizi, you must practice diligently; do not just keep your mouth tightly shut all day." Later, when he led an assembly dwelling on Mount Wangmang, one day his meditation seat sank into the earth. The earth spirit informed him: "This mountain is not suitable for the Upādhyāya to dwell on; to the southeast is Mount Dayang, which is a blessed place in the human realm." He thereupon moved to reside on Mount Yang. He instructed the assembly, saying: "Each and every one of you, turn your light inward and reflect back; do not commit my words to memory. From beginningless kalpas you have turned your backs on the light and plunged into darkness, and your roots of deluded thinking run deep and are difficult to pull up all at once. Therefore I provisionally speak of skillful means to strip away your coarse consciousness, just like using yellow leaves to stop a child's crying—what truth is there in it? It is also like someone stocking a hundred kinds of goods along with gold and jewels in one shop, selling only according to the capacities that come, light or heavy. Therefore it is said: Shitou is a pure gold shop, while my place is a general store. If someone comes seeking rat droppings, I pick them up and give them to him; if someone comes seeking true gold, I also pick it up and give it to him." At that time a monk asked, "I have no need of rat droppings; please give me the Upādhyāya's true gold." The master said, "Biting on an arrowhead, one intends to open one's mouth—not even in the year of the donkey will you understand." The master said, "If there is seeking and calling, then there is a transaction; if there is no seeking and calling, then there is none. If I speak of the Chan school, I would not even have a single person by my side to keep me company, let alone an assembly of five or seven hundred! If I speak of this and that, then you scramble forward to gather it up, like cheating a small child with an empty fist: there is nothing real at all. Now I speak clearly to you of matters on the sage's side: for the moment, do not use your mind to try to fit it, but cultivate in accordance with reality toward the ocean of your own nature. Do not seek the three knowledges and the six supernatural penetrations. Why is this? These are secondary matters on the sage's side. For now, you must recognize the mind and penetrate to the root: only attain the root and do not worry about the branches; in days to come, they will naturally be complete. If you have not yet attained the root, even if you study with emotional intentions, you will still fail to attain it. Have you not seen what Upādhyāya Weishan said: 'When sentiments of ordinary and sage are exhausted, the true and constant substance is revealed; phenomena and principle are not two, which is just the Buddha of thusness'?" Because the master returned to Mount Wei to pay his respects, [Ling]you asked, "Since you are called a good spiritual friend, how do you distinguish whether those who come from various quarters have realization or not, have lineage transmission or not, are scholastic teachers or teachers of the profound? Try to speak of this." The master said, "Huiji has a way to test them. Whenever I see a monk arrive from elsewhere, I raise my whisk and ask him, 'Do they also speak of this elsewhere, or not?' Furthermore I say, 'Putting this aside for the moment, what is the meaning of the venerable elders in other quarters?'" [Ling]you sighed and said, "These are the claws and fangs of our ancestral school from antiquity." [Ling]you asked, "The karmic consciousness of the sentient beings of the great earth is vast and hazy, with no root to rely upon. How do you know whether they have it or not?" The master said, "Huiji has a way to test them." Just then a monk passed before them. The master called out, "Ācārya!" The monk turned his head. The master said, "Upādhyāya, this very thing is their vast and hazy karmic consciousness with no root to rely upon!" [Ling]you said, "This is a single drop of lion's milk, which can scatter six bushels of donkey's milk." Minister Zheng Yu asked, "How is it when one enters nirvāṇa without severing defilements?" The master held up his whisk. The minister said, "It would also be fine to dispense with the single character 'enter'." The master said, "The single character 'enter' was not spoken for your sake, Minister." The master asked Shuangfeng, "Fellow disciple, how is your view of late?" He replied, "According to my view, there is truly not a single phenomenon that can confront the feelings." The master said, "Your understanding is still in the objective realm." Shuangfeng said, "I am only like this. How about you, elder brother?" The master said, "Are you not the one capable of knowing that not a single phenomenon confronts the feelings?" When Weishan heard this, he said, "A single sentence of Jizi's would bewilder everyone in the world to death." A monk asked, "In the sudden enlightenment of the Chan school, what is the ultimate essential meaning of entering the gate?" The master said, "This meaning is extremely difficult. If it is one of superior capacity and superior wisdom under the ancestral masters' gate, who hears once and understands a thousand things, attaining the great dhāraṇī—such people of capacity are rare. For those whose capacity is slight and whose wisdom is inferior, the ancients therefore said: 'If one does not sit in quiet contemplation and calm one's thoughts, when one reaches this point one is bound to be completely bewildered.'" The monk said, "Apart from this extraordinary way, is there another expedient means to enable a student to enter?" The master said, "Whether there is another or no other makes your mind uneasy. What place are you from?" He said, "A man of Youzhou." [The master] said, "Do you still think of that place?" He said, "I often think of it." The master said, "In that place there are storied pavilions, forest gardens, and crowds of people and horses. When you reflect back on that which thinks, are there still so many things there?" He said, "When I arrive at this point, I see nothing at all." The master said, "Your understanding is still in the objective realm. It is the stage of faith, not yet the stage of the person. According to your understanding, you have only attained one profundity. Take your seat, put on your robe, and see for yourself in the future." One day Weishan again asked the master, "In the future, will you remember people?" The master said, "If I remember, I will only remember their views." Wei said, "Why is that?" The master said, "In Western India, Prajñātāra prophesied events two thousand years ahead, and when the time came it did not deviate by a hair's breadth. Caoxi also prophesied difficulties after his passing, and when the time came there was no discrepancy either. Can one do this nowadays, or not?" Wei said, "This is the penetration of practice; mine is the penetration of our own school, and also of studying Chan without asking about the six supernatural penetrations." The master said, "I say that when one's view penetrates the school and one's speech is free of leakage, it belongs to the secret of speech; when practice and understanding illuminate function, and one can spontaneously distinguish pure from turbid karma, it belongs to the secret of mind. I am not the equal of Caoxi or Prajñātāra, so I do not dare make predictions lightly." Weishan deeply agreed with him. Prior to this, the master had presciently given a verse: 'My years are seventy-seven; / My growing old is today. / Leaving my nature to float or sink at will, / Both hands bend clasping my knees.' When the time arrived, he passed away clasping his knees with both hands. The master's extraordinary traces and the prophecies he left behind are all preserved in the true records of his home mountain.