佛祖歷代通載 17

English (machine translation) 17

Language: English

17.1

Compiled by Nianchang of Huating, Abbot of the Dazhong Xiangfu Chan Monastery in Jiaxing Route

(1. Gengchen) Emperor Yizong, Cui (the eldest son of Emperor Xuanzong; fond of music and banquets, he entrusted governance to his ministers; he once again welcomed the Buddha's relic bone, stating: 'If I see it in life, I will die without regret'; he passed away at the age of thirty-six and was buried in Jianling; he reigned for fourteen years); the era name was changed to Xiantong.

17.4

(2. Renwu) Chan Master Huanzhong of Mount Daci in Hangzhou was a native of Puban, surnamed Lu. His cranial protuberance was rounded and elevated, and his voice sounded like a bell. He took pravrajyā at Tongzi Monastery in Bingzhou and received the mind-seal from Chan Master Baizhang. He built a thatched hut on Mount Nanyue. One day Nanquan arrived and asked, 'Who is the host within the hut?' The master said, 'Heaven above! Heaven above!' Nanquan said, 'Setting heaven above aside for a moment, who is the host within the hut?' The master said, 'If you understand, understand right now! Do not chatter endlessly.' Nanquan flicked his sleeves and left. Zhaozhou asked, 'What does prajñā take as its substance?' The master said, 'What does prajñā take as its substance?' Zhaozhou burst into loud laughter and left. The next day, seeing Zhaozhou sweeping the ground, the master asked, 'What does prajñā take as its substance?' Zhaozhou laid down his broom, clapped his hands, and laughed loudly. The master thereupon returned to the abbot's quarters. Later, the master resided on Mount Daci in Zhejiang. Entering the hall, he instructed the assembly, saying: 'This mountain monk does not know how to answer questions; he only knows how to recognize diseases.' He also said: 'Speaking a rod is not as good as practicing a foot; speaking a foot is not as good as practicing an inch.' Those who inquired about the Way were numerous. The mountain had always lacked water, and the master was planning to fly his staff elsewhere. At night, a spirit visited his dream and told him, 'Do not go elsewhere.' The next morning, he saw two tigers digging the earth with their claws, and a spring naturally gushed forth, sweet as maltose. A monk arrived from Nanyue and said, 'The Tongzi Spring has dried up; it has moved here!' Therefore Dongpo inscribed a poem: / 'Lofty is the stone pagoda upon the eastern ridge; / When this old master first came, a hundred spirits looked up to him. / Tigers moved the spring's eye following along his journey; / Dragons made spray into flowers to offer for clapping hands. / Down to today, when travelers finish washing and bathing, / They lie down to hear the empty steps sounding like ring-pendants. / Thus we know this old master is just like this spring; / Do not harbor thoughts of worldly coming and going.' / On the fifteenth day of the second month of the third year of the Xiantong era, he passed away without illness, at the age of eighty-three, with fifty-four monastic years. Emperor Xizong posthumously bestowed on him the title Great Master Xingkong ('Nature of Emptiness') and named his pagoda Dinghui ('Meditation and Wisdom').

17.5

(3. Guiwei) By imperial edict, Dharma Master Zhixuan was appointed National Preceptor Wuda, to oversee all affairs of the Buddhist teaching.

17.6

(Yiyou) Chan Master Xuanjian of Deshan in Langzhou was a native of Jiannan, surnamed Zhou. He was thoroughly versed in the Tripiṭaka and frequently lectured on the Diamond Sūtra; people at that time called him 'Diamond Zhou'. Suddenly he sighed with feeling, saying, 'Exhausting all profound dialectics is like placing a single hair in the great void; exhausting the pivotal mechanisms of the world is like dropping a single droplet into the vast ocean. Learning and beyond learning—now I know them!' Thereupon he cast aside all his previous studies and went to call on Chan Master Xin of Longtan. He asked, 'I have long looked forward to the Dragon Pool (Longtan), yet having arrived here, I see neither pool nor dragon.' Xin said, 'You have arrived in person at Longtan.' That evening, the master stood in attendance until late in the night. Xin said, 'Why not go down?' The master said, 'It is dark.' Xin lit a paper candle and handed it to the master; as the master took it, Xin blew it out. The master had a sudden great enlightenment and said, 'From now on, I will never again doubt the words of the old reverends throughout the realm!' He took his leave that very day. Xin told his disciples, 'Among you there is a fellow whose teeth are like a forest of swords, whose mouth is like a basin of blood; struck with a single blow of the staff, he will not turn his head. Someday he will establish our way on an isolated peak!' The master resided in Liyang for nearly thirty years. At the beginning of the Dazhong era, Xue Yanwang, Governor of Wuling, founded the Deshan Vihāra and invited him to dwell there, where he vastly promulgated the tradition of the school. Entering the hall, he instructed the assembly, saying: 'If within oneself there is no concern, do not falsely seek. What is attained through false seeking is not true attainment. If you only keep the mind free of concerns, and keep concerns free of the mind, then you are void yet spiritual, tranquil yet wondrous. If by as much as a hair's tip you speak of root and branch, it is all self-deception. A thread of attached thought becomes the karmic cause for the three wretched destinies; the momentary arousal of emotion becomes the fetter of myriad kalpas. Holy titles and mundane names are all empty sounds; distinct appearances and inferior shapes are all illusory colors. If you wish to seek them, how can you be free of burden? When it comes to loathing them, that again turns into a great calamity. In the end, there is no benefit.' A monk asked, 'What is bodhi?' The master struck him and said, 'Get out! Do not defecate here!' [A monk asked,] 'What is the Buddha?' The master said, 'The Buddha is an old bhikṣu from the Western Heaven.' Xuefeng asked, 'With what dharma have the masters from the past shown people the supreme vehicle of the school?' The master said, 'Our school has no words or phrases, nor does it have a single dharma to give to people.' When he was about to pass away, he said to the assembly: 'Groping in the empty void and chasing echoes wearies your mind and spirit. When awakening from a dream, one realizes it was false; ultimately, what affair is there?' Having spoken, he sat upright and passed away. He had lived eighty-six years, with sixty-five monastic years. It was the third day of the twelfth month of the sixth year of the Xiantong era. By imperial edict he was granted the posthumous title Great Master Jianxing ('Seeing the Nature') (details are in the Transmission of the Lamp).

17.7

(4. Bingxu) Chan Master Yixuan of Linji in Zhenzhou was a native of Nanhua in Caozhou, surnamed Xing. He studied under Chan Master Yun of Huangbo. He asked, 'What is the cardinal meaning of the Buddha Dharma?' Before his voice had ceased, Huangbo struck him. Three times he raised this question, and three times he was struck. Thereupon he took his leave to go down the mountain. Huangbo directed him to go to Dagu in Gao'an. When the master reached Dagu, Dagu asked, 'What words and phrases has Huangbo had recently?' The master said, 'I asked three times about the cardinal meaning of the Buddha Dharma, and three times I was struck. I do not know if I had a fault or not.' Dagu said, 'Huangbo had such grandmotherly kindheartedness, yet you still ask if you had a fault or not!' Thereupon the master attained great enlightenment and said, 'After all, Huangbo's Buddha Dharma is nothing much!' Dagu grabbed him and said, 'You bed-wetting demon! Just now you asked whether you had a fault or not, and now you say Huangbo's Buddha Dharma is nothing much! What did you see?' The master struck Dagu's ribs with three punches. Dagu pushed him away and said, 'Your master is Huangbo; it has nothing to do with me.' Because of this, the master returned again to Huangbo, and master and disciple intimately accorded. His great capacity and great functioning were outstanding, unmatched in his time. Later he returned to his home region, acceding to the invitation of the people of Zhao, and took up residence at the Linji Chan Cloister south of the city. Students rushed there in flocks. The master instructed the assembly, saying: 'Upon the lump of red flesh, there is a true person of no rank, constantly entering and exiting through the gates of your faces. Those who have not realized it, look!' At that time, a monk asked, 'What is the true person of no rank?' The master stepped down from his meditation seat, grabbed him, and said, 'Speak! Speak!' The monk hesitated. The master pushed him away and said, 'What dry shit-wiper is this true person of no rank!' The master asked Lepu, 'From ancient times, one master used the staff, while another used the shout; which one was intimate?' Lepu answered, 'Neither was intimate.' The master said, 'What is the intimate point like?' Lepu shouted, and the master struck him. The master asked the Upādhyāya Mukou, 'What is the white ox on open ground?' Mukou said, 'Hūṃ.' The master said, 'Mute!' Mukou said, 'How about you, elder brother?' The master said, 'This beast!' When Dajue arrived to visit, the master raised his whisk. Dajue spread his sitting cloth. The master threw down the whisk. Dajue folded up his sitting cloth and entered the monks' hall. The monks said, 'Could this be an old friend of the master? He neither bowed nor received a blow of the staff.' When the master heard this, he ordered the newly arrived monk to be summoned. Dajue then stepped forward. The master said, 'The assembly says you have not paid respects to the Elder.' Dajue said, 'Pardon me,' and returned to the assembly on his own. Magu came to call and spread his sitting cloth. He asked, 'Which face of the Twelve-Faced Avalokiteśvara is the real one?' The master stepped down from his rope seat; with one hand he gathered the sitting cloth and with the other he grabbed Magu, saying, 'Where has the Twelve-Faced Avalokiteśvara gone?' Magu turned around and was about to sit on the rope seat. The master picked up his staff to strike him. Magu caught it, and holding each other, they entered the abbot's quarters. The master entered the hall and said, 'Assembly! Those who act for the Dharma do not shrink from losing life and limb. At Venerable Huangbo's place, I received the staff three times, which felt like being brushed by artemisia twigs. Today, I think of receiving another beating—who can lay a hand on me?' At that time, a monk said, 'I can lay a hand on you. How many strikes should the Venerable receive?' The master handed him his staff. As the monk reached to take it, the master struck him. A monk asked, 'What is the first phrase?' The master said, 'The seal of the three essentials opens, the vermilion dot is sharp; allowing no hesitation, host and guest are clearly divided.' The monk asked, 'What is the second phrase?' The master said, 'How could wondrous understanding permit Asanga's inquiries? How could expedients oppose the mechanism of cutting through the stream?' The monk asked, 'What is the third phrase?' The master said, 'Look at the puppeteer operating puppets atop the stage; pulling the strings entirely depends on the person inside.' The master also said: 'Every single phrase must possess the three mysterious gates; each mysterious gate must possess the three essentials; there are provisional applications and practical functionings. How do all of you understand this?' On the tenth day of the fourth month in the bingxu year, the seventh year of the Xiantong era of the Tang, the master, about to manifest his demise, spoke a verse for transmitting the Dharma: / 'Flowing incessantly along the stream, one asks how it is; / Boundless true illumination, explained to resemble it. / If you do not adopt detachment from marks and names, / Having used the hair-severing sword, you must hasten to sharpen it.' / The verse concluded, he passed away sitting upright. By imperial edict, he was granted the posthumous title Great Master Huizhao ('Illumination of Wisdom'), and his pagoda was named Chenggling ('Clear Spirit') (detailed as in the Transmission of the Lamp).

17.8

(5. Wuzi [868 CE]) Chan Master Jingcen of Changsha in Hunan bore the style Zhaoxian. He initially resided at Luxian, but afterwards had no fixed abode, merely following conditions to receive and guide people. He once instructed the assembly, saying: 'If I were exclusively to raise up and expound the ancestral teachings, the grass in the Dharma Hall would grow ten feet deep! Being compelled to speak, I say to you all: The entire universe in the ten directions is the eye of a śramaṇa. The entire universe in the ten directions is the complete body of a śramaṇa. The entire universe in the ten directions is one's own radiance. The entire universe in the ten directions is within one's own radiance. In the entire universe in the ten directions, there is not a single person who is not oneself. I always say to you: The buddhas of the three periods together with the sentient beings of the dharma realms in the ten directions are the radiance of mahāprajñā. Before this radiance has emanated, to what place will you all turn to understand it? Before the radiance has emanated, there is not yet even any news of buddhas or sentient beings; from where could mountains, rivers, and lands come?' At that time a monk asked, 'What is the eye of a śramaṇa?' The Master said, 'Forever and always it cannot get out.' He also said, 'Becoming a buddha or becoming a patriarch cannot get out. Transmigrating through the six paths cannot get out.' The monk said, 'I do not understand what it cannot get out of.' The Master said, 'By day seeing the sun, by night seeing the stars.' The monk said, 'This student does not understand.' The Master then said, 'The colour of Mount Sumeru is green upon green.' The monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said, 'The physical body of sentient beings is it.' The monk asked, 'The essence of all the buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges is identical; why are there various names?' The Master said, 'Returning to the source through the eye faculty is named Mañjuśrī; returning to the source through the ear faculty is named Avalokiteśvara; returning to the source through the mind is named Samantabhadra. Mañjuśrī is the Buddha's wondrous observing wisdom; Avalokiteśvara is the Buddha's objectless great compassion; Samantabhadra is the Buddha's unconditioned wondrous practice. The three sages are the wondrous functions of the Buddha; the Buddha is the true essence of the three sages. In terms of function, there are conventional names as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; in terms of essence, all are collectively named the One Bhagavān.' The monk said, 'Form is emptiness and emptiness is form; what is the principle of this?' The Master spoke a gāthā, saying: 'Where there is obstruction is not a wall; / Where there is passage is not empty space. / If a person understands in this way, / Mind and form are originally the same.' [A monk] asked, 'What is buddha-nature?' The Master spoke a gāthā, saying: 'Buddha-nature is magnificently manifest, / Yet sentient beings clinging to characteristics find it hard to see. / If one realizes that sentient beings are without self, / How does my face differ from the Buddha's face?' [A monk] asked, 'What is the practice of a person of the highest capacity?' The Master said, 'Like a dead person's eyes.' [The monk] asked, 'What is it like when persons of the highest capacity meet?' The Master said, 'Like a dead person's hands.' [A monk] asked, 'Why has Sudhana, through immeasurable kalpas, been unable to travel everywhere within the worlds in Samantabhadra's body?' The Master said, 'From immeasurable kalpas until now, have you ever managed to travel everywhere?' [A monk] asked, 'What is Samantabhadra's body?' The Master said, 'Within Hanyuan Palace, asking further about Chang'an.' [A monk] asked, 'Where has the deceased monk gone?' The Master had a gāthā, saying: 'Not recognizing the adamantine body, / You instead call it a cause for birth. / Across the ten directions is true cessation; / Who remains, and who departs?' Because Linji instructed the assembly saying, 'Upon this lump of red flesh there is a true person of no rank,' the Master then composed a gāthā, saying: 'The myriad dharmas are identical in Suchness; no need to select. / In Suchness, who selects and who does not? / Right now birth-and-death is originally bodhi; / The Tathāgatas of the three periods share the very same eye.' Yangshan asked, 'Everyone possesses this matter, but simply cannot use it.' The Master said, 'Precisely so, I invite you to use it.' [Yangshan] stepped forward and said, 'How is it to be used?' The Master then kicked Yangshan over. Yangshan said, 'He is just like a great tiger!' The world on account of this named him 'Tiger Cen'.

17.9

(6. Jichou [869 CE]) Chan Master Liangjie of Dongshan manifested nirvana. The Master was a man from Kuaiji, of the Yu family. He went forth from home in his youth, and at the age of twenty-one went to Mount Song to receive the full precepts. He then visited Nanquan, arriving on the memorial day of Mazu's passing when a vegetarian feast was being offered. Nanquan asked the assembly, 'Today we offer a feast; I wonder whether Mazu will come or not?' The assembly had no answer. The Master then stepped forward and replied, 'He will come as soon as he has a companion.' When Nanquan heard this, he praised him, saying, 'Although this fellow is a junior, he is indeed fit to be carved and polished.' The Master said, 'Venerable, do not press the freeborn into servitude.' Next, he visited Guishan and asked, 'Recently I heard that National Preceptor Zhong spoke of the preaching of the Dharma by insentient beings; Liangjie has not yet fathomed its subtlety.' Guishan said, 'I also have it here, but it is just hard to find the right person.' [Liangjie] said, 'Then please tell me, Venerable.' Guishan said, 'A mouth born of father and mother will never dare to speak it.' [Liangjie] said, 'Is there anyone else who sought the Way at the same time as you, Venerable?' Guishan said, 'From here, where the stone chambers are connected, there is the person of the Way Yunyan. If you can brush through the grass and gaze at his wind, he will surely be esteemed by you.' The Master arrived at Yunyan and asked, 'What kind of person can hear the preaching of the Dharma by insentient beings?' Yunyan said, 'The preaching of the Dharma by insentient beings can be heard by insentient beings.' [Liangjie] asked, 'Do you also hear it, Venerable?' Yunyan said, 'If I heard it, then you would not be able to hear my preaching of the Dharma.' [Liangjie] said, 'If so, then Liangjie does not hear the Venerable preach the Dharma.' Yunyan said, 'You do not even hear my preaching, how much less the preaching of the Dharma by insentient beings!' The Master then composed a gāthā, saying: 'How wondrous! How wondrous! / The preaching of the Dharma by insentient beings is inconceivable. / If you listen with your ears, it will always be hard to understand; / Only when hearing sound at the place of the eyes will you first know it.' He then took his leave. Yunyan asked, 'Where are you going?' [Liangjie] said, 'Although I am leaving you, Venerable, I have not yet determined where I will stay.' Yunyan said, 'Come back early or late.' [Liangjie] said, 'I will come back as soon as you, Venerable, have a fixed dwelling.' Yunyan said, 'After going away from here, it will be hard to meet each other.' The Master said, 'It will be hard not to meet each other.' He also asked Yunyan, 'A hundred years from now, if someone suddenly asks whether your true likeness can be depicted, how should I respond?' Yunyan said, 'Just say to him: "Right this is it."' The Master remained silent for a long time. Yunyan said, 'Undertaking this matter requires great and careful examination.' The Master still harboured doubt. Later, when crossing a stream and seeing his reflection, he had a great awakening to the previous meaning, and consequently spoke a gāthā, saying: 'Avoid earnestly seeking from another, / For it will be far estranged from me. / Now I go alone, / Everywhere I can meet him. / He is now precisely me, / I am now not him. / One must understand in this way / Before one can accord with Suchness.' At the end of the Dazhong era, he guided and instructed students on Mount Xinfeng; thereafter his teaching flourished on Mount Dong in Gao'an. Once, on the memorial day of Yunyan's passing, he held a memorial feast. A monk asked, 'You, Venerable, made your start with Nanquan; why do you offer a feast for Yunyan?' [The Master] said, 'I do not esteem my late master's virtue and conduct, nor is it for the sake of the Buddhadharma; I only esteem that he did not explain it fully to me.' Another monk asked, 'Venerable, do you approve of your late master or not?' He said, 'Half approve and half do not approve.' [The monk] asked, 'Why do you not fully approve?' He said, 'If I fully approved, I would be failing my late master.' The Master said to the assembly, 'Only when one knows that there is a person beyond the Buddha does one have a share in conversation.' At that time a monk asked, 'What is a person beyond the Buddha?' The Master said, 'Not ordinary.' The Master asked a monk, 'What is the most bitter thing in the world?' The monk said, 'Hell is the most bitter.' The Master said, 'Not so. Under these robes not to clarify the great matter is the most bitter.' The Master asked a monk, 'What is your name?' [The monk] said, '[I, so-and-so].' The Master said, 'Which one is your master?' [The monk] said, 'The one currently answering.' The Master said, 'How bitter! How bitter! People of nowadays are all like this, only recognizing what is before the donkey and behind the horse as themselves. The leveling and sinking of the Buddhadharma is precisely this! When discerning the host from among the guests is still not clear, how can you discern the host within the host?' The monk asked, 'What is the host within the host?' The Master said, 'Speak for yourself, Ācārya.' [The monk] said, 'If I could speak it, that would still be the host among the guests. What is the host within the host?' The Master said, 'To speak like that is easy, but to maintain the continuity is extremely difficult.' When the Master was about to manifest nirvana, he said to the assembly, 'I have an idle name remaining; who can remove it for me?' The assembly had no answer. A śrāmaṇera said, 'Please state your Dharma name, Venerable.' The Master said, 'My idle name is already extinguished.' [A monk] asked, 'The Venerable is unwell; is there still one who does not become sick?' He said, 'There is.' The monk asked, 'Does the one who does not become sick look after you, Venerable?' He said, 'This old monk has a share in looking after him.' [The monk] asked, 'How can you look after him, Venerable?' The Master said, 'When this old monk looks after him, I do not see any illness.' He also said, 'Leaving this leaky shell, in what place will you meet me?' The assembly had no answer. He then shaved his head, put on his robes, ordered the bell to be struck, and serenely passed away. At that time there were more than a thousand students, who wept bitterly for an extended period. The Master suddenly opened his eyes and said, 'For those who have gone forth from home, a mind unattached to things is true cultivation. What grief is there in toiling through life and resting in death?' He then summoned the administrative monk and ordered him to prepare a "Feast of Folly," reproaching his disciples for their emotional attachment. By the seventh day, the food and utensils were finally ready. The Master partook of the feast with the assembly, and afterwards spoke to the assembly again, saying, 'Monks have no concerns; generally, when the time of departure arrives, there must be no clamour or disturbance.' The next day, after bathing, he sat upright and passed away forever. He lived for sixty-three years, with forty-two years of monastic age. He was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Wuben, and his pagoda was named Jijue.

17.10

(7) In May of this year, the Emperor visited Anguo Monastery and bestowed upon National Preceptor Zhixuan a precious seat twenty feet high. The material used was aloeswood coated with lacquer, carved with dragons, phoenixes, and flowers, and inlaid with gold ornamentation. Upon it was set a double seat, with a sutra table arranged in front. At the four corners stood auspicious birds and spirit-men, several feet in height, with a stepped walkway to ascend. The front was covered with an embroidered valance and brocade apron, exceedingly rare and magnificent. At that time, the palace daily offered vegetarian feasts to ten thousand monks, and the Emperor composed eulogies and hymns himself. Prime Minister Xiao Fang admonished him, considering that the Indian Dharma severs love and seeks extinction, which is not something a sovereign should personally practice; and that now writing Sanskrit words and chanting Sanskrit sounds is not as good as rectifying erroneous rewards and indiscriminate punishments to avert disaster and pray for blessings; moreover, the Buddha can be attained through awakening, not sought through external characteristics. Although Yizong did not accept [the advice], he praised his words. Zhixuan was of the Chen family, and was known in the world as 'Bodhisattva Chen'. Thoroughly mastering the three trainings, his fame overshadowed his era, and extraordinary traces of him were particularly numerous. When Xizong fled from the rebel Chao and visited Chengdu, he dispatched Censor Guo Zun bearing an imperial decree sealed with the jade seal to summon Zhixuan to the imperial traveling lodge. The Emperor had long esteemed his reputation, and granted him an audience with great pleasure, conferring upon him the title National Preceptor Wuda and retaining him at the traveling palace for a long time. Zhixuan took leave to return to Jiulong. Suddenly, while in samādhi, he saw a bodhisattva descend to his room, rub Zhixuan's crown, and expound profound and wondrous sounds to comfort and console him; having finished speaking, [the bodhisattva] vanished. Soon, a pearl entered Zhixuan's left thigh, swelling up with excruciating pain, upon which appeared the two characters 'Huang Cuo'. Zhixuan knew it was a past debt, and thereupon lay peacefully on his right side and passed away. His writings numbered over two hundred thousand words in all, and circulated in the world. His disciple Sengche, and Che's disciple Juehui, both had great reputations; for three generations they served as Buddhist Recorders. Some said that Zhixuan's previous life was Dharma Master Zhixuan of Mount Sanxue in Hanchuan; while alive, this Xuan had once lectured on the Chapter on the Ten Grounds, moving the earth to turn golden, and at his end he contracted an illness exceedingly similar to Zhixuan's.

17.11

([Year] 8, gengyin) In the eleventh year of the Xiantong era, the Prime Minister Pei Xiu passed away. Xiu, courtesy name Gongmei, was a native of Mengzhou. In his youth, he lived in seclusion with his brothers, lecturing on the scriptures by day and writing books by night, not leaving his doors the entire year. When someone presented them with a deer, the other scholars offered it up to be eaten, but Xiu refused to eat it, saying: "Even a vegetarian diet is barely sufficient; if I eat meat now once, how could I continue it later?" He passed the jinshi examination and held successive posts at court. He was once sent out to govern Hongzhou. One day, entering Longxing Temple to view the wall murals, he sighed and said: "The deportment is admirable to look upon, but where are the eminent monks?" At that time, several monks gave answers that failed to satisfy him. Xiu asked: "Is there no Chan practitioner here?" A monk replied: "Recently a monk arrived who seems to be a Chan practitioner." Xiu ordered him to be summoned; it was Chan Master Huangbo [Xi]yun, who was not yet famous at the time. Xiu questioned him with the same question as before. Yun called out loudly: "Pei Xiu!" Xiu answered: "Yes!" Yun said: "Where are you?" Xiu was suddenly enlightened and attained awakening through this. He thereupon invited him to his official residence, inquiring about the Dharma day and night. When he was transferred to govern Wanling, he also invited him to accompany him. From this he deeply penetrated the source of the Dharma. Furthermore, he had an especially close affinity in the Way with Chan Master Guifeng [Zong]mi. During the Dazhong era, he held administrative power as prime minister for six years, and subsequently served as military commissioner of several regional commands. He passed away at the age of seventy-four. Xiu was skilled in composition; his regular script was forceful, graceful, and well-structured. As a person, he was cultured and magnanimous, upright in moral conduct, and dignified and composed in movement. Emperor Xuanzong once remarked: "Xiu is a true Confucian." In daily life he never consumed wine or meat, and he wrote tens of thousands of words in Buddhist works. His preface to Guifeng's *Chan source collections* states: "The Chan master gathered various explanations of the source of Chan into a Chan canon and wrote a general preface to them." Xiu said: "There has never been anything like this before. Ever since the Tathāgata appeared in the world and established teachings according to individuals' capacities, and the bodhisattvas manifested intermittently to prescribe medicines according to diseases, the teachings of his lifetime opened three gateways of varying depth, and from the one true suchness mind unfolded distinct doctrines of nature and characteristics. The two masters Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna both propagated the teaching of the Tamer [of Men], yet their traditions differed between emptiness and nature; the two masters [Hui]neng and [Shen]xiu both transmitted Bodhidharma's mind, yet their endowments differed between the sudden and the gradual. Tiantai relies solely on the three contemplations; Niutou does not have a single phenomenon; Jiangxi directly manifests that the entire body is wholly the real; Heze directly points to knowing and seeing. Others destroy each other through emptiness and existence, or attack each other through the real and the false; they invert and seize, or conform and grasp, pointing esotericly or explaining explicitly. Thus in the Western Regions and the Central Kingdom, their lineages have indeed grown numerous. This is truly because illnesses have a thousand sources, and so medicines are produced in many kinds; responding to capacities and according with vessels, they cannot be identical. Although they are all gateways to realization and awakening, and all are the true and correct Way, nevertheless among the followers of the various lineages, those who are broad are few while those who are limited are many. Therefore, in recent decades the ways of the teachers have increasingly deteriorated: taking their lineages as sectarian factions, each opens their own door; taking the sūtras and treatises as shields and spears, they attack one another. Sentiments shift along with arrow cases and shafts, and phenomena are made high or low according to notions of self and other. Right and wrong are entangled in confusion, with no one able to distinguish them. Thus what was previously the doctrinal lineages of the Bhagavān, the bodhisattvas, and all quarters has become just enough to stir up disputes among later generations and increase the afflictions of disease—what benefit could there be in that? Chan Master Guifeng sighed after a long time and said: 'Having met with such an era, I cannot remain silent.' Thereupon, using the Tathāgata's three kinds of doctrinal meanings, he sealed the three kinds of Dharma methods of the Chan school. He melted down vases, plates, hairpins, and bracelets into a single gold; he stirred curd, cheese, and clarified butter into a single flavor. When the main cords are shaken, everything raised falls into proper order; when the essential points are seized upon, those who come converge toward the same goal. Still fearing that learners would find it difficult to understand, he further directly revealed the origin and end of the lineage's source, the harmonious combination of the real and the false, the concealment and manifestation of emptiness and nature, the differences in doctrinal meanings, the sameness and difference of the sudden and the gradual, the mutual interweaving of refutation and demonstration, the depth and shallowness of the expedient and the real, and the right and wrong of the comprehensive and the limited. There was nothing he did not tell them by whispering into their ears, show them by pointing to his palm, roar at them with a furrowed brow, entice them with gentleness, nourish them with milk, or treat them with medicine, fearing that their life of wisdom would be cut short prematurely. He protected and sheltered them, bearing in mind the drifting floods and burning fires; he waved his hands and dispersed them, lamenting the firmness of their contentious strife. The great bright sun cannot dispel the gloom of the long night; a loving father cannot protect his sons after his own death. But as for our master, he held aloft the Buddha-sun and turned its light to shine down upon all details, so that clouds of doubt were utterly eliminated; according with the Buddha's mind, he extended great compassion across space, so that for exhaustless kalpas beings receive benefit. Thus the Bhagavān is the lord who expounded the teaching, and our master is the person who harmonized the teaching. The root and branches correspond to each other, and the distant and near illuminate one another; he may truly be said to have completed the great work of the teachings of a whole lifetime. Someone might say: 'Since the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, no one has ever made a grand unification and harmonized them like this. Now, suddenly departing from lineage tenets without adhering to them, and abolishing protective barriers without occupying them—does this not go against the way of secret treasuries and esoteric tallies?' The answer is: In the *Lotus Sūtra* and at the assembly of the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*, the Buddha also fused them into a single flavor, but the deluded fail to realize it. Therefore, the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra* says: Bodhisattva Kāśyapa said: 'The Buddhas have revealed words, but no secret treasury.' The Bhagavān praised him, saying: 'The words of the Tathāgata are open, revealed, pure, and without obscuration. Foolish people do not understand and call them a secret treasury; the wise fully comprehend them and thus do not call them a treasury.' This is the proof. Therefore, when the Kingly Way flourishes, outer doors are not shut and defense lies with the outlying tribes; when the Buddha Way is complete, all dharmas are retained in dhāraṇī, and defense is directed against external demons. One should not cling to sentiment and roll up one's sleeves to brawl among them. Alas! Later scholars should place their faith in the Buddha, not in men; they should seek verification in the fundamental Dharma, not in derivative habits. If one can do this, one will be able to repay Guifeng's painstaking virtue."

17.12

([Year] 9, guisi) In the fourteenth year of the Xiantong era, in the third month on the gengwu day, an imperial edict commanded the monks of the Two Streets to welcome the Buddha's bone relic from Famen Temple in Fengxiang. Thereupon, reliquaries were made of gold and silver, and canopies of pearls and jade, decorated all over with peacock and kingfisher feathers. The smaller ones were one to several fathoms tall, and the taller ones twice that. Sandalwood was carved for eaves and pillars, and steps were coated in yellow gold. Each reliquary was carried by several hundred men. Incense carriages followed one another continuously along the road, hung with jade, zithers, banners, and canopies of extraordinary colors serving as standards and pennants; the expense was beyond measure. It was decreed that it should reach the capital by the eighth day of the fourth month. Decorated viewing stands lined both sides of the avenues. The Son of Heaven went to the tower of the Anfu Gate to welcome it with prostrations, and escorted it into the Inner Bodhimaṇḍa. After three days, it was taken around to the various temples in the capital. An imperial edict bestowed gold and silk on the monks of the Two Streets. The elderly citizens of the capital and those who had witnessed the events of the Yuanhe era were all generously rewarded. The villages and settlements along the route all piled up earth to make stupas; facing one another along the roads, their radiant spectacle was visible even in broad daylight. Wealthy people of the capital gathered at the great avenues, constructing tiered pavilions and draped gates for the monks; they poured mercury to make ponds, fashioned gold and jade into trees, assembled monks, and arranged images. Drumming and the blowing of conches continued day and night. An imperial edict was issued saying: "With our meager virtue, We have inherited the grand dynastic heritage for fourteen years. Recently, when rebellions arose, the royal army was not yet rested. In Our diligent concern on the throne to nurture living beings, We have revered the Buddhist teachings and greatly esteemed the Daoist gate, welcoming and inviting the true body to pray for blessings for the common people. At present, masses of people fall into difficulties and crowd the roads. Mindful of those in prison, We reflect on them day and night. Alas for Our common people who have fallen into criminal punishments! Moreover, as the toxic summer heat gradually sets in while they are bound in ropes and fetters, all prisoners currently confined in the capital region and in all prefectures and commands throughout the realm shall have their death sentences reduced by one degree." In the fourth month of the following year, an edict ordered the Buddha's bone to be returned to Fengxiang. The elders and senior residents of the capital wept and shed tears as they saw it off.

17.13

The commentary in the *New History [of the Tang]* says: "How deeply people are deluded by strange spirits! As for the Buddha, he was merely an emaciated man of the Western Regions. With a bare head and bare feet, he sustained himself by begging for food, emaciating and humiliating his body, roaming aimlessly in mountain forests, practicing unremitting austerity, having originally sought nothing from men. Disciples gradually followed him. Yet his words were vast, vague, diffuse, extravagant, fantastical, and illusory, excelling at deducing unverifiable and insubstantial matters, stringing spirits, death, and life together into a single thread, relying upon them without doubt, discarding desires and abandoning family. On the whole, they were similar to the teachings of Huang-Lao. When his books entered China in the fourteenth generation of the Han, tracing the sentiments of living beings, they regarded what neither ears nor eyes could reach as marvelous, what was unknowable as divine, what lay beyond the natural order as terrifying, and boundless transformations as holy. They were lured and bewitched by the cycle of living and dying, dying and being reborn again, and cyclical retribution; moreover, they delighted in despising what was near and prizing what was distant. The translations were full of errors that could not be investigated closely. Deceitful and eccentric Chinese people further appropriated the sayings of Zhuangzi and Liezi to elevate his doctrines, piling them layer upon layer and leaping directly beyond the ordinary, taking the supreme and unsurpassable as supreme, falsely flattering each other and trumpeting this trend. Thereupon, from the Son of Heaven down to the commoners, all were shaken into worshipping and sacrificing to him. At first, Prime Minister Wang Jin assisted Emperor Daizong through karmic matters, initiating the Inner Bodhimaṇḍa, where day and night Buddhist chanting was performed in hopes of warding off invading armies; he made grand Ullambana festivals, fashioning likenesses of the ancestral imperial line to distribute offerings to temples and pagodas, being ridiculed by petty officials. By the time of Emperor Xianzong, the Buddha's bone was welcomed from Fengxiang into the palace. Han Yu pointed out its harms; the emperor was enraged and banished Yu, who nearly died. Xianzong also failed to live out his natural lifespan, and seeking blessings, brought about disaster—was this not contrary to his hopes? Emperor Yizong was unworthy of rulership, his spirit blinded and confused; he again followed in the overturned cart ahead of him, raising laments in a place devoid of knowledge, begging protection from pieces of severed flesh and bone, pledging himself unto death without any reservation, weeping and prostrating. Even when serving the Ancestral Temple or the Supreme Lord, he could not have exceeded this. He degraded the dignity of his position of ten thousand chariots to place himself on par with an ancient barbarian, sacrificing himself for someone thousands of years remote. Alas! The dynastic fortune was exhausted and withered away; Heaven had warned him. Yizong died within three months. The failure of the Tang's virtue to flourish indeed had its causes!"

17.14

The critical assessment says: "How severe was Duke Song Jingwen's deep slander of our former master! I often wished to speak straightforwardly to refute his criticisms, but when I found Dadian's discussion with Tuizhi [Han Yu] and Li Jie's preface presenting the memorial, everything I wished to say had already been stated by them; therefore, I do not discuss it separately. Furthermore, while the two emperors Xianzong and Yizong were indeed excessive in their veneration, when it came to Emperor Gaozu's suppression of the Three Teachings, as soon as the edict was issued his throne shifted; and when Emperor Wuzong largely exterminated the Buddhist teachings, within a year he met with calamity—of this too one cannot help but be fearful. Nevertheless, the true Buddha is the great root of sages and ordinary mortals alike. His essence is universally pervasive like great empty space; his function shares merit with all living beings. He is unconditioned yet leaves nothing undone; he is nowhere present yet nowhere absent. Thus, to see the Buddha outside the mind and excessively worship him is not right view. Yet to be blind to the great root and intentionally slander him is to slander oneself. Jingwen denounced the abuses of worshipping him, but concealed the faults of slandering him; how can he be called a fine historian?"

17.15

([Year] 10, jiawu) Emperor Xizong, named Yan, was the fifth son of Yizong. He ascended the throne at the age of eleven and died at the age of twenty-seven. He was buried in the Jing Mausoleum. The reign era was changed to Qianfu. (In this year, a woman in Bingzhou gave birth to a child with two heads and four hands. The rebel Yu Xianzhi of Pu gathered a band at Changyuan.)

17.16

(Yiwei) (Gao Pian crushed Nanzhao. Yu Xianzhi revolted, and Huang Chao responded to him.)

17.17

(Jihai) In the eleventh month of this year, two suns appeared together and fought.

17.18

(Gengzi) The reign era was changed to Guangming. (Tian Lingzi escorted the Son of Heaven fleeing to the west. The rebel [Huang] Chao entered Chang'an, titled his state the Great Qi, and established the reign era Jintong. Li Keyong fled to the Tatars.)

17.19

(Xinchou) The reign era was changed to Zhonghe. (The Emperor entered Shu from Xingyuan.) Tuoba Sigong brought troops to respond to the dynastic crisis, and was appointed acting [military commissioner] of Xiasui.

17.20

(The Western Xia begins here) military commissioner.

17.21

(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.

17.22

(Renyin) [882] ○ (In the eighth month, Zhu Wen, who had been appointed defense commissioner of Tongzhou by Huang Chao, came to surrender. He was granted the name Quanzhong).

17.23

(Guimao) [883] (In the fourth month, Li Keyong and others fought against Huang Chao at Wei Bridge, defeating him, and recovered the capital).

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佛祖歷代通載 — Classical Chinese