大明高僧傳 5.22

5.22

釋心道眉州徐氏子也。年三十得度。詣成都習唯識。自以為至。同舍僧詰之曰。三界惟心萬法唯識。今目前萬象縱然。心識安在。道茫然。遂出關周流江淮。既抵舒州太平聞佛鑑夜參舉趙州柏樹子話。至覺鐵嘴云先師無此語莫謗先師好。因大疑提撕既久。一夕豁然。即趨丈室擬敘所悟。鑑見便閉却門。道曰。和尚莫瞞某甲。鑑曰。十方無壁落。何不入門來。道即拳破窓紙。佛鑑即開門。搊住云。道道。道即以兩手捧鑑頭作口啐而出呈偈曰。趙州有個柏樹話。禪客相傳遍天下。多是摘葉與尋枝。不能直下根源會。覺公說道無此語。正是惡言當面罵。禪人若具通方眼。好向此中辨真假。鑑然之。襄守請開法天寧擢大別文殊。宋宣和改元詔改僧為德士。因上堂曰。祖意西來事今朝特地新。昔為比丘相今作老君形。鶴氅披銀褐頭包蕉葉巾。林泉無事客兩度受君恩。所以道欲識佛性義。當觀時節因緣。且道即今是甚麼時節。毘盧遮那頂戴寶冠。為顯真中有俗。文殊老叟身披鶴氅。且要俯順時宜。一人既爾眾人亦然。大家成立叢林。喜得群仙聚會。共酌迷仙酧同唱步虛詞。或看靈寶度人經。或說長生不死藥。琴彈月下指端發太古之音。棊布軒前妙著出神機之外。進一步便到大羅天上。退一步却入九幽城中。秖如不進不退一句又作麼生。道直饒羽化三清路。終是輪迴一幻身。二年九月詔下復僧。上堂曰。不掛田衣著羽衣。老君形相頗相宜。一年半內間思想大抵興衰各有時。我佛如來預讖法之有難。教中明載無不委知。較量年代正在于茲。魔得其便惑亂正宗。僧改俗形佛更名字。妄生邪解刪削經文。鐃鈸停音鉢盂添足。多般矯詐欺罔聖君。賴我聖明不忘付囑不廢其教。特賜宸章仍許僧尼重新披剃。實謂寒灰再焰枯木重榮。迷仙酎變為甘露瓊漿。步虛詞翻作還鄉曲子。放下銀木簡拈起尼師壇。昨朝稽首擎拳今日和南。不審秖改舊時相不改舊時人。敢問大眾舊時人是一箇是兩箇。良久曰秋風也解嫌狼藉。吹盡當年道教灰。建炎三年春示眾舉臨濟入滅囑三聖因緣。道曰。正法眼藏瞎驢滅。臨濟何曾有此說。今古時人皆妄傳。不信但看後三月。至閏三月有賊叛。眾請師南奔。道曰。學道所以了生死。何避之有。賊至。道曰。速殺我以快汝心。賊即舉槊殘之。白乳上出。賊駭引席覆之而去。

Śramaṇa Shi Xindao was a native of the Xu family of Meizhou. At age thirty he was ordained. He went to Chengdu to study Vijñaptimātra, believing himself to have attained the utmost. A monk sharing his quarters questioned him, saying, 'The three realms are mind-only; the ten thousand phenomena are consciousness-only. Now, all appearances before our eyes are right here. Where are mind and consciousness?' Dao was bewildered. He then left the pass and traveled through the Jiang and Huai regions. Having arrived at Taiping in Shuzhou, he heard Fojian holding an evening gathering and citing Zhaozhou's case of the cypress tree. When it came to Jue Tiecui saying, 'Our late master had no such words; it is best not to slander the late master,' Dao developed great doubt and raised and examined it for a long time. One night, he had a sudden breakthrough. He immediately hastened to the abbot's quarters, intending to recount what he had realized. Seeing him, Jian shut the door. Dao said, 'Venerable, do not deceive me.' Jian said, 'In the ten directions there are no walls; why do you not enter through the door?' Dao struck and broke the window paper with his fist. Fojian immediately opened the door, seized him, and said, 'Speak! Speak!' Dao then took Jian's head with both hands, made a spitting sound from his mouth, went out, and presented a verse: / 'Zhaozhou had a talk of a cypress tree; / Chan wanderers transmit it throughout the realm. / Most of them pluck leaves and search for branches, / Unable to comprehend directly down to the source. / Master Jue said there were no such words; / This is truly evil speech scolding to one's face. / If Chan practitioners possess the eye that penetrates everywhere, / They should distinguish true from false right within this.' / Jian approved of it. The prefect of Xiangyang invited him to open the Dharma at Tianning, and he was promoted to Dabie and Wenshu. In the first year of the Xuanhe reign of the Song, an imperial edict commanded that monks be changed into 'Men of Virtue' (Daoist masters). Thereupon he ascended the hall and said, 'The ancestor's intention coming from the west—today it is remarkably novel. Formerly of a bhikṣu's appearance, today I take the form of Laozi: a crane-feather cloak draped over silver-grey, the head wrapped in a plantain-leaf cap. A guest with nothing to do among the forests and springs has twice received the sovereign's favor. Therefore it is said: If you wish to know the meaning of the buddha-nature, you must observe the seasonal causes and conditions. Now tell me, just what season is this right now? Vairocana wears a jeweled crown on his head to manifest the conventional within the real; the old fellow Mañjuśrī wears a crane-feather cloak on his body just to condescend in accord with the times. If it is so for one person, it is also so for all. Together we establish monasteries, delighted that a host of immortals gathers together. Together we drink the wine that intoxicates immortals; in unison we sing the lyrics of pacing the void. We either read the *Scripture of the Numinous Treasure for the Deliverance of Humans* or speak of the medicine for long life and immortality. Lutes are plucked under the moon, fingertips producing sounds of highest antiquity; weiqi is arrayed before the veranda, wondrous moves emerging beyond divine calculations. Take a step forward, and you reach the Heaven of Great Net; take a step backward, and you enter the City of the Ninefold Darkness. Just what about the one phrase of neither advancing nor retreating?' Dao said: 'Even granted the feathered transformation along the path of the Three Purities, it is ultimately still a single illusory body in saṃsāra.' In the ninth month of the second year, an edict was issued restoring the monks. He ascended the hall and said, 'Not hanging the field-robes, one wears the feathered robes; Laozi's form and appearance were quite suitable. Thinking about it over this year and a half, generally, prosperity and decline each have their time. Our Buddha, the Tathāgata, prophesied in advance that the Dharma would face hardship; it is clearly recorded in the teachings, completely known to all. Calculating the era, it was precisely at this time. The demons took advantage of the opportunity to confuse and disrupt the orthodox tradition: monks were changed into secular forms, and the Buddhas were given different names; deluded and giving rise to heterodox interpretations, they expurgated the scriptural texts. Cymbals ceased their sounds, and feet were added to the almsbowls. In many ways, deceitful and pretentious, they duped the sagely sovereign. Fortunately, our sagely and brilliant [emperor] did not forget the entrustment and did not abolish the teachings. He specially bestowed an imperial composition and further permitted monks and nuns to take tonsure once again. This is truly called cold ashes reigniting and a withered tree flourishing anew. The wine that intoxicates immortals transforms into sweet dew and jade nectar; the lyrics of pacing the void turn into songs of returning home. Laying down the silver and wooden tablets, one picks up the niṣīdana. Yesterday morning bowing with clasped hands and raising fists, today Vandana. I wonder: is it only the former appearance that was changed, without changing the former person? I dare ask the great assembly: is the former person one or two?' After a long pause, he said, 'The autumn wind also knows to dislike disorder, blowing away every bit of that year's Daoist ashes.' In the spring of the third year of the Jianyan reign, he instructed the assembly, citing the circumstance of Linji entering extinction and entrusting Sansheng. Dao said, 'The treasury of the true Dharma eye extinguished by a blind donkey—when did Linji ever have this saying? People of past and present all transmit it falsely; if you do not believe, just watch the coming three months.' When it came to the intercalary third month, there were rebels who revolted. The assembly requested the master to flee south. Dao said, 'The reason one studies the Way is to resolve birth and death. What is there to avoid?' When the rebels arrived, Dao said, 'Kill me quickly to gladden your hearts.' The rebels then raised a spear and mutilated him. White milk flowed upward. The rebels were terrified, pulled a mat to cover him, and left.