景德傳燈錄 12.8

12.8

杭州千頃山楚南禪師閩中人也。姓張氏。自髫齓投開元寺曇藹禪師出家。迨乎冠歲落髮。詣五臺具戒。就趙郡學相部律。往上都聽淨名經。既精研法義而未了玄機。遂謁芙蓉。芙蓉見曰。吾非汝師。汝師江外黃檗是也。師禮辭而參黃檗。黃檗垂問曰。子未現三界影像時如何。師曰。即今豈是有耶。曰有無且置。即今如何。師曰。非今古。曰吾之法眼已在汝躬。師乃入室執巾侍盥晨晡請益。尋值唐武宗廢教。師遂深竄林谷。暨大中初相國裴公休出撫宛陵。請黃檗和尚出山師隨出。由茲抵姑蘇報恩寺精修禪定。僅二十餘載足不踰閾。俄為郡守請住寶林院。未幾復請居支硎山。又住千頃慈雲院振黃蘗玄風。一日師上堂曰。諸子設使解得三世佛教如瓶注水。及得百千三昧。不如一念修無漏道。免被人天因果繫絆。時有僧問。無漏道如何修。師曰。未有闍梨時體取。曰未有某甲時誰人體。師曰。體者亦無。問如何是易。師曰。著衣喫飯不用讀經看教。不用行道禮拜燒身煉頂。豈不易耶。曰此既是易。如何是難。師曰。微有念生便具五陰。三界輪迴生死皆從汝一念生。所以佛教諸菩薩云。佛所護念。師雖應機無倦。而常儼然處定。或逾月或浹旬。光啟三年錢氏請下山供養。昭宗聞其道化就賜紫衣。文德元年五月辭眾奄然而化。壽七十六。臘五十六。遷塔于院西隅。景福元年（一作大順二年）壬子二月宣州孫儒寇錢塘。兵士發塔覩全身不散爪髮俱長。謝罪懺悔而去。師平昔著般若經品頌偈一卷破邪論一卷。見行于世。

Chan Master Chunan of Mount Qianqing in Hangzhou was a native of Minzhong. His secular surname was Zhang. From childhood he went to Chan Master Tan'ai at Kaiyuan Temple to renounce household life. When he reached the age of twenty, he shaved his hair, went to Mount Wutai, and took the full precepts. He studied the Xiangbu Vinaya in Zhao Commandery and went to the Western Capital to hear the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Having deeply investigated the principles of the Dharma yet without having understood the profound mechanism, he then went to pay his respects to Furong. Furong saw him and said, "I am not your master. Your master is Huangbo, beyond the Jiang." The Master bowed, took his leave, and went to study under Huangbo. Huangbo posed a question to him, saying, "Before you manifested the images of the three realms, how was it?" The Master said, "Right now, could it be said that there is existence?" Huangbo said, "Setting aside existence and non-existence, how is it right now?" The Master said, "It is neither past nor present." Huangbo said, "My correct Dharma eye is already in your person." The Master then entered his chamber, held the towel and attended to his ablutions, seeking instruction morning and evening. Soon afterward, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang suppressed the teachings, so the Master went into deep hiding in forests and valleys. When the Dazhong era began, Chancellor Lord Pei Xiu was dispatched to pacify Wanling; he invited Upādhyāya Huangbo to come out of the mountains, and the Master followed him out. From there he reached Bao'en Temple in Gusu, where he assiduously cultivated Chan meditation; for nearly twenty years his feet never crossed the threshold. Suddenly he was invited by the commandery governor to dwell at Baolin Monastery. Shortly thereafter, he was again invited to reside at Mount Zhixing. He also resided at Ciyun Monastery on Mount Qianqing, reviving the profound house style of Huangbo. One day the Master ascended the hall and said, "Disciples, even if you could explain the Buddhist teachings of the three periods of time like water poured from a pitcher, and attain hundreds of thousands of samādhis, it would not compare to cultivating the taint-free path in a single thought-instant, so as to avoid being bound by the causes and effects of gods and humans." A monk then asked, "How does one cultivate the taint-free path?" The Master said, "Directly realize it when there was not yet an ācārya." The monk said, "When there was not yet myself, who realizes it?" The Master said, "The one who realizes it is also non-existent." The monk asked, "What is easy?" The Master said, "Wearing clothes and eating food, without needing to recite sūtras or study the teachings, and without needing to practice the path, perform prostrations, burn the body, or scorch the crown of the head. Is that not easy?" The monk said, "Since this is easy, what is difficult?" The Master said, "If the slightest thought arises, the five aggregates are complete; the transmigration in the three realms and birth and death all arise from your single thought. Therefore the Buddha taught all bodhisattvas, saying, 'That which is protected and kept in mind by the Buddhas.'" Although the Master responded to capacities without wearying, he was constantly and solemnly situated in samādhi, sometimes for more than a month or for ten full days. In the third year of the Guangqi era, the Qian clan invited him down the mountain to receive offerings. Emperor Zhaozong, hearing of his spiritual transformation [of beings], bestowed upon him a purple robe. In the fifth month of the first year of the Wende era, he took leave of the assembly and passed away peacefully. He was seventy-six years of age and had been a monk for fifty-six years. His stupa was relocated to the western corner of the monastery. In the renzi year, the second month of the first year of the Jingfu era (also written as the second year of Dashun), Sun Ru of Xuanzhou raided Qiantang. Soldiers opened the stupa and saw that his whole body had not decomposed, and his nails and hair had grown. They apologized, repented, and departed. During his life the Master composed one fascicle of Verse Eulogies on Chapters of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra and one fascicle of the Treatise on Refuting the Heterodox, which are currently circulating in the world.