景德傳燈錄 15.4

15.4

朗州德山宣鑒禪師。劍南人也。姓周氏。丱歲出家依年受具精究律藏。於性相諸經貫通旨趣。常講金剛般若。時謂之周金剛。厥後訪尋禪宗。因謂同學曰。一毛吞海海性無虧。纖芥投鋒鋒利不動。學與無學唯我知焉。因造龍潭信禪師。問答皆一語而已（前章出之）師即時辭去。龍潭留之。一夕於室外默坐。龍問。何不歸來。師對曰黑。龍乃點燭與師。師擬接。龍便吹滅。師乃禮拜。龍曰。見什麼。曰從今向去不疑天下老和尚舌頭也。至明日便發。龍潭謂諸徒曰。可中有一箇漢。牙如劍樹口似血盆。一棒打不迴頭。他時向孤峯頂上立吾道在。師抵于溈山。從法堂西過東迴視方丈。溈山無語。師曰。無也無也。便出至僧堂前乃曰。然雖如此不得草草。遂具威儀上再參。才跨門提起坐具喚曰。和尚。溈山擬取拂子。師喝之揚袂而出。溈山晚間問大眾。今日新到僧何在。對曰。那僧見和尚了更不顧僧堂便去也。溈山問眾。還識遮阿師也無。眾曰。不識溈曰。是伊將來有把茅蓋頭。罵佛罵祖去在。師住澧陽三十年。屬唐武宗廢教。避難於獨浮山之石室。大中初武陵太守薛廷望再崇德山精舍。號古德禪院（相國裴休題額見存）將訪求哲匠住持。聆師道行屢請不下山。廷望乃設詭計。遣吏以茶鹽誣之言犯禁法。取師入州瞻禮。堅請居之。大闡宗風（總印禪師開山創院鑒即第二世住也）師上堂謂眾曰。於己無事則勿妄求。妄求而得亦非得也。汝但無事於心無心於事。則虛而靈空而妙。若毛端許言之本末者皆為自欺。毫氂繫念三塗業因。瞥爾生情萬劫羇鎖。聖名凡號盡是虛聲。殊相劣形皆為幻色。汝欲求之得無累乎。及其厭之又成大患。終而無益。師上堂曰。今夜不得問話。問話者三十拄杖。時有僧出方禮拜。師乃打之。僧曰。某甲話也未問。和尚因什麼打某甲。師曰。汝是什麼處人。曰新羅人。師曰。汝未跨船舷時便好與三十拄杖（法眼云。大小德山語作兩橛。玄覺云。叢林中喚作隔下語且從。只如德山道問話者三十拄杖意作麼生）有僧到參。師問維那。今日幾人新到。對曰。八人。師曰。將來一時生案著。龍牙問。學人仗鏌鎁劍擬取師頭時如何。師引頸（法眼別云。汝向什麼處下手）龍牙曰。頭落也。師微笑。龍牙後到洞山舉前語。洞山曰。德山道什麼。云德山無語。洞山曰。莫道無語。且將德山落底頭呈似老僧。龍牙省過懺謝。有人舉似師。師曰。洞山老人。不識好惡。遮箇漢死來多少時。救得有什麼用處。僧問。如何是菩薩。師打曰。出去莫向遮裏屙。僧問。如何是佛。師曰。佛即是西天老比丘。雪峯問。從上宗風以何法示人。師曰。我宗無語句。實無一法與人。巖頭聞之曰。德山老人一條脊梁骨硬似鐵拗不折。然雖如此於唱教門中猶較些子（保福拈問招慶。只如巖頭出世有何言教過。於德山便恁麼道。慶云。汝不見巖頭道。如人學射久久方中。福云。中時如何。慶云。展闍黎莫不識痛痒。福云。和尚今日非唯舉話。慶云。展闍黎是什麼心行。明昭云。大小招慶錯下名言）師尋常遇僧到參。多以拄杖打。臨濟聞之遣侍者來參。教令德山若打汝但接取拄杖當胸一拄。侍者到方禮拜。師乃打。侍者接得拄杖與一拄。師歸方丈。侍者迴舉似臨濟。濟云。後來疑遮箇漢（巖頭云。德山老人尋常只據目前一箇杖子。佛來亦打祖來亦打。爭奈較些子。東禪齊云。只如臨濟道我從前疑遮漢。是肯底語不肯語。為當別有道理。試斷看）師上堂曰。問即有過不問又乖。有僧出禮拜。師便打。僧曰。某甲始禮拜。為什麼便打。師曰。待汝開口堪作什麼。師令侍者喚義存（即雪峯也）存上來。師曰。我自喚義存。汝又來作什麼。存無對。師見僧來乃閉門。其僧敲門。師曰。阿誰。曰師子兒。師乃開門。僧禮拜。師便騎項曰。遮畜生什麼處去來。雪峯問。古人斬猫兒意如何。師乃打趁。却喚師。會麼。峯曰。不會。師曰。我恁麼老婆也不會。僧問。凡聖相去多少。師便喝。師因疾有僧問。還有不病者無。師曰有。曰如何是不病者。師曰。阿邪阿邪。師復告諸徒曰。捫空追響。勞汝心神。夢覺覺非竟有何事。言訖安坐而化。即唐咸通六年乙酉十二月三日也。壽八十六。臘六十五。勅諡見性大師。

Chan Master Xuanjian of Deshan in Langzhou was a native of Jiannan, surnamed Zhou. He went forth from the household life in his youth, received the full precepts according to the prescribed age, and investigated the Vinaya Piṭaka with precision. He thoroughly penetrated the essential import of the various sūtras of nature and characteristics. Frequently lecturing on the Diamond Prajñā, he was known at the time as "Zhou Diamond." Later, he sought out the Chan lineage, and accordingly said to his fellow students, "A single hair swallows the ocean, yet the nature of the ocean is not diminished; a minute mustard seed is cast upon the tip of an awl, yet the awl's sharp point does not budge. The states of learning and non-learning are known only to me." Thereupon he visited Chan Master Longtan Chongxin. Their questions and answers consisted of only a single phrase (this has appeared in the preceding chapter). The Master immediately took his leave, but Longtan detained him. One evening he was sitting silently outside the room. Longtan asked, "Why do you not return?" The Master replied, "It is dark." Longtan then lit a candle and handed it to the Master. Just as the Master was about to take it, Longtan blew it out. The Master then bowed. Longtan said, "What have you seen?" He said, "From now on, I will not doubt the tongues of the venerable old upādhyāyas under heaven." The next day he set out. Longtan said to the assembly of disciples, "Among them is a fellow whose fangs are like a forest of swords, whose mouth is like a basin of blood; though struck with a staff, he does not turn his head. In the future, he will establish my Way atop an isolated peak." The Master arrived at Guishan. Crossing from the west of the Dharma hall to the east, he looked back at the abbot's quarters. Guishan remained silent. The Master said, "Nothing, nothing!" He then walked out. Arriving in front of the monks' hall, he said, "Although it is like this, I must not be negligent." He thereupon donned his full deportment and went up to pay his respects again. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he lifted his sitting mat and called out, "Upādhyāya!" Guishan was about to take up his whisk when the Master shouted, shook his sleeves, and walked out. In the evening, Guishan asked the community, "Where is the newly arrived monk from today?" They replied, "Having seen the upādhyāya, that monk did not look back at the monks' hall and left." Guishan asked the community, "Do you know that master?" The community said, "We do not know him." Guishan said, "In the future, that fellow will have a bundle of thatch over his head, reviling the Buddhas and reviling the patriarchs." The Master lived in Liyang for thirty years. During the persecution of the teachings by Emperor Wuzong of the Tang, he took refuge in a stone grotto on Mount Dufoushan. In the early years of the Dazhong era, Xue Tingwang, the Prefect of Wuling, rebuilt the Deshan monastery, naming it the Gude Chan Monastery (the plaque inscribed by Prime Minister Pei Xiu still exists). Seeking an eminent master to serve as abbot, he heard of the Master's practice of the Way and repeatedly invited him, but he would not descend the mountain. Tingwang then devised a ruse, dispatching officials to fabricate a charge of tea and salt smuggling, alleging that he had violated the prohibitions of the law. They brought the Master into the prefecture to pay respects, and firmly implored him to reside there. He greatly propagated the tradition of the school. (Chan Master Zongyin opened the mountain and founded the monastery; Xuanjian was the second generation to reside there.) The Master ascended the hall and addressed the assembly, saying, "If you have nothing to do with yourself, do not seek falsely. Even if obtained through false seeking, it is not true attainment. Just have nothing to do in your mind, and no mind toward things; then you will be open and luminous, empty and wondrous. If you speak of beginning and end by even a hair's breadth, it is all self-deception. A thread-like thought bound in mind is the karmic cause for the three destinies; a transient stirring of passion is the fetter of ten thousand kalpas. Sacred titles and mundane names are all empty sounds; exquisite forms and inferior shapes are all illusory colors. If you wish to seek them, how can you be free of burden? When you come to abhor them, that again turns into a great affliction. In the end, there is no benefit." The Master ascended the hall and said, "Tonight there must be no asking of questions. Whoever asks a question will receive thirty blows of the staff." At that time, a monk came forward and had just bowed when the Master struck him. The monk said, "I have not yet asked a question. Why does the upādhyāya strike me?" The Master said, "Where are you from?" He said, "A man of Silla." The Master said, "Before you even stepped across the ship's gunwale, you deserved thirty blows of the staff!" (Fayan said, "Great and small Deshan's words are cut into two pieces." Xuanjue said, "In the monasteries this is called 'words below the screen,' which may be granted; but what was Deshan's intention in saying that whoever asks a question gets thirty blows of the staff?") A monk came to pay respects. The Master asked the karmadāna, "How many new arrivals today?" He replied, "Eight." The Master said, "Bring them forth and bury them alive at once!" Longya asked, "When a student brandishes the Moyu sword and intends to take the Master's head, what then?" The Master stretched out his neck. (Fayan said separately, "Where would you strike?") Longya said, "The head has fallen!" The Master smiled faintly. Later, Longya went to Dongshan and recounted these words. Dongshan said, "What did Deshan say?" Longya said, "Deshan had no words." Dongshan said, "Do not say he had no words. Just bring Deshan's fallen head and present it to this old monk." Longya realized his error and repented. Someone recounted this to the Master. The Master said, "Old man Dongshan does not know good from bad. That fellow has been dead for how long? What is the use of trying to save him?" A monk asked, "What is a bodhisattva?" 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 of the Western Heavens." Xuefeng asked, "With what Dharma have those from antiquity downward in our ancestral tradition instructed people?" The Master said, "Our school has no words and phrases; in truth there is not a single Dharma to give to people." Yantou heard of this and said, "Old man Deshan has a backbone as hard as iron, which cannot be bent and broken. Even so, regarding the gate of preaching the teachings, he still falls short a little bit." (Baofu brought this up and asked Zhaoqing, "Regarding Yantou's coming into the world, what verbal teaching did he have that surpassed Deshan's, that he spoke thus?" Zhaoqing said, "Have you not seen Yantou say: 'It is like a man learning archery; only after a long time does he hit the mark'?" Baofu said, "When he hits the mark, what then?" Zhaoqing said, "Acārya Zhan, are you insensible to pain and itch?" Baofu said, "Today the upādhyāya is not merely bringing up a topic." Zhaoqing said, "Acārya Zhan, what kind of mental activity is this?" Mingzhao said, "Great and small Zhaoqing wrongly applied names and words.") Whenever monks came to pay respects, the Master would mostly strike them with his staff. Linji heard of this and sent an attendant to pay respects, instructing him, "If Deshan strikes you, just seize his staff and poke him right in the chest with it." When the attendant arrived, just as he was bowing, the Master struck him. The attendant seized the staff and gave him a poke with it. The Master returned to the abbot's quarters. The attendant returned and recounted this to Linji. Linji said, "I have always suspected this fellow." (Yantou said, "Old man Deshan usually relies only on the single staff before his eyes; if a Buddha comes, he strikes, and if a patriarch comes, he strikes. Yet what can be done about his falling short a little bit?" Dongchan Qi said, "As for Linji saying 'I have always suspected this fellow,' are these words of approval or words of disapproval? Or is there another principle altogether? Try to determine it!") The Master ascended the hall and said, "To ask is an error; not to ask is also contrary." A monk came out and bowed. The Master struck him immediately. The monk said, "I had only just bowed. Why strike me at once?" The Master said, "If I wait for you to open your mouth, what will you be fit for?" The Master ordered an attendant to summon Yicun (who was Xuefeng). Yicun came up. The Master said, "I called Yicun myself. What have you come for?" Yicun had no reply. The Master saw a monk coming and closed the door. The monk knocked on the door. The Master said, "Who is it?" He said, "A lion cub." The Master opened the door. The monk bowed. The Master sat astride his neck and said, "Where has this beast been?" Xuefeng asked, "What was the meaning of the ancient one cutting the cat in two?" The Master struck and drove him away. Then he called him back, "Do you understand?" Xuefeng said, "I do not understand." The Master said, "Even with my kind grandmotherly [heart], you still do not understand." A monk asked, "How far apart are the mundane and the sacred?" The Master gave a shout. Once, when the Master was ill, a monk asked, "Is there one who is not ill?" The Master said, "There is." He asked, "What is the one who is not ill?" The Master said, "Ouch, ouch!" The Master again addressed his disciples, saying, "Groping at emptiness and chasing echoes only wearies your mind and spirit. Awakening from a dream, one realizes the unreality—in the end, what matter is there?" Having spoken these words, he sat peacefully and passed away. It was the third day of the twelfth month in the second year of the Xiantong era of the Tang (yiyou). He was eighty-six years old, with sixty-five summer retreats. By imperial decree, he was posthumously granted the title Great Master Jianxing (Seeing Nature).