景德傳燈錄 5.85

5.85

司空山本淨禪師者絳州人也。姓張氏。幼歲披緇于曹谿之室受記。隸司空山無相寺。唐天寶三年玄宗遣中使楊光庭入山采常春藤。因造丈室禮問曰。弟子慕直斯久。願和尚慈悲略垂開示。師曰。天下禪宗碩學咸會京師。天使歸朝足可咨決。貧道隈山傍水無所用心。光庭泣拜。師曰。休禮貧道。天使為求佛邪問道邪。曰弟子智識昏昧。未審佛之與道其議云何。師曰。若欲求佛即心是佛。若欲會道無心是道。曰云何即心是佛。師曰。佛因心悟心以佛彰。若悟無心佛亦不有。曰云何無心是道。師曰。道本無心無心名道。若了無心無心即道。光庭作禮信受。既迴闕。庭具以山中所遇奏聞。即勅光庭詔師。十二月十三日到京勅住白蓮亭。越明年正月十五日召兩街名僧碩學。赴內道場與師闡揚佛理。時有遠禪師者。抗聲謂師曰。今對聖上校量宗旨。應須直問直答不假繁辭。只如禪師所見以何為道。師答曰。無心是道。遠曰。道因心有。何得言無心是道。師曰。道本無名因心名道。心名若有道不虛然。窮心既無道憑何立。二俱虛妄總是假名。遠曰。禪師見有身心是道以否。師曰。山僧身心本來是道。曰適言無心是道。今又言身心本來是道。豈不相違。師曰。無心是道心泯道無。心道一如故言無心是道。身心本來是道。道亦本是身心。身心本既是空。道亦窮源無有。曰觀禪師形質甚小。却會此理。師曰。大德。只見山僧相。不見山僧無相。見相者是大德所見。經云。凡所有相皆是虛妄。若見諸相非相。即悟其道。若以相為實窮劫不能悟道。曰今請禪師於相上說於無相。師曰。淨名經云。四大無主身亦無我。無我所見與道相應。大德。若以四大有主是我。若有我見窮劫不可會道也。遠公聞語失色逡巡避席。師有偈曰。

Chan Master Benjing of Mount Sikong was a native of Jiangzhou surnamed Zhang. At an early age, he shaved his head and received the prediction [of enlightenment] in the room of Caoxi. He was registered at Wuxiang Monastery on Mount Sikong. In the third year of the Tianbao era of the Tang, Xuanzong dispatched the palace commissioner Yang Guangting into the mountains to gather evergreen ivy. On that occasion, he went to the abbot's quarters and bowed, asking: "Your disciple has long admired uprightness; may the upādhyāya be compassionate and briefly bestow instruction." The Master said: "The great scholars of the Chan school throughout the realm are all assembled in the capital. When the imperial commissioner returns to court, that will be fully sufficient to inquire and resolve matters. This poor monk lurks in the mountains by the waters, with no mental effort to apply." Guangting wept and bowed. The Master said: "Cease bowing to this poor monk. Does the imperial commissioner seek the Buddha or inquire about the Way?" Guangting said: "Your disciple's intellect is dim and murky; I do not yet understand how the Buddha and the Way are discussed." The Master said: "If you wish to seek the Buddha, the mind itself is the Buddha. If you wish to understand the Way, non-mind is the Way." Guangting asked: "Why is the mind itself the Buddha?" The Master said: "The Buddha is awakened through the mind; the mind is manifested through the Buddha. If one awakens to non-mind, the Buddha also does not exist." Guangting asked: "Why is non-mind the Way?" The Master said: "The Way is fundamentally without mind; 'non-mind' is called the Way. If you comprehend non-mind, non-mind is the Way." Guangting bowed, faithfully accepted it, and returned to the palace. Guangting reported everything he had encountered in the mountains to the throne. An imperial order was immediately issued to Guangting to summon the Master. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, he arrived at the capital, and an imperial order instructed him to reside at the White Lotus Pavilion. In the following year, on the fifteenth day of the first month, famous monks and eminent scholars of the Two Streets were summoned to proceed to the inner chapel to expound the Buddhist principles together with the Master. At that time, there was a Chan Master Yuan, who raised his voice and said to the Master: "Now, before His Imperial Majesty, we are comparing and assessing the essentials of the doctrine. One must ask directly and answer directly, without using verbose expressions. Taking only what the Chan master perceives, what is the Way?" The Master answered, saying: "Non-mind is the Way." Yuan said: "The Way exists on account of the mind; how can you say that non-mind is the Way?" The Master said: "The Way is fundamentally without name; on account of the mind it is named 'the Way.' If the name 'mind' exists, the Way is not in vain. If, when the mind is thoroughly examined, it is already nonexistent, upon what does the Way rely to be established? Both are empty and false; they are entirely provisional names." Yuan said: "Does the Chan master see that having body and mind is the Way, or not?" The Master said: "This mountain monk's body and mind are originally the Way." Yuan said: "You just said that non-mind is the Way. Now you say again that body and mind are originally the Way. Are they not contradictory?" The Master said: "Non-mind is the Way: when the mind vanishes, the Way is nonexistent. Mind and the Way are suchlike; therefore it is said that non-mind is the Way. Body and mind are originally the Way; the Way is also originally body and mind. Since body and mind are fundamentally empty, when their source is probed to the utmost, the Way also does not exist." Yuan said: "Observing the Chan master's physical form, it is very small, yet you understand this principle." The Master said: "Venerable Sir, you see only this mountain monk's forms; you do not see this mountain monk's formlessness. Seeing forms is what the Venerable Sir sees. The sūtra says: 'Whatever has marks is entirely empty and false. If you see all marks as non-marks, you then awaken to that Way.' If one takes marks to be real, even through exhausting kalpas one cannot awaken to the Way." Yuan said: "Now I request the Chan master to speak of the formless upon forms." The Master said: "The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra says: 'The four great elements have no master; the body also has no self.' What is seen as without self accords with the Way. Venerable Sir, if you take the four great elements to have a master, that is a self. If you have the view of a self, even through exhausting kalpas you cannot understand the Way." When Master Yuan heard these words, his complexion changed; he hesitated and shrank back from his seat. The Master had a verse, which went: