續傳燈錄 17.6

17.6

明州天童宏智正覺禪師。隰州李氏子。母夢五臺一僧解環與環其右臂。乃孕遂齋戒。及生右臂特起若環狀。七歲日誦數千言。祖寂父宗道久參佛陀遜禪師。甞指師謂其父曰。此子道韻勝甚非塵埃中人。苟出家必為法器。十一得度於淨明本宗。十四具戒十八遊方。訣其祖曰。若不發明大事誓不歸矣。及至汝州香山。成枯木一見深所器重。一日聞僧誦蓮經。至父母所生眼悉見三千界。瞥然有省。即詣丈室陳所悟。山指臺上香合曰。裏面是甚麼物。師曰。是甚麼心行。山曰。汝悟處又作麼生。師以手畫一圓相呈之。復拋向後。山曰。弄泥團漢有甚麼限。師曰錯。山曰。別見人始得。師應喏喏。即造丹霞。霞問。如何是空劫以前自己。師曰。井底蝦蟇吞却月。三更不借夜明簾。霞曰。未在更道。師擬議。霞打一拂子曰。又道不借。師言下釋然遂作禮。霞曰。何不道取一句。師曰。某甲今日失錢遭罪。霞曰。未暇打得爾且去。霞領大洪師掌牋記。後命首眾。得法者已數人。四年過圓通。時真歇初住長蘆。遣僧邀至眾出迎。見其衣舃穿弊且易之。真歇俾侍者易以新履。師却曰。吾為鞋來邪。眾聞心服懇求說法。居第一座六年。出住泗州普照。次補太平圓通能仁。及長蘆天童屋廬湫隘。師至創闢一新衲子爭集。上堂。黃閤簾垂誰傳家信。紫羅帳合暗撒真珠。正恁麼時視聽有所不到。言詮有所不及。如何通得箇消息去。夢回夜色依稀曉。笑指家風爛熳春。上堂。心不能緣口不能議。直饒退步荷擔。切忌當頭觸諱。風月寒清古渡頭。夜船撥轉琉璃地。上堂。空劫有真宗。聲前問己躬。赤窮新活計。清白舊家風。的的三乘外。寥寥一印中。却來行異類。萬派自朝東。上堂。今日是釋迦老子降誕之辰。長蘆不解說禪與諸人畫箇樣子。秖如在摩耶胎時作麼生。以拂子畫此⊙相曰。秖如以清淨水浴金色身時又作麼生。復畫此[○@水]相曰。秖如周行七步。目顧四方指天指地。成道說法神通變化。智慧辯才四十九年三百餘會。說青道黃指東畫西入般涅槃時又作麼生。乃畫此⊕相。復曰。若是具眼衲僧必也相許。其或未然一一歷過始得。上堂僧問。如何是向去底人。師曰。白雲投壑盡。青嶂倚空高。曰如何是却來底人。師曰。滿頭白髮離岩谷。半夜穿雲入市鄽。曰如何是不來不去底人。師曰。石女喚回三界夢。木人坐斷六門機。乃曰。句裏明宗則易。宗中辯的則難。良久曰。還會麼。凍雞未報家林曉。隱隱行人過雪山。僧問。一絲不著時如何。師曰。合同船子並頭行。曰其中事作麼生。師曰。快刀快斧斫不入。問布袋頭開時如何。師曰。一任填溝塞壑。問清虛之理畢竟無身時如何。師曰。文彩未痕初。消息難傳際。曰一步密移玄路轉。通身放下劫壺空。師曰。誕生就父時合體無遺照。曰理既如是事作麼生。師曰。歷歷纔回分化事。十方機應又何妨。曰恁麼則塵塵皆現本來身去也。師曰。透一切色超一切心。曰如理如事又作麼生。師曰。路逢死蛇莫打殺。無底籃子盛將歸。曰入市能長嘯。歸家著短衫。師曰。木人嶺上歌。石女溪邊舞。上堂。諸禪德。吞盡三世佛底人。為甚麼開口不得。照破四天下底人。為甚麼合眼不得。許多病痛與爾一時拈却了也。且作麼生得十成通暢去。還會麼。擘開華岳連天色。放出黃河到海聲。師住持以來受無貪而施無厭。歲艱食竭己有及瞻眾之餘賴全活者數萬。日常過午不食。紹興丁丑九月謁郡僚及檀度。次謁越帥趙公令詪與之言別。十月七日還山。翌日辰巳間沐浴更衣端坐告眾。顧侍僧索筆作書遺育王大慧禪師請主後事。仍書偈曰。夢幻空花六十七年白鳥煙沒秋水連天。擲筆而逝。龕留七日顏貌如生。奉全軀塔于東谷。諡宏智。塔名妙光。

Chan Master Hongzhi Zhengjue of Mount Tiantong in Mingzhou was a son of the Li family of Xizhou. His mother dreamed that a monk from Mount Wutai took off a ring and placed it on her right arm; she then became pregnant and subsequently maintained a vegetarian diet. When he was born, his right arm had a distinctive raised marking resembling a ring. At seven years of age, he recited thousands of words daily. His grandfather Ji and his father Zongdao had long practiced under Chan Master Fotuo Xun. Xun once pointed at the Master and said to his father, "This child has an extraordinary spiritual bearing; he is truly not one to linger in the dust. If he leaves home, he will surely become a vessel of the Dharma." At eleven, he was tonsured under Benzong of Jingming. At fourteen, he received full ordination. At eighteen, he went on itinerant pilgrimage. Parting from his grandfather, he said, "If I do not elucidate the Great Matter, I vow never to return." When he arrived at Xiangshan in Ruzhou, Kumucheng regarded him with profound esteem upon their first meeting. One day, hearing a monk recite the Lotus Sūtra up to the passage "The eyes born of father and mother completely see the three thousand realms," he had a sudden realization. He went straight to the abbot's quarters to state his realization. Shan pointed to an incense box on the stand and said, "What thing is inside?" The Master said, "What kind of mental activity is that?" Shan said, "What then is the place of your awakening?" The Master drew a circle with his hand, presented it, and then cast it behind him. Shan said, "What limit is there to a fellow playing with clumps of mud?" The Master said, "Wrong!" Shan said, "Only when you see another person will it be settled." The Master gave his assent, and immediately proceeded to Danxia. Danxia asked, "What is your self from before the empty kalpa?" The Master said, "A frog at the bottom of the well swallows up the moon; at midnight there is no borrowing of the night-bright curtain." Danxia said, "Not quite yet; say more!" As the Master hesitated, Danxia struck him with his whisk and said, "And you still say there is no borrowing!" The Master was completely freed at these words and thereupon paid homage. Danxia said, "Why do you not utter a phrase?" The Master said, "Today I have lost money and suffered punishment." Danxia said, "I have no time to beat you; begone for now." When Danxia assumed leadership at Dahong, the Master was placed in charge of correspondence. Later, he was appointed head of the assembly. Those who attained the Dharma under him already numbered several persons. After four years, he passed by Yuantong. At that time, Zhenxie had just become abbot of Changlu; he sent monks to invite the Master, and the community came out to welcome him. Seeing that his robes and sandals were worn and torn, they wished to replace them. Zhenxie had an attendant offer new shoes, but the Master declined, saying, "Did I come here for the sake of shoes?" Hearing this, the community was deeply impressed and earnestly requested him to preach the Dharma. He stayed as head monk for six years. Leaving there, he became abbot of Puzhao in Sizhou, and next succeeded to Taiping, Yuantong, and Nengren. When he came to Changlu and Tiantong, the monastic quarters were cramped and dilapidated; upon his arrival, he built and renewed them completely, and patch-robed monks vied to gather there. He ascended the hall and said: "The curtain hangs in the Yellow Hall—who transmits the family letter? The purple gauze canopy closes—secretly scattering genuine pearls. At just such a moment, seeing and hearing cannot reach it, and verbal explanation cannot grasp it. How can a message be conveyed? / Waking from a dream, the night color faintly hints at dawn; / Laughing, I point to the house style—luxuriant spring." He ascended the hall and said: "The mind cannot condition it; the mouth cannot deliberate it. Even if you step back and take up the burden, you must strictly avoid striking against the taboo head-on. / The wind and moon are chill and clear at the ancient ferry; / The night boat turns around upon the ground of lapis lazuli." He ascended the hall and said: "In the empty kalpa there is the true lineage; / Before sound, inquire into one's own person. / A starkly penniless new livelihood; / A clear and unblemished ancient house style. / Clearly outside the Three Vehicles; / Solitary within the one seal. / Returning, one acts among different kinds; / Ten thousand streams naturally flow toward the east." He ascended the hall and said: "Today is the anniversary of Old Śākya's descent and birth. Changlu does not know how to speak of Chan, so I shall draw an outline for all of you. What about when he was in Māyā's womb?" Drawing this ⊙ circle with his whisk, he said, "And what about when his golden body was bathed with pure water?" He then drew this [○@水] circle, saying, "And what about when he walked seven steps, looked in the four directions, pointed to heaven and pointed to earth, attained awakening, spoke the Dharma, displayed spiritual transformations, exhibited wisdom and eloquence, over forty-nine years in more than three hundred assemblies, talking of blue and yellow, pointing east and sketching west, and entering parinirvāṇa?" He then drew this ⊕ circle, and continued, "If you are patch-robed monks with eyes, you will surely agree. If not, you must experience each and every one before it is settled." Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "What is the person who goes forward?" The Master said, "White clouds plunge into the ravine completely; green cliffs lean high against the sky." The monk said, "What is the person who returns?" The Master said, "With a head full of white hair, he leaves the crags and valleys; at midnight, piercing through the clouds, he enters the marketplace." The monk said, "What is the person who neither comes nor goes?" The Master said, "The stone woman calls back the dream of the three realms; the wooden man sits and cuts off the functioning of the six gates." He then said: "To clarify the lineage within phrases is easy; to discern the exact within the lineage is hard." After a long pause, he said: "Do you understand? / Before the frozen rooster announces dawn in the family grove, / Dimly, a wayfarer passes over the snow-covered mountains." A monk asked, "What about when not a single thread is clinging?" The Master said, "Joining together with the boatman, walking abreast." The monk said, "What is the matter within that?" The Master said, "A sharp knife or a sharp axe cannot hack into it." A monk asked, "What about when the mouth of the cloth bag is opened?" The Master said, "Freely let it fill the ditches and choke the ravines." A monk asked, "What about when the principle of pure emptiness is ultimately without a body?" The Master said, "Before the ink-marks leave a trace, at the moment when the message is hard to transmit." The monk said, "One step is secretly shifted, and the mysterious path turns; the whole body is laid down, and the kalpa vase is emptied." The Master said, "When born and approaching the father, the united body leaves no residual illumination." The monk said, "Since the principle is like this, what about the phenomenon?" The Master said, "As soon as it distinctly turns into the work of divided transformation, what harm is there in responding to faculties throughout the ten directions?" The monk said, "If so, then every single dust particle manifests the original body!" The Master said, "Penetrating all form, transcending all mind." The monk said, "What about when principle and phenomenon are united?" The Master said, "Meeting a dead snake on the road, do not beat it to death; put it in a bottomless basket and carry it home." The monk said, "Entering the market, one can whistle long; returning home, one wears a short coat." The Master said, "The wooden man sings upon the ridge; the stone woman dances by the stream." He ascended the hall and said: "Chan worthies! Why can the person who completely swallows the Buddhas of the three times not open his mouth? Why can the person who illuminates and shatters the four continents not close his eyes? All these ailments have been taken away for you all at once. Now, how will you achieve complete, ten-fold liberation? Do you understand? / Cleaving open Mount Hua, connecting with the color of heaven; / Releasing the Yellow River, sounding forth all the way to the sea." Since assuming the abbacy, the Master received without greed and gave without satiety. In years of famine and scarcity, he exhausted his own possessions and whatever remained after caring for the community, so that tens of thousands relied upon him to survive. In his daily routine, he did not eat after noon. In the ninth month of the dingchou year of the Shaoxing era, he visited the prefectural officials and donors, and next visited the military commissioner of Yue, Lord Zhao Lingjin, to bid him farewell. On the seventh day of the tenth month, he returned to the mountain. The next day, between the hours of the Dragon and the Snake (7–11 a.m.), he bathed, changed robes, sat upright, and addressed the assembly. Turning to an attendant monk, he asked for a brush and wrote a letter leaving instructions to Chan Master Dahui of Yuwang to take charge of the funeral arrangements. He then wrote a gāthā: / 'Dream, illusion, empty flowers—sixty-seven years; / A white bird dissolves in the mist, autumn waters merge with heaven.' / He threw down the brush and passed away. His shrine was kept for seven days, and his countenance looked as if alive. His whole body was enshrined in a stupa in the Eastern Valley. He was granted the posthumous title Hongzhi, and his stupa was named Miaoguang.