續傳燈錄 23.7

23.7

潭州上封佛心才禪師。福州姚氏子。幼得度受具游方。至大中依海印隆禪師。見老宿達道者看經。至一毛頭師子百億毛頭一時現。師指問曰。一毛頭師子作麼生得百億毛頭一時現。達曰。汝乍入叢林豈可便理會許事。師因疑之。遂發心領淨頭職。一夕汛掃次印適夜參。至則遇結座擲拄杖曰。了即毛端吞巨海。始知大地一微塵。師豁然有省。及出閩造豫章黃龍山。與死心機不契。乃參靈源。凡入室出必揮淚自訟曰。此事我見得甚分明。秖是臨機吐不出。若為奈何。靈源知師勤篤。告以須是大徹。方得自在也。未幾竊觀隣案僧讀曹洞廣錄。至藥山採薪歸有僧問。甚麼處來。山曰。討柴來。僧指腰下刀曰。鳴剝剝是箇甚麼。山拔刀作斫勢。師忽欣然摑隣案僧一掌。揭簾趍出衝口說偈曰。徹徹大海乾枯虛空迸裂。四方八面絕遮攔。萬象森羅齊漏泄。後分座於真乘。應上封之命屢遷名剎。住乾元日開堂示眾曰。百千三昧門無量福德藏。放行也如開武庫錯落交輝。把住也似雪覆蘆花通身莫辨。使見之者撩起便行。聞之者單刀直入。箇箇具頂門正眼。人人懸肘後靈符。掃佛祖見知。作叢林殃害。憶得寶壽開堂日。三聖推出一僧。寶壽便打。三聖云。與麼為人瞎却鎮州一城人眼去在。且如乾元今日開堂。或有僧出來山僧亦打。不唯此話大行。且要開却福州一城人眼去。何也劍為不平離寶匣。藥因救病出金瓶。上堂。達磨未來東土已前。人人懷媚水之珠。箇箇抱荊山之璞。可謂壁立千仞。及乎二祖禮却三拜之後。一一南詢諸友北禮文殊。好不丈夫。或有一箇半箇。不求諸聖不重己靈。匹馬單鎗投虛置刃。不妨慶快平生。如今有麼。自是不歸歸便得。五湖煙景有誰爭。上堂。宗乘提唱妙絕名言。一句該通乾坤函蓋。直似首羅正眼竪亞面門。又如圓∴三點橫該法界。乃卓拄杖曰。向這一點下明得。出身猶可易。脫體道應難。又卓拄杖曰。向第二點下明得。縱橫三界外。隱顯十方身。又卓拄杖曰。向第三點下明得。魚龍鎖戶佛祖潛蹤。不然放過一著。隨分有春色。一枝三四花。上堂。一法有形該動植。百川湍激競朝宗。昭琴不鼓雲天淡。想像毘耶老病翁。維摩病則上封病。上封病則拄杖子病。拄杖子病則森羅萬象病。森羅萬象病則凡之與聖病。諸人還覺病本起處麼。若也覺去。情與無情同一體。處處皆同真法界。其或未然。甜瓜徹蒂甜苦瓠連根苦。

Chan Master Faxin Cai of Shangfeng in Tanzhou was a son of the Yao family of Fuzhou. He was ordained and received full ordination while young, and traveled to various regions. Arriving at Dazhong, he relied on Chan Master Haiyin Long. He saw a senior monk who had attained the Way reading a sūtra. Coming to the line, "The lion on the tip of a single hair, in a single instant appears on the tips of a hundred million hairs," the Master pointed to it and asked, "How does the lion on the tip of a single hair appear on the tips of a hundred million hairs in a single instant?"
Dadao said, "You have just entered the monastery; how can you understand such matters?"
The Master felt doubt over this. He thereupon resolved to take on the post of latrine attendant. One night while he was sweeping, Haiyin happened to hold an evening assembly. When the Master arrived, it was just as Haiyin concluded the seat, threw down his staff, and said: "When understood, the tip of a hair swallows the great sea; only then do you know the great earth is a single speck of dust." The Master had a sudden realization.
When he left Fujian, he went to Mount Huanglong in Yuzhang. His capacity did not tally with Sixin, so he went to practice under Lingyuan. Whenever he exited the abbot's room, he would weep and reproach himself, saying, "I see this matter with utter clarity; it is just that when facing the opportunity I cannot speak it out. What can be done?"
Lingyuan knew the Master was earnest and diligent, and told him, "You must achieve a great awakening before you can attain freedom."
Not long after, he secretly observed a monk at a neighboring desk reading the Extensive Record of Caodong. Arriving at the passage where Yaoshan returned from gathering firewood, a monk asked, "Where have you come from?" Yaoshan said, "I have come from gathering firewood." The monk pointed to the knife at his waist and said, "Crack-crack—what is this?" Yaoshan drew the knife and made a slashing motion. The Master suddenly rejoiced, slapped the monk at the neighboring desk, parted the curtain, rushed out, and blurted out a verse:
"Completely penetrated, completely penetrated! / The great sea dries up and empty space bursts open. / Obstructed on none of the eight sides or four directions, / The ten thousand phenomena leak out all at once!"
Later he shared the seat at Zhencheng. Answering the invitation of Shangfeng, he successively moved through famous monasteries. While residing at Qianyuan, he opened the hall and addressed the assembly: "The gates of hundreds of thousands of samādhis, the inexhaustible treasury of blessings and virtues: releasing them is like opening an armory, where weapons clash and glisten in dazzling brilliance; holding them back is like snow covering reed blossoms, undistinguishable across the whole body. Let those who see it hitch up their robes and go; let those who hear it charge straight in with a single blade! Every single one possesses the correct eye atop the crown of the head; every person hangs the wondrous talisman behind their elbow. Sweep away the conceptual views of Buddhas and Patriarchs; become a disaster to the monasteries! I recall that on the day Baoshou opened the hall, Sansheng pushed forward a monk, and Baoshou struck him at once. Sansheng said, 'Acting like this for the sake of others blinds the eyes of everyone in the whole city of Zhenzhou!' Now, as Qianyuan opens the hall today, if a monk comes forth, this mountain monk will also strike him. Not only will this story circulate widely, but it will also open the eyes of everyone in the whole city of Fuzhou! Why so? 'The sword leaves its jeweled scabbard because of injustice; medicine comes out of the golden vial because of illness.'"
Ascending the hall, he said: "Before Bodhidharma had come to this Eastern land, everyone harbored a pearl that outshone the waters, and each person held a jade from Mount Jing. It could be called a cliff standing a thousand fathoms high! But after the Second Patriarch made his three prostrations, one by one they traveled south to seek friends and bowed north to worship Mañjuśrī. How unmanly! If there were one or a half who did not seek the sages and did not hold dear their own numinous nature, who threw themselves unarmed with a single horse and a single spear into empty space and took up the blade, it would be thoroughly gratifying for a lifetime! Are there any such persons today? 'Naturally you do not return; if you returned, you would have it: who contends for the misty scenery of the five lakes?'"
Ascending the hall, he said: "The instructional discourse of the ancestral vehicle wonderfully transcends names and words. A single phrase comprehensively covers heaven and earth. It is just like the correct eye of Śūra, set vertically right between the eyebrows; or like the three dots of the character ∴, horizontally encompassing the Dharma realm." He then struck his staff and said: "If you understand under this first dot, leaving behind this body is still easy, but shedding the substance of the Way must be difficult." He struck his staff again and said: "If you understand under the second dot, you move freely outside the three realms, appearing and disappearing as the body of the ten directions." He struck his staff again and said: "If you understand under the third dot, fish and dragons are locked within the gate, and Buddhas and Patriarchs conceal their tracks. If not, I let one move pass: 'According to one's lot there is the color of spring; on a single branch are three or four flowers.'"
Ascending the hall, he said: "'A single phenomenon has form, encompassing the moving and the rooted; a hundred streams rush forth, competing to pay homage to the court. The zither of Zhao is not played, the cloudy sky is pale; imagine the old sick gentleman of Vaiśālī.' If Vimalakīrti is sick, then Shangfeng is sick; if Shangfeng is sick, then the staff is sick; if the staff is sick, then all phenomena in the universe are sick; if all phenomena in the universe are sick, then both ordinary beings and sages are sick. Do all of you perceive the place where the root of illness arises? If you perceive it, sentient and insentient share the same substance; everywhere is the identical true Dharma realm. If not yet so: 'A sweet melon is sweet down to its stem; a bitter gourd is bitter right to its root.'"