續傳燈錄 25.8

25.8

舒州龍門清遠佛眼禪師。臨卭李氏子。嚴正寡言。十四圓具依毘尼究其說。因讀法華經。至是法非思量分別之所能解。持以問講師。講師莫能答。師嘆曰。義學名相非所以了生死大事。遂卷衣南游。造舒州太平演禪師法席。因丐於廬州。偶兩足跌仆地。煩懣間聞二人交相惡罵。諫者曰。爾猶自煩惱在。師於言下有省。及歸凡有所問。演即曰。我不如爾爾自會得好或曰。我不會我不如爾。師愈疑遂咨決於元禮首座。禮乃以手引師之耳繞圍爐數匝。且行且語曰。爾自會得好。師曰。有冀開發乃爾相戲耶。禮曰。爾他後悟去方知今日曲折耳。太平將遷海會。師慨然曰。吾持鉢方歸復參。隨往一荒院。安能究決已事耶。遂作偈告辭之蔣山坐夏。邂逅靈源禪師日益厚善。從容言話間。師曰。比見都下一尊宿語句似有緣。靈源曰。演公天下第一等宗師。何故捨而事遠遊。所謂有緣者蓋知解之師。與公初心相應耳。師從所勉徑趨海會。後命典謁。適寒夜孤坐。撥爐見火一豆許。恍然自喜曰。深深撥有些子。平生事只如此。遽起閱几上傳燈錄。至破竈墮因緣忽大悟。作偈曰。刀刀林鳥啼。披衣終夜坐。撥火悟平生。窮神歸破墮。事皎人自迷。曲淡誰能和。念之永不忘。門開少人過。圓悟因詣其寮。舉青林般土話驗之。且謂。古今無人出得。爾如何會。師曰。也有甚難。悟曰。秖如他道鐵輪天子寰中旨意作麼生。師曰。我道帝釋宮中放赦書。悟退語人曰。且喜遠兄便有活人句也。自是隱居四面大中菴。屬天下一新崇寧萬壽寺。舒守王公渙之命師開法。次補龍門道望尤振。後遷和之褒禪。樞密鄧公洵武奏賜師號紫衣。上堂。臺山路上過客全稀。破竈堂前感恩無地。雪埋庭柏氷鎖偃谿。雖在南方火爐頭。不入他家虀甕裏。看看臈月三十日。便是孟春猶寒。爾等諸人。各須努力向前。切忌自生退屈。上堂卓拄杖曰。圓明了知不由心念。抵死要道墮坑落塹。畢竟如何。乃倚拄杖下座。上堂。泡幻同無礙。如何不了悟。眼裏瞳人吹叫子達法在其中。非今亦非古。六隻骰子滿盆紅。大眾時人為甚麼坐地看揚州鉢盂著栖新翻樣。牛上騎牛笑殺人。上堂。趙州不見南泉。山僧不識五祖。甜瓜徹蔕甜。苦瓠連根苦。上堂。一葉落天下春。無路尋思笑殺人。下是天上是地。此言不入時流意。南作北東作西。動而止喜而悲。蛇頭蝎尾一試之。猛虎口裏活雀兒。是何言歸堂去。上堂。千說萬說不如親面一見。縱不說亦自分明。王子寶刀喻。眾盲摸象喻。禪學中隔江招手事。望州亭相見事。逈絕無人處事。深山巖崖處事。此皆親面而見之。不在說也。上堂。蘇武牧羊辱而不屈。李陵望漢樂以忘歸。是在外國在本國。佛諸弟子中。有者雙足越坑。有者聆箏起舞。有者身埋糞壤。有者呵罵河神。是習氣是妙用。至於擎叉打地竪拂敲床。睦州一向閉門。魯祖終年面壁。是為人是不為人。信知一切凡夫埋沒寶藏。殊不丈夫。諸人何不能擺柁張帆拋江過岸休。更釘樁搖艣何日到家。既作曹溪人又是家裏漢。還見家裏事麼。僧問。劫火洞然大千俱壞。未審這箇壞不壞。師曰。黑漆桶裏黃金色。問道遠乎哉。觸事而真如何是道。師曰。頂上八尺五。曰此理如何。師曰。方圓七八寸。問劫火威音前。別是一壺天。御樓前射獵。不是刈茅田。提起坐具曰。這箇喚作什麼。師曰。正是刈茅田。僧便喝。師曰。猶作主在。問僧。孤燈獨照時如何。僧無對。師代曰。露柱證明。師聞開靜板聲乃曰。據欵結案。師嘗題語于龍門延壽壁間曰。佛許有病者當療治。容有將息所也。禪林凡有數名。或曰涅槃。見法身常住了法不生也。或曰省行。知此違緣皆從行苦也。或曰延壽。欲得慧命扶持色身也。其實使人了生死處也。多見少覺微恙便入此堂。不強支吾便有補益。及乎久病思念鄉閭不善。退思滅除苦本。先聖云。病者眾生之良藥。若善服食無不瘥者也。宣和初以病辭歸蔣山之東堂。二年書雲前一日飯食訖趺坐。謂其徒曰。諸方老宿臨終必留偈辭世。世可辭邪且將安往。廼合掌怡然趨寂。門人函骨歸龍門塔于靈光臺側。

Chan Master Foyan Qingyuan of Longmen in Shuzhou was a son of the Li family of Linqiong. He was stern, upright, and of few words. At fourteen he received full ordination, and relying on the Vinaya, investigated its teachings. When reading the Lotus Sūtra, he came to the passage: 'This Dharma cannot be understood through thought or discrimination.' Taking this, he questioned a lecturing master, but the lecturer could not answer. The master sighed and said, 'The nominal characteristics of doctrinal study are not the means to resolve the great matter of birth and death.' Thereupon he rolled up his robes and traveled south, arriving at the Dharma seat of Chan Master [Fayan] Yan of Taiping in Shuzhou. Once, while begging for food in Luzhou, both his feet accidentally slipped and he fell to the ground. In his distress and frustration, he heard two people violently cursing each other. A bystander reproving them said, 'Are you still harboring affliction?' The master had an awakening at these words. Upon returning, whenever he had a question, Yan would just say, 'I am not as good as you; you understand very well yourself,' or would say, 'I do not understand; I am not as good as you.' The master grew even more doubtful, so he consulted Head Monk Yuanli to resolve it. Li then took the master's ear in his hand, led him around the hearth several times, and as he walked, said, 'You understand very well yourself.' The master said, 'I hoped for an opening; why do you mock me like this?' Li said, 'Later, when you awaken, only then will you understand today's twists and turns.' When Taiping was about to move to Haihui, the master lamented, 'I have just returned from holding my bowl to practice again, and following along to a desolate monastery, how could I thoroughly resolve my own matter?' Thereupon he composed a verse, took his leave, and went to Jiangshan to spend the summer retreat. There he met Chan Master Lingyuan, and their friendship grew deeper by the day. In the midst of leisurely conversation, the master said, 'Lately I saw a venerable elder in the capital whose words seemed to accord with my affinity.' Lingyuan said, 'Master Yan is the foremost lineage master under heaven. Why discard him to engage in distant travel? What you call having an affinity is merely a master of intellectual understanding who happens to correspond with your initial mind.' Following his encouragement, the master went straight to Haihui. Later, he was appointed guest master. Sitting alone on a cold night, he poked the hearth and saw a tiny spark of fire like a single bean. Startled into self-delight, he said, 'Deeply poked, there is a tiny bit! The business of a whole life is just like this.' He immediately got up and read the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp on his desk. When he reached the nidāna of the Broken Stove Breaker, he suddenly had a great awakening. He composed a verse: 'Chirp, chirp, the forest birds cry; / Throwing on my robes, I sit through the night. / Poking the fire, I awoke to my whole life; / Exhausting the spirit, I return to the Broken Stove. / The matter is clear, yet people delude themselves; / The melody is subtle—who can harmonize? / Remembering it, I will never forget: / The gate stands open, yet few pass through.' Because of this, Yuanwu went to his quarters and cited the case of Qinglin carrying soil to test him, adding, 'Past and present, no one has been able to step out of this. How do you understand it?' The master said, 'What difficulty is there in that?' Yuanwu said, 'Just as he said, "What is the intention within the realm of the Iron-Wheel Heavenly King?"' The master said, 'I say: an imperial amnesty is proclaimed in Śakra's palace.' Yuanwu stepped back and told others, 'Fortunately, Brother Yuan has a phrase that brings people to life!' From then on, he lived in seclusion at the Sizhuan Dazhong Hermitage. It happened that the Chongning Wanshou Monastery was newly renovated under heaven, and Wang Huanzhi, the prefect of Shuzhou, invited the master to open the Dharma hall. Next, he succeeded to Longmen, where his reputation for the Dao flourished even more. Later, he was transferred to Baochan in Hezhou. Privy Councillor Deng Xunwu memorialized to grant him a purple robe and a title. He ascended the hall: 'On the road to Mount Tai, wayfarers are entirely scarce; / Before the hall of the Broken Stove, there is no place to repay kindness. / Snow buries the courtyard cypress; ice locks Yanchi creek. / Though by the hearth in the South, / I do not enter into another's pickle jar. / Look, look! On the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, / It is the first month of spring, yet still cold. / All of you must strive forward; on no account give rise to retreating.' Ascending the hall, he struck his staff and said, 'Complete, luminous awareness does not depend on mind or thought. Insisting to the death on speaking, one falls into pits and tumbles into ditches. In the end, what is it?' Thereupon, leaning on his staff, he stepped down from his seat. Ascending the hall: 'Illusory bubbles are alike without obstruction— / Why do you not thoroughly awaken? / The pupil in the eye blows a whistle; / The penetrative Dharma is within it, / Neither present nor past. / Six dice, the entire basin is red! / Assembly, why do the people of today sit on the ground looking at Yangzhou? An alms bowl resting on its stand—a newly altered pattern! / Riding an ox atop an ox—it makes one die of laughter!' Ascending the hall: 'Zhaozhou did not see Nanquan; / this mountain monk does not know Wuzu. / Sweet melons are sweet right to the stem; / bitter gourds are bitter down to the roots.' Ascending the hall: 'A single leaf falls, and the whole world is spring; / Having no way to ponder makes one die of laughter. / Below is heaven, above is earth; / These words do not suit the worldly mind. / South is made north, east is made west; / Moving yet still, joyful yet grieving. / A snake's head, a scorpion's tail—try them once! / A living sparrow in the ferocious tiger's mouth! / What kind of talk is this? Return to the hall!' Ascending the hall: 'A thousand words and ten thousand explanations are not as good as seeing it face to face in person. Even without speaking, it is naturally clear of itself. The simile of the prince's precious sword, the simile of the blind men feeling the elephant, the matter of beckoning across the river in Chan study, the matter of meeting at Wangzhou Pavilion, the matter of the utterly secluded place where no one goes, the matter of the crags in the deep mountains—these are all seen face to face in person, not in speaking.' Ascending the hall: 'Su Wu herded sheep, disgraced yet unyielding; Li Ling gazed toward Han, joyful so as to forget returning. Were they in a foreign land or in their own country? Among the Buddha's disciples, there was one who jumped over a ditch with both feet, one who heard a zither and began to dance, one who buried his body in filth, and one who scolded the river goddess. Were these habitual tendencies or wondrous functions? As for holding up a pitchfork and striking the ground, raising a whisk and knocking on the seat, Muzhou always shutting the door, and Luzu facing the wall all year round—was this for people, or was it not for people? Know with certainty that all ordinary people bury the treasure store, utterly failing to be true men! Why cannot you all swing the rudder, unfurl the sails, cross the river, reach the shore, and cease? To drive stakes further and swing the scull—when will you ever arrive home? Since you are people of Caoxi and fellows of the household, do you still see the affairs of the household?' A monk asked, 'When the kalpa fire blazes and the great chiliocosm is utterly destroyed, I wonder, is this one destroyed or not?' The master said, 'Golden color inside a black lacquer tub.' A monk asked, '"Is the Dao far away? Touching things, one finds reality." What is the Dao?' The master said, 'Eight feet five inches on top of the head.' The monk asked, 'What is the principle of this?' The master said, 'Seven or eight inches square and round.' A monk asked, 'Before the kalpa fire and King Majestic Voice, there was another separate heaven in a gourd. Hunting before the imperial pavilion is not mowing a field of thatch.' Raising his sitting mat, he said, 'What is this called?' The master said, 'It is precisely mowing a field of thatch.' The monk then shouted. The master said, 'Still acting as the host!' The master asked a monk, 'When a solitary lamp shines alone, how is it?' The monk had no answer. The master said on his behalf, 'The bare pillar bears witness.' Hearing the sound of the clapper ending meditation, the master said, 'Concluding the case according to the confession.' The master once wrote an inscription on the wall of the Yanshou Infirmary at Longmen: 'The Buddha permitted that the sick should be treated, allowing a place to rest and recuperate. In Chan monasteries there are several names for it: some call it Nirvāṇa, seeing that the Dharma body is permanently abiding and comprehending that phenomena do not arise; some call it Xingxing (Examining Deeds), knowing that these adverse conditions all arise from the suffering of conditioned action; some call it Yanshou (Prolonging Life), desiring the wisdom-life to support the physical body. In reality, it is a place for people to resolve birth and death. Often I see people who enter this hall as soon as they feel a slight ailment; if they do not force themselves to endure, there is benefit. But when sick for a long time, they unwholesomely yearn for their hometowns, failing to reflect and eradicate the root of suffering. The former sages said, "Illness is a good medicine for sentient beings; if one takes it properly, there is none that will not be cured."' In the beginning of the Xuanhe era, he retired due to illness and returned to the Eastern Hall of Jiangshan. In the second year, on the day before the winter solstice, after finishing his meal, he sat cross-legged and said to his disciples, 'Elders in all quarters, when facing death, invariably leave a verse bidding farewell to the world. Can the world be bid farewell to? And where would one go?' Thereupon, joining his palms, he placidly passed away into quiescence. His disciples enshrined his bones, returned to Longmen, and placed them in a stūpa beside the Lingguang Terrace.