續傳燈錄 29.25

29.25

安吉州道場正堂明辯禪師。本郡俞氏子。幼事報本蘊禪師圓顱受具。後謁諸名宿。至西京少林聞僧舉佛眼以古詩發明罽賓王斬師子尊者話。曰楊子江頭楊柳春。楊花愁殺渡江人。一聲羌笛離亭晚。君向瀟湘我向秦。師默有所契。即趨龍門求入室。佛眼問。從上祖師方冊因緣許爾會得。忽舉拳曰。這箇因何喚作拳。師擬對。眼築其口曰。不得作道理。於是頓去知見。住後上堂。猛虎口邊拾得。毒蛇頭上安排。更不釘樁搖艣。回頭別有生涯。婆子被我勘破了。大悲院裏有村齋。上堂。淨五眼湧金春色晚。得五力吹落碧桃華。唯證乃知難可測。卓拄杖曰。一片何人得流經十萬家。上堂。三祖道。但莫憎愛洞然明白。當時老僧若見便與一摑。且道是憎邪是愛邪。近來經界稍嚴。不許詭名挾佃。解夏上堂。十五日已前不得去。少林隻履無藏處。十五日已後不得住。桂子天香和雨露。正當十五日又且如何。阿呵呵。風流不在著衣多。上堂舉。僧問投子。大死底人却活時如何。子曰。不許夜行投明須到。師曰。我疑千年蒼玉精化為一片秋水骨。海神欲護護不得。一旦鼈頭忽擎出。上堂。華開隴上柳綻堤邊。黃鶯調叔夜之琴。芳草入謝公之句。何必聞聲悟道見色明心。非唯水上覓漚。已是眼中著屑。擘開胸曰。汝等當觀我紫磨金色之身。今日則有明日則無。大似無風起浪。全不知羞。且道今日事作麼生。好箇迷逢達磨。不知誰解承當。僧問。如何是佛。師乃鳴指三下。問語默涉離微如何通不犯。師曰。橫身三界外獨脫萬機前。曰秖如風穴道。長憶江南三月裏鷓鴣啼處百花香又作麼生。師曰。說這箇不唧𠺕漢作麼。曰嫰竹搖金風細細。百華鋪地日遲遲。師曰爾向甚麼處見風穴。曰眼裏耳裏絕瀟洒。師曰。料掉無交涉。問蓮華未出水時如何。師曰。未過冬至莫道寒。曰出水後如何。師曰。未過夏至莫道熱。曰出與未出時如何。師曰。三十年後不要錯舉。問如何是佛。師曰。無柴猛燒火。曰如何是法。師曰。貧做富裝裹。曰如何是僧。師曰。賣扇老婆手遮日。曰如何是和尚栗棘蓬。師曰。不答此話。曰為甚麼不答。師大笑曰。吞不進吐不出。問如何是一喝如金剛王寶劍。師曰。古墓毒蛇頭戴角。曰如何是一喝如踞地師子師。曰虛。空笑點頭曰。如何是一喝如探竿影草。師曰。石人拍手笑呵呵。曰如何是一喝不作一喝用。師曰。布袋裏猪頭。曰四喝已蒙師指示。向上還有事也無。師曰有。曰如何是向上事。師曰。鋸解秤鎚。隨聲便喝。佛眼忌拈香。龍門和尚闡提潦倒。不信佛法滅除禪道。拶破毘盧向上關。猫兒洗面自道好。一炷沈香爐上然。換手搥胸空懊惱。遂搖手曰。休懊惱。以坐具搭肩上作女人拜曰。莫怪下房媳婦觸忤大人好。室中垂問曰。猫兒為甚麼愛捉老鼠。又曰。板鳴因甚麼狗吠。師家風嚴冷初機多憚之。因贊達磨曰。昇元閣前懡㦬。洛陽峯畔乖張。皮髓傳成話杷。隻履無處埋藏。不是一番寒徹骨。爭得梅花撲鼻香。雪堂行一見大稱賞曰。先師猶有此人在。只消此贊可以坐斷天下人舌頭。由是衲子奔輳。臨終登座拈拄杖。於左邊卓一下曰。三十二相無此相。於右邊卓一下曰。八十種好無此好。僧繇一筆畫成。誌公露出草[葶-丁+呆]。又卓一下顧大眾曰。莫懊惱。直下承當休更討下座歸方丈。儼然趺坐而逝。火後收靈設骨利藏所建之塔。曰仙人山。

Chan Master Zhengtang Mingbian of Daochang in Anji Prefecture was a son of the Yu family of that same prefecture. In his youth he served Chan Master Yun of Baoben, shaved his head, and received full ordination. Later he called upon various renowned masters. Arriving at Shaolin in the Western Capital, he heard a monk cite Foyan using an ancient poem to elucidate the case of the King of Kashmir executing Venerable Siṃha: 'By the Yangzi River's bank, willows herald spring; / Willow catkins bring deep grief to the traveler crossing the stream. / A single note from a Qiang flute at the departure pavilion at dusk: / You head toward Xiaoxiang, and I head toward Qin.' The master had a silent accord. He immediately hurried to Longmen to seek entry into the abbot's room. Foyan asked, 'As for the written records and nidānas handed down from the patriarchs, I grant that you understand them.' Suddenly raising his fist, he said, 'Why is this called a fist?' The master prepared to answer. Foyan struck his mouth, saying, 'You must not make intellectual interpretations!' Thereupon he suddenly shed his cognitive views. After assuming the abbacy, he ascended the hall: 'Picked up from the side of a fierce tiger's mouth; / Arranged on top of a poisonous snake's head. / No longer driving stakes or sculling the oar, / Turning the head around, there is another livelihood! / The old woman has been seen through by me; / In the Great Compassion Monastery there is a village feast.' Ascending the hall: 'Purifying the five eyes, Yongjin's spring scene grows late; / Attaining the five powers blows down the green peach blossoms. / Known only by personal realization, it is hard to fathom.' Striking the staff, he said: 'One petal—who can obtain it to flow through a hundred thousand households?' Ascending the hall: 'The Third Patriarch said, "Only do not hate or love, and it is thoroughly bright and clear." If this old monk had seen him at that time, I would have given him a slap. Tell me: is that hatred or is that love? Recently the land boundaries have become rather strict; fraudulent registration and tenant-concealment are not allowed.' Ascending the hall at the conclusion of the summer retreat: 'Before the fifteenth day, you cannot leave; the single shoe of Shaolin has nowhere to hide. After the fifteenth day, you cannot stay; the cassia's heavenly fragrance joins the rain and dew. Right on the fifteenth day, what about that? Ah, ha-ha! Elegance does not lie in wearing many clothes.' Ascending the hall, he cited: 'A monk asked Touzi, "When someone who has undergone the Great Death comes back to life, what then?" Touzi said, "Night travel is not permitted; one must arrive by dawn."' The master said, 'I suspect that the thousand-year-old essence of dark jade transformed into a sheet of autumn water's bone. The sea god wished to protect it but could not; in a single morning, the turtle's head was suddenly lifted out.' Ascending the hall: 'Flowers blossom along the ridges, and willows unfold beside the embankment. The yellow orioles tune the zither of Xi Kang; the fragrant grass enters the verses of Lord Xie. Why must one hear sound to awaken to the Way, or see form to illuminate the mind? Not only is this searching for foam upon the water; it is already putting dust in one's eyes.' Baring his chest, he said: 'You should look upon my body of purple-tinged burnished gold. Today it exists, but tomorrow it is gone. It is very much like raising waves where there is no wind—totally shameless! Now tell me, what about today's matter? What a fine Bodhidharma encountered in delusion! I wonder who understands how to take responsibility for it.' A monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The master snapped his fingers three times. [The monk] asked, 'When speech and silence involve detachment and subtlety, how does one communicate without transgression?' The master said, 'Throwing one's body across the three realms, solitary and free before the myriad workings.' [The monk] said, 'Just as Fengxue said: "I long remember Jiangnan in the third month, / Where partridges cry and hundreds of flowers are fragrant." What about that?' The master said, 'Why speak of that clumsy fellow?' [The monk] said, 'Tender bamboo sways gold in the gentle breeze; hundreds of flowers carpet the earth as the sun lingers.' The master said, 'Where do you see Fengxue?' [The monk] said, 'In eyes and ears, utterly refreshing.' The master said, 'Unsteady and irrelevant.' [A monk] asked, 'What about before the lotus blossom emerges from the water?' The master said, 'Before the winter solstice has passed, do not say it is cold.' [The monk] said, 'What about after it has emerged from the water?' The master said, 'Before the summer solstice has passed, do not say it is hot.' [The monk] said, 'What about when it is both emerging and not emerging?' The master said, 'Thirty years from now, do not quote it wrongly.' [A monk] asked, 'What is the Buddha?' The master said, 'Burning a fire fiercely without firewood.' [The monk] said, 'What is the Dharma?' The master said, 'A pauper dressing up as a rich man.' [The monk] said, 'What is the Sangha?' The master said, 'An old woman selling fans shading the sun with her hand.' [The monk] said, 'What is the upādhyāya's thorny chestnut burr?' The master said, 'I do not answer this question.' [The monk] said, 'Why do you not answer?' The master laughed loudly and said, 'It cannot be swallowed down, nor spat out.' [A monk] asked, 'What is the shout that is like the precious sword of the Diamond King?' The master said, 'A poisonous snake in an ancient tomb wearing horns on its head.' [The monk] said, 'What is the shout that is like a lion crouching on the ground?' The master said, 'Empty space smiles and nods its head.' [The monk] said, 'What is the shout that is like the sounding pole and the shadow grass?' The master said, 'The stone man claps his hands and laughs, "Ha-ha!"' [The monk] said, 'What is the shout that does not function as a shout?' The master said, 'A pig's head in a cloth bag.' [The monk] said, 'The four shouts have already received the master's instruction. Is there still something beyond?' The master said, 'There is.' [The monk] said, 'What is the matter beyond?' The master said, 'A saw cuts through a steelyard weight.' Along with the sound, he immediately shouted. On the memorial day of Foyan, offering incense, [he said:] 'The upādhyāya of Longmen was a rundown icchantika, who did not believe in the Buddha-Dharma and eliminated the Chan Way. He squeezed through the gate of Vairocana's transcendence; like a cat washing its face, he praised himself as good. A stick of agarwood burns in the censer; changing hands to beat his chest, in vain he felt regret.' Then waving his hand, he said: 'Do not feel regret!' Placing his sitting mat over his shoulder, he bowed like a woman and said: 'Do not blame the daughter-in-law of the lower quarters for offending the elder, okay?' In the abbot's room, he gave the challenge: 'Why do cats like to catch mice?' He also said: 'When the clapper sounds, why do dogs bark?' The master's house style was austere and cold, and beginners were mostly intimidated by it. He composed a verse of praise for Bodhidharma: 'Embarrassed before the Shengyuan Pavilion, / Perverse beside the peak of Luoyang. / Skin and marrow passed down into conversational fodder; / The single shoe has nowhere to be buried. / If it were not for undergoing a bone-penetrating chill, / How could the plum blossom produce such nostrils-piercing fragrance?' When Xuetang Xing saw it, he greatly praised it, saying: 'Our late teacher still has this person! This verse alone is enough to cut off the tongues of everyone under heaven.' Because of this, patch-robed monks rushed to him in flocks. Near the end of his life, he ascended the seat, picked up his staff, struck it once on the left side, and said, 'Among the thirty-two marks, there is no such mark.' He struck it once on the right side and said, 'Among the eighty minor characteristics, there is no such characteristic. Sengyou painted it in a single brushstroke; Zhigong revealed the straw puppet.' Striking it once more, he looked around at the assembly and said: 'Do not feel regret! Directly undertake it and stop seeking further.' Descending from the seat, he returned to the abbot's quarters, sat upright in the lotus posture, and passed away. After cremation, his relics and bones were gathered and enshrined in a stupa built [for him], called Xianren Shan (Hermit Mountain).