續傳燈錄 32.11

32.11

建寧府開善道謙禪師。本郡人。初之京師依圓悟無所省發。後隨妙喜菴居泉南。及喜領徑山。師亦侍行。未幾令師往長沙通紫岩居士張公書。師自謂。我參禪二十年無入頭處。更作此行決定荒廢。意欲無行。友人宗元者叱曰。不可在路便參禪不得也去。吾與汝俱往。師不得已而行。在路泣語元曰。我一生參禪業無得力處。今又途路奔波。如何得相應去。元告之曰。爾但將諸方參得底悟得底圓悟妙喜為爾說得底。都不要理會。途中可替底事。我盡替爾。只有五件事替爾不得。爾須自家支當。師曰。五件者何事願聞其要。元曰。著衣喫飯屙屎放尿駝箇死屍路上行。師於言下領旨不覺手舞足蹈。元曰。爾此回方可通書宜前進。吾先歸矣。元即回徑山。師半載方返。妙喜一見而喜曰。建州子爾這回別也。住後上堂。竺土大仙心。東西密相付。如何是密相付底心。良久曰。八月秋何處熱。上堂。壁立千仞三世諸佛措足無門。是則是。太殺不近人情。放一線道十方剎海放光動地。是則是。爭奈和泥合水。須知通一線道處壁立千仞。壁立千仞處通一線道。橫拈倒用正接傍提。電激雷奔崖頹石裂。是則是。猶落化門。到這裏壁立千仞也沒交涉。通一線道也沒交涉。不近人情和泥合水。總沒交涉。只這沒交涉也則沒交涉。是則是。又無佛法道理。若也出得這四路頭。管取乾坤獨步。且獨步一句作麼生道。莫怪從前多意氣。他家曾踏上頭關。上堂。去年也有箇六月十五。今年也有箇六月十五。去年六月十五少却今年六月十五。今年六月十五多却去年六月十五。多處不用減少處不用添。既不用添又不用減。則多處多用小處少用。乃喝一喝曰。是多是少。良久曰。箇中消息子。能有幾人知。上堂。洞山麻三斤將去。無星秤子上定過。每一斤恰有一十六兩。二百錢重更不少一氂。正與趙州殿裏底一般。秖不合被大愚鋸解秤鎚。却教人理會不得。如今若要理會得。但問取雲門乾屎橛。上堂。有句無句如藤倚樹。撞倒燈籠打破露柱。佛殿奔忙僧堂回顧。子細看來是甚家具咄。秖堪打老鼠。上堂。諸人從僧堂裏恁麼上來。少間從法堂頭恁麼下去。並不曾差了一步因甚麼却不會。良久曰。秖為分明極。翻令所得遲。

Chan Master Daoqian of Kaishan in Jianning Prefecture was a native of that prefecture. Initially, he went to the capital and relied upon Yuanwu, but had no realization. Later, he followed Miaoxi and dwelt in a hermitage in Quannan. When Miaoxi assumed leadership of Jingshan, the Master also attended upon him. Before long, [Miaoxi] had the Master go to Changsha to deliver a letter to Upāsaka Zhang, Lord of Ziyan. The Master said to himself: "I have practiced Chan for twenty years without finding an entry point. Going on this journey will surely ruin my practice." Intending not to go, his friend Zongyuan chided him: "Can one not practice Chan on the road? Go! I will go with you." The Master had no choice but to go. Weeping on the road, he said to Yuan: "Throughout my life in Chan practice, I have attained no strength. Now, bustling on this journey, how can I attain accord?" Yuan told him: "You need only ignore everything you have practiced and awakened to in various quarters, and everything Yuanwu and Miaoxi have explained to you. Whatever can be done on your behalf along the way, I will do entirely for you. There are only five things I cannot do for you; you must bear them yourself." The Master said: "What are these five things? I wish to hear their essentials." Yuan said: "Wearing clothes, eating food, voiding excrement, pissing urine, and carrying a dead corpse walking along the road." Under these words, the Master apprehended the purport, unwittingly dancing with hands and feet. Yuan said: "Only now can you deliver the letter; you should go forward. I will return first." Yuan then returned to Jingshan. The Master returned after half a year. As soon as Miaoxi saw him, he was pleased and said: "Lad of Jianzhou, you are different this time!" After becoming abbot, he ascended the hall: "The mind of the Great Sage of the land of India was secretly transmitted between East and West. What is the secretly transmitted mind?" After a pause, he said: "In the eighth month of autumn, where is it hot?" Ascending the hall: "Standing like a wall a thousand fathoms high, the Buddhas of the three periods have no place to set their feet. True as that may be, it is far too devoid of human feeling. Opening a single slit of a path, the worlds of the ten directions radiate light and shake the earth. True as that may be, what can be done about mixing with mud and wallowing in water? You must know that right where a single slit of a path opens, it stands like a wall a thousand fathoms high; right where it stands like a wall a thousand fathoms high, a single slit of a path opens. Handled horizontally or used upside down, directly receiving or obliquely lifting, lightning flashes and thunder rushes, cliffs collapse and boulders split. True as that may be, it still falls into the gate of transformation. Reaching here, standing like a wall a thousand fathoms high has no relevance; opening a single slit of a path also has no relevance. Devoid of human feeling, mixing with mud and wallowing in water—none of it has any relevance at all. Even this 'having no relevance' has no relevance. True as that may be, it is also devoid of any principle of Buddha-Dharma. If you can emerge from these four crossroads, you will surely take solitary strides across heaven and earth. Tell me, how do you express the phrase of solitary strides? Do not wonder that of old there was much high spirit; that person once stepped through the topmost barrier." Ascending the hall: "Last year there was also a fifteenth day of the sixth month; this year there is also a fifteenth day of the sixth month. The fifteenth day of the sixth month of last year is lacking the fifteenth day of the sixth month of this year; the fifteenth day of the sixth month of this year exceeds the fifteenth day of the sixth month of last year. Where it is excessive, there is no need to reduce; where it is deficient, there is no need to add. Since there is neither need to add nor need to reduce, then use much where there is much, and use little where there is little." Then giving a shout, he said: "Is it much, or is it little?" After a pause, he said: "How many people can know the message within this?" Ascending the hall: "Taking Dongshan's three pounds of hemp, weigh it on a steelyard without dots: each pound has exactly sixteen ounces, weighing two hundred coins, not lacking a hair's breadth. It is just the same as what is in Zhaozhou's hall. It was only inappropriate that Dayu sawed apart the counterweight, leaving people unable to comprehend it. Now, if you want to comprehend it, just ask Yunmen's dried shit-stick." Ascending the hall: "Having words, having no words, like wisteria leaning on a tree. Knocking over the lantern, breaking the exposed pillar. Bustling in the Buddha shrine, glancing around the monks' hall. Looking closely, what kind of implement is this? Bah! It is only fit for beating mice." Ascending the hall: "All of you came up like this from the monks' hall, and in a short while you will go down like this from the Dharma hall, not having erred by a single step. Why do you still not understand?" After a pause, he said: "Only because it is utterly distinct does it instead make what is attained come late."