續傳燈錄 32.16

32.16

福州玉泉曇懿禪師。本郡林氏。久依圓悟自謂不疑。紹興初出住興化祥雲法席頗盛。大慧入閩。知其所見未諦。致書令來。師遲遲。慧小參且痛斥仍榜告四眾。師不得已破夏謁之慧鞠其所證。既而曰。汝恁麼見解敢嗣圓悟老人邪。師退院親之。一日入室慧問。我要箇不會禪底做國師。師曰。我做得國師去也。慧喝出。居無何語之曰。香嚴悟處不在擊竹邊。俱胝得處不在指頭上。師乃頓明。後住玉泉為慧拈香繼省慧於小溪。慧陞座舉。雲門一日拈拄杖示眾曰。凡夫實謂之有。二乘析謂之無。緣覺謂之幻有。菩薩當體即空。衲僧見拄杖子但喚作拄杖子。行但行坐但坐。總不得動著。慧曰。我不是雲門老人。將虛空剜窟竉。驀拈拄杖曰。拄杖子不屬有不屬無不屬幻不屬空。卓一下曰。凡夫二乘緣覺菩薩盡向這裏。各隨根性悉得受用。唯於衲僧分上為害為冤。要行不得行。要坐不得坐。進一步則被拄杖子迷却路頭。退一步則被拄杖子穿却鼻孔。即今莫有不甘底麼。試出來與拄杖子相見。如無來年更有新條在。惱亂春風卒未休。正恁麼時合作麼生。下座。煩玉泉為眾拈出。師登座敘謝畢。遂舉前話曰。適來堂頭和尚恁麼批判。大似困魚止濼病鳥棲蘆。若是玉泉則不然。拈拄杖曰。拄杖子能有能無能幻能空。凡夫二乘緣覺菩薩。卓一下曰。向這裏百雜碎。唯於衲僧分上如龍得水似虎靠山。要行便行要坐便坐。進一步則乾坤震動。退一步則草偃風行。且道不進不退一句作麼生道。良久曰。閑持經卷倚松立。笑問客從何處來。

Chan Master Tanyi of Yuquan in Fuzhou was a son of the Lin family of that prefecture. Having long attended upon Yuanwu, he considered himself without doubts. Early in the Shaoxing era, he came forth to reside at Xiangyun in Xinghua, where his Dharma assembly was quite flourishing. When Dahui entered Min, knowing that his view was not yet thorough, he sent a letter summoning him to come. The Master tarried. Dahui held an informal gathering and severely rebuked him, moreover posting a notice to inform the fourfold assembly. Left with no choice, the Master broke his summer retreat to visit him. Dahui closely examined what he had realised, and then said: 'With such an understanding, how dare you succeed old man Yuanwu?' The Master stepped down from the abbacy to attend upon him. One day he entered the abbot's room, and Dahui asked: 'I need someone who does not understand Chan to be the National Teacher.' The Master said: 'I can serve as the National Teacher.' Dahui shouted him out. Before long, he said to him: 'Xiangyan's awakening was not by striking the bamboo; Juzhi's attainment was not on the fingertip.' The Master was then suddenly enlightened. Later he resided at Yuquan, burned incense for Dahui, and subsequently went to visit Dahui at Xiaoxi. Dahui ascended the seat and cited: 'One day Yunmen held up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying: "Worldlings truly call it existing; the two vehicles analyse it as non-existing; pratyekabuddhas call it illusory existence; bodhisattvas see that its very substance is empty. When patch-robed monks see a staff, they merely call it a staff: walking, they just walk; sitting, they just sit. In all respects, it cannot be stirred."' Dahui said: 'I am not like old man Yunmen, gouging out holes in empty space.' Abruptly holding up his staff, he said: 'The staff does not belong to existence, does not belong to non-existence, does not belong to the illusory, and does not belong to emptiness.' Striking once, he said: 'Worldlings, the two vehicles, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas all head towards here, and in accordance with their respective faculties and natures, they all obtain function. Only on the part of patch-robed monks does it become a harm and an enemy: when wanting to walk, they cannot walk; when wanting to sit, they cannot sit. Taking a step forward, they are led astray by the staff; taking a step back, their nostrils are pierced by the staff. Right now, is there anyone who is not resigned? Step forward and try to meet the staff! If there is no one, next year there will still be new branches, troubling the spring breeze without coming to an end. At just this moment, what should be done?' He stepped down from the seat: 'I trouble Yuquan to take this up for the assembly.' The Master ascended the seat, and after expressing his gratitude, he cited the previous words and said: 'The abbot's critique just now was very much like a stranded fish staying in a shallow pool, or a sick bird roosting in reeds. If it were Yuquan, it would not be so.' Holding up his staff, he said: 'The staff can exist, can be non-existent, can be illusory, can be empty. Worldlings, the two vehicles, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas—' Striking once, he said: '—towards here, smashed into a hundred fragments! Only on the part of patch-robed monks is it like a dragon obtaining water, like a tiger leaning against a mountain: wanting to walk, they walk; wanting to sit, they sit. Taking a step forward, heaven and earth tremble; taking a step back, the grass bends and the wind blows. And tell me, how do you speak a phrase of neither advancing nor retreating?' After a long while, he said: 'At leisure holding the sūtra roll, standing leaning against a pine, / Laughing, I ask the guest from whence he came.'