續傳燈錄 32.8

32.8

福州西禪懶菴鼎需禪師。本郡林氏子。幼舉進士有聲。年二十五因讀遺教經。忽曰。幾為儒冠誤。欲去家。母難之。以親迎在期師乃絕之曰。夭桃紅杏一時分付春風。翠竹黃花此去永為道伴。竟依保壽樂禪師為比丘。一錫湖湘遍參名宿法無異味。歸里結菴於羗峯絕頂。不下山者三年。佛心才禪師挽出首眾於大乘。嘗聞學者即心即佛因緣。時妙喜菴于洋嶼。師之友彌光與師書云。菴主手段與諸方別。可來少欵如何。師不答。光以計邀師飯。師往赴之。會妙喜為諸徒入室。師隨喜焉。妙喜舉僧問馬祖。如何是佛。祖云。即心是佛作麼生。師下語。妙喜詬之曰。爾見解如此敢妄為人師耶。鳴鼓普說訐其平生珍重得力處排為邪解。師淚交頤不敢仰視。默計曰。我之所得既為所排。西來不傳之旨豈止此耶。遂歸心弟子之列。一日喜問曰。內不放出外不放入。正恁麼時如何。師擬開口。喜拈竹篦劈脊連打三下。師於此大悟厲聲曰。和尚已多了也。喜又打一下。師禮拜。喜笑云。今日方知吾不汝欺也。遂印以偈云。頂門竪亞摩醯眼。肘後斜縣奪命符。瞎却眼卸却符。趙州東壁挂葫蘆。於是聲名喧動叢林。住後上堂曰。句中意意中句。須彌聳于巨川。句剗意意剗句。烈士發乎狂矢。任待牙如劍樹口似血盆。徒逞詞鋒虛張意氣。所以淨名杜口早涉繁詞。摩竭掩關已揚家醜。自餘瓦棺老漢岩頭大師。向羗峯頂上。拏風鼓浪翫弄神變。脚跟下好與三十。且道過在什麼處。良久云。機關不是韓光作。莫把胸襟當等閒。至節上堂云。二十五日已前群陰消伏泥龍閉戶。二十五日已後一陽來復鐵樹開花。正當二十五日塵中醉客騎驢騎馬。前街後街遞相慶賀。物外閑人衲帔蒙頭圍爐打坐。風蕭蕭雨蕭蕭冷湫湫。誰管爾張先生李道士胡達磨。上堂。懶翁懶中懶。最懶懶說禪。亦不重自己。亦不重先賢。又誰管爾地。又誰管爾天。物外翛然無箇事。日上三竿猶更眠。上堂。舉僧問趙州。如何是古人言。州云。諦聽諦聽。師曰。諦聽即不無。切忌喚鐘作甕。室中問僧。萬法歸一。一歸何處。曰新羅國裏。師曰。我在青州作一領布衫重七斤聻。曰今日親見趙州。師曰。前頭見後頭見。僧乃作斫額勢。師曰。上座甚處人。曰江西。師曰。因甚麼却來這裏納敗缺。僧擬議。師便打。

Chan Master Lan'an Dingxu of Xichan in Fuzhou was a son of the Lin clan of the same prefecture. In his youth, he sat for the jinshi examination with renown. At the age of twenty-five, upon reading the Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching, he suddenly said: "I was nearly led astray by the scholar's cap!" He wished to leave home, but his mother objected. Because his wedding was already scheduled, the Master broke it off, saying: "Tender peach blossoms and red apricots I entrust all at once to the spring wind; green bamboo and yellow flowers shall henceforth forever be my companions on the Path." He eventually relied on Chan Master Le of Baoshou to become a monk. Carrying a single staff through the Lake and Xiang regions, he visited famous masters everywhere, but the Dharma held no different flavor for him. Returning to his home region, he built a hut on the sheer summit of Qiang Peak, not coming down the mountain for three years. Chan Master Fo Xin Cai drew him out to lead the assembly at Dacheng. He once heard about the nidāna of "mind itself is Buddha" among students. At that time, Miaoxi was dwelling in a hut at Yangyu. The Master's friend Miguang sent him a letter saying: "The hut-master's methods are different from those elsewhere; could you come for a short stay?" The Master did not reply. Guang used a pretext to invite the Master to a meal, and the Master went to attend. It happened that Miaoxi was conducting interviews in the abbot's room for his disciples, and the Master joined in. Miaoxi cited the monk asking Mazu: "'What is the Buddha?' and Mazu said: 'Mind itself is Buddha'—how do you understand this?" The Master offered a turning phrase. Miaoxi scolded him, saying: "With views like yours, how dare you rashly act as a teacher to others?" Beating the drum, he gave a general discourse, exposing what [Dingxu] had treasured throughout his life as his strength and rejecting it as heterodox understanding. Tears streamed down the Master's cheeks; he did not dare look up. He secretly thought to himself: "Since what I have attained has been rejected, could it be that the uninherited message of the West's coming is not limited to this?" He thereupon submitted his mind and joined the ranks of his disciples. One day, Miaoxi asked: "Not letting out what is inside, not letting in what is outside—at just such a time, how is it?" The Master was about to open his mouth when Miaoxi took his bamboo stick and struck his back three times in succession. At this, the Master was greatly awakened and said in a stern voice: "Upādhyāya, that is already too much!" Miaoxi struck him once more. The Master bowed. Miaoxi laughed and said: "Today you finally know that I have not deceived you." He then confirmed him with a gāthā: "Atop the crown stands the eye of Maheśvara; / Behind the elbow hangs slanting the talisman that takes life. / Blind the eye, cast off the talisman— / East of Zhaozhou's wall hangs a gourd." Thereupon, his reputation resounded through the monasteries. After becoming abbot, he ascended the hall and said: "The meaning within the phrase, the phrase within the meaning—Sumeru towers over the great river. The phrase cuts away the meaning, the meaning cuts away the phrase—a heroic warrior releases a wild arrow. Let their teeth be like a grove of swords and their mouths like basins of blood; they merely flaunt the sharpness of words and make an empty show of bravado. Therefore, Vimalakīrti's closing of his mouth was already getting tangled in excessive words; Magadha's closing of the gate had already exposed the family scandal. As for the rest, the old fellow of the Tile Coffin and Great Master Yantou, on the summit of Qiang Peak, seized the wind and stirred the waves, toying with spiritual transformations—beneath their feet, they should properly be given thirty blows. Tell me, where was their fault?" After a long pause, he said: "The mechanism was not made by Han Guang; do not treat what is in your chest lightly." On the winter solstice, he ascended the hall and said: "Before the twenty-fifth day, the yin elements subside, and the mud dragon closes its door. After the twenty-fifth day, the single yang returns, and the iron tree blossoms. Right on the twenty-fifth day, drunken guests amidst the dust ride donkeys and horses, congratulating one another in front streets and back alleys. Idle people beyond worldly things cover their heads with patched robes and sit around the hearth. The wind whistles, the rain drizzles, chilly and bleak. Who cares about you, Mr. Zhang, Daoist Priest Li, or bearded Bodhidharma!" He ascended the hall: "The lazy old fellow is the laziest of the lazy; / Laziest of all, he is too lazy to speak of Chan. / Neither honoring himself, / Nor honoring the ancient worthies. / Who cares about your earth? / Who cares about your heaven? / Free and easy beyond worldly things, without a single concern; / When the sun is three poles high, he is still sleeping." He ascended the hall and cited a monk asking Zhaozhou: "What were the words of the ancients?" Zhou said: "Listen closely, listen closely." The Master said: "'Listen closely' is indeed not absent, but be careful not to mistake a bell for an earthen jar!" In the abbot's room, he asked a monk: "'The myriad dharmas return to one; where does the one return?'" The monk said: "In the kingdom of Silla." The Master said: "'When I was in Qingzhou, I made a cloth robe weighing seven catties'—what about that?" The monk said: "Today I have met Zhaozhou in person." The Master said: "Did you meet him in front, or did you meet him behind?" The monk made a gesture of shielding his forehead. The Master said: "Where are you from, Elder?" The monk said: "Jiangxi." The Master said: "Why did you come here to admit defeat?" The monk hesitated, and the Master hit him.