續傳燈錄 36.26

36.26

明州天童山天目禪師。諱文禮號滅翁。杭之臨安人姓阮氏。家天目山之麓。因又號天目云。師生六歲携籃隨母採桑。俄而寤。念携之者誰邪。遂有出家志。年十六依鄉之真相寺僧智月剃落。往淨慈參混源。混源舉見成公案放汝三十棒話不契。謁育王佛照光禪師。光問。恁麼來者那箇是汝主人公。師豁然領旨。他日光再問。是風動是幡動這僧如何。師云。物見主眼卓竪。又問。不是風動不是幡動。甚處見祖師。師云。揭却腦蓋。光喜其俊邁挽為書記。久之返淛西。聽一心三觀之旨于上天竺。松源岳禪師唱道饒之薦福。室中問僧。不是風動不是幡動。擬議即棒出。師聞之頓忘知解。廼往參焉蒙印可得盡其旨。辭松源巡禮江淮間祖塔。時淛翁琰公主蔣山。挽師充立僧首座。晉陵尤公焴數至山。誦師提唱語悅服。嘉定五年約齋居士張公鎡。請師開法臨安慧雲。一香為松源嗣既而遷溫之能仁。未幾辭歸西丘。時節齋趙公慕師高行。微服過西丘。師亦不問其姓名與語終日而去。明日奏請師住持淨慈。室中每舉南山筀笋東海烏鰂話。學者擬議。師輒督牙三下。莫有湊泊之者。厥後遷居福泉升住天童。師因上堂舉。楞嚴經云。諸可還者自然非汝。不汝還者非汝而誰。師頌云。不汝還者復是誰。殘紅流在釣魚磯。日斜風定無人掃。燕子銜將水際飛。冬至上堂云。黃鐘纔起時。九數從頭數。相將幽谷鶯啼。次第雕梁燕語。田父祭句芒。叢祠敲社鼓。農父狎牛郎。村姑教蠶婦。光陰老盡世間人。冬至寒食一百五。宏智禪師忌上堂。夜明簾外寶鑑堂前。元無兼帶豈有偏圓。正恁麼時畢竟誰居正位。古渡無人霜月冷。蘆花風靜鷺鷥眠。有來上座直入方丈云。某甲有狀告投和尚。師云。對頭在那裏。來云。和尚便是。師云。老僧與汝有甚麼冤讎。來無語。師捉住云。冤家冤家。新到相看。師問。汝名什麼。僧云。智虎。師退身作怕勢。僧擬議。師便歸方丈。又佛光法照師首依師于梁渚。師令往下竺參北峯印公。作二偈送之曰。送子參尋有鷲山。諸方多是落前三。自從開異歸同後。圓旨于今亦倦譚。揀境分明妙藥方。餘之分別更須忘。晚風吹落殘紅片。休向枝頭覓舊香。叢林至今傳誦不絕。師尤邃于易。乾淳諸儒大闡道學。師與之遊直示以心法。不為世語徇悅也。朱晦菴問毋不敬。師叉手示之。楊慈湖問不欺之力。師答以偈曰。此力分明在不欺。不欺能有幾人知。要明象兔全提句。看取升階正笏時。其曉人類如此。師所閱五剎通不過八九年。而得閒之歲月多逍遙於梁渚之西丘。群衲參叩無異領眾時也。其為人高古簡儉不苟為笑語。將入寂病中問侍者曰。誰與我造無縫塔。侍者云。請師塔樣。師云。盡力畫不出。乃怡然脫去。闍維弟子收舍利并遺骨。袝葬于天童應菴塔左。壽八十四。臘六十八。紹其傳者有橫川珙石林鞏。稱二甘露門云。

Chan Master Tianmu of Mount Tiantong in Mingzhou was named Wenli and styled Mieweng. He was a native of Lin'an in Hangzhou, from the Ruan family. His home was at the foot of Mount Tianmu, hence he was also styled Tianmu. When the Master was six years old, carrying a basket and following his mother to pick mulberry leaves, he suddenly had an awakening and thought: 'Who is this carrying it?' Thereupon he had the aspiration to leave home. At the age of sixteen, he shaved his head under the monk Zhiyue at Zhenxiang Monastery in his home district. He went to Jingci to study under Hunyuan. Hunyuan brought up the phrase, 'The ready-made gong'an releases you with thirty blows,' which did not resonate with him. He visited Chan Master Fozhao Guang at Yuwang. Guang asked, 'You who come thus—which one is your master?' The Master had a flash of insight and grasped the meaning. Another day, Guang asked again: 'Is it the wind moving, or is it the banner moving? How about this monk?' The Master said, 'When the object sees its master, the eyes stand bolt upright.' Guang asked again, 'It is not the wind moving; it is not the banner moving. Where do you see the Patriarch?' The Master said, 'Peel off the skull.' Guang, pleased by his preeminence, recruited him to be the recorder. After a long time, he returned to western Zhe, and listened to the tenets of the threefold contemplation in a single mind at Upper Tianzhu. Chan Master Songyuan Yue was preaching the way at Jianfu in Raozhou. In the abbot's room, he would ask monks, 'It is not the wind moving; it is not the banner moving'—if they hesitated, he would drive them out with blows of his stick. Hearing this, the Master suddenly forgot all intellectual understanding. He then went to study under him, received his seal of approval, and fully attained his tenets. Bidding farewell to Songyuan, he went on a pilgrimage to the ancestral stupas in the Jiang and Huai regions. At that time, Venerable Zheweng Yan presided over Mount Jiang, and recruited the Master to serve as standing monk and head monk. You Yu, a gentleman of Jinling, came to the mountain several times, chanted the Master's instructional discourses, and was won over in admiration. In the fifth year of the Jiading era, Upāsaka Zhang Zi, styled Yuezhai, invited the Master to open the Dharma hall at Huiyun in Lin'an, offering a stick of incense as Songyuan's heir. Soon after, he moved to Nengren in Wenzhou. Before long, he resigned and returned to Xiqiu. At that time, Duke Zhao, styled Jiezhai, admired the Master's lofty conduct, and dressed in plain clothes to visit Xiqiu. Without asking his name, the Master spoke with him all day until he left. The next day, Duke Zhao petitioned the throne to appoint the Master as abbot of Jingci. In the abbot's room, the Master would frequently bring up the phrases of 'the bamboo shoots of South Mountain' and 'the cuttlefish of the Eastern Sea.' When students hesitated, the Master would always click his teeth three times, and none could come near it. Afterwards, he moved to Fuquan and then ascended to preside over Tiantong. Once, ascending the hall, the Master cited the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: 'Everything that can be returned naturally is not you; that which cannot be returned to you—if it is not you, what is it?' The Master gave a verse: 'That which is not returned to you—what is it again? / Residual blossoms drift onto the fishing rock. / The sun slants, the wind subsides, and no one sweeps; / Swallows hold them in their beaks and fly along the water's edge.' Ascending the hall at the winter solstice, he said: 'Just as the yellow bell begins to sound, / Count the nine periods from the very start. / Soon, in the secluded valleys, warblers sing; / In turn, on carved rafters, swallows chatter. / The farmer offers sacrifice to Goumang; / At the village shrine, the earth-altar drums are beaten. / The herdsman jokes with the cowherd; / The village maiden teaches the silkworm women. / Time ages everyone in the world; / From the winter solstice to the Cold Food Festival is one hundred and five days.' Ascending the hall on the memorial day of Chan Master Hongzhi, he said: 'Outside the night-shining screen, before the hall of the precious mirror: / Originally there is no dual carrying; how could there be partial or complete? / At just such a moment, who, after all, occupies the upright position? / At the ancient ferry no one is present, and the frosted moon is cold; / The wind among the reed flowers is still, and the egret sleeps.' An elder named Lai went straight into the abbot's quarters and said, 'I have an accusation to present to the Upādhyāya.' The Master said, 'Where is your opponent?' Lai said, 'It is the Upādhyāya himself.' The Master said, 'What enmity is there between this old monk and you?' Lai was speechless. The Master grabbed him and said, 'Enemy! Enemy!' When a newly arrived monk came for an audience, the Master asked, 'What is your name?' The monk said, 'Zhihu (Wise Tiger).' The Master drew back, pretending to be afraid. As the monk hesitated, the Master immediately returned to the abbot's quarters. Moreover, Master Fazhao of Foguang first relied upon the Master at Liangzhu; the Master sent him to Lower Tianzhu to study under Venerable Beifeng Yin, presenting him with two verses: 'I send you off to seek on Vulture Peak; / In most places they fall into the first three. / Since the diverse was opened and brought back to unity, / Even the perfect tenet is now spoken of with weariness. / Clearly distinguish the realms—a wonderful medicine formula; / Other discriminations must all the more be forgotten. / The evening wind blows down residual red petals; / Do not seek their former fragrance upon the branch.' Throughout the monasteries, these verses have been recited continuously down to the present day. The Master was especially profound in the Book of Changes. When the scholars of the Qiandao and Chunxi eras widely expounded Neo-Confucian learning, the Master associated with them, directly showing them the mind Dharma, never pandering to them with worldly discourse. When Zhu Huian asked about 'never being disrespectful,' the Master joined his palms to show him. When Yang Cihu asked about the 'power of not deceiving,' the Master replied with a verse: 'This power is clearly found in not deceiving; / How many people understand not deceiving? / If you wish to clarify the phrase that fully brings forth the elephant and the hare, / Observe the moment of ascending the steps and holding the tablet upright.' His enlightenment of people was generally like this. Across the five monasteries he oversaw, his tenure totaled no more than eight or nine years, and most of his leisure years were spent wandering at ease in Xiqiu of Liangzhu. When crowds of patch-robed monks came to inquire and study, it was no different from when he led assemblies. In character he was lofty and archaic, simple and frugal, and never smiled or joked lightly. When he was about to enter nirvāṇa and was ill, he asked his attendant, 'Who will build a seamless stupa for me?' The attendant said, 'Please, Master, provide a blueprint of the stupa.' The Master said, 'Exerting all my strength, I cannot draw it.' Then he peacefully passed away. Disciples cremated his body, collected his relics and remaining bones, and interred them beside the stupa of Ying'an at Tiantong on its left. He lived eighty-four years, with sixty-eight years in the monastic order. Those who succeeded to his transmission included Hengchuan Gong and Shilin Gong, who were called the two sweet dew gates.