續傳燈錄 9

English (machine translation) 9

Language: English

9.1

Table of Contents for Continued Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle Nine

Twelfth Generation under Dajian
Thirteen Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dayu Zhi:
Chan Master Yunfeng Wenyue
Chan Master Ruiguang Yue
Chan Master Dongshan Ziyuan (The above three have recorded sayings)
Chan Master Kaifu Shouyi
Chan Master Xingyang Qizhou
Chan Master Xingyang Qishan
Chan Master Dayu Jiannan
Chan Master Falun Cong
Chan Master Yunding Jilan
Chan Master Chengtian Ying
Chan Master Longwang Shijin
Chan Master Chengtian Shouqin
Chan Master Guifeng Guangying (The above ten have no recorded sayings)

Eight Dharma heirs of Chan Master Shishuang Yong:
Chan Master Fuyan Baozong
Chan Master Dayang Ruhan (The above two have recorded sayings)
Chan Master Shengye Zhizeng
Chan Master Baoning Chengtai
Chan Master Daguang Yuyuan
Chan Master Shishuang Haoquan
Chan Master Xingguo Huixiu
Chan Master Yuantong Wenpu (The above six have no recorded sayings)

Nineteen Dharma heirs of Chan Master Fushan Yuan:
Chan Master Jingyin Daozhen; Chan Master Xinghua Renyue
Chan Master Yuquan Weifang
Chan Master Dinglin Huichen
Chan Master Benjue Ruozhu
Chan Master Huayan Puzi
Chan Master Qingyin Weishi
Chan Master Hengyue Fengneng (The above eight have recorded sayings)
Chan Master Guizong Pu'an
Chan Master Baima Jingyun
Chan Master Ganlu Qingyu
Chan Master Guizong Hongshi
Chan Master Fushan Honglian
Chan Master Ganlu Fayan
Chan Master Xichan Jitu
Chan Master Dongchan Renzhao
Chan Master Taiping Xian
Chan Master Wanshan Haoxiu
Chan Master Xishan Xiaoyun (The above eleven have no recorded sayings)

Two Dharma heirs of Chan Master Baoying Zhao:
Chan Master Langya Fangrui
Chan Master Xingyang Xiyin (The above two have recorded sayings)

One Dharma heir of Chan Master Shimen Jin:
Chan Master Ruiyan Zhicai (Has recorded sayings)

Twenty Dharma heirs of Chan Master Jinshan Ying:
Chan Master Guangjiao Jizhen
Chan Master Puci Chongzhen
Chan Master Ruizhu Zhonghe
Chan Master Jinshan Huaixian
Chan Master Shifo Xianzhong
Chan Master Jingzhu Jushuo
Chan Master Xiyu Gongchen
Chan Master Bore Shanduan
Commissioner Li Duanyuan, Upāsaka (The above nine have recorded sayings)
Chan Master Chengtian Liaosu
Chan Master Nanchan Zicong
Chan Master Shangfang Xiyuan
Chan Master Yinjing Huiguan
Chan Master Faxing Shaoming
Chan Master Wuya Liaoxian
Chan Master Wufeng Zhongxi
Chan Master Xuedou Quan
Chan Master Ruizhu Weiwu
Chan Master Faxing Yongzhang
Chan Master Yinsheng Rudao (The above eleven have no recorded sayings)

Three Dharma heirs of Chan Master Dongting Yue:
Chan Master Jianfu Liang (Has recorded sayings)
Chan Master Ruiguang Song
Chan Master Chengtian Shizhen (The above two have no recorded sayings)

Two Dharma heirs of Chan Master Zhangxi Yi:
Chan Master Huangyan Baoxuan (One person has recorded sayings); Chan Master Lingyan Zhi (One person has no recorded sayings)

Two Dharma heirs of Chan Master Longhua Yue:
Chan Master Xiyu Jingduan (One person has recorded sayings); Chan Master Cuiyan Xianchou (One person has no recorded sayings)

Six Dharma heirs of Chan Master Fahua Ju:
Chan Master Yongqing Wen
Chan Master Haihui Wen
Chan Master Xinghua Gui
Chan Master Longtan Qiong
Chan Master Juehua Kang
Chan Master Haihui Hai (The above six have no recorded sayings)

Six Dharma heirs of Chan Master Tiansheng Tai:
Chan Master Changshu Bingzhen
Chan Master Xiyu Baoshi
Chan Master Changshu Lingran
Chan Master Fuyan Chucheng
Chan Master Zhongchan Xianyu
Upādhyāya Zhiwen of Taizhou (The above six have no recorded sayings)

One Dharma heir of Chan Master Taizi Yuan Yi:
Chan Master Taizi Tongguang (Has no recorded sayings)

9.3

Table of Contents of Fascicle Nine of Continued Record of the Transmission of the Lamp (End)

9.4

Twelfth Generation under Dajian

9.5

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Dayu Zhi

9.6

Chan Master Wenyue of Yunfeng on Mount Nanyue was a son of the Xu family of Nanchang. At first he went to Dayu. Hearing him instruct the assembly, saying: 'Everyone gathers together to eat a stalk of pickled vegetable; if you call it a single stalk of pickled vegetable, you enter hell like a shot arrow,' he then stepped down from his seat. The Master was greatly frightened, and that night he went to the Abbot's quarters. Dayu asked: 'What have you come seeking?' The Master said: 'I seek the mind Dharma.' Dayu said: 'Before the Dharma wheel turns, the food wheel turns first. While you are young and your physical strength is robust, why do you not beg for food on behalf of the assembly? I have no leisure even to endure hunger—what leisure do I have to expound Chan for you?' The Master did not dare disobey. Not long after, Dayu moved to Cuiyan. Having completed his fund-raising task, the Master again crossed over to Cuiyan to seek instruction. Cuiyan said: 'The Buddha Dharma has not yet rotted away. In the snowy cold, you should beg for charcoal on behalf of the assembly.' The Master also accepted the charge and performed his duties well. He again went to the Abbot's quarters. Cuiyan said: 'The hall superintendent's office lacks a person; now I trouble you with it.' The Master received it without joy, resenting Cuiyan for not penetrating his mind-ground. While sitting behind the privy racks, a bucket hoop suddenly broke and fell from the rack. The Master suddenly attained awakening and instantly saw Cuiyan's function. He ran, throwing on his saṅghāṭī robe, and went up to the sleeping hall. Cuiyan smiled to welcome him, saying: 'Karmadāna, I am pleased indeed that the great matter is finished!' The Master bowed twice, and before he could utter a single word, he departed. He attended on him for eight years. Later, he appeared in the world at Cuiyan. At that time, the head monk led the assembly out to welcome him and asked: 'The ancestral vehicle of Deshan is not what I ask about; what is the great function of Linji?' The Master said: 'Where have you come from?' As the head monk hesitated, the Master struck him with his palm. As the head monk prepared to reply, the Master shouted and said: 'Lead the assembly back!' From then on, the entire assembly stood in awe of him. A monk asked: 'What is the Way?' The Master said: 'No picking up lost articles on the road.' The monk said: 'What is the person on the Way?' The Master said: 'The grass-bandit is utterly defeated.' The monk bowed. The Master sighed with a hiss. A monk asked: 'The ten thousand dharmas return to the one; where does the one return?' The Master said: 'The Yellow River has nine bends.' The monk asked: 'What is the first phrase?' The Master said: 'Hands hanging past the knees.' The monk asked: 'What is the second phrase?' The Master said: 'Ten thousand miles to Yaizhou.' The monk asked: 'What is the third phrase?' The Master said: 'A dung basket and a broom.' A monk asked: 'What is the Buddha Dharma in the deep mountains and precipitous cliffs?' The Master said: 'A monkey climbing a tree upside down.' A monk asked: 'What is the matter beneath the patch-robe?' The Master said: 'Bones inside the skin.' A monk asked: 'Without involving trivialities, please, Master, speak quickly.' The Master said: 'Mount Sumeru.' A monk asked: 'What is the pure Dharma body?' The Master said: 'Firewood grounds and reed grass.' He ascended the hall and said: 'If words do not leave the rut, how can one escape coverings and entanglements? A patch of cloud lying across the valley entrance—how many people are confused as to the source? Therefore it is said: "Words do not display the matter; speech does not accord with the capacity. Those who accept words are lost; those who stagnate in phrases are confused." When you people arrive here, upon what do you base your understanding?' After a long pause, he said: 'If you wish not to incur the retribution of uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathāgata's true wheel of the Dharma.' He ascended the hall and said: 'The past buddhas have already perished; the future buddhas are not yet born. Right at this very day, the Buddha Dharma is entrusted fully to Cuiyan. Letting go, it accords with capacities and benefits beings; holding fast, it crumbles like tiles and dissolves like ice. Tell me, is holding fast good, or is letting go good?' After a long pause, he said: 'Bah! You wild fox spirits!' He struck the Chan bed and stepped down from the seat. He ascended the hall and said: 'You people coming up like this is much like thrusting your heads into a tub of glue. Going down like this is also stumbling on level ground. Even if you neither come nor go, morning brings three thousand strikes and evening brings eight hundred.' He ascended the hall and said: 'Is the Way far off? Touch anything and it is true. Is the sage far off? Embody him and you are spiritual. Therefore, the Sahā world uses sound to perform the Buddha's work; the Gandhavyūha world uses fragrant food to perform the Buddha's work. Here at Cuiyan, solely within inhalation and exhalation, one makes offerings to and serves all the buddhas of past, present, and future, as numerous as dust and sand, without a single one being neglected. All the buddhas of past, present, and future, as numerous as dust and sand, are Cuiyan's attendants—not a single one fails to arrive. If a single one fails to arrive, thirty blows of the staff! Do you head monks understand? Offering this profound mind to the dust-mote realms is called repaying the Buddha's kindness.' He ascended the hall and said: 'The root of sentient beings relies on the ocean of wisdom as its source. The flow of conscious beings takes the entire Dharma body as its substance. It is only because sentiments arise that wisdom is blocked, and thoughts change so that substance seems different. When one reaches the origin, sentiments are forgotten, and the mind is known to unite with substance. Do you Chan worthies understand? The ancient Buddha crosses paths with an exposed pillar; the Buddha hall butts heads with a lantern. If you do not understand, double layers snap in two.' He ascended the hall and said: 'Carrying a bamboo pole along, one acts out the play wherever an occasion arises. Even so, one hand alone does not clap. In the assembly, is there a master Chan guest, a patch-robed monk of fundamental capacity, who will step forward to sing in harmony together? Is there?' At that time a monk came forward and bowed. The Master said: 'Barely resembling a tune, it was just worthy to hear, / When blown by the wind again into another melody.' He then stepped down from his seat. He ascended the hall and said: 'Dawn breaks and daylight appears; the ten thousand matters are all accomplished. Uttarakuru grows non-glutinous rice.' He stepped down from his seat. He ascended the hall and said: 'Where there is a Buddha, do not stay; where there is no Buddha, run quickly past. With staffs slung across your shoulders, where are you people going on itinerant pilgrimage?' After a long pause, he said: 'Holding the alms-bowl in Pūrvavideha; eating rice in Aparagodānīya.' He ascended the hall and said: 'Even if the mind penetrates measureless time, across kalpas how has it ever differed from today? Tell me, what about today's matter?' After a long pause, he said: 'A black turtle bores through a wall.' He ascended the hall and said: 'Seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are free of obstruction; sights, sounds, scents, and touches are constantly in samādhi. A patch-robed monk says: "I understand! Mountains are mountains, waters are waters; when hungry, I eat rice, when tired, I sleep." Suddenly Mount Sumeru jumps up into your nostril, and a makara fish pierces through your eyes—how do you deliberate this?' After a long pause, he said: 'Go to the hall and practice!' He ascended the hall and said: 'Severing with a single sword cut does not yet deserve to be called an ancestral master; leveling the high to suit the low is certainly not the work of a master craftsman. When Cuiyan reaches here, his mouth is like a carrying pole. How do you people deliberate this?' After a long pause, he said: 'If you wish not to incur the retribution of uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathāgata's true wheel of the Dharma.' He ascended the hall and said: 'If you see that all marks are not marks, then the mountains, rivers, and great earth are completely free of fault. You head monks wear robes and eat rice all day long, yet you have never bitten into a single grain of rice, nor have you ever had a single thread hanging on you. Then you can turn the great earth into gold and churn the long river into ghee. Even though it is like this, wearing robes and eating rice are not absent, yet you have not even dreamed of the foul stench under a patch-robed monk's gate.' He ascended the hall and said: 'Samantabhadra's practice, Mañjuśrī's wisdom: on Potalaka cliff a pure breeze arises. A blind donkey follows the herd across Silla; the magpie's tongue is three thousand miles long.' He ascended the hall, held up his staff, and said: 'Holding an alms-bowl toward the Gandhavyūha world, why is there no way to step out? Carrying the sun and moon on the tip of the staff, why do those with eyes act as if blind? Even if the wind moves and the grass bends, echoes conform and sounds harmonize, with not the slightest speck remaining, it is still the dharma of contention. What is the dharma of non-contention?' He struck with his staff and stepped down from the seat. He ascended the hall and said: 'Linji's vanguard was let off by one move; Deshan's later command is put aside for now. How do you speak the single phrase that stands uniquely revealed without partiality?' After a long pause, he said: 'Lamentable indeed was Zhongli Mei under Chu!' He struck the Chan bed with his fly-whisk and stepped down from the seat. He ascended the hall and said: 'The teaching says: "All kinds of grasping and rejecting are saṃsāra. If one attempts to discern complete enlightenment without having escaped saṃsāra, that nature of complete enlightenment joins in the transmigration; if one hopes to escape saṃsāra, there is no such possibility." When you people arrive here, how will you discern complete enlightenment?' After a long pause, he said: 'Lotus leaves are round, round like mirrors; water caltrops are pointed, pointed like awls.' He struck the Chan bed with his fly-whisk. He ascended the hall and said: 'An ancient said: "Mountains, rivers, and stone walls do not obstruct the eye's vision."' The Master said: 'What is the eye?' He picked up his staff, struck the Chan bed once, and said: 'Mount Sumeru shattered into a hundred fragments is not what I ask about; tell me, how old is the Dragon King Sāgara?' A lay scholar asked: 'What is the Buddha?' The Master said: 'Wearing robes and eating rice according to the family's means.' The scholar said: 'If so, then I shall take three steps back, cross my hands in front of my chest, and leave.' The Master said: 'Adding a cup after being drunk is not as good as having none.' At an evening informal gathering, he cited Baizhang instructing the assembly on New Year's Eve: 'You crowd of youngsters certainly do not understand the sūtras, vinaya, and treatises, and having entered the assembly to practice Chan, you do not understand Chan either. On the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, how will you settle the account?' The Master said: 'Truly, Chan worthies! We are far removed in time from the sages, and people's minds are indifferent. Look at today's monasteries—there is simply no proper place anywhere. Either they gather three to five hundred disciples in a tumultuous crowd, considering abundant food and comfortable quarters alone to be a flourishing transformation, while among them there is not a single person diligently striving for the Way. Even if there are five or ten scurrying up and down, half-green and half-yellow, as soon as they understand something, they all say: "I understand!" Each considers himself to hold the jewel of the spiritual serpent, and who is willing to acknowledge error? When it comes to prodding and whipping them forward, there is truly not one in ten thousand. How bitter! How bitter! As the saying goes: "The grove of prajñā withers year by year; the wild grass of ignorance grows year by year." Especially among today's youngsters, as soon as they enter the assembly, they immediately hold their hands upright in their sleeves and receive offerings from others. Everywhere, they do not pick a single stalk of greens, nor do they carry a single bundle of firewood; their ten fingers do not touch water, and a hundred matters do not concern their minds. Although they enjoy pleasure for a time, how can they avoid burdening themselves in the three miserable destinies? Do you not see what is said in the teaching: "Better to wrap hot iron around one's body than to receive the robes of a person of faith; better to pour molten copper into one's mouth than to receive the food of a person of faith." If you head monks have truly realized it, even if the great earth is turned into gold and the long river is churned into ghee to make offerings to you, it would not be beyond your due. If you have not yet realized it, then even down to a drop of water or an inch of thread, you must put on fur and horns, pull the plow and drag the harrow, to repay them before you are done! Do you not see what the Patriarch said: "If one enters the Way without penetrating the principle, one will repay the offerings of faith in physical form." This is a definite matter, never in vain. Head monks! Time is to be cherished; time waits for no man. Do not wait until one day the light of your eyes falls to the ground, with not a single basket of work in the field of the black robes, sinking into the pains of a hundred punishments in the Iron Enclosure! Do not say I did not tell you. Take care!'

9.7

Chan Master Yue of Ruiguang in Suzhou. A monk asked: 'What is the meaning of Juzhi's one finger?' The Master said: 'The moon sets at the third watch; walking through the market.'

9.8

Chan Master Ziyuan of Dongshan in Ruizhou ascended the hall. A monk came forward and tossed down his sitting mat. The Master said: 'Caught on the first cast of the hook.' The monk picked up the sitting mat. The Master said: 'Being too clever overreaches itself.' The monk said: 'Since antiquity, the tune of the unborn must meet an appreciative ear.' The Master said: 'A Persian enters the land of Tang.' The monk laughed loudly and returned to the assembly.

9.9

Dharma Heir of Chan Master Yong of Shishuang

9.10

Chan Master Baozong of Fuyan on Mount Nanyue ascended the hall and said: 'When the Bhagavat walked seven steps all around, raising his foot was a total error. When his eyes looked in the four directions, encountering things became a complete impediment. Handing down the golden brocade robe brought calamity upon sons and grandsons; transmitting the jade verse caused it to hang on people's lips. Awakening to nature through the wind and banner did not leave behind the defilements of form; dropping a needle into water in a bowl was entirely a narrow view through a tube. The Patriarch gazed at the wall for nine years, seeing not a single speck; Master Lu transmitted the robe across six generations, plotting for his own petty gain. The single shout in Jiangxi failed to show caution at the outset; Deshan's complete execution was unaware of protecting the end. In the South Mountain, the blunt-nosed viper points to tracks in vain; in the North Courtyard, the withered pine displays its noble style to no purpose. Yunmen's observing and looking drops into the second and third; Linji's complete presentation errs seven and eight times. If you speak of the five ranks of lord and minister, it is just like a paper horse crossing a river; if you further deduce the mutual interaction of host and guest, it is just like a mud person taking a bath. Standing uniquely beyond external forms is still not a hawk catching a rabbit; mingling traces in the dust is not yet a dog biting a pig. How does this differ from leaping over a pit only to fall into a trench, or fleeing drowning only to throw oneself into a net? Such understanding belongs squarely to the common path. How does a person of the Way who transcends the ordinary understand this? Do you not see that even a layman like Tao Qian could still observe affairs and perceive opportunities? Nowadays, the descendants of the ancestral house must not have no blood beneath their skin!' He gave a shout.

9.11

Chan Master Dayang Ruhan of Yingzhou. A monk asked, "What is a knocking-and-striking phrase?" The Master said, "Outside the railing, bamboos sway in the wind, startling the recluse from sleep." The monk said, "Then the gate of Avalokiteśvara is wide open." The Master said, "A lion bites people." He then said, "Hearing sound and awakening to the Way, one loses the eyes of Avalokiteśvara; seeing form and illuminating the mind, one obscures the nostrils of Mañjuśrī. One exiting and one entering, half open and half closed. Last night the mud ox wandered into the vast sea, and even up to now it has not been seen to return. Bah!"

9.12

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Fushan Yuan

9.13

Chan Master Jingyin Jingzhao Daozhen of the Eastern Capital was a native of Gutian in Fuzhou, of the Dai clan. His father dreamed of a majestic figure in yellow cap and robes leading an entourage into their house, whereupon his mother became pregnant. She also dreamed of heavenly music, yellow banners, and Sanskrit chanting leading a monk with thick eyebrows and blue-green eyes to them, and then she gave birth to the Master. From childhood he did not consume meat. At age fourteen, he went to Shangsheng Monastery to leave home and observed dhūta practices. At nineteen, he became a fully ordained monk. Reading the sūtras and treatises of both the Lesser and Greater Vehicles, he put them aside and stopped reading them, saying, "These are merely expedient teachings." He then took up a single bowl and traveled through the Jiang-Huai region. He visited very many kalyāṇamitras and attained the realization under Fushan. When the abbatial seat of Chengtian Monastery in Jiangzhou fell vacant, they wished to invite the Master, but this was not his desire; so he traveled to Danyang and stayed at Yinsheng Temple. One day, walking along the river, he looked at a boat and quietly considered, saying, "I should follow where it goes and trust my karmic affinity." He asked the boatman, "May I take passage at the stern of your boat?" The boatman smiled and said, "Where do you wish to go, Master? My boat is bound for Bianjing." The Master thereupon said, "I happen to wish to travel to the capital." The boatman then carried him north. He paid respects to Chan Master Jingyin Dajue Lian. Lian had him serve as head of the assembly under his seat. When Lian returned to Wu, the assembly requested that the Master succeed him. On the day he opened the Dharma hall, Emperor Yingzong dispatched an imperial envoy to bring incense and bestow a purple square robe and the master title Juezhao. In the capital metropolis, predilections were varied in ten thousand ways, and noblemen and high officials filled the doorway, yet the Master regarded them all with single impartiality. With ten thousand voices speaking as one, all took him to be an authentic person of the Way, and there was none who did not revere him. After several years passed, in the spring of the third year of Yuanfeng, Cisheng Guangxian passed away. Emperor Shenzong summoned him to the Qingshou Palace to preach the Dharma. A monk asked, "Where has Cisheng's immortal journey surely returned?" The Master said, "Flowing water is originally in the ocean; the setting moon does not leave the sky." The Emperor was greatly pleased, and decreed that a high and wide seat be set up, allowing anyone to engage in questions and answers. All around, above and below, attained what had never been before, and sounds of joy shook the palace halls. The imperial rewards were exceedingly generous. The Emperor also said to the chief minister, "Daozhen has long possessed virtuous conduct; let a fine title be selected and presented." He was thereupon bestowed the title Chan Master Jingzhao. When various Chan monasteries were founded in the capital, Xiangguo Monastery was divided into the two Chan monasteries of Huilin and Zhihai. The monks ordered to take charge of them were inevitably chosen by the Master. The elder monks all followed him like grass bending in the wind. Goryeo sent three monks to study under him; the Master guided them according to their capacities, and all accorded with the lineage tenets. As a person, the Master was broad-minded, tranquil, and retiring, seeming unable to speak. By nature he was compassionate, pure, and cautious, maintaining his personal needs with utmost frugality. He did not change his single cloth skirt for twenty years, and had no fondnesses. Once, having whitewashed the western wall of the abbot's quarters, he asked Wen Yuke to paint ink bamboos on it, and said to people, "I make it so that visitors who see this will naturally find peace and coolness in their minds; this gentleman is indeed preaching the Dharma on my behalf." In the western corner of the capital city where he resided, more than forty patch-robed monks stayed; relaxed and at ease, he did not step outside the door, thirty years passing like a single day. On the seventeenth day of the eighth month in the eighth year of Yuanyou, he suddenly said to his disciple Jingyuan, "I shall depart in three more days." When the time arrived, he bathed, changed his robes, recited a gāthā, and then passed away cross-legged. He had lived eighty years and sat sixty-one summer retreats. Huang Luzhi once inscribed his portrait: "An old tiger without teeth, a reclining dragon does not chant. / A thousand forests in the black of the moon, the six directions overcast with clouds. / Distant mountains serve as eyebrows, red apricots as cheeks; / Married to the spring breeze without need of a matchmaker. / In the young days of a matron in her prime, / She also knew how to apply makeup here and there." One can imagine from this his lofty grace. When the Master first appeared in the world, a monk asked, "Whose family's tune does the Master sing? Whose house style do you inherit?" The Master said, "When having money, spend money; when without money, abide in poverty." The monk said, "The legitimate son of Yuehua, the offspring of Linji." The Master said, "I let you off thirty blows." A monk asked, "What is the environment of Jingyin?" The Master said, "The plaque of Faguang Hall was personally inscribed by Emperor Renzong." The monk said, "What is the person in the environment?" The Master said, "The Patriarchs of the six generations are heard throughout the world." A monk asked, "What is the person in the Way?" The Master said, "Beyond ten thousand homes of smoke and fire, a single pillow amidst waters and clouds." A monk asked, "What is the Buddha?" The Master said, "In the morning, apply incense; in the evening, change the fire." A monk asked, "What is the wondrous wisdom power of Avalokiteśvara?" The Master said, "In Henan the dogs bark; in Hebei the donkeys bray." A monk asked, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" The Master said, "The staff carried horizontally does not reach the shoulder." The monk said, "Thank you, Master, for answering my question." The Master said, "You have mistakenly identified the zero mark on the steelyard." He then said, "One question and one answer have no end. The ancients called it the ocean of inexhaustible treasuries, and also called it the gate of expedients. Before a patch-robed monk, it is far off indeed. Why? The handle of authority is in hand, giving and taking away at will. Sitting across and cutting off Vairocana, standing like a wall of a thousand fathoms. Who would care to roam at leisure in the towers of Sudhana? How could one read through the jade-inlaid cases of the Flower Treasury? A vigorous and sharp hero originally ought to be like this. Thinking about it afterward turns it into a second moon. Apart from this, matching capacities and accommodating vessels, one lodges in a thatched hut; conforming to the low and leveling the high, one subtly accomplishes the myriad things; flowing all around without obstruction, everywhere is penetrated. If one does not exhaust the finest hair, one brings the fault upon oneself. Talking and expounding like this makes patch-robed monks laugh to death! And tell me, who is the one that understands how to laugh?" After a long pause he said, "Look closely!" He then descended the seat. He also showed the assembly by holding up his staff and saying, "The staff of jili wood / Is well able to talk of Buddhas and Patriarchs. / The deaf are able to hear it; / The mute also understand how to speak. / It points to white stones as jade; / It touches yellow gold into soil. / If you understand it just like this, / The other house does not yet approve. / If they do not approve, do not be reckless: / On the South Street drums are beaten, on the North Street they dance." He struck once.

9.14

Chan Master Renyue of Xinghua in Luzhou was a native of Nanquan. A monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?" The Master said, "Linji questioned Huangbo." The monk said, "The student does not understand." The Master said, "He came to take the blow three times." A monk asked, "What is the Upādhyāya's house style?" The Master said, "A curved meditation chair." The monk said, "When a guest comes, how do you receive him?" The Master said, "A staff." A monk asked, "The teachings of the entire Great Canon are all names and words. Apart from these names and words, how do you point it out?" The Master said, "A mangy horse rubs against a withered willow." The monk said, "The student does not understand." The Master said, "A camel loves to eat salt." The monk said, "Ultimately, how is it?" The Master said, "Where the iron whip points, the horse neighs in vain."

9.15

Chan Master Weifang of Yuquan in Jingmen Commandery was a native of Shu. A monk asked, "With what Dharma have all the sages from of old instructed people?" The Master held up his staff. The monk said, "The student does not understand." The Master said, "Entrusted to you with both hands." As the monk deliberated, the Master hit him. Chan Master Huichen of Dinglin in Suzhou: a monk asked, "What is the Way?" The Master said, "Right before your eyes." The monk said, "Why do I not see it?" The Master said, "Blind!"

9.16

Chan Master Ruozhu of Benjue in Xiuzhou was a native of the Zhuo clan of Fuzhou. A monk asked, "What is the Way?" The Master raised his fist. The monk said, "The student does not understand." The Master said, "You do not even recognize a fist." He ascended the hall and said, "Speaking of Buddhas and speaking of Patriarchs buries the ancestral vehicle; raising the ancients and talking of the present detains patch-robed monks. Opening up the superior path, who dares to confront it directly? Standing equally downwind, one need not bother to bring it forth. With a steelyard without marked dots, how can one discern catties and ounces? If you can discern it, Mount Sumeru weighs only half a grain. If you cannot discern it, snap the steelyard beam in two and meet with everyone in the country of Japan."

9.17

Chan Master Puzi of Huayan in the Eastern Capital was a native of Jianyang in Jianzhou, of the Xie clan. In his youth, he studied Confucian learning and gained renown as a jinshi examinee. Later, reading Buddhist sūtras, when he came to 'recognizing one's own mind source,' his past roots were awakened. Thereupon he went to monk Kechong of the Western Vinaya Cloister at Taiping Xingguo to leave home, attain liberation, and receive the complete precepts. Traveling to investigate the Way, he went to the Dharma assembly of Chan Master Yuanjian of Fushan in Longshu. Entering the room to inquire, his mind blended and spirit united [with the master's]. The people of Shu invited him to reside at the two monasteries of Ganlu and Taiping, and his reputation in the Way spread widely. A monk asked, "What is the guest within the guest?" The Master said, "The traveler's road is as distant as heaven." The monk said, "What is the host within the guest?" The Master said, "The marquis's gate is as deep as the sea." The monk said, "What is the host within the host?" The Master said, "An imperial decree of the Son of Heaven within the realm." The monk said, "What is the guest within the host?" The Master said, "The general's order beyond the frontier." The Master said, "Asking about the host from within the guest, dynamic interchanges are exchanged. Asking about the guest from within the host, living together and dying together. Discerning the host within the host, swallowing one's breath and holding back one's voice. Seeking the guest within the guest, white clouds for ten thousand miles. Therefore, there is no meaning in the phrase, yet the meaning is in the phrase. If you understand here, a pair of solitary geese strike the ground and fly high. If you do not understand here, a pair of mandarin ducks stand alone beside the stream. Chan guests who understand the tune, let us bear witness together; those who chase echoes and follow different currents must be extremely careful." After a long pause he said, "If it were Tao Yuanming, he would knit his brows and turn back home." The Master later retired to reside at Jingyin, and his virtue and prestige were quite heavy. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng, the people of the capital requested that he reside at Huayan, and he further revitalized the house style; those inside and outside the capital city turned toward him in harmony. On the tenth day of the fourth month in the eighth year, he was summoned into the imperial palace to preach the Dharma. After returning, he had no illness, and his movements were as usual. On the fourteenth day, he suddenly beat the drum, ascended the seat, took leave of the assembly, and passed away. The Master's character was refined, outstanding, and preeminent. He propagated the three mysteries and nine bands under Linji, and composed the five ranks and ten mysteries of Caodong, wondrously grasping the essential points of their house styles. His learning was comprehensive and vast, so those who approached could only gaze at its vast expanse. When the Master first attained the Dharma, he was still young and served for a long time as Fushan's attendant. At that time, [Dayang] Qing of Huayan already had some awakening, but Fushan knew he had not fully penetrated and had the Master provoke him. The Master received the instruction and expediently enlightened him; Qing thereupon attained realization and later continued the Dong lineage; the account is in Qing's biography.

9.18

Chan Master Weishi of Qingyin Cloister in Nankang Commandery. A monk asked, "What is the Way?" The Master said, "Slanted streets and crooked alleys." The monk said, "What is the person in the Way?" The Master said, "A hundred crafts, a hundred failures."

9.19

Chan Master Fengneng of Hengyue Temple in Tanzhou ascended the hall: "When the house style is just raised, clouds for ten thousand miles clear away. When the decree is carried out, a thousand peaks show the color of cold. At the summit of Mount Sumeru, white waves surge to the heavens; within the waves of the great sea, red dust covers the ground. One should reflect upon Huangmei in the past and Shaoshi in those years: unable to step back and yield to others, they caused the pounding of chaff to answer determination and the severing of the arm to repay the heart. How can that compare to here at Hengyue? Millet rice from mountain slash-and-burn fields and a tub of saltless soup; living together through bitterness and joy, following what is high and accommodating what is low. Furthermore, it is not buying dearly at the south end and selling cheaply at the north end. It directly causes Mañjuśrī to bow his head, Kāśyapa to knit his brows, Nāgārjuna and Aśvaghoṣa to swallow their breath and hold back their voices, and Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra cannot even manage. Why is it like this? 'Carefully observe the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this.'"

9.20

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Baoying Zhao

9.21

Chan Master Langya Fangchong of Chuzhou ascended the hall: "The Maker of Things has no intention to give birth to things, yet thing after thing naturally forms. Rain and dew have no intent to moisten things, yet wondrous sprouts naturally flourish. Therefore, without consuming medicinal concoctions, illness naturally declines; without drawing close to a good master, the mind naturally becomes clear. Hence we know that wondrous wisdom and spiritual illumination are not obtained from conditions. Only when reaching here are you permitted to take a step forward; Langya will meet with you in a different manner. Is there anyone? If not, you must not oppress the fine into the lowly."

9.22

Chan Master Xiyin of Mount Xingyang in Yingzhou. A monk asked, "What is the phrase for letting go of one's grip on the edge of the cliff?" The master said, "The bright moon shines upon the secluded valley." [The monk] said, "What is the phrase for reviving after having perished?" The master said, "White clouds arise in the great void." [The monk] said, "If so, then the woodcutter emerges from the wooded hills, everywhere singing of the colors of spring." The master said, "This is someone who is able to speak." Ascending the hall, [the master said], "To see completely is not to see; seeing completely, it is not yet ended. Travelers upon the road; birds roosting in the woods. Within the moon, the pagoda stands twelve stories high; beyond the heavens, the starry constellations span five hundred tips. Do you wish to understand? Holding in hand the nocturnal luminous talisman, how many know that dawn has broken? Attend!"

9.23

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Jin of Shimen

9.24

Chan Master Zhicai of Ruiyan in Mingzhou. A monk asked, "What is the phrase that cuts off the myriad streams?" The master said, "Fine." [The monk] said, "What is the phrase that follows the waves and pursues the billows?" The master said, "Follow." [The monk] said, "What is the phrase that covers heaven and earth?" The master said, "Close." [The monk] said, "Having received the master's instruction on the three phrases, how does one distinguish past and present?" The master said, "After this, do not quote [them] mistakenly." Ascending the hall, [the master said], "Because heaven is impartial, it constantly covers; because earth is impartial, it constantly sustains; because the sun and moon are impartial, the four seasons are constantly bright; because nirvāṇa is impartial, the noble and the ordinary are not two; because the human mind is impartial, between high and low there is no dispute." Picking up his staff and tapping it once, he said, "Chan practitioners! Day and night, this staff expounds the Dharma-gate of impartiality for everyone. Do you hear it? If you hear it, I dare guarantee that you have completed the matter of itinerant pilgrimage. If you say you do not hear it, I also grant that the eye atop your crown is upright. Why so? 'This Dharma is impartial, having neither high nor low; this is called anuttarāsamyaksaṃbodhi.'" After a pause, he laughed and said, "The text that follows is lengthy."

9.25

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Ying of Jinshan

9.26

Chan Master Wenjian Jizhen of Guangjiao in Xuanzhou. When he first visited Daguan, he asked, "Apart from lecturing, I have investigated the vastness of what the Buddhas taught. How can I see its boundaries?" Guan said, "On what do you ordinarily rely to lecture?" The master said, "I interpret the meaning in accord with the teachings." Guan said, "Interpreting the meaning in accord with the teachings wrongs the Buddhas of the three periods." The master said, "Departing from the teachings by a single word is identical to the speech of Māra." Guan said, "I am not asking you about the teachings and their meaning. Who is the person that interprets and explains?" The master said, "One sees only movement, stillness, speech, and words; its form and appearance cannot be seen." Guan said, "Just this lack of form and appearance is precisely the vastness. If you awaken to this mind, you will see its boundaries." From this the master had an insight. Residing at Guangjiao, he ascended the hall and said, "One who wishes to be an ancestral master must understand the phrases of brightness and darkness. In the dead of night one rubs one's eyes; all becomes empty tangled vines. The troublesome Śākyamuni insisted on looking around in the four directions at birth; pointing to his chest, he alone claimed supremacy, and furthermore walked seven steps around. Who again knows the brightness? Whom does the darkness cause to awaken? Thereafter for hundreds and thousands of years, [they are as] innumerable as the sands of the Ganges. One blind person leads a crowd of blind people; the blind support one another. On another day, when meeting old Yama, glaring with eyes wide, they will stare at each other in vain. At that time, do not cry out, 'The boiling cauldron has no cool place!' Do not be empty in stomach yet lofty in mind; just turn your chopsticks upon a piled plate. A word to future generations: do not be misled by Xu the Sixth!"

9.27

Chan Master Chongzhen of Puci Cloister in Runzhou. A monk asked, "What is the environment of Puci?" The master said, "Stepping out the gate, one immediately sees Mount Helin." [The monk] said, "Who is the person in the environment?" The master said, "Entering the gate, one immediately sees Elder Zhen."

9.28

Chan Master Zhonghe of Ruizhu in Taipingzhou. A monk asked, "Attaining the seat and donning the robe, everyone understands. What about the matter of the supreme lineage?" The master said, "Just know that ice is water." [The monk] said, "Is there anything further?" The master said, "Stop asking about water becoming ice." [The monk] said, "To ride the tide, one must be a tide-rider." The master said, "This monk comes from Zhezong."

9.29

Chan Master Huaixian Yuantong of Jinshan in Runzhou. A monk asked, "From whom did the master receive the Dharma to propagate the lineage tenets?" The master held up his whisk. The monk said, "At the top of the Iron Urn City wall it was once verified; beside the Blue Stream cliff, the lamp of the patriarchs shines brightly." The master gave a flick of his whisk and said, "Hearing things inaccurately, one calls a bell an urn."

9.30

Chan Master Xianzhong Zuyin of Shifo Temple in Yuezhou. A monk asked, "Who is the Immovable Honoured One?" The master said, "A monkey on a hot griddle." [The monk] said, "What are the hundreds of millions of transformation bodies?" The master said, "Adding incense, changing water, lighting lamps, and sweeping the ground." [The monk] said, "Who is the master of Vairocana's Dharma body?" The master said, "The post for tying horses." [The monk] said, "What connection is there?" The master said, "Tie this fellow to death!" [A monk] asked, "Only one who can kill Buddhas and patriarchs is an adept. What is the sword that kills Buddhas and patriarchs?" The master said, "It does not decapitate dead fellows." [The monk] said, "What is the Upādhyāya's sword?" The master said, "The order is not executed twice." [A monk] asked, "What is arising from marks?" The master said, "Mountains, rivers, and the great earth." [The monk] said, "What is arising from thought?" The master said, "A rabbit gazing at the moon." [The monk] said, "What is arising from continuous flux?" The master said, "Without interruption." [The monk] said, "What are form and emptiness?" The master said, "A five-colored screen." Ascending the hall, [the master said], "Du, du, du! The fish and dragons at the bottom of the sea are completely dried up. The three-legged toad flies up to heaven; the shell-shedding tortoise stays alive amidst the fire." Ascending the hall, [the master said], "When pointing, one does not arrive, and black and white are not yet distinguished. When arriving, one does not point, mixing mud and blending water. The exposed pillar leaps into the lantern—let that be as it may! Why are your eyebrows dragged beneath your heels instead? Even if you understand clearly here, you are still a monkey wearing a rush hat; if you do not understand clearly here, how is it different from an earthworm wearing boots? Although this is so, those who laugh at me are many; those who sneer at me are few."

9.31

Chan Master Jushuo Zhenjing of Jingzhu Cloister in Hangzhou. He visited Daguan and asked, "I roughly understand the sūtras and treatises, but simply have no faith in Chan. I pray that the master will resolve my doubts." Guan said, "Since you do not believe in Chan, how can you understand the sūtras? Chan is the guiding rope of the sūtras; the sūtras are the guiding rope of Chan. Pulling the main cord aligns the net; understanding Chan, one sees the sūtras." The master said, "Speak some Chan for me to see." Guan said, "The text that follows is lengthy." The master said, "If so, then the sūtras and Chan are a single entity." Guan said, "Buddhas and patriarchs are not two minds. It is like the hand grasping into a fist, like a fist opening into a hand." The master was awakened as a result, and composed a gāthā: / 'For more than twenty years I used my mind to guess, / Several times having turned this heart to cold ashes. / Now, in distress, I meet an intimate friend— / Li Bai, after all, was an xiucai scholar!'"

9.32

Chan Master Gongchen of Mount Xiyu in Anjizhou ascended the hall and said, "Lingyun seeing blossoms was a cataract in his eyes; Xuansha stubbing his toe was adversity upon his body. It is better to pass the time just like this; naturally body and mind will be peaceful and joyful." Ascending the hall, [the master said], "Principle exists on account of phenomena; the mind arises pursuing objects. When phenomena and objects are both forgotten, there are a thousand mountains and myriad waters. How can one get it just right?" After a pause, he said, "Just do not gouge out healthy flesh to make a wound." The master authored the thirty-fascicle Zuyuan tongyao, which circulated in the world.

9.33

Chan Master Shanduan of Bore Temple in Kunshan, Suzhou. A monk asked, "Having birth and having cessation is completely the ordinary course. What is it like when there is no birth and no cessation?" The master said, "A Kunlun slave puts on boots and stands in empty space." [The monk] said, "Might that be where you help people?" The master said, "A barren woman pins a flower in her hair and sleeps amidst the fire." [The monk] said, "May the great assembly bear witness." The master said, "Watch further as the mud ox fights its way into the sea."

9.34

Upāsaka Li Duanyuan, the Military Commissioner, often read Chan texts in the study during his childhood. Although he married and entered officialdom as an adult, he was devoted to the ancestral Way. Thereupon he built a hermitage-like chamber in his rear garden and invited Daguan to reside there. Morning and evening he consulted and inquired, even forgetting to sleep and eat. One day, Guan looked at the gentleman and said, "Were it not for the power of manifestation, how could it come to this? Yet what can be done about having no place of entry?" The gentleman asked, "Do heaven and hell ultimately exist or not? Please explain clearly, Master." Guan said, "The Buddhas speak of existence from within non-existence—eyes seeing flowers in the sky. The Grand Defender seeks non-existence from within existence—hands clutching the moon in the water. How laughable: seeing the prison before your eyes, you do not avoid it; hearing of heaven outside your mind, you wish to be born there! Little do you know that joy and fear reside in the mind, while good and evil form their environments. If the Grand Defender simply understands his own mind, he will naturally be free of delusion." The gentleman said, "How does one understand the mind?" Guan said, "Do not deliberate on good or evil at all." The gentleman said, "After not deliberating, where does the mind return?" Guan said, "For now, please return to your residence, Grand Defender." The gentleman said, "Just like after a person dies, where does the mind return?" Guan said, "Before knowing life, how can you know death?" The gentleman said, "As for life, I already know it." Guan said, "Where does life come from?" The gentleman was at a loss. Guan stood up, struck his chest, and said, "It is right here! What more are you planning to deliberate?" The gentleman said, "I understand!" Guan said, "How do you understand?" The gentleman said, "I only knew to hasten on my journey, not realizing I had taken the wrong path." Guan pushed him away and said, "A dream of a hundred years is awakened to only today." Soon after, [the gentleman] spoke a gāthā: / 'For thirty-eight years, muddled and knowing nothing; / When it comes to having knowledge, / How does it differ from knowing nothing? / Rushing, rushing flows the Bian River, / Faintly seen stands the Sui Dike. / Master, you may now return; / Arrow-swift waves rush eastward.'"

9.35

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yue of Dongting

9.36

Chan Master Liang of Jianfu in Suzhou. A monk asked, "Not relying on verbal explanation, please instruct me, Master." The master said, "The great assembly all sees you being like this." [The monk] asked, "Might just this be it?" The master said, "Rarely does one encounter a pierced-ear guest."

9.37

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yi of Zhangxi

9.38

Chan Master Baoxuan of Huangyan in Taizhou. A monk asked, "When not wishing to be without words, but briefly relying on provisional means, what then?" The master said, "Knowing yet deliberately offending." The monk bowed. The master struck him.

9.39

Dharma Heirs of Chan Master Yue of Longhua

9.40

Chan Master Xiyu Shizi Jingduan of Anjizhou was a native of that prefecture. His surname was Qiu. At first, seeing a lion dance, he illuminated the mind's essential principle. He went to see Longhua and received his seal of approval. Thereupon he returned to his home village, joined colored fabrics into a lion's skin, and constantly wore it; hence he was called 'Lion Duan'. Prime Minister Lord Zhang admired his Dao and personally invited him to open the Dharma hall at Mount Wu, where his transformative influence spread widely. On the day the hall was opened, when the monastic official was reading the proclamation and reached the lines: 'Overturning turning heads, kicking over rice-cakes; before the seven fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra are chanted, the single song of the fisherman is already heard,' the master stopped him and ascended the seat. Having offered incense and prayed for the Emperor, he chanted in a drawn-out voice: / 'Originally an angler on the Xiao and Xiang rivers, / Wandering west, wandering east, wandering south and north.' / The great assembly in unison praised him. The master looked around, smiled, and said, 'Contemplate attentively the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this!' He then stepped down from the seat. Ascending the hall, [the master said], 'On the second day of the second month, what does the old Chan man have to say? The spring wind meets the eye, and a hundred flowers bloom. Noble sons and princely grandsons get tipsy day after day. Only the Chen dynasty juniper before the hall does not suit the tastes of worldly people. Followers of Chan, it is just this! Do not deliberate. Placidly take a bowl of tea after the vegetarian meal, and stretch your legs to sleep on the long continuous benches. Bah!' When the master arrived at Huating, the assembly requested him to ascend the hall. [He said], 'The lion of Gṛdhrakūṭa roars amidst the clouds. The Buddha Dharma cannot be negotiated; it is better to do a somersault.' He then stepped down from the seat. [A monk] asked, 'What about before the antelope hangs by its horns?' The master said, 'Fear.' [The monk] said, 'Since you are a kalyāṇamitra, why then fear?' The master said, 'This mountain monk has never seen such a peculiar beast.'

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續傳燈錄 — Classical Chinese