Collected by Huiran, Junior Dharma Heir of Sansheng | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 府主王常侍与诸官请师升座。 | Prefect Wang, the Attendant Gentleman, together with the other officials, invited the Master to take the seat. |
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| 师上堂云：“山僧今日事不获已，曲顺人情方登此座。若约祖宗门下，称扬大事，直是开口不得，无尔措足处。山僧此日以常侍坚请，那隐纲宗。还有作家战将，直下展阵开旗么？对众证据看。” | The Master ascended the hall and said: “Today this mountain monk has no choice but to accommodate human expectations and mount this seat. But according to the lineage of the patriarchs, in proclaiming the great matter, one simply cannot open one’s mouth; there is no place for you to set foot. Yet because the Attendant Gentleman has earnestly requested it, how could this mountain monk conceal the guiding principles of the school? Are there any capable generals here who can immediately deploy their ranks and unfurl their banners? Come forth before the assembly and present your proof.” |
| 僧问：“如何是佛法大意？”师便喝。僧礼拜。师云：“这个师僧，却堪持论。” | A monk asked, “What is the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?” The Master immediately gave a shout. The monk bowed. The Master said, “This monk is indeed fit to uphold an argument.” |
| 问：“师唱谁家曲？宗风嗣阿谁？”师云：“我在黄檗处，三度发问，三度被打。”僧拟议，师便喝。随后打云：“不可向虚空里钉橛去也”！ | A monk asked, “Whose tune does the Master sing? Whose school tradition does he inherit?” The Master said, “At Huangbo’s place, I asked three times and was struck three times.” When the monk hesitated, the Master immediately shouted. He then struck him and said, “Do not go driving pegs into empty space!” |
| 有座主问：“三乘十二分教，岂不是明佛性？”师云：“荒草不曾锄”。主云：“佛岂赚人也？”师云：“佛在什么处？”主无语。师云：“对常侍前拟瞒老僧！速退速退！妨他别人诸问！” | A scriptural lecturer asked, “Do not the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teachings illuminate Buddha-nature?” The Master said, “The wild grass has never been cleared away.” The lecturer said, “Could the Buddha deceive people?” The Master said, “Where is the Buddha?” The lecturer had no reply. The Master said, “Before the Attendant Gentleman, you would try to deceive this old monk! Withdraw at once, withdraw at once! Do not hinder the questions of others!” |
| 复云：“此日法筵为一大事故。更有问话者么？速致问来！尔才开口，早勿交涉也！何以如此？不见释尊云：‘法离文字，不属因、不在缘’故，为尔信不及，所以今日葛藤，恐滞常侍与诸官员，昧他佛性。不如且退。” | The Master continued: “Today’s Dharma assembly is for the sake of the one great matter. Is there anyone else with a question? Ask quickly! The moment you open your mouth, you are already far from it. Why is this so? Have you not seen how the World-Honored One said, ‘The Dharma is apart from words; it belongs neither to causes nor to conditions’? Because you lack faith, there is all this entanglement today. I fear it may delay the Attendant Gentleman and the other officials, causing them to remain unaware of their Buddha-nature. Better that we withdraw for now.” |
| 喝一喝，云：“少信根人终无了日。久立珍重！” | He gave a shout and said, “Those of little faith will never have an end to it. You have stood for a long time; take care!” |
| 师因一日到河府，府主王常侍请师升座。时麻谷出问：“大悲千手眼，那个是正眼？”师云：“大悲千手眼，那个是正眼？速道速道！”麻谷拽师下座，麻谷却坐。师近前云：“不审。”麻谷拟议，师亦拽麻谷下座，师却坐。麻谷便出去。师便下座。 | One day, when the Master arrived at He Prefecture, Prefect Wang, the Attendant Gentleman, invited him to take the seat. At that time Magu came forward and asked, “Of Great Compassion’s thousand hands and eyes, which is the true eye?” The Master said, “Of Great Compassion’s thousand hands and eyes, which is the true eye? Speak quickly, speak quickly!” Magu pulled the Master down from the seat and sat down himself. The Master stepped forward and said, “I beg your pardon.” When Magu hesitated, the Master likewise pulled him down from the seat and sat down himself. Magu then went out, and the Master descended from the seat. |
| 上堂云：“赤肉团上有一无位真人，常从汝等诸人面门出入。未证据者看看！”时有僧出问：“如何是无位真人？”师下禅床把住云：“道道！”其僧拟议，师托开云：“无位真人是什么干屎橛！”便归方丈。 | The Master ascended the hall and said: “Within this lump of red flesh is the True Person of No Rank, who constantly goes in and out through the gateways of the faces of each one of you. Those who have not yet verified this—look, look!” At that time a monk came forth and asked, “What is the True Person of No Rank?” The Master stepped down from the Chan seat, seized him, and said, “Speak, speak!” When the monk hesitated, the Master released him and said, “What a dry shit-stick this True Person of No Rank is!” Then he returned to his quarters. |
| 上堂，有僧出礼拜，师便喝。僧云：“老和尚莫探头好！”师云：“尔道落在什么处？”僧便喝。 | The Master ascended the hall. A monk came forward and bowed, and the Master immediately shouted. The monk said, “Old Reverend, it would be better not to stick out your head!” The Master said, “Tell me, where has it fallen?” The monk immediately shouted. |
| 又有僧问：“如何是佛法大意？”师便喝，僧礼拜。师云：“尔道好喝也无？”僧云：“草贼大败。”师云：“过在什么处？”僧云：“再犯不容！”师便喝。 | Another monk asked, “What is the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?” The Master immediately shouted, and the monk bowed. The Master said, “Tell me, was that shout good or not?” The monk said, “The bandit’s army has suffered a crushing defeat.” The Master said, “Where does the fault lie?” The monk said, “A second offense cannot be tolerated!” The Master immediately shouted. |
| 是日两堂首座相见，同时下喝。僧问师：“还有宾主也无？”师云：“宾主历然。”师云：“大众要会临济宾主句，问取堂中二首座”。便下座。 | That day, the head monks of the two halls met and simultaneously gave shouts. A monk asked the Master, “Are there still host and guest?” The Master said, “Host and guest are clearly distinct.” The Master then said, “If the assembly wishes to understand Linji’s sayings of host and guest, ask the two head monks in the hall.” He then descended from the seat. |
| 上堂。僧问：“如何是佛法大意？”师竖起拂子。僧便喝。师便打。 | The Master ascended the hall. A monk asked, “What is the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?” The Master raised his whisk. The monk immediately shouted. The Master immediately struck him. |
| 又，僧问：“如何是佛法大意？”师亦竖起拂子。僧便喝。师亦喝。僧拟议，师便打。 | Again, a monk asked, “What is the great meaning of the Buddhadharma?” The Master again raised his whisk. The monk immediately shouted. The Master likewise shouted. When the monk hesitated, the Master immediately struck him. |
| 师乃云：“大众！夫为法者不避丧身失命。我二十年在黄檗先师处，三度问佛法的的大意，三度蒙他赐杖，如蒿枝拂着相似。如今更思得一顿棒吃。谁人为我行得？”时有僧出众云：“某甲行得。”师拈棒与他，其僧拟接，师便打。 | The Master then said: “Members of the assembly! One who acts for the Dharma does not shrink from losing body or life. During my twenty years with my former teacher Huangbo, I asked three times about the true great meaning of the Buddhadharma, and three times received his staff. It was like being brushed by a stalk of wormwood. Now I would again like to receive a blow of the staff. Who will administer it for me?” At that time a monk came forth from the assembly and said, “I can do it.” The Master picked up the staff and handed it to him. As the monk made to take it, the Master immediately struck him. |
| 上堂。僧问：“如何是剑刃上事？”师云：“祸事祸事！”僧拟议，师便打。 | The Master ascended the hall. A monk asked, “What is the matter on the edge of the sword?” The Master said, “Trouble, trouble!” When the monk hesitated, the Master immediately struck him. |
| 问：“秖如石室行者，踏碓忘却移脚，向什么处去？”师云：“没溺深泉”。 | A monk asked, “When the practitioner in the stone chamber, treading the mill, forgets to move his feet, where does he go?” The Master said, “He sinks and drowns in a deep spring.” |
| 师乃云：“但有来者不亏欠伊，总识伊来处。若与么来，恰似失却。不与么来，无绳自缚。一切时中莫乱斟酌，会与不会都来是错。分明与么道，一任天下人贬剥。久立珍重！” | The Master then said: “Whoever comes, I do not fail them; I always know where they come from. If they come in such a way, it is just like having lost it. If they do not come in such a way, they bind themselves without a rope. At all times, do not make confused calculations. Whether you understand or do not understand, both are mistaken. Though I state this plainly, I leave it to everyone under heaven to disparage me. You have stood for a long time; take care!” |
| 上堂云：“一人在孤峰顶上，无出身之路。一人在十字街头，亦无向背。那个在前，那个在后？不作维摩诘，不作傅大士。珍重！” | The Master ascended the hall and said: “One person is on the summit of a solitary peak, with no road by which to emerge. Another is at the crossroads, with neither facing nor turning away. Which is in front, and which behind? I will not be Vimalakīrti, nor will I be Fu the Great Master. Take care!” |
| 上堂云：“有一人论劫在途中不离家舍，有一人离家舍不在途中。那个合受人天供养？”便下座。 | The Master ascended the hall and said: “One person has been on the road throughout kalpas without leaving home; another has left home but is not on the road. Which one deserves the offerings of humans and devas?” He then descended from the seat. |
| 上堂。僧问：“如何是第一句？”师云：“三要印开朱点窄，未容拟议主宾分。” | The Master ascended the hall. A monk asked, “What is the first phrase?” The Master said, “When the seal of the three essentials is opened, the vermilion mark is narrow; before deliberation is allowed, host and guest are distinguished.” |
| 问：“如何是第二句？”师云：“妙解岂容无著问，沤和争负截流机。” | A monk asked, “What is the second phrase?” The Master said, “How could subtle understanding permit a question from Asaṅga? How could skillful means fail to bear the capacity to cut off the stream?” |
| 问：“如何是第三句？”师云：“看取棚头弄傀儡，抽牵都来里有人。” | A monk asked, “What is the third phrase?” The Master said, “Look at the puppets being manipulated above the booth: in all their pulling and tugging, there is someone within.” |
| 师又云：“一句语须具三玄门，一玄门须具三要，有权有用。汝等诸人，作么生会？”下座。 | The Master further said: “A single phrase must contain the three mysterious gates; a single mysterious gate must contain the three essentials. There is authority and there is function. How do all of you understand this?” He then descended from the seat. |
| 师晚参示众云：“有时夺人不夺境，有时夺境不夺人。有时人境俱夺，有时人境俱不夺。” | During the evening instruction, the Master addressed the assembly: “At times one takes away the person but not the circumstances; at times one takes away the circumstances but not the person. At times one takes away both person and circumstances; at times one takes away neither person nor circumstances.” |
| 时有僧问：“如何是夺人不夺境？”师云：“煦日发生铺地锦，璎孩垂发白如丝。” | A monk then asked, “What is taking away the person but not the circumstances?” The Master said, “The warming sun brings forth growth; brocade spreads across the ground. The infant’s hanging hair is white as silk.” |
| 僧云：“如何是夺境不夺人？”师云：“王令已行天下遍，将军塞外绝烟尘。” | The monk said, “What is taking away the circumstances but not the person?” The Master said, “The king’s command has gone forth throughout the land; beyond the frontier, the general has extinguished smoke and dust.” |
| 僧云：“如何是人境两俱夺？”师云：“并汾绝信，独处一方。” | The monk said, “What is taking away both person and circumstances?” The Master said, “Communication with Bing and Fen is cut off; one dwells alone in a single region.” |
| 僧云：“如何是人境俱不夺？”师云：“王登宝殿，野老讴歌。” | The monk said, “What is taking away neither person nor circumstances?” The Master said, “The king ascends the jeweled hall; the old country folk sing songs.” |
| 师乃云：“今时学佛法者，且要求真正见解。若得真正见解，生死不染，去住自由。不要求殊胜，殊胜自至。 | The Master then said: “Those who study the Buddhadharma nowadays must first seek genuine insight. If you attain genuine insight, birth and death will not stain you, and you will be free in going and staying. Do not seek what is extraordinary; the extraordinary will come of itself.” |
| 道流！秖如自古先德，皆有出人底路。如山僧指示人处，秖要尔不受人惑，要用便用，更莫迟疑！如今学者不得，病在甚处？病在不自信处。尔若自信不及，即便忙忙地，徇一切境转，被他万境回换，不得自由。尔若能歇得念念驰求心，便与祖佛不别。尔欲得识祖佛么？秖尔面前听法底是！ | Followers of the Way! The virtuous teachers of old all had ways that surpassed others. Where this mountain monk points people, I want only that you not be deluded by others. Use it whenever you need to use it; do not hesitate further! Why are students today unable to attain this? Where lies their illness? Their illness lies in their lack of confidence in themselves. If your confidence in yourself is insufficient, you will be busily carried along, following every circumstance, transformed by the myriad circumstances, and unable to be free. If you can stop the mind that chases after things thought after thought, you will be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Do you wish to know the patriarchs and Buddhas? It is simply the one before you now who listens to the Dharma!” |
| 学人信不及，便向外驰求。设求得者，皆是文字胜相，终不得他活祖意。莫错诸禅德。此时不遇，万劫千生，轮回三界，徇好境,掇去,驴牛肚里生。 | Because students lack faith, they rush about seeking externally. Even if they obtain something, it is all merely the superior appearances of words and letters; they will never obtain the living intent of the patriarchs. Do not be mistaken, all you Chan worthies. If you do not encounter it now, then through myriad kalpas and countless lives you will revolve in the three realms, carried off by pleasant circumstances and born in the bellies of donkeys and oxen. |
| 道流！约山僧见处，与释迦不别。今日多般用处，欠少什么！六道神光未曾间歇！若能如是见得，秖是一生无事人。大德！三界无安，犹如火宅。此不是尔久停住处，无常杀鬼，一刹那间，不拣贵贱老少。 | Followers of the Way! According to this mountain monk’s view, there is no difference from Śākyamuni. In the many functions of this day, what is lacking? The spiritual radiance functioning through the six sense faculties has never ceased. If you can see in this way, you will simply be a person with nothing to do for your entire life. Worthy ones! The three realms are without security, like a burning house. This is no place for you to remain long. The demon of impermanence kills in an instant, making no distinction between noble and base, old and young. |
| 尔要与祖佛不别，但莫外求。尔一念心上清净光，是尔屋里法身佛。尔一念心上无分别光，是尔屋里报身佛。尔一念心上无差别光，是尔屋里化身佛。此三种身是尔即今目前听法底人，秖为不向外驰求，有此功用。 | If you wish to be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas, simply do not seek outside. The pure light upon your single thought is the dharmakāya Buddha within your own house. The non-discriminating light upon your single thought is the sambhogakāya Buddha within your own house. The non-differentiating light upon your single thought is the nirmāṇakāya Buddha within your own house. These three kinds of body are the very person before you now who listens to the Dharma. It is only because you do not rush about seeking externally that they have this function. |
| 据经论家，取三种身为极则。约山僧见处不然。此三种身是名言，亦是三种依。古人云：‘身依义立，土据体论。’法性身、法性土，明知是光影。 | According to the scholars of sūtras and treatises, the three kinds of body are taken as the ultimate standard. But according to this mountain monk’s view, it is not so. These three kinds of body are names and words; they are also the three kinds of dependence. An ancient said, ‘Bodies are established in reliance on meaning; lands are discussed on the basis of substance.’ Clearly, the Dharma-nature body and Dharma-nature land are only reflections. |
| 大德！尔且识取弄光影底人，是诸佛之本源，一切处是道流归舍处。是尔四大色身不解说法听法，脾胃肝胆不解说法听法，虚空不解说法听法。是什么解说法听法？是尔目前历历底、勿一个形段孤明。是这个解说法听法。 | Worthy ones! You must recognize the one who manipulates these reflections. This is the source of all Buddhas and the home to which followers of the Way return everywhere. Your physical body of four great elements does not know how to speak or hear the Dharma; your spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder do not know how to speak or hear the Dharma; empty space does not know how to speak or hear the Dharma. What, then, knows how to speak and hear the Dharma? It is the one before you, distinctly clear, without any form, shining alone. This is what knows how to speak and hear the Dharma. |
| 若如是见得，便与祖佛不别。但一切时中更莫间断，触目皆是。秖为情生智隔，想变体殊，所以轮回三界，受种种苦。若约山僧见处，无不甚深、无不解脱。 | If you see in this way, you will be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Only do not allow interruption at any time; whatever meets your eye is it. It is merely because feelings arise and wisdom is obstructed, because thoughts change and the substance becomes divided, that you revolve in the three realms and undergo every kind of suffering. According to this mountain monk’s view, there is nothing that is not profound and nothing that is not liberation. |
| 道流！心法无形，通贯十方。在眼曰见、在耳曰闻、在鼻嗅香、在口谈论、在手执捉、在足运奔。本是一精明，分为六和合。一心既无，随处解脱。山僧与么说，意在什么处？秖为道流一切驰求，心不能歇，上他古人闲机境。 | Followers of the Way! Mind and dharmas are without form and pervade the ten directions. In the eye, it is called seeing; in the ear, hearing; in the nose, smelling fragrances; in the mouth, conversing; in the hands, grasping; in the feet, moving and running. Originally it is one bright essence, divided into the six harmonizing faculties. Once the one mind is absent, there is liberation wherever one is. Why does this mountain monk speak in this way? It is simply because you followers of the Way are ceaselessly chasing after things, unable to rest your minds, and have fallen into the idle devices and circumstances of the people of old. |
| 道流！取山僧见处，坐断报化佛头，十地满心犹如客作儿，等妙二觉担枷锁汉，罗汉辟支犹如厕秽，菩提涅槃如系驴橛。何以如此？秖为道流不达三祇劫空，所以有此障碍。若是真正道人，终不如是。但能随缘消旧业，任运着衣裳。要行即行，要坐即坐，无一念心希求佛果。缘何如此？古人云：‘若欲作业求佛，佛是生死大兆。’ | Followers of the Way! According to this mountain monk’s view, you should sit severing the heads of the sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya Buddhas. Bodhisattvas who have fulfilled the ten bhūmis are like hired laborers; those of equal and wondrous enlightenment are men wearing cangues and chains; arhats and pratyekabuddhas are like filth in a latrine; bodhi and nirvāṇa are like posts for tethering donkeys. Why is this so? It is simply because you followers of the Way have not realized the emptiness of the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, and therefore have such obstacles. If one is a genuine person of the Way, one is never like this. One need only dissolve past karma in accordance with conditions and naturally wear one’s clothes. Walk when you wish to walk, sit when you wish to sit, without a single thought seeking Buddhahood. Why is this so? An ancient said, ‘If you seek Buddhahood through contrived action, Buddha is the great omen of birth and death.’ |
| 大德！时光可惜，秖拟傍家波波地学禅学道、认名认句，求佛、求祖、求善知识，意度莫错。道流！尔秖有一个父母，更求何物？尔自返照看。古人云：‘演若达多失却头，求心歇处即无事。’ | Worthy ones! Time is precious. Yet you merely intend to bustle about, studying Chan and studying the Way, recognizing names and phrases, seeking Buddha, seeking patriarchs, seeking spiritual friends. Do not miscalculate in this way. Followers of the Way! You have only one pair of parents—what else do you seek? Turn your own light back and look. An ancient said, ‘Yajñadatta lost his head; when the mind that seeks it comes to rest, there is nothing to do.’ |
| 大德！且要平常，莫作模样。有一般不识好恶秃奴，便即见神见鬼、指东划西、好晴好雨。如是之流，尽须抵债，向阎老前吞热铁丸有日。好人家男女，被这一般野狐精魅所著，便即捏怪，瞎驴生！索饭钱有日在。” | Worthy ones! Simply be ordinary; do not put on airs. There are some bald slaves who cannot distinguish good from bad, who see spirits and ghosts, point east and gesture west, delight in fair weather and delight in rain. All such people must repay their debts; the day will come when, before old Yama, they swallow red-hot iron balls. Good men and women of respectable families are possessed by such wild-fox spirits and demons, and then make strange displays. Blind asses! The day will come when they demand money for their meals.” |
| 师示众云：“道流！切要求取真正见解，向天下横行，免被这一般精魅惑乱。无事是贵人。但莫造作，秖是平常。尔拟向外傍家求过觅脚手，错了也！ | The Master addressed the assembly: “Followers of the Way! You must urgently seek genuine understanding, so that you may go freely throughout the world without being confused by these various spirits and demons. To have nothing to do is to be a person of honor. Simply do not fabricate anything; just be ordinary. You intend to seek elsewhere, leaning on others in search of something to do—you are mistaken!” |
| 秖拟求佛，佛是名句。尔还识驰求底么？三世十方佛祖出来，也秖为求法。如今参学道流，也秖为求法、得法始了。未得，依前轮回五道。 | “You only intend to seek Buddhahood, but ‘Buddha’ is a name and a phrase. Do you recognize the one who runs about seeking? The Buddhas and patriarchs of the three times and ten directions all appeared only to seek the Dharma. Those who study the Way today likewise seek the Dharma; only upon obtaining the Dharma is it finished. Until they obtain it, they continue to revolve through the five paths of rebirth.” |
| 云何是法？法者是心法。心法无形，通贯十方，目前现用。人信不及，便乃认名认句，向文字中求意度佛法，天地悬殊。 | “What is the Dharma? The Dharma is the mind-Dharma. The mind-Dharma has no form; it pervades the ten directions and is functioning before your eyes. People lack sufficient faith in this, and so they grasp at names and phrases, seeking the meaning of the Buddha-Dharma in words and letters. How vastly distant they are!” |
| 道流！山僧说法说什么法？说心地法，便能入凡入圣，入净入秽，入真入俗。要且不是尔真俗凡圣，能与一切真俗凡圣安著名字？真俗凡圣与此人安著名字不得！ | “Followers of the Way! What Dharma does this mountain monk teach? I teach the Dharma of the mind-ground. It can enter the ordinary and the sacred, the pure and the defiled, the true and the worldly. Yet it is not your true and worldly, ordinary and sacred states that can assign names to all that is true and worldly, ordinary and sacred. The true and worldly, ordinary and sacred cannot assign names to this person!” |
| 道流！把得便用，更不著名字，号之为玄旨。山僧说法与天下人别。秖如有个文殊普贤出来目前，各现一身问法，才道‘咨和尚’，我早辨了也。老僧稳坐，更有道流来相见时，我尽辨了也。何以如此？秖为我见处别，外不取凡圣。内不住根本，见彻更不疑谬。” | “Followers of the Way! Take hold of it and use it, without attaching names to it. This is called the mysterious principle. What this mountain monk teaches differs from that of everyone else. Suppose Mañjuśrī or Samantabhadra were to appear before me, each manifesting a body and asking about the Dharma. The moment one says, ‘Reverend Monk,’ I have already discerned him. This old monk sits securely; when followers of the Way come to see me, I discern them all. Why is this so? Because my way of seeing is different: outwardly, I do not grasp at the ordinary or sacred; inwardly, I do not abide in the fundamental. Seeing through completely, I have no further doubts or errors.” |
| 师示众云：“道流！佛法无用功处，秖是平常无事，屙屎送尿、着衣吃饭、困来即卧。愚人笑我，智乃知焉。古人云：‘向外作工夫，总是痴顽汉。’尔且随处作主，立处皆真，境来回换不得。纵有从来习气，五无间业，自为解脱大海。 | The Master addressed the assembly: “Followers of the Way! In the Buddha-Dharma there is no place for contrived effort. It is simply ordinary and uneventful: defecating and urinating, putting on clothes and eating भोजन, and lying down when tired. Fools laugh at me, but the wise understand. The ancients said, ‘To work at it outwardly is always the way of foolish, stubborn people.’ Just be master wherever you are; wherever you stand is true. When circumstances come, they cannot turn you about. Even if you have habitual tendencies from the past, including the karma of the five uninterrupted offenses, they naturally become the great ocean of liberation.” |
| 今时学者总不识法，犹如触鼻羊逢着物安在口里，奴郎不辨、宾主不分，如是之流邪心入道。闹处即入不得，名为真出家人，正是真俗家人。夫出家者，须辨得平常真正见解，辨佛辨魔、辨真辨伪、辨凡辨圣。 | “Students today generally do not recognize the Dharma. They are like sheep that, upon encountering something, put it into their mouths; unable to distinguish servant from master, or guest from host, people of this kind enter the Way with distorted minds. They cannot enter a place of disturbance, yet call themselves true renunciants; in fact, they are worldly householders. One who has left home must be able to discern ordinary, genuine understanding: distinguish Buddha from demon, true from false, ordinary from sacred.” |
| 若如是辨得，名‘真出家。’若魔佛不辨，正是出一家入一家，唤作造业众生，未得名为真出家。秖如今有一个佛魔同体不分，如水乳合，鹅王吃乳。如明眼道流，魔佛俱打。尔若爱圣憎凡，生死海里浮沉！” | “If one can discern in this way, one is called a true renunciant. If one cannot distinguish demon from Buddha, one merely leaves one household to enter another; such a person is called a sentient being creating karma and has not yet earned the name of a true renunciant. Right now there is one in whom Buddha and demon are conjoined, inseparable like water and milk; like a royal goose drinking only the milk. Those followers of the Way with clear eyes strike down both demon and Buddha. If you love the sacred and hate the ordinary, you will sink and rise in the ocean of birth and death!” |
| 问：“如何是佛魔？” | A question was asked: “What are Buddha and demon?” |
| 师云：“尔一念心疑处是魔。尔若达得万法无生，心如幻化，更无一尘一法，处处清净是佛。然佛与魔是染净二境。约山僧见处，无佛无众生，无古无今。得者便得，不历时节。无修无证，无得无失，一切时中更无别法。设有一法过此者，我说如梦如化，山僧所说皆是。 | The Master said: “Where your mind gives rise to doubt in a single thought—that is demon. If you realize that all phenomena are unborn, that mind is like an illusion, and that there is not even a single speck or dharma, then everywhere is pure: that is Buddha. Yet Buddha and demon are the two states of defilement and purity. From this mountain monk’s point of view, there is no Buddha and no sentient being, no past and no present. Those who attain, attain at once, without passing through stages of time. There is no cultivation or realization, no gain or loss; at all times there is no other Dharma. If there were a dharma surpassing this, I would say that it is like a dream or an illusion. Everything this mountain monk says is so.” |
| 道流！即今目前孤明历历地听者，此人处处不滞，通贯十方，三界自在，入一切境差别不能回换，一刹那间透入法界，逢佛说佛、逢祖说祖、逢罗汉说罗汉、逢饿鬼说饿鬼，向一切处游履国土教化众生，未曾离一念。随处清净，光透十方，万法一如。 | “Followers of the Way! The solitary, lucid one now listening attentively before your eyes is not obstructed anywhere, pervades the ten directions, and is at ease within the three realms. Entering all circumstances, it cannot be turned about by their distinctions. In a single instant it penetrates the dharma realm: meeting a Buddha, it speaks of Buddha; meeting a patriarch, it speaks of a patriarch; meeting an arhat, it speaks of an arhat; meeting a hungry ghost, it speaks of a hungry ghost. It travels throughout lands everywhere, teaching and transforming sentient beings, yet never departs from a single thought. Everywhere is pure; its light penetrates the ten directions, and all phenomena are suchness.” |
| 道流！大丈夫儿，今日方知本来无事，秖为尔信不及，念念驰求，舍头觅头，自不能歇。如圆顿菩萨，入法界现身，向净土中厌凡忻圣。如此之流，取舍未忘，染净心在。如禅宗见解，又且不然。直是现今更无时节，山僧说处，皆是一期药病相治，总无实法。若如是见得，是真出家，日消万两黄金。 | “Followers of the Way! Today, sons and daughters of great resolve must know that originally there is nothing to do. It is only because you lack faith that, thought after thought, you run about seeking, abandoning your own head to seek another head, unable to rest. Like perfectly awakened bodhisattvas who enter the dharma realm and manifest bodies, you reject the ordinary and delight in the sacred within the Pure Land. People of this kind have not forgotten grasping and rejecting; minds of defilement and purity remain. The Chan school’s understanding is otherwise: right now, there are no stages of time at all. What this mountain monk says is merely medicine prescribed according to the illness; there is no real Dharma. If you see in this way, you are a true renunciant, worth ten thousand taels of gold consumed each day.” |
| 道流！莫取次被诸方老师印破面门道：‘我解禅解道。’辩似悬河，皆是造地狱业。若是真正学道人，不求世间过，切急要求真正见解。若达真正见解圆明，方始了毕。” | “Followers of the Way! Do not casually allow teachers from every quarter to stamp your face with the claim, ‘I understand Chan; I understand the Way.’ Though they may debate as eloquently as a cascading river, they are all creating the karma of hell. If you are a genuine student of the Way, do not seek worldly faults. Urgently seek genuine understanding. Only when genuine understanding is completely clear will you be finished.” |
| 问：“如何是真正见解？” | A question was asked: “What is genuine understanding?” |
| 师云：“尔但一切入凡入圣、入染入净、入诸佛国土、入弥勒楼阁、入毗卢遮那法界，处处皆现国土成住坏空。佛出于世，转大法轮，却入涅槃。不见有去来相貌，求其生死了不可得，便入无生法界。 | The Master said: “You simply enter all states—ordinary and sacred, defiled and pure; enter all Buddha-lands, Maitreya’s tower, and Vairocana’s dharma realm. Everywhere, you see lands appear, abide, decay, and become empty. A Buddha appears in the world, turns the great Dharma wheel, and then enters nirvāṇa. Yet no appearance of coming or going is seen; seek for birth and death, and they cannot be found. Thus one enters the dharma realm of the unborn.” |
| 处处游履国土，入华藏世界，尽见诸法空相，皆无实法。唯有听法无依道人，是诸佛之母，所以佛从无依生。若悟无依，佛亦无得。若如是见得者，是真正见解。学人不了，为执名句，被他凡圣名碍，所以障其道眼，不得分明。 | “Traveling throughout lands everywhere, one enters the Lotus Treasury World and sees that all dharmas have the appearance of emptiness: none has any reality. Only the person of no reliance who hears the Dharma is the mother of all Buddhas; therefore, Buddhas arise from no reliance. If you awaken to no reliance, even Buddha cannot be attained. To see in this way is genuine understanding. Students who do not understand cling to names and phrases; obstructed by the names of ordinary and sacred, their Dharma-eye is hindered and cannot be clear.” |
| 秖如十二分教，皆是表显之说。学者不会，便向表显名句上生解，皆是依倚落在因果，未免三界生死。尔若欲得生死去住脱着自由，即今识取听法底人，无形无相、无根无本、无住处，活拨拨地、应是万种施设，用处秖是无处。所以觅着转远，求之转乖，号之为秘密。 | “The twelve divisions of the teachings are all spoken as indicative expressions. Students who do not understand them form interpretations from these indicative names and phrases. They are all dependent, falling into cause and effect, and cannot escape birth and death in the three realms. If you wish to be free in your coming and going amid birth and death, recognize now the one who hears the Dharma: without form or appearance, without root or basis, without dwelling place; lively and responsive, it employs all manner of devices, yet in its functioning it is simply nowhere. Therefore, the more you seek it, the farther away it turns; the more you pursue it, the more you go astray. This is called the secret.” |
| 道流！尔莫认着个梦幻伴子，迟晚中间便归无常。尔向此世界中，觅个什么物作解脱？觅取一口饭吃，补毳过时，且要访寻知识，莫因循逐乐。光阴可惜，念念无常，粗则被地水火风，细则被生住异灭；四相所逼。 | “Followers of the Way! Do not take this illusory companion for real; sooner or later it will return to impermanence. In this world, what are you seeking as liberation? Seek a mouthful of food, patch your robe, and pass the time; above all, seek out a true spiritual friend. Do not drift along in pursuit of pleasure. Time is precious; every thought is impermanent. Coarsely, you are pressed by earth, water, fire, and wind; subtly, by arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing—the four characteristics.” |
| 道流！今时且要识取四种无相境，免被境摆扑！” | “Followers of the Way! Now you must recognize the four kinds of formless circumstances, so that you will not be tossed about by circumstances!” |
| 问：“如何是四种无相境？” | A question was asked: “What are the four kinds of formless circumstances?” |
| 师云：“尔一念心疑，被地来碍；尔一念心爱，被水来溺；尔一念心嗔，被火来烧；尔一念心喜，被风来飘。若能如是辨得，不被境转。处处用境，东涌西没，南涌北没，中涌边没，边涌中没，履水如地，履地如水。缘何如此？为达四大如梦如幻故。 | The Master said: “When your mind doubts in a single thought, you are obstructed by earth. When your mind loves in a single thought, you are drowned by water. When your mind is angry in a single thought, you are burned by fire. When your mind rejoices in a single thought, you are carried away by wind. If you can discern this, you will not be turned by circumstances. Everywhere, you use circumstances: emerging in the east and vanishing in the west, emerging in the south and vanishing in the north, emerging in the center and vanishing at the edge, emerging at the edge and vanishing in the center. You tread on water as though it were land and tread on land as though it were water. Why is this so? Because you realize that the four great elements are like dreams and illusions.” |
| 道流！尔秖今听法者，不是尔四大，能用尔四大。若能如是见得，便乃去住自由。约山僧见处，勿嫌底法。尔若爱圣，圣者，圣之名。 | “Followers of the Way! You who now hear the Dharma are not your four great elements; rather, you can use your four great elements. If you can see in this way, then your coming and going are free. From this mountain monk’s point of view, do not reject any dharma. If you love the sacred, the sacred is merely the name ‘sacred.’” |
| 有一般学人，向五台山里求文殊，早错了也！五台山无文殊，尔欲识文殊么？秖尔目前用处，始终不异，处处不疑，此个是活文殊。尔一念心无差别光，处处总是真普贤。你一念心自能解缚，随处解脱，此是观音。三昧法，互为主伴。出则一时出，一即三、三即一。如是解得，始好看教。” | “Some students go to Mount Wutai seeking Mañjuśrī; they are already mistaken! There is no Mañjuśrī on Mount Wutai. Do you wish to recognize Mañjuśrī? It is precisely your present functioning, never differing from beginning to end, never doubting anywhere: this is the living Mañjuśrī. The non-differentiating light of your mind in a single thought is everywhere the true Samantabhadra. Your mind in a single thought can release its own bonds; liberated wherever it is, this is Avalokiteśvara. In the Dharma of samādhi, they are mutually primary and secondary. When they emerge, they emerge all at once: one is three, and three are one. Only when you understand in this way are you fit to study the teachings.” |
| 师示众云：“如今学道人且要自信，莫向外觅。总上他闲尘境，都不辨邪正。秖如有祖有佛，皆是教迹中事。有人拈起一句子语，或隐显中出，便即疑生。照天照地，傍家寻问，也大忙然。 | The Master addressed the assembly: “Those who study the Way today must first trust themselves. Do not seek outwardly. You merely take up idle, dusty circumstances and cannot distinguish wrong from right. Even Buddhas and patriarchs are matters found in the traces of the teachings. When someone raises a phrase, whether emerging from what is hidden or manifest, doubt immediately arises. You search everywhere, asking others, and become thoroughly busy and agitated.” |
| 大丈夫儿，莫秖么论主论贼，论是论非，论色论财，论说闲话过日。山僧此间，不论僧俗，但有来者，尽识得伊，任伊向甚处出来，但有声名文句，皆是梦幻，却见乘境底人，是诸佛之玄旨。佛境不能自称‘我是佛境’。 | “Sons and daughters of great resolve, do not pass your days merely discussing rulers and bandits, right and wrong, form and wealth, or idle chatter. Here, this mountain monk does not distinguish monastic from lay. Whoever comes, I recognize them all. Whatever place they may come from, any sounds, names, or written phrases are all dreams and illusions. I see only the person who rides upon circumstances; this is the mysterious principle of all Buddhas. The realm of Buddha cannot declare of itself, ‘I am the realm of Buddha.’” |
| 还是这个无依道人，乘境出来。若有人出来问我求佛，我即应清净境出；有人问我菩萨，我即应兹悲境出；有人问我菩提，我即应净妙境出；有人问我涅槃，我即应寂静境出。境即万般差别，人即不别。所以应物现形，如水中月。 | “It is this very person of no reliance who emerges by riding upon circumstances. If someone comes asking me for Buddha, I respond by emerging in the realm of purity. If someone asks me about bodhisattvas, I respond by emerging in the realm of compassion. If someone asks me about bodhi, I respond by emerging in the realm of pure wonder. If someone asks me about nirvāṇa, I respond by emerging in the realm of quiescence. Circumstances differ in ten thousand ways, but the person does not differ. Thus, forms appear in response to things, like the moon reflected in water.” |
| 道流！尔若欲得如法，直须是大丈夫儿始得。若萎萎随随地，则不得也。夫如㽄嗄(上音西下所嫁切)之器，不堪贮醍醐。如大器者，直要不受人惑，随处作主，立处皆真。但有来者，皆不得受。尔一念疑，即魔入心。 | “Followers of the Way! If you wish to accord with the Dharma, you must be people of great resolve. If you are weak and compliant, you cannot attain it. A vessel with cracks cannot hold clarified butter. Those of great capacity must not be deceived by others. Be master wherever you are; wherever you stand is true. Whatever comes, do not accept it. The moment a thought of doubt arises in you, demons enter your mind.” |
| 如菩萨疑时，生死魔得便。但能息念，更莫外求，物来则照。尔但信现今用底，一个事也无。尔一念心生三界，随缘被境，分为六尘。 | “When a bodhisattva doubts, the demon of birth and death finds an opening. Simply cease thoughts and seek no more outside. When things come, illuminate them. Just trust in the one functioning now; it has not a single affair. When a thought arises in your mind, it becomes the three realms; following conditions and being shaped by circumstances, it divides into the six sense objects.” |
| 你如今应用处，欠少什么？！ | “In your present functioning, what do you lack?” |
| 一刹那间便入净、入秽、入弥勒楼阁、入三眼国土，处处游履，唯见空名。 | “In a single instant, you enter the pure and the defiled, Maitreya’s tower, and the lands of the Three Eyes. Traveling everywhere, you see only empty names.” |
| 问：“如何是三眼国土？” | A question was asked: “What are the lands of the Three Eyes?” |
| 师云：“我共你入净妙国土中，着清净衣，说法身佛；又入无差别国土中，着无差别衣，说报身佛；又入解脱国土中，着光明衣，说化身佛。此三眼国土皆是依变。约经论家，取法身为根本，报化二身为用。 | The Master said: “Together with you, I enter the land of pure wonder, put on garments of purity, and speak of the dharmakāya Buddha. Again, I enter the land of non-differentiation, put on garments of non-differentiation, and speak of the sambhogakāya Buddha. Again, I enter the land of liberation, put on garments of light, and speak of the nirmāṇakāya Buddha. These lands of the Three Eyes are all transformations dependent on conditions. According to the scholars of sūtras and treatises, the dharmakāya is taken as the basis, while the reward and transformation bodies are its functions.” |
| 山僧见处，法身即不解说法。所以古人云：‘身依义立，土据体论。’法性身、法性土，明知是建立之法、依通国土。空拳黄叶用诳小儿，蒺藜夌刺枯骨上觅什么汁！ | “From this mountain monk’s point of view, the dharmakāya cannot speak the Dharma. Therefore the ancients said, ‘The body is established in dependence on meaning; the land is discussed on the basis of essence.’ The Dharma-nature body and Dharma-nature land are clearly established teachings, dependent powers and dependent lands. An empty fist and yellow leaves are used to deceive small children. What juice are you seeking from dry bones amid thorns and caltrops?” |
| 心外无法，内亦不可得。求什么物？尔诸方言道：‘有修有证。’莫错。设有修得者，皆是生死业。 | “Outside mind there is no Dharma, and inwardly nothing can be obtained. What are you seeking? You people everywhere say, ‘There is cultivation and realization.’ Do not be mistaken. Even if there is something attained through cultivation, it is all karma of birth and death.” |
| 尔言‘六度万行齐修，’我见皆是造业。求佛求法，即是造地狱业；求菩萨亦是造业，看经看教亦是造业。 | “You say, ‘The six perfections and the myriad practices are cultivated together.’ In my view, all of this is creating karma. Seeking Buddha and seeking Dharma are the karma of creating hell; seeking bodhisattvas is likewise creating karma. Reading sūtras and studying teachings are likewise creating karma.” |
| 佛与祖师是无事人，所以有漏有为。无漏无为，为清净业。有一般瞎秃子，饱吃饭了，便坐禅观行，把捉念漏，不令放起，厌喧求静，是外道法。祖师云：‘尔若住心看静，举心外照，摄心内澄，凝心入定，如是之流皆是造作。 | Buddhas and patriarchs are people with nothing to do. To regard the conditioned and defiled, or the unconditioned and undefiled, as pure karma—there are certain blind, shaven-headed fellows who, having eaten their fill, sit in Chan meditation and contemplative practice. They seize hold of the leaking of thoughts, refusing to let them arise; they loathe noise and seek stillness. This is the dharma of non-Buddhist paths. A patriarch said: “If you abide in mind and watch for stillness, raise the mind to look outward, gather the mind inward to clarify it, or concentrate the mind and enter samādhi, all such things are contrivances.” |
| ’是尔如今与么听法底人，作么生拟修他、证他、庄严他？渠且不是修底物，不是庄严得底物。若教他庄严，一切物即庄严得。尔且莫错。 | “You who are now listening to the Dharma in this way—how do you intend to cultivate it, realize it, or adorn it? It is not something to be cultivated, nor something that can be adorned. If it could be adorned, then all things could adorn it. Do not be mistaken.” |
| 道流！尔取这一般老师口里语，为是真道，是善知识不思议。我是凡夫心，不敢测度他老宿。瞎屡生！尔一生秖作这个见解，辜负这一双眼，冷噤噤地，如冻凌上驴驹相似。 | Followers of the Way! You take the words from the mouths of these teachers to be the true Way, imagining that such good spiritual friends are inconceivable. I am an ordinary person and do not dare presume to measure those venerable elders. You blind fools! All your lives you merely hold such views, disappointing those two eyes of yours, cold and stiff as a colt standing on frozen ice. |
| 我不敢毁善知识，怕生口业。道流！夫大善知识，始敢毁佛毁祖，是非天下，排斥三藏教，骂辱诸小儿，向逆顺中觅人。所以我于十二年中，求一个业性，知芥子许不可得。若似新妇子禅师，便即怕趁出院，不与饭吃，不安不乐。自古先辈，到处人不信，被递出始知是贵。若到处人尽肯，堪作什么？所以狮子一吼，野干脑裂。 | I do not dare slander good spiritual friends, for fear of creating karmic speech. Followers of the Way! Only a great good spiritual friend dares to disparage Buddha and patriarchs, judge right and wrong throughout the world, reject the teachings of the Tripiṭaka, revile these little children, and seek people amid favorable and adverse circumstances. Therefore, during twelve years, I sought a karmic nature, but could not find even an amount as small as a mustard seed. If one is like a Chan master who is a newly married bride, one immediately fears being driven from the monastery, denied food, left uneasy and unhappy. Since ancient times, when predecessors went everywhere and people did not trust them, and they were expelled, only then was it known that they were precious. If people everywhere readily approve of you, what use are you? Thus, when a lion roars, the jackals’ brains split open. |
| 道流！诸方说：‘有道可修，有法可证’，尔说证何法？修何道？尔今用处欠少什么物？修补何处？后生小阿师不会，便即信这般野狐精魅，许他说事系缚人。言道：‘理行相应，护惜三业，始得成佛。’如此说者，如春细雨。 | Followers of the Way! Everywhere people say, “There is a Way that can be cultivated, and a Dharma that can be realized.” What Dharma do you say is to be realized? What Way is to be cultivated? What is lacking in your present functioning? What needs repairing? Young novice masters do not understand and simply believe these fox spirits and goblins, allowing them to speak words that bind people. They say, “Only when principle and practice accord, and one guards the three karmas, can one become a Buddha.” Such talk is like fine spring rain. |
| 古人云：‘路逢达道人，第一莫向道。’所以言：‘若人修道道不行，万般邪境竞头生。智剑出来无一物，明头未显暗头明。’所以古人云：‘平常心是道。’ | An ancient said, “When you meet a person who has realized the Way on the road, first of all, do not speak of the Way.” Thus it is said: “If one cultivates the Way but the Way does not proceed, myriad deviant states vie to arise. When the sword of wisdom appears, not a single thing remains; before the bright end is revealed, the dark end becomes clear.” Therefore, an ancient said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.” |
| 大德！觅什么物？现今目前听法无依道人，历历地分明，未曾欠少。尔若欲得与祖佛不别，但如是见，不用疑误。尔心心不异，名之活祖。心若有异，则性相别。心不异故，即性相不别。” | Virtuous ones! What are you seeking? The person of the Way without reliance, now before your very eyes listening to the Dharma, is vividly clear and has never lacked anything. If you wish to be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas, simply see in this way and do not doubt or stray. When mind after mind is not different, this is called a living patriarch. If the mind differs, then nature and appearances are separate. Because the mind is not different, nature and appearances are not separate.” |
| 问：“如何是心心不异处？” | A monk asked, “What is the place where mind after mind is not different?” |
| 师云：“尔拟问早异了也，性相各分。道流莫错，世出世诸法，皆无自性，亦无生性。但有空名，名字亦空。尔秖么认他闲名为实，大错了也！设有皆是依变之境。 | The Master said, “The moment you intended to ask, it was already different; nature and appearances have each become distinct. Followers of the Way, do not be mistaken. All worldly and supramundane dharmas have no self-nature, nor do they possess a nature of arising. There are only empty names, and the names themselves are empty. You merely take these idle names as real—this is a great mistake. Even if such things exist, they are all realms dependent on change.” |
| 有个菩提依、涅槃依、解脱依、三身依、境智依、菩萨依、佛依……尔向依变国土中，觅什么物？乃至三乘十二分教，皆是拭不净故纸。佛是幻化身，祖是老比丘。尔还是娘生已否？尔若求佛，即被佛魔摄。尔若求祖，即被祖魔缚。尔若有求皆苦，不如无事。有一般秃比丘，向学人道：佛是究竟，于三大阿僧祇劫，修行果满，方始成道。 | “There are dependencies on bodhi, nirvāṇa, liberation, the three bodies, objects and wisdom, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas.... What are you seeking amid lands dependent on change? Even the teachings of the three vehicles and twelve divisions are merely old paper for wiping away filth. Buddha is an illusory transformation body; patriarchs are old bhikṣus. Were you not born of your mother? If you seek Buddha, you will be seized by the demon of Buddha. If you seek patriarchs, you will be bound by the demon of patriarchs. Any seeking is suffering; better to have nothing to do. There are some shaven-headed bhikṣus who tell students, ‘Buddha is ultimate; only after cultivating through three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, when the fruition is complete, does one finally realize the Way.’” |
| 道流！尔若道佛是究竟，缘什么八十年后向拘尸罗城双林树间侧卧而死去？佛今何在？明知与我生死不别，尔言三十二相八十种好是佛，转轮圣王应是如来。明知是幻化。古人云：‘如来举身相。 | Followers of the Way! If you say that Buddha is ultimate, why did he lie on his side and die beneath the twin śāla trees outside the city of Kuśinagara eighty years later? Where is the Buddha now? Clearly, he is no different from us in birth and death. If you say that the thirty-two marks and eighty excellent characteristics are Buddha, then a wheel-turning sage king ought to be a Tathāgata. Clearly, these are illusions. An ancient said: “The Tathāgata manifests bodily marks |
| 为顺世间情，恐人生断见，权且立虚名，假言三十二，八十也空声。有身非觉体，无相乃真形。尔道佛有六通，是不可思议。 | to accord with worldly sentiments. Fearing that people might give rise to annihilationist views, he provisionally established empty names, speaking provisionally of thirty-two marks; the eighty characteristics are likewise empty sounds. A body with marks is not the body of awakening; without marks is the true form.” You say that Buddha’s six supernormal powers are inconceivable. |
| 一切诸天神仙、阿修罗、大力鬼亦有神通，应是佛否？道流莫错！秖如阿修罗与天帝释战，战败领八万四千眷属，入藕丝孔中藏，莫是圣否？如山僧所举，皆是业通依通。 | All devas, immortals, asuras, and powerful ghosts also possess spiritual powers; are they therefore Buddhas? Followers of the Way, do not be mistaken! When, for example, an asura battles Śakra, lord of the devas, and is defeated, he leads his eighty-four thousand retinue into the hole of a lotus fiber and hides there. Is he therefore a sage? All the examples I have given are karmic powers and dependent powers. |
| 夫如佛六通者不然，入色界不被色惑、入声界不被声惑、入香界不被香惑、入味界不被味惑、入触界不被触惑、入法界不被法惑，所以达六种色声香味触法皆是空相，不能系缚此无依道人。虽是五蕴漏质，便是地行神通。 | But the six supernormal powers of a Buddha are not like this: entering the realm of forms, he is not deluded by forms; entering the realm of sounds, he is not deluded by sounds; entering the realm of odors, he is not deluded by odors; entering the realm of tastes, he is not deluded by tastes; entering the realm of touch, he is not deluded by touch; entering the dharma realm, he is not deluded by dharmas. Thus he realizes that the six kinds of forms, sounds, odors, tastes, touch, and dharmas are all empty appearances and cannot bind this person of the Way without reliance. Though he has the leaky substance of the five aggregates, he is one who exercises spiritual powers upon the earth. |
| 道流！真佛无形，真法无相。尔秖么幻化上头作模作样，设求得者，皆是野狐精魅，并不是真佛，是外道见解。夫如真学道人，并不取佛，不取菩萨、罗汉，不取三界殊胜，迥无独脱，不与物拘。乾坤倒覆，我更不疑。 | Followers of the Way! The true Buddha is without form; the true Dharma is without marks. You merely fashion appearances upon illusory transformations. Even if you obtain something in this way, it is all fox spirits and goblins, not the true Buddha; it is the view of non-Buddhist paths. A true student of the Way does not take hold of Buddha, bodhisattvas, or arhats, nor of the special excellence of the three realms. He is utterly free and independent, not constrained by things. Though heaven and earth overturn, I do not doubt. |
| 十方诸佛现前，无一念心喜。三涂地狱顿现，无一念心怖。缘何如此？我见诸法空相，变即有，不变即无。三界唯心、万法唯识。所以梦幻空花，何劳把捉。 | When the Buddhas of the ten directions appear before him, not one thought of joy arises. When the hells of the three lower realms suddenly appear, not one thought of fear arises. Why is this so? I see all dharmas as empty appearances: when they change, they exist; when they do not change, they do not exist. The three realms are mind-only; all phenomena are consciousness-only. Since they are dreams, illusions, flowers in empty space, why trouble to grasp at them? |
| 唯有道流目前现今听法底人，入火不烧，入水不溺，入三涂地狱，如游园观，入饿鬼畜生而不受报。缘何如此？无嫌底法。尔若爱圣憎凡，生死海里沉浮。烦恼由心故有，无心烦恼何拘？不劳分别取相，自然得道须臾。尔拟傍家波波地学得，于三祇劫中终归生死，不如无事向丛林中床角头交脚坐。 | Only the follower of the Way now before you, listening to the Dharma, enters fire without being burned, enters water without drowning, enters the hells of the three lower realms as though strolling through a garden, and enters among hungry ghosts and animals without undergoing karmic retribution. Why is this so? There are no dharmas to reject. If you love sages and hate ordinary beings, you will sink and rise in the sea of birth and death. Afflictions exist because of mind; without mind, what can afflictions constrain? Without laboring to discriminate and grasp at appearances, you naturally attain the Way in an instant. If you intend to run about learning from one household after another, you will ultimately remain in birth and death through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. Better to have nothing to do and sit cross-legged by the corner of a bed in the Chan monastery. |
| 道流！如诸方有学人来，主客相见了，便有一句子语，辨前头善知识。 | Followers of the Way! When students come from all directions and host and guest have met, there is then a phrase by which to discern the good spiritual friend before them. |
| 被学人拈出个机权语路，向善知识口角头撺过，看尔识不识。尔若识得是境，把得便抛向坑子里，学人便即寻常，然后便索善知识语。依前夺之。学人云：‘上智哉！是大善知识。’即云：‘尔大不识好恶。’。 | The student puts forth some expedient phrase or device and thrusts it past the corner of the good spiritual friend’s mouth, to see whether he recognizes it. If the good spiritual friend recognizes it as an object, he takes it up and throws it into a pit. The student then acts ordinarily and asks the good spiritual friend for a phrase. The good spiritual friend again seizes it. The student says, “Excellent! This is a great good spiritual friend.” Then he says, “You greatly fail to recognize good and bad.” |
| 如善知识，把出个境块子，向学人面前弄，前人辨得，下下作主，不受境惑，善知识便即现半身，学人便喝。善知识又入一切差别语路中摆扑，学人云：‘不识好恶老秃奴。’善知识叹曰：‘真正道流。’ | If the good spiritual friend brings out an object and displays it before the student, and the other person discerns it, takes mastery in every way, and is not deluded by the object, the good spiritual friend then reveals half his body, and the student gives a shout. The good spiritual friend again enters into all manner of differentiating verbal devices and maneuvers. The student says, “You old shaven slave who cannot distinguish good from bad!” The good spiritual friend sighs and says, “A true follower of the Way.” |
| 如诸方善知识，不辨邪正。学人来问菩提涅槃、三身境智，瞎老师便与他解说，被他学人骂着，便把棒打他言无礼度，自是尔善知识无眼，不得嗔他。有一般不识好恶秃奴，即指东划西，好晴好雨，好灯笼露柱。 | Some good spiritual friends in various places cannot distinguish wrong from right. When students come asking about bodhi and nirvāṇa, the three bodies, objects and wisdom, the blind teacher explains these things to them. When the student reviles him, he takes up a stick and beats the student, saying that he has no manners. Such a spiritual friend himself has no eyes and must not be angered by the other. There are some shaven-headed fools who cannot distinguish good from bad and merely point east and gesture west, praising fine weather and rain, lanterns and pillars. |
| 尔看眉毛有几茎。这个具机缘，学人不会，便即心狂。如是之流，总是野狐精魅魍魉，被他好学人嗌嗌微笑，言瞎老秃奴惑乱他天下人。 | Look and see how many hairs they have in their eyebrows. This is a matter of conditions and capacities; students do not understand and immediately become mentally deranged. All such people are fox spirits, goblins, and demons. Good students sneer and laugh at them, saying, “These blind old shaven fools mislead all the people in the world.” |
| 道流！出家儿且要学道。秖如山僧，往日曾向毗尼中留心，亦曾于经论寻讨。后方知是济世药，表显之说，遂乃一时抛却，即访道参禅。后遇大善知识，方乃道眼分明，始识得天下老和尚，知其邪正。不是娘生下便会，还是体究练磨，一朝自省。 | Followers of the Way! Those who leave home must above all study the Way. As for this mountain monk, in earlier days I applied myself to the Vinaya and also investigated the sūtras and treatises. Later I realized that these were medicines for helping the world, expository teachings that merely indicate and reveal; so I cast them all aside at once and went in search of the Way, consulting Chan masters. Later, when I encountered a great good spiritual friend, the eye of the Way became clear. Only then did I recognize the old monks throughout the world and know their rightness and wrongness. One is not born already knowing; one must investigate, train, and polish oneself, until one day one awakens on one’s own. |
| 道流！尔欲得如法见解，但莫受人惑，向里向外逢着便杀。逢佛杀佛，逢祖杀祖，逢罗汉杀罗汉，逢父母杀父母，逢亲眷杀亲眷，始得解脱。不与物拘，透脱自在。如诸方学道流，未有不依物出来底。 | Followers of the Way! If you wish to gain a view in accord with the Dharma, do not let others delude you. Whatever you encounter, inwardly or outwardly, kill it. Encounter Buddha—kill Buddha. Encounter a patriarch—kill the patriarch. Encounter an arhat—kill the arhat. Encounter your parents—kill your parents. Encounter your relatives—kill your relatives. Only then do you attain liberation. Do not be constrained by things; penetrate through them and be free. Among followers of the Way in various places, none has emerged without relying on things. |
| 山僧向此间从头打，手上出来手上打，口里出来口里打，眼里出来眼里打，未有一个独脱出来底。皆是上他古人闲机境。山僧无一法与人，秖是治病解缚。 | Here, this mountain monk strikes things from the very beginning: if they emerge from the hands, I strike the hands; if they emerge from the mouth, I strike the mouth; if they emerge from the eyes, I strike the eyes. There has not yet been one who emerged independently. All are caught up in the idle devices and objects of the ancients. This mountain monk has not a single dharma to give people; I merely cure illness and untie bonds. |
| 尔诸方道流，试不依物出来，我要共尔商量！十年五岁，并无一人，皆是依草附叶、竹木精灵、野狐精魅，向一切粪块上乱咬。瞎汉！枉消他十方信施，道：‘我是出家儿’。作如是见解。向尔道：无佛无法，无修无证。秖与么傍家拟求什么物！瞎汉！头上安头，是尔欠少什么？！ | You followers of the Way in various places, try to emerge without relying on things. I want to discuss it with you! In ten years or five, not a single person appears. All are clinging to grass and leaves—spirits of bamboo and wood, fox spirits and goblins—biting wildly at every lump of dung. Blind fools! You vainly consume the offerings of faith from the ten directions, claiming, “I am one who has left home,” while holding such views. I tell you: there is no Buddha, no Dharma, no cultivation, and no realization. What are you seeking as you run about from one household to another? Blind fools! You put a head on top of your head. What do you lack? |
| 道流！是尔目前用底，与祖佛不别。秖么不信，便向外求。莫错！向外无法，内亦不可得。尔取山僧口里语，不如休歇无事去。已起者莫续，未起者不要放起，便胜尔十年行脚。 | Followers of the Way! What you are presently using is no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. You simply do not trust this and seek outside. Do not be mistaken! Outside there is no Dharma, and inwardly it cannot be obtained either. Rather than taking the words from this mountain monk’s mouth, go rest and have nothing to do. Do not continue what has already arisen; do not allow what has not yet arisen to arise. This surpasses ten years of wandering on pilgrimage. |
| 约山僧见处，无如许多般，秖是平常着衣吃饭，无事过时。尔诸方来者，皆是有心。求佛求法，求解脱，求出离三界。痴人！尔要出三界，什么处去？佛祖是悬系底名句。尔欲识三界么？不离尔今听法底心地。 | In this mountain monk’s view, there are not so many kinds of things. I simply wear clothes, eat food, and pass the time with nothing to do. You who come from various places all have intentions: seeking Buddha, seeking Dharma, seeking liberation, seeking to leave the three realms. Foolish people! If you want to leave the three realms, where will you go? Buddhas and patriarchs are names and phrases that bind you. Do you wish to know the three realms? They are not apart from the mind-ground that is now listening to the Dharma. |
| 尔一念心贪是欲界，尔一念心嗔是色界，尔一念心痴是无色界，是尔屋里家具子。三界不自道我是三界，还是道流目前灵灵地照烛万般、酌度世界底人，与三界安名。 | When a single thought of greed arises in your mind, that is the desire realm. When a single thought of anger arises, that is the form realm. When a single thought of ignorance arises, that is the formless realm. They are furnishings within your own house. The three realms do not themselves say, ‘We are the three realms.’ It is the person before you, the follower of the Way who vividly illuminates all things and appraises the world, who gives the three realms their names. |
| 大德！四大色身是无常，乃至脾胃肝胆、发毛爪齿，唯见诸法空相。尔一念心歇得处，唤作菩提树。尔一念心不能歇得处，唤作无明树。无明无住处，无明无始终。尔若念念心歇不得，便上他无明树，便入六道四生，披毛戴角。 | Virtuous ones! The material body of the four great elements is impermanent. Even the spleen, stomach, liver, gallbladder, hair, fur, nails, and teeth reveal only the empty appearances of all dharmas. Where a single thought of your mind can rest is called the bodhi tree. Where a single thought of your mind cannot rest is called the tree of ignorance. Ignorance has no abiding place; ignorance has neither beginning nor end. If, thought after thought, your mind cannot rest, you climb the tree of ignorance and enter the six realms and four modes of birth, wearing fur and bearing horns. |
| 尔若歇得，便是清净身界。尔一念不生，便是上菩提树，三界神通变化、意生化身，法喜禅悦、身光自照。思衣罗绮千重，思食百味具足，更无横病。菩提无住处，是故无得者。 | If you can rest, this is the realm of the pure body. When not a single thought arises, you ascend the bodhi tree. There are spiritual powers and transformations in the three realms, mind-born transformation bodies, Dharma joy and Chan delight, and bodily light shining of itself. Think of clothing, and fine silks in a thousand layers appear; think of food, and a hundred flavors are fully provided. There are no further sudden illnesses. Bodhi has no abiding place; therefore, there is nothing to attain. |
| 道流！大丈夫汉更疑个什么！目前用处更是阿谁？把得便用，莫著名字，号为玄旨。与么见得，勿嫌底法。古人云：‘心随万境转，转处实能幽。随流认得性，无喜亦无忧。’ | Followers of the Way! What is there for a true man of strength to doubt? Who is it that is presently making use of these functions? Seize them and use them; do not attach names to them. This is called the mysterious principle. If you see in this way, do not disparage any dharma. An ancient said: “The mind follows as it turns amid the myriad circumstances; where it turns, its functioning is truly profound. Recognize your nature as you follow the current; then there is neither joy nor sorrow.” |
| 道流！如禅宗见解，死活循然，参学之人大须子细。如主客相见，便有言论往来。或应物现形，或全体作用，或把机权喜怒，或现半身，或乘狮子，或乘象王。 | Followers of the Way! According to the understanding of the Chan school, whether alive or dead, everything proceeds in an orderly way. Those who investigate and study must be exceedingly careful. When host and guest meet, there is an exchange of words. One may manifest a form in response to circumstances, employ the whole functioning, wield expedient devices of delight and anger, reveal half the body, ride a lion, or ride the king of elephants. |
| 如有真正学人，便喝先拈出一个胶盆子。善知识不辨是境，便上他境上作模作样。学人便喝。前人不肯放。此是膏肓之病，不堪医，唤作‘客看主。’ | Suppose there is a genuine student who first gives a shout and brings forth a basin of glue. If the good spiritual friend cannot distinguish that it is an object, he begins posturing upon that object. The student then shouts. The former will not let go. This is an incurable disease that has entered the vital organs; it is called “the guest examines the host.” |
| 或是善知识不拈出物，随学人问处即夺，学人被夺，抵死不放，此是主看客。或有学人，应一个清净境出善知识前，善知识辨得是境，把得抛向坑里。学人言：‘大好善知识！’即云：‘咄哉！不识好恶。’学人便礼拜。此唤作‘主看主’。 | Or perhaps the good spiritual friend does not bring forth an object, but, following the student’s question, immediately takes it away. The student, having been deprived of it, clings to it desperately and will not let go. This is called “the host examines the guest.” Or a student may present a realm of purity before the good spiritual friend. The good spiritual friend recognizes it as a realm, grasps it, and throws it into a pit. The student says, “An excellent good spiritual friend!” The teacher then says, “Bah! You do not know good from bad.” The student thereupon bows. This is called “the host examines the host.” |
| 或有学人，披枷带锁出善知识前。善知识更与安一重枷锁，学人欢喜。彼此不辨，呼为‘客看客’。 | Or a student may appear before the good spiritual friend wearing a cangue and chains. The good spiritual friend adds another cangue and chain, and the student is delighted. Neither distinguishes what is what; this is called “the guest examines the guest.” |
| 大德！山僧如是所举，皆是辨魔拣异，知其邪正。 | Virtuous ones! All the cases I have just presented are for distinguishing māras and selecting what is different, so as to know the deviant and the correct. |
| 道流！寔（与“实”通，下同。）情大难，佛法幽玄，解得可可地。山僧竟日与他说破，学者总不在意。千遍万遍脚底踏过，黑没焌地，无一个形段，历历孤明。学人信不及，便向名句上生解，年登半百，秖管傍家负死尸行，檐却檐子天下走，索草鞋钱有日在。 | Followers of the Way! The true matter is exceedingly difficult, and the Buddhadharma is profound and mysterious. You may gain a rough understanding of it. All day long I explain it fully to you, yet students pay no attention at all. They tread over it beneath their feet thousands and tens of thousands of times, darkly and blindly, without a single form or outline; yet it is distinctly and solitarily luminous. Students do not have sufficient faith in it, so they form interpretations from names and phrases. Reaching fifty years of age, they merely go from house to house carrying a corpse, shouldering a burden as they wander through the world, until the day comes when they must pay for their straw sandals. |
| 大德！山僧说‘向外无法’，学人不会，便即向里作解，便即倚壁坐，舌拄上腭。湛然不动，取此为是祖门佛法也。大错！是尔若取不动清净境为是，尔即认他无明为郎主。古人云：‘湛湛黑暗深坑，寔可怖畏。’此之是也。 | Virtuous ones! When I say that there is no dharma outside, students fail to understand and immediately interpret this inwardly. Then they lean against a wall and sit, holding the tongue against the palate, remaining clear and still without moving, and take this to be the Buddhadharma of the patriarchal school. What a grave error! If you take an unmoving realm of purity to be correct, then you recognize ignorance as your master. An ancient said, “The deep pit of dark stillness is truly terrifying.” This is precisely what is meant. |
| 尔若认他动者是，一切草木皆解动，应可是道也。所以动者是风大，不动者是地大，动与不动俱无自性。尔若向动处捉他，他向不动处立；尔若向不动处捉他，他向动处立。譬如潜泉鱼，鼓波而自跃。 | If you take what moves to be the Way, then all grasses and trees can move; would they therefore be the Way? Thus what moves belongs to the element of wind, and what does not move belongs to the element of earth. Neither movement nor stillness has any self-nature. If you try to seize it in movement, it stands in stillness; if you try to seize it in stillness, it stands in movement. It is like a fish in a hidden spring, stirring the waves and leaping by itself. |
| 大德！动与不动是二种境，还是无依道人，用动、用不动。如诸方学人来，山僧此间作三种根器断：如中下根器来，我便夺其境，而不除其法。或中上根器来，我便境法俱夺。如上上根器来，我便境法人俱不夺。如有出格见解人来，山僧此间，便全体作用，不历根器。 | Virtuous ones! Movement and stillness are two kinds of realms. It is the person of the Way who relies on nothing who makes use of movement and makes use of stillness. When students come here from various places, I assess them according to three kinds of capacity. When those of middling or lesser capacity come, I take away their realm but do not remove their dharma. When those of middling or superior capacity come, I take away both realm and dharma. When those of the highest capacity come, I take away neither realm, dharma, nor person. If someone comes with understanding beyond the ordinary standards, I employ the whole functioning here, without assessing capacity. |
| 大德！到这里学人着力处不通风，石火电光即过了也！学人若眼定动，即没交涉。拟心即差，动念即乖。有人解者，不离目前。 | Virtuous ones! At this point, where the student exerts effort admits no breath of air; like a spark from flint or a flash of lightning, it has already passed. If the student’s eyes are fixed and move, there is no connection. To formulate a thought is to miss it; to stir a thought is to go astray. Whoever understands does not depart from what is immediately before them. |
| 大德！尔檐钵囊屎檐子，傍家走，求佛求法，即今与么驰求底，尔还识渠么？！活拨拨地，秖是勿根株。拥不聚、拨不散，求着即转远，不求还在目前，灵音属耳。若人不信，徒劳百年。 | Virtuous ones! You carry a bag and bowl, bearing a dung-basket as you go from house to house seeking the Buddha and seeking the Dharma. Do you recognize the one who is now running about in this way? Lively and vital, it simply has no root or stem. It cannot be gathered together, nor can it be scattered; seek it, and it turns ever farther away; do not seek it, and it is right before your eyes, its numinous voice filling your ears. If people do not believe this, they will labor in vain for a hundred years. |
| 道流！一刹那间便入华藏世界，入毗卢遮那国土，入解脱国土，入神通国土，入清净国土，入法界，入秽入净，入凡入圣，入饿鬼畜生，处处讨觅寻，皆不见有生有死，唯有空名。幻化空花，不劳把捉。得失是非，一时放却。 | Followers of the Way! In a single instant one enters the Flower Treasury World, enters Vairocana’s land, enters the land of liberation, enters the land of spiritual powers, enters the land of purity, enters the dharma realm, enters defilement and purity, enters the ordinary and the sacred, enters hungry ghosts and animals. Search everywhere, and nowhere is there birth and death—only empty names. Illusory flowers in empty space need not be grasped. Gain and loss, right and wrong: let them all go at once. |
| 道流！山僧佛法，的的相承。从麻谷和尚、丹霞和尚、道一和尚、庐山拽石头和尚，一路行遍天下，无人信得，尽皆起谤。如道一和尚用处，纯一无杂。学人三百五百，尽皆不见他意。 | Followers of the Way! My Buddhadharma has been transmitted with complete authenticity. From Chan Master Magu, Chan Master Danxia, Chan Master Daoyi, and Chan Master Shitou of Mount Lu who dragged stones, it has traveled throughout the land. No one believed it; all raised slander. Chan Master Daoyi’s functioning was wholly single and without admixture. Among three hundred or five hundred students, not one saw his meaning. |
| 如庐山和尚，自在真正顺逆用处，学人不测涯际，悉皆忙然。如丹霞和尚，玩珠隐显。学人来者，皆悉被骂。如麻谷用处，苦如黄檗，近皆不得。如石巩用处，向箭头上觅人，来者皆惧。如山僧今日用处，真正成坏。 | Chan Master of Mount Lu freely and genuinely employed favorable and adverse circumstances; students could not fathom his limits and were all bewildered. Chan Master Danxia played with the pearl, concealing and revealing it; all who came to him were scolded. Magu’s functioning was as bitter as Huangbo’s, and few could approach it. Shigong’s functioning sought people at the point of an arrow, and all who came were afraid. My functioning today truly brings about both formation and destruction. |
| 玩弄神变，入一切境。随处无事，境不能换。但有来求者，我即便出看渠。渠不识我，我便着数般衣。学人生解，一向入我言句。苦哉！瞎秃子无眼人，把我着底衣，认青黄赤白。我脱却入清净境中，学人一见便生忻欲。我又脱却，学人失心，忙然狂走言：‘我无衣。’我即向渠道：‘尔识我着衣底人否？’忽尔回头，认我了也。 | I play with miraculous transformations and enter every kind of realm. Wherever I am, there is nothing to do; circumstances cannot change me. Whenever someone comes seeking, I immediately go out to look at him. He does not recognize me, so I put on various garments. The student forms an interpretation and enters wholly into my words and phrases. How pitiful! These blind bald men without eyes take the garments I wear and identify blue, yellow, red, and white. When I remove them and enter a realm of purity, the student sees it and immediately gives rise to delight and desire. When I remove even that, the student loses his bearings and runs about wildly, saying, “I have no garments.” I say to him, “Do you recognize the person who wears the garments?” Suddenly he turns his head and recognizes me. |
| 大德！尔莫认衣，衣不能动。人能着衣，有个清净衣、有个无生衣、菩提衣、涅槃衣、有祖衣、有佛衣。 | Virtuous ones! Do not recognize the garments. Garments cannot move; it is people who wear garments. There are garments of purity, garments of the unborn, garments of bodhi, garments of nirvāṇa, garments of the patriarchs, and garments of the Buddhas. |
| 大德！但有声名文句，皆悉是衣变，从脐轮气海中鼓激，牙齿敲磕成其句义。明知是幻化。 | Virtuous ones! All sounds, names, and written phrases are transformations of garments. They are stirred up from the sea of breath at the navel wheel, and the teeth strike together to form their verbal meanings. Clearly know that they are illusions. |
| 大德！外发声语业，内表心所法，以思有念，皆悉是衣。尔秖么认他着底衣为寔解。纵经尘，劫秖是衣通。三界循还，轮回生死，不如无事。相逢不相识，共语不知名。 | Virtuous ones! Outwardly, one gives rise to the karma of sound and speech; inwardly, one manifests mental factors. Whenever thought gives rise to notions, all these are garments. You merely take the garments worn by that one as true understanding. Even if you pass through kalpas as numerous as dust motes, you will only comprehend the garments. You will revolve within the three realms and undergo the cycle of birth and death. Better than this is to have nothing to do. We meet without recognizing one another; we speak together without knowing one another’s name. |
| 今时学人不得，盖为认名字为解，大策子上抄死老汉语，三重五重复子裹，不教人见，道是玄旨，以为保重。大错，瞎屡生！尔向枯骨上觅什么汁！有一般不识好恶，向教中取意度商量，成于句义。 | Students today fail because they take names to be understanding. They copy the words of dead old men into large notebooks, wrap them in three or five layers, and do not let anyone see them. They call this the mysterious principle and regard it as something precious. What a great mistake, you blind fellows! What juice are you seeking from dry bones? There are some who do not know good from bad and derive interpretations from the teachings, weighing and discussing them until they become attached to verbal meanings. |
| 如把屎块子向口里含了，吐过与别人，犹如俗人打传口令相似，一生虚过也。道：‘我出家’，被他问着佛法，便即杜口无词，眼似漆突，口如楄檐。如此之类，逢弥勒出世，移置他方世界，寄地狱受苦。 | It is like putting a lump of dung into one’s mouth and then spitting it out for someone else, like ordinary people passing along an oral message. One’s whole life is wasted in vain. They say, “I have left home,” but when questioned about the Buddhadharma, they immediately fall silent and have no words. Their eyes are like blackened holes, their mouths like the eaves of a flat roof. Persons of this sort, when Maitreya appears in the world, will be transferred to another world and sent to hell to suffer. |
| 大德！尔波波地往诸方觅什么物？踏尔脚板，阔无佛可求，无道可成，无法可得，外求有相佛，与汝不相似。欲识汝本心，非合亦非离。 | Virtuous ones! What are you rushing about seeking in every direction? Under the soles of your feet, there is no Buddha to seek, no Way to accomplish, no dharma to attain. The Buddha of form that you seek outside is not like you. If you wish to know your original mind, it is neither united with nor separate from you. |
| 道流！真佛无形，真道无体，真法无相。三法混融和合一处，辨既不得，唤作忙忙业识众生。” | Followers of the Way! The true Buddha is without form, the true Way is without substance, and the true Dharma is without characteristics. These three merge and unite in one place; because they cannot be distinguished, they are called sentient beings of confused karmic consciousness. |
| 问：“如何是真佛真法真道？乞垂开示。” | A monk asked, “What are the true Buddha, true Dharma, and true Way? I beg you to bestow instruction.” |
| 师云：“佛者心清净是，法者心光明是，道者处处无碍净光是。三即一，皆是空名，而无寔有。如真正学道人，念念心不间断。自达磨大师从西土来，秖是觅个不受人惑底人。后遇二祖，一言便了，始知从前虚用功夫。山僧今日见处与祖佛不别。若第一句中得，与祖佛为师。若第二句中得，与人天为师。若第三句中得，自救不了。” | The master said, “Buddha is the purity of mind. Dharma is the luminosity of mind. Way is the pure light that encounters no obstruction anywhere. The three are one; all are empty names, without any real existence. For a genuine practitioner of the Way, mind continues without interruption from thought to thought. Since Bodhidharma came from the West, he sought only a person who would not be deceived by others. Later he encountered the Second Patriarch, and with one word the matter was settled; only then did he know that his former efforts had been in vain. What I see today is no different from that of the patriarchs and Buddhas. If you attain it in the first phrase, you may become a teacher to patriarchs and Buddhas. If you attain it in the second phrase, you may become a teacher to humans and devas. If you attain it in the third phrase, you cannot save even yourself.” |
| 问：“如何是西来意？”师云：“若有意，自救不了。” | A monk asked, “What was the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?” The master said, “If there were a meaning, he could not save even himself.” |
| 云：“既无意，云何二祖得法？”师云：“得者，是不得。” | The monk said, “If there was no meaning, how did the Second Patriarch receive the Dharma?” The master said, “To attain is not to attain.” |
| 云：“既若不得，云何是不得底意？” | The monk said, “Since it is not attained, what is the meaning of this ‘not attained’?” |
| 师云：“为尔向一切处驰求心不能歇，所以祖师言：‘咄哉丈夫！将头觅头。’你言下便自回光返照，更不别求，知身心与祖佛不别，当下无事，方名得法。大德，山僧今时事不获已，话度说出许多不才净，尔且莫错。 | The master said, “Because your mind that races about seeking everywhere cannot rest, the patriarch said, ‘Bah, you man of strength! Carrying your head, you seek your head.’ At those words, turn the light inward and examine yourself. Seek nothing else. Know that your body and mind are no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Then, right then and there, there is nothing to do; only this is called attaining the Dharma. Virtuous ones, I have no choice at present but to speak provisionally and utter much impure nonsense. But do not be mistaken.” |
| 据我见处，寔无许多般道理，要用便用，不用便休。秖如诸方说‘六度万行’以为佛法，我道是庄严门、佛事门，非是佛法。 | According to what I see, there are truly not so many different kinds of principles. Use it when you need it; when you do not need it, stop. When people in various places speak of the six perfections and myriad practices as Buddhadharma, I say these are methods of adornment and Buddhist ceremonial practices, not Buddhadharma itself. |
| 乃至持斋持戒，擎油不？㴸，道眼不明，尽须抵债，索饭钱有日在！何故如此？入道不通理，复身还信施。长者八十一。其树不生耳，乃至孤峰独宿，一食卯斋，长坐不卧，六时行道，皆是造业底人。 | Even fasting and observing the precepts, carrying oil without spilling it—if the Dharma eye is not clear, one must repay one’s debts; the day will come when one must pay for one’s food. Why is this so? If one enters the Way without penetrating principle, one will return to receive offerings in vain. Even if one lives to eighty-one, one is no better than a tree that does not grow ears. Even dwelling alone on a solitary peak, eating one morning meal, sitting constantly without lying down, and practicing the Way through the six periods of the day—all these are people creating karma. |
| 乃至头目髓脑、国城妻子、象马七珍尽皆舍施，如是等见，皆是苦身心故，还招苦果，不如无事纯一无杂。乃至十地满心菩萨，皆求此道流踪迹，了不可得。所以诸天欢喜，地神捧足，十方诸佛无不称叹。缘何如此？为今听法道人用处无踪迹。” | Even giving away one’s head, eyes, marrow, brains, kingdom, cities, wife, children, elephants, horses, and the seven precious treasures—views such as these all bring suffering to body and mind and thereby summon painful results. Better than this is to have nothing to do, wholly single and without admixture. Even bodhisattvas who have fulfilled the ten bhūmis seek traces of this person of the Way but cannot find them at all. Therefore the devas rejoice, earth spirits support his feet, and all Buddhas throughout the ten directions praise him. Why is this? Because the functioning of the person now listening to the Dharma leaves no trace. |
| 问：“大通智胜佛十劫坐道场，佛法不现前，不得成佛道。未审此意如何？乞师指示。” | A monk asked, “Great Penetrating Wisdom-Victory Buddha sat in the place of practice for ten kalpas, yet the Buddhadharma did not appear before him and he could not attain Buddhahood. What is the meaning of this? I beg the master to instruct me.” |
| 师云：“大通者，是自己，于处处达其万法无性无相，名为大通。智胜者，于一切处不疑不得一法，名为智胜。佛者，心清净光明透彻法界，得名为佛。十劫坐道场者，十波罗密是。佛法不现前者，佛本不生、法本不灭，云何更有现前？不得成佛道者，佛不应更作佛。古人云：‘佛常在世间，而不染世间法。’ | The master said, “Great Penetration means oneself: wherever one is, one comprehends that the myriad dharmas are without nature and without characteristics; this is called Great Penetration. Wisdom-Victory means that in all circumstances one is free of doubt and obtains not a single dharma; this is called Wisdom-Victory. Buddha means that the mind is pure, luminous, and penetrates the dharma realm; thus it is called Buddha. Sitting in the place of practice for ten kalpas means the ten perfections. The Buddhadharma not appearing before one means that Buddha is originally unborn and dharma is originally unceasing; how could there be a further appearing before one? Not attaining Buddhahood means that a Buddha should not become a Buddha again. An ancient said, ‘The Buddha is always in the world, yet is not stained by worldly dharmas.’” |
| 道流！尔欲得作佛，莫随万物。心生种种法生，心灭种种法灭。一心不生，万法无咎。世与出世，无佛无法。亦不现前，亦不曾失。设有者，皆是名言章句，接引小儿施设药病，表显名句，且名句不自名句。还是尔目前昭昭灵灵、鉴觉闻知照烛底，安一切名句。大德！造五无间业，方得解脱。” | Followers of the Way! If you wish to become a Buddha, do not follow the myriad things. When mind arises, all dharmas arise; when mind ceases, all dharmas cease. When not a single thought arises, the myriad dharmas are without fault. In worldly and supramundane matters, there is neither Buddha nor Dharma. They neither appear before you nor have ever been lost. Whatever there may be is all merely names, words, and phrases—provisional remedies prescribed to guide children according to their ailments, expressed through names and phrases. Yet names and phrases do not name themselves. It is precisely the bright, numinous, discerning, aware, hearing, knowing, and illuminating presence before you that assigns all names and phrases. Worthy ones! Only by committing the five acts of immediate retribution can one attain liberation. |
| 问：“如何是五无间业？”师云：“杀父害母、出佛身血、破和合僧、焚烧经像等，此是五无间业。云如何是父？师云：无明是父，尔一念心求起灭处不得，如响应空，随处无事，名为杀父。” | A questioner asked, “What are the five acts of immediate retribution?” The Master said, “Killing one’s father, harming one’s mother, drawing blood from the Buddha’s body, disrupting the harmonious saṅgha, and burning sūtras and images—these are the five acts of immediate retribution. You ask, ‘What is the father?’ Ignorance is the father. When, in a single thought of mind, you seek the place where arising and ceasing occur but cannot find it, and it is like an echo answering emptiness, with nothing to do wherever you are—this is called killing the father.” |
| 云：“如何是母？”师云：“贪爱为母。尔一念心入欲界中，求其贪爱。唯见诸法空相，处处无著，名为害母。” | The questioner asked, “What is the mother?” The Master said, “Craving and attachment are the mother. When, in a single thought of mind, you enter the desire realm and seek that craving and attachment, you see only the empty characteristics of all dharmas and are unattached everywhere—this is called harming the mother.” |
| 云：“如何是出佛身血？”师云：“尔向清净法界中，无一念心生解，便处处黑暗，是出佛身血。” | The questioner asked, “What is drawing blood from the Buddha’s body?” The Master said, “When, within the pure dharma realm, you do not give rise to even a single thought of interpretive understanding, then everywhere is darkness. This is drawing blood from the Buddha’s body.” |
| 云：“如何是破和合僧？”师云：“尔一念心正达烦恼结，使如空无所依，是破和合僧。” | The questioner asked, “What is disrupting the harmonious saṅgha?” The Master said, “When, in a single thought of mind, you directly penetrate the knots of affliction and make them like empty space, with nothing on which to depend—this is disrupting the harmonious saṅgha.” |
| 云：“如何是焚烧经像？”师云：“见因缘空，心空法空。一念决定断，迥然无事，便是焚烧经像。大德！若如是达得，免被他凡圣名碍。尔一念心秖向空拳指上生寔解，根境法中虚捏怪，自轻而退屈言：‘我是凡夫他是圣人。 | The questioner asked, “What is burning sūtras and images?” The Master said, “See that causes and conditions are empty, that mind is empty and dharmas are empty. When a single thought makes a decisive break and there is utterly nothing to do, this is burning sūtras and images. Worthy ones! If you understand in this way, you will be free from obstruction by the names of ordinary beings and sages. Yet in a single thought you give rise to a real understanding merely on the basis of an empty fist and a pointing finger; amid the faculties, objects, and dharmas, you vainly fabricate strange notions, belittle yourselves, and retreat timidly, saying, ‘I am an ordinary being; that person is a sage.’” |
| ’秃屡生！有甚死急！披他师子皮，却作野干鸣。大丈夫汉，不作丈夫气息，自家屋里物不肯信，秖么向外觅，上他古人闲名句，倚阴博阳，不能特达。逢境便缘，逢尘便执。触处惑起，自无准定！ | You bald fools! What urgent matter of life and death is there? You put on another’s lion skin, yet cry like foxes. You men of great resolve do not breathe the air of great men. You refuse to trust what is in your own house and only seek outside, relying on the idle names and phrases of the ancients, leaning on yin to gamble for yang, unable to attain direct realization. Whenever you encounter circumstances, you become entangled; whenever you encounter objects, you cling to them. Delusion arises at every contact, and you yourselves have no settled standard. |
| 道流！莫取山僧说处。何故？说无凭据，一期间图画虚空，如彩画像等喻。 | Followers of the Way! Do not cling to what this mountain monk says. Why not? What I say has no basis; it is only a temporary painting of empty space, like the metaphor of a painted image in colors. |
| 道流！莫将佛为究竟，我见犹如厕孔。菩萨、罗汉尽是枷锁缚人底物！所以文殊仗剑杀于瞿昙，鸯掘持刀害于释氏。道流！无佛可得，乃至三乘五性圆顿教迹，皆是一期药病相治，并无实法。设有，皆是相似！表显路布，文字差排，且如是说。 | Followers of the Way! Do not take Buddha as the ultimate. To my view, he is like a privy hole. Bodhisattvas and arhats are all things that bind people in shackles. Thus Mañjuśrī, sword in hand, killed Gautama, and Aṅgulimāla, knife in hand, harmed the Śākya. Followers of the Way! No Buddha can be obtained. Even the traces of the teachings of the three vehicles, the five natures, and the perfect and sudden teaching are all temporary remedies for particular ailments; there is no real dharma in them. If there is anything, it is merely a likeness: signs set forth as pathways and words arranged in sequence. That is all there is to say. |
| 道流！有一般秃子，便向里许着功，拟求出世之法。错了也！若人求佛，是人失佛。若人求道，是人失道。若人求祖，是人失祖。大德莫错！我且不取尔解经论，我亦不取尔国王大臣，我亦不取尔辩似悬河，我亦不取尔聪明智慧，唯要尔真正见解。 | Followers of the Way! There is a kind of bald fellow who applies effort inwardly, intending to seek a supramundane dharma. He is utterly mistaken! If a person seeks Buddha, that person loses Buddha. If a person seeks the Way, that person loses the Way. If a person seeks the patriarchs, that person loses the patriarchs. Worthy ones, do not be mistaken! I do not value your understanding of sūtras and treatises. Nor do I value your being kings or great ministers. Nor do I value your eloquence like a rushing river. Nor do I value your intelligence and wisdom. I want only your genuine understanding. |
| 道流！设解得百本经论，不如一个无事底阿师。尔解得，即轻蔑他人，胜负修罗。人我无明，长地狱业。如善星比丘，解十二分教，生身陷地狱，大地不容。不如无事休歇去！饥来吃饭，睡来合眼。愚人笑我，智乃知焉。 | Followers of the Way! Even understanding a hundred collections of sūtras and treatises is not as good as being a master with nothing to do. If you have understanding, you will disparage others and become a victory-seeking asura. Attachment to self and ignorance create the karma that prolongs hell. Bhikshu Śubhakarasiṃha understood the twelve divisions of the teachings, yet fell bodily into hell, and the great earth could not contain him. Better to be without affairs and rest! When hungry, eat; when sleepy, close your eyes. Foolish people laugh at me, but the wise understand. |
| 道流！莫向文字中求，心动疲劳，吸冷气无益。不如一念缘起无生，超出三乘权学菩萨。 | Followers of the Way! Do not seek within words and letters. When the mind stirs, it grows weary and labors; inhaling cold air is of no benefit. Better to realize in a single thought that dependent arising is unborn, thereby transcending bodhisattvas who study the provisional teachings of the three vehicles. |
| 大德！莫因循过日。山僧往日未有见处时，黑漫漫地，光阴不可空过，腹热心忙，奔波访道。后还得力，始到今日，共道流如是话度，劝诸道流，莫为衣食。看世界易过，善知识难遇，如优昙花时一现耳。 | Worthy ones! Do not let your days pass in vain. In former times, before I had any realization, all was dark and murky. Time could not be wasted; my belly was hot and my mind anxious as I ran about seeking the Way. Later, when I gained strength, I arrived at where I am today and speak such words with you followers of the Way. I urge you all: do not live merely for clothing and food. See how easily this life passes; a good spiritual friend is difficult to encounter, appearing only as rarely as the udumbara flower. |
| 你诸方闻道有个临济老汉出来，便拟问难，教语不得，被山僧全体作用。学人空开得眼，口总动不得，懵然不知以何答我。我向伊道：‘龙象蹴踏，非驴所堪。’尔诸处秖指胸点肋，道我解禅解道，三个两个到这里不奈何。 | You have heard in various places that there is an old fellow named Linji, and so you intend to challenge him with questions. Yet before you can utter a word, this mountain monk puts his whole functioning into action. The students open their eyes wide, but their mouths cannot move; bewildered, they do not know how to answer me. I say to them, “When dragons and elephants trample, donkeys cannot bear it.” Wherever you are, you point to your chests and tap your ribs, claiming that you understand Chan and understand the Way; but when three or two of you come here, you can do nothing. |
| 咄哉！尔将这个身心，到处簸两片皮，诳呼闾阎，吃铁棒有日在。非出家儿，尽向阿修罗界摄。夫如至理之道，非诤论而求激扬，铿锵以摧外道。至于佛祖相承，更无别意。设有言教，落在化仪，三乘五性、人天因果，如圆顿之教。又且不然，童子善财皆不求过。 | Alas! You carry this body and mind about everywhere, flapping your two lips, deceiving householders; the day will come when you receive iron rods. You are no true renunciants; all of you are gathered into the realm of asuras. As for the Way of ultimate principle, it is not through disputation that one seeks to stir things up, sounding out forcefully in order to crush non-Buddhist paths. In the transmission from Buddha to patriarch, there is no other meaning. Whatever verbal teachings there may be fall within provisional methods: the three vehicles, the five natures, human and heavenly cause and effect, and teachings of the perfect and sudden kind. Yet this is not so either: even the youth Sudhana did not seek anything beyond this. |
| 大德！莫错用心，如大海不停死尸。秖么担却拟天下走，自起见障以碍于心。日上无云，丽天普照。眼中无翳，空里无花。 | Worthy ones! Do not use your minds wrongly. The great sea does not retain corpses. Yet you shoulder this burden and intend to roam the world, erecting the obstruction of views yourselves and hindering your own minds. When the sun rises and clouds are absent, its beauty illuminates the heavens everywhere. When there is no film over the eye, there are no flowers in empty space. |
| 道流！尔欲得如法，但莫生疑。展则弥纶法界，收则丝发不立。历历孤明，未曾欠少。眼不见耳不闻，唤作什么物？古人云：‘说似一物则不中。’尔但自家看，更有什么？说亦无尽，各自着力。珍重！ | Followers of the Way! If you wish to accord with the Dharma, simply do not give rise to doubt. Expanded, it fills the dharma realm; contracted, not even a thread or hair is established. Distinct and solitary in its brightness, it has never lacked anything. When the eye does not see and the ear does not hear, what do you call this? An ancient said, “To call it a single thing is already to miss it.” Just look for yourselves—what more is there? Speech too is endless. Each of you, make your own effort. Take care! |
