Writings of Master Yuanyin | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 佛教中有“真谛”、“俗谛”的义理，“谛”就是真理的意思。真谛明空，俗谛明有，真俗不二是圣谛第一义。这是教家穷玄极妙处。教家在精研教理时，把教分为五类。一是小乘，二是大乘。 | In Buddhism, there are the principles of “ultimate truth” and “conventional truth.” Truth means reality. Ultimate truth elucidates emptiness, while conventional truth elucidates existence; the nonduality of ultimate and conventional truth is the supreme truth of the First Principle. This is the most profound and subtle point of the doctrinal schools. In their meticulous study of doctrine, these schools divide the teachings into five categories: first, the Hīnayāna; second, the Mahāyāna. |
|---|---|
| 大乘又分始、终、顿、圆四教，合共五教。 | The Mahāyāna is further divided into the Beginning, Final, Sudden, and Perfect teachings, making five teachings altogether. |
| 小乘为有义，有法可修，有道可成，有涅槃可证；大乘始教，从有入空，为大乘渐次教之开始，明一切皆空，但未显一切众生悉具佛性之义；大乘终教为渐次教之终了，说真如缘起之理，倡一切皆成佛者，明非空非有之义；大乘 | The Hīnayāna expounds existence: there are dharmas to cultivate, a path to attain, and nirvāṇa to realize. The Beginning Teaching of the Mahāyāna proceeds from existence into emptiness; it is the beginning of the gradual teachings of the Mahāyāna, explaining that all is empty, but not yet revealing that all sentient beings fully possess Buddha-nature. The Final Teaching of the Mahāyāna is the completion of the gradual teachings. It expounds the principle of suchness arising through conditions and advocates that all can become Buddhas, elucidating the meaning of neither emptiness nor existence. The Mahāyāna |
| 顿教，以顿彻理性，当下明心为教，乃即空即有义；大乘圆教俱赅一切，圆融具德，乃非空而非有，非有而非空义，即“说有之时，纤毫不立，说空之时，周遍法界”也。教家持论教义，先讲真谛、俗谛，就是先明空、有之义。 | Sudden Teaching takes sudden penetration of principle and immediate realization of the mind as its teaching; this is the meaning of both emptiness and existence. The Perfect Teaching of the Mahāyāna encompasses all things and perfectly integrates all virtues. It is neither emptiness nor existence, neither existence nor emptiness: “When speaking of existence, not even the finest hair is established; when speaking of emptiness, it pervades the entire dharma realm.” When doctrinal teachers discuss teachings and doctrines, they first explain ultimate truth and conventional truth—that is, the meaning of emptiness and existence. |
| 最后才讲第一义谛，那是最高的——空亦不可得，有亦不可得，非空非有，即空即有的上乘义理。因此是教家最高原则。这是公案中梁武帝问达摩大师的问话，集结者就拿它作为本公案的题目。 | Only at the end do they discuss the truth of the First Principle, the highest teaching: emptiness, too, is unobtainable; existence, too, is unobtainable; it is neither emptiness nor existence, and yet both emptiness and existence. Therefore, this is the highest principle of the doctrinal schools. This was the question Emperor Wu of Liang asked Master Bodhidharma in this koan, and the compiler used it as this koan’s title. |
| 达摩祖师到中国来，第一个就是去看梁武帝。 | When Patriarch Bodhidharma came to China, the first person he went to see was Emperor Wu of Liang. |
| 梁武帝是我们中国信佛的第一个皇帝，他是萧何的第二十五世孙（萧何是汉高祖刘邦的丞相），名字叫萧衍，他度很多人出家为僧，建塔、造寺、塑像装金，自己还披袈裟上座讲《放光般若经》，人称佛心天子。 | Emperor Wu of Liang was China’s first emperor to believe in Buddhism. He was Xiao He’s twenty-fifth-generation descendant—Xiao He having been prime minister to Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty—and his name was Xiao Yan. He ordained many people as monastics, built stupas and temples, and commissioned images covered with gold. He himself donned the kāṣāya, ascended the seat, and lectured on the Scripture of the Radiance of Prajñā. People called him the Emperor of the Buddha Heart. |
| 所以达摩第一个去看他。但梁武帝不是上上根器的人，而禅宗只接上上根人，中下根人就难以接受，因为它全凭自己极强的智慧打开本性，根器较差就难于语下开悟。 | Thus Bodhidharma first went to see him. But Emperor Wu was not a person of the very highest capacity, whereas the Chan school accepts only those of the highest capacity. Those of middling or lesser capacity find it difficult to accept, for Chan relies wholly on one’s own exceptionally strong wisdom to open one’s intrinsic nature. Those of lesser capacity find it difficult to awaken upon hearing a single utterance. |
| 帝问：如何是圣谛第一义？摩曰：廓然无圣！ | The emperor asked, “What is the supreme truth of the First Principle?” Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy!” |
| 梁武帝一见达摩，就把这教下最玄妙的极则问题提出来问：圣谛第一义是怎么一回事？考考达摩，看看这位圣僧答得对不对。哪知这天下衲僧跳不出凡、圣、真、俗的圈缋，到大宗师手里，轻轻一捏，便粉碎无余。 | As soon as Emperor Wu met Bodhidharma, he raised this most subtle and ultimate question of the doctrinal teachings: What is the supreme truth of the First Principle? He wished to test Bodhidharma and see whether this holy monk would answer correctly. Little did he know that the monks of the world could not escape the confines of ordinary and holy, ultimate and conventional. Yet in the hands of a great master, with a gentle squeeze, all of it is shattered without remainder. |
| 达摩应声答道：“廓然无圣！”我们如在这句话下荐得，便归家稳坐，饥来吃饭，倦来打眠，自在受用，不用在这里分是分非，说长道短了。其或未然，请听葛藤。 | Bodhidharma immediately replied, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy!” If we can apprehend this statement, we may return home and sit securely: eat when hungry, sleep when tired, and freely enjoy its use, without having to distinguish right from wrong or discuss this and that. But if this is not yet so, please listen to these entangling words. |
| “廓然”，乃像虚空一样辽阔，广大无边，清虚灵明，不动不摇也。这是暗示我们的心性犹如虚空一样，辽阔虚明，清空廓彻。“无圣”，这里面既像虚空一样的灵明廓彻，一样也没有，当然没有圣，也没有凡了。 | “Vast” means being like empty space: broad and boundless, clear, empty, numinously aware, unmoving and unshaken. This hints that our mind-nature is like empty space—vast, empty, lucid, and thoroughly open. “Nothing holy” means that within this numinous clarity and openness, like empty space, there is not a single thing. Naturally, there is neither holy nor ordinary. |
| 但须注意，虽然一切没有，这知道没有的是谁？达摩大师把这无法形容、比拟的妙明真心巧妙地和盘托出给梁武帝看。可惜俏媚眼做给瞎子看。武帝只知持论教义，说凡道圣而不明心性。 | But pay close attention: although there is nothing at all, who is it that knows there is nothing? Master Bodhidharma skillfully laid this wondrously luminous true mind—beyond description or comparison—completely before Emperor Wu. Alas, it was like making alluring eyes at a blind man. The emperor knew only how to discuss doctrine, speaking of the ordinary and the holy, without understanding mind-nature. |
| 不知道这说无的是谁？道有的又是谁？而当面错过。禅师家犹如善舞太阿剑的能手，轻轻一挥，就把你心中的凡圣、真俗等等葛藤，齐根斩断，直下指点你见性。 | He did not know who it was that spoke of nothing, or who it was that spoke of existence, and so he missed it right before his eyes. Chan masters are like experts skilled in wielding the great sword: with one light sweep, they cut through at the root all the entanglements in your mind concerning ordinary and holy, ultimate and conventional, and directly point you to see your nature. |
| 一切众生本具如来智慧德相，只因迷于声色而不识，果能一切放下，不随声色物相迁流，这妙明真心犹如辽阔的太虚空一样，哪里有圣有凡？就在这一切无有，根尘脱落时，回光一瞥，猛着精彩，即见本来！诸位，参禅已打开本 | All sentient beings inherently possess the wisdom and virtuous attributes of the Tathāgata; they fail to recognize them only because they are deluded by sounds and forms. If one can truly let go of everything and not be carried along by sounds, forms, and material appearances, this wondrously luminous true mind is like the vastness of great empty space. Where could there be holy or ordinary? Precisely when there is nothing at all and the sense faculties and their objects fall away, turn the light inward with a single glance, rouse yourself with all your strength, and you will see the original. |
| 来的人知道，当修法修到相当时刻，忽然卒地折、爆地断，打开本来时，内而身心，外而世界，一齐消殒无余，哪里有圣人——佛、菩萨？又哪里有凡夫——张三李四？虽然一切没有，但非同木石，而了了分明。 | Those among you who have opened the original through Chan practice know that, when practice reaches a certain point and it suddenly breaks with a snap and bursts apart with a bang, opening the original, the body and mind within and the world without all vanish together without remainder. Where then are holy beings—Buddhas and bodhisattvas? And where are ordinary beings—Zhang San and Li Si? Although there is nothing at all, it is not like wood or stone; it is clear and distinct. |
| 这知道没有的是谁？就是达摩祖师当时指点梁武帝见道的“廓然无圣”的妙明真心啊！假如我们着相，心中存有圣凡见，就不能见道，要离相离见才能见道。 | Who is it that knows there is nothing? It is precisely the wondrously luminous true mind indicated by Patriarch Bodhidharma when he said to Emperor Wu, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy!” If we cling to appearances and retain notions of holy and ordinary in our minds, we cannot see the Way. Only by leaving appearances and views behind can we see the Way. |
| 但禅师不能像我们这样滔滔不绝地打葛藤，他只在节骨眼上点示你一句，你如能当下醒悟承当就是了。如点你还是不知道，那非但辜负了师家，也辜负了自己。殊不知，我们的本性廓然无物，一样东西都没有的。 | But Chan masters cannot, like us, go on endlessly spinning such entangling words. They merely point something out to you at the crucial juncture; if you can awaken immediately and take it up, that is enough. If, even after they point it out, you still do not know, you have failed not only the teacher but also yourself. Little do you realize that our intrinsic nature is vast and without things; it contains not a single thing. |
| 虽然无有一物，但了了分明，非同木石，这就是妙明真心。我们修法，千万别着相，不要以为有什么可得，假如要什么东西——要神奇、玄妙、神通等等——那就大错特错了！尤其初见性的人是素法身。 | Though not a single thing is present, it is clear and distinct, unlike wood or stone. This is the wondrously luminous true mind. In practicing the Dharma, never cling to appearances or imagine that there is anything to be gained. If you seek anything—marvels, mysteries, spiritual powers, and the like—you are utterly mistaken. Especially when one first sees one’s nature, it is the unadorned dharmakāya. |
| 素者是无花色之谓，是没有什么玄妙奇特的。千万不要以为没有神通发现而不认法身，错过见性的良机。 | “Unadorned” means without colors or embellishment; there is nothing mysterious or extraordinary about it. Never suppose, because no spiritual powers have appeared, that it is not the dharmakāya, and thereby miss the precious opportunity to see your nature. |
| 正当打开时，是无所见、无所闻、无所住，一物都没有的历历孤明！这是最要紧的千钧一发时机！学者如不瞥地，错过这段光景，那就白费功夫了！所以我们说，尽管你前后际断——就是前念已断，后念未起的真空刹那——也不 | At the very moment of opening, there is nothing seen, nothing heard, and nowhere to abide: there is only lucid, solitary illumination, with not a single thing present. This is the most critical, hair-trigger moment. If students fail to catch it in a flash and miss this scene, all their effort is wasted. Thus we say that, even if the divisions of past and future are cut off—that is, the preceding thought has ceased and the following thought has not yet arisen, in that moment of true emptiness—you do not |
| 一定见性，为什么？当这时如果你不认识，错过了这段光景，岂不前功尽弃？如果在这时候一把抓住它……嗳！你们要问抓什么东西？用手拿住它吗？不是的，这里没有手，也没有东西，抓个什么？这个抓是当这瞥然即逝的千钧一发时机，灵光一瞥而神会醒悟的意思。 | necessarily see your nature. Why? If at that moment you fail to recognize it and miss this scene, would not all your previous efforts be lost? If at that moment you seize it in one grasp . . . Ah, you may ask: what is it that is seized? Do you grasp it with your hand? No. There is no hand here, nor is there any thing—what could you grasp? This “grasping” means that, at that fleeting, hair-trigger moment, the numinous light flashes forth and one intuitively comprehends and awakens. |
| 这在宗下，叫“囫”的一声，转过身来，觌体承当，就是认识本性开悟了。千万别以为有一个东西，被擒住了，抓住了，那就错会了。 | In the Chan school, this is called a sudden “hū!” One turns around and directly assumes it in its very presence: this is recognizing one’s intrinsic nature and awakening. Never imagine that there is some thing that has been captured or grasped; that would be a mistaken understanding. |
| 所以，达摩祖师说“廓然无圣”，是要梁武帝跳出有、无、凡、圣的窠臼而当下见性。而梁武帝呢？是着相的人呀，你说廓然无圣，连圣也没有岂不落空？可人家说你是圣人呀！你怎么说圣人也没有呢？ | Thus, when Patriarch Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy,” he wanted Emperor Wu to leap beyond the old confines of existence and nonexistence, ordinary and holy, and immediately see his nature. But Emperor Wu? He was one who clung to appearances. “You say ‘vast emptiness—nothing holy.’ If even holiness does not exist, does that not fall into emptiness? Yet people call you a holy man. How can you say that even holy people do not exist?” |
| 于是帝继问曰：对朕者谁？摩曰：不识。 | The emperor then asked, “Who is it that stands before me?” Bodhidharma said, “I do not know.” |
| 梁武帝在有“圣”上着眼，而忽略了最重要的“廓然”二字，所以接下就问：“对朕者谁？”以为这下子抓住了要害，你说“无圣”，那么，站在对面的是谁？人家说你是圣人，若无圣，你又是谁呢？看你怎么抵对！ | Emperor Wu fixed his attention on the word “holy” and overlooked the two most important words, “vast emptiness.” He therefore went on to ask, “Who is it that stands before me?” He thought he had now grasped the crucial point: “You say there is ‘nothing holy’; then who is standing before me? People call you a holy man. If there is no holiness, then who are you? Let us see how you answer this!” |
| 这句话有两重意义，一者站在我对面的是谁，二者和我对话的是谁？梁武帝的本意只是第一重，站在我对面的是谁？但在宗下就不这样，而是取第二重，问这能对话的是谁？就像我们现在参禅问：念佛是谁？拖死尸的是谁？讲话是谁？听话又是谁？这个“谁”就有份量，像是问话，却是直接指示你见性。 | This question has two meanings: first, who is standing before me? Second, who is speaking with me? Emperor Wu’s original intent was only the first meaning: who is standing before me? But in the Chan school it is not taken this way; rather, it takes the second meaning, asking who it is that can converse. It is like our present Chan inquiries: “Who is reciting the Buddha’s name? Who is dragging this corpse? Who is speaking? And who is listening?” This “who” carries weight. Though it seems to be a question, it directly points you to see your nature. |
| 这句话不这么好答，不是见性人，就不免眼目定动，手足无措，不知落处。但是达摩祖师是大宗师，他明知你是第一重问义，死马权作活马医，强作第二重问义答道：“不识。 | This question is not so easy to answer. Unless one has realized one’s true nature, one cannot help but have one’s eyes fixed and hands and feet at a loss, not knowing where to turn. But Patriarch Bodhidharma was a great master. Knowing full well that this was a first-level question about meaning, he treated a dead horse as though it were alive and forcibly answered it as a second-level question about meaning: “I do not know.” |
| ”达摩祖师这句答话真疑杀天下人，你是悟道宗师，怎么说不识？是真不认识？还是假不认识？不是！不是！在认识不认识上着眼都不是。 | “I do not know.” Patriarch Bodhidharma’s reply has truly perplexed people throughout the world. You are an awakened master—how can you say that you do not know? Do you really not know, or do you only pretend not to know? No, no. To fix one’s attention on knowing or not knowing is mistaken in either case. |
| 有一位禅师说得好：缺齿胡僧拿泥弹子到震旦斗宝，被梁武帝“是谁”这骊珠宝光一照，逼得他退避三舍，慌说：“不识。”这“不识”二字，如棉里针，一捏就刺手。 | One Chan master put it well: “The gap-toothed barbarian monk brought a clay pellet to the land of China to compete in treasures. Illuminated by the precious radiance of Emperor Wu’s pearl-like question, ‘Who are you?’, he was forced to retreat thirty miles and hastily said, ‘I do not know.’” These two words, “do not know,” are like a needle hidden in cotton: squeeze it, and it pricks your hand. |
| 从表面看，似乎是不认识，但实际是直示真心酬对他是谁的“谁”字。 | On the surface, it seems to mean that he did not know; in fact, it directly points to the true mind, responding to the “who” that asks who he is. |
| 这能问和能答的东西，有相可见吗？有能所相对吗？无相无能所，有谁认识谁呢？当我们打开本来之际，身心世界都没有，只是一片虚明，没有色相，没有相对的二者，有谁认识谁？譬如我们二人相对有认识不认识之别，现在只是一个绝对真心，没有识别的对象，所以说“不识”。 | Does this that can ask and answer have any appearance that can be seen? Is there a duality of subject and object? Without appearance, without subject and object, who could know whom? At the moment we open the original, body, mind, and world are all absent; there is only empty luminosity. There are no material forms and no two things standing in opposition. Who could know whom? For example, when two people face each other, there is a distinction between knowing and not knowing. But now there is only the one absolute true mind, without an object to distinguish; therefore he said, “I do not know.” |
| 这个“不识”有如千钧之重，如会得，则当下悟去；如轻率地只当认识不认识会，则磋过了也。 | This “I do not know” weighs as heavily as a thousand jun. If you understand it, you awaken immediately; if you carelessly take it merely as knowing or not knowing, you have let it slip by. |
| 或者有人说：“认识对呀，认识就是认识佛性呀！”不对！正当打开时是不能起念的！那时能所双亡，什么都没有，若起一认识之念，则被它影子所惑，失去开悟的良机。 | Perhaps someone may say, “Knowing is correct, is it not? Knowing means knowing Buddha-nature!” No. At the very moment of opening, no thought can arise. At that time subject and object both vanish, and there is nothing at all. If a thought of knowing arises, you are deluded by its shadow and lose the precious opportunity for awakening. |
| 况且本性既无相，也无声，又认个什么？再进一步说，彻悟的人，空却一切，心无所住，见犹不见，如有所重，着在性上，即成窠臼。宗下谓之圣堕，便不为见性的人了。 | Moreover, since intrinsic nature is without form and without sound, what is there to recognize? Going a step further, one who has thoroughly awakened empties all things; the mind abides nowhere, and even seeing is no seeing. If one still holds something to be weighty and clings to nature, it becomes a fixed pattern. In the Chan school, this is called “falling into sainthood”; one is then no longer a person who has seen one’s nature. |
| 比如灵云禅师见桃花开悟后，洪觉范颂云：“灵云一见不再见！”为什么不再见呢！原来灵云祖师参禅，参了三十年不开悟。 | For example, after Chan Master Lingyun awakened upon seeing peach blossoms in bloom, Hong Juefan praised him in verse: “Lingyun saw once and did not see again!” Why did he not see again? It was because Patriarch Lingyun had practiced Chan for thirty years without awakening. |
| 有一年春天，桃花开得正好的时候，他打开山门，蓦见千万丛桃花开得如火如荼，宛如一片香火海，当下身心脱落，尘识皆消，豁开本来面目。说偈云：“三十年来寻剑客，几回落叶又抽枝。自从一见桃花后，直到如今更不疑。 | One spring, when the peach blossoms were at their finest, he opened the mountain gate and suddenly saw countless clusters of peach blossoms blazing in full bloom, like a vast sea of incense and flowers. At that very moment, body and mind fell away, all worldly consciousness vanished, and his Original Face opened forth completely. He recited this verse: “For thirty years I sought a sword master; how many times have fallen leaves gone, and branches sprouted anew? Since first seeing the peach blossoms, I have never again had any doubt.” |
| ”请看，古人用功，多么恳切，三十年如一日，孜孜参究，一旦时节因缘到来，一触即发，打开玄关识锁，亲证本来。 | See how earnestly the people of old applied themselves: for thirty years, as if for a single day, they diligently investigated. Once the time and conditions arrived, a single touch set everything off; the mysterious gate and the lock of consciousness opened, and they directly realized their original nature. |
| 现在的人如也能这么孜孜不倦地精勤修习，何患不即生成就！后来玄沙评论云：“谛当甚谛当，敢保老兄未彻在。”为什么说他未彻呢？因为还有一个“见”和不疑在！尾巴未净，所以不彻。 | If people today could likewise cultivate diligently and untiringly, why should they worry that they could not attain accomplishment in this very life? Later, Xuansha commented: “Very fitting indeed, very fitting indeed—but I dare guarantee, my old brother, that you have not yet awakened thoroughly.” Why did he say that Lingyun had not awakened thoroughly? Because there still remained a “seeing” and a lack of doubt. The tail had not yet been cleared away; therefore, the awakening was not thorough. |
| 这是教导参学人，于参悟时，只时到神知，而不可住在“性”上。后来洪觉范为之挽救云：“灵云一见不再见，红白枝枝不着花。”就是说，一见之后，不再着在“见”上了，尽管有红的白的桃花现前，也不再着桃花之见了。 | This teaches those investigating and studying Chan that, at the time of awakening, they should only reach spiritual knowing and must not abide in “nature.” Later, Hong Juefan came to Lingyun’s rescue, saying: “Lingyun saw once and did not see again; on every red and white branch, no flowers cling.” This means that after the first seeing, he no longer clung to “seeing.” Although red and white peach blossoms appeared before him, he no longer clung to the view of peach blossoms. |
| 也就是说不再着在性上而泯去开悟之迹了。见性的人就是如此胸怀坦荡，无所住着。所以达摩祖师说“不识”，就告诉他真心无物，何有相对？这里没有谁认识谁的。 | That is, he no longer clung to nature and erased the traces of awakening. This is the broad and open-hearted bearing of one who has seen one’s nature: abiding nowhere. Thus Patriarch Bodhidharma said, “I do not know,” telling him that the true mind contains no thing—how could there be opposites? Here there is no one who knows anyone else. |
| 帝不契，达摩遂渡江至魏。 | The emperor did not understand, so Bodhidharma crossed the river and went to Wei. |
| 梁武帝虽信佛，但般若根器很差，不知达摩在点示他，还以为达摩祖师真正不认识，没有什么本事。所以“帝不契”，话不投机半句多，他就不睬达摩回后宫去了。达摩祖师呢，你不睬我，我也无法度你。 | Although Emperor Wu of Liang believed in Buddhism, his capacity for prajñā was poor. He did not know that Bodhidharma was pointing the way for him, and instead thought that Patriarch Bodhidharma truly did not know him and had no special ability. Thus “the emperor did not understand.” When words do not meet, even half a sentence is too much; so he ignored Bodhidharma and returned to his inner palace. As for Patriarch Bodhidharma, if you ignore me, there is nothing I can do to liberate you. |
| 因为禅宗是接上上根器人的，要悟当下悟，不是拖泥带水的说教。在两三句问答之中，语不投契，只有另找门路，所以“达摩遂渡江至魏”了。不是有达摩“一苇渡江”的故事么？达摩踏着一根芦苇就渡江到魏国去了。 | The Chan school is intended for people of the highest capacities, who must awaken immediately rather than receive drawn-out and rambling instruction. When, within two or three exchanges of question and answer, the words did not accord, Bodhidharma had no choice but to seek another way. Thus, “Bodhidharma crossed the river and went to Wei.” Is there not the story of Bodhidharma “crossing the river on a single reed”? Standing on a reed, he crossed the river to the state of Wei. |
| 帝后举问志公，志公曰：陛下还识此人否？帝曰：不识。 | Later, the emperor raised the matter with Master Zhigong. Zhigong asked, “Does Your Majesty still recognize this man?” The emperor replied, “I do not know.” |
| 这梁武帝回到后宫去问宝志公。因为梁武帝面前有两位大师，一个是傅大士，一个是宝志公禅师。这两位大师都是从兜率天宫下降来度梁武帝的。梁武帝就把这段公案（与达摩祖师的对话）告诉宝志公。 | Emperor Wu of Liang returned to his inner palace and asked Baozhi. Before Emperor Wu stood two great masters: Lay Master Fu and Chan Master Baozhi. Both had descended from the Tuṣita Heaven to liberate Emperor Wu of Liang. The emperor then told Baozhi of this koan—the dialogue with Patriarch Bodhidharma. |
| 志公就问梁武帝，你还识得达摩吗？帝曰：“不识。 | Zhigong then asked Emperor Wu of Liang, “Do you still recognize Bodhidharma?” The emperor replied, “I do not know.” |
| ”这里梁武帝也同样说不认识，和达摩祖师说的“不识”，是同是别？诸仁还知么？这里面大有文章在！达摩祖师所说的“不识”，不是认识不认识，而是把真心活泼泼地全盘托出给你看，指点你当下见性；而梁武帝说的“不识”呢，只是我们世俗所说的不认识而已。 | Here Emperor Wu of Liang likewise said that he did not know. Is this the same as, or different from, Patriarch Bodhidharma’s “I do not know”? Do you all know? There is much to consider here. Patriarch Bodhidharma’s “I do not know” was not a matter of knowing or not knowing; it presented the living, vibrant true mind to you in its entirety, pointing you toward seeing your nature at once. Emperor Wu of Liang’s “I do not know,” however, merely meant not knowing in the ordinary worldly sense. |
| 但是在宗下如问你二个“不识”是同是别？你像上文这么回答，就要吃棒。要怎么答呢？父母所生口，终不向你道！ | But if, in the Chan school, you are asked whether these two “I do not know” statements are the same or different, and you answer as above, you will receive a blow from the stick. How should you answer? This mouth born of my parents will never tell you! |
| 志公曰：这是观音大士，传佛心印。 | Zhigong said, “This is the great being Avalokiteśvara, transmitting the Buddha’s Mind-Seal.” |
| 志公说，这个达摩是观音大士，前来传佛心印的。佛的心印就是我们的自性，以心印心，叫你当下见性。不需要像我们现在要修什么法，要打多少坐。他只说一句话，在节骨眼上一点，叫你当下豁开正眼，明见本性，叫单刀直入，很快很快。但是现在这个末法时代，修道人根机钝了，像一把刀不快了。不要说一点，千点万点也点不开。 | Zhigong said that this Bodhidharma was the great being Avalokiteśvara, who had come to transmit the Buddha’s Mind-Seal. The Buddha’s Mind-Seal is our own intrinsic nature; mind seals mind, enabling you to see your nature immediately. There is no need to be like us today, practicing some method or sitting through so many meditation sessions. He need only say one sentence, touch the crucial point, and cause you at once to open the true eye and clearly see your intrinsic nature. This is direct entry, very swift indeed. But in this Dharma-ending age, practitioners’ capacities have grown dull, like a blade that is no longer sharp. Do not speak of one touch: even a thousand or ten thousand touches cannot open them up. |
| 豁开正眼就是打开般若，这是任何一宗都切切需要的，没有智慧绝不能成道。 | To open the true eye is to open prajñā. This is urgently necessary in every school; without wisdom, one can never realize the Way. |
| 或许有人说修净土宗不要吧！不然！假如不要，为什么净土功课每一次最后要念一声“摩诃般若波罗蜜”呢？假如没有智慧，怎么能看破世上的一切色相而放下这世界往生西方呢？好多修净土宗的人到最后生不到西方，就是因为无有智慧，看不破这个生于斯、食于斯、所有亲朋好友都在这里的娑婆世界，放不下，舍不得离开，而不能去。 | Perhaps someone may say that the Pure Land school does not require this. That is not so. If it did not, why would Pure Land practitioners recite “Mahāprajñāpāramitā” at the end of every service? Without wisdom, how can one see through all worldly forms, let go of this world, and attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land? Many Pure Land practitioners fail to be reborn in the West at the end of life precisely because they lack wisdom. Unable to see through this Sahā world, where they were born, where they have eaten and lived, and where all their family and friends are, they cannot let it go, cannot bear to leave it, and therefore cannot depart. |
| 假如明白所有妻财子禄都是梦幻泡影，舍得放下，那就千修千人去，万修万人去了。 | If one understands that all wives, wealth, children, rank, and emolument are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, and can let them go, then of a thousand who cultivate, a thousand will go; of ten thousand who cultivate, ten thousand will go. |
| 志公说观音大士传佛心印。观音大士太慈悲了，处处闻声救苦，加被一切众生，离苦得乐。因菩萨与此世界众生缘深，所以释迦佛临圆寂时，托付观音菩萨照顾娑婆世界的众生使大家免遭苦难。 | Zhigong said that the great being Avalokiteśvara transmitted the Buddha’s Mind-Seal. Avalokiteśvara is supremely compassionate, hearing cries everywhere and rescuing beings from suffering, bestowing blessings on all sentient beings so that they may leave suffering and attain happiness. Because this bodhisattva has deep affinities with the sentient beings of this world, when Śākyamuni Buddha was approaching parinirvāṇa, he entrusted Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva with caring for the sentient beings of the Sahā world, so that all might be spared suffering. |
| 《法华经·普门品》就是宣说菩萨的伟大、愿深、慈祥、德隆与功力深厚的。大家称念“观世音菩萨”、“观世音菩萨”……非但不论什么样的障难灾殃都能化为乌有，连一些不顺遂的事也都能消除。我们要努力修行，不要辜负佛菩萨的恩典。修成之后，还要代佛菩萨来宣扬、说法，接引后进，使佛法振兴起来，使大家都能出离苦海。 | The Universal Gateway Chapter of the Lotus Sūtra proclaims the bodhisattva’s greatness, profound vows, compassion, lofty virtues, and deep spiritual power. When everyone invokes “Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva” . . . not only can all kinds of obstacles, calamities, and disasters vanish completely, but even various unfavorable circumstances can be dispelled. We must strive diligently in cultivation and not disappoint the grace of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Having attained realization, we must further proclaim and teach the Dharma on behalf of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, guide later learners, revive the Buddhadharma, and enable everyone to leave the sea of suffering. |
| 帝悔，遂遣使去请。 | The emperor regretted this and sent an envoy to invite him back. |
| 梁武帝听志公禅师说，这是观世音菩萨，来传佛心印的，而自己不认识，怠慢了他，让他走了。梁武帝深悔自己无状，轻慢了达摩，使他悄然离去，所以要差他的使臣去把达摩祖师请回来。 | When Emperor Wu of Liang heard Chan Master Zhigong say that this was Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, who had come to transmit the Buddha’s Mind-Seal, he realized that he had failed to recognize him, treated him negligently, and let him leave. The emperor deeply regretted his improper conduct and his disrespect toward Bodhidharma, which had caused him to depart quietly. He therefore wished to send an envoy to invite Patriarch Bodhidharma back. |
| 志公曰：莫道陛下发使去请，阖国人去，他亦不回！ | Zhigong said, “Do not say that Your Majesty might send an envoy to invite him; even if the whole country went to invite him, he still would not return!” |
| 宝志公说，不用说你陛下遣一个使臣去请达摩祖师回来，就是你把全国人发动去请达摩，达摩祖师也不回来了。 | Baozhi said, “Not to mention Your Majesty sending one envoy to invite Patriarch Bodhidharma back: even if you mobilized the entire country to invite him, Patriarch Bodhidharma would not return.” |
| 这为什么呢？因为达摩祖师是来传佛心印，度有缘众生的，不是来受你供养的，你根基不相当，就无福接受禅门的法宝。宗下所谓：“不是知音，徒劳侧耳。 | Why was this? Because Patriarch Bodhidharma came to transmit the Buddha’s Mind-Seal and liberate sentient beings with affinities; he did not come to receive your offerings. If your capacity is unsuitable, you lack the good fortune to receive the Dharma treasure of the Chan gate. As the Chan school says: “If one is not a kindred spirit, listening is futile.” |
| ”他更不需要名誉，只要得一个半个开悟之士能接法，绍隆佛种就是了。所以达摩祖师是“牢笼不肯住，呼唤不回头”。他是再也不肯回来的。达摩祖师渡江至魏后，居嵩山少林寺面壁九年，得神光大师，彻悟心源而传法。 | Nor did he need fame. It was enough if he could find even one or half a person of awakening to receive the Dharma and continue the Buddha-seed in its flourishing. Thus Patriarch Bodhidharma was one who “would not remain in a cage and would not turn back when called.” He would never return. After crossing the river to Wei, Patriarch Bodhidharma lived at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song, facing the wall for nine years. He obtained Master Shenguang, who thoroughly awakened to the source of mind, and transmitted the Dharma to him. |
| 其余在他名下的人也很多，但是他们只得禅宗的皮、肉、骨，而不能得髓。所以达摩祖师只传神光一个人做第二代祖师。 | There were many others under his name, but they obtained only the skin, flesh, and bones of Chan; they could not obtain its marrow. Therefore Patriarch Bodhidharma transmitted the Dharma only to Shenguang, making him the Second Patriarch. |
| 达摩原以为梁武帝是中国信佛的皇帝，大概有相当的根基，哪晓得这皇帝不行，只在名相上着眼，不是上上根人，不能传付，所以不辞而别。 | Bodhidharma had originally thought that Emperor Wu of Liang, a Chinese emperor who believed in Buddhism, probably possessed considerable capacity. Who would have known that this emperor was inadequate? He attended only to names and appearances, was not a person of the highest capacity, and could not receive the transmission. Therefore Bodhidharma left without farewell. |
| 那么，学禅这么难，值兹末法时代，岂不要断绝佛种吗？不！末法时代也有正法根器人，广大佛子中，上上根人，大有人在。只要有心人提倡弘扬，禅门是会兴隆的。 | Then, if studying Chan is so difficult, would not the Buddha-seed be cut off in this Dharma-ending age? No. Even in the Dharma-ending age, there are people with the capacity for the true Dharma. Among the vast multitude of the Buddha’s disciples, there are many people of the highest capacities. So long as those with aspiration promote and spread it, the Chan gate will flourish. |
| 因为有佛、菩萨的伟大慈悲力量加被，只要深信不怠，天天朝于兹、夕于兹，流连于兹、颠沛于兹，不断地前进，自有水到渠成之日。 | Because the great compassionate power of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas bestows its blessings, so long as one has deep faith and does not slacken, morning and evening devoted to this, absorbed in this through ease and hardship, and continually presses forward, the day will naturally come when the water flows into its channel. |
| 假如疑疑惑惑地在这里猜疑，我能行吗？佛菩萨会加被我吗？恐怕业障重不成功吧？……那就坏了！因为一疑惑力量就不足了，修起来就打“格顿”，不能奋勇地一往直前、奋斗到底完成艰巨伟大的任务。 | But if you remain here full of doubts, wondering, “Can I do it? Will the Buddhas and bodhisattvas bless me? Perhaps my karmic obstacles are too heavy for success?” . . . then things go wrong. Once doubt arises, your strength is insufficient; your practice becomes halting, and you cannot courageously press straight ahead and struggle to the end to complete the arduous and great task. |
| 只要我们信心足，不怕路远险阻，把全身力量扑上去奋力前进，就一定能排除艰难证成大道！上面说过，我们于悟道后，不是一悟就休，还要好好地保护它，长养它，把习气除尽，犹如婴儿成长为大人了，那时候才能随心所欲放手空行。 | So long as our faith is strong, and we do not fear the distance of the road or its dangers and obstacles, but throw our whole strength into advancing vigorously, we will certainly overcome all difficulties and realize the great Way. As said above, after awakening to the Way, one does not simply stop after a single awakening. One must carefully safeguard and nurture it, removing habitual tendencies completely. Only when, like an infant growing into an adult, this maturation has occurred can one let go freely and move unimpededly through emptiness. |
| 于初悟时不保是不行的，怎么保呢？一面上座养定，一面在日常事务中磨练培养，既不住空，也不住有，一切随缘，任何工作都能做，虽做而不着做，毫无爱恶之心。 | At the time of initial awakening, it will not do to fail to safeguard it. How is it safeguarded? On the one hand, sit in meditation to cultivate samādhi; on the other, temper and nurture it amid daily affairs. Abide neither in emptiness nor in existence; accord with conditions in all things; undertake any work, yet while doing it, do not cling to doing it, with no mind of liking or disliking. |
| 宗下所谓：“于心无事，于事无心！”终日忙碌，而心中无事；心中无事，而不妨终日忙碌是也。假如做事时被事做了去，那就不行，要赶快拉回来，放下来，勤于觉照，精于锻炼；假如自觉力量不够，那就要多打坐。 | As the Chan school says: “Within mind, retain no affair; in affairs, have no clinging mind!” One may be busy all day while having no affair in the mind; with no affair in the mind, there is no obstacle to being busy all day. But if, while doing things, you are carried away by things, that will not do. Quickly draw yourself back and let go; be diligent in awareness and discerning in training. If your power of self-awareness is insufficient, then meditate more. |
| 为什么呢？因为打坐能培养定力，使你在境界之中有主宰，有力量。你不打坐，定力不够，在境界中锻炼的时候，一浑就浑掉了，被境界拖着走了，落于悟后迷，就不行了，这是最重要的关键。 | Why is this so? Because seated meditation can cultivate the power of samādhi, enabling you to remain masterful and strong amid circumstances. If you do not meditate, your samādhi power will be insufficient. When you train amid circumstances, you will become muddled as soon as confusion arises, be dragged along by circumstances, and fall into delusion after awakening. That will not do. This is the most crucial point. |
| 复次，刚刚打开本来时，是没有什么奇特的。修行人往往不识，以为没有什么神奇，不是自性，而忽略错过，哪知这灵妙真心是一丝不挂、一法不立的绝相妙体。初见性时，习染尚在，只是素法身，一无所有。 | Furthermore, when one has just opened to one's original nature, there is nothing extraordinary about it. Practitioners often fail to recognize it, thinking that because there is nothing miraculous about it, it cannot be intrinsic nature; thus they overlook it and let it pass by. They do not realize that this numinous, wondrous true mind is the absolute, wondrous essence that is utterly bare and does not establish a single dharma. At the first seeing of one’s nature, habitual defilements still remain; there is only the pure dharmakāya, with nothing at all. |
| 须待修者于识得后，勤于磨练，将无始旷劫的妄习消尽，方能显发神用。故修行人须弄清修行的次第，千万不要因暂时未发神通，不敢承当而错过开悟的良机，更不要因自己不识而以讹传讹，贻害他人。其实开悟见性并非难事，因为这妙明真心不在别处，整日在各人自己面门放光，无有丝毫离异，只是人们迷相着境忽略不识罢了。 | Only after recognizing it must the practitioner diligently temper themselves, until the deluded habits accumulated through beginningless kalpas are exhausted; only then can its wondrous functions manifest. Therefore, practitioners must understand the stages of practice clearly. Never, because spiritual powers have not temporarily appeared, fail to dare to accept this realization and thereby miss the excellent opportunity for awakening. Still less should you, through not recognizing it yourself, pass error on as truth and harm others. In fact, awakening and seeing one’s nature are not difficult, for this wondrous, luminous true mind is not elsewhere: all day long, it shines from the face of each person, without the slightest separation. People merely overlook and fail to recognize it because they are deluded by appearances and attached to circumstances. |
| 傅大士《传心颂》云：“夜夜抱佛眠，朝朝还共起。起坐镇相随，语默同居止。纤毫不相离，如身影相似。”你看说得多少明白清楚，从这里悟去，多少庆快。再向别处去寻，找到弥勒佛降生，也无有是处。 | Fu Dashi says in his Song of Transmitting the Mind: “Each night I embrace the Buddha as I sleep; each morning we rise together. In rising and sitting, we constantly accompany one another; in speech and silence, we abide together. We are not apart by the slightest fraction, like a body and its shadow.” See how plainly and clearly this is expressed. Awaken from here, and how joyous and carefree you will be. If you seek elsewhere, even if you wait until Maitreya Buddha descends into the world, you will find no such place. |
| 或有人说，保宁勇禅师昔曾说过：“从此偈瞥地者固多，但错会者也不少。”还有玄沙禅师也曾评论此偈说：“大小傅大士只识个昭昭灵灵。”恐怕此偈有毛病，不确切吧？ | Someone may say: “Chan Master Yong of Baoning once said, ‘Many have gained a sudden insight from this verse, but quite a few have also misunderstood it.’ Chan Master Xuansha likewise commented on this verse: ‘That great Fu Dashi recognized only the clearly aware and numinously responsive.’ Might there be something wrong or imprecise about this verse?” |
| 我不禁笑答道：此偈说得如此亲切明白，虽下根人亦能闻之悟得。既能从此会得，为什么有错误呢？又错在哪里呢？保宁勇未曾指出，使后来人疑窦不少，我今不妨补叙出来，为诸君祛疑。 | I could not help laughing as I replied: This verse is so intimate, plain, and clear that even persons of the lowest capacities can awaken upon hearing it. If they can understand from it, why should there be any error? And where does the error lie? Yong of Baoning did not point this out, leaving later generations with many doubts. I may as well set it forth now, to dispel your doubts. |
| 盖错者不在此偈，而在会的人鲁莽，以为即此能言会道、举手投足的，便是自己天真佛。 | The error does not lie in the verse, but in the rashness of those who understand it, imagining that this very capacity to speak, expound the Way, raise one’s hands, and move one’s feet is one’s own innate Buddha. |
| 犹如有人错解了《圆觉经》那段精辟经文“知幻即离，不假方便；离幻即觉，亦无渐次”一样，以为觉了便成佛，不须再用功精修，勤除妄习，保护本真，以达不动究竟之地。 | It is like those who misunderstand the incisive passage in the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment: “To know illusion is to depart from it; no expedient means are required. To depart from illusion is enlightenment; there are no gradual stages either.” They suppose that awakening means becoming a Buddha, and that there is no further need to exert themselves in refined cultivation, diligently remove deluded habits, preserve the original truth, and attain the ultimate ground of immovability. |
| 哪知这才是始觉，不是本觉，尚须依于本觉，勤苦修习，如子依母，子母相合，融为一体，始成大觉。 | They do not realize that this is only initial awakening, not original awakening. They must still rely upon original awakening and practice diligently and arduously. Like a child relying on its mother, child and mother must join and merge into one before great awakening is attained. |
| 岂可得少为足，自以为是，不改旧习任性非为，着境住相，将一尊大好的天真佛，仍旧堕落在六道轮回里，岂不大错，岂不冤屈？！而玄沙禅师说的昭昭灵灵呢？这妙明真心原本昭昭灵灵，不是起心动念有意地去昭昭灵灵。 | How could one be satisfied with so little, presume oneself right, leave old habits unchanged, and act recklessly according to one’s inclinations—clinging to circumstances and abiding in appearances—thereby causing a fine innate Buddha still to fall into rebirth in the six realms? Would that not be a great mistake and a grievous injustice? As for the “clearly aware and numinously responsive” spoken of by Chan Master Xuansha: this wondrous, luminous true mind is originally clearly aware and numinously responsive. It is not a matter of deliberately setting one’s mind to become clearly aware and numinously responsive. |
| 假使有一点着意就不对了，比如明镜高悬，自然朗照，不是用力不用力，有意不有意而照。只在你自然而然，不费丝毫力，现现成成，任运而用，既不住执它，也不认着它便是。不是硬要把这昭昭灵灵打杀、磨灭才是。 | If there is the slightest intentional effort, it is already wrong. It is like a bright mirror hung high: it naturally illuminates clearly; it does not illuminate because one exerts effort or does not exert effort, or because one intends or does not intend it. You need only be natural and spontaneous, without expending the slightest effort, completely present and ready-made, allowing it to function freely. Do not abide in or cling to it, nor take hold of it. It is not that one must forcibly kill off or obliterate this clear awareness and numinous responsiveness. |
| 而且这昭昭灵灵任你怎样用力打，用力磨，也打杀不得，磨灭不得，而且愈打磨愈昭昭灵灵，更不是离此昭昭灵灵别求一个道理才是。 | Moreover, no matter how hard you try to strike or grind away this clear awareness and numinous responsiveness, you cannot kill it or obliterate it. Indeed, the more you strike and grind, the more clearly aware and numinously responsive it becomes. Nor should you seek some principle apart from this clear awareness and numinous responsiveness. |
| 有人虽修行多年而不悟者，都是为自己所瞒，以为发神通才是，而不知所谓神通者，就是日常动用。 | Those who have practiced for many years without awakening have all been deceived by themselves: they imagine that the manifestation of spiritual powers is what matters, not realizing that so-called spiritual powers are simply one’s everyday functioning. |
| 若不是神通怎会说话、工作？怎会穿衣吃饭？又怎会嬉笑怒骂？在在处处都是它的神用而不自知，偏偏要个奇特，自遭败屈，岂不冤苦？有些人自己不识，甘愿在苦海中头出头没也只罢了，还要贻害别人，说未发神通为未开悟，开悟的人是六通俱全的。 | If this were not spiritual power, how could one speak or work? How could one dress and eat? How could one laugh, jest, grow angry, or scold? Its wondrous functions are present everywhere, yet people do not know it. They insist on something extraordinary and thus bring needless frustration upon themselves. Is this not pitiable suffering? Some do not recognize it themselves and are content merely to bob up and down in the sea of suffering; that would be one thing. But they also harm others, saying that one who has not manifested spiritual powers has not awakened, and that an awakened person possesses all six supernormal powers. |
| 他哪里知道悟道在先，发通在后的序次。《大日经》云：“菩萨住此（即见道位）勤苦修习，不久即五通齐发。”悟道后还需经过一番打磨，将历劫多生的妄习消尽，方能显发神通。 | How could they know the sequence in which realization of the Way comes first and the manifestation of spiritual powers later? The Mahāvairocana Sūtra says: “When a bodhisattva abides at this stage [that is, the stage of seeing the Way] and practices diligently, before long all five supernormal powers will manifest together.” After realizing the Way, one must still undergo further tempering and exhaust the deluded habits of countless kalpas and lives before spiritual powers can manifest. |
| 所以我们修行人，不要自暴自弃，于初打开时，识得它，当仁不让，敢于承当。不为神通奇特所淆惑，然后勤于保养，尽除妄习，不久将来，自然神通大发。又因修行人根机各各不同，也有先通后悟的，但现在这种人并不多见。 | Therefore, we practitioners must not abandon ourselves in despair. When it first opens before us and we recognize it, we should accept it without hesitation and dare to take responsibility for it. Do not be confused by spiritual powers or extraordinary phenomena. Then diligently preserve and nurture it, thoroughly remove deluded habits, and before long spiritual powers will naturally manifest greatly. Because practitioners’ capacities differ, there are also those who develop powers before awakening, though such people are not often seen today. |
| 现在有些特异功能的人，也没有经过修行，就有了神通，这是报得的神通，是暂时性的，过后就慢慢地消失了。我们佛教所说的神通有好几种：有报得的、修得的、证得的与依得的种种不同。 | Some people today possess unusual abilities and spiritual powers without having practiced. These are spiritual powers acquired as karmic retribution; they are temporary and gradually disappear afterward. The spiritual powers spoken of in Buddhism have several kinds: those acquired as karmic retribution, through cultivation, through realization, and through reliance on external aid. |
| 修得的，是用一种法专修一种通，密宗修神通的法就很多；依得的是依靠外来的助力，如神、鬼、妖等而得的通。但这些都不究竟，一口气不来就没有了，没用处，还是在生死轮回中，不出苦海。 | Powers acquired through cultivation arise from specializing in one method to cultivate one particular power; Esoteric Buddhism has many methods for cultivating spiritual powers. Powers acquired through reliance depend on external assistance, such as that of spirits, ghosts, or demons. But none of these is ultimate. When one’s last breath does not come, they are gone; they are of no use. One remains in the cycle of birth and death and does not leave the sea of suffering. |
| 只有证得的通才是真正的通，那是我们见性人经过事上的磨练，消尽了习气，恢复了本性的功能，焕发出来的无穷无尽的神通，它是永远不会磨灭的，而且尽管妙用无边而不着神用，整日如痴如呆相似，诚所谓大智若愚者也。 | Only powers acquired through realization are genuine spiritual powers. These arise when those who have seen their nature undergo tempering amid circumstances, exhaust their habitual tendencies, and restore the functions of their intrinsic nature. They are inexhaustible spiritual powers that will never be obliterated. Yet, although their wondrous functioning is boundless, one does not cling to such functions, and all day long appears almost foolish or dull. This is what is meant by great wisdom seeming like foolishness. |
| 后来雪窦禅师就此公案颂云：“圣谛廓然，何当辨的？对朕者谁？还云不识！因兹暗渡江，岂免生荆棘？阖国人追不再来，千古万古空相忆。休相忆，匝地清风有何极？”师顾视左右云：“这里还有祖师么？”自云：“有！唤来与老僧洗脚。” | Later, Chan Master Xuedou composed this verse on this Chan koan: “The holy truth is vast and empty—how could it be discerned? Who is there before me? He still says he does not know! Because of this, he secretly crossed the river; how could thorny brambles not arise? Though the whole country pursues him, he will not return; through a thousand ages and ten thousand ages, they vainly remember him. Do not remember him: how could the pure breeze covering the earth have any limit?” The master looked around to his left and right and said, “Is the Patriarch still here?” He answered himself, “Yes! Call him here to wash this old monk’s feet.” |
| 圆悟勤禅师云：“大凡颂古，只是绕路说禅，拈古大纲，据款结案。 | Chan Master Yuanwu Qin said: “In general, verses on ancient cases merely speak of Chan by a roundabout route: they bring up the main outline of an old case and render judgment according to the facts.” |
| ”雪窦颂此公案，劈头便道“圣谛廓然，何当辨的？”这就说明寥廓如万里无云晴空一般底一真法界——圣谛，是一丝不挂、一法不立的绝对真心，如何容你计较思量，分是分非，辨得辨失！到这里，直饶铁眼铜睛也摸索不着，岂可以情识卜度辨得？云门云：“参禅到紧要处，如击石火、闪电光，不落心机意识、情尘意想。 | In Xuedou’s verse on this Chan koan, he begins with: “The holy truth is vast and empty—how could it be discerned?” This explains that the One True Dharma Realm—the holy truth, vast as a clear sky stretching ten thousand miles without a cloud—is the absolute true mind, utterly bare and not establishing a single dharma. How could it allow you to calculate and deliberate, distinguish right from wrong, or discern gain from loss? Here, even eyes of iron and pupils of bronze cannot grope their way to it. How could it be fathomed and discerned through discriminatory consciousness? Yunmen said: “When Chan investigation reaches its critical point, it is like sparks struck from stone or a flash of lightning: it does not fall into mental contrivance, consciousness, emotional dust, or conceptual thought.” |
| 计较生时，鸽子早过新罗（今名朝鲜）了也。”所以雪窦说天下的衲僧何当辨的？！ | By the time one begins to calculate, the pigeon has already flown past Silla—now called Korea. Therefore Xuedou said, how could Chan monks throughout the land discern it? |
| “对朕者谁，还云不识。”这是雪窦重重为人处，上面说圣谛廓然，一法不立，是无相对的绝对妙体，既是绝对的妙体，有谁识谁呢？雪窦重在这里恐人磋过“廓然”，提醒众人道：“还云不识。 | “Who is there before me? He still says he does not know.” Here Xuedou repeatedly points the way for people. Above, he says that the holy truth is vast and empty, that not a single dharma is established, and that it is the absolute wondrous essence without an opposite. Since it is an absolute wondrous essence, who is there to know, and who is there to be known? Xuedou’s emphasis here is meant to prevent people from missing “vast and empty,” and he reminds everyone: “He still says he does not know.” |
| ”着个“还云”二字，就是警告大众廓然中连圣也没有，还有识与不识吗？白云端禅师曾有颂云：“寻常一箭落一雕，更加一箭已相饶。”这是古人老婆心切处，重重为人，不惜浑身落草。到这里整个公案已颂毕。 | The words “still says” warn the assembly that within vast emptiness there is not even holiness. Is there still knowing or not knowing? Chan Master Baiyun Duan once composed a verse: “Ordinarily, one arrow brings down one eagle; to shoot another arrow is already excessive.” This is where the ancients showed their anxious, grandmotherly concern for others: repeatedly pointing the way for people, they did not begrudge falling bodily into the weeds. By this point, the entire Chan koan has already been fully versified. |
| 但雪窦为慈悲故，再将这公案的事迹颂出：“因兹暗渡江，岂免生荆棘？”达摩本为人解粘去缚，割除荆棘而来，因何却道生荆棘？盖非但修道人纷纷讨论这则公案的是非得失，即至而今广大的参玄人也无不为之辨得辨失，所以圆悟勤说：“即今诸人脚下已草深数丈。” | But out of compassion, Xuedou further versified the events of this Chan koan: “Because of this, he secretly crossed the river; how could thorny brambles not arise?” Bodhidharma came to free people from clinging and bondage and to cut away thorny brambles. Why, then, does he speak of producing brambles? This is because not only do practitioners debate the rights and wrongs, gains and losses of this case in profusion; even today, the great number of those who investigate the mystery all seek to discern its gains and losses. Thus Yuanwu Qin said: “Right now, beneath everyone’s feet, the grass is already several yards deep.” |
| “千古万古空相忆。”是的，自此公案延衍至今，道中人无不为梁武帝惋惜，又无不思念达摩。武帝于达摩圆寂后，自撰碑文云：“嗟夫，见之不见，逢之不逢，今之古之，怨之恨之！”圆悟勤着语云：“太煞不丈夫，诸仁还知么？”又道：“达摩在什么处？诸人还见么？一落思量，早磋过了也。” | “Through a thousand ages and ten thousand ages, they vainly remember him.” Yes, ever since this Chan koan spread, those within the Way have all lamented Emperor Wu of Liang and longed for Bodhidharma. After Bodhidharma’s parinirvāṇa, Emperor Wu personally composed an inscription for his stele: “Alas! Seeing him, yet not seeing him; encountering him, yet not encountering him. Now and anciently, I resent it and grieve over it!” Yuanwu Qin commented: “Far too unmanly! Do you all know?” He also said: “Where is Bodhidharma? Do you all see him? Once you fall into deliberation, you have already missed it.” |
| 雪窦恐人着情见，所以拨转话头，出自己见解昭示后人道：“休相忆，匝地清风有何极？”识得自己脚跟下的立处，即时时与达摩和雪窦把手同行，用何寻思忆念？因此妙明真心不在别处，即在各人自己面门放光，寻常之极，犹 | Xuedou feared that people would cling to emotional views, so he turned the topic around and revealed his own understanding for later generations: “Do not remember him: how could the pure breeze covering the earth have any limit?” If you recognize the ground on which you stand beneath your own feet, then at every moment you walk hand in hand with Bodhidharma and Xuedou. Why engage in searching thoughts and recollections? This wondrous, luminous true mind is not elsewhere; it shines from the face of each person. It is utterly ordinary. |
| 如铺天盖地的清风，人人都受其吹拂，人人都受其薰育，人人都以之成就各种事业，有什么高不可攀、登峰造极之处呢？ | It is like the pure breeze that blankets heaven and earth: everyone is touched by it, everyone is nurtured by it, and everyone accomplishes all kinds of undertakings through it. What is there that is lofty and unreachable, or a summit that must be scaled? |
| 最后，雪窦恐人迷恋祖师，依倚祖师，不自省，不自立，着在这里，便如灵龟曳尾，自扫行迹一般，更出方便为人，顾视左右问道：“这里还有祖师么？”自应云：“有！”更自云：“唤来与老僧洗脚！”雪窦禅师为什么这样毁 | Finally, Xuedou feared that people would become attached to the Patriarch and rely upon him, rather than reflect upon themselves and stand on their own. To cling here is like a divine turtle dragging its tail and sweeping away its own tracks. So, as a further expedient for guiding people, he looked to his left and right and asked: “Is the Patriarch still here?” He answered himself: “Yes!” Then he himself said: “Call him here to wash this old monk’s feet!” Why did Chan Master Xuedou so diminish the Patriarch’s august radiance? |
| 损祖师威光呢？因妙明真心是无师智、无依倚、无所知、无名貌，你唤作什么？一有所立，一有所著，早磋过了也。 | Because this wondrous, luminous true mind is wisdom without a teacher, without reliance, without anything known, and without name or form. What could you call it? As soon as anything is established or anything is clung to, you have already missed it. |
| 复次，天上天下无一物不是它的显现，无一法不是依它而立，你唤它作祖师？着在这里得么？如僧问黄檗，大唐国里还有禅师么？黄檗云：“不道无禅，只是无师。”即此意也。 | Furthermore, above heaven and below heaven, there is not a single thing that is not its manifestation; there is not a single dharma that does not stand by relying on it. Do you call it a patriarch? Can you attain it by clinging here? A monk once asked Huangbo, “Are there any Chan masters in the Great Tang Empire?” Huangbo said, “I do not say there is no Chan; it is only that there are no masters.” This is precisely the meaning. |
| 我们修行人应从此公案中吸取教训，初须知有，更须绵密保护，此是初善；次须放任，不守住它，此是中善；末后连不守之心也无，此是后善。望诸仁珍重！ | We practitioners should draw a lesson from this koan. First, one must know that it is there; one must then safeguard it continuously and closely—this is the initial good. Next, one must let it be and not hold on to it—this is the middle good. Finally, even the thought of deliberately not guarding the mind is gone—this is the final good. I hope you will all cherish this! |
