[I] Bodhidharma: Vast Emptiness, Nothing Holy 【一】达磨廓然无圣
Verses on Ancient Cases by Chan Master Xuedou Chongxian, with Commentary by Chan Master Yuanwu Keqin | 2019-04-01 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 垂示云：隔山见烟，早知是火；隔墙见角，便知是牛。举一明三，目机铢两，是衲僧家寻常茶饭。至于截断众流、东涌西没、逆顺纵横、与夺自在，正当恁么时，且道是什么人行履处？看取雪窦葛藤。 |
Pointer: Seeing smoke beyond a mountain, one knows at once there is fire; seeing horns beyond a wall, one knows there is an ox. From one example one understands three; one’s eye for the occasion is precise to the smallest measure—this is the everyday fare of patch-robed monks. But when one cuts off the myriad streams, surges forth in the east and vanishes in the west, moves freely through adverse and favorable circumstances, and is at ease in giving and taking—at precisely such a time, tell me, whose sphere of activity is this? Look into Xuedou’s entangling vines. |
| 【一】举： |
[1] The Case: |
| 梁武帝问达磨大师【说这不唧溜汉。】：“如何是圣谛第一义？”【是甚系驴橛？】 |
Emperor Wu of Liang asked Great Master Bodhidharma [Speaking of this slippery fellow.], “What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?” [What kind of donkey-tethering stake is this?] |
| 磨云：“廓然无圣。”【将谓多少奇特。箭过新罗。可煞明白。】 |
Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy.” [I thought there would be something most extraordinary. The arrow has flown past Silla. How utterly clear!] |
| 帝曰：“对朕者谁？”【满面惭惶强惺惺。果然摸索不着。】 |
The Emperor said, “Who is it that stands before me?” [Ashamed and flustered, yet forcing himself to seem alert. Sure enough, he cannot get hold of it.] |
| 磨云：“不识。”【咄！再来不值半文钱。】 |
Bodhidharma said, “I do not know.” [Bah! A second attempt is not worth half a penny.] |
| 帝不契，【可惜许。却较些子。】达磨遂渡江至魏。【这野狐精，不免一场懡[mǒ ]罗。从西过东，从东过西。】 |
The Emperor did not awaken to it. [What a pity. Still, he was somewhat closer.] Bodhidharma then crossed the river to Wei. [This wild fox spirit could not avoid a bout of tribulation. From west to east, from east to west.] |
| 帝后举问志公，【贫儿思旧债。旁人有眼。】 |
Later, the Emperor brought this up and asked Master Zhigong about it. [The poor man thinks of an old debt. Yet bystanders have eyes.] |
| 志公云：“陛下还识此人否？”【和志公赶出国始得。好与三十棒。达磨来也。】 |
Zhigong said, “Does Your Majesty recognize this man?” [Only by driving Zhigong out of the country would this be settled. He deserves thirty blows. Bodhidharma has come!] |
| 帝云：“不识。”【却是武帝承当得达磨公案。】 |
The Emperor said, “I do not recognize him.” [Here Emperor Wu truly takes up Bodhidharma’s koan.] |
| 志公云：“此是观音大士传佛心印。”【胡乱指注。臂膊不向外曲。】 |
Zhigong said, “This is the Great Being Avalokiteśvara, transmitting the Buddha’s mind-seal.” [A reckless annotation. An arm does not bend outward.] |
| 帝悔，遂遣使去请。【果然把不住。向道不唧溜。】 |
The Emperor regretted it and consequently sent an envoy to invite him back. [Sure enough, he could not hold on. I told you he was slippery.] |
| 志公云：“莫道陛下发使去取，【东家人死，西家人助哀。也好一时赶出国。】阖国人去，他亦不回。”【志公也好与三十棒。不知脚跟下放大光明。】 |
Zhigong said, “Do not say that Your Majesty may send an envoy to fetch him. [Someone has died in the east household, while the west household helps mourn. Better drive them all out at once.] Even if everyone in the whole country went, he still would not return.” [Zhigong, too, deserves thirty blows. He does not know that a great radiance shines forth beneath his very heels.] |
| 达磨遥观此土有大乘根器，遂泛海得得而来，单传心印，开示迷涂，不立文字，直指人心，见性成佛。若恁么见得，便有自由分，不随一切语言转，脱体现成。便能于后头与武帝对谈，并二祖安心处自然见得。无计较情尘，一刀截断，洒洒落落。何必更分是分非、辨得辨失。虽然恁么，能有几人！ |
Bodhidharma perceived from afar that this land possessed capacities for the Mahāyāna, and so he crossed the sea and came all this way. He transmitted the mind-seal directly, opened and revealed the deluded path, established no reliance on words and letters, directly pointed to the human mind, and enabled people to see their nature and attain Buddhahood. If you see in this way, you will have some share of freedom: you will not be turned about by any words, and you will be wholly present as you are. Then you will be able to see naturally Bodhidharma’s dialogue with Emperor Wu, as well as the place where he pacified the Second Patriarch’s mind. Without the dusty emotions of calculation, all is cut off with a single stroke—open and free. Why further distinguish right from wrong, or discriminate gain from loss? Yet, even so, how many can do this? |
| 武帝尝披袈裟自讲放光般若经，感得天花乱坠、地变黄金。辨道奉佛，诰诏天下，起寺度僧，依教修行。人谓之“佛心天子”。 |
Emperor Wu once donned the kasāya and personally lectured on the Light-Emitting Prajñā Sūtra. This moved heavenly flowers to rain down in profusion and caused the earth to turn to gold. He discoursed on the Way and honored the Buddha, issued proclamations throughout the realm, built temples, ordained monks, and practiced according to the teaching. People called him the “Buddha-Minded Emperor.” |
| 达磨初见武帝，帝问：“朕起寺度僧，有何功德？”磨云：“无功德。”早是恶水蓦头浇。若透得这个无功德话，许尔亲见达磨。且道，起寺度僧，为什么都无功德？此意在什么处？ |
When Bodhidharma first met Emperor Wu, the Emperor asked, “I have built temples and ordained monks. What merit and virtue is there in this?” Bodhidharma said, “No merit and virtue.” This was already like suddenly pouring foul water over his head. If you penetrate this saying, “no merit and virtue,” I will permit you to have personally met Bodhidharma. Tell me, why is there no merit and virtue at all in building temples and ordaining monks? Where does its meaning lie? |
| 帝与娄约法师、传大士、昭明太子，持论真俗二谛。据教中说：真谛以明非有，俗谛以明非无。真俗不二，即是圣谛第一义。此是教家极妙穷玄处。帝便拈此极则处，问达磨：“如何是圣谛第一义？”磨云：“廓然无圣。 |
The Emperor had debated the two truths, ultimate and conventional, with Dharma Master Louyue, the Great Being Fu, and Crown Prince Zhaoming. According to the teachings, the ultimate truth makes clear that there is no existence, while the conventional truth makes clear that there is no nonexistence. The ultimate and conventional are nondual: this is the highest meaning of the holy truths. This is the most wondrous and profound point reached by the doctrinal schools. The Emperor therefore took up this ultimate point and asked Bodhidharma, “What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?” Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy.” |
| ”天下衲僧跳不出，达磨与他一刀截断。如今人多少错会，却去弄精魂，瞠眼睛云：“廓然无圣！”且喜没交涉。五祖先师尝说：“只这廓然无圣，若人透得，归家稳坐。”一等是打葛藤，不妨与他打破漆桶--达磨就中奇特。 |
The patch-robed monks throughout the land cannot leap beyond this; Bodhidharma cut it off for him with a single stroke. Nowadays, many people misunderstand it and play with their spirits, glaring their eyes and saying, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy!” Happily, it has nothing to do with this. The late Fifth Patriarch once said, “If one penetrates only this ‘vast emptiness—nothing holy,’ one may sit securely at home.” Since they are all spinning entangling vines, there is no harm in smashing his lacquer bucket for him—this is where Bodhidharma is extraordinary. |
| 所以道：参得一句透，千句万句一时透，自然坐得断、把得定。古人道：粉骨碎身未足酬，一句了然超百亿。达磨劈头与他一拶[zā]，多少漏逗了也。帝不省，却以人我见故，再问：“对朕者谁？”达磨慈悲忒杀，又向道：“不识。”直得武帝眼目定动，不知落处是何言说。到这里有事无事，拈来即不堪。端和尚有颂云： |
Thus it is said: penetrate one phrase, and a thousand or ten thousand phrases are penetrated at once; naturally, you can sit firm and hold steady. An ancient said: “Grinding one’s bones to powder and shattering one’s body is not enough repayment; clearly understanding one phrase transcends hundreds of millions.” Bodhidharma confronted him with a sharp thrust from the outset; how many openings and flaws he exposed! The Emperor did not understand, and because of his view of self and others, asked again, “Who is it that stands before me?” Bodhidharma’s compassion was excessive; he again told him, “I do not know.” Emperor Wu’s eyes then became fixed and darting; he did not know where these words landed. At this point, whether there is something or nothing, whatever one takes up cannot stand. Master Duan composed this verse: |
| 一箭寻常落一鵰，更加一箭已相饶。 |
One arrow ordinarily brings down one eagle; to add another arrow is already to spare him. |
| 直归少室峰前坐，梁主休言更去招。 |
He went straight to sit before Shaoshi Peak; let the Liang ruler cease speaking of summoning him again. |
| 复云：谁欲招？ |
He added: Who wishes to summon him? |
| 帝不契，遂潜出国。这老汉只得懡罗，渡江至魏。时魏孝明帝当位，乃此北人种族，姓拓跋氏，后来方名中国。达磨至彼，亦不出见，直过少林，面壁九年，接得二祖，彼方号为壁观婆罗门。 |
The Emperor did not awaken to it, and Bodhidharma consequently slipped out of the country. This old fellow could only undergo hardship, crossing the river to Wei. At that time Emperor Xiaoming of Wei was on the throne. These northern peoples were of the Tuoba clan, and only later came to be called Chinese. When Bodhidharma arrived there, he did not emerge to meet anyone. He went directly to Shaolin, faced a wall for nine years, and received the Second Patriarch. There, he was called the Wall-Contemplating Brahmin. |
| 梁武帝后问志公，公云：“陛下还识此人否？”帝曰：“不识。”且道与达磨道底，是同是别？似则也似，是则不是。人多错会道：“前来达磨是答他禅。后来武帝是对他志公，乃相识之识。”且得没交涉。 |
Later Emperor Wu of Liang asked Zhigong. Zhigong said, “Does Your Majesty recognize this man?” The Emperor said, “I do not recognize him.” Tell me: was this the same as, or different from, what Bodhidharma had said? It resembles it, yet it is not the same. Many people mistakenly explain: “Earlier, Bodhidharma answered him with Chan; later, Emperor Wu answered Zhigong with ‘recognize’ in the sense of knowing someone.” Happily, this has nothing to do with it. |
| 当时志公恁么问，且道作么生祇对？何不一棒打杀，免见搽胡！武帝却供他欵道：“不识。”志公见机而作，便云：“此是观音大士，传佛心印。”帝悔，遂遣使去取，好不唧溜。当时等他道“此是观音大士，传佛心印。”亦好摈[bìn:排斥;抛弃]他出国，犹较些子。 |
When Zhigong asked in this way, tell me, how should one have replied? Why not strike him dead with one blow, avoiding the sight of him smearing nonsense about? Yet Emperor Wu offered him the conventional response, “I do not recognize him.” Zhigong responded according to the occasion, saying, “This is the Great Being Avalokiteśvara, transmitting the Buddha’s mind-seal.” The Emperor regretted it and sent an envoy to fetch him—how slippery indeed! When he said, “This is the Great Being Avalokiteśvara, transmitting the Buddha’s mind-seal,” it would also have been well to expel him from the country; that would have been somewhat closer. |
| 人传，志公天鉴十三年化去，达磨普通元年方来，自隔七年，何故却道同时相见，此必是谬传，据传中所载。如今不论这事，只要知他大纲。 |
People say that Zhigong passed away in the thirteenth year of Tianjian, while Bodhidharma did not arrive until the first year of Putong, seven years later. Why, then, does the account say that they met at the same time? This must be an erroneous transmission, judging from what is recorded in the biographies. We will not discuss this matter now; we need only understand its main point. |
| 且道达磨是观音？志公是观音？阿那个是端的底观音？既是观音，为什么却有两个？何止两个，成群作队。时后魏光统律师、菩提流支三藏，与师论议，师斥相指心。而褊局之量，自不堪任，竞起害心，数加毒药。至第六度，化缘已毕，传法得人，遂不复救，端居而逝，葬于熊耳山定林寺。后魏宋云奉使，于葱岭遇师，手携只履而往。 |
Tell me: Is Bodhidharma Avalokiteśvara? Is Zhigong Avalokiteśvara? Which one is the genuine Avalokiteśvara? If both are Avalokiteśvara, why are there two? There are far more than two—they form groups and bands. At that time, the Vinaya Master Guangtong of Northern Wei and Tripiṭaka Master Bodhiruci debated with the Master. The Master rejected attachment to marks and pointed directly to mind. But their narrow-mindedness could not bear this, and they repeatedly conceived harmful intentions, administering poison several times. On the sixth occasion, his karmic affinities had been fulfilled and he had found one to receive the Dharma. He therefore did not save himself, but sat upright and passed away. He was buried at Dinglin Monastery on Mount Xionger. Later, Song Yun of Northern Wei, while on an imperial mission, encountered the Master in the Pamirs, carrying a single sandal in his hand as he went. |
| 武帝追忆，自撰碑文云：“嗟夫！见之不见，逢之不逢，遇之不遇。今之古之，怨之恨之。”复赞云：“心有也，旷劫而滞凡夫；心无也，剎那而登妙觉。”且道：达磨即今在什□处？蹉过也不知！ |
Recalling this, Emperor Wu composed an inscription: “Alas! To see him yet not see him; to meet him yet not meet him; to encounter him yet not encounter him. Now and in ancient times, I resent it and regret it.” He further praised: “When mind is present, one remains an ordinary being through vast kalpas; when mind is absent, one ascends to wondrous awakening in an instant.” Tell me: where is Bodhidharma now? He missed it and does not even know! |
| 圣谛郭然【箭过新罗。咦！】， |
The holy truths: vast emptiness. [The arrow has flown past Silla. Ah!] |
| 何当辨的【过也。有什么难辨！】。 |
When will one discern it clearly? [Already passed. What is difficult to discern?] |
| 对朕者谁【再来不直半文钱。又恁□去也。】， |
Who is it that stands before me? [A second attempt is not worth half a penny. Again he goes on like this.] |
| 还云不识【三个四个中也。咄！】。 |
He still says, “I do not know.” [Even three or four among them do not get it. Bah!] |
| 因兹暗渡江【穿人鼻孔不得，却被别人穿。苍天苍天！好不大丈夫。】， |
Because of this, he secretly crossed the river. [He could not penetrate another’s nostrils, and instead another penetrated his. Heaven, heaven! How unlike a true man!] |
| 岂免生荆棘【脚跟下已深数丈。】。 |
How could he avoid producing thorns? [Beneath his heels they are already several fathoms deep.] |
| 阖罽国人追不再来【两重公案。用追作么？在什么处？大丈夫志气何在？】，千古万古空相忆【换手槌胸。望空启告。】。休相忆【道什么？向鬼窟里作活计。】，清风匝地有何极【果然。大小雪窦向草里辊。 |
Though all the people of the realm pursue him, he will not return; through a thousand ages and ten thousand ages, they vainly remember him. [Beating their breasts with exchanged hands, they gaze into empty space and cry out.] Do not remember him! [What are you saying? You make a living in a ghost cave.] The pure wind pervades the earth—what limit can it have? [Indeed. Great and small, Xuedou rolls about in the grass.] |
| 】！师顾视左右云：这里还有祖师么【尔待番欵那？犹作这去就。】自云：有【塌萨阿劳。】。唤来与老僧洗脚【更与三十棒赶出，也未为分外。作这去就。犹较些子。】。 |
The Master looked to the right and left and said, “Is there still a patriarch here?” [Are you waiting to be summoned? You still act in terms of coming and going.] He himself said, “There is.” [A collapsed, worn-out fellow.] “Call him to wash this old monk’s feet.” [Drive him out with another thirty blows, and it would still not be excessive. Such coming and going! Yet this is somewhat closer.] |
| 且据雪窦颂此公案，一似善舞太阿剑相似，向虚空中盘礡，自然不犯锋铓。若是无这般手段，纔拈着便见伤锋犯手。若是具眼者，看他一拈一掇，一褒一贬，只用四句，揩定一则公案。 |
Now, Xuedou’s verse on this koan is like someone skilled at dancing with the great Tài’ā sword, circling and sweeping through empty space without naturally striking against its blade or edge. Without such skill, the moment one picks it up, one is wounded by its edge and cuts one’s hand. Those with the eye may observe how, in each lifting and setting down, each praise and censure, he uses only four lines to wipe clean and settle an entire koan. |
| 大凡颂古，只是绕路说禅，拈古大纲据欵结案而已。雪窦与他一拶，劈头便道：“圣谛廓然，何当辨的。”雪窦于他初句下，着这一句，不妨奇特。且道，毕竟作么生辨的？直饶铁眼铜睛，也摸索不着。 |
In general, verses on ancient cases merely speak of Chan by a roundabout route: they take up the main thread of an old case and settle it on the basis of its conventional facts. Xuedou gives him a thrust and immediately says, “The holy truths are vast emptiness—when will one discern it clearly?” To add this line beneath Bodhidharma’s opening statement is indeed extraordinary. Tell me, in the end, how does one discern it clearly? Even eyes of iron and pupils of bronze cannot feel their way to it. |
| 到这里，以情识卜度得么！所以云门道：“如击石火，似闪电光。”这个些子，不落心机意识情想。等尔开口，堪作什么！计较生时，鹞[ yào]子过新罗。 |
At this point, can it be reckoned through emotional consciousness? Hence Yunmen said, “Like striking sparks from stone; like a flash of lightning.” This little bit does not fall within the workings of mind, consciousness, conceptual thought, or imagination. Once you open your mouth, what can it amount to? When calculation arises, the hawk has already flown past Silla. |
| 雪窦道：尔天下衲僧，何当辨的！“对朕者谁”着个“还云不识”。此是雪窦忒杀老婆，重重为人处。且道：廓然与不识，是一般两般？若是了底人分上，不言而谕。若是未了底人，决定打作两橛。诸方寻常皆道：雪窦重拈一遍。殊不知，四句颂尽公案了。 |
Xuedou says: You patch-robed monks throughout the land, when will you discern it clearly? To “Who is it that stands before me?” he adds, “He still says, ‘I do not know.’” Xuedou is excessively grandmotherly, repeatedly acting for the sake of others. Tell me: are vast emptiness and not knowing one or two? For those who have realized it, it is understood without being spoken. Those who have not realized it will certainly divide them into two pieces. Everywhere, people ordinarily say that Xuedou takes up the case once more. They do not know that the entire koan has already been exhausted in these four lines. |
| 后为慈悲之故，颂出事迹。“因兹暗渡江，岂免生荆棘。”达磨本来兹土，与人解粘去缚、抽钉拔楔、铲除荆棘，因何却道“生荆棘”？非止当时，诸人即今脚跟下，已深数丈。“阖国人追不再来，千古万古空相忆。 |
Later, out of compassion, he set forth the narrative: “Because of this, he secretly crossed the river. How could he avoid producing thorns?” Bodhidharma originally came to this land to release people from adhesions and bonds, pull out nails and remove wedges, and clear away thorns. Why, then, does he say, “producing thorns”? Not only at that time: beneath the heels of all of you even now, they are already several fathoms deep. “Though all the people of the realm pursue him, he will not return; through a thousand ages and ten thousand ages, they vainly remember him.” |
| ”可杀不丈夫！且道：达磨在什么处？若见达磨，便见雪窦末后为人处。雪窦恐怕人逐情见，所以拨转关捩子，出自己见解云：“休相忆，清风匝地有何极！”既休相忆，尔脚跟下事。又作么生？雪窦道：即今个里匝地清风、天上天下，有何所极！雪窦拈千古万古之事，抛向面前。非止雪窦当时有何极，尔诸人分上亦有何极。 |
How utterly unmanly! Tell me: where is Bodhidharma? If you see Bodhidharma, you will then see where Xuedou finally acts for others. Xuedou feared that people would follow their emotional views, so he turned the pivot and offered his own insight: “Do not remember him! The pure wind pervades the earth—what limit can it have?” Since you are not to remember him, what of the matter beneath your own heels? How then? Xuedou says: At this very moment, the pure wind pervades this place, heaven and earth—what limit can there be? Xuedou takes the affair of a thousand ages and ten thousand ages and throws it before your face. It is not only that Xuedou at that time had no limit; in each of you as well, what limit is there? |
| 他又怕人执在这里，再着方便高声云：“这里还有祖师么？”自云：“有。”雪窦到这里，不妨为人赤心片片。又自云：“唤来与老僧洗脚。”太杀减人威光！当时也好与本分手脚。且道，雪窦意在什么处？到这里。 |
He feared that people might become attached here, so he further raised his voice expediently and said, “Is there still a patriarch here?” He himself answered, “There is.” At this point, Xuedou could hardly be said not to have shown people his heart piece by piece. Then he himself said, “Call him here to wash this old monk’s feet.” That greatly diminishes the patriarch’s imposing radiance! At that time, one might also have responded with one’s proper skill. Tell me, where does Xuedou’s intent lie? Right here. |
| 唤作驴则是？唤作马则是？唤作祖师则是？如何名邈？往往唤作雪窦使祖师去也，且喜没交涉。且道，毕竟作么生？只许老胡知，不许老胡会。 |
If you call it a donkey, is that right? If you call it a horse, is that right? If you call it the patriarch, is that right? How can it be named or described? People often take Xuedou to be sending the patriarch off on an errand—fortunately, that has nothing to do with it. Tell me, after all, what is it? Only the old barbarian is permitted to know; he is not permitted to understand. |
| u 七嘴八舌 |
Many Voices Speaking at Once |
| 【心明】廓然无圣，为什么大家不说祖师爷落在无上？ |
[Xinming] “Vast emptiness—nothing holy.” Why does no one say that the patriarch has fallen into the unconditioned? |
| 【痴人说梦】不然！ |
[A Fool’s Dream] Not so! |
| 【善财】难道真的就没有人再问一句么？ |
[Sudhana] Could it really be that no one will ask one more question? |
| 【终不说】他的不然正为汝设，呵呵 |
[Never Speak] His “not so” was set forth precisely for your sake—ha ha. |
| 【善财】呵呵，俺的再问一句不知是为谁设？ |
[Sudhana] Ha ha—then for whom, I wonder, is my one further question set forth? |
| 【终不说】他的设是为而不为，汝的设是情识具执 |
[Never Speak] What he sets forth is set forth without being set forth; what you set forth is wholly bound up in discriminating consciousness. |
| 【善财】打鼓来看！ |
[Sudhana] Beat the drum and let us see! |
| 【痴人说梦】狗舔热铛，无处下嘴。 |
[A Fool’s Dream] Like a dog licking a hot cauldron—there is nowhere to put its mouth. |
| 【心明】哈哈，您不幸被他钩住了，快逃！ |
[Xinming] Ha ha, unfortunately you have been caught on his hook. Run quickly! |
| 【痴人说梦】哈哈，这下如何脱身？ |
[A Fool’s Dream] Ha ha, how can I get free now? |
| 【丁零】哪个缚你啦？ |
[Dingling] Who has bound you? |
| 【痴人说梦】干屎橛 |
[A Fool’s Dream] A dried shit-stick. |
| 【丁零】赚我来，赚我来。 |
[Dingling] You’ve tricked me here—you’ve tricked me here. |
| 【xinming】您倒是很会脱身啊? |
[xinming] You certainly know well how to get free, don’t you? |
| 【丁零】嘿嘿，怎么个脱法？ |
[Dingling] Heh heh, just how does one get free? |
| 【xinming】问：“哪个缚你啦？” 答“干屎橛 ” |
[xinming] Question: “Who has bound you?” Answer: “A dried shit-stick.” |
| 【痴人说梦】干屎橛 |
[A Fool’s Dream] A dried shit-stick. |
| 【xinming】仔细喔 |
[xinming] Be careful! |
| 【终不说】好 |
[Never Speak] Good. |
| 【lvm】然也。 |
[lvm] Indeed. |
| 【李无忧】廓然！！！ |
[Li Wuyou] Vast emptiness!!! |
| 【丁零】喝！ |
[Dingling] Hah! |
| u 元音老人讲述 |
Master Yuanyin Explains |
| 第一则 圣谛第一义 |
Case One: The Highest Meaning of the Noble Truth |
| 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 the “ultimate truth” and the “conventional truth.” Truth means reality. The ultimate truth elucidates emptiness; the conventional truth elucidates existence. The nonduality of ultimate and conventional truth is the highest meaning of the noble truth. This is the most profound and wondrous point of the doctrinal schools. In their careful 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 four teachings of Beginning, Final, Sudden, and Perfect; together these make the five teachings. |
| 小乘为有义，有法可修，有道可成，有涅可证；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；大乘顿 |
The Hīnayāna expounds existence: there are dharmas to cultivate, a path to accomplish, and nirvāṇa to realize. The Mahāyāna Beginning Teaching proceeds from existence into emptiness and marks the beginning of the gradual teachings of the Mahāyāna. It explains that all is empty, but does not yet reveal that all sentient beings fully possess Buddha-nature. The Mahāyāna Final Teaching is the conclusion of the gradual teachings. It expounds the principle of dependent arising from suchness and advocates that all can become Buddhas, explaining the meaning of neither emptiness nor existence. The Mahāyāna Sudden |
| 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。 |
Teaching takes sudden penetration of principle and immediate realization of the mind as its teaching; it is the meaning of both emptiness and existence. The Mahāyāna Perfect Teaching encompasses all things and perfectly integrates all virtues. It is neither emptiness nor existence, neither existence nor emptiness—the meaning of “when speaking of existence, not even a hair’s breadth is established; when speaking of emptiness, it pervades the entire dharma realm.” In discussing doctrine, the doctrinal schools first explain ultimate truth and conventional truth—that is, they first clarify 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 explain the truth of the highest meaning. This is the supreme teaching: emptiness, too, cannot be grasped; existence, too, cannot be grasped; it is neither emptiness nor existence, and yet both emptiness and existence. Thus it is the highest principle of the doctrinal schools. In this koan, Emperor Wu of Liang asked Bodhidharma this question, and the compiler therefore used it as the title of the case. |
| 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 the twenty-fifth-generation descendant of Xiao He (Xiao He was Chancellor 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, commissioned images and gilded them, and even donned the monastic robe himself, ascended the seat, and lectured on the Sūtra of Radiant Prajñā. People called him the Emperor with the Buddha’s 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。 |
That is why Bodhidharma went to see him first. Yet Emperor Wu was not a person of the very highest capacity, whereas the Chan school receives only those of the very highest capacity. Those of middling or lesser capacity find it difficult to accept, because it relies wholly on one’s own exceptionally powerful wisdom to open one’s intrinsic nature. Those with lesser capacity find it difficult to awaken upon hearing a word. |
| 帝问：如何是圣谛第一义？ 摩曰：廓然无圣！ |
The emperor asked, “What is the highest meaning of the noble truth?” 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 posed this most subtle and ultimate question from the doctrinal teachings: What is the highest meaning of the noble truth? He was testing Bodhidharma, to see whether this holy monk would answer correctly. But the patch-robed monks of the world cannot escape the confines of ordinary and holy, ultimate and conventional. In the hands of a great Chan master, however, with a light pinch, all are 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 awaken at these words, we may return home and sit securely: eat when hungry, sleep when tired, and enjoy freedom at ease. There is no need to discriminate right and wrong or discuss what is long and what is short. 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 broad and boundless like empty space: clear, empty, numinously bright, unmoving and unshakable. This suggests that our mind-nature is like empty space—vast, empty, luminous, clear, and all-pervading. “Nothing holy” means that within this numinous clarity and vast 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 one must take care: although there is nothing at all, who is it that knows there is nothing? Bodhidharma skillfully laid this wondrous, luminous true mind—beyond description or comparison—entirely before Emperor Wu. Alas, it was like making seductive eyes at a blind man. The emperor knew only how to discuss doctrinal principles, speaking of ordinary and holy, but did not understand 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 thus missed it face-to-face. Chan masters are like experts skilled in wielding the great sword Taie: with one light sweep, they cut through at the root all the entanglements in your mind—ordinary and holy, ultimate and conventional, and the like—and directly point you toward seeing 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，猛著精彩，即见本来！诸位，参禅已打开本 |
All sentient beings inherently possess the wisdom and virtuous characteristics of the Tathāgata. Yet because they are deluded by sounds and forms, they do not recognize them. If one can truly let everything go and not be carried along by sounds, forms, and objects, this wondrous, luminous true mind is like the vast empty sky. Where could there be holy or ordinary? Just when nothing whatsoever remains and the sense faculties and their objects fall away, turn the light inward for a glance; suddenly exert your full spirit, 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。 |
nature! Those among you who have opened the original nature through Chan practice know that, when practice reaches a certain point, it suddenly breaks with a snap and bursts apart with a bang. When the original nature opens, inwardly body and mind, and outwardly the world, all vanish together without remainder. Where then are the holy ones—Buddhas and bodhisattvas? And where are ordinary beings—Zhang San and Li Si? Though everything is absent, this is not like wood or stone; there is clear, ever-present knowing. |
| 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！假如我们著相，心中存有圣凡见，就不能见道，要离相离见才能入道。 |
Who is it that knows there is nothing? It is precisely the wondrous, luminous true mind to which Patriarch Bodhidharma pointed Emperor Wu when he said, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy!” If we cling to appearances and retain views of holy and ordinary in our minds, we cannot see the Way. Only by leaving appearances and views behind can we enter 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 entangling words. They only point something out to you at the crucial juncture. If you can awaken and assume it directly, that is enough. If, after being pointed to it, you still do not know, you have not only failed the master but also failed yourself. Do you not know that our intrinsic nature is vast and devoid of things, without a single thing at all? |
| 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，千万别著相，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。 |
Although not a single thing exists, there is clear, ever-present knowing; it is not like wood or stone. This is the wondrous, luminous true mind. In practicing the Dharma, never cling to appearances. Do not suppose that there is something to attain. If you seek something—marvels, mysteries, spiritual powers, and so forth—you are utterly mistaken. Especially for those who first see their nature, it is the plain 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。 |
Plain means without flowers or colors; there is nothing mysterious or extraordinary about it. Never suppose that, because no spiritual powers appear, it is not the dharmakāya, and thereby miss the opportune moment for seeing 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 it opens, there is nothing seen, nothing heard, and no abiding; there is not a single thing, only distinct and solitary luminosity. This is the most crucial, hair-trigger moment! If students fail to catch it in a flash and miss this scene, all their effort will have been in vain. Therefore, we say that even if the divisions of before and after are cut off—that is, when the preceding thought has ceased and the subsequent thought has not yet arisen, in that instant 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 not? If at that moment you do not recognize it and miss this scene, would not all your previous effort be wasted? If, at this time, you seize it in one grasp... Ah! You may ask: what is it that one grasps? Do you take hold of 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 hair-trigger moment which vanishes in an instant, there is a flash of numinous light and a spiritual comprehension that 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 turning around with a “hu!” and directly taking it up in its entirety: one recognizes one’s intrinsic nature and awakens. 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？是著相的人呀，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？ |
Therefore, when Patriarch Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness—nothing holy,” he wanted Emperor Wu to leap beyond the old patterns of existence and nonexistence, ordinary and holy, and directly see his nature. But what of 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 person! How can you say that even holy persons do not exist?” |
| 于是帝继问曰：对朕者谁？ |
The emperor then asked, “Who is it that stands before me?” |
| 摩曰：不识。 |
Bodhidharma said, “I do not know.” |
| 梁武帝在有‘圣’上著眼，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 of Liang fixated on the word “sage” and overlooked the all-important words “vast emptiness.” He then asked, “Who is it who stands before Us?” Thinking that he had now grasped the crucial point, he reasoned: You say there are “no sages”; then who is standing before me? Others call you a sage; if there are no sages, who are you? Let us see how you answer that! |
| 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’就有分量，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 of Liang intended only the first meaning: Who is standing before me? But in the Chan school it is understood differently: Who is it that can engage in this dialogue? It is like our present Chan inquiry: Who is it that recites the Buddha’s name? Who is it that drags this corpse? Who is it that speaks? And who is it that hears? This “who” carries weight. Though it appears to be a question, it directly points you toward seeing your true 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 seen one’s true nature, one cannot help shifting one’s gaze and becoming helpless, not knowing where to turn. But Patriarch Bodhidharma was a great Chan master. Although he knew that the emperor meant the first sense of the question, he resorted to a desperate expedient, forcibly taking it in the second sense and replying, “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！在认识不认识上著眼都不是。 |
Patriarch Bodhidharma’s reply, “I do not know,” has truly perplexed people throughout the world. You are an awakened Chan master—how can you say that you do not know? Do you really not know, or do you only pretend not to know? Neither! Neither! To focus on knowing or not knowing is already wrong. |
| 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 toothless barbarian monk brought a clay pellet to China to contend in a contest of treasures. Illuminated by the radiant light of Emperor Wu of Liang’s wish-fulfilling jewel, ‘Who is it?’, he was forced to retreat, flusteredly saying, ‘I do not know.’” These two words, “I 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 not knowing; in fact, it directly reveals the true mind in response to the “who” in his question, “Who is it?” |
| 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，没有识别的物件，所以说‘不识’。 |
Does that which can ask and answer have any form that can be seen? Is there any opposition of subject and object? Without form, and without subject and object, who could know whom? When we open up to our original nature, body, mind, and world all vanish; there is only empty luminosity. There are no material forms, no opposing pair of things—so who could know whom? When two people face each other, there can be a distinction between knowing and not knowing. But now there is only the one absolute true mind, with no object to be recognized; hence, “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。 |
These words, “I do not know,” carry the weight of a thousand jun. If one understands them, one awakens on the spot. If one carelessly takes them merely as a matter of knowing or not knowing, one has missed the opportunity. |
| 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。 |
Someone may say, “Knowing is right, is it not? Knowing means recognizing Buddha-nature!” No! At the very moment of opening up, no thought can arise. At that time, subject and object both vanish, and there is nothing at all. If a thought of recognition arises, one is deluded by its shadow and loses the excellent 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，著在性上，即成窠臼。宗下谓之圣堕，便不为见性的人了。 |
Moreover, intrinsic nature has neither form nor sound, so what could one recognize? Going further, a person of thorough awakening empties everything, and the mind abides nowhere. Seeing is still non-seeing. If one takes anything as weighty and clings to it as one’s 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 true 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, Hong Juefan composed this verse: “Once Lingyun saw, he saw no more!” Why did he see no more? 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 in full bloom, he opened the mountain gate and suddenly saw countless clusters of peach blossoms blazing brilliantly, like a vast sea of flame-colored flowers. At that very moment, body and mind fell away, the dust-like consciousnesses all vanished, and his Original Face opened forth. He composed this verse: “For thirty years I sought a swordsman; how many times have leaves fallen 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 ancients applied themselves: for thirty years, day after day, they diligently investigated. Once the time and conditions had ripened, a single touch set everything off; the mysterious gate and the lock of consciousness opened, and they directly realized the original nature. |
| 现在的人如也能与么孜孜不倦地精神修习，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 with such tireless dedication, why should they fear failing to attain accomplishment in this very life? Later, Xuansha commented: “Quite apt, indeed quite apt—but I dare assure you, elder brother, that you have not yet thoroughly awakened.” Why did he say that Lingyun had not thoroughly awakened? Because there still remained a “seeing” and a freedom from doubt. The tail had not yet been cleared away, and therefore his awakening was not complete. |
| 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，红白枝枝不著花。’就是说，一见之后，不再著在‘见’上了，尽管有红的白的桃花现前，也不再著桃花之见了。 |
This teaches Chan students that, at the time of inquiry and awakening, they need only arrive at numinous knowing and must not abide in “nature.” Later, Hong Juefan came to Lingyun’s rescue, saying: “Once Lingyun saw, he saw no more; on each red and white branch, no flowers cling.” This means that after seeing once, he no longer clung to “seeing.” Although red and white peach blossoms still appeared before him, he no longer clung to the seeing of peach blossoms. |
| 也就是说不再著在性上而泯去开悟之迹了。见性的人就是如此胸怀坦荡，无所住著。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 to say, he no longer clung to nature and erased the traces of awakening. This is the open and unencumbered disposition of one who has seen one’s true nature, abiding nowhere. Thus, when Patriarch Bodhidharma said, “I do not know,” he was telling the emperor that the true mind contains no thing—how could there be an opposition? Here there is no one who knows anyone else. |
| 帝不契，达摩遂渡江至魏。 |
The emperor did not understand, and Bodhidharma accordingly crossed the river 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 realize that Bodhidharma was pointing the way for him, but instead thought that Patriarch Bodhidharma truly did not know and possessed no great ability. Thus, “the emperor did not understand.” When words fail to accord, even half a sentence is too much; he ignored Bodhidharma and returned to the inner palace. As for Patriarch Bodhidharma, if you will not heed me, I have no way 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？达摩踏著一根芦苇就渡江到魏国去了。 |
For the Chan school receives only those of the highest capacities: one must awaken immediately, not through drawn-out, muddled instruction. When, within two or three exchanges of question and answer, the words do not accord, one can only seek another way. Thus, “Bodhidharma accordingly crossed the river to Wei.” Is there not the story of Bodhidharma crossing the river on a single reed? Standing upon one reed, Bodhidharma crossed the river to the state of Wei. |
| 帝后举问志公， |
Later, the emperor raised the matter with Master Zhi. |
| 志公曰：陛下还识此人否？ |
Master Zhi said, “Does Your Majesty still recognize this man?” |
| 帝曰：不识。 |
The emperor said, “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 the 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 guide Emperor Wu of Liang. The emperor then told Baozhi 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。 |
Master Zhi 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, “I do 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; rather, he presented the lively true mind in its entirety for you to see, pointing you to see your true nature at once. But Emperor Wu of Liang’s “I do not know” meant only the ordinary worldly sense of not recognizing someone. |
| 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 were asked whether these two “I do not know” statements are the same or different, and you answered as above, you would receive a blow with the stick. How should you answer? “The mouth born of one’s parents will never tell you!” |
| 志公曰：这是观音大士，传佛心印。 |
Master Zhi said, “This is Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, transmitting the Buddha-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。 |
Master Zhi said that this Bodhidharma was Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, who had come to transmit the Buddha-mind seal. The Buddha’s mind-seal is our own intrinsic nature; mind seals mind, instructing you to see your true nature immediately. There is no need, as there is now, to practice some method or sit through so many meditation sessions. He spoke only one sentence, pointing precisely at the crucial juncture, so that you could immediately open the true eye, clearly see your intrinsic nature, and enter directly, very swiftly indeed. But in this Dharma-ending age, practitioners’ capacities have become dull, like a blade that is no longer sharp. Not to mention one point: even a thousand or ten thousand points 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。或许有人说修净土宗不要吧！ |
To open the true eye is to open prajñā. This is absolutely necessary in every school; without wisdom, one can never realize the Way. Perhaps someone may say that the Pure Land school does not require it. |
| 不然！假如不要，为什么净土功课每一次最后要念一声‘摩诃般若波罗密’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。 |
That is not so. If it were unnecessary, why does every Pure Land service conclude with the recitation of “Mahāprajñāpāramitā”? Without wisdom, how could one see through all worldly forms, let go of this world, and be reborn in the Western Pure Land? Many people who practice the Pure Land school are unable to be reborn in the Western Pure Land at life’s end because they lack wisdom. They cannot see through this Sahā world, where they were born, where they eat and live, and where all their relatives and friends are; unable to let go and reluctant to leave, they cannot go. |
| 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 wives, wealth, children, rank, and emolument are all dreamlike illusions and bubbles, and can let them go, then of a thousand who practice, a thousand will go; of ten thousand who practice, 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。 |
Master Zhi said that Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva transmitted the Buddha-mind seal. Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva is profoundly compassionate, hearing cries everywhere and relieving suffering, bestowing blessings upon all sentient beings so that they may be free from suffering and attain happiness. Because this bodhisattva has deep affinities with the sentient beings of this world, when Śākyamuni Buddha was about to enter parinirvāṇa, he entrusted Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva with caring for the sentient beings of the Sahā world, so that all might escape 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 Gate Chapter of the Lotus Sūtra proclaims the bodhisattva’s greatness, profound vows, compassion, lofty virtue, and deep spiritual power. When everyone invokes “Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva” . . . not only can all kinds of obstacles, calamities, and misfortunes vanish without a trace, but even various unfavorable matters can be dispelled. We must strive diligently in practice and not disappoint the beneficence of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. After attaining realization, we must also 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 accordingly 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 Baozhi say that this was Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, who had come to transmit the Buddha-mind seal, he realized that he had failed to recognize him, treated him negligently, and allowed him to leave. Emperor Wu 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！ |
Master Zhi said, “Do not say that Your Majesty could 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。 |
Master Baozhi said, “Not to mention Your Majesty sending one envoy to invite Patriarch Bodhidharma back—even if you mobilized the entire country to invite Bodhidharma, Patriarch Bodhidharma would still 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 is this so? Because Patriarch Bodhidharma came to transmit the Buddha-mind seal and liberate sentient beings with affinities; he did not come to receive your offerings. Since your capacities were not commensurate, you lacked the good fortune to receive the Dharma treasure of the Chan school. As it is said in the tradition: “If one is not a kindred spirit, straining one’s ears 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。 |
“If one is not a kindred spirit, it is futile to strain one’s ears.” Still less did he need fame and reputation. It was enough if he could find one or two awakened persons able to receive the Dharma and continue and flourish the Buddha-seed. Thus Patriarch Bodhidharma was one who “would not remain in a cage, nor turn back when called.” He was never willing to return. After crossing the river into Wei, Patriarch Bodhidharma lived at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song, facing the wall for nine years. He found 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 listed as his disciples, 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，只在名相上著眼，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, as a Chinese emperor who believed in Buddhism, probably possessed commensurate faculties. Who would have imagined that this emperor was inadequate? He concerned himself only with names and appearances; he was not a person of the very highest capacity and could not receive the transmission. Therefore, Bodhidharma departed without bidding 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。 |
If studying Chan is so difficult, then in this age of Dharma decline, will not the Buddha-seed be cut off? No. Even in the age of Dharma decline, there are people with the capacities for the True Dharma. Among the vast number of the Buddha’s disciples, there are many people of the very highest capacity. So long as devoted people advocate and propagate 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 of the great compassionate power and blessings of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, if one only has deep and unwavering faith, attends to this morning and evening, remains devoted to it through ease and adversity, and continually advances, the day will naturally come when conditions are ripe and success is achieved. |
| 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 one remains here, full of doubts and suspicions, wondering, “Can I do it? Will the Buddhas and bodhisattvas bless me? Perhaps my karmic obstacles are too heavy for me to succeed?” … then all is spoiled. For once doubt arises, one’s strength is insufficient; in practice one comes to a halt and cannot courageously press forward or struggle to the end in completing this 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 distance, danger, or obstacles, but devote all our strength to striving forward, we will certainly overcome every hardship and realize the great Way. As stated above, after realizing the Way, one does not simply stop upon a single awakening. One must carefully safeguard and nurture it, thoroughly eliminate habitual tendencies, and, like an infant growing into an adult, only then be able to let go freely and move unimpeded 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，虽做而不著做，毫无爱恶之心。 |
At the time of initial awakening, one cannot do without safeguarding it. How is it safeguarded? On the one hand, one sits in meditation to cultivate samādhi; on the other, one tempers and nurtures oneself amid everyday affairs. Neither abide in emptiness nor abide 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 love or aversion. |
| 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 it is said in the Chan school: “Within mind, there are no affairs; amid affairs, there is no clinging mind.” One may be busy all day while there are no affairs in the mind; though there are no affairs in the mind, this does not prevent one from being busy all day. But if, when doing something, one is carried away by the thing being done, that will not do. Quickly draw oneself back and let go; diligently maintain awareness and carefully temper oneself. If one’s power of awareness is insufficient, one should 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，被境界拖著走了，落于悟后迷，就不行了，这是最重要的关键。 |
Why is this? Because meditation can cultivate the power of samādhi, enabling you to have mastery and strength amid circumstances. If you do not meditate, your samādhi power will be inadequate. When tempering yourself amid circumstances, as soon as you become confused, you are swept away by confusion, dragged along by circumstances, and fall into delusion after awakening. This will not do; it is the most important key 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 especially remarkable about it. Practitioners often fail to recognize it, thinking that because there is nothing miraculous about it, it is not their intrinsic nature, and so they neglect it and let it pass by. Yet this numinous and wondrous true mind is the supremely 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; it is merely the bare dharmakāya, possessing 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，镇日在各人自己面门放光，无有丝毫离异，只是人们迷相著境忽略不识罢了。 |
Only after practitioners have recognized it and diligently tempered themselves, exhausting the deluded habits accumulated through beginningless eons, can its wondrous functions manifest. Therefore, practitioners must clearly understand the stages of practice. Never, because spiritual powers have not temporarily manifested, fail to acknowledge and accept responsibility for your awakening and thus miss this excellent opportunity. Still less should you, through failing to recognize it yourself, pass on errors and harm others. In truth, awakening and seeing one’s nature is not difficult, for this wondrous, luminous true mind is not elsewhere. It constantly shines before each person’s very face, without the slightest separation. People merely become deluded by appearances, cling to circumstances, and neglect to recognize it. |
| 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。 |
The Layman Fu says in his Hymn of Transmitting the Mind: “Night after night, I embrace the Buddha in sleep; morning after morning, we rise together. Rising and sitting, we are always together; in speech and silence, we dwell together. We do not part by even a hair’s breadth, like a body and its shadow.” See how plainly and clearly this is expressed. How joyous it is to awaken from this! If you seek elsewhere, then even should 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 Baoning Yong once said, “There have indeed been many who awakened at a glance upon this verse, but there have also been quite a few who misunderstood it.” Chan Master Xuansha also commented on this verse: “That great Layman Fu recognized only that bright and numinous awareness.” I fear that there is something wrong with this verse and that it is not quite accurate, is there? |
| 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 and clear that even persons of lesser faculties can awaken upon hearing it. If one can understand from this, why should there be an error? And where would the error lie? Baoning Yong did not point this out, leaving later people with many doubts. I shall now add the explanation, 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 lies not in this verse, but in the recklessness of those who understand it, thinking that this very capacity to speak, discourse, 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: “Knowing illusion, one is thereby free from it; no expedient means are needed. Being free from illusion is awakening; nor are there gradual stages.” They think that once awakened, one has become a Buddha and need no longer exert oneself in careful cultivation, diligently eliminate deluded habits, safeguard the original truth, and reach 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。岂可得少为足，自以为是，不改旧习任性非为，著境住相，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？！ |
They do not realize that this is only initial awakening, not original awakening. One must still rely upon original awakening and cultivate diligently and arduously. It is like a child relying on its mother: when child and mother unite and merge into one, great awakening is accomplished. How could one be satisfied with a little, deem oneself right, fail to change old habits, and indulge in arbitrary misconduct—clinging to circumstances and abiding in appearances—thereby causing an excellent innate Buddha to fall once again into rebirth in the six realms? Would that not be a grave error and a great injustice? |
| 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。假使有一点著意就不对了，比如明境高悬，自然朗照，不是用力不用力，有意不有意而照。 |
As for Chan Master Xuansha’s “bright and numinous awareness,” this wondrous, luminous true mind is originally bright and numinous; it is not that one deliberately arouses thoughts to make it bright and numinous. If there is even the slightest deliberate effort, it is wrong. It is like a bright mirror hung high: it naturally shines clearly; it does not shine through exertion or nonexertion, intention or nonintention. |
| 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，也不认著它便是。不是硬要把这昭昭灵灵打杀、磨灭才是。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。 |
One need only be natural and spontaneous, without expending the slightest effort, ready-made and functioning freely in accordance with conditions; neither abide in and cling to it nor take hold of it. It is not that one must forcibly kill off or obliterate this bright and numinous awareness. Moreover, no matter how hard you try to strike it down or grind it away, you cannot kill it or obliterate it. Indeed, the more you strike and grind it, the brighter and more numinous it becomes. Nor should you leave this bright and numinous awareness to seek some other principle. |
| 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 practice for many years without awakening are all deceived by themselves. They think that the manifestation of spiritual powers is what matters, without realizing that what is called spiritual power is 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 it were not spiritual power, how could one speak or work? How could one dress and eat? How could one laugh, smile, become angry, or scold? Everywhere and in every place are its wondrous functions, yet people do not recognize them. They perversely demand something extraordinary and thus bring suffering and frustration upon themselves. Some people fail to recognize this themselves and are content merely to bob up and sink down in the sea of suffering; yet they also harm others, saying that those whose spiritual powers have not manifested have not awakened, and that awakened persons possess 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: awakening to the Way comes first, and the manifestation of powers comes afterward? The Mahāvairocana Sūtra says: “When bodhisattvas abide at this stage”—that is, the stage of seeing the Way—“and cultivate diligently and arduously, before long the five supernormal powers will all manifest.” After awakening to the Way, one must still undergo a period of tempering, exhausting the deluded habits accumulated over countless eons 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 should not abandon ourselves in despair. When it initially opens, recognize it; do not yield to anyone, and dare to take responsibility for it. Do not be confused by spiritual powers or extraordinary phenomena. Then diligently safeguard and nurture it, thoroughly eliminate deluded habits, and before long spiritual powers will naturally manifest greatly. Because practitioners’ capacities differ, there are also those who develop powers before awakening; but such people are not often seen nowadays. |
| 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 have spiritual powers without having practiced. These are spiritually powers acquired as karmic retribution; they are temporary and gradually disappear afterward. The spiritual powers spoken of in Buddhism comprise several kinds: those acquired as karmic retribution, through practice, through realization, and through reliance, among other distinctions. |
| 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 practice are obtained by specializing in a particular method to cultivate a particular power; Esoteric Buddhism has many methods for cultivating spiritual powers. Powers acquired through reliance are obtained by relying on external assistance, such as that of spirits, ghosts, or demons. But none of these is ultimate. When one’s breath no longer comes, they are gone and of no use; one remains in the cycle of birth and death and does not escape 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著神用，镇日如痴如呆相似，诚所谓大智若愚者也。 |
Only powers acquired through realization are genuine powers. For these, those who have seen their nature undergo tempering amid phenomena, exhaust their habitual tendencies, restore the functions of their original nature, and thereby bring forth inexhaustible spiritual powers. They can never be obliterated. Yet, despite boundless wondrous functioning, one does not cling to such functions, and all day appears as if foolish or dull. Truly, great wisdom appears as 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 koan: “The holy truth is vast and empty—how can it be clearly discerned? Who is it that stands before the emperor? Again he says, ‘I do not know.’ Because of this, he secretly crossed the river; could brambles then be avoided? Though the people of the whole country pursued him, he would not return; through a thousand ages and ten thousand ages, they vainly remember him. Do not remember him! The pure breeze covers the earth—what limit can it have?” The master looked to those on his right and left and said, “Is there still a patriarch here?” Then he himself said, “There is! Call him here to wash this old monk’s feet.” |
| 圜悟勤禅师云：‘大凡颂古，只是绕路说禅，拈古大纲，据款结案。 |
Chan Master Yuanwu Keqin said: “In general, verses on ancient cases merely speak Chan by a roundabout route: they take up the main outline of an old case and render a verdict according to its particulars.” |
| ’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著，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 koan, he opens at once with: “The holy truth is vast and empty—how can it be clearly discerned?” This explains that the One True Dharma Realm—the holy truth, as vast and open as a clear sky without clouds for ten thousand miles—is the utterly bare, absolute true mind that does not establish a single dharma. How could it permit you to calculate and deliberate, distinguish right from wrong, or discern gain from loss? At this point, even eyes of iron and pupils of bronze cannot probe it; how could one measure and discern it through discriminating consciousness? Yunmen said: “When investigating Chan reaches the crucial point, it is like a spark 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 deliberate over birth, the pigeon has long since flown past Silla (present-day Korea). Therefore, Xuedou says: “How could the patch-robed monks of the world ever distinguish 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 facing the emperor? Again he says, ‘I do not know.’” Here Xuedou repeatedly instructs people. Above, he says that the highest truth is vast and open, that not a single dharma is established: this is the absolute, wondrous essence without opposition. Since it is an absolute wondrous essence, who is there to know whom? Xuedou especially emphasizes this point, fearing that people may miss “vast and open,” and reminds them: “Again he says, ‘I do not know.’” |
| ’著个‘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。 |
“Yet he still says, ‘I do not know.’” The addition of the words “yet he still says” warns the assembly that, within vast emptiness, even holiness is absent. Is there still knowing or not knowing? Chan Master Baiyunduan once composed this verse: “Ordinarily, one arrow brings down one eagle; to add another arrow is already to be overly generous.” This is the ancient masters’ earnest, grandmotherly concern: they repeatedly exert themselves for others, not begrudging even to become wholly entangled in the weeds. Here the entire koan has 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，刈除荆棘而来，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，所以圜悟勤说：‘即今诸人脚下已草深数丈。’ |
But out of compassion, Xuedou again versifies the events of this koan: “Because of this, he secretly crossed the river; how could brambles not arise?” Bodhidharma came to free people from their adhesions and bonds, to cut away the brambles. Why, then, does he speak of brambles arising? It is because not only do practitioners endlessly debate the rights and wrongs, gains and losses of this koan, but even to this day all those who investigate the profound discuss its merits and faults. Thus Yuanwu Keqin said: “Right now, beneath everyone’s feet, the grass is already several fathoms 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！ ’圜悟勤著语云：‘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 one another.” Indeed, from the unfolding of this koan until now, none among those on the Way has failed to lament Emperor Wu of Liang, and none has failed to think of Bodhidharma. After Bodhidharma’s parinirvāṇa, Emperor Wu composed his own inscription for a stele: “Alas! Seeing him yet not seeing him; meeting him yet not meeting him. Now and of old, resentment and regret!” Yuanwu Keqin commented: “Far too lacking in manliness! Do you all know?” He also said: “Where is Bodhidharma? Do you all see him? Once thought arises, you have already missed it.” |
| 雪窦恐人著情见，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， |
Xuedou feared that people would become attached to emotional views, so he turned the phrase around and revealed his own understanding for later generations: “Do not remember one another. What limit is there to the clear breeze pervading the earth?” If you recognize the place where you stand beneath your own heels, then at every moment you walk hand in hand with Bodhidharma and Xuedou. Why resort to searching thought and recollection? Thus the wondrous, luminous true mind is nowhere else; it shines from the face of each person. |
| 犹如铺天盖地的清风，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 utterly ordinary, like a clear breeze covering heaven and earth: everyone is touched by it, everyone is nurtured by it, and everyone relies upon it to accomplish all kinds of undertakings. What is there that is lofty and inaccessible, or the ultimate summit to be attained? |
| 最后，雪窦恐人迷恋祖师，依倚祖师，不自省，不自立，著在这里，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 |
Finally, Xuedou feared that people would become infatuated with the patriarch, rely upon the patriarch, fail to reflect upon themselves, and fail to stand on their own. If they became attached here, they would be like a divine tortoise dragging its tail, sweeping away its own tracks. So he again employed an expedient means for others, looked about to the left and right, and asked: “Is there still a patriarch here?” They themselves answered: “Yes!” He then said: “Call him here to wash this old monk’s feet!” Why did Chan Master Xuedou |
| 这样毁损祖师威光呢？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。 |
so disparage the patriarch’s majestic radiance? Because the wondrous, luminous true mind is wisdom without a teacher: it has no reliance, no knowledge, no name, and no form. What can you call it? Once anything is established or grasped, 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？ 著在这里得么？ 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, and not a single dharma that is not established in dependence upon it. Would you call it the patriarch? Can you become attached here? For example, a monk asked Huangbo, “Are there any Chan masters in the Great Tang realm?” Huangbo replied, “It is not that there is no Chan; there are simply 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, we must know that it is present; moreover, we must carefully safeguard it. This is the first good. Next, we must let it function freely and not guard 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 take this to heart. |
