潭州溈山靈祐禪師語錄

The Master’s Dharma name was Lingyou. His family name was Zhao, and he was a native of Changxi in Fuzhou. At the age of fifteen, he followed Vinaya Master Fachang at Jianshan Monastery, shaved his head, and entered monastic life. The Master regularly studied the teachings of both the Mahayana and the Hinayana at Longxing Monastery in Hangzhou. At the age of twenty-three, he went to Jiangxi to seek instruction from Baizhang. As soon as Baizhang saw him, he admitted him into his chamber. Among the assembly of students, the Master was foremost.

One day, while the Master was standing in attendance, Baizhang asked:

_ Who is it?

The Master replied:

_ I am.

Baizhang said:

_ Rake through the hearth and see whether there is any fire.

After raking through it, the Master replied:

_ There is no fire.

Baizhang rose, personally went over, and raked deep into the hearth until he found a small ember. Holding it up to instruct the Master, he said:

_ You said there was none. Then what is this?

At this, the Master awakened. He bowed in gratitude and presented his understanding. Baizhang said:

_ This is only a temporary fork in the road. The sutra says, “If you wish to understand the meaning of Buddha-nature, you must discern the time and conditions.” When the time has arrived, it is like suddenly awakening from delusion, or remembering something forgotten. Only then do you realize that what is your own was not obtained from elsewhere. Therefore, the Patriarch said, “After awakening, one is the same as before awakening; there is neither mind nor Dharma.” It is simply that there is no longer the deluded mind that discriminates between ordinary beings and sages... From the beginning, the Dharma of mind has always been complete in itself. Now that you have attained this, guard it well yourself.

The next day, the Master accompanied Baizhang into the mountains to work. Baizhang asked:

_ Have you brought the fire?

The Master replied:

_ I have.

_ Where is it?

The Master picked up a piece of firewood, blew on it twice, and handed it to Baizhang. Baizhang said:

_ It is like an insect boring into wood.

Jingshan Gao said:

_ Had Baizhang not spoken that final sentence, he would have been deceived by the cook.

At that time, the Master served as cook. Sima Toutuo raised the saying about “the wild fox” and asked the Master:

_ What is the meaning of that saying?

The Master shook the door panel three times with his hand.

Sima said:

_ Far too coarse!

The Master said:

_ In the Buddha-Dharma, what can be called coarse or subtle?

One day, Sima came from Hunan and said to Baizhang:

_ I have just found a mountain in Hunan called Great Gui. It is a dwelling place for fifteen hundred good and wise spiritual friends.

Baizhang asked:

_ Could this old monk reside there?

_ It is not a place for the Venerable to dwell.

_ Why is that?

_ The Venerable is a man of bone, while that mountain is a mountain of flesh. Even if you dwelt there, your congregation would not reach one thousand.

_ Is there anyone in my assembly who would be suitable?

_ Let me examine them when they come.

At that time, Hualin Jue was the head seat. Baizhang sent the attendant to summon him and asked:

_ What about this man?

Sima asked Hualin to clear his throat once and walk a few steps. Sima said, “He will not do.”

Baizhang then sent the attendant to summon the Master, who was serving as cook at the time. As soon as Sima saw him, he said, “This is indeed the master of Mount Gui.”

That night, Baizhang summoned the Master into his chamber and instructed him:

_ I carry out the work of transformation here. You should dwell at the excellent site of Mount Gui, continue my lineage, and extensively deliver later students.

When Hualin heard this, he asked:

_ I am the head of the assembly; how is it that Lingyou is appointed abbot instead?

Baizhang said:

_ If you can speak an extraordinary sentence before the assembly, I will appoint you abbot.

Baizhang then pointed to a water pitcher and asked:

_ You may not call it a water pitcher. What do you call it?

Hualin replied:

_ It cannot be called a wooden stump.

Baizhang then asked the Master. The Master kicked over the water pitcher and walked out.

Baizhang laughed and said:

_ The head seat has lost the mountain.

The Master then departed. Mount Gui was lofty and deserted, without a human figure in sight, and was a gathering place for tigers and wolves. Each day, the Master gathered chestnuts to sustain himself.

Seven years passed without anyone coming or going. The Master thought to himself: I originally came here to serve as abbot and benefit everyone, but no one comes. How can I deliver anyone? He then left his hermitage, intending to seek another place. As he gradually descended toward the foot of the mountain, he saw tigers and wolves crisscrossing the road. The Master said:

_ You beasts should not block my way. If I have an affinity with this mountain, go elsewhere; if I have no affinity with it, then devour me.

When he had finished speaking, they scattered in all directions. The Master returned to his hermitage.

In less than a year, Elder An—that is, Lại An—came from Baizhang together with several monks to assist the Master. An said:

_ I shall serve as the Venerable’s cook. When the number of monks reaches five hundred, I shall relinquish the duty.

Thereafter, the people living below the mountain gradually came to know of him, and together they built a monastery for the Master. Military Commissioner Li Jingrang petitioned the emperor to bestow a name upon the monastery, and the emperor granted it the name “Tongqing.” State Chancellor Pei often came to inquire about the profound and wondrous principles. From then on, people from throughout the realm flocked there in great numbers to study Chan. Chan Master Yangshan Ji was foremost among those who attained the Dharma, and thus the lineage came to be honored as the Guiyang School.

]

The Master ascended the hall:

_ The mind of one who studies the Way must be genuine and free of deceit, without a mind that deceives either behind others’ backs or before their faces. At all times, seeing and hearing are simply ordinary, without distortion. Nor is it a matter of closing the eyes and blocking the ears; it is enough that the mind does not follow things. The sages of old merely spoke of faults on the subtle side. If it is not like this, all manner of evil emotional views will gather together. Be like autumn water, settled, clear, and unmoving. There is no harm in calling such a person a man of the Way, or also a person with nothing to do.

At that time, a monk asked:

_ Does one who has attained sudden awakening still need to cultivate?

The Master replied:

_ If one has truly awakened to the root, one will know for oneself; cultivation and non-cultivation are dualistic words. Nowadays, a person who has newly aroused the mind may, through conditions, attain in a single thought sudden awakening to the truth within, yet habitual tendencies accumulated through beginningless kalpas have still not been swiftly purified. Therefore, such a person is taught to eliminate the present flow of karmic consciousness completely; this is cultivation.

There can be no other Dharma by which one is taught to cultivate toward some destination. Having entered the principle through hearing, when hearing and principle become profound and wondrous, the mind is naturally complete and luminous and no longer abides in delusion. Though a hundred thousand wondrous meanings may rise and fall, one must still be able to sit at ease, wear one’s robe, and know for oneself how to establish a new way of life.

In summary: “On the ground of ultimate reality, not a single speck of dust is admitted; within the gate of the myriad practices, not a single Dharma is abandoned.” (Tắc thật tế lý địa bất thọ nhất trần, vạn sự môn trung bất xả nhất pháp). If one attains this, one personally takes up the blade and goes straight in; thoughts of ordinary beings and sages are entirely cleared away, true constancy is laid bare, and principle and phenomena are nondual.

This is the Buddha of suchness.

]

Deng Yinfeng came to Mount Gui and immediately entered the Sangha hall, removed his robe and bowl, and placed them at the head of the platform. Hearing that his Dharma uncle had arrived, the Master entered the Sangha hall in full deportment to greet him. When Deng Yinfeng saw the Master coming, he assumed a reclining posture. The Master then returned to the abbot’s quarters. Yinfeng sat up and departed. A short while later, the Master asked the attendant:

_ Is my Dharma uncle still there?

_ He has already left.

_ Did he say anything when he left?

_ He did not say a single word.

_ Do not say that he did not speak a single word; that sound resounded like thunder.

]

Yunyan arrived, and the Master asked:

_ I have heard that the Elder performed the lion dance at Yaoshan. Is that so?

Yunyan replied:

_ It is.

_ Did you dance continuously, or did you sometimes rest?

_ When it was fitting to dance, I danced; when it was fitting to rest, I rested.

_ When resting, where was the lion?

_ Resting, resting.

Fachang Wu said:

_ Excellent! The whole performance of the lion had only a head and no tail. Had I encountered Mount Gui at that time saying, “When resting, where was the lion?” I would have immediately released the lion and crouched down. Even if Mount Gui had hidden himself, there would have been no escape.

]

The Master asked Yunyan:

_ What does bodhi take as its seat?

Yunyan replied:

_ It takes the unconditioned as its seat.

Yunyan asked the Master in return, and the Master replied:

_ It takes the emptiness of all dharmas as its seat.

The Master then asked Daowu. Daowu replied:

_ When he sits, let him sit; when he lies down, let him lie down. There is one person who neither sits nor lies down. Speak quickly! Speak quickly!

]

The Master asked Yunyan:

_ I have long heard that you stayed at Yaoshan. Is that so?

Yunyan replied:

_ Yes.

_ What is the mark of the Great Man of Yaoshan?

_ It appears only after nirvana.

_ What does it mean that it appears only after nirvana?

_ Water poured upon it does not adhere.

Yunyan in turn asked the Master:

_ What is the mark of the Great Man of Baizhang?

_ Dignified and towering, lucid and radiant; before sound, there is no sound; after form, there is no form. A mosquito alights upon an iron ox, but there is nowhere for it to sink its proboscis.

]

The Master asked Daowu:

_ Where have you come from?

Daowu replied:

_ I have come from visiting the sick.

_ How many people are sick?

_ There are those who are sick and those who are not sick.

_ Is the one who is not sick the ascetic Zhi?

_ Sickness and freedom from sickness have nothing to do with his affair. Speak quickly! Speak quickly!

_ Even if I could speak, it would still have nothing to do with him.

]

Deshan came for an interview. Holding up two fly-whisks, he crossed the Dharma hall from west to east, then from east to west. Looking up toward the abbot’s quarters, he asked:

_ Is there? Is there?

The Master remained seated and paid him no heed.

Deshan said:

_ No, no.

He then went out. Xuedou Zhuo said:

_ He has seen through him.

When Deshan reached the doorway, he said:

_ Although it is so, one should not be hasty.

He then composed himself in full deportment, went back in, and bowed. Just as he was stepping out through the door, he raised his sitting cloth and called:

_ Venerable!

As the Master was about to take up his fly-whisk, Deshan immediately shouted, shook out his sleeves, and departed.

Xuedou Zhuo said:

_ He has seen through him.

That evening, the Master asked the head monk:

_ Is the monk who arrived this morning still here?

The head monk replied:

_ At that very moment, he returned to the Dharma hall, put on his straw sandals, and left.

The Master said:

_ In the future, that fellow will ascend the summit of a lofty mountain, build himself a grass hermitage, and revile the Buddhas and curse the patriarchs.

Xuedou Xian said:

_ Frost added atop snow.

Wuzu Jie said:

_ Deshan was exactly like a hollow-hearted thief; Guishan waited until the thief had passed before drawing his bow.

]

Shishuang came to Guishan and served as rice steward, the monastery storekeeper. One day, while Shishuang was sifting rice, the Master said:

_ Do not cast away the donors’ offerings.

Shishuang replied:

_ I would not dare cast them away.

The Master picked up a single grain and said:

_ You say that you would not dare cast them away. Then what is this?

Shishuang could not answer. The Master continued:

_ Do not make light of this one grain. Hundreds of thousands of grains are all born from this grain.

Shishuang said:

_ These hundreds of thousands of grains are all born from this grain, but from where is this one grain born?

The Master laughed loudly and returned to the abbot’s quarters.

]

Jiashan served as chief cook at Guishan. The Master asked:

_ What vegetables are we eating today?

Jiashan replied:

_ Two years share the same spring.

_ Good, good. Prepare and serve them.

_ A dragon sleeps in a phoenix’s cave.

]

Yangshan asked:

_ What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?

The Master pointed to the lantern and said:

_ The lantern is very fine.

_ Is that the correct answer?

_ What is that?

_ The lantern is very fine.

_ Truly, you do not see.

]

One day, the Master addressed the assembly:

_ There are people who attain only the great potential but do not attain the great function.

Yangshan repeated this statement to the hermitage master below the mountain and asked:

_ The Venerable Lingyou spoke in this way. What was his meaning?

The hermitage master said:

_ Bring it forth and let me see.

As Yangshan was about to speak, the hermitage master kicked him over.

Yangshan returned and related this to the Master, who laughed heartily.

]

While they were picking tea, the Master said to Yangshan:

_ All day long, as we pick tea, I hear only your voice but do not see your form.

Yangshan shook the tea plant.

The Master said:

_ You attain only its function, but not its essence.

Yangshan replied:

_ I do not yet know how it is with the Venerable.

The Master remained silent.

Yangshan said:

_ The Venerable attains only its essence, but not its function.

_ I spare you thirty blows.

_ I receive the Venerable’s blows, but who will receive mine?

_ I spare you thirty blows.

Shoushan said:

_ A true master of the lineage must choose one endowed with the Dharma eye. At that time, had it not been Guishan, one would have seen him propping up fences and groping along walls.

Langye Jiao said:

_ At the fifth watch, dawn gradually breaks, yet there are still people traveling by night. He also said: Had it not been Guishan, Taizhou would almost have been smashed to pieces.

Baiyun Duan said:

_ Father and son accord with one another; their spirit and intent are in harmony. Their pivotal action shifts back and forth; the chick pecks and the hen taps at the same moment. Although it is so, how can it be said that essence and function are both complete? Guishan’s sparing his son thirty blows was also a condition for nurturing his son.

Jiangshan Qin said:

_ Mr. Zhang became friends with Mr. Li. Mr. Zhang treated Mr. Li to a cup of wine as a forfeit, but in turn Mr. Zhang was fined a cup of wine by Mr. Li. An adept hand displays adeptness within another adept hand.

Yuquan Lian said:

_ Even if essence and function are both complete, right on the spot he still passed by in error. Let us set aside his passing by in error; what does it mean that he spared his son thirty blows?

Three cups of fine wine delight the young nobleman’s heart;

A single flower adorns the beauty’s hair.

]

The Master was sitting when Yangshan entered. The Master said:

_ Huiji, speak quickly! Do not enter into the skandhas and dhatus.

Yangshan replied:

_ Huiji does not even establish faith.

_ Do you not establish it after believing, or do you not establish it before believing?

_ I am simply Huiji; what is there to believe in?

_ If so, then you are a shravaka of fixed nature.

_ Huiji does not even establish Buddha.

]

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ The Nirvana Sutra comprises forty fascicles. How much was spoken by the Buddha, and how much was spoken by Mara?

Yangshan replied:

_ It was all spoken by Mara.

_ In the future, no one will be able to do anything to you.

_ In Huiji’s lifelong affair, where is his traveling gear?

_ I value only the uprightness of your eye; I say nothing about traveling gear.

]

While Yangshan was treading a robe, he held it up and asked the Master:

_ At precisely this moment, how is the Venerable?

The Master replied:

_ At precisely this moment, there is no “how” here for me at all.

_ The Venerable has a body but no function.

The Master remained silent for a long while. Then he picked up the robe and asked Yangshan:

_ At precisely this moment, how are you?

_ At precisely this moment, does the Venerable see this?

_ You have function but no body.

Later, the Master happened to ask Yangshan:

_ This spring, you had a saying that was not yet complete. Now try to speak it.

_ At precisely this moment, one must most carefully avoid disparagement.

_ Too late.

]

The Master held out a water bottle to Yangshan. As Yangshan was about to take it, the Master drew back his hand and said:

_ What is it?

Yangshan replied:

_ What does the Venerable see?

_ If it is so, why must you seek me out?

_ Although it is so, within the Way, out of propriety and righteousness, extending my hand to take the water bottle for the Venerable is also my proper duty.

The Master then handed the water bottle to Yangshan.

]

While walking with Yangshan, the Master pointed to a cypress tree and asked:

_ What is that before us?

Yangshan replied:

_ A cypress tree.

The Master then asked a farmer plowing the field, who also replied:

_ A cypress tree.

The Master said:

_ In the future, this farmer will also have an assembly of five hundred.

Guishan Zhe said:

_ This mountain monk would not have acted so. The farmer is not equal to my son. Now tell me: was Dayuan right, or is this mountain monk right? If you can discern this, I shall allow you to choose one endowed with the Dharma eye. If you cannot discern it, the arising and passing away of the Buddha-Dharma will be plain to see.

Shending Ren said:

_ Does the meaning lie with the farmer, or does it lie on Yangshan’s side? It is not at all like that. Venerable ones! All dharmas are thus; there is absolutely no need to create complications. Only those of the same Way can understand that father and son expounding the Dharma.

]

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ Where have you come from?

Yangshan replied:

_ I have come from the fields.

_ Has the good rice been harvested yet?

Yangshan made the gesture of harvesting rice.

The Master said:

_ Just now, did you see the rice as unripe or ripe? Or did you see it as neither unripe nor ripe?

_ What is behind the Venerable?

_ Do you see it?

Yangshan held up an ear of rice and said:

_ When did the Venerable ever ask about that matter?

_ This is the king of geese separating milk from water.

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ Is the weather cold, or is the person cold?

Yangshan replied:

_ All of it is within here.

_ Why not speak directly?

_ Just now it was not crooked either. What about you, Venerable?

_ One must follow the current.

]

The Master ascended the hall:

In winter's bitter cold, five years of affairs;

As the seasons change, what of the matter?

Yangshan stepped forward and stood with his hands folded.

The Master said:

_ I know that you cannot answer this saying.

Xiangyan said:

_ I alone can answer this saying.

The Master stepped forward and questioned him. Xiangyan likewise stepped forward and stood with his hands folded. The Master said, “Fortunately, Huiji did not understand.”

]

While the Master was sitting, Yangshan passed before the abbot's quarters. The Master said:

_ If the former master Baizhang had seen you, only a thoroughly painful beating would have sufficed.

Yangshan replied:

_ What about today's matter?

_ Shut your mouth!

_ This kindness is difficult to repay.

_ It is not that you lack ability; it is simply that this old monk is already advanced in years.

_ Today I have personally seen Grandmaster Baizhang arrive.

_ Where did you see him?

_ Did I not say that I saw him? It is simply no different.

_ From beginning to end, both are adepts.

]

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ Let us set aside today's matter. What about the matter from ancient times to the present?

Yangshan approached the Master with his hands folded. The Master said:

_ That is still today's matter. What about the matter from ancient times to the present?

Yangshan withdrew and stood behind him. The Master said:

_ Have you subdued me, or have I subdued you?

Yangshan immediately bowed.

Qin of Jiangshan said:

_ Although Yangshan was skillful in stepping forward and withdrawing backward, elucidating the matter from ancient times to the present, Guishan was drawing water from a sesame cake, like pressing sand in search of oil. Even so, tell me: what was Yangshan's meaning in folding his hands? If you know, you will be able to discern the matter of pilgrimage. If you have not yet attained this, it is not that this old monk has ever failed you; rather, it is you who have failed this old monk.

]

Yangshan and Xiangyan were standing in attendance. The Master raised his hand and said:

_ Nowadays, those who attain thus are few, while those who do not attain thus are many.

Xiangyan crossed from the east side and stood on the west. Yangshan crossed from the west side and stood on the east.

The Master said:

_ Thirty years from now, this encounter will be just like gold cast upon the ground.

Yangshan said:

_ It still requires the Venerable to proclaim it.

Xiangyan said:

_ Even right now, nothing is lacking.

The Master said:

_ Shut your mouth!

Jing of Nantang said:

_ The king of elephants bellows, the lion roars; crouching, they wheel and soar through empty space, shifting the stars and changing the moon. Cut off your tongue and shut your dog's mouth!

For a time, cast-down golden earth rings aloud.

The Yellow River's Nine Bends reveal their azure depths.

]

While the Master was sitting, Yangshan entered from outside. The Master crossed both hands in a gesture of instruction, and Yangshan made the gesture of a woman in return. The Master said:

_ Thus! Thus!

]

The Master was sitting in the abbot's quarters when Yangshan entered from outside. The Master asked:

_ Huiji, lately, how has the command of transmission within the school been?

Yangshan replied:

_ Many people harbor doubts and attachments concerning this matter.

_ What about Huiji?

_ When Huiji is tired, he simply sleeps; when refreshed, he practices seated meditation. Therefore, he has never spoken of it.

_ Even reaching that ground is difficult.

_ As Huiji sees it, even this single statement cannot be spoken of.

_ You cannot speak it even to one person.

_ The sages of old were all thus.

_ Most people would laugh at you for answering in this way.

_ Those who know how to laugh are Huiji's fellow practitioners.

_ What is the matter of emerging forth?

Yangshan walked once around the meditation platform and said:

_ Tattered and worn from ancient times to the present.

Qin of Jiangshan said:

_ When the lute breaks, its melody is complete; when leaves fall, one knows autumn has come. The sages from ancient times to the present awakened in a flash. On the mysterious path, the bird's path, that father and son may indeed walk it personally. But amid the thorns of the forest, awakening is still lacking—by what can it be tested? Just as Yangshan walked once around the meditation platform, Guishan said, “Tattered and worn from ancient times to the present.” If one is a clear-eyed patch-robed monk, not even a single point of his can be brushed aside.

]

Yangshan and Xiangyan were standing in attendance. The Master said:

_ The Buddhas of the past, present, and future all say that each person attains the path of liberation.

Yangshan asked:

_ What does it mean that each person attains the path of liberation?

The Master turned to look at Xiangyan and said:

_ Huiji has asked; why do you not answer him?

Xiangyan replied:

_ If speaking of the past, present, and future, I have an answer.

The Master asked:

_ How would you answer?

Xiangyan took his leave and departed.

The Master again asked Yangshan:

_ Zhixian answered in this way. Does it accord with you, Huiji, or not?

Yangshan replied:

_ It does not accord.

_ Then what about you?

Yangshan likewise took his leave and departed.

The Master laughed heartily and said:

_ Like water blending with milk.

]

One day, the Master stood with one leg bent and said to Yangshan:

_ He bears my responsibility every day, yet I am grateful that he has not awakened.

Yangshan replied:

_ If only, at that time, I had been allowed to remain within the same enclosure, no different from him.

_ You still must speak.

_ When it is cold, putting clothes on him is also nothing beyond my duty.

_ Had you not taken responsibility before, today you would have penetrated it completely.

_ I wish to answer the saying in this way.

_ Go ahead and speak.

_ Speak precisely thus.

_ Thus! Thus!

]

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ How do you understand arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing?

Yangshan replied:

_ When a single thought arises, I do not see any arising, abiding, changing, or ceasing.

_ You must not discard the Dharma.

_ What did the Venerable just ask about?

_ Arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing?

_ Do you still consider that discarding the Dharma?

]

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ How do you understand the wondrous, pure, luminous mind?

Yangshan replied:

_ Mountains, rivers, the great earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars.

_ You have attained only its phenomena.

_ What did the Venerable just ask about?

_ The wondrous, pure, luminous mind.

_ Can that be called attaining only the phenomena?

_ Thus! Thus!

]

In Shishuang's assembly, two Chan guests arrived and said:

_ There is not a single person here who understands Chan.

After the communal work period of chopping firewood, Yangshan saw the two Chan guests resting from their weariness. He brought over a piece of firewood and asked, “Can you say it?” Neither of them could speak.

Yangshan said, “Do not say there is no one who understands Chan!”

Yangshan returned and related the incident to the Master: “Today Huiji exposed two Chan guests.”

The Master asked:

_ At what point did you expose them?

Yangshan recounted the preceding exchange.

The Master said:

_ You, Huiji, have in turn been exposed by me.

Ji of Yunju said:

_ At what point did Guishan expose Yangshan?

]

The Master was asleep when Yangshan came to bow and inquire after his health. The Master turned his face toward the wall. Yangshan said, “How can the Venerable act like this?”

The Master rose and said:

_ Just now, while lying down, I had an auspicious dream. Try to discern its cause for me.

Yangshan brought a basin of water for the Master to wash his face. A short while later, Xiangyan also came to bow and inquire after his health. The Master said:

_ Just now, while lying down, I had an auspicious dream. Huiji has already discerned its cause; now you, too, try to discern its cause for me.

Xiangyan then poured a cup of tea and brought it to him.

The Master said:

_ The understanding of you two surpasses even that of Shariputra.

Qin of Jiangshan said:

_ Speaking of a dream within a dream is indeed profoundly apt for Guishan; wondrous spiritual powers and their marvelous functioning must be left to the two disciples. The matter of pouring tea and bringing water has been renowned from ancient times to the present; even in old age, his heart remained solicitous, still cherishing and caring for his disciples. Under the gate of the patch-robed monks, one person is outside the gate, one person is inside the gate, and there is yet another who pervades everywhere and has never concealed himself, though even the Buddha-eye cannot see him.

Nan Tang Jing said:

_ Parting the grass to discern the wind(1), sleeping alone atop a solitary peak, breaking the stringless lute, singing the song of non-arising. Guishan, Yangshan, and Xiangyan are the three legs of the cauldron; when the occasion arrives, without expending the slightest effort, they freely manifest hundreds of thousands of millions of transformation bodies.

Once a monk asked the Master:

_ What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?

The Master raised his whisk.

Later, the monk met Attendant Wang, who asked:

_ Has Guishan uttered any sayings recently?

The monk related the foregoing exchange. The Attendant asked:

_ How did the brothers there discuss it?

The monk replied:

_ Borrowing form to illuminate mind, relying on things to reveal principle.

The Attendant said:

_ That is not the principle I wished to ask about. Venerable, when you return, please allow me to send a letter to the Venerable Master.

The monk brought the letter back and presented it to the Master. The Master opened it and saw a circular figure drawn within which was written the character ( ) (sun). The Master said:

_ Who would have known that a kindred spirit dwelt a thousand miles away?

Yangshan, who was standing in attendance, then said:

_ Even so, he is still merely a layman.

_ What about you?

Yangshan likewise drew a circular figure, wrote a character ( ) inside it, and then rubbed it out with his foot. The Master laughed aloud.

]

While the Master was sitting, Yangshan asked:

_ After the Venerable Master has lived out his hundred years, if someone asks about the Dharma-way of our late Master, how should I reply?

The Master said:

_ One meal of rice, one meal of gruel.

_ What if someone before me will not accept it?

((1): Translated from the phrase “Bát thảo chiêm phong.” Literally, it means parting the grass to discern the wind. The Chan school employs this expression to indicate clearing away the wild grass of ignorance and looking up to the profound teaching of the Buddhas and patriarchs. It means cutting off deluded thoughts and investigating until one reaches the wondrous and profound place.

_ An accomplished master.

Yangshan immediately bowed.

The Master said:

_ When you meet someone, you must not mistakenly bring it forth.

The Master asked Yangshan:

_ You discuss matters with me all day long; what have you accomplished?

Yangshan traced a line in empty space.

The Master said:

_ Were it not for me, I would have been completely deluded by you.

]

Yangshan asked:

_ When hundreds of thousands of myriad phenomena arrive simultaneously, what should one do?

The Master replied:

_ Blue is not yellow; long is not short. All dharmas abide in their own original positions and have nothing to do with my affairs. Yangshan then bowed.

]

While they were making soybean paste, the Master asked Yangshan:

_ How much brine should be used for this?

Yangshan said:

_ I do not know, nor do I wish to answer.

_ But this old monk knows.

_ I wonder how much brine should be used?

_ Since you have already said that you do not know, I too shall not answer.

That evening, the Master again asked Yangshan:

_ How did you handle the occasion that arose this morning?

_ Wait until the Venerable Master asks; then I shall answer.

_ I am asking you now.

_ Ears turned away and eyes darkened, seeing and hearing without understanding.

_ Whenever there is a response, these words must not leave you.

Yangshan bowed in gratitude. The Master said:

_ Today Huiji has forgotten what came before and lost what followed; is he not a child!

]

The Master said to Yangshan:

_ You must turn the light around and reflect back upon yourself. Others do not know the place of your understanding. Try presenting your true understanding to this old monk.

Yangshan said:

_ If you tell me to examine myself, then here there is no perfect position, nor is there a single thing or a single understanding that I could present to the Venerable Master.

_ The place where there is no perfect position is originally the place from which your understanding arises; you still have not departed from mind and its objects.

_ Since there is no perfect position, where could there be any dharma, and what thing could serve as an object?

_ Did you not just now give rise to such an understanding?

_ Yes.

_ If so, then the dharmas of mind and objects are fully present; you have not yet escaped the mind of self and possession. Fundamentally, there is understanding, so why do you say that you have no understanding to present to me? I acknowledge that you have revealed the stage of faith, but the stage of personhood remains concealed.

]

Once, seeing Yangshan approach, the Master pressed his five fingers to the ground and drew a line. Yangshan used his hand to draw a line beneath his neck, then grasped his ear and shook it vigorously two or three times. The Master stopped and walked away.

]

One day, seeing Xiangyan and Yangshan making cakes, the Master said:

_ In former days, our late Master Baizhang personally attained this principle.

Yangshan and Xiangyan glanced at each other and said:

_ Who can answer those words?

The Master said:

_ There is one who can answer them.

Yangshan asked:

_ Who is that person?

The Master pointed at the bull and said:

_ Speak! Speak!

Yangshan brought over a bundle of grass, while Xiangyan carried over a bucket of water. They released the bull before them, and just as it began to eat, the Master said:

_ Thus, thus; not thus, not thus.

Both men bowed.

The Master said:

_ Sometimes it is bright; sometimes it is dark.

]

One day, the Master summoned his disciples to present a saying, and said:

_ Meet me beyond sound and form.

At that time, Venerable Jianhong of Youzhou presented this saying:

_ The eyeless person does not refuse to come forth here.

The Master did not accept it.

Yangshan presented sayings on three occasions.

The first time:

_ Is it necessary to see, or is it unnecessary to see?

The Master said:

_ Fine as a strand of hair, cold as frost and snow.

The second time:

_ Beyond sound and form, who seeks to meet?

The Master said:

_ It is merely obstructed by the shravaka outside the narrow couch.

The third time:

_ Like two mirrors reflecting each other, with no image within.

The Master said:

_ These words are correct.

Yangshan asked in return:

_ What saying did the Venerable Master present when you were with our grandmaster Baizhang?

The Master said:

_ When I was with our grandmaster Baizhang, I presented this saying: “Like hundreds of thousands of bright mirrors reflecting images, their luminous reflections mutually illuminating one another; realm after realm and dust mote after dust mote, each and every one is never confused.”

At that time, Yangshan bowed.

]

One day, the Master asked Xiangyan:

_ I have heard that when you were with our late Master Baizhang, if asked one question, you could give ten answers, and if asked ten questions, you could give a hundred answers. That came from your intelligence and quick wit, your conceptual understanding, consciousness, and thought; these are the root of birth and death. Now try to speak a single phrase from before your parents were born.

Questioned in this way, Xiangyan became so bewildered that he could not answer. Returning to his quarters, he took all the books he had studied daily and searched them from beginning to end for a single phrase with which to respond, but was utterly unable to find one. He then sighed to himself: “A painted cake cannot satisfy hunger!”

Xiangyan repeatedly went to ask the Master to explain it for him. The Master said:

_ If I explained it to you, you would curse me afterward. What I say would be my affair and would have nothing whatsoever to do with yours.

Xiangyan then burned all the books he had studied and said:

_ In this lifetime I shall no longer study the Buddha-Dharma. I shall merely be an ordinary monk attending to meals and gruel, so as not to weary my mind and spirit.

He then took leave of the Master and went directly to Nanyang, to the site associated with National Teacher Huizhong, where he took up residence.

One day, while hoeing weeds, he picked up a pebble and threw it. It struck a bamboo and made a sound, whereupon the Master suddenly awakened. He returned, bathed, lit incense, faced in the direction of Guishan, and bowed:

_ The Venerable Master’s compassionate kindness is like that of my parents. Had you explained it to me before, how could there have been what occurred today?

The Master composed a verse:

Nhất kích vong sở tri.

Cánh bất giả tu trì.

Động dung dương cổ lộ,

Bất đoạ thiểu nhiên ki (cơ)

Xứ xứ vô tung tích,

Thinh sắc ngoại uy nghi.

Chư phương đạt đạo giả,

Hàm ngôn thượng thượng ki (cơ).

Translation:

At one sound of bamboo, thoughts are forgotten;

There is utterly no need for cultivation.

With a change of countenance, the ancient path appears;

The silent grass does not depart.

Nowhere is there any trace,

Deportment lies beyond sound and form.

Those who have attained the Way everywhere

All call this the highest capacity.

When the Master heard this, he said to Yangshan:

_ This fellow has thoroughly awakened.

Yangshan replied:

_ This was composed by the workings of mind, thought, and consciousness. Wait until I personally go and examine him; only then can we be certain.

Later, Yangshan met Xiangyan and said:

_ The Venerable Master has praised you, junior brother, for having illuminated the great matter. Try telling me about it.

Xiangyan recited the preceding verse for Yangshan. Yangshan said:

_ That was produced from what you studied and memorized in the past. If you have truly attained right awakening, let us hear another verse.

Xiangyan recited this verse:

Khứ niên bần, vị thị bần;

Kim niên bần, thủy thị bần.

Khứ niên bần, du hữu trác chùy chi địa;

Kim niên bần, chùy dã vô.

Translation:

Last year I was poor, but not truly poor;

This year I am poor, now truly poor.

Last year I was poor, yet still had ground in which to plant an awl;

This year I am poor—even the awl is gone.

Yangshan said:

_ Junior brother, you have awakened to Tathagata Chan, but you have not yet awakened to the Patriarchs’ Chan.

Xiangyan then offered another verse:

Ngã hữu nhất ki (cơ),

Thuấn mục thị y.

Nhược nhơn bất hội,

Biệt hoán Sa Di.

Translation:

I have a single function,

It is revealed in the blink of an eye.

If someone does not understand,

Call for the novice separately.

Yangshan then reported to the Master:

_ I rejoice that my junior brother Zhixian has awakened to the Patriarchs’ Chan.

Xuanzue said:

_ Tell me: are Tathagata Chan and the Patriarchs’ Chan different or not?

Changqing Ling said:

_ Tathagata Chan and the Patriarchs’ Chan should both be swept away at once.

Yunju Xizheng said:

_ The assembly discusses Tathagata Chan as shallow and the Patriarchs’ Chan as profound. If so, why did Xiangyan not ask at that time, “What is the Patriarchs’ Chan?” If this question had been raised, what would there have been left to discuss?

Langya Jue said:

Emperor Wu sought immortality but did not attain it;

Wang Qiao sat upright and yet ascended to heaven.

Guishan Zhe said:

_ Of Xiangyan it may be said that above him there was not a tile for shelter, and below him there was not even a point of ground in which to plant an awl. Everything was laid utterly bare, swept perfectly clean, with nothing that could be grasped. Had it not been for Yangshan, Xiangyan would very nearly have been let off. Why?

Without the force of wind and frost,

How could one know the resolve of cypress and pine?

]

The Master ascended the hall:

_ You have attained only the great potential, but not the great function.

At that moment, Jiufeng withdrew from before the assembly and walked out. The Master called him back, but Jiufeng did not turn his head at all. The Master said:

_ That fellow can become a vessel of the Dharma.

One day, Jiufeng took leave of the Master:

_ Though I leave the Venerable Master and travel more than a thousand miles away, I shall never depart from your side.

The Master’s expression changed, and he said:

_ Take good care of yourself!

]

Lingyun initially stayed at Guishan. Upon seeing peach blossoms, he awakened to the Way and composed this verse:

Tam thập niên lai tầm kiếm khách,

Kỷ hồi lạc diệp hựu trừu chi.

Tự tùng nhứt kiến đào hoa hậu,

Trực chí như kim cánh bất nghi.

Translation:

For thirty years I searched for the swordsman;

How many times did leaves fall and branches grow bare again?

Since the moment I beheld the peach blossoms bloom,

Right up to this day, all doubt has wholly vanished.

The Master read the verse and questioned Lingyun about his awakening. Seeing that it accorded with the truth, the Master said:

_ Having attained awakening through conditions, you will never regress. Guard it well.

]

Shanglin came to visit the Master. The Master asked:

_ Virtuous one, what have you come here to do?

Shanglin replied:

_ My robe and cap are in perfect order.

_ Take off your robe and cap completely, and then come here to meet me.

_ I have taken them off completely.

The Master shouted:

_ Before the bandits have even been attacked, why take off your robe and cap?

Shanglin could not reply. The Master answered in his place:

_ Venerable Master, please cast aside all right and wrong.

The Master joined his palms in greeting:

_ My respects! My respects!

Later, Shanglin visited Yongtai and only then fully penetrated this essential point.

]

Shushan came to visit. At the time, the Master was instructing the assembly:

_ A lofty wayfarer must be able to sleep and rest within sound and form, and to sit and lie down within sound and form.

Shushan asked:

_ What is the statement that does not fall into sound and form?

The Master raised his whisk. Shushan said:

_ This is a statement that falls into sound and form.

The Master lowered his whisk and returned to the abbot’s quarters. Shushan did not accord with the teaching here and went to take leave of Xiangyan. Xiangyan said:

_ Why not stay for a while?

Shushan said:

_ I have no affinity with the Venerable Master.

Xiangyan said:

_ What circumstances led to this? Try telling me.

Shushan then related the preceding exchange. Xiangyan said:

_ I have a word to say.

Shushan asked:

_ What would you say?

Xiangyan said:

_ Before sound is uttered, and before form, there is no thing.

Shushan said:

_ There truly is someone here.

Shushan enjoined Xiangyan:

_ Later, when you have a place of residence, I shall come to see you, elder brother.

Shushan then took his leave and departed. The Master asked Xiangyan:

_ Has Short Acharya (1), who asked about the exchange concerning sound and form, gone yet?

Xiangyan replied:

_ He has already left.

The Master said:

_ Try relating it to me.

Xiangyan related the preceding exchange. The Master asked:

_ What did he say?

Xiangyan replied:

_ He strongly approved of me.

The Master burst out laughing:

_ I thought that fellow had something excellent, but it was only what had originally been here. If that fellow later has a place of residence, though he lives near a mountain, he will have no firewood to burn; though he lives near water, he will have no water to drink.

]

When Siguo came to visit, the Master pointed to the moon to instruct him. Siguo waved his hand three times. The Master said:

_ It is not that I say you have failed to see, but what you see is far too coarse.

]

((1): Also known as Chan Master Kuangren, a Chinese master of the Caodong school who lived during the Five Dynasties period at the end of the Tang dynasty. He was known to people as Chan Master Shushan Kuangren of Fuzhou, or simply as Shushan.

After leaving home, the Master visited Xiangyan Zhixian. He expounded the Dharma of Dongshan Liangjie and later resided at Mount Shu in Fuzhou (now in Linchuan County, Jiangxi Province). Because he was short and unimposing, he was called the Short Master-Uncle, the Seated Master-Uncle, or the Short Acharya. Yet the Master possessed unobstructed eloquence and was therefore praised as “Shushan Who Bites the Bald.” “Biting the bald” means rendering others unable to open their mouths.)

¤

The Master was seated in the Dharma hall. The storehouse keeper (1) struck the board, whereupon the fire keeper (2) threw away all the firewood, clapped his hands, and laughed loudly. The Master said, “Is there also such a person in the assembly!”

The Master summoned him and asked:

_ What is the matter with you?

The fire keeper replied:

_ I did not eat any gruel, so my stomach is empty; therefore I am joyful.

The Master nodded.

Later, Jingqing Fu said:

_ You should know that there was no one in Guishan’s assembly.

Wolong Qiu said:

_ You should know that there was someone in Guishan’s assembly.

]

The Master was plastering mud onto a wall when Li Junrong came up behind him holding his official tablet and stood there. The Master turned his head and saw him, then tilted the tray of mud, making as if to receive mud. Li immediately shifted his tablet, making as if to present mud. The Master threw down the tray of mud, and they returned together to the abbot’s quarters.

When Yantou Huo heard this story, he said:

_ Alas! How crude the Buddhadharma has become! Guishan was such a great man, yet he could not even manage to plaster mud onto a wall.

Mingzhao Qian said:

_ At that moment, what should he have done to avoid Yantou’s criticism? I would answer in his place: “He again shifted the tray of mud, making as if to plaster the wall, then threw it down and returned to the abbot’s quarters.”

Huanglong Xin said:

_ Yantou mistakenly uttered a single statement, not realizing that Guishan and Junrong had turned skillful play into clumsiness.

]

When Censor Lu entered the Sangha hall, he asked the Master:

_ Are all the monks here monks who merely eat rice and gruel, or are they monks who practice Chan?

((1): The monastic office responsible for overseeing the receipt and expenditure of unhusked rice, rice, beans, maize, money, and other provisions in a Chan monastery.

(2): The monastic office responsible for tending the fires in a Chan monastery.)

The Master replied:

_ They are neither monks who eat rice and gruel nor monks who practice Chan.

_ Then what are they here?

_ Censor, ask them yourself.

]

One day, seeing Lưu Thiết Ma arrive, the Master said:

_ Old cow! You have come here!

Thiết Ma said:

_ Tomorrow there will be a great vegetarian feast on Mount Đài. Will the Venerable Master go?

The Master then let his body drop into a reclining posture, and Thiết Ma immediately departed.

Tịnh Từ Nhứt said:

_ The assembly says: By letting his body drop and lying down, he indicated that he would not go, and Lưu Thiết Ma departed in embarrassment—but what relevance does that have? They do not know that throughout his life the old man of Qui Sơn had a spine that could be broken but never bent, yet Lưu Thiết Ma slapped him once and knocked him down, and to this very day he has been unable to rise. If you wish to help Qui Sơn to his feet, I ask the assembly to offer a turning word.

None in the assembly could offer a word, so the Master used his staff to drive them all away.

]

One day, the Master called for the Prior. The Prior came. The Master said:

_ I called the Prior. What have you come here for?

The Prior could not answer.

Tào Sơn answered on his behalf:

_ I also know that the Venerable Master did not call me.

The Master then sent the attendant to summon the Head Seat. The Head Seat came. The Master said:

_ I called the Head Seat. What have you come for?

The Head Seat also could not answer.

Tào Sơn answered on his behalf:

_ If the Venerable Master had sent the attendant to call me, I fear I would not have come.

Pháp Nhãn said:

_ Just now, the attendant already called.

]

The Master ascended the Dharma hall. A monk stepped forward and said:

_ Please, Venerable Master, expound the Dharma for the assembly.

The Master said:

_ I have already exhausted my heart for you.

The monk bowed.

Later, someone related this to Tuyết Phong, who said, “The ancients had such earnest grandmotherly kindness.”

Huyền Sa said:

_ The Venerable of the Mountain Peak has misunderstood the affair of the ancients.

When Tuyết Phong heard this, he asked Huyền Sa:

_ At what point did this old monk misunderstand the affair of the ancients?

Huyền Sa replied:

_ Qui Sơn was such a great master, yet because of that monk’s single question, he was reduced to a hundred kinds of clumsiness.

Only then was Tuyết Phong startled awake.

]

A monk came to bow. The Master remained standing. The monk said:

_ Venerable Master, please be seated.

_ This old monk has never sat down.

_ I have never bowed to the Venerable Master.

_ Why do you not bow?

The monk could not answer.

Đồng An answered on his behalf:

_ The Venerable Master should not find it strange.

]

The Master asked a monk:

_ Where have you come from?

The monk said:

_ I have come from the Western Capital.

_ Have you brought a letter from the master of the Western Capital?

_ I dare not falsely convey any news.

_ An accomplished monk—a true adept; Thiên Nhiên still lives.

_ Who would eat sour rice and leftover soup?

_ There is one acarya who will not eat it.

The monk made a gesture of vomiting.

The Master said:

_ Take this sick monk outside.

The monk then departed.

]

A monk asked:

_ What is the Way?

The Master said:

_ No-mind is the Way.

The monk said:

_ I do not understand.

The Master said:

_ Then understand that which does not understand!

The monk said:

_ What is that which does not understand?

The Master said:

_ It is simply you, and no one else.

The Master further said:

“People today need only directly acknowledge that which does not understand; it is precisely your own mind, and it is also precisely the mind of the Buddha. If you acquire some shallow, external understanding and regard it as the Way, it has nothing to do with it. This is called bringing excrement in, not carrying excrement out; it merely defiles your field of mind. Therefore it is said: ‘It is not the Way.’”

]

A monk came for an interview. Vệ Quốc asked him:

_ From what region have you come?

The monk replied:

_ I have come from Hà Nam.

Vệ Quốc asked:

_ Has the Yellow River become clear yet?

The monk could not answer.

The Master answered on his behalf:

_ Orphaned child, if you wish to cross, then cross. Why entertain doubts?

]

The Master instructed the assembly:

_ Each of you, present your realization for me to see.

At that time, Senior Monk Chí Hòa stepped forward and bowed. The Master said:

_ Without thinking of good and without thinking of evil, at this very moment return to me the original face of Senior Monk Chí Hòa.

Chí Hòa said:

_ At this very moment is where I relinquish body and life.

The Master said:

_ Have you fallen into emptiness?

Chí Hòa said:

_ If I saw an “emptiness” into which I could fall, how could it ever be the place where I relinquish body and life?

The Master said:

_ Having reached this place, why do you not ask a question?

Chí Hòa said:

_ Having reached this place, I do not even see a Venerable Master whom I could question.

The Master said:

_ Your merit is meager; you cannot firmly uphold my school.

]

Once, the Master saw Ngưỡng Sơn and the Hermitage Master of Bắc Am come forward to bow and inquire after his health. At the time, an official guest was seated drinking tea. The Master pointed them out to the official and said:

_ Fellow students of the Ancient Buddha have arrived.

The Hermitage Master said:

_ Even after a hundred years, it would be difficult to find someone who could repeat these words.

The Master asked:

_ What about today?

The Hermitage Master said:

_ I have a share in tying my tongue, but I am unable to reply.

The Master said:

_ Even if the official were still present, I myself would also be unable to speak.

The Hermitage Master said:

_ Ngưỡng Sơn would not consent to answer these words.

The Master said:

_ Even an Hermitage Master such as you is difficult to find.

I

One day, the Master held up a ruyi (1), then drew this figure and said:

_ Whoever can speak to it will be given this ruyi. Speak! Speak!

At that time, a monk said:

_ This ruyi originally did not belong to the Venerable Master.

The Master said:

_ You have attained it, but it is of no use.

Another monk said:

_ Even if it were given to me, there would still be nowhere to grasp it.

]

A monk asked the Master:

_ From all the sages of the past down to the Venerable Master today, what is the essential meaning?

The Master said:

_ What is this thing before your eyes?

The monk said:

_ Surely it cannot be only this?

_ What is this?

((1): This refers to an implement held by a Dharma lecturer while expounding the Dharma and attending a Dharma assembly. Originally, it was an ancient backscratcher from India, made of bone, horn, bamboo, or wood, with a handle three Chinese feet long and shaped like a cloud or a hand, used to scratch an itch. Because it could scratch an itching place that the hand could not reach, doing so exactly as desired, it was called a ruyi, or “as desired”; it was also called a Dưỡng Hòa Tử. In China and Japan, however, the ruyi became a handheld object symbolizing auspiciousness. In Buddhism, Dharma masters also hold a ruyi when expounding the Dharma and attending Dharma assemblies, just as an official does not neglect to carry his ceremonial tablet.)

_ What is this?

_ That which has just been exchanged in dialogue.

_ Go and think about that! Do not create complications!

Tưởng Sơn Cần said:

_ The question was extremely difficult, but the answer was far, far off; neither side understood clearly.

]

A monk asked:

_ What is the true form of Bá Trượng?

The Master descended from the meditation platform and stood with his hands folded. The monk asked again:

_ What is the true form of the Venerable Master?

The Master climbed onto the meditation platform and sat down.

]

The Master ascended the Dharma hall and said:

_ After this old monk has lived out his hundred years, I shall become a bull at the foot of the mountain. On my left flank will be written five characters: “Monk So-and-so of Qui Sơn.” At that very moment, should it be called the monk of Qui Sơn or the bull? Should it be called the bull or the monk of Qui Sơn? Ultimately, what should it be called?

Ngưỡng Sơn stepped forward, bowed, and withdrew.

Vân Cư Ưng said:

_ The master’s designation does not differ from the disciple’s.

Tư Phước Bảo drew a circular figure on his behalf and presented it to the Master.

Ba Tiêu Thanh drew this figure on his behalf and presented it to the Master, then said:

_ Only one who shares the Way can know.

Nam Tháp Dũng said:

_ Among fifteen hundred spiritual friends, only half was attained.

At that time, Ba Tiêu Triệt drew this figure on his behalf and presented it to the Master, then said:

_ What needed to be said has been said, and what needed to be explained has been explained; now you must awaken!

The Master propagated the teachings of Chan for more than forty years, and those who attained the essential meaning could not be counted.

In the seventh year of the Đại Trung era of the Tang dynasty (853), on the ninth day of the first lunar month, the Master bathed, sat peacefully in the full-lotus posture, and manifested nirvana. He was eighty-three years old and had completed sixty-four rains retreats.

The emperor bestowed upon him the title Chan Master Đại Viên, and his stupa was named Thanh Tịnh.