景德傳燈錄

DHARMA HEIRS OF CHAN MASTER

HUAI-RANG OF NAN-YUE

NINE PERSONS OF THE FIRST GENERATION

1. Chan Master Dao-yi of Jiangxi;

(One person is recorded. The Master’s surname was Ma, and people of the time called him Patriarch Ma.)

2. Chan Master Chang-hao of Nan-yue; 3. Chan Master Zhi-da; 4. Chan Master Tan-ran; 5. Chan Master Shen-zhao of Chaozhou; 6. Chan Master Yan-jun of Da-ming Monastery, Yangzhou; 7. Chan Master Ben-ru of the kingdom of Silla; 8. Chan Master Xuan-sheng; 9. Chan Master Fa-kong of Dong-wu Mountain.

(The eight persons above left no recorded encounters or sayings and therefore are not included.)

THIRTY-SIX PERSONS OF THE SECOND GENERATION

(DHARMA HEIRS OF PATRIARCH MA)

1. Chan Master Hui-hai, called Da-zhu, of Yuezhou; 2. Chan Master Fa-hui of Le-tan Mountain, Hongzhou; 3. Chan Master Zhi-jian of Shan Mountain, Chizhou; 4. Chan Master Wei-jian of Le-tan Mountain, Hongzhou; 5. Chan Master Dao-xing of Ming-xi, Lizhou; 6. Chan Master Hui-zang of Shi-gong, Fuzhou; 7. Chan Master Dao-tong of Zi-yu Mountain, Tangzhou; 8. Chan Master Lan-rang of northern Jiangxi; 9. Chan Master Ru-man of Fo-guang, the Eastern Capital; 10. Chan Master Dao-ming of Nan-yuan, Yuanzhou; 11. Chan Master Zi-man of Li Village, Xinzhou; 12. Chan Master Hong-en of Zhong-yi, Langzhou; 13. Chan Master Huai-hai of Baizhang Mountain, Hongzhou;

(The thirteen persons above are recorded, with supplements from the Rules of the Chan Gate.)

14. Chan Master Gao-ying; 15. Chan Master Chong-tai; 16. Chan Master Xiao-ran of Wang-mou Mountain; 17. Chan Master Ce of Fu-qi Monastery, Huazhou; 18. Chan Master Zhi-tong of the Song-zi Stupa, Lizhou; 19. Chan Master Shen-jian of Yun-xiu Mountain, Tangzhou; 20. Chan Master Zhi-tong of Qi-ling Monastery, Yangzhou; 21. Chan Master Zhi-zang of Kengzhou; 22. Chan Master Huai-tao of the Capital Region; 23. Chan Master Fa-zang of Chuzhou; 24. Chan Master Huai-ze of Hezhong Prefecture; 25. Chan Master

Ming-gan of Changzhou; 26. Chan Master Hong-tan of Ezhou; 27. Chan Master Huai-tan of Xiangyuan; 28. Chan Master Yuan-li of Qing-lian, Lu Prefecture; 29. Chan Master Bao-qing of Hezhong Prefecture; 30. Chan Master Zhi-xian of Ganquan; 31. Chan Master Dao-wu of Da-kuai Mountain; 32. Chan Master Fa-rou of Lu Prefecture; 33. Chan Master Jue-ping of Xian-tong Monastery, the Capital Region; 34. Chan Master Sheng-bian of Yixing; 35. Chan Master Qing-yun of Hailing; 36. Chan Master Xuan-xu of Kaiyuan Monastery, Hongzhou.

(The twenty-three persons above left no recorded encounters or sayings and therefore are not included.)

THE FIRST GENERATION

AFTER CHAN MASTER HUAI-RANG

CHAN MASTER DAO-YI OF JIANGXI

He was a native of Shifang County in Hanzhou, and his surname was Ma. His appearance was extraordinary. He walked with the steady tread of an ox, and his gaze was keen as a tiger’s. When extended, his tongue reached beyond his nose, and on the soles of his feet were two wheel-shaped markings. In his youth, he left the household life under the Venerable Tang in Zizhou and received the full precepts from Vinaya Master Yuan in Yuzhou.

During the Kaiyuan era (713–741, reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang), the Master practiced meditation at the Chuanfa Cloister on Hengyue and encountered the Venerable Huai-rang. Of the six fellow practitioners who entered the Master’s chamber, he alone secretly received the mind-seal. (Dao-yi succeeded Huai-rang, while Xi-qian succeeded Xing-si. Though springing from the same source, they formed different lineages; thus, it was through these two masters that the Chan Dharma first began to flourish.

Liu Ke said, “Da-ji [Patriarch Ma] was the Dharma lord of Jiangxi, and Shitou was the Dharma lord of Hunan. Those who hurried back and forth without knowing these two great beings were truly foolish.” In the Western Land, Patriarch Prajnatara foretold to Bodhidharma: “Though the land of Zhendan [China] is far away, the path there is no different. You must wait until the feet of your grandson continue your steps.

When the golden cock opens its beak to take a grain of rice, it will make offerings to the arhat Sangha of the ten directions.” Furthermore, the Sixth Patriarch, the Venerable Huineng, said to Huai-rang, “In the future, the Buddha-Dharma will proceed from you. A colt born of you will trample to death everyone beneath heaven.” Later, the Dharma heirs of Patriarch Ma of Jiangxi spread throughout the realm; therefore, people of the time called the Master “Patriarch Ma.”)

At first, the Master went from Foji Mountain in Jianyang, then moved to Linchuan, and afterward proceeded to Gonggong Mountain

in Nankang. During the Dali era (766–779, reign of Emperor Daizong of the Tang), the Master’s name became associated with Kaiyuan Monastery in Zhongling, Jiangxi. At that time, the military governor Lu Sigong heard of the Master’s virtuous way and revered him. He personally came to receive the essential principle of the lineage from the Master. Thereafter, students from the four quarters gathered like clouds beneath his seat.

One day, the Master instructed the assembly:

Each of you should have faith that your own mind is Buddha, and that this very mind of yours is precisely the mind of Buddha. Great Master Bodhidharma came here from southern India, personally reaching China to transmit the supreme vehicle’s Dharma of the One Mind,(96) so that you might awaken. He also cited passages from the Lankavatara Sutra to authenticate the mind-ground of sentient beings, fearing that you might be deluded and fail to trust that each of you inherently possesses this Dharma within the mind.

Therefore, the Lankavatara Sutra says, “The Buddha taught that mind is the principle, and the gateless is the Dharma gate.” It also says, “In seeking the Dharma, there should be nothing sought.” Apart from mind there is no other Buddha; apart from Buddha there is no other mind. Do not grasp what is wholesome or reject what is unwholesome. Rely on neither purity nor defilement.

Realize that the nature of transgression is empty and that, thought after thought, it cannot be apprehended, for it has no self-nature. Thus, the three realms are mind-only, and the myriad forms and phenomena are the impressions of the one Dharma. Whatever form is seen is entirely the seeing mind.

Mind is not mind by itself; it is because of form that mind comes to be. You need only speak in accordance with the occasion: phenomena themselves are principle, and in all things there is no obstruction. The fruit of the bodhi path is likewise so.

What arises from mind is called form. Knowing that form is empty, arising itself is non-arising. If you awaken to this mind in this way, then at all times you may put on your robes and eat your food, nourish the sacred embryo, and pass the days and months according to conditions.

What further matter is there?

You who have received my teaching, listen as I speak this verse:

The mind-ground speaks according to the time,

Bodhi is also only thus.

Phenomena and principle are both unobstructed;

The very arising is non-arising.

Translation:

The mind-ground speaks according to the time,

Bodhi is also just so.

Phenomena and principle are both unobstructed;

The very arising is non-arising.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– Venerable, why do you say that this very mind is Buddha—that mind itself is Buddha?

The Master replied:

– To stop a child from crying.

The monk asked:

– What do you do when the crying has stopped?

The Master replied:

– Neither mind nor Buddha.

The monk asked:

– Leaving aside those two kinds of people, how would you instruct someone else?

The Master replied:

– I would tell him, “It is not a thing.”

The monk asked:

– What if you suddenly encountered a person who was within it?

The Master replied:

– I would simply tell him to realize the Great Way.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– What is the meaning of the coming from the West?

The Master asked:

– At this very moment, what is the meaning?

*

– *

Layman Pang asked:

– Water has neither sinews nor bones, yet it can bear a vessel of ten thousand hu. What is the principle of this?

The Master replied:

– Here there is neither water nor vessel; of what sinews and bones do you speak?

*

– *

One day, the Master ascended the hall. After a moment, Baizhang rolled up the mat before him and withdrew. The Master then descended from the hall. Baizhang asked:

– What is the essential purport of the Buddha-Dharma?

The Master replied:

– It is precisely where you relinquish body and life.

The Master asked Baizhang:

– What Dharma do you use to teach people?

Baizhang raised his fly whisk. The Master asked:

– Is there only this, or is there something else?

Baizhang lowered the fly whisk.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– How can one accord with the Way?

The Master replied:

– For a long time, I have not accorded with the Way.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– What is the meaning of the coming from the West?

The Master immediately struck him and said:

– If I did not strike you, people everywhere would laugh at me.

*

– *

A young disciple returned from pilgrimage, drew a circle before the Master, stepped forward and bowed, then stood close beside him. The Master asked:

– Surely you wish to become a Buddha, do you not?

He replied:

– I rub my eyes but do not know.(97)

The Master said:

– I am not your equal.

The young disciple could not reply.

*

– *

Deng Yinfeng came to take leave of the Master. The Master asked:

– Where are you going?

He replied:

– To Shitou.

The Master said:

– The road to Shitou is slippery.

He replied:

– I am taking my staff with me; wherever I encounter it, I shall rejoice there.

Then he departed. As soon as he reached Shitou, he circumambulated the meditation seat once, struck his staff on the ground, and asked:

– What is the essential principle?

Shitou cried:

– Blue sky, blue sky!

Yinfeng could not answer and returned to relate the matter to the Master. The Master said:

– Go back. When he cries, “Blue sky, blue sky!” immediately say, “Hush, hush!”

Yinfeng went to Shitou again, repeated exactly what he had done before, and asked:

– What is the essential principle?

Shitou then said, “Hush, hush!” Again Yinfeng could not answer.

Yinfeng returned and related what had happened. The Master said:

– I told you that the road to Shitou was slippery.

*

– *

A monk drew four strokes before the Master: one long stroke above and three short strokes below. He then asked:

– You may not say “one long and three short.” Apart from those four words, I invite the Venerable Master to answer.

The Master immediately drew a single stroke on the ground and replied:

– Without saying “long” or “short,” I have answered you.

(When National Preceptor Huizhong heard of this, he said to himself, “Why did he not ask this old monk?”)

*

– *

A monk who lectured on the sutras came and asked:

– I do not yet know what Dharma the Chan school transmits.

The Master asked in return:

– What Dharma does the Lecturer transmit?

The other replied:

– I am provisionally able to lecture on more than twenty scrolls of sutras and treatises.

The Master said:

– Are you not a lion cub?

He replied:

– I dare not claim so.

The Master uttered, “Hush, hush!” The other said:

– That is a Dharma.

The Master asked:

– What Dharma is it?

He replied:

– The Dharma of the lion emerging from its cave.

The Master then remained silent. The other said:

– That too is a Dharma.

The Master asked:

– What Dharma is it?

He replied:

– The Dharma of the lion remaining in its cave.

The Master asked:

– What is the Dharma of the lion neither emerging nor entering?

The other could not answer, so he took his leave and went to sit by the gate.

(Baizhang said on his behalf, “What do you see?”) The Master called, “Lecturer!” The other turned his head, and the Master asked, “What is it?” Again, he could not answer.

The Master said, “What a dull-witted teacher you are!”

*

– *

The Surveillance Commissioner of Hongzhou asked:

– Is it right for this disciple to eat meat and drink wine, or is it right not to eat meat and drink wine?

The Master replied:

– Eating meat and drinking wine in this way is Your Excellency’s emolument; abstaining from them is Your Excellency’s merit.

*

– *

The Master had 139 disciples who entered his chamber. Each went forth to become a patriarch in his own region, and their teaching and transformation were boundless. In the fourth year of Zhenyuan (788, during the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang), on the fifteenth day of the first month, the Master ascended Mount Shimen in Jianchang. While walking in meditation through the forest, he saw a level place with an empty cave. The Master told his attendant:

– Next month, this frail and decaying body of mine will return to that place.

Having said this, he returned. On the fourth day of the second month of 788, he indeed became slightly ill. After bathing, the Master sat in the full lotus posture and entered cessation.

During the Yuanhe era (806–820, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang), he was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Daji, and his stupa was named Great Adornment. At present (1004), his shrine still remains in Haihun County. (The Biographies of Eminent Monks records: “According to the inscription on the Master’s stupa, composed by Quan Deyu, Chan Master Dajue—that is, Mazu—passed away at Kaiyuan Monastery, and was cremated and enshrined in a stupa at Shimen.

During the Huichang era (841–846), it was abandoned.* Later, in the seventh month of the fourth year of Dazhong (850, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang), Emperor Xuanzong ordered Pei Xiu, Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangxi, to rebuild the stupa and monastery, and bestowed upon it the inscribed plaque ‘Baofeng.’”)

THE SECOND GENERATION AFTER CHAN MASTER

HUAI’RANG

DHARMA HEIRS OF MAZU.

1. CHAN MASTER HUIHAI, “GREAT PEARL,” OF YUEZHOU.

He was a native of Jianzhou in Fujian, and his family name was Zhu. The Master received ordination and training under Venerable Daozhi of Dayun Monastery in Yuezhou.

He first went to pay his respects to Mazu in Jiangxi. The Patriarch asked:

– Where have you come from?

He replied:

– I have come from Dayun Monastery in Yuezhou.

The Patriarch asked:

– What do you seek by coming here?

He replied:

– I have come to seek the Buddha-Dharma.

The Patriarch said:

– You pay no heed to your own household treasure and abandon your home to wander about—what for? Here with me there is not a single thing. What Buddha-Dharma do you seek?

The Master then bowed and asked:

– What is Huihai’s “own household treasure”?

The Patriarch replied:

– It is precisely that which is now asking me. That is your treasure, perfectly endowed with everything, entirely lacking nothing, and freely available for your use. What need is there to seek outside yourself?

Upon hearing these words, the Master directly knew his original mind, not through conceptual understanding. Overjoyed, he bowed in gratitude.

The Master attended the Patriarch for six years. Later, because the teacher under whom he had received ordination and training had grown old, the Master hurried back to care for him. He concealed all traces of himself and hid his spiritual function, outwardly appearing simple-minded. He himself composed a scroll entitled Treatise on the Essential Gateway to Entering the Way through Sudden Awakening. Xuanyan, his nephew in the Dharma, secretly took it out of Zhejiang (Shaoxing) and presented it to Mazu. After reading it, the Patriarch told the assembly:

– Yuezhou has a great pearl, perfectly round, luminous, penetrating, free, and unobstructed.

*

– *

At that time, someone in the assembly knew that the Master’s family name was Zhu, and gradually many others came to know it. They invited one another to travel to the Yue region to seek instruction from the Master and take refuge with him. (Because of Mazu’s words, people of the time called him Venerable Great Pearl.)

The Master said:

– Chan visitors, I do not understand Chan and have absolutely no Dharma with which to teach people. You should not trouble yourselves by standing here for long. Go and rest of your own accord.

At that time, students gradually gathered in increasing numbers, asking questions day and night. With no alternative, the Master had to respond to each question as it came, and his eloquence was unobstructed. (A separate scroll of these exchanges is recorded in the Extensive Discourses.)

*

– *

At that time, several Dharma masters came to pay their respects and asked:

– We would like to put forward a question. We wonder whether the Master will answer it.

The Master said:

– The moon’s reflection in the deep pool—draw it out as you please.

They asked:

– What is the Buddha?

The Master replied:

– If the clear pool of water before you is not the Buddha, then what is it?

They were all bewildered. (Fayan said, “If so, there is no connection.”) After a long while, that monk asked again:

– What Dharma does the Master teach to deliver people?

The Master replied:

– This poor monk has never had a single Dharma with which to deliver people.

He asked:

– Is the Chan master’s tradition so plain and simple?

The Master asked in return:

– What Dharma does the Venerable teach to deliver people?

He replied:

– I lecture on the Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra.

The Master asked:

– How many times have you lectured on it?

He replied:

– More than twenty times.

The Master asked:

– Who expounded that sutra?

The monk spoke sharply:

– The Chan master certainly knows how to jest with people! Do you not know that the Buddha expounded it?

The Master said:

– If one says that the Tathagata expounded a Dharma, one maligns the Buddha, and such a person does not understand the meaning of what I say. If one says that this sutra was not expounded by the Buddha, one maligns the sutra. I invite the Venerable to speak.

The monk remained silent and could not answer.

After a moment, the Master asked again:

– The sutra says, “If one sees me through form or seeks me through sound, that person practices a false path and cannot see the Tathagata.” Venerable, tell me: what is the Tathagata?

He replied:

– At this point, I am still deluded.

The Master said:

– Since you have never awakened in the first place, how can you say you are still deluded?

The monk said:

– I ask the Chan master to explain it to me.

The Master said:

– The Venerable has lectured on the sutra more than twenty times, yet still does not know the Tathagata.

That monk bowed again and begged for instruction.

The Master said:

– Tathagata means the suchness of all dharmas. How could you have forgotten this?

He replied:

– Yes, it means the suchness of all dharmas.

The Master said:

– The Venerable’s saying “yes” is still not right.

He replied:

– The sutra’s words are clear. How could it still not be right?

The Master asked:

– Is the Venerable thus?

He replied:

– Thus.

The Master asked:

– Are wood and stone thus?

He replied:

– Thus.

The Master asked:

– Is the Venerable’s suchness the same as the suchness of wood and stone?

He replied:

– They are not two.

The Master said:

– Then how does the Venerable differ from wood and stone?

The monk could not answer. After a long while, he asked again:

– How may one attain great nirvana?

The Master replied:

– Do not create the karma of birth and death.

He asked:

– What is the karma of birth and death?

The Master replied:

– Seeking great nirvana is the karma of birth and death; rejecting impurity and grasping purity is the karma of birth and death; having attainment and realization is the karma of birth and death; failing to transcend the gate of counteractive practices is the karma of birth and death.

Question:

– How, then, can one attain liberation?

The Master replied:

– Originally, you are inherently unbound, so there is no need for liberation. To act directly and proceed directly is the unequaled among the unequaled(98).

The monk said:

– A Chan master such as the Venerable is truly rare.

The monk bowed in gratitude and withdrew.

*

– *

A practitioner (layman) asked:

– Mind itself is Buddha—which one is Buddha?

The Master said:

– Which one do you suspect is not Buddha? Point it out and let me see.

The layman could not answer. The Master said:

– When one realizes it, the whole realm is Buddha; when one does not awaken, one remains forever far removed from it.

*

– *

A Vinaya master named Faming said to the Master:

– Chan masters mostly fall into emptiness.

The Master said:

– On the contrary, lecturers mostly fall into emptiness.

Startled, Faming asked:

– Why do they fall into emptiness?

The Master said:

– Sutras and treatises are paper, ink, and written words, and paper, ink, and written words are all empty. The various dharmas are established by borrowing sounds; names, phrases, syllables, and words … are all empty. Lecturers cling tightly to the forms of the teachings—how could they not fall into emptiness?

Faming asked:

– Does the Chan master fall into emptiness?

The Master replied:

– I do not fall into emptiness.

Question:

– Why do you not fall into emptiness?

The Master replied:

– Written words … all arise from wisdom. With the great function manifest before one, how could one fall into emptiness?

Faming said:

– Thus it should be known that one who accomplishes not a single dharma is not called Siddhartha(99).

The Master said:

– The Vinaya master not only falls into emptiness but also misuses terminology.

Faming showed anger and asked:

– Where is the error?

The Master said:

– Vinaya master, you are not yet proficient in Chinese and Sanskrit phonetic transcription; how can you expound the teachings?

– I ask the Chan master to point out Faming’s error.

The Master said:

– Do you not know that “Siddhartha” is Sanskrit?

Although the Vinaya master recognized his error, anger still remained in his heart.

(The complete Sanskrit pronunciation is “Sarvārthasiddha,” translated into Chinese as “Accomplishment of Every Aim.” The old transcription “Siddhārtha” was still deficient, having omitted part of the Sanskrit pronunciation.)

He further asked:

– Sutras, Vinaya, and treatises are the words of the Buddha. If one reads and recites them, respectfully practicing according to the teachings, why does one not see one’s nature?

The Master replied:

– A mad dog chases the clod; a lion bites the person. Sutras, Vinaya, and treatises are the function of self-nature; reading and recitation are dharmas of self-nature.

Faming asked:

– Does Amitabha Buddha have parents and a clan name?

The Master replied:

– Amitabha’s clan name is Kaushika; his father’s name is Chandraprabha, and his mother’s name is Excellent Wondrous Countenance.

Question:

– From which scripture does this come?

The Master replied:

– From the Dharani Collection.

Faming bowed in gratitude, offered praise, and withdrew.

*

– *

A Dharma master versed in the Tripitaka asked:

– Does true suchness undergo transformation?

The Master replied:

– It undergoes transformation.

The Tripitaka master said:

– Chan master, you are mistaken!

The Master then asked the Tripitaka master:

– Is there true suchness?

He replied:

– There is.

The Master said:

– If it definitely does not undergo transformation, you are an ordinary monk. Have you not heard that “a good spiritual friend can transform the three poisons into the three groups of pure precepts, transform the six consciousnesses into the six supernormal powers, transform afflictions into bodhi, and transform ignorance into the great wisdom of true suchness”? If it does not undergo transformation, then the Venerable is indeed a non-Buddhist who advocates spontaneous naturalism.

The Tripitaka master asked:

– If so, does true suchness undergo transformation?

The Master replied:

– If you cling to the view that true suchness undergoes transformation, that too is a non-Buddhist view.

Question:

– The Chan master just said that true suchness undergoes transformation, but now says that it does not. Which is truly correct?

The Master replied:

– For one who clearly sees one’s nature, like a mani jewel displaying colors, it is permissible to say that it undergoes transformation, and it is also permissible to say that it does not. But when one who has not seen one’s nature hears that true suchness undergoes transformation, one understands it as transformation; and when one hears that it does not undergo transformation, one understands it as non-transformation.

The Tripitaka master praised him:

– Thus it should be known that the Southern School is truly unfathomable.

*

– *

A follower of the Way*** asked:

– Is there any dharma in the world that surpasses nature?

The Master replied:

– There is.

Question:

– What dharma can surpass it?

The Master replied:

– The dharma that can know nature.

Question:

– Is primordial qi the Way?

The Master replied:

– Primordial qi is itself primordial qi; the Way is itself the Way.

The man said:

– If so, there must be two.

The Master said:

– Knowing does not involve two persons.

He further asked:

– What is deviant, and what is correct?

The Master replied:

– When mind follows things, that is deviant; when things follow mind, that is correct.

*

– *

Vinaya Master Yuan came and asked:

– Venerable, in cultivating the Way, do you apply effort?

The Master replied:

– I apply effort.

Question:

– How do you apply effort?

The Master replied:

– When hungry, I eat; when tired, I sleep.

Question:

– Everyone does the same. Is their application of effort the same as the Master’s?

The Master replied:

– It is not the same.

Question:

– Why is it not the same?

Reply:

– When they eat, they do not simply eat, but make a hundred demands; when they sleep, they do not simply sleep, but entertain a thousand concerns. Therefore, it is not the same.

The Vinaya master fell silent.

*

– *

The Venerable Yunguang came and asked:

– Chan master, do you yourself know the place of your birth?

The Master replied:

– Since I have never died, why discuss birth? To know birth is itself the dharma of non-arising; to speak of the dharma of non-arising is not apart from the dharma of arising. The Patriarch said, “At the very moment of birth, there is no birth.”

Question:

– Can one who has not seen one’s nature also be like this?

The Master replied:

– That one does not oneself see the nature does not mean that there is no nature. Why is this? Seeing itself is the nature; without the nature, seeing would be impossible. Cognizing itself is the nature, and so it is called the nature of cognition; comprehending itself is the nature, and so it is called the nature of comprehension. That which can give rise to the myriad dharmas is called Dharma-nature and is also called the Dharma-body.

Patriarch Ashvaghosha said, “What is called dharma means the mind of sentient beings. Because mind arises, all dharmas arise. If mind does not arise, dharmas have no source from which to arise, nor are there names and words.” Deluded people do not understand that the Dharma-body has no form or image yet can respond to things and manifest forms, so they say, “The verdant green bamboo is entirely the Dharma-body; the luxuriant yellow flowers are nothing other than prajna.” If yellow flowers are prajna, then prajna is the same as insentient things; if green bamboo is the Dharma-body, then the Dharma-body is the same as grass and trees, and someone eating bamboo shoots must therefore be eating the Dharma-body.

Such statements are too numerous to record. Deluded about the Buddha directly before them, they seek Him for many kalpas; deluded about that which is present throughout the entire substance of all dharmas, they seek outside. Therefore, for one who understands the Way, walking, standing, lying down, and sitting are all the Way; for one who awakens to the Dharma, in every direction one is free and at ease, and all is Dharma.

 The verdant green bamboo is entirely the Dharma-body; the luxuriant yellow flowers are nothing other than prajna.

The Venerable further asked:

Does the great void give rise to numinous awareness?

Does the true mind take good and evil as its objects?

Is a person of craving and desire in accord with the Way?

Will the mind of one who clings to right and wrong later become penetrating?

Does one whose mind arises upon contact with circumstances possess samadhi?

Does one who abides in tranquility possess wisdom?

Does one who inwardly looks down upon things possess a self?

Does one who clings to emptiness and clings to existence possess wisdom?

Those who search written teachings and grasp at realization, those who seek the Buddha through ascetic practices, those who abandon the mind to seek the Buddha, and those who cling to the mind as Buddha—are all these understandings in accord with the Way?

I ask the Chan master to answer each one.

The Master replied:

The great void does not give rise to numinous awareness.

The true mind does not take good and evil as its objects.

Those with much craving and desire have shallow capacities.

Those embroiled in right and wrong have minds that are not yet penetrating.

Those whose minds arise upon contact with circumstances lack samadhi.

Those who remain tranquil and forget functioning have sunken wisdom.

Those who despise others and exalt themselves have a great ego.

Those who cling to emptiness and those who cling to existence are both foolish.

Those who search written teachings and grasp at realization only increase their obstructions; those who seek the Buddha through ascetic practices are all deluded; those who abandon the mind to seek the Buddha are non-Buddhists; those who cling to the mind as Buddha are demons.

The Venerable said:

– If so, must everything ultimately be negated?

The Master replied:

– After all, you are a great worthy; how could it ultimately be that there is nothing at all?

The great worthy joyfully bowed in thanks and withdrew. (Hereafter, the old edition records the biography of Chan Master Weizheng of Mount Baizhang in Hongzhou; it has now been moved to the ninth fascicle, following the account of Venerable Huaihai of Mount Baizhang.)

2. CHAN MASTER FAHUI OF MOUNT LETAN, HONGZHOU.

The Master asked Mazu:

– What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?

The Patriarch said:

– Speak softly. Come closer.

The Master drew near. The Patriarch slapped him once and said:

– Six ears do not share a secret. Come another time.

The next day, the Master came again and entered the Dharma hall, saying:

– I ask the Venerable to speak.

The Patriarch said:

– Go, go. Wait until this old man ascends the hall, then come out, and I shall confirm it for you.

The Master thereupon awakened and said:

– I thank the assembly for confirming it.

He then circumambulated the Dharma hall once and departed.

3. CHAN MASTER ZHIJIAN OF SHANSHAN, CHIZHOU.

At first, while the Master was traveling on foot with Guizong and Nanquan, they encountered a tiger on the road. Each of them passed by, keeping away from the tiger. After they had passed it, Nanquan asked Guizong:

– What animal did the tiger we just saw resemble?

Guizong replied:

– It resembled a cat.

Guizong then asked the Master, who replied:

– It resembled a dog.

Guizong then asked Nanquan, who replied:

– I saw it as a great beast****.

*

– *

While the Master was eating, Nanquan cleared away some uncooked rice and called it “uncooked.” The Master said, “Not uncooked.” Nanquan said:

– “Not uncooked” is still a secondary matter.

Nanquan walked a few steps. The Master called after him:

– Elder, Elder!

Nanquan turned his head and asked, “What is it?” The Master said:

– Do not call it a secondary matter.

*

– *

One day, while the community was picking bracken, Nanquan held up a stalk and said:

– This is excellent for making an offering.

The Master said:

– Not only that—even delicacies of a hundred flavors would hold no attraction for him.

Nanquan said:

– Even so, each kind must be tasted.

(Xuanjue asked: “Are these words of mutual recognition, or are they not words of mutual recognition?”)

*

– *

A monk asked:

– What is the body that has existed from the beginning?

The Master replied:

– In the whole world, nothing resembles it.

4. CHAN MASTER WEIJIAN OF MOUNT LETAN, HONGZHOU.

One day, the Master was sitting in meditation behind Mazu's Dharma hall. Seeing him, the Patriarch blew into the Master's ear. After the Patriarch had blown twice, the Master emerged from samadhi. Seeing that it was the Venerable, he entered samadhi again. The Patriarch returned to his abbot's quarters and told the attendant to bring the Master a bowl of tea. The Master did not even glance at the tea and returned by himself to the Dharma hall.

5. CHAN MASTER DAOXING OF MINGXI, LIZHOU.

On one occasion, the Master said:

– I have a grave illness that cannot be cured by the world.

Later, a monk asked the former Caoshan*****:

– An ancient once said, “I have a grave illness that cannot be cured by the world.” I do not yet know what illness this is called.

Caoshan replied:

– An illness that the entire multitude is incapable of having.

The monk asked:

– Do all sentient beings have this illness?

Caoshan replied:

– Everyone has it.

The monk asked:

– If everyone has it, does the Venerable have this illness?

Caoshan replied:

– Though I search for the place from which it arises, I cannot find it.

The monk asked:

– Why are all sentient beings not free of illness, as the Venerable is?

Caoshan replied:

– If sentient beings were ill in this way, they would not be sentient beings.

The monk asked:

– I do not yet know whether all Buddhas have this illness.

Caoshan replied:

– They do.

The monk asked:

– Since they have it, why are they said to be free of illness?

Caoshan replied:

– Because they are fully awake.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– How should one practice?

The Master replied:

– Indeed, that teacher does not act as a guest.

The monk asked:

– What is it ultimately like?

The Master replied:

– It cannot be left settled in one place.

The monk further asked:

– What is the proper path of practice?

The Master replied:

– There is something after nirvana.

The monk asked:

– What is there after nirvana?

The Master replied:

– Not washing the face.

The monk said:

– This student does not understand.

The Master said:

– There is no face to wash.

*

– *

6. CHAN MASTER HUIZANG OF SHIGONG, FUZHOU.

He had originally devoted himself to hunting and had no liking for Buddhist monks. Once, while pursuing a herd of deer, he passed before Mazu's hermitage, and the Patriarch came out to meet him.

Huizang asked:

– Venerable, did you see any deer run past?

The Patriarch asked:

– What sort of person are you?

He replied:

– A hunter.

The Patriarch asked:

– Do you know how to shoot?

He replied:

– I know how to shoot.

The Patriarch asked:

– How many do you shoot with one arrow?

He replied:

– With one arrow, I shoot one.

The Patriarch said:

– You do not know how to shoot!

Huizang asked:

– Does the Venerable know how to shoot?

The Patriarch replied:

– I know how to shoot.

Huizang asked:

– How many does the Venerable shoot with one arrow?

The Patriarch replied:

– With one arrow, I shoot an entire herd (100).

Huizang said:

– Those and these alike are living beings. Why shoot an entire herd of them?

The Patriarch said:

– Since you understand this, why do you not shoot yourself?

He replied:

– If you tell me to shoot myself, there is nowhere to begin.

The Patriarch said:

– This fellow's ignorance and afflictions accumulated over many kalpas have today suddenly come to an end.

Thereupon, Huizang broke and cast away his bow and arrows, took up a knife and shaved his own head, and ordained under the Patriarch.

*

– *

One day, the Master was performing communal labor in the kitchen. The Patriarch asked:

– What are you doing?

He replied:

– Herding the ox.

The Patriarch asked:

– How do you herd it?

He replied:

– Whenever it enters the grass, I seize it by the nostrils and pull it back (101).

The Patriarch said:

– You truly know how to herd the ox.

The Master then ceased.

*

– *

Later, when he became abbot, the Master often used a bow and arrows to receive those of differing capacities. (The account of Venerable Sanping explains this matter in detail.)

The Master asked Xitang:

– Do you know how to seize empty space?

Xitang replied:

– I know how to seize it.

The Master asked:

– How do you seize it?

Xitang reached out with his hand and grasped at empty space. The Master said:

– How could empty space be seized in that way?

Xitang then asked:

– Elder Dharma brother, how do you seize it?

The Master seized Xitang by the nostrils and pulled. In pain, Xitang cried out loudly:

– You are pulling my nostrils so painfully I could die! Let go!

The Master said:

– Only in this way can empty space be seized.

*

– *

During an assembly of monks for instruction, the Master asked:

– Where is the thing from just now?

A monk replied:

– It is still here.

The Master asked:

– Where is it?

The monk snapped his fingers once.

*

– *

A monk came and bowed. The Master asked:

– Were you able to bring that thing here?

The monk replied:

– I was able to bring it.

The Master asked:

– Where is it?

The monk snapped his fingers three times and asked:

– How can one escape birth and death?

The Master replied:

– What need is there to escape them?

The monk asked:

– How can they be escaped?

The Master replied:

– That thing has neither birth nor death.

7. CHAN MASTER DAOTONG OF MOUNT ZIYU, TANGZHOU.

He was a native of Lujiang, and his family name was He. When young, he accompanied his father, who served as an official in Nan'an County, Quanzhou, and there he left the household life.

In the first year of the Tianbao era of the Tang dynasty, 742 (during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), Mazu was spreading the teaching at the cave on Mount Foji in Jianyang. The Master went to pay respects to the Patriarch. Later, the Patriarch moved to Mount Gonggong in Nankang, and the Master followed him there. In the fourth year of the Zhenyuan era, 788 (during the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang), at the beginning of the second month, when Mazu was about to enter quiescence, he told the Master:

– Wherever jade and stone moisten the mountain, making it beautiful,* that place will benefit your work in the Way. When you encounter such a place, you should dwell there.

The Master did not understand these words. In the autumn of that year, he traveled toward Luoyang with Chan Master Zizai of Mount Funiu. When they reached Tangzhou, he saw a mountain to the west whose singularly sharp and wondrous peak stood far apart from the surrounding ranges. He asked a local person about it and was told that it was Mount Ziyu. The Master then climbed to the summit, where he saw square, even stones gleaming with a purple hue. Delighted, the Master exclaimed:

– There is Ziyu!

Recalling the prophetic words of his late master, the Master cut thatch, built a dwelling, and settled there. Later, students gathered from the four directions.

A monk asked:

– How can one get out of the three realms?

The Master asked:

– How long have you been in them?

The monk asked:

– How can one get free?

The Master replied:

– The green mountains do not hinder the white clouds from flying.

*

– *

Minister Yu Di asked:

– What does it mean when a black wind blows a vessel adrift into the realm of the rakshasas?

The Master said:

– You lackey Yu Di! Do you wish to know what that matter is like?

Yu lost all color. The Master then pointed at him and said:

– That is drifting into the realm of the rakshasas.

Yu again asked:

– What is the Buddha?

The Master called, “Yu Di!” Di responded, “Yes.” The Master said:

– Do not seek anything else.

(A monk related this exchange to Yaoshan and asked him about it. Yaoshan replied, “That fellow was trapped to death!” The monk asked, “What about you, Venerable?” Yaoshan likewise called the monk by name. The monk responded, “Yes.” Yaoshan asked, “What is it?”)

In the eighth year of the Yuanhe era (813, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang), his disciple Jinzang returned after visiting Baizhang and paid his respects to the Master.

The Master said:

– Since you have returned, this mountain now has a master.

Having thus entrusted the community to Jinzang, the Master took up his staff and went directly to Xiangzhou, where both monastics and laypeople welcomed him. On the full-moon day of the seventh month in 813, the Master passed away without illness. He was eighty-three years old.

8. CHAN MASTER LANRUO OF JIANGXI NORTH.

Elder Liang of Hutang said:

– I respectfully present to my elder Dharma brother a portrait of our late master’s true likeness and ask that you contemplate and pay reverence to it for a moment.

The Master used both hands to pull open his robe at the chest by way of instruction, whereupon Liang bowed.

The Master said:

– Do not bow! Do not bow!

Liang said:

– Elder Dharma brother, you are mistaken. I was not bowing to you.

The Master asked:

– Were you bowing to the true likeness of our late master?

Liang asked:

– Why, then, did you tell me not to bow?

The Master replied:

– When was I ever mistaken?

*

– *

9. CHAN MASTER RUMAN OF FOGUANG MONASTERY IN THE EASTERN CAPITAL.

(He formerly resided at Jinge Monastery on Mount Wutai.)

Emperor Shunzong of the Tang (805) asked:

– From where did the Buddha come, and where did he go after death? It is said that he perpetually abides in the world; where is the Buddha now?

The Master replied:

– The Buddha came from the unconditioned and, after death, returned to the unconditioned. The Dharma-body is identical with empty space and perpetually remains in the place of no-mind. Where there is thought, it returns to no-thought; where there is abiding, it returns to non-abiding. He came for the sake of sentient beings and departed for the sake of sentient beings. The ocean of true suchness is pure; its essence, serene and still, perpetually abides. Let the wise carefully contemplate this, and do not give rise to anxiety, doubt, or suspicion.

The emperor again asked:

– The Buddha was born in a royal palace and died beneath the twin sal trees. He dwelt in the world for forty-nine years, yet it is also said that there was no Dharma for him to

teach. Mountains, rivers, and the great oceans, heaven and earth, the sun and moon—all will eventually return to emptiness. What, then, can be said to be neither born nor extinguished? My doubts remain such as these; I ask the wise one to distinguish and explain this skillfully for me.

The Master replied:

– The Buddha’s essence is originally unconditioned, but deluded feelings falsely discriminate. The Dharma-body is identical with empty space and has never undergone birth or extinction. When conditions exist, the Buddha appears in the world; when conditions are exhausted, the Buddha enters nirvana. He teaches and transforms sentient beings everywhere, like the moon reflected in water. It is neither eternalism nor annihilationism, neither birth nor extinction. Birth has never truly been birth, and extinction has never truly been extinction. If one clearly sees the place of no-mind, naturally there is no Dharma to be spoken.

Having heard this, the emperor rejoiced greatly and held the Chan school in even greater esteem.

10. CHAN MASTER DAOMING OF NANYUAN IN YUANZHOU.

The Master ascended the Dharma hall and said:

– A swift horse needs but one stroke of the whip; a keen person needs but one word. If there is something at issue, why not show your head? Each of you is inherently without concerns. Take care!

The Master then descended from the seat.

A monk asked:

– What is that one word?

The Master hesitated and replied:

– Wait until I possess the broad and long tongue-mark; then I shall tell you.

*

– *

Dongshan came for an audience and had just ascended the Dharma hall when the Master said:

– We have already met.

Dongshan immediately went down. The next day, Dongshan came up again and asked:

– Yesterday, through the Venerable’s compassionate kindness, I gained a general understanding of where your assistance lay. But at what point did we meet?

The Master replied:

– Mind after mind, without interruption, merges into the ocean of the nature.

Dongshan said:

– I nearly let it pass by several times.

When Dongshan took his leave, the Master said:

– Study the Buddha-Dharma extensively and broadly perform beneficial works.

Dongshan asked:

– I will not ask about studying the Buddha-Dharma extensively. What is it to broadly perform beneficial works?

The Master replied:

– It is necessary not to depart from a single thing.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– What is the Buddha?

The Master replied:

– You should not say, “This is correct.”

11. CHAN MASTER ZIMAN OF LICUN IN HANGZHOU.

The Master ascended the Dharma hall and instructed the assembly:

– The Dharma is naturally thus; from ancient times to the present, it has never differed. What else is there? Nevertheless, there are still people unable to carry out this great matter.

At that time, a monk asked:

– Without falling into ancient or present, Master, please speak directly.

The Master replied:

– Clearly, I know that you cannot carry it out.

The monk was about to say more. The Master said:

– You suppose this old monk has fallen into that ancient and present.

The monk asked:

– What, then, would be correct?

The Master replied:

– A fish can scarcely fly beyond the rank of the blue-eyed Elder 

The monk asked:

– How can one avoid that fault?

The Master said:

– If it bears the form of a dragon, what need is there to discuss high and low?

The monk bowed. The Master said:

– How painful! How shameful! Who is like me?

*

– *

One day, the Master told the assembly:

– Even if you receive it with due reverence, when bright day and dark night have both been swept away, what can still be said?

At that time, a monk asked:

– What is the phrase beyond contention?

The Master replied:

– It resounds through heaven and earth.

12. CHAN MASTER HONG’EN OF ZHONGYI IN LANGZHOU.

When Yangshan had just received the novice precepts, he came to bow in gratitude to the Master who had transmitted the precepts. When the Master saw Yangshan approaching, he was seated on the Chan platform. He clapped his hands and said:

– Harmony, harmony!

Yangshan went and stood on the eastern side, then crossed over and stood on the western side, and afterward stood in the middle. Having bowed in gratitude, he withdrew and stood behind.

The Master asked:

– Where did you obtain that samadhi?

Yangshan replied:

– I learned the seal that releases bonds at Caoxi.

The Master asked:

– Tell me, whom did Caoxi receive by means of that samadhi?

Yangshan replied:

– He used that samadhi to receive Yisu Jue, the One-Night Awakened One.

Yangshan asked:

– Venerable, where did you obtain that samadhi?

The Master replied:

– I learned that samadhi from Great Master Ma.

Someone asked:

– How can one see the nature?

The Master replied:

– Suppose there is a house with six windows. Inside is a monkey. From the eastern window it cries, “Shan, shan!” and the monkey sitting outside the window responds, “Shan, shan!” At all six windows it calls, and at each they answer one another in this way.

Yangshan bowed in gratitude, then rose and asked:

– Through the Venerable’s compassionate kindness in giving this analogy, I now understand clearly. But there is still one matter: suppose the monkey inside has grown weary and fallen asleep. If the monkey outside wishes to meet it, what should it do?

The Master stepped down from the Chan platform, took Yangshan by the hand, and, dancing, said:

– Shan, shan! You and I have met! It is like the tiny jiaoming insect making its nest upon the hair of a mosquito’s eyelash, then facing the crossroads and crying aloud, “The land is vast and the people few; rarely does one encounter another.”

(Yunju Xi said:

– If, at that time, Zhongyi had not met Yangshan’s one phrase, where would Zhongyi have been?

Chongshou Chou asked:

– Can anyone determine the principle here? If you cannot determine it, then Zhongyi was merely someone who used his hands and feet to bewilder people. Wherein lies the meaning of Buddha-nature?

Xuanjue said:

– Had it not been Yangshan, how could Zhongyi have been seen? Now tell me: “Where did Yangshan see Zhongyi?”)

13. CHAN MASTER HUIHAI OF MOUNT BAIZHANG IN HONGZHOU.

He was a native of Changle in Fuzhou. He left home at a young age, mastered all three trainings, and possessed extensive experience.

When Daji, Mazu, was spreading the teaching in Nankang, the Master wholeheartedly relied upon him. Together with Chan Master Xitang Zhizang, he was equally known as a disciple who had entered the Master’s chamber. At that time, these two great beings served as pillars of the community there.

One evening, the two great beings attended Mazu while viewing the moon. The Patriarch asked:

– At precisely such a time, what should one do?

Xitang replied:

– One should make offerings.

The Master replied:

– One should cultivate the Way.

The Patriarch said:

– The scriptures enter Zang, and Chan returns to Hai.

*

– *

Mazu ascended the Dharma hall, and the great assembly gathered like clouds. The Patriarch had scarcely taken his seat when the Master rolled up the sitting mat and bowed before the assembly. The Patriarch immediately descended from the seat.

*

– *

One day, the Master came again to visit Mazu. The Patriarch took the fly whisk hanging at the corner of the Chan platform and showed it to the Master. The Master said:

– It is just that; there is nothing else.

The Patriarch again returned the fly-whisk to its former place and asked:

– If it is so, what will you use to teach people hereafter, and how will you teach them?

The Master again picked up the fly-whisk and raised it. The Patriarch said:

– It is just that; there is nothing else.

The Master took the fly-whisk and hung it back in its former place. Just as he stood in attendance, the Patriarch shouted at him. From then on, the Master's renown spread far and wide. Eventually, donors and faithful patrons invited him to the border region of Hongzhou, at Xinwu. The Master resided on Mount Daxiong. Because his dwelling was on a lofty and precipitous mountain, people of the time called him Baizhang. He had been there less than a month when seekers of the mysterious gate came from all four directions; foremost among them were Guishan and Huangbo.

*

– *

One day, the Master addressed the assembly:

– The Buddha-Dharma is no trifling matter. Formerly, when this old monk went again to inquire, I received a single shout from Great Master Ma that left me deaf and my vision dim for three days.

On hearing this account, Huangbo involuntarily stuck out his tongue and said:

– I do not know Mazu, but neither have I failed to meet Mazu.

The Master said:

– In the future, you will inherit Mazu's Dharma.

Huangbo said:

– I will not inherit Mazu's Dharma.

The Master asked:

– Why?

He replied:

– If I inherited Mazu's Dharma, I would later lose all my descendants.

The Master said:

– So it is, so it is.

*

– *

One day, a monk entered the Dharma hall weeping.

The Master asked:

– What is the matter?

The monk said:

– Both my father and mother have died. I ask the Master to choose a day for me.

The Master said:

– Bury them both together tomorrow.

*

– *

The Master ascended the hall and taught:

– Put away your throats, lips, and mouths, and speak at once!

Guishan said:

– I cannot speak. I ask the Venerable Master to speak.

The Master said:

– I do not refuse to speak for you; I only fear that afterward all my descendants will be lost.

Jiufeng said:

– The Venerable Master should also put them all away.

The Master said:

– Where no one is present, I shall split open my forehead and look at you.

Yunyan said:

– I have something to say. I ask the Venerable Master to present the matter.

The Master presented it:

– Put away your throats, lips, and mouths, and speak at once!

Yunyan said:

– Master, you have them now.

The Master said:

– All my descendants are lost!

*

– *

The Master told the assembly:

– I need someone to convey a message to Venerable Xitang. Who can go?

Wufeng said:

– I will go.

The Master asked:

– How will you convey the message?

Wufeng replied:

– I shall speak only when I meet Xitang.

The Master asked:

– What will you say?

Wufeng replied:

– I shall say exactly what the Venerable Master says.

*

– *

While the Master and Guishan were working, the Master asked:

– Is there any fire?

Guishan replied:

– There is.

The Master asked:

– Where is it?

Guishan picked up a branch, blew on it several times, and passed it to the Master.

The Master said:

– Like a wood-boring insect eating a tree.

 Insect: A woodworm or termite.

*

– *

Someone asked:

– What is Buddha?

The Master asked:

– Who are you?

The monk replied:

– I.

The Master asked:

– Do you know this “I”?

The monk replied:

– Perfectly clear.

The Master raised his fly-whisk and asked:

– Do you see it?

The monk replied:

– I see it.

The Master said nothing more.

*

– *

Once, while the entire assembly was hoeing the ground, they heard the drum announcing the meal. Suddenly, one monk raised his hoe, laughed aloud, and returned to the monastery. The Master said:

– Excellent! This is Avalokitesvara's gate for entering the principle.

After returning to the monastery, the Master summoned that monk and asked:

– What principle did you perceive just now that made you act so?

He replied:

– Just now, I merely heard the drum sound, so I returned to eat.

The Master laughed.

*

– *

Someone asked:

– “To interpret the meaning by relying on the sutras wrongs the Buddhas of the three times; to depart from the sutras by a single word is to speak like Mara.” What does this mean?

The Master replied:

– Clinging to movement and functioning wrongs the Buddhas of the three times; sitting in that and seeking Buddha elsewhere is to speak like Mara.

*

– *

Once, a monk asked Xitang:

– Let us set aside for the moment when there is a question and an answer. What about when there is neither question nor answer?

Xitang replied:

– Are you afraid it will rot away completely?

When the Master heard this recounted, he said:

– I have always had doubts about that elder brother.

The monk said:

– I ask the Venerable Master to speak.

The Master replied:

– The characteristic of unity(102) cannot be apprehended.

*

– *

The Master taught the assembly:

“There is a person who has not eaten for a long time yet does not say he is hungry; there is a person who eats all day yet does not say he is full.”

No one in the assembly could answer.

*

– *

Yunyan asked:

– For whom is the Venerable Master busy every day?

The Master replied:

– There is someone who requires it.

Yunyan asked:

– Why not tell him to do it himself?

The Master replied:

– He has no household affairs.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– What is the Mahayana Dharma gate of sudden awakening?

The Master replied:

– First of all, cease all conditions and bring to rest the myriad matters, wholesome and unwholesome, worldly and transcendent. Do not remember or think of any dharma. Let go of body and mind and allow them to be at ease. Let the mind be like wood or stone, with nowhere to discriminate, nowhere for the mind to operate. When the ground of mind is empty in this way, the sun of wisdom naturally manifests, as when clouds disperse and the sun appears. All that resembles such activity comes to rest; utterly exhaust the passions of greed, anger, and attachment, the clinging to defilement and purity, and all involvement with conditions. Amid the five desires and the eight

winds(103), do not be bound by seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing. When no circumstances delude you, you naturally possess wondrous functions and spiritual powers in full. Such a person is liberated.

In relation to every object and state of mind, have neither purity nor confusion, neither grasping nor relinquishing. Penetrate all sounds, forms, and so forth without further obstruction; this is called a person of the Way.

Simply not being bound by any wholesome or unwholesome matter, by purity or impurity, or by the conditioned worldly accumulation of merit and wisdom is called the wisdom of a Buddha.

When all views of right and wrong, good and bad, sound and unsound principles are cleansed away, and the mind is free with nowhere it can be bound, this is called a bodhisattva who, upon first arousing the mind, immediately ascends to the stage of Buddhahood.

All dharmas fundamentally do not declare themselves empty, do not declare themselves form, nor do they speak of right and wrong, defilement and purity. Neither do they possess a mind that binds people. It is only people themselves

who cling, falsely calculate, produce manifold kinds of understanding, and give rise to manifold kinds of views.

When the mind's defilement and purity are utterly exhausted in this way, it abides neither in bondage nor in liberation. It is without any mental measure of the conditioned or unconditioned; bondage and liberation are equal. Though amid birth and death, that mind is free and ultimately does not mingle with the entrances into birth and death, the skandhas, dhatus, or the illusory defilements of sense objects(104). Utterly transcending them, relying and depending on nothing whatsoever, one comes and goes unobstructed; the business of passing to and fro through birth and death is like an open gate.

If one encounters all manner of painful, joyful, and disagreeable circumstances, yet the mind does not retreat; if one does not think of fame, clothing, or food and does not covet any meritorious benefit, then one will not become trapped in worldly dharmas. Although the mind itself experiences pain and joy, inwardly it remains uninvolved. Eating simple food to sustain life and wearing patched robes to ward off heat and cold, one must be vacant and still, like a fool and like one deaf; only then does one have some small measure of intimacy. Amid birth and death, extensive learning and intellectual understanding, and seeking merit and wisdom, are all useless in relation to the principle;

instead, one is blown about by the winds of circumstances and intellectual understanding and returns again to the sea of birth and death.

A Buddha is one who seeks nothing. To seek is immediately to contradict the principle; the principle is the principle of seeking nothing, and seeking it is to ruin it. If one clings to non-seeking, that is likewise the same as seeking.

This Dharma is neither real nor unreal. If throughout one lifetime the mind can remain like wood or stone, not dragged about, submerged, raised up, and tossed adrift by the skandhas, dhatus, five desires, and eight winds, then the cause of birth and death is severed. One comes and goes freely, no longer bound by any conditioned cause and effect.

Thereafter, with an unbound body, one mingles with the dust to benefit beings; with an unbound mind, one responds to and transforms every kind of mind; and with unbound wisdom, one liberates all who are bound, while also being able to prescribe medicine according to the illness.

*

– *

A monk asked:

– If, as at present, one receives and upholds the precepts, purifies body and speech, and fully possesses all wholesome dharmas, does one attain liberation?

The Master replied:

– One attains a small measure of liberation, but has not yet attained liberation of mind or complete liberation.

The monk asked:

– What is liberation of mind?

The Master replied:

– Seek neither Buddha nor intellectual understanding; cease all feelings concerning defilement and purity, yet do not cling to this as non-seeking. This also means not abiding in the state of cessation, neither fearing descent into hell nor craving the pleasures of heaven, and remaining unattached to all dharmas. Only this is called liberation. When body and mind are unobstructed in relation to everything, all of this is called liberation.

Do not suppose that observing a small portion of the precepts and practicing wholesome dharmas is sufficient. Of the Dharma gates, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, of the precepts, samadhi, wisdom, and the unconditioned, you have not yet experienced even the slightest fraction. Exert yourselves courageously and put this into practice at once.

Do not wait until your ears are deaf and your eyes dim, your hair white and your face wrinkled, and the sufferings of old age overtake your body. Then, with tears in your eyes and panic in your heart, you will have nowhere to go. At that time, how could you possibly set your hands and feet in order?

Even if you possess merit, wisdom, knowledge, and extensive learning, none can save you, because the mind’s eye has not yet opened. Your thoughts will merely follow the various objects, without knowing how to turn the illumination back upon yourself and without seeing the Buddha Way. All the wholesome and unwholesome karma created throughout your life will appear before your eyes.

Whether delighted or frightened, you will see the six realms and five skandhas fully arrayed before you, appearing exceedingly beautiful. Houses, boats, and vehicles will shine with dazzling brilliance, all produced by the mind of craving and attachment. Everything seen will transform into a beautiful scene, and according to whichever object of perception bears the greatest weight of craving and attachment, you will

undergo birth. You will have no freedom whatsoever, and whether born as a dragon or an animal, noble or lowly, nothing will be yours to decide.

Question:

– How can one attain freedom?

Answer:

– If, right now, amid the five desires and eight winds, there is no feeling of grasping or rejecting, and both defilement and purity have vanished, you will be like the orb of the sun or moon in the open sky, shining without cause. With a mind like wood or stone, you will resemble a great fragrant elephant cleaving the current as it crosses a river, utterly unhindered. Heaven and hell cannot hold such a person captive.

This is not a matter of reading sutras, examining the teachings, and speaking empty words. Rather, you must turn everything back and return it to yourself. All verbal teachings are intended to illuminate your own awakened nature right now.

Your awakened nature is not shifted or turned by any object or dharma, whether existent or nonexistent. That guiding teacher—awakened nature—can illuminate and break through every object and dharma, whether existent or nonexistent. Only that vajra has a share in independence and freedom.

If you do not attain this, then even if you can recite the twelve divisions of the scriptures, you will merely develop overweening pride; furthermore, you will be slandering the Buddha rather than practicing. By worldly standards, reading sutras and examining the teachings are wholesome activities, but for one who has illuminated the principle, they indicate that the person is still obstructed. One liberated at the tenth bodhisattva stage

does not abandon the sacred stream when entering the river of birth and death. There is simply no need to seek knowledge of scriptural phrases through their verbal meanings. Such knowledge belongs to craving, and craving transforms into illness.

Right now, you need only depart from all dharmas of existence and nonexistence and break through beyond the three phrases(105); naturally, you will be no different from the Buddha. Since you yourself are already Buddha, why worry that a Buddha does not know how to teach the Dharma? Only fear that you are not Buddha and are shifted and turned by dharmas of existence and nonexistence, unable to attain freedom.

Therefore, if merit and wisdom* arise first, before you stand firmly upon the principle, merit and wisdom will drag you about like a lowly man ordering a nobleman. It is better first to stand firmly upon the principle and only afterward possess merit and wisdom. When the occasion arises, you will accomplish the work: grasping earth and turning it into gold, transforming seawater into ghee, shattering Mount Sumeru into fine dust, producing immeasurable meanings from a single meaning, and producing a single meaning from immeasurable meanings.

*

– *

Once, after the Master had finished teaching the Dharma, the assembly withdrew. The Master then called them back. The assembly turned their heads, and the Master asked, “What is it?”

(Master Yaoshan called this “Baizhang’s Phrase upon Descending from the Hall.”**)

*

– *

In the ninth year of the Yuanhe era of the Tang dynasty, 814 (during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang), on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the Master entered quiescence. He was ninety-five years old.

In the first year of the Changqing era (821, during the reign of Emperor Muzong of Tang), the emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Dazhi, “Great Wisdom,” and named his stupa the Great Precious Victorious Wheel.

REGULATIONS OF THE CHAN MONASTERY

CHAN MASTER BAIZHANG DAZHI

From the time the Chan school began at Shaoshi and continued through Caoxi down to the present, its members mostly resided in Vinaya monasteries. Although they lived separately in Chan cloisters, the regulations of Vinaya monasteries were unsuitable for teaching the Dharma and serving as abbot, and it was common for them to feel dissatisfied. Thus it was said, “The Patriarch of the Way wished the teaching to spread widely, originally hoping that it would endure even to the furthest reaches of the future. How could he merely follow the Agama collections?”

(In Sanskrit, the old translation is A-han, while the new translation is Agama; that is, the scriptures of the Lesser Vehicle.)

Someone said, “The Yogacarabhumi Treatise and the Yingluo Sutra contain the precepts of the Great Vehicle; why not follow them?” The Master replied, “Our school is not confined within either the Lesser Vehicle or the Great Vehicle, yet neither is it separate from the Lesser Vehicle or the Great Vehicle.” It was necessary to strike a balance, summarize the essential principles, and establish regulations appropriate to both vehicles. From this arose the intention to establish separate residences for the Chan school.

Anyone possessing the eye of the Way and virtue worthy of reverence is called an elder. In the Western Regions, those of lofty attainment and great seniority in the Way, such as Subhuti and others, were all so called. Since such a person is the teacher and guide of a particular place, he must reside in the abbot’s quarters, corresponding to the chamber of Vimalakirti; it is not a private room for sleeping and resting. No Buddha hall is established there; only a Dharma hall may be erected. This signifies that, through the personal entrustment of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, the abbot is an honored one of his time. It is the place where the community of students gathers, without distinction of number, rank, or status.

The entire community resides in the Sangha hall, with places assigned according to the order of monastic seniority. Long connected platforms are constructed, with racks added for hanging robes and the implements of the Way. When lying down, the monks must place their pillows at an angle according to the order of seniority in the Way. When sleeping, they lie on their right sides in the auspicious posture, merely taking temporary rest after prolonged seated meditation.

The community must fully practice the four deportments. Except when entering the abbot’s room to request instruction, no fixed standard is imposed according to whether a student is diligent or indolent, senior or junior.

The entire Chan monastic community gathers morning and evening for audience and instruction. The elder ascends the hall and takes the high seat, while the supervising teacher arranges the assembly in rows on either side to listen. Host and guest exchange questions and answers, thereby raising and elucidating the essential principles of the school.

They embody the spirit of eating and dwelling in accordance with the Dharma. Rice and gruel are served as appropriate at the two daily meals and distributed equally to everyone, for the sake of frugality and to demonstrate the parallel cultivation of Dharma and food.

The practice of universal labor is carried out, with those above and below all working. Ten specialized duties are established, each known as an office. Each office appoints one person as its head to manage the many people who jointly attend to the work, so that each office oversees its own department. (The person overseeing rice is called the rice chief; the person overseeing vegetables is called the vegetable chief; the other positions are named in the same manner.)

Someone said, “Those who borrow the title and steal the appearance of monastics in order to mingle with the pure assembly, while merely occupying themselves with noisy and miscellaneous affairs, are parasites.”

The rector investigates the matter and recommends expulsion. He removes the monk’s assigned place, either requiring him to request residence at another Chan monastery or driving him out of the monastery, thereby preserving peace within the pure assembly. If someone commits an offense, he is punished with blows from the staff. The community then assembles, burns his robes, bowl, and implements of the Way, and expels him from the monastery through a side gate so that he will feel ashamed.

A full understanding of these regulations reveals four benefits:

1. The pure assembly is not defiled, and therefore reverence and faith arise. (Those who commit unwholesome acts through the three karmic activities should not dwell with the community. According to the Vinaya, the brahmadanda discipline must be used to correct them. They must be expelled from the monastery so that the pure assembly may be at peace; only then will reverence and faith arise.)

2. In accordance with the Buddha’s Dharma, the physical form of a member of the Sangha is not dishonored.

(Punishment is administered as appropriate, but the Dharma robe is retained; afterward, the offender must repent.)

3. Do not trouble the public authorities, thereby reducing litigation.

4. Do not disclose matters outside, in order to preserve the discipline of the school.

(Whoever clearly examines the four points just stated will allow ordinary beings and sages to dwell together. Moreover, when the Tathagata appeared in the world, there was still the group of six monks; how much more so now, in the Semblance Dharma and Final Dharma ages—how could there be absolutely no faults? If, upon seeing a monk at fault, one immediately rises to ridicule him, one truly fails to realize that by disparaging the assembly one destroys the Dharma; the harm is exceedingly great.

Now, if we wish to minimize harm within the Chan school, we should follow Baizhang’s model for monastic communities. In assigning duties, rules must still be established to guard against misconduct. Not everyone is necessarily a worthy person. It is better to have rules that are not violated; how could there be violations without instruction and correction? This is precisely

owing to the benefit that Chan Master Baizhang rendered in protecting the Dharma. How important it is!).

The independent practice of the Chan school was initiated by Baizhang. Here its general outline is briefly summarized so that later students may look it over and understand it. All the standards and regulations of the mountain monastery are fully contained herein; do not allow their foundation to be lost.

END OF VOLUME VI

Notes:

(96) One Mind: The True Mind, which is only one, also called the wondrously luminous True Mind. From beginningless time it has originally been thus; unborn and undying amid arising and ceasing, it is constantly present at the sense faculties and functions universally.

(97) Rubbing the eyes causes illusory flowers to appear in empty space. The circle symbolizes the nature of enlightenment, like empty space; the illusory flowers symbolize the sense objects of dharmas that arise and cease. If one truly knows that the illusory flowers arise and cease within the unborn and undying nature of enlightenment, then to say either that one knows or that one does not know is equally valid.

– Emperor Wuzong of the Tang dynasty, the third persecution of the Dharma.

(98) Unequaled Equal: A term of the Buddha Vehicle used exclusively as an honorific for the Buddha. The attainments of sravakas and bodhisattvas cannot equal that of the Buddha, hence “unequaled”; only Buddha and Buddha are equal in attainment, hence “unequaled equal.”

** One Dharma: Its meaning is the same as One Mind; see note (1).

(99) Siddhartha: A Sanskrit transliteration meaning “one who has accomplished the goal.” One Dharma: The thusness-essence of all dharmas, which is the empty characteristic of all dharmas.

*** Followers of the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi.

**** Great beast: Another name for the tiger.

***** Late: Meaning “formerly,” referring to one who has already died. It is not known whether this was Caoshan Benji.

(100) The Patriarch did not employ names but used prajna wisdom—whether wisdom in function or wisdom in essence—and therefore shot forth in a single stroke: “Form itself is emptiness.”

101 To recognize the thusness-essence directly within conditioned characteristics (form and emptiness, movement and stillness, contact and separation, arising and ceasing, and so forth), and thereafter remain keenly attentive and skillfully remember and preserve it, is called “herding the ox.” To forget that thusness-essence is to fall into consciousness, where subject and object are immediately established; this is called “entering the grass.”

– A mountain with abundant trees, rocks containing jade, and beautiful scenery of extraordinary rarity.

 Tranquilly clear: Luminous, pure, and quiescent. Permanently abiding: Ever present, never absent.

 Blue-eyed barbarian: The blue-eyed elder, an allusion to Patriarch Bodhidharma.

102 A composite characteristic: Dharmas formed through the conjunction of causes and conditions are called composite characteristics. Because they are formed through causes and conditions, they have no inherent nature (no-self); that is, they are empty and unobtainable.

103 Five desires: Five kinds of craving arising from the five sense objects. 1. Desire for forms: craving for visible forms; 2. Desire for sounds: craving for sounds; 3. Desire for fragrances: craving for scents; 4. Desire for flavors: craving for tastes; 5. Desire for touch: craving for tactile sensations. Alternatively: 1. Desire for wealth: craving for money and possessions; 2. Desire for beauty: craving for beautiful forms; 3. Desire for fame: craving for reputation; 4. Desire for food: craving for food and drink; 5. Desire for sleep: craving for sleep and rest.

Eight winds: Eight winds that sway the human heart. 1–2. Gain: obtaining; Loss: losing or being defeated. 3–4. Censure: criticism; Praise: commendation. 5–6. Honor: glory; Disgrace: humiliation. 7–8. Suffering: pain; Pleasure: joy.

104 Ayatana: Also called the six ayatanas, six bases, six sense objects, or six fields. The six objects of the six sense faculties are form, sound, fragrance, flavor, touch, and dharmas.

Skandha: The five skandhas, also called the five aggregates. The five factors constituting the complete human being in body and mind are form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness.

Dhatu: 1. One element among the four elements, six elements, or seven elements. 2. A realm or world, such as the three realms: the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm. 3. The eighteen dhatus, the eighteen factors from which consciousness arises, comprising the six sense faculties, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses.

 Bondage: Being bound and entangled.

105 Three phrases: In order to express the essential purport of Chan, the various Chan schools used words to instruct and guide students. For example, Yunmen’s three phrases are: “Containing and covering heaven and earth; discerning the pivotal mechanism in the finest detail; not involved in the myriad conditions.” This means: Absolute truth pervades heaven and earth (the gateway of One Mind); transcending language and written words, one must suddenly awaken within one’s own mind (the gateway of true thusness); according with conditions to teach and transform sentient beings, entirely without obstruction (the gateway of arising and ceasing). (The terms in parentheses are provided for comparison with the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana.)

– Merit and knowledge: Merit and intellectual knowledge. Intellectual knowledge consists of understandings gained through experience or study, or through emotion or reason—that is, the capacity to know by inference. These are collectively called delusive knowing.

Baizhang’s phrase upon leaving the Dharma hall.