---
title: "指月錄 · 三祖僧璨大師"
description: "指月录是明代瞿汝稷编纂的一部重要佛教典籍，成书于万历年间。该书以禅宗公案为核心，收录了从佛祖释迦牟尼到宋代高僧的六百余则禅门语录和典故，系统梳理了禅宗传承脉络。瞿汝稷作为晚明著名居士，以指月为喻，强调文字只是指向真理的工具而非真理本身，体现了禅宗不立文字、直指人心的宗旨。这部著作不仅保存了大量珍贵禅宗史料，更以其精要的选编和独到的评点，成为研究中国禅宗思想发展的重要文献，在佛教史上具有承前启后的地位，至今仍是禅学研究者必读经典。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cma8x2fez00cul404ddaz51u6"
---

### ▲三祖僧璨大師

> ▲The Third Patriarch, Master Sengcan

不知何許人。以白衣謁二祖得度。傳法後。隱於舒之皖公山。往來太湖縣司空山。當後周毀法。祖深自韜晦。居無常處。積十餘載。人無能知者。至隋開皇十二年。有沙彌道信。年始十四。來禮祖曰。願和尚慈悲。乞與解脫法門。祖曰。誰縛汝。曰無人縛。祖曰。何更求解脫乎。信於言下大悟。統要云。信於是有省。又問如何是古佛心。祖曰。汝今是甚麼心。曰我今無心。祖曰。汝既無心。諸佛豈有耶。信于是頓息其疑服勞九載。後於吉州受戒。侍奉尤謹。祖屢試以玄微。知其緣熟。乃付衣法。偈曰。華種雖因地。從地種華生。若無人下種。華地盡無生　祖又曰。昔可大師付吾法後。往鄴都行化三十餘年。今吾得汝。何滯此乎。即適羅浮山。優游二載。却還舊址。逾月士民奔趨。大設檀供。祖為四眾廣宣心要訖。於法會大樹下。合掌立化。隋煬大業二年丙寅十月十五日也。

> No one knew where he came from. He met the Second Patriarch as a layman in plain clothes, and through that encounter was ordained. After transmitting the Dharma, he went into hiding on Wangong Mountain in Shu region, coming and going from Mount Sikong in Taihu County. When the Later Zhou persecution of Buddhism began, the Patriarch concealed himself deeply, staying nowhere for long. For over ten years, no one knew where he was. In the twelfth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui dynasty, a novice monk named Daoxin, only fourteen years old, came to pay homage to the Patriarch and said, "I beg you, Master, out of compassion, to grant me the teaching of Liberation." The Patriarch asked, "Who has bound you?" He replied, "No one has bound me." The Patriarch said, "Then why seek Liberation?" At these words, Daoxin had a great awakening. (According to the Tongyao: Daoxin was thus enlightened. He then asked, "What is the mind of the ancient Buddhas?" The Patriarch replied, "What mind do you have right now?" He said, "I have no mind right now." The Patriarch said, "Since you have no mind, how could the Buddhas have one?" At this, Daoxin's doubts were completely put to rest.) Daoxin served and labored for nine years. Later he received the precepts in Jizhou and attended the Patriarch with even greater care. The Patriarch repeatedly tested him with profound and subtle questions and knew his time had come. So he transmitted the robe and Dharma to him, with this verse: The seed may depend on the ground, but from the ground the seed-flower grows. If no one plants the seed, the flower and ground alike yield no growth. The Patriarch then said, "After Master Ke transmitted the Dharma to me, he went to Yedu and taught for over thirty years. Now that I have found you, why should I remain here?" He then went to Mount Luofu, where he lived at ease for two years before returning to his former dwelling. Within a month, officials and common people rushed to him in great numbers, making generous offerings. After the Patriarch had widely proclaimed the essence of the mind to the four assemblies, he stood beneath a great tree at the Dharma gathering, pressed his palms together, and passed away standing. It was the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the second year of the Daye era of Emperor Yang of Sui, the year of Bingyin.

祖說法三十餘年。絕口不談其姓族鄉邑。常語四祖云。有人借問。勿道於我處得法。

> The Patriarch taught the Dharma for over thirty years, yet never once spoke of his family name, clan, or hometown. He often said to the Fourth Patriarch, "If anyone asks you, do not say that you received the Dharma from me."

祖著信心銘曰。至道無難。惟嫌揀擇。但莫憎愛。洞然明白。毫釐有差。天地懸隔。欲得現前。莫存順逆。違順相爭。是為心病。不識玄旨。徒勞念靜。圓同太虗。無欠無餘。良由取舍。所以不如。莫逐有緣。勿住空忍。一種平懷。泯然自盡。止動歸止。止更彌動。惟滯兩邊。寧知一種。一種不通。兩處失功。遣有沒有。從空背空。多言多慮。轉不相應。絕言絕慮。無處不通。歸根得旨。隨照失宗。須臾返照。勝却前空。前空轉變。皆由妄見。不用求真。惟須息見。二見不住。慎莫追尋。纔有是非。紛然失心。二由一有。一亦莫守。一心不生。萬法無咎。無咎無法。不生不心。能由境滅。境逐能沉。境由能境。能由境能。欲知兩段。原是一空。一空同兩。齊含萬象。不見精麤。寧有偏黨。大道體寬。無易無難。小見狐疑。轉急轉遲。執之失度。必入邪路。放之自然。體無去住。任性合道。逍遙絕惱。繫念乖真。昬沉不好。不好勞神。何用疎親。欲取一乘。勿惡六塵。六塵不惡。還同正覺。智者無為。愚人自縛。法無異法。妄自愛著。將心用心。豈非大錯。迷生寂亂。悟無好惡。一切二邊。良由斟酌。夢幻空花。何勞把捉。得失是非。一時放却。眼若不寐。諸夢自除。心若不異。萬法一如。一如體玄。兀爾忘緣。萬法齊觀。歸復自然。泯其所以。不可方比。止動無動。動止無止。兩既不成。一何有爾。究竟窮極。不存軌則。契心平等。所作俱息。狐疑盡淨。正信調直。一切不留。無可記憶。虗明自照。不勞心力。非思量處。識情難測。真如法界。無他無自。要急相應。惟言不二。不二皆同。無不包容。十方智者。皆入此宗。宗非延促。一念萬年。無在不在十方目前。極小同大。忘絕境界。極大同小。不見邊表。有即是無。無即是有。若不如是。必不須守。一即一切。一切即一。但能如是。何慮不畢。信心不二。不二信心。言語道斷。非去來今。

> The Great Master's Faith-Mind Maxim says: The Path to Cessation is not difficult. It only dislikes picking and choosing. Just avoid hatred and craving, and it becomes perfectly clear. A hairsbreadth of difference and heaven and earth are set apart. If you wish to see it before your eyes, hold no views of favorable or unfavorable. When favorable and unfavorable fight each other, that is the sickness of the mind. Not knowing the profound meaning, you waste effort trying to still your thoughts. It is perfect like vast space, lacking nothing and having nothing extra. It is only because of picking up and letting go that you fail to see it as it is. Do not chase after entanglements. Do not dwell in empty forbearance. A single even-mindedness and everything quietly resolves on its own. When you try to stop movement and return to stillness, the stillness itself keeps moving. As long as you linger on either extreme, how can you know the one way? If the one way is not understood, both sides lose their merit. Denying existence, you fall into existence. Turning toward Emptiness, you turn away from Emptiness. The more you talk and think, the further you drift away. Cut off words and cut off thinking, and there is no place you cannot pass through. Return to the root and grasp the meaning. Chase after appearances and you lose the essence. In an instant, turn the light around, and you surpass the emptiness that came before. The emptiness that came before shifts and changes — all of it from deluded views. Do not seek the truth. Only stop holding opinions. Do not dwell in either view. Be careful not to pursue them. The moment right and wrong arise, the mind is thrown into confusion. Two comes from one existing. Do not even hold on to the one. When the single mind does not arise, the ten thousand dharmas are without fault. Without fault and without dharmas, not arising and not minding. When the subject fades because of the object, the object sinks because of the subject. The object is object because of the subject. The subject is subject because of the object. If you want to know these two, they are originally one Emptiness. One Emptiness holds both, and equally contains all things. Do not see coarse or fine — how could there be preference? The great Path is broad and open. Nothing is easy, nothing is hard. Small views breed doubt. The more you hurry, the slower you go. Clinging to it, you lose all measure and surely enter a crooked road. Let it go and be natural. The essence neither leaves nor stays. Follow your nature and join the Path, carefree and free of affliction. Fixating on thoughts betrays the truth and sinks you into dullness. Dullness is no good — it tires the spirit. What use is there in picking close or distant? If you wish to enter the One Vehicle, do not despise the six senses. When the six senses are not despised, they are the same as perfect enlightenment. The wise one acts without doing. Fools bind themselves. Dharmas are not different from one another — you foolishly cling to them with love. Using mind to use mind — is that not a great mistake? Delusion gives rise to stillness and chaos. Awakening has no likes or dislikes. All duality comes only from weighing and judging. Dreams, illusions, empty flowers — what effort is there in grasping them? Gain and loss, right and wrong — let them all go at once. If the eyes do not sleep, all dreams clear away on their own. If the mind does not divide, the ten thousand dharmas are one suchness. The essence of one suchness is profound. It quietly forgets entanglements. Seeing all dharmas equally, you return to what is natural. Erase its "because," and it cannot be compared to anything. Stop movement — no movement. Movement stops — no stopping. When both are not established, how can one exist? Reaching the ultimate end, there are no rules left. When the mind is in accord and equal, all doing comes to rest. Doubt is completely cleansed. Right faith is upright and direct. Nothing is retained. Nothing can be remembered. Empty and bright, it shines on its own. No effort of mind is needed. This is not a place of thinking — ordinary consciousness cannot fathom it. True Suchness, the Dharma realm, is neither other nor self. To quickly be in accord, simply speak of non-duality. Non-duality is all the same. Nothing is not included. The wise of the ten directions all enter this teaching. The teaching is not long or short. One thought is ten thousand years. There is no place it is not — the ten directions are right before your eyes. The smallest is the same as the great, beyond all boundaries. The greatest is the same as the small, with no edges to be seen. Existence is just non-existence. Non-existence is just existence. If it were not so, you would surely not need to hold on. One is all. All is one. If you can be like this, why worry it will not be complete? Faith and non-duality, non-duality and faith. The way of words is cut off. It is not past, future, or present.

圓悟勤云。人多錯會道。至道本無難。亦無不難。只是唯嫌揀擇。若恁麼會。一萬年也未夢見在　中峯本禪師。作信心銘闢義解。每兩句下。申以示語。次述義解。乃作闢義。復繫以偈。聊錄二三。要之大旨悉如是矣　至道無難唯嫌揀擇。初示語云。神光烜赫。萬靈罔測。踞羣象之深淵。啟重玄之大宅。臨濟用金剛王。發雷轟霆震之令。望影尤難。德山遣木上座。奮風馳電走之威。追踪莫及。陶形鑄象。不居其有功。負海擎山。似覺其無力。黃面漢四十九年。有手只好拏空。白拈賊千七百箇。有口惟堪掛壁。最現成。難委悉。擬向當陽指似伊。早是門前起荊棘。次述義解云。祖師道至道無難唯嫌揀擇。義解者謂。此兩句乃一篇之要綱。一銘之本旨。然信之一言。全該悟證。非信行之信也。如法華之諸子。於會權入實之際。作信解品。以述其懷。吾祖目之曰至道。唯佛證之曰菩提。眾生昧之曰無明。教中彰之為本覺。皆一心之異名也。至若徧該名相。涉入色空。異轍殊塗。千條萬目。豈乖優劣。靡隔悟迷。莫不由斯而著。如趙州之柏樹子。楊岐之金剛圈。密菴之破沙盆。東山之鐵酸餡。異端竝起。邪法難扶。則知至道之話行矣。該通事理。融貫古今。說箇無難。早成剩語。然聖凡染淨。極目全真。揀擇情生。迥乖至體。是謂唯嫌揀擇也。下文雖殊。悉稟其意。闢曰。依稀相似。彷彿不同。且至道二字。任你意解。謂無難之旨。須相應始得。自非心開神悟。妙契冥符。迥絕見知。超出言象者望無難之旨。不啻天淵。於根境相對。差別互陳。不能當處解脫。擬將箇無難不簡擇底道理。存乎胸臆。又豈止於認賊為子矣。故於此不能忘言。偈曰。至道不應嫌揀擇。莫言揀擇墮凡情。快須擉瞎娘生眼。白日挑燈讀此銘　良由取捨所以不如。示語云。薦福莫。趙州無。雪峯放出南山鱉鼻。雲門打殺東海鯉魚。興化赴村齋。向古廟裏躲卒風暴雨。丹霞燒木佛。却教院主墮眉鬚。疑殺人間幾丈夫。述義解云。祖師道良由取捨所以不如。義解者謂。此心既如太虗之圓。無相不具。一切皆如。你於染淨法中。瞥生取捨。則不如也。闢曰。若是真正本色參學上士。見此等說話底人。便與劈面唾。不為性燥。葢像龍不能致雨故也偈曰。取既非如捨不如。是牛誰敢喚為驢。大千沙界金剛體。也是重栽頷下鬚　一種平懷泯然自盡。示語云。不動道場。無生法忍。皓月照󰈧扉清風拂屏枕。有佛處不得住。鐵裹燈心。無佛處急走過。花鋪蜀錦。三千里外摘楊花。十方虗空盡銷隕。易商量。難定準。海底泥牛喫鐵鞭。百草頭邊風凜凜。述義解云。祖師道一種平懷泯然自盡。義解者謂。取捨之情既盡。聖凡知見無依。自然一切處平常。一切處泯滅。闢曰。白日青天莫寐語好。即今眼見色耳聞聲。喚甚麼作平懷不平懷。偈曰。泯然盡處事無涯。百草頭邊正眼開。生死涅槃俱揑碎。不知何處著平懷　無咎無法不生不心。示語云。太華山非險。滄溟海不深。盧仝月蝕詩。有何難讀伯牙流水曲。煞有知音。惟有東山暗號子。收來無縫罅。放去卒難尋。攪擾幾多伶俐客。摩裩擦袴到于今。述義解云。祖師道無咎無法不生不心。義解者謂。此二句返上二句而言。謂無咎則萬法自消。不生則一心自寂。法消心寂。至道之體冲然。不待得而得矣。闢曰。昔僧問趙州。學人乍入叢林。乞師指示。州云。喫粥了也未。僧云。喫粥了也。州云。洗鉢盂去。此僧悟去。且道此僧當時悟無咎耶。悟無法耶。悟不生耶。悟不心耶。試定當看。偈曰。法法只因無咎咎。心心多謂不生生。寒猿夜哭巫山月。客路原來不可行　中峯老人費爾許唇舌。要之不出圓悟大師數語也。今之人讀此銘。順文解義。未有出於所述義解者。然則自昔宗師深斥此。何哉。莫是擬心即差。不作義解則得麼。咦。去去西天路。迢迢十萬餘。莫錯領解。賺到臘月三十日。手忙脚亂懊悔則遲也。

> Yuanwu Qin said: Many people misunderstand this. "The supreme Path is not difficult; it only dislikes picking and choosing." If you understand it that way, you won't even dream of it in ten thousand years. Zhongfeng Ben, the Zen master, wrote an exposition and commentary on The Faith-Mind Maxim. Under every two lines, he first offered explanatory words, then followed with a doctrinal interpretation, then composed a refutation, and finally attached a verse. I will record just two or three of these; the essential point is that they all follow this pattern. "The supreme Path is not difficult; it only dislikes picking and choosing." His initial explanatory words say: Divine light blazes forth; ten thousand spirits cannot fathom it. It sits in the deep abyss where all elephants gather; it opens the great mansion of layered mystery. Linji wielded the Vajra King's staff, issuing commands like thunder crashing and lightning shaking — even catching its shadow is hard. Deshan sent out his wooden seat-master, rousing a power like wind racing and lightning running — even tracing its tracks is impossible. Molding forms and casting images, it does not dwell on its merit. Carrying oceans and lifting mountains, it seems to feel no strength. The yellow-faced one spent forty-nine years, and his hands could only grasp at emptiness. The white-robed thief's one thousand seven hundred cases — their mouths are only fit to hang on the wall. Most readily present, yet hardest to fully understand. Try to point it out directly to someone — already thorns have sprouted at the gate. Next, his doctrinal interpretation says: The Patriarch said, "The supreme Path is not difficult; it only dislikes picking and choosing." The interpreter says: These two lines are the essential outline of the whole piece, the fundamental message of the entire inscription. But the single word "faith" fully encompasses both awakening and realization — it is not the faith of practice and action. It is like the children in the Lotus Sutra: at the moment of turning from the provisional to the real, they composed the Chapter on Faith and Understanding to express what was in their hearts. Our Patriarch called it the supreme Path. Only the Buddhas realize it as Bodhi. Sentient beings are blind to it and call it ignorance. In the teachings it is revealed as original enlightenment. All of these are different names for the one mind. As for its all-encompassing reach through names and forms, its penetration into matter and emptiness, its different tracks and divergent paths, its thousand branches and ten thousand eyes — how could any of this involve superiority or inferiority? It does not separate awakening from delusion. Nothing fails to manifest through it. It is like Zhaozhou's cypress tree, Yangqi's diamond circle, Mian's broken sand bowl, Dongshan's iron sour dumpling. Heterodox views rise together; false teachings are hard to support. Then we know the saying of the supreme Path has spread abroad. It penetrates both principle and phenomena, fuses past and present. To even say "not difficult" already becomes a superfluous phrase. Yet the sacred and the ordinary, the defiled and the pure — wherever the eye lands, all is completely real. The moment the mind of picking and choosing arises, one departs far from the supreme reality. This is what is meant by "it only dislikes picking and choosing." Though the following lines differ, they all receive this same meaning. The refutation says: Vaguely similar, yet seemingly different. As for the two words "supreme Path," whatever way you interpret them in your mind, if you claim the meaning of "not difficult," you must actually correspond to it. Unless your mind opens in spiritual awakening, wondrously matching and subtly resonating, utterly cutting off seeing and knowing, transcending words and images — then gazing at the meaning of "not difficult" is no closer than heaven from an abyss. When faculties and objects face each other, differences present themselves in turn, and you cannot find liberation right where you are. If you try to hold onto the principle of "not difficult, not choosing" within your chest, then you are not merely mistaking a thief for your own child. Therefore, one cannot remain silent here. The verse says: The supreme Path should not dislike picking and choosing. Do not say picking and choosing falls into ordinary feelings. Quickly, you must gouge out the eye you were born with. In broad daylight, light a lamp and read this inscription. "It is precisely because of grasping and rejecting that it is not so." His explanatory words say: Jianfu has "no," Zhaozhou has "no," Xuefeng releases the southern mountain turtle-nose, Yunmen beats to death the eastern sea carp. Xinghua goes to a village feast and hides from a sudden storm in an old shrine. Danxia burns a wooden Buddha and instead makes the temple abbot lose his eyebrows and beard. This has puzzled countless men in the world. His doctrinal interpretation says: The Patriarch said, "It is precisely because of grasping and rejecting that it is not so." The interpreter says: Since this mind is as perfectly round as empty space, no form is absent from it. Everything is thus. If in the midst of defiled and pure dharmas you suddenly give rise to grasping and rejecting, then it is not so. The refutation says: If one is a true, genuine person of the highest capacity for study, upon seeing people who speak like this, one should spit right in their face — not out of a hot temper, but because a painted dragon cannot bring rain. The verse says: Grasping is already not thus; rejecting is also not so. It is a cow — who dares call it a donkey? The vast thousand-world system is the diamond body. Even so, one is just regrowing the beard on one's chin. "A single even-mindedness, and silently it exhausts itself." His explanatory words say: In the unmoving place of awakening, the patience of non-arising. The bright moon shines on the woven door; a clear breeze brushes the screen and pillow. Where there is a Buddha, you must not dwell — an iron-wrapped lamp wick. Where there is no Buddha, hurry past — brocade flowers spread on Shu silk. Three thousand miles away, pick a willow flower; the ten directions of empty space all vanish and fall. Easy to discuss, hard to pin down. The mud ox at the bottom of the sea eats an iron whip. By the edge of a hundred grasses, the wind is biting cold. His doctrinal interpretation says: The Patriarch said, "A single even-mindedness, and silently it exhausts itself." The interpreter says: Once the feelings of grasping and rejecting are exhausted, and the views of the sacred and ordinary no longer find support, then naturally in every place there is ordinary evenness, in every place there is silent exhaustion. The refutation says: In broad daylight under clear skies, do not talk in your sleep. Right now your eyes see forms and your ears hear sounds — what do you call even-mindedness or not even-mindedness? The verse says: Where it is silently exhausted, things have no boundary. By the edge of a hundred grasses, the true eye opens. Birth and death, nirvana — all crushed together. Who knows where even-mindedness could possibly rest? "No fault, no dharma, no arising, no mind." His explanatory words say: Mount Taihua is not dangerous. The vast blue sea is not deep. Lu Tong's poem on the lunar eclipse — what is hard to read about it? Boya's flowing-water melody — there truly are those who understand the sound. Only the hidden signal of Dongshan: gathered up, there is not the slightest seam; released, it is suddenly hard to find. It has disturbed so many clever visitors that they are still today rubbing their robes and wiping their trousers. His doctrinal interpretation says: The Patriarch said, "No fault, no dharma, no arising, no mind." The interpreter says: These two lines reverse the meaning of the previous two. It means: with no fault, ten thousand dharmas naturally dissolve. With no arising, the one mind naturally becomes still. Dharmas dissolved and mind still, the essence of the supreme Path is profoundly calm. Without needing to attain, it is attained. The refutation says: Once a monk asked Zhaozhou, "I have just entered the monastery. Please, Master, give me instruction." Zhaozhou said, "Have you eaten your congee yet?" The monk said, "I have eaten my congee." Zhaozhou said, "Then go wash your bowl." This monk awakened. Now tell me — did this monk at that moment awaken to "no fault"? Awaken to "no dharma"? Awaken to "no arising"? Awaken to "no mind"? Try to determine this. The verse says: Every dharma is faulted only because of "no fault." The mind is called "arising" mostly because of "no arising." The cold monkey cries at night under the moon over Wu Mountain. The traveler's road was originally impossible to walk. Old man Zhongfeng wasted all these lips and tongue, but in essence it does not go beyond a few words from Master Yuanwu. People today read this inscription, following the text and interpreting its meaning, but none have gone beyond the interpretations already given. Yet why have the ancestral masters of old deeply rejected this? Could it be that as soon as you deliberate, you go wrong — and only by not making doctrinal interpretations can you succeed? Hmm. Go, go — the road to the Western Heaven stretches over a hundred thousand miles. Do not misunderstand. If you let it slip until the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, your hands will be flustered and your feet in disarray, and regret will come too late.