---
title: "指月錄 · 牛頭山法融禪師"
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/cma8x2h2n00fxl4040p4fykbt"
---

### ▲牛頭山法融禪師

> Zen Master Farong of Niutou Mountain

年十九。學通經史。尋閱大部般若。曉達真空。忽一日歎曰。儒學世典非究竟法。般若真觀出世舟航。遂隱茅山。投師落髮。後入牛頭山幽棲寺北巖之石室。有百鳥銜花之異。唐貞觀中。四祖遙觀氣象。知彼山有異人。乃躬自尋訪。問寺僧。此間有道人否。曰出家兒那個不是道人。祖曰。阿那個是道人。僧無對。別僧曰。此去山中十里許。有一嬾融。見人不起。亦不合掌。莫是道人麼。祖遂入山。見師端坐自若。曾無所顧。祖問曰。在此作甚麼。師曰觀心。祖曰。觀是何人。心是何物。師無對。便起作禮曰。大德高棲何所。祖曰。貧道不決所止。或東或西。師曰。還識道信禪師否。祖曰。何以問他。師曰。嚮德滋久。冀一禮謁。祖曰。道信禪師貧道是也。師曰。因何降此。祖曰。特來相訪。莫更有宴息之處否。師指後面曰。別有小菴。遂引祖至菴所。遶菴惟見虎狼之類。祖乃舉兩手作怖勢。師曰。猶有這個在。祖曰。這個是甚麼。師無語。少選祖却於師宴坐石上。書一佛字。師覩之竦然。祖曰。猶有這個在。師未曉。乃稽首請說真要。祖曰。夫百千法門。同歸方寸。河沙妙德。總在心源。一切戒門定門慧門。神通變化。悉自具足。不離汝心。一切煩惱業障。本來空寂。一切因果皆如夢幻。無三界可出。無菩提可求。人與非人。性相平等。大道虗曠。絕思絕慮。如是之法汝今已得。更無闕少。與佛何殊。更無別法。汝但任心自在。莫作觀行。亦莫澄心。莫起貪嗔。莫懷愁慮。蕩蕩無礙。任意縱橫。不作諸善。不作諸惡。行住坐臥觸目遇緣。總是佛之妙用。快樂無憂。故名為佛。師曰。心既具足。何者是佛。何者是心。祖曰。非心不問佛。問佛非不心。師曰。既不許作觀行。於境起時。心如何對治。祖曰。境緣無好醜。好醜起於心。心若不強名。妄情從何起。妄情既不起。真心任徧知。汝但隨心自在。無復對治。即名常住法身。無有變異。吾受璨大師頓教法門。今付於汝。汝今諦受吾言。只住此山。向後當有五人達者。紹汝玄化。

> At nineteen, he had already mastered the classics and histories. Soon after, he delved into the vast Prajñā scriptures and came to understand the profound truth of Emptiness. One day, he sighed and said, "Confucian teachings and worldly texts are not the ultimate truth. The true insight of Prajñā is the vessel that carries one across the sea of birth and death." He then retreated to Mount Mao and took refuge under a teacher, shaving his head to become a monk. Later, he entered the stone chamber on the northern cliff of Youqi Temple on Mount Niutou, where a remarkable phenomenon occurred—hundreds of birds came carrying flowers in their beaks. During the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty, the Fourth Patriarch observed the spiritual energy of the region from afar and knew that an extraordinary person dwelled in those mountains. He went personally to search for him. He asked a monk at the temple, "Is there a practitioner of the Way here?" The monk replied, "Who among the monastics is not a practitioner?" The Patriarch pressed, "Which one is truly a practitioner?" The monk had no answer. Another monk interjected, "About three kilometers into the mountains, there is a certain 'Lazy Rong.' He does not rise when people visit, nor does he greet them with palms together. Could he be the practitioner you seek?" The Patriarch entered the mountains and found the Master seated upright, completely at ease, paying no heed to his visitor. The Patriarch asked, "What are you doing here?" The Master replied, "Contemplating the mind." The Patriarch asked, "Who is contemplating? What is the mind?" The Master had no response. He rose and bowed, then asked, "Venerable sir, where do you reside?" The Patriarch replied, "I do not fix my abode; sometimes I go east, sometimes west." The Master asked, "Do you know the Zen master Daoxin?" The Patriarch said, "Why do you ask?" The Master replied, "I have admired his virtue for a long time and hope to pay my respects." The Patriarch said, "I am Daoxin." The Master asked, "Why have you come here?" The Patriarch replied, "I came especially to visit you. Is there another place where you sit in meditation?" The Master pointed behind and said, "There is a small hut." He led the Patriarch to the hut, where they saw only tigers and wolves circling about. The Patriarch raised both hands, making a gesture of fear. The Master said, "So you still have that." The Patriarch asked, "What is 'that'?" The Master fell silent. A moment later, the Patriarch wrote the character for "Buddha" on the rock where the Master usually sat. When the Master saw it, he trembled with awe. The Patriarch said, "So you still have this." The Master did not yet understand. He bowed and asked for the essential teaching. The Patriarch said, "All the hundreds and thousands of Dharma gates return to one mind. The myriad virtues as countless as grains of sand all spring from the mind. All the gates of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, together with spiritual powers and transformations, are complete within you—none are separate from your mind. All afflictions and karmic obstructions are originally empty and still. All causes and effects are like dreams and illusions. There is no triple realm to escape, no Enlightenment to attain. Beings and non-beings share the same nature and form. The great Way is vast and open, beyond thought and deliberation. This Dharma is now yours; nothing is lacking. What difference is there between you and a Buddha? There is no other Dharma. Simply let your mind be free and at ease—do not engage in contemplative practices, do not seek to pacify the mind, do not give rise to greed or hatred, do not harbor worries. Be vast and unobstructed, moving freely in any direction. Do not do good, do not do evil. In walking, standing, sitting, lying down, in everything you see and meet, all is the wondrous function of Buddha. Joyful and worry-free—this is what is called being a Buddha." The Master asked, "Since the mind is already complete, what is Buddha? What is mind?" The Patriarch replied, "Without mind, there is no question of Buddha; asking about Buddha is not without mind." The Master asked, "Since you say not to engage in contemplative practice, how should one handle the mind when objects arise?" The Patriarch replied, "Objects and conditions have no inherent good or bad; good and bad arise from the mind. If the mind does not impose names, where can deluded feelings arise? Since deluded feelings do not arise, the true mind perceives all things freely. Just let your mind be at ease, with no need to counter anything—this is called the eternal Dharmakāya, unchanging and unwavering. I received the sudden teaching of the Great Master Can, and now I entrust it to you. Receive my words deeply now. Stay on this mountain, and in the future five enlightened ones will carry on your transforming influence."

僧問南泉。牛頭未見四祖時。為甚百鳥銜花供養。泉云。只為步步踏佛階梯。僧云。見後為甚麼不來。泉云。直饒不來。猶較王老師一線道　雲門舉云。南泉只解步步登高。不解從空放下。僧問。如何是步步登高。門云。香積世界。如何是從空放下。門云。填溝塞壑　僧問老宿。牛頭未見四祖時。如何。曰如條貫葉。云見後如何。曰秋夜紛紛　僧問趙州。牛頭未見四祖時如何。州曰。飽柴飽水。曰見後如何。曰飽柴飽水　一尊宿答前兩問。皆云賊不打貧兒家。

> A monk asked Nanquan, “Before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch, why did hundreds of birds bring flowers to offer him?” Nanquan said, “Because he was treading the Buddha’s staircase with every step.” The monk asked, “After meeting him, why did they not come?” Nanquan said, “Even if they don’t come, it’s still a step behind this old master’s path.” Yunmen commented, “Nanquan only knew how to climb higher step by step, but didn’t know how to let go and come down from emptiness.” A monk asked, “What is ‘climbing higher step by step’?” Yunmen said, “The world of fragrant offerings.” “What is ‘letting go and coming down from emptiness’?” Yunmen said, “Filling ditches and blocking valleys.” A monk asked an old master, “What was it like before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch?” The master said, “Like a thread threading leaves.” “What about after meeting him?” The master said, “Scattered falling on an autumn night.” A monk asked Zhaozhou, “What was it like before Niutou met the Fourth Patriarch?” Zhaozhou said, “Plenty of firewood, plenty of water.” “What about after meeting him?” Zhaozhou said, “Plenty of firewood, plenty of water.” One elder master responded to these two questions both times, saying, “A thief doesn’t strike a poor man’s home.”

住後。法席之盛。擬黃梅。唐永徽中。徒眾乏糧。師往丹陽緣化。去山八十里。躬負米一石八斗。朝往暮還。供僧三百。二時不闕三年。邑宰蕭元善。請於建初寺。講大般若經。聽者雲集。至滅靜品。地為之震動　博陵王問曰。境緣色發時。不言緣色起。云何得知緣。乃欲息其起。師曰。境色初發時。色境二性空。本無知緣者。心量與知同。照本發非發。爾時起自息。抱暗生覺緣。心時緣不逐。至如未生前。色心非養育。從空本無念。想受言念生。起發未曾起。豈用佛教令。問曰。閉目不見色。境慮乃便多。色既不關心。境從何處發。師曰。閉目不見色。內心動慮多。幻識假成用。起名終不過。知色不關心。心亦不關人。隨行有相轉。鳥去空中真。問曰。境發無處所。緣覺了知生。境謝覺還轉。覺乃變為境。若以心曳心。還為覺所覺。從之隨隨去。不離生滅際。師曰。色心前後中。實無緣起境。一念自疑忘。誰能計動靜。此知自無知。知知緣不會。當自檢本形。何須求域外。前境不變謝。後念不來今。求月執玄影。討跡逐飛禽。欲知心本性。還如視夢裏。譬之六月水。處處皆相似。避空終不脫。求空復不成。借問鏡中像。心從何處生。問曰。恰恰用心時。若為安隱好。師曰。恰恰用心時。恰恰無心用。曲談名相勞。直說無繁重。無心恰恰用。常用恰恰無。今說無心處。不與有心殊。問曰。智者引妙言。與心相會當。言與心路別。合則萬倍乖。師曰。方便說妙言。破病大乘道。非關本性談。還從空化造。無念為真常。終當絕心路。離念性不動。生滅無乖誤。谷響既有聲。鏡像能回顧。問曰。行者體境有。因覺知境亡。前覺及後覺。并境有三心。師曰。境用非體覺。覺罷不應思。因覺知境亡。覺時境不起。前覺及後覺。并境有三遲。問曰。住定俱不轉。將為正三昧。諸業不能牽。不知細無明。徐徐躡其後。師曰。復聞別有人。虗執起心量。三中事不成。不轉還虗妄。心為正受縛。為之淨業障。心塵萬分一。不了說無明。細細習因起。徐徐名相生。風來波浪轉。欲靜水還平。更欲前塗說。恐畏後心驚。無念大獸吼。性空下霜雹。星散穢草摧。縱橫飛鳥落。五道定紛綸。四魔不前却。既如猛火燎。還如利劒斫。問曰。賴覺知萬法。萬法本來然。若假照用心。只得照用心。不應心裏事。師曰。賴覺知萬法。萬法終無賴。若假照用心。應不在心外。問曰。隨隨無揀擇明心不現前。復慮心闇昧。在心用功行。智障復難除。師曰。有此不可有。尋此不可尋。無揀即真擇。得闇出明心。慮者心冥味。存心託功行。何五燈作可論智障難。至佛方為病。問曰。折中消息間。實亦難安怗。自非用行人。此難終難見。師曰。折中欲消息。消息非難易。先觀心處心。次推智中智。第三照推者。第四通無記。第五解脫名。第六等真偽。第七知法本。第八慈無為。第九徧空陰。第十雲雨被。最盡彼無覺。無明生本智。鏡像現三業。幻人化四衢。不住空邊盡。當照有中無。不出空有內。未將空有俱。號之名折中。折中非言說。安怗無處安。用行何能決。問曰。別有一種人。善解空無相。口言定亂一。復道有中無。同證用常寂。知覺寂常用。用心會真理。復言用無用。智慧方便多。言亂與理合。如如理自如。不由識心會。既知心會非。心心復相泯。如是難知法。永劫不能知。同此用心人。法所不能化。師曰。別有證空者。還如前偈論。行空守寂滅。識見暫時翻。會真是心量。終知未了原。又說息心用。多智疑相似。良由性不明。求空具勞已。永劫住幽識。抱相多不知。放光便動地。於彼欲何為。問曰。前件看心者。復有羅縠難。師曰。看心有羅縠。幻心何待看。況無幻心者。從容下口難。問曰。久有大基業。心路差互間。得覺微細障。即達於真際。自非善巧師。無能決此理。仰惟我大師。當為開要門。引導用心者。不令失正道。師曰。法性本基業。夢境成差互。實相微細身。色心常不悟。忽逢混沌士。哀怨愍羣生。託疑廣設問。抱理內常明。生死幽徑徹。毀譽心不驚。野老顯分答。法相媿來儀。蒙發羣生藥。還如色性為　顯慶元年。邑宰蕭元善。請住建初。師辭不克。遂命入室上首智巖。付囑法印。將下山。謂眾曰。吾不復踐此山矣。時鳥獸哀號。踰月不止。菴前有四大桐樹。仲夏之月。忽然凋落。明年正月二十三日。不疾而逝。窆於雞籠山。

> Later, the dharma assembly flourished, rivaling Huangmei. During the Yonghui era of the Tang dynasty, the community ran short of food. The master went to Danyang to seek alms, eighty li from the mountain. He personally carried a load of rice—one dan and eight dou—traveling there in the morning and returning by evening. He provided for three hundred monks, without interruption, morning and evening, for three years. The county magistrate, Xiao Yuanshan, invited him to lecture on the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra at the Jianchu Temple. The listeners gathered like clouds. When he reached the chapter on the cessation of disputes, the earth trembled. King Boling asked: "When sensory objects arise from forms, it is not said that forms give rise to objects. How then do we know of conditions, and how do we stop their arising?" The master said: "When forms and objects first arise, Both are empty in nature. There is fundamentally no knower of conditions; Mind and knowing are the same. Illumination reveals that arising is non-arising— At that moment, arising ceases by itself. Embracing darkness, one gives rise to awareness of conditions, But the mind at that time does not chase conditions. As before birth, Forms and mind are not nurtured. From emptiness, there is originally no thought; Thoughts and feelings arise from concepts. Arising has never truly arisen— Why rely on Buddhist teachings to command it?" The king asked: "When closing the eyes, forms are not seen, yet mental states and worries multiply. If forms do not concern the mind, from where do states arise?" The master said: "When eyes are closed and forms unseen, The inner mind stirs with many thoughts. Delusive consciousness borrows functions to act; The name of arising ultimately does not pass beyond. Know that forms do not concern the mind, And the mind does not concern the person. Following conditions, there is transformation with appearances; When the bird departs, the sky's truth remains." The king asked: "When objects arise, there is no fixed place. Condition-awareness gives rise to knowing. When objects vanish, awareness turns again, and awareness itself becomes an object. If the mind drags the mind, it is still perceived by awareness. Following along with it endlessly, one never leaves the realm of arising and ceasing." The master said: "Forms and mind, before, after, and middle— Ultimately, there is no object of dependent origination. In a single thought, self-doubt is forgotten; Who can calculate movement or stillness? This knowing is itself without knowing; Known knowledge never meets conditions. One should examine one's own original form— Why seek outside one's domain? The previous state does not change or vanish; The later thought does not come into the present. Seeking the moon, one grasps at shadowy forms; Tracing tracks, one chases flying birds. To know the mind's true nature, It is like looking at something in a dream. Compare it to water in the sixth month— Everywhere it is similar. Avoiding emptiness, one never escapes; Seeking emptiness, one cannot grasp it. Ask instead of the image in a mirror: From where does the mind arise?" The king asked: "When the mind is precisely engaged, how may one find peace and security?" The master said: "Precisely when the mind is engaged, Precisely then there is no mind to use. Elaborate talk wearies one with names and forms; Straight speech has no cumbrous weight. The mindless mind functions just then; Constant function is precisely constant absence. Now, when I speak of the place of no-mind, It is not different from having a mind." The king asked: "The wise cite subtle words that accord with the mind. But words and the mind's path are separate—when combined, they diverge ten thousandfold." The master said: "Skillful means speak subtle words— Curing illness is the Great Vehicle path. It is not a discourse on inherent nature, But is still wrought from emptiness. No-thought is the true constant; Ultimately, the mind's path is cut off. Leaving thought, nature does not move; Arising and ceasing hold no error. A valley echo has sound; A mirror image can turn and look back." The king asked: "A practitioner experiences objects as real. Due to awareness, objects are known as gone. Earlier awareness and later awareness, together with objects—these are three minds." The master said: "Objects function but are not the essence of awareness. When awareness ceases, one should not think. Because of awareness, objects are known as gone; At the moment of awareness, objects do not arise. Earlier awareness and later awareness, Along with objects—these three are delayed." The king asked: "Abiding in concentration, not shifting, is taken as right samādhi. Karma cannot pull one away. Yet one does not know the subtle ignorance that gradually trails behind." The master said: "I have also heard of others Who vainly grasp, stirring mental measurement. The three tasks are not accomplished; Not shifting is still illusory and false. The mind is bound by right reception; Thus one purifies karmic obstructions. Mind-dust is a ten-thousandth part— Not understanding, one speaks of ignorance. Subtle habits arise from causes; Gradually, names and forms are born. When wind comes, waves turn; Desiring stillness, water levels again. Should I speak further of the path ahead, I fear later minds will be startled. No-thought is the great lion's roar; Empty nature sends down frost and hail. Stars scatter, weeds are crushed; Birds fall from the sky in every direction. The five paths are surely chaotic; The four māras neither advance nor retreat. As when blazing fire burns, As when a sharp sword cuts." The king asked: "Relying on awareness to know all dharmas—all dharmas are originally thus. If one borrows illumination to use the mind, one only gets the illuminated mind, not the mind's inner affairs." The master said: "Relying on awareness to know all dharmas— All dharmas ultimately have no reliance. If one borrows illumination to use the mind, It should not be outside the mind." The king asked: "Following along without choosing, the clear mind does not appear before one. Again, fearing the mind darkened, one toils in the mind with practices. Wisdom obstructions are hard to remove." The master said: "Having this, one cannot have it; Seeking this, one cannot find it. Not choosing is the true choice; From darkness arises the clear mind. One who worries is confused in mind; Placing the mind in meritorious practices— How can one speak of the difficulty of wisdom obstructions? Even up to Buddhahood, this remains a disease." The king asked: "Between extremes, seeking balance, it is truly hard to settle. Unless one is a practitioner of this path, this difficulty is ultimately difficult to see." The master said: "Seeking balance, wishing to settle— Settling is neither difficult nor easy. First observe the mind within the mind; Next investigate the wisdom within wisdom. Third, illuminate the investigator; Fourth, penetrate to the neutral ground. Fifth, understand the name of liberation; Sixth, discern true and false equally. Seventh, know the root of dharmas; Eighth, kindness without contrivance. Ninth, pervade the empty aggregates; Tenth, the rains of clouds cover all. Utterly exhausting that non-awareness, Ignorance gives rise to original wisdom. Mirror images manifest the three karmas; Illusory people transform on the four crossroads. Do not dwell at emptiness' end; Illuminate the non-existence within existence. Do not depart from within emptiness and existence; Do not yet carry both emptiness and existence. Name this 'seeking balance'— But balance is not in words. Peace has no place to be peaceful; How can practice decide it?" The king asked: "There is another kind of person who skillfully understands emptiness and signlessness. With words, they say concentration and distraction are one, and speak of existence within non-existence. They realize constant stillness in function and know stillness in constant function. When the mind engages reality, they speak again of function as non-function. Wisdom and skillful means are many. Their words on distraction accord with principle. Suchness is naturally thus—it is not comprehended by consciousness. Since they already know consciousness-based comprehension is wrong, mind after mind is extinguished. Such a difficult-to-know dharma cannot be known in endless eons. People who use the mind this way cannot be transformed by dharma." The master said: "Those who claim realization of emptiness— Return to what the previous verses said. Practicing emptiness, guarding cessation, Their views turn only briefly. Meeting reality, they still measure with mind; Ultimately, they do not understand the original source. Again they speak of stopping the mind's function— Much wisdom resembles but is not true. Because their nature is not clear, Seeking emptiness completes their weariness. For endless eons, they dwell in dark consciousness; Clinging to forms, they know not much. Should light blaze and the earth shake— What would they do with that?" The king asked: "Those who earlier contemplated the mind—there is also the difficulty of the gauze veil." The master said: "Contemplating the mind has its gauze veil. An illusory mind—why wait to contemplate? How much less one without an illusory mind— To answer this is difficult." The king asked: "Long have I possessed a great foundation. Where the mind's paths diverge, should one attain awareness of subtle obstructions, one would reach the true limit. Unless one is a skillful master, none can decide this principle. I look up to our great master—may you open the essential gate and guide those who use the mind, so that they do not lose the right path." The master said: "Dharma-nature is the original foundation; Dream scenes create the divergences. The subtle body of ultimate reality— Forms and mind are never awakened. Suddenly meeting a man of primordial chaos, Who pities and grieves for all beings— Relying on doubt, he broadly asks questions, Holding principle within, his inner light is constant. The path through birth and death is thoroughly clear; Praise or blame does not startle the mind. The rustic elder answers the divisions plainly— Dharma-forms are shamed before your coming. Receiving the medicine for all beings, It is like the nature of forms themselves." In the first year of the Xianqing era, the county magistrate Xiao Yuanshan requested the master to reside at Jianchu Temple. The master declined but could not refuse, so he summoned the foremost disciple Zhiyan and entrusted him with the dharma seal. As he was about to descend the mountain, he said to the assembly: "I will not set foot on this mountain again." At that time, birds and beasts wailed mournfully, not stopping for over a month. In front of the hermitage stood four great paulownia trees, which suddenly withered in midsummer. On the twenty-third day of the first month the following year, he passed away without illness. He was buried on Mount Jilong.