---
title: "湛然圓澄禪師語錄 · No. 1444-C 會稽雲門湛然澄禪師塔銘"
description: "湛然圆澄禅师语录由明代禅宗高僧湛然圆澄所述，其门人明凡记录，丁元公与祁骏佳编撰。该书成书于明末佛教复兴时期，收录圆澄禅师的开示、法语、公案及书信，集中体现其禅学思想与修行指导，倡导直指人心、见性成佛的曹洞宗风。作为明代禅宗重要文献，该语录不仅传承了临济与曹洞宗的精髓，对后世禅修者具有深远影响，是研究明清佛教禅宗思想与实践的重要典籍。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmcxr5xsu00oni904gf75allq"
---

### No. 1444-C會稽雲門湛然澄禪師塔銘

> Epitaph for Chan Master Zhanran Cheng from Kuaiji Yunmen

師名圓澄。字湛然。別號散木道人。會稽東關夏氏子。祖千。打虎捄父。邑中推為孝子。師生而頴悟。具辯才。觸事解了。性不覊。雖人所苦難賤簡事。率躬親無所諱憚。父時產落。徙居蔣家山為郵卒自活。老且病。師年纔十一二。即代其役。持檄往來數十里間。不避風雨寒暑。夜穿虎豹之羣。亦不懾也。親沒。乃求度世。往臥僧寮中。有鬼撼其床榦。累囑之不肯去。師曰。山鬼伎倆止此矣。遂鼾睡達旦。去依玉峰。師始習文義。次依隱峰師。時祖庭荒寂越中衲子。初未有問祖師西來意云何者。峰稍通其旨。見師應對敏捷。乃曰。是兒似可參禪。師忽聞參禪字。如逃虗人聆親舊謦欵其側。身心踴躍。不能自己。每欲置問。而苦無下口。恍惚經七日。猛入室叩請。峰曰。但看取念佛是誰。師於是刻刻提持。𥨊食俱廢。經三日。方禮經次。頓覺有省。趨似峰。峰曰。似則似。是則未是。師㦬懡而退。一似有物礙膺。茹吐不得者。行坐惝恍。眾謂其癡。如是者三年。萬曆甲申時。年二十四。乃詣天荒山。投妙峰師。峰為祝髮。圓僧相。時冬月寒甚。體無複裩。而通昔參叩。未甞就枕。明年採茶於葉家山。聞僧誦傅大士法身偈。於是礙膺之物。為之脫然。然能茹之不能吐也。入郡城分衛。受戒於雲棲還。以高峰海底泥牛話。叩南宗師。宗越所推。為宗門老宿也。舉未竟。宗厲聲一喝。師點頭而已。掩關於天妃宮三年。閱雪竇與僧論柏樹子因緣。自是始解下語。又掩關寶林寺三年。憶與錦堂師。論乾峰舉一不得舉二話。始豁然。無復疑滯。乃頌曰。舉一舉二別端倪。個裏曾無是與非。雪曲調高人會少。獨許韶陽和得齊。二老何曾動舌。諸方浪自攢眉。擬意󳬧過新羅。刻舟求劒原迷。又頌雲門十五日話。自是出語。皆能脫去窠臼。不存軌則矣。住止風庵。與南宗晨夕究竟。時慈舟師自少林來。為南宗同門友。因請憩錫。師以所悟求證。兼聞洞下宗旨。呈偈相印可。遂定師資之禮焉。至京師。與達觀。月川。諸大老。分道揚鑣。未甞少讓。諸師亦斂袵稱歎。生平不為律縛。脫略軌儀。從前所為。一不覆藏。腸直如弦。舌快如矢。遇人無貴賤新故。皆以本色語相鉗錘。雜以諧調。未甞有所揀擇。諸方頗有少叢林之譏。然識者自貴尚之。不以率故貶其道價也。中年以來。耳根幾斷。而應機迅捷。受命如響。所交縉紳。皆當代名士。而與余兄弟特善。所以獲管窺茲事。得師力為多。得法後踞講席者。凡四十餘。開堂說法凡六。其嗣法者六人。為明懷。明盂。明方。明澓。明有。明雪。皆能舉揚宗乘。為後來眼目。所著有宗門或問。慨古錄。若干卷。思益簡註。楞嚴臆說。法華意語。若干卷。會涅槃疏。金剛三昧註。若干卷。及門人所記法語。若干卷。皆行於世。晚年頗崇有為。見人即勸行施。曰吾將究竟檀波羅蜜。具足功德法財。然後已。余見每調之。師厲聲曰。子一毛尚不肯落。乃欲開大口瞞人天耶。余笑曰。昔黃龍設三關。不若吾師一關之難度也。所修大剎凡五。治石塘。自西陵至㠙曹。二壩為里。凡一百六十。建亭橋凡幾。凡可利濟有情。無不從事。末復欲修鄮山阿育王寺。資已具。屬順世乃已。弟子明敬始克成之。師於嘉靖辛酉八月五日。生於東關。兒時常游戲天華寺之廢址。時其地已歸勢人。師每發願󳭪復。既得法已。游行於四方。未暇及也。余兄女。女章氏者。早𭒀。捐資贖以為寺。寺成以奉師。天啟丙寅秋。講法華於華嚴寺。十二月四日期畢。至天華為眾小參。因示微疾。遂逝。豈昔人所稱葉落歸根者耶。享年六十有六。僧臘四十三。門人迎遺蛻塔于顯聖寺南山。師手所定也。其弟子明懷譜師遺事。請銘於󳮡齡。會󳮡齡方宦游嶺南。久未屬草。洎歸而懷亦順世。適明方繼主天華。法席。明雪分化弁山。復以塔銘為請。因以平昔所聞。攷諸年譜。敘而銘之。銘曰。

> The Master was named Yuancheng, with the courtesy name Zhanran and the sobriquet Sanmu Daoren. He was a son of the Xia family from Dongguan, Kuaiji. His grandfather, Qian, once saved his father by fighting off a tiger, and was celebrated in the county as a filial son. The Master was naturally intelligent, eloquent, and quick to understand things upon encountering them. He had an unrestrained nature, and even though people found certain tasks difficult, humble, or tedious, he personally carried them out without any hesitation or fear. When his father’s fortunes declined, the family moved to Mount Jiangjia, where his father worked as a postal runner to make a living. Old and sick, the Master, only eleven or twelve at the time, took over his duties. Carrying official documents back and forth over several dozen li, he did not avoid wind, rain, cold, or heat. At night, he passed through packs of tigers and leopards without fear. After his parents passed away, he sought to transcend the world and stayed in a monk's dormitory. There, a ghost shook his bed frame; though he repeatedly told it to leave, it refused. The Master said, "A mountain ghost’s tricks end here," and then fell asleep snoring until dawn. He then left to rely on Master Yufeng, beginning to study letters, and later followed Master Yinfeng. At that time, the ancestral monastery was desolate and deserted, and no monk in the Yue region had ever inquired about the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West. Yinfeng had some understanding of this principle and, seeing the Master’s quick and sharp responses, said, "This lad seems fit to investigate Chan." Suddenly hearing the term "investigate Chan," the Master felt as if someone who had escaped into emptiness heard the familiar cough of an old friend nearby—his body and mind leaped with joy beyond control. He wanted to ask questions but struggled to find an entry point. In a daze for seven days, he burst into the room to urgently seek guidance. Yinfeng said, "Just watch: who is reciting the Buddha’s name?" From then on, the Master focused on this practice every moment, neglecting sleep and food. After three days, while bowing to the sutras, he suddenly felt a realization. He rushed to tell Yinfeng, who replied, "It seems like it, but it is not yet true." Disheartened, the Master withdrew, as if something obstructed his chest, unable to swallow or spit it out. Whether walking or sitting, he was in a daze, and everyone thought he had gone mad. This continued for three years. In the year Jia Shen of the Wanli era (1584), at the age of twenty-four, he went to Mount Tianhuang to seek guidance from Master Miaofeng, who shaved his head and gave him the full monastic precepts. That winter was bitterly cold, and he had no padded trousers, yet he spent whole nights in inquiry and never lay down to sleep. The following year, while picking tea on Mount Yejia, he heard a monk reciting the Great Master Fu’s verse on the Dharmakaya. At that moment, the obstruction in his chest dissolved completely. However, he could take it in but could not express it. Entering the city to beg for alms, he received the precepts from Yunqi and returned. He then tested Master Nanzong with the saying of Gaofeng’s "mud ox at the bottom of the sea," but before he could finish, Nanzong let out a sharp shout. The Master just nodded. He went into retreat at Tianfei Palace for three years, where he read about Xuedou discussing the "cypress tree" koan with a monk. From then on, he began to understand how to respond. He then entered another retreat at Baolin Temple for three years. Recalling a discussion with Master Jintang on Qianfeng’s saying, "Raise one, do not raise two," he finally became fully enlightened, with no remaining doubts. He then composed a verse: "Raising one, raising two—differentiating the source; within this, there was never right or wrong. The snow tune tune is high, its connoisseurs few; only Shaoyang could harmonize with it. The two elders never moved their tongues; the various quarters vainly knit their brows—seeking to cross into Silla with a thought is like carving a mark on a boat to find a lost sword." He also composed a verse on Yunmen’s saying about the fifteenth day. From then on, his words all broke free from conventional patterns and no longer followed fixed rules. He stayed at Zhizhi Hermitage, studying day and night with Nanzong. At that time, Master Cizhou arrived from Shaolin, a fellow disciple of Nanzong, and was invited to rest there. The Master sought verification of his enlightenment and also inquired into the teachings of the Dong lineage, presenting his verse for confirmation. Thus, master-student relationship was established. In the capital, he walked his own path alongside great masters like Daguan and Yuechuan, never yielding an inch, and they all respectfully praised him. Throughout his life, he was not bound by regulations, abandoning formalities. He never concealed past actions; his heart was as straight as a bowstring, his tongue as quick as an arrow. Meeting people of any rank, whether old or new, he used plain, direct speech to probe them, mixed with humor, never making distinctions. Many in the various quarters criticized him for being informal, but those with insight valued him all the more and did not reduce his spiritual stature due to his casualness. From middle age onward, he nearly lost his hearing, yet he responded to opportunities with swiftness, as if answering a call. The scholars he befriended were all renowned figures of the time, but he had a special connection with my brothers and me. I owe much to his guidance for glimpsing into this matter. After attaining the Dharma, he sat as abbot for over forty invitations, publicly expounding the Dharma six times. Six people inherited his Dharma: Ming Huai, Ming Yu, Ming Fang, Ming Fu, Ming You, and Ming Xue, all of whom were able to propagate the ancestral teaching and serve as eyes for later generations. His writings include "Questions on the Chan School," "Reflections on Antiquity" (several volumes), "Brief Commentary on the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings," "Speculations on the Shurangama Sutra," "Profound Words on the Lotus Sutra" (several volumes), "Annotations on the Mahaparinirvana Sutra," "Commentary on the Vajra Samadhi" (several volumes), and records of his talks by disciples (several volumes), all widely circulated. In his later years, he strongly emphasized practice, urging everyone to give: "I will perfectly fulfill the Perfection of Giving, complete the merit and wisdom, and then stop." I often teased him about this. He retorted sharply, "You won’t even give up a single hair, yet you want to open your big mouth to deceive humans and gods?" I laughed and replied, "In the past, Huanglong set up three checkpoints; they are not as hard to pass as my master’s single checkpoint." He oversaw the construction of five major monasteries, built a stone causeway from Xiling to Maocao (a distance of 160 li), erected several pavilions and bridges, and never failed to pursue any project benefiting sentient beings. Finally, he planned to restore Ayuwang Temple on Mount Maoshan, and had raised the funds, but passed away before completing it. His disciple Ming Jing later fulfilled it. The Master was born on the fifth day of the eighth month in the year Xin You of the Jiajing era (1561) in Dongguan. As a child, he often played on the ruins of Tianhua Temple, which had been taken over by a powerful family. He always vowed to recover it. After attaining the Dharma, he traveled widely and had no time for it. My elder brother’s daughter, who married into the Zhang family and was widowed young, donated funds to redeem the temple. Once completed, it was offered to the Master. In the autumn of the year Bing Yin of the Tianqi era (1626), he gave a discourse on the Lotus Sutra at Huayan Temple, finishing on the fourth day of the twelfth month. He then went to Tianhua Temple for a group assembly with the monastics, showed slight signs of illness, and passed away. This may be what the ancients called "the leaf falls, returning to the root." He lived for 66 years, with 43 years in the monastic life. His disciples placed his relics in a stupa at the southern hill of Xiansheng Temple, a site he had personally selected. His disciple Ming Huai compiled his biography and asked me, Hanlin, to write the epitaph. At that time, I was serving as an official in Lingnan and did not start the draft for a long time. By the time I returned, Huai had also passed away. Ming Fang then succeeded as abbot of Tianhua, and Ming Xue was teaching at Bian Mountain; they again asked for the epitaph. So I based it on what I had heard in the past, checked it against the chronology, and composed this record and epitaph. The epitaph says:

森羅萬象 一法所印 孰佩其符 以揚正令大末緣火 蟭螟巢空 往寧有至 來亦無從曹源一滴 巨浪滔天 即心即佛 語直而圓窮其變相 千七百則 如開武庫 滿貯矛戟試拈寸刃 便可殺人 束而不御 徒手逡巡堂堂澄師 隆頂秀目 周雲四垂 詎階尺木曹溪耶溪 異流同源 寄跡洞下 非有專門䟦難陀龍 無耳而聽 師之圓通 於是乎證玉笥嶪嶪 花宮四敷 逶夷南岡 吉祥所儲慧日既匿 靈炬俄隕 庸庸攸灼 緒弗其燼後千萬年 不替引之

> All things in existence Are stamped by one single truth. Who can wield its talisman To uplift the right command? The great fire's last sparks May nest in a gnat's eye. Where does "coming" truly arrive? What "going" leaves behind? A single drop from Cao Source Becomes surging waves that touch the sky. The mind itself is Buddha — Words so direct and yet so round. We trace all changing forms Through seventeen hundred koans. They're like an armory opened wide, Filled with spears and halberds. Try but one small blade, You can cut through life and death. If unused and unmastered, You wander, empty-handed. Master Cheng, so majestic, High forehead and clear eyes. Like clouds encircling four directions, Why would he climb a petty step? Cao River and Ye River — Different streams, same source. He dwelled within the Dong tradition But never claimed one exclusive gate. Like the Nanda dragon, Who hears without ears, The Master's penetrating wisdom Was thus realized. On lofty Jade Bamboo Mountain, Flower palaces spread in four directions. Winding along the southern ridge — A treasure trove of auspicious signs. Once the sun of wisdom sets, The sacred torch will soon fall. Ordinary flames may flicker, But the true flame never dies out. For ten million years to come, May it never cease or end.

崇禎癸酉歲佛成道日柴桑居士陶󳮡齡謹識

> In the year of Guiyou (1633) during the Chongzhen reign period, on the day of the Buddha's enlightenment, the Lay Disciple Tao Yuanming of Chaisang respectfully records this.