重刊汾陽和尚語錄疏
Republishing the Record of Master Fenyang
昔風穴和尚謂首山曰。不幸臨濟之道。至吾將墜于地矣。觀此一眾。雖敏者多。見性者少。吾雖望子之久。猶恐耽著此經。不能放捨。風穴高提祖印。向千聖頂𩕳上。下者一著。不妨嶮峻其奈首山言前領旨。格外明宗。直下承當。不存毫髮。洎風穴上堂。舉世尊以青蓮目顧視大眾。而首山宏機捷出拂袖便行。如淵之深岳之聳。所謂唱愈高。而和愈峻也。汾陽禪師。出首山之門。弄西河師子。奮出窟爪牙。哮吼一聲。群魔屏迹。梵僧請法。即為敷揚。戞玉鏗金。超聞離見。六人大器。具在典章。耀古騰今。叢林標格。家法來從。有目正音。其可無傳。在昔雖已刊行。歲久遂成湮沒。天台子聰。首座靈機。夙契宗匠。親承慨祖室之長冥。惜真風之不振。握驪珠擬澂滄海。執慧斧欲伐邪林。募緣重刊。垂惠後學。余嘉其志。故發緒言。希聞見而樂從。庶有光于祖道者也。
Master Fengxue once said to Master Shoushan, "How unfortunate—the path of Linji is nearing its end with me. Looking among these students, though many are clever, few have realized their true nature. I have long held hope for you, yet I fear you might cling to these scriptures and fail to let them go."
Fengxue, holding high the ancestral seal, took a bold step above the heads of a thousand sages—a perilous move indeed. Yet Shoushan grasped the essence even before words were spoken, understood the truth beyond conventional teachings, and accepted it directly without a trace of hesitation. When Fengxue later ascended the hall and spoke of the World-Honored One’s blue lotus eyes gazing upon the assembly, Shoushan instantly responded, sweeping his sleeves and walking away. Like a deep abyss or a towering peak—the higher the song, the more sublime the harmony.
Master Fenyang came from the lineage of Shoushan. He wielded the Lion of the Western River like a master, baring his fangs and claws, roaring once to scatter all demons. When a Brahmin monk sought the Dharma, he expounded it freely, his words like striking jade and ringing gold, transcending ordinary hearing and seeing. His six great disciples were vessels of great capacity, their records shining through the ages, setting the standard for monastic communities.
The family tradition, with its direct transmission, must be preserved. Though this teaching was once printed and circulated, over time it was lost to obscurity. Elder Zicong, the head monk of Tiantai, possessed keen spiritual insight and had long received the master’s personal instruction. Grieved by the darkness shrouding the ancestral path and saddened that the true wind had ceased to blow, he grasped the pearl of truth, seeking to clarify the vast ocean, and wielded the axe of wisdom, intending to clear the forest of delusion. By raising funds to reprint this text, he offers a lasting gift to future seekers.
I commend his resolve, and thus offer these opening words. May all who see or hear this find joy in the Dharma, and may it bring brilliance to the ancestral path.
時至大三秊春吳開元住持清茂書
In the spring of the third year of the Dai Da era, Qingmao, the abbot of Kaiyuan Temple in Wu, inscribed this.
一華一葉。直指單傳之妙旨。自林際傳。入汾陽手中。如持一尺之鏡。容納萬象森羅。量內量外。何曾見有虛空之廣。雲天之高。日月之明。毛芥堆突之細之大者也。怒雷分開泰華。摩竭大魚吸乾四大海水。當門師子咬斷一切衲僧命根。十智同真塞斷一切衲僧咽喉唇吻。此猶是將無作有。遊戲三昧。邊事不落文字語言。已前敲唱。雙行底句。若非直下兒孫。向印板上。打出定道。局在一隅。而大機大用。超然如恒河沙數。木石首座之功。豈浪施也哉。
Each flower, each leaf points directly to the singular transmission of the subtle truth. Since it passed from Linji into the hands of Fenyang, it's like holding up a single mirror that reflects the myriad forms of existence—both inside and outside measure. When has one ever seen the vastness of space, the height of the clouds, the brilliance of the sun and moon, or the fine and enormous details of dust and mountain peaks? The thunderbolt splits Mount Tai and Hua, the great makara fish swallows the four seas dry, the lion at the gate tears away the life-root of every patch-robed monk, and the ten kinds of true insight cut off all throat and lips of these monastics. Still, this is treating absence as presence—a play in samadhi. What's on the fringe does not fall within words and letters. Before that, the chant and beat of dual lines—unless it's the direct descendant struck out from a printed seal—remains confined to one corner. But the great function and great capacity, transcendent as countless grains of Ganges sand, cannot be the mere idle achievement of a wooden stone head monk.
旹至大辛亥開爐後一日住薦嚴比丘德海拜書
Written on the day after the furnace was first lit, in the xinhai year of the Great Era, by the monk Dehai, abbot of Jianyan Temple.
胡僧金錫光。為法到汾陽。六人成大器。勸請為敷揚。伸出西河爪距。抉破古今窠臼。義天無滓。心鏡無痕。圓如明月珠。快似金剛劍。一斬一切斬。一斷一切斷。上無攀仰。下絕己躬。常光現前。壁立萬仞。木石首座重行刊鏤。廣其流通。療狂子之多疑。救達人之少悟。
The Hu monk with his golden staff, Brought the Dharma to Fenyang. Six men attained great realization, Urging him to spread the teaching wide. He stretched out claws from the Western River, Shattering age-old nests of convention. The sky of truth has no sediment, The mirror of mind bears no trace. Round as a bright moon pearl, Swift as a vajra sword— One cut severs all, One stroke ends all. Above, nothing to grasp; Below, no self to cling to. Eternal light shines before you, A sheer cliff ten thousand fathoms high. Abbot Mu and Shi re-engraved this, To circulate it widely— A cure for the deluded wanderer, A rescue for those who glimpse but do not fully awaken.
龍山起予謹題
Inscribed with reverence by Longshan Qiyu.
謂汾陽實有此錄。臨濟一宗。掃土而盡。謂汾陽實無此錄。臨濟一宗。掃土而盡。且作麼生。入得汾陽門。見得汾陽人。直下平坦。去也至大。辛亥之春。天台比丘子聰。募金重刊。中竺遠孫 炷香再閱。
Does Fenyang actually possess these records? If so, the Linji lineage would be utterly destroyed. Does Fenyang truly not have these records? If so, the Linji lineage would also be utterly destroyed. So what must one do to enter Fenyang's gate and see Fenyang's person? The path is immediately level and open. In the spring of the year Xinhai, the Tiantai monk Zicong raised funds to reprint it. A distant descendant of Zhongzhu burned incense and reviewed it once again.
汾陽為聰公。排闥而起。濟北之道遂昌奮返嚬呻。驚□□勝。是為西河獅子。遺言行世。觀者不翅如飲鳩。中者必死。舊板磨滅。世方幸其毒息。木石聰首座。復刊而新之。流毒滋甚。慨今而後曾不知其飲而致於中。中而致於必死者幾何人矣。住禾城本覺比丘如芝拜書。
Master Fenyang was for Master Cong. He pushed open the door and rose up. The Way of Jibei was thus awakened and thrived, like roaring and frowning in response. Its startling power left people astonished and in awe. He was called the Lion of West River. His recorded sayings spread throughout the world. Those who read them were no different from those drinking poison—once infected, death was certain. The old woodblocks had worn away, and the world rejoiced, thinking the poison had ceased. But Wood-and-Stone Cong, the head monk, had them reprinted, making the poison spread even more. How lamentable! From now on, how many will unknowingly drink this poison, be infected by it, and die because of it? Written with reverence by Ruzhi, a monk of Benjue Temple in Hecheng.