幻住庵清規
Pure Dwelling Hermitage Regulations
普應國師幻住庵清規(并序)
Master Puying's Huanzhu Hermitage Pure Rules(with Preface)
魯語謂。君子學道則愛人。小人學道則易使也。蒙莊亦云。魚相忘於江湖。人相忘於道術。斯入世之道尚能易使而相忘。矧佛祖出世之道混彼此齊自佗。交徹融攝而無間然者也。心存乎道不待禮而自中。不俟法而自正矣。又何叢林規矩云哉。嗟乎人心之不軌道久矣。半千載前已甞瓦解。百丈起為叢林以救之。迨今不能無弊。今菴居處眾固不敢效叢林禮法。而日用又不可破規裂矩。勉置須知一編。列為十門。為主伴交參之標準。自成一家之規。非敢與大方共也。其有真參實究之士。攝念於天真未散之頃。終日作而不見其勞。終日息而不知其佚。外忘禮法。內空能所者。以是編為疣贅。則我何敢辭焉。延祐丁巳冬幻住沙門 書。
The *Analects* says: "When a gentleman studies the Way, he develops love for others; when a common person studies the Way, they become easier to guide." Zhuangzi also says: "Fish forget each other in rivers and lakes; people forget each other in the Way." If even worldly paths can make people easy to guide and mutually forgetful, how much more so the Buddha-Patriarch's transcendent path, which merges self and other, interpenetrates and integrates without any separation? When the mind abides in the Way, there is no need for ritual to be naturally centered, no need for rules to be naturally upright. So what need is there for monastic codes?
Alas! People's minds have strayed from the Way for a long time. Five hundred years ago, it had already crumbled. Baizhang established the Chan monastic community to remedy this, yet even now it cannot be without flaws. Although I dare not imitate the formal rites and regulations of large monasteries in my small hermitage, daily life cannot afford to break all rules. I have reluctantly compiled one volume of *Essential Knowledge*, divided into ten sections, as a standard for mutual support between host and companion. This is my own private system; I dare not presume it suitable for the wider community. For those genuine practitioners who, in the time before natural innocence dissipates, work all day without feeling weariness, rest all day without knowing idleness, externally transcend rites and rules, and internally empty both subject and object—if they consider this volume superfluous, I will not argue.
Written by the Monk of Illusory Abode, Winter of 1317 CE.