No. 1307-A萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚拈古請益錄序
Preface to Elder Wansong's Commentary on Master Jue of Tiantong's Record of Pointing to the Ancient and Seeking Instruction
最初。威音王以前。早有箇無孔鐵鎚。大悲通身八萬四千姥陀羅臂。摸索不著。洞山之後。有無手人。上天童山頂。拋向九霄雲外。下長蘆岸邊。沈在千尋海底。是可忍也。於是百般拈弄。遂成百則。百年之後。湛然居士。斷送萬松。再呈醜拙。萬松曰。雪巖先師。亦曾於王山頂上。滏水岸邊。舉洞山示眾云。初秋夏末。兄弟或東或西。直須向萬里無寸草處去。良久云。祇如萬里無寸草處。又作麼生去。石霜云。出門便是草。大陽云。直饒不出門。亦是草漫漫地。師拈云。三箇老漢。雖然異口同音。未免撞頭磕額。何也。一人大開口了合不得。一人高擡脚了放不下。一人緊閉門了出不去。王山即不然。遍十方界非外。全在一微塵。在一微塵非內。遍十方界。祇這一微塵許。也須及盡不可得。向那裏安門。甚麼入草。還會麼。休侵洞嶺初秋草。請看疎山臘月蓮。萬松忝授緒餘。義無牢讓。自庚寅九月旦請益。纔廿七日。不覺伎倆已盡。撩人笑話。老不歇心。激我雲仍。少當努力。他後失笑。無孔竅生鐵團。幾曾動著絲毫。方知萬松野老。從來不犯手勢。二十八日序。
In the beginning, before the King of Majestic Sound, there was already a solid iron hammer without a hole. With the great compassion of eighty-four thousand arms of Avalokitesvara, one could not grasp it. After Dongshan, there was a man without hands. He ascended to the summit of Tiantong Mountain and cast it beyond the nine heavens. He descended to the banks of Changlu and sank it into the thousand-fathom depths of the sea. This is indeed something to be endured. Thus, through all manner of handling and manipulation, a hundred cases were formed. A hundred years later, the Layman Zhanran sent off Wansong, presenting once more his clumsy and awkward efforts. Wansong said: "My late teacher Xueyan once, atop Wang Mountain and by the banks of the Fu River, cited Dongshan's instruction to the assembly: 'In early autumn, at summer's end, fellow practitioners, whether going east or west, you must go to the place where for ten thousand li there is not a blade of grass.' After a long pause, he said: 'But as for the place where for ten thousand li there is not a blade of grass, how then do you go?' Shishuang said: 'Stepping out the door, there is grass.' Taiyang said: 'Even if you do not step out the door, it is still a vast expanse of grass.' The Master commented: 'These three old fellows, though speaking with different mouths, share the same tune; yet they cannot avoid bumping their heads and knocking their foreheads. Why? One opened his mouth wide and could not close it. One raised his foot high and could not put it down. One shut his door tight and could not go out. Wang Mountain, however, is not like this. The entire ten-direction world is not outside; it is wholly within a single mote of dust. Within a single mote of dust is not inside; it pervades the ten-direction world. Just this single mote of dust—even it must be exhausted, yet cannot be obtained. Where then would you set up a gate? What is entering the grass? Do you understand? Do not disturb the early autumn grass of Dongling. Please look at the winter lotus of Shushan.'"
Wansong, having humbly received the remaining threads, felt duty-bound not to stubbornly refuse. From the first day of the ninth month in the year Gengyin, I sought instruction. After only twenty-seven days, I found my tricks and skills already exhausted, inviting people's laughter. My old mind does not rest, spurring on my descendants to exert themselves while young. Later, if they lose their way and laugh, the solid iron lump without holes—when has it ever been moved the slightest? Only then will they know that this old man Wansong of the wilds has never once made a gesture.
Written on the twenty-eighth day.
萬松請益百則。老骨董。其詞源滾滾。放肆汪洋。開合卷舒。具大自在。然雖如是。不無他指鹿為馬。證龜成鱉。奈有傍不肯的在。爭似山野。無禪可參。無說可說。免使諸人。生愛憎取捨也。
Wansong sought guidance on a hundred cases. Old antiques. His words flow like a torrent, unrestrained and vast, opening and closing, rolling and unrolling, possessing great freedom. Yet even so, there are those who point at a deer and call it a horse, or claim a turtle is a turtle—what can be done when there are bystanders unwilling to accept it? How can this compare to the mountain wilderness, where there is no Zen to contemplate, nothing to explain, sparing everyone from giving rise to attachment, aversion, or grasping?
萬歷丁未仲冬 少室後參 覺虗一 識
In the winter of the Wanli Dingwei year, recorded by Jue Xuyi, a later disciple of Shaolin.