---
title: "紫竹林顓愚衡和尚語錄 · 示天隨宜子"
description: "紫竹林顓愚衡和尚語錄是清代禪師觀衡的語錄彙編，由弟子正印重編。該書成於明末清初佛教復興時期，記錄了觀衡禪師的開示、法語、機鋒和書信，集中體現了其融合禪淨、注重實修的禪法思想。作為臨濟宗高僧，觀衡的語錄不僅是研究明清佛教禪宗思想的重要文獻，也對後世禪修實踐產生了深遠影響，在漢傳佛教語錄體系中具有承前啟後的學術與修行價值。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmgn1192s1pdfjl04snnq48kl"
---

### 示天隨宜子

> Teaching the Heavenly Son According to His Needs

音宜，字天隨，江西螺川蕭氏子。早年失父，有兄代館成其學。自髫年喜近三寶、不樂塵俗，雖有妻子，儼如旅亭偶聚，了無愛結陳習。初依本郡青原山本寂和尚受優婆塞戒，獨居淨室，供佛延僧，日夜香燈長明，朝夕禮誦不懈，雖是居家，全然出家標致。一日離別舊處，由楚地到邵陽，謁病僧於五臺庵中，投病僧披剃，後之吳下遊歷諸方有十餘載，於崇禎甲戌夏月歸來自知悔過。病僧見其語默大越于前，乃授監院事。病僧臥疾邵陽二十餘載不勝其倦，行腳之心時時搖動。見一時院事得人內外可托，私眾一笠從舟下武陵禮德山鑒大師塔，嗣過吉州禮青原思大師塔，乞食諸邑以增人信心為念。丁丑春，入匡山為憨山先師掃塔。秋初因水陸多寇亂不便遊行，覓歸楚。道經海昏，登雲居山，樂觀祖庭勝概，為舊住持味白和尚與大檀越青嶼熊公堅留為灑掃計。病僧見祖庭荒殘十分狼籍不勝太息，乃暫與其欲。是年十一月十三日受事。明年八月中，此子以院事付託於人，與二三同戒訊病僧於雲居丈室。病僧念其院事疲勞路途困苦種種，慰之歡喜。知五臺院事非子不能支持，因促之速歸。子將行，袒右肩，胡跪合掌白曰：「弟子音宜，初蒙和尚一子之慈允為披剃，不覺宿障何深，違背和尚十餘年，伶俜諸方，全失法乳。及知歸省侍立和尚，和尚又為雲水相從。此是音宜自障，非和尚有意棄音宜也。音宜此來頂禮和尚，是為和尚壽賀甲子重新，望和尚指示一語，則不虛和尚容音宜在法中受生一回，音宜亦不敢不承和尚之法脈也。」病僧良久乃曰：「子孤我處多矣！無一時、無一事不是病僧指示處，豈有間乎？子既不能薦取，病僧亦不惜眉毛再為支離二三去。子名音宜，既受其名須踐其實；不踐其實，徒美其名有何益乎？世出世間大聖大賢出現世間種種示教，不過曲順時宜，究竟至於向上一事，是知宜之一字該盡世出世間聖賢玅道。子今但依此一字用作通身手眼，便是無礙神通、究竟解脫也。宜者，宜于理、宜于事、宜于處、宜于時、宜于佛祖不能到處，宜至于此始有自在相應分。諸佛諸祖都是宜於一無所得，是宜之大安樂、大解脫、大堅固、大受用處也。事宜者，宜于可行、宜于可止，是行止盡善不失其宜也；理宜者，宜於見性、宜于空相，是性相俱融不失其宜也。又處事宜于達理，見性宜於應事，宜事即理、宜理即事，性相融通，事理無礙，是事理雙遮雙照之宜也。處宜者，或宜于僻、或宜于市，或宜于山、或宜于水，或宜于寬、或宜于狹，是闤闠山林得善不失其宜也。時宜者，或宜于先、或宜于後，或宜于延、或宜于促，或宜于急、或宜于緩，是前際後際及時不失其宜也。又卜處宜於知時，作時宜于量處。乖處則時不興，乖時則處不發。方世互生，時處不二，是時處同致之宜也。又宜于時，究竟至于三世平等，本然一際也；宜于處，究竟至于十方圓明，法界無量也。宜于事，究竟至于超佛越祖，大機大用也；宜于理，究竟至于離名離相，無得無說也。宜到究竟田地，何事何理？何時何處？到此田地，宜之一字亦是強名，無名無宜迥超法界，塞卻諸佛鼻孔，杜絕諸祖口門，有何身心？有何善惡？有何苦樂？有何生死？有何涅槃？有何菩提？有何煩惱？是則生亦宜、死亦宜，在天堂亦宜、在地獄亦宜，在諸佛位中、在眾生界裏亦宜，在戒定慧學、在貪嗔癡聚亦宜，大亦宜、小亦宜，貴亦宜、賤亦宜，魔王亦宜、外道亦宜，山亦宜、水亦宜，風亦宜、火亦宜，荊棘林中亦宜，明月簾外亦宜，歌舞叢中亦宜、糞廁坑裏亦宜，得也宜、失也宜，取也宜、捨也宜，縱也宜、橫也宜，上也宜、下也宜。無往而不自得，無所而不得宜，豈不是頓超佛地乎？豈不是究竟堅固乎？出家兒宜乎任麼去、宜乎極盡去，宜乎不受染污、宜乎不受囊藏。子宜勉之！子宜勉之！」

> Yinyi, whose Buddhist name means "Suitable Vessel," was born with the courtesy name Tian Sui. He was from the Xiao family of Luochuan, Jiangxi. Orphaned young, his elder brother paid for his education. Since childhood, he loved the Three Jewels and disliked worldly affairs. Though he had a wife and children, he treated them like chance travelers in a lodge, with no clinging attachments. He first received the Upāsaka (layman) precepts from the Venerable Benji at Qingyuan Mountain and lived alone in a pure room, making offerings to the Buddha and monastics, keeping incense and lamps burning day and night, practicing prostrations and recitations without rest. Though living at home, he lived entirely like a renunciant. One day, he left home and traveled through Chu to Shaoyang, where he met a sick monk at the Five-Story Nunnery. He asked the sick monk to shave his head and ordain him. Later, he traveled south of the Yangtze for over a decade, visiting many teachers. In the summer of 1634, he returned, knowing his past faults. The sick monk saw his words and actions were far superior to before, and put him in charge of monastery affairs. The sick monk had been sick in bed in Shaoyang for over twenty years and was weary. His desire to travel always stirred. Seeing that the monastery now had capable people inside and out, he secretly took a traveling hat and went by boat down the Wu River to pay respects to the stupa of Venerable Deshan (Great Master Jian). Passing through Jizhou, he visited the pagoda of Venerable Qingyuan (Great Master Si). He begged for food in various towns to inspire faith in others. In the spring of 1637, he entered Kuangshan (Mount Lu) to sweep the stupa of his late teacher Hanshan. In early autumn, because of many bandits and unrest on the waterways, he found travel difficult and sought to return to Chu. Passing through Haihun, he climbed Mount Yunju and delighted in the magnificent ancient monastery compound. The former abbot, Venerable Weibai, and the great patron Xiong Qingyu insisted he stay to care for the temple. The sick monk saw the abandoned and dilapidated state of the monastery and sighed deeply, so he temporarily agreed to their wish. On the 13th day of the 11th month that year, he assumed his duties. In the 8th month of the following year, he entrusted the monastery affairs to someone else and, with two or three fellow precept-holders, visited the sick monk in his quarters at Yunju. The sick monk, knowing the toil of managing the monastery and the hardships of travel, comforted him with joy. He knew the Five-Story Nunnery could not be managed without this man, so he urged him to return quickly. As the disciple was about to leave, he bared his right shoulder, knelt on one knee, raised his joined palms, and said: "Disciple Yinyi was once favored by the Master's kindness as a son in allowing me to shave and ordain. I did not realize my heavy karmic obstructions, and I turned away from the Master for over ten years, wandering in many directions, completely losing the Dharma milk. When I finally returned to attend the Master, the Master again left to wander like clouds and water. This is my own obstruction; the Master never meant to abandon me. Now I come to bow to the Master to celebrate your sixtieth birthday anniversary. I beg the Master to give me one instruction, so that this visit is not in vain, and so I have truly been reborn in the Master's Dharma. I dare not fail to receive the Master's Dharma lineage." The sick monk was silent for a long time, then said: "You have let me down many times! Yet there has never been a moment or a matter where I did not instruct you. Where has there been any gap? Since you have not been able to realize this, I will not spare my eyebrows and give you some further clarification. Your name is Yinyi (Suitable Vessel). Since you have received this name, you must live up to its meaning. Not living up to it makes the name empty – what good is that? All the great sages and holy ones in the world and beyond appear to teach, but they merely adapt to the times (shiyi). Ultimately, regarding the matter of direct realization, know that the word 'yi' (suitability/appropriateness) encompasses the entire subtle path of worldly and transcendent sages. Now, if you simply use this one word as your entire body and eyes, it becomes unobstructed supernatural power and ultimate liberation. "'Yi' means being appropriate to principle (li), appropriate to phenomena (shi), appropriate to place (chu), appropriate to time (shi). It goes to where even Buddhas and ancestors cannot reach. Being appropriate to this point gives you the freedom and realization of true nature. "All Buddhas and ancestors were 'appropriate' to attaining nothing whatsoever. This is the great peace, the great liberation, the great steadfastness, the great enjoyment of 'yi.' As for phenomena: be appropriate to action, appropriate to rest. When moving and stopping are perfect, nothing loses its suitability. As for principle: be appropriate to seeing nature, appropriate to the empty mark (emptiness of all appearances). When nature and marks merge, nothing loses their suitability. "Moreover, handling phenomena should be appropriate to realizing principle; seeing nature should be appropriate to responding to phenomena. When appropriate phenomena are principle, and appropriate principle is phenomena, nature and marks interpenetrate, phenomena and principle are unobstructed. This is the suitability of both negating and illuminating phenomena and principle. "As for place: be appropriate to seclusion, appropriate to the marketplace, appropriate to mountains, appropriate to rivers, appropriate to wide spaces, appropriate to narrow ones. Whether in town or forest, masterfulness does not lose its suitability. "As for time: be appropriate to before, appropriate to after, appropriate to prolonging, appropriate to shortening, appropriate to urgency, appropriate to slowness. Past, future, and the present moment – timing does not lose its suitability. "Furthermore, in choosing a place, be appropriate to knowing time. In acting at the right time, be appropriate to measuring the place. If the place is unsuitable, the time does not arise. If the time is unsuitable, the place does not develop. Space and time generate each other, and time and place are not two. This is the suitability of time and space in concert. "Be appropriate to time, ultimately reaching the equality of the three periods, originally one moment. Be appropriate to place, ultimately reaching the perfect illumination of the ten directions, the measureless Dharma Realm. Be appropriate to phenomena, ultimately surpassing Buddhas and ancestors, with great function and great capacity. Be appropriate to principle, ultimately leaving behind name and mark, with no attainment and no teaching. When one reaches the ultimate ground of 'being appropriate,' what matter, what principle? What time, what place? At this point, the word 'appropriate' is forced. Without name or suitability, it completely transcends the Dharma Realm, blocks up all nostrils of Buddhas, seals off the mouths of all ancestors. What body and mind is there? What good and evil? What suffering and joy? What birth and death? What nirvana? What enlightenment? What affliction? Then: in life it is suitable ('appropriate'), in death it is suitable. In heaven it is suitable, in hell it is suitable. In the position of Buddhas, in the realm of sentient beings – it is suitable. In the study of precepts, concentration, and wisdom; in the accumulation of greed, hatred, and delusion – it is suitable. Great is suitable, small is suitable. Noble is suitable, lowly is suitable. Demonic kings are suitable, heretics are suitable. Mountains are suitable, waters are suitable. Wind is suitable, fire is suitable. In the thorn grove – it is suitable. Outside the bright-moon curtain – it is suitable. In the midst of song and dance – it is suitable. In the pit of excrement – it is suitable. Gain is suitable, loss is suitable. Grasping is suitable, letting go is suitable. Vertical is suitable, horizontal is suitable. Above is suitable, below is suitable. "Nothing you encounter is not self-fulfilled. Nothing is without its appropriateness. Is this not immediately transcending the Buddha-ground? Is this not ultimate steadfastness? One who has left home should be suitable to go in this way. Should be suitable to exhaust it completely. Should be suitable to receive no defilement. Should be suitable to receive no concealment. Disciple, strive for this! Disciple, strive for this!"