路南兜率不磷堅禪師語錄序
Preface to the Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Bubuljian of the Southern Road's Tusita Monastic Order
今天下有偽禪，如澄公藥汞入鍛則流；有真禪，如雲門九轉點鐵成金之類是也。有死禪，如修行因果止爭落昧；有活禪，如同時卷簾迥分得失之類是也。有知解禪，如千問千荅祇欠㘞地一聲；有向上禪，如白汗通身始明下載清風之類是也。至於隔江招手，高亭橫趨而去；攜鉏入園，良遂當下便悟。智人一言，快馬一鞭，那堪長期短期、結冬結夏，作諸鈍漢舉止乎？雖然，盧能不逢五祖，終作嶺南獦獠；丹霞不見石頭，詎肯棄官選佛？法門中無限差殊，正見師未易遭遇。昔人所以亡軀為法，首重師資，勿憚三登九到耳！不磷大師者，奮跡蘄陽，化行南詔，為濟宗磚鏡、璧公真孫、野竹慧公嫡子。父楊岐而祖石霜，才明教而學覺範，道里雖遙，耳熟道風久矣！茲者繼席嵩山，全提正令，其門人以近錄一編，乞弁於余。一再讀之，見其頭頭上明、物物上顯。甘蔗苦李，總揚般若玄機；啼葉笑花，默契真如玅諦。如嶧陽之桐，百尺無枝、亭亭直上；如太華之山，雲斂秋空、林寒澗肅。又如漢昆陽之戰，虎豹股栗、屋瓦震動。俾海內英靈衲子，見者聞者莫不耳聾，喝下舌結棒頭。可謂師子窟中，果無異獸；素絲之染，不媿青藍。豈特學道，貴在知歸；益信擇法，先須具眼耳？將見六詔兩蜀之間，人空五蘊、戶習三空，用益光大。我先悟祖，蓋世勳猷，化行佛法不到之境；且一療從來偽禪、死禪、知解禪諸病。我知腳下馬駒，重符舊讖竹大師，可操左券俟矣！
In the world today, there exists false Chan, like Master Cheng's elixir of quicksilver turning to liquid when forged. There is true Chan, like Yunmen's ninefold transformation turning iron into gold. There is dead Chan, which gets stuck debating cause and effect and the rewards of practice. There is living Chan, like the one who rolled up the blind and instantly grasped gain and loss. There is intellectual Chan, with a thousand questions answered, yet lacking that single "Eh!" sound. There is transcendent Chan, where sweat pours over the entire body before one understands the cool breeze of letting go.
One beckons across the river, and Gaoting charges straight past; another carries a hoe into the garden, and Liangsu is instantly enlightened. A wise person needs but a single word, a fine horse but a single crack of the whip. Why waste time with long or short retreats, winter or summer sittings, acting like dullards?
Yet if Huineng had not met the Fifth Patriarch, he would have remained a barbarian hunter south of the mountains. If Danxia had not seen Shitou, would he have given up his official post to seek Buddhahood? Within the Dharma gate, there are infinite differences; encountering a true teacher is no easy matter. This is why the ancients gave up their very bodies for the Dharma, placing supreme importance on the teacher-student relationship, and were not afraid to make nine journeys to find the right master.
Great Master Bulian emerged from Qiyang and spread the Dharma through Nanzhao. He is the brick-mirror disciple of the Linji school, the true grandson of Master Bi, and the direct heir of Master Yezhu Hu. His grandfather is Yangqi and his ancestor is Shishuang. His talent lies in teaching and his learning in the Model of Awakening. Though the distance between us is great, I have long heard of his reputation on the path!
Now, he succeeds to the throne of Songshan, fully raising the true teaching. His disciples compiled a recent record of his teachings and asked me to write a preface. Reading it again and again, I see clarity in every point, illumination in every thing. - Sugarcane and bitter plum both proclaim the mysterious principle of Prajna. - The weeping child and the smiling flower silently resonate with the wondrous truth of Suchness.
It is like the tong tree from Yiyang—a hundred feet tall without a single branch, standing straight and tall. It is like Mount Taihua—after autumn, the clouds clear from the sky, the forest is cold, and the streams are still. It is like the battle of Kunyang in Han times, where tigers and leopards trembled, and roof tiles shook.
It makes all heroic monks of the land, whether they see or hear, deafen them with the shout and silence them with the blow. Truly, in the lair of lions, there are no strange beasts; the dyeing of white silk is not shamed by indigo from blue. Not only does learning the path value knowing where to return; how much more does choosing the Dharma require an eye to see?
Now, among the six and two regions, people will empty the five aggregates and practice the three emptinesses, making the teaching ever more radiant. Our founding patriarch, with his world-transcending merit, spread the Dharma to lands where the Buddha's teaching had never reached, and thereby cured the longstanding ailments of false Chan, dead Chan, and intellectual Chan. I know that at my feet, the young horse will confirm the old prophecy. Great Master Zhu, you may hold your proof and wait.
康熙癸丑除夕前三日，淛鄞蟄菴野叟錢光繡聖月氏盥手拜撰。
On the third day before New Year's Eve in the year of Guichou under Emperor Kangxi's reign, Qian Guangxiu, a rustic old man of Zhejiang and Yin, styled Shengyue, respectfully wrote this after washing his hands in reverence.