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師。隰州李氏子。得度于淨明寺。十四受具。十八遊方。至汝州香山成枯木。參問有省。後謁丹霞。問。如何是空劫已前自己。師曰。井底蝦蟆吞卻月。三更不借夜明簾。霞曰。未在。更道。師擬議。霞打一拂子。曰。又道不借。師於言下釋然。遂作禮。霞曰。何不道取一句。曰。宏智今日失機遭罪。霞曰。未暇打得你去。後歷住長蘆。天童等剎。衲子雲臻。宋紹興丁丑十月八日。端坐告眾。書偈而逝。龕留七日。顏色如生。塔於東谷。
「四十七世天童宏智禪師」：四十七世曹洞宗的祖師，他的名字叫宏智，住在寧波天童寺。「師，隰州李氏子」：這位禪師他是隰州人。隰州是什麼地方啊？在山西茅苔。俗家姓李。「得度于淨明寺」：出家在淨明寺這個地方。「十四受具，十八遊方」：十四歲就受具足戒了。十八就到各處去參方、參學，像到各個廟上去看看有什麼家風。
「至汝州香山成枯木」：汝州香山這個地方，有這麼一位禪師，他參禪參的是枯木──就是乾木，參這個話頭。「參問有省」：他到那個地方，參過這個話頭，以後就開了一點悟了。「後謁丹霞」：到那地方以後，他又去叩謁丹霞，去親近丹霞禪師。「問：如何是空劫已前自己」：丹霞禪師看見他來了，就要考驗考驗他；就問他：「怎麼樣才是空劫以前的自己？」
「師曰」：宏智禪師說，「井底蝦蟆吞卻月」：井底的蝦蟆把月亮給吞了。你說有沒有這個事情？就在井底上邊，他都沒有辦法把月光給吞了。把這個月亮給吞了，並不是把月光給吞了。就是因為他看不見那個月亮走到一邊去了，他以為是他吞了，但是不是他吞的。「三更不借夜明簾」：三更天是晚上半夜的時候。什麼叫夜明簾呢？這都是一些沒有什麼理由的話，就是說出來這個話叫你不懂，令你思量分別都沒有了，這是禪宗的一種口頭禪。那麼什麼叫不借夜明簾呢？那就表示說三更天都是光明的，不需要借用什麼光明來照亮。我們要注意這個「不借」，他說的不借，是不用借什麼光明，也是有光明的──我若講錯了，你們各位老師都可以指正我。就是說自性的光明，在白天、晚間都是光明的，不須借外在境界；智慧光明，時時都現前的。
可他這麼說，覺得理由很充分；「霞曰」：這個丹霞說了，「未在」：還不行，沒有到家。「更道」：你再說一句！你說得不夠，不是這樣子啊！他以為講這麼兩句口頭禪，令他不懂就過關了；想不到這是個作家，遇到個作家你過不了關。你不行，你還不到家！你再說一句！這個宏智禪師，被當時這麼一說，他就有一點糊塗了，這個夜明簾不借不行了！就想了。「擬議」：就在那兒用腦想一想：我得用一句什麼話才可以答覆他這個問題？他說我還不到家還不行。「霞打一拂子，曰」：這丹霞拿起了拂塵就打他一下，說了，「又道不借」：你又說不借夜明簾！你現在幹什麼呢？唉！你這想什麼東西？
「師於言下釋然」：被丹霞祖師這麼一嚇，喔！他當時狂心野性都沒了，貢高我慢、冒充行家這些個鬼八怪都沒有了！這狂心停止了。釋然，就放下了，什麼都了了。「遂作禮」：於是乎就向丹霞禪師叩頭頂禮。「霞曰」：丹霞禪師一看他投降了，說，「何不道取一句」：你可以再說出一句來看看啊！
「曰」：他說了，「宏智今日失機遭罪」：宏智我啊，今天落第二義了，沒有能過關，我還在分別識心上用功夫呢！
「霞曰：未暇打得，你去」：丹霞禪師說，我今天沒有時間再打你了，你去了！這個意思，也是給他印證了；所以現在分別的識心、情意識才停止了，不在情意識上用功夫了。所以永嘉大師〈證道歌〉說是：「損法財，滅功德，莫不由此心意識。」都是從這個心意識來把人耽誤了，就不能得到了脫。「禪門了卻心」，所以若了卻這個分別心，「頓入無生知見地」，能即刻得到這個沒有分別的智慧。
「後歷住長蘆、天童等剎」：叫他去了，後來這一位宏智禪師做過長蘆這個地方的方丈，又做過天童寺的住持。剎，長蘆和天童在中國來講，都是有名的道場。「衲子雲臻」：衲子，就是出家的人。雲臻，就好像雲來集一樣的，都到這地方來親近宏智禪師。
「宋紹興丁丑十月八日」：南宋（高宗）紹興丁丑那一年（公元1157）的十月八日。「端坐告眾」：這位宏智禪師端然正坐，給大家告辭。說是我要走了，你們各位要好好努力用功，不要把光陰都空過了。「書偈而逝」：寫了一首偈頌就圓寂了。你看這如果沒有功夫，沒有得到來去自由、生死有把握，怎麼能得到這種境界呢？「龕留七日」：圓寂了，這個龕留了七天。「顏色如生」：可是他圓寂後的樣子，和活著那個樣子一樣的。「塔於東谷」：塔祖師的全身在天童寺東邊那個山谷裡。
待續
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Essay:
The Master was the son of the Li family of Shizhou Prefecture. He was ordained at Jingming (“Pure Brightness”) Monastery. At fourteen he received the Complete Precepts, and at eighteen he set out in search of good teachers. He arrived at Xiangshan (“Fragrant Mountain”) Monastery in Ruzhou, and in his investigation of Chan, he became like a piece of dry wood. With further investigation, he gained a certain insight. Afterwards he went to study with Dhyana Master Dan Xia (“Red Cloud”), who asked him, “What was your self before the cosmos began?” The Master answered, “A frog at the bottom of the well swallows the moon; in the middle of the night there’s no need to borrow a light.”
Master Dan Xia remarked, “You haven’t got it. Try again.” The Master was in the process of figuring out something else to say when Dan Xia hit him with the whisk and cried out, “But you said you didn’t have to borrow anything!” At those words the Master experienced a feeling of great relief. He made obeisance. Dan Xia then said, “Why don’t you try to say something else?”
The Master replied, “Today Hong Zhi missed the opportunity and incurred blame.”
Master Dan Xia said, “I don’t have time to hit you. You can go now.”
Afterwards the Master presided at monasteries such as Changlu, Tiantong, and others. Monastics gathered at his monasteries like clouds.
During the cyclical year ding chou of the Shaoxing reign of the Southern Song Dynasty, on the eighth day of the tenth mouth, the Master sat upright and bid goodbye to the assembly. He wrote a verse and then left. His body was housed in a casket for seven days, and the color of his complexion remained as if he were still alive. His stupa was built in the valley east of Tiantong Monastery.
Commentary:
This Master is the Forty-Seventh Patriarch of the Caodong School. He lived in Tiantong Monastery in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.
The Master was a son of the Li family of Shizhou Prefecture in Shanxi.
He was ordained at Jingming (“Pure Brightness”) Monastery. At fourteen, he received the Complete Precepts, and at eighteen he set out in search of good teachers. He went to the various monasteries to observe their different styles of teaching and cultivation.
Then he arrived at Xiangshan (“Fragrant Mountain”) Monastery in Ruzhou Prefecture, and in his investigation of Chan, he became like a piece of dry wood. His mind reached a state in which he resembled a piece of dry wood.
With further investigation he gained a certain insight. By looking into his meditation topic, he had a bit of an awakening.
Afterwards he went to study with and draw near to
Dhyana Master Dan Xia, who asked him, “What was your self before the cosmos began?” That was the exam topic that Master Dan Xia gave him.
The Master Hong Zhi
answered, “A frog at the bottom of the well swallows the moon.” Is this possible? Can a frog sitting at the bottom of a well swallow the moon? No. Rather, it’s a case of the frog being unable to see the moon as it moves out of his perspective. That’s what is meant by “swallowing the moon.”
In the middle of the night, during the third watch,
there’s no need to borrow a light. What does this phrase mean anyway? It doesn’t carry any great meaning. These words were spoken just so you wouldn’t understand. They are designed to put an end to your discriminating, cognitive process. If I explain incorrectly, all of you—my teachers—may correct me. The basic idea is that your inherent nature is bright in and of itself. There’s no need to borrow from an external source. The light of your own nature shines throughout the day and night and there’s no need to rely on any outer conditions.
After Master Hong Zhi came up with this verse as a reply,
Master Xia remarked, “You haven’t got it. Try again.” Say something else! You haven’t quite got it. Master Hong Zhi thought he could get away with this bit of Chan banter, that he could make it pass, but this time he had run into a real Master who had exacting standards and who demanded something more from him. At that point, Master Hong Zhi felt he was in a pinch—maybe he could not manage without borrowing some external light after all.
The Master was in the process of figuring out something else to say. In his mind he was trying to come up with another reply—he really hadn’t yet reached the mark. Right at that point
Dan Xia hit him with the whisk and cried out, “But you said you didn’t have to borrow anything!” You claimed you didn’t have to borrow any external light. Then what are you thinking about now?
At those words the Master experienced a feeling of great relief. At Dan Xia’s yell, Hong Zhi felt a great relief. His arrogance, his mad mind and wild thoughts, his pretensions to enlightenment—all of these vanished in an instant. His crazed mind came to a stop. Then
he made obeisance to Master Dan Xia.
Dan Xia then said, “Why don’t you try to say something else?”
The Master, Hong Zhi,
replied, “Today Hong Zhi missed his opportunity and incurred blame.” I fell into the secondary, peripheral meaning. I didn’t make it through the gate. I had been working within the area of my discriminating consciousness.”
Master Dan Xia said, “I don’t have time to hit you. You can go now.” This was a form of certification. Master Dan Xia acknowledged that the activities of Master Hong Zhi’s intellect and discriminating consciousness had come to a stop.
Because of the principles involved in the above interchange, Great Master Yong Jia said in his
Song of Enlightenment:
Dharma wealth is lost
And merit and virtue destroyed,
Due to nothing other than the conscious mind.
Through the door of Chan the mind comes to rest,
And one suddenly enters the powerful, unborn knowledge and vision.
It's just the intellect and conscious mind that obstruct people in their cultivation. Therefore, in Chan we seek to put an end to the workings of the intellect and discriminating consciousness so that we can enter the wisdom of the Unborn.
Afterwards the Master presided at monasteries such as Changlu, Tiantong and others. He was abbot at those well-known monasteries in China.
Monastics gathered at his monasteries like clouds. They were as profuse as clouds as they came together to draw near him.
During the cyclical year ding chou (1157 c.e.)
of the Shaoxing reign of the Southern Song Dynasty, on the eighth day of the tenth mouth, the Master sat upright and bid goodbye to the assembly. He said, “Today I’m going to leave. All of you work hard. Don’t let the time pass in vain.”
He wrote a verse and then left. He entered the stillness. If he hadn’t achieved the state of freedom where he could come and go as he wished and have command over birth and death, then how could he have attained such a state?
His body was housed in a casket for seven days, and the color of his complexion remained as if he were still alive. There was no change in his complexion even seven days after his death. He looked just as he did when he was alive.
His stupa was built in the valley east of Tiantong Monastery. His flesh-body was housed in a stupa in the valley east of the monastery.
To be continued
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