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師洪州金氏子。遍歷禪會。學心未息。後遇法燈禪師。機緣頓契。有頌曰：「接物利生絕妙。外生終是不肖。他家自有兒孫。將來用得恰好。」師謂門弟子曰。達摩言此方經。惟楞伽可以印心。吾讀此經偈云：「諸法無法體。而說唯是心。不見於自心。而起於分別。」可謂大慈悲父。如實極譚。僧問：如何是佛。師曰：汝是阿誰。師在東禪。雙林。雲居三處住持。著語要。搜玄。拈古代別等集。盛行於世。
註釋：
這位禪師是法眼宗第四十四代的祖師，他是江西人，住在江西的首都南昌市，江西出很多文人。洪州那是以前的名字，以後改叫南昌。這位禪師俗家姓金。「遍歷禪會」：他一生來就歡喜參禪，歡喜打坐，所以哪一個道場是注重禪宗的道場，他就去參加。好像金山、高旻寺，這些地方，他都一定去住。金山最特長的就是坐腿子；金山坐禪的人腿子盤起來，能坐幾個鐘頭都不用換腿子。金山腿子，高旻香。高旻寺的香就是一秒鐘也不錯的，它是一定要按照時間來過香。海潮寺就是腔。上海這個海潮寺，那個地方的人都不太守規矩，也就是一天到晚講、講、講....迷理嘩啦的，那叫「腔」。這是中國的道場裡頭各有所長，哪一個道場有哪一個道場的長處。金山寺坐腿子是最長處，高旻寺就是這個燒香時間很準的，絲毫也不錯。上海這海潮寺的人很放逸、很隨便的，隨便亂講、亂說的。
他「遍歷禪會，學心未息」：他歡喜當參學，歡喜學習，到什麼地方他都很虛心的。所謂「敏而好學，不恥下問」，不要說比他高的人，他要向人家來學習，就是不如他的人，他也向人來學習，是這樣的虛心。「後遇法燈禪師」： 他以後在京城，就是南京，遇到法燈禪師。「機緣頓契」：機緣就是他們倆個人投機，有道是「話不投機，半句多」。若是投機，就講一天話也不多，也還嫌少。他們就很投機的、也很有緣的，可以說是一見如故。這機緣頓契不僅僅就是人情世故覺得有緣這麼簡單。這個頓契就是契合，就是如水乳合，就像水摻在牛奶裡一樣，你分別不出哪個是奶、哪個是水了，水乳合了，也就是以心印心了，也就是法燈禪師傳法，他做為法眼中的第四十四代的傳人，也就是法眼宗的第四十四代的祖師了。
所以「有頌曰」：當時這位禪師他就作了一首偈頌，這個偈頌是這麼說的：「接物利生絕妙」：接物就是接觸世間一切的萬事萬物，待人接物；利生就是弘揚佛法的意思。就是對世間一切的事物，事事物物他所處理的都是恰到好處。所以說絕妙，絕妙都是有一個真理在裡頭。你迎賓待客，出入往返，日用倫常，起居動作、飲食，行住坐臥都是非常之妙。為什麼他說這個是妙呢？這就是見道的一個境界。你人若見道了，明白這個道理了，就覺得一切一切都是很自然的，一切一切都是非常非常妙，所以接物利生絕妙。
「外生終是不肖」：外邊生的，不是自己的髓肉骨血，他幾乎不會一樣的，外生這是不一樣的。這個「肖」就是一樣，不肖就是不一樣，說是單獨不肖。那個堯傳舜，舜就傳給禹，因為帝堯帝舜的兒子都是不肖。不肖就是不像他父親那麼好，不是賢而有德的，所以堯帝也就讓賢，把這個天下讓給舜。舜帝也是讓賢，就讓給禹了。那禹王的兒子齊，就是很好的、有德行，所以禹王就把這個天下傳給他兒子。所以說，「孝孫子，家庭相」就是這樣子。這個不肖就是不像自己一樣，不一樣，所以就是不肖。所以外生終是不肖，外邊生的這個人不會和自己一樣的。可是雖然不一樣，但是在佛教裡頭「他家自有兒孫」：旁的道場裡也有子子孫孫，徒兒法孫也有很多。「將來用得恰好」：說，我將來選擇一個人，要用他的時候，那也是很好、很洽當的。
這位禪師把他們看成這樣，所以他很超然的，沒有一種傳統的觀念、或者子孫的觀念，沒有這個，也沒有一種自私自利的觀念。
「師謂門弟子」：有一天，這位禪師就對他一些弟子說，說什麼呢？「達摩言此方經」：我們初祖菩提達摩，他說我們這娑婆世界的經典，「惟楞伽可以印心」：就是這個《楞伽經》，它可以印證，作為印心的法門，以心印心的法門。《楞伽經》說的很清楚，所以旁的經典都不夠印心的這個理論，惟《楞伽經》是禪宗以心印心的法門。所以他說，「吾讀此經」：我讀誦這一部《楞伽經》有「偈云」。這《楞伽經》上有一首偈頌是這樣說的，「諸法無法體」：諸法是從緣生，諸法還是從緣滅，從因緣生也是從因緣滅。這是佛當初說的：「諸法從緣生，諸法從緣滅；我佛大沙門，常作如此說。」所以說諸法無法體。這個法就是個方法，方法沒有一個本體。你說哪一個是方法的那個真實體性呢？沒有！所以諸法無法體，他沒有一個根，沒有一個所謂因果的。這個法從因緣而生，又從因緣而滅。也就好像我們這個氣，這個法就是我們的一口氣。我們這一口氣呼出去了，你看沒有一點氣，到外邊就散了，沒有了；你呼進來還有氣，但是你看得見？看不見的。為什麼它看不見呢？就因為它沒有體性。這個是沒有體的。我們人有了身體，而這個法沒有一個體性。所以說，諸法無法體，無論什麼法都沒有一個自性的。
我們這個氣，你看，這和虛空的氣都是通著。所以虛空的氣被染污，我們人也就會生病，因為我們儘是呼吸一些染污的東西。所以，現在發明這個、發明那個，發明的東西多了，就把這個世界染污的空氣充滿了。這個空氣怎麼被染污呢？就是裡頭有毒，有一股毒素。這股毒素在這空氣裡頭，所以我們人吸收這個空氣就有一種毒質，你看不見的，你聽不見的，你也聞不見的。視之不見、聽之不聞、嗅之無味。這種東西，這種毒，你說利害不利害？這可以說是一種慢性的毒。所以現在把空氣染污了，人就生出很多怪病，又是 cancer、又是 crazy、又是發狂、又是這個、那個的，喔！這個病簡直都是莫名其妙。從什麼地方來的？就從這染污的空氣裡頭來的。
待續
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Essay:
The Master was a son of the Jin Family of Hongzhou. He went to all the different Chan assemblies of his time, and yet his craving for learning had not been satiated. Later he met Dhyana Master Fa Deng (Dharma Lamp), and there was an instant meshing of their causes and conditions. The Master composed a verse:
Greet living beings and benefit sentient ones with utmost mastery.
A son born outside does not resemble the father.
Other families also have their sons and grandsons.
In the future, they will serve their purposes most perfectly!
The Master told his room-entering disciples, “Patriarch Bodhidharma said that in this region, only the
Lankavatara Sutra can be used to seal and certify the mind. In reading this Sutra I have come upon the verse that says:
All dharmas are without a Dharma substance,
And so we say that all is made from mind alone.
Because of not seeing one’s own mind,
One gives rise to discrimination!
This is indeed the most true and utmost discourse of our greatly compassionate father!”
A monk asked, “What is the Buddha?”
The Master replied, “Well, who are you?”
The Master presided as abbot over three monasteries: Dongchan (Eastern Dhyana); Shuanglin (Twin Grove); and Yunju (Cloud Abode). His works include
Essential Sayings, Probing the Mysteries, and Selected Topics from Successive Generations of the Ancients, all of which are widely disseminated in the world.
Commentary:
This Dhyana Master was the forty-fourth Generational Patriarch of the Fayan (Dharma Eye) School. The Master was a native of Jiangxi Province, and he lived in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi, where many great literary figures are from. Hongzhou was the old name; later it was changed to Nanchang.
The Master was a son of the Jin family of Hongzhou District.
He went to all the different Chan assemblies of his time. He had an innate fondness for investigating Chan, and so wherever there were Chan monasteries, he would go there to sit in meditation. He frequented places such as Jinshan (Gold Mountain), Gaomin Monastery, and others. The meditators in Jinshan Monastery were known for their legs. They could sit in full lotus for hours and not switch back and forth. Gaomin Monastery was known for the precision of its Chan sits, timed exactly by sticks of incense. The site were so well-timed that they were not off by a second. People at Haichao (Seatide) Monastery in Shanghai were known for their babbling and carousing. The cultivators there did not subscribe to rules. They talked and talked from morning to night. The monasteries of China each had their strong points. For example, Jinshan Monastery was known for its cultivators who could sit for a long time with legs crossed in lotus position; Gaomin Monastery was known for the precise timing of its incense sticks; and Haichao Monastery was notorious for its people who rambled nonsensically.
The Master went to all the different Chan assemblies of his time. He was very humble, “alert and fond of learning, not afraid to ask from those below him.” Not only was he eager to learn from those who knew more than he, he was willing to learn from those who did not know as much as he did. He was modest.
Later he met Dhyana Master Fa Deng (Dharma Lamp) in Jinling (Nanjing),
and there was an instant meshing of their causes and conditions. The two of them got along very well. There was good rapport. If people do not have affinities, they will not bother to exchange half a sentence with each other. However, if they have affinities, they can talk a lot, feeling as if they were old friends from the instant they meet. Here, “instant meshing of their causes and conditions” does not refer only to sentimental rapport, which worldly people feel for one another. It wasn’t as simple as that. Rather, it was a case of tallying, like water and milk blending together so you couldn’t tell the two apart. It was a case of the mind sealing the mind. Dhyana Master Fa Deng transmitted the Dharma to him, and so he became the forty-fourth Generational Patriarch, the successor.
Thereupon the Master composed a verse: “Greet living beings and benefit sentient ones with utmost mastery.” Greeting living beings means coming into contact with the myriad things and creatures of the world. Benefiting living beings means propagating the Buddhadharma. He could deal with the myriad affairs of the world in a masterful and most appropriate way. “Utmost mastery” means there was a true principle underlying all of his actions: welcoming guests and showing them around, coming in, going out, running back and forth; all the daily activities of rising, dwelling, drinking, and eating; in all aspects of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down – he would do all of these things in a wonderful way. Why is it “wonderful”? Because he had perceived the Way. Once you see the Way and understand principle, then everything becomes very natural and spontaneous, very supreme and wonderful.
The verse continues: A son born outside does not resemble the father. An adopted son will not be an exact replica of his father. In ancient China, Emperor Yao passed the throne to Shun, and Shun passed it to Yu. This was because the sons of both Emperor Yao and Shun were not like their fathers. They were not as worthy and virtuous as their fathers. Therefore Emperor Yao yielded the throne to someone worthy, to Shun. And Shun, in the same way, yielded the throne to Yu. Emperor Yu’s son Chi was a very fine man, so Emperor Yu was able to pass the throne on to his own son. “Not resembling” means that the son is not like the father. Although this is the case, in Buddhism
other families also have their sons and grandsons. Other monasteries also have descendents in their respective lineages.
In the future they will serve their purposes most perfectly! “In the future I will pick someone who will be very useful, very appropriate.”
The Master had a very transcendent manner. He was not attached to some traditional attitude that he had to pass the lineage on to his own sons and grandsons. He did not harbor that kind of selfish and self-seeking viewpoint.
The Master told his room-entering disciples. One day, he said to his disciples, “The First Patriarch
Bodhidharma said that in this region, among the Sutras in the Saha world,
only the Lankavatara Sutra can be used to seal and certify the mind.” That Sutra can be used for the mind sealing the mind. The
Lankavatara Sutra discusses this very clearly. Other Sutras do not have such extensive theories on sealing the mind. That’s what Patriarch Bodhidharma said.
In reading this Sutra, I have come upon the verse that says, ‘All dharmas are without a Dharma substance.’ All dharmas arise from causes and conditions; all dharmas go out of being from causes and conditions. It is recorded:
All dharmas arise from conditions.
All dharmas go out of being from conditions.
The Buddha, the great Shramana,
Often explains it this way.
That’s why the Sutra says, “All dharmas are without a Dharma substance.” The dharma is simply a method. It does not have its own substance. A method does not have an actual nature. It does not have its own set of cause and effect. Dharmas simply arise and go out of being due to causes and conditions. It is like people’s breath. If you breathe out, you might see some air; but once the breath is out, it disperses. When you inhale, there is still air, but you can’t see it. Why can’t you see it? Because it has no substance or nature. Whereas we people have bodies, the Dharma is without substance or nature. All dharmas are devoid of an inherent nature. Our breath is connected with the air in empty space. For this reason, when there is pollution in the air, we get sick. We breathe in defiled air. Now we have more and more inventions. But the more inventions we have, the more clogged up and polluted our atmosphere becomes. The atmosphere is filled with poison. When people breathe in the air, they inhale a poisonous element that cannot be seen, heard, or smelled. It’s a slow process, a chronic kind of poisoning. Therefore, due to the present pollution, people come down with all sorts of strange diseases such as cancer or insanity or various other diseases. They’re all inexplicable and strange. Where do they stem from? They come from pollution in the atmosphere.
To be continued
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