永嘉證道歌 白話全本Song of Realizing the Way · Complete Vernacular

The Song of Realizing the Way of Yongjia, T48n2014, complete, from “Have you not seen” to “if you have not understood, I now settle it for you”: two hundred and sixty-seven lines, divided by the sense of the song into twenty-four segments, with one further segment on the title and attribution that sets out the title, the signature, and the closing title. One natural paragraph to a segment, rendered line by line. The figures (…) at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔0 · Title and attribution〕（0395c06）“Song of Realizing the Way of Yongjia”—this is the song of realizing the Way composed by Yongjia. Below the title it is signed “composed by the śramaṇa Xuanjue of Shenshui, of the Tang”: composed by Xuanjue, a śramaṇa of Shenshui in the Tang dynasty. At the end of the piece it closes with “Song of Realizing the Way of Yongjia, ends,” marking that the whole song finishes there.

〔1 · Have you not seen〕（0395c09）Have you not seen? That man of the Way at leisure, done with learning, practicing non-doing, does not remove deluded thoughts and does not seek the true either. The real nature of ignorance is itself buddha-nature; the empty body formed by illusion is itself the dharma-body. When the dharma-body is awakened to, there is not one thing; the original self-nature is the naturally true buddha. The five aggregates are like drifting clouds, coming and going in emptiness; the three poisons are like bubbles on water, rising and sinking in vain. When the real mark is realized, there is no person and no dharma, and in a single instant the karma of the Avīci hell is extinguished. If I were to deceive beings with false words, I would bring upon myself the retribution of having my tongue pulled out, through kalpas as many as dust and sand.

〔2 · Suddenly awakened to the dhyāna of the Tathāgata〕（0395c14）Suddenly awakened—this is the dhyāna of the Tathāgata; the six pāramitās and myriad practices are complete within the body. In a dream, clearly, clearly, there are the six destinies; after waking, empty, empty, there is not even the great thousandfold world. There is no sin and no merit, no loss and no gain; in the nature of quiescence, do not ask and do not search. The dust-covered mirror of all this while has never been polished; today, distinctly, it must be taken apart and laid open. Who is without thought? Who is without arising? If it is truly non-arising, then there is nothing that does not arise.

〔3 · Call the mechanical wooden man and ask him〕（0395c18）Call that mechanical wooden man over and ask him: seeking buddhahood by applying effort and exerting strength, when will it ever be achieved? Let go the four elements and do not grasp them; in the nature of quiescence, drink and peck as your lot allows. All formations are impermanent, all is empty—this is the Tathāgata’s great and perfect awakening. A decisive statement shows a true monk; if anyone will not accept it, let him question it as his feelings please. Cutting straight to the root-source is what the Buddha sealed; plucking leaves and hunting for branches, I cannot do.

〔4 · The maṇi jewel people do not recognize〕（0395c22）People do not recognize the maṇi jewel; within the tathāgata-womb it is received in person. Its six kinds of spiritual function are empty and yet not empty; one orb of perfect light is form and yet not form. The five eyes purified, the five powers gained—only by realization can it be known; it is hard to fathom. Seeing a form in a mirror, the seeing is not hard; scooping the moon out of water, how could it be picked up in the hand? Always walking alone, always striding alone, those who have arrived roam together on the road of nirvāṇa.

〔5 · Of ancient tone and clear spirit〕（0395c26）Ancient and plain in tone, clear and bright in spirit, his bearing is naturally lofty; haggard in face and hard in bone, he gets not a glance from the world. The poor son of Śākya calls himself poor with his own mouth; truly, it is the body that is poor—the Way is not poor. Poor: that is, the body always wears a tattered, coarse robe; the Way: that is, the heart hides a priceless treasure. This priceless treasure is used without end; benefiting beings and answering to occasions, it never stints from first to last. The three bodies and four wisdoms are complete within the body; the eight liberations and six supernormal powers are the seal of the mind-ground.

〔6 · The superior person settles it at one stroke〕（0396a01）The superior person settles it at one stroke, and everything is finished; the middling and lesser hear the more, and the more they disbelieve. Only undo the soiled robe in your own bosom—who would go boasting of his diligence to others? Let them slander, let them find fault: taking fire to burn the sky only tires oneself in vain. When I hear it, it is just like drinking sweet dew; melting away, I enter at once the inconceivable. To see harsh words as merit—this makes them my good friend. Not raising thoughts of enmity or affection on account of ridicule and slander—otherwise, how would the power of non-arising’s kindly patience be shown? The source penetrated, the teaching penetrated too; concentration and wisdom are perfectly bright, not stuck in emptiness. It is not only I who have now arrived alone; the buddhas as many as the Ganges sands are all the same in body. And the lion’s roar is the fearless speech; the hundred beasts hear it and their skulls all split; the fragrant elephant flees and loses its majesty; the gods and dragons listen in stillness and give rise to joy.

〔7 · Roaming rivers and seas, crossing mountains and streams〕（0396a09）Roaming rivers and seas, crossing mountains and streams, seeking teachers and asking after the Way—it was for the practice of Chan. Since I came to know the road to Caoxi, I have understood that birth and death do not concern me. Walking is Chan, sitting is Chan; in speech and silence, in movement and stillness, the body is at peace. Even meeting a sword’s edge, I am always calm and at ease; even given poison, I am still unhurried and at leisure. My teacher came to see Dīpaṃkara Buddha; for many kalpas he was once the sage of patience. How many times born, how many times dead—birth and death drift on, with no fixed end; since the sudden awakening, understanding non-arising, what in all honor and disgrace is there to grieve or to delight in? Entering the deep mountains, dwelling in a hermitage, beneath tall pines on lofty, secluded heights; sitting at ease in the house of a wild monk, dwelling in stillness and quiet—truly free and unencumbered.

〔8 · Awakened, it is done; no effort applied〕（0396a16）Awakened, it is done; no effort is applied—it is not the same as any of the conditioned dharmas. Giving while dwelling on marks earns the merit of birth in heaven, like shooting an arrow upward into empty space: when its force is spent, the arrow still falls back, and brings on a next life that does not go as one wishes. How could that compare with the gate of the real mark of non-doing—in one leap enter straight into the ground of the Tathāgata. Only get the root, and do not worry over the branches, like pure beryl holding the jeweled moon. Once one can understand this wish-fulfilling jewel, benefiting oneself and benefiting others never runs dry from first to last.

〔9 · The river moon shines, the pine wind blows〕（0396a21）The moonlight on the river shines, the wind among the pines blows; through the long night, the clear evening, what is being done? Buddha-nature, the jewel of the precepts, the seal of the mind-ground; mist, dew, cloud, and haze are all the robe upon the body. The bowl that subdued the evil dragon, the staff that parted the fighting tigers—the golden rings on the staff’s two prongs ring out clear and clear. This is not held in the hand to put forms on show, an empty affair; these are the traces the Tathāgata’s jeweled staff left in person.

〔10 · Not seeking the true, not cutting off the deluded〕（0396a24）Not seeking the true, not cutting off the deluded—understanding that these two dharmas are empty and without mark. No mark, no emptiness, and no non-emptiness either—this is the Tathāgata’s true real mark. The mind-mirror shines clear without obstruction; vast and crystalline, it pervades worlds as many as sand. The myriad forms in their array appear as images within it; one orb of perfect light is neither inside nor outside.

〔11 · A wide-open emptiness that dismisses cause and effect〕（0396a27）Falling broadly into emptiness, brushing aside cause and effect—reckless and vast, one invites calamity. Abandoning being and clinging to emptiness is the same sickness, like fleeing from drowning and throwing oneself into fire. Rejecting the deluded mind to take hold of the true principle—this mind of taking and rejecting becomes cunning falsehood. Students who do not understand take it up to practice with, and deeply they come to mistake the thief for their son. The loss of the dharma-wealth and the destruction of merit come from nothing other than this mind, intellect, and consciousness. Therefore the gate of Chan finishes with this mind, and enters at once the power of knowledge and vision of non-arising.

〔12 · The great man grips the sword of wisdom〕（0396b03）The great man grips the sword of wisdom: prajñā is its edge, vajra is its flame. Not only does it crush the minds of outsiders to nothing; long ago it already frightened the gall out of the heavenly demons. Sounding the dharma-thunder, beating the dharma-drum, spreading clouds of kindness and compassion, sprinkling sweet dew. Where the dragons and elephants tread, the moistening is boundless; the three vehicles and five natures all wake to awakening. The rich grass of the Snow Mountains has no admixture at all; it yields pure ghee, which I always take in.

〔13 · One nature pervades all natures〕（0396b07）One nature perfectly pervades all natures; one dharma everywhere holds all dharmas. One moon appears everywhere in all waters; the moons in all the waters are all gathered in the one moon. The dharma-body of all buddhas enters my nature; my nature is joined together with the Tathāgata. One ground is complete with all grounds; it is not form, not mind, and not action. In a fingersnap the eighty thousand dharma-gates are perfected; in an instant three incalculable kalpas are extinguished. All numbers and phrases are not numbers and phrases—what have they to do with my numinous awakening?

〔14 · It cannot be reviled, cannot be praised〕（0396b12）It cannot be reviled, cannot be praised; its body is like empty space, without shore. Never leaving this very place, it is always limpid; the moment you go searching, you know you cannot see it. Taking, it cannot be taken; rejecting, it cannot be rejected; within the ungraspable, it is obtained just so. When silent, it is speaking; when speaking, it is silent; the gate of great giving stands open, with nothing blocking it.

〔15 · Someone asks me what school I understand〕（0396b15）Someone asks me what school I understand; I answer him: it is the power of mahāprajñā. Right or wrong, people cannot recognize it; going against or going with, even heaven cannot fathom it. I have long since passed through many kalpas of cultivation; I am not idly deceiving you. Raising the dharma-banner and establishing the tenet, clearly, clearly, the Buddha’s decree is Caoxi. First was Kāśyapa, who began the transmission of the lamp; twenty-eight generations are the record of the western land. The dharma flowed east and entered this land; Bodhidharma was the first patriarch. For six generations the robe was passed down, known throughout the world; of those after who gained the Way, how could there be an end to their number?

〔16 · The true is not set up; the deluded is originally empty〕（0396b20）The true cannot be set up; the deluded is originally empty; being and nothing are dismissed together, and even “non-emptiness” is emptied. The twenty gates of emptiness were never clung to from the start; one nature and the Tathāgata are naturally the same in body. Mind is the faculty, dharma is the dust; these two are like marks on the face of a mirror. When marks and grime are wholly removed, the light at last appears; when mind and dharma are both forgotten, the nature is the true.

〔17 · Alas, the final age of the dharma, an evil time〕（0396b24）Alas, the final age of the dharma, an evil and turbid time: beings are thin in merit and hard to tame. The further from the sage, the deeper the wrong views; the demons are strong and the dharma weak, and there is much fear and harm. Hearing of the Tathāgata’s dharma-gate of the sudden teaching, they wish they could wipe it out and smash it like a tile. The doing is in the mind, the calamity is in the body; there is no need to complain, still less to go blaming others. If you would not bring on the karma of the uninterrupted hell, do not slander the Tathāgata’s wheel of the right dharma.

〔18 · In the sandalwood forest there are no other trees〕（0396b28）In the sandalwood forest there are no other trees; dense and deep, it is where the lion dwells. In the quiet of its realm it roams alone in the grove; running beasts and flying birds all keep far away. The lion’s cubs follow behind; at three years they can already roar aloud. If it is a jackal that would chase the king of the dharma, even if it played the goblin for a hundred years, it would only open its mouth in vain.

〔19 · The perfect and sudden teaching has no room for human sentiment〕（0396c02）The perfect and sudden teaching makes no allowance for human sentiment; where there is doubt that cannot be resolved, one must argue it straight out. It is not that this mountain monk flaunts the view of self and other; it is that practice may fall into the deep pit of the views of annihilation and permanence. Wrong is wrong, right is right—off by a hair’s breadth, astray by a thousand miles. Right, and the dragon girl suddenly becomes a buddha; wrong, and Sunakṣatra sinks down alive.

〔20 · In my early years I piled up learning〕（0396c05）From my early years on I piled up learning, and I too once searched the commentaries and hunted through the sūtras and treatises. Distinguishing names and marks without knowing when to stop, like entering the sea to count the sand, I only wore myself out in vain. And so I was bitterly rebuked by the Tathāgata: counting another’s treasures—what gain is there in that? All along I stumbled and made no headway, and came to feel it was an empty journey; for many years I was, in vain, a traveler in the wind and dust.

〔21 · With a wrong seed-nature and mistaken understanding〕（0396c08）With a crooked seed-nature and mistaken understanding, they do not reach the Tathāgata’s perfect and sudden rule. The two vehicles are diligent but without the mind of the Way; the outsiders are clever but without wisdom. Foolish, and childishly dull besides, on an empty fist and a pointing finger they produce an understanding of something real. Taking the finger for the moon, they apply effort in vain; within faculties, objects, and dharmas they falsely fabricate monsters. Not seeing a single dharma is the Tathāgata; only then may one be called the one who contemplates at ease.

〔22 · Understood, the obstruction of karma is originally empty〕（0396c12）Understood, the obstruction of karma is originally empty; not yet understood, one must still repay the old debts. Starving, one meets the king’s banquet and cannot eat; sick, one meets the king of physicians—how could one be cured? Practicing Chan amid desire is the power of knowledge and vision, like a lotus born in fire that is never destroyed. Yongshi broke a grave precept, awakened to non-arising, long ago became a buddha, and is here to this day.

〔23 · The lion’s roar, the fearless speech〕（0396c16）The lion’s roar is the fearless speech. Deeply I sigh over those muddled and stubborn as thick, tough hide: they know only that breaking a grave precept obstructs bodhi, and do not see the secret key the Tathāgata opened. There were two monks who committed lust and killing; Upāli, with his firefly’s glimmer, only added to the knot of their sin; the great layman Vimalakīrti removed their doubt at once, like the blazing sun melting frost and snow. The power of inconceivable liberation, its wondrous use as many as the Ganges sands, is without limit. With the four kinds of offering, would I dare decline the toil? Ten thousand taels of gold could be consumed as well. To grind the bones and shatter the body would not suffice to repay it; one phrase clearly understood surpasses a hundred billion. The king among dharmas is highest and most excellent; Tathāgatas as many as the Ganges sands realize it together. I now understand this wish-fulfilling jewel; all who receive it in faith can accord with it.

〔24 · Clearly, clearly seeing, there is not one thing〕（0396c23）Clearly and distinctly seeing: there is not one thing, there is no person, and there is no buddha. The great thousandfold worlds, as many as sand, are bubbles in the sea; all the sages and worthies are like a flash of lightning brushing past. Even if an iron wheel were spinning on top of my head, concentration and wisdom, perfectly bright, would never be lost. The sun may turn cold and the moon may turn hot, but the host of demons cannot destroy this true teaching. The elephant-drawn carriage advances in grandeur, going calmly along the road—who has ever seen a mantis able to block its wheel-track? The great elephant does not roam the rabbit’s path; great awakening is not bound by small rules. Do not take a view through a tube and slander the blue heavens; for you who have not yet understood, I today speak out this one settling word.

The Account of the Conduct of Great Master Wuxiang, appended after the Song of Realizing the Way of Yongjia, T48n2014, and written by Yang Yi, is a single piece of prose, from “Chan Master Xuanjue of Yongjia in Wenzhou” to “both circulated widely in the world.” It is divided by its sense into four segments, with one further segment on the title and attribution that sets out the title and the signature, rendered sentence by sentence. The figures (…) at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.

〔0 · Title and attribution〕（0397a03）“Account of the Conduct of Great Master Wuxiang”—this is the account of the conduct of Great Master Wuxiang. The signature: written by Yang Yi, Hanlin Academician, Grand Master for Court Service, acting Left Remonstrator, Drafter of Proclamations, Co-Compiler of the National History, Administrator of the History Office, Administrator of the Institute’s Affairs, Pillar of State, Founding Marquis of Nanyang Commandery with a fief of one thousand one hundred households, granted the purple robe and the gold fish pouch.

〔1 · Chan Master Xuanjue of Yongjia in Wenzhou〕（0397a08）Chan Master Xuanjue of Yongjia in Wenzhou was a man of Yongjia, surnamed Dai. As a boy, when his hair was first bound up, he left home; he searched the whole of the three baskets, was expert in the purport of Tiantai, and contemplated the perfect and wondrous dharma-gate; within the four postures of deportment—walking, standing, sitting, and lying—he was always merged in meditative contemplation.

〔2 · Later, spurred on by Chan Master Lang of Zuoxi〕（0397a10）Later, spurred on by Chan Master Lang of Zuoxi, he went together with Chan Master Ce of Dongyang to Caoxi. When he first arrived, he shook his staff, carried his water jar, and circled the patriarch three times. The patriarch said: A śramaṇa should be complete in the three thousand forms of deportment and the eighty thousand fine conducts; where has the worthy come from, to give rise to such great self-conceit? The master said: The matter of birth and death is great; impermanence is swift. The patriarch said: Why not take hold of non-arising in your body, and understand that which has no swiftness? The master answered: The embodying is itself non-arising; when understood, there was originally no swiftness. The patriarch said: Just so, just so. At that time there was no one in the assembly who was not astonished.

〔3 · The master then took up full deportment and made his bow〕（0397a16）Only then did the master take up full deportment and make his bow of reverence, and shortly afterward he took his leave. The patriarch said: Are you not going back too fast? The master said: Originally there is no moving; how could there be fast? The patriarch said: Who knows there is no moving? The master answered: It is you, sir, who give rise to the distinction yourself. The patriarch said: You have well grasped the meaning of non-arising. The master answered: How could non-arising have a meaning? The patriarch said: If there is no meaning, who is it that distinguishes? The master answered: Distinguishing, too, is not a meaning. The patriarch praised him, saying: Good, good! Stay for a single night. At that time people called him “the one-night awakening.”

〔4 · Master Ce then stayed with the master〕（0397a21）Master Ce thereupon kept the master with him. The next day the master went down the mountain and returned to Wenjiang, and students gathered to him like spokes converging on a hub; he was called Great Master Zhenjue. He wrote on the perfect purport of awakening and cultivation in the Chan school, from the shallow to the deep. Wei Jing, prefect of Qingzhou, compiled it into ten chapters and titled it the Yongjia Collection; together with the Song of Realizing the Way, one piece, both circulated widely in the world.