This post contains the complete Chinese text of Master Torie Enji’s “Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp of the Zen School”, 宗門無盡燈論.
Category: koans
“Guard it well.” (宜善護持)
宜善護持 “Guard it well.”
宜 yí should
善 shàn good, appropriate
護 hù protect, safeguard, defend
持 chí hold, retain (as in dharani)
The Record of Linji at CBETA (with an example)
約山僧見處，勿嫌底法。
“As far as this old mountain monk is concerned, everything has basic goodness.”
Evening Drum, Morning Bell (暮鼓晨鐘)
According to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, this is a Chinese idiom “describing a strict daily routine. It derives from the playing of bells and drums within a Chinese Buddhist monastery to mark the services throughout the day and the articulations of the monastic routine.”
Ching Ching’s “The Sound of Raindrops” (雨滴聲)
鏡清問僧。Ching Ching asked the monk:
門外是什麼聲。 What is the sound outside the gate (gate outside is what sound)?
僧云。雨滴聲。The monk replied: it is the sound of raindrops (rain drop sound).
“They will all necessarily become wild foxes.”
昧落商量轉失眞.
Flipping back and forth between and making calculations about being subject to karma and being in the dark about it they lose sight of the true.
Burn down the hermitage (烧却庵)
這件事天知地知你知我知，千萬不要给婆婆知。
“Concerning this matter, Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, and I know. Just be sure the old woman doesn’t find out!!”
不是苦心人不知 (If you do not exert yourself, you cannot understand)
苦心 literally: “suffer mind”, to make an effort, to “take pains” (Sino-Korean: 고심 goshim)
Baizhang’s Fox at CBETA
One of the main reasons I wanted to track this down is to take a closer look at the question that is at heart of this story: 大修行底人還落因果. “Does a person of great accomplishment return to falling into cause and effect?” What is a “大修行底人”, and what does it mean to “還落因果”?
Jewel Mirror Samadhi Translation Study (寶鏡三昧歌)
From the commentary to Case 6 of the Book of
Serenity: “The Great Master Nagarjuna said, ‘Wisdom is
like a mass of fire – it cannot be entered from any side.
(般若如大火聚。四面不可入。)’
Yet he also said,‘Wisdom is like a clear cool pool, it
an be entered from any side.’
(般若如清涼池。四面皆可入。)’”