Stele inscription for the late lord of the Suseon Community, resident at Dansoksa, second generation of Jogyesan, granted the posthumous title National Preceptor Jingak曹溪山第二世故斷俗寺住持修禪社主贈諡眞覺國師碑銘
夫自有心法已來。凡衲子之鼻孔遼天者。原其靈臺。孰不欲與霜月爭潔耶。然至於宗門之名品升降。則有不能大忘情者。於是有以此爲嫌。遂深遁巖谷。潛修心要。切不欲嬰其名累。而名自逼逐者孰是歟。如我國師當之矣。況自妙齡。業已從事於文章。未幾旋擢賢關。則學非不精也。命非不偶也。若小忍須臾。便登桂籍。長驅前途。不失爲名士大夫。而反割棄垂就之名。猶以不早落染爲恨。其超然出世之心。亦於此可驗。求之於古。蓋法融天然之比也。國師諱惠諶。字永乙。自號無衣子。俗姓崔氏。名寔。羅州和順縣人也。考諱琬。鄕貢進士。母裴氏夢天門豁開。又夢被震者三。因而有娠。凡十有二月乃生焉。其胞重纏。又如荷袈裟狀。及拆。兩目俱瞑。經七日乃開。每飮乳後。輒轉身背母而臥。父母怪之。父早薨。從母乞出家。母不許。勉令業儒。然常念經持呪。久乃得力。喜毁斥淫巫祅祠。或往往救人病有效。承安六年辛酉。擧司馬試中之。是年入大學。聞母病。遂還鄕侍疾於族兄裴光漢家。斂念入觀佛三昧。母夢諸佛菩薩遍現四方。覺而病愈。裴氏夫婦。亦同此夢。明年。母卽世。時普照國師在曹溪山。新開修禪社。道化方盛。師徑造參禮。請營齋薦母。因乞剃度。國師許之。是夜。阿舅夢師之亡母升天。始師之謁國師也。國師見之以爲僧。更見則非也。先是。國師夢雪竇顯禪師入院。心異之。明日師來參。由是益奇焉。師嘗居蜈山。坐一磐石。晝夜常習定。每至五更唱偈。其厲聲聞十許里。略不失時。聞者以此候旦。又居智異山金臺庵。宴坐臺上。雪積沒頂。猶兀坐如枯株不動。衆疑其死。撼之不應。其刻苦如此。非夫與道凝精。外生死遺形骸者。孰至是哉。乙丑秋。國師在億寶山。師與禪者數人方往謁。憩山下。距庵千餘步。遙聞國師在庵中喚侍者聲作偈。其略云。呼兒響落松蘿霧。煮茗香傳石徑風。及參禮。擧似此話。國師頷之。以手中扇授之。師呈偈曰。昔在師翁手裏。今來弟子掌中。若遇熱忙狂走。不妨打起淸風。國師益器之。又一日隨國師行。國師指一破鞋云。鞋在遮裏。人在什麽處。答曰。何不其時相見。國師大悅。又擧趙州狗子無佛性話。因續擧大慧杲老十種病問之。衆無對。師對曰。三種病人。方解斯旨。國師曰。三種病人。向什麽處出氣。師以手打窓一下。國師呵呵大笑。及歸方丈。更密召與話。乃喜曰。吾旣得汝。死無恨矣。汝當以佛法自任。不替本願也。泰和戊辰。欲命師嗣席。卽退安圭峯。師固辭。遂去智異山。絶跡滅影者數載。大安庚午。國師入寂。門徒聞于上。承勑繼住。師不獲已入院開堂。於是四方學者及道俗高人逸老。雲奔影騖。無不臻赴。社頗隘。康廟聞之。命有司增構。屢遣中使督役。遂闢而廣之。又遣使就賜滿繡袈裟磨衲各一領幷茶香寶瓶。因求法要。師撰心要以進。今行于世。自是公卿貴戚四岳邦伯。聞風慕道。或遙禮爲師。或親趨下風者。不可勝紀。凡禪講之負氣屈強。自謂莫己若者。及一見。莫不愕然改容。猶師事之不暇也。今門下侍中晉陽崔公聆師風韻。傾渴不已。屢欲邀致京輦。師竟不至焉。然千里相契。宛如對面。復遣二子參侍。凡師之常住資具。莫不盡力營辦。至於茶香藥餌珍羞名菓及道具法服。常以時餉遺。連亘不絶。今上卽位。制授禪師。又加大禪師。其不經選席。直登緇秩。自師始也。參政崔公洪胤。於未相時。嘗掌司馬試。師出其門下。未幾公入相。師住曹溪。相國稱弟子。願登名社裏。以書致意。其略曰。佛光樂與於白學士親授大乘。嵩岳欣迎於賀祕書。密傳妙旨。師答之。其略曰。我昔居公門下。公今入我社中。互爲賓主。換作師資。聞者傳以爲勝事。貞祐己卯。詔住斷俗寺。累辭不允。明年入院。然以本社爲常棲之所。癸巳仲冬。在本社示疾。晉陽公聞之大驚。遂聞于上。遣御醫某診視。春。徙處月登寺。麻谷入室。師曰。老漢今日痛甚。谷曰。爲甚麽如此。國師以偈答曰。衆苦不到處。別有一乾坤。且問是何處。大寂涅槃門。師豎起拳頭云。遮箇拳頭也解說禪。汝等信否。遂展掌云。開則五指參差。握拳云。合則混成一塊。開合自在。一多無礙。雖然。如是未是拳頭本分說話。怎生是本分說話。卽以拳頭打窓一下。呵呵大笑。甲午六月二十六日。召門人囑事。謂麻谷曰。老漢今日痛忙。答曰。未審導什麽。師云老漢今日痛忙。谷茫然。師微笑跏趺而化。明日茶毗於月燈寺之北峯。拾靈骨還本山。上聞之震悼。贈諡眞覺國師。乙未仲炎。葬于廣原寺之北。遂立浮圖。上賜額曰圓炤之塔。享壽五十七。臘三十有二。自師之示疾。生緣處山石崩落。又群雀滿洞。飛鳴者十餘日。嗚呼其異哉。其平生冥感神異。則有龜受戒。蟾聽法。慈烏含籌。特牛跪途等事。皆世所傳。門徒所記。又非儒者所說。故於此不詳云。師性沖和碩實。旣自儒之釋。凡內外經書。無不淹貫。故至於談楊佛乘。撰著偈頌。則恢恢乎游刃有餘地矣。不如是。安能迹不踐京都。而坐享一國所仰若是哉。噫。眞可謂禪門正眼。肉身菩薩者歟。嗣法禪老夢如。亦法王也。請逸庵居士鄭君奮草具行錄以立碑。請於晉陽公。公曰。和尙住世利人多矣。樂石不可不立。遂聞于上。上命小臣爲之銘。其詞曰。微笑已後。傳心者誰。於我三韓。國師得之。生荷袈裟。其兆已奇。果得正眼。超視當時。自見是性。傳人曰辭。不有傳法。迷者何資。上堂擧話。亹亹其說。舌是佛心。心是佛舌。默固自然。談亦可悅。身遁深巖。名從何洩。學者趁追。雲蒸丈下。左右扣之。應接靡暇。曾不放我。片時閉坐。五敎來參。熏染般若。列岳躬趨。痛求入社。王公遙挹。謂若親炙。三十二臘。膏液所及。有許多人。飽飫周洽。法棟云摧。萬眼同泉。上甚哀悼。玉色慘然。贈終孔縟。寵典靡諐。仍命小臣。豐碑是鐫。此山寧騫。此石不遷。
Now ever since there has been the Dharma of the mind, what monk whose nostrils reach to heaven, searching out the ground of his own mind, has not wished to vie in clarity with the frost-touched moon? Yet when it comes to the rising and falling of names and ranks within the school, there are those who cannot altogether forget their minds about it. And so there was one who, shrinking from this, hid himself deep in a rocky valley and cultivated the essentials of mind in secret, striving not to be caught in the bonds of a name — and yet the name came of itself and pursued him. Who was he? Our National Preceptor is the very man.
Still more, from his youth he had already worked at letters, and before long he was selected at the gate of the National Academy, so neither was his learning imprecise nor was his fortune out of joint. Had he only borne with it a little while, he would at once have passed the examination and raced far along the road ahead, and would not have failed to become a famous official and gentleman. Yet instead he stripped off a name all but attained, and held it rather a regret that he had not been dyed early and had his head shaved. His outstanding mind that went beyond the world may be known from this as well. If we look for a parallel in antiquity, he may on the whole be compared with Farong (法融) and Tianran (天然).
The National Preceptor's taboo name was Hyesim (惠諶) and his style Yeong-eul (永乙), and he called himself the Robeless One (無衣子). His lay surname was Choe (崔) and his name Sik (寔), and he was a man of Hwasun District (和順縣) in Naju. His father's taboo name was Wan (琬), a local-tribute licentiate. His mother, of the Bae (裴) clan, saw in a dream the gate of heaven thrown wide open, and dreamed also of being struck three times by lightning, and she conceived. Only after twelve months did she give birth. The membrane was wound about him layer upon layer, as though he were wearing a monk's robe. When the membrane was cut open, both his eyes were shut, and only after seven days did they open. After nursing he would at once turn his body and lie with his back to his mother, which his parents thought strange.
His father died early. He begged his mother to let him leave the household life, but his mother would not allow it and had him work at Confucian learning instead. Still, he constantly recited scriptures and held to incantations, and in time he gained power by them. He took pleasure in tearing down lewd shamans and baleful shrines, and now and then he cured others' illnesses with effect.
In the sin-yu year, the sixth of Cheng'an (承安), he sat the preliminary examination and was selected. In that year he entered the Great Academy, but hearing that his mother was ill he returned to his home village and nursed her at the house of his kinsman and elder cousin Bae Gwanghan (裴光漢). He gathered in his thoughts and entered the samadhi of beholding the Buddha, whereupon his mother saw in a dream many Buddhas and bodhisattvas appearing all about on every side, and when she woke her illness was healed. Bae and his wife had the same dream.
The next year his mother departed the world. At that time National Preceptor Bojo (普照國師) was on Jogyesan (曹溪山), where he had newly opened the Suseon Community (修禪社) and where the teaching of the Way was at its height. The master went straight to him, asked that a rite be held to deliver his mother, and then begged to have his head shaved. The National Preceptor allowed it. That night his maternal uncle saw in a dream the master's departed mother ascending to heaven. When the master first came before the National Preceptor, the National Preceptor looked and thought he was a monk, but on looking again he was not. Before this the National Preceptor had seen in a dream the Zen Master Xuedou Zhongxian (雪竇顯禪師) entering the monastery, and had thought it strange in his heart. The next day the master came to see him, and because of this he thought it the stranger still.
The master once lived on Osan (蜈山), where he sat upon a flat boulder and practiced meditative absorption constantly, night and day. At every fifth watch he chanted a verse, and his lifted voice was heard some ten li off, and he was never the least out of time. Those who heard it reckoned the dawn by it. He also lived at Geumdae Hermitage (金臺庵) on Jirisan (智異山), where he sat still upon a terrace; and though the snow piled up and buried the crown of his head, he still sat upright and unmoving like a dry stump. The assembly thought him dead and shook him, but he did not respond. Such were his austerities; and who could come to this unless he were one who had congealed his spirit together with the Way, putting life and death outside himself and forgetting his own body?
In the autumn of the eul-chuk year the National Preceptor was on Eokbosan (億寶山). The master was going with several Zen companions to see him and rested below the mountain, more than a thousand paces from the hermitage. From afar he heard the National Preceptor's voice calling his attendant within the hermitage, and he composed a verse. Its substance was: "The sound of calling the boy falls into the mist of pine and ivy; the fragrance of boiling tea is carried on the wind of the stone path." After he had been received, he held these words up to show him, and the National Preceptor nodded and gave him the fan he held in his hand. The master presented a verse: "Of old it was within my teacher's hand; now it has come into the palm of his disciple. If you meet one who is busy in the heat and runs as though mad, what harm in raising a clear breeze for him?" The National Preceptor held him the more to be a vessel.
Another day, as he was following the National Preceptor, the National Preceptor pointed at a worn-out shoe and said, "The shoe is here — where is the man?" He answered, "Why did we not see each other then?" and the National Preceptor was greatly pleased. He also brought up Zhaozhou's (趙州) saying that "a dog has no Buddha-nature," and then raised the ten ailments of old Dahui Gao (大慧杲) and put the question. The assembly could not answer, but the master answered, "Only a man with the three ailments knows this meaning at last." The National Preceptor said, "Toward what place does the man with the three ailments breathe out?" The master struck the window once with his hand, and the National Preceptor burst into loud laughter. Returning to the abbot's room, he called him quietly again and talked with him, and then said with delight, "I have already obtained you, and so I die without regret. You must take the Buddha's Dharma as your own charge, and do not betray your original vow."
In the mu-jin year of Taihe (泰和) he wished to have the master succeed to his seat and himself withdraw to Gyubong (圭峯) and live at ease. The master firmly declined and went off at last to Jirisan, where for several years he cut off all trace and shadow of himself. In the gyeong-o year of Da'an (大安) the National Preceptor passed away. His disciples reported to the king, and upon receiving a royal decree had the master succeed him; so the master unwillingly entered the monastery and opened the Dharma seat.
Thereupon students from all four directions, and eminent men both monastic and lay, and hidden elders, came racing like clouds and dashing like shadows, and there was none who did not arrive. The monastery being rather cramped, Gangjong heard of it and had the officials build further, and several times sent palace envoys to urge the work on, so that at last it was torn down and widened. He also sent envoys to grant an embroidered monk's robe and a patched robe, one of each, together with tea and incense and a precious vase, and then asked for the essentials of the Dharma. The master composed the Essentials of Mind (心要) and presented it, and it circulates in the world today.
From this time on, nobles and great families and the governors of the provinces heard his fame and longed for the Way, and those who paid him respects from afar and took him as teacher, or who went in person to a lower seat and received his teaching, were beyond all recording. Even those who in the Zen halls and the lecture halls trusted their own vigor, stood stiff and said there was none like themselves, once they had seen him were startled into changing their faces, and could not serve him as teacher fast enough.
The present Director of the Chancellery, Lord Choe of Jinyang (晉陽崔公), heard of the master's bearing and did not cease looking up to him and thirsting after him, and several times tried to bring him to the capital, but the master in the end would not go. Yet across a thousand li their meeting of minds was as vivid as though they sat face to face. He sent his two sons besides to attend upon him. Of the things the master used in his daily residence, there was nothing he did not exert himself to provide. Tea and incense, medicines and precious foods, famous fruits, implements and Dharma robes — he sent them always in season and without a break.
The present king came to the throne and by royal writ granted him the title Zen Master, and then added Great Zen Master. That one should rise directly to monastic rank without passing through the selection began with the master. Lord Choe Hongyun (崔洪胤), Participant in Governance, had taken charge of the preliminary examination before he became a minister, and the master had come out of his gate. Before long the lord entered the ministry and the master took up residence at Jogye; and so the Chief Minister called himself a disciple, wished to have his name entered in the Community, and conveyed his intent by letter. Its substance was this: "Foguang (佛光) delighted in keeping company with the Academician Bai (白學士) and gave him the Great Vehicle in person; Songyue (嵩岳) received the Librarian He (賀祕書) with joy and quietly transmitted the subtle meaning to him." The substance of the master's reply was this: "I was formerly at your lordship's gate, and your lordship has now entered my Community; so we have become guest and host to each other, and have made teacher and disciple change places." Those who heard of it passed it on as a fine thing.
In the gi-myo year of Zhenyou (貞祐) he was ordered by decree to reside at Dansoksa (斷俗寺). He declined several times, but it was not allowed, and so the next year he entered the monastery. Still he always made his home monastery the place where he nested. In the depth of winter in the gye-sa year he showed signs of illness at his home monastery. The Duke of Jinyang heard of it and was greatly alarmed, and reported to the king, who sent the royal physician So-and-so to examine him. In the spring he moved to Woldeungsa (月登寺) and stayed there.
When Magok (麻谷) entered the room, the master said, "The old man is in great pain today." Magok said, "How has it come to be so?" and the National Preceptor answered with a verse: "In the place where the host of sufferings does not reach, there is a separate heaven and earth. And I ask further, what place is this? It is the vastly still gate of nirvana." The master set up his fist and held it out, saying, "This fist too knows how to preach Zen. Do you believe it?" Then, opening his palm, he said, "Opened, the five fingers are uneven"; and clenching his fist, "Joined, they mingle and become one lump." "Opening and clenching are as I please, and the one and the many are without obstruction. Even so, this is not a saying that befits the fist's own portion. What then is the saying of its own portion?" Thereupon he struck the window once with his fist and burst into loud laughter.
On the twenty-sixth day of the sixth month of the gap-o year he called his disciples and entrusted his affairs to them, and said to Magok, "The old man is in great haste today." "I do not know what you mean," said Magok, and the master said, "The old man is in great haste today." Magok was at a loss. The master smiled faintly and passed away sitting cross-legged. The next day they cremated him on the northern peak of Woldeungsa, gathered the numinous bones and returned with them to the home mountain. The king heard of it and grieved deeply, and granted him the posthumous title National Preceptor Jingak (眞覺國師). In the depth of summer in the eul-mi year they buried him north of Gwangwonsa (廣原寺) and raised a stupa. The king granted a tablet naming it the Stupa of Round Radiance (圓炤之塔). He was fifty-seven years of age, and his years in the monastic order were thirty-two.
After the master showed signs of illness, the mountain rocks of the district where he was born crumbled and fell down, and a flock of sparrows also filled the valley, flying and crying for some ten days and more. Ah, how strange. Among the hidden responses and numinous marvels of his lifetime there are such things as a tortoise receiving the precepts, a toad listening to the Dharma, a crow carrying a counting-rod in its beak, and a yellow ox kneeling in the road. These are all handed down in the world and recorded by his disciples, and moreover they are not what a Confucian should speak of, and so they are not set down here in detail.
The master's nature was harmonious, generous and solid. Since he had already gone from Confucian learning over to Buddhism, there was no scripture within or without that he had not penetrated. Hence when it came to speaking forth the Buddhist vehicle and composing verses, he had ample room left in which to ply his blade. Had it not been so, how could he have enjoyed the whole country's looking up to him in this way, sitting still and never setting foot on the soil of the capital? Ah, he may truly be called the right eye of the Zen gate and a bodhisattva in the flesh.
Monk Mongyeo (夢如), the Zen elder who succeeded to his Dharma, is a Dharma King as well. He asked the lay scholar Iram, Jeong Bun (鄭奮), to compose a full record of his acts, and asked the Duke of Jinyang to have a stele set up. The lord said, "The preceptor stayed in the world and benefited men greatly, so a stele stone cannot but be set up," and thereupon reported to the king. The king commanded this small subject to compose the inscription, and its words are these.
Since the faint smile, who is it that has transmitted the mind? In our Three Han, the National Preceptor obtained it. At birth he wore a monk's robe, and the sign of it was already strange. He did indeed obtain the right eye, and saw beyond the men of his time. He saw this nature for himself, and the passing of it to others is called speech. Were there no transmitting of the Dharma, on what would the straying rely? Ascending the hall he raised the keyword, and his words had no end. The tongue is the Buddha's mind, and the mind is the Buddha's tongue. Silence is of course just so, yet speaking too is a joy. His body hid in the deep rocks — by where did his name leak out? Students came after him, and billowed like clouds below the abbot's room. They knocked from left and right, and he had no leisure for meeting and answering. He never once let himself go and sat with the door shut even a moment. The five doctrinal gates came to pay homage, and were dyed in prajna. Many governors hastened in person, and earnestly begged to enter the Community. Princes and nobles looked up from afar, and felt as though they were near him in person. By the rich milk of thirty-two years in the order, a great many men ate their fill and were moistened all about. The pillar of the Dharma broke, and ten thousand men's eyes became wells together. The king grieved deeply, and his jade-like face was stricken. The rites of farewell were most generous, with nothing wanting in royal bounty. Then he commanded this small subject to cut a great stele. Sooner let this mountain crumble than this stone be moved.
Interlinear notes 1
幷序○奉宣述刻石次以地窄請删。於此仍故。二本不同。
The preface is included with it. Composed by royal command. When it was cut in stone they asked that it be shortened, saying there was too little room, but here it is left as it was before. The two versions differ from each other.