Text asking, as above, for an exposition of Seon upon the setting up of a vow同前願請說禪文
明鏡誠懸。應形皆現。洪鐘虛受。有扣斯鳴。敢奉忱詞。覬垂曠聽。切以迦葉微笑。傳密印於靈山。達磨默求。耀祖燈於震旦。或正脉之相續。或橫枝之旁分。其爲旨也。不立文字而直趣眞源。其爲宗也。不踐階梯而徑登覺地。得之在我。悟不由他。苟除一念之妄緣。卽見自家之本分。比如雲糊天而月暗。雲去則月明。風動水而波生。風息而波靜。然不有指南之達識。曷易窮向上之玄宗。恭惟某禪師丈下。當來金色。如來現世。肉身菩薩。眞心虛靜。元無一物之礙膺。道貌孤高。不待五峯之秀骨。允合人天之傾慕。豈惟徒衆之參承。遊方無去住之機。浮雲其迹也。傳法任淺深之器。甘露以充之。伏念某端遇昌期。早叨華秩。顧此丘山之荷。一日難忘。作何塵露之緣。萬分有補。惟此頓門之藏。實爲正法之原。由是有奉崇之心。慨然懷興復之志。凡營佛事。必演禪論。敢特峙於猊床。請暫揮於犀柄。伏望俯循哀懇。一振微音。俾虜群而遁逃。措國步於帖泰。實弟子之願也。
When a bright mirror is truly hung, whatever has form appears in it; when a great bell is hollowed to receive, it sounds whenever there is a striking. I dare to offer up these sincere words, and pray that you hear them generously.
Earnestly I consider that Kasyapa (迦葉) smiled and the secret seal was handed on at Vulture Peak, and that Bodhidharma (達磨) sought in silence and made the patriarchs' lamp shine in Jindan (震旦). Now the true vein was passed from one to the next, now branches running sideways divided off. As to its meaning, it sets up no letters and goes straight to the true source; as to its tenet, it treads no ladder and climbs at once to the ground of awakening. The getting is in oneself, and the awakening does not come by way of another. Truly, do away with the empty conditions of a single thought, and one sees at once the original portion of one's own house. It is as when cloud covers the sky and the moon is dark, and when the cloud lifts the moon is bright; or as when wind stirs the water and waves rise, and when the wind drops the waves grow still. Yet without a penetrating discernment to serve as guide, how should one easily exhaust the hidden tenet that points upward?
Respectfully I consider that the venerable Seon master So-and-so is a golden Tathagata yet to come and a bodhisattva born into this world in the flesh. His true mind is empty and still, so that from the first not one thing catches in his breast; the form of his Way stands lonely and high, and does not wait for the excelling frame of the five peaks. Truly he answers to the longing that men and gods pour out; how should only disciples come to see him? He goes about the four quarters, bound neither in going nor in staying, a trace like a floating cloud; he hands on the Law, entrusting it to vessels shallow or deep, and fills them with sweet dew.
Prostrate, I consider that I, So-and-so, met with a flourishing age and early received, beyond my station, a splendid office. Looking back, it is hard to forget even for a day this grace heaped high as a mountain; what karmic bond, slight as dust and dew, must I make for there to be help worth one part in ten thousand? Only the store of this gate of sudden entry is truly the source of the right Law. From this there is in me a mind of reverence and esteem, and stirred by it I have conceived the will to raise it up again. Whenever I set out a Buddhist observance, I always spread a discussion of Seon. I dare to prepare a lion seat especially and to ask that you wield for a while the whisk with the rhinoceros-horn handle.
Prostrate, I pray that you bend down and follow this anguished entreaty, shaking forth the subtle sound once; make the barbarian host flee, and set the state's condition in peace. Truly this is your disciple's wish.
Interlinear notes 1
當來金色如來 現世肉身菩薩 — the base text's punctuation broke this into units of four characters; we have read it as a six-character parallel pair, 當來 against 現世 and 金色如來 against 肉身菩薩. — Translator