Song of Precious Mirror Samadhi Pao-ching San-mei-ko by Ch'an Master Tung-shan Liang-chieh

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Song of Precious Mirror Samadhi

Pao-ching San-mei-ko

By Ch'an Master Tung-shan Liang-chieh

Contents

Title of the Text

Author of the Text

ThePao-ching San-mei-ko

The Original Chinese Text

The Chinese Text with Japanese "Current Characters"

Variant Characters in Different Versions of the Text

Translation of the Text

Japanese Transcription of the Text

Bibliography

Title of the Text

Pao-ching San-mei-ko(Wade-Giles)

Baojing Sanmeige(Pinyin) Bao3jing4San1mei4ge1

Hky Zanmaika(Japanese)

Literally, Treasure Mirror SamdhiSong/Poem

The poem is usually known as Hky Zammai(Precious

Mirror Samdhi).

Various Translations of the Title

1.The Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samadhi (Toshu John

Neatrour, Sheng-yen, Kazu Tanahashi)


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2.Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi

3.Sacred Mirror Samadhi (Daisetsu Teitar Suzuki)

4.Samadhi of the Invaluable Mirror

5.Song of the Bright Mirror Samadhi

Author of the Text

Tung-shan Liang-chieh(Wade-Giles)

Dongshan Liangjia(Pinyin) Dong4shan1Liang2jia4

Tzan Rykai(Japanese)

Tung-shan Liang-chieh (Tzan Rykai, 807-869) is the

founder of the Ts'ao-tung (St) School of Zen

Buddhism. He was a contemporary of Lin-chi I-hsan

(Rinzai Gigen, d.866).

Tung-shan Liang-chiehis also known as Wu-pen Ta-shih

(Gohon Daishi).

In Japanese, his name (Tung-shan) is pronounced eitheras Tzanor as Tsan.

His sayings and teaching were compiled in Tung-shan

Ch'an-shih Liang-chieh Y-lu (Tzan Rykai Zenji

Goroku) (Dainihon Zokuzky, vol.

2 No. 24).

"Tsan Rykai practiced first under Nansen1 and Isan2,but it was from the master Ungan Donj3 that he finally

received the Seal. His manner of instructing and leading

his disciples was mild, without stick or shout. In silent

introspection they were to seek the enlightenment which

must manifest itself in the activities of daily life."

(The Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth


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Patriarch25)

"While Tung-shan Liang-chih was still a boy a Vinaya

teacher made him study the Hridaya Stra4, and tried to

explain the sentence, 'There is no eye, no nose, . . .' But

Liang-chih surveyed his teacher scrutinizingly with hiseye, and then touched his own body with his hand, and

finally said, 'You have a pair of eyes, and the other sense-

organs, and I am also provided with them. Why does the

Buddha tell us that there are no such things?' The Vinaya

teacher was surprised at his question and told him: 'I am

not capable of being your teacher. You be ordained by a

Zen master, for you will some day be a great teacher ofthe Mahyna.' "

(Essays in Zen BuddhismThird Series237-8)

"Yun-mn5 asked Tung-shan: 'Whence do you come?'

'From Chia-tu.' 'Where did you pass the summer session?'

'At Pao-tzu, in Hu-nan.' 'When did you come here?'

'August the twenty-fifth.' Yun-mn concluded, 'I releaseyou from thirty blows [though you rightly deserve them].'

On Tung-shan's interview with Mn, Tai-hui

comments:

How simple-hearted Tung-shan was! He answered

the master straightforwardly, and so it was natural for

him to reflect, 'What fault did I commit for which I was

to be given thirty blows when I replied as truthfully as Icould?' The day following he appeared again before the

master and asked, 'Yesterday you were pleased to release

me from thirty blows, but I fail to realize my own fault?'

Said Yun-mn, 'Oh you rice-bag, this is the way you

wander from the West of the river to the south of the


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Lake!' This remark all of a sudden opened Tung-shan's

eye, and yet he had nothing to communicate, nothing to

reason about. He simply bowed, and said, 'After this I

shall build my little hut where there is no human

habitation; not a grain of rice will be kept in my pantry,

not a stalk of vegetable will be growing on my farm; andyet I will abundantly treat all the visitors to my hermitage

from all parts of the world; and I will even draw off all

the nails and screws [that are holding them to a stake]; I

will make them part with their greasy hats and ill-

smelling clothes, so that they are thoroughly cleansed of

dirt and become worthy monks.' Yun-mn smiled and

said, 'What a large mouth you have for a body no largerthan a coconut!' " (Essays in Zen Buddhism Second

Series28)

"While scholars of the Avatamsaka School6were making

use of the intuitions of Zen in their own way, the Zen

masters were drawn towards the philosophy of Indentity

and Interpenetration advocated by the Avatamsaka, andattempted to incorporate it into their own discourses. For

instance, Shih-t'ou7 in his 'Ode on Identity'8 depicts the

mutuality of Light and Dark as restricting each other and

at the same time being fused in each other; Tung-shan in

his metrical composition called 'Sacred Mirror Samadhi'

discourses on the mutuality of P'ien9, 'one-sided', and

Chng10, 'correct', much to the same effect as Shih-t'ou inhis Ode, for both Shih-t'ou and Tung-shan belong to the

school of Hsing-szu known as the Ts'ao-tung11branch of

Zen Buddhism. This idea of Mutuality and Indentity is no

doubt derived from Avatamsaka philosophy, so ably

formulated by Fa-tsang. As both Shih-t'ou and Tung-shan


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are Zen masters, their way of presenting it is not at all

like that of the metaphysician." (Essays in Zen Buddhism

Third Series19)

"Tung-shan's poem, which was composed when he saw

his reflection in the stream which he was crossing at thetime, may give us some glimpse into his inner experience

of the Prajpramit:

Beware of seeking [the Truth] by others,

Further and further he retreats from you;

Alone I go now all by myself,

And I meet him everywhere I turn.

He is no other than myself,

And yet I am not he.

When thus understood,

I am face to face with Tathat."

(Essays in Zen BuddhismThird Series238)

Long seeking it through others,

I was far from reaching it.

Now I go by myself;

I meet it everywhere.

It is just I myself,

And I am not itself.

Understanding this way,

I can be as I am.

(Two Zen Classics267)

Do not seek from another,

Or you will be estranged from self.

I now go on alone,

Finding I meet It everywhere.

It now is I,

I now am not It.

One should understand in this way


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To merge with suchness as is.

(Transmission of Light38)

Don't seek from others,

Or you'll be estranged from yourself.

I now go on alone

Everywhere I encounter It.

It now is me, I now am not It.

One must understand in this way

To merge with being as is.

(Transmission of Light167)

Wu-men Kuan(Mumonkan) Case 15Tung-shan's Sixty

Blows

Tung-shan came to study with Yn-men (Unmon). Yn-

menasked, "Where are you from?"

"From Cha-tu(Sato)," Tung-shanreplied.

"Where were you during the summer?"

"Well, I was at the monastery of Pao-tz'u (Hzu), south

of the lake."

"When did you leave there," Yn-menasked.

"On August 25" was Tung-shan's reply.

"I spare you sixty blows," Yn-mensaid.

The next day Tung-shan came to Yn-men and said,


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"Yesterday you said you spared me sixty blows.

I beg to ask you, where was I at fault?"

"Oh, you rice bag!" shouted Yn-men. "What makes you

wander about, now west of the river, now south of the

lake?"

Tung-shan thereupon came to a mighty enlightenment

experience.

Wu-men's Comment

If Yn-menhad given Tung-shanthe true food of Zen and

encouraged him to develop an active Zen spirit, his

school would not have declined as it did.

Tung-shan had an agonizing struggle through the whole

night, lost in the sea of right and wrong. He reached acomplete impasse. After waiting for the dawn, he again

went to Yn-men, and Yn-menagain made him a picture

book of Zen.

(Two Zen Classics61-2)

Wu-men Kuan (Mumonkan) Case 18Tung-shan's "Ma

san chin"

A monk asked Tung-shan, "What is Buddha?"

Tung-shan replied, "Ma san chin!" (Masagin) [three

pounds of flax].


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(Two Zen Classics71)

Notes1 Nan-ch'an P'u-yan(Nansen Fugan, 748-834

)

2 Wei-shan Ling-yu(Isan Reiy771-853)3 Yn-yen T'an-cheng(Ungan Donj782-841)4 The Heart Stra (Hannya Shingy

)

Maka Hannya Haramita Shingy (

)

"Heart Sutra (Skt. Mahprajapramit-hridaya-stra,

Jap., Maka hannyaharamita shingy, roughly

"Heartpiece of the

'Prajapramit-stra'); shortest of the forty stras that

constitute thePrajapramit-stra."

(The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion

128)

5 Yn-men Wen-yen(Unmon Bun'en, 864?-949)

Also known asK'uang-chen Ch'an-shih(Kyshin Zenji

)6Hua-yen-tsung(Kegonsh)7 Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien(Sekit Kisen, 700-790)8 Ts'an-t'ung-ch'i(Sandkai)9 One-sided (p'ien, hen)10Correct(cheng,sh)11Ts'ao-tung(St)


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The Pao-ching San-mei-ko

ThePao-ching San-mei-kois one of the most famous Zen

poems. The poem is regarded a stra in the St Sect,

within which it occupies an important position as a

scripture. The text is found in Taish Daizky, vol. 47,

No. 515 a-b ().

"One of the Five Classics, I Jing1(Book of Changes) is a

system of divination based on the permutations of yin

and yang, examining present tendencies toward change as

represented through the use of six-line combinations of

broken and unbroken lines, called hexagrams. Dongshan

Liangjie refers expressly to this work in his famous

poem, Baojing sanmei ke (Song of the Jewel Mirror

Samadhi), a core-text of Cao-Dong2: "It is like the six

lines of the double split hexagram; the relative and

absolute integrate piled up, they make the three; the

complete transformation makes five."3 Indeed,

Dongshan's teaching of the Five Ranks4 can also be

understood as a diagrammatic explanation of the

interaction between yin and yang, transposed into a

Buddhist context."

Notes1I Ching(Ekiky)2 Ts'ao-tung(St)34 Wu-wei(Goi)

The Original Chinese Text


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The Chinese Text with Japanese "Current

Characters"

In the following text, the obsolete characters in the

original text are replaced with newer, simplified or

slightly altered characters used in contemporary

Japanese, known as Ty Kanji. These newer characters

are indicated with gray color. Also, in the Japanese

versions of the text, some Chinese characters are replaced

with similar characters. These characters are indicated

withbluecolor.


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Variant Characters in Different Versions of the

Text

Line Japanese Version Chinese

Version

X Code: &C3-325B


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2

3

4

7

10

12

13

14

19

30

31

40

41

46

47

Translation of the Text

Song of Precious Mirror Samadhi

The dharma of thusness isintimately transmitted by buddhas and ancestors.

Now you have it; preserve it


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well.

A silver bowl filled with snow,a heron hidden in the moon.

Taken as similar, they are not

the same; not distinguished, their places are known.

The meaning does not reside inthe words, but a pivotal moment brings it forth.

Move and you are trapped,miss and you fall into doubt and vacillation.

Turning away and touching areboth wrong, for it is like a massive fire.

Just to portray it in literaryform is to stain it with defilement.

In darkest night it is perfectlyclear; in the light of dawn it is hidden.

It is a standard for all things; itsuse removes all suffering.

Although it is not constructed,it is not beyond words.

Like facing a precious mirror;form and reflection behold each other.

You are not it, but in truth it isyou.

Like a newborn child, it is fullyendowed with five aspects:

No going, no coming, noarising, no abiding;

P'o-p'o han-han is anythingsaid or not?


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In the end it says nothing, forthe words are not yet right.

In the hexagram "double fire,"when main and subsidiary lines are transposed,

Piled up they become three; thepermutations make five. Like the taste of the five-flavored herb, like the five-pronged vajra.

Wondrously embraced withinthe complete, drumming and singing begin together.

Penetrate the source and travelthe pathways, embrace the territory and treasure the

roads.

You would do well to respectthis; do not neglect it.

Natural and wondrous, it is nota matter of delusion or enlightenment.

Within causes and conditions,time and season, it is serene and illuminating.

So minute it enters where thereis no gap, so vast it transcends dimension.

A hairsbreadth's deviation, andyou are out tune.

Now there are sudden andgradual, in which teachings and approaches arise.

With teachings and approachesdistinguished, each has its standard.

Whether teachings andapproaches are mastered or not, reality constantly flows.


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Outside still and insidetrembling, like tethered colts or cowering rats.

The ancient sages grieved forthem, and offered them the dharma.

Led by their inverted views,they take black for white. When inverted thinking stops,the affirming mind naturally accords.

If you want to follow in theancient tracks, please observe the sages of the past.

One on the verge of realizingthe Buddha Way contemplated a tree for ten kalpas.

Like a battle-scarred tiger, likea horse with shanks gone grey.

Because some are vulgar,jeweled tables and ornate robes.

Because others are wide-eyed,cats and white oxen.

With his archer's skill, Yi hitthe mark at a hundred paces.

But when arrows meet head-on, how could it be a matter of skill?

The wooden man starts to sing,

the stone woman gets up dancing.

It is not reached by feelings orconsciousness, how could it involve deliberation?

Ministers serve their lords,children obey their parents.

Not obeying is not filial, failure


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to serve is no help.

With practice hidden, functionsecretly, like a fool, like an idiot.

Just to continue in this way is

called the host within the host.

The Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samadhi

Translated by Toshu John Neatrour, Sheng-yen, and

Kazu Tanahashi

The teaching of suchness, isgiven directly, through all buddha ancestors,

Now that it's yours, keep itwell.

A serving of snow in a silver

bowl, or herons concealed in the glare of the moon

Apart, they seem similar,together, they're different.

Meaning cannot rest in words,it adapts itself to that which arises.

Tremble and you're lost in a

trap, miss and there's always regrets.

Neither reject nor cling towords, both are wrong; like a ball of fire,

Useful but dangerous. Merelyexpressed in fine language, the mirror will tarnish.

At midnight truly it's most


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bright, by daylight it cannot still be seen.

It is the principle that regulatesall, relieving every suffering.

Though it doesn't act it is not

without words.

In the most precious mirrorform meets reflection:

You are not It, but It is all you.

Just as a baby, five sensescomplete,

Neither going or coming, norarising or staying,

Babbles and coos: speechwithout meaning,

No understanding, unclearlyexpressed.

Six lines make the double litrigram, where principle and appearances interact.

Lines stacked in three pairs yettransform in five ways.

Like the five flavors of thehyssop plant or the five branches of the diamond scepter,

Reality harmonizes subtly just

as melody and rhythm, together make music.

Penetrate the root and youfathom the branches, grasping connections, one then

finds the road.

To be wrong is auspicious,there's no contradiction.


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Naturally pure and profoundlysubtle, it touches neither delusion nor awakening,

At each time and condition itquietly shines.

So fine it penetrates no spaceat all, so large its bounds can never be measured. But if you're off by a hair'sbreadth all harmony's lost in discord.

Now there are sudden andgradual schools with principles, approaches so standards

arise.

Penetrating the principle,

Mastering the approach, thegenuine constant continues outflowing.

A tethered horse, a mousefrozen in fear, outwardly still but inwardly whirling:

Compassionate sages freedthem with teaching.

In upside down ways folkstake black for white.

When inverted thinking fallsaway they realize mind without even trying.

If you want to follow the

ancient path then consider the ancients:

The buddha, completing thepath, still sat for ten eons.

Like a tiger leaving a trace ofthe prey, like a horse missing the left hind shoe,

For those whose ability is


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under the mark, a jeweled footrest and brocaded robe.

For others who still canmanifest wonder there's a house cat and cow.

Yi the archer shot nine of ten sunsfrom the sky, saving parched crops, another bowman hit targets at

hundreds of paces:

These skills are small tocompare with that in which two arrow points meet head

on in mid air.

The wooden man breaks intosong, a stone maiden leaps up to dance,

They can't be known by merethought or feelings, so how can they be analyzed?

The minister still serves hislord, the child obeys his parent.

Not obeying is unfilial, notserving is a useless waste.

Practicing inwardly,functioning in secret, playing the fool, seemingly stupid, If you can only persist in thisway, you will see the lord within the lord.

Japanese Transcription of the Text

Hky Zanmaika

Nyoze no h Busso mitsu nifusu.


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Nanji ima kore o etari,yoroshiku yoku hgo subeshi.

Ginwan ni yuki o mori,meigetsu ni ro o kakusu.

Rui shite hitoshikarazu.Konzuru tokinba tokoro o shiru. Kokoro koto ni arazareba,raiki mata omomuku.

Dzureba kakyu o nashi,tagaeba kocho ni otsu.

Haisoku tomo ni hi nari.Daijaku no gotoshi.

Tada monsai ni arawaseba,sunawachi zenna ni zokusu.

Yahan shmei, tengy furo.

Mono no tame ni nori to naru.Moichiite shku o nuku.

Ui ni arazu to iedomo, kore gonaki ni arazu.

Hky ni nozonde, gyyaimiru ga gotoshi.

Nanji kore kare ni arazu, karemasa ni kore nanji.

Yo no yji no gos gangu suruga gotoshi.

Fukyo, furai, fuku, fuj.

Ba-ba wa-wa, uku, muku,

Tsui ni mono o ezu, go imadatadashikarazaru ga yue ni.


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Juri rikk, hensh ego,

Tatande san to nari, henjitsukite go to naru.

Chis no ajiwai no gotoku,

kong no sho no gotoshi.

Shch myky, ksh narabiagu.

Sh ni tsji to ni tszu, kytaikyro.

Shakunen naru tokinba kitsu

nari. Bongo subekarazu.

Tenshin ni shite my nari.Meigo ni zoku sezu.

Innen jisetsu, jakunen to shiteshcho su.

Sai ni wa muken ni iri, dai niwa hjo o zessu.

Gkotsu no tagai, ritsuryo nizezu.

Ima tonzen ari, shshu orissuru ni yotte.

Shshu wakaru, sunawachikore kiku nari.

Sh tsji shu kiwamaru mo,shinj ruch.

Hoka jaku ni uchiogoku wa,tsunageru koma, fukuseru nezumi.

Sensh kore o kanashinde hno dando to naru.


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Sono tend ni shitagatte shi omotte so to nasu.

Tend smetsu sureba kshinmizukara yurusu.

Kotetsu ni kanawan to ysebak zenko o kanzeyo. Butsud o jzuru ni nannan toshite jukk ju o kanzu.

Tora no kaketaru ga gotoku,uma no yome no gotoshi.

Geretsu aru o motte hkichingyo,

Kyi aru o motte rinubyakko.

Gei wa gyriki o motteitehyappo ni atsu,

Senp aiau, gyriki nanzoazukaran.

Bokujin masa ni utai, sekijotatte mau.

Jshiki no itaru ni arazu,mushiro shiryo o iren ya.

Shin wa kimi ni bushi, ko wa

chichi ni junzu.

Junzezareba k ni arazu,busezareba ho ni arazu.

Senk mitsuy wa gu nogotoku, ro no gotoshi.

Tada yoku szoku suru o


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shuch no shu to nazuku.

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Bibliography

The Development of Chinese Zen After the Sixth Patriarch. Heinrich

Dumoulin. SMC Publishing, Inc. Taipei, n.d..

The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion. Ingrid

Fischer-Schreiber, et al. Shambhala Publications. New York, 1994.

Essays in Zen Buddhism, 3 vols. Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki. Rider andCompany. London, 1949-53.

Two Zen Classics. Katsuki Sekida. Weatherhill. New York, 1995.

Zen Essence: The Science of Freedom. Ed. and trans. by Thomas

Cleary. Shambhala Publications. New York, 1989.

Song of Precious Mirror Samadhi Pao-ching San-mei-ko by Ch'an Master Tung-shan Liang-chieh

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