E-01|Pei Xiu’s own account: he heard the teaching himself at Zhongling in Huichang 2 and at Wanling in Dazhong 2, and “withdrew and recorded it, one or two parts in ten”
Original excerpt: 予會昌二年廉于鍾陵。自山迎至州。憩龍興寺。
Chuanxin fayao and Wanling lu · early witnesses such as the Zongjing lu and Jingde chuandeng lu
Chuanxin fayao and Wanling lu · early witnesses such as the Zongjing lu and Jingde chuandeng lu
The first three marks come from the main body of the Chuanxin fayao and already appear in the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu (appended no later than 1048); the first and second also appear in quotations in the Zongjing lu (961) (T1).
The fourth comes from the Wanling lu, whose complete witness is first seen in the Gu zunsu yulu (1267, T2). Huangbo left no writings of his own; the extant texts are Pei Xiu’s later records and subsequent transmitted editions. The marks serve only for identification; no line is used to extrapolate word-for-word certainty from its source grade.
One-sentence placement: with “there is only the One Mind, and no other dharma at all”, Huangbo takes buddhas, sentient beings, seeing, hearing and speech into the One Mind that neither arises nor ceases; it is originally complete, cannot be known by wisdom, is not lost in delusion and not gained in awakening. At the same time the texts require “no-mind right here”, “awakening to the One Mind” and “sudden full comprehension”, and connect these with the ultimate, with liberation and with not being bound. The archive as a whole places him at ② “Direct Seeing of the Ground” (C): the original texts can prove the conditional relation between no-mind and liberation, but whether “awakening / sudden comprehension / decisive knowing” is a non-deletable cognitive function of entering-into-accord, independent of the withdrawal that no-mind is, admits an equally reasonable negative reading. ① is a fully preserved strong competing direction; the main class ② does not mean the ①/② boundary has been settled.
Most distinctive feature: Huangbo not only dismantles cultivation, realization and names; he also opposes turning concentration and wisdom, mirror-like illumination, alert stillness, and seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing into “interpretations made upon objects” (E-23), denies one who realizes (E-26), and denies treating “a single pure brightness divided into six harmonized combinations” as a formula of knowledge (E-28); at the same time the original mind “does not belong to seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, nor is it apart from seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing” (E-19), and there is the positive self-inclusion material “the one speaking right now is precisely your mind” (E-41). “The existence and functioning of seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing” must be strictly separated from “clinging to seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing as the mind or raising views upon them”; the original texts do not delete all perceptual life, but dismantle objectification and second-order cognition.
The last load-bearing point must be divided into three layers. (1) The layer of the ground: the One Mind is originally complete and does not increase; without realization nothing is lacking (E-09, E-11, E-17, E-21); this layer still holds when recognition is deleted. (2) The layer of path / withdrawal: no stages, no contemplation, no contrivance, no “using the mind to make no-mind” (E-13, E-16, E-23);
whether “no-mind” is deliberately carried out by the student is directly called into question in E-16; but opposing “using the mind to make no-mind” does not cancel every difference of awakening. (3) The layer of ultimate completion: the T1 Chuanxin fayao connects “if only you can be without mind / awakening to the One Mind / sudden full comprehension” with the ultimate, with liberation, and with not being bound (E-12, E-14, E-20, E-24, E-25, E-29); E-37 and E-42 are T2 accounts in the same direction. The existence of the conditional relation in the third layer can be established; but whether there is a non-deletable function of “correctly cognizing the ground” independent of this description of the result is not sufficient for B, and is recorded as C.
The most delicate point: no-mind and tacit accord are not merely non-epistemic; the original texts further say “without subject and object”, “nor is there one who is without mind”, “using the mind to make no-mind, the mind on the contrary becomes something”, and “to intend with the mind is already to miss”. One reading holds that awakening, realization, recognizing and decisive knowing show that there is still an awakening-type mediator of completion; the other holds that these words are only pointers within teaching, while “no-mind” is precisely the cessation of cognitive functioning, and the cessation itself cannot be renamed a cognitive function that must be completed. Both sides are supported by T1 texts.
The ② tendency of v1.3 in choosing the main class cannot automatically raise the A–D strength of proof; this archive therefore records ② (C), and positively retains the competing interpretation on the ①/② boundary.
Note on texts: Pei Xiu says he heard the teaching himself and recorded “one or two parts in ten” afterwards; the preface of 857 states that he gave his record to monks to take back and ask the assembly about agreements and differences, but records no result of verification (E-01, E-02). The front part of the Chuanxin fayao is visible in the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu, and some sentences are visible in quotations of 961 in the Zongjing lu; it belongs to a relatively early layer of transmission. It is worth adding: the extant appended text in the Jingde chuandeng lu ends with a colophon of the year Qingli wuzi (1048) stating “eleven places in the Chuanxin fayao have been changed”, with characters corrected by reference to the Sijia lu and another record; therefore the compilation date of 1004 cannot be equated directly with all the extant wording being free of later collation. The later question-and-answer part and the Wanling lu remain provisionally T2; “first seen in 1267” is limited to the complete witnesses checked this time, and cannot prove that there was no other text at all between the Tang and the Song.
Version collation: the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Chuandeng lu and the current text have variants such as “不可以智識解 / 不可以智慧識” and “法內無心 / 法外無心”; the Zongjing lu also has the additional words “覺心即是” (“awakened mind is it”) and “見此心即是見佛” (“seeing this mind is seeing the Buddha”), whose status as Huangbo’s own words is unclear, and which may not bear weight on their own. The date of Pei Xiu’s preface must also be recorded text by text: the current T48 preface is dated “the eighth day of the eleventh month of Dazhong 11”, while the preface appended in fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu reads “the eighth day of the tenth month of Dazhong 11”; the original form is not decided on the basis of any single text not collated against facsimiles.
This archive distinguishes two sets of grades, which are never mixed:
Direction marks: Supports = supports the current six-position judgment; Limits = shows that some entity, name, practice or form of cognition has been dismantled; Disputed = the direction of the text is not unique; Neutral = the text exists but does not form part of the core argument.
In this archive T1 and T2 are “relative layers among the extant transmitted texts of Huangbo”, not the level of a manuscript by the author himself; multiple occurrences within the same textual system (such as the quotations of 961, the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Chuandeng lu, and the current text) are not counted as mutually independent witnesses. Even where the original excerpt on a card can itself be verified as A, its final structural classification is not automatically raised to A.
Textual levels in this archive:
Version collation: the CBETA transcriptions were compared by machine string search against the Zongjing lu, the Jingde chuandeng lu, the Tiansheng guangdeng lu, the Gu zunsu yulu and the Zutang ji; about 4,050 characters of the front part of the Chuanxin fayao are visible in the earlier system, while for the later part and the Wanling lu many items can at present only obtain later complete witnesses. Runs of eight consecutive characters and fuzzy matching cannot exclude rewriting, paraphrase and fragments;
the extant appended text in fascicle 9 of the Chuandeng lu is followed by the collation colophon of 1048, and has the variant tenth / eleventh month at the end of the preface. Facsimiles, other early prints and the Sijia lu have not been collated one by one, so both T1 and T2 should be marked as “relative levels of the existing witnesses”, and no claim is made to have settled the whole of Tang and Song transmission.
Method: first ask whether, once “correctly recognizing the ground” is deleted, the original completeness of the One Mind, the place of awareness and speech within the One Mind, and no cultivation and no realization still hold; then ask whether the same texts’ no-mind / awakening / sudden comprehension and the consequence of liberation can still be explained. An additional strict threshold is added: no “necessary state for becoming a buddha / for leaving” may be automatically equated with “a non-deletable cognitive function”, otherwise “ceasing contrivance” and “not giving rise to deluded thoughts” would all be misjudged as cognitive mediators. One must distinguish (a) whether the original has a conditional sentence, (b) whether the condition is a cognitive function such as awakening / entering-into-accord, and (c) whether that function is non-deletable relative to the originally complete One Mind;
in addition, “whether no-mind can be actively carried out” must be separated from “whether awakening / sudden comprehension / decisive knowing is independent of no-mind”; (a) does not automatically prove (b) or (c). The overall strength is judged separately by A–D, and is not automatically upgraded by the choice of ② as main class.
Citations: primary texts follow the CBETA transcriptions (T48 no.2012A, no.2012B, no.2016, T51 no.2076, T50 no.2061, B25 no.144, X78 no.1553, X68 no.1315), marked to page, register and line; original excerpts keep the characters of the original book, and early witnesses are quoted in the characters of each text.
Huangbo’s core question is: if one is originally a buddha, why is there still delusion? And how does one “obtain” what cannot be obtained? His answer: delusion lies not in lacking anything, but in “clinging to forms and seeking outside” and “using the mind to grasp the mind” (E-10); completion too is not obtaining anything, but “no-mind right here” (E-14). The structural chain unfolding from this is:
This chain keeps both directions at once: the originally complete One Mind and the place of seeing, hearing and speech already have very strong ①-direction evidence; no-mind / sudden comprehension and ultimate freedom have a clear conditional relation. But whether the “condition” is a non-deletable cognitive mediator cannot be determined directly from its repeated appearance in the record.
(E-01–E-08 are textual sources, early witnesses and late passages; E-09–E-29 are the main body of the Chuanxin fayao; E-30–E-35 are the question-and-answer part of the Chuanxin fayao; E-36–E-44 are the Wanling lu; E-45–E-46 are sermons recorded in the Tiansheng guangdeng lu; E-47 is an encounter.)
Original excerpt: 予會昌二年廉于鍾陵。自山迎至州。憩龍興寺。
旦夕問道。大中二年廉于宛陵。復去禮迎至所部。安居開元寺。旦夕受法。退而紀之。十得一二。In the second year of Huichang I was inspector at Zhongling; I welcomed him from the mountain to the prefecture, where he stayed at Longxing Monastery, and morning and evening I asked about the Way. In the second year of Dazhong I was inspector at Wanling; again I went and respectfully welcomed him to my jurisdiction, where he resided at Kaiyuan Monastery, and morning and evening I received the Dharma. Withdrawing, I recorded it — one or two parts in ten.
Context passage: 有大禪師。法諱希運。住洪州高安縣黃檗山鷲峯下。……予會昌二年廉于鍾陵。自山迎至州。憩龍興寺。旦夕問道。大中二年廉于宛陵。復去禮迎至所部。安居開元寺。旦夕受法。退而紀之。十得一二。佩為心印不敢發揚。
What the passage does: Pei Xiu, the editor of the Chuanxin fayao, says he twice invited Xiyun: in Huichang 2 (842) at Longxing Monastery in Zhongling “morning and evening I asked about the Way”, and in Dazhong 2 (848) at Kaiyuan Monastery in Wanling “morning and evening I received the Dharma”, and afterwards “withdrew and recorded it, one or two parts in ten”. This is the main ground on which this archive lists the main body of the Chuanxin fayao as the highest visible layer: the recorder was a lay disciple who heard the teaching himself, with identity, time and place all clear.
What it does not prove: “One or two parts in ten” also shows that the extant text is Pei Xiu’s later recollection and selection, not Xiyun’s verbatim dictation, nor the whole of his teaching; its wording may contain Pei Xiu’s own understanding and style. Every character cannot be treated as Xiyun’s own words merely because the editor heard him in person.
Original excerpt: 今恐入神精義不聞於未來。遂出之授門下僧大舟法建。歸舊山之廣唐寺。問長老法眾。與往日常所親聞。同異如何也。Now, fearing that the profound and subtle meaning would not be heard in the future, I have brought it out and given it to my monk disciples Dazhou and Fajian, to return to Guangtang Monastery on the old mountain and ask the elders and the assembly how it agrees or differs with what they themselves used to hear.
Context passage: 佩為心印不敢發揚。今恐入神精義不聞於未來。遂出之授門下僧大舟法建。歸舊山之廣唐寺。問長老法眾。與往日常所親聞。同異如何也。唐大中十一年十一月初八日序
What the passage does: At the end of his preface Pei Xiu says that he gave his record to monk disciples to take back to Mount Huangbo, asking the elders and the assembly whether it was the same as what they had heard in the past; this account can show the editor’s intention to seek collation by many, but it does not report that the checking was carried out or approved. The preface is dated Dazhong 11: the current T48 reads “the eighth day of the eleventh month”, while the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu reads “the eighth day of the tenth month”; they must be recorded text by text.
What it does not prove: The preface shows only the intention and procedure of checking and leaves no result of it; it cannot be inferred that the whole text was approved sentence by sentence by the Huangbo community.
Early witnesses: This passage and the account of E-01 have corresponding wording in the Chuanxin fayao appended to fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu (T51, 270b13–19), with minor differences of wording (such as “寓開元寺” and “請長老法眾問”).
Original excerpt: 汝還知大唐國內無禪師。」
有人問:「諸方尊宿盡皆匡化,和尚為什摩道無禪師?」師云:「不道無禪,只道無師。“Do you know that in the great Tang there are no Chan masters?” Someone asked: “The venerable elders everywhere are all guiding the assembly; why does the Reverend say there are no Chan masters?” The Master said: “I do not say there is no Chan, only that there are no masters.”
Context passage: 是你諸人,患顛那作摩?」把棒一時趁出云:「盡是一隊喫酒糟漢。……汝還知大唐國內無禪師。」有人問:「諸方尊宿盡皆匡化,和尚為什摩道無禪師?」師云:「不道無禪,只道無師。」
What the passage does: The Zutang ji has the earliest extant Huangbo chapter (952).
It records biography — leaving home, meeting a monk on the way to Tiantai, being pointed onward by an old woman in the capital, studying with Baizhang, residing on Mount Huangbo — and hall-sermon sayings such as “you are all a bunch of dreg-eaters”, “in the great Tang there are no Chan masters” and “I do not say there is no Chan, only that there are no masters”, but does not include the teaching texts of the Chuanxin fayao or the Wanling lu. It can be seen that in the mid-tenth century the southern transmission already regarded Xiyun as a stern master, while the continuous texts of mind-teaching circulated through another channel.
What it does not prove: That the Zutang ji does not include the mind-teaching texts cannot conversely prove that the Chuanxin fayao did not exist at the time: Pei Xiu’s preface is dated 857, and the Zongjing lu (961) already quotes it (E-06). This card serves only as an early witness to biography and hall-sermon sayings and bears no structural argument.
Early witnesses: “大唐國內無禪師……不道無禪,只道無師” also appears in the Huangbo chapter in fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu (T51, 266b27–266c02) and fascicle 8 of the Tiansheng guangdeng lu (X78, 659b03–05), with minor differences of wording among the three texts.
Original excerpt: 以大中中終于所住寺,勅諡斷際禪師,塔名廣業,語錄而行于世。During the Dazhong era he died at the monastery where he lived; he was posthumously named Chan Master Duanji, his stūpa was named Guangye, and his recorded sayings circulate in the world.
Context passage: 昇平相裴公休欽重躬謁,有詩贈焉……則裴相得法,出運之門。以大中中終于所住寺,勅諡斷際禪師,塔名廣業,語錄而行于世。
What the passage does: Zanning’s Song gaoseng zhuan, fascicle 20, “Biography of Xiyun of Mount Huangbo, Hongzhou, Tang”, records that he was a native of Min, had a fleshy pearl on his forehead, met a monk on the way to Tiantai, was pointed onward by an old woman in the capital, studied with Baizhang and resided at the Huangbo retreat; Pei Xiu visited him in person and presented a poem, and “Minister Pei obtained the Dharma, coming out of Yun’s gate”;
he died during the Dazhong era at the monastery where he lived, was posthumously named Chan Master Duanji, and “his recorded sayings circulate in the world”. By the end of the tenth century it was known that Xiyun’s recorded sayings were in circulation.
What it does not prove: The biography records no original text of his teaching; which text “recorded sayings” refers to cannot be determined. The death date is given only as “during the Dazhong era”, and this archive does not infer a specific year.
Original excerpt: 黃蘗希運禪師傳心法要Essentials of the Transmission of Mind by Chan Master Huangbo Xiyun.
Context passage: 黃蘗希運禪師傳心法要河東裴休集
What the passage does: Fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu, after the Huangbo chapter and the other figures of the same fascicle, appends “黃蘗希運禪師傳心法要 河東裴休集” (“Essentials of the Transmission of Mind by Chan Master Huangbo Xiyun, compiled by Pei Xiu of Hedong”; T51, 270b02–273a08), followed by “裴休相國傳心偈” (“Minister Pei Xiu’s Verse on the Transmission of Mind”). Compared section by section, Pei Xiu’s preface and the main text of the current Chuanxin fayao (including the contents of the two sections marked “first day of the ninth month” and “eighth day of the tenth month” in the current text) all have counterparts in the appended text, with only minor differences of wording;
but the appended text deletes the dates of each section and prompts such as “師謂休曰” (“the Master said to Xiu”), and at the end of the preface has the interlinear note “自後每段各紀歲月。今刪繁爾” (“after this each section recorded its date; now the superfluous has been deleted”; T51, 270b20), showing that the appended text was abridged from a text that originally recorded the date of each section; the question-and-answer part of the current text from “問如何是道” onward (T48, from 382b10) is not in it.
What it does not prove: The appended text proves that this text was attached, under the name “compiled by Pei Xiu”, to fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu no later than 1048 (the colophon of 1048 says “eleven places in the Chuanxin fayao have been changed”, indicating that there was already an appended text to change); whether it belongs to Daoyuan’s original compilation of 1004 has no direct evidence within the CBETA texts, and must be checked externally against facsimiles of Song prints or relevant research. The appended text and the current text belong to the same textual system and are not two mutually independent records. The machine search uses units of 8 consecutive characters;
individual sentences that are rewritten or have large variants may have been missed.
Version collation: The current Chuanxin fayao (T48 no.2012A) has about 6,600 characters (not counting punctuation). Compared section by section with the appended text in the Chuandeng lu: the preface and main text up to “若能契悟者。便至佛地矣” (382b09), about 4,050 characters, basically all have counterparts; the roughly 2,560 characters from “問如何是道” onward (including “上堂云百種多知”, “問六祖不會經書”, “問如何得不落階級”, etc.) were not detected in the appended text in the Chuandeng lu or in the Tiansheng guangdeng lu, and the complete text is first found in fascicles 2–3 of the Gu zunsu yulu (1267). On this basis this archive records the former part as T1, and the latter part as T2 except where there are other early quotations.
Collation of 1048 and early witnesses: (1) Original text and position of the colophon: at the end of fascicle 9, after “裴休相國傳心偈”, there is “甞聞。河東大士親見高安導師傳心要。於當年著偈章而示後……予惜其所遺。綴於本錄云爾。
慶曆戊子歲南宗字天真者題” (“I have heard that the great layman of Hedong personally received the essentials of mind-transmission from the guiding master of Gao’an, and at the time composed a verse to show later generations … I regret its omission, and so attach it to this record. Inscribed in the year Qingli wuzi by one of the Southern school styled Tianzhen”; T51, 273a19–22), with the interlinear note beneath it “傳心法要內改十一處。除落三字添入九字。並按四家錄并別錄為據也” (“eleven places in the Chuanxin fayao have been changed: three characters removed and nine characters added, all on the basis of the Sijia lu and another record”; 273a23). What “attach it to this record” refers to is in the first place Pei Xiu’s verse on the transmission of mind; the interlinear note shows that Tianzhen at the same time, on the basis of the Sijia lu and another record, changed the Chuanxin fayao already in this record. (2) Scale of the changes: the colophon records eleven collated places, with three characters removed and nine added in total; the specific nature of the other changes cannot be reconstructed item by item from the colophon.
If this number is indeed the total amount of characters added in this collation, then the change of 1048 itself was not sufficient to insert as a whole the latter half of E-14 (“被三乘功行拘繫不得解脫”, eleven characters); but this cannot exclude change of that sentence at other stages of copying. Additions of phrases within nine characters or single-character substitutions cannot be excluded either, for example E-20 “決定知一切法” (6 characters) and E-16 “亦無無心者” (5 characters). This risk exists equally for short sentences in the ① direction and the ② direction. (3) The range that can be traced back: the early excerpts seen in another text before 1048 are the quotations of the Zongjing lu (961) (without presupposing a fully independent chain of sources). They cover E-09, E-10 (in part), the first half of E-11, E-12, the first half of E-14, the first half of E-16, the first half of E-18, and E-19; they do not cover the latter half of E-14, the latter half of E-16, E-17, E-20, E-21, E-24, E-25, E-26, E-28 or E-29 (the Wanshan tonggui ji, Zhu xin fu and Zutang ji were also checked, without result). In the sentences actually covered by the quotations of 961, the load-bearing words of the appended text and the current text are broadly consistent; this cannot prove that sentences not covered by the quotations, or later whole passages, have been restored to their form of 961.
(4) The Sijia lu: the CBETA Manji supplementary canon X69 includes only fascicles 1–3 of the Sijia yulu (Mazu, Baizhang), not the Huangbo part, so no collation was possible this time; the base text of Taishō T48 no.2012A and no.2012B is the Ming edition held in the Hōon collection of Zōjōji, and the only collating text is the edition printed in Kanbun 13 (text A). (5) Conclusion: the specific positions of the eleven places cannot be reconstructed from the existing materials, and this archive does not guess at the changed places; the load-bearing words of E-12, the first half of E-14 and E-19 have witnesses from before 1048, while the latter half of E-16, E-20, E-24, E-25, E-29 and others have only witnesses in transmitted texts after 1048, and the risk of collation at the level of single characters and phrases remains.
Original excerpt: 黃蘗和尚云。諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心。更無別法。覺心即是。唯此一心即是佛。見此心即是見佛。Venerable Huangbo said: Buddhas and all sentient beings are only the One Mind; there is no other dharma at all. The awakened mind is it. Only this One Mind is the Buddha. Seeing this mind is seeing the Buddha.
Context passage: 黃蘗和尚云。諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心。更無別法。覺心即是。唯此一心即是佛。見此心即是見佛。佛即是心。心即是眾生。眾生即是佛。佛即是心。為眾生時。此心亦不減。為佛時。
此心亦不添。但悟一心。更無少法可得。此即真佛。
What the passage does: Yongming Yanshou’s Zongjing lu (961) explicitly cites “Venerable Huangbo” in five places: (1) fascicle 5 quotes the “empty space before your eyes” dialogue and “a hundred kinds of much knowing” (T48, 444b23–444c02; see E-31, E-32); (2) fascicle 11 quotes the passage “if you so much as intend a single dharma, the seal is already made” (477a14–21, now found in the Tiansheng guangdeng lu; see E-46); (3) fascicle 24 quotes the opening of the Chuanxin fayao (550b05–19; see E-09, E-12, E-14, E-19); (4) fascicle 40 quotes “no one dares to enter this gate” (652b18–19); (5) fascicle 98 quotes “Bodhidharma came from the West and transmitted only the dharma of the One Mind … the one speaking right now is your mind” (943c29–944a08; see E-41, E-16). This is the earliest extant layer of quotation of Huangbo’s mind-teaching texts, 43 years earlier than the text of 1004.
What it does not prove: Yanshou is excerpting with rewriting (for example fascicle 24 has “覺心即是” and “見此心即是見佛”, absent from the current text); the quotations can prove only that these sentences were circulating before 961, not that the context outside the quotations was already so. The relation of the text Yanshou used to Pei Xiu’s text and to the appended text in the Chuandeng lu cannot yet be determined, and it is not counted as an additional independent witness.
Version collation: The quotation in fascicle 24: “黃蘗和尚云。諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心。更無別法。覺心即是。唯此一心即是佛。見此心即是見佛。佛即是心……” (T48, 550b05–08). The two sentences “覺心即是” and “見此心即是見佛” are not found in the current text or in the appended text in the Chuandeng lu. This variant writes “the awakened mind” and “seeing this mind” directly into the definition of becoming a buddha, and if it belongs to Huangbo’s own words it strengthens the ② direction; but it may also be Yanshou’s inserted explanation, and this archive does not argue from it alone.
Original excerpt: 夫學道者,先須併却雜學諸緣,決定不求,決定不著,聞甚深法,恰似清風屆耳,瞥然而過,更不追尋,是為甚深入如來禪,離生禪想。Those who study the Way must first set aside miscellaneous learning and all conditions, decisively not seeking, decisively not clinging;
hearing the most profound Dharma is like a clear breeze reaching the ear, passing in a flash and not pursued further — this is deeply entering the Tathāgata’s Chan, leaving the notion of producing Chan.
Context passage: 夫學道者,先須併却雜學諸緣,決定不求,決定不著,聞甚深法,恰似清風屆耳,瞥然而過,更不追尋,是為甚深入如來禪,離生禪想。從上祖師唯傳一心,更無異法,指心是佛,頓超等妙二覺之表,決定不流,至第二念,始似入我宗門。
What the passage does: The Huangbo chapter in fascicle 8 of the Tiansheng guangdeng lu (X78, 658a09–666b18), besides encounters, contains a long sermon beginning “夫學道者,先須併却雜學諸緣” and more than twenty dialogues (23 beginning with “問:”) (such as “what is seeing the nature”, “the king’s treasury”, “holding a sword before Gautama”), which hardly overlap with the current Taishō texts of the Chuanxin fayao and the Wanling lu; this material was later mostly included in the Wanling lu as contained in the Gu zunsu yulu.
The passage “擬著一法印早成也” quoted in fascicle 11 of the Zongjing lu (961) is found in this group of sermons (E-46), showing that it also had a source earlier than 1036.
What it does not prove: This group of sermons has no direct connection with Pei Xiu’s preface, and its chain of transmission differs from that of E-01 and E-02; except for the passage already quoted in the Zongjing lu, this archive records it as T2, serving only as supplementary material in the same direction and not bearing the placement argument on its own.
Early witnesses: This passage also appears in fascicles 2–3 of the Gu zunsu yulu (1267, X68, 191b14–16).
Original excerpt: 但去二六時中看箇無字。晝參夜參行住坐臥。Just contemplate the word “No” throughout the twelve periods of the day; investigate it day and night, walking, standing, sitting and lying down.
Context passage: 若是箇丈夫漢。看箇公案。僧問趙州。狗子還有佛性也無。州云無。但去二六時中看箇無字。晝參夜參行住坐臥。……頌曰。塵勞迥脫事非常。緊把繩頭做一場。不是一翻寒徹骨。爭得梅花撲鼻香。
What the passage does: The final passage of the current text demands long investigation with “看箇公案” (“look at a public case”) and “看箇無字” (“contemplate the word ‘No’”), and cites the verse “梅花撲鼻香” (“plum-blossom fragrance strikes the nose”). In the corresponding transmitted materials checked — the Zongjing lu, the Jingde chuandeng lu, the Tiansheng guangdeng lu and the Gu zunsu yulu — this whole passage was not found, and its style is close to post-Song kanhua Chan. For lack of early reliable attribution, it is provisionally excluded as positive evidence of Huangbo’s thought; the date of insertion cannot be determined from absence alone, nor can the whole work be arbitrarily declared spurious. Supplementary evidence: the Taishō collation notes record that the Wanling lu in text A (printed in Kanbun 13 [1673]) ends at “珍重” (“take care”), followed by the words “黃檗斷際禪師宛陵錄終” (“end of the Wanling lu of Chan Master Huangbo Duanji”), and at the opening of this passage, “師一日上堂。開示大眾云”, notes “甲本以下無” (“text A lacks what follows”; T48, collation notes at 387a09–10); this passage is found only in the Taishō base text (the Ming edition in the Hōon collection of Zōjōji).
This further supports its being a passage attached after the original ending of the Wanling lu.
What it does not prove: This archive has not exhausted the Song and Yuan texts, nor checked facsimiles and layouts of extant prints; “highly suspected later addition” does not mean it has been established which later person added it, or in what year. That individual verse lines were used in later times does not automatically prove that the ninth-century Huangbo said them himself.
Original excerpt: 諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心。更無別法。Buddhas and all sentient beings are only the One Mind; there is no other dharma at all.
Context passage: 師謂休曰。諸佛與一切眾生。唯是一心。更無別法。此心無始已來。不曾生不曾滅。不青不黃。無形無相。不屬有無。不計新舊。非長非短。非大非小。超過一切限量名言縱跡對待。當體便是。動念即乖。
What the passage does: The opening of the Chuanxin fayao: buddhas and sentient beings are only the One Mind; this mind from beginningless time neither arises nor ceases, is without form or mark, does not belong to existence or non-existence, and surpasses all limits, measures, names, traces and oppositions; “當體便是。動念即乖” (“it is this very substance; move a thought and you miss it”).
The ground is directly specified as the originally present One Mind, and it is stated explicitly that it does not depend on any arising thought to be established.
What it does not prove: “It is this very substance” shows that the ground does not wait upon contrivance; but “move a thought and you miss it” at the same time draws a line on the human side — between moving thought and not moving thought. This sentence by itself can prove neither ① nor ②, and must be read together with the conditional sentences of completion (E-14, E-20, E-24).
Original excerpt: 唯此一心即是佛。佛與眾生更無別異。但是眾生著相外求。求之轉失。Only this One Mind is the Buddha; between the Buddha and sentient beings there is no difference at all. It is just that sentient beings cling to forms and seek outside; seeking it, they lose it all the more.
Context passage: 唯此一心即是佛。佛與眾生更無別異。但是眾生著相外求。求之轉失。使佛覓佛。將心捉心。窮劫盡形終不能得。不知息念忘慮佛自現前。
What the passage does: The One Mind is the Buddha, and there is no difference between the Buddha and sentient beings; the problem of sentient beings lies only in “clinging to forms and seeking outside”, and the more they seek the more they lose; “不知息念忘慮佛自現前” (“they do not know that if they cease thinking and forget deliberation, the Buddha appears of itself”).
The “appearing” here is not the birth of a new buddha, but the original Buddha naturally showing itself when thinking ceases.
What it does not prove: The subject of “the Buddha appears of itself” is the Buddha, and the verb is not “see” or “know”; what is expressed is self-manifestation once obscuration is removed; but it is still conditioned on “ceasing thinking and forgetting deliberation”. This sentence cannot be taken directly as positive proof that “cognition is placed within a more basic structure”.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “此一心即是佛。佛與眾生更無差異。但是眾生著相外求轉失” (T51, 270b25–27), without the character “唯” (“only”), and with “差異” for “別異”.
Original excerpt: 乃至六度萬行河沙功德。本自具足不假修添。Even the six perfections, the ten thousand practices and merits as countless as the sands of the Ganges are originally complete and need no adding by cultivation.
Context passage: 為眾生時此心不減。為諸佛時此心不添。
乃至六度萬行河沙功德。本自具足不假修添。遇緣即施。緣息即寂。若不決定信此是佛。而欲著相修行以求功用。皆是妄想。與道相乖。
What the passage does: When one is a sentient being this mind does not decrease, when one is a buddha it does not increase; the six perfections, the ten thousand practices and all merits are originally complete and are not added by cultivation. When conditions arise it functions; when conditions cease it is still. The following sentence sets “決定信此是佛” (“decisively believing that this is the Buddha”) against “著相修行以求功用” (“cultivating with clinging to forms in order to seek merit”): cultivating without belief is all deluded thought.
What it does not prove: “Originally complete” is a positive structural statement in the ① direction that holds without waiting for belief or awakening; “若不決定信……皆是妄想” (“if one does not decisively believe … it is all deluded thought”) retains on the student’s side the boundary between believing and not believing. The former cannot be compressed into “complete only after awakening”, nor can the latter be read merely as rhetoric.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “若不決定信此而欲著相修行” (T51, 270c03–04), without the two characters “是佛” (“is the Buddha”).
Original excerpt: 但悟一心。更無少法可得。此即真佛。
Just awaken to the One Mind, and there is not the slightest dharma to be obtained: this is the true Buddha.
Context passage: 修六度萬行欲求成佛。即是次第。無始已來無次第佛。但悟一心。更無少法可得。此即真佛。佛與眾生一心無異。
What the passage does: Cultivating the six perfections and ten thousand practices to seek buddhahood is “stages”, and from beginningless time there has been no buddha of stages; “但悟一心。更無少法可得。此即真佛” (“just awaken to the One Mind, and there is not the slightest dharma to be obtained: this is the true Buddha”). The content of awakening is not obtaining something, but precisely “not the slightest dharma to be obtained”.
What it does not prove: “Not the slightest dharma to be obtained” dismantles the relation of acquisition; but the subject of “this is the true Buddha” is the whole sentence “just awaken to the One Mind”. This sentence defines the true Buddha by awakening and is direct text for the ② direction;
it does not explain the place of the one who awakens within the One Mind.
Original excerpt: 供養十方諸佛。不如供養一個無心道人。何故。無心者無一切心也。
Making offerings to all the buddhas of the ten directions is not as good as making offerings to one person of the Way who is without mind. Why? To be without mind is to be without any mind at all.
Context passage: 供養十方諸佛。不如供養一個無心道人。何故。無心者無一切心也。如如之體。內如木石不動不搖。外如虛空不塞不礙。無能所無方所。無相貌無得失。
What the passage does: A person of the Way without mind surpasses all the buddhas of the ten directions; to be without mind is “無一切心” (“to be without any mind at all”): the substance of suchness, inwardly like wood or stone, unmoving and unshaken, outwardly like empty space, neither blocked nor obstructed, without subject and object, without location, without appearance, without gain or loss. Practitioners fear falling into emptiness with nothing to rest on, retreat at the edge of the cliff, and only seek knowledge and views far and wide.
What it does not prove: “No-mind” is not a kind of cognitive activity but the cessation of all discriminating mind; “without subject and object” explicitly dismantles the subject–object structure of cognition. This is the point in this archive’s judgment that most needs attention: Huangbo’s form of completion is not expressed as “correctly knowing the ground”. But the boundary between “the person of the Way without mind” and “those who seek knowledge and views far and wide” remains, and completion still has a line on the student’s side.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “供養十方諸佛。不如供養一無心人不可得。無心者無一切心也” (T51, 270c19–20), with “一無心人” for “一個無心道人”, and the additional three characters “不可得”; “內如木石” reads “內外如木石”.
Original excerpt: 但能無心。便是究竟。學道人若不直下無心。累劫修行終不成道。If only you can be without mind, that is the ultimate. If students of the Way are not without mind right here, they cultivate for kalpas and in the end never accomplish the Way.
Context passage: 此心即無心之心。離一切相。眾生諸佛更無差別。但能無心。便是究竟。學道人若不直下無心。累劫修行終不成道。被三乘功行拘繫不得解脫。
What the passage does: This mind is “無心之心” (“the mind of no-mind”), apart from all marks; between sentient beings and buddhas there is no difference; “但能無心。便是究竟” (“if only you can be without mind, that is the ultimate”). Conversely: not being without mind right here, one cultivates for kalpas and does not accomplish the Way, bound by the merit-practices of the three vehicles, unable to attain liberation. This is one of the most direct conditional sentences of completion in this archive. The first half, “但能無心。便是究竟……累劫修行終不成道”, agrees in three places — the quotation of 961, the appended text in the Chuandeng lu and the current text (the 961 text lacks “若”, “if”); the latter half, “被三乘功行拘繫不得解脫”, is not within the quotation of 961 and is found only in the appended text in the Chuandeng lu and the current text.
What it does not prove: The condition here is “no-mind”, not “seeing some ground” or “knowing the One Mind”. If, following v1.3, ② is understood as “the ground must be correctly cognized”, one must first argue that “no-mind right here” belongs to the class of functions of seeing, realizing, awakening and recognizing (compare “悟”, “認取”, “證” and “頓了” in E-12, E-16, E-20 and E-24); ② cannot be judged merely from words such as “ultimate” and “liberation”.
Original excerpt: 然證此心有遲疾。有聞法一念便得無心者。Yet the realization of this mind is slow or quick: there are those who, hearing the Dharma, in a single thought-moment attain no-mind.
Context passage: 然證此心有遲疾。有聞法一念便得無心者。有至十信十住十行十迴向乃得無心者。長短得無心乃住。更無可修可證。實無所得。真實不虛。一念而得。與十地而得者。功用恰齊。更無深淺。秖是歷劫枉受辛勤耳。
What the passage does: Realization of this mind is fast or slow: some, hearing the Dharma, attain no-mind in a single thought-moment, others only after passing through the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices and ten dedications; “得無心乃住。更無可修可證。實無所得” (“attaining no-mind, one then abides; there is nothing further to cultivate or realize; in truth nothing is obtained”); attaining in a single thought-moment and attaining through the ten grounds are equal in effect, only the latter “suffer toil in vain for kalpas”.
What it does not prove: This passage keeps both the language of “realizing” and “attaining” and the stipulation “in truth nothing is obtained”. There is a boundary before and after attaining no-mind (“then abides”), after which “there is nothing further to cultivate or realize”. One cannot take only the first half to judge ②, nor only the latter half to judge ①.
Original excerpt: 總不如言下便自認取本法。此法即心。心外無法。此心即法。法外無心。Better by far, at these words, to recognize the original Dharma for yourself. This Dharma is the mind; outside the mind there is no Dharma. This mind is the Dharma; outside the Dharma there is no mind.
Context passage: 總不如言下便自認取本法。此法即心。心外無法。此心即法。法外無心。心自無心。亦無無心者。將心無心。心却成有。默契而已。絕諸思議。
What the passage does: Doing good and doing evil are both clinging to forms; better “言下便自認取本法” (“at these words to recognize the original Dharma for yourself”): the Dharma is the mind, the mind is the Dharma, outside the mind there is no Dharma, outside the Dharma there is no mind. Immediately after, Huangbo dismantles “no-mind” itself too: “心自無心。亦無無心者。將心無心。
心却成有” (“the mind of itself is without mind, nor is there one who is without mind; using the mind to make no-mind, the mind on the contrary becomes something”), so that there can only be “默契而已。絕諸思議” (“only tacit accord, cut off from all thought and deliberation”).
What it does not prove: “Recognize” is a cognitive verb and supports ②; but the same passage immediately denies a subject who “does no-mind” (“nor is there one who is without mind”), and denies that no-mind can be achieved by means of the mind. This is Huangbo’s self-reflexive treatment of the function of completion: completion cannot be understood as the operation of some subject. It weakens the reading that “there is a cognizer who must complete”, but does not cancel the boundary between “recognizing” and “contrivance clinging to forms”.
Version collation: Fascicle 98 of the Zongjing lu reads “不如言下自認取本法。此法即心。心外無法。此心即法。法外無心” (T48, 944a07–08); the appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “總不如言下自認取本法。此法即心心外無法。
此心即法法內無心” (T51, 271a13–15), with “法內” for “法外”. Neither has the character “便”. The section of the same passage “心自無心。亦無無心者。將心無心。心却成有。默契而已” is not within the quotations of the Zongjing lu (both quotations, in fascicles 24 and 98, stop at “心外無法” or “法外無心”), and is found only in the appended text in the Chuandeng lu and the current text; the appended text reads “心即成有” for “心却成有” (T51, 271a16).
Original excerpt: 及一念證時。秖證元來自佛。向上更不添得一物。When it comes to realization in a single thought-moment, one realizes only the buddha one originally was; beyond this not a single thing can be added.
Context passage: 縱使三秖精進修行歷諸地位。及一念證時。秖證元來自佛。向上更不添得一物。却觀歷劫功用。總是夢中妄為。
What the passage does: Even if one cultivates with vigour for three great incalculable kalpas and passes through all the stages, at the moment of realization in a single thought one only realizes the originally present buddha, “向上更不添得一物” (“beyond this not a single thing can be added”); looking back on the efforts of kalpas, they are all deluded actions in a dream. The Diamond Sūtra’s “我於阿耨菩提實無所得” (“I in truth obtained nothing in anuttara-bodhi”) is cited.
What it does not prove: “One realizes only the buddha one originally was” states explicitly that realization does not change what is realized, and is strong text in the ① direction: the ground does not increase through realization. But the event of “realization” itself is still retained as “the moment of realization in a single thought”, and is used as the line by which earlier efforts are judged “deluded actions in a dream”. The deletion test must treat this separately: delete realization, and what is realized does not decrease; delete realization, and whether the account of completion on the student’s side remains complete is another question.
Original excerpt: 此本源清淨心。常自圓明遍照。世人不悟。秖認見聞覺知為心。This original pure mind is always of itself perfectly bright and illuminates everywhere. People of the world do not awaken to it and recognize only seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing as the mind.
Context passage: 此本源清淨心。常自圓明遍照。世人不悟。秖認見聞覺知為心。為見聞覺知所覆。所以不覩精明本體。但直下無心。本體自現。
What the passage does: The original pure mind is equally present in sentient beings, buddhas, the world, mountains and rivers, and “常自圓明遍照” (“is always of itself perfectly bright and illuminates everywhere”). People of the world do not awaken; they take only seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing as the mind, are covered by seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, and therefore do not see “精明本體” (“the substance of pure brightness”); “但直下無心。本體自現” (“just be without mind right here, and the substance appears of itself”), like the sun rising into the sky and illuminating the ten directions.
What it does not prove: “Always of itself perfectly bright and illuminating everywhere” is a specification of the ground itself, not of the student’s cognition; “do not awaken”, “recognize … as the mind” and “do not see” lie on the student’s side. The latter group shows that obscuration comes from mistaken recognition, and completion too is conditioned on “no-mind right here”. The clear illumination of the ground cannot be equated directly with the function of “the ground must be correctly cognized”.
Original excerpt: 然本心不屬見聞覺知。亦不離見聞覺知。Yet the original mind does not belong to seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, nor is it apart from seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing.
Context passage: 但於見聞覺知處認本心。然本心不屬見聞覺知。亦不離見聞覺知。但莫於見聞覺知上起見解。
亦莫於見聞覺知上動念。亦莫離見聞覺知覓心。亦莫捨見聞覺知取法。不即不離。不住不著。縱橫自在無非道場。
What the passage does: Students of the Way recognize only the functioning of seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing; if seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing are emptied away, the road of mind is cut off and there is no way in. Therefore one should “於見聞覺知處認本心” (“recognize the original mind right where seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing are”), while the original mind “does not belong to seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, nor is it apart from seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing”: do not raise views upon them, do not move thoughts upon them, do not seek the mind apart from them, do not abandon them to take up the Dharma; “不即不離。不住不著。縱橫自在無非道場” (“neither identical nor separate, neither dwelling nor clinging, free in every direction, there is nowhere that is not the place of the Way”).
What it does not prove: This is Huangbo’s most precise passage on the place of cognition: seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing are neither the original mind nor outside it;
the two are related as neither identical nor separate. This comes close to what ① requires, “the place of cognition within a more basic structure”; but the same passage still takes “recognizing the original mind right where seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing are” as the way in, and the function of “recognizing” is retained. This passage is one of the key texts on the ①/② boundary, local C.
Original excerpt: 不如當下無心。決定知一切法。本無所有亦無所得。Better to be without mind right now, decisively knowing that all dharmas originally have nothing and that there is nothing to be obtained.
Context passage: 故學道人迷自本心不認為佛。遂向外求覓起功用行。依次第證。歷劫勤求永不成道。不如當下無心。決定知一切法。本無所有亦無所得。無依無住。無能無所。不動妄念便證菩提。及證道時秖證本心佛。
What the passage does: Students of the Way, deluded about their original mind and not recognizing it as the Buddha, seek outside, give rise to effortful practice and realize by stages, seeking diligently for kalpas and never accomplishing the Way; “不如當下無心。決定知一切法。
本無所有亦無所得” (“better to be without mind right now, decisively knowing that all dharmas originally have nothing and that there is nothing to be obtained”), without reliance, without abiding, without subject and object, “不動妄念便證菩提” (“not moving deluded thoughts, one realizes bodhi”); at the time of realizing the Way one only realizes the buddha of the original mind, like the strongman recovering the pearl that was always on his forehead.
What it does not prove: This sentence sets side by side three functions of completion: no-mind, decisive knowing and realization. “Decisively knowing that all dharmas originally have nothing” is an explicitly cognitive condition, whose content is having nothing and obtaining nothing. Completion is still bounded by “realization”; what is realized is originally present and does not increase (the strongman’s pearl). This card is one of the main texts for ②.
Original excerpt: 不可以智慧識。不可以言語取。不可以境物會。不可以功用到。It cannot be known by wisdom, cannot be grasped by words, cannot be met through objects, cannot be reached by effort.
Context passage: 此靈覺性無始已來與虛空同壽。未曾生未曾滅。……不可覓不可求。不可以智慧識。不可以言語取。不可以境物會。不可以功用到。
What the passage does: “此靈覺性” (“this numinous awareness-nature”) is as long-lived as empty space, neither arising nor ceasing, neither existent nor non-existent, neither defiled nor pure, without location, without inside or outside, without form; it cannot be searched for or sought, “不可以智慧識。不可以言語取。不可以境物會。不可以功用到” (“it cannot be known by wisdom, cannot be grasped by words, cannot be met through objects, cannot be reached by effort”). All buddhas and bodhisattvas and all sentient beings share this nature of great nirvāṇa: the nature is the mind, the mind is the Buddha, the Buddha is the Dharma.
What it does not prove: The ground is explicitly specified as not knowable by wisdom and not graspable by language; this is strong text in the ① direction: the ground does not have “being correctly cognized” as a condition of its holding.
But what it says is “it cannot be known by means of wisdom”; it does not say that the student’s awakening, no-mind and tacit accord no longer have a boundary; other passages of the same text still take “awakening”, “realization” and “sudden comprehension” as completion. ① cannot be inferred from it alone.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “不可以智識解。不可以言語取。不可以景物會。不可以功用到” (T51, 271c28–272a01), with “智識解” (“understood by wisdom and knowledge”) for “智慧識”, and “景物” for “境物”; “此靈覺性無始已來與虛空同壽” reads “無始以來與空虛同壽”. The structural direction of the two texts is the same.
Original excerpt: 故學道人直下無心默契而已。擬心即差。以心傳心此為正見。Therefore students of the Way are just without mind right here, in tacit accord and nothing more. To intend with the mind is already to miss. Transmitting mind by mind — this is right view.
Context passage: 一念離真皆為妄想。不可以心更求于心。不可以佛更求於佛。不可以法更求於法。故學道人直下無心默契而已。擬心即差。以心傳心此為正見。
What the passage does: A single thought departing from the true is all deluded thought; one cannot use the mind to seek the mind, use the Buddha to seek the Buddha, use the Dharma to seek the Dharma;
therefore students of the Way are just “直下無心默契而已。擬心即差。以心傳心此為正見” (“without mind right here, in tacit accord and nothing more; to intend with the mind is already to miss; transmitting mind by mind — this is right view”). Do not pursue objects outside and take objects for the mind; that is taking a thief for one’s son.
What it does not prove: “Tacit accord” and “right view” are words of completion, but tacit accord is also “not through thought and deliberation”. It can be a function of direct seeing / correct entering-into-accord, or the non-operative state left by the withdrawal of objectifying cognition. The original does not declare that “no-mind is another cognitive act”; this archive keeps the overall interpretation of this card at local C, and default category rules cannot replace philosophical argument.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “故修道人直下無心默契。擬心即差” (T51, 272a04–05), with “修道人” (“cultivators of the Way”) for “學道人”, and without “而已”.
Original excerpt: 所言定慧。鑑用歷歷。寂寂惺惺見聞覺知。皆是境上作解。暫為中下根人說即得。
What is called concentration and wisdom, the clear and distinct functioning of mirroring, stillness and alertness, seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing — all are interpretations made upon objects. To speak them for the moment to people of middling and lesser capacity is acceptable.
Context passage: 所謂心地法門。萬法皆依此心建立。遇境即有無境即無。不可於淨性上轉作境解。所言定慧。鑑用歷歷。寂寂惺惺見聞覺知。皆是境上作解。暫為中下根人說即得。若欲親證皆不可作如此見解。
What the passage does: The myriad dharmas are established upon this mind; when there are objects they exist, when there are no objects they do not; one must not turn the pure nature into an interpretation of objects. The listing of concentration and wisdom, the clear functioning of mirroring, “寂寂惺惺” (“stillness and alertness”) and seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing criticizes placing these experiences or teachings as “interpretations made upon objects”, which can only be spoken for the moment to people of middling and lesser capacity;
“若欲親證” (“if you wish to realize it personally”) explicitly retains the orientation toward personal realization.
What it does not prove: It cannot be inferred from this passage that concentration and wisdom, alert stillness, seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, or everyday perception themselves are abolished wholesale. What is dismantled is setting up these items upon the pure nature as graspable “objects” and “making interpretations” on that basis; “if you wish to realize it personally” retains the language of personal realization. The difference from No.06 must be limited to how the terms are objectified; it cannot be claimed in general that Huangbo abolishes contemplation more completely than Yongjia.
Original excerpt: 唯直下頓了自心。本來是佛。無一法可得。無一行可修。此是無上道。此是真如佛。Only by suddenly and fully comprehending right here one’s own mind — originally the Buddha, with not a single dharma to obtain and not a single practice to cultivate — is this the unsurpassed Way, this the Buddha of suchness.
Context passage: 唯直下頓了自心。本來是佛。無一法可得。無一行可修。此是無上道。此是真如佛。學道人。秖怕一念有。即與道隔矣。
What the passage does: Śrāvakas awaken through the voice of teaching; not comprehending their own mind, they raise understanding from the teachings, rely on supernormal powers and auspicious signs, and believe that the Buddha Way is accomplished by cultivation over three incalculable kalpas — all of this belongs to the śrāvaka path; “唯直下頓了自心。本來是佛。無一法可得。無一行可修。此是無上道。此是真如佛” (“only by suddenly and fully comprehending right here one’s own mind — originally the Buddha, with not a single dharma to obtain and not a single practice to cultivate — is this the unsurpassed Way, this the Buddha of suchness”). Students of the Way should fear only a single thought of existence, which separates them from the Way.
What it does not prove: What is comprehended is “originally the Buddha”, “not a single dharma to obtain”, “not a single practice to cultivate”, that is, nothing to obtain and nothing to cultivate; but “suddenly and fully comprehending one’s own mind”, as the backbone of the sentence, defines what the unsurpassed Way is. This has the same structure as E-12: completion is defined by awakening and comprehension.
Original excerpt: 但能如是。直下頓了。不為三世所拘繫。便是出世人也。If only you can be like this, with sudden full comprehension right here, you are not bound by the three times, and are a person beyond the world.
Context passage: 凡人臨欲終時。但觀五蘊皆空四大無我。
真心無相不去不來。生時性亦不來。死時性亦不去。湛然圓寂心境一如。但能如是。直下頓了。不為三世所拘繫。便是出世人也。
What the passage does: When ordinary people are about to die, they need only contemplate the five aggregates as empty and the four elements as without self; the true mind is without marks, neither going nor coming; at birth the nature does not come, at death the nature does not go; profoundly still and perfectly quiescent, mind and objects are one; “但能如是。直下頓了。不為三世所拘繫。便是出世人也” (“if only you can be like this, with sudden full comprehension right here, you are not bound by the three times, and are a person beyond the world”). When good signs or evil signs appear, have no mind to follow them, no mind to fear them; just forget the mind yourself, be the same as the dharma realm, and you attain freedom.
What it does not prove: “生時性亦不來。死時性亦不去” (“at birth the nature too does not come; at death the nature too does not go”) shows that the ground does not follow birth and death;
the consequence of going beyond the world, “not bound by the three times”, is conditioned on “sudden full comprehension right here”. The condition and consequence are statements about freedom and bondage, not merely an exhortation to “please go and look”.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “但能如此直下頓了。不為三世所拘繫。便出世人也” (T51, 272b09–10).
Original excerpt: 唯一真實。不可證得。謂我能證能得。皆增上慢人。Only the one reality cannot be realized or attained. Those who say “I can realize, I can attain” are all people of overweening pride.
Context passage: 學般若人不見有一法可得。絕意三乘。唯一真實。不可證得。謂我能證能得。皆增上慢人。
What the passage does: Students of prajñā see not a single dharma to be obtained and have no intention toward the three vehicles; “唯一真實。不可證得。謂我能證能得。皆增上慢人” (“only the one reality cannot be realized or attained; those who say ‘I can realize, I can attain’ are all people of overweening pride”); those who shook out their robes and left the assembly of the Lotus Sūtra were all of this kind;
therefore the Buddha said “我於菩提實無所得” (“I in truth obtained nothing in bodhi”) — it is only tacit accord.
What it does not prove: This passage explicitly denies the position of “one who realizes”: whoever claims “I can realize, I can attain” is overweeningly proud. This is a direct dismantling of the ②-type “cognizing subject completing the ground”, strong text in the ① direction. But what it denies is clinging to “I can realize”; the same text still takes “tacit accord” as the point of correspondence; whether the boundary of “tacit accord” can be deleted is not answered by this passage.
Original excerpt: 然心即無心。得即無得。Yet mind is no-mind, and attaining is no attaining.
Context passage: 故以心印心。心心不異。能印所印俱難契會。故得者少。然心即無心。得即無得。
What the passage does: Since the Tathāgata entrusted the Dharma to Kāśyapa, mind has sealed mind, and mind and mind do not differ; a seal stamped on emptiness forms no pattern, a seal stamped on things forms no dharma; both the sealer and the sealed are hard to accord with, so those who attain are few. “然心即無心。得即無得” (“yet mind is no-mind, and attaining is no attaining”).
What it does not prove: “Attaining is no attaining” and “those who attain are few” coexist: on one hand there is nothing that can be attained, on the other few truly accord. The former dismantles the relation of acquisition; the latter retains the boundary between according and not according.
Original excerpt: 學道人皆知此。但不能免作一精明六和合解。遂被法縛不契本心。All students of the Way know this, but they cannot avoid making an interpretation of a single pure brightness and six harmonized combinations, and so they are bound by the Dharma and do not accord with the original mind.
Context passage: 所言同是一精明分為六和合。一精明者。一心也。六和合者。六根也。……若了十八界無所有。束六和合為一精明。一精明者。即心也。學道人皆知此。但不能免作一精明六和合解。遂被法縛不契本心。
What the passage does: Huangbo explains “一精明分為六和合” (“a single pure brightness divided into six harmonized combinations”): the single pure brightness is the One Mind, the six harmonized combinations are the six faculties; each of the six faculties combines with its object and gives rise to the six consciousnesses, making the eighteen realms;
comprehending that the eighteen realms have nothing, one gathers the six harmonized combinations into a single pure brightness. Immediately he says: students of the Way all know this, but cannot avoid making “an interpretation of a single pure brightness and six harmonized combinations”, and so are bound by the Dharma and do not accord with the original mind.
What it does not prove: This formula later appears in his disciple Linji (No.07 E-13). In stating the formula, Huangbo at once judges the understanding of the formula itself to be bondage: knowing “a single pure brightness” is not according with the original mind. This weakens the reading that “correctly knowing the ground is completion”, but still retains the boundary between “according with the original mind” and “being bound by the Dharma”.
Original excerpt: 學道人多於教法上悟。不於心法上悟。雖歷劫修行。終不是本佛。Students of the Way mostly awaken at the teachings and do not awaken at the mind-dharma; though they cultivate for kalpas, in the end it is not the original buddha.
Context passage: 學道人多於教法上悟。不於心法上悟。雖歷劫修行。終不是本佛。若不於心悟。乃至於教法上悟。即輕心重教。遂成逐塊忘於本心。故但契本心不用求法。心即法也。
What the passage does: Awakening through the voice of teaching is a śrāvaka, awakening by contemplating causes and conditions is a pratyekabuddha; not awakening within one’s own mind, even if one becomes a buddha it is only a śrāvaka-buddha. Students of the Way mostly awaken at the teachings and not at the mind-dharma; though they cultivate for kalpas, in the end it is not the original buddha; therefore just accord with the original mind and do not seek the Dharma — the mind is the Dharma.
What it does not prove: This sentence distinguishes “awakening at the teachings” from “awakening at the mind-dharma”, and takes the latter as the condition of “the original buddha”. It does not deny awakening, but specifies where awakening takes place.
Version collation: The appended text in the Chuandeng lu reads “學道人於法上悟不於心上悟。雖歷劫修行。終不是本佛” (T51, 272b25–26).
Original excerpt: 我暫如此說。爾便向者裏生解。I say it this way for the moment, and you immediately make an interpretation of it.
Context passage: 云此法可得便同虛空否。師云。虛空早晚向爾道有同有異。我暫如此說。爾便向者裏生解。云應是不與人生解耶。師云。我不曾障爾。要且解屬於情。情生則智隔。
What the passage does: A student asks whether this Dharma is the same as empty space; Huangbo answers: when did empty space ever tell you that there is sameness or difference? “我暫如此說。爾便向者裏生解” (“I say it this way for the moment, and you immediately make an interpretation of it”). The student asks again: then is one not allowed to make interpretations? Answer: I have never obstructed you; it is only that “解屬於情。情生則智隔” (“interpretation belongs to feeling; when feeling arises, wisdom is cut off”).
What it does not prove: Huangbo treats his own teaching self-reflexively: the teaching is provisional, and once it is taken as content that can be understood and grasped, it becomes “feeling”. This is self-reflexivity (not clinging to one’s own teaching), not an account of the teaching’s place within the whole (self-inclusion).
Original excerpt: 設汝見得。只是個照境底心。如人以鏡照面。縱然得見眉目分明。元來秖是影像。何關汝事。Even if you see it, it is just a mind that illumines objects. It is like a person looking at his face in a mirror: though he sees his eyebrows and eyes clearly, they are originally only a reflection — what has that to do with you?
Context passage: 問秖如目前虛空。可不是境。豈無指境見心乎。師云。甚麼心教汝向境上見。設汝見得。只是個照境底心。如人以鏡照面。縱然得見眉目分明。元來秖是影像。何關汝事。
What the passage does: A student asks: is not the empty space before our eyes an object? Can one not point to an object and see the mind? Huangbo answers: what mind tells you to see it in an object? Even if you see it, it is only a mind that illumines objects, like a person looking at his face in a mirror: eyebrows and eyes clear, yet originally only a reflection — what has it to do with you? The student asks: if not by illumination, when will one see it? Answer: if it involves causes and conditions, one must always rely on external things — when would it ever be finished?
What it does not prove: This passage directly dismantles the cognitive mode of “seeing the mind”: the mind that is illumined and seen is only a reflection. It supports “the ground does not hold by being seen”. But what it dismantles is objectifying seeing;
it does not show that the student’s “being finished” no longer has a boundary; the end of the dialogue still makes “when it is finished” the question.
Version collation: Fascicle 5 of the Zongjing lu reads “設爾得見。元來秖是照境心。如人以鏡照面。縱得眉目分明。元來秖是影像。何關汝事” (T48, 444b25–26), with the dialogue complete from beginning to end; it is one of the few passages of the current question-and-answer part with a witness from 961.
Original excerpt: 百種多知。不如無求。最第一也。道人是無事人。A hundred kinds of much knowing are not as good as not seeking — that is foremost. The person of the Way is a person with nothing to do.
Context passage: 上堂云百種多知。不如無求。最第一也。道人是無事人。實無許多般心。亦無道理可說。
What the passage does: Ascending the hall he said: a hundred kinds of much knowing are not as good as not seeking, which is foremost; the person of the Way is a person with nothing to do; truly there are not so many kinds of mind, nor any principle to be spoken.
What it does not prove: “A person with nothing to do” and “not seeking” describe the form of completion and do not put forward a cognitive condition. The Zongjing lu quotes only as far as “不如無求最第一道人”;
the complete form of the sentence “道人是無事人” is first seen in the Gu zunsu yulu.
Version collation: Fascicle 5 of the Zongjing lu reads “百種多知。不如無求最第一道人” (T48, 444c01–02).
Original excerpt: 如來所說皆為化人。如將黃葉為金止小兒啼。決定不實。
All that the Tathāgata says is to transform people, like taking yellow leaves for gold to stop a small child crying — decidedly not real.
Context passage: 故云。如來所說皆為化人。如將黃葉為金止小兒啼。決定不實。若有實得。非我宗門下客。
What the passage does: All that the Tathāgata says is for transforming people, like taking yellow leaves for gold to stop a small child crying, decidedly not real; if there were something really obtained, one would not be a guest of our school; therefore the sūtra says “實無少法可得,名為阿耨菩提” (“in truth there is not the slightest dharma to be obtained; this is called anuttara-bodhi”).
What it does not prove: This passage judges all teaching (including the teaching of this school) to be expedient; it is strong text for self-reflexivity, and does not deal with the place of the speaker within the whole.
Original excerpt: 不得一法名為傳心。若了此心。即是無心無法。Not obtaining a single dharma is called transmitting mind. If you comprehend this mind, it is just no-mind and no-dharma.
Context passage: 云若心相傳。云何言心亦無。師云。不得一法名為傳心。若了此心。即是無心無法。……所以祖師云。認得心性時。可說不思議了了無所得。得時不說知。
What the passage does: A student asks: since mind is transmitted by mind, why also say that mind too is nothing? Answer: “不得一法。名為傳心。若了此心。即是無心無法” (“not obtaining a single dharma is called transmitting mind; if you comprehend this mind, it is just no-mind and no-dharma”). He also cites the patriarch’s verse: “認得心性時。可說不思議。了了無所得。得時不說知” (“when you recognize the mind-nature, it can be called inconceivable; clearly, nothing is obtained; when one obtains, one does not speak of knowing”).
What it does not prove: “When one obtains, one does not speak of knowing” explicitly separates “obtaining” from “knowing”: the moment of according with the mind-nature is not described as “knowing”. This is an important text in the ① direction, weakening the reading “completion is correct cognition”.
But the verse still has “when you recognize the mind-nature” and “clearly”; completion is not cancelled, only not described as cognition.
Original excerpt: 祖師西來直指一切人全體是佛。汝今不識。執凡執聖向外馳騁。還自迷心。所以向汝道。即心是佛。
The patriarch came from the West and pointed directly to all people as wholly the Buddha. You now do not recognize it; clinging to the ordinary and clinging to the sage, you gallop about outside and on the contrary delude your own mind. Therefore I tell you: mind itself is the Buddha.
Context passage: 汝但除却凡情聖境。心外更無別佛。祖師西來直指一切人全體是佛。汝今不識。執凡執聖向外馳騁。還自迷心。所以向汝道。即心是佛。一念情生即墮異趣。
What the passage does: The minds of ordinary and sage are both deluded; remove ordinary feelings and sagely objects, and outside the mind there is no other Buddha; the patriarch came from the West and pointed directly to all people as wholly the Buddha; you now do not recognize it, cling to the ordinary and the sage, gallop about outside, and on the contrary delude your own mind; therefore it is said that mind itself is the Buddha, and as soon as a single thought of feeling arises one falls into another destiny.
What it does not prove: “Wholly the Buddha” does not wait for recognition; “汝今不識……還自迷心” (“you now do not recognize it … and delude your own mind”) retains on the student’s side the boundary between recognizing and not recognizing. Same structure as E-11.
Original excerpt: 問如何是佛。師云。即心是佛。無心是道。Asked: “What is the Buddha?” The Master said: “Mind itself is the Buddha; no-mind is the Way.”
Context passage: 問如何是佛。師云。即心是佛。無心是道。但無生心動念有無長短彼我能所等心。心本是佛。佛本是心。心如虛空。所以云。佛真法身猶若虛空。不用別求。有求皆苦。
What the passage does: Asked what the Buddha is, he answered: mind itself is the Buddha, no-mind is the Way; just do not give rise to minds of existence and non-existence, long and short, self and other, subject and object; the mind is originally the Buddha, the Buddha is originally the mind, and the mind is like empty space.
What it does not prove: “Mind itself is the Buddha” is a specification of the ground; “no-mind is the Way” is a specification of the Way: the former holds without waiting for no-mind, the latter lies on the student’s side. Setting the two side by side is exactly the two-layer structure spoken of in this archive.
Original excerpt: 佛與眾生盡是汝作妄見。只為不識本心。謾作見解。Buddhas and sentient beings are all deluded views that you make; only because you do not recognize the original mind do you make views at random.
Context passage: 佛與眾生盡是汝作妄見。只為不識本心。謾作見解。纔作佛見便被佛障。作眾生見被眾生障。作凡作聖作淨作穢等見。盡成其障。障汝心故總成輪轉。
What the passage does: Buddhas and sentient beings are both your deluded views, made at random only because you do not recognize the original mind; as soon as you make a view of the Buddha you are obstructed by the Buddha, make a view of sentient beings and you are obstructed by sentient beings; views of ordinary and sage, pure and defiled all become obstructions; “障汝心故總成輪轉” (“because they obstruct your mind, all becomes revolving”), like a monkey letting go of one thing and grabbing another, never resting.
What it does not prove: The cause of revolving is attributed to views arising from “not recognizing the original mind”. This is a relation of consequence, “recognizing or not — freedom or revolving”, in the same direction as E-14 and E-25;
but it is first seen in a later complete witness, serves only as supplementary material in the same direction, and is not added to T1 in counting.
Original excerpt: 汝今覺妄起時。覺正是佛。可中若無妄念佛亦無。When you are now aware of deluded thought arising, that awareness is precisely the Buddha. If there were no deluded thought, there would be no Buddha either.
Context passage: 云今正妄念起時。佛在何處。師云。汝今覺妄起時。覺正是佛。可中若無妄念佛亦無。何故如此。為汝起心作佛見。便謂有佛可成。
What the passage does: A student asks: right when deluded thought arises, where is the Buddha? Answer: “汝今覺妄起時。覺正是佛。可中若無妄念佛亦無” (“when you are now aware of deluded thought arising, that awareness is precisely the Buddha; if there were no deluded thought, there would be no Buddha either”); it is because you give rise to mind and make a view of the Buddha that you think there is a Buddha to be attained, and make a view of sentient beings that you think there are sentient beings to be saved.
What it does not prove: “That awareness is precisely the Buddha” places awareness itself directly within the Buddha (the One Mind), rather than outside the One Mind to cognize the One Mind; this is one of the texts in this archive closest to ①’s “cognition placed within a more basic structure”.
But the same passage goes on to dismantle “the view of the Buddha”, and later still takes “recognizing the mind” as the way out of delusion (E-37, E-41). This sentence is genuine positive evidence in the ① direction, local C; and its complete witness is first seen in 1267, so its textual level is lower than that of the T1 conditional sentences of completion.
Original excerpt: 語默動靜一切聲色。盡是佛事。何處覓佛。Speech and silence, movement and stillness, all sounds and forms are entirely the Buddha’s work. Where would you look for the Buddha?
Context passage: 云今正悟時。佛在何處。師云。問從何來。覺從何起。語默動靜一切聲色。盡是佛事。何處覓佛。不可更頭上安頭嘴上加嘴。但莫生異見。山是山水是水。僧是僧俗是俗。山河大地日月星辰。總不出汝心。三千世界都來是汝箇自己。
What the passage does: A student asks: at the very moment of awakening, where is the Buddha? Answer: where does the question come from, where does awareness arise from? “語默動靜一切聲色。盡是佛事” (“speech and silence, movement and stillness, all sounds and forms are entirely the Buddha’s work”); where would you look for another Buddha? Do not put a head on top of your head. Mountains are mountains, waters are waters; “山河大地日月星辰。總不出汝心。
三千世界都來是汝箇自己” (“mountains, rivers, the great earth, sun, moon and stars never go outside your mind; the trichiliocosm is altogether your own self”).
What it does not prove: This passage places speech and silence, movement and stillness (including speech itself), all sounds and forms, mountains, rivers and the great earth within the One Mind, and is a positive candidate for self-inclusion. But what it explains is where all that exists and speech belong, not that the student’s boundary between delusion and awakening is no longer valid; the same text still says “不識本心……總成輪轉” (“not recognizing the original mind … all becomes revolving”; E-37).
Original excerpt: 終日說何曾說。終日聞何曾聞。Speaking all day, when has one spoken? Hearing all day, when has one heard?
Context passage: 法不孤起仗境方生。為物之故有其多智。終日說何曾說。終日聞何曾聞。所以釋迦四十九年說。未甞說著一字。
What the passage does: A dharma does not arise alone; it arises relying on objects; for the sake of beings there are many kinds of wisdom; speaking all day, when has one spoken; hearing all day, when has one heard; Śākyamuni taught for forty-nine years and never spoke a single word.
What it does not prove: Speaking and hearing take place without leaving behind an entity of a “speaker” or “hearer”;
this comes close to a positive account of the place of speech within the whole (self-inclusion); but the passage is at the same time self-reflexive toward teaching, and the two must be evaluated separately.
Original excerpt: 即如今言語者正是汝心。The one speaking right now is precisely your mind.
Context passage: 云何識自心。即如今言語者正是汝心。若不言語又不作用心體。如虛空相似。無有相貌亦無方所。亦不一向是無有而不可見。
What the passage does: Ascending the hall: mind itself is the Buddha; from the buddhas above to the wriggling creatures below, all share one mind-substance; Bodhidharma transmitted only the dharma of the One Mind, pointing directly to sentient beings as originally Buddha, without relying on cultivation; just recognize your own mind and see your own nature. How does one recognize one’s own mind? “即如今言語者正是汝心” (“the one speaking right now is precisely your mind”); when not speaking and not functioning, the substance of mind is like empty space, without appearance and without location, yet not simply nothing: it exists but cannot be seen.
What it does not prove: “The one speaking right now” is the mind: the activity of speaking is placed directly within the mind-substance. This is strong positive material for self-inclusion, and has a witness from 961. But the way in of the same passage is still “但如今識取自心。
見自本性” (“just recognize your own mind right now and see your own nature”), and recognizing is retained as a pointer. Speech being placed within the mind, and whether “recognizing” can be deleted, are two questions.
Version collation: Fascicle 98 of the Zongjing lu reads “黃蘗和尚云。達磨西來。唯傳一心法。直下指一切眾生心。本來是佛。不假修行。但今識取自心。見自本性。莫別求法。云何識自心。即如今言語者是汝心。若不言語又不作用。心體猶如虛空相似。實無相貌。亦無方所。亦不一向是無。只是有而不見” (T48, 943c29–944a05). “識取自心。見自本性” (“recognize your own mind, see your own nature”) is already found in 961.
Original excerpt: 不起一切心。諸緣盡不生。即此身心是自由人。Give rise to no mind at all, and none of the conditions arise: this very body and mind is a free person.
Context passage: 不作人天業。不作地獄業。不起一切心。諸緣盡不生。即此身心是自由人。……忽若未會無心。著相而作者。皆屬魔業。……被因果管束。去住無自由分。
What the passage does: Just learn no-mind at all times, without discrimination, without reliance, without abiding or clinging; “透得三界境過名為佛出世” (“passing through the objects of the three realms is called a buddha appearing in the world”);
not making the karma of humans and gods or of the hells, “不起一切心。諸緣盡不生。即此身心是自由人” (“give rise to no mind at all, and none of the conditions arise: this very body and mind is a free person”). Conversely, “未會無心。著相而作者。皆屬魔業” (“those who have not understood no-mind and act clinging to forms all belong to the work of Māra”), and even performing Pure Land buddha-works becomes karma, “被因果管束。去住無自由分” (“bound by cause and effect, with no share of freedom in going or staying”).
What it does not prove: Freedom and unfreedom are divided by whether one has understood no-mind. This runs in the same direction as T1’s E-14, and expresses the consequence more explicitly as “a free person / no share of freedom in going or staying”; but its complete witness is later, and it serves only as a supplement.
Original excerpt: 此性縱汝迷時亦不失。悟時亦不得。天真自性本無迷悟。This nature is not lost even when you are deluded, and not gained when you awaken. The heaven-true self-nature originally has neither delusion nor awakening.
Context passage: 此性縱汝迷時亦不失。悟時亦不得。天真自性本無迷悟。盡十方虛空界元來是我一心體。
What the passage does: If there were something really obtained, it would have nothing at all to do with the Chan Way; therefore Bodhidharma faced the wall and let no one have a place of seeing; “此性縱汝迷時亦不失。悟時亦不得。天真自性本無迷悟” (“this nature is not lost even when you are deluded, and not gained when you awaken; the heaven-true self-nature originally has neither delusion nor awakening”); the whole empty space of the ten directions is originally the substance of my One Mind; however you move, act and contrive, you never leave empty space.
What it does not prove: This is the most direct text that the ground does not wait for recognition: not lost in delusion, not gained in awakening, the self-nature originally without delusion or awakening. It proves that the layer of the ground is not conditioned on awakening, and is substantive positive evidence in the ① direction. But “originally without delusion or awakening” speaks of the self-nature, not of the student’s situation; the same text still distinguishes “a free person” from “no share of freedom in going or staying” (E-42). The deletion test at the layer of the ground passes;
the layer of completion must still be judged separately.
Original excerpt: 真佛無口不解說法。真聽無耳其誰聞乎。The true Buddha has no mouth and does not know how to expound the Dharma; true hearing has no ears — who then hears?
Context passage: 一道清流是自性。無生法忍何有擬議。真佛無口不解說法。真聽無耳其誰聞乎。珍重。
What the passage does: The conclusion of a hall sermon in the Wanling lu: originally pure, without square or round, large or small, without delusion or awakening, clearly seeing that there is not a single thing, no person and no Buddha; “真佛無口不解說法。真聽無耳其誰聞乎” (“the true Buddha has no mouth and does not know how to expound the Dharma; true hearing has no ears — who then hears?”).
What it does not prove: Expounding and hearing the Dharma are both dismantled at “the true Buddha” and “true hearing”: it is not that there is a speaker facing a hearer. It runs in the same direction as E-40; the “seeing” in “了了見無一物” (“clearly seeing that there is not a single thing”) in the same passage remains.
Original excerpt: 性即是見,見即是性,不可以性更見性;聞即是性,不可以性更聞性。The nature is seeing, and seeing is the nature; one cannot use the nature to see the nature again. Hearing is the nature; one cannot use the nature to hear the nature again.
Context passage: 問:如何是見性?師云:性即是見,見即是性,不可以性更見性;聞即是性,不可以性更聞性。秖儞作性見,能聞能見性,便有一異法生。
What the passage does: Asked: what is seeing the nature? Answer: “性即是見。見即是性。不可以性更見性;聞即是性。不可以性更聞性” (“the nature is seeing, and seeing is the nature; one cannot use the nature to see the nature again; hearing is the nature; one cannot use the nature to hear the nature again”); as soon as you make a “view of the nature”, with a nature that can hear and see, a dharma of oneness and difference arises. It then says: the dharma-nature has no coming or going, no seer and seen; sentient beings do not see the Buddha, the Buddha does not see sentient beings.
What it does not prove: Here “seeing” is directly identified with the nature, and the structure of using the nature to see the nature is denied; this is a positive specification of “cognition within the ground”, strong text in the ① direction. But it comes from another chain of transmission (1036), and another dialogue in the same group still says “若不如是,不免輪迴” (“if it is not like this, one cannot escape revolving”; X78, 665b05–06). It serves only as a supplement, local C.
Early witnesses: Also found in fascicles 2–3 of the Gu zunsu yulu (1267, X68, 194b13–14).
Original excerpt: 既若如是,十方虗空世界不出我之一心,一切微塵國土不出我之一念。
Since it is so, the empty-space worlds of the ten directions do not go outside my One Mind, and all lands as numerous as dust motes do not go outside my one thought.
Context passage: 所以一切色是佛色,一切聲是佛聲……既若如是,十方虗空世界不出我之一心,一切微塵國土不出我之一念。
What the passage does: “一切色是佛色,一切聲是佛聲” (“all forms are the Buddha’s forms, all sounds are the Buddha’s sounds”); seeing one thing is seeing all things, seeing one mind is seeing all minds; all dharmas are originally empty, yet the mind is not nothing, and not-nothing is wondrous existence; “十方虗空世界不出我之一心,一切微塵國土不出我之一念” (“the empty-space worlds of the ten directions do not go outside my One Mind, and all lands as numerous as dust motes do not go outside my one thought”); therefore sentient beings are the Buddha, the Buddha is sentient beings; birth and death and nirvāṇa, the conditioned and the unconditioned, mountains, rivers and the great earth are originally one substance.
What it does not prove: This passage positively explains the relation between the differences of all that exists and the One Mind, and is material for “an actual determination of the differences of the world” as v1.3 requires. It supports understanding the One Mind as a whole that encompasses all that exists; but whether “my One Mind” and “my one thought” in it still take a cognitive “mind” as the load-bearing element remains a question of interpretation.
Early witnesses: In the same group of sermons, the passage “擬著一法印子早成也。印著有即六道四生文出。印著空即無相文現” (“if you so much as intend a single dharma, the seal is already made; stamped on existence, the pattern of the six destinies and four births comes out; stamped on emptiness, the pattern of the markless appears”) is already quoted in fascicle 11 of the Zongjing lu (T48, 477a14–16), showing that this group of material had a source earlier than 1036; no witness from 961 was detected for this card’s excerpt itself. Also found in the Gu zunsu yulu (X68, 193a01–03).
Original excerpt: 若便恁麼會得猶較些子。若也形於紙墨何有吾宗。If you can understand it just like this, you are somewhat close. If it takes shape in paper and ink, what becomes of our school?
Context passage: 又請師至郡以所解一編示師。師接置於坐略不拔閱。良久云。會麼。公云。未測。師云。若便恁麼會得猶較些子。若也形於紙墨何有吾宗。
What the passage does: Huangbo chapter in fascicle 9 of the Jingde chuandeng lu: Pei Xiu invited the Master to the prefecture and presented him with a volume of his own understanding; Huangbo took it and put it on his seat without so much as opening it, and after a long while asked: do you understand? Pei Xiu said he could not fathom it. Huangbo said: “若便恁麼會得猶較些子。若也形於紙墨何有吾宗” (“if you can understand it just like this, you are somewhat close; if it takes shape in paper and ink, what becomes of our school?”).
What it does not prove: This encounter story appears in the later Jingde chuandeng lu, with Pei Xiu as a character in it; it cannot be said that the story “comes from Pei Xiu’s own record”. It can point to Chan self-reflexivity toward expression in paper and ink, but as evidence of Huangbo’s own self-negation of the Chuanxin fayao it remains limited by the nature of T3 transmission narrative.
Early witnesses: Also found in fascicle 8 of the Tiansheng guangdeng lu (X78, 659b11–13), reading “與麼不會,猶較些子。若形紙墨,何有吾宗”.
| Term | At least the layers that must be distinguished | Judgment that must not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| The One Mind / the original pure mind | Buddhas and sentient beings are only the One Mind (E-09) / always of itself perfectly bright and illuminating everywhere (E-18) / the myriad dharmas are established on it (E-46) | The One Mind is a specification at the layer of the ground, not the student’s cognition; “perfectly bright and illuminating everywhere” (圓明遍照) does not mean “must be correctly cognized” |
| No-mind | Without any mind at all, without subject and object (E-13) / if only you can be without mind, that is the ultimate (E-14) / the mind of itself is without mind, nor is there one who is without mind (E-16) | First prove the conditional relation “no-mind — liberation”, then ask independently whether “no-mind” is a cognitive function, a state, or the withdrawal of cognitive operation; ② (B) cannot be inferred directly from the conditional sentences. |
| Term | At least the layers that must be distinguished | Judgment that must not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| Tacit accord / accord | Just no-mind right here, only tacit accord (E-22) / the sealer and the sealed are both hard to accord with (E-27) | Tacit accord is not through thought and deliberation; whether it belongs to cognitive functions is the most delicate question of this archive, retained at local C |
| Awakening / realization / sudden full comprehension / recognizing | Just awaken to the One Mind (E-12) / at the moment of realization in a single thought (E-17) / sudden full comprehension right here (E-24) / at these words recognize the original Dharma (E-16) | The presence of the vocabulary of awakening / realization / recognizing does not mean that in all contexts they are one and the same independent cognitive operation; their relation to no-mind must be tested across passages, and overall it is currently C. |
| Term | At least the layers that must be distinguished | Judgment that must not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| Seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing | Neither belonging nor apart (E-19) / taking seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing as the mind, one is covered (E-18) / interpretations made upon objects (E-23) | Huangbo does not delete seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, but dismantles taking them as the mind and raising views upon them; it cannot be said on this basis that cognition is outside the ground |
| The numinous awareness-nature | As long-lived as empty space, neither arising nor ceasing (E-21) | “Cannot be known by wisdom” shows that the ground does not have being cognized as the condition of its holding; the 1004 text reads “不可以智識解” |
| A single pure brightness and six harmonized combinations | The single pure brightness is the One Mind, the six harmonized combinations are the six faculties (E-28) | “Cannot be known by wisdom” shows that the ground does not have being cognized as the condition of its holding; the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Chuandeng lu reads “不可以智識解” |
| Term | At least the layers that must be distinguished | Judgment that must not be overstepped |
|---|---|---|
| Transmitting mind by mind | Not obtaining a single dharma is called transmitting mind (E-34) / sealing mind with mind, mind and mind do not differ (E-27) | What is transmitted is not a dharma; “when one obtains, one does not speak of knowing” |
| Mind itself is the Buddha / no-mind is the Way | The former specifies the ground, the latter specifies the Way (E-36) | The two sentences cannot be interchanged: the ground does not wait for no-mind; the Way lies in no-mind |
Huangbo places the ground within the One Mind.
The text has three groups of direct statements:
Huangbo’s ground is therefore neither an object that is cognized nor a cognizer, but the One Mind that is “neither identical with nor separate from” seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing (E-19). E-09, E-17, E-21 and E-43 support the ground as originally endowed and not waiting for recognition; the inference to ② comes not from the layer of the ground but from the layer of completion: the whole text’s account of “delusion — awakening”, “bondage — going beyond the world”, “not accomplished in kalpas — attained in a single thought”.
The differences of all that exists: Huangbo says that the One Mind encompasses mountains, rivers and the great earth (E-39, E-46), and also that “法不孤起,仗境方生” (“a dharma does not arise alone; it arises relying on objects”; context of E-40), “萬法皆依此心建立。遇境即有。無境即無” (“the myriad dharmas are all established on this mind; when there are objects they exist, when there are no objects they do not”; context of E-23), and uses the image of quicksilver scattered into drops, each perfectly round, for the differences of sentient beings in the six destinies (T48, 386a04–10).
These are actual accounts of the relation between the differences of the world and the One Mind, not merely the declaration “everything is in the whole”; E-19 and E-41 already give direct positive specifications that cognition and speech are within the One Mind; whether the act of stating the whole system of thought itself is also completely included must still be judged separately for completeness in Part 9.
The deletion test first separates three independent propositions: P1|“no-mind” must be actively carried out by the student as a cognitive operation; P2|“awakening to the One Mind / sudden full comprehension right here / decisive knowing / awakening at the mind-dharma” bear in the text the completing function of correct entering-into-accord or penetration; P3|whether the function described in P2 is independent of the operation denied in P1, and still leaves an irremovable final difference once deleted. E-16 explicitly opposes “using the mind to make no-mind”, which suffices to refute a crude P1; E-12, E-20, E-24 and E-29 have positive wording for P2; P3 is not yet settled.
The earlier proposition “the One Mind is originally endowed and does not wait for recognition” remains as the first layer of the deletion test, rather than being mixed with these three propositions.
(1) The ground holds: the One Mind is originally present, “為眾生時此心不減。為諸佛時此心不添” (“when one is a sentient being this mind does not decrease; when one is a buddha this mind does not increase”; E-11); “秖證元來自佛。向上更不添得一物” (“one realizes only the buddha one originally was; beyond this not a single thing can be added”; E-17); “此性縱汝迷時亦不失。悟時亦不得” (“this nature is not lost even when you are deluded, and not gained when you awaken”; E-43, T2). Delete awakening and realization, and the One Mind does not decrease. The first layer of deletion passes; these are substantive positive proofs in the ① direction and must not be described as existing only after awakening. (A: stated explicitly in the text)
(2) Path and withdrawal: gradual cultivation and realization, seeking realization while clinging to forms, and making “interpretations upon objects” with concentration and wisdom and alert stillness are all criticized (E-11, E-16, E-23, E-24), but it cannot be said that seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing themselves are all abolished. E-16’s “心自無心,亦無無心者,將心無心,心却成有” (“the mind of itself is without mind, nor is there one who is without mind;
using the mind to make no-mind, the mind on the contrary becomes something”) excludes an executor who actively “makes the mind into no-mind”, so P1 cannot hold in the sense of “a deliberate operation”. This negation does not mean that the textual differences of “awakening, seeing, according, comprehending” are all withdrawn.
(3) The completion relation and common source: T1’s E-14 “但能無心,便是究竟/若不直下無心,累劫修行終不成道” (“if only you can be without mind, that is the ultimate / if one is not without mind right here, one cultivates for kalpas and never accomplishes the Way”) establishes the link between no-mind and the consequence of liberation; by itself it is not sufficient to determine whether the condition is a cognitive function, nor can it be judged as leaning to ① or ② merely from the two characters “no-mind”. E-12 “但悟一心” (“just awaken to the One Mind”), E-20 “決定知” (“decisively know”), E-24 “唯直下頓了自心” (“only by suddenly and fully comprehending one’s own mind right here”) and E-29 “於心法上悟” (“awaken at the mind-dharma”) give P2 the support of early sentences; E-25’s not being bound by the three times describes the consequence of completion. E-12, E-14, E-20, E-24, E-25 and E-29 all belong to the mutually connected meanings of a single system of Pei Xiu’s recollection, not six independent historical witnesses; T2’s E-37 and E-42 serve only as side evidence.
(4) Separated deletion test: first step, delete knowledge, propositional understanding and objectifying recognition — the One Mind is originally endowed, neither increasing nor decreasing, and still holds; the ① direction passes. Second step, delete further “awakening / sudden comprehension / decisive knowing” as an independent mediator, while still retaining “the mind of itself is without mind, nor is there one who is without mind” and the state of not contriving by discrimination: here the self-nature and the building-in of seeing, hearing and speech remain complete; whether the difference from the student’s deluded clinging to liberation can be fully explained without setting up an additional function of correct entering-into-accord — the T1 materials admit two reasonable readings, so the deletion cannot be declared to pass or to fail. Third step, if all differences of no-mind / clinging to forms and freedom / bondage are deleted, E-14 and other original texts lose their relation of consequence; but this proves only that the difference has a textual role, not automatically that what breaks is a cognitive mediator.
(5) Independence and semantic threshold: P1’s “doing no-mind” is opposed by E-16; P2’s “awakening, recognizing, decisive knowing, sudden comprehension” are supported by E-12, E-16, E-20, E-24 and E-29;
P3 requires proving that these verbs are not different teaching expressions of the same no-mind / cessation, but a finally non-deletable function of correct entering-into-accord. The opposing side can argue “awakening is no longer chasing / no-mind is the absence of any additional cognitive procedure”; the affirming side can argue “although there is no subject who realizes, the student still distinguishes delusion from liberation by according awakening”. Neither side may take the number of occurrences of words as structural proof.
(6) Documentary threshold: the load-bearing sentences of the completion layer, E-12, E-14, E-20, E-24, E-25 and E-29, come from one chain of Pei Xiu’s records; the excerpts of 961 (covering only E-12 and the first half of E-14) and the appended text in fascicle 9 of the Chuandeng lu prove relatively early circulation, but provide no sixfold independent corroboration. The extant appended text in fascicle 9 of the Chuandeng lu ends with a colophon of 1048 stating that eleven places were changed on the basis of the Sijia lu and another record (T51, 273a22–23), but the colophon does not list the places one by one: no usable collating base text sufficient to reconstruct the form before collation has so far been obtained. Whether it touches load-bearing wording is a risk awaiting checking;
it cannot be presumed untouched on the basis of the colophon, nor can it be claimed that the eleven places have overturned the main class. The non-standard grade “C-” may not be used.
Item-by-item counterfactuals for the strong proofs in the ① direction: E-17 “秖證元來自佛” (“one realizes only the buddha one originally was”): without realization, what is realized does not decrease; E-21 “不可以智慧識” (“it cannot be known by wisdom”): without awakening, the numinous awareness-nature still does not have being cognized as the condition of its holding; E-26 “謂我能證能得。皆增上慢人” (“those who say ‘I can realize, I can attain’ are all people of overweening pride”) always excludes a cognizing subject who completes the ground; E-43 “迷時亦不失。悟時亦不得” (“not lost in delusion, not gained in awakening”): without awakening, the self-nature is still not lost. None of the four is withdrawn because recognition is absent — this is the part in which the ① direction passes. Conversely, E-14, E-20 and E-25 themselves draw, by no-mind and sudden comprehension, the different consequences of liberation and bondage, so the relation of the student’s ultimate completion cannot yet be retained intact. Both sides belong to the original texts, and neither may be silenced in favour of the other.
What has been withdrawn or de-substantialized: the difference between buddhas and sentient beings (E-09, E-10); cultivation, realization, stages and effortful practice (E-11, E-12, E-15, E-24); views raised upon concentration and wisdom, mirroring, alert stillness, and seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing (E-23); the mind that illumines objects (E-31); one who can realize and attain (E-26); the understanding of “a single pure brightness and six harmonized combinations” (E-28); no-mind as a thing (E-16); “attaining” as acquisition (E-27, E-34); his own teaching and all teachings (E-30, E-33); the written record (E-47, T3).
The last load-bearing point: the textual relation of consequence between “no-mind / awakening / sudden comprehension” and liberation and bondage has been confirmed; it has also been confirmed that T1 explicitly denies taking “no-mind” as an executed operation, and positively includes seeing, hearing and speech. What is truly unresolved is P3: whether awakening / sudden comprehension / decisive knowing constitutes a non-deletable function of correct entering-into-accord independent of the withdrawal that no-mind is. The main class is recorded as ② “Direct Seeing of the Ground” (C), with the ①/② boundary substantively open.
Return: Huangbo’s return appears in “遇緣即施。緣息即寂” (“when conditions arise it functions; when conditions cease it is still”;
context of E-11), “縱橫自在無非道場” (“free in every direction, there is nowhere that is not the place of the Way”; E-19), “終日不離一切事。不被諸境惑。方名自在人” (“all day never apart from all affairs, yet not deluded by any objects — only this is called a free person”; T48, 384a14–15, question-and-answer part, T2), and in the encounters in which he receives people with the stick and the shout, and lets Pei Xiu see for himself (E-47). The return does not change the load-bearing point above. (A)
Self-reflexivity: it holds, and very thoroughly. Huangbo places his own teaching, all teachings and writing under the same principle: “我暫如此說。爾便向者裏生解” (“I say it this way for the moment, and you immediately make an interpretation of it”; E-30); “如來所說皆為化人。如將黃葉為金止小兒啼” (“all that the Tathāgata says is to transform people, like taking yellow leaves for gold to stop a small child crying”; E-33); “若也形於紙墨何有吾宗” (“if it takes shape in paper and ink, what becomes of our school?”; E-47, T3); “真佛無口不解說法。真聽無耳其誰聞乎” (“the true Buddha has no mouth and does not know how to expound the Dharma; true hearing has no ears — who then hears?”; E-44); even “no-mind” may not be clung to (E-16). (A)
Textual evidence of positive building-in: Huangbo not only negates his own teaching but also positively explains the place of speech, awareness, seeing and hearing within the One Mind: “即如今言語者正是汝心” (“the one speaking right now is precisely your mind”; E-41, already quoted in 961); “語默動靜一切聲色。盡是佛事” (“speech and silence, movement and stillness, all sounds and forms are entirely the Buddha’s work”; E-39); “汝今覺妄起時。覺正是佛” (“when you are now aware of deluded thought arising, that awareness is precisely the Buddha”; E-38); “終日說何曾說。終日聞何曾聞” (“speaking all day, when has one spoken? hearing all day, when has one heard?”; E-40); “性即是見。見即是性。不可以性更見性” (“the nature is seeing, seeing is the nature; one cannot use the nature to see the nature again”; E-45); the original mind “不屬見聞覺知。亦不離見聞覺知” (“does not belong to seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, nor is it apart from them”; E-19, T1). E-19 and E-41 directly place seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing and the speaker within the One Mind, and T2 adds awareness / seeing and the like, rather than placing them outside the One Mind to cognize the One Mind — this goes a step beyond No.07 Linji’s “names and phrases are established by the one who discerns, perceives, hears and knows”, and is genuine positive material for what v1.3 requires: “the place of the thought’s own formulation and utterance within the whole”.
The level of evidence must be distinguished from the complete judgment: T1’s “不屬見聞覺知,亦不離見聞覺知” (E-19) and the 961 excerpt “即如今言語者正是汝心” (E-41) explicitly place the activities of seeing, hearing and speech; T2 further has “覺正是佛” (“awareness is precisely the Buddha”) and “性即是見” (“the nature is seeing”). But whether “perception and language are within the One Mind” already suffices to show that “Huangbo’s system of thought and the act of putting it forward are also within the One Mind” should still be tested independently. At present self-inclusion is grounded in its positive local parts, while complete self-inclusion is retained at C; it cannot directly prove ①, nor can its not being fully established be used to default to ② (B).
The question: Huangbo’s function of completion is “no-mind” and “tacit accord”; he says explicitly that this is not knowledge, not through thought and deliberation, “擬心即差” (“to intend with the mind is already to miss”), “得時不說知” (“when one obtains, one does not speak of knowing”), and judges views raised upon concentration and wisdom, contemplation, and seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing all to be “interpretations made upon objects”.
Then, is deleting the function of “correctly cognizing the ground” entirely harmless for Huangbo — because his completion was never cognition?
Why it looks like ①:
(1) The layer of the ground: the One Mind is originally endowed, neither increasing nor decreasing (E-11, E-17), cannot be known by wisdom (E-21), is not lost in delusion and not gained in awakening (E-43); these are direct texts that the ground does not wait for recognition.
(2) The layer of cognition: Huangbo systematically dismantles all forms of cognition — objectifying seeing (E-31), the one who realizes (E-26), contemplation (E-23), the understanding of a correct formula (E-28), no-mind as a thing (E-16); “obtaining” and “knowing” are separated (E-34).
(3) The layer of self-inclusion: the one speaking is the mind (E-41), awareness is the Buddha (E-38), seeing is the nature (E-45), speech and silence, movement and stillness are all the Buddha’s work (E-39). Cognition and speech are placed within the One Mind.
Synthesis: the ① direction does not come only from the negative denial “no cultivation, no realization”.
E-19 and E-41 already positively specify, in the early layer, the relation of seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing and speech to the One Mind, and E-16 denies a subject who carries out “using the mind to make no-mind”; together with original endowment not being lost, they form strong ①-direction structural material. But how Huangbo understands the final function of “awakening / sudden comprehension / decisive knowing” is still disputed; one cannot jump directly from positive building-in to the whole philosophy reaching ①, nor infer ② (B) directly from the word “awakening”.
Why it is still placed at ② (C):
(1) The verifiable ground of ② is not that E-14 alone proves “no-mind is cognition”, but the positive language of completing functions: awakening to the One Mind in E-12, decisive knowing in E-20, sudden comprehension in E-24, awakening at the mind-dharma in E-29. They mark on the student’s side the difference between entering into accord and not, and provide the interpretive entry to ②; whether they are a truly non-deletable independent mediator has not obtained B-grade proof.
(2) The competing reading for ① holds: E-16 has already excluded “doing no-mind”, and awakening, realization, accord and comprehension are only expressions, in different teaching situations, of “nothing added, nothing obtained / cessation of contrivance”, with no independent completing function; the competing reading for ② holds: although there is no executing subject and no objectifying knowledge, the awakening difference of correct entering-into-accord cannot be deleted. Both sides have grounds in T1; P3 is suspended.
(3) Delete deliberate operations of knowledge, and the ground is still originally endowed; delete awakening / sudden comprehension / decisive knowing as an independent mediator while retaining no-mind, and the breaking point of the account of completion remains disputed; delete all differences of no-mind / bondage, and the original texts’ accounts of consequence are destroyed, but this does not prove that a cognitive mediator exists. Therefore the main class remains the working choice ②, and its strength can only be marked C.
Boundaries of terminology and collated texts: E-19 “本心不屬見聞覺知亦不離見聞覺知” and E-41 “言語者正是汝心” already provide T1 structures of positive building-in; “numinous awareness” and “perfect brightness” are only specifications of the original mind and may not be silently replaced by the student’s cognitive activity.
The variant between the appended text and the current text in E-21 likewise denies grasping by knowledge and understanding; the “不可得” in E-13 must be judged in its grammatical direction together with the surrounding sentences, and cannot be counted directly by number of characters as a “winning vote” for ①; the two sentences of 961 in E-06 lean toward ② but their attribution is undetermined. The eleven collated places of 1048 have not yet been located.
Grades: that the original texts directly state “the One Mind is originally endowed”, “the mind of itself is without mind”, “awaken to the One Mind”, “no-mind is the ultimate” and the like are A-grade textual facts; the structural classification of the whole remains a C-grade interpretation. The withdrawal of operation in E-16 puts a different kind of pressure on the judgment of Huangbo compared with the positive “meeting / true and correct insight” of No.06 and No.07, but it cannot be said that those two archives have no self-reflexive dismantling at all, nor can differences between figures be taken as a ranking of value among the six positions.
Unresolved documentary matters and conditions for re-examination: obtain a comparable text for the eleven places changed in 1048, and confirm as far as possible whether they touch E-12, E-14, E-19, E-20, E-24 or E-29;
explain further whether the alternative reading of P3 can cover all the early sermon materials; if new evidence sufficient to change the direction of the texts or the function of completion appears, ② (C) and the ① candidacy should be re-examined. If no collated text is found, the limitation must be noted, and no false claim of word-for-word verification may be made.
Placement: ② “Direct Seeing of the Ground” (C); the ①/② boundary substantively open.
Why it is placed at ②: the early text of Pei Xiu does have language of correct entering-into-accord such as “awakening to the One Mind”, “recognizing the original Dharma”, “decisive knowing”, “sudden full comprehension” and “awakening at the mind-dharma”, adjacent to the ultimate, freedom and failure to accomplish the Way; on this basis the ② direction can be put forward. But what E-16 denies is the operation of actively turning the mind into no-mind; whether there is still a cognitive function of completion independent of withdrawal cannot exclude an equally strong ① reading, so C is kept, and it is not automatically raised to B.
Why ① remains a real candidate: the One Mind is originally endowed and does not wait for recognition (E-09, E-11, E-17), cannot be known by wisdom (E-21), the mind of itself is without mind and there is no “one who is without mind” (E-16); T1’s E-19 and E-41 already place seeing, hearing and speech directly within the One Mind. If awakening / comprehension / knowing are only other names for non-operative cessation, the structure may still be complete after the mediator of correct cognition is deleted. The local direct evidence of self-inclusion cannot replace an independent judgment of how completely the whole system of thought includes itself.
Why it is not ③: Huangbo is not asking whether the ground exists or how it is possible; he points directly to the ground (“there is only the One Mind”, “mind itself is the Buddha”) and requires no-mind right now. His extensive negation of doctrine, cultivation and realization, and contemplation belongs to dismantling, not to questioning.
Relation to traditional classification: historically Huangbo belongs to the Hongzhou line of Chan, and his Dharma heir Linji opened the Linji school. This sectarian affiliation serves only to explain the historical background and plays no part in the classificatory proof of the six-position structure of thought.
Objection: E-13 “無能所” (“without subject and object”), E-16 “亦無無心者” (“nor is there one who is without mind”), E-21 “不可以智慧識” (“it cannot be known by wisdom”), E-22 “擬心即差” (“to intend with the mind is already to miss”) and E-34 “得時不說知” (“when one obtains, one does not speak of knowing”) all point directly to the withdrawal of cognitive operation.
Reply: Accepted as a serious overall competing reading in the ① direction, not a D-grade straw man; E-12 “但悟一心” (“just awaken to the One Mind”), E-20 “決定知” (“decisively know”) and E-29 “於心法上悟” (“awaken at the mind-dharma”) do retain the language of awakening / knowing, but whether a non-deletable cognitive mediator can be inferred from their relation to liberation leaves considerable room for interpretation. Placed at ② (C);
“cessation” may not be automatically renamed a cognitive function merely because it belongs to the student’s completion.
Objection: E-43 states explicitly that the self-nature does not increase or decrease with delusion and awakening, “天真自性本無迷悟” (“the heaven-true self-nature originally has neither delusion nor awakening”); E-17 “秖證元來自佛” (“one realizes only the buddha one originally was”) runs in the same direction; therefore ①.
Reply: Accepted that these are substantive positive proofs that the layer of the ground does not wait for recognition; the first layer of deletion passes. But “originally without delusion or awakening” speaks of the self-nature, not of the student’s situation;
the same Wanling lu still says “即此身心是自由人” (“this very body and mind is a free person”) and “被因果管束。去住無自由分” (“bound by cause and effect, with no share of freedom in going or staying”; E-42), and T1’s Chuanxin fayao also draws the line between liberation and bondage by no-mind (E-14). Passing at the layer of the ground is not passing at the layer of completion. Moreover, the complete witness of E-43 is first seen in 1267 (T2), a lower textual level than the T1 conditional sentences of completion.
Objection: E-41 “即如今言語者正是汝心” (“the one speaking right now is precisely your mind”), E-38 “覺正是佛” (“awareness is precisely the Buddha”), E-45 “性即是見” (“the nature is seeing”) and E-39 “語默動靜一切聲色盡是佛事” (“speech and silence, movement and stillness, all sounds and forms are the Buddha’s work”) positively place cognition and speech.
Reply: Agreed that E-19 and E-41 are T1 structural sentences of positive building-in, not merely candidates; E-41 has a witness from 961, making it stronger than the comparable material of No.07. But ① requires two things to hold at once: besides self-inclusion, the final structure must be complete once correct recognition is deleted. Huangbo’s self-inclusion explains that speech and awareness belong to the One Mind; it does not explain that the student’s boundary between “having mind” and “no-mind” no longer decides liberation. Moreover, E-38, E-39 and E-45 are T2. Whether self-inclusion is sufficient is retained at local C; this cannot replace the deletion test at the layer of completion.
Objection: “One or two parts in ten” shows that the Chuanxin fayao is Pei Xiu’s selection and notes; the conditional sentence form (“若不……終不……”, “if not …
then never …”) may be a framework added by the recorder to guide readers, and cannot represent Huangbo’s ultimate structure.
Reply: The documentary limitation is accepted: E-12, E-14, E-20, E-24, E-25 and E-29 all come from the record of one person, Pei Xiu, and cannot be added up as six independent historical witnesses. But of these, E-12 and the first half of E-14 have almost identical wording in three places — the quotation of 961, the appended text in the Chuandeng lu and the current text; the latter half of E-14 and E-20, E-24, E-25 and E-29 are not found in the quotation of 961, only in the appended text in the Chuandeng lu and the current text; in the Wanling lu and the Tiansheng guangdeng lu, two different chains of transmission, there are also consequence sentences in the same direction (E-37, E-42; X78, 665b05–06, “若不如是,不免輪迴”, “if it is not like this, one cannot escape revolving”). This lowers the likelihood of “purely Pei Xiu’s framework”, but cannot exclude it; therefore the existing chain of sources can support the early attestation of the conditional relation, but cannot independently decide that it is a cognitive mediator;
the overall judgment is provisionally C rather than B, and the conditions for reopening are retained.
Objection: “唯是一心” (“there is only the One Mind”), “萬法皆依此心建立” (“the myriad dharmas are all established on this mind”) and “十方虗空世界不出我之一心” (“the empty-space worlds of the ten directions do not go outside my One Mind”) sound like an all-encompassing mind-substance reality.
Reply: Huangbo says explicitly “心即無心” (“mind is no-mind”; E-27), “心自無心。亦無無心者” (“the mind of itself is without mind, nor is there one who is without mind”; E-16), that the One Mind “不屬有無” (“does not belong to existence or non-existence”) and is “無形無相” (“without form or mark”; E-09), “佛真法身猶若虛空” (“the Buddha’s true dharma body is like empty space”; context of E-36);
nor does he allow the One Mind to be made an object of cognition (E-31). This archive does not judge it to be an entity; by the unified standard, de-substantialization ≠ deletion of function, and this does not affect the judgment of ②. (B)
Objection: The quotation of 961 recorded in E-06 is earlier than the appended text in the Chuandeng lu, and defines becoming a buddha directly by “the awakened mind” and “seeing this mind”; it should be strengthened to A.
Reply: Not adopted. The two sentences are not found in the appended text in the Chuandeng lu or the current text; Yanshou’s quotations often contain inserted explanations and rewriting, and they cannot be established as Huangbo’s own words; raising ② to A on a single variant is exactly the common-source weighting prohibited by this archive’s method.
It is recorded only as a variant and plays no part in the placement argument.
Final summary: Huangbo’s Chuanxin fayao, with “唯是一心” (“there is only the One Mind”), “不可以智慧識” (“it cannot be known by wisdom”), “心自無心亦無無心者” (“the mind of itself is without mind, nor is there one who is without mind”) and “不屬見聞覺知亦不離見聞覺知” (“it does not belong to seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing, nor is it apart from them”), strongly supports that the ground holds without depending on correct cognition; the Zongjing lu of 961 also preserves the positive building-in material “言語者正是汝心” (“the one speaking is precisely your mind”). E-16 denies deliberately carrying out “using the mind to make no-mind”, but E-12, E-20, E-24 and E-29 still express completion by awakening, decisive knowing and sudden comprehension, and E-14 explicitly links no-mind with the ultimate. The question is not “whether there are conditional sentences”, but “whether awakening / knowing / sudden comprehension constitutes a non-deletable function of entering-into-accord independent of the withdrawal that no-mind is”. At present both ① and ② are supported by direct structural material, so the placement is ② “Direct Seeing of the Ground” (C), with the ①/② boundary substantively open. On the documentary side, the excerpts of 961 can confirm some early wording; the eleven places involved in the collation of 1048 cannot be reconstructed word for word, and the limits must be noted.
Whatever certainty cannot be obtained from the original texts is not supplied by category names or repeated quotation.
Conditions for re-examination: if a Chuanxin fayao, Sijia lu or related independent collated text from before 1048 is found that suffices to change the key wording of E-12, E-14, E-16, E-19, E-20, E-24 or E-29, or if a complete structural argument appears that can decide whether “awakening / decisive knowing / sudden comprehension” can be wholly reduced to no-mind, the main class and its strength should be re-examined. The existing documentary and interpretive limits are not facts already resolved, nor is the classification of other figures’ archives used to replace the judgment of this figure.