Hekiganroku
Xuedou Chongxian & Yuanwu Keqin · Song · China · 11th century
Introduction
The Hekiganroku (碧巖錄, "Blue Cliff Record", in Chinese Biyan Lu) is one of the two greatest masterpieces of Chan gongan (kōan) literature, alongside the Wumenguan (The Gateless Gate). It brings together one hundred cases originally compiled by the master Xuedou Chongxian (Setchō Jōken, 980–1052), then expanded, annotated, and commented upon by the great master Yuanwu Keqin (Engo Kokugon, 1063–1135).
It is a work of rare complexity and poetic beauty, constructed like a literary mille-feuille for each case: Yuanwu's poetic introduction, the main case, the marginal interjections, the prose commentary, Xuedou's appreciative verse, and the commentary on the verse.
Although stemming from the Linji (Rinzai) lineage, the Hekiganroku holds a crucial place in the Sōtō tradition. Legend has it that Dōgen, before leaving China, copied the entire text in a single night—the famous Ichiya Hekiganroku ("One-Night Hekiganroku") preserved at Daijō-ji temple. Dōgen makes numerous references to it in his Shōbōgenzō. Verse 78: "One cannot call it white, one cannot call it black, without calling, everything is false" is quoted verbatim in the fascicle Genjōkōan.
Excerpts from the most famous cases:
【一】舉。梁武帝問達磨大師：「如何是聖諦第一義？」磨云：「廓然無聖。」帝曰：「對朕者誰？」磨云：「不識。」
Case 1. Emperor Wu of Liang asked the Great Master Bodhidharma: "What is the first meaning of the sacred truth?" Bodhidharma said: "Vast and empty, nothing sacred." The emperor said: "Who is standing before me?" Bodhidharma said: "I do not know."
【二】舉。趙州示眾云：「至道無難，唯嫌揀擇。才有語言，是揀擇，是明白。老僧不在明白裏。」
Case 2. Zhaozhou addressed the assembly: "The supreme Way is not difficult, it is enough to refuse all choice. As soon as there are words, there is choice, there is clarity. This old monk is not in clarity."
【三】舉。馬大師不安。院主問：「和尚近日尊候如何？」大師云：「日面佛月面佛。」
Case 3. The Great Master Mazu fell ill. The monastery steward asked: "How is your health these days, Venerable?" The Great Master said: "Sun-face Buddha, moon-face Buddha."
【四】舉。德山到溈山，挾複子於法堂上，從東過西，從西過東，顧視云：「無無。」便出。
Case 4. Deshan arrived at Guishan's place. Carrying his bundle, he crossed the Dharma hall from east to west, then from west to east, looked around and said: "Nothing, nothing." Then he left.
【六】舉。雲門大師云：「十五日已前不問汝，十五日已後道將一句來！」自代云：「日日是好日。」
Case 6. The Great Master Yunmen said: "I am not asking you about what is before the fifteenth day—give me a phrase about what is after the fifteenth day." Then he answered himself: "Every day is a good day."
【十二】舉。洞山示眾云：「若論此事，如人家有一面鏡子，從朝至暮，與人照鑑。忽有人來，於鏡中現面，鏡中現面，來人形相，宛然具足。此人若去，鏡中無面。」
Case 12. Dongshan addressed the assembly: "It is as if a family had a mirror. From morning till evening, it reflects people. If someone comes, their face appears in the mirror. When they leave, there is no longer a face in the mirror."
【十三】舉。僧問巴陵：「如何是提婆宗？」巴陵云：「銀椀裏盛雪。」
Case 13. A monk asked Baling: "What is the Deva school?" Baling said: "Snow in a silver bowl."
【十四】舉。雲門云：「唯一人，一切人，不是一切人，亦不是一人。如何是一人？」
Case 14. Yunmen said: "One person, all people. Not all people, not one person either. What is one person?"
【二十一】舉。雲門云：「我有二句，諸人作麼生會？」
Case 21. Yunmen said: "I have two phrases. How do you understand them?"
【二十六】舉。僧問百丈：「如何是奇特事？」丈云：「獨坐大雄峰。」僧禮拜，丈便打。
Case 26. A monk asked Baizhang: "What is the most extraordinary thing?" Baizhang said: "Sitting alone on Vulture Peak." The monk bowed. Baizhang hit him.
【四十三】舉。洞山問僧：「世界恁麼熱，向甚麼處避暑？」僧云：「鑊湯爐炭裏。」山云：「鑊湯爐炭裏如何避？」僧云：「眾苦不能到。」
Case 43. Dongshan asked a monk: "The world is so hot. Where to go to avoid the heat?" The monk said: "Into the boiling cauldron and the burning coals." Dongshan said: "How to avoid the heat in the cauldron and coals?" The monk said: "All pains cannot reach there."
【四十五】舉。洞山問僧：「世間何物最苦？」僧云：「地獄最苦。」山云：「猶未在。」
Case 45. Dongshan asked a monk: "What is the most painful thing in the world?" The monk said: "Hell is the most painful." Dongshan said: "You are not there yet."
【五十五】舉。道吾與漸源至一家弔慰。源拍棺云：「生邪？死邪？」吾云：「生也不道，死也不道。」
Case 55. Daowu and Jianyuan went to offer condolences to a family. Jianyuan tapped the coffin and said: "Alive or dead?" Daowu said: "I say neither alive nor dead."
【六十二】舉。雲門示眾云：「乾坤之內，宇宙之間，中有一寶，祕在形山。拈燈籠向佛殿裏，將三門來燈籠上。」
Case 62. The Great Master Yunmen addressed the assembly: "In heaven and earth, in the universe, there is a treasure hidden in the mountain of forms. Take the lantern and bring it into the Buddha hall. Bring the temple gate onto the lantern."
【七十三】舉。馬祖示眾云：「即心是佛，即心即佛。非心非佛，非佛非心。」
Case 73. The Great Master Mazu addressed the assembly: "Mind itself is Buddha. Mind itself, that is Buddha. Neither mind, nor Buddha. Neither Buddha, nor mind."
【七十八】擧。雲門大師云：「直得觸目無滯，達得聲色，止是箇聲色。一切聲是佛聲，一切色是佛色。」
Case 78. The Great Master Yunmen said: "When you reach the point where your eyes encounter no obstacle, where you penetrate sounds and forms, they are just sounds and forms. All sounds are the voice of the Buddha, all forms are the form of the Buddha."
【八十六】舉。雲門云：「藥病相治，盡大地是藥，那個是自己？」
Case 86. Yunmen said: "The remedy and the illness heal each other. The entire earth is a remedy. What is the self?"
【八十七】舉。雲門示眾云：「盡大地是藥，那箇是自己？」
Case 87. Yunmen addressed the assembly: "The entire earth is a remedy. What is the self?"
【八十八】舉。玄沙示眾云：「諸方老宿盡道接物利生，忽遇三種病人來，作麼生接？」
Case 88. Xuansha addressed the assembly: "All the old masters say they help beings. But if suddenly three kinds of sick people come to you, how will you receive them?"
Source: CBETA T48n2003 (Biyan Lu) · Public Domain (Taishō Canon) · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Chinese text: CBETA T48n2003 · 100 cases