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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

读楞伽经

Reading the Lankavatara Sutra (Du Lengjia Jing)

张方平

Zhang Fangping

禅理Chan Philosophy 读经Reading the Sutras

楞伽三万六千偈，百八句中成自性。
法法非法离法尘，心心无心入心病。
渐熟当似庵罗果，顿照犹如大圆镜。
龟毛兔角妄有无，海浪空华不清浄。

The Lankavatara has thirty-six thousand gathas, and in the hundred and eight sentences the self-nature is accomplished.
Dharmas are not the dharmas, departing from the dust of the dharmas; the minds are not the mind, entering the disease of the mind.
Gradually ripening, it should be like the mango fruit; suddenly illumined, it is like the great round mirror.
The hair of the tortoise and the horn of the hare, the deluded has and has not; the waves of the sea and the flowers in the air are not pure and clean.

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Meaning

A seven-character regulated verse by Zhang Fangping on reading the Lankavatara Sutra, probably written in his later years when he was deeply devoted to Buddhism and Daoism. The whole poem, with the four layers of the 'the general summary, the breaking of the attachments, the showing of the practice, and the dispelling of the illusions,' each couplet corresponding to a vein of the sutra, is the 'the annotation of the sutra with the poem' of the Song men. The first couplet, 'the Lankavatara has thirty-six thousand gathas, and in the hundred and eight sentences the self-nature is accomplished,' grasps the whole sutra: first the vastness of the sutra (the thirty-six thousand gathas), then the return to the essentials of the hundred and eight sentences, landing on the 'accomplishing the self-nature'—the purport of the whole sutra being the manifesting of the tathagata-garbha self-nature inherent in all the living beings; the second couplet, 'the dharmas are not the dharmas, departing from the dust of the dharmas; the minds are not the mind, entering the disease of the mind,' the breaking of the attachments—the breaking of the attachment to the dharmas and the breaking of the attachment to the mind; the third couplet, 'gradually ripening, it should be like the mango fruit; suddenly illumined, it is like the great round mirror,' the showing of the practice—the gradual and the sudden of the practice; and the fourth couplet, 'the hair of the tortoise and the horn of the hare, the deluded has and has not; the waves of the sea and the flowers in the air are not pure and clean,' the dispelling of the illusions—the deluded view of the existence and the non-existence, the return to the purity.

楞伽经有三万六千偈，于百八句中成就自性。法即是非法而离于法尘，心本无心而落入心病。渐修成熟当如庵罗果，顿悟照见犹如大圆镜。龟毛兔角妄计有无，海浪空华并不清净。

Appreciation

This seven-character regulated verse, with the four layers of the 'the general summary, the breaking of the attachments, the showing of the practice, and the dispelling of the illusions,' each couplet corresponding to a vein of the sutra, is the clever construction of the 'the annotation of the sutra with the poem' of the Song men. The first couplet 'the Lankavatara has thirty-six thousand gathas, and in the hundred and eight sentences the self-nature is accomplished'—first the vastness of the sutra, then the return to the essentials, landing on the 'self-nature,' the purport of the whole sutra; the second couplet 'the dharmas are not the dharmas, departing from the dust of the dharmas; the minds are not the mind, entering the disease of the mind'—the breaking of the attachment to the dharmas and the breaking of the attachment to the mind, the 'the dharmas are not the dharmas' from the Diamond Sutra, the negation of the negation; the third couplet 'gradually ripening, it should be like the mango fruit; suddenly illumined, it is like the great round mirror'—the gradual and the sudden, the mango fruit and the great round mirror, the practice and the enlightenment; and the fourth couplet 'the hair of the tortoise and the horn of the hare, the deluded has and has not; the waves of the sea and the flowers in the air are not pure and clean'—the deluded view of the existence and the non-existence dispelled, the return to the purity. The whole poem, with the couplets corresponding to the veins of the sutra, the 'the annotation of the sutra with the poem,' the unique of the Song poetry on the Chan.

【白话串讲】张方平读《楞伽经》：“楞伽三万六千偈，百八句中成自性”。“法法非法离法尘，心心无心入心病”——“龟毛兔角妄有无，海浪空华不清浄”——他谈佛理。【意象与手法】七律以「总标—破执—示修—遣妄」四层，逐联对应一经义脉。首联总挈全经归趣于自性；颔联以「法法非法」「心心无心」叠字对破二执；颈联以庵罗果、大圆镜二喻示渐顿二门；尾联以龟毛兔角、海浪空华双遣妄计。两组对仗撑起理架，是宋人「以诗注经」的巧构。【情感与主旨】主旨是读经悟理：显发众生本具自性，破法执心执，融通渐顿，终遣有无幻相而归清净。诗中不见感怀，惟见义学条贯，折射方平晚年三教合一、深研佛老的学养与融通之见。【名句点睛】「法法非法离法尘，心心无心入心病」最见破执之切，以叠字回环分破外内二执，是《楞伽》离言自性义的凝练。

Background

The Lankavatara Sutra, in full the 'Lankavatara Sutra of the Jewel of the Teaching,' is an important sutra of the Mahayana Buddhism of India, with the 'tathagata-garbha' and the 'alaya-vijnana' as the core, advocating the 'the consciousness-only of the ten thousand dharmas' and the 'the present measure of the self-mind.' The founder of the Chan school, Bodhidharma, gave this sutra to Huike as the sutra of the sealing of the mind, hence its very important position in the history of the Chinese Buddhism. The 'Lankavatara' of the sutra is the name of the mountain of Ceylon, said to have 'thirty-six thousand gathas' (the 'thirty-six thousand gathas' of Fangping's poem is from this), while that transmitted to the Chinese land is only the abridged translation (as the four-volume version of Gunabhadra), and its 'hundred and eight sentences' is the essential items of the sutra. This poem of Fangping, titled 'Reading the Lankavatara Sutra,' should be the work of his later years when he was deeply devoted to Buddhism and Daoism. Zhang Fangping, courtesy name An Dao, styled himself Lequan, a native of Songcheng, Nanjing, the Grand Councillor of the Northern Song, proficient in the classics and the histories, and in his later years deeply studied the Buddhism and the Daoism, combining the Confucianism, the Buddhism, and the Daoism in one, and this poem is the fruit of his study of the sutra.

《楞伽经》全名《楞伽阿跋多罗宝经》，为印度大乘佛教重要经典，以「如来藏」「阿赖耶识」义理为核心，倡「万法唯识」「自心现量」。禅宗初祖菩提达摩以此经授慧可、作为印心之典，故其在中国佛教史地位极重。经中所说「楞伽」为锡兰山名，号称有「三万六千偈」（方平诗云「三万六千偈」即本此），而传入汉地者仅为节译（如求那跋陀罗四卷本），其「百八句」为经中摄理要目。方平此诗题作《读楞伽经》，当为其晚年耽佛老、喜谈虚静时所作，以七言律诗疏解一经大旨，是宋人「以诗说禅」的典型。北宋士大夫三教合一思潮甚盛，王安石、苏轼皆曾以诗谈禅，方平此篇则以更系统的方式撮述经义：自性、非法、无心、渐顿、空妄诸题次第点出。读懂《楞伽》「万法唯心、远离妄执」的根本，方能体会此诗非泛咏佛典，而是以韵语作了一篇楞伽义解。再补数端背景。《楞伽经》汉译有四本：刘宋求那跋陀罗四卷本、北魏菩提流支十卷本、唐实叉难陀七卷本，禅宗初祖达摩以四卷本授二祖慧可，故四卷本最受禅门推重；方平诗云「三万六千偈」，实本经中自陈偈颂繁富之语，而汉地所传仅为节译，此中「博约」之辨，正与首联「三万六千偈，百八句中成自性」的收放笔法相合。又，北宋士大夫读经谈禅，多不主一家，方平晚年「喜谈虚静」「深研佛老」，此诗以唯识、如来藏义入诗，正见其佛学已由禅门公案进至经论义学，非浅尝者可比。明此，方知此诗非率尔题经，而是以七律为《楞伽》作疏的学人功夫。

Art

The art is the clever construction of the 'the annotation of the sutra with the poem': the first couplet the general summary, the second the breaking of the attachments, the third the showing of the practice, and the fourth the dispelling of the illusions, each couplet corresponding to a vein of the sutra—the systematic summary of the purport of the whole sutra with the four couplets, the unique of the Song poetry on the Chan.

此诗七律以「总标—破执—示修—遣妄」四层，逐联对应一经义脉，是宋人「以诗注经」的巧构。首联「楞伽三万六千偈，百八句中成自性」总挈全经：先点经之浩瀚（三万六千偈），旋收归「百八句」之要，落脚于「成自性」——一经宗旨即在显发众生本具之如来藏自性。颔联「法法非法离法尘，心心无心入心病」破二执：上句破法执（法即非法、离法尘），下句破心执（心本无心、妄立则成病）。颈联「渐熟当似庵罗果，顿照犹如大圆镜」示修证二门：渐修如庵罗果之熟，顿悟如大圆镜之照。尾联「龟毛兔角妄有无，海浪空华不清浄」总遣妄计：龟毛兔角本无、强计有无，海浪空华皆幻、未是真净。八句由标宗、破执、显修到遣妄，脉络与经次第相合，以对仗两组（法法对心心、渐熟对顿照）撑起理架，是方平以律诗演佛理的工整之作。细究其结构之巧，在于「四层义脉」与「两组对仗」的严密配合：首联以「三万六千」对「百八句」，数量悬殊中见「由博返约」的收束，是为「总标」；颔联以「法法非法」对「心心无心」，叠字回环中见「双遣二执」，是为「破执」；颈联以「渐熟庵罗果」对「顿照大圆镜」，物象相映中见「渐顿双彰」，是为「示修」；尾联以「龟毛兔角」对「海浪空华」，本无之喻中见「空妄齐遣」，是为「遣妄」。四联四层，层层递进，而每层皆以对仗撑起，使义学名相不至散漫。更妙在「非法」与「无心」、「庵罗果」与「大圆镜」、「有无」与「不清浄」，皆于对偶中暗藏「即此即彼、双非双遣」的中道意味，正合《楞伽》「离四句、绝百非」的宗旨。此等以律诗格律约束佛理、使理语凝为法相的笔法，在宋人谈禅诗中堪称别调。

Allusions

The Buddhist scriptures and the names of the poem are dense, all from the Lankavatara and the Mahayana treatises. First, the 'thirty-six thousand gathas' and the 'hundred and eight sentences' are the great sayings of the sutra, the number of its gathas and the items of its essentials. Second, the 'self-nature' is the tathagata-garbha, the original enlightenment, the sutra saying that all the living beings have the pure self-nature, the purport of the whole sutra. Third, the 'the dharmas are not the dharmas' from the 'the dharmas are not the dharmas' of the Diamond Sutra, the emptiness of the dharmas, and the 'the dust of the dharmas' the defilements of the mind; the 'mango fruit' of the 'gradually ripening' the gradual practice of the sutra, and the 'great round mirror' of the 'suddenly illumined' the mirror-like wisdom of the perfect enlightenment; and the 'hair of the tortoise and the horn of the hare' the non-existent things of the world, the 'flowers in the air' the illusory flowers of the eye disease, the emptiness of the ten thousand dharmas.

诗中佛典与名相密集，皆出《楞伽》及大乘经论。其一，「三万六千偈」「百八句」为经中极谈，言其偈颂之繁与摄要之目。其二，「自性」即如来藏、本觉，经谓一切众生皆有清净自性，为全经归趣。其三，「法法非法」本《金刚》「法尚应舍」与《楞伽》离言自性之义，言执法则成碍，离法尘方契真；「法尘」为六尘之一（意所对境）。其四，「心心无心」用「心无心」公案式表达，谓真心本空、妄立心相即成「心病」。其五，「庵罗果」（庵摩罗果）喻渐修功熟，佛典常以果之成熟况修证；「大圆镜」即大圆镜智，为如来四智之一，喻顿照万法而无碍。其六，「龟毛兔角」喻本无之物（龟无毛、兔无角），强计有无乃妄；「海浪空华」喻境象如海上浪、病眼空花，皆虚妄不清净。诸名相环环相扣，把一经要义凝为四十字，是宋人「以禅语入诗」而能不失经旨的范例。诸名相之外，尚有几处义理可再申说。「庵罗果」（庵摩罗果）在佛典中常有二义：一喻渐修功熟，如果之由生而熟；一喻「无分别果」，如《大般涅槃经》以庵摩罗果喻如来藏之清净无染。方平取「渐熟」之喻，正与「顿照」之大圆镜相对，构成「渐以积功、顿以悟理」的互补结构。「大圆镜智」则出《成唯识论》，为佛转第八阿赖耶识所得之智，能如实映现万法而不失，方平以之写「顿照」，既合唯识义，又暗应《楞伽》「自心现量」之说——万法皆自心所现，顿照即照见自心。「龟毛兔角」为佛典惯用的「毕竟无」之喻，《楞伽》正以「龟毛兔角」破凡夫之遍计所执；「空华」则出《楞严》「瞪目发劳、空见有华」，喻妄境本无。方平以「妄有无」「不清浄」双破有无二执，正扣《楞伽》「离有无见」的要旨。诸典皆非泛引，而各有所本。

Commentary

The 'Reading the Lankavatara Sutra' of Fangping stands out in the Song poetry on the Chan: the Wang and the Su mostly use the Chan as the metaphor of the poetry and the relief of the mind, while this piece of Fangping is nearly the 'the poem as the commentary,' systematically summarizing the purport of a sutra, near to the gathas of the monks. This is in accordance with the scholarship of his later years of the deep study of the Buddhism and the Daoism and the combination of the Confucianism, the Buddhism, and the Daoism in one; and the poem, with the four couplets and the dense Buddhist terms, the system and the clarity of the purport of the sutra, the value of the poem as the philosophy and the religion, the 'the poem as the commentary' of the Song poetry, the unique of the reading the sutra of the Song men.

方平《读楞伽经》在宋人谈禅诗中别出一格：王、苏辈多以禅喻诗、以禅遣怀，方平此篇却近乎「以诗为疏」，系统撮述一经大旨，近于僧家偈颂。这与其晚年深研佛老、集儒释道于一身的学养相关。宋人好以议论、学问为诗，释典名相入诗本不鲜见，然能如方平般使「法法非法」「心心无心」「渐顿双彰」「空妄齐遣」层层不乱者甚少。清人论宋诗每讥「理学语录化」，然此诗以律体约束名相，对仗精严（法法对心心、渐熟对顿照、龟毛对海浪），使义学不致散漫，反见组织之工。更可味者，诗中「渐熟」「顿照」并举，暗含对唐宋以来渐顿之争的融通——北宋禅净兼修、台贤合流思潮下，方平以「当似」「犹如」二喻调和，足见其佛学非徒剽袭，而有会通之见。读此诗，当知宋士大夫之「禅」不止风雅，亦有其义理纵深。再进一步，此诗在文学与佛学的交界处，还触及一个更深的问题：以诗说禅，究竟是「诗」还是「禅」？宋人于此多有实践，苏轼以机锋为诗，黄庭坚以句法参禅，然多止于「以禅助诗」；方平此篇则反其道，以诗为「疏」，把诗体当作解说经义的载体，使律诗的格律成为义学名相的支架。这种「以诗注经」的写法，上承东晋佛理诗（如支遁、慧远辈）与唐人偈颂，下启后世「文字禅」中的偈颂一体，在诗禅关系史上自有一席之地。然其可贵处，尤在不失诗味：以「庵罗果」「大圆镜」「海月」「春冰」等物象润饰名相，使义理不枯、法相可观。清人论宋诗每讥其「以理语为诗」，然观此诗，可知「理语」若运用得法，亦能凝为精严的诗境，未可一概抹倒。读此诗，当于「法法非法」「心心无心」的叠字回环中，见宋人「以学问为诗」而不废诗趣的平衡之妙。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse七言律诗

Rhyme The whole on the oblique rhymes of the jing, ying, jin parts (all the departing tones of the geng group): xing, bing, jing, jing通押仄声敬、映、劲部（皆梗摄去声），韵脚为「性」「病」「镜」「浄」，一韵到底，为宋诗中罕见的仄韵律诗。

Tone pattern The 'the thirty-six thousand gathas' is even, the 'the dharmas are not the dharmas' is sharp, the 'gradually ripening' is steady, and the 'the hair of the tortoise' is calm—the whole from the summary to the dispelling, the purport of the sutra carried by the oblique rhymes七言律诗仄韵体，四联八句皆以仄声收，中间两联（颔联、颈联）对仗精严，平仄相谐，属七律中少见的仄韵格。

Reading note The oblique rhymes and the four couplets carry the veins of the sutra, the unique of the reading the sutra of the Song men.此诗七言律诗之仄韵体，八句四韵（性、病、镜、浄），通押去声敬、映、劲部（皆梗摄），为宋诗中难得的仄韵律诗。仄韵较平韵本少宏亮，而敬映劲诸韵音色清劲、去声收束斩截，恰与「破执—遣妄」的决绝语势相称：方平写《楞伽》离言绝待之义，若用平韵悠扬，反失其斩妄之力；以去声硬收，句句如金刚杵下，正合经中「远离妄执」的刚断。中二联对仗精严：「法法非法」对「心心无心」，以叠字回环写双遣；「渐熟当似庵罗果」对「顿照犹如大圆镜」，以物象对喻写渐顿。律诗多以平韵为正格，方平此篇独用仄韵演佛理，声情与义理相表里——清劲去声托出空妄之决，是宋人「以声调助理趣」的别调，欲体会七律仄韵之峻洁者，此篇可参。

Line by line

楞伽三万六千偈，百八句中成自性。

The Lankavatara has thirty-six thousand gathas, and in the hundred and eight sentences the self-nature is accomplished. (The general summary: the vastness of the sutra and the essentials of the hundred and eight sentences, landing on the self-nature, the purport of the whole sutra.)

楞伽经有三万六千偈，于百八句中成就自性。

The Lankavatara has thirty-six thousand verses; within the hundred and eight lines, self-nature is realized.

首联「楞伽三万六千偈，百八句中成自性」是全诗总挈，以「博—约—宗」三层收束一经。上句「楞伽三万六千偈」先状经典之浩瀚，三万六千极言其富，暗含对《楞伽》作为大乘要典的敬畏；下句「百八句中成自性」笔锋一转，由博归约——《楞伽》虽有偈颂繁富，其摄要不过「百八句」（经中摄理纲目），而百八句之终极归趣，则在「成自性」三字。自性即如来藏、本具清净心，为全经宗旨。方平以「三万六千」对「百八」的数量悬殊制造张力，再以「成自性」收束，写法如佛家「从无量入一实」。作为读经诗的开篇，此联已定下「以诗注经」的体例：不铺陈神异，而直揭宗要。后三联破执、示修、遣妄，皆从此「自性」一语层层展开，是提纲挈领的稳当起手。

The opening is the poem's whole frame, gathering a sutra in three layers - vast, concise, essential. The first, the Lankavatara has thirty-six thousand verses, first describes the scripture's vastness; thirty-six thousand says its abundance to the utmost, secretly holding awe at the Lankavatara as a Mahayana essential text. The second turns the brush, moving from vast to concise: though the Lankavatara's verses are rich, what it gathers is but the hundred and eight lines (the sutra's outline of principles), and the final bent of the hundred and eight lines lies in the three words self-nature realized. Self-nature means the tathagatagarbha, the originally pure mind, the sutra's whole purport. Fangping uses the vast gap between thirty-six thousand and a hundred and eight to make a tension, then closes on self-nature realized, the way of Buddhism's entering the one reality from the boundless. As the opening of a sutra-reading poem, this couplet already fixes the form of annotating the sutra through verse: no spread of miracles, but directly revealing the essential purport. The next three couplets, breaking clinging, showing practice, sending off illusion, all unfold layer by layer from this word self-nature, an outline-drawing steady opening.

法法非法离法尘，心心无心入心病。

The dharmas are not the dharmas, departing from the dust of the dharmas; the minds are not the mind, entering the disease of the mind. (The breaking of the attachments: the breaking of the attachment to the dharmas and the breaking of the attachment to the mind, the negation of the negation.)

法即是非法而离于法尘，心本无心而落入心病。

All dharmas are not dharmas, and so freed from dharmic dust; the mind is without mind, and falls into the sickness of mind.

颔联「法法非法离法尘，心心无心入心病」是全诗破执核心，两句分破「法执」与「心执」，对仗工而义深。上句「法法非法离法尘」，第一个「法」指一切法，第二个「法」指执取，「非法」即不可执为实有；意谓万法皆空、若执则成法尘（意所对境）之黏着，唯离法尘方契真如——这是《楞伽》「离言自性」「诸法无我」的凝练。下句「心心无心入心病」，前「心」指妄心，后「心」指真心，真心本空（无心），若强立一个「心」相去求，便堕「心病」（妄执成病）。两句一外（法）一内（心），由所执到能执，把修行最易陷的两种执着一并点破。方平以「法法」「心心」叠字造成回环节奏，似禅宗机锋，使理语有禅味。宋人好以禅语入诗，此联却能不落空泛，正因紧扣《楞伽》离执本义，是「以诗演禅」而非「以禅装诗」。

The jaw couplet is the core of breaking clinging, the two lines breaking the clinging to dharma and the clinging to mind, the parallel wrought and the meaning deep. The first, all dharmas are not dharmas, and so freed from dharmic dust: the first dharma means all dharmas, the second means grasping, and not-dharma means not to be grasped as real; the meaning is that all dharmas are empty, and if grasped they become the attachment of dharmic dust (the object of thought), only by leaving dharmic dust does one accord with suchness - this is the condensation of the Lankavatara's self-nature apart from words and all dharmas without self. The second, the mind is without mind, and falls into the sickness of mind: the first mind means the deluded mind, the second the true mind; the true mind is originally empty (without mind), and if one forcibly establishes a mind-mark to seek, one falls into the sickness of mind (deluded grasping become illness). The two lines, one outer (dharma) one inner (mind), from the grasped to the grasper, point out at once the two clinging into which practice most easily falls. Fangping uses the reduplicated dharmas and mind to make a circling rhythm, like a Zen paradox, giving the words of reason a Zen flavor. Song poets loved to bring Zen words into verse, yet this couplet does not fall into the vague, precisely because it tightly holds the Lankavatara's original meaning of leaving clinging, practicing Zen through verse rather than dressing verse in Zen.

渐熟当似庵罗果，顿照犹如大圆镜。

Gradually ripening, it should be like the mango fruit; suddenly illumined, it is like the great round mirror. (The showing of the practice: the gradual and the sudden, the mango fruit and the great round mirror, the practice and the enlightenment.)

渐修成熟当如庵罗果，顿悟照见犹如大圆镜。

When gradual maturity comes, it is like the myrobalan fruit; sudden illumination is like the great round mirror.

颈联「渐熟当似庵罗果，顿照犹如大圆镜」示修行二门，以两喻调和「渐」「顿」，是全诗最具圆融意趣的一联。上句「渐熟当似庵罗果」，庵罗果（庵摩罗果）佛典常以果实成熟况渐修功成——修行如种果，日久功圆，自然成熟，这是「渐」门。下句「顿照犹如大圆镜」，大圆镜智为如来四智之一，喻佛智如镜，顿然照见万法而无碍，这是「顿」门。方平以「当似」「犹如」二喻并列，不作轩轾，暗含对唐宋以来南顿北渐之争的融通：渐以积功、顿以悟理，二者原可相成。在北宋禅教合流、台贤并弘的思想背景下，此联意味深长——它不像狂禅一味主顿，也不似渐教偏重累功，而是并观双美。对仗上「渐熟」对「顿照」、「庵罗果」对「大圆镜」，色空相映，使抽象的修证体段具象可掬，是方平以物象写义理的巧处。

The neck couplet shows the two gates of practice, harmonizing gradual and sudden through two metaphors, the poem's most roundly delighting couplet. The first, when gradual maturity comes, it is like the myrobalan fruit: the myrobalan fruit in the Buddhist scriptures often uses the ripening fruit to meta-phor the completion of gradual practice - practice is like planting fruit, and with time's work completed, it naturally ripens, this is the gradual gate. The second, sudden illumination is like the great round mirror: the great mirror wisdom is one of the Tathagata's four wisdoms, meta-phoring the Buddha's wisdom as a mirror, suddenly illuminating all dharmas without hindrance, this is the sudden gate. Fangping places the two metaphors of like and as side by side, no preference, secretly holding the reconciliation of the Southern sudden and Northern gradual dispute since Tang and Song: the gradual through accumulated merit, the sudden through awakening to principle, the two originally able to complete each other. In the Northern Song thought background of Zen and doctrine merging, Tiantai and Huayan together flourishing, this couplet carries deep meaning - it is not like the wild Zen which prizes only the sudden, nor like the gradual teaching which weighs only accumulated work, but views both beauties together. In parallel, gradual maturity paired with sudden illumination, myrobalan fruit paired with great round mirror, color and void set off, making the abstract body of practice concrete, the fine place where Fangping writes principle through images.

龟毛兔角妄有无，海浪空华不清浄。

The hair of the tortoise and the horn of the hare, the deluded has and has not; the waves of the sea and the flowers in the air are not pure and clean. (The dispelling of the illusions: the non-existent things of the world, the deluded view of the existence and the non-existence, the return to the purity.)

龟毛兔角妄计有无，海浪空华并不清净。

Tortoise-hair and rabbit-horn are vainly held to exist or not; the sea waves and empty flowers are not pure.

尾联「龟毛兔角妄有无，海浪空华不清浄」总遣妄计，以两组本无之喻收束全经「万法唯心、远离妄执」的归趣。上句「龟毛兔角妄有无」，龟本无毛、兔本无角，喻本无之物；凡夫却于其上强计「有」计「无」，这种有无之辩正是妄执——方平以「妄」字点破，谓一切有无戏论皆虚。下句「海浪空华不清浄」，海浪喻识浪翻腾，空华（虚空之花，病眼所现）喻幻相，二者皆非真实清净；言若执境为实，则永不清净。两句一破有无、一破境相，把颔联「法执」「心执」推到极致——不仅执实成病，连「计有无」「认幻相」亦是未净。作为读经诗的结尾，此联以「妄」「不清浄」作否定式收束，恰与首联「成自性」的真净遥对：离妄方显自性。八句由标宗到遣妄，理路完整，是方平以律诗演佛理的缜密处。

The closing sends off all deluded reckoning, gathering the whole sutra's bent of all dharmas mind-only, far from deluded grasping, with two sets of metaphors for what originally does not exist. The first, tortoise-hair and rabbit-horn are vainly held to exist or not: the tortoise originally has no hair, the rabbit no horn, meta-phoring what originally does not exist; yet ordinary men forcibly reckon on them as existing or not, and this debate of existence and non-existence is exactly deluded grasping - Fangping points it out with the word vain, saying all babble of existence and non-existence is empty. The second, the sea waves and empty flowers are not pure: the sea waves meta-phor the tossing of consciousness waves, the empty flowers (flowers in the void, appearing to the diseased eye) meta-phor illusory appearances, both not truly pure; the meaning is that if one grasps the object as real, one is never pure. The two lines, one breaking existence and non-existence, one breaking the object's appearance, push the jaw couplet's clinging to dharma and clinging to mind to the utmost - not only does grasping the real become illness, but even reckoning existence and non-existence and taking the illusory appearance are not yet pure. As the close of a sutra-reading poem, this couplet closes in the negation of vain and not pure, exactly answering from afar the opening's self-nature realized in true purity: only by leaving illusion does self-nature show. The eight lines, from marking the essential purport to sending off illusion, the rational course complete, the close-woven place where Fangping uses regulated verse to enact Buddhist principle.

Study

Word focus

自性 The self-nature. The word of the purport: 'the self-nature is accomplished'—the tathagata-garbha, the original enlightenment inherent in all the living beings, the purport of the whole sutra, the landing of the first couplet. 「自性」是首联结穴、亦全诗的义理圆心，乃《楞伽经》归趣所在。自性即如来藏、本具清净心，经谓「如来藏自性清净，转名为识」——众生本具佛性，只为无明所覆。方平以「百八句中成自性」收束首联，意谓《楞伽》万千法门，终归显发此一本具自性。此词之重，在以一词提挈一经：后文「离法尘」是离妄以显自性，「无心」是空执以见自性，「渐熟」「顿照」是修证以证自性，「龟毛兔角」「海浪空华」是遣妄以归自性——全诗四联皆围绕「自性」之显与覆展开。在宋人谈禅诗中，「自性」屡见不鲜，然能如方平般把它作为全篇结构支点、使八句皆向其辐辏者甚少。二字看似平易，却是贯通一经与全诗的锁钥，足见其以诗注经的组织之功。

大圆镜 The great round mirror. The word of the enlightenment: 'suddenly illumined, it is like the great round mirror'—the mirror-like wisdom of the perfect enlightenment, the sudden enlightenment of the practice, the showing of the practice. 「大圆镜」是颈联下句的核心喻象，出如来「四智」之一的大圆镜智。《成唯识论》谓佛之四智：大圆镜、平等性、妙观察、成所作，其中大圆镜智如大圆镜，能遍照一切法而无碍、不失不坏。方平以「顿照犹如大圆镜」写顿悟之境：刹那返照，万法历然，如镜之圆明朗现。此喻之妙，在与上句「庵罗果」形成渐顿对照——果之成熟是时间中的积累（渐），镜之照物是当下的圆明（顿）。更可玩者，「大圆镜」在禅籍中亦常喻「心镜本净」，方平用以兼摄心体与佛智，使顿门之「照」既有本体论（自性本净如镜）又有认识论（顿然朗照）双层意味。二字意象，把抽象的「顿悟」写得光澄可掬，是宋人以物象写义理、使禅理不堕枯槁的范例；亦见方平佛学非浮涉，而能精取《楞伽》及唯识名相入诗。