廬山蓮宗寶鑑 10.44

10.44

諸惡趣門者，乃身口意三業也，所謂身殺盜婬、口妄言綺語惡口兩舌、意貪瞋癡。修淨業人正心向道，截斷已上十不善行，則不入惡道，謂之關閉諸惡趣門也。開示者，指出也。涅槃者，不生不滅也。正者，不偏路，即西方之道也。今有愚人，指口為諸惡門、鼻為涅槃路，教人臨終時緊閉其口，令氣從鼻出，謂之出門一步。又妄將㘞字以為公案，教人口裏著力忍了氣透這一關。或云㘞字四圍是酒色財氣，或言地水火風，或言生老病死等，皆是卜度妄計曲說。嗟乎這一箇㘞字，瞞盡多少人。殊不知此字，《玉篇》明載戶臥切，即阿字去聲呼也。此箇㘞字，一切世人口中未嘗不說。喻如失物人忽然尋見，不覺發此一聲是㘞字也。宗門多言此字者，蓋尋師訪道之人參究三二十年，忽然心花發現，會得此事，不覺㘞地一聲，如失物得見，慶快平生。是其字義也。如是則念佛之人，但於念念中仔細究竟本性彌陀，忽然親悟親見真實，到㘞地一聲處，自然明徹矣。故智覺壽禪師云：「心外求法，望石女而生兒；意上起思，邀空花而結果。本非有作，性自無為，智者莫能運其意像者，何以狀其儀？言語道亡，是得路指歸之日；心行處滅，當放身捨命之時。」可謂唯此一事實，餘二即非真。

As for the gates to all evil destinies, they are the three karmas of body, speech, and mind: namely, bodily killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; verbal false speech, frivolous speech, harsh speech, and duplicitous speech; and mental covetousness, anger, and ignorance. Practitioners of pure karma rectify their minds toward the Way and sever the above ten unwholesome actions, so they do not enter evil destinies; this is termed 'closing the gates to all evil destinies.' 'Revealing' means pointing out. 'Nirvāṇa' means unborn and undying. 'Direct' means unswerving; the path is the road to the West. Nowadays there are foolish people who point to the mouth as the gate of all evils and the nose as the path to nirvāṇa, teaching people to shut their mouths tightly at the time of death and make their breath exit through the nose, calling it 'one step out the gate.' Moreover, they falsely take the character huo (㘞) as a gongan, teaching people to exert force in their mouths, endure it, and let their breath penetrate this barrier. Some say the four surrounds of the character huo are wine, lust, wealth, and anger; or say they are earth, water, fire, and wind; or say birth, aging, sickness, and death, and so forth—all of which are speculative, deluded calculations and twisted assertions. Alas, this single character huo has deceived so many people! Little do they know that this character is clearly recorded in the Yupian as the fanqie spelling hu-wo (戶臥切), which is the character e (阿) pronounced in the falling tone. This single character huo: among all worldly people, whose mouth has not spoken it? It is like a person who lost an object and suddenly finds it, unwittingly letting out this exclamation—that is the character huo. That the Chan school speaks much of this character is because a person seeking a master and inquiring after the Way investigates for twenty or thirty years, and suddenly the mind-flower opens, comprehending this matter, unwittingly uttering a cry of huo!, like finding what was lost, rejoicing in life. That is the character's meaning. Thus, a person of buddhānusmṛti should simply examine and thoroughly investigate Amitābha of one's own nature in every thought; suddenly realizing and personally seeing the truth, arriving at the point of the cry of huo!, it will naturally be clear and penetrating. Therefore, Chan Master Zhijue Shou said: 'Seeking Dharma outside the mind is like hoping a barren woman will give birth to a son; raising thoughts on the intellect is like inviting sky-flowers to bear fruit. Originally devoid of contrivance, nature is inherently unconditioned; when the wise cannot apply their mental imagery, how could anyone depict its likeness? Where the path of language is cut off, that is the day of finding the way home; where the place of mental activity is extinguished, that is the moment to release the body and let go of life.' It may truly be said: 'Only this one matter is real; the other two are not true.'