西方合論 8.20

8.20

九頓悟墮者，今世禪人皆云：「一超直入不落功勳，尚不求作佛，何況往生？」答言：「不求作佛者，捨身之後，將灰斷永滅耶？抑尚受後有耶？若受後有者，為生淨土耶？為生三界耶？若居三界，即不如淨土；若淨土者，即同往生。又先德曰：『夫善知識者，雖明見佛性與佛同等，若論其功未齊諸聖，須從今日步步資重。』又云：『未悟而修，非真修也；唯此頓悟漸修，既合佛乘，不違圓旨。如頓悟頓修，亦是多生漸修，今生頓熟，此在當人時中自驗。』若所言如行、所行如言，量窮法界之邊，心合虛空之理；八風不動，三受寂然，種現雙銷，根隨俱盡，譬諸無病，不應服藥。如或現行，未斷煩惱，習氣又濃，寓目生情，觸塵成滯，雖了無生之義，其力未充，不可執云：『我已悟了煩惱性空，若起心修，却為顛倒。』然則煩惱性雖空，能令受業；業果無性，亦作苦因；苦痛雖虛，祇麼難忍。如遭重病，病亦全空，何求醫人，遍服藥餌？祖師云：『將虛空之心，合虛空之理，亦無虛空之量，始得報不相酬。』汾陽無業禪師云：『如今天下解禪解道，如河沙數；說佛說心，有百千萬億。纖塵不盡，未免輪迴；絲念不忘，盡從淪墜。』如斯之類，尚不能自識業果，妄言自利利他，自謂上流並他先德，但言『觸目無非佛事，舉足盡是道場』；原其所習，不如一個五戒十善凡夫，觀其發言，嫌他二乘十地菩薩。且醍醐上味，為世所珍，遇斯等人，翻成毒藥。假使才並馬鳴，解齊龍樹，只是一生兩生，不失人身，臨命終時，一毫聖凡情量不盡，纖塵思念未忘，隨念受生，輕重五陰，向驢胎馬腹裏托質，鑊湯爐炭裏燒煮，從前記持憶想見解，一時失却，依舊再為螻蟻，從頭又作蚊虻，雖是義因，而招惡果。圓悟和尚曰：『生死之際，處之良不易，唯大達超證之士，一徑截斷則無難。然此雖由自己根力，亦假方便。于常時此小境界，轉得行打得徹，踐履將去，養得純熟，到緣謝之時，自然無性畏。是故古德坐脫立亡，行化倒蛻，能得勇健，皆是平昔淘汰得淨。香林四十年，得成一片；湧泉四十年，尚有走作；石霜勸人休去歇去，古廟香爐去。永嘉云：「體即無生，了本無速。」蓋競競業業，念茲在茲，方得無礙自在。既捨生之後得意生身，隨自意趣後報悉以理遣，不由業牽，所謂透脫生死者耶。』當知諸大師密密履踐，祇是圖個生死好處。路雖不同，期于終淨一也。往有狂僧自負見地，余問之曰：『汝信得出家不？信得身在長安不？』僧愕然曰：『惡得不信？』余曰：『汝夢中，或夢未出家時，見父母兄弟時，或為稚子嬉戲時，是時知身在客不？』僧曰：『不知。』余曰：『論汝信得出家及與行脚，可是極明極徹，汝見道明白，當不過此；然纔到枕上，返僧為俗，易客為家，己自不知，何況生死長夜，靠汝此子見地，焉能保其不顛倒也？』時僧悚然。」

Ninth, those who fall into sudden enlightenment claim: Today's Chan practitioners all say, 'One directly transcends and enters without falling into meritorious effort; one does not even seek to become a Buddha, much less seek rebirth.' In response it is said: As for those who do not seek to become a Buddha, after abandoning this body, will they be utterly extinguished in ash and cessation, or will they still receive a future existence? If they receive a future existence, are they reborn in a Pure Land, or are they reborn in the traidhātuka? If they abide in the traidhātuka, that is inferior to the Pure Land; if in the Pure Land, that is identical to rebirth. Furthermore, a virtuous predecessor said: 'As for a spiritual mentor, although he clearly sees the buddhadhātu as equal to that of a Buddha, when discussing his actual accomplishment, it does not yet match that of the noble ones; he must proceed step by step from this day onward, enhancing and solidifying it.' He also said: 'Cultivating prior to enlightenment is not true cultivation; only this sudden enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation both accords with the Buddhayāna and does not violate the perfect meaning. As for sudden enlightenment and sudden cultivation, this too is gradual cultivation over many lifetimes maturing suddenly in the present life; this must be tested and verified by each person for himself at all times.' If your speech matches your conduct and your conduct matches your speech; if your capacity exhausts the limits of the dharmadhātu and your mind accords with the principle of empty space; if you are unmoved by the eight winds, the three feelings are completely stilled, seeds and active manifestations are both dissolved, and root and derivative [defilements] are utterly extinguished—then, like one free from illness, you should take no medicine. If, however, in active manifestation your afflictions are not yet cut off, your habit-energies remain thick, sentiments arise upon whatever meets your gaze, and you become stuck whenever you encounter sense objects—though you understand the meaning of anutpāda, your power is not yet sufficient. You must not cling to the claim: 'I have already awakened to the emptiness of the nature of afflictions; if I give rise to the intention to cultivate, that would instead be inversion.' Thus, although the nature of afflictions is empty, they can still make one undergo karma; although karmic fruits lack an intrinsic nature, they still serve as the causes of suffering; although pain and suffering are empty, they are just so difficult to endure. It is like contracting a severe disease: the disease is also entirely empty, yet why seek a physician and take medicinal herbs at all costs? The Patriarch said: 'Only when you align a mind like empty space with the principle of empty space, while having no measure of empty space, can you attain freedom from retribution.' Chan Master Wuye of Fenyang said: 'Nowadays, those across the land who understand Chan and understand the Way are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; those who speak of Buddha and speak of mind number in the hundreds of thousands of myriads. If a single speck of dust is not exhausted, one cannot escape saṃsāra; if the slightest thought is not forgotten, all will sink and fall.' People of this sort cannot even recognize their own karmic fruits, yet they falsely speak of benefiting oneself and others, considering themselves superior and on a par with past virtuous masters, merely saying, 'Whatever meets the eye is nothing but the Buddha's work; wherever one steps is entirely the place of practice.' In truth, their practice does not equal that of an ordinary person keeping the five precepts and ten good actions; yet observing their speech, they disparage the two vehicles and tenth-stage bodhisattvas. Furthermore, ghee is the supreme flavor, treasured by the world; yet encountering such people, it turns instead into poison. Even if one's talent matches Aśvaghoṣa and one's understanding equals Nāgārjuna, for merely one or two lifetimes one may not lose a human body; but at the time of death, if the slightest emotional measurement of noble versus ordinary is not exhausted and the finest speck of thought is not forgotten, one will take birth according to those thoughts. Bearing the weight of the five skandhas, one will take form in the womb of a donkey or the belly of a horse, or be boiled and cooked in cauldrons of soup and furnaces of coals. What was previously memorized, recollected, and understood will be lost in an instant; one will become an ant again as before, or start over as a mosquito or midge. Although there was a virtuous cause, it incurs an evil fruit. The Venerable Yuanwu said: 'The verge of saṃsāra is truly not easy to handle; only those of great penetration and transcendent realization who cut through it in one stroke find no difficulty. However, although this relies on one's own root power, it also depends on expedient means. If in ordinary times, amid these minor circumstances, you can transform them and penetrate through them, carry them into practice, and nurture them to full maturity, then when conditions disband, you will naturally be without fear. Therefore, when the ancients passed away sitting or died standing, departed while walking or shed their bodies upside down, their ability to be resolute and vigor-filled was entirely because they had thoroughly cleansed and refined themselves in ordinary times. Xianglin took forty years to achieve oneness; Yongquan after forty years still had slips; Shishuang exhorted people to cease and desist, to become like the incense burner in an ancient temple. Yongjia said: "The essence is itself anutpāda; one clearly understands that fundamentally there is no speed." Only by being cautious, diligent, and mindful of this constantly can one attain unobstructed freedom. After shedding this life, having attained a mind-made body, whether following one's own will or meeting future retributions, all are dismissed through principle and not drawn by karma; is this not what is meant by penetrating and casting off saṃsāra?' One should know that the meticulous practice of these great masters was merely to seek a good outcome at the point of life and death. Although their paths differed, they were one in aiming for final purity. In the past, an arrogant monk took pride in his insight. I asked him, 'Do you genuinely believe that you have left household life? Do you genuinely believe that your body is in Chang'an?' The monk was astonished and said, 'How could I not believe it?' I said, 'In your dreams, when you dream of the time before you left household life, seeing your parents and siblings, or playing as a child—at that time, do you know that you are a traveler far away?' The monk said, 'I do not.' I said, 'As for your believing that you have left household life and are on pilgrimage, it may well be utterly clear and completely penetrated; your clarity in seeing the Way surely does not surpass this. Yet the moment you reach the pillow, you turn back from monk to layman and change traveler into home, completely unaware of it yourself. How much more so in the long night of saṃsāra: relying on your petty insight, how could you ensure you will not be inverted?' The monk was filled with awe and dread.