鎮州臨濟慧照禪師語錄 1.30

1.30

師晚參示眾云：「有時奪人不奪境、有時奪境不奪人、有時人境俱奪、有時人境俱不奪。」時有僧問：「如何是奪人不奪境？」師云：「煦日發生鋪地錦，瓔孩垂髮白如絲。」僧云：「如何是奪境不奪人？」師云：「王令已行天下遍，將軍塞外絕烟塵。」僧云：「如何是人境兩俱奪？」師云：「并汾絕信，獨處一方。」僧云：「如何是人境俱不奪？」師云：「王登寶殿，野老謳歌。」師乃云：「今時學佛法者，且要求真正見解。若得真正見解，生死不染、去住自由，不要求殊勝，殊勝自至。道流！秖如自古先德，皆有出人底路。如山僧指示人處，秖要爾不受人惑，要用便用，更莫遲疑。如今學者不得，病在甚處？病在不自信處。爾若自信不及，即便忙忙地徇一切境轉，被他萬境回換，不得自由。爾若能歇得念念馳求心，便與祖佛不別。爾欲得識祖佛麼？秖爾面前聽法底。是學人信不及，便向外馳求。設求得者，皆是文字勝相，終不得他活祖意。莫錯諸禪德，此時不遇，萬劫千生輪回三界，徇好境掇去，驢牛肚裏生。道流！約山僧見處，與釋迦不別。今日多般用處，欠少什麼？六道神光未曾間歇，若能如是見得，秖是一生無事人。大德！三界無安，猶如火宅，此不是爾久停住處。無常殺鬼一剎那間，不揀貴、賤、老、少。爾要與祖佛不別，但莫外求。爾一念心上清淨光，是爾屋裏法身佛；爾一念心上無分別光，是爾屋裏報身佛；爾一念心上無差別光，是爾屋裏化身佛。此三種身是爾即今目前聽法底人，秖為不向外馳求，有此功用。據經論家取三種身為極則，約山僧見處不然，此三種身是名言、亦是三種依。古人云：『身依義立，土據體論。』法性身、法性土，明知是光影。大德！爾且識取弄光影底人是諸佛之本源，一切處是道流歸舍處。是爾四大色身不解說法聽法、脾胃肝膽不解說法聽法、虛空不解說法聽法，是什麼解說法聽法？是爾目前歷歷底、勿一箇形段孤明，是這箇解說法聽法。若如是見得，便與祖佛不別。但一切時中更莫間斷，觸目皆是，秖為情生智隔想變體殊，所以輪回三界受種種苦。若約山僧見處，無不甚深、無不解脫。道流！心法無形，通貫十方，在眼曰見、在耳曰聞、在鼻嗅香、在口談論、在手執捉、在足運奔。本是一精明，分為六和合。一心既無，隨處解脫。山僧與麼說，意在什麼處？秖為道流一切馳求，心不能歇，上他古人閑機境。道流取山僧見處，坐斷報化佛頭，十地滿心猶如客作兒，等妙二覺擔枷鎖漢，羅漢、辟支猶如廁穢，菩提、涅槃如繫驢橛。何以如此？秖為道流不達三祇劫空，所以有此障礙。若是真正道人，終不如是，但能隨緣消舊業，任運著衣裳，要行即行、要坐即坐，無一念心希求佛果。緣何如此？古人云：『若欲作業求佛，佛是生死大兆。』大德！時光可惜，秖擬傍家波波地學禪、學道，認名、認句，求佛、求祖、求善知識，意度莫錯。道流！爾秖有一箇父母，更求何物？爾自返照看。古人云：『演若達多失却頭，求心歇處即無事。』大德！且要平常莫作模樣，有一般不識好惡禿奴，便即見神、見鬼，指東劃西，好晴、好雨。如是之流盡須抵債，向閻老前吞熱鐵丸有日。好人家男女被這一般野狐精魅所著，便即揑怪瞎屢生！索飯錢有日在。」

The master gave an evening address to the assembly, saying: "Sometimes [I] snatch away the person but do not snatch away the environment; sometimes [I] snatch away the environment but do not snatch away the person; sometimes [I] snatch away both the person and the environment; sometimes [I] snatch away neither the person nor the environment." Then a monk asked: "What is snatching away the person but not snatching away the environment?" The master said: "The gentle sun comes forth, spreading a brocade over the earth; / The infant's drooping hair is white as silk." The monk asked: "What is snatching away the environment but not snatching away the person?" The master said: "The royal command is already carried out throughout the realm; / Beyond the frontier, the general puts an end to smoke and dust." The monk asked: "What is snatching away both the person and the environment?" The master said: "Bing and Fen cut off communication, / Remaining isolated in their own quarter." The monk asked: "What is snatching away neither the person nor the environment?" The master said: "The king ascends the jewel palace; / The rustic elders sing their songs." The master then said: "Nowadays, those who study the Buddha-Dharma must above all seek true and correct insight. If you obtain true and correct insight, birth and death will not defile you, and you will be free to go or stay. Do not seek the extraordinary, and the extraordinary will arrive on its own. Followers of the Way! The ancient masters of old all had ways of liberating people. Where this mountain monk instructs people, I only want you not to be deluded by others: use it when you need to use it, and hesitate no longer. Today's students fail to attain it—where is their ailment? The ailment lies in not trusting themselves. If you lack sufficient self-trust, then you are frantically swept along by all environments, transformed by all ten thousand environments, unable to attain freedom. If you can put to rest the mind that in every thought runs about seeking, you will be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Do you wish to know the patriarchs and Buddhas? It is none other than the one before you listening to the Dharma. It is because you students lack sufficient trust that you go running about outside seeking. Even if you obtain something through seeking, it will all be the glorious marks of words and phrases; in the end you will never obtain the living intention of the patriarchs. Make no mistake, Chan worthies! If you do not encounter it at this time, you will transmigrate through the three realms for myriad kalpas and thousands of lives, carried off by following pleasant environments to be born in the bellies of donkeys and oxen. Followers of the Way! In the view of this mountain monk, you are no different from Śākya[muni]. Amid today's manifold applications, what is lacking? The spiritual light of the six paths has never been interrupted. If you can see it like this, you will simply be a person who has nothing to do for an entire lifetime. Worthies! There is no peace in the three realms, just like a burning house; this is not a place where you can stay for long. In a single kṣaṇa the killer ghost of impermanence does not discriminate between noble, base, old, or young. If you wish to be no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas, just do not seek outside. The pure light in a single thought of your mind is the dharmakāya Buddha in your own house; the non-discriminating light in a single thought of your mind is the sambhogakāya Buddha in your own house; the undifferentiated light in a single thought of your mind is the nirmāṇakāya Buddha in your own house. These three kinds of bodies are the very person before you right now listening to the Dharma; it is only because you do not run about outside seeking that you have these functions. According to the exegetes of the sūtras and treatises, the three kinds of bodies are taken as the ultimate principle. In the view of this mountain monk, it is not so: these three kinds of bodies are nominal designations and are also three kinds of dependencies. An ancient said: 'The bodies are established based on meaning; the lands are discussed based on substance.' The dharmatā body and dharmatā land are clearly known to be reflections of light. Worthies! You must recognize the person who manipulates the light and reflections—that is the fundamental source of all Buddhas, and everywhere is the place where followers of the Way return home. Your physical body of the four great elements cannot explain the Dharma or listen to the Dharma; your spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder cannot explain the Dharma or listen to the Dharma; empty space cannot explain the Dharma or listen to the Dharma. What is it that can explain the Dharma and listen to the Dharma? It is that which is distinct and clear before you, solitary and luminous without a physical form—this is what can explain the Dharma and listen to the Dharma. If you can see it like this, you are no different from the patriarchs and Buddhas. Just do not interrupt it at all times, and whatever meets your eyes will be it. Only because sentiments arise, intellect obstructs, and thoughts change does the substance become distinct; thus you transmigrate through the three realms and suffer all manner of pain. In the view of this mountain monk, there is nothing that is not profound, nothing that is not liberation. Followers of the Way! The mind-dharma is formless and penetrates the ten directions: in the eye it is called seeing, in the ear it is called hearing, in the nose it smells scents, in the mouth it converses, in the hand it grasps, and in the foot it runs. Originally it is a single pure brightness, divided into the six harmonies. Once the single mind is not, there is liberation everywhere. When this mountain monk speaks like this, where does my intention lie? It is only because followers of the Way run about seeking everything, unable to put their minds to rest, falling into the idle machinations and environments of those ancients. Followers of the Way, take the view of this mountain monk and cut off the heads of the sambhoga- and nirmāṇa-Buddhas; the fullness of the tenth stage is like a hired laborer; the two awakenings of equal and sublime [enlightenment] are fellows bearing cangues and locks; arhats and pratyekabuddhas are like privy filth; bodhi and nirvāṇa are like donkey-tethering stakes. Why is this so? It is only because followers of the Way do not understand that the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas are empty, and therefore have these obstacles. If you are a true person of the Way, in the end it is not like this: simply accord with conditions to dissolve past karma, wear your clothes according to circumstances, walk when you wish to walk, sit when you wish to sit, without a single thought of aspiring to the fruit of Buddhahood. Why is this so? An ancient said: 'If you wish to create karma to seek the Buddha, the Buddha is a great omen of birth and death.' Worthies! Time is precious. If you only intend to run from door to door in fluster to study Chan, study the Way, recognize names, recognize phrases, seek the Buddha, seek the patriarchs, seek kalyāṇamitras, do not make a mistaken calculation. Followers of the Way! You have only one set of parents; what else do you seek? Turn the light around and look within yourselves! An ancient said: 'Yajñadatta lost his head; when the seeking mind is put to rest, there is nothing to do.' Worthies! You must simply be ordinary and not put on appearances. There is a class of bald rascals who do not know good from bad: they immediately see spirits and ghosts, point east and mark west, and take pleasure in fine weather or rain. Those of this sort must repay their debts in full; the day will come when they must swallow hot iron pellets before Old Yama. When the sons and daughters of good families are possessed by this sort of wild fox goblin, they make a monstrous spectacle—blind donkeys! The day will come when the cost of your food is demanded back."