鎮州臨濟慧照禪師語錄 1.30

1.30

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."