撫州曹山元證禪師語錄 1.115

1.115

He also said, "'Not receiving food' is the fall of the noble and exalted: food is one's fundamental matter; knowing the existence of It and not taking it is therefore called the fall of the noble and exalted. 'Wearing fur and sporting horns' is the śramaṇa's fall: not clinging to matters on the śramaṇa's side or the reward-stages of the various sages (one must look at the instruction on different species). 'Not severing sound and form' is the fall according with kind: for a beginner who knows the existence of his own fundamental matter, when turning back the light, expelling sights, sounds, scents, tastes, tangibles, and dharmas to attain tranquility is achieving merit; later, however, he does not cling to the six dusts, falling without being obscured, letting them be without hindrance. Therefore it is said: 'The six non-Buddhist teachers are your teachers; where those teachers fall, you also follow and fall; only then can you take food.' Food is the food of right livelihood, and it is also one's fundamental matter. It is merely that at the gates of the six sense faculties, in seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, one is not defiled by them; this is called 'falling', which is not like being afraid previously. Even one's fundamental matter is not taken, much less the rest; therefore it is said, 'Be careful, be careful.'" Jian said, "What fall is becoming a water buffalo?" Answering on his behalf: "Not abiding in the correct rank and not selecting one's body is only then called the śramaṇa's fall." "What fall is not severing sound and form?" Answering on his behalf: "When ordinary feelings are exhausted and sagely measures are also forgotten, amid the dust of sounds and forms one should not sever further; only then may one take food—this is the fall according with kind." "What fall is not receiving food?" Answering on his behalf: "Thoroughly penetrating the correct cause and not maintaining superior understanding; therefore it is said to be the fall of the noble and exalted." He also said, "As for the śramaṇa's fall, it is neither without its conduct nor without its leisure. Although there is leisure, there is constantly no leisure; although there is conduct, there is constantly no conduct. In this matter one must strictly know the season; do not go this way and that."