撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄 1.80

1.80

示眾曰：「僧家在此等衣線下，理須會通向上事，莫作等閑。若也承當處分明，即轉他諸聖，向自己背後，方得自由；若也轉不得，直饒學得十成，却須向他背後叉手，說甚麼大話。若轉得自己，則一切麁重境來，皆作得主宰，假如泥裏倒地，亦作得主宰。如有僧問藥山曰：『三乘教中，還有祖意也無？』答曰：『有。』僧云：『既有，達磨又來作麼？』藥山曰：『只為有，所以來。』豈非作得主宰轉得歸自己乎？如經云：『大通智勝佛，十劫坐道場，佛法不現前，不得成佛道。』言劫者滯也，謂之十成，亦云斷滲漏也，只是十道頭絕矣，不忘大果，故云：『守住耽著，名為取次，承當不分貴賤。』我常見叢林，好論一般兩般，還能成立得事麼？此等但是說向去事路布。汝不見，南泉曰：『饒汝十成，猶較王老師一線道。』也大難，事到此直須仔細始得明白自在，不論天堂地獄餓鬼畜生，但是一切處不移易，元是舊時人，只是不行舊時路。若有忻心，還成滯著；若脫得，揀甚麼？古德云：『只恐不得輪迴。』汝道作麼生？只如今人，說箇淨潔處，愛說向去事，此病最難治。若是世間麁重事却是輕，淨潔病為重，只如佛味祖味，盡為滯著。先師曰：『擬心是犯戒，若也得味是破齋。』且喚什麼作味？只是佛味祖味，纔有忻心，便是犯戒。若也如今說破齋破戒，即今三羯磨時，早破了也。若是麁重貪嗔癡，雖難斷，却是輕；若也無為無事淨潔，此乃重無以加也。祖師出世，亦只為這箇，亦不獨為汝，今時莫作等閑。黧奴白牯修行却快，不是有禪有道；如汝種種馳求，覓佛覓祖乃至菩提涅槃，幾時休歇成辦乎，皆是生滅心。所以不如黧奴白牯，兀兀無知，不知佛不知祖乃至菩提涅槃及以善惡因果，但饑來喫草，渴來飲水。若能恁麼，不愁不成辦。不見道：『計較不成，是以知有。』乃能披毛戴角，牽犁拽來，得此便宜，始較些子。不見彌勒、阿閦及諸妙喜等世界，被他向上人喚作無慚愧懈怠菩薩，亦曰變易生死，尚恐是小懈怠，在本分事合作麼生？大須仔細始得。人人有一坐具地，佛出世侵他不得，恁麼體會修行，莫趁快利。欲知此事，饒令成佛成祖去，也只這是；便墮三塗地獄六道去，也只這是。雖然沒用處，要且離他不得，須與他作主宰始得。若作得主宰，即是不變易；若作主宰不得，便是變易也。不見永嘉云：『莽莽蕩蕩招殃禍。』」問：「如何是莽莽蕩蕩招殃禍？」曰：「只這箇總是。」問云：「如何免得？」曰：「知有即得，用免作麼？但是菩提涅槃煩惱無明等，總是不要免，乃至世間麁重之事，但知有便得，不要免，免即同變易去也。乃至成佛成祖、菩提涅槃，此等殃禍為不小。因甚麼如此，只為變易，若不變易，直須觸處自由始得。」

Addressing the assembly, [the Master] said: "We monastics, under this patched robe, fundamentally must understand and penetrate the matter of transcendence; do not take it lightly. If your taking charge of it is distinct and clear, then you turn all the sages and put them behind your own back, only then attaining freedom. If you cannot turn them, even if you study to complete perfection, you will still have to fold your hands behind their backs—what big talk could you give then? If you can turn yourself, then when all coarse and heavy circumstances arrive, you can act as their master in every case; even if you fall flat into the mud, you still act as master. For instance, a monk asked Yaoshan: 'In the teachings of the Three Vehicles, is there still the ancestral intention or not?' [Yaoshan] replied: 'There is.' The monk said: 'Since there is, what did Bodhidharma come for?' Yaoshan said: 'Precisely because there is, therefore he came.' Is this not acting as master and turning [it] back to oneself? As the sūtra says: 'Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū Buddha sat at the place of awakening for ten kalpas, yet the Buddhadharma did not appear before him, and he could not achieve the Buddha Way.' Speaking of 'kalpas' means stagnation; calling it 'ten completions' also refers to cutting off leakage, which is merely severing the ten paths. Without forgetting the great fruit, it is therefore said: 'Keeping still and clinging is called haphazard; taking charge does not distinguish noble and base.' I often see in the monasteries a fond debate over this kind or that kind—can they actually establish the matter? These are merely spreading verbal tracks toward what lies ahead. Have you not seen that Nanquan said: 'Even granted that you reach ten completions, you are still separated from Teacher Wang by a thread of a path'? It is extremely difficult. When the matter comes to this point, one must examine it minutely before achieving clarity and ease. Without distinguishing heaven, hell, hungry ghosts, or animals, as long as one is unmoving everywhere, fundamentally one is the person of old, simply not walking the old path. If there is a fond mind, it still turns into stagnation and attachment; if one can break free, what choice is there? An ancient worthy said: 'One only fears not attaining samsāra.' What do you say? People today only speak of a pure and clean place and love to speak of things lying ahead; this sickness is the hardest to cure. If it is worldly coarse and heavy matters, they are actually light; the sickness of purity and cleanliness is heavy. Just as with the flavour of the Buddhas and the flavour of the patriarchs, all are stagnation and attachment. My late master said: 'Deliberating in mind is breaking the precepts; if one obtains the flavour, it is breaking the fast.' And what is called flavour? It is merely the flavour of the Buddhas and the flavour of the patriarchs; as soon as there is a fond mind, that is breaking the precepts. If we speak of breaking the fast and breaking the precepts nowadays, then right at the time of the three karmavācanās, they were already broken. If it is coarse and heavy greed, anger, and delusion, though hard to sever, they are actually light; but if it is non-action, non-affair, and purity and cleanliness, this is heavy beyond compare. The Ancestral Master's coming into the world was only for this; it was not solely for you either. Nowadays do not take it lightly. The cultivation of tawny cats and white oxen is actually swift; it is not that they possess Chan or possess the Way. With your various sorts of chasing and seeking, looking for Buddha, looking for patriarchs, even up to bodhi and nirvāṇa—when will you ever rest and accomplish it? These are all minds of arising and ceasing. Therefore you are not as good as tawny cats and white oxen, inert and unknowing, knowing neither Buddha nor patriarchs, nor even bodhi, nirvāṇa, good and evil, cause and effect—merely eating grass when hungry and drinking water when thirsty. If you can be like this, have no fear of not accomplishing it. Have you not seen it said: 'Calculation fails, thereby one knows existence'? Only then can one wear fur and bear horns, pulling the plough and dragging the harrow; having gained this advantage, one begins to compare a little. Have you not seen that Maitreya, Akṣobhya, and worlds like Abhirati are called by those above them 'bodhisattvas without shame and indolent', also called 'inconceivable transformation death and birth'? Still it is feared to be a minor indolence; in the fundamental affair, what should one do? One must be extremely careful to get it right. Everyone has the ground of a sitting mat; a Buddha appearing in the world cannot usurp it. When comprehending and cultivating like this, do not rush for quick benefit. If you wish to know this matter: even if you become a Buddha and become a patriarch, it is just this; even if you fall into the three paths, the hells, and the six destinies, it is just this. Although it is of no use, you still cannot be parted from it; you must act as its master to get it right. If you can act as master, then that is being unalterable; if you cannot act as master, then it is transformation. Have you not seen Yongjia say: 'Brashly and recklessly incurring disasters'?