撫州曹山本寂禪師語錄 2.2

2.2

Ascending the hall, a monk asked: 'What is a great icchantika?' The Master said: 'One who does not fear karma.' The monk said: 'What is a person of ignorance?' The Master said: 'One who from beginning to end does not awaken.' The monk said: 'Between these two people, who is in front?' The Master said: 'The one of ignorance.' The monk said: 'Why is the icchantika behind?' The Master said: 'One who heads forward.' The monk said: 'If so, then the one of ignorance does not go forward starting from today.' The Master said: 'Yes.' The monk said: 'Since he does not go forward starting from today, where does ignorance come from?' The Master said: 'He does not dare enter a place of light.' The monk said: 'Is this not neither bright nor dark?' The Master said: 'Yes.' The monk said: 'Just at such a time, how is it?' The Master said: 'Not receiving contact.' The Master said further: 'There are many kinds of icchantika. One kind is killing father, killing mother, shedding the Buddha's blood, breaking the harmony of the Saṅgha, and destroying monasteries; these definitely bring actual retribution, suffering various miseries. Another kind also does the same as before, but this is killing the father of ignorance and the mother of greedy attachment, having no faith that there is a Buddha, Dharma, or Saṅgha that can be broken, or monasteries that can be destroyed; reckoning them as attained by karmic mind, they fall, and also suffer various false fruits of retribution, their rises and falls differing as before. Another kind knows existence of one's own fundamental matter, calling it father and mother; it is not obtained from without, having no cultivation and no realization, neither cause nor fruit, not received from a master, not attained through realized practice. Not giving rise to the view of father is called killing; not giving rise to the view of mother is called harming—that is, taking nothing and keeping nothing of all fundamental matters is called killing and harming. As soon as there is the slightest reverence, the attainment of flavour does not succeed; knowing existence of one's own matter, he is therefore called a great icchantika. Through this moving and stirring of wondrous power, this is taking charge of one's own household matter comprehended from the ancestral school above; it directly cuts off the mysterious path and breaks all roundabout ways, just as the Old Man of Xinfeng mysteriously pointed out.'