圓悟佛果禪師語錄 14.11

14.11

此箇事，在利根上智之人，一聞千悟不為難，要須根脚牢實諦當徹信，把得定、作得主，於一切違順境界差別因緣打成一片，如太虛空無纖毫障隔，湛湛虛明無有轉變，雖百劫千生始終一如，方可平穩。多見聰俊明敏，根浮脚淺，便向言語上認得轉變，即以世間無可過上，遂增長見刺，逞能逞解、逞言語快利，將謂佛法只如此，及至境界緣生，透脫不行，因成進退，良可痛惜。是故古人直是千魔萬難悉皆嘗遍，雖七處割截亦不動念，一往操心猶如鐵石，以至透脫生死渾不費力，豈不是大丈夫超詣慷慨所存也。

For a person of sharp faculties and superior wisdom, hearing once and awakening to a thousand things is not difficult in this matter. One must have a firm and solid footing, verify with thorough faith, hold fast and take charge, and forge into one piece all agreeable and contrary realms along with differentiated conditions. Like empty space without the slightest obstruction, clear, still, empty, and luminous without change, remaining completely uniform from beginning to end through hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes—only then can one be steady and secure. One often sees clever and bright individuals whose roots are buoyant and footing shallow; as soon as they recognize verbal shifts, they consider nothing in the world to surpass them, whereupon their thorns of views grow, displaying ability, understanding, and quick fluency of speech, thinking that the Buddhadharma is merely this. When circumstances and conditions arise, they fail to penetrate and escape, and thus fall into hesitation and retreat, which is truly lamentable. Therefore, the ancients truly tasted all of the thousands of demons and myriad difficulties; even if cut into pieces in seven places, they did not stir a thought, maintaining their minds resolutely like iron and stone, so that penetrating and escaping birth and death took no effort at all. Is this not what a great person of transcendent attainment and noble magnanimity preserves?