圓悟佛果禪師語錄 15.43

15.43

道本無言，法本不生，以無言言顯不生法，更無第二頭，才擬追捕，已蹉過也。是故祖師西來特唱此事，只貴言外體取、機外薦取，自非上上根器，何能驀爾承當得？然有志於是者，豈計程限？要須立處孤危，辦得一刀兩段，猛利身心，放下複子，靠著箇似咬猪狗惡手段底，盡情將從前學解露布粘皮貼肉知見，一倒打揲，却使胸次空勞勞地，己思不露，一物不為，便能徹底契證，與從上來不移易一毫髮許。直得如此，更須知有向上超師作略始得。所以古者問佛向上，答非佛，又答。方便呼為佛，則見性成佛乃筌蹄爾。是中云何指東畫西？直須密契自能將護，方得灑灑落落，更說甚證涅槃契生死，皆增語也。雖然，只山僧恁麼道，也未可取為極則，始免佛病祖病。大丈夫漢，圖心要參，豈可立限劑耶？但辦却深信，一往向前，未有不脚踏著實地者。日新日新日日新，日損日損日日損，退步到底便是也。至了是亦不立此，正是作工夫處。

The Way is fundamentally without words; the Dharma is fundamentally unproduced. Using wordless words to reveal the unproduced Dharma, there is no second head; the moment you attempt to pursue it, you have already missed it. Therefore, when the ancestral master came from the West, he specifically promoted this matter, valuing only realizing it beyond words and recognizing it beyond dynamic action. Unless one is of the supreme capacity, how could one suddenly shoulder it? Yet for those who have the resolve for this, how could they calculate a set period of time? You must stand in solitary danger, be able to sever it with a single stroke of the sword, have a vigorous and fierce body and mind, lay down your baggage, and rely on someone with the ruthless methods of biting pigs and dogs. Completely take all previous intellectual explanations, entangling vines, and clinging views, sweep them away in one overturning, and make your chest hollow and empty. Let no personal thoughts appear, do not make a single thing, and then you will be able to thoroughly realize and accord with it, not differing by a hair's breadth from those who have come before. Even when you have attained such a state, you must further know that there is a transcendent tactic that surpasses the masters before you are done. Thus, when an ancient was asked about what transcends the Buddha, he answered: 'Not Buddha.' Asked again, he said: 'Expediently called Buddha.' Then seeing nature and becoming a Buddha are merely fish traps and hare snares. What is there here to point east and gesture west? You must secretly accord with it and be able to protect and care for it yourself; only then will you be completely free and unimpeded. To speak further of realizing nirvāṇa or according with birth and death—these are all superfluous words. Even so, what this mountain monk has said cannot be taken as the ultimate standard; only then will you be free from the disease of Buddhas and the disease of Patriarchs. For a great fellow seeking the essential mind to investigate, how could one set limits? Just generate deep faith and go straight forward; there has never been one who did not set foot on solid ground. Renew it daily, renew it daily, renew it every day; diminish it daily, diminish it daily, diminish it every day. Stepping back to the very bottom—that is just it. In the end, not even this is established—this is precisely where to apply effort.