圓悟佛果禪師語錄 1.3

1.3

The Buddha expounds the Dharma with a single voice; therefore, all dharmas are identical to this single voice. The Buddhas of the three periods are this single voice; the Patriarchs of the six generations are this single voice; the old venerable masters throughout the realm are this single voice. 'I have the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, entrusted to Mahākāśyapa'—this is just this single voice; 'The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye is annihilated in this blind ass'—this too is this single voice. Even wind rustling through the forest and water murmuring in the responding valley are this voice; thunderclaps and crossing squalls of rain and hail are this voice; human speech, sounds of the market, turtle-doves, snakes, toads, orioles, and autumn cicadas are this voice; three pounds of flax, the cypress tree in the courtyard, attaining the marrow and attaining the skin, 'Old brother, you have not penetrated', the staff leaping up to the Thirty-three Heavens, the Guanyin sesame cake that turns out to be a steamed bun—none of these is other than this voice. Even all words and phrases, a bronze gong holding oil, a silver bowl holding snow, a partridge calling among blossoms, coral supporting the moon, not falling and not dark, through the whole body and across the whole body, 'Bring me your mind and I will pacify it for you', drinking dry the waters of the West River—none of these is other than this voice. If one does not understand them as this voice, but takes them as discordant verbal wrangling and falsely generates discriminations, there is no truth in it. Formerly Yangqi used this voice to inspire the realm; when it reached Great Chan Master Yuanwu, this voice grew even more resonant. Because the Master heard the sound of 'frequently calling Xiaoyu' and the sound recognized by her lover, he thereafter boldly proclaimed this voice, giving no weight to the songs of Deshan and eclipsing the melodies of Yunmen; even Louzi's sound of 'I have no-mind' and Panshan's sound of 'the red wheel sinking in the west' must yield to him, for they are all old frozen pus. Thus, before the Son of Heaven of the Jianyan Restoration, he presented this single voice, and the four seas fell silent, none daring to sound forth. In the Hall of Peace and Bliss on Mount Yunju, he wielded this single voice exclusively; the multitude envied him, yet none dared chime in. Tell me, through whose gracious power did this old fellow attain such extraordinary wonder? Formerly, Confucius was in distress between Chen and Cai; holding a piece of dry wood with his left hand and striking dry branches with his right, he sang the air of the Shennong clan. It had the instrument but not the meter, it had the sound but lacked the pentatonic modes; yet the sound of wood and the human voice naturally resonated with the human heart. He then said: 'Who among singers today could match this? This too is this voice, yet the world has not known it.' Old Master Yuanwu truly understood it! In my early years I served Fojian, and later in life I met the Old Master; inquiring into this single voice, there was no other tune. The disciple Ruoping, who also sings the Master's family melody, compiled the essentials of the Master's sayings to publish them, and requested a preface to crown the front of the volume. If one knows this voice, then Old Master Yuanwu's labors were not spent in vain; if one does not know this voice and seeks understanding through words and letters, that person walks a deviant path and cannot see the Old Master. Written on the twentieth day of the twelfth month of the third year of Shaoxing [1133/4 CE].