圓悟佛果禪師語錄 10

English (machine translation) 10

Language: English

10.1

Compiled by Disciple Shaolong and Others of Tiger Hill Mountain, Pingjiang Prefecture, Song Dynasty

At an informal gathering at Jiangshan Temple, the Master said: "Meeting together without bringing anything out, as soon as an intention arises, knowing it is there—this is to display muddleheadedness before an assembly of ten thousand. It is not the dynamic before the eyes, nor is it the matter before the eyes—this is to swallow defeat three thousand miles away. Even if the entire universe and great earth have not a single thread of Dharma that can be taken as an object, quietly cutting off all confusion, so that the thousand sages dare not harbor doubt or debate, placing it upon the crowns of all the buddhas—reaching this point, why speak further of wielding the staff or shouting, discussing the correct and the biased, having speech or silence, cutting off the mysterious and wondrous, simultaneously letting go and gathering in, dying together and living together—making a living within a nesting hollow? Right at such a time, how will you investigate it? How will you grasp it? How will you handle it? How will you realize and enter it? If you resort to the slightest bit of contrivance, you will immediately see ghosts and spirits; if you make not the slightest contrivance, you will inevitably fall into the realm of doing nothing. This matter is like Master Hugong's gourd, containing of itself heaven, earth, sun, and moon. Therefore Master Xuefeng said: 'Take the whole earth and gather it up, it is the size of a grain of millet.' He also said: 'The whole earth is the single eye of a śramaṇa.' Yanguan also said: 'Using empty space as a drum and Mount Sumeru as a drumstick, who can strike it?' Nanquan said: 'Old Teacher Wang does not strike this broken drum.' Fayan said: 'Old Teacher Wang does not strike it.' Xuansha said: 'In the deep mountains and rocky crags, where no one has reached for a thousand or ten thousand years, is there still Buddhadharma or not?' Great Master Yunmen said: 'Coming and going by daylight, distinguishing people by daylight—if suddenly told to fetch an object in the night, where sun, moon, and lamp have never reached, how will you fetch it?' Cases like these, if not thoroughly penetrated, with the slightest obstruction, are like mountains and peaks; but if you thoroughly penetrate them completely, when you need to go, you go—what more would you doubt? Even so, you must truly arrive at this ground before you can let go your hands at the edge of a ten-thousand-fathom cliff and take a step from the top of a hundred-foot pole. Tell me, after all, how to understand this matter thoroughly? Brushing shoulders as we pass our fellow travelers on the road: you head for Xiaoxiang, and I go to Qin. He stepped down from the seat."

10.4

The Master said: "Knowing where it lands at a single mention is already the eighth head; thirty blows before stepping across the ship's rail is still the ninth head. Even if one cuts it off directly prior to the empty kalpa and on that side of King Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja, it is much like driving in a stake to row a scull, or gluing the bridges to tune a zither. Even if one displays the dynamic before the eyes and employs the matter before the eyes, with one question and one answer, one push and one press, one going out and one coming in—it is just like opening one's eyes and wetting the bed, or standing upright and dreaming. If you are a clear-eyed fellow, you must know that it is not thus. Therefore, regarding the matter handed down from above, all that is needed is an extraordinary person to directly undertake it and cut off the tongues of everyone under heaven. Is there such a person? If not, I cannot help but mix with the mud and water, extending a hand into the thorn forest." He then held up his whisk and said: "Do you still see? The buddhas of the three periods, the six generations of patriarchs, and all the old venerable masters under heaven are all right here. Even the myriad phenomena, the sun, moon, stars, and constellations, the four sages and six ordinary beings, all beings across the boundless oceans of fragrant water down to midges and gnats—all sentient beings are completely right here. Even you all in your daily functioning are also right here. Only this mountain monk is not right here. Tell me, why is it like this? The same path, but not the same tracks; dying together, but not living together. If someone in the assembly should suddenly not be thus either, I allow that you possess a single eye. Right at such a time, how is it? Dīpaṅkara from the Golden Ground waves his hand from afar; Zhiyi at Jiangling nods in silence. He stepped down from the seat."

10.5

The Master said: "There is an echo within words; within the phrase, dynamic sharpness is presented. Knowing what is to come by telling what has gone; grasping the beginning and understanding the end—only such a person can understand such a matter. Take all of you, for example: just now, when the bell had not yet sounded, the drum had not yet beaten, and you had not yet arrived here, were there all these many matters? Was there any principle of question and answer? If one is an adept, one knows before anything is raised and penetrates before anything is spoken; and when principle follows phenomena in shifting, and phenomena pursue principle to completion—the bell having sounded and the drum having beaten—the great assembly crowds upward in this way, with question and answer, guest and host. Tell me, is there still such a matter within this? If there were such a definite principle, that would be deceiving one another to the face; in reality, there is no such matter. Since there is no such matter, what then is it? You must know that for ten thousand miles there is not a scrap of cloud, for ten thousand miles not an inch of grass. Therefore it is said: 'If you wish to be intimate, do not bring a question to ask.' Sometimes the question is in the place of the answer; sometimes the answer is in the place of the question. Although it is like this, fundamentally the question is not in the place of the answer, and the answer is not in the place of the question. It is also said: 'It is not that the ācārya does not bring it; it is not that this mountain monk does not bestow it.' Possessing the vajra eye within this, undertaking it upon the ground of your fundamental lot, then there is neither what is acceptable nor what is unacceptable. I venture to ask the great assembly: how do you express the phrase that gets to reality? Without clarifying the seal of the mind ground, it is difficult to pass through Zhaozhou's barrier. He stepped down from the seat."

10.6

The Master said: "Proclaiming directly in the open cuts straight to the root source, piercing past and present, transcending ordinary emotion and leaving views behind. Being thus, being thus—both apertures are brightly illuminated; not being thus, not being thus—both concealing and universally illuminating; within being thus there is not being thus, and within not being thus there is being thus—from the clump of grass leaps out a tailless tiger. If you can leave these three phrases behind and turn around the transcendent dynamic, you will know that beneath your own feet lies this one great matter, radiant through past and present, far beyond knowledge and view. Even though the Patriarch came from the west, and the buddhas appeared in the world, not a single hair was added; even if the buddhas had not appeared in the world and the Patriarch had not come from the west, not a single hair would have been subtracted. Clean and naked, bare and untrammeled: like a seal stamping space, like a seal stamping water, like a seal stamping mud. You must not rely on a single thing, not fall into seeing, hearing, perception, or knowing, and not dwell in right, wrong, gain, or loss. Even if you are thus, you still fall where the patriarchs pointed. Therefore it is said: 'Ever since there were patriarchs, if one takes the patriarchs' words and teachings as a model for people, it turns out to deceive them.' He merely said that no-dharma is fundamentally the Way; he also said: 'The Buddha taught all dharmas to save all minds; I have no mind at all, so of what use are all dharmas?' Since you have no mind at all and do not use all dharmas, then right here it is thrown wide open—do you still know where it lands? This mountain monk will reveal a bit of news: you must know that an extraordinary person accords with this extraordinary matter. He stepped down from the seat."

10.7

The Master said: 'Sitting upright in the hall, face-to-face without selfishness, free of characteristics and cutting off names, hitting the mark when meeting the dynamic; revealing a form and opening a thread of a path, raising a face to show a little bridge—like seeing smoke beyond the mountain and already knowing it is fire, or seeing horns beyond the wall and already knowing it is an ox. If one insists solely on following numbers and chasing names, seeking the mysterious and searching for the subtle, then one loses the great matter under one's own feet and buries the family style of the buddhas and patriarchs from of old. Just now, without relying on a single thing and without manifesting a trace of news, is there anyone who can corroborate this together? If you can corroborate it, blocking off the vital ford so neither ordinary person nor sage can pass, you will not each beat your own breast where old Śākyamuni modeled and drew patterns two thousand years ago. Why? A great fellow does not stay where others stay, and does not use what others use. The steps of the patriarchs are the second head; surpassing buddhas and leaping over patriarchs is the third chief; being stark naked and clean and unencumbered, standing alone and exposed in broad daylight, is the eighth understanding. Therefore it is said: "Only the final phrase reaches the barrier fortress, blocking off the vital ford so neither ordinary person nor sage can pass." If one is a person of the superior stream, one does not take the patriarchs' verbal teachings as an exemplar for others. It would be like a turtle bearing a diagram, bringing on itself the omen of losing its life; or a phoenix entangled in a golden net, when could it ever hope to reach the high heavens? Tonight, I take them all away at once for you all. Dare I ask the great assembly: how do you speak a phrase that does not fall into the verbal teachings of the patriarchs? When myriad conditions do not reach the place of no-mind, / In the end it is entirely like gazing at a donkey in a well.' He stepped down from the seat.

10.8

The Master said: 'If one acts completely according to the command, scolding the buddhas and reviling the patriarchs, cutting off the myriad streams, it directly makes Śākyamuni, Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra find no way to retreat, and Linji, Deshan, Zhaozhou, and Muzhou stare wide-eyed with mouths agape—for thousands of miles there is not a wisp of cloud, and before deliberation can arise, thirty blows are given. When holding forth like this, a patch-robed monk of true character shows even greater luster, while beginning students have nowhere to grope. If one completely extends compassion and enters the weeds, setting up questions and establishing answers, preserving the host and preserving the guest, having a beginning and having an end, discussing discrepancies amid the armor and weapons of the three mysteries, distinguishing black from white within the four dispositions, threads coming and going, illumination and function operating side by side, each underfoot merely clarifying one great dynamic, this one matter alone with no other matter—when holding forth like this, a thread of a path opens for beginning students, yet it cannot help but be laughed at by patch-robed monks. There being "not so" within "so", and "so" within "not so"; provisional and real functioning together, illumination and function marching side by side; the discrepancies of buddhas and patriarchs, free of names and cutting off characteristics, not keeping to a nest, singularly clarifying the one transcendent road—this is still everyday fare. If one further overturns all this prolixity, then above is heaven, below is earth, mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monks are monks, and laypeople are laypeople. Free of so many gains and losses, mysteries and subtleties, one again falls into the armor of no-affairs. The four ways of directing [teachings] for people are, at this moment, completely taken away for you all. Tell me: what is it ultimately? Therefore it is said: "If you wish to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you must observe the causes and conditions of the season. When the season arrives, its principle manifests of itself." Just like this present season: the great patron has finished offering the vegetarian meal, ascending the hall is completed, the repentance of transgressions is completed, the dedication for the deceased is completed—what more would you have this mountain monk say? If you can not see with eyes, not hear with ears, not think with mind, and not speak with mouth, then for thousands of miles you see the discrepancy, and thousands and tens of thousands of phrases are completely pierced through. If you understand like this, you can thoroughly penetrate ancient and modern; yet you must still know there is the transcendent matter to get it. Dare I ask the great assembly: what is the transcendent matter? The moon in empty space over the eternally ancient green pool, / Only after scooping again and again should it be known.' He stepped down from the seat.

10.9

The Master said: 'If the buddhas had not appeared in the world, where would this news come from? If the patriarchs had not come from the west, the trouble brought upon later generations would have been avoided. Right at such a time, the sky of itself is high, the earth of itself is thick, the sun, moon, and stars are luminous, and humans, things, and realms are vast—not a single thread has ever shifted. Why not recognize it right here? If you can recognize it here, you are certainly a Daoist of no-affairs. When it comes to the buddhas appearing in the world, bringing forth the causes and conditions of the one great matter, and the patriarchs coming from the west, transmitting and upholding the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, causing all who hear and see to give rise to a rare mind and form thoughts of it being hard to encounter, each relying on buddhas and patriarchs, climbing the steps and surpassing stages, realizing the unconditioned and attaining the holy fruit—if you can recognize it like this, you are also a Daoist of no-affairs. Moreover, there is one possessing great icchantika nature who does not give rise to the root of faith, meeting a buddha and rebuking the buddha, encountering a patriarch and scolding the patriarch, even extinguishing the buddhas and extinguishing the patriarchs, causing people not to see a buddha and not to hear the Dharma; stark naked and clean and unencumbered, the entire body is just a true and real person. If you can recognize it here, you are also a Daoist of no-affairs. There is one who can fully believe and hold fast, practicing in reliance on the Buddha without attaching to the Buddha, verifying in reliance on the patriarchs without attaching to the patriarchs, skilled at establishing the Dharma banner and able to institute the lineage tenets, praising buddhas and praising patriarchs like adding brocade on flowers, even above heaven and below heaven like gold and jade. If you can recognize it here, you are also a Daoist of no-affairs. Among these four Daoists of no-affairs, if one must be selected as master, tell me: which one would you select as master? If you can speak, step forward and try to speak; if you cannot speak, this mountain monk cannot avoid letting out a bit of news: Wearing a coir raincoat, standing askance beyond a thousand peaks; / Drawing water to irrigate vegetables before the Five Old Men.' He stepped down from the seat.

10.10

The Master said: 'Leaving behind words and leaving behind characteristics, there is none of this whatsoever; though it is quiet and silent, one only fears falling into dead water. Showing characteristics and revealing words is like adding flowers onto brocade; though it is bustling and noisy, one only fears entering a forest of thorns. Between these two paths, it is still the place where worldly people rise and fall. Not falling into the rising and falling of worldly people, and not dwelling in these two paths, how then can it be demonstrated? Do you still understand here? There is a road reaching to heaven, there is a dynamic cutting off sages; stretching one's body horizontally across the fierce tiger's mouth, scratching an itch on the poisonous snake's head—this is everyday fare. Therefore it is said: "Before King Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja, was awakening on one's own without a master permissible? Why? He is allowed an achievement surpassing a master. After King Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja, one must be launched by a master. Why? For fear of falling into heavenly demons and heterodox paths." Therefore it is said: "Sometimes a phrase can serve as master to patriarchs and buddhas; sometimes a phrase is fit to serve as master to humans and devas." When you penetrate through, believe fully, see thoroughly, and hold fast, only then do you accord with the ancients. Have you not seen it said: "One whose insight surpasses the master is fit to receive the transmission; one whose insight equals the master diminishes the master's virtue by half." Just take old Śākyamuni now—is he not a master? Great Master Bodhidharma—is he not a master? Is there anyone whose insight surpasses old Śākyamuni and Great Master Bodhidharma? Try to come forward and show a bit of news, so that we may see the seed-stock from of old. Is there anyone? Is there anyone? If not: if one did not shoot the stone tiger at Lantian, one would have almost killed General Li in vain.'

10.11

The Master said: '"Phrases and non-phrases are like wisteria leaning on a tree." The fragrant bait on the hook is most treacherous. "The ultimate Dao is not difficult, it only dislikes picking and choosing." Worldly people's nests leave nothing to grope for. If one is a patch-robed monk possessing the eye on the crown of the head, one distinguishes clues from three thousand miles away; a lineage master who possesses the forge of an adept has already handed it over before stepping across the ship's rail. Therefore it is said: "Here it is an eighty-year-old grandfather entering the examination hall; it is no child's play—every single one must be a fellow who possesses the true diamond eye to begin with." A fellow with clear eyes has no fixed grooves; merely revealing the slight bit before the eyes, biting away and biting down, sometimes entirely not going, sometimes entirely not staying. If discussing combat, everyone's strength lies in the turn; why speak further of Buddha, speak of patriarch, speak of mind, speak of nature, speak of the mysterious, speak of the subtle, speak of being, or speak of non-being? Under a single stroke of the brush there is only one sword; beneath the sword there is the intention of dividing the body, and also the road of making an emergence. Yet if among you there is one who sheds emotional interpretations, discards medicinal cautions, recognizes dynamics and circumstances, and distinguishes good from ill fortune, try to come forward and speak before the assembly, so that everyone may know it is there. Although it is like this, you must genuinely arrive at this ground to begin with. Dare I ask everyone: is it worldly people's nest, or the fragrant bait on the hook? Do you understand clearly? The view of the ordinary current has already been shed before the eyes; / Outside the rule, you must know the name of an adept.'

10.12

The Master said: 'Just "so" cuts off the tongues of the people of the world; "not so" pierces the nostrils of patch-robed monks of true character; "not so" within "so" seeks to discern dragons from snakes; "so" within "not so" seeks to capture tigers and rhinos. Setting aside the four phrases, what else is there? One may also be permitted to possess a single eye. Why? Taking in both and releasing both, darkening both and brightening both, dying together and living together, gaining together and losing together—this is not beyond one's due. Although it is like this, it is still a matter on the side of establishment. If taking the self-enjoyment among patch-robed monks, it is definitely not so. As for the place of self-enjoyment among patch-robed monks, is there anyone who clarifies it? If one cannot clarify it, the Buddha Dharma has no spiritual efficacy; if one can clarify it, one completely looks down upon all people. Tonight I might as well mix water and stir mud, stir mud and mix water in the wild grass to discuss it with you all. Have you not seen Nanquan say: "Patriarchs and buddhas do not know it exists, but wildcats and white oxen do know it exists"? And he said: "When you babble like toddlers, why do you not investigate it for yourselves, instead of waiting until you have much knowledge and much understanding, and then coming to butt heads with the old monk?" And he said: "Calling it 'suchness' has already altered it; people of today must go straight into the midst of different species." And he said: "Practitioners of the Dao who are like fools and blockheads are hard to find." Zhaozhou said: "I have seen thousands, hundreds, and millions of fellows, all of whom are people seeking to become buddhas; among them, seeking a single Daoist of no-mind cannot be attained." Great Master Yunmen said: "Venerable monks, do not have false thoughts: mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monks are monks, laypeople are laypeople; seeing a staff just call it a staff, seeing a lantern just call it a lantern—this is called directly facing the substance and being entirely real." Just at such a place, is anyone allowed to make an understanding of gain and loss? Truly it discusses the real and not the empty, directly being like wildcats and white oxen, directly being like dry wood and rotten stumps devoid of breath, foolish and simple, dim and dazed; even if a thousand buddhas appear in the world, they do not know it, regarding Gautama just like yellow leaves. Only then are they cast of pig iron, whom thousands and tens of thousands of people cannot snare or cage. How do you speak a phrase of solitary emancipation? Do not say that no-mind is called the Dao; / No-mind is still separated by a double barrier.'

10.13

At an informal gathering requested by a donor, the Master said: "The entire great earth is a gate of liberation; each and every thing verifies entry into the Tathāgatagarbha of boundless kṣetra-oceans, intimately and continuously embracing all. Where it is brought up, it towers steep and high; when in function, it is clean and stark naked. It is, for example, like a mass of blazing fire—approach it, and it scorches your face; it is also like the sword Taia—cross it, and your spirit is startled and your gall trembles. If one knows of such a thing, takes responsibility for it right down to the bone and marrow, there is no need for pecking and tapping. If one still retains looking and listening, remaining stranded in skin and flesh, one must break through the diamond cage and swallow the chestnut burr. If you break through one cage, then hundreds of thousands of miriads of cages are broken through all at once; if you swallow one burr, then countless billions of burrs are swallowed all at once. This can serve as an extraordinary cause; this can manifest an exquisite sign: without sins to be confessed, the defilements of sin are wiped away; without enmities to be resolved, hostile grudges are dissolved. Manifesting all that is inconceivable and performing boundless, exquisite deeds requires only this single path of pure emptiness—no further roundabout steps are needed. Right at such a time, how do you utter the pivotal phrase? / Before sound, the vajra eye juts forth; / In the snap of a finger, eighty thousand gates are completely fulfilled." / He added in verse: / "Confessing sins cleanses defilements, / Resolving grudges unties knots; / Like the sun melting frost, / Like hot soup poured over snow. / Clouds disperse in the vast sky, / A single orb shines white and clear; / Resonating with the Way, / Melons continuously flourish upon the vine."

10.14

At an informal gathering requested by Court Gentleman Deng, the Master said: "When the grand dynamic sings alone, the thousand sages hide their tracks; when a single phrase faces the sun, the ten directions are cut off. It pays no heed to being, nor is it bound by non-being; it does not take in the sacred, nor does it establish the profane. Clearly without concealment, clearly without leakage, the eye on the crown of the head shines, and mountains, rivers, and the great earth are fully manifest; the talisman behind the elbow opens, and the myriad phenomena instantly appear. Having such an extraordinary sign and having such an exquisite gate, it seeks only transcendent adepts and receives vessels of the Great Vehicle. Therefore it is said: 'Casting the line across the four oceans, it fishes only for fierce dragons; the mysterious dynamic beyond the conventional is to search for spiritual friends.' If one has sharp faculties and the wisdom of species, possessing the nature of great liberation, then hearing one is hearing all, understanding one is understanding all, seeing one is seeing all, realizing one is realizing all—clean and naked, bare and unadorned. Right now, is there anyone who can speak? Come out from the assembly and show some news! If you cannot yet speak, this mountain monk will open wide right here. Do you understand? / Those of sharp faculties and superior wisdom must fully realize it; / The ten stages of sages and three ranks of worthies are surpassed in a single thought." / He added in verse: / "Peerless is that superior man of Vaiśālī; / The eye on the crown of his head illuminates heaven and earth. / Relying solely on that which is wordless, / He completely opens the non-dual gate throughout the world."

10.15

At an informal gathering requested by Zhishan of Taiping Temple in Chuzhou, the Master said: "Where the patriarchal Buddhas cannot lift it up, it is just right to apply effort; where demons and outsiders peek and cannot see, one should apply strength all the more vigorously. Even if your whole body were an eye, you still could not fully illuminate it; even if your whole body were a mouth, you still could not describe it. In the deep places there is mutual interpenetration; in the secret places there are misjudgments. Arriving here, Deshan has his staff: regardless of whether a Buddha comes or a Patriarch comes, he dispenses it equally; Linji has his shout: regardless of whether a Buddha comes or a Patriarch comes, he displays it equally. If you look under the staff, you will inevitably deceive your heart; if you recognize it under the shout, you will be even more at fault. You must know that a transcendent person possesses the talisman behind the elbow that changes bones and marrow, penetrates color and sound, penetrates the sacred and the profane, and penetrates open and seeing. Therefore it is said: 'If you sit, I stand; if you stand, I sit. If both sit together or stand together, both are blind men.' Arriving here, can one still speak of mind and nature? Can one speak of mystery and wonder? Can one speak of principle and phenomena? Can one speak of gain and loss? If there is any such thing, all of them are spirits clinging to grass and trees. But how do you utter the phrase of solitary emergence? / Where one turns one's body upon the summit of Mount Sumeru; / When one lets go of one's hands at the top of a hundred-foot pole." / He added in verse: / "In years past, you relied upon me and received repeated regard; / This spring, favored again, you crossed the river and came. / Sharing the same style, we further discuss affairs of the same style; / With a thousand hands on the whole body, the true eye opens."

10.16

When the two elders Wen and Lun made offerings on behalf of [the late] An of the Huayan [tradition] and requested an informal gathering, a monk asked: "What is the dharmadhātu of principle?" The Master said: "Not moving a single hair." The monk continued: "What is the dharmadhātu of phenomena?" The Master said: "Crisscrossing in all directions." The monk continued: "What is the dharmadhātu of non-obstruction between principle and phenomena?" The Master said: "Copper head and iron forehead; iron forehead and copper head." The monk continued: "What is the dharmadhātu of non-obstruction between phenomena and phenomena?" The Master said: "Layer upon layer, without end; everywhere manifesting the true body." The Master then said: "Speech uttered is not sound—standing high on the peak; colors presented are not objects—walking deep on the ocean floor. Where the complete dynamic turns, there is no taking hold; when presented face-to-face, mutual interpenetration is cut off. Free from mind, intellect, and consciousness, not seeing, hearing, perceiving, or knowing, one must thoroughly clarify the eye of Dharma wisdom and the clear wisdom free from thought. Only then, when a single speck of dust is just raised, the great earth is fully gathered in; a lion upon a single hair-tip instantly manifests on hundreds of billions of hair-tips, so that the one becomes the immeasurable and the immeasurable becomes the one; the great manifests within the small and the small manifests within the great; broad as the dharmadhātu, subtle as entering neighbouring emptiness, nowhere is it not pervasive, nowhere is it not complete. Within the great Dharma-nature ocean of Vairocana, regardless of sacred or profane, regardless of sentient or insentient, each and every one is blocked off without leaking a hairsbreadth; everywhere the constant light manifests before us; each and every one stands like a precipice of a thousand fathoms. If you speak of the dharmadhātu of principle, the dharmadhātu of phenomena, the dharmadhātu of non-obstruction between principle and phenomena, and the dharmadhātu of non-obstruction between phenomena and phenomena, it has absolutely no connection. Even if you attain realization under the staff, take responsibility under the shout, see through roots and dust on the other side of the empty kalpa, and understand with total clarity before the King of Awesome Sound, you still cannot avoid being inside a nest. But how do you utter the phrase of leaving the nest? / The momentum of a thousand peaks halts at the mountain range; / The sound of myriad streams disperses upon returning to the sea."

10.17

At the informal gathering for beginning the summer retreat: A monk asked Master Ma: "'Free from the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations, please, Master, answer the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West.' Mazu said: 'I am tired today and cannot explain it for you; go ask Xitang.' What is the meaning of this?" The Master said: "Three heads and two faces." The monk continued: "The monk asked Xitang, and Xitang said: 'I have a headache today; go ask Brother Hai.' What about that?" The Master said: "In the same pit there is no different dirt." The monk continued: "The monk asked Brother Hai, and Hai said: 'Arriving here, I do not understand.' What about that?" The Master said: "A black lacquer tub produces light in the night." The monk continued: "When the monk related this to Mazu, Mazu said: 'Zang's head is white, Hai's head is black.' What about that?" The Master said: "Outsiders are not permitted to know." The Master then said: "A world is hidden within a single grain of millet; only then can one dwell peacefully in kṣetra-oceans numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Untouched by myriad conditions, surpassing a thousand distinctions, one surpasses and verifies the unproduced, equal to great space. At the ultimate reality, no sound is permitted; at the ultimate depth, there is no mutual interpenetration. Brightly covering heaven and earth, distinctly extending from ancient times to the present, it cuts off a thousand distinctions and stands like a precipice of ten thousand fathoms. Where the thousand sages cannot prompt or prod is where a monk puts down his bundle; where thousands and miriads of people cannot encircle or cage him is when a person of non-action and no-affairs snaps his staff. Although vast in responding to conditions, it remains as-it-is and unmoving. Sometimes in the demon's palace and the tiger's den it turns the great wheel of Dharma; sometimes within the forest of brambles it establishes a pure monastery; sometimes at the crossroads it stands like a precipice of a thousand fathoms; sometimes upon the isolated peak it mixes mud with water. It has illumination and function, the provisional and the real. Therefore it is said: 'Taking the Great Perfect Enlightenment as my monastery, body and mind dwell peacefully in the wisdom of equality.' Then, at the place where thousands and miriads of people cannot cage you, can you first dwell peacefully; where the thousands and miriads of sages cannot prompt or prod you, do you first lay down your bundle. Dare I ask: how do you utter the phrase of peaceful dwelling? Do you understand? / Merely keep body and speech constantly pure; / When the summer is full, what need is there to inspect the wax man?"

10.18

At an informal gathering requested by Mr. Zeng, the Master said: "When the complete dynamic does not move, it gathers all images before the eyes; when meeting face-to-face, it cuts off a thousand distinctions beyond the conventional. If moved, shadows appear; if perceived, ice forms; if neither moved nor perceived, it is directly rubbing one's eyes. Within it there is a path: covering heaven and earth, covering color and sound, dense and continuous, smooth and steady. If you are a traveler of the gate of Caoxi, arriving directly at the place of liberation, you do not fall into second or third. Even before it is brought up, one has already fallen into second and third, let alone bringing it up in verbal explanations, which are entirely collapses and failures. Therefore it is said: 'The twenty-eight Indian Patriarchs were like this, the six Chinese Patriarchs were like this, all the old monks under heaven were like this, and this mountain monk is also like this.' Arriving here, try looking without using your eyes, try listening without using your ears. If right here you can cut it off, hold it fast, and be the master all at once, you will join hands with the thousand sages, sharing the same right cause and the same liberation. Although it is like this, right at such a time, how do you utter the phrase of establishing no steps? Do you understand? / Before sound, cut off the paths of a thousand distinctions; / Going beyond the conventional relies solely on the knower." / He added in verse: / "A single move meeting the dynamic cuts off all streams; / Choosing an official or choosing a Buddha are both supreme. / Meeting and seeing each other with hearty laughter, / In heaven and among humans, one attains complete freedom."

10.19

Requested for an informal gathering by Senior Monk Zu, the Master said: "One's physical father and mother dwell in the main hall; one's parents from the fundamental origin reside on the crown of the head. In a single thought, the intentions of the patriarchs are suddenly dissolved; this is capable of requiting the deepest debt of gratitude. Before a single bubble has arisen, the flowing water rushes along; at the moment a single speck of dust has not yet been raised, the lands and specks of dust spread vastly. If one possesses the eye that penetrates the barrier and has an extraordinary view, one immediately knows that a thousand sages and ten thousand sages cannot net or cage it. But if a single bubble has already arisen and a single speck of dust has already been raised, and one waits to focus the eye and use the intellect, then to the end of future time, exhausting the kalpas of empty space, in the end one can never grope and grasp it. Therefore it is said: 'The entire great earth is the light of prajñā. When the light has not yet manifested, there is no Buddha and no sentient beings; from what place does the news come?' Just at such a moment, where there is no Buddha and no sentient beings, no high and no low, no gain and no loss, no that and no self—do you still comprehend it? If you cannot comprehend it, I cannot help but make entangled vines. If you say it is non-attainment, I am glad to tell you that there is no connection. If you say it is attainment, it is all the more seen to have no connection. If you say it is attaining neither existence nor non-existence, it is still further from having any connection. If you say it is being detached from the four propositions and eradicating the hundred negations, there is simply no connection at all! You must know that this single road and this single dynamic mechanism are what the Buddhas of the three periods depend on to be established, what the entire great canon of teachings expounds upon, and even what the mundane world, empty space, commoners and sages, the mountains, rivers, the great earth, and the boundless fragrant water seas—ineffable and ineffable—all flow forth from! Just now, if you know the benevolent virtue before a single bubble has arisen, then under your own feet it will be like a thousand suns shining together, like getting a lamp in the dark, like the impoverished finding treasure, like crossing [a river] and getting a boat, like the common folk getting a king; at all times not a single thought falls into vanity, and there is no time of mixture: the whole substance comes thus, and the whole substance goes thus. Just as for that matter beyond, before the kalpa of emptiness, how is it? Do you still understand? It illuminates and opens the eye on the crown of the head of a thousand sages, releasing the spring beyond things of the Sound of Majesty." He then added a verse: "The kindness of parents is profound and heavy, exceeding heaven's covering and earth's bearing. / If one wishes to plan to requite it, crushing one's body could never repay it. / There is only the power of prajñā: a single phrase severs affection and love. / The gentle south wind blows upon the heart of the brambles, through two hundred and forty years."

10.20

Requested for an informal gathering by Practitioner Xiu: "Heaven and earth share the same root with me, and their root is deep and firm; the ten thousand things are of one body with me, and their body is void and congealed. The root of the ten thousand things spans past and present; the firm and solid body encompasses all existence. If one grasps the meaning by a minute hair's breadth, one can turn iron into gold and transform the ordinary into the sagely; in accordance with principle and in accordance with phenomena, just where one is, right there is truth; when not a single thought arises, the limits before and after are severed. Therefore it is said: 'The power of inconceivable liberation: its wondrous functions are like the sands of the Ganges, also boundless.' If one speaks of wondrous function, it can smash the mountain of karma, drain dry the ocean of suffering, repent sins that cannot be repented, untie grievances that cannot be untied, raise up illnesses that must lead to death, and realize the patience with the non-arising of dharmas. Just at such a moment, how do you say a phrase that establishes no merit? Do you still understand? In a dark room of a thousand years, a single lamp dispels it; the errors and faults of ten thousand kalpas are eliminated by a single phrase." A verse says: "When Ajāta[śatru] was afflicted with illness, he took refuge in the Sovereign of Enlightenment; / The Regulator, extending compassion, released the moonlight. / The efficacy of the Dharma medicine is equal to the power of the Buddha; / Naturally, the body's sickness attained coolness."

10.21

At an informal gathering, the Master said: "To exclusively speak of phenomena and speak of principle, discuss the wondrous and discuss the profound, talk of mind and talk of nature, is to fall into a nest of entangled vines. To exclusively wield the staff and give shouts, establish illumination and establish function, retain rolling up and retain spreading out, is to fall into a grove of thorns. Furthermore, to bring up past and present, speak of the biased and speak of the correct, establish host and establish guest, is also scattering sand and throwing dirt. If suddenly you see mountains as mountains, see waters as waters, monks as monks, and laity as laity, you fall within the realm of non-affair. Even if you completely avoid being like this, it is very much like a sacred turtle dragging its tail; even if the solitary substance is solely clear, it is still a fox clinging to its den. If you have a way to turn your body and get out, you will be like the earth bearing mountains, unaware of the steep solitude of the mountains; like a stone containing jade, unaware of the jade's lack of flaws. It is like a mass of blazing fire: approach it, and it scorches your face; it is also like drawing the sword Tai'e: hesitate over it, and you forfeit your life and perish. Then you can have no need to speak of phenomena or speak of principle, no need to wield the staff or give shouts, no need to establish host or establish guest; seeing mountains is not mountains, seeing waters is not waters; the whole substance comes thus, and the whole substance goes thus; there are altogether none of those many affairs of open announcements, entangled vines, sounds and forms. But how do you say a phrase of transcendent solitary emancipation? Do you still understand? Over a precipitous cliff of ten thousand fathoms, you must let go of your hands; only then, in the great chiliocosm of worlds of sand, do you attain the whole body."

10.22

Requested for an informal gathering by Revenue Officer Zhang, the Master said: "Right here it is; it does not admit of deliberation or intellectual reflection. Are there any adept Chan practitioners? Step forward before the assembly and produce proof!" A monk asked, "What is the matter of the Linji lineage?" The Master said, "A single blade cut into two." The monk asked further, "What is the matter of the Yunmen lineage?" The Master said, "The three phrases crisscrossing." The monk asked further, "What is the matter of the Caodong lineage?" The Master said, "The five ranks of lord and minister are not handed over." The monk asked further, "What is the matter of the Guiyang lineage?" The Master said, "Advancing forward and stepping backward leaves no room for deliberation." The monk asked further, "What about that phrase?" The Master said, "Why do you not ask about the matter of the Fayan lineage?" The monk bowed, and the Master then said: "When the secret intent was raised at Vulture Peak, only Kāśyapa personally heard it; when the wondrous knack was expounded at Shaolin, it was permitted only for Shenguang to shoulder it. This is solely because dynamic workings correspond to one another, arrows hit each other point-to-point, their dynamic functioning in sound and form is pure and true, and when raised, heaven and earth are solely exposed; their secret intent is utterly without mistake, and their profound dynamic mechanism lacks any back-and-forth ambiguity. If one is an authentic, free and untrammeled person who can take it up and shoulder it, one will never again fall before sounds or after phrases, nor will one need deliberation or intellectual reflection; right here in the open, clearly receive and comprehend it! Therefore it is said: 'If you discuss this matter, with the twitch of an eyebrow it has already been missed.' Since it is already missed, what is the use of flapping the two lips and babbling away? Is this not missing it right in the hall? Since it is already missed, do you still know the matter that has not yet been missed? If you know the matter that has not yet been missed, then though you speak all day, you have never moved your tongue; though you walk all day, you have never shifted a step; though you eat all day, you have never chewed a grain of rice; though you wear clothes all day, you have never hung a single thread on yourself. Even though it is like this, this is still the teaching gate's descending down to act for people. Have you not seen: whenever Venerable Deshan had question-and-answer words, whether transcendent or downward, they were all spirits of bamboo and wood clinging to grass and trees. Therefore, this mountain monk gives them the staff from the very start, waiting until there is a solitary, emancipated one to discuss it with. Later, Yuanjian of Fushan said: 'Even this solitary, emancipated one is also a spirit of grass and trees.' Tell me: is there still any acting for people or not? This mountain monk does not begrudge his eyebrows to enter the mud and water to spread it out plainly for you all. Do you still understand? If only the myriad dharmas do not concern the mind, one leap directly enters the ground of the Tathāgatas."

10.23

At an informal gathering for tonsure, a monk asked: "When the correct command is in force, the ten directions are cut off; when the lineage style is established, there is not a hair's breadth of error. We wish to hear you raise and expound the causal conditions of this time." The Master said: "It is simply the old face." The monk asked further: "I beg the Master to give instruction again on what is brand-new." The Master said: "Swap out the one just now." The monk asked further: "The wheel of the Dharma turns again in Jambudvīpa; the light of the Way shines anew across a thousand ages." The Master said: "Who is not like this?" The monk asked further: "As for Bodhisattva Boundless Body, why did he not see the Tathāgata's uṣṇīṣa?" The Master said: "Sometimes like this, sometimes not like this." The monk asked further: "What is the Venerable's uṣṇīṣa?" The Master said: "Wrong." The monk bowed, and the Master said: "Indeed, indeed." The Master then said: "Completing anew the monk's appearance and donning once more the square robe, the udumbara flower is not easy to encounter. The debt of gratitude is as heavy as hills and mountains—how can it be requited? I abruptly hold up the essential principle of a single autumn hair. The worlds of the ten directions, whether long or short, whether vertical or horizontal, up to the fragrant water seas and the ineffable, ineffable boundless ocean of realms, are completely within this single autumn hair. Sometimes manifesting a boundless body, welling up in the east and sinking in the west, welling up in the south and sinking in the north, welling up in the center and sinking at the edge, performing immeasurable and boundless supernatural transformations, yet it does not go beyond this single autumn hair. Sometimes chilly and silent, like withered wood and rotten stumps, cold ashes and dead fire, one thought for ten thousand years and ten thousand years in one thought, yet it also does not go beyond this single autumn hair. Even to performing immeasurable, boundless, exceptionally wondrous, and difficult austerities, transforming everything to become Buddhas and become patriarchs, it also does not go beyond this single autumn hair. Do you all still know this single autumn hair? If you know it, then before opening the mouth, before giving rise to intention, before Buddhas and sentient beings have manifested their signs, before the kalpa of emptiness—it would be good to comprehend it! Having comprehended it, then roll it up and hold it in your bosom; acting freely and naturally, as if dull and foolish, you will not fail to be a decisive great person. But if not yet so, you must reverse the light to illumine inward; whether in motion or stillness, whether dwelling or walking, whether sitting or lying down, you must investigate its root source before you can succeed. Before parents gave birth, after parents have given birth, the six sense organs, four great elements, and three hundred and sixty joints are fully complete; when cold, knowing cold; when hot, knowing hot; when hungry, knowing hunger; when full, knowing fullness; up to bearing the sky on the head and treading the earth with the feet, having teeth and wearing hair—all receive the power of this grace! Tell me: how do you orient toward this power of grace? Do you still know? The single breath speaks not, yet contains all phenomena; where can the myriad spirits offer thanks for what is unselfish?"

10.24

At Jiangshan, taking leave of the assembly, the Master said: 'All day long meeting, yet ever turning the back; all morning turning the back, yet meeting after all. On the road it is not a matter of the road; unmoving and towering, one reaches the nine-tiered palace. Only an adept is granted this news, where light and dark share the same road, host and guest are mutually applied, going as if going yet not going, coming as if coming yet not coming, lofty and transcendent, movement and stillness having never been two. Therefore it is said: "Moving, like floating clouds; halting, like the spirit of the valley." When there is neither mind regarding this and that, nor forms of going and coming, thus going and coming do not depend on forms, yet definitely there is going and coming; movement and stillness do not depend on mind, yet transcendently there are movement and stillness. In that and in this, there is no separation whatsoever; a single course of pure voidness extensively encompasses worlds as numerous as sands. Therefore, when the maiden Candrottarā was leaving the city and Śāriputra was entering the city, Śāriputra asked, "Holy sister, where are you going?" Candrottarā said, "Going just as Śāriputra does." Śāriputra said, "I am just now entering the city, while you have already left the city; how can you say you go just as Śāriputra does?" The maiden said, "Where should disciples of the Buddhas abide?" Śāriputra said, "Disciples of the Buddhas should abide in the great liberation of the Tathāgata." The maiden said, "Since disciples of the Buddhas abide in the great liberation, therefore I said I go just as Śāriputra does." Having attained the great liberation of the Tathāgata, one goes without any trace of going, entering the nine-tiered palace to assist the sacred transformation; one abides without any track of abiding, sitting among deep mountains and white clouds to cut off the tongues of everyone under heaven. Since one abides in the great liberation of the Tathāgata, how could there be any thought of movement and stillness, going and coming? Right at such a time, how do you speak? True news within the nine-tiered palace; a single selfless phrase pervades the nine regions.' He further said: 'I recall Master Caoshan taking leave of Dongshan. Dongshan said: "Where are you going?" Caoshan said: "Going to the place that does not change." Dongshan said: "How can there be any going in the place that does not change?" Caoshan said: "Going is also unchanging."' The Master said: 'Generally, patch-robed monks wear the tally under their elbow and possess the eye on the crown of the head; facing all myriad realms and myriad conditions, cutting them off directly—how is this not unchanging? Why? The adamantine true substance is clear, quiet, and solid. Although Caoshan got this meaning, what can be done about Dongshan loving his child without noticing the ugliness? If it were this mountain monk, waiting for him to say "going to the place that does not change," I would only say to him: "Before this fellow has stepped out the door, he has already changed!"'

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圓悟佛果禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese