圓悟佛果禪師語錄 11.14

11.14

The Lady of the State of Yi requested an informal gathering. A monk asked, "The very first was the King of the Majestic Voice, and the very last is Buddha Ruci; I wonder, whom did the King of the Majestic Voice study under and meet?" The Master said, "He studied under and met the one without face or features." The monk said, "As for the person without face or features, whom in turn did he meet?" The Master said, "A mad dog chasing a dirt clod." The monk said, "What can be done about the staff being in this student's hands?" The Master said, "Try using it and see." The monk said, "Arriving here, one is completely reduced to having no words that can be spoken, no principle that can be presented." The Master said, "You only have seven tenths." The monk said, "It may be called not establishing any lineage transmission, yet passing it on from generation to generation." The Master said, "Cut off with a single sword slash." The monk said, "Since it is like this, why must the Venerable further seek White Cloud?" The Master said, "Tell me, where are the Buddhas Majestic Voice and Ruci right now?" The monk said, "Pierced through at a single stroke." The Master said, "Only when an eye is added atop the crown of your head will you attain it." The Master said, "The Buddhas of the three times are just thus; the successive generations of patriarchs are also just thus; Deshan was also just thus; Linji was also just thus; how could Tianning not be just thus? Therefore, in the early morning it was just thus, and now it is also just thus. But tell me: what is this 'just thus, just thus'? Do you fully understand yet? Therefore it is said: 'The transcendent path is not transmitted by the thousand sages; learners exhaust their bodies like apes grasping at shadows.' If you were to encounter a realized one face to face, how would you bring it forth? How would you thoroughly know it? Can you attain it by explaining the principle and talking of the profound and wondrous? Can you attain it by giving a shout? Can you attain it by drawing a line? Can you attain it by babbling on with the mouth? Can you attain it by 'six times six is thirty-six, nine times nine is eighty-one'? In short, none of this is that principle. Furthermore, this is the wonder not transmitted by the thousand sages; this one patch of ground only a Buddha together with a Buddha can know. After having known it, in the end is it transmitted to others or not transmitted to others? If it could be transmitted, it would be a dragon's head and snake's tail; if it cannot be transmitted, the thousand sages and myriad sages each and every one arriving here, whether Buddha or patriarch, clarify it where no person's dynamic situation can reach, bring it forth where no person's functioning can extend, and cut off the paths of the thousand differentiations where no person's emotional consciousness can calculate. Even so, bringing forth a phrase, gathering brocade and heaping flowers, heaping flowers and gathering brocade, one can head toward it; yet when arriving at that side, if you try to take it upon yourself, you will have no connection. Arriving here, there are staff, shout, provisional, real, killing, giving life, seizing, and releasing; it is only permitted that the Buddhas know it, not permitted that the Buddhas understand it. Since it is permitted that the Buddhas know it, why is it not permitted that the Buddhas understand it? If they understood it, it could be transmitted! Therefore, what is needed is for people's mental machinations to be cut off from cognitive realms, forgetting gain and loss, letting go of right and wrong; all at once falling away, the myriad realms stand tall and distinct, yet without any obstruction. Then you can walk hand in hand with the thousand sages, sharing the same function and the same realization, shining in all places, clear and tranquil in all places, pulling out nails and drawing out pegs, untying stickiness and releasing bonds. Just as the mountain monk speaks to the assembly like this right now, can this match what the thousand sages do not transmit? Clearly it cannot match it. Since it cannot match it, why speak of it? Thousands and myriads of people are bound to have no way out. Therefore an ancient said: 'Although the essential guidelines have been pointed out, the intention lies before patterns and colors emerge; one must see through at a single glance and bite through at a single bite.' If you have not yet understood, by no means give rise to doubt about it. Now, sparing neither life nor limb, I disclose a message to all of you right here. Do you understand yet? / The thousand sages together transmit the bottomless bowl; / The great chiliocosm of sands is a single floating bubble."