圓悟佛果禪師語錄 11.18

11.18

At an informal gathering, he said: "It is not the Tathāgata's nirvāṇa mind, nor is it the Patriarch's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. Ten thousand conditions cannot reach it through exhaustive search; a thousand sages cannot attain it through scrutiny. Even beyond the King of Majestic Voice, before the empty kalpa, it would indeed be right to brandish the Vajra King jewel sword; how much more so since the King of Majestic Voice down to the exhaustless bounds of the future—all this is merely weaving entanglements and is ultimately not the fodder of our fundamental lot. Therefore it is said: 'If I were exclusively to raise up and expound the ancestral vehicle, the grass before the Dharma hall would be ten feet deep.' Now, having no other choice, I tell you all: the entire great earth is the light of prajñā. When the light has not yet manifested, there are no Buddhas and no sentient beings; from what place does news come? If you completely cut off news right here, your life-root is still not severed. If the life-root is severed, then wherever you knock or collide, wherever words are spoken, dynamic potential and circumstance match. Even though this is so, this is still the second dynamic. If you reach the first dynamic, what talk can there be of before the King of Majestic Voice or beyond the empty kalpa? Even if you take it up under Deshan's or Linji's shout, or attain realization at the tip of their staff, you will not avoid dragging through mud and wading through water. If you are not deceived by others, with teeth like a forest of swords and a mouth like a basin of blood, taking it up directly, you can overshadow past and present and cut off heaven and earth. Even though this is so, Tianning speaking in this way seems very much as if there were no one else around. Why? The Buddhas share the same path; the Patriarchs jointly realize it. If one accepts it individually right here, where can it be placed? Can a single snowflake be placed upon a red-hot stove? Arriving here, inside and outside are purely spotless, within and without are one suchness; although descending into the weeds, one cannot avoid the transcendent function. Right at such a time, how is it? There are eyes at the staff-tip, bright as the sun; to know true gold, look into the fire." He also cited: "Layman Pang asked Great Master Ma: 'What kind of person is he who does not make a companion of the ten thousand dharmas?' Master Ma said: 'Wait until you can swallow the waters of the West River in a single gulp, then I will tell you.'" The mountain monk will briefly reveal a bit of news: in helping people, you must be thorough; in killing someone, you must see blood. If you take it up right directly, you have already fallen into the second moon. And tell me: what is the first moon? Du!"