圓悟佛果禪師語錄 11.7

11.7

At an informal gathering requested by the Lady of Yi State, the Master said: 'Before the eyes there is not a single dharma; who knows its dense intimacy? Outside the pattern a thousand differences are arrayed; in the end one must apply it oneself. If you can apply it yourself, changing rice stalks into millet stems, converting short life into long years, transforming the great earth into yellow gold, churning the Heavenly River into clarified butter, it is not beyond your lot. Moreover, if the dense and intimate place can be recognized, the place of function is precisely the dense and intimate, and the dense and intimate is precisely the place of function. Therefore it is said: "The samādhi of the World-Honoured One is not known by Kāśyapa; the samādhi of Kāśyapa is not known by Ānanda; the samādhi of Ānanda is not known by Śāṇavāsa; the samādhi of Śāṇavāsa is not known by Upagupta." Since each of them did not know it, why was it transmitted and received? Arriving here, it does not hurt that where it is dubious it is utterly dubious, and where it is dense and intimate it is utterly dense and intimate. If you understand, when this mountain monk just now answered that monk's question, "Who can know the Venerable's samādhi?" I replied, "This mountain monk knows it himself." Although it is thus, it is much like pulling someone's hand up a high mountain; one cannot avoid the sneers of bystanders. There is yet another move: people often make their livelihood in knowing and not knowing. If one says they know, this person possesses only a single eye; if one says they do not know, this person also possesses only a single eye. Leaving aside knowing and not knowing, right at such a time, how is it? The trichiliocosm of sand-worlds is a foam bubble on the ocean; all sages and worthies are like a flash of lightning.' He further cited: 'A non-Buddhist asked the Buddha, "What Dharma did you preach yesterday?" The World-Honoured One said, "I preached the fixed Dharma." The non-Buddhist said, "What Dharma do you preach today?" The World-Honoured One said, "I preach the unfixed Dharma." The non-Buddhist said, "Yesterday it was fixed; why is it unfixed today?" The World-Honoured One said, "Yesterday it was fixed; today it is unfixed."' The Master said: 'The great and small World-Honoured One, a dragon's head and a snake's tail. If it were Tianning, it would not be so. If someone suddenly asks, "What Dharma did you preach this morning?" I would answer, "The unfixed Dharma." "What Dharma do you preach right now?" I would answer, "The fixed Dharma." If they say, "This morning it was unfixed; why is it fixed now?" I would immediately say to them: "Taken on the hook as soon as cast!"'