圓悟佛果禪師語錄 12.10

12.10

The Master said: "This Great Matter has already been thrown wide open like the character eight (八). Even if you turn your head and reflect back upon yourself, you are already acting blunted and slow. You must believe thoroughly and see entirely through before a single word is ever uttered. Now, after words have been uttered, tell me: how will you take responsibility for it? Beginners in training should first make it clear under their own heels. Right now, you sit and stand dignified and solemn, each of your sights and hearings unobscured, every person stepping beneath their own heels—just like an imprint stamping space, an imprint stamping water, an imprint stamping clay. At first, no distinction is made between gain and loss, other and self, right and wrong; completely naked and stripped bare, it radiates between past and present, transcending knowledge and views. Reversing the light to illumine inward, how could there be so many complications? Yet before illumining inward, there were actually not so many complications either; it was just like the usual state of not thinking about a hundred things, not being concerned with a hundred things, when thoughts are cut off and external conditions forgotten—it is fully present all at once. But as soon as people hear of 'illumining inward,' they immediately form an understanding based on seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, fashioning molds and drawing likenesses right within those faculties. At such a time, falling into the karmic fruition of the skandhas of birth and death, there is no way to escape. To clarify this matter, one's inner depth must be profound; only then will one avoid falling into right and wrong, gain and loss, seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. Only when not a single speck remains can one attain true liberation, beyond all tether and entanglement. Thus it is said: 'Like learning archery, only after a long time does one hit the target.' Have you not seen: When Prime Minister Pei went out to govern Wanling, he visited a monastery and saw a portrait of an eminent monk. He asked the monastic official, 'The eminent monk's features are impressive, but I wonder: where is the eminent monk?' At that moment, the monastic official was at a loss. Prime Minister Pei asked, 'Is there a Chan monk here?' The official replied, 'Recently there is a monk who gave up himself to sweep the grounds, clad in a patchwork robe; he may be a Chan monk.' When he was invited to come, it was Chan Master Huangbo Duanji Yun. Prime Minister Pei cited the previous conversation and asked him. Huangbo called out, 'Prime Minister!' The Prime Minister answered, 'Yes!' Huangbo said, 'Where is he?' Thereupon, Prime Minister Pei was greatly enlightened. All of you, tell me: was the question correct, or was the answer correct? And tell me: what kind of Chan monk was he, that one must truly experience an awakening? Do not merely chase after sounds and sights. Hence, this old monk regularly says: 'Among thousands and myriads of people, recognize just one person; among thousands and myriads of phrases, recognize just one phrase; among thousands and myriads of dynamic potentials, clarify just one dynamic potential.' Ultimately, tell me: what is it? You must know that within the vast furnace and great forge, through thousands of firings and hundreds of temperings, the goal is precisely to find the right person. You must know that at a single word, when one is illuminated, all are illuminated; when one is understood, all are understood. Upon barely hearing it mentioned, it penetrates through top and bottom, thoroughly exhausted with nothing left over. Just take Duanji's single call: why did the eminent monk turn into Prime Minister Pei, and Prime Minister Pei become the eminent monk? If we speak of this matter, one must be an extraordinary talent to be entirely thorough. Therefore it is said: 'If brought up without a look, then error arises; if one intends to deliberate, in what eon will awakening come?' A patch-robed monk of fundamental capacity must not engage in deliberation or discrimination; he must directly seek the place of awakening. Speaking of awakening, it is like finding an object that has been discarded and lost for many years, suddenly recovered in an instant. It is also like having a typhoid fever and suddenly breaking into a sweat—it is an absolute joy and relief! You must understand that awakening the mind and seeing one's nature is not deliberation or discrimination; thus, upon realizing and entering the diamond true essence, it naturally spans eternity past and present, widely encompassing the sand-realms. Water cannot drown it, fire cannot burn it; when the universe is destroyed, this remains constant and unchanging, serving as the basis for the mountains, rivers, and the great earth, the home for the six ordinary realms and four noble realms, yet concealed in the heart of each individual. If you can awaken within your own heart, exposing the true and eternal on its own, then amidst the myriad differentiations of discourses you will never give rise to disparate views, and amid the thousands of varying environments you will never form distinct understandings. You must sweep everything away completely before the entire substance can be realized. Just as when Shuiliao asked Mazu about the fundamental Buddhist Dharma, Mazu kicked him to the ground with a single stomp. Suddenly experiencing great awakening, he got up, laughed loudly, and said: 'Hundreds of thousands of samādhis and immeasurable wondrous meanings—I have instantly recognized their very source right on the tip of a single hair!' Then he laughed loudly again. Later, when he began teaching, every time he ascended the hall he would say of himself: 'Ever since receiving that one kick from Master Ma, up to this day my laughter has not ceased!' And again he laughed loudly. Tell me: what is the source? You must know that if you have recognized this source, you can speak of it at the deepest and most hidden depths, where the thousands of sages cannot reach; or you can take up a single stick and a single shout, drawing in the entire universe and the great earth all at once, just like the Vajra King jewel sword or the crouching lion. If a traveling monk wishes to practice Chan, only with such eyes and brains can he take up the work. You must be meticulous; more words only lead further away from the Way."