圓悟佛果禪師語錄 12.8

12.8

The Master said: "The ready-made gong'an is not separated by a single thread. Filling the sky and covering the earth, it is one great gate of liberation; it is as bright as the sun and moon, and of equal measure with empty space. Whether patriarchs or buddhas, there is no other source; from antiquity to the present, it is the same single right view. If one is of sharp faculties and superior wisdom, there is no need to ask 'what and how'; directly stand like a wall of ten thousand fathoms, bear it beneath your own feet, and you can overshadow past and present and cut off the heads of the reward and transformation buddhas, without the slightest leak. Before King of the Majestic Voice, those who awakened on their own without a master were people of great liberation; after Majestic Voice, because of being prompted by a master, it was unavoidable to establish masters and disciples, and there came to be delusion and awakening. Even though it is like this, in the end these are merely expedient ways of extending hands to receive people. Therefore Bodhidharma came from the west without establishing written words, directly pointing to the human mind to see one's nature and achieve buddhahood. Later, Chan Master Dajian, the Sixth Patriarch, even said: 'Merely these two words "not establishing" are already established. How much more so with words, dynamic situations, and various kinds of intellectual understanding—they must be swept away with a single stroke of the brush before you will get it!' Regarding this one affair, even if the Buddhas of the three periods were to appear in the world and use boundless views and expedients to receive and guide people, there would still be limits; even if the successive generations of patriarchs and the old venerable monks of the world were to set up hundreds of thousands of questions and answers to uphold it, there would still be limits. It is better to investigate beneath your own heels: beyond the empty kalpa before King of the Majestic Voice, your own family treasure is enjoyed wherever you are. One must also be a great fellow of spirit to possess such conduct, not relying on another's words and pointers, not accepting another's deceptions; from morning until night, an inhalation does not abide in the realm of the skandhas, and an exhalation does not involve itself in the ten thousand conditions—this is extremely concise and essential. It is only because each person turns their back on this affair, recognizing lights and shadows at the gates of the six sense faculties, unable to be joyful, and then says, 'What can I do about my doubts?' Now tell me: where do doubts come from? They also say, 'Why can I not speak?' Just what is this of yours that cannot speak? It is because you cannot turn the light around to directly undertake it. An ancestral master said: 'On one's own part, there is such spiritual brilliance and such sovereignty; all sentient beings drift in the dust of sentiments and cannot be liberated.' Even if one takes this one great causal condition and presents it in various ways, there are still dynamics and realms, falling into the dust of sentiments. Do you want to understand? Only when not a single thought arises will there be a slight bit of accord. Therefore my late master said: 'The life-root must be severed before you will get it.' Now tell me: how is the life-root severed? You must pack away your past views and various understandings, just like a person who has died the great death, and when brought back to life, naturally there is no contention; therefore it is said, 'I have attained the samādhi of non-contention, foremost among humans.' Do you not see what Venerable Nanquan said? 'Among the seven hundred eminent monks of Huangmei, all understood the Buddha-Dharma; only the postulant Lu did not understand the Buddha-Dharma, and that is why he obtained his robe and bowl. One must be such a person before one can tally with such an affair.' He also said, 'Such as the sage's fruit being greatly fearsome, it is because there are no such things as holy measures; if one is a great person of immeasurable capacity, in the end they refuse to acknowledge things recklessly and never say, "I am capable, I understand, I am a Chan master." If one acts like this, one falls into the deep pit of liberation.' Do you not see what Master Yunmen said? 'Dead people on level ground are countless; the one who can pass through the bramble forest is a skilled hand.' Now, dead people on level ground are countless, as Yunmen's single sentence hit upon. Here with this mountain monk, it is not so: even if you can pass through the bramble forest, you are not yet a skilled hand. You must also know there are silver mountains and iron walls; you must thoroughly penetrate the silver mountains and iron walls, and only then are you a person who has accomplished everything in every way, only then do you know there is the transcendent affair and can be entrusted with the bowl-bag, no longer opposing the dust of sentiments, noisily producing Buddha-Dharma views and discussing the Chan Way. You must truly have mind and circumstances as one, completely clear, still, inactive, and without affairs, yet not fall into the place of inactivity and having no affairs; arriving here, one must be a transcendent person to attain it. Therefore Venerable Longya said: 'For no reason sent to the edge of the ink pool, / Causing body and mind to be black as smoke; / Turning to the clear place upstream to wash, / Exhausting body and mind, it is still the same.' Venerable Deshan said: 'Whatever has words and phrases is all spirits clinging to grasses and leaning on trees. There must be a path of solitary transcendence; that would still be somewhat better.' As for patched-robed monks today, they must put their energy into investigating it before they will get it. Traveling thousands and tens of thousands of miles on foot, uniformly wearing out straw sandals, one must truly wear them through before getting it; only then will you not let down your whole life, and having come here to Southern Jambudvīpa for a round, it will neither be spent in vain nor will capital be lost. Thereafter, within the four deportments, enjoying it according to the occasion, you will also be naturally at ease. If suddenly one day the frost and dew ripen the fruit, and you are pushed by others onto the curved wood chair to serve as a teacher of gods and humans, undoing stickiness and untying bonds for others, that would indeed be extraordinary. If you are not yet truly settled, you must absolutely not bring disaster upon others! Do you not see what Deshan said? 'Just like a promiscuous woman, constantly setting up questions and answers, setting up guest and host—what relevance does it have?' In general, people who study and practice must be unrestrained and free, thoroughly penetrating directly; would that not be joyful?"