圓悟佛果禪師語錄 13.6

13.6

At the request of Congyi Li, [the Master] held an informal gathering. A monk asked, "What is it like when one asks neither about the spoken nor about the unspoken?" The Master said, "Its sound is like thunder." The monk asked further, "Why is it like this?" The Master said, "Only because the deaf do not hear." The monk asked further, "What can be done about the five notes and six pitches being so very distinct?" The Master said, "What do you hear, Ācārya?" The monk said, "I have never had ears." The Master said, "You must also recognise what is on your lips." The Master then said: "'A single phrase cuts off all error; for thousands of miles there is no news. A single speck of dust contains the Dharma realm; a thousand layers and a hundred coils are overly enclosed.' If one is a person of clear eyes, in the end one does not seek before one's eyes. Why so? If one seeks before one's eyes, this person does not yet possess the eye; if one seeks further within phrases, one falls into the eighth mechanism. Since one neither seeks within phrases nor searches before one's eyes, tell me: how can one align with it? Just consider: across mountains, across peaks, across the Floating Banner King, across the Fragrant Water Ocean—is there still such a matter over on that side, or not? If you say there is, across so much distance, how do you know there is? If you say there is not, then the Buddha Dharma would have boundaries. If you say it is neither existent nor non-existent, that is precisely being half in front and falling behind. Even if you transcend both existence and non-existence, you cannot avoid taking the staff in Jinshan's hand. If suddenly a patch-robed monk stepped forward and said, 'It is not so: it is like a dragon gaining water, like a tiger leaning against a mountain.' Even if your whole body were eyes, you could not see him; even if your whole body were a tongue, you could not describe him. Tell me: where in the end does he land? If one did not shoot the stone tiger at Lantian, one would almost have brought about General Li's death in vain."