圓悟佛果禪師語錄 14

English (machine translation) 14

Language: English

14.1

Compiled by Disciple Shaolong and others of Mount Huqiu in Pingjiang Prefecture of the Song

14.3

Shown to Court Gentleman for Attendance Zhang Chiming

Ever since Keqin left the gorges and resided at Notang, I have kept only this in mind at all times. Those who followed me mostly did not speak of weariness; what is called benefiting others is precisely benefiting oneself. One must have the root clearly penetrated, the ground of principle refined to the utmost, and be pure and unmixed. As soon as right and wrong arise, the mind is chaotically lost. If you tread the royal path, the gods find no way to offer flowers, and māras and non-Buddhists cannot secretly peer at you; you must walk the deepest ocean bottom and stand on the highest peak before it counts, without alarming the crowds or stirring the multitude—this is called the ordinary mind, the original source, the natural true self-nature. Though dwelling among tens of thousands of people, it is as if there were not a single person like you. How could this be measured by crude, floating thoughts of consciousness or sharp-witted cleverness? Your letter says: continuous and uninterrupted, stillness and illumination at the same time; as months and years pass, it fuses into a seamless whole and the root becomes ever firmer. For intimate functioning, truly nothing surpasses this. You should realize complete reality right where you are, and other and self, far and near, will vanish; wherever you touch is him, and every land and every dust mote is within your own great round mirror: the more continuous and intimate it is, the more you are able to transform. Therefore Yunmen said: ‘Even if you reach the state where the great earth and universe are without the slightest defect, it is still a transitional phrase; not seeing a single form is only half the presentation. Even if you reach this, you still must know there is a time for the full presentation.’ Therefore the staff of Deshan and the shout of Linji both thoroughly realize no-birth, penetrating from crown to base, flowing freely with sovereign ease; only upon reaching the point where the great function appears before them can they appear and disappear. Apart from wanting people to shoulder it with their whole body, they withdraw to abide in the realm of great persons like Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra. Yantou said: ‘Those who have attained it simply keep to leisure; during the twelve periods of the day, without desire and without dependence, they naturally transcend all samādhis.’ Deshan also said: ‘You need only have no concerns in your mind, and your mind without concerns, and it will be empty yet numinous, still yet illuminating. If you speak of roots and branches to the breadth of a hairsbreadth, you are entirely deceiving yourself.’ Having already understood this, you must put it into practice. Just step back: the more you step back, the clearer it becomes; the less you understand, the more strength you have. The moment a divergent thought arises or a deliberating mind is born, vigorously cut it off yourself so that it does not continue. Then the illumination of wisdom will be brilliantly clear, and you will tread on solid ground at every step. How could there be high or low, hate or love, smooth or contrary, or selection in between? The habit-energies of ignorance arise and perish in an instant; over a long time, they naturally have no power to disturb you.

14.5

The ancients used herding the ox as a metaphor; truly it is said that this requires a person of long perseverance. The most direct and essential method is first of all to forget views of the self, allowing oneself to be empty, tranquil, peaceful, and harmonious, drifting at ease and moving freely, neither grasping nor rejecting anything among all dharmas. Toward every sense faculty and every sense dust, remain naturally detached according to circumstances, operating alone and illuminating singularly; the substance of illumination stands independent, and object and self are unified. Right here, reaching the bottom, there is no illumination that can be established. Like severing a skein of silk, with one cut everything is severed; then you will naturally know how to make a living. When even views of Buddha and views of Dharma are not allowed to arise, the karmic consciousness of worldly toil will naturally melt away like ice and shatter like tiles. Nourish it until it becomes solid: like an idiot, like a block of wood, yet sharp and unconfined, unable to be contained within the ranks of patriarchs and Buddhas—how would it be willing to enter the womb of a donkey or the belly of a horse?”

14.6

Zhaozhou said: 'I have seen hundreds of millions of people, all of whom were fellows seeking to become buddhas; among them, finding one who is without mind is truly rare.' He also said: 'For thirty years in the south, except for the two times of gruel and rice, nowhere did I apply my mind to mixed concerns.' Xianglin took forty years before he became of one piece; Yongquan after forty years was still making missteps; Nanquan at eighteen understood how to make his livelihood. One truly knows that among the ancients from antiquity, none failed to carry out their practice thoroughly and intimately like this. How could one calculate gain and loss, superiority and inferiority, or cling to notions of right and wrong and conceptual understanding? Among our fellow students, only Longmen Zhihai in the past thoroughly investigated and clarified this together with me; whenever he met with conditions and encountered circumstances, he never failed to sustain it. How could this be limited only to this life? Exhausting the bounds of the future, even if one realizes immeasurable holy bodies, that is still not his anchoring place. Just practice stepping back with single-minded devotion, and by all means do not set limits.

14.7

Instruction to Professor Wu

14.8

The buddhas and patriarchs established their teachings through the spiritual path, solely aiming to clarify the mind and penetrate the source. Moreover, everyone is fully endowed with it and each is completely perfected; it is only because of delusions and false notions that they turn their backs on this original mind, drifting through the various destinies and vainly undergoing transmigration, while its fundamental root has never increased or decreased. That the buddhas appeared in the world on account of the one great cause was entirely for this; that the ancestral masters came with the single transmission of the esoteric seal was likewise for this. If someone has harbored great capacity and sharp wisdom from former lives, they can immediately accept and shoulder it right under their own feet, not obtaining it from another. Clearly awakening on their own, wide open and spiritually luminous, vast, empty and tranquil, never interrupted from beginningless time, the pure, unconditioned, wonderfully complete true mind does not stand in opposition to the various dusts, nor does it keep company with the myriad dharmas. Constantly like ten suns shining together, leaving behind views and transcending emotional attachment, it cuts off the floating illusions of birth and death, firm and immovable like the Diamond King. This is what is called 'mind itself is buddha'; seeking nothing outside, one merely comprehends one's self-nature. Instantly according with the buddhas and patriarchs, arriving at the ground of no doubt, holding fast and taking charge—is this not the direct and rapid great liberation?

14.9

Investigating this matter requires penetrating birth and death; how could it be a minor matter? One must be sharp, fierce, and earnest in resolve, regarding faith with gravity as if saving one's head from burning, before there can be even a slight degree of accord. One often sees students of Chan who rely on worldly intellect and cleverness, merely seeking to supply material for conversation and spread their renown, considering it an exalted pursuit and striving to outdo others; this only increases self-views, like throwing oil onto a fire so that its flames flare up even more fiercely. When the thirtieth day of the twelfth month arrives, they are bewildered and in disarray, deriving not the slightest strength at all. This is truly because from the very beginning they lacked the proper cause, so that in the end their labors yield no result. Therefore, when the virtuous ones of old urged people to practice the Chan of the nirvāṇa hall, they truly had a profound intention. When it comes to the border between birth and death, handling it is truly not easy; only someone of great attainment and transcendent realization, rousing sharp faculties and courage to cut it off directly, will find no difficulty. However, although this relies on one's own root power, it also requires skillful means. In ordinary, minor circumstances, if one can turn freely and penetrate through, not preserving understanding and not establishing views, so that the whole being is chilled and ready-made, and if one practices and nurtures it until it is thoroughly mature, then when conditions cease, one will naturally be free from fear. There will only be pure emptiness and crystalline clarity, with not a single dharma affecting one's feelings. It is like letting go of one's hands over a sheer precipice, abandoning everything without the slightest lingering attachment; one thought is ten thousand years, and ten thousand years are one thought. Searching for birth, it cannot be found at all; how could there be death? Therefore, that the virtuous ones of old could pass away while sitting or standing, or shed their mortal remains while walking or upside down, all acting with such vigor, was because in ordinary times they had purified and purged themselves clean. Xianglin took forty years to become of one piece; Yongquan after forty years still had missteps. Shishuang urged people to rest and cease, to be like an incense burner in an ancient temple. Yongjia said: 'The essence is itself unarisen; realization originally has no speed.' It is precisely by being cautious and reverent, constantly mindful of this and nothing else, that one attains unobstructed freedom. After discarding this life, one attains a mind-made body, following one's own inclinations, and subsequent retributions are all dispelled through principle and not drawn by karma; is this not what is meant by penetrating and being freed from birth and death? As long as karmic conditions have not yet ceased, amidst the human world there are so many intersecting and reciprocal involvements; one must handle them with ample ease and plenty of room to spare. Each person follows their own conditioned lot in life; one need not loathe the noisy and seek the quiet. Merely keep the inside empty and the outside compliant, and even amidst a bustling marketplace or boiling water, one will remain tranquil and secure. The moment the slightest thorn of view arises, one will fail to pass through.

14.10

Instruction to Court Gentleman for Consultation Xu Tinggui

14.11

For a person of sharp faculties and superior wisdom, hearing once and awakening to a thousand things is not difficult in this matter. One must have a firm and solid footing, verify with thorough faith, hold fast and take charge, and forge into one piece all agreeable and contrary realms along with differentiated conditions. Like empty space without the slightest obstruction, clear, still, empty, and luminous without change, remaining completely uniform from beginning to end through hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes—only then can one be steady and secure. One often sees clever and bright individuals whose roots are buoyant and footing shallow; as soon as they recognize verbal shifts, they consider nothing in the world to surpass them, whereupon their thorns of views grow, displaying ability, understanding, and quick fluency of speech, thinking that the Buddhadharma is merely this. When circumstances and conditions arise, they fail to penetrate and escape, and thus fall into hesitation and retreat, which is truly lamentable. Therefore, the ancients truly tasted all of the thousands of demons and myriad difficulties; even if cut into pieces in seven places, they did not stir a thought, maintaining their minds resolutely like iron and stone, so that penetrating and escaping birth and death took no effort at all. Is this not what a great person of transcendent attainment and noble magnanimity preserves?

14.12

For a lay bodhisattva to practice the conduct of a monastic is like a lotus emerging from fire. This is because fame, position, power, and haughty spirit are difficult to subdue abruptly, not to mention the hundreds of complications and thousands of anxieties of the burning house that torment and boil one. Unless one directly awakens to one's original true, wondrous completeness, arrives at the site of great tranquil samādhi and rest, and is further able to let go, be vastly ordinary, thoroughly realize no-mind, and view all dharmas as dreams, illusions, bubbles, and vast emptiness, passing through them in accord with the times and seasons, one will share the same correct cause with such superior laymen as Vimalakīrti, Mahāsattva Fu, Layman Pang, Prime Minister Pei, and Hanlin Academician Yang. Then, according to one's own power, transforming those who have not yet awakened, one enters together into the ocean of the unconditioned and effortless Dharma nature; then to have come out into this Southern Jambudvīpa and made this round will not have been a loss of one's investment.

14.13

Instruction to Long Zhizang

14.14

Ever since the patriarchs, they have solely aimed at the single transmission and direct pointing, disliking muddiness and water-dragging, issuing public notices, or setting up nests and burrows to dull and hinder people. Old Śākyamuni, in more than three hundred assemblies, established teachings according to people's capacities, setting worldly models that were excessively circuitous; therefore, at the very end, he directly and concisely received those of the supreme capacity. Although from Kāśyapa through twenty-eight generations, few dynamic traps were shown and much principle was revealed, when it came to the transmission, none failed to uphold it directly face-to-face: like knocking down the banner pole, dropping a needle into a bowl of water, displaying the circular light mark, holding the red banner, gripping the bright mirror, speaking the transmission gāthā like an iron stake, Bodhidharma refuting the six sects, establishing propositions with non-Buddhists, the world being at peace, or turning around 'I am heaven and you are a dog'—all were swift spiritual dynamics, not to be measured by hesitation or deliberate thought. By the time he reached Liang and travelled to Wei, he further made it explicit: a special transmission outside the teachings, singly transmitting the mind seal. What the six generations of transmitting the robe indicated was conspicuous; and when it reached Dajian of Caoxi, he demonstrated in detail the mastery of both teaching and lineage. After a long passage of time, lineage masters possessing the correct eye and great liberation transformed the general path, ensuring that students did not stagnate in names and characteristics, nor fall into intellectual discourse on principle. Releasing them with lively vitality, untrammelled and free, wondrous dynamic functions then appeared: applying the staff, delivering shouts, using words to dismiss words, using dynamics to seize dynamics, using poison to attack poison, and using function to shatter function. Therefore, transmitted for some seven hundred years, branches divided and schools split, each excelling in its own lineage style, bustling and thundering without measure. Yet when one examines their ultimate source, it does not go beyond directly pointing to the human mind. Once the mind ground is luminous, without a thread of obstruction, one casts off victory and defeat, self and other, right and wrong, intellectual views and conceptual understanding, penetrating through to the site of great rest and great peace; how could there be two different paths? As the saying goes, 'A hundred rivers flow differently, but all return to the sea.' One must be a vessel of transcendent capacity, endowed with high understanding and farsightedness, possessing the aspiration to inherit and exalt the buddhas and patriarchs; only then can one deeply enter the inner sanctum, have thorough faith, and hold fast directly under one's feet, before one can be certified and become fit to be seed grass. Other than this, one should strictly keep it treasured and secret, be cautious with words, and never grant easy passage.

14.15

My late master Wuzu was solitary and steep throughout his life, approving of very few people. Standing like a dry, stark wall, he relied solely on this one move. He often said of himself: 'It is like leaning against Mount Sumeru; how could one fall into emptiness, play slick tricks, and deceive people?' Taking a tasteless iron-filled pastry, he thrust it at students right from the start to make them chew it; he had to wait until the bottom of their bucket fell out, losing all those bad bits of knowledge and bad views, without a single thread hanging in their chests, penetrating completely and utterly, before he would set about forging them so that they could withstand punches and kicks. Only then would he show them the Vajra King jewel sword. When he judged that they could truly practice and shoulder it, purely without a single concern—mountains being mountains and waters being waters—they still had to turn toward that other side, where a thousand sages cannot ensnare them; then they accorded with what has been realized and transmitted by the patriarchs since antiquity: the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. When it came to responding and functioning for the sake of living beings, one must still drive away the plowman's ox and snatch the hungry man's food; once certified and tested to be completely without leakage, then one is a fellow of the lineage.

14.16

In Magadha this order was executed directly; in Shaolin, facing the wall, the genuine lineage was fully brought forth. Yet contemporaries mistakenly understood this and subsequently esteemed obliteration and silence, considering it seamless and ungraspable, standing like a wall of ten thousand fathoms, entirely unaware of the fundamental matter; indulging in discursive intellect and measuring, they took it for high views, which is a great disease. The matter handed down from above was originally not like this. Yantou said: 'Just expose a little bit right before your eyes; this is like a spark struck from stone or a flash of lightning.' If you cannot grasp it, there is no need to harbor doubts; this is the place where transcendent people walk—unless one knows it directly, no one can know it. Zhaozhou's 'Go drink tea,' the Master of Bimo Cliff brandishing his pitchfork, Xuefeng rolling the balls, Heshan beating the drum, Juzhi's one finger, Guizong dragging the stone, Xuansha's 'Not yet penetrated,' Deshan's staff and Linji's shout—all penetrate through crown and base, directly severing the entangling vines. With great potential and great function, the thousands of differences and myriad distinctions all return to the single source, capable of untying entanglements and stripping away bonds for others. If they form conceptual understandings based on words, one must immediately administer the fundamental provender—just as with seven bushels of donkey's milk, a single drop of lion's milk causes it all to burst and scatter. If you want the transmission beneath your feet to succeed continuously and last long, you must strictly avoid yielding to human sentiments and never make it easy; only then will it be authentic. 'Only with the final phrase does one reach the iron barrier'—how true these words are! To penetrate and escape birth and death and to uphold the correct seal are entirely a matter of this moment. Only those who step on the upper mechanism will know it intimately.

14.17

Venerable Long Zhizang, having accorded with the principle in the Huxiang region, came and went from Beishan for over ten years; he is truly a patch-robed monk of native color who has investigated profundities and mastered them thoroughly. Thereupon he was appointed to share the seat, and has already instructed disciples for three years. Having received the imperial decree to move to Tianning in the capital, he wished to obtain Dharma words to signify our spiritual accord, and for this reason I produced these few passages. In the middle of the twelfth month of the sixth year of Xuanhe, written by the old monk Foguo.

14.18

Instruction to Head Monk Ming of Huazang

14.19

The Patriarchs' gate points straight and direct; how could there be so many winding tracks? It only values transcendent people who, upon barely hearing it raised, perk up their eyebrows and walk on; from the vantage of the clear-sighted, [anything less] is mere clumsiness. An ancient said, "If I raise one corner and he does not return with the other three, I do not go on with him." Each and every one must raise one and understand three, discerning the dynamic down to grains and ounces, flowing and unobstructed like a rolling wheel, swift and sharp—only then is it called upholding [the Dharma]. Have you not seen how Liangsui met Magu? The first time, as soon as they met, [Magu] went back to the Abbot's quarters and closed the door. When he went to see him a second time, Magu strode quickly toward the vegetable garden; Liangsui then had a sudden flash of insight, and so he said to Magu, "Venerable Sir, do not deceive Liangsui. If Liangsui had not come to see the Venerable Sir, he would have been cheated his whole life through by the twelve scrolls of scriptures and treatises." Looking at him in such a way, it was truly effortless. When he returned, he said to his followers, "Where everyone knows, Liangsui completely knows; where Liangsui knows, no one knows." Truly know that where he knew, not a breath of wind could pass; people will never easily catch up to it. He can indeed be called a true lion cub. If you want to be seed and sprout of his house, you must surpass him by a head before you succeed.

14.20

Bodhidharma traveled to Liang and entered Wei, plunging into the weeds to seek out a person. Facing the wall at Shaolin, he sat coldly for nine years, finding only one in the deep snow. When it came to the final question, what did [Huike] attain? He merely made three prostrations and stood in his place, whereupon there were the words about attaining the marrow. This led those of the sort who "guard a tree stump waiting for a rabbit" to vie in taking wordless prostration and standing in place as the profound import of attaining the marrow. Little do they know that the sword has long since fallen, yet they are still notching the boat—how could they have ever even dreamed of the Patriarch? If one is an authentic, true follower of the Way, one must transcend emotional views, step beyond opinions, and have a different livelihood; one must never make a living in dead water. Only then can one inherit the estate of their house. Arriving here, one must know there is the transcendent matter. As it is said, one who is skilled at learning from Liuxia Hui never imitates his tracks. Therefore the ancients said, "A matching phrase is a donkey tethering stake for ten thousand kalpas." How true!

14.21

The Dharma King who dismantles being appears in the world and preaches diverse teachings according to the desires of sentient beings. You should know that all that is preached is an expedient, merely meant to break attachments, break doubts, break paths of intellectual understanding, and break the view of self. If there were not so many pernicious perceptions and views, the Buddha would not have needed to appear, let alone preach diverse teachings. After the ancients grasped the purport, they went into deep mountains, thatched huts, and rock grottos, boiling rice to eat in a broken-legged pot for ten or twenty years, completely forgetting human society and bidding eternal farewell to the dust of the world. Nowadays we dare not expect such [conduct]; one should simply conceal one's name, obscure one's traces, keep to one's fundamental lot, and be an old monk like an awl in a bone, according in oneself with what has been realized. Enjoy it according to one's own capacity, expelling old karma and dissolving past habits. If there is leftover strength, extend it to others to establish prajñā affinities, refining and polishing one's own foundation until it is fully seasoned, just like stirring through the wild weeds to turn up one or half an individual who also knows of this, together escaping birth and death and further seeking what has not yet been sought, so as to repay the deep kindness of the Buddhas and Patriarchs. If it cannot be helped, and, like frost and dew when the fruit is ripe, one is thrust forward to appear in the world, one responds to affinities smoothly, opening up [the Way] for humans and devas, without ever setting one's mind on seeking anything. How much less would one rely on prestige and power, adopting the manners of a vulgar master, deceiving the ordinary, slighting the sages, illicitly seeking profit and scheming for fame, creating uninterrupted karma even without karmic affinities? Simply passing through the world like that, without karmic retributions—would one truly be an arhat who has left the dust behind?

14.22

In this gate, the sudden awakening to realization comes from someone who has never been ruined by others—a blind fellow who knows not one thing in a hundred, yet who, as a dull fellow of sharp capacity, directly breaks through and undertakes it on the spot. If he needs to apply it, he applies it; if he needs to act, he acts. Without such practiced mental activities, wherever he drops things down he immediately finds rest and ease, completely stuffed full all day long—it is indeed authentic. What is most difficult to manage is falling into being half-advanced and half-backward: recognizing the glint of forms in the gaze, listening without following sound, keeping to a quiet and serene nature and treasuring it in one's bosom, being clear and luminous all day long, shouldering diverse knowledges and interpretations, [thinking] "I too have a perspective, and I once received the seal of a lineage master." This only increases one's view of self; then one criticizes past and present, tests Buddhas and Patriarchs, and looks down on everything. When questioned, one resorts to tricks, sticking together in a heap, not knowing that from the outset one has misread the steelyard mark. When one offers expedients to unstick them and untie their bonds, they claim that you are displacing them and turning them around; having such mental conduct, how can they be saved? Unless, all of a sudden, they realize their own error, let it go, and put it down. When acting as a kalyāṇamitra and encountering such people, one must use great hands and feet to smelt and forge them; if you can save one or half a person and make them penetrate thoroughly, it is fine to turn falsehood into correctness, and in the future they will indeed be great people of immeasurable stature. Why is this? Simply because having had many illnesses, they are thoroughly familiar with the nature of medicine.

14.23

One who has attained it has completely eradicated mental contrivances; illumination and function are forgotten, and there is no grasp or apprehension at all. He simply keeps to leisurely ease; yet the devas have no way to scatter flowers [before him], and māras and outsiders peek in vain without seeing him. Walking on the deep ocean floor, his outflows exhausted and conceptual thoughts dissolved, whatever he does is ordinary, no different from [someone in] a village of three families. Directly opening his heart, even when cultivated to such a place, he is still unwilling to abide there. The moment there is the slightest trace, he feels it like Mount Tai; if it obstructs anyone, he casts it off immediately. Although it is purely the ground of principle, there is also nothing to grasp; if one grasps it, it is a thorn of views. Therefore it is said, "The Way has no mind to unite with people; people have no mind to unite with the Way." How could he boast of himself, saying, "I am one who has attained"? Naturally, he deeply desires that people not know him; he is called one of no study and non-action, a peer of the ancients, a true person of the Way.

14.24

Others investigate living phrases, not dead phrases. If you comprehend beneath a living phrase, you will never forget it for eternal kalpas; if you comprehend beneath a dead phrase, you cannot even save yourself. If you want to be a teacher of Buddhas and Patriarchs, you must clarify living phrases. When Shaoyang produced a phrase, it cut through like a sharp blade; Linji also said, "After using the hair-blown [sword], polish it quickly." How could this be an affair within the realms of the skandhas? Nor is it reached by worldly wisdom or clever debate. One must directly penetrate deeply to the original source, sweep away former dependence on others to make interpretations, clear and obscure, favorable and unfavorable, seal them firmly with the diamond true seal, wield the Vajra King jewel sword, and use the means of one's fundamental lot. Therefore it is said, "The sword that kills people must be the sword that kills people; the sword that gives life to people must be the sword that gives life to people." Having killed someone, one must be able to give them life; having given them life, one must be able to kill them. If it is only one-sided, then it falls into bias. At the moment of extending one's hands, look rather to expedients; do not let the blade be dulled or the hand harmed. Every step must have a path of release, completely open and luminous on all sides, illuminating other realms. Striking with the blade must also be tight and firm; if it is slightly lax, one falls into disarray. One's own self in ordinary moments does not retain even a hair's breadth; if there is any, it is also cut into three pieces. How much more so for the fangs and claws passed down from the ancestors in this lineage—they are only brought out when encountering a person of capacity. If they accord with the dynamic, they use it together; if they do not accord, they cut it away. Regard this as the essential; there is no matter that cannot be completely resolved. Make sure to practice it with vigor.

14.25

Shown to Chan Practitioner Guang

14.26

If you wish to obtain intimacy, first of all, do not seek. If you seek and find it, you have already fallen into intellectual understanding. How much more so with this great jewel storehouse: spanning antiquity and the present, it is clearly and lucidly empty and bright, serving as one's own root from beginningless kalpas. All actions and movements entirely rely on its power. Simply rest until you reach the place where not a single thought arises; that is breaking through and shedding off. Not falling into emotional dust, not dwelling in intentional thoughts, far transcending and completely detached, then it is unhidden throughout the entire realm; each and every phenomenon becomes the great function, every single one flowing forth from one's own chest. The ancients called this "bringing out the family treasure"; once attained, it is eternally attained and enjoyed—how could there be any end? The only worry is that in the place of investigation, one's footing is not firm and one cannot thoroughly realize it. You must vigorously sever all conditions so that not a hair's breadth remains; rely on abandoning body and relinquishing life, directly undertaking it without a second. Even if a thousand sages were to appear, it would not change. Accord with circumstances at all times, eating food and wearing clothes, nourishing the sage's fetus without harboring intellectual understanding—is this not an economical, direct, and extraordinary Dharma gate?

14.27

Shown to Chan Practitioner Min

14.28

Former sages [lived on] a single grain of hemp and a single grain of wheat; ancient worthies endured hardship and ate bland food, purifying their aspirations in this, forgetting sleep and meals, dedicated and precise in their investigation, seeking actual realization—how could they reckon with the so-called abundance of the four requisites? When the Way did not measure up to antiquity, there arose the principle that before the dharmacakra turns, the food wheel must turn first; from this, the monastic groves called the senior elder the "gruel and rice master"—is this not doubly contrary to the ancients? Yet entering the gate of according with conditions and adapting, we temporarily carry out the secondary stage. North Mountain receives people of the Way coming from all directions, relying solely on the southern fields. This autumn happens to meet with an abundant harvest; Chan traveler Juemin has overseen the harvesting. On the verge of departure, he begged for words, so I showed him the preceding conditions. Valuing the lineage root and taking hold of the branches—this is the fundamental affair of a fully awakened and thoroughly penetrated person who benefits both and illuminates simultaneously. Strive to practice it: atop the hundred grasses there is the Patriarch, pointed out by Jiashan to let people recognize him; within the wide, level fields there is great meaning, with Baizhang extending his hand so people will know. If every single grain is fully rounded, it is the solitary transmission of the mind seal; furthermore, if the distant view is completely flat and open, one immediately realizes the supreme noble truth. And tell me, how do you say a phrase about coming out of the grass? The full boatload of bright moonlight is carried back.

14.29

Shown to Chan Practitioner Shixiang

14.30

A person who resolves to attend to the Way illumines and clarifies himself throughout the twelve periods of the day, mindful of this at all times, knowing there is this matter beneath his own feet: it does not increase in the sage, nor does it decrease in the ordinary person; solitary, it sheds off sense faculties and dusts, far transcending the surface of things. In all its actions it does not establish location or direction; deeply quiet and congealed, through ten thousand changes and a thousand transformations, it has never moved from the first. Responding to conditions it becomes manifest; meeting events it is immediately expressed, and there is nothing it does not round out. One only needs to be empty and tranquil, transcendent in everything. Once host and root are clear, there is no darkness that is not illuminated: ten thousand years are a single thought, and a single thought is ten thousand years; completely penetrating from top to bottom, it is the total capacity and great function. For example, in the time it takes a strong man to bend or extend his arm, without borrowing the strength of another, the illusory cataracts of birth and death dissolve like ice, and the diamond true body is revealed solitary and bare. Once attained, it is eternally attained without interruption; past and present verbal teachings, dynamic opportunities, and gong'ans, questions, answers, and functions, all completely clarify this. If you can traverse and put this into practice cleanly and freely, over the long days and years, you will naturally meet the source at every turn, welded into a single piece. Have you not seen what Fadeng said:
"Entering a wild field without choosing,
One's hand freely plucks the weeds.
Before the eyes it is never absent;
Confronting the dynamic, why do you not speak?
Without roots, it manages to live;
Leaving the ground, it does not fall.
Still not knowing it in daily function,
Where else will you seek it?"
You should examine this closely.

14.31

Shown to Senior Elder Jian

14.32

Zhaozhou said: 'For thirty years in the south, except for the two times of gruel and rice, I never used my mind on miscellaneous matters.' You should know that the ancients did not take this matter lightly; they were thoroughly earnest. Thus in their cultivation and investigation they reached complete and thorough clarity. In every dynamic encounter, every environment, every phrase, and every word, not one fell into vain emptiness; thus worldly phenomena and the Buddhadharma were forged into a single whole. Nowadays, if you wish to tally [with reality] and be grounded, you must be fierce, sharp, and resolute, turning your intestines inside out and changing your stomach. Do not adopt perverse knowledge and perverse views; do not mix in poisoned food. Be of a single, pure flavor—true, immaculate, and wondrously bright—stepping directly upon your fundamental landscape, reaching the ground of secure, great liberation. Cut off the crowns of the reward and transformation Buddhas, stern, towering, and solitary, where the wind cannot enter and water cannot wet, the true body present before you, endowed with power in daily functioning. Hearing sounds and seeing forms, you give rise to neither taking nor leaving, and in every step there is a path to emerge. Do you not see: A monk asked Jiufeng, 'I hear that the Venerable directly met Yanshou; is that so?' Feng said, 'Has the wheat before the mountain ripened yet?' If you recognize his intimate function, you will see the monk's nose. This is the so-called sword that kills people and blade that revives people. Just continuously observe it yourself; when you reach the point beyond conventions, you will naturally know where it settles.

14.33

Instruction to a Chan Practitioner

14.34

Bodhidharma came from the west, not establishing written words or phrases, only directly pointing to the human mind. If one speaks of direct pointing, it is merely that which everyone fundamentally possesses, fully manifesting right within the husk of ignorance, not differing by the slightest hair from all the sages of the past. It is the so-called genuine original nature, fundamentally pure and wondrously bright, containing and exhaling the ten directions, solitary and freed from sense faculties and dusts—a piece of land only [realized by] abandoning thoughts and severing sentiments. Far surpassing ordinary standards, those of great roots and great wisdom directly undertake it under their own feet by the power of their fundamental lot, like letting go of one's grip on a cliff of myriad fathoms without any lingering attachment, causing all views, understandings, and hindrances to be stripped away to the bottom, like a thoroughly dead person whose breath is already cut off. Reaching the ground of the fundamental lot, resting completely and utterly, the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears initially do not recognize one another, and hands, feet, neck, and back do not touch one another. Afterwards, upon cold ashes and dead fire, everything is clear; amidst withered trees and rotten stumps, each thing is thus illumined. Only then does one accord with what is solitary, exalted, steep, and towering; one no longer needs to seek mind or seek Buddha. Whatever one bumps against or knocks into is nothing obtained from outside. From ancient times, awakenings have had hundreds of kinds and thousands of modes; this very thing is just mind, no need to seek mind further; it is Buddha, why labor to search for Buddha again? If one weaves public proclamations upon words and phrases, or produces intellectual understanding from objects and environments, one falls into a curio bag and ultimately cannot grasp it. This is the realm of the ultimate truth where concerns are forgotten and illumination is severed.

14.35

Who is the one who does not keep company with the myriad dharmas? Turn the light back to illumine yourself and see! When you have swallowed all the waters of the West River in a single gulp, I will tell you. 'An eight-cornered millstone runs through empty space.' If you penetrate this, the myriad dharmas before your eyes will subside evenly, and beginningless deluded thoughts will be completely wiped away. When Deshan waved his hand across the river, someone immediately took it up; when Niaoke blew the cloth fluff, someone instantly awakened. Is this not because when the time arrives for this great cause and condition, the sprouts emerge of themselves, and dynamic accord also finds its ground? It is also because the person secretly moves without interruption, borrowing the teacher's gate to express it. Why is being steep and sheer so difficult, while transcendent realization is so easy? The ancients used rolling a mustard seed to hit the needle's eye as an analogy; it is truly not in vain.

14.36

Penetrating entirely through the final word—with words or without words, transcendent or descending, provisional or real, illumination and function, rolling up and rolling out, giving and snatching—there is no need to examine and see through it anymore. Who recognizes this nose of Zhaozhou? Only those of our family's seed can do so.

14.37

Instruction to the Nun Practitioner of the Way

14.38

When practitioners of the Way initially lack faith and orientation, they loathe the world's noisy confusion and constantly fear they cannot find an entry path. Once they encounter a master's pointing, or through themselves directly clarify it, [they realize] the wondrous, perfect true mind has originally been completely present from the very beginning; encountering objects and meeting conditions, they naturally know where it rests. Thereupon they guard it, fearing they cannot emerge from it, and so they create a nest: establishing illumination and establishing function on dynamic conditions, shouting and striking, glaring with their eyes and raising their eyebrows—all a big fuss. If they encounter a master of true pedigree, he strips away all such views and understandings, allowing them to directly accord and verify the realm that is originally unconditioned, free of affairs, and without mind. Afterward, they verify shame and know how to rest, turning entirely obscure and silent, such that the sages cannot even find the place where their thoughts arise, let alone anyone else. Therefore Yantou said: 'He who has attained it merely keeps to being at leisure.' Throughout the twelve periods of the day, free of desire and without reliance, is this not the Dharma door of peace and happiness? Formerly, when Guanxi went to Moshan, Moshan asked, 'Where have you just come from?' Guanxi said, 'The entrance to the road.' Moshan said, 'Why did you not cover it up?' Guanxi had no words. The next day, he asked, 'What is the environment of Moshan?' Moshan said, 'The peak is not exposed.' 'Who is the person in the environment?' She said, 'There is no mark of male or female.' Guanxi said, 'Why do you not transform?' Moshan said, 'It is neither a spirit nor a ghost; what should it transform into?' Standing on solid ground like this, does one not reach a place that stands like a wall of myriad fathoms? Therefore it is said: 'Only at the final word does one reach the iron barrier, holding shut the vital pass, not allowing ordinary or sage to pass.' If the ancients were like this, could people today be lacking? Fortunately, there is the Vajra King jewel sword; you must meet an intimate friend before you can brandish it.

14.39

Instruction to Furnace Tender Liang

14.40

The Golden Ascetic sat for kalpas; Bodhidharma faced the wall at Shaolin for nine years; Caoxi watched the hunters in Sihui County; Dawei lived in a thatched hut in the deep mountains for ten years; Damei dwelt in a place isolated from human traces; Wuye read the Great Canon; the ancient sage praised Tiṣya with one foot raised for seven days and nights; Sadāprarudita spent months selling his heart and liver; and Changqing sat through seven meditation cushions. These were all for this one great cause and condition; their resolve is worthy of esteem, serving as a standard for later generations throughout eternity. Even if you place your body on the long continuous benches, it is nothing other than quieting the mind to investigate and experience it, merely keeping thoughts clear and calm. Amidst hustle and bustle is precisely where one can apply effort. When applying effort, penetrate from top to bottom without the slightest omission; the entire body is present before you, not arising from anywhere else. Only this one great potential revolves freely—why speak of worldly truth or Buddhadharma? Holding both equally for a long time, year after year, your footing will naturally become firm and solid, simply being this Senior Monk Liang. Directly accord and realize it, like water pouring into water, like gold traded for gold, equal and unified, clear, true, and pure—this is knowing how to make a livelihood. Just do not give rise to a single thought, letting it be unobstructed and transparent. As soon as right and wrong, self and other, gain and loss arise, do not follow them. This is day and night personally meeting your own true kalyāṇamitra; why worry that this matter will not be accomplished? You must look at this yourself!

14.41

Instruction to Bath Master Xie

14.42

This great Dharma was realized together by the Buddhas of the three periods of time and transmitted jointly by the six generations of patriarchs, confirmed by a single seal, directly pointing to the human mind to see its nature and attain Buddhahood, not establishing written words or phrases, which is called a special transmission outside the teachings, the singular transmission of the mind-seal. If you get involved with verbal explanations and public notices, establishing steps and ladders, evaluating within conventions or outside conventions, you lose the fundamental lineage and let down the ancient sages. At the very outset of practice, you must meet a person of the fundamental lot who cuts straight to the source. Take a step back and return to yourself; with a mind of iron and stone, throw away completely and all at once your former deluded thoughts and views, worldly knowledge and clever eloquence, and self and other, gain and loss. Be directly like withered wood and cold ashes, sentiments exhausted and views eradicated, reaching the place where you are clean and stripped bare. In an instant, you will accord and verify, not differing by the slightest hair from all the sages of the past. If you can have complete faith and see through clearly, this is the beginning of entering the gate of principle. Furthermore, you must make one thought ten thousand years, and ten thousand years one thought, pure and unmixed throughout the twelve periods of the day. As soon as a speck of dust arises and ceases, you fall into the twenty-five realms of existence with no time of departure. Struggle for life and death, biting through it, and only then will your ground be secure and dense, unable to be contained within the ranks of ordinary or sage. Only then will you be like a bird leaving the cage, resting and settling by yourself, taking the seat and donning the robe, like true gold refined a hundred times. All movements and activities are naturally vast and open; sense faculties and dusts, life and death, object and wisdom, mystery and wonder, are like hot water poured onto snow. Then you naturally know the time, having nothing beyond your lot, and are called a person of the Way without mind. Cultivating oneself through this and turning to awaken the unawakened, causing them to practice like this—how could this not be the essential path!

14.43

Instruction to Chan Practitioner Yin

14.44

The Way proceeds from awakening and understanding, with establishing resolve coming first. For an ordinary person bound to the ground of ordinary worldliness to wish to step forward, transcend realization, and directly enter the realm of sages—how could this be a small cause and condition? One should indeed maintain a mind of iron and stone, cut off the flow of birth and death, and undertake the original correct nature, not seeing any dharma inside or outside even in a fine speck of dust, making the chest vast and open, entirely without hindrance. All actions and functions then emerge from the root. Once the root is firm and solid, it can turn all things; this is called the diamond true body, which once attained is permanently attained—how could it rely on external seeking? Therefore, an ancient master said: 'It is difficult to attain the wonder of this lineage; one must be meticulous in applying the mind.' If you can suddenly awaken to the correct cause, that is the step to transcending the dust. When the ancients waved a fan across the river or blew a cloth fluff, there was a point of dynamic arousal; as for being shoved in the mouth or struck on the back, they also allowed the bottom of the bucket to fall out, because of focused concentration over a long period resulting in a sudden glimpse one day. How could this be obtained from outside? It all comes from self-verification and self-awakening.

14.45

Instruction to Attendant Xin

14.46

The essential point in learning the Way lies in deep roots and firm base, illumining your own footing throughout the twelve periods of the day. When not a single thought has arisen and you are unconcerned with anything, it is perfectly fused without boundary, completely empty and settled; all that is done is without the slightest doubt or gap, which is called the ready-made fundamental lot. When even the slightest hair of intellectual understanding arises, wishing to undertake and take charge, one immediately falls into the skandhas and realms, enveloped by seeing, hearing, perceiving, knowing, gain and loss, right and wrong, half drunk and half awake, unable to tidy oneself up. Speaking in terms of reality, simply maintain it amidst the noisy confusion as if there were nothing at all, penetrating top and bottom, directly completed, having no form whatsoever, not discarding function, not impeding action; whether speaking or silent, rising or falling, it is never someone else. If you feel the slightest stagnation or hindrance, it is all deluded thought. Make it thoroughly unconstrained, like great empty space, like a clear mirror on a stand, like the bright sun shining in the sky; in every movement and stillness, every coming and going, not obtained from outside, let it be free and unfettered, not bound by dharmas, not seeking liberation from dharmas, forging the beginning and the end into a single whole. Where outside of the Buddhadharma are there separate worldly phenomena? Outside of worldly phenomena, is there a separate Buddhadharma? Therefore the Patriarch directly pointed to the human mind, and the *Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā* values people abandoning marks. Like a strong man bending and stretching his arm without borrowing another's strength, being this concise and essential, it is good to step back constantly and investigate it experientially, causing yourself to have a place of settled, authentic verification and awakening; this is moment by moment everywhere visiting boundless and measureless great kalyāṇamitras. Believe deeply and exert effort in your practice; that is good.

First 46 of 51 passages. Read on

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圓悟佛果禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese