圓悟佛果禪師語錄 14.16

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.