圓悟佛果禪師語錄 15.46

15.46

Whenever I meet with scholar-officials, many say that worldly affairs entangle and tie them down so they have no leisure, and that when they have swept these aside a bit, only then will they apply their minds to investigate. Although these are sincere words, if they merely take worldly toils as their task, bobbing up and down in the messy rubbish of affairs until completely familiarized, they simply call them worldly affairs, still waiting to cast aside worldly conditions before they can enter. What is called 'walking all day without ever walking, functioning all day without ever functioning'—could it be that apart from worldly toils there is another, separate great matter of cause and condition? They completely fail to realize that upon the great treasure-heap the great jewel-radiance is blazing forth, illumining the heavens and dazzling the earth; instead of waking up to it and taking it upon themselves, they seek outside, only compounding their bitterness and toil—how could this be the utmost essential? If one possesses great spiritual capacity, one need not look at the words, phrases, and gong'ans of the ancients; simply, from the moment you rise in the morning, rectify your thought and quiet your mind. In all that you direct, call forth, and perform, whenever an act is completed, bring it up once more and scrutinize it closely: see where it arises from! What is this thing that can perform so much? Once you penetrate right within worldly conditions, there are no conditions of any kind that are not entirely this. Why wait to sweep them aside? Right here you can transcend the lineage and surpass all standards; right within the burning house of the triple realm, it instantly transforms into a pure, unconditioned, cool, and vast site of the Way. The Lotus Sūtra says: 'Children of the Buddha dwell in this ground; / this is the Buddha's own enjoyment. / Walking, sitting, or lying down, / they are ever within it.'