圓悟佛果禪師語錄 15.49

15.49

"What kind of person is it who is not companion to the ten thousand dharmas?" "Wait until you swallow all the waters of the West River in a single gulp, then I will tell you." How direct and shortcut! Why not take it upon yourself in just this way? If you delve further into his words and phrases, you will never break through and be emancipated. I often see students who merely make conjectures upon the words and formulate answers in search of an exact fit—how could this be wanting to penetrate birth and death? If you want to penetrate birth and death, it is possible only when the ground of the mind opens through. This gong'an is precisely the key that opens the ground of the mind; one need only be clear about it, grasp the essential purport beyond words, and only then arrive at this ground without doubt.