圓悟佛果禪師語錄 16.20

16.20

The buddhas and ancestral teachers appear in the world through the power of great compassionate vows, giving rise to causeless compassion solely dedicated to guiding and receiving those of sharp intelligence and superior faculties who possess great capacity, capable of being entrusted with the supreme, wondrous, and profound dynamic of great liberation, doing what others cannot do, surpassing the herd and excelling beyond the multitude. They can realize the unarisen in the snap of a finger, and step beyond the fruit-ocean on the spot. Their eyes look east and west while their intent is north and south; like swift falcons and agile sparrows dashing through the sky, braving the wind and braving the sun, brushing the Jade Rabbit and grazing the Golden Rooster, their heroic spirit sweeping and unconstrained, they seize upon the foremost and final move. Like a flash of lightning or a flying star, it allows no room for deliberation. Waiting for the person's entire body to slough off, directly snared without wasting a hair of pointing, they then bare their chest, penetrating from top to bottom; as soon as it is comprehended, they hand it over with both hands. Therefore their style and strides are like a ferocious dragon obtaining water or a fierce tiger leaning against a mountain: clouds puffing, winds gusting, pouring out people's livers and gall, dazzling people's eyes and minds; only then can they be called seedlings of the fundamental house. Thus, when the great being Vimalakīrti held a great assembly, the demon king manifested the Śūraṅgama Samādhi, and practices in the demon realm did not defile the ranks of bodhisattvas; together with Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and the Golden Ascetic, they all stood out from the ordinary and surpassed the crowd. And when the flower was raised for a secret transmission, how could that be an ordinary matter? Down to Bodhidharma's coming from the West, Shenguang glimpsed it in a flash; since then, many immeasurable great people have been uniquely penetrating and thoroughly expert, only pointing to activities, blinking, raising eyebrows, speech, silence, unfolding, rolling up, releasing, seizing, giving, taking away, and manifesting the fundamental matter. For a long time their thoughts have not been exposed, leisurely and motionless, like people who know nothing and understand nothing; yet when engaged and confronted, they are seen to astound the crowd and stir the multitude. Although when investigating its ultimate purport there are originally not so many things, it is solely to immediately illumine the wonderful and be entirely free of mind. If one can cast aside learned understanding and clinging, letting oneself be thoroughly at leisure, not even practicing the noble truths, one will naturally accord with the lineage guidelines from of old, and will then be able to enter this field of selecting buddhas, converting the uncoverted and transforming the untransformed. How could this not be returning to the human world, relying on not a single thing, as a truly extraordinary person of the great Way of non-action and beyond learning? The Imperial Envoy and Surveillance Commissioner, Lord Yang Wujiu, possesses lofty discernment and far-reaching vision, erudite learning and many abilities, and has attained especially deep mastery of the ancestral Way. His wisdom is discerning and dynamic: knowing before anything is raised, penetrating before anything is spoken. While in the capital, I was fortunate to participate in his company; now, following the imperial command to serve at the Pacification Commission, we meet again in Jin'guan. You have specially graced me with your illumination of the Way and further demanded entangling vines; therefore I put forth this admission of defect.