圓悟佛果禪師語錄 5.15

5.15

Requested on the memorial day of Junior Protector Chancellor Zhang, the Master ascended the hall. A monk asked: "Vimalakīrti, where did he go? For a thousand ages he leaves people gazing endlessly. The non-dual Dharma gate is being asked right now; last night the bright moon mounted the high peak. What was the meaning of Vimalakīrti's single silence?" The Master said: "It crams full empty space." The monk proceeded: "If so, then facing the sun there is neither facing towards nor turning away; the entire dynamic is exposed right in front of one." The Master said: "There is no place for you to insert your beak." The monk proceeded: "What about the former three-and-three and the latter three-and-three?" The Master said: "Also a tea bottle from Gong County." The monk proceeded: "Mañjuśrī said, 'I have neither word nor speech in all places.' Is this identical to or different from his single silence?" The Master said: "Falling into the secondary head." The monk proceeded: "What about severing nails and cutting iron?" The Master said: "Holding the sword of Moye horizontally." The monk proceeded: "Layman Wujin shared an intimate spiritual bond of acquaintance with you, Venerable, all his life. Tell me, where is he right now?" The Master said: "I have already told you." The monk proceeded: "The student today had a small venture but met with a great reward." The Master said: "With what will you repay this kindness?" The monk said: "For ten thousand ages, the moon in the open sphere over the deep green pool." The Master said: "Idle words." The Master then said: "Great assembly! Grasping the tongs and hammers of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, operating the forge and bellows of an adept, forging past and present to test patch-robed monks, one employs only the transcendent dynamic—the Vajra King jewel sword. The Patriarch Linji received this essential dynamic from Huangbo and Mazu, and north of the Great River single-handedly invigorated the authentic lineage: a single shout distinguishes host and guest; illumination and function are carried out simultaneously, cutting off the tongues of everyone under heaven and sending the clouds and waters of the four seas scurrying. Down to his sons and grandsons, transmitting this right view and using this true dynamic—if one were not a person of great liberation, how could one witness and verify it facing the sun? Recalling the great layman Wujin in former days, he made this matter his lifelong concern, consulting and questioning lineage masters throughout the realm without exception. When he arrived at the foot of Mount Doushuai and met that old patch-robed monk, discussing the final phrase, he finally was able to cast off his body in complete authenticity; conceptual understanding and theoretical principles were shed all at once. Thereupon he composed a verse: 'The drums are silent, the bells have stopped, and bearing the bowl I return; / Yantou's single squeeze brought words like thunder. / Sure enough, he had only three years to live— / could it be that he received his prediction of enlightenment from him?' Clanging like gold and chiming like jade, bounding like a tiger and soaring like a dragon, he truly possessed great potential and attained great function, using this authentic seal to stamp the kalyāṇamitras of the monastic groves throughout the realm. When this mountain monk met him in Hubei in former days, we swept like lightning and sped like shooting stars; with a single word we were verified in accord, inner and outer as one. The layman's meritorious deeds are written on bamboo and silk; his surviving virtue rests with the common people. Later, when this day arrived, he let go his hands and walked beyond. Tell me, where did Layman Wujin go? Do you understand? Throughout the Buddha-lands of the trichiliocosm, in every dust mote and every land, he manifests a superior body." He further said: "His abundant virtue rests with the common people, / revered in common by the four quarters. / A great ancestral master of the three teachings, / possessing precise ounces and drachms on the steelyard beam. / At seventy-nine, he equaled the Buddha's years; / on this day, frosty wind spans heaven and earth. / A single sound shakes like sudden thunder; / the front star falls into the cloud curtain. / The qilin snaps the golden chain / and with a single leap returns straight above the Brahma heaven, / leaving behind remembrance for ten thousand years and a thousand autumns."