圓悟佛果禪師語錄 7.4

7.4

Pointing to the Dharma seat, he said, "The lion crouches here in person; adorned with all jewels, it was not borrowed from King Sumeru-Pradīpa, but has originally belonged to the Inner Court of Tuṣita. Since such an opportune occasion is hard to encounter, one must make it surpass all others. Look closely!" He then ascended the seat, took incense, and said, "This stick of incense is respectfully offered to celebrate and extol the holy longevity of our present Emperor for ten thousand years. We reverently wish that his reign be exalted as the kalpa-stone and his life equal the mustard-seed city; that he display the resurgence of Xuandi and Guangwudi, and restore the ancient heritage of the Great Yu. The next stick of incense is respectfully offered for the Prefect, the Vice Prefect, the Transport Commissioner, the Auxiliary Academician, the Vice Magistrate, and all the honorable officials of the commandery attending this feast. May they ever be loyal and filial, acting for the country and the people, serving as the arms and legs of the sage sovereign, and acting as pillar-stones of this enlightened age. This final stick of incense was acquired through painstaking diligence and gathered from kalpas far away; several times brought out before the vast assembly, I dare not conceal it before the mountain peaks. Reverently offered for the twelfth generation of Zhenhui Chan Monastery on Mount Wuzu in Qizhou, Chan Master Yan, I burn it in the brazier to requite the milk of Dharma." He then smoothed his robes and sat down. Master Guizong struck the gavel and said, "Assembly of dragons and elephants at the Dharma feast, you should observe the primary meaning!" The Master said, "Embracing all existence, the sound shakes the trichiliocosm; when the eyes on the crowns of Buddhas and Patriarchs open, the hearts and minds of gods and humans widen. If you understand it in this manner, it is straightforward indeed; but if you hesitate, you fall into the gate of the secondary meaning. Are there any patch-robed monks whose arrow-tips clash head-on? Come forward and let us stir it up together!" A monk asked, "When the lineage vehicle is chanted once, the Three Piṭakas leave no room for exposition; when the ancestral command is enforced, the ten directions are cut off. What is the one phrase that requites benevolence?" The Master said, "Heaven is enduring and earth is long-lasting, with no remaining matters; for ten thousand years we ever bless the sage and enlightened ruler." The monk advanced and said, "Then the civil radiance rivals the two luminaries, and the imperial span equals heaven and earth." The Master said, "The grass bends where the wind blows, attaining freedom." The monk advanced and said, "It may be called: the golden branch flourishes forever, elegant for a thousand years; the jade leaves join their fragrance, enduring spring for ten thousand ages." The Master said, "The people of the whole country bear witness." The monk advanced and said, "An ancient said: 'Carrying the thorny staff across his shoulder, paying no heed to anyone, he goes straight into the thousand peaks and myriad peaks.' I wonder, which one is his dwelling place?" The Master said, "Flying vipers entangle his feet, entangling weeds encircle his body." The monk advanced and said, "In the morning I watch the drifting clouds; in the evening I listen to the murmuring streams." The Master said, "You must cut it off before you can attain it." The monk advanced and said, "This time it is no dream; truly I have reached Mount Lu." The Master said, "Look closely." A monk asked, "Ancient Śākya was not earlier; new Maitreya is not later. Just on this day when the Buddha Dharma is entrusted to Yunju, how do you bring forth the dynamic sharpness that a thousand sages cannot borrow?" The Master said, "Raise your eyebrows and go straight forward." The monk advanced and said, "Regarding what has been brought forth, is there still a place to bestow it?" The Master said, "Bestowed on the ācārya." The monk advanced and said, "What can be done when words do not express the essential doctrine, yet wordlessness cuts off both sacred and profane?" The Master said, "There is still the Vajra King jewel sword." The monk advanced and said, "Directly right here it is; no need to circle around further." The Master gave a shout. The monk advanced and said, "If you suddenly met one who has an eye on the crown of his head coming forward to utter a phrase from across the body, what then?" The Master said, "Drawing the bow after the thief has passed." The monk advanced and said, "The blue mountains do not block the power of long flight; the vast sea must know its source lies high." The Master said, "Severed into two halves." The monk advanced and said, "One stroke reveals forty-nine." The Master said, "Indeed." The Master then said, "Taking the Buddhas and Patriarchs as the standard, raising Buddhas and Patriarchs to be masters; taking gods and humans as ladders and rafts, providing gods and humans with eyes. If suddenly not leaning on a single thing, solitary, steep and towering, beyond the knowledge of a thousand sages, without mirror or reflection from ten thousand spirits, cutting off everything without touching a speck, sealing off the world without leaking a hair's breadth—before the assembly of gods and humans, how can it be disclosed? If here one puts an end above to aspiring upward, and cuts off below one's own self, then casually like the garuḍa parting the ocean to seize and swallow the dragon directly, or like the lion cub leaving the cave so that phantom foxes leave no trace; when slightly revealed at the front edge, one cannot avoid saying that mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monks are monks, and laypeople are laypeople, opening the gate of compassion and skillful means to preserve what can be commonly used. If suddenly transformed so that mountains are not mountains, waters are not waters, monks are not monks, and laypeople are not laypeople—arriving here, is there still an avenue of emergence? If there is an avenue of emergence, then one may salute Śākya from afar and decline to bow to Maitreya; one can cut off the crown of Vairocana and pay no homage to Śākyamuni. Gathering empty space into a staff, one still cannot strike him; combining ten million claps of thunder into a single shout, one still cannot startle him. Now tell me, how ultimately does one approach this person? Just now, each directly present, neither turning away nor facing toward, not establishing the slightest path of intellectual interpretation, not making the tiniest device of dust—just at such a time, how do you utter the one phrase that seals off heaven and earth? The carved bow is hung up, the beacon fires have ceased; all nations sing praises to celebrate peace." He added, "Bestowed in person beside the dragon couch, this ancient bodhimaṇḍa of Yunju up in the heavens; beside the tree of peace and joy I hide my clumsy dullness, and there is no more Buddha Dharma to deliberate. Since there is no Buddha Dharma, I nonetheless bring up an ancient gong'an. I remember that Chan Master Yin of Mount Shending, upon ascending the hall to open his teaching, showed the assembly, saying: 'This mountain monk had no proper cause when wandering on foot; I merely intended to listen to one or two scriptures and treatises in the Eastern Capital, and just pass the time in a quiet room of an ancient temple. Unexpectedly, traveling to Yexian in Ruzhou, I was blown by a gust of karmic wind to Mount Shou, where I saw an old monk on a curved-wood chair. At that time I could not hold back, and made three prostrations to him; even to this day, I cannot undo my regret.'" The Master said, "That old fellow investigated to the point where molten iron is cast, and penetrated to the point where there was not the slightest path of intellectual understanding. Therefore, facing the iron wall and silver mountain, he decisively cut through nails and iron. If he did not know there is the transcendent lineage vehicle, how could he speak like that? Although this is so, if we examine it, the Second Patriarch also made three prostrations at Shaolin. If milk and water are not separated and gold and brass are not distinguished, clutching at rules where there are rules, or clinging to precedents where there are no rules—in the late Yuanfeng era, because I harbored doubts about the ancestral master's purpose in coming from the west, for more than ten years south of the river I met great kalyāṇamitras, devotedly asking about the wondrous principle of the profound essence; with sticks, shouts, and dynamic actions I truly exhausted my efforts, yet in the end there was no place of rest. When I arrived at Haihui and met that old monk, I was struck with a hammer-blow behind the head; from then on, I lost the sharpness before my eyes and cast out the things inside my breast, so that even to this day, I cannot explain it away. Tell me: is this the same as or different from the ancients? Do you fully understand? The antelope hangs by its horns beyond a thousand peaks; yet there is an antelope on the peak above."