圓悟佛果禪師語錄 8.31

8.31

He instructed the assembly, saying: "The ancestral master's mind seal directly accords with the dynamic; it is stern as a sword's edge, bright as the shining sun, dazzling and resplendent on the terrace. Conspicuously manifested before you, is there anyone who levels and expands it together?"
A monk asked: "The World-Honoured One was long silent regarding this essential matter; why at the very end did he summon only Drinker of Light (Mahākāśyapa) to secretly transmit the Dharma Eye?"
The master said: "A dragon's head and a snake's tail."
[The monk] asked further: "A single drop of water and ink forms a dragon in two places."
The master said: "You implicate this mountain monk."
[The monk] asked further: "A bitter gourd is bitter right to its root; a sweet melon is sweet right through to its stem."
The master said: "Clearly so."
[The monk] asked further: "It is also a turtle eating raw vegetables."
The master said: "Indulging your nature."
[The master] then said: "'If you wish to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should observe seasonal causes and conditions. When the time arrives, the principle reveals itself.' If perchance the time has not yet arrived and the ground of principle is not yet clarified, then karmic consciousness will be boundless and there will be no basis to rely upon. I dare to ask you gentlemen: Right now, what season is it? Could it be the season of dusk? Could it be the season of an informal gathering? Could it be the season of sitting and standing solemnly? Could it be the season of talking of Chan and speaking of the Way? Could it be the season of the myriad images intermingling? Could it be the season of the unity of mind and environment? If you are so vague, then thankfully there is no connection. Tonight, while you gentlemen temporarily stand here for a short while, this mountain monk will not spare his eyebrows to discuss and evaluate this section of time with certainty.
"Just as you people are here listening to this mountain monk flapping his two lips, to take that as the season is precisely to fall into ordinary sentiment. You must know that this mountain monk has never spoken a single word, and you people have never heard a single phrase. You people and this mountain monk each have a great matter, blazing through past and present, far cut off from knowledge and views, completely bare and stripped naked, neither knowing each other nor reaching each other, penetrating sound and penetrating form, surpassing Buddhas and transcending patriarchs. If you can take a step back and turn to yourself, shedding emotional dust, intentional thought, recollective differentiation, tangled explanations and verbal expressions, seeing and hearing, awareness and perception, right and wrong, gain and loss, then directly open and clear, with a flash of insight, you will share the same knowledge and view, the same language, the same action, and the same substance and form as the ancient Buddhas. Not only will you be the same as all sages, but you will also be the same as the lineage masters throughout the ages and old venerable monks under heaven, down to the four kinds of births, the six paths of existence, vinegar gnats, and tiny midges—there are none who are not all the same. Not deluded by external objects, not troubled by intellectual understanding, not fearing birth and death, not loving nirvāṇa, free and ordinary, according with the times and following nature, in motion, stillness, action, and function, there is nothing that is not liberation. You can turn all realms and employ all words. Not only is it so for your own share, but even the ancients without exception attained entry by means of this season.
"Do you not see that when Zhaozhou first studied under Nanquan, he realized that ordinary mind is the Way; later, when asked about the meaning of the coming from the West, he directly answered: 'The cypress tree in front of the courtyard,' down to 'Zhenzhou produces large radishes,' and 'When I was in Qingzhou, I made a hemp robe weighing seven pounds.' Not only Zhaozhou: when Deshan attained this season, he would hit as soon as one entered the door; when Linji attained this season, he would shout as soon as one entered the door; when Muzhou attained this season, he would say: 'A manifest gong'an—I let you off thirty blows with the staff'; Juzhi used this season upon a single finger; Bird's Nest saw this season where he blew on cloth fuzz. To speak of the essentials, the lineage masters of old without exception used this season.
"Take Fayan, who once quoted the Cantongqi: 'The mind of the Great Immortal of India,' and thereupon said: 'There is nothing that surpasses these words.' Below this, the middle was merely speech responding to the times and seasons, until at the very end: 'Respectfully I say to those who investigate the mystery: do not waste your time in vain,' upon which he said: 'Stop, stop! Such great kindness is difficult to repay. Even if one were to grind one's bones and shatter one's body, one could still not repay this kindness.' Is this not speaking in such a way only because he knew this season? Nowadays, if you have not had an illumination, you merely waste your time in vain. If you investigate thoroughly and clearly, throughout the twenty-four hours you will certainly not fall into emptiness in the slightest; not only throughout the twenty-four hours, but down through hundreds of thousands of kotis of kalpas to the very end of future time, you will never fall into emptiness at all. Just as this mountain monk speaks of such a season, is it accurate or not?"
He added: "You haven't even dreamed of it yet. Tell me: is there still a place that helps people or not? If you investigate well, even this single phrase is not set forth in vain. I have a mountain verse to cite to the assembly:
In late autumn the weather is crisp,
The myriad forms are together deep and still;
The moon is lustrous, the pond quiet,
The breeze pure, the pines and cypresses shady.
Each and every thing is not an external object;
One and all are the original mind.
Directly accept and recognize it;
By no means hesitate any further."