圓悟佛果禪師語錄 9

English (machine translation) 9

Language: English

9.1

Compiled by the disciple Shaolong and others of Mount Huqiu in Pingjiang Prefecture during the Song

Informal gathering upon entering the monastery at Jiashan Temple. The Master said: "Gathering radiance and collecting brilliance, one trusts the innate nature; every affair is consummated, and every object is renewed. When inwardly there is no mind and outwardly no characteristics, where else would one seek a crossing? Is there anyone who has penetrated Zhaozhou's barrier? Step forward from the assembly and let us see." A monk came forward and asked: "I have received the Master's words, 'having penetrated Zhaozhou's barrier.' What is Jiashan's barrier?" The Master said: "Step back three hundred paces." The monk said: "If so, then in the calm clouds of the nine heavens, the crane flies high." The Master said: "What does that have to do with you, Ācārya?" The monk said: "What harm is there in bearing mutual witness?" The Master said: "Feigning deafness and playing mute." The Master then said: "The ox head sinks and the horse head turns back, completely manifesting illumination and function; the golden crow is swift and the jade rabbit is fleeting, briefly revealing the balance beam. Those who can penetrate it are like tigers leaning against mountains, like dragons gaining water; those who cannot penetrate it, hearing such talk, are like ducks listening to thunder, because they are not yet thoroughly familiar with it, originating all along from feelings harbored in intellectual understanding. Tonight, before adepts, this mountain monk does not begrudge his eyebrows and lets things proceed. If only above you have no grasping yearning, below you cut off personal existence, outwardly you see no great earth, mountains, or rivers, and inwardly you establish no hearing, seeing, sensation, or knowing—directly sloughing off emotional consciousness, not giving rise to a single thought—you will realize the original ground's scenery and see your original face. Thereafter, mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monks are monks, and laypeople are laypeople. Even so, do not mistakenly fix the steelyard star; you must further know there is a transcendent dynamic mechanism for unsticking paste and unbinding bonds before it will do. And tell me, what is the transcendent matter? The carved bow is already hung up and the wolf smoke has ceased; songs and ballads over ten thousand miles celebrate universal peace."

9.4

Informal gathering at the beginning of the summer retreat. The Master said: "Great assembly! The ready-made gong'an is consummated in every touch. Although I am old, sick, and decrepit, I can still unfurl the battle array beneath the gate flags. Is there anyone with a single horse and a single spear who has long fought on the battlefield? Come forth and bear witness together." A monk asked: "Confining the feet for ninety days and protecting life for three months: just as Nanquan cut the calico cat, dividing its body in two, and when the banded snake encountered the Red-Eyed One, it took a hoe straight to the ground—I wonder, was this keeping [the precepts] or breaking them?" The Master said: "Even breaking the precepts was unknown to them." The monk said: "The great function is unconstrained, a model for past and present." The Master said: "The body is still divided in two." The monk said: "If that is so, the jade chopsticks prop open the tiger's eyes, and the golden whip breaks Nata's arm." The Master said: "Where do you see Nanquan and Guizong?" The monk said: "Right before our eyes." The Master said: "Double talk is unpalatable." A monk asked: "In India, the wax man was used as a test. I wonder, what is used as a test here?" The Master said: "The eyebrows are used as a test." The monk said: "Do you still permit this student to come out?" The Master said: "Blink and look up further." The monk said: "I only fear I cannot catch sight of it." The Master said: "The short is short, the long is long; what is there that cannot be caught sight of?" The Master then said: "The complete presentation, the single critique, severing nails and shearing iron, scolding the Buddhas and reviling the Patriarchs with great function and great potential, still do not live up to a patch-robed monk's fundamental lot, not to mention setting up questions and answers, setting up guest and host, touching upon words and phrases, speaking of the mysterious and marvelous, making trouble out of nothing, and raising waves on level ground. Although it is like this, affairs are not one-sided, and principle issues from many paths; although one trims the sails to the wind, one cannot avoid playing the drinking game according to the company. Do you not see what the ancients said: 'If you wish to know the meaning of Buddha-nature, you should observe the conditions of time and season. When the time and season arrive, its principle becomes manifest of itself.' Just take tonight and tomorrow morning: this is the pattern established two thousand years ago by old man Śākya, the season for confining the feet for ninety days and protecting life for three months, which the monastic groves throughout the world all uphold and rely upon. Since this season has arrived, is there anyone who recognizes this principle? If you can recognize this principle, then wherever you are you act as master, and whatever circumstances you meet is the ancestral lineage; throughout the twelve two-hour periods there is no inside or outside, no gain or loss; the entire body is just like this, and there is also no life to be protected, nor any wax man to be held. If perhaps you have not, one should pity the goose protecting the snow, directly making the wax man freeze." The Master continued: "Great assembly! Old man Śākya said: 'Taking great perfect awakening as my monastery, body and mind dwell peacefully in the wisdom of equality.' Since all of you wish to dwell peacefully, do you still recognize the wisdom of equality? If you can recognize it, everyone is fully equipped and each one is consummated, and even movement, stillness, application, and action are all within the great monastery; walking hand in hand with all the sages, performing Buddha work together with all the sages. And how will you recognize it? Beneath the three rafters, before the seven-foot mat, each of you should look after it. You have been standing long."

9.5

Informal gathering at the binding of the retreat. A monk asked: "To protect life one must kill; only when killing is exhausted can one dwell peacefully. I wonder, what is killed?" The Master said: "There are many people who doubt this." The monk said: "When this student reaches this place and all traces of footsteps are cut off at every step, how is it?" The Master said: "The Vajra King jewel sword is not yet present." The monk said: "A fundamental lineage master who severs nails and shears iron: before the omen has divided, please speak quickly, Master." The Master said: "The gibberish tongue spans three thousand miles." The monk said: "When gratitude is deep, one is rather wordless; one's inner bosom is naturally clear." The Master said: "Do not feign clarity." A monk asked: "The entire collection of the canon is paper for wiping filth; why then did Deshan shoulder his commentaries on foot?" The Master said: "Put it down." The monk said: "When Diamond Zhou was questioned by the old woman, losing his sharp point and having his tongue tied, how was that?" The Master said: "Pulling an arrow out from behind the head." The Master then said: "Cutting off self and other, blending with empty space, penetrating sound and form, having no facial features; eating rice all day without ever chewing a single grain, wearing clothes all day without ever hanging a single thread. The whole of empty space and the oceans of Flower Treasury worlds are lined up in the downwind position; the sages of past, present, and future retreat a thousand miles. Lifting a single step, one leaps over ineffable worlds; beyond the ocean of fragrant water, there is still somewhere to go. Picking up a single speck of dust, one blends with all the immeasurable and countless; all Buddhas and Patriarchs of the ten directions, above and below, are pierced through seven and eight times, yet there is still room to spare. And tell me, in what place does this person dwell peacefully? In what place does he confine his feet? If you know where this person settles, only then will you know the original ground's scenery, and only then will you see your original face; then you can subsume the agreeable and disagreeable within a single speck of dust, walking by rule and stepping by compass, manifesting dignified deportment in the space of a single thought without exceeding the ordinary routine. As for taking great perfect awakening as one's monastery, that is still just a minor matter. If you can see like this, function like this, trust like this, and penetrate like this, you can be sure that throughout the boundless ocean of lands, self and other are not separated by the tip of a fine hair; the ten periods of past and present, beginning and end, are not moved from the present thought. Confining the feet for ninety days and protecting life for three months, ready-made function is enjoyed within a single thought, a single step, a single speck of dust, and a single mustard seed. And tell me: in the end, where is this person? Do you understand? Wearing a coir raincoat, standing sideways beyond a thousand peaks; drawing water to irrigate vegetables before the Five Old Men."

9.6

Informal gathering at the unbinding of the retreat. The Master said: "Gathering the causes and reaping the fruits, being cautious at the end and protecting the beginning, this single matter of conditions is at this moment fully prepared. The nests of sages and worthies, the roots and trunks of birth and death, are smashed to pieces with a single hammer blow, severed with a single knife cut. If one is an adept of universal scope, upon mention one knows where to return; how can beginners and novices find a point of entry? Just like before sentient beings and Buddhas were differentiated, before the empty kalpa on that side of King Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja, was there any binding of the retreat or unbinding of the retreat, or not? Even so, arriving here, even if a thousand sages stepped forward, their eyes would stare blankly and their mouths would gape open. Let that other side be for now; just take the present, where lamps and candles cross their radiance, sitting and standing with solemn dignity: that which is high is heaven, that which is thick is earth, mountains are mountains, waters are waters, existence is existence, nonexistence is nonexistence, long is long, and short is short. Right at such a time, compared with that realm before King Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja during the empty kalpa, is it the same or different? If right in this you are distinct and clearly aware, with no phenomena before your eyes and no mind in your breast, seeing no sages above and no ordinary mortals below, seeing no realms outwardly and seeing no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind inwardly, then you can penetrate all equally. What talk is there of binding the retreat or unbinding the retreat? With a single hammer blow you smash the nests of sages and worthies, and with a single knife cut you sever the roots and trunks of birth and death. Even if Linji, Deshan, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra, down to the immeasurably and boundlessly [many] possessed of great liberation and great spiritual power, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, were to come in surging waves, they would not require a single pinch. And on what would you rely? If one did not shoot the stone tiger at Lantian, one would almost have General Li mistakenly killed."

9.7

Informal gathering requested by the assembly upon returning from alms-rounds in the commandery. The Master said: "Companions of the Way in Orchid City gather like clouds; the Buddha-selection field opens the gate of nonduality. Glorifying the tongueless old man of Blue Cliff, the fine gathering of the informal gathering is heard in all four quarters. How can those who hear compare to those who see; how can those who see compare to those who stimulate and respond? Are there any adept Chan guests?" A monk asked: "The Buddhas of the three periods only speak of knowing for oneself; the successive generations of Patriarchs cannot completely present it; the entire collection of the canon cannot annotate it sufficiently. I wonder, what about the Venerable Monk?" The Master said: "Arriving here, Jiashan's mouth is like a shoulder pole." The monk said: "Caught this old fellow!" The Master said: "Fortunately, it has nothing to do with it." The monk said: "If so, then the nostrils of everyone under heaven have been pierced through by the Venerable Monk." The Master said: "Tell me, where are Jiashan's nostrils?" The monk then shouted. The Master said: "You must also pierce your feet." The monk said: "A clear-eyed lineage master is naturally endowed with it." The Master said: "Still falling into secondary and tertiary." The Master then said: "Opening the furnace and bellows of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, applying the transcendent tongs and hammers: if you hesitate, you are a thousand or ten thousand miles away; if you realize it right facing the point, you cut off the essential crossing. This is still the talk of the teaching gate; if speaking truly and accurately, this mountain monk has a mouth with no place to speak, and you all have ears with no place to incline them; even the sun and moon are not sufficient for brightness, empty space is not sufficient for vastness, heaven and earth are not sufficient for greatness, and the myriad phenomena are not sufficient for multiplicity. Arriving here, one rub, one press, one push, one squeeze is needed to see the fundamental lot. And ask: what is the fundamental lot? The great chiliocosm of sandy worlds is a bubble in the ocean; all sages and worthies are like a flash of lightning."

9.8

The master instructed the assembly, saying: "'At the raising [of it], if one does not look, one is mistaken; if one prepares to think, in what eon will one awaken?' Now tell me: what is raised? Even if you were able to look, it would still be like a square peg in a round hole—how much more so if you further involve yourself in thinking and calculating principles, getting all the more disconnected from it! To speak truly, what matter is there? Directly below, there is not the slightest affair, nor is there the slightest mysterious principle of seeing and hearing, or gain and loss. Arriving here, even if a thousand sages were to appear, wishing to proclaim it, they would find no place to open their mouths; wishing to apply it, they would find no place to move. Therefore Yunmen said: 'Telling you that directly below there is nothing the matter is already burying you away.' Now tell me: what is the place of being buried away? Truly, how many people can arrive here? This is the realm of great beings like Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra; how could it be the realm of ordinary people who engage in principles, calculate gain and loss, and ponder? Do you know? One must cut off emotional consciousness and cut off the mysterious; the thousand sages only said that they knew it themselves. There are no ruts or illumination and function; it is completely bare and stripped clean. Yantou said: 'Just expose the slight bit before your eyes, like the spark struck from a stone. This is the practice of transcendent people. If you do not see it, you must by all means not doubt it.' If there were no such matter, it would not have been transmitted down to today, six hundred years after Bodhidharma came from the West. Because there is such a matter, down to the present day monasteries throughout the realm gaze upon one another, each and every true kalyāṇamitra sits upon the lion seat, and each serves as a teacher of gods and humans, with teeth like sharp swords and mouths like bloody bowls. As for the rest who have ruts and reliances, who cling to the skin and stick to the bone, who have gain and loss, and have transmissions—all are cast into the place of playing with clumps of mud. As for such masters as Shitou, Master Ma, Baizhang, Huangbo, Linji, Yunmen, Xuansha, Yantou, Fayan, Guiyang, and Caodong—this stream are all transcendent lineage masters; in movement, stillness, and action they all walk within this. For example, when a lion catches an elephant, it uses all its strength, and even when it catches a rabbit, it also uses all its strength. Just as when a monk asked Yunju Hongjue: 'When a lion catches a rabbit or catches an elephant, it uses all its strength; I wonder what strength it uses completely?' Yunju said: 'The strength of non-deception.' One must grant each of them their fundamental fodder; but what is the fundamental fodder? Have you not seen Changsha say: 'If I were exclusively to raise and proclaim the ancestral lineage, the grass in front of the Dharma hall would have to grow ten feet deep. As there is no other choice, I tell you: the entire great earth is the light of prajñā. When the light has not yet manifested, there is no Buddha and no sentient beings. From what place can news be obtained?' Speaking like this is already [entangling] vines. Therefore I usually say to you brothers: 'You must sweep away all the emotional dust and calculations of gain and loss completely; then suddenly, in a single burst of sweat, you will naturally be alive and kicking, and no one under heaven will be able to do anything to you.' Fortunately you have such majestic bearing and such self-mastery; if you follow the heels of others and seek their saliva to eat, there will be no connection. For instance, Yangshan asked a fellow practitioner: 'How is your view recently?' He replied: 'Truly there is not a single phenomenon that can take hold of the mind.' Yangshan said: 'Fellow disciple, your understanding is still in the objective realm.' He asked: 'Why?' Yangshan said: 'Do you not have that which is able to know that not a single phenomenon can take hold of the mind?' Even when he had arrived at not a single phenomenon taking hold of the mind, he was still checked by Yangshan. Arriving here, with no subject or object known, no single phenomenon, and no absence of a single phenomenon, one must be such a person before one can attain it. Therefore such a one is called a person with nothing to do, and only then can one say that fundamentally there is nothing the matter. Since fundamentally there is nothing the matter, then right now, with the ten thousand realms dense and thick before our eyes, where do the six mundane and four noble realms come from? You must directly transcend and reach it before you can attain it. And what is the phrase of transcending and reaching? Do not blame him for having had so much spirit in the past; his family once trod the topmost barrier."

9.9

He instructed the assembly, saying: "Generally, in studying the Way, one must apply oneself to the work before one can attain it; do not merely take it lightly. In the twelve periods of the day, be as if you owe someone a debt of two or three million strings of cash, fearing that you will not be able to pay it back. Maintaining sincerity like this, do not worry that you will not arrive. Therefore the ancients said: 'When the great matter is not yet settled, it is like mourning one's parents.' There is another metaphor: a student of the Way is like a hen brooding on an egg; the warmth must be continuous before it can generate life. If there is an interruption in between and the warmth is not continuous, even if she broods for ten years, in the end life will not be produced. Longya also said: 'Studying the Way is like drilling for fire; when you meet smoke, you must not stop. Only when the golden sparks appear and it blazes up have you reached the end.' How much more so with this great matter, for which the Buddhas of the three periods of time appeared in the world, and by which one penetrates and sheds birth and death oneself—how could one procrastinate, as if it were present and yet not? Please exert your efforts and advance, taking awakening as the criterion, and may each of you have faith. Take care."

9.10

He instructed the assembly, saying: "Being fully endowed with the phenomena of ordinary beings, ordinary beings do not know it; being fully endowed with the phenomena of sages, sages do not understand it. If a sage understands it, he is an ordinary being; if an ordinary being knows it, he is a sage. In this matter, a single word fits both sides. Do you understand fully? If you want to know the sage who is an ordinary being and the ordinary being who is a sage: what is long is the long dharmakāya; what is short is the short dharmakāya. Large and small, blue and yellow, all phenomena are completely as such; entirely they are a single great gate of liberation, with nothing different. Only let feelings vanish and thoughts be dismissed, with a single thought upright and true, and wherever you encounter conditions, all is wondrous function. Therefore the ancients said: 'Everywhere true, everywhere true; every dust mote is entirely the original person. When speaking truly, sound is not seen; the upright substance stands towering, concealing the body.' As for heaven, hell, grass, mustard seeds, humans, animals, the six categories and four kinds of birth, fine and vast, near and far—there is nothing that is not true. But because those who have not penetrated to the root source constantly give rise to mind and stir thoughts in daily life, all revolving in defiling toil and karmic consciousness, never having reversed the light to illumine inward, they therefore fruitlessly suffer samsāra and do not obtain practical use. If you can bring forth a resolute mind, arouse an outstanding determination, abruptly rest all conditions, and directly resolve it with complete clarity, your mind ground will be fully clear, and you can be said to be in Chan whether walking or sitting, with speech, silence, movement, and stillness all being the upright substance. Therefore Yunmen said: 'Venerable sirs, do not think falsely: mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monks are monks, and laypeople are laypeople.' He also said: 'Seeing a staff, just call it a staff; seeing a house, just call it a house.' This is called the substance manifest in its entirety as the truth. There are those who take one side and abandon the other; their view is completely withered and cannot touch reality, so that gain and loss dwell in their breasts, they are turned by things, and they have no share of freedom. Look at the ancients of the past: having attained great practical use, they benefited beings and extended compassion, shouldering it with their whole bodies; now appearing, now disappearing, now concealed, now revealed, now favorable, now adverse, they established the teaching gates and pointed out the direct, shortcut road, in all ways teaching people to investigate the root, understand the lineage, and leave behind all attachments. Have you not seen: the practitioner Leng visited Xuefeng, Lingyun, and Xuansha, coming and going for fifteen years and sitting through seven cushions, with his mind constantly on this. Later, upon rolling up a screen, he suddenly had a great awakening, and wrote a verse: 'A great mistake, a great mistake! / Rolling up the screen, I see the whole world. / If someone asks me what my intention is, / I will take my whisk and strike him across the mouth.' When he later resided at Changqing, he instructed the assembly, saying: 'Bumping into a companion on the Way and brushing shoulders in passing—the work of lifelong study is finished.' With an upholding like this, if he did not know it was there, how could he speak like that? It can be said to have flowed from his own breast, covering heaven and covering earth. Furthermore, someone asked: 'What are words that accord with the sages?' He replied: 'Great and small Changqing, questioned by you, Ācārya, had his mouth made straight as a carrying pole.' If you investigate and reflect well, you can walk alone in the red dawn, freely traversing back and forth. Great assembly! Do you know where this settles? If you do not yet know, I will bring it out for you: where the white clouds end are the green mountains; the traveler is still beyond the green mountains."

9.11

He instructed the assembly, saying: "At Deshan's informal gatherings he did not answer questions—breaking locks and smashing cangues; at Zhaozhou's informal gatherings he wished to answer questions—taking a staff to sound the water. Chongning tonight neither cares about answering questions nor cares about not answering questions. By chance, from under my robes, I picked up a thousand-year-old peach stone to present to the great assembly." Then, holding his staff horizontally, he said: "If you all are like this, you will cut off the tongues of everyone under heaven." Again he tapped the staff on the ground and said: "If you all are like this, you will enter hell as swiftly as an arrow shot from a bow. Tell me: where do the benefit and harm lie? If one does not sleep in the same bed, how can one know that the quilt is worn through underneath?"

9.12

At an informal gathering for the conclusion of the summer retreat at Daolin Temple, the master instructed the assembly, saying: "'On a cool night, all activities are stilled; the Chan court is truly pure and vacant. The bright moon is stamped on the vast expanse; the white clouds roll and unroll at will. Facing the sun is a fine place to decide—is there an adept or not?'" A monk asked: "When a single speck of dust is raised, the great earth is gathered in; when a single leaf falls, it is autumn under heaven. What does this amount to on the part of a patch-robed monk?" The master said: "Ahead, one does not reach a village; behind, one does not reach an inn." The monk proceeded: "Great and small Daolin does not even recognize the topic of the words." The master said: "Be sure not to peck in empty space." The monk proceeded: "Does the venerable monk speak like that?" The master said: "What is your solid place?" As the monk prepared to say more, the master said: "Finished." The monk proceeded: "How to deal with: 'The falling haze and the solitary wild duck fly together; the autumn waters share a single hue with the vast sky'?" The master said: "Drawing the bow after the thief has passed." The master then said: "Internally having no mind, externally having no characteristics; above, having no Buddhas or patriarchs to look up to; below, having no sentient beings to pity; stinginess, greed, and jealousy all removed; compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity cast aside; the two extremes cut off, unconfined by the middle way; completely bare without accepting [anything], stripped clean with no turning away; struck, it does not become turbid; winnowed, it does not become pure; pushed, it does not move; stirred, it does not turn; directly cutting off below, above the ten thousand phenomena it stands solitarily without peril. Dwelling here, there is liberation everywhere. What further need is there to speak of a long retreat of one hundred twenty days, a middle retreat of one hundred days, or a short retreat of eighty days? And what can be said as the phrase of accomplished merit? One does not pity the goose protecting the snow; rather, one delights in the wax man in the ice."

9.13

At an informal gathering on a winter night, the master said: "The great potential of the Buddhas and patriarchs, the true eye of gods and humans: when omens have not yet divided, there are not so many matters. When the single breath has divided, there are production, abiding, change, and destruction, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. If you follow the waves and pursue the swells, establishing all kinds of things, you will be completely unimpeded everywhere. If you cut off the manifold streams, holding fast the essential ford, you will not let ordinary or sage pass. If you do not step into either path and are pure and unconstrained beneath your feet, would you not be a patch-robed monk of the fundamental lot? Now tell me: on the ground where there is neither yin nor yang, how does one communicate the news? Just wait until the end of the third month next year; do not say that after winter the snow and frost are cold."

9.14

At an informal gathering, a monk asked, "'A monkey holds its child returning behind the green peaks; a bird carries a flower dropping before the blue cliff.' This was the Venerable's former place of settling body and establishing life. What is the environment of Daolin?"
The Master said, "The monastery gates open high toward the wilds of Dongting; the palace footings thrust into the lake of red sand."
The monk asked, "Who is the person within the environment?"
The Master said, "Every jewel of a monk is a pearl of the vast ocean."
The monk asked, "This is from Du Shaoling [Du Fu]; what is the Venerable's own?"
The Master said, "For now, do not talk nonsense."
The monk asked, "What is taking away the person but not taking away the environment?"
The Master said, "This mountain monk has eyes, yet has never seen [it]."
The monk asked, "What is taking away the environment but not taking away the person?"
The Master said, "The ācārya's questioning is naturally intimate."
The monk asked, "What is taking away both person and environment?"
The Master said, "Gather in."
The monk asked, "What is taking away neither person nor environment?"
The Master said, "Release."
The monk asked, "Person and environment have already received the Master's instruction; is there still anything transcendent?"
The Master said, "You must not add more mud upon earth."
The Master then said, "'Thus, thus' is like a tiger bearing horns; 'not thus, not thus' is like a rabbit having no horns; 'thus yet not thus' darkly blocks two layers of passes; 'not thus yet thus' completely walks the transcendent road. If these four phrases are arranged into four extremes, they become disaster and haunting calamity; if they are severed in a single instant, they become auspiciousness and good omens. Why so? From the beginning, there were originally never so many matters; it was only because the capacities of the crowd have sharp and dull, and their awakenings have shallow and deep. Therefore it has troubled the various sages to emerge, manifesting forms in response to things and suiting the teachings to the capacities; thus there are provisional and real, illumination and function, killing and giving life. There are host and guest, question and answer, ten thousand distinctions and thousand differences. Just at the very time of being 'thus', if there should happen to be a fellow whose teeth are like a forest of swords and whose mouth is like a basin of blood, who will not turn his head even if struck with a staff, stepping forth to overturn entangled statements and sever creepers—heaven is heaven, earth is earth, mountains are mountains, waters are waters, long is long, short is short, square is square, round is round, not allowing even a hair's breadth of movement, directly undertaking it—then he can walk alone in the vermilion sky, walking hand in hand with those various sages: in worlds with Buddhas, being host and guest to each other, receiving beings and benefiting the living; in worlds without Buddhas, the wind rustles crisply, cutting off the vital ford, letting neither ordinary nor holy pass. Yet though it is thus, if there is one who comes intimately 'thus' from within, tell me, how will you negotiate with him? Wait until this old monk goes up the mountain to cut a staff."

9.15

At an informal gathering, a monk asked, "Xuansha did not cross the ridge; Baoshou did not cross the river. I wonder, what was the intended meaning?"
The Master said, "Directly transcending beyond things."
The monk asked, "Xuefeng went to Touzi three times and climbed Mount Dong nine times. Are these the same or different?"
The Master said, "Separately, it is the spring of another household."
The monk asked, "Then 'the scenery of spring knows no high or low; the flowering branches naturally have short and long.'"
The Master said, "Leave it entirely to your calculations."
The Master then said, "The Great Way is completely open, without any mutual concealment; those of identical realization recognise it, those of the identical Way know it. If there were real Dharmas tying down and caging people, one would enter hell as swiftly as a shot arrow. Therefore, the appearance of the Buddhas in the world and the Patriarch's coming from the West were truly without a single Dharma to give to people; they only wanted everyone to rest. If you truly reach the terrain of resting, then throughout the twelve periods of the day it is like heaven universally covering, like earth universally holding up, leaving not a hair's breadth extra, nor lacking a hair's breadth: stark naked and clean-stripped, an already accomplished gong'an. If you further hesitate and look around in all directions, speaking of existence and non-existence, debating gain and loss, whether there is understanding or no understanding, whether there is attainment or no attainment, you fall into second and third. Therefore, the venerables of high antiquity and the old venerable monks throughout the world displayed immeasurable supernatural powers at the edge of the whisk and the tip of the staff; in truth, it was only to dissolve stickiness, untie bonds, pull out nails, and extract pegs for all of you, causing you directly to reach the ground of peaceful ease, where there is neither realization nor attainment, nor any convoluted justification—seventy-three, eighty-four. If you have not reached it, you inevitably go about pasting and muddling. All realms, all existence and non-existence, all Dharma doors: if you can only cast off emotional dust in a single word, in the space of a single thought, then dust after dust, land after land, expansively fills the sands of worlds; large, small, long, short, square, round, blue, yellow, red, white—all are the original mind. At the place of seeing it is stark naked; at the place of hearing it is eight-sided and exquisite, without gain or loss, right or wrong, without long or short, like or dislike; mountains are mountains, waters are waters, monks are monks, laypeople are laypeople, without difference, without distinction. If you can genuinely reach this terrain, leaving behind emotional dust and cutting off entangled statements, not falling into supreme wonders, you must further know that within a single dust mote all realms are contained, and all realms enter into a single dust mote, all being contained and subsumed, manifesting boundless oceans of lands on the tip of a single hair. Having directly attained this, you must further know that there is a time when the great function appears before you—only then will it do. And what is the time when the great function appears before you? In the end, the waters must flow toward the sea; after all, the clouds will certainly seek the mountain to return to."

9.16

At a winter night informal gathering: "Conditioned thinking arises from the mind of existence, a single wheel of arising and ceasing; practicing the unimpeded path and cultivating undefiled activity, one is transcendent for ten thousand kalpas. Picking up one and putting down one, half opening and half closing, one inevitably remains within a nest. Little do they know that coming and going are without intermission, movement and stillness are as one; melting the great chiliocosm of sand-worlds into a single dust mote, gathering the ten time-periods of past and present into a single thought—where can going and coming, arising and ceasing, be arranged? How can spring, summer, autumn, and winter be debated? Arriving here, stark naked and clean-stripped, with nothing to grasp, not discerning east from west, nor distinguishing south from north—that is indeed so. If you do not yet know the point of rest, those who have long practiced with former virtues have their feet planted on solid ground; tell me, just at such a time, how is it? Do you understand yet? All the yin has been completely worn away; tomorrow clouds will be recorded."

9.17

At a New Year's Eve informal gathering: "Trees wither and leaves fall; tiles disintegrate and ice melts. The year is at its close, the calendar exhausted, the family ruined, and the household broken. Viewed from conventional truth, this is an unsatisfactory realm; viewed with the eye of the Way, it is indeed good news. Have you not seen what Xiangyan said: 'Poverty last year was not yet poverty; poverty this year is truly poverty. Last year's poverty still had a spot of ground to stand an awl; this year's poverty has not even an awl to stand.' Another ancient worthy said: 'Wealth and honor are easy; poverty and hardship are difficult.' A person of the fundamental lot penetrates thoroughly, has full faith, and sees completely through; every single thing is a wondrous function, every single dust mote and land is the true vehicle. If you simply rest like this, I dare guarantee that you, elder brother, have not penetrated yet! How could you bear further speaking of gradual and sudden, speaking of the mysterious and wondrous, speaking of principle and phenomena? You must instead cast away the mysterious and wondrous, cast away principle and nature, smash through the transcendent and the descending, and cut off the Buddha-seal and Patriarchal function, directly arriving at not discerning east from west, not distinguishing south from north, utterly muddled and bewildered: meeting rice, eating rice without knowing it is rice; meeting tea, drinking tea without knowing it is tea. Arriving here, one only attains the pure, white, bare, and clean within the gate of a patch-robed monk. Therefore Dongshan said: 'Only when you see Buddhas and Patriarchs as born mortal enemies will you begin to have a share in study.' Just at such a time, the whole body is fully manifest, not gathered in by the realm of Buddhas, not governed by the realm of Māras. Tell me, toward what place do you walk? If you can recognise it, then the calendar exhausted and the year at its close continue without interruption; continuing without interruption, the year is at its close and the calendar exhausted. Just at such a time, how do you say a phrase? This year, this night, comes to an end; the coming year, the coming day, is renewed."

9.18

At an informal gathering for the end of the summer retreat, [the Master] said: "The year is abundant and the harvest ripe; the Way is peaceful and the times are clear. One sings the song of great peace, taking joy in unconditioned transformation. The protection of living beings having ended, the wax man becomes all the more frozen; the autumn colors are clear and transparent, the metal wind brushes gently. Just at such a time, what talk is there of Śākya, Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Deshan, Linji, the transcendent or the descending, having matters or having no matters? Directly cut them all off at once, until the wind blows crisply; on everyone's part it stands like a sheer cliff of a thousand fathoms, and before each person flashes a great jewel light. And tell me, how do you say a phrase that does not fall into entanglement? At the top of Mount Lu, it hangs upside down; bamboo shoots among the stones quietly put forth branches."

9.19

At an informal gathering at Daolin Temple, [the Master] said: "From the four seas all investigate and seek together; from the ten directions they gather as one. 'Meeting a person who has attained the Way on the road, do not respond with speech or silence.' Is there anyone who will chime in and respond?"
A monk asked, "'A thousand feet of fishing line hangs straight down; no sooner does a single wave stir than ten thousand waves follow. The night is quiet, the water is cold, and the fish do not bite; the boat returns empty, loaded only with bright moonlight.' I wonder, what is the principle of this?"
The Master said, "Raise your eyes high three inches away from the hook."
The monk asked, "If so, then 'naturally it is only not returning—once returning, one attains it; who contends over the misty waves of the five lakes?'"
The Master said, "The universe and the great earth are gathered in at once."
The monk asked, "As for 'hanging a hook into the four seas only to fish for fierce dragons; discussing the mystery beyond the pattern in order to seek a spiritual friend'—who is the spiritual friend?"
The Master said, "A heart of pure sincerity, piece by piece."
The monk asked, "'Giant waves surge a thousand fathoms; clear ripples do not leave the water.'"
The Master said, "Hanshan meets Shide, clapping their hands and laughing heartily."
[The monk] asked, "'Meeting a person who has attained the Way on the road, do not respond with speech or silence.' Since one does not respond with speech or silence, with what does one respond?"
The Master said, "Swallow your voice and erase your footprints."
The monk asked, "'A single word is difficult to open the mouth for; the meaning of a thousand ages is distinct and clear.'"
The Master said, "For now, you must fix your eyes quickly."
The monk asked, "'Having words and having no words are like wisteria leaning on a tree.' How does one penetrate and be liberated?"
The Master said, "A long sword leaning against heaven presses people with cold."
The monk asked, "As for 'the tree falling and the wisteria withering,' why did Guishan laugh heartily?"
The Master said, "He loves what is his, he wears what is his."
The monk asked, "If your Chan seat were suddenly overturned and your staff broken by this student, what trick would you have left?"
The Master said, "This too is drawing the bow after the thief has fled."
The Master then said, "Not making an opponent of a single Dharma, the true substance is aloof and distant; the ten thousand phenomena cannot conceal it, the divine mechanism is evident in the palm of the hand. Meeting in front of the Wangzhou Pavilion, Wushi Ridge, or the monks' hall has already involved confusion; 'it is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not a thing' has already dragged through mud and water. Arriving here, those of superior roots and sharp wisdom kick it up and walk on, not falling into verbal explanations and not bound by dynamic conditions; directly, before the pattern has yet been revealed, cut it off all at once. This can be called like heaven universally covering, like earth universally holding up, wide and vast as empty space, universally illuminating like the sun and moon, nowhere not complete, nowhere not pervasive. Therefore it is said: 'The place seen by transcendent persons cuts off the world without leaking a hair's breadth.' Without gain or loss, right or wrong, free from seeing, hearing, knowing, and perceiving, like Master Hugong who had his own heaven, earth, sun, and moon within his gourd. Even down to a single word, a single silence, a single step, a single stride, a single push, a single squeeze, it cuts off the crossroads of a thousand differences, not permitting the patch-robed monks of the world to gaze upon it with the right eye. Therefore it is said: 'It must be such a person before he understands such a matter.' Just now, as we sit and stand with solemn dignity, at the place where every single thing and object is entirely fully manifest, tell me: how do you illuminate and comprehend it? 'The moon in the realm of space over the jade-green pool of ten thousand kalpas: only after scooping it up again and again will you know.'"
He stepped down from the seat.

9.20

At an informal gathering, a monk asked: "An ancient master said, 'Śākyamuni and Maitreya are still his slaves.' Tell me, what kind of person is he?"
The Master said: "Eighth Brother Meng in a three-family village."
The monk advanced and said: "If so, then it flows forth from your own chest."
The Master said: "And who else could it be?"
The monk advanced and said: "He is truly his slave."
The Master said: "Sit upon your tongue!"
The monk advanced and said: "I know full well the old fellow's bow is broken and arrows exhausted."
The Master said: "Yes."
The monk advanced and said: "I take my leave and take myself out."
The Master said: "Let us see how you redeem it."
The monk advanced and said: "What about the phrase that transcends the body?"
The Master said: "Free from the four propositions, cutting off the hundred negations."
The monk advanced and said: "Overturn the meditation platform!"
The Master said: "I don't believe you yet."

The Master then said: "Blending in the light, blending in the dark, in hand is held the night-shining tally; Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha, drawing forth the vajra sword. One has the transcendent hammer and tongs and possesses the eyes of an adept: the thousand sages cannot cage him, the ten thousand phenomena cannot bind him. Unconcerned, he hangs not upon a single hair; he cuts off the ten directions, bare and naked. Therefore it is said: 'A great man wields the sword of wisdom—the blade of prajñā, the flame of vajra! Not only can it destroy the minds of outsiders; long ago it struck fear into the heavenly demons.' Just now, his spiritual majesty is awe-inspiring, the frosted blade imposing; right on the crown of the head he employs this dynamic, and under the soles of your feet you must urgently comprehend it. If you can comprehend it, you cut off the heads of the retribution and transformation buddhas, not falling into past or present, unconstrained by gain and loss. If you have not yet comprehended it, time and again all is boundless over your head and boundless under your feet. And what do you say for a phrase that touches upon wandering in transmigration? Huge waves surge a thousand fathoms; the clear swell does not leave the water. He stepped down from the seat."

9.21

At an informal gathering, a monk asked: "'The spring wind blows vast and wide, warming heaven and earth; everywhere the mountains are veiled in mist. The person of no rank cannot be found; fallen blossoms are seen once more drifting with the flowing water.' What is the true person of no rank?"
The Master said: "Raise your eyebrows and look upward."
The monk said: "If so, then one independently occupies the peak of a thousand summits, displaying complete authority at the head of the hundred grasses."
The Master said: "I walk among the wild grass, while you enter the deep village."
The monk advanced and said: "I know of myself that it falls short by half."
The Master said: "Do you indeed know?"
The monk said: "I know."
The Master said: "It also falls short by half."
The monk advanced and said: "Just as Linji said, 'What dry piece of shit is this true person of no rank?'—what about that?"
The Master said: "He has not yet attained half of a patch-robed monk's breath."
The monk advanced and said: "Why is that so?"
The Master said: "Just because he possesses an eye on the crown of his head."
The monk advanced and said: "It can truly be said that each time it is brought out, it is fresh; each time it is used, it is swift."
The Master said: "Seventy-two blows of the staff turn into a hundred and fifty."

The Master then said: "At the apex of the wheel of swords, the complete dynamic is revealed alone upon the solitary peak; in the flash of a flint spark, the sharp blade is brandished across the hundred grasses. Speaking of provisional and real, establishing illumination and function, wielding the staff and uttering shouts, discussing phenomena and principle—this is much like clutching one's own topknot and dragging oneself to the magistrate's office. Directly speaking neither of provisional nor real, establishing neither illumination nor function, wielding neither staff nor shout, discussing neither phenomena nor principle—this too is bearing the cangue to deliver one's own indictment. Even if in being 'thus' one is 'not thus', and in being 'not thus' one is yet 'thus'—this is precisely the spiritual tortoise dragging its tail. Reaching here, even buddhas and patriarchs cannot grope for it. If you are one who has penetrated through, you must know that within it there is a great highway leading straight to heaven, cutting off the vital pass where traces of both ordinary and holy are severed. If you can push open a thread of space and bring forth a single dynamic, then ten thousand sages cannot cage you, ten thousand people cannot track you down; without repenting sins, sins are already extinguished; without accumulating merit, merit is already accumulated. Without establishing a hair of practice-gates, the practice-gates of Samantabhadra fill the ten directions of space; without establishing a hair of functional intellect, Mañjuśrī's great function encompasses the sands of the universe. This is what is meant by: folding away the dark dynamic before any omen appears, Śākyamuni and Maitreya knit their brows; concealing the mysterious movement within its transformation, Deshan and Linji step back. And what do you say for a phrase that does not fall into meritorious achievement? Blow on the boiling cauldron and furnace coals and make them extinguish; give a shout at the sword-trees and mountain of blades and make them crumble! He stepped down from the seat."

9.22

Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Yuanwu Foguo, Fascicle Nine

Linked texts (1)

圓悟佛果禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese