圓悟佛果禪師語錄 9.5

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."