圓悟佛果禪師語錄 9.6

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."