大慧普覺禪師語錄 14.2.3

14.2.3

』元昭初見如此說，心中雖疑，口頭甚硬，尚對山僧冷笑。 當晚來室中，只問渠箇狗子無佛性話，便去不得，方始知道參禪要悟。 在長樂住十日，二十遍到室中，呈盡伎倆奈何不得，方始著忙。 山僧實向渠道：『不須呈伎倆，直須啐地折嚗地斷方敵得生死，呈伎倆有甚了期。 』仍向渠道：『不須著忙，今生參不得後世參。 』遂乃相信，便辭去。 隔十餘日忽然寄書來，并頌古十首，皆山僧室中問渠底因緣，書中云：『在延平路上，驀然有省，某終不敢自謾，方信此事，不從人得。 』其中一首曰：『不是心，不是物。 不是物，通身一串金鎖骨，趙州參見老南泉，解道鎮州出蘿蔔。 』山僧甚是疑著，時光禪便問：『據此頌還了得生死否？ 』雲門向渠道：『了得了不得，却請問取元昭去。 』比得光禪書云：『學土相見，盡如和尚所說。 』大眾且道：『說箇甚麼？ 』咦！ 疑殺天下人，具眼者辨取。 今時參禪者，不問了得生死、了不得生死，只求速効，且要會禪，無有一箇不說道理，如檀越給事見其愛說道理，遂將箇沒道理底因緣與渠看，僧問雲門：『如何是佛？ 』門云：『乾屎橛。 』又恐渠作道理會，先與渠說：『不得云：道在屎溺，道在稊稗，道在瓦礫，即色明心，附物顯理。 不得道處處真，塵塵盡是本來人之類。 渠』看此話，奈何不下，用盡氣力去看，終看不破。 忽然一日省得此事，不可以道理通，便道我有箇悟處，遂連作數頌來呈見解，一曰：『太虛寥廓彊為名，任是僧繇畫不成，何用尋源問端的，都無一法可當情。 』又曰：『到家豈復說塗程，萬木春來自向榮，若遇上流相借問，扶桑東畔日輪生。 』又曰：『𦏰半過後絕追尋，妙訣空傳在少林，閑把無弦彈一曲，清風明月兩知音。 』又曰：『撒手懸崖信不虛，根塵頓盡更無餘，始知佛法無多子，向外馳求轉見疎。 』山僧向渠道：『作得頌也好，說得道理也是，只是去道轉遠。 』渠不甘，又作一頌曰：『切忌談玄說妙，那堪隨聲逐色，和這一橛掃除，大家都無見識。 』又有書來云：『看此話，直得言語道斷，心行處滅，無言可說，無理可伸，不起纖毫修學心，百不知百不會，不涉思惟不入理路，直是安樂。 』山僧又向渠道：『這箇是出格底道理。 若是乾屎橛話，如此說得落時如鋸解秤鎚，麻三斤，狗子無佛性，一口吸盡西江水，不是心，不是佛，不是物，有句無句如藤倚樹，即心即佛語，皆可如此說得也。 既不可如此，須是悟始得。 悟則事同一家，不悟則萬別千差，差之毫釐失之千里，切須子細。 』從教人道雲門待檀越無禮，但心不負人面無慚色。 渠見山僧如此至誠相告，方知佛法無人情，乃相信。 既相信，只教看如何是佛乾屎橛，亦只要得渠啐地折嚗地斷。 若以渠作從官捨財剏菴，置莊田供眾，乃至供養山僧之故，便以為是，則盡大地窮漢，更無參禪分也。 非但失却善知識辨人眼，亦乃賺他百劫千生，不是小事。 今夏更有數人衲子，不肯向省力處做工夫，只管熱忙，亦來呈見解、作頌古，雲門向他道：『不是這箇道理。 』便道把定，他不肯放過，我且問爾：『爾還自放得過也未？ 』趙州云：『諸方難見易識，我這裏易見難識。 』雲門尋常問學者：『喚作竹篦則觸，不喚作竹篦則背，不得下語，不得無語。 』十箇有五雙眼𭽯眵地，縱有作聰明呈見解者，盡力道得箇領字，或來手中奪却竹篦，或拂袖便行，自餘邪解不可勝數，更無一箇皮下有血。 古德云：『此事如八十翁翁入場屋，不是小兒戲。 若可揑合得時，揑合千千萬萬了也。 既不可揑合，須是悟始得，此外別無道理。 』若爾實有悟處，師家故言不是，亦招因果不小。 今日因齋慶讚舉似大眾，蓋黃端夫知有雲門，始因元昭； 光禪往彼住菴，亦因元昭； 端夫二子今日設齋請山僧普說，亦因元昭； 雲門打這一場葛藤，亦因元昭。

When Yuanzhao first saw me speak like this, although he had doubts in his mind, his mouth remained stubborn, and he even sneered at this mountain monk. That evening he came into my room, and I merely asked him the huatou of "a dog has no buddha-nature"; thereupon he could make no headway at all, and only then did he realize that in investigating Chan one must have awakening. During his ten-day stay in Changle, he entered my room twenty times, exhausting all his clever tricks without being able to do anything about it; only then did he become flustered. This mountain monk spoke honestly to him: 'There is no need to display clever tricks. You must snap it in two with a snap and break it off with a crash before you can withstand birth and death. What end will there ever be to displaying clever tricks?' I further said to him: 'Do not be flustered; if you cannot investigate it in this life, investigate it in a future life.' Thereupon he came to believe and trust, and so took his leave. After more than ten days, a letter suddenly arrived from him together with ten verses on ancient cases, all of which concerned the encounters I had questioned him with in the room. In the letter he said: 'On the road to Yanping, I suddenly had an awakening; I truly dare not deceive myself any longer, and now I believe that this matter is not obtained from others.' One verse among them said: 'It is not mind, it is not a thing. / Not being a thing, the whole body is a string of golden chain-bones. / When Zhaozhou called upon old Nanquan, / he was able to say that Zhenzhou produces radishes.' This mountain monk was extremely doubtful about it. At that time Chan monk Guang asked: 'Judging from this verse, has he settled birth and death or not?' Yunmen said to him: 'Whether he has settled it or not, go ask Yuanzhao instead.' When Guang's letter was received, it said: 'When I met the Academician, everything was just as the Ven. Master said.' Assembly, tell me: what was said? Bah! Doubts kill the people of the world; let those with eyes discern it! Those who investigate Chan nowadays do not ask whether birth and death have been settled or not; they merely seek quick results and just want to understand Chan. There is not a single one who does not talk about principles. Seeing that this donor, the supervising secretary, loved to talk about principles, I gave him a case without principles to examine: a monk asked Yunmen, 'What is the Buddha?' Yunmen said, 'A dried piece of shit.' Fearing that he would understand it through principles, I told him beforehand: 'You must not say that the Dao is in excrement and urine, that the Dao is in weeds and tares, or that the Dao is in rubble and tiles; that one clarifies the mind through forms or reveals principle by attaching to things. You must not say that everywhere is true, or that every speck of dust is entirely the original person, and the like.' When he examined this phrase, he could not do anything with it; he exhausted all his energy trying to look into it, but in the end could not see through it. Suddenly one day he realized that this matter cannot be penetrated by means of principles, and so he said, 'I have had an awakening,' and consecutively composed several verses to present his understanding. One said: 'Great Void is vast and boundless, forcedly given a name; / Even Sengyou could not paint it. / What need is there to seek the source and inquire of the truth? / Not a single phenomenon can match the sentiments.' Another said: 'Having arrived home, how could one speak again of the journey? / When spring arrives for the ten thousand trees, they flourish naturally on their own. / If one meets a superior person who inquires, / the sun disk rises at the eastern edge of Fusang.' Another said: 'After passing halfway through the year, all seeking is cut off; / the wondrous secret was transmitted in vain at Shaolin. / At leisure I play a tune on a stringless lute; / the clear breeze and bright moon are my two bosom friends.' Another said: 'Letting go of one's hands over the hanging cliff is truly no lie; / roots and dust are suddenly exhausted with nothing left over. / Only now do I know that the Buddha-Dharma is not much; / running outside to seek it only makes one more estranged.' This mountain monk said to him: 'Writing verses is all well and good, and speaking of principles is also fine, but you are only getting further from the Dao.' Refusing to accept this, he composed another verse, saying: 'Above all, avoid talking of the mysterious and speaking of the wondrous; / how could one bear to follow sounds and pursue forms? / Sweep away even this single dried piece of shit; / everyone together has no understanding.' He also sent a letter saying: 'Examining this phrase, the path of language is cut off and the locus of mental activity is extinguished; there are no words to say and no principles to extend; not the slightest thought of cultivation and study arises; knowing nothing and understanding nothing, not engaging in thinking and not entering pathways of reasoning, it is truly peace and happiness.' This mountain monk said to him again: 'This is an extraordinary principle. If the phrase "dried piece of shit" could be settled by speaking like this, then "a saw cutting a steelyard weight," "three pounds of hemp," "a dog has no buddha-nature," "swallowing all the water of the West River in one gulp," "it is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not a thing," "phrases and no phrases are like wisteria leaning on a tree," and "this very mind is Buddha" could all be spoken of in this way. Since it cannot be so, you must be awakened before you attain it. If you are awakened, the matter is of one family; if you are not awakened, there are ten thousand differences and a thousand distinctions—to be off by a hair's breadth is to lose it by a thousand miles. You must be extremely meticulous.' Let people say that Yunmen treats donors discourteously; as long as my mind does not betray people, my face has no look of shame. Seeing that this mountain monk informed him with such utmost sincerity, he only then realized that the Buddha-Dharma shows no personal favoritism, and came to believe and trust. Once he believed, I only had him look into: 'What is the Buddha? A dried piece of shit'—also only wanting him to snap it in two with a snap and break it off with a crash. If, because he was an official who gave up his wealth to build a hermitage, purchased estate fields to support the assembly, and even made offerings to this mountain monk, I were therefore to consider him correct, then all the poor fellows across the great earth would have no share in investigating Chan. Not only would I lose a good spiritual friend's eye for discerning people, but I would also mislead him for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes; this is no small matter. This summer there have also been several patch-robed monks who refuse to apply their efforts where energy is saved, but merely hustle about in a feverish flurry, also coming to present understandings and compose verses on ancient cases. When Yunmen said to them: 'It is not this principle,' they would immediately say that I was holding fast and unwilling to let them pass. Let me ask you for now: 'Have you let yourself pass or not?' Zhaozhou said: 'In other places it is hard to see and easy to recognize; here it is easy to see and hard to recognize.' Yunmen usually asks students: 'If you call it a bamboo comb, you clash with it; if you do not call it a bamboo comb, you turn your back on it. You must not utter a word; you must not be without words.' In five pairs out of ten their eyes are gummed up with sleep; even if some display cleverness and present their understanding, they exhaust their efforts only to say the word 'understood,' or they come and snatch the bamboo comb from my hand, or they flick their sleeves and walk off. Aside from these, the deviant interpretations are beyond count, and not a single one has blood beneath the skin! An ancient worthy said: 'This matter is like an eighty-year-old grandfather entering the examination hall; it is no child's play. If it could be cobbled together, thousands upon tens of thousands would have cobbled it together already. Since it cannot be cobbled together, you must be awakened before you attain it; beyond this there is no other principle.' If you truly had awakening and the teacher deliberately said you were wrong, he would also incur no small karmic retribution. Today, on the occasion of the celebratory vegetarian feast, I have brought this up for the great assembly, because Huang Duanfu's knowledge of Yunmen's existence began with Yuanzhao; monk Guang's going there to dwell in the hermitage was also due to Yuanzhao; Duanfu's two sons providing the vegetarian feast today and asking this mountain monk for a general sermon is also due to Yuanzhao; and Yunmen's weaving this tangle of vines is also due to Yuanzhao.