大慧普覺禪師語錄 17.7

17.7

錢計議請普說，師云：「法不可見聞覺知，若行見聞覺知，是則見聞覺知，非求法也。既離見聞覺知外，却喚甚麼作法？到這裏，如人飲水冷煖自知，除非親證親悟方可見得。若實曾證悟底人，拈起一絲毫頭，盡大地一時明得。今時不但禪和子，便是士大夫聰明靈利博極群書底人，箇箇有兩般病，若不著意，便是忘懷，忘懷則墮在黑山下鬼窟裏，教中謂之昏沈；著意則心識紛飛，一念續一念，前念未止後念相續，教中謂之掉舉。不知有人人脚跟下不沈、不掉底一段大事因緣，如天普蓋、似地普擎，未有世界，早有此段大事因緣；世界壞時，此段大事因緣，不曾動著一絲毫頭。往往士大夫，多是掉舉，而今諸方有一般默照邪禪，見士大夫為塵勞所障方寸不寧，怗便教他寒灰枯木去，一條白練去，古廟香爐去，冷湫湫地去，將這箇休歇人。爾道：還休歇得麼？殊不知，這箇猢猻子不死，如何休歇得？來為先鋒、去為殿後底不死，如何休歇得？此風往年福建路極盛，妙喜紹興初入閩住菴時，便力排之，謂之斷佛慧命，千佛出世不通懺悔。彼中有箇士人鄭尚明，極聰明，教乘也理會得，道藏也理會得，儒教則故是也。一日持一片香來妙喜室中，怒氣可掬，聲色俱厲，曰：『昂有一片香未燒在，欲與和尚理會一件事。只如默然無言，是法門中第一等休歇處，和尚肆意詆訶，昂心疑和尚不到這田地，所以信不及。且如釋迦老子在摩竭提國，三七日中掩室不作聲，豈不是佛默然？毘耶離城三十二菩薩，各說不二法門，末後維摩詰無語，文殊讚善，豈不是菩薩默然？須菩提在巖中宴坐，無言無說，豈不是聲聞默然？天帝釋見須菩提在巖中宴坐，乃雨華供養，亦無言說，豈不是凡夫默然？達磨游梁歷魏，少林冷坐九年，豈不是祖師默然？魯祖見僧便面壁，豈不是宗師默然？和尚因甚麼，却力排默照，以為邪非？』妙喜曰：『尚明，爾問得我，也是待我與爾說。我若說不行，却燒一炷香禮爾三拜；我若說得行，却受爾燒香禮拜，我也不與爾說釋迦老子及先德言句。我即就爾屋裏說，所謂借婆帔子拜婆年。』乃問：『爾曾讀《莊子》麼？』曰：『是何不讀？』妙喜曰：『莊子云：「言而足，終日言而盡道；言而不足，終日言而盡物。道物之極，言默不足以載。非言非默，義有所極。」我也不曾看郭象解并諸家註解，只據我杜撰說破爾這默然。』豈不見，孔夫子一日大驚小怪曰：『參乎！吾道一以貫之。』曾子曰：『唯。』爾措大家，纔聞箇唯字，便來這裏惡口。却云：『這一唯，與天地同根，萬物一體，致君於堯舜之上，成家立國，出將入相，以至啟手足時，不出這一唯。』且喜沒交涉。殊不知，這箇道理，便是曾子言而足，孔子言而足。其徒不會，却問曰：『何謂也？』曾子見他理會不得，却向第二頭答他話，謂夫子之道不可無言，所以云：『夫子之道忠恕而已矣。』要之道與物至極處，不在言語上、不在默然處。言也載不得，默也載不得。公之所說，尚不契莊子意，何況要契釋迦老子、達磨大師意耶？爾要理會得莊子非言非默義有所極麼？便是雲門大師拈起扇子云：『扇子𨁝跳上三十三天，築著帝釋鼻孔，東海鯉魚打一棒，雨似傾盆。』爾若會得雲門這箇說話，便是莊子說底、曾子說底、孔子說底一般。渠遂不作聲，妙喜曰：『爾雖不語，心未伏在。然古人決定，不在默然處坐地明矣。爾適來舉釋迦掩室、維摩默然，且看舊時有箇座主喚作肇法師，把那無言說處說出來與人云：「釋迦掩室於摩竭，淨名杜口於毘耶。須菩提唱無說以顯道，釋梵絕聽而雨華。斯皆理為神御，故口以之而默。豈曰無辯？辯所不能言也。」這箇是理與神忽然相撞著，不覺到說不得處，雖然不語，其聲如雷。』故云：『豈曰無辯？蓋辯所不能言也。』這裏世間聰明辯才用，一點不得。到得恁麼田地，方始是放身捨命處。這般境界，須是當人自證自悟始得。所以《華嚴經》云：『如來宮殿無有邊，自然覺者處其中。』此是從上諸聖大解脫法門，無邊無量、無得無失、無默無語、無去無來，塵塵爾、剎剎爾、念念爾、法法爾。只為眾生根性狹劣，不到三教聖人境界，所以分彼分此。殊不知，境界如此廣大，却向黑山下鬼窟裏默然坐地，故先聖訶為解脫深坑，是可怖畏之處。以神通道眼觀之，則是刀山劍樹，鑊湯鑪炭裏坐地一般。座主家尚不滯在默然處，況祖師門下客。却道：『纔開口便落今時。』且喜沒交涉。尚明不覺作禮，妙喜曰：『公雖作禮，然更有事在。』至晚間來入室，乃問他：『今年幾歲？』曰：『六十四。』又問：『爾六十四年前，從甚麼處來？』渠開口不得，被我將竹篦劈脊打出去。次日又來室中曰：『六十四年前尚未有昂在，如何和尚却問昂從甚麼處來？』妙喜曰：『爾六十四年前，不可元在福州鄭家。只今這聽法說法一段歷歷孤明底，未生已前畢竟在甚麼處？』曰：『不知。』妙喜曰：『爾若不知，便是生大。今生且限百歲，百歲後爾待飛出三千大千世界外去，須是與他入棺材始得。當爾之時，四大五蘊一時解散，有眼不見物，有耳不聞聲，有箇肉團心分別不行，有箇身火燒刀斫都不覺痛。到這裏歷歷孤明底，却向甚麼處去？』曰：『昂也不知。』妙喜曰：『爾既不知，便是死大。故曰無常迅速生死事大，便是這箇道理。這裏便聰明也不得，記持也不得。我更問爾：「平生做許多之乎者也，臘月三十日，將那一句敵他生死？」須是知得生來死去處分曉始得。若不知，即是愚人。』渠方心伏。從此遂救他不坐在無言無說處，肯來這下做工夫。今日一會，同此聽法，須知人人有此一段大事因緣，亘古亘今不變不動，也不著忘懷，也不著著意，但自時時提撕，妄念起時，亦不得將心止遏，止動歸止，止更彌動。只就動止處，看箇話頭，便是釋迦老子、達磨大師出來，也只是這箇。僧問趙州：『狗子還有佛性也無？』州云：『無。』爾措大家，多愛穿鑿說道，這箇不是有無之無，乃是真無之無，不屬世間虛豁之無。恁麼說時，還敵得他生死也無？既敵他生死不得，則未是在。既然未是，須是行也提撕，坐也提撕，喜怒哀樂時、應用酬酢時，總是提撕時節。提撕來提撕去，沒滋味，心頭恰如頓一團熱鐵相似，那時便是好處，不得放捨。忽然心華發明，照十方剎，便能於一毛端，現寶王剎，坐微塵裏，轉大法輪。汝等諸人，聞恁麼說話，往往心裏道：『妙喜老漢搖脣鼓舌，說得也相似，不知他肚裏如何？』須知妙喜說得底，便是行得底，更無兩般。所以西天第十三祖迦毘摩羅尊者，欲求一弟子繼紹祖位，謂深山窮谷中必有高人居止，因往求之。故知非但弟子求師切，師求弟子亦切。遂入山，果見一人出迎，曰：『深山孤寂，龍蟒所居，大德至尊，何枉神足？』祖曰：『吾非至尊，來訪賢者。』彼默念曰：『此師得決定性明道眼否？是大聖繼真乘否？』祖曰：『汝雖心語，吾已意知。但辦出家，何慮吾之不聖？』彼聞已悔謝，於是投祖出家，即第十四祖龍樹是也。今時學道者多不自疑，却疑他人，所以道：『大疑之下必有大悟。』且道悟得箇甚麼？」良久云：「我不敢輕於汝等，汝等皆當作佛。」下座。

Court Gentleman for Consultation Qian requested a general sermon. The master said: "The Dharma cannot be seen, heard, sensed, or known. If one practices seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, that is seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, not seeking the Dharma. Once outside seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, what would you call the Dharma? Coming to this point, it is like a person drinking water: self-knowing its cold and warmth; unless personally confirmed and personally awakened, it cannot be seen. If one has truly confirmed and awakened to it, raising a single tip of a fine hair, the entire earth is illuminated all at once. Nowadays, not only Chan monks, but also literati who are clever, sharp, and widely read in many books—every single one has two kinds of illness: if not fixing their intention, then they let their minds go blank. Letting the mind go blank, they fall into the ghosts' cave beneath the Black Mountain; in the teachings this is called torpor. Fixing their intention, their conscious mind flutters in disarray, thought succeeding thought—before the former thought ceases, the latter thought continues; in the teachings this is called restlessness. They do not know that under everyone's own feet is this one great matter that neither sinks [into torpor] nor flutters [in restlessness]. Like heaven universally covering, like earth universally supporting: before there was a world, there was already this great matter; when the world is destroyed, this great matter has never stirred by a single hair's breadth. Most literati tend toward restlessness. Nowadays in various quarters there is a type of silent illumination heterodox Chan: seeing literati hindered by worldly dust and their minds ill at ease, they immediately teach them to be like cold ashes and withered wood, like a strip of white silk, like an incense burner in an ancient temple, chillingly cold, using this to bring people to rest. Tell me: can they really be brought to rest? Little do they know that if this monkey is not dead, how can it be brought to rest? If that which comes as the vanguard and goes as the rearguard is not dead, how can it be brought to rest? In former years this fashion was extremely prevalent in Fujian Circuit. When Miaoxi first entered Fujian and lived in a hermitage during the early Shaoxing era, he vigorously opposed it, calling it the severing of the Buddha's wisdom-life, for which repentance is inadmissible even if a thousand buddhas appear in the world. Among them was a scholar named Zheng Shangming, extremely intelligent: he understood the teachings of the Buddhist vehicles, he understood the Daoist Canon, and Confucian teachings went without saying. One day, carrying a piece of incense, he entered Miaoxi's room with palpable fury, his voice and expression both severe, saying: 'I have a piece of incense not yet burned; I wish to settle a matter with the Venerable. Silence without words is the foremost resting place within the Dharma gate, yet the Venerable slanders and scolds it at will. In my mind I suspect that the Venerable has not reached this stage, which is why I cannot believe in you. Consider how Old Man Śākyamuni in the country of Magadha shut his room and made no sound for three seven-day periods: was that not the Buddha being silent? In the city of Vaiśālī thirty-two bodhisattvas each expounded the non-dual Dharma gate, and at the end Vimalakīrti was speechless, praised by Mañjuśrī: was that not a bodhisattva being silent? Subhūti sat in quiet meditation in a cliff cavern, without words and without speech: was that not a śrāvaka being silent? Śakra, Lord of the Gods, seeing Subhūti sitting in quiet meditation in the cavern, rained flowers in offering, also without words: was that not an ordinary being being silent? Bodhidharma traveled through Liang and traversed Wei, sitting coldly at Shaolin for nine years: was that not an ancestral master being silent? Whenever Luzu saw a monk he would face the wall: was that not a lineage master being silent? For what reason does the Venerable vigorously oppose silent illumination, deeming it heterodox and wrong?' Miaoxi said: 'Shangming, that you ask me this is also fitting; wait for me to explain it to you. If my explanation does not work, I will burn a stick of incense and make three prostrations to you; if my explanation works, I will accept your burning incense and prostrations. Nor will I quote to you the words and phrases of Old Man Śākyamuni and former worthies. I will speak directly from within your own house, as the saying goes, "borrowing the grandmother's shawl to bow to the grandmother for the New Year."' Then I asked: 'Have you ever read Zhuangzi?' He said: 'How could I not have read it?' Miaoxi said: 'Zhuangzi says: "When speech is sufficient, speaking all day exhausts the Dao; when speech is insufficient, speaking all day exhausts things. At the utmost of the Dao and things, speech and silence are not sufficient to convey them. Neither speech nor silence: this is where the principle reaches its utmost." I have never looked at Guo Xiang's commentary or the various commentators' notes, but relying merely on my own improvisation I will demolish your silence. Have you not seen: one day Master Kong made a great fuss, saying: "Shen! My way is bound together by a single thread." Zengzi said: "Yes." You petty scholars, as soon as you hear that word "yes," immediately start slandering here, saying: "This one 'yes' has the same root as Heaven and Earth, is of one body with the myriad things, elevates the ruler above Yao and Shun, establishes family and state, serves as general abroad and minister at home, down to when he uncovered his hands and feet—it never leaves this one 'yes.'" Fortunately, it has nothing to do with it! Little do they know that this principle is simply Zengzi's speech being sufficient and Confucius's speech being sufficient. His disciples did not understand, and instead asked: "What does it mean?" Zengzi, seeing that they could not comprehend it, answered their question on a secondary level, considering that the Master's way could not be left without words, and so said: "The Master's way is simply loyalty and reciprocity." The main point is that where the Dao and things reach their utmost, it is not in words, nor is it in silence. Words cannot convey it, and silence cannot convey it. What you have said does not even accord with the meaning of Zhuangzi, let alone Old Man Śākyamuni and Master Bodhidharma! Do you want to understand Zhuangzi's "neither speech nor silence: this is where the principle reaches its utmost"? It is simply Master Yunmen raising his fan and saying: "The fan jumps up to the Thirty-three Heavens and bumps the nostril of Lord Indra; the carp of the Eastern Sea is struck with a blow, and rain pours down like a torrent." If you can understand this talk of Yunmen's, then it is identical to what Zhuangzi said, what Zengzi said, and what Confucius said.' He thereupon fell silent. Miaoxi said: 'Though you do not speak, your mind is not yet subdued. However, it is clear that the ancients certainly did not sit in silence. Just now you brought up Śākyamuni shutting his room and Vimalakīrti's silence. Just look at how an old-time lecturer named Master Zhao expressed that wordless realm to people, saying: "Śākyamuni shut his room in Magadha; Vimalakīrti sealed his mouth in Vaiśālī. Subhūti proclaimed wordlessness to reveal the Dao; Śakra and Brahmā ceased listening and rained flowers. In all these cases, principle guided the spirit, so the mouth was silent on account of it. How could it be said there was no eloquence? It was that eloquence could not express it." This is principle and spirit suddenly colliding with each other, unawares arriving at the place that cannot be spoken; although not speaking, its sound is like thunder.' Therefore it says: 'How could it be said there was no eloquence? It is that eloquence could not express it.' Here, worldly cleverness and eloquence cannot be used in the slightest. Arriving at such a stage is truly the place to abandon life and cast off the body. This kind of realm must be personally confirmed and personally awakened to by the person themselves. Therefore the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'The palaces of the Tathāgata have no bounds; those who are naturally awakened dwell within them.' This is the great liberation Dharma gate of all the sages from of old: limitless and boundless, without gain and without loss, without silence and without speech, without going and without coming—so it is in every dust mote, every realm, every thought, and every phenomenon. It is only because the faculties and dispositions of sentient beings are narrow and inferior, unable to reach the realm of the sages of the Three Teachings, that they divide this from that. Little do they know that the realm is so vast and grand, yet they sit silently in the ghosts' cave beneath the Black Mountain; hence the ancient sages scolded it as the deep pit of liberation, a fearsome place. Viewing it with the spiritual powers of the Dharma eye, it is just like sitting on mountains of knives and trees of swords, or amidst cauldrons of boiling water and burning coals. Even lecturers do not get stuck in silence, much less guests at the gate of the ancestral masters! Yet they say: 'The moment you open your mouth, you fall into the present moment.' Fortunately, it has nothing to do with it! Shangming unconsciously bowed. Miaoxi said: 'Although you bow, there is still more to the matter.' In the evening he entered the room, and I asked him: 'How old are you this year?' He said: 'Sixty-four.' I asked again: 'Before sixty-four years ago, where did you come from?' He could not open his mouth, and I drove him out, striking him across the spine with a bamboo comb. The next day he came to the room again and said: 'Before sixty-four years ago, I did not yet exist; why does the Venerable ask where I came from?' Miaoxi said: 'Before sixty-four years ago, you could not originally have been in the Zheng family of Fuzhou. Right now, this distinct, solitary clarity that listens to the Dharma and speaks the Dharma—before you were born, where after all was it?' He said: 'I do not know.' Miaoxi said: 'If you do not know, then birth is a great matter. This present life is provisionally limited to a hundred years; after a hundred years, even if you want to fly beyond the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, you must still enter the coffin with it. At that time, the four great elements and five aggregates will disperse all at once: having eyes, you will not see things; having ears, you will not hear sounds; having a fleshy lump of a heart, discrimination will not work; having a body, fire burning and knives cutting will cause no sensation of pain. Arriving here, where will this distinct, solitary clarity go?' He said: 'I do not know either.' Miaoxi said: 'Since you do not know, then death is a great matter. Therefore it is said, "impermanence is swift, birth and death are a great matter"—this is just the principle. Here, cleverness is of no use, and memorization is of no use. I further ask you: all your life you have produced so many particles and grammatical flourishes—on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, which phrase will you use to resist birth and death? You must know clearly the place of coming in birth and going in death before you can succeed. If you do not know, you are merely a fool.' Only then was his mind subdued. From then on, I rescued him from sitting in the wordless and speechless place, and he was willing to apply effort here. Today in this assembly, listening to the Dharma together, you must know that everyone possesses this one great matter: unchanging and unmoving from ancient times to the present. You must neither let your mind go blank nor fix your intention; just keep bringing it to awareness at all times. When delusive thoughts arise, you must also not use the mind to stop them: stopping movement to return to stillness, the stopping causes even greater movement. Right at the point of movement and stillness, examine the huatou—even if Old Man Śākyamuni and Master Bodhidharma were to appear, it is just this. A monk asked Zhaozhou: 'Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?' Zhaozhou said: 'No [Wu].' You petty scholars mostly love to force interpretations, saying: 'This is not the "no" of existence and non-existence, but the "no" of true emptiness, not belonging to worldly voidness.' Speaking like this, can you resist birth and death or not? Since it cannot resist birth and death, it is not yet right. Since it is not yet right, you must bring it to awareness when walking, bring it to awareness when sitting; times of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, times of responding to affairs and socializing—all are times for bringing it to awareness. Bringing it to awareness over and over until it is tasteless, your mind will be just like having a ball of hot iron placed upon it: that time is precisely the good place, do not let go of it! Suddenly the flower of the mind blossoms with light, illuminating the lands of the ten directions; then you will be able, upon the tip of a single hair, to manifest the lands of the Jewel King, and sitting within a fine dust mote, turn the great wheel of the Dharma. When all of you hear such talk, you often say in your minds: 'The old fellow Miaoxi wags his lips and flaps his tongue, speaking plausibly enough, but who knows what is in his belly?' You must know that what Miaoxi can speak is what he can practice; there are no two different things. Therefore, the thirteenth ancestral master of the Western Heaven, the Venerable Kapilamala, wishing to seek a disciple to succeed to the ancestral seat, considered that there must be an eminent person dwelling in the deep mountains and remote valleys, and went in search of him. Thus know that not only do disciples seek masters urgently, masters also seek disciples urgently. Entering the mountains, indeed he saw a man come out to welcome him, saying: 'The deep mountains are lonely and secluded, the dwelling place of dragons and serpents; O most honored Great Worthy, why have you deigned to tread your holy feet here?' The ancestor said: 'I am not the most honored one; I have come to visit a worthy.' The man thought silently: 'Has this master attained the determinate nature and clarified the eye of the Way? Is he a great sage succeeding to the True Vehicle?' The ancestor said: 'Though you spoke in your mind, I already knew it with my intent. Just prepare to leave home; why worry that I am not a sage?' Having heard this, he repented and apologized, whereupon he took refuge with the ancestor and left home—this was the fourteenth ancestral master, Nāgārjuna. Nowadays students of the Way mostly do not doubt themselves, but doubt others instead; therefore it is said: 'Beneath great doubt there must be great awakening.' But tell me, what is awakened to?" After a long pause, he said: "I dare not hold you in contempt; you will all become buddhas." He descended from the seat.