大慧普覺禪師語錄 21.5

21.5

此事如青天白日，皎然清淨，不變不動、無減無增，各各當人日用應緣處，頭頭上明、物物上顯，取之不得、捨之常存，蕩蕩無礙，了了空虛，如水上放葫蘆，拘牽他不得，惹絆他不得。古來有道之士，得之向生死海內頭出頭沒，全體受用無欠無餘，不見有生死塵勞之狀，如析栴檀片片皆是，將甚麼作生死塵勞？生死塵勞從甚麼處起？收因結果時却向甚麼處著？既無著處，則佛是幻、法是幻，三界、二十五有、十二處、十八界空蕩蕩地，到得這箇田地，佛之一字亦無著處。佛之一字尚無著處，真如、佛性、菩提、涅槃何處有也？故傅大士有言：「恐人生斷見，權且立虛名，學道人理會，不得一向去。」古人入道因緣，上求玄、求妙，求奇特、覓解會，不能見月亡指，直下一刀兩段，永嘉所謂空拳指上生實解，根境法中虛揑怪，於五蘊、十二處、十八界、二十五有塵勞中妄自囚執，如來說為可憐愍者。不見巖頭和尚有言：「汝但無欲無依，便是能仁。」都來只有一箇父母所生底肉塊子，一點氣不來，便屬他人所管，肉塊子外更有甚麼？把甚麼作奇特玄妙？把甚麼作菩提涅槃？把甚麼作真如佛性？士大夫要究竟此事，初不本其實，只管要於古人公案上，求知求解，直饒爾知盡、解盡一大藏教，臘月三十日生死到來時，一點也使不著。又有一種，纔聞知識說如是事，又將心意識摶量卜度云：「若如此則莫落空否？」士大夫十箇有五雙，作這般見解，妙喜不得已向他道：「爾未曾得空，何怕之有？」如船未翻，先要跳入水去。見伊不領略，不惜口業，又為打葛藤一上云：「只這怕落空底，還空得也無？」爾眼若不空，將甚麼觀色？耳若不空，將甚麼聽聲？鼻若不空，將甚麼知香臭？舌若不空，將甚麼嘗味？身若不空，將甚麼覺觸？意若不空，將甚麼分別萬法？佛不云乎：「無眼耳鼻舌身意，無色聲香味觸法，乃至十二處、十八界、二十五有，乃至聲聞、緣覺、菩薩、佛，及佛所說之法，菩提、涅槃、真如、佛性，及說此法者、聽此法者，作如是說者、受如是說者，皆悉無有。」得如是了，喚作空耶？喚作不空耶？喚作佛耶？喚作菩薩耶？喚作聲聞耶？喚作緣覺耶？喚作菩提涅槃耶？喚作真如佛性耶？道我聰明靈利不受人謾，試向這裏定當看。若定當得出，止宿草菴且在門外，若定當不出，切忌開大口說過頭話。大丈夫漢，決欲究竟此一段大事因緣，一等打破面皮性燥，堅起脊梁骨，莫順人情，把自家平昔所疑處，貼在額頭上，常時一似欠了人萬百貫錢，被人追索，無物可償，生怕被人恥辱，無急得急、無忙得忙，無大得大底，一件事方有趣向分。若道：「我世間文字至於九經十七史諸子百家，古今興亡治亂，無有不知、無有不會，只有禪一般，我也要知、我也要會。」自無辨邪正底眼，驀地撞著一枚杜撰禪和，被他狐媚，如三家村裏傳口令口耳傳授，謂之過頭禪，亦謂之口鼓子禪，把他古人糟粕，遞相印證，一句來一句去，末後我多得一句時，便喚作贏得禪了也。殊不肯退步，以生死事在念，不肯自疑，愛疑他人，纔聞有箇士大夫要理會這事，先起無限疑了也，謂渠要做美官，又有聲色之好，如何辦得這般事？似這般底，比比皆是，無一人真實把做一件未了底事，晝三夜三，孜孜矻矻，茶裏飯裏喜時怒時，淨處穢處，妻兒聚頭處，與賓客相酬酢處，辦公家職事處，了私門婚嫁處，都是第一等做工夫提撕舉覺底時節。昔李文和都尉，在富貴叢中，參得禪大徹大悟；楊文公參得禪時，身居翰苑；張無盡參得禪時，作江西轉運使。只這三大老，便是箇不壞世間相，而談實相底樣子也，又何曾須要去妻孥，休官罷職咬菜根，苦形劣志避喧求靜，然後入枯禪鬼窟裏作妄想方得悟道來？不見龐居士有言：「但自無心於萬物，何妨萬物常圍遶。」鐵牛不怕師子吼，恰似木人見花鳥，木人本禮自無情，花鳥逢人亦不驚，心境如如只這是，何慮菩提道不成。在世俗塵勞中，能不忘生死事，雖未即打破漆桶，然亦種得般若種智之深，異世出頭來，亦省心力，亦不至流落惡趣中，大勝耽染塵勞不求脫離。謂此事不可容易，且作歸向信敬處，似此見解者，不可勝數。士大夫學道，與我出家兒大不同，出家兒父母不供甘旨，六親固以棄離，一瓶一鉢日用應緣處，無許多障道底冤家，一心一意體究此事而已。士大夫開眼合眼處，無非障道底冤魂，若是箇有智慧者，只就裏許做工夫，《淨名》所謂「塵勞之儔為如來種」，怕人壞世間相而求實相，又說箇喻云：「譬如高原陸地不生蓮華，卑濕淤泥乃生此華。」若就裏許，如楊文公、李文和、張無盡三大老，打得透其力，勝我出家兒二十倍。何以故？我出家兒在外打入，士大夫在內打出，在外打入者其力弱，在內打出者其力彊。彊者謂所乖處重，而轉處有力；弱者謂所乖處輕，而轉處少力。雖力有彊弱，而所乖則一也。方外道友徐敦濟，乃妙喜三十年前夷門道舊，纔一邂逅，便以此道相期，與令弟敦立時時來圜悟先師處激揚箇事，決欲臘月三十日四大分散時，要得這一著子有下落，非如他人要資談柄。紹興初予住徑山，因持鉢吳門，再得一見，又二十年復在鄂渚相遇，因以此軸求指示。信意一揮寫至此，不知前面所說何事，面一軸已終，千說萬說、直說曲說，只是為徐敦濟生死疑根未拔，只教就未拔處看箇話頭，僧問趙州：「狗子還有佛性也無？」州云：「無。」行住坐臥但時時提掇，驀然噴地一發，方知父母所生鼻孔只在面上。勉之勉之。

This matter is like the blue sky and the bright sun, radiantly clear and pure, unchanging and unmoving, neither decreasing nor increasing. In the places where each individual responds to conditions in daily activities, it is luminous on every tip and apparent on every object. Grasping it, one cannot obtain it; abandoning it, it constantly persists. Vast and unobstructed, clearly and distinctly empty and open, like releasing a gourd on the water—one cannot tether it, nor can one entangle it. When people of the Way from ancient times attained it, turning within the ocean of birth and death, their heads popping out and submerging, their whole being enjoyed its use without lack or surplus, not seeing any appearance of birth, death, or affliction. It is like cutting sandalwood—chip by chip, every piece is it. What would you take to be birth, death, and affliction? From where do birth, death, and affliction arise? When collecting causes and concluding with results, where do they reside? Since there is no place to reside, the Buddha is an illusion, the Dharma is an illusion; the three realms, the twenty-five states of existence, the twelve sense bases, and the eighteen realms are all completely empty. Reaching such a stage, even the single word 'Buddha' has no place to reside. If even the single word 'Buddha' has no place to reside, where could True Suchness, buddha-nature, bodhi, and nirvāṇa exist? Thus Mahāsattva Fu said: 'Fearing that people will give rise to annihilationist views, provisional false names are set up. Those who study the Way should understand, but not cling solely to them.' When the ancients entered the Way through conditions, seeking the profound, seeking the wondrous, seeking the extraordinary, and looking for understanding above, they were unable to forget the finger upon seeing the moon and cut things in two with a single downward blow. As Yongjia said: 'On an empty fist and pointing finger, they generate real understanding; amid sense bases, sense objects, and dharmas, they fabricate monstrosities.' Vainly imprisoning and attaching themselves within the five aggregates, twelve sense bases, eighteen realms, and twenty-five states of existence, the Tathāgata described them as pitiable. Have you not seen that Reverend Yantou said: 'If you are simply without desire and without dependence, you are the Able Benevolent One (Śākyamuni).' All there is in total is merely this lump of flesh born of father and mother; the moment a breath does not come, it belongs to another's jurisdiction. Outside this lump of flesh, what else is there? What do you take to be extraordinary, profound, and wondrous? What do you take to be bodhi and nirvāṇa? What do you take to be True Suchness and buddha-nature? When scholar-officials wish to thoroughly investigate this matter, initially they do not base themselves on its reality; they insist on seeking knowledge and understanding in the ancient masters' gong'ans. Even if you understand and comprehend the entire canon of teachings, on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month when birth and death arrive, you will not be able to use a single bit of it. There is yet another kind: as soon as they hear a good friend speak of such a matter, they again use their mental consciousness to calculate and conjecture, saying: 'If it is like this, won't one fall into emptiness?' Five pairs out of ten among scholar-officials hold this kind of view. Miaoxi has no choice but to say to them: 'You have not yet attained emptiness; what fear is there?' It is like jumping into the water before the boat has even capsized. Seeing that they do not comprehend, not sparing karmic consequences of speech, I again tie up creepers for them, saying: 'This very one who fears falling into emptiness—can it be empty or not? If your eyes were not empty, with what would you observe forms? If your ears were not empty, with what would you hear sounds? If your nose were not empty, with what would you know fragrances and stenches? If your tongue were not empty, with what would you taste flavors? If your body were not empty, with what would you sense touch? If your intellect were not empty, with what would you differentiate the myriad dharmas? Did the Buddha not say: "There are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or intellect; no forms, sounds, fragrances, tastes, touchables, or dharmas; up to the twelve sense bases, eighteen realms, twenty-five states of existence; up to voice-hearers, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas, as well as the Dharma spoken by the buddhas, bodhi, nirvāṇa, True Suchness, and buddha-nature, along with those who preach this Dharma, those who hear this Dharma, those who make such statements, and those who receive such statements—all are entirely nonexistent." Having attained such a state, do you call it empty? Do you call it not empty? Do you call it buddha? Do you call it bodhisattva? Do you call it voice-hearer? Do you call it pratyekabuddha? Do you call it bodhi and nirvāṇa? Do you call it True Suchness and buddha-nature?' You say you are clever, sharp, and not to be deceived by others; try making a determination right here! If you can make the determination, your lodging in a grass hut is still outside the gate; if you cannot make the determination, take absolute care not to open your big mouth and speak excessive words. If a great fellow decisively wishes to thoroughly investigate this great matter of the single cause, he must thoroughly shatter his face and show fierce resolve, erect his spine, and not follow human sentiment. Stick the doubts you have harbored throughout your life right onto your forehead, at all times just as if you owed someone tens of thousands of strings of cash, pursued by collectors without anything to repay them, dreading being shamed by others. Without getting agitated, be agitated; without being rushed, be rushed; without being great, be great—only with such a matter will you have a chance at heading in the right direction. If you say, 'As for worldly writings, up to the Nine Classics, the Seventeen Histories, the various philosophers, and the hundred schools of thought, the rise and fall, order and chaos of ancient and modern times—there is nothing I do not know, nothing I do not understand; only Chan is the one thing that I also want to know and also want to understand,' yet you lack the eye to distinguish the heterodox from the orthodox, and suddenly run into a fabricated Chan monk and are bewitched by his fox-like charms, like passing passwords around in a three-family hamlet through ear-to-mouth transmission—this is called excessive-talk Chan, and is also called mouth-drum Chan. Taking the ancients' dregs, they mutually seal and authenticate each other; one sentence comes and one sentence goes, and when I finally get one more sentence, I call it having won at Chan. They are utterly unwilling to step back and keep the matter of birth and death in mind; unwilling to doubt themselves, they love doubting others. As soon as they hear of a scholar-official wishing to attend to this matter, they first give rise to boundless doubts, saying, 'He wants to be a fine official and has a fondness for sights and sounds; how could he manage such a matter?' People like this are everywhere. Not a single person truly treats it as an unsettled matter, working diligently day and night, during tea and during meals, when joyful and when angry, in pure places and in foul places, where wife and children gather, when entertaining guests, when managing official duties for the public, when arranging marriages in private family affairs—all of these are prime times for applying effort, bringing it up, and calling it to mind. Formerly, Military Commissioner Li Wenhe, amid wealth and nobility, investigated Chan and attained great, thorough awakening. When Yang Wengong investigated Chan, his body resided in the Hanlin Academy. When Zhang Wujin investigated Chan, he served as the Jiangxi Fiscal Commissioner. These three elders are examples of not destroying worldly characteristics while speaking of true reality. When did they ever need to abandon their wives and children, resign from office, chew on vegetable roots, afflict their bodies, weaken their resolve, avoid noise, and seek quiet, and only then enter the ghost caves of withered Chan to produce delusions before attaining awakening to the Way? Have you not seen what Layman Pang said: 'Just be without mind toward the myriad things yourself; / What harm is there in the myriad things constantly surrounding you? / The iron ox does not fear the lion's roar; / It is just like a wooden man seeing flowers and birds. / By its original nature the wooden man is naturally devoid of emotion; / When flowers and birds encounter humans, they too are not startled. / Mind and objects in suchness—it is only this; / Why worry that the path of bodhi will not be accomplished?' Amid worldly afflictions, if one can refrain from forgetting the matter of birth and death, although one may not immediately shatter the lacquer bucket, one nevertheless plants the deep seeds of the wisdom of prajñā. When one appears in another lifetime, it will also save mental effort, and one will not end up falling into the evil destinies—far superior to wallowing in afflictions without seeking liberation. Saying that this matter cannot be accomplished easily, they take it as a place of refuge, faith, and respect; those with views like this are beyond count. Scholar-officials studying the Way are greatly different from our sons of the home-leaving life. For those who have left home, parents do not provide delicacies, and the six relatives are already abandoned; with a single bowl and a single bottle responding to conditions in daily life, they do not have so many obstacle-causing foes to the Way, and only investigate this matter single-mindedly. For scholar-officials, wherever they open or close their eyes, there is nothing that is not an obstacle-causing ghost to the Way. If one is a person of wisdom, one simply makes effort right within them. As the *Vimalakīrti* says, 'The crowd of afflictions is the lineage of the Tathāgata.' Fearing that people might destroy worldly characteristics while seeking true reality, it also speaks a metaphor, saying: 'Just as lotus flowers do not grow on high plateaus and dry land, but grow in low, wet, muddy silt.' If within this, like the three elders Yang Wengong, Li Wenhe, and Zhang Wujin, one can break through, the strength exceeds that of our sons of the home-leaving life by twenty times. Why? We who have left home break in from the outside; scholar-officials break out from the inside. Breaking in from the outside has weak strength; breaking out from the inside has great strength. 'Great' means that what is gone against is heavy, so the pivot is powerful; 'weak' means that what is gone against is light, so the pivot has less power. Although there is strength and weakness in the power, what is gone against is the same. My friend of the Way outside the realm, Xu Dunji, is an old friend of Miaoxi from thirty years ago in Yimen. As soon as we met, we engaged with each other over this Way. Together with your younger brother Dunli, you frequently came to the late master Yuanwu to stimulate this matter, determined to have an outcome for this one move on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month when the four elements scatter, unlike others who only wish to supply material for conversation. In the early Shaoxing era when I resided at Jingshan, because of carrying my alms bowl to Wumen, I was able to meet you once again; after another twenty years, we have met again in Ezhou. For this reason, you requested instruction with this scroll. Freely following my brush, I have written up to this point, unaware of what was said before; now the scroll has come to an end. Among thousands and tens of thousands of explanations, spoken directly or spoken crookedly, it is simply because the root of Xu Dunji's doubts about birth and death has not yet been pulled up. I only bid you look at a huatou right where it has not been pulled up: A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?' Zhou said, 'No (wu).' Walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, just bring it up at all times. Suddenly, popping like a sneeze, it will erupt, and only then will you know that the nostrils born of father and mother are right on your face. Strive on! Strive on!