大慧普覺禪師語錄 22.3

22.3

快然居士羅宗約，紹興丁丑暮春，得得來鄮山見妙喜，欲究竟此段大事因緣，屢隨眾到室中，呈伎倆、逞解會，都與列下。忽一日喜見眉宇，知渠管中窺豹、轉身動腦，袖間已有頌子，雖未拈出。妙喜即時與撥轉關棙子，渠雖未能赤骨𩪸地跳出葛藤窠，然却知得飯是米做，麫在麥裏，正好著力之際，驀來相別云：「要急歸嫁女。」以此軸來，乞做工夫底道理。昔龐居士有言：「有男不婚，有女不嫁，大家團圝頭，共說無生話。」後來元豐間，有箇士人謂之無為居士，姓楊名傑字次公，嘗參前輩，於宗門中有真實得力處，曾和龐公此偈云：「男大須婚，女長須嫁，討甚間工夫，更說無生話。」這兩箇俗漢子，將他十方常住一片田地，不向官中印契，各自分疆列界道我知有，而時時向無佛處稱尊。當時亦有箇不平底，謂之海印信禪師，時住蘇州定慧，因見無為此偈，亦有一偈曰：「我無男婚，亦無女嫁，困來便打眠，誰管無生話。」這三箇老漢說此三偈，快然居士開眼也著，合眼也著，不開不合也著，妙喜只得冷地看。看則不無，畢竟快然居士向開眼處著到耶？合眼處著到耶？不開不合處著到耶？若在開眼處著到，則落在龐公圈䙡裏；在合眼處著到，則落在楊無為圈䙡裏；在不開不合處著到，則落在海印禪師圈䙡裏。快然見恁麼說，定道：「總不恁麼。」若總不恁麼，又落在妙喜圈䙡裏。要出三老圈䙡則易，要出妙喜圈䙡則難，快然畢竟如何出得？待歸延平嫁了女，却緩緩地來，為爾說破。因記得古德一偈，併書其後，庶幾快然，不在中途挅根，亦老婆心之切耳。偈曰：「學道如鑽火，逢煙且莫休，直待金星現，歸家始到頭。」更有一箇問頭，且那裏是快然歸底家？若透得這一問，男婚女嫁都在裏許；若未識得家，且業識茫茫，儘在外邊走，亦怪妙喜不得。

Layman Kuairan, Luo Zongyue, came expressly in the late spring of the dingchou year of the Shaoxing era [1157] to Mount Mao to see Miaoxi [Dahui], wishing to thoroughly investigate this great matter of the cause and condition. Repeatedly accompanying the assembly into my room, he displayed his tricks and flaunted his understandings, all of which I cast down. One day, suddenly seeing joy on his brow, I knew that he was 'peeking at a leopard through a tube,' turning his body and moving his brain, and already had a verse in his sleeve, though he had not brought it out. Miaoxi immediately turned the mechanism for him; although he was not yet able to leap stark-naked out of the tangle of vines, he nevertheless came to know that rice is made from grain and flour is in the wheat. Right at the moment when he should have applied effort, he abruptly came to bid farewell, saying, 'I must urgently return to marry off my daughter.' Coming with this scroll, he begged for the principles of undertaking the practice. In the past, Layman Pang said: 'I have a boy who does not marry, / I have a girl who does not wed. / The whole family gathered in a circle, / Together we speak the discourse of the unproduced.' Later, during the Yuanfeng era, there was a scholar called Layman Wuwei, surnamed Yang, named Jie, and styled Cigong, who had practiced under the elders and genuinely obtained power within the Chan school; he once matched Layman Pang's verse, saying: 'When a boy is grown he must marry; / When a girl is of age she must wed. / Why waste leisure effort / To speak yet more of the unproduced?' These two secular fellows took that piece of field of the permanent property of the ten directions, and without going to the authorities to have it stamped with an official deed, each marked out territories and drew boundaries, saying 'I know it exists,' and constantly proclaimed themselves venerable in places where there is no Buddha. At that time there was also a monk who was ill at ease with this, called Chan Master Haiyin Xin, who was residing at Dinghui in Suzhou at the time. Seeing this verse by Wuwei, he too composed a verse: 'I have no boy to marry, / Nor do I have a girl to wed. / When weary, I just lie down to sleep; / Who cares about the discourse of the unproduced?' With these three old fellows uttering these three verses, Layman Kuairan makes contact when he opens his eyes, makes contact when he closes his eyes, and makes contact when he neither opens nor closes them. Miaoxi can only watch from the cold sidelines. While I do watch, in the end does Layman Kuairan make contact at the place where the eyes are opened? Does he make contact at the place where the eyes are closed? Or does he make contact at the place where they are neither opened nor closed? If he makes contact at the place where the eyes are opened, he falls into Layman Pang's trap; if he makes contact at the place where the eyes are closed, he falls into Yang Wuwei's trap; if he makes contact at the place where they are neither opened nor closed, he falls into Chan Master Haiyin's trap. Seeing me speak like this, Kuairan will surely say, 'It is completely not like that.' If it is completely not like that, he falls once again into Miaoxi's trap. It is easy to get out of the three elders' traps, but hard to get out of Miaoxi's trap. In the end, how can Kuairan get out? Wait until you return to Yanping and have married off your daughter, then come back leisurely, and I will explain it thoroughly for you. Because I recall a verse by an ancient worthy, I also write it after this, hoping that Kuairan will not take root halfway—this too is solely out of the earnestness of a grandmotherly mind. The verse says: 'Studying the Way is like drilling for fire: / When you meet smoke, do not stop; / Only when the golden sparks appear / And you return home have you reached the end.' There is yet another questioning prompt: where, after all, is the home to which Kuairan returns? If you penetrate this one question, marrying off sons and daughters is all contained within it; if you have not yet recognized home, your karmic consciousness will be vast and boundless, running completely outside, and you will not be able to blame Miaoxi.