大慧普覺禪師語錄 22.9

22.9

從上諸佛諸祖真實為人處，先教立決定志，所謂決定志者，決欲此生心地開通，直到諸佛諸祖無障礙大休歇大解脫境界。無決定之志，則無決定信矣。佛不云乎：「信為道元功德母，長養一切諸善法。」又云：「信能增長智功德，信能必到如來地。」如來地即大休歇大解脫境界是也。在昔歸宗拭眼禪師，曾有僧問：「如何是佛？」宗云：「我向汝道，汝還信否？」僧云：「和尚誠言，焉敢不信？」宗云：「只汝便是。」僧聞宗語諦審思惟，良久曰：「只某便是佛，却如何保任？」宗曰：「一翳在目，空華亂墜。」其僧於言下忽然契悟。這僧初無決定信，聞歸宗直指之言，猶懷疑惑，欲求保任，方能自信。歸宗老婆心切，向他所乖執處，以金剛王寶劍用事劈面便揮，這僧方在萬仞崖頭獨足而立，被歸宗一揮，始肯放身捨命。又羅山法寶大師，嘗致問於石霜普會曰：「起滅不停時如何？」石霜云：「直須寒灰枯木去，一念萬年去，函蓋相應去，全清絕點去。」羅山不契，復持此語問巖頭，問聲未絕，被巖頭震威一喝曰：「是誰起滅？」羅山於言下大悟。又教中說，菩薩修行從初地入第八不動地，為深行菩薩，難可知、無差別。離一切相、一切想、一切執著，無量無邊一切聲聞辟支佛所不能及。離諸諠諍、寂滅現前，乃至入滅盡定，一切動心憶想分別，悉皆止息，謂從初地至菩薩第八不動地，即捨一切功用行，得無功用法，身口意業，念務皆息，謂不起第二念。又怕人理會不得，更引喻云：「譬如有人夢中見身墮在大河，為欲度故發大勇猛施大方便。以大勇猛施方便故，即便𭔏寤。既𭔏寤已，所作皆息。」菩薩亦爾，見眾生身在四流中，為救度故，發大勇猛起大精進，以勇猛精進故，至不動地，既至此已一切功用靡不皆息，如生梵世，欲界煩惱皆不現前，住不動地亦復如是，一切心意識行皆不現前。第八地菩薩，佛心、菩薩心、菩提心、涅槃心尚不現起，況復起於世間之心？世間心既滅，寂滅心即現前；寂滅心既現前，則塵沙諸佛所說法門一時現前矣。法門既得現前，即是寂滅真境界也。得到此境界，方可興慈運悲作諸饒益事，是亦從決定志，乘決定信成就者也。若無決定志，則不能深入如來大寂滅海。無決定信，則於古人言句及教乘文字中不能動轉。如六祖大師為江西志徹禪師說常無常義，徹問祖曰：「弟子嘗覽《涅槃經》，未曉常無常義，乞師慈悲略為宣說。」祖曰：「無常者，即佛性也，有常者即善惡一切諸法分別心也。」曰：「和尚所說大違經文。」祖曰：「吾傳佛心印，安敢違於佛經？」曰：「經說佛性是常，和尚却言無常；善惡諸法乃至菩提心皆是無常，和尚却言是常。此即相違，令學人轉加疑惑。」祖曰：「《涅槃經》，吾昔者聽尼無盡藏讀誦一遍，便為講說，無一字一義不合經文，乃至為汝終無二說。」曰：「學人識量淺昧，願和尚委曲開示。」祖曰：「汝知否？佛性若常，更說甚麼善惡諸法，乃至窮劫無有一人發菩提心者，故吾說無常，正是佛說真常之道也。又一切諸法若無常者，即物物皆有自性，容受生死，而真常性有不遍之處，故吾說常者，正是佛說真無常義也。佛比為凡夫外道執於邪常、諸二乘人於常計無常，共成八倒，故於涅槃了義教中，破彼偏見而顯說真常、真樂、真我、真淨。汝今依言背義，以斷滅無常及確定死常，而錯解佛之圓妙最後微言。縱覽千遍，有何所益？」此亦徹禪師決定志中，乘決定信，而感報祖師決定說之一也。又記得，安楞嚴看《楞嚴經》，至「知見立知即無明本，知見無見斯即涅槃處」，不覺破句讀了曰：「知見立，知即無明本；知見無，見斯即涅槃。」沈吟良久，忽然大悟。後讀是經，終身如所悟，更不依經文。此亦決定志中，乘決定信，依義而不依文字之一也。妙智居士有決定志，而乘決定信，於此一段大事因緣矻矻孜孜，以徹證不疑為決定義，但未得噴地一下耳。因以此軸求指示，故引祖師為志徹禪師、巖頭為羅山、安楞嚴破句讀《楞嚴經》悟道數段葛藤，且作他時噴地一發之契券云耳。

Where all the buddhas and patriarchs from of old have truly acted on behalf of others, they first instructed them to establish a determined resolve. What is called a determined resolve means being determined to have the mind-ground opened up in this very life, directly reaching the unobstructed realm of great rest and great liberation of all buddhas and patriarchs. Without a determined resolve, there is no resolute faith. Did the Buddha not say: 'Faith is the source of the Way and the mother of merit, nurturing all wholesome dharmas'? He also said: 'Faith can increase the merit of wisdom; faith can surely lead to the Tathāgata-ground.' The Tathāgata-ground is precisely the realm of great rest and great liberation. In former times, when a monk asked Chan Master Guizong Shiyan, 'What is the Buddha?', Guizong said, 'If I tell you, will you believe?' The monk said, 'The Venerable's sincere words—how dare I not believe?' Guizong said, 'It is just you yourself.' Hearing Guizong's words, the monk reflected and examined them carefully, and after a long pause said, 'If it is just I myself who am Buddha, then how should I preserve and maintain it?' Guizong said, 'When a single cataract is in the eye, flowers in the sky fall in confusion.' Upon these words, that monk suddenly had a breakthrough and awakened. This monk initially lacked resolute faith; upon hearing Guizong's words of direct pointing, he still harboured doubts and sought preservation and maintenance before he could trust himself. Guizong's grandmotherly heart was earnest: right where the monk was contrary and clinging, he wielded the vajra-king precious sword and struck straight across his face; only then, while standing on one foot atop a ten-thousand-fathom cliff, did that monk, struck by Guizong, become willing to let go of his body and relinquish his life. Furthermore, Master Luoshan Fabao once posed a question to Shishuang Puhui: 'What about when arising and ceasing do not stop?' Shishuang said, 'You must simply be cold ashes and withered wood; you must let a single thought span ten thousand years; you must let box and lid fit together; you must be completely pure without a speck.' Luoshan did not accord with this, and taking these words, he questioned Yantou. Before the sound of his question had ended, Yantou shook with majestic power, gave a shout, and said, 'Who is it that arises and ceases?' Upon these words, Luoshan was greatly enlightened. Furthermore, the teachings state that when a bodhisattva practices, advancing from the first ground into the eighth, the Immovable Ground, he is an advanced practitioner, hard to comprehend, without differentiation. Free from all marks, all thoughts, and all attachments, he is beyond what all the immeasurable and boundless śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas can reach. Free from all disputes, quiescence becomes manifest before him, up to entering the samādhi of cessation, where all movements of mind, recollections, and conceptual discriminations completely cease. This means that from the first ground up to the eighth, the Immovable Ground, a bodhisattva relinquishes all purposeful practice and attains the unconditioned dharma; bodily, vocal, and mental actions and all thought-tasks completely cease, meaning that a second thought does not arise. Fearing that people would not understand, the text further draws an analogy: 'Suppose a person in a dream sees his own body falling into a great river. In order to cross over, he summons great courage and applies great expedients. Because of summoning great courage and applying expedients, he immediately awakens. Once awakened, all his strivings cease.' The bodhisattva is also like this: seeing that sentient beings are amidst the four floods, in order to rescue and cross them over, he summons great courage and gives rise to great vigor. Through courageous vigor, he reaches the Immovable Ground; having arrived here, all purposeful effort ceases without exception. Just as when born into the Brahmā world, the afflictions of the desire realm do not appear, so too when abiding in the Immovable Ground, all activities of mind, intellect, and consciousness do not appear. For an eighth-ground bodhisattva, even the buddha-mind, bodhisattva-mind, bodhi-mind, and nirvāṇa-mind do not arise and appear, so how much less could worldly thoughts arise? When the worldly mind is extinguished, the quiescent mind becomes manifest before him; when the quiescent mind becomes manifest, the dharma gates taught by buddhas as numerous as grains of sand instantly appear before him. Once the dharma gates appear before him, this is the true realm of quiescence. Only upon reaching this realm can one arouse loving-kindness, exercise compassion, and perform all kinds of beneficial deeds. This also comes from a determined resolve, accomplished by relying on resolute faith. If one lacks a determined resolve, one cannot deeply enter the Tathāgata's great sea of quiescence. Without resolute faith, one cannot freely move within the words and phrases of the ancients or the texts of the doctrinal vehicles. For example, when the Sixth Patriarch explained the meaning of permanence and impermanence for Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi, Che asked the Patriarch: 'Your disciple has read the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, but has not understood the meaning of permanence and impermanence. I beg the Master in his compassion to explain it briefly.' The Patriarch said: 'That which is impermanent is the buddha-nature; that which is permanent is the mind that discriminates all dharmas, good and bad.' Che said: 'What the Venerable says greatly contradicts the text of the sūtra.' The Patriarch said: 'I transmit the Buddha's mind-seal; how could I dare contradict the Buddha's sūtras?' Che said: 'The sūtra says that the buddha-nature is permanent, but the Venerable says it is impermanent; all dharmas, good and bad, up to the bodhi-mind, are impermanent, yet the Venerable says they are permanent. This contradicts it, causing the student to become all the more doubtful.' The Patriarch said: 'Regarding the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, formerly I heard the nun Wujinzang recite it through once, and I immediately explained it for her, without a single word or meaning failing to accord with the text of the sūtra; even in explaining it for you, there is ultimately no divergence.' Che said: 'The student's capacity of understanding is shallow and benighted; I hope the Venerable will provide a detailed and condescending explanation.' The Patriarch said: 'Do you know? If the buddha-nature were permanent, what need would there be to speak of all dharmas, good and bad, and up to the end of kalpas not a single person would give rise to the bodhi-mind. Therefore, my saying it is impermanent is precisely the Path of true permanence spoken by the Buddha. Furthermore, if all dharmas were impermanent, then each thing would have its own self-nature, enduring birth and death, and the nature of true permanence would have places where it is not all-pervasive. Therefore, my saying it is permanent is precisely the meaning of true impermanence spoken by the Buddha. Formerly, because ordinary people and non-Buddhists clung to a false permanence, and the practitioners of the two vehicles conceptualized impermanence regarding the permanent, together forming the eight inversions, the Buddha, in the definitive teaching of the Mahāparinirvāṇa, refuted their biased views and manifestly expounded true permanence, true bliss, true self, and true purity. Now, following the words, you turn your back on the meaning, using nihilistic impermanence and fixed, dead permanence to misunderstand the Buddha's perfectly subtle final words. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit would there be?' This too was an instance where Chan Master Che, within his determined resolve, relied on resolute faith and elicited the Patriarch's definitive discourse. I also recall that An of the Śūraṅgama was reading the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, and coming to the passage 'Establishing knowledge upon seeing and knowing is the root of fundamental ignorance; seeing and knowing without seeing is nirvāṇa,' he unconsciously punctuated the reading, reciting: 'When seeing and knowing are established, knowing is the root of fundamental ignorance; when seeing and knowing are absent, seeing this is nirvāṇa.' He pondered for a long time and was suddenly greatly enlightened. Later, whenever he read this sūtra, he followed his enlightenment for the rest of his life, no longer adhering to the literal text of the sūtra. This also is an instance of being within a determined resolve, relying on resolute faith, and relying on the meaning rather than the words. Layman Miaozhi has a determined resolve and relies on resolute faith, working diligently and untiringly on this one great matter of causal conditions, taking thorough verification without doubt as his definitive meaning—he has only not yet had the single burst. Because he used this scroll to seek instruction, I have cited several entanglements—the Patriarch for Chan Master Zhiche, Yantou for Luoshan, and An of the Śūraṅgama's punctuating the reading of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra and awakening to the Way—simply to serve as a tally and deed for his bursting forth in the future.