大慧普覺禪師語錄 23.5

23.5

士大夫，多以有所得心，求無所得法。何謂有所得心？聰明靈利思量計較者是。何謂無所得法？思量不行計較不到，聰明靈利無處安著者是。不見釋迦老子在法華會上，舍利弗殷勤三請，直得無啟口處，然後盡力道得箇「是法非思量分別之所能解」。此是釋迦老子初悟此事，開方便門示真實相之椎輪也。昔雪峯真覺禪師，為此事之切，三度到投子、九度上洞山，因緣不相契，後聞德山周金剛王化，遂造其室。一日問德山：「從上宗風以何法示人？」德山云：「我宗無語句，亦無一法與人。」後又問：「從上宗乘中事，學人還有分也無？」德山拈拄杖便打云：「道甚麼？」雪峯於棒下，方打破漆桶。以是觀之，思量計較聰明靈利，於此箇門中一點也用不著。古德有言：「般若如大火聚，近之則燎却面門，擬議尋思便落意識。」永嘉云：「損法財，滅功德，莫不由茲心意識。」故知心意識非獨障道，亦使得人七顛八倒作諸不善。既有究竟此道之心，須有決定之志，不到大休大歇大解脫處，誓畢此生不退不墮。佛法無多子，久長難得。人世間塵勞中事無盡無窮，撥置了一重又一重來，如連環如鉤鎖相續不斷，志意下劣者，往往甘心與伊作侶伴，不覺不知被伊牽挽將去；除是當人夙有願力，方肯退步思量。永嘉又云：「無明實性即佛性，幻化空身即法身，法身覺了無一物，本源自性天真佛。」若如是思量，驀然向思量不及處見得，無一物底法身，即是當人出生死處。前所云無所得法，不可以有所得心求，便是這箇道理也。士大夫一生在思量計較中作活計，纔聞善知識說無所得法，便心裏疑惑，怕落空去。妙喜每見如此說者，即問他：「只這怕落空者，還空也無？」十箇有五雙，分疎不下。蓋平時只以思量卜度為窟宅，乍聞說著不得思量底話，便茫然無討巴鼻處。殊不知，只這無討巴鼻處，便是自家放身命底時節也。敦立道友靖康中在夷門相會，是時春秋鼎盛，便知有此段大事因緣可以脫離生死，與乃兄敦濟，時來扣問圜悟先師。但妙年身心未能純一，專志理會箇事，別來忽地過了三十餘年，紹興己卯秋，予因到育王經由越上，時敦立提總憲綱始獲再會，握手劇談，坐間只以此一段因緣為未了，更不及世間塵勞之事，非百劫千生曾承事真善知識種得般若種子在藏識中，則不能如是把得定、作得主宰、信得諦當、不退初心，真火中蓮華也。但以博極群書，於九經十七史內入得太深、聰明太過，理路太多、定力太少，被日用應緣處牽挽將去，故於脚跟下不能得啐地折曝地斷耳。若時時正念現前，怕生死之心不變，則日月浸久，生處自熟，熟處自生矣。且那箇是熟處？聰明靈利思量計較底是。那箇是生處？菩提涅槃真如佛性，絕思惟分別，摶量卜度不到，無爾用心安排底是。驀然時節到來，或於古人入道因緣上，或因看經教時，或於日用應緣，若善若不善，若身心散亂，若逆順境界現前，若暫得心意識寧靜時，忽地蹋翻關棙子，不是差事。

Gentlemen of the literati often use a mind of attainment to seek the dharma of non-attainment. What is meant by a mind of attainment? It is cleverness, sharpness, thinking, and reckoning. What is meant by the dharma of non-attainment? It is where thinking cannot go, reckoning cannot reach, and cleverness and sharpness have nowhere to settle. Have you not seen: in the assembly of the Lotus Sūtra, when Śāriputra earnestly made three requests of old Śākyamuni, [the Buddha] had nowhere to open his mouth, and only then with all his might could say, "This dharma cannot be understood by thought or discrimination"? This was old Śākyamuni's first breakthrough into this matter, the rudimentary beginning of opening the gate of expedients to reveal the true aspect. Formerly, Chan Master Xuefeng Zhenjue was so urgent for this matter that he went three times to Touzi and climbed up Dongshan nine times, but his conditions did not mesh. Later, hearing of Deshan, Master Zhou of the Vajra[-prajñāpāramitā], transforming beings, he went straight to his room. One day he asked Deshan, "With what dharma have the ancestral masters from of old demonstrated this to people?" Deshan said, "Our school has no words, nor is there a single dharma to give to people." Later he asked again, "In the matter of the ancestral vehicle from of old, does this student still have a share?" Deshan raised his staff and struck him, saying, "What are you saying?" Under the blow, Xuefeng finally smashed the lacquer bucket. Viewed in this light, thinking, reckoning, cleverness, and sharpness are of no use whatsoever in this gate. An ancient worthy said: "Prajñā is like a great mass of fire; approach it, and it scorches your face. The moment you hesitate and search in thought, you fall into the conscious mind." Yongjia said: "Damaging the wealth of the Dharma and destroying merit—none of it does not stem from this mind, intellect, and consciousness." Thus we know that the mind, intellect, and consciousness not only obstruct the Way, but also throw people into confusion and cause them to commit all kinds of unwholesome deeds. Since you have the mind to fathom this Way to the end, you must have determined resolve; until you reach the place of the great rest, the great cessation, and the great liberation, vow that to the end of this life you will not regress or fall. The Buddha-dharma does not consist of much, but long-lasting perseverance is hard to come by. Affairs within the defilements of the human world are endless and inexhaustible: set aside one layer, and yet another layer comes, continuous and unbroken like interlocking rings and links of a chain. Those of inferior resolve often willingly make themselves their companions, pulled along by them without realizing or knowing it. Only if a person has the power of past vows will they be willing to step back and contemplate. Yongjia also said: "The true nature of ignorance is itself the buddha-nature; the illusory and empty body is itself the dharmakāya. When the dharmakāya is awakened to, there is not a single thing; the original source, one's self-nature, is the naturally genuine Buddha." If you contemplate like this, and suddenly, in a place beyond the reach of thought, see the dharmakāya that has not a single thing, that is where one steps out of birth and death. As was said earlier, the dharma of non-attainment cannot be sought with a mind of attainment—this is precisely the principle. The literati spend their whole lives making a living in thinking and reckoning. The moment they hear a good friend in the Dharma speak of the dharma of non-attainment, doubt arises in their minds, and they fear falling into emptiness. Whenever Miaoxi sees such people talking like this, he asks them: "This one who fears falling into emptiness—is it empty or not?" In ten cases out of ten, they cannot explain it away. Because they usually take thinking and conjecturing as their lair, when they suddenly hear talk where thinking cannot be applied, they are at a loss, having nowhere to lay hold of a handle. Little do they know that this very place where no handle can be found is precisely the time to lay down one's body and life. When I met with you, fellow cultivator Dunli, in Yimen during the Jingkang era, you were in the prime of life and already knew that there is this great matter by which one can transcend birth and death. Together with your elder brother Dunji, you frequently came to question my late teacher Yuanwu. But in your youth, body and mind could not yet be unified to focus solely on comprehending this matter. Since we parted, over thirty years have suddenly passed. In the autumn of the jimao year of Shaoxing, as I was going to Ayuwang and passing through Yuetang, Dunli had just taken charge of the censorial regulations, and we were finally able to meet again. Grasping hands and conversing deeply, in our sitting we spoke only of this one matter as still unfinished, touching not at all on worldly defilements. Were it not that through hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lives you had served true good friends in the Dharma and planted the seeds of prajñā in the storehouse consciousness, you could not hold firm like this, be your own master, have such genuine faith, and not regress from your initial resolve—truly a lotus in the fire! Yet because you have widely read all the books, penetrated too deeply into the Nine Classics and the Seventeen Histories, have an excess of cleverness, too many intellectual tracks, and too little samādhi power, you are dragged away by day-to-day encounters. Therefore, beneath your feet, you have not been able to snap it cleanly and break it off completely. If right mindfulness is present at all times and the mind that fears birth and death does not change, then as the days and months soak in, what is raw will naturally become cooked, and what is cooked will naturally become raw. And what is the cooked place? It is cleverness, sharpness, thinking, and reckoning. What is the raw place? It is bodhi, nirvāṇa, suchness, and buddha-nature—severed from thinking and discrimination, unreachable by estimation and conjecture, where there is no place for you to apply your mind and arrange things. Suddenly, when the time comes, whether upon an ancient's occasion for entering the Way, or while reading the scriptures and teachings, or in day-to-day encounters—whether wholesome or unwholesome, whether body and mind are scattered, whether adverse or favorable circumstances appear before you, or when you temporarily attain tranquility of the mind, intellect, and consciousness—you suddenly overturn the mechanism; this is no mistaken affair.