大慧普覺禪師語錄 25.10

25.10

細讀來書，乃知四威儀中無時間斷，不為公冗所奪，於急流中常自猛省，殊不放逸，道心愈久愈堅固，深愜鄙懷。然世間塵勞，如火熾然，何時是了？正在鬧中，不得忘却竹椅蒲團上事。平昔留心靜勝處，正要鬧中用，若鬧中不得力，却似不曾在靜中做工夫一般。承有前緣駁雜今受此報之歎，獨不敢聞命，若動此念，則障道矣。古德云：「隨流認得性，無喜亦無憂。」淨名云：「譬如高原陸地不生蓮華，卑濕淤泥乃生此華。」老胡示：「真如不守自性，隨緣成就一切事法。」又云：「隨緣赴感靡不周，而常處此菩提座」，豈欺人哉？若以靜處為是、鬧處為非，則是壞世間相而求實相，離生滅而求寂滅。好靜惡鬧時正好著力，驀然鬧裏撞翻靜時消息，其力能勝竹椅蒲團上千萬億倍。但相聽，決不相誤。又承以老龐兩句，為行住坐臥之銘箴，善不可加，若正鬧時生厭惡，則乃是自擾其心耳。若動念時只以老龐兩句提撕，便是熱時一服清涼散也。公具決定信，是大智慧人，久做靜中工夫，方敢說這般話。於他人分上則不可，若向業識茫茫增上慢人前如此說，乃是添他惡業擔子。禪門種種病痛，已具前書，不識曾子細理會否？

Reading your letter closely, I know that throughout the four postures there is no interruption in your practice, that you are not diverted by official business, that in the rushing torrent you constantly bring yourself to severe awakening, by no means negligent, and that your aspiration for the Way grows firmer the longer it lasts—this deeply gratifies my humble heart. Yet worldly dust and toil blaze like fire; when will there ever be an end to it? While in the very midst of clamour, you must not forget the affair upon the bamboo chair and rush mat. Maintaining mindfulness in quiet and secluded spots throughout your ordinary life is meant precisely for use in the midst of clamour; if it lacks efficacy in the midst of clamour, it is just as though you had never applied effort in quietude. I note your lament that past conditions were mixed and tangled so that you now suffer this retribution; this alone I dare not accept. If you stir up this thought, it will obstruct the Way. An ancient worthy said: 'Recognizing one's nature following the flow, there is neither joy nor sorrow.' Vimalakīrti said: 'For instance, the lotus does not grow on high plateaus or dry ground, but grows only in low, damp mud.' The Old Barbarian showed: 'True Suchness does not maintain its own nature; according with conditions, it brings all affairs and dharmas to completion.' He also said: 'According with conditions, responding to receptivity, there is nowhere it does not reach, while constantly abiding on this bodhi-seat.' How could they be deceiving people? If you take the quiet place as right and the clamorous place as wrong, you are destroying worldly characteristics to seek the true characteristic, departing from arising and ceasing to seek cessation. When you are fond of quiet and averse to clamour, that is precisely the time to apply effort: suddenly, right in the clamour, you overturn the news from the time of quiet, and its power will surpass that on the bamboo chair and rush mat by thousands of myriads of times. Only listen to me, and I certainly will not mislead you. Furthermore, I note that you take Layman Pang's two lines as your motto for walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; nothing could be better. But if you give rise to aversion while right in the midst of clamour, that is simply disturbing your own mind. If, whenever a thought stirs, you only use Layman Pang's two lines to raise and inspect, it will be a dose of cooling powder in the sweltering heat. You possess decisive faith and are a person of great wisdom; only after long applying effort in quietude do I dare speak to you in this way. For others it would not do; if one spoke like this before people of vast karmic consciousness and overweening pride, it would only add to their burden of bad karma. The various sicknesses of the Chan gate have already been detailed in my previous letter; I do not know whether you have examined them closely or not.