大慧普覺禪師語錄 25.6

25.6

公處身富貴，而不為富貴所折困，非夙植般若種智，焉能如是？但恐中忘此意，為利根聰明所障，以有所得心在前頓放，故不能於古人直截徑要處，一刀兩段直下休歇。此病非獨賢士大夫，久參衲子亦然，多不肯退步就省力處做工夫，只以聰明意識計較思量，向外馳求，乍聞知識向聰明意識思量計較外，示以本分草料，多是當面蹉過，將謂從上古德，有實法與人，如趙州放下著、雲門須彌山之類是也。巖頭曰：「却物為上，逐物為下。」又曰：「大統綱宗，要須識句。」甚麼是句？百不思時喚作正句，亦云居頂，亦云得住，亦云歷歷，亦云惺惺，亦云恁麼時，將恁麼時等破一切是非，纔恁麼便不恁麼，是句亦剗，非句亦剗，如一團火相似，觸著便燒，有甚麼向傍處？今時士大夫，多以思量計較為窟宅，聞恁麼說話，便道莫落空否。喻似舟未翻先自跳下水去，此深可憐愍。近至江西見呂居仁，居仁留心此段因緣甚久，亦深有此病，渠豈不是聰明？宗杲嘗問之曰：「公怕落空，能知怕者是空耶？是不空耶？試道看。」渠佇思欲計較祗對，當時便與一喝，至今茫然，討巴鼻不著。此蓋以求悟證之心，在前頓放，自作障難，非干別事。公試如此做工夫，日久月深，自然築著磕著。若欲將心待悟、將心待休歇，從脚下參到彌勒下生，亦不能得悟，亦不能得休歇，轉加迷悶耳。平田和尚曰：「神光不昧，萬古徽猷，入此門來，莫存知解。」又古德曰：「此事不可以有心求，不可以無心得，不可以語言造，不可以寂默通。」此是第一等入泥入水，老婆說話。往往參禪人，只恁麼念過，殊不子細看是甚道理。若是箇有筋骨底，聊聞舉著，直下將金剛王寶劍，一截截斷此四路葛藤，則生死路頭亦斷，凡聖路頭亦斷，計較思量亦斷，得失是非亦斷，當人脚跟下，淨裸裸赤灑灑沒可把，豈不快哉！豈不暢哉！不見昔日灌谿和尚初參臨濟，濟見來便下繩床，驀胸擒住，灌谿便云：「領領。」濟知其已徹，即便推出，更無言句與之商量。當恁麼時，灌谿如何思量計較祗對得？古來幸有如此牓樣，如今人總不將為事，只為麁心。灌谿當初若有一點待悟、待證、待休歇底心在前時，莫道被擒住便悟，便是縛却手脚，遶四天下拕一遭，也不能得悟，也不能得休歇。尋常計較安排底是識情，隨生死遷流底亦是識情，怕怖慞惶底亦是識情，而今參學之人，不知是病，只管在裏許頭出頭沒，教中所謂隨識而行不隨智，以故昧却本地風光本來面目。若或一時放得下，百不思量計較，忽然失脚蹋著鼻孔，即此識情便是真空妙智，更無別智可得；若別有所得，別有所證，則又却不是也。如人迷時喚東作西，及至悟時，即西便是東，無別有東。此真空妙智，與太虛空齊壽，只這太虛空中，還有一物礙得他否？雖不受一物礙，而不妨諸物於空中往來。此真空妙智亦然，生死凡聖垢染，著一點不得，雖著不得，而不礙生死凡聖於中往來。如此信得及、見得徹，方是箇出生入死得大自在底漢，始與趙州放下著、雲門須彌山有少分相應。若信不及、放不下，却請擔取一座須彌山到處行脚，遇明眼人分明舉似。一笑。

You dwell in wealth and honor yet are not troubled or trapped by wealth and honor; were it not for prajñā-seed-wisdom planted from long ago, how could you be like this? However, I fear that along the way you will forget this intention, obstructed by your sharp faculties and cleverness, putting an expectation of attainment out in front [of you] beforehand, and thus fail to cut cleanly through in one slash right where the ancients were most direct and shortcut, resting immediately. This ailment is not confined to worthy scholar-officials; patch-robed monks of long practice are also like this: most are unwilling to take a step back and apply effort where it saves labor, but only calculate and deliberate with their clever conceptual consciousness, chasing outward. As soon as they hear a good friend point out to them the native fodder beyond the deliberations and calculations of clever conceptual consciousness, most miss it right to their faces, supposing that the ancient worthies of the past had some real dharma to give people—such as Zhaozhou's 'put it down' and Yunmen's 'Mount Sumeru.' Yantou said: 'To reject things is superior; to pursue things is inferior.' He also said: 'In the great guiding principle of our lineage, one must understand the phrase.' What is the phrase? The time when not a single thought arises is called the correct phrase; it is also called 'dwelling at the peak,' 'obtaining the abiding,' 'clear and distinct,' 'bright and alert,' and 'such a time.' Using 'such a time' and so forth, smash through all rights and wrongs. The moment it is so, it is not so; the 'is' phrase is cleared away, and the 'is-not' phrase is also cleared away—resembling a ball of fire: if you touch it, it burns immediately; where is there room to approach it from the side? Contemporary scholar-officials mostly make a den out of deliberation and calculation; hearing speech like this, they immediately say: 'Might this not fall into emptiness?' This is like leaping into the water of one's own accord before the boat has capsized—deeply pitiable! Recently when I went to Jiangxi, I saw Lü Juren. Juren has set his mind on this great matter for a very long time, yet he also suffers deeply from this ailment. Is he not clever? Zonggao once asked him: 'You fear falling into emptiness; can the one who knows fear be empty, or not empty? Try and speak!' He hesitated and thought, wanting to calculate an answer; right then I gave him a shout, and to this day he remains bewildered, unable to find a handle. This is simply because a mind seeking awakening and realization was placed out in front, creating obstacles for itself, having nothing to do with anything else. If you try to apply effort like this, in the course of days and months you will naturally bump into it and knock against it. If you wish to use the mind to wait for awakening and use the mind to wait for resting, even if you investigate from where you stand until Maitreya descends to be born, you will still not be able to obtain awakening or obtain resting, but will only turn increasingly bewildered and stifled. Venerable Pingtian said: 'The divine light is not dimmed; an excellent exemplar for ten thousand ages. Having entered this gate, do not harbor intellectual understanding.' An ancient worthy also said: 'This matter cannot be sought with mind, cannot be obtained without mind, cannot be reached through language, and cannot be penetrated through quiet silence.' This is the first class of getting into the mud and water, grandmotherly talk. Often Chan practitioners merely chant it through like that, never examining closely what principle this is. If one is a fellow with sinews and bones, upon merely hearing it brought up, one immediately wields the vajra-king precious sword and cuts through these four paths of entanglements in a single stroke; then the path of birth and death is also cut off, the path of ordinary and holy is also cut off, calculation and deliberation are also cut off, and gain, loss, right, and wrong are also cut off. Under one's very feet, stark naked and completely bare, with nothing to grasp—how exhilarating! How delightful! Have you not seen how formerly, when Venerable Guanxi first visited Linji, Linji saw him coming, stepped down from his rope seat, and grabbed him by the chest; Guanxi immediately said: 'Understood, understood!' Knowing that he had already penetrated thoroughly, Linji pushed him away at once, without a single phrase of discussion with him. At such a time, how could Guanxi calculate, deliberate, and answer? In antiquity, fortunately, there were such models, but people today do not take them seriously at all, merely on account of their coarse minds. Had Guanxi initially harbored a bit of mind waiting for awakening, waiting for realization, and waiting for resting out in front of him, do not say he would awaken upon being seized—even if his hands and feet were bound and he was dragged once around the four continents, he would still not be able to awaken, nor would he be able to rest. What usually calculates and arranges is the conscious faculty; what drifts along with birth and death is also the conscious faculty; what is fearful and alarmed is also the conscious faculty. Yet practitioners today do not know this is an illness, but simply bob up and down within it; as said in the teachings, 'acting in accord with consciousness rather than wisdom'—hence they obscure their native landscape and original face. If you can let go for a moment, not deliberating or calculating in the slightest, suddenly stumbling and treading upon your own nostrils, then this very conscious faculty is itself the wondrous wisdom of true emptiness; there is no other wisdom to be found. If there were something else to attain, something else to realize, then it would be wrong again. It is like a person who, when lost, calls east west; when he awakens, west itself is east—there is no other east. This wondrous wisdom of true emptiness has the same lifespan as great empty space; within this great empty space, is there a single thing that can obstruct it? Although it does not admit the obstruction of a single thing, it does not hinder all things from coming and going within space. This wondrous wisdom of true emptiness is also like this: the defilements of birth, death, ordinary, and holy cannot attach even a speck to it; yet although they cannot attach, they do not hinder birth, death, ordinary, and holy from coming and going within it. When one can trust this fully and see this thoroughly, only then is one a fellow who enters birth and death with great sovereignty; only then does one have a small share of accord with Zhaozhou's 'put it down' and Yunmen's 'Mount Sumeru.' If you cannot trust fully and cannot let go, then please carry a Mount Sumeru and go traveling everywhere, clearly presenting it to anyone with clear eyes. A laugh.