大慧普覺禪師語錄 27.13

27.13

老居士所作所為，冥與道合，但未能得㘞地一下耳。若日用應緣不失故步，雖未得㘞地一下，臘月三十日，閻家老子亦須拱手歸降，況一念相應耶。妙喜老漢，雖未目擊觀其行事，小大折中無過不及，只此便是道所合處。到這裏不用作塵勞想，亦不用作佛法想，佛法塵勞都是外事，然亦不得作外事想。但回光返照，作如是想者，從甚麼處得來？所作所為時，有何形段？所作既辦，隨我心意無不周旋，無有少剩。正恁麼時，承誰恩力，如此做工夫？日久月深，如人學射自然中的矣。眾生顛倒，迷己逐物，耽少欲味，甘心受無量苦，逐日未開眼時，未下床時，半惺半覺時，心識已紛飛，隨妄想流蕩矣。作善作惡，雖未發露，未下床時，天堂地獄在方寸中，已一時成就矣。及待發時，已落在第八。佛不云乎：「一切諸根自心現，器身等藏自妄想相施設顯示，如河流如種子，如燈如風如雲，剎那展轉壞，躁動如猿猴，樂不淨處如飛蠅，無厭足如風火，無始虛偽習氣因，如汲水輪等事。」於此識得破，便喚作無人無我知，天堂地獄不在別處，只在當人半惺半覺，未下床時方寸中，並不從外來。發未發覺未覺時，切須照顧。照顧時，亦不得與之用力爭，爭著則費力矣。祖不云乎；「止動歸止，止更彌動。」纔覺日用塵勞中漸漸省力時，便是當人得力之處，便是當人成佛作祖之處，便是當人變地獄作天堂之處，便是當人穩坐之處，便是當人出生死之處，便是當人致君於堯舜之上之處，便是當人起疲氓於凋瘵之際之處，便是當人覆蔭子孫之處。到這裏，說佛說祖，說心說性，說玄說妙，說理說事，說好說惡，亦是外邊事。如是等事，尚屬外矣，況更作塵勞中先聖所訶之事耶？作好事尚不肯，豈肯作不好事耶？若信得此說，及永嘉所謂「行亦禪，坐亦禪，語默動靜體安然」不是虛語，請依此行履，始終不變易，則雖未徹證自己本地風光，雖未明見自己本來面目，生處已熟，熟處已生矣。切切記取，纔覺省力處，便是得力處也。妙喜老漢，每與箇中人說此話，往往見說得頻了多忽之，不肯將為事。居士試如此做工夫看，只十餘日便自見得，省力不省力，得力不得力矣。如人飲水冷煖自知，說與人不得，呈似人不得。先德云：「語證則不可示人，說理則非證不了，自證自得自信自悟處，除曾證曾得已信已悟者，方默默相契，未證未得未信未悟者，不唯自不信，亦不信他人有如此境界。」老居士天資近道，現定所作所為，不著更易，以他人較之，萬分中已省得九千九百九十九分，只欠噴地一發便了。士大夫學道，多不著實理會，除却口議心思，便茫然無所措手足。不信無措手足處正是好處，只管心裏要思量得到，口裏要說得分曉，殊不知，錯了也。佛言：「如來以一切譬喻，說種種事，無有譬喻能說此法。何以故？心智路絕不思議故。」信知思量分別障道必矣。若得前後際斷，心智路自絕矣。若得心智路絕，說種種事，皆此法也。此法既明，即此明處便是不思議大解脫境界，只此境界亦不可思議。境界既不可思議，一切譬喻亦不可思議，種種事亦不可思議，只這不可思議底亦不可思議。此語亦無著處，只這無著處底亦不可思議。如是展轉窮詰，若事若法，若譬喻若境界，如環之無端，無起處無盡處，皆不可思議之法也。所以云：「菩薩住是不思議，於中思議不可盡，入此不可思議處，思與非思皆寂滅。」然亦不得住在寂滅處，若住在寂滅處，則被法界量之所管攝。教中謂之法塵煩惱。滅却法界量，種種殊勝一時蕩盡了，方始好看庭前柏樹子，麻三斤，乾屎橛，狗子無佛性，一口吸盡西江水，東山水上行之類。忽然一句下透得，方始謂之法界無量回向，如實而見，如實而行，如實而用，便能於一毛端現寶王剎，坐微塵裏轉大法輪，成就種種法，破壞種種法，一切由我，如壯士展臂，不借他力，師子遊行，不求伴侶。種種勝妙境界現前，心不驚異，種種惡業境界現前，心不怕怖，日用四威儀中，隨緣放曠，任性逍遙。到得這箇田地，方可說無天堂無地獄等事。永嘉云：「亦無人，亦無佛，大千沙界海中漚，一切聖賢如電拂。」此老若不到這箇田地，如何說得出來？此語錯會者甚多，苟未徹根源，不免依語生解，便道一切皆無，撥無因果，將諸佛諸祖所說言教，盡以為虛，謂之誑惑人。此病不除，乃「莽莽蕩蕩招殃禍」者也。佛言：「虛妄浮心多諸巧見，若不著有便著無，若不著此二，種種於有無之間搏量卜度，縱識得此病，定在非有非無處著到。」故先聖苦口叮嚀，令離四句絕百非，直下一刀兩段，更不念後思前，坐斷千聖頂𩕳。四句者，乃有、無、非有非無、亦有亦無是也。若透得此四句了，見說一切諸法實有，我亦隨順與之說有，且不被此實有所礙；見說一切諸法實無，我亦隨順與之說無，且非世間虛豁之無；見說一切諸法亦有亦無，我亦隨順與之說亦有亦無，且非戲論；見說一切諸法非有非無，我亦隨順與之說非有非無，且非相違。淨名云：「外道六師所墮，汝亦隨墮」是也。士大夫學道，多不肯虛却心聽善知識指示，善知識纔開口，渠已在言前一時領會了也。及至教渠吐露盡，一時錯會，正好在言前領略底，又却滯在言語上。又有一種，一向作聰明說道理，世間種種事藝，我無不會者，只有禪一般我未會，在當官處，呼幾枚杜撰長老來，與一頓飯喫却了，教渠恣意亂說，便將心意識記取這杜撰說底，却去勘人，一句來一句去，謂之廝禪，末後我多一句，爾無語時，便是我得便宜了也。及至撞著箇真實明眼漢，又却不識，縱然識得，又無決定信，不肯四楞塌地放下，就師家理會，依舊要求印可。及至師家於逆順境中示以本分鉗鎚，又却怕懼不敢親近，此等名為可憐愍者。老居士妙年登高第起家，所在之處隨時作利益事，文章事業皆過人而未甞自矜，一心一意，只要退步著實理會此段大事因緣。見其至誠，不覺忉怛如許，非獨要居士識得這般病痛，亦作勸發初心菩薩，入道之資糧也。

What you do and how you act, venerable lay practitioner, silently accord with the Way; you have merely not yet attained that single 'ah!' of realization. If in your daily activities responding to conditions you do not lose your original footing, then even without that single 'ah!', on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month even the Old Man of the Yama court must fold his hands and surrender, not to mention when a single thought accords [with reality]! Although this old fellow Miaoxi has not seen your conduct with his own eyes, you find the golden mean between small and great, without excess or deficiency; this alone is the place of accord with the Way. Reaching this point, you need not form notions of worldly defilement, nor need you form notions of the Buddha Dharma: the Buddha Dharma and worldly defilement are both external matters, yet you must not form notions of them as external matters either. Simply turn your own light back to illuminate within: this one who forms such thoughts—where does it come from? At the time you do what you do and act as you act, what shape or form does it have? When what was to be done is accomplished, it accords with your mind in every respect, leaving nothing left over. Right at such a time, through whose grace and power is it that you practice like this? As the days and months deepen, like someone learning archery, you will naturally hit the bullseye. Sentient beings are inverted; confusing themselves, they pursue external objects, indulge in a petty taste of desire, and willingly suffer limitless pain. Day after day, before opening their eyes, before getting out of bed, when half awake and half conscious, their mental consciousness is already fluttering in disorder, drifting away following deluded thoughts. Whether doing good or doing evil, even before it is manifest, while still in bed, heaven and hell are already formed at once within the square inch of the heart. By the time it manifests, they have already fallen into the eighth [consciousness]. Does not the Buddha say: 'All sense faculties manifest from one's own mind; the storehouses of vessels, bodies, and so forth are posited and revealed from one's own deluded signs, like a river's flow, like seeds, like a lamp, like wind, like clouds, destroyed successively from moment to moment, restless like a monkey, delighting in impurity like a fly, insatiable like wind and fire, the cause of beginningless false habit-energy, like the revolving bucket of a well-wheel, and the like.' If you can see through this, it is called the absence of person and absence of self; you will know that heaven and hell are nowhere else, but solely within the square inch [of the heart] when half awake and half conscious before getting out of bed—they do not come from the outside at all. When it has arisen or not arisen, when you are aware or not aware, you must take care of it with utmost diligence. When taking care of it, you also must not struggle against it with effort; if you struggle against it, you waste effort. Does not the Patriarch say: 'Trying to stop motion to return to rest, the stopping makes it all the more restless.' As soon as you feel that within daily worldly affairs you are gradually saving effort, right that is where you gain strength, right that is where you become a buddha and patriarch, right that is where you turn hell into heaven, right that is where you sit securely, right that is where you step out of birth and death, right that is where you place the ruler above Yao and Shun, right that is where you raise the exhausted people from sickness and distress, right that is where you give shelter to your children and grandchildren. Reaching this point, speaking of buddhas, speaking of patriarchs, speaking of mind, speaking of nature, speaking of the abstruse, speaking of the wondrous, speaking of principle, speaking of phenomena, speaking of good, speaking of bad—all are external matters. If such matters as these are still external, how much more so doing things in the midst of worldly defilement that were reproached by the former sages? If one is unwilling even to do good deeds, how could one be willing to do bad deeds? If you can have faith in this discourse, and what Yongjia called 'Walking is also Chan, sitting is also Chan; speaking or silent, moving or still, the essence is at peace' is not empty words, please practice according to this, unchanging from beginning to end; then although you have not yet thoroughly verified your own original scenery, although you have not yet clearly seen your own original face, what was unfamiliar will have become familiar, and what was familiar will have become unfamiliar. Keep it earnestly in mind: the very point where you feel you are saving effort is where you gain strength. Whenever this old fellow Miaoxi speaks of this with people within the lineage, seeing it spoken of frequently, they often disregard it and are unwilling to treat it as a matter of concern. Let the lay practitioner try to practice like this: in only ten days or so you will see for yourself whether you are saving effort or not saving effort, whether you are gaining strength or not gaining strength. Like a person drinking water, naturally knowing whether it is cold or warm, it cannot be explained to others, nor presented to others. An ancient worthy said: 'Speaking of realization, it cannot be shown to others; speaking of principle, without realization it cannot be understood. The place of self-realization, self-attainment, self-belief, and self-awakening—except for those who have realized, attained, believed, and awakened—can only be silently matched; those who have not realized, not attained, not believed, and not awakened not only do not believe it themselves, but also do not believe that others have such a realm.' Venerable lay practitioner, your natural endowment is close to the Way; what you presently do and how you act needs no further alteration. Compared to others, out of ten thousand parts you have already spared nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine parts; all that is lacking is a single explosive breakthrough to be finished. When literati study the Way, most do not truly apprehend it; once they set aside oral debate and mental deliberation, they are bewildered and have nowhere to put their hands and feet. They do not believe that the place where there is nowhere to put hands and feet is precisely the good place; they only want their minds to conceive it and their mouths to explain it clearly, entirely unaware that this is a mistake. The Buddha said: 'The Tathāgata uses all metaphors to speak of various matters, but there is no metaphor that can speak of this Dharma. Why is that? Because the path of mental cognition is cut off and it is inconceivable.' Know with certainty that deliberation and discrimination inevitably obstruct the Way. If you can sever the front and back extremes, the path of mental cognition will naturally be cut off. If you can cut off the path of mental cognition, all the various matters spoken of will be this Dharma. Once this Dharma is clear, this very clarity is the inconceivable realm of great liberation, and this realm itself is also inconceivable. Since the realm is inconceivable, all metaphors are also inconceivable, various matters are also inconceivable, and this very inconceivability is also inconceivable. This discourse also has no place to settle, and this very absence of a place to settle is also inconceivable. In this way, investigating through and through, whether matters or Dharmas, whether metaphors or realms, like a ring without an end, without a place of arising and without a place of cessation, all are inconceivable Dharmas. Therefore it is said: 'Bodhisattvas abide in this inconceivable [realm], wherein conceiving is inexhaustible; entering this inconceivable place, both thought and non-thought are tranquil and extinguished.' Yet one also must not abide in the place of tranquil extinction; if one abides in the place of tranquil extinction, one is governed by the measure of the dharmadhātu. In the teachings, this is called the affliction of dharma-dust. Extinguish the measure of the dharmadhātu, completely sweep away all superior states at once, and only then will you be fit to look at 'the cypress tree in the courtyard', 'three pounds of hemp', 'a dry shit-stick', 'a dog has no buddha-nature', 'swallowing all the water of the West River in one gulp', 'the Eastern Mountain walks on the water', and the like. If you suddenly penetrate under a single phrase, only then can it be called the measureless dedication of the dharmadhātu: seeing as it truly is, practicing as it truly is, applying as it truly is. Then you can manifest the precious king's lands on the tip of a single hair, and sit within a fine dust-mote to turn the great wheel of Dharma, accomplishing various dharmas and destroying various dharmas, all depending on oneself, like a strong man stretching out his arm without relying on another's strength, or a lion roaming without seeking companions. When various wonderfully superior realms appear before you, your mind is not astonished; when various realms of bad karma appear before you, your mind is not terrified; in the four postures of daily life, you are broad and free following conditions, easy and unfettered following your nature. Once you reach this ground, only then can you say there is no heaven and no hell, and the like. Yongjia said: 'There is no person, and there is no buddha; the great chiliocosm of worlds are bubbles in the ocean, all sages and worthies are like flashes of lightning.' If this old fellow had not reached this ground, how could he have spoken this? There are many who misunderstand these words: if they have not penetrated to the root source, they inevitably generate understanding based on words, saying that everything is non-existent, negating cause and effect, taking the verbal teachings spoken by all buddhas and patriarchs entirely to be false, and calling them deceptions. If this disease is not eliminated, it is precisely 'rashly and recklessly bringing on disaster and calamity'. The Buddha said: 'The false and floating mind has many clever views; if it does not cling to existence, it clings to non-existence; if it clings to neither of these two, it speculates and conjectures between existence and non-existence in various ways; even if it recognizes this disease, it is bound to settle on neither-existence-nor-non-existence.' Therefore, the former sages took great pains to earnestly instruct, causing one to depart from the four propositions and cut off the hundred negations, cutting directly through in two with a single blade, no longer thinking of before or pondering after, cutting off the top of the heads of the thousand sages. The four propositions are: existence, non-existence, neither existence nor non-existence, and both existence and non-existence. If you penetrate these four propositions, then when you hear that all phenomena truly exist, you also accord with it and speak of existence to them, yet without being obstructed by this true existence; when you hear that all phenomena are truly non-existent, you also accord with it and speak of non-existence to them, yet it is not the worldly voidness of non-existence; when you hear that all phenomena both exist and do not exist, you also accord with it and speak of both existence and non-existence to them, yet it is not frivolous discourse; when you hear that all phenomena neither exist nor do not exist, you also accord with it and speak of neither existence nor non-existence to them, yet it is not contradictory. As Vimalakīrti said: 'Falling into that into which the six non-Buddhist masters fall, you also fall along with them'—this is it. When literati study the Way, most are unwilling to empty their minds and listen to the instructions of a good spiritual friend; as soon as the good spiritual friend opens his mouth, they have already comprehended it before the words. But when they are made to pour it all out, they have completely misunderstood; what they should have grasped before the words, they get stuck on the words instead. There is another kind who consistently act clever and speak of principles, saying: 'Among all worldly skills and arts, there is none I cannot do; only Chan is the one thing I do not understand.' In their official quarters, they summon a few fabricated elders, give them a meal to eat, let them talk wildly at will, and then use their mental consciousness to remember what these fabricators said, and go around interrogating people—one phrase back, one phrase forth, calling it 'wrestling Chan': 'In the end, if I have one more phrase and you have no words, then I have gained the advantage.' When they happen to run into a truly clear-eyed fellow, they do not recognize him; even if they recognize him, they lack decisive faith and are unwilling to let go completely, flat on all four sides, to consult the master, still seeking his seal of approval. When the master presents the hammer and tongs of the fundamental duty amidst adversity and prosperity, they become terrified and dare not draw close; such people are called pitiable. Venerable lay practitioner, in your youthful years you passed the examinations with high honors and began your career; wherever you were, you carried out beneficial deeds according to the occasion. Your writings and accomplishments surpass others, yet you have never boasted. With one mind and one intent, you only wish to take a step back and truly understand this great matter of the causal condition. Seeing your utmost sincerity, I have unconsciously been so earnest and painstaking; this is not only so that you, lay practitioner, will recognize this sort of affliction, but also to serve as provisions for initial bodhisattvas entering the Way.