[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [大慧普覺禪師語錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a) › 29.25 # 大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.25 大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.25 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [29.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.25) 左右頻寄聲妙喜，想只是要調伏水牯牛，揑殺這猢猻子耳。此事不在久歷叢林飽參知識，只貴於一言一句下，直截承當不打之遶爾。據實而論，間不容髮，不得已說箇直截，已是紆曲了也；說箇承當，已是蹉過了也。況復牽枝引蔓，舉經舉教，說理說事，欲究竟耶？古德云：「但有纖毫即是塵。」水牯牛未調伏，猢猻子未死，縱說得恒沙道理，並不干我一星兒事。然說得說不得，亦非外邊事。不見江西老宿有言：「說得亦是汝心，說不得亦是汝心。」決欲直截擔荷，見佛見祖如生冤家，方有少分相應。如此做工夫，日久月深不著起心求悟，水牯牛自調伏，猢猻子自死矣。記取記取！但向平昔心意識湊泊不得處、取不得處、捨不得處，看箇話頭。僧問雲門：「如何是佛？」門云：「乾屎橛。」看時不用將平昔聰明靈利思量卜度，擬心思量，十萬八千未是遠，莫是不思量，不計較，不擬心便是麼？咄！更是箇甚麼？且置是事。 > You frequently send greetings to Miaoxi; I imagine it is simply that you want to tame the water ox and squeeze this monkey to death. This matter does not lie in spending a long time in monasteries or extensively consulting knowledgeable teachers; it is valued only in directly taking it up under a single word or single phrase without winding around. Speaking according to reality, there is not room for a hair; saying "directly" out of necessity is already winding, and saying "taking it up" is already missing it. How much more so dragging in branches and vines, citing sūtras and teachings, and speaking of principle and phenomena—do you wish to reach the end? An ancient worthy said: "If there is a fine hair, it is dust." If the water ox is not tamed and the monkey is not dead, even if you could expound principles as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, it would not concern me in the slightest. Yet whether one can speak of it or cannot speak of it is also not an external matter. Have you not seen that the venerable elder of Jiangxi had a saying: "Being able to speak of it is also your mind; not being able to speak of it is also your mind." If you resolutely wish to shoulder it directly, you must see the buddhas and patriarchs like mortal enemies; only then will there be a slight degree of accord. Doing the work like this, as days and months deepen, without having to stir your mind to seek enlightenment, the water ox will naturally be tamed and the monkey will naturally die. Remember this! Remember this! Just direct yourself toward the place where your everyday mind, consciousness, and intellection cannot assemble, cannot grasp, and cannot discard, and look into a huatou. A monk asked Yunmen: "What is the Buddha?" Yunmen said: "A dried shit-stick." When looking into it, there is no need to use your everyday cleverness and quick-wittedness to deliberate and calculate. If you stir your mind to deliberate, a hundred and eight thousand \[miles\] is not yet far. Is not-deliberating, not-calculating, and not-stirring the mind it, then? Bah! What else could it be? Let us set this matter aside for now. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 29.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.24) - [Next: 29.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.26) - [Up: 29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a~en-mt.29.25) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.25) · Pramāṇa