[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) › 29.3 # 大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.3 大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [29.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.3) 不識左右別後，日用如何做工夫？若是曾於理性上得滋味、經教中得滋味、祖師言句上得滋味、眼見耳聞處得滋味、舉足動步處得滋味、心思意想處得滋味，都不濟事，若要直下休歇，應是從前得滋味處都莫管他，却去沒撈摸處沒滋味處試著意看。若著意不得、撈摸不得，轉覺得沒杷柄捉把，理路義路心意識都不行，如土木瓦石相似時，莫怕落空，此是當人放身命處，不可忽不可忽。聰明靈利人，多被聰明所障，以故道眼不開，觸途成滯。眾生無始時來，為心意識所使，流浪生死不得自在，果欲出生死作快活漢，須是一刀兩段，絕却心意識路頭，方有少分相應。故永嘉云：「損法財，滅功德，莫不由茲心意識。」豈欺人哉？頃蒙惠教，其中種種趣向，皆某平昔所訶底病，知是般事，颺在腦後，且向沒巴鼻處，沒撈摸處，沒滋味處，試做工夫看。如僧問趙州：「狗子還有佛性也無？」州云：「無。」尋常聰明人，纔聞舉起，便以心意識領會摶量引證，要說得有分付處。殊不知，不容引證，不容摶量，不容以心意識領會，縱引證得、摶量得、領會得，盡是髑髏前情識邊事，生死岸頭定不得力。而今普天之下，喚作禪師長老者，會得分曉底，不出左右書中寫來底消息耳。其餘種種邪解，不在言也。密首座，宗杲與渠同在平普融會中相聚，盡得普融要領，渠自以為安樂，然所造者，亦不出左右書中消息，今始知非，別得箇安樂處，方知某無秋毫相欺。今特令去相見，無事時試令渠吐露看，還契得左右意否？八十翁翁入場屋，真誠不是小兒戲，若生死到來不得力，縱說得分曉，和會得有下落，引證得無差別，盡是鬼家活計，都不干我一星事。禪門種種差別異解，唯識法者懼，大法不明者，往往多以病為藥，不可不知。 > I do not know how you have been doing your practice in daily life since we parted. If you have ever derived flavor from rational principle, derived flavor from the scriptures and teachings, derived flavor from the verbal expressions of the ancestral masters, derived flavor from what is seen by the eye and heard by the ear, derived flavor from lifting the feet and taking steps, or derived flavor from the thoughts and concepts of the mind, none of it is of any use. If you want to rest straightaway, pay no attention to any place where you previously derived flavor; instead, try to direct your attention to the place where there is nothing to grasp and no flavor, and look. If you cannot direct your attention, cannot grasp anything, and feel all the more that there is no handle to hold onto, where pathways of reason, pathways of meaning, and the mind, intellect, and consciousness all do not function, just like earth, wood, tile, and stone—do not fear falling into emptiness! This is the place where a person relinquishes body and life. Do not neglect this; do not neglect this. Clever and sharp people are mostly obstructed by their cleverness; for this reason, their eye of the Way does not open, and they become stuck at every turn. From beginningless time, sentient beings have been driven by mind, intellect, and consciousness, drifting in birth and death unable to attain freedom. If you truly wish to transcend birth and death and be a carefree person, you must cut it in two with a single blade and cut off the road of mind, intellect, and consciousness; only then will there be a fraction of correspondence. Therefore Yongjia said: 'Damaging the wealth of the Dharma and destroying merit—none of it is not due to this mind, intellect, and consciousness.' How could he deceive people? The instructive letter I recently received contained various inclinations that are all ailments I have always rebuked. Knowing these matters, fling them behind your head, and for now try to do the practice facing the place where there is no handle, nothing to grasp, and no flavor, and see. For instance, a monk asked Zhaozhou: 'Does even a dog have buddha-nature or not?' Zhaozhou said: 'No (Wu).' As soon as ordinary clever people hear it raised, they immediately grasp, deliberate, and cite proofs with mind, intellect, and consciousness, wanting to state it so that there is a point of entrustment. They little realize that it does not allow citing proofs, does not allow deliberation, and does not allow grasping with mind, intellect, and consciousness; even if you can cite proofs, deliberate, and grasp it, it is all an affair of emotional consciousness in front of a skull, definitely powerless at the brink of birth and death. Nowadays under heaven, those who are called Chan masters and venerable elders and understand clearly do not go beyond the news written in your letter. The remaining various false understandings need not be mentioned. Head Monk Mi and Zonggao were together in universal harmony and integration, where he completely obtained the essentials of universal harmony; he considered himself at peace and ease, yet what he attained also did not go beyond the news in your letter. Only now has he come to know his error and attained another place of peace and ease, only now knowing that I did not deceive him in the slightest. Now I have specially ordered him to go and meet you; when at leisure, try to make him speak out and see whether it tallies with your understanding or not. An eighty-year-old grandfather entering the examination hall is truly no child's play; if it is powerless when birth and death arrive, even if you can speak of it clearly, reconcile it so that it has an outcome, and cite proofs without discrepancy, it is all the livelihood of ghosts, having nothing whatsoever to do with me. Regarding the various disparate, divergent understandings in the Chan gate, only those who know the Dharma are afraid; those to whom the Great Dharma is not clear often take the disease as the medicine. This must not be unknown. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 29.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.2) - [Next: 29.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.4) - [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.29.3) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1998a.29.3) · Pramāṇa