大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.9

29.9

士大夫學此道，不患不聰明，患太聰明耳。不患無知見，患知見太多耳，故常行識前一步，昧却脚跟下快活自在底消息。邪見之上者，和會見聞覺知為自己，以現量境界為心地法門；下者弄業識，認門頭戶口，簸兩片皮，談玄說妙，甚者至於發狂不勒字數，胡言漢語，指東畫西；下下者以默照無言空空寂寂，在鬼窟裏著到，求究竟安樂。其餘種種邪解，不在言而可知也。冲密等歸，領所賜教，讀之喜慰不可言，更不復敘世諦相酬酢，只以左右向道勇猛之志，便入葛藤，禪無德山臨濟之殊、法眼曹洞之異，但學者無廣大決定志，而師家亦無廣大融通法門，故所入差別，究竟歸宿處並無如許差別也。示諭：「欲妙喜因書指示徑要處」，只這求指示徑要底一念，早是刺頭入膠盆了也，不可更向雪上加霜。雖然，有問不可無答，請左右都將平昔或自看經教話頭，或因人舉覺指示得滋味歡喜處，一時放下，依前百不知百不會，如三歲孩兒相似，有性識而未行，却向未起求徑要底一念子前頭看，看來看去，覺得轉沒巴鼻，方寸轉不寧怗時，不得放緩，這裏是坐斷千聖頂𩕳處，往往學道人，多向這裏打退了。左右若信得及，只向未起求徑要指示一念前看，看來看去，忽然睡夢覺，不是差事，此是妙喜平昔做底得力工夫。知公有決定志，故拕泥帶水，納這一場敗闕，此外別無可指示。若有可指示，則不徑要矣。

When scholar-officials study this Path, their affliction is not a lack of cleverness; their affliction is merely being too clever. Their affliction is not a lack of intellectual views; their affliction is merely having far too many intellectual views. Hence they constantly walk one step ahead of discriminatory consciousness, obscuring the news of cheerful ease and liberation beneath their feet. The higher among those with wrong views conflate seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing into the self, taking the sphere of direct perception as the mind-ground Dharma-gate. The lower ones toy with karmic consciousness, clinging to the entryway and household register, flapping their two lips, talking of the mysterious and speaking of the wondrous—some even go so far as raving madly without constraint of words, talking nonsense, pointing east and drawing west. The lowest of the low take silent illumination, wordlessness, vacuity, and quiescence, dwelling in the ghost cave, seeking ultimate peace and joy. Other various wrong interpretations can be known without speaking of them. When Chongmi and the others returned, I received the instruction you bestowed, and reading it brought unspeakable joy and solace. I shall no longer engage in conventional worldly social pleasantries; relying solely on your valiant resolve toward the Path, I will enter right into the entanglements. Chan has no distinction of Deshan or Linji, nor difference of Fayan or Caodong. It is only that students lack vast and resolute determination, while masters also lack vast and universally penetrating Dharma-gates; hence what they enter differs, while their ultimate resting place has no such differences at all. You instructed: 'I wish Miaoxi would indicate the shortcut essentials by letter.' Just this single thought of seeking an indication of the shortcut essentials has already plunged your head into a tub of glue; one must not add frost on top of snow. Even so, where there is a question there cannot be no answer. I ask you to put down all at once the scripture teachings and huatous you have customarily read yourself, or the places where you gained taste and delight from others' raising and indicating them. As before, knowing nothing and understanding nothing, just like a three-year-old child who has sensory consciousness but does not yet exercise it, look instead toward the front of that single thought seeking the shortcut essentials before it has arisen. Looking and looking, when you feel you have increasingly lost any hold, and your mind becomes increasingly unsettled, you must not slacken. This is the place where the crowns of the heads of a thousand sages are cut off; students of the Path often retreat at this point. If you can have faith in this, just look before the single thought of seeking an indication of the shortcut essentials has arisen. Looking and looking, you will suddenly awaken from the dream—this is no false matter; this is the effective effort Miaoxi has customarily practiced. Knowing that you possess a resolute determination, I drag myself through the mud and water, undertaking this total defeat. Other than this, there is nothing else to point out. If there were anything to point out, it would not be the shortcut essentials.