大慧普覺禪師語錄 14

English (machine translation) 14

Language: English

14.2 — 4 parts
14.3 — 5 parts

14.1

Presented by Yunwen, Dharma-successor Abbot of Nengren Chan Monastery on Mount Jing, Chan Master Huiri, subject [of the Emperor]

Huang Deyong requested a general discourse. The master said: "The retired scholar Huang Duanfu of Shaowu had faith toward the Buddha Vehicle and knew of this matter. He donated his family property to establish a hermitage, named it after Yuanwu, and repeatedly sent letters begging to share a branch of Yangqi's Buddhadharma. Because he was making great benefits for sentient beings, Yunmen did not dare to grant it lightly. He also entrusted the Academician Wu Yuanzhao to plead earnestly time and again, yet still I did not dare grant it casually. Unfortunately, Duanfu suddenly passed away. I heard that when he was about to die, he called his two sons and repeatedly instructed them, saying: 'If you can invite a genuine hermitage-dweller from Yunmen for me, then I shall die without regret.' Having spoken, he departed forever. His two sons did not forget their father's dying wish; they asked Academician Yuanzhao to draft a statement and sent a special envoy to invite the Chan practitioner Miguang to serve as the master of the hermitage. Seeing their utter sincerity, I then had him comply with the request. Now Deyong and his brother have come specially to this hermitage, generously donating funds to provide offerings, and requesting this mountain monk to give a general discourse and uphold the ancestral tenets in order to repay the grace of the protective blessing of all the sages. And yet, what is called the ancestral tenets? How are the ancestral tenets upheld? The Buddhadharma of recent times is deplorable: heterodox teachers preach the Dharma like the sands of the Ganges, each setting up their own sectarian style, each speaking of the marvelous and extraordinary, successively fabricating views to delude and mislead later generations beyond count. Those who investigate Chan do not possess the eye for choosing the Dharma, and those who act as teachers have unclear eyes of the Way, resulting in such a state. At first, Yunmen did not know Yuanzhao. Later, in Jiangxi, I saw the postscript he provided for the 'Brahmacārya Chapter' of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, in which he claimed that he had an awakening through the 'Brahmacārya Chapter' and did not doubt the tongues of the old masters in the world. At that time I already grasped his main drift, and immediately said to the brethren: 'This person has only awakened to having no brahmacārya, nothing more. He has already had his face smashed by a heterodox teacher's seal. If Yunmen meets him, I must make every effort to save him.' When we met in Changle, he promptly came to consult and enter my room. Thereupon, I shattered his point of awakening with just two sentences, saying: 'What you have awakened to is what Yongjia called "rashly declaring emptiness while casting aside cause and effect, recklessly inviting calamities and misfortune." ' Furthermore, I cited for him the passage in the 'Brahmacārya Chapter' that he had mistakenly used as evidence, saying: '“With respect to the body, nothing is grasped; with respect to cultivation, there is no clinging; with respect to phenomena, there is no abiding. The past has already ceased, the future has not yet arrived, and the present is empty and tranquil. There is no agent of karma and no receiver of retribution; this world does not shift, and that world does not alter. Among these, what phenomenon is called brahmacārya? From where does brahmacārya come? To whom does it belong? Whose essence is it? By whom is it performed? Is it existent or non-existent? Is it form or non-form? Is it sensation or non-sensation? Is it perception or non-perception? Is it conditioning or non-conditioning? Is it consciousness or non-consciousness? Observing in this way, the phenomenon of brahmacārya cannot be apprehended.” If based on this you cite evidence claiming that having no brahmacārya is true brahmacārya, that is slandering the great prajñā, and you will enter hell as swiftly as a shot arrow.' Furthermore, I told him: 'Nowadays, the various heterodox teachers in all quarters each say for themselves, "I have attained unsurpassed bodhi." Each speaks of unorthodox views, deceiving both the Hu and the Han, arbitrarily distorting and forcing interpretations onto the ancient masters' causes and conditions for entering the Way. Some take having no words and no speech, remaining silent for a long time, as the matter before the empty kalpa; they instruct people to cease and desist, desisting until they resemble earth, wood, tiles, and stones. Yet fearing that people will say they are sitting in the ghost caves beneath the black mountain, they then immediately cite the words of the Patriarchs as proof, saying: "Because it is clearly and constantly known, words cannot reach it. When one has desisted until one is like earth, wood, tiles, and stones, it is not a matter of dark obliviousness; it is thoroughly awake and distinctly vivid. Walking, standing, sitting, lying down, attend to it at all times. Merely cultivate like this, and after a long time you will naturally tally with the fundamental mind." Others take shedding emotional defilements and not establishing conventions as their approach; whenever an ancient master's gong'an is cited, they claim they have already understood it. Or when the master asks, "It is not mind, it is not buddha, it is not a thing—how do you understand it?" they immediately say, "The Venerable Monk might as well be awake." Or they say, "Where has the Venerable Monk come from?" Or they say, "One must not add a sharp point atop an arrow." Or they say, "How many people have you deceived?" Or they recite it once more, saying, "It is not mind, it is not buddha, it is not a thing." Whenever they are asked about the ancient masters' causes and conditions, they all take responsibility at the point of citation, understanding it at the striking of flint-sparks or the flash of lightning. Once it is cited, they have already understood it; whatever is asked, they do not entertain it at all, calling this carefree, uninhibited, and attaining great bliss. Others take the principle that the triple world is mind-only and the ten thousand phenomena are consciousness-only as their primary doctrine, citing a class of similar cases among ancient masters as proof. They take seeing with eyes and hearing with ears as the locus of strength; among all points of penetration, there are none that do not awaken through seeing things, and none that do not awaken through hearing sounds. Whenever they make any provisions, they imitate similar points among the ancient masters; when someone asks a question, they merely stick fast to the practitioner's question and answer, calling it "concurring with the unborn upon the words," just like people of Fuzhou splicing hemp, calling it seamless and not falling into emotional defilements. As when a monk asked an ancient worthy: "How does one escape the triple world?" He replied: "Bring the triple world here, and I will escape it for you." Or one said: "What do you call the triple world?" Or one said: "If you understand this monk's question, escaping the triple world is not difficult either." As when a monk asked Fayan: "What is a drop of water from the Caoxi source?" He answered: "It is a drop of water from the Caoxi source." Huichao asked the Venerable Monk: "What is the Buddha?" He replied: "You are Huichao." Citing things of this sort as evidence is either completely right or completely wrong. Furthermore, consider the discussion of Yaoshan giving instruction to the assembly at night, saying: "I have a phrase; when the bull gives birth to a calf, I will speak it to you." A monk came out of the assembly and said: "The bull has already given birth to a calf; it is just that the Venerable Monk does not speak it." Yaoshan said: "Bring a lamp." The monk then returned to the assembly. Later, Fadeng spoke out, saying: "Tell me, is the one born a bull calf or a heifer calf?" Speaking on their behalf, he said: "Twins were born." When deliberating, they also understand it as the unborn upon the words. When Yaoshan said, "I have a phrase; when the bull gives birth to a calf," that was already speaking it. Therefore, this monk grasped it and immediately came forward, saying: "The bull has already given birth to a calf; it is just that the Venerable Monk does not speak it." It is truly seamless, revealing no sharp edges. Fadeng questioned: "Tell me, is the one born a bull calf or a heifer calf?"

14.2.2

And he answered on his behalf, saying, 'Twins.' They also merely understand it as conforming to unconditioned non-arising through the words, saying, 'He himself asked about bullocks and heifers, and then answered for him, saying, "Twins." Nothing left over at all—even the Buddha's eye cannot catch sight of it.' They take such words as hitting the bullseye without exposing the blade's edge and without wasting energy. Furthermore, for instance, an ancient pointed to a stone and asked a student, 'Is this stone inside the mind or outside the mind?' The student replied, 'Inside the mind.' The ancient worthy said, 'What desperate rush are you in to put a stone inside your mind?' People in the assembly deliberate over this, saying, 'He should not have answered with inside or outside. If answered with inside or outside, then dharma would have something left over.' So they offer the remark, 'What a very fine stone!' Or they say, 'I deeply appreciate this question.' Or they say, 'What do you call a stone?' Or they say, 'Yes, yes.' Or they say, 'In front of the dharma hall.' Or they say, 'Thank you, Master, for the instruction.' Or they say, 'Does the reverend still know shame?' Or they say, 'You are making a fool of me!' Whenever answering such sayings, they merely wrap it up with a single phrase, calling it 'dense and seamless' and calling it 'not running astray.' Views like this are very numerous in the monasteries. Others say that all words have nothing at all to do with it; whenever they bring it up, they first glare wide-eyed, like a child suffering from infant convulsions who sees ghosts and spirits, grasping it only in the staring brows and glaring eyes, and they erroneously quote the words of ancients as evidence: 'If you bring it up without looking, you are mistaken; if you intend to deliberate, in what kalpa will you awaken?' When bringing it up, one must look with the eyes, merely bringing up the words of the ancients once to alert oneself, calling it 'not dwelling on words and phrases.' Such as the cypress tree, washing the bowl, the three pounds of hemp, and the like—if they can get past one of them, they brush aside the rest without wasting any more effort. This sort of thing, compared to flint-struck sparks or flashes of lightning, only adds glaring eyes and raised brows, yet each and every one claims to have grasped the Patriarch's nostril. It would be better not to slander those ancients! For example, when bringing up a monk asking Yunmen, 'What is the phrase that penetrates the dharmakāya?' Yunmen said, 'Hiding the body in the Northern Dipper. How do you understand it?' The student then glares wide-eyed and says, 'Hiding the body in the Northern Dipper!' If the teacher provisionally checks him, he shouts several times in succession, 'Hiding the body in the Northern Dipper! Hiding the body in the Northern Dipper!' thinking that he holds firm and is master of himself, not being swayed, and the teacher, unable to do anything, also calls him genuine. Only then does the teacher ask what his meaning is. Thereupon he offers the remark, 'Even the Buddha's eye cannot catch sight of it.' Or he says, 'Raise your head and look beyond the heavens.' Or when asked, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West? The cypress tree in the courtyard,' he immediately offers the remark, 'One branch to the south, one branch to the north.' Or he says, 'Able to be master of all phenomena, not withering with the four seasons.' All the above reside in the glaring eyes and raised brows when bringing it to mind, and then delivering a matching phrase, considering it extraordinary. Blind fools! It is not that when glaring eyes and raising brows there is Chan, and when not glaring eyes and raising brows there is no Chan; it is not that when bringing it to mind there is Chan, and when not bringing it to mind there is no Chan. Others, seeing Yunmen speak like this, then mistakenly understand, saying, 'When bringing it to mind, it is so; when not bringing it to mind, it is also so—there are not two different kinds.' Those like this are even beyond rescue. Still others do not pay attention to anything at all; as soon as one mentions the buddhadharma or mentions awakening, they go mad, and they erroneously quote the words of ancients, saying, 'Originally there is no person of delusion or awakening; one only needs to settle it today.' All the ancient encounters they call 'establishing the provisional' and also call 'establishing what is genuine,' lying only in not deliberating over the buddhadharma. Whenever there is a question and answer, they respond based on the facts one by one, ordinary and without affairs: heaven is heaven and earth is earth, exposed pillars are wood, vajra-guardians are sculpted from clay, when hungry eating food and when weary sleeping—what else is there? Have you not seen what Reverend Zhenjing said: 'Do not understand it as having no affairs; having no affairs binds people's minds.' Often those poisoned by 'no affairs' actually consider these words to be wrong. Others, seeing that the ancients' gong'ans cannot be deliberated upon through rational paths, then produce an irrelevant phrase and answer it offhand, calling it 'mysterious and wondrous,' calling it 'not involving paths of meaning,' and calling it 'leaping free right at the dynamic moment.' For example, when a monk asked Zhaozhou, 'The myriad dharmas return to the one; where does the one return?' Zhaozhou said, 'When I was in Qingzhou, I made a cloth robe weighing seven catties.' Regarding things of this kind, how many people mistakenly deliberate, saying, 'This monk posed an extraordinary question; if Zhaozhou did not have an avenue of escape, he would have been at a loss.' They say, 'The myriad dharmas return to the one; the one has nowhere else to return. If it had somewhere to return, there would be a real dharma.' Therefore Zhaozhou saw through it, and with wondrous function at the dynamic moment, he brushed it off in reply, saying, 'When I was in Qingzhou, I made a cloth robe weighing seven catties.' How extraordinary! Others deliberate, saying, 'The myriad dharmas return to the one; where does the one return? If the one had nowhere to return, it would fall into emptiness. Therefore Zhaozhou said: "When I was in Qingzhou, I made a cloth robe weighing seven catties." This turning-word of Zhaozhou is truly extraordinary, falling neither into existence nor nonexistence; he answered it wonderfully.' Others say, 'Yunmen speaks like this only because he fears people will attach to things; if one does not attach, that is the Patriarch's essential mind. One only needs to realize this matter, unattached, free and at ease; not departing from reality where one stands, where one stands is reality—what else is there?' Or if asked, 'Before your parents were born, what was your original face?' they immediately say, 'No attendant responds to the reverend,' taking karmic consciousness as their vital essence. Followers like this are all madmen running outside. There is yet another sort who know that their own dharma eye is not bright, that their Chan does not win people's trust, and that they have no means to instruct students. They themselves have never listened to the teachings, so they make petty peddling at the lecturers' places, snatching a phrase or half a sentence to bewitch the deaf and vulgar. Master Linji said, 'There is a kind of blind bald soldiers who take ideas from the scriptural vehicles and deliberate them, turning them into phrasal meanings, just like holding a lump of dung in their mouths and spitting it out to others—they are truly unbearable!'

14.2.3

When Yuanzhao first saw me speak like this, although he had doubts in his mind, his mouth remained stubborn, and he even sneered at this mountain monk. That evening he came into my room, and I merely asked him the huatou of "a dog has no buddha-nature"; thereupon he could make no headway at all, and only then did he realize that in investigating Chan one must have awakening. During his ten-day stay in Changle, he entered my room twenty times, exhausting all his clever tricks without being able to do anything about it; only then did he become flustered. This mountain monk spoke honestly to him: 'There is no need to display clever tricks. You must snap it in two with a snap and break it off with a crash before you can withstand birth and death. What end will there ever be to displaying clever tricks?' I further said to him: 'Do not be flustered; if you cannot investigate it in this life, investigate it in a future life.' Thereupon he came to believe and trust, and so took his leave. After more than ten days, a letter suddenly arrived from him together with ten verses on ancient cases, all of which concerned the encounters I had questioned him with in the room. In the letter he said: 'On the road to Yanping, I suddenly had an awakening; I truly dare not deceive myself any longer, and now I believe that this matter is not obtained from others.' One verse among them said: 'It is not mind, it is not a thing. / Not being a thing, the whole body is a string of golden chain-bones. / When Zhaozhou called upon old Nanquan, / he was able to say that Zhenzhou produces radishes.' This mountain monk was extremely doubtful about it. At that time Chan monk Guang asked: 'Judging from this verse, has he settled birth and death or not?' Yunmen said to him: 'Whether he has settled it or not, go ask Yuanzhao instead.' When Guang's letter was received, it said: 'When I met the Academician, everything was just as the Ven. Master said.' Assembly, tell me: what was said? Bah! Doubts kill the people of the world; let those with eyes discern it! Those who investigate Chan nowadays do not ask whether birth and death have been settled or not; they merely seek quick results and just want to understand Chan. There is not a single one who does not talk about principles. Seeing that this donor, the supervising secretary, loved to talk about principles, I gave him a case without principles to examine: a monk asked Yunmen, 'What is the Buddha?' Yunmen said, 'A dried piece of shit.' Fearing that he would understand it through principles, I told him beforehand: 'You must not say that the Dao is in excrement and urine, that the Dao is in weeds and tares, or that the Dao is in rubble and tiles; that one clarifies the mind through forms or reveals principle by attaching to things. You must not say that everywhere is true, or that every speck of dust is entirely the original person, and the like.' When he examined this phrase, he could not do anything with it; he exhausted all his energy trying to look into it, but in the end could not see through it. Suddenly one day he realized that this matter cannot be penetrated by means of principles, and so he said, 'I have had an awakening,' and consecutively composed several verses to present his understanding. One said: 'Great Void is vast and boundless, forcedly given a name; / Even Sengyou could not paint it. / What need is there to seek the source and inquire of the truth? / Not a single phenomenon can match the sentiments.' Another said: 'Having arrived home, how could one speak again of the journey? / When spring arrives for the ten thousand trees, they flourish naturally on their own. / If one meets a superior person who inquires, / the sun disk rises at the eastern edge of Fusang.' Another said: 'After passing halfway through the year, all seeking is cut off; / the wondrous secret was transmitted in vain at Shaolin. / At leisure I play a tune on a stringless lute; / the clear breeze and bright moon are my two bosom friends.' Another said: 'Letting go of one's hands over the hanging cliff is truly no lie; / roots and dust are suddenly exhausted with nothing left over. / Only now do I know that the Buddha-Dharma is not much; / running outside to seek it only makes one more estranged.' This mountain monk said to him: 'Writing verses is all well and good, and speaking of principles is also fine, but you are only getting further from the Dao.' Refusing to accept this, he composed another verse, saying: 'Above all, avoid talking of the mysterious and speaking of the wondrous; / how could one bear to follow sounds and pursue forms? / Sweep away even this single dried piece of shit; / everyone together has no understanding.' He also sent a letter saying: 'Examining this phrase, the path of language is cut off and the locus of mental activity is extinguished; there are no words to say and no principles to extend; not the slightest thought of cultivation and study arises; knowing nothing and understanding nothing, not engaging in thinking and not entering pathways of reasoning, it is truly peace and happiness.' This mountain monk said to him again: 'This is an extraordinary principle. If the phrase "dried piece of shit" could be settled by speaking like this, then "a saw cutting a steelyard weight," "three pounds of hemp," "a dog has no buddha-nature," "swallowing all the water of the West River in one gulp," "it is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not a thing," "phrases and no phrases are like wisteria leaning on a tree," and "this very mind is Buddha" could all be spoken of in this way. Since it cannot be so, you must be awakened before you attain it. If you are awakened, the matter is of one family; if you are not awakened, there are ten thousand differences and a thousand distinctions—to be off by a hair's breadth is to lose it by a thousand miles. You must be extremely meticulous.' Let people say that Yunmen treats donors discourteously; as long as my mind does not betray people, my face has no look of shame. Seeing that this mountain monk informed him with such utmost sincerity, he only then realized that the Buddha-Dharma shows no personal favoritism, and came to believe and trust. Once he believed, I only had him look into: 'What is the Buddha? A dried piece of shit'—also only wanting him to snap it in two with a snap and break it off with a crash. If, because he was an official who gave up his wealth to build a hermitage, purchased estate fields to support the assembly, and even made offerings to this mountain monk, I were therefore to consider him correct, then all the poor fellows across the great earth would have no share in investigating Chan. Not only would I lose a good spiritual friend's eye for discerning people, but I would also mislead him for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes; this is no small matter. This summer there have also been several patch-robed monks who refuse to apply their efforts where energy is saved, but merely hustle about in a feverish flurry, also coming to present understandings and compose verses on ancient cases. When Yunmen said to them: 'It is not this principle,' they would immediately say that I was holding fast and unwilling to let them pass. Let me ask you for now: 'Have you let yourself pass or not?' Zhaozhou said: 'In other places it is hard to see and easy to recognize; here it is easy to see and hard to recognize.' Yunmen usually asks students: 'If you call it a bamboo comb, you clash with it; if you do not call it a bamboo comb, you turn your back on it. You must not utter a word; you must not be without words.' In five pairs out of ten their eyes are gummed up with sleep; even if some display cleverness and present their understanding, they exhaust their efforts only to say the word 'understood,' or they come and snatch the bamboo comb from my hand, or they flick their sleeves and walk off. Aside from these, the deviant interpretations are beyond count, and not a single one has blood beneath the skin! An ancient worthy said: 'This matter is like an eighty-year-old grandfather entering the examination hall; it is no child's play. If it could be cobbled together, thousands upon tens of thousands would have cobbled it together already. Since it cannot be cobbled together, you must be awakened before you attain it; beyond this there is no other principle.' If you truly had awakening and the teacher deliberately said you were wrong, he would also incur no small karmic retribution. Today, on the occasion of the celebratory vegetarian feast, I have brought this up for the great assembly, because Huang Duanfu's knowledge of Yunmen's existence began with Yuanzhao; monk Guang's going there to dwell in the hermitage was also due to Yuanzhao; Duanfu's two sons providing the vegetarian feast today and asking this mountain monk for a general sermon is also due to Yuanzhao; and Yunmen's weaving this tangle of vines is also due to Yuanzhao.

14.2.4

"Since it is like this, tell me: in the final analysis, what about Yuanzhao's affair?" After a long pause, he said: "Wait until he personally comes to Yunmen this winter, and at that time I will explain it thoroughly to all of you." Striking the meditation bench, he stepped down from the seat.

14.3.1

Grand Lady of the State of Qin requested a general discourse. A monk asked, "The Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra says: 'It is like a pure maṇi jewel reflecting the five colours.' When the colours have not yet appeared, where is the jewel?" The Master said, "When did the Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra ever say such a thing?" [The monk] advanced and said, "I wonder how it should be understood?" The Master said, "The Perfect Enlightenment Sūtra never said such a thing; what more is there to understand?" [The monk] advanced and said, "How is it ultimately?" The Master said, "In a quiet place: svāhā." [The monk] asked, "Leaving aside Hu Zhang the Third and Hei Li the Fourth, how long are the nostrils of the Great Buddha of Jiazhou?" The Master said, "Some two hundred zhang long." [The monk] advanced and said, "How comes it to be so disorderly and loose?" The Master said, "You Sichuan monks ought to know naturally." [The monk] advanced and said, "Why was it swallowed whole by the iron ox of Shanzhou?" The Master said, "Who said such a thing?" [The monk] advanced and said, "Viewed from the very high, it is not enough; levelled from the very low, there is more than enough." The Master said, "Try speaking of it from where it is neither high nor low." [The monk] advanced and said, "Dangerous!" The Master said, "This is still something of the high and low." [The monk] advanced and said, "When one has spirited resolve, add more resolve to it." The Master said, "The grassroots bandit suffers a great defeat." Then he said: "Today is the birthday celebration of the Grand Lady of the State of Qin, Ji Fazhen. She has respectfully donated pure funds, coming from afar to this mountain to arrange and offer a pure incense vegetarian feast for the Chan assembly, and has further instructed this mountain monk to ascend to this seat to give a general discourse for the assembly, holding up and propagating prajñā, with the vow that her progress on the Path will be free of demons and her physical body at peace and ease. This is the intention of the Grand Lady of the State of Qin. As for this old woman's conduct throughout her life, there is no monk from Sichuan who does not know of it; only you northern monks do not yet know. Today, on the occasion of celebrating this vegetarian feast, I cite it for the assembly to hear. When this old woman was around thirty years of age, the late Grand Preceptor passed away. The Huiyou Academician and the Prime Minister were still young. She established herself outstandingly, with a stern countenance that commanded awe, so that neighbours to the east and west respected and feared her from afar. She taught her two sons to read with the utmost strictness and maintained the family discipline with great propriety. Ordinarily, when the Huiyou Academician and the Prime Minister served by her side, if she did not tell them to sit, they did not dare to sit; her stern resolve was like this. The Prime Minister often said: 'That I serve as an official today is entirely due to the education my elderly mother gave me in the past. Of the salary I receive, apart from our daily routine vegetables and rice, my elderly mother gives all of it away in alms to feed monks, so as to pray for our sovereign's longevity; she was always troubled by the thought of receiving an emolument without merit. When I heard our late master returned to Shu, he received no small amount of offerings from her, but she did not yet know how to practise Chan.' However, both the Huiyou Academician and the Prime Minister attained illumination with our late master. Formerly, when Chan [Monk] Qian was staying at their house, the Huiyou Academician and the Prime Minister said personally to Qian: 'Our elderly mother has cultivated practice for forty years, yet she is still short of this one move. You have long attended Master Jingshan and have heard and seen much. Please stay with her morning and evening to talk with her; as sons speaking to our mother, it is difficult for us brothers to open our mouths and say it.' Daily they gathered with Qian, focusing solely on rousing and encouraging this matter. One day she asked Qian: 'How does Master Jingshan ordinarily guide people?' Qian said: 'The Master only teaches people to investigate the huatou "A dog has no buddha-nature" and the huatou of the bamboo comb. Only, one must not formulate words, one must not deliberate, one must not try to understand it at the point where it is raised, and one must not take it up at the point where one opens one's mouth. "Does a dog also have buddha-nature or not?" "No." He only teaches people to investigate in this manner.' She thereupon had genuine faith and inquired into it intimately day and night. She had always loved reading sūtras and bowing to the Buddha, so Qian said: 'The Master ordinarily says: "If you want to settle this matter, you must lay aside reading sūtras, bowing to the Buddha, reciting dhāraṇīs, and the like. Put the mind to rest for a while to investigate and inquire into it; do not let your effort be interrupted." If you are single-mindedly attached to reading sūtras and bowing to the Buddha, seeking merit, that itself is an obstruction to the Path. Wait until one thought accords; then, just as before, read sūtras and bow to the Buddha—even a single stick of incense, a single flower, a single gaze, a single prostration, all such activities will not be in vain, all being the wondrous functioning of the Buddha, and also your basic cultivation of practice. Only listen and trust; it will definitely not mislead you.' When she heard Qian's words, she let go of everything all at once, solely dedicating herself to sitting in meditation and investigating the huatou 'A dog has no buddha-nature.' I hear that suddenly one night last winter she was startled awake from sleep; seizing the impulse, she got up to sit in meditation and brought up the huatou, and abruptly there was a place of joy. Recently, when Qian returned from Qin, she sent a personal letter along with several gāthās to present to this mountain monk. One of the gāthās says: 'Day by day reading the sūtra texts / is like meeting an old acquaintance. / Do not say there are frequent obstructions; / with every single raising, each time it is fresh.' This mountain monk frequently says to the brethren: 'Once you have comprehended Chan, whenever you read sūtra texts, it is just like taking a stroll in your own house, or like meeting with an old acquaintance.' Now this gāthā by Lady Qin tacitly accords with Sunzi and Wu Qi. Look at her: she is a woman, yet her work is just like that of a great man, able to accomplish the affairs of a great man. Chan [Monk] Qian came up yesterday and told this mountain monk: 'Please explain the sicknesses of Chan in detail, so as to establish a karmic connection of prajñā between Lady Qin and the great assembly.' This mountain monk said to him: 'What sickness does Chan have to talk about? Chan has never suffered from headaches, nor suffered from foot aches, nor suffered from deafness, nor suffered from blindness. It is only that among those who practise Chan, their investigation differs, their realization differs, their mental application differs, and the masters they rely on differ. Because of these differences, it is named a sickness, not that Chan itself has a sickness.' 'What is the Buddha? Mind itself is the Buddha.' What sickness is there? 'Does a dog also have buddha-nature or not? No.' What sickness is there? 'If you call it a bamboo comb you touch it; if you do not call it a bamboo comb you turn your back on it.' What sickness is there? 'What is the Buddha? Three pounds of hemp.' What sickness is there? 'What is the Buddha? A dried piece of excrement.' What sickness is there? When you have not penetrated, the moment you make principles of it, wanting to penetrate, you are a thousand or ten thousand miles away from having any connection with it. If you try to fit your mind to it, if you try to deliberate over it, if you grasp it at the point where it is raised, or understand it where sparks fly from flint or lightning flashes, this is truly a sickness, before which worldly physicians fold their hands. Yet ultimately it has nothing to do with Chan. Zhaozhou said: 'If you want to be a disciple of the King of Emptiness, do not let your mental sickness become the most difficult to heal.' I recall Śāriputra asking the maiden Candrottarā: 'Which vehicle do you practise now? Do you practise the Śrāvaka vehicle? Do you practise the Pratyekabuddha vehicle? Or do you practise the Mahāyāna?'"

14.3.2

Candrottarā replied, saying: 'Śāriputra! Since you have asked me what vehicle I practice, I will now ask you in turn. Śāriputra! Please answer me as you will. Regarding the dharma realized by Śāriputra: is it practicing the Śrāvaka Vehicle? Is it practicing the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle? Or is it practicing the Great Vehicle?' Śāriputra said: 'It is not so, Candrottarā! Why is that? Because that dharma cannot be differentiated, nor can it be spoken of; it is neither distinct nor one, nor is it manifold.' Candrottarā said: 'Śāriputra! Therefore, one should not differentiate phenomena as having a single characteristic, different characteristics, or no distinct characteristics; among all characteristics there is nothing to abide in.'"
The Master said, "Śāriputra asked like this, and Candrottarā answered like this. Tell me, how far is this from the dharma realized by the Grand Lady of the State of Qin? Is there anyone who can determine it? Step forward and try to determine it. If there is no one, then understand it within the entangling vines. Therefore it is said: 'Those who study and investigate must investigate the living phrase, not the dead phrase. If you understand through a living phrase, you will never forget it for eternal kalpas; if you understand through a dead phrase, you will not even be able to save yourself.'
"You all go up and down every day, drinking tea and decoctions in the dormitories, carrying salt and flour on the estates, serving food in the Sangha hall, picking vegetables along the long veranda, carrying manure in the back garden, pushing the millstone in the millhouse—at such a time, even the Buddha's eye cannot catch sight of you. Tell me: is this a dead phrase, a living phrase, or a neither-dead-nor-living phrase? Try to settle it and see. Even if you manage to settle it, you still cannot avoid being caught within the three phrases.
"Have you not seen? A monk asked Master Nanquan: ''Mind itself is Buddha' is not permissible, and 'neither mind nor Buddha' is not permissible; what is the Master's meaning?' Nanquan said: 'You just have faith that 'mind itself is Buddha' and that's it; why speak further of permissible and impermissible? Just like when the Venerable has finished eating and goes from the east veranda down to the west veranda, you can hardly go around asking people whether it is permissible or not permissible.'
"If you recognize Nanquan right here, only then will you not be driven by the three phrases, and you will be able to drive the three phrases. Having driven the three phrases, only then will you see with the same eyes as Nanquan, hear with the same ears, smell with the same nose, taste with the same tongue, feel with the same touch, and conceive with the same thoughts, without any difference whatsoever. It is only because you cling to the medicine as an illness: the old illness has not been eliminated, and a new illness arises again, so that you are driven upside down and tossed about by dead phrases and living phrases, and completely distort the direct cut made by the ancients.
"And what is the ancients' direct cut? I will bring up one or two more cases for you. Just as Nanquan said: 'If you lead the ox to pasture east of the stream, it cannot avoid eating the king's water and grass; if you lead the ox to pasture west of the stream, it cannot avoid eating the king's water and grass. It would be better to pay a small share as it comes, and nothing will be detected.' In this gong'an, how many people have misjudged the principle of 'paying a small share' and said: 'What is so hard about wearing clothes and eating food?' Making a living in front of donkeys and behind horses—better not slander Nanquan!
"Since you misunderstand this, you will definitely misunderstand that one too. Huangbo said: 'All of you are fellows who swill distillers' grains! Making pilgrimage like this, where could there be this day? Do you know that in the great Tang realm there are no Chan masters?' At the time, a monk came forward and said: 'What about those in all quarters who assemble disciples and lead the assembly?' Huangbo said: 'I did not say there is no Chan, only that there are no masters.'
"This huatou is a seed of disaster. Do not say that those who are unenlightened misunderstand it; even if one is enlightened from head to tail, if the Great Dharma is not clear, one still cannot catch sight of Huangbo. Just as Huangbo said: 'I did not say there is no Chan, only that there are no masters'—how do you understand it? People in the assembly deliberate, saying: 'In everyone's own lot, who is not a great man? How could one depend on a master's transmission? Swilling distillers' grains means gnawing on words, and words are the dregs of the ancients.' Fortunately, this has no connection at all! If you wish not to incur the karma of the Avīci Hell, do not slander the Tathāgata's true wheel of the Dharma.
"Have you not seen? Guishan brought up this story and asked Yangshan: 'What was Huangbo's meaning?' Yangshan said: 'The goose king selects the milk; it was never of the duck kind.' Guishan said: 'This is indeed hard to discern.' Just as Guishan and Yangshan questioned and answered like this, how do you deliberate it? When you come to this point, you must be the right person. Since people do not understand this, they take 'the cypress tree in the courtyard,' 'three pounds of flax,' 'a dried shit-stick,' and 'sawing apart a steelyard weight' and consider them all to be dregs.
"Since you misunderstand this, you will definitely misunderstand that one too. Dongshan asked Head Monk Chan: 'The Buddha's true dharmakāya is like empty space; responding to things, it manifests forms like the moon in water. How do you explain the principle of responding?' Chan said: 'Like a donkey peering into a well.' Dongshan said: 'That says a great deal indeed, but it only says eighty percent.' Chan said: 'What about the Master?' Dongshan said: 'Like a well peering at a donkey.' People in various quarters deliberate, saying: 'A donkey peering into a well has traces; a well peering at a donkey has no traces; this is also called extinguishing feelings and wiping away traces.' Fortunately, this has no connection at all; it is not this principle at all!
"Since you misunderstand this, you will definitely misunderstand Master Nanyue's saying: 'It is like an ox yoked to a cart. If the cart does not move, is it right to strike the cart, or is it right to strike the ox?' Mazu heard this and suddenly experienced great enlightenment. Nowadays, Chan practitioners understand it by saying: 'The ox is a metaphor for the mind, and the cart is a metaphor for the dharmas. Only clarify the mind, and the dharmas will be clear of themselves; only strike the ox, and the cart will move of itself.' Fortunately, this has no connection at all! If it were like that, Mazu would not have attained enlightenment even in the year of the donkey.
"This old fellow initially thought that buddhahood could be accomplished by sitting, and that Chan could be awakened to by sitting; he constantly sat on the ground waiting. Master Nanyue knew he was extraordinary, so he took a tile and ground it in front of his hermitage. Mazu said: 'What are you grinding the tile for, Master?' Nanyue said: 'Grinding it to make a mirror.' Mazu said: 'How can grinding a tile make a mirror?' Nanyue said: 'Since grinding a tile cannot make a mirror, how can sitting in meditation make a buddha?' Mazu was stirred by him, felt feverish anxiety in his mind, and asked: 'What is the right way?' Right here, the nose-rope was already in Master Nanyue's hands. Therefore it is said: 'If you wish to know the meaning of buddha-nature, you must observe the causes and conditions of the season.'"

14.3.3

Reverend Nanyue knew that his time had arrived, and immediately said to him: 'Do you study sitting in Chan, or do you study sitting as a buddha? If you study sitting in Chan, Chan is neither sitting nor lying down. If you study sitting as a buddha, the Buddha has no fixed mark. Regarding the dharma of non-abiding, one should neither grasp nor reject. If you sit as a buddha, that is killing the Buddha; if you cling to the mark of sitting, you have not reached its principle.' Having completely confiscated his household livelihood, he further demanded that he pay taxes, leaving him with nowhere to turn, so that he was only then willing to sacrifice his life to find a place of death. His life having been abandoned, he was then able to ask: 'How should one apply the mind so as to accord with the formless samādhi?' Nanyue said: 'Your learning the Dharma-gate of the mind-ground is like sowing seeds; my expounding the essentials of the Dharma is like moisture from heaven. Because your conditions harmonize, you shall see the Way.' He further asked: 'The Way is not form or mark; how can it be seen?' Nanyue said: 'The Dharma-eye of the mind-ground can see the Way; the formless samādhi is also like this.' The Patriarch said: 'Is there creation and destruction?' Nanyue said: 'If one sees the Way through creation and destruction, aggregation and dispersion, that is incorrect.' Mazu thereupon became utterly clear and free of doubt. As it is said: if you do not enter the tiger's den, you will not get the tiger's cub. If after awakening one does not meet the right person, five pairs out of ten will be fabrications, definitely unable to help others. Do you all want to know one who met the right person after awakening? This Mazu right here is the model! After Mazu attained the Dharma, he went straight to Jiangxi to establish the ancestral teachings. One day Reverend Nanyue said: 'Daoyi is expounding the Dharma in Jiangxi, yet I never see any news brought from him.' He then instructed a monk, saying: 'Go, wait until he ascends the hall, and then ask: "How is it?" See what he says, and remember it to bring back.' The monk went in accordance with the instructions, saw him ascend the hall, stepped forward, and asked: 'How is it?' The Patriarch said: 'Ever since the rebellion, for thirty years I have never lacked salt or sauce.'" The master addressed the assembly, saying: "Those who pierce people's nostrils under the gate of the Patriarchs all come from this single phrase. Tell me: where does this single phrase come from? It comes from the place of beating the ox or beating the cart! If you can understand this, you will understand the old woman on the road to Mount Tai. Whenever a monk asked, 'Which way goes to Mount Tai?' the old woman would say, 'Go straight ahead.' Just as the monk walked on, the woman would say, 'A fine master, yet he goes off like that!' Zhaozhou heard of this and said, 'Wait until I go examine this old woman.' Zhaozhou went to see the woman and asked the same question, and the woman gave the same answer. He returned and said to the assembly: 'The old woman on the road to Mount Tai has been seen through by this old monk.' Do you all understand? The Son of Heaven's imperial decree within the realm, the general's command beyond the frontier—just see it in this way. In former years, when this mountain monk did not understand, I once consulted a fabricating elder, who commented for me, saying: 'The moment this monk asked which way goes to Mount Tai, he was already seen through by the old woman. The woman said, "Go straight ahead." The monk then walked on—this was precisely following sound and chasing form; how could he not be seen through? He also said: "The moment one opens one's mouth, one is already seen through."' Thinking back on it today, it is truly unbearable! This mountain monk will break it open for you: if you understand Zhaozhou's saying, 'The old woman on the road to Mount Tai has been seen through by this old monk,' you will understand the old woman's saying, 'A fine master, yet he goes off like that.' This mountain monk once composed a verse: 'The world's Chan practitioners speak of seeing through, / How could they know that Zhaozhou has already fallen into words? / Leading descendants to become unmanly, / Each one touched on the head, lying down in the cold ground.' This verse is very clear; by no means misunderstand it! Having misunderstood this, you will definitely also misunderstand Muzhou calling to a monk, 'Venerable Sir!' The monk turned his head, and Muzhou said, 'A board-carrying fellow!' There was once a Chan elder who raised this topic and asked a monk: 'How do you understand it?' The moment he saw the monk open his mouth, he said: 'Truly, a board-carrying fellow.' What a pity, it has no connection whatsoever! Xuedou brought this up and said: 'Muzhou possessed only one eye. When called, this monk turned his head—why did he turn into a board-carrying fellow?' Huitang said: 'Xuedou also possessed only one eye. When called, this monk immediately turned around—why did he not turn into a board-carrying fellow?' These two old fellows! They can walk hand in hand with Muzhou. If one were a sharp fellow, the moment it is brought up, his eyes would be like bronze bells, and he would never beat about the bush here. Having failed to understand this, you will definitely also misunderstand Baizhang's wild fox case, saying: '"Not falling into" is correct, and "not obscured by" is also correct; it is just that when answering this question back then, one should not have harbored doubt, and therefore fell into being a wild fox, because a wild fox by nature has much doubt.' What a pity, it has no connection whatsoever! Having misunderstood this, you will definitely also misunderstand the Patriarch's saying: 'It is not the wind that moves, nor is it the banner that moves; your minds, virtuous sirs, are moving.' This mountain monk also once asked an elder: 'What is the meaning of this?' The elder shook his sleeve in the gesture of wind blowing and said: 'What is this?' How bitter! How shameful and mortifying! How clumsy and embarrassing! Some say: 'It is not the wind moving, nor the banner moving—it must be the mind moving.' This mountain monk regularly asks students: 'It is not the wind moving, it is not the banner moving, and it is not the mind moving—how is it?' How could blinking an eye be allowed here? Having misunderstood this, you will definitely also misunderstand: 'Mañjuśrī is the teacher of the seven buddhas; why could he not bring the woman out of samādhi, while the bodhisattva Net-Light could bring the woman out of samādhi?' People in the assemblies deliberate and say: 'The ladle's handle was in the woman's hand.' What a pity, it has no connection whatsoever! Having misunderstood this, you will definitely also misunderstand Xuefeng saying: 'At Wangzhou Pavilion I met with you; at Wushi Ridge I met with you; in front of the monks' hall I met with you.' Nowadays people everywhere deliberate and say: 'What is the place of meeting at Wangzhou Pavilion?' and then say, 'At the south end buying cheap, at the north end selling dear.' 'What is the meaning of meeting at Wushi Ridge?' and then say, 'Among stones, the big ones are big, and the small ones are small.' 'What is meeting in front of the monks' hall?' and then say, 'Return to the hall and drink tea.' What a pity, it has no connection whatsoever! The rest of the deviant interpretations are beyond count.

14.3.4

I, a mountain monk, also constantly ask students: 'At Wangzhou Pavilion I met with you, at Wushi Ridge I met with you, before the monks' hall I met with you—what about it?' This is precisely the vajra iron circle and the chestnut burr: how will you swallow it? How will you penetrate it? Do you want to know those who can swallow and penetrate it? Have you not seen: Baofu asked Ehu, 'Setting aside before the monks' hall, at what place did we meet at Wangzhou Pavilion and Wushi Ridge?' Ehu quickened his pace and returned to the abbot's quarters; Baofu then entered the monks' hall. Master Fenyang said in verse: 'Wangzhou, Wushi, and before the hall: / Meeting and knowing one another, thousands upon tens of thousands. / Only Ehu and Baofu / At this moment of meeting knew how to shift and yield.' This verse has clearly spoken it for you. Having failed to understand this, you will surely also misunderstand Xuansha's saying: 'Every quarter all say they receive beings and benefit creatures. If three kinds of sick people come, how should they be received? For one who is blind, when a mallet is raised or a fly-whisk is held upright, he cannot see it; for one who is deaf, he cannot hear the samādhi of words and speech; for one who is mute, when told to speak, he cannot speak. If one cannot receive such people, the Buddha-dharma has no efficacy.'" The Master looked around at the assembly and said, "Do you want to know Xuansha? 'All his life he poured out his heart and guts to people, / Yet meeting him is like not knowing him.' At that time Master Dizang was in the assembly, and stepped forward, saying: 'I have a mouth and am not mute, have eyes and am not blind, have ears and am not deaf. How does the Venerable receive me?' The Master said: 'Without a father, such a son would not be born. Xuansha laughed heartily.'" The Master said, "In the laugh there was a knife. Sometimes I bring up this topic to question students. Some come and draw a gourd according to the pattern, also saying: 'I have a mouth, ears, and eyes. How does the Venerable receive me?' I say to him: 'A dog that chews on someone else's shit-stick is no good dog.' Again they cannot move forward. Having misunderstood this, you will surely also misunderstand Xiangyan's saying: 'It is like a person up a tree, holding a branch with his teeth, his hands not grasping a branch, his feet not treading on the tree. Someone under the tree asks about the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West. If he does not answer, he goes against what was asked; if he does answer, he loses his body and life.'" The Master said, "He deserves to be buried in the same pit as Xuansha! In years past, I once asked an eminent elder for instruction: 'I do not know, what is Xiangyan's meaning?' He thereupon took the handle of the fly-whisk into his mouth, tightly closed his eyes, assumed the posture of holding a branch with his teeth, and shook his hands and flailed his feet, answering me in this way." The Master then snapped his fingers and said, "A person like this was also one of widespread fame and reputation in those days, yet he still made such an act! As for the rest who played tricks, they are not even worth mentioning. Do you want to understand? Just regard it as a single sentence. I tell you first: do not, hearing it said to regard it as a single sentence, then understand it at the point where it is raised—understanding it as soon as it is raised—for it is not this principle. What principle is it? 'It is like a person up a tree, holding a branch with his teeth, his hands not grasping a branch, his feet not treading on the tree. Someone under the tree asks about the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West. If he does not answer, he goes against what was asked; if he does answer, he loses his body and life.' How about it? Here, not a hair can intervene. At that time in Xiangyan's assembly, there was only Head Monk Hutou who grasped Xiangyan's meaning. He stepped forward to vent Xiangyan's spleen, saying: 'I do not ask about being up the tree; please, Venerable, speak about before going up the tree.'" The Master said, "'Though gaining a moment of glory, / He had both feet cut off.' Xiangyan laughed heartily." The Master said, "'An iron-made face!'" He also said, "'Turning the heavenly wheel, rotating the earthly axle!' Later, Xuedou commented: 'Speaking up the tree is easy; speaking down the tree is difficult. This old monk has gone up the tree: bring on a question!' Although Xuedou vented Head Monk Hutou's spleen, how could he avoid missing Xiangyan? Nowadays there is a sort of misguided fellow who, hearing Xuedou speak like this, cites Dongshan's words, saying: 'If one can avoid violating the present taboo, / It is superior to the tongue-cutting talent of the former court.' They say that Xiangyan set up this question-head just like a ball of fire that cannot be touched. Even so, words and phrases cannot be cut off. If someone asks what Buddha is: 'Three pounds of hemp'; what the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West is: 'The cypress tree in the courtyard'—what harm is there? You may well understand it nicely. Have you not seen Master Fenyang's verse: 'Xiangyan holding the tree showed it to many; / He wanted to lead his companions to reach the fundamental reality.'" The Master said, "'Confessing according to the facts: / Deliberating, they search for it beneath the words, / Losing their bodies and lives, numerous as dust.'" The Master said, "'Unless one is a person of painstaking effort, one does not know: / Fenyang opens the heavenly road for you; / Clouds disperse across the vast sky, and the moonlight is fresh.'" The Master said, "Idle talk! Although it is like this, if you can grasp it here, the lifelong business of study is finished. If you cannot grasp it, you will surely also misunderstand Baizhang asking Guishan, Wufeng, and Yunyan: 'Having shut off throat, lips, and mouth, how do you speak?' Guishan said: 'Rather, please, Venerable, speak.' Baizhang said: 'I do not refuse to speak to you, but I fear that later it would destroy my descendants.' Wufeng said: 'The Venerable must also shut them off.' Baizhang said: 'Where there is no one, I shade my brow and gaze toward you.' Yunyan said: 'Venerable, do you have it or not?' Baizhang said: 'It destroys my descendants.' The assembly deliberates, saying: 'Baizhang is much like clutching stolen goods and crying robbery, or covering his ears to steal a bell. When the three sons answered like that, they all ran into the wild grass.' Fortunately, it has no connection! I tell you: this matter decidedly does not lie in words and speech. Since it does not lie in words and speech, at such a moment what ought to be done? I have already told you long ago. Having misunderstood this, you will surely also misunderstand Deshan saying: 'Tonight I will not answer questions; whoever asks a question gets thirty blows of the staff.' At that time a monk came forward and bowed. Deshan struck him at once. The monk said: 'I had not yet asked a question; why did you strike me?' Deshan said: 'Where are you from?' The monk said: 'From Silla.' Deshan said: 'Before you stepped on the ship's gunwale, you deserved thirty blows!' Later, Fayan said: 'Great and small Deshan! His speech was split into two pieces.' Yuanming said: 'Great and small Deshan! A dragon's head and a snake's tail.' Xuedou commented: 'Although the two old masters were good at trimming the long to mend the short, and discarding the heavy to follow the light, to see Deshan is still not yet possible. Why?

First 9 of 14 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

大慧普覺禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese