大慧普覺禪師語錄 14.2.1

14.2.1

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?"