大慧普覺禪師語錄 14.3.1

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?'"