大慧普覺禪師語錄 14.3.2

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.'"