大慧普覺禪師語錄 14.3.4

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?