大慧普覺禪師語錄 16.2

16.2

Executive Fu requested a general discourse. The Master said: “Fellow Daoist Fu, Miaoxi did not know you initially. Last year, passing through Hengyang, you specially came to visit me. At our first meeting it was like old friends, solely because your faith reaches to this matter of the Great Cause. Why is this? Have you not seen that in the Avataṃsaka assembly, Bodhisattva Jñānaśīrṣa asked Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī: ‘Son of the Buddha! How does a bodhisattva attain bodily, verbal, and mental karmic actions without fault?’ Mañjuśrī replied: ‘By skillfully applying their mind, they attain all supreme and wondrous merits.’ For his sake he expounded the one hundred and forty great vows within the four postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, calling them the great merit of untainted and pure practice. These merits all arise from the ground of faith. Therefore Mañjuśrī, universally serving as an unasked friend for those who have already brought forth faith, asked Bodhisattva Bhadraśrī in verse: ‘I have now explained for the bodhisattvas the pure practices the Buddha cultivated in the past; you too, within this assembly, should expound the supreme merits of cultivation.’ Bodhisattva Bhadraśrī replied to him in verse, saying therein: ‘Manifesting in the world through the majestic power of the Dharma, one attains the ten stages and the ten masteries.’ This also speaks of the meaning that the initial bringing forth of the mind arises from the ground of faith. At the very end, when Sudhana arrived before the Pavilion of Vairocana, Maitreya explained for him the one hundred and twenty kinds of bodhicitta, which also has this meaning. Among them was an analogy that said: ‘Like the roar of the lion-king, hearing it, lion cubs all increase in courage and strength, while other beasts, hearing it, all scurry and hide. The roar of the bodhicitta of the Buddha, the lion-king, should be known to be just like this: the bodhisattvas, hearing it, increase in merit, while those with attaining [minds], hearing it, all retreat and scatter.’ This too has this meaning. Once one has the faculty of faith, that itself is the foundation of becoming a buddha. Suddenly according with one's current functioning, one immediately realizes anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Just like Old Man Śākya, at first before the Mountain of Right Awakening, he lifted his head and saw the morning star appear, suddenly awakening to the Way. He then sighed: ‘How marvelous! All sentient beings possess the wisdom and virtuous marks of the Tathāgata, but because of delusive thoughts and attachments, they do not realize it.’ This means that from the buddhas of the ten directions above down to the four kinds of births in the six paths, wriggling and crawling beings, at the place of my awakening, are stamped definitively with a single seal of the seal of equality, without any distinction whatsoever. Look! As soon as the yellow-faced old man was awakened, he immediately saw things so vast and great. Thereafter, giving rise to kindness and exercising compassion, in the ocean of birth and death he did not cling to this shore, did not cling to that shore, and did not abide in the midstream, yet he could ferry the sentient beings on this shore who wished for the other shore, without abiding in the midstream of birth and death. This principle likewise does not go beyond the seed of one's own faith. Therefore Layman Wujin, in his preface to his commentary on the Ocean-Eye Sūtra, said regarding the Buddha's accomplishment: ‘The initial awakening uniting with the fundamental is called Buddha.’ Although he was a layperson, he saw through clearly and recognized the root. This means that at the time of initial awakening, giving rise to faith from the morning star, one suddenly awakens to the fact that one's self-nature is originally buddha, and that the sentient beings of the great earth are without any distinction whatsoever. Wujin called the initial awakening uniting with original awakening only then becoming a buddha. If Chan practitioners can clarify things in this way, and then rest body and mind to recognize their original face, they must not be careless. When the ancient sages attained it, right at the place of attainment they extinguished the mind of arising and ceasing, yet they did not abide in the realm of extinction either—this is called ‘extinction manifesting before one.’ In the realm of extinction they obtained two supreme qualities: first, above, uniting with the buddhas of the ten directions, sharing the same power of kindness with the Buddha Tathāgata; second, below, uniting with the sentient beings of the six paths, sharing the same compassionate longing with all sentient beings. This is what was mentioned earlier as giving rise to kindness, exercising compassion, and rescuing those in the evil destinies. Sentient beings, because of unawakening, transmigrate through birth and death; if those who are awakened first have no compassion, how can the realm of sentient beings be emptied? Truly know that the Buddha's grace is difficult to repay. Today, fellow Daoist Fu has asked Miaoxi for a general discourse, not merely to cultivate merit in posthumous dedication for his late father, but also wishing to explain some Chan sicknesses for the assembly present here. Thus Liu Zihou took the Tiantai teachings as his compass, saying that Chan sicknesses are the most numerous—true indeed are these words! The teachings of Tiantai Zhiyi subsume all phenomena under the three contemplations of emptiness, conventionality, and the middle, teaching people to hold to the root and cultivate. Chan has no written words; one must awaken to get it. Miaoxi, from the age of seventeen, doubted this matter, and investigated it for precisely seventeen years before finally obtaining rest. Prior to attaining it, I often reflected: ‘I am now so many years old; I do not know where I came from before I took birth here in South Jambudvīpa.’ My heart was pitch-black like lacquer; I completely did not know where I came from. Since I did not know where I came from, this was the greatness of birth. ‘When I die after a hundred years, where will I go then?’ My heart was as dark and indistinct as before, not knowing where I would go. Since I did not know where I would go, this was the greatness of death. This is called ‘impermanence is swift; birth and death is a great matter.’ Have you people ever harboured such doubts? Right now you sit and stand dignified, solitary clarity vividly distinct; expounding the Dharma and listening to the Dharma, guest and host intermingle. Miaoxi flaps two strips of skin, his teeth clattering, drumming beneath the navel wheel, raising the vapor of congee and rice, chattering away in his mouth, speaking right here. The speaker is sound; this sound is everywhere inside your skulls, and your skulls are together inside Miaoxi's sound. When you die on another day, where will this realm be settled? Since you do not know the place of settlement, crashing into a donkey's womb or a horse's belly you will not know it; being born into a joyful heavenly palace you will not know it either. Chan fellows: when asked about what they usually gather from sūtras and treatises, there is nothing they do not know; literati: when asked about what they learn from the Nine Classics and the Seventeen Histories, there is likewise nothing they do not know. Yet, leaving behind words and cutting off conceptual thought, if you ask them about the matter inside their own house, five pairs out of ten do not know it, while they know the matters of other people's houses. Understanding clearly like this, they merely come into this world in vain for a turn, and in the future will receive retribution according to their karma, in the end not knowing where their own fundamental destiny and primary celestial body will land—is this not sorrowful! Therefore the ancients, arriving here, were as if saving their heads from burning, seeking masters to resolve doubts, wanting their mind-ground to open through without doubting birth and death. However, there are those who know it through learning, and those who know it from birth. Who is one who knows it through learning? As when a monk asked Zhaozhou: ‘I have just entered the monastery; I beg the master for instruction.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘Have you eaten your congee yet?’ The monk said: ‘I have eaten my congee.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘Go wash your bowl.’ At these words the monk suddenly had a great awakening, rested right then and there, and immediately knew the destination of birth and death. Miaoxi often says it was not easy—this monk had power! Zhaozhou took a carrying pole of a hundred and twenty catties and with one thrust placed it on his shoulders; this monk bore it, ran a hundred and twenty li in one breath without turning his head, like directly conferring the status of Brahmā upon an ordinary mortal. His mind was at total peace, able to give rise to the power of kindness and exercise compassionate vows. This is one who knows through learning. Who is one who knows from birth? As when Zhaozhou was a novice, he went on pilgrimage with his primary master to Nanquan. It happened that Nanquan was lying down. After his primary master made prostrations, Zhaozhou then made prostrations. Nanquan asked: ‘Where have you recently departed from?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘I recently departed from the Auspicious Image.’ Nanquan said: ‘Did you see the Auspicious Image?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘I did not see the Auspicious Image; before me I only see a reclining Tathāgata.’ Nanquan then arose and asked: ‘Are you a novice with a master, or a novice without a master?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘A novice with a master.’ Nanquan said: ‘Which one is your master?’ If it were the Chan fellows of today, they would step forward, snap their fingers, draw a circle, give a shout, give a slap, shake their sleeves and leave, letting out this sort of foul breath. Look at Zhaozhou: he slowly stepped forward and said: ‘The first month of spring is still cold; I humbly wish the Venerable Monk ten thousand blessings in his venerable health.’ Nanquan then called the karmadāna, saying: ‘Arrange for this novice in another quarter.’ The next day he came again and asked: ‘What is the Way?’ Nanquan neither used the staff nor gave a shout, neither talked of the mysterious nor spoke of the wondrous, neither dragged in sūtras nor cited treatises, nor did he bring up the gong'ans of the ancients, nor did he speak of phenomena, nor did he speak of principle. He merely told him straight: ‘Ordinary mind is the Way.’ Because Zhaozhou had already understood the ordinary mind, he then asked: ‘Does it still rely on an intention to approach it?’ Nanquan said: ‘To intend toward it is to deviate.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘Without intending, how does one know it is the Way?’ Nanquan said: ‘The Way does not belong to knowing, nor does it belong to not knowing. Knowing is false consciousness; not knowing is neutral oblivion. If you truly reach the Way of no doubt, it is like the great emptiness, vast and open—how can you forcibly make right and wrong within it?’ At these words Zhaozhou had everything settled. Nanquan said: ‘The Way does not belong to knowing, nor does it belong to not knowing.’ Guifeng called it ‘numinous awareness.’ Heze called the single word ‘knowing’ the gate of all wonders. Sixin of Huanglong said: ‘The single word ‘knowing’ is the gate of all disasters.’ To meet Guifeng and Heze is easy; to meet Sixin is difficult. Arriving here, one must possess the eye that transcends conventions; it cannot be explained to others, nor transmitted to others. Therefore my late master Yuanwu said: ‘Zhaozhou's Chan is merely on the skin of his lips; one can do nothing with him. Like one skilled in military tactics, he travels without carrying provisions: using your water, grass, and provisions, he kills you instead.’ A scholar asked: ‘Does the Buddha not go against the vows of sentient beings, is this so?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘It is so.’ The scholar said: ‘I wish to beg for the staff from the Venerable Monk's hand, may I?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘A gentleman does not snatch away what another loves.’ The scholar said: ‘I am not a gentleman.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘This old monk is not a buddha either.’ Another monk asked: ‘What is the meaning of the Patriarch?’ Zhaozhou knocked on the leg of the meditation bench. The monk said: ‘Could it just be this?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘If it is, take it away.’ Another monk asked: ‘Everywhere they speak only with their mouths; how does the Venerable Monk instruct people?’ Zhaozhou showed him by kicking the brazier with his heel. The monk said: ‘Could that be it?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘You have just recognized this old monk's heel.’ Another monk asked: ‘What is Zhaozhou?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘East Gate, South Gate, West Gate, North Gate.’ The monk said: ‘I am not asking about this.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘Didn't you ask me about Zhaozhou?’ Another monk asked: ‘What is the Way?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘The one outside the wall.’ The monk said: ‘I am not asking about this way.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘Which way are you asking about?’ The monk said: ‘I am asking about the Great Way.’ Zhaozhou said: ‘The Great Way leads to Chang'an.’ You must not understand it as ‘no affairs’; you must not understand it as ‘mysterious and wondrous’; you must not understand it as ‘extraordinary’; you must not understand it as ‘ordinary.’ Zhaozhou is not in ‘no affairs,’ not in ‘mysterious and wondrous,’ not in ‘extraordinary,’ not in ‘ordinary.’ Where is he in the end? Those with eyes, discern it! This old fellow sometimes said: ‘Before leaving home, I was driven by bodhi; after leaving home, I drive bodhi. You people are driven by the twelve two-hour periods; this old monk drives the twelve two-hour periods.’ He also said: ‘I do not like to hear the single word ‘buddha’.’ If he did not even like to hear the single word ‘buddha,’ then Bodhidharma was clearly some old stinking barbarian, the bodhisattvas of the ten stages are dung-carrying men, equal and wondrous awakening are base worldlings, bodhi and nirvāṇa are hitching posts for donkeys, the twelve divisions of teachings are ledgers of ghosts and spirits and paper for wiping pus from sores, and the four fruits, three sages, initial mind, and ten stages are ghosts guarding ancient tombs. If you have not reached this realm, you will not understand anything. Students run rashly with big strides, taking a single phrase of Chan to deal with people, but it is not this principle at all! Therefore, in Miaoxi's room, I often ask Chan fellows: ‘If you call it a bamboo comb, you infringe; if you do not call it a bamboo comb, you turn away. You must not speak words, you must not be without words, you must not think and deliberate, you must not make conjectures, you must not shake your sleeves and leave—absolutely nothing is allowed! If you snatch away the bamboo comb, for now I allow you to snatch it away. If I call it a fist, I infringe; if I do not call it a fist, I turn away—how will you snatch it then? Even if you say: ‘Please, Venerable Monk, put it down,’ for now I put it down. If I call it a bare pillar, I infringe; if I do not call it a bare pillar, I turn away—how will you snatch it then? If I call it mountains, rivers, and the great earth, I infringe; if I do not call it mountains, rivers, and the great earth, I turn away—how will you snatch it then?’ Elder Zhoufeng said: ‘I see the Venerable Monk's topic of the bamboo comb as like having confiscated someone's property, yet still demanding that they pay goods.’ Miaoxi said: ‘Your analogy is extremely wondrous! I truly want you to pay goods. Having nowhere to produce them, you must seek the path of death: throwing yourself into a river or stepping into fire, risking your life, only then do you die. Having died, you slowly come back to life again. If called a bodhisattva you rejoice; if called a thief you flare up in anger—just as before, you are only the person of former days! Therefore the ancients said: ‘Letting go of one's hold on the hanging cliff, one acknowledges and shoulders it oneself; reviving after total extinction, one cannot be deceived.’ Arriving here, one first tallies with the topic of the bamboo comb.’ He then spoke a verse, saying:”
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