大慧普覺禪師語錄 17

English (machine translation) 17

Language: English

17.1

Presented to the Emperor by Your Subject Yunwen, Abbot of Nengren Chan Monastery on Mount Jing, Dharma Heir, and Chan Master Huiri

Attendant Li requested a general talk upon the conclusion of the forty-ninth day [funerary rites]. A monk asked, "In the room, the Venerable said: 'If you call it a bamboo comb, you touch; if you do not call it a bamboo comb, you turn your back. You must not speak; you must not be without speech.'" Thereupon he struck the ground once with his sitting mat and said, "This student was drawing feet on a snake, but instead invites the Venerable to put a head on top of a head." The Master said, "Starting it yourself and toppling it yourself earns people's dislike." [The monk] advanced and said, "I also need the Venerable to fully understand." The Master said, "Be sure not to wiggle your toes inside your boots." [The monk] advanced and said, "Is there still any place where you act for people?" The Master said, "No." [The monk] advanced and said, "Then that is a bit better." The Master said, "I'll swap out your eyes!"

He then said: "'If you call it a bamboo comb, you touch; if you do not call it a bamboo comb, you turn your back. You must not speak; you must not be without speech; you must not deliberate; you must not propose.' At such a time, Old Śākya and Great Master Bodhidharma, though they have nostrils, simply have no place to breathe out. Do you still fully understand? Meeting the noble, it is cheap; meeting the base, it is precious. If you fixate on the noble and the base, you must buy more straw sandals and go traveling on foot before you get it. Therefore it is said: 'It cannot be sought with mind; it cannot be attained without mind. It cannot be reached through speech; it cannot be penetrated through silence.' Even though it is like this, like heaven it covers all, like earth it supports all; it completely releases and completely gathers, completely kills and completely brings to life. When Miaoxi speaks like this, it is also not separated from this message—just like the Chan guest just now striking the ground with his sitting mat." He then slapped the Chan seat once and said: "Tell me, on which side of the matter is this illuminated?

"Today, Bhikṣu Liaoxian, who served as a personal attendant, having appraised and chanted the sale of the clothing sent from his secular home, requested this old fellow to promote and expound the ancestral teachings to adorn his place of recompense. Alas, this brother had just begun to have an awakening regarding the phrase of the bamboo comb, yet now it is already talking of the year before last. One day I asked him, 'How is it when if you call it a bamboo comb you touch, and if you do not call it a bamboo comb you turn your back?' He could not answer, but instead said, 'I hope the Venerable will provide an expedient instruction for me.' This mountain monk said to him, 'You are a man of Fuzhou. I will tell you a parable: It is like taking a choice lychee, peeling off the skin and shell all at once, and handing it directly to your mouth, only you do not know how to swallow it.' Hearing this, he could not help but break out laughing and said, 'If the Venerable swallows it, that is disaster.' After some time, I asked him again, 'The other day you swallowed the lychee, but you just didn't know its flavor.' He said, 'If I knew its flavor, it would turn out to be even more of a disaster.'

"I loved these two turning phrases of his. As is said, 'What enters through the gate is not the family treasure.' Truly we know that the ancestral masters have no real dharma to give to people. Take, for example, the worldly crafts and arts: if there is a model, one can do it; but with this one understanding, it must come from self-awakening before it works—attained in the mind and responded to in the hand. If one has not attained a place of peace and joy, but single-mindedly seeks knowledge, views, and intellectual understanding, once this mixed poison enters the mind, it is like oil entering flour: it can never be extracted; even if it could be extracted, it would take tremendous effort to manage. This matter is like the blue sky and the bright sun, originally without hindrance, yet it gets obstructed by these mixed poisons; therefore, one cannot be free within the Dharma.

"This old fellow has always loved what Venerable Zhenjing said: 'Nowadays, most people attain a state where body and mind are extinguished and prior and subsequent limits are severed; ceasing and desisting, a single thought lasts ten thousand years, like an incense burner in an ancient temple, cold and desolate—and they take this to be the ultimate. Little do they know that they are obstructed by this superior and marvelous realm, so that their own correct knowledge and views cannot manifest before them, and the light of their spiritual powers cannot be revealed.' Or again, they cling to 'the ordinary mind in all things is the Way,' taking it as the ultimate standard: heaven is heaven, earth is earth, mountains are mountains, rivers are rivers, monks are monks, laypeople are laypeople, a long month has thirty days, a short month has twenty-nine. In all of their hundred actions, they must stick to this one ordinary track, considering it secure; holding fast to it and conforming to it, they dare not move a single step elsewhere, fearing they will fall into a pit or drop into a trench. All the time they are just like a blind person walking the road, unable to part with a single staff for even an inch of a step, gripping it tightly and relying upon it, leaning on it at every step. If one day the eye of the Way opens wide, they suddenly realize their former errors, throw away the staff, let go with both hands, and in the ten directions all is vast and clear, crisscrossing freely, north, south, east, and west, with nothing that is not acceptable. Only when arriving here do they attain freedom. How many people nowadays are able to let go of the staff and open their hands?

"Formerly, when Venerable Zhenjing's recorded sayings were newly published, my old teacher [Yuanwu] was serving as the head monk in Wuzu's hall. One day in the corridor, Wuzu saw a monk holding a volume of text. The Patriarch said, 'What text is that in your hand?' The monk said, 'It is Venerable Zhenjing's recorded sayings.' The Patriarch thereupon took it and read it, and immediately praised it, saying, 'How grateful! In the degenerate age, there is such an eminent elder!' He then called for the head monk. My old teacher was behind the racks washing socks at the time; hearing the call, he hurried out in great haste. The Patriarch said, 'I have obtained a text that is inconceivable—what is called skillfully preaching the essentials of the Dharma. You try reading it.' Ceasing and desisting, a single thought lasting ten thousand years, prior and subsequent limits severed—how many people across all quarters nowadays reach this ground? Yet he calls it a superior and marvelous realm. In the past at Baofeng, there was a Practitioner Guang who was just such a person: he did not bother with anything about his entire person, nor did he see any worldly affairs; the worldly dust and toil could not delude him. Even though it was like this, he was nonetheless obstructed in his eye of the Way by this superior and marvelous realm.

"You must know that when arriving at the place where not a single thought arises and prior and subsequent limits are severed, one precisely needs an eminent elder. Like Venerable Shuiliao: while gathering vines, he asked Mazu, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Patriarch said, 'Come closer, and I will tell you.' As soon as Shuiliao stepped forward, Mazu gave him a kick in the chest that knocked him down. Shuiliao suddenly had a great awakening, and involuntarily got up, laughing loudly: 'Ha, ha!' The Patriarch said, 'What principle did you see?' Liao said, 'Hundreds of thousands of dharma gates and boundless subtle meanings—right upon the tip of a single hair, I have recognized their root and source.' In the teachings, this is called 'entering the flow and forgetting the object; once what is entered is stilled, the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise.' As soon as one gets an entry, one forgets the mark of samādhi; once the mark of samādhi is forgotten, one falls neither into the conditioned nor into the unconditioned, and the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise. This is Guanyin's gate of entering the principle. Since he had awakened, he opened his own treasury and brought out his own family treasures, saying, 'Hundreds of thousands of dharma gates and boundless subtle meanings—right upon the tip of a single hair, I have recognized their root and source,' and again laughed heartily, 'Ha, ha!' Mazu knew he had already reached this ground, so he paid no further attention to him and said nothing further. Later, when he dwelled at Shuiliao Hermitage, Chan travelers came to study under him, numbering a hundred or so. As soon as he promoted and expounded, he would boast of this one kick, saying, 'Ever since I received Mazu's kick, down to the present I have not stopped laughing.' How did he ever have words about 'peaks piling up emerald green, mountain streams flowing murmurously, shore willows veiled in mist, garden flowers smiling at the sun, orioles singing in tall trees, butterflies dancing in fragrant clusters'? He only said, 'Ever since I received Mazu's kick, down to the present I have not stopped laughing.' This is the first model of entering the flow and forgetting the object, where the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise.

"Again, haven't you seen Yunmen ask Dongshan, 'Where have you recently come from?' Dongshan said, 'Chadu.' Yunmen said, 'Where did you spend the summer?' Dongshan said, 'Baoci in Hunan.' Yunmen said, 'When did you leave there?' Dongshan said, 'The twenty-fifth day of the eighth month.' Yunmen said, 'I release you from thirty blows.' The ancients were simple and honest, replying according to the facts, thinking to himself: 'This time I truly came from Chadu, what fault is there?' Yet [Yunmen] said, 'I release you from thirty blows.' A great fellow must settle the matter with this old fellow before it can be resolved. The next day he went and asked, 'Yesterday I was favored with the Venerable releasing me from thirty blows; I wonder where my fault lay?' [Yunmen] asked, 'You rice bag! Jiangxi and Hunan, just wandering off like that!' Dongshan suddenly had a great awakening; there was no further message to convey, nor any principle to bring forth—he just bowed. Having awakened, he opened his own treasury and brought out his own family treasures, saying, 'Hereafter, I will dwell in a thatched hut in a place where no people live, not storing a single grain of rice, not planting a single stalk of vegetable, receiving those coming and going from the ten directions, extracting all their nails and pulling out their wedges, taking off their tallow caps, stripping off their smelly shirts, making them crisp and clean patch-robed monks—wouldn't that be splendid?' Yunmen said, 'Your body is the size of a coconut, yet you open such a huge mouth!' This is the second model of entering the flow and forgetting the object, where the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise.

"Again, National Teacher Yan of Gushan stayed at Xuefeng for many years. One day, knowing his conditions were mature, Xuefeng suddenly rose, seized him, and said, 'What is it?' Yan was completely and thoroughly awakened; he merely raised his hands and waved them. Xuefeng said, 'Are you making up an intellectual understanding?' Yan said, 'What intellectual understanding could there be?' Later, Yang Danian included this in the *Transmission of the Lamp*, calling it 'forgetting the understanding mind.' This is the third model of entering the flow and forgetting the object, where the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise.

"Again, Venerable Guanxi one day went to see Linji. Linji came down from his rope seat and had just grabbed hold of him when Guanxi said, 'Understood, understood!' This is the fourth model of entering the flow and forgetting the object, where the two aspects of motion and stillness clearly do not arise.

"This cannot be explained to others, nor can it be transmitted to others. This old fellow practiced for seventeen years, and had also experienced piecemeal awakenings: under the Yunmen lineage I understood a little, and under the Caodong lineage I understood a little, but I simply could not sever the prior and subsequent limits. Later, at Tianning in the capital, I saw the old teacher ascend the hall and cite a monk asking Yunmen, 'What is the place where all buddhas come forth?' Yunmen said, 'The East Mountain walks on water.' [The old teacher said,] 'If it were Tianning, it would not be so. What is the place where all buddhas come forth? A gentle breeze comes from the south, and the palace halls give rise to a slight coolness.' Right here, my prior and subsequent limits were suddenly severed—just like taking a knife and cutting right through a skein of tangled silk in one stroke. At that moment, sweat broke out over my entire body. Although the marks of motion did not arise, I was nevertheless stuck in a bare, stripped-down place. One day I entered his room, and the old teacher said, 'It is not easy for you to reach this ground. Alas, you can die but cannot live. Not doubting words and phrases is a great disease. Haven't you heard it said: "Letting go from the hanging cliff, one acknowledges it for oneself; reviving after extinction, no one can deceive you." You must believe that such a principle exists.' This old fellow said to myself, 'Based merely on what I have attained now, I am already blissful; I can no longer bother with anything else.'

"The old teacher then made me the attendant without administrative duties in the Choosing Timber Quarters. Every day, together with the scholar-officials, I had to enter his room three or four times. He would only bring up, 'Existence and non-existence are like a vine clinging to a tree.' As soon as I opened my mouth, he would say, 'Wrong.' For half a year like this, I did nothing but investigate. One day, while taking the evening medicine-meal with several officials in the abbot's quarters, I just held my chopsticks in hand, completely forgetting to eat. The old teacher said, 'This fellow is practicing boxwood Chan, shrinking back instead.' Thereupon I offered a parable, saying, 'Venerable, this principle is just like a dog looking at a cauldron of hot oil: it wants to lick it but cannot lick it; it wants to give it up but cannot give it up.' The old teacher said, 'Your parable is excellent. This very thing is the diamond cage and the chestnut burr.'

"One day, I asked the old teacher, 'I heard that when the Venerable was at Wuzu, you once asked about this saying. I wonder how Venerable Wuzu answered?' The Venerable was unwilling to say. This old fellow said, 'Back then, the Venerable could not have asked in private; you must have asked before the great assembly. What harm is there in speaking of it now?' The old teacher then said, 'I asked, "How is it when existence and non-existence are like a vine clinging to a tree?" The Patriarch said, "Describing does not accomplish it; painting does not finish it." I also asked, "What happens when the tree suddenly falls and the vine withers?" The Patriarch said, "They follow along together."' As soon as this old fellow heard it cited, I immediately understood, and said, 'I understand.' The old teacher said, 'I only fear you have not penetrated the gong'an.' This old fellow said, 'Please cite them, Venerable.' The old teacher then continuously cited a string of tricky gong'ans; I cut through them in two or three turns, like traveling freely along an unobstructed road in a time of great peace. The old teacher said, 'Now you finally know that I have not deceived you.'

"Since I had understood, I instead raised doubts about several Chan points and asked the old teacher. The old teacher said, 'My Chan is like a great ocean: you must bring a great ocean to pour it all out before you get it; if you only bring an alms bowl, taking just a little bit and then stopping, that is merely because your capacity is only like this—what can I do about it? How many could reach your ground? In the past there was only Senior Monk Jing who was like you, but he died.'

"After some time, he mentioned: 'After I was established as a monk, I was later in the head monk's quarters at Yunju. At night I often entered the room with the brethren, and the old teacher loved to come and listen. Sometimes after entering the room, I would go up to the abbot's quarters to see the old teacher, and we would sit together by the fire. The old teacher said, "If there were a Chan traveler who was like this old monk, how would you deal with him?" This old fellow said, "What good fortune could match it! It is just like Su Dongpo saying that for an executioner to get a fat fellow to slice, I would instead enter the room with the old teacher and press him against the wall!" The old teacher laughed heartily: "Ha, ha!"' Thinking of this old teacher, even if my bones were ground to dust and my body shattered, I could not repay his kindness.

"Because of the sound of the late Senior Monk Li, this old fellow cited the man of Fuzhou eating lychees, having had an insight, and so I spoke down to this point. This brother walked the path with decorum in the monasteries, without the faults of patch-robed monks. Alas, his measure of years was short; yet when he turns a somersault and comes forth, definitely nothing can delude him. There is an ancient story that I cite for the great assembly: 'In the scriptures it says: "When I do not see, why do you not see my place of not seeing? If you see what is not seen, it is naturally not the mark of that not seeing; if you do not see my place of not seeing, it is naturally not an object—how could it not be you?"' Later, Venerable Zhantang composed a verse saying:
'The Old Barbarian's grandmotherly mind is thorough to the bottom,
For Ānanda, his intent turns deeper still.
Han Gan's horse neighs at the green grass ford;
Dai Song's ox lies in the shade of the green willows.'
Miaoxi also has a verse; though it is not very elegant, it is nonetheless not inferior to Zhantang's:"

17.3

'A waste field no one plows, / But plowed, people vie for it; / When the wind is still and lotus leaves stir, / Fish are surely moving.'

17.4

On the eleventh day of the third month in the twenty-sixth year of the Shaoxing era, at Dongshan Temple in Xingan County of Linjiang Military Prefecture, the Master received an imperial decree restoring him to the monkhood. Having offered thanks for the imperial favor, he offered incense and prayed for the Emperor. He then ascended the seat and said: "The blue felt rug was originally a thing of my own family; today it is returned once more to the monk of old. How can I repay such precious imperial grace? A single branch of vine upon a ten-thousand-year pine." Thereupon he held up his staff and said: "The single branch of vine is right here; but tell me, how will you speak a phrase to repay the favor? If you can speak it, then 'even shattering one's bones and crushing one's body is not enough to repay it; a single phrase clearly understood surpasses hundreds of billions [of kalpas].' If you cannot yet do so, this mountain monk cannot avoid speaking it out plainly for you:

17.5

"Ever taking the sun and moon as the heavenly eye, / Pointing to Mount Sumeru as the mountain of longevity."

17.6

The assembled officials of Xingan County requested a general sermon. A monk asked: "Having already received the imperial grace, your monastic appearance is once more complete. As I step forward, I beg the Master to point out the renewed Buddhadharma." The Master said: "The rain has passed, the river's light is tranquil; the clouds have cleared, the mountain's hue is fresh." The monk continued: "In that case, the imperial design will grow ever firmer, and the sun of the Buddha will shine with renewed brilliance." The Master said: "Along the single old road walked before, high and low are naturally distinct." The monk continued: "Just as when Dadian chattered his teeth, Master Han Wen directly knew his refuge; and when Huangbo gave a name, Prime Minister Pei immediately knew the point of rest. I wonder, as the Monk meets today with the Prefectural Gentleman, the County Magistrate, what instruction do you have?" The Master said: "Two eyes face two eyes." The monk continued: "Could that be the instruction?" The Master said: "Leave it completely to divining by tortoise shell and cracking tiles." The monk bowed, and the Master said: "Asking is good, but not asking is even more intimate. Why? The single path prior to sound is not transmitted by the thousand sages; students weary their bodies like monkeys catching at reflections. If among you there is an exceptional fellow who, whether it is so or not so, hearing it briefly brought up, perks up his ears and walks on—he is still within the tangled thicket of vines. Even if he attains a state where internally there is nothing to realize and externally nothing to cultivate, like the earth holding up mountains, like a rock enclosing jade, this is still not the place where a patch-robed monk casts away body and life. If you know it, every speck of dust and every thought is without empty lack; bending and stretching, looking down and looking up are completely within it. Right at such a time, whose wind and moon is it after all? Do you understand? 'The thousand sages do not know where he has gone; a long sword leaning against heaven chills people with awe.'" He continued: "This is the very intent with which the Prefectural Gentleman, the County Magistrate, today led his fellow officials as well as the resident worthy literati to come together to rejoice in Zonggao's tonsure and request the preaching of the Dharma. This causal condition has its cause inquired of the Buddha; moreover, since Zonggao lived in Hengyang and Meizhou for seventeen years from beginning to end, today, without realizing or knowing it, I have come all at once to Xingan to join this dharma assembly. How could this not be because in a previous lifetime we were listeners of the Dharma together at the assembly on Vulture Peak? Originally, preaching the Dharma naturally has its time and place; if the conditions of the time have not met, preaching the Dharma cannot be accomplished. Therefore Old Man Śākya preached the Dharma in over three hundred and sixty assemblies, all establishing a time and place. What is meant by time and place? Have you not seen that at the beginning of the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment it says: 'Thus have I heard: At one time, the Bhagavān entered the samādhi absorption of the great light treasury of supernatural powers.' This alone is the time for preaching the Dharma today. Therefore it is said: 'If you wish to know the meaning of the buddha-nature, you must observe the conditions of the time. When the time arrives, the principle naturally becomes manifest.' Have you not seen that Master Zhizhe of Tiantai, because of reading the Lotus Sutra up to where Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja burned his body, which says, 'This is true vigor; this is called the true offering of Dharma to the Tathāgata,' at this point broke through cleanly, cutting off the boundaries of before and after, and immediately realized the Lotus Samādhi? In that samādhi he saw Old Man Śākya on Vulture Peak with the million-strong great assembly, solemn and not yet dispersed. If one speaks of this to people nowadays, if they have not entered such a realm, they flatly disbelieve it. Why? Zhizhe was a man of the Chen and Sui dynasties, separated from Old Man Śākya by two thousand years; how could it be that on account of 'This is true vigor; this is called the true offering of Dharma to the Tathāgata' he immediately saw the assembly on Vulture Peak in the Lotus Samādhi, solemn and not yet dispersed? Was he deceiving people? Or was it a fabricated tale? This matter is known only through realization; it is difficult to fathom. You must know that Miaoxi's preaching of the Dharma today is no different from Old Man Śākya's preaching of the Dharma in the assembly on Vulture Peak, nor is it different from Great Master Zhizhe's realization on Mount Nanyue that 'This is true vigor; this is called the true offering of Dharma to the Tathāgata.' Those who have truly realized it will certainly not deceive one another; to those who have not realized it, it is just like talking of dreams. Therefore it is said: 'All the kalpas of the past / Are placed into the future and present; / The kalpas of the future and present / Are returned and placed into past ages.' Sealed firmly with the single seal of the ocean-reflection samādhi, there are no further leaks, no coming and no going, no before and no after. Not only is Miaoxi alone like this, but the Prefectural Gentleman, the Court Gentleman, is also like this; not only is the Prefectural Gentleman, the Court Gentleman, like this, but the County Magistrate, the Prefectural Gentleman, together with his fellow officials and the resident worthy literati are also like this; not only are the County Magistrate, the Prefectural Gentleman, his fellow officials, and the resident worthy literati like this, but even those present before me, whether monk or lay, whether noble or base, are also like this. Such a dharma is identical with heaven when in heaven, and identical with humanity when among humans: to those who should be saved by a buddha's body, it immediately manifests a buddha's body and preaches the Dharma for them; to those who should be saved by the body of a minister, or even that of a Brahmin or a woman, it manifests all these bodies and preaches the Dharma for them. This is the single-flavor, pure, and impartial dharma-gate. If you clearly understand each person's native ground and original face right here, only then will you know that every phrase of the five thousand forty-eight fascicles of the entire great Canon teaches nothing else. Impermanence is swift; do not treat it lightly. Therefore it is said: 'Strive to finish it in this life; / Do not cause yourself to suffer lingering misfortune for eternal kalpas.' A human body is hard to obtain, and to be an eminent person is harder still. Have you not seen that Old Man Śākya spoke the Sutra of Forty-two Sections, in which there are twenty difficulties: namely, it is difficult for the poor to practice generosity, difficult for the wealthy and noble to learn the Way, difficult to refrain from asserting power when possessing authority; among them is 'it is difficult to risk one's life and not die.' Do you people understand? If one risks one's life, there is no one who does not die; how can one speak of the principle of not dying? If you can understand this, only then can you turn the twenty difficulties completely upside down, and all become easy matters: risking one's life and not dying is easy, the poor practicing generosity is easy, the wealthy and noble learning the Way is easy, and refraining from asserting power when possessing authority is easy. If you are enlightened, it is easy; if you are not enlightened, it is difficult. Yet the two words 'difficult' and 'easy' also have nothing to do with one's native ground and original face. Why? This dharma-gate is fundamentally without difficulty and without ease. If you can quickly fix your eyes on the place that is neither difficult nor easy, externally resting from all conditions and internally having no panting in the mind, only then will you know the dharma that is fundamentally without difficulty or ease. Nowadays, clever and sharp people cannot immediately awaken; where does the sickness lie? It is precisely because the mind, intellect, and consciousness take the lead, and being obstructed by the mind, intellect, and consciousness, their own radiance is hindered, their pathway blocked, so that they cannot take a step forward. Therefore, here cleverness and sharpness cannot be used; you must allow nothing to exit from within and nothing to enter from without. When nothing exits from within, the inner mind has no panting; when nothing enters from without, you externally rest from all conditions. When the inner mind is stilled, all conditions are likewise stilled; hence it is said: 'The nāga is always in absorption; there is no time when it is not in absorption.' This one great matter of causal condition is roughly like this. If you can believe like this, understand like this, cultivate like this, and realize like this, then the buddhas of the three periods are you people, and you people are the buddhas of the three periods, with no past and no present, sharing the identical liberation. In the world there is such an extraordinary matter; what a pity that ordinary people use it daily without knowing it. Yet today's single gathering is no small condition either; we are also favored by the presence of Chan masters from various mountains and faithful good men and women who have joined together to hear the Dharma. I prostratingly pray that upon hearing once, you attain a thousand awakenings and obtain the great dhāraṇī, and once it passes through the ear-faculty, it becomes an eternal seed of the Way. You have been standing long; I respectfully bid you take care."

17.7

Court Gentleman for Consultation Qian requested a general sermon. The master said: "The Dharma cannot be seen, heard, sensed, or known. If one practices seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, that is seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, not seeking the Dharma. Once outside seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, what would you call the Dharma? Coming to this point, it is like a person drinking water: self-knowing its cold and warmth; unless personally confirmed and personally awakened, it cannot be seen. If one has truly confirmed and awakened to it, raising a single tip of a fine hair, the entire earth is illuminated all at once. Nowadays, not only Chan monks, but also literati who are clever, sharp, and widely read in many books—every single one has two kinds of illness: if not fixing their intention, then they let their minds go blank. Letting the mind go blank, they fall into the ghosts' cave beneath the Black Mountain; in the teachings this is called torpor. Fixing their intention, their conscious mind flutters in disarray, thought succeeding thought—before the former thought ceases, the latter thought continues; in the teachings this is called restlessness. They do not know that under everyone's own feet is this one great matter that neither sinks [into torpor] nor flutters [in restlessness]. Like heaven universally covering, like earth universally supporting: before there was a world, there was already this great matter; when the world is destroyed, this great matter has never stirred by a single hair's breadth. Most literati tend toward restlessness. Nowadays in various quarters there is a type of silent illumination heterodox Chan: seeing literati hindered by worldly dust and their minds ill at ease, they immediately teach them to be like cold ashes and withered wood, like a strip of white silk, like an incense burner in an ancient temple, chillingly cold, using this to bring people to rest. Tell me: can they really be brought to rest? Little do they know that if this monkey is not dead, how can it be brought to rest? If that which comes as the vanguard and goes as the rearguard is not dead, how can it be brought to rest? In former years this fashion was extremely prevalent in Fujian Circuit. When Miaoxi first entered Fujian and lived in a hermitage during the early Shaoxing era, he vigorously opposed it, calling it the severing of the Buddha's wisdom-life, for which repentance is inadmissible even if a thousand buddhas appear in the world. Among them was a scholar named Zheng Shangming, extremely intelligent: he understood the teachings of the Buddhist vehicles, he understood the Daoist Canon, and Confucian teachings went without saying. One day, carrying a piece of incense, he entered Miaoxi's room with palpable fury, his voice and expression both severe, saying: 'I have a piece of incense not yet burned; I wish to settle a matter with the Venerable. Silence without words is the foremost resting place within the Dharma gate, yet the Venerable slanders and scolds it at will. In my mind I suspect that the Venerable has not reached this stage, which is why I cannot believe in you. Consider how Old Man Śākyamuni in the country of Magadha shut his room and made no sound for three seven-day periods: was that not the Buddha being silent? In the city of Vaiśālī thirty-two bodhisattvas each expounded the non-dual Dharma gate, and at the end Vimalakīrti was speechless, praised by Mañjuśrī: was that not a bodhisattva being silent? Subhūti sat in quiet meditation in a cliff cavern, without words and without speech: was that not a śrāvaka being silent? Śakra, Lord of the Gods, seeing Subhūti sitting in quiet meditation in the cavern, rained flowers in offering, also without words: was that not an ordinary being being silent? Bodhidharma traveled through Liang and traversed Wei, sitting coldly at Shaolin for nine years: was that not an ancestral master being silent? Whenever Luzu saw a monk he would face the wall: was that not a lineage master being silent? For what reason does the Venerable vigorously oppose silent illumination, deeming it heterodox and wrong?' Miaoxi said: 'Shangming, that you ask me this is also fitting; wait for me to explain it to you. If my explanation does not work, I will burn a stick of incense and make three prostrations to you; if my explanation works, I will accept your burning incense and prostrations. Nor will I quote to you the words and phrases of Old Man Śākyamuni and former worthies. I will speak directly from within your own house, as the saying goes, "borrowing the grandmother's shawl to bow to the grandmother for the New Year."' Then I asked: 'Have you ever read Zhuangzi?' He said: 'How could I not have read it?' Miaoxi said: 'Zhuangzi says: "When speech is sufficient, speaking all day exhausts the Dao; when speech is insufficient, speaking all day exhausts things. At the utmost of the Dao and things, speech and silence are not sufficient to convey them. Neither speech nor silence: this is where the principle reaches its utmost." I have never looked at Guo Xiang's commentary or the various commentators' notes, but relying merely on my own improvisation I will demolish your silence. Have you not seen: one day Master Kong made a great fuss, saying: "Shen! My way is bound together by a single thread." Zengzi said: "Yes." You petty scholars, as soon as you hear that word "yes," immediately start slandering here, saying: "This one 'yes' has the same root as Heaven and Earth, is of one body with the myriad things, elevates the ruler above Yao and Shun, establishes family and state, serves as general abroad and minister at home, down to when he uncovered his hands and feet—it never leaves this one 'yes.'" Fortunately, it has nothing to do with it! Little do they know that this principle is simply Zengzi's speech being sufficient and Confucius's speech being sufficient. His disciples did not understand, and instead asked: "What does it mean?" Zengzi, seeing that they could not comprehend it, answered their question on a secondary level, considering that the Master's way could not be left without words, and so said: "The Master's way is simply loyalty and reciprocity." The main point is that where the Dao and things reach their utmost, it is not in words, nor is it in silence. Words cannot convey it, and silence cannot convey it. What you have said does not even accord with the meaning of Zhuangzi, let alone Old Man Śākyamuni and Master Bodhidharma! Do you want to understand Zhuangzi's "neither speech nor silence: this is where the principle reaches its utmost"? It is simply Master Yunmen raising his fan and saying: "The fan jumps up to the Thirty-three Heavens and bumps the nostril of Lord Indra; the carp of the Eastern Sea is struck with a blow, and rain pours down like a torrent." If you can understand this talk of Yunmen's, then it is identical to what Zhuangzi said, what Zengzi said, and what Confucius said.' He thereupon fell silent. Miaoxi said: 'Though you do not speak, your mind is not yet subdued. However, it is clear that the ancients certainly did not sit in silence. Just now you brought up Śākyamuni shutting his room and Vimalakīrti's silence. Just look at how an old-time lecturer named Master Zhao expressed that wordless realm to people, saying: "Śākyamuni shut his room in Magadha; Vimalakīrti sealed his mouth in Vaiśālī. Subhūti proclaimed wordlessness to reveal the Dao; Śakra and Brahmā ceased listening and rained flowers. In all these cases, principle guided the spirit, so the mouth was silent on account of it. How could it be said there was no eloquence? It was that eloquence could not express it." This is principle and spirit suddenly colliding with each other, unawares arriving at the place that cannot be spoken; although not speaking, its sound is like thunder.' Therefore it says: 'How could it be said there was no eloquence? It is that eloquence could not express it.' Here, worldly cleverness and eloquence cannot be used in the slightest. Arriving at such a stage is truly the place to abandon life and cast off the body. This kind of realm must be personally confirmed and personally awakened to by the person themselves. Therefore the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'The palaces of the Tathāgata have no bounds; those who are naturally awakened dwell within them.' This is the great liberation Dharma gate of all the sages from of old: limitless and boundless, without gain and without loss, without silence and without speech, without going and without coming—so it is in every dust mote, every realm, every thought, and every phenomenon. It is only because the faculties and dispositions of sentient beings are narrow and inferior, unable to reach the realm of the sages of the Three Teachings, that they divide this from that. Little do they know that the realm is so vast and grand, yet they sit silently in the ghosts' cave beneath the Black Mountain; hence the ancient sages scolded it as the deep pit of liberation, a fearsome place. Viewing it with the spiritual powers of the Dharma eye, it is just like sitting on mountains of knives and trees of swords, or amidst cauldrons of boiling water and burning coals. Even lecturers do not get stuck in silence, much less guests at the gate of the ancestral masters! Yet they say: 'The moment you open your mouth, you fall into the present moment.' Fortunately, it has nothing to do with it! Shangming unconsciously bowed. Miaoxi said: 'Although you bow, there is still more to the matter.' In the evening he entered the room, and I asked him: 'How old are you this year?' He said: 'Sixty-four.' I asked again: 'Before sixty-four years ago, where did you come from?' He could not open his mouth, and I drove him out, striking him across the spine with a bamboo comb. The next day he came to the room again and said: 'Before sixty-four years ago, I did not yet exist; why does the Venerable ask where I came from?' Miaoxi said: 'Before sixty-four years ago, you could not originally have been in the Zheng family of Fuzhou. Right now, this distinct, solitary clarity that listens to the Dharma and speaks the Dharma—before you were born, where after all was it?' He said: 'I do not know.' Miaoxi said: 'If you do not know, then birth is a great matter. This present life is provisionally limited to a hundred years; after a hundred years, even if you want to fly beyond the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, you must still enter the coffin with it. At that time, the four great elements and five aggregates will disperse all at once: having eyes, you will not see things; having ears, you will not hear sounds; having a fleshy lump of a heart, discrimination will not work; having a body, fire burning and knives cutting will cause no sensation of pain. Arriving here, where will this distinct, solitary clarity go?' He said: 'I do not know either.' Miaoxi said: 'Since you do not know, then death is a great matter. Therefore it is said, "impermanence is swift, birth and death are a great matter"—this is just the principle. Here, cleverness is of no use, and memorization is of no use. I further ask you: all your life you have produced so many particles and grammatical flourishes—on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, which phrase will you use to resist birth and death? You must know clearly the place of coming in birth and going in death before you can succeed. If you do not know, you are merely a fool.' Only then was his mind subdued. From then on, I rescued him from sitting in the wordless and speechless place, and he was willing to apply effort here. Today in this assembly, listening to the Dharma together, you must know that everyone possesses this one great matter: unchanging and unmoving from ancient times to the present. You must neither let your mind go blank nor fix your intention; just keep bringing it to awareness at all times. When delusive thoughts arise, you must also not use the mind to stop them: stopping movement to return to stillness, the stopping causes even greater movement. Right at the point of movement and stillness, examine the huatou—even if Old Man Śākyamuni and Master Bodhidharma were to appear, it is just this. A monk asked Zhaozhou: 'Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?' Zhaozhou said: 'No [Wu].' You petty scholars mostly love to force interpretations, saying: 'This is not the "no" of existence and non-existence, but the "no" of true emptiness, not belonging to worldly voidness.' Speaking like this, can you resist birth and death or not? Since it cannot resist birth and death, it is not yet right. Since it is not yet right, you must bring it to awareness when walking, bring it to awareness when sitting; times of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, times of responding to affairs and socializing—all are times for bringing it to awareness. Bringing it to awareness over and over until it is tasteless, your mind will be just like having a ball of hot iron placed upon it: that time is precisely the good place, do not let go of it! Suddenly the flower of the mind blossoms with light, illuminating the lands of the ten directions; then you will be able, upon the tip of a single hair, to manifest the lands of the Jewel King, and sitting within a fine dust mote, turn the great wheel of the Dharma. When all of you hear such talk, you often say in your minds: 'The old fellow Miaoxi wags his lips and flaps his tongue, speaking plausibly enough, but who knows what is in his belly?' You must know that what Miaoxi can speak is what he can practice; there are no two different things. Therefore, the thirteenth ancestral master of the Western Heaven, the Venerable Kapilamala, wishing to seek a disciple to succeed to the ancestral seat, considered that there must be an eminent person dwelling in the deep mountains and remote valleys, and went in search of him. Thus know that not only do disciples seek masters urgently, masters also seek disciples urgently. Entering the mountains, indeed he saw a man come out to welcome him, saying: 'The deep mountains are lonely and secluded, the dwelling place of dragons and serpents; O most honored Great Worthy, why have you deigned to tread your holy feet here?' The ancestor said: 'I am not the most honored one; I have come to visit a worthy.' The man thought silently: 'Has this master attained the determinate nature and clarified the eye of the Way? Is he a great sage succeeding to the True Vehicle?' The ancestor said: 'Though you spoke in your mind, I already knew it with my intent. Just prepare to leave home; why worry that I am not a sage?' Having heard this, he repented and apologized, whereupon he took refuge with the ancestor and left home—this was the fourteenth ancestral master, Nāgārjuna. Nowadays students of the Way mostly do not doubt themselves, but doubt others instead; therefore it is said: 'Beneath great doubt there must be great awakening.' But tell me, what is awakened to?" After a long pause, he said: "I dare not hold you in contempt; you will all become buddhas." He descended from the seat.

17.8

General Discourses of Chan Master Dahui Pujue, Fascicle 17

Linked texts (1)

大慧普覺禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese