大慧普覺禪師語錄 17.2

17.2

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:"