大慧普覺禪師語錄 20.7

20.7

When will worldly toil in the burning house ever end? If you can attain peace and joy for a single day, that is the model for thousands of myriad days. In a single day, if the mind does not race about seeking, does not indulge in false thoughts, and does not attach to sensory objects, you will tally with all the buddhas and great bodhisattvas of the three times. Without striving to harmonize, you naturally become one piece. The World-Honoured One spoke the parable of the burning house precisely for this reason. The sūtra says: 'This house has only one gate, and it is narrow and small. The children are young and ignorant, clinging fondly to their play places; they may fall and be burned by fire. I must speak to them of fearful matters.' All of this is in the sūtra. That this house has only one gate and is narrow and small means that their faculty of faith is narrow and inferior; being in the burning house, without wisdom they cling to the affairs of worldly toil as joy, not believing that there is the pure, wondrous joy of leaving the burning house to sit in the open ground. If, while inside it, one has full faith and sees through it, not clinging fondly to the childish play places, the mind not racing about seeking, not indulging in false thoughts, and not attaching to sensory objects, then this very burning house and worldly toil is the place of liberation and transcendence of the three realms. Why is this? Has not the Buddha said: 'Toward all objects, have no reliance and no abiding, have no discrimination, clearly seeing the vast establishment of the dharmadhātu, comprehending that all mundane worlds and all dharmas are equal and non-dual.' Therefore, a bodhisattva of the Far-Reaching Ground (Dūraṅgamā-bhūmi), through the power of his own practiced wisdom, surpasses all two vehicles. Though having attained the treasury of the Buddha's realm, he manifests abiding in Māra's realm; though transcending Māra's path, he appears to practice Māra's methods; though manifesting the practices of non-Buddhists, he does not abandon the Buddha-Dharma; though manifesting compliance with all worldly things, he constantly practices all world-transcending dharmas. This is the true expedient means within the burning house and worldly toil. If a student of prajñā abandons this expedient means and complies with worldly toil, he is sure to be seized and held by Māra. Moreover, amid compliant conditions, he forcibly rationalizes, claiming that afflictions are themselves bodhi and ignorance is itself great wisdom; with every step he practices existence, while with every breath he talks of emptiness. Failing to reprove himself for being dragged along by karmic force, he further teaches others to negate cause and effect, saying: 'Drinking wine and eating meat do not hinder bodhi; committing theft and engaging in sexual misconduct do not obstruct prajñā.' With people of this sort, heterodox demons and evil poison have entered their hearts and entrails without them being aware of it at all. Wishing to escape worldly toil, it is like throwing oil to extinguish a fire—is it not lamentable? That the lot of worldly toil is the seed of the Tathāgata is explicitly stated in the teachings: 'Just as lotus flowers do not grow on high plateaus or dry ground, but grow only in low, damp mud.' In the burning house and worldly toil, head bobbing up and down, suffering immeasurable pain, if one suddenly gives rise to disgust and renunciation amid suffering and for the first time generates the mind of unsurpassed bodhi, that the lot of worldly toil is the seed of the Tathāgata refers precisely to this. For laypeople to study the Way is vastly different from home-leavers. Home-leavers stay far away from worldly toil from their youth; their parents are not served sweet delicacies, and their six relations have firmly been abandoned. Their bodies reside in pure monasteries, their eyes behold the purplish-gold sacred images, thought after thought they abide in the Way, mind after mind without interruption. The books they look at are none other than Buddhist books; the affairs they conduct are none other than Buddhist affairs. Seeing nothing desirable, they receive the Buddha's prohibitive precepts; what the Buddha praised, only then do they dare rely upon and practice; what the Buddha rebuked, they dare not transgress. There are clear-eyed ancestral masters they can visit and inquire of, and good friends and companions with whom they can consult and resolve doubts. Even if one has uneliminated habitual defilements and temporarily breaks the Buddha's Vinaya, he is immediately expelled by the assembly. Comparing laypeople to them, they do not match one in ten thousand. Laypeople are in the burning house; within the four deportments, greed, anger, and delusion are their companions; what they do, hear, and see is nothing but evil karma. Yet if they can break through thoroughly in the midst of this, their strength will surpass that of us home-leavers by hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of times. Once you have broken through thoroughly, only then can you speak of afflictions being bodhi and ignorance being great wisdom. Within the originally vast, quiescent, wondrous mind, it is pure, round, and bright, utterly empty without a single thing that can serve as an obstruction, just like vast space. The single character 'Buddha' is also an external thing, not to mention having worldly toil, afflictions, and affectionate attachments set in opposition! Once you have broken through thoroughly within the burning house, there is no need to seek to leave home, acting weird and bizarre, altering your appearance and destroying your robes, extinguishing natural disposition, cutting off ancestral offerings, and becoming a transgressor against the orthodox moral teachings. The Buddha did not teach people to do this; he only said: 'To those who can be liberated by the body of a Buddha, he manifests the body of a Buddha and preaches the Dharma for them; to those who can be liberated by the body of an official, he manifests the body of an official and preaches the Dharma for them; down to those who can be liberated by the body of a monk, nun, layman, or laywoman, he manifests all of these and preaches the Dharma for them.' Furthermore, it says: 'Managing livelihood and industries all accords with the correct principle and does not contradict the true mark.' Merely keep to your own duty, transform those of your own kind according to what you have realized, and enter this gate together—this is repaying the Buddha's profound kindness. Just do not let thought after thought be interrupted; never mind whether you attain it or not. Even if in the past you lacked affinity with prajñā and do not break through thoroughly in this life, when facing the end of life you will not be dragged away by evil karma; throughout the twelve periods of the day in daily activities, you will not be trapped by worldly toil; and when you emerge in future lives, you will also attain ready-made enjoyment. Studying the Way has no other technique; taking awakening as the standard. If you do not awaken in this life, even if you exhaust your strength to the end of future time, constantly preserve this mind. Though you have not awakened in this life, you have also planted the seed of prajñā on the nature-ground; life after life you will not fall into evil destinies, birth after birth you will not lose a human body, you will not be born into a family of wrong views, and you will not enter the ranks of Māra's army—how much more so if the mind-flower suddenly blossoms! At that time, you will have a share in the verification of all buddhas of the three times, and all the great ancestral masters will have nowhere to place you. This is not forced; the Dharma is just so. If Daoist Zhenru wishes to study this Way, just apply effort according to this; after a long time you will naturally bump into it. What was said above is merely dispensing medicine according to the illness for a given time; if you take it as real Dharma, you will be wrong again. An ancient said: 'Seeing the moon, stop looking at the finger; returning home, cease asking the route.' Writing to this point, although my inspiration was not yet exhausted, the paper was finished, so I temporarily cut off the entanglements. After several more days, Daoist Zhenru again joined and pasted this scroll, coming to express thanks, saying: 'Hearing that the teacher's inspiration had not yet ended the other day, I hope for flowers to be added onto the brocade; I wonder if it may be permitted?' I replied to him: 'Having unfolded, it does not shrink.' Again I continued these entanglements for him, saying: 'Having returned home, one naturally does not ask the route; having seen the true moon, one naturally does not look at the finger.' The Buddha expounded the entire great canon of teachings—three thousand major parables and eight hundred minor parables, sudden and gradual, biased and round, provisional and real, half and full—none of which is not this principle. The Vimalakīrti says: 'Rely on the meaning, not on the words; rely on the sūtras of definitive meaning, not on the sūtras of non-definitive meaning.' The Buddha only spoke of entering the meaning by relying on words, not entering words by relying on the meaning. The thousands of differences and myriad distinctions of the Chan school, its various phrases, are also like this. Practitioners of the Way nowadays, whether monks or laity, all have two major sicknesses: one is learning many phrases, forming extraordinary notions within phrases; the other is being unable to see the moon and forget the finger so as to awaken and enter through phrases, and upon hearing it said that the Buddha-Dharma and Chan Way do not lie in phrases, they completely reject them, persistently closing their brows and shutting their eyes, putting on a dead appearance, calling it sitting quietly contemplating the mind in silent illumination. They further use this wrong view to entice ignorant, mediocre types, saying: 'If you can attain stillness for one day, that is one day's effort.' How distressing! Little do they know that this is all the livelihood of ghosts. Only when one rids oneself of these two major sicknesses can one begin to have a share in study and inquiry. A sūtra says: 'Do not attach to what sentient beings speak of, all conditioned, false matters; although not relying on the path of speech, neither attach to having no speech.' It also says: 'Contemplate words and meaning as neither different nor not different; contemplate meaning and words in the same way. If words were different from meaning, then one would not distinguish meaning by relying on words; yet entering meaning by relying on words is like a lamp illuminating form.' Therefore it is said: 'Rely on the meaning, not on the words; rely on the sūtras of definitive meaning, not on the sūtras of non-definitive meaning.' If the two sicknesses of speech and silence cannot be eliminated, they will definitely obstruct the Way; one cannot fail to know this. Only after fully knowing this can one have a share in progressing toward the goal. First of all, do not treat what you understand as your career, no longer seeking wondrous awakening, saying 'I know and others do not know, I understand and others do not understand,' falling into the net of self-view, driven by the mark of self, generating a notion of satisfaction in the midst of insufficiency—this illness is especially severe. Toward these two sicknesses of speech and silence, fine physicians fold their hands. If this illness is not eliminated, one is called a person of overweening pride and wrong views. Only someone with spiritual bones from past lives can reach here and attain a path of turning the body around. Once able to turn the body around, one can turn things; only once able to turn things can one be called a person of definitive meaning. Once one comprehends its meaning, one comprehends this mind; once one comprehends this mind, try to examine it subtly at the place of comprehension—originally there is nothing to comprehend. At the place where there is nothing to comprehend, pick it up and walk on. Sometimes hold up a single stalk of grass to make a sixteen-foot golden body; sometimes take the sixteen-foot golden body and turn it into a single stalk of grass. With various transformations, fulfilling all dharmas and destroying all dharmas, topsy-turvy and chaotic, none of it goes outside this mind that has nothing to comprehend. Exactly at such a time, it is not Tathāgata Chan, it is not Patriarchal Chan, it is not mind-nature Chan, it is not silent illumination Chan, it is not stick-and-shout Chan, it is not Chan of cessation, it is not Chan of extremes, it is not the Chan of a special transmission outside the teachings, it is not the Chan of the five lineages, and it is not Chan fabricated by old man Miaoxi. Since it is not Chan as described above, what ultimately is it? Arriving here, do not say others cannot comprehend it; old man Miaoxi himself also cannot comprehend it. Daoist Zhenru, please see for yourself.