大慧普覺禪師語錄 21.9

21.9

Since you already know of this matter of the great cause and that it is definitely not obtained from another person, it is best to suddenly cast off external dust and at all times investigate beneath your own heels. Investigating back and forth, internally you do not see a mind capable of investigating, and externally you do not see an object that is investigated: cleanly stripped and starkly exposed, with nothing to take hold of. It is like setting a gourd upon the water: untouched by anyone, it constantly drifts freely—it cannot be tethered, it cannot be snagged; prodded, it moves at once; touched, it turns at once. Being free like this, swift like this, spiritually miraculous like this, it does not share the same path with the thousand sages, nor does it borrow from patch-robed monks; directly able to command the buddhas and patriarchs, the buddhas and patriarchs cannot command it. When someone knows such a matter, they should rouse their spirits and quickly take a step forward from the top of the hundred-foot pole. If you can take this step, you will be no different from the youth Sudhana, who within a single pore-realm of Samantabhadra, in taking a single step, traversed worlds as numerous as the dust motes of inexpressibly inexpressible buddha-realms. Walking in this way, even exhausting all future kalpas, one still cannot know the succession of the ocean of realms within a single pore, the treasury of the ocean of realms, the distinctions of the ocean of realms, the universal entry of the ocean of realms, the formation of the ocean of realms, the destruction of the ocean of realms, and all the limits of the adornments of the ocean of realms. Such a realm as this is also not obtained by raising the mind, applying the intellect, and practicing to verify from the outside; it is simply the principle fundamentally complete beneath one's own heels. Have you not seen that Reverend Deshan said: "If you simply have no affairs in the mind and no mind in affairs," then you will be vacuous yet miraculous, empty yet wondrous. If you speak of roots and branches to the extent of a hair's tip, all of it is self-deception. Why so? A hairsbreadth of clinging thought is the karmic cause for the three evil destinies; a flash of emotional attachment becomes the shackles of ten thousand kalpas. Holy titles and mundane names are all empty sounds; extraordinary marks and inferior forms are all illusory shapes. If you wish to seek them, how could you be free of entanglement? And when it comes to being averse to them, that again becomes a great affliction. Speaking in such a manner is striking a stone person's head with a staff—clanging soundly, discussing real affairs! What was said earlier—internally not seeing a mind capable of investigating and externally not seeing an object investigated—is precisely this principle. If you look into this principle on the basis of affairs, it is quick; if you deliberate and speculate from beneath the intellect, you will drift further and further away. Therefore, old Śākya in the Lotus assembly only delivered an eight-year-old girl; in the Avataṃsaka assembly, he only delivered a boy; in the Nirvāṇa assembly, he only delivered a butcher. Look at the ways these three became buddhas: did they ever seek verification externally or study with arduous practice? The Buddha merely said: "I now preserve this matter for you; it will never be in vain." He only spoke of preserving it for them, and never said that there is a Dharma to be transmitted, making you chase outside and only then become a buddha. Fortunately having such an archetype, why do you not believe? If you can directly have complete faith, neither chasing externally nor seeking verification within the mind, then during the twelve periods of the day you will be liberated everywhere. Why so? Since you do not chase externally, the mind within is calm and quiet; since you do not seek verification within the mind, external objects are tranquil and serene. Therefore an ancestral master said: "External conditions have neither good nor ugly; good and ugly arise from the mind. If the mind does not force names, from where could delusional sentiment arise? When delusional sentiment no longer arises, the true mind is free to know everywhere." You should know that the inner mind and external objects are just one matter; under no circumstances view them as two kinds of things. Remember that Guishan asked Yangshan: "The wondrous, pure, bright mind—how do you understand it?" Yangshan said: "Mountains, rivers, and the great earth; the sun, moon, stars, and constellations." Guishan said: "You only attain its phenomena." Yangshan said: "What did the Venerable Monk ask just now?" Guishan said: "The wondrous, pure, bright mind." Yangshan said: "Can it be called phenomena?" Guishan said: "So it is, so it is." Surveillance Commissioner Shizhong, born into an illustrious and noble family, has not been imprisoned by wealth and rank; having planted roots of virtue long ago, you naturally know that there is this inconceivable matter, which can serve as a boat and raft, as support and reliance, at the edge of the shore of birth and death. Therefore, you frequently take a step back and are willing to investigate beneath your heels. Hence I have established the style name Layman Miaojing for you. Shizhong, exert yourself! In walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, in moments of haste and upheaval, do not forget the meaning of the wondrous, pure, bright mind. When stray thoughts arise, there is no need to forcefully dispel them; simply bring up the monk asking Zhaozhou: "Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?" and Zhou saying: "No." Bringing it up back and forth, even the one who brings up the words is not seen to exist. Even this knowing that does not see anything as existing is also not seen to exist. Thereafter, these words too have nowhere to be received. Suddenly, in the place of having nowhere to be received, you will unwittingly burst into loud laughter; at that very instant, it is the place of returning home and sitting securely. Many words and much talk, on the contrary, only dull and impede you; let us cut off the vines.