大慧普覺禪師語錄 22

English (machine translation) 22

Language: English

22.1

Presented to the Emperor by his servant Yunwen, Abbot of Nengren Chan Monastery at Jingshan under the Song, Dharma Heir, and Chan Master Huiri

22.2

Instructions to Layman Kuairan (Magistrate Luo)

Layman Kuairan, Luo Zongyue, came expressly in the late spring of the dingchou year of the Shaoxing era [1157] to Mount Mao to see Miaoxi [Dahui], wishing to thoroughly investigate this great matter of the cause and condition. Repeatedly accompanying the assembly into my room, he displayed his tricks and flaunted his understandings, all of which I cast down. One day, suddenly seeing joy on his brow, I knew that he was 'peeking at a leopard through a tube,' turning his body and moving his brain, and already had a verse in his sleeve, though he had not brought it out. Miaoxi immediately turned the mechanism for him; although he was not yet able to leap stark-naked out of the tangle of vines, he nevertheless came to know that rice is made from grain and flour is in the wheat. Right at the moment when he should have applied effort, he abruptly came to bid farewell, saying, 'I must urgently return to marry off my daughter.' Coming with this scroll, he begged for the principles of undertaking the practice. In the past, Layman Pang said: 'I have a boy who does not marry, / I have a girl who does not wed. / The whole family gathered in a circle, / Together we speak the discourse of the unproduced.' Later, during the Yuanfeng era, there was a scholar called Layman Wuwei, surnamed Yang, named Jie, and styled Cigong, who had practiced under the elders and genuinely obtained power within the Chan school; he once matched Layman Pang's verse, saying: 'When a boy is grown he must marry; / When a girl is of age she must wed. / Why waste leisure effort / To speak yet more of the unproduced?' These two secular fellows took that piece of field of the permanent property of the ten directions, and without going to the authorities to have it stamped with an official deed, each marked out territories and drew boundaries, saying 'I know it exists,' and constantly proclaimed themselves venerable in places where there is no Buddha. At that time there was also a monk who was ill at ease with this, called Chan Master Haiyin Xin, who was residing at Dinghui in Suzhou at the time. Seeing this verse by Wuwei, he too composed a verse: 'I have no boy to marry, / Nor do I have a girl to wed. / When weary, I just lie down to sleep; / Who cares about the discourse of the unproduced?' With these three old fellows uttering these three verses, Layman Kuairan makes contact when he opens his eyes, makes contact when he closes his eyes, and makes contact when he neither opens nor closes them. Miaoxi can only watch from the cold sidelines. While I do watch, in the end does Layman Kuairan make contact at the place where the eyes are opened? Does he make contact at the place where the eyes are closed? Or does he make contact at the place where they are neither opened nor closed? If he makes contact at the place where the eyes are opened, he falls into Layman Pang's trap; if he makes contact at the place where the eyes are closed, he falls into Yang Wuwei's trap; if he makes contact at the place where they are neither opened nor closed, he falls into Chan Master Haiyin's trap. Seeing me speak like this, Kuairan will surely say, 'It is completely not like that.' If it is completely not like that, he falls once again into Miaoxi's trap. It is easy to get out of the three elders' traps, but hard to get out of Miaoxi's trap. In the end, how can Kuairan get out? Wait until you return to Yanping and have married off your daughter, then come back leisurely, and I will explain it thoroughly for you. Because I recall a verse by an ancient worthy, I also write it after this, hoping that Kuairan will not take root halfway—this too is solely out of the earnestness of a grandmotherly mind. The verse says: 'Studying the Way is like drilling for fire: / When you meet smoke, do not stop; / Only when the golden sparks appear / And you return home have you reached the end.' There is yet another questioning prompt: where, after all, is the home to which Kuairan returns? If you penetrate this one question, marrying off sons and daughters is all contained within it; if you have not yet recognized home, your karmic consciousness will be vast and boundless, running completely outside, and you will not be able to blame Miaoxi.

22.4

Instruction for Layman Miaoxin (Vice Prefect Sun Changwen)

22.5

If you are determined to thoroughly investigate this matter, you must fling away to another world all your former cleverness in speaking of principles, what you have memorized in words and language, and what you have calculated and measured within the mind, intent, and consciousness—you must not let a single hair's tip remain placed within your chest. Once it is swept away completely clean, only then, toward the place that thoughts and deliberations do not reach, try to take a step forward and see. If you can take this step, you will be just like the Youth Sudhana in Samantabhadra's pore-lands, where with one step he traversed worlds as numerous as the dust motes of ineffably ineffable buddha-lands. Walking thus, even to the exhaustion of future kalpas, he still could not know the limits of the sequence of land-oceans, the storehouses of land-oceans, the distinctions of land-oceans, the universal entrance into land-oceans, the formation of land-oceans, the destruction of land-oceans, and the adornment of land-oceans within a single pore; nor could he know the limits of the sequence of buddha-oceans, the storehouses of buddha-oceans, the distinctions of buddha-oceans, the universal entrance into buddha-oceans, the appearance of buddha-oceans, and the cessation of buddha-oceans; nor could he know the limits of the sequence of bodhisattva-assembly oceans, the storehouses of bodhisattva-assembly oceans, the distinctions of bodhisattva-assembly oceans, the universal entrance into bodhisattva-assembly oceans, the gathering of bodhisattva-assembly oceans, and the dispersing of bodhisattva-assembly oceans. Knowing the roots of sentient beings entering the realms of ghosts, the wisdom to teach and tame sentient beings, the profound self-mastery in which bodhisattvas abide, the stages and paths that bodhisattvas enter—the limits of all such oceans—one truly knows that being free of thoughts and free of contrivance possesses such merit. Although this step is said to be difficult to take, if you have planted the seed of wholesome roots in the past, just look toward the place where you have firm faith; looking and looking, inwardly having nowhere to abide and outwardly having no conditioning objects, unconsciously and unwittingly you drop the cloth bag. At such a time, only then will you know that what Layman Pang said—'No-thought is the Qingliang Monastery, / The emptiness of the aggregates is the true Mount Wutai. / Facing objects, the mind is free of defilement; / Confronting circumstances, the mind is dead ashes. / The wondrous principle manifests within it, / The udumbara blooms in empty space. / Seeking nothing is the true dharma eye; / Leaving behind characteristics, one is the Tathāgata. / If one can study like this, / Unmoving, one transcends the three disasters'—are true words, real words, not deceiving and not false. Nevertheless, do not, upon seeing such talk, go to the place of non-contrivance and inaction, close your eyebrows and shut your eyes, adopting a dead posture, calling it 'silent and constantly illuminating,' holding tight to the monkey's leash for fear that it will jump around. Ancient worthies called this an 'outsider falling into empty annihilation' and a 'corpse whose soul has not dispersed.' If you truly wish to cut off the birth and death of the mind, wash away the defilements of the mind, and fell the dense forest of the mind, you must take a stick and beat this monkey to death before you can succeed. If you persistently hold fast to the end of the leash and tame the mind, I say this person's grasping lacks proper measure, and is truly pitiable. Viewing it with the correct eye, they are all heavenly demons, outsiders, and mountain goblins and specters, not of our household. This matter requires someone forged of solid steel and cast of pig iron to shoulder it; if you have the intention to shoulder it, you miss it once again. Out of necessity, seeing that you have lost the path, the ancients merely acted as guides pointing out the road for you, but there is no Chan path or Buddhadharma that can be transmitted or conferred. As soon as one says there is transmission and reception, that is an incorrect teaching. Why so? Do you not see that the Vajracchedikā Sūtra says: 'If someone says that the Tathāgata has expounded any Dharma, that is slandering the Buddha, and this person does not understand the meaning of what I have expounded'? It also says: 'Even the Dharma should be relinquished, how much more so what is non-Dharma?' Truly speaking, to speak of suchness and buddha-nature, to speak of bodhi and nirvāṇa, to speak of principle and phenomena, to speak of the incorrect and the correct—all of this is non-Dharma. How could one further speak of having something profound and wondrous that can be transmitted and conferred? Do you not see that a former worthy had a saying: 'Speaking of studying the Way is already words of expedient guidance; when did it ever teach you to set up models and draw likenesses, running and seeking outside on purpose?' Therefore it is said: 'Attempting to use the mind and intention to study the profound school / Is just like heading west but turning toward the east.' Linji said: 'If you only cease your mind of running and seeking from thought to thought, you will not be different from old Śākyamuni. The mind of seventh-stage bodhisattvas seeking the Buddha's wisdom has not yet ceased, and is called the affliction of dharma-dust. Since you have a determined resolve, there will certainly be a time when you obtain an entryway.' And what is the time when one obtains an entryway? It is the moment when with an abrupt outburst the breath of consciousness is extinguished. The Buddha said: 'The principle is suddenly awakened to, / And upon awakening, all is simultaneously dissolved; / Phenomena are not suddenly removed, / But are exhausted according to sequence.' If you wish to recognize these principles, it is just like Sudhana hearing Maitreya's snap of the fingers, whereupon the doors of the pavilion opened; Sudhana's mind was filled with joy, and having entered, they closed again; or Xiangyan hearing the sound of striking the bamboo and suddenly awakening, whereupon he was able to say: 'With a single strike, what was known is forgotten, / No longer relying on cultivation and cure. / Moving the countenance to propagate the ancient road, / Not falling into silent mechanisms'—and things of this kind. One's own place of awakening, one's own place of peace and joy, one's own place of gaining strength are unknown to others and cannot be brought out and shown to people; except for those who have already awakened, already attained peace and joy, and already gained strength, upon a single meeting they silently tally with each other. If the feeling of doubt is not yet broken, merely look at an ancient's huatou for entering the Way; shift all the mind that generates deluded thoughts day after day onto the huatou, and then nothing else will function. A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'Does even a dog have buddha-nature or not?' Zhaozhou said, 'No (wu).' This single word is the knife that severs the road of birth and death. When deluded thoughts arise, merely raise the word wu; raising it again and again, when news is abruptly cut off, that is the place where you return home and sit securely. Other than this there is nothing extraordinary, and the previously mentioned step that is difficult to take will unwittingly and abruptly be crossed.

22.6

Instruction for Lady of Yongning Commandery (Residence of Grand Councilor Zheng)

22.7

Once you know that impermanence is swift and the matter of birth and death is great, you must definitely resolve to draw near to good spiritual friends, toiling diligently and tirelessly day and night, always pasting the two words 'birth and death' onto your forehead: while taking tea, while eating rice, when sitting, when lying down, when directing servants, when handling household affairs, when joyful, when angry, when walking, when staying still, when entertaining guests—never letting go of them. Always feel as though there is an urgent, unresolved matter blocking your chest, and you must definitively resolve to clear it away and cleanse it entirely; only then will there be some small degree of accord. If you only begin to exert yourself anxiously when you see an ancestral master speaking, and then slack off again when he is not speaking, this means you lack a determined resolve, and to wish for the root of birth and death to be severed will be impossible. This matter does not depend on male or female, monk or layperson; if beneath a single word of an ancestral master there is a snap and a break, that is the place of thorough breakthrough.

The Buddha's preaching of the parable of the burning house was solely to open an expedient gateway for sentient beings and display the true mark, speaking with utter, piercing earnestness. Within it he said: 'This house has only one gate, which is moreover narrow and small; the children are young and infantile, having as yet no knowledge.' This means that the faculties of sentient beings are narrow and inferior, lacking determined resolve, clinging affectionately to the dust and toil of birth and death, sinking and surfacing amid the worldly toil, unable to abandon and leave the burning house of the triple realm. Therefore, he set up various expedients, to make sentient beings abandon the expedients and directly exit the burning house to sit in the open ground. This is Old Śākya's utterly grandmotherly heart.

Whenever you read the scriptures and teachings or the ancient worthies' causes and conditions for entering the Way, you must look at the moon and forget the finger; on no account must you become muddled and stuck in words and phrases. If you search for the abstruse and wondrous upon words and seek what is extraordinary within speech, practicing in such a place, you will lose the expedient. Miaoxi has never had any real dharma to give people; he simply closes the case based on the confession, baring his heart and speaking clearly and directly to others about what he has awakened to in his life. If there are those who have full faith in it and practice accordingly, though upon first hearing it said it may seem difficult to undertake, yet if that person has planted the seeds of prajñā from beginningless time, the moment it is brought up, their eyebrows will stand erect and their eyes will be fixed and motionless.

In years past, when this old monk first resided on this mountain, in the Xu household of Changzhou there was a Daoist named Wuzhuo, whose dharma name was Miaozong. At thirty years of age she already practiced austerities with determination, visiting venerables and seniors in every quarter, receiving certification from them all. However, because she genuinely feared the suffering of birth and death and wished to truly understand where her original destiny and primary constellation ended up, she specifically came to the mountain to spend the summer. At that time, one thousand seven hundred patch-robed monks were spending the summer together, and Vice Director Feng Jichuan was also following the assembly at the Budong Pavilion on this mountain. One day, on the occasion of this old monk ascending the high seat, I cited Venerable Yaoshan's first visit to Shitou, when he asked Shitou, 'As for the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teachings, I have roughly investigated them. I have heard that in the south there is the direct pointing to the human mind and seeing nature to become a buddha, but I truly do not understand it; I beg the master to give instruction.' Shitou said: 'Thus will not do; not thus will not do; thus and not thus will entirely not do.' Yaoshan did not accord with it. Shitou said: 'Go to Jiangxi to ask Great Master Ma.' Yaoshan followed the instruction and went to Great Master Ma's place, asking as before. Great Master Ma said: 'Sometimes I have him raise his eyebrows and blink his eyes; sometimes I do not have him raise his eyebrows and blink his eyes. Sometimes having him raise his eyebrows and blink his eyes is right; sometimes having him raise his eyebrows and blink his eyes is not right.' Yaoshan had a great awakening under these words, having no further tricks to present; he only bowed his head in prostration. Great Master Ma said: 'What principle did you see that you bow?' Yaoshan said: 'When I was at Venerable Shitou's place, it was just like a mosquito on an iron ox.' Great Master Ma affirmed it. At that time, as soon as I brought this up again on the high seat, Wuzhuo suddenly awakened under the words, yet after descending from the seat she did not come to convey the news.

At that time, Feng Jichuan followed behind this old monk up to the abbot's quarters and said: 'I have understood.' This old monk asked him: 'Layman, how is it?' Jichuan said: ''Thus will not do'—suru svāhā; 'not thus will not do'—sili svāhā; 'thus and not thus will entirely not do'—suru sili svāhā.' This old monk neither said he was right nor said he was wrong, but brought up Jichuan's words to Wuzhuo. Wuzhuo said: 'I once saw Guo Xiang's commentary on the Zhuangzi; one who knew remarked, 'Rather, it is the Zhuangzi commenting on Guo Xiang.'' Seeing the singularity of her words, this old monk did not question her further, but brought up the case of Yantou and the old woman to question her. Wuzhuo then composed a verse, saying:
'A single leaf of a flat boat floats upon the vast expanse, / Displaying the oars and dancing with the paddles, apart from gong and shang; / Cloud-clad mountains and the sea moon are both cast aside, / Winning Zhuang Zhou's butterfly dream at its longest.'
This old monk then also let it rest.

A year later, Jichuan suspected she was not authentic, and specially invited Wuzhuo from Pingjiang to come into his boat, asking: 'The old woman gave birth to seven sons; six met no intimate knower, and since even this one was of no use, she threw him into the river. The Teacher says: 'The Daoist understood.' Now, how do you understand it?' Wuzhuo said: 'All the confessions above are entirely the truth.' Jichuan was greatly astonished.

Furthermore, she once came into the room, and this old monk asked her: 'The ancients did not step out of the abbot's quarters; why did you go to the estate to eat fried oil cakes?' Wuzhuo said: 'If the Venerable lets Miaozong pass, only then will Miaozong dare to convey news.' This old monk said to her: 'I let you pass; try to speak.' Wuzhuo said: 'Miaozong also lets the Venerable pass.' This old monk said: 'What can you do about the fried oil cakes?' Wuzhuo gave a shout and walked right out. At that time the entire assembly heard her reply like this. See how, having barely obtained a drop of water, she knew how to stir up waves! This was because she had broken free from worldly ties, having long had faith in this one move, and although she had once had her face stamped broken by heterodox masters, she was able to step back, know what was wrong, and resolve to take awakening as the norm; therefore, the moment she saw a good spiritual friend bring it up, she settled everything beneath the words.

Lady Cao, Shanyin, of the Yongning Commandery, is bright, quick-witted, and possesses wise discernment. Knowing that there is this matter of the great cause, which can definitively transcend birth and death without being entangled by the matters of worldly toil, although she is in wealth and nobility, she is not ensnared by wealth and nobility. She also wished to step back and draw near to a good spiritual friend to resolve the great matter of birth and death, but had simply not met a true spiritual friend to arouse and inspire her. Recently in the city, because Commissioner Zheng invited me to his garden hermitage to preach the Dharma, Shanyin heard this old monk bring up and sustain this matter of the great cause, whereupon her fundamental nature was perfumed and aroused; immediately her body and mind became settled and tranquil. Although she has not yet been able to break through completely, she has already recognized the many false and untrue matters within the burning house and worldly toil: when the thirtieth day of the twelfth month arrives, affection and love cannot be used, power cannot be used, wealth and treasure cannot be used, temperament cannot be used, official rank cannot be used, and wealth and nobility cannot be used. When the light of the eyes falls to the ground, only the two paths of conditions—the good and the evil created throughout one's past life—will appear one by one before you. If you have done much evil and little good, you will drift away following your bad karma; if you have done little evil and much good, you will follow your good karma to be born in human or heavenly realms or into households of the ten virtues. Having realized that these two paths are both illusory, one then gives rise to a mind of courageous vigor, firm and non-regressing, definitively wishing to transcend sentiment, leave views behind, and break through birth and death, so that on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, neither the path of good nor the path of evil can detain me.

Knowing that there is such an extraordinary matter, yet fearing that within the burning house she would not be able to draw near to a good spiritual friend at all times, she specially ascended Jingshan to stay for ten days, following the assembly to hear the Dharma, steeping herself in good conditions, and making a great vow never to regress. Upon her departure, she requested instruction with this scroll, wishing to use it within the burning house to constantly alert and awaken herself. This old monk praises her courageous aspiration as different from ordinary people, and therefore I cite this case of Daoist Wuzhuo's entry into the Way, to make her see the worthy and strive to equal her. In the future, if two Wuzhuos emerge from Miaoxi's assembly, will that not be of great benefit as seeds of radiance for the final age? Strive on! Strive on!

22.8

Instruction to Layman Miaozhi (Fang Wude, Auxiliary Academician)

22.9

Where all the buddhas and patriarchs from of old have truly acted on behalf of others, they first instructed them to establish a determined resolve. What is called a determined resolve means being determined to have the mind-ground opened up in this very life, directly reaching the unobstructed realm of great rest and great liberation of all buddhas and patriarchs. Without a determined resolve, there is no resolute faith. Did the Buddha not say: 'Faith is the source of the Way and the mother of merit, nurturing all wholesome dharmas'? He also said: 'Faith can increase the merit of wisdom; faith can surely lead to the Tathāgata-ground.' The Tathāgata-ground is precisely the realm of great rest and great liberation. In former times, when a monk asked Chan Master Guizong Shiyan, 'What is the Buddha?', Guizong said, 'If I tell you, will you believe?' The monk said, 'The Venerable's sincere words—how dare I not believe?' Guizong said, 'It is just you yourself.' Hearing Guizong's words, the monk reflected and examined them carefully, and after a long pause said, 'If it is just I myself who am Buddha, then how should I preserve and maintain it?' Guizong said, 'When a single cataract is in the eye, flowers in the sky fall in confusion.' Upon these words, that monk suddenly had a breakthrough and awakened. This monk initially lacked resolute faith; upon hearing Guizong's words of direct pointing, he still harboured doubts and sought preservation and maintenance before he could trust himself. Guizong's grandmotherly heart was earnest: right where the monk was contrary and clinging, he wielded the vajra-king precious sword and struck straight across his face; only then, while standing on one foot atop a ten-thousand-fathom cliff, did that monk, struck by Guizong, become willing to let go of his body and relinquish his life. Furthermore, Master Luoshan Fabao once posed a question to Shishuang Puhui: 'What about when arising and ceasing do not stop?' Shishuang said, 'You must simply be cold ashes and withered wood; you must let a single thought span ten thousand years; you must let box and lid fit together; you must be completely pure without a speck.' Luoshan did not accord with this, and taking these words, he questioned Yantou. Before the sound of his question had ended, Yantou shook with majestic power, gave a shout, and said, 'Who is it that arises and ceases?' Upon these words, Luoshan was greatly enlightened. Furthermore, the teachings state that when a bodhisattva practices, advancing from the first ground into the eighth, the Immovable Ground, he is an advanced practitioner, hard to comprehend, without differentiation. Free from all marks, all thoughts, and all attachments, he is beyond what all the immeasurable and boundless śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas can reach. Free from all disputes, quiescence becomes manifest before him, up to entering the samādhi of cessation, where all movements of mind, recollections, and conceptual discriminations completely cease. This means that from the first ground up to the eighth, the Immovable Ground, a bodhisattva relinquishes all purposeful practice and attains the unconditioned dharma; bodily, vocal, and mental actions and all thought-tasks completely cease, meaning that a second thought does not arise. Fearing that people would not understand, the text further draws an analogy: 'Suppose a person in a dream sees his own body falling into a great river. In order to cross over, he summons great courage and applies great expedients. Because of summoning great courage and applying expedients, he immediately awakens. Once awakened, all his strivings cease.' The bodhisattva is also like this: seeing that sentient beings are amidst the four floods, in order to rescue and cross them over, he summons great courage and gives rise to great vigor. Through courageous vigor, he reaches the Immovable Ground; having arrived here, all purposeful effort ceases without exception. Just as when born into the Brahmā world, the afflictions of the desire realm do not appear, so too when abiding in the Immovable Ground, all activities of mind, intellect, and consciousness do not appear. For an eighth-ground bodhisattva, even the buddha-mind, bodhisattva-mind, bodhi-mind, and nirvāṇa-mind do not arise and appear, so how much less could worldly thoughts arise? When the worldly mind is extinguished, the quiescent mind becomes manifest before him; when the quiescent mind becomes manifest, the dharma gates taught by buddhas as numerous as grains of sand instantly appear before him. Once the dharma gates appear before him, this is the true realm of quiescence. Only upon reaching this realm can one arouse loving-kindness, exercise compassion, and perform all kinds of beneficial deeds. This also comes from a determined resolve, accomplished by relying on resolute faith. If one lacks a determined resolve, one cannot deeply enter the Tathāgata's great sea of quiescence. Without resolute faith, one cannot freely move within the words and phrases of the ancients or the texts of the doctrinal vehicles. For example, when the Sixth Patriarch explained the meaning of permanence and impermanence for Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi, Che asked the Patriarch: 'Your disciple has read the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, but has not understood the meaning of permanence and impermanence. I beg the Master in his compassion to explain it briefly.' The Patriarch said: 'That which is impermanent is the buddha-nature; that which is permanent is the mind that discriminates all dharmas, good and bad.' Che said: 'What the Venerable says greatly contradicts the text of the sūtra.' The Patriarch said: 'I transmit the Buddha's mind-seal; how could I dare contradict the Buddha's sūtras?' Che said: 'The sūtra says that the buddha-nature is permanent, but the Venerable says it is impermanent; all dharmas, good and bad, up to the bodhi-mind, are impermanent, yet the Venerable says they are permanent. This contradicts it, causing the student to become all the more doubtful.' The Patriarch said: 'Regarding the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, formerly I heard the nun Wujinzang recite it through once, and I immediately explained it for her, without a single word or meaning failing to accord with the text of the sūtra; even in explaining it for you, there is ultimately no divergence.' Che said: 'The student's capacity of understanding is shallow and benighted; I hope the Venerable will provide a detailed and condescending explanation.' The Patriarch said: 'Do you know? If the buddha-nature were permanent, what need would there be to speak of all dharmas, good and bad, and up to the end of kalpas not a single person would give rise to the bodhi-mind. Therefore, my saying it is impermanent is precisely the Path of true permanence spoken by the Buddha. Furthermore, if all dharmas were impermanent, then each thing would have its own self-nature, enduring birth and death, and the nature of true permanence would have places where it is not all-pervasive. Therefore, my saying it is permanent is precisely the meaning of true impermanence spoken by the Buddha. Formerly, because ordinary people and non-Buddhists clung to a false permanence, and the practitioners of the two vehicles conceptualized impermanence regarding the permanent, together forming the eight inversions, the Buddha, in the definitive teaching of the Mahāparinirvāṇa, refuted their biased views and manifestly expounded true permanence, true bliss, true self, and true purity. Now, following the words, you turn your back on the meaning, using nihilistic impermanence and fixed, dead permanence to misunderstand the Buddha's perfectly subtle final words. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit would there be?' This too was an instance where Chan Master Che, within his determined resolve, relied on resolute faith and elicited the Patriarch's definitive discourse. I also recall that An of the Śūraṅgama was reading the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, and coming to the passage 'Establishing knowledge upon seeing and knowing is the root of fundamental ignorance; seeing and knowing without seeing is nirvāṇa,' he unconsciously punctuated the reading, reciting: 'When seeing and knowing are established, knowing is the root of fundamental ignorance; when seeing and knowing are absent, seeing this is nirvāṇa.' He pondered for a long time and was suddenly greatly enlightened. Later, whenever he read this sūtra, he followed his enlightenment for the rest of his life, no longer adhering to the literal text of the sūtra. This also is an instance of being within a determined resolve, relying on resolute faith, and relying on the meaning rather than the words. Layman Miaozhi has a determined resolve and relies on resolute faith, working diligently and untiringly on this one great matter of causal conditions, taking thorough verification without doubt as his definitive meaning—he has only not yet had the single burst. Because he used this scroll to seek instruction, I have cited several entanglements—the Patriarch for Chan Master Zhiche, Yantou for Luoshan, and An of the Śūraṅgama's punctuating the reading of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra and awakening to the Way—simply to serve as a tally and deed for his bursting forth in the future.

22.10

Instruction to Grand Marshal Zhang (Yizhi)

22.11

The Buddha said: 'If anyone wishes to know the realm of the Buddha, he should purify his mind to be like empty space, leaving far behind delusive thoughts and all grasping, making the direction of his mind entirely unobstructed.' The realm of the Buddha is precisely the immediate perception of one's own mind, the unchanging, immovable essence. The single word 'Buddha' also has no place to alight upon the essence of one's own mind; this word is merely borrowed to awaken to it. How is this known? 'Buddha' has the meaning of awakening. Because from beginningless time sentient beings do not believe that their own mind's immediate perception is originally complete in itself, and instead follow after adventitious defilements, wandering through the three realms and suffering various pains, when the marks of suffering appear, the essence of their own mind's immediate perception drifts along with suffering. Therefore, all buddhas, pitying sentient beings' drifting, borrow the word 'Buddha' to awaken them. Once awakened, the single word 'Buddha' also has no use. The Buddha is medicine for sentient beings; once the sentient beings' disease is removed, the Buddha-medicine is of no use. Whenever looking at scriptural teachings and the causal conditions of the ancient worthies, one should learn in this manner.

22.12

Sentient beings' daily active functioning is ignorance: if one goes along with ignorance, joy arises; if one goes against ignorance, afflictions arise. Buddhas and bodhisattvas are not like this: they borrow ignorance to perform buddha-work. Because sentient beings take ignorance as their den and dwelling, going against it would mean destroying their den and dwelling, whereas going along with it allows them to guide them according to what they are attached to. Vimalakīrti said: 'The company of worldly defilements is the seed of the Tathāgata.' Yongjia said: 'The real nature of ignorance is itself the buddha-nature; the empty body of illusory transformation is itself the dharmakāya.' It is just this principle.

22.13

This matter cannot be sought with mind, cannot be attained without mind, cannot be reached through language, and cannot be penetrated through silence. Only when there is no place to apply the mind within these four propositions can one begin to raise and examine this news. The Buddha said: 'Among worldly and world-transcending merits, none is as great and inconceivable as the merit of no-mind.' Have you not seen that Old Man Śākya, at the prajñā assembly, asked the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī: 'Have you entered the inconceivable samādhi?' Mañjuśrī said: 'No, World-Honoured One! I am myself the inconceivable, and I do not see that there is any mind capable of conceiving; how can one speak of entering the inconceivable samādhi? When I first aroused the resolve, I wished to enter this samādhi, but reflecting on it now, there is truly no mental thought, yet I enter samādhi. Like a person learning archery: with long practice he becomes skillful; later, though he has no mind [to aim], because of long practice every arrow shot hits the mark. I am also like this: when first learning the inconceivable samādhi, I tied my mind to a single condition; when through long practice it is accomplished, there are no longer any mental thoughts, and I am constantly united with samādhi.' Only when one reaches this stage can it be said that the nāga is constantly in samādhi, with no time when he is not in samādhi. Therefore the Buddha said: 'The merit of no-mind is truly superior, truly incomparable.' What is now spoken of as no-mind is not like the insensate no-mind of worldly earth, wood, tiles, and stones; a discrepancy of a hair's breadth is a loss of a thousand miles, and one must examine and observe it closely.

22.14

The Buddha spoke of one hundred and twenty kinds of bodhi-mind and spoke of one hundred and twenty similes. Among them is one simile that says: 'Just as a person relies upon a king and does not fear others, the bodhisattva mahāsattva is also like this: relying on the king of great strength that is the bodhi-mind, he does not fear the difficulties of hindrances and evil paths.' In the world, there are people who get close to a supreme sovereign and do not fear others—such exists; but those willing to rely on the king of great strength that is the bodhi-mind and not fear the difficulties of hindrances and evil paths are hardly ever seen. There is also a simile that says: 'Just as when a mahānāga warrior of great strength rouses his awesome wrath, a boil inevitably grows on his forehead, and as long as the boil has not closed up, no one among all the people of Jambudvīpa can subdue him; the bodhisattva mahāsattva is also like this: if he gives rise to great compassion, he will surely arouse the bodhi-mind, and as long as this mind is not abandoned, all the māras and minions of māra in the world cannot harm him.' The two similes above are both spoken for those of great mind and power who transcend the world. Why so? These two similes are not dharmas normally found in the world, so the Buddha spoke them to inspire extraordinary, heroic individuals, wishing them to shoulder the burden of the Great Vehicle.

22.15

Those literati who have never turned their attention to the Buddha Vehicle often take the Buddha Vehicle to be a teaching of mere emptiness and stillness. Clinging attachment to their leather bag [of a body], upon hearing someone speak of emptiness and speak of stillness, they give rise to fear and dread. They simply do not realize that this very mind of fear and dread is the root of birth and death. The Buddha himself has said: 'Without destroying worldly marks, one speaks of the true mark.' He also said: 'These dharmas abide in their dharma positions; worldly marks abide eternally.' The *Baozang lun* says: 'Still and quiet, vast and expansive: above there is the ruler, below there are the ministers; father and son are affectionate in their dwelling; the noble and the lowly differ in their ranks.' Observed from this, the teachings of our Buddha that secretly assist in exalting the imperial sacred transformation are indeed many! How could he ever have spoken merely of emptiness and stillness? For instance, the worldly saying that Lord Lao spoke of the art of longevity is precisely no different from rigidly asserting that the Buddha spoke [only] of the method of emptiness and stillness. Laozi's book originally never spoke of retaining the physical form to remain in the world, but also took purity and non-action as the natural resting place. It is merely that those who do not study the Buddha and Laozi slander them with minds of like and dislike; one must not fail to examine this. I humbly say: 'Although the sages of the Three Teachings established their teachings differently, their Dao returns to a single alignment.' This is an unchanging principle for ten thousand ages. Yet even though it is so, do not speak of it before people without wisdom, lest it break your head and split your forehead.

22.16

Instruction for Policy Advisor Zeng (Shuchi)

22.17

Xuefeng went three times to Touzi and nine times to Dongshan, but the conditions and dharma did not harmonize. In the end, only when Yantou swept away his former piecemeal attainments did his mind-ground open up and penetrate through. Yantou said: 'If in the future you wish to broadcast the great teaching, every single thing must flow out from your own breast, covering heaven and covering earth; only then will it be the action of a great man.' Yantou's words not only illuminated Xuefeng's capacity, but can also serve as an eternal model for those who study this Way. What is called 'flowing out from one's breast' is one's own direct perception, inherently complete from beginningless time. As soon as a second thought arises, one falls into inferential perception. Inferential perception is a dharma obtained through the adornment of external conditions; direct perception is the matter from the other side of Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja, before one's parents were born. What is obtained from direct perception has robust vigor; what is obtained from inferential perception has weak vigor. One with robust vigor can enter the buddha[-realm] and can also enter the māra[-realm]; one with weak vigor can enter the buddha-realm, but in the māra-realm will often beat a retreat, countless times. This matter does not lie in cleverness and sharpness, nor does it lie in dull faculties and shallow understanding. Judged in truth, it takes only the burst of a sudden release as the accurate aim. Once you obtain this news, whenever there are words and phrases, they do not establish their position apart from the real; where they stand is itself the real. What is called 'flowing out from one's breast, covering heaven and covering earth' is just like this. It is not concocting words to seek what is extraordinary, with an exquisite mind and embroidered mouth producing sharp and novel phrases that others cannot utter, and taking that to be flowing out from one's breast. If questioned ten times by the master and unable to reply nine times, there is no harm, [provided] you only fear forcibly acting as master before a skull; for as soon as you see an ancestral master open his mouth and move his tongue, you immediately accept it and take it away. Toward someone like this, even if a buddha appeared in the world, he could not save him. Although Shuchi's capacity is dull, he has on the contrary gained an advantage: because he genuinely wants to confront birth and death, he is untiring and diligent, thought after thought unwilling to let go. What was called earlier 'gaining an advantage' is precisely this family style of the dull. Since you have a resolute will, obtaining it into your own hands will naturally have its time; do not be concerned about when it will be obtained. I often say to the patch-robed monks: 'If you want to practice Miaoxi's Chan, you must be prepared not to understand for an entire lifetime; if you seek quick results, it will surely mislead you.' Why is this? Only because from the beginning there has been no dharma to give to people, but only acting as a man who points out the road for them. An ancient worthy said: 'Having something attained is the howl of a jackal; having nothing attained is the roar of the lion.' The Buddha was a person of universal adaptability: over forty-nine years, in more than three hundred and sixty assemblies, he preached the Dharma, guiding them according to their capacities. Therefore, within the ten dharmadhātus, with a single voice he expounded, and sentient beings each obtained benefit according to their kind. Just as when the east wind brushes by, the ten thousand plants all bloom together, so too is the Dharma spoken by the Buddha. If he had intentional purpose to produce benefit within the ten dharmadhātus, then that would be using 'my' preaching of the Dharma with the desire to cause sentient beings to attain deliverance according to their kinds—would that not be difficult? Do you not see Śāriputra at the Prajñā assembly asking Mañjuśrī: 'Do the buddhas, the Tathāgatas, not awaken to the dharmadhātu?' Mañjuśrī said: 'No, Śāriputra! Buddhas are not even to be found; how could there be a buddha who awakens to the dharmadhātu? The dharmadhātu is not even to be found; how could the dharmadhātu be awakened to by the buddhas?' Look at how the two of them stimulated and expounded like this; how did they ever attach their intent? The way all the buddhas and patriarchs from of old acted for people's sake was entirely of this style. It is simply that descendants of later times lost their essential aim, and thereupon each established their own sects, conjuring up demons and fabricating monsters. Since Shuchi has already become disheartened with worldly matters, he has already been spared countless affairs. 'Without destroying worldly marks, one speaks of the true mark'—buddha hands down to buddha, patriarch transmits to patriarch, without disparity and without distinction. It is merely that those who study this Way mistake the expedient means and thus transmit and practice them further, completely failing to root themselves in the source. What is it to 'not destroy worldly marks and yet speak of the true mark'? Miaoxi will explain it thoroughly for you: serve your elders and comply with their expressions; do not avoid or shirk the duties that younger generations ought to perform; afterwards, accord with conditions, open and free, give free rein to your nature in easy wandering; constantly examine yourself within the four deportments of daily use; furthermore, with the swiftness of impermanence and the great matter of birth and death, remind yourself at all times; when free from affairs, you must also read the books of the sages to enrich your mental consciousness. If you can be like this, in both the worldly and the supramundane there will be no fault or calamity.

22.18

Dharma Words of Chan Master Dahui Pujue, Fascicle Twenty-Two

Linked texts (1)

大慧普覺禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese