大慧普覺禪師語錄 23

English (machine translation) 23

Language: English

23.1

Presented to the throne by your servant Yunwen, abbot of Nengren Chan Monastery at Jingshan under the Song, Chan master who inherits the Dharma Huiri

23.2

Instruction for Layman Zhongzheng (Magistrate Guo Zhongkan)

Great Master Tiantai Zhiyi awakened to the Lotus Samādhi and, by means of the three contemplations of emptiness, provisionality, and the middle, subsumed the entirety of the Great Canon without a shortfall and without a surplus: speaking of emptiness, there is no provisionality and no middle that is not empty; speaking of provisionality, there is no emptiness and no middle that is not provisional; speaking of the middle, there is no emptiness and no provisionality that is not the middle. One who attains this essential aim obtains the revolving dhāraṇī; from this we know that all the buddhas and patriarchs from of old have without exception entered through this gate of verification. Therefore, when the Great Master entered realization, it was because in reading the *Lotus Sūtra* he reached 'this is true vigor, this is called the true dharma offering to the Tathāgata,' and thereupon saw the Old Shakya preaching this sūtra on Vulture Peak, solemn and not yet dispersed. Some have called this metaphorical expression. Only Layman Wujin, Lord Zhang, while reading the *Śūraṅgama Sūtra* and reaching the passage 'this person first attains the center of the vajra-mind,' suddenly reflected upon what Zhiyi had verified at that time—seeing the assembly on Vulture Peak solemn and not yet dispersed was not a metaphorical expression. He once said to me: 'When one genuinely enters realization, one's whole body abides in the center of the vajra-mind. As Elder Li said: "The boundless lands and realms, self and other, are not separated by a hair's tip. The ten ages of past and present, beginning and end, are never apart from the present thought." Zhiyi saw the assembly on Vulture Peak solemn and not yet dispersed; only one who verifies this samādhi, without waiting for metaphors to be drawn, will silently nod to himself.' The realms of sentient beings are varied and unequal, and what they see is not the same, mutually having gains and losses. Unless one inherently possesses spiritual bones, is not bound by dharmas, does not seek deliverance from dharmas, and, regarding the scriptural teachings and the conditions for ancient worthies entering the Way, abandons expedient means and enters realization by oneself, then one will also not wait for harmonization and arrangement, but naturally will see the moon and forget the finger. Formerly, when Venerable Yaoshan first generated the mind to seek a good spiritual friend, he went to Venerable Shitou at Nanyue and asked: '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 into one's nature to become a buddha. Truly I have not understood it; I beg the master to give instruction.' Shitou said: 'Thus will not do; not thus will not do; thus and not thus both will not do at all.' Yaoshan heard this but did not grasp it; for a long time he was speechless. Shitou said: 'Do you understand?' Yaoshan said: 'I do not understand.' Shitou said: 'I fear your affinity does not lie here; go to Jiangxi and question Master Ma.' Yaoshan followed the instruction and went straight to Jiangxi to see Master Ma, and questioned him using the same topic he had asked Shitou. 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.' Upon hearing Master Ma's words, Yaoshan immediately attained the center of the vajra-mind; with no other extraordinary or abstruse marvel by which to convey news, he simply made a bow. Master Ma knew he had entered realization and likewise had no other principle to transmit; he merely said to him: 'What did you see that you make a bow?' Yaoshan also had no principle he could present to Master Ma, but only said: 'When I was at Shitou's, it was like a mosquito on an iron bull.' Master Ma also gave no words of certification. One day, suddenly seeing him, [Ma] asked: 'What is your view these days?' Yaoshan said: 'The skin has completely fallen off; there is only one reality.' Master Ma said: 'What you have attained can be said to accord with the mind-essence and spread through the four limbs. Since it is so, take three strips of bamboo splints to bind your belly, and go dwell in the mountains anywhere.' Yaoshan said: 'What kind of man am I, that I would dare speak of dwelling in the mountains?' Master Ma said: 'There has never been long traveling without stopping; there has never been long stopping without traveling. Desiring to benefit, there is nothing to benefit; desiring to act, there is nothing to act. You should become a boat and raft; do not dwell here long.' Thereupon he took leave of Master Ma to go dwell in the mountains. This is also an efficacy of attaining the center of the vajra-mind. My fellow-practitioner Zhongkan and Miaoxi were completely unacquainted in the past. In the winter of the *bingzi* year of the Shaoxing era, we met by chance in Wanling; at the first sight of his demeanor, before speaking my heart already approved him. I once visited his residence and received his devoted attention, and thereupon questioned him; he said of himself that he had an inclination toward the dharma-gate of the character 'center' (zhong). From then on, whenever I conversed with him, not a single word ever touched upon worldly matters; the ancients' 'running across the river from the opposite bank' was also like this at times. In governing, he was neither harsh nor inquisitorial, yet the treacherous and corrupt were terrified by him—this is also the efficacy of verifying the dharma-gate of the character 'center'. Since parting it has been precisely nine months, when suddenly a special messenger arrived with this scroll to request a religious name. Recalling the words of Lord Zhang Wujin, which are rather similar to the portal Zhongkan has entered, I therefore unintentionally drew forth the preceding entanglements, and have also established a religious name for him, calling him Layman Zhongzheng ('Center-Verification'). The meaning of Zhongzheng: in our Buddha['s teaching] it is called the vajra-mind; when the mind reaches the center, it is called loyalty (zhong); when the center has no fixed place, it appears in deeds, and benefiting others and benefiting oneself, both worldly and supramundane, will be completely without regret. Center-verification is without bias, and above and below correspond with each other, like splitting sandalwood: piece by piece, it is no other wood. It is not like other people, who speak so water-tightly, yet when acting expose both hands and feet. For such fellows as these to wish to enter the dharma-gate of the character 'center' is very much like swinging a staff to strike the moon—is it not difficult? Layman Zhongzheng, exert yourself! If Miaoxi should one day suddenly bump into you face to face, when we meet at that time, if you still cling to this single character, then you will have missed the mark (zhong).

23.4

Instruction for Judicial Commissioner Xu (Dunli)

23.5

Gentlemen of the literati often use a mind of attainment to seek the dharma of non-attainment. What is meant by a mind of attainment? It is cleverness, sharpness, thinking, and reckoning. What is meant by the dharma of non-attainment? It is where thinking cannot go, reckoning cannot reach, and cleverness and sharpness have nowhere to settle. Have you not seen: in the assembly of the Lotus Sūtra, when Śāriputra earnestly made three requests of old Śākyamuni, [the Buddha] had nowhere to open his mouth, and only then with all his might could say, "This dharma cannot be understood by thought or discrimination"? This was old Śākyamuni's first breakthrough into this matter, the rudimentary beginning of opening the gate of expedients to reveal the true aspect. Formerly, Chan Master Xuefeng Zhenjue was so urgent for this matter that he went three times to Touzi and climbed up Dongshan nine times, but his conditions did not mesh. Later, hearing of Deshan, Master Zhou of the Vajra[-prajñāpāramitā], transforming beings, he went straight to his room. One day he asked Deshan, "With what dharma have the ancestral masters from of old demonstrated this to people?" Deshan said, "Our school has no words, nor is there a single dharma to give to people." Later he asked again, "In the matter of the ancestral vehicle from of old, does this student still have a share?" Deshan raised his staff and struck him, saying, "What are you saying?" Under the blow, Xuefeng finally smashed the lacquer bucket. Viewed in this light, thinking, reckoning, cleverness, and sharpness are of no use whatsoever in this gate. An ancient worthy said: "Prajñā is like a great mass of fire; approach it, and it scorches your face. The moment you hesitate and search in thought, you fall into the conscious mind." Yongjia said: "Damaging the wealth of the Dharma and destroying merit—none of it does not stem from this mind, intellect, and consciousness." Thus we know that the mind, intellect, and consciousness not only obstruct the Way, but also throw people into confusion and cause them to commit all kinds of unwholesome deeds. Since you have the mind to fathom this Way to the end, you must have determined resolve; until you reach the place of the great rest, the great cessation, and the great liberation, vow that to the end of this life you will not regress or fall. The Buddha-dharma does not consist of much, but long-lasting perseverance is hard to come by. Affairs within the defilements of the human world are endless and inexhaustible: set aside one layer, and yet another layer comes, continuous and unbroken like interlocking rings and links of a chain. Those of inferior resolve often willingly make themselves their companions, pulled along by them without realizing or knowing it. Only if a person has the power of past vows will they be willing to step back and contemplate. Yongjia also said: "The true nature of ignorance is itself the buddha-nature; the illusory and empty body is itself the dharmakāya. When the dharmakāya is awakened to, there is not a single thing; the original source, one's self-nature, is the naturally genuine Buddha." If you contemplate like this, and suddenly, in a place beyond the reach of thought, see the dharmakāya that has not a single thing, that is where one steps out of birth and death. As was said earlier, the dharma of non-attainment cannot be sought with a mind of attainment—this is precisely the principle. The literati spend their whole lives making a living in thinking and reckoning. The moment they hear a good friend in the Dharma speak of the dharma of non-attainment, doubt arises in their minds, and they fear falling into emptiness. Whenever Miaoxi sees such people talking like this, he asks them: "This one who fears falling into emptiness—is it empty or not?" In ten cases out of ten, they cannot explain it away. Because they usually take thinking and conjecturing as their lair, when they suddenly hear talk where thinking cannot be applied, they are at a loss, having nowhere to lay hold of a handle. Little do they know that this very place where no handle can be found is precisely the time to lay down one's body and life. When I met with you, fellow cultivator Dunli, in Yimen during the Jingkang era, you were in the prime of life and already knew that there is this great matter by which one can transcend birth and death. Together with your elder brother Dunji, you frequently came to question my late teacher Yuanwu. But in your youth, body and mind could not yet be unified to focus solely on comprehending this matter. Since we parted, over thirty years have suddenly passed. In the autumn of the jimao year of Shaoxing, as I was going to Ayuwang and passing through Yuetang, Dunli had just taken charge of the censorial regulations, and we were finally able to meet again. Grasping hands and conversing deeply, in our sitting we spoke only of this one matter as still unfinished, touching not at all on worldly defilements. Were it not that through hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lives you had served true good friends in the Dharma and planted the seeds of prajñā in the storehouse consciousness, you could not hold firm like this, be your own master, have such genuine faith, and not regress from your initial resolve—truly a lotus in the fire! Yet because you have widely read all the books, penetrated too deeply into the Nine Classics and the Seventeen Histories, have an excess of cleverness, too many intellectual tracks, and too little samādhi power, you are dragged away by day-to-day encounters. Therefore, beneath your feet, you have not been able to snap it cleanly and break it off completely. If right mindfulness is present at all times and the mind that fears birth and death does not change, then as the days and months soak in, what is raw will naturally become cooked, and what is cooked will naturally become raw. And what is the cooked place? It is cleverness, sharpness, thinking, and reckoning. What is the raw place? It is bodhi, nirvāṇa, suchness, and buddha-nature—severed from thinking and discrimination, unreachable by estimation and conjecture, where there is no place for you to apply your mind and arrange things. Suddenly, when the time comes, whether upon an ancient's occasion for entering the Way, or while reading the scriptures and teachings, or in day-to-day encounters—whether wholesome or unwholesome, whether body and mind are scattered, whether adverse or favorable circumstances appear before you, or when you temporarily attain tranquility of the mind, intellect, and consciousness—you suddenly overturn the mechanism; this is no mistaken affair.

23.6

Instruction for Policy Advisor Chen (Mingzhong)

23.7

The Buddha spoke all dharmas to deliver all minds; I have no minds at all, so of what use are all dharmas? Dharmas are fundamentally without dharma; the mind is also without mind. When both mind and dharmas are empty, this is the true aspect. Nowadays, those who study the Way mostly fear falling into emptiness; those who form such an understanding mistake the expedient and grasp the sickness as the medicine, which is deeply pitiable. Thus Layman Pang said: "Do not dislike falling into emptiness; falling into emptiness is not bad either." He also said: "Only wish to empty all that exists, and never substantiate what does not exist." If you can see through this single phrase, boundless evil karma is destroyed, and ignorance immediately collapses like tiles and melts like ice; even the entire canon taught by the Tathāgata does not go beyond commenting on this single phrase. If you have decisive faith and knowledge, knowing that there is such a dharma of great liberation, then right at the point of knowing, turn the mechanism upside down; then Layman Pang's single phrase and the entire canon taught by the Buddha are without difference or distinction, without before or after, without past or present, with nothing lacking or surplus, nor does one see all dharmas, nor does one see all minds—the worlds of the ten directions are vast and empty. Yet do not form a view of being vast and empty; if you form such a view, there will be one who speaks of emptiness, one who hears the speech on emptiness, all dharmas to be listened to, and all minds to be verified. Since there are things to be listened to and verified, internally there is a mind capable of verifying, and externally there is a dharma that is verified. If this sickness is not eliminated, in the teachings it is called expounding the Dharma based on a self, and it is also called slandering the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. Furthermore, it is said in the teachings: "If one grasps the characteristics of dharmas, one is attached to a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life-span; if one grasps the characteristics of non-dharmas, one is attached to a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life-span." What was said earlier—that internally there is a mind capable of verifying and externally there is a dharma that is verified—is precisely this principle. Disciple of the Buddha Chen Dun, knowing that the body is false and that dharmas are illusory, within the illusory and false is able to investigate Zhaozhou's topic "a dog has no buddha-nature." Suddenly, while washing his face, he touched his nostrils. He sent a letter presenting his understanding, trying his hand at speaking Chan, like a tiger cub three days old whose aura is already capable of eating an ox. In the places where he communicates news, although it is like a crooked stick striking the ground—where it hits, it enters the earth several inches, and where it misses, there is no handle at all—nevertheless, the general foundation is already correct. That the great Dharma is not yet clearly understood is simply a common ailment of beginners entering the Way. If you can know such things and brush them to one side, completely block up the essential and subtle gates of the buddhas and ancestors, and seek a livelihood on that side of King of Awesome Sound, only then will you attain mastery regarding the Dharma. Old Śākyamuni said: "If I were only to praise the Buddha vehicle, sentient beings would sink into suffering." Truly know such a matter, expand and fulfill it through what you have verified, and thereafter you will not be bound by dharma, nor will you seek release from dharma: being thus is fine, not being thus is fine, being thus or not being thus are entirely fine. In all spoken words and all that is experienced, like a strong man extending his arm without borrowing the strength of others, or an arrow having left the bowstring with no momentum to return, it is not forced, because the Dharma is just so. Having attained this, only then can one speak of matters such as neither good nor evil, neither buddha nor sentient beings. Nowadays, before the great Dharma is clearly understood, if one immediately speaks like this, I fear one will fall into what Yongjia called "reckless emptiness that discards cause and effect, wildly bringing on disaster and calamity"—this must be understood! Just grasp the root and do not worry about the branches; after long soaking and maturation, do not worry that it will not become one whole piece. Strive on! Strive on!

23.8

Instruction for Practitioner Kongxiang (in the household of Vice Prefect Huang)

23.9

The Buddha is the mirror of the ordinary person, and the ordinary person is the mirror of the Buddha. When the ordinary person is deluded, the defiled reflections of birth and death are completely manifested in the Buddha's mirror. When one suddenly awakens, the truly pure, wonderful, bright, unarising, and unceasing image of the Buddha is manifested in the ordinary person's mirror. However, the Buddha fundamentally has no arising or ceasing, nor delusion or awakening, nor any mirror, nor any reflection that can be manifested; it is simply because ordinary people have various conditions that [the Buddha] illuminates in accordance with ordinary people. Now, if you wish to eliminate the ordinary person's sickness and be no different from the buddhas and ancestors, please smash the mirror, and I will write a footnote for you.

23.10

Instruction for Policy Advisor Fang (Yiwu)

23.11

The Patriarch said: 'The ground of the mind is spoken of in accord with the times; bodhi is also just tranquil. Phenomenon and principle are both unhindered; what is currently born is unborn.' If you wish to understand this principle, just sweep away at once to other realms what you have attained in your usual seated meditation, what you have attained in studying the scriptures and teachings, what you have remembered from recorded sayings, and what you have comprehended from the words of ancestral masters; and then leisurely and carefully observe: Why is it that whenever Deshan saw a monk enter the gate, he would immediately strike him? Why is it that whenever Linji saw a monk enter the gate, he would immediately shout? If you recognize where the two great elders functioned, then in your daily life, in encountering objects and meeting circumstances, you will not make of it worldly diffusion, nor will you make of it Buddhist theoretical doctrine. Once you do not adhere to these two extremes, you must know that you will naturally have a living pathway. Do you not see that one day, when Linji was attending upon Deshan, Deshan stood for a long time, then suddenly turned around and said, 'This old fellow is tired today.' Linji said, 'Why does this old fellow talk in his sleep?' When Deshan made to pick up his staff to strike him, Linji pushed over the meditation bed. Look at him: he was a fellow who had settled his affair; when meeting casually on the road, naturally each had a way out. Later, Chan Master Yunfeng Yue brought this up and said, 'These two masters pressed each other and pushed each other down, faintly revealing their style; it is much like holding hands to climb a high mountain. Even so, it cannot escape looking disgraceful to an onlooker. Tell me, who is the onlooker?' After a long pause, he gave a shout. According to what Miaoxi sees, Yunfeng also could not avoid wallowing in mud and mixing with water; they deserve to be indicted together with these two old fellows on the same charge and buried in the same pit. Tell me: where is the fault? Layman Yiwu has planted roots of virtue long ago and has arrived at faith in this one great matter of causes and conditions. Although in the midst of worldly toil, he can reflect upon himself; although he has not yet cut straight through with a single stroke of the sword and directly cut off the heads of the retribution and transformation buddhas, he nevertheless naturally has an entry through faith, like a tiger three days old that already has the spirit to devour an ox. To walk a thousand li begins with a single step; since the first step has been taken without error, you must directly expand and fulfill it, definitely knowing where the buddhas of the three periods failed, where the patriarchs of the six generations failed, and where Miaoxi failed; only then can you open your own treasury, bring out your own family wealth, and relieve everyone. Would that not be the intention of a lay bodhisattva? Strive on! Strive on!

23.12

Instruction for the Daoist Miaoyuan (in the household of Executive Li)

23.13

If you wish to transcend birth and death and cross the ocean of suffering, you should set up the banner of vigor and arrive directly at faith. Just this place where you arrive at faith is itself the news of transcending birth and death and crossing the ocean of suffering. Therefore the old fellow Śākya said: 'Faith is the source of the Way and mother of merits, nurturing all good dharmas.' He also said: 'Faith can distance one from the suffering of birth and death; faith can surely bring one to the Tathāgata-ground.' Do you wish to know the Tathāgata-ground? It is also just this person who has arrived at faith. Having arrived at faith, there is no need to give rise to thoughts and move the mind seeking to escape birth and death; just do not let it go from thought to thought through the twelve periods of the day, determined to get a hold of it—only then will you be a valiant person. If you are half-believing and half-doubting, it will not be continuous. This matter does not depend on male or female, noble or base, great or small; it is equally one and the same. Why is this? In the Lotus Assembly, the World-Honoured One delivered only a single female to attain buddhahood; and in the Nirvāṇa Assembly, he also delivered only a single broad-browed butcher to attain buddhahood. You should know that these two persons attaining buddhahood also had no other special effort; they also only directly reached faith without any second thought, and straightway cut off the heads of the retribution and transformation buddhas, directly transcending birth and death; there was no other principle. Although the Daoist Miaoyuan is of the female gender, her resolve is not below that of the woman who attained buddhahood; she can also know of this extraordinary cause and condition, and is determined to make it the cause for escaping birth and death, which is why she requested instruction with this paper. Picking up the brush and wiping away sweat, I wrote this to instruct her, and furthermore had her examine a huatou: A monk asked Mazu, 'What is the Buddha?' The Patriarch said, 'Mind itself is the Buddha.' Let the Daoist Miaoyuan just observe it like this in her daily life. Best wishes!

23.14

Instruction for Layman Taixu (Deng Boshou, Attendant of the Palace)

23.15

A person of sharp roots and superior wisdom, whose body is in the midst of wealth and honor yet is not broken and oppressed by wealth and honor, who can in the midst of wealth and honor bring great benefit, profit, and joy to sentient beings—without the power of vows from past lives, cannot arrive at faith like this. Having arrived at faith, one should, in that place of having arrived at faith, ride the power of one's vows to respond to circumstances and apply it, and then naturally in every matter it will be clear, and in every thing it will be manifest. Formerly, when Samantabhadra Bodhisattva was in the Avataṃsaka Assembly, he entered the samādhi of the Tathāgatagarbha body of Vairocana, Buddha of All Buddhas; universally entering into the equality of all buddhas, he was able in the dharmadhātu to display manifestations vast and unhindered, revolving together with the ocean of the empty space of the dharmadhātu, without any into which he did not enter; giving rise to all samādhi dharmas, universally capable of containing the dharmadhātu of the ten directions; the ocean of the light of wisdom of all the buddhas of the three periods all arises from this; all the oceans of arrangements throughout the ten directions are fully able to be displayed; holding within it the wisdom of all bodhisattvas and all buddha-powers and liberations; capable of causing all the minute dust-motes of all lands to universally contain the boundless dharmadhātu; accomplishing all the oceans of buddha-merits, revealing all the oceans of the Tathāgata's great vows; circulating, guarding, and upholding all the dharma-wheels of all buddhas, causing them never to be broken off. In this world, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva entered this samādhi before the World-Honoured One; just as throughout the dharmadhātu and the realm of empty space, subtle, unhindered, vast, and bright throughout the ten directions and the three periods, seen by the buddha-eye, reached by the buddha-power, manifested by the buddha-body, in all lands and in all the minute dust-motes of these lands, within each dust-mote there are buddha-lands as numerous as the dust-motes of an ocean of worlds, and within each land there are buddhas as numerous as the dust-motes of an ocean of worlds, and before each buddha there are Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust-motes of an ocean of worlds, all also entering this samādhi of the Tathāgatagarbha body of Vairocana, Buddha of All Buddhas. When he arose from the samādhi, the assembly listening to the Dharma all obtained this samādhi, all obtained the power of this samādhi, and there was none who was not benefited by it. Layman Taixu, Deng Boshou, lives in wealth and honor, yet is different from ordinary people; daily attending upon the Most Venerable, what he hears and what he sees are all inconceivable things; how is this different from Samantabhadra Bodhisattva entering the samādhi of the Vairocana treasury body before the Tathāgata? But I fear that you might midway forget this intention, and during the twelve periods of the day fail to watch over the subtle streaming [of thoughts], relying on favor to mistreat and overbear others—that would not be fitting. When the buddhas appeared in the world and the Patriarch came from the West, there was not a single dharma that could be transmitted. Why is this? If there is transmission and reception, that is an ignorant dharma; it is a conditioned dharma, not a wisdom dharma, not an unconditioned dharma. Master Yantou said: 'If one binds people with real dharmas, even earth would be hard to digest.' Formerly in South India, the people of that country mostly believed in the karmic merit of blessings. The fourteenth patriarch, Nāgārjuna, went especially to transform them. They said, 'For a person to have karmic blessings is foremost in the world; to speak in vain of buddha-nature, who can see it?' Nāgārjuna said, 'If you wish to see buddha-nature, you must first eliminate your conceit.' They said, 'Is buddha-nature large or small?' Nāgārjuna said, 'It is neither large nor small, neither broad nor narrow; it has no blessings and no retribution, no death and no birth.' This was directly showing the mind's essential. That whole assembly, upon hearing it, all awakened to the correct principle. However, awakening lies in the person concerned; it is not obtained from others. What was said before about all the buddhas appearing in the world and the patriarchs transmitting to each other having no real dharma is just this principle. The Buddha Dharma does not amount to much; to sustain it long, a person is hard to find. Boshou is currently in the prime of life; in your daily life and response to circumstances, you can alert yourself, turning around the mind that engages in worldly evil karma, wishing to study the unexcelled buddha-fruit of bodhi; had you not in hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes served boundless buddhas and spiritual friends and cultivated the seeds of prajñā and omniscience, you would not be able to be so vigorous, so pure, so sovereign, and so upright, diligently and earnestly keeping this great matter of causes and conditions in mind. Since you have this mind, do not worry about when it will be attained. If you cannot get a handle on it all at once, just observe an ancient's huatou for entering the Way: A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' Zhaozhou said, 'The cypress tree in the courtyard.' The monk said, 'Master, do not indicate it to people using an object.' Zhaozhou said, 'I am not indicating it to people using an object.' The monk said, 'Since you are not indicating it to people using an object, what then is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' Zhaozhou only said, 'The cypress tree in the courtyard.' That monk had a great awakening upon these words. Boshou, just in your daily walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and in attending upon the Most Venerable, do not let thoughts be interrupted; constantly remind yourself and constantly alert yourself; suddenly, right upon the cypress tree, the breath of the mind, consciousness, and intellection will be cut off, and that will be the place of thorough penetration. As said before, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva entered the samādhi of the Tathāgatagarbha body of Vairocana before the World-Honoured One, and when he arose from the samādhi, all the bodhisattvas in the assembly obtained this benefit. May Boshou, before the Most Venerable, also constantly enter this samādhi, and suddenly arise from this samādhi, with benefit no different from that of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Strive on, and do not neglect this.

23.16

Instruction for Layman Miaoming (Executive Li Bohe)

23.17

The Way is awakened to by the mind; it does not lie in verbal transmission. In recent years, those who study this Way mostly abandon the root to pursue the branches, turn their backs on the correct and throw themselves into the heterodox. Unwilling to investigate thoroughly at the base of their own feet, they focus entirely on the places where ancestral masters have spoken. Even if they speak so well that not a drop of water leaks, they have no connection whatsoever with their fundamental affair. The ancients, having no other choice when seeing students bewildered by heads and mistaking shadows, established skillful means to guide them, simply causing them to recognise their own original scenery and clearly see their original face; fundamentally they had no real Dharma to give people. For instance, when Mazu of Jiangxi first took pleasure in seated meditation, Master Rang of Nanyue later ground a brick where he was meditating. Mazu rose from his meditative concentration and asked, 'What are you doing grinding a brick?' Rang said, 'I wish to make a mirror.' Mazu laughed and said, 'How can grinding a brick make a mirror?' Rang said, 'If grinding a brick cannot make a mirror, how can seated meditation make a buddha?' For Master Rang had once asked Mazu, 'What do you seek by seated meditation?' Mazu had replied that he sought to become a buddha; this is what the teachings call first shaking with concentration and then uprooting with wisdom. Hearing the words, 'How can seated meditation make a buddha?', Mazu only then became flustered. He then rose, bowed with reverence, and asked, 'How then should it be?' Rang knew that the time and conditions had arrived, and only then said to him, 'Take the analogy of an ox yoked to a cart: if the cart does not move, is hitting the ox right, or is hitting the cart right?' He also said, 'Are you learning seated meditation, or are you learning to be a seated buddha? If you are learning seated meditation, meditation is neither sitting nor lying down. If you are learning to be a seated buddha, the Buddha has no fixed form. Toward the Dharma of non-abiding, you should not give rise to grasping or rejection. If you sit as a buddha, this is killing the buddha. If you cling to the form of sitting, you do not penetrate its principle.' At these words, Mazu suddenly grasped the purport, and then asked, 'How should one apply the mind to accord with the formless samādhi?' Rang said, 'Your learning the Dharma gate of the mind ground is like sowing seeds; my expounding the essentials of the Dharma is like rain from heaven. Because your conditions join together, you shall see its Way.' He further asked, 'The Way is without physical form; how can it be seen?' Rang said, 'The Dharma eye of the mind ground can see the Way; the formless samādhi is also like this.' He asked, 'Is there creation and destruction?' Rang said, 'If one sees the Way through creation and destruction, aggregation and dispersal, that is not it.' The aforementioned skillful guidance is the first model from the ancestral vehicle of old. May Layman Miaoming please investigate according to this.

23.18

In the past, when Master Dazhu first visited Mazu, the Patriarch asked, 'Where have you come from?' He said, 'I have come from Dayun Monastery in Yuezhou.' The Patriarch said, 'What do you intend to do coming here?' He said, 'I have come seeking the Buddha-Dharma.' The Patriarch said, 'Ignoring your own treasure-house, what are you doing running off abandoning your home? I have not a single thing here; what Buddha-Dharma are you seeking?' Dazhu then bowed and asked, 'Which is Huihai's own treasure-house?' The Patriarch said, 'That which is questioning me right now is your treasure-house, completely endowed with everything, lacking nothing at all. You are free to use it at will; why rely on seeking outside?' At these words, Dazhu recognised his original mind, not by means of intellect or perception. Later, when dwelling at Dazhu, whenever anyone inquired, he answered according to the question, opening his own treasure-house and carrying out his own family wealth, like a pearl rolling in a dish, unobstructed and unhindered. A monk once asked, 'Is prajñā large?' Dazhu said, 'Prajñā is large.' He asked, 'How large?' He said, 'Without boundaries.' He asked, 'Is prajñā small?' Dazhu said, 'Prajñā is small.' He asked, 'How small?' He said, 'Invisible.' He asked, 'Where is it?' Dazhu said, 'Where is it not?' Look! Does he who has awakened to his own treasure-house still have a single speck of real Dharma to transmit to others? Miaoxi constantly says to those who study this Way: If one is truly a person who has seen the Way, then like a bell in the void or a valley echoing a sound, when struck heavily it resounds heavily, and when struck lightly it responds lightly. In recent times, the Buddha-Dharma is lamentable: those who serve as teachers first store up the bizarre and mysterious in their chests, passing it down from one to another, transmitting it mouth-to-ear as their fundamental tenet. Those of this sort poison people's minds with heterodoxy, beyond remedy; the ancients called them people who slander prajñā, for whom repentance is barred even if a thousand buddhas appear in the world. This is the second model of the ancestral school's skillful means in guiding students. Layman Miaoming, in determinedly seeking the ultimate, should investigate according to this model.

23.19

Having prepared this mind, if you wish to understand this single move, you must first establish a resolute determination. Coming into contact with objects and encountering conditions, whether adverse or favorable, you must take hold firmly and be master, not accepting all manner of heterodox teachings. In daily life responding to conditions, constantly stick the two words 'impermanence is swift' and 'birth and death' right on the tip of your nostrils. It is also like owing someone a debt of hundreds of thousands of strings of cash with no money to repay, while the creditor guards your doorway; in grief and fear, pondering ten thousand things, you seek repayment but cannot manage it. If you constantly maintain this mind, then you will have a share in making progress. If you half advance and half retreat, half believing and half disbelieving, you are not as good as an ignorant fool in a three-house village. Why is this? Because he knows nothing and understands nothing at all, yet he lacks so many evil views and evil perceptions to create obstacles; he merely adheres to foolishness entirely. An ancient worthy said: 'Investigate the ultimate principle thoroughly; take awakening as the norm.' In recent years there are many ancestral masters who do not believe in awakening; they say that awakening is deceiving people, that awakening is an establishment, that awakening is holding firm, that awakening is falling into the secondary; wearing lion skins while uttering the yelps of jackals, they are beyond count. Those who lack the eye of Dharma discrimination are often bewitched by this sort; one cannot fail to reflect and examine with care. This is the third model of an ancestral master pointing out and receiving the deluded multitude, causing them to see the moon and forget the finger. Layman Miaoming, wishing to leap out of the pit of birth and death: those who make this statement are called correct speakers; those who make other statements are called heterodox speakers. Reflect on this.

23.20

For those who fear birth and death, the root of doubt has not been completely uprooted; wandering for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes, receiving retribution in accord with their karma, bobbing up and down without rest. If you can vigorously muster your spirit and uproot it cleanly at once, you will be able to see the buddha-mind without leaving the sentient-being mind. If you have past vow-power and meet a genuine good spiritual friend who guides and instructs you with skillful means, what difficulty could there be? Have you not seen what an ancient worthy said: 'Rivers and lakes have no mind to obstruct people; buddhas and patriarchs have no intention to deceive people.' It is merely because people of the world cannot cross over that one cannot say rivers and lakes do not obstruct people. Although the spoken teachings of the buddhas and patriarchs do not deceive people, it is merely because students of this Way mistakenly take skillful means, seeking the mysterious and wondrous, seeking gain and loss within a single word or phrase, and thereby cannot penetrate through, that one cannot say the buddhas and patriarchs do not deceive people. It is like a blind person who cannot see the light of the sun and moon: it is the fault of the blind person, not the blame of the sun and moon. This is the fourth model of studying this Way free from the characteristic of words, free from the characteristic of discrimination, and free from the characteristic of language. May Layman Miaoming reflect on this.

23.21

When the mind that doubts birth—not knowing whence it comes—and death—not knowing whither it goes—is not yet forgotten, then birth and death are intertwined. Just toward this place of intertwining, observe a huatou: A monk asked Master Zhaozhou, 'Does even a dog have buddha-nature, or not?' Zhou said, 'No (wu).' Simply take this mind that doubts birth not knowing whence it comes and death not knowing whither it goes, and shift it onto the word 'wu'; then the intertwined mind will not operate. Once the intertwined mind does not operate, the mind doubting the coming and going of birth and death will be on the verge of cessation. Just toward the point where it is about to cease but has not yet ceased, push and rub against it; when the time and conditions arrive, with a sudden burst, you will instantly conclude what the teachings call putting an end to the mind of birth and death, halting the mind of unwholesomeness, cutting down the thicket of the mind, and washing clean the defilement and turbidity of the mind. Yet how could the mind have defilement? How could the mind have turbidity? That which is concentrated by the miscellaneous poisons of discriminating good and evil is also called unwholesomeness, also called defilement and turbidity, and also called a thicket. If you truly obtain that sudden burst, this very thicket is itself the sandalwood incense forest; this very defilement and turbidity is itself the pure, liberated, unconditioned wondrous substance. This substance is originally unstained; it is not made so. When discrimination does not arise, emptiness and brightness shine of themselves—this is precisely the principle. This is the fifth model of an ancestral master causing students to abandon the heterodox and return to the correct. Layman Miaoming, simply investigate relying on this; after a long time, you will bump into it and hit upon it of yourself.

23.22

The Way is nowhere absent; wherever one touches, all is real. It is not that apart from reality a place is established; the place where one stands is reality itself. This is what the teachings call: 'Livelihood and industry are all in accord with the correct principle and do not contravene the true mark.' Therefore Layman Pang said: 'My daily activities are nothing special, / Only I myself naturally harmonize. / In everything there is neither grasping nor rejection; / Everywhere without discord. / Who confers titles of vermilion and purple? / The hills and mountains are free of a speck of dust. / Spiritual powers and wondrous functioning: / Carrying water and hauling firewood.' However, if you simply recognize it like that without seeking wondrous awakening, you will fall again into the armor of nothing-to-do. Have you not seen what Old Huayan of Wei Prefecture said: 'The Buddha-Dharma is in your daily life, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, in eating gruel and eating rice, in speaking and inquiring of one another; yet when it comes to what is done and undertaken, the raising of the mind and stirring of thoughts, it is not it at all.' Master Zhenjing also said: 'Without planning with the mind, each and every thing is bright and wondrous, each and every thing is natural and true, each and every thing is like a lotus untouched by water. Because of deluding their own minds, they become sentient beings; because of awakening to their own minds, they become buddhas. Yet sentient beings are fundamentally buddhas, and buddhas are fundamentally sentient beings; it is due to delusion and awakening that there is this and that.' Old Shakya also said: 'These dharmas abide in their dharma-positions; worldly marks constantly abide.' He also said: 'This Dharma cannot be understood by thinking and discrimination.' This is also another name for not permitting planning with the mind. If, in responding to conditions, you do not arrange and do not fabricate, do not plan with the mind, think, discriminate, or calculate, naturally vast and open, without desire and without dependence, not abiding in the conditioned nor falling into the unconditioned, not conceiving thoughts of the worldly or world-transcending—this is the sixth model of not obscuring the original face within the four daily comportments.

23.23

Originally, because birth and death is a great matter and impermanence is swift, and one's own affair is not yet clear, one calls upon and pays respects to ancestral masters to seek untying from the bonds of birth and death. Yet one is instead saddled with more ropes and cords by heretical teachers: before the old bonds are untied, new bonds are added. They pay no attention to the bonds of birth and death, but solely attend to idle chatter and lengthy disquisitions, calling it the essential tenet. What pressing urgency is that? It is what the teaching calls the fault and error of heretical teachers, not the fault of sentient beings. If you wish not to be bound by birth and death, merely keep the mind constantly open and vast. Merely take this mind that does not know where birth comes from and does not know where death goes, and constantly bring it up and examine it amidst your responses to conditions. When your examination matures, after a long time it will naturally become boundless. When you feel that you are saving effort in daily activities, that is precisely where you gain strength in practicing this Way. Where you gain strength, you save boundless effort; where you save effort, you instead gain boundless strength. These principles cannot be spoken to others, nor displayed to others. The point of saving effort and gaining strength is like a person drinking water, knowing for oneself whether it is cold or warm. Throughout my life, Miaoxi has only pointed people toward where effort is saved; I do not teach people to make riddles and speculate, and I also cultivate practice only like this—apart from this, there are no other sorceries or fabrications. Where I gain strength others do not know, and where I save effort others do not know either; that the mind of birth and death is extinguished others do not know, and that the mind of birth and death is not yet forgotten others do not know either. I only bestow this dharma-gate upon all people; there is no other profound, wondrous, or extraordinary thing that can be transmitted. Layman Miaoming, if you are determined to cultivate practice like Miaoxi, just rely on this explanation; you need not seek principles outside. Wherever a true dragon goes, clouds naturally follow along, not to mention that supernormal powers and radiance are fundamentally innate. Have you not seen what Master Deshan said: 'If you only have no business in mind and no mind in business, then it is empty yet numinous, void yet wondrous'? If even by a hair's breadth one speaks of its root and branches, that is all self-deception. This is the seventh model of the shortcut for studying this Way.

23.24

The above seven models have simultaneously explained the sickness of the Buddha, the sickness of the Dharma, and the sickness of sentient beings. There is yet an eighth model; please go ask Daoist Miaoyuan. [Dahui] also supplied a turning word on behalf of Daoist Miaoyuan, saying: 'The great matter cannot be managed for you; trivial matters, Layman Miaoming, shoulder them yourself!'

23.25

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

Linked texts (1)

大慧普覺禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese