大慧普覺禪師語錄 24.7

24.7

The thirteenth patriarch, Kapimala, visited the fourteenth patriarch, Nāgārjuna, in a mountain cave. Nāgārjuna knew in advance that he was coming and went out to welcome him. As soon as he saw him, he said, 'The deep mountains are lonely and tranquil, where dragons and pythons dwell; O Most Venerable Great Virtue, why have you diverted your holy feet?' Mālā said, 'I am not the Most Venerable; I have come to visit a worthy one.' Nāgārjuna silently thought, 'Has this master attained the determinate nature and clarified the eye of the Way? Is he a great sage continuing the true vehicle?' Mālā said, 'Although you speak in your mind, I already know it with my mind. Just apply yourself to leaving home; why worry that I am not a sage?' Hearing his instruction, Nāgārjuna at once took refuge and left home. When venerable elders of antiquity sought people with the Dharma, the master was superior and the student strong; they distinguished the tune as soon as the string moved. A single phrase or line, a single word or silence, was never expended in vain; it could be described as minds and eyes reflecting each other, sticking together like glue and lacquer. Today it is not like this. Those acting as teachers entangle themselves in vines with students through the passing of years, ultimately never knowing whether they have arrived or not, whether they are clear or not; nor do students discern whether their master is heterodox or orthodox. This is because the mind of the beginning student is coarse and the master's instruction is reckless; consequently, the orthodox lineage grows faint, and heterodox teachings arise on all sides. For such people, wishing to repay the immense kindness of former virtuous ones—what is called clarifying the eye of the Way and continuing the true vehicle—is that not difficult? In investigating Chan and studying the Way, there is no other matter than this: on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month when the light of the eyes falls to the ground, the boundaries of all four sides of this plot of land must be genuinely distinct, not like using material for conversation to engage in frivolous play. In recent times this Way has become desolate, and master and disciple do not trust each other; they must rely on putting some vicious poison on a scrap of old paper, transmitting what is unworthy and impure to students, calling it a 'Chan bill of exchange.' How bitter! How bitter! Our Way is ruined. Have you not seen how long ago Venerable Linji took leave of Huangbo? Huangbo asked, 'Where are you going?' Linji said, 'If not Henan, then Hebei.' Huangbo struck him; Linji caught the staff and gave him a slap. Huangbo burst into loud laughter, 'Ha, ha!' and called his attendant: 'Bring the meditation board of the late Master Baizhang.' Linji also called the attendant: 'Bring fire!' Huangbo said, 'Just take it with you; later on you will sit upon the tongues of everyone under heaven.' Later, Guishan cited this dialogue to ask Yangshan: 'Did Linji not fail Huangbo?' Yangshan said, 'He did not.' Guishan said, 'How do you understand it?' Yangshan said, 'Only one who knows kindness knows how to repay kindness. Look at an extraordinary person: when casually revealing a bit of horns among an alien species, he is at once different from ordinary people.' Later, Linji indeed caused the Jiangxi ancestral lineage to flourish in Hebei; this is what is called 'a tread of nāga-elephants that donkeys cannot endure.'