大慧普覺禪師語錄 25

English (machine translation) 25

Language: English

25.1

Presented to the Emperor by his subject Yunwen, Dharma-heir Chan Master Huiri, Abbot of Nengren Chan Monastery on Mount Jing in the Song

25.2

Reply to Vice Minister Zeng (Tianyou) (Letter of inquiry appended)

Some time ago when I, Kai, was in Changsha, I received a letter from Master Yuanwu praising your late-life attainments through following him as extremely extraordinary and magnificent. Thinking of it again and again, it has now been eight years. I have always regretted not having personally heard the rest of his teachings, harboring only deep admiration. From my youth I made the resolution to visit spiritual friends to inquire into this matter. After coming of age, I was burdened by family and office, so my application of effort was not pure. Dragging on until now, I have grown old without any attainment, always lamenting this with self-reproach. Yet my aspiration and vow were truly not confined to shallow views: I thought that if I did not awaken, so be it, but if I did awaken, I must reach the ancient masters' realm of personal realization before it could be the place of great rest. Although this mind has never shrunk back for a single thought-moment, I feel that my effort has never been pure and unified; it can be said that my vow is great but my strength is small. Formerly, I earnestly implored Master Yuanwu, and the Master instructed me with six sections of dharma words. At first, he directly pointed to this matter, and later brought up the two cases of Yunmen and Zhaozhou's 'put it down' and 'Mount Sumeru,' instructing me to apply clumsy effort, constantly recalling them to awareness, saying that in time there would surely be an entry. His grandmotherly mind was so earnest, yet how could it help that my dullness and stagnation were so extreme? Now, fortunately, my personal worldly ties are all finished, and I live in leisure without other concerns; this is the very time to spur myself on painfully to fulfill my original vow, only regretting that I have not received your personal instruction. The blunders of my whole life have all been presented to you; you will surely perceive this mind clearly. I hope you will provide me with detailed reminders and alerts on how to apply effort in daily activities, so that I may not stray into other paths, but directly tally with the original ground. Speaking like this also contains many blunders, but having just laid bare my sincerity, it is difficult to hide; out of your great pity, I knock at your door for instruction.

25.4

I received your narrative tracing from your youth up to your official career, how you visited great masters, and in between were burdened by the civil examinations, marriage, and office, and overcome by bad perceptions and bad habits, unable to apply effort purely and single-mindedly, regarding this as a great transgression. You are also able to grieve over impermanence and the worldly realm's manifold illusions without a single joy, single-mindedly desiring to investigate this one great matter of cause and condition, which is very gratifying to this ailing monk. Yet, having become a literatus who relied on a stipend to make a living, the examinations, marriage, and official career were things unavoidable in the world, and they were not your fault. To give rise to great fear over small transgressions—unless from beginningless vast eons you had served true spiritual friends and deeply cultivated the seeds of prajñā and omniscient wisdom, how could you be like this? What you call a great transgression is something even sages and worthies cannot avoid; as long as you know that illusions are not the ultimate dharma, are able to turn your mind to this gate, cleanse the filth of defilement with the water of prajñā wisdom, abide in purity, and cut it in two with a single blade from beneath your feet, no longer giving rise to thoughts of continuation, that is enough; you do not need to ponder the past or worry about the future. Since it is called illusion, then the time of committing it is also an illusion, the time of experiencing the retribution is also an illusion, the time of conscious awareness is also an illusion, the time of delusion is also an illusion, and past, present, and future are all illusions. Today, knowing your fault, use the medicine of illusion to cure the illness of illusion; when the illness is cured and the medicine removed, you will still be the original person as before. If there were another person or another dharma, that would be the view of māras and non-Buddhists. Consider this deeply. Just press on like this, and constantly in quietude, you must never forget the two sayings of 'Mount Sumeru' and 'put it down'; just apply effort solidly from beneath your feet. For past faults there is no need to fear, nor is there any need to deliberate; deliberating and fearing are obstacles to the Way. Just make a great vow before the Buddhas: vow that this mind be steadfast, never regressing; relying on the empowerment of the Buddhas, meet a spiritual friend, and under a single word instantly forget birth and death, awaken to and realize unsurpassed, complete, and perfect enlightenment, continue the Buddha's life of wisdom, and repay the boundless grace of the Buddhas. If you do so, in the long run there is no reason not to awaken. Do you not see that the youth Sudhana, having resolved his mind under Mañjuśrī, gradually traveled south past one hundred and ten cities, visiting fifty-three spiritual friends, and at the end, in a snap of Maitreya's fingers, instantly forgot the dharma gates he had attained from all the previous spiritual friends? Relying again on Maitreya's instruction, he wished to see Mañjuśrī, whereupon Mañjuśrī reached out his right hand across one hundred and ten yojanas, patted Sudhana on the crown of his head, and said: 'Excellent, excellent! Good son, if one is separated from the faculty of faith, has a low mind, worries and regrets, has incomplete cultivation and practices, regresses in vigor, attaches to a single root of goodness, is satisfied with meager merit, is unable to skillfully give rise to practices and vows, and is not embraced and protected by spiritual friends, then one cannot fully understand such dharma-nature, such purport, such dharma gates, such practices, and such realms—whether knowing them comprehensively, knowing them in various ways, exhausting their source and depth, comprehending them, entering them, explaining them, distinguishing them, realizing them, or attaining them—none of these can one do.' Mañjuśrī proclaimed this to Sudhana, and under these words Sudhana accomplished asaṃkhyeya dharma gates, became fully endowed with immeasurable light of great wisdom, entered the gate of Samantabhadra, and in a single thought-moment saw spiritual friends as numerous as dust motes in the trichiliocosm, drew close to all of them, served them respectfully, practiced their teachings, attained the wisdom of non-forgetfulness and the liberation of the adornment treasury, and even entered the pores and lands of Samantabhadra, taking a single step in a single pore, passing across worlds as numerous as the dust motes of ineffable, ineffable Buddha lands, becoming equal to Samantabhadra, equal to all Buddhas, with lands equal, practices equal, and liberation and sovereignty all equal, without duality or distinction. At that very time, one is first able to turn the three poisons into the three groups of pure precepts, turn the six consciousnesses into the six supernatural powers, turn defilements into bodhi, and turn ignorance into great wisdom. The whole entanglement above rests solely on the final, genuine thought of the person right now. If Sudhana, in the snap of Maitreya's fingers, could instantly forget the samādhis realized from all those spiritual friends, how much more so with beginningless false and evil karmic habits? If past transgressions were taken as real, then the current present realms would all be real, and even official rank, wealth, and affection would all be real. If they were real, then hell and heaven would also be real, defilement and ignorance would also be real, the creator of karma would also be real, the receiver of retribution would also be real, and the realized dharma gates would also be real. If one held such views, then to the end of the future, no one would ever aspire to the Buddha Vehicle. The various skillful means of the Buddhas of the three times and the ancestral teachers of successive generations would turn out to be false speech. You noted that when sending the letter, you burned incense facing the sages and bowed from afar toward my hermitage before dispatching it; your sincere mind was so earnest like this. Although we are not far apart, we have not been able to speak face-to-face; letting my thoughts and hand flow, without realizing it I have been as garrulous as this. Although it seems verbose, it also springs from a sincere heart; I dare not deceive you with a single word or character. If I were to deceive you, I would be deceiving myself. Furthermore, I remember that when Sudhana met the Brahmin Jāyōṣmīya, he attained the liberation of truthful speech; for the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past, present, and future, regarding anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, none have regressed, none are regressing, and none will regress; whatever they seek is without exception fulfilled, all attained through utmost sincerity. Since you keep company with the bamboo chair and the rush mat, you are no different from Sudhana meeting the Brahmin Jāyōṣmīya. Furthermore, in sending this letter to Yunmen, bowing from afar facing the sages before dispatching it, simply wishing for Yunmen's trust and affirmation, this is the height of sincerity. Just listen: simply apply effort like this, and in the future your fulfillment of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi will be beyond doubt.

25.5

Furthermore:

25.6

You dwell in wealth and honor yet are not troubled or trapped by wealth and honor; were it not for prajñā-seed-wisdom planted from long ago, how could you be like this? However, I fear that along the way you will forget this intention, obstructed by your sharp faculties and cleverness, putting an expectation of attainment out in front [of you] beforehand, and thus fail to cut cleanly through in one slash right where the ancients were most direct and shortcut, resting immediately. This ailment is not confined to worthy scholar-officials; patch-robed monks of long practice are also like this: most are unwilling to take a step back and apply effort where it saves labor, but only calculate and deliberate with their clever conceptual consciousness, chasing outward. As soon as they hear a good friend point out to them the native fodder beyond the deliberations and calculations of clever conceptual consciousness, most miss it right to their faces, supposing that the ancient worthies of the past had some real dharma to give people—such as Zhaozhou's 'put it down' and Yunmen's 'Mount Sumeru.' Yantou said: 'To reject things is superior; to pursue things is inferior.' He also said: 'In the great guiding principle of our lineage, one must understand the phrase.' What is the phrase? The time when not a single thought arises is called the correct phrase; it is also called 'dwelling at the peak,' 'obtaining the abiding,' 'clear and distinct,' 'bright and alert,' and 'such a time.' Using 'such a time' and so forth, smash through all rights and wrongs. The moment it is so, it is not so; the 'is' phrase is cleared away, and the 'is-not' phrase is also cleared away—resembling a ball of fire: if you touch it, it burns immediately; where is there room to approach it from the side? Contemporary scholar-officials mostly make a den out of deliberation and calculation; hearing speech like this, they immediately say: 'Might this not fall into emptiness?' This is like leaping into the water of one's own accord before the boat has capsized—deeply pitiable! Recently when I went to Jiangxi, I saw Lü Juren. Juren has set his mind on this great matter for a very long time, yet he also suffers deeply from this ailment. Is he not clever? Zonggao once asked him: 'You fear falling into emptiness; can the one who knows fear be empty, or not empty? Try and speak!' He hesitated and thought, wanting to calculate an answer; right then I gave him a shout, and to this day he remains bewildered, unable to find a handle. This is simply because a mind seeking awakening and realization was placed out in front, creating obstacles for itself, having nothing to do with anything else. If you try to apply effort like this, in the course of days and months you will naturally bump into it and knock against it. If you wish to use the mind to wait for awakening and use the mind to wait for resting, even if you investigate from where you stand until Maitreya descends to be born, you will still not be able to obtain awakening or obtain resting, but will only turn increasingly bewildered and stifled. Venerable Pingtian said: 'The divine light is not dimmed; an excellent exemplar for ten thousand ages. Having entered this gate, do not harbor intellectual understanding.' An ancient worthy also said: 'This matter cannot be sought with mind, cannot be obtained without mind, cannot be reached through language, and cannot be penetrated through quiet silence.' This is the first class of getting into the mud and water, grandmotherly talk. Often Chan practitioners merely chant it through like that, never examining closely what principle this is. If one is a fellow with sinews and bones, upon merely hearing it brought up, one immediately wields the vajra-king precious sword and cuts through these four paths of entanglements in a single stroke; then the path of birth and death is also cut off, the path of ordinary and holy is also cut off, calculation and deliberation are also cut off, and gain, loss, right, and wrong are also cut off. Under one's very feet, stark naked and completely bare, with nothing to grasp—how exhilarating! How delightful! Have you not seen how formerly, when Venerable Guanxi first visited Linji, Linji saw him coming, stepped down from his rope seat, and grabbed him by the chest; Guanxi immediately said: 'Understood, understood!' Knowing that he had already penetrated thoroughly, Linji pushed him away at once, without a single phrase of discussion with him. At such a time, how could Guanxi calculate, deliberate, and answer? In antiquity, fortunately, there were such models, but people today do not take them seriously at all, merely on account of their coarse minds. Had Guanxi initially harbored a bit of mind waiting for awakening, waiting for realization, and waiting for resting out in front of him, do not say he would awaken upon being seized—even if his hands and feet were bound and he was dragged once around the four continents, he would still not be able to awaken, nor would he be able to rest. What usually calculates and arranges is the conscious faculty; what drifts along with birth and death is also the conscious faculty; what is fearful and alarmed is also the conscious faculty. Yet practitioners today do not know this is an illness, but simply bob up and down within it; as said in the teachings, 'acting in accord with consciousness rather than wisdom'—hence they obscure their native landscape and original face. If you can let go for a moment, not deliberating or calculating in the slightest, suddenly stumbling and treading upon your own nostrils, then this very conscious faculty is itself the wondrous wisdom of true emptiness; there is no other wisdom to be found. If there were something else to attain, something else to realize, then it would be wrong again. It is like a person who, when lost, calls east west; when he awakens, west itself is east—there is no other east. This wondrous wisdom of true emptiness has the same lifespan as great empty space; within this great empty space, is there a single thing that can obstruct it? Although it does not admit the obstruction of a single thing, it does not hinder all things from coming and going within space. This wondrous wisdom of true emptiness is also like this: the defilements of birth, death, ordinary, and holy cannot attach even a speck to it; yet although they cannot attach, they do not hinder birth, death, ordinary, and holy from coming and going within it. When one can trust this fully and see this thoroughly, only then is one a fellow who enters birth and death with great sovereignty; only then does one have a small share of accord with Zhaozhou's 'put it down' and Yunmen's 'Mount Sumeru.' If you cannot trust fully and cannot let go, then please carry a Mount Sumeru and go traveling everywhere, clearly presenting it to anyone with clear eyes. A laugh.

25.7

Again:

25.8

Old Pang said: 'I only wish to empty all that is, and never solidify what is not.' If you merely comprehend these two lines, the business of a lifetime of study and practice is finished. Nowadays there is a kind of shaved-headed outsider who, lacking clear eyes themselves, merely teach people to cease and rest like dead barbarians. If one ceases and rests like this, even until the appearance of a thousand buddhas in the world one will not be able to cease and rest, but will only make one's mind more bewildered and stifled. They also teach people to maintain mindful awareness in accord with conditions and to forget feelings in silent illumination; illuminating back and forth, maintaining back and forth, they only become increasingly bewildered and stifled without end—completely losing the Patriarch's skillful means, wrongly instructing people, and causing them to live in vain and die in delusions throughout. Furthermore, they teach people not to concern themselves with any matter, but merely to rest like this; having rested until emotional thoughts do not arise, when they reach such a time, it is not dark unawareness, but directly bright, alert, clear, and distinct. This sort is all the more poisonous, blinding people's eyes—no small matter! Yunmen usually saw these fellows and did not treat them as human beings. Since their own eyes are not clear, they merely take words from books and teach people according to the model; how can this be taught? If one believes in this sort, one will never be able to investigate it through eternal kalpas. Yunmen usually does not forbid people from sitting in meditation and making effort in a quiet place; this is applying medicine according to the illness, without actually having any such instruction for people. Have you not seen Venerable Huangbo say: 'In this Chan lineage of mine, since its transmission from above, we have never taught people to seek knowledge and seek understanding; we only speak of studying the Way'—this is already words of expedient guidance. Yet the Way cannot be studied either; if emotion harbors study of the Way, it turns into delusion regarding the Way. The Way has no location; it is called the Great Vehicle mind. This mind is not within, without, or in between, and truly has no location. First of all, you must not form intellectual understanding; it is merely said that the place of your present emotional calculations is the Way. When emotional calculations are exhausted, the mind has no location; this Way is naturally genuine and originally without a name. Only because worldly people do not recognize it and are deluded amidst emotions, the buddhas emerged to expose this matter; fearing you would not understand, they provisionally established the name 'Way'—you must not cling to the name and generate understanding. The blind fellows spoken of earlier who wrongly instruct people are all those who mistake fish eyes for bright pearls, clinging to names and generating understanding: teaching people to maintain mindful awareness—this is clinging to the perception right before one's eyes and generating understanding; teaching people to stubbornly cease and rest—this is clinging to forgotten concerns and empty stillness and generating understanding; resting until there is no perception and no cognition, resembling earth, wood, tile, and stone, and at such a time saying it is not dark unawareness—this is again mistakenly taking skillful words for untying bonds and generating understanding; teaching people to watch over themselves in accord with conditions and not let evil awareness appear before them—this is again clinging to the emotional consciousness of a dry skull and generating understanding; teaching people to merely be free and unrestrained, letting it be at ease without caring about arising minds or stirring thoughts, [claiming that] the arising and ceasing of thoughts originally have no real entity and that if one grasps them as real, the mind of birth and death arises—this is again clinging to the body of naturalness as the ultimate teaching and generating understanding. The various illnesses above have nothing to do with the person studying the Way; they are all due to blind ancestral teachers giving wrong instructions. Since you dwell in purity yourself and harbor a sincere, firm mind directed toward the Way, regardless of whether your practice is pure and unified or not, simply do not continue piling layer upon layer on the ancients' words and phrases like stacking up a pagoda, vainly applying effort without end. Just keep your mind in one place, and there is nothing you will not attain; when the time and conditions arrive, you will naturally bump into it and knock against it, bursting forth in awakening. 'When not a single thought arises, is there still any fault or not?' The answer was: 'Mount Sumeru.' 'How is it when not bringing a single thing?' The answer was: 'Put it down.' If you cannot break through doubt here, simply investigate right here, and there is no need to sprout extra branches. If you can trust Yunmen, just investigate like this; there is no other Buddha Dharma to show people. If you cannot trust fully, feel free to cross north and south of the river asking Old Wang, resolving one doubt only to breed another.

25.9

Again:

25.10

Reading your letter closely, I know that throughout the four postures there is no interruption in your practice, that you are not diverted by official business, that in the rushing torrent you constantly bring yourself to severe awakening, by no means negligent, and that your aspiration for the Way grows firmer the longer it lasts—this deeply gratifies my humble heart. Yet worldly dust and toil blaze like fire; when will there ever be an end to it? While in the very midst of clamour, you must not forget the affair upon the bamboo chair and rush mat. Maintaining mindfulness in quiet and secluded spots throughout your ordinary life is meant precisely for use in the midst of clamour; if it lacks efficacy in the midst of clamour, it is just as though you had never applied effort in quietude. I note your lament that past conditions were mixed and tangled so that you now suffer this retribution; this alone I dare not accept. If you stir up this thought, it will obstruct the Way. An ancient worthy said: 'Recognizing one's nature following the flow, there is neither joy nor sorrow.' Vimalakīrti said: 'For instance, the lotus does not grow on high plateaus or dry ground, but grows only in low, damp mud.' The Old Barbarian showed: 'True Suchness does not maintain its own nature; according with conditions, it brings all affairs and dharmas to completion.' He also said: 'According with conditions, responding to receptivity, there is nowhere it does not reach, while constantly abiding on this bodhi-seat.' How could they be deceiving people? If you take the quiet place as right and the clamorous place as wrong, you are destroying worldly characteristics to seek the true characteristic, departing from arising and ceasing to seek cessation. When you are fond of quiet and averse to clamour, that is precisely the time to apply effort: suddenly, right in the clamour, you overturn the news from the time of quiet, and its power will surpass that on the bamboo chair and rush mat by thousands of myriads of times. Only listen to me, and I certainly will not mislead you. Furthermore, I note that you take Layman Pang's two lines as your motto for walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; nothing could be better. But if you give rise to aversion while right in the midst of clamour, that is simply disturbing your own mind. If, whenever a thought stirs, you only use Layman Pang's two lines to raise and inspect, it will be a dose of cooling powder in the sweltering heat. You possess decisive faith and are a person of great wisdom; only after long applying effort in quietude do I dare speak to you in this way. For others it would not do; if one spoke like this before people of vast karmic consciousness and overweening pride, it would only add to their burden of bad karma. The various sicknesses of the Chan gate have already been detailed in my previous letter; I do not know whether you have examined them closely or not.

25.11

Again.

25.12

I received your instruction: 'To cease all conditions externally and have no panting within the mind enables one to enter the Way—this is an expedient gate. Borrowing the expedient gate to enter the Way is acceptable, but clinging to the expedient without letting go is a sickness.' Indeed, it is just as your letter says; reading it, this mountain monk rejoiced beyond measure, leaping with joy. The lacquer buckets everywhere today simply cling to expedients and will not let go, showing people real dharmas, and because of this they blind no small number of people's eyes; therefore, this mountain monk composed the discourse distinguishing the heterodox from the orthodox to rescue them. In recent times, māras are strong and the Dharma is weak; those who take merging into serenity as the ultimate are beyond count, and those who cling to expedients without letting go and act as lineage teachers are like hemp and millet. Recently, this mountain monk brought up these two points with patch-robed monks, exactly as stated in your letter without differing by a single word; unless you keep your mind attentive to prajñā, thought after thought without interruption, you could not thoroughly understand the various different expedients of all the sages from of old. You have already grasped the handle; having obtained the handle in your hand, why worry about not letting go of the expedient gate and entering the Way? Just apply effort in this manner: when reading the scriptures and teachings as well as the recorded sayings of the ancients with their various differentiated words and phrases, apply effort just like this; with 'like Mount Sumeru, put it down,' the 'a dog has no buddha-nature' topic, the bamboo comb topic, the 'swallow all the water of the West River in a single gulp' topic, and the 'cypress tree in the courtyard' topic, also apply effort just like this, and on no account give rise to separate, divergent interpretations, seek other principles, or employ other contrivances. If you can constantly hold this up and examine it by yourself in the rushing torrent, then if your practice of the Way is not accomplished, the Buddha Dharma has no efficacy! Remember this, remember this. You mention that in a night dream you burned incense and entered this mountain monk's room very leisurely; on no account take it as a dream—you must know that it was truly entering the room. Have you not seen Śāriputra asking Subhūti: 'Is expounding the six pāramitās in a dream the same as or different from when awake?' Subhūti said: 'This meaning is profound; I cannot speak of it. In this assembly is the Great Being Maitreya; go ask him.' Bah! No small leak! Xuedou said: 'If at that time he had not let him pass, but followed right behind with a jab: "Who is named Maitreya? Who is Maitreya?"—then you would see ice melting and tiles shattering.' Bah! Xuedou also had no small leak! Someone might ask: 'Leaving that aside, as for Drafter Zeng entering Yunmen's room in a night dream, tell me: is it the same as or different from when awake?' Yunmen would say to him: 'Who is the one entering the room? Who is the one for whom the room is entered? Who is the one having the dream? Who is the one speaking of the dream? Who is the one who does not take it as a dream? Who is the one truly entering the room?' Bah! Also no small leak!

25.13

Again.

25.14

I have read your letter carefully several times, and it is sufficient to see that you have resolved upon an iron and stone mind, establishing a decisive determination and refusing to be careless; simply acting like this, when you hold on until the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, you will also be able to grapple face to face with Old Master Yama, to say nothing of opening wide the eye atop the crown of your head, grasping the vajra-king precious sword, and sitting atop the crown of Vairocana! Zonggao once said to friends of the Way outside worldly bonds: 'Students of the Way nowadays only seek quick results, unaware that they are mistaken. Instead they say: "Having no concerns and reducing conditions, sitting quietly and investigating the substance, is wasting time; it is better to read several scrolls of scriptures, recite the Buddha's name several times, make more prostrations before the Buddha, and repent of the transgressions committed throughout one's life, so as to avoid the iron rod in Old Master Yama's hand." This is what fools do. Nowadays, Daoists use a completely deluded mind to imagine the essence of the sun and the radiance of the moon, swallowing clouds and ingesting qi, and yet they are still able to preserve their form and dwell in the world without being oppressed by cold and heat—how much more so if one turns this mind and this thought completely into prajñā? The past sages clearly had a saying: "Like the microscopic insect that can alight everywhere, except it cannot alight upon flames; sentient beings are also like this: they can cognize conditions everywhere, except they cannot cognize conditions upon prajñā." If in every thought you do not retreat from your initial resolve, taking your own mind and consciousness that cognizes the dust and toil of the world and turning it back to hold against prajñā, then even if you do not penetrate thoroughly in this lifetime, when your life comes to an end you certainly will not be pulled by evil karma to fall into evil destinies; coming forth in the next life, according to the power of your vows in this lifetime, you will certainly be within prajñā, enjoying its ready-made function. This is a certainty, not to be doubted. The things of the realm of sentient beings need not be studied: from beginningless time they have been practiced until familiar, and the road is also familiar, naturally finding their source wherever you turn; you must push them aside. The mind that studies worldly-transcending prajñā has been turned against since beginningless time; when first hearing a good friend speak of it, naturally one cannot comprehend it. You must establish a decisive determination to oppose it head-on; the two definitely cannot stand together. If you enter deeply here, there will be no need to drive things away over there—the various māras and heterodox ways will naturally flee into hiding. "Make the unfamiliar familiar, and make the familiar unfamiliar"—it is precisely for this reason. In the place where you apply effort in your daily activities, grasp the handle; when you gradually feel it saves effort, that is precisely where you gain strength.'

25.15

Reply to Participant in Determining Governmental Matters Li (Hanlao) (with his inquiry letter appended)

25.16

Bing recently knocked at your consultation room, and was humbled to receive your stimulation of my dullness and blockage, so that I suddenly had an awakening. Reflecting on myself, my faculties and consciousness are dim and blunt, and all the learning and understanding of my life fell entirely into emotional views; choosing and rejecting, I was like someone clad in tattered wadding walking through brambles, only tangling myself up. Now with a single smile I am suddenly released, with joy beyond measure; had the great lineage master not condescended with such compassionate skill, how could this have come about? Since arriving in the city, wearing clothes and eating meals, holding my sons and playing with my grandsons, every single thing remains as before; having lost the feeling of attachment, I also do not form thoughts of anything extraordinary. The rest of my habitual tendencies and old hindrances have also grown somewhat lighter; your earnest parting words, I dare not forget. Reflecting again, I have only just managed to enter the gate, but the Great Dharma is not yet clear, and in responding to conditions and encountering things, when contacting affairs I am not yet able to be unobstructed. I further hope you will raise and instruct me, so that I may ultimately arrive somewhere and perhaps not bring disgrace to your Dharma assembly.

25.17

Your letter states: 'Since arriving in the city, putting on clothes and eating food, holding my child and playing with my grandson, everything is just as before. Having eliminated grasping feelings of obstruction, I also make no notion of anything extraordinary; past habits and old obstacles have also become slightly lighter.' Reading these words three times over, I leaped with joy; this is indeed the verification of studying Buddhism. If not an extraordinary great person who, in a single laugh, brings a hundred things to completion and a thousand things to rest, one cannot know that our house truly possesses the wonder that is not transmitted. If it were not so, the dharma-gate of the two words 'doubt' and 'anger' could ultimately never be destroyed through all future time. Even if empty space were made into Yunmen's mouth, and grasses, trees, tiles, and stones all emitted light to assist in explaining the principles, it would be of no avail. Only then does one believe that this matter cannot be transmitted and cannot be studied; one must personally verify and awaken to it oneself, personally approve and bring it to rest oneself, before one reaches the end. Now, in a single laugh, you have instantly forgotten what was attained; what more can be said? The yellow-faced old fellow said: 'Do not grasp at what sentient beings speak of, all conditioned, false, and illusory matters. Although not relying on the path of words, also do not attach to wordlessness.' What your letter says—having eliminated grasping feelings of obstruction, and also making no notion of anything extraordinary—silently accords with what the yellow-faced old fellow said. To speak in this way is called the Buddha's teaching; departing from this speech is the teaching of Pāpīmān. This rustic mountain monk in the past made a great vow: I would rather take this body to endure the suffering of hell on behalf of all sentient beings than ever use this mouth to make the Buddha-Dharma into human sentiment and blind the eyes of everyone. Since you have already reached such a stage and personally know that this matter is not obtained from others, just remain as before and do not ask whether the Great Dharma is clear or not, or whether your response to conditions is obstructed or not; if you produce such thoughts, then you are not remaining as before. Hearing that you can come out again only after spending the summer is very much to this ill monk's liking; if you were to rush about feverishly seeking without rest, it would not be fitting. The other day I saw your extreme joy, and for that reason I did not dare to expose it completely, fearing it would harm the speech; now that the joy has settled, I only now dare point out that this matter is extremely difficult—you must produce shame before you can succeed. Often those of sharp roots and superior wisdom obtain it without spending effort, and thereupon produce a mind of ease, neglecting cultivation; they are mostly snatched away by the objects before their eyes, unable to be their own master, and as days and months deepen, they go astray and do not return. When the power of the Way cannot overcome the power of karma, Māra finds his opportunity, and one is definitely taken hold of by Māra, having no strength at the end of life either. By all means remember: as for the words spoken the other day, in principle there is sudden awakening, and riding upon awakening [delusions] are simultaneously dissolved; in phenomena there is gradual elimination, which is exhausted through sequential stages. In walking, standing, sitting, and reclining, you must never forget this. The various differing words and phrases of the ancients can none of them be taken as real, yet neither can they be taken as empty; after a long time of thorough maturity, you will naturally and silently accord with your own original mind; there is no need to seek something distinct, superior, or extraordinary. Formerly, while picking vines, Monk Shuiliao asked Mazu: 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' The Patriarch said: 'Come forward, and I will tell you.' As soon as Shuiliao stepped forward, Mazu kicked him squarely in the chest and knocked him down. Shuiliao unconsciously got up, clapped his hands, and laughed heartily: 'Ha, ha!' The Patriarch said: 'What principle did you see that you laugh?' Shuiliao said: 'Hundreds of thousands of dharma-gates and boundless subtle meanings—today, on the tip of a single hair, I have completely recognized their source.' Mazu then paid him no further attention. Xuefeng knew that Gushan's conditions were ripe; one day he suddenly grabbed him by the chest and said: 'What is this?' Gushan was thoroughly awakened, and his conscious mind vanished; he only smiled, raised his hands, and waved them. Xuefeng said: 'Are you making a principle of it?' Gushan again waved his hands and said: 'Venerable monk, what principle could there be?' Xuefeng then dropped it. Chan Master Daoming of Mengshan pursued Postulant Lu to the Dayu Ridge to seize the robe and bowl. Lord Lu threw them onto a rock and said: 'This robe signifies faith; can it be contended for by force?' Leaving Lord Lu to take them, Ming tried to lift them but could not move them. He then said: 'I seek the Dharma, not the robe and bowl. I pray the postulant will give me instruction.' Lord Lu said: 'Do not think of good, do not think of evil; right at this very moment, what is the elder's original face?' Ming was greatly awakened at that moment, sweat streaming all over his body; weeping tears, he bowed and said: 'Aside from the secret words and secret meanings from above, is there still any further meaning?' Lord Lu said: 'What I have spoken to you now is not a secret meaning. If you reflect back upon your own face, the secret is on your side. If I could speak it, it would not be a secret.' Taking these three elders' three cases to compare with your being relieved in a single laugh, how do they compare in excellence? Please judge for yourself and see: is there still any other extraordinary principle? If there were still something else, it would be as though you had never been relieved. Just know how to be a buddha; do not worry that the buddha does not understand words. From ancient times, when people who attained the Way had their own selves fulfilled, extending the surplus of themselves to respond to capacities and encounter phenomena, they were like a bright mirror on its stand or a luminous pearl in the palm: when a foreigner comes, a foreigner appears; when a Han person comes, a Han person appears—it is without deliberation. If one deliberates, there would be a real dharma given to people. If you wish the Great Dharma to be clear and your response to conditions unobstructed, just remain as before and have no need to ask others; after a long time, you will naturally nod in assent. As for the words personally spoken at your departure, please write them to the right of your seat. Other than this, there is nothing else to say; even if there were, for your part they would all become superfluous words. The entangling vines are too many; let us set this matter aside for now.

25.18

Another [letter].

25.19

Bing has recently received your instructive reply, fully understanding the deep intent. Bing has three verifications of his own: First, whether matters are adverse or agreeable, I respond according to conditions without retaining them in my chest. Second, deeply rooted past habits are not intentionally dispelled, yet naturally become slight. Third, the ancients' gong'ans, which were formerly bewildering, are now frequently glimpsed with clarity; this is not self-deception. The words in my previous letter about the Great Dharma not yet being clear were merely out of fear of taking little as sufficient, wishing to expand and fulfill it; how could I be seeking superior understanding elsewhere? The purification of the present flow is not absent in principle; I dare not fail to engrave it upon my heart.

25.20

Since receiving your letter, my admiration has increased all the more. I wonder if recently you have been wandering freely according to conditions, at ease and self-sovereign as you wish? In the four postures, are you overcome by worldly toil or not? Have the two sides of waking and sleeping become unified or not? In the place of remaining as before, is there any straying or not? Regarding the mind of birth and death, is there no continuation or not? Simply exhaust ordinary feelings; there is no other holy understanding. Since you have laughed once, wide open the true eye, news and messages instantly vanished; whether you have gained strength or not, like someone drinking water, you naturally know whether it is cold or warm. Yet in daily activities, you should rely on what the yellow-faced old fellow said: 'Gouge out the proper nature, remove the contributing causes, and go against the present karma.' For one who has finished the task, this is the true skillful means amidst no skillful means, the true cultivation and verification amidst no cultivation and verification, and the true taking up and abandoning amidst no taking up and abandoning. An ancient worthy said: 'When the skin has completely fallen away, only the one true reality remains.' It is also like sandalwood: when the luxuriant branches have completely fallen away, only the true sandalwood remains. This is the ultimate reach of going against present karma, removing contributing causes, and gouging out the proper nature. Try contemplating this: for one who has finished the task, such talk is very much like a fan in the twelfth month—I only fear that in the southern regions, the cold and warmth are inconsistent. You cannot help but laugh once.

25.21

Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue, Fascicle Twenty-Five

Linked texts (1)

大慧普覺禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese