大慧普覺禪師語錄 26.19

26.19

The Yellow-Faced Old Fellow said: 'Faith is the origin of the Way and the mother of merits, nurturing all good dharmas.' He also said: 'Faith can increase the merits of wisdom; faith can surely reach the Tathāgata's stage.' If you wish to travel a thousand leagues, the first step is the beginning. Bodhisattvas of the ten grounds sever obstacles and realize the dharma gates by entering first from the ten faiths, and afterward ascend to the Ground of the Dharma Cloud and achieve correct awakening; this is because the initial Joyful Ground produces joy on account of faith. If you are determined to straighten your backbone and become an immeasurable person beyond the world and within it, you must be cast of raw iron to accomplish it; if you are half-bright and half-dark, half-believing and half-unbelieving, you will definitely never accomplish it. This matter is without personal sentiment and cannot be transmitted; you must personally comprehend and awaken before you have a share in heading toward it. If you manage it from other people's mouths, there will be no rest for eternal eons. By all means, throughout the twelve periods of the day, do not let it pass in vain. Rising day after day, in your functional applications it is perfectly round and smooth, not the least bit different from Śākyamuni and Bodhidharma. It is simply that the person oneself does not see through it and does not penetrate it, leaping whole-bodied into sound and form, and then seeking to stick one's head out from within them—which misses the connection all the more. Nor does this matter lie in consulting spiritual friends for a long time and traversing the monasteries far and wide before one can accomplish it. How many are there nowadays in the monasteries whose hair is white and teeth yellow without accomplishing it, and how many are there who newly enter the monasteries, and with a single turning turn around with everything fully settled? There is earlier and later in generating the mind, but no earlier or later at the time of awakening. Formerly, Commandant Li Wenhe studied with Cizhao of Shimen; under a single phrase he undertook it and everything was fully settled. He once presented a verse to Cizhao, saying: / 'To study the Way, one must be a person of iron, / Taking hold, the mind-ground is at once settled; / Directly grasp supreme bodhi, / Never minding any right or wrong.' / Just press on from beneath your feet; once dead, then let it rest. Do not think behind or ponder ahead, and do not produce afflictions, for afflictions obstruct the Way. Take care, take care.