大慧普覺禪師語錄 27.13

27.13

What you do and how you act, venerable lay practitioner, silently accord with the Way; you have merely not yet attained that single 'ah!' of realization. If in your daily activities responding to conditions you do not lose your original footing, then even without that single 'ah!', on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month even the Old Man of the Yama court must fold his hands and surrender, not to mention when a single thought accords [with reality]! Although this old fellow Miaoxi has not seen your conduct with his own eyes, you find the golden mean between small and great, without excess or deficiency; this alone is the place of accord with the Way. Reaching this point, you need not form notions of worldly defilement, nor need you form notions of the Buddha Dharma: the Buddha Dharma and worldly defilement are both external matters, yet you must not form notions of them as external matters either. Simply turn your own light back to illuminate within: this one who forms such thoughts—where does it come from? At the time you do what you do and act as you act, what shape or form does it have? When what was to be done is accomplished, it accords with your mind in every respect, leaving nothing left over. Right at such a time, through whose grace and power is it that you practice like this? As the days and months deepen, like someone learning archery, you will naturally hit the bullseye. Sentient beings are inverted; confusing themselves, they pursue external objects, indulge in a petty taste of desire, and willingly suffer limitless pain. Day after day, before opening their eyes, before getting out of bed, when half awake and half conscious, their mental consciousness is already fluttering in disorder, drifting away following deluded thoughts. Whether doing good or doing evil, even before it is manifest, while still in bed, heaven and hell are already formed at once within the square inch of the heart. By the time it manifests, they have already fallen into the eighth [consciousness]. Does not the Buddha say: 'All sense faculties manifest from one's own mind; the storehouses of vessels, bodies, and so forth are posited and revealed from one's own deluded signs, like a river's flow, like seeds, like a lamp, like wind, like clouds, destroyed successively from moment to moment, restless like a monkey, delighting in impurity like a fly, insatiable like wind and fire, the cause of beginningless false habit-energy, like the revolving bucket of a well-wheel, and the like.' If you can see through this, it is called the absence of person and absence of self; you will know that heaven and hell are nowhere else, but solely within the square inch [of the heart] when half awake and half conscious before getting out of bed—they do not come from the outside at all. When it has arisen or not arisen, when you are aware or not aware, you must take care of it with utmost diligence. When taking care of it, you also must not struggle against it with effort; if you struggle against it, you waste effort. Does not the Patriarch say: 'Trying to stop motion to return to rest, the stopping makes it all the more restless.' As soon as you feel that within daily worldly affairs you are gradually saving effort, right that is where you gain strength, right that is where you become a buddha and patriarch, right that is where you turn hell into heaven, right that is where you sit securely, right that is where you step out of birth and death, right that is where you place the ruler above Yao and Shun, right that is where you raise the exhausted people from sickness and distress, right that is where you give shelter to your children and grandchildren. Reaching this point, speaking of buddhas, speaking of patriarchs, speaking of mind, speaking of nature, speaking of the abstruse, speaking of the wondrous, speaking of principle, speaking of phenomena, speaking of good, speaking of bad—all are external matters. If such matters as these are still external, how much more so doing things in the midst of worldly defilement that were reproached by the former sages? If one is unwilling even to do good deeds, how could one be willing to do bad deeds? If you can have faith in this discourse, and what Yongjia called 'Walking is also Chan, sitting is also Chan; speaking or silent, moving or still, the essence is at peace' is not empty words, please practice according to this, unchanging from beginning to end; then although you have not yet thoroughly verified your own original scenery, although you have not yet clearly seen your own original face, what was unfamiliar will have become familiar, and what was familiar will have become unfamiliar. Keep it earnestly in mind: the very point where you feel you are saving effort is where you gain strength. Whenever this old fellow Miaoxi speaks of this with people within the lineage, seeing it spoken of frequently, they often disregard it and are unwilling to treat it as a matter of concern. Let the lay practitioner try to practice like this: in only ten days or so you will see for yourself whether you are saving effort or not saving effort, whether you are gaining strength or not gaining strength. Like a person drinking water, naturally knowing whether it is cold or warm, it cannot be explained to others, nor presented to others. An ancient worthy said: 'Speaking of realization, it cannot be shown to others; speaking of principle, without realization it cannot be understood. The place of self-realization, self-attainment, self-belief, and self-awakening—except for those who have realized, attained, believed, and awakened—can only be silently matched; those who have not realized, not attained, not believed, and not awakened not only do not believe it themselves, but also do not believe that others have such a realm.' Venerable lay practitioner, your natural endowment is close to the Way; what you presently do and how you act needs no further alteration. Compared to others, out of ten thousand parts you have already spared nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine parts; all that is lacking is a single explosive breakthrough to be finished. When literati study the Way, most do not truly apprehend it; once they set aside oral debate and mental deliberation, they are bewildered and have nowhere to put their hands and feet. They do not believe that the place where there is nowhere to put hands and feet is precisely the good place; they only want their minds to conceive it and their mouths to explain it clearly, entirely unaware that this is a mistake. The Buddha said: 'The Tathāgata uses all metaphors to speak of various matters, but there is no metaphor that can speak of this Dharma. Why is that? Because the path of mental cognition is cut off and it is inconceivable.' Know with certainty that deliberation and discrimination inevitably obstruct the Way. If you can sever the front and back extremes, the path of mental cognition will naturally be cut off. If you can cut off the path of mental cognition, all the various matters spoken of will be this Dharma. Once this Dharma is clear, this very clarity is the inconceivable realm of great liberation, and this realm itself is also inconceivable. Since the realm is inconceivable, all metaphors are also inconceivable, various matters are also inconceivable, and this very inconceivability is also inconceivable. This discourse also has no place to settle, and this very absence of a place to settle is also inconceivable. In this way, investigating through and through, whether matters or Dharmas, whether metaphors or realms, like a ring without an end, without a place of arising and without a place of cessation, all are inconceivable Dharmas. Therefore it is said: 'Bodhisattvas abide in this inconceivable [realm], wherein conceiving is inexhaustible; entering this inconceivable place, both thought and non-thought are tranquil and extinguished.' Yet one also must not abide in the place of tranquil extinction; if one abides in the place of tranquil extinction, one is governed by the measure of the dharmadhātu. In the teachings, this is called the affliction of dharma-dust. Extinguish the measure of the dharmadhātu, completely sweep away all superior states at once, and only then will you be fit to look at 'the cypress tree in the courtyard', 'three pounds of hemp', 'a dry shit-stick', 'a dog has no buddha-nature', 'swallowing all the water of the West River in one gulp', 'the Eastern Mountain walks on the water', and the like. If you suddenly penetrate under a single phrase, only then can it be called the measureless dedication of the dharmadhātu: seeing as it truly is, practicing as it truly is, applying as it truly is. Then you can manifest the precious king's lands on the tip of a single hair, and sit within a fine dust-mote to turn the great wheel of Dharma, accomplishing various dharmas and destroying various dharmas, all depending on oneself, like a strong man stretching out his arm without relying on another's strength, or a lion roaming without seeking companions. When various wonderfully superior realms appear before you, your mind is not astonished; when various realms of bad karma appear before you, your mind is not terrified; in the four postures of daily life, you are broad and free following conditions, easy and unfettered following your nature. Once you reach this ground, only then can you say there is no heaven and no hell, and the like. Yongjia said: 'There is no person, and there is no buddha; the great chiliocosm of worlds are bubbles in the ocean, all sages and worthies are like flashes of lightning.' If this old fellow had not reached this ground, how could he have spoken this? There are many who misunderstand these words: if they have not penetrated to the root source, they inevitably generate understanding based on words, saying that everything is non-existent, negating cause and effect, taking the verbal teachings spoken by all buddhas and patriarchs entirely to be false, and calling them deceptions. If this disease is not eliminated, it is precisely 'rashly and recklessly bringing on disaster and calamity'. The Buddha said: 'The false and floating mind has many clever views; if it does not cling to existence, it clings to non-existence; if it clings to neither of these two, it speculates and conjectures between existence and non-existence in various ways; even if it recognizes this disease, it is bound to settle on neither-existence-nor-non-existence.' Therefore, the former sages took great pains to earnestly instruct, causing one to depart from the four propositions and cut off the hundred negations, cutting directly through in two with a single blade, no longer thinking of before or pondering after, cutting off the top of the heads of the thousand sages. The four propositions are: existence, non-existence, neither existence nor non-existence, and both existence and non-existence. If you penetrate these four propositions, then when you hear that all phenomena truly exist, you also accord with it and speak of existence to them, yet without being obstructed by this true existence; when you hear that all phenomena are truly non-existent, you also accord with it and speak of non-existence to them, yet it is not the worldly voidness of non-existence; when you hear that all phenomena both exist and do not exist, you also accord with it and speak of both existence and non-existence to them, yet it is not frivolous discourse; when you hear that all phenomena neither exist nor do not exist, you also accord with it and speak of neither existence nor non-existence to them, yet it is not contradictory. As Vimalakīrti said: 'Falling into that into which the six non-Buddhist masters fall, you also fall along with them'—this is it. When literati study the Way, most are unwilling to empty their minds and listen to the instructions of a good spiritual friend; as soon as the good spiritual friend opens his mouth, they have already comprehended it before the words. But when they are made to pour it all out, they have completely misunderstood; what they should have grasped before the words, they get stuck on the words instead. There is another kind who consistently act clever and speak of principles, saying: 'Among all worldly skills and arts, there is none I cannot do; only Chan is the one thing I do not understand.' In their official quarters, they summon a few fabricated elders, give them a meal to eat, let them talk wildly at will, and then use their mental consciousness to remember what these fabricators said, and go around interrogating people—one phrase back, one phrase forth, calling it 'wrestling Chan': 'In the end, if I have one more phrase and you have no words, then I have gained the advantage.' When they happen to run into a truly clear-eyed fellow, they do not recognize him; even if they recognize him, they lack decisive faith and are unwilling to let go completely, flat on all four sides, to consult the master, still seeking his seal of approval. When the master presents the hammer and tongs of the fundamental duty amidst adversity and prosperity, they become terrified and dare not draw close; such people are called pitiable. Venerable lay practitioner, in your youthful years you passed the examinations with high honors and began your career; wherever you were, you carried out beneficial deeds according to the occasion. Your writings and accomplishments surpass others, yet you have never boasted. With one mind and one intent, you only wish to take a step back and truly understand this great matter of the causal condition. Seeing your utmost sincerity, I have unconsciously been so earnest and painstaking; this is not only so that you, lay practitioner, will recognize this sort of affliction, but also to serve as provisions for initial bodhisattvas entering the Way.