大慧普覺禪師語錄 27.5

27.5

Your elder brother, the Academician, at first never knew of such matters as attending and forgetting thoughts; casually reaching out he touched his own nostrils, and though he has not fully discerned the heterodox and orthodox of all quarters, his foundation is firm and solid, so heterodox poisons cannot invade him, and forgetting thoughts and attending are already contained within it. If one exclusively forgets thoughts and attends, the mind of birth and death is not broken, and the skandha-demons find their advantage, inevitably partitioning empty space into two places, experiencing boundless bliss when in quietude and experiencing boundless suffering when in noise. If you wish to make suffering and bliss equal and uniform, simply do not give rise to the intention to attend, nor use the mind to forget thoughts; throughout the twelve periods of the day, leave things completely open and vast. If old habits suddenly surge up, you also need not use your mind to suppress them; just at the place where they surge up, observe this huatou: 'Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?' 'No.' Just at such a time, it is like a speck of snow upon a red-hot stove. One whose eye is keen and hand is dexterous catches it at a single snatch, only then knowing that when Lanrong said: 'Right when you use the mind, / Right then there is no mind to use; / Roundabout discourse on names and characteristics is tiresome, / Speaking directly brings no burden. / With no mind, you precisely use it; / In constant use, precisely there is none. / Now speaking of the place of no-mind, / It is not different from having a mind'—these were no deceiving words. Formerly, Vasubandhu constantly took one meal [a day] and did not lie down, worshipping the Buddha throughout the six periods of the day, pure and free from desire, a refuge for the multitude. The Twentieth Patriarch, Jayata, wishing to deliver him, asked his disciples: 'This dhūta of comprehensive practice can cultivate pure conduct; can he attain the Buddha Way?' His disciples said: 'Our master is as vigorous as this; why could he not?' Jayata said: 'Your master is far from the Way. Even if he practices austerities for dust-like eons, it is all the root of delusion.' His disciples were overcome with indignation, all changing countenance and speaking harshly, saying to Jayata: 'What virtuous conduct does the Venerable One possess that you disparage our master?' Jayata said: 'I do not seek the Way, nor am I inverted; I do not worship the Buddha, nor am I disrespectful; I do not sit for long, nor am I indolent; I do not eat one meal, nor do I eat diversely; I am not content, nor am I greedy; having no longing in mind is what I call the Way.' Hearing this, Vasubandhu gave rise to undefiled wisdom; this is what is called: 'First shake with concentration, later extract with wisdom.' When the fabricated elders teach you to sit quietly and wait to become a buddha, how is that not the root of delusion? And they say: 'In a quiet place there is no loss; in a noisy place there is loss.' Is this not destroying worldly characteristics to seek the true characteristic? If one cultivates like this, how can one tally with Lanrong's saying: 'Now speaking of the place of no-mind, / It is not different from having a mind'? Please reflect carefully and precisely on this. Vasubandhu at first also thought: 'Sitting long without lying down, one can become a buddha.' But as soon as Jayata pointed it out, he recognized where to return right upon these words and gave rise to undefiled wisdom; truly, he was a fine horse that runs at the sight of the whip's shadow. The frantic confusion of sentient beings is an illness, and the Buddha used the medicine of the pāramitā of tranquil silence to treat it; when the illness is gone yet the medicine remains, the illness becomes all the more severe. Picking up one and putting down another, when will there ever be an end? When birth and death arrive, neither quiet nor noise can be used in the slightest. Do not say that in noise there are many losses and in quiet there are few losses; it is better to bundle up few and many, gain and loss, quiet and noise into a single bundle and fling it away to another world. Instead, right in the midst of daily activity, at the place that is neither many nor few, neither quiet nor noise, neither gain nor loss, briefly raise it and look: what is this? Impermanence is swift, and a hundred years of time passes in the snap of a finger. What spare time do you have to attend to gain and attend to loss, attend to quiet and attend to noise, attend to many and attend to few, attend to forgetting thoughts and attend to attending? Master Shitou said: 'Respectfully I tell those who investigate the mystery: / Do not pass the time in vain.' To this single phrase, opening the eyes applies, closing the eyes applies, forgetting thoughts applies, attending applies, frantic confusion applies, and tranquil silence applies; this is how Jingshan arranges it. I imagine the fabricated elders have another way of arranging it. Bah! Let us put this matter aside.