大慧普覺禪師語錄 28.13

28.13

All conditions having ceased for me, my daily life is simply like this; there is no need for you to be anxious on my account. On your own part, what is lacking? In the world, you can be called completely fulfilled in ten thousand ways. If only you can turn yourself over and make a single leap within this gate, how would it merely be like having a hundred thousand strings of cash wrapped around your waist and riding a crane up to Yangzhou? Formerly, Lord Yang Danian, at the age of thirty, met Venerable Guanghui Lian and removed the thing obstructing his chest. From then on, whether at court or dwelling in the countryside, he maintained a single standard from start to finish, not moved by fame and merit, nor robbed away by wealth and rank; yet neither was it through any deliberate intention to make light of fame, merit, wealth, and rank—it was because where the Way resides, the Dharma is just so. Zhaozhou said: 'You are all driven by the twelve hours of the day; this old monk can drive the twelve hours.' This old fellow's saying was not a forced effort; it is also because the Dharma is just so. In general, pursuing learning and pursuing the Way are one and the same. Yet today's scholars often take humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness as learning, and take investigating things, loyalty and reciprocity, a single thread running through it all, and the like as the Way. They only go on as if guessing at riddles, or like the blind men touching an elephant, each asserting a different part. Did not the Buddha say? 'To measure the Tathāgata's realm of complete enlightenment with a thinking mind is like taking a firefly's glow to burn Mount Sumeru.' When confronting birth, death, calamity, and fortune, they find no strength at all; this is precisely why. Yangzi said: 'That by which the scholar cultivates is nature; nature is the Way.' The Yellow-Faced Old Fellow said: 'Nature becomes the unexcelled Way.' Guifeng said: 'Doing deeds endowed with righteousness is the alert and awake mind; doing deeds devoid of righteousness is the mad and disordered mind. Madness and disorder arise from emotional thoughts; at the end of life, one is dragged by karma. Awakening does not rely on emotion; at the end of life, one can transform karma.' What is called 'righteousness' (yi) here is the sense of proper principle, not the righteousness of humaneness and righteousness. But as I see it now, this old fellow too could not avoid cleaving empty space in two. Humaneness is the humaneness of nature; righteousness is the righteousness of nature; propriety is the propriety of nature; wisdom is the wisdom of nature; trustworthiness is the trustworthiness of nature; and the righteousness of proper principle is also nature. Doing deeds devoid of righteousness goes against this nature; doing deeds endowed with righteousness accords with this nature. However, acceding to or going against it lies with the person, not with nature. Humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness are in nature, not in the person. Persons have the worthy and the foolish; nature has none. If humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness lay in the worthy and not in the foolish, then the Way of the sages would involve selecting and discarding, like rain falling from heaven choosing ground upon which to descend. Therefore it is said: 'Humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness are in nature, not in the person.' The worthy and foolish, acceding and going against, lie with the person, not with nature. As for what Yangzi called 'cultivating nature,' nature cannot be cultivated either; it is merely acceding or going against, worthy or foolish. This is what Guifeng meant by 'awakening and madness,' and what Zhaozhou meant by 'driving the twelve hours and being driven by the twelve hours.' If you recognize the place where the nature of humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness arises, then investigating things, loyalty and reciprocity, and a single thread running through it all are already within it. Dharma Master Sengzhao said: 'How could one who can be heaven and can be human be capable of being so through heaven and human?' Therefore it is said: 'Pursuing learning and pursuing the Way are one and the same.' In general, when sages establish teachings, they do not seek fame nor boast of their achievements. It is like spring moving through flowers and trees: those endowed with this nature, when the seasonal conditions arrive, are each unaware of the other; according to the size, squareness, roundness, length, or shortness of their roots and natures, whether blue, yellow, red, or green, whether foul or fragrant, they burst forth simultaneously. It is not that spring is able to be large or small, square or round, long or short, blue or yellow, red or green, foul or fragrant; these are all inherently possessed natures, merely bursting forth upon encountering conditions. Baizhang said: 'If you wish to know the meaning of buddha-nature, you should observe seasonal conditions. When the time arrives, its principle manifests of itself.' Furthermore, Master Rang said to Master Ma: 'Your studying the mind-ground Dharma gate is like sowing seeds; my expounding the essentials of the Dharma is like heavenly moisture. Because your conditions match, you shall see its Way.' Therefore it is said: 'When sages establish teachings, they do not seek fame nor boast of their achievements; they only cause scholars to see their nature and accomplish the Way.' Old Fellow Wugou said: 'When the Way is in a mustard seed, the mustard seed is weighty; when the Way is in the world, the world is weighty—this is it.' You have once ascended Wugou's hall, yet have not entered his inner chamber; you have seen the exterior, yet have not seen the interior. A hundred years of time is just within a single kṣaṇa. If you awaken in an instant, all that was said above is not real meaning. Yet once awakened, whether taking it as real is also up to me, and taking it as unreal is also up to me. Like a gourd on the water, untouched by anyone, it constantly drifts freely; touch it and it moves, press it down and it rolls about smoothly. This is not a forced effort; it is also because the Dharma is just so. Regarding Zhaozhou's huatou 'a dog has no buddha-nature,' you are like someone hunting a thief: you already know the lair, but have just not captured him yet. Please quickly apply your energy; do not allow the slightest interruption. At all times, in walking, standing, sitting, or lying down; in reading books and histories; in cultivating humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness; in serving your elders; in instructing and admonishing scholars; in eating porridge and taking meals—grapple closely with it. Suddenly the cloth bag will burst open; then what more is there to say?