大慧普覺禪師語錄 28.9

28.9

Your disciple [Seng]yu came passing through and presented the teachings you bestowed; reading them brought me great joy and comfort. One can know that impermanence is swift: a hundred years of time is like a flash of lightning, which means the time for harvesting the fruits of your causes has arrived. How does one feel the dried shit-stick? When you have nothing to take hold of, no flavor, and are suffocated inside your chest, that precisely is the good news. Above all, you must not assume responsibility at the place where it is brought up, nor may you throw it into the armor of nothing-to-do; it must not be that when brought up it exists, and when not brought up it does not exist. Simply turn the mind that calculates worldly defilements back onto the dried shit-stick; calculating back and calculating forth until there is nothing you can do, your tricks suddenly exhausted, you will naturally awaken on your own. You must not use the mind to wait for enlightenment; if you use the mind to wait for enlightenment, throughout eternal eons you will never be able to attain enlightenment. Previously, in my reply to Longli's letter, I thoroughly exposed the ailments of scholar-officials. I understand that you keep it by your seat; if you apply effort according to this, even if you have not thoroughly awakened, you will still be able to distinguish between the heterodox and the orthodox and will not be obstructed by demonic obstacles. You will also have planted the seeds of prajñā deeply: even if you do not finish it in this life, when you emerge in a future life you will enjoy it ready-made without expending effort, nor will you be seized by evil karma, and when approaching the end of life you will also be able to transform karma—how much more so if there is a single moment of accord! Every day, by all means do not think of other matters; only think of the dried shit-stick, and do not ask when you will awaken—this is my earnest prayer. When you awaken, there is also no particular time, nor will you startle the crowd or move the multitude; right in that instant, completely settled and tranquil, naturally you will not doubt the buddhas, will not doubt the patriarchs, will not doubt birth, will not doubt death. Reaching the ground of no doubt, this is precisely the Buddha-ground. On the Buddha-ground there is originally no doubt, no awakening and no delusion, no birth and no death, no existence and no non-existence, no nirvāṇa and no prajñā, no buddhas and no sentient beings, and also no one who speaks thus; this speech is also not accepted, nor is there anyone who does not accept it, nor is there anyone who knows non-acceptance, nor is there anyone who speaks thus of non-acceptance. If Juren has faith that reaches this, the buddhas are also just like this, the patriarchs are also just like this, awakening is also just like this, delusion is also just like this, doubt is also just like this, birth is also just like this, death is also just like this, daily defilements are also just like this, annihilation or non-annihilation after death is also just like this, serving as an attendant official in the imperial court is also just like this, being at a Daoist temple in a quiet place is also just like this, residing at Jingshan surrounded by a assembly of seventeen hundred is also just like this, being placed under surveillance in Hengzhou is also just like this. Can Juren still have faith that reaches this? If faith reaches it, it is also just like this; if faith does not reach it, it is also just like this. Ultimately, how is it? Like this, like this; 'like this' is also just like this.