大慧普覺禪師語錄 29

English (machine translation) 29

Language: English

29.1

Presented by imperial subject Yunwen, abbot of Nengren Chan Monastery on Mount Jing under the Song, Chan Master Huiri, successor to the Dharma

I do not know how you have been doing your practice in daily life since we parted. If you have ever derived flavor from rational principle, derived flavor from the scriptures and teachings, derived flavor from the verbal expressions of the ancestral masters, derived flavor from what is seen by the eye and heard by the ear, derived flavor from lifting the feet and taking steps, or derived flavor from the thoughts and concepts of the mind, none of it is of any use. If you want to rest straightaway, pay no attention to any place where you previously derived flavor; instead, try to direct your attention to the place where there is nothing to grasp and no flavor, and look. If you cannot direct your attention, cannot grasp anything, and feel all the more that there is no handle to hold onto, where pathways of reason, pathways of meaning, and the mind, intellect, and consciousness all do not function, just like earth, wood, tile, and stone—do not fear falling into emptiness! This is the place where a person relinquishes body and life. Do not neglect this; do not neglect this. Clever and sharp people are mostly obstructed by their cleverness; for this reason, their eye of the Way does not open, and they become stuck at every turn. From beginningless time, sentient beings have been driven by mind, intellect, and consciousness, drifting in birth and death unable to attain freedom. If you truly wish to transcend birth and death and be a carefree person, you must cut it in two with a single blade and cut off the road of mind, intellect, and consciousness; only then will there be a fraction of correspondence. Therefore Yongjia said: 'Damaging the wealth of the Dharma and destroying merit—none of it is not due to this mind, intellect, and consciousness.' How could he deceive people? The instructive letter I recently received contained various inclinations that are all ailments I have always rebuked. Knowing these matters, fling them behind your head, and for now try to do the practice facing the place where there is no handle, nothing to grasp, and no flavor, and see. For instance, a monk asked Zhaozhou: 'Does even a dog have buddha-nature or not?' Zhaozhou said: 'No (Wu).' As soon as ordinary clever people hear it raised, they immediately grasp, deliberate, and cite proofs with mind, intellect, and consciousness, wanting to state it so that there is a point of entrustment. They little realize that it does not allow citing proofs, does not allow deliberation, and does not allow grasping with mind, intellect, and consciousness; even if you can cite proofs, deliberate, and grasp it, it is all an affair of emotional consciousness in front of a skull, definitely powerless at the brink of birth and death. Nowadays under heaven, those who are called Chan masters and venerable elders and understand clearly do not go beyond the news written in your letter. The remaining various false understandings need not be mentioned. Head Monk Mi and Zonggao were together in universal harmony and integration, where he completely obtained the essentials of universal harmony; he considered himself at peace and ease, yet what he attained also did not go beyond the news in your letter. Only now has he come to know his error and attained another place of peace and ease, only now knowing that I did not deceive him in the slightest. Now I have specially ordered him to go and meet you; when at leisure, try to make him speak out and see whether it tallies with your understanding or not. An eighty-year-old grandfather entering the examination hall is truly no child's play; if it is powerless when birth and death arrive, even if you can speak of it clearly, reconcile it so that it has an outcome, and cite proofs without discrepancy, it is all the livelihood of ghosts, having nothing whatsoever to do with me. Regarding the various disparate, divergent understandings in the Chan gate, only those who know the Dharma are afraid; those to whom the Great Dharma is not clear often take the disease as the medicine. This must not be unknown.

29.4

In Reply to Vice Minister Liu (Jigao)

29.5

Your letter states: 'The thirtieth day of the twelfth month has already arrived; essentially, in daily life, one ought to observe like this, and then the mind of worldly toil and defilement will naturally melt away. Once the mind of worldly toil and defilement has melted away, the coming day as before will be early spring, still cold.' An ancient worthy said: 'If you wish to know the meaning of buddha-nature, you should observe the seasonal conditions.' This season is the very season when the yellow-faced old man appeared in the world, became a buddha, sat on the vajra seat, subdued the demon armies, turned the wheel of Dharma, saved sentient beings, and entered nirvāṇa; it is neither different nor distinct from the season of the thirtieth day of the twelfth month spoken of by Layman Jiekong. Arriving here, simply observe like this; observing in this way is called correct observation, while observing differently from this is called wrong observation. Before right and wrong are distinguished, one inevitably follows its seasonal changes. If you wish not to follow the seasons, just let go all at once; letting go to the point where there is nothing left to let go of, even these words are not accepted—as before, you are just Layman Jiekong, no one else.

29.6

Another [Reply to Vice Minister Liu]

29.7

Our Buddha, the Great Sage, could empty all marks and accomplish the wisdom of the myriad dharmas, yet he could not immediately extinguish fixed karma; how much less can an ordinary being bound to the earth do so? Since you, Layman, are a person in the midst of this, I presume you also constantly enter this samādhi. Formerly, a monk asked an elder: 'The world is so hot; where should one avoid it?' The elder said: 'Avoid it in the boiling cauldron and furnace coals.' The monk said: 'Just how does one avoid it in the boiling cauldron and furnace coals?' The elder said: 'The multitude of sufferings cannot reach there.' I hope that you, Layman, in your four deportments in daily life, will just do the practice like this. The elder's words must not be neglected; this is a prescription with which Miaoxi achieved efficacy. Were it not that I tally with you in this Way and know you in this mind, I would not be willing to transmit it lightly. Just use a single thought of correspondence, decocted with grass broth; do not use any other broth. If you use another broth, it will drive a person mad; this must not be unknown. The herb of a single thought of correspondence need not be sought elsewhere; it is also just within your four deportments: in bright places it is bright as the sun, and in dark places it is black as lacquer. If you pick it up casually and illuminate it with original scenery, not one will be mistaken; it can kill people, and it can also bring people to life. Therefore, the buddhas and ancestors constantly use this medicine in the boiling cauldron and furnace coals to treat the great illness of birth and death of afflicted sentient beings, and are called Great Kings of Medicine. I do not know whether you can fully believe in it or not? If you say that you yourself have a secret recipe not transmitted from father to son, and do not need the marvelous art of avoiding it in the boiling cauldron and furnace coals, then I look forward to you bestowing it in alms.

29.8

In Reply to Director Li (Sibiao)

29.9

When scholar-officials study this Path, their affliction is not a lack of cleverness; their affliction is merely being too clever. Their affliction is not a lack of intellectual views; their affliction is merely having far too many intellectual views. Hence they constantly walk one step ahead of discriminatory consciousness, obscuring the news of cheerful ease and liberation beneath their feet. The higher among those with wrong views conflate seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing into the self, taking the sphere of direct perception as the mind-ground Dharma-gate. The lower ones toy with karmic consciousness, clinging to the entryway and household register, flapping their two lips, talking of the mysterious and speaking of the wondrous—some even go so far as raving madly without constraint of words, talking nonsense, pointing east and drawing west. The lowest of the low take silent illumination, wordlessness, vacuity, and quiescence, dwelling in the ghost cave, seeking ultimate peace and joy. Other various wrong interpretations can be known without speaking of them. When Chongmi and the others returned, I received the instruction you bestowed, and reading it brought unspeakable joy and solace. I shall no longer engage in conventional worldly social pleasantries; relying solely on your valiant resolve toward the Path, I will enter right into the entanglements. Chan has no distinction of Deshan or Linji, nor difference of Fayan or Caodong. It is only that students lack vast and resolute determination, while masters also lack vast and universally penetrating Dharma-gates; hence what they enter differs, while their ultimate resting place has no such differences at all. You instructed: 'I wish Miaoxi would indicate the shortcut essentials by letter.' Just this single thought of seeking an indication of the shortcut essentials has already plunged your head into a tub of glue; one must not add frost on top of snow. Even so, where there is a question there cannot be no answer. I ask you to put down all at once the scripture teachings and huatous you have customarily read yourself, or the places where you gained taste and delight from others' raising and indicating them. As before, knowing nothing and understanding nothing, just like a three-year-old child who has sensory consciousness but does not yet exercise it, look instead toward the front of that single thought seeking the shortcut essentials before it has arisen. Looking and looking, when you feel you have increasingly lost any hold, and your mind becomes increasingly unsettled, you must not slacken. This is the place where the crowns of the heads of a thousand sages are cut off; students of the Path often retreat at this point. If you can have faith in this, just look before the single thought of seeking an indication of the shortcut essentials has arisen. Looking and looking, you will suddenly awaken from the dream—this is no false matter; this is the effective effort Miaoxi has customarily practiced. Knowing that you possess a resolute determination, I drag myself through the mud and water, undertaking this total defeat. Other than this, there is nothing else to point out. If there were anything to point out, it would not be the shortcut essentials.

29.10

Reply to Vice Director of the Palace Library Li (Maojia)

29.11

Previously I received your instruction: 'My innate faculty is dim and dull, and though I strive diligently in practice, in the end I have not obtained the method of transcendent awakening.' When Zonggao was at Shuangjing, answering what Fu Jishen asked, it was exactly the same as this question. The one who can know dimness and dullness is decidedly not dim and dull; where else would you go to seek transcendent awakening? When scholar-officials study this Path, they must instead borrow dimness and dullness to enter. If you grasp dimness and dullness, telling yourself that you have no share in it, then you are captured by the demon of dimness and dullness. Because intellectual views of old mostly have the mind that seeks realization and awakening standing in front as an obstruction, your own right knowledge and view cannot manifest. This obstruction does not come from outside, nor is it another matter; it is just the master who can know dimness and dullness. Thus Master Ruiyan habitually called to himself in his abbot's quarters: 'Master!' And he would answer himself: 'Yes.' 'Stay awake!' And he would answer himself: 'Yes.' 'At any later day do not be deceived by people.' And he would answer himself: 'Yes, yes.' Fortunately, from antiquity there has been such an example; casually bring it to attention and look here: what is this? Just this one that brings it to attention is also no other person; it is just this one that can know dimness and dullness. The one that can know dimness and dullness is also no other person; it is Li Baowen's own natal star of life. This is Miaoxi prescribing medicine according to the illness, having no choice but to briefly point out to the lay practitioner a pathway to return home and sit securely. If you immediately fix upon dead words and truly call it the natal star of life, then that is recognizing the spirit of consciousness as oneself, having even less connection to it. Thus Master Changsha said: 'Students of the Path do not recognize the true, / Only because from the past they have recognized the spirit of consciousness; / The root of birth and death for immeasurable kalpas, / The foolish person calls the original person.' What was mentioned earlier about borrowing dimness and dullness to enter is just this. Only look: ultimately, what is that which can know such dimness and dullness? Just look toward this; there is no need to seek transcendent awakening. Looking and looking, you will suddenly burst into great laughter. Beyond this, there is nothing to say.

29.12

Reply to Vice Minister Xiang (Bogong)

29.13

You instructed: 'The matter of

29.14

Reply to Professor Chen (Fuqing)

29.15

This Path has never been more desolate than today. Heterodox teachers preach the Dharma like clusters of rudrākṣa beads; each claims for himself to have attained the unsurpassed Path, all chanting heterodox doctrines to bewitch ordinary fools. Therefore, I constantly gnash my teeth at this, sparing neither body nor life in wishing to sustain it, so that the seeds of bright light may know there is our family's proper affair and not fall into the net of wrong views. If by some chance the Buddha-seed within the realm of sentient beings is not severed, I will also not have received the yellow-faced old fellow's protection in vain. As it is said, 'Offering this deep mind to the dust-mote realms—this is called repaying the Buddha's kindness.' Yet this is also a matter of not knowing the times and not estimating my own strength. Since you are an insider, I cannot help speaking of insider matters; letting the brush flow, I unwittingly arrived at this.

29.16

Reply to Administrative Assistant Lin (Shaozhan)

29.17

You instructed: 'I ask for a phrase for a person who believes in the Path to practice.' Since you are reading the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, how could there be only a single phrase in the sūtra? The great bodhisattvas each raised questions according to their own doubts, and the World-Honoured One distinctly analyzed them one by one according to their doubts, making them exceedingly clear; the huatou given previously was also among them. The sūtra says: 'At all times do not give rise to delusive thoughts; toward delusive minds do not extinguish them; dwelling in states of delusive thinking, do not add comprehension (this phrase is the most intimate); within non-comprehension, do not discern reality.' When this old fellow previously resided at the Yunmen Hermitage, I once made a verse on it: / 'Lotus leaves are round, round as a mirror; / Water chestnuts are sharp, sharp as an awl. / The wind blows the willow catkins, running like hairy balls; / The rain beats the pear blossoms, flying like butterflies.' / Just place this verse on top and shift the sūtra text below: the verse is indeed the sūtra, and the sūtra is indeed the verse. Try practicing in this way and see: do not care whether you awaken or not; let your mind not be feverishly flurried, nor should you slacken. Like the method of tuning strings, when tightness and looseness find their proper measure, the tune will naturally be completed. When you return, just stay close to the likes of Chong, polishing one another, and your work on the Path will certainly be accomplished. Best wishes, best wishes.

29.18

Reply to Magistrate Huang (Ziyu)

29.19

I received your letter and know that you are exerting great effort for the sake of this one great causal condition. The actions and deeds of a great man should indeed be like this! Impermanence is swift and the matter of life and death is great; when one day passes, one day's good fortune is consumed—truly fearful, truly fearful. You, sir, are in the prime of your life, which is precisely the time when people create karma without knowing good from bad; that you are able to turn this mind around to study unexcelled bodhi makes you a quick-witted fellow of the highest order in this world, difficult to accommodate. What extraordinary thing in the realm of the five turbidities surpasses this matter? To take advantage of your robust physical strength and turn back early has strength hundreds of thousands of myriads of times greater than turning back on approaching old age; this old fellow privately rejoices for you. As for the dharma words I wrote and sent previously, have you looked into them from time to time? First and foremost, remember: you must not stir your mind and move your thoughts, becoming frantic in your belly with a rush to attain enlightenment. The moment you give rise to such a thought, the road ahead is blocked by it, and you will never be able to attain enlightenment. An ancestral master said: "To grasp it is to lose measure, and one will surely enter an errant path; release it to what is natural, and its substance neither goes nor stays." This is where the ancestral masters poured out their hearts and guts for the sake of others. Just do not engage in strenuous effort in your daily activities; within this gate, strenuous effort is not permitted. This old fellow often says to people: the place where one gains strength is precisely the place where one saves strength; the place where one saves strength is precisely the place where one gains strength. If you give rise to a single thought of expectation seeking a place of awakening, it is very much like a man sitting in his own hall and yet asking someone else to find him a place to dwell—no different at all. Simply stick the two words "life" and "death" onto the tip of your nose, and do not forget to constantly bring up and reflect upon the huatou. Bringing it up again and again, what is unfamiliar will naturally become familiar, and what is familiar will naturally become unfamiliar. These words have already been written in the letter to the Daoren Kongxiang; please read them along with that letter, exchanging them back and forth, and then you will understand.

29.20

Reply to Professor Yan (Ziqing)

29.21

One who has truly arrived at the ground of no doubt is like something forged from pure steel or cast from raw iron; even if a thousand sages stepped forward and manifested boundless, extraordinary realms, seeing them would be just like not seeing them—how much less would one make extraordinary and wondrous doctrines out of this? Formerly, while Yaoshan was sitting in meditation, Shitou asked: "What are you doing here?" Yaoshan said: "Not doing a single thing." Shitou said: "Then you are just sitting idly." Yaoshan said: "Sitting idly would be doing something." Shitou approved of him. Look at those ancients: even an 'idle sitting' could not pin him down. The students of the Way nowadays mostly get stuck at the place of idle sitting; those fellows without nostrils in recent times' monasteries who call it 'silent illumination' are of this kind. There is also a type whose heels have never touched the ground at all, who recognize merely a shadow at the entryway, run wildly in one direction, and cannot be spoken to in ordinary words—interpreting everything as Chan. Those like this call karmic consciousness their fundamental destiny, and it is even less possible to speak with them of the fundamental matter. Have you not seen that Master Yunmen said: "When the light does not penetrate through, there are two kinds of sickness. That everywhere is not clear and there is an object before one is the first; moreover, having penetrated through to the emptiness of all phenomena, yet faintly there seems to be a thing resembling an object—this too is the light not penetrating through. Furthermore, the dharmakāya also has two kinds of sickness. Reaching the dharmakāya, because attachment to dharma is not forgotten and personal views still remain, sitting by the side of the dharmakāya is the first; even if one penetrates through the dharmakāya, to let it go will not do—if one scrutinizes carefully, what flavor is there? This too is a sickness." Nowadays, those who study real phenomena take penetrating through the dharmakāya as the ultimate, yet Yunmen on the contrary takes it as a sickness. They do not know: once one has penetrated through the dharmakāya, what should one do? Having reached here, like someone drinking water who knows for himself whether it is cold or warm, there is no need to ask others; if you ask others, disaster ensues! Therefore it is said: "One who has truly arrived at the ground of no doubt is like something forged from pure steel or cast from raw iron." Like a man who is full after eating a meal: he cannot further ask others, 'Am I full or not?' Formerly, Huangbo asked Baizhang: "With what dharma did the ancients from of old instruct people?" Baizhang merely remained seated. Huangbo said: "What will future descendants transmit?" Baizhang shook out his robes and rose at once, saying: "I thought you were someone of stature! This itself is the model for instructing people." Just look toward where you trust yourself: have the messages of trusting yourself been cut off yet or not? If the messages of trusting yourself are cut off, then naturally you will not take what is accomplished on other people's tongues. Linji said: "If you can put to rest the mind that runs about seeking thought after thought, you will be no different from old Śākyamuni." This is not deceiving people. Because a bodhisattva of the seventh stage has not yet satisfied the mind seeking buddha-wisdom, it is called defilement. Truly, there is no place for you to arrange things, nor can you add a single speck of extraneous material. Several years ago, there was a Layman Xu who recognized merely the entryway, and sent a letter presenting his view, saying: "In daily life it is vastly empty, without a single thing serving as a counterpart; only now do I know that the three realms and ten thousand dharmas were originally all non-existent, truly peaceful, joyful, and let go." Therefore I instructed him with a verse, which said: / "Do not crave the clean and pure place, / The pure place exhausts a person; / Do not crave the joyful place, / Joy makes a person mad. / Like water conforming to the vessel, / Following the square, round, short, and long, / Whether letting go or not letting go, / Please ponder it further carefully. / The three realms and the ten thousand dharmas / Do not return to the Land of Nowhere; / If it were only just like this, / This matter would be greatly contrary. / I inform Layman Xu: / Family kin create calamity! / Open wide the eyes of a thousand sages; / There is no need for frequent prayers for exorcism." / It happened that I got up in the morning when it was rather cool, and suddenly remembered: when you, friend in the Way Ziqing, first gained an entryway, you were still suspicious that it might be a shadow, so you brought the gong'ans you had always doubted to shine upon it, and only then saw the place where the old fellow Zhaozhou was defeated. Unawares, letting my brush run on, I have entangled myself in such vines.

29.22

Reply to Vice Minister Zhang (Zishao)

29.23

You take the place of your own sudden breakout as the ultimate principle; as soon as you see someone stepping into theoretical paths and entering the mud and water for the sake of others, you wish to sweep it away and make their traces disappear. Seeing the *Treasury of the True Dharma Eye* compiled by Zonggao, you then said: "Under Linji there are several hermitage masters with fine dynamic functioning; why not include them? As for National Teacher Zhong, who spoke of doctrinal-reason Chan and corrupted other people's sons and daughters, he definitely can be deleted." You see the Way so accurately, yet you dislike National Teacher Zhong speaking grandmotherly Chan; sitting in a clean and pure place, you only love the one move of striking flint for sparks and flashing lightning, and beyond this you do not permit a single speck of other principle—truly a pity! Therefore Zonggao upholds it with all his might: if the dharma-nature is not broad, the waves not wide, the views and understanding of the Buddhadharma not eliminated, and the life-root of birth and death not severed, one would not dare to fall flat on all four corners like this and enter the mud and water for people's sake, precisely because the capacities of sentient beings are not the same. From of old, the various patriarchs each established doors and gave provisions, providing for the capacities of sentient beings and gathering and transforming them according to their capacities. Therefore Tiger Cen of Changsha had a saying: "If I were exclusively to extol the ancestral school, grass would grow ten feet deep in front of the dharma hall, and I would have to hire someone to look after the monastery." Having already fallen into this line of work and being called an ancestral master by others, one must provide for the capacities of sentient beings in expounding the Dharma. A move like striking flint for sparks and flashing lightning can only be taken up by those of such capacity; to use it where the capacity is not suitable is pulling up seedlings [to help them grow]. How could Zonggao not know that a single blow of sudden breakout is handy, while making seven penetrations and eight holes is hot-tempered? Therefore, in compiling the *Treasury of the True Dharma Eye*, I made no distinction of categories, asking not whether it was the Yunmen, Linji, Caodong, Guiyang, or Fayan school; as long as there was right knowledge and right view that could enable people to awaken and enter, I included them all. Seeing that the two venerable elders, National Teacher Zhong and Dazhu, had Chan that possessed all forms, I therefore included them to rescue this one class of capacities. You wrote in your letter: "He definitely can be deleted." Looking at your intention, the *Treasury of the True Dharma Eye* would have to eliminate completely the doors of the various houses, and only include those resembling your view, before it would be right. If so, why should you not compile a book yourself to transform those of great capacity? There is no need to make Miaoxi follow your intention to remove them. If it were said that because National Teacher Zhong spoke grandmotherly Chan that dragged through mud and water his lineage was cut off, then great elders such as Yantou, Muzhou, Wujiu, Fenyang Wuye, Puhua of Zhenzhou, Senior Monk Ding, Yunfeng Yue, and Fachang Yu ought to have descendants covering the earth, yet now they too are silent with no one to preside over their transformation—did those gentlemen drag through mud and water speaking grandmotherly Chan? Yet Miaoxi's upholding of the National Teacher and Wugou's destroying him do not obstruct each other in the least.

29.24

Reply to Auxiliary Academician Chu (Zhishan)

29.25

You frequently send greetings to Miaoxi; I imagine it is simply that you want to tame the water ox and squeeze this monkey to death. This matter does not lie in spending a long time in monasteries or extensively consulting knowledgeable teachers; it is valued only in directly taking it up under a single word or single phrase without winding around. Speaking according to reality, there is not room for a hair; saying "directly" out of necessity is already winding, and saying "taking it up" is already missing it. How much more so dragging in branches and vines, citing sūtras and teachings, and speaking of principle and phenomena—do you wish to reach the end? An ancient worthy said: "If there is a fine hair, it is dust." If the water ox is not tamed and the monkey is not dead, even if you could expound principles as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, it would not concern me in the slightest. Yet whether one can speak of it or cannot speak of it is also not an external matter. Have you not seen that the venerable elder of Jiangxi had a saying: "Being able to speak of it is also your mind; not being able to speak of it is also your mind." If you resolutely wish to shoulder it directly, you must see the buddhas and patriarchs like mortal enemies; only then will there be a slight degree of accord. Doing the work like this, as days and months deepen, without having to stir your mind to seek enlightenment, the water ox will naturally be tamed and the monkey will naturally die. Remember this! Remember this! Just direct yourself toward the place where your everyday mind, consciousness, and intellection cannot assemble, cannot grasp, and cannot discard, and look into a huatou. A monk asked Yunmen: "What is the Buddha?" Yunmen said: "A dried shit-stick." When looking into it, there is no need to use your everyday cleverness and quick-wittedness to deliberate and calculate. If you stir your mind to deliberate, a hundred and eight thousand [miles] is not yet far. Is not-deliberating, not-calculating, and not-stirring the mind it, then? Bah! What else could it be? Let us set this matter aside for now.

29.26

Reply to Professor Yang (Yanhou)

29.27

Within your unyielding character, you nevertheless possess an inconceivable gentleness, such that under a single word a thousand things are settled and a hundred things are right. This matter is extraordinary! If not for occasionally sending forth a few people from among the unyielding, how could the Buddhadharma have reached this day? If one did not possess prajñā capacity, one could not be like this—a glorious event, a glorious event! You instructed: "In the spring and summer of the coming year, I wish to row a bottomless boat, blow a holeless flute, make inexhaustible offerings, and speak of the unarisen, wanting to settle the basis that is without end, without beginning, neither existing nor non-existing. Please just come to deliberate with this faceless fellow, and surely these words will not be mistaken." Furthermore, having received your request for a religious name, precisely wishing to blur things together, you may be called Layman Kuairan (Self-Pleased). Therefore the Old Man Zhenjing said: / "The blissful Great Way is right before your eyes; / Crisscrossing vertically and horizontally, if you hesitate you linger." / This is precisely the meaning. I intend to stay long in Changsha; if you indeed come this way in the future, then beneath the forest it will not be lonely.

29.28

Reply to Privy Councillor Lou

29.29

I do not know whether, after parting, in your daily responses to conditions, you are carried away by external objects or not? When viewing documents piled on the desk, are you able to brush them aside or not? When encountering things, can you remain unmoved or not? When staying in a quiet place, are you free from delusive thoughts or not? When investigating this matter, are you without mixed thoughts or not? Thus the yellow-faced old fellow said: 'The mind does not falsely grasp past phenomena, nor is it greedily attached to future matters; it does not abide anywhere in the present, fully comprehending that the three periods of time are entirely empty and serene.' For past matters, whether good or evil, there is no need to deliberate: deliberating obstructs the Way. For future matters, there is no need to calculate: calculating leads to frenzy and confusion. When present matters arrive before you, whether adverse or favorable, there is also no need to apply your mind: applying your mind agitates the square inch [of your breast]. Just attend to everything when the time comes, responding according to conditions, and you will naturally accord with this principle. Adverse circumstances are easy to strike down; favorable circumstances are difficult to strike down. For what goes against one's intent, it requires only the single character 'patience'; compose yourself for a short while and it passes. But in favorable circumstances there is truly nowhere for you to avoid: like a lodestone and iron meeting, neither realizes they have joined into one place. Even insentient things are like this; how much more so for one whose whole body makes a living within active ignorance! Facing such circumstances, if without wisdom one is unaware and unknowing, drawn into their net, and then tries to seek a way out from within—is that not difficult? Therefore the ancient sages said: 'Being able to enter the world, one transcends the world without remainder.' It is precisely this principle. In recent times there is a kind of practitioner who lacks skillful means: they often mistake active ignorance for 'entering the world', and then forcibly arrange supramundane dharmas to make the matter of 'transcending the world without remainder'. Is this not lamentable? Unless one has long had past vows, immediately breaks through it and acts as master, not being led along by it... Thus the *Vimalakīrti* states: 'For people of overweening pride, the Buddha spoke of leaving lust, anger, and delusion as liberation; for those without overweening pride, the Buddha spoke of the nature of lust, anger, and delusion as being itself liberation.' If you can avoid this fault and, within adverse and favorable circumstances, have no marks of arising and ceasing, only then can you be free of the label 'overweening pride'. Thus you may then enter the world, and be called a person of strength. What has been said above is all what Miaoxi has personally experienced in the past; even today in my daily activities, I only practice like this. I hope that while your physical strength is robust, you will also enter this samādhi. Beyond this, constantly use Zhaozhou's character *wu* to alert and stimulate yourself; after a long time it will become thoroughly ripe, and suddenly, without mind, you will smash the lacquer bucket: that is the place of thorough breakthrough.

29.30

Another [letter].

29.31

As for your daily effort, my previous letter already entangled you quite a bit. Just remain as before, unchanging and unmoved; when things come, respond to them, and naturally things and self will be as one. An ancient worthy said: 'Give yourself free rein, letting things come and go; in quiet reflection perceive their source and flow. When it comes to realization, it cannot be shown to others; when speaking of principle, without realization it is not understood. The place of self-realization and self-attainment cannot be held up and shown to others; only those who have personally realized and attained it can slightly reveal a little of it before their eyes, and both will silently tally with each other.' Your instructions noted: 'From now on I will not be deceived by others, nor will I misuse my effort.' The broad outlines are already correct, and the handle has already been grasped: like an adept oxherd whose tether is always in hand, how could it trample others' crops? When you suddenly let go of the tether, the nostrils cannot be felt at all, and it is left entirely free to roam across flat fields and shallow grass. As Old Man Ciming said: 'Release it in the four directions, do not bar or check it; unconstrained on all eight sides, let it roam at will; if you wish to gather it in, it is only in the jerk of the tether.' If you are not yet able to be like this, you should hold tight to the tether and gently stroke it; once the effort of soaking and steeping becomes ripe, you will naturally not need to apply your mind to guard against it. Your effort must not be hurried: if hurried, there is restlessness; nor may it be slack: if slack, there is torpor. Forgetting it and applying the mind are both mistakes: like throwing a sword into the air, do not discuss whether it reaches or does not reach. In the past, Venerable Yanyang asked Zhaozhou: 'How is it when not bringing a single thing?' Zhaozhou said: 'Put it down.' Yanyang said: 'Since I do not bring a single thing, what should I put down?' Zhaozhou said: 'If you cannot put it down, carry it away.' Yanyang was greatly enlightened at these words. There was also a monk who asked an ancient worthy: 'How is it when this student can do nothing at all?' The ancient worthy said: 'This old monk can also do nothing at all.' The monk said: 'This student is on the stage of learning, so naturally I can do nothing; the Venerable is a great spiritual friend, why can you also do nothing at all?' The ancient worthy said: 'If I could do something, I would take away your

29.32

Reply to Grand Commandant Cao (Gongxian)

29.33

Although Zonggao's years are advancing, I dare not fail to exert my strength to rouse and encourage the patch-robed monks with this matter. One day after morning gruel, I turned the signboards and took a rotation of one hundred people into the abbot's room; among them occasionally were those willing to stake their lives who took the hook, and also lions that bite people. Taking this dharma-joy and Chan delight as happiness, I feel no fatigue at all—perhaps the Creator takes pity on me. You, my lord, are complete in both blessings and wisdom; daily you are at the side of the Sovereign, yet you keep your mind on this matter of the great cause—it is truly an inconceivable thing. Old Man Śākya said: 'Possessing power without leaning on it is difficult; for the noble and wealthy to study the Way is difficult.' If you had not, across hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes, attended upon spiritual friends and planted the prajñā seed deeply, how could you have such complete faith? Just this place of complete faith is the foundation for becoming a buddha and acting as a patriarch. I hope you will only watch and seek toward this place of complete faith; after a long time you will naturally break through and be released. However, above all, you must not intentionally arrange and seek a place to break through; if you apply your mind, you will miss it. Old Man Śākya also said: 'The Buddha's path is inconceivable; who can conceive of the Buddha?' Again, the Buddha asked Mañjuśrī: 'Do you enter the inconceivable samādhi?' Mañjuśrī said: 'No, World-Honoured One! I myself am the inconceivable, and I do not see that there is any mind able to conceive; how can one speak of entering the inconceivable samādhi? When I first aroused the aspiration, I wished to enter this concentration; reflecting upon it now, there is truly no mental thought, yet one enters samādhi. Like a person learning archery: with long practice one becomes skillful; later, though without intention, because of long practice, every arrow loosed hits the mark. I am also like this: initially learning the inconceivable samādhi, I tied my mind to one condition; with long practice accomplished, there are no longer any mental thoughts, and I am constantly united with concentration.' What the Buddhas and patriarchs experienced and used is without duality and without distinction. In recent years in the monasteries there is a kind of heterodox Chan that closes the eyes, conceals the pupils, and with pouting lips engages in delusive thoughts, calling it 'the inconceivable matter', and also calling it 'the matter before the empty kalpa on that side of King of Awesome Sound'. The moment one opens one's mouth, they call it 'falling into the present'. They also call it 'the fundamental matter', and call it 'when purity reaches its extreme, light penetrates throughout', regarding enlightenment as falling into the secondary, and regarding enlightenment as a matter of branches and leaves. Because they were mistaken from their very first step, yet do not know it is a mistake, they regard enlightenment as an artificial contrivance; since they themselves have no gateway to enlightenment, they also do not believe that anyone is enlightened. Such people are called slanderers of great prajñā and destroyers of the Buddha's wisdom-life; even if a thousand buddhas appear in the world, they cannot be granted repentance. You have long possessed the eye that examines people; as for such people, who wear a lion's skin while howling like jackals, you cannot fail to know them. Although I have not had the honor of meeting you face to face to discuss matters, this mind has silently tallied with yours for many years. My previous letter in reply was extremely lacking in etiquette; now I specially dispatch the Chan man Fakong to pay my respects on my behalf. Thus having no leisure to enter the samādhi of right contemplation, I have simply let my hand and mind flow, unknowingly producing such entanglements, merely to apologize for my lack of ability.

29.34

Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue, Fascicle Twenty-Nine

Linked texts (1)

大慧普覺禪師語錄 — Classical Chinese