大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.19

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.