大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.21

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.