大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.3

29.3

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.