大慧普覺禪師語錄 29.7

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.