大慧普覺禪師語錄 30.15

30.15

Your letter says: "One can practice Buddhist affairs without understanding Chan words; between ability and non-understanding, there is neither distinction nor identity." You should know that being able to practice is itself Chan words; to understand Chan words yet be unable to practice Buddhist affairs—how is that different from sitting under water crying of thirst, or sitting in a rice basket crying of hunger? You should know that Chan words are Buddhist affairs, and Buddhist affairs are Chan words; ability to practice and ability to understand depend on the person, not on the Dharma. If you further look for identity and distinction in this, that is giving rise to real understanding on an empty fist and a pointing finger, falsely conjuring up monstrosities among sense-faculties, sense-objects, and dharmas; it is like walking backward while seeking to go forward—the more urgent you are, the more delayed it is, and the more alienated and distant it becomes. If you want the mind ground to be directly clear and broad, just take ability and inability, understanding and non-understanding, identity and non-identity, distinction and non-distinction—the one who can deliberate and calculate in this way—and sweep it away into other worlds; then look toward the place that cannot be swept away, to see whether it exists or does not exist, whether it is identical or distinct. Suddenly thinking and conceptualizing will be severed; at such a moment, you will naturally not need to ask others.