大慧普覺禪師語錄 30.5

30.5

Your note instructs: 'Regarding the criticism that the bell has sounded and the water clock is exhausted, in being utterly sincere toward the lord above while bringing peace to the common people below, there will naturally be those who hear the string and appreciate the sound.' May you be steadfast and forbearing in all matters. When encountering adverse or favorable circumstances, it is precisely the good moment to apply effort—what is called, 'Offering this profound mind to the dust-mote lands; this is called repaying the Buddha's benevolence.' When studying the Way ordinarily, one only wants to have its function amidst adverse and favorable realms. If adverse and favorable [circumstances] manifest before you and you give rise to distress, it is very much like ordinarily never having applied the mind in this matter. An ancestral master said: 'Circumstances and conditions have no good or bad; good and bad arise from the mind. If the mind does not forcibly label them, whence could deluded feelings arise?' Since deluded feelings do not arise, the true mind is allowed to know all pervadingly. Please constantly contemplate in this way amidst adverse and favorable circumstances; then, after a long time, distress will naturally not arise. When distress does not arise, you can drive away the demon kings and become a benevolent spirit who protects the Dharma. The previous saying, 'I am already old and worn out, so what is the point?'—the words are still ringing in my ears; how could you forget them? If you wish to know the meaning of buddha-nature, you should observe the conditions of time and season. Because you had more than ten years of leisure in the past, you naturally had the time of leisure; today, with official authority in hand, you have the time of busyness. You should reflect: during the time of leisure, who was at leisure? During the time of busyness, who is busy? You must believe that during the busy time there is the principle of the leisure time, and during the leisure time there is the principle of the busy time. Right in the midst of busyness, you should realize the intention of the sovereign in employing you; you must not forget it for a moment, alerting and examining yourself on how to repay it. If you constantly form this thought, then even on caldrons of boiling water, burning coals, mountains of knives, and forests of swords, you must step forward—how much more so with the slight adverse and favorable circumstances of the present? Because I have bonded with you in this Way, I do not hold back feelings, but lay everything completely bare.