大慧普覺禪師語錄 8.5

8.5

Instructing the assembly: "Within one phrase are contained the three mysterious gates; one mysterious gate has three essential paths. The lad Linji possessed only a single eye: coming from all directions, he only struck the one in the middle. When a sudden gale and violent rain arose, ducking away into the ancient hall, the old rotten pus Xinghua had not even dreamt of it. 'The Great Way is not difficult; it merely dislikes picking and choosing'—this is the nest and burrow of ordinary people; the ancient buddha Zhaozhou could not explain it away for five years. Truly the goose king sifts milk, inherently unlike the duck kind. 'Where there are buddhas you must not stay; where there are no buddhas hurry past.' Meeting someone three thousand miles away, you must not quote it wrongly; uncover your skull and replace your eyes. All of you have no need to drill tortoises or break tiles. Baizhang was given a shout by Mazu and was deaf for three days; how do you scheme about that? By all means avoid letting prisoners stay and breeding cunning. Being so will not do; not being so will not do; both being so and not being so will not do at all. Do not ask for Chang'an inside the Hanyuan Hall; do not mistake a donkey's saddle-bridge for your father's lower jaw. Since it is like this, can one speak here of standing on the highest peak and walking on the bottom of the deepest sea? Can one cross the river like a fragrant elephant, cutting off the current? Can one part the sea like the garuḍa, directly snatching and swallowing dragons? Since this is not permitted, now we cannot help but treat a dead horse as if it were alive." Suddenly taking up his staff and striking once, he said, "The sun floods the eyes; for ten thousand miles not a wisp of cloud hangs. Talk of transcending the buddhas and surpassing the patriarchs has already been swept away to fill up gullies and dam ravines. Tell me: Qingping's wooden ladle, bamboo strainer, well rope, and string of coins; Xuefeng's rolling of the ball; Heshan's beating of the drum—in the end, what matter do they accomplish on the part of a patch-robed monk? Do you understand? Do not wait for right and wrong to enter your ears, lest former intimate friends turn into foes." Again striking once, he gave a shout.