大慧普覺禪師語錄 9.2

9.2

Holding the whisk, a monk asked: "An iron caltrop in a furnace of myriad smeltings—when blocking the path, even buddhas and patriarchs cannot brook it. Now, taking it up freely with the hand for use, how, may I ask, do you speak of this dynamic?" The Master said, "There is no such idle furniture here." The monk proceeded: "Just as you extensively spread this seat, is that idle or not idle?" The Master said, "When the skull is crushed to powder, one feels no pain." The monk proceeded: "One might say an iron whip points out the barbarian's path, / bending the bow originally for the sake of later generations." The Master said, "Where is the iron caltrop?" The monk pressed forward: "Za!" The Master said, "Laughing the patch-robed monks to death!" Then he said: "In Yimen of old, family ugliness was displayed, / bringing forth boundless thorny water-chestnut burrs; / today, atop the solitary peak of Ou, / fortunately without incident, we meet again. Setting aside meeting again, how is the matter within? If anyone can speak a phrase, please each return to the hall; if you cannot speak, I will spin out entanglement-vines to deceive you all. Before the buddhas appeared in the world, there was this grasp on things; each and every person radiated a great precious light from atop the crown. After they appeared in the world, news was utterly absent; beneath each person's heels it went crisscross in all directions. Where there is a buddha, you must not stay; where there is no buddha, run past swiftly. If pressed and you cannot respond, your nostrils will be pierced through three thousand miles away. Coming to this point, even if you place boundless lands on the tip of a single hair—just this tip of a hair, from where did it come? If you contain a hundred billion Mount Sumerus in a single grain of millet—just this single grain of millet, where will you place it? If it is like this, then it is easy; if it is not like this, then it is difficult—cease searching in words, do not seek within conceptions! If it is like this, then it is difficult; if it is not like this, then it is easy—recognize the intention at the hook's tip, do not fixate on the star of the steelyard scale! A patch-robed monk's staff: take it up and go immediately; by no means drive a stake and row the oar on level ground! Therefore it is said: 'The divine light is never dimmed; an illustrious model for ten thousand ages. Having entered this gate, harbor no conceptual understanding.' Take the teachings of the entire Great Canon: speaking of provisional and real, speaking of sudden and gradual, speaking of existence and non-existence, and even the generations of patriarchs in India and this land, all good spiritual friends past and present, with their diverse words and diverse functions—tell me: is that conceptual understanding, or is it not conceptual understanding? If you can settle it, the senior monk holding the whisk suffers a total defeat; if you cannot settle it, I will splash a second ladle of foul water." He gave a shout and said, "What is it? Having illumination and function, without facing or opposing; only the Old Barbarian is permitted to know, the Old Barbarian is not permitted to understand. Muzhou was completely one-sided carrying a board; Zhaozhou bought high and sold cheap; only Sansheng's blind donkey has until today been laughed at and blamed by people. Mount Sumeru jutting out from beside your temples, ocean water pouring into your nostrils—setting that aside for now, Great Master Ma said, 'Ever since the rebellion, for thirty years I have never lacked salt and sauce.' How do you discuss this? Do you fully understand? The calendar of many years has had no one asking about it; / suddenly taken up, it grieves one to death." He gave a shout, and again cited: "Yantou visited Deshan; just as he stepped across the threshold, he asked, 'Common or sacred?' Shan gave a shout, and Tou bowed. Later a monk related this to Dongshan. Dongshan said, 'If it were not Master Huo, it would have been very hard to bear.' When Yantou heard this, he said, 'The old fellow Dongshan does not recognize good from bad and misapplies terms. At that time, with one hand I lifted up, and with one hand I pressed down.'" The Master said, "A fierce tiger does not recognize the trap, and dies in the trap; a flood dragon does not fear the sword, and perishes beneath the sword. Although Yantou had a way of breakthrough within the tiger's trap and a dynamic of escape on the sword's edge, if examined carefully, he still lacked awakening. Right now, is there anyone who can take charge for Yantou? Come forward and meet with Senior Monk Gao!" After a long pause, he gave a shout, clapped his hands once, and said, "Almost keeping a prisoner to foster wit."