大慧普覺禪師語錄 9.5

9.5

Holding the whisk on New Year's Day, a monk asked, "The old year has gone and the new year has arrived; is there still something that does not involve the new or the old?" The Master said, "There is." The monk asked, "What is that which does not involve the new or the old?" The Master said, "Buddhas, bodhisattvas, beasts, donkeys, and horses." The monk said, "Tonight, giving out a little, I have met with a great deal." The Master said, "I had already entered the wild weeds for no reason, and you have jumped into a cesspool again." The monk said, "Neither of us finds an advantage." The Master said, "Sure enough, you follow along after me." Then he said: "'Taking a step forward from the hundred-foot pole'—from where did you get this news? 'Revealing a working before the peak of ten thousand fathoms'—falling into the nest and burrow of contemporaries. Do not falsely imagine; put it down. When you are willing to take charge at the place where tricks are exhausted, the tip of the nose-rope is in my hand. Therefore Nanquan said: 'Leading an ox to pasture east of the stream, it inevitably eats the king's water and grass; leading an ox to pasture west of the stream, it also inevitably eats the king's water and grass; it is better to offer up a little according to one's lot, and then none of it is seen.' Elder Gao will offer up a little according to his lot." After a long pause, he said, "Śākya closed his room in Magadha, plowing the ground and planting thorns; Vimalakīrti held his tongue in Vaiśālī, clamping a pot over raw iron; Subhūti sang of non-exposition to reveal the Way, offering spoiled rice to idle spirits; Śakra and Brahmā ceased listening while raining flowers, as if someone truly received it. Even if the path upward is not transmitted by the thousand sages, unyielding and lively, with birthlessness borne under the blow, facing the dynamic without seeing a master, this is still scratching an itch through a boot. If none of it is so, one falls into the realm of doing nothing. How then do you open up a pivot and respond to the season?" Suddenly taking his staff, he struck once and said, "Do you understand? A fraction of an inch off, and you are lost by a thousand miles. In early spring it is still cold; it ends and begins again. The Old Fellow of the Śākya clan is a hitching post for donkeys; the entire canon of teachings is scrap waste paper. As when I press my finger the ocean-seal shines with light, the moment you arouse a thought, afflictions arise first. Talks of transcending buddhas and surpassing patriarchs have already slipped past beneath your heels before being spoken. In the end, what about it? Vipaśyin Buddha paid attention long ago, yet up to this day has not attained its marvel." Striking once again, he cited: "A monk asked Jingqing, 'Is there still the Buddha Dharma at the start of the new year, or not?' Jingqing said, 'There is.' The monk said, 'What is the Buddha Dharma at the start of the new year?' Jingqing said, 'The prime month begins good fortune; the myriad things are all renewed.' The monk said, 'Thank you, Master, for answering my question.' Jingqing said, 'This mountain monk has suffered a loss today.' Another monk asked Mingjiao, 'Is there still the Buddha Dharma at the start of the new year, or not?' Mingjiao said, 'No.' The monk said, 'Year after year is a good year, day after day is a good day; why is there none?' Mingjiao said, 'Master Zhang drinks the wine, Master Li gets drunk.' The monk said, 'So advanced in years, yet a dragon's head and a snake's tail.' Mingjiao said, 'This mountain monk has suffered a loss today.'" The Master said: "Of these two venerable elders, one stands atop the highest peak without showing his head, and one walks in the depths of the ocean without wetting his feet. That is right enough, but it cannot avoid some ambiguity. If tonight someone asks Elder Gao, 'Is there still the Buddha Dharma at the start of the new year, or not?' I will simply say to him: 'Today a band of servants in the tea hall are singing village songs and dancing local dances, playing with spirits and ghosts, so much so that the Venerable Chest-Tapper flew into a rage, took Mount Bowl-Peak and hurled it beyond worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, frightening Kauṇḍinya so much that he panicked, rode an exposed pillar backwards, leaped into the nostrils of a board-carrying Chan monk, and knocked down Mount Tianzhu in Shuzhou. The mountain spirit of Mount Anle could not hold back his laughter, and came out, grabbed him by the chest, and said: "Venerable! Since you are called an arhat, transcending the afflictions of the twenty-five states of existence in the triple world and surpassing delimited birth and death, why do you have so much ignorance?" Confronted with this question, he was utterly ashamed, and went back to sit in the third seat in the Buddha Hall, still tapping his chest and ribs, saying: "In heaven above and earth below, I alone am the honored one."'" He said to himself, "Hold on, hold on, Elder Gao! He asked about the Buddha Dharma at the start of the new year, so why did you keep turning somersaults in empty space, uttering hollow fabrications to deceive people?" After a long pause, he said, "Elder Gao has suffered a loss tonight."