大慧普覺禪師語錄 9.9

9.9

Taking up the fly-whisk, a monk asked, "What is it like before the ancient mirror is polished?" The Master said, "Fire does not wait for the sun to be hot." The monk asked further, "What is it like after it is polished?" The Master said, "Wind does not wait for the moon to be cool." The monk asked further, "What is it like at the very time of being polished and not yet polished?" The Master said, "They meet." The monk asked, "'What kind of person is it who does not keep company with the myriad dharmas? When you swallow all the water of the West River in a single gulp, I will tell you.' What is the meaning of this?" The Master said, "Nailing with nails and sticking with glue." He then said: "The essential subtleties of the patriarchs are not sought through competing debates; they strike and ring out to shatter divergent views. Therefore Deshan gave a blow of his staff the moment someone entered the gate, sparks from flint bursting into the blue sky; Linji gave a shout the moment someone entered the gate, dry thunder rumbling through the universe. It is not the dharma before your eyes, nor is it the mechanism of transcendence. If, in 'thus' or 'not thus', you can leap out, you are right inside the nest of entangled vines. How should it be assessed? How should it be discussed and understood? You cannot say that great capacity, great function, and great liberation are completely bare and stark naked, with nothing to grasp, and then simply stop. Will that do or not? Have you not seen Master Fengxue say: 'Even if you apprehend it before words, you are still stuck in the shell and blind to the seal; even though you master it thoroughly under the phrase, you cannot avoid a mad view that runs into obstacles.' If one is a patch-robed monk of genuine character, taking it in at once, one can sit atop sounds and forms and lie atop sounds and forms. Mañjuśrī is of himself Mañjuśrī; liberation is of itself liberation—what bowl of mine does it soil?" After a long pause he said: "To startle the herd must take a heroic fellow; / to contend with the holy is left to the lion's whelp. / If one has no such eyes when choosing a buddha, / even after a thousand ages, what would be the use?" Striking the meditation couch once with his fly-whisk, he then brought up the case: "When Baizhang attended on Mazu for a second time and stood in waiting, the Patriarch raised his fly-whisk. Baizhang said: 'Identical to this function, detached from this function.' The Patriarch hung the fly-whisk back in its former place. After a long pause he said: 'Hereafter, when you open your two lips, how will you act for others?' Baizhang took the fly-whisk and raised it. The Patriarch said: 'Identical to this function, detached from this function.' Baizhang also hung the fly-whisk back in its former place. The Patriarch then gave a shout. Later, when Huangbo came to Baizhang, one day he took his leave, intending to go pay homage to Mazu. Baizhang said: 'Mazu has already passed away.' Huangbo said: 'I have not yet inquired what words and phrases Mazu had.' Baizhang then recounted the circumstances of his second visit, saying: 'At that time, subjected to a single shout from Mazu, I was deafened straightaway for three days.' Hearing this recounted, Huangbo unconsciously stuck out his tongue. Baizhang said: 'Will you not succeed Mazu hereafter?' Huangbo said: 'Not so. Today, because of your recounting, Master, I have come to see Mazu's function of great capacity; yet I do not know Mazu. If I were to succeed Mazu, hereafter I would forfeit my descendants.'" The Master said: "Baizhang was shouted at and straightaway deafened for three days; Huangbo heard it recounted and unconsciously stuck out his tongue; Baizhang suspected him of succeeding Mazu. Later, when Linji three times asked about the great meaning of the Buddhadharma and was three times struck with sixty blows, he vented his anger over those three days of deafness; only then did Linji realize it was like being brushed with a wormwood stalk. I dare ask the great assembly: since there is proof in the master's transmission, why are their applications different? Do you understand? If the waves of Caoxi are alike, / countless ordinary people will drown on dry land."