大慧普覺禪師宗門武庫 1.96

1.96

Master Zhantang Zhun, through reading Zhuge Liang's Chu Shi Biao (Memorial on Dispatching the Army), attained insight into composing literature. In his dedication text for an Arhat offering, he wrote: "The Sanskrit word arhat means 'unborn' here. Having departed from the dust and toil of the twenty-five states of existence in the triple world and transcended the birth and death of fragmented lifespans, they receive the Tathāgata's entrustment to receive offerings from gods and humans, bringing welfare and blessings to all sentient beings. The almsgivers should properly raise offerings to them." He also composed the Record of the Water Mill, which states: "Mount Letan is the great site for selecting buddhas where Chan Master Mazu Daji formerly stayed with assemblies of Chan practitioners. Although the years and eras are distant, the Buddha Dharma has never been distant. It is only because the spiritual friends among them have had differing views, each having their heights and depths, that distances have arisen. For example, a monk asked Mazu: 'What is Buddha?' Mazu replied: 'This mind itself is buddha.' Therefore, examining its fundamental principle, one knows that sentient beings originally have achieved buddhahood without higher or lower; the higher and lower lie in persons, not in the Dharma. How much more so in the degenerate age are there those who teach Dharma as I do! Therefore, in selecting buddhas and seeking teachers, one cannot fail to examine carefully. In the wuyin year of the Yuanfu reign of the Great Song dynasty (1098), there was Senior Monk Yizhong, a śramaṇa from Hanzhong, who sought teachers and inquired into the Way, selecting buddhas and investigating Chan. Carrying a wooden puppet with him, he played his role wherever he encountered the stage. Yet the performance is a play for a moment, while its efficacy brings benefit for a thousand ages. Thereupon he reformed the old system. The people of Ying are still confused; adapting implements to suit the occasion, the transformations rest with me—how could the grand standard be constrained by plumb lines and limited by the rules of the ancients? This is what is meant by having a son who cannot be taught; that which can be taught is only the dross of language. It is not the ultimate wondrousness of the mind. The ultimate wondrous mind rests in oneself, not in written words and spoken language. Even if there is secret transmission from an enlightened teacher, it does not compare to what the mind attains for itself. Thus it is said: 'Attained in the mind, it responds to the hand'—these are all the wondrous applications of the numinous Dharma of mind. Thus, when there is wheat to be crushed, a millstone is made for it; when rice is to be polished, a roller is made for it; when flour is to be sifted, a sieve is made for it; when chaff is to be winnowed, a fan is made for it. Yet all the scales and standards depend entirely on the central pivot. Once the function is open and connected, they turn on their own without being pushed. Because of its water: as soon as one wave stirs, the preceding waves and succeeding waves respond wave upon wave endlessly. Because of its millstones: as soon as one wheel turns, large wheels and small wheels operate wheel upon wheel without end. From this, above and below respond to one another, high and low work together; their wondrous application emerges naturally, without depending on what human effort can achieve. It is exquisite and marvelous to behold, mysterious and yet more mysterious! Then, whirling left and turning right, moving vertically and sweeping horizontally, striking and touching one another, they produce the great sound of Dharma, expounding the perfections of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self. Those who hear it hear their own mind; those who see it see their own nature; even to the point that through smelling, tasting, sensing, and knowing, all attain the joy of the Dharma and the delight of Chan. Why then merely use the flour, rice, and all necessary provisions to supply the Fragrant Accumulation kitchen for two meals, satisfying the Chan practitioners coming and going to select buddhas?"