密菴和尚語錄 1.310

1.310

先達抱道之士，嚴居穴處未曾容易，以一言半句急於人知，日久歲深蘊藉成熟人自知之，便乃裹糧躡足，而就扣問生死已躬大事，抑不得已略露鋒鋩，何啻青天轟霹靂？只要當人於聲前領略，得一箇半箇，擔荷得行，便解據虎頭收虎尾，為如來種草，豈可胡亂朝呪暮呪而欲使之然耶？年來此道大不振者無他，蓋為人師者眼腦不正當，自無見處，但以名利得失居懷，深怕人道他無機緣，晝三夜三於古人方冊中顛倒熟念，釀在第八識田中，準擬學者來問，貴圖口不空，恰如羊屙屎，纔竪起尾巴便有百千顆落地。學者眼目不明，如何辨白？盡情深信，一盲引眾盲，相牽入火坑。所謂：「打初不遇作家，到底翻成骨董。」若是達磨兒孫，決欲洞明祖翁家裏事，直須一刀兩段，肚裏無一絲毫繫念，只就無繫念處看箇話頭。六祖示明上座道：「不思善，不思惡，正恁麼時，如何是明上座父母未生前本來面目？」但如此看來看去，到詞窮理盡沒奈何處，驀然看透，便是一生參學事畢。

When predecessors embraced the Way, they lived strictly in caves and never acted lightly, nor were they anxious to make themselves known by a word or half-phrase. After long days and years, when their inner reserve matured, people came to know it of themselves; they would pack provisions and walk on foot to inquire about the great matter of birth and death and their own persons. Only when unable to do otherwise would [the master] slightly reveal the sharp edge—how is it merely a thunderclap in the clear sky? It only required that the person perceive it prior to sound; if one or a half were obtained who could shoulder and carry it out, then they would know how to seize the tiger's head and take hold of the tiger's tail, serving as the seed-sprouts of the Tathāgata. How could one chant haphazardly morning and night and expect to bring this about? In recent years, this Way has not prospered, for no other reason than that those acting as teachers have improper eyes and brains, lacking insight of their own. Cherishing only fame, gain, gain, and loss in their hearts, deeply fearing that people will say they have no opportunity or circumstance, day and night they repeatedly recite backwards and forwards from the ancient texts, fermenting them in the field of the eighth consciousness. Expecting students to come with questions, they merely seek to keep their mouths full—just like a sheep defecating, as soon as it lifts its tail, hundreds and thousands of pellets drop to the ground. When students' eyes are not clear, how can they distinguish? Believing completely, one blind person leads a crowd of blind people, pulling one another into the fire pit. As the saying goes: 'If from the start one does not meet an expert, in the end one turns out to be a collector of curiosities.' If you are a descendant of Bodhidharma and definitely wish to clearly understand the matter of the ancestral household, you must cut it in two with a single blade, with not the slightest lingering thought in your belly, and just right at the place of no lingering thoughts look at a huatou. The Sixth Ancestor instructed Senior Monk Ming, saying: 'Without thinking of good and without thinking of evil, right at this very moment, what is Senior Monk Ming's original face before his parents were born?' Just looking at it like this, again and again, when words are exhausted and principles end, where nothing can be done, suddenly seeing through it—then the matter of a lifetime's practice and inquiry is finished.