密菴和尚語錄 1.321

1.321

有祖已來，未甞容易以禪道佛法指示學者謂之學道捷徑，只要當人去却今時，向父母未生已前、混沌未分之際直截擔荷，如龍得水、似虎靠山，一切處澄澄湛湛、一切處生殺自由、一切處自能生風起草，不著有為、不坐無為。如斬一綟絲，一斬一切斬；如染一綟絲一染一切染。通上徹下全體是箇大解脫門，佛法世法打成一片，何處有一絲毫許外物之為障礙？學道人力學而不悟者，病在泥於古人言句處；病在坐著勝妙境界處；病在空洞無象處；病在以禪道佛法居懷處；病在却迷就悟處；病在最初不遇善知識，引入葛藤窠裏處。此數病非但初機晚進有之，從上大尊宿，悟徹本心見徹本性，自己本地風光現前，大法不明，亦有此病。看他興化和尚為眾曰：「我聞前廊也喝，後架也喝。諸子莫盲喝亂喝。直饒喝得興化上三十三天，撲下來一點氣息也無，待興化甦省起來，向汝道未在。何故？我未曾向紫羅帳裏撒真珠與爾去在。」興化直截擔荷，騎賊馬趕賊，只是未得勦絕，前途撞著知音分明舉似，必為圓却遮話。

Since the Patriarchs, they have never lightly pointed out Chan, the Way, or the Buddha Dharma to students and called it a shortcut to studying the Way. They only required that the person cast off the present moment, and directly shoulder it before their parents gave birth to them, at the juncture when chaos was yet undivided—like a dragon gaining water, like a tiger leaning against a mountain: in all places clear and pure, in all places taking life and giving life with complete freedom, in all places naturally raising winds and stirring the grass, not clinging to the conditioned, not sitting in the unconditioned. It is like cutting a skein of silk: with one cut, everything is cut; like dyeing a skein of silk: with one dyeing, everything is dyed. Penetrating from top to bottom, the entire substance is a great gate of liberation; Buddha Dharma and worldly phenomena are fused into one sheet. Where could there be even a hairline of external matter that could be an obstruction? When people who study the Way exert their strength in study yet do not awaken, the illness lies in muddling over the ancient masters' spoken words; the illness lies in sitting attached to wondrous realms; the illness lies in an empty void without forms; the illness lies in harbouring Chan, the Way, and Buddha Dharma in one's chest; the illness lies in casting off delusion to take up awakening; the illness lies in failing at the outset to meet a good friend and being led into an entangling clump of vines. These several illnesses are not only possessed by novices and latecomers; even among the great elders of the past who thoroughly awakened to their fundamental mind, thoroughly saw their fundamental nature, and before whom the scenery of their own fundamental ground manifested—if the Great Dharma was not clear to them, they also had this illness. Look at Venerable Xinghua saying to the assembly: "I hear shouting in the front corridor, and shouting at the rear latrine. Do not shout blindly or shout wildly, gentlemen! Even if you could shout Xinghua up into the thirty-three heavens, and he fell down without a breath of air left, just wait until Xinghua revives and he will say to you, 'Not yet.' Why? Because I have never yet scattered pearls for you inside the purple silk tent." Xinghua directly shouldered it, riding the thief's horse to chase the thief; he simply had not yet exterminated him. If in the journey ahead he bumps into one who understands his tone and clearly brings it up, that person will certainly round out these words for him.