密菴和尚語錄 1.333

1.333

向者不敢疎外，輒以管見不情之語上浼台聽。重蒙不鄙，復有所問，只據目前聊舉一二。昔龐居士、李都尉，皆是誠心篤信自己分上有蓋天蓋地出格超量底事，從上若佛若祖互相出來，橫說竪說未曾說著處，便乃遍扣宗師，以期深徹證悟為地頭，後皆得柄杷入手，不被世間出世間法羅籠得住。龐居士有偈云：「十方同聚會，箇箇學無為，此是選佛場，心空及第歸。」李都尉道：「參禪須是鐵漢，著手心頭便判，直趣無上菩提，一切是非莫管。」看他二賢揭示，過如生鐵橛，終不肯妄通消息，正所謂一滴獅子乳，迸散十斛驢乳也。每見士大夫著意學此道極多，只恐末上撞著道眼不明宗師胡說亂道，將古今言句妄意穿鑿以為極則，貴圖稱他會禪，此是第一等大病。恰如一件好物十分現成，被人雕刻作千般奇怪，以失其真深可憐憫。若欲著實理會父母未生已前一著子，到大年三十日，臨行之際得力，不被生死兩字攪吵，須是自家回光返照，向己躬脚跟下時時推勘看是什麼？推來推去推到無依倚處，平生機智伎倆淨盡。驀然一念頓消，心花發現，塵劫來事盡在于今，好也添一絲毫不得，惡也添一絲毫不得，便是從前著衣喫飯箇官人，別無奇特玄妙理性可說，不妨慶快平生。燈下聊書大概，以助真源，知我罪我，盡在是矣。

Previously, not daring to treat you as an outsider, I presumptuously troubled your eminent hearing with shallow and unreasonable words. You have again deigned not to disdain me and have posed further questions; relying only on what is before our eyes, I briefly bring up one or two matters. In the past, Layman Pang and Military Commissioner Li were both sincere and devoted in believing that in their own lot there was a matter covering heaven and earth, transcending standard and measure. Where the buddhas and patriarchs from above emerged one after another, speaking horizontally and speaking vertically without ever speaking it out, they then knocked at the doors of lineage teachers everywhere, taking deep and thorough awakening and realization as their fundamental ground; later they all obtained the handle in their hands, unconfined by worldly or world-transcending dharmas. Layman Pang had a verse that said: "Gathered together from the ten directions, / Each person learns the unconditioned. / This is the arena for choosing buddhas; / Empty-minded, one passes the examination and returns." Military Commissioner Li said: "Practicing Chan requires an iron fellow; / Putting one's hand to it, the mind is immediately decided. / Head straight for unexcelled bodhi; / Pay no attention to any right or wrong." Look at how these two worthies revealed it: more solid than a raw iron stake, they were never willing to transmit false tidings. It is truly what is called: "A single drop of lion's milk scatters ten bushels of donkey's milk." I frequently see that very many scholar-officials apply their minds to learning this Way; I only fear that at the beginning they bump into lineage teachers whose Way-eyes are unclear, who talk nonsense wildly, recklessly boring into ancient and modern sayings and taking them as the ultimate standard, eager to have others praise them as understanding Chan. This is the first-rate great disease. It is just like a fine object that is completely ready-made, being carved by others into a thousand strange shapes so that it loses its genuine reality—deeply pitiable indeed! If you wish to genuinely understand the single move before your parents gave birth to you, so that on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, when facing departure you have strength and are not disturbed by the two words "birth and death," you must turn your own light around to shine inward, constantly examining beneath your own heels to see what this is. Pushing back and forth, pushing until you reach the place of no reliance, the mental cleverness and artful skills of a lifetime are completely exhausted. Suddenly a single thought is abruptly extinguished, the flower of the mind blossoms, and matters from dust-like eons are all present right now; not a hairline can be added of good, nor a hairline can be added of bad. You are simply the official who wore clothes and ate food as before, with no other peculiar or wondrous principle of nature to be spoken of; it will not hinder you from rejoicing for the rest of your life. Under the lamp I briefly write this general outline to assist the true source. Whether you understand me or condemn me, it all rests in this.