密菴和尚語錄 1.8

1.8

八月二十二日就本院開堂。祝聖罷，復拈香云：「此一瓣香，收來久矣，欲隱彌露。今日人天普集，不免從頭說破。昔年行脚自江西回，擬往四明。方抵婺州智者，却被傍觀兄弟錯指路頭，撞入衢州明果山中，見箇老和尚列列契契，太殺不近人情。既已將錯就錯禮了三拜，直至于今悔之不及。雖然如是，冤有頭債有主，爇向爐中供養末後住天童山第十八代應菴大和尚，用酬法乳之恩。」遂歛衣就座。問答罷，乃云：「祖師心印，狀似鐵牛之機，去則印住，住即印破，森羅萬象明暗色空，情與無情一印印定，更無絲毫透漏、更無絲毫走作、更無絲毫起滅、更無絲毫動搖，如金博金、似水洗水，了絕異緣，逈超諸有。以此壽聖人，則天長地久；以此祝賢守，則伊尹周公；以此安樂生民；以此康福天下；以此播揚大教、以此扶竪正宗。然雖如是，且道印子即今在什麼處？」良久擊拂子云：「鵰弓高掛狼煙息，萬國歌謠樂太平。」

On the twenty-second day of the eighth month, he held the opening of the hall at this monastery. Having offered prayers for the Emperor, he then took up incense and said: "This pinch of incense has been kept for a long time; wishing to hide it, it becomes all the more apparent. Today, humans and devas gather everywhere, and I cannot avoid laying it bare from the very beginning. In former years, returning from itinerant practice in Jiangxi, I intended to go to Siming. Just as I reached Master Zhi at Wuzhou, I was misdirected by onlookers—fellow brothers—and stumbled into Mount Mingguo in Quzhou. There I saw an old venerable monk, severe and uncompromising, exceedingly cold and unapproachable. Having already compounded error upon error by making three prostrations, right down to the present day my regrets cannot catch up. Be that as it may, every injustice has its head and every debt its master. I burn it in the brazier to make an offering to the Great Venerable Ying'an, the eighteenth generation residing at Mount Tiantong, so as to repay the kindness of his dharma milk." Thereupon he gathered his robes and took his seat. When the questions and answers were concluded, he said: "The ancestral masters' mind-seal resembles the function of the iron bull: when it moves, the seal remains; when it stays, the seal is broken. The myriad phenomena of the cosmos, light and dark, form and void, sentient and insentient, are decisively stamped by this single seal, with not the slightest leakage, not the slightest deviation, not the slightest arising or ceasing, not the slightest movement. Like gold bartering for gold, like water washing water, it completely cuts off extraneous conditions and towers beyond all realms of existence. Using this to toast the Sage Emperor, may his life be as long as heaven and enduring as earth; using this to pray for the worthy magistrate, may he be like Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou; using this to bring peace and joy to the living populace; using this to bring well-being and blessing to all under heaven; using this to propagate the Great Teaching; using this to uphold and establish the orthodox lineage. Although it is like this, tell me, where is this seal right now?" After a long pause, he struck his whisk and said: "The carved bow is hung high, the beacon smoke extinguished; ten thousand nations sing in chorus, rejoicing in great peace."