虛堂和尚語錄 4.13

4.13

達磨祖師，自西天歷十萬里水雲而至此土，首對梁主，奏以黃鐘大呂之聲，雖天聽無私，而音節失旨，遂絕江航葦，面壁少林，直下坐斷，壁立萬仞。歲月既邁，香風四馳，有囿名相而善求其然者，向壁立萬仞處領得意旨，禮三拜，依位而立，則曰：「汝得吾髓。」降此已往，宗分派列，傳持壁立萬仞底一著子，碁布天下，皎若日星，此非大力量大根器大因緣，卒難湊泊。去歲秋暑如焚，閤下遠披孤頂，直造茅廬獲揖風標，出語間，已知為佛法中人。今之士大夫，尊爵崇祿汲汲然，何暇分陰及此；自非靈山親承記莂根於性者，疇克爾耶？茲又沐藻翰，披露衷曲，自愧自悔，於道切切，誠可知矣。蒙喻夙業深重，身墮塵勞，若向一念未興已前，照破輪迴生死，不落聖凡情量，便是出塵羅漢，有何戶牖可以窺測，有何文理可以揣量，有何生死可以怖畏，有何佛道可以咨參。鐵團欒是箇清淨慈門，更無毫髮許欠少，所以古德垂一言半句，為世良藥，欲治眾生日用紛飛，著有著空之病。殊不知，返以執病為藥，良可悲也。如所教所思所為，如有兩人，此皆浮塵繫念所起；若能推窮所思，則便有三人，三人則一人，一人則三人，乃至百千萬億人即是一人，一人即是百千萬億人。和者一人，掃向新羅檀特國裏，却款款地歸來道：㘞爾是阿誰？到者裏，便如善財入彌勒樓閣，勝妙境界悉在目前。惟恐深信不及，轉增迷悶，但向無下手處承當、無所得處受用，便是第一等直截簡徑法門。門下雖知其病，而不能去其病者，乃自作障礙也。請向壁立萬仞處看，自然無思不服。

The ancestral master Bodhidharma came from the Western Heaven across a hundred thousand li of waters and clouds to this land. First confronting the sovereign of Liang, he struck the sounds of the great yellow bell; yet though the imperial hearing was impartial, the musical phrasing missed the mark. Thereupon he severed the river on a reed and sat facing the wall at Shaolin, directly sitting until cutting off [all things], standing wall-like at ten thousand fathoms. As months and years went by, his fragrant wind blew in all four directions. There was one who, bound by names and forms, skillfully sought how it was: facing that place where he stood wall-like at ten thousand fathoms, he grasped the essential intent, bowed three times, and stood according to his place; whereupon [the master] said, 'You have obtained my marrow.' From this point onward, the lineages split and branches diverged, transmitting and upholding that single move of standing wall-like at ten thousand fathoms, arranged like chess pieces across the empire, luminous as the sun and stars. Without great strength, great faculties, and great conditions, this is ultimately difficult to enter upon. Last year, the autumn heat burned like fire; your excellency came from afar wearing a lone hat, arriving directly at my thatched hut, where I was blessed with an encounter with your refined manner. In the course of your speech, I already knew you were a person within the Buddha Dharma. Contemporary literati anxiously chase after noble ranks and high salaries; how could they have spare moments to attend to this? Unless one had personally received the prediction on Gṛdhrakūṭa rooted in one's very nature, who could accomplish such a thing? Now, having been bathed once more by your polished letter laying bare your innermost feelings—showing self-reproach and remorse, and earnestness toward the Way—this can truly be known. You mentioned that your past karma is deep and heavy, and your body has fallen into worldly toil. Yet if, before a single thought arises, you illuminate and shatter the cycle of birth and death, without falling into the emotional calculations of sacred and profane, you will be an arhat who has stepped beyond the dust. What doors and windows could peer into you? What textual patterns could measure you? What birth and death could be feared? What Buddha-way could be inquired into? The iron sphere is a pure, compassionate gate, lacking not the slightest hair's breadth. Thus the ancients bequeathed half a sentence or a single word as good medicine for the world, wishing to cure sentient beings of the disease of daily turmoil and clinging to being or non-being. Little do people know that they in turn take the grasping disease to be medicine—truly lamentable! As for that which you teach, think, and do, appearing as if there were two people—these all arise from the tethered thoughts of floating dust. If you can trace what is thought to its depths, there will then be three people; three people are one person, one person is three people, and up to hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of people are just one person, while one person is just hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of people. Sweep this one person away into Silla and Daṇḍa! Then gently turn back and say: 'Ha! Who are you?' Arriving here, it is just like Sudhana entering Maitreya's pavilion: the most wonderful realms are all present before one's eyes. I fear only that deep faith may not reach it, thereby only increasing confusion and distress. Just take responsibility where there is no place to lay a hand, and find enjoyment where there is nothing to attain; this is the first-rate, direct, and simple Dharma gate. Although you know the sickness, being unable to remove it is to create your own obstruction. Please look toward that place that stands wall-like at ten thousand fathoms, and naturally there will be nothing you think of that will not yield.