宏智禪師廣錄 5.30

5.30

At an informal gathering, a monk asked: "I recall: Nanquan asked a hermit, 'What is the master in the hermitage?' The hermit said, 'Blue sky! Blue sky!' What is the meaning of this?"
The Master said, "Today, grief and suffering are added yet again."
The monk said, "Nanquan said, 'Let "Blue sky" rest for a moment; what is the master in the hermitage?' The hermit said, 'If you understand, then understand; no need to chatter.' Nanquan flicked his sleeves and left. What was the meaning of this?"
The Master said, "The elder is chattering excessively today."
The monk said, "The hermit drained his liver and gall dry; Nanquan was truly a great man."
The Master said, "Is that so?"
The Master then said: "In discussing this matter, you must be meticulous and utterly distinct. If there is the slightest strand of separation, your transgression fills the heavens. The place realized by all buddhas and patriarchs is precisely the place realized by patch-robed monks. If you have buddhas and patriarchs on your head, how can you see what is your own? If you see what is your own, at that moment buddha cannot be established, patriarch cannot be established, person cannot be established, and Dharma cannot be established. Directly open and vast, everything is pervasive. Right when you let go, it is purely oneself. Why then call it buddha, why call it patriarch? A patriarch is no second person; a buddha is efficacious, pure awakening. This is the time when a patch-robed monk truly arrives on his own. If you have truly arrived on your own, only then do you know how to call it back, and in every place attain its function—even seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, bending, turning, bowing, and looking up, are all this rolling function, without a hair's breadth of separation. If you have not reached such a time, at birth you do not know where you are born from, and at the end you do not know where you end. Since you are confused about the place of birth, you do not know there is a place of ending. You do not even know earth, water, fire, and wind, seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, but instead call them illusory manifestations and images; thus you do not see the original person. The original person is also, according to function, called the side of children and grandchildren. Therefore it is said: 'I have six brothers / who manage the household for me.' If you do not know they exist, you call them the six thieves, who rob your own family treasure. The eye seeing form helps adorn your household; the ear hearing sound helps adorn your household; down to fragrance, taste, touch, and phenomena, all are like this. You must be clear and distinct before you can attain it. Brothers, have you ever come this way? Do you not see: Nanquan asked the hermit, 'What is the master in the hermitage?' The hermit said, 'Blue sky! Blue sky!' Nanquan said, 'Let "Blue sky" rest. What is the master in the hermitage?' The hermit said, 'If you understand, then understand; no need to chatter.' Nanquan flicked his sleeves and left. Right then, he pushed it out in one thrust for use. If there is even a little bit of Buddhist doctrine, it turns into the interwoven fabric of all mental conditioning and false thoughts. As an established public case, you must reach the root and source. If you are without so much mental conditioning and false thoughts, naturally you stand out a head above the rest, like the Yellow River flowing by rolling along the bottom. In the eye it is called seeing: Lingyun saw peach blossoms and awakened to the Way. In the ear it is called hearing: Xiangyan heard bamboo struck and clarified his mind. Usually, when you hear the drum beaten, you go to the hall; when you see food served, you know to eat rice. At that moment, directly going on like that, do not make any intellectual understanding at all—where would you not correspond? The moment there is right and wrong, you lose your mind in confusion. Have you ever spent the twelve hours without intellectual understanding and without thoughts? Have you ever been ordinary, secure, and hidden? Since everything is yourself, you do not see any other appearance. Great Master Yunmen said: 'Is not rice your very self? Why do you take yourself to eat yourself?' In daily life, letting go requires resting completely. If there is a single strand, you will not see to the bottom. If you see to the bottom, you will see the place of birth. Therefore it is said: 'When one reaches the utmost, the mouths of the buddhas of the three periods hang on the wall, yet there is still one person laughing heartily.' If you recognize this person, the work of your study is finished. Take care!"