宏智禪師廣錄 5.8

5.8

At an informal gathering, a monk asked: "Reed flowers, snow, and the moon—at that time, of a single color, one is still deluded. Wild waters and autumn sky—in that place, great achievement remains. How can one turn form and forget achievement?" / The Master said: "If coming and going find the road, the two places do not obstruct each other." / The monk said: "The jade wheel mechanism turns with a chuckle; meeting face-to-face, they do not recognize each other." / The Master said: "You have fallen into great achievement again." / The monk said: "Over there, not guarding the Empty King's palace, how could one be willing to plow the fields facing the sun's wheel?" / The Master said: "To have been like this earlier would be a bit better." / The monk said: "What about when the place of attainment is just right?" / The Master said: "In the intimate place, it is hard to speak; in the minute realm, do not stir." / The monk said: "When called back, what about the place of unhindered, thoroughgoing passage?" / The Master said: "Everywhere they meet without separation—Avalokiteśvara of the thousand hands and thousand eyes." / The Master then said: "It is my own; it is all of yours; it is that of the Buddhas of the three periods; it is that of the ancestral masters of the six generations. On each one's part: six times six is thirty-six. Here, giving rise to mind immediately goes awry; stirring thought is immediately a mistake. If there is a fellow whose four edges touch the ground and who cannot be overturned, he is somewhat closer. He can then stand toweringly in the present time, with not a single dharma clinging to the other, and not a single dharma clinging to oneself. Unfettered among humans, there are no marks of coming and going. The other fully is me; I fully am the other. Dharma after dharma abides in its own position. Therefore it is said: 'Nature is inherently equal; there is no equalizer.' If you go on like this, you are a patch-robed monk who has settled the matter. Furthermore, you must take a step back; furthermore, you must turn toward yourself. Then you will know that the nature of the four elements naturally restores itself, like a child finding its mother. Here, not a single speck clings, not a single thread hangs. Turn around the skin bag and merge with empty space. What is it that merges? If there is none that merges, how can one discern empty space? If there is one that merges, it becomes two instead. At that moment, one clearly needs eyes; stark naked, one needs a body. Turning the mechanism wheel, one can function in the present time. If you recognize the original head, all minds are this one mind; all dharmas are this one dharma. Broad and equal, precisely complete. Then you will know: 'The fruit is full, Bodhi is round; / The flower blooms, the world arises.' If it is ten tenths complete like this, what a fine fellow of Chan! But people nowadays say: 'Caodong Chan has no need of so many words; silence itself is it.' I also say: at that moment you are reckless; I also know that you are conjecturing in between. You completely fail to realize that it is empty yet efficacious, vacant yet wondrous. Have you not seen: a monk asked Shimen, 'What is the master's family style?' Shimen said, 'Beyond things, riding alone on a thousand-mile elephant; beneath a ten-thousand-year pine, striking a golden bell.' It is by walking thus and penetrating thus that one is not soaked in dead water. Have you not also seen: a monk asked Liangshan, 'Could this be the master's place of settling body and establishing life?' Liangshan said, 'Dead water does not hide dragons.' 'What is a dragon in living water?' Liangshan said, 'The blue pool does not spit mist.' If you recognize it, the dead one is a living fellow; if you recognize it, the living one is a dead fellow. You must be alert in quiet stillness, and distinct amidst bustling clamor. Then you will know that within death there is constant life, not obstructed by emptiness; within life there is constant death, not obstructed by things. Existence is not existence; nonexistence is not nonexistence. Venerable Bajiao said: 'If you have a staff, I will give you a staff; if you have no staff, I will take your staff away.' Therefore the Sixth Patriarch said: 'The mind-ground contains all seeds; / Under the universal rain, all of them sprout. / Once the flower's sentiment is awakened, / The fruit of bodhi ripens of itself.' Only then do you know that 'produced right where it is, it is extinguished right along with it.' Take care!"