宏智禪師廣錄 5.9

5.9

At an informal gathering, a monk asked: "Mazu mounted the hall, and Baizhang rolled up the mat. What was the meaning?" / The Master said: "I also know his nose still hurts." / The monk said: "Although father and son understand each other, it was also trying to be clever only to blunder." / The Master said: "Do you know the painful place yet?" / The monk made the gesture of rolling up the mat. / The Master said: "Over the three-tiered waves, the fish transforms into a dragon; / A fool still bails water from the nighttime pond." / The monk said: "What about when Mazu gave a single shout, and Baizhang was deaf for three days?" / The Master said: "Sound is in the place of the ear; the ear is within the sound." / The monk said: "It can be said that sense-bases and dust fell away, and all news sank flatly away." / The Master said: "By all means, do not force the needle and awl." / The monk bowed. / The Master then said: "Mazu and Baizhang were walking along and heard the sound of wild ducks. Mazu said: 'What is that?' Baizhang said: 'Wild ducks.' Mazu said: 'Where did they go?' Baizhang said: 'They flew away.' Mazu twisted Baizhang's nose; Baizhang cried out in pain. Mazu said: 'When did they ever fly away?' Baizhang suddenly had an awakening. The next day, Mazu mounted the hall; Baizhang rolled up the mat. Look at the time of their encounter—where was it? Nowadays there are some fellows who fabricate stories and say: 'The moment you mount the hall, I roll up the mat; what use is it?' It is completely a thousand or ten thousand miles off. Later, Baizhang studied with Mazu again and was shouted at by Mazu, remaining deaf for three days. As for Mazu's single shout, did it admit of any extraneous affair? Did it admit of any contrived principle? If at that time you accept it without care, it is again the flowing stream of karmic consciousness. If you can sit through it and cut it off clean, so that not a single thread or grain can be established, what is called studying with Mazu again? Within it, not a hairsbreadth is tolerated. If an extraneous bit is attached, it is not called being deaf for three days. Have you not seen Xuedou say: 'The refined gold from the great smelter should have no change of color'? But nowadays some fellows do not embody it and do not see through it; they use hooks, use awls, make doctrines and principles, burying themselves and implicating the former ancestors. If it is not washed clean and completely settled, another layer is added here again; this is called washing a clump of dirt in mud. Later, Huangbo asked: 'How is the ancestral vehicle handed down from above pointed out?' Baizhang was silent for a good while. Huangbo said: 'You cannot let later generations be cut off.' Baizhang said: 'I thought you were a person.' The ancients also had such times: although free from language, language was fully complete; although producing sounds, the sounds were distinct. Why did Baizhang instead say: 'I thought you were a person'? Some say that the place of silence is it. Have you not seen a non-Buddhist ask the Buddha: 'I do not ask about what has words; I do not ask about what is wordless.' The World-Honoured One was silent for a good while. The non-Buddhist praised him: 'The Great Compassionate One has cleared away the clouds of my delusion and enabled me to enter.' Ānanda asked: 'What did the non-Buddhist realize that he said, "enabled me to enter"?' The World-Honoured One said: 'Like a fine horse in the world that runs upon seeing the shadow of the whip.' Have you not also seen: Emperor Suzong asked National Teacher Zhong: 'After a hundred years, what will you need?' The National Teacher said: 'Make a seamless stūpa for this old monk.' The Emperor said: 'Please provide the stūpa's design, Master.' The National Teacher remained silent for a good while and said: 'Do you understand?' The Emperor said: 'I do not understand.' The National Teacher said: 'I have a Dharma-heir disciple, Danyuan, who is well versed in this matter; please summon him and ask him.' The Emperor asked Danyuan. Danyuan said: 'South of the Xiang and north of the Tan, / Therein is pure gold filling a whole country. / Beneath the shadowless tree, board the same boat together; / In the emerald hall, there is no spiritual friend.' This is the time when the Buddhas and ancestral masters extend their hands. Then you will know: when silent, not a single word or dot is lacking; when speaking, not a single word or phrase is extraneous. Where speech and silence do not reach, past and present are inexhaustible. How do you walk? Bias and upright never leave their original positions; how does the unborn involve the conditions of words?"