佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 3.10

3.10

象骨巖高人不到。到者須是弄蛇手。雪峯山下有象骨巖。雪峯機鋒高峻。罕有人到他處。雪竇是他屋裏人。毛羽相似。同聲相應。同氣相求。也須是通方作者共相證明。只這鼈鼻蛇。也不妨難弄。須是解弄始得。若不解弄反被蛇傷。五祖先師道。此鼈鼻蛇。須是有不傷犯手脚底機。於他七寸上。一揑揑住。便與老僧把手共行。長慶玄沙。有這般手脚。雪竇道。稜師備師不柰何。人多道長慶玄沙不柰何。所以雪竇獨美雲門。且得沒交涉。殊不知三人中。機無得失。只是有親疎。且問諸人。什麼處。是稜師備師不柰何處。喪身失命有多少。此頌長慶道今日堂中。大有人喪身失命。到這裏。須是有弄蛇手。子細始得。雪竇出他雲門。所以一時撥却。獨存雲門一箇。道韶陽知。重撥草。蓋為雲門知他雪峯道南山有一條鼈鼻蛇落處。所以重撥草。雪竇頌到這裏。更有妙處云。南北東西無處討。爾道在什麼處。忽然突出拄杖頭。元來只在這裏。爾不可便向拄杖頭上作活計去也。雲門以拄杖攛向雪峯面前作怕勢。雲門便以拄杖作鼈鼻蛇用。有時却云。拄杖子化為龍。吞却乾坤了也。山河大地甚處得來。只是一條拄杖子。有時作龍。有時作蛇。為什麼如此。到這裏方知。古人道心隨萬境轉。轉處實能幽。頌道。拋對雪峯大張口。大張口兮同閃電。雪竇有餘才。拈出雲門毒蛇云。只這大張口兮同於閃電相似。爾若擬議。則喪身失命。剔起眉毛還不見。向什麼處去也。雪竇頌了。須去活處為人。將雪峯蛇自拈自弄。不妨殺活臨時。要見麼。云如今藏在乳峯前。乳峯乃雪竇山名也。雪竇有頌云。石總四顧滄溟窄。寥寥不許白雲白。長慶玄沙雲門。雖弄得了不見。却云。如今藏在乳峯前。來者一一看方便。雪竇猶涉廉纖在。不言便用。却高聲喝云。看脚下。從上來有多少人拈弄。且道還曾傷著人。不曾傷著人師便打。

"At Elephant Bone Cliff, the high place people do not reach; / Those who do reach it must be hands at handling snakes." Below Mount Xuefeng is Elephant Bone Cliff. Xuefeng's dynamic sharpness was lofty and precipitous, and rarely did anyone reach his place. Xuedou was a person from inside his house: their feathers and plumage resembled each other, "like sounds responding to each other, like vital energies seeking each other." It still takes an adept who has penetrated all directions to bear witness together. But this turtle-nosed snake is indeed not easy to handle; one must understand how to handle it to succeed. If one does not understand how to handle it, one is instead bitten by the snake. My late teacher Wuzu said: "This turtle-nosed snake requires dynamic function that does not injure one's hands and feet: seizing it with one squeeze on its seven inches, one then walks hand in hand with this old monk." Changqing and Xuansha possessed this kind of hands and feet. Xuedou says, "Master Leng and Master Bei could do nothing about it." Most people say Changqing and Xuansha could do nothing about it, and therefore Xuedou solely praised Yunmen, which has no connection whatsoever! Little do they know that among the three, their dynamic functions had no gain or loss, but only intimacy and distance. Now I ask you all: where was the place Master Leng and Master Bei could do nothing about it? "How many have lost their bodies and lives?" This eulogizes Changqing's saying, "In the hall today, many people have lost their bodies and lives." Reaching here, one must be a hand at handling snakes and be meticulous to succeed. Xuedou brought out Yunmen, and therefore brushed them all aside at once, leaving only Yunmen alone, saying, "Shaoyang knew, / And parted the grass again." Because Yunmen knew the landing place of Xuefeng's saying that "On South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake," he therefore parted the grass again. When Xuedou's verse reaches here, there is an even more wondrous place: "North, south, east, and west, nowhere to search for it." Tell me, where is it? "Suddenly it thrusts out from the staff head." Originally it was right here! You must not make a living upon the staff head. Yunmen hurled the staff before Xuefeng and made a posture of fear; Yunmen then used the staff as the turtle-nosed snake. Sometimes it is said, "The staff turns into a dragon and swallows up heaven and earth; where do the mountains, rivers, and the great earth come from?" It is just a single staff: sometimes it acts as a dragon, sometimes as a snake. Why is it like this? Reaching here, one finally knows that an ancient said, "Mind turns along with the ten thousand realms; where it turns is truly abstruse." The verse says: "Tossed before Xuefeng, opening wide its mouth: / Opening wide its mouth, it is like lightning." Xuedou had surplus talent: picking out Yunmen's poisonous snake, he said that this opening wide of its mouth is just like lightning. If you deliberate, you lose your body and forfeit your life. "Twitching up one's eyebrows, one still does not see it." Where has it gone? Having eulogized this, Xuedou must go to a living place to act for people; taking Xuefeng's snake, he picked it up and handled it himself, not shrinking from killing and giving life on the spot. Do you want to see? It says: "Now it is hidden in front of Milk Peak." Milk Peak is the name of Mount Xuedou. Xuedou has a verse: "All around, the stones survey the dark ocean as narrow; / So vast and desolate, not permitting the white clouds to be white." Though Changqing, Xuansha, and Yunmen handled it till it disappeared, he nevertheless says: "Now it is hidden in front of Milk Peak; / Let all who come examine the expedient means." Xuedou still gets entangled in fine nuances: instead of speaking and immediately using it, he shouts in a loud voice, "Watch beneath your feet!" From of old, how many people have picked it up and handled it? Tell me: has it ever bitten anyone, or not bitten anyone? The master then struck.