佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 3.23

3.23

諸人還裁辨得蓮花峯庵主麼。脚跟也未點地在。國初時在天台蓮花峯卓庵。古人既得道之後。茅茨石室中。折脚鐺兒內。煮野菜根喫過日。且不求名利。放曠隨緣。垂一轉語。且要報佛祖恩。傳佛心印。纔見僧來。便拈拄杖云。古人到這裏為什麼不肯住。前後二十餘年。終無一人答得。只這一問。也有權有實。有照有用。若也知他圈繢。不消一揑。爾且道因什麼二十年如此問。既是宗師所為。何故只守一橛。若向箇裏見得。自然不向情塵上走。凡二十年中。有多少人。與他平展下語呈見解。做盡伎倆。設有箇道得。也不到他極則處。況此事雖不在言句中。非言句即不能辨。不見道。道本無言因言顯道。所以驗人端的處。下口便知音。古人垂一言半句。亦無他。只要見爾知有不知有他見人不會。所以自代云。為他途路不得力。看他道得。自然契理契機。幾曾失却宗旨。古人云。承言須會宗。勿自立規矩。如今人只管撞將去便了。得則得。爭柰顢頇儱侗。若到作家面前。將三要語印空。印泥印水驗他。便見方木逗圓孔。無下落處。到這裏討一箇同得同證。臨時向什麼處求。若是知有底人。開懷通箇消息。有何不可。若不遇人。且卷而懷之。且問爾諸人。拄杖子是衲僧尋常用底。因什麼却道途路不得力。古人到此不肯住。其實金屑雖貴落眼成翳。石室善道和尚。當時遭沙汰。常以拄杖示眾云。過去諸佛也恁麼。未來諸佛也恁麼。現前諸佛也恁麼。雪峯一日僧堂前拈拄杖示眾云。這箇只為中下根人。時有僧出問云。忽遇上上人來時如何。峯拈拄杖便去。雲門云。我即不似雪峯打破狼籍。僧問未審和尚如何。雲門便打。大凡參問也無許多事。為爾外見有山河大地。內見有見聞覺知。上見有諸佛可求。下見有眾生可度。直須一時吐却。然後十二時中。行住坐臥。打成一片。雖在一毛頭上。寬若大千沙界。雖居鑊湯爐炭中。如在安樂國土。雖居七珍八寶中。如在茅茨蓬蒿下。這般事。若是通方作者。到古人實處。自然不費力。他見無人搆得他底。復自徵云。畢竟如何。又柰何不得。自云。楖𣗖橫擔不顧人。直入千峯萬峯去。這箇意又作麼生。且道指什麼處為地頭不妨句中有眼。言外有意。自起自倒。自放自收。豈不見嚴陽尊者。路逢一僧。拈起拄杖云。是什麼。僧云。不識嚴云一條拄杖也不識嚴復以拄杖。地上劄一下云。還識麼。僧云。不識嚴云。土窟子也不識。嚴復以拄杖擔云會麼。僧云不會。嚴云楖𣗖橫擔不顧人。直入千峯萬峯去。古人到這裏。為什麼不肯住。雪竇有頌云。誰當機舉不賺。亦還希。摧殘峭峻銷鑠玄微。重關曾巨闢。作者未同歸。玉兔乍圓乍缺。金烏似飛不飛。盧老不知何處去。白雲流水共依依。因什麼山僧道。腦後見腮莫與往來。纔作計較。便是黑山鬼窟裏作活計。若見得徹信得及。千人萬人。自然羅籠不住。柰何不得。動著拶著。自然有殺有活。雪竇會他意道直入千峯萬峯去。方始成頌。要知落處。看取雪竇頌云。

Can you all evaluate and discern the Hermit of Lotus Flower Peak? The soles of your feet have not yet touched the ground. In the early years of this dynasty, he had erected a hermitage on Lotus Flower Peak at Tiantai. After ancient people had attained the Way, in thatched huts or stone chambers, inside broken-legged pots, they boiled wild vegetable roots to eat and passed the days, neither seeking fame nor profit, being carefree and following conditions. Setting forth a turning word was merely to repay the kindness of the buddhas and ancestral masters, and to transmit the Buddha mind-seal. As soon as he saw a monk come, he would hold up his staff and say: “When ancient people reached here, why were they unwilling to stay?” For more than twenty years, in the end not a single person could answer. In this single question alone, there is the provisional and the real, illumination and function. If you know his ring and snare, it does not require a single pinch. And tell me, why did he ask like this for twenty years? Since this was the doing of a lineage master, why did he keep to only one peg? If you see into this, naturally you will not run toward emotional defilements. Throughout twenty years, how many people leveled their statements, submitted phrases, presented their understandings, and exhausted all their tricks with him! Even if there was one who could speak, they still did not reach his ultimate standard. What is more, although this matter is not within words and phrases, without words and phrases it cannot be discerned. Do you not see it is said: “The Way is originally without words; because of words the Way is made manifest.” Therefore, to test someone's true ground, the moment they open their mouths you know their sound. When ancient people set forth a single word or half a phrase, it was for nothing else; they only wanted to see whether you knew there is [the transcendent matter] or did not know there is. Seeing that people did not understand, he spoke in their place, saying: “Because on the road they had no purchase.” Look at how he spoke it: naturally according with principle and according with dynamic function, when had he ever lost the ancestral tenet? An ancient said: “Inheriting the words, one must understand the tenet; do not establish your own rules.” Nowadays people just blindly charge forward and consider it done; if they get it, they get it, but how can they help being muddled and indistinct? If they come before an adept master who tests them with the three essential words—imprinting space, imprinting mud, imprinting water—it will immediately be seen that a square peg is meeting a round hole, with no place to settle. When arriving here and searching for one of identical attainment and identical realization, where at the moment can one be sought? If it is someone who knows there is [the transcendent matter], opening one's bosom and sharing the news, what objection could there be? If you do not encounter the right person, for now roll it up and hold it in your bosom. And let me ask you all: the staff is what patch-robed monks use routinely, so why did he say that on the road they had no purchase? When ancient people reached here, they were unwilling to stay; in reality, although gold dust is precious, falling into the eye it causes a cataract. Master Shandao of Shishi, who had met with the laicization at that time, often held up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying: “Past buddhas were also like this, future buddhas will also like this, and present buddhas are also like this.” One day, in front of the monks’ hall, Xuefeng held up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying: “This is only for people of middling and lower faculties.” At that time a monk came forward and asked: “If one suddenly encounters someone of the supreme faculties coming, what then?” Xuefeng held up his staff and walked away. Yunmen said: “I would not be like Xuefeng, smashing things into an utter mess.” A monk asked: “I do not know what the Venerable would do.” Yunmen struck him immediately. In general, visiting and asking has no such myriad matters; it is because externally you see mountains, rivers, and the great earth, internally you see seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, above you see buddhas to be sought, and below you see sentient beings to be saved. You must directly spit it all out at once, and then, throughout the twelve periods of the day, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, weld it into a single piece. Though situated on a single hair-tip, it is as vast as the great thousand worlds; though dwelling amid boiling cauldrons and burning coals, it is as if in a land of peace and bliss; though dwelling amid the seven treasures and eight jewels, it is as if under a thatched roof among weeds. In this sort of matter, if one is a completely open adept who reaches the ancient's real ground, naturally one expends no effort. Seeing that no one grasped his meaning, he again questioned himself: “Ultimately, what about it?” And being unable to do anything, he said himself: “Carrying his staff horizontally across his shoulders, paying no regard to anyone, he goes straight into the thousands and myriads of peaks!” What was this intention again? Tell me, what place was pointed to as the destination? There is no harm that within the phrase there is an eye, and beyond the words there is an intention: rising on his own and falling on his own, letting go on his own and reeling in on his own. Do you not see: Venerable Yanyang met a monk on the road, held up his staff, and said: “What is it?” The monk said: “I do not know.” Yanyang said: “You don't even know a staff!” Yanyang again planted the staff on the ground and said: “Do you know it yet?” The monk said: “I do not know.” Yanyang said: “You don't even know an earthen hole!” Yanyang again carried the staff on his shoulder and said: “Do you understand?” The monk said: “I do not understand.” Yanyang said: “Carrying his staff horizontally across his shoulders, paying no regard to anyone, he goes straight into the thousands and myriads of peaks!” When ancient people reached here, why were they unwilling to stay? Xuedou has a eulogy: “Who can bring it up according to the dynamic function without deception? That too is rare! / Crushing the steep and sheer, melting down the mysterious and subtle. / The heavy barrier was once opened wide, / But the adepts did not return together. / The jade rabbit is briefly full and briefly wanes; / The golden crow seems to fly yet does not fly. / Old Lu—one knows not where he has gone: / White clouds and flowing water stay together lingering.” Why did this mountain monk say: “Cheeks visible from behind the head, do not associate with him”? As soon as you make calculations, that is making a livelihood inside a black mountain demon cave. If you see through thoroughly and believe completely, then thousands and myriads of people naturally cannot ensnare or constrain you, nor can they do anything to you. Touched or pressed, naturally there is killing and there is giving life. Xuedou understood his meaning of “he goes straight into the thousands and myriads of peaks,” and only then formed his eulogy. If you want to know where it lands, look at Xuedou’s eulogy which says: