佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 3.41

3.41

大隋真如和尚承嗣大安禪師。乃東川鹽亭縣人。參見六十餘員善知識。昔時在溈山會裏作火頭。一日溈山問云。子在此數年。亦不解致箇問來看如何。隋云。令某甲問箇什麼即得。溈山云。子便不會問如何是佛。隋以手掩溈山口。山云。汝已後覓箇掃地人也無。後歸川。先於堋口山路次。煎茶接待往來。凡三年。後方出世。開山住大隋。有僧問。劫火洞然。大千俱壞。未審這箇壞不壞。這僧只據教意來問。教中云。成住壞空。三災劫起。壞至三禪天。這僧元來不知話頭落處。且道這箇是什麼人。多作情解道。這箇是眾生本性。隋云。壞。僧云。恁麼則隨他去也。隋云。隨他去。只這箇。多少人情解。摸索不著。若道隨他去。在什麼處。若道不隨他去。又作麼生。不見道欲得親切。莫將問來問。後有僧問修山主。劫火洞然大千俱壞。未審這箇壞不壞。山主云。不壞。僧云。為什麼不壞。主云。為同於大千。壞也礙塞殺人。不壞也礙塞殺人。其僧既不會大隋說話。是他也不妨以此事為念。却持此問。直往舒州投子山。投子問近離甚處。僧云。西蜀大隋。投云。大隋有何言句。僧遂舉前話。投子焚香禮拜云。西蜀有古佛出世。汝且速回。其僧復回至大隋。隋已遷化。這僧一場懡㦬。後有唐僧景遵題大隋云了然無別法。誰道印南能。一句隨他語。千山走衲僧。蛩寒鳴砌葉。鬼夜禮龕燈。吟罷孤窓外。徘徊恨不勝。所以雪竇後面引此兩句頌出。如今也不得作壞會。也不得作不壞會。畢竟作麼生會。急著眼看。

Ven. Dasui Zhenru, who was a dharma successor of Chan Master Da'an, was a man from Yanting County in Eastern Chuan. He visited more than sixty kalyāṇamitras. In the past, in Guishan's community, he served as the fire-tender. One day Guishan asked: "You have been here for several years, yet you do not know how to bring forward a question to see what it is like?" Sui said: "What would you have me ask that would be right?" Guishan said: "You could simply ask: What is the Buddha?" Sui covered Guishan's mouth with his hand. Guishan said: "Hereafter, you will not even find a person to sweep the floor." Later he returned to Chuan. First, along the mountain road at Bengkou, he brewed tea and hosted passers-by for three years in total; only afterward did he appear in the world, open the mountain, and reside at Dasui. A monk asked: "When the kalpa-fire blazes through and the great trichiliocosm is entirely destroyed, I wonder, is this one destroyed or not?" This monk was merely inquiring on the basis of the doctrinal meaning. In the teachings it says: formation, abiding, destruction, and voidness; when the three disaster-kalpas arise, destruction reaches up to the Third Dhyāna Heaven. This monk originally did not know where the topic of words fell. Tell me, what is this one? Most people make an emotional interpretation, saying: "This one is the original nature of sentient beings." Sui said: "Destroyed." The monk said: "If so, then it goes along with it?" Sui said: "It goes along with it." Just this one—how many people make emotional interpretations and cannot grope it out! If you say it goes along with it, where is it? If you say it does not go along with it, what then? Have you not seen it said: "If you wish to obtain intimacy, do not bring questions to ask questions"? Later a monk asked Master Xiu of the Mountain: "When the kalpa-fire blazes through and the great trichiliocosm is entirely destroyed, I wonder, is this one destroyed or not?" The Mountain Master said: "Not destroyed." The monk said: "Why is it not destroyed?" The Master said: "Because it is identical with the great trichiliocosm." Destruction also chokes one to death; non-destruction also chokes one to death. Since that monk did not understand Dasui's words, he nevertheless kept this matter in mind, and carrying this question, went straight to Mount Touzi in Shuzhou. Touzi asked: "Where have you come from recently?" The monk said: "Dasui in Western Shu." Touzi said: "What words did Dasui have?" The monk then cited the previous words. Touzi burned incense, made prostrations, and said: "An ancient Buddha has appeared in the world in Western Shu; you should quickly return!" When the monk returned to Dasui, Sui had already passed away. This monk suffered a great embarrassment. Later the Tang monk Jingzun wrote a poem on Dasui: "Clearly there is no other dharma; / Who says he was sealed by Southern Neng? / A single phrase, 'goes along with it,' / Sends patch-robed monks running across a thousand mountains. / Chilled crickets chirp on stone steps of leaves; / Ghosts at night make prostrations before the shrine's lamp. / Chanting finished, outside the solitary window, / Lingering, his regret is boundless." Therefore Xuedou later cited these two lines to eulogise it. Nowadays, you must not understand it as destroyed, nor must you understand it as not destroyed. Ultimately, how will you understand it? Quickly fix your eyes and see!