佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 6.49

6.49

雲門委曲為人。雪竇截徑為人。所以撥却化為龍。不消恁麼道。只是拄杖子吞乾坤。雪竇大意免人情解。更道徒說桃花浪奔。更不必化為龍也蓋禹門有三級浪。每至三月。桃花浪漲。魚能逆水。而躍過浪者即化為龍。雪竇道縱化為龍。亦是徒說。燒尾者不在拏雲攫霧。魚過禹門。自有天火燒其尾。拏雲攫霧而去。雪竇意道。縱化為龍。亦不在拏雲攫霧也。曝腮者何必喪膽亡魂。清涼疏序云。積行菩薩。尚乃曝腮於龍門。大意明華嚴境界非小德小智之所造詣。獨如魚過龍門透不過者。點額而回。困於死水沙磧中。曝其腮也。雪竇意道。既點額而回。必喪膽亡魂拈了也。聞不聞。重下注脚。一時與爾掃蕩了也。諸人直須灑灑落落去。休更紛紛紜紜。爾若更紛紛紜紜。失却拄杖子了也。七十二棒且輕恕。雪竇為爾捨重從輕。古人道七十二棒。翻成一百五十。如今人錯會。却只算數目。合是七十五棒。為什麼。却只七十二棒殊不知。古人意在言外。所以道。此事不在言句中。免後人去穿鑿。雪竇所以引用。直饒真箇灑灑。落落正好與爾七十二棒。猶是輕恕直饒總。不如此一百五十難放君。一時頌了也。却更拈拄杖。重重相為雖然恁麼。也無一箇皮下有血。

Yunmen taught people by winding paths; Xuedou taught people by taking shortcuts. Therefore he pushed aside "transforming into a dragon"; there is no need to speak like that. It is just: "The staff swallows heaven and earth." Xuedou's general intention was to keep people from emotional conceptualization, so he further said: "In vain one speaks of peach blossoms surging on the waves." There is no need for transforming into a dragon at all. At Yu Gate there are three tiers of waves. Every year in the third month, when the peach blossom waves rise, fish that can swim against the current and leap over the waves transform into dragons. Xuedou says that even if one transforms into a dragon, that too is spoke in vain. "Those whose tails are scorched do not grasp clouds and seize mists." When a fish passes through Yu Gate, celestial fire naturally scorches its tail, and it departs grasping clouds and seizing mists. Xuedou's meaning is that even if it transforms into a dragon, it still does not consist in grasping clouds and seizing mists. "Why should those whose gills are exposed lose heart and soul?" The Preface to Qingliang's Commentary says: "Bodhisattvas of accumulated practice still expose their gills at the Dragon Gate." The general meaning explains that the realm of the Avataṃsaka is not something attained by little virtue or little wisdom. It is like fish passing through the Dragon Gate: those that fail to penetrate bump their foreheads and turn back, stranded on sandbanks in dead water, exposing their gills. Xuedou's meaning is: once they bump their foreheads and turn back, they must lose heart and soul. "It has been brought up! Did you hear? Did you hear?" He adds an explanatory note again, sweeping away everything for you all at once. You must all be completely clear and unattached; do not go on being confused and turbulent! If you continue being confused and turbulent, you lose the staff. "Seventy-two blows are lightly pardoned." Xuedou forgives the heavy and applies the light for your sakes. The ancients said, "Seventy-two blows double to become a hundred and fifty." Nowadays people misunderstand and just calculate the numbers, [thinking] it ought to be seventy-five blows. Why only seventy-two blows? They do not know at all that the ancients' meaning lay outside words. Therefore it is said: "This matter does not reside in verbal phrases." This prevents later people from speculating and forcing interpretations. That is why Xuedou quoted it. Even if you are truly clear and unattached, you rightly deserve seventy-two blows—and that is still light pardon! Even if you are completely unlike this, a hundred and fifty blows are hard to let you off. He finished his verse eulogy all at once, and then again picked up his staff, repeatedly aiding them. Although it was like this, there was not a single person who had blood under their skin.