佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 8.31

8.31

這僧問雲門。如何是超佛越祖之談。門云。餬餅。還覺寒毛卓竪麼。衲僧家問佛問祖。問禪問道。問向上向下了。更無可得問。却致箇問端。問超佛越祖之談。雲門是作家。便水長船高。泥多佛大。便答道。餬餅。可謂道不虛行。功不浪施。雲門復示眾云。爾勿可作了。見人道著祖師意。便問超佛越祖之談道理。爾且喚什麼作佛。喚什麼作祖。即說超佛越祖之談。便問箇出三界。爾把三界來看。有什麼見聞覺知隔礙著爾。有什麼聲色佛法與汝可了。了箇什麼碗。以那箇為差殊之見。他古聖勿奈爾何。橫身為物。道箇舉體全真物物覿體。不可得。我向汝道。直下有什麼事。早是埋沒了也。會得此語。便識得餬餅。五祖云。驢屎比麝香。所謂直截根源佛所印。摘葉尋枝我不能。到這裏欲得親切。莫將問來問。看這僧問。如何是超佛越祖之談。門云。餬餅。還識羞慚麼。還覺漏逗麼。有一般人。杜撰道。雲門見兔放鷹。便道餬餅。若恁麼將餬餅。便是超佛越祖之談見去。豈有活路。莫作餬餅會。又不作超佛越祖會。便是活路也。與麻三斤解打鼓一般。雖然只道餬餅。其實難見。後人多作道理云。麁言及細語皆歸第一義。若恁麼會。且去作座主。一生贏得多知多解。如今禪和子道。超佛越祖之時。諸佛也踏在脚跟下。祖師也踏在脚跟下。所以雲門只向他道餬餅。既是餬餅。豈解超佛越祖。試去參詳看。諸方頌極多。盡向問頭邊作言語。唯雪竇頌得最好試舉看。頌云。

This monk asked Yunmen, "What are the words that transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs?" Yunmen said, "Sesame cake." Do you feel your body hair standing on end yet? When patch-robed monks ask about the Buddhas and patriarchs, ask about Chan and the Way, ask about the transcendent and the descending, and having asked all they can, they have nothing left to ask, they then bring up a query, asking about "the words that transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs." Yunmen is an adept; thus as the water rises the boat floats high, and where there is much clay the Buddha is big. So he answered, "Sesame cake." It can truly be said that his Way is not practiced in vain, and his labor is not wasted. Yunmen again instructed the assembly, saying, "You must not act [blindly]. Seeing someone speak of the ancestral master's intention, you immediately ask about the principle of words that transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs. For now, what do you call 'Buddha'? What do you call 'patriarch', that you speak of words that transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs? Then you ask about escaping the three realms. Take the three realms and look at them: what seeing, hearing, awareness, or knowing obstructs you? What sound and form, what Buddha-Dharma is there for you to resolve? What bowl are you resolving? What do you take to be divergent views? Those ancient sages could do nothing with you; they threw their bodies into the world for sentient beings, saying, 'The entire substance is completely real; thing after thing is directly manifest, unobtainable.' I say to you: right here, what matter is there? Already it has been buried away! If you understand these words, you will know the sesame cake." Wuzu said, "Donkey dung is compared to musk." As it is said, "Directly cutting off the source is what the Buddhas seal; plucking leaves and searching branches is what I cannot do." When you arrive here, if you wish to attain intimacy, do not bring questions to ask. Look at this monk asking, "What are the words that transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs?" and Yunmen saying, "Sesame cake." Do you know shame yet? Do you perceive the leakage? There is a sort of person who fabricates, saying, "Yunmen released the hawk upon seeing the rabbit, and so said 'sesame cake.'" If one views sesame cake in this way as the words that transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs, how could there be an active road? Neither understand it as sesame cake, nor understand it as transcending the Buddhas and going beyond the patriarchs—that is the active road. It is just like the "three pounds of hemp" and "knowing how to beat the drum." Although he only said "sesame cake," in truth it is hard to see. Later people mostly make theoretical sense of it, saying, "Coarse words and fine speech all return to the paramārtha." If you understand it in this way, you might as well go be a lecture master and win a lifetime of abundant knowledge and abundant understanding. Nowadays Chan fellows say, "When transcending the Buddhas and going beyond the patriarchs, all the Buddhas are trampled underfoot, and the ancestral masters are also trampled underfoot; therefore Yunmen merely said 'sesame cake' to him. Since it is a sesame cake, how could it transcend the Buddhas and go beyond the patriarchs?" Try investigating it and see! Across the various quarters, verses are extremely numerous, all making words around the question. Only Xuedou's verse eulogy is the best. Let us bring it up to see. The verse says: