佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 1.35

1.35

Xuedou, in his verse eulogies on antiquity, is exceptionally capable in this way: directly bringing down the vajra king’s jeweled sword, slashing once, and only then slightly revealing some style. Even though it is like this, in the end there are no two interpretations. “Cast away one, pick up seven”—many people understand this as counting, saying: “Casting away one is the matter before the fifteenth day.” Xuedou directly brought down two phrases to seal and break it, and yet revealed it to let people see: “Cast away one, pick up seven.” You must strictly avoid making a living within words and phrases. Why? What juice does a sesame cake have? Many people fall into conceptual consciousness. You must understand before words and phrases arise; only then will you get it. When the great function appears before you, you will naturally see it.

Therefore, after Old Man Śākya attained enlightenment, in the country of Magadha, for three times seven days he contemplated this matter: “All phenomena have the mark of quiescence and cessation, which cannot be expressed in words. Rather than expounding the Dharma, I would sooner quickly enter nirvāṇa.” Reaching this point, he could find no place to open his mouth. Through the power of skillful means, after he spoke for the five bhikṣus, up to the three hundred and sixty assemblies, expounding the teachings of his lifetime, it was merely skillful means. Therefore, taking off the precious royal robe and putting on worn, soiled clothes, having no alternative, he went to the shallow and nearby places within the gate of secondary truth to entice the children. If you had him bring forth the transcendent entirely, in the entire earth there would not be a single person or half a person. Now tell me, what is the first phrase? Reaching this point, Xuedou revealed some intent to let people see: you must simply see no Buddhas above, no sentient beings below, no mountains, rivers, or great earth outside, and no seeing, hearing, awareness, or knowing inside—just like a person who has died the great death coming back to life. Long and short, good and bad, beaten into one piece; picking up each and every one, there is no different view anymore. Only then, in practical application without losing appropriateness, will you see what he means by “Cast away one, pick up seven; above, below, and in the four cardinal and four intermediate directions, nothing is its equal.”

If you penetrate this phrase, directly above, below, and in the four cardinal and four intermediate directions, there is nothing equal. The myriad phenomena, grass and chaff, humans and animals, step by step entirely manifest your own family style. Therefore it is said: “In the midst of myriad phenomena, the body is alone revealed; / Only when one assents to it oneself is it intimate. / In former years I mistakenly sought it on the road; / Today, seeing it, it is ice within the fire.” “Above heaven and below heaven, only I am supremely revered.” Many people pursue the branches and do not seek the root. If you first get the root upright, naturally when the wind blows the grass bends, and when water comes the ditch is formed.

“Walking slowly, one steps and cuts off the sound of flowing water.” When walking slowly, even the sound of surging flowing water should be stepped on and cut off. “Looking freely, one traces out the tracks of flying birds.” Casting one's gaze freely, even the tracks of flying birds are just as if traced out. Arriving here, blowing on boiling caldrons and burning charcoal makes them extinguish; shouting at trees of swords and mountains of knives directly topples them. This is not a difficult matter. Xuedou, arriving here, out of compassion and fearing that people would sit in the realm of nothing-to-do, again said: “Grasses lush, fog dense.” Thus covering it over, directly making the grasses lush and the fog dense. Now tell me, whose realm is this? Can you call it “Every day is a good day”? Fortunately, there is no connection. Even walking slowly and cutting off the sound of flowing water is not it; looking freely and tracing out the tracks of flying birds is not it; the grasses being lush is not it; the fog being dense is not it. Even if none of this is so at all, it is precisely “Beside the cliff of Śūnyatā, flowers fall in profusion.” You must still turn over to that other side before you can get it.

Do you not see: Subhūti was sitting peacefully in the cliff cavern, and the devas rained flowers in praise. The Venerable One said, “Who is raining flowers from the sky in praise?” A deva said, “I am Śakra, king of the devas.” The Venerable One said, “Why do you praise?” The deva said, “I revere the Venerable One's skillful exposition of the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā).” The Venerable One said, “Regarding prajñā, I have never spoken a single word; why do you praise?” The deva said, “The Venerable One has no exposition, and I have no hearing; no exposition and no hearing—this is true prajñā.” And again he shook the earth and rained flowers. Xuedou also once had a verse saying:

The rain passed, clouds congealed, dawn half opened;
Several peaks like a painting, blue and precipitous.
Śūnyatā did not understand how to sit in the cliff,
Provoking the heavenly flowers to shake the earth and come.

Since the King of Devas shook the earth and rained flowers, reaching here, where else can you hide? Xuedou also said, “I fear that fleeing it, you cannot escape; outside the great square, it is completely filled. Busy and clamorous, how can it ever end? The clear breeze from the eight directions catches the hem of one's robe.” Even if one is clean and naked, bare and clear, without the slightest fault, it is still not the ultimate standard. And in the end, what is right? Look at the subsequent text: “Snapping the fingers, how lamentable is Śūnyatā!” In Sanskrit, “Śūnyatā”; here translated as the god of empty space, having empty space as its body, with no body, sensation, or touch; only when illuminated by the Buddha’s light can it manifest a body. If you can become like the god Śūnyatā, it is just the right time for Xuedou to snap his fingers and lament. Again he says, “Do not stir! If you stir, thirty blows of the staff!” When stirred, what then? In bright day and blue sky, opening your eyes and dozing off.