佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 2.24

2.24

Xuedou is also quite an adept. Beneath a single phrase he immediately says, 'Dividing a joint'—clearly letting a move go by, walking hand in hand with him. He has always had the technique of releasing: he dares to enter the mud and water with you, dying together and living together. Therefore Xuedou eulogized it like this. In truth there is nothing else: he only wants to untie your bonds and undo your ropes, pull out your nails and extract your wedges. Nowadays, however, people instead produce emotional understandings on account of words and phrases. Just as Yantou said: 'Although Xuefeng was born on the same branch as me, he does not die on the same branch as me.' Were one not a person who has completely penetrated through the whole dynamic function and attained great sovereignty, how could one die together and live together with you? Why? Because he has no such leakages of gain and loss, right and wrong. Thus Dongshan said: 'If you want to distinguish the true from the false in a person of the transcendent, there are three kinds of leakages: leakage of feelings, leakage of views, and leakage of speech. In the leakage of views, dynamic function does not leave its position, falling into a sea of poison. In the leakage of feelings, wisdom is always opposed, and the place of view is one-sided and withered. In the leakage of speech, the wondrous essence loses its principle, and dynamic function is dim from beginning to end. These three leakages should be known.' There are also three mysteries: the mystery within essence, the mystery within the phrase, and the mystery within mystery. When the ancients reached this realm, with the whole dynamic function and great application, encountering life they lived together with you, and encountering death they died together with you. Lying across the tiger's mouth, giving free rein to their limbs, whether a thousand miles or ten thousand miles, they let it carry them away. Why? Only when one can match this move does it count. 'Among the eighty-four thousand, none have phoenix feathers': the eighty-four thousand holy assembly on Vulture Peak had no phoenix feathers. The *History of the Southern Dynasties* says: In the Song dynasty, Xie Chaozong of Yangxia in the Chen commandery was the son of Xie Feng. Learned, with preeminent literary talent, he was without equal at court and was peerless in his time. Excelling in writing, he served as attendant in the prince's estate. When the prince's mother, Lady of Handsome Demeanour Yin, passed away, Chaozong composed an elegy and presented it. Emperor Wu saw his composition, greatly praised and admired it, and said: 'Chaozong truly has phoenix feathers!' An ancient poem says: 'The morning audience ended, incense smoke fills the sleeves; / The poem finished, pearls and jade flow from the wielding brush. / If you wish to know the beauty of holding the silk-threaded imperial edicts for generations, / By the pond today there are phoenix feathers.' Formerly, when the four assemblies gathered like clouds at the Vulture Peak assembly, the Bhagavat held up a flower, and only Kāśyapa alone broke into a smile; the rest did not know what principle it was. Therefore Xuedou says: 'Among the eighty-four thousand, none have phoenix feathers; thirty-three persons enter the tiger's den.' Ānanda asked Kāśyapa: 'Apart from transmitting the golden brocade robe, what other dharma did the Bhagavat transmit?' Kāśyapa called: 'Ānanda!' Ānanda responded: 'Yes?' Kāśyapa said: 'Knock down the temple flagpole before the gate.' Ānanda thereupon awakened. Thereafter it was transmitted from ancestor to ancestor: in India and in this land, thirty-three persons had the skill to enter the tiger's den. The ancients said: 'If you do not enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the tiger's cub?' Yunmen is such a person, skilled at dying together and living together. A lineage master helping people must reach this point: sitting on a curved-wood chair, letting you smash it, allowing you to stroke the tiger's whiskers. One must also reach such a stage before it counts. Equipped with the seven items at hand, one can live together and die together: suppressing the high, raising the low, giving to the deficient; for those on a solitary peak, rescuing them to enter the desolate grass; for those who fall into the desolate grass, rescuing them to dwell on a solitary peak. If you enter the cauldron of boiling water and burning coals, I also enter the cauldron of boiling water and burning coals. In truth there is nothing else: he only wants to untie your bonds and undo your ropes, pull out your nails and extract your wedges, take off the halter, and unload the pack-saddle. Venerable Pingtian had a verse that is best: 'The spiritual radiance is never dimmed, / An admirable model for ten thousand ages. / Having entered this gate, / Harbor no intellectual understanding.' Different! Different! 'Turmoil and hurry, the moon in the water'—it does not fail to have a path of escape, and also has the dynamic function of giving life to people. Xuedou brought it up to make people clearly awaken on their own to the living dynamic, not following along with his words and phrases. If you follow along with him, it is precisely 'turmoil and hurry, the moon in the water.' Now, how can you attain peace and stability? Let a move go by.