佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 3.25

3.25

Xuedou's verse eulogy is very fine. It has a turn-around point; he does not guard one corner. So he said: "Dust and sand in the eyes, dirt in the ears." This one line eulogises the master of Lotus Peak Hermitage. For patch-robed monks reaching this point, above there is nothing to climb or revere, below there is an end to self and person; at all times they are like fools, like stumps. Don't you see Nanquan saying: "For a practitioner of the Way, to be like a fool, dull and blunt, is also hard to come by." The poem by Chanyue says: "I often recall Nanquan's fine words: / One who is dull and blunt like this is rare indeed." Fadeng said: "Who knows this meaning, / That makes me recall Nanquan?" Nanquan also said: "The seven hundred eminent monks were all people who understood the Buddha Dharma; only Worker Lu did not understand the Buddha Dharma—he only understood the Way. That is why he received the robe and bowl." Tell me, how much distance is there between the Buddha Dharma and the Way? Xuedou cited this and said: "Sand cannot be put into the eyes; water cannot be put into the ears. If there is a fellow who has complete faith and can hold fast, not deceived by others—what is the verbal teaching of the buddhas and ancestral masters but the sound of a heated bowl ringing? Then please hang high the alms-bag, snap the staff, and be assured of being a person of the Way of no-concerns." He also said: "Mount Meru can be put into the eyes; the great ocean's water can be put into the ears. There is a sort of fellow who accepts others' deliberations, to whom the teachings of buddhas and ancestral masters are like a dragon reaching water, like a tiger relying on a mountain. Then he must shoulder his alms-bag and carry his staff crosswise; this too is a person of the Way of no-concerns." Again he said: "Like this will not do; not like this will not do either; and after that, no connection whatsoever. Among these three persons of the Way of no-concerns, if you want to choose one to be master, it is precisely this sort of fellow forged of pig iron." Why? Whether encountering an evil realm or an extraordinary realm, when it comes before him, it is completely like a dream: he does not know of the six sense-bases, nor does he know of morning or evening. Even if you reach this terrain, take utmost care not to guard cold ashes and dead fire, plunging into pitch darkness; you must have the single road of turning around before it will do. Don't you see an ancient saying: "Do not guard the green of strange grasses on a cold crag; / Sitting in the white clouds, the lineage is not wondrous." That is why the master of Lotus Peak Hermitage said: "Because on the road, he found no leverage; he had to go straight into the thousand peaks and myriad peaks before it would do." Tell me, what is called the thousand peaks and myriad peaks? Xuedou simply loved his saying: "Carrying his staff crosswise, paying no heed to others, he went straight into the thousand peaks and myriad peaks." Therefore he eulogised it in verse. Tell me, where did he go? Is there anyone who knows the place he went? "Fallen blossoms, flowing streams: vast and boundless!" The fallen blossoms are fluttering; the flowing streams are vast and boundless. Dynamic function like lightning! What is before your eyes? "Raising the eyebrows, where did he go?" Why did Xuedou also not know the place he went? Just as when this mountain monk recently raised the whisk—tell me, where is it right now? If you people can see it, you join in practice with the master of Lotus Peak Hermitage. If not yet, then under the three rafters, before the seven-foot mat, try going to investigate and see!