佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 4.29

4.29

Tell me, this gong'an, compared with Yangshan asking a monk, "Where have you recently left?" the monk saying, "Mount Lu," Yangshan saying, "Did you go to Five Elders Peak?" the monk saying, "I did not go," and Yangshan saying, "Acārya, you have not roamed the mountains"—distinguish black from white and see: are they the same or different? Arriving here, one must exhaust all contrivances and forget the thinking consciousness: mountains, rivers, the great earth, grass, chaff, people, and beasts—without the least seepage. If it is not like this, the ancients called it still being in a sublime realm. Do you not see Yunmen saying, "Even if the mountains, rivers, and great earth are free of the slightest defect, it is still shifting things; not seeing any form is only half the presentation; one must further know that there is a time of full presentation and a transcendent opening before one understands how to sit securely"? If you penetrate through, as of old, mountains are mountains and waters are waters, each dwelling in its own place, each fulfilling its original essence, just like a person who is completely blind. Zhaozhou said: "The cock crows in the chou hour. / Sorrowful to wake and find leakage once again. / Skirt and narrow tunic—not a single one; / The semblance of a kaṣāya is barely there. / Trousers without a crotch, pants without cuffs, / On my head three to five pecks of blue ashes. / Originally meant to cultivate practice and benefit people, / Who knew it would turn out so clumsy and dull?" If one truly arrives at this realm, what person does not have their eyes open? Let it tumble upside down in any way: every place is this realm, every time is this season. The ten directions have no walls; the four sides have no gates. Therefore it is said: "At first I followed the fragrant grass away; / then I chased the falling flowers back." Xuedou was quite ingenious: he just affixed a line to his left and affixed a line to his right, just like a poem: "A gaunt crane roosts on a winter tree; / A wild monkey howls on an ancient terrace." Xuedou, having led up to here, felt his own leak and abruptly said: "Changsha's boundless intent—bah!" It is like waking from a dream. Although Xuedou gave a shout, it did not manage to cut it off completely. If it were this mountain monk, it would not be so: "Changsha's boundless intent— / Dig the earth and bury it even deeper!"