佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 5.27

5.27

Just here is a good place to grasp it. When the ancients offered a dynamic action or an environment, it was to receive people. One day Jingqing asked a monk, “What sound is that outside the gate?” The monk said, “The sound of raindrops.” Qing said, “Sentient beings are inverted, deluding themselves to chase after objects.” He also asked, “What sound is outside the gate?” A monk said, “The cooing of a turtle dove.” Qing said, “If you wish not to incur hellish karma, do not slander the Tathāgata’s true Dharma wheel.” He also asked, “What sound is outside the gate?” A monk said, “The sound of a snake biting a toad.” Qing said, “I thought sentient beings were suffering, but there are sentient beings suffering even more.” These words are no different from the preceding case. If a patch-robed monk can penetrate through here, he is completely free amid the heap of sights and sounds. If he cannot penetrate, he will be bound by sights and sounds. These kinds of cases are called “words of smelting” everywhere. If they are merely smelting, they become mere mental operations, and one does not see where the ancients helped people; they are also called “penetrating sights and sounds.” First is clarifying the eye of the Way; second is clarifying sights and sounds; third is clarifying the mind lineage; fourth is clarifying forgetting sentiment; fifth is clarifying unfolding. Although this is quite detailed, what can be done about it having clichés? When Jingqing asked in this way, “What sound is outside the gate?” and the monk said, “The sound of raindrops,” he instead said, “Sentient beings are inverted, deluding themselves to chase after objects.” People all misunderstand this, calling it intentionally turning the person around, but that has no connection whatsoever. Little do they know that Jingqing had the hands and feet to help people; being bold, he was not confined to a single dynamic action or a single environment, utterly unsparing of his eyebrows. How could Jingqing not know it was the sound of raindrops? Why would he need to ask further? You should know that the ancient used the probing pole and the weed shadow to test this monk. This monk was also good at pressing, saying: “What about the Venerable?” forcing Jingqing to go into the mud and water to tell him: “I almost do not delude myself.” If that monk was deluding himself to chase after objects, why did Jingqing also almost delude himself? You should know that within the phrase testing him there was already a way out. This monk was too thickheaded; wanting to cut off this talk, he asked further: “What is the meaning of ‘almost not deluding oneself’?” If this were under Deshan or Linji, staff blows and shouts would have already been carried out. Jingqing opened a thread of a path, following him in tangling vines, and told him further: “To escape is still easy; to speak with the entire body shed must be difficult.” Even so, the ancients said: “Continuity is also exceedingly difficult.” With just this one phrase, Jingqing clarified the great matter under the monk’s feet. Xuedou's verse says: