佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.22

7.22

If this matter lay in words and phrases, does the teaching of the three vehicles and twelve divisions lack words and phrases? If one says that wordlessness is indeed it, why would there be any need for the ancestral master to come from the West? Just as with the many gong'ans from antiquity down to the present, in the end how are their outcomes to be seen? In this gong'an, there are not a few who interpret it verbally. Some call it "silence for a long time"; some call it "sitting firmly"; some call it "remaining silent without answering." I am glad to say that none of this has any connection—when have they ever managed to touch it? This matter is genuinely neither in words and phrases nor separate from words and phrases. If one engages in even the slightest deliberation, one is off by a thousand or ten thousand miles. Look at that non-Buddhist: only after he awoke did he realize that it is neither here nor there, neither this nor not this. And tell me, what is it? Venerable Tianyi Huai's verse says: / "Vimalakīrti was not silent, nor did he pause for long; / Sitting firmly and conferring turns into fault and blame. / The hair-severing blade in the scabbard has a chilly glint; / Non-Buddhists and celestial Māras all fold their hands." / Venerable Baizhang Chang visited Fayan, and Fayan had him look into this dialogue. One day Fayan asked, "What dialogue are you examining?" Chang said, "The dialogue of the non-Buddhist asking the Buddha." Fayan said, "Try bringing it up for me to see." Chang was about to open his mouth when Fayan said, "Stop! Stop! Were you about to understand it toward the place of 'remaining silent for a long time'?" At these words Chang suddenly experienced great enlightenment. Later he instructed the assembly, saying: "Baizhang has three secrets: drink tea, take care, rest. If you deliberate and ponder further, I know you have not yet penetrated thoroughly." Cuiyan Zhen "Pointing-to-his-Chest" took it up and said, "Six joins with nine; there are blue, yellow, red, and white, each intertwining." The non-Buddhist understood the treatises of the four Vedas and said of himself, "I am an omniscient person." Everywhere he demanded debate with people. Setting up the point of his question, he intended to cut off old Śākyamuni's tongue. The World-Honoured One did not expend the slightest ounce of effort, yet the man suddenly came to realization and praised him, saying: "The World-Honoured One, with great benevolence and great compassion, has cleared away the clouds of my delusion and enabled me to enter." And tell me, what is the place of great benevolence and great compassion? The World-Honoured One's single eye penetrates the three times; the non-Buddhist's twin pupils pierce the five regions of India. Guishan Zhenru took it up and said: "The non-Buddhist harboured a supreme treasure, and the World-Honoured One personally held it up high for him. The dense forest is made apparent; the myriad phenomena are distinctly clear." And in the end, what did the non-Buddhist awaken to? It is like chasing a dog against a wall: when pushed to the ultimate point where there is no way out, it must turn back—and then it is vividly alive! If you calculate right and wrong, once you lay them down at the same time, when feelings are exhausted and views eliminated, naturally all is clearly understood through and through. After the non-Buddhist departed, Ānanda asked the Buddha, "What did the non-Buddhist realize that he spoke of gaining entry?" The Buddha said, "Like a fine horse in the world that runs on seeing the shadow of the whip." Later, various teachers said, "Again blown by the wind into another tune." Others said, "A dragon's head and a snake's tail." What place is the World-Honoured One's shadow of the whip? What place is the seeing of the shadow of the whip? Xuedou says, "Not distinguishing heterodoxy from orthodoxy, the fault stems from the shadow of the whip." Zhenru says, "Ānanda struck the golden bell a second time, and the four assemblies heard it together. Even though it is so, it is much like two dragons contending for a pearl, enhancing the terrible majesty of the wise." Xuedou's verse says: