佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 9.32

9.32

Yunmen said, "Medicine and sickness cure each other. The entire great earth is medicine: what is oneself?" Do you people have an escape route or not? Through all twelve periods of the day, you must stand like a wall a thousand fathoms steep. Deshan's staff fell like raindrops, and Linji's shouts rushed like thunder—let that be put aside for now. Śākyamuni is himself Śākyamuni; Maitreya is himself Maitreya. Those who do not know the bottom line often understand this as medicine and sickness matching each other. For forty-nine years, in over three hundred assemblies, the Bhagavat adapted teachings to capabilities, all of which was giving medicine according to the illness—just like exchanging a sweet fruit for a bitter gourd. Having cleansed you people of the roots of your karma and made you free and easy, now the entire great earth is medicine: where can you put in a word? If you can put in a word, I grant that you have a place to turn yourself around and breathe freely; then you see Yunmen face to face. If you look back and hesitate, you certainly will not be able to put in a word. Yunmen is right beneath your heels. 'Medicine and sickness cure each other'—this is still ordinary discourse. If you cling to existence, he speaks to you of non-existence; if you cling to non-existence, he speaks to you of existence; if you cling to neither existence nor non-existence, he goes to the dunghill and manifests a sixteen-foot golden body, bobbing up and down. Right now, the entire great earth, the myriad forms and dense appearances, right up to yourself, are all at once medicine. At such a time, what do you call 'oneself'? If you simply call it medicine, even when Maitreya Buddha descends to be born, you will not have dreamed of Yunmen yet. In the end, what about it? Discern the meaning on the hook; do not fixate on the mark on the balance beam. One day Mañjuśrī instructed Sudhana to go gather medicine, saying, 'Bring me whatever is not medicine.' Sudhana gathered everywhere, but there was nothing that was not medicine. He returned and reported, 'There is nothing that is not medicine.' Mañjuśrī said, 'Bring me whatever is medicine.' Sudhana then picked up a blade of grass and handed it to Mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī held it up, showed it to the assembly, and said, 'This medicine can kill people, and it can also give life to people.' This phrase 'Medicine and sickness cure each other' is the most difficult to look into. Yunmen routinely used it in his room to receive people. Senior Elder Jin'e one day visited Xuedou. He was an adept, a venerable master in the Linji line. He discussed this saying, 'Medicine and sickness cure each other,' with Xuedou from dusk until dawn before they could reach ultimate perfection. Coming to this point, learned understanding, thinking, and calculation are of no use at all. Afterward, Xuedou had a verse to send him off: 'Medicine and sickness cure each other—most difficult to see; / Ten thousand barrier locks, quite unreasonable. / The practitioner of Jin'e came to visit: / In a single night, the billows of the sea of learning dried up.' Xuedou's verse that follows is crafted with supreme skill; his intent lies in both the guest and the host, which is readily apparent. The verse says: