萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.69

5.69

道環之虛靡盈。此人牛不見處。正是月明時。慈覺道。誰知末後一著。却是未分以前。道環。莊子樞始得其環中。以應無窮。天童借頌圓相托呈勢。空印之字。雖十字改卍字。其實非世間文字可執。道副對達磨。如某甲所見。不執文字。不離文字。而為道用。大寧寬禪頭到法昌。遇公作[○@廿]此相。寧便出作務。明日上堂。法座前曰。昨日公案作麼生。寧作[○@牛]此相了。復以脚攃却。昌曰。寬禪頭名不虛得。遂陞座曰。忽地晴天霹靂聲。禹門三尺浪泙渹。幾多頭角為龍去。鰕蟹依前努眼睛。此頌與天童機發玄樞。青天激電同參。天輪地軸。武緯文經。皆左右二匝。十字卍字血脈也。放開揑聚。獨立周行。頌脩羅掌日。樓至擎拳圍卍字讚善哉也。春秋題辭云。天之為體。中包乎地。日月星辰屬焉。然天地有高下之形。四時有升降之理。日月有運行之度。星辰有次舍之常。乃至諸星運轉。纏度如輪。故為天輪也。河圖括地象曰。地下有八柱。柱廣十萬里。有三千六百軸。互相牽掣。名山大川孔穴相通。家語。地東西為緯。南北為經。又文能經天。武能緯地。無文無以懷遠。無武無以禦亂。睦州示眾云。裂開也在我。揑聚也在我。僧問。如何是裂開。州云。三九二十七。菩提涅槃。真如解脫。即心即佛。我且恁麼道。汝又作麼生。僧云。某甲不恁麼道。州云。盞子落地楪子成七片。僧云。如何是揑聚。州斂手而坐。老子云。寂兮寥兮。獨立而不改。周行而不殆。樞機之發。如電光．石火。眼有神光。名為巖電。白日見星。此如暗中樹影水底魚蹤。非肉眼能見。覺範寄靈源云。暗中樹影平生意。水際魚蹤病後機。想見瘦容無住著。倚藤閑看暮雲歸。還知仰山行履處麼。皁上烏雞深夜繡。暗中一線實難通。

'The emptiness of the ring of the Way has no fullness'—this is where person and ox are both unseen, precisely the time when the moon is bright. Cijue said, 'Who knew that the final move was actually prior to division?' As for the 'ring of the Way,' Zhuangzi's 'pivot only then finds the ring's center, to respond without exhaustion.' Tiantong borrows this to praise the gesture of presenting the circular figure supported in hands. Regarding the 'character of the seal of space': although the cross was changed into a swastika, in truth it is not worldly characters that can be grasped. Daofu said to Bodhidharma, 'As I see it, one neither grasps characters nor departs from characters, yet makes them the function of the Way.'

When Leader Kuan of Daning arrived at Fachang, Master Yu made this figure: [○@廿]. Daning immediately went out to work. The next day he ascended the hall and asked before the Dharma seat, 'What about yesterday's gong'an?' Daning made this figure: [○@牛], and then rubbed it out with his foot. Chang said, 'Leader Kuan has not gained his reputation in vain.' He then took the seat and said:

'Suddenly the sound of a thunderclap in a clear sky;
At Yu's Gate, the three-foot waves crash and roar.
How many with horns have turned into dragons,
While shrimps and crabs, as before, glare with bulging eyes!'

This verse shares the same insight with Tiantong's 'The dynamic fires from the mystery's pivot—lightning flashes across the blue sky.'

'Celestial wheel and earthly axle' and 'martial weft and civil warp' are both the pulse of circling twice left and right, and of the cross and swastika. 'Releasing open, grasping together' and 'standing alone, moving everywhere' praise the asura holding the sun, Ruci raising fists, encircling the swastika, and praising with 'excellent.'

The *Chunqiu ticai* says: 'As the substance of Heaven, it encloses Earth within; the sun, moon, and stars pertain to it. Yet Heaven and Earth have forms of high and low, the four seasons have principles of rising and falling, the sun and moon have measures of movement, and the stars have regular lodgings. Down to all stars revolving, their degrees of orbit are like a wheel; therefore it is the celestial wheel.' The *Hetu kuodixiang* says: 'Beneath the earth are eight pillars, each pillar one hundred thousand li wide, with three thousand six hundred axles pulling against each other; famous mountains and great rivers have holes connecting through them.' The *Jiayu* says: 'On earth, east to west is the weft; south to north is the warp.' Also, 'Civility can warp Heaven; martiality can weft Earth. Without civility there is no way to cherish the distant; without martiality there is no way to quell turmoil.'

Muzhou instructed the assembly, saying, 'Tearing open is up to me; grasping together is also up to me.' A monk asked, 'What is tearing open?' Zhou said, 'Three times nine is twenty-seven. Bodhi, nirvāṇa, tathatā, liberation, the mind itself is Buddha—I say it this way for now; what do you say?' The monk said, 'I do not say so.' Zhou said, 'The cup falls to the ground, and the saucer breaks into seven pieces.' The monk said, 'What is grasping together?' Zhou gathered his hands and sat. Laozi said, 'Silent and boundless, standing alone without altering, moving everywhere without perishing.'

The firing of the pivot and dynamic is like lightning flashes and sparks struck from flint. When the eyes have divine radiance, it is called cliff lightning. To see stars in the bright day is like shadows of trees in the dark, or fish tracks at the bottom of the water—not what the physical eye can see. Juefan sent to Lingyuan:

'Tree shadows in the dark—the lifelong intention;
Fish tracks by the water—the dynamic after illness.
Imagining the gaunt visage free from attachment,
Leaning on a cane, idly watching the evening clouds return.'

Do you also know Yangshan's conduct and practice? A black chicken embroidered on black silk in the dead of night; a single thread in the dark is truly hard to pass through.