萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.27

2.27

The Master said: The Zongjing [lu] says, 'Hitherto, delusion and enlightenment seemed like delusion; today, enlightenment and delusion are not enlightenment.' Therefore it is said, 'Having awakened, one is just like an unawakened person.' When Dizang questioned him, he wanted to know the reason for his setting out; where Fayan answered, it was also not modesty or evasion. Dizang took advantage of the moment to bring it up: 'Not knowing is most intimate.' Fayan was greatly enlightened: so this 'not knowing' is indeed intimate! Linji asked Luopu, 'Where do you come from?' Luopu said, 'From Luancheng.' Linji said, 'May I ask you about a matter?' Luopu said, 'I do not understand.' Linji said, 'Though one breaks through the entire Great Tang empire, one cannot find a single person who does not understand!' Linji often used the sword that kills people, but he also had the sword that gives life; he was not like Dizang, whose killing of people drew blood, helping someone thoroughly. This 'not knowing and not understanding' is utterly different. One must thoroughly strip away every shred of drizzle before reaching the place of not knowing and not understanding. When Guishan held a general work session to clear fields, Yangshan asked, 'Why is this end so low and that end so high?' Guishan said, 'Water can level things; just level it with water.' Yangshan said, 'Water is also unreliable; Venerable Sir, just let the high places be high-level, and the low places be low-level.' Guishan agreed. Master Zhao's Treatise on Prajñā Being Without Knowing says: 'When it is said that all phenomena are not different, does it mean stretching the duck's legs, cutting the crane's legs, leveling the mountains, and filling the valleys, and only then considering them not different?' Therefore it is said: 'Let it be short, let it be long—cease trimming and splicing; / Following the high, following the low, it naturally levels itself.' Zhang Wujin said, 'Countless adjustments waste effort; following along with everything becomes skillfulness.' Just speak freely as the mouth opens, use freely as the hand moves, walk freely as the foot steps. In the spring months flowers bloom; in the autumn season leaves fall. If you understand like this, what donkey's legs would you tread? Thus Xuansha did not leave his mountain ridge, and Baoshou did not cross the river, yet without going out the door they knew the affairs of all under heaven. Juefan's verse says: 'A face as large as a small plate, / Eyes, ears, nose, and tongue divide the territories. / Inside the skull, they know nothing at all; / Let people on the outside contend and act strangely.' The mouth asked the nose, 'Drinking and eating are up to me, speaking is up to me; what merit do you have to be above me?' The nose said, 'Among the five sacred peaks, the Central Peak occupies the honor.' The nose then asked the eyes, 'Why are you above me?' The eyes said, 'We are like the sun and moon, truly having the merit of illuminating and inspecting. Dare we ask the eyebrows: what merit do you have to dwell above us?' The eyebrows said, 'I truly have no merit, and am ashamed to occupy the upper place. If I were allowed to be below, with the eyes looking from above the eyebrows, what kind of face would you have?' Therefore Chan Master Baoyue Ming went up to the hall and said: 'An ancient said, "In the eyes it is called seeing; in the ears it is called hearing." Tell me, on the eyebrows, what is it called?' After a long pause, he said, 'In sorrow they grieve together; in joy they delight together. Everyone knows the usefulness of the useful, but does not know the great usefulness of the useless.' Now tell me: what was the meaning of Venerable Piṇḍola stroking his eyebrows with both hands? The Master stroked his eyebrows and said: 'Meow.'