萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.97

2.97

The Master said: In former times Yangshan once asked a monk, 'Where have you come from?' The monk said, 'I have come from Youzhou.' Yangshan said, 'I just happen to need news of Youzhou. What is the price of rice in Youzhou?' The monk said, 'When I was coming, for no particular reason I passed right through the marketplace and trampled their bridge to pieces.' Yangshan then stopped. Yangshan was the 'Little Śākya'; his ways of receiving people were not limited to a single road. This gong'an is precisely the manner in which a student enters the gate, the place where one takes hand and gains strength. Yangshan asked the monk from Youzhou, 'Do you still think of that place?' If at that time he had said, 'I do not think of it,' then how would it have been? Yangshan would certainly have had another superior move. But the monk instead said, 'I always think of it.' Honest words should be repented. Yangshan said, 'That which can think is the mind; that which is thought of is the object. Objects have thousands of distinctions; does the mind that can think have so many kinds?' Yunmen once said, 'For the sake of compassion, Yangshan had speech that fell into the weeds.' Sure enough, the monk was also sharp and said, 'When I reach here, I do not see any of them existing at all.' If people of nowadays do not by any chance reach this realm, yet once they reach it they beat their chests and carry boards, not knowing the joy of the road, they will never reach home. Yangshan had once traveled the road beneath the mountain, so he pointed out another living road. In former years, while in samādhi in front of the monks' hall at midnight, Yangshan saw neither the mountains, rivers, and the great earth, nor the monastery buildings, people, or things, nor even his own body—it was completely identical with empty space. The next morning he related this to Great Guishan. Guishan said, 'When I was at Baizhang, I attained this realm; it is the achievement of melting away and dissolving delusive thoughts into clarity. If hereafter anyone surpasses you when you preach the Dharma, there is no such thing.' Wansong says: If not for Yangshan, it would not have been verified; if not for Guishan, it would not have been recognized. The Śūraṅgama-sūtra says, 'If stirred thoughts are exhausted and floating thoughts are dissolved and eliminated, with regard to the enlightened and bright mind it is like removing dirt and defilement; one category of birth and death is completely illuminated from beginning to end—this is called the exhaustion of the saṃjñā-skandha. Such a person can transcend the defilement of afflictions. Contemplating its origin, permeating and melting away delusive thoughts serves as its basis.' Here again we see how the father and son, Guishan and Yangshan, wonderfully tallied with the Buddha's mind. One day Yangshan presented his understanding, saying, 'If you have me look for myself, reaching here there is no circle-position, nor is there anything that can be cut off.' Guishan said, 'According to your view, dharma still remains; you have also not separated from mind and object.' Yangshan said, 'Since there is no circle-position, where could mind and object exist any further?' Guishan said, 'Just now, did you make such an understanding or not?' Yangshan said, 'I did.' Guishan said, 'If so, it is fully equipped with the dharmas of mind and object; how can you say there are none?' Yangshan saw that this monk still had this, so in accordance with principle he judged and said, 'The station of faith is indeed it; the station of the person is not yet it.' Another version says, 'The station of faith is attained; the station of practice is not yet.' Many cite the Sūtra of Vajrasamādhi: the station of faith, the station of reflection, the station of cultivation, the station of practice, and the station of renunciation. Now when speaking of the station of faith and the station of the person, they are not necessarily completely identical. Venerable Zhu'an Gui said, 'Toward the place where the mouth opens and closes, distinguish this side and that side; at the place with words and without words, distinguish the station of faith and the station of the person.' This is yet another family's style. Guishan asked Yangshan, 'Jizi, speak quickly; do not enter the realm of the skandhas.' Yangshan said, 'Huiji does not even establish faith.' Guishan said, 'Do you not establish it after having had faith, or do you not establish it without having had faith?' Yangshan said, 'It is just Huiji; whom else should I believe in?' Guishan said, 'If so, then you are a śrāvaka of fixed nature.' Yangshan said, 'Huiji does not see even a buddha.' Chan Master Qingju Haosheng's Ox-herding Pictures, arriving at the sixth chapter, says: 'The station of faith gradually matures, and unwholesome objects are perceived to grow distant. Although one distinguishes the pure and defiled, it is like a sword cutting mud; the nose-rope still remains, so it cannot yet be relied upon. Thus black and white are half and half.' The verse says: 'Though wild pasturing has lasted long, / The hand gradually lets go of the tugging rope. / The practice is not obscure or dark; / Advance and habit do not follow along. / On pure ground, happy and contented; / The long whip is held from time to time. / On green mountains the fragrant grass is fine; / With one flavor it satisfies hunger daily.' Reaching the twelfth chapter: 'The station of the person is fundamentally empty; body and mind are without attachment. Gain and loss are completely eliminated; the profound and mysterious road is distant and without distinction. Toward the one phrase going beyond, hesitation means falling.' The verse says: 'Delusion arises, toiling to watch and herd; / The ox is not it, nor is the person it. / Right within the middle, delusive forms imagine; / Going beyond, there is profound subtlety. / From the great sea a speck of dust rises; / In the blazing furnace a single snowflake flies. / Meeting each other to seek understanding, / Do not fall into the cunning of your own mind.' Wansong says: Yangshan did not even establish faith; Qingju's station of the person is fundamentally empty. If you can pick it out from within the words of these two masters, the station of faith and the station of the person will be clearly visible. It is what is called 'taking a step back and relying on oneself—in ten thousand cases, not one is lost.' The monk said, 'Does the Venerable have any other instruction or not?' In soft mud there are thorns. Yangshan said, 'To say there is another or there is no other would miss the mark.' To say there is would be adding frost on top of snow; to say there is not would be dying beneath the words. Therefore he pointed to one mystery, telling him to look for himself. 'Taking the empty space of gushing springs as a seat, and the ten thousand practices as clothing'—there are those who take 'seat' to mean peaceful meditation and quiet contemplation, and 'clothing' to mean the patched robe covering the head. There are those who take 'seat' to mean opening the hall and ascending the seat, and 'clothing' to mean the Dharma robes adorning the body. Both have their principle. And tell me, looking for oneself afterward—what is one looking at? Ask Tiantong. The verse says: