萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 4.33

4.33

The Master said: Merit is upholding the sūtra; fault is past karma. Once a deluded cause is established, it will inevitably incur a deluded result. The Śūraṅgama says: 'Have you not heard? In the city of Śrāvastī, Yajñadatta suddenly, one morning, looked into a mirror to see his face. He loved the eyes and brows visible in the mirror, but raged at his own head for not seeing its face, regarding it as an evil spirit and running madly without reason. What do you think? For what reason did this person run madly without cause?' Pūrṇa said: 'This person's mind was mad; there was no other reason.' This is being deluded about the real and clinging to the false. The contemplation and illumination of prajñā is the real; merit, fault, cause, and effect are the false. When true wisdom appears before one, deluded karma is eliminated, and anuttara-bodhi is luminous and inherently present. This is the intended meaning of the doctrinal teachings. How is it on the part of a patch-robed monk? Venerable Pozaoduo of Mount Song: in a mountain cove there was a temple, in whose hall a cooking stove was enshrined; slaughtering and offering sacrifices never ceased. Duo led his attendants into the temple, tapped the stove three times with his staff, and scolded it, saying: 'This stove is an aggregation of mud and tiles. Whence comes your sanctity? From where does your numinous power arise, that you should thus slaughter living beings?' He struck it three more times, and the stove toppled and collapsed. National Teacher Anguo called him 'Broken Stove Duo' (Pozaoduo). In an instant, a person wearing green clothes and a tall hat made a bow and said: 'I was originally the god of this temple, having long suffered karmic retribution. Today, thanks to the Master expounding the Dharma of the unarisen, I have shed this place and been born in the heavens; I have come specially to express my thanks.' The Master said: 'This is your inherent nature; it is not my forced assertion.' The god bowed again and vanished. Aggregated of earth and tiles—whence comes sanctity? Free from the marks of self and other—this is prajñā wisdom. Treating true wisdom as deluded karma: 'All along you have failed me; today I offer congratulations.' Slaughtering countless living beings yielded no blessed benefit at all; the old Chan master strikes three blows of the staff, and one is immediately born in heaven. Bah! Ghosts fear wicked people and find it hard to show their palms; a thief caught with stolen goods easily admits the charge.