人天眼目 2.113

2.113

Venerable Luopu addressed the assembly, saying: 'Only with the final phrase does one reach the firm checkpoint; holding shut the strategic pass, it admits neither ordinary nor sage. Usually I tell all of you: even if the whole world rejoices with delight, I alone do not agree. Why? The spiritual tortoise carrying the diagram brought upon itself the omen of its own destruction; when the phoenix is entangled in a golden net, what hope does it have of soaring to the heavens? Usually I tell all of you: you must clarify the lineage outside the intended message; do not adopt rules within words. Therefore it is said: if the mechanism of the stone man were like yours, he would also know how to sing the songs of Ba; if you were like the stone man, you would also harmonize with the songs of snow.' A monk asked Nanquan: 'What is the Way?' Nanquan said: 'The ordinary mind is the Way.' If one penetrates the ordinary Way, seeing mountains they are just mountains, and seeing water it is just water. Taking them up as one's hand reaches out, there is neither acceptable nor unacceptable. Even if wind comes and trees move, waves rise and boats lift, spring generates and summer grows, autumn harvests and winter stores—what difference is there? As long as the wind is seasoned and the rain is timely, the country prosperous and the people at peace, the borders calm, and lord and vassal harmoniously united in the Way, why must a qilin appear or a phoenix arrive before an auspicious sign is shown? As long as principle returns to its Way, phenomena will be plain and real. There is no sage to seek and no ordinary person to abandon. Inside and outside with an even mind, all dissolves and exhausts itself. Therefore, the words of the sages do not depart from worldly truth; they conform to the world. If you understand, you will enjoy their use on the road; if you do not understand, they remain worldly truths in circulation. (An ancient master commented: "Often, at the place where I saw off a guest, I recalled the time I departed from home.")