黃檗山斷際禪師傳心法要 1.12

1.12

Someone asked: "From of old it has always been said: 'Mind itself is the Buddha.' I wonder which mind is the Buddha?" The Master said: "How many minds do you have?" The questioner said: "Is it that the ordinary mind is the Buddha, or that the sage mind is the Buddha?" The Master said: "Where do you have an ordinary or sage mind?" The questioner said: "Right now in the three vehicles it is spoken that there are ordinary and sage; how can the Upādhyāya say there are none?" The Master said: "In the three vehicles it is clearly told to you that the ordinary and sage minds are delusion. Now you do not understand and conversely cling to them as existent, taking emptiness as real; is this not delusion? Because it is delusion, it deludes the mind. You need only remove ordinary emotion and sage realms; outside of mind there is no other Buddha. The ancestral master came from the west directly pointing to all people being wholly the Buddha. Now you do not recognize this; clinging to the ordinary and clinging to the sage, you gallop outside and again delude your own mind. Therefore I say to you: 'Mind itself is the Buddha.' As soon as a single thought of emotion arises, one falls into different destinies. From the beginningless past down to today, it is not different; there being no different dharma is therefore called realizing equal and perfect enlightenment." The questioner said: "What principle is the 'itself' spoken of by the Upādhyāya?" The Master said: "What principle are you seeking? As soon as there is a principle, the mind immediately differs." The questioner said: "It was said before that from the beginningless past down to today it is not different; what is the principle of this?" The Master said: "Merely because of seeking, you yourself differ from it. If you do not seek, where would there be difference?" The questioner said: "Since it is not different, why further use the word 'itself'?" The Master said: "If you did not believe in ordinary and sage, who would say 'itself' to you? If 'itself' is not 'itself', the mind is also not mind. If 'itself' and 'mind' are both forgotten, where on earth do you intend to go seeking?"