宗鏡錄 100.63

100.63

答。我此門中。亦無迷悟。合與不合之道理。撒手似君無一物。徒勞苦說數千般。此事萬種況不成。千聖定不得。大地載不起。虛空包不容。非大器人。無由檐荷。如古德云。盡十方世界覓一人為伴不得。又云。只有一人承紹祖位。終無第二人。若未親到。徒勞神思。直饒說玄之又玄。妙中更妙。若以方便。於稱揚門中。助他信入。一期傍讚。即不然。若於自己分上親照之時。特地說玄說妙。起一念殊勝不可思議之解。皆落魔界。所以圓覺經云。虛偽浮心。多諸巧見。不能成就圓覺。又先德偈云。得之不得天魔得。玄之又玄外道玄。拋却父孃村草裏。認他黃葉作金錢。百丈竿頭快散手。不須觀後復觀前。如今但似形言跡。紋綵生時。皆是執方便門。迷真實道。並是認他黃葉。喚作金錢。若大悟之時。似百丈竿頭放身。更不顧於前後。此宗鏡中。是一切凡聖大捨身命之處。不入此宗。皆非究竟。

Answer: "Within this gate of mine, there is neither delusion nor awakening, nor any principle of matching or not matching. 'Letting go of your hands, you seem to have not a single thing; in vain do you laboriously speak of several thousand kinds.' This matter cannot be compared by ten thousand metaphors; the thousand sages cannot determine it; the great earth cannot bear it; empty space cannot contain it. Unless one is a person of great capacity, there is no way to shoulder it. As an ancient worthy said: 'Though one search through the worlds of the ten directions, one cannot find a single person as a companion.' It is also said: 'There is only one person who inherits the ancestral seat; there is never a second person.' If you have not personally arrived, you wear out your mental faculties in vain. Even if you speak of the mystery of mysteries, the wonder within wonders—if, as a skillful means within the gate of praise, you aid another in faith and entry as a temporary peripheral commendation, then it is not [a fault]. But if, at the time of personal illumination on one's own part, you deliberately speak of mystery and wonder, giving rise to a single thought of an extraordinary, inconceivable understanding, you fall completely into the realm of Māra. Therefore the *Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment* says: 'With a false, floating mind and many clever views, one cannot achieve perfect enlightenment.' A verse by an earlier worthy also says: / 'Gaining it is not gaining; the heavenly demons gain it. / The mystery of mysteries is the mystery of the non-Buddhists. / Casting mother and father away into the village weeds, / One mistakes yellow leaves for gold coins. / At the top of a hundred-foot pole, quickly let go your hands; / There is no need to look behind and look ahead.' / At present, whenever there seems to be the trace of words and patterns begin to arise, all of it is clinging to the gate of skillful means and being deluded about the real Dao; it is all mistaking yellow leaves for gold coins. At the moment of great awakening, it is like casting off your body at the top of a hundred-foot pole, no longer looking back or forward. Within this mirror of the source is the place where all commoners and sages make the great sacrifice of body and life. Those who do not enter this source are all non-ultimate."