宗鏡錄 41.9

41.9

答。中下之機。不無學路。童蒙之訓。豈斷今時。故楞伽經云。宗通為菩薩。說通為童蒙。助觀之門。深有利益。若一向背己徇文。執學而辦。則對木人而待語。期石女以生兒。空歷塵沙。終無得理。設爾外學得成。皆非真實。如云。寫月非真月。圖龍失本龍。如今若要真成。但能淨意內觀。則了然寂現。猶臨明鏡。自見其形。若以見聞妄求。如撈水月。豈有得時。所以真覺歌云。淨五眼。得五力。唯證乃知難可測。鏡裏看形見不難。水中捉月爭拈得。盤山和尚云。向上一路。千聖不傳。學者勞形。如猿捉月。龐居士偈云。行學非真道。徒勞神與軀。千生尋水月。終是抂功夫。

Answer: "For those of intermediate and lower capacities, the path of learning is not absent. How could instructions for beginners be cut off today? Hence the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: 'Mastery of the source is for bodhisattvas; mastery of the teaching is for beginners.' The gates of auxiliary contemplation are profoundly beneficial. But if one solely turns one's back on oneself to follow texts, clinging to learning to achieve realization, one is waiting for a wooden statue to speak or expecting a barren woman to give birth to a child. Idly passing through dust-like kalpas, in the end there is no principle to be attained. Even if external learning were accomplished, none of it would be real. As it is said: 'Drawing the moon is not the real moon; painting a dragon misses the original dragon.' Now, if you want genuine realization, you only need to purify your mind and contemplate inwardly; then it will appear clearly and serenely, just like facing a bright mirror and seeing your own form. If you seek falsely through seeing and hearing, it is like scooping the moon out of water—when could you ever obtain it? Therefore Master Zhenjue's song says:
'Purifying the five eyes, attaining the five powers, / only through realization is it known, difficult to fathom. / Looking at the form in a mirror, seeing is not difficult; / catching the moon in water, how could one pluck it out?'
Venerable Panshan said: 'The transcendental way is not transmitted by the thousand sages. Students labor their bodies like monkeys grasping at the moon.' Layman Pang's verse says:
'Practicing learning is not the true Way; / it merely exhausts spirit and body in vain. / Searching for the water's moon for a thousand lifetimes, / in the end it is wasted effort.'"