宗鏡錄 98.63

98.63

The late Venerable Yunju said: “What complications are there in the Buddhadharma? If you can practice it, that is it. Just know that the mind is the Buddha, and do not worry that the Buddha cannot speak. If you wish to attain such a matter, you must still be such a person. If you are such a person, what is there to worry about? If you say that such a matter is not difficult, the ancient masters of old were simple, pure, and followed their genuine nature; originally they had no artifice. Suppose someone asked, ‘What is the Way?’ They might sometimes reply, ‘Broken tiles and pieces of wood.’ Why were all [their words] weighty? Because originally they truly had strength beneath their feet; they were inconceivable people who could turn earth into gold. If one lacks such a matter, even though one speaks as elaborately as clustered flowers and bundled brocade, claiming directly, ‘I emit light that shakes the earth, and in the world there is nothing surpassing it,’ when you have finished speaking, bringing it to a close, people will not believe or accept it at all. This is because there is no strength beneath one’s own feet.”

Explanation: Venerable Yunju was an ancestral teacher who stood beyond worldly things; in this land, he was a good spiritual friend across seven lifetimes. His virtue and conduct were uniquely preeminent, and his ocean of wisdom was profound and deep. Endowed with great compassion, his congregation constantly filled to a thousand people. When he instructed his disciples, saying, ‘Just know that the mind is the Buddha, and do not worry that the Buddha cannot speak,’ this was directed at current practitioners who constantly seek outward, only studying the words of the Mahāyāna, unable to return to the root and inwardly contemplate the mind to see clearly the naturally true Buddha. If one penetrates this mind-Buddha, spontaneous wisdom and teacherless wisdom will manifest before one—why bother with external study? As it is said, ‘What enters through the gate is not treasure.’ It is also said, ‘Falling from heaven brings poverty; gushing forth from the earth brings wealth.’ If the treasure of wisdom gushes forth from the citta-ground, what exhaustion could there be? Therefore it is called the ‘inexhaustible treasury.’ Provided that one attains the reality of the mind and becomes genuine beneath one’s feet, all words uttered will naturally accord with the true characteristic: in a single phrase saving people from birth and death, transforming the ordinary into the holy, and turning rubble into gold. Saying it is existent is valid; saying it is nonexistent is valid—sentence upon sentence becomes scriptural teaching. If one has not realized certainty within the mind and complete faith is not achieved, empty indulgence in frivolity will only result in self-deception. Even if one’s eloquent explanations are vast and unrestrained, they will only increase wild intellect. Even if one could speak so well that heavenly flowers fell and stones nodded their heads, if the matter is not genuine, it all turns into demonic sorcery. Thus Master Zhi, seeing Dharma Master Yunguang lecture on the Lotus Sūtra and cause heavenly flowers to fall, said: ‘This is the meaning of biting a flea.’ These are the sincere words of the ancient sage, truly a mirror for later students, worthy of being carved into bone and inscribed upon the sash. Now searching them out and publicizing them everywhere is of profound significance.”