緇門警訓 3.12

3.12

崇寧天子賜馬祖塔號慈應。諡曰祖印。歲度僧一人。以奉香火。住山老福深。即祖殿後建天書閣。承閣為堂。以選佛名之。使其徒請記於予。予三辭而請益堅。余謂之曰。古人謂選佛而及第者涉乎名言爾。子以名堂。予又記之。無乃不可乎。憐子之勤謾為之記。夫選者。選擇之謂也。有去有取有優有劣。施之於科舉用之於人才。此先王所以厲世磨鈍之具。非所以選佛也使佛而可選也。取六根乎。取六塵乎。取六識乎。取三六則一切凡夫皆可以作佛。去三六則無量佛法誰修誰證。取四諦六度七覺八正九定十無畏。乃至十八不共法。三十七助道品乎。取之則有法也。去四諦六度。乃至三十七助道。品乎。去之則無法也。去取有無眇然。如絲之留於心中。歘然如埃之入乎胸次。此在修多羅藏。或謂之二障。或謂之四病。或謂之不了義。或謂之戲論。或謂之遍計邪見。或謂之微細流注。取之非佛也。去之非佛也。不去不取亦非佛也。佛果可以選乎。曰先生之論相宗也。吾祖之論禪宗也。凡與吾選者心空而已矣。弟子造堂而有問。宗師踞坐而有答。或示之以玄要。或示之以料揀。或示之以法鏡三昧。或示之以道眼因緣。或示之以向上一路。或示之以末後一句。或示之以當頭。或示之以平實。或揚眉瞬目。或舉拂敲床。或畫圓相。或劃一畫。或拍掌。或作舞契吾機者。知其心之空也。知其心之空。則佛果可以選矣。余曰。世尊舉花迦葉微笑。正法眼藏如斯而已矣。後世宗師之所指示。何其紛紛之多乎。吾恐釋氏之教中衰於此矣。深河東人也。甘粗糲耐辛苦。久從關西真淨遊。孤硬卓立必能宏其教。蓋釋氏之教枯槁以遺其形。寂寞以灰其慮。戒定密行鬼神所莫窺。慈悲妙用幽顯所同。仰迫而後應。則吾眾喪其伴侶。不得已而後言則六聚亡其畛域。生死之變人之所畏也。吾未嘗有生安得有死。則奚畏之。有利害之境人之所擇也。吾未嘗有利安得有害。則奚擇之為。夫如是則不空於外而內自空。不空於境而心自空。不空於事而理自空。不空於相而性自空。不空於空而空自空。空則等等則大。大則圓圓則妙。妙則佛。嗟乎吾以此望子。子尚無忽哉。

The Son of Heaven of the Chongning era bestowed upon Mazu's stupa the designation 'Ciying' and the posthumous title 'Zuyin', ordaining one monk annually to maintain the incense and fire. The venerable abbot Fushen built the Celestial Script Pavilion behind the Patriarch's Hall, using the space beneath the pavilion as a hall, and named it 'Selecting Buddhas'. He sent his disciple to request a record from me. I declined three times, but his requests grew even more resolute. I said to him: 'When the ancients spoke of "selecting Buddhas and passing the examination," it was merely a figure of speech. You have named the hall with it, and now I am to record it—is that not improper?' Pitying your diligence, I casually compose this record for you. Now, 'selection' means choosing and picking: there is rejecting and taking, superior and inferior. Applying it to the civil service examinations, it is used for human talents; this was the instrument by which the former kings spurred the world and sharpened the dull, not the means by which Buddhas are selected. Supposing that Buddhas could be selected, would one take the six faculties? Would one take the six sense-objects? Would one take the six consciousnesses? If one takes the three times six, then all ordinary beings can become Buddhas. If one rejects the three times six, who will cultivate and realize the immeasurable Buddhadharma? Does one take the four truths, the six perfections, the seven factors of awakening, the eightfold noble path, the nine meditative absorptions, the ten fearlessnesses, down to the eighteen unshared dharmas and the thirty-seven auxiliaries to awakening? If one takes them, then there is dharma. Does one reject the four truths, the six perfections, down to the thirty-seven auxiliaries to awakening? If one rejects them, then there is no dharma. Taking and rejecting, existing and non-existing—subtly, they are like a thread remaining in the mind; suddenly, they are like dust entering the chest. In the Sūtra Piṭaka, these are called the two obstacles, or the four illnesses, or the provisional teachings, or conceptual proliferation, or the pervasive conceptualization of false views, or the subtle flowing streams. Taking is not Buddha; rejecting is not Buddha; neither rejecting nor taking is also not Buddha. Can a Buddha truly be selected? He said: 'What you discuss, sir, is the School of Characteristics; what our Patriarch discussed is the Chan School. All who join our selection merely empty their minds. When a disciple approaches the hall with an inquiry, the lineage master sits squarely and replies: sometimes showing him the profound essence; sometimes showing him selection and appraisal; sometimes showing him the samādhi of the Dharma-mirror; sometimes showing him the conditions of the eye of the Way; sometimes showing him the upward path; sometimes showing him the final word; sometimes confronting him directly; sometimes with plain simplicity; sometimes raising an eyebrow or blinking an eye; sometimes lifting the whisk or striking the seat; sometimes drawing a circle; sometimes making a single stroke; sometimes clapping hands; sometimes dancing. Whoever tallies with our dynamic knows that his mind is empty. Knowing that his mind is empty, then a Buddha can indeed be selected.' I said: 'The Bhagavat held up a flower and Kāśyapa smiled; the treasury of the true dharma eye was merely like this. Why are the indications of later lineage masters so excessively numerous? I fear that the teaching of the Śākya clan will decline from this.' Shen is a man of Hedong: content with coarse grain and enduring hardship, he long traveled with Zhenjing of Guanxi; solitary, unbending, and preeminent, he will surely be able to broaden his teaching. For the teaching of the Śākya clan is to wither away so as to leave behind the physical form, and to be serene so as to turn thoughts to ash. Its secret practices of precepts and concentration cannot be spied upon by ghosts and spirits; its wondrous applications of compassion are shared and revered by the hidden and the manifest alike. Responding only when pressed, our assembly would lose its companions; speaking only when having no choice, the six assemblies would lose their boundaries. The changes of life and death are what people dread; if I have never had life, how can there be death? What then is there to dread? Realms of benefit and harm are what people choose between; if I have never had benefit, how can there be harm? Why then choose between them? In this way, without emptying the outside, the inside is naturally empty; without emptying the realm, the mind is naturally empty; without emptying phenomena, principle is naturally empty; without emptying characteristics, nature is naturally empty; without emptying emptiness, emptiness is naturally empty. Being empty, it is equal; being equal, it is great; being great, it is complete; being complete, it is wondrous; being wondrous, it is Buddha. Alas! It is with this that I place my hopes in you; do not neglect it!"