緇門警訓 7.20

7.20

有僧問曰。十二分教流于此土。得道果者非止一二。云何祖師東化別唱玄宗。直指人心見性成佛。豈得世尊說法有所未盡。只如上代諸德高僧。並學貫九流洞明三藏。生肇融叡盡是神異間生。豈得不知佛法遠近。某甲庸昧願師指示。師曰。諸佛不曾出世。亦無一法與人。但隨病施方。遂有十二分教。如將蜜果換苦葫蘆。淘汝諸人業根。都無實事。神通變化及百千三昧門。化破天魔外道。福智二嚴為破執有滯空之見。若不會道及祖師來意。論甚麼生肇融叡。如今天下解禪解道。如何沙數。說佛說心。有百千萬億。纖塵不去未免輪迴。思念不亡盡從沈墜。如斯之類尚不能自識業果。妄言自利利他。自謂上流並他先德。但言觸目無非佛事。舉足皆是道場。原其所習不如一箇五戒十善凡夫。觀其發言嫌他二乘十地菩薩。且醍醐上味為世珍奇。遇斯等人翻成毒藥。南山尚自不許呼為大乘。學語之流爭鋒唇舌之間。鼓論不形之事。並他先德誠實。苦哉。只如野逸高士尚解枕石漱流。棄其利祿亦有安國理民之謀。徵而不赴。況我禪宗途路且別。看他古德道人得意之後。茆茨石室向折脚鐺子裏煮飯喫。過三十二十年。名利不干懷。財寶不為念。大忘人世隱迹岩叢。君王命而不來。諸侯請而不赴。豈同我輩貪名愛利。汩沒世途如短販人。有少希求而忘大果。十地諸賢豈不通佛理。可不如一箇博地凡夫。實無此理。他說法如雲如雨。猶被佛訶云。見性如隔羅縠。只為情存聖量見。在果因未能逾越聖情過諸影迹。先賢古德碩學高人。博達古今洞明教網。蓋為識學詮文水乳難辨。不明自理念靜求真。嗟乎得人身者。如爪甲上土。失人身者。如大地土。良可傷哉。設有悟理之者。有一知一解。不知是悟中之則入理之門。便謂永出世利。巡山傍㵎輕忽上流。致使心漏不盡理地。不明空到老死無成。虛延歲月。且聰明不能敵業。乾慧未免苦輪。假使才並馬鳴解齊龍樹。只是一生兩生不失人身。根思宿淨聞之即解。如彼生公何足為羨。與道全遠。共兄弟論實不論虛。只遮口食身衣。盡是欺賢罔聖。求得將來他心慧眼觀之。如喫膿血一般。總須償他始得。阿那箇有道果。自然招得他信施來不受者。學般若菩薩不得自謾。如氷凌上行。似劒刃上走。臨終之時一毫凡聖情量不盡。纖塵思念未忘。隨念受生輕重五陰。向驢胎馬腹裏託質。泥犁鑊湯裏煮煠一遍了。從前記持憶想見解智慧。都盧一時失却。依前再為螻蟻。從頭又作蚊虻。雖是善因而遭惡果。且圖甚麼。兄弟只為貪欲成性。二十五有向脚跟下。繫著無成辦之期。祖師觀此土眾生。有大乘根性。惟傳心印指示迷情。得之者即不揀凡之與聖愚之與智。且多虛不如少實。大丈夫兒如今直下便休歇去。頓息萬緣越生死流。逈出常格靈光獨照。物累不拘。巍巍堂堂三界獨步。何必身長丈六紫磨金輝。項佩圓光廣長舌相。若以色見我是行邪道。設有眷屬莊嚴不求自得。山河大地不礙眼光。得大總持。一聞千悟。都不希求一飡之直。汝等諸人倘不如是。祖師來至此土。非常有損有益。有益者百千人中撈漉一箇半箇。堪為法器。有損者如前已明。從他依三乘教法修行。不妨却得四果三賢。有進修之分。所以先德云。了即業障本來空。未了還須償宿債（傳燈）。

A monk asked: "The twelve divisions of the teachings flowed into this land, and those who attained the fruit of the Way were more than just one or two. Why did the Patriarch come east to teach and separately proclaim the profound school, directly pointing to the human mind, seeing one's nature and becoming a buddha? Could it be that the Bhagavat's exposition of the Dharma had something left unsaid? Consider only the virtuous high monks of past generations: all of them mastered the nine schools of thought and thoroughly illuminated the Tripiṭaka. Men such as Daosheng, Sengzhao, Sengrong, and Daorui were all rare prodigies born at special intervals. How could they fail to know the depth or shallowness of the Buddha's Dharma? I am dull and ignorant, and I pray the Master will instruct me."
The Master said: "The Buddhas never appeared in the world, nor is there a single dharma to give to people. They merely prescribed remedies according to the illness, so that the twelve divisions of the teachings came to be. It is like exchanging a sweet melon for a bitter gourd to cleanse the karmic roots of all of you; there is no actual substance to it at all. The supernormal transformations and the hundreds of thousands of samādhi doors were used to convert and break down heavenly demons and non-Buddhists. The two adornments of merit and wisdom were meant to shatter the views of clinging to existence or stagnating in emptiness. If one does not understand the Way or the Patriarch's intention in coming, what is the use of discussing Daosheng, Sengzhao, Sengrong, or Daorui?
"Nowadays throughout the realm, those who claim to understand Chan and understand the Way are like the sands of the Ganges; those who speak of the Buddha and speak of the mind number hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis. Yet if the finest dust of delusion is not cast off, saṃsāra cannot be avoided; if thoughts are not extinguished, one will entirely sink and fall. People of this sort cannot even recognize their own karmic fruits, yet they falsely claim to benefit themselves and others, boasting that they are of the highest class, on par with the virtuous ancients. They merely claim, 'Whatever meets the eye is nothing but the Buddha's work; wherever I set foot is a place of the Way.' In reality, their conduct does not even match that of an ordinary person keeping the five precepts and ten virtuous deeds; yet judging by their speech, they look down upon the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas of the ten grounds. Now, sarpirmaṇḍa is the supreme flavor, treasured as rare by the world; but when it meets such people, it turns into poison. Master Nanshan would not even allow them to be called followers of the Mahāyāna! This crowd of word-parrots strives for supremacy with lips and tongues, stirring up arguments about formless matters and comparing themselves to the sincerity of the ancients—how lamentable!
"Consider even the lofty hermits of the wilds: they still knew how to pillow their heads on stone and rinse their mouths with the stream, casting aside profit and emoluments; yet they possessed stratagems to pacify the state and govern the people, declining when summoned to court. How much more so should our Chan school take a different path! Look at the men of the Way among the virtuous ancients: after attaining the realization, they lived in thatched huts and stone caves, cooking rice in broken-legged pots. Twenty or thirty years would pass, with fame and profit never touching their minds, and wealth never a consideration. Completely oblivious to the human world, they concealed their traces among crags and thickets; kings summoned them and they did not come, feudal lords invited them and they did not go. How could they be like us, who covet fame and love profit, sinking in worldly paths like petty merchants, seeking small gains while forgetting the great fruit?
"Did the worthy ones of the ten grounds not comprehend the Buddha's principles? Could they be inferior to an ordinary person bound to the earth? There is truly no such principle! Even when their preaching of the Dharma was like clouds and rain, they were still rebuked by the Buddha, who said that seeing their nature was like peering through fine gauze—simply because their feelings harbored attachment to the measure of holiness, and their vision remained tied to causes and effects, unable to transcend the sentiment of holiness and surpass all traces and shadows.
"The former sages and virtuous ancients were learned scholars and lofty masters, broadly versed in past and present and thoroughly clear about the net of the teachings. Yet because they were trapped in textual learning and interpretive writing, unable to distinguish milk from water, failing to clarify their own nature's principle, and pursuing stillness to seek reality—alas! Those who obtain a human body are like the dirt on a fingernail; those who lose a human body are like the dirt of the great earth. How truly sorrowful!
"Even if there are those who awaken to the principle, having a single piece of knowledge or a single understanding, they do not realize that this is merely a rule within awakening, a gate for entering the principle. Thereupon they claim to have eternally transcended worldly profit; they roam the mountains and skirt the streams, slighting their superiors. Consequently, the leakages of their mind are never exhausted, the ground of principle remains unclarified, and in vain they reach old age and death without accomplishment, uselessly prolonging the months and years. Furthermore, cleverness cannot counter karma, and dry wisdom cannot escape the wheel of suffering. Even if your talent equaled Aśvaghoṣa and your understanding matched Nāgārjuna, it would only ensure that you do not lose a human body for one or two lifetimes; having purified your faculties and thinking in past lives, you understand upon hearing. Even someone like Master Daosheng is hardly worthy of envy—he was completely far from the Way.
"Brothers, let us discuss the real, not the vain! Merely this food for the mouth and clothing for the body are entirely acquired by deceiving the worthy and defrauding the holy. When seen with the eye of wisdom that knows others' minds, it is just like eating pus and blood; every bit of it must be repaid! Who among you possesses the fruit of the Way such that you naturally attract the offerings of faithful donors without accepting them? Bodhisattvas studying prajñā must not deceive themselves! It is like walking on thin ice, like treading on a sword's edge. At the time of approaching death, if the slightest trace of ordinary or holy sentiment is not exhausted, if the finest speck of conceptual thought is not forgotten, you will take birth in accordance with your thoughts into the lighter or heavier five skandhas, entrusting your form to a donkey's womb or a horse's belly. After being boiled and scalded once in the cauldrons of Niraya, all the retention, recollection, views, understanding, and wisdom you previously held will be completely lost in an instant. As before, you will again become an ant, and start over once more as a mosquito or gnat. Although you had good causes, you suffer evil fruits—what were you striving for?
"Brothers, simply because craving and desire have become second nature, the twenty-five states of existence remain bound beneath your heels, with no time of completion in sight. The Patriarch observed that sentient beings in this land possessed the capacity for the Mahāyāna; he transmitted solely the mind-seal to instruct deluded sentiments. For those who attain it, no distinction is made between ordinary or holy, foolish or wise. Moreover, much that is empty is not as good as a little that is real. If you are great men, rest right this moment! Instantly bring an end to all conditions, cross over the flow of birth and death, transcend ordinary conventions, and let the spiritual light shine alone, unencumbered by things! Lofty and magnificent, walk alone through the three realms! What need is there for a sixteen-foot body glowing with purple-golden radiance, a halo around the neck, or the mark of a broad and long tongue? 'If one sees me by form, one is practicing a deviant path.' If one is adorned with retinue and virtues, they will be attained naturally without seeking. The mountains, rivers, and the great earth will not obstruct the vision of the eye; one attains the great dhāraṇī, awakening to a thousand things upon hearing one, without coveting the value of a single meal.
"If all of you are not like this, the Patriarch's coming to this land has both immense harm and immense benefit. As for the benefit: out of hundreds of thousands of people, one or half a person is scooped out who is fit to become a vessel of the Dharma. As for the harm: it is just as explained before. If people had instead followed the teachings of the three vehicles in their cultivation, they might well have attained the four fruits and the three stages of worthiness, possessing a share of progressive practice. Therefore an ancient worthy said: 'When awakened, karmic obstacles are fundamentally empty; / when unawakened, one must still repay past debts.'" (Record of the Transmission of the Lamp)