[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [緇門警訓](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023) › 7.38 # 緇門警訓 7.38 緇門警訓 7.38 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [7.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023.7.38) 承下問禪門事。仰見虛懷樂善之意。顧淺陋何足以辱此。然敢不以管見陳白。所謂話頭合看與否。以某觀之初無定說。若能一念無生全體是佛。何處別有話頭。只緣多生習氣背覺合塵。剎那之間念念起滅。如猴猻拾栗相似。佛祖不得已權設方便。令咬嚼一箇無滋味話頭。意識有所不行將蜜果換苦葫蘆。淘汝業識都無實義。亦如國家兵器不得已而用之。今時學者却於話頭上強生穿鑿。或至逐箇解說。以當事業。遠之遠矣。稜道者二十年坐破七箇蒲團。只管看驢事未去馬事到來。因捲簾大悟。所謂八萬四千關捩子。只消一箇鎖匙開。豈在多言也。來教未誦佛之言。存佛之心。行佛之行。久久須有得處。如此行履。固不失為一世之賢者。然禪門一著又須見徹自己本地風光。方為究竟。此事雖人人本有。但為客塵妄想所覆。若不痛如煆煉。終不明淨。圓覺經云。譬如銷金鑛金非銷固有雖復本來金。終以銷成就。蓋謂此也。來教又謂道若不在言語文字上。諸佛諸祖何謂留許多經論在世。經是佛言。禪是佛心。初無違背。但世人尋言逐句。沒溺教網不知有自己一段光明大事。故達磨西來不立文字。直指人心見性成佛謂之教外別傳。非是教外別是一箇道理。只要明了此心不著教相。今若只誦佛語而不會歸自己。如人數他珍寶自無半錢分。又如破布裹珍珠。出門還漏却。縱使於中得少滋味。猶是法愛之見。本分上事。所謂金屑雖貴落眼成翳。直須打併一切淨盡。方有少分相應也。某向來雖不閱大藏經。然華嚴楞嚴圓覺維摩等經。誦之亦稍熟矣。其他如傳燈諸老語錄。壽禪師宗鏡錄。皆玩味數十年間。方在屋裏著到。却無暇看經論也。楞伽雖是達磨心宗亦以句讀難通。不曾深究。要知吾人皆是誠心。非彼世俗自瞞以資談柄而已。姑以日用驗之。雖無濁惡粗過。然於一切善惡逆順境界上。果能照破不為他所移換否。夜睡中夢覺一如否。恐怖顛倒否。疾病而能作得主否。若目前猶有境在。則夢昧未免顛倒。夢昧既顛倒。疾病必不能作得主宰。疾病既作主宰不得。則生死岸頭必不自在。所謂如人飲水冷暖自知。待制舍人於功名鼎盛之時。清修寡欲。留神此道可謂火中蓮華矣。古人有言。此大丈夫事非將相之所能為也。又云。直欲高高峯頂立。深深海底行。更欲深窮遠到。直到不疑之地。來教謂無下手處。只此無下手處。正是得力處。如前書所言。靜處鬧處皆著一隻眼看。是甚麼道理。久久純熟自無靜閙之異。其或雜亂紛飛起滅不停。却舉一則公案與之廁捱。則起滅之心自然頓息照與照者同時寂滅。即是到家也。某亦學焉而未至也。姑盡吐露如此。不必他示。恐有儒釋不侔者必大怪之。待制舍人他日心眼開明。亦必大笑而罵之。 > I have received your inquiry concerning the Chan tradition, and look up with admiration to your modesty and love of goodness. Looking at my shallowness and baseness, how could I be worthy of such an honour? Yet how dare I not express my humble views? As to whether the huatou should be investigated or not, in my view, there was originally no fixed doctrine. If one can attain non-arising in a single thought, one's entire body is Buddha; where else would there be a huatou? It is only because of the habitual tendencies of many lifetimes, turning one's back on awakening and uniting with dust, that in an instant thoughts arise and cease, just like a monkey picking up chestnuts. The Buddhas and patriarchs, having no alternative, provisionally set up expedient means, having one chew on a tasteless huatou so that conceptual consciousness cannot operate—exchanging a bitter gourd for a honey fruit, washing away your karmic consciousness, all without any real substance. It is also like the state's military weapons, used only when there is no choice. Students nowadays, however, force far-fetched interpretations onto the huatou, or even go so far as to explain them one by one, treating this as their work—how far off they are! Practitioner Leng sat through seven rush mats in twenty years, doing nothing but looking at 'before the donkey's affair is gone, the horse's affair arrives'. Upon rolling up a blind he had a great awakening. The so-called eighty-four thousand pivot mechanisms require only a single key to unlock. How could it consist in many words? Your letter says: 'Without reciting the Buddha's words, keeping the Buddha's mind, and carrying out the Buddha's conduct, after a long time one must find a place of attainment.' To conduct oneself like this certainly does not fail to make one a worthy person of an age; yet the matter of the Chan tradition requires that one clearly see through to one's own original ground, only then is it ultimate. Although this matter is originally possessed by everyone, it is merely covered by adventitious dust and false thoughts. If one does not undergo severe smelting, it will never become bright and pure. The Sutra of Complete Enlightenment says: 'Just like smelting gold ore: the gold does not exist because of smelting, yet although it is originally gold, it is ultimately brought to completion by smelting.' This is precisely what it means! Your letter also says: 'If the Dao is not in words and letters, why did the Buddhas and patriarchs leave so many sutras and treatises in the world?' The sutras are the Buddha's words, and Chan is the Buddha's mind; originally they do not contradict each other. But worldly people pursue words and follow phrases, sinking and drowning in the doctrinal net, not knowing that they themselves have a great matter of illumination. Therefore Bodhidharma came from the West without establishing words, directly pointing to the human mind to see one's nature and attain Buddhahood, which is called a separate transmission outside the teachings. It is not that outside the teachings there is a separate principle; it is simply necessary to clearly understand this mind without clinging to doctrinal marks. If one now only recites the Buddha's words without returning them to oneself, it is like a person counting others' rare treasures without having half a coin himself; it is also like wrapping pearls in a torn rag: as soon as one walks out the door, they leak out and are lost. Even if one finds a little flavour therein, it is still the view of Dharma-attachment, not the matter of one's own fundamental portion. As it is said: 'Although gold dust is precious, falling into the eye it causes a film.' One must sweep away everything until all is completely clear, only then will there be a slight degree of accord. Although I have not read the entire Great Canon, I have recited sutras such as the Avataṃsaka, Śūraṅgama, Complete Enlightenment, and Vimalakīrti quite familiarly. Others, such as the records of the elders in the Transmission of the Lamp and Master Yanshou's Zongjing lu, I have savoured for several decades before finding a footing at home; then I had no leisure to read sutras and treatises. Although the Laṅkāvatāra is the mind doctrine of Bodhidharma, because its syntax is difficult to parse, I have not investigated it deeply. One must know that we are all sincere in mind, not like those worldly people who deceive themselves merely to provide material for conversation. For now, test it in daily use: although there are no turbid, evil, coarse faults, in all realms of good, bad, adverse, and favorable, can you really shine through without being swayed by them? In nighttime sleep, are dream and waking identical? Are there terrors and inversions? In sickness, can you be the master? If there are still objects before your eyes, then in dream and slumber you will inevitably be inverted. Once dream and slumber are inverted, in sickness you will definitely be unable to be the master. If you cannot be the master in sickness, then at the brink of birth and death you will certainly not be at ease. As it is said: 'Like a person drinking water, naturally knowing whether it is cold or warm.' For an imperial drafter during the height of your career and fame to cultivate purity, lessen desires, and turn your mind to this Dao, you can be called a lotus in the fire. The ancients said: 'This is the business of a great man; it is not something that generals and ministers can do.' They also said: 'One must stand atop the highest peak and walk on the deepest ocean bed.' One must further probe deeply and reach far, straight to the place of no doubt. Your letter says that there is nowhere to lay a hand; this very place where there is nowhere to lay a hand is precisely the place to gain strength. As said in my previous letter, in both quiet places and noisy places, keep an eye watching: what is this principle? When one is practiced and matured for a long time, naturally there will be no difference between quiet and noisy. If random thoughts fly about, arising and ceasing without stop, then bring up a gong'an to push against them; then the mind of arising and ceasing will naturally cease at once, and illumination and the illuminator will simultaneously be silenced—this is arriving home. I too have studied this and have not yet reached it; for now I pour it all out like this. Do not show it to others, for I fear those who hold Confucianism and Buddhism to be incompatible will surely find it greatly strange; and you, imperial drafter, when your mind's eye is opened and bright in the future, will also surely laugh heartily and scold me. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 7.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023.7.37) - [Next: 7.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023.7.39) - [Up: 7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023.7) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023~en-mt.7.38) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023.7.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2023.7.38) · Pramāṇa