緇門警訓 9.44

9.44

師云。老僧不為名利來此。須要得箇人。不可青山白雲中趁爾是非。將來之世捨一報身後。草也無喫。多少金毛師子問著便作驢鳴馬喊。諸人者似老僧行脚時。到於諸方多是一千。少是七百五百眾。或在其中經冬過夏。未省時中空過。向溈山會裏做飯七年。於洞山會中做柴頭三年。重處即便先去。只是了得自己時中。干他人什麼事。如諸佛菩薩盡是勤苦。不計劫數。捨金輪王寶位。及頭目髓腦所愛之物。國城妻子不可算數。所以始得名為佛。似諸闍黎還曾捨得箇什麼。作得箇什麼勤苦。便道我會出世間法。世間法尚不會。些些子境界現前。便自張眉努目。消容不得說什麼解脫法。長連床上坐不搖十指。喫他信施了。合眼合口。便道我修行修道感果。如是合消得。只是謾自己。如百丈和尚置於堂宇。只要辦事底人。諸闍梨還辦得箇什麼事。其中有不動身手。日消得萬兩黃金。若是消得者。豈可如此見解。不可從母腹中來如是邪。但會得世間法。是則名為出世間法。世間法尚乃不會。豈況佛法。只如一大藏教。盡是金口所宣如來祕密。汝口裏念將來總成魔語。豈得了為什麼不了。若了時達磨不從西來也。只如達磨未來此土時。還有佛法也無。又爭得道無。譬如人有一寶墜在淤泥中。勤苦累劫尋求不得。或有一人善知寶所。直從泥中指出此寶。以示失寶之人。失寶之人一見便識是我本物。了無得失。達磨西來亦復如是。不可只是老僧是善知識邪。遍地眾生總是善知識。只是見覺未明。不可道伊無也。若言有時諸人肯禮蠢蠢之徒作佛麼。譬如明珠墮在泥中。未遇其人豈有出期。有此眾生比如無情。還同頑物。既在三衣之下。直須親近知識。早是幾生修來始得。如此不可却入輪迴六趣去也。若是得自在底人論箇什麼。鑊湯爐炭刀山劍樹。四生六道於中如喫美食。若未得如是便。實受此報。一失人身。再求欲似如今者。萬中無一。莫未得謂得。未證謂證。未聞謂聞。自謾自誑。失却光陰虛延日月。展轉只是無明檐重。乍可為俗隨所任運。遣過時日。却乃無業。如今作沙門每日有業。有什麼業。踏底是國王地。著底是檀信衣。喫底是檀信食。骨肉是父母之體。若也不了將何酬答。所以言有業只如老僧不可是了底人。捨此一報身隨業而行。誰言定得。除佛與佛乃能知之。時有僧問不假言句。如何得知。師云。假言句尚乃不知。僧無語。禮拜。

The Master said: 'This old monk did not come here for fame or gain; I must find a true person. I cannot indulge your rights and wrongs amidst the green mountains and white clouds. In a future life, after casting off this retribution body, you will not even have grass to eat! How many golden-haired lions, upon being asked, bray like donkeys and roar like horses? Everyone! When this old monk was on itinerant pilgrimage, arriving in various regions, the assembly was usually a thousand, or at least seven or five hundred. Living among them through winter and summer, I never realized I had spent the time in vain. I cooked rice in Guishan's assembly for seven years, and served as chief of firewood in Dongshan's assembly for three years. Wherever the heavy labor was, I went first. It was solely to resolve my own time; what did it have to do with others? Like all buddhas and bodhisattvas, they all endured toil and hardship, taking no account of kalpas, relinquishing the precious throne of a cakravartin king, as well as head, eyes, marrow, brain, and all beloved things, along with innumerable realms, cities, wives, and children. Only thus did they first gain the name of Buddha. What have you ācāryas ever relinquished? What toil and hardship have you ever accomplished? Yet you immediately say: "I understand the supramundane Dharma!" You do not even understand mundane phenomena; the slightest condition appears before you, and you immediately raise your eyebrows and glare, unable to stomach it—what liberation teachings are you talking about? Sitting upon the long benches without moving your ten fingers, you consume the donations of faithful donors, close your eyes and mouth, and immediately say: "I practice the discipline and cultivate the Way, evoking fruits; thus I deserve to consume this." You are merely deceiving yourselves! When Upādhyāya Baizhang established halls and dwellings, he only wanted people who could manage affairs. What affairs have you ācāryas managed? Among them, there are those who without moving body or hands consume ten thousand taels of gold a day. If one is truly able to consume it, how could one hold such views? Could you have emerged from your mother's womb like this? Only when you understand mundane phenomena is it called supramundane Dharma. If you do not even understand mundane phenomena, how much less the Buddhadharma! Take the entire great canon of teachings: it is all the secret of the Tathāgata proclaimed by the golden mouth; yet when recited from your mouths, it all turns into the words of demons. How could this be understanding? Why is it not understood? If it were understood, Bodhidharma would not have come from the West. But before Bodhidharma had come to this land, was there Buddhadharma or not? Yet how could you say there was none? For example, a person has a jewel that falls into the mud; through arduous kalpas of searching, he cannot find it. Then someone who well knows where the jewel lies points straight to the jewel in the mud to show the person who lost it. As soon as the person who lost the jewel sees it, he recognizes: "This is my original possession!" There is completely no gain or loss. Bodhidharma's coming from the West was also just like this. Could it be that only this old monk is a kalyāṇamitra? All sentient beings throughout the earth are kalyāṇamitras; it is only that their perception and awareness are not yet clear. You must not say they have none. If you say they have it, would you be willing to bow to the crawling creatures as Buddhas? For example, a bright pearl falls into the mud; without encountering that person, how could there be a time of emergence? Having such sentient beings, they are comparable to insentient things, just like inert objects. Now that you are beneath the three robes, you must intimately approach kalyāṇamitras. It already took cultivation over several lifetimes to attain this; being so, you must not fall back into the six destinies of saṃsāra! If one is a person who has attained mastery, what is there to discuss? Boiling cauldrons, fiery coals, mountains of knives, and forests of swords—in the midst of the four forms of birth and six destinies, it is like eating delicious food. But if you have not attained such facility, you will genuinely receive this retribution. Once the human body is lost, to seek to be like you are today is not one in ten thousand! Do not claim to have attained what you have not attained, claim to have realized what you have not realized, or claim to have heard what you have not heard, deceiving and fooling yourselves, losing time and dragging out the days in vain. In turn, this only weighs down your burden of ignorance. You might as well be a layperson, following conditions as you may to pass the time; then you would have no such karmic debt. Now, being śramaṇas, every day there is karmic debt. What karmic debt is there? What you tread upon is the king's land; what you wear is the faithful donors' clothing; what you eat is the faithful donors' food; and your flesh and bones are the bodies of your parents. If you do not understand, how will you repay them? Therefore I say there is karmic debt. Even with this old monk, it cannot be said I am one who has fully understood; casting off this retribution body, I will go according to karma—who can say for certain? Only a Buddha and a Buddha can know it.'
At the time, a monk asked: 'Without relying on words and phrases, how does one know?'
The Master said: 'Relying on words and phrases, you still do not know.'
The monk had no words and made prostrations.