緇門警訓 9.8

9.8

自別以來經今數載。遙心眷想時復成勞。忽奉來書適然無慮。不委信後道體如何。法味資神故應清樂也。粗得延時欽詠德音。非言可述。承懷節操獨處幽棲。泯跡人間潛形山谷。親朋絕往鳥獸時遊。竟夜綿綿終朝寂寂。視聽都息心累閴然。獨宿孤峯端居樹下。息繁飡道誠合如之。然而正道寂寥。雖有修而難會。邪徒喧擾。乃無習而易親。若非解契玄宗行符真趣者。則未可幽居抱拙。自謂一生歟。應當博問先知。伏膺誠懇執掌屈膝。整意端容曉夜忘疲。始終虔仰折挫身口。蠲矜怠慢不顧形骸。專精至道者。可謂澄神方寸歟。夫欲採妙探玄。實非容易。決擇之次如履輕氷。必須側耳目而奉玄音。肅情塵而賞幽致。忘言宴旨濯累飡微。夕惕朝詢不濫絲髮。如是則乃可潛形山谷。寂累絕群哉。其或心徑未通。矚物成壅。而欲避喧求靜者。盡世未有其方。況乎欝欝長林峨峨聳峭。鳥獸嗚咽松竹森稍。水石崢嶸風枝蕭索。藤蘿縈絆雲霧氤氳。節物衰榮晨昏眩晃。斯之種類豈非喧雜耶。故知見惑尚紆。觸途成滯耳。是以先須識道後乃居山。若未識道而先居山者。但見其山必忘其道。若未居山而先識道者。但見其道必忘其山。忘山則道性怡神。忘道則山形眩目。是以見道忘山者。人間亦寂也。見山忘道者。山中乃喧也。必能了陰無我。無我誰住人間。若知陰入如空。空聚何殊山谷。如其三毒未祛六塵尚擾身心自相矛盾。何關人山之喧寂耶。且夫道性冲虛萬物本非其累。真慈平等聲色何非道乎。特因見倒惑生。遂成輪轉耳。若能了境非有觸目無非道場。知了本無所以不緣而照。圓融法界解惑何殊。以含靈而辨悲。即想念而明智。智生則法應圓照。離境何以觀悲。悲智理合通收。乖生何以能度。度盡生而悲大。照窮境以智圓。智圓則喧寂同觀。悲大則怨親普救。如是則何假長居山谷。隨處任緣哉。況乎法法虛融心心寂滅。本自非有誰強言無。何喧擾之可喧。何寂靜之可寂。若知物我冥一。彼此無非道場。復何徇喧雜於人間。散寂寞於山谷。是以釋動求靜者。憎枷愛杻也。離怨求親者。厭檻欣籠也。若能慕寂於喧。市廛無非宴坐。徵違納順怨債由來善友矣。如是則劫奪毀辱何曾非我本師。叫喚喧煩無非寂滅。故知妙道無形。萬像不乖其致。真如寂滅。眾響靡異其源。迷之則見倒惑生。悟之則違順無地。閴寂非有。緣會而能生。峨嶷非無。緣散而能滅。滅既非滅以何滅滅。生既非生以何生生。生滅既虛實相常住矣。是以定水滔滔。何念塵而不洗。智燈了了。何惑霧而不祛。乖之則六趣循環。會之則三途逈出。如是則何不乘慧舟而遊法海。而欲駕折軸於山谷者哉。故知物類紜紜其性自一。靈源寂寂不照而知。實相天真靈智非造。人迷謂之失。人悟謂之得。得失在於人。何關動靜者乎。譬夫未解乘舟而欲怨其水曲者哉。若能妙識玄宗虛心冥契。動靜常矩語默恒規。寂爾有歸恬然無間。如是則乃可逍遙山谷。放曠郊廛。遊逸形儀寂泊心腑。恬淡息於內。蕭散揚於外。其身兮若拘。其心兮若泰。現形容於寰宇。潛幽靈於法界。如是則應機有感。適然無準矣。因信略此餘更何由。若非志朋安敢輕觸。宴寂之暇時暫思量。予必誑言無當。看竟迴充紙燼耳。不宣。同友玄覺和南。

Since we parted, several years have already passed. Longing for you from afar at times has brought fatigue. Suddenly receiving your letter, I immediately felt free of care. I do not know how your health and practice have been since this letter. The taste of the Dharma sustains the spirit, so you must surely enjoy pure serenity. I have managed to pass the days, singing praises of your virtuous tone, which is beyond what words can convey. I have learned that you maintain your integrity, living alone in secluded retreat, wiping away your tracks from the human world and concealing your form in mountain ravines. Relatives and friends have ceased visiting, while birds and beasts roam now and then. Throughout the long night it is continuous, and all through the morning, serene and quiet. Seeing and hearing are entirely stilled; worldly entanglements of the mind are completely quieted. Lodging alone on an isolated peak, uprightly dwelling beneath the trees—ceasing worldly clutter and feeding on the Way is indeed right to be like this! Yet the true Way is quiet and subtle: though cultivated, it is difficult to encounter. Heterodox followers are clamorous and bustling: without training, they are easily drawn close. Unless one's understanding tallies with the mysterious principle and one's conduct accords with the true inclination, one cannot simply dwell in seclusion embracing one's simplicity and claim to be accomplished for a lifetime. One ought to broadly question former teachers, bow with sincere heart, join palms, bend the knees, compose the mind and straighten one's countenance, forgetting fatigue dawn and night, venerating them from beginning to end, curbing body and speech, ridding oneself of pride and indolence without regard for bodily form, exclusively devoted to the utmost Way. Such can be called purifying the spirit within! Desiring to pluck the sublime and probe the mysterious is truly no easy task; the process of discerning and choosing is like treading on thin ice. One must incline one's ears and eyes to receive the mysterious tone, calm emotional defilements to appreciate the secluded beauty, forget words to feast on the essential purport, wash away burdens to ingest the subtle, vigilant at evening and inquiring at dawn, without the slightest deviation of a hair. Only in this way can one conceal one's form in mountain valleys, quiet all entanglements, and cut off the crowd! If one's mental path is not yet cleared, seeing things creates blockages, and if one desires to flee noise and seek quiet, in the entire world there is no method for it. How much more so amid dense, vast forests and towering, craggy peaks, where birds and beasts cry mournfully, pines and bamboos stand thick and rustling, streams and stones are rugged, wind-blown branches are desolate, creepers entangle, clouds and mists billow, seasonal things flourish and wither, and mornings and evenings dazzle and confuse—are not things of this sort clamorous and chaotic? Hence we know that if cognitive delusions are still entwined, obstructions are encountered on every path. Therefore, one must first recognize the Way, and only afterward dwell in the mountains. If one does not yet recognize the Way and dwells in the mountains first, seeing only the mountains, one will surely forget the Way. If one has not yet dwelt in the mountains but first recognizes the Way, seeing only the Way, one will surely forget the mountains. Forgetting the mountains, the nature of the Way gladdens the spirit; forgetting the Way, the mountain forms dazzle the eyes. Therefore, for one who sees the Way and forgets the mountains, the human world is also tranquil. For one who sees the mountains and forgets the Way, within the mountains it is indeed noisy! If one can thoroughly realize that the aggregates are selfless, with no self, who dwells in the human world? If one knows that the aggregates and sense-fields are like emptiness, how does an empty gathering differ from a mountain valley? If the three poisons have not yet been eliminated and the six sense-dusts still disturb, while body and mind contradict each other, what does that have to do with the noise or quiet of people or mountains? Moreover, the nature of the Way is vacuous and clear; ten thousand things are originally not its burden. True compassion is universally equal; how could sounds and sights not be the Way? It is merely because of inverted views that delusion arises, thereby causing the cycle of transmigration. If one can realize that objects do not exist, whatever meets the eye is nowhere not the place of practice. Knowing that realization is originally non-existent, it illuminates without relying on conditions. In the perfect interpenetration of the dharmadhātu, what difference is there between understanding and delusion? Through sentient beings, compassion is distinguished; through thoughts and concepts, wisdom is clarified. When wisdom arises, phenomena should be perfectly illuminated; apart from objects, how could one contemplate compassion? Compassion and wisdom by principle should be comprehensively embraced; departing from sentient beings, how could one deliver them? Delivering all beings, compassion is great; illuminating to the limits of objects, wisdom is perfect. When wisdom is perfect, noise and quiet are viewed as identical; when compassion is great, enemies and kin are universally saved. If so, why must one permanently dwell in mountain ravines, instead of according with conditions wherever one may be? Furthermore, phenomenon after phenomenon is empty and interfused; mind after mind is quiescent. Originally not existing, who could forcibly call it non-existent? What noise could be noisy? What quietude could be quiet? If one knows that objects and self are darkly united as one, and self and other are nowhere not the place of practice, why pursue noise in the human world, or dissipate solitude in mountain valleys? Therefore, those who abandon movement to seek stillness hate the cangue but love the fetters; those who leave enemies to seek loved ones loathe the pen but delight in the cage. If one can yearn for solitude amid bustle, the marketplace is nowhere not seated meditation. Testing adversity and welcoming compliance, debts of enmity have always been good friends. If so, how have robbery, insult, and disgrace ever not been our original teacher? Shouting and clamorous distress are nothing other than quiescence. Hence we know the subtle Way has no form, and the myriad phenomena do not conflict with its principle. True Suchness is quiescent, and the various sounds do not differ from its source. If one is deluded by it, inverted views and delusion arise; if one is awakened to it, adversity and compliance have no ground. Quiescence does not exist, yet gathering conditions can generate it; towering crags are not non-existent, yet dispersing conditions can extinguish them. Since cessation is not cessation, by what cessation could it cease? Since arising is not arising, by what arising could it arise? Since arising and cessation are empty, the true mark is constantly abiding. Therefore, the water of samādhi surges: what dust of thought does it not wash away? The lamp of wisdom is bright and clear: what mist of delusion does it not dispel? Opposing it, one cycles through the six destinies; uniting with it, one far transcends the three wretched paths. If so, why not board the ship of wisdom to roam the ocean of Dharma, instead of wishing to drive with a broken axle into mountain ravines? Hence we know that the various classes of things are multitudinous, but their nature is of itself one. The luminous source is tranquil and quiet, knowing without deliberate shining. The true mark is inherently authentic; luminous wisdom is not fabricated. When humans are deluded, they call it loss; when humans are awakened, they call it gain. Gain and loss lie with humans; what does it have to do with movement or stillness? This is like one who does not know how to steer a boat wishing to blame the bends of the river! If one can subtly recognize the mysterious principle, empty the mind, and merge with it, movement and stillness are always standard, speech and silence are constant rules. Quiescent, one has a refuge; serene, there is no separation. Only in this way can one wander leisurely in mountain ravines, roam freely through suburbs and marketplaces, sporting with an easy demeanor while keeping heart and organs in tranquil stillness. Calmness rests within; free detachment shines without. The body is as if restrained, yet the mind is at ease. Manifesting physical appearance across the universe, concealing the subtle spirit in the dharmadhātu. In this way, responding to capacities, resonance occurs, naturally without a fixed rule. Entrusting to this letter, I briefly state this; what other opportunity is there? Were you not an aspiring friend, how would I dare speak lightly? In the leisure of seated quiescence, contemplate this for a while. If my words are indeed false and inappropriate, after reading, turn them into paper ashes! I say no more. Your fellow companion Xuanjue pays homage.