緇門警訓 9.8

9.8

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.