禪關策進 1.20

1.20

諸上座。人身難得。佛法難聞。此身不向今生度。更向何生度此身。爾諸人要參禪麼。須是放下著。放下箇甚麼。放下箇四大五蘊。放下無量劫來許多業識。向自己脚跟下。推窮看。是甚麼道理。推來推去。忽然心華發明。照十方剎。可謂得之於心。應之於手。便能變大地作黃金。攪長河為酥酪。豈不暢快平生。莫只管冊子上念言念語。討禪討道。禪道不在冊子上。縱饒念得一大藏教諸子百家。也只是閒言語。臨死之時。總用不著。

“Venerable elders! A human body is difficult to obtain; the Buddha Dharma is difficult to hear. If this body is not delivered in this lifetime, in what lifetime will you deliver this body? Do you all wish to investigate Chan? You must lay it all down. Lay down what? Lay down the four great elements and the five skandhas; lay down the vast karmic consciousness from immeasurable kalpas. Beneath your own heels, investigate and see: what principle is this? Pushing back and forth, suddenly the mind-flower is clarified, illuminating the lands of the ten directions. It can be said that what is grasped in the mind corresponds to the hand; then you can turn the great earth into yellow gold and churn the long river into ghee. Would that not be the great joy of a lifetime? Do not merely recite words and phrases from books, seeking Chan and seeking the Way. Chan and the Way are not found in books. Even if you can recite the entire Great Canon of teachings and the philosophers of the hundred schools, they are merely idle words. When the time of death arrives, none of them can be used at all.”