禪關策進 1.41

1.41

此事只要當人的有切心。纔有切心。真疑便起。疑來疑去。不疑自疑。從朝至暮。粘頭綴尾。打成一片。撼亦不動。趁亦不去。昭昭靈靈。常現在前。此便是得力時也。更須確其正念慎無二心。至於行不知行。坐不知坐。寒熱饑渴。悉皆不知。此境界現前。即是到家消息。也巴得搆。也撮得著只待時刻而已。却不得見恁麼說。起一念精進心求之。又不得將心待之。又不得縱之棄之。但自堅凝正念。以悟為則。當此之時。有八萬四千魔軍。在汝六根門頭伺候。一切奇異善惡等事。隨汝心現。汝若瞥起毫釐著心。便墮他圈繢。被他作主。受他指揮。口說魔話。身行魔事。般若正因。從茲永絕。菩提種子。不復生芽。但莫起心。如箇守屍鬼子。守來守去。疑團子歘然爆地一聲。管取驚天動地○某甲十五出家。二十更衣。入淨慈。立三年死限學禪。初參斷橋和尚。令參生從何來死從何去。意分兩路。心不歸一。後見雪巖和尚。教看無字。又令每日上來一轉。如人行路。日日要見工程。因見說得有序。後竟不問做處。一入門。便問。誰與爾拕這死屍來。聲未絕。便打出。次後徑山歸堂。夢中忽憶。萬法歸一。一歸何處。自此疑情頓發。直得東西不辨。南北不分。第六日隨眾閣上諷經。擡頭忽覩五祖演和尚真贊。末兩句云。百年三萬六千朝。返覆元來是這漢。日前拕死屍句子。驀然打破。直得魂飛膽喪。絕後再甦。何啻放下百二十斤擔子。其時正二十四歲。滿三年限。次後被問日間浩浩作得主麼。答曰作得。又問。睡夢中作得主麼。答云作得。又問。正睡著無夢時。主在何處。於此無言可對。無理可伸。和尚囑云。從今不要爾學佛學法窮古窮今。只饑來吃飯。困來打眠。纔眠覺來。抖擻精神。我這一覺。主人公畢竟在甚麼處。安身立命。自誓𢬵一生。做箇癡獃漢。定要見這一著子明白。經及五年。一日睡覺正疑此事。忽同宿道友。推枕子落地作聲。驀然打破疑團。如在網羅中跳出。所有佛祖誵訛公案。古今差別因緣。無不了了。自此安邦定國。天下太平一念無為。十方坐斷。

“This matter only requires that the person truly have an earnest mind. As soon as an earnest mind is present, genuine doubt arises. Doubting back and forth, without trying to doubt one spontaneously doubts. From morning to night, linked head-to-tail, it is fused into one whole: shaken, it does not move; driven away, it does not leave. Bright and aware, it is constantly present before you. This is precisely when strength is gained. One must further solidify one's correct mindfulness and take care to have no double-mindedness, even to the point that when walking one does not know one walks, when sitting one does not know one sits, and one is completely unaware of cold, heat, hunger, and thirst. When this realm appears before you, it is precisely the news of having arrived home. You can reach it, you can grasp it; it only awaits the moment. Yet, hearing it described like this, you must not give rise to a single thought of energetic striving to seek it, nor may you anticipate it with your mind, nor may you let it go or discard it. Simply solidify your correct mindfulness on your own, taking awakening as the standard. At this time, eighty-four thousand mara armies wait at the gates of your six sense faculties. All extraordinary things, good and bad alike, will manifest according to your mind. If you give rise to the slightest grasping thought for an instant, you will fall into their snare, be ruled by them, and be commanded by them, speaking demonic words with your mouth and committing demonic acts with your body. From then on, the correct cause of prajñā will be severed forever, and the seed of bodhi will never sprout again. Only do not raise thoughts; be like a ghost guarding a corpse. Guarding back and forth, the ball of doubt will suddenly burst with a loud bang, and it is guaranteed to shake heaven and earth.

“At fifteen, I left home. At twenty, I changed my robes and entered Jingci [Monastery], setting a three-year deadline of life and death to study Chan. At first I investigated under Master Duanqiao, who had me investigate: ‘Where does birth come from, and where does death go?’ My mind split into two paths and was not unified. Later I met Master Xueyan, who instructed me to inspect the character Wu, and also had me go up [for interview] once every day, like a person walking a road who needs to see the daily progress. Because he saw that I spoke in an orderly manner, he eventually stopped asking where my practice stood. As soon as I entered the room, he would ask: ‘Who dragged this corpse here for you?’ Before his voice had ended, he would strike me and drive me out.

“Afterward, I returned to the communal hall at Jingshan. In a dream, I suddenly remembered: ‘All phenomena return to the one; where does the one return?’ From this, the feeling of doubt suddenly burst forth, to the point that I could not distinguish east from west, nor tell north from south. On the sixth day, following the community to chant scriptures in the pavilion, I looked up and suddenly saw the portrait-eulogy for Master Wuzu Fayan, whose final two lines read: ‘In thirty-six thousand mornings of a hundred years, back and forth, it turns out to be this fellow all along.’ The previous phrase about dragging the corpse was suddenly shattered! It was so profound that my soul flew and my gallbladder failed; after dying out, I revived again. How could it be merely setting down a burden of one hundred and twenty catties? At that time I was precisely twenty-four years old, completing the three-year limit.

“Afterward, I was asked: ‘In the bustling rush of the daytime, can you be the master?’ I answered: ‘I can.’ He asked again: ‘In dreams during sleep, can you be the master?’ I said: ‘I can.’ He asked again: ‘When sound asleep without dreams, where is the master?’ At this, there were no words I could offer in reply, no principle I could present. The Master exhorted me: ‘From now on, I do not want you to study the Buddha or study the Dharma, or fathom antiquity and fathom the present. Only eat when hungry and sleep when weary. The moment you awaken from sleep, shake yourself alert: in this sleep of mine, where on earth does the master settle his body and establish his life?’ I made a vow to sacrifice my life, playing the fool, determined to see this matter clearly. After five years had passed, one day while waking from sleep and doubting this matter, a fellow companion sharing my lodgings suddenly pushed a pillow, which struck the ground with a sound. Suddenly, the ball of doubt was shattered, like leaping out of a snare. All the perplexing gongan of the buddhas and patriarchs, and the differentiated conditions past and present, became thoroughly clear. From then on, the state was at peace, all under heaven was tranquil, one thought was non-action, and the ten directions were sat through.”