禪關策進 1.9

1.9

“If you do not break through beforehand, when the thirtieth day of the twelfth month arrives, rest assured you will be in frantic confusion. There is a sort of non-Buddhist who, as soon as they see someone applying effort, sneers, ‘Still holding onto that thing!’ Let me ask you: when suddenly faced with the end of life, with what will you resist birth and death? You must make preparations when at leisure, so that it can be used when things are pressing—how much effort that saves! Do not wait to dig a well when you are thirsty, scrambling your hands and feet in vain. The road ahead is boundless and dim; you will blunder about blindly. How bitter! How bitter! In ordinary times you only learn lip-service samādhi, talking of Chan and speaking of the Way, scolding buddhas and reviling patriarchs; but when it comes to this point, none of it can be used. You only cared about deceiving others; how could you have known that today you would deceive yourself? I advise you brothers to obtain clarity while your bodily faculties are strong and healthy. These trigger-mechanisms are exceedingly easy; it is only that you are unwilling to form a dead-set resolve to apply effort, simply saying that the Way is difficult upon difficult. If you are a real man, inspect a gongan: A monk asked Zhaozhou, ‘Does a dog have buddha-nature or not?’ Zhaozhou said, ‘Wu.’ Simply inspect the character Wu throughout the twelve two-hour periods. Investigate it by day and investigate it by night, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, while putting on clothes and eating food, or while defecating and urinating. Keep thought attending to thought, fiercely summon your vigor, and hold fast to the character Wu. As days and years deepen, it will be fused into one whole. Suddenly, the mind-flower suddenly blooming, you will awaken to the dynamic functioning of the buddhas and patriarchs. Then you will not be deceived by the tongues of old monks throughout the world; you will be able to open your big mouth: Bodhidharma coming from the West was making waves where there was no wind; the Bhagavat holding up a flower was a complete fiasco. Arriving here, what Old Yama could be spoken of? Even a thousand sages could do nothing to you. If you do not believe that it is indeed so extraordinary: why is it like this? Any matter yields to a determined mind.”