曆代法寶記 1.13.9

1.13.9

其女聞說。 合掌䠒跪。 啟和上。 弟子女人。 三障五難。 不自在身。 今故投和上。 擬截生死源。 伏願和上指示法要。 和上語云。 若能如此。 即是大丈夫兒。 云何是女。 和上為說法要。 無念即無男。 無念即無女。 無念即無障。 無念即無礙。 無念即無生。 無念即無死。 無正念之時。 無念不自。 即是截生死源。 女人聞說。 目不瞬。 立不移處。 食頃間。 和上知此女人有決定心。 與法號名常精進。 母號正遍知。 落髮修行。 尼師中為道首。 後引表妹。 是蘇宰相女。 聰明黠惠。 博學多知。 問無不答。 來禮拜和上。 和上見有剛骨志操。 即為說法。 是法非因非緣。 非無不非無。 是非離一切相。 即一切法。 法過眼耳鼻舌身心。 法離一切觀行。 無念即無行。 無念即無觀。 無念即無身。 無念即無心。 無念即無貴。 無念即無賤。 無念即先高。 無念即無下。 正無念之時。 無念不自。 女人聞說。 合掌白和上。 弟子女人罪障深重。 今聞法已。 垢障消除。 語已悲泣雨淚。 便請法號了見性。 得號已。 自落髮披衣。 尼師中為道首。 誰人報佛恩。 依法修行者。 誰人銷供養。 世事不牽者。 誰人堪供養。 於法無所取。 若能如此行。 自有天厨供養。 和上向諸弟子說。 攝己從他。 萬事皆和。 攝他從己。 萬事競起。 又說偈。 一念毛輪觀自在。 勿共同學諍道理。 見境即是丈夫兒。 不明同即畜生類。 但修自己行。 莫見他邪正。 口意不量他。 三業自然淨。 欲見心佛國。 普敬真如性。 善男子於悕惜心盡。 即道眼心開明如日。 若有毛輪許惜心者。 其道眼即被翳障。 此是黑暗之大坑。 無可了了實知難出。 又說偈。 我今意況漸好。 行住坐臥俱了。 看時無物可看。 畢竟無言可道。 但得此中意況。 高𧘍木枕到曉。 和上所引諸經了義直旨心地法門。 並破言說。 和上所說說不可說。 今願同學但依義修行。 莫著言說。 若著言說。 即自失修行分。 金剛經云。 若取法相。 即著我人眾生。 若取非法相。 即著我人眾生。 是故不應取法。 不應取非法。 以是義故。 如來常說。 汝等比丘知我說法如筏喻者。 法尚應捨。 何況非法。 華嚴經云。 譬如貧窮人。 日夜數他寶。 自無一錢分。 於法不修行。 多聞亦如是。 如聾人設音樂。 彼聞自不聞。 於法不修行。 多聞亦如是。 如盲設眾象。 彼見自不見。 於法不修行。 多聞亦如是。 如飢設飯食。 彼飽自腹餓。 於法不修行。 多聞亦如是。 譬如海船師。 能渡於彼岸。 彼去自不去。 於法不修行。 多聞亦如是。 法句經云。 說食之人。 終不能飽。 佛頂經云。 阿難縱強記。 不免落邪見。 思覺出思惟。 身心不能及。 曆劫多聞。 不如一日修無漏法。 方廣經云。 一念亂禪定。 如殺三千界。 滿中一切人。 一念在禪定。 如活三千界。 滿中一切人。 維摩經云。 心不住內。 亦不在外。 是為宴坐。 若能如此者。 佛即印可。 無以生滅心說實相法。 法過眼耳鼻舌身心。 法離一切觀行。 法相如是。 豈可說乎。 是故文殊師利菩薩讚維摩詰。 無有言說。 是真入不二法門。 和上說無念法。 法本不自。 又云。 知見立知即無明本。 智見無見思即涅槃無漏真淨。 又破知病。 知行亦寂滅。 是即菩提道。 又破智病。 智求於智不得。 知亦無得。 已無所得。 即菩提薩埵。 又云。 圓滿菩提歸無所得。 無有少法可得。 是名阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。 又破病本。 云何為本。 一切眾生本來清淨。 本來圓滿。 有本即有利。 故心有採集。 識家得便。 即輪迴生死。 本離離他。 即無依止。 己他俱利。 成佛菩提。 佛無根境相。

The woman, hearing this, joined her palms, knelt down, and said to the Reverend, “Your disciple is a woman, having the three obstructions and five hindrances, with a body not at ease. Now I have come to take refuge with the Reverend, intending to cut off the source of birth and death. I humbly pray that the Reverend will point out the essentials of the Dharma.”
The Reverend addressed her, saying, “If you can be like this, you are indeed a great person (mahāpuruṣa); how could you be [merely] a woman?”
The Reverend preached the essentials of the Dharma for her: “No-thought is no-man; no-thought is no-woman. No-thought is no-obstruction; no-thought is no-hindrance. No-thought is no-birth; no-thought is no-death. At the time of no-right-thought, no-thought is not itself [an entity]; this is precisely cutting off the source of birth and death.”
The woman, hearing this preached, did not blink her eyes and stood without moving from her spot for the duration of a meal. The Reverend knew that this woman had a resolute mind, and gave her the Dharma name Chang Jingjin (Constant Diligence); her mother's name was Zheng Bianzhi (Samyaksambuddha). They shaved their hair and cultivated the practice, becoming leaders among the nuns.
Later she brought her maternal cousin, the daughter of Chancellor Su. She was clever, quick-witted, erudite, and knowledgeable, never failing to answer any question. She came to pay homage to the Reverend. Seeing that she possessed an unbending character and moral discipline, the Reverend immediately preached the Dharma for her: “This Dharma is neither cause nor condition; it is neither non-existent nor not non-existent. It is right, wrong, and free from all characteristics—it is all phenomena. The Dharma transcends eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The Dharma is free from all contemplative practices. No-thought is no-practice; no-thought is no-contemplation. No-thought is no-body; no-thought is no-mind. No-thought is no-nobility; no-thought is no-lowness. No-thought has no former superiority; no-thought has no inferiority. At the precise time of no-thought, no-thought is not itself [an entity].”
The woman, hearing this preached, joined her palms and addressed the Reverend: “Your disciple is a woman whose karmic hindrances and transgressions are deep and heavy. Now having heard the Dharma, the defilements and hindrances are eliminated.” Having spoken, she wept with tears raining down, and then requested the Dharma name Liao Jianxing (Completely Seeing the Nature). Having received the name, she personally shaved her hair and donned the robes, becoming a leader among the nuns.
Who can repay the Buddha's kindness? Those who cultivate according to the Dharma.
Who can digest offerings? Those who are not dragged along by worldly affairs.
Who is worthy of offerings? Those who have nothing to grasp in the Dharma.
If one can practice like this, heavenly kitchens will naturally provide offerings.
The Reverend told the disciples, “Yielding oneself to follow others, the myriad affairs are all in harmony. Forcing others to follow oneself, the myriad affairs contend and arise.”
He also spoke a gāthā:
“In a single thought, observe the hair-wheel with ease; / Do not debate principles with fellow students. / Seeing the objective sphere [as it is], one is a great person; / Failing to understand identity, one belongs with beasts. / Only cultivate your own practice; / Do not look at the wrongdoing or right of others. / Do not measure others with mouth and mind; / The three karmas will naturally become pure. / If you wish to see the Buddha-land of the mind, / Universally venerate the nature of suchness.”
“Good men, when the clinging and grasping mind is exhausted, the mind of the eye of the Way opens, bright as the sun. If there is a grasping mind even as small as a hair-wheel, the eye of the Way will be obscured and obstructed. This is the great abyss of darkness; without clear, true knowledge, it is difficult to escape.”
He also spoke a gāthā:
“My state of mind is now gradually well; / Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are all clear. / When looking, there is nothing to look at; / In the end, there are no words to say. / Merely attaining this state of mind, / With a high wooden pillow, sleep until dawn.”
The definitive meanings of the sutras cited by the Reverend directly point to the Dharma gate of the mind-ground, completely demolishing speech. What the Reverend spoke spoke the unspeakable. Now we pray that fellow students merely cultivate according to the meaning and do not cling to speech. If you cling to speech, you lose your own share of practice.
The Vajracchedikā Sūtra says, “If one grasps the characteristics of phenomena, one is attached to a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life. If one grasps the characteristics of non-phenomena, one is attached to a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life. Therefore, one should not grasp phenomena, nor grasp non-phenomena. For this reason, the Tathāgata always preaches: ‘You monks, knowing that the Dharma I preach is like a raft metaphor, should abandon even the Dharma, how much more non-Dharma!’”
The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says:
“Just like a poor person / Who counts another’s treasures day and night, / Without a single penny of his own: / For one who does not cultivate the Dharma, / Much learning is also like this. / Like a deaf person playing music, / Others hear it while he himself does not: / For one who does not cultivate the Dharma, / Much learning is also like this. / Like a blind person displaying many images, / Others see them while he himself does not: / For one who does not cultivate the Dharma, / Much learning is also like this. / Like a hungry person setting out food, / Others are sated while his own stomach is empty: / For one who does not cultivate the Dharma, / Much learning is also like this. / Just like a helmsman on the sea / Who is able to ferry others to the other shore, / While they depart and he himself does not: / For one who does not cultivate the Dharma, / Much learning is also like this.”
The Dharmapada says, “One who merely speaks of food will never be full.”
The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says, “Even though Ānanda had a powerful memory, he did not escape falling into wrong views. Conceptual thinking arises from discursive thought; body and mind cannot attain [the truth]. Much learning through kalpas is not as good as cultivating the undefiled Dharma for a single day.”
The Vaipulya Sūtra says, “Scattering meditative concentration for a single thought is like killing all the people filling three thousand worlds. Remaining in meditative concentration for a single thought is like bringing back to life all the people filling three thousand worlds.”
The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra says, “The mind abiding neither internally nor externally is quiet sitting. If one is able to be like this, the Buddha immediately seals and confirms it.” Do not speak of the Dharma of true reality with a mind of arising and ceasing. The Dharma transcends eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; the Dharma is free from all contemplative practices. The characteristics of the Dharma being such, how could it be spoken? Therefore Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva praised Vimalakīrti: “Having no speech is truly entering the Dharma gate of non-duality.”
The Reverend preached the Dharma of no-thought: “The Dharma is originally not itself [an entity].”
He also said, “Establishing knowing upon perception is the very root of fundamental ignorance; when wisdom sees without perception and thought, this is the undefiled true purity of nirvāṇa.”
He also smashed the sickness of knowing: “When knowing and practice are both stilled and extinguished, this is the path of bodhi.”
He also smashed the sickness of wisdom: “When wisdom seeks wisdom and cannot find it, and knowing also has nothing to obtain—having nothing to obtain is itself a bodhisattva.”
He also said, “Consummate bodhi returns to having nothing to obtain; there being not the slightest phenomenon to obtain is called anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.”
He also smashed the root of sickness: “What is the root? All sentient beings are originally pure and originally consummate. If there is a root, there is gain; hence the mind gathers and stores, and the house of consciousness finds an advantage, whereby one wanders in the cycle of birth and death. When the root is severed and detached from others, there is no reliance. Benefiting both oneself and others, one accomplishes the bodhi of the Buddha. The Buddha is devoid of sense faculties and objective spheres.”