景德傳燈錄 6.19

6.19

Chan Master Huaihai of Mount Baizhang in Hongzhou was a native of Changle in Fuzhou. As a youth he left the dust behind, thoroughly mastering the three trainings. When Daji was spreading the teachings in Nankang, he inclined his heart to him and took refuge there. Together with Chan Master Zhizang of Xitang, he was known as having entered the master's room. At that time, these two great beings stood out as peers. One evening, while the two masters were attending Mazu enjoying the moon, Mazu asked, "What about right at such a time?" Xitang said, "It is just right for making offerings." The master said, "It is just right for cultivating practice." Mazu said, "The sūtras enter the zang (treasury); Chan returns to the hai (ocean)." When Mazu went up to the hall, the great assembly gathered like clouds. Just as he sat for a good while, the master rolled up the mat for bowing before him; Mazu then got down from the hall. One day, the master went to Mazu's Dharma pagoda. Mazu took a fly-whisk from the corner of the meditation platform and held it up to show him. The master said, "Just this, or is there something else?" Mazu then put it back in its original place and said, "In the future, what will you use to help people?" The master then took the fly-whisk and held it up to show him. Mazu said, "Just this, or is there something else?" The master hung the fly-whisk back in its original place and had just stood in attendance when Mazu shouted at him. From this time, his thunderous voice was about to shake the world. Sure enough, requested by donor-believers, he resided at Mount Daxiong within the borders of Xinwu in Hongzhou. Because his dwelling was among steep and precipitous crags and peaks, it was called Baizhang (Hundred-Fathom). Before he had resided there a full month, guests inquiring into the profound flocked from the four directions like deer; Guishan and Huangbo stood at their head. One day, the master said to the assembly, "The Buddha Dharma is no small matter. Formerly, when this old monk once again received a shout from Great Master Ma, I was deaf and blind for three whole days." Hearing this related, Huangbo unconsciously stuck out his tongue and said, "I do not know Mazu, and what is more, I have never seen Mazu." The master said, "In the future, you will certainly succeed Mazu." Huangbo said, "I will not succeed Mazu." The master said, "Why?" Huangbo said, "In the future it would ruin my descendants." The master said, "So it is, so it is." One day, a monk came crying into the Dharma hall. The master asked, "What is it?" The monk said, "My father and mother have both passed away; I ask the Master to select a day [for their burial]." The master said, "Come tomorrow, and we will bury them both at once." The master went up to the hall and said, "Closing off your throat and lips, speak swiftly!" Guishan said, "I cannot speak; I ask the Upādhyāya to speak." The master said, "I would not refuse to speak for you, but later on it would ruin my descendants." Wufeng said, "The Upādhyāya also must close them off." The master said, "Where there is no one, I shade my brow and gaze toward you." Yunyan said, "I have something to say; I ask the Upādhyāya to bring it up." The master said, "Closing off your throat and lips, speak swiftly!" Yunyan said, "Now you have it, Master." The master said, "It would ruin my descendants." The master said to the assembly, "I need someone to deliver a message to Xitang. Who can go?" Wufeng said, "I will go." The master said, "How will you deliver the message?" Wufeng said, "I will speak when I see Xitang." The master said, "What will you say?" Wufeng said, "I will come back and tell the Upādhyāya." While the master and Guishan were doing manual work, the master asked, "Is there fire or not?" Guishan said, "There is." The master said, "Where is it?" Guishan took a stick of wood, blew on it two or three times, and handed it to the master. The master said, "Like an insect gnawing on wood." A monk asked, "What is the Buddha?" The master said, "Who are you?" The monk said, "I am so-and-so." The master said, "Do you know so-and-so?" The monk said, "Clearly." The master then raised his fly-whisk and said, "Do you still see it?" The monk said, "I see it." The master was then silent. Once, during general communal labor digging the ground, a monk suddenly heard the dining drum sound; he raised his hoe, laughed heartily, and went back. The master said, "Splendid! This is Avalokiteśvara's gate of entering the principle." When the master returned to the cloister, he called that monk and asked, "What principle did you see just now that made you act like that?" He replied, "Just now I merely heard the drum beat and went back to eat rice." The master then laughed. A monk asked, "'To explain the meaning according to the sūtras is the enemy of the Buddhas of the three periods; to depart from the sūtras by a single word is the same as the preaching of Māra'—what about this?" The master said, "To rigidly maintain movement and function is the enemy of the Buddhas of the three periods; to seek separately outside of this is the same as the preaching of Māra." A monk asked Xitang, "What about when there is questioning and answering, and when there is neither questioning nor answering?" Xitang said, "Why are you afraid it will rot away?" Hearing this related, the master said, "I have always suspected this elder brother." The monk said, "Please, Upādhyāya, tell me." The master said, "A composite unity cannot be grasped." The master said to the assembly, "There is a person who long goes without eating rice and does not say he is hungry; there is a person who eats rice all day long and does not say he is full." The assembly had no reply. Yunyan asked, "For whom does the Upādhyāya busy himself every day?" The master said, "There is someone who needs it." Yunyan said, "Why do you not have him do it himself?" The master said, "He has no household livelihood." A monk asked, "What is the Great Vehicle's dharma-gate of sudden awakening?" The master said, "You must first rest from all conditions and cease all matters. Toward all dharmas, good and not good, worldly and world-transcending, do not remember, do not think on conditions. Let go of body and mind and let them be free. Let the mind be like wood or stone, without discrimination. When the mind has nowhere to go, when the mind-ground is like empty space, the sun of wisdom will naturally manifest, like the sun coming out when the clouds disperse. Simultaneously cease all clinging to conditions; let sentiments of greed, anger, love, grasping, defilement, and purity come to an end. In the face of the five desires and the eight winds, do not be bound by seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing; do not be deluded by various objects. Naturally endowed with supernatural powers and wondrous functions, such a person is liberated. Facing all objects, the mind is neither calm nor disordered, neither gathering nor scattering. Passing through all sounds and forms without obstruction, one is called a person of the Way. Merely not being restrained by any good or evil, defilement or purity, conditioned worldly merit or wisdom—this is called Buddha wisdom. When all views of right and wrong, good and ugly, principle and non-principle are completely exhausted, not bound anywhere, the mind is at ease; this is called a bodhisattva of initial aspiration, immediately ascending to the Buddha-ground. All dharmas are fundamentally not empty of themselves; they do not say of themselves that they are form, nor do they speak of right and wrong, defilement and purity. Nor do they have any mind to bind people. It is merely that people falsely reckon and grasp onto them, fabricating various kinds of interpretations and giving rise to various kinds of views. If the mind of defilement and purity is exhausted, not dwelling in bondage and not dwelling in liberation, without any conditioned or unconditioned [states], understanding the measure of an equal mind, dwelling in birth and death, one's mind is at ease. Ultimately one does not blend with illusory worldly toil, the aggregates, realms, birth and death, and the various sense entrances. Aloof and without reliance, bound by nothing, leaving or staying without hindrance, coming and going in birth and death is just like an open door. If encountering various kinds of suffering, pleasure, and disagreeable matters, the mind does not regress or bend; not mindful of fame, clothing, or food; not coveting any merit or benefit; not impeded by worldly dharmas—even though the mind personally experiences suffering and pleasure, it does not concern the heart. Coarse food sustains life; patched robes ward off cold and heat. Steady, like one foolish or deaf, one will have a slight familiarity [with the Way]. Extensively learning views and interpretations within birth and death, seeking merit and seeking wisdom, is of no benefit to the principle; instead, one is tossed by the wind of objective knowledge and returns again to the ocean of birth and death. A Buddha is a person without seeking; to seek it is to contradict the principle. It is the principle of non-seeking; to seek it is to lose it. If you grasp at non-seeking, it is again the same as seeking. This Dharma is neither real nor unreal. If throughout one's life the mind can be like wood or stone, not tossed or drowned by the aggregates, realms, five desires, and eight winds, then the cause of birth and death is severed, and going or staying is free. One will not be bound by any conditioned cause and effect. In the future, along with an unbound body, one will benefit living beings; with an unbound mind, one will respond to all minds; with unbound wisdom, one will untie all bonds; and one will also be able to prescribe medicine according to the illness." A monk asked, "Now that I have received the precepts and body and mouth are pure, already possessing all goods, do I attain liberation or not?" The master answered, "You have attained a small part of liberation, but have not attained liberation of the mind, nor have you attained all liberation." The monk asked, "What is liberation of the mind?" The master answered, "Not seeking Buddha, not seeking views and interpretations, when sentiments of defilement and purity are exhausted, yet not holding to this non-seeking as right, nor dwelling where they are exhausted; neither fearing the bonds of hell nor loving the pleasures of heaven; unbound by any dharma—only then is it called unhindered liberation. Then body, mind, and everything are called liberation. Do not say that having a small part of precept-goodness settles the matter. There are gates of undefiled morality, concentration, and wisdom as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, of which you have not yet touched a single hair. Exert yourself and work vigorously early on; do not wait until your ears are deaf, your eyes are dim, your head is white, and your face is wrinkled, when the suffering of old age comes upon your body, tears flow from your eyes, and your heart is panic-stricken, with nowhere to go. When it comes to such a time, you will not be able to arrange your hands and feet. Even if you have merit, wisdom, and wide learning, none of it will rescue you, because your mind's eye has not opened. Only thinking on conditions and various objects, you do not know how to reflect back inward, nor do you see the Buddha Way. All the evil karma of a lifetime will completely appear before you, bringing now joy, now terror. The six destinies and the five aggregates will all appear before you; ornate houses, boats, carriages, and radiant splendor will be seen. Because you indulged your own mind's greed and love, whatever is seen will turn into pleasant realms; according to where what you see is heaviest, you will take rebirth, without the least freedom. Whether as a dragon, a beast, noble, or base, is entirely undetermined." The monk asked, "How can one attain freedom?" The master answered, "Right now, facing the five desires and eight winds, have no sentiment of grasping or rejecting; defilement and purity are both obliterated. Like the sun and moon in the sky, illuminating without clinging to conditions; the mind like wood or stone, and like a fragrant elephant crossing a stream cutting through the flow, with no further hesitation or obstruction—such a person cannot be contained by heaven or hell. Furthermore, when reading sūtras and studying the teachings, words and phrases must all be subtly brought back to oneself. All teachings in words merely clarify the present nature of awakening oneself. Neither being moved by any realm of dharmas, existent or non-existent—this is the teacher of the Way; being able to illuminate and break through all realms and dharmas of existence and non-existence—this is the vajra; then you will have a share of free independence. If you cannot attain this, even if you can recite the twelve Vedas, it will only become overweening pride; that is actually slandering the Buddha, not cultivating practice. Reading sūtras and studying the teachings, if judged by worldly standards, is a good and virtuous matter; but if reckoned from the side of a person who understands the principle, this is a person blocked and stopped up. Even people of the ten grounds cannot break free and flow into the river of birth and death. Simply do not seek for views, interpretations, words, and meanings; views and interpretations belong to greed, and greed turns into an illness. Right now, simply depart from all dharmas of existence and non-existence, pass through beyond the three phrases, and naturally you will not differ from the Buddha. Since you yourself are Buddha, why worry that the Buddha does not understand words? One only fears that one is not a Buddha, turned by the dharmas of existence and non-existence, unable to attain freedom. Therefore, before the principle is established, to have merit and wisdom carry one away is like the base employing the noble. It is not as good as having the principle established first, and having merit and wisdom afterward. When the time comes, it can be done: grasping earth to make gold, turning seawater into ghee, crushing Mount Sumeru into fine dust, making boundless meanings out of a single meaning, and making a single meaning out of boundless meanings." Sometimes, when the master finished expounding the Dharma, the great assembly would leave the hall; he would then call to them. When the assembly turned their heads, the master would say, "What is it?" (Yaoshan referred to this as "Baizhang's leaving-the-hall phrase.") On the seventeenth day of the first month in the ninth year of the Yuanhe era of the Tang (814), he entered quiescence at the age of ninety-five. In the first year of the Changqing era (821), he was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Dazhi by imperial decree, and his stupa was named Dabao Shenglun.