續傳燈錄 23.41

23.41

蘄州四祖仲宣禪師上堂。諸佛出世為一大事因緣。祖師西來直指人心。是佛凡聖本來不二。迷悟豈有殊途。非涅槃之可欣。非死生之可厭。但能一言了悟。不起坐而即證無生。一念回光。不舉步而遍周沙界。如斯要徑可曰宗門。山僧既到這裏不可徒然。乃舉拂子曰。看看山河大地日月星辰。若凡若聖是人是物。盡在拂子頭上一毛端裏出入遊戲。諸人還見麼。設或便向這裏見得倜儻分明。更須知有向上一路。試問諸人。作麼生是向上一路。良久曰。六月長天降大雪。三冬嶺上火雲飛。

Chan Master Zhongxuan of Sizusi in Qizhou ascended the hall and said, 'The Buddhas appear in the world for the sake of the one great causal condition. The Patriarch came from the West to point directly to the human mind: this mind is Buddha; ordinary and sacred are fundamentally not two. How could delusion and awakening have different paths? Nirvāṇa is not something to be delighted in; birth and death are not something to be loathed. If one can only attain awakening with a single word, without rising from one's seat one instantly realizes the unborn. With a single thought turning the light around, without lifting a foot one traverses the worlds numerous as sands. Such a shortcut may be called the ancestral gate. Since this mountain monk has arrived here, he cannot act in vain.' Thereupon he held up his whisk and said, 'Look, look! The mountains, rivers, and the great earth, the sun, moon, and stars, whether ordinary or sacred, whether people or things—all enter, exit, and disport themselves upon the tip of a single hair at the head of the whisk. Do you see it? Even if you see it right here clearly and freely, you must still know that there is a path leading further beyond. Let me ask you all: what is the path leading further beyond?' After a good while, he said, 'In the long skies of the sixth month, heavy snow falls; / Upon the ridges in the three months of winter, fiery clouds fly.'