續傳燈錄 27.6.5

27.6.5

豈曰無辯辯所不能言也。 這箇是理與神忽然相撞著。 不覺到說不得處雖然不語其聲如雷。 故曰。 豈曰無辯辯所不能言也。 這裏世間聰明辯才用一點不得。 到得恁麼田地方始是放身捨命處。 這般境界須是當人自證自悟始得。 所以華嚴經云。 如來宮殿無有邊。 自然覺者處其中。 此是從上諸聖大解脫法門。 無邊無量無得無失無默無語無去無來。 塵塵爾剎剎爾念念爾法法爾。 只為眾生根性狹劣。 不到三教聖人境界。 所以分彼分此。 殊不知境界如此廣大。 却向黑山下鬼窟裏默然坐地。 故先聖訶為解脫深坑。 是可怖畏之處。 以道眼觀之。 則是刀山劍樹鑊湯鑪炭裏坐地。 一般坐主家尚不滯在默然處。 況祖師門下客。 却道纔開口便落今時。 且喜沒交涉。 昂不覺作禮。 師曰公雖作禮然更有事在。 至晚來入室。 師問曰。 今年幾歲。 云六十四。 又問。 爾六十四前從什麼處來。 昂又無語。 師遂以竹篦打出次日又來室中云。 六十四年前尚未有昂在。 如何和尚却問昂從什麼處來。 師曰。 爾六十四年前不可元在福州鄭家。 只今這聽法說法一段歷歷孤明底未生已前畢竟在什麼處。 云不知。 師曰。 爾若不知便是生大今生且限百歲。 百歲後爾待要飛出三千大千世界外去。 須是與他入棺材始得。 當爾之時四大五蘊一時解散。 有眼不見物。 有耳不聞聲。 有箇肉團心分別不行。 有箇身火燒刀斫都不覺痛。 到這裏歷歷孤明底却向什麼處去。 云昂也不知師曰。 爾既不知便是死大。 故曰。 無常迅速生死事大。 便是這箇道理。 這裏使聰明也不得。 記持也不得。 我更問。 爾平生做許多之乎者也。 臘月三十日將那一句敵他生死。 須是知得生來死去處分曉始得。 若不知即是愚人。 昂方心伏始知無言無說處一切非是。 因別參請未幾頓有所得。 時有祥雲長老曇懿與禪者遵璞二人為同伴。 初侍圓悟於蔣山已有入處。 後又隸真歇了坐下點胸自許謂世莫有過之者。 師知其未徹業已開法慮其誤後學。 以書致懿令告假暫來。 懿恥之遲遲其行。 師遂由小參痛抵其非。 揭榜于門以告四眾。 懿聞之不得已乃破夏來抵師會下。 師詰其所證語之曰。 汝恁麼見解何嘗夢見圓悟老人果欲究竟此事。 且退却院子來。 懿從之遂歸。 既散夏果與璞偕至。 二人同到室中。 師問璞。 三聖道。 我逢人則出。 出則不為人。 興化道。 我逢人則不出。 出則便為人。 爾道這兩箇老漢還有出身處也無。 璞於師膝上打一拳。 師曰。 汝這一拳為三聖出氣。 為興化出氣。 速道速道。 璞擬議。 師劈脊便打。 仍謂之曰。 汝第一不得忘了這一棒遂出。 久之未得入門。 一日因別僧入室。 二人聽之。 師問僧曰。 德山見僧入門便棒。 臨濟見僧入門便喝。 雪峯見僧入門便道是什麼。 睦州見僧入門便道見成公案放爾三十棒。 爾道這四箇老漢還有為人處也無。 僧云有。 師曰劄。 僧擬議。 師便喝出。 璞聞之忽然有省。 懿亦相繼於一言之下大有省發。 從前惡知惡解當下氷消。 後皆承嗣師。 師嘗為眾入室。 見僧才入門便問。 諸佛菩薩畜生驢馬庭前柏樹子麻三斤乾屎橛。 爾是一枚無狀賊漢。 僧云。 久知和尚有此機要。 師曰。 我已無端入荒草。 是爾屎臭氣也不知。 僧拂袖便出。 師曰。 苦哉佛陀耶。 又僧才入門。 師便曰。 不是出去。 僧便出。 師曰。 沒量大人被語脈裏轉却。 次一僧入。 師曰。 不是出去。 僧却近前。 師曰。 向爾道不是。 又却近前覓箇什麼。 便打出。 又一僧入云。 適來兩僧不會和尚意。 師低頭噓一聲。 僧罔措。 師便打曰。 却是爾會老僧意。 又僧才入。 師曰。 爾不會出去。 僧亦出。 復一僧入。 師曰。 適來兩箇上坐。 一人解收不解放。

"'How can one say there is no debate? It is that debate cannot express it.' This is where principle and spirit suddenly collide. Unawares, one reaches the place where words cannot reach; though silent, its voice is like thunder. Therefore it is said: 'How can one say there is no debate? It is that debate cannot express it.' Here, worldly cleverness and eloquence cannot be used in the slightest. Only when one reaches such a realm is it the place to cast down one's body and yield one's life. Such a realm must be personally verified and awakened to by the person himself. Therefore the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'The palace of the Tathāgata has no bounds; the naturally awakened one dwells within it.' This is the great liberation Dharma-gate of the sages from antiquity: boundless and measureless, without gain or loss, without silence or speech, without going or coming. Every dust mote is thus, every kṣetra is thus, every thought-moment is thus, every dharma is thus. It is only because the capacity of sentient beings is narrow and inferior, and they do not reach the realm of the sages of the three teachings, that they distinguish this from that. Little do they know that the realm is so vast and great, yet they sit silently in the ghost cave beneath the Black Mountain. Hence the former sages reproved it as the deep pit of liberation, a place to be feared. Viewed with the eye of the Way, it is sitting amid mountains of knives, forests of swords, cauldrons of boiling water, and glowing charcoal. Even the ordinary scholastic lecturers do not get stuck in a place of silence, not to mention a guest under the Patriarch's gate, who yet says that as soon as one opens one's mouth one falls into the present time. How fortunate that there is no connection!" Ang unconsciously bowed. The master said, "Although you have bowed, there is still another matter." In the evening he entered the room. The master asked, "How old are you this year?" He said, "Sixty-four." The master asked again, "Where did you come from before sixty-four?" Ang was again speechless. The master then drove him out with the bamboo stick. The next day he came into the room again and said, "Sixty-four years ago, there was not yet any Ang. Why, Upādhyāya, do you ask where Ang came from?" The master said, "Sixty-four years ago, you could not originally have been in the Zheng family of Fuzhou. Right now, this distinct, solitary, and luminous section that listens to the Dharma and speaks the Dharma—before birth, where was it after all?" He said, "I do not know." The master said, "If you do not know, then birth is great. For this life, let us set the limit at a hundred years. After a hundred years, when you want to fly outside the three-thousand great-thousand worlds, you must still enter the coffin with the rest. At that time, the four great elements and five aggregates will disperse all at once. Having eyes, you will not see things; having ears, you will not hear sounds; having a fleshy heart, discrimination will not operate; having a body, fire burning it or knives hacking it will not feel pain. When it comes to this point, where will this distinct, solitary, and luminous one go?" Ang said, "I do not know either." The master said, "Since you do not know, then death is great. Therefore it is said: 'Impermanence is swift; the matter of birth and death is great.' It is just this principle. Here, cleverness cannot be used, nor can memorisation. Let me ask you further: in your whole life you have produced so many literary particles like zhi, hu, zhe, and ye; on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, which phrase will you take to stand against birth and death? You must clearly know the place of coming into birth and departing into death. If you do not know, you are just an ignorant person." Only then did Ang submit in his heart, beginning to realise that in the place of no words and no speech, everything was mistaken. Because of this, he sought instruction separately and soon attained an awakening abruptly. At that time, Senior Tanyi of Xiangyun and the Chan practitioner Zunpu were companions. At first, while attending Yuanwu at Jiangshan, they had already had an entry. Later they were under the seat of Zhenxie Liao; puffing out their chests, they assumed that no one in the world surpassed them. The master knew they were not thorough, yet had already opened the Dharma hall, and he was concerned they would mislead later students. He sent a letter to Yi, bidding him request leave and come for a short time. Yi was ashamed and delayed his departure. The master then, through a small gathering, severely attacked their errors and posted a placard on the gate to notify the four assemblies. Hearing of this, Yi had no choice but to break the summer retreat and come to the master's assembly. The master questioned what he had verified, telling him, "With such a view as yours, when did you ever dream of old man Yuanwu? If you truly wish to get to the bottom of this matter, step down from your monastery and come." Yi followed this and thereupon returned. After the summer retreat ended, he indeed arrived together with Pu. The two went into the room together. The master asked Pu, "Sansheng said: 'When I meet a person, I go out; going out, I do not act for the person.' Xinghua said: 'When I meet a person, I do not go out; going out, I immediately act for the person.' Tell me, do these two old fellows still have a way out or not?" Pu struck a blow with his fist on the master's knee. The master said, "Does this fist of yours vent anger for Sansheng, or does it vent anger for Xinghua? Speak quickly, speak quickly!" Pu hesitated. The master struck him across the back and further said to him, "Above all, you must not forget this blow of the stick!" He then left. For a long time he could not gain entry. One day, because another monk entered the room, the two listened. The master asked the monk, "Deshan, seeing a monk enter the gate, immediately struck him with his stick. Linji, seeing a monk enter the gate, immediately shouted. Xuefeng, seeing a monk enter the gate, immediately said, 'What is it?' Muzhou, seeing a monk enter the gate, immediately said, 'A ready-made gong'an; I spare you thirty blows of the stick.' Tell me, do these four old fellows still have a way of helping people or not?" The monk said, "They do." The master said, "Zha!" The monk hesitated. The master then shouted him out. Hearing this, Pu suddenly had an awakening. Yi also followed, having a great awakening under a single word. His former wrong knowledge and wrong views dissolved on the spot like ice. Later both became the master's Dharma heirs. The master once held interviews in his room for the assembly. Seeing a monk just enter the door, he immediately asked, "All Buddhas and bodhisattvas, beasts, donkeys and horses, the cypress tree in the courtyard, three pounds of flax, a dried shit-scraper—you are a scoundrel of a thief without face or form!" The monk said, "I have long known the Upādhyāya has this crucial pivot." The master said, "I have already pointlessly entered the wild grass, yet you do not even smell the stench of shit." The monk flicked his sleeves and left. The master said, "Alas, Buddha!" Another monk had just entered the door when the master immediately said, "Wrong! Get out!" The monk then went out. The master said, "A great man of immeasurable stature has been turned around by the current of speech!" Next, a monk entered. The master said, "Wrong! Get out!" The monk instead stepped forward. The master said, "I told you it is wrong, yet you step forward seeking what?" He then beat him out. Yet another monk entered and said, "Just now those two monks did not understand the Upādhyāya's meaning." The master lowered his head and let out an 'Xū' sound. The monk was at a loss. The master then struck him, saying, "And yet you understand this old monk's meaning!" Another monk had just entered when the master said, "You don't understand; get out!" The monk also went out. Another monk entered, and the master said, "The two elders just now: one knows how to gather in, but does not know how to let go."