續傳燈錄 9.34

9.34

節使李端愿居士。兒時在館舍常閱禪書。長雖婚宦然篤志祖道。遂於後圃築室類蘭若。邀達觀處之。朝夕咨參至忘寢食。觀一日視公曰。非示現力豈致爾哉。奈無箇所入何。公問曰。天堂地獄畢竟是有是無。請師明說。觀曰。諸佛向無中說有眼見空花。太尉就有裏尋無。手摣水月。堪笑眼前見牢獄不避。心外聞天堂欲生。殊不知。忻怖在心善惡成境。太尉但了自心自然無惑。公曰。心如何了。觀曰。善惡都莫思量。公曰。不思量後心歸何所。觀曰。且請太尉歸宅。公曰。秖如人死後心歸何所。觀曰。未知生焉知死。公曰。生則某已知之。觀曰。生從何來。公罔措。觀起揕其胸曰。秖在這裏更擬思量箇甚麼。公曰。會得也。觀曰。作麼生會。公曰。秖知貪程不覺蹉路。觀拓開曰。百年一夢今朝方省。既而說偈曰。三十八歲懵然無知。及其有知。何異無知。滔滔汴水。隱隱隋堤。師其歸矣。箭浪東馳。

Upāsaka Li Duanyuan, the Military Commissioner, often read Chan texts in the study during his childhood. Although he married and entered officialdom as an adult, he was devoted to the ancestral Way. Thereupon he built a hermitage-like chamber in his rear garden and invited Daguan to reside there. Morning and evening he consulted and inquired, even forgetting to sleep and eat. One day, Guan looked at the gentleman and said, "Were it not for the power of manifestation, how could it come to this? Yet what can be done about having no place of entry?" The gentleman asked, "Do heaven and hell ultimately exist or not? Please explain clearly, Master." Guan said, "The Buddhas speak of existence from within non-existence—eyes seeing flowers in the sky. The Grand Defender seeks non-existence from within existence—hands clutching the moon in the water. How laughable: seeing the prison before your eyes, you do not avoid it; hearing of heaven outside your mind, you wish to be born there! Little do you know that joy and fear reside in the mind, while good and evil form their environments. If the Grand Defender simply understands his own mind, he will naturally be free of delusion." The gentleman said, "How does one understand the mind?" Guan said, "Do not deliberate on good or evil at all." The gentleman said, "After not deliberating, where does the mind return?" Guan said, "For now, please return to your residence, Grand Defender." The gentleman said, "Just like after a person dies, where does the mind return?" Guan said, "Before knowing life, how can you know death?" The gentleman said, "As for life, I already know it." Guan said, "Where does life come from?" The gentleman was at a loss. Guan stood up, struck his chest, and said, "It is right here! What more are you planning to deliberate?" The gentleman said, "I understand!" Guan said, "How do you understand?" The gentleman said, "I only knew to hasten on my journey, not realizing I had taken the wrong path." Guan pushed him away and said, "A dream of a hundred years is awakened to only today." Soon after, [the gentleman] spoke a gāthā: / 'For thirty-eight years, muddled and knowing nothing; / When it comes to having knowledge, / How does it differ from knowing nothing? / Rushing, rushing flows the Bian River, / Faintly seen stands the Sui Dike. / Master, you may now return; / Arrow-swift waves rush eastward.'"