Master Yuanyin, Published in Chan, 1993 Issue 3; 1994 Issues 1–4; and 1995 Issue 3 | 1993-06-07 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 达摩西来传佛心印，直指人心，见性成佛，未闻有参话头之说。盖禅乃涅槃妙心，正法眼藏，系人人本具的天真佛性，不因修得，不用求成。只因迷于声色，忘失本真，造业受报方才沉沦六道。 | When Bodhidharma came from the West, he transmitted the Buddha’s mind-seal, pointing directly to the human mind so that one might see one’s nature and become a Buddha. There was no talk of investigating a huatou. Chan is the wondrous mind of nirvāṇa, the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye—the pristine Buddha-nature inherently possessed by everyone. It is not acquired through practice and need not be sought or attained. Only because people become deluded by sights and sounds, forget their original true nature, create karma, and undergo retribution do they sink into the six realms. |
|---|---|
| 苟能醒悟一切声色货利皆如空花水月，无可追求，毅然放舍，毫无粘着，则不须修法，当下即可回复本真而归家稳坐。因之，从上诸祖皆直接指示学人，令于言下悟去，不用钝置学人绕路参话头，唐丧光阴。 | If one can awaken to the fact that all sights, sounds, wealth, and profit are like flowers in empty space and the moon reflected in water, with nothing to pursue; if one resolutely lets them go and clings to nothing, then there is no need to practice any method. One can immediately return to one’s original true nature and sit securely at home. Therefore, the patriarchs of old directly instructed students, enabling them to awaken upon hearing their words. They did not needlessly burden students by making them take a roundabout path of investigating a huatou and wasting their time. |
| 如问：“如何是佛？”则答曰：“即心是佛。”或问：“清谈对面，非佛而何？”或曰：“我与汝道，恐汝不信。”俟学人诚惶诚恐地道：“和尚诚语，学人焉敢不信！”则答曰：“即汝便是。”更或召唤学人，俟伊应诺，则指示曰：“即此是，别无他物。”或反下一问：“是什么？”使学人反省而悟。 | For example, if asked, “What is Buddha?” they would reply, “Mind itself is Buddha.” Or they might ask, “As we converse face to face, what else could this be but Buddha?” Or they might say, “If I tell you, I fear you will not believe me.” When the student, sincerely apprehensive, replied, “If the venerable monk speaks truly, how would this student dare not believe?” they would answer, “You yourself are it.” Or they might call to a student and, when he responded, instruct him: “This very thing is it; there is nothing else.” Or they might turn the question back: “What is it?” thereby causing the student to reflect and awaken. |
| 宗门诸祖上自释迦文佛拈花，迦叶微笑印心，开斯雄迈古今独树一帜的教外别传宗派后，下至唐宋以前的列圣先贤所有开示学人的语句、偈颂，莫不赤裸裸地直示学人以真心，从不教人做参话头功夫。 | After Śākyamuni Buddha held up a flower and Kāśyapa smiled in response, thereby sealing mind to mind and inaugurating this majestic, unparalleled school of special transmission outside the teachings, all the sayings and verses by which the patriarchs and sages of the Chan school, from that time down through before the Tang and Song dynasties, instructed students directly and nakedly pointed to their true mind. They never taught people to practice investigating a huatou. |
| 如宝志公道：“斯道本来现成，不用求，不用学，无你用心处，只当下一息便是。”又于《十二时歌》中末二句道：“未了之人听一言，只这如今谁动口？！”说得多少亲切明白。 | As the Venerable Baozhi said: “This Way is originally complete and present. There is no need to seek or learn it, and no place for you to exert your mind; it is simply this present breath.” He also said in the final two lines of the Song of the Twelve Hours: “Let those who have not understood hear one word: who is it that moves the mouth right now?” How intimate, clear, and direct this is. |
| 善慧大士曰：“有物先天地，无形本寂寥；能为万物主，不逐四时凋。”另又直指云：“夜夜抱佛眠，朝朝还共起。起坐镇相随，语默同居止。纤毫不相离，如身影相似。欲识佛去处，只这语声是。 | Mahāsattva Shanhui said: “There is a thing prior to heaven and earth; formless, it is fundamentally still and vast. It can be the master of all things, yet does not wither with the four seasons.” He also pointed directly, saying: “Night after night, you embrace the Buddha in sleep; morning after morning, you rise together. In rising and sitting, you are always together; in speech and silence, you dwell together. Not a hairbreadth apart, you are like body and shadow. If you wish to know where the Buddha abides, it is simply this very voice.” |
| ”大士《心王铭》，更是千古箴铭，其中道：“决定是有，不见其形；身内居停，面门出入，应物随形，非去来今。”说得多少坦率、真切、痛快，大士真可谓老婆心切矣。 | In the Mahāsattva’s Inscription on the Mind-King, it is further said: “It definitely exists, yet its form cannot be seen. It dwells within the body, enters and exits through the face, responds to things and follows forms; it is neither past, present, nor future.” How frank, intimate, and exhilarating this is. The Mahāsattva’s compassionate concern was indeed most earnest. |
| 南岳慧思曰：“道源不远，性海非遥；但向己求，莫从他觅，觅即不得，得亦不真。”又曰：“顿悟心源开宝藏，隐显通灵现真相；纵令逼塞满虚空，看时不见微尘相；可笑物兮无比况，口吐明珠光晃晃。 | Huisi of Nanyue said: “The source of the Way is not far away; the ocean of nature is not distant. Seek only within yourself; do not search elsewhere. If you seek, you will not obtain it; even if you obtain something, it is not genuine.” He also said: “With sudden awakening to the source of mind, the treasure-house opens; hidden or manifest, its numinous efficacy reveals the true aspect. Even if it fills empty space completely, when one looks, not even the appearance of a mote of dust is seen. How marvelous is this thing, beyond all comparison: from its mouth bright pearls pour forth, gleaming brilliantly.” |
| ”又曰：“天不能盖地不载，无去无来无障碍，无长无短无青黄，不在中间及内外，超群出众太虚玄，指物传心人不会。”古人直指传心，可谓婆心切矣，而人不会，良可哀也。 | He also said: “Heaven cannot cover it, and earth cannot support it. It neither comes nor goes and has no obstruction; it is neither long nor short, neither blue nor yellow; it is neither within nor without nor in between. Transcending all, surpassing all, it is as mysterious as the great void; when it points to things and transmits mind, people do not understand.” The ancients pointed directly and transmitted mind; their compassionate concern may truly be called earnest. Yet people do not understand—how lamentable. |
| 布袋和尚云：“只个心心心是佛，十方世界最灵物；纵横妙用可怜生，一切不如心真实。”又曰：“吾有一躯佛，世人皆不识。不塑亦不装，不雕亦不刻。无一滴灰泥，无一点彩色。人画画不成，贼偷偷不得。体相本自然，清净非拂拭。虽然是一躯，分身千百亿。”此谚说得如此爽快明白，使人一见了然无疑，还用参什么话头呢？ | Budai Heshang said: “This very mind, mind, mind is Buddha, the most numinous thing in the worlds of the ten directions. Its wondrous functions extend in all directions—how pitiable that living beings fail to see it! Nothing is more real than mind.” He also said: “I have a Buddha-body that people of the world do not recognize. It is neither molded nor adorned, neither carved nor engraved. It has not a drop of clay nor a trace of paint. An artist cannot paint it, and a thief cannot steal it. Its form and appearance are naturally so; its purity does not require polishing. Though it is one body, it manifests countless transformation bodies.” This verse is so forthright and clear that one understands it immediately, without doubt. What need then is there to investigate any huatou? |
| 祖师禅就这么直截了当，使人于言下大悟去，不用迂回曲折地绕路做功夫。但这直下开示人见性，无修无证亦无得的法门，不仅禅宗如此，即密宗的高深密法阿底约嘎，也不例外。 | Patriarchal Chan is just this direct and straightforward: it enables people to awaken greatly upon hearing the words, without having to take a winding, circuitous path of practice. Yet this Dharma gate of directly revealing one’s nature, in which there is neither practice, realization, nor attainment, is not confined to the Chan school. Even the profound esoteric teaching of Atiyoga is no exception. |
| 他们开示学人：“应知佛与传承诸上师及我心无别”；“见、定、行一切行持皆摄于心”；“一切染净诸法统统在现前离垢、空明、豁朗的内证智——本觉或本性中完全具矣”；“不须用界智为入门而勤修，只悟此当前种种显现皆我真心所化之相，无取无求，即超越勤修与因果”。 | They instruct students: “You should know that the Buddha, the lineage masters, and your own mind are not different”; “all conduct of view, meditation, and action is encompassed within mind”; “all dharmas, defiled and pure alike, are fully present within the immediately manifest, undefiled, empty, luminous, and open wisdom of direct realization—original awakening or original nature”; and “there is no need to laboriously cultivate discriminating wisdom as an entrance. Simply awaken to the fact that all the various appearances before you are transformations of your own true mind; take hold of nothing and seek nothing, and you will transcend laborious cultivation and cause and effect.” |
| 这种种开示与禅师的说法无二无别，也是教人当下识自本心，见自本性。但他们不能一下手就习此法，须从四加行修起，慢慢地进入生起次第，修有相密，再渐渐地过渡到圆满次第，将有相化空，才能缓缓地与此法相应。 | These teachings are no different from the sayings of Chan masters: they likewise teach one to recognize one’s own original mind and see one’s own intrinsic nature immediately. Yet practitioners cannot begin by practicing this Dharma. They must start with the four preliminary practices, gradually enter the generation stage, practice form-based esoteric practice, and then gradually proceed to the completion stage. Only after emptying the forms can they slowly come into accord with this Dharma. |
| 其间不知要耽搁多少岁月，哪能和禅宗一样底直截了当，痛快径捷？！所以在一切修行的法门中，以禅宗为最简便、最迅速、最圆顿的法门。吾人得之，真不知从何世修来这么大的福根！ | Who knows how many years may be delayed in the process? How could it be as direct, swift, and satisfying as the Chan school? Therefore, among all methods of cultivation, Chan is the simplest, most rapid, and most perfectly sudden Dharma gate. Having obtained it, we truly do not know through cultivation in what past lives we have acquired such vast blessings and roots of goodness! |
| 但到唐宋以后，人心渐劣，根性渐薄，不珍视直指之真理至言而崇尚玄奇之悄语僻词，以为纯正之语无甚奇特，不予谨奉遵守，以之绵密保任，长养圣胎从而圆证菩提正果，反致因鄙视而流落六道无有出期。 | But after the Tang and Song dynasties, people’s minds gradually deteriorated and their capacities became weaker. They did not cherish the true principles and supreme words of direct pointing, but instead prized obscure and extraordinary sayings and eccentric expressions. Thinking straightforward words unremarkable, they did not reverently uphold and follow them, continuously safeguard realization through them, nurture the sacred embryo, and thereby perfect the true fruition of bodhi. Instead, through disparaging them, they fell into the six realms with no prospect of release. |
| 就如纨绔子弟以祖传家业非由自己艰苦经营得来，不知珍惜，挥霍无度，最终沦为饿殍一样。祖师们于哀愍之余，乃随机一变直指为参话头。 | It is like pampered sons of wealthy families who, because their inherited estate was not earned through their own arduous efforts, do not know to cherish it. They squander it without restraint and ultimately become starving beggars. Out of pity for them, the patriarchs therefore adapted to circumstances and changed direct pointing into the investigation of huatou. |
| 将一则无义味、无理路的说话置于学人心头，如吞栗棘蓬相似，令其吐不出，咽不下，欲进不得，欲罢不能地生起大疑情。经一番苦参精研，于行不知行，坐不知坐时，忽然碰着磕着，如于十字街头觌见亲阿爹相似，亲证本来。 | They placed in the student’s mind a saying without conceptual meaning or rational pathway, like swallowing a chestnut-burr: one could neither spit it out nor swallow it, neither advance nor give up. Thus a great sense of doubt would arise. After arduous investigation and deep inquiry, when one no longer knows oneself to be walking while walking or sitting while sitting, one suddenly encounters it—like seeing one’s own father at a crossroads—and directly realizes the original nature. |
| 方知佛本现成，勤苦追求，皆是骑驴觅驴，白费辛苦，曷胜冤屈！然非经此一番艰辛参究，本真何由得见？祖师用心亦良苦矣。 | Only then does one know that Buddhahood is originally complete and present, and that all strenuous seeking is like riding a donkey while looking for a donkey—labor spent in vain, an intolerable injustice! Yet without undergoing this arduous investigation, how could one see the original true nature? The patriarchs’ intentions were also most painstaking. |
| 参话头固须起大疑情，方能隔断妄想、妄念，打破无明，从而亲见本真。否则，即不起作用，参到驴年，亦无由开悟。此所谓大疑大悟，小疑小悟，不疑不悟也。但伶俐汉，实不须费多少手脚，吃多少辛苦，用若干年来参究。 | In investigating a huatou, one must indeed arouse a great sense of doubt. Only then can one cut off deluded thoughts, break through ignorance, and directly see one’s original true nature. Otherwise it has no effect; even if one investigates until the year of the donkey, there will be no way to awaken. This is what is meant by: great doubt, great awakening; small doubt, small awakening; no doubt, no awakening. But a person of keen ability need not expend so much effort, endure so much hardship, or spend so many years in investigation. |
| 只于祖师们一句无理路话头劈面摔来而自己无理可申，无言可答，无心可心时，回光一瞥：这诸念皆空，而有一明明不空者知诸念之空，这是什么？即可以大悟矣。 | When a patriarch’s irrational huatou is flung directly in one’s face, and one has no reasoning to offer, no words with which to reply, and no mind with which to form a thought, one need only turn the light inward for a glance: all these thoughts are empty, yet there is one clearly not empty that knows their emptiness. What is this? One can then awaken greatly. |
| 祖师们的无义味无理路话头，不是硬要你答出个道理来，而是要你于无言可说，一念不生时反省这“不会”的是谁？如问师：“如何是佛？”答曰：“东山水上行。”或曰：“灯笼缘壁上天台。 | The patriarchs’ huatou, devoid of conceptual meaning and rational pathway, are not intended to force you to give a reasoned answer. Rather, when there is nothing to say and not a single thought arises, they require you to reflect: who is it that does not know? If one asks a master, “What is Buddha?” and he replies, “The eastern mountain walks on water,” or says, “A lantern climbs the wall to Mount Tiantai,” |
| ”使你摸不着头脑，逼你言语道断，心行路绝，你此时虽然无念可生，但非如木石无知，只于这千钧一发的关键时刻回光一瞥：“这是阿谁？”则参禅事毕矣。 | this leaves you utterly baffled and forces words and thought to come to an end. At that moment, although no thought can arise, you are not insentient like wood or stone. At this critical instant, simply turn the light inward for a glance: “Who is this?” Then the work of investigating Chan is complete. |
| 不能于斯悟者，参话头起疑情，经多年的苦心孤诣，确能大彻大悟。但这还要明眼师家适当的钳槌锻炼，相机随宜的提示和关键时刻恰到好处的点拨方能圆成。如一个人闭门造车般的盲参瞎练，就很难开悟了。如果疑情提不起，而在念话头，那就更无望了。 | Those unable to awaken in this way may investigate a huatou and arouse a sense of doubt; after many years of single-minded and arduous inquiry, they can indeed attain great and thorough awakening. Yet this still requires the appropriate hammering and forging of a clear-eyed master, timely and suitable guidance, and a precisely placed indication at the crucial moment before realization can be perfected. If one blindly investigates and practices like someone building a cart behind closed doors, awakening is very difficult. If one cannot raise the sense of doubt and merely recites the huatou, there is even less hope. |
| 降及近代，参禅同仁大都起不起疑情。如参“念佛是谁”，他们不在“谁”上着力参究，而在口里念“念佛是谁”，这就失却“参”的作用了，以致虽经多年用功而不能开悟。今日禅宗之所以衰微若此者，不皆由人才寥落，缺少真悟之士传承弘扬，沦为“法眷传法”之故欤？ | By modern times, most fellow Chan practitioners have been unable to arouse a sense of doubt. When investigating “Who is it that recites the Buddha’s name?” they do not exert themselves in investigating “who,” but verbally recite, “Who is it that recites the Buddha’s name?” This forfeits the function of investigation, so that even after many years of effort they cannot awaken. Is not the present decline of the Chan school due not only to the scarcity of capable people and the lack of those with genuine awakening to transmit and promote it, but also to its having degenerated into “Dharma relatives transmitting the Dharma”? |
| 念“念佛是谁？”还不如念阿弥陀佛。因为念阿弥陀佛，有佛力加持，将来可藉以往生西方净土；念“念佛是谁”，既不能起疑情而开悟，也不得佛力加持而生西，除种一点善因外，恐怕别无收获了。 | Reciting “Who is it that recites the Buddha’s name?” is inferior to reciting Amitābha Buddha. For in reciting Amitābha Buddha, one receives the Buddha’s empowering support and may thereby attain rebirth in the Western Pure Land. If one recites “Who is it that recites the Buddha’s name?” one neither arouses doubt and awakens nor receives the Buddha’s empowering support for rebirth in the West. Apart from planting a small wholesome cause, I fear there is no other gain. |
| 现代参禅同仁既不能起疑情，又因工作关系，无法花二、三十年的时间来辛勤参究，倒不如仿效古法直接指示学人见性的方法，为来参者开发自性。让他们悟后绵密保任，勤除习气，以臻圆满，而造就广大人才，振兴圣教，或较为得计。 | Since modern Chan practitioners can neither arouse a sense of doubt nor, owing to their work, spend twenty or thirty years in arduous investigation, it may be better to emulate the ancient method of directly revealing students’ intrinsic nature, opening up their own nature for those who come to investigate. Let them continuously safeguard realization after awakening and diligently remove habitual tendencies until they reach completion. This may be a more effective way to cultivate many capable people and revive the sacred teaching. |
| 讲到直指学人见性，定会遭到诸方的反对和责难。他们因久习于参话头见性，总以为不经自己刻苦参究而悟得的，不是见性。 | When one speaks of directly revealing students’ intrinsic nature, one is certain to encounter opposition and criticism from various quarters. Because they have long practiced investigating a huatou in order to see their nature, they always believe that an awakening attained without their own arduous investigation is not seeing one’s nature. |
| 所谓“从门入者不是家珍”，从书上看来的，或经他人指授的都无用，一定要自己真参实究打开来的，方是真悟，方才得力。话是不错，确实须自己做功夫，做到妄念消融，内而身心，外而世界一齐消殒，方为亲证。但是现阶段的禅和子疑情起不起，话头参来无用，打不开本来，见不着本性，才不得已为相应时节因缘而改古法为今用啊！ | As the saying goes, “What enters through a door is not a family treasure.” Whatever comes from books or is conveyed through another’s instruction is considered useless; one must truly investigate and realize it for oneself, opening it up oneself, before it is genuine awakening and has real power. This is correct: one must indeed do the work oneself, until deluded thoughts dissolve and both body and mind within, and the world without, simultaneously vanish; only then is it direct realization. But Chan practitioners at the present stage cannot arouse doubt; investigating a huatou is ineffective, and they cannot open up the original nature or see intrinsic nature. It is only because of the circumstances and conditions of the time that we are compelled to adapt the ancient method for present use. |
| 讲到佛性、真心，其实以直示而一念回光荐得者，与苦参数十年荐得者，乃至与修心中心密法，以佛力加持而荐得者，卒无二样。不过其中力用略有不同而已。 | As for Buddha-nature and the true mind, one who realizes them through direct pointing and a single inward turning is in fact no different from one who realizes them after ten years of arduous investigation, or from one who realizes them through practicing the Heart-of-Heart Dharma and receiving the Buddha’s empowering support. There is only a slight difference in the strength of their functioning. |
| 一念回光荐得者力最薄，遇事不得力，常为事境所牵，作不得主；苦参数十年荐得者力最胜，以多走冤枉路故，脚劲充厚，遇事能运用自如，无有走着。但力薄者只要不得少为足，时时提高警惕，在行住坐卧处，日常动用中，精勤锻炼，将旷劫多生的执着妄习渐渐除尽，也能上上升进而臻于圆满成就，此本是古德指授教化后人之轨范。 | Those who attain realization through a single moment of turning the light inward have the weakest strength: when circumstances arise, they are ineffective, are constantly pulled along by situations, and cannot be their own masters. Those who attain realization only after ten years of arduous investigation have the greatest strength. Because they have taken many wrong turns, their legs have gained strength and endurance; when circumstances arise, they can apply themselves with complete freedom and do not stray. Yet if those of weaker strength do not take a little attainment as sufficient, but remain constantly vigilant and diligently train amid walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, and in the activities of daily life, gradually eliminating the attachments and deluded habits accumulated over vast kalpas and many lifetimes, they too can advance ever higher and reach perfect accomplishment. This has always been the standard by which the ancient worthies instructed and guided later generations. |
| 关于参话头，古德也并非没有微词。如广慧琏禅师上堂示众云：“佛法本来无事，从上诸圣尽是捏怪，说些微妙的奇言奥语，惑乱人心；后来教参话头，更是强生枝节，压良为贱，埋没儿孙。 | Regarding investigation of the huatou, the ancient worthies were not without criticism. Chan Master Guanghui Lian, in addressing the assembly, said: The Buddhadharma is originally without affairs. The holy ones of the past have all contrived strange things, speaking subtle, marvelous, and abstruse words that confuse people’s minds. Later they taught people to investigate the huatou, which was even more an unnecessary complication, suppressing the worthy and elevating the lowly, and burying their descendants. |
| 更有云门、赵州、德山等辈死不惺惺，一生受屈。老僧这里即不然，即或释迦老子出来，也贬向他方世界，教他绝路去。何以故，免得丧我儿孙。老僧与么道，你等诸人作么生会？若于这里会者，岂不庆快！教你脱却衣衫，作个潇洒地衲僧在；若不会，来年更有新条在，恼乱春风卒未休。” | Moreover, such figures as Yunmen, Zhaozhou, and Deshan stubbornly refused to awaken and suffered wrongs throughout their lives. This old monk is not like that. Even if old Śākyamuni himself were to appear, I would banish him to another world and send him down a dead end. Why? To prevent him from ruining my descendants. Since this old monk has spoken thus, how do you all understand it? If you understand it here, would that not be a joyous delight? I would have you cast off your garments and become carefree patch-robed monks. If you do not understand, next year there will again be new branches, and the spring breeze’s disturbance will never cease. |
| 这则说话，说得多少透彻、剿绝，那里有我们商量用心处？！我们大家只要安分守己，随缘就活，不妄自举心动念，节外生枝地乱起知解——要脱离生死，修行悟道，要成佛具智慧辩才、神通，要建立佛国净土……当下即是朗朗乾坤，清平世界。不用费什么手脚即便恢复天真佛性，归家稳坐，乐享太平。 | How penetrating and thorough, how utterly decisive, this discourse is! Where is there any room for our deliberation or contrived effort? We need only remain content with our proper place, live in accord with conditions, and not needlessly raise the mind and stir thoughts, creating extraneous complications by wildly generating intellectual understanding—seeking to transcend birth and death, cultivate practice and realize the Way, become Buddhas endowed with wisdom, eloquence, and spiritual powers, or establish Buddha lands and Pure Lands. Right here is a bright and open heaven and earth, a peaceful and tranquil world. Without expending any effort, we may recover our natural Buddha-nature, return home and sit securely, and peacefully enjoy our ease. |
| 于此可见，明心见性不是非参话头不可的。即在唐宋时，诸大祖师也多有精要的直示。兹略举数例如下： | From this we can see that realizing the mind and seeing one’s true nature does not require investigation of the huatou. Even in the Tang and Song dynasties, many great patriarchs gave concise and essential direct instructions. A few examples follow: |
| 永明寿禅师云：“自古佛祖心心相授，并无一法与人。只教你执定金刚王宝剑，斩断一切所知、所见、所闻、所觉、所悟，只剩这赤条条、光裸裸，一尘不染，一丝不挂的，便大事了毕。”并作偈云：“化人问幻士，空谷答泉声；欲会吾宗旨，泥牛水上行。” | Chan Master Yongming Shou said: From ancient times, Buddhas and patriarchs have transmitted mind to mind, without giving anyone a single dharma. They only teach you to grasp firmly the precious vajra king’s sword and cut off all that is known, seen, heard, sensed, and realized. When only this utterly bare, naked, unstained by a single speck of dust, without a single thread remains, the great matter is completely settled. He also composed this verse: An illusory man questions a master of illusions; an empty valley answers with the sound of a spring. If you wish to understand the purport of our school, a clay ox walks upon the water. |
| 真净文云：“佛法至妙无二，但如实知自心，则究竟本来成佛。”有颂云：佛性天真事，谁云别有师？穿衣吃饭处，謦欬掉臂时，惟吾自心用，何尝动所思，众生皆平等，日用自多疑。又云：不拟心思量，一一天真，一一明妙，所以迷自心而众生，悟自心即成佛。 | Zhenjing Wen said: The Buddhadharma is supremely wondrous and without duality. If one simply knows one’s own mind as it truly is, one is ultimately originally a Buddha. He composed this verse: Buddha-nature is a natural affair; who says there is another teacher? When putting on clothes and eating meals, when clearing the throat or swinging the arms, it is only the functioning of one’s own mind—when has it ever stirred what one thinks? Sentient beings are all equal, yet in daily life they themselves give rise to much doubt. He also said: Do not set the mind to calculation. Each and every thing is naturally genuine, each and every thing clear and wondrous. Thus, when one is deluded about one’s own mind, one is a sentient being; when one awakens to one’s own mind, one becomes a Buddha. |
| 佛果云：“但只退步，愈退愈明，愈不会愈有力量；异念才起，拟心才生，即猛然割断，令不相续，则智慧洞然，步步踏实地，自然得大解脱。” | Buddha-Fruit said: Simply retreat a step. The more you retreat, the brighter it becomes; the more you do not understand, the more strength there is. As soon as a divergent thought arises or an intention of mind is born, decisively cut it off, preventing its continuation. Then wisdom becomes clear and penetrating; with every step you tread solid ground and naturally attain great liberation. |
| 云门云：“你诸人无端走来这里觅什么？老僧只管吃饭屙屎，别解作什么？！”又云：“学者不信自心，不悟自心，不得自心明妙受用，不得自心安乐解脱。心外妄有禅道，安立奇特，妄生取舍，纵修行，落外道、二乘、禅寂、断见境界。” | Yunmen said: Why have you all come here for no reason? This old monk merely eats and relieves himself—what else is there to do? He also said: Students do not trust their own minds, do not awaken to their own minds, and do not obtain the clear and wondrous benefit of their own minds or the peace and liberation of their own minds. Outside the mind, they falsely posit a Chan Way, establish strange and extraordinary things, and mistakenly give rise to acceptance and rejection. Even if they cultivate practice, they fall into the realms of non-Buddhist paths, the two vehicles, Chan quiescence, and annihilationist views. |
| 大慧杲云：“至理忘言，时人不悉，强习他法，以为功能，不知自性是个微妙大解脱门，具足一切妙用，从古至今，无少欠缺。犹如日轮，远近斯照，虽及众色，不与一切和合，灵烛妙明，非假锻炼。 | Dahui Gao said: The ultimate principle forgets words, yet people of the time do not understand it. They forcibly practice other methods, taking them to be efficacious, without knowing that their own nature is a wondrous gate of great liberation, fully endowed with every wondrous function and never lacking in the slightest from ancient times to the present. It is like the sun: it shines on all, near and far; though it reaches every color, it does not merge with any of them. Its numinous lamp is wondrously bright and does not depend on cultivation. |
| 为不了故，取于物象，但如捏目，妄起空华，枉自疲劳，若能返照，无第二人，举措施为，无非实相。 | Because they do not understand, they grasp at material appearances. It is merely like pressing on one’s eyes and falsely seeing flowers in empty space; they tire themselves out in vain. If they can turn the light inward, there is no second person: in every raising of the hands and every action, there is nothing that is not the true aspect. |
| 人每言自根钝，试返照，看能知钝者，还钝也无？”又示汪彦章云：“若自生退屈，谓根性陋劣，更求入头处，正是含元殿里问长安在甚处耳。 | People often say that their faculties are dull. Try turning the light inward and see: is that which knows the faculties to be dull itself dull or not? He also instructed Wang Yanzhang: If you give rise to self-deprecation, saying that your faculties are poor and seeking some point of entry elsewhere, it is precisely like asking, while standing in the Hanyuan Hall, where Chang’an is. |
| 正提撕时是阿谁？能知根性陋劣底又是阿谁？求入头处底又是阿谁？妙喜不避口业，分明为居士道破，只是个汪彦章，更无二个；只有一个汪彦章，更那里得个提撕底，知根性陋劣底，求入头处底来？当知皆汪彦章影子，并不干他汪彦章事。 | Who is it that is presently investigating? Who is it that knows the faculties to be poor? Who is it that seeks a point of entry? Miaoxi does not avoid the karmic offense of speech, but plainly reveals this to the layman: there is only Wang Yanzhang, and no second one. Since there is only one Wang Yanzhang, where could one obtain another who investigates, knows his faculties to be poor, or seeks a point of entry? Know that these are all Wang Yanzhang’s shadows and have nothing to do with Wang Yanzhang himself. |
| 若是真个汪彦章，根性必不陋劣，必不求入头处，但信得自家主人不及，并不消得许多劳攘。”“妙喜者已是老婆心切，更须下个注脚：人位即是汪彦章，信位即是知根性陋劣求入头处底。若于正提撕话头时，返思能提撕底，还是汪彦章否？到这里间不容发，若伫思停机，则被影子惑矣。” | If one truly is Wang Yanzhang, one’s faculties certainly cannot be poor, nor will one seek a point of entry. One need only trust that the master of one’s own house is not inferior; there is no need for so much striving and bustle. Miaoxi’s concern is already as earnest as that of an old grandmother, yet a further note must be added: the person is Wang Yanzhang; the one who believes that his faculties are poor and seeks a point of entry is the believing aspect. While you are investigating the huatou, reflect back: is the one who investigates Wang Yanzhang or not? Here there is no room for even a hair’s breadth. If you pause to think and let the mind come to rest, you will be deluded by the shadow. |
| 诸如此类的坦率真诚、悲心为人，使人当下见性的直指明示，翻阅禅录，真是指不胜屈。一方面固是诸大祖师老婆心切，毫无保留地欲人同出苦海，共证真常；另一方面也可于此看出悟心证道不是非参话头不可。 | Such frankness and sincerity, such compassionate direct instructions enabling people to see their nature immediately, are too numerous to count in the Chan records. On the one hand, the great patriarchs were indeed as earnest as old grandmothers, holding nothing back in their wish that people might leave the sea of suffering together and jointly realize the true eternal. On the other hand, this also shows that awakening to the mind and realizing the Way does not require investigation of the huatou. |
| 我们只须于师家明示下，豁然省悟，深信不疑这能起功用的就是我人自己的本来面目，没有什么玄妙奇特，只要于行住坐卧间绵密保任，与自己的着相妄习作斗争，渐渐底将它除净，即能臻于玄奥。 | We need only, under a teacher’s clear instruction, awaken suddenly and realize with profound and unwavering faith that this which gives rise to functioning is our own Original Face. There is nothing mysterious or extraordinary about it. We need only safeguard realization continuously and seamlessly amid walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, struggle against our own deluded habits of attachment to appearances, and gradually eliminate them. Then we can reach the profound and mysterious. |
| 如或疑此直指明示的方法，学人悟来恐不得力，也可另换手法。就学人来问时，用一句无理路的答话掼过去，逼得他无言可答，无理可申时，指他回光一瞥而亲证本来。如问：“如何是佛？”答曰：“面向西看东。 | If one doubts that this method of direct pointing and clear instruction will not give students sufficient strength upon awakening, another approach may be used. When a student asks a question, fling back at him an answer that has no rational avenue, forcing him into a state where he has no reply and no argument to make; then point him toward a single inward glance, through which he directly realizes the original. For example, if asked, “What is Buddha?” answer: “Face west and look east.” |
| ”学人闻后因无理可循，必然一呆，不知所措，即追问：“这无言可对的是谁？”他必更不会。再追问：“这眼目空动，欲言不得，欲罢不能的还是你自家的本来面目否？”学人于此必然有省，如再不会，可更进一步指示：“欲亲见佛性，会取这‘不会的’，别无其他！”我想，经这一番详示，再不会，恐怕就不是吾道中人了。 | Upon hearing this, the student will certainly be startled, unable to find any reasoning to follow and not knowing what to do. Then ask: “Who is it that has no words to answer?” He will surely be even more unable to respond. Ask further: “Is this one whose eyes move emptily, who wishes to speak but cannot, who wishes to stop but cannot, your own Original Face?” At this point the student will certainly have an awakening. If he still does not understand, instruct him further: “If you wish to see Buddha-nature directly, comprehend this ‘not understanding’; there is nothing else!” I think that after such detailed instruction, if one still does not understand, one is probably not a person of our Way. |
| 这直指见性成道法门是一超直入的雄伟心法，他是诞生王子，不假外在功勋，所以不用习禅定和一切有相修法，诞生王子必定接位称王；一切有为禅定修法，功夫再好，只是立功受奖的外围大臣，永远不得为王。 | This dharma gate of directly pointing to the nature and realizing the Way is a magnificent mind Dharma that transcends all at once and enters directly. It is like being born a prince, requiring no external merit. Thus there is no need to practice dhyāna or any form-based method of cultivation: a prince born to the throne will certainly inherit the kingship. All conditioned practices of dhyāna and cultivation, however excellent their attainment, are merely outer ministers rewarded for their services; they can never become king. |
| 所以六祖说：“只论见性，不论禅定解脱。”我们能确认这无知的灵知就是我们的真心、佛性，毫不怀疑，真是了不起的大事因缘，没有福德的人是担当不起的！ | Therefore the Sixth Patriarch said: “Speak only of seeing one’s nature, not of dhyāna, samādhi, or liberation.” If we can confirm, without the slightest doubt, that this numinous knowing of nonknowing is our true mind and Buddha-nature, it is truly an extraordinary great cause and condition. Those without merit and virtue cannot bear it! |
| 但是话要说回来，确认这尊贵无比的佛性后，不能荒唐放逸，以为到家无事。须严加保护，妥善长养，使其内不随妄念流浪，外不为物境牵流，日就月将，渐臻圆满，才得真实受用。否则，狂妄无羁，任其走着，则一无是处。非但生死依旧，而且未得为得，也将沉沦恶趣，可不慎哉！ | But to return to the point: after confirming this incomparably noble Buddha-nature, one must not behave absurdly and indulgently, imagining that one has arrived home and has nothing further to do. It must be rigorously protected and properly nurtured, so that inwardly one does not wander with deluded thoughts and outwardly one is not swept along by objects and circumstances. As the days and months pass, one gradually reaches perfection and only then obtains genuine benefit. Otherwise, if one is arrogant and unrestrained and lets oneself stray, one will accomplish nothing. Not only will birth and death remain as before, but by claiming attainment without having attained, one will also sink into evil destinies. How can one fail to be cautious? |
| 讲到保任，原非难事。只是平日动荡惯了，易被妄念和物境牵流而忘却保任，往往随妄念流浪了好多转，跟物境迁流了许多时，才猛然省悟，所以功夫不能成片。这保任功夫的难，就难在时时不忘记。 | As for safeguarding realization, it is not inherently difficult. The problem is simply that we are accustomed to distraction in ordinary life and are easily pulled along by deluded thoughts and external circumstances, forgetting to safeguard realization. Often we have wandered with deluded thoughts through many turns and been carried along by circumstances for a long time before suddenly awakening to this fact. Consequently, the practice cannot become continuous and undivided. The difficulty of safeguarding realization lies in never forgetting it at every moment. |
| 古德云：“不怕念起，只怕觉迟。”绝非虚语。我们倘能提高警惕，集中心力观牢心念起处，不随之流转；任何事物当前皆不粘染，不消三五年，即能打成一片。 | The ancient worthies said: “Do not fear the arising of thoughts; fear only late awareness.” These are by no means empty words. If we can heighten our vigilance and concentrate the power of the mind to watch closely where thoughts arise, without following their flow, and if, when any object comes before us, we do not cling to or become stained by it, then within three to five years we can become continuous and undivided. |
| 复次，“保任”功夫是由浅入深的两部功夫，不是一回事。“保”者，保护也；“任”者，放任也。做功夫先从保护下手，如婴儿降生后，须妥善保养，以免夭折一样。 | Furthermore, the practice of “safeguarding” and “letting be” consists of two stages, progressing from the shallow to the deep; they are not the same. “Safeguarding” means protecting; “letting be” means allowing free functioning. One begins practice with protection, just as an infant must be properly cared for after birth lest it die prematurely. |
| 等有为的保护功夫做到圆满，在日常动用中毫无走着时，才能进入“任”字功夫。任其自由行动，要坐便坐，要行便行，毫无拘束，方能进入无为正位。 | Only when the conditioned practice of protection has been brought to perfection, so that there is no straying amid the activities of daily life, can one enter the practice of “letting be.” Allow yourself to act freely: sit when you wish to sit, walk when you wish to walk, without the slightest constraint. Only then can one enter the proper stage of non-contrivance. |
| 更向上，浑化其无为之迹，无所谓无为不无为，镇日如痴如呆，饥来吃饭，困来打眠，方得真实受用。但如因做“保”字功夫时，用功过切，看得过紧，时间长了，呆如木鸡，死而不化，则又非是。 | Going still further, thoroughly dissolve even the traces of non-contrivance, so that there is no longer any question of non-contrivance or its absence. All day long, be as if foolish or dull: eat when hungry and sleep when tired. Only then does one obtain genuine benefit. But if, when practicing “safeguarding,” one applies oneself too intensely and holds too tightly, then after a long time becomes dull as a wooden chicken, dead and unable to transform, this too is not right. |
| 故做功夫有三难：一是认识本来，立稳脚跟，无所狐疑难；二是认识本来后，绵密保任不忘难；三是不死于保护，活泼放任难。过此三者，则天上天下唯尔独尊矣！ | Therefore, there are three difficulties in practice: first, it is difficult to recognize the original nature, establish a firm footing, and be free of all doubt; second, after recognizing the original nature, it is difficult never to forget continuous and seamless safeguarding realization; third, it is difficult not to die in protection, but to let go with lively freedom. Having passed these three, you alone are honored in heaven and on earth! |
| 或问：“大慧杲禅师斥诸方静坐观心为默照邪禅。 | Someone may ask: “Chan Master Dahui Gao criticized the quiet sitting and contemplation of mind taught in various places as the heretical Chan of silent illumination.” |
| 今子教人于直指见性后，绵密观照，保护真心，岂不落入默照邪禅之列？”答曰：大慧斥诸方为默照邪禅者，以诸方不知有——不识本性——只在那里空坐，徒劳无益，更有落入死水、无记之虞，所以斥为邪禅。 | Now you teach people, after directly pointing to their nature and seeing it, to maintain continuous and seamless contemplation and protect the true mind. Does this not fall into the category of the heretical Chan of silent illumination?” The reply is: Dahui criticized the various places as practicing the heretical Chan of silent illumination because they did not know that there is [the true nature]—they did not recognize their intrinsic nature—and merely sat vacantly there, laboring in vain. Moreover, there was the danger of falling into dead water and an indeterminate state; therefore, he criticized it as heretical Chan. |
| 今我们大家先识本性，而后加以绵密保护，不是空保；是有主、知妙有的保，犹如有了孩子后加以养育的保，不是没有孩子的空保。这和大慧斥责的邪禅截然不同，不可混为一谈。识自本心，见自本性，在修法的途程上如此重要，就更突出了直指的重要性和关键性。 | First, we must all recognize our intrinsic nature and then safeguard it continuously and seamlessly. This is not an empty safeguarding; it is safeguarding grounded in self-mastery and awareness of wondrous presence. It is like nurturing a child after one has had one, not empty safeguarding when there is no child. This is utterly different from the perverse Chan censured by Dahui and must not be confused with it. Recognizing one’s own original mind and seeing one’s own intrinsic nature are so important on the path of practice that this all the more highlights the importance and pivotal role of direct pointing. |
| 直指见性既如此重要，诸大祖师能为学人开发自性，令其当下悟者，而免迂回曲折地多走弯路，真是功德太大了。 | Since direct pointing and seeing one’s nature are so important, the great patriarchs’ ability to open students to their own nature, enabling them to awaken immediately and avoid taking many roundabout detours, is truly an immeasurable merit and virtue. |
| 禅门五宗的诸大祖师能为学人畅晓无疑地直示真心的，代不乏人，但其中说得最直接痛快，令人闻后即能悟道的莫过临济祖师。 | Among the great patriarchs of the Five Houses of Chan, there has never been any lack of those who could directly reveal the true mind to students with complete clarity and leave them free of doubt. Yet none spoke more directly and incisively, enabling people to realize the Way as soon as they heard, than Patriarch Linji. |
| 他非但把如何是当人的佛性及这性在什么处说得一清二楚，而且把悟后如何做保任功夫以及功夫向上升进的历程，也用“三玄三要”毫无保留地表泄出来。不似他宗把说到嘴边的关键话又咽了回去，使人反而生疑，摸不着头脑，这大概就是今日他宗皆绝响，唯临济尚能延续的原因吧。 | Not only did he explain with utter clarity what the Buddha-nature of the person before us is and where this nature is to be found; he also disclosed without reservation, through the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials, how to practice safeguarding realization after awakening and the course by which practice advances. Unlike other schools, which swallow back the crucial words that have already reached their lips, leaving people doubtful and at a loss, this is perhaps why the other schools have now fallen silent while the Linji lineage alone continues. |
| 临济祖师开示学人说：“我与诸佛不别者，乃认得这说法之人，听法之人，他是无依的人，他是诸佛之母，诸佛皆从此出。”又云：“竖起眉毛，挺起脊梁，露出巍巍堂堂这说法之人、听法之人，便是活佛活祖。 | Patriarch Linji instructed his students: “What makes me no different from all Buddhas is that I recognize this person who speaks the Dharma and this person who hears the Dharma. This person relies on nothing; this person is the mother of all Buddhas, and all Buddhas emerge from this.” He also said: “Raise your eyebrows, straighten your spine, and reveal this majestic person who speaks the Dharma and hears the Dharma: that is a living Buddha, a living patriarch.” |
| ”又云：“赤肉团上有一无位真人，常出入人之面门。”又云：“欲识此无位真人么？即今说法、听法者是。”又云：“人要求真正见解，不要求殊胜，殊胜自至。 | He also said: “Within this lump of red flesh is a True Person of No Rank, who constantly comes and goes through the gateways of people’s faces.” He also said: “Do you wish to recognize this True Person of No Rank? It is precisely the one who is now speaking the Dharma and hearing the Dharma.” He also said: “People should seek genuine understanding, not excellence; excellence will come of itself.” |
| 何以谓之真正见解？你四大色身不解说法听法，脾胃肝胆不解说法听法，虚空、物境不解说法听法，是什么解说法听法？是你目前历历的勿一个形段孤明，是这个解说法听法，若如是见，便得与佛祖不别。 | What is meant by genuine understanding? Your physical body of the four elements cannot speak or hear the Dharma; your spleen, stomach, liver, and gallbladder cannot speak or hear the Dharma; empty space and material objects cannot speak or hear the Dharma. What, then, can speak and hear the Dharma? It is the vividly present, solitary luminosity before you, without form or feature, that speaks and hears the Dharma. If you see in this way, you become no different from the Buddhas and patriarchs. |
| ”又云：“你欲识佛祖么？只你能听法的便是，如信不及而向外求，设求得者，皆是文字名相，终不得他活佛活祖之意。 | He also said: “Do you wish to recognize the Buddhas and patriarchs? It is simply that which can hear the Dharma. If your faith does not reach this and you seek outwardly, then whatever you obtain will all be written words and nominal appearances; in the end, you will never attain the meaning of the living Buddha and living patriarch.” |
| ”又云：“约山僧见处与世尊不别，每日多般用处欠少什么？六道神光未曾间息，若能如是见得即是一生无事人。”又云：“你欲得生死去住自由，即今识取听法的人，无形无相，无住处，活泼泼地应万般设施用处，只是无处所，觅着转远，求之转乖，号为秘密。”…… | He also said: “In this mountain monk’s view, there is no difference from the World-Honored One. In your manifold daily activities, what is lacking? The spiritual radiance functioning through the six sense faculties has never ceased. If you can see in this way, you are a person with nothing to do for your entire life.” He also said: “If you wish to gain freedom in birth and death, coming and going, recognize right now the person who hears the Dharma: formless, without characteristics, abiding nowhere, lively and responsive in all kinds of functions and activities. Yet it has no fixed place; the more you seek it, the farther away it becomes, and the more you pursue it, the more you go astray. This is called the secret.” … |
| 临济祖师见得真，说得苦，“说法、听法之人”这句反覆叮咛嘱咐学人的话，多不胜举。总是要人当下信得及，识得透，才能了毕大事。我们后辈学子果能于斯识得本性的端倪，毫不怀疑地于行住坐卧中加以绵密保任，消尽妄习，圆证菩提，方不辜负临济公赤诚为人的本怀。 | Patriarch Linji saw truly and spoke with great earnestness. His repeated and insistent exhortations to students concerning “the person who speaks the Dharma and hears the Dharma” are too numerous to count. He always sought to make people have immediate faith and thoroughly recognize it, so that they could bring the great matter to completion. If we later students can indeed recognize the beginnings of our intrinsic nature here, and safeguard realization continuously and seamlessly amid walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, without the slightest doubt, thereby exhausting deluded habitual tendencies and fully realizing bodhi, then we shall not betray Master Linji’s sincere original intent in teaching people. |
| 至于“三玄三要”更是临济公心诣。因他用心细密，亲历过来，说得清楚透彻。他说大凡演唱宗乘，一句中须具三玄，一玄门须具三要。这三玄三要，我们要细细参透，方知由初悟，渐臻圆满的玄奥。 | As for the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials, they were even more Master Linji’s deepest intention. Because his practice was meticulous and he had personally traversed the path, he explained them clearly and thoroughly. He said that whenever one expounds the essential vehicle, a single phrase must contain the Three Mysteries, and each gate of mystery must contain the Three Essentials. We must investigate the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials carefully in order to understand the profundity by which one gradually reaches perfection from initial awakening. |
| 但历来诸方对这三玄三要究竟是哪三玄哪三要呢？各执一词，争论不息，相持不下。 | Yet throughout the ages, opinions have differed as to what precisely the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials are. Each party has clung to its own view, and the disputes have never ceased. |
| 如古塔主、洪觉范、张无尽等，有的说是藉此为涂毒鼓声，一死便休；有的说是截断众流，壁立万仞，偷心全死而悟本来；有的说似清凉寂灭幢等。惟古塔主独排众议，谓临济公既说三玄，应还他三玄，怎可以一语而概之。 | For example, the ancient Pagoda Master, Hong Juefan, Zhang Wujin, and others offered differing explanations. Some said that they were like the sound of a poison drum: one blow, and with death all is finished. Some said that they cut off the multitude of streams, standing like a sheer wall ten thousand fathoms high, so that the thieving mind completely dies and one awakens to the original. Others compared them to such things as a banner of cool quiescent cessation. Only the Pagoda Master rejected these views, saying that since Master Linji spoke of three mysteries, one should give him three mysteries; how could they be summed up in a single phrase? |
| 乃采集言句表彰三玄，但于中又遗漏几要，不无支离破碎之感。在此众论纷纭，莫衷一是之际，汾阳昭禅师乃以一偈而概之曰：“三玄三要事难分，得意忘言道易亲；一句明明该万象，重阳九月菊花新。 | He therefore collected sayings to elucidate the Three Mysteries, but in doing so omitted several Essentials, leaving an impression of fragmentation. At a time when opinions were so diverse and no consensus could be reached, Chan Master Fenyang Zhao summed them up in a verse: “The Three Mysteries and Three Essentials are hard to distinguish; when one attains the meaning and forgets words, the Way is easily approached. One phrase clearly encompasses the myriad forms: chrysanthemums are fresh in the ninth month of autumn.” |
| ”他是临济公第五代孙，他说难分，谁敢再分。以是三玄三要之诣，尘封高阁，决无有再提起者。 | He was a fifth-generation descendant of Master Linji. Since he said they were hard to distinguish, who would dare distinguish them further? Thus the import of the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials was sealed away on a high shelf, and no one dared raise the subject again. |
| 迨至清初天童密云悟禅师的法嗣三峰禅师出世，进问乃师本宗初祖三玄三要的的旨，悟师以汾阳昭偈答之，三峰不肯，请师清楚明晰地指出三玄是哪三玄？而且一玄有三要，三玄就应有九要，九要又是哪九要？不可笼统颟顸地说一句事难分而作罢。 | Then, in the early Qing, Chan Master Sanfeng, Dharma heir of Chan Master Miyun Wu of Tiantong, came forth and asked his teacher about the precise meaning of the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials of the founding patriarch of their school. Master Wu answered with Fenyang Zhao’s verse. But Sanfeng would not accept this and asked his teacher to indicate clearly which three were the Three Mysteries. Moreover, if each mystery had three essentials, then the three mysteries should have nine essentials; what, then, were those nine essentials? One could not simply say vaguely that the matter was hard to distinguish and leave it at that. |
| 因此引起师弟不睦，更因此争论。清雍正帝目为犯上，阻止三峰语录流通，焚毁其书，致今日无从查阅此公如何申述三玄三要之玄旨，诚为莫大的憾事！于兹无可奈何之际，谨就诸先贤关于三玄三要之论述，择其适合为近代人用功之轨范者略录之于后 | This led to discord between teacher and disciple and, further, to contention. The Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing regarded it as insubordination, prohibited the circulation of Sanfeng’s Recorded Sayings, and had his books burned. Consequently, we can no longer consult how this master expounded the profound import of the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials. This is truly a great regret. With no remedy for this, I respectfully select from the discussions of earlier worthies on the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials those suitable as models of practice for modern people, and briefly record them below. |
| 临济公说“一句中具三玄”。在要弄清三玄之前，先要明白这一句是哪一句，不明白这一句又何从透三玄呢？原来这一句就是上面说的“赤肉团上有一无位真人，即今说法、听法者是”。这一句最关紧要，是三玄三要的总纲。明白这一句，识得本来面目，才可往下谈玄要——用功的过程。否则，如纸上谈兵，空说无益。 | Master Linji said, “One phrase contains the Three Mysteries.” Before clarifying the Three Mysteries, we must first understand which phrase this is. If we do not understand this phrase, how can we penetrate the Three Mysteries? This phrase is the one stated above: “Within this lump of red flesh is a True Person of No Rank; it is precisely the one who is now speaking the Dharma and hearing the Dharma.” This phrase is of the utmost importance; it is the general outline of the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials. Only after understanding this phrase and recognizing the Original Face can we go on to discuss the Mysteries and Essentials—the process of practice. Otherwise, it is like discussing warfare on paper: empty talk is of no benefit. |
| 所谓说法听法的无位真人，即本来天真、不因造作、不用修成而无依倚的本色道人也。我们现在能说法听法的不是四大色体，乃各人目前历历孤明而无形相的“灵明妙觉”。我们会得这个“妙觉”，只为初悟，习气未除，自救不了，需要历境练心，上上升进方能与佛祖把手共行。所以临济公把这段历进的途程分为三玄三要。 | The True Person of No Rank who speaks and hears the Dharma is the original, naturally genuine person of the Way, uncreated, requiring no cultivation to be accomplished, and relying on nothing. What now speaks and hears the Dharma is not the physical body of the four elements, but each person’s vividly present, solitary luminosity without form or appearance—the “spiritually luminous wondrous awareness.” To awaken to this “wondrous awareness” is only initial awakening. Since habitual tendencies have not yet been eliminated, one cannot save oneself; one must temper the mind through circumstances and advance ever higher before one can walk hand in hand with the Buddhas and patriarchs. Thus Master Linji divided this course of gradual advance into the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials. |
| 从这句说法听法的无位真人上因各人的根基和所悟的深浅不同，分为三玄。是哪三玄呢？第一是体中玄，第二意中玄，第三是句中玄。盖从悟得的妙体上发而为之的大意，由意产生妙用拈出而为言句。临济公于每一玄，各有一句说话，今为读者易于明了契入起见，将三句提示，颠倒过来，由浅入深的从第三句中玄开始分段略说如后： | On the basis of this True Person of No Rank who speaks and hears the Dharma, the Three Mysteries are distinguished according to the differing capacities of individuals and the depth of their awakening. What are these Three Mysteries? First is the Mystery within Essence; second, the Mystery within Meaning; third, the Mystery within the Phrase. From the wondrous essence realized, the great intent arises; from that intent, wondrous function arises and is brought forth as words and phrases. For each mystery, Master Linji gave one saying. To make them easier for readers to understand and enter into, I shall present these three sayings in reverse order, beginning with the third, the Mystery within the Phrase, and explain them briefly from the shallow to the profound. |
| 一、句中玄：“看取棚头弄傀儡，抽牵全藉里头人。” | I. The Mystery within the Phrase: “Look at the puppets performing on the stage; every pull and movement depends entirely on the person within.” |
| 这句话就是说我们看木偶戏，木头人会动，全靠人在里面抽线。教我们由此明白我们之所以能言能行全是佛性的作用，离开佛性，这个色体就如木头一样，不能动弹，藉此提示而明悟本来。 | This means that when we watch a puppet show, the wooden figures can move only because someone inside pulls the strings. It teaches us thereby to understand that our ability to speak and act is entirely the functioning of Buddha-nature. Apart from Buddha-nature, this physical body is like wood and cannot move. This points us toward awakening to the original. |
| 但这只是初悟，执着习气犹在，故此时自救不了。但在悟后，只要不放逸，不得少为足，精勤绵密地做保任功夫，即能除尽习气而了断生死。故这里就功夫上进的程序分为三要： | But this is only initial awakening, and clinging habitual tendencies still remain; therefore, at this point one cannot save oneself. Yet after awakening, so long as one is not lax, does not become complacent, and diligently undertakes the practice of safeguarding realization continuously and seamlessly, one can eliminate all habitual tendencies and bring birth and death to an end. Accordingly, the stages of advancement in practice are here divided into Three Essentials: |
| 初要：初悟时脱离诸相，识得本真，是为句中玄初段。 | First Essential: At initial awakening, one becomes free from all appearances and recognizes the original reality. This is the first stage of the Mystery within the Phrase. |
| 中要：既识本真，习气犹在，即当绵密保护，不可稍懈。 | Middle Essential: Having recognized the original reality, habitual tendencies still remain. One must therefore safeguard it continuously and seamlessly and must not relax even slightly. |
| 上要：以自己保自己，则有想象光影，思欲离之，但功力不够，犹不能忘。此时任你保护严密，但有相而不能忘，所以临济公说自救不了。 | Highest Essential: When one safeguards oneself by oneself, there are still imagined images and shadows. One wishes to leave them behind, but one’s strength is insufficient and one still cannot forget them. At this time, however strictly one safeguards, one cannot forget appearances. Therefore Master Linji said that one cannot save oneself. |
| 二、意中玄：“妙解岂容无著问，沤和争负截流机！” | II. The Mystery within Meaning: “How could wondrous understanding allow Asaṅga’s question? How could bubbles and foam bear the capacity to cut off the streams!” |
| 斯道妙理难解至于不可以言解，斯真妙矣。既妙至无可言解，则起念来问者，岂不错乎？即善问如无著菩萨者，至此亦无能措词。盖无为法门，其初已悟截流之机——即识得本来入于正位，则群流——妄想——皆断。 | The wondrous principle of this Way is so difficult to comprehend that it cannot be understood through words. This is its true wonder. Since it is so wondrous that it cannot be verbally understood, is it not mistaken to raise a thought and ask about it? Even one as skilled at questioning as Bodhisattva Asaṅga could find no words here. For in the gate of the unconditioned, one has already awakened at the outset to the capacity that cuts off the streams—namely, recognizing the original and entering the rightful position—so that all streams, that is, deluded thoughts, are cut off. |
| 沤和者乃水中之泡一起一灭和而成块也，任你百千万亿有言说的问答沤块，怎能负担得起截断众流的大机大用？意思是任你百千问答，终归有解，岂能如无解之妙解，一齐放下，无问无答当下即截断众流，而端坐证无为。这里就功夫进度也分三要： | Bubbles and foam are masses formed as bubbles arise and vanish in water. However many hundreds of millions of verbal questions and answers, like masses of bubbles and foam, there may be, how could they bear the great capacity and function of cutting off the multitude of streams? This means that however many questions and answers there may be, they ultimately entail interpretation. How could they equal the wondrous understanding that admits no interpretation, in which everything is set down at once, without question or answer, cutting off the multitude of streams in that very moment and sitting upright to realize the unconditioned? Here too, the progress of practice is divided into Three Essentials: |
| 初要：接句中玄上要，因保任功夫绵密，能离却想象光影，然犹有离在意中。 | First Essential: Continuing from the Highest Essential of the Mystery within the Phrase, because the practice of safeguarding realization has become continuous and seamless, one can leave behind imagined images and shadows. Yet there still remains the thought of leaving them behind. |
| 中要：功夫更加绵密，忘却“离”字，遂入无为正位。身心轻安，受用无比。其始也返照之意多；今也变返照而为寂照，端拱无为，一无事道人而已。 | Middle Essential: Practice becomes still more continuous and seamless, and one forgets even the word “leave,” thereby entering the rightful position of the unconditioned. Body and mind become light and at ease, and the experience is incomparable. At first, the intention of turning the light inward is prominent; now that turning is transformed into quiescent illumination. One sits composed in non-contrivance, simply a person of the Way with nothing to do. |
| 上要：此时无所谓功夫，无功之功，其功甚大，即无为亦浑化其迹，无所谓无为矣。此时不求神通变化，而神通自来！到此地位已明两玄六要，可以教化人天，故临济公云：此句荐得可以为人天师。 | Highest Essential: At this point, there is no longer anything called practice. It is practice without striving, yet its efficacy is immense. Even non-contrivance itself leaves no trace, and there is no longer anything called non-contrivance. At this point one does not seek spiritual powers and transformations, yet spiritual powers come of themselves. Having clearly understood the two Mysteries and Six Essentials, one can teach devas and humans. Therefore Master Linji said: “Whoever realizes this phrase can become a teacher of devas and humans.” |
| 三、体中玄：“三要印开朱点窄，未容拟议主宾分。” | III. The Mystery within Essence: “When the seal of the Three Essentials is opened, the cinnabar point is narrow; before deliberation is allowed, host and guest are distinguished.” |
| 此三要不是上面说的初、中、上三要，而是身、口、意三要。上面说的三要乃返本还原，自家大事了毕者；此三要乃印开心地——朱点——发百千万陀罗尼，建立化门，起度生之妙用者。 | These Three Essentials are not the lower, middle, and higher Three Essentials discussed above; rather, they are the three essentials of body, speech, and mind. The Three Essentials discussed above concern returning to the source and restoring the original, whereby one’s own great matter is brought to completion. These Three Essentials concern the seal that opens the mind-ground—the red dot—giving rise to hundreds of thousands of dhāraṇīs, establishing gateways of transformation, and activating the wondrous functioning of liberating sentient beings. |
| 为度生故，身则外现威仪；口则随机对答；意则智悲双运。以此为印，开发心地，广大无边，凡一切料简、与夺、权实、照用、宾主，不必拟议而自然历历分明。（试问：东西两堂二僧同时出来下喝一声，还分得出谁是主谁是宾否？）这里也分三要： | For the sake of liberating sentient beings, the body outwardly manifests dignified bearing; speech responds appropriately to circumstances; and mind brings wisdom and compassion into joint operation. Using this as the seal, one opens and develops the mind-ground, vast and boundless. In all discernment, granting and withholding, provisional and real, illumination and function, host and guest, there is no need for deliberation: everything is naturally clear and distinct. (Let me ask: if two monks from the eastern and western halls emerge at the same time and each gives a shout, can you still distinguish who is host and who is guest?) Here, too, there are Three Essentials: |
| 初要：功夫妙到极处，则妙不能久炫其妙而返淡，此淡乃功夫妙到尽极处，返而为淡，不是未曾历过意中之玄要而妄言淡者。淡如水，水无味，同愚人一样，无识无知，穿衣吃饭而已。 | The lower essential: when practice reaches its most wondrous point, the wondrous cannot long display its own wonder and returns to plainness. This plainness comes only after practice has reached its utmost wonder and then returned to plainness; it is not the plainness idly proclaimed by one who has never experienced the profound essentials within. Plain as water: water is tasteless. One is like a fool, without recognition or knowledge, simply putting on clothes and eating भोजन. |
| 中要：我们本体本来如此，今复如此，并无增加。斯理实非妙字能尽，惟淡字好，但大家一入淡则觉孤寂而飞走去，惟智者能安而乐之。淡虽无味，然无味中有一至味在。 | The middle essential: our fundamental essence has always been thus, and now is again thus; nothing has been added. This principle truly cannot be exhausted by the word “wondrous”; only the word “plain” is fitting. Yet when people enter into plainness, they feel lonely and desolate and flee from it. Only the wise can dwell there peacefully and delight in it. Though plainness is tasteless, within that tastelessness is a supreme flavor. |
| 原来不是色、不是空、不是一、不是万、不是凡、不是圣、不是境、不是物、不是有为、不是无为、不是亦不是，于行住坐卧，动静酬酢往来之中而历历孤明，如朗月当头，推之不去，揽之不来，总无丝毫接续断灭，影响之相。 | Originally, it is not form, not emptiness, not one, not many, not ordinary, not holy, not circumstances, not things, not conditioned, not unconditioned, and not even “not.” Yet amid walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; amid activity and stillness, social exchanges and comings and goings, it is distinctly and solitarily luminous, like a bright moon overhead. It cannot be pushed away or drawn near, and there is never the slightest appearance of continuity, cessation, or residual trace. |
| 上要：至此难于开口措词，世尊见文殊、迦叶白椎竟便下座，古来诸禅德至此便拂衣归方丈。惟曹山禅师有一句话可用来明此上要。僧问曹山：“朗月当头时如何？”山曰：“犹是阶下汉。”僧曰：“请师接上阶。 | The higher essential: at this point it is difficult to open one’s mouth or find words. When the World-Honored One saw Mañjuśrī and Mahākāśyapa, he struck the gavel and then descended from the seat. Since ancient times, Chan worthies have, upon reaching this point, simply brushed off their robes and returned to the abbot’s quarters. Only Chan Master Caoshan had a saying that may clarify this higher essential. A monk asked Caoshan, “What is it like when the bright moon is overhead?” Caoshan said, “You are still a fellow below the steps.” The monk said, “Please, Master, lead me up the steps.” |
| ”山曰：“月落时相见。”诸位读者，月落后莫非即漆黑一团，不见光明了么？非也，这是功夫到究竟处，浑化相忘，毫无痕迹，犹如吾人在空气中而忘其为空气也。此时如有人进问一句：“月落后作么生相见？”我即向他礼拜了退。 | Caoshan said, “We shall meet when the moon sets.” Readers, when the moon has set, is it not simply a pitch-black mass, with no light to be seen? No. This is when practice has reached its ultimate point: all distinctions are thoroughly assimilated and forgotten, leaving no trace at all—just as we live amid the air yet forget that it is air. At such a time, if someone came forward and asked, “How shall we meet after the moon has set?” I would bow to him and withdraw. |
| 可见我们做功夫到究竟地，一点影响也没有，假如还执着神通变化，则失之远矣！所以临济公说，到此地位可以为佛祖之师。 | Thus, when our practice reaches the ultimate ground, there is not even the slightest residual trace. If one still clings to spiritual powers and transformations, one has missed it by far. Therefore Master Linji said that at this stage one may become the teacher of Buddhas and patriarchs. |
| 这临济公直指人见性成道的三玄三要心法，自从汾阳昭说“事难分”后，后人大都不敢再分三玄三要的内容究竟是什么玄要？只颟顸笼统地说一声“泥弹子”或“喝”一声而掩饰过去。 | After Fenyang Zhaozhao said, “The matter is difficult to distinguish,” later generations generally did not dare to distinguish the actual content of the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials—the mind teaching through which Master Linji directly pointed people toward seeing their nature and realizing the Way. They merely uttered such vague generalities as “a mud pellet,” or gave a shout to cover the matter over. |
| 讲到喝，如真透过三玄三要达到究竟地，这喝非但当得起三玄三要的最高点——“三要印开朱点窄”，即三世诸佛也为之喝退；如只笼统颟顸地“喝”，则张三李四哪个不会喝，这喝值得什么狗屎橛！ | Speaking of shouts: if one has truly penetrated the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials and reached the ultimate ground, such a shout not only accords with the highest point of the Three Mysteries and Three Essentials—“When the seal of the Three Essentials opens, the red dot is narrow”—even the Buddhas of the three times would be shouted back by it. But if one gives a vague, undiscerning “shout,” then Zhang San and Li Si alike can shout. What is such a shout worth? A dog-turd stick! |
| 棒喝在禅宗的作用颇为广博而微妙，德山棒、临济喝是响彻古今的宗门风范。不知有多少豪迈英俊之士于斯豁开正眼而归家稳坐，可见其作用之微妙，有非言语所能表达者。兹举一则“喝”的公案供养大众，以略窥其微妙： | The staff and shout have broad and subtle functions in the Chan school. Deshan’s staff and Linji’s shout are exemplary styles of the Chan tradition that have resounded through past and present. Who knows how many bold and outstanding persons have thereby opened their true eyes, returned home, and sat securely! Their subtle efficacy is evidently beyond the power of words to express. Let me offer a case concerning a “shout” to the assembly, so that we may glimpse something of its subtlety: |
| 宋徽宗时，当朝太尉请诸山长老来家开无遮大会，当时禅宗的大德圆悟勤也在座，徽宗皇帝也着便衣来会随喜。 | During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song, a grand councillor of the court invited elders from the various mountains to his home to hold an unrestricted assembly. The great Chan master Yuanwu Keqin was present, and Emperor Huizong also attended in plain clothes to rejoice in the occasion. |
| 会间有华严座主提问道：“在我们教下讲来要成佛须经三大阿僧劫，而禅宗则说一棒一喝即能证道，这和佛所说大相径庭，不能使人无疑。今宗下大德在此，如一喝能透得贤首五教，则能使大家信服，棒喝确有此功效；如透不过五教，则所谓棒喝能使人成道者，便同魔说。敬请宗下大德来开示愚蒙。” | During the gathering, a Huayan lecturer asked, “In our doctrinal school, it is taught that Buddhahood requires three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, whereas the Chan school says that one can realize the Way with a single blow or shout. This greatly contradicts what the Buddha taught and cannot but give rise to doubt. Now that great masters of the Chan school are here, if a single shout can penetrate the Five Teachings of the Xianshou tradition, everyone will be convinced that the staff and shout truly have this efficacy. But if it cannot penetrate the Five Teachings, then the claim that staff and shout can enable people to realize the Way is no different from the words of Māra. I respectfully request the great masters of the Chan school to instruct us ignorant ones.” |
| 时圆悟以目视净因成禅师，成会意，乃对大众曰：此问题很简单，不值前辈长老解答，由我少长老来试答。要透五教，先将五教的教义立明，以免下喝时混淆不清： | Yuanwu looked toward Chan Master Cheng of Jingyin. Cheng understood his meaning and addressed the assembly: “This question is very simple and does not merit an answer from the senior elders. Let this junior elder try to answer it. To penetrate the Five Teachings, we must first clarify the doctrines of the Five Teachings, lest there be confusion when the shout is given: |
| 一、小乘教：小乘著有，以有法可修，有生死可了，有涅槃可证为义。 | 1. The Hīnayāna teaching: it clings to existence, taking as its meaning that there are dharmas to cultivate, birth and death to end, and nirvāṇa to realize. |
| 二、大乘始教：乃真空绝相之理法界，以一法不立，一尘不染为尚。 | 2. The initial teaching of the Mahāyāna: this is the Dharma realm of principle, of true emptiness beyond all marks, esteeming not establishing a single dharma and being unstained by a single speck of dust. |
| 三、大乘终教：以非空非有为义，空有双非，乃空有皆不住之事法界。 | 3. The final teaching of the Mahāyāna: it takes neither emptiness nor existence as its meaning. Neither emptiness nor existence is retained; this is the Dharma realm of phenomena in which one abides in neither emptiness nor existence. |
| 四、大乘顿教：以即空即有为义，空不碍有，有不碍空，乃空有双运之理事无碍法界。 | 4. The sudden teaching of the Mahāyāna: it takes emptiness itself being existence and existence itself being emptiness as its meaning. Emptiness does not obstruct existence, and existence does not obstruct emptiness; this is the Dharma realm in which principle and phenomena interpenetrate through the joint operation of emptiness and existence. |
| 五、大乘圆教：以非空而非有，非有而非空，圆融无碍为旨，乃佛祖心髓之事事无碍法界。 | 5. The perfect teaching of the Mahāyāna: its purport is neither existence yet not emptiness, nor emptiness yet not existence, but perfect interpenetration without obstruction. This is the Dharma realm of the nonobstruction among phenomena, the very marrow of the minds of Buddhas and patriarchs.” |
| 成举罢问座主：“五教之义旨是否如此？”主曰：“如是如是”。成乃大喝一声，问众曰：“还听见否？”众曰：“听见了”。成曰：“那末是‘有’了，可透小乘教”。 | After setting these forth, Cheng asked the lecturer, “Are the meanings and purports of the Five Teachings as I have stated?” The lecturer replied, “They are, they are.” Cheng then gave a great shout and asked the assembly, “Did you hear it?” The assembly replied, “We heard it.” Cheng said, “Then there is ‘existence,’ and thus one can penetrate the Hīnayāna teaching.” |
| 历久声消，成问众曰：“还听见否？”众曰：“听不见了”。成曰：“那么是‘空’了，能透大乘始教。”成进云：“现在无声，刚刚有声，是非空；刚才虽有而现在则无，是非有，这非有非空能透大乘终教了。 | After a long while, when the sound had faded, Cheng asked the assembly, “Do you still hear it?” The assembly replied, “We do not hear it.” Cheng said, “Then there is ‘emptiness,’ and one can penetrate the initial teaching of the Mahāyāna.” Cheng continued: “There is now no sound, while there was sound just now; thus it is not emptiness. Though there was sound just now, there is none now; thus it is not existence. This neither-existence-nor-emptiness penetrates the final teaching of the Mahāyāna.” |
| 再则，现在说空，因刚刚有才说空，如刚刚无有，现在无从说空。那么，说空之时有在空；例此，因空才说有，如无空说什么有？故说有之时空在有，这是相对相成的，这就是即空即有，即有即空，透得过大乘顿教了。 | “Further, we now speak of emptiness because there was sound just now; had there been no sound just now, there would be no basis for speaking of emptiness now. Thus, when emptiness is spoken of, existence is present within emptiness. By the same token, we speak of existence because of emptiness; without emptiness, of what could one speak as existence? Thus, when existence is spoken of, emptiness is present within existence. They are mutually relative and mutually completing. This is emptiness itself being existence and existence itself being emptiness, and it penetrates the sudden teaching of the Mahāyāna.” |
| 再说大乘圆教非有而非空，非空而非有者，我一喝不作一喝用，做一切事毫无去留、粘染。 | “Now, as for the perfect teaching of the Mahāyāna—neither existence yet not emptiness, nor emptiness yet not existence—I do not use my single shout merely as a single shout. In doing all things, there is neither coming nor going, neither attachment nor defilement.” |
| 终日吃饭，未曾咬着一粒米，终日着衣，未尝挂着一根丝；不动身心而日应万缘，端拱无为而妙用恒沙；说无之时，周遍沙界，说有之时，纤毫不立。诸子百家，百工技艺，莫不如此，此大乘圆教圆融无碍之旨也”。大众闻后，莫不信服赞叹，徽宗在座也点头不止。 | “All day long I eat, yet have never bitten a single grain of rice; all day long I wear clothes, yet have never had a single thread hang upon me. Without stirring body or mind, I respond daily to the myriad conditions; seated upright in non-contrivance, wondrous functioning is as countless as the sands of the Ganges. When speaking of nonexistence, I pervade worlds as numerous as sand grains; when speaking of existence, not even the finest hair is established. The hundred schools of thought and the hundred crafts and skills are all thus. This is the purport of the perfect teaching of the Mahāyāna: perfect interpenetration without obstruction.” After hearing this, the whole assembly was convinced and full of praise. Emperor Huizong, who was seated among them, nodded repeatedly as well. |
| 这则公案启示我们，举凡一举一动，一言一行，莫不是真心的妙用，只要我们于识得它后，不忘保任，时时处处在事境上磨练，将旧习除尽，即能起大机大用，圆证菩提，正不必参无义味的话头也。 | This koan teaches us that every gesture and movement, every word and deed, is the wondrous functioning of the true mind. So long as, after recognizing it, we do not forget to safeguard realization, but temper ourselves in circumstances at all times and in all places and eliminate our old habitual tendencies, we can bring forth great potential and great function, perfectly realize bodhi, and need not investigate huatou devoid of meaningful flavor. |
| 但如习气深厚，执着坚固的人，虽能识得这说法、听法的人，但因定力不够，看不见妄念起处，无从着手保护；于物境当前时，更无力转换，就可择一与自己习性相应的法门，如数息、念佛、参话头或修心中心法等，加上打坐，增加定力，庶几可于行住坐卧处不忘保任，而于最后圆成彻证之功矣。 | But those whose habitual tendencies are deep and whose attachments are firm may recognize the one who speaks Dharma and hears Dharma, yet lack sufficient meditative stability to see where deluded thoughts arise and thus have no way to begin safeguarding it. When external objects confront them, they are even less able to transform them. They may therefore choose a dharma gate suited to their own dispositions, such as counting the breath, Buddha-recitation, investigating a huatou, or cultivating the Heart-of-Heart Dharma. With the addition of seated meditation to strengthen meditative stability, they may then be able, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, not to forget to safeguard realization and ultimately accomplish perfect and thorough realization. |
