Methods of Answering Inquiries 酬问法
Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 兹再将酬问法略示一二以启般若之用。 |
I shall now briefly set forth one or two methods of answering inquiries, in order to inspire the functioning of prajñā. |
| 一、设有人问云，何种人是佛亦无法度化的？当答云，何种人是佛有法度化的，更反问之曰，到底是佛度众生，还是众生自度。（当字不可死解作非如此不可，以本无定法也。） |
1. Suppose someone asks, “What kind of person can the Buddha not transform by any Dharma?” Answer, “What kind of person can the Buddha transform by Dharma?” Then ask in return, “After all, does the Buddha liberate sentient beings, or do sentient beings liberate themselves?” (The word “should” must not be rigidly interpreted as meaning that it cannot be otherwise, for there is fundamentally no fixed Dharma.) |
| 二、设有人问云，修心中心法人，每自称证得，究有何种凭证？当答云，修证的人自知之，虽知之，亦无法与未修人道得。 |
2. Suppose someone asks, “Practitioners of the Heart-of-Heart Dharma often claim realization. What evidence is there?” Answer, “Those who practice and realize know for themselves; though they know it, they cannot explain it to those who have not practiced.” |
| 三、设有人问云，修成佛，经三大阿僧祗，如何说？当反问云：阿僧祗从几时算起？至几时止？且问阿僧祗三字作何解？ |
3. Suppose someone asks, “It is said that attaining Buddhahood through practice takes three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas. How is this to be understood?” Ask in return, “From what time does an asaṃkhyeya begin to be counted, and at what time does it end? And what do the three characters a-seng-qi mean?” |
| 四、设有人问云，烦恼何以即是菩提，当答云，因为菩提即是烦恼，或云水结了冰，冰又化为水，不是两个水。 |
4. Suppose someone asks, “Why are afflictions themselves bodhi?” Answer, “Because bodhi is itself affliction.” Or say, “Water freezes into ice, and ice melts back into water; they are not two waters.” |
| 五、设有人问，何故云欲除烦恼重增病？当答云，因为欲除，再云，不说烦恼不应除，只因根本未明，反而增加尘劳，旧病不除自了，新病何必再招。 |
5. Suppose someone asks, “Why is it said that wishing to eliminate afflictions only aggravates the illness?” Answer, “Because of the wish to eliminate them.” Then add, “This is not to say that afflictions should not be eliminated. It is only because the root has not been understood that worldly toil is instead increased. If the old illness has not been removed of itself, why invite a new illness?” |
| 六、设有人问云，汝现今是何境界？当答云，我自吃饭，不知你饱否。 |
6. Suppose someone asks, “What state are you in now?” Answer, “I eat my own food; I do not know whether you are full.” |
| 七、设有人问云，佛灭后当以戒为根本是否？当答云，不是，彼必大惊，然后再云，不关戒不戒，只问持不持，佛法不会灭，灭于佛法者。 |
7. Suppose someone asks, “After the Buddha’s passing, should the precepts be regarded as fundamental?” Answer, “No.” They will surely be greatly startled. Then add, “It is not a question of precepts or no precepts, but only of whether they are upheld. The Buddhadharma will not perish; it perishes in those who follow the Buddhadharma.” |
| 八、设有人问云，如何是佛法者？当答云，即今问我者是。 |
8. Suppose someone asks, “Who are those who follow the Buddhadharma?” Answer, “The one now questioning me is such a person.” |
| 九、设有人问云，论义何以太高？当答云，论即不义，义即不高，若可论义，即有思议，若有高下，云何平等，何事修佛，无诤无诤。 |
9. Suppose someone asks, “Why is the meaning of the treatise so lofty?” Answer, “A treatise is not meaning, and meaning is not lofty. If meaning can be discussed, it becomes an object of thought and deliberation. If there are high and low, how can there be equality? Why practice the Buddha Way? No contention, no contention.” |
| 十、设有人问云，如何是骄慢人？当答云，说有骄慢者。 |
10. Suppose someone asks, “What is an arrogant person?” Answer, “One who speaks of there being arrogance.” |
| 十一、设有人问云，何以禅宗是第一？当答云，禅宗不会说话，不曾自称第一。 |
11. Suppose someone asks, “Why is the Chan school the foremost?” Answer, “The Chan school cannot speak and has never called itself foremost.” |
| 十二、设有人问云，佛何以有教外别传？当答云，佛不曾有别传，因佛不曾立教，也不曾立内外，是仁者分别。 |
12. Suppose someone asks, “Why does the Buddha have a special transmission outside the teachings?” Answer, “The Buddha never had a separate transmission, for the Buddha never established teachings, nor did he establish inner and outer. It is you, sir, who make such distinctions.” |
| 十三、设有人问云，如何而能成佛？当答云，能入魔者，方能成佛，若问如何入魔法，则答云，二见即是魔见，由二入不二，无佛无魔者是。 |
13. Suppose someone asks, “How can one attain Buddhahood?” Answer, “Only one who can enter the realm of Māra can attain Buddhahood.” If they ask how to enter the realm of Māra, answer, “Dualistic views are Māra’s views. Enter nonduality through duality: where there is neither Buddha nor Māra.” |
| 十四、设有人问云，修心中心法何故又谈禅宗？当答云，本来不是密，不是禅，但也不离密，不离禅，却不是禅密。 |
14. Suppose someone asks, “Why speak of the Chan school while practicing the Heart-of-Heart Dharma?” Answer, “Originally, it is neither esoteric nor Chan, yet it is not apart from esoteric practice or Chan. Still, it is not Chan-esoteric practice.” |
| 十五、设有人问云，禅家混有许多讥讽习气？当答云，此是方式，与习气不同，死守方式，不懂变化，才是习气。 |
15. Suppose someone asks, “Why do Chan practitioners mix in so many habits of mockery and sarcasm?” Answer, “This is a manner of expression and differs from habitual tendencies. Rigidly clinging to a manner without understanding adaptation is itself habitual tendency.” |
| 十六、设有人问云，修净土是最稳妥是否？当答云，不是，彼必不然，应再云，正因净土太稳妥，反使学生不老实，但修十分之一的净土，所以不是。 |
16. Suppose someone asks, “Is Pure Land practice the most reliable?” Answer, “No.” They will surely disagree. Then add, “It is precisely because Pure Land practice is so reliable that students become careless, practicing only one-tenth of the Pure Land teaching. Therefore, it is not.” |
| 十七、设有人问云，君何故偏说即生成佛容易？当答云，不是我说的，是佛说的，以我愚见，即生尚是方便，我的贪心最狠，竟要当下成佛，经云当得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提，从不见人敢把当字作去声读，承认当下成佛，又经云，当知是人，即是如来，以佛智慧，悉知是人等，从不见人敢在如来下点断读，自己承认是如来。 |
17. Suppose someone asks, “Why do you particularly say that attaining Buddhahood in this very life is easy?” Answer, “It is not I who say so; it is the Buddha who says so. In my foolish view, even this very life is still an expedient. My greed is most severe: I want to attain Buddhahood right now. The sūtras say, ‘One shall attain unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment,’ yet I have never seen anyone dare to read ‘shall’ as ‘at once’ and acknowledge attaining Buddhahood right now. Again, the sūtras say, ‘Know that this person is the Tathāgata; with the Buddha’s wisdom, he fully knows this person,’ yet I have never seen anyone dare to place a full stop after ‘Tathāgata’ and acknowledge for themselves that they are the Tathāgata.” |
| 十八、设有人问云，如何谓之狂禅？当答云，狂即非禅，狂乃野义，世称野禅者是，但狂不狂，野不野，在自己证知，非人可测。 |
18. Suppose someone asks, “What is meant by ‘wild Chan’?” Answer, “Wildness is not Chan; ‘wild’ has the sense of uncultivated. What the world calls ‘wild Chan’ is this. Yet whether one is wild or not, uncultivated or not, is known through one’s own realization and cannot be measured by others.” |
| 十九、设有人问云，如何是善知识？当答云，能自知者，又能知善知识，其人即善知识。 |
19. Suppose someone asks, “What is a good spiritual friend?” Answer, “One who can know oneself and can also recognize a good spiritual friend is himself a good spiritual friend.” |
| 二十、设有人问云，何以宗下每示惊人之举？当答云，要求你起疑，疑是疑己，能自起疑，便肯寻参，其所故示惊奇者，目的在试你吓得动吓不动，上当不上当，由此开悟不开悟，无非要你跳出这圈子去，不是和你争高下。 |
20. Suppose someone asks, “Why does the Chan school so often display startling behavior?” Answer, “It is to make you raise a doubt—and the doubt is doubt about yourself. If you can raise doubt yourself, you will be willing to seek out and consult a teacher. The reason for deliberately displaying the startling and extraordinary is to test whether you can be frightened or not, and whether you will be taken in or not; from this comes awakening or nonawakening. It is all to make you leap out of this circle, not to contend with you over superiority or inferiority.” |
| 二十一、设有人问云，如何是心中心修法？当答云，证知不可得之十方净土时，不是净的净，不是禅的禅，不是密的密，也不是心中心法的法，是心中心。 |
21. Suppose someone asks, “What is the practice of the Heart-of-Heart Dharma?” Answer, “When you directly realize that the Pure Lands of the ten directions are unobtainable, it is not the purity of Pure Land, not the Chan of Chan, not the esoteric practice of esoteric practice, nor the Dharma of the Heart-of-Heart Dharma. It is the Heart-of-Heart.” |
| 二十二、设有人问云，如何宏心中心法？当答云，但求疑谤，不求弘誉，但作实事，不事多诤。 |
22. Suppose someone asks, “How should the Heart-of-Heart Dharma be propagated?” Answer, “Seek only doubt and slander, not widespread praise; do only practical things, and do not engage in much contention.” |
| 二十三、设有人问云，如何而能印心？当答云，心不可得，印个什么。 |
23. Suppose someone asks, “How can one seal the mind?” Answer, “The mind is unobtainable; what is there to seal?” |
| 佛法无定法，岂有法可说？诸仁如自问能运用此般若法时，慎勿轻与不会人说，恐误彼而生退心也。至观机法门，传法法门，密宗双身密意法，诸仁已知之矣，不宜为未修人说，故不公开，应止勿录。 |
The Buddhadharma has no fixed Dharma; how could there be any Dharma to speak? When you are able to apply this prajñā Dharma for yourselves, take care not to speak of it lightly to those who cannot understand, lest you mislead them and cause them to lose heart. As for the Dharma gates of discerning capacities, transmitting the Dharma, and the esoteric meaning of the tantric practice of the two bodies, you already know them. They should not be explained to those who have not practiced; therefore, they are not made public and should be omitted from the record. |
| 孟子曰，学问之道无他，收其放心而已矣。不知收的是不是放的，又从何处收回，收回后，又如何安放法，若知毕竟无心可收，我人正属多事。会么。 |
Mencius said, “The way of learning is nothing other than recovering one’s lost mind.” Yet does one recover what was lost or not? From where is it recovered? Once recovered, how is it to be placed? If one knows that, ultimately, there is no mind to recover, then we people are merely making unnecessary trouble. Do you understand? |
