II. Methods of Contemplation 二、观照方法
Compiled from the Teachings of Three Generations of Patriarchs and Teacher Qi | 2022-06-29 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 《王骧陆居士全集·真心息妄法》 |
The Complete Works of Lay Practitioner Wang Xianglu: Method for Resting the True Mind and Quelling Delusion |
| （一）、真心息妄十门 |
I. Ten Gates for Resting the True Mind and Quelling Delusion |
| 元知纳禅师有真心息妄法十门，兹再伸其义。 |
Chan Master Yuanzhina set forth ten gates for resting the true mind and quelling delusion; I shall now further elaborate their meaning. |
| 第一门觉察。此功夫最为紧要，由未悟以至彻悟，由初地以至十地，无一事无一时不要凛觉。不但才起一念要觉察，即日常应付人事，应对万机时，念念仍要觉察，觉察“动念即乖”。 |
First gate: awareness. This practice is of the utmost importance. From not yet awakened to thorough awakening, and from the first bhūmi to the tenth bhūmi, there is no matter and no moment in which one should not remain keenly aware. Not only must one be aware whenever a thought first arises; even in everyday dealings with people and affairs, and while responding to the myriad demands of life, one must remain aware from thought to thought that “to stir a thought is already to go astray.” |
| 念念无住，不住妄，亦不住真，不住于觉察，更不住于不住。如是绵绵密密一、二十年，打成一片。初为有功用之觉察，进到无功用之觉察，遂至一切无所谓而未尝离觉，六根无所依，即妄无所依，自入于大休歇时也。 |
From thought to thought, abide nowhere: do not abide in delusion, nor in truth; do not abide in awareness, and still less abide in non-abiding. Continue in this way, continuously and seamlessly, for ten or twenty years, until it becomes continuous and undivided. At first, awareness is deliberate; then one advances to effortless awareness. Eventually, nothing is regarded as anything in particular, yet one has never departed from awareness. When the six sense faculties have nothing on which to rely, delusion likewise has nothing on which to rely, and one naturally enters a time of great rest. |
| 第二门休歇。不是休歇了便一无所有，如痴如聋，正是随起随休，随动随歇，亦不住于休歇，以休歇亦法也，心也。此功夫，呆不得一点，休即休去，歇即歇了，此境实说不出，好比冷湫湫古庙香炉，但此还不免有着，不落对治压制，即入沉空守寂，力量反不开展。此一二门功夫，当互相调剂去做，不可着实。 |
Second gate: rest. This does not mean that, once at rest, one has nothing at all and becomes like a fool or a deaf person. Rather, as things arise, let them rest; as movement occurs, let it cease. Nor should one abide in rest, for rest too is a dharma, a state of mind. In this practice, one cannot be the least bit rigid: when resting, simply rest; when ceasing, simply cease. This state truly cannot be described. It is like an incense burner in a cold, desolate ancient temple. Yet even this cannot avoid attachment. If one does not fall into counteracting and suppressing, one enters dull emptiness and guarded quiescence, and one’s strength instead fails to unfold. These first two gates should be practiced in mutual adjustment; do not become fixed on either. |
| 第三门泯心存境。心与境何可分乎，所云不顾外境，但自息心。即为有心可息，非境而何？若言无心可息，是本来无心，一落言诠，即又落境矣。何况有一泯一存之对，宛然有心有境，殊不干净。庞公云，但自无心于万物，何妨万物常围绕。此是无住心，故可接万物而不染，此第三门之意也，学人不可分作两截看。 |
Third gate: letting the mind fall away while retaining objects. How can mind and objects be divided? To say, “Do not attend to external objects; simply quiet your own mind,” is already to posit a mind that can be quieted—how is that not an object? If one says there is no mind to be quieted, then originally there is no mind; but once one falls into verbal formulation, one again falls into objects. Moreover, wherever there is the contrast of letting one fall away and retaining the other, mind and objects are plainly still present; this is far from clean. Layman Pang said, “Simply be without mind toward the myriad things; what harm is there if the myriad things constantly surround you?” This is the non-abiding mind. Thus one may engage with the myriad things without being stained by them. This is the meaning of the third gate; students must not divide it into two separate parts. |
| 第四门泯境存心。当知一着于法，其病与第三门等。当知心境内外，本自空寂。对境不必观了才空，是本来空，用观是初步对治法，以观即立境立心，非究竟也。既知本来是空，又何妨与万法为侣，与诸尘作对乎。 |
Fourth gate: letting objects fall away while retaining the mind. Know that once one becomes attached to a dharma, its fault is the same as in the third gate. Mind and objects, inner and outer, are originally empty and quiescent. When facing objects, one need not contemplate them in order for them to become empty; they are originally empty. Contemplation is an initial method of counteraction, for through contemplation one establishes objects and establishes mind; it is not ultimate. Once one knows that they are originally empty, what harm is there in keeping company with the myriad dharmas and encountering all sense objects? |
| 但此亦用功时必经的过程，在初总不免倒东倒西，至彻悟后，自不会落于一边。至云真心独照，不是单有个真心去独照，要亲见实相后朗朗常见，惟有一真实。经云：无知觉明。以无知觉故，不立境，不立心；以明故，朗朗普照。真且不立，遑论乎妄，不泯而自泯，一了百了，更不必立泯存二见矣。 |
Yet this too is a stage that must be passed through in practice. At the outset, one cannot avoid swaying first one way and then another; after thorough awakening, one will naturally not fall to either side. As for the saying that the true mind shines alone, it does not mean that there is merely a true mind that shines alone. It means that, after directly seeing the true aspect of reality, one clearly and constantly sees that there is only one reality. The sūtra says, “Without knowing, yet aware and luminous.” Because it is without knowing, neither objects nor mind are established; because it is luminous, it universally illumines with clarity. If even truth is not established, how much less can delusion be spoken of? Without being made to fall away, it falls away of itself; once this is understood, all is understood. There is no further need to establish the two views of letting fall away and retaining. |
| 第五门泯心泯境。此法最险，容易落入死水坑中。人到无办法时，往往求定不得，求寂不能，见此一条，必喜出望外，以为能如是即可成就。昔智隍枯坐二十年，即中此病，非玄策引之见六祖，便活不过来。 |
Fifth gate: letting both mind and objects fall away. This method is most perilous, for it is easy to fall into the pit of dead water. When people have no way forward, they often seek concentration but cannot attain it, or seek quiescence but cannot achieve it. Seeing this gate, they are bound to be overjoyed and imagine that they can attain realization simply by doing this. Long ago, Zhihuang sat rigidly for twenty years and fell precisely into this error. Had Xuance not led him to see the Sixth Patriarch, he could never have come alive again. |
| 不知“人牛俱不见”是要死透了。“正是月明时”要你看“正是”两个字。在“俱不见”时，正“月明时”也。再活过来，参是什么光景，不可忽略，进门就在此。 |
One does not know that “neither person nor ox is seen” means that one must die completely. In “this is precisely the time of bright moonlight,” you must look at the two words “precisely this.” When neither is seen, that is precisely the time of bright moonlight. Come alive again, and investigate what the situation is like. This must not be overlooked; the entrance lies here. |
| 第六门存境存心。此存字勿作有字会，否则泯时会作无时矣。 |
Sixth gate: retaining objects and retaining mind. Do not understand the word “retaining” here as meaning “existing”; otherwise, when things fall away, you will take that to mean nonexistence. |
| 须知存乃暂时不废幻有之意，泯为回复本来空寂之境，此心境各不相到，却又往来联系，应各住各位，心住于本来无生位，境住于本来不有位，以同属幻有而有遂各住于幻有位。故法华经云：是法住法位，世间相常住。 |
You must know that retaining means temporarily not discarding illusory existence, while letting fall away means returning to the original state of empty quiescence. Though mind and objects do not reach one another, they are nevertheless interconnected. Each should abide in its own place: mind abides in its originally unborn position, and objects abide in their originally non-existent position. Yet, because both belong to illusory existence, each in turn abides in the position of illusory existence. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra says, “Dharmas abide in the position of dharmas; the worldly aspect constantly abides.” |
| 法位者，各有因缘而又同一性空为本位者也。以决定知其性空，故可接而不染，亦不畏其有碍，此门最可增长力量，方可下接四门矣。此法最上乘最圆满，非真认得清，空得透，悟得彻，即不敢承当。但切忌重着存字而落法见。稍稍偏重，即落于有，遂失存心之义，斯又妄矣。 |
The position of dharmas means that each has its own causes and conditions, while all share emptiness of nature as their fundamental position. Because one knows with certainty that their nature is empty, one may engage with them without being stained, nor fear that they will obstruct. This gate is best able to increase one’s strength; only then can one proceed to the following four gates. This method is of the highest vehicle and most complete. Unless one truly recognizes it clearly, penetrates emptiness thoroughly, and awakens completely, one does not dare undertake it. Yet one must take great care not to become attached again to the word “retaining” and fall into dharma views. If one leans even slightly too heavily in this direction, one falls into existence and loses the meaning of retaining mind; that too is delusion. |
| 第七、八门内外全体全用。只是一条，是物我情忘之境。体用本不分，宇宙一切都不离我之自性。 |
The seventh and eighth gates—complete essence and complete function, inwardly and outwardly—are really one gate: the state in which attachment to self and things is forgotten. Essence and function are originally not separate, and nothing in the universe is apart from one’s own intrinsic nature. |
| 第九门即体即用，无所分别。到功夫纯熟时，打成一片矣。 |
The ninth gate is essence itself as function, without any discrimination. When practice has become thoroughly mature, it becomes continuous and undivided. |
| 第十门透出体用。心中更无内外体用之量，浑然一道清平，到事事无碍时矣。此功夫非可丝毫做作，亦无功夫可言，乃自然而致者矣。 |
The tenth gate is to penetrate beyond essence and function. Within the mind there is no longer any measure of inner and outer, essence and function; all is a single, clear, even way. This is the point at which there is nonobstruction among phenomena. This practice cannot involve the slightest contrivance, nor can it truly be called a practice; it comes about naturally. |
| 以上十门，目的在借以息妄。非到相当力量时，决无从着手。因地正者必从心地上下手，决不从妄心上下手，若从妄心下手，必至越转越迷，辗转成妄。此十门功夫，亦是釜底抽薪法，使妄心自然而化，而不会抽薪的人，总跳不出圈子去。 |
The purpose of these ten gates is to use them to quell delusion. Unless one has reached a corresponding degree of strength, there is absolutely no way to begin. Those whose causal ground is correct must begin with the mind-ground; they must never begin with the deluded mind. If one begins with the deluded mind, one will inevitably become ever more confused and, through repeated turning, become further deluded. These ten gates are also a method of removing the fuel from beneath the cauldron, allowing the deluded mind to dissolve naturally. Yet those who do not know how to remove the fuel can never leap out of the circle. |
| 此十门乃不得已而强立，一着意即入圈套，不易摆脱。故宗门总无法以示人，只教伊自悟自觉。故曰：无法向人说。又云：我不会佛法。经云：不应取法，不应取非法。是在活用。到大休歇时，更有何门可取乎。 |
These ten gates are reluctantly and forcibly established. The moment one deliberately attends to them, one enters a trap from which it is not easy to escape. Therefore, the Chan school has no fixed dharma to show people; it merely teaches them to awaken and become aware for themselves. Thus it is said, “There is no dharma to tell people.” It is also said, “I do not understand the Buddha-Dharma.” The sūtra says, “One should not grasp dharmas, nor should one grasp non-dharmas.” It lies in flexible application. When one reaches great rest, what gate remains to be grasped? |
| 论到入佛正宗，只有见性一门。不见性者，学法无益。学人不可妄认妄心为无，但切不可妄认妄心为实有。初学人，只是怕妄，是认为有也。若先见性，自然渐渐化除，切须先看“妄”究竟是何物？觉圆则妄尽，法空则见亡。 |
As for entering the true school of Buddhism, there is only the gate of seeing one’s true nature. For those who have not seen their true nature, studying dharmas brings no benefit. Students must not mistakenly take the deluded mind to be nonexistent, but neither must they mistakenly take it to have real existence. Beginning students merely fear delusion; this is because they take it to exist. If one first sees one’s true nature, it will naturally be eliminated little by little. One must first examine closely what “delusion” ultimately is. When awareness is complete, delusion is exhausted; when dharmas are empty, views vanish. |
| 惟佛一人居净土者，言十地菩萨以下，皆不免于微细惑也。经云：无明者，非有实体。又道：心无形段，妄无处所。你在未见性前，自然处处畏缩。明白了，却又怕什么？ |
Only the Buddha dwells in the Pure Land; this means that even bodhisattvas below the tenth bhūmi cannot avoid subtle delusions. The sūtra says, “Ignorance has no substantial entity.” It also says, “Mind has no form or shape; delusion has no location.” Before seeing one’s true nature, you naturally shrink back in fear everywhere. Once you understand, what is there to fear? |
| 前者，我欲诸仁于此十门中，看哪一门与自己有缘，诸仁已上了当也。无怪又上了知纳的当。老在此十门中翻身，出不出圈子。今天我又以文字圈子惑人，大胆的且进圈子来，再跳出去。倘有人问我，既要人跳出圈子去，何必立此圈子呢？我只可哈哈大笑，反问道，你即今立在哪里？ |
Earlier, when I asked you all to see which of these ten gates had an affinity with you, you had already taken the bait. No wonder you were again taken in by Zhina. You keep turning over within these ten gates, unable to get out of the circle. Today I again use the circle of words to delude people. Let those with courage enter the circle, then leap out of it. If someone asks me, “Since you want people to leap out of the circle, why establish this circle at all?” I can only laugh heartily and ask in return, “Where, at this very moment, are you standing?” |
| （二）、妙诀 |
II. Essential Instructions |
| 《王骧陆居士全集·断烦恼偈》 |
The Complete Works of Lay Practitioner Wang Xianglu: Verse on Cutting Off Afflictions |
| 心本不有 烦恼何起 |
Mind originally does not exist; how could afflictions arise? |
| 但此一转 即是妙诀 |
But with this single turn, there is the essential instruction. |
