---
title: "湛然圓澄禪師語錄 · 再答德王(此在初答)"
description: "湛然圆澄禅师语录由明代禅宗高僧湛然圆澄所述，其门人明凡记录，丁元公与祁骏佳编撰。该书成书于明末佛教复兴时期，收录圆澄禅师的开示、法语、公案及书信，集中体现其禅学思想与修行指导，倡导直指人心、见性成佛的曹洞宗风。作为明代禅宗重要文献，该语录不仅传承了临济与曹洞宗的精髓，对后世禅修者具有深远影响，是研究明清佛教禅宗思想与实践的重要典籍。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmcxr5xpm00i4i9043oqrkl25"
---

### 再答德王此在初答

> Answering Again, King Virtue

丙辰之秋。蘊真過訪於嘉禾之福城。備道大王歸向三寶。廣修福德。山僧已知非今世之事。皆繇曩劫修來。不則皆為富貴所迷。五欲所戀。罔知返本矣。今即此不忘之心。便是大王本來面目。自己主人公也。山僧特以拙刻。并書數語呈覧。諒大王亦已悉知。今者復蒙施金顧問。意欲辨明真偽。山僧讀之汗顏。未敢加答。然亦不敢違背聖意。但以平日所學所見者。少欵數辭。以慰來問。念佛不能開發聰慧者。第恐心不誠。誠則明矣。譬如水濁失鑒。清則毫髮不可昧也。然大王心志勇猛。直欲向洪波浩渺。白浪滔天處。奪驪龍之珠。截犀兕之角。故以明心見性為問耳。所言心性者。一身之主謂之心。心能變化謂之性。以心能成佛。心能成凡。心能造善。心能造惡。造善者則生天堂。造惡者則墮地獄。心起邪見。則落外道天魔。心修四諦十二緣。乃至六度萬行。則名三乘。若能圓見自心。則法界皆我自心。曾非他有。故謂之佛。以覺自心故也。昔者異見王欲滅佛法。宗勝往勸不能。波羅提救之。乘雲而至。時王愕然問曰。乘空之者是正是邪。提曰。我非邪正而來正。邪王心若正。我無邪正。王又問曰。何者是佛。提曰。見性是佛。王曰。師見性否。提曰。我見佛性。王曰。性在何處。提曰。性在作用。王曰。是何作用。我今不見。提曰。今現在用。王自不見。王曰。於我有否。提曰。王若作用。無有不是。王若不用。體亦難見。王曰。若當用時。幾處出現。提曰。若出現時。當有其八。王曰。其八出現。當為我說。波羅提即說偈曰。在胎為身。處世為人。在眼曰見。在耳曰聞。在鼻辨香。在口談論。在手執捉。在足運奔。徧現俱該法界。收攝在一微塵。識者知是佛性。不識喚作精魂。王聞偈已。心即開悟。以是而推。則知大王從曩劫來。出生入死。不知其幾千萬也。而大王之佛性。未嘗有生滅去來。大王之色身。又何嘗有生滅去來。能知於此。則是大王本來面目。亦即大王之佛性也。以人不能直下自信。故如來權說三乘。修有為行。善根調熟。信心自許。然後直下承當。是知三乘曾非別旨也。所言有為虗妄者。其猶渡河用筏。非筏。則不能渡。到岸則筏成棄具矣。人之欲渡生死此岸河者。必假有為有相之法。以渡涅槃彼岸。非此則不能渡。渡至彼岸。則有為之法皆虗妄。非未渡者可以棄之也。別有一等。不自信自佛。自淨自土。故如來別開勝方便門。令人念佛求生淨土。見佛則見自心自佛。曾無別佛。所以教載佛語。禪示佛心。實無別法。不識後代之徒。宗教相非。過於水火。所以古人於方便門中。更開方便。令人用功參扣。久久純熟。自信自心。自知下落處也。如云。一靜之中。無人無我。而不知一靜之中。無文無字。無聖凡。無用工。無參扣。無西方。無東土。何處更有許多疑情也。故曰。但有言說。都無實義。又曰。文言道斷。心行處滅。而大王之肯心自許。則羣疑自釋。不必貧僧叨呾也。所問不知何為性命者。此不知自性本然之理謬執色身妄心以為自己。故有此論。山僧逐一配明。心猶大海之水。性猶水之能成泡者也。色身如水結之泡。命猶幻泡所住之時也。水因風擊而成幻泡。心隨境轉而就色身。泡之不能久住。猶身之不能久住也。而彼外道欲使色身常住。謂之曰修命。目曰長生。猶欲使幻泡之不滅。烏可得哉。如或可得。彼修長生者。今在何處。彼既不能長生。而人之冀長生。雙修性命者。不亦謬乎。故我佛示人本有之心。此心不生不滅。非去來今。實不同於戲論也。若悟自心。則一亦不有。故經云。實無少法可得。名阿耨菩提。豈三魂七魄十二元辰之有也。彼等亦依無常色身。作此邪說耳。如不能即信。惟大王所云。一靜之中。人我尚無。何處更有魂魄可得耶。又有道與無道異者。其猶二人同睡。其一人心清昏薄。安然穩睡。逍遙自適。其一人心亂昏重。魂夢顛倒。呌喚狂亂。所睡是同。受用各異。有道無道。受用亦復如是。要知身後模樣。須知見前作略。若現前作得主。則身後亦作得主。無別模樣也。所言老子教無為。教默養。冀生於天。而後有陰陽煉度閨房戰勝等術。七十二家。彼呼為傍門皆昧自身。心外求道。總名外道。圓頓教者。即吾教諸大乘經是。達磨教。即禪門直指自心見性成佛者是。二祖三祖。代代相承。源流有據。非彼外道僭稱者也。金光教。乃玄門圖報禍福。冀求衣食者也。淨空無為。俱是俗人。口說空無。身染俗累。妻子產業。與人無異。言行相乖。撥無因果。即如羅道人。現受天牢之報。甚非可信。歸家認祖偈。都是邪人謬造。除明自心之外。更有何加。以不能自明其心。故勸方便念佛。功成見佛。引歸西方。佛當開示邪正自知分齊也。山僧所見如此。特以進答。惟大王詳鑒之。

> In the autumn of the year Bingchen, when Zhen Yun visited me at Fucheng in Jiahe, he spoke at length of Your Highness's devotion to the Three Jewels and your vast cultivation of merit through good deeds. I, this mountain monk, already knew this was no ordinary affair of this life, but something nurtured over countless past lives. Otherwise, one would be lost in wealth and status, entangled in the five desires, unaware of the need to return to one's根源. But this heart that does not forget—that very heart is Your Highness's original face, your own true master. I have taken the liberty of presenting my humble writings, along with a few words for your perusal. I trust Your Highness is already well-versed in these matters. Now, having again received your generous support and inquiry, you wish to distinguish truth from falsehood. Reading your words, I feel deeply unworthy and dare not presume to reply. Yet I also dare not defy your sovereign intent. So I offer a few modest reflections based on what I have studied and observed, to ease your question. If chanting the Buddha's name does not sharpen your wisdom, it may be that the mind is not sincere. When sincere, clarity follows. For example, when water is muddy, it cannot reflect; when clear, even a hair's breadth is visible. Your Highness's resolve is admirably bold, seeking directly to seize the black dragon's pearl amid vast waves and surging whitecaps, to cut the horn of the rhinoceros. Hence your question about clarifying the mind and seeing one's true nature. What we call "mind" is the master of the body; what we call "nature" is the mind's capacity for transformation. With the mind, one can become a Buddha or an ordinary being; it can create good or evil. Creating good leads to heavenly birth; creating evil leads to hell. If the mind gives rise to wrong views, it falls into the domain of heretics and demons. Cultivating the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, and the Six Perfections leads to the Three Vehicles. If one can see this mind completely, then the entire dharma realm is one's own mind, not something apart—this is called Buddhahood, because one has awakened to one's own mind. Long ago, King Virudhaka sought to destroy the Dharma. The monk Zongsheng tried but failed to dissuade him. Then the arhat Boluoti came to the rescue, riding on a cloud. The king, startled, asked: "Are you righteous or heretical, coming through the air?" Boluoti replied: "I am neither righteous nor heretical. I come to correct the heretic. If the king's mind is righteous, I have no heretic or righteous." The king then asked: "What is a Buddha?" Boluoti replied: "Seeing one's nature is Buddhahood." The king asked: "Do you see your nature?" Boluoti said: "I see the Buddha nature." The king asked: "Where is this nature?" Boluoti said: "It is in function." The king asked: "What function? I do not see it." Boluoti said: "It is functioning right now, but you do not see it." The king asked: "Do I have it?" Boluoti said: "If you use it, everything is right. If you do not use it, the essence is hard to see." The king asked: "When used, how many places does it appear?" Boluoti said: "When it appears, there are eight aspects." The king said: "Tell me these eight." Then Boluoti spoke this verse: "In the womb, it is the body; In the world, it is a person. In the eye, it is sight; In the ear, it is sound. In the nose, it smells scents; In the mouth, it speaks. In the hand, it grasps; In the foot, it runs. It appears everywhere throughout the dharma realm, Yet is contained in a single speck of dust. Those who recognize it call it Buddha nature; Those who do not call it a ghost or spirit." Hearing this verse, the king awakened. From this we can deduce that Your Highness, over countless past lives, has been born and died countless times. Yet your Buddha nature has never known birth or death, coming or going. Likewise, your physical body has never truly had birth or death. Understanding this, you find your original face, which is also your Buddha nature. Because people cannot directly trust this, the Tathagata provisionally taught the Three Vehicles, encouraging cultivation through conditioned practices. When good roots ripen and faith affirms itself, then one directly accepts. Thus the Three Vehicles are not separate teachings. Conditioned practices are said to be illusory, like a raft used to cross a river. Without the raft, crossing is impossible. Once you reach the other shore, the raft is left behind. Those wishing to cross from the shore of birth and death to the other shore of Nirvana must use conditioned, form-based methods; without them, crossing is impossible. Once across, conditioned methods are seen as illusory, but they cannot be abandoned before crossing. Additionally, there are those who lack faith in their own inherent Buddhahood and their own pure land. For them, the Tathagata specially opened an expedient method: teaching them to chant the Buddha's name and seek rebirth in the Pure Land. Seeing the Buddha is seeing one's own mind and inherent Buddha, not some other Buddha. Thus the teachings of the scriptures and the pointing of Chan are not separate methods. Unfortunately, later generations have set scripture and Chan against each other, worse than fire and water. So the ancients, within expedient methods, opened further expedients, urging people to practice and investigate until, through time, the mind becomes pure, and one naturally trusts one's own mind, understanding its true state. For example, in a state of stillness, there is no self or other. But one may not realize that in this stillness, there are no words, no scriptures, no saints or ordinary beings, no practice, no investigation, no Western Land, no Eastern Land—so where could so many doubts arise? Thus it is said: "All spoken words lack true meaning." And: "Words and explanations are cut off; mental activity ceases." If Your Highness can sincerely affirm this, then all doubts will naturally dissolve, without my babbling on. Your question about "what are nature and life" arises from a misunderstanding of the fundamental nature of self, clinging to the physical body and deluded mind as oneself. I will clarify point by point: The mind is like the vast ocean; nature is like the ocean's capacity to form bubbles. The physical body is like a bubble formed on water; life is like the duration of that bubble. Water, when struck by wind, forms ephemeral bubbles. The mind, when influenced by circumstances, manifests as the physical body. A bubble cannot last long; neither can the body. Those heretics who wish to make the physical body permanent call this "cultivating life" or "longevity," like trying to keep a bubble from bursting—how can it be done? If it were possible, where are those who cultivated longevity? Since they could not achieve it, those who seek both "nature" and "life" are mistaken. Thus the Buddha revealed the originally existing mind, which is unborn and undying, not confined to past, present, or future—unlike such frivolous theories. If one awakens to one's own mind, even "one" does not exist. So it is said: "No dharma can be obtained; that is called Supreme Perfect Enlightenment." How then could theories of three souls, seven spirits, or twelve primal spirits be valid? Those who teach such things rely on the impermanent physical body to make false claims. If you cannot immediately trust this, consider Your Highness's own words: In a state of stillness, there is no self or other—where could souls and spirits be found? Regarding the difference between the Way and no Way: It is like two people sleeping together. One sleeps peacefully, with a clear and light mind, resting comfortably. The other has a troubled, heavy mind, with chaotic dreams, crying out in distress. The sleep is the same, but their experiences differ. Likewise, those with or without the Way experience life differently. To know what the afterlife will be like, look at your present conduct. If you are master of yourself now, you will be master then—there is no separate state. You mention Laozi's teaching of non-action, silent cultivation, and hope for heavenly birth, followed by various Daoist practices like yin-yang refinement, inner alchemy, and sexual arts. The seventy-two schools call themselves supplementary paths, but all are mistaken about the self, seeking the Way outside the mind—this is called heterodoxy. The Perfect and Sudden teaching refers to our Mahayana scriptures; the teaching of Bodhidharma is the Chan direct pointing to the mind, seeing one's nature and becoming Buddha. The Second Patriarch, Third Patriarch, and so on, have an unbroken lineage—not something heretics can falsely claim. The Golden Light teaching is just a Daoist method for seeking fortune and averting misfortune, aimed at securing food and clothing. The Pure and Non-action teachings are followed by laypeople who speak of emptiness but remain attached to worldly affairs—spouses, children, property—and act contrary to their words, denying causality. Even Teacher Luo, now suffering punishment in prison, is not a reliable teacher. Verses about "returning home and recognizing one's ancestor" are all fabrications by deluded people. Apart from clarifying your own mind, there is nothing more. Since you cannot yet clarify your own mind, I advise you to practice mindful chanting of the Buddha's name. When accomplished, you may see the Buddha and be guided to the Western Pure Land. There, the Buddha will reveal truth and falsehood, and you will know your own measure. Such is my humble understanding, offered in reply. May Your Highness examine it with discernment.