百丈廣錄卷三
Baizhang's Extensive Record, Volume 3
問。如何是大乘入道頓悟法要。師云。你先歇諸緣。休息萬事。善與不善。世出世間。一切諸法。竝皆放却。莫記莫憶。莫緣莫念。放捨身心。全令自在。心如木石。口無所辯。心無所行。心地若空。慧日自現。如雲開日出。但歇一切攀緣。貪嗔愛取。垢淨情盡。對五欲八風不動。不被見聞覺知所閡。不被諸法所惑。自然具足一切功德。具足一切神通妙用。是解脫人。對一切境法。心無諍亂。不攝不散。透一切聲色。無有滯閡。名為道人。善惡是非。俱不運用。亦不愛一法。亦不捨一法。名為大乘人。不被一切善惡。空有垢淨。有為無為。世出世間。福德智慧之所拘繫。名為佛慧。是非好醜。是理非理。諸知解情盡。不能繫縛。處處自在。名為初發心菩薩。便登佛地。
Question: What is the essential teaching for sudden enlightenment on the Great Vehicle's path?
The Master replied: First, you must let go of all entanglements. Set aside all worldly affairs. Whether good or bad, worldly or beyond the world—let go of everything. Do not remember, do not recall. Do not cling, do not think. Release body and mind completely, allowing total freedom. Let your mind be like wood or stone. Let your mouth not argue. Let your mind not wander. When the mind is empty, the sun of wisdom appears on its own—like clouds parting and the sun emerging. Simply stop all grasping. When greed, hatred, craving, and attachment are gone, and notions of defilement and purity fade away, you remain unmoved by the five desires and the eight worldly winds. You are no longer blocked by what you see, hear, perceive, or know. You are no longer confused by any phenomena. Naturally, you possess all merit and all wondrous powers. Such a person is liberated. Toward all circumstances and phenomena, their mind is free of conflict and confusion—neither grasping nor scattering. They see through all sounds and forms without obstruction. This is called a person of the Way. Good and evil, right and wrong—none of these are engaged. They neither love a single thing nor reject a single thing. This is called a person of the Great Vehicle. No longer bound by good or evil, emptiness or form, defilement or purity, conditioned or unconditioned, worldly or beyond-worldly, merit or wisdom—this is called Buddha-wisdom. When right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, truth and falsehood—all knowing and understanding cease—and nothing can bind you anymore, you are free in every place. This is called a Bodhisattva of initial resolve, who immediately ascends to the Buddha-ground.
問。對一境。如何得心如木石去。師云。一切諸法。本不自言。空不自言。色亦不言。是非垢淨。亦無心繫縛人。但為人自生虗妄繫著。作若干種解會。起若干種知見。生若干種愛畏。但了諸法不自生。皆從自己一念妄想顛倒取相而有。知心與境。本不相到。當處解脫。一一諸法。當處寂滅。當處道場。又本有之性。不可名目。本來不是凡不是聖。不是垢淨。亦非空有。亦非善惡。與諸染法相應。名人天二乘界。若垢淨心盡。不住繫縛。不住解脫。無有一切有為無為縛脫心量。起於生死。其心自在。畢竟不與諸妄虗幻塵勞蘊界生死諸入和合。逈然無寄。一切不拘。去留無閡。往來生死。如門開相似。
Question: Facing a single object—how does one get the mind to become like wood or stone?
The Master said: All dharmas do not speak of themselves. Emptiness does not speak of itself, and form does not speak either. Right and wrong, defilement and purity—none of these have ever bound anyone. It is only because people themselves give rise to false imaginings and attachments, forming all kinds of interpretations, giving rise to all kinds of views, generating all kinds of cravings and fears.
Just understand that dharmas do not arise on their own. They all come into being from your own single thought of deluded, inverted grasping at appearances. Know that mind and object fundamentally never reach each other. Right where you are, you are liberated. Each and every dharma is, right where it is, quiescent and extinguished. Right where it is, that is the place of awakening.
Moreover, the inherently existing nature cannot be named or labeled. Fundamentally it is neither ordinary nor saintly, neither defiled nor pure, neither empty nor existent, neither good nor evil. When it resonates with defiled dharmas, it is called the realm of humans, gods, and the two vehicles. If the mind of defilement and purity is exhausted, one neither dwells in bondage nor dwells in liberation. There is no measuring mind of bondage or liberation regarding any conditioned or unconditioned thing. One rises into birth and death, yet the mind is free and at ease. Ultimately, one does not merge with the illusory, phantom-like aggregates, realms, sense bases, and birth-and-death of deluded mental afflictions. Vastly apart, with nothing to depend on, completely unconstrained, coming and going without obstruction, roaming through birth and death as if through an open door.
夫學道人。若遇種種苦樂稱意不稱意事。心無退屈。不念一切名聞利養衣食。不貪一切功德利益。不為世間諸法之所滯礙。無親無愛。苦樂平懷。麤衣遮寒。糲食活命。兀兀如愚。如聾如啞相似。稍有相應分。若於心中。廣學知解。求福求智。皆是生死。於理為益。却被知解境風之所飄溺。還歸生死海裏。佛是無求。人求之理乖。理是無求。理求之即失。若著無求。復同於有求。若著無為。復同於有為。故經云。不取於法。不取非法。不取非非法。又云。如來所得法。此法無實亦無虗。但能一生心如木石相似。不被陰界諸入五欲八風之所飄溺。即生死因斷。去住自由。不為一切有為因果所縛。不被有漏所拘。他時還以無自縛為因。同事利益。以無著心。應一切物。以無礙慧。解一切縛。亦云應病施藥。
When a student of the Way encounters all kinds of pleasure and pain, favorable and unfavorable circumstances, their mind does not waver or retreat. They do not think about fame, gain, or clothing and food. They do not crave any merit or benefit. They are not obstructed by any worldly things. They have no attachments and no favorites. They regard suffering and pleasure equally. They wear coarse clothes to keep off the cold and eat plain food to stay alive. They are simple-minded like a fool, like someone deaf and mute. In this way, they gradually come into accord. If within the mind one extensively studies knowledge and understanding, seeking blessings and seeking wisdom, all of this is still birth and death. Though it may seem beneficial in principle, one is still swept away and drowned by the wind of knowledge and understanding, and returns to the sea of birth and death. The Buddha is one without seeking; when people seek, they go against the principle. The principle is without seeking; if you seek the principle, you lose it. If you cling to non-seeking, you are the same as one who seeks. If you cling to non-doing, you are the same as one who does. Therefore the scripture says: Do not grasp at dharmas, do not grasp at non-dharmas, do not grasp at neither-dharmas-nor-non-dharmas. It also says: The Dharma attained by the Tathagata is neither real nor false. If you can make your mind like wood or stone for a whole lifetime, and not be swept away and drowned by the aggregates, elements, sense fields, the five desires, or the eight winds, then the cause of birth and death is cut off. You come and go freely, no longer bound by any conditioned causes and effects of the world, no longer confined by tainted things. In time, you in turn make non-binding as your cause, benefiting others in the same way, responding to all things with a mind free of attachment, untying all bonds with unobstructed wisdom. This is also called prescribing medicine according to the illness.
問。如今出家受戒。身口清淨。已具諸法。得解脫否。師云。少分解脫。未得心解脫。亦未得一切處解脫。
Question: If someone today leaves home and receives the precepts, purifying body and speech, and has already mastered all the teachings—are they liberated?
The Master replied: They have a partial liberation. They have not yet attained liberation of mind, nor have they attained liberation in all circumstances.
問。如何是心解脫。及一切處解脫。師云。不求佛。不求法。不求僧。乃至。不求福智知解等。垢淨情盡。亦不守此無求為是。亦不住盡處。亦不忻天堂畏地獄。縛脫無礙。即身心及一切處皆名解脫。汝莫言有少分戒。身口意淨。便以為了。不知恒沙戒定慧門。無漏解脫。都未涉一毫毛。努力向前。須猛究取。莫待耳聾眼暗。面皺頭白。老苦及身。悲愛纏綿。眼中流淚。心裏慞惶。一無所據。不知去處。到恁時節。整理手脚不得也。縱有福智名聞利養。都不相救。為心慧未開。唯念諸境。不知返照。復不見佛道。一生所有善惡業緣。皆悉現前。或忻或怖。六道五陰。俱時現前。盡敷嚴好。舍宅舟船車轝。光明顯赫。皆從自心貪愛所現。一切惡境。皆悉變成殊勝之境。但隨貪愛重處。業識所引。隨著受生。都無自由分。龍畜良賤。都總未定。
Question: What is the liberation of the mind, and liberation in all places?
The Master said: Do not seek the Buddha, do not seek the Dharma, do not seek the Sangha—even do not seek blessings, wisdom, knowledge, or understanding. When the feelings of defilement and purity are exhausted, do not cling to this "no-seeking" as being correct, and do not dwell in the place of exhaustion. Do not rejoice in heavenly realms or fear hells. When bondage and liberation no longer obstruct you, then body, mind, and all places are called liberation.
Do not say that having a small measure of precepts—purity of body, speech, and mind—is enough to consider yourself done. You do not know that the countless gates of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and the liberation free of outflows—you have not touched even a single hair's breadth of them.
Strive forward with effort; you must investigate intensely. Do not wait until your ears are deaf, your eyes dim, your face wrinkled, your head white—when the suffering of old age comes upon your body, when sorrow and attachment entangle you, tears streaming from your eyes, panic in your heart, with nothing to rely on, not knowing where you are going. When that time comes, you will not even be able to arrange your hands and feet. Even if you have blessings, wisdom, fame, and material gain, none of it will save you. It is because the wisdom of the mind has not opened; you only attend to outer conditions and do not know to turn the light back on yourself. You do not see the Buddha's path. All the good and evil karmic circumstances of your entire life will appear before you. Whether you rejoice or fear, the six realms and the five aggregates will all appear at once, fully adorned. Dwellings, boats, carts, and carriages, blazing with light—all arise from your own mind's greed and craving. All evil circumstances will be transformed into magnificent scenes. You will simply follow wherever craving is heaviest, drawn along by your karmic consciousness, and be reborn accordingly. You will have no freedom at all. Whether you become a dragon, an animal, noble, or lowly—none of it is certain.
問。如何得自由分。師云。如今得即得。或對五欲八風。情無取捨。慳嫉貪愛。我所情盡。垢淨俱忘。如日月在空。不緣而照。心心如土木石。念念如救頭然。亦如大香象渡河截流而過。使無疑誤。此人。天堂地獄。俱不能攝也。
Question: How can one attain true freedom?
The Master replied: If you can attain it right now, then you have it. When faced with the five desires and the eight worldly winds, let your mind cling to nothing and reject nothing. When stinginess, jealousy, greed, and craving—along with all sense of "I" and "mine"—are completely exhausted, and notions of defilement and purity are both forgotten, then you are like the sun and moon in the sky, shining without any effort to shine. Let your mind be like earth, wood, or stone, and let each moment be as urgent as if your hair were on fire. Be like the great elephants crossing the river, cutting straight through the current without hesitation or doubt. Such a person cannot be held by heaven or hell alike.
百丈廣錄卷三
Baizhang's Extensive Record, Volume 3