旅三字說
A Brief Explanation of the Three Characters "Lü"
妙法華經云。三界無安。猶如火宅。若貪著生愛。則為所燒。故先佛世尊方便勸諭。引之令出。以此宅中眾苦充滿。難可安居也。蕅益大師淨信集云。自寂光真性。翳於五住塵勞。而一切含識鮮有恒居。雖四禪四空及方便土。亦屬旅泊。旅之時義大矣哉。夫旅者。以行旅之人。次於旅舍之謂也。旅必有伴。亦必有處。亦必有其本業。今曠觀三界之中。同一旅也。而人異其業。業本既異。而處與伴亦殊焉。慨自有識以來。經塵沙劫波。積骨逾於富羅。飲乳過於溟渤。於中竛竮之狀。飃泊之苦。有不可勝言者時。而與獄種為伴也。則惡逆為其本。有間無間是其旅處時。而與鬼趣為伴也。則慳貪為其本。曠野山澤是其旅處時。而與畜類為伴也。則愚癡為其本。水陸空界是其旅處時。而與修羅為伴也。則瞋慢為其本。須彌大海是其旅處時。而與人道為伴也。則綱常為其本。四洲諸國是其旅處時。而與欲天為伴也。則戒善為本。地居空居是其旅處時。而與色無色界為伴也。則禪定為其本。四禪四空是其旅處。方其旅也。隨處而著。不知其旅也。嗟乎故鄉之夢。尚自朦朧。客次之居。豈為究竟。是非託安養以橫超。悟寂光而上徹。又孰能外乎旅義也哉。天都汪潤生居士。法名性淨。別字旅三。去家遊學。有年矣。晚居琴川。有令嗣。長於才。夙柄家政。故居士得不為家累。雖厚棟華軒。可以逸老。以居士視之。蕭然若寄也。居士恒長齋事佛。以淡泊無欲為養。以操修問道為兢兢。康熙乙卯歲。仲秋之朔。乃其七十揆辰。諸親友故舊。爭為文以祝之。詩以頌之。居士謝而弗視。視亦不審。曰。徒周章乎耳目耳。與其諛言之來。以沽吾名。孰若法言之及以裨吾心。爰以旅三之字。而請說於予。予思。居士既旅乎三界。是得其旅之大者也。豈天都琴邑云乎哉。然吾竊觀夫居士之邦人族士。類多操奇。贏走四方。其於旅也。惟獲其利。未盡其義也。今居士旅於斯。設有人焉。告之以猗生煑海之謀。進之以郭氏治山之䇿。吾知居士必掩耳而去之矣。獨茲七旬介壽之期。乃能却朋樽而不顧。置牲鼎而不御。訪予於枯澹寂寞之濵。咨予以異世乖俗之旨。可謂真湻未散。大樸猶存。其幾于道者乎。曰。猶未也。夫既曰旅三。則一切法趣旅。更無有法過於旅者。所謂隨處而著。不知其處理性旅也。了此三界。同為逆旅。本業處伴。各各差殊。名字旅也。知其非家。不住不著。於粗敝境。不生貪戀。觀行旅也。客塵煩惱。方便折伏。悠悠旅夢。彷彿欲醒。相似旅也。不離法界。隨寄塵寰。哀此旅人。盡力津濟。分證旅也。是朽故宅。屬於一人。我常在此說法教化。大火所燒時。我此土安隱。究竟旅也。苟不達此義。則於郵亭傳舍。誤認家鄉。諸所謀求。無非火宅中事。又或畏此旅途。多諸苦難。歸心孔亟。去不還來。將使六宇同昏四生。奚賴若此者。皆無當於旅義也。然則居士之在今日。惟當以安養為歸宿之地。毋終為堪忍之旅客。若夫華開見佛。獲證真常。又當睠此娑婆。再來僑寓。將護眾伴。誘掖羣迷。更於異域殊方。分身應迹。往來三界。終不疲厭。斯為究竟旅人。庶不虗居士立字之意矣。
The Lotus Sutra says: "The three realms are without safety, like a burning house. If one clings with greed and gives rise to craving, one will be burned by it." Therefore the Buddhas and World-Honored Ones of the past used skillful means to encourage and advise, leading beings to come out. For this house is filled with all kinds of suffering, and it is hard to dwell there in peace.
Master Ouyi's *Collection of Pure Faith* says: Since the true nature of tranquil radiance became obscured by the dust of the five abidings' afflictions, hardly any sentient being has had a lasting dwelling. Even the four dhyānas, the four formless attainments, and the lands of skillful means are but places of lodging in transit. Great indeed is the meaning of "journeying"! Now "journeying" means that the traveler takes up temporary lodging at an inn. A journey must have companions, must have a place, and must have its own underlying karma. Surveying the three realms broadly, all are on the same journey, yet people differ in their karma. Since their underlying karma differs, their places and companions differ as well.
Alas, since time without beginning, through countless kalpas of dust-sands, the bones we have piled up exceed Mount Fuji, and the milk we have drunk surpasses the great oceans. Amid this, the loneliness of wandering alone and the bitterness of drifting have been more than words can tell.
At times, one has as companions the hell-dwellers: evil and rebellion are their root, and the hells with and without interval are their lodging place. At times, one has as companions the ghost realm: stinginess and greed are their root, and the wilds, mountains, and marshes are their lodging place. At times, one has as companions the animal kind: foolishness and delusion are their root, and the realms of water, land, and air are their lodging place. At times, one has as companions the asuras: anger and arrogance are their root, and Mount Sumeru and the great sea are their lodging place. At times, one has as companions the human realm: the moral norms are their root, and the four continents and their lands are their lodging place. At times, one has as companions the desire heavens: precepts and goodness are their root, and the earth-dwelling and space-dwelling heavens are their lodging place. At times, one has as companions the form and formless realms: meditation is their root, and the four dhyānas and four formless attainments are their lodging place.
When they are on the journey, they cling wherever they are, unaware that they are but travelers. Alas! Even dreams of the old home are still hazy; how could a guest's lodging ever be ultimate? Unless one takes refuge in the Land of Peace and Bliss to leap across, and awakens to tranquil radiance to penetrate upward, who can escape the meaning of journeying?
The layman Wang Runsheng of Tiandu, Dharma name Xingjing, courtesy name Lüsan, left home to study abroad for many years. In later life he settled in Qinchuan. He had a worthy son, gifted in ability, who had long managed the household affairs, so the layman was free from family burdens. Though he had fine beams and splendid halls in which to spend his old age at ease, to the layman they seemed desolate, as though merely lodging. The layman always kept a long-term vegetarian diet and served the Buddha, nurturing himself with simplicity and freedom from desire, and was diligent and cautious in cultivation and in seeking the Way.
In the mid-autumn of the yimao year of the Kangxi era, on the first day of the month, was his seventieth birthday. Relatives, friends, and old acquaintances vied to write essays to congratulate him and poems to praise him. The layman declined and would not look at them; even when he looked, he did not take them seriously, saying: "They merely make a stir in ear and eye. Rather than flattering words coming to buy me a name, how much better would be words of Dharma to benefit my mind!" Thereupon he took his courtesy name Lüsan and asked me to explain it.
I reflected: the layman has already journeyed through the three realms—this is to have grasped the great meaning of journeying. How could it be limited to Tiandu or Qinchuan? Yet I have privately observed that the layman's clansmen and local folk mostly engage in trade, seeking rare goods and traveling in all four directions. In their journeying, they gain only profit and do not exhaust its meaning. Now if someone were to tell the layman of schemes for salt production or present him with plans for managing mountain resources, I know the layman would cover his ears and walk away. Only on this seventieth-birthday occasion could he decline the wine cups of friends without a glance, set aside the sacrificial cauldrons without partaking, seek me out on the banks of withered stillness and lonely silence, and ask me about the meaning that runs counter to the world and differs from custom. This may be called true simplicity not yet scattered, the great uncarved block still preserved—is he not close to the Way?
He said: "Not yet. Since it is called 'journeying through the three,' then all dharmas converge in journeying, and no dharma surpasses journeying." This is what is called clinging wherever one is, unaware of where one is—this is the journeying of the nature of principle. To understand that these three realms are all alike a wayside inn, and that root karma, place, and companions each differ—this is the journeying of names. To know that this is not home, to dwell without abiding and without clinging, and to give rise to no greed or attachment toward coarse and wretched circumstances—this is the journeying of contemplation and practice. To use skillful means to subdue the afflictions of guest-dust, so that the long dream of journeying seems about to wake—this is the journeying of resemblance. Not leaving the Dharma realm, yet lodging as one wills in the dusty world, pitying these travelers and doing one's utmost to ferry them across—this is the journeying of partial realization. "This decayed old house belongs to one person; I am always here teaching the Dharma. When the great fire burns, my land is peaceful and secure"—this is the ultimate journeying.
If one does not understand this meaning, then at post stations and relay houses one mistakes them for one's homeland, and all one's schemes and seekings are nothing but matters within the burning house. Or again, one may fear this journey's road with its many hardships, and with urgent longing turn the mind homeward, departing and never returning—then the six directions would all be darkened and the four kinds of beings would have no one to rely on. All such people fail to match the meaning of journeying.
Therefore the layman, on this day, should take the Land of Peace and Bliss as his place of final refuge, and not remain forever a guest in the Endurance Land. And when the lotus opens and he sees the Buddha and attains realization of true permanence, he should then look back upon this Sahā world, come again to sojourn here, protect and guide his companions, and draw out the deluded multitudes. Further, in other lands and distant regions, dividing his body and manifesting traces, he should come and go through the three realms without ever growing weary—this is the ultimate traveler. Only thus will he not have vainly fulfilled the layman's purpose in establishing his courtesy name.