---
title: "天如惟則禪師語錄 · 小參"
description: "天如惟則禪師語錄由小師善遇編錄，成書於元代。內容收錄了惟則禪師的開示、法語、書信及詩偈，系統闡述了禪宗心性思想與修行方法，強調淨土與禪法的融合。該語錄繼承了臨濟宗風，並融匯華嚴、天台教理，是研究元代禪宗思想的重要文獻，對後世禪淨雙修之風影響深遠，在佛教史上具有承前啟後的權威地位。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmex4uvy900sjl404qp1gm2z2"
---

徐氏大夜小參。僧問。德山道。今夜小參不答話。問話者三十棒。意作麼生。師云。我者裏不打禪客。有問即答。僧云。無法可說是名說法。又作麼生。師拈棒。僧便走。師云做賊人心虗。　乃云。諸佛不會說法。舌頭才動平地是風波。諸祖不會答禪。口縫才開滿眼是荊棘。若道有說有聞固是敲空作響。若道無問無答又成掩耳偷鈴。恁麼則銀山銕壁。不恁麼則銕壁銀山。恁麼不恁麼脚底有牢關。山僧今日路見不平。也要別通消息。以拂子作打開勢云。銀山銕壁八字打開了也。擊拂子云。脚底牢關一擊粉碎了也。政好縱步於一毫端上。擘開太華放出黃河。露身於萬象光中。倒握須彌吸乾東海。使臨濟德山眉毛上出一口氣。使釋迦彌勒鼻孔裏放三寸光。然後向他不會答禪處答一語。向他不會說法處說一句。卓主丈云。答了也。說了也。當知此法不可思議。能大能小能有能無。能悟能迷能凡能聖。是故諸人得之。靈於萬物具乎五常。十大夫得之。脩身齊家治國平天下。聖天子得之。奄有四海恊和萬󳬛。阿羅漢得之。具五神通證四果位。辟支迦得之。出無佛世度有緣人。諸菩薩得之。行願相資智悲雙運。佛世尊得之。演說一大藏教化度九界眾生。至如天台宗師談具談即。談空假中。或談折攝二門。四種淨土。皆此法也。華嚴宗師說毗盧性海。說普賢行門。說理法界．事法界．理事無礙法界．事事無礙法界。亦此法也。達磨一宗說不立文字直指人心。或說佛祖命燈。或說本來面目。總不外乎此法也。恁麼則含吐十虗該羅萬有。口口道著步步踏著。因甚麼百姓日用而不知。飯籮邊坐却嫌飢。不知者且莫說。只如古今以來多少聦明之士知有此法者。却向文字上講明。義理中尋究。講也講得明。究也究得到。爭奈文字自是文字。義理自是義理。與你自家了無交涉。說時似悟。對境還迷。蓋為但能致知而不能力行也。書曰。非知之艱。行之惟艱。祖師道。說得一丈不如行取一尺。說得一尺不如行取一寸。若不力行決無受用。既無受用。未免念慮紛紛是非擾擾。顛倒錯亂不得自由。向醉鄉夢境裏輥過一生。就利鎻名韁中擔閣一世。前途生死輪迴。且請自作自受去也。此說且止。只如吾宗門下真參實學之士。晝三夜三用盡伎倆尚且不奈何。如水上捺葫蘆。如釘樁搖艣。如走馬看花。如按牛喫草。也要橫說竪說東提西提。到底半青半黃不能大了大當。見人道箇諸佛不會說法。諸祖不會答禪。便乃七上八下處斷不定。豈不大可憐哉。若是了心底人。如久客到家。如推門落臼。任你說禪說教談有談空。八面收來一串穿却。不遭諸佛舌頭瞞。說與不說都是法。不向諸祖口邊討。答與不答都是禪。拈主丈云。者箇是主丈。那箇是心。那箇是了。若道有心可了是名常見。若道無心可了是名斷見。若道非了非不了。亦了亦不了。總不出斷常諸見。遂擲下云。若向這裏離四句絕百非領略得去。却許與諸佛祖平等受用。何故。千峰勢到嶽邊住。萬派聲歸海上消。　復舉成都善女人范縣君曾參昭覺圓悟和上。令看不是心不是佛不是物是箇甚麼。縣君久而不悟。乃號哭而告圓悟曰。話頭稍長難於參究。和上有何方便使我易會。圓悟曰但看是箇甚麼。縣君自此稍覺省力。未幾果有開悟。乃曰。元來恁麼近那。師云。縣君費盡苦工夫。不知元來恁麼近。何似徐氏自幼便知有此事。所以一生履踐真實。及乎臨終恬然坐逝。較之縣君省力多少。山僧今夜快便難逢。當場為之證據。心了即了。心休即休。體雖常住。用乃周流。瀟瀟松風出萬壑。杲杲春日行滄洲。大平氣象。一網俱收。了心境界只者是。南北東西得自由。

> Xu's evening dharma talk. A monk asked: "Master Deshan said: 'Tonight's informal talk, no questions answered. Those who ask will receive thirty blows.' What is the meaning of this?" The master replied: "Here I don't strike Chan practitioners. If there's a question, I answer." The monk said: "'No dharma can be expressed — this is called expressing the dharma.' What about that?" The master picked up his staff. The monk immediately fled. The master said: "A thief has a guilty heart." He then said: "All Buddhas don't explain the dharma; the moment their tongues move, the level ground stirs up storms. All patriarchs don't answer Chan inquiries; the moment their mouths open, their eyes are filled with thorns. If you say there is speaking and hearing, you are just knocking on space to make sound. If you say there is no question and no answer, you are covering your ears to steal a bell. If you take this approach, it's like a mountain of silver or a wall of iron. If you don't take this approach, it's still a wall of iron and a mountain of silver. Between these two approaches, there's a barrier beneath your feet. Today, as a mountain monk, seeing injustice on the road, I also want to relay some news." He made a gesture of opening with his whisk: "The silver mountain and iron wall have been split open eightfold!" He struck the whisk: "The barrier beneath your feet has been shattered with one blow! Now you can freely stride on the tip of a single hair, split open Mount Taihua and release the Yellow River. Manifest your body within the light of the ten thousand phenomena, upside-down grasp Mount Sumeru and drink the Eastern Sea dry. Let Linji and Deshan release a breath on their eyebrows. Let Shakyamuni and Maitreya emit three inches of light from their nostrils. Then, from the place where they don't answer Chan questions, answer a question. From the place where they don't explain the dharma, explain a phrase." He struck the staff: "I've answered. I've explained. Know that this dharma is inconceivable. It can be great or small, existent or nonexistent. It can be awakened or deluded, ordinary or holy. Therefore, when people attain it, they become the most spiritual of all beings, endowed with the five constant virtues. When scholars and officials attain it, they cultivate themselves, regulate their families, govern the state, and bring peace to the world. When a sage emperor attains it, he embraces the four seas and harmonizes the myriad nations. When an arhat attains it, they possess the five superknowledges and realize the four fruits. When a pratyekabuddha attains it, they appear in a world without a Buddha and save those with affinities. When all bodhisattvas attain it, their vows and practices support each other, and wisdom and compassion work in tandem. When the World-Honored One attains it, he expounds the great treasury of teachings to liberate beings in the nine realms. Even the Tiantai masters, discussing the nature of reality, speaking of emptiness, the provisional, and the middle; or discussing the two gates of destruction and attraction, and the four kinds of pure lands, all within this dharma. The Huayan masters, speaking of the ocean of the Vairocana nature, speaking of Samantabhadra's practices, speaking of the realm of principle, the realm of phenomena, the realm of non-obstruction between principle and phenomena, and the realm of non-obstruction between phenomena and phenomena, all within this dharma. The lineage of Bodhidharma, speaking of not relying on words and letters, pointing directly to the mind; or speaking of the patriarchs' transmitted lamp; or speaking of the original face — none of this goes beyond this dharma. In this way, it envelops the ten directions and includes the myriad existences. Every spoken word touches it, every step lands on it. So why do ordinary people use it daily without knowing it? Sitting by a basket of rice, they still complain of hunger. For those who don't know it, let's not speak of them. But consider: since ancient times, how many intelligent people have known of this dharma? Yet they seek to understand it through words and texts, pursuing it in logical meaning. They can explain it clearly and investigate it thoroughly. But words are just words, and meaning is just meaning. They have nothing to do with your own self. When they speak, it seems like insight, but when faced with circumstances, they fall into confusion. This is because they can only extend their knowledge but cannot practice with effort. The \*Classic of History\* says: 'It is not knowledge that is difficult; it is action that is difficult.' The patriarch said: 'Speaking ten feet is not as good as practicing one foot. Speaking one foot is not as good as practicing one inch.' Without diligent practice, there will be no real benefit. And without real benefit, inevitably thoughts and worries will swarm, right and wrong will trouble you, and you will become confused and disordered, unable to be free. Rolling through life in a drunken world and dream realm, wasting an entire lifetime bound by profit and fame. In the future, you must face birth and death, the cycle of existence, and bear your own karma. Let's put aside this discussion for now. Consider, in our school, those who genuinely practice Chan and investigate reality, day in and night out, exhausting all their skills — they still can't manage it. It's like pressing a gourd down in water, like trying to row a boat tied to a post, like viewing flowers from a galloping horse, like forcing a cow to eat grass. With all this sideways and vertical talk, east and west references, in the end, it's half-baked and not neat and decisive. Hearing someone say 'All Buddhas don't explain the dharma, all patriarchs don't answer Chan,' they become flustered and unstable, unable to decide. Is this not deeply pitiful? But for someone who has realized the mind, it's like a long-time traveler arriving home, like pushing open a door that falls into its socket. Whether you talk about Chan or teach, discuss existence or emptiness, everything from all eight directions can be threaded together on one string. They are not deceived by the Buddhas' tongues; speaking or not speaking, it is all dharma. They don't beg at the patriarchs' mouths; answering or not answering, it is all Chan." He picked up his staff: "This is a staff. What is mind? What is realization? If you say there is a mind to be realized, that is the view of permanence. If you say there is no mind to be realized, that is the view of annihilation. If you say it is neither realized nor unrealized, both realized and unrealized, this still does not escape the views of permanence and annihilation." He then threw it down: "If here, departing from the four propositions and cutting off the hundred negations, you can grasp it, then you are allowed to equally enjoy the same freedom as all Buddhas and patriarchs. Why? The power of a thousand peaks stops at the foot of a mountain; the sound of ten thousand streams disappears into the sea." He then recounted: "In Chengdu, the good laywoman Madam Fan once studied under National Teacher Yuanwu of Zhaojue. Yuanwu told her to investigate: 'Not mind, not Buddha, not a thing — what is it?' Madam Fan spent a long time without awakening. She wept and told Yuanwu: 'The huatou is too long; it is difficult to investigate. Master, do you have any convenient method to help me understand easily?' Yuanwu said: 'Just look at what it is.' After this, Madam Fan felt a little more at ease. Before long, she indeed had an awakening. She said: 'So it's been this close all along!'" The master said: "Madam Fan exhausted all her bitter effort, not knowing it was this close all along. How much simpler is it for the Xu family, who have known of this matter since childhood? Therefore throughout life, their practice was genuine. At the end, they calmly sat and passed away. Compared to Madam Fan, how much more effortless! Tonight, this mountain monk, a rare chance indeed, bears witness on the spot. When the mind is realized, that is realization. When the mind rests, that is rest. The substance, though ever-present, functions flowing everywhere. The cool wind in pine trees sings through the valleys. The bright spring sun moves over the blue ocean. The atmosphere of great peace is gathered in a single net. The state of the realized mind is just this — free, north, south, east, west."

## 師子林天如和尚語錄卷之二