---
title: "天如惟則禪師語錄 · 示樂真居士(狄同知)"
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/cmex4uw1b00t6l4044d8b5jaf"
---

### 示樂真居士狄同知

> Showing Joyous Truth to Layman Di Tongzhi

吾佛世尊之道。如杲日之在中天。光無私照。照無不覩。初非恠詭僻異之術。亦非險峻幽深之事。蓋其立言垂化。原始要終無非教人為善而已。為善者何。治心而已。治心者何。捨邪從正而已。心也者。從古逮今聖凡貴賤一切生靈之所共稟者也。充而論之。天地以之而建立。陰陽以之而運行。風雨晦明以之而變化。草木萬類以之而發生。其於人也。在眼為見。在耳為聞。在鼻為嗅。在舌為甞。乃至俯仰折旋行住坐臥。一靜一動一語一默。喜怒哀樂之情。取舍向背之行。皆心之所為也。窮其神妙。如經所謂。現寶剎於毛端。轉法輪於塵裏。擲大千於方外。納須彌於芥中。百千三昧靡不由之而變現也。心體本一。惟於應事接物之際或失主宰。遂有邪正真妄之分焉。真心者何。本來清淨無所汙染。本來解脫無所繫礙。妙應隨緣縱橫自在之謂也。妄心者何。由迷真覺。隨念變遷。識想紛飛根塵膠擾。而顛倒錯亂靡所不至之謂也。譬若鏡焉。本體明淨。胡來胡現漢來漢現。妍𡟎萬應毫髮無差。或不能護其本真而汙以妄垢。日積日厚。則本明本淨者隱矣。既有妄心則所趨所為悉名妄業。既有妄業則有妄報。業報相隨若形影之不相離。然則三塗五苦生死輪迴不可得而免矣。究其背真向妄一至于此。倘無治法則其害何窮。是故吾佛思所以治之。演出一大藏教。曲垂種種方便者。皆去妄就真之法也。亦猶磨鏡之方藥焉。使其日治日磨。垢盡明現而後已。苟知治心如治鏡。則人皆可使為聖賢之歸。使人人為聖賢之歸。則吾佛治心之道豈恠詭僻異之術。險峻幽深之事哉。世之昧者。或主乎先入之言。局於一偏之見。不能刮目佛書。留心佛道。既不知信而反見謗。是猶盲者之謗日。孰能加損於無私之照哉。自佛法流東以來。受其惠者盈天下爾。後時殊事異法久弊生。依文解義者多。力行脩治者少。是以達磨一來掃空陳弊。直指人心不立文字。貴在機先言外脫體承當。謂之教外別傳。極其省要痛快者也。自此別傳之宗布滿海內。而名公鉅儒亦皆幡然從之。如裴相國．張相國．白侍郎．柳刺史．楊內翰．楊次公．趙清獻公．富鄭公．黃太史．蘇翰林輩。皆不離富貴功名文章事業。而能發明直指之道。氣吞佛祖。聲撼乾坤。豈非一生取辦而千古慶快者哉。今廣平西村狄相公亦深信吾宗者。泰定乙丑丙寅間余寓吳門幻住菴。西村丁母憂。廬墓於閶關外。其孝行盛稱于時。余甞為撰廬墓序。多引儒典之言。而西村以佛法見問。余乃許之曰。他日為西村言之未晚也。由是燕鴻南北。曠不相聞者十有六年矣。近余重到幻住而西村亦自京還。年登五十。富貴方來。忽出長紙二幅求語進道。舉向來相許之言。似索余之宿逋也。然我宗無語句。亦無一法與人。惟在乎自參自悟自得耳。其自參自悟之方。先須照破世間虗名浮利恩愛豪華。萬境萬緣同一夢幻。次須痛念流光如箭時不待人。生死岸頭無本可據。然後將宗門中省要處念念提撕。政當提撕之時。於脩身齊家聽訟治獄禮樂刑政之宣行。案牘簡書之酬酢。總不相妨。總是下手得力處。果能如是。功不浪施念無虗棄。驀忽剖破藩籬。摸著佛祖巴鼻。豈復讓於裴張蘇黃輩哉。今西村之索我者。我已償其逋矣。發明直指之道。吾亦有望於西村。他日重逢。吾將索公之逋也。公當力行之。深造之。

> The way of our Buddha, the World-Honored One, is like the bright sun at high noon: its light shines without partiality, and there is nothing it does not illuminate. It was never a strange or bizarre art, nor a perilous or unfathomable matter. Its teachings and transformative influence, from beginning to end, teach nothing but doing good. And what is doing good? It is simply governing the mind. And what is governing the mind? It is simply abandoning the crooked and following the upright. The mind—from ancient times to the present, sages and ordinary people, noble and lowly, all living beings share it alike. Expounding it fully: heaven and earth are established by it; yin and yang revolve by it; wind and rain, darkness and light change by it; grasses, trees, and all myriad things arise by it. In people: in the eye it sees, in the ear it hears, in the nose it smells, in the tongue it tastes—even bending and rising, turning and circling, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; every stillness and every movement, every word and every silence; the feelings of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight; the actions of choosing and rejecting, approaching and turning away—all are what the mind does. Exhausting its wondrous power: as the scriptures say, it manifests jeweled realms within the tip of a hair, turns the Dharma-wheel within a mote of dust, casts the great chiliocosm beyond the cardinal directions, and takes Mount Sumeru and places it inside a mustard seed. Hundreds of thousands of samadhis all arise and appear through it. The essence of the mind is originally one. Only when dealing with matters and meeting things does it sometimes lose its mastery—and so there come to be distinctions of crooked and upright, true and false. What is the true mind? Originally pure, stained by nothing. Originally liberated, hindered by nothing. Wondrously responding according to conditions, freely at ease in all directions—this is what is meant. What is the deluded mind? Because true awakening is lost, it changes along with thoughts; consciousness and imagination fly about in confusion, faculties and objects entangle and disturb—and so inversion, error, and chaos reach everywhere. It is like a mirror: its original body is bright and pure. When a foreigner comes, a foreigner appears; when a Chinese person comes, a Chinese person appears. Beautiful and ugly, ten thousand reflections—not the slightest discrepancy. But if one cannot protect its original truth and stains it with deluded defilement, then day by day it accumulates, day by day it thickens—and what was originally bright and originally pure becomes hidden. Once there is a deluded mind, then wherever it goes and whatever it does is all called deluded karma. Once there is deluded karma, there is deluded retribution. Karma and retribution follow one another like form and shadow, never parting. Thus the three evil paths and the five sufferings, birth and death, and the cycle of rebirth cannot be escaped. Tracing it back—turning from truth toward delusion reaches this point. If there were no method of cure, how endless would the harm be? Therefore our Buddha, considering how to cure it, brought forth a whole great canon of teachings, bending down in various skillful means—all of them methods for leaving delusion and approaching truth. They are like the prescriptions and medicines for polishing a mirror: making one polish and polish day by day, until the defilement is gone, the brightness appears, and only then does it stop. If one knows that governing the mind is like polishing a mirror, then everyone can be brought to the realm of sages and worthies. If everyone can be brought to the realm of sages and worthies, then is our Buddha's way of governing the mind really a strange and bizarre art, a perilous and unfathomable matter? Those in the world who are deluded may cling to preconceived words or be confined to one-sided views, unable to wipe their eyes and look at Buddhist books, unable to set their hearts on the Buddhist path. Not only do they fail to have faith—they instead slander it. This is like a blind person slandering the sun: who can diminish its impartial illumination? Since the Dharma flowed eastward, those who have received its grace fill the world. But in later times circumstances differ and matters change; as the Dharma endures long, abuses arise. Many rely on the text and interpret its meaning; few exert themselves in practice and cultivation. That is why Bodhidharma came once and swept away stale abuses: directly pointing to the human mind, not establishing written words, valuing the pivotal moment before speech, understanding beyond the words, and personally taking it up—this is called the separate transmission outside the teachings. It is the most concise and direct, the most exhilarating. From then on, the lineage of this separate transmission spread throughout the land, and famous lords and great Confucians all turned to follow it—such as Minister Pei, Minister Zhang, Vice Minister Bai, Governor Liu, Hanlin Yang, Yang Cigong, Lord Zhao Qingxian, Lord Fu Zheng, Huang Taishi, and Su Hanlin. Without leaving wealth, honor, fame, literature, or worldly achievements, they were able to illuminate the way of direct pointing. Their spirit swallowed buddhas and patriarchs; their voices shook heaven and earth. Were they not those who accomplished it in one lifetime and rejoiced for a thousand ages? Now Lord Di of Xicun in Guangping also deeply has faith in our school. During the Yichou and Bingyin years of the Taiding era, I was staying at Huanzhu Hermitage in Wumen when Xicun was in mourning for his mother, keeping vigil by her grave outside the Chang Gate. His filial conduct was greatly praised at the time. I once composed a preface for his grave vigil, quoting many Confucian classics, and Xicun asked me about the Buddhadharma. I promised him, saying, "Another day I will speak to you about it—it is not too late." After that, like swallows and geese north and south, we were far apart and out of contact for sixteen years. Recently I returned to Huanzhu, and Xicun had also come back from the capital. He has reached the age of fifty; wealth and honor are just now arriving. Suddenly he brought out two long sheets of paper and asked for words to advance on the path. He brought up our earlier promise, as if demanding repayment of an old debt. Yet our school has no words or phrases, nor any single dharma to give to people. It depends only on self-inquiry, self-awakening, and self-attainment. As for the method of self-inquiry and self-awakening: first one must see through the world's false fame, floating profit, affection, and splendor—the ten thousand circumstances and ten thousand conditions are all one dream, one illusion. Next one must painfully remember that flowing light is like an arrow; time does not wait for people. At the shore of birth and death there is no root to rely on. Only then should one take the essential point of the school and keep it before one's mind, moment after moment. Right at the time of keeping it before one's mind, in cultivating the self, regulating the family, hearing lawsuits and judging cases, in the proclamation and execution of rites, music, punishments, and government, in responding to documents and correspondence—none of it obstructs. All of it is exactly where one applies effort and gains strength. If one can truly be like this, effort is not wasted, and no thought is cast away in vain. Suddenly one breaks open the hedge and touches the nose of the buddhas and patriarchs—how could one then yield to the likes of Pei, Zhang, Su, and Huang? Now Xicun's demand of me—I have already repaid his debt. As for illuminating the way of direct pointing, I also have hope for Xicun. When we meet again another day, I will demand repayment of your debt. You should practice it diligently and penetrate it deeply.