---
title: "天目明本禪師雜錄 · 示徒"
description: "天目明本禪師雜錄是元代高僧中峰明本禪師的語錄和詩文集。明本禪師為臨濟宗一代宗匠，其思想承襲並發揚了高峰原妙的禪法，活躍於元代江南地區，深受僧俗敬仰。該書內容豐富，包含上堂法語、開示、書信、偈頌等，系統闡述了看話禪的修行要旨與禪淨融合思想，文字直指人心，影響深遠。此書是研究元代禪宗特別是臨濟宗發展的重要文獻，在佛教史上具有崇高地位，被視為禪修者的重要指導典籍。"
url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cmex4v1th028pl4042cb7kfnk"
---

### 示徒

> Teaching the Disciples

佛印元禪師痛諭文。其略曰。一念靜心終成正覺。蛙步不休跛鼈千里。器有利鈍根有淺深。及其成功一也。獨在乎發憤立志而已矣。吾今痛諭道俗。當知四易四難。何名四易。自己是佛。不用別求師資。若欲供養佛。只供養自己。一易也。無為是佛。不用看經禮像行道坐禪。飢飡困臥任緣隨運。二易也。無著是佛。不用毀弃形體捐弃眷屬。山林市井處處自在。三易也。無求是佛。不用積功累善勤修苦行。福慧二嚴元無交涉。四易也。何名四難。能信一難。能念二難。能悟三難。能修四難。夫信因果。可以為小信。不可為大信。然猶疑者多。信者少。信而不疑者率千百人中有一二人耳。何況頓見自性一超直入如來之事乎。千經萬論奇踪異跡種種留在世間只為人無信心。眾聖慈悲。廣施方便開曉群迷。令其由信門入。盖有其信者必行之。此信之所以為難也。十二時中惟欲念念不忘。行時行念之。坐時坐念之。起居動止語默臥興時皆念之。治事接物乃至困苦患難險危之時亦皆念之。其身如槁木。如頑石。如死屍。如土偶。唯心心在道。應答於人如癡如醉。聞聲見色如聵如盲。所以喻如猫捕鼠。心目一於注眎。少怠則失鼠矣。如鷄抱卵。暖氣貴於相接。弃之則不成種子矣。此念之所以又為難也。念道本於持久。悟道在於須臾。因緣未熟。時節未到。機關屢啟。無所遇也。因緣既熟。時節既到。雖形聲不接。忽現前也。未悟者難與言已悟之見。如生而盲者。語以天日之清明。彼雖聽。不可辨也。已悟者無復踏未悟之迹。如寐而覺者。使其為夢中事。彼雖憶而不可追也。參學之士。要當以悟為準。此悟之所以又為難也。未悟常須憂念。已悟益須持守。如擎盤水。如執至寶。如護目睛。如踐危險。若對君師。是持守之道也。持守者修之也。見道方修。道不見何庸修。有問者曰。已悟矣寧修為。則應之曰。多劫薰習未遽除盡。惟宜修之。修到無修。然後同於諸佛。此修之所以又為難也。故不知四易者可使為善。不可使入道也。不知四難者。可與譚道。不可與進道云云。師曰。文中言念道之說。即今所謂參也。其四難。最初言信為難。所云信者。欲其信前之四易後之四難也。然此信心。慎不可苟而得之。一憑自家多生親厚般若之力。次憑日用念念痛為死生大事之正念。深入骨髓。無斯須少間。且信既如此。則所參之話。不翅飢人得食。寒者得衣。雖強使其放捨。終不可得也。其參道之心綿密。更無不悟之時。譬之行路。朝趍之。夕進之。安有不到之理。謂悟者何。乃悟前四易也。此四易。苟非悟入。皆名妄解。今人例以聰明之姿。不待悟入。遽以四易之說領略在識量中。自謂實證。便捐福惠二嚴。俱無交涉。極理之譚未甞不是。殊不知。不曾悟入墮在識量分別中。終日說食而不療飢也。且悟既不真。如人未曾親到家𨓍。便欲於途路中作屋裏活計。可乎不可乎。由是知道既不悟。其修之為難也。必矣。一種是開示後學。惟佛印和尚四易四難之說深切著明堂中。諸學般若菩薩。皆是遠離世間種種受用。來此甘心寂寞。靡有不言為生死無常大事者。虗延歲月。豈忍為哉。文中謂如猫捕鼠。少怠則失鼠矣。如鷄抱卵。少間則不成種子矣。斯言可信。望同興志力早悟。厥躬明本。今夏臥病不能與諸兄道論。故引此告之。光影如流。毋貽後悔。謹言。

> The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Foyin Yuan. The summary states: A single moment of tranquil mind ultimately leads to complete enlightenment. A lame tortoise can travel a thousand miles if it keeps moving without pause. Vessels may be sharp or dull, roots may be deep or shallow, but in achieving success, they are one and the same. It depends solely on arousing determination and establishing one's resolve. I now earnestly instruct both monastics and laypeople. You should understand the Four Eases and the Four Difficulties. What are the Four Eases? 1. You yourself are Buddha. There is no need to seek another teacher. If you wish to make offerings to the Buddha, simply make offerings to yourself. This is the first ease. 2. Non-action is Buddha. There is no need to read scriptures, venerate images, practice walking meditation, or sit in meditation. Eat when hungry, sleep when tired, following conditions and going with the flow. This is the second ease. 3. Non-attachment is Buddha. There is no need to destroy your body or abandon your family. In mountain forests or marketplaces, everywhere is a place of natural ease. This is the third ease. 4. Non-seeking is Buddha. There is no need to accumulate merits and virtues or diligently practice asceticism. The adornments of merit and wisdom originally have no connection to it. This is the fourth ease. What are the Four Difficulties? 1. To be able to have faith is the first difficulty. 2. To be able to maintain mindfulness is the second difficulty. 3. To be able to awaken is the third difficulty. 4. To be able to cultivate is the fourth difficulty. To believe in cause and effect can be considered minor faith; it cannot be considered great faith. Yet even so, those who doubt are many, and those who believe are few. Those who believe without doubt are perhaps one or two out of every thousand or hundred people. How much more so for the matter of suddenly seeing one's own nature and directly entering the state of a Tathagata in one leap? The thousands of sutras and ten thousands of treatises, the wondrous traces and extraordinary deeds, all remain in the world solely because people lack faith. The multitude of sages, out of compassion, extensively provide skillful means to open up and enlighten the confused masses, enabling them to enter through the gate of faith. Generally, those who have this faith will necessarily practice. This is why faith is considered difficult. Throughout the twelve periods of the day, one should only desire unceasing mindfulness, not forgetting it for a single thought. When walking, be mindful while walking. When sitting, be mindful while sitting. Whether rising, resting, moving, stopping, speaking, silent, lying down, or getting up, always be mindful. When managing affairs, interacting with things, and even in times of hardship, suffering, danger, or peril, always be mindful. Let the body be like a withered tree, a stubborn rock, a dead corpse, a clay doll. Only let the mind constantly abide in the Way. When responding to people, be as if foolish or intoxicated. When hearing sounds or seeing forms, be as if deaf or blind. Therefore, it is compared to a cat catching a mouse: the eye and mind are focused intently on it. With the slightest slackness, the mouse is lost. It is like a hen sitting on eggs: the warmth is valued for being continuous. If abandoned, they will not become chicks. This is why mindfulness is also considered difficult. Mindfulness of the Way is fundamentally based on enduring persistence. Awakening to the Way occurs in an instant. If causes and conditions are not yet ripe, if the time has not yet arrived, even if the mechanism is repeatedly triggered, there will be no encounter. Once causes and conditions are ripe and the time has arrived, even without contact through form or sound, it will suddenly appear before you. To those who have not awakened, it is difficult to speak of the insight of one who has awakened. It is like speaking to someone blind from birth about the clarity of the sun and sky. Although they listen, they cannot discern it. Those who have awakened will not tread again the traces of those who have not awakened. It is like someone who has woken from a dream: if told to do the things from the dream, although they may remember, they cannot pursue them. Practitioners engaged in study and inquiry must take awakening as the standard. This is why awakening is also considered difficult. Before awakening, one must constantly be concerned and mindful. After awakening, one must even more diligently maintain and uphold. It is like holding a tray of water, like grasping a most precious treasure, like protecting one's eyeballs, like treading on dangerous ground, like facing a sovereign or teacher. This is the path of maintaining and upholding. Maintaining and upholding is cultivation. One cultivates upon seeing the Way. If the Way is not seen, what use is cultivation? If someone asks, "Having already awakened, why still cultivate?" one should reply: "Habitual tendencies from countless eons are not immediately eradicated. One should only cultivate. Cultivate until there is no cultivation, then one becomes identical with all Buddhas." This is why cultivation is also considered difficult. Therefore, those who do not know the Four Eases can be led to do good, but cannot be led to enter the Way. Those who do not know the Four Difficulties can be discussed the Way with, but cannot be advanced on the Path with. <note>And so on.</note> The Master said: The discussion of mindfulness of the Way in the text refers to what we now call 'investigation' (can). Among the Four Difficulties, the first states that faith is difficult. The 'faith' spoken of here is the desire to have faith in the preceding Four Eases and the following Four Difficulties. However, this mind of faith must not be obtained carelessly. First, it relies on the power of Prajna (wisdom) with which one has been intimately connected over many lifetimes. Second, it relies on the correct mindfulness, deeply ingrained in one's bones and marrow during daily life, of the great matter of birth and death, without the slightest interruption for even a moment. Moreover, if faith is like this, then the topic of one's investigation becomes like food to a starving person or clothes to one who is cold. Even if one were strongly forced to abandon it, it would ultimately be impossible. The mind investigating the Way becomes continuous and dense, leaving no time when awakening is not possible. It is like traveling a road: if you hasten towards it in the morning and advance in the evening, how could there be any reason not to arrive? What is meant by 'awakening'? It is awakening to the former Four Eases. Unless one awakens and enters into these Four Eases, they are all called false understanding. People nowadays, relying on their intelligent dispositions, without waiting to awaken and enter, hastily grasp the meaning of the Four Eases within the sphere of their discriminating consciousness, considering it to be genuine realization. They then dismiss the two adornments of merit and wisdom as having no connection. In terms of the ultimate principle, this statement is not incorrect. They simply do not realize that, not having truly awakened and entered, they fall within the discriminating sphere of consciousness, all day speaking of food yet not curing their hunger. Furthermore, if awakening is not genuine, it is like a person who has never personally arrived home yet wants to conduct the affairs of the household while still on the road. Is this acceptable or not? From this, it is clear that if the Way is not awakened to, the difficulty of cultivating it is certain. This is one kind of instruction for later learners. Only the Venerable Foyin's teaching on the Four Eases and Four Difficulties is profoundly clear and evident. All you Bodhisattvas studying Prajna in this hall have all distanced yourselves from the various enjoyments of the world, coming here to willingly embrace solitude. There is none who does not speak of the great matter of birth, death, and impermanence. To idly pass the days and months—how could you bear to do so? The text says: It is like a cat catching a mouse; with the slightest slackness, the mouse is lost. It is like a hen sitting on eggs; with the slightest interruption, they will not become chicks. These words can be trusted. I hope you will together arouse your will and power, awakening early to illuminate the fundamental source within yourselves. This summer, being ill and confined to bed, I cannot discuss the Way with you brothers. Therefore, I cite this to inform you. Time flows like light and shadow. Do not leave regrets for later. These are my earnest words.