..续本文上一页 rain, and delight in lanterns and pillars. Look at them! How many hairs are left in their eyebrows! There is a good reason for this [loss of eyebrows]. Lacking understanding, students become infatuated with them. Such [shavepates] as these are all wild fox-spirits and nature-goblins. Good students snicker and say, “Blind old shavepates, deluding and bewitching everyone under heaven!”

　　“Followers of the Way, he who is a renouncer of home must needs study the Way. Take me, for example—I started out devoting myself to the vinaya and also delved into the sutras and śāstras. Later, when I realized that they were only remedies to help the world and displays of opinion, I threw them all away, and, searching for the Way, I practiced meditation. Still later I met a great teacher. Then, indeed, my dharma-eye became clear and for the first time I was able to understand all the old teachers of the world and to tell the true from the false. It is not that I understood from the moment I was born of my mother, but that, after exhaustive investigation and grinding practice, in one instant I knew for myself.

　　“Followers of the Way, if you want insight into dharma as it is, just don”t be taken in by the deluded views of others. Whatever you encounter, either within or without, slay it at once. On meeting a buddha slay the buddha, on meeting a patriarch slay the patriarch, on meeting an arhat slay the arhat, on meeting your parents slay your parents, on meeting your kinsman slay your kinsman, and you attain emancipation. By not cleaving to things, you freely pass through.

　　“Among all the students from every quarter who are followers of the Way, none has yet come before me without being dependent on something. Here I hit them right from the start. If they come forth using their hands, I hit them on the hands; if they come forth using their mouths, I hit them on the mouth; if they come forth using their eyes, I hit them on the eyes. Not one has yet come before me in solitary freedom. All are clambering after the worthless contrivances of the men of old. As for myself, I haven”t a single dharma to give to people. All I can do is to cure illnesses and untie bonds. You followers of the Way from every quarter, try coming before me without being dependent upon things. I would confer with you.

　　“Five years, nay ten years, have passed, but as yet not one person [has appeared]. All have been [ghosts] dependent upon grasses or attached to leaves, souls of bamboos and trees, wild fox-spirits. They recklessly gnaw on all kinds of dung clods. Blind fools! Wastefully squandering the alms given them by believers everywhere and saying,“I am a renouncer of home,” all the while holding such views as these!

　　“I say to you there is no buddha, no dharma, nothing to practice, nothing to enlighten to. Just what are you seeking in the highways and byways

　　 Blind men! You”re putting a head on top of the one you already have. What do you yourselves lack

　　 Followers of the Way, your own present activities do not differ from those of the patriarch-buddhas. You just don”t believe this and keep on seeking outside. Make no mistake! Outside there is no dharma; inside, there is nothing to be obtained. Better than grasp at the words from my mouth, take it easy and do nothing. Don”t continue [thoughts] that have already arisen and don”t let those that haven”t yet arisen be aroused. Just this will be worth far more to you than a ten years” pilgrimage.

　　“As I see it, there isn”t so much to do. Just be ordinary—put on your clothes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing. You who come here from here and there all have a mind to seek buddha, to seek dharma, to seek emancipation, to seek escape from the three realms. Foolish fellows! When you”ve left the three realms where would…

《镇州临济慧照禅师语录 The Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Linji Huizhao of Zhenzhou》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…