84Vimalakirti's Silence

Introduction 垂示

道是，是無可是；言非，非無可非。是非已去，得失兩忘，淨裸裸，赤灑灑。且道：面前背後是箇什麼？或有箇衲僧出來道：「面前是佛殿三門，背後是寢堂方丈。」且道：此人還具眼也無？若辨得此人，許爾親見古人來。

Affirm it, and there's nothing left to affirm. Deny it, and there's nothing left to deny. Drop yes and no, forget gain and loss, and you stand there clean, stripped bare, wide open. So tell me: what is that, in front of you and behind you?

Maybe some monk steps up and says, "In front is the Buddha hall and the temple gate; behind is the abbot's quarters." Fine. But does that monk actually have eyes or not? Size him up rightly and I'll grant you've met the old masters face to face.

維摩詰問文殊師利：「何等是菩薩入不二法門？」文殊曰：「如我意者，於一切法無言無說，無示無識，離諸問答，是為入不二法門。」於是文殊師利問維摩詰：「我等各自說已，仁者當說，何等是菩薩入不二法門？」雪竇云：「維摩道什麼？」復云：「勘破了也。」

Vimalakirti asked Manjushri, "What is it for a bodhisattva to enter the gate of nonduality?"

Manjushri said, "The way I see it: in every single thing, no words, no speech, no pointing, no knowing. Leave behind all questions and answers. That is entering the gate of nonduality."

Then Manjushri turned to him: "Each of us has had his say. Now you tell us. What is it for a bodhisattva to enter the gate of nonduality?"

Xuedou said: What did Vimalakirti say? And he added: Seen right through.

Verse 頌

咄！這維摩老，
悲生空懊惱。
臥疾毘耶離，
全身太枯槁。
七佛祖師來，
一室且頻掃。
請問不二門，
當時便靠倒。
不靠倒，
金毛獅子無處討。

Hey, old man Vimalakirti!
Heartsick, eaten up with grief over nothing,
laid out flat and sick in Vaishali,
his whole body worn to a husk.
The teacher of the seven Buddhas arrives;
that one small room swept and swept again.
Asked about the gate of nonduality,
right then he toppled over.
Didn't topple over,
and the golden-maned lion has nowhere to hunt.

Pointer

Vimalakirti is a legendary layman who, in his own sutra, out-argues the smartest monks in the building, and Manjushri is the bodhisattva who stands for wisdom itself, the heavyweight sent in to face him. "Nonduality" means cutting through every either/or, self and other, yes and no, sacred and ordinary, until no split is left standing. In the original a roomful of sages each take a turn describing it, and Manjushri tops them by declaring the truth is past all words, then turns and asks the layman to answer. Vimalakirti's famous reply was to say nothing at all, total silence, the move everyone remembers. Xuedou will not let that silence sit as the obvious winner: his needling, "What did he say? Seen right through," plus the golden-maned lion in the verse finding nothing to pounce on, are all probing whether that silence is the living thing or a slick exit. A wordless answer can be the deepest reply in the room or the smoothest dodge in it. Which one was this?