10Take Away the Person, Take Away the Ground示眾
師晚參示眾云：「有時奪人不奪境，有時奪境不奪人，有時人境俱奪，有時人境俱不奪。」時有僧問：「如何是奪人不奪境？」師云：「煦日發生鋪地錦，瓔孩垂髮白如絲。」僧云：「如何是奪境不奪人？」師云：「王令已行天下遍，將軍塞外絕烟塵。」僧云：「如何是人境兩俱奪？」師云：「并汾絕信，獨處一方。」僧云：「如何是人境俱不奪？」師云：「王登寶殿，野老謳歌。」師乃云：「今時學佛法者，且要求真正見解。若得真正見解，生死不染，去住自由，不要求殊勝，殊勝自至。道流！秖如自古先德，皆有出人底路。如山僧指示人處，秖要爾不受人惑，要用便用，更莫遲疑。如今學者不得，病在甚處？病在不自信處。爾若自信不及，即便忙忙地徇一切境轉，被他萬境回換，不得自由。爾若能歇得念念馳求心，便與祖佛不別。爾欲得識祖佛麼？秖爾面前聽法底是。學人信不及，便向外馳求；設求得者，皆是文字勝相，終不得他活祖意。莫錯，諸禪德！此時不遇，萬劫千生輪回三界，徇好境掇去，驢牛肚裏生。道流！約山僧見處，與釋迦不別。今日多般用處，欠少什麼？六道神光未曾間歇。若能如是見得，秖是一生無事人。大德！三界無安，猶如火宅，此不是爾久停住處。無常殺鬼一剎那間，不揀貴、賤、老、少。爾要與祖佛不別，但莫外求。爾一念心上清淨光，是爾屋裏法身佛；爾一念心上無分別光，是爾屋裏報身佛；爾一念心上無差別光，是爾屋裏化身佛。此三種身，是爾即今目前聽法底人，秖為不向外馳求，有此功用。據經論家，取三種身為極則；約山僧見處不然，此三種身是名言，亦是三種依。古人云：『身依義立，土據體論。』法性身、法性土，明知是光影。大德！爾且識取弄光影底人，是諸佛之本源，一切處是道流歸舍處。是爾四大色身不解說法聽法，脾胃肝膽不解說法聽法，虛空不解說法聽法，是什麼解說法聽法？是爾目前歷歷底，勿一箇形段孤明，是這箇解說法聽法。若如是見得，便與祖佛不別。但一切時中更莫間斷，觸目皆是。秖為情生智隔，想變體殊，所以輪回三界，受種種苦。若約山僧見處，無不甚深，無不解脫。道流！心法無形，通貫十方，在眼曰見，在耳曰聞，在鼻嗅香，在口談論，在手執捉，在足運奔。本是一精明，分為六和合。一心既無，隨處解脫。山僧與麼說，意在什麼處？秖為道流一切馳求心不能歇，上他古人閑機境。道流取山僧見處，坐斷報化佛頭，十地滿心猶如客作兒，等妙二覺擔枷鎖漢，羅漢、辟支猶如廁穢，菩提、涅槃如繫驢橛。何以如此？秖為道流不達三祇劫空，所以有此障礙。若是真正道人，終不如是，但能隨緣消舊業，任運著衣裳，要行即行，要坐即坐，無一念心希求佛果。緣何如此？古人云：『若欲作業求佛，佛是生死大兆。』大德！時光可惜，秖擬傍家波波地學禪、學道，認名、認句，求佛、求祖、求善知識，意度莫錯。道流！爾秖有一箇父母，更求何物？爾自返照看。古人云：『演若達多失却頭，求心歇處即無事。』大德！且要平常，莫作模樣。有一般不識好惡禿奴，便即見神、見鬼，指東劃西，好晴、好雨。如是之流，盡須抵債，向閻老前吞熱鐵丸有日。好人家男女，被這一般野狐精魅所著，便即揑怪瞎屢生，索飯錢有日在。」
At the evening gathering Linji told the assembly: "Sometimes I take away the person but not the ground. Sometimes I take away the ground but not the person. Sometimes I take away both. Sometimes I take away neither."
A monk asked, "What is it to take away the person but not the ground?"
Linji said: "Warm sun comes out and spreads brocade across the earth. The child's hair hangs down, white as silk."
"And to take away the ground but not the person?"
Linji said: "The king's command runs to every corner of the realm. Beyond the border the general, and no dust of war."
"And to take away both person and ground?"
Linji said: "Bing and Fen are cut off, no word between them. Each stands alone in its own quarter."
"And to take away neither?"
Linji said: "The king climbs to his throne. In the fields the old farmer sings."
Then Linji said: "These days, anyone studying the Dharma has to go after real, true insight. Get that, and birth and death can't stain you; you come and go as you please. Don't chase the extraordinary. The extraordinary arrives on its own.
"Friends, every one of the old masters had his way of leading people out. What I am pointing you toward is just this: don't let anyone fool you. When you need to use it, use it. Stop hesitating.
"Students today get nowhere. Where is the sickness? The sickness is that you don't trust yourselves. Because you can't trust yourselves, you go scrambling after every situation, jerked around by ten thousand changing conditions, never your own master. But just stop that mind that runs and grasps moment after moment, and you'll be no different from the buddhas and patriarchs.
"You want to know the buddhas and patriarchs? They're right here in front of me, the one listening to this teaching. Because the student can't trust that, he turns and chases after things outside. And even when he catches something, it's all words on a page, fine-sounding stuff. He never gets the living meaning of the patriarchs.
"Make no mistake, friends. Miss it now and you'll circle through the three realms for endless ages, dragged off after pleasant scenery, born into the belly of a donkey or a cow.
"Friends, the way I see it, we're no different from Shakyamuni. Look at everything you're doing right now. What are you missing? The radiance pouring through your six senses has never once stopped. See it like this, and you're a person with nothing to do for the rest of your life.
"Listen: there is no safety in the three realms. It's a burning house. This is no place for you to settle and stay. The murdering demon of impermanence comes in a single flash, and it doesn't care whether you're rich or poor, old or young.
"You want to be no different from the buddhas and patriarchs? Then quit looking outside. The pure light in a single thought of yours is the Dharma-body buddha in your own house. The light in a single thought that makes no distinctions is the reward-body buddha in your own house. The light in a single thought that knows no difference is the transformation-body buddha in your own house. These three bodies are the very person here in front of me, listening to this teaching. And they work only because you stop chasing after things outside.
"The scholars take those three bodies for the absolute. The way I see it, no. The three bodies are words, and they are props, three kinds of scenery. As the old man said, 'The body is set up around a meaning; the land is described against a substance.' The Dharma-nature body, the Dharma-nature land: know clearly that these are light and shadow.
"Friends, get to know the one who plays with light and shadow. He is the source of all the buddhas, and wherever you are is home. Your body of four elements can't teach the Dharma or hear it. Your spleen, stomach, liver, gallbladder can't teach it or hear it. Empty space can't teach it or hear it. So what can? The thing right in front of you, vivid and distinct, with no shape at all, shining alone. That is what teaches the Dharma and hears it. See it like this, and you're no different from the buddhas and patriarchs.
"Only never break the thread. Whatever your eye lands on, that's it. Feeling rises and wisdom gets blocked, thought shifts and the substance changes, and so you circle through the three realms and suffer every kind of pain. The way I see it, there is nothing that isn't deep, nothing that isn't already free.
"Friends, mind has no shape. It runs through all directions. In the eye it sees, in the ear it hears, in the nose it smells, in the mouth it talks, in the hand it grabs, in the foot it walks. Originally it's one pure brightness, split into six that work together. Once the whole mind is empty, you're free wherever you are.
"Why am I telling you this? Only because you keep running and grasping, your minds can't stop, and you climb all over the idle contraptions of the old masters.
"Friends, take my view. Cut off the heads of the reward-buddha and the transformation-buddha. The one who has filled the ten stages is still a hired hand. The two highest awakenings are convicts in chains. Arhats and pratyekabuddhas are filth in a latrine. Enlightenment and nirvana are a stake for tying up a donkey. Why so harsh? Only because you haven't seen through the emptiness of the three incalculable eons. That's where the blockage comes from. A true person of the Way is never like this. He simply goes along with conditions and works off his old debts, throws on his clothes as he pleases, walks when he wants to walk and sits when he wants to sit, not a single thought hoping for buddhahood. Why? As the old man said, 'Make karma trying to seek the buddha, and the buddha becomes the great omen of birth and death.'
"Friends, time is precious. Yet here you are running door to door studying meditation, studying the Way, memorizing names, memorizing phrases, hunting for buddhas, hunting for patriarchs, hunting for a good teacher. Think it over, and don't get it wrong. You already have one set of parents. What else are you looking for? Turn your own light around and look. The old man said, 'Yajnadatta thought he'd lost his head; the moment his seeking mind stopped, he had nothing to do.'
"Friends, just be ordinary. Don't put on an act. There's a certain kind of bald fool who can't tell good from bad: he sees spirits, sees ghosts, points east, gestures west, loves clear weather, loves rain. People like that all have a debt to pay. One day they'll be swallowing red-hot iron balls in front of King Yama. Good men and women from decent families get bewitched by these wild-fox spirits, and then they start their freakish tricks, the blind louts. The day is coming when they'll be billed for the rice they ate."