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問：「如何是西來意？」師云：「若有意，自救不了。」云：「既無意，云何二祖得法？」師云：「得者是不得。」云：「既若不得，云何是不得底意？」師云：「為爾向一切處馳求，心不能歇，所以祖師言：『咄哉，丈夫！將頭覓頭。』儞言下便自回光返照，更不別求，知身心與祖佛不別，當下無事，方名得法。大德！山僧今時事不獲已，話度說出許多不才淨。爾且莫錯！據我見處，寔無許多般道理，要用便用，不用便休。秖如諸方說六度萬行以為佛法，我道是莊嚴門、佛事門，非是佛法。乃至持齋、持戒，擎油不㴸，道眼不明，盡須抵債，索飯錢有日在。何故如此？入道不通理，復身還信施。長者八十一，其樹不生耳。乃至孤峯獨宿，一食卯齋，長坐不臥，六時行道，皆是造業底人。乃至頭、目、髓、腦、國城、妻子、象、馬、七珍盡皆捨施，如是等見，皆是苦身心故，還招苦果，不如無事，純一無雜。乃至十地滿心菩薩，皆求此道流蹤跡，了不可得，所以諸天歡喜，地神捧足，十方諸佛無不稱歎。緣何如此？為今聽法道人，用處無蹤跡。」
A monk asked, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?"
Linji said, "If it had a meaning, you couldn't even save yourself."
"If it has no meaning, then how did the Second Patriarch get the Dharma?"
Linji said, "To get it is to get nothing."
"If there's nothing to get, what does 'not getting' mean?"
Linji said, "Because you go chasing all over the place and your mind can't stop. That's why the patriarch said, 'You fool, running around looking for your head with your head right there on your shoulders.' The instant you turn your light around and look back, and stop hunting for anything else, the instant you see that your own body and mind are no different from the patriarchs and buddhas, and right then there's nothing to do, that's what we call getting the Dharma.
"Listen, friends. These days I have no choice. I stand up here and pour out a whole pile of this useless talk. Don't get it wrong. The way I see it, there isn't any elaborate doctrine in it at all. If you want to use it, use it. If you don't, let it go.
"Take all the talk going around about the six perfections and the ten thousand practices, the thing people call the Buddha's Dharma. I say it's window-dressing, busywork for buddhas. It is not the Buddha's Dharma. Keep your fasts, keep the precepts, carry your bowl of oil so steady you never spill a drop: if your eye for the Way isn't clear, you'll pay all of it back. The day will come when they hand you the bill for your meals. Why? Because you entered the path and never got to the bottom of it, so you take on a body again and pay back the faithful who fed you. The rich man turned eighty-one, and the tree stopped sprouting fungus.
"Holing up alone on some far peak, one meal a day at dawn, sitting forever and never lying down, walking your six rounds of practice through the day and the night: every one of those people is only piling up karma. Give away your head, your eyes, your marrow and brains, your kingdom, your wife and children, your elephants and horses and every last treasure, fling it all away in charity, and still, every view like this only tortures body and mind, and torture brings back nothing but bitter fruit. Better to have nothing to do, pure and simple and unmixed.
"Even bodhisattvas at the tenth and final stage go searching for the tracks of this true follower of the Way and can't find a single one. That's why the gods rejoice, the earth spirits cradle his feet, and every buddha in all directions sings his praises. Why? Because the man of the Way listening to this teaching right now leaves no trace where he works."