佛来佛斩，魔来魔斩

If the Buddha Comes, Smash Him; If A Demon Comes, Beat Him Away.

 

参禅首先要没有我相，为什么要参「念佛是谁」？就是不要有一个我。你若真正把功夫用上路了，你就不会有其他的妄想，也不会觉得腿痛，因为把腿痛和妄想都忘了，就是单单提起来这一句话头：「念佛是谁？」这一念参下去，能把时间都给改变了，能把境界都给赶跑了。

 

怎么说能把时间给缩短了呢？你用功用得相应，参这个「谁」，方才坐这地方，它就开静了，不觉得是坐一个钟头，或者半个钟头，或者两个钟头，不觉得。就是这么一闭眼睛，把眼睛睁开、闭上这么一个时候，已经开静丑C你想一想，这是不是把时间给缩短了、改变了？你单单就「念佛是谁」参下去，你这时候腿痛也不知道痛，腰痛也不知道痛。因为你没有心了－－你没有这个执着的心了，所以坐这地方不觉得怎么样难过，腿也不痛；就是它痛，你也不知道痛。也不要说是：「啊！我怎么还没有得到一点好处呢？」就因为你这个第二念－－想要得到好处这一念，那已经就把功夫失去了。

 

用功的人，这个「谁」字总是不能断的，问一声：「是谁？」再问一声：「是谁？」把这个心意识都参没有了，心也空了，身也空了，意也空了，这识也空了。你打妄想，就是由这个第六意识生出来的，这第六意识叫你打妄想，叫你知道痛，叫你忍受不住，都是它来作怪。你若能把这个心意识都打破了、参破了，不被它所转了，这是一个会用功的人。会用功的人，不要说你天天用功相应，就是很少的时间，你这一念相应了，就能开智慧，也就是所说的开悟。所以古人说：

 

若人静坐一须臾

胜造恒沙七宝塔

 

「若人静坐一须臾」，就这么一须臾的时候，你真能静下来。「胜造恒沙七宝塔」，你若能以真正入定、静得住，这一须臾的时间，或者一秒钟的期间，这把你无量劫生死的罪都可以灭了。

 

为什么人要参禅呢？也就是这个道理。你只要能以静得住，用功用得相应，比你造恒河沙数那么多的七宝佛塔都有功德。你造恒河沙数的七宝佛塔，只是能供佛，令人见相发心，有一种影响的力量；你自己这静坐一须臾呢，这就是造真佛，也可以说是造活佛。那么你自性恢复本有的智慧光明，这才是一个真正的功德。在外边你造恒河沙数七宝佛塔，那只不过是一个有为法，你现在修的是无为法。这个静坐，这是修无为法，所以说「若人静坐一须臾，胜造恒沙七宝塔。」那么这个一须臾的功德就有那么大，你若是能一个钟头清清静静的、明明了了的，也不昏沉，不是睡着觉了，但是就觉得这个时间很快就过去了。

 

真正用功的人打七，不知道是打几天的，因为不需要自己管。好像我以前在空青山那儿打禅七，打了十个禅七，打完了，我不知道怎么十个禅七这么快了了，因为有人管理这个七的日子，不要自己去计算去，觉得很快就过去。腿也不痛，坐一个钟头、两个钟头，整天在那儿坐着，它也不痛，这是把腿子这个痛的毛病给降伏了。一定要坐时间久，它就降伏了，它就听话了。

 

不单你个人痛啊，这个用功，初初是很困难的，腿也痛，腰也痛，总觉得什么都不太自在。那么在这个时候，你若能有忍力，再有定心，有一种定力，把这一切的困难都会克服了，都会打破这个关。你打破这个关，才另有一重天。

 

你有什么境界？这个境界是从想象来的、是真的，是不是啊？但是打妄想愿意看这个境界，这就是假的；你若没有打妄想，根本就没有想，由第一念生出来的，这就是真的。你若是先有一个主观说：「哦！我要看莲花。」哦！这儿就有个莲花。这是假的。「啊！我要看佛。」哦！这佛就来了。这也是假的。你要看什么就有什么，那就是假的；你若没有要看，你没有打这个妄想，你看见，那是真的。这个念未生––一念未生的时候，你见着什么境界，多数是真的，有的时候也是幻化的。那么最主要就是在这个一念未生的时候，若有什么境界，那就是有一点意思了。

 

并且参禅不要有境界，要什么也没有，就是要空；连空都空了它，也不要怕，也不要欢喜。你若有一种恐惧，这也会着魔的；你有一种欢喜，有欢喜魔来。你看《楞严经》那五十种阴魔，那都是坐禅中的境界。你若能明白那种境界了，你所见的什么，就不会被这境界转了。所谓「佛来佛斩，魔来魔斩」。佛来了，也不要着住到佛上；魔来了，也不要着住到魔上，不要执着。不要：「哦！这佛来了。」生大欢喜了，这也是不得其正了。有所恐惧，则不得其正；有所好乐，则不得其正；有所忿懥，则不得其正。所以你若能以在这个静中如如不动，遇到什么境界也不动的，也不生分别心，也不追这个境界。境界现前了，随它现；不现前，也不要找境界；见到境界，也不要随着境界转。

 

因为我们人由无始劫以来，在八识田里头，什么境界都有的。你这一静了，它就现出来了。好像那个水很浑的，你若是总摇动这个水，它不清；你这水，你放到那个地方停止，叫它澄静下来，它那种浑的东西、那种尘埃，就都到那个水底下去了，那么那个水就清了。这也就好像你这一定，这心也清了。「心清水现月」，心里清了，好像那个水里现出月亮来似的。「意定天无云」，你那个意若入了定了，那天上好像没有云彩似的。

 

所以，不要管这个境界是真的、是假的，你用功这才是真的。不过这个境界来了，你也不要像有一班他不明白的人说：「哎呀！这是不好啊！你着魔。」你因为用功，才有这个境界；你若不用功，根本就没有，什么也都没有的。所以不要怕。真正明白了，要一切无着住，什么也不着住。

  When investigating Chan, first of all you should have no mark of self. Why do we investigate the topic "Who is mindful of the Buddha?" To get rid of the self. If you really work hard and really make progress, then you won't have any other false thoughts. You won't feel pain in your legs. Since you forget both pain in the legs and false thoughts, then you only single-mindedly ponder the topic of "Who is mindful of the Buddha?" Such continuous deep concentration can change time and can chase away states. Why do I say it can shorten time? When you begin to get a response from applying effort in investigating "who?" then you will have no more than sat down when you will hear the bell ring to end the sit. You will not be aware that one hour or half an hour or two hours have passed. The end of the sitting period will come faster than the blink of an eye. Isn't that a case of time being shortened and changed? Simply by investigating the topic "Who is mindful of the Buddha?" you can cause your awareness of leg pain and back pain to vanish. It vanishes because you don't have your mind on it. Since you don't have that attachment in your mind, when you sit there, you won't feel uncomfortable. Your legs won't hurt. Even if they do hurt, you won't be aware of the pain. And so you don't want to say, "Why aren't I attaining any tangible result?" Just because of that second thought-wanting some tangible results-you have already lost your skill.

 

Who truly know how to work do not lose track of the topic "who?" Little by little they inquire into "who" until mind, intellect, and consciousness all vanish. The mind becomes empty; the body is also empty; the intellect is empty, and the consciousness is empty. When you strike up false thoughts, it is the sixth consciousness that they come from. The sixth consciousness causes you to strike up false thought, causes you to register pain, and causes you to be unable to bear any more. All of those are distortions of the sixth consciousness. If you are able to smash the mind, intellect and consciousness--if you investigate until you break through them, so that you can't be turned by such thoughts--then you are one who truly knows how to work. Not to mention gaining responses every day in your application of effort, if you gain a response for even the space of a thought, you can open your wisdom, which is another way of saying you can become enlightened.

 

An ancient saying goes,

 

If someone sits quietly for an instant,

That is better than building pagodas made of the seven jewels in number

　like the Ganges' sands.

 

"If someone sits quietly for an instant"--even for such a brief period of time; if you can truly become quiet, "then that is better than building pagodas made of the seven jewels in number like the Ganges' sands." If you can genuinely enter samadhi--stay quiet--for an instant, for just a moment in time, then that in itself can eradicate infinite kalpas of offenses that bind us to birth and death. That is why we need to investigate Chan. As long as you can sit quietly, the merit and virtue will be much better than that of building pagodas of the seven jewels numbering like Ganges' sands.

 

When you build Ganges' sands' pagodas of the seven jewels, you are merely making material offerings to the Buddhas, which may serve to influence people to bring forth their own resolve. If you can sit quietly in an instant, you are creating a true Buddha, which is to say, a living Buddha. Returning to the self-nature and gaining the original light of wisdom is genuine merit and virtue. Building external pagodas of the seven jewels like sands in the Ganges is a conditioned dharma. What you are doing is an unconditioned Dharma. Sitting quietly is cultivating an unconditioned Dharma. That's why it's said, "If someone sits quietly for an instant, that is better than building pagodas made of the seven jewels in number like the Ganges' sands." Well, since just one instant's merit and virtue is that great, how much the more is that derived from sitting pure and still, astute and clear, without dozing off or falling asleep for an entire hour, and yet feeling that the time has passed swiftly.

 

Someone who is really working hard at developing his skill will not even know how many days have passed in a Chan session, because there is no need for him to pay attention to the time. When I meditated for ten weeks on Kongqing (Empty Blue) Mountain, I had no idea ten weeks could pass so fast. Since there were people to take care of counting the days, I didn't need to keep track of it myself, and so I felt the time passed very fast. My legs didn't hurt either. I sat for one hour, two hours, and even the entire day, and they never hurt because I'd broken through the pain barrier. After you have sat for a long time, the pain will subside and settle down.

 

You are not alone in experiencing pain. Anyone who has just begun to meditate will experience all kinds of discomfort, such as pain in the legs and aches in the back; they will feel uncomfortable all over. At that time, if you can summon your patience and concentrate your mind, you will have the kind of samadhi-power needed to defeat all difficulties. You will be able to break through all barriers. Once you break through those barriers, another vista opens up.

 

What states have you had? Did your state come from your imagination or was it real? If it's merely false thinking about wanting to see a certain state, then it's phony. If you weren't having false thinking, if basically you weren't thinking at all, then it's true. If you have the thought beforehand, "Oh! I want to see lotus flowers" and then a flower shows up, then that's phony. Or you think, "Ah! I want to see a Buddha" and, wow! A Buddha appears. That's also phony. If you first want to see anything and then you see it, that is phony. But if you had no thought of wanting to see and you saw, then that's true. If you haven't had a prior false thought--before such a thought ever comes up--then if you see some state you didn't think of beforehand, then in most cases the state will be true. Of course sometimes even then it's just an illusion. What is most important is that no thought of it has come up beforehand. Then, if you have some state, there may be something to it.

 

However, in investigating Chan, one shouldn't want states to arise. We don't want there to be anything, only emptiness--not even emptiness. It means having even emptiness be empty, and yet being without fear and without joy. If you experience a kind of fear, then you will be open to attacks by demons. If you experience a kind of happiness, then a demon of happiness will come. Look at the Fifty Skandha-demons discussed in the Shurangama Sutra. All of those states could be encountered when meditating. If you are clear about those states, you will not be turned by any state that you may see. There is a saying, "If the Buddha comes, smash him. If a demon comes, beat him away." If a Buddha comes, don't become attached to that Buddha. If a demon comes, don't become attracted to that demon. Do not have any attachments. Don't think: "Wow! A Buddha has come!" and be overjoyed about it, because then you will not act properly. If you are under the influence of passion, fear, or fond regard, you will also be incorrect in your conduct. Therefore, you must be able to remain "thus thus unmoving" in stillness; you must remain unmoved no matter what state you encounter so that you do not give rise to discriminations about it and you do not pursue it.

 

If a state appears, let it be. If no state appears, don't look for any. If you perceive a state, don't be turned by it. From limitless kalpas past until the present, we have accumulated all kinds of states of mind within the field of our eighth consciousness. Sitting quietly allows these states to come forth. By analogy, if you keep stirring muddy water, it will not be clear. But if you put the water some place and don't disturb it, then all the mud and sediment will sink to the bottom and the water will become clear. It's the same with you. Once you sit quietly, your mind will become clear.

 

"The mind's clarity is like that of water in which the moon can reflect." Your mind's clarity will be like the clarity of water that allows the moon to reflect in it. "The intellect in samadhi is like a cloudless sky." If the mind is in samadhi, if you can enter samadhi, then that's like a clear day without any clouds. And so pay no attention to whether a state of mind is true or false. Working hard is true. On the other hand, you also shouldn't go to the other extreme when a state comes up. Many people don't understand what's happening, and so they say, "Ah! This is not good. You are possessed by a demon." In fact it is because you've worked hard that you encounter such a state. If you hadn't worked hard, nothing at all would have happened. And so do not be afraid. True understanding is not being attached to anything. Don't be attached to anything at all.