無非修徑 林鈺堂

修途醒處隨緣是,豈可局限形跡中;
著相誤判難領會,助覺開悟皆方便。


修行在於去執、不著相,而長養智悲。雖有道次第之編排、宗門之法相,一旦深入踐履,則不可為法門、法相所局限,而需要自然地在日常生活中隨緣砥礪,漸漸融通。

著相者不覺自迷,易據形跡評斷孰是孰非,而難以領悟《金剛經》中如來所說:「一切法皆是佛法」,以及禪宗公案中古德所云:「無一處不是藥!」之微妙道理。


                     二○○三年五月六日 
                     養和齋   於加州


Practice Everywhere Yutang Lin

Whatever encountered could be an occasion for awakening;
How could we limit our training to certain forms and paths?
Grasping to forms one will judge wrong and misunderstand;
All that help awakening and opening up are useful practices.

Comment:

Dharma practices center on releasing grasping, not attaching to forms, and cultivating wisdom and compassion. Although there are stages of the path arranged and formal institutions of various schools established, once a practitioner is deep into practices he or she should not be confined by formal considerations and sectarian views, rather he or she need to practice applying Dharma in daily life encounters, and thereby gradually harmonize and penetrate through all situations.

People that are grasping to forms could hardly become aware of their own wrong footing, but would readily rush into judging who's right and who's wrong according to appearances. They could hardly appreciate the subtle significance in what Tathagata said in the Diamond Sutra, that "all things are all Buddha's things" and some ancient virtuous one's saying, as recorded in Chan koans, that "there is no one place that is not medicine."


Written in Chinese and translated on May 6, 2003
El Cerrito, California


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