If you haven’t gone straight through to the bottom [of this matter] in advance of the thirtieth day of the twelfth month [i.e., the last day of your life], and it arrives, it’s guaranteed that you will be in a state of feverish confusion. There is a type of follower of an outside Way who, right when he sees someone doing gongfu, immediately sneers, “You still haven’t gotten over this?” Now let me ask you, “When suddenly you are on the verge of death—with what are you going to stand up to samsara?” You must dispose of [this matter] day in and day out [i.e., at ordinary times]—it will then be of use to you at the time of urgency [on the last day of your life]. You’ll save yourself quite a bit of trouble. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to dig a well! [At that point] you won’t have the slightest chance to take action. In spite of the fact that the road ahead is vague and uncertain, you are rashly forging ahead. It’s a pity! It’s a pity! You habitually train in the “verbal samādhi” [i.e., just play with Chan words and expressions]. You talk Chan and talk the Way, “scolding the buddhas” and “cursing the patriarchs.” Should you get to here [and you’re up against it], it’s all of no use. You’ve been single-mindedly deceiving others—but it turns out that, in fact, the only one you were deceiving was yourself. I exhort you brothers [in the dharma]: Take advantage of your present physical vigor and health to seek an understanding of this [matter]. This latch to the gate of the barrier checkpoint is very easy to open. But from the outset you haven’t been willing to make a death-defying resolution to do gongfu. You just go around saying, “It’s difficult—no, it’s impossible!” (Chan Master Huangbo Yun of Yunzhou).
Submitted June 16, 2017 at 03:22AM by Dhammakayaram http://ift.tt/2rwMhHI
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