Zen teacher Baizhang: on inappropriate and appropriate speech

From my translation of <Extensive Records of Baizhang>

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若於沙門前說。佗沙門已受白四羯磨訖。具足全是戒定慧力。更向佗恁麼說。名非時語。說不應時。亦名綺語。若是沙門。須說淨法邊垢。須說離有無等法。離一切修證。亦離於離。

If it is to sramanas¹ who have already gone through the jnapticaturtha-karman² and are thus filled full with the power of precepts, meditative-concentration and wisdom, to speak to them of such things is also called inappropriate speech. Speaking inappropriately is idle speech. One should instead speak to them the tainted side of the pure dharma. One should tell them to detach from the various dharmas of existence and non-existence, to detach from all practice-verification, and to also detach from detachment itself.

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1. In Chinese, sramana typically refers to Buddhist monk.
2. Jnapticaturtha-karman refers to the procedure used to receive the Sangha’s consent at its meeting. This is the monastic practice of requesting the whole community’s agreement on certain issues, such as confession or ordination, by first making an announcement and then passing a motion three times. In the text here, it means the sramanas have obtained the Sangha’s consent for ordination.

Submitted May 27, 2019 at 07:25AM by chintokkong http://bit.ly/2WpAt8Q