An Answer to the Stone's Question答石問
有石礐然大者。問於予曰。予爲天所生。居地之上。安如覆盂。固若植根。不爲物轉。不爲人移。保其性完其眞。信樂矣。子亦受天所命。得而爲人。人固靈於物者也。曷不自由其身。自適其性。常爲物所使。常爲人所推。物或有誘。則溺焉而不出。物或不來。則慘然而不樂。人肯則伸焉。人排則屈焉。失本眞無特操。莫爾若也。夫靈於物者。亦若是乎。予笑而答之曰。汝之爲物。何自而成。佛書亦云。愚鈍癡頑。精神化爲木石。然則汝旣喪其妙精元明。落此頑然者也。況復和氏之璞見剖也。汝亦從而俱剝。崑岡之玉將焚也。汝亦與之同煎。抑又予若駕龍而升天也。汝必爲之騙石。因得而踐焉。吾將示死而入地也。汝當爲之豐碑。因刻而傷焉。玆詎非爲物所轉。且傷其性而反笑我爲。予則內全實相而外空緣境。爲物所使也。無心於物。爲人所推也。無忤於人。迫而後動。招而後往。行則行止則止。無可無不可也。子不見虛舟乎。予類夫是者也。子何詰哉。石慙而無對。
There was a hard, great stone, and it asked me:
「I have come to be what Heaven brought forth, and I lie upon the ground at ease as an upturned bowl, firm as though rooted; I am not rolled about by things and not shifted by men, I keep my nature and hold my reality whole, and truly I am glad. You too received and got the charge of Heaven and became a man, and man is truly more numinous than things. Why then can you not have your own body at your own will, nor follow your own nature and be at ease, but are always put to use by things and always pushed about by men? When things entice you, you sink in and cannot come out; when things do not come, you are wretched and cannot be glad; when men give you a hearing you stretch out, and when men shove you aside you bend. For losing your original reality and having no constancy that you keep alone, there is none so far gone as you. Is what is more numinous than things also like this?」
I laughed and answered:
「You, having become a thing, from what were you made? The Buddhist books too say, 「What is foolish and dull and witless has its spirit turned and becomes tree and stone.」 If that is so, you have already lost that wondrous essence and primal brightness and fallen into this stubborn state. Still more: when the jade stone of He (和氏) is split, you too are stripped away along with it; and when the jade of Mount Kun (崑岡) is about to burn, you burn up together with it. Again, if I should ride a dragon and go up to heaven, you would surely be made its stepping stone and be trodden upon; and when I shall show my death and enter the ground, you must be made its great memorial stele and be cut into and marred. How is this not to be rolled about by things? And do you mar your own nature and yet laugh at me?
I keep the Real Mark (實相) whole within and empty the realm of conditions without. I am put to use by things, yet I do not set my mind upon things; I am pushed about by men, yet I do not go against men. I move only after I am approached, and go only after I am called; where I am to go I go, and where I am to stop I stop, and there is nothing that must be so and nothing that must not be so. Have you not seen an empty boat? I am one such as that. What is it you are questioning me about?」
The stone was ashamed and could not answer.