一日，百丈禪師說法圓滿，大眾皆已退去，獨有一老者逗留未去，禪師問：「前面站立的是什麼人？」老者答：「我某甲不是人，實係一隻野狐。過去古佛時，曾在此百丈山修行，後因一位學僧問：『大修行人還落因果也無？』我回答：『不落因果！』此一答話，使我五百世墮在狐 身，今請禪師代一轉語，希望能脫野狐之身。」
百丈禪師聽後，慈悲答應了。老者合掌問說：「大修行人還落因果也無？」百丈禪師答：「不昧因果！」老者言下大悟，作禮告辭。第二天，百丈禪師領著寺中大眾到後山石洞，以杖挑出一野狐死屍，禪師囑咐依亡僧之禮火葬。
「不落因果」、「不昧因果」，其間一字之差，實有天壤之別。問：「大修行人還落因果也無？」答：「不落因果。」此指有修行的人不受因果報應，錯矣！因為任何人都逃不出因果報應。任何修行悟道的人，都必須「不昧因果」。

Chan Master Baizhang had just finished his Dharma talk when an old man stepped up to speak with him. The master asked, “Who is standing before me?” The old man replied, “I am a wild fox. I practiced on this very Mount Baizhang in the time of the ancient Buddhas. Later on, a student monk asked me, ‘Do great practitioners still fall under cause and effect, or not?’ I answered, ‘They do not fall under cause and effect!’ Because of this, I have been reborn in the body of a fox for five hundred lifetimes. Please speak a word that will liberate me from the wild fox’s form.”
Master Baizhang compassionately agreed. The old man joined palms and asked, “Do great practitioners still fall under cause and effect, or not?” Chan Master Baizhang replied, “They’re not ignorant of cause and effect.” With these words, the old man had a great awakening. Then he bowed and took his leave. The next day, Master Baizhang led some monastics to a mountain cave behind the monastery. There, using his staff, he pulled out the carcass of a wild fox, and ordered it to be cremated in accordance with the rites of a deceased monastic.
“They do not fall under cause and effect” and “They are not ignorant of cause and effect” are as different as earth and heaven. “They do not fall under cause and effect” means that people who have cultivated are beyond the retribution of cause and effect. This is not true. But it is true that whoever has cultivated and awakened to the Way will be “not ignorant of cause and effect.”

上一則 回總覽頁 下一則