瑞州洞山良价禪師語錄 1.4

1.4

The Master then took leave of Guishan and went straight to Yunyan. Having recounted the previous nidāna, he immediately asked, "When insentient beings expound the Dharma, what kind of person can hear it?" Yunyan said, "The insentient can hear it." The Master asked, "Does the upādhyāya hear it?" Yunyan said, "If I were to hear it, you would not hear my expounding of the Dharma." The Master said, "Why don't I hear it?" Yunyan held up his fly-whisk and said, "Do you still hear it?" The Master said, "I do not hear it." Yunyan said, "When I expound the Dharma, you do not even hear it; how much less the Dharma expounded by insentient beings!" The Master asked, "What canonical teaching covers insentient beings expounding the Dharma?" Yunyan said, "Have you not seen the Amitābha-sūtra, which says: 'Waterbirds and groves of trees all recite the Buddha and recite the Dharma'?" At this, the Master had an awakening, and he composed a gāthā: "How wondrous! How wondrous! / Insentient beings expounding the Dharma is inconceivable. / If you listen with the ear, it is ultimately hard to understand; / Only when hearing the sound with the eye can it be known!"