撫州曹山元證禪師語錄 1.59

1.59

僧問香嚴：「如何是道？」香嚴曰：「枯木裏龍吟。」僧云：「如何是道中人？」香嚴曰：「髑髏裏眼睛。」僧不領，乃問石霜：「如何是枯木裏龍吟？」石霜曰：「猶帶喜在。」僧云：「如何是髑髏裏眼睛？」石霜曰：「猶帶識在。」又不領，乃舉似師，師曰：「石霜老聲聞作這裏見解。」因示頌曰：「枯木龍吟真見道，髑髏無識眼初明，喜識盡時消息盡，當人那辨濁中清。」僧遂又問師：「如何是枯木裏龍吟？」師曰：「血脈不斷。」云：「如何是髑髏裏眼睛？」師曰：「乾不盡。」云：「未審還有得聞者麼？」師曰：「盡大地人未有一人不聞。」云：「未審枯木裏龍吟是何章句？」師曰：「不知是何章句，聞者皆喪。」

A monk asked Xiangyan, "What is the Way?" Xiangyan said, "A dragon roaring inside a withered tree." The monk said, "Who is the person within the Way?" Xiangyan said, "An eyeball inside a skull." The monk did not understand, so he asked Shishuang, "What is a dragon roaring inside a withered tree?" Shishuang said, "It still carries joy." The monk said, "What is an eyeball inside a skull?" Shishuang said, "It still carries consciousness." Again he did not understand, so he brought it up to the Master. The Master said, "The old śrāvaka Shishuang holds this kind of view." He then presented a verse, saying:
"The dragon roaring in a withered tree is truly seeing the Way;
When the skull has no consciousness, the eyes first become clear.
When joy and consciousness are exhausted, all tidings end;
How can that person distinguish the clear amidst the turbid?"
The monk then asked the Master again, "What is a dragon roaring inside a withered tree?" The Master said, "The bloodline is unbroken." He said, "What is an eyeball inside a skull?" The Master said, "It does not dry up completely." He said, "I wonder, is there anyone who gets to hear it?" The Master said, "Throughout the great earth, there is not a single person who does not hear it." He said, "I wonder, what chapter and verse is the dragon roaring inside a withered tree?" The Master said, "I do not know what chapter and verse it is; all who hear it perish."