撫州曹山元證禪師語錄 1.82

1.82

別時揀云：「夫先師所明偏正與兼帶，等用先師本意，不為明功進修之位兼涉教句，直是格外玄談要絕妙旨，秖明從上物體現前，冥叶古聖之道。今見諸學士詮揀先人意度，似有誤彰（音障），不免聊為敘其差當，媿（音貴）在不混其功，於中或有借位明功、借功明位，緣緒多端，功在臨時，看語來勢，不負來機，妙在佳致爾。」

In a discrimination made on another occasion, it was said: “Now, what the late master clarified regarding the biased and the correct, together with integration, all employed the late master’s original intent. It was not to clarify ranks of meritorious practice and advancement, nor did it involve the phrases of doctrinal teachings. It is simply profound discourse beyond the patterns, the essential, consummate, and wonderful meaning, merely clarifying that from the very beginning, the substance of things is manifest before us, silently tallying with the Way of the ancient sages. Seeing nowadays that various scholars, in interpreting and discriminating the intentions of our predecessor, seem to have mistakenly obscured them, I cannot avoid briefly laying out their appropriateness. What is precious is not confounding their functions. Therein, there is sometimes using the rank to clarify merit, or using merit to clarify the rank. The threads of conditions are manifold, and the function lies in the immediate moment: looking at the momentum of the incoming words so as not to betray the incoming capacity; the subtlety lies purely in the fine consummation.”