撫州曹山元證禪師語錄 1.113

1.113

At that time Monk Chou asked, "What kind of fall is the water buffalo?" [The master] said, "Wearing fur and sporting horns is the śramaṇa's fall." "What kind of fall is not receiving food?" He said, "It is the fall of the noble and exalted." "What kind of fall is not severing sound and form?" He said, "It is the fall according with kind." The master also said, "If it is a different species in speech, then speech coming and going is entirely of a kind. Therefore Nanquan said, 'Where wisdom does not reach, be most careful not to speak of it; if you speak of it, head and horns will sprout.' Calling it 'suchness' is already changing it. One must directly walk within difference. Now one must speak of the matter within difference toward difference. One must have no words within words; only then is it like this. When Nanquan was ill, someone asked, 'After a hundred years, Venerable Sir, where will you go?' Nanquan said, 'I will go down the mountain to a patron's house to become a water buffalo.' [The questioner said,] 'I intend to follow you, Venerable Sir. May I?' Nanquan said, 'If you follow me, bring a stalk of grass in your mouth.'" Jian said, "This is the śramaṇa's turning-around phrase. Therefore it is said: if you intend to approach, hold a stalk of grass in your mouth to come close to him; this is called being without outflows, and only then is it fit to make an offering to him."