撫州曹山元證禪師語錄 1.121

1.121

The fourth is different species within the ancestral school: as 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 the different species and speak of the matter within the different species. Dongshan said, 'This matter must be understood marvelously; the matter lies in its marvel, and the substance lies in the marvelous place.' Caoshan said of himself, 'In this matter, one must vacate one rank and have none of the target at all; face to face integration is necessary. If one is an adept master, words are neither biased nor correct, neither existing nor non-existing; this is called being empty within the different species. In this matter an adept master must present himself sideways, meeting wood and adhering to wood, meeting bamboo and adhering to bamboo; one must guard against transgressing. Take heed, take heed, take heed, take heed!' A monk asked (from here on the questions and answers all take tongueless words as speaking for the middle and lower, taking the four different species above), 'What is difference?' I said, 'If I tell you, in the year of the donkey would you get difference? Therefore someone asked the Venerable Nanquan, "After a hundred years, where will you go?" Nanquan said, "I will go to a patron's house down the mountain to become a water buffalo." The person said, "May I follow you, Venerable Sir?" (The wording differs here and there, but how could the principle of the school differ?) Nanquan said, "If you follow me, bring a stalk of grass in your mouth."' I said, 'This water buffalo is not the same as the śramaṇa's water buffalo; you must be careful, and only then will you not be confused about the season.'"