撫州曹山元證禪師語錄 1.124

1.124

Chou brought up again: "A senior elder asked Yunju: 'The ancient Buddha Dongshan had a saying: "Ever since I was young, I raised a son whose head is three feet long and neck is two inches short, and even right up to now I can do nothing with him." What is the son raised since youth?' Ju said: 'Hard to forget daily sustenance.' 'What is the head being three feet long?' He said: 'Unable to do anything with him.' 'What is the neck being two inches short?' He said: 'Up to now, can one still do anything with him or not?'" [A monk] asked (one edition has this later cited to question the Master; one edition continues from the above, still as Yunju's talk): "What is 'hard to forget daily sustenance'?" I said: "It is constantly present, that is all." "What is being constantly present?" He said: "Not disobeying it, that is all." "What is 'unable to do anything with him'?" He said: "Arriving at such a time, what person can do anything with him?" "'Up to now, can one still do anything with him or not?'—what does this mean?" He said: "The buddhas of the three times can do nothing with him. (One edition ends Yunju Mountain's talk here.)" "What is 'the head is three feet long and the neck is two inches short'?" He said: "It is not an original matter." "What is an original matter?" He said: "What do you call it?"