袁州仰山慧寂禪師語錄 1.29

1.29

Layman Pang asked: "I have long looked up to Yangshan, but now that I have arrived, why is it turned face-down?" The Master held up his fly-whisk. The Layman said: "Just so." The Master said: "Is it looking up, or is it face-down?" The Layman then struck the exposed pillar, saying: "Although there is no one here, we still need the exposed pillar to bear witness." The Master threw down the fly-whisk and said: "If you go to various quarters, you are entirely free to cite this." (Yinjing Cen said: "Great and Little Śākya were pushed by Layman Pang until they were thoroughly flustered. But as for the Layman striking the exposed pillar once, how about it? When the whale drinks up all the seawater, the coral branches are revealed.")