汾陽無德禪師語錄 1.71

1.71

Ascending the hall, he said: "If one discusses this Way, it absolutely transcends verbal explanations. But since matters could not be otherwise, there has been talk this way and that. Now tell me, what can be said that is acceptable?" A layman came forward, bowed, stood up, stepped near, bowed with hands folded, and stood upright. The Master said, "How is it?" The layman stepped back. The Master struck the rope-bed once. The layman clapped his hands. The Master said, "The bell after the noon meal." A monk asked, "'A single speck of dust sweeps out beyond the blue sky'—how is it with the clear and tranquil heaven and earth?" The Master said, "Spread flat like the three dots of the water radical; curved like a sickle harvesting grain." He asked, "For whom is the sword of Ou Yezi wielded today?" The Master said, "Resonance." He asked, "Not falling into various conditions, please, Master, speak directly." The Master said, "Ye!" "In that case, it is an old white-haired man under the lamp." The Master said, "Hūṃ!" He asked, "Understanding prior to words betrays one's whole life; aligning with the mechanism following a phrase completely departs from the essence of the Way. Direct undertaking is ten thousand li to Yazhou. Having arrived here, I beg the Master for an expedient." The Master said, "In autumn days, holding a reed in the mouth to receive the dew, he departs; / when spring comes, fine rain moistening his robes, he returns." "In that case, on the road there is a place to lodge and rely upon." The Master said, "Coming by thousands, going by myriads, long refined and tempered."