法演禪師語錄 1.5

1.5

At an informal gathering, a monk asked: "What is the Buddha?" The Master said: "Fatness enters through the mouth." He then cited: "Deshan instructed the assembly, saying: 'Tonight I will not answer questions; whoever asks a question gets thirty blows of the stick.' Many in the assembly cite this, and not a few understand it. Tell me, in what place do you see Deshan? If there is a fellow who disregards his own life, let him come forward and try to speak. If not, this mountain monk will go to meet old man Deshan on behalf of the assembly. When Deshan says, 'Tonight I will not answer questions; whoever asks a question gets thirty blows of the stick,' just say to him, 'I neither ask a question nor take the blows.' Tell me, does that still accord with that old man Deshan? To reach here, you must be such a fellow before you can do it. Moreover, I, Fayan, wandered visiting teachers for more than ten years; searching across the seas, I met several venerable elders and thought I had completed the matter. But when I arrived at the assembly of Fushan Yuanjian, I simply could not open my mouth. Later, coming to Baiyun's gate, I bit through an iron dumpling, immediately finding all the hundred flavors complete. Tell me, how do you say the phrase of the dumpling?" He then said: "The cockscomb flower blooms, charming in early autumn; / Who could dye its head of purple silk? / At times the wind moves it to lean repeatedly, / As if fighting ceaselessly before the steps."