法演禪師語錄 1.82

1.82

When the Master entered the monastery on the day of opening the hall, after the declaration of the letter of appointment, he said, "The letters and documents have all been read at once. If one possesses the diamond eye, why must gāthās be recited again? Even though it is like this, affairs are not one-sided." He then ascended the seat. After offering incense, the four-sided mallet was struck, declaring, "Assembly of dragons and elephants at the Dharma banquet, you should contemplate the paramārtha!" The Master said, "With golden arrowheads, one is used to leveling the Patriarchs' path; with the iron whip kept long, one regrets having no enemy. Is there any patch-robed monk who disregards peril and death? Come forth and meet with me!" A monk asked, "Beneath Mount Baiyun, the ancestral order should be carried out. What is the ancestral order?" The Master said, "One, two, three, four, five." The student said, "If so, then yesterday was Taiping, and today is Haihui." The Master said, "Aim higher, monk." A monk asked, "Formerly you left to provide timely rain; now brilliantly you come leading the assembly. Court worthies have arrived before the seat; we wish for a clap of thunder to shake us." The Master said, "Do you still hear it?" The student said, "The wind sends auspicious clouds back to the jade-green grotto; the water surges in the blue sea to aid the billows." The Master said, "How many people understand the heart?" The student said, "Hanshan constantly claps his hands; Shide is ever earnest." The Master said, "I had thought there was no one." The student said, "One must not suppress the virtuous into the lowly." The Master said, "Make prostrations for now." He then said, "Let the questioning cease. As for the paramārtha, just now if you had comprehended it under the striking of the four-sided mallet, the thousand sages could not approach it, the Patriarchs' words could not reach it, and the adept masters under heaven would clasp their hands and submit. Why? Moreover, the paramārtha is fundamentally pure and receives no specks of dust—how can it be spoken of? Only companions on the path will know. Today I let a move pass, and within the gate of teaching and transformation I make another explanatory gathering. Thus we continue the bequeathed traces of the former sages, extol the ancestral order, serve as a model for later students, and establish the lineage style. If one is not the right person, how could it be transmitted?" (Words of thanks not recorded.) He then said, "Having completed the statement of thanks, it cannot be left in vain. There is a verse cited for the assembly: / The sun is warm, the wind is gentle, and flowers are in full bloom; / Sevenfold mountains enclose, and the white clouds come. / Turning my thoughts to the bustling places of the city, / I once again step out of the pine gate for a stroll."