法演禪師語錄 1.83

1.83

When the Master was at Taiping receiving the certificate of appointment, he held it up, showed it to the assembly, and said, "If you understand it like this, you are already a dull fellow. Why? If relying on speech, are not the five thousand forty-eight scrolls speech? If not relying on speech, how again can one distinguish and clarify? I invite the karmadāna to clearly bring it out." After the declaration was read, he then ascended the seat and said, "The ancestral order should be carried out; the ten directions are cut off. Among you, is there anyone who does not spare his life? Come forth to meet with this old monk!" At that time a monk came forward and said, "The sun and moon are easy to see; an auspicious affair is hard to encounter." The Master said, "It makes people suspicious." He asked, "The official document has arrived and the Master now receives it; we wish for the Patriarch's intention coming from the west to be held up and proclaimed." The Master said, "Clouds follow the dragon; wind follows the tiger." The student said, "Since humans and devas have obtained hearing of the true truth, is there yet any pointedly fresh affair?" The Master said, "There is." The student said, "What is the pointedly fresh affair?" The Master said, "You missed it without even knowing." He asked, "Between Elder Baiyun and Chan Master Taiping, how to make the distinction?" The Master said, "Try to assess it and see." The student said, "Could it be that the moon has no coming or going, yet its reflection appears in a thousand rivers?" The Master said, "Leave it to boring turtle shells and cracking roof tiles." He then said, "Dharmas do not arise alone; relying on circumstances they are born. When a bright mirror faces the stand, beauty and ugliness appear of themselves. Superior persons of long practice know where to return at a word; late students of beginning capacity must be meticulous. Therefore the ancients said: 'Dharmas have no coming and going, no moving and turning.' I casually make a mountain verse to cite for the assembly: / Meeting the eye, radiant light is fresh everywhere; / Among it, who can distinguish distant from close? / On the branches of Jetavana, a thousand flowers are luxuriant; / Once fragrant, once a spring."