明覺禪師語錄 1.4

1.4

When the master was at Lingyin in Hangzhou, after receiving the letter of appointment, the assembly requested him to ascend the seat. At that time a monk asked: "Today you first mount the precious seat; please, master, shake the thunderous sound with a single phrase." The master said: "It is a waste of effort to cock your ear." The monk continued: "In that case, a single sound is universal across the sands-realms, and the great assembly entirely hears it." The master said: "If someone suddenly asks you, how would you bring it up?" The monk said: "Thirty years from now, I dare spread the sweet fragrance." The master said: "You've missed it." The master then said: "This bodhimaṇḍa, exceedingly supreme under heaven, the spacious seat of the guide of Lingyin, is temporarily borrowed for this humble monk to ascend; truly I feel ashamed at having no talent. How could I dare, before five hundred patch-robed monks, proclaim the buddhas and patriarchs, praise and disparage past and present, or flaunt knowledge and understanding to shame the ancient predecessors? Even if one could speak so that heaven rains the four flowers and earth divides into the six tremors, on the road of Caoxi not a single dot of it could be put to use. Why is this? Eminent practitioners on foot have the eye that holds fast the world and covers heaven and earth; who would dare make the slightest mistake? Those who know of it must mutually understand."