明覺禪師語錄 1.5

1.5

When the master was at Lingyin, on the day of the tea banquet for the venerable elders of the various cloisters, the assembly requested him to ascend the seat. A monk asked: "The Chan companions have all arrived at the side of your seat; I wonder whether the master will speak or not?" The master said: "The Son of Heaven within the realm, the general beyond the frontier." The monk continued: "In that case, a single clap of thunderous sound fills the Great Tang." The master said: "Watch the command being carried out." The master then said: "When superior persons meet, a word or half a phrase is like striking stone to produce sparks—in a flash it has passed. It must not be clinging to words to fix the meaning, or stagnating in phrases to lose the source. From above, how should the ancestral vehicle be discussed? It leads directly to the buddhas of the three times being unable to expound it themselves, the patriarchs of the six generations being completely unable to bring it forward, and the entire tripiṭaka teaching falling short of explaining it. Therefore, realization is attained at the stick's end, and responsibility is accepted under the shout; where intent and phrase race together, all are alike wandering adrift. If there are masters who know the direction, let us mutually verify it together."