明覺禪師語錄 1.76

1.76

Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "Receiving the master's saying, 'At the third watch pass through the Iron Gate'—what is its meaning?" The Master said, "Loyal words do not avoid cutting off the tongue." The monk bowed. The Master said, "Only when facing the fish trap does one realize that catching fish is difficult." He asked, "Piercing through clouds across thousands of mountains and myriad waters, parting the grass to watch the wind—what about such a matter?" The Master said, "Treading through straw sandals." He further asked, "Why is it so?" The Master said, "If a person lacks farsighted thoughts, he will surely have immediate worries." He asked, "What is a person who goes forward?" The Master said, "Sitting beneath an eraṇḍa tree." He further asked, "How is it when he returns?" The Master said, "The bright sun circling Mount Sumeru." He further asked, "'In the heavens above and beneath the heavens, I alone am the most honored.'" The Master said, "A fellow with two heads and three hands." He asked, "Receiving the master's saying: 'Old Śākya could not draw a breath.' Where is the discrepancy?" The Master said, "A gentleman across a thousand miles shares the same wind." He further asked, "If so, then disaster reaches descendants." The Master said, "By nature not of the duck kind." The Master then said, "Dharma-fellows of Chan! Even with Mañjuśrī's eloquence, one mistakes a firefly for the sun; with the layman's fabricated words, one points to a fish eye as identical to the bright moon. Therefore Xuedou usually says, 'Self-awakening without a teacher prior to King Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja is the second phrase; give me back the first phrase!' If one is not yet able to hold fast the essential ford, one cannot avoid rushing about south and north."