明覺禪師語錄 3.3

3.3

The Master brought up: "Deshan instructed the assembly, saying: 'Tonight I will not answer questions; anyone who asks a question gets thirty blows of the stick.' At that time a monk came forward and bowed. Deshan struck him at once. The monk said: 'I have not yet even asked a question!' Deshan said: 'Where are you from?' The monk said: 'A man of Silla.' Deshan said: 'Before you stepped on the gunwale of the boat, you should have been given thirty blows of the stick!' Fayan commented: 'Great or small Deshan, his talk is split into two halves.' Yuanming said: 'Great or small Deshan, a dragon's head and a snake's tail.'" The Master said: "Although the two elder masters were skilled at cutting the long to patch the short and letting go of the heavy to follow the light, if they wanted to see Deshan, they still could not. Why so? Deshan was very much like one who wields authority beyond the borders, possessing a sword that, when one ought to sever and does not sever, does not invite disorder. Do you people want to know the Silla monk? He was merely a blind fellow who collided with an exposed pillar."