明覺禪師語錄 3.62

3.62

He cited: "Yantou, Xuefeng, and Qinshan arrived at Deshan. Qinshan asked, 'Tianhuang spoke like this, Longtan spoke like this; I wonder, how does Deshan speak?' Deshan said, 'Try citing the words of Tianhuang and Longtan for me to see.' Qinshan hesitated; Deshan struck him at once. Having been struck, Qinshan returned to the Longevity Hall and said, 'Though it is so, he struck me terribly hard.' Yantou said, 'If you are like this, in the future you must not say you have seen Deshan.'" The Master said, "Venerable Chan practitioners, Qinshan presented an opening question that was extremely extraordinary, yet what could be done about having a dragon's head and a snake's tail? When Deshan said, 'Try citing the words of Tianhuang and Longtan for me to see,' Qinshan should have struck him with his sitting cloth—for a great man to stroke the tiger's whiskers is also within his duty. Since he was incapable, Deshan executed only half the directive; had the directive been fully executed, Xuefeng and Yantou would both be fellows in the Nirvāṇa Hall."