圓悟佛果禪師語錄 19.69

19.69

[Case] brought up: When Xuefeng was dwelling in a hermitage, two monks arrived. Xuefeng, seeing them, propped his hands against the hermitage door, leaned forward, and said: "What is this?" The monks also said: "What is this?" Xuefeng lowered his head and returned into the hermitage. Later, the monks came to Yantou. Yantou asked, saying: "What sayings did the old fellow Xue have?" The monks recounted the previous conversation. Yantou said: "What did Xuefeng say?" The monk said: "Xuefeng had no words." Yantou said: "Alas! I regret that I did not tell him the final phrase at that time. If I had told it to him, no one in the world hereafter would have been able to do anything with the old fellow Xue." At the end of the summer, the monk brought up this case and asked for further instruction. Yantou said: "Why did you not ask earlier?" The monk said: "I did not dare act rashly." Yantou said: "Though Xuefeng and I were born on the same bough, we do not die on the same bough. If you want to know the final phrase, it is just this."