虛堂和尚語錄 1.16

1.16

除夜小參：「灰寒火冷，家家爆竹送窮；臘盡春回，處處燒錢引鬼。三百六十日，交頭結尾，別展生涯，二千年滯貨不行，重新增價，榾柮火，村田樂，露地牛，不勞拈出；金剛圈，栗棘蓬，鐵酸豏，正好施呈。南來北往，吞透無門，鶻眼鷹睛，怎生啞噉？興聖恁麼告報，早是按下雲頭。何故？江南地暖，塞北天寒。」

At an informal gathering on New Year's Eve: 'The ashes are cold and the fire chilled; every household fires firecrackers to send off poverty. The twelfth month ends and spring returns; everywhere paper money is burned to summon ghosts. Across three hundred and sixty days, beginning joins to end, unfolding a different livelihood. Stagnant goods of two thousand years that could not sell now have their prices raised anew. Block-wood fire, village-field merriment, the ox on the open ground—no need to bring them forth; the diamond cage, the chestnut burr, the iron sour bun—just the time to present them. Coming from the south and going to the north, there is no door to swallow or penetrate; with hawk's eyes and falcon's vision, how can one swallow it mutely? For Xingsheng to announce it like this is already lowering the head of the clouds. Why? In Jiangnan the ground is warm; in Saibei the sky is cold.'