虛堂和尚語錄 1.25

1.25

冬至小參：「天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗，衲僧不仁，以自己為臘月扇子，所以儱儱侗侗，日用而不知。直得，古風再振，大朴全彰，及乎一氣不言，發自九淵之底，初爻無象，肇為萬化之宗。依舊仲冬嚴寒，又見果州飯布，作麼生得不落遷變去？嗚咿嗚咿，只可自知。」

At an informal gathering on the Winter Solstice: 'Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things as straw dogs. Patch-robed monks are not benevolent; they treat themselves as fans in the twelfth month. Therefore, muddled and indistinct, they use it daily without knowing it. Thus the ancient style is revived once more, and the great simplicity is fully displayed; when the single breath without speaking arises from the bottom of the nine abysses, the initial line without form originates as the ancestor of ten thousand transformations. As before, midwinter is severely cold, and again we see the cloth for cooking rice in Guozhou. How can one avoid falling into change and transition? Whimpering and sighing, it can only be known by oneself.'