虛堂和尚語錄 1.87

1.87

上堂，舉：「興化見同參來，纔上法堂，化便喝，僧亦喝，化又喝，僧又喝，化拈棒，僧又喝，化云：『爾看者漢，猶作主在。』僧擬議，化便打。侍者云：『適來者僧有甚觸忤？』化云：『是他，也有權，也有實，也有照，也有用，我將手向他面前橫兩遭，便去不得，似者般瞎漢，不打更待何時。』」師云：「劍刃上走馬，火焰裡藏身，興化門下，不為分外。無端被者僧放乖，却向侍者處翻本。」

Ascending the hall, he cited: "Xinghua saw a fellow practitioner coming. As soon as he came up to the Dharma hall, Xinghua shouted; the monk also shouted. Xinghua shouted again; the monk also shouted again. Xinghua took up his stick; the monk again shouted. Xinghua said, 'Look at this fellow, still acting as host!' The monk hesitated, and Xinghua struck him. The attendant asked, 'What offense did that monk just commit?' Xinghua said, 'That fellow has provisional and real, illumination and function. I moved my hand across in front of him twice, and he could not proceed. With a blind fellow like this, if not struck now, when else to wait for?'" The Master said: "Galloping a horse on a sword's edge, hiding one's body within raging flames: under Xinghua's gate, this is not out of the ordinary. For no reason this monk played clever, yet [Xinghua] turned around to recover his capital before the attendant."