虛堂和尚語錄 4.45

4.45

威音那畔一著子，往古宿衲忘軀命力行之，務要拈花面壁之風不墜，以圖報佛祖深恩。近年叢林凋弊，學者不本宗猷，浸淫外學滋長無明，雖千百群居，未聞有如爆龜紋，可以為末世滅胡種族，良可悲也。若如是行脚、如是見人，則其利甚輕、其害甚重，捱到頭白齒黃，孤燈獨照之時，遠不如精修白業底田舍翁去住自由，蓋他無許多惡知惡覺。疎山矮師叔，探道之心甚切，一日在溈山會裡，聞示眾道：「行脚高士，直須向聲色裏睡眠，聲色裏坐臥始得。」疎山便出問：「如何是不落聲色句？」溈山竪起拂子，疎山云：「此是落聲色句。」溈山便歸方丈。老子知他病在此，向千聖著眼不及處，通箇消息，却乃坐鎮家堂，不露圭角。既不契，遂辭香嚴，嚴云：「何不且住？」疎山云：「某甲與和尚無緣。」嚴云：「有何因緣不契？試舉看。」疎山舉前話，嚴云：「某甲有箇道處。」乃云：「言發非聲，色前不物。」此語是對機溈山，點發疎山，者矮子聞得，眼睛便活。乃云：「元來此中有人。」遂囑香嚴云：「某甲且去，師兄有住處，却來相見。」溈山至晚問香嚴：「問聲色話底矮闍梨在否？」嚴云：「已去了。」溈云：「向子道甚麼？」嚴云：「某甲對他道，言發非聲，色前不物。」溈云：「他道甚麼？」嚴云：「他深肯之。」溈山失笑云：「我將謂者矮子有長處，元來只在者裏。此子向去，設有住處，近山無柴燒，近水無水喫。」應庵和尚道：「如今討箇言發非聲色前不物底，早是難得，更要會他溈山說話，行脚人還緇素得出麼？莫背地裡強頃自高，若經緯不分，不名本色衲子。」疎山又在湖北金鑾寺裏度夏，夜間聞僧舉福州長慶懶安和尚示眾云有句無句如藤倚樹因緣。疎山聞得道：「我有一轉語，要去問者老子。」夏罷遂入閩，見懶安和尚，又謂之溈山和尚，裴相國帥閩，自溈山請住長慶。疎山到彼，值師泥壁次，疎山便問：「有句無句如藤倚樹，是和尚語否？」溈山云：「是。」疎山云：「忽然樹倒藤枯，句歸何處？」溈山放下泥盤，呵呵笑歸方丈，疎山云：「某甲三千里外，賣却布單，特為此事而來，和尚為甚不與某甲說？」溈山云：「侍者將錢與者矮闍梨去。他日有獨眼龍，為汝點破。」後到明招，舉前話，招云：「溈山頭正尾正，只是不遇知音。」疎山云：「忽然樹倒藤枯，句歸何處？」招云：「更使溈山笑轉新。」疎山當下有省乃云：「元來溈山笑中有刀。」如今兄弟家只解瞻前，不能顧後。爾纔向溈山笑裏覓，便是錯了也，須是向有句無句如藤倚樹處，下得一轉語親切。略去下面許多閑絡索，方免得溈山明招千古之下遭人檢點。爾若一向認著放下泥盤，笑歸方丈，更使溈山笑轉新處，盲禪瞎證，遞相恁麼流將去，只認得他人口頭聲色，爾自己分上並無悟入之期，弄到極處，終成話墮也。疎山復歸洞山，一日聞深夜欲以雲嵓所傳寶鏡三昧密付曹山，疎山潛身几下竊聽，伺其付畢，出來拊掌大笑道：「洞山禪有分付了也，亦遭悟本之記。」後不爽香嚴之約，直造鄧州。一日香嚴上堂，有僧出問：「不慕諸聖，不重己靈時如何？」此語是石頭使南嶽之時曾興此問，讓和尚道：「子問太高生，何不向下問？」石頭云：「寧可永劫沈淪，不求諸聖解脫。」乃回清源。當時香嚴答者僧話道：「萬機休罷，千聖不携。」疎山在座下，作嘔吐聲云：「是何言歟？」嚴問：「阿誰？」眾云：「師叔。」嚴云：「不諾山僧那？」疎山出眾云：「是。」嚴云：「師叔莫道得麼？」疎山云：「道得。」嚴云：「試道看。」疎山云：「若教某甲道，須還師資之禮始得。」嚴乃下座，大展坐具，禮三拜，準前問，疎山云：「萬機休罷，猶有物在，千聖不携，亦從人得，何不道肯諾不得全。」嚴云：「肯又肯箇甚麼，諾又諾阿誰？」疎山云：「肯即肯他千聖，諾即諾自己靈。」嚴云：「饒爾與麼，也須三十年倒屙。設使住山，近山無柴燒，近水無水喫，分明記取。」後住疎山，果如所記。至二十七年，病愈云：「香嚴師兄，記我三十年倒屙，今少三年。」每至食畢，以手抉而吐之，以應前記。後問鏡清：「肯重不得全，爾作麼生？」清云：「全歸肯重。」疎山云：「不得全聻？」清云：「箇中無肯路。」疎山云：「方愜病僧意。」衲僧家到此，推窮得出麼？見得二大老肝膽麼？當時香嚴若答得者僧諦當，何必下座禮拜疎山；疎山若點破得香嚴明白，安得受倒屙之患？到者裡也須具些衲僧眼始得。山僧今日路見不平，却要斷者公案，供養我五湖四海衲子。香嚴答者僧話，如神龜負圖；矮師叔招倒屙之患，順水流舟。若教盡大地人倒屙，亦未必有橫點頭者。何故？一句合頭語，萬劫繫驢橛。所以金以石試、人以言試。爾若道眼明白，在今天下豈曰無人？到者裏，使聰明強記不得，使波辯臆說不得，須是爾自識羞一番子方為究竟。白雲端和尚見楊次公外集，中間有一偈發明曹洞宗旨：「丹山鸞鳳來阿閣，祕殿簫韶奏九成，野老不知黃屋貴，六街猶聽靜鞭聲。」乃云：「他是過量人，見徹古人心髓，洞山當季運之時，恐法門䆮衰，故用金剛般若三句，設五位君臣，立三種滲漏，如大爐鞴烹煅末學，使一箇箇各執本來契券，繼紹祖父田園。」後來大慧因普說，聲東擊西，薄有所議。學者既無正知見，往往如矮子看戲，借使洞上五位可以輕議，則臨際三玄要、四料揀、四賓主、四照用亦可議也。如汾陽十智同真，浮山九帶，黃龍三關，如國家兵器，不得已也，初無實義。佛眼在五祖會裏分化，方歸佛果，纔見便道：「臨際三句作麼生？」分明是鑿竇引賊。他一夜思量，明日謂佛果云：「三句因緣我會得了也。」先倒拇指云：「者箇是第一句。」又倒一指云：「者箇是第二句。」遂與佛果一摑云：「者箇是第三句。」大笑趨去。佛果舉似五祖，祖云：「也好聻，動絃別曲，落葉知秋。」無為子既為白雲所知，作一偈寄之：「十載聞名楊次公，有文堪振我宗風，分三成六添些子，直得金烏半夜紅。」次公因此至舒郡，訪端和尚夜話間，悉知此老所詣，來日上堂，乃云：「自古自今說理說事者如麻竹稻葦，會禪者更比比然，討一箇家裡人，如天上揀月。黃梅賢宰楊次公，聞名十載有餘，夜來忽蒙訪及，元來却是箇本分家裏人。杓柄短長，鍋子大小，雖未曾一一點過，看他數目，也甚分明，可謂如在東溪日，花開葉落時，幾擬將黃金鑄作鍾子期，忉忉地說一上，不能得了信之，通人分上，水乳相投。在今天下，那箇是本分家裏人？不道全無，只是正人難得。」本庵永和尚住鼓山，道行江浙，衲子奔趨，以致松源秀嵓、息庵無用諸大老，皆入閩觀其作略，自謂石門之門可入。一日鳴鼓開室，峻機妙用，獨脫無依，皆歛袵側目，毋敢湊泊，得一兩夏，各自散去。看來此老，只能死得人，不能活得人，唯秀嵒尚少留之。嘉定間，山僧在育王西塔見之，老子說鼓山時事，以手點木庵真云：「我孤負者老和尚。」又點佛照真云：「我被者老漢轉了話頭。」感而又泣又笑，悲喜交攻，胸中必有事。平日提唱，多是謳歌。五祖和尚會中，亦有一僧，謂之覺上座。祖一日室中舉：「釋迦彌勒是他奴，他是阿誰？」他下轉語道：「烏張三，黑李四。」五祖然之。圓悟在侍司道：「和尚更勘他看，恐未實。」明日再鳴鼓入室，祖復舉前話問，僧云：「昨日道與和尚了也。」祖云：「道甚麼？」僧擬開口，被祖闌胸一拳云：「不是。」其僧當下有省。後來見五祖門庭冷落，却歸長蘆夫鐵脚會裏。後出世住和州城外開聖，為夫老拈出。拈香之日，忽胸中一點痛，徑就痛處發疽而殂。嗣香不原所自，顯驗如此。在今天下，望風承嗣者如麻粟，若一一患疽而殂，何時是了？且其間識因果，知來自，又作麼生？茲蒙堂頭舉眾，俾山野受牌，與兄弟舉話，此亦叢林任重之責，既不敢寧居，恐旦夕必為諸公開室相見，古來以籌室鍛鍊為重，近世師法不嚴，衲子殊不經意，法門澹泊一致於此。慈明見汾陽，二年不容入室，一日情切，懷香詣方丈咨懇：「某甲為生死大事未明，冒軍旅而至席下，今再夏矣，未蒙令某與眾入室，恐失出家本志，望和尚慈悲。」汾陽拈主丈便打云：「爾是何惡知識，來裨販我。」慈明方聲悔謝，汾陽以手掩慈明口，明忽然大悟。者箇正如大將軍臨陳當鋒，一刀兩段，便見勝負，纔擬議則失利也。如適來所舉，疎山見溈山，又勘辨香嚴，可以一知一見、一機一境所能窺測妙理耶？爾若宿有靈骨，曾下般若種子，蒲團上挨得一絲一線，透向言外一逴逴得入手，作惟見得疎山勘辨香嚴，亦便知汾陽慈明師資道合。其如不然，更多買幾雙草鞋，繞四天下走蹈，教脚板闊道，我是行脚僧，逢人說禪說道，口如紡車。莫教一朝，如老鼠入牛角，路頭既極無所憑藉，則四大五蘊分離，千辛萬苦之狀，不言可知矣。古德道：「前路茫茫，未知何往。」驀然有箇不顧生死底漢，出來為眾竭力，山僧道：「爾且住，待我掛牌時却來商量。久立珍重。」

The move on that side of Sound-of-Majesty: ancient, venerable patch-robed monks forgot their bodies and lives to put it forcefully into practice, striving to ensure that the style of holding up the flower and facing the wall would not fall to ruin, hoping to repay the profound kindness of the buddhas and patriarchs. In recent years, the monasteries have grown withered and degenerate; students do not ground themselves in the ancestral model, but soak themselves in external studies, nourishing their ignorance. Although they dwell in groups of hundreds and thousands, none have been heard of who, like scorched tortoise cracks, can exterminate the barbarian seed-line for the final age—how truly lamentable! If one conducts itinerant pilgrimage like this and meets people like this, the benefit is slight indeed and the harm extremely grave. Struggling on until one's hair turns white and one's teeth grow yellow, when the lone lamp shines by itself, one is far inferior to a rustic who meticulously cultivates white karma and is free in coming and going, for he lacks so many corrupt views and bad perceptions. The short senior uncle of Shushan sought the Way with great urgency. One day in Guishan's community, he heard [Guishan] address the assembly, saying: 'An eminent itinerant pilgrim must sleep right within sounds and forms, sit and lie down within sounds and forms, before it is obtained.' Shushan immediately came forward and asked: 'What is a phrase that does not fall into sound and form?' Guishan raised his whisk. Shushan said: 'This is a phrase that falls into sound and form.' Guishan then returned to the abbot's quarters. The old man knew his sickness lay here; toward the place where the thousand sages cannot fix their eyes, he communicated a bit of news, yet sat firmly in the family hall, revealing no sharp edges. Having failed to tally, [Shushan] then took leave of Xiangyan. Xiangyan said: 'Why not stay a while?' Shushan said: 'I have no affinity with the upādhyāya.' Xiangyan said: 'What encounter failed to tally? Try to cite it and let us see.' Shushan cited the previous talk. Xiangyan said: 'I have a saying.' He then said: 'When speech arises, it is not sound; before form, it is no thing.' These words were in response to Guishan's capacity, pointing out and sparking Shushan. When that dwarf heard this, his eyes came alive at once. He then said: 'Truly, there is someone here!' He then urged Xiangyan: 'I shall depart for now; when you, elder brother, have a dwelling place, I will come back to see you.' Toward evening, Guishan asked Xiangyan: 'Is the short ācārya who asked about the matter of sound and form still here?' Xiangyan said: 'He has already departed.' Guishan said: 'What did you say to him?' Xiangyan said: 'I said to him: "When speech arises, it is not sound; before form, it is no thing."' Guishan said: 'What did he say?' Xiangyan said: 'He deeply approved of it.' Guishan broke into laughter and said: 'I thought that dwarf had some strength, but it turns out he is merely here. If this fellow goes forward and happens to have a dwelling place, though near a mountain, he will have no firewood to burn; though near water, he will have no water to drink.' Upādhyāya Ying'an said: 'Nowadays, seeking someone who embodies "when speech arises, it is not sound; before form, it is no thing" is already hard to find; furthermore, if you want to understand Guishan's words, can you itinerant pilgrims distinguish black from white? Do not stubbornly hold yourselves high behind people's backs. If you cannot tell warp from weft, you do not deserve the name of a genuine patch-robed monk.' Shushan also spent the summer at Jinluan Temple in Hubei. At night, he heard a monk cite the encounter where Upādhyāya Lan'an of Changqing in Fuzhou addressed the assembly, saying: 'There is a phrase, there is no phrase, like a vine clinging to a tree.' When Shushan heard this, he said: 'I have a turning word; I must go and question that old fellow.' When the summer ended, he went into Min to see Upādhyāya Lan'an, who was also called Upādhyāya Guishan; Chancellor Pei, when governing Min, had invited him from Guishan to reside at Changqing. When Shushan arrived there, he happened to meet the master plastering a wall. Shushan straightaway asked: '"There is a phrase, there is no phrase, like a vine clinging to a tree"—are these the upādhyāya's words?' Guishan said: 'They are.' Shushan said: 'If suddenly the tree falls and the vine withers, where does the phrase return?' Guishan set down his mortar board, laughed heartily, and returned to the abbot's quarters. Shushan said: 'From three thousand li away, I sold my cloth wrap and came specially for this matter. Why does the upādhyāya not speak for me?' Guishan said: 'Attendant, give some money to this short ācārya and send him away. Another day, a one-eyed dragon will point it out for you.' Later he went to Mingzhao and cited the previous talk. Zhao said: 'Guishan's head is upright and his tail is upright; it is only that he met no one who knew the tone.' Shushan said: 'If suddenly the tree falls and the vine withers, where does the phrase return?' Zhao said: 'You make Guishan's laughter turn fresh again.' Shushan had an awakening on the spot and said: 'So Guishan had a blade within his laughter!' Nowadays, the brothers only know how to look forward and cannot look behind. The moment you seek within Guishan's laughter, you are already mistaken; you must give an intimate turning word right at the point where there is a phrase and there is no phrase like a vine clinging to a tree. Leaving aside the many idle entanglements below, only then will you avoid having Guishan and Mingzhao inspected by people through a thousand ages. If you stubbornly take hold of setting down the mortar board, laughing, and returning to the abbot's quarters, and making Guishan's laughter turn fresh again, blindly practicing Chan and blindly verifying, passing it down like that and drifting away, merely recognizing the sounds and forms from others' mouths, then for your own part there will never be any time of awakening; when played out to the extreme, it ultimately becomes a spoken defeat. Shushan returned again to Dongshan. One day, hearing that late at night [Dongshan] intended to secretly transmit the Precious Mirror Samādhi, passed down from Yunyan, to Caoshan, Shushan hid himself under a table to listen stealthily. Waiting until the transmission was finished, he came out, clapped his hands, laughed loudly, and said: 'Dongshan's Chan has found its handover, yet it also suffers the prophecy of Wuben!' Later, not breaking his promise to Xiangyan, he went straight to Dengzhou. One day Xiangyan ascended the hall, and a monk came forward to ask: 'What is it like when one neither admires the many sages nor honors one's own spirit?' This phrase was asked by Shitou when he was sent to Nanyue; Master Rang said: 'Your question is too lofty; why not ask downward?' Shitou said: 'I would rather sink in kalpas forever than seek liberation from the sages.' He then returned to Qingyuan. At that time, Xiangyan answered the monk's question, saying: 'The myriad workings cease; the thousand sages do not carry [it].' Shushan, seated below, made retching sounds and said: 'What kind of talk is this?' Xiangyan asked: 'Who is it?' The assembly said: 'Senior Uncle.' Xiangyan said: 'Do you not agree with this mountain monk?' Shushan came out from the assembly and said: 'Indeed.' Xiangyan said: 'Can you say something, Senior Uncle?' Shushan said: 'I can.' Xiangyan said: 'Try to speak and let us see.' Shushan said: 'If you bid me speak, you must first pay the courtesies due between teacher and disciple.' Xiangyan then stepped down from the seat, spread his sitting cloth widely, made three prostrations, and asked as before. Shushan said: 'When the myriad workings cease, there is still a thing present; when the thousand sages do not carry it, it is also obtained from others. Why not say: approval and assent cannot be whole?' Xiangyan said: 'What does one approve of, and to whom does one give assent?' Shushan said: 'Approving is approving of the thousand sages; assenting is assenting to one's own spirit.' Xiangyan said: 'Even granting you this, you must still suffer thirty years of diarrhea. Even if you reside on a mountain, near the mountain you will have no firewood to burn, and near water you will have no water to drink. Remember this clearly!' Later, when he resided at Shushan, it was indeed as foretold. By the twenty-seventh year, when his illness subsided, he said: 'Brother Xiangyan foretold thirty years of diarrhea for me; now three years are lacking.' Every time after eating, he would gouge with his hand and vomit it out to fulfill the previous prediction. Later he asked Jingqing: 'When approval and respect cannot be whole, what do you say?' Qing said: 'The whole returns to approval and respect.' Shushan said: 'What about "cannot be whole"?' Qing said: 'Within that, there is no road for approval.' Shushan said: 'Only now is this sick monk's wish satisfied.' When patch-robed monks come to this point, can you investigate it thoroughly? Can you see the guts of the two elders? At that time, if Xiangyan had answered that monk appropriately, why would he have had to step down and prostrate to Shushan? If Shushan had clearly exposed Xiangyan, how would he have incurred the affliction of diarrhea? Coming to this place, one must possess some patch-robed monk's eyes before it will do. Seeing injustice on the road today, this mountain monk will decide this gong'an as an offering to our patch-robed monks of the five lakes and four seas. Xiangyan's answer to that monk's words was like a sacred turtle bearing a diagram; the short senior uncle's incurring the affliction of diarrhea was a boat flowing with the current. Even if everyone on the whole earth were made to suffer diarrhea, there would not necessarily be anyone who nods askance. Why? A single fitting phrase is a donkey-tethering stake for ten thousand kalpas. Therefore, gold is tested with stone, and people are tested with words. If your eye of the Way is clear, can it be said that there is no one in the world today? Coming to this place, cleverness and strong memory cannot be used, and wave-like eloquence and speculative talk cannot be used; you must feel shame yourself once before it becomes ultimate. When Upādhyāya Baiyun Duan saw Yang Cigong's outer collection, in it was a verse revealing the essential宗旨 of Caodong: 'The phoenix of Cinnabar Mountain comes to the towering pavilion, / In the secret hall the Xiaoshao music plays nine rounds. / The rustic old man knows not the preciousness of the yellow roof; / On the six avenues he still listens to the crack of the quiet-whip.' [Baiyun] then said: 'He is an extraordinary person who has seen through the core of the ancients. In the declining period of Dongshan, fearing that the Dharma gate would gradually wither, he used the three phrases of the Diamond Prajñā, set up the five ranks of lord and minister, and established the three types of leakage, like a great furnace forging later students, so that each one would hold his own original deed and inherit the ancestral fields and gardens.' Later, because of a public discourse, Dahui made a feint to the east while attacking the west, offering slight criticism. Since students lack correct views, they often behave like dwarfs watching a play; but if the five ranks of the Dong school can be lightly criticized, then Linji's three mysteries and essentials, four selections, four hosts and guests, and four照 and uses can also be criticized. Just like Fenyang's ten knowledges being identical with the real, Fushan's nine belts, and Huanglong's three barriers, they are like state weapons: born of necessity, originally devoid of real meaning. Foyan was gathering support in Wuzu's assembly; when he had just returned to Foguo, the moment they met, [Foguo] said: 'What about Linji's three phrases?' Clearly, this was chiseling a hole to let in a thief. He pondered for a night, and the next day said to Foguo: 'I have understood the encounter of the three phrases.' First, he turned down his thumb, saying: 'This is the first phrase.' Then he turned down another finger, saying: 'This is the second phrase.' Thereupon he gave Foguo a slap, saying: 'This is the third phrase,' and hurried off with a loud laugh. Foguo cited this to Wuzu. The patriarch said: 'Quite good, isn't it? Moving the strings, one discerns the tune; when a leaf falls, one knows autumn.' The Master of Wuwei, having been appreciated by Baiyun, composed a verse and sent it to him: 'For ten years I have heard the name of Yang Cigong; / He has the writing capable of rousing our ancestral style. / Dividing three into six, adding a little bit, / He brings the golden crow red at midnight.' Because of this, Cigong went to Shu Prefecture and visited Upādhyāya Duan. In their night conversation, [Duan] thoroughly understood what this old man had attained. The next day he ascended the hall and said: 'From antiquity to the present, those who speak of principle and phenomena are as thick as hemp, bamboo, reeds, and rushes, and those who understand Chan are even more numerous everywhere. But seeking a person of the house is like selecting the moon from the sky. Yang Cigong, the worthy magistrate of Huangmei, has been renowned for more than ten years; last night he unexpectedly favored me with a visit, and he turns out to be a genuine person of our house. The length of the ladle handle, the size of the pot—though we have not inspected them one by one, looking at his reckoning, it is exceedingly clear. One might say that, just as when in Dongxi, at the time flowers bloom and leaves fall, one repeatedly intended to cast gold into a Zhong Ziqi, chattering on at length without end, yet trusting it; for an adept, water and milk blend together. In the world today, who is a person of the house? I do not say there are none at all, but a genuine person is hard to find.' Upādhyāya Ben'an Yong resided at Gushan; his practice of the Way moved Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and patch-robed monks rushed to him, so that great elders like Songyuan Xiuyan and Xi'an Wuyong all went into Min to observe his methods, thinking that Shimen's gate could be entered. One day, sounding the drum, he opened the room; his sharp dynamic and subtle functioning were solitary, free, and reliant on nothing, so that they all gathered their robes, glanced askance, and dared not approach. Having stayed for one or two summers, each dispersed. Looking at it, this old man could only make people die, not make people live; only Xiuyan lingered a little longer. During the Jiading era, this mountain monk saw him at the Western Stūpa of Yuwang. The old man spoke of matters during the Gushan period; pointing with his hand to the portrait of Mu'an, he said: 'I let down that old upādhyāya.' Then pointing to the portrait of Fozhao, he said: 'I had my huatou turned by that old rascal.' Deeply moved, he both wept and laughed, grief and joy attacking each other at once; there must have been something in his heart. His usual instructions were mostly ballads. In Upādhyāya Wuzu's assembly, there was also a monk named Senior Monk Jue. One day in the room, the patriarch cited: 'Śākyamuni and Maitreya are his slaves; who is he?' He gave a turning word, saying: 'Dark Zhang the Third, black Li the Fourth.' Wuzu approved it. Yuanwu, in the attendants' quarters, said: 'The upādhyāya should examine him further; I fear it is not genuine.' The next day, sounding the drum again to enter the room, the patriarch cited the previous talk and asked again. The monk said: 'I said it to the upādhyāya yesterday.' The patriarch said: 'What did you say?' As the monk was about to open his mouth, the patriarch struck a fist across his chest, saying: 'It is not!' The monk had an awakening on the spot. Later, seeing that Wuzu's gate was desolate, he went back to the assembly of Iron-foot Fu of Changlu. Later, appearing in the world, he resided at Kaisheng outside the city of Hezhou, and brought forth [the Dharma] for Old Fu. On the day he offered incense, he suddenly felt a point of pain in his chest, and right from that painful place an ulcer broke out, and he died. Inheriting the incense without tracing back its origin—its clear retribution was like this! In the world today, those who claim succession by merely catching the wind are like hemp and millet; if every single one suffered ulcers and died, when would it end? Moreover, during that, how do they recognize cause and effect, and know where they come from? Now, receiving the abbot's command to the assembly, causing this mountain rustic to receive the tablet and discuss the teachings with the brothers, this too is a weighty responsibility of the monastery. Since I dare not sit at ease, I fear that morning and evening I must open the room to meet with you gentlemen. From ancient times, forging with tallies in the room has been regarded as paramount; in recent times, the teacher's model is not strict, patch-robed monks pay no heed to it, and the Dharma gate's neglect has come to this. When Ciming saw Fenyang, for two years he was not permitted to enter the room. One day, in deep yearning, carrying incense, he went to the abbot's quarters and pleaded earnestly: 'I, for the sake of the great matter of birth and death not yet being clarified, braved the military ranks to come to your seat. It has now been two summers, and I have not yet been granted permission to enter the room with the assembly; fearing I will lose the original aspiration of leaving home, I look to your compassion, Upādhyāya.' Fenyang took up his staff and beat him, saying: 'What kind of evil acquaintance are you, coming to peddle me?' Just as Ciming began to voice his regret and apologies, Fenyang covered Ciming's mouth with his hand, and Ciming suddenly experienced great enlightenment. This is just like a great general facing the front in battle: with one slash cut in two, victory and defeat are decided at once; hesitation brings defeat. As cited just now, when Shushan saw Guishan and also examined Xiangyan, could this marvelous principle be fathomed by one perception, one view, one dynamic, or one realm? If you have an innate spiritual bone and have planted the seed of prajñā, and on the rush mat you struggle through every thread and strand, penetrating beyond words to grasp it directly in hand, you will not only see Shushan's examination of Xiangyan, but also understand how Fenyang and Ciming harmonized as teacher and disciple. If it is not so, buy a few more pairs of straw sandals, run and tread around the four continents, make the soles of your feet broad, and say, 'I am an itinerant monk,' talking Chan and the Way whenever meeting people, your mouth like a spinning wheel. Do not let it happen one day that, like a rat entering a cow's horn, with the road at its end and nothing to rely on, the four great elements and the five aggregates fall apart, and the conditions of a thousand hardships and ten thousand bitternesses will be obvious without speaking. An ancient worthy said: 'The road ahead is vast and hazy; one knows not where one goes.' If suddenly there is a fellow who disregards life and death and comes out to exert all his strength for the assembly, this mountain monk will say: 'Hold on for a while; wait until I hang up the tablet, and then come to discuss it. You have been standing long; take care.'