虛堂和尚語錄 9.61

9.61

正旦上堂：「臘裏三白，元正氣和，天地開泰，萬物得序，因甚麼一年有兩箇歲端？若謂閏餘成歲，阿誰不知？山僧尋常道，天下人安我始安，徑令通事舍人，子細聽探，是何氣數？如是通事舍人，不移跬步，繞四天下打一遭，無事不知，無處不到，歸來踊躍歡喜，果有豐年之兆。山僧云：『以何為據？』通事舍人道：『都城巷陌，市廛邸店，村落鄉坊，柴米蔬菜，百物廉平，二麥雪後，欝然可觀，是為豐年之兆。』山僧又問：『此外別有消息否？』他云：『桑柘樹頭聞布穀，春風影裏牧耕牛。』山僧道：『通事舍人，爾果然名德相孚。向春老僧有錢，買箇油糍子供養爾。』他將身一旋，拊掌大笑而去。山僧惟切疑之。雖然，且道他笑箇甚麼？」

Ascending the hall on New Year's Day: "Three snowfalls in the twelfth month, and the primal New Year qi is harmonious. Heaven and earth open in peace, and the myriad things attain their proper order. Why does a single year have two beginnings? If you say that intercalary remnants make up a year, who does not know that? The mountain monk normally says: only when the people under heaven are at peace am I at peace. I straightway ordered the reception clerk to listen and investigate carefully: what sort of climate and fortune is it? Thereupon the reception clerk, without moving half a step, made a complete circuit around the four continents; there was nothing he did not know, nowhere he did not go. He returned leaping with joy: indeed there are signs of an abundant year! The mountain monk said, 'What is the evidence?' The reception clerk said, 'In the alleys and avenues of the capital, the marketplaces and inns, the hamlets and village quarters, firewood, rice, and vegetables—all hundred goods are cheap and steady. After the snow, the two kinds of wheat are lush and magnificent to behold. This is the omen of an abundant year.' The mountain monk asked again, 'Apart from this, is there any other news?' He said, 'At the tips of the mulberry and wild mulberry trees, one hears the cuckoo; amid the shadows of the spring wind, they herd the plow oxen.' The mountain monk said, 'Reception clerk, truly your name and virtue correspond. Toward spring, when the old monk has money, I will buy an oily fried cake to offer you.' He spun his body around, clapped his hands, laughed heartily, and left. The mountain monk only harbors deep doubts about it. Even so, tell me: what was he laughing at?"