虛堂和尚語錄 9.67

9.67

結夏小參，僧問：「人皆苦炎熱，我愛夏日長，薰風自南來，殿閣生微涼。此是古人聯句，大慧聞得打破漆桶，且道節文在甚麼處？」師云：「甚處見大慧？」僧喝云：「也是泥裏洗土塊。」師云：「果然。」僧云：「德山小參不答話，有問話者三十棒，此意如何？」師云：「醋酸何必挂葫蘆。」進云：「有僧出禮拜，德山便打，又作麼生？」師云：「鐵旗鐵鼓。」進云：「僧云：『某甲話也未問，為什麼打某甲？』又且如何？」師云：「義出豐年。」進云：「山云：『爾是何處人？』僧云：『新羅人。』山云：『未跨船舷，好與三十棒。』又作麼生？」師云：「德山性命，落在這僧手裏。」進云：「只如德山與麼，為復是賞伊罰伊？」師云：「劍握甑人手。」進云：「者僧是箇衝波逆浪，慣弄潮頭底，因甚德山覷他不破？」師云：「爾却被諸人覷破了也。」僧云：「只如今夜，忽有箇漢出來道：『某甲話未問，為什麼打某甲？』未審和尚作麼生答他？」師云：「我不似德山老婆心。」僧云：「明眼宗師，天然有在。」師云：「賊是家親。」師乃云：「古篆不文，新條有制，九旬禁足，剖瓮覓天，三月護生，劈琴煮鶴。致使有志之士，無所舒伸，縱饒別有生機，未免伏聽處分。老僧今夜不惜眉毛，作箇方便，使現前四眾，九夏無虛棄之功。還信得及麼？若信得及，水邊林底切蹉琢磨，必有修證之期；其如不然，各請收歸上科。」

At the informal gathering for entering the summer retreat, a monk asked, "'Everyone suffers from the blazing heat, but I love the long summer days: a balmy breeze comes from the south, bringing a gentle coolness through halls and pavilions.' This is an ancient linked verse; hearing it, Dahui smashed the lacquer tub. Tell me, where does the crucial point lie?"
The Master said, "Where did you see Dahui?"
The monk gave a shout and said, "This too is washing a clod of earth in the mud."
The Master said, "Indeed it is."
The monk said, "Deshan gave an informal gathering where he would not answer questions, and anyone who asked a question would receive thirty blows. What was his intention?"
The Master said, "If the vinegar is sour, why bother hanging out a gourd?"
[The monk] advanced and said, "A monk came forward and bowed, and Deshan immediately hit him—how about that?"
The Master said, "Iron banners and iron drums."
[The monk] advanced and said, "The monk said, 'I have not even asked a question; why hit me?' What about that?"
The Master said, "Righteousness arises in years of abundance."
[The monk] advanced and said, "Deshan said, 'Where are you from?' The monk said, 'From Silla.' Deshan said, 'Before you had even stepped over the boat's gunwale, you deserved thirty blows!' How about that?"
The Master said, "Deshan's life fell into this monk's hands."
[The monk] advanced and said, "Just like this, was Deshan rewarding him or punishing him?"
The Master said, "A sword held in the hand of a potter."
[The monk] advanced and said, "This monk was one accustomed to braving the surging waves and playing on the crest of the tide; why couldn't Deshan see through him?"
The Master said, "Yet you have been seen through by everyone!"
The monk said, "Just tonight, if someone suddenly comes forward and says, 'I haven't asked a question; why hit me?' I wonder how the upādhyāya would answer him?"
The Master said, "I do not have Deshan's grandmotherly heart."
The monk said, "A clear-eyed ancestral master naturally possesses it."
The Master said, "The thief is a member of the household."
The Master then said, "Ancient seals lack ornamentation, yet new regulations impose restrictions: confining one's feet for ninety days is like breaking an urn to look for the sky; protecting sentient beings for three months is like chopping up a lute to boil a crane. It causes people of great aspiration to have nowhere to stretch and expand; even if they possessed another vital impulse, they cannot avoid submitting and listening to their sentence. Tonight, this old monk does not begrudge his eyebrows to offer an expedient means, so that the four assemblies present will not have laboured in vain over the ninety days of summer. Can you genuinely have faith in this? If you can have faith in this, cutting and polishing by the water's edge and beneath the trees, there will surely come a time of cultivation and realization; if not, please return to your respective previous sections."