虛堂和尚語錄 1.16

1.16

At an informal gathering on New Year's Eve: 'The ashes are cold and the fire chilled; every household fires firecrackers to send off poverty. The twelfth month ends and spring returns; everywhere paper money is burned to summon ghosts. Across three hundred and sixty days, beginning joins to end, unfolding a different livelihood. Stagnant goods of two thousand years that could not sell now have their prices raised anew. Block-wood fire, village-field merriment, the ox on the open ground—no need to bring them forth; the diamond cage, the chestnut burr, the iron sour bun—just the time to present them. Coming from the south and going to the north, there is no door to swallow or penetrate; with hawk's eyes and falcon's vision, how can one swallow it mutely? For Xingsheng to announce it like this is already lowering the head of the clouds. Why? In Jiangnan the ground is warm; in Saibei the sky is cold.'