虛堂和尚語錄 3.129

3.129

The Master said: "The days are short and the nights are long; the sundial's track has freshly gained a line. The high comes and the low goes; the great potter's wheel turns from the nine abysses. Yin demons hide away and the sprout of the Way grows; when the yang breath bursts forth, there is no hard earth. For one who can use the twelve periods of the day, plain water and unseasoned broth serve as a token of modest courtesy; for one who is used by the twelve periods of the day, a leaking goblet and an earthenware pot are still not enough to satisfy him. Even if the reed-pith pipes blow their ash, here inside there is fundamentally no roundabout thanks to be made. If suddenly someone were to come forward and say, 'Old teacher, you have not shed feelings and calculations, being tossed topsy-turvy by the twenty-four solar terms,' this mountain monk could only desist. Why? A prosperous house breeds filial sons; a hegemonic state has scheming ministers."