虛堂和尚語錄 9.107

9.107

Ascending the hall on the Lantern Festival, a monk asked: "One lamp lights hundreds of thousands of lamps, lamp to lamp continuing in succession. Tell me, where does this one lamp come from?" The master said: "In my whole life I have never annotated texts in red for others." The monk drew a circle with his sitting cloth: "Could it be that it comes from here?" The master said: "A fellow playing with shadows." The monk said: "If one is a patch-robed monk doing real practice, every single one immediately knows its landing place." The master said: "Do you still know the landing place?" The monk said: "This student is much like picking up things in the dark." The master said: "You are a person from Mount Tantou." The monk bowed and said: "Thank you, master, for answering the question." The master said: "Discourse that grates upon the ear."