虛堂和尚語錄 9.126

9.126

At the informal gathering on the night of concluding the summer retreat, a monk came out of the assembly and said: "Tonight's informal gathering does not ask questions." The Master said: "When has a turtle ever escaped from a jar?" The monk asked: "Ninety days of restricted steps is a fish cast into a net; three months of peaceful dwelling is a bird entering a cage; when life and death are exhausted, the silkworm makes a cocoon. How does one penetrate these three layers? What is the meaning of this?" The Master said: "One strike of the mallet smashes it into a hundred fragments." The monk said: "If so, then among hot-tempered patch-robed monks, none surpasses the Upādhyāya." The Master said: "Just now the staff was not in my hand." The monk said: "What is the ninety days of restricted steps being a fish cast into a net?" The Master said: "The bride rides the donkey, and the mother-in-law leads it." The monk said: "What is the three months of peaceful dwelling being a bird entering a cage?" The Master said: "Formerly draping the mountain peaks, it now pervades the Divine Land." The monk said: "What is when life and death are exhausted, the silkworm makes a cocoon?" The Master said: "Words are the sprout of the mind." The monk said: "What is penetrating these three layers?" The Master said: "Needle and thread in a fish's eye." The monk said: "It is recorded that Venerable Dongshan instructed the assembly, saying: 'At the beginning of autumn and the end of summer, brothers, going east or going west, you must go directly to the place where there is not an inch of grass for ten thousand miles.' What is the meaning of this?" The Master said: "Cutting much flesh from the egret's thigh." The monk said: "Later, a monk brought this up to the hut master of Liuyang, and the hut master said, 'Why not say, as soon as you step out the door, there is grass?' How about this?" The Master said: "Weighing light and heavy beside the star mark at the tail of the steelyard." The monk said: "Dongshan heard of this and said, 'In the great Tang realm, how many people could there be [like this]?' Did he approve of him or not approve of him?" The Master said: "Buying a hat to suit the head." The monk said: "As the newly built Thousand Monks Hall has already been completed, are there any brothers going east or going west?" The Master said: "Packing bundles when the time comes." The monk bowed. The Master said: "It must be like this before it will do."