虛堂和尚語錄 9.26

9.26

Informal gathering for the winter solstice: "The extreme of yin gives birth to yang; principle changes along with phenomena. These are the tools of you patch-robed monks. If in a single thought you know where to return, not being shifted by cold or heat, naturally the spiritual conduit will be connected through and the warm qi will join together. Granted that the reed pipe's ashes fly and embroidered patterns add thread, what idle entanglements are these? If someone dissatisfied from the side suddenly came forward and said, 'Without involving teaching mechanisms, I beg the master to give instruction,' this mountain monk would only say to him, 'In barbarian lands, bamboo shoots sprout in winter; south of the river, snow bends the plum branches.'"