虛堂和尚語錄 9.31

9.31

At the informal gathering on New Year's Eve: "The night watch tallies send off the twelfth month, and look—we are pressed right to the threshold of transition. The handle of the Dipper turns toward spring; counting day by day, another year is added. Add one cup, and young master Pang's hat hits the ground; subtract one cup, and old gentleman Li's drunken eyes kindle in wrath. Let the year-end snows reach the sky—why speak of slaughtering an ox to share the year? All of it is mere name without reality, talking of food to fill the belly. Jingshan has distinct regulations: you must simply know the season and recognize the period. Just as one covers a lamp to cast light afar and quietly guards New Year's Eve—how will you attend to it?" Striking the staff, he said: "Do not resent the old woman having no platters set out; / smiling, she points to the hearth where taro and chestnuts are fragrant."