虛堂和尚語錄 9.65

9.65

Ascending the hall, he cited: "Deshan visited Longtan. As soon as they met, he asked, 'I have long yearned for the Dragon Pool (Longtan), but now that I have arrived, the pool is not seen, and the dragon does not appear.' Longtan said, 'You have personally arrived at Longtan.' When night came and Deshan was attending him, Longtan said, 'Why don't you go down?' Deshan then bid him farewell, lifted the screen, and went out. Seeing that it was dark outside, he turned back and said, 'It is dark outside.' Longtan lit a paper candle and handed it to Deshan. As Deshan was about to take it, Longtan blew it out. Thereupon Deshan had great awakening and made prostrations. Longtan said, 'What principle have you seen?' Deshan said, 'From this day onward, I will never doubt the tongues of the old upādhyāyas under heaven.' The next day Longtan ascended the seat and said, 'Among you there is a fellow whose fangs are like a forest of swords and whose mouth is like a basin of blood; strike him with a staff and he will not turn his head. Someday in the future, upon an isolated peak, he will twist grass into a hut and establish my Way.' Deshan took his commentaries and sub-commentaries, held up a torch in front of the Dharma hall, and raised them, saying, 'Exhausting all profound discourses is like placing a single hair in the great void; using up all worldly pivotal mechanisms is like casting a single drop into a giant gorge.' He then burned them." The master brought this up and said: "The eye to discern dragons and snakes and the dynamic mechanism to capture tiger cubs have existed since antiquity. It was only because of mistaken indications and explanations that it led to the ruin of the house and dispersal of the family. Is there anyone who can discern it?" Giving a shout, he stepped down from the seat.