虛堂和尚語錄 9.67

9.67

At the informal gathering for entering the summer retreat, a monk asked, "'Everyone suffers from the blazing heat, but I love the long summer days: a balmy breeze comes from the south, bringing a gentle coolness through halls and pavilions.' This is an ancient linked verse; hearing it, Dahui smashed the lacquer tub. Tell me, where does the crucial point lie?"
The Master said, "Where did you see Dahui?"
The monk gave a shout and said, "This too is washing a clod of earth in the mud."
The Master said, "Indeed it is."
The monk said, "Deshan gave an informal gathering where he would not answer questions, and anyone who asked a question would receive thirty blows. What was his intention?"
The Master said, "If the vinegar is sour, why bother hanging out a gourd?"
[The monk] advanced and said, "A monk came forward and bowed, and Deshan immediately hit him—how about that?"
The Master said, "Iron banners and iron drums."
[The monk] advanced and said, "The monk said, 'I have not even asked a question; why hit me?' What about that?"
The Master said, "Righteousness arises in years of abundance."
[The monk] advanced and said, "Deshan said, 'Where are you from?' The monk said, 'From Silla.' Deshan said, 'Before you had even stepped over the boat's gunwale, you deserved thirty blows!' How about that?"
The Master said, "Deshan's life fell into this monk's hands."
[The monk] advanced and said, "Just like this, was Deshan rewarding him or punishing him?"
The Master said, "A sword held in the hand of a potter."
[The monk] advanced and said, "This monk was one accustomed to braving the surging waves and playing on the crest of the tide; why couldn't Deshan see through him?"
The Master said, "Yet you have been seen through by everyone!"
The monk said, "Just tonight, if someone suddenly comes forward and says, 'I haven't asked a question; why hit me?' I wonder how the upādhyāya would answer him?"
The Master said, "I do not have Deshan's grandmotherly heart."
The monk said, "A clear-eyed ancestral master naturally possesses it."
The Master said, "The thief is a member of the household."
The Master then said, "Ancient seals lack ornamentation, yet new regulations impose restrictions: confining one's feet for ninety days is like breaking an urn to look for the sky; protecting sentient beings for three months is like chopping up a lute to boil a crane. It causes people of great aspiration to have nowhere to stretch and expand; even if they possessed another vital impulse, they cannot avoid submitting and listening to their sentence. Tonight, this old monk does not begrudge his eyebrows to offer an expedient means, so that the four assemblies present will not have laboured in vain over the ninety days of summer. Can you genuinely have faith in this? If you can have faith in this, cutting and polishing by the water's edge and beneath the trees, there will surely come a time of cultivation and realization; if not, please return to your respective previous sections."