宏智禪師廣錄 4.169

4.169

Ascending the hall, a monk asked, "I have received the Master's words: 'Following conditions, one does not abide in characteristics; responding to affairs, one does not collide with things.' Just at such a time, how is it?" The Master said, "Manifesting a body to preach the Dharma, Avalokiteśvara accords with each class [of beings]." [The monk] advanced and said, "Reaching the point where traces and tracks are entirely cut off." The Master said, "Talking east and chattering west—how can you distinguish the cutting off of traces and tracks?" [The monk] advanced and said, "The whale swallows the seawater dry, exposing the coral branches." The Master said, "Where have you gone now?" [The monk] advanced and said, "Just at the place where traces and tracks are cut off, how is it?" The Master said, "Speech carries the profound without a path; the tongue talks without talking." [The monk] advanced and said, "The tip of the shuttle is fine; speech and silence can hardly reach it." The Master said, "I only fear it is not so." The Master then said: "Utterly silent and desolate: the pure and strict family tradition. Vast and boundless: glorifying the household. Guarding the family tradition loses the means of handling encounters and adapting to changes; establishing the household loses the path of peaceful resting and secluded ease. If one drives away the plowman's ox or snatches the starving person's food, one must possess this kind of method before it is possible. As for patch-robed monks, how should they conduct themselves? Do you understand? The body steps out the door, the door holds the body; the object within the eye, the eye within the object."