佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 10.57

10.57

要平不平。大巧若拙。古有俠客。路見不平。以強凌弱。即飛劍取強者頭。所以宗師家。眉藏寶劍袖掛金鎚。以斷不平之事。大巧若拙。巴陵答處。要平不平之事。為他語忒殺傷巧。返成拙相似。何故為他不當面揮來。却去僻地裏。一截暗取人頭。而人不覺。或指或掌。倚天照雪。會得則如倚天長劍凜凜神威。古人道。心月孤圓。光吞萬象。光非照境。境亦非存。光境俱忘。復是何物。此寶劍或現在指上。忽現掌中。昔日慶藏主說到這裏。竪手云。還見麼。也不必在手指上也。雪竇借路經過。教爾見古人意。且道一切處不可不是吹毛劍也。所以道。三級浪高魚化龍。癡人猶戽夜塘水。祖庭事苑載孝子傳云。楚王夫人。甞夏乘涼抱鐵柱感孕。後產一鐵塊。楚王令干將鑄為劍。三年乃成雙劍。一雌一雄。干將密留雄。以雌進於楚王。王祕於匣中。常聞悲鳴。王問群臣。臣曰。劍有雌雄。鳴者憶雄耳。王大怒即收干將殺之。干將知其應。乃以劍藏屋柱中。因囑妻莫耶曰。日出北戶。南山其松。松生於石。劍在其中。妻後生男。名眉間赤。年十五問母曰。父何在。母乃述前事。久思惟剖柱得劍。日夜欲為父報讎。楚王亦募覓其人。宣言。有得眉間赤者厚賞之。眉間赤遂逃。俄有客曰。子得非眉間赤邪。曰然。客曰。吾甑山人也。能為子報父讎。赤曰。父昔無辜。枉被荼毒。君今惠念。何所須邪。客曰。當得子頭并劍。赤乃與劍并頭。客得之進於楚王。王大喜。客曰。願煎油烹之。王遂投於鼎中。客詒於王曰。其首不爛。王方臨視。客於後以劍擬王頭墮鼎中。於是二首相囓。客恐眉間赤不勝。乃自刎以助之。三頭相囓。尋亦俱爛（川本無此楚王一段）雪竇道。此劍能倚天照雪。尋常道。倚天長劍光能照雪。這些子用處直得大冶兮磨礱不下。任是良工拂拭也未歇。良工即干將是也。故事自顯。雪竇頌了末後顯出道。別別也不妨奇特。別有好處。與尋常劍不同。且道如何是別處。珊瑚枝枝撐著月。可謂光前絕後獨據寰中。更無等匹。畢竟如何諸人頭落也。老僧更有一小偈。

"Wanting to level what is uneven, great skill appears clumsy." In ancient times there were wandering knights: seeing injustice on the road where the strong bullied the weak, they would fly their swords to take the head of the strong. Therefore lineage masters conceal a precious sword in their eyebrows and suspend a golden mallet in their sleeves to sever matters of injustice. "Great skill appears clumsy": where Baling answered, he wanted to level what was uneven, but because his words were exceedingly skillful, on the contrary they appeared clumsy. Why? Because he did not swing at the man's face, but went to an out-of-the-way spot and secretly severed his head without him noticing. "Now a finger, now a palm; leaning against the sky, it reflects the snow." If you understand, it is like a sword leaning against the sky, awe-inspiring with divine majesty. An ancient said: "The mind-moon is solitary and round; its light swallows the myriad forms. The light does not illumine objects, nor do objects exist. When light and objects are both forgotten, what is it again?" This precious sword is now manifested on the finger, now suddenly manifested in the palm. In former days, when Qing, Keeper of the Canon, spoke to this point, he held up his hand and said: "Do you still see it?" It is not necessarily on the finger either. Xuedou borrows the road to pass through, causing you to see the ancient's meaning. Tell me, can there be any place that is not the hair-blowing sword? Therefore it is said: "When the three-tiered waves rise high, the fish turns into a dragon; yet fools are still bailing the pond's night water." The Zuting shiyuan cites the Biographies of Filial Sons: The wife of the King of Chu once cooled herself in the summer by embracing an iron pillar, and thus conceived. Later she gave birth to a lump of iron. The King of Chu ordered Gan Jiang to forge it into swords. After three years, a pair of swords was completed, one female and one male. Gan Jiang secretly kept the male sword and presented the female to the King of Chu. The King hid it in a box, where it was often heard weeping sorrowfully. The King asked his ministers, and a minister said, "Swords have male and female; the one weeping is longing for the male." The King was furious, and immediately arrested Gan Jiang and killed him. Gan Jiang had foreseen this, and so had hidden the sword inside a house pillar, instructing his wife Moye: "The sun rises at the northern door; on the southern mountain stands a pine; the pine grows upon a rock; the sword is within." His wife later gave birth to a boy named Meijianchi ("Space-between-Eyebrows-Foot-Wide"). At fifteen, he asked his mother, "Where is my father?" His mother recounted the former affair. Pondering for a long time, he split the pillar and obtained the sword, wishing day and night to avenge his father. The King of Chu also offered a reward to search for him, proclaiming: "Whoever captures Meijianchi will be richly rewarded." Meijianchi then fled. Suddenly a traveler said, "Are you not Meijianchi?" He said, "I am." The traveler said, "I am a man from Mount Zeng, and can avenge your father for you." Meijianchi said, "My father was innocent in the past, yet suffered cruel death unjustly. Now that you have kindly thought of me, what do you need?" The traveler said, "I must have your head along with the sword." Meijianchi gave him both the sword and his head. The traveler took them and presented them to the King of Chu. The King was overjoyed. The traveler said, "I wish to boil oil and cook it." The King then cast it into a cauldron. The traveler deceived the King, saying, "His head will not boil to pieces." Just as the King approached to look, the traveler struck from behind with the sword, causing the King's head to fall into the cauldron. Thereupon the two heads bit each other. Fearing that Meijianchi would not overcome him, the traveler slit his own throat to assist him. The three heads bit one another, and soon all were boiled to pieces. (The Sichuan edition does not have this passage about the King of Chu.) Xuedou says this sword can lean against the sky and reflect the snow. It is commonly said: "A sword leaning against the sky, its light can reflect the snow." This bit of function is such that "In the great foundry, it cannot be honed; the master craftsman's polishing never rests." The master craftsman is Gan Jiang. The story speaks for itself. Having finished his eulogy, at the very end Xuedou brings it forth, saying: "Distinct, distinct!" This is quite extraordinary; it has an exceptional excellence, unlike ordinary swords. Tell me, how is it distinct? "Branch after branch of coral props up the moon." It can be said to outshine the past and cut off the future, solitary occupying the realm, without an equal. In the end, how is it? Everyone's heads have fallen! This old monk has another short gāthā: