佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.26

7.26

【六六】舉。巖頭問僧什麼處來（未開口時納敗缺了也。穿過髑髏。要知來處也不難）僧云。西京來（果然一箇小賊）頭云。黃巢過後。還收得劍麼（平生不曾做草賊。不懼頭落。便恁麼問。好大膽）僧云。收得（敗也。未識轉身處。茅廣漢如麻似粟）巖頭引頸近前云。㘞（也須識機宜始得。陷虎之機。是什麼心行）僧云。師頭落也（只見錐頭利。不見鑿頭方。識甚好惡。著也）巖頭呵呵大笑（盡天下衲僧不奈何。欺殺天下人。尋這老漢頭落處不得）僧後到雪峯（依前顢頇懞懂。這僧往往十分納敗缺去）峯問。什麼處來（不可不說來處。也要勘過）僧云。巖頭來（果然納敗缺）峯云。有何言句（舉得不免喫棒）僧舉前話（便好趕出）雪峯打三十棒趕出（雖然斬釘截鐵。因甚只打三十棒。拄杖子也未到折在。且未是本分。何故朝打三千暮打八百。若不是同參。爭辨端的。雖然如是。且道雪峯巖頭落在什麼處）。

[Case 66] Case: Yantou asked a monk, "Where have you come from?"
(Before opening his mouth, he had already exposed his defeat and shortcoming. Piercing through the skull. Wanting to know where he comes from is not difficult either.)
The monk said, "I come from the Western Capital."
(Sure enough, a petty thief.)
Yantou said, "After Huang Chao passed through, did you retrieve the sword?"
(All his life he never acted as a grass thief. Not fearing having his head lopped off, he thus asks this. Quite bold!)
The monk said, "I retrieved it."
(Defeated! He does not yet know the place to turn about. Like wild weeds, Mao Guanghans are as numerous as hemp and millet.)
Yantou stretched his neck forward and said, "Heh!"
(One must also recognise the opportune dynamic to begin with. The trap-the-tiger dynamic—what sort of mindset is this?)
The monk said, "Master, your head has fallen."
(He sees only that the point of the awl is sharp, but does not see that the head of the chisel is square. What discernment of good and bad does he possess? Right on the mark!)
Yantou roared with great laughter.
(All the patch-robed monks under heaven can do nothing with him. He completely deceives everyone under heaven. You cannot find where this old fellow's head fell.)
The monk later arrived at Xuefeng's place.
(Muddled and obtuse as before. This monk inevitably exposed his complete defeat and shortcoming.)
Xuefeng asked, "Where have you come from?"
(He cannot but state where he comes from; he too must examine him.)
The monk said, "I come from Yantou."
(Sure enough, he exposes his defeat and shortcoming.)
Xuefeng said, "What words were spoken?"
(Recounting them, he will not avoid taking the staff.)
The monk related the previous dialogue.
(He ought to be driven out straight away.)
Xuefeng struck him thirty blows with his staff and drove him out.
(Although it cuts iron and shears nails, why did he strike only thirty blows? The staff has not yet been broken. Still, it is not yet the proper measure. Why not three thousand in the morning and eight hundred in the evening? If they were not fellow trainees, how could they discern the reality? Even though it is so, tell me: where did Xuefeng and Yantou alight?)