佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.47

7.47

溈山五峯雲巖。同侍立百丈。百丈問溈山。併却咽喉唇吻。作麼生道。山云。却請和尚道。丈云。我不辭向汝道。恐已後喪我兒孫。百丈雖然如此。鍋子已被別人奪去了也。丈復問五峯。峯云。和尚也須併却。丈云。無人處斫額望汝。又問雲巖。巖云。和尚有也未。丈云。喪我兒孫。三人各是一家。古人道。平地上死人無數。過得荊棘林者。是好手。所以宗師家。以荊棘林驗人。何故若於常情句下。驗人不得。衲僧家須是句裏呈機。言中辨的。若是擔板漢。多向句中死却。便道。併却咽喉唇吻。更無下口處。若是變通底人。有逆水之波。只向問頭上有一條路。不傷鋒犯手。溈山云。却請和尚道。且道他意作麼生。向箇裏如擊石火似閃電光相似。拶他問處便答。自有出身之路。不費纖毫氣力。所以道。他參活句。不參死句。百丈却不采他。只云。不辭向汝道。恐已後喪我兒孫。大凡宗師為人。抽釘拔楔。若是如今人便道。此答不肯他不領話。殊不知。箇裏一路生機處。壁立千仞。賓主互換。活鱍鱍地。雪竇愛他此語風措。宛轉自在。又能把定封疆。所以頌云。

Guishan, Wufeng, and Yunyan were together in attendance standing before Baizhang. Baizhang asked Guishan: "Shutting tight the throat and lips, how will you speak?" Guishan said: "I invite the venerable monk to speak instead." Baizhang said: "I would not refuse to speak to you, but I fear that later on it would ruin my descendants." Although Baizhang acted thus, the pot had already been snatched away by someone else. Baizhang also asked Wufeng. Wufeng said: "The venerable monk also must shut them tight." Baizhang said: "Where there is no one, I will shade my brow and look for you." He also asked Yunyan. Yunyan said: "Venerable monk, do you have them or not?" Baizhang said: "It would ruin my descendants." The three men each formed a house of their own. The ancients said: "Countless people die on flat ground; the one who passes through the forest of thorns is an expert hand." Therefore, the houses of lineage masters use the forest of thorns to test people. Why? If it were under ordinary phrases, one could not test people. A patch-robed monk must display dynamic function within the phrase and discern the target within the words. If one is a board-carrying fellow, one mostly dies within the phrase, saying: "Shutting tight the throat and lips, there is no place to open the mouth." If one is an adaptable person, having waves that flow against the current, right upon the questioning there is a way through that does not dull the point or wound one's hands. Guishan said, "I invite the venerable monk to speak instead." Now tell me, what was his meaning? In this place, it is like flint-struck fire or a lightning flash: pressing against the point of his question, he immediately answered, naturally having a path of escape, not expending the slightest bit of strength. Therefore it is said that he investigated the living phrase, not the dead phrase. Baizhang, however, paid him no heed, and merely said: "I would not refuse to speak to you, but I fear that later on it would ruin my descendants." Generally, when lineage masters work for others, they draw out nails and pull out wedges. If it were people nowadays, they would immediately say that this answer did not approve him and did not accept his words. Little do they know that in this place is the single path of vitality, standing precipitous like a thousand-fathom cliff, host and guest exchanging places, vibrantly alive. Xuedou loved the poise and bearing of his words, versatile and free, and also able to hold fast to the territory. Therefore his verse eulogy says: