佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 1.19

1.19

Master Ma was unwell. The monastery director asked, "Venerable monk, how has your health been recently?" The great master said, "Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha." If the ancestral master had not met him with the matter of his fundamental lot, how could this Way shine brightly? In this gong'an, if you know where it lands, you walk alone in the cinnabar dawn; if you do not know where it lands, you often take a wrong turn before the withered tree cliff. If an authentic person comes here, they must possess the moves of driving away the plowman's ox and snatching away the starving person's food; only then can they see Master Ma's place of helping people. Nowadays many people say that Master Ma was receiving the monastery director. Fortunately, that has no connection! Nowadays in the assembly many misunderstand, staring wide-eyed and saying, "Right here! The left eye is Sun-Face, the right eye is Moon-Face." What connection is there? They have not even dreamt of it in the year of the donkey, constantly missing the matter of the ancients! Just take Master Ma's saying this: where was his intent? Some say, "Serve a bowl of Stomach-Calming Powder." What hold is there? When you come here, how can you attain steadiness? Therefore it is said: "The single transcendent path is not transmitted by the thousand sages; students wear out their bodies like monkeys grasping at shadows." Just this "Sun-Face Buddha, Moon-Face Buddha" is extremely difficult to see. When Xuedou reached this point, it was also difficult to eulogize; yet because he saw through it completely, he used the full effort of his life to point it out and annotate it. Do you all want to see Xuedou? Look at the text below.