佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 1.23

1.23

[4] Case: Deshan arrived at Guishan. (A board-carrying fellow. A wild fox spirit.) Carrying his bundle under his arm into the Dharma hall, (Sure enough, this causes people to doubt. He exposes his defect.) he crossed from east to west and from west to east. (Extremely full of Chan! What is he doing?) Looking around, he said, “Nothing, nothing,” and went straight out. (He deserves thirty blows of the staff. Extremely arrogant, rising to the skies. A true lion’s cub, skilled in the lion’s roar!) Xuedou remarks: “Checked and exposed!” (Mistake! As expected! Marked!) Deshan arrived at the gate and said, “Still, I should not be sloppy.” (Letting go and gathering in. At the head he is too elevated; in the end he is too lowly. Knowing an error and definitely correcting it—how many people can do this?) So he assumed dignified deportment and re-entered to see him. (He behaves just as before; this is already a second layer of defect. Perilous!) Guishan was sitting. (Coldly observing this old fellow. Plucking the tiger's whiskers. It takes this kind of person!) Deshan held up his sitting mat and said, “Venerable monk!” (Changing his head and face. Raising waves where there is no wind.) Guishan began to reach for the whisk. (It has to be that fellow! Planning strategies within the tent. Surely he sits and cuts off the tongues of everyone under heaven.) Deshan gave a shout, shook his sleeves, and went out. (A wild fox spirit’s view. This single shout has both the provisional and the real, both illumination and function. Both are those who seize clouds and grasp mists; among them, this is extraordinary.) Xuedou remarks: “Checked and exposed!” (Mistake! As expected! Marked!) Deshan turned his back on the Dharma hall, put on his straw sandals, and departed. (The scenery is lovely. The gong'an is not yet complete. He gained the rainhat on his neck and lost the sandals on his feet. He has already lost his body and life.) In the evening, Guishan asked the head monk, “Where is the newcomer who arrived just now?” (In the east losing joints, in the west pulling up roots. Eyes looking southeast, intent on the northwest.) The head monk said, “At that time he turned his back on the Dharma hall, put on his straw sandals, and went out.” (A divine tortoise dragging its tail. He deserves thirty blows of the staff. How many should this kind of fellow receive behind his head?) Guishan said, “Hereafter this fellow will build a thatched hut on the solitary peak, scolding the Buddhas and reviling the ancestral masters.” (Drawing the bow after the thief has fled. Patch-robed monks of the world cannot leap out.) Xuedou remarks: “Adding frost on top of snow!” (Mistake! As expected! Marked!)