佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 10.11

10.11

"Among the ranks of sages, the adept knows." The eighty thousand in the great assembly on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa were all ranks of sages. Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and even Maitreya—host and companion gathered together in the same assembly; one had to be the most skilful of the skilful, the most wondrous of the wondrous, to know where he landed. Xuedou's meaning is that among the ranks of sages, not a single person knew it was there. Only if there were an adept would he know it was not so. Why? Mañjuśrī struck the mallet and said, "Clearly observe the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is like this." Xuedou said, "The Dharma King's Dharma command is not like this." Why is it like this? At that time in the assembly, if there were a fellow who had an eye on the top of his head and a talisman behind his elbow, who saw through before the World-Honoured One had ascended the seat, why would Mañjuśrī have needed to strike the mallet? The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says that the single name 'saindhava' has four realities: first, salt; second, water; third, a vessel; fourth, a horse. There was a wise minister who was good at understanding the four meanings: if the king wished to wash, and asked for 'saindhava', the minister offered water; when eating, if he asked for it, he offered salt; after eating, he offered a vessel for drinking broth; when wishing to go out, he offered a horse. He applied them as needed without error. Truly, one must be a clever fellow before this is possible. Just as when a monk asked Xiangyan, "What is the king asking for saindhava?" Xiangyan said, "Come over here." The monk came over; Xiangyan said, "Making a fool of someone!" Another monk asked Zhaozhou, "What is the king asking for saindhava?" Zhaozhou stepped down from the Chan seat, bowed, and folded his hands. At that time, if there had been a saindhava who penetrated through before the World-Honoured One ascended the seat, it would have been somewhat better. For the World-Honoured One to ascend the seat and then step down was already not getting the advantage. How much less could he bear Mañjuśrī striking the mallet again! It really made a fool of the World-Honoured One's preaching on high. Now tell me, what was the foolish part?