佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 2.34

2.34

Xuedou directly, like sparks struck from flint, like a flash of lightning, forces it out and lets you see it. Only when you hear it mentioned briefly and immediately understand does it begin to count. It is certainly because he is a descendant of that house that he is able to speak like this. If you can directly understand it in this way, it is indeed extraordinary: / One, two, tens of millions of them; / Casting off the halter and unloading the pack saddled on their horns. / Carefree and unencumbered, they are not defiled by birth and death, nor bound by emotional understanding of sacred and profane. Above, there is nothing to gaze up at in longing; below, their own self is cut off. Just like Xianglin scampering through the snow! Not only is it tens of millions, but all people throughout the great earth are completely like this; the Buddhas of the past and the Buddhas of the future are completely like this as well. If, by chance, you form an understanding within words and phrases, it is just like Zihu wanting to strike Iron Grinder Liu: in reality, the moment she spoke, along with the sound he struck. Zihu studied under Nanquan, as a fellow student with Zhaozhou and Tiger Cen. At that time, Iron Grinder Liu set up a hermitage at the foot of Mount Guishan, and [masters in] all quarters could do nothing with her. One day Zihu specially went to visit her and said, "Could you be Iron Grinder Liu?" Liu said, "I would not dare." Hu said, "Turning left, turning right!" Liu said, "Venerable Monk, do not be confused." Accompanying his voice, Hu struck immediately. Xianglin answered this monk's question, "What is the intention of the ancestral master's coming from the West?" by saying instead, "Sitting for a long time causes fatigue." If you understand it in this way, 'Turning left, turning right, following close behind' indeed! Now tell me, with Xuedou chanting it out like this, what is the meaning? 'Free from concerns is good.' Please try to bring it up and see.