佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 4.18

4.18

Where one tests someone's genuineness, as soon as they speak one knows the sound. The ancients said, 'An immeasurable person turns away within the pulse of words.' If one has an eye on top of one's head, as soon as something is brought up one knows where it lands. Look at the questions and answers between them: distinctly and clearly apparent. Why then did Yunmen say, 'These words are all on account of compassion; they are talk that enters the grass'? When the ancients reached this place, it was like a bright mirror on its stand, a bright jewel in the palm: when a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears; when a Han comes, a Han appears. Not even a single fly could slip past their reflection. Tell me, how is it 'on account of compassion, talk that enters the grass'? It does not hinder being precipitous either. Having reached this stage, it still requires such a fellow before it can be brought forth and held up. Yunmen took this up, saying, 'This monk came directly from Mount Lu. Why then did [Yangshan] say, "Acārya, you have not toured the mountain"?' One day Guishan asked Yangshan, 'If a monk comes from other regions, by what do you test him?' Yangshan said, 'I have a way to test.' Guishan said, 'Try to present it for me to see.' Yangshan said, 'Whenever I see a monk come, I just raise my whisk toward him and say, "Do other regions still have this?" Waiting for him to speak, I just say to him, "Leave this aside for a moment; what about that?"' Guishan said, 'These are the teeth and claws of a transcendent person.' Have you not seen? Mazu asked Baizhang, 'Where did you come from?' Baizhang said, 'From below the mountain.' Mazu said, 'Did you meet someone on the road?' Baizhang said, 'I did not.' Mazu said, 'Why did you not meet someone?' Baizhang said, 'If I had met someone, I would present it to the Venerable.' Mazu said, 'Where did you get this news?' Baizhang said, 'It is my fault.' Mazu said, 'Rather, it is this old monk's fault.' Yangshan questioning the monk was precisely similar to this. At that time, when he asked, 'Did you ever reach the Five Old Men Peaks?', if this monk had been a real fellow, he would only have said, 'Disaster!' Yet he said he had not reached them. Since this monk was not an adept, why did Yangshan not execute the imperative according to rule, avoiding the many entangling vines that followed? Instead, he said, 'Acārya, you have not toured the mountain.' Therefore Yunmen said, 'These words are all on account of compassion; they are talk that enters the grass.' If it were talk that leaves the grass, it would not be like this.