佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 5.35

5.35

[48] Case: Grand Tutor Wang entered Zhaoging to brew tea. (When masters gather, there must be something extraordinary. At ease and without business, everyone sets one eye. Bringing on disaster!)
At that time, Senior Monk Lang and Mingzhao were holding the teapot. (A fellow handling mud balls with a crowd. Not knowing how to brew tea, he implicates others.)
Lang overturned the teapot. (Something has arisen! Sure enough.)
Seeing this, the Grand Tutor asked the senior monk, "What is underneath the tea brazier?" (Sure enough, a disaster.)
Lang said, "The spirit that supports the brazier." (Sure enough, he has been hit by the arrow. Extraordinary nonetheless!)
The Grand Tutor said, "Since it is the spirit that supports the brazier, why did it overturn the teapot?" (Why not give him his proper measure of fodder? Something has arisen!)
Lang said, "Serving as an official for a thousand days is lost in a single morning." (Pointing mistakenly—what kind of talk is this? Bogus Chan fellows are as plentiful as hemp and millet.)
The Grand Tutor flicked his sleeves and left. (Truly a master. I grant that he possesses one eye.)
Mingzhao said, "Senior Monk Lang, you eat the rice of Zhaoqing, but then go beyond the river to chop down wild stumps!" (Give him another thirty blows of the staff. This One-Eyed Dragon possesses only a single eye. It still requires a clear-eyed person to point it out before it will do.)
Lang said, "What do you say, Venerable Sir?" (Pressed hard. It would be fine to press him once; he will never hold such a dead, sluggish view.)
Zhao said, "A non-human spirit seized the advantage." (Sure enough, he possesses only one eye. He has said half of it. One hand lifts up, one hand presses down.)
Xuedou said, "At that time, he should have just kicked over the tea brazier!" (What can be done? Drawing the bow after the thief has fled. Although it is like this, he still cannot be called a guest under Deshan's gate. In any case it is completely reckless, but therein lies the extraordinary.)
Zha (a phonetic note for "stump": dried tree root).