佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 6.19

6.19

Xuedou's verse eulogy on this case is extremely easy to understand. Its overall meaning merely eulogizes Yunmen's dynamic sharpness. Therefore he says: "Grasping the tiger's head and the tiger's tail at once." An ancient said: "Holding the tiger's head, gathering in the tiger's tail; beneath the very first phrase, the ancestral purpose is made clear." Xuedou merely decides the case on the basis of the confession; he loves how Yunmen can hold the tiger's head and can also gather in the tiger's tail. When the monk spread his two hands, Yunmen immediately struck him—this is holding the tiger's head. When Yunmen spread his two hands and the monk had nothing to say, Yunmen struck him again—this is gathering in the tiger's tail. Gathering in both head and tail together, his eyes are like shooting stars; naturally it is like striking sparks from flint, like a flash of lightning. It directly brings about: "An awe-inspiring prestige across four hundred prefectures," making the wind howl soughingly throughout the great earth and the worlds. "Asking in return, who knows why it was so precipitous?" It indeed contains a precipitous point. Xuedou says: "Letting him pass this once." But tell me, nowadays when one does not let him pass, what then? Everyone on the great earth must take a beating with the staff. Nowadays Chan fellows all say: "Wait until he spreads his hands, and then return him his proper measure of fodder." It seems like it, but though it seems so, it is not yet right. It cannot be that Yunmen simply taught you to leave it at that; there must certainly be something else going on.