佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 6.32

6.32

A monk asked Zhaozhou, "'The Supreme Way is not difficult; it only dislikes picking and choosing.'" Right at the beginning of the Third Patriarch's *Xinxin ming*, he states these two lines. How many people misunderstand them! Why? The Supreme Way is fundamentally neither difficult nor not difficult; it merely dislikes picking and choosing. If you understand it like that, in ten thousand years you won't have dreamed of it. Zhaozhou often used these words to question people; this monk turned these words back to question him. If sought in the words, this monk was world-shaking; if not in the words and phrases, how else would he practice for thirty more years? This little pivot must be turned before one understands; stroking the tiger's whiskers also requires genuine skill. This monk disregarded life and death, daring to stroke the tiger's whiskers, saying, "This is still picking and choosing." Zhaozhou immediately blocked his mouth, saying, "You rustic slave! Where is there picking and choosing?" Had he asked anyone else, you would have seen flustered hands and feet; but how could he match this old fellow who was an adept, moving where one cannot move, turning where one cannot turn? If you penetrate through all poisonous phrases, down to the myriad differences and worldly frivolous discourse, all are the supreme flavor of ghee. If you reach the genuine reality, only then do you see Zhaozhou's earnest, piecemeal red heart. "Rustic slave" is a Futang local abusive term for a person, like calling someone senseless. This monk said, "This is still picking and choosing"; Zhaozhou said, "You rustic slave! Where is there picking and choosing?" The lineage master's eye must reach such a state: like the garuḍa cleaving the ocean to snatch and swallow the dragon directly. Xuedou's verse says: