佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 6.34

6.34

Xuedou comments in two lines: "Deep as the sea, solid as a mountain." The monk said, "This is still picking and choosing." Xuedou says: This monk was just like midges playing in the fierce wind of the void, or ants trying to shake an iron pillar. Xuedou praised his audacity: why? Because this is what those at the top use, yet he dared to speak like that. Zhaozhou did not let him pass, but said, "You rustic slave! Where is there picking and choosing?" Is this not the fierce wind and the iron pillar? "Picking! Choosing! A cloth drum hung before the porch." At the end, Xuedou brings it up to make it come alive: if you clearly recognize it, you will have fully brought it forth yourself. Why? Have you not heard it said: "If you want intimacy, do not bring a question to question"? Therefore, "a cloth drum hung before the porch."