佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.17

7.17

Zhaozhou was Nanquan's true heir. When the head was spoken, he understood the tail; as soon as it was brought up, he knew where it settled. In the evening Nanquan brought up the previous case again to ask Zhaozhou. Zhou was an old adept; he immediately took off his straw sandals, put them on his head, and walked out. Nanquan said, "Had you been there, you would have saved the cat." Now tell me, was it truly like this or not like this? Nanquan said, "If you can speak, I will not cut it"—like sparks struck from flint, like a flash of lightning. Zhaozhou immediately took off his straw sandals, put them on his head, and walked out. He investigated the living phrase, not the dead phrase; daily new, hourly new, a thousand sages cannot alter it by a single thread. One must bring forth one's own family treasure to see his total dynamic function. He said: "I am the Dharma King, sovereign in the Dharma." Many people mistakenly understand, saying: "Zhaozhou expediently treated the straw sandals as the cat." Some say: "Waiting for him to say 'If you can speak, I will not cut it,' he put the straw sandals on his head and went out—naturally it was you cutting the cat, it had nothing to do with me." None of this has any connection whatsoever; it is merely toying with the spirit. Little do they know that the ancient's intention was like heaven covering universally, like earth supporting universally. Father and son were in accord, dynamic sharpness matching. When one raised the head, the other understood the tail. Students nowadays do not know the ancient's turning point; in vain they guess and calculate on the path of thought. If you want to see, just go to that turning point of Nanquan and Zhaozhou, and you will see it well. The verse says: