佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.26

7.26

[Case 66] Case: Yantou asked a monk, "Where have you come from?"
(Before opening his mouth, he had already exposed his defeat and shortcoming. Piercing through the skull. Wanting to know where he comes from is not difficult either.)
The monk said, "I come from the Western Capital."
(Sure enough, a petty thief.)
Yantou said, "After Huang Chao passed through, did you retrieve the sword?"
(All his life he never acted as a grass thief. Not fearing having his head lopped off, he thus asks this. Quite bold!)
The monk said, "I retrieved it."
(Defeated! He does not yet know the place to turn about. Like wild weeds, Mao Guanghans are as numerous as hemp and millet.)
Yantou stretched his neck forward and said, "Heh!"
(One must also recognise the opportune dynamic to begin with. The trap-the-tiger dynamic—what sort of mindset is this?)
The monk said, "Master, your head has fallen."
(He sees only that the point of the awl is sharp, but does not see that the head of the chisel is square. What discernment of good and bad does he possess? Right on the mark!)
Yantou roared with great laughter.
(All the patch-robed monks under heaven can do nothing with him. He completely deceives everyone under heaven. You cannot find where this old fellow's head fell.)
The monk later arrived at Xuefeng's place.
(Muddled and obtuse as before. This monk inevitably exposed his complete defeat and shortcoming.)
Xuefeng asked, "Where have you come from?"
(He cannot but state where he comes from; he too must examine him.)
The monk said, "I come from Yantou."
(Sure enough, he exposes his defeat and shortcoming.)
Xuefeng said, "What words were spoken?"
(Recounting them, he will not avoid taking the staff.)
The monk related the previous dialogue.
(He ought to be driven out straight away.)
Xuefeng struck him thirty blows with his staff and drove him out.
(Although it cuts iron and shears nails, why did he strike only thirty blows? The staff has not yet been broken. Still, it is not yet the proper measure. Why not three thousand in the morning and eight hundred in the evening? If they were not fellow trainees, how could they discern the reality? Even though it is so, tell me: where did Xuefeng and Yantou alight?)