佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.27

7.27

Generally speaking, shoulder-pole carrying the bag and bowl, parting the grasses to gaze for the wind, one must also be equipped with the eye of itinerant pilgrimage to begin with. This monk's eyes were like shooting stars, yet he was thoroughly examined and pierced through on a single string by Yantou. At that time, if he had been a true fellow, whether killing or giving life, he would have applied it as soon as it was raised. But this monk was clumsy and careless, responding instead, "I retrieved it." Wandering on pilgrimage like this, Old Yama will interrogate you and demand payment for your food! Who knows how many straw sandals he wore out until he reached Xuefeng? If at that time he had had a bit of an eye, he would have understood how to catch a glimpse—would that not have been delightful? In this case, there are jagged joints and deceptive entanglements. Although this matter has no gain or loss, the gain and loss are exceedingly great; although there is no choosing, when it comes to this, one must possess the eye to choose. Look at when Longya was on pilgrimage: he raised a question, asking Deshan, "When a student brandishes the Moyeda sword and intends to take the master's head, what then?" Deshan stretched his neck forward and said, "Heh!" Longya said, "Master, your head has fallen." Deshan then returned to the abbot's quarters. Later, Longya recounted this to Dongshan. Dongshan said, "What did Deshan say at that time?" Longya said, "He had no words." Dongshan said, "Setting aside his having no words for the moment, lend me Deshan's fallen head to look at." Upon these words, Longya had a great awakening; he then burned incense, faced Deshan from afar, bowed, and repented. A monk reported this to Deshan. Deshan said, "That old fellow Dongshan does not know good from bad. That fellow has been dead for how long now? What is the use of reviving him?" This gong'an is just like Longya's. Deshan's returning to the abbot's quarters is most wondrous in secret. Yantou laughed heartily, and in his laughter there was poison. If someone can discern it, they can stride freely throughout the world. If that monk had discerned it at that time, he would have avoided being checked and blamed for a thousand ages. At Yantou's gate, it was already a total miss. Look at that old man Xuefeng: being fellow trainees, he immediately knew where he landed; he did not lay it bare for him either, but only struck him thirty blows and drove him out of the monastery. This can illumine the past and surpass the future! This is the technique of grabbing the nostrils of an adept patch-robed monk for the sake of helping someone. He did not bother debating with him at all, but caused him to awaken for himself. When a lineage master of the proper measure acts for someone, sometimes he covers them over, not allowing them to poke their head out; sometimes he lets them fall stone-dead, yet they must have a place of escape. Great, immense Yantou and Xuefeng were, on the contrary, examined and seen through by a rice-eating Chan monk! But tell me: when Yantou said, "After Huang Chao passed through, did you retrieve the sword?" what words should have been spoken here to avoid his laughter, and also to avoid Xuefeng applying the staff and driving him out? Here it is deceptive and entangled: if one has not personally experienced and personally awakened to it, even if one's mouth is sharp and nimble, in the end one cannot break through and escape birth and death. I usually instruct people to look closely at the turning point of this mechanism; if you deliberate, you are far, far away. Have you not seen: Touzi asked a monk from Yanping, "After Huang Chao passed through, did you retrieve the sword?" The monk pointed to the ground with his finger. Touzi said, "For thirty years I have ridden horses, yet today I am thrown by a donkey!" Look at this monk: he was indeed an adept. He neither said he retrieved it nor said he did not retrieve it. Compared to the monk from the Western Capital, they are separated as if by an ocean. Zhenru commented: "Those ancients—one acted as the head, and the other definitely acted as the tail." Xuedou's verse says: