佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 7.38

7.38

"Both gathering in and both letting go—how should this be taken as the essential principle?" Giving free rein, they act as host and guest to one another. Yangshan said: "What is your name?" Sansheng said: "My name is Huiji"—this is both letting go. Yangshan said: "Huiji is me." Sansheng said: "My name is Huiran"—this is both gathering in. In reality, it is the dynamic function of mutual exchange: when gathering in, both gather in; when letting go, both let go. Xuedou versified it completely in one stroke. His meaning was: if there were no letting go and gathering in, no mutual exchange, then you would be you and I would be I—in all, there would be only four words; why then within them emerge and submerge, roll up and roll out? The ancients said: "If you stand, I sit; if you sit, I stand. If we both sit together or both stand together, both are blind men." This is both gathering in and both letting go, which can serve as the essential principle. "Riding a tiger has always required peerless skill." Possessing such lofty style and the highest dynamic pivot: if you want to mount, mount at once; if you want to dismount, dismount at once. Holding down the tiger's head is fine; grasping the tiger's tail is also fine. Sansheng and Yangshan both had this style. "Having laughed, he knows not where to go." Tell me: what was he laughing at, such that the pure breeze is chillingly awe-inspiring? Why at the end does it say: "It should only stir the sorrowful wind for a thousand ages"? This too is "dying without anyone mourning"; all at once it has been commented on and explained for you. Yet how can it be helped that the people of the world cannot bite or peck into it, and do not know where it lands? Even this mountain monk does not know where it lands. Do you all know?