佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 8.13

8.13

"Zang's head is white; Hai's head is black." Tell me, what is the meaning? Over this point, the patch-robed monks of the world cannot leap. See how well Xuedou rounds it off at the end, saying that even a clear-eyed patch-robed monk cannot understand it. This news is called the secret formula of the immortals, not transmitted between father and son. When old Śākya expounded the teachings of his entire lifetime, at the very end he transmitted solely the mind-seal, called the Vajra King's precious sword, called the correct position. Such entangling vines were already a matter of having no alternative. The ancients slightly revealed a bit of dynamic sharpness; if you are one who breaks through, you will immediately have seven piercings and eight cavities, attaining great freedom. If you cannot break through, since you have no point of entry into awakening, the more you talk, the farther away you are. "The colt trampled down everyone under heaven." Prajñātāra of Western India prophesied to Bodhidharma: "Although the land of Cīna is vast, there is no other path; you must rely on your descendants walking beneath their feet. A golden rooster can take a single grain of millet in its beak to make offerings to the arhat monks of the ten directions." Furthermore, the Sixth Patriarch said to Venerable Rang, "Hereafter the Buddhadharma will go forth from your side; later a colt will emerge and trample down everyone under heaven." Afterward, his Dharma heir in Jiangxi spread throughout the world, known at the time as Mazu. Bodhidharma and the Sixth Patriarch both prophesied Mazu in advance. Looking at his maneuvers, they were indeed exceptional! Simply saying, "Zang's head is white; Hai's head is black," you immediately see the place where he tramples down everyone under heaven. This single phrase of black and white talk cannot be bitten through by thousands and myriads of people. "Linji is still not a daylight robber." One day Linji instructed the assembly, "On the lump of red flesh there is a true person of no rank, constantly going in and out through your face gates. Those who have not realized it, look, look!" At that time a monk came forward and asked, "What is the true person of no rank?" Linji came down from his meditation seat, seized him, and said, "Speak! Speak!" The monk was speechless. Linji pushed him away and said, "What dry lump of dung is this true person of no rank!" When Xuefeng later heard of this, he said, "Linji is very much like a daylight robber." Xuedou wanted to meet Linji; observing Master Ma's dynamic sharpness, it surpassed even Linji's. This is truly a daylight robber; Linji is still not a daylight robber! Xuedou pierced them all at once. Then he eulogized this monk, saying: "Apart from the four propositions, detached from the hundred negations; in the heavens and among humans, only I know." Do not make a living in a ghost cave! The ancients said, "The question is in the place of the answer; the answer is in the place of the question." This is already extraordinary. How will you leave the four propositions and cut off the hundred negations? Xuedou said, "This matter only I can know." Even the Buddhas of the three periods cannot spy it out. Since he alone knows, what more do you all come up here seeking? Zhenru of Dagui held this up and said, "The monk asked like that; Master Ma answered like that. Apart from the four propositions and detached from the hundred negations, neither Zhizang nor Brother Hai knew. Do you want to understand? Have you not heard it said: 'The colt trampled down everyone under heaven'?" (搊 [chōu]: pronunciation chū-yóu; meaning to seize.)