佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 9.10

9.10

Xuedou's verse eulogy is the most skillful. Previously, when eulogizing Yunmen's dialogue, he said: 'Since the question had a premise, / The answer also matched.' This one is not like that; he instead says: 'The questioner never knew; / The answerer still did not understand.' Dalong's answer took a side glance; it was truly extraordinary. Clearly, whoever asked like that had already suffered defeat before ever asking. In his answer, [Dalong] was able to fit it right on the mark, matching the dynamic opportunity by saying, 'The mountain flowers bloom like brocade; / The ravine waters run clear as indigo.' How do you people understand Dalong's meaning now? His answer took a side glance; it was truly extraordinary. Therefore, Xuedou produced a eulogy to let people know: 'Cold moon, high wind,' and furthermore encountering 'An ancient crag, a chilly cypress.' Tell me, how should his meaning be understood? That is why just now I said: 'A holeless flute hits a felt clapper.' With just these four lines, the eulogy is complete. Yet Xuedou feared people would make up rationalizations, so he said: 'How laughable: encountering a person of the Way on the road, / Not greeting them with speech or silence.' This matter is not seen, heard, felt, or known, nor is it deliberation and discrimination. Therefore it is said: 'Distinctly, without side entanglements; / Operating alone, on what does it rely? / Encountering a person of the Way on the road, / Not greeting them with speech or silence.' This is Xiangyan's verse, cited by Xuedou for his use. Have you not seen a monk ask Zhaozhou, '"Not greeting them with speech or silence"—I wonder, with what should one greet them?' Zhaozhou said, 'Present a lacquer vessel.' This is just like the dialogue just mentioned: it does not fall into your emotional dust or conceptual thought. What is it like? 'Holding a white jade whip in hand, / He smashed every black dragon pearl to pieces.' Therefore, when the ancestral imperative is put into practice, the ten directions are sat through. This is an affair on the edge of a sword; one must possess such a strategy. If not, one completely disappoints all the sages from above. When you arrive here, there should not be the slightest affair; it has its own fine point, which is precisely the place of conduct for transcendent people. 'If not smashed to pieces, / Flaws and blemishes will multiply'—then defects will be revealed. In the end, how can one be right? 'The state has its statutes—three thousand crimes.' Among the three thousand crimes under the five punishments, none is greater than unfilial piety. Statutes are the law; articles are the clauses. The three thousand crimes are committed all at once. Why is it like this? Only because he did not receive people with the fundamental matter. Were it Dalong, he certainly would not be like that.