佛果圜悟禪師碧巖錄 9.8

9.8

If you seek this matter within words and speech, it is like waving a staff to strike the moon—it has no connection whatsoever. An ancient said clearly: 'If you wish for intimate nearness, do not bring questions to question.' Why? The question is at the place of the answer; the answer is at the place of the question. This monk carried a load of crudeness and exchanged it for a load of muddleheadedness; raising such a line of questioning, he was riddled with defects. If it had not been Dalong, how could [the response] have covered heaven and earthed the earth? He asked thus, and Dalong answered thus: they formed a single complete whole, without deviating by a single hair's breadth. It was just like releasing a hawk upon spotting a hare, or fitting a peg upon seeing a mortise. Within the three vehicles and twelve divisions of the teachings, is there still such a time? It is certainly extraordinary, yet words are flavorless and block people's mouths. Therefore it is said: 'A patch of white cloud lies across the valley mouth; / How many returning birds at night lose their way to the nest?' Some say [Dalong] was just answering off the cuff. If you understand it that way, you are all people who extinguish the barbarian race. Little do they know that in every dynamic function and every state of the ancients, they smash the cangues and break the locks; in every phrase and every word, there is unrefined gold and uncut jade. If one has the eyes and brains of a patch-robed monk, at times holding fast and at times letting go, illumination and application are simultaneous, both person and environment are taken away, both released and both gathered, adapting to circumstances as they arise. Without great application and great dynamic function, how could one cover heaven and earth like this? It is very much like a bright mirror set upon its stand: when a barbarian comes, a barbarian appears; when a Han Chinese comes, a Han Chinese appears. This gong'an is identical to the dialogue on the herbal railing, yet the intention is different. Where this monk asked was unclear; where Dalong answered hit the mark exactly. Have you not seen a monk ask Yunmen, 'How is it when the trees wither and the leaves fall?' Yunmen said, 'The body is exposed in the autumn wind.' This is called arrowheads meeting point to point. This monk asked Dalong, 'When the physical body perishes, what is the indestructible Dharmakāya?' Dalong said, 'The mountain flowers bloom like brocade; / The ravine waters run clear as indigo.' This is just like 'you head to western Qin while I go to eastern Lu.' Since he went like that, I did not go like that—it is completely opposite to Yunmen. That way of going like that is easy to see; this way of not going like that is hard to see. Dalong certainly kept his three inches very tight. Xuedou's eulogy says: