萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 1.6

1.6

自夫佛祖拈花。迦葉微咲。機鋒雲變。宗旨淵停。蓋教外別傳。個中真諦。殆非人世語言可形容萬一。然開發後學。說法利生。則此尤易于迎機入悟。舊刻四家語錄。殺青者不甚工。規局隘陋。評註拘迫。閱者苦之。然已如登大寶山入華藏海。儘力摸索不恤也。帝京禪伯。揮麈談宗。往往而是。近且磨糊莫辨矣。講師覺虛。發大弘慈。欲重命棗人。而力不逮。謀于予。予實有夙願。敢不畢力。於是鳩工梓其三。僧俗同志者梓其一。而當日頂針棒喝揚眉竪指之機。更自透漏洞朗。則覺公之意滿。而功德亦無邊。予惟無能為役是懼。又何思議之有。

Ever since the Buddha-Patriarch held up the flower and Kāśyapa smiled subtly, sharp dynamics have changed like clouds and the ancestral source has remained deep. For it is a special transmission outside the teachings, the truth within it, which mundane human language can hardly describe by one part in ten thousand. Yet in opening up later students, preaching the Dharma, and benefiting sentient beings, this is especially suited to meeting the dynamic and entering awakening. In the former printing of the four masters' recorded sayings, the carvers were not very skilled; the format was cramped and crude, and the appraisals and notes were cramped and constrained, so that readers suffered over them. Yet it was already like climbing the Great Treasure Mountain or entering the Ocean of the Flower-Treasury: they groped with all their might without regretting their toil. Zen elders in the imperial capital waving fly-whisks to discuss the ancestral teaching were frequently found; recently, however, things had become blurred and indistinguishable. The Lecturer Juexu gave rise to great, vast compassion and wished to recommission block-carvers, but his strength did not suffice, so he consulted me. I indeed had a past vow; how could I dare not exhaust my strength? Thereupon, I gathered artisans and carved three of them, while comrades among monks and laymen carved one. Thus the former dynamic of matching needle to thread, blows and shouts, raising eyebrows, and holding up fingers became even more transparent and brightly clear. In this way Master Jue's wish was fulfilled, and the merit is likewise boundless. I only fear my inability to serve; what need is there for further thought?