萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.75

2.75

師云。三祖道。大道體寬無易無難。小見狐疑。轉急轉遲。昔有二僧同行。性急者在前。呼在後者云。光陰迅速疾走上來。後僧云。大道廣濶。忙作甚麼。萬松甞見。圓通善國師手書二頌云。光陰迅速疾走上來。路頭踏著。優鉢花開。大道廣濶。忙作什麼。放開肚皮。一時包裹。此圓通善國師二頌。如這僧恁麼問護國恁麼答。各具一隻眼。天童頌中前兩句。如銳氣貪榮。後兩句如退身致仕。後漢班超家貧常傭寫書。乃投筆曰。大丈夫當効張騫傅介子立功異域。以取封侯萬里之外。焉能久事於筆硯間乎。後討西國。封定遠侯。此喻這僧三問探頭太過也。後漢楊震任荊州太守。性公廉不受私謁。子孫蔬食步行。故舊長者欲開產業。震不肯曰。使後世稱為清白吏子孫。以此遺之。不亦厚乎。史記。許由隱於箕山。依山而食。就河而飲。堯讓帝位。由聞之臨河洗耳。巢父飲牛問曰。凡人洗面。公獨洗耳。由曰。聞堯請我為九州長。故洗是非。父曰。豫章之木生於高山。工人莫得。子欲避世。何不深藏。今游人間苟求名譽。行待下飲。恐污牛口。乃牽上流飲之。天童以楊震許由巢父三人。頌三懡㦬。却被同安道濁者自濁。清者清。菩提煩惱等空平。這僧與護國放下了也。不干諸人事。各請逐便。

The Master said: The Third Patriarch said, 'The Great Way is vast in essence; it is neither easy nor difficult. Narrow views harbor doubt and hesitation; the more hurried, the more delayed.' Formerly two monks were traveling together. The impatient one was ahead, calling out to the one behind: 'Time flies quickly, hurry up and run!' The monk behind said, 'The Great Way is vast and wide, why are you in such a rush?' Wansong once saw two verses handwritten by National Teacher Yuantong Shan: 'Time flies quickly, hurry up and run; / Stepping upon the road, the udumbara blossom blooms. / The Great Way is vast and wide, why are you in such a rush? / Open up your belly, and wrap everything in it at once.' These two verses by National Teacher Yuantong Shan are like this monk asking thus and Huguo answering thus: each possessed an eye. In Tiantong's verse, the first two lines are like sharp ambition craving glory; the latter two lines are like retiring from office. Ban Chao of the Later Han was poor and often hired himself out to copy books. He threw down his writing brush and said, 'A great man should follow the examples of Zhang Qian and Fu Jiezi, achieving merit in foreign lands to receive a marquisate ten thousand leagues away; how can he long occupy himself with brush and inkstone?' Later he campaigned in the Western regions and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Dingyuan. This exemplifies this monk overstepping himself in his three inquiries. Yang Zhen of the Later Han served as Governor of Jingzhou. He was by nature just and incorruptible, refusing private audiences. His sons and grandsons ate vegetables and traveled on foot. Old friends and elders wished for him to establish an estate, but Zhen refused, saying, 'To let later generations call them the descendants of a pure and honest official—leaving this to them, is it not generous?' The Records of the Grand Historian states: 'Xu You lived in reclusion on Mount Ji, gathering food according to the mountain and drinking from the river. Yao offered to abdicate the imperial throne to him. Hearing this, You went to the river to wash his ears. Chaofu, watering his ox, asked, "Ordinary people wash their faces; why alone do you wash your ears?" You said, "I heard that Yao invited me to be the lord of the Nine Provinces; therefore I am washing away the right and wrong." Chaofu said, "The camphor trees grow on high mountains; craftsmen cannot reach them. If you wished to flee the world, why did you not hide deeply? Now you wander among men, merely seeking fame. I was about to let my ox drink downstream, but I fear it would soil its mouth." Thereupon he led his ox upstream to drink.' Tiantong used the three men—Yang Zhen, Xu You, and Chaofu—to versify the three embarrassments. Yet he was countered by Tong'an's remark: 'The turbid is naturally turbid, the pure naturally pure; / Bodhi and afflictions are equal as empty space.' This monk and Huguo have laid it down; it does not concern the rest of you. Please, all of you, go about your business.