萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 1.155

1.155

The Master said: Deshan usually beat the wind and struck the rain, scolding buddhas and abusing patriarchs. This monk's transgression filled the sky; why did he instead let him off? Little do people know: to tackle an ox one needs no rope; to kill someone one needs no knife. When did he ever let him off? Old Huanglong said: "Deshan played deaf and dumb; although he secretly gained an advantage, Attendant Kuo covered his ears to steal a bell—how could he avoid looking ugly to onlookers?" Wansong says: Not only stealing a bell—it is like delving under the black dragon's chin in the depths of the ninefold abyss; gouging the jewel happened to be when the dragon was asleep. Had it awakened, he would surely have been ground to mincemeat. Daguan Zhe said: "If one does not ascend the Dragon Gate, how can one know the vastness of the azure sea? Even if waves strike a thousand spans high, how can one help it if the Dragon King pays no attention?" Wansong says: Tiny scales and slender shells are not worth wondering at. Foguo said: "Deshan was truly a ruthless hand; seeing that this monk was not a man who could take the chisel and hammer, he therefore let it drop." Wansong says: When the ancients encountered objects and faced dynamics, each had his own skillful means. Deshan said to Yantou, "Later on you will shit upon this old monk's head!" Later Yantou indeed said, "Big and small Deshans do not understand the final word." How could the ancients' pressing down and lifting up, releasing and seizing, be confined by gain and loss, victory and defeat? Huanglong and Daguan only raised the broad outlines; look further at Tiantong versifying the deep subtleties. The verse says: