萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 1.2

1.2

Ever since the Buddha-Patriarch held up the flower and Kāśyapa smiled subtly, although it is said to have silently revealed the ancestral wind, in truth it leaked out from complete wholeness. Furthermore, later busybody descendants, not knowing how to cherish the family treasure, each risked body and lost life: raising dust on level ground, stirring waves in clear water, scattering sky-flowers in confusion, deceiving by rubbing the eyes, and falsely transmitting through many mouths. The gong'ans have branched into many threads; since the leftover spittle of Tiantong and Xuedou could not be gathered up, the dream-talk of Yuanwu and Wansong has mostly gone unwakened. Fortunately, the Old Man of Qingliang long knew the calamity of the ancestors' uncompleted affairs. Today, his disciple Gu Yan has brought out all these antiquities, divided them into the four masters, and newly recarved them. Alas, the stolen goods are present; the real thief cannot escape! I dare invite the vajra-precious sword to sever them all at once. Only then can his scattered words of commentary and appraisal be joined with the living beings of the four seas to sing a song of great peace!