萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.33

2.33

The Master said: If we discuss this matter, it is like sparks from flint or a flash of lightning. Yunyan held it up to show people; Changqing poked him in the face—though their applications were different, they returned together to transformation and extinction. That is why the Dongshan house prizes turning the dynamic and shifting positions. At Xuefeng there is the Bone of the Elephant Cliff. Xuefeng once instructed the assembly: 'On South Mountain there is a turtle-nosed snake; all of you people must watch out for it carefully.' Yunmen took his staff, tossed it before him, and made a gesture of fear. Is this not 'a manservant seeing a maidservant, attentive and diligent'? Yunyan swept the ground, held up the broom, and said, 'Which moon is this?' He turned all those who followed good into capable descendants! Yunmen even now remains under the eaves of the hedge, which is why Tiantong did not let him pass, saying: 'Before Bone of the Elephant Cliff, the hand that plays with snakes / Ashamed in old age of what was done in childhood.' Venerable Shengmo said, 'This verse searches out someone's shortcomings, yet also serves as someone's strong point.' This was Tiantong and Shengmo penalizing Yunmen. Today Wansong will overturn the case for him! Have you not seen that in Tiantong's verse on the snake-handling case, he praised Yunmen's total dynamic and great function as never coming down from the clouds? Why is it so? Depressing and exalting both depend on me; killing and giving life—who else could determine it?