萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.49

2.49

The Master said: Although the blunt-nosed viper of Southern Mountain is a dead snake, before the Elephant Bone Rock one who knows how to play with it makes it alive. Xuefeng brought it out to show the assembly fundamentally wanting to use poison to remove poison. Changqing only knew how to push the boat along with the current, saying, 'Today in the hall many people have lost their bodies and lives.' If he had known how to hold the rudder against the wind, Xuefeng would have had to enter the Nirvāṇa Hall. When Xuansha heard it recounted, he said, 'It takes my brother Leng to manage this.' Here there is a bit of ambiguity. If you say Xuansha approved of Changqing, why did he then say, 'With me it is not so'? Not only pushing the boat along with the current, he also knew how to hold the rudder against the wind. This monk, disregarding danger and ruin, immediately asked, 'How is it with the Venerable?' Xuansha merely said, 'What use is Southern Mountain?' Right here one sees the hand that handles a live snake. Yunmen then threw his staff down and made a posture of fright; his use of it was the most intimate. In the verse on the story of Yunyan sweeping the ground, it was once cited: 'The snake-handling hands before the Elephant Bone Rock: / what was done in childhood brings shame in old age.' Because Yunmen said, 'A male slave seeing a maidservant is attentive,' he immediately rode the thief's horse in pursuit of the thief—which does no harm to being a wicked move. Today, again versifying the story of handling the snake, he praises the dragon-capturing hand. See how after he cuts with the great axe, he strokes it with his hand. The verse says: