萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 2.81

2.81

The Master said: 'The dynamic of the iron ox, it seals it fast, it shatters the seal.' When the King of Min dispatched an envoy to deliver the vermilion seal, Baofu ascended the seat and said, 'If you go, it seals it fast; if you stay, it shatters the seal.' A monk said, 'When neither going nor staying, what is the use of the seal?' Baofu struck him. The monk said, 'If so, then inside the mountain ghost's cave, it is entirely due to today.' Baofu remained silent. Wansong says: Pity, a dragon's head and a snake's tail. If Fengxue had not transcended and realized the great gate of liberation—free of abiding and free of reliance—he could not have walked emerging through the crown of Vairocana's head. When Emperor Suzong of the Tang asked National Teacher Zhong, 'What is the samādhi of non-contention?' the National Teacher said, 'The donor treads upon the crown of Vairocana's head and walks.' This clarifies the transcendence of the Dharmakāya; it is not a matter beside a dry stump. Fengxue first occupied this command, and then in the gate of Buddhist work held immense authority, settled endless gong'ans, swept away the emotional calculations of ordinary and holy, and sat cutting off the heads of the reward and transformation buddhas. Linji's *Extended Sayings* says, 'Where this mountain monk sees, he sits cutting off the crowns of the reward and transformation buddhas.' Weighing on the scales like this, even if Lubi was an adept, there were times when he fell into defeat. When non-Buddhists in Western Heaven established a proposition and it failed, they called it 'falling into defeat,' severing head and cutting off arm to apologize for their dullness. These blows under the staff, hammerings under the shout, dynamic changes like lightning flash and flint-spark, are all momentary glimmers. Take care not to determine gain and loss or decide victory and defeat by them! Like a pearl rolling in a basin, in the blink of an eye you have already missed it. The Master struck the meditation bench with his whisk and said, 'Finished.'