萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 3.118

3.118

The Master said: Water does not wash water; gold is not traded for gold; a buddha does not seek a buddha; the Dharma does not explain the Dharma. This speaks of its divine excellence while passing over its dark and yellow hues; one who grasps the zest of the zither forgets its strings and pegs. In the *Huainanzi*, Duke Mu of Qin had Bole recommend Jiufang Yan to seek a horse. After three months he returned and said, "I have found a horse at Sha丘; it is a yellow stallion." When the horse arrived, it was a black mare. The duke said to Bole, "The horse seeker you recommended could not even tell coat color, stallion or mare—he has failed!" Bole sighed deeply and said, "Has it come to this? What Yan observes is the heavenly mechanism: he grasps its essence and forgets its coarseness; he sees its inner nature and forgets its outer form." It truly was a thousand-league horse. Tao Qian of the Jin dynasty, whose style name was Yuanming, did not know how to play the zither, yet kept an unadorned zither without strings or pegs, saying, "I only wish to grasp the zest within the zither; why labor over the sounds upon the strings?" The *Book of Changes* says: "In high antiquity they governed by knotting cords; the sages of later generations exchanged these for written tallies." It also says: "Anciently, when Baoxi ruled the world, looking up he observed the images in heaven, and looking down he observed the models upon earth; he observed the markings of birds and beasts and the suitabilities of the earth. Near at hand, he took them from his own person; far off, he took them from things. Thereupon he first drew the eight hexagrams." Wansong says: When Pangu first divided heaven and earth, dualities were already formed; knotting cords and drawing hexagrams further destroyed pure simplicity. Before Śākya appeared in the world and the Patriarch came from the west, were there still ultimate truth and conventional truth, worldly dharmas and Buddha-Dharma? After Chan Master Qiju of Haihui in Shuzhou attained the Dharma, he once went to Langya Jue's place. Jue asked, "Where did you recently depart from, Elder?" Ju said, "Zhejiang." Jue said, "Did you come by boat or by land?" Ju said, "By boat." Jue said, "Where is the boat?" Ju said, "In the river." Jue said, "Without traveling the road, what do you say in a single phrase?" Ju said, "Fabricating elders are as plentiful as hemp and millet," and thereupon went down. Wansong says: He was good at speaking along the road. Venerable Dongshan Chu asked a monk, "Where do you come from?" The monk said, "Ruzhou." Shan said, "How far is it to here?" The monk said, "Seven hundred [li]." Shan said, "How many pairs of straw sandals did you wear out?" The monk said, "Three pairs." Shan said, "Where did you get the money to buy them?" The monk said, "By weaving bamboo hats." Shan said, "Go to the Monks' Hall." The monk assented. Wansong says: Even with hands and eyes all over his body, he could not see through you. Tell me, where were this monk's eyes? Beneath his eyebrows.