萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 3.58

3.58

The Master said: The ancients used a long rainbow as a rod, the crescent moon as a hook, and severed clouds as bait. In a clear ford one can row the compassionate boat; in the Sword Gorges one must first release wooden geese. Venerable Wuyun of Hangzhou's 'Admonition on Sitting Meditation' says, 'Along the stream of the Sword Pavilion, let no wooden goose be obstructed.' Because the waters of the Sword Gorges are perilous, narrow, and rapid, if two boats collide they are sure to shatter; therefore they first hew wood to float downstream, calling them 'wooden geese'. The various differing accounts from everywhere are hard to rely upon; nothing serves as better proof than the meditation admonition. 'Old in years and lonely at heart, he has not caught a scale.' Those who do not understand think that Luopu had no heir. Luopu had eleven heirs in all; Wuya, Qingfeng, and others were all white-browed adepts. Master Ne of the Momo Hermitage wrote in a poem: 'The wine of profit and fame throughout past and present—all the heroic talents are deeply drunk. The emaciated one on the marsh bank is not enough to count as the only one sober.' Qu Yuan, courtesy name Ping, served King Huai of Chu as the Grand Minister of the Three Clans. Slandered by Jin Shang, he was demoted to Changsha. Walking alone by the riverbank, he said to a fisherman, 'The whole world is drunk; only I am sober. The whole world is muddy; only I am clean.' He drowned himself in the Miluo River and died. The river is in Luo County of Tanzhou. The Li Sao Sutra in the Wen Xuan was composed by Qu Yuan. When Luopu was on the verge of passing away, Yancong was dull and sluggish; casting the hook, not a single penny fell to hand. Standing as rivals, in the end water and grain had no intercourse. Do you understand? 'Failing to be enfeoffed as a marquis is also leisure.'