萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 4.45

4.45

The Master said: "Junior monks talk much of Buddha; veteran generals do not discuss war. Before the mountain, the wheat has not yet distinguished green from yellow; in Luling, the price and profit of rice are unknown. If one further discourses on the Buddhadharma, who has ever even dreamed of it? The 'Biography of Chen Fan' in the Book of the Later Han says: 'Fan was able to establish a moral reputation and protest against corrupt customs, yet he exerted himself in perilous straits, struggling for supremacy with convicts and castrated men.' When these two met, they did not establish a moral reputation, nor did they exert themselves in perilous straits. Leisurely and calm, seasoned and ripe. Why did Tiantong praise them without end? Having attained it, one naturally forgets calculation; when applying it, no effort is wasted at all."