萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 4.63

4.63

The Master said: The *Upadeśa-śāstra* says that there is a city a hundred yojanas on each side, filled with mustard seeds; every hundred years one takes a grain away, and though the mustard seeds are exhausted, the kalpa is not yet ended. As for the kalpa-stone: in Sanskrit *kalpa*, here translated as 'time period'. The *Sūtra of the Structure of the World* says that there is a great stone forty li square; every hundred years, devas come and brush it with gossamer silk clothes; though the stone is worn away, the kalpa is still not ended. To exhaust this mustard-seed city and kalpa-stone is to exhaust the present time, return to the time before the empty kalpa, and only then is the eye living. As for 'within the ring', *Zhuangzi* says: 'Only when the pivot attains the ring's center can it respond without end.' This means revolving endlessly while attaining the ring's center. The empty space in the ring's center is the essence; the endless revolution is the function. The commentary to the *Classic of Odes* says: 'A large one is called a swan goose (*hong*); a small one is called a wild goose (*yan*).' The envoy of the Western Han said to the Shanyu: 'The Son of Heaven shot and caught a wild goose in the Shanglin Park; on the foot of the wild goose was a letter tied by Su Wu.' Because of this, the Shanyu dared not deceive him. Cai Bojie's daughter of the Han, named Yan and styled Wenji, was the wife of Dong Si. They were governing along the frontier; Si went on patrol and was captured by barbarians. Yan became a consort to their king. Yearning for home, she wrote a letter, placed it inside a wax pellet, and tied it to the neck of a wild goose. When the wild goose reached Han territory, it drank water, the pellet fell off, and a fish swallowed it. A fisherman cut open the fish, obtained the letter, and thus learned Yan's whereabouts. This verse says: 'Walking by night is not permitted; one must arrive at dawn'—the family's ugliness was never broadcast abroad, nor was news falsely transmitted. Even so, report back to Tiantong: just now the attendant gave thanks for transmitting the Dharma instruction.