萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 4.81

4.81

The Master said: A person who has attained the subtle in all directions and encounters the source at every turn is what Zhuangzi called: "What is round conforms to the compass; what is square conforms to the carpenter's square." Confucius said to Yan Yuan: "When employed, then act; when set aside, then conceal yourself. Only you and I possess this!" If one is not like this, it is gluing the bridge pegs to tune the strings, or notching the boat to mark where the sword fell. The Baozang lun says: "In the grounds of advancing practice, there are myriad paths within. An exhausted fish halts and anchors; a dull bird roosts in reeds. Both do not recognise the great ocean, nor do they recognise the dense forest. People's pursuing petty paths is also like this." In the Zhouyi, hexagram Dazhuang, the top six line says: "A ram butts against a hedge; it cannot retreat, nor can it advance; there is nothing advantageous. Difficulty brings good fortune." Eating someone else's food and lying on one's own bed is like the sayings: "Eating official grain while letting loose one's private camel," and "knowing how to take a cold mouth to eat someone's hot food." When going out, to become clouds and rain; when entering, to become congealed ice and frost—this is merely suddenly going out and suddenly entering, not yet that of an adept. One must reach the point where needle and thread pass through completely, fine hairs are close and dense, the loom's silk does not catch, and the brocade pattern flows in all directions. Just when the stone woman stops her loom, the wooden man has already turned along the path; just at the point where the night color verges on midnight, the moon's shadow has already shifted past the meridian. These last two lines are merely a single line. The literary scholars of Confucian learning today call it an alternating-line parallel (geju dui). In thus separating hardness and uniting difference, Wansong wishes to meet with Tiantong; let none of you fail Jiufeng.