萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.43

5.43

The Master said: A monk asked Chan Master Tong'an Wei, 'How was Niutou before he saw the Fourth Patriarch?' Tong'an said, 'A wayside spirit shrine: all who see it raise their fists.' The monk said, 'How was it after he saw him?' Tong'an said, 'Inside the room there is no altar bed; the entire family wears no mourning.' This monk asked, 'When the mourning clothes are not worn, how is it?' Dongshan Chu said, 'Taking off the greasy hat, stripping off the foul cloth shirt, become a carefree patch-robed monk.' Later, a monk asked, 'What is the Buddha?' He answered, 'Three pounds of flax.' If you arrive at this juncture, then you will understand 'Today Caoshan's mourning is fulfilled.' This monk was also quite fine: wanting to see Caoshan's conduct today, he asked, 'What about after the mourning is fulfilled?' Caoshan said, 'Caoshan loves to be crazy drunk.' Juefan said, 'His mind is like a clear mirror; his mouth is like a drunkard's.' One day a monk asked, 'Qingshui is solitary and destitute; please, Master, save him.' Caoshan called, 'Acārya Shui!' The monk responded, 'Yes?' Caoshan said, 'Three cups of Master Bai's wine of Qingyuan, and you still say you haven't moistened your lips!' Again, a monk asked Jinfeng, 'When the golden cup is filled to the brim, how is it?' Jinfeng said, 'Jinfeng is thoroughly drunk.' Foguo raised this and said, 'Grasping the words to understand the lineage, illuminating the dynamic to respond universally—then Jinfeng is not lacking. Yet scrutinize it closely, and looking back, it leaks too much. If someone asks Jiangshan, "When the golden cup is filled to the brim, how is it?" I would just answer him, "This mountain monk naturally has the heavenly precepts."' Again, a monk asked Caoshan, 'Throughout the twelve hours, how should one protect and maintain it?' Caoshan said, 'Like passing through a realm of virulent poison: not even a single drop of water may touch you.' Caoshan sometimes sobered up in the midst of drunkenness, and sometimes, being sober, made no distinction between day and night, because for him the yellow millet dream had shattered and feelings of the inner chambers were forgotten. Dongshan asked Yunju, 'When a great icchantika kills his father and harms his mother, where is the filial piety?' Yunju said, 'Only then is filial piety accomplished.' This is what is called a person whose mourning is fulfilled and is crazy drunk. Dongshan said, 'Everywhere my eyes meet is a desolate grove; through the years I am footloose and free.' Tiantong was accustomed to sporting among these. The verse says: