萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.55

5.55

The Master said: Chan Master Ruiyan Shiyan of Taizhou was a native of Min, with the surname Xu. At first, he asked Yantou, establishing a name and coining a term, creating the label 'the fundamental principle of constant nature'. Yantou sometimes lets people pass, but merely illuminated it for him, saying, 'It stirs.' Ruiyan was fortunate to escape thirty blows—what great luck to have avoided them! Yet he still paid no heed to peril and ruin, asking, 'When it stirs, what then?'—plucking the tiger's whiskers and braiding the tiger's tail. Yantou, half drunk and half sober, let him pass again, merely illuminating it for him by saying, 'You do not see the fundamental principle of constant nature.' A master of the great manner accommodates things like this. Just as Ruiyan hesitated in thought, here one comes right to where there are many divergent paths before the withered tree cliff. Yantou, no longer sparing his life, cut off his roadway and laid open the official road to Chang'an right before him, saying, 'If you agree, you have not escaped sense organs and objects; if you do not agree, you will sink forever in birth and death.' Guishan called this the claws and fangs of the Dharma cavern, capturing alive and seizing dynamic, without the slightest leisurely effort. A monk under Jiashan went to Shishuang. Entering the gate, he immediately said, 'Inquiring after you.' Shishuang said, 'No need, ācārya.' The monk said, 'In that case, take care.' He also went to Yantou and did as before. Yantou then hissed twice. The monk said, 'In that case, take care.' Just as he turned his steps, Yantou said, 'Though he is a junior, he can still take charge.' The monk returned and related this to Jiashan. The next day Jiashan went up to the hall, called the monk to relate the previous talk properly, and said, 'Does the assembly understand? If no one can speak, this old monk will not spare his two eyebrows to speak.' He then said, 'Though Shishuang has a sword to kill people, he lacks a sword to give life to people; Yantou has a sword to kill people, and also a sword to give life to people.' In the Linji lineage, these are called the seven items carried on the person. When Yantou saw Ruiyan sincerely asking for instruction, it was not a time for sharp dynamics and examination; therefore, pitying beings and bestowing compassion, they met with the eye of the Way. Ruiyan awakened following these words. Later, he called himself 'Master! Do not be deceived by others!' It was because he had once met with a poisonous hand that he could not forget it for an eternity of kalpas. This case has never been brought up by anyone past or present; if not for Tiantong, who could appreciate and evaluate it? The verse says: