萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 5.63

5.63

The Master said: Once the skulls of the buddhas and patriarchs are strung together, only then can one act as teacher to the buddhas and patriarchs. This can be called stepping forth beyond the crown of Vairocana's head, yet returning to sit upon the tongues of transformation buddhas. 'In the deep quiet of the palace water-clock, the arrow is secretly passed': Yin Kui's Water-Clock Method says: 'Make a triple-layered vessel, each circular and a foot in diameter, set unevenly atop a square base with grooved tracks. A golden dragon's mouth spouts water, which pours down into the coordinates of the base. On the cover, gold is cast as the timekeeper, fully robed and capped, holding the arrow with both hands.' Moreover, in the army's secret commands, arrows are passed at night. This speaks of comprehending prior to the division before omens arise, where one can act as teacher to the buddhas and patriarchs. As soon as it falls into the present moment, it becomes the second head, and one merely makes a brief resting place on the path of humans and devas. In the Sūtra on the Contemplation of the Mind-Ground, the 'lightning-flash samādhi' is what patch-robed monks call the place of a fleeting glance. If one is a person within this, sometimes walking atop the heads of buddhas and patriarchs, sometimes treading the path of humans and devas, walking among different species within the herd of water buffaloes. Duke Wang Jing watched actors, and his poem says: 'The various actors on the playhouse stage, / First one is noble, then one is base. / Knowing in the mind that they are fundamentally identical, / Therefore there is neither joy nor resentment.' In the 'Heaven and Earth' chapter of the Zhuangzi: 'The Yellow Emperor wandered north of the Red Water, ascended the heights of Kunlun, and gazed south; returning, he lost his dark pearl. He sent Knowledge to search for it, but he could not find it; he sent Li Zhu to search for it, but he could not find it; he sent Chi Gou to search for it, but he could not find it. He sent Xiangwang, and Xiangwang found it. The Yellow Emperor said: "Strange! Xiangwang was actually able to find it."' In the 'Master of Nurturing Life' chapter: Cook Ding butchered an ox for Duke Wenhui, saying: 'Those joints have spaces, and the blade of the knife has no thickness. Inserting that which has no thickness into that which has space, spacious indeed—for the wheeling of the blade, there is certainly ample room! Thus, after nineteen years, the blade is as if freshly ground from the whetstone.' Lord Wenhui said: 'Excellent! Having heard the words of Cook Ding, I have obtained the nurturing of life.' These two events versify 'when the moon sets at the third watch, passing through the marketplace.' The Supreme Way is continuous and uninterrupted, resembling the passing of the arrow in the palace water-clock; pieces of a devoted heart for people are like the spacious wheeling of the blade and Xiangwang obtaining the pearl. Nowadays, seeing Tiantong employ Zhuangzi, people immediately equate Laozi and Zhuangzi with the Supreme Way, completely unaware that the ancients merely borrowed a path to pass through, a temporary scene. Should someone suddenly come forth and say, 'Could Zhuangzi not know Shoushan's realm of conduct?' just ask him: 'Is "when the moon sets at the third watch, passing through the marketplace" an outer chapter or an inner chapter?'