萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 6.19

6.19

The Master said: Xuedou said, "In distinct layers, round like a shadow"—this single phrase is a matching cap. Tiantong said, "Solitary and towering, round and full"—the donkey-tethering post for ten thousand kalpas! "Where eyesight exhausts, towering high"—the Buddhas of the three periods protect and maintain it as the invisible crown mark. Xuedou's verse on "Heaven and earth share the same root, the ten thousand things are of one body," and Nanquan pointing to a flower as like a dream, also said: "Seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing are not single; / Mountains and rivers are not viewed in a mirror. / Frosty sky, the moon sets as night nears midnight; / With whom to reflect the cold shadow in the clear pool?" Try comparing this verse with Tiantong's "Moon sets, pool empty, the night colour is heavy"—the ancients had an immense amount of effort. Later, Fojian pierced through it all at once, his verse saying: "The seamless monument is not a shadow; / Broadly entering the realm of tathatā at once. / The vajra eye streams with lightning flash; / Vast and dark, the top is not seen." This too is "Where eyesight exhausts, towering high." Tiantong's verse on "Needle and thread running through" says: "The towering green mountain wears autumn thinness; / Hair withered, the wind and bone remain old." This too is "Clouds gather, mountain lean, autumn countenance abounds." It can be called "the skin having entirely fallen away, there remains only the single reality." Arriving here, the Eight Trigrams are already in their correct positions, and the Five Elements are also in harmonious breath; functioning, cultivating, and building without taboo, why labor to enter the marketplace and ask Sun Bin? "Has the body inside beforehand been seen?" Meditation Master Tianyi Huai went to attend an invitation at Mount Shan; entering the monastery and ascending the hall, he said: "For twenty years I have joyfully admired this mountain; today, happily, coming here is a convergence of conditions. Before this mountain monk came to this mountain, the body had already arrived at this mountain beforehand. By the time I arrived, Mount Shan turned out to be inside this mountain monk's body." "The father and son of Nanyang seem to know it is there"—he dared not say they did, only saying they seemed to be those who knew it is there. Tell me, why didn't he fully grant it? Lest he disappoint the National Teacher and his son. Why could the Buddhas and Patriarchs of Western India also do nothing about it? Right in the path a golden post is cast; just at mealtime, iron dumplings are served.