禪林寶訓 3.28

3.28

草堂曰。住持無他。要在審察人情周知上下。夫人情審則中外和。上下通則百事理。此住持所以安也。人情不能審察。下情不能上通。上下乖戾百事矛盾。此住持所以廢也。其或主者。自恃聰明之資。好執偏見不通物情。捨僉議而重己權。廢公論而行私惠。致使進善之途漸隘。任眾之道益微。毀其未見未聞。安其所習所蔽。欲其住持經大傳遠。是猶却行而求前。終不可及（與山堂書）。

Caotang said: "Being an abbot is nothing else: the essence lies in examining human feelings and fully understanding those above and below. When human feelings are examined, the inner and outer are in harmony; when communication between above and below is open, all affairs are properly managed. This is how an abbot maintains peace. If human feelings cannot be examined, and the sentiments below cannot reach above, then superiors and inferiors will clash, and all affairs will be contradictory. This is how an abbot falls into ruin. Should an abbot rely on his own clever endowment, be fond of clinging to biased views, and fail to comprehend the conditions of beings, discarding collective deliberation while prioritizing his own power, and setting aside public consensus while dispensing private favors, this will cause the path of promoting goodness to gradually narrow and the way of employing the multitude to decline further. Condemning what he has not seen or heard, and being complacent in what he is accustomed to and obscured by, yet wishing his abbacy to be great and passed down far into the future—this is like walking backward while seeking to move forward; in the end it can never be reached." (Letter to Shantang)