禪林寶訓 1.31

1.31

Patriarch Yan said: "When my grandfather in the Dharma first resided at Yangqi, the old roof and decaying rafters barely warded off wind and rain. It happened to be late winter; snow and sleet covered his bed, and he had no place to rest in comfort. Monks sincerely offered to carry out repairs and construction. The grandfather in the Dharma rejected them, saying: 'Our Buddha said: This is the time of the decrement kalpa, when high banks become deep ravines, changing impermanently. How could one obtain complete satisfaction to seek one's own sufficiency? You have left home to study the Way, yet before your footing is steady, you are already forty or fifty years old. How could you have leisure time to occupy yourselves with building a lavish house?' In the end he did not consent. The next day he ascended the hall and said: / 'Living for the first time at Yangqi, the walls are sparse and bare; / Across the whole bed scatter pearls of snow. / Pulling in my neck, I silently sigh, / Turning back to remember the ancients living beneath trees.'" (From the Extensive Records).