緇門警訓 9.40

9.40

In recent times, many take question and answer to be the ancestral style of the Chan house. Not understanding the affairs of the ancients, they blindly pursue the branches without returning [to the root]. How strange! How strange! People of old asked because they were deluded; thus where they asked, they sought realization and entry. Obtaining a single word or half a phrase, they took it as their matter to investigate thoroughly and penetrate cleanly. They were not like people today who question haphazardly, answer glibly, and invite the ridicule of those who have attained.