景德傳燈錄 8.46

8.46

洪州水老和尚。初問馬祖。如何是西來的的意。祖乃當胸蹋倒。師大悟。起來撫掌呵呵大笑云。大奇百千三昧無量妙義。只向一毛頭上便識得根原去。便禮拜而退。師住後告眾云。自從一喫馬師蹋。直至如今笑不休。有僧作一圓相。以手撮向師身上師乃三撥。亦作一圓相却指其僧。僧便禮拜師打云。遮虛頭漢。問如何是沙門行師云。動則影現覺則氷生。問如何是佛法大意。師乃拊掌呵呵大笑。凡接機大約如此。

The upādhyāya of Shuilaoyin in Hongzhou initially asked Mazu, "What is the exact meaning of the Patriarch coming from the West?" Mazu kicked him right in the chest and knocked him down. The Master was greatly enlightened. He stood up, clapped his hands, and laughed heartily, saying, "How wonderful! Hundreds of thousands of samādhis and immeasurable subtle meanings—right on the tip of a single hair I have come to know their source!" He then bowed and withdrew. After becoming an abbot, the Master addressed the assembly, saying, "Ever since I took that one kick from Master Ma, I have not stopped laughing down to the present day." A monk drew a circular figure and scooped it up with his hand toward the Master's body. The Master brushed it aside three times, also drew a circular figure, and pointed back at the monk. The monk then bowed. The Master struck him, saying, "This hollow fellow!" A monk asked, "What is the practice of a śramaṇa?" The Master said, "When there is motion, shadows appear; when there is awareness, ice forms." A monk asked, "What is the great meaning of the Buddha Dharma?" The Master clapped his hands and laughed heartily. His ways of receiving students were generally like this.