景德傳燈錄 8.5

8.5

池州南泉普願禪師者。鄭州新鄭人也。姓王氏。唐至德二年依大隗山大慧禪師受業。三十詣嵩嶽受戒。初習相部舊章。究毘尼篇聚。次遊諸講肆。歷聽楞伽華嚴。入中百門觀精練玄義。後扣大寂之室。頓然忘筌。得遊戲三昧。一日為僧行粥次。馬大師問。桶裏是什麼。師云。遮老漢合取口作恁麼語話。自餘同參之流無敢徵詰。貞元十一年憩錫于池陽自構禪齋。不下南泉三十餘載。大和初宣城廉使陸公亘嚮師道風。遂與監軍同請下山。伸弟子之禮。大振玄綱。自此學徒不下數百。言滿諸方目為郢匠。一日師示眾云。道箇如如早是變也。今時師僧須向異類中行。歸宗云。雖行畜生行。不得畜生報。師云。孟八郎又恁麼去也。師有時云。文殊普賢昨夜三更每人與二十棒趁出院也。趙州云。和尚棒教誰喫。師云。且道。王老師過在什麼處。趙州禮拜而出（玄覺云。且道。趙州休去。是肯南泉不肯南泉）師擬取明日遊莊舍。其夜土地神先報莊主。莊主乃預為備。師到問莊主。爭知老僧來排辦如此。莊主云。昨夜土地報道和尚今日來。師云。王老師修行無力。被鬼神覷見。有僧便問。和尚既是善知識。為什麼被鬼神覷見。師云。土地前更下一分飯。（玄覺云。什麼處是土地前更下一分飯。雲居錫云。是賞伊罰伊。只如土地前。見是南泉。不是南泉）師有時云。江西馬祖說即心即佛。王老師不恁麼道。不是心不是佛不是物。恁麼道還有過麼。趙州禮拜而出。時有一僧隨問趙州云。上座禮拜了便出意作麼生。趙州云。汝却問取和尚。僧上問曰。適來諗上座意作麼生。師云。他却領得老僧意旨。師一日捧鉢上堂。黃檗和尚居第一座。見師不起。師問云。長老什麼年中行道。黃檗云。空王佛時。師云。猶是王老師孫在下去。師一日問黃檗。黃金為世界。白銀為壁落。此是什麼人居處。黃檗云。是聖人居處。師云。更有一人居何國土。黃檗乃叉手立。師云。道不得何不問王老師。黃檗却問。更有一人居何國土。師云。可惜許。師又別時問黃檗。定慧等學此理如何。黃檗云。十二時中不依倚一物。師云。莫是長老見處麼。黃檗云。不敢。師云。漿水價且置。草鞋錢教阿誰還。師見僧斫木。師乃擊木三下。僧放下斧子歸僧堂。師歸法堂。良久却入僧堂。見前僧在衣鉢下坐。師云。賺殺人。僧問。師歸丈室將何指南。師云。昨夜三更失却牛。天明失却火。師因東西兩堂各爭猫兒。師遇之白眾曰。道得即救取猫兒。道不得即斬却也。眾無對。師便斬之。趙州自外歸。師舉前語示之。趙州乃脫履安頭上而出。師曰。汝適來若在。即救得猫兒也師在方丈與杉山向火次。師云。不用指東指西。直下本分事道來。杉山插火著叉手立。師云。雖然如是。猶較王老師一線道。有僧問訊叉手而立。師云。太俗生。其僧便合掌。師云太僧生。僧無對。一僧洗鉢次。師乃奪却鉢。其僧即空手而立。師云。鉢在我手裏。汝口喃喃作麼。僧無對。師因入菜園見一僧。師乃將瓦子打之。其僧迴顧。師乃翹足。僧無語。師便歸方丈。僧隨後入問訊云。和尚適來擲瓦子打某甲。豈不是警覺某甲。師云。翹足又作麼生。僧無對（後有僧問石霜云。南泉翹足意作麼生。石霜舉手云。還恁麼無）師示眾云。王師老要賣身阿誰要買。一僧出云。某甲買。師云。他不作貴價不作賤價。汝作麼生買。僧無對（臥龍代云。屬某去也。未山代云。是何道理。趙州代云明年來與和尚縫箇布衫）師與歸宗麻谷同去參禮南陽國師。師先於路上畫一圓相云道得即去。歸宗便於圓相中坐。麻谷作女人拜。師云。恁麼即不去也。歸宗云。是什麼心行師乃相喚迴不去禮國師（玄覺云。只如南泉恁麼道。是肯底語不肯語。雲居錫云。比來去禮拜國師。南泉為什麼却相喚迴。且道古人意作麼生）師問神山。作什麼。對云。打羅。師云。手打脚打。神山云。請和尚道。師云。分明記取舉似作家（洞山別云。無脚手者。始解打羅）有一坐主辭師。師問。什麼處去。對云。山下去。師云。第一不得謗王老師。對云。爭敢謗和尚。師乃噴水云。多少。坐主便出去（先雲居云。非師木意。先曹山云。賴也。石霜云。不為人斟酌。長慶云。請領語。雲居錫云。坐主當時出去。是會不會）師一日掩方丈門。將灰圍却門外云。若有人道得即開。或有祇對多未愜師意。趙州云。蒼天。師便開門。師因翫月次。有僧便問。幾時得似遮箇去。師云。王老師二十年前亦恁麼來。僧云。即今作麼生。師便歸方丈。陸亘大夫問云。弟子從六合來。彼中還更有身否。師云。分明記取舉似作家。陸又謂師曰。和尚大不可思議。到處世界皆成就。師云。適來總是大夫分上事。陸異日又謂師曰。弟子亦薄會佛法。師便問大夫十二時中作麼生。陸云。寸絲不掛。師云。猶是階下漢。師又云。不見道。有道君王不納有智之臣。師上堂次。陸大夫云。請和尚為眾說法。師云。教老僧作麼生說。陸云。和尚豈無方便。師云。道他欠少什麼。陸云。為什麼有六道四生。師云。老僧不教他。陸大夫與師見人雙陸。拈起骰子云。恁麼不恁麼。只恁麼信彩去時如何。師拈起骰子云。臭骨頭十八。又問云。弟子家中有一片石。或時坐或時臥。如今擬鐫作佛還得否。師云得。大夫云。莫不得否。師云。不得不得（雲巖云坐即佛不坐即非佛。洞山云。不坐即佛坐即非佛）趙州問。道非物外物外非道。如何是物外道。師便打。趙州捉住棒云。已後莫錯打人去。師云。龍蛇易辨衲子難謾師喚院主。院主應諾。師云。佛九十日在忉利天為母說法。時優填王思佛。請目連運神通三轉攝匠人往彼雕佛像。只雕得三十一相。為什麼梵音相雕不得。院主問。如何是梵音相。師云。賺殺人。師問維耶。今日普請作什麼。對云。拽磨。師云。磨從爾拽。不得動著磨中心樹子。維那無語（保福代云。比來拽磨如今却不成。法眼代云。恁麼即不拽也）一日有大德。問師曰。即心是佛又不得。非心非佛又不得。師意如何。師云。大德。且信即心是佛便了。更說什麼得與不得。只如大德喫飯了從東廊上西廊下。不可總問人得與不得也。師住庵時有一僧到庵。師向其僧道。某甲上山。待到齋時做飯自喫了。送一分來山上。少時其僧自喫了。却一時打破家事就床臥。師待不見來。便歸庵見僧臥。師亦去一邊而臥。僧便起去。師住後云我往前住庵時。有箇靈利道者。直至如今不見。師拈起毬子問僧云。那箇何似遮箇。對云。不似師云。什麼處見那箇便道不似。僧云。若問某甲見處。和尚放下手中物。師云。許爾具一隻眼。陸亘大夫向師道。肇法師甚奇怪。道萬物同根是非一體。師指庭前牡丹華云。大夫時人見此一株華如夢相似。陸罔測陸又問。天王居何地位。師云。若是天王即非地位。陸云。弟子聞說天王是居初地。師云。應以天王身得度者。即現天王身而為說法。陸辭歸宣城治所。師問。大夫去彼將何治民。陸云。以智慧治民。師云。恁麼即彼處生靈盡遭塗炭去也。師入宣州。陸大夫出迎接。指城門云。人人盡喚作甕門。未審和尚喚作什麼門。師云。老僧若道。恐辱大夫風化。陸云。忽然賊來時作麼生。師云。王老師罪過。陸又問。大悲菩薩用如許多手眼作什麼。師云。只如國家又用大夫作什麼。師為馬大師設齋。問眾云馬大師來否。眾無對。洞山云。待有伴即來。師云。子雖後生甚堪雕琢。洞山云。和尚莫壓良為賤。師洗衣次有僧問。和尚猶有遮箇在。師拈起衣云。爭奈遮箇何（玄覺云。且道是一箇是兩箇）師問僧良欽。空劫中還有佛否。對云有。師云。是阿誰。對云。良欽。師云居何國土。無語。僧問。祖祖相傳合傳何事。師云。一二三四五。問如何是古人底。師云。待有即道。僧云。和尚為什麼妄語。師云。我不妄語。盧行者却妄語。問十二時中以何為境。師云。何不問王老師。僧云。問了也。師云。還曾與汝為境麼。僧問。青蓮不隨風火散時是什麼。師云。無風火不隨是什麼。僧無對。師却問。不思善不思惡。思總不生時。還我本來面目來。僧云。無容止可露（洞山云。還曾將示人麼）師問坐主云。爾與我講經得麼對云。某甲與和尚講經。和尚須與某甲說禪始得。師云。不可將金彈子博銀彈子去。座主云。某甲不會。師云。汝道。空中一片雲。為復釘釘住。為復藤纜著。問空中有一珠如何取得。師云。斫竹布梯空中取。僧云。空中如何布梯。師云。汝擬作麼生取。僧辭問云。學人到諸方。有人問和尚近日作麼生。未審如何祇對。師云。但向道。近日解相撲。僧云。作麼生。師云。一拍雙泯。問父母未生時鼻孔在什麼處。師云。父母已生了鼻孔在什麼處。師將順世。第一座問。和尚百年後向什麼處去。師云。山下作一頭水牯牛去。僧云。某甲隨和尚去還得也無。師云。汝若隨我即須𭊷取一莖草來。師乃示疾。大和八年甲寅十二月二十五日。凌晨告門人曰。星翳燈幻亦久矣。勿謂吾有去來也。言訖而謝。壽八十七。臘五十八。明年春入塔。

Chan Master Puyuan of Nanquan in Chizhou was a native of Xinzheng in Zhengzhou, surnamed Wang. In the second year of the Zhide era of the Tang dynasty, he received training under Chan Master Dahui of Mount Dawei. At the age of thirty, he went to Mount Song to receive the full precepts. At first, he studied the old rules of the Xiangbu school and investigated the sections and categories of the vinaya. Next, he traveled among the lecture halls, attending lectures on the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra and Avataṃsaka-sūtra, and engaged in the contemplation of the Madhyamaka and Śata-śāstras, mastering their abstruse principles. Later, he knocked at the chamber of Daji [Mazu] and suddenly forgot the snare, attaining the samādhi of playful freedom.

One day, as he was serving porridge to the monks, Master Ma asked, "What is in the bucket?"

The Master said, "Why is this old fellow talking like this with his mouth shut tight?"

None of the other fellow practitioners dared to cross-examine him.

In the eleventh year of the Zhenyuan era, he rested his staff at Chiyang and built his own meditation retreat, not coming down from Nanquan for more than thirty years. At the beginning of the Dahe era, Governor Lu Gen of Xuancheng, aspiring to the Master's teaching style, invited him down the mountain together with the army supervisor. Offering the courtesies of a disciple, he greatly stimulated the abstruse guidelines. From then on, his students numbered no fewer than hundreds; his words filled all quarters, and he was regarded as a master craftsman of Ying.

One day, the Master instructed the assembly, saying, "To speak of 'suchness' is already to change. Nowadays, monks must walk among different kinds [of beings]."

Guizong said, "Although one walks the walk of beasts, one does not receive the karmic retribution of beasts."

The Master said, "Meng the Eighth Son goes off like that again!"

The Master sometimes said, "At the third watch last night, I gave Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra twenty blows of the staff each and drove them out of the monastery."

Zhaozhou said, "Whom does the Upādhyāya have take the blows?"

The Master said, "Tell me, where was Old Wang's fault?"

Zhaozhou made a prostration and walked out. (Xuanjue said, "Tell me, when Zhaozhou left, did he approve of Nanquan, or did he not approve of Nanquan?")

The Master planned to visit the farmstead the next day. That night, the local earth deity informed the head of the farmstead beforehand. The farmstead head made preparations in advance. When the Master arrived, he asked the farmstead head, "How did you know the old monk was coming and arrange things like this?"

The farmstead head said, "Last night, the earth deity reported that the Upādhyāya would come today."

The Master said, "Old Wang's cultivation is weak, so he was peeked at by ghosts and spirits!"

A monk then asked, "Since the Upādhyāya is a kalyāṇamitra, why was he peeked at by ghosts and spirits?"

The Master said, "Serve another portion of rice before the earth deity." (Xuanjue said, "What place is 'serving another portion of rice before the earth deity'?" Yunju Xi said, "Is this rewarding him or punishing him? Just as before the earth deity: did he see Nanquan, or did he not see Nanquan?")

The Master sometimes said, "Mazu of Jiangxi said, 'Mind itself is Buddha.' Old Wang does not speak like that. It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not a thing. Is there still any fault in speaking like this?"

Zhaozhou made a prostration and walked out. At the time, a monk followed Zhaozhou and asked, "The sthavira bowed and then went out—what was the meaning?"

Zhaozhou said, "You should go back and ask the Upādhyāya."

The monk went up and asked, "What was the meaning of Sthavira Shen just now?"

The Master said, "He has indeed grasped this old monk's intention."

One day, the Master went up to the hall carrying his bowl. Upādhyāya Huangbo was sitting in the first seat. Seeing the Master, he did not rise. The Master asked, "In what year did the elder practice the Way?"

Huangbo said, "In the time of the Buddha King of Emptiness."

The Master said, "You are still Old Wang's grandson. Get down!"

One day, the Master asked Huangbo, "Gold is the world, and silver is the wall. What kind of person resides in such a place?"

Huangbo said, "A noble one resides there."

The Master said, "There is another person—in what land does he reside?"

Huangbo then stood with folded hands.

The Master said, "If you cannot speak, why not ask Old Wang?"

Huangbo then asked, "There is another person—in what land does he reside?"

The Master said, "What a pity!"

At another time, the Master asked Huangbo, "'Equal cultivation of concentration and wisdom'—what is this principle?"

Huangbo said, "Throughout the twelve periods of the day, do not depend on a single thing."

The Master said, "Is that not the elder's own view?"

Huangbo said, "I would not dare say so."

The Master said, "Leave aside the price of rice-water for a moment; who will pay for the straw sandals?"

The Master saw a monk chopping wood. The Master struck the wood three times. The monk set down his axe and returned to the Sangha hall. The Master returned to the Dharma hall. After a long while, he entered the Sangha hall and saw the previous monk sitting beneath his robes and bowl. The Master said, "You deceive people to death!"

A monk asked, "When the Master returns to the abbot's quarters, what will you use to give guidance?"

The Master said, "Last night at the third watch I lost the ox; at daybreak I lost the fire."

Because the eastern and western halls were contending over a cat, the Master came upon them, addressed the assembly, and said, "If you can speak, you will save the cat; if you cannot speak, I will cut it in two."

The assembly had no reply. The Master then cut it in two.

Zhaozhou returned from outside, and the Master brought up the previous words and showed them to him. Zhaozhou took off his sandals, put them on his head, and went out.

The Master said, "If you had been here just now, you would have saved the cat."

While the Master was warming himself by the fire with Shanshan in the abbot's quarters, the Master said, "No need to point east and point west—speak directly of the fundamental matter."

Shanshan inserted the fire-tongs [into the embers] and stood with folded hands.

The Master said, "Although it is like this, you are still a thread away from Old Wang."

A monk paid his respects and stood with folded hands. The Master said, "Too secular!" The monk then joined his palms. The Master said, "Too much like a monk!" The monk had no reply.

While a monk was washing his bowl, the Master snatched the bowl away. The monk stood with empty hands. The Master said, "The bowl is in my hand; what are you mumbling with your mouth?" The monk had no reply.

The Master entered the vegetable garden and saw a monk. The Master threw a broken tile at him. The monk looked back. The Master then raised one foot. The monk said nothing. The Master then returned to the abbot's quarters. The monk followed him in, paid his respects, and said, "Just now the Upādhyāya threw a tile and hit me; was that not to alert me?"

The Master said, "What about raising a foot?"

The monk had no reply. (Later, a monk asked Shishuang, "What was the meaning of Nanquan raising his foot?" Shishuang raised his hand and said, "Is it still like this, or not?")

The Master instructed the assembly, saying, "Old Wang wants to sell his body; who wants to buy it?"

A monk came forward and said, "I will buy it."

The Master said, "He does not ask a high price, nor does he ask a low price. How will you buy it?"

The monk had no reply. (Wolong spoke in his place: "It belongs to me!" Mishan spoke in his place: "What reason is this?" Zhaozhou spoke in his place: "Next year I will come and sew a cloth tunic for the Upādhyāya.")

The Master, together with Guizong and Magu, went to pay respects to National Teacher Nanyang. On the road, the Master first drew a circular figure and said, "If you can speak, we will go."

Guizong sat down within the circular figure. Magu bowed like a woman.

The Master said, "Then we will not go."

Guizong said, "What kind of mind-state is this?"

The Master called them to turn back, and they did not go to pay respects to the National Teacher. (Xuanjue said, "When Nanquan spoke like this, were these words of approval or non-approval?" Yunju Xi said, "They had set out to pay respects to the National Teacher; why did Nanquan call them to turn back instead? Tell me, what was the ancient's intention?")

The Master asked Shenshan, "What are you doing?"

He replied, "Sifting with a sieve."

The Master said, "Do you sift with hands or with feet?"

Shenshan said, "Please speak, Upādhyāya."

The Master said, "Remember it clearly and present it to an adept." (Dongshan gave an alternative: "Only one who has neither feet nor hands understands sifting with a sieve.")

A lecturing master took his leave of the Master. The Master asked, "Where are you going?"

He replied, "Down the mountain."

The Master said, "Above all, do not slander Old Wang."

He replied, "How would I dare slander the Upādhyāya?"

The Master spat water and said, "How much?"

The lecturing master went out. (The former Yunju said, "That was not the Master's original intention." The former Caoshan said, "Fortunately so." Shishuang said, "He does not weigh things for others." Changqing said, "Please accept his words." Yunju Xi said, "When the lecturing master went out at that time, did he understand or not?")

One day, the Master shut the door of the abbot's quarters, surrounded the outside of the door with ashes, and said, "If someone can speak, I will open it." Several responded, but mostly without satisfying the Master's intention. Zhaozhou said, "Blue Heaven!" The Master immediately opened the door.

While the Master was enjoying the moon, a monk asked, "When can one be like this?"

The Master said, "Twenty years ago, Old Wang was also like this."

The monk said, "What about right now?"

The Master returned to the abbot's quarters.

Grand Master Lu Gen asked, "I come from the six directions; is there still a body within them?"

The Master said, "Remember it clearly and present it to an adept."

Lu also said to the Master, "The Upādhyāya is exceedingly inconceivable; wherever he reaches, worlds are all accomplished."

The Master said, "What was just said is entirely a matter of the Grand Master's own lot."

On another day, Lu again said to the Master, "I also have a slight understanding of the Buddha Dharma."

The Master then asked, "How is it with the Grand Master throughout the twelve periods of the day?"

Lu said, "Not hanging a single inch of thread."

The Master said, "You are still a fellow below the steps." The Master added, "Have you not heard it said: 'A ruler possessed of the Way does not accept a minister possessed of intellect'?"

When the Master went up to the hall, Grand Master Lu said, "Please, Upādhyāya, preach the Dharma for the assembly."

The Master said, "How do you want this old monk to preach?"

Lu said, "Does the Upādhyāya have no skillful means?"

The Master said, "What is lacking in them?"

Lu said, "Why are there the six destinies and four modes of birth?"

The Master said, "This old monk does not teach them."

Grand Master Lu and the Master saw people playing double-six. Picking up the dice, Lu said, "Like this or not like this? How is it when one simply trusts to fortune like this?"

The Master picked up the dice and said, "Stinking bones, eighteen!"

Lu also asked, "There is a slab of stone in my home; sometimes I sit on it, sometimes I lie on it. Now I intend to carve it into a Buddha—may I?"

The Master said, "You may."

The Grand Master said, "Might it not be impermissible?"

The Master said, "Impermissible, impermissible!" (Yunyan said, "When sitting, it is Buddha; when not sitting, it is not Buddha." Dongshan said, "When not sitting, it is Buddha; when sitting, it is not Buddha.")

Zhaozhou asked, "The Way is not outside things; outside things is not the Way. What is the Way outside things?"

The Master struck him. Zhaozhou caught the staff and said, "Do not mistakenly strike people hereafter!"

The Master said, "Dragon and snake are easy to distinguish, but a patched-robe monk is hard to deceive."

The Master called the monastery director. The monastery director responded. The Master said, "For ninety days, the Buddha was in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven preaching the Dharma for his mother. At that time King Udayana longed for the Buddha and asked Maudgalyāyana to exercise supernatural powers to transport artisans three times to carve an image of the Buddha. They were only able to carve thirty-one marks. Why could they not carve the mark of the Brahma-sound?"

The director asked, "What is the mark of the Brahma-sound?"

The Master said, "You deceive people to death!"

The Master asked the karmadāna, "What are the monks doing for the communal labor today?"

He replied, "Turning the mill."

The Master said, "You may turn the mill, but do not disturb the spindle in the center of the mill."

The karmadāna had no reply. (Baofu spoke in his place: "We intended to turn the mill, but now it cannot be done." Fayan spoke in his place: "Then we will not turn it.")

One day, an eminent monk asked the Master, "'Mind itself is Buddha' is not acceptable; 'neither mind nor Buddha' is also not acceptable. What is the Master's view?"

The Master said, "Eminent monk, just believe that 'mind itself is Buddha' and be done with it. Why talk about acceptable and not acceptable? Just as when you, eminent monk, have finished eating and go from the eastern corridor to the western corridor, you surely do not ask people all along the way whether it is acceptable or not acceptable!"

When the Master lived in a hermitage, a monk came to the hermitage. The Master said to the monk, "I am going up the mountain. When it is mealtime, prepare food, eat it yourself, and bring a portion up to the mountain for me." Shortly after, the monk ate it himself, smashed the household utensils all at once, and lay down on the bed. The Master waited, but seeing that he did not come, returned to the hermitage and found the monk lying down. The Master also went to one side and lay down. The monk then got up and left. After the Master became an abbot, he said, "When I lived in a hermitage in the past, there was a sharp-witted practitioner of the Way; even up to now I have not seen him again."

The Master picked up a ball and asked a monk, "How does that one compare to this one?"

He replied, "It does not compare."

The Master said, "Where did you see that one, that you say it does not compare?"

The monk said, "If you ask where I saw it, Upādhyāya, put down the object in your hand."

The Master said, "I grant that you possess one eye."

Grand Master Lu Gen said to the Master, "Dharma Master Zhao was extraordinary indeed; he said that the myriad things have the same root, and right and wrong are of one substance."

The Master pointed to a peony flower in the courtyard and said, "Grand Master, people of the day see this single blossom as if in a dream."

Lu did not comprehend.

Lu asked again, "In what stage does a Heavenly King abide?"

The Master said, "If he is a Heavenly King, he is not in any stage."

Lu said, "I have heard that a Heavenly King abides in the first stage."

The Master said, "'To those who should be saved by the body of a Heavenly King, he manifests the body of a Heavenly King and preaches the Dharma.'"

When Lu took his leave to return to his administrative seat in Xuanzhou, the Master asked, "When the Grand Master goes there, how will you govern the people?"

Lu said, "I will govern the people with wisdom."

The Master said, "If so, then the living beings there will all suffer misery and ruin!"

The Master entered Xuanzhou. Grand Master Lu came out to welcome him. Pointing to the city gate, he said, "Everyone calls this the Urn Gate; I wonder what the Upādhyāya calls it?"

The Master said, "If this old monk speaks, I fear it will disgrace the Grand Master's moral transformation."

Lu said, "What if bandits suddenly arrive?"

The Master said, "Old Wang's transgression!"

Lu asked again, "What does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes for?"

The Master said, "Just as the state uses the Grand Master—what for?"

The Master hosted a vegetarian feast for Master Ma and asked the assembly, "Has Master Ma come or not?"

The assembly had no reply.

Dongshan said, "When there is a companion, he will come."

The Master said, "Although you are a youngster, you are quite fit to be carved and polished."

Dongshan said, "Upādhyāya, do not oppress a free person into slavery."

While the Master was washing clothes, a monk asked, "Does the Upādhyāya still have this?"

The Master held up the garment and said, "What can be done about this?" (Xuanjue said, "Tell me, is it one or is it two?")

The Master asked the monk Liangqin, "During the empty kalpa, was there still a Buddha?"

He replied, "There was."

The Master said, "Who was it?"

He replied, "Liangqin."

The Master said, "In what land did he abide?"

There was no reply.

A monk asked, "From patriarch to patriarch in succession, what should properly be transmitted?"

The Master said, "One, two, three, four, five."

He asked, "What is that of the ancients?"

The Master said, "When there is one, I will tell you."

The monk said, "Why does the Upādhyāya speak falsely?"

The Master said, "I do not speak falsely; Practitioner Lu speaks falsely."

A monk asked, "Throughout the twelve periods of the day, what should be taken as the object?"

The Master said, "Why not ask Old Wang?"

The monk said, "I have already asked."

The Master said, "Was it ever an object for you?"

A monk asked, "What is it when the blue lotus is not scattered by wind and fire?"

The Master said, "What is it when there is no wind and fire not to be scattered by?"

The monk had no reply.

The Master then asked, "Thinking of neither good nor evil, when thoughts do not arise at all, return my original face to me!"

The monk said, "There is no countenance to be revealed." (Dongshan said, "Did you ever show it to anyone?")

The Master asked a lecturing master, "Can you lecture on the sūtras for me?"

He replied, "If I lecture on the sūtras for the Upādhyāya, the Upādhyāya must speak of Chan for me before it is acceptable."

The Master said, "One cannot exchange a gold pellet for a silver pellet."

The lecturing master said, "I do not understand."

The Master said, "Tell me, is a wisp of cloud in the sky nailed fast with nails, or tethered with vine ropes?"

A monk asked, "There is a jewel in the sky; how can it be taken?"

The Master said, "Chop bamboo, set up a ladder, and take it in the sky."

The monk said, "How can a ladder be set up in the sky?"

The Master said, "How do you intend to take it?"

A monk took his leave and asked, "When I arrive in other quarters and someone asks how the Upādhyāya has been recently, I wonder how I should reply?"

The Master said, "Just tell them: 'Recently he understands wrestling.'"

The monk said, "How so?"

The Master said, "With a single strike, both are obliterated."

A monk asked, "Before father and mother gave birth to me, where were my nostrils?"

The Master said, "After father and mother have given birth to you, where are your nostrils?"

When the Master was about to pass away, the first seat asked, "After the Upādhyāya passes away, where will you go?"

The Master said, "Down the mountain to become a water buffalo."

The monk said, "May I follow the Upādhyāya?"

The Master said, "If you follow me, you must bring a blade of grass in your mouth."

The Master then showed signs of illness. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month in the eighth year of the Dahe era, a jiayin year, at dawn, he said to his disciples, "The stars' dimming and the lamp's illusion have lasted long enough. Do not say that I have coming or going!" Having spoken, he passed away. His age was eighty-seven; his monastic years were fifty-eight. In the spring of the following year, he was placed in a stupa.