景德傳燈錄 10.16

10.16

A monk asked, "What is the ordinary mind?"
The Master said, "When wanting to sleep, just sleep; when wanting to sit, just sit."
The monk said, "Your disciple does not understand."
The Master said, "When hot, take to the cool; when cold, turn toward the fire."
A monk asked, "Please tell me, Master, what is the path of the transcendental?"
The Master said, "A single needle, three feet of thread."
The monk said, "How should I understand this?"
The Master said, "Yizhou cloth, Yangzhou silk."
A monk asked, "Movement is the sprout of the Dharma King; stillness is the root of the Dharma King. What is the Dharma King?"
The Master pointed to an exposed pillar and said, "Why not ask the Mahāsattva?"
Once, when [the Master] was facing the sun in the courtyard, Yangshan said, "Everyone has this matter, yet they just cannot use it."
The Master said, "It is precisely that I invite you to use it."
Yangshan said, "How should it be used?"
The Master thereupon kicked Yangshan over. Yangshan said, "Directly like a tiger!" (Changqing said, "Before, both were experts; afterward, neither was an expert." He further said in substitute, "False Dharma is hard to uphold.") From this, the various quarters referred to him as "Tiger Cen."
A monk asked, "Does the original person also attain Buddhahood?"
The Master said, "Have you ever seen the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang plowing the fields and harvesting the grain himself?"
The monk said, "I do not know who attains Buddhahood."
The Master said, "It is you who attain Buddhahood."
The monk was silent.
The Master said, "Do you understand?"
The monk said, "I do not understand."
The Master said, "Like a person falling due to the ground and rising by relying on the ground—what does the ground say?"
Sansheng had Sthavira Xiu ask, "Where did Nanquan go upon his passing?"
The Master said, "When Shitou was a novice, he visited the Sixth Patriarch."
Xiu said, "I am not asking about Shitou visiting the Sixth Patriarch. Where did Nanquan go upon his passing?"
The Master said, "Tell him to ponder it."
Xiu said, "Although the Venerable has a thousand-foot cold pine, you still lack a shoot-bearing stone bamboo."
The Master remained silent.
Xiu said, "Thank you, Venerable, for answering my words."
The Master also remained silent.
Sthavira Xiu related this to Sansheng. Sansheng said, "If it is truly like this, it still surpasses Linji by seven paces. Nevertheless, wait until I test him further." The next day, Sansheng went up and asked, "I have heard that yesterday the Venerable replied to the question of Nanquan's passing with a statement that could be called shedding light on the past and surpassing the future, rarely heard in present or ancient times."
The Master also remained silent.
A monk asked, "What is Mañjuśrī?"
The Master said, "Walls and rubble are."
He asked again, "What is Avalokiteśvara?"
The Master said, "Sounds and speech are."
He asked again, "What is Samantabhadra?"
The Master said, "The minds of sentient beings are."
He asked again, "What is Buddha?"
The Master said, "The physical bodies of sentient beings are."
The monk said, "The Buddhas numerous as the sands of the Ganges are all of the same substance; why are there various names?"
The Master said, "Returning to the source from the eye-faculty is called Mañjuśrī; returning to the source from the ear-faculty is called Avalokiteśvara; returning to the source from the mind is called Samantabhadra. Mañjuśrī is the Buddha's wondrous observing wisdom; Avalokiteśvara is the Buddha's unconditioned great compassion; Samantabhadra is the Buddha's unconditioned wondrous practice. The three sages are the Buddha's wondrous functions; the Buddha is the true substance of the three sages. In terms of function, there are conventional designations as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; in terms of substance, it is collectively named the one Bhagavān."
A monk asked, "'Form is emptiness, emptiness is form'—what is the principle of this?"
The Master gave a verse: