景德傳燈錄 6.9

6.9

Chan Master Shanshan Zhijian of Chizhou: when he was initially on pilgrimage with Guizong and Nanquan, they encountered a tiger on the road. Each of them passed by the side of the tiger. Nanquan asked Guizong, "What did the tiger you just saw resemble?" Guizong said, "It resembled a cat." Guizong then asked the master. The master said, "It resembled a dog." Guizong asked Nanquan again. Nanquan said, "I saw that it was a big bug (a tiger)." While the master was eating, Nanquan gathered up the uncooked rice and said, "Uncooked (unborn)." The master said, "There is no unborn." Nanquan said, "No-birth is still the secondary branch." Nanquan walked several paces, and the master called out, "Elder, elder!" Nanquan turned his head and said, "What is it?" The master said, "Do not say it is the secondary branch." One day during communal work gathering bracken, Nanquan picked up a stalk and said, "This makes an excellent offering." The master said, "Not only this, but even the hundred delicacies of fine feasts he would not look at." Nanquan said, "Although it is like this, each and every one must taste it before he gets it." (Xuanjue said, "Are these words of mutual recognition, or not words of mutual recognition?") A monk asked, "What is the original body?" The master said, "The entire world has nothing similar to it."