續傳燈錄 14.26

14.26

明州天童可齊禪師。姓應氏台州人。依天台國清寺僧道才出家圓具　初游講肆。晚造慧光圓照禪師法席開悟。眾請住安樂山。晚遷天童。僧問。寶華王座今日師登。祖意西來如何垂示。師曰。華開巖畔千枝秀。云便是和尚為人處也無。師曰。水瀉簷前一樣清。僧云。空生不解岩前坐。惹得天花動地來。師曰。笑破他人口。云時來雲散後不見別山高。師曰。吽吽。問如何是道。師曰。踏不著。云踏著後如何。師曰。七穿八穴。乃曰。一問一答一拶一掠。千眼頓開澄潭皎月。隨機施設縱奪臨時。縱之則句句攢花簇錦。處處釋迦道場。奪之則一法不留千聖絕跡。雖然如是。須知有向上一竅。還會麼。良久曰。莫謂春殘花落盡。峯前昨夜一枝開。

Chan Master Keqi of Tiantong in Mingzhou was a native of Taizhou whose secular surname was Ying. Relying on the monk Daocai of Guoqing Monastery on Mount Tiantai, he left home and received full ordination. At first he wandered among lecture halls; later he went to the Dharma seat of Chan Master Yuanzhao of Huiguang and attained awakening. The assembly invited him to reside at Anle Mountain; later he was transferred to Tiantong.

A monk asked, “Today the Master ascends the throne of the king of precious flowers. How do you instruct on the Patriarch's coming from the West?”
The Master said, “Flowers bloom beside the cliff, a thousand branches luxuriant.”
[The monk] said, “Is this not how the Upādhyāya guides people?”
The Master said, “Water pouring before the eaves is equally clear.”
The monk said, “Subhūti did not know how to sit before the cliff, provoking celestial flowers to shake the earth.”
The Master said, “You make others split their sides laughing.”
[The monk] said, “When the time comes and the clouds scatter, no other mountain is seen to be high.”
The Master said, “Hūm, hūm!”

[A monk] asked, “What is the Way?”
The Master said, “You cannot step on it.”
[The monk] said, “What about after one steps on it?”
The Master said, “Pierced seven times and bored eight times.”

He then said, “One question, one answer, one press, one brush. A thousand eyes suddenly open: the clear pool, the bright moon. Providing according to capacity, giving and taking away at will: give, and phrase upon phrase clusters flowers and piles brocade, everywhere the bodhimaṇḍa of Śākyamuni; take away, and not a single phenomenon remains, the thousand sages cut off all tracks. Even though it is so, you must know that there is an aperture of transcendence. Do you understand?”
After a long pause, he said, “Do not say that spring is over and the flowers have all fallen; / Before the peak, last night, a single branch bloomed.”