續傳燈錄 21.10

21.10

安吉州烏鎮壽聖院楚文禪師。上堂拈拄杖曰。華藏木楖栗。等閑亂拈出。不是不惜手。山家無固必。點山山動搖。攪水水波溢。忽然把定時。事事執法律。要橫不得橫。要屈不得屈。驀召大眾曰。莫謂棒頭有眼。明如日上面光生。盡是漆隨聲敲一下。上堂。一叉一劄著骨連皮。一搦一擡粘手綴脚。電光石火頭垂尾垂。劈箭追風半生半死。撞著磕著討甚眉毛。明頭暗頭是何眼目。總不恁麼正在半途。設使全機未至涯岸。直饒淨裸裸赤灑灑。沒可把尚有廉纖。山僧恁麼道。且道口好作甚麼。良久曰。嘻留取喫飯。

Chan Master Chuwen of Shousheng Monastery in Wuzhen, Anji Prefecture, ascended the hall, picked up his staff, and said: "The wooden stick from the Flower Treasury [Realm] is brought forth and waved about at leisure. It is not that I do not spare my hands; the mountain house holds to no fixed certainty. Point at a mountain and the mountain shakes; stir the water and the water overflows into waves. When suddenly held fast, every single matter enforces the law. If it would be horizontal, it cannot be horizontal; if it would bend, it cannot bend." Suddenly addressing the assembly, he said: "Do not say that the stick has an eye bright as the sun, shining upon its surface—it is all black lacquer!" Accompanying the sound, he struck once. Ascending the hall [on another occasion, he said]: "A thrust and a jab cling to the bone and skin; a grasp and a lift stick to the hands and bind the feet. In lightning flash and flint spark, head droops and tail droops; splitting the arrow and chasing the wind, half-alive and half-dead. Bumping and knocking about, what eyebrows are you searching for? Light-head and dark-head, what kind of eyes are these? If none of this is so, you are right in the middle of the road. Even if functioning in full, you have not reached the shore. Even if stark naked and cleanly stripped, with nothing to hold onto, there are still subtle traces. The mountain monk speaks in this manner; tell me, what good is the mouth?" After a pause, he said: "Ha! Save it for eating rice!"