續傳燈錄 32.20

32.20

真州靈岩東庵了性禪師上堂。勘破了也。放過一著是衲僧破草鞋。現脩羅相作女人拜。是野狐精魅。打箇圓相虛空裏下一點。是小兒伎倆。攔腮贈掌拂袖便行。正是業識茫茫無本可據。直饒向黑豆未生已前一時坐斷。未有喫靈岩拄杖分。敢問大眾。且道為人節文在甚麼處。還相委悉麼。自從春色來嵩少。三十六峯青至今。上堂。一葦江頭楊柳春。波心不見昔時人。雪庭要識安心士。鼻孔依前塔上脣。竪起拂子曰。祖師來也。還見麼。若也見得即今薦取。其或未然此去西天路迢迢十萬餘。僧問。人天交接如何開示。師曰。金剛手裏八稜棒。曰忽被學人橫穿凡聖擊透玄關時又作麼生。師曰。海門橫鐵柱。問如何是獨露身。師曰。牡丹花下睡猫兒。

Chan Master Liaoxing of Dong'an on Lingyan in Zhenzhou ascended the hall and said: “Seen through! Letting a move go is a patch-robed monk's broken straw sandal. Manifesting an asura's appearance and making a woman's bow is a wild fox spirit. Drawing a circle and placing a dot in empty space is a child's trick. Hitting across the cheek, presenting a palm, and brushing one's sleeves to walk off is precisely the vast sea of karmic consciousness, without any basis to rely upon. Even if you cut through everything before the black beans have sprouted, you still have no share in eating Lingyan's staff. I dare to ask the great assembly: tell me, where is the manner of helping people? Do you understand? Ever since spring colors came to Song and Shao, the thirty-six peaks have remained green until now.”

Ascending the hall, he said: “A single reed by the riverbank, willows of spring; in the heart of the waves, the man of past times is not seen. In the snowy courtyard, if you wish to recognize the person who pacified the mind, his nostrils, as before, rest above his upper lip.” Raising his fly-whisk, he said: “The Patriarch has arrived! Do you still see him? If you see him, accept it right now. If not yet so, from here to the Western Heavens is a far, far road of over a hundred thousand [li].”

A monk asked: “When humans and devas intersect, what instruction is given?”

The Master said: “An eight-cornered staff in the hands of Vajrapāṇi.”

The monk said: “If it is suddenly pierced crosswise through the ordinary and the sacred by a student, penetrating the mystery gate, what then?”

The Master said: “An iron pillar lies across the sea gate.”

He asked: “What is the solitary exposed body?”

The Master said: “A sleeping cat beneath peony blossoms.”