續傳燈錄 3.7

3.7

Chan Master Shouzhi of Mount Dayu in Ruizhou was a son of the Wang clan of Taiyuan. Just as he ascended the seat, a monk asked, "What is the Upādhyāya's house style?" The Master said, "Once a word is spoken, a four-horse chariot cannot overtake it." The monk asked, "What is the Buddha in the city?" The Master said, "The stone pillar at the crossroads." The monk asked, "What about when not falling into the three inches [of the tongue]?" The Master said, "Qian's three lines are long; Kun's six lines are short." The monk asked, "What is the meaning?" The Master said, "Take special care not to let the earth wax and wane." The monk asked, "Formerly on Gṛdhrakūṭa half the seat was shared; what about the meeting of the two masters?" The Master said, "Do you remember?" The monk paused for a long time. The Master struck the meditation bench once and said, "Forgotten after many years!" He then said, "Stop, stop! If you seek rules in words and understand the functioning in phrases, you are like someone who loses his head and mistakes a shadow [for reality]. If we raise and expound the ancestral vehicle, it is greatly like a bout of sleep-talking. Although it is so, 'the authorities allow not a needle, but privately carts and horses pass.' Leaving a thread of a path, there are vines and entanglements." He then struck the meditation seat once and said, "The Buddhas of the three periods all have headaches! Tell me, assembly, is there anyone who escapes it? If one person escapes it, there is no such truth. If one cannot escape it, the ocean-seal emits light." The Master then held up his whisk and said, "Is this the seal, or is that the light? Is this the light, or is that the seal? At the functioning of a lightning flash, it is in vain to stand and ponder. Do you understand? The old monk talks in his dream. Tell me, what was seen in the dream? Ten night-watches under the southern bough. If you do not understand, listen to a verse: / The Northern Dipper hangs on Sumeru; / The staff's tip carries the sun and moon. / In forest and spring, good to confer; / At summer's end, the autumn wind is sharp. / Take care." A monk asked, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?" The Master said, "The weather is cold, the days are short." A monk asked, "The mind Dharma is formless; how is it carved and sculpted?" The Master said, "One ding, two dings." The monk asked, "How should one who does not understand grasp it?" The Master said, "Penetrate seven, penetrate eight." He ascended the hall and said, "With a single strike it rings clearly; resounding, it penetrates the universe. A connoisseur barely tilts his ear; Xiang Yu crosses east of the river. Understanding like this, one has merely mistaken a donkey's saddle bridge for his father's jaw." He ascended the hall and said, "Dayu receives the grandson of the Great Hero; cloud-and-water monks of the five lakes rush headlong. Rushing headlong, what gate is there? Striking the arrow, who knows the withered tree remains? The withered tree remains: in one year there were twice springtimes. Twice springtimes: pearls inside the bed-curtain scattered to others. Scattered to others: thinking it over, it is also yearning for western Qin." He ascended the hall and said, "Vertically exhausting the three periods, horizontally pervading the ten directions. Holding it up, Indra's heart is alarmed; putting it down, the earth spirit's gall trembles. Neither holding it up nor putting it down, what do you call it?" He said himself, "A toad." He ascended the hall and said, "The Buddhas of the three periods do not know it exists; cats and white oxen do know it exists." He then held up his whisk and said, "The cats and white oxen are all here emitting light and shaking the earth. Why is it so? The two segments are not the same." A monk asked, "What is the Buddha?" The Master said, "A saw cutting a steelyard weight." He ascended the hall. When the assembly had gathered, he said, "The manifest gong'an: even constructing battlements does not manage it." He then descended from the seat. He ascended the hall and said, "Lined up in ranks on the floor of the great ocean, the second from the head has gray hair at the temples. Why not say the first has gray hair at the temples? Do you wish to understand? Gold stamens and silver threads turn into jade dew; an eminent monk does not sit on the Phoenix Terrace." He ascended the hall. The assembly gathered. He then said, "Exerting one's strength for the sake of the community, disaster arises from one's private gate." He then descended from the seat. He ascended the hall and said, "The path of Cuiyan is precipitous; taking a step, one wades through a thousand streams. Furthermore, there is the water of the Great Source, billowing west of the ridge." He struck the meditation bench and descended from the seat. Addressing the assembly, he held up an incense box and said, "Does the light side fit, or does the dark side fit? If you can speak, stride freely throughout the world. If you cannot speak, then close it up." He descended from the seat. A monk asked, "What is a phrase for the sake of people?" The Master said, "Four corners, six sides." The monk asked, "What is the meaning?" The Master said, "Eight hollows, nine bumps." He ascended the hall and said, "There is no oil in sand—a lamentable matter; / At Cuiyan, chewing rice to feed an infant. / Another time, when good and bad are known with certainty, / Only then will one realize that previously one's face was covered in dust." He struck the meditation bench and descended from the seat.