○饒州教授嚴康朝
湖州長興人。甞問道於薦福雪堂。及見應庵於報恩得旨。甞有頌曰。趙州狗子無佛性。我道狗子佛性有。驀然言下自知歸。從茲不信趙州口。著精神。自抖擻。隨人背後無好手。騎牛覓牛笑殺人。如今始覺從前謬。時大慧在梅陽。嚴以此頌寄呈。大慧答以書。略曰。隨人背後無好手。此八萬四千皆公活路。
He was a native of Changxing, Huzhou. Once, he sought the Way under Jianfu Xuetang. Later, he met Ying'an at Bao'en and attained the essence of the teaching. He once wrote a verse: "Zhaozhou's dog has no Buddha-nature, but I say the dog's Buddha-nature exists. Suddenly, at these words, I knew where to return; from then on, I no longer trusted Zhaozhou's mouth. Rouse your spirit, shake yourself off—there's no good hand behind others. Riding a cow to search for a cow makes people laugh; only now do I realize my past mistakes." At that time, Dahui was in Meiyang, and Yan sent this verse to him. Dahui replied with a letter, roughly saying: "There's no good hand behind others—these eighty-four thousand (dharma gates) are all your living paths."