小參
Individual Instruction
小參，僧問：「總是鏡空堂上客，誰為寂照境中人？」師云：「夢中又說夢，身外更有身。」問：「如何是生前消息？」師喝一喝。「如何是生後消息？」師云：「銀碗盛雪。」僧舉坐具云：「是前？是後？」師云：「一個約著不去，一個拽著不回。」僧云：「因甚大地人沒奈他何？」師云：「難道老僧又奈他何？」乃云：「有相卻無相，無相果是真，一點靈光照，內外放光明。」
Informal Talk: A monk asked, "All here are guests within the Mirror-Emptiness Hall; who then abides as the Still-Illuminated one within?" The master said, "Dreaming within a dream, with a self beyond the self."
The monk asked, "What is the state before birth?" The master gave a shout. "What is the state after birth?" The master said, "A silver bowl filled with snow."
The monk raised his sitting mat and said, "Is this before or after?" The master said, "One is stuck and won’t leave; the other is pulled but won’t return."
The monk said, "Why then can no one in the great earth do anything about it?" The master said, "You think this old monk can do anything about it either?"
Then the master said, "Having form, yet formless; the formless is truly real. A single point of spiritual light shines forth—radiance both within and without."
小參：「山裡小參山裡說，山中巴掌元是我。三掌打破天外天，地分九州無處躲。昨日五臺山有片放光石，被我攜來，放在汝諸人眼裡，就在眼門放光；放在汝諸人耳裡，就在耳門放光；放在汝諸人鼻裡，就在鼻孔放光；放在汝諸人口裡，就在舌上放光，處處和盤托出。大眾！若於此返照迴光，不須久立。」
小參：「若人靜坐一須臾，勝造河沙七寶塔，寶塔終久化為塵，一念不生成正覺。且道：遍地是覺，那裡是正？」良久，云：「動容揚古路，不墮悄然機。」
Instruction: "If one sits in stillness for but a moment, it surpasses building countless jeweled pagodas—pagodas that will one day turn to dust, while a single thought unborn becomes enlightenment. Consider this: enlightenment is everywhere, so where is the 'true' enlightenment?"
After a pause, he said: "In movement, the ancient path shines forth; do not fall into silent stagnation."
小參，舉：「古人云：『墻上一窠草，風吹兩邊倒，水也沒些些，一般長得好。』老僧不然，墻上一窠草，大風盡刮倒，看草歸何處？無草道正好。若有長草處，癡人生死何時了？」
Instruction: "The ancients said: 'A clump of grass on a wall, blows from side to side in the wind, not even a drop of water, yet still grows just fine.'
But I, this old monk, see it differently. A clump of grass on a wall — a strong wind can topple it completely. Look where the grass falls: when there is no grass, that's when things are truly right. If there is still a place where grass grows, when will foolish beings ever end their cycle of birth and death?"
小參。良久，云：「西來大意，總不出這個道理。道本無知，但知個有，即為妄想；但說個無，就落無記。不拘有無，一切放下，晝參夜參，參到水窮山盡處，自有一個轉身時。有等背地裡看幾句糟粕，記一肚、抄一部，見人做工夫便打失笑。問：『你笑個甚麼？落在甚處？』卻又無言可答。奈何，奈何。」
Small Instruction. After a long pause, the master said: "The great meaning of 'coming from the West' is never outside this principle. The Way is originally without knowledge; if you grasp at 'having,' that is deluded thinking. If you speak of 'nothing,' you fall into blank emptiness. Cast aside clinging to both having and nothing—let go of everything. Practice meditation day and night until you reach the end of water and the limits of mountains. Then, naturally, a moment of turning around will come. There are some who secretly absorb a few phrases of stale dregs, filling their bellies with memorized scraps, copying a whole volume. When they see others doing the work, they mock them. Ask one: 'What are you laughing at? Where are you stuck?' They will have no answer. What a pity! What a pity!"