17Case 17
Introduction 垂示
斬釘截鐵，始可為本分宗師；避箭隈刀，焉能為通方作者？針劄不入處則且置，白浪滔天時如何？試舉看。
Cut clean through nail and iron, and only then are you a true master of the school. Duck behind a shield, flinch from the blade, and how will you ever lead anyone anywhere? Leave aside the place too tight for a needle. When the white waves swamp the sky, then what? Here's a case. Look.
僧問香林：「如何是祖師西來意？」林云：「坐久成勞。」
A monk asked Xianglin, "What is the point of Bodhidharma coming from the West?"
Xianglin said, "Sit long enough and you get tired."
Verse 頌
一箇兩箇千萬箇，
脫却籠頭卸角馱。
左轉右轉隨後來，
紫胡要打劉鐵磨。
One, two, a thousand, ten thousand,
shrug off the bridle, drop the load.
Turn left, turn right, they all come trailing after.
Zihu means to clobber Iron-Grinder Liu.