59The Great Way Is Not Hard
Introduction 垂示
該天括地，越聖超凡。百草頭上，指出涅槃妙心；干戈叢裏，點定衲僧命脈。且道：承箇什麼人恩力，便得恁麼？試舉看。
It covers the sky and wraps the earth. It runs past every saint, leaps clear of every ordinary man. On the tip of each blade of grass it points out the wondrous mind of nirvana. In the thick of spears and swords it pins down a monk's lifeline. So tell me: whose kindness do you have to thank to pull this off? Here's a case. Look.
僧問趙州：「至道無難，唯嫌揀擇，纔有語言是揀擇，和尚如何為人？」州云：「何不引盡這語？」僧云：「某甲只念到這裏。」州云：「只這至道無難，唯嫌揀擇。」
A monk asked Zhaozhou, "'The Great Way is not hard; it just refuses to pick and choose.' But the moment you open your mouth, that's picking and choosing. So how do you ever help anyone?"
Zhaozhou said, "Why don't you finish the quote?"
The monk said, "I only got that far."
Zhaozhou said, "It's only this: 'The Great Way is not hard; it just refuses to pick and choose.'"