63Nanquan Cuts the Cat in Two
Introduction 垂示
意路不到，正好提撕；言詮不及，宜急著眼。若也電轉星飛，便可傾湫倒嶽。眾中莫有辨得底麼？試舉看。
Thinking can't reach it: that's exactly when to press in. Words can't touch it, so look fast. Move like lightning, like a shooting star, and you can drain the lake and topple the mountains. Anyone here got the eye for it? Let's see.
南泉一日東西兩堂爭猫兒。南泉見，遂提起云：「道得即不斬。」眾無對。泉斬猫兒為兩段。
One day the monks of the east hall and the west hall were fighting over a cat. Nanquan grabbed it and held it up. "Say the word and I won't cut it," he said. Nobody answered. So he cut the cat in two.
Verse 頌
兩堂俱是杜禪和，
撥動煙塵不柰何。
賴得南泉能舉令，
一刀兩段任偏頗。
Both halls packed with phony monks,
kicking up smoke and dust, helpless to stop it.
Good thing Nanquan could give the order:
one stroke, two halves, let it fall as it falls.