公案 · kōan

68What's Your Name?

Introduction 垂示

掀天關,翻地軸,擒虎兕,辨龍蛇。須是箇活鱍鱍漢,始得句句相投、機機相應。且:從上來什麼人合恁麼?請舉看。

Tip the sky off its hinge, flip the earth off its axle. Grab tigers and wild oxen, tell dragons from snakes. You have to be a live wire of a man before every line clicks and every move lands. So tell me, who down the ages has ever pulled it off? Here's a case to test it.

仰山問三聖:「汝名什麼?」聖云:「惠寂。」仰山云:「惠寂是我。」聖云:「我名惠然。」仰山呵呵大笑。

Yangshan asked Sansheng, "What's your name?"
Sansheng said, "Huiji."
Yangshan said, "Huiji is my name."
Sansheng said, "My name is Huiran."
Yangshan roared with laughter.

Verse 頌

雙收雙放若為宗, 騎虎由來要絕功。 笑罷不知何處去, 只應千古動悲風。
Both seize, both let go — call that the way. Riding the tiger has always meant dropping all skill. The laughter ends. Where has he gone? Only to stir, a thousand years, a grieving wind.