81The Deer Among Deer
Introduction 垂示
攙旗奪鼓，千聖莫窮；坐斷誵訛，萬機不到。不是神通妙用，亦非本體如然。且道：憑箇什麼，得恁麼奇特？
Snatch the flag, seize the drums: a thousand sages can't run him down. Cut off every tangle and trap, and not one working of the mind can reach him. This is no magic power. Nor is it the pure original nature. So tell me, what is he leaning on to pull off something this strange?
僧問藥山：「平田淺草，麈鹿成群，如何射得麈中麈？」山云：「看箭！」僧放身便倒。山云：「侍者，拕出這死漢。」僧便走。山云：「弄泥團漢有什麼限。」雪竇拈云：「三步雖活，五步須死。」
A monk asked Yaoshan, "Out on the flat grasslands, the deer run in herds. How do you shoot the king of them, the deer among deer?"
Yaoshan said, "Watch the arrow!"
The monk dropped to the ground, playing dead.
Yaoshan said, "Attendant, drag this corpse out of here."
The monk took off running.
Yaoshan said, "This fellow, playing in the mud. Where does it end?"
Xuedou remarked, "Alive for three steps, maybe, but dead by five." [Yaoshan stares, mouth open.]