公案 · kōan

37Guishan's Karmic Mind溈山業識

Introduction 示眾

驅耕夫之牛，拽迴鼻孔；奪飢人之食，把定咽喉。還有下得毒手者麼？

Drive off the plowman's ox. Yank the bull around by the nose. Snatch the food from a starving man's hands. Clamp down on his throat. Anybody here got a hand cruel enough?

溈山問仰山：「忽有人問：『一切眾生但有業識，茫茫無本可據』，子作麼生驗？」仰云：「若有僧來，即召云：『某甲。』僧迴首，乃云：『是甚麼？』待伊擬議，向道：『非唯業識茫茫，亦乃無本可據。』」溈云：「善哉。」

Guishan said to Yangshan, "Suppose someone comes and says, 'Every living being is nothing but karmic mind, a vast murky drift with no root to stand on.' How would you test him?"

Yangshan said, "If a monk comes along, I call out to him. When he turns his head I say, 'What is that?' Before he can scramble for an answer, I tell him: not only is karmic mind a vast murky drift, it has no root to stand on either."

Guishan said, "Good."

Verse 頌

一喚迴頭識我不？ 依俙蘿月又成鉤。 千金之子纔流落， 漠漠窮途有許愁。
One call, his head turns. Does he know me or not? Faint behind the vines, the moon hooks thin again. The rich man's son, the moment his fortune is gone, takes the dead-end road, and the grief has no end.