59Qinglin's Dead Snake青林死蛇
Introduction 示眾
去即留住，住即遣去。不去不住，渠無國土。何處逢渠？在在處處。且道：是甚麼物，得恁麼奇特？
Leave, and it holds you back. Stay, and it drives you off. Neither leave nor stay, and it has no country to live in. So where do you meet it? Everywhere, always. Now tell me: what is this thing, that it can be so strange?
僧問青林：「學人徑往時如何？」林云：「死蛇當大路，勸子莫當頭。」僧云：「當頭時如何？」林云：「喪子命根。」僧云：「不當頭時如何？」林云：「亦無迴避處。」僧云：「正恁麼時如何？」林云：「却失也。」僧云：「未審向甚麼處去也？」林云：「草深無覓處。」僧云：「和尚也須隄防始得。」林拊掌云：「一等是箇毒氣。」
A monk asked Qinglin, "What about heading straight down the road?"
Qinglin said, "There's a dead snake across the main road. Better not step on it."
The monk said, "And if I do?"
Qinglin said, "It'll take your life."
The monk said, "And if I don't?"
Qinglin said, "Then there's nowhere left to dodge it."
The monk said, "And right at that moment?"
Qinglin said, "You've already lost it."
The monk said, "Where did it go?"
Qinglin said, "The grass is too deep to look."
The monk said, "Then you'd better watch yourself too."
Qinglin clapped his hands and said, "Same poison, all of it."