76Shoushan's Three Phrases首山三句
Introduction 示眾
一句明三句，三句明一句。三一不相涉，分明向上路。且道：是那一句在先？
One phrase lights up three. Three phrases light up one. The three and the one never touch, and that is the road straight up, clear as day. So tell me: which phrase comes first?
首山示眾云：「第一句薦得，與佛祖為師；第二句薦得，與人天為師；第三句薦得，自救不了。」僧云：「和尚是第幾句薦得？」山云：「月落三更穿市過。」
Shoushan addressed the assembly: "Get the first phrase and you can teach the buddhas and ancestors. Get the second and you can teach humans and gods. Get the third and you can't even save yourself."
A monk asked, "Master, which phrase did you get?"
Shoushan said, "Moon down, midnight, slipping across the marketplace."
Verse 頌
佛祖髑髏穿一串，
宮漏沈沈密傳箭。
人天機要發千鈞，
雲陣輝輝急飛電。
箇中人看轉變，
遇賤則貴貴則賤。
得珠罔象兮至道綿綿，
游刃亡牛兮赤心片片。
The skulls of buddhas and ancestors, strung on a single thread;
deep in the palace the water clock fires its hidden arrow.
The trigger of gods and men lets fly a thousand tons;
ranks of cloud flash bright, lightning gone in a blink.
The one inside watches it turn and change:
meet the cheap and it turns precious, the precious and it turns cheap.
The formless one recovered the pearl, and the Way runs on and on.
The blade plays where the ox is gone, the bare red heart, piece by piece.