32Send the Stick Back勘辨

師聞第二代德山垂示云：「道得也三十棒，道不得也三十棒。」師令樂普去問：「道得為什麼也三十棒？待伊打汝，接住棒送一送，看他作麼生？」普到彼，如教而問，德山便打，普接住送一送，德山便歸方丈。普回舉似師，師云：「我從來疑著這漢。雖然如是，汝還見德山麼？」普擬議，師便打。

Linji heard that Deshan, the second to hold that name, had told his monks: "Say something, thirty blows. Say nothing, thirty blows."

So Linji sent Lepu over. "Go ask him: why thirty blows for the one who does say something? When he swings at you, catch the stick and shove it right back. See what he does."

Lepu got there and asked exactly as told. Deshan swung. Lepu caught the stick and shoved it back. Deshan simply turned and went back to his quarters.

Lepu came home and reported the whole thing. Linji said, "I always had my doubts about that man. Still, did you actually see Deshan?" Lepu hesitated, groping for an answer, and Linji hit him.

Pointer

Deshan was another ferocious Tang master, famous like Linji for swinging a stick instead of explaining. His line is a flawless no-win: speak and you get thirty blows, stay silent and you get thirty blows, and the airlessness is the whole point, because there is no safe square to stand on. Linji sends his student Lepu in as a scout with a counter-move ready: catch the stick and shove it back. Lepu does it, and Deshan simply walks back to his room, declining the contest. Then notice what Linji actually asks when Lepu returns. Not did the trick work, but did you see Deshan, did you take in who you were standing in front of or only run the play you were handed. The moment Lepu stops to assemble an answer he commits the one offense these masters never let pass, the hesitation, the calculating, so the stick lands on him too, at home this time.