23One Real Person示眾
師示眾云：「八百箇作佛漢，覓一箇道人難得。」問：「只如無佛無人處，還有修行也無？」師云：「除却者兩箇，有百千萬億。」學云：「道人來時在什麼處？」師云：「你與麼即不修行也。」其僧禮拜，師云：「大有處著你在。」問：「白雲不落時如何？」師云：「老僧不會上象。」學云：「豈無賓主？」師云：「老僧是主，闍黎是賓。白雲在什麼處？」問：「大巧若拙時如何？」師云：「喪却棟梁材。」
Zhaozhou addressed the assembly: "Eight hundred men playing at Buddha, and not one real person of the Way among them."
A monk asked, "What about the place where there's no Buddha and no person? Is there practice there?"
Zhaozhou said, "Subtract those two and you've still got billions left."
The monk asked, "When the person of the Way arrives, where is he?"
Zhaozhou said, "Talking like that, you're not practicing at all."
The monk bowed.
Zhaozhou said, "There's plenty of room to set you down."
A monk asked, "When the white cloud never settles, what then?"
Zhaozhou said, "I don't know how to climb up on the elephant."
The monk said, "But isn't there a host and a guest?"
Zhaozhou said, "I'm the host, you're the guest. So where's your white cloud now?"
A monk asked, "When great skill looks like clumsiness, what then?"
Zhaozhou said, "You just threw away the beam that holds the roof up."