Attendant Kuo Serves Tea

Banshō's commentary on the case

Ordinarily Tokusan struck wind and beat rain, berated buddhas and cursed ancestors. This monk's offense covered the sky; why did Tokusan let him pass? Little did they know: felling an ox requires no rope, killing a person requires no knife. When had he ever let him pass? Old Huanglong said, “Tokusan played deaf and acted mute. Though he secretly gained an advantage, Master Kuo covered his ears while stealing a bell—what can he do about looking ugly to bystanders?” Banshō says: it was more than stealing a bell. It was like descending to the ninth level of an abyss and prying a pearl from beneath the black dragon's jaw just as the dragon slept. If it awakened, he would certainly be minced to paste.³ Zhe of Dawei said, “Unless one climbs Dragon Gate, how can one know the blue sea's breadth? Even if waves strike a thousand fathoms high, what can be done when the dragon king pays no attention?” Banshō says: a fine scale or fragment of armor is not enough to wonder at. Foguo said, “Tokusan truly had rough hands and feet. He saw that this monk was not a person who would submit to drill and hammer, and therefore stopped.” Banshō says: when the ancients encountered things and met the occasion, each had adaptive means. Tokusan told Gantō, “Later you will defecate on this old monk's head.” Later Gantō indeed said, “Great Tokusan did not understand the final phrase.”⁴ How could the ancients' pressing down and raising up, releasing and taking away, be confined by gain and loss, victory and defeat? Huanglong and Dawei raised only the broad outline. Look further at Tendō versifying the deep details. “Where have all the sages from antiquity gone?” This greatly resembles passing them by face to face. Tokusan said, “What? What?” Hiding his body in shadow grass, Tokusan brought out a mirror that dazzles the eyes. Long ago seven worthy women wandered in Sitavana, the charnel forest. One woman said, “The corpse is here; where is the person?” Another said, “What? What?” The women looked at one another and all awakened to the Way. In response, the Lord of Heaven scattered flowers in offering.⁵ Tokusan used this one mechanism to borrow a road and pass through. You must not understand it simply in that way. Thus the verse says, “Even sparks from flint and lightning would be slow.” How could Tokusan not know that the attendant would not let him pass? He set a lure to seek the pigeon, investing capital in pursuit of profit. Sure enough, he could not escape Kuo's shooting range. If someone suddenly asked Banshō, “Where have they gone?” I would slap him across the cheek and say, “Here.” I would directly make the flying-dragon horse and lame turtle draw in their necks and bunch their hooves; attendant and Tokusan would lose their points and become tongue-tied. Do you still recognize old Tokusan? In youth he once decided formations of dragons and snakes; worn out in age, he still listens to a child's song.