Shoyoroku - Case 41: Rakuho at His Deathbed

When he was about to die, Rakuho addressed his assembly and said,
  "I have one matter to ask you about. If you say 'yes' to this, you are
   putting another head on your own. If you say 'no,' you are looking for life
   by cutting off your head."
The head monk said,
  "The green mountain always lifts up its legs; you don't need to carry a
   lantern in the daylight." [1]
Rakuho said,
  "What time is this to utter such a saying?"
A senior monk named Genjo stepped forward and said,
  "Apart from these two ways, I beg you, Master, not to ask."
Rakuho said,
  "That's not enough. Say some more."
Genjo said,
  "I cannot say it fully."
Rakuho said,
  "I don't care whether or not you can say it fully."
Genjo said,
  "I feel just like an attendant who has nothing to respond to his master." [2]
That evening, Rakuho called Genjo to him and said, 
  "Your response today had something quite reasonable. You have to realize
   what our late master [3] said,
     'There are no dharmas before the eyes,
      Yet consciousness is before the eyes.
      IT is not the Dharma before the eyes,
      IT cannot be reached by eyes and ears.'
   Which phrase is the guest? Which phrase is the host? If you can sort them
   out, I will transmit the bowl and robe to you."
Genjo said,
  "I don't understand."
Rakuho said,
  "You must understand."
Genjo said,
  "I really don't understand."
Rakuho uttered a kaatz and said,
  "Miserable, miserable!"
[Another] monk asked,
  "What would you like to say, Master?"
Rakuho said,
  "The boat of compassion is not rowed over pure waves. It's been wasted
   labor releasing wooden geese down the precipitous strait [4]."


[1]: Most probably a saying formed by Rakuho himself.
[2]: Apparently an idiomatic expression meaning, "I can't describe it in words."
[3]: Rinzai or Kassan.
[4]: It was a custom that the boat rushing down the stream through a gorge
     released pieces of wood ahead as a warning so that a possible crash with
     the boat coming upstream could be avoided. These wooden chips were
     called "wooden geese."