The “Child” Cannot Be Found

　　找不著「孩子」

　　The bench where we sit to meditate in the Chan Hall is called the zhidan. We should prop our shoes up here. If we do not, the proctor may kick or step on the shoes when he moves back and forth in the Chan Hall. Then we may not find the “child” anymore. The Cantonese pronunciation for “shoes” sounds like that of “child” [in Mandarin]. The Japanese pronunciation sounds like the Mandarin word for “trousers.” Regardless of how we refer to them, in the Chan Hall you should prop your shoes up in front of the zhidan. There is no officer on duty during our Chan session. The officer on duty is someone who prepares the daily tea for everyone. Since we do not have that many participants, we have been quite casual, and furthermore, the place for drinking tea is not far from here. During our tea breaks we can all take a stroll to stretch ourselves and to relax a bit. I understand the situation fully.

　　禅堂裏打坐的位子叫止單，鞋要立在這個地方，如果不這樣立起來，監香從前面走過就會踩踏到，或被踢的找不著「孩子」了。廣東話叫鞋子是「孩子」，很好笑的是日本人叫它「褲子」。不管它是「孩子」、是「褲子」、是「鞋子」，你到禅堂裏都要把它立起來，立到止單的前面。我們打七沒有當值的，當值的就是給大家預備這一天所喝的茶。因爲我們人不太多，所以很馬虎的，並且喝茶的地方又離這兒不遠，趁著喝茶的時間散一散步，松弛一下、解放一下，這種情形我是都知道的。