Here is a sample, when he first meets the Fifth Patriarch:
3. Master Hung-jen asked me, ‘Where are you from? And what exactly
do you hope to get from me by coming to this mountain to pay your respects?’
I answered, ‘Your disciple is from Lingnan, a commoner of Hsinchou.
The reason I came all this way to pay my respects is I want to
be a buddha. I don’t want anything else.’
The Master scoffed, ‘But you’re from Lingnan and a jungle rat as
well. How can you possibly be a buddha?’
I replied, ‘People come from the north or south, not their buddha
nature. The lives of this jungle rat and the Master’s aren’t the same,
but how can our buddha nature differ?’
The Master was about to say something more to me. But when
he saw his attendants standing there, he didn’t say anything else
and sent me to join the sangha workforce. A novice then led me to
the milling room, where I pedaled a millstone for more than eight months.