The precise meaning of this exchange will not be tackled here, but P'ang apparently came off on top. Now and then, however, P'ang seems to have been equaled or bested. There is a story of an exchange he had with one of the monks at Ma-tsu's monastery, named Shih-lin.
One day Shih-lin said to the Layman: "I have a question I'd like to ask. Don't spare your words."
"Please go on," said the Layman.
"How you do spare words!" exclaimed Shih-lin.
"Unwittingly by this discussion we've fallen into a snare [of words]," said the Layman.
Shih-lin covered his ears.
"You adept, you adept!" cried the Layman.11
Another time P'ang is reminiscent of Chao-chou in demonstrating that it is possible to hold one's own without the use of words.
The Layman was once lying on his couch reading a sutra. A monk saw him and said: "Layman! You must maintain dignity when reading a sutra."