Instruction:

Calm and intimate, the totally revealed truth is realized on the spot. Following the stream and turning things around, it is understood in that instant. In sparks struck from flint, in a flash of lighting, he sits and cuts off all delusions. While riding on the tiger's head and grasping its tail, he is a wall towering up a thousand feet. But putting this aside for the moment, is there a way of teaching others while allowing a narrow road or not? To test, I cite this. Look!

Case:

Dôgo and Zengen went to a house to express condolences. Zengen rapped on the coffin and asked, "Alive or dead?" Dôgo said, "I won't say alive and I won't say dead." Zengen said, "Why won't you say?" Dôgo said, "I won't say, I won't say!" On the way home, Zengen said, "Master, please tell me right away. If you don't, I'll hit you." Dôgo said, "Hit me, if you like, but I'll never tell." Zengen hit him. Later, after Dôgo passed away, Zengen went to Sekisô and told him this story. Sekisô said, "I won't say alive and I won't say dead." Zengen asked, "Why won't you say?" Sekisô said, "I won't say, I won't say!" With these words, Zengen had some understanding.

One day, Zengen appeared in the lecture hall with a hoe and walked from east to west and from west to east. Sekisô said, "What are you doing?" Zengen said, "I am seeking the sacred bones of our late Master." Sekisô said, "On the billows of the great ocean, whitecaps swell to the sky. What sacred bones of our late master are you looking for?" (Setchô commented saying, "Blue sky! Blue sky!") Zengen said, "That is good for my training." Daigenfu said, "The sacred bones of our late master still exist."

Verse:

Rabbits and horses have horns.

Oxen and rams have no horns.

Not even the most minute hair, not even the finest tuft.

It is like a mountain, it is like a peak.

The golden bones are here right now –

White waves rear up to the heavens –

There is no place for anything to stick.

With one sandal he returns to the West and is lost forever to view.

List of posted koans, and introduction to Hekiganroku