Zen Koan – Hekiganroku – No. 41 – Zen Master Joshu and the Great Death

The Case

Zen master Joshu asked Tosu, "What if a man of the Great Death comes back to life again?'' Tosu said, "You should not go by night; wait for the light of day and come."

Engo's Introduction

When right and wrong are intermingled, even the holy ones cannot distinguish between them. When positive and negative are interwoven, even the Buddha fails to discern one from the other. The most distinguished man of transcendent experience cannot avoid showing his ability as a great master. He walks the ridge of an iceberg, he treads the edge of a sword. He is like the Kirin's horn, like the lotus flower in the fire. Meeting a man of transcendent experience, he identifies with him as his equal. Who is he?

Verse

Open-eyed, he was all the more as if dead; What use to test the master with something taboo? Even the Buddha said he had not reached there; Who knows when to throw ashes in another's eyes?