Zen Koan – Hekiganroku – No. 70 – Zen Master Isan “I Would Ask You to Say It!”

The Case

Zen master Isan, Goho, and Ungan were standing together in attendance on Hyakujo. Hyakujo said to Isan, "With your mouth and lips closed, how would you say it?" Isan said, "I would ask you to say it." Hyakujo said, "I could say it. But if I did so, I fear I should have no successors."

Engo's Introduction

A word is sufficient to the wise, as a flick of the whip is to a fine horse. One eon, one thought. One thought, one eon. What is immediacy? It is prior to words. Tell me, how do you attain to it?

Verse

"I would ask you to say it." The tiger has got a crest and sprung from the jungle! In the ten lands, spring is over. Eternal under the golden sun the fields of coral lie.