Ch'an Buddhism, Selected  from The Transmission

　　　　   of the Lamp (New  York: Pantheon  Books, 1969),

　　　　   pp.51-53. It should be emphasized that my model

　　　　   is purely heuristic, and has no pretensions  of

　　　　   being exhaustive or comprehensive.

　　   (30) Shin'ichi  Hisamatsu, Zen  and  the Fine  Arts,

　　　　   Gishin  Tokiwa trans.( Tokyo : Kodansha Inter-

　　　　   national Ltd., 1971), pp.13-14.

　　　　　　　　　　　　  P.360

　　   dent beyond  the limits  of rational  discourse  and

　　   mundane  consciousness, poetry was apt spontaneously

　　   to spew forth.  Thus the Ch'an Master  would be able

　　   to  evaluate  the  student's  comprehension  of  the

　　   incomprehensible  by decoding images that might seem

　　   bizarre,  if  not  nonsensical, to  the  unawakened.

　　   Enlightenment  poems  themselves  also  came  to  be

　　   utilized  as kung-an, as were  the  death  poems  of

　　   great masters.

　　　　  Different  students  might  legitimately   offer

　　   quite  different   poetic  responses   to  the  same

　　   kung-an, while  simultaneously  revealing  the  same

　　   insight.  For example, the following poems were both

　　   equally  acceptable  replies to the kung-an known as

　　   Joshu's  'Oak in the courtyard':

　　　　  Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'

　　　　  Nobody's grasped its roots.

　　　　  Turned from sweet plum trees,

　　　　  They pick sour pears on the hill.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 -Eian

　　　　  Joshu's 'Oak in the courtyard'

　　　　  Handed down, yet lost in leafy branch

　　　　  They miss the root. Disciple Kaku shouts

　　　　  'Joshu never said a thing!'

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  -Monju-shindo(31)

　　   Despite   their   differing   contents,  both  poems

　　   demonstrate  that their respective authors have seen

　　   beyond the upaayic nature of the kung-an exercise to

　　   glimpse  the transcendental  truth  that  makes  the

　　   kung-an  itself  superfluous-like  the ladder pushed

　　   aside once the height  has been reached  or the raft