ZEN A HIGHERAFFIRMATION
buttellmewhatitis."Thefirstonereplied,"Itcannotbecalled
apieceofwood."TheAbbotdidnotconsiderthereplyquiteto
themark;thereuponthesecondonecameforward,lightlypushed
thepitcherdown,andwithoutmakinganyremarkquiedyleft
theroom.Hewaschosentobethenewabbot,whoafterwards
became"themasterofonethousandandfivehundredmonks".
Wasthisupsettingapitcheranabsoluteaffirmation?Youmay
repeat this act,but you will notnecessarily be regardedas
understandingZen.
Zenabhorsrepetitionorimitationofanykind,foritkills.
ForthesamereasonZenneverexplains,butonlyaffirms.Lifeis
factandnoexplanationisnecessaryorpertinent.Toexplainisto
apologize,andwhyshouldweapologizeforliving?Tolive—is
thatnotenough?Letusthenlive,letusaffirm!HereinliesZen
inallitspurityandinallitsnudityasweU.
In the monastery ofNansen monks ofthe eastern wing
quarrelledwiththoseofthewesternwingoverthepossession
ofacat.Themasterseizeditandliftingitbeforethedisputing
monks,said,"Ifanyofyoucansaysomethingtosavethepoor
animal, I will letit go." Asnobodycame forwardto utter
awordofaffirmation,Nansencuttheobjectofdisputeintwo,
thus puttingan end forever to an unproductive quarrellingover"yours"and"mine".LateronJoshu (Chao-chou) came
back from an outing and Nansen put the casebefore him,
andaskedhimwhathewouldhavedonetosavetheanimal.
Joshuwithoutfijrtheradotookoff"hisstrawsandalsand,putting
themonhishead,wentout.Seeingthis,Nansensaid,"Ifyou
werehereatthetimeyouwouldhavesavedthecat."
Whatdoesallthismean?Whywasapoorinnocentcreature
sacrificed? WhathasJoshu'splacinghissandalsoverhishead
todowiththequarrelling?DidNansenmeantobeirreligious
andinhumanbykillingalivingbeing?WasJoshureallyafool
toplaysuchastrangetrick?Andthen"absolutedenial"and
"absoluteaffirmation"—arethesereallytwo?Thereissomething
fearfullyearnestinboththeseactors,JoshuandNansen.Unlessthisisapprehended,Zenis,indeed,amerefarce.Thecatcer-
tainlywasnotkilledtonopurpose.Ifanyoftheloweranimals
is everto attainBuddhahood, thiscatwassurelytheone so
destined.
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