AN INTRODUCTIONTO ZEN BUDDHISM
whenitispressedhardforastatemenl.Therefore,Yengo(Yuan-
wu),commentingontheabove,hasthistosay:
"Isay,'ycs\andthereisnothingaboutwhichthisaffirmation
ismade; Isay,'no', andthereisnothingaboutwhichthisis
made.Istandabove'yes'and'no',Iforgetwhatisgainedandwhatblost.Thereisjustastateofabsolutepurity,astateofstark
nakedness.Tellmewhatyouhaveleftbehindandwhatyousee
before.Amonkmaycomeoutoftheassemblyandsay,'Isee
theBuddha-halland thetemplegatebeforeme, mysleeping
cell and living room behind.' Has this man an inner eye
opened? Whenyou can discriminate him, I will admit that
you really have had a personal interview with the ancient
sages."When silence does not avail, shallwe say, after Yengo,
"The gateofHeavenopensabove, and an unquenchedfire
burnsbelow"?Doesthismakecleartheultimatesignification
ofZen,asnotchokedbythedualismof"yes"and"no"?Indeed,
solongasthereremainsthelasttraceofconsciousnessastothis
andthat,meumettuum,none cancometoafiallerrealizationofZen,andthesagesofoldwillappearasthosewithwhomwe
havenothingincommon.Theinnertreasurewillremainforever
unearthed.Amonkasked,"AccordingtoVimalakirti,onewhowishes
forthePureLandoughttohavehismindpurified;butwhatis
thepurifiedmind?"AnsweredtheZenmaster:"Whenthemind
isabsolutelypure,youhaveapurifiedmind,andamindissaidtobeabsolutelypurewhenitisabovepurityandimpurity.You
want toknow howthis is to berealized? Haveyour mind
thoroughlyvoidinallconditions,thenyouwillhavepurity.Butwhenthisisattained,donotharbouranythoughtofit,oryou
getnon-purity.Again,whenthisstateofnon-purityisattained,
donotharbouranythoughtofit,andyouarefreeofnon-purity.
Thisisabsolutepurity."Now,absolutepurityisabsoluteaffirma-
tion,asit isabovepurityandnon-purityandatthesametime
unifiestheminahigherformofsynthesis.Thereisnonegationin
this,noranycontradiction.WhatZenaimsatistorealizethis
formofunificationinone'severydaylifeofactualities,andnot
totreatlifeasasortofmetaphysicalexercise.InthislightallZen
"QuestionsandAnswers"{Mondo)aretobeconsidered.There