Mumonkan

CASE. 24 FUKETSU'S SILENCE AND WORDS A monk asked Fuketsu, "Without words or without silence transgressing, how can one be unmistakably one with the universe?" Fuketsu said, "I often think of March in Konan (Southern China). The birds sing among hundreds of flagrant flowers." Mumon's Comments: Fuketsu's mind was quick as lightning, snatching the road and walking on it. Regrettably Fuketsu was not able to sit on the words of the "ancestors." If anyone should penetrate into this, he would be absolutely free. Without words, without phrases, now say what Zen is. Fuketsu did not say such a fine phrase, Without uttering words, he already let it be known. If Fuketsu had become talkative, You do not know what to do.