Excerpt from Garden Chrysanthemums and First Mountain Snow

 

from Part I: Questions and Answers with Zen Master Daewon

How should I follow a rugged road?

Go straight.

 

          

 

What is a practitioner supposed to do?

Whatever you do, never leave the royal throne.

 

          

 

What is the truth? And what is that which is without even a trace of truth?

Seven times seven is forty-nine.

 

          

 

What is the distance between father and son?

It is the distance between the sea and its salty taste.

 

          

 

Who is the one that knows neither good nor evil?

One who does not ask that kind of question.

Can this person know there is no such thing as transcendence?

(The master shows the answer with silence.)

Are you showing the answer to me now?

Have some tea.