Seccho's Remarks in Verse

Blind, deaf, dumb! [--Even before any word is uttered.--The three sense-organs are perfectly sound.--Already finished is one paragraph!]

Infinitely beyond the reach of imaginative contrivances! [--Where do you wish to hunt for it?--Is there anything here which permits your calculations?--What relationship have they after all?]

Above the heavens and below the heavens! [--Perfectly free is the working of Truth.--Thou hast said!]

How ludicrous! How disheartening! [--What is it that is so ludicrous, so disheartening?--Partly bright and partly dark.]

Li-lou does not know how to discriminate the right colour. [--Blind fellow!--A good craftsman leaves no trace.--Blind to the very core!]

How can Shih-k'uang recognize the mysterious tune? [--Deaf in his ears!--There is no way to appreciate the greatest merit.--Deaf to the very core!]

What life can compare with this?--Sitting alone quietly by the window, [--This is the way to go on.--Do not try to get your livelihood in a cave of ghosts.--Break up all at once this cask of coal tar!]

I observe the leaves fall and the flowers bloom as the seasons come and go. [--What season do you think it is now?--Do not regard this as doing-nothingness.--Today, morning is followed by evening; tomorrow, morning is followed by evening.]

Seccho now remarked: "Do you understand, or not?" [--"Repeated in the gatha."I

An iron bar without a hole! [--Coming up with your own confession!--Too bad that he was released too easily,--"Then he struck."]