[f119] Ganto (Yen-t‘ou, 828—887) was one of the great Zen teachers in the T‘ang dynasty. But he was murdered by an outlaw when his death-cry is said to have reached many miles around. When Hakuin first studied Zen, this tragic incident in the life of an eminent Zen master who is supposed to be above all human ailments, troubled him very much, and he wondered if Zen were really the gospel of salvation. Hence this allusion to Ganto. Notice also here that what Hakuin discovered was a living person and not an abstract reason or anything conceptual. Zen leads us ultimately to somewhat living, working, and this is known as “seeing into one’s own Nature” (chien-hsing). The Chinese Notes, [5.39].
[f120] Kō-ans (kung-an) are sometimes called “complications,” (kê-t‘êng) literally meaning “vines and wistarias” which are entwining and entangling; for according to the masters there ought not to be any such thing as a kō-an in the very nature of Zen, it was an unnecessary invention making things more entangled and complicated than ever before. The truth of Zen has no need for kō-ans. It is supposed that there are one thousand seven hundred kō-ans which will test the genuineness of satori.
[f121] Tsu-yüan (1226–1286) came to Japan when the Hōjō family was in power at Kamakura. He established the Engakuji monastery which is one of the chief Zen monasteries in Japan. While still in China his temple was invaded by soldiers of the Yüan dynasty, who threatened to kill him, but Bukko was immovable and quietly uttered the following verse:
“Throughout heaven and earth there is not a piece of ground where a single stick could be inserted;
I am glad that all things are void, myself and the world:
Honoured be the sword, three feet long, wielded by the great Yüan swordsmen;
For it is like cutting a spring breeze amidst the flashes of lightning.”
See Chinese Notes, [5.40].
[f122] That is, sitting cross-legged in meditation.
[f123] This lively utterance remind one of a lightning simile in the Kena-Upanishad (IV. 30):