Ten Thousand Feet Down (MK27)

KOAN:

a. In the Sea of Ise, ten thousand feet down, lies a single stone.
I want to pick up that stone
without getting my hands wet.

b. Here is the stone, inscribed with three lines:

1. The top line is a signature.
2. The right line reads, “Cannot get wet.”
3. The left line reads, “Cannot get dry.”

—PZI Miscellaneous Koans, Case 27

From an 8th century C.E. imperial Japanese song. The Shrine at Ise is the most sacred site of Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion. It is sacred to foxes. This is one of the few Japanese koans in the curriculum.