Yangshan’s Enlightenment (BS62)

KOAN:

[source: Hotetsu’s Zen Blog]

Jingzhao Mihu had a monk ask Yangshan, “Do people these days need enlightenment or not?”
Yangshan said, “It is not that there is no enlightenment. Yet how can it be helped that it falls into duality?”
The monk went back to Mihu and told him about it.
Mihu deeply agreed.

Prequel

A monk asked Jingzhao Mihu, “Do the eminent sages since antiquity arrive at the real truth?”
Mihu said, “Yes.”
The monk said, “If it’s the real truth, how can it be arrived at?”
Mihu said, “At the time when Huo Guang [Western Han politician] sold a phony silver city and gave the receipt to the chief of a foreign tribe, whose doing was this?”
The monk said, “I can only shut my mouth and say nothing.”
Mihu said, “On even ground you make people help out.”
He then sent the monk to ask Yangshan whether people these days need enlightenment.

Sequel

Jingzhao Mihu then sent the monk to ask Dongshan, “What do you have to say about that?”
Dongshan said, “You have to turn around and ask him, then you can find out.”
Mihu also agreed with this.

—Book of Serenity Case 62