Zhaozhou’s Greatest Way Isn't Difficult (BCR2)

KOAN:

Zhaozhou taught, “’The greatest way isn’t difficult if you don’t pick and choose.’ As soon as I speak, you’ll think, ‘That’s picking and choosing,’ or ‘That’s clear.’ But I don’t identify with clarity. Can you live like that?”
A student asked, “If you don’t identify with clarity, what do you live by?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you don’t know, why do you say that you don’t identify with clarity?”
“When you ask the question you already have it. Make your bow and step back.”

—Blue Cliff Record, Case 2 (based on a quote from 3rd Ancestor Sengcan‘s “Trust in Mind,” a foundational Chan text)