Suddenly the view, the frame, the box within which all was understood, shatters and collapses.
Zuigan asks his master Ganto a question. Ganto responds:
“If you ask, you’re lost. If you don’t ask, you’re lost.”
Master Sekito once told his student Yakusan:
“Words can’t touch it. No-words can’t touch it.”
Therein the Zen impasse. Not yes, not no. The great impasse of existence. The great binary: one or zero.
Zen must push us into this impasse, because it’s real. And from it the only escape out of yes or no is into infinity. From three dimensions to infinite dimensions. Or perhaps, to no dimension.
Suddenly the view, the frame, the box within which all was understood, shatters and collapses.