Jōshū's Great Radishes

Engo's commentary on the case

This monk had trained for a long time, and his question had an eye. But Jōshū was an expert: “Zhenzhou produces enormous radishes.” It is tasteless talk that stops people's mouths. The old fellow resembles a bare-handed thief. As soon as you open your mouth, he exchanges your eyes. A person of exceptional spirit, hearing it raised, acts directly amid fire struck from stone and lightning. Pause to think and you lose body and life. Cheng Sanshō of Jiangxi classified it as “asked east, answers west,” a nonanswer that refuses the monk's snare. Understand it that way and how could it be right? Recorder Yuan called it a “side-glance phrase” and included it among the Nine Belts.² Understand it that way and you have not even dreamed of it, while also implicating Jōshū. Some say Zhenzhou's great radishes were universally known, just as Jōshū's study with Nansen was universally known. Because the monk asked again about a known fact, Jōshū answered with another. This too has no connection. If none of these, how do you understand? His house has its own road running through the night. A monk asked Kyūhō, “I hear that you met Yanshou in person. Is that so?” Kyūhō said, “Is the wheat before the mountain ripe yet?”³ This precisely matches Jōshū's reply. Both resemble solid iron hammers without holes. Jōshū was a person with no affairs. Ask lightly and he exchanges your eyes. One who knows there is such a thing chews it finely before swallowing; one who does not is like swallowing a date whole. “Zhenzhou produces enormous radishes.” Take this as the ultimate model and you are wrong already. An ancient leads you by the hand up the high mountain, yet onlookers cannot avoid laughing. Everyone knows it as an ultimate phrase, but does not know its ultimate place. Thus Setchō says monks take it as their rule and know only antiquity and the present. How have they distinguished black and white? Setchō says you must distinguish the swan's white from the crow's black within fire struck from stone and a lightning flash. At this point the public case has been fully versified. Then Setchō brings out his own intent from the lively place: “Thief! Thief! Have you ever grasped a patch-robed monk's nostrils?” The buddhas of the three times are thieves; the patriarchs through the generations are thieves. They know how to steal and exchange people's eyes without revealing hand or foot. In this, Setchō grants Jōshū unique mastery. Where is Jōshū's skill as a thief? “Zhenzhou produces enormous radishes.”