Diebert van Rhijn wrote:A senior traveling monk called "Coiled Steve" walked into the Buddhist temple of Tiān Cái Lùn Tán. He noticed the renowned Patriarch Solway and Ch'an master Quinn standing at the entrance looking at the Ta-pao Mi-Lei-Fwo. He approached them and remarked:"Sirs, why is it that you never employ the known Koans?". There was no reply though and the two masters just kept gazing at the Ta-pao. After Steve left the Patriarch said to the Ch'an master the following words: "How to stimulate people's brains and wake them up from the sleep of concentrating on things like their breath or their mantra? How to force people to think instead of just sitting?"*
Ch'an master Quinn replied:"One can ever only simply offer an expression of emptiness, couched in words.*. It is the novelty and unexpectedness of the skilfully-introduced Koan which unsettles the mind and does its magic. *".
Mensa says: "One can ever only simply offer an expression of emptiness, couched in words"
This statement actually rings truth to it, as derogatory as it sounds. Only truth has sound no matter how it is expressed!
A nearby junior monk cleaning the floor hearing the words while casually eavesdropping suddenly attained great enlightenment.
