Tanka Time

Zen Master Tanka once said that Tokusan had not "awakened to entering the grasses and searching for people with his whole body soaked in muddy water," and that he was endowed with only one single eye (meaning he could only see things from one perspective).

Tanka entered the hall and said, "Tokusan spoke as follows, 'My doctrine is without words and phrases, and truthfully, I have no dharma to impart to people.' You can say that Tokusan knew how to 'go into the grass' to save people, but he didn't 'soak the whole body in muddy water.' If you look carefully, you see that he has just one eye.  But as for me, my doctrine has words and phrases, and a golden knife can't cut it open.  It is deep, mysterious, and sublime.  A jade woman conceives in the night." 

The truth might be beyond the words and symbols we use to describe it, but words and symbols are all that we have.  We shouldn't give up or quit due to the difficulties in front of us.

Tanka once asked a monk if he had eaten yet, and when the monk said that he had, he asked "Did the one who brought you food to eat have eyes or not?"

Has anyone looked into Tanka?