Once there was a famous Buddhist layman named Busol. He was a deeply enlightened man; his wife too was enlightened, and so were his son and daughter. A man came up to Busol one day and asked, 'Is Zen difficult or not?' Busol said, 'Oh, it's very difficult. It's like taking a stick and trying to hit the moon.'
The man was puzzled and began to think. 'If Zen is so difficult, how did Busol's wife attain enlightenment?' So he went and asked her the same question. She said, 'It's the easiest thing in the world. It's just like touching your nose when you wash your face in the morning.'
By now the man was thoroughly confused. 'I don't understand. Is Zen easy? Is it difficult? Who is right?' So he asked their son. The son said, 'Zen is not difficult and not easy. On the tips of a hundred blades of grass is the Patriarchs' meaning.'
Not difficult? Not easy? What is it then?' So the man went to the daughter and asked her. "Your father, your mother, and your brother all gave me different answers. Who is right?' She said, 'If you make difficult, it is difficult.
If you make easy, it is easy. But if you don't think, the truth is just as it is. Tell me now —how are you keeping your mind at this very moment?'
The man was totally confused. Suddenly the daughter hit him and said, 'Where are difficult and easy now?' He understood. 'So you mustn't think that Zen is difficult or that it is easy. Zen is just as it is."
