A monk asked Chan Master Dongshan, “What is Buddha?”

Dongshan said, “Three pounds of flax.”

[Wumen said]

Old Dongshan had realized a bit of clam-and-oyster Chan: he had only just opened the two shells and exposed his very guts. Yet, even so, tell me: where do you see Dongshan?

[Verse]

“Three pounds of flax” suddenly stands forth; the words are intimate, and the meaning more intimate still. Those who come speaking of right and wrong are themselves people of right and wrong.