[Original Text of the Koan]

When Yuanwu was studying under Wuzu, the patriarch said, “You are quite good in every way; you merely have a few faults.”

Yuanwu asked repeatedly, “I do not know what faults I have.”

The patriarch said, “Only that you have too much Chan.”

Yuanwu said, “I came precisely to investigate Chan. Why, then, do you object to people speaking of Chan?”

The patriarch said, “It would be much better simply to speak as one ordinarily does.”

At that time, a monk asked, “Why do you object to people speaking of Chan?”

The patriarch said, “Bah! Emotional entanglement.”

[Sawing Open the Scale Weight]

When Chan Master Foguo Yuanwu was studying Chan under Wuzu, Wuzu said to him, “You are quite good, but you still have a few faults.”

Foguo repeatedly asked, “I do not know what faults I have. Please, Master, compassionately instruct me.”

Wuzu said, “There are no other faults; it is only that you have too much Chan.”

Foguo was greatly surprised: “I originally came to investigate Chan. Why has speaking of Chan instead become a fault?”

Wuzu told him, “Must you insist on setting up a thing called ‘Chan’? How much better it would be simply to speak as one ordinarily does.” Ha, ha! Chan without Chan is true Chan. Wuzu had laid Chan out in its entirety.

At that time, a student monk did not understand: Wuzu was a patriarch of the Chan school, so why did he object to people speaking of Chan? He therefore asked Wuzu, who replied, “Bah! Emotional entanglement.” That is not good; it, too, belongs to the sphere of emotional consciousness.