The Gateless Gate/Dried Dung

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Koan number 21 out of 49 in this work (published 1228, translated 1934)

823786The Gateless Gate — 21. Dried Dung
Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps
Mumon

A monk asked Ummon: "What is Buddha?"

Ummon answered him: "Dried dung."

Mumon’s comment: It seems to me Ummon is so poor he cannot distinguish the taste of one food from another, or else he is too busy to write readable letters. Well, he tried to hold his school with dried dung. And his teaching was just as useless.
Lightning flashes,
Sparks shower.
In one blink of your eyes
You have missed seeing.