The Foundling

Once we take up the writings of Ch'an (Zen in Japanese) we will be conscious of having entered another world different from any other. The Foundling is the story of the legendary masters and semi-recluses named Feng Kan, Han Shan, and Shih Te who lived their lives outside the rules of mainstream Buddhist conventions and achieved a higher level of enlightened perception. Their historical authenticity is uncertain. What we actually know about these famous figures in paradoxical Ch'an tradition comes from their more than three hundred poems, the complete set of which has for the first time been translated into Western language.

Although they did repeatedly talk what seemed to be nonsense, this practice of entry into the world of absurdity was not nonsensical at all. Moreover, their "madness" was highly praised through centuries not only in China but in Japan, Korea, and in the other Asian countries. Why is this so? For anyone interested in throwing a clearer light on the mysteries of Ch'an studies, as well as to find out what actually was behind the exterior clumsiness and buffoonery of Ch'an masters, The Foundling ought to be made compulsory reading.