A monk asked: “How does one get emancipated?”

The master said: “Who has ever put you in bondage?”

Monk: “What is the Pure Land?”

Master: “Who has ever defiled you?”

Monk: “What is Nirvana?”

Master: “Who has ever subjected you to birth−and−death?”

[…]

A monk asked: “What is the meaning of the First Patriarch’s coming from the West?”

Master: “Ask the post over there.”

Monk: “I do not understand you.”

Master: “I do not either, any more than you.”