Fayan's "Fire God Seeking Fire"
Fayan was traveling with two monks. He pointed to a roadside shrine and said,
"
All of you, it is a fire god.
Why does it seek fire?" One monk said,
"The fire is itself." The other said,
"It draws fire when it is hungry, and stops when it is full." Fayan said,
"Both of you are wrong." Later, they arrived at a temple.
Fayan posed the question again to the head monk, who answered, "It is a fire god." Fayan said,
"I knew you would give that ghostly interpretation."
Reflection
Fayan's question about the fire god seeking fire is a classic koan of 'seeking what one already is.' The two monks give conceptual answers; Fayan rejects both. The head monk's reply ('It is a fire god') is dismissed as a 'ghostly interpretation' – a mere label. The koan forces us to recognize that we are the fire itself, yet we go looking for it. Any intellectual answer only reinforces the separation between seeker and sought.