Searching For A Fire

This verse comes from the Mumonkan, a thirteenth century collection of Zen teaching stories compiled by the Chinese master Wumen Huikai. Attached to one of the collection's best known cases is a short poem about a man searching for fire while holding a lit lantern in his hand.

A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern. Had he known what fire was, He could have cooked his rice much sooner.

He never finds what he is looking for, not because the fire is hidden, but because he cannot recognise he already has it. The verse calls this a kind of blindness caused by something being too close, too obvious, too clear to see.

The torch in this illustration is switched on, its beam reaching into the dark. Unlike the lantern in the verse, the torch isn't fire itself — only light, one step removed from the original's irony. But the search is still unnecessary. Fire announces itself. If it were there to find, its own light would already show it. No beam required.

Searching for a fire.

Comfort Colors 1717. Garment-dyed, 100% ring-spun cotton, heavyweight construction.

Koan Cuts Collection — Stoic Samurai Society.