Kōhō (Kao-fêng, 1238–1285)[5.30] was one of the great masters in the latter part of the Sung dynasty. When his master first let him attend to the “Jōshu’s Mu,”[f115][5.31] he exerted himself hard on the problem. One day his master, Setsugan (Hsüeh-yen), suddenly asked him, “Who is it that carries for you this lifeless corpse of yours?”[5.32] The poor fellow did not know what to make of the question; for the master was merciless and it was usually followed by a hard knocking down. Later in the midst of his sleep one night he recalled the fact that once when he was under another master he was told to find out the ultimate signification of the statement, “All things return to one”[f116][5.33]; and this kept him up the rest of that night and through the several days and nights that succeeded. While in this state of an extreme mental tension, he found himself one day looking at Goso Hoyen’s verse on his own portrait, which partly read,[5.34] “One hundred years—thirty-six thousand morns, This same old fellow moveth on for ever!” This at once made him dissolve his eternal doubt as to “Who’s carrying around this lifeless body of yours?” He was baptised and became an altogether new man. He leaves us in his “Goroku,” (_Sayings Recorded_) an account of those days of the mental strain in the following narrative: “In olden days when I was at Sōkei (Shuang-ching), and before one month was over after my return to the Meditation Hall there, one night while deep in sleep I suddenly found myself fixing my attention on the question: ‘All things return to the One, but where does this One return?’ My attention was so rigidly fixed on this that I neglected sleeping, forgot to eat, and did not distinguish east from west, nor morning from night. While spreading the napkin, producing the bowls, or attending to my natural wants, whether I moved or rested, whether I talked or kept silent, my whole existence was wrapt up with the question, ‘Where does this one return?’ No other thoughts ever disturbed my consciousness; no, even if I wanted to stir up the least bit of thought irrelevant to the central one, I could not do so. It was like being screwed up or glued; however much I tried to shake myself off, it refused to move. Though I was in the midst of a crowd or congregation I felt as if I were all by myself. From morning till evening, from evening till morning, so transparent, so tranquil, so majestically above all things were my feelings! Absolutely pure and not a particle of dust! My one thought covered eternity; so calm was the outside world, so oblivious of the existence of other people I was. Like an idiot, like an imbecile, six days and nights thus elapsed when I entered the Shrine with the rest, reciting the Sutras, and happened to raise my head and looked at the verse by Goso. This made me all of a sudden awake from the spell, and the meaning of ‘Who carries this lifeless corpse of yours?’ burst upon me,—the question once given by my old master.