Hakuun's Black and White

Hakuun, a Chinese Zen Master of the Sung dynasty, wrote a poem:

Where others dwell,
I do not dwell,
I do not go,
Where others go.
I do not shun
Humankind,
But Black and White
Must be defined.

Hakuun must have been a unique, creative and artistic person. He wanted only to be himself. The Gautama Buddha said, "Above the heaven and below the heaven, I alone am noble." So each one of us is the noblest in the universe. All are one and equal, yet each is free and independent. That is the way of Hakuun. Black is black and white is white; they cannot be compared. Each is absolute.