Case: Hyang Eom's "Up a Tree"

Master Hyang Eom said,

It is like a man up a tree who is hanging from a branch by his teeth; his hands cannot grasp a bough; his feet cannot touch the tree (tied and bound).
Another man under the tree asks him, "Why did Bodhidharma come to China?"
If he does not answer, he evades his duty (and will be killed). If he answers, he will lose his life.
If you are in the tree, how do you stay alive?

Mu Mun's comment:

Hyang Eom is a very bad man,
Spreading poison everywhere.
Monk's mouths made dumb,
Demons' eyes run through their bodies.

A Zen kong-an is a paradoxical story or statement used to test the clarity of a student's mind. Zen Master Seung Sahn has selected a representative group of kong-ans that he refers to as the "Ten Gates." He says that if you can answer these ten, then you can answer any other kong-an. The Fifth Gate, the famous "Hyang Eom's Up a Tree," is one of the most graphic illustrations of a kong-an. It is a "Kyung Chul Mun" type of kong-an, meaning "everything is stopped."