Failure

Case 42 of the Wu Men Kuan describes a bizarre situation in which Manjusri - a first-order bodhisattva - fails to awaken a woman from samadhi, whereas a bodhisattva of the lowest order, Ensnared Light, awakens her with a snap of his fingers.

This post isn't concerned with that story, but with Wu Men's verse comment on the case. Here several versions of that verse:

Robert Aitken, Roshi:

One can bring her out, the other cannot;
both of them are free.
A god mask; a devil mask -
the failure is an elegant performance

Zen Master Seung Sahn:

Come out, not come out,
Both are already free.
God's head and demon's face.
The failure, how elegant.

Yamada Koun Roshi:

One can awaken her, the other cannot;
both have their own freedom.
A god-mask here and a devil-mask there;
Even in failure, an elegant performance.

Eiichi Shimomissé:

Whether the one who could bring her out of meditation, or the other who could not,
Both of them obtained freedom.
The one wore the mask of god, the other, a devil's mask in that theatre,
Even the failure is artistic indeed.

Gregory Wonderwheel:

Able to bring forth, not able to bring forth.
In a ditch, you are able to, by yourself.
A god's head and a devil's face,
In defeat and deficiency, be distinguished and accomplished.

Commentary
Wu Men's poem describes the world of discrimination and distinction (one could, one could not) as a place in which failure becomes elegant and artistic. Is that how you experience failure?

Source: Inspiration (and content) for this post came from Zen Master Wu Kwang's article, "The Elegant Failure" in the Fall 2008 Primary Point.
Photo: Waka