You will remember we spoke of Keizan's less superior person and the use of the gong-ans, which, when correctly generated and used, perform the task of REFLECTION (Buddha's Vitakka).
However, the superior person obviously is capable of performing the normal direct advance of CAODONG ABSORPTION (Buddha's Vicara), without the necessity of first generating a verbal REFLECTION.
Let us look at that description of the Superior man.
"The zazen of the most superior person does not concern itself with questions about why the Buddhas appeared in this world.
He does not think about the excellence that even the Buddhas and Patriarchs cannot transmit.
When hungry, he eats; when tired, he sleeps.
He does not insist that all appearances are the self.
He stands above both Awakening and delusion.
Naturally and effectively, he just does right zazen.
And despite of this, the myriad things are not dualistically considered.
Even if differentiations would arise, the most superior person does not let them enslave him.
While in Caodong it is clear that the person who is capable of entering directly within the Becoming of Consciousness with the Last Conceptualization of the EXPERIENCE of Emptiness, not the Ultimate word description, will enter directly and dwell within. But this is not clear from the above description of Keizan.
However, it is evident that the Superior person, according to Keizan, dwells within his daily practice beyond word conceptualization, standing even above the cognitive concepts of Awakening and delusion.
Entering then within the sitting contemplation, having lived within the broad EXPERIENCE of cognitive emptiness, it is natural, unless the Experiences are specifically negated, that it is the Cognitive Experience (Vicara) which will present itself without previous instruction. This Experience of Emptiness will be then dwelled within during the Becoming of Consciousness.
What it is interesting to note here is that the Master Dogen makes no mention in the texts examined of this Superior person for whom entry is possible through the direct experience available.
Is it possible that it is Keizan's intuition that allowed him to restore that difference between the Last Conceptualization of the word concepts of Emptiness and the Direct Experiences?
This would make his contribution sufficiently great to generate the idea that he was indeed on equal footing with Dogen as a Patriarch, and that this position rested upon true Dharma merit, not upon social prowess.