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Hyakujo's action, that by going deep he has found an ember, Isan must have gone deep into himself. He had been meditating, but must not have been going deep enough to find the living fire.
ISAN WAS SUDDENLY ENLIGHTENED.
It is very difficult for rational people to understand how enlightenment can be sudden. It is sudden if you understand how Zen masters create, out of every situation, some indication which cannot be said in words. In words he has said again and again, "Go deep!" But it can be only said; it all depends whether you go deep or not.
Hyakujo has to create a very clear-cut, existential situation to show Isan that he has not been going deep enough. And a simple thing -- finding the ember -- made Isan go as deep as possible within himself. In that silent night he found his inner fire; he became enlightened. It looks sudden. It is not so sudden -- years of studying, years of meditating. But at the right moment the master gives you a situation which will indicate to you what is missing.
He was not daring to go to the very center; otherwise how can you miss the living fire? You are alive! How can you miss your divinity, how can you miss your buddha?
ISAN WAS SUDDENLY ENLIGHTENED. HE BOWED DEEPLY AND RELATED HIS POINT OF REALIZATION TO HYAKUJO, WHO SAID, "YOU HAVE REACHED A CROSSROADS ON THE BUDDHA NATURE; YOU SHOULD OBSERVE TIME AND CAUSATION."
Even though he has become enlightened, he has to give roots to his enlightenment. Otherwise, it will remain only a faraway glimpse, soon forgotten, or maybe remembered only as an echo, miles away. Now you should water carefully the sudden flowering within you. Now you should keep watch around the clock that your treasure is increasing, that your inner sky is spreading wider and wider, that your wings are growing, that the time for the ultimate flight of the dewdrop to the ocean is coming closer.
Hyakujo said to him: "YOU HAVE REACHED A CROSSROADS ON THE BUDDHA NATURE; YOU SHOULD OBSERVE TIME AND CAUSATION."
Now, be watchful. What has caused your enlightenment is an ordinary, mundane thing. You should remember now that by going deeper, suddenly you became enlightened;
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