MASTER HSING YUN'S TALK

Before going up the Tree:
One day, Ch'an Master Hsiang-yen Chih-hsien, from Shantung, was giving the following instruction in the preaching hall:      There was once a monk who wanted to attain enlightenment.  To do this, he stayed up in a tree solely by gripping a branch with his teeth.  He didn't grasp or step on any other branches.  Suddenly, someone from down below asked him, "What was the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"  If he didn't answer the question, he would violate his obligation as a monk to compassionately teach others. 
But if he did answer, he would fall and be killed.  Under such circumstances, what should he do?  All the monks who were present stared at each other, speechless.  Seeing that no one could answer the question, a senior monk named Hu-t'ou Chao stood up and said, "Suppose we don't pose the question from the perspective of the monk in the tree, but rather, before the monk climbed up the tree?  What would the Master say then?"
Master Chih-hsien laughed heartily and responded with a verse: A  fully-developed chick inside an egg felt its protective shell was now an obstacle;
It broke the shell from within, while the hen pecked it from outside. Later neither of them remembered how the shell was broken; But the whole process occurred in accordance with conditioned co production. Though all monks joined in the discussion, Only one presented an ingenious answer to the question.