Is the world real, unreal, both or neither? — Acharya Prashant on Zen Koan

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

THE SHORT STAFF

Shuzan held out his short staff and said,

“If you call this short staff, you oppose its reality.”

“If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact.”

“Now what do you wish to call this?”

Questioner: Acharya Ji, please help understand this Zen Koan.

Acharya Prashant: (Referring to the Zen Koan) You have to call it both.

You see, you are living as the bodied one, that identification does exist for you. Just as your material body is a fact, you cannot ignore the fact of the short staff — a short staff that a monk carries. So you cannot say, “No, this is not a short staff.” It is.

You have to respect the fact. But you cannot stop at the fact. It is a short staff only with respect to your body. How do you know that it is short? Would a little ant call it ‘short’? Would a little insect call it ‘short’?

If you were not the body, would the staff even exist for…