I see this Zen logic as an application of the “three Dharma Seals” in Buddhism. Specifically in relation to the “short staff”—
(1) it only becomes a “short staff” when it is cut from a tree or a longer staff and it will cease to be a short staff when it rots or burns or breaks isn’t two shorter staffs (impermanence); (2) it is only “short” in relation to other, longer staffs (interbeing) and (3) it would not exist without everything else in the universe from which it derives and to which it must return ( Nirvana, the Absolute, or God). Therefore it both is and is not a short staff. Does this make sense?