Gateless Gate

 

The Gateless Gate or The Gateless Barrier (Chin. Wu-wen kuan; Jap. Mumonkan)

The author is Chinese Ch'an master Wu-men Hui-hai (無門慧開 Mumon Ekai, 1183-1260).

 

English Translation

By late Zen master Katsuki Sekida (Two Zen Classics 26-137)

 

Original Chinese Text

The original Chinese text is taken from the following Japanese web site:

 

                  http://homepage1.nifty.com/poem-club/mumonnkan/mumonkanwoyomu.htm

 

The Chinese and Japanese texts in this web site are taken from the book titled Mumonkan, published in Japan by Iwanami Bunkõ.

 

Chinese Characters

Unfortunately a few Chinese characters were not given in this site. Luckily these characters are less than 1% of the text. Where there was a definition about these ideograms, they are entered them using Chinese system (Big 5). There are also ideograms that appear as mere black boxes, without any explanations. These are replaced with dummy characters (empty square boxes).

 

 

The Gateless Gate 無門關

Wu-wen kuan (Mumonkan)

 

Case 13 Tokusan Holds His Bowls     十三 徳山托鉢

 

 

Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen Mumonkan: The Gateless Gate

 

徳山、一日托鉢下堂。

One day Tokusan went down toward the dining room, holding his bowls.

見雪峰問者老漢鐘未鳴鼓未響、托鉢向甚處去、山便回方丈。

Seppõ met him and asked, "Where are you off to with your bowls? The bell has not rung, and the drum has not sounded." Tokusan turned and went back to his room.

峰擧似巖頭。 頭云、大小徳山未會末後句。

Seppõ mentioned this to Gantõ, who remarked, "Tokusan is renowned, but he does not know the last word."

山聞令侍者喚巖頭來、問曰、汝不肯老僧那。

Tokusan heard about this remark and sent his attendant to fetch Gantõ. "You do not approve of me?" he asked.

巖頭密啓其意。

Gantõ whispered his meaning.

山乃休去。明日陞座、果與尋常不同。

Tokusan said nothing at the time, but the next day he ascended the rostrum, and behold! he was very different from usual!

巖頭至僧堂前、拊掌大笑云、且喜得老漢會末後句。

Gantõ, going toward the front of the hall, clapped his hands and laughed loudly, saying, "Congratulations! Our old man has got hold of the last word!

他後天下人、不奈伊何。

From now on, nobody in this whole country can outdo him!"

 

Mumon's Comment

無門曰、若是未後句、巖頭徳山倶未夢見在。

As for the last word, neither Gantõ nor Tokusan has ever dreamed of it!

點將來、好似一棚傀儡。

When you look into the matter, you find they are like puppets on the shelf!

 

Mumon's Verse 頌曰

識得最初句 If you realize the first,

便會末後句 You master the last.

末後與最初 The first and the last

不是者一句 Are not one word.

 

Next chapter: Case 14 Nansen Cuts The Cat In Two

 

Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen Mumonkan: The Gateless Gate

 

 

 

Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Zen Mumonkan: The Gateless Gate

 

 
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