Page 41

Mumonkan – The Gateless Gate

by Mumon Ekai Zenji

A monk asked Joshu, “Has a dog Buddha nature?”

Joshu answered: “No!”

Mumon Comment

In order to master Zen you must pass the barrier

of the Patriarchs. To attain this subtle realization

you must completely let go of your attachment to

thinking/feeling. If you do not pass the barrier

and do not let go of your attachment to thinking/

feeling, then you will be like a ghost clinging to

the bushes and weeds. Now I want to ask you,

what is the barrier of the Matriarchs/Patriarchs?

Why, it is this single word No! That is the front

gate to Zen. Therefore, it is called the “Gateless

Gate of Zen.” If you pass through it, you will not

only see Joshu face to face, but you will also go

hand in hand with the successive Patriarchs,

entangling your eyebrows with theirs, seeing with

the same eyes, hearing with the same ears. Isn’t

that a delightful prospect? Wouldn’t you like to

pass this barrier?

Arouse your entire body with its 360 bones and

joints and it’s 84,000 pores of the skin; summon

up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this

word No. Carry it continuously day and night. Do

not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a

relative conception of has or has not. It will be

just as if you swallow a red hot iron ball, which

you cannot spit out even if you try. All the illusory

ideas and illusive thoughts accumulated up to the

present will be liberated and, when the time

comes, internal and external will be

spontaneously united.