禅Masters

Wumen Huikai

Wumen Huikai — portrait unavailable

Linji

Wumen Huikai

1183 – 1260

Lineage of Wumen HuikaiLinji school

Wumen Huikai (無門慧開, 1183–1260) was a Yangqi-line Linji master in the line descending from Yuanwu Keqin and the compiler of the *Wúménguān* (無門關, "Gateless Barrier" / *Mumonkan*), the most widely-read koan collection in the world after the *Bìyán Lù*[1]. The standard biographical account preserved in the lamp records describes a six-year period during which he worked exclusively on the koan "wu" 無 (Case 1 of his own collection) before his decisive opening, after which he wrote the verse "*A thunderclap under the clear blue sky! All beings on earth open their eyes*"[2].

Wumen compiled the *Wúménguān* in 1228 from forty-eight cases he had used as preaching material at the Longxiang-si in Hangzhou; each case is given a short prose commentary and a four-line verse, producing the compact and aphoristic style that contrasts deliberately with the multi-layered architecture of the *Bìyán Lù*[3]. The text was carried to Japan in 1254 by the Japanese monk Shinchi Kakushin, who had received Wumen's Dharma transmission, and through Kakushin's Hottō line and the Daiō-Daitō-Kanzan curriculum it became the canonical introductory koan collection of Japanese Rinzai training[4].

Names

dharma · enWumen Huikai
alias · enMumon Ekai
alias · jaMumon Ekai
alias · enWu-mên Hui-k'ai
alias · zh無門慧開

Disciples of Wumen Huikai 1 named

Teachers and lineage of Wumen Huikai

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Works

  • WumenguanWúménguān (The Gateless Barrier / Mumonkan)

    Song

    Wumen Huikai's 1228 collection of forty-eight kōans, each followed by his prose comment and a verse. Compact, demotic, and unornamented compared with the Blue Cliff Record, it became the standard kōan textbook of the Japanese Rinzai school and remains the entry point for most Western kōan curricula. Cases 1 ("Zhaozhou's dog"), 7 ("Zhaozhou's bowl"), and 19 ("Ordinary mind is the way") are among the best-known.

    tr. Nyogen Senzaki & Paul Reps, Public-domain Senzaki/Reps translation, 1934

Teachings

  • sermonThe Gateless Barrier (Preface)

    Buddhism makes mind its foundation and no-gate its gate. Now, how do you pass through this no-gate? It is said that things coming in through the gate can never be your own treasures. What is gained from external circumstances will perish in the end. However, such a saying is already raising waves when there is no wind. It is cutting unblemished skin. As for those who try to understand through other people's words, they are striking at the moon with a stick; scratching a shoe when the foot itches. What concern have they with the truth?

    Wumen Huikai

  • verseVerse on Zhaozhou's Mu

    Dog—Buddha nature! The full presentation of the whole truth. If you add or subtract even a hair, you lose your body and life. Wumen's comment: For the practice of Zen it is imperative that you pass through the barrier set up by the patriarchs. For this, your intention should be concentrated in one spot to the extent that it pervades every moment of your life. Concentrate on this one word 'Mu.' 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.

    Wumen Huikai

  • verseVerse on Juzhi's Finger

    Old Juzhi made a fool of Kotan, but the sharp blade couldn't be stopped. The deity raised his hand— and suddenly the mountain was divided into many folds. Wumen's comment: The enlightenment of Juzhi and the boy were alike, but not the same. If you want to know the difference, just hold up a single finger.

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbEvery Season Is a Good Season

    In spring, hundreds of flowers. In autumn, the moon. In summer, a cool breeze. In winter, snow. If useless things do not clog your mind, every season is a good season.

    Wumen Huikai

  • sermonPreface to the Gateless Barrier

    Buddhism makes mind its foundation and no-gate its gate. Now, how do you pass through this no-gate? It is said that things coming in through the gate can never be your own treasures. What is gained from external circumstances will perish in the end. However, such a saying is already raising waves when there is no wind. It is cutting unblemished skin. As for those who try to understand through other people's words, they are striking at the moon with a stick, scratching a shoe when the foot itches. What concern have they with the truth? In the summer of the first year of Jotei, Ekai was in Ryusho Temple and as chief monk led the monks, using the cases of the ancient masters as brickbats to batter the gate, and leading them on according to their type and capacity. The collection was made in a rather unmethodical fashion. It has forty-eight cases.

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbThe Gateless Barrier

    (traditional attribution)

    The Great Way has no gate — a thousand paths enter it. Once you pass through the barrier, you walk freely between heaven and earth.

    tr. Zen Lineage editorial

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbConcentrate on Mu

    (traditional attribution)

    Concentrate yourself into this Mu. Day and night without ceasing. When you reach the moment when concentrating itself drops, the gateless gate has opened.

    tr. Zen Lineage editorial

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbBare Sword

    (traditional attribution)

    Make your whole body into a great mass of doubt. Then bring out the sword called Mu. When the sword cuts cleanly, you cannot tell it from the cut.

    tr. Zen Lineage editorial

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbNo Snowflake Falls in the Wrong Place

    (traditional attribution)

    When the willow does not yet bend, the wind has not yet blown. Yet a single bend tells of the whole wind, and a single snowflake tells of the whole sky. Nothing is in the wrong place.

    tr. Zen Lineage editorial

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbA Painted Cake Will Not Satisfy Hunger

    (traditional attribution)

    A painted cake does not satisfy hunger. So the koan repeated to others does not feed the one who repeats it. Eat the cake yourself; the hunger does the rest.

    tr. Zen Lineage editorial

    Wumen Huikai

  • proverbNo Wonder Is Needed

    (traditional attribution)

    If you tell me the rain has fallen, I do not need a wonder. The wonder is the rain. The wonder is also the telling.

    tr. Zen Lineage editorial

    Wumen Huikai

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Master Record Sources

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  • death datehigh — multiple authoritative sources
  • schoolmedium — one authoritative source

7 supporting citations on record (see Sources above).

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