A Buffalo Passes Through The Enclosure

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Goso said: "When a buffalo goes out of his enclosure to the edge of the abyss, his horns and his head and his hoofs all pass through, but why can't the tail also pass?" Mumon’s comment: If anyone can open one eye at this point and say a word of Zen, he is qualified to repay the four gratifications, and, not only that, he can save all sentient beings under him. But if he cannot say such a word of true Zen, he should turn back to his tail. If the buffalo runs, he will fall into the trench; If he returns, he will be butchered. That little tail Is a very strange thing.

tr. Nyogen Senzaki, Paul Reps, 1934

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Commentator
  Wumen Huikai
• Speaker
  Zhaozhou Congshen

Lineage: Nanyue line

By Zhaozhou Congshen

• Joshu's Dogkoan
• Joshu Washes the Bowlkoan
• Joshu Examines a Monk in Meditationkoan
• Everyday Life Is The Pathkoan
• Joshu Investigateskoan

From Mumonkan

• Every Season Is a Good Season
• Preface to the Gateless Barrier
• The Wild Fox Koan
• Joshu's DogCase 1
• Hyakujo's FoxCase 2
• Gutei's FingerCase 3
• A Beardless ForeignerCase 4
• Kyogen Mounts the TreeCase 5
• Buddha Twirls a FlowerCase 6
• Joshu Washes the BowlCase 7

Sources

• contentMumonkan (Gateless Barrier) — Senzaki & Reps translation, 1934

  Nyogen Senzaki, Paul Reps (trans.)

  Case 37, Mumonkan

  Mumonkan case 37: A Buffalo Passes Through The Enclosure