The Gateless Barrier


The Gateless Barrier, sometimes translated as The Gateless Gate, is a collection of 48 Chan koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese master Wumen Huikai during the Song dynasty. The title has a double meaning and can also be understood as Wumen's Barrier; Wumen's name, which literally means "no gate", is the title's first two characters. Wumen's preface indicates that the volume was published in 1228. Each koan is accompanied by a commentary and verse by Wumen. A classic edition includes a 49th case composed by Anwan in 1246. Wuliang Zongshou also supplemented the volume with a verse of four stanzas composed in 1230 about the three barriers of Chan master Huanglong Huinan.
Since the Southern Song dynasty, the Chinese Buddhist canon has not included The Gateless Barrier, but Wumen's disciples brought the work to Japan, where it has been reprinted many times. It is collected in volume 48 of the Taishō Tripiṭaka. Along with the Blue Cliff Record and the oral tradition of Hakuin Ekaku, The Gateless Gate is a central work much used in Rinzai School practice. Five of the koans in the work concern the sayings and doings of Zhaozhou; four concern Ummon.
The common theme of the koans and Wumen's comments is the inquiry and introspection of dualistic conceptualization. Each koan epitomizes one or more of the polarities of consciousness that act like an obstacle or wall to the insight. The student is challenged to transcend the polarity that the koan represents and demonstrate or show that transcendence to the Zen teacher.

Structure and contents

The text was originally prepared by Wumen as a record of his teaching during a monastic training period held at Longxiang Temple in the summer of 1228. Wumen selected the 48 koans and commented on and added a verse for each koan.
As was customary in China at the time, an edition might have additions of text inserted by a subsequent owner or publisher. The best known version of the text is from the Japanese woodblock edition made from the 1246 manuscript edition that contains the following sections.
  • An untitled introduction by Chen Xun, publisher of the 1228 edition, written in the self-deprecating style of Chan humor.
  • An untitled dedication by Wumen to the Emperor and Empress. Works without such dedications were subject to Imperial censorship as being seditious.
  • An untitled foreword by Wumen followed by a verse on the title.
  • A table of contents with the title of each koan. However, the koans are unnumbered in both the table of contents and the body of the text and there are no page numbers in the text, so the table of contents is the list of the koan's titles in order of appearance.
  • The 48 koans presented in four parts consisting of a title composed of four characters, the body of the koan beginning with the name of the protagonist of the case, a comment beginning with the words "Wumen says", and a verse beginning with the words "The verse says".
  • An untitled afterword by Wumen that ends with the words "The end of the volume the Gateless Barrier."
  • An appendix believed to be written by Wumen titled "Zen Caveats" or "Zen Warnings" consisting of twelve one-line aphorisms about Zen practice written in the style of Zen contrariness that points to not falling for either side of dualistic thinking. For example, Zen is known as the school of Buddhism that does not stand on written words and one caveat says, "Neglecting the written records with unrestrained ideas is falling into a deep pit."
  • An appendix titled "Huanglong's Three Barriers" written by Wuliang Zongshou in the late spring of 1230 C.E. , 1002–1069, was a Zen master who promulgated three questions as one-line koans: "Everyone exists by a particular cause of birth. What is your cause of birth?" "How is my hand like the hand of Buddha?" "How is my leg like the leg of a donkey?" Wuliang wrote four four-line stanzas. Each of the first three stanzas comments on one of Huanglong's three questions and the fourth stanza is a summation. Wuliang writes that he penned the four verses to thank and commemorate Wumen's recent stay at Ruiyan monastery where Wumen was the visiting head teacher for the training period.
  • A short untitled addendum by Menggong written on the republishing of the work in the summer of 1245 C.E. It referred to Bodhidharma's famous Zen motto: "Not maintaining written words, but pointing directly to the human heart-mind to see one's own nature to become Buddha".
  • A 49th koan added by jushi Anwan dated the beginning of summer 1246, attributed to Wu'an and presented in the same format as the koans compiled by Wumen.

    List of chapters

The table below lists the 48 koans in The Gateless Barrier:
No.ChineseEnglish translation
1趙州狗子Zhaozhou's Dog
2百丈野狐Baizhang's Wild Fox
3俱胝豎指Juzhi Holds Up a Finger
4胡子無鬚The Barbarian Has No Beard
5香嚴上樹Xiangyan's Up in a Tree
6世尊拈花The World-Honored One Holds Up a Flower
7趙州洗缽Zhaozhou's “Wash the Bowl”
8奚仲造車Xizhong Builds Carts
9大通智勝Great Pervasive Excellent Wisdom
10清稅孤貧Qingshui, Solitary and Destitute
11州勘庵主Zhaozhou Tests the Hermits
12巖喚主人Rui Calls His Boss
13德山托缽Deshan Carries His Bowl
14南泉斬貓Nanquan Kills a Cat
15洞山三頓Dongshan’s Thirty Blows
16鐘聲七條The Sound of the Bell, the Monk’s Robe
17國師三喚The National Teacher Calls Three Times
18洞山三斤Dongshan’s Three Pounds of Hemp
19平常是道Ordinary mind is the way
20大力量人The Person of Great Power
21雲門屎橛Yunmen's Dried Shitstick
22迦葉剎竿Mahakashyapa’s Temple Flagpole
23不思善惡Without Thinking of Good or Evil
24離卻語言Apart from Words and Speech
25三座說法The Third-Ranked Monk Preaches the Dharma
26二僧卷簾Two Monks Roll Up a Curtain
27不是心佛Not the Mind, Not the Buddha, Not Things
28久響龍潭Long Have We Heard of Longtan
29非風非幡Not the Wind, Not the Flag
30即心即佛The Mind is the Buddha
31趙州勘婆Zhaozhou Tests the Old Woman
32外道問佛An Outsider Questions the Buddha
33非心非佛Not the Mind, Not the Buddha
34智不是道Wisdom Is Not the Path
35倩女離魂When a Beautiful Woman’s Spirit Departs
36路逢達道If You Meet a Person Who Has Consummated the Path
37庭前柏樹The Cypress in the Garden
38牛過窗櫺A Water Buffalo Passing through a Window Frame
39雲門話墮Yunmen: “You Have Said Something Improper”
40趯倒淨瓶Kicking Over the Water Jar
41達磨安心Bodhidharma Pacifies the Mind
42女子出定The Girl Comes Out of Samadhi
43首山竹篦’s Bamboo Comb
44芭蕉拄杖Bajiao’s Staff
45他是阿誰Who Is He?
46竿頭進步Step Forward from the Top of the Pole
47兜率三關Tushita's Three Barriers
48乾峰一路Qianfeng’s One Road

Zen Caveats

Wumen's afterword, titled "Zen Caveats", has one-line aphorisms dealing with Zen practice. The word zhēn means "caveat", "warning", or "admonition", but it also has the meaning of "needle" or "probe" and is sometimes translated as "Zen Needles". As with the main koans, each caveat challenges the Zen student's attachment to dualistic concepts, here those especially related to Zen practice.
  • Following the rules and protecting the regulations is binding oneself without rope.
  • Moving freely vertically and horizontally without obstruction is the way of outsiders and the nightmare army.
  • To preserve the heart mind and to purify it by letting impurities settle to the bottom in quiescence is the perverted Zen of silent illumination.
  • Neglecting the written records with unrestrained ideas is falling into a deep pit.
  • To be awake and not ignorant is to wear chains and shoulder a cangue.
  • Thinking good and thinking evil are the halls of heaven and hell.
  • A view of Buddha and a view of Dharma are the two enclosing mountains of iron.
  • A person who perceives thoughts as they immediately arise is fiddling with spectral consciousness.
  • However, being on a high plateau practicing samadhi is the stratagem of living in the house of ghosts.
  • To advance results in ignoring truth; to retreat results in contradicting the lineage.
  • Neither to advance nor to retreat is being a breathing corpse.
  • Just say, how will you walk?
  • You must work hard to live in the present and, to finish, all the more. I do not advise the unfortunate excess of continual suffering.