Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 3
Gutei Raises a Finger
The Gateless Gate
Case
Whenever anyone challenged Master Gutei with a question, he only raised one finger. Later, a boy attendant was asked by a visitor, “What essential teaching does the master expound?” The boy also held up a finger. When Gutei heard, he cut off the boy's finger with a blade. The boy went off, screaming in pain. Gutei called him back. The boy turned his head. Gutei, in turn, raised a finger. Suddenly the boy understood.1 When Gutei was about to die, he told the assembly, “I received Tenryū's one-finger Zen. I have used it all my life without exhausting it.” When he had finished speaking, he died.2
Verse
Gutei handled old Tenryū crudely; alone he raised a sharp blade to test the boy. The Giant Spirit lifted a hand—nothing much— and split Mount Hua's ten thousand ridges.3
Footnotes 3
- 童子 can mean a boy, youth, or young attendant and does not establish ordination. The text gives no age. The conventional image of a very small child is therefore not recoverable from the wording alone. ↩
- 順世 and 示滅 are Buddhist euphemisms for dying. The final English uses the ordinary verb because the surrounding Chinese formula, although respectful, does not require pseudo-scriptural English. ↩
- 巨靈 is the Giant Spirit or Giant Deity who, in early geographical legend, split Mount Hua so the Yellow River could pass. 無多子 is Song colloquial for “not much” or “nothing elaborate”: the cosmic feat is treated as a casual lift of the hand. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0293b10–p0293b22. Pilot controls: Waseda Bunko 31 E1103, PDF pp. 12–13; Keio 110X@509@1, PDF pp. 7–8.
- Method
- Direct critical-edition translation from the cited received base text. Source claims, hagiography, uncertainty, and unresolved readings remain identified in the notes and project record.
- Editorial uncertainty
- Independent philological and reader review remain pending.
- Rights
- Project translation © Tulsa Zen Center Critical Edition contributors. Source text is cited by edition; redistribution policy requires final organizational approval.
- Revision identifier
- 5936eecbbdb8
Mumon's commentary
Mumon said: The point at which Gutei and the boy understood was not on the fingertip. If you see it here, Tenryū, Gutei, the boy, and you yourself are all run through on a single skewer.