Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 6
The World-Honored One Holds Up a Flower
The Gateless Gate
Case
Once, at the assembly on Vulture Peak, the World-Honored One held up a flower and showed it to the gathering. Everyone remained silent. Only Venerable Kāśyapa's face opened in a faint smile. The World-Honored One said: “I possess the treasury of the true Dharma eye: nirvana's wondrous mind, the true form that has no form, the subtle and wondrous Dharma gate. It is not established in words and letters; it is separately transmitted outside the teachings. I entrust it to Mahākāśyapa.”1
Verse
He holds up the flower— his tail is already showing. Kāśyapa's face breaks open; humans and devas are at a loss.
Footnotes 2
- The compact doctrinal sequence is appositional: it characterizes one entrusted Dharma rather than listing independent objects. “Outside the teachings” translates 教外; “apart from Buddhist practice” or “beyond doctrine” would add implications absent from the line. ↩
- 黃面, “yellow-faced,” is an irreverent Zen epithet for Śākyamuni. The sheep-head/dog-meat proverb accuses a seller of advertising one thing and delivering an inferior substitute. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0293c12–p0293c25.
- 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
- e0c5f2d3e100
Mumon's commentary
Mumon said: Yellow-faced Gautama acts as if no one else were there. He passes off something fine as something cheap; he hangs up a sheep's head and sells dog meat.2 You might suppose there was something extraordinary here. But if the whole assembly had laughed at the time, how would the treasury of the true Dharma eye have been transmitted? And if Kāśyapa had not laughed, how would it have been transmitted? If you say the treasury can be handed on, the yellow-faced old fellow dupes everyone in the streets and lanes. If you say it cannot be handed on, why did he approve Kāśyapa alone?