Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 7
Jōshū: “Wash Your Bowl”
The Gateless Gate
Case
A monk asked Jōshū, “I have only just entered the monastery. I beg you, Master, please instruct me.” Jōshū said, “Have you eaten your rice gruel?” The monk said, “I have.” Jōshū said, “Go wash your bowl.” The monk came to an understanding.1
Verse
Precisely because it is utterly clear, it makes his realization come late. Had he known from the start that a lamp is fire, his rice would have been cooked long ago.
Footnotes 2
- 叢林, literally “grove” or “forest,” is a conventional term for a Buddhist monastery or its resident community. The breakfast bowl belongs to the ordinary discipline of communal monastic life. ↩
- The Chinese does not simply praise the monk's awakening. Mumon juxtaposes Jōshū's radical openness with the monk's failure to hear accurately; the tension is retained rather than reconciled. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0293c26–p0294a05.
- 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
- 5424e469652a
Mumon's commentary
Mumon said: Jōshū opens his mouth and shows his gall; he lays bare his heart and liver. But this monk heard the matter falsely and called a bell a jar.2