Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 15
Tōzan's Three Blows
The Gateless Gate
Case
When Tōzan came to study, Unmon asked where he had come from, where he spent the summer, and when he left. Tōzan answered, “Chadu,” “Baozi in Hunan,” and “the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month.” Unmon said, “I spare you three blows.” The next day Tōzan asked, “Yesterday you graciously spared me three blows. I do not know where my fault lies.” Unmon said, “Rice-bag! You go wandering through Jiangxi and Hunan like this?” At this, Tōzan experienced great awakening.1
Verse
The lion's way of teaching its cub is the secret of making it lose its way. As the cub means to leap, the lion has already turned. The matter strikes it head-on again: the first arrow was light; the second went deep.2
Footnotes 2
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 洞山三頓 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0294c23–p0295a10.
- 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
- bf27659caf12
Wumen's commentary
Unmon gave Tōzan the fodder due him and another road of living potential. Tōzan struggled all night in the sea of right and wrong; at dawn Unmon punctured it for him, and he awakened directly. Now: did Tōzan deserve the blows? If yes, every plant and tree in the monastic grove deserves them. If no, Unmon becomes a liar. Understand here, and only then can you breathe out for Tōzan.