Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 21
Unmon's Dried Shit-Stick
The Gateless Gate
Case
A monk asked Unmon, “What is Buddha?” Unmon said, “A dried shit-stick.”1
Verse
A flash of lightning, a spark struck from stone— blink your eyes and you have already missed it.
Footnotes 1
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 雲門屎橛 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0295c05–p0295c11.
- 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
- 390209b7a2af
Wumen's commentary
Unmon may be said to live in a household so poor that even plain food is hard to prepare, with business so pressing there is no time even for a rough draft. Whenever anything happens, he brings out the shit-stick to brace the gate and prop up the door. Here you can see whether the Buddha-Dharma flourishes or declines.