Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 25
Kyōzan Preaches from the Third Seat
The Gateless Gate
Case
Kyōzan dreamed that he went to Maitreya's dwelling and was assigned the third seat. A venerable struck the gavel and announced, “Today the third seat will preach the Dharma.” Kyōzan rose, struck the gavel, and said, “The Mahāyāna Dharma stands apart from the four propositions and cuts off the hundred negations. Listen closely! Listen closely!”1
Verse
In broad daylight beneath the blue sky, speaking a dream within a dream. Conjuring marvels, conjuring marvels— deceiving the whole assembly.
Footnotes 1
- The “four propositions” are affirmation, negation, both, and neither; “hundred negations” conventionally amplifies the rejection of proliferating logical alternatives. The sermon states this formula but does not demonstrate a formal calculation to one hundred. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 三座說法 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0296a21–p0296a29.
- 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
- 339ad6341be4
Wumen's commentary
Tell me: did he preach the Dharma or not? Open your mouth and you lose; close your mouth and you perish. Neither open nor closed—you are 108,000 miles away.