Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 28
Long Heard of Ryūtan
The Gateless Gate
Case
Tokusan questioned Ryūtan late into the night. Ryūtan said, “It is late. Why don't you go down?” Tokusan lifted the blind to leave, saw the darkness outside, and returned: “It is dark.” Ryūtan lit a paper taper and offered it to him. Just as Tokusan reached for it, Ryūtan blew it out. Tokusan suddenly came to an understanding and bowed. Ryūtan asked, “What principle have you seen?” Tokusan said, “From today on, I will no longer doubt the tongues of the old monks under heaven.” The next day Ryūtan addressed the hall: “Among you is a man whose teeth are like a forest of swords and whose mouth is like a basin of blood. A blow from a staff will not turn his head. Someday he will stand on a solitary peak and establish my Way.” Tokusan brought his scriptural notes before the Dharma hall, raised a torch, and said, “To exhaust every subtle argument is like placing one hair in vast space. To drain the world's pivotal knowledge is like dropping one drop into a great ravine.” He burned the notes, bowed, and departed.1
Verse
Hearing the name is not as good as seeing the face; seeing the face is not as good as hearing the name. Though he managed to save his nostrils, what can be done about his blinded eyes?
Footnotes 2
- The notes are Tokusan's scholarly materials on the Diamond Sutra. Their burning belongs to the narrative's polemic; it is not generalized here into a rejection of study or texts. ↩
- 點心 means a light meal or snack; the woman separates it into 點, “point to/refresh,” and 心, “mind,” using the Diamond Sutra's three ungraspable minds against the scripture specialist. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 久響龍潭 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0296b19–p0296c16.
- 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
- c2d02ec764e3
Wumen's commentary
Before Tokusan left his region, resentment filled his mind and words struggled from his mouth. He came south intending to destroy the teaching separately transmitted outside doctrine. On the road in Lizhou he asked an old woman to sell him a snack. She asked what his cart carried. “Commentaries on the Diamond Sutra.” She said, “The sutra says past mind cannot be grasped, present mind cannot be grasped, and future mind cannot be grasped. Venerable, which mind do you wish to refresh?”2 Tokusan was struck speechless, but would not die beneath her words. He asked for a nearby teacher; she directed him to Ryūtan. On arriving, he exposed all his deficiencies—his earlier words did not answer his later ones. Ryūtan was like a parent too fond to notice an ugly child. Seeing Tokusan had a tiny ember, he hurriedly poured foul water over his head and extinguished it. Viewed coolly, the whole affair is a fine comedy.