Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 38
The Buffalo Passes Through the Window
The Gateless Gate
Case
Wuzu said, “It is like a water buffalo passing through a latticed window. Its head, horns, and four hooves have all passed through. Why can't its tail pass through?”
Verse
Passing through, it falls into a pit; returning, it is ruined. This little tail—how exceedingly strange!
Footnotes 1
- The four benefactions conventionally concern debts to parents, rulers, sentient beings, and the Three Jewels; enumerations vary. 三有 denotes conditioned existence across desire, form, and formless realms. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 牛過窓櫺 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0297c12–p0297c20.
- 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
- f05be99f7c4e
Wumen's commentary
If you can set one eye in place upside down here and give a turning word, you can repay the four benefactions above and aid beings in the three realms below. If not, you must begin by taking care of the tail.1