Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 44
Bashō's Staff
The Gateless Gate
Case
Bashō said to the assembly, “If you have a staff, I give you a staff. If you have no staff, I take your staff away.”
Verse
The depths and shallows of every quarter are all held in his grasp. Propping up heaven and bracing the earth, everywhere he raises the wind of the lineage.
Footnotes 1
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 芭蕉拄杖 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0298b23–p0298c01.
- 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
- 832f9e28879c
Wumen's commentary
It supports you across the water where the bridge is broken and accompanies you home to a moonless village. If you call it a staff, you enter hell like an arrow.1