Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 48
Kempō's One Road
The Gateless Gate
Case
A monk asked Kempō, “The Blessed Ones of the ten directions follow one road, the gate of nirvana. I do not know—where is that road?” Kempō raised his staff, drew a line, and said, “Here.” Later the monk asked Unmon for instruction. Unmon raised his fan and said, “This fan leaps up to the Heaven of the Thirty-three and strikes Indra on the nose. Give the carp of the Eastern Sea one blow, and rain pours down as from an overturned basin.”1
Verse
Before lifting a foot, you have already arrived; before moving your tongue, you have already spoken. Even if every move precedes the occasion, you must still know the opening beyond.
Mumon's postscript
From ancient times, buddhas and ancestors have presented occasions of responsive teaching and settled cases according to the particulars. From the beginning, they had no words left over. They pried open your skull and exposed your eyes because they wanted each of you to take it up directly, without seeking from anyone else. An adept who penetrates everywhere knows where a case lands as soon as it is raised. There is no gate through which to enter and no series of steps to climb. Such a person swings their arms and passes the barrier without questioning the guard. Have you not heard Gensha say, “The gate of liberation has no gate; the intention of the person of no intention has no intention”? Baiyun also said, “You clearly know it is simply this. Why can you not pass through?” Talk like this is itself like smearing red earth on cow's milk. If you pass through the Gateless Barrier, you have already treated Mumon clumsily. If you do not pass through it, you have also failed yourself. As the saying goes: “The mind of nirvana is easy to understand; discerning wisdom is difficult to clarify.” Clarify discerning wisdom, and household and country are naturally at peace. Respectfully recorded by the monk Mumon Ekai, eighth-generation descendant of Yangqi, five days before the end of the summer retreat in the first year of Shaoding [1228].2
Footnotes 2
- The Heaven of the Thirty-three is ruled by Indra (Chinese 帝釋). Unmon's sequence is deliberately extravagant; the translation does not force its fan, nose, carp, and rain into a fixed allegorical system. ↩
- “No gate” repeats the collection's governing pun: 無門 is both “gateless” and the compiler's name. Mumon's closing contrast distinguishes realization of nirvana from the discriminating wisdom required to function amid differences. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- 乾峯一路 — CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0299a01–p0299a26. Control for T48.0299a09: Keio 110X@509@1, PDF p. 29.
- 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
- 502948964deb
Mumon's commentary
One walks on the deepest ocean floor, sifting soil and raising dust. One stands on the highest mountain peak, making white waves surge to heaven. Holding fast and letting go, each extends one hand to prop up the ancestral vehicle. They look very much like two camels colliding. There should be no straightforward person in the world. Viewed with the true eye, neither old master yet knows where the road is.