Wumenguan Case One

A monk asked Jõshû, "Has a dog the Buddha Nature?" Jõshû answered, "Mu."

A. Joshu is someone who's name is worth seeing. B. Buddha Nature is...

Dahui's Original Shobogenzo:

National Teacher Zhong asked an imperial attendant monk, “What does ‘Buddha’ mean?” The imperial attendant said, “It means enlightened.” The National Teacher said, “Was Buddha ever deluded?”

I take deluded to mean not enlightened.

The imperial attendant said, “No.” The National Teacher said, “Then what’s the need for enlightenment?”

What even is a 'Not-The-Gate' Gate?

The imperial attendant had no reply.

Dahui said in his behalf, “If you don’t plunge into the water, how can you be promoted over others?”

A monk asked Zhaozhou, "Has a dog the enlightened nature?" Joshu answered, "There's no such thing."

Mumon's Comment

In order to master Zen, you must pass the barrier

The 'not-the-barrier' barrier?

of the patriarchs.

What makes it theirs?

To attain this subtle realization,

What makes it subtle?

you must completely cut off the way of thinking.

If you do not pass the barrier,

How can one 'pass' the 'not-the-barrier'?

and do not cut off the way of thinking, then you will be like a ghost clinging to the bushes and weeds.

Since when do ghosts cling to the bushes and weeds?

Now, I want to ask you, what is the barrier of the patriarchs?

Why, it is this single word "Mu."

How is it appropriate to translate all of the words except for this one?

That is the front gate to Zen.

The 'not the front gate' front gate.

Therefore it is called the "Mumonkan of Zen."

I literally just said that. In English.

If you pass through it, you will not only see Jõshû face to face but you will also go hand in hand with the successive patriarchs,

Successive means 'after'. Is that the right translation?

entangling your eyebrows with theirs, seeing with the same eyes, hearing with the same ears.

Isn't that a delightful prospect?

Why would I want that?

Wouldn't you like to pass this barrier?

Why would I 'like to' do something that isn't a thing?

Arouse

Feel

your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin;

I think that's hyperbole or a guesstimation for 'every single'

summon up a spirit of great doubt

If you tell me I'm doubting, am I still doubting?

and concentrate on this word "Mu."

'concentrate': Translation "Manifest this word with your entire existence"

It still seems utterly inappropriate that this word hasn't been translated. Nobody is going to run around concentrating on nonsense.

晝夜提撕、莫作虚無會、莫作有無會。

Carry it continuously day and night. Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of "has" or "has not."

No such thing.

如呑了箇熱鐵丸相似、吐又吐不出。

It will be just as if you swallow a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try.

No such thing.

蕩盡從 前惡知惡覚、久久純熟自然内外打成—片、如唖子得夢、只許自知。

All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated,

There is none.

and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united.

There is no such thing.

You will know this, but for yourself only, like a dumb man who has had a dream.

You will know that there is no such thing.

驀然打發、驚天 動地。

Then all of a sudden an explosive conversion

There's no such thing.

will occur, and you will astonish the heavens and shake the earth.

Literally there's no such thing.

如奪得關將軍大刀入手、逢佛殺佛、逢祖殺祖、於生死岸頭得大自在、向六道四生中遊戲三昧。

It will be as if you snatch away the great sword of the valiant general Kan'u

Who's that?

and hold it in your hand. When you meet the Buddha, you kill him; when you meet the patriarchs, you kill them. On the brink of life and death, you command perfect freedom; among the sixfold worlds and four modes of existence, you enjoy a merry and playful samadhi.

How about you stop telling me this stuff.

且作麼生提撕。

Now, I want to ask you again, "How will you carry it out?"

盡平生氣力擧箇無字。

Employ every ounce of your energy to work on this "Mu."

No.

若不間斷、好似法燭一點便著。

If you hold on without interruption,

How can that be interruption?

behold: a single spark, and the holy candle is lit!

Who does the lighting?!

Mumon's Verse 頌曰

狗子佛性 The dog, the Buddha Nature,

全提正令 The pronouncement, perfect and final.

That's a load of @#$&%^ if there isn't a decent translation

纔渉有無 Before you say it has or has not,

喪身失命 You are a dead man on the spot.

Therefore Wumen died either on the second line or before of this verse.

This Zen Master has been shown to be a liar. Oh wait, he says 'You'.

Watch this:

"It has"

"It has not"

Submitted November 07, 2018 at 04:08AM by seigando https://ift.tt/2qwHrHi