The Gateless Gate is real, Mumon defines it as the gate of zen, or Mu. It is seeing your true nature. Just see your true nature, amirite? That will be very hard. That’s because the Gateless Gate is like the final endgame boss of overcoming Barrierless Barriers. It will be hard for anyone to even understand, much less explain.
What is a Barrierless Barrier? It’s a mental obstacle 10,000 feet tall in your mind such as “I can’t do it.” It is Barrierless because it’s just in your mind, you can overcome it anytime you want. It’s a Barrier because it really does prevent you from accomplishing something.
Think back in your life, have you ever realized something that changed your life? Like before you thought “I can’t do it, I’m too scared” and then you were skydiving or doing your first backflip? That is just overcoming a Barrierless Barrier and you do it with fearless realization, not logic.
I will use a personal example of overcoming a Barrierless Barrier which changed my life.
My whole life I had been haunted by a Barrierless Barrier: “Why does everyone have a passion that makes them happy, but I don’t seem to have one? I have a lot of interests but other people seem so happy with some deep passion.”
A few years ago I was walking down the street surrounded by giant trees and I looked up at those trees and suddenly the Barrierless Barrier vanished. I sat down in the middle of the sidewalk and suddenly 20 things poured into my mind that I truly love and make me amazingly happy.
From that moment on, my life was changed. I never once again asked myself “Why, why, why” or “What should I do today?”
That Barrierless Barrier I had placed in front of myself was smashed via a single insight and like flipping a switch from 0 to 1, my day to day happiness was permanently changed.
———
Bringing this back to zen.
There are many Barrierless Barriers in all areas of life, such as “I can’t lift 200 lbs, I can’t start my own business, I can’t do a backflip off a waterfall, I can’t read books on the topic of zen”
Everyone creates their own Barrierless Barriers, but some very common ones in /r/zen and /r/Buddhism are probably:
- “Zen is nonsense, Zen is just quiet sitting with a peaceful mind, Zen is beyond words — so reading books on zen is pointless and I wouldn’t understand it anyways”
Actually, zen is just smashing every single Barrierless Barrier in your mind and then walking up to the final end game boss, Gateless Gate, and smashing that one too. When you turn around, Bodhidharma will be there giving you high 5’s, Joshu will set off the fireworks, and Bankei will be popping the champagne.
How will you overcome the Barrierless Barrier of reading books on the topic of zen?
https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Teaching-Bodhidharma-ebook/dp/B005EYXBGM/
https://www.amazon.com/Gateless-Gate-Classic-Book-Koans-ebook/dp/B003Z0CQRW/
https://www.amazon.com/Bankei-Zen-Translations-Record-ebook/dp/B00505UPNW/
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cliff-Record-Thomas-Cleary-ebook/dp/B00DMC5H8I/
Sometimes, like jumping from the top of a waterfall, you just have to run and jump clear of the edge. No time for take backs in mid air. Just plug your nose and read some books.
What Barrierless Barriers do you think you currently have in life and the study of zen?
Submitted May 11, 2019 at 10:58PM by chadpills http://bit.ly/2WDzS02
No comments:
Post a Comment