The Gateless Gate Quotes

“Every day Zuigan used to call out to himself, "Master!" and then he answered himself, "Yes, Sir!" And he added, "Awake, Awake!" and then answered, "Yes, Sir! Yes, Sir!"
"From now onwards, do not be deceived by others!" "No, Sir! I will not, Sir!"

”
― Mumon, The Gateless Gate: All 48 Koans, with Commentary by Ekai, called Mumon

“In spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon; In summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, snow will accompany you. If useless things do not hang in your mind, Any season is a good season for you.”
― Mu-mon, The Gateless Gate

“In spring, hundred of flowers;
In autumn, a harvest moon
In summer, a refreshing breeze;
In winter, snow will you accompany you.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is good season for you.”
― Wumen Huikai, The Gateless Gate: The Classic Book of Zen Koans

“If anyone tells you fire is light, Pay no attention. When two thieves meet they need no introduction: They recognize each other without question.”
― Ekai, The Gateless Gate

“If anyone thinks that the one's insight exceeds the other's, he has no eyes.”
― Ekai, The Gateless Gate

“It is too clear and so it is hard to see. A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern. Had he known what fire was, He could have cooked his rice much sooner.”
― Ekai, The Gateless Gate

“With the Great Death of realization—death to a life of abstraction and birth to intimacy with things as they are—the root of conceptual thinking is plucked out.”
― Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan

“This very mind is Buddha.’” Indeed. Don’t you know that the very word “Buddha,” the very words “Jesus,” “enlightenment,” “salvation,” “heaven,” “Lotus Land,” and the rest of them, all self-destruct? There are three phases in the lives of such concepts. First, they are meaningful; next they become brittle; and finally they break into pieces and disappear. That is because from the beginning they have been without essence. Use them, but don’t be used by them.”
― Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan

“Before the first step is taken the goal is reached. Before the tongue is moved the speech is finished. More than brilliant intuition is needed To find the origin of the right road.”
― Ekai, The Gateless Gate

“Getsuan said to his students: "Keichu, the first wheel-maker of China, made two wheels of fifty spokes each. Now, suppose you removed the nave uniting the spokes. What would become of the wheel? And had Keichu done this, could he be called the master wheel-maker?" Mumon’s comment: If anyone can answer this question instantly, his eyes will be like a comet and his mind like a flash of lightning. When the hubless wheel turns, Master or no master can stop it. It turns above heaven and below earth, South, north, east, and west.”
― Mu-mon, The Gateless Gate