Wumen Huikai (; Wade-Giles: Wu-men Hui-k'ai; ) (1183–1260) was a Chinese

Chán Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song d ...

(Japanese: Zen) master during China‘s Song period. He is most famous for having compiled and commentated the 48-koan collection '' The Gateless Barrier'' (Mandarin: 無門關 Wúménguān; Japanese: 無門関 Mumonkan).Aitken, Robert: The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-men Kuan (Mumonkan. North Point Press, 1990, )

Early life and education

Wumen was born in

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

. His first master was Gong Heshang. Wumen received his spiritual education, also called

Dharma transmission In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' ('' kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha him ...

in Buddhist teaching, in the Linji line (Japanese:

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

) of Zen from Zen master Yuelin Shiguan (月林師觀; Japanese: Gatsurin Shikan) (1143–1217). Yuelin gave Wumen the

koan A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhist practice in different ways. The main goal of practice in Z ...

, a spiritual question, of " Zhaozhou’s dog", with which Wu-men struggled for six years before he attained realization. After Yuelin confirmed Wumen‘s understanding of it, Wumen wrote his

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

poem: :A thunderclap under the clear blue sky :All beings on earth open their eyes; :Everything under heaven bows together; :Mount

Sumeru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritua ...

leaps up and dances.

Career

In many respects, Wumen was the classical eccentric Zen master. He wandered from temple to temple for many years, wore old and dirty robes, grew his hair and beard long and worked in the temple fields. He was nicknamed "Huikai the Lay Monk". Wumen compiled and commentated the 48-

collection '' The Gateless Barrier'' when he was the head monk of Longxiang (Wade-Giles: Lung-hsiang; Japanese: Ryusho) monastery. At age 64, he founded Gokoku-ninno temple near

West Lake The West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. Situated to the west of Hangzhou's former Hangzhou City Walls, walled city, the lake has a surface area of , stretching from north to south and from east to west. In the lake are four ...

where he hoped to retire quietly, but visitors constantly came looking for instruction.Yamada, Koun (1979) Gateless Gate: newly translated with commentary by zen master Koun Yamada; Center Publications

Work

His teachings, as revealed in his comments in ''Gate of Emptiness'', closely followed those of

Dahui Zonggao Dahui Zonggao (1089–10 August 1163) (; Wade–Giles: Ta-hui Tsung-kao; Japanese: Daie Sōkō; Vietnamese: Đại Huệ Tông Cảo) was a 12th-century Chinese Chan (Zen) master. Dahui was a student of Yuanwu Keqin (Wade–Giles: Yuan-wu ...

(大慧宗杲; Wade-Giles: Ta-hui Tsung-kao; Japanese: Daei Sōkō) (1089–1163). The importance of "Great Doubt" was one of his central teaching devices. Wumen said, "... nderstanding Zen isjust a matter of rousing the mass of doubt throughout your body, day and night, and never letting up." In his comment on Case 1, Zhaozhou's dog, he called ''mu'' (無) "a red-hot iron ball which you have gulped down and which you try to vomit up, but cannot". Wumen believed in blocking all avenues of escape for the student, hence the "gateless barrier". Whatever activity a student proposed, Wumen rejected: "If you follow regulations, keeping the rules, you tie yourself without rope, but if you act any which way without inhibition you're a heretical demon. ... Clear alertness is wearing chains and stocks. Thinking good and bad is hell and heaven. ... Neither progressing nor retreating, you're a dead man with breath. So tell me, ultimately how do you practice?"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wumen, Huikai 1183 births 1260 deaths Chan Buddhist monks Chinese spiritual writers Chinese Zen Buddhists Rinzai Buddhists Song dynasty Buddhist monks Song dynasty writers Writers from Hangzhou

Early life and education

Career

Work

References

Further reading

External links