Customer Reviews

The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan)

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(...) I was astounded to find that no reviews have been posted of this book. As the book jacket says, "The Gateless Barrier is generally acknowledged to be the fundamental koan collection in the literature of Zen."

These forty-eight koans were gathered together and supplied with commentary by the thirteenth-century Chinese master Wu-men. Leading off with Chao-Chu's famous Dog koan (Mu), these forty-eight "fingers pointing at the moon" are basic building blocks of Zen training.

American Zen master Robert Aitken has freshly translated Wu-men's text and supplied his own commentary, the first by a western master. Drawing on his own experiences as a student and teacher of Zen, as well as his extensive knowledge of the Zen literature, Aitken-roshi's commentary brings the reader deeper into each koan; rather than "explaining" or "solving", his words open each koan as a living question applicable and relevant to contemporary life.

Both Chinese and Japanese names are used throughout, and Aitken uses anecdotes from many original sources to breathe life into the ancient worthies whose koans have perplexed centuries of Zen students. You will find yourself perusing the bibliography and footnotes regularly, and if you're like me, anxious to get your hands on The Blue Cliff Record (another koan collection) and some of the other works Aitken refers to.

Highly recommended.

Don't get me wrong: I am still baffled by much of this material. But Aitken-Roshi has generously provided back-story, critical cultural context, and his own insight into these wonderful koans.

I have heard some say that the old koans are not relevant to modern American life. Whether or not you agree, I hope you will find the historical information and the deep mythology covered in this book to be as fascinating and as eye-opening as I did. For me, it was a joyous exploration of our ancient Zen tradition, and--even if we choose to update our practices--no harm can come from exploring the oldies. Aitken-Roshi certainly did some heavy research.

As with Batchelor's _Buddhism Without Belief_, I cherished the whole book, but one simple phrase stays with me:

"...when everything starts to get dark, and you know it will not get light again."

When I read that, I felt it down to the marrow in my bones! (Of course, this section addressed my own baggage. Your mileage may vary.)

The premier American Zen master, Robert Aitken Roshi has done a great service for all English reading Zen students by providing one of the very few commentaries compiled in English on this classic Zen text.

Robert Aitken Roshi, the elder Statesman of Zen Buddhism in the West and author of the perennial, Taking the Path of Zen, offers English reading students and practitioners a veritable gold mine of wisdom from a lifetime of practice and enlightenment on the path of Zen.

Developed and refined through decades of active and continuous teaching, Aitken Roshi's translation of, and commentaries on the forty-eight cases of this classic Zen koan collection subtly reveal the profound depths of the wisdom of Zen. This sincere Zen master offers us an inside view of the enlightened mind through his instructive, evocative, lucid presentations of the multi-faceted science of mind known as Zen.

Besides commentaries on all 48 cases, Aitken Roshi shares his wisdom on Mumon's "Preface", "Postscript", and "Cautions." His meticulous attention to authentic scholarship, one of the hallmarks of all of Aitken's work, provides readers with plenty of extra leads by the inclusion of detailed notes for each case. Also included are a sectional bibliography, lineage charts, Chinese-Japanese, and Japanese-Chinese equivalent tables, a helpful glossary, and more.