Readings of the Gateless Barrier

The Gateless Barrier is one of the most cherished yet also one of the most enigmatic Chan or Zen texts of East Asian Buddhism. Compiled by the Chinese Chan master Wumen Huikai in 1228, it contains forty-eight Zen stories of spiritual awakening called “public cases” or gong’ans (known as kōans in Japanese and kongans in Korean). This book presents a new English translation with close readings and creative analyses of the Gateless Barrier from both scholarly and practitioner perspectives, allowing a range of readers to venture into the rich world of Chan and Zen.

Specialist contributors offer insights on historical context, literary structure, philosophical implications, and gendered dimensions, as well as the embodied practice and contemporary experience of the stories in the Gateless Barrier. By bringing together academic expertise with experiential insight from Zen teachers, this book provides a grounded and nuanced account of how the Gateless Barrier has been—and continues to be—practiced and lived in China, Korea, Japan, and the West.

An innovative and sophisticated study, this book is ideal for university classroom use, and it also makes the Gateless Barrier accessible to other first-time readers, Buddhist practitioners, and scholars.

About the Author

Jimmy Yu is Sheng Yen Professor of Chinese Buddhist Studies at the Florida State University. His recent books include Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500–1700 (2012) and Reimagining Chan Buddhism: Sheng Yen and the Creation of the Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan (2021). Known as Guo Gu in Buddhist circles, he is also a Chan teacher and publishes under that name.

Contents

Introduction: The Gateless Barrier in Context, by Jimmy Yu
1. The Gong’an Tradition in the Gateless Barrier as a “Special Transmission Outside the Teaching,” by Albert Welter
2. Dahui Zong’gao and His Impact on the Gateless Barrier, by Jimmy Yu
3. The Gateless Barrier and the Locus of Truth, by Jin Y. Park
4. Paradox in the Gateless Barrier, by Robert H. Sharf
5. Testing, Contesting, Besting: Ambiguity in Gong’an Dialogues, by Steven Heine
6. A Gate of Their Own?: Women in Wumen’s World, by Natasha Heller
7. Public Cases in Korean Sŏn Buddhism, by Juhn Y. Ahn
8. From Secrecy to Openness: The Gateless Barrier in Premodern Japanese Zen, by Marta Sanvido
9. Kōan Kufū: Embodying the Kōan in Rinzai Zen Practice, by Meido Moore
10. On Kōan Training, by Jan Chozen Bays
Translation of the Gateless Barrier
A Survey of English Translations of the Gateless Barrier
Cross-Reference to Citations of the Gateless Barrier

Source: publisher’s website