{{short description|Chinese Zen master}} {{redirects|Wumen|the gate in Beijing|Meridian Gate}} {{Infobox religious biography | name = Wumen Huikai | image = | caption = | birth name = | alias = | dharma name = | birth_date = 1183 | birth_place = Hangzhou, China | death_date = {{death year and age|1260|1183}} | death_place = | nationality = Chinese | religion = Buddhism | school = Chan | lineage = Linji | title = Chan master | location = | education = | occupation = | teacher = | reincarnation of = | predecessor = Yuelin | successor = | students = | spouse = | partner = | children = | website = }} '''Wumen Huikai''' ({{zh|s=无门慧开|t=無門慧開|p=Wúmén Huìkāi}}; Wade-Giles: Wu-men Hui-k'ai; {{langx|ja|Mumon Ekai}}) (1183–1260) was a Chinese Chan (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).<ref name=ait>Aitken, Robert: The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-men Kuan (Mumonkan. North Point Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-86547-442-7}})</ref>

==Early life and education== Wumen was born in Hangzhou. His first master was Gong Heshang. Wumen received his spiritual education, also called Dharma transmission in Buddhist teaching, in the Linji line (Japanese: Rinzai) of Zen from Zen master Yuelin Shiguan (月林師觀; Japanese: Gatsurin Shikan) (1143–1217). Yuelin gave Wumen the koan, a spiritual question, of "Zhaozhou’s dog", with which Wumen struggled for six years before he attained realization. After Yuelin confirmed Wumen‘s understanding of it, Wumen wrote his enlightenment poem:

:A thunderclap under the clear blue sky :All beings on earth open their eyes; :Everything under heaven bows together; :Mount Sumeru leaps up and dances.<ref name=ait/>{{rp|4}}

==Career== In many respects, Wumen was the classical eccentric Chan/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".<ref name=ait/>{{rp|4}} Wumen compiled and commentated the 48-koan collection ''The Gateless Barrier'' when he was the head monk of Longxiang (Wade-Giles: Lung-hsiang; Japanese: Ryusho) monastery.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/Koans-WMK.html|title = Koan Studies - Wu-Men Kuan koans}}</ref>

At age 64, he founded Huguo Renwang Temple (護國仁王寺) temple near West Lake where he hoped to retire quietly, but visitors constantly came looking for instruction.<ref name=yam>Yamada, Koun (1979) Gateless Gate: newly translated with commentary by zen master Koun Yamada; Center Publications {{ISBN|0-916820-08-4}}</ref>{{rp|6, n2}}

==Work== His teachings, as revealed in his comments in ''Gate of Emptiness'', closely followed those of Dahui Zonggao (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, "...[understanding Zen is] just a matter of rousing the mass of doubt throughout your body, day and night, and never letting up."<ref name=yam/>{{rp|xlii}} In his comment on Case 1, Zhaozhou's dog, he called ''wu'' (無) "a red-hot iron ball which you have gulped down and which you try to vomit up, but cannot".<ref name=yam/>{{rp|14}}

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?" <ref name=yam/>{{rp|xliii14}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Cleary, Thomas (1993). ''No Barrier: Unlocking the Zen Koan''. Aquarian/Thorsons. {{ISBN|978-1-85538-324-1}} * Sekida, Katsuki (1995). ''Two Zen Classics: Mumonkan and Hekiganroku''. Weatherhill. {{ISBN|0-8348-0130-2}}

==External links== * {{Librivox author |id=10346}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wumen, Huikai}} Category:1183 births Category:1260 deaths Category:Chan Buddhist monks Category:Chinese spiritual writers Category:Chinese Chan Buddhists Category:Linji school Buddhists Category:Song dynasty Buddhist monks Category:Song dynasty writers Category:Writers from Hangzhou