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

The Gateless Barrier is generally acknowledged to be the fundamental koan collection in the literature of Zen. Gathered together by Wu-men (Mumon), a thirteenth-century master of the Lin-chi (Rinzai) school, it is composed of forty-eight koans, or cases, each accompanied by a brief comment and poem by Wu-men.

Robert Aitken, one of the premier American Zen masters, has translated Wu-men's text, supplementing the original with his own commentary — the first such commentary by a Western master — making the profound truths of Zen Buddhism accessible to serious contemporary students and relevant to current social concerns.

• Author
• Robert Aitken

• Format
• paperback

• Pages
• 332

• Publisher
• North Point Press

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9780865474420

• Genres
• zen, buddhism, philosophy, spirituality, religion

• Release date
• 1991