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Tallahassee Chan Center Courses/The Gateless Barrier: Forty-Eight Lectures on Kōans
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The Gateless Barrier: Forty-Eight Lectures on Kōans

  • Course
  • 50 Lessons

"The Gateless Barrier" (Ch., Wumenguan; Jp., Mumonkan) is a thirteenth-century work that offers forty-eight entryways to wake up to your life. Each file is a remastered audio commentary on each case by Guo Gu, recorded from 2010 - 2014. Simplified versions of the talk has been edited into Guo Gu's book, "Passing Through the Gateless Barrier: Koan Practice for Real Life" (2016).
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Contents

Introduction

About this course
Preview

The Cases

Guo Gu has prepared a lecture for each of the cases in The Gateless Barrier.

Note to students: Guo Gu originally delivered these talks in non-numerical order. For the purposes of this class, they have been organized as originally presented in The Gateless Barrier. It is not necessary to listen to the lectures in order.

Though many of the cases begin with Guo Gu reading the chapter under discussion, if possible, students will benefit from having a copy of the book on hand while listening to each lecture.
Case 1 - Zhaozhou's Dog
Case 2 - Baizhang and the Wild Fox
Case 3 - Juzhi Holds Up a Finger
Case 4 - The Barbarian Has No Beard
Case 5 - Xiangyan is Up in a Tree
Case 6 - World-Honored One Holds Up a Flower
Case 7 - Zhaozhou's "Wash the Bowl!"
Preview
Case 8 - Xizhong Makes a Carriage
Case 9 - Great Penetrating and Supreme Wisdom
Case 10 - The Destitute Qingshui
Case 11 - Zhaozhou Discerns the Hermits
Case 12 - Ruiyan Calls His Master
Case 13 - Deshan Carries His Bowl
Case 14 - Nanquan Kills a Cat
Case 15 - Dongshan's Three Rounds of Blows
Case 16 - The Sound of the Bell, The Seven-Piece Robe
Case 17 - The National Teacher's Three Calls
Case 18 - Dongshan's Three Pounds of Flax
Case 19 - Ordinary Mind is the Path
Preview
Case 20 - A Person of Great Power
Case 21 - Yunmen's Dried Shitstick
Case 22 - Mahākāśyapa's Temple Flagpole
Case 23 - Not Thinking of Good or Bad
Case 24 - Apart from Words
Case 25 - The One from the Third Seat Preaches the Dharma
Case 26 - Two Monks Rolled Up Blinds
Case 27 - Not the Mind, Not the Buddha, No Things
Case 28 - Long Have We Heard of Longtan
Case 29 - Not the Wind, Not the Flag
Case 30 - Mind is Buddha
Case 31 - Zhaozhou Tests the Old Granny
Case 32 - An Outsider Questions the Buddha
Case 33 - Not Mind, Not Buddha
Case 34 - Wisdom is Not the Way
Case 35 - When a Beautiful Woman's Spirit Departs
Case 36 - If You Meet a Person Who Has Reached the Path
Case 37 - The Cypress in the Courtyard
Case 38 - A Water Buffalo Passing Through a Window Frame
Case 39 - Yunmen's "Your Words Fail"
Case 40 - Kicking Over the Water Jar
Case 41 - Bodhidharma Pacifies the Mind
Case 42 - The Girl Comes out of Samādhi
Case 43 - Shoushan's Bamboo Comb
Case 44 - Bajiao's Staff
Case 45 - Who Is He?
Case 46 - A Step beyond the Hundred-Foot Pole
Case 47 - Tuṣita's Three Barriers
Case 48 - Qianfeng's One Path

Postscript

In this final class, Guo Gu analyzes Master Wumen's afterword to The Gateless Barrier. He then offers a summary of the series, describes how these cases relate to the most pressing concerns of our lives, and instructs how we should continue to practice after this course.
Post-Commentary Lecture

Teacher

Guo Gu means the result of being a valley. It comes from the Chinese proverb, “To be humble as a valley.” A valley is humble because it is empty, resting at the lowest part of earth. Yet it is able to support and nourish all life forms. Guo Gu is the founder of the  Tallahassee Chan Center, the founder of the socially engaged intra-denominational Buddhist organization, Dharma Relief. He has been a close disciple of the late Master Sheng Yen (1931-2009) for more than 30 years; nine of which as a monastic.

He is the author of  The Essence of Chan (2012),  Passing Through the Gateless Barrier (2016), and Silent Illumination (2021). He is also an Associate Professor of Chinese Buddhism and Religions in the Department of Religion, Florida State University, USA. 

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