The Gateless Barrier or Gateless Gate (Japanese: Mumonkan) is a collection of 48 Zen koans used at the Rochester Zen Center. To learn more about the collection, see Wikipedia’s The Gateless Barrier.
The following are commentaries by Rochester Zen Center teachers, including Roshi Philip Kapleau and Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.
Case Number 4
Teisho by Roshi Kapleau: Mumonkan #3 “Gutei’s Finger”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:10 — 46.0MB)
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From October 1976 Sesshin, Day 4. Played on Founder’s Day – August 16, 2020. Teisho by Roshi Philip Kapleau.
Case Number 7
Mumonkan #7, “Joshu’s ‘Wash Your Bowl'”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:31 — 12.7MB)
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June 2019 Sesshin, Day 6
Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.
Case Number 8
Teisho by Roshi Kapleau: Mumonkan #8 “Keichu’s Cart”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:59 — 24.0MB)
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From November 1976 Sesshin, Day 5. Played on Founder’s Day – August, 18, 2019. Teisho by Roshi Philip Kapleau.
Case Number 9
Mumonkan # 9, “Daitsu Chisho Buddha”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:08 — 25.5MB)
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June 2022 Sesshin, Day 6
Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Transcript
Case Number 10
Mumonkan #10, Sozan and Poor Seizei
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:34 — 12.2MB)
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June 2021 Sesshin, Day 5
Working with spiritual poverty. Teisho by Roshi Amala Wrightson. Transcript
Mumonkan #10, “Sozan and Poor Seizei”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:42 — 12.2MB)
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July 2019 Sesshin, Day 6
Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.
Case Number 11
Mumonkan #11, “Joshu and Two Hermits”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:18 — 39.6MB)
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July 2023 Sesshin, Day 6
Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Automated Transcript
Case Number 13
Mumonkan #13, Tokusan Carries His Bowls
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:45 — 33.7MB)
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March 2023 Sesshin, Day 6
Mumonkan #13, Tokusan Carries His Bowls. Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn. Automated Transcript
Case Number 16
Mumonkan #16, “The Sound of the Bell”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:36 — 9.3MB)
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November 2021 Sesshin, Day 7
Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn. Automated transcript Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn. Automated Transcript
Case Number 17
Mumonkan # 17, “The National Teacher Calls Three Times”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:19 — 13.8MB)
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September 2021 Sesshin, Day 7
Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Automated Transcript
Case Number 19
Ordinary Mind is the Way, Case 19 in the Mumonkan
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:19 — 11.0MB)
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Looking for Truth in all the wrong places. Teisho by Sensei John Pulleyn. Automated Transcript
Case Number 23
Think Neither Good Nor Evil, Case 23 in the Mumonkan
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:56 — 14.3MB)
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A look at original vs. actualized enlightenment, Dharma transmission, aspiration, and our True Self as the “Face” behind the mask. Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Automated Transcript
Case Number 32
Mumonkan #32, “A Non-Buddhist Questions the Buddha”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:44 — 12.5MB)
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A non-Buddhist comes to awakening before the Buddha, sitting in silence, while his longtime disciple Ananda, standing in attendance, remains dumbfounded. How notions of identity can bind us. Who awakens? No one! Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.
Case Number 36
Teisho by Roshi Kapleau: Mumonkan #36 “Goso’s ‘No Words or Silence'”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:52 — 50.2MB)
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From June 1975 Sesshin, Day 7. Played on Founder’s Day, August 19, 2018. Teisho by Roshi Philip Kapleau.
Case Number 38
Teisho by Roshi Philip Kapleau: Mumonkan #38 “A Buffalo Goes Through a Window”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:10 — 59.7MB)
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From October 1975 Sesshin, Day 1. A commentary on the koan and the teacher- student dynamic. Played on Founder’s Day – August 20, 2023. Teisho by Roshi Philip Kapleau. Automated Transcript
Case Number 40
Zen Teacher Authorization
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:17 — 49.7MB)
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A look at the sanctioning next month of Donna Kowal and at my stepping aside, featuring Case 40 in the Mumonkan, “Kicking Over the Water Bottle.” Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Transcript
Case Number 48
Mumonkan #48, “Kempo’s One Road”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:07 — 10.8MB)
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November 2018 Sesshin, Day 7
Teisho by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede.