The Gateless Barrier

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.