Wu-men Hui-k’ai (Jap., Mumon Ekai), 1183-1260; Chinese Ch’an (Zen) master of the Yōgi lineage of Rinzai Zen (Yōgi school); a student and dharma successor (hassu) of Yueh-lin Shih-kuan (Jap., Gatsurin Shikan) and the master of Shinchi Kakushin, who brought the Ch’an of the Yogi school and the Wu-men-kuan published by Wu-men to Japan. Wu-men, who is considered the most outstanding Rinzai master of his time, is today primarily known for having composed the Wu-men-kuan, i.e., for having compiled its forty-eight kōans and having furnished them with commentaries and “praises” (ju).
Wu-men was born in Hang-chou. Since Hang-chou had been one of the centers of Ch’an in China since the T’ang period, it is likely he came in contact with Ch’an at an early age and eventually sought instruction in it. His first master was Kung Ho-shang; later he came to Master Yueh-lin, who submitted him to strict training. He gave Wu-men the kōan mu, and Wu-men struggled six years with it without coming to a breakthrough. Finally he was so desperate that he swore not to sleep any more until he had solved the kōan. He uninterruptedly practiced zazen with this kōan. When he got sleepy, he went to the entryway of the meditation hall and hit his head against a wooden pillar in order to stay awake.
One day when the great drum was struck to indicate midday, he suddenly realized profound enlightenment. Then he wrote a poem, which begins with the words “Out of the clear sky with the sun brightly shining, suddenly a thunderclap . . . . “
After Master Yueh-lin had examined him and confirmed his enlightenment experience, he wrote another poem in a short verse form with five-syllable lines. It went as follows:
Mu Mu Mu Mu Mu
Mu Mu Mu Mu Mu
Mu Mu Mu Mu Mu
Mu Mu Mu Mu Mu
Later he was highly regarded throughout China as a Ch’an master. In 1288 he completed the Wu-men-kuan, with the Pi-yen-lu, one of the two most renowned kōan collections. In the following year it was printed for the first time.
Emperor Li-tsung appointed Wu-men abbot of a large Ch’an monastery near the capital in 1246 and conferred on him the honorific title of buddha eye.
Toward the end of his life, he withdrew to a small monastery in the mountains. Despite his fame and the deference and honor accorded to him on every hand, he remained until his death an extremely humble man, who continued to wear only a simple, coarse robe and, in the spirit of Pai-chang Huai-hai (Jap., Hyakujō Ekai) he always participated in the manual labor of the monastery. His death poem was as follows:
Emptiness is unborn
Emptiness does not pass away.
When you know emptiness
You are not different from it.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Books on Wu-men Hui-k’ai
External links