The Gateless Gate · 12 of 48

12. Zuigan Calls His Own Master

Zuigan called out to himself every day: "Master."

Then he answered himself: "Yes, sir."

And after that he added: "Become sober."

Again he answered: "Yes, sir."

"And after that," he continued, "do not be deceived by others."

"Yes, sir; yes, sir," he answered.

Mumon's comment: Old Zuigan sells out and buys himself. He is opening a puppet show. He uses one mask to call "Master" and another that answers the master. Another mask says "Sober up" and another, "Do not be cheated by others." If anyone clings to any of his masks, he is mistaken, yet if he imitates Zuigan, he will make himself fox-like.

Some Zen students do not realize the true man in a mask Because they recognize ego-soul. Ego-soul is the seed of birth and death, And foolish people call it the true man.

Insight · 2

Zuigan calling himself Master, and answering, and then telling himself not to be cheated — it looks like eccentric performance, and Wumen's comment treats it that way, warning that imitation makes you fox-like. But under the puppet show is a real question. Who is the one calling, and who is the one answering? If you try to locate the answerer you find the caller, and vice versa. Meister Eckhart pointed at the same structure when he distinguished the soul from what he called the "ground" — something in you deeper than the self you habitually mean when you say "I." Zuigan is keeping that deeper layer awake by talking to it out loud.Eckhart on the 'Grund': Sermon 2 ('Intravit Jesus'); see Bernard McGinn, 'The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart.'

The verse ends with the warning that ego-soul is the seed of birth and death, and foolish people call it the true man. Wumen is doing something sharp here. He takes the very thing most religious students are trying to refine — their inner self, their soul, the "real me" — and says that refining it only deepens the bondage. It is the identification with the self-sense that keeps the cycle running. Advaita teachers use almost identical language. The "I" that you are polishing is the rope, not the climber.Ramana Maharshi's self-inquiry parallels; Wumen's verse on Case 12.