Dirac equation(natural units)

${\displaystyle (i{\partial \!\!\!{\big /}}-m)\psi =0}$

胡子無鬚

或庵曰。西天胡子。因甚無鬚。

無門曰。參須實參。悟須實悟。者箇胡子。直須親見一回始得。說親見。早成兩箇。

頌曰。癡人面前 / 不可說夢 /胡子無鬚 / 惺惺添懵

PR. A Beardless Foreigner

Wakuan complained when he saw a picture of bearded Bodhidharma: "Why hasn't that fellow a beard?"

Mumon’s comment: If you want to study Zen, you must study it with your heart. When you attain realization, it must be true realization. You yourself must have the face of the great Bodhidharma to see him. Just one such glimpse will be enough. But if you say you met him, you never saw him at all.

One should not discuss a dream/In front of a simpleton./Why has Bodhidharma no beard?/What an absurd question!

RHB. Wakuan's "Why No Beard?"

Wakuan said, "Why has the Western Barbarian no beard?"

Commentary: If you study Zen, you must really study it. If you become enlightened it must be the real enlightenment. If you once see the barbarian's real face intimately, then you have at last got "it". But when you explain what you saw, you have already fallen into relativity.

Before a fool,/Do not expound your dream./The beardless barbarian,-/It is adding obscurity to clarity!

ZS. The foreigner has no beard

Wakuan said, "Why has the foreigner from the West no beard?”

Mumon's commentary: Training in Zen has to be real training. Satori has to be real satori. You have to see this foreigner here clearly yourself; then you actually know him. If, however, you talk about "clearly seeing," you have already fallen into a dichotomy.

In front of a fool/talk of no dream./The foreigner has no beard:/it is adding stupidity to clarity.

KS. The Western Barbarian with No Beard

Wakuan said, "Why has the Western Barbarian no beard?"

Mumon's Comment: Study should be real study, enlightenment should be real enlightenment. You should once meet this barbarian directly to be really intimate with him. But saying you are really intimate with him already divides you into two.

Don't discuss your dream/Before a fool./Barbarian with no beard./Obscures the clarity.

RA. Huo-an’s Beardless Barbarian

Huo-an asked, “Why has the Western Barbarian no beard?”

Wu-men’s Comment: Practice must be true practice. Satori must be true satori. Once you see the Barbarian’s face intimately, at first hand, you have it at last. But when you explain this experience, you immediately fall into dualism.

Don’t discuss your dream/before a fool—/Barbarian with no beard!/That obscures the clarity.

TC. The Foreigner Has No Whiskers

Huo-an said, "Why has the Foreigner from the West no whiskers?"

Wumen says Study must be genuine study, enlightenment must be real enlightenment. This foreigner must be seen in person before you can understand; but when you talk about a personal meeting, there's already a dichotomy.

Wumen's Verse: In the presence of an ignoramus,/Do not talk about a dream./The foreigner having no whiskers/Adds obscurity to awareness.

KY. The Barbarian Has No Beard

Wakuan said, “Why has the western barbarian no beard?”

Mumon's Commentary: If you practice Zen, you must actually practice it. If you become enlightened, it must be the real experience of enlightenment. You see this barbarian once face to face; then for the first time, you will be able to acknowledge him. But if you say that you see him face to face, in that instant there is a division into two.

In front of a fool/Do not talk about dreams;/The barbarian has no beard:/It's adding obscurity to clarity.

JCC. The Barbarian Has No Beard

Huoyan said, “Why does the Indian barbarian have no beard?” [Why do enlightened teachers, and the enlightened true identity within us, have no fixed, predictable characteristics by which we may recognize them?]

Wumen said Study must be a real study. Awakening must be a real awakening. For this, you must see the barbarian in person. But when I say “see in person,” it has already become dualistic.

In front of fools,/We must not speak of dreams./“The barbarian has no beard”/Adds confusion to clear wakefulness.

WW. Mr Barbarian Without a Beard

Huoan said, "Mr Barbarian from the Western Heaven, why do you have no beard?"

Wumen Says: Meeting must be real meeting, awakening must be real awakening. (Alt. Meeting the beard is a real meeting, realizing the beard is a real realization.) Those who would encounter the barbarian son must see his beard intimately first hand one time and only then do they get it. But, if you speak about being intimate, you have already become two.

Before the face of a foolish person/You shouldn’t tell your dream,/“Mr Barbarian is beardless”/Is mouthing wakefulness.

DH. Western Barbarian No Beard

Master Doubt-Shrine Mountain asked: “Bodhidharma, the Western Barbarian with a red beard—how is it he had no beard?”

No-gate’s Comment: To penetrate depths, you must truly penetrate depths. To awaken, you must truly awaken. To meet the Barbarian, you must meet him eye to eye. Then, in that one moment, the two of you are indistinguishable. But say even so much as eye to eye, and already you’ve become two again.

You feel a fool facing him, with no idea/how to describe the dream. And this/Western Barbarian no beard stuff/only muddies all that startled clarity.

CD. Le barbare n’a pas de barbe

Huo’an (Wakuan) dit : « Pourquoi ce barbare venu de l’Ouest [Bodhidharma] n’a-t-il pas de barbe ? »

Commentaire De Sans-porte: Quand on s’applique à la résolution de ce cas, il faut s’y appliquer à fond. Quand on s’éveille, il faut s’éveiller réellement. Ce barbare, il faut le voir personnellement pour avoir quelque éveil. Dire qu’il faut le voir personnellement, c’est déjà tomber dans le dualisme.

En présence de l’imbécile,/Ne raconte pas ton rêve./Pourquoi le barbare n’a-t-il pas de barbe?/Cette question obscurcit ce qui était clair.

SU. The Bearded-Foreigner with No Beard

Huoan said, "The bearded-foreigner from India1, for what reason [does he have] no beard?"

Wumen said: Inquiry must be honest inquiry; awakening must be true awakening. This bearded-foreigner should be seen first-hand; only then will you obtain an answer—[but] speak of seeing first-hand, [and you have] established it as two parts.

When before an ignorant person,/you must not discuss a dream./The bearded-foreigner with no beard—/Clear-headed—increasingly muddled.

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1 (西天 xītiān also means "Western Heaven" in some forms of Buddhism, notably in the Pure Land tradition)

Notes: For 參 I went with the Buddhist "inquiry", although "participation" seems to be fine; I believe Wumen's issue, as the last line of the verse, is that Huoan's question is stupid/misleading and/or made in bad faith, so the first two lines of the commentary can reflect that a number of ways (just as 實 could be "honest" or "real").

一回: could be "at once"

"Intimacy" for the second 親見 "close-meeting"

兩箇: too big too young

Wumenguan Translation Comparison: Case 4

PR. Paul Reps. "The Gateless Gate" in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. 1934.

RHB. R.H. Blyth. Zen And Zen Classics: Volume Four: Mumonkan. 1966.

ZS. Zenkei Shibayama. The Gateless Gate. 1974.

KS. Katsuki Sekida. The Gateless Gate or The Gateless Barrier (Chin. Wu-wen kuan; Jap. Mumonkan). 1977.

RA. Robert Aitkin. The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-Men Kuan (Mumonkan). 1991.

TC. Thomas Cleary. Unlocking the Zen Koan: A New Translation of the Zen Classic Wumenguan. 1997.

KY. Koun Yamada. Mumonkan (Gateless Gate). 2004.

JCC. J.C. Cleary. Wumen’s Gate: Translated from the Chinese Taishö Volume 48, Number 2005. 2006.

WW. Gregory Wonderwheel. The Gateless Checkpoint of the Zen Lineage Chan Zong Wumen Guan (J. Zen Shu Mumonkan). 2007-8.

DH. David Hinton. No-Gate’s Gateway. 2018.

CD. Catherine Despeux. La Passe Sans Porte de L’école Du Dhyâna.

SU. surupamaerl. Personal amateur translation to get a sense of what characters are available to translate from and whether the other translations are respecting the source. As such, I will be translating as literally as I can manage.