Zen Koan & Mysticism – Mumonkan – Case No. 3 – Zen Master Gutei’s Finger

The Case

Whenever master Gutei was asked about Zen, he simply raised his finger. Once a visitor asked Gutei's boy attendant, "What does your mast teach?" The boy too raised his finger. Hearing of this, Gutei cut off the boy's finger with a knife. The boy, screaming with pain, began run away. Gutei called to him, and when he turned around, Gutei raised l finger. The boy suddenly became enlightened. When Gutei was about to pass away, he said to his assembled monks "I obtained one-finger Zen from Tenryu and used it all my life but I did not exhaust it." When he had finished saying this, he entered in eternal Nirvana.

Mumon's Comment

The enlightenment of Gutei and of the does not depend on the finger. If you understand this, Tenryu, Gutei, the boy, and you yourself are all run through with one skewer.

Verse

Gutei made a fool of old Tenryu, Emancipating the boy with a single slice, Just as Kyorei cleaved Mount Kasan To let the Yellow River run through.