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非風非幡 hifū hihan Not the Wind, Not the Flag

非風非幡, not the wind, not the flag: the Mumonkan's case 29, where the Patriarch says your mind moves and Mumon says not the mind either.

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Japanese Scroll of Not the Wind, Not the Flag (hifū hihan) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase
Not the Wind, Not the Flag非風非幡hifū hihan

Original art by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

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Abstract

非風非幡 hifū hihan, not the wind, not the flag, is the title of case 29 of the Mumonkan 無門關 (Chinese Wumen guan, The Gateless Gate), the collection of forty-eight cases that the Chan master 無門慧開 Mumon Ekai (Wumen Huikai) compiled in 1228, edited by his student 弥衍宗紹 [1][2][3]. The case tells of two monks arguing whether a temple's flag moves or the wind, and the Sixth Patriarch 慧能 Enō (Huineng) saying it is not the wind moving, it is not the flag moving: your mind is moving; Mumon's comment then goes one step further: not the wind moving, not the flag moving, not the mind moving [1]. The story is older than the book, told of Enō from 781 in words that change from text to text [4][5][6], and the four characters themselves are first found as a phrase, in the witnesses read, in a sermon of 普崇 of 阿育王山, printed in a lamp record compiled before 1208 [7][8]; and Mumon's not the mind was a Song teaching line before him [9][10]. Senzaki and Reps's The Gateless Gate of 1934 (read in the 1957 reprint), whose case title Yamada and Cleary also use, has no not the mind at all [11].

Overview

The sense. The case and its title deny two answers to what moves?: not the wind, not the flag [1]. The Patriarch's answer in the case is 仁者心動, your mind is moving; Mumon denies that too, 不是心動, it is not the mind moving, and asks where do you see the Patriarch? [1]. The title names only the first two denials and leaves the third to the comment. No general dictionary opened enters 非風非幡 (kotobank, Weblio, JMdict) [12]; the Buddhist dictionary of 望月信亨 Mochizuki Shinkō, in its printing of 1936, does: 公案の名 … 六祖惠能が風旙に寄せて諸法無自性の理致を垂示せるもの, the name of a kōan … in which the Sixth Patriarch Enō, by way of the wind and the banner, shows the principle that all things are without self-nature [13]. The 日本大百科全書 names the episode 風幡問答, the wind-and-flag dialogue, and place it at the temple 法性寺 in 676, where it won Enō recognition and his ordination [14]. The temple is today 光孝寺 in Guangzhou, where a Banner Hall commemorates the story [15].

The words. 非 hi is not: it is not. 風 fū is the wind. 幡, also written 旛, is a banner or flag; the 1921 Japanese translation explains the 刹幡 of the case as the flag a temple raises when the Dharma is preached [16]. The case itself writes the longer 不是風動, it is not the wind moving; the four-character title compresses it to the noun alone [1]. Two readings are printed. ひふうひはん, hifū hihan, is the ruby of a haikai commentary printed in 1915, of the Japanese translation of 1921 and its reprint of 1929, and of a commentary on the Mumonkan of 1924 [17][16][18][19]. ひふうひばん, hifū hiban, with the last syllable voiced, is the headword of Mochizuki's Buddhist dictionary of 1936 and the reading a magazine article of 2018 gives in its title [13][20]; the 日本大百科全書 reads the episode's name 風幡 as ふうばん [14]. 仁者, in the Patriarch's line, is in the 精選版 日本国語大辞典 a Buddhist word, used in the Chinese translations of the scriptures like a pronoun of address and usually read にん or にんじゃ: 相手を呼ぶ語。きみ。なんじ, a word that calls the person addressed: you [21].

The text in English. The case is known in English as Not the Wind, Not the Flag (Senzaki and Reps 1934; Yamada; Cleary) or Neither the Wind Nor the Flag (Shibayama 1974) [11][22][23][24]. The first English telling of the story found is Okakura Kakuzō's in The Book of Tea, 1906: the real movement was neither of the wind nor the flag, but of something within their own minds [25].

The historical record

The story before the phrase

781, the Caoxi dashi biezhuan 曹溪大師別傳. The earliest telling read is in this biography of Enō, which counts its years to 781 and survives in the copy Saichō 最澄 brought back to Japan, sealed in 803 [4]. At 制旨寺 in Guangzhou, during 印宗's lectures on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, a banner is hung, and four men argue over it through the night, the fourth saying 幡不動。風自動耳, the banner does not move; the wind moves of itself; Enō silences them: 幡無如餘種動。所言動者。人者心自動耳, the banner has no movement of any other kind; what is called moving is that the person's mind moves of itself [4]. The editor of the Japanese printing of 1762 notes beside 人者 人疑仁, 人 is suspected for 仁 [4].

952, the Zutang ji 祖堂集. In the Zutang ji, which dates itself to 952 [26], it is the lecturer who asks: wind and rain blow hard, the banner moves, and 印宗 asks his audience 風動也，幡動也？, is the wind moving, or the banner? One says the wind and one the banner, and they argue and bring it to him (一個云風動。一個云幡動。各自相爭); he cannot decide it, and the 行者, Enō not yet ordained, answers 不是風動，不是幡動, and when asked what moves, 仁者自心動, your own mind moves [5]. The Zutang ji was lost in China, where the Transmission of the Lamp was widely printed, and survived in the Korean blocks of 1245 [27].

1004, the Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄. The Transmission of the Lamp, presented to the throne in 1004 [28], gives the telling the Mumonkan follows: 暮夜風颺剎幡。聞二僧對論。一云幡動。一云風動。往復酬答未曾契理, at dusk the wind lifted the temple flag; he heard two monks arguing, one saying the flag moved, one the wind, back and forth, never reaching the principle; and Enō: 直以風幡非動動自心耳, simply: wind and flag do not move; what moves is one's own mind [6].

By 1108, the Zuting shiyuan 祖庭事苑. This Song glossary of Chan texts, whose preface writer saw it in the spring of 1108 [29], retells the episode under the heading 風幡競辨, the dispute over wind and banner, in the Transmission of the Lamp's setting, and gives the Patriarch the words the Mumonkan gives him: 不是風動，不是幡動，仁者心動 [30]. Under a later heading it quotes the master 巴陵顥鑒 on the case: 祖師道：不是風動，不是幡動。既不是風幡，向甚麼處著？, the Patriarch said, not the wind moving, not the banner moving. If it is neither wind nor banner, where do you set it down? [30]

The earliest text of the Platform Sutra 壇經, the Dunhuang manuscript, does not tell the episode (CBETA, searched for 幡, 旛 and 風動) [31][32]. The 日本大百科全書 names two more lines of the text, the 恵昕 recension and the 徳異 text, which were not read [32]. The recension edited by 宗寶 Zongbao, with his postface of 1291, does, and its words are the Mumonkan's: 不是風動，不是旛動，仁者心動 [33]. It is later than the Mumonkan, and so not its source.

The phrase: a verse before the Mumonkan

Before 1208, the Jiatai pudeng lu 嘉泰普燈錄. The lamp record compiled by 正受 Zhengshou over seventeen years and named, in his memorial, for the 嘉泰 era (1201–1204) [8]; he died in 1208 [8]. Under 育王普崇, who signs himself 住阿育王山, of 阿育王山, and whose portrait verse stands beside a note of 1187 [34], it prints a sermon that answers 巴陵's question. 普崇 quotes 巴陵 (不是風動，不是幡動。不是風幡，又向甚麼處著？) and then 雪竇, and says: 非風非幡無處著，是風是幡無著處, not the wind, not the flag: nowhere to set it down; the wind, the flag: no place where it sets down [7]. In the witnesses read (CBETA's canon, searched for the four characters: 11 hits, in the Mumonkan and in later lamp records, recorded sayings and gazetteers, none older than this one), this is the first appearance of 非風非幡 as a phrase, at least twenty years before the Mumonkan; the same sermon is reprinted in the Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元 [7][35][36].

1228, the Mumonkan

The book. 無門慧開's own preface is dated 紹定戊子夏, the summer of 1228: leading the assembly at 龍翔 in 東嘉, at his students' request he took the old cases as a tile to knock on the gate, forty-eight in all, and called them together the Gateless Gate [2]. Its memorial, dated for the emperor's birthday festival, 天基聖節, on the fifth day of the first month of 1229, says it was printed in the twelfth month of 1228 [2]. A reprint of 1245 carries a postscript of 1246, which is the date the CBETA catalogue gives the work; the copy in the Taishō canon ends with a Japanese printing note of 1405 [2]. The dictionaries date it 1228, and one says it is held to have been first brought to Japan by 無本覺心 (1207–98) [3].

Case 29. Under the title 非風非幡: 六祖因風颺剎幡。有二僧對論。一云幡動。一云風動。往復曾未契理。祖云。不是風動不是幡動。仁者心動。二僧悚然, the wind lifted the temple flag. Two monks were arguing, one saying the flag moved, one saying the wind moved; back and forth, they never reached the principle. The Patriarch said: it is not the wind moving, it is not the flag moving; your mind is moving. The two monks were struck with awe [1]. Mumon's comment: 不是風動。不是幡動。不是心動。甚處見祖師。若向者裏見得親切。方知二僧買鐵得金。祖師忍俊不禁一場漏逗, it is not the wind moving, not the flag moving, not the mind moving. Where do you see the Patriarch? If you see closely into this, you will know the two monks bought iron and got gold, and that the Patriarch, unable to hold back his laughter, gave the whole thing away [1]. And the verse: 風幡心動　一狀領過　只知開口　不覺話墮, wind, flag, mind moving: one indictment covers them all; he only knew to open his mouth, and did not notice his words had fallen [1].

What Mumon took and what he added. The narration is the Transmission of the Lamp's; the Patriarch's words are those the Zuting shiyuan had already given him [6][30]. The title is the phrase of 普崇's verse [7]. And not the mind moving was a teaching line before him: 佛眼清遠 (d. 1120), retelling the story, says 山僧道：也不是風動，也不是幡動，也不是心動。有人識得麼？, I say: it is not the wind moving, not the flag moving, not the mind moving. Is there anyone who knows it? [9][37]; and 大慧宗杲, in his recorded sayings (CBETA dates their compilation 1171): 有者道：『不是風動，不是旛動，定是心動。』山僧尋常問學者：『不是風動，不是旛動，不是心動，作麼生？』, some say, it is not the wind moving, not the banner moving, it is surely the mind moving. I always ask students: not the wind, not the banner, not the mind; then what? [10]

The nun 妙信, and who borrowed from whom

Sekida Katsuki writes that Mumon has borrowed these words. They were first said by a nun who lived in a detached temple belonging to Kyozan's monastery, and Shibayama Zenkei that Master Mumon quotes Nun Myoshin's reply exactly from the story; neither names a source [38][22]. The story of the nun 妙信 Myōshin, a disciple of 仰山, who tells seventeen monks from Shu 不是風動，不是幡動，不是心動 and brings them all to insight, is found, in the witnesses read, in Dōgen 道元's Shōbōgenzō fascicle 禮拜得髓 Raihai tokuzui, dated 1240, twelve years after the Mumonkan [39]. No lamp record at CBETA tells it (searched for 妙信, 妙信尼, 尼妙信 and 蜀僧十七). So the line can be called older than Mumon, in 清遠 and 大慧; the nun's telling is first known in Dōgen; and that Mumon borrowed it from her is not footed in any witness read.

In Japan

The first prints. The oldest Japanese print of the phrase in the National Diet Library's full-text index, searched oldest first with each volume of a set counted, is a movable-type edition of the Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元 catalogued as printed in Kyoto in 1635 (date, place and printer in the catalogue's brackets), which reprints 普崇's sermon: 師曰非風非幡無處著是幡是風無著處 [40][41]. The oldest print of the Mumonkan in the library's catalogue, searched by the title 無門關 oldest first, is a Kyoto edition of 1632 (寛永9, 中野宗左衛門), which the full-text index did not find and its catalogue does; its case 29, read at the leaf, is headed 非風非幡 and marked for reading in Japanese, and carries the Patriarch's words and Mumon's three denials as the Taishō text does [42]. The 鼇頭評註無門関 of 1666, whose contents list names the case 非風非幡, is the oldest the full-text index finds; its title names its headnotes [43]. Its text of the case is marked for reading in Japanese, and the Patriarch's line reads 仁者カ心動ス, your mind moves, with 仁者 as the subject (the library's text layer reads ヲ; read at the leaf as カ); Mumon's comment and verse agree with the Taishō text [43]. 菅原時保's lectures of 1920 read 仁者(にんしや)が心動ず and gloss it 仁者貴僧達の心が動く, your minds, you monks, are moving, the plural [44]. The Japanese translation of 1921, reprinted from the same type in 1929, rubies the title 非(ひ)風(ふう)非(ひ)幡(はん), reads the case 是れ風の動くにあらず、是れ幡の動くにあらず、仁者が心動く, and notes 仁者はきみなり, 仁者 means you; on Mumon's not the mind moving it writes 六祖の心動を掃蕩して、此の外に六祖の面目を見よとの意, it sweeps away the Patriarch's "mind moving", meaning: see the Patriarch's true face beyond it [16][18]. Mochizuki's Buddhist dictionary of 1936 enters the phrase under the reading ヒフウヒバン and the spelling 非風非旙, says it is also written 六祖風旙心動, 六祖心動 or 風旙動, and quotes the case from the 宗寶 Platform Sutra, Mumon's comment and verse, and a verse of Dōgen's on the wind and the banner [13].

Dōgen. In the Shōbōgenzō translation of Nishijima Gudo and Chodo Cross, a note on the fascicle 恁麼 Inmo gives Dōgen's reading of 仁者心動: In Master Dōgen's interpretation, these characters mean "you are the mind moving"—a description of the reality that is the mind. The alternative interpretation is that jinsha shindō means "your minds are moving"—a criticism of the monks [45].

A haiku. A haikai commentary, the 歌俳百人撰 of 石雲居海寿, which its editors of 1915 date to 1775 (安永四年著), warning that the copies differ and later hands have probably added and cut much (後人の加除せるも多かるべし), and printing a manuscript they call fairly trustworthy (今やゝ信ずべき寫本に據れり), explains 嵐雪 Ransetsu's hokku 秋風の心うごきぬ縄すだれ, the autumn wind's heart has stirred: a rope blind, by the story: 師の僧聞きて、動くは幡にあらず風にあらず、汝等が心のうごく也といはれし、是を非(ひ)風(ふう)非(ひ)幡(はん)の法問(はふもん)といふ。此の嵐雪が發句もかくのごとし … 是すだれのうごくにあらず、風の動くにあらず、秋の心の動くなりとの心なり, the master heard and said, what moves is not the flag, not the wind: your minds are moving. This is called the Dharma question of not the wind, not the flag. Ransetsu's hokku is the same … it is not the blind moving, not the wind moving: it is the heart of autumn moving [17]. A differently worded version of the same commentary is printed in a book of 1913 [46]; the two are counted as one witness.

Into English

1892, a dictionary. Herbert Giles's Chinese–English Dictionary, under 風: 風幡動 is it the air or the banner which moves?—used in the sense of Buddhist doctrine [47]. The phrase, not yet the story.

1906, Okakura. Yeno, the sixth patriarch, once saw two monks watching the flag of a pagoda fluttering in the wind. One said "It is the wind that moves," the other said "It is the flag that moves"; but Yeno explained to them that the real movement was neither of the wind nor the flag, but of something within their own minds [25]. No source is named; the first English telling found.

1913, Nukariya. Nukariya Kaiten, The Religion of the Samurai, in the Platform Sutra's setting at 法性寺: "It is neither the wind nor the flag, but your mind that moves in reality." [48]

1934, Senzaki and Reps. The Gateless Gate, by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, first published in Los Angeles in 1934 and read here as reprinted in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (1957): 29. Not the Wind, Not the Flag … The sixth patriarch happened to be passing by. He told them: "Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving." And for Mumon's comment: The sixth patriarch said: "The wind is not moving, the flag is not moving. Mind is moving." [11] Two things change. The title is put in the Patriarch's mouth, and Mumon's not the mind moving is rendered as the Patriarch's mind is moving. So this English, reprinted in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, carries the case's two denials and its mind is moving, and not Mumon's third.

1935, Govinda. The first English found that gives Mumon's third denial is Anagarika Govinda's, in The Maha-Bodhi for January 1935: But Mummon, a Japanese patriarch of the thirteenth century, not yet satisfied with this answer, went one step further and said: "Neither the wind, nor the flag, nor the mind is moving" [49]. Mumon was Chinese, not Japanese, and Mummon is a misspelling.

1966, Blyth. R. H. Blyth's Mumonkan, the fourth volume of his Zen and Zen Classics, titles the case Eno's Flag. The Patriarch: It is not that the wind is moving; it is not that the flag is moving; it is that your honourable minds are moving; and Mumon: It is not the wind that moves, it is not the flag that moves, it is not the mind that moves [50]. Blyth gives the third denial to Mumon, where the Chinese has it, and his honourable carries the respect of 仁者.

From 1974. Shibayama: It is neither the wind nor the flag that is moving. It is your mind that is moving; and Mumon, It is neither the wind nor the flag nor the mind that is moving [22]. Sekida 1977 titles the case The Sixth Patriarch's "Your Mind Moves" [38]. In Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, 1979, Achilles tells the case in Senzaki and Reps's words, Not the wind, not the flag, mind is moving, with the Patriarch named Zeno, and the Tortoise corrects him: Zeno is no Zen master [51]. Robert Aitken, 1991, on 仁者: Personal pronouns are usually omitted in Chinese, and one is generally left to guess them from the context. Hui-neng leaves nothing to guesswork, however. He says it is the mind of you monks that is moving [52]. Yamada Kōun: It is not the wind that moves; it is not the flag that moves; it is not the mind that moves [23]. J. C. Cleary, 1999: It is not the flag moving. It is not the wind moving. It is not the mind moving [24]. For the Platform Sutra, John McRae, 2000: It is not the wind that is moving, and it is not the banner that is moving. It is your minds that are moving [53].

A reading

The phrase. 非風非幡 was born as an answer to a question. 巴陵 asked of the Patriarch's two denials, if it is neither wind nor banner, where do you set it down?, and 普崇 answered 非風非幡無處著, not the wind, not the flag: nowhere to set it down [30][7]. In its first known use, then, the phrase already refuses a third place to put the movement, the mind included. As I read it, that is why the title can carry the case: Mumon names it with 普崇's two denials and makes the reader find the third, which his comment says outright [1]. That is the reading I sign: the four characters are not the answer is the mind; they are the first two steps of a sweep whose third step is the mind.

仁者. Three readings stand in the witnesses. The Japanese kundoku from 1666 to 1921 take 仁者 as a respectful you, the subject: your mind moves [43][16], and the lectures of 1920 make it plural, you monks [44]. The English, from Okakura to McRae and Aitken, has your mind or your minds [25][48][52][53], and Blyth your honourable minds, which keeps the respect in the word [50]. Dōgen, as Nishijima and Cross read him, has you are the mind moving [45]. The text supports the first: 仁者 is an address, as the dictionary enters it [21], and the 祖堂集's 仁者自心動, your own mind moves, spoken to a single lecturer, shows it so [5]. I read it your mind is moving, said to the two monks; the plural or singular the Chinese does not mark. Dōgen's reading is a reading of the Patriarch's words, not of their grammar, and is Dōgen's.

The reading. The witnesses read divide on the last syllable. The ruby of the Zen texts printed from 1915 to 1929 is ひふうひはん, hifū hihan [17][16][19][18]; Mochizuki's dictionary of 1936 and a magazine article of 2018 have ひふうひばん, hifū hiban [13][20]. I sign hifū hihan, the reading of the oldest ruby read and of the Japanese translation of the Mumonkan, and hold hifū hiban beside it as the dictionary's. The two are the character's own two readings: the dictionary lists 幡 under ハン, its kan'on, and under バン and マン, readings established by use, and enters the Buddhist banner, the cloth a temple raises for a Dharma talk, as ばん [54].

Mumon. The 1921 note's it sweeps away the Patriarch's "mind moving" is, I think, the right reading of the comment, and so is its note on the line 祖師忍俊不禁, that the words 仁者心動 are, turned about, the Patriarch's own slip: 仁者心動と云ふは却つて六祖の失敗と抑揚す [16][1]. Mumon did not invent the third denial. 清遠 and 大慧 had put it to their students in the century before him [9][10]. What he did was set it beside the Patriarch's words, under 普崇's phrase, so that the case reads in one pass as an answer and its undoing.

Notes

The CBETA text of the 曹溪大師別傳 carries the postface of 1762 by its Japanese editor 祖芳, reporting Saichō's copy sealed 貞元十九二月十九日 (803) at Mount Hiei; the 781 is the text's own count of years since Enō's death [4].

The 嘉泰普燈錄's year of presentation is not printed in the front matter read; its title names the 嘉泰 era (1201–1204) and its compiler died in the eleventh month of 1208 [8]. 普崇's life dates were not found; the note of 1187 beside his portrait verse, which he signs 住阿育王山, places him at 阿育王山 in the late twelfth century [34].

CBETA writes the banner 幡 in the Mumonkan, the Zutang ji and the Zuting shiyuan, and 旛 in the 宗寶 Platform Sutra and in 大慧 [1][5][30][33][10]. The history quotes each as it writes.

The 1666 print's okurigana beside 仁者 is read at the leaf as カ; the library's text layer reads ヲ [43]. In the 1913 printing of the haikai commentary, the ruby on the fourth character is not legible as はん [46].

The library's text layer reads the title's ruby ひふうひばん on two copies of the 1921 translation (959989 and 960002, the same volume digitized twice) and on the 1929 reprint; at the leaf, the ruby beside 幡 is は with no voicing mark, where the voicing marks of だ and じ in the same ruby beside 第二十九 are plain [16][18].

Cleary's rendering of the Patriarch's words puts the flag before the wind, It is not the flag moving, and it is not the wind moving, where the Chinese has the wind first [24][1].

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Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

Japanese Scroll of Not the Wind, Not the Flag (hifū hihan) in a block font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
非風非幡VB5JBlock
Japanese Scroll of Not the Wind, Not the Flag (hifū hihan) in a cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
非風非幡VC5JCursive
Japanese Scroll of Not the Wind, Not the Flag (hifū hihan) in Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's own style (Eri's Choice)
非風非幡VD5JEri's Choice
Japanese Scroll of Not the Wind, Not the Flag (hifū hihan) in a semi-cursive font by Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase
非風非幡VS5JSemi-Cursive

Sources not seen

Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, The Gateless Gate, John Murray, Los Angeles, 1934, the first printing; read here only in the 1957 reprint.

The later dictionaries that the National Diet Library's full-text index lists as carrying the phrase, readable only in Japan or at the library: 禅学大辞典 (1978, 1985), 禅語小辞典 (1978, 1997) and 新明解四字熟語辞典 (1998). Their headwords would show which reading the dictionaries of today give.

『日本国語大辞典』 第二版, 小学館, served online by JapanKnowledge: whether it enters 非風非幡 or 風幡 is not known here.

The Edo commentaries on the Mumonkan that the dictionaries name (春夕鈔, 万安鈔, 自雲鈔, 西柏鈔) [3]; their readings of 仁者 and of the title would add to the kundoku read here.

荒牧典俊, 「六祖慧能「風幡問答」から南宗禅「無情説法」へ」, 『大谷学報』 82(3), 2003, pp. 1–22, a study of the episode; its repository was closed for maintenance on the day it was sought.

A reader with access to any of these is invited to write to Takase Studios at Tim@Takase.com.

References

  1. 無門慧開, 『無門關』, case 29 非風非幡, Taishō vol. 48 no. 2005, p. 296c17–26, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2005_p0296c17
  2. 『無門關』, the prefaces of 習菴陳𡎖 (p. 292b02) and 無門慧開 (p. 292b16), the memorial (p. 292b03–05), and the postscripts of 1245–46 and the printing note of 1405 (p. 299b25–c25), Taishō vol. 48 no. 2005, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2005_p0292b16
  3. 「無門関」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 日本大百科全書 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%84%A1%E9%96%80%E9%96%A2-140791
  4. 『曹溪大師別傳』, Zokuzōkyō (X) vol. 86 no. 1598, p. 50c03–11 (the episode), p. 52c16–17 (the count to 781), p. 54a22–b09 (祖芳's postface), at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X86n1598_p0050c03
  5. 『祖堂集』, 卷2, 慧能, vol. 25 no. 144 (大藏經補編), p. 344a08–13, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/B25n0144_p0344a08
  6. 道原, 『景德傳燈錄』, 卷5, 慧能, Taishō vol. 51 no. 2076, p. 235c03–06, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T51n2076_p0235c03
  7. 正受 編, 『嘉泰普燈錄』, 卷10, 慶元府育王野堂普崇禪師, Zokuzōkyō vol. 79 no. 1559, p. 354b16–20, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X79n1559_p0354b16
  8. 『嘉泰普燈錄總目錄』, 黃汝霖, 「雷庵受禪師行業」 (p. 269a03–b14), and 正受's memorial (p. 269b18–270b23), Zokuzōkyō vol. 79 no. 1558, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X79n1558_p0269b04
  9. 『古尊宿語錄』, 卷27, 佛眼禪師語錄, Zokuzōkyō vol. 68 no. 1315, p. 174b15–21, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X68n1315_p0174b15
  10. 蘊聞 編, 『大慧普覺禪師語錄』, 卷14, Taishō vol. 47 no. 1998A, p. 871b27–29, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T47n1998Ap0871b27
  11. Paul Reps, comp., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Tuttle (a later printing of the 1957 compilation), pp. 143–144, The Gateless Gate, tr. Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps, case 29, "Not the Wind, Not the Flag"; the foreword: The Gateless Gate was first published in 1934 by John Murray, Los Angeles.
  12. kotobank, the headwords 非風非幡, 風幡 and 仁者心動 (no entry). https://kotobank.jp/search?q=%E9%9D%9E%E9%A2%A8%E9%9D%9E%E5%B9%A1
  13. 望月信亨 編, 『仏教大辞典』, 1936, p. 4325 (scan 367), the headword ヒフウヒバン 非風非旙, National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1208017/1/367
  14. 「慧能」, 日本大百科全書 and others, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%85%A7%E8%83%BD-37092
  15. Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University Press, 2014, s.v. Guangxiaosi.
  16. 『國譯禪宗叢書』 第11卷, 國譯禪宗叢書刊行會, 1921, 「國譯無門關」 p. 26 (scan 94) and the colophon (scan 301), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/959989/1/94
  17. 佐々醒雪・巌谷小波 校, 『俳人逸話紀行集』 (俳諧叢書 第6冊), 博文館, 1915, 歌俳百人撰 卷之一 p. 232 (scan 135), and the editors' 解題 pp. 3–4 (scans 4–5), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/950168/1/135
  18. 『國譯禪學大成』 第7卷, 國譯禪學大成編輯所, 1929, 「國譯無門關」 p. 26 (scan 194), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1920738/1/194
  19. 飯田欓隠 編, 『無門関鑽燧』, 1924, the contents (scan 10), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/921763/1/10
  20. 細川晋輔, 「十二の禅の言葉と「ジブリ」(第6回)「非風非幡(ひふうひばん)」と「コクリコ坂から」」, 『熱風』 16(7), 2018, pp. 68–73, the title as recorded at CiNii Research. https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1520854805453051776
  21. 「仁者」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (にん‐じゃ), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BB%81%E8%80%85-537671
  22. Zenkei Shibayama, Zen Comments on the Mumonkan, copyright 1974, read in the New American Library printing of 1975, pp. 215–218, case 29, "Neither the Wind Nor the Flag".
  23. Kōun Yamada, The Gateless Gate, Wisdom Publications, 2004, case 29, "Not the Wind, Not the Flag".
  24. J. C. Cleary, tr., Wumen's Gate, in Three Chan Classics, BDK English Tripiṭaka, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, 1999 (read in the BDK America printing of 2006), p. 94, case 29, "Not the Wind, Not the Flag".
  25. Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea, Duffield, New York, 1906, pp. 65–66. https://archive.org/details/cu31924021575695/page/n82
  26. 『祖堂集』, 卷1, the count of years to 保大十年, vol. 25 no. 144 (大藏經補編), p. 311b13–14, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/B25n0144_p0311b13
  27. 「祖堂集」, 世界大百科事典 (柳田聖山), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%A5%96%E5%A0%82%E9%9B%86-1181279
  28. 「伝灯録」, 世界大百科事典 (柳田聖山), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BC%9D%E7%81%AF%E9%8C%B2-578644
  29. 善卿, 『祖庭事苑』, the preface (大觀二年, p. 313a14), Zokuzōkyō vol. 64 no. 1261, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X64n1261_p0313a14
  30. 善卿, 『祖庭事苑』, 卷4, 風幡競辨 and 新開, Zokuzōkyō vol. 64 no. 1261, p. 364c20–365a05, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X64n1261_p0364c20
  31. 法海 集, 『南宗頓教最上大乘摩訶般若波羅蜜經六祖惠能大師於韶州大梵寺施法壇經』 (the Dunhuang text), Taishō vol. 48 no. 2007, searched at CBETA for 幡, 旛 and 風動 (0 each; 心 153). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T2007_001
  32. 「六祖壇経」, 日本大百科全書 (田中良昭) and ブリタニカ国際大百科事典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%85%AD%E7%A5%96%E5%A3%87%E7%B5%8C-152661
  33. 宗寶 編, 『六祖大師法寶壇經』, Taishō vol. 48 no. 2008, p. 349c10–13 (the episode) and p. 365a02–03 (宗寶's postface, 至元辛卯), at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T48n2008_p0349c10
  34. 『四明尊者教行錄』, 卷7, the portrait verse signed 住阿育王山野堂普崇, Taishō vol. 46 no. 1937, p. 932a07–11, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/T46n1937_p0932a07
  35. CBETA Online, full-text search, 非風非幡 (11 hits). https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/search/?q=%E9%9D%9E%E9%A2%A8%E9%9D%9E%E5%B9%A1
  36. 普濟 編, 『五燈會元』, 卷18, 育王普崇, Zokuzōkyō vol. 80 no. 1565, p. 376c05–09, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X80n1565_p0376c05
  37. 『五燈會元』, 卷19, 舒州龍門清遠佛眼禪師, Zokuzōkyō vol. 80 no. 1565, p. 398c06 and p. 399b22, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X80n1565_p0398c06
  38. Katsuki Sekida, tr., Two Zen Classics, Weatherhill, 1977, pp. 96–97, case 29 and its notes.
  39. 道元, 『正法眼藏』 禮拜得髓, Taishō vol. 82 no. 2582, pp. 34c18–35a15 (妙信 and her words) and p. 38b11 (the colophon, 延應庚子), at SAT. https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/T2582_.82.0034c18:0035a17.cit
  40. 『五燈會元』 20卷, 寛永12 (1635), Kyoto (洛陽), set in movable type by 中村宗遵, 卷18, 育王野堂普崇 (scan 69), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2543942/1/69
  41. National Diet Library Digital Collections, full-text search, all access levels, 非風非幡, oldest first (317 items with the volumes of a set counted once, 371 counting each volume, in October 2026; the oldest, 2537644, contents list at scan 10). https://dl.ndl.go.jp/search/searchResult?keyword=%E9%9D%9E%E9%A2%A8%E9%9D%9E%E5%B9%A1
  42. 『無門關』 1卷, 寛永9 (1632), Kyoto (the catalogue's bracketed place), 中野宗左衛門, case 29 (scan 33), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/12865429/1/33
  43. 『鼇頭評註無門関』, 寛文6 (1666), case 29 (scan 36) and Mumon's comment (scan 37), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2537644/1/36
  44. 菅原時保, 『無門関講話』, 1920, pp. 278–279 (scan 147), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/963185/1/147
  45. Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross, tr., Shōbōgenzō, vol. II, BDK English Tripiṭaka, BDK America, 2008, p. 160, note 21 (the fascicle Inmo).
  46. 足立四郎吉, 『和歌俳句家庭訓話』 上, 1913, p. 11 (scan 16), National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/946238/1/16
  47. Herbert A. Giles, A Chinese–English Dictionary, 1892, p. 361, no. 3554 風; the same words in the second edition, 1912, vol. I, p. 439. https://archive.org/details/gileschineseenglishdictionary/page/n412
  48. Kaiten Nukariya, The Religion of the Samurai, Luzac, 1913, p. 18.
  49. Anagarika Govinda, "Thoughts on Zen Buddhism, II", The Maha-Bodhi vol. 43 no. 1, January 1935, p. 5. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70783
  50. R. H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics, vol. 4, Mumonkan, Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, first printing 1966 (read in the sixth printing, 1974), pp. 209–212, case 29, "Eno's Flag".
  51. Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Basic Books, 1979, the dialogue Three-Part Invention.
  52. Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier, North Point Press, 1991, case 29.
  53. John R. McRae, tr., The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, BDK English Tripiṭaka, BDK America, 2000, p. 26.
  54. 「幡」, デジタル大辞泉 and 精選版 日本国語大辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%B9%A1-117810

Authors

Tim Jackowski (Systems Architect, Takase Studios, LLC) · 典 Ten (Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5, Takase Studios, LLC)

AI written · Ten wrote the history. Tim Jackowski commissioned it and answers for it.

Checked · Takase Studios (an address check by script), 2026-10-28, citations — every reference with a web address opened and the quoted words looked for at each, with controls that must fail and did; every address answered as the history states, the dictionary pages were checked live and found not to enter the phrase, and the 1635 and 1632 Japanese prints were opened at their pages · two fresh-context readers (Claude), 2026-10-28, every claim in the page's summary block traced to its source, claim by claim: round 1 failed on wrong facts, which were corrected (the monks are not in the oldest telling, the questioner is not dated, and the oldest Japanese print is scoped to the search that found it); the later rounds passed from both readers with no wrong fact, with wordings corrected in the pass, among them the ruby read again at the printed pages, the abbot's title given as he signs it, and the oldest Japanese print of the Mumonkan found to be one of 1632

Research depth: step 3 of our 10-step ladder, foundation complete · October 2026

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 非風非幡 (hifū hihan)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/hifu-hihan.