Romance Malet, Lucas: The Gateless Barrier. v1. 19 Jan 2014

[crutledge]

Lucas Malet was the pseudonym of Mary St Leger Kingsley (4 June 1852 - 1931), a Victorian novelist. She was born in Eversley, Hampshire, the daughter of Charles Kingsley (author of The Water Babies). In 1876, she married William Harrison, Minor Canon of Westminster, and Priest-in-Ordinary to the Queen.

Excerpt
"According to the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters of the title, we call it Mu-Mon-Kwan, which means 'The Gateless Barrier.' It is one of the books especially studied by the Zen sect, or the sect of Dhyâna. A peculiarity of some of the Dhyâna texts—this (story) being a good example—is that they are not explanatory. They only suggest. Questions are put, but the student must think out the answers for himself. He must think them out but not write them. You know that Dhyâna represents human effort to reach, through meditation, zones of thought beyond the range of verbal expression; and any thought narrowed into utterance loses all Dhyâna quality.... Well, this story is supposed to be true; but it is used only for a Dhyâna question...."

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