Zen's gateless barrier 無門関 is no gate 無門 but nevertheless there is a kind of gate that prevents the Zen beginner from entering—a barrier 関 that a beginner must pass through.
So what is this barrier?
This barrier is really our beginningless (bad) habit of forming conceptions and intellectual constructions about the inconceivable awakened Mind. Making matters even worse, under this diabolical, spell we are unable to see just how we are deceiving ourselves. By deceiving ourselves I mean that we are trying to catch hold of the inconceivable awakened Mind, which is unconditioned, with our concept laden mind which is never other than conditioned and deluded.
Zen presents us with many such gateless barriers that we cannot pass through and unbeknownst to us, we are the ones creating them almost non-stop.
While truly the gateless 無門 is the gate of salvation which his beyond the grasp of our concept forming intellect we never cease, it seems, erecting one barrier after another in front of the gateless entrance to salvation. Even knowing this, nevertheless, almost like a madman we keep repeating our mistakes.
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