The Gateless Barrier is generally acknowledged to be the fundamental koan collection in the literature of Zen.
Robert Aitken, one of the premier American Zen masters, has translated Wu-men\'s text, supplementing the original with his own commentary -- the first such commentary by a We.
Gathered together by Wu-Men (Mumon), a thirteenth-century master of the Lin-chi (Rinzai) school, it is composed of forty-eight koans, or cases, each accompanied by a brief comment and poem by Wu-men.
The Gateless Barrier is generally acknowledged to be the fundamental koan collection in the literature of Zen