無門関
The Gateless Gate in song form: explain Mumonkan, want to be Joshu's dog, can't read kanji: headache, 無, Hamlet, えとね。。。どうかな？, words stuck in the throat.
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ISRC QZES92291015 (soundexchange)
Track seventeen on KŌAN, KŌAN C (June 2022), after KODOMO MITAI. Luke solo; YouTube video. The title is the Mumonkan, The Gateless Gate, the classic Zen koan collection (KŌAN essay).
The song asks for help getting in (tell me about the Gateless Gate) and immediately admits it can’t: I want to be Joshu’s dog, the first case in the collection (does a dog have Buddha nature? Joshu’s answer is mu), but I can’t read kanji. The gate is closed before you reach it. The Hamlet aside sharpens the joke: to be and not to be / それが本ものの質問かな？ (is that the real question?), the English you can phrase set against the Japanese you can’t parse.
The chorus stays stuck there: headache, don’t know my own heart, 無 (mu, emptiness) everywhere, then えとね。。。どうかな？, um… I wonder? The outro gives up on words, the lines refusing to come up through the throat over いつも, always, always. Same Japan/Zen season as SHIAWASE NO IMI and KODOMO MITAI, with a longer arc in The Bent Stick (essai #1). Pairs with Think About It and What Makes You You: questions you can’t read your way into.
Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics.
Lyrics
無門関について 教えてくれ Joshuの犬になりたい 多分 漢字読むことわかない ちなみに to be and not to be それが本ものの質問かな？ 頭痛くて 心知らなくて 無のほがかなり えとね。。。 どうかな？ 頭痛くて 心知らなくて 無のほがかなり えとね。。。 えとね。。。 どうかな？ 頭痛くて 喉まで出てくない いつも いつも いつも