Explore the history, gender politics, and practice implications of one of Zen’s most important koan collections.
The Gateless Barrier (Ch.: Wumenguan; Jp.: Mumonkan) is a 13th-century collection of forty-eight gong’ans, or koans, compiled by the Chan master Wumen Huikai to provoke awakening in the reader. In Readings of The Gateless Barrier, editor Jimmy Yu (also known as Guo Gu) brings together ten essays by leading scholars and practitioners, alongside a new translation by Yu, the Sheng Yen Professor of Chinese Buddhist Studies at Florida State University.
On July 28 at 1 p.m. ET, Yu and contributor Natasha Heller will discuss the text’s origins, cultural context, and lasting hold on Zen practice. Drawing from Heller’s chapter, “A Gate of Their Own? Women in Wumen’s World,” they’ll discuss why women only appear in four of the forty-eight cases, and what this means for a text central to a tradition in which women have long held a defining role. Join Yu and Heller to learn more about these four figures and what their marginal presence suggests about gender and authority in Chan Buddhism more broadly.
Speakers
Natasha Heller
Natasha Heller is a cultural historian of Chinese Buddhism with research interests spanning the premodern period (primarily the 10th through 14th centuries) and the contemporary era. She has published two monographs: Illusory Abiding: The Cultural Construction of the Chan Monk Zhongfeng Mingben (Harvard Asia Center, 2014) and Literature for Little Bodhisattvas: Making Buddhist Families in Modern Taiwan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2025). Heller is currently working on two new book projects: one on the environmental, cultural, and religious history of Alishan, Taiwan, and one on the history of trees in Chinese Buddhism. She teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Jimmy Yu (Guo Gu)
Dr. Jimmy Yu (Guo Gu) holds the Sheng Yen Professorship in Chinese Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Florida State University. He is the founder and guiding teacher of the Tallahassee Chan Center. Dr. Yu publishes in both scholarly and practitioner circles. More information about him can be found on the FSU Religion Department and Tallahassee Chan Center websites.
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DETAILS
- Date: July 28, 2026
- Time: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. ET
- Format: Zoom
- Price: Premium subscribers: Free // General admission: $10
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