Hooked on Zen: A Reflection on the Mumonkan
"A line is cast in the rapids,
The greedy is caught.
As soon as your mouth is open,
Your life is lost."
— The Mumonkan (Case 5)
This sharp little verse from the Zen classic Mumonkan, or The Gateless Gate, hooked me early this morning. It cast its shadow across the stillness — a challenge, a mirror, a warning.
And yet, as all koans do, it also offers liberation.
But only if we don’t bite.
🌊 The Rapids of Samsara
The line is cast — not in calm waters, but in rapids.
This is the world we live in: rushing with desires, distractions, fears, ambitions.
Every day, Zen masters cast subtle lines: a question, a word, a silence, a paradox.
The teaching appears right in the middle of chaos.
But not everyone gets caught.
🐟 The Hook of Greed
“The greedy is caught.”
The bait is not physical. It is the promise of understanding, of grasping truth, of arriving.
Zen has nothing to give — and yet, we come hoping to get something.
We want insight, peace, enlightenment.
But as soon as we want, we’re no longer free.
As soon as the self reaches outward, the hook finds its mark.
☠️ The Fatal Mouth
“As soon as your mouth is open, your life is lost.”
What a line.
The moment you try to explain, prove, or proclaim your understanding, you’ve already lost it.
Zen truth can’t be spoken. It can’t be paraphrased.
It can only be lived, directly, without commentary.
This is the death of the ego,
the silencing of the self that insists on knowing.
🪷 So What Now?
Don’t bite.
Don’t reach.
Don’t open your mouth — unless it is to laugh, or to breathe, or to kiss the present moment without condition.
Sit.
Let the rapids rush.
The one who does not reach, does not grasp,
remains uncaught.
🧘♂️ Final Wordless Word
In the end, there is no "moral" here.
Just a ripple.
A rod.
A hook hanging midstream.
Whether you swim free or get caught —
That, too, is your practice.
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