---
title: "無門関"

meaning: "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."

year: 2022
release: "KŌAN"
releaseType: "album"

artist: "Scoobert Doobert"
artistId: "#scoobert"

credits: "Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics."

spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/track/08rcCaszHAiHJbsQhBAqsO"
apple: "https://music.apple.com/us/song/%E7%84%A1%E9%96%80%E9%96%A2/1617657220"
youtube: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzB1ePaUNSQ"

themes: ["KŌAN", "zen", "Japanese", "uncertainty", "identity"]

isrc: QZES92291015
isrcSource: soundexchange
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

draft: false

---

Track seventeen on [*KŌAN*](/albums/koan/), **KŌAN C** (June 2022), after [*KODOMO MITAI*](/songs/kodomo-mitai/). Luke solo; [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzB1ePaUNSQ) video. The title is the [*Mumonkan*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gateless_Gate), **The Gateless Gate**, the classic Zen koan collection ([*KŌAN* essay](/albums/koan/)).

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](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gateless_Gate/Joshu%27s_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*](/songs/shiawase-no-imi/) and [*KODOMO MITAI*](/songs/kodomo-mitai/), with a longer arc in [The Bent Stick](/writing/the-bent-stick/) (*essai #1*). Pairs with [*Think About It*](/songs/think-about-it/) and [*What Makes You You*](/songs/what-makes-you-you/): questions you can't read your way into.

---