Q0373
Wumen Huikai
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
The Great Way has no gate; there are a thousand paths. Once you pass this checkpoint, you walk alone between heaven and earth.
Source context
This English passage is associated with The Gateless Gate, within the tradition of Chan. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of philosophy, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Wumen Huikai's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Wumen Huikai. (n.d.). The Great Way has no gate; there are a thousand paths. Once you pass this checkpoint, you walk alone between heaven and earth. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0373
MLA: Wumen Huikai. “The Great Way has no gate; there are….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0373.
Chicago: Wumen Huikai. “The Great Way has no gate; there are….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0373.