“Spring has a hundred flowers, autumn the moon; summer a cool breeze,…” — Wumen Huikai (Gateless Gate (popular verse))

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Gateless Gate (popular verse) and files it under Zen Buddhism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Wumen Huikai

Wumen Huikai appears in this archive through verified English quotations associated with the Zen Buddhism tradition. Biographical certainty varies by figure and text; where the “author” is a scripture or school anthology, read the name as a traditional attribution rather than a modern individual biography.

How to read this passage

To ask about the self is to ask what persists through experience, what can be known from the first-person point of view, and how character is formed. Some traditions treat the self as a substantial soul; others as a stream of experience, a social role, or a practical center of agency. This passage enters that discussion through self.

Concepts in this quote

Self

Philosophy quotes about self explore identity, responsibility, and the examined life—from Socrates’ unexamined life to modern phenomenology and existential authenticity.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Wumen Huikai. (n.d.). Spring has a hundred flowers, autumn the moon; summer a cool breeze, winter the snow. If no idle affairs hang in the mind, every season is a fine season in the human world. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0414

MLA: Wumen Huikai. “Spring has a hundred flowers, autumn the moon;….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0414.

Chicago: Wumen Huikai. “Spring has a hundred flowers, autumn the moon;….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0414.

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