無門関
A koan you can't read your way into: asking Joshu's dog and Hamlet's question at once, and landing somewhere between headache and 無.
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The title is the Mumonkan, the Gateless Gate, the classic collection of Zen koans. The song opens by asking someone to explain it, then immediately admits the problem: you can’t read the kanji anyway. So the gate is already closed before you reach it.
Joshu’s dog is the famous koan — does a dog have Buddha nature? — and the line about wanting to become that dog is both a joke and a real wish: to be the question instead of the person asking it badly. Hamlet shows up in the middle because the song is also about whether “to be or not to be” is even the right question, or just the one you already know how to phrase in English.
The chorus lands on headache, not knowing your own heart, and 無 (nothingness, emptiness) being “considerably” present. The “えとね。。。どうかな？” is the shrug inside the koan: you don’t get an answer, you get hesitation. The ending repeats itsumo (always) because the words still won’t come up through your throat. That’s the whole song: wanting to understand something ancient, knowing you can’t read it, and still asking anyway.
For the longer arc (bent eyes, Japanese, Joshu’s dog, holding Mu without solving it), see The Bent Stick (essai #1). Written in the same season as What Makes You You, when guitar was off the table and the questions had room to breathe.
Written, performed, and mixed by Luke Francis Walton. Mastered by Riley Knapp. Artwork by Grizzard Graphics.
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