# The True Person of No Rank (無位真人)
## From the Record of Linji (臨濟錄)

**Verification status:** Chinese text and basic translations verified (2026-01-31) against DILA Buddhist Dictionary and multiple scholarly sources. Core teaching and Book of Serenity Case 38 confirmed. Modern teacher commentaries collected from memory and teaching notes; some quotes may be paraphrased rather than exact.

**Primary sources:** Record of Linji (臨濟錄, Línjì Lù); Book of Serenity (從容錄) Case 38  
**Recommended translations:** Burton Watson, Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Irmgard Schloegl

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## The Original Teaching

From the *Linji Lu* (Record of Linji/Rinzai):

> "There is a true person of no rank who is always coming and going through the gates of your face. Those who have not yet confirmed this, look, look!"
> 
> A monk came forward and asked, "What about this true person of no rank?"
> 
> Linji came down from his seat, grabbed the monk, and said, "Speak! Speak!"
> 
> The monk hesitated.
> 
> Linji let him go and said, "The true person of no rank — what a shit-wiping stick!"
> 
> Then he returned to his quarters.

**Chinese:** (verified from 臨濟錄)
赤肉團上有一無位真人，常從汝等諸人面門出入。
未證據者看看！

時有僧出問：「如何是無位真人？」
師下禪床把住云：「道道！」
其僧擬議，
師托開云：「無位真人是甚麼乾屎橛！」
便歸方丈。

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## Layers of Commentary

### Layer 1: What Linji Said (9th Century)

**The setup:** There is a true person of no rank — always present, coming and going through your face.

**The challenge:** "Look! Look!" (Direct pointing)

**The test:** Monk asks "What is it?" (Conceptual question)

**The response:** Physical grab, demand to speak (No concepts allowed)

**The punchline:** Monk hesitates → "Shit-wiping stick!" (Worthless if you can't actualize it)

**Linji walks away:** Teaching complete. No further explanation.

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### Layer 2: What Is Being Pointed At

**"True person" (真人, shinnin):**
- Not the constructed self
- Not the Buddha-nature concept
- Not nothing
- Not something

**"No rank" (無位, mui):**
- Outside hierarchies (not holy, not ordinary)
- Beyond positions (not teacher, not student)
- Ungraspable by categories
- Free from all stations

**"Coming and going through your face" (面門出入):**
- Right now, this moment
- Seeing, hearing, speaking
- Not hidden elsewhere
- Completely obvious, completely missed

Do you see this?
Douglas Harding, in England, called this the awareness of "having no head".  Point at the thing that is looking: do you see it?

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### Layer 3: Dōgen's Commentary (13th Century)

From *Shōbōgenzō* (attributed fascicle "Kōmyō" 光明, Brightness — needs verification):

> "Linji's true person of no rank is the entire universe manifesting. When you see form, the true person sees form. When you hear sound, the true person hears sound. Don't seek it apart from form and sound."

**Dōgen shifts the emphasis:**
- Not "inside you" vs "outside you"
- The universe manifesting AS seeing, hearing, thinking
- Form itself is the true person
- Sound itself is the true person

**Different angle, same pointing:**
- Linji: Direct, provocative, personal
- Dōgen: Philosophical, all-encompassing, phenomenological

What am I, what is this?  Who's asking?  What is that person?

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### Layer 4: The Koan Tradition

This became Case 23 in various koan collections:

**The question deepens:**
- Why did the monk hesitate?
- Why did Linji grab him?
- What should the monk have done?
- What IS the true person?

**Traditional responses (all wrong, all teaching):**
- Shout!
- Laugh!
- Bow!
- Walk away!
- Hit the teacher!
- "I don't know!"

**The point:** No verbal answer captures it. Any response that's *alive* might work. Any dead concept fails.

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### Layer 5: Modern Teacher Commentaries

**Note:** The following are compiled from teaching notes and may be paraphrased rather than exact quotations. Verify against published sources when citing.

**Shunryu Suzuki Roshi:**
> "Everyone is a true person of no rank. But if you think, 'I am a true person of no rank,' you've already lost it. The moment you try to be someone special, you're no longer the true person."

**Relationship to original:** Gentle warning about spiritual pride. Same teaching, softer delivery.

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**Koun Yamada Roshi:**
> "The true person of no rank is not something you attain. You already are it. The problem is you don't believe it, so you keep searching."

**Relationship to original:** Emphasizes "already complete." Linji's grab becomes Yamada's reassurance.

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**Charlotte Joko Beck:**
> "Notice what's noticing right now. That's it. Don't make it into something fancy."

**Relationship to original:** Radical simplification. Linji's drama becomes Beck's directness.

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### Layer 6: What the Commentaries Do

**They don't explain.** They re-enact the pointing from different angles:

- Linji: Grabs you physically
- Dōgen: Grabs you philosophically  
- Suzuki: Warns you gently
- Yamada: Reassures you
- Beck: Redirects you simply

**Each one:**
- Responds to what students in that era needed
- Uses language/culture of their time
- Points the same direction (awakeness)
- Refuses to reduce it to concept

**The relationships between commentaries:**
- Not hierarchical (this one is "better")
- Not cumulative (adding information)
- Not contradictory (fighting for truth)
- **Organic** — each grows from the same root, points toward the same moon

And the thing being pointed at: is that encoded or represented here too?
Where can this Person be found?
Here?  There?  Between the two?
Does the representation relate to the observer?


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## Linguistic Notes

**無位真人 (wú wèi zhēn rén):**
- Chinese: 無位真人 / 无位真人 (traditional/simplified)
- Japanese: ムイノシンニン (mui no shinnin)
- Korean: 무위진인 (muwi jinin)
- Vietnamese: vô vị chân nhân
- Literally: "true person without rank/position"
- Also translated: "true person of no status," "formless true person"

**無位 (mui, wú wèi):**
- 無 = without, not, non-
- 位 = rank, position, status
- Not "low rank" but "outside ranking systems entirely"
- Refers to being outside the Buddhist hierarchy of attainment

**真人 (shinnin, zhēn rén):**
- 真 = true, real, genuine
- 人 = person, human
- Daoist term (真人 in Zhuangzi) imported into Chan/Zen
- Connotes "naked" or "bare" reality (赤裸裸 chì luǒ luǒ)
- Related to 本來面目 (běnlái miànmù) "original face"

**赤肉團 (chì ròu tuán):**
- 赤 = red
- 肉 = flesh, meat
- 團 = lump, mass
- Literally: "lump of red flesh" (the body)

**面門 (miàn mén):**
- 面 = face
- 門 = gate, door
- "Face gate" — the senses, especially seeing and hearing

**乾屎橛 (kan shi ketsu, gān shǐ jué):**
- 乾 = dry
- 屎 = shit, excrement
- 橛 = stick, post
- Literally: dry shit stick (used for wiping before toilet paper)
- Linji's favorite insult for conceptual answers
- Means "worthless," "useless"

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