Keichu's Wheel

Text

Getsuan said to his students: "Keichu, the first wheel-maker of China, made two wheels of fifty spokes each. Now, suppose you removed the nave uniting the spokes. What would become of the wheel? And had Keichu done this, could he be called the master wheel-maker?" Mumon’s comment: If anyone can answer this question instantly, his eyes will be like a comet and his mind like a flash of lightning. When the hubless wheel turns, Master or no master can stop it. It turns above heaven and below earth, South, north, east, and west.

tr. Nyogen Senzaki, Paul Reps, 1934

license: public_domain

Attribution

• Commentator
  Wumen Huikai
• Speaker
  Xitang Zhizang

Lineage: Nanyue line

From Mumonkan

• Every Season Is a Good Season
• Preface to the Gateless Barrier
• The Wild Fox Koan
• Joshu's DogCase 1
• Hyakujo's FoxCase 2
• Gutei's FingerCase 3
• A Beardless ForeignerCase 4
• Kyogen Mounts the TreeCase 5
• Buddha Twirls a FlowerCase 6
• Joshu Washes the BowlCase 7

Sources

• contentMumonkan (Gateless Barrier) — Senzaki & Reps translation, 1934

  Nyogen Senzaki, Paul Reps (trans.)

  Case 8, Mumonkan

  Mumonkan case 8: Keichu's Wheel