Mumonkan / Wumenguan · CASE 8
Keichū Makes a Cart
The Gateless Gate
Case
Master Yue'an asked a monk: “Keichū made a cart with a hundred spokes. Take away both ends and remove the axle—what matter does this make clear?”1
Verse
Where the wheel of functioning turns, even an adept loses the way: the four corners, above and below, south, north, east, and west.
Footnotes 1
- Traditional Chinese accounts credit Keichū with the invention of the carriage. The number and removal instructions produce an intentionally unstable piece of machinery; the translation does not silently reconstruct a specific cart design where 兩頭 leaves it uncertain. ↩
About this version and its sources
- Full source citation
- CBETA T2005: T48n2005_p0294a06–p0294a13.
- Method
- Direct critical-edition translation from the cited received base text. Source claims, hagiography, uncertainty, and unresolved readings remain identified in the notes and project record.
- Editorial uncertainty
- Independent philological and reader review remain pending.
- Rights
- Project translation © Tulsa Zen Center Critical Edition contributors. Source text is cited by edition; redistribution policy requires final organizational approval.
- Revision identifier
- 2bcf3bb42c8e
Mumon's commentary
Mumon said: If you understand directly, your eyes will be like shooting stars and your responsiveness like a flash of lightning.