8. THE HUB
(KEICHU’S WHEEL)
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.
MUMON’S VERSE
When the hubless wheel turns,
Master or no master can stop it.
It turns above heaven and below earth,
South, north, east, and west.
HOKYO’S COMMENT
HOKYO’S COUPLET
As the fierce winds circle the eye of the storm,
So Time’s chaotic pageant orbits the void.
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7. RETURN TO EMPTINESS
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9.
I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING
A Commentary on The Gateless Gate
©℗2020 Hokyo Jisetsu Walter Bitner
Illustrations ©2020 Carol-Margaret Bitner
Walter Bitner 