Keichu's Wheel

Getsuan said to his students, "Keichu, the first wheelmaker of China, made two wheels of fifty spokes each. Now, suppose you removed the hub uniting the spokes. What would become of the wheel? And had Keichu done this, could he be called the master wheelmaker?"

A wheel is a wheel as it is. If you remove the spokes, hub, or rim, there is no wheel. A cart is used to carry things. Remove the wheels, the axle, body, and handle and there is no cart. A house is made of its parts: roof, walls, floor, doors, and windows. A part has no value separate from the whole. So it is with body and life. To discern, discriminate, analyse, and judge is to miss totality. To dissect is to kill. Life is not merely an assemblage of parts.