addiction

incorporation

loneliness

satori

is a state where one drink is too many and a hundred drinks are not enough.

The occasional drinker can remain sober when he's not beset by problems... but as soon as he's under serious stress, he may easily succumb to the dead-end escape of alcohol. Once he is captured by drink, he discovers that one drink is too many and a hundred drinks are not enough. (XU YUN 'empty cloud teachings' : 37)

is the idea that one must take the penicillin into oneself, swallowing and assimilating it. Merely repeating the name of the medicine will not cure one.

What is the wrong way to repeat the Buddha's name' That's easy to describe. Think of a sick person who is given a bottle of penicillin pills. Think of him sitting there holding the unopened bottle repeating 'penicillin, penicillin, penicillin'. Will that cure him' No. He must take the penicillin into himself. He must swallow and assimilate it. Merely repeating the name of the medicine will not cure him. (XU YUN 'empty cloud teachings' : 51)

is converted by the hermit -through looking and pondering -into solitude.

Cold Mountain appealed to nature to lead him to peace and understanding. In finding beauty in the natural world he found beauty in himself. That's the way hermits operate. They look... they ponder... they convert loneliness into solitude. (XU YUN 'empty cloud teachings' : 30)

is a nonsensory state which, once grasped, is to be laid down'But how can one lay down an absence' Well, what you can't lay down, carry away.

A monk once asked Master Zhao Zhou, 'What happens after a person finally grasps the nonsensory state'' Master Zhao Zhou replied, 'He lays it down.' The monk did not understand. So this quandary became his Hua Tou. 'How can one lay down the absence of something'' He worked on this and worked on this and still he could not understand. So he returned to Master Zhao Zhou and asked, 'How can one lay down the absence of something'' Master Zhao Zhou answered simply, 'What you can't lay down, carry away.' Instantly the monk was enlightened. (XU YUN 'empty cloud teachings' : 47)

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Yun Xu