Dongshan's Cold Kills You Heat Kills You (BCR43)

KOAN:

A student asked Dongshan, “When cold and heat come, how can we avoid them?”

Dongshan said, “Why don’t you go to the place where there is no cold or heat?”
The student asked, “What’s the place with neither cold or heat?”
Dongshan said, “When it’s cold, the cold kills you. When it’s hot, the heat kills you.”

—Blue Cliff Record Case 43 (transl. by John Tarrant & Joan Sutherland)