A student asked the teacher, “How do you avoid the discomfort of hot and cold?”
The teacher said, “Go to that place where there is no hot and cold.”
The student asked, “Where is that place?”
The teacher responded, “When you are hot, be hot and when you are cold, be cold.”
This story can be read literally, but mostly I believe it is intended as metaphor. The real, or underlying question is – How can I avoid anxiety or difficulty? Or, more to the point – how can I find peace, or how can I find freedom? The response is, well, find a place where there is no difficulty. Yes, this is a “trick” answer – since the word “place” infers something outside yourself. Falling for the trap (and who wouldn’t) the teacher says – be where you are; be completely where and who you are, without wavering, without judgment, without wanting to be anything or anywhere other than exactly as you are – hot, cold, happy, angry, impatient, lonely, loving… If you want to find peace, be completely as you are. One translation I’ve seen of the teacher’s answer is – “When hot, die from heat; when cold, die from cold.”
This Zen story does have some practical and even literal applications. I was just reading the story of a Zen teacher who also happens to be an oceanographer. While developing and testing equipment for deep sea diving, he, and a group of others, were placed in a tank of frigid ocean water. Most of the subjects had to leave the water after about twenty minutes. After about an hour, the Zen teacher was told it was time to come out of the water. His body temperature had barely dropped. The naval officer who was running the tests asked what he was doing in the water. He replied, “Nothing.”
In speaking about his experience the teacher said that he more fully understood – When you are cold, be cold. From the Book of Equanimity, by Gerry Shishin Wick .