Moved by Lewis Richmond’s May 27 talk about illness, Valerie turns to a koan that addresses illness and the heart of the matter: Case 87 from the Blue Cliff Record, Unmon’s Medicine and Disease. The implications of this case are vast, no holes, no place to fall, boundless seamlessness, one equanimity. Cannot fall in and cannot fall out
The case: Unmon instructing the assembly said: Medicine and disease cure each other; the whole earth is medicine. What is your true self?