Detach the Senses

To see form but not be corrupted by form or to hear sound but not be corrupted by sound is liberation. Eyes that aren't attached to form are the Gates of Zen. Ears that aren't attached to sound are also the Gates of Zen. In short, those who perceive the existence and nature of phenomena and remain unattached are liberated. Those who perceive the external appearance of phenomena are at their mercy. Not to be subject to affliction is what's meant by liberation. There's no other liberation. When...

 Mathematicians are in League with the Devil

The good Christian should beware of mathematicians [astrologers], and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 Perspectives on the Physician

When Death lurks at the door, the physician is considered as a God. When danger has been overcome, the physician is looked upon as an angel. When the patient begins to convalesce, the physician becomes a mere human. When the physician asks for his fees, he is considered as the devil himself.

 Venus is Hell

Venus thus seems to be a place quite different from the Earth, and alarmingly unappealing: Broiling temperatures, crushing pressures, noxious and corrosive gases, sulfurous smells, and a landscape immersed in a ruddy gloom. Curiously enough, there is a place astonishingly like this in the superstition, folklore and legends of men. We call it Hell. In the older belief – that of the Greeks, for example – it was the place where all human souls journeyed after death. In Christian times it ha...