““You must admit there are no definite external causes of pain nor those of pleasure, for one and the same thing causes pain at one time and pleasure at another. A cause of delight to one person turns out to be that of aversion to another. A dying miser might revive at the sight of gold, yet a Diogenes would pass without noticing it. Cigars and wine are blessed gifts of heaven to the intemperate,[FN#215] but accursed poison to the temperate. Some might enjoy a long life, but others would heartily desire to curtail it. Some might groan under a slight indisposition, while others would whistle away a life of serious disease. An Epicure might be taken prisoner by poverty, yet an Epictetus would fearlessly face and vanquish him. How, then, do you distinguish the real cause of pain from that of pleasure? How do you know the causes of one are more numerous than the causes of the other? [FN#215]””
![“Rin-zai also says: "Spirit is formless, but it penetrates through the world in the ten directions."[FN#149] The Sixth Patriarch expresses the same idea more explicitly: "What creates the phenomena is Mind; what transcends all the phenomena is Buddha."[FN#150]” quote by Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d4e/kaiten-nukariya-793_quote_rin-zai-also-says-spirit-is-formless-but_13012.jpg)
![“it is the overcoming of egoism, the destroying of mean desires, the uplifting of the moral ideal, and the disclosing of inborn wisdom. [FN#12]” quote by Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3ae/kaiten-nukariya-793_uplifting_it-is-the-overcoming-of-egoism-the-destr_46308.jpg)
![“The fourth stage is called the Rank of Co-operative Merit,[FN#273] in which the student 'co-operates' with other persons in order to complete his merit. Now, he is not compared with a general who conquers his foe, but with the prime-minister who co-operates with other officials to the benefit of…” quote by Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4a6/kaiten-nukariya-793_quote_the-fourth-stage-is-called-the-rank-of-c_48041.jpg){kind=icon}
