Shoyoroku, Case 11: Yunmen's Two Sicknesses is a Koan in which Master Yunmen talks about the two sicknesses (the light before it breaks through, and Hosshin before you reach it) in the state of enlightenment. Usually, people say that it refers to attachment to enlightenment or a discriminatory mind. However, in this dictionary, we define it as a practical lesson: "The person who wants to cure the sickness must disappear, and we must completely stop checking our own progress, such as how we understand the light, whether we have reached Hosshin, or if something still remains in our mind."
Q: Why did Master Yunmen talk about the two sicknesses in the state of enlightenment?
A: Because he wanted to break the most invisible trap—the unconscious loop of self-examination—that practitioners fall into when they reach the world of Hosshin and believe they have achieved enlightenment.
While ordinary worldly desires are easy to notice and abandon, checking oneself by asking "Do I understand the light correctly?" or "Have I reached Hosshin?" looks like correct practice at first glance. However, Master Yunmen saw that the very existence of the "self" trying to check and confirm progress is actually the greatest "incurable sickness" in Zen.
He intentionally talked about these two sicknesses to make practitioners aware of this subtle trap and to lead them to the ultimate medicine: completely stopping all actions of trying to understand or confirm their own enlightenment.
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