state of "emptiness" for emptiness itself is a psychological phenomenon
often mentioned in Zen classics.
XI. The Intercourse of Water and Fire
1. Here fire stands for conscious knowledge and water stands for real
knowledge. The intercourse of water and fire represents the union of the
real knowledge of the mind of Tao and the conscious knowledge of the
human mind.
2. The yin inside fire stands for receptivity, and also for mundane
conditioning. The yang inside water stands for the firmness of the true
sense of real knowledge.
3. In his explanation of Chang Po-tuan's Four Hundred Words on the Gold
Elixir, Liu I-ming says, "If you understand that the foundation of water and
fire of real knowledge and conscious knowledge originally belong to one
energy, and if
1.
you cultivate them backward, inverting water and fire, using real
knowledge to control conscious knowledge, using conscious knowledge
to nurture real knowledge, water and fire balance each other, movement
