Basho wrote the following letter to one of his students who was close to death:
“The essence of your mind was not born and therefore will never die. What is perishable is not life. Emptiness is not a vacuum. It has no color, no shape. She neither enjoys pleasure nor suffers pain.
I know you are very sick. Like a good Zen student, you face this illness with courage. You cannot know exactly who is suffering, but ask yourself: “What is the essence of this mind?” Just think about this. You don't need anything else. Don't do anything. Your end, which has no end, is like flakes of snow melting in clean air.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru