Most people fear death, but the Ch'an master had no fear at all. He knew that his physical body was not different from the Dharma body, and that the Dharma body cannot be destroyed. If a person truly realizes that the physical body and Dharma body are identical, then he will not fear death. Sickness, pain and old age will not trouble him.

During the course of your practice, you will suffer pains of many kinds. Even if you have not yet realized that the physical body is the same as the Dharma body, you should at least have faith that it is so. If you have faith, then you will not be vexed or distracted by sensations that arise in your practice, whether they be painful, pleasurable, or even blissful. The Dharma body is pure and immutable. It does not experience sensation. You should regard all sensations in your practice as illusions. Let them come and go. Do not attach to them. Ignore them.

Once you have truly awakened to the Dharma body, you will realize that there are no feelings, sensations or qualities that you can grasp and say, "This is the Dharma body." The physical, mental, and so-called spiritual experiences which appear during practice are not the Dharma body. They are only reactions of the nervous system to the physical body and environment. The Dharma body has no qualities or characteristics.

I am not saying that there is no spirit, but the spirit is not separate from the body. In Buddhism, there is no division between spirit and body. In your practice, you should not distinguish between physical experiences and spiritual experiences. They are the same thing. If you did not have a body, how could spiritual experiences arise?