Down By The River

This talk of a place neither hot nor cold comes from an old Zen koan:

One day a monk asked Zen Master Tozan, "How can we avoid hot and cold?"
Tozan said, "Why don't you go somewhere that is neither hot nor cold?"
The monk asked, "Where is a place that is neither hot nor cold?"
Tozan replied, "When it is cold, be completely cold; when it is hot, be completely hot."