
"At this time you think this is enlightenment, but you should doubt even more; who hears this sound? If you go on investigating without producing a single thought, the realm where it seems like nothing exists, like empty space, also dies out, there is no more taste at all; where it is dark as night, if you exert all your power to fully doubt what it is that hears this sound, then when the doubt shatters and you are like someone who has completely died coming back to life, this then is enlightenment, satori." - Bassui

One old koan tells the story of a student who asks his teacher for permission to leave the monastery. “Where do you want to go?” the teacher asks. “Around on pilgrimage,” replies the student. The teacher presses him, “What is the purpose of a pilgrimage?” After all, doesn’t practice teach us that everything we’re looking for is already right here?
... See moreBarry Magid • Ending the Pursuit of Happiness: A Zen Guide
While others might proclaim the wonders of such a world-shaking experience, the Buddha denies that he obtained or found anything at all.
Red Pine • The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom
Hui-neng says, “If people can hear this sutra and realize its truth, both self and other suddenly vanish, and they at once become buddhas. Renouncing the body has limited merit and cannot compare with the unlimited wisdom of upholding this sutra.”
Red Pine • The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom

