"Philosophy is so vague, making castles in the air, beautiful castles but it does not bring to the world any new fragrance, any new form of transformation.

"Zen in some way accumulates all that man has created, but its approach is more aesthetic. All religions talk about truth, about beauty. In fact, truth, beauty and God – satyam, shivam, sunderam – has been the ancient search. These are the three doors: satyam, truth – but truth is a little hard, demands too much of you. Hence many never bother to ask what truth is. Godliness seems to be far away beyond the skies; the distance is so great that it discourages the traveler. Beauty is very close, in the flowers, in the birds singing; a solitary cuckoo deep in the forest gives a love call.

"Zen's approach is to find the truth, but not to be as hard as philosophers tend to be – more peaceful and more graceful. That's why no philosopher in the whole history of man has raised his consciousness to the point where you can call him a buddha. He talks much of things beyond, but if you look into his ordinary life he is just as you are. All his flights of thought, his dreamlands are writings on water. Writings on paper don't differ from writings on water. The only difference is: water is quick and finishes the writing; the papers, the books, the scriptures take a long time.

"Zen has a very musical approach, a very poetic approach, the approach of a dancer, the approach of a lover. You have to treat existence with loving hands. You have arisen out of it, you will be dissolved into it one day. It is your life, it is your death. But whether in life or in death, you will remain part of the cosmos.

"Zen does not talk about God, for the simple reason that there is no such person as God. What is there? – a tremendous quality of eternal life all around. Nothing dies; if this wave is disappearing another wave is coming, and the disappearing wave will simply go to sleep just to rest, and will be back soon."