“To me, Zen is the only authentic religiousness. It has nothing to do with Buddhism, it has nothing to do with Taoism. In fact, it is a rebellion against the traditions of Buddhism and the traditions of Taoism. But it has carried the essential message of Buddha. It has discarded all that was mere commentary. It has cut all rubbish out of the way. It is the very essence of Buddha’s experience – and that is also the experience of Lao Tzu, of Tao.

“Zen is paving the path for the future humanity of one religiousness. Zen is the only authentic gold that has come out of the whole past of humanity. My love for it is not in vain. I am trying to help you understand Zen for a particular purpose – because you are going to be the new man, you are going to create a new humanity, a new world, which essentially is growing toward buddhahood.

“The buddha is nothing to do with Gautam the Buddha; the buddha is your very nature. It means: the awakening. You are unconscious; deep underneath your unconsciousness there is hidden a flame of awareness, alertness. That flame is buddha-dharma, that is your very nature. You don’t have to go anywhere to find it, you have to go inward. No church, no organization, no religion, just a quality of religiousness.

“And what is the quality of religiousness? The quality of religiousness is to be centered in your witnessing being. Out of that witnessing a great awareness arises in you; the spring comes to your life and thousands of flowers of compassion, of love, of blissfulness. All around the fragrance of the ultimate surrounds you.”