“If we search for something outside ourselves we will never find it. We have, within us, all the seeds of Buddhahood.

“Master Linji asked, "‘Do you want to know who our teacher, the Buddha, is? The Buddha is you yourselves, listening to me teach the Dharma.’ That statement is very revolutionary. Our true person is the Buddha and the master, and that true person is right inside us.

“We perform ceremonies such as touching the earth, lighting incense, or being in touch with a statue on an altar, to maintain and renew our confidence in ourselves. We must pay respect and touch the earth in front of the Buddha in such a way that we see that the one who bows and the one who is bowed to are one.

 “The ancient teachers wanted to help human beings, so they gave us skillful means to help us practice. But we get caught in those skillful means. For example, to help us touch the Buddha in ourselves, they created the Buddha statue. And they created the temple and put the Buddha statue in the temple. Now we go into the temple and prostrate in front of the Buddha statue. But if we think that the Buddha is only in the temple, then we are caught.

“In the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha told of a young man who had a mental illness. One day, he became very frightened because he imagined his head was no longer on his neck, so he ran around looking for his head. We are also like this young man, Yajnadatta. We have the Buddha and the Buddha lands inside us and still we seek.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Extracts from Commentary 11, ‘Zen Battles, Modern Commentary on the Teachings of Master Linji’