-- Buddha, A Clump of Dirt --

After Yanyang assumed the abbacy of a temple, a monk asked him, "What is Buddha?"
Yanyang said, "A clump of dirt."

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People live a life of devil, and they want to talk about Buddha! That talk about Buddha is a way to evade from themselves. Bertrand Russell has said that if you steal something you should immediately start shouting 'Thief Thief'. One thing is sure that people will not suspect you. People have made their mind a madhouse. As soon as they look within themselves they see that their mind is full of all kinds of sick and crazy thoughts. To face those thoughts is arduous. So best way is to evade them and talk about Buddha and other good stuffs. This way they feel good. People have made their life a long deception. They keep on evading from themselves and Buddhas say that you have to know yourself. There is no shortcut to it.
I was talking about meditation one day. Someone asked me that since we are all Buddhas, so why meditate? Now, do you see the cunningness? People find out all kind of astute excuses to not meditate. You are sick. Talk about sickness and its medicine. Don't talk about what happens to Buddhas. This is why Zen master says that talks about Buddhas are useless to you. Only a Buddha can say that everyone is Buddha. It is not so for you. For Yanyang Buddha is the only thing there in the world, but for you there is no Buddha - there is only clump of dirt because you are full of dirt.
Don't deceive yourself. Don't find excuses to not meditate. Meditate! Zen means meditation.