‘Tathagata is not manifested directly in these sutras, since they are provisional teachings. Although the Buddha expressed his true mind in some Mahayana sutras, in many cases, the true teachings are no longer true because the commentators of those sutras and commentaries interpreted them with their ordinary discriminating minds and intellectual understanding. That is why it is said in the Zo-ho-ketsugi-kyo that interpretation through words stands against the buddhas in the past, present, and future. Also, in the Ryo-ga-kyo it is said that the Buddha did not speak even one word during the forty-nine years he taught. From this, it should be clear that the true enlightenment of the Tathagata can never be grasped by words or by discrimination, nor by the illusory mind of ordinary human beings.’ (Jijuyu-Zanmai )
So are we all wasting our time, then? What do you think? Is enlightenment bound by what we think of it?
Shundo David Haye 