"It is true, even in Buddhism, there is pain, vain talk about ‘enlightenment’ as though enlightenment were a uniform one could put on. And then there is the problem of the koan. Buddhists and Western followers of Buddhism are attached to the koan because they lack any real sign of tradition. If they do not have sub-currents it is better for them to disappear. The koan is the occasion to cut us off. “If you have faith, you can move mountains” (Matthew 17:20) is a koan. It cuts through! The bonzes do not know the reason for the koan. Therefore the bonzes cannot satisfy. A flower can be a koan. A great master, Gutei, made a koan of his finger."