There is no such person as Buddha. Buddha is simply a Sanskrit word meaning “initiate.” The Absolute is immanent in every man’s heart. This “treasure of the heart” is the only Buddha that exists. It is no use seeking Buddha outside your own nature. Prayer, scripture-reading, fasting, the observance of monastic rules--all are useless. Those who seek Buddha do not find him. You may know by heart all the Sūtras of the twelve divisions, and yet be unable to escape from the Wheel of Life and Death. One thing alone avails--to discover the unreality of the World by contemplating the Absolute which is at the root of one’s own nature. Some one asked him: “Why may we not worship the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas?” He answered: “Ogres and hobgoblins can at will assume the outward form of Bodhisattvas; such are heretical and not of the true Buddha. There is no Buddha but your own thoughts. Buddha is the Way. The Way is Zen. This word Zen cannot be understood even of the wise. Zen means ‘for a man to behold his fundamental nature.’”[2] [2] Zen (_Sanskrit: dhyāna_) means literally “contemplation.” * * * * * The highest truths cannot be written down or taught by speech. A man who cannot write a word, can yet contemplate his own heart and become wise. Knowledge of 1,000 Sūtras and 10,000 Shāstras cannot help him to realise the Absolute within him. He was asked: “Can a layman with wife and children, one given over to the lusts of the flesh, achieve Buddhahood?” He answered: “Provided he contemplate his own inner-nature, he will achieve Buddhahood. It does not matter about his lusts. Even a butcher can achieve Buddhahood, if he searches in his own heart.” “What,” cried his listeners, “a butcher, who lives by taking life, and _he_ achieve Buddhahood?” The master replied: “It is not a question of the man’s trade. If he has learnt to know his own nature he will be saved. “I have come from India only to teach you that Buddha is Thought. I care nothing for monastic rules or ascetic practices. As for walking on water or through fire, climbing sword-wheels, fasting, sitting upright for hours without rest--all such practices are heretical; they belong to the World of Being. “Thought, Thought, Thought! It is hard to seek. Expanding, it covers the whole world; shrinking, it is too small to lodge a pin. “I seek the heart; I do not seek Buddha. For I have learnt to know that the outer world is empty and untenanted.” Such was the teaching of Bodhidharma. It was Vedantic[3] rather than Buddhist. The terms “thought,” “Buddha,” etc., used by Bodhidharma correspond exactly to the _brahman_ of the Upanishads. Mystic contemplation or _yoga_ had been used by the Brahmins and was not unknown to the early Buddhists. But Bodhidharma was the first to insist upon it as the sole means of salvation.