In the same way that fish live in water, we are living in Truth. Because we don't realize that we live in the midst of Truth, it seems like it has been a long time since we separated from it or lost it. We live as if illusion were the truth. As illusion has no root, it changes. When this illusion that we have been relying on changes and leaves us, then we suffer because of the attachment we had to that illusion. When we live in the midst of this attachment for a long time, our life is not satisfying.

Zen Buddhism is the awakening to this. If we awaken to our illusion then we become free from it, from our ego and our dissatisfaction, free from what we cling to. Because the illusion has disappeared then we see the world as Truth, just as it is, without discarding reality. At the same time we come to live in the midst of eternity or permanence.

This is Zen Buddhism. These teachings were passed down from the Buddha to his disciple Bodhidharma, who took them to China. The teachings spread all over China and from there to Korea and Japan. Now these teachings have come to the West.