"Desire brings in future and disturbs the present. And desire creates the idea of I. Otherwise there is no I. If you go within you will not find anybody there, it is utter silence; that's what Buddha means when he says anatta, no-self. To know no-self is maturity.

"Socrates says: Know thyself. Buddha says: When you will know, you will not find thyself; thyself is found only in ignorance. If you don't know, you are. If you know, you disappear. The light of knowledge is enough to disperse the darkness of the ego.

"Each desire strengthens the idea that 'I am. And I have to assert, and I have to show to the world who I am. I have to prove, I have to justify myself, I have to defend myself, I have to fight. And not only fight, I have to win.' Ambition is immaturity.

"It is very rare to find a mature person; if you can find a mature person you have found a buddha, otherwise all desire in different ways. Somebody desires money and somebody desires moksha, somebody desires power and somebody desires God. Somebody wants to prove in the outer world that 'I am somebody' and somebody wants to prove in the inner world that 'I am somebody.' The idea of evolving is immature.

"Hakuin is right when he says from the very beginning all beings are buddhas. To recognize this, to welcome this, is maturity. There is nothing to grow into, there is nowhere to go to, there is no goal. To think of goals is to think of toys; spiritual growth, spiritual evolution, spiritual progress, all is just holy cow-dung. You are already there where you want to go so you can never reach if you try to, because you are already there – the very effort is ridiculous, it is absurd. Hence, there is so much misery in the world, because you are trying to reach somewhere where you are already. Naturally you cannot reach. Not reaching you become panicky, not reaching you become more and more frustrated. Not reaching you become more and more ridden with anxiety and anguish. Not reaching you start to create a hell around yourself – that you are a failure, that you are nobody."