"The mirror has no function, it has utility, but even while you are looking in the mirror, the mirror does not do anything. The reflection is spontaneous. Even if you don't want the reflection, still it will reflect – and the mirror is not in need of you to stand before it.

"The way Zen expresses it is this: The full moon shines in the lake. Neither the full moon desires to be reflected – but it is reflected – nor does the lake want to reflect it, but it does reflect it. Both are not at all doing any active work in this reflection. Both are just being themselves and the reflection comes on its own accord. You do your things and only in doing your things can you separate the functioning consciousness and the pure consciousness.

"When you walk, do you know you are walking? When you are silent, are you aware that you are silent? When you are eating, is there any awareness standing by the side, watching your function of eating? That awareness is the great enlightenment. It has no function, it has no utility, it is not a means to some end. It is enough unto itself. It is such a contentment, such deep satisfaction with oneself and the cosmos, such a strong let-go, that you don't have to do anything. Just being is more than you can have conceived – the joy of just being, the blissfulness of just being.

"I pass every day Mukta's pond, and those two swans are just twenty-four hours a day enjoying, doing nothing. And they look so dignified, so utterly contented…not even a shadow around them of any desire or any ambition, or of any position, of any success. All those are stupid things. They are enjoying every moment, just sitting in the pond.

"A consciousness is just like what Basho calls, 'Sitting silently, doing nothing, the spring comes and the grass grows by itself.' What he is saying is, 'As far as I am concerned, I am not doing anything, neither am I desiring anything. The spring comes on its own accord, uninvited. The grass starts growing without any effort on my part."