"Enlightenment simply means you have awakened. Can you describe, every morning when you wake up, some experience? All that you can say is, 'Up to now I was unaware of myself and the world. Now I am aware of the world, aware of things around me, aware of myself.' But this is very superficial – that's why I call it only 'hints.'

"When you awaken in your deepest core of being, in the very center of your existence, then there is only silence, immense joy and celebration. But to find an expression for it has not been possible up to now, and will never be possible – this much can be said with absolute certainty. Language is left so far away that when you try to express your innermost awakening, it becomes distorted. The medium of language is not capable to reflect it in its purity.

"Language is not meant to express such deep awakenings. The language has grown up in the marketplace where people are discussing and talking about things, about objects. Hence, there is no word capable of conveying the essence of enlightenment. It is beyond language.

"You can say, it is the beyond.

"It is our innermost and our ultimate nature. In total awakening…with no darkness around, no dreams, no thoughts, but just a pure fire, a pure love that knows no limits, that knows no boundaries. It is more like a fragrance that you cannot catch hold of. It is there, you feel it, but it is so invisible…

"It is just like the air: it is there; you cannot live without it. But you cannot catch hold of the air in your fist. The moment you close your hand and make a fist, the air is out; it is not enclosed, it has escaped.

"When your hand is open you have all the air of the world in your hand.

"One Zen master, Bokoju, used to say to his disciples, 'The day you come to something which you cannot express however hard you try – no word is sufficient, no word can justify itself, in fact every word will destroy its beauty, its joy, its aliveness – then come to me."