tedehara

Maybe you're ready for Bankei, a Zen Buddhist monk of the Tokugawa era. He was so radical, some Japanese feared that he was actually teaching Christianity!

[quote]Once the Master said:
"When I first began to search for enlightenment, I wasn't able to find a good teacher and, as a result, did all sorts of painful practices, pouring out my heart's blood. Sometimes I'd forsake the company of men and go into seclusion; at other times I'd fashion a paper mosquito net and, sitting inside it, practice meditation, or else I'd shutter all the windows and meditate in my darkened room. Without permitting myself to lie down, I'd sit cross-legged until my thighs became inflamed with sores, the marks of which remained with me even afterward. At the same time, if I happened to hear a good teacher was to be found in some place or other, I'd set off at once to meet him. In this way I spent several years, and I think I may say there were few places in Japan that I didn't leave my footprints. And all because I wasn't able to meet an accomplished teacher! Once I'd hit on enlightenment, I realized for the first time that I'd been struggling uselessly all those years, and was able to achieve tranquility. I tell you all that, without any struggle, you can attain complete realization now right where you are, but you won't believe me because your're not truly serious about the Dharma."
From "Bankei Zen" by Peter Haskel