“An ordinary man is in truth a Buddha just as he is, and if he asks, ‘Why, then, don’t I know it?’ the Mahayana and Zen alike would reply, ‘Why do you ask the question?’ In other words, this is a way of saying, ‘Do you really feel that you are a separate self? See if you can experience what you call your ego concretely. Discover the actual sensation which you interpret as your self-hood, and see whether it may not have been misinterpreted. Turn your attention to actual first-hand concrete experience and do not be misled by ideas and conceptions about it.’”

— Alan Watts, The Spirit of Zen