Joshu is one of the most loved masters in the Zen tradition. There have been great masters, but nobody has been loved so much as Joshu-and he deserved it. His working on people, on disciples, was so soft, so delicate, that only a poet can manage it…a great craftsmanship in carving buddhas out of the stones of humanity.

Every man is just a big rock. It needs a craftsman, a great artist, a sculptor, who with loving hands removes all that is unessential and leaves only that which is absolutely essential. That absolutely essential is your Buddha.