I listened to Hyun Hyun Gak Sunim speak once at Hwa Gye Sa a week before Buddha’s Birthday celebrations in Seoul. Towards the end of the talk, an old man asked what “true experience” was. Hyun Gak Sunim raised his cup of coffee to his lips, took a long and noisy sip, then replied, “This coffee is bitter.”

Zen Master Seung San said something along the lines of, if you want to know what a watermelon is, you have to cut one open and take a bite!