Chang-ch'o, an educated man, once asked the Chinese Ch'an master Chih-t'sang:
-Is there paradise or hell?
Chih-t'sang replied:
-No.
Chang-ch'o protested:
-That is not correct. When I was studying under the
priest...
continue...
All the world says,
"I am important;
I am separate from all the world.
I am important because I am separate,
Were I the same, I could never be important."
Yet here are three treasures
That I cherish and commend to you:
The first is compassion,
By which one finds courage.
The second is restraint,
By which one finds strength.
And the third is unimportance,
By which one finds influence.