"Show me the way!"
Someone once asked Jesus, "When will the final rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?" People wanted to know that from the Buddha, too. They would ask, "What is Buddha? What is dharma? Show me the way!" We all think, this life is not so great, so when is it going to get better? Jesus answered, "What you look for has already come, but you do not know it." The Buddha said it's like a fish swimming in water and saying, "I'm thirsty."
Sometimes it's easier for someone else to see your Buddha-nature than it is for you. But the work begins with each of us. It's in our center. We have to find our guts, our ability to be in balance with those five things: food, sex, sleep, fame, wealth. Dying without ever really knowing who we are can seem easier than finding out what we're responsible for in this life.
Each of us has the ability to open to "what am I?," whatever the situation. There are tremendous opportunities to learn, to get out of the safe zone and into the regions that are more difficult. What's important is to be uncontrived, not to have an idea, but to open up each moment to what's going on right now. We may need to prepare the soil, but we always have the mustard seed. Nobody is ever born without it.
From a talk at a Christian-Buddhist conference in 1998.