" Soen-sa said, “If you understand emptiness, this is not emptiness. It is only a word. You understand the word ‘emptiness.’ Have you ever tasted kim-chee, Korean pickled cabbage? It is very hot. When guests come to dinner here, I tell them that kim-chee is very hot. But they don't really know what this ‘hot’ means until they experience it for themselves. So I give them a piece of kim-chee. Ow!! Hot!!!” (Laughter.) “Other people understand that kim-chee is hot, but they haven't tasted it. Once they taste it, then they really understand what hot means. They have attained ‘hot.’ So understanding ‘hot’ is not the same as attaining ‘hot.’ Many young Americans understand one mind. But this is not true understanding; it is only thinking. So understanding emptiness and attaining emptiness are different. If you attain emptiness one time, you have attained it forever. You don't forget. You say you understand emptiness. Then what is emptiness? "

― Stephen Mitchell , Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn