I said, "It is merely an illusion. It is the mind of vexation, not wisdom." I am not saying that you should be cold and aloof. Having compassion for others is good, and it is definitely much better than closing your heart. I'm not saying that people who give donations with ulterior motives are evil. If their motives are good, then what they do is meritorious. In the early stages of practice, people may have strong feelings of compassion; but some people become so attached to these feelings that they become fanatics. You will never find a true Ch'an practitioner who possesses the fanatical nature of a zealot.

Do not get the wrong idea. Ch'an does not advocate nihilism. A Ch'an practitioner does not say, "I'm not going to do anything." Rather, with a positive and attentive mind, a practitioner does everything that needs to be done as each moment arises, but he does not do anything with a fanatical mind.

What, then, is the proper attitude for practice? You will have to find out. But if you throw yourself fanatically into Ch'an practice ─ practicing, practicing, practicing ─ as if you are going to start a revolution, then you are on the wrong track. That is not the practice of Ch'an.