...one of the first lessons learned when one begins to look at Chan is that we are anything but "natural." Whatever illumination we may possess by way of native endowment is distorted beyond recognition by timeless habits of craving, aversion, and deluded thinking—what Buddhists refer to as the afflictions of the three poisons. Where there is light, beings see darkness; where there is peace and joy, they experience a world of conflict and suffering, all due to the obstacles imposed by lifetimes of bad deeds (karma) and bad thinking. No matter how self-affirming the idea of Buddha-nature may seem to be at first blush, this problem of affliction does not go away. For Buddha-nature to manifest requires nothing short of a thoroughgoing revolution in the mental habits through which we process our daily lives.
---Dan Stevenson, in his Preface to Master Shen Yen's Hoofprint of the Ox---
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