Perfect Understanding (Daitsu Chiso) Buddha

A monk asked Seijo, "I understand that a Buddha who lived before recorded history sat in meditation for ten cycles of existence and could not realise the highest truth and so could not become fully emancipated. Why was this so?" Seijo replied, "Your question is self-explanatory." The monk asked, "Since the Buddha was meditating, why could he not fulfill Buddhahood?" Seijo said, "He was not a Buddha."

By meditation ones does not become a Buddha, an emancipated one. One is emancipated from the beginning. In meditation the Zen student finds that he was always a Buddha, Buddha does not become Buddha; he is already Buddha. Trees, stones, flowers, sun, and moon - all are Buddha. Why not humankind?