…the Buddha responded to his disciples, “Listen closely! You have used the metaphor of a drunken person but you know only the words and not the meaning! The drunk believes the world is spinning when it is not. You still think the self is something if you believe you should be selfless in order to save yourselves. You believe you should see the eternal as impermanent, the pure as impure, happiness as suffering. But these are concepts and you have not penetrated the meaning. The meaning is that the real self is truth. The eternal is existence. Happiness is Nirvana and the pure is things as they are” (Mahaparinirvana Sutra).

But then it came to me as an insight that I should teach this truth, for it is also happiness. There are people whose sight is only clouded and they are suffering through not hearing reality. They would become knowers of the truth (Majjhima Nikaya).

To turn the dharma-wheel, I went to the city, beating the drum of deathlessness in a world that had gone blind (Mahavagga).

I declare that the overcoming of attachments to the impurities of the world is possible for a person who knows and sees but not for a person who does not know or see (Samyutta Nikaya).

Oh, the unhindered light (Amida)! The long night of ignorance is past (Zuiken).

Of what use are your long locks? Of what use your clothing of hides? Within yourself darkness is at home. Only outwardly you clean yourself (Udanavarga).