The great Huang Po (died 850) was the teacher of Lin Chi, the father of Rinzai Zen. And when Lin Chi achieved his enlightenment he is reported to have said "So after all there is not much in the Buddhism of Huang Po." What he meant by "not much in the Buddhism of Huang Po" is that the substance of Enlightenment was there all along, though tangled in the effects of consciousness. By the twin virtues of meditation and study, when the spell of consciousness snaps, that Awareness which is the stuff of Enlightenment is already in place, and the obvious is suddenly apparent.
The genius of Huang Po was the spareness of his method.
