Looking for our glasses when they are perched on our nose is something akin to a fool's journey as is riding an ox in search of an ox.
"What is Zen?" asked a novice monk.
Master Hyakuja replied, "It̍s like riding an ox, and seeking to find it."
Said the student, "After we understand; then what is it?"
The master replied, "It̍s like riding an ox, and going home on it."
Asked the student, "Then, what do we do with it?"
"It̍s like an ox-herd who keeps it out of other peoples rice fields."
Zen understands that the beginner is such a stubborn fool. While the fool searches for the mysterious awakening (the ox) he or she has no idea what moves this mysterious search. The beginner, also, has no idea what puts on the robes and bears the body’s pains and delights.
The madman whips the ox furiously trying to reach the goal that he imagines in his imagination.
The cultures or institutions of Zen Buddhism have little to do with Zen which is a Japanese word meaning in Sanskrit dhyāna. This, by the way, is the methodology/investigation Siddhartha used to attain enlightenment. In English, dhyāna would be intuition or gnosis. Both of these terms cover transcendental knowledge.
As long as we project our ideas and our values on what Siddhartha sought we will never arrive. Zen tries to take away all of our assumptions and presuppositions of what Siddhartha attained. Siddhartha's attainment will only begin to resonate with us when we start to give up trying to be the knower of this mysterious state.