Copying is slavery. The letter must never be followed, only the spirit is to be grasped. Higher affirmations live in the spirit. And where is the spirit? Seek it in your everyday experience, and therein lies abundance of proof for all you need.

Zen has no business with ideas.

Facts of experience are valued in Zen more than representations, symbols, and concepts-that is to say, substance is everything in Zen and form nothing.

Personal experience, therefore, is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing of experience.

The ego-shell in which we live is the hardest thing to outgrow.

The truth of Zen is the truth of life, and life means to live, to move, to act, not merely to reflect.

Until we recognize the SELF that exists apart from who we think we are - we cannot know the Ch'an ( ZEN ) MIND