Can you control your anger, lust, frustrations, and jealousies? Those are the only people worthy of the higher teachings. By worthy, I mean that they are the only ones capable of it.

I can assure you, as a practitioner of Buddhism, that there are ten thousand states of mind, at least, give or take a few billion.

If you think you are a vile slime, that means that you aspire to something higher...It's because you have a sense of perfection, and you obviously want that, that you find something wrong.

The way of Zen is to become independent and strong. Don't rely on others for perceptions of life and truth. Do it individually. Go to a teacher of Zen to learn how to do that, not to get answers for individual life situations.

Nirvana is not really a physical place, although sometimes I talk about it as if it were. It is not really an experience, although sometimes I mention it as if it was.

It is necessary to learn how to do a systems analysis of your life, to learn about the effects of places, people, jobs. There are millions of things that go into the study of meditation.

You must constantly strive to enlarge your awareness. Naturally, if you do, you will have an uncommonly fine and happy life.