In the advanced practice, the relationship between the Zen master and the student becomes very terse. The Zen master will expect things of the student because the student is in graduate school.

There is an alternative. It's an old alternative. It's not for everybody. It's only for people who are smart, limited market. It's enlightenment.

Keep your mind centered on that which leads to light, intensively. Accept no substitute.

It's as if all your past is written on the blackboard, and if we could erase it, your past would no longer exist. The way you do that - the only way you do that - is in samadhi.

If the chi is being wasted by useless activities, emotions and associations that drain us, then we don't have enough power when it comes time to perform.

When you go to a power spot, and you think negative or depressing thoughts they tend to grow stronger. Whereas, if you think more positive, happier thoughts, they tend to increase in strength.

Self-realization is a strange term. You don't actually realize your 'self'. If anything, you go away. The caterpillar enters the cocoon of meditation: A butterfly emerges - metamorphosis.