Many of the people I work with I've worked with in other lifetimes. I moved to California because I knew that many of my students from past lives were in California.

The Buddha taught three cycles of teachings. His first cycle of teachings cover the basics, the prerequisites. This would include the Dharmapada.

The person who's in the Zen monastery, who's doing a kind of poor job at meditating and a half-ass job cleaning the gardens is not doing very good yoga.

When you have grown accustomed to sitting and meditating, try to stop your thoughts. That's the bottom line in meditative practice.

Never expect anything from a particular meditation. Once you have gotten started, different methods get you into the stream, let the meditation take you wherever it would like to.

As a monk you have a responsibility to meditate many hours a day. Not just to sit there but to think of the ten thousand radiances.

I teach Zen, tantric mysticism, jnana yoga, bhakti yoga, Tibetan mysticism, occultism and psychic development. I also teach poetry and literature, film and many other different things.