Lao Tsu uses the anology of the tree. The old hard tree breaks and falls when the wind blows. The young tree bends and does not break. He advises us to bend and not to break.

The teacher will have a certain imprint, and each teacher imprints differently. Ultimately the imprint of the teacher is a limitation that you will have to overcome in your final stages of knowledge.

Through high school, college, graduate school and beyond, I had a number of relationships that were wonderful.

Do not feel that you are destined not to make that final liberation in this life. This is egotism in a reverse form. Don't be concerned one way or the other.

By perfecting the practices of zazen and mindfulness, by learning patience and love and by realizing the essential emptiness of all phenomena, you will discover nirvana.

I am an expert in the world of the supremely happy because I am happy. I've never met anybody as happy as I am - that, in itself, should make you unhappy.

The self plays among the waves of existence. It surfaces, it comes up for a while, and then it disappears again.