A mountain still in the distance can appear as a molehill.
Only people who suffer show the ravages of age.
And finally, be assured that Zen asks nothing even as it promises nothing. One can be a Protestant Zen Buddhist, a Catholic Zen Buddhist or a Jewish Zen Buddhist. Zen is a quiet thing. It listens.
Either you get a chance to be a kid when you are a kid, or you don't grow up.
Yiddish for gall, nerve, arrogance-whatever
Most assuredly Zen is a religion, but it is a religion without scripture, without doctrine or dogma and without sin.