I don't know anything but writing practice, and so what I really do is direct that energy as if it were flowing down a river.

We never graduate from first grade. Over and over, we have to go back to the beginning.

My goal is to write every day. I say it is my ideal. I am careful not to pass judgment or create anxiety if I do not do it. No one lives up to his ideal.

In the end, you have to just sit down, shut up, and write.

I'm never ashamed to read a book twice or as many times as I want. We never expect to drink a glass of water just once in our lives. A book can be that essential, too.

That daydreaming seemed important at the time, but when I asked my teacher Katagiri Roshi about it, he said, "Oh, it's just laziness. Get to work." But as for discipline, I don't even use that word. I think more about passion or love. What I've really learned is the way the mind moves, and how the mind works. Rather than discipline, I know how to seduce my mind.

After you have finished a piece of work, the work is then none of your business. Go on and do something else.