Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit.

You cannot separate any part from the whole: interdependence rules the cosmic order.

The body moves naturally, automatically, without any personal intervention or awareness. If we think too much, our actions become slow and hesitant.

Human beings are afraid of dying. They are always running after something: money, honor, and pleasure. But if you had to die now, what would you want?

Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance.

If we achieve satori and the satori shows, like a bit of dogshit stuck to the top of our nose, that is not so good.

During zazen, brain and consciousness become pure. It's exactly like muddy water left to stand in a glass. Little by little, the sediment sinks to the bottom and the water becomes pure.