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.

Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy, dogmatism, arrogance - embracing all opposites.

To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give.

Time is not a line, but a series of now-points.

What is called zazen is sitting on a zafu [pillow] in a quiet room, absolutely still, in the exact and proper position and without uttering a word, the mind empty of any thought, good or wicked. It is continuing to sit peacefully, facing a wall, and nothing more. Every day.

Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." I say, "I do not think, that is why I exist."

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