Our whole life consists of this little subject looking outside itself for an object.

We don’t have to analyze it, pick it apart, or “communicate” about it. The wonder of living with anything is…what? It’s perfect in being as it is.

In noticing the thoughts and in experiencing the bodily contractions (doing zazen), the bottleneck of fear is illuminated. And as I do

We just notice, notice, notice. Then, as mind and body quiet down and the fire burns brighter, out of that will come real thinking and the ability to make adequate decisions. The creative spark of any art is also born in that fire.

So the illusion we have, that practice should always be peaceful and loving, just isn’t so. That the box opens is perfectly normal and necessary.

all wanting—especially wanting to be a certain way—is centered on ego and fear.

if you think you’re beyond this, well, you can think you’re beyond this.

In times of confusion and depression the worst thing we can do is to try to be some other way.

Our lives are lost in our self-centered thoughts, the superstructure.