After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you may say, 'Oh, this pace is terrible!' But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress.

Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this practice; there is no ot…

If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.

You should rather be grateful for the weeds you have in you mind, because eventually they will enrich your practice.

Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.

Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.

No thing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let i…