Every thought, every feeling, amounts to avoidance.

We express our willingness to be realistic through the practice of meditation.

Meditation is the excruciatingly slow process of eroding the ground beneath your feet.

With this work comes the deepest of obligations.

For actions to have power, timing must be impeccable. This is not possible when thought is involved because, contrary to what the philosophers tell us, thinking is naturally ponderous. This is why taiji is a martial art and not an intellectual pursuit.

Progress occurs when you manage to eradicate all notions of progress, when you finally learn to work simply for the love of it.

When you get stuck, lower your standards.

a concept is the product of insecurity

Meaning is heavy. Nothing has meaning of itself. Everything is intrinsically meaningless. We give things meaning to facilitate our connexion with them – to establish a relationship. So we end up not relating to things directly but to the meaning we have invested those things with, which, in a sense, is a relationship with ourselves. This masturbatory process is not the path to understanding, which has nothing to do with meaning and everything to do with emptying of self in order to connect directly – a creative connexion, essentially light and lively, which in no way weighs on the thing connected to, which, if anything sets that thing free of its own meaningful structures.

Each truth works for its truth.
Modest contribution to universal Truth.
Our belief sustains it.

True work is acting practically, relating to the earth directly.

The difference between the poor student and the good student is largely a matter of maturity. The poor student studies for the sake of approbation – they need compliments or "experiences" to maintain their interest. They put great strain upon the teacher, whose sole duty they feel is to keep them amused – motivated. The good student, on the other hand, has no interest in experiences, in how they feel, in what they think, or in what anyone else thinks. Is all they desire is to work because they understand that it is only through work that they have the slimmest of chances to cut through the superficial ego and achieve some sort of depth, some sort of reality, of freedom.

The desert reaches down even into the soul.

Meditation is all about honesty – facing up to what you feel, what you think, and ultimately what you are.

The body is fortified by intermittent stress but worn out by chronic stress.

Next to nothing.

The teacher helps you push beyond your self.