“One of the necessities of this new kind of religion is actual practice – daily practice. It is admirable and important to have the right ideas about our lives: to believe that goodness is possible and can be cultivated, to view compassion as the most important of human achievements, to want to be mindful and not mindless, and so on. But these attitudes, wonderful as they are, aren’t enough to carry us forward in the present world. We also need some concrete form of spiritual practice we are committed to – an everyday practice that can be a strong basis for those beliefs and intentions and can help us to work with our daily conduct. By spiritual practice I mean activities that we actually do, that we take the time to do; activities that are, in a rational sense, useless, that are done merely for their own sake with no other goal or object; activities that are done with devotion and dedication to something larger than ourselves, and as much as possible without self-interest.”

“It [zazen] is simply the practice of being what we are, of allowing, permitting, opening ourselves to ourselves. In doing that we enter directly the depth of our living – a depth that goes beyond our individual life and touches all life.”

“I think the real fruits of spiritual practice do not become apparent right away. If you do almost any kind of serious practice, even for a day or a weekend, you will see some powerful effects in your life. It is not at all unrealistic to think that someone can have a life-transforming experience in a short retreat or even in a morning at church. I have seen this happen many times. But the real fruits of spiritual practice grow over longer periods of time.”