quotations

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!” “Like this… Continue reading Cup of tea 

Video: A Poem Reading with Meryl Streep and Cello with Yo-Yo Ma There seems to be no one on the empty mountain and yet I think I hear a voice where sunlight entering a grove shines back to me from the green moss There is a vitality a life force a quickening that is translated… Continue reading Luzhai / A Letter to Agnes DeMille

Don’t stand idle at the side of the road don’t hold off on happiness don’t love with half a heart don’t play it safe now or ever don’t play it safe don’t fill up with calm don’t take cover from the world in a quiet corner don’t let your eyelids come down like a weighty… Continue reading Don’t Play it Safe

suomeksi: Auttamisesta If we wish to succeed in helping someone to reach a particular goal, we must first find out where he is now, and start from there. If we cannot do this, we merely delude ourselves into believing that we can help others. Before we can help someone, we must know more than he… Continue reading About helping

suomeksi: Paljasta luonteesi, jotta voin olla jotain erilaista Don’t impose on me what you know, I want to explore the unknown and be the source of my own discoveries. Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery. The world of your truth can be my limitation; your wisdom my negation. Don’t instruct me; let’s… Continue reading Reveal yourself so I can be something different