Quotes from Katsuki Sekida

Zen is not, in my view, philosophy or mysticism. It is simply a practice of readjustment of nervous activity. That is, it restores the distorted nervous system to its normal functioning.

While you are conscious of being a Buddha, you are not truly a Buddha, because you are ensnared by the idea. You are not empty.

To cast off the delusive way of ordinary consciousness while sitting on a cushion in a quiet room is only the beginning. The student must learn to live in the ordinary world, while yet retaining the quality of his experience of absolute samadhi.

One may practice zazen for twenty, thirty, even fifty years, and go through failures and frustrations, but every defeat and time of despair is in reality a gain rather than a loss. Any experience is to be regarded as a part of one's assets.

Zen training is a means of enabling us to live our ordinary lives supremely well.

Zen is above all a matter of personal experience. The student is asked to accept nothing the truth of which he cannot demonstrate for himself, with his own mind and body.

Katsuki Sekida, Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1975; Boston: Shambhala, 2005).

What has happened by chance is often difficult to repeat when it is sought deliberately. Chance is a genius.