On Zen concepts
“In every religion, it seemed, self is the obstacle, the enemy. And yet Zen declares plainly that the self doesn't exist. Self is a mirage, a fever dream, and our stubborn belief in its reality not only wastes life, but shortens it. Self is the bald-faced lie we tell ourselves daily, and happiness requires seeing through the lie, debunking it. To study the self, said the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen, is to forget the self. Inner voice, outer voices, it's all the same. No dividing lines.
Especially in competition. Victory, Zen says, comes when we forget the self and the opponent, who are but two halves of one whole. In Zen and the Art of Archery, it's all laid out with crystal clarity. Perfection in the art of swordsmanship is reached... when the heart is troubled by no more thought of I and You, of the opponent and his sword, of one's own sword and how to wield it...All is emptiness: your own self, the fashing sword, and the arms that wield it. Even the thought of emptiness is no longer there.”