"...I am responsible for the Other without waiting for reciprocity, were I to die for it. Reciprocity is his affair. It is precisely insofar as the relation between the Other and me is not reciporcal that I am subjection to the Other; and I am "subject" essentially in this sense. It is I who support all...The I always has one responsibility more than all the others."
Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995)

A conversation between writers Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller during a party at a billionaire’s estate. The story goes that Vonnegut pointed to the billionaire and asked Heller, "Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel Catch-22 has earned in its entire history?"

"Yes," Heller responded, "but I have something he will never have: Enough."

“In the heart of winter, the chill freezes lakes and rivers; water becomes so solid that it can bear men, beasts and carts. As the spring approaches, earth and water warm up and thaw. What then remains of the hardness of the ice? Water is soft and fluid, ice hard and sharp, so we cannot say that they are identical; but neither can we say that they are different, because ice is only solidified water, and water is only melted ice. The same applies to our perception of the world around us. To be attached to the reality of phenomena, to be tormented by attraction and repulsion, by pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and obscurity, praise and blame, creates a solidity in the mind. What we have to do, therefore, is to melt the ice of concepts into the living water of freedom within.” —Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Ode to New Year's Resolutions

Katagiri Roshi:

To change your life is not your business.

If you try to change your life through your intellectual sense you won't be satisfied no matter how much you change.

If you want to change your life, practice forming a habit of doing small things with the body and mind. If you do this continually your life will be changed beyond your expectation.