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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu,

Just detach from all sound and form, but do not dwell in detachment, and do not dwell in intellectual interpretation-this is practice.
As for reading scriptures and studying the doctrines,according to worldly conventions it is a good thing,
but from the perspective of one who is aware of inner truth, it chokes people.

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When you see others errors and you want guide them because you think they are wrong and you feel compassion for them, you should employ tact to avoid angering them, and contrive to appear as if you were talk about something else.
Dogen

If you misunderstand your mind you are an ordinary mortal; if you understand your mind, you are a sage.
In this it makes no difference whether are a male or female, old or young, smart or simple.
~ Jakushitsu

Jim Stewart

Fred Haynes

Alister Thomson

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All have been promoted to 7th Dan.
Congratulations

If you wish to understand yourself, you must succeed in doing so in the midst of all kinds of confusions and upsets. Dont make the mistake of sitting dead in the cold ashes of a withered tree

Selflessness starts as an act, becomes a habit, and with true warriors eventually ends up as a way of life. To be selfless is to place the welfare of others ahead of your own welfare to achieve a greater good. It is not done lightly or easily, and the greater good for the world around us must always supercede the greater good for one's self for an act to be truly selfless. To give something of value to another just because the person you give it to might need it more than you do may not always be a selfless act. If holding on to something of value would cause it to be used for the benefit of still more people, while the person you would relinquish it to would only use it to benefit themselves, then giving it up may also relinquish you of your responsibilities to all those others you could have helped, and would thereby not be committing a selfless act, but rather a selfish one.

Because warriors tend to think further into the future and hopefully look at the bigger picture, it is more natural for warriors to commit selfless acts, and with true warriors, those selfless acts become the driving force in their lives. The sacrifices those true warriors make and the wounds they incur through those selfless acts are what separate them from those who merely commit selfless acts at convenient times, or only when others are watching them.

So although it is the warriors' courage that causes others to admire them, it is selflessness that causes others to respect them.