" The samurai all practiced the disciplines of the Zen sect, a religion without preaching, indeed without any doctrine she could perceive, all serious and grim and silent. Was it a religion at all? She once asked Genji to explain it to her, and he just laughed.
There is little to explain. I only play at it. I am too lazy to truly do it.
What is done?
He sat in the contortionist position called the lotus, with each foot on the opposite thigh, and closed his eyes.
And what is it you are doing? It seems to me you are doing nothing at all.
I am letting go, Genji said.
Letting go? Letting go of what?
First, bodily tension. Second, thoughts. Third, everything else.
To what end?
You are so much a person of the West, Genji said, always thinking of ends. The means are the end. You sit. You let go.
And once you have let go, then what?
Then you let go of letting go.
I don’t understand.
Genji smiled, uncrossed his legs, and said, Old Zengen would say that’s a good beginning. "

― Takashi Matsuoka , Cloud of Sparrows