No Sweet and Simple Thing

So the other night, still in Hakuin mode, I picked up Yampolsky's The Zen Master Hakuin and browsed in it for a while.  On page 82, I found words I should like to live and die by:

I am an old monk who lives in a dilapidated building and knows nothing of the world, but I do not make the Buddhadharma into a sweet and simple thing.

It is no sweet and simple thing.  There are no easy gains here.  There is release to be had, but anyone who tells me that getting there is a walk in the park is not going to get a hearing from me.   I know better: Great Release only comes on the heels of what Hakuin called "Great Faith, Great Doubt and Great Determination."

Anyone who tries to come in through any other gate is a thief and a miscreant.