In describing his initial confrontation with his own Parkinson's disease, Zen master — Roshi (meaning venerable teacher) — Kapleau says that he suddenly became aware that he and the illness were one. They would be living together for the remainder of his life. "An insight came to me: the disease is now yours, it's inseparable from you. The only way, it seemed to me, to deal with a chronic disease is to accept it as part of you, as part of your life, not something isolated that you just have a marginal relationship with."
— Philip Kapleau, The Gifts of Suffering by Polly Young-Eisendrath