We don't strive to be nice people, because we already are. We should know this, even though some of us who are studying Zen have become nice people and do good things. But we do rub up against each other. That's real intimacy, real respect, real compassion for one another. Sangha life is just like a pearl; there's much rubbing, and the more agitation there is, the more pearl-like our lives become.
— Jakusho Kwong, No Beginning, No End