The future is a concept, it doesn’t exist. There is no such thing as tomorrow. There never will be, because time is always now. That’s one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now.
Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.
Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.
Imagine a multidimensional spider’s web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image.
Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.
Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.
We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.
I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.
But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.
How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such a fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain, can experience itself as anything less than a god.
Zen is a way of liberation, concerned not with discovering what is good or bad or advantageous, but what is.
Don’t hurry anything. Don’t worry about the future. Don’t worry about what progress you’re making. Just be entirely content to be aware of what is.
All that you see out in front of you is how you feel inside your head.
Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.
You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.
You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.
When we attempt to exercise power or control over someone else, we cannot avoid giving that person the very same power or control over us.
You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes.
So many people of wealth understand much more about making and saving money than about using and enjoying it. They fail to live because they are always preparing to live.