- “The rules of communication are not necessarily the rules of the universe, and man is not the role or identity which society thrusts upon him. For when a man no longer confuses himself with the definition of himself that others have given him, he is at once universal and unique. He is universal by virtue of the inseparability of his organism from the cosmos. He is unique in that he is just this organism and not any stereotype of role, class, or identity assumed for the convenience of social communication.” ― Alan W. Watts, Psychotherapy East and West
- “Your body and my body are both totally made up of and dependent upon the elements of the earth—the water, the air, the heat, the land, the soil and the food it produces—as well as all of the elements that these elements are dependent upon—the sun, the stars, the galaxies, and a vast field of energy and space to contain them in. Nature is our extended body, and the elements outside of our skin are just as important to our health as the elements within our skin. Our bodies are connected to the universe as a whole, and consequently to each other and the many ways in which we influence our shared environment.” ― Joseph P. Kauffman, The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom
- “Appreciation, affection, focus and intention fill up the space of self-reflection, and one loses oneself in the engagement. And what a relief it is when you get there.” ― Darrell Calkins, Re:
- “We survive largely because of the existence and recognition of high-end qualities—compassion, integrity, courage, humility, etc. These are how we perceive spirit. Even the most cynical and fatalistic bastard will snap out of self-absorption, abuse and hopelessness when confronted by an extreme expression of any one of these qualities. (Case studies show that this also applies even to rapists and murderers, not always, but more so than any other technique or therapy.) That is, beyond belief, the desire to feel good, or even hope or despair, there does exist an essential intuitive value system in each of us. This runs through and across every culture, and even every species. I don’t believe that those intuitive values are there to fool us into occupying ourselves so as to feel good while waiting for the inevitable to happen. Nature is not so decadent. Or cynical.” ― Darrell Calkins
- “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
- In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing. Yamamoto Tsunetomo
- “The illusion of ‘I’ is that you think you are ‘I’ while you are only ‘am’; and that ‘am’ is the first person singular of the verb ‘to be’. Since, for ‘to be’ you don’t need to say ‘I’, but for to say ‘I’ you need ‘to be’, thus you are prior to ‘I’ as ‘am’, and that ‘am’ is ‘to be’; therefore, to that note, on the ocean of ‘am’ alone, ‘I’ is only a wave.” ― ~Sw. Chidananda Tirtha
- Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing. Lao Tzu
- “An alternative — and better — definition of reality can be found by naming some of its components: air, sunlight, wind, water, the motion of waves, the patterns of clouds before a coming storm. These elements, unlike 20th-century office routines, have been here since before life appeared on this planet, and they will continue long after office routines are gone. They are understood by everyone, not just a small segment of a highly advanced society. When considered on purely logical grounds, they are more real than the extremely transitory lifestyles of the modern civilization the depressed ones want to return to.If this is so, then it follows that those who see sailing as an escape from reality have their understanding of sailing and reality backward. Sailing is not an escape, but a return to and a confrontation of a reality from which modern civilization is itself an escape. For centuries, man suffered from the reality of an Earth that was too dark or too hot or too cold for his comfort, and to escape this he invented complex systems of lighting, heating and air conditioning.Sailing rejects these and returns to the old realities of dark and heat and cold. Modern civilization has found radio, television, movies, nightclubs and a huge variety of mechanized entertainment to titillate our senses and help us escape from the apparent boredom of the Earth and the Sun, the wind and the stars. Sailing returns to these ancient realities.” ― Robert M. Pirsig
- “The right art,” cried the Master, “is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.” ― Eugen Herrigel
- “You may have noticed that the questions asked are better than the answers given. What do you expect? Perhaps we could submit these answers in a game and see if anyone could figure out what the hell the question was. “Ahh, how to be happy?” ― Darrell Calkins, Re:
- One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world. Dogen
- Zen is an effort to become alert and awake. Osho
- “I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.” ― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
- “Your body and my body are both totally made up of and dependent upon the elements of the earth—the water, the air, the heat, the land, the soil and the food it produces—as well as all of the elements that these elements are dependent upon—the sun, the stars, the galaxies, and a vast field of energy and space to contain them in. Nature is our extended body, and the elements outside of our skin are just as important to our health as the elements within our skin. Our bodies are connected to the universe as a whole, and consequently to each other and the many ways in which we influence our shared environment.” ― Joseph P. Kauffman, The Answer Is YOU: A Guide to Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Freedom
- “We sometimes learn, not from something, but from not having learned from it.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “The temptations and reactions that can cause non-creativity, imbalance and distraction are many. Let’s start with the prejudice everyone has against imposed challenges. It’s a concept that people associate with an accusation, a kind of guilty until proven innocent. Or, you’re not good enough until you prove it, with the implication behind this that you will probably fail or are unworthy. If you settle for this association at the expense of perceiving the actuality and necessity of challenge, or Creative Resistance, in hundreds or thousands of situations in every day of your life, and in anything worthy of your attention, you bought into the illusion sold basically to keep you small, in control, like those and safe for those who sell it.” ― Darrell Calkins, Re:
- “Nothingness is the only fact. Silence is its only possible description. Rest all are just interpretations.” ― Shunya
- “Time is not static; it is an ever-flowing river – ongoing and changing yet holding its own integrity. Can you understand the integrity of a drop of rain in the river? It mixes and blends, yet it is always itself – or is it? If it is part of the whole , can that drop be accessed in any part of the river? We want to stretch your imagination so that you understand the hologram where the whole can be stored in a part. Imagine a creature, a being so intelligent, alive, and intense that it is everywhere at once. Its essence is pure and responds to every aspect of itself. This is a creature that curiosity and malleability, unique characteristics that allow it to be molded and to mold as well. And you must learn to dance with this energy.” ― Barbara Marciniak, Family of Light: Pleiadian Tales and Lessons in Living
- “But the idea of a purposeless world is horrifying because it is incomplete. Purpose is a pre-eminently human attribute. To say that the world has no purpose is to say that it is not human[.] For what is not human appears to be inhuman only when man sets himself over against nature, for then the inhumanity of nature seems to deny man, and its purposelessness to deny his purposes. But to say that nature is not human and has no purpose is not to say what it has instead. The human body as a whole is not a hand, but it does not for this reason deny the hand.” ― Alan W. Watts, Nature, Man and Woman
- “It’s important to have a vision of the long run and make wise decisions for our highest good in the present moment; however, we don’t want to become attached to how everything must look. When we show up in good faith, life provides. And when we trust, we are always in the flow of manifestation.” ― Alaric Hutchinson, Living Peace: Essential Teachings for Enriching Life
- “Mindfulness shifts our thinking so that a simple meal transforms into a gift for all sentient beings.” ― Alex Kakuyo
- “If you haven’t been able to be happy, maybe it’s because you’re holding firmly to your idea of happiness” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, The Mindfulness Survival Kit: Five Essential Practices
- “More than anything else, Zen represents a soulful approach to life in which one remains completely vulnerable and open to life, without God as a security blanket. There is no attempt to eliminate the basic insecurity or unpredictability of life or to solve the mysteries of existence.” ― Kenneth S. Leong, The Zen Teachings of Jesus
- “What we are is what we receive. It is not about waiting for something outside ourselves to change – we must actively be the change if we wish to see the result.” ― Alaric Hutchinson, Living Peace: Essential Teachings for Enriching Life
- “Entire wars have been based on our inability to see.” ― Natalie Goldberg, The Great Failure: A Bartender, A Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth
- “«Un antiguo sabio dijo: “una persona buena es como caminar bajo la niebla y la llovizna, aunque la ropa no se empape se va volviendo cada vez más húmeda.”» (4-4, Shobogenzo)” ― Dogen Zenji, Eihei, Shobogenzo: Zen Essays by Dogen
- “Shigemori’s body of work is a compelling manifesto for continuous cultural renewal.” ― Christian Tschumi, Mirei Shigemori: Modernizing the Japanese Garden
- “When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” ― Masanobu Fukuoka, The One-Straw Revolution
- “Real haiku is the soul of poetry. Anything that is not actually present in one’s heart is not haiku. The moon glows, flowers bloom, insects cry, water flows. There is no place we cannot find flowers or think of the moon. This is the essence of haiku. Go beyond the restrictions of your era, forget about purpose or meaning, separate yourself from historical limitations—there you will find the essence of true art, religion, and science.” ― Santoka Taneda, Mountain Tasting: Haiku and Journals of Santoka Taneda