#zen

"Because even among contrarians, I’m a contrarian. But all of this is just words of bronze, third place rhetoric. What do I really mean when I say we want to shock society into awareness? Do we mean we want more originality and individuality? Less TV, more reading, writing, actual thinking? Less sheep, more shepherd pie? Yes, yes, and a little more pie, please. Oh, and some more sweet tea, too"

"To Do Today, 1/17/081. Sit and think2. Reach enlightenment3. Feed the cats"

"The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth,"and so it goes away. Puzzling."

"Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life."

"In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few"

"But people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind."

"Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar"

"Who we are now is all that really matters."

"Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet."

"What we can change is our perceptions, which have the effect of changing everything."

"I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats."

"Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain."

"The effects you will have on your students are infinite and currently unknown; you will possibly shape the way they proceed in their careers, the way they will vote, the way they will behave as partners and spouses, the way they will raise their kids."

"Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun."

"To preserve the silence within--amid all the noise. To remain open and quiet, a moist humus in the fertile darkness where the rain falls and the grain ripens--no matter how many tramp across the parade ground in whirling dust under an arid sky."

"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable."

"Only the hand that erases can write the true thing."

"If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?"

"Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it."

"Life is more or less a lie, but then again, that's exactly the way we want it to be."