#presence

When you have closed your doors and made all dark within, remember never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; God is within, and your genius is within.

In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

They were watchful, like men crossing a winter stream; alert, like men aware of danger; courteous, like visiting guests.

The Master doesn't display himself, therefore people can see his light. He doesn't assert himself, therefore he is recognized.

We thought of life by analogy with a journey, with a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing.

By thoughts I mean specifically chatter in the skull: perpetual and compulsive repetition of words, of reckoning and calculating.

Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all, unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present.

Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.

The art of living does not consist in careless drifting on the one hand or in fearful clinging on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment.

You cannot live at all, unless you can live fully now.

It is not something you do in order to get somewhere else. It is the realization that you are already there.

To put it another way: God is the most obvious thing in the world, so obvious that we look right past Him.

There is no rush, nowhere else you need to be. Just breathe, and be here.

This is the real secret of life - to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now.

My soul, where are you? Do you hear me? I speak, I call you—are you there? I have returned, I am here again.

Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness.

Do not go to the garden of flowers! O friend! go not there; in your body is the garden of flowers.

Do one thing at a time, and while doing it put your whole soul into it to the exclusion of all else.

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.

The supreme art of life is to live deliberately.

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

We cross infinity with every step; we meet the eternal in every second.

The touch of the infinite is felt in the gentle breeze of evening.

The dewdrop reflects the entire sky without becoming heavy.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Meditation is the emptying of the mind of all memory.

When you listen with total attention, there is no listener.