The truth is revealed by removing things that stand in its light, an art not unlike sculpture, in which the artist creates, not by building, but by hacking away.

No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.

Do you see yourself as a victim of the world, or do you see yourself as the world?

Just as money is not real, consumable wealth, books are not life. To idolize scriptures is like eating paper currency.

The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.

Many people think that the Bible is the authentic word of God and they worship the Bible, making it an idol.

I was talking to a Zen master the other day and he said, "You shall be my disciple."I looked at him and said, "Who was Buddha's teacher?" He looked at me in a very odd way for a moment and then he burst into laughter and handed me a piece of clover.