The word translated, koan, it means a problem. But it's a very special problem. And to strip it down to the way it works, you are given a problem which has no rational solution. There is a contradiction built into it. One standard - one is this is the sound of two hands clapping. What is the sound of one hand clapping? And so on. All right, so the first thing is that it brings your rational mind to an impasse.

The Sufis say there are three ways to know fire - by hearing it described, by seeing it, or by being burned.

What is sickness? What is health? Both are distractions. Put them both aside and go forward.

We become compassionate not from altruism which denies the self for the sake of the other, but from the insight that sees and feels one is the other.

Daily the world grows smaller, leaving understanding the only place where peace can find a home.

Poetry is a special use of language that opens onto the real. The business of the poet is truth telling, which is why in the Celtic tradition no one could be a teacher unless he or she was a poet.

The self is too small an object for perpetual enthusiasm.