In order to settle down in the quiet of our own being we must learn to be detached from the results of our own activity. We must be content to live without watching ourselves live, to work with expecting immediate reward, to love without an instant satisfaction, and to exist without any special recognition. It is only when we are detached from ourselves that we can be at peace with ourselves.

When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war, but above all that my country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable.

The only trouble is that in the spiritual life there are no tricks and no shortcuts. Those who imagine that they can discover spiritual gimmicks and put them to work for themselves usually ignore God's will and his grace.

No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.

The gate of heaven is everywhere.

It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister.

Zen insight is not our awareness, but Being's awareness of itself in us.