May the narrow rivers of our lives be widened by torrential rains of Thy blessings, and pass through vast lowlands of humbleness, self sacrifice, and consideration for others, to enter in purity Thy Blissful Sea.

To know when to stop, to know when you can get no further by your own action, this is the right beginning.

The body of man is like a flicker of lightning / existing only to return to Nothingness. / Like the spring growth / that shrivels in autumn. / Waste no thought on the / process for it has no purpose, / Coming and going like dew.

If you pass through the barrier, you walk the universe alone.

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.

Each religion represents one side, the fullness being the addition of all these.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead it’s about becoming more fully human…. It is the end of ignorance.

Pleasure is a freedom song, / But it is not freedom. / It is the blossoming of your desires, / But it is not their fruit.

Your mind must become one. Do not try to understand with your ears but with your heart. Indeed, not with your heart but with your soul.

He who wants to shine will shed no light.

There are three marks of a superior man: being virtuous, he is free from anxiety; being wise, he is free from perplexity; being brave, he is free from fear.

Possess little and this little will grow. Possess much and it will be lost.

Often we find atheism both in individual and society a necessary passage to deeper religious and spiritual truth: One has sometimes to deny God in order to find Him.

Those that make you return, for whatever reason, to the spirit, be grateful to them.

Before speaking, recognize what motivates your words.

Fear is man’s greatest enemy, and it manifests itself in forms as diverse as shame, jealousy, anger, insolence, arrogance…. What causes fear? Lack of confidence in oneself.

He whose mind is not tranquil can know neither peace nor happiness.

The truth is that existence wants you life to become a festival… because when you are unhappy, you also throw unhappiness all around.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

You really do not need to know many things, but you definitely need to practice what you know.

There is at the moment in the world a battle going on between those who are pursuing materialistic paths … and … those who are dedicated to spiritual renewal…. Where human beings are not just sold to companies and money and those kinds of things. Where human beings have a sacred path.

You are what your deep, driving desire is.

To think is to choose to observe and comprehend, even if one is disturbed by oneself or others.

As long as you pursue pleasure, you are attached to the sources of pleasure; and as long as you are attached to the sources of pleasure, you cannot escape pain and sorrow.

I Have Learned / So much from God / That I can no longer / Call Myself / A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim / A Buddhist, a Jew.

Constantly we are hoping that someone else may give us knowledge and happiness, but that is not possible. These come only from within.

What is this true meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, action, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong, into one single koan.

All our poetry, philosophy, science, art, and religion serve to embrace with our understanding the spheres too vast and high.

One’s own self is the most difficult to subdue.

The Way is the proper standard for past and present. He who departs from the Way and makes arbitrary choices on the basis of his own judgment does not understand wherein fortune and misfortune lie.