Essential Manifesto of Zen

Zen knows only a vast life which
contains all kinds of contradictions
in a deep harmony.
The night is in harmony with the day,
and life is in harmony with death,
and the earth is in harmony with the sky.
The presence is in harmony with the absence.
This immense harmony, this synchronicity,
is the essential manifesto of Zen.
This is the only way of life which
respects and loves, and denies nothing,
and condemns nothing.

Osho

End to Your Troubles

Give up learning and
put an end to your troubles.

Lao-Tsu

Everything Becomes Clear

When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Osho

As It As It Can Be

Spiritual awakening is the difficult process
whereby the increasing realization is as wrong
as it can be flips suddenly into the realization
that everything is as right as it can be. Or better,
everything is as It as it can be.

Alan Watts

Your Road

It's your road, and yours alone.
Others may walk it with you,
but no one can walk it for you.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Merge With It

When instead of reacting
against a situation,
you merge with it,
the solution arises
out of the situation itself.

Eckhart Tolle

They Answer Our Prayers

When the gods wish to punish us
they answer our prayers.

Oscar Wilde

What I Am Doing

I am spreading love.
That is what I am doing
for this situation.

Ram Dass

Accept This Moment

Accept this
moment
as it is.

Eckhart Tolle

Ending Peacefully

Relationships that do not end
peacefully do not end at all.

Merrit Malloy

Truly Ready

When the student is ready
the teacher will appear.
When the student is truly ready
the teacher will disappear.

Lao Tsu

How Far I Am

The closer I get,
the more I see
how far I am.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Each Moment

Each moment is a complete, new experience when
viewed from the eyes of the awakened observer.

Terence McKenna

Being Right

There's nothing that
strengthens the ego
more that being right.

Eckhart Tolle

The Best You Could

You did the best you could with the knowledge you had in that moment. It's easier to look back at an event and see a better choice or pathway because we already learned from our experience. Hindsight happens after the lesson, so we can't condemn ourselves for not knowing the lesson before we learned it.

Emily Maroutian

Nothing Deadlier

There is nothing deadlier
than the religionized ego.

David Hawkins

The Human Ego

It appears that the human ego itself
is primarily the product and continuation
of the presence of the survival core
of the animal evolution.

David Hawkins

The Capacity for Equal Pleasure

To the ego, gains lie without; to the spirit, they are internal, for the ever-present joy of existence is independent of content or form. To the spirit, a sunny day or a rainy day are the same. Awareness enjoys qualities rather than grasping at form. Thus, it can enjoy "being with," without having to own or control. Awareness is not driven by goals but instead values the capacity for equal pleasure in all circumstances.

David Hawkins

Only in the Roots

Maybe you are searching
among the branches for
what only appears in
the roots.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Culture is a Game

Only the shaman knows
that culture is a game.
Everyone else takes it
seriously. That's how
he can do his magic.

Terence McKenna

Inner Peace

Do not let the behavior of others
destroy your inner peace.

Dalai Lama

Give of Your Heart

If you have much,
give of your wealth.
If you have little,
give of your Heart.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

What You Really Love

Let yourself be silently drawn
by the strange pull of what
you really love. It will not
lead you astray.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Love is the Bridge

Love is the bridge
between you and
everything.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Holding On

When someone provokes your anger,
the only reason you get angry is
because you're holding on to how
you think something's supposed to be.

Ram Dass

On Loan

Our partner's sexuality
does not belong to us.
At best, it's on loan with
an option to renew.

Esther Perel

Still for Fifty Years

The mystery does not get clearer
by repeating the question, nor is it
bought with going to amazing places.
Until you've kept your eyes and
your wanting still for fifty years,
you don't begin to cross over
from confusion.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Like a Shepherd

Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder.
Help someone's soul heal.
Walk out of your house
like a shepherd.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

The Truth

Most people don't want the truth.
They want constant reassurance
that what they believe is the truth.

Unknown

Live Without Answers

Disperse your money and attention with
extreme miserliness when people start
telling you they have the answers.
There are no answers at this point.
Part of growing up is to live without answers.

Terence McKenna

Going Places

Sex is not a thing you do,
it's a place that you go.

Esther Perel

Ego Trip

The biggest ego trip going
is getting rid of your ego.

Alan Watts

So Absolutely Free

The only way to deal with an unfree world
is to become so absolutely free that
your very existence is an act of rebellion.

Albert Camus

No One is in Control

The real truth that dare not speak itself is
that no one is in control, absolutely no one.
This stuff is ruled by the equations of
dynamics and chaos. Now, there may be
entities seeking control, but to seek control
is to take enormous aggravation upon yourself.
It's like trying to control a dream.

Terence McKenna

I'm Paying Attention

I understand now that I'm not a mess but
a deeply feeling person in a messy world.
I explain that now, when someone asks me
why I cry so often, I say, "For the same reason
I laugh so often - because I'm paying attention."

Glennon Doyle Melton

Knowing

The art of knowing
is knowing what to
ignore.

Rumi

For What It's Worth

We are caged by our cultural programming.
Culture is a mass hallucination, and when
you step outside the mass hallucination
you see it for what it's worth.

Terence McKenna

The Light is the Same

The lamps are different,
but the light is the same.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Real Love

Real love begins where
nothing is expected in return.

Unknown

No Within

There is no within.
You can try going within
but there's nothing there.
There's a sense of within
but a sense is a bunch of nothing.
Within is just a thought.
And that itself is also nothing.

Judy Cohen

Like an Overcoat

Ego is a structure that is erected
by a neurotic individual who is
a member of a neurotic culture
against the facts of the matter.
And culture, which we put on
like an overcoat, is the collectivized
consensus about what sort of
neurotic behaviors are acceptable.

Terence McKenna