A pat on the back is six inches away from a kick up the ass.
Awake. Be the witness of your thoughts. You are what observes, not what you observe.
Nirvana is this moment seen directly. There is no where else than here. The only gate is now. The only doorway is your own body and mind. There’s nowhere to go. There’s nothing else to be. There’s no destination. It’s not something to aim for in the afterlife. It’s simply the quality of this moment.
He who has renounced all violence towards all living beings, weak or strong, who neither kills nor causes others to kill - him I do call a holy man.
Believe nothing, No matter where you read it, Or who has said it, Not even if I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason And your own common sense.
The good renounce everything. The pure don't babble about sensual desires. Whether touched by pleasure or pain, the wise show no change of temper.
Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
It's impossible to overstate how my relationship to music forms a preserve for the esoteric or even spiritual aspect of my relationship to cultural stuff, to human expressivity. . . it's a safe enclosure.
Let me give you a wonderful Zen practice. Wake up in the morning. . . look in the mirror, and laugh at yourself.
I may not look it when I'm playing, but I think I'm a fun guy to hang with when I'm relaxing.
My undergraduate education, at the City College in New York, was made possible only by the existence of that excellent free institution and the financial sacrifices of my parents.