“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.”
“The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.”
“Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.”
“Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.”
“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”