"Our mind is like a clear glass of water. If we put salt into the water, it becomes salt water; sugar, it becomes sugar water. But originally the water is clear. No thinking, no mind. No mind, no problem."
"We spend most of our time and energy in a kind of horizontal thinking. We move along the surface of things... but there are times when we stop. We sit still. We lose ourselves in a pile of leaves or its memory. We listen, and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper."
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, nor to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly."
"In the root and stem of your own psyche, there is an accumulation of bad habits. If you cannot see through them and act independently of them, you will unavoidably get bogged down along the way."
"Wealth and honor are what people want, but if they are the consequence of deviating from the Way, I would have no part in them. Poverty and disgrace are what people deplore, but if they are the consequence of staying on the Way, I would not avoid them."
"Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence, not in an exemption from suffering."
"Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed."