This is the only world , and we have to live now and here . We are not to sacrifice now and here for some fantasy of a heaven or a paradise a moksha . We are not to sacrifice the present for the future – that is stupid because the future is born out […]
My effort here is to bring about a totally new kind of person . That’s my vision of the new man,that he should be able to love . He should not go to a monastery . He should live in the marketplace and yet he should be able to drop all possessiveness , all attachment […]
Gold has always been symbolic, both in the East and in the West. For centuries alchemists have talked about it, and they have been very misunderstood because people thought that they were talking about real gold. They were talking about gold only as a metaphor. Man can become gold, he has all the chemicals needed […]
One has to live on earth as if one is living in paradise; then one is capable of entering paradise. Those who are already in paradise will be able to enter paradise, nobody else. Those who have already tasted joy become worthy. This earth, this life is an opportunity to become so alert, so sensitive, […]
There are no great things in life: life consists of small things. But if you know how to rejoice in them, you transform them into great things. In the hands of a buddha, even ordinary water becomes wine. That’s exactly the meaning of the miracle that is said to have been done by Jesus: that […]
There have been two kinds of religion in the world: the religions of meditation and the religions of prayer. And they have existed like enemies; they have divided the whole of humanity. For example, Buddhism is a religion of meditation, Christianity is a religion of prayer, and up to now there has been no bridge […]
Prayer has nothing to do with religion; it is basically the approach of the artist. Prayer is an aesthetic phenomenon, not a religious phenomenon. But if you start feeling grateful and thankful toward existence, slowly, slowly you are surprised that a presence starts surrounding you which you had never felt before. It is only a […]
Love and prayer are two experiences of the same energy. Love is earthly, prayer is more unearthly, but the experience is the same. Love has a limitation to it; it is person to person. Prayer is unlimited, it is from a person to impersonal existence. And it is from the person to impersonal existence only […]
Meditation is not against thought; it is for transcendence, it is going beyond thoughts. It is becoming so utterly naked that you can be seen by existence as you really are: with no mask, with no garments, just like a small child. And these are the great moments of life, when love starts showering from […]
Zen masters call the state of meditation the season of autumn, when all the leaves fall and the trees are standing bare, naked. When consciousness drops all thoughts, it is like a tree without leaves, without foliage, exposed to the wind, to the moon, to the sun, to the rain – uncovered, unhidden. In that […]