Henepola Gunaratana

Zen has no business with ideas.

Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind.

I would like to believe there is a God, but I think it is better to say I’m not sure there is a God and live your life with kindness and respect for people than to say I know there is a God and then do bad things,

God has no religion.

Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

A miracle is an event which creates faith. That is the purpose and nature of miracles. Frauds deceive. An event which creates faith does not deceive: therefore it is not a fraud, but a miracle.

Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.

The Kingdom of God is Within You,

Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.

I’m a good Muslim and I’m only interested in Islam.

You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t. You get to decide what to worship.

There are three books my daughter felt were the most important influences in her life: the Bible, her mother’s cookbook, and her father’s checkbook.

I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God’s will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.

The truth of Zen, just a little bit of it, is what turns one’s humdrum life into one of art.