Zen Proverb

The ordinary mind is the way.

What you possess, you lose.

When you hear that all beings are Buddha, don’t fall into the error of thinking there’s more than one Buddha.

If something is easy for you, work on it a little. If it’s hard for you, work on it a lot.

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

What was never lost can never be found.

To understand everything is to forgive everything.

I love learning about different religions, and discovering the different ways to worship, and to love the greatness and the higher being that surrounds us all. I definitely believe in a bigger presence, and I really respect all religions; at their core they all teach the same message – community and kindness and looking out for each other.

As I reminded my girls, these aren’t problems. These are very high class problems. Because of where Barack and I come from, we just couldn’t sympathize with their… It was like, ‘Girl, you live in the White House. You do not get to complain about this.

I lost my faith in God when I lost my daughter to Cancer, the beast. I begged, I cried, I offered my life for hers, and day by day, I watched that beautiful little Angel slip off. So, excuse me for not taking my seat next to you on Sunday in Church, I feel too cheated to worship.

Outside the kingdom of the Lord there is no nation which is greater than any other. God and history will remember your judgment.

When an ordinary man attains knowledge, he is a sage; when a sage attains understanding, he is an ordinary man.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

We are desire. It is the essence of the human Soul, the secret of our existence. Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished without it. Not a symphony has been written, a mountain climbed, an injustice fought, or a love sustained apart from desire. Desire fuels our search for the life we prize. – John Elderidge

Live happily in the present moment. It is the only moment we have.

Let go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life – after that you cannot be deceived.

It is a naked city. Faith is not pampered, nor hope encouraged; there is no place to lay one’s exhaustion: but instead pinnacles skewer it undisguised against vacancy.

[on enlightenment] Body and mind dropped off.

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

In the end, only three things matter: How much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

Don’t rush anything. When the time is right, it’ll happen.