People imagine enlightenment will make them incredibly powerful. And it does. It makes you the most powerful being in all the universe- but usually no one else notices.

Disappointment is just the action of your brain readjusting itself to reality after discovering things are not the way you thought they were.

How many Zen masters does it take to screw in a light bulb? The plum tree in the garden!

You can always improve your situation. But you do so by facing it, not by running away.

Compassion is the ability to see what needs doing right now and the willingness to do it right now.

You can't function in society if you don't involve yourself in the fictions society accepts about time. But you do so with the understanding that you're playing a game.

The truth comes when you can see that your self-image is just a convenient reference point and nothing more, and that you as you had imagined yourself do not exist.

Do what you do as well as you possibly can. That's Buddhist morality.

Truly compassionate action arises spontaneously without thought and is carried out in real action with no anticipation of reward and, indeed, no concept of a doer of that action.

Your role is to do and say the things that need to be done and said from your unique perspective.

Reality's all you've got. But here's the real secret, the real miracle: it's enough.

Maybe I'm overcast. And maybe all my lucks washed down the drain.

The simplest thought, like the concept of the number one, has an elaborate logical underpinning.

We are not merely passive pawns of historical forces; nor are we victims of the past. We can shape and direct history.

While I have some regrets that this is my last opportunity to deliver a State of the State address, I appreciate and am humbled by the opportunities this great state has given me.

There are six myths about old age: 1. That it's a disease, a disaster. 2. That we are mindless. 3. That we are sexless. 4. That we are useless. 5. That we are powerless. 6. That we are all alike.

Either we figure out how to keep corporate cash out of the political system or we lose the democracy.

A big producer can survive price fluctuations on the world market. A small farmer can't.

I give two hoots about being typecast. It's not in my hands.

The living Lord leads His living church.

Sure! Why should any experts be the arbiters... That's like telling someone they can't be a vegetarian.