Here's an example: someone says, "Master, please hand me the knife," and he hands them the knife, blade first. "Please give me the other end," he says. And the master replies, "What would you do with the other end?" This is answering an everyday matter in terms of the metaphysical. When the question is, "Master, what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?" Then he replies, "There is enough breeze in this fan to keep me cool." That is answering the metaphysical in terms of the everyday, and that is, more or less, the principle zen works on. The mundane and the sacred are one and the same.

Alan Watts

Categorized in : Hands Buddhism Knives

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

simple inspiring life

We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality.

memories reality past

By replacing fear of the unknown with curiosity we open ourselves up to an infinite stream of possibility. We can let fear rule our lives or we can become childlike with curiosity, pushing our boundaries, leaping out of our comfort zones, and accepting what life puts before us.

mind-blowing pushing curiosity

This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

monday inspiring life

Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine y... by Alan Watts

Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be

ego purpose letting-go

The future is a concept, it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as tomorrow. There never will be, because time is always now. That's one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now.

tomorrow talking thinking

We must abandon completely the notion of blaming the past for any kind of situation we're in and reverse our thinking and see that the past always flows back from the present. That now is the creative point of life. So you see it's like the idea of forgiving somebody, you change the meaning of the past by doing that...Also, watch the flow of music. The melody as its expressed is changed by notes that come later. Just as the meaning of a sentence...you wait till later to find out what the sentence means...The present is always changing the past.

mean past thinking

Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experienc... by Alan Watts

Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence.

measuring productivity degrees

No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is goi... by Alan Watts

No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.

anxiety differences worry

What I am really saying is that you don’t need to do anything, because if you see yourself in the correct way, you are all as much extraordinary phenomenon of nature as trees, clouds, the patterns in running water, the flickering of fire, the arrangement of the stars, and the form of a galaxy. You are all just like that, and there is nothing wrong with you at all.

stars running inspiring

You are the universe experiencing itself. by Alan Watts

You are the universe experiencing itself.

eye-opening universe

We see what we believe rather than what we see. by Alan Watts

We see what we believe rather than what we see.

believe

The only serious side-effect of #‎ marijuana is that you might... by Alan Watts

The only serious side-effect of #‎ marijuana is that you might get arrested.

marijuana sides might

All that you see out in front of you is how you feel inside your... by Alan Watts

All that you see out in front of you is how you feel inside your head.

how-you-feel fronts feels

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

trust faith inspirational

Hurrying and delaying are alike ways of trying to resist the pres... by Alan Watts

Hurrying and delaying are alike ways of trying to resist the present.

hurrying trying way

As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil.

leaving freedom water

Life is not a problem to be solved, but an experience to be had. by Alan Watts

Life is not a problem to be solved, but an experience to be had.

cheer-up life reality

Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.

congratulations crazy jesus

We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.

musical journey heaven